The Walking Dead: Blood

Chapter 34: Things Are Falling Apart

Chapter 34: Things Are Falling Apart

There were so many emotions I was feeling. I felt sadness and frustration. The one that ruled them all out was fury. I took Lilly by the wrists and pinned her to the side of the RV. "DROP IT!" I yelled at her.

She didn't have an expression of bloodlust, but one of sadness, as if she hadn't intended to pull the trigger. She paused a moment before letting the gun fall from her hand.

No other words were spoken for minutes. Everyone stood in silence around the newly deceased. Ben knelt down to Carley and started full-on crying. All of a sudden, a sense of reality jumped back into everyone's head. "Holy sh**..." Kenny mouthed.

I heard Katjaa's voice echoing from inside the RV. "Kenny! What's happening?"

"Keep Duck away from the windows!" Kenny yelled back to his wife. He walked over to Lilly and I. "Get in!" He yelled. "We're leaving this crazy bi***!"

Lilly sighed. "She couldn't be trusted, Lee. I swear."

Ben managed to speak up past his tears. "Wha...what are we gonna do with her?"

"You're not coming with us." I hissed with hatred.

"I'll die out here." She cried.

"CARLEY DIED OUT HERE!" I lost my temper with her.

"You're a murderer, Lilly!" Kenny pointed the finger of accusation back at Lilly. "We can't have you with us."

"I'm a murderer?!" She started laughing hysterically. "You've had Lee with you this whole time!"

"Yeah, I know!" Kenny yelled.

"You know?!"

"Yeah, and I don't give a da**!" He screamed. "Whatever happened before the world went to hell is ancient history! It doesn't matter anymore!"

Lilly, starting to accept what she had done, Collapsed onto the ground, bawling. "Everybody in." I told my friends. "She's not even worth a goodbye."

Ben, Kenny and I all filed into the RV, leaving a broken Lilly by the side of the street. She was going to die, but I didn't care. I would've died before I let anything happen to Carley, and I couldn't do that now, because of Lilly.

Kenny stepped on the gas and we sped off down the road. Ben was the only one who looked out the window at the woman we had left behind. For a couple miles no one said a word. I had my arm around Clementine, just sitting there trying to forget. Then Katjaa spoke up. "Lee, a word, please."

I walked up to where Kenny and Katjaa sat. Duck still seemed violently traumatized. He had already been through a period of this from the first time a walker had almost got him. I would have thought it wouldn't be as big of a deal the second time around.

"What's up?" I asked. Katjaa looked up to me with great sadness in her eyes. Neither of them answered. "Is Duck feeling all right?"

Katjaa slowly brought her arm down and lifted up her son's shirt slightly. There were teeth marks on the boy's side. The walker had got him this time.

Kenny kept his eyes trained on the road. He sighed. "Happened during the raid..."

"What's the plan?" I asked. "We've never had a bite victim in the group before."

Katjaa answered vaguely. "I'm going to keep an eye on him and see what I can do, from a medical perspective."

Kenny wouldn't redirect his gaze for anything. "The plan stays the same until something changes. East."

"Guys..." I attempted to reason with a pair of hurting parents.

Katjaa answered almost immediately. "What else do we do?!" She turned back around, calming down. "We thought you should know."

Kenny turned his head around. This was the first I'd seen tears on his face. I could feel our friendship healing. "Important to stay honest with each other."

"Anyway," Katjaa stated. "If you could tell Clementine, we would appreciate it."

I went back and say myself down next to Clem. She leaned against me and I put my arm around her. She had seen the whole thing outside. I couldn't imagine what that would do to her. We sat in silence for a bit, then I spoke up. "Duck is bitten."

"Huh?" She sounded frightened.

"He got bit by a walker trying to escape the motel." I continued.

She looked away from me. "I...don't feel good." I saw a tear streak from her face. "What about Carley?"

"Gone." I felt the tears coming on myself. "But won't come back."

"Because she was shot in the head." Clementine really had seen everything.

"That's right." I confirmed. "It's horrible."

"Yeah, it is."

I held her closer to me. "I'm glad I have you."

She looked up to me and smiled. "Me, too." The smile left her face, replaced by sadness. Happy moments were so fleeting these days. "I heard you outside my treehouse that day, and thought about dropping a hammer on your head."

"Oh." I chuckled. "That's nice."

"I didn't though."

"Thanks."

We sat in silence for at least half an hour. She had drifted off to sleep sometime in that timeframe. I yawned. I watched the water fall from the faucet drop by drop...by drop...by drop...

Clementine lifted her head to me. The color had left from her eyes. Her skin was rotten. Her teeth were yellow and bloody. She pressed herself with great strength toward my neck and took a bite.