The Walking Dead: Blood

Chapter 24: Rock and a Hard Place

Chapter 24: Rock and a Hard Place

I heard Brenda calling to me in the bathroom. "Lee, did you fall in? Dinner's on the table, and everyone's havin' it!"

Duck was very excited. "Barbecue? Wow!"

I backed away from Mark's body, horrified. "Clementine!" I yelled, sprinting down the stairs, and almost falling on my face. I got to the bottom of the stairs and into the kitchen, winded, and yelled, "Don't eat that!"

I got there just in time to see Clementine putting a piece of the meat into her mouth. "SPIT THAT OUT!" I yelled at her. Frightened, she let the meat in her mouth fall onto the plate.

"Lee?" Lilly asked, confused.

"What's wrong, Lee?" Katjaa had the same confusion that Lilly had.

Kenny seemed to be the only one not confused. "Lee, did you find something?"

Larry roared with anger. "Sit your a** down, Lee. This lady has made you a meal."

Lilly decided to take more of a part in the conversation. "Yeah. What the hell's gotten into you?"

"He just had a start." Brenda made an excuse.

"He needs to learn some da** manners." Larry scowled.

I chose to be direct in my approach. I didn't care that the kids were in the room. "Mark is upstairs with his f***ing legs cut off! You're eating HIM!"

Everyone in the room made noises of confusion, astonishment and anger. "You're scarin' the kids, Lee." Kenny told me.

Lilly didn't seem convinced. "What the hell is wrong with you."

Larry looked at his daughter, then back to me. "Don't indulge him, Lilly. It's always something with this guy."

Duck started to bring a piece of meat to his mouth, but Katjaa swatted it away and pulled his plate away from him. He whined, "Mom, I was eating that!" The dinner on the plate was mashed potatoes, peas and something that looked like steak. Of course, I knew differently.

I pointed towards the room Mark was laying in upstairs. "Go up there and look! You'll find a guy with BOTH of his legs hacked off!" I looked back at the meals. There was nothing on the plate that was a dairy product. "This is a dairy, not a ranch! Think about it!"

The truth was starting to sink in to everyone's mind; even Larry's. He looked with an expression of exasperation in Brenda's direction, and pushed his plate toward her. It was good to remind me of what side he was really on.

Brenda looked around at all of us and sighed. "It's true." She admitted.

Danny had his face very close to his meal. He took a piece of mashed potatoes and brought it to his mouth, then dropped his fork on his plate. "Everything coulda turned out okay for you folks."

Andy slammed his hands down on the table. "He woulda died anyway! We gotta think about livin'!"

"Settle down, honey." Brenda tried to calm him. "Growin' up in rural Georgia, you're taught not to waste. It's how I was raised, and how I raised my boys. Now, we got monsters roamin' around that do nothing but eat people! And for what? To continue to rot until they eat some more! We think we can put that meat to better use."

Lilly tried to get up from the table, but Andy stopped her and pressed her back down. "I think I'm gonna puke."

I scowled at the St. Johns. "You're all sick! Sick in the head!"

Brenda scowled back at me. "Lee? That's not a very nice thing to imply." She shut her eyes for a moment, then opened them again, going back and forth between each of us. "Andy is right. We go after folks who were gonna die anyways, one way or another."