//------------------------------// // Ep. 1 - Chapter 3 - The Farm // Story: Apocalyptic Outcast // by Bringiton6611 //------------------------------// "...hi..." Lee said, eyes wide. "...you're not...freaking out?" Twilight asked, somewhat surprised. "Considering ive been chased about by a bunch of corpses and had one come back to life right in front of me... I guess it's just the shock." "Ok then, well my name is Twilight Sparkle and this is Spike." Twilight said, pointing to herself and to Spike. "Lee, and this is Clementine." Lee said, pointing a thumb to the girl behind him, while Clementine hid behind one of Lee's legs and shyly waved to Twilight and Spike. Twilight waved back with a small smile on her face, "Nice to meet you both." Lee then remembered a more serious matter at hand. He turned around to face Clementine and kneeled down to her height. "You've been all by yourself though this?" "Yeah, I want my parents to come home now." Lee remembered the messages on the phone and turned to twilight, who nodded her head to confirm that she heard the messages as well." "I uh, think that might be a little while. You know?" "Oh." Clem responded, disappointed. "Look, I don't know what happened. But Twilight and I will look after you 'till then." Twilight nodded her head to show Clem she agreed. "Okay... what should we do now?" Lee thought for a second before saying," We need to find help before It gets dark." "Yeah, It's not safe at night." "I agree." Lee heard Twilight say from behind him. "Ok. Lets go. Stay close to me." Lee informed Clem. "Same go's for you Spike, stay close." "Got it." Spike said. They all walked outside on the deck and Lee stopped when he noticed Clem had stopped and was looking at her house. She quickly closed the door and turned back around. The four of them walked around the house to a gate on the side of the house. They saw two men trying to push themselves a clear path, but appeared to be struggling. "I ain't never gettin home to mama at this rate." "This sucks." "It's hot dish night." Lee turned to Clem, who was once again stopped and looking back at her house. "Hey Clem, what's wrong?" Twilight asked. "Should I stay?" "What?" Twilight and Lee asked at the same time. "I don't want to sleep in the tree house tonight, but I don't know if I should go. What if my parents come home?" Lee looked to Twilight and Twilight looked at Lee. "We wont leave you alone." Twilight said, looking back at Clem. Clem smiled, "Lets go someplace that's close. Ok?" Lee nodded and stood back up and started limping toward the gate, which Twilight opened with her magic. Lee nodded a quick thanks before addressing the two strangers. "Hey man!" Lee called out. "Holy shit!" "Don't eat us!" "Were not going to hurt you." Lee said putting his hands in front of him. "Phew, for a second there we thought you and the little one were BOTH going...to..." He trailed out when he noticed Twilight and Spike. His friend soon followed. The man looked back at Lee, who just shrugged. "Umm...ok then." "Do you have any idea what the hell this is?!" Lee ask in a quiet scream. "No idea, so you've seen them then?" Shawn asked, turning his hand to a body of one of walkers. It was the same body Twilight saw when she first appeared. "You could say that." Lee answered "My names Shawn, Shawn Greene." "Lee, this is Clementine, Twilight, and Spike." Lee said while pointing to each of them as he called their names. The other man with Shawn kneeled down," I'm Chet." He said, waving at Clem. Clem responded by hiding behind Lee's legs. Much like she did with Twilight and Spike. "We shouldn't be out in the open like this. Tell you what, if you help us clear a path for our truck, we'll take you, your daughter, and your friends down my family's farm. It should safe there." "I'm not her dad I'm... just some guy." Lee said to Shawn. "Some guy?" Shawn asked, eyebrow raised. "Yeah." "She's alone?" "Sadly yes, but we're looking after her until we find her parents." Twilight spoke. Shawn smiled," That's good to hear... we should get going before more of those things show up." Lee looked down to Clem,"What do you want to do?" Clem seemed hesitant and looked back at her house," I...", she looked back at Lee with a nod. "We got monsters coming!" Chet informed the group. Sure enough, more of the dead were stumbling in their direction. "Shit! We gotta go!", Shawn got down in a pushing position," Lee, lets go!" Lee limp forward and got in a pushing position as well. The two of them started to push the car out of the way. After a few seconds, Clem and Twilight ran over and helped them push the rest of the way. Once the road was clear, they all ran back to Shawn's truck and hopped in. Lee and Clem in the front with Shawn, who was driving, and Chet, Twilight, and Spike in the bed of the truck. Shawn pressed the gas pedal once he made sure everyone was in and sped off just as the first snarling corpse reached it. "For just some guy, it seems like you've saved a look of lives today." Shawn said as they drove off. Clem was looking out the back widow at her house. She wasn't going to see it anytime soon. It was dark by the time the group made it to the farm. The ride there was quiet with little conversations her and there. Eventually, they arrived at the farm and pulled up near the front of the house. They all exited the truck. "Hey Shawn, i'm gonna run on home. My mamas gonna be in a snit." Chet said. "No sweat man. I'll catch you tomorrow night." He nodded his head and turned to Lee, Clem, Twilight and Spike,"It was nice to was nice to meet you all." He said as he walked off. They soon heard a door open and turned around to see a old man step out off the house. "Thank god, your ok." The man said as he walked over to Shawn and gave him a hug. "I was worried It'd be bad here to." Shawn said, returning the hug. "Been quiet the past couple of days. Ol'Breckon down the way thinks his main's gone lame, but that's nothing new." "I've wouldn't have made it back without Chet." "Well then, I'm glad you took him with you then." He turned towards Lee. "You've brought a couple guest." He noticed Twilight,"...what... the... hell... is... that?" Twilight didn't like the fact that she was called a thing, and sent a glare in Hershel's directions. "That's Twilight and Spike. They helped me and Chet get back along with Lee." "........ok then." He kept a watchful eye of them. "Your boys a lifesaver." Lee spoke up. "Glad he could be some help to somebody, so, it's just you, your daughter, and your friends." "Oh, not his daughter, he's just... some guy that found her alone." "Honey, do you know this man?" Hershel asked, kneeling down to Clem's height. "Yes." "Ok then. Well it looks like you hurt your leg pretty badly there." He said to Lee. "Yeah, it's not doing so good." "I can help you out. Shawn, run in and check on your sister. You, take a seat of the porch and I'll go see what I have." Lee nodded his thanks and walked on the porch and took a seat on a bench that was at the end of the porch. Twilight and Spike stayed off the porch. Instead, they walked up and stood next to the porch next to where Lee was seating. Hershel walked back out with some gauze wrap and looked at Clem for a second before his head turned back to Lee and he walked over. "Lets have a look, yeah, this is swollen to hell" he said while examining Lee's wound. "It HURTS like hell." "I bet it does. What'd you say your name was?" "It's Lee" "Nice to meet you Lee, I'm Hershel Greene." Hershel started to wrap Lee's leg, causing him to squeeze his eyes in pain. "How'd this happen?" Hershel asked. "Car accident." "That so? Where were you headed? Before the crash." "Home." Twilight smiled to herself when she heard that. It was a sad smile. "Where's home?" "I grew up in Macon. We hit a guy, one of those things you've been hearing about, on the road." "Who were you with? The girl? The pony?" "I was with a police officer, he was giving me a ride." "Awful nice of him." "I'm an awful nice guy." Lee joked. "The house is full up with mine. We've got another displaced family sleeping in barn, you and your friends are welcomed to sleep there," He turned to Clem,"I didn't catch your name darling." "Clem- Clementine." "Can't imagine what you've been through Clementine." "Twilight and I are looking after her until we find her parents."Lee informed Hershel as Shawn walked back out the house. "Hey dad, so I was thinking, first thing tomorrow we gotta reinforce the fence around the farm." "That doesn't seem necessary." "I don't know what you saw on TV or heard on the radio, but there is some serious SHIT hitting the fan. I don't think anyone knows how big it is yet." "Your son's right, you're going to want to fortify this place." Lee said. Twilight agreed. "Stuff like that doesn't happen around here, Shawn." "Dad, I'm serious! Lee, tell him what you saw out there." "Teenage girl with her guts spilled out on the ground stood up from the dead and tried to bite me."Lee explained like he was telling a ghost story. "Well do what you think you should. We got plenty of chores as it is." Hershel caved in. "Lee and his friends and those folks in the barn can help out in the morning, he gotta do it, really." "I already said ok,"He turned back to Lee,"Well, I'm all done here. It should start to fell better tomorrow." "Thanks." "If your leg gets hot or if the swelling doesn't go down, you might be dealing with an infection." "What do we do then?" Twilight asked. He turn to Twilight,"We might just have to shoot him." Everyone's eyes widened while Lee's filled with worry. "We'll clean it, redress it, and you'll be fine." Everyone calmed down. "Ok, that'd be preferable." Lee said. "There's blankets and such in the barn. We'll be seeing you bright and early. Come tomorrow which way you think your headed?" "Towards Macon I suppose." Hershel nodded and turned to head inside, but not before casting another look at Clem and Twilight. They walked toward the barn and laid down on the beds provided. Lee was lying on the ground with Clem to his left and Twilight to his right, with Spike next to her already passed out. "It smells like... doo-dee." Lee smiled at Clem," Yeah it does smell like doo-dee." Twilight could barely hold her giggles in. Still, Lee heard her, but ignored her. There was a short pause. "I miss my mom and dad." "I bet Clem."Twilight spoke up. "How far is Savannah?" Clem asked. "Pretty far." Lee answered since he knew Twilight didn't know her way around. "Oh, ok." Clem closed her eyes. Lee looked over to Twilight, who was looking down at Spike with a sad look. "Are you two family?" "Yeah, sort of. We're not related, of course, but i did hatch him. It was kind of an accident, but I might as well be his mother. I bet he looks at me like that some times. With what I've seen today... I just want him to stay safe." "I'll help you make sure of that." Twilight smiled," Thanks Lee, that means a lot." "Another thing, I never did thank you for saving me at Clem's house." "No problem Lee, friends look out for each other." "Yeah, they do." "Goodnight Lee." "Goodnight." With that, all of them fell asleep. Lee was woken up once by a nightmare of THAT day, but fell back asleep shortly after. "Hey, get up." Lee opened his eyes and sat up to see a new face. "I'm itchy." he heard Clementine say. "Well you slept in a barn little lady. Your lucky you dont have spiders in your hair." That response caused Clem to gasp and look up at her hair. "But I bet your daddy scared them all away, huh." "I'm, not her dad. Name's Lee." "I'm Kenny." All of a sudden, a kid around Clem's age appeared at the door. "Dad, we're going to build a fence! There's a tractor and everything!" He said before he ran off. The kids father looked back at Lee,"We better get going, or we won't hear the end of it." On the way out, Lee noticed that Twilight's and Spike's bed were empty. They must've woken up earlier. In that case, she most likely already met kenny and his family. "That's my boy, Ken Jr., we call him Duck though." "Dodging or quacking?" Lee joked. "Quacking." As if on cue, duck yelled,"Daaaad!" "See." Duck was talking to what Lee assumed was his mother. He also noticed Twilight sitting on her haunches next to the women with Spike sitting in between her legs. So Lee was right about them already meeting each other. "Word is you were on your way to Macon." Kenny said. "My family's from there." Lee replied. "Well, Macon's on the way and personally I'd appreciate the company of a guy who can knock a couple of heads together if he has to." "Sure, we'll tag along. That ok with with you, Twilight?" "Yeah, it's fine." "Great, it's a plan then. Honey, Duck, this is Lee and what was the girls name?" "Clementine." Lee informed Kenny. "Clementine." "That is a very pretty name." Katjaa said. "Thanks." "Well, we should get to work, we've all seen what those things can do out there, so the faster we get this fence up, the better." Shawn said, walking into the discussion. "I want to build a fence!" Duck said, very hyperly. "Yeah? Well, I need a good forman. you can sit on the tractor and yell at me whenever I take a water break." Shawn said to Duck. "On a tractor? Cool!" "Duck and I will hop to it." Shawn said as they both walked off. "Twi, can I go help them?" Spike asked. "Of course, just be careful." Twilight answered him. Spike got up and walked off. "I can keep an eye on your little girl here on the porch. We can visit." Katjaa said. Clem walked over and sat down next to Katjaa. "Hey Kenny, can you teach me about your truck a little." Twilight said. "Sure, come on." Twilight stood up and walked off with kenny. Lee walked off to where Shawn, Duck, and Spike went. When he got there he saw Shawn working on the fence, Duck on the tractor, and Spike on the front of the tractor talking to Duck. He walked over to Shawn and he noticed his presence. "Hey Lee." "Need a hand?" "That'd be great. If you can those two-bys to length, that sure speed things up." Lee saw a cutting stand and walked over and began cutting the wood. "My dad doesn't know how bad it is." Shawn said. "No, he doesn't." "I saw a guy in Atlanta kill a kid. A boy. Just shot him right in the face." "Was the boy one of the walkers?" Lee asked. "I don't even know. He was either attacking the guy or asking for help. He didn't even hesitant, he just turned, put the barrel of the gun between the kids eye's, and pulled the trigger. You don't saw hings like that, its not like in the movies. "They don't fall like you think." "Did you have to do it?" "Do what?"Lee asked, confused. "Kill. Have you hacked one off yet?" "Oh uhh... I bashed a poor girls brains in." "Whoa, I couldn't do that. I'm just glad were getting this fence built. Dad just wants to keep the family safe and thinks inviting people in is a bigger threat then whatever's out there. How bout yours? How's your family?" "My parents and brother are in Macon, I hope." "Oh man, I hope so too. Maybe it's not so bad there." Lee finished the broad he was cutting and as he was reaching for the next one, Shawn stopped him. "That's probably all you need to cut for now, thanks." With that, Lee walked off. He walked over to where Clem and Katjaa were sitting. "Hey there girls. You two actually look relaxed." "Were doing just fine. Clementine was just telling about first grade." Katjaa said to Lee. "Oh, how's that?" Lee asked Clem. "It's easy." "We'll yeah, so you're good?" "Anyway, it's almost like we haven't seen people eating each other for the past three days. It's peaceful here, no?" "Back in a bit." "Ok, Lee." Lee walked over to Kenny and Twilight next. "Hey there, uh, Kenny. Twilight." "Hey Lee." Twilight greeted. "Need any help?" "No I think I got it. Do YOU need any help?" Kenny said to Lee. "What do you mean?" "I mean with taking care of that little girl. You know what you're doing? Either of you have kids of your own?" "I have some experience with Spike, if that counts." "Yeah, that counts. Lee?" "I have no idea what i'm doing." "At least your honest, hell, better then I was when Duck came along. You'll figure it out." "See ya." Lee noticed Hershel in the barn and decided to go talk to him as well. When Hershel noticed Lee he glanced up at him before asking,"How'd you get out of Atlanta?" "...I got a ride and then I was in a wreck. I walked until your boy found me." "This farms a nice plot of land." "Heh, you told me 20 years ago that I still be doing this, I'd would've told you that you'll full of crap. Never was the plan, having a place ike this. It was in the family and I guess so was I. Family's important. It's all that matters, you agree?" "Was brought up to, yes." "Where's your family now? Parents? Wife? Girlfriend?" "My parents are in Macon, with my brother." "Well I hope there alright." But now you've got this little girl to take care of, Clementine was it? You just stumbled up on her?" "I was being attacked and she came to my rescue. That was also When I meant Twilight and Spike." Hershel looked up and huffed right before he put the pitch fork in the ground and walked towards Lee. "Can I give you a piece of advice?" "Sure." "I don't know who you are or what you did. Lets say that things don't get better back in the city, or they get worse before they do. You're going to have to depend on the honesty of strangers if you're going to make it. And if those same people get to questioning yours, your going to be in trouble. But atleast you have the common sense to listen to a man giving you advice." Lee nodded and walked out of the barn. He figured that Shawn might need his help again, but as he began walking over, he saw Shawn running over with Duck and Spike close behind. Everyone noticed this and came over to meet them. Twilight, Kenny, and Hershel being the most worried. "Shawn, you ok!?" "Duck, are you alright!?" "Spike, are you ok!?" A series of three good's were heard before Shawn started explaining. "There were some walkers back there approaching the fence. Luckily, Spike saw them before they got to close." "Nice job Spike." Twilight praised as she picked him up with her magic and brought him to her face to nuzzle him. Much to his embarrassment. "How many are there?" "Three that I saw." "Okay, I'll get my gun." Hershel said as he ran inside the house. "I got my truck working again. Lee, you and Clem along with your friends are still welcomed to come along." "Yeah, su-" Lee was cut off when he heard a snapping sound followed by growling. "I think they broke in." Shawn said. Sure enough, three walkers rounded the corner and once they spotted the group, they began snarling and limping there way over. Unfortunately for them, Hershel came out of the house with a shotgun in hands. He took aim at the walker that noticed him, he fired and the the round made contact with its head, causing it to jerk backwards before it collasped. The other two heard the shot and turned to the source of said noise, only to end up like their undead friend. After the walkers were dead a second time, the group helped Hershel and Shawn get rid of the bodies and repair the area of the fence the walkers broke in, the group said their goodbye's, loaded up in Kenny's pickup truck, and started their towards Macon.