The Train
Things were grim and tense in the RV as the group allowed themselves to process what just happened to their home. All of them couldn't believe what just happened. They knew the risk of the bandits attacking them was pretty huge, but all of them had bigger or smaller hopes it wouldn't have happen or at least it wouldn't have happen until they'd leave the motel. Unfortunely that wasn't the case for them and now they had to deal with this reality of Carley's death and them losing everything they had.
The group was split up around the RV, taking as much space in it as they could and leaving it cramped due to the amount of people their group had. All of them wished some of them left the motel in Andre's cruiser because of it. Kenny was in the driver's seat while Katjaa and Duck, who was resting on his mother's knees, were riding shotgun. Andre and Lilly were standing and in front of Ben, Travis and injured Mark who sat on the sofa while Jack, Lee and Clementine sat at the table.
"Oh, shit, oh, shit." Ben kept repeating those words over and over again, having his head buried in his hands. He looked up at Lilly with an apologetic look on his face, "I'm sorry."
Lilly raised her brow at him, "I'm sorry?"
"Everything's fine, Ben." Mark told the teenager, trying to make him calm down as he continued to hold his wounded shoulder with a pained expression on his face.
"He's right, dude." Travis nodded with his concerned eyes set on his best friend, "We need to calm down."
Lilly shook her head, "Everything's not fine. We need to figure out how this happened."
Mark sighed sadly, holding his shoulder in pain with a guilty look forming on his face, "We lost Carley."
"Yeah..." Lee nodded in agreement with saddened look on his face, not believing Carley was dead. Out of all people, he expected her to be one of the ones who would survive the longest and now she was dead. The worst part about it was his inability to do anything to save her. The only bright side in all of this was her getting a chance to reunite with Doug...
Andre looked at Mark with a worried look on his face, "How's your shoulder?"
"I'll be fine. It hurts a little, but I'll be fine." Mark tried to brush their wories off. However, his attempts were futile as everyone remained worried for him, "I'm serious. Don't worry. Katjaa will patch me up later."
"We just lost everything." Lilly sighed, knowing now it was time to address the matter of their group having a traitor among them. They had lost everything because of them and now they to face justice. Whoever they were, "Somebody in here caused this."
Kenny glanced away from the road ahead of him for a second to look over his shoulder at Lilly, "Settle down back there; the bandits have had our number for weeks!"
"This is different. Somebody was working with them." Lilly explained as Ben tensed up while Travis looked at his friend in worry, "Whoever it was was slipping them our meds. They didn't get their last package, so they attacked."
"Calm down back there! That's nuts!" Kenny stated with his eyes going back to the road.
Jack nodded in agreement, "Yeah. The bandits were on our ass for some time now. Something like this could have happen at any moment."
"Andre found a bag of supplies hidden outside the wall." Lilly explained with everyone shifting their gaze to Andre
Andre nodded in confirmation with a grim look on his face, "It's true."
"Who do you think did this?" Jack wanted to know.
Lilly shifted her gaze to Ben and Travis, "You two. I think we need to talk."
"What?" Travis exclaimed with a genuinely shocked look on his face while Ben looked like he was about to panic, "You really think I would work with those assholes?"
Ben nervously nodded in agreement, "Y-Yeah! Neither of us would do this!"
Mark adjusted his shoulder, "Lilly, let's think about this logically, no?"
"Logically? The new guy who could have easily been a plant? I think that's pretty logical, Mark." Lilly replied as she glanced at Mark. Even if she wanted to suspect Jack or Kenny here, he knew she had no ground to accuse them. Kenny had a family and Jack always insisted they should leave the motel.
"You think I'd do anything to hurt you guys?" Ben asked with panic becoming more evident in his voice.
Travis nodded in agreement, "Yeah. You saved our lives and accepted us into our group. You really think we would have done anything to you?"
"Don't play dumb." Lilly wasn't buying their excuses, "Were you hoping they'd eventually kill us all and you could join them?"
"Lilly. Come on." Mark shook his head at this. Even if Lilly somewhat trusted him and he had the most steady relationship out of everyone at the motel with her, he knew he couldn't stay behind this theory because it was just foolish to make assumptions like this.
"Lilly." Andre called out to Lilly as Lilly glanced at him, "I agree with we have to find out who the traitor, but we shouldn't go pointing fingers at anyone without any evidence leading towards them."
Lilly kept her eyes on him, "Ande, I appreciate your concern, but..."
"You prefer to make yourself into a crazy conspiracy theorist who wants to prove they're right, no matter what?" Jack cut her off, not being in the mood to deal with this.
Lilly shifted her gaze to him and glared at him, "Even now you can't help yourself?"
Jack rolled his eyes, "Excuse me for not wanting to deal with this crap right after we got attacked and lost one of our own because you couldn't accept the motel was a disaster waiting to happen."
"Jack..." Andre muttered to him, knowing now it wasn't the time to antagonize Lilly as she seemed on edge right now.
Travis clenched his hand with an offended look on his face, "You really thought we'd join the bandits? After what we saw them do?"
Lilly shifted her gaze to Travis and glared at him, "What did you saw them do? You never bothered telling us about this. Maybe it's just a cover up story you came up with to make us trust you..."
"Are you fucking serious? I've been doing everything I can to prove myself to you and you fucking ignore it because you want to blame someone for what happened. If you want to know what happened to me and Ben, then..." Travis' offended expression grew with each passing second, looking like he was ready to explode at Lilly for even suggesting he or Ben were working with the bandits. Just as he was about to say more, he was cut off by as a noise of the RV hitting something on the road.
"Shit!" Kenny exclaimed in anger.
Lilly shifted her attention to him, "What's going on up there?"
Kenny sighed, "I hit something, we gotta stop."
"All right, we'll deal with it outside." Lilly replied as she glared at Travis and Ben. Travis glared back at her while Ben gulped nervously. Kenny slowed the RV down a second later and stopped beside the road.
"Kenny is it safe?" Lee questioned right after the RV stopped as Kenny looked out of the front window of the RV and took a look outside.
The fisherman nodded his head a few seconds later, "Should be."
"Everybody except the kids and Katjaa out." Lilly ordered, ignoring the look Andre directed towards her regarding how she was handling everything right now. She walked out of the RV and was followed by Lee, Jack, Kenny, Travis, Ben, Mark and Andre. She crouched down and saw the walker caught beneath the RV, "Kenny, the RV has some surface damage but there's a walker trapped underneath."
"God dammit." Kenny whispered to himself upon hearing this, knowing it was one more problem to add to his headache as he went to the front of the RV and checked it, "Everyone keep your eyes peeled."
Lilly shifted her gaze to Ben and Travis and continued their discussion from the RV, " You know what, we shouldn't just kick you two out, we should hear what everybody thinks."
Travis crossed his arms, "Fine. Whatever. Do it and you'll see how stupid you are being right now."
"I think you should chill out." Ben replied with nervoussness remaining evident in his voice, "It wasn't either me or Travis. Please stop accusing us."
Lilly rolled her eyes, "I'm really sorry you're upset, Ben. Just tell us you did it."
Travis shook his head with an angered look on his face, "I'm not gonna take this. You can't push us around."
"What do I have to do for you to trust me?! I'll do anything!" Ben cried out in panic.
"Stop panicking." Lee told the teen.
"He's right, Ben." Mark added, "Just take a deep breath, okay?"
"Look at him." Lilly pointed at Ben, "Do we need more evidence than this?"
"Let's just all relax." Andre tried to make everyone calm down. Arguing was the last thing they needed right now. If they were to discover who it was, then they should do this calmly, "We can sort something out."
"Fuck evidence. Stop treating them like this!" Jack retorted, "You think you can treat people like this and get away with this? Your dad thought the same and look where that got him."
Lilly glared at him, "Shut the fuck up, Jack. I've heard enough from you."
Jack glared back at her, "I won't shut up because you can't handle hearing something which isn't kissing your ass."
Travis nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Stop being a bitch."
"Finally someone else says it." Jack said in approval.
"I think you three are protesting a bit too much." Lilly stated upon seeing the way Jack was getting defensive over Ben and Travis and even had the audacity to bring up her deceased father into this. She looke around everyone else from her group a second later, "Don't you all think so?"
Jack's glare intestified, "Wait? Now you're bringing me into this because I'm not kissing your ass?"
"Andre is right." Lee agreed with Andre, "We should just calm down."
"Kenny? What's it going to be?" Lilly asked.
"Just give me a damn minute!" Kenny pleaded.
Lilly looked between Ben and Travis, "You two have time to confess until Kenny kills that walker."
"No!" Ben shook his head in panic.
"We didn't do it! How many times do I have to tell you this" Travis shouted, "Now you're trying to make us confess, even though we didn't do it!"
Andre looked at Lilly, "You won't get anywhere if you'll try to get a confession out of anyone, especially if they are innocent."
"Come on, Andre. You're the one who found them. You can't just abstain." Lilly retorted.
"Fuck all that, this is nuts! We're out here on the side of the road! We won't find out who it was if you'll keep acting like this!" Andre's retorted in return with his gaze growing stern as Lilly looked at him with a mixture of betrayal and hurt. Just as she was about to say anything to him, she was cut off by Kenny successfully pulling the walker out from under the RV and stomping it's head, killing it for food.
"There! I got 'im." The fisherman declared as Jack, Lee, Ben, Travis, Mark and Andre all looked at him. What all of them failed to notice, however, was the way Lilly kept glancing at Ben and Travis and her slowly reaching her hand to draw her pistol. As Kenny approached the group, she aimed the pistol and aimed it at Ben with everyone not seeing what she was doing. Everyone aside from Clementine.
"Ben!" Clementine screamed in alarm once she saw Lilly aiming her pistol at Ben.
"No...!" Andre noticed this as well and his reaction was instant. He grabbed Ben and moved him out of the way of the shot. Unfortunely, he got caught between him and the bullet and the bullet hit him in the back of his head, killing him instantly.
Everyone in the group fell silent upon seeing what just happened as all of them looked down at Andre's body, completely stunned and shocked by what just happened. Lilly shook her head, with her gun still pointed in Ben direction. Her face was full of shock when Andre's lifeless body collapsed on the ground like a ton of bricks. Jack pushed himself out of his shocked state a second later and grabbed her wrist, specifically the one with the gun and he pinned her to the R.V.
"Drop it." The blonde haired young man growled out in a scary near murderous tone as Lilly complied, looking like she had given up.
"Holy fuck..." Kenny muttered to himself, looking down at Andre's corpse with wide eyes.
Lee shook his head at the view of the police oficers body, his eyes refusing to close, "Andre..."
"Oh my God..." Mark put his hand over his mouth as Ben remained silent, his skin pale and his eyes set on Andre's body. Travis was silent as well, not knowing how to react to what just happened.
"Kenny! What's happening?!" Katjaa yelled from inside the R.V.
"Keep Duck away from the windows! Jesus Christ!" Kenny's response to his wife's question was immediate. He made his way to Jack and Lilly, looking at the latter with a hateful glare, "Get in! We're leaving this crazy bitch!"
"I didn't mean to. It wasn't supposed to be him." Lilly pleaded with Jack, looking at him with a regretful look on her face.
Mark knelt down to survey Andre's body, "What are we gonna do with her?"
""Leave her for the walkers!" Kenny snapped, glaring at Lilly.
"I agree! Screw her!" Travis nodded in agreement as Ben looked down at Andre's body with a guilty filled expression his face.
Lee stepped closer to Jack and looked directly into her eyes when he made his decision, "You're not coming with us."
"I'll die out here!" Lilly pointed out as Lee crouched down to grab her pistol.
Lee looked at her at her again, now carrying her pistol, "I don't care."
"You're a murderer Lilly!" Kenny screamed, "We can't have you with us!"
Lilly glanced at Lee with a face of desperation, "I'm a murderer?! You've had Lee with you this whole time!"
"I don't care what he did before!" Kenny cut her off.
Lilly looked at him in suprise, "You knew?"
"Yeah." Kenny confirmed, "He told me."
"He told all of us." Jack added in a cold tone with his eyes refusing to leave Lilly. He refused to let go off her as well, keeping her pinne against the RV, "We don't care."
Kenny nodded in agreement, "If we keep you with us, how long until you get me or Jack or even Ben again?"
"I was trying to protect all of us! I don't have anything left." Lilly replied in tearful regretful tone. her voice breaking. Her words fell on deaf ears of everyone, though. They already made up their mind. Even if someone tried to change it, then nothing would come out of it.
"Get in, guys. Let's get out of here." Kenny declared, not wanting to stay here for any longer as he walked into the RV. He was followed by Ben, Travis and Mark with Travis making sure to take Andre's shotgun and police baton. All of them shot Lilly one final look before getting themselves into the vehicle. Ben's look showed regret as Travis look showed anger and disgust while Mark's look showed disappointment. Pure and utter disappointment.
"Jack. Come on." Lee gently placed his hand on Jack's shoulder as Lilly kept pinned down against the RV. His expression was filled with sympathy as lost a good friend today as well. Jack slowly shifted his gaze to him as Lee added in a gentle and comfortine tone, "Let's get out of here."
Jack nodded at him, letting out a saddened sigh as he pulled away from Lilly and directed one final glared at her. Lilly gulped a bit at the view of it. From the way Jack had looked at her, she was suprised he didn't try going against everyone in the group and didn't just kill her here. If she was honest with herself, she would have preferred if it happened as she had nothing to live for anymore.
Lee and Jack walked into the RV a second later, leaving the doors closed and leaving her outside. The RV was started up a second later and all Lilly could do was watch as her former group drove off along the street , leaving her behind. A walker walked out of the forest a second later, making it's way towards her and she shifted her attention to it a second later. Knowing she had nothing to fight it with, she rushed off into the woods to get away from it.
As she continued to distance herself from the walker, she couldn't help but fight off a certain feeling in the back of her mind. She couldn't help but feel like it wasn't the last time she saw her old group...
-----
The atmosphere in the RV was grim, very grim. It was already grim following what happene at the motel. However, everything just became worse following what happened with Lilly and Andre as everything in this group knew their day had gone from bad to worse right now. To make matters worse for them, Andre wasn't even killed by the bandits or the walkers. He was killed by someone from their group and they had to banish her because of it.
Jack was taking everything the hardest, having been close if not best friends with Andre from the start of everything. The blonde young man sat himself down by the table, keeping to himself and everyone could see how depressed he looked like right now once his anger wore down. Lee, Clementine and Travis looked at him with worry, wishing there was something they could to make him feel better while Mark and Ben looked at him with regretful look on his face.
Mark shook his head, looking at Jack with a pitful and regretful look on his face. He wished he could have done something to stop Lilly. Lilly trusted him and even openly admitted to him how he and Andre were the only people she trusted within their group. If he had done more or if he had spoken up more, then maybe he could have stopped it from happening and both Andre and Lilly would be with them right now with the conflict and the matter of the traitor in their ranks being resolved without anyone dying. He knew it was just wishful thinking right now.
Jack bowed his head down, letting out a depressed sigh as he refused to look at anyone else right now. He didn't to look at their pity filled expression. Andre was all he could think about right now. The image of his friends deceased body refused to leave his mind even when he tried to think about something else. He found himself thinking back to the argument he had with Andre back at the motel. To think it was their last direct conversation with each other. All of it just made Jack feel more depressed and angry. To think Andre could have died thinking he was angry at him...
"Lee, a word, please?" Jack looked up a second later, taking himself out of his guilty thoughts as Lee pushed himself into walk towards the front of the RV. Jack brushed this off a second later. Whatever it was, it must have not been important.
"What's up? Is Duck feeling alright?" Lee asked upon making his way to the front of the RV as Katjaa sighed sadly and lifted up Duck's shirt to reveal a bite on his stomach. His eyes widened in shock and horror a second later, "...What the fuck?"
"Happened during the raid." Kenny explained, knowing he owned Lee this after Lee told him and his wife about his past as he kept his eyes on the road. They would have called Jack here as well. However, they knew Jack was not in the right mind due to Andre's death and they should leave him alone for now to allow him to process everything.
"What's the plan? We've never had a bite victim in the group before." Lee wanted to know what the parents of the bitten boy wanted to do about this.
"I'm going to keep an eye on him and see what I can do, from a medical perspective." Katjaa explained, keeping her son on her knees.
"We keep the same plan unless something changes. East." Kenny added.
Lee sighed, "Guys..."
"What else is there to do?" Katjaa cut him off, not wanting to know whatever Lee would say to them. She felt like it would be too much for her to handle, "We thought you should know."
Kenny nodded in agreement, "Important to stay honest with each other."
"Anyway, if you could tell the rest, we would appreciate it." Katjaa ended their conversation, not wanting to it to go further as Lee nodded and turned away from her and her family.
Lee made his way to Clementine and sat down next to her. Clementine looked up at him as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him, letting out a sigh. How was he going to tell her Duck was bitten and was probably going to die? He looked around the other members of his group a second later, knowing he had to tell them about it right now and exhaled, bracing themselves for however they will react to this.
"Duck is bitten." He declared loudly a second later as Clementine, Jack, Travis, Ben and Mark all glanced at him in an instant. All of them looked at him with shock written on their faces, allowing themselves to process this information which took them several seconds. After processing this information, all of them looked at him almost as if they were pleading him to be some sick unfunny joke. All of their hopes died down a second later when Lee added, "He got bit by a walker trying to escape the motel."
His answer was the only confirmation they needed to get from him. The RV was filled with silence a second later as everyone took this information for the second and realized how it wasn't some sick joke. It was really happening. It was a grim and depressing reality this day had become and they had to face it. Duck was really bitten. A child was going to die and there was nothing they could do about it. It made all of them feel much worse about what happened today...
"Holy shit..." Travis broke the silence between them with his face showing genuine horror over a child out of all people getting bitten. No one deserved such fate in his mind. Ben was silent, not saying anything as his expression was filled with horror and more importantly guilt.
"Why him? Fuck..." Mark muttered under his breath with his voice breaking a bit, having completely forgotten about the pain in his shoulder after receiving this information while Jack stayed silent with expressiong growing more cold and depressing. Why Duck? He was still so young. He was a still a child for Gods sake! Why it couldn't have been him instead? He would gladly trade his places with Duck if he could...
"Kenny and Katjaa told me to tell you about this..." Lee explained to his group, wanting them to know why he told them about it and left them to process this infomation. He shifted his attention to Clementine a second later. He had to be there for her and help her process everything if she needed his help, "You okay, Clem?"
"I don't feel good." Clementine gave him her answer and looked up at him with a saddened look on her face, "What about Andre?"
Lee sighed, "There was no time for burial."
Clementine kept looking at him, "Walkers?
"Yeah. Horrible." Lee nodded in confirmation and decided to cheer Clementine up a bit by telling her. "I'm glad I have you."
"Me too." Clementine nodded with a brief smile showing up on her face, "I heard you outside my treehouse that day and thought about dropping a hammer on your head."
"What? Why?" Lee wanted to know.
"In case you were up to no good." Clementine began to explain to him, "Before you there was this other guy. He was yelling and trying to get into my house. He wanted to take the TV and tried to break the glass door with a rock. Then some walkers came and scared him away."
"The door was open." Lee pointed out.
"He was dumb." Clementine replied as Lee chuckled a bit at her choice of words. After several moments of silence between him and Clementine, Lee closed his eyes and slowly drifted into sleep, getting some deserved sleep and rest after this tough day for him and his group.
------
Lee woke up a few hours later when it was morning, letting out a yawn as he was glad it was new day. If he was honest with himself, he wished what happened yesterday could have been just a messed up dream even if he knew it was impossible. He moved his head to look at Clementine a second later and saw her sleeping next to him.
He looked around himself, wanting to take a look at the rest of his group and saw everyone were already up. All of them were already up as well. Travis and Ben were having a conversation with each other, trying to make themselves forget about everything with Travis doin most of the talking while Jack and Mark stayed silent, keeping to themselves as Mark continue to clutch his shoulder.
"We got something up ahead." Kenny announced as Lee got up and walked towards him. He stopped at the front of the RV and Lee walked over to him, wanting to know what was going on. The fisherman slowed down the RV as he stopped it in front of the thing preventing them from driving further down the road, "Damn it. Road's blocked. Now we gotta deal with this."
The door to the RV opened a few seconds later and Lee, Kenny, Jack, Mark and Travis walked out of the vehicle, wanting to take a look at their surroundings to get to know them better as Lee and Kenny knew they'd stay here for a while unless they'll find a way to get rid of the blockade in front of them. All of them looked ahead of themselves and saw there was a train standing in the middle of the road.
Travis eyes widened upon laying his eyes on the train, "Holy shit. A train?"
"Is there any way to get around it?" Mark asked, pointing at it.
"Doesn't like it." Kenny shook his head, "On foot, maybe. Can't really afford to do that now."
Jack shook his head, "Fucking great. This is exactly what we needed right now."
Lee looked around himself, "This seems like a safe area. All this bush will stop anything from creeping up on us."
"We should have enough time to find a way on how to move further." Travis nodded in agreement as Kenny walked to the RV, wanting inform the rest of the group it was safe for them to walk out. Clementine, Katjaa, Duck, and Ben walked out of the RV a seocnd later, joining their group outside.
Everyone looked at Duck upon seeing him and Katjaa leave the RV. He looked horrible to say the least. His skin was extremely pale and he looked to be extremely weak. Everyone looked at him with saddened looks on their faces, feeling like it was killing them on the inside to see a young boy like Duck in such a state. The group slowly walked over to the log nearby where they were going to decide what to do next a second later.
Mark adjusted his shoulder a bit upon sitting down on the log, "Dammit..."
"How are you doing?" Travis asked him in worry.
Mark sighed, "It hurts like Hell..."
"Mark. Honey. I'm sorry I can't take a look at it but..." Katjaa began to apologize to him with an apologetic look on her face, keeping her sick son on her knees.
Mark brushed her concerns off, "No. It's alright. I can handle this. Your son comes first."
"I can take a look at it if you want to." Lee suggested.
Mark looked at him questioningly, "You can?"
"Yeah. Katjaa can give me instructions regarding what I should do." Lee nodded in confirmation as he shifted his gaze to Katjaa to see if she was okay with it. Katjaa silently nodded at him, showing him she was okay with it as it meant she could help both Mark and her son in their times of need.
Mark nodded at Lee in a pleased manner, "Alright. That would be great. Thanks."
"I'll go check out the train." Jack pointed at the train next to him with his tone being cold and depressing. Everyone looked at him in worry. They knew Andre's death was still fresh on his mind. The blonde haired young man ignored the way everyone looked at him and added, "Maybe I'll find something useful in it."
"Me and Ben will go with you. This way we'll take care of everything quicker." Travis suggested as Ben reluctantly nodded in agreement.
"Fine. Whatever." Jack shrugged his shoulders, not caring if someone went with him or not as he turned away from his group and pushed himself into walk towards the train. Ben and Travis followed him, leaving their group with their own stuff as Lee stepped closer to Mark and stopped behind him, beginning to take a look at his wounded shoulder while following Katjaa's instructions...
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