Authors Note: Hello everyone. This is WritingForFood and if your reading this. I'd like to say thank you. If this plot sounds familiar, I was inspired by two other storys so I did not copy. Thank you! :)
"Don't be afraid..." Lee told Clem. His death was nearing, and it was not how he expected it. Handcuffed to a radiator inside a jewelry store. Clementine, a small nine year old girl, sat in front of him. Tears flowing from her eyes, flowing over the blood splattered on her cheeks.
Lee was bit. He was bitten trying to save Clem. As time passed, the infection started to kick in, but he hung onto the life he had left and rescued her. Rescued her from the unnamed man, the one who lost his family.
Lee and his group had stole from his car, despite Clementine trying to stop them.
It seemed like a good idea at the time, but as he looked back on it. It was a terrible mistake.
He could still remember his words. "I'm not some cannibal, Lee. Some killer out in the woods. Some...v-villain. I'm just a dad. I coach little league."
Everyone was normal before. But due to this illness or infection or whatever it was, it turned people into monsters. Real monsters: the walkers. Including humans, it caused paranoia, anxiety, depression. But most of all, it caused fear.
That explained the stranger. He had a family, he had a life. Until it was taken away from him. He went kind of insane. Keeping his wife's head inside a bowling bag. Kidnapping Clementine and telling his wife's head that she'll love Clementine.
He was kind of insane though to Lee. He referred to all the bad people Lee had met in his phrase. The cannibals meaning the St. Johns. The killers in the woods meaning the bandits. The villain meaning Crawford Oberson.
The stranger stalked Lee and his group, kept note of all the bad things Lee did. And all the bad people he met.
Clementine stood up, trembling. Lee knew what was happening, he had asked her to shoot him. Put him out, without pain and suffering.
She raised her gun, her hands shaking as she did so. Clementine had continued to cry.
Hesitant at first to shoot him. She succumbed to his orders, raising the gun and aiming. She looked away. Lee shut his eyes, waiting for what was about to happen.
Clementine shot.
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Pitch black. It was all he could see. Lee wasn't sure where he was, he knew he was dead though. Suddenly, to his left, a familiar person appeared. Shawn Greene.
"You could of saved me." Shawn whispered. Lee was perplexed, what did he mean by that. Lee could see the bites in his neck, they were deep.
Lee couldn't reply. He couldn't speak.
Another figure appeared next to him. It was Doug.
"You could of saved me." Doug whispered. Lee had saved Carley, leaving Doug to be mauled to death by walkers. He could see all the bite marks on Doug.
Mark appeared next, uttering the same words as the first two deceased former group members.
Then Larry, Carley, Katjaa, Duck, Chuck, Brie and Ben. All of them showing their death causes.
After he had witnessed his dead group members blame him. They moved aside. The next person appeared, walking up to Lee. It was someone he didn't expect. Clementine.
She looked exactly how she looked before Lee had made her shoot him. Bloody and crying. This time she wasn't crying.
She looked up and stared at Lee, dead in the eye. He could literally feel her glare.
"You could of saved yourself." She whispered. Lee was confused but before he knew what was about to happen, Clementine shot him, again.
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"Ah!" Lee yelled, in shock. He was somewhere new, somewhere recognizable. A cop car, driving out of Atlanta. Lee remembered now. Going to prison for murder. He had murdered the Georgia State Senator.
Sweat dripped from his forehead. He was shocked.
Was the whole thing a dream? Or a nightmare?
He stared down at his lap. His hands in handcuffs. Just like how he died. He was wearing the same clothes aswell.
Lee glanced to the cop in the front, via the view mirror. The cop adjusted it to look at Lee, he wrinkled his nose. Lee frowned and looked away. Just like before.
"Well, I reckon you didn't do it, then." The cop muttered his first words. He was an older man, Gray balding hair, ageing lines showing all over his face. He also wore the standard cop uniform.
Lee could change what he said.
"But I did." He retorted. The cop sighed.
"I guess it doesn't matter then." The cop replied. Lee couldn't tell if he was annoyed or pissed off. Maybe both. The cop carried on speaking. "Y'know, I've driven a buncha' fellas down to this prison. Lord knows how many. Usually is about now I get the 'I didn't do it.'"
Silence filled the car. "Most people who say they didn't do it, normally are the ones that did it."
The cop stifled a laugh. "Gotta agree with you there."
The cops radio suddenly goes off. "We've got what looks like a ten-ninety-oneE near Peachtree exit of two-eight-five. All cars are asked to keep on the lookout for a ninenty-oneV in the area."
The cop slapped a button which made the radio turn off.
Lee listened to and replied to the cops questions. Mostly ones about Lee growing up in Macon. Apparently the cop was from there aswell. Lee already knew.
After a while, he remembered that a person or a walker would be in the road causing the car to crash. Lee managed to make the cop shut up.
"LOOK OUT!" Lee yelled upon noticing the walker. The cop who now noticed it, drove to the right side of the road, hoping to drive around it.
He failed.
They ended up driving off the road anyway, the car flipped down the hill until finally crashing into the woods. He was knocked unconscious.
Lee woke up later on.
"Ugh... Oww... shit." Lee groaned. Just like before, his leg was injured. "Thirsty... ah! Fuck, my leg!"
Lee looked out the smashed window. Outside was the cops body, Lee remembered he would wake up as a walker. Turning back to the window infront of him, he kicked it three times until it smashed.
Climbing outside, he landed on his back. Trying his best to stand up, he used the crashed car as help for him to walk.
He limped up to the shotgun on the floor and picked it up. Reloading it with the bullet on the floor nearby, he walked over to the cop who was about to wake up as a walker.
He shot the cop in the back of head, killing it for good. Lee dropped the shotgun and grabbed the keys from the cops back pocket. Unlocking his handcuffs, they fell to the floor.
Lee suddenly heard the growling of walkers, he started limp up the hill.
Looking around, he could see more bodies. Not exactly bodies, walkers in fact.
Reaching a fence, he quickly climbed over it. The walkers began to bang on the fence, but a gunshot went off. They were attracted to it and walked away. Their groans and growls decreasing.
Lee remembered this part very well. His introduction with Clementine. He'd enter the house, listen to the messages of her parents, trip over blood, be attacked by her babysitter and be saved by Clementine.
He'd be able to get it over with really fast. Walking up the sliding door, he slid it open and entered. Dodging the blood, he picked up a bottle from the floor and smashed it against the counter.
Now it was sharp. He searched for the babysitter, finding her behind the couch in the houses living room. He stabbed her in the back of the head.
Now that he had dealt with that, he turned on the answering machine to listen to Clementine's moms messages.
"Three new messages. Message one. Left at five-forty-three P.M." The answering machine spoke. Clementine's moms message played. "Hey, Sandra, this is Diana. We're still in Savannah. Ed had a little 'incident' with some crazy guy near the hotel, so we had to get him back to ER and have it checked out. Anyway, he's not feeling well enough to drive back tonight, so we're staying an extra day. Thanks so much for looking after Clementine, and I promise we'll be back in time before your spring break!"
"Message two. Left at eleven-nine-teen P.M." The answering machine spoke, again. Diana spoke. "Oh my God, finally! I don't know if you've tried to reach us; all the calls are getting dropped. They're not letting us leave and aren't telling us anything about Atlanta. Please, please, just leave the city and take Clementine with you back to Marietta. I've got to get back to the hospital. Please let me know that you're safe."
"Message three. Left at six-fifty-one A.M." The answering machine spoke. Diana spoke after. She was frantic and crying uncontrollably this time. "Clementine? Baby, if you can hear this, call the police. That's nine-one-one. We love you... we love you... we love y-" The message was cut off.
Lee sighed, it was terrible having to hear that again. It was even more terrible having to break it to Clementine. He stared at a photo of her, Diana and Ed. They were a happy family. Broken by the apocalypse.
Out of nowhere, a walkie talkie began to speak from the kitchen. Lee forgot about it.
Entering the kitchen again, he opened up a drawer and picked it up. It spoke again.
"Daddy?" The voice asked, it was whispering. Lee knew it was Clem.
"I'm not your daddy. Sorry. I'm Lee." Lee introduced himself. Clementine was silent for a second.
"I'm Clementine. You have to be quiet." Her voice dropped more.
"Sorry. Where are you?" Lee asked. He already knew but had to not sound like he knew.
"I'm in my tree house. Look, you can see me from the window." Lee looked outside and saw Clementine sticking her head outside, she waved at him. Lee returned the wave.
"Do you think, you can leave the tree house?" Lee questioned. Clem thought about it but agreed.
"Okay. One minute."
After a minute had passed, Clementine was inside the house with Lee. This time without the encounter of Sandra.
Lee crouched down to meet Clementine at her height. "You've been through all this by yourself?"
"Yeah. I want my parents to come home now." She sighed. Lee frowned. He wasn't going to tell her just yet.
"Where are your parents?" He asked, trying to play dumb. Clementine bought it.
"There in Savannah. Where the boats are. They left me with Sandra the babysitter, I heard her scream two nights ago. I think one of the monsters got her." Clementine explained. "Where is Sandra?"
Lee sighed. "I found her as one of those things you call 'monsters'. I had to kill her, sorry Clementine."
Clementine sighed. Lee noticed she was upset.
"Hey. How about I look after you, until your parents get back." Lee smiled. Clems face lit up.
"Okay. What should we do now?" She asked, swaying her arms back and forth. Lee stood up.
"I think we should get outta her before it gets dark."
"That's smart. It's note safe at night."
"Come on."
Clementine took hold of Lee's hand and they walked outside. Reaching the gate, they noticed two men trying to push a car.
Before Lee opened the gate, he crouched down and looked at Clementine.
"What's the matter?"
"Should I stay?"
"What?"
"I don't want to sleep in the tree house any more, but I don't know if I should leave. What if my parents come back?"
"Hey, how about we go somewhere close and safe."
"Okay." Clementine smiled. She liked Lee's idea. It was originally hers.
Clementine opened the gate and walked over to the two men.
"Hey, man." Lee shouted out walking over to them. They both got startled and turned around. Mistaking Lee for a walker, they backed away.
"HOLY SHIT!" The first one yelled.
"DON'T EAT US!" The second yelled. It was more of a girly scream.
"Don't worry. We're not gonna hurt you." Lee reassured.
"Phew. For a second there, I thought you and the little one were both gonna give us the chomp."
Lee smiled. "I'm Lee. This is Clementine. We're just trying to get out of the neighbourhood."
"I'm Shawn." He introduced himself. The other man, the fat one, crouched down and smiled at Clementine.
"I'm Chet." Clementine smiled and hid behind Lee's leg.
"We're also tryin' to escape. Maybe we can make a trade, if you help us push our truck, we can take you to my family's farm." Shawn offered. Lee knew they would stay the night and meet Hershel along with Kenny and his family. Lee would also have to prevent Shawn's death due to Duck's incompetence.
"Deal."
Lee, Shawn and Chet began to push the truck. Luckily, the walkers hadn't arrived yet. Clementine even tried to push. Pushing the car onto the open road, Chet climbed inside the back whilst Lee, Clementine and Shawn got in the front.
They drove off at the moment the walkers arrived.
Once the arrived at Hershels' farm, Chet jumped out and ran home. It was also night time. Shawn introduced Lee and Clementine to Hershel who fixed up Lee's leg. Lee also made sure they knew that Lee was just some guy who found Clementine on her own.
Later on, Lee and Clementine were both lying on their beds inside Hershel's barn. Clementine began to complain about the smell.
"It smells like..."
"Manure."
"Manure? Like when a horse... plops?"
"Just like that."
It was silent for a few minutes. Clementine spoke up again.
"I miss my mom and dad."
"I bet, Clem."
"How far is Savannah?" Clementine asked, she was confused.
"Pretty far."
"Oh. Ok."
Clementine fell asleep. Lee knew that he was about to have a nightmare about his ex-wife. He hated this nightmare.
Once he fell asleep, he could hear her telling him that she loved him, her laughing... and her screaming. Then the shattering off a window and her screams woke him up.
Lee calmed down, wiping sweat from his forehead before descending back to sleep.
A moustached man woke Lee up. "Hey, get up."
Lee yawned and then groaned before standing up to meet the man. Clementine was also awaking and itching her arms and legs. "I'm itchy."
"Well you slept in a barn, little lady. Lucky you don't have spiders in your hair." The moustached man known as Kenny joked. Clementine shrieked. "But I bet your daddy scared 'em all away, huh?"
"I'm not her dad. Name's Lee."
"I'm Kenny."
"Dad!" A sudden voiced yelled. Lee knew it was Duck. "We're gonna build a fence! There's a tractor and everything!"
Kenny sighed. "We better get going, or we won't hear the end of it."
Clementine held Lee's hand as they walked out the barn with Kenny.
"That's my boy, Ken JR. We call him Duck, though." Kenny told his sons name. Lee acted perplexed. He knew already.
"Duck?"
"Yeah. Nothin' bothers him. Like water off a duck's back, y'know?"
Lee smiled. "That's a valuable trait lately."
"No kidding. But frankly, I think it's because he's as dumb as a bag of hammers." Kenny joked. Lee knew Kenny as a joker type, but he knew he'd be a hard ass later on.
"DAAAD!" Duck yelled.
"But he makes up for it with enthusiasm." Kenny explained.
They walked up to Duck and a woman sitting on a hay bale. Lee knew her as Katjaa, Kenny's wife.
"The word is your on your way to Macon." Kenny says, stopping once they reached Duck and Katjaa.
"My family is from there."
"Well Macon's on the and, personally, I'd appreciate the company of a guy who can knock a couple of heads together if he has to."
"I'll see if the girl think's it's a good idea." Lee replied. Kenny smiled.
"Ah, gotta consult the missus. I understand." Kenny responded before turning to Katjaa and Duck. "Honey, Duck, this is Lee and uh, what's the girl's name?"
"Clementine." Lee told as Clem hid behind Lee.
"Clementine." Kenny repeated.
"That is a very pretty name." Katjaa complimented.
"Thanks." Clementine replied.
"Well, we should get to work. We've all seen what those things can do out there so the faster we get this fence up, the better." Shawn told, walking up to them.
"I'm gonna build a fence." Duck smiled to his mother. Shawn smiled also. Lee had to stop him.
"Yeah? Well I need a good foreman. You can sit on the tractor and yell at me whenever I take a water break." Shawn responded. Before Duck could reply, Lee butted in.
"Ugh, Shawn, I don't mean to be the fun spoiler but... tractors can suddenly start if the wrong button is pressed. You never know, your foot could get run over." Lee explained. Duck pouted.
"I've heard that too." Kenny said, backing Lee up. "Duck, it'd be best for you and Shawn to not go on the tractor."
"Awww." Duck groaned. Shawn didn't see any problem and went to build the fence with Duck. Lee smiled once he knew that he saved Shawn from his possible death.
"I can keep an eye on your little girl here on the porch. We can visit." Katjaa said with a smile. Clementine smiled back and sat on the hay bale beside Katjaa. Kenny went to work on his truck.
Lee remembered that Shawn would tell him Hershel would be in the barn, wanting to talk to him. Lee spoke with Katjaa before going over to the barn. He also remembered Hershel would take a while.
"Hey there, girls." Lee greeted, smiling. Katjaa smiled back. "So, how was the city?"
"Kenny just... drove. We passed so many people that needed our help. And... we just... passed people, over some. Just... just..." Katjaa explained but her voice trailed off. Lee knew she was getting upset so he stopped her.
"It's okay. It's fine, you don't have to say any more."
"I want to go home tomorrow, but even then I can't take away the things we - the things Duck - went through. Don't you just wanna go before you knew about all of this?"
"Anybody in their right mind would. Families and BBQ's and beers with good friends."
"All of those things."
"Those are the things we live for, right? With those gone, what's the point?" Lee asked, Katjaa agreed. Lee walked away and went up to Kenny.
"Need any help?" Lee asked, he knew that Kenny would refuse.
"Naw, I think I got it. Do YOU need any help?" Kenny questioned. Lee knew he was referring to Clem but acted dumb anyway.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, in taking care of that little girl. You know what you're doing? You got kids of your own?"
"Nah, nah. No... no kids."
"Woulda liked one then."
"You know."
Lee walked away and noticed Hershel walking into the barn. Lee walked over and entered the barn, Hershel was cleaning up some hay.
Hershel looked up and glared at Lee. Lee frowned and Hershel went back to cleaning. "How'd you get outta Atlanta?"
"I got a ride and then I was in a wreck. I walked until your boy found me." Lee lied. It wasn't a complete lie, he knew he'd have to explain his past when Carley questioned him about it.
"Hmm. Well you're no worse for wear."
"This farm's a nice plot of land."
"Heh, had you told me twenty years ago I'd still be doing this, I'd told you that you were full of crap. Never was the plan, having a place like this. It was in the family, and I guess so was I. Family's important; it's all that matters. You agree with that?" Hershel questioned.
"Was brought up to, yes." Lee responded with a small smile.
"Where's your family now? Parents? Wife? Girlfriend?"
"My parent's are in Macon, with my brother." Lee pointed out.
"Well I hope they're all right. But now you've got this little girl to take care of. Clementine, is it? You just stumbled up-on her?" He asked, starting to rake the hay.
"Yeah, I was looking for help in her house."
"Hmmph. Can I give you a piece of advice?" Hershel asked. Lee really wanted to hit him at this part. Lee decided to be friendly.
"What is it?"
"I don't know who you are or what you did." Hershel began. "Let's say things don't get better back in the cities. Or they get worse before they do. You're going to have to depend on the honesty of strangers if you're going to make it. And if those same people get to questioning yours, you're going to be in trouble. Oh, and I'd start checking the attitude, friend."
The day went on as normal, due to the fact that Lee had saved Shawn from his death. This time around, Shawn noticed the walkers coming up to him. Him and Duck escaped and Hershel ran over and shot them. They then continued building the fence.
Lee, Clementine, Kenny, Katjaa and Duck then left Hershel's farm after saying their goodbyes. They were on their way to Macon. But for Lee, he was on his way to save both Doug and Carley.
Authors Note: Thank you for reading chapter one. If you liked it, remember to follow and review. It'd be much appreciated. See you in the next one! :)