𝟷.𝟷𝟻 | To Savannah
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"It was me," Ben spoke as Lee went to walk by him into the Boxcar, Lee turned to the teenager who had his head in his hands. "Huh?" Lee questioned confused. "I was the one giving the bandits supplies," Ben admitted to Lee. "What?!" Lee exclaimed to the teenager. "It's all my fault," Ben told him, regret and guilt gnawing at his chest like a tsunami looming over him waiting to hit the shore. "What for? Why the hell would you do this?!" Lee questioned the seventeen-year-old teenager they had saved and taken in without hesitation. "They said they had my friend, that he was with them. By the time I realised they didn't, it was too late," Ben explained to Lee.
"They said they'd kill me. Kill all of us. I'm sorry, Lee," Ben finished off, his voice cracking from guilt. Lee was stunned by Ben's confession, they had lost so many people because of his actions but all Lee could see was a teenage boy who made a mistake that created a tremor of consequences. "You can't say anything, Ben. Things are tense as it is," Lee warned the teenager, "Especially with Kenny. Hayden has calmed him down, got him talking. You admitting this will only ruin that." Ben went to speak but chose to accept the man's words, he turned his head away while Lee sighed and headed into the Boxcar, he didn't want to focus on that right now.
Lee had gotten a look at the map of Savannah, taking it back from Kenny while he had a drink of whiskey with Hayden which allowed Lee to determine their next move once they reach Savannah. Naya had fallen asleep on the mattress, Clement sat by her head brushing his fingers through her short hair for both of their comfort. "I want to talk about Savannah," Lee spoke softly as he knelt by the two kids, he smiled at the sleeping girl before turning back to Clem who turned his attention to his pseudo father. "Me too," Clem replied to him, keeping his hand resting in Naya's.
"And what we're going to do when we get there. We don't know what to expect -- the city could be bad or totally under control," Lee expressed to Clem who paid full attention, "The thing is, the two of us, we're a team, you know? And a team needs a plan. Aside from everyone else, when this train stops, the two of us should know exactly what we're doing." Clem tilted his head with a slight frown, he didn't want to part from Naya but he knew that Hayden was the lead in that situation so the eleven-year-old could only hope that Hayden tags along with any of Lee's plans. "A plan. I like it," Clem replied to him after a beat of silence.
"Good. I think we should look for your parents," Lee said to the boy, he knew having no answers would only drag the young boy down and perhaps they could find some closure. "Really?" Clem asked with wide hopeful eyes, he was losing faith despite Naya's encouraging words but knowing that Lee still wished to find them gave the boy a new sense of hope. "Yes, Clem. You need to know if they're okay. And, well, if they're not, what happened to them," Lee replied to the boy. Clement went to reply but fell silent, he knew that Lee was right not to have too high of hope due to how unpredictable the world was now.
The two continued discussing their plan, Clement telling Lee about the hotel that his parents had stayed at previously called 'The Marsh House'. "You think we have a good plan?" Lee asked Clement. "Yeah but... what about Nala and Hayden?" Clem asked Lee who frowned slightly. "I'll talk to Hayden, okay?" Lee told the boy who nodded his head knowing there wasn't much more he could do. Naya moving and waking up pulled their attention, she yawned and rubbed her eyes before moving her head into Clement's lap. "Hi Lee," Naya spoke making the man laugh softly. "Hi Moo," Lee greeted when the train came to a sudden halt.
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On a bridge passing over the tracks, a gas truck cargo dangled dangerously in the way of the train blocking their path. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FUUUUCK!" Kenny exclaimed loudly in anger. "Maybe we could walk?" Ben voiced from behind the man. "That's fucking stupid, Ben," Kenny replied to him, his eye twitching in irritation. "I'm just sayin'," Ben replied quietly as Chuck climbed down from the train. "I dunno; I ain't got much experience with y'all's fortitude but we could probably deal with that. We got a damn train," Chuck voiced as he crossed his arms, Lee and the two kids joining the group looking at the blockage.
"That's not full of milk, Charles. That's gas or diesel, something that's going to explode," Kenny replied to the older man. "You gotta get ahold of yourself. This is a crew here," Chuck expressed to Kenny who glared harshly at the older man, stepping towards him until Hayden placed his hand on Kenny's shoulder with a warning look. "Yo, you keep screaming like that and you're gonna get your face chewed off," A male's voice called out, the group looked up to see a man and woman standing by the edge of the bridge looking down at them. "Are you guys going to be trouble? Because we could've kept walking," The woman added.
"No, we're friendly!" Lee called out to the two survivors. "That's what everybody says," The woman responded to Lee with distrust clear in her tone. "We know," Lee replied, he wouldn't deny that. "Let's give these guys a break," The man told the woman who sighed and relented. "You guys got a problem with your train?" The man called down to them. "Yeah, you're standing right in front of it," Kenny called back with an obvious tone of annoyance. "Dude, it's a wreck. It's not so bad from up here. Send your buddy up to have a look," The man called down to them. Lee moved forward only for Kenny to stop him, "Anything goes sideways up there, we won't let them escape."
Lee nods to him before heading up the ladder against the pillar of the bridge, "If I come up there, you better not be murderers or thieves." Clem sent Naya a reassuring smile before he followed behind Lee. A tired Naya stayed by Ben's side, the older boy seemed to be out of it and she wanted to keep him company in hopes it'll comfort him. "Hey dude, I'm Omid," Omid introduced himself once Lee was standing in front of him. "Lee," Lee introduced back to the man. "Christa. What's the deal with the train?" Christa asked once she introduced herself to Lee. "We're driving it," Lee answered her. "Oh man," Omid muttered excitedly. "Oh shit! You guys have kids?" Omid suddenly exclaimed once Clement stepped up next to Lee.
"What are you doing here?" Lee asked his boy. "Do you know how long it's been since I've seen a kid? Shit!" Omid exclaimed as he looked at Christa before focusing back on Clement who was watching him. "What's your name?" Christa asked kindly. "Clement," The boy answered her politely, he looked towards Lee as the man spoke, "Oh, so he gets to swear?" Clement smirked at Lee's teasing before the older man turned back to Omid and Christa. "Well, this is great! See. Things are looking up," Omid told Christa who was watching Lee suspiciously. "You're not his dad. They down there?" Christa asked Lee who replied, "It's that obvious?" She nodded, "To me."
"And no, he's not down there," Lee replied to her, he looked down towards the boy before looking back at Christa. "What's your story?" Christa asked him. "I came across Clement alone the first day all of this happened. We've been together ever since," Lee answered her, he figured it wouldn't hurt as the two appeared to be simple survivors who could possibly tag along with them. "And everybody down there, they cool?" Christa asked curiously. "Kenny lost his wife and kid," Lee replied. "Man, how long ago?" Omid asked him. "What time is it?" Lee questioned them. "I don't know. Four?" Omid guessed despite his confusion.
"Maybe two hours ago," Lee guessed causing Omid and Christa to lower their gazes, they had not been expecting that. "We're sorry for everything that's happened to you guys. That train is awesome though," Omid expressed with a soft smile. "That tank is your real problem. We'll help you with it, but if we see anything we don't like, we're moving on down the road. Alone," Christa told Lee. "We'd appreciate the help," Lee responded to her with a kind smile. Lee, Clem, Omid and Christa headed down and Lee introduced the two newbies to the group who kindly greeted them back; Omid once again stunned to see a second child.
Kenny, who was showing Omid about the train just in case something happened, was becoming a concern to Hayden and Lee. But it was a concern that they would have to put in the back of their minds as they focused on the situation at hand. "I'll take the kids to check out that station," Lee suggested to Hayden who nodded. "I'll go see what we can do about this hanging cargo," Hayden replied to him before the two went separate directions. "Naya, Clem, let's go," Lee called to them before they all made their way towards the station. Clem rushed ahead of Naya and Lee, reaching for the door but Lee was quick to speak, "You should wait for me before trying to open doors."
Clem stepped back and looked up at Lee with a slight frown, "Sorry." Lee sent him a small smile, "It's alright. Luckily it's locked. We'll get better at working together." Clement smiled at those words, he moved to stand next to Naya while Lee had a quick look around. "Maybe I could look in?" Naya offered as she looked up at the window above the door, she turned to Lee who nodded with pride. "Good eyes, Moo," Lee told her, she grinned happily before Lee put her on his shoulders to peek in. "Careful," Clem called out, he didn't want his best friend to get hurt.
"Okay, I can see in, what do I do now?" Naya asked Lee as she looked around the dark space inside. "What do you see?" Lee questioned her in response. "Lots of crates and stuff," Naya replied before she looked towards the door noticing that the lock wasn't too far out of reach, so she leaned down and pulled the small bar across. "Maybe we can find the key or figure out a way to knock this door down," Lee suggested as Naya steadied herself. "I think I unlocked it," Naya told him with a smile. Lee put her back down next to Clem, the boy instantly holding her hand in his as Lee opened the door.
"Well I'll be damned. Good job, Moo," Lee said to the girl, the toothy smile on her face was adorable to both males. "Let's go. Be careful," Naya said as she looked at the two males. "I'm supposed to tell you that," Lee teased though he was happy that she was learning quick ─ they both were. The three of them walked into the station though they were quick to notice that it was really dark inside. "It's really dark in here," Naya told the two. "Maybe I can hold the door open?" Clem offered with a shrug. "I don't like that," Lee told him before thinking, "I'll prop it open with something." He thought for a moment before he found a heavy cement block, placing it against the door.
With light shining into the space, Lee was able to see a blowtorch however, it was trapped behind a locked gate. "We need to get in there and get that blowtorch," Lee told the two kids as he looked up at the gap above the door, "There's a little gap up there." Naya smiled as she stepped forward, "It's a good thing I'm so little then." Lee chuckled at those words before he boosted her up through the gap into the smaller space. "Go on and grab the keys, Naya," Lee told her as he mentioned to the key rack. "Behind you!" Naya exclaimed as she looked at Lee and Clem, a Walker approaching them.
Lee and Clem turned to see the Walker coming towards them, Clem gasps as Lee reaches for his gun but another Walker came up and knocked the gun out of his hand; the gun sliding under the gate to Naya. Clem backed up against the gate watching fearfully, Lee managed to get his hands on a pole a short distance away which he used to knock one Walker aside before bashing the other in the head sending it to the floor. However, a sudden gunshot echoed through the air and the two males looked over to see Naya holding the gun that aimed at the now dead Walker.
"It's okay, Moo. You did a good job," Lee assured the young girl, she slowly lowered her arms as Clem smiled at her with pride. But their sweet moment was interrupted by the presence of a Walker approaching Naya causing Clem's eyes to widen. "Keys now!" Clem told Naya, the blonde rushed to the keys and grabbed them before passing them to Lee. Lee efficiently unlocked the gate door, he pulled it open and carefully pushed Naya into Clement's awaiting arms while grabbing his gun in the process. Lee raised the gun and quickly fired a shot into the head of the Walker, the tense air slowly faded as Lee turned to Naya who was taking a deep breaths.
"Proud of you, Moo," Lee told her, she smiled up at him feeling pride in her own actions; maybe they had a chance to survive after all. "What's going on? I thought I heard a gunshot?" Christa called out as she approached the door, she stopped and noticed the three Walkers on the ground while Lee stood protectively by the two kids. "We're fine," Lee reassured the concerned woman. "You and two kids versus three of them, huh?" Christa questioned as she crossed her arms with a raised brow. "It was stupid but they handled themselves," Lee told the woman.
"I'm going to go make sure the noise didn't cause us any problems," Christa told them, she didn't want to come off to nosy on Lee's choices with the kids. "That's a good idea," Clem spoke up receiving a smile from the older woman. "Alright, well, that blowtorch will be useful," Lee assured the two kids, he turned to them, "What have we learnt?" Naya grinned, "That I fit in small spaces?" Lee chuckled at that before Clem spoke, "Always have a way out and be prepared for any surprises." Lee nodded his head, "Good job, kids. Let's get this train moving again." The two kids joined Ben and Chuck in the train while Lee and Omid worked on getting the gas truck cargo out of the way.
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Rosemary Speaks. . .
Got some teamwork going along with important lessons. The question is, will Hayden and Naya join Lee and Clem or will they go their separate ways?
Omid and Christa have arrived, I adore them and I wish they had better endings. (*spoiler*)
Thoughts about Savannah?
I don't think you're ready for this roller-coaster ride I have planned. . .
Thoughts, Suggestions or Questions?
See you in the next chapter!
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