I don't own The Walking Dead. I only own OC's.
Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes. I'm still learning English because it's not my first language.
The group consisting of Lee, Jack, Kenny, Ben, Travis, Chuck, Christa, Molly and Vernon had just arrived back at the backyard of the mansion. The atmosphere in the group was grim and tense following the revelation of Ben being the one who was giving their supplies to the bandits in the motor inn and no words were exchanged by the group for all the way back to the mansion. Ben did his best to look away from Kenny and Jack as well, feeling their glares on him over what happened with Katjaa, Duck and Andre.
The group walked into the mansion a second later and were greeted by the sight of two deceased walkers laying on the floor close to the staircase. All of them grew alarmed by this right away, getting their weapons in ready and looked around themselves while calling out for Clementine and Mark. Clementine and Mark showed up in their view a second later on top of the staircase, Clementine wielding her pistol and Mark wielding his rifle.
Mark smiled at them the moment he laid his eyes on them, "Guys. You're back."
"It was hard but we made it." Chuck smiled back at him as Mark and Clementine came down the stairs.
"Did you find my parents?" Clementine asked, having just stopped in front of Lee.
"No. I'm sorry. Crawford was... there just wasn't time." Lee replied with an apologetic expression on his face as Clementine frowned in disappointment.
Christa shifted her gaze between Clementine and Mark, "What happened here?"
"Two of those things got inside. They tried to get upstairs. Me and Clem stopped them." Mark explained and looked down at Clementine, "She took out one of them while I too out the other one."
"Upstairs? Omid..." Christa muttered under her breath in worry and pushed herself into run, sprinting up the stairs towards Omid's room.
The rest of the group followed her a second later made their way to the upper floor of it. Upon reaching the upper floor of the mansion, they walked into the room where Omid was placed before their group left for Crawford and saw Christa standing frozen with a worried look on her face.
Chuck raised his brow at her, "Christa?"
"Omid!" Christa cried out in worry and rushed over to the bed with Omid. Everyone else walked into the room a second later and saw Omid laying on the bed, looking numb and like he wasn't alive.
Lee's eyes widened in alarm and shifted his gaze to Clementine and Mark, "Is he dead?"
"No! He wasn't just fine the last time I checked on him!" Mark shook his head with a confused look on his face, "He must have blacked out when I and Clementine left to see if you came back."
"Christa! Get away from him!" Jack warned Christa.
"I never should have left you. I'm so sorry..." Christa paid no attention to him as she grabbed Omid's hand and held it as if her life depended on it, looking like she was about to cry. Omid lifted his torso and head a second later, coughing as Christa's eyes widened while Lee and Chuck tugged her back .Omid opened his eyes a second later, looking normal.
"Hey. Back already?" He asked them in a casual tone, having a smile on his face.
Christa smiled back at him with relief evident in her voice, "We got you medicine."
"Good, feel like I could use some." Omid stated as Vernon popped a few pills into his hand and shoved them into Omid's mouth. Once he swallowed the pills, he looked around his group and took notice of the way Ben looked like right now. He looked at him in concern, "You okay, kid? You look worse than I do."
"We almost didn't make it out of there because of this asshole. Shoulda left him behind when we had the chance." Kenny explained. He furrowed his brows at Lee a second later, silently letting him know he was disagreeing with his decision to keep Ben alive. Jack crossed his arms, staying silent as he nodded in agreement.
Mark looked at him questioningly, "What do you mean?"
"What the hell happened out there?" Omid wanted to know.
"Let someone else tell you, I got work to do." Kenny replied as he turned away from Omid and walked out of the room. He was followed by Chuck, Molly and Ben.
"Okay, with a little luck you should start feeling better pretty soon." Vernon told Omid, "I'll stay here for a few more hours to check on him. Let me know if you need anything."
Omid smiled at him gratefully, "Thanks, doc."
"Yes, thank you so much!" Christa added, equally as grateful.
Vernon shifted his gaze to Mark, "Now let me take a look at your shoulder. With all the meds from Crawford, I can finally take a good look at it."
"That would be great." Mark smiled at him gratefully as he sat down on a chair.
Vernon made his way to Mark and started to take a look at his shoulder once more, "Lee. Mind waiting for me here? I'd like to talk with you privately once I'll be done with him."
Lee nodded at him, "Alright."
Several minutes passed since the group returned from Crawford and everyone ocuppied themselves with their own stuff at the mansion. The only people who remained in the room were Lee, Vernon, Mark, Omid and Christa. It wasn't for long either as Lee, Vernon and Mark left the room shortly after once Vernon was done patching up Mark. Lee and Vernon stayed on the second floor together while Mark went down the stairs, having received a proper medical attention from Vernon.
Lee glanced at Vernon and started their conversation, "Listen, man, about what happened to Brie..."
"Don't beat yourself up over it, it was nothing you could have done." Vernon replied, letting them know he didn't blame anyone from their group for Brie's death, "You want to know the worst part?"
"What?" Lee asked.
"I don't feel much. I mean, I don't feel enough." Vernon revealed, "Shouldn't I be broken up over what happened to her? That's how I was when I lost my daughter, when I lost my friends in those first few weeks. But now, it's like I just take something like this in stride. Like this is what our world is now, and we'd better just get used to it."
"What did you wanna talk to us about?" Veronica asked.
"I know you care about Clementine." Vernon began "Anyone can see that. And I know you want what's best for her. But this plan of yours, just moving forward with no destination... do you really think that's her best chance of finding somewhere where she can be safe? Because I don't. So I wanna make you an offer."
Lee felt something inside of him snap a bit, "What kind of an offer?"
Vernon gave him an explanation right away, "I'll take her off your hands. Take her back with me, to my people. We're well-supplied, well-hidden, and a lot of us have had kids of our own. And now Crawford's fallen, we got nothing left to fear from them. She'll be safe with us. Safer than she will be if she stays with you, I promise you. That's what you want for her, isn't it? To be safe?"
Lee's narrowed his eyes at Vernon, his blood beginning to boil, "I'm gonna pretend you didn't say any of this and give you the chance to walk away. Which you oughta do, right now."
Vernon narrowed his eyes at him in return, "I know you think you're doing what's best for her. And if you were her real father, we wouldn't be having this conversation..."
Lee grasped Vernon by the collar and slammed him against the wall, "That little girl's in my care! We've been through more together than you can imagine! Anyone who tries to get between me and her - anyone - is gonna wind up dead! You hear me?!"
"Take your hands off me." Vernon glared at Lee with anger evident in his voice as Lee complied. Vernon turned away from him, shooting him an angered expression and marched down the stairs before Lee heard him leave through the backyard door. Lee turned away from him a second later and spotted Clementine sitting by the windowsill in the study. Just as he was about to go into the room, he saw Jack coming out of the room.
Jack looked at Lee questioningly, "What the hell happened here? I heard shouting."
Lee shifted his gaze to him and gave him an explanation, "Vernon asked me to allow him and his group to take Clementine with him."
Jack's eyes widened at this, "What? No way..."
"He did." Lee nodded in confirmation.
"Shit..." Jack shook his head, "I'm sorry about this, man. If I knew..."
"Don't beat yourself up over it, Jack." Lee told him, "You couldn't have known what he would try to do it. You brought him here as you thought he could help us with Omid and Mark which he did."
"Yeah. You're right..." Jack sighed, "...So what are you going to do now?"
Lee looked over his shoulder the room where Clementine was, "I need to talk with Clementine."
"About the boat and us possibly leaving Savannah?" Jack guessed.
"Yes. Not only that..." Lee nodded in confirmation, "I'll have to tell her about her parents."
Jack nodded with a sad understanding on his face, "I see. Poor girl will have to leave this city without knowing what happened to them..."
"No. She'll know." Lee shook his head, letting out a sigh.
Jack raised his brow, "What do you mean?"
Lee once again sighed, "I know what happened to her parents. They're dead. I'll have to tell her about this now..."
"Oh..." Jack hummed in understanding, bowing his head down as he set his eyes on the floor. A wave of sadness and pity washed over him. He didn't want to imagine how Clementine would react to this. He looked up at Lee a second later, "Do you want me to..."
Lee shook his head, "Thanks, but I'll have to do it alone."
"Alright." Jack replied in understanding as Lee turned away from him.
Lee wasted no time and walked into the room where Clementine was, with an intention of telling her the truth about her parents. Jack sighed and shook his head as he watched his friend walk into the room. He didn't envy him. He didn't want to imagine how Clementine would react to the truth after remaining hopeful about seeing her parents again since all of this started.
With Lee entering the room, Jack was left all by himself in the hallway. If he were to guess, everyone else from his group should be occupied with their own thing at the moment. Kenny was definitely working on the boat, Molly, Chuck, Travis and Ben were definitely resting somewhere in the house, probably in the living room and Vernon and Christa were helping Omid and Mark with their wounds.
The blonde haired young man buried his face in his hands and let out a tired sigh. It had been a really long day. He couldn't wait to lay down somewhere and get some much deserved sleep. Even though he didn't explore the mansion that much because he didn't have much time to do it, he knew he could rest a bit in one of the rooms on this floor. The room next to him definitely had a nice big bed for him to rest on and his mind was more than ready to lay down on it.
He pulled his hands away from his face once he heard someone walk past him, becoming a bit suprised by this as he was certain he was the only person present on the hallway right now. He turned to the source of the voice and saw Molly walking towards the stairs. Her backpack seemed to be filled with all kind of supplies. She looked as if she was ready to leave and it confused Jack who was certain she would be staying with them.
"Molly?" He called out for her in a questioning tone, "Are you going somewhere?"
Molly stopped dead in her tracks at the sound of his voice, as if she wasn't excepting anyone else to be in the hallway at the moment and turned around to face him, "Yeah. I'm about to head out. I just wanted to say thanks. For everything. It's been fun."
"What are you talking about?" Jack seemed confused by her decision to leave the group, "Kenny's working on the boat right now and we still have plenty of supplies. I thought you were coming with us. Trust me, you more than deserved it."
"Yeah, well..." Molly glanced to her side, trying to mask the uncertain look on her face and the fact that she had thought about staying with the group, "I've always done better on my own, you know? Besides, I never was a fan of the water."
"Are you sure about this?" Jack asked, noticing the uncertainty on Molly's face, "I know your experience with group was far from good, considering that you came from Crawford, but we're nothing liked them. We're just a group of survivors trying to survive, just like you. How about you give us a chance, please? If you will find something you won't like, then you can leave."
"Fine. I'll give it a chance, but, just like you said, I'll leave immediately when I will come across something I won't like." Molly nodded her head, making her choice to stay with the group. The uncertainty vanished from her face as she smirked teasingly at him, "Damn, you must really like me if you want me to stay with your group so badly."
Jack blushed at her teasing, "Not like this I just meant..."
"Relax, I'm just messing with ya." Molly was clearly amused by his reaction. She turned away from him and began making her way to the stairs, "I'll head downstairs and get some rest. You should get it too. You look like you could use some."
"Yeah." Jack nodded, the blush fading from his face, "I'll definitely get some."
"Nice, man. You can color me impressed." Travis' voice rang through Jack's ears a few seconds after Molly walked down the stairs, "Can't say I blame you for it, though. She is quite hot."
"What are you talking about?" Jack asked as he turned around to look at Travis, having no idea what he meant by that.
"Trying your chance with Molly." Travis explained what he meant, a teasing smile forming on his face, "I have to say, I'm proud of you man. Never thought you had it in you."
Jack put his hand over his forehead and let out a sigh, annoyed by Travis' teasing, "I'm not in the mood to deal with this right now, Travis."
Travis' teasing smile vanished from his face after noticing Jack's tired expression. He looked at him with a apologetic look on his face, "I'm sorry, man. I was just trying to say something to light up the mood. The last few days have been pretty fucked up to say the least."
"You could say this again." Jack nodded in agreement, "Maybe now things will finally start going our way for once."
"Couldn't agree more. We really could use some good luck after the last few days." Travis agreed with him, "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure." Jack nodded in response, already suspecting what Travis will ask him, "What is it?"
"It's about Ben." Travis revealed, confirming Jack's suspicions, "I know what you said back in Crawford before the walkers showed up. But just let me have this conversation with you."
"My mind about this matter is the same as it was back in Crawford." Jack replied with no hesitation in his voice, "He was there when you comforted me about Andre and had the audacity to look me in the eye in this moment and act like everything was fine."
Travis nodded in understanding, "I see."
"What about you?" Jack asked, "I assume your mind on him staying with us is still the same."
Travis gave Jack a look of understanding, knowing why he wanted him to know his mind. He voiced it a few seconds later, "Yes. My opinion is the same and nothing will change it.."
Jack hummed, not suprised by Travis sticking up for his friend.
"I know you might think that I'm doing it, only because Ben is my friend, but can you at least hear me out about it?" Travis asked as Jack nodded his head, telling him to go ahead without saying any words. "I'm not going to tone down the things caused by Ben's decisions. I know that he fucked up badly. There's no words to express how badly he screwed up back at the motel, but in the end he thought it will protect our group. He couldn't have predicted what would happen. I've known him for longer than any other person in this group and I know that he is a good person. He is just someone who made terrible mistakes."
Jack stared at Travis' for a few seconds, before nodding his head at him, showing him the understanding of his words. Even though a part of him wished Ben to be kicked out of the group for what happened at the motel and what happened afterwards with Andre, Katja and Duck, the other part of him agreed with him. In the end, Ben did what he did because he meant well.
He nodded his head at Travis, "I can see your point. I'll have your words in mind when I will be thinking about it the next morning."
"Thanks, man. I appreciate it." Travis gave Jack a grateful smile and turned away from him, towards the stairs, "Talk to you tommorow."
"Yeah." Jack nodded as Travis began heading down the stairs, "See you tommorow."
The blonde haired young man turned away from Travis and made his way into the closest free room, intending to use it for the night, pretending like he didn't just hear how Clementine started crying in her room after Lee informed her about her parents' demise. He laid down on the bed a second later, closing his eyes and slowly drifting into sleep with hopes of waking up somewhat rested the next day...
Lee opened his eyes as he woke up from his slumber. He yawned and was pleased by the rest. He hadn't gotten it all night because of the conversation he had with Clementine last night. The poor girl broke down into tears when she was told about them being unable to look for her parents and the possibility of them being dead, being in denial about this. He shifted his gaze to the windowsill a second later, expecting to see Clementing there.
"Clementine?" He called out for her in confusion as Clementine wasn't in the windowsill, growing confused by this because he didn't expect her to wake up before him.
He got up a second later and walked out of the room, feeling himself becoming more worried on the inside with each passing second. He went down to the lower floor of the mansion and saw the rest of the group sleeping, most of them bunked in on the sofas or sitting on the floor with Clementing being nowhere to be seen. If that was the case, then she must have been in the backyard. He wasted no time and quickly went out of the mansion, entering the backyad.
"Clementine!" He called out to her. It wasn't too long before his eyes noticed something ahead of him. It was her purple hat. He picked it up, shaking his head in worry as he knew something must have been wrong. Clementine always wore that hat. If she didn't have it on, then there must have been something wrong with her.
He shifted his attention away from the hat a second later. It was a familiar electronic sizzling. He recongized it right away. It was her walkie-talkie. He made his way over to the sound of all this noise and located the walkie-talkie. It was over the fence, next to a couple of trashcans and a pile of trash. Not wasting any time, he climbed over the fence and picked it up with a worried look on his face.
Lee stared at it silently, leaving himself with his own thoughts as he tried to make sense of this situation and what must have happened with Clementine. Because of him having his attention set on the hat, he failed to notice a walker climbing out from under the trash. It lunged towards his hand, jaws opening and closing rapidly as Lee immediately reacted to this even if he was taken aback by the sudden attack of the undead.
He threw the undead against the fence, leaving it on the ground as finished it by stomping it's head, bashing it's skull in. Once he was done with the walker, Lee let out a deep breath to calm himself down and felt something burning him on his in his wrist. Even though something inside of him already knew what it was, he knew he had to see it with his own eyes before making judgement and everything got confirmed to him when he looked at his wrist.
What he saw there were teeth marks carved into his flesh...
Lee shook his head, grabbing his wrist as his eyes refused to leave the bite mark, "No, no, no, no. Oh, fuck!"
"Lee! You out there! Lee!" Christa's voice rang through his ears a second later, taking him out of his trance. He looked over his shoulder, taking a look into the backyard and saw Jack, Kenny, Mark, Ben, Travis, Omid, Christa, Chuck and Molly standing outside and looking for him, having their eyes set in every direction. They left through the gate a second later, not seeing Lee.
Lee continued to hold his wrist, knowing his friends will find him sooner or later and he fought wth his own thoughts regarding what he was supposed to do about his situation now. He kept his back turned to them, sensing them approaching him from behind.
Jack's voice rang throug his ears a second later, "...Lee! There you are!"
"Are you crazy? What are you doing out here? It ain't safe!" Kenny asked him a second later.
"Lee, where's Clementine?" Chuck asked , "She's not in her room."
"Vernon ain't in the house either!" Omid added.
"What the hell is going on?" Travis wanted to know.
Christa stopped behind and her eyes widened, "Whose blood is that?"
"It's mine..." Lee grimly replied as he turned around to face his group, raising his arm to show them his bite mark. Their eyes widened in an instant, feeling all the air leave their lungs in an instant.
Christa gasped in shock, "Oh my gosh..."
"Lee..." Jack muttered with shock written over his face.
Kenny shifted his gaze to Lee with his eyes filled with disbelief, "No way. No fucking way!"
Lee sighed, "There's no time to worry about me. Clementine's gone."
Jack's eyes widened even more, "What?"
"There's no chance she just wandered off on her own?" Mark asked.
Lee shook his head, "No, no way.
"Then, who the hell took her?" Kenny wanted to know.
Jack crossed his arms, "Could this be Vernon?"
Chuck shifted his gaze to him, "Why him?"
"He tried to take Clementine yesterday." Jack explained, "He offered Lee to take her with him and his group."
Lee nodded in confirmation, "He's right."
Kenny shook his head with an angry look on his face, "Son of a bitch. I knew we couldn't trust that fucker!"
"Wherever she is, I have to find her." Lee stated.
Christa nodded in understanding, "Okay. What do you need from us?"
Lee shifted his gaze between his group when he gave them his answer, "Clem may not have much time. We have a better chance of finding her if we all go together. Who's with me?"
Christa gave him her answer straight away, "We're all responsible for Clementine. And in your condition, you may not make it to her in time. She needs our help. All of our help."
"Damn right. We can't let you do this alone." Omid nodded in agreement, "What're we waiting for?"
"You can count my help as well." Chuck added, "Remember what I said about the sight of another dead child doing me in? I meant what I said back there and I will do everything in my power to get Clementine back."
Mark nodded in agreement, "Me too. We're a team, Lee. That's how we've made it this far. We're not going to just abandon you."
"Thanks, you guys. I appreciate it. Really." Lee nodded gratefully at them. He shifted his gaze to Kenny a second later.
"You've always been there for me, Lee." Kenny told him with his expression sympathetic, "Always had my back when it mattered. What kind of friend would I be if I wasn't there for you now?"
"Thank you," Lee voiced his gratitude to him and shifted his gaze to Jack, "Jack?"
"Do you really need to ask?" Jack asked him in return, "You've been a good friend to me ever since all of this started and I promised to help you in looking after Clementine back in the drugstore. I'm with you. No matter what."
"If blondie is up for this, then can count me in as well." Molly added, having her arms crossed as Lee glanced at her, "I know my way around town better than anyone here. I could help you find her quicker."
Lee nodded gratefully and shifted his gaze to Ben and Travis, "What about you two?"
"Now hold on a minute." Kenny cut Ben and Travis off before either of them could say anything as Travis glared at him. He had Ben in his thoughts when he asked Lee, "You're not really thinking about bringing him with us, are you?"
"I don't think we should leave boat unprotected as well." Jack added. He didn't say it because he didn't want to fight about this again. Travis' words yesterday left him with a lot to think about. This was something he felt like they had to adress during this conversation, "I'm not saying this because it's Ben we're talking about." Ben and Kenny looked at him with suprised looks on their faces for their own reasons as Travis smled a bit, "There's ten of us. If all of us went, then it would be too risky. A few of us should stay at the mansion."
Kenny nodded in agreement, "Jack is right. Ben can stay here for all I care."
"Yeah. I see your point." Lee agreed as well and shifted his gaze between Ben and Travis, "Can you two stay behind with the boat? Don't worry about me. What's important now is that you get out of here, get to safety."
Ben nodded in understanding with a reluctant look on his face, "Okay, if that's what you want. I think I could have helped... but I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'm gonna do everything I can to make this right. For you. For Clem. For Kenny. For Jack."
"We won't let you down." Travis added.
Lee nodded back at them and shifted his gaze between Mark and Omid, "You two should stay as well."
Omid's eyes widened, "What?"
"But Lee..." Mark began to argue, wanting to use him no longer having to worry about his shoulder as an argument.
"I know you two are doing better now. It doesn't change the fact that you two were injured just yesterday." Lee pointed out to them, "We shouldn't risk anything else happening to you two. If we'll leave with two to keep the boat protected, then you will help us just as much as you would if you went with us. If Clementine will somehow wander back to the mansion, then she'll have someone familiar waiting for her as well."
Omid nodded in understanding, "Alright."
"You can count on us here." Mark added as Lee nodded at them, having made his choice to leave Ben, Travis, Mark and Omid behind at the mansion.
"Okay, guys. We should go find Vernon. See if he took her. Let's head out." Lee declared as he shifted his gaze between Jack, Kenny, Christa, Molly and Chuck, having them as his group to go look for Clementine. All five of them nodded at him. They left the mansion right after, leaving Travis, Ben, Mark and Omid behind as they intended to bring Clementine back with them...
Hope it wasn't so bad. See you in another chapter.