Chapter 2: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

The St. John's Dairy was nothing like what the group was expecting. Lee did his best to keep an open mind about the place, despite Mark's overly optimistic enthusiasm. But as much as he wanted this place to be the safe harbor that they desperately needed, he could not in good conscience bring Clementine or allow Kenny to bring his family here, if it turned out to be unsafe.

On the surface, the dairy seemed to be what the St. John's had said it was. They had plenty of open field, surrounded by a self-made electric fence, which was indeed powered by generators. Mrs. St. John had even been kind enough to offer them a basket of biscuits for Doug and Carley to take back to their group.

Still, something seemed off to Lee. His suspicion only grew, when he and Mark ran into a bit of trouble. The two had been clearing dead walkers from the fence while it was powered down, when the fence suddenly came back on. But why would Andy turn it on again, when he knew they were still out there?

The fence hadn't been the only issue. Not five minutes later, Lee and Mark were being shot at by bandits in the woods. They had to carefully walk alongside a tractor as it rolled, until they reached the gate; but Mark still wound up shot in the shoulder with an arrow.

Lee and Mark were talking to the St. Johns about the bandits, when the rest of the group arrived. It took them a moment to even notice that something was wrong, but once they all saw that arrow sticking out of Mark's shoulder, they greeted him with various concerned remarks and questions.

"I'm fine," Mark lied. "I should just...pull it out..."

"Oh no, honey, c'mon, Brenda's got you. C'mon inside now. We'll have you all sorted out."

The rest of the group watched as Brenda St. John and Katjaa took Mark inside the house to patch him up. All the adults then shared a look of understanding that this was not a discussion they wanted the children to witness.

"Hey, kids, look a swing," said Quinn cheerfully.

"A swing! I love swings! Just like at my treehouse!" Clementine took off running towards the swing. "C'mon, Duck!"

Once Quinn and the kids were out of hearing range, Lee explained to everyone what had happened. It didn't make the others feel anymore comfortable with the idea of being here. What made it worse still was when the St. John boys told them about the deal they'd had with the bandits.

"You knew about these people?" Kenny questioned in shock.

"God dammit! Carley said this place was locked down tight!" Larry growled.

Carley wasn't able to defend herself this time. She, Doug, and Ben had stayed back at the motor inn with the dog. It made sense, given they needed someone to protect the place still, and they'd eaten most of the biscuits by the time they'd returned to the motel.

"So much for your 'deal'," said Lee.

"Listen, we may have had an agreement with those people, but we will not stand for this shit," said Andy.

"Ain't no way we're gonna let those sons of bitches get away with this," Danny agreed.

"You know where these assholes are?" Kenny asked.

"They're hard to pin down, but I think I know where at least one of their camps are," said Danny. Sensing there were a few things to discuss, he added, "When you're ready to go scope out that bandit camp, come find us."

Lee, Kenny, Larry, and Lilly waited for the St. John brothers to walk out of hearing range, before discussing what they should do. Kenny and Lee, of course, wanted to go and check out these bandits – anything to make this place more safe for the kids.

Lilly didn't trust the farm one bit, and made it clear that she didn't think they should stay. Kenny, of course, argued with her. He felt the farm was a lot safer than the motor inn, and they should be prepared to take this place if they had to.

"Whoa, cool your jets there, Rambo. These are nice people. Let's not do anything to get us thrown out before we eat," said Larry.

"I'm gonna head out with Danny to search for that bandit camp," said Lee.

"Me too," said Kenny.

"While we're gone, why don't you two try to make friends with Andy and Brenda," Lee suggested. "Maybe we can get some more information to help us decide what to do."

Larry and Lilly nodded in agreement, then went their separate ways.

Quinn had done her best to keep the two children occupied with the swing, and for the most part she'd succeeded. Duck wasn't all that happy waiting and wishing it was his turn for the swing, but Clementine was more observant than that. She could tell there was something going on with the adults, and she kept looking to Lee to figure it out. It also didn't help that their voices were beginning to carry.

"What do you think of the dairy, Clementine?" Quinn asked, trying to redirect her attention.

"It's pretty," said Clementine. "It reminds me of how things used to look before."

"Yeah, it does."

"Do you think things will ever get back to how they were?" Clem asked.

Quinn was glad Clementine couldn't see her face fall. "...I'm not sure, Clem. I hope so."

"I hope so, too." Clementine let Quinn push her a few more times on the swing, before asking, "Is Mark gonna be okay?"

"I think he will," said Quinn. "He could have been hurt a lot worse than he is. He got lucky."

"Is Lee going to find the people who hurt Mark?"

"Probably, Clem. He has to make sure this place is safe for all of us, especially you," said Quinn. She noticed the concern on the little girl's face. "Don't worry, Clem. Lee will be fine."

"I just want him to stay lucky, too," said Clem.

"Lee's one of the luckiest men I've ever met. Besides, I don't think anything could ever keep him from coming back to you," said Quinn.

Clementine smiled.

Quinn saw Lee heading over, and figured he might wanna talk to Clem. "Alright, Clem, it's time for Duck to have a turn."

"Okay." Clementine hopped off the swing to let Duck on. He was beyond excited for it to be his turn.

"Hey, Clem," said Lee.

"Hey, Lee."

"How are you liking the swing?" he asked.

"It's fun!" said Clem. "I missed having one."

"I'm glad you like it." Lee glanced over at Quinn.

"Does this mean you're going now?" Clementine asked him.

"Yeah. But I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Please be lucky," said Clementine.

Lee glanced over at Quinn again. She smiled and gave him an encouraging nod.

"I will, Clem. I promise."

"You're back! What happened?" Brenda called from the porch.

"Handled it, momma," Danny replied, bringing the weapons back to where they belonged.

Lee watched him as he went, but Kenny was looking around at the relatively empty dairy around them. He saw Lilly and Larry sitting in the gazebo nearby, but where were the others - where were the children and Kuru?

"Where the hell is everyone?" Kenny wondered aloud.

Lee looked around, too. "Maybe they're in the barn."

"Think we should tell Lilly what we saw at the bandit camp?" Kenny asked, as they began walking towards the barn.

Lee thought it over carefully. He felt they should share what they saw with someone, but Lilly and Larry weren't exactly the types to listen to hardly anyone, especially Lee and Kenny. "Probably," said Lee. "But I got a feeling that she and Larry will only tell us to keep our noses out of the St. Johns' business, and not get ourselves thrown out before we've had something to eat."

"Yeah, you're right," Kenny agreed. "Just thought I should ask."

The two men opened the barn doors, and stepped inside. They found everyone sitting inside, just as Lee had suggested they might be. Katjaa was taking care of the St. Johns' sick cow, with Andy and the kids watching her. Quinn was standing in the back of the barn by a large door.

The men's immediate thoughts were to check in with their respective families; but when they glanced over at Quinn, she gestured for them to join her at the back.

"What's up?" Lee asked her.

"How was the camp? Did you find anymore of those guys who tried to kill Mark?" Quinn asked.

"We found a woman in the woods. She was talking all crazy shit, had a crossbow aimed right at us...so Danny killed her," said Kenny.

"What?! Why, was she one of those bandits?"

"I don't know," said Lee. "I think she was trying to tell us something, but then Danny just went off."

"Jesus..." Quinn glanced over to make sure Andy was still distracted with Katjaa and the cow. "These people are hiding something."

"What makes you say that?"

"My gut. What you both just told me about what happened at the bandit camp." She gestured to the large door next to them. "The moment we came in, Andy locked it up real tight. I got a quick look in there. They've got boxes and sharp, metal objects all in there."

"Let's not get paranoid, here. He was probably just trying to keep the kids safe from the sharp objects you saw back there," said Lee.

"Maybe. But there are children here, counting on us to keep them safe, so I can't just ignore this feeling," Quinn argued.

"I gotta agree, Lee. Somethin's definitely off about these people," said Kenny. "What about you? What about Clem?"

"I'll protect her no matter what," said Lee.

"I know you will."

"We have to get in there and take a good look," said Quinn.

"Go find me a hammer or somethin', and I'll have this thing off in a second," said Kenny. "You two back me up, in case them farmers come runnin'."

"Hang on, man, think this through. You smash the lock, then what if it turns out you're wrong? You just fucked your chance to get a good meal in those kids you're trying to protect," Lee argued. "Use your head, Kenny."

"Alright, Professor. What'd you have in mind?"

The three of them looked at the lock, as they tried to figure out a more subtle way of breaking into the back room.

"Hey, Lee. You know how to pick a lock, right?" Kenny asked.

"No. Why would you say that?"

"Well, you're, uh...you know...urban?"

Quinn covered her mouth to hide the light snort of laughter.

"Oh, you are not saying what I think you're saying," said Lee.

"Jesus, man, I'm from Florida. Crazy shit just comes out of my mouth, sometimes," said Kenny. "Sorry."

"I think I know a way in," said Quinn, breaking up the awkwardness between the two men. "See those screws? All we have to do is take off the assembly, then we can have a peek inside. After that, it's just a simple matter of screwing it back on. No one will ever know we were in there."

"Alright. Sounds like you got a plan," said Kenny. "I'll hang around and keep an eye on that guy with the cow."

"Andy."

"Shit, I-I thought that was Danny. Whatever."

"You know, we're gonna need to distract Andy, too," said Quinn. "We can't exactly break in here unnoticed with him sitting right there."

Lee thought for a moment. "When Mark and I first arrived, Andy was complaining about the generator outside. If I could sabotage it somehow – make it look like it's just acting up – he'd have to go outside and fix it."

"That could work."

"Alright, let's get to it," said Kenny.

Kenny walked over to where his family, Clementine, and Andy were all gathered. It wasn't all that suspicious for him to lean against the stall wall and watch, considering it was his wife and child sitting there. Meanwhile, Lee and Quinn headed outside to find a screwdriver of some kind and to set up their distraction for Andy.

When they got outside they noticed Larry in the distance, talking to Brenda. She giggled a lot, making it seem more like Larry was flirting with her. Quinn made a face of disgust.

"Come on," said Lee. "We probably don't have long before dinner, and we won't be able to excuse ourselves from that without raising suspicion."

Lee knelt down next to the generator to look at what he could do, while Quinn began looking around for a tool of some kind. She didn't have to look very hard. Not too far from the barn, there was a sawhorse with a tackle box on top. Quinn peeked inside. There was no screwdriver, but there was a multitool. Quinn grabbed it and walked back over to Lee.

"Any luck?" Quinn asked.

"I could probably open it up and remove the belt – make it look like it threw the belt. But I need a screwdriver just to get to it," he replied. "I don't suppose you've found one."

"No, but I did find this." Quinn held out the multitool.

"That'll work."

Lee took the tool and opened up the generator. There was no safe way of removing the belt while the machine was still on, so he switched it off. After removing the belt, he quickly screwed the panel closed again, and the two walked away fast. By the time Andy exited the barn to see what was wrong with it, Lee and Quinn were standing off to the side, carrying on a casual conversation. Their plan was working, so far.

After a couple more minutes of chatting, so as not to arouse suspicion, Quinn and Lee headed back into the barn. They were just approaching Kenny to tell him that they were set to go, when someone began ringing a dinner bell.

"Mom! Dad! It's dinner time!" cried Duck.

"Okay, honey. Let's get dad," said Katjaa.

"Dad! Dad! C'mon, let's EEAAAAAT!"

"Kenny, come on, honey. Don't make the children wait," Katjaa called.

Kenny turned to Quinn and Lee, and whispered, "I'll make an excuse for you. Get that thing off!"

Once the barn was clear, Quinn set to work unscrewing the lock. To make things move a little quicker, she only unscrewed them enough for Lee to grab them and unscrew the rest of the way with his hand. They didn't hesitate to open the door, when they were finished, but they almost wished they had taken the time to brace themselves.

What they saw inside the room behind the door was unimaginable. There was blood everywhere – on the floor, on the tools, on the counters...It was a real horror show.

"Maybe...Maybe it's from one of their own animals," Quinn suggested.

"This is a dairy, not a ranch," said Lee. "They don't have that kind of livestock."

"Maybe it's something they found in the woods."

"Our people have been hunting in these woods for weeks, and the only thing we've found are walkers and the parts of animals the walkers haven't eaten," Lee argued. "Either the St. Johns are eating tainted meat, or..."

"Or?"

"Or they're eating some other kind of meat."

Quinn felt a cold chill go down her spine, as she spotted a beartrap in the the back room. "Oh, god...the beartrap. From this morning. It was altered to have no release latch. They put that trap out there. They altered it."

"But why would they remove the release latch? It doesn't make any sense."

"It does if their prey was capable of releasing themselves from the trap," said Quinn. "And there's only one one type of animal capable of that...a human."

Lee felt sick. "Maybe they're just scattering them all over to stop the bandits from coming to the farm."

Quinn gestured to the back room. "Look at all that blood, Lee. If they're using them to trap the bandits, then why is this here? Are they bringing them back here and cutting them up for fun?"

Lee tried to think of a more logical explanation for all of this, other than what Quinn was implying – it was just too horrifying to even think about. But try as he might, there was no other explanation that he could find.

"Hey, Lee! Quinn!" Andy called from the front porch. "Where are you?"

"Shit!"

Lee and Quinn moved as fast as they could to put the lock back the way it was. Like they'd done when removing it, they turned the screws with their hands, until they couldn't anymore, then Quinn tightened them with the multitool.

"Lee? Quinn?" Andy called again. He was getting closer to the barn.

"What do we do now?" Lee asked.

"Follow my lead."

Quinn grabbed Lee and ducked inside the closest stall. She pulls him on top of her, as she lays down in the hay. After positioning his hands on her body, she pulled him into a kiss. Lee was taken by complete surprise. It was all so fast, he had no idea what was happening.

"Lee?" Andy peered around the corner into the stall. His face flushed with awkwardness. "Whoa!"

Lee and Quinn parted and pretended to be surprised and embarrassed at being caught, though Lee's surprise wasn't all that faked.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to, uh...interupt," said Andy.

"No. No, we just got a little...carried away," said Quinn with false embarrassment.

Lee helped her to her feet, and she smiled awkwardly, as she passed both of the men to head towards the house, picking straw out of her hair. Lee stared on after her, still in shock at what had just happened.

Andy nudged Lee's arm and gave him a gesture of congratulations. Lee forced a smile, then followed Quinn out of barn with Andy close behind him.

Brenda was passing out more biscuits, when the three stepped into the house. Nearly everyone was already sitting at the table waiting for their meal. But aside from Quinn and Lee not yet sitting down, Mark was missing. Why?

"Well, there you two are! What took you so long?" Brenda asked upon seeing her son return with their other two guests.

"Just marveling at your farm, here," Quinn lied. It was a very clear lie to everyone, but then it was supposed to be. Andy had already caught them "coupling", so playing on that with a clear and awkward lie was their safest bet.

"Where's Mark?" Lee asked.

"Now, don't you worry about him. I've already brought some food up," said Brenda. "You two just go get cleaned up, and let him rest. Bathroom's right outside in the hall."

Lee gave a nod and Quinn flashed a smile, as they exited the dining room. They walked a little ways down the hall to the bathroom – out of earshot of anyone still in the dining room – before speaking to one another.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Lee asked.

"We've gotta check on Mark," said Quinn. "There's no reason he shouldn't be at that table with everyone else...unless..."

Lee glanced back at the dining room to make sure no one was peeking out at them, before turning to head up the stairs. They both ascended the steps as quietly as they could manage with such old wooden stairs. There were a couple of steps that squeaked beneath them, but there was enough chatting going on in the dining room to cover the sound.

When they reached the top, the two split up to look for Mark, but he wasn't in any of the rooms. Where could he be? If it weren't for the blood on the floor of one room, they'd almost think Mark had never been brought up here.

"Maybe they took him somewhere else," Lee suggested.

Quinn shook her head. "No. Brenda said she brought some food up to Mark. Up, as in he was up here."

"Then where is he?"

Quinn was about to tell him that she didn't know, when she noticed another door. There was an extension cord leading directly into it from downstairs. Quinn opened the door, expecting to finally find Mark, only to find a closet.

"Looks like a bunch of medical waste in here," Lee noted. "IV tubes, saline, morphine...What would dairy farmers need with this kind of stuff?"

Quinn knelt down to examine the extension cord. If this was a closet, then why was there an extension cord leading into it? She connected the cord with the extension, and a light came shining through the hole that had been drilled for the cord to be fed through.

"What the hell?" said Lee.

Quinn and Lee follow the wall that the light is coming from behind to the room where Mark was presumably treated – the one with blood on the floor. It wasn't all that suspicious before, but now there seems to be a light glowing from behind the bookcase.

Lee slid the bookcase aside as quickly and as quietly as he could. Quinn wanted to open the door and see what was inside, but she was afraid to. It was one thing to suspect and imply that these people might be cannibals, but it was another thing entirely to actually find out that she was right. And if she was right, there was no telling what state Mark would be in behind that door.

To Quinn's horror, she had been right. When Lee opened the door, there was Mark, laying on the floor without both of his legs. Quinn's jaw dropped, and she covered it with her hand.

"Lee..." Mark lifted his head to look at Lee. He sounded drugged as all hell.

"Mark...what the hell happened?!"

"...brothers..." Mark was struggling to speak.

"What the hell happened to your legs, man?"

"Don't...eat...dinner," Mark warned.

Quinn's stomach knotted up. The same thoughts she'd had when the dead began to eat people came rushing back into her mind. This isn't real, this is just a dream, this can't be happening, etc.

"Lee?! Quinn?! Did you two fall in?" Brenda called from the dining room. "Dinner's on the table and everyone's havin' at!"

Lee and Quinn shared a horrified look. They have to stop the others from eating Mark meat. They raced down the stairs as fast as they could, praying that they made it in time to at least stop Clementine from eating.

"Don't eat that!" Lee shouted.

Clementine stopped just short of taking a bite. There were a few others that did too, but some had already dug in.

"Lee, Jesus, man! Did you find something?" Kenny asked.

"Aww, sit your ass down! This lady has made you a meal," said Larry.

"Yeah, Lee. What's gotten into you two?" Lilly asked.

"Sit down and eat your goddamn dinner," Larry ordered. "This woman made you a home-cooked meal, you ungrateful shit. Show some respect!"

"Thank you, Larry." Brenda gave Lee and Quinn a nasty look.

"You don't even have the decency to take a handout when you're offered one. It just makes me sick! It really does!" Larry went on.

"That's enough, Larry," Brenda shushed.

"Ken, maybe we should..."

"Hang on, Kat. Just keep Duck close."

Lee had tried to warn them all, but Larry was on his last nerve. In that moment, he gave up on trying to play nice with Larry and help protect him. "You know what? Fuck you, Larry! Eat up."

Quinn looked at Lee in surprise. No matter how he felt about the guy, or how big of an asshole he was, she was shocked that Lee would encourage Larry to eat human meat.

"I will," said Larry. "And I'll enjoy every last bite."

Larry stuffed the bite-sized piece of meat from his fork into his mouth, savoring the taste of Brenda's fine cooking.

"Quinn," Lilly called. "What the hell is going on with him?"

Katjaa began reading the room, and took Duck''s plate away from him. He wasn't happy about it, but he didn't argue with her too much.

"What's going on?"

"We found Mark. He's..." Quinn hesitated to say. "He's missing his legs. Someone cut them off."

"This is a dairy, not a ranch," Lee added. "Think about it!"

Everyone looked to their hosts for some sort of denial. They didn't get one.

"It's true," said Brenda.

"Everything coulda turned out okay for you folks," said Danny.

"He woulda died anyway! We gotta think about livin'!" Andy added.

"Settle down, honey," Brenda shushed. "Growing up in rural Georgia, you're taught not to waste. It's how I was raised and how I raised my boys."

Everyone just stared in shock. Were these people serious? Cannibalism?

"Now, you got monsters roamin' around that do nothin' but eat people. And for what? To continue to rot till they eat some more!" Brenda continued. "We think we can put that meat to better use."

"Just let us go," Lee pleaded.

Brenda looked like she was considering it. But the answer she gave wasn't one they wanted to hear. "Andy's right; we go after folks who were gonna die anyways, one way or another."

"Like y'all," said Danny.

Lee and Kenny shared a look of silent communication. A moment later, they tried to grab a weapon of some kind for self-defense. Unfortunately, the St. Johns were prepared for this. Andy and Danny each drew their guns and pointed them at Lee and Kenny.

"No one's goin' anywhere," said Andy.

"We got plenty of use for y'all right here," said Danny.

There was a sudden eruption of threats, pleas for mercy, and questions of why. But as loud as that was, all fell silent at the sound of something falling down the stairs. They all looked towards the doorway, as they listened to the scraping sounds of something crawling closer.

"Pllleeease...someone...!" Mark called out, as he crawled.

Various gasps filled the room at the sight. Hearing the St. John's explain it was different from actually seeing their friend legless. It was all so shocking, no one really knew what to do. No one, except the St. Johns.

Before the others could snap out of their daze, Danny hit Lee over the head, knocking him smooth out. After that, Larry and Kenny were forced to carry him to the meat locker at the back of the barn, where they locked everyone except Katjaa and Duck up. Their fates would be decided later.