Meeting Telltale and a New Home

Chapter 8: Meeting Telltale and a New Home

(Previously...)

Then I said, "this is a satellite phone Hershel, works better than a home phone, well as long as there's satellites in the night sky you can anyone, anywhere. I found this baby in one of those military refugee camps the Army had around Atlanta. Anyways, if ever your family finds themselves in trouble, give me a ring. I'll try to get to you as fast as possible. We'll be around for the next few days, if you need help, just call."

He looks at me confused and then asks, "why are you doing this? Why give me this?" I cocked my head to the side and respond, "I do it for Olivis sake, not yours. If keeping in contact with your family will make her happy, then who am I to not make it happen. My number is already programmed in it. Just press the number 1 and then the green button to make the call." Then Olivia slammed into my thigh as she hugged me. "Thank you, Daddy..."

I rubbed her hair as she raced back to the Winnebago, not before saying goodbye to the Greene's. And about 20 minutes later, we were set to go, I got in the driver's seat, and drove off, leaving the Greene farm behind, as if were a memory. "So, where we going next?" Carol asked me as she stood behind me as I drove out the Greene farm. "Carol, you might not know this, but the world is our Oyster, we can go anywhere."

She was excited at that; I could see it in her eyes. "Let's pick a place. Give me a second, let me pull over, so we can choose where to go." We were already on the road when I pulled to the side of the road. I swiveled the seat around and stood up from my seat. I walked to an overhead compartment near the kitchen table and pulled out a large map of the Georgia, and a dart.

And then I taped the map on the wall of the Winnebago and stepped back. I called Olivia and Sophia over, so they could throw the dart and pick a place to go. "Okay, this is how we are going to do this. Sophia will throw the first dart, and if it lands nearer to where we are now, then we'll go next. If Olivia lands closer, then that will be our destination. Let's think of this as a cross country vacation for us, yeah?"

Sophia and Olivia were excited that they get to pick the next place they go too. I hand the dart to Sophia and let her throw it... and it landed on... LaGrange, Georgia. "Good shot Sophia, now it's Olivia turn. Here you go and throw away." And it landed on... Senoia, Georgia. Well, that's nearer than LaGrange, so Senioa first, then LaGrange, it is. Okay girls thanks for your help. Off you two go, back to your TV."

As I grabbed the map and dart off the wall and then placing them back where I took them from earlier. Then I turned to Carol and said, "well, there you have it, Senioa is our next destination and after that LaGrange. I will be stopping along the way to resupply as we go and or maybe I should get that new and bigger RV I wanted first. OOO, I just remembered, there's an RV park on the way to Senioa. That will be our next stop and change RV's."

I said to Carol as I walked back to my swivel seat and started driving again. "is it really ok to go there? Jack that is a long way." I ask her to take a seat beside me as I patted the passenger seat. After she sat down, I answered her, "do you have any place to be at in the next 5 years, Carol? Just think of it, like I said before, as a long overdue vacation."

I got interrupted when the RV rocked to the side, I didn't notice a walker on the road and ran over it. Anyways. Back to Carol, "Where was I... ahh yes, away from all this... this place and everyone in it. Think of it as meeting new people, new places, and maybe a grand adventure we'll have along the way. What's not to like."

As I turned and chuckled to her as she shook her head at the way I acted, "ookay. But I warn you, I'm a bad roommate, I've never been anywhere but here and I'm gonna bug you to infinity about everything I see, things that I've never seen, not to mention Sophia." I laughed at what she said, then answered, "so am I Carol, this would be the first time I took my time and looked at where I'll be. It'll be my vacation too."

So we headed back toward Sharpsburg and searched the town, I know I saw a sigh about the RV park yesterday when I was here. Now where is it, when I turned the corner Carol and I saw a small horde of walkers surrounding a small pharmacy. 'This looked totally familiar, now where have I seen this before.' I thought to myself as I parked a little further away from the horde and swiveled my seat around.

There was around 25 walkers surrounding the place, and several of them were banging on the security gate of said Pharmacy. Carol turned to ma and sighed, "always the hero, aren't you Jack?" I shrugged my shoulder as she pat my back as I stood up and headed to my room to change into something thicker, a little bit resistant would be nice and grabbed my .45's with silencers.

Carol looked worried as I exited my room and at what I was about to do. "Why are you going in there? Why help them, whoever's in there?" She asked not wanting me to go. "Because if it was you and Sophia in there I would do the same." I responded without skipping a beat. "Please be careful." She said as she hugged me as I was about to step outside.

I put my hand on her shoulder and then said, "just watch my back will you. Honk once if you see people coming, and twice if you see more walkers heading my way, okay? Now, look how strong this man is and then when we have time, I will teach you how to do the same. So, you could protect yourself and the people around you next time... OK?"

She nodded and got into the driver's seat to watch me. "Make sure the girls stay in the RV, OK." She agreed and watched me leave the Winnebago, with two guns at the ready one in each hand. I wanted to say that everything was going to be okay, but I didn't want to lie to her any more than I already have. Of course lying about my past was a whole other matter.

I walked toward the small horde and started firing as soon as I got closer. Dropping four walkers under a second, as I looked back at the RV with a smirk in my face, then returned downing the rest of the walkers until none were left alive. After that I did a sweep around the pharmacy to clear away the hidden ninja walkers that lurked in hiding, those damn ninja walkers are sneaky, can't trust them one bit.

Anyways, I just did that in case of surprise ninjas jumped out at me before entering the pharmacy. After making the sweep, making sure no ninja walkers were around, I knocked lightly on the pharmacy door and then waited for someone to answer. And that was when two walkers fell from the roof top of the building almost falling on me.

I jumped back just in time and kick the first one as I stood up, making it fall a few feet away from the other walker. I shot both of them as quickly as I pulled out my .45. 'I told you.. f**ken ninja walkers. There's always some of them around in these kinds of places. That's when I heard some speaking from the inside of the store and made me turn to the door window.

"Who is it? What do you want?" It sounded like a young woman that called out from inside. "It's safe now, I killed all the walkers. Also got those two ninja one's that were hiding on the roof. You can come out now." That was when I saw a small little head pop up from the door window frame and she looked around to see if it was true what I said.

"Carley, he's right. Their gone, all of them. Their lying on the ground. Do we let him in?" I heard the little girl ask the other person in the store. "Are you sure, Clem?" Said the other girl, in which Clem answered, "Yup." Then received a nod from the older girl, "Okay you could let him in." Then suddenly the door swung open without warning and soon had a gun to my face.

Then I saw this small black female standing by the door with a revolver facing me. "Woah, girl...hahaha, well, hello... how do you do." I said to the girl with a smile. I didn't even put my hands up as I leaned my hip on the pharmacy front door. The small girl, Chem, looked at me weirdly before saying, "what were you talking about ninja walkers before? You said you killed them too; I didn't see none."

She said as she looked around the outside trying to find the ninja walkers I walked about. "Yup, I killed two ninja walkers that were hiding on the roof. Their sneaky buggers, they wait for you to be all safe and sound and then, bamm, they attack when you least expect it, That was those two that fell from the roof trying to get at me, when I let my guard down."

I pointed at the two walkers nearest to the door. "You should always check your surroundings before entering any place, and never put your guard down, always expect to be attacked at all times. That keeps ninja walkers at bay, learn from experience little Chem. Is that your name? Weird name by the way. Cool, but weird." I looked at the girl and she had stars in her eyes as I explained about the ninja walkers.

"So, can I come in?" I asked before stepping in. I took a last look around and saw nothing and entered the store. When I entered the store, I saw four people either sleeping further in the store or were unconscious, it mattered little to me. "So, what are you all doing here? I stopped to help whoever was in here and got rid of those walkers that were at the front door." I stood by the door waiting for someone to say something.

There was an older man with a bleeding led further in, a mid-40's looking man either sleeping or unconscious next to the bleeding man, The young girl, whose name was Clem, a young mid-20's woman named Lily, an older female, looked like her mid-30's, named Carley, and an older sleeping or unconscious male next to Lily. "So, what's going on? Need any help, if not I should be going. I have people waiting for me in my RV."

That girl, Carley looks kinda creepy! She just keeps staring at me as if I was a piece of meat, I mean she's a cute girl, she's not my type, sorry. I didn't put to my attention to her, then her eyes caught site of Clementine as she was staring outside trying to see the dead ninja walkers. "Clem, you do know he was playing with about the ninja walkers, right?"

Clem looked at me at asked, "really mister, where you lying?" "I'm sorry little Clem, I wasn't. They do exist. Let me ask you this Mrs. Carley, have you been somewhere where you see everything was clear, but then at the last second, you get a jump scare from something that wasn't there before when you looked?" I looked at Carley as her eyes went up as she was thinking about that one time.

"You know what, I have. There was this place a few weeks ago, I was with Jim and Dave, my old group. When we went to this grocery store, we had cleared the whole place around the store, before we went in, even checked twice just in case. But right when Dave was about to open the door, a walker appeared out of nowhere, like from thin air. It was scary, we lost Dave that day."

I nodded my head as did Clementine, "you see and that was the ninja walker I was talking about. Very sneaky critters, they always attack when you least expect it. Just like these two were, well before I nailed them. Very, very sneaky..." I trailed off and then refocused on the rest of the people in the Pharmacy. Before I said anything else Lily and Carley started to argue about something.

Lily started to argue about letting more people in the store, and that was when I remembered that this was part of the Telltale Walking Dead plot. You got be s**ting me, so I'm not only in the Original Walking Dead Series, I'm also in the Game Series as well, I would be surprised that I'm in all the Walking Dead games and shows. I hope I'm wrong, please be wrong.

As I look back at the four in the store, 'let's see, Carley, Lily, Clemintine, and that must be Larry, Lily's grouch father.' I thought and named all the characters in the room. Then it hit me, why Larry was unconscious, he needs his heart medication, and that is in the back room under lock and key. Well, I can help with that has turned to Clem, that was sitting by Carley.

"So, do you all need help or not? I have to go back to my group. There waiting for me in my camper out there." I was not trying to scare them, because I needed to go. "Can you help Larry? He needs his medication and it's somewhere here. Or back there, but the door is locked." I agreed to her request and stepped through them as I headed to the back room.

"You do know, if the lights are on here, that means that the alarm is on as well. If you open that back door, the alarm will go off and bring a horde down on the four of you." I shake my head at the way people think when trying to loot. Leave the looting to the professionals, not the novice. "Stay right here, I'll be back in a minute. And please don't be scared if the lights go out."

After warning them, I went back outside and walked to the back of the pharmacy. Looked at the electrical box in the store and turned the power off. Then I went back inside and went to the locked door, not stopping mid-step I kicked in the door. The whole door came off its hinges, flying to the desk that was there. "There now it's open and didn't attract a single walker to the place."

I look at the girls that just kept staring at me, and Clem again with stars in her eyes. Lily runs in the room and starts searching for her dad's medication. Well, that felt good, as Carley walked passed me, I could tell from her face that someone helping her felt strange to her. Probably, no one had ever offered to help her or her father since this all started.

In my past, I never cheated, I did what a good-natured boy growing up would do. I was polite, courteous, s**t, I even used to open door for females, but in this life, not so much. I grew up in the worse places, and... anyways, back to Lily. After searching the room thoroughly, she found the medication in a storage cabinet at the back of the room. She then hurriedly ran to her father and gave him his medication.

As I look back at the group, I see Carley keeping a close eye on me for some reason, I walk next the her and she tensed up, "why are you so tense? Have I done something wrong? I mean y'all no harm, Mrs. Carley." I try to calm her down, but it seemed like it didn't work. "My gut is telling me to be weary around you. That you're a very dangerous man and that the whole nice guy routine is only an act."

She said and stared intensely straight into my eyes. I cocked my head back and my eyebrows rose in surprise, But as fast as the surprise came, calmness returned just as quick. I returned to normal as I stepped closer to the young woman, "dangerous... no doubt, gilry. If I was looking to kill any of you, none of you would have been able to do a damn thing. I would have killed you all just as fat as I did those walkers out there in seconds flat. And no remorse left behind at the end of it. If I wanted that is, that is why I asked if you all need help, that was me bing nice."

As I walked passed her, I felt her shiver as she took a step back trying to get Hershelf back in control. I don't get scared or get intimidated easily by anyone, be it living or dead, and she just found out why. "About staying away from me, it's your prerogative, you don't have any worries from me. I'll be gone in a few minutes if that's what worries you. I came to help when I saw those walkers, surrounding the joint."

I said as I kept walking to the others, "what do you want from us? We have nothing you need. Why help us, then?" I stopped in my step and turned to her, as I saw her hands shaking a bit as she held her gun at the ready. After a few seconds of staring me down, she lowered her weapon as she lowered her stare first. "Again, I want nothing. I was passing by and saw the walkers banging on the door and decided to help. Nothing else."

As I continued walking away. As I was further out of her sight, I heard from a far, "a**hole!!" That made me chuckle and soon joined the others at the hallway entrance. "Well, I've done my good deed for the day. I'll be heading out and continuing my vacation. If fate permits, we'll meet again, and if you all are looking for a safe haven. There is farm a few miles down the road in that direction."

As I pulled out a small map from my coat pocket and showed them the area. Showed it to Lily and Carley who just happen to walked up from behind me. And I pointed at the Greene farm and then said, "the farm belongs to the Greene family, nice people. They might put you up until you're ready to move on. Just don't annoy the family head, the old man is a bit grumpy, but all in all they a good bunch."

Then I felt a small hand grab mine, "you are not coming with us?" It was Clemintine who asked. "No, little one, I have my plans already. I have a long vacation that's overdue and I tend to keep it. You go on with your group and try to help them survive. Can you do that for me, Clem?" She looked sad because it was the first time that anyone was this kind to her, but she still nodded anyways.

Trying to soften the blow of leaving, I pulled out a small bag of Snicker bars and gave it to her as a going away gift. The smile on that face was priceless. And on that note, I pulled out my .45's and got ready to leave. As I was about to step out, a hand on my shoulder stopping me from leaving. When I turned around, it was Carley and she looked apologetic as she said nothing for a few seconds.

"I'm really sorry for the way I acted earlier. I'm just used to people being nice to us. And ever since this all happened, we've never caught a break once. You are the second person that's helped us, and the first dying." I stepped to poor girl and put my hand on her shoulder, "it's fine, no harm done. Better be safe than sorry, that's my motto. Keep your people safe Carley and go to that farm I said. They'll help as long as you don't ask for much."

She nodded and stepped back as I returned to face the outside world again. "Clem!!" I called out to the girl, "be strong and grow strong. The world out there has changed for the worse. You have a group that cares for you, take care of them." She stared at me for a bit then nodded as I could see tears in her eyes. "Well... see ya, when I see ya."

Is all I said as I walked out and killed more walkers as they neared me. Shot the first two in the head and continued firing as I walked around the corner into my camper. Before I got in I made a perimeter sweep around the camper, didn't want a stowaway to hid anywhere on my ride. After clearing the area, I entered the camper where Calor and the two little girls were waiting for me.

"How did it go? Where there any people in there?" Carol was firing questions as quickly as they came, and I let her. After a few minutes of no answering she paused and waited for me to answer. "It went fine, Carol. There were a few people there. A young girl of maybe 12 or 13 years old and three grown-ups. A girl in her 20's, another in her early 30's, and older man, maybe in his early 50's."

I saw that look in her eyes as I knew the next thing she was going to ask. "And why didn't you invite them? You invited us with you." I took a breath and sighed, "because Carol, when I met you and Sophia, I had a feeling that I was meant to be there for the two of you. I did not have that same feeling with them. And I told them where to go if they wanted a good place to stay, so they'll be fine." 

She thought in her head, 'where is that safe place,' then it hit her, the Greene's place. "But the little girl?" I put my hand up to stop her from going there. "She will be fine Carol. She has three adults to help her, and if they follow my suggestion, she'll survive all this very well. The Greene women will smother her with the care she needs." 

And Carol knew he was right, all women take care of ant young child in need, it's in their nature, it's in their blood. After I told her what happened in there and the people I met, she was calmer than before, but still worried about the young girl. Well, after a took a short bath, changed into some clean clothes, I went back to the driver's seat and continued on.

And low and behold, 10 minutes later, we found ourselves the RV park . And it was packed with all sorts of them, from large RV's to small and economical ones. All sorts of colors too, there were red, green, blue, damn there was even one painted in rainbow colors. But I was looking for a large, black one or dark colored one. They are able to hid the best, in shadowy places.

After an hour of searching, I found the perfect one, It was an RV that I saw earlier on in my travels, as I put my hands on it. All the information about the RV was flooding my mind. What I was looking for is what was wrong with it, so I could fix the problem while I was here. As all the bad stuff flooded in, I knew what I had to do. So, I went over all its specifications in my head.

This is what I saw: 2009 Jayco Seneca RV:

Engine Duramax / V8, Cylinders 8, Horsepower: 300 hp @ 3,000 RPM, Torque 620 ft-lbs. @ 1,600 RPM, Displacement 6.6 liters, W/Turbocharged (the turbo was shot, needed a new one), Fuel Type: Petroleum; Carburetion Type: Fuel Injected, Fuel tanks: 2: 90-gal fuel capacity(almost empty, needs refueling); Chassis Brand Kodiak, Chassis Model C5500.

Driveline Type 4X2., Transmission Brand: Allison Transmission: 6 Speed Automatic, w/Overdrive. Dimensions of RV: Length; 37.4 ft. (449 in.), Height; 12 ft. (144 in.), Interior Height; 6.67 ft. (80 in.), total weight and towing Capacity; 8,000 lbs., GVWR; 22,000 lbs., Holding Tanks: 2 Fresh Water Holding Tank; 81.5-gal, 2 Gray Water Holding Tanks; 82.0-gal, 1 Black Water Holding Tank; 66.0-gal., Propane Tank(s), 2 Propane Tank Capacity: 56 lbs.

Body Material: Aluminum, Sidewall Construction; Fiberglass, 1 Power retractable Awning cover; Length: 17 ft. (204 in.), 2-bedroom: large king size Beds fits 7 adults in each bed, 4 extendable bunk beds in hallway, carpet flooring in all but the kitchen area, 2-4-seater extendable bed leather sofas, 1 recliner. And a Kitchen / Living Area Flooring Type; Carpet / Vinyl, w/satellite TV.

Fully Automatic Air Conditioned: 27,000 BTUs, Kitchen Table Configuration: sit 6 people Bench Seats, Oven: w4/Burners, Refrigerator Size: Lg-Size, Electric / Propane, Toilet: Porcelain, full Shower, plastic glass door, Driver, and passenger seats: swivel, power adjustable, leather Bucket seats, all electrical with power conversion from watts to amps.

It was almost exactly like the one I saw that day, that I wanted to collect. But I needed to focus right now. As I had parked my small Winnebago next to it, I told Carol and the girls to stay inside until I cleared the area. And after killing a few dozen walkers in 20 minutes, I let them out to play, under the supervision of Carol as I went searching for the parts I needed to fix the RV.

(To be Continued...)