For a long time, Eden Perkins believed she wouldn't find another human being she would willingly die for - she didn't want to. The past few months of her life, ever since the day the dead had started coming back to life - and maybe even before that...
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╔─────╝ ☠ ╚─────╗ xv. | THE DEAD AND THE GONE. ╚─────╗ ☠ ╔─────╝
AS SOON AS EDEN HEARD THE NAME KENNY escape Clementine's lips in a choked, almost inaudible whisper, she finally managed to wrap her head around what was going on. Clementine had told her some bits and pieces about the man before but since Eden hadn't seen him in anything but a self-drawn picture by an eight-year-old before, she had to admit that she had expected for Kenny to look different, she wouldn't have imagined the man who was standing in front of her, only a few feet away.
Eden couldn't even say how she expected the man Clementine had occasionally talked about before to look like but surely, she hadn't expected a man of average height — only a few inches taller than Eden herself — with a grey full beard and a worn-out baseball cap on his head, covering most of the mess of grey curls that was his hair. Although his eyes were brown as well, they were a lot different to Luke's — they didn't hold the same warmth, were a few shades darker and Eden recognized a tiredness in them she hadn't seen in anyone's eyes for some time now.
The last person she had seen with this look in their eyes was Christa.
There wasn't anything particularly outstanding about the man. He seemed like the average middle-aged white male.
But Eden knew how to explain the look in his dark eyes from what Clementine had told her about the man before. Long before they even met, during Clementine's time with the man names Lee she had told Eden so much about, they had been part of the same group but a number of mistakes (Eden wasn't sure happened exactly anymore) led to his son getting bit and his wife committing suicide because she couldn't live on an Earth that didn't have her son in it — Eden knew that much from Christa since Clementine had been too young to fully understand the whole situation. From what she had been told, Kenny's life seemed like a whole tragedy and explained the look in his eyes in a matter of seconds.
Yet, Eden couldn't help but feel on edge. Clementine hadn't seen this man in a long time and from what Christa and Clementine had told her, Kenny seemingly lost it after his family's death. Maybe this was Eden's skepticism speaking but they couldn't be sure if this man was to be trusted.
Which led to the next problem — after Clementine and Kenny's reunion, Kenny had warmly welcomed them to come inside the lodge and have a talk. Of course, Carlos and the rest of their group had been hesitant at first, knowing better than to blindly trust a stranger but Kenny had insisted and eventually, they stepped through the Moonstar Lodge's double doors and inside the warmth its insides held.
There were a few cracking in the tiling and some spots where the apocalypse had left its mark but overall, the insides of the lodge looked almost untouched. Much to Eden's surprise, the electricity worked. The fairy lights that snaked themselves around the pillars shone brightly, as did the Christmas tree that had been set up in the living room. Eden couldn't believe her own eyes when she saw it and couldn't help but gawk at it for a moment before reality hit her in form of the calm voice that belonged to the man who had introduced himself as Walter, "Please, make yourselves at home. You can leave your things over there." He gestured towards Eden's right. There by the wall stood a few benches.
