Read Chapter One: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/comicsreel/news/?a=78450
Read Chapter Two: ttp://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/comicsreel/news/?a=79627
Read Chapter Three: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/comicsreel/news/?a=80056
“Well isn’t she just the cutest thing?” Donna said warmly as she mussed Clementine’s hair, although she wasn’t sure she wanted her husband would care to answer. Although she knew he would never deny hospitality to a child, she hadn’t forgotten his wishes to keep the camp small. When they first arrived, it had just been the three of them. Tom, Donna and their beautiful daughter, Lisa. Johnny, Alex and Coach had all shown up almost a month later, when the three of them were starting to run out of food. Tom, realising they would need people capable of hunting for food and protecting the camp, welcomed the three of them. But with the arrival of Christa, Omid and now young Clementine, the camp was starting to get crowded.
“Where did you find her?” Donna asked, realising she had been ignored by her sulking husband.
“She was on her way out of Savannah when we saw her. She made it out of the city all on her own,” Christa gave Clementine’s hand a squeeze, trying to find some way of telling her how brave she thought she was without saying it outright. But her words only made Clementine think back to Lee and her parents.
“Did you see anyone else? Had anyone else made it out of the city?” Donna asked, still hopeful that the city didn’t belong entirely to the dead.
“No. There’s just us,” Christa replied with regret.
“And that’s the way it’s going to stay!” Tom finished, ending the conversation and making his thoughts clear.
“It was nice meeting you, Clementine,” Donna told Clementine politely before following her husband back to her tent.
“Are you sure we’re safe here?” Clementine asked Christa, starting to doubt this camp was the safe haven the two had made it out to be.
“No one here’s going to hurt you, sweetie. And Johnny and Alex are working on getting us some food.”
This didn’t seem to help. Clementine still wouldn’t look Christa in the eye, her head still bowed. “I saw my parents in Savannah. I…” Clementine couldn’t say anymore, but she didn’t have to. From the girl’s tears, Christa knew that her parents couldn’t have survived.
“I’m never going to let that happen to you. Look at me, Clem. I promise I will protect you.”
But Clementine was still searching for a solution in the dirt between her feet, refusing to look up. “That’s what Lee said,” she said, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably now.
“And he kept his promise, didn’t he?” Christa pointed out, smiling at Clem. Clementine finally looked back at her, and gave her a half-smile back.
Birds clear their nests at the blast of a single gunshot. Once the ringing in her ears ceases, Lilly approaches her prey. Before the end of the world, it would have pained Lilly to see any harm come to such a beautiful animal. But the impossible had happened, and now they were living in a world that turned by a single rule: kill or be killed. Lilly had escaped death at many turns during her time battling the walking dead, and she wasn’t about to succumb to starvation just because she was afraid to get her hands dirty. This hadn’t been the first time she had taken a life to keep her own, either. But that was in the past now.
“Nice shot,” Johnny commented, removing his fingers from his ears. He had only just fully gotten his hearing back after firing his rifle over a half hour ago, moments before he and Alex first met Lilly. Since they met her, Johnny had been going out of his way to compliment Lilly and engage her in conversation. At first, he thought he might’ve actually been in love, but now he was just curious as to where she came from, what her story was. She looked like someone who had seen a lot, and who wasn’t exactly gun shy.
Alex sighed upon hearing another of Johnny’s attempts to kiss Lilly’s feet. Although he saw the intelligence in getting pally with the only person around here who knew how to use a gun properly. The stag looked untouched by walkers, which was a surprise. With the arrival of these new guests, it looked like their luck was finally starting to turn around. He could only hope that the arrival of more strangers wouldn’t anger Tom. He considered that maybe Tom would allow someone capable of bringing the camp food entry to their little haven. Now Alex just had to find out what Donald and Alice, the elderly couple that Lilly appeared alongside, had to bring to the table. Alex didn’t get the impression that Lilly knew the couple all too well, but they obviously had enough of a history to decide to stick together. Alex was about to ask Alice a question, when Johnny patted him on the shoulder. What Johnny then showed Alex made him want to stop in his tracks and ask him what was going through his head. Instead he let out a silent gasp as Johnny cautiously presented a piece of meat from the stag they found, half-eaten by a walker, reeking of the stench of death.
Alex already knew what Johnny was thinking before he asked, but he had to hear it from him, hoping it would make Johnny realise how crazy he sounded when he heard the plan aloud. He waited until Donald and Alice took them over and caught up to Lilly to help with the dead stag before he asked: “Are you insane?”
“Trust me, poisoning Tom is the last thing I want to do. But how do you think he’s going to react to all these new faces?” Just hearing the word sends shivers through Alex.
“This will only make things worse. Johnny. You’re talking about murdering someone.” Alex knew this was Johnny’s idea of a Plan B, but he also knew that Tom wouldn’t give him any other choice but to use it.
“I’m doing this to protect us. I’m not asking you to have any part of it, just don’t try and stop me from keeping us alive.” Johnny stuffed the poisoned meat back in his pocket and left Alex’s side.
Alice startled Alex when she asked approached his side. At first, he feared she might have overheard their conversation, but instead she asked: “This camp you mentioned before, is it safe from those things out there.” The elderly woman pulled a face when she spoke of the walkers. Alex thought about her question more than he’d though about anything else that day, it was the only thing keeping him from wanting to kick himself for giving Johnny the idea to poison Tom.
“Yeah it is,” he final replied. “But it’s not the walkers you have to worry about,” he continued, watching Johnny as he helped Lilly and Donald lift the stag.
“You sent them back out there!?!” Christa barked at Tom with disbelief. He had just explained that Alex and Johnny had already returned to camp, but had nothing to eat with them. He told Christa that he had sent the two boys back out of the safe zone as though he had done the right thing. A part of Christa understood why he had done it, she just couldn’t imagine doing the same, even to protect Clementine.
“Those two boys had nothing. Nothing at all. I’ve given you people everything I have and all I’ve ever got in return is nothing but grief!” Tom talking negatively of the two boys had almost become a routine now. He liked having someone to blame for the fact that they were running out of food, despite the true blame lying with Coach for having such an appetite. But Tom wasn’t about to get on bad terms with the only member of the group who could use a firearm.
“You sent them out there to die!” Christa was really testing Tom’s limits now, and she should have known not to push him any further, but she had grown tired of him and his ‘every man for himself’ attitude.
“Well at least it’ll mean a couple less mouths to feed!” Tom responded. His final comment had ended the conversation. Christa’s jaw had dropped, and even Tom seemed surprised by what he had just said. He looked as though he was about to apologise, when his wife appeared and put a hand on his shoulder.
“They’re back,” Donna said. Tom wasn’t sure how much she had heard, but by the empty look on her face, she had clearly heard enough.
“What the… [frick]!?!” Tom cried as he marched towards the front of the camp, leaving his wife behind. Christa followed closely as, ahead of them, Johnny and Alex came into view. But when she realised they were not alone, Christa understood Tom’s sudden outburst.
Johnny and Alex were accompanied by three strangers. Johnny, Donald and Lilly were carrying an entire stag between them. They dropped it in front of Coach’s feet, who was guarding the camp, he nodded in approval.
“Well? Are you gonna tell me what the [frick] this is!?!” Tom barked at Johnny and Alex. The entire camp was watching now. Omid and Clementine had left their tent and were scanning the camp for Christa, whose eyes never left Tom. Donna and her daughter, Lisa, were also watching the scene unfold. All eyes were on Tom now, and everyone’s hearts were in their throats. Except for one person.
It didn’t take long for Lilly to step forward. Alex tried to utter some kind of warning to her, but he couldn’t bring himself to say a word. “My name is Lilly,” she started, and Tom’s attention was finally on her. “I’ve been travelling on the road with Donald and Alice for a few weeks now, but we ran into some trouble. We brought gas, and a meal.” She took a step back to give Tom a better look at the stag she caught whilst Donald and Alice presented a can of gas each. “We’d be willing to share it all, if we can join your camp.” Lilly said confidently having had some time to practise what to say since Alex first told her about Tom and his distrust towards strangers.
Tom looked around him. All eyes were still on him, to his surprise. With one of his eyebrows raised and his nose turned up, he thought about Lilly’s offer, but it didn’t take him long to come to a final decision. “You can stay, but only for the night. We’re not looking for new neighbours.”
Even though nobody else said a word, it was very clear nobody was in agreement with Tom’s decision. Christa clearly wanted to snap Tom out of whatever trance he was in that was now costing the camp a free meal. She finally stepped up. “Tom, these people are offering us food and gas. Two things we desperately need.” Tom growled, muttering something under his breath.
“If you people have weapons, I’d also be willing to share some ammunition. If that doesn’t work out, I consider myself to be a decent shot, and could help you defend this place, maybe even train each of you, given time.” Lilly was getting desperate, but she wasn’t letting is show. She wasn’t about to let Donald and Alice be turned away, especially knowing how much they’d already been through.
“Christa, I’m hungry, can we let these people stay?” Clementine asked, appearing from thin air as far as Christa could tell.
“I’m working on it sweetie,” Christa told Clementine reassuringly. Clementine then got a look at the strangers at camp. She saw the unfamiliar couple, exchanging a worried look between each other. And then she saw Lilly, and her heart sank. She grabbed Christa’s hand tightly, biting her lip hard.
Continues in Chapter Five: It Happened Fast
Coming Soon...