Open up, Survivors Inside

Chapter 3

Puffer remained silent during the drive, having sat in the back with Katjaa, Duck, and Clementine. He didn't know if he was in shock or what, but everything felt cold to him. The truck soon sputtered to a stop, with Kenny looking at the empty fuel gage. "Well, this is as far as we are going," Kenny said, with everyone getting out.

Puffer got a good look around, and already he didn't like this. Cities seemed like a terrible place to be right now, as there weren't many points of escape, but plenty of hiding spots for the dead to be lurking. But he wasn't staying at a useless car. "Look!" Duck said, pointing to someone in the distance. Puffer looked over, not getting a very good view.

"Hey there!" Kenny called out, "You friendly? Truck's run out of gas."

"Kenny..." Puffer hissed quietly, but it was too wait. The person turned to face them, and Puffer could see a familiar milky white eye. The walker let out a snarl, and soon enough more walkers were going on the attack. Puffer suddenly felt a sharp pain in his ankle, causing him to stumble back. He looked down to see a walker without legs flailing an arm around, and he assumed the walker scratched him. A quick kick to the head put the walker down, but a different noise got Puffer's attention.

Duck cried out in fear as a walker fell onto him, with the walker trying to bite him. A shot rang out, and the walker dropped dead, with Duck covered in walker guts. Puffer looked up to see a brown haired woman firing at some walkers, killing them, and a a man in a baseball cap standing near a store. "Run!" The man shouted, and Puffer didn't need to be told twice.

The group raced inside, with the man locking the steel bars with a combination lock. "We can't take risks like that!" Puffer turned and saw a long-haired woman glaring at him and his group, "When I say 'That door stays shut no matter what' I fucking mean it. We don't know who these people are, they could be dangerous!"

"We have kids with us!" Lee argued.

"I see one little girl and some teenager," An older man said.

It took Puffer a few seconds to realize the old man was talking about him, "Me? I'm 27!"

"They got kids Lilly," The baseball cap wearing man said, nodding hid head to Katjaa and Duck.

"Those things outside don't care," Lilly snapped back, and Puffer was getting pissed at this lady.

"Maybe you should go join 'em," Kenny growled, his southern kicking in, "You'll have something in common!"

"She's an asshole, that's for sure," Lee muttered, a bit ticked off as well.

"If that's what it takes," Lilly retorted.

"Well you don't have to be a bitch about it."

The older man then looked at Duck, and his eyes widened, "Holy shit...son of a bitch, one of them is bitten!"

"The fuck he is!" Puffer hissed, making sure his voice was low, "The walker on his was shot before it could!"

"Hell he wasn't! We have to end this, now," The man snarled, stepping towards where Katjaa was cleaning Duck off.

Kenny quickly moved, standing between the older man and his family, "Over my dead body."

"We'll dig one hole," The older man glared back. Puffer wasn't a fan of the kid after Shawn, but like hell he was going to let some old ass prick kill him! "Don't you people get it?! We've already seen this happen! We let someone with a bite stay and we all end up bitten!"

"Who fucking cares?! You get some germs in a bite, so what?!" Puffer stated, moving near Kenny.

"That's how you turn!" The older man shouted, growing angrier by the second, "The first thing he'll do is sink his teeth into his mom's face. Then once she's dead, he'll probably pounce on your little girl," The older man directed that last statement towards Lee.

"He's a little boy! I think we can handle him," Lee huffed.

"A little boy?! He'll be an uncontrollable man eater!"

"It's not gonna happen!" Kenny snapped.

"It is, and we're tossing him out now!" The older man snarled.

"Fuck you!" Puffer snapped, landing a blow on the older man's cheek. This proved to be a very terrible idea, as the older man swung back like a damn train, slamming his fist into the injured side of Puffer's head. That punch was all it took to send Puffer to the ground, getting knocked out cold.

A tapping on his shoulder slowly brought Puffer back, and already part of his vision was red, meaning his injury had been reopened and had bled out a bit. Great. "Puffer?" As his vision was clearing up, he could see Clementine was the one trying to wake him up, "You're bleeding!"

"Got me good," Puffer groaned in reply, slowly getting himself sat back up.

"Are you sure you weren't bit?" Lilly said, looking at Puffer with distrust.

"I would be dead by now if I was bit, bitch," Puffer snapped back, but paused when Clementine gasped at his swearing.

"Let's not start another argument," The woman that had saved Duck earlier said, before helping Puffer up, "I'm Carley. Pretty bold to punch Larry like that."

"He had it coming," Puffer replied, "Name's Puffer," At the raised eyebrow Carley gave, Puffer continued, "It's a nickname."

"We're gonna break into the pharmacy next door, so hopefully we can get your head retreated," Carley said, helping Puffer to a chair. Puffer then watched Kenny walk over.

"How ya feeling?" Kenny asked.

"Like I took a car to my head," Puffer replied, holding the bandaging on his wound to keep more blood from spilling out.

"Well, Kat and I appreciate your support," Kenny said.

"How's Duck doing after all that?" Puffer asked.

"He's doing alright, we're lucky as hell no one got nabbed on the way in here," Kenny sighed, "Lee's going to try and get into the pharmacy. Larry dropped not long after punching you, apparently he has heart issues."

"Let him drop," Puffer grumbled bitterly.

"I heard that," Larry snapped, before clutching his chest again, causing Lilly to get her dad to calm a bit.

"Just rest for now, leave the hard work to us until we can fix your head," Kenny said.

When Kenny and Carley headed off to talk with Lee, Clementine looked to Puffer, "Thank you for helping Duck..." She said quietly.

"No kid deserves that," Puffer replied, leaning his head back a bit.