A Rising God And Her Protector

 Year 3392 Feb 7

Seven days before the outbreak

 "Lee Everett, you are being accused of murder and are therefore being put on trial; how do you plead?" 

 There was a moment of silence from both the judge, jury, and suspect. Breaking the silence, I spoke up.

 "...Guilty."

 The judge looked at me with eyes of consideration before moving on with the court case. "Very well, I declare Lee Everett guilty of all accusations and subsequent murder of xxx; you are to be sentenced to xxx years in prison. Case dismissed."

 Everyone stood up at the dismissal and left; I was jerked up by one of the officers and subsequently dragged out of the courtroom and thrown into a jail cell to await transfer to one of the prisons located out of state. 

 With nothing to do, I opted to sleep.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Year 3392 Feb 14

 Four hours before the outbreak

 "God damn It! Stupid fucking truck." a man said as he kicked the deflated wheel attached to the blue pickup. 

 "Why now of all times," he questioned. 

 Going to the back of his pickup, he climbed onto the back and grabbed a car jack that he always had on hand. Jumping off, he proceeded to the front where he would continue to set down the car jack and slide it under his truck; using the hand crank, he lifted the upper right end of the tuck to replace the tire with the spare he had sitting in the back.

 Standing up from his crouched position, he made his way to the back again, only to be stopped by a ringtone echoing out from his truck. he made his way over to the driver's side door and reached through the window to grab his phone. Upon unlocking it, he noticed one missed call and three text messages; opening the text messages, he could immediately tell who it was, so, with a smile, he texted back. It didn't take long for his phone to start blowing up with dings.

 He chuckled at this.

 Next, he went to his missed call. Looking at the number, he knew exactly who this was as well, and looking at the time the call came in, he was most likely going to get chewed out for not picking up.

 "Katjaa and her worrying," he said with a light grin.

 Clicking the call button, he was immediately greeted with the worried words of his wife.

 "Kenneth, you are in so much trouble when you get here."

"Please, calm down, Katja; I have a good reason for not picking up the phone at the time," Kenny, with his brilliant intellect, came up with the perfect excuse in the form of a flat tire he had just acquired.

 "Is that so; well then, tell me this reason you speak of, dear." The way she said it made it clear, even over the phone, that if it wasn't a good fucking reason, she was going to wring his neck. 

 He started to sweat at the tone of her voice, 'Please let this work.' "Well, my dear Katja, I have a flat tire, and I'm in the process of fixing it," he said while using the most 'domineering' voice he could muster.

 Katja was having none of it, "Is that so..." was her only reply.

 "Ye-Yep! That's right." Kenny was nervous, as Katja had never let him get off this easy. He was only slightly prepared for her upcoming words.

 "For an hour and twenty minutes?" He could feel the condescending tone radiating from her voice.

 Kenny was never good under stress, so he caved quickly. He huffed and continued. "No... I was blasting my radio..."

 He perked up when he heard laughing coming from the other side of the phone, and he couldn't help but laugh with her.

 She spoke again, "Kenny... we'll deal with this when you get here, but for now, hurry up and fix your tire because Duck is very excited to see you again.'"

 "I know, Katja; he hasn't stopped blowing my phone up since I responded to him." They both had a small chuckle at the statement.

 The moment was interrupted when they heard a loud ding in the background.

 "Ahh, that must be the cake. Sorry, I have to go." 

 "It's all right, go make sure the cake is alright; we can't be having a perfectly baked cake go to waste, can we?" That earned him a chuckle on her end.

 "I love you, you silly man."

"I love you too, Kat." "And tell Duck I'll be there soon."

 "I will. See you when you get home, Kenny." With that, the line went dead, leaving only Kenny and the bright sun shown above.

 Putting his phone back in the truck, he continued what he started before, changing his stupid tire. At least now, he wasn't so frustrated, so that's a plus in his book.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Two hours until the outbreak

 "Clementine! It's time to eat." Came the voice of her sitter.

 "Alright, Ms Sandra! I'll be down once I make the rest of this picture!" was Clem's response as she bustled to grab the red crayon from her box of crayons.

 Finally catching the elusive red crayon, she continued with her art by filing in the thing she drew as best she could without going outside the lines; once done, she jumped around in joy because she only went outside the lines once. Remembering that dinner was ready, she snatched up her drawing to show Ms Sandra and started climbing down her tree house.

 Now on the ground again, she couldn't help but look back up at the tree house she was previously in. When she did, she could have sworn to see Glowing Green, but as much as her childish mind begged her to investigate, she was super duper hungry and would investigate later when she had something to eat.

 Running up to the glass pane that stood in her way, she did a big heave before pulling it open all by herself; she couldn't help the feeling of pride that swelled within her when she managed to do it herself. Usually, Mom or Dad would help her with that, but they weren't here right now, so she had to be the big girl of the house until they came back.

 Stepping inside, she could smell tacos, and she loved tacos. "Ms Sandra?" Clem called out.

 "Yes, Clementine?" Came a response from the kitchen to Clem's left.

"Can I have three tacos this time?" Clem asked in the most puppy way possible.

It seemed super effective because Sandra caved. "Of course you can, little one."

 Clem had found this trick a while ago, and it works on almost every adult; she called it 'Unlimited Power!' because of how effective it was.

 "Now get to the table; I'll bring the food over in a moment," came Sandra's surgery voice of reason. 

 "Ok," Was the reply she gave.

 When making her way to the table, she was stopped by Ms Sandra's voice.

 "Ohh! Clem, I almost forgot. Your parents left you a message," she said as she grabbed her phone to the left of the land phone. Clem watched her tap her phone a few times before she handed it over to her; looking down, she found a message with the name 'Clem's Parents' on it.

 Doing her best, she began to read it, with Ms Sandra, only having to help two times. When she finished reading the message, she wanted to write back. So with Ms Sandra's help, she wrote something nice.

 'Dear Mommy and Daddy, I love you so so so so much, and I can't wait to see you again. Yours truly, Clementine.' 

 Sandra helped with the last part, and something called gra-gram-Grammer? ya grammar. It looked the same, so I didn't understand why this grammar mattered, but Ms Sandra said it would help, so I believed her.

 "Now, Clementine, go wash up and get to the table; all the food will be on the table by the time you return."

 "Alright, Ms Sandra." With that, Clem was off. Running down the hall and to the bathroom, she quickly got a stool and put it in front of the sink so she could reach the hot and cold knobs. With rushed and sloppy actions, Clementine was done and eager to eat some tacos; putting the stool back in its original spot, she sprinted back down the hall and into the dining room.

 Ms Sandra was there waiting for her as Clem Climbed onto the chair she always used when they ate. When Clem was seated, Ms Sandra handed her a plate with one taco on it; Clem quickly began to pout.

 "Don't pout, Clementine," Ms. Sandra said with a devious smile. 

 Clementine pouted harder.

 "It's ok, Clementine, you'll still get the tacos you wanted, just one at a time," Sandra said with a matter of faculty.

 Clementine Stopped pouting and gave a slight nod; she then proceeded to devour said taco, so much so that she kept up with Ms Sandra.

 "Now-now, Clementine, slow down, or you'll choke." Was said in a concerned tone.

 "Sorry, Ms Sandra." Was clems only response as Sandra took her plate and made a new taco for the girl.

 Clem, delighted by this, took Ms Sandra's advice and slowed down a bit.

 Sandra, noticing this, gave her a small smile. To which Clem seemed embarrassed of.

 After dinner was done, Ms Sandra told Clem to go outside and play while she cleaned up the mess.

 So Clem went back outside to play in the sand pit she had; that was until she remembered the bright green thing she had seen on her tree house. Curiosity reignited; she proceeded to her tree house instead. 

 Looking up with a surprisingly calculative gaze for her age, she continued climbing up the ladder; once she was up there, she started looking around the outside first. There was nothing, so she moved onto the inside. There was something, and it glowed in the most beautiful color she had ever seen.

 Its wings flapped vigorously as it was stationed on the box of crayons she left up here; being a kid with no sense of cation, she walked up to it unafraid of what it might be; the creature, even upon her approach, didn't move, and that made her happy. When she got close enough, she realized it was a green butterfly; she found that so cool; she had never seen a green butterfly before.

 Not even two steps later, she was right next to the butterfly, yet the butterfly showed no intention of flying away. Clem's curiosity got the better of her as she reached down to touch it. The butterfly let her; she rubbed its back and wings with gentle vigor, careful not to hurt it. Then something unexpected happened; the butterfly turned toward Clem and crawled onto her hand; Clem, absolutely elated by this, smiled like the sun.

 Once again, the butterfly flapped its wings with vigor; Clem took this as a sign that it was happy and giggled to herself. 

 Clem, happy that something enjoyed her company, started to prattle on and on about things she had done today and about how she wanted to eat more tacos but was too full to do so; the butterfly flapped its wings every time she said something, almost like it could understand her. She was so happy right now; she had never had anyone other than her mom and dad willing to listen to what she had to say. Not even the other kids at school were willing to listen.

 Clem liked this butterfly, so she asked it something. "Mr butterfly, could you stay here?" she said.

 The butterfly, in an almost understanding way, flapped its wings three times as if it were confirming it would stay; this made Clem happy as she had just made a new friend. 

 "Thank you, Mr butterfly." She said in one of the most sincere voices she could muster, trying to convey how happy she was to the butterfly.

 "Clem!"

 Before she could continue prattling on about her day, she was interrupted by Ms Sandra calling for her.

 "Yes, Ms Sandra?" Clem called back with a questioning tone.

 "It's time for bed sweety."

 Clem, unhappy about this but unwilling to put up a fight, called back. "Ok, I'll be down in a moment!"

 "ok, but don't be too long! You have school in the morning."

 Clem turned to her new butterfly friend with a slightly disappointed face. "I'm sorry, Mr butterfly, but I have to go to bed, so I'll see you tomorrow, won't I?"

 The butterfly flapped its wings in understanding before flying over to the top left corner of the tree house and perching; she couldn't help but giggle at that action as it seemed Mr Butterfly was also going to bed. 

 "Goodnight, Mr butterfly." While turning to leave the tree house, she could have sworn to hear something say, 'GoodNight, Clementine.' She brushed it off as her imagination and climbed down for the night, going inside so she could go to bed herself.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Ten minutes before the encounter

 "Goodnight, Clementine."

"Goodnight, Ms Sandra."

 With that, Sandra shut off Clementine's light and shut her door.

Walking back to the living room, I put on a show so I didn't have to listen to silence. To me, silence is terrifying, and I don't understand how people could like it.

  Nine minutes before the encounter

 Clementine has been a good kid these past few days, and if I'm honest, I fully expected her to be like the little brats I had taken care of in the past, but she wasn't, and that's refreshing. She cleans up most of her messes, doesn't cause trouble, and doesn't break things on purpose or accident.

 Eight minutes before the encounter

 And with her parents having good jobs. This particular house sitting is paying well. I'd say about Three hundred Dollars per day; I certainly won't complain because not only am I getting paid a fair sum, but I also got put with an angle above angles.

 Seven minutes before the encounter

 "ok, I still need to do the dishes and take out the trash." Looking over at the dishes and trash, she could see both were full; doing the dishes seemed like the right call right now as they would take the most time. "Dishes first, trash after."

 Three minutes before the encounter

 "huu, I will always hate doing dishes, but sadly, there is no dishwasher here, so I had to make do with my hands. Now for the trash." she went around the house gathering trash, blissfully unaware of this being her last night alive.

 Encounter

 With a bit of effort, she managed to drag the trash cans down to the curb for pickup tomorrow morning.

 "Now that that's all done, I can go back inside and watch something to fall asleep to." That plan was stopped when she heard odd noises coming from the yard next door. Being naturally curious, she walked toward the sound with only mild hesitation. Walking up to the fence, she couldn't see anything, and that was her downfall as something lunged out of the dark and latched its jaws onto her shoulder.

 "AHHHHHHH!"

 With an adrenaline spike rushing through her, she managed to pry the thing off, but it took a chunk of flesh with it. 

 She scrambled back from the fence and onto the ground. One of her hands was clutching at the area with a chunk of flesh missing. She crawled back while still looking at the fence. 

 Her back hit one of the trash cans, bringing her back to reality; getting up, she ran for the front door. Successful in getting there, she ripped the door open and slammed it shut behind her. She locked it and ran for the lane phone with emergency personnel on speed dial; she clicked the dial many times, but no one responded.

 "Damn it damn it damn it damn it." "Come on, you stupid fucking phone, work!" Her shoulder ached, nearly causing her to topple over in pain. 

 Clementine's door was opened as she came out, rubbing her eyes. "Ms Sandra?"

 "Ohh! Clementine, sweety, why aren't you in bed," she asked, knowing full well why she was up. 

 Clementine wasn't stupid and knew something was wrong. "Ms Sandra, what's wrong?"

 "Nothing, sweety, no-" She couldn't continue as something started banging on the front door, scaring them both. Sandra, for her part, held up a good front in front of the terrified little girl. Careful not to terrify her further, she called out, "Hey Clem, yo-you want to play a game?"

 "N-no, no-not... really." Clem was shaking at this point.

 "Well, can we play one anyway?"

"I-I guess." The banging continued.

 "Great... this game is called hide and seek, and you'll be the hider while I be the seeker; sound good?" Shattering wood could be heard. It was ignored.

 "Y-ya"

"Good; now, can you go and find a place where you feel safe?"

 Clementine was crying. "...ya..."

"Good... I'll count to three."

 "One," Clementine ran to the sliding door.

 "Two.." Clementine ran to her tree house.

"Three..." Clementine hid in her tree house

 The door was forced open, and a struggle ensued.

 The struggle was no more; she had trapped the thing in a room and blocked it with the bookshelf. The front door had furniture in front of it to keep it closed.

 She died of blood loss.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Year 3392 Feb 15

One Day Alone

Scared and exhausted, Clementine curled up into a ball, becoming as small as she could make herself. It's safe to say she cried herself to sleep that night.

 'Mom, Dad, when can we see the monkeys?' 

'In a bit, Clementine; we are just waiting on your father now, ok?

 'Alright, but I still want to see the monkeys.'

'I know, I know, but you need to get tickets from the front desk, and that is what Dad went to do, so try and be a little more patient, ok?

 'ok.'

'Ohh! Look, Clementine, your fathers right there; you want to greet him?'

 'Ya! Let's get Daddy so we can watch all the monkeys!'

'ok, Clementine, slow down,' her mother spoke in a slightly panicked voice; I didn't listen because I was trying to find Daddy. 

 'Come on, Mommy, we need to find Daddy,' I said while turning around to grab her hand... Mommy wasn't there.

 'Mommy?'

'Mommy.'

 'Mommy!' 

 Nothing. 'Mommy! Mommy, where are you!?' Still nothing. 

 I was on the verge of tears until I caught a glimpse of her; she was standing still with her back turned to me.

 I ran up and took her hand. 'Mommy?'

 Her mom turned to look at her. She wasn't her mom. 

'Mommy?' I questioned quietly as I looked at the decayed and rotted version of her mom's face.

 Mommy pulled... and I was bitten.

"AAAH!"

 "No, Mommy, Please stop; it hurts!" I yelled out as my body jolted upright. Tears streamed down my face while I wept as quietly as I could, careful to remember the thing somewhere outside.

 The sun's rays glared through the cracks of my tree house, making my head hurt. My eyes itched from the intensive rubbing; snot and tears covered the neck part of my dress, and saliva leaked at the corners of my mouth. I rocked myself back and forth in a futile attempt to calm myself down.

 I continued to do this for an hour or so before a gentle yet firm hand was placed on my shoulder, and as terrifying as the prospect of whatever that thing was getting up here may have been, I couldn't bring myself to pull away as I leaned into the warmth. 

 However, when I leaned into nothing, I opened my eyes to identify the source of the warmth as Mr butterfly. 

 "Ohh, it's you... hello, Mr butterfly." Mr butterfly flapped its wings in response to my greeting. "Hey, Mr butterfly... do you... do you know what that thing was?" Mr butterfly didn't respond.

 "Ohh, ya... you weren't there last night... were you?" Mr butterfly's comforting aura rested on my chest as I laid back down; the sun's rays were glaring down and making it uncomfortable to see, so I wished for them to go away; they didn't, but my eyes did feel a lot better for some reason.

 My head still hurt, but it wasn't that bad compared to minutes ago; my previously hoarse voice also felt somewhat better now. I ignored it all.

 "Mr butterfly, do you think Ms Sandras is ok?" Mr butterfly flapped his wings a few times before stopping. I took this as a no.

 "What am I going to do, Mr butterfly? There's nothing to eat or drink up here, and I'm too scared to go back inside." The quick flap of his wings felt reassuring, almost like it was telling me not to worry.

 "Mr butterfly... can I draw you?" I asked as a distraction to myself. He flapped his wings with lightning-fast movements, giving me the impression that he'd love to be drawn.

 "Ok, let me grab my green crayon, and then we can start." Getting up, I went to the box of crayons lying on the treehouse floor. I sifted through the crayons, looking for the green crayons. I found it lying at the bottom.

 "Give me a moment, Mr butterfly; I need more paper from my supper dupper secret stash." Walking over to the bottom left corner of the tree house, I lifted one of the smaller pieces of wood that made up the floor; under it was paper, my walkie-talkie, and a spare box of crayons.

 I put the paper in there so it wouldn't get wet from rain and stuff like that; that's also why I put my walkie-talkie in there. Mom said the rain likes to break things like that, so I keep it here for safekeeping.

 My hand went for the paper. "ok, Mr butterfly, I have the paper, so now I can draw you." Mt butterfly flapped his wings.

 I put the board back and made my way back over to Mr butterfly. I set the paper down before I sat down myself. Mr Butterfly was already still, so I started drawing him, but for some reason, I had the feeling that making him human would look better, so I did; I drew him as a human. When I was done, I couldn't help but smile; he looked amazing; even while drawn in all green, you could still tell that he had raven black hair, beautiful cracked emeralds for eyes, and skin as pale as snow. He wore a long-sleeved kimono with three striking green lines running down the center; he also bore a crown made of emerald.

 'Had Clem been older, she would've questioned how she could make such a thing in such fine detail. But she wasn't.'

 "Look, Mr butterfly, I drew you to be like me; do you like it?" I asked with a smile that would strike most heartstrings.

 There was a pause for a moment before Mr butterfly flapped his wings. She doesn't know why but Clem feels that he is sad... like her. Wanting to comfort him as he did her, she gently started to pet his wings' hoping it would work... Another strange feeling told her it was.

 If she had looked outside, she would have seen how dark it had gotten and probably noticed her lack of hunger and thirst, but she didn't. She sat there, petting him until she fell asleep. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Planet Zero

 A being smiled in his sleep.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 3392 Feb 16

 Freedom?

 The cop adjusted his mirror to get a good view of his 'Passenger.' He looked him over with a curious gaze while also keeping watch of the road.

 "Well... I reckon you didn't do it then."

 His passenger looked up at him for the first time since being but in the back. "What do you mean?"

 "You see, I've driven lots of people down to the prison, and it's usually right about now that I get the 'I didn't do it' card."

 His passenger went into thought for a moment before responding. "I wish I could say the same... but I can't."

 I gave him another look... "So... how'd it happen, if you don't mind me asking."

His passenger remained silent.

 Giving him another look, I decided it best to change the topic. "Names, Tori."

 His passenger looked at him for a moment before responding. "Lee."

 "Well, Lee, even if you did do it, I feel you don't deserve punishment."

 "Why's that?"

"You just don't seem like a guy who would go and kill someone like that." "I figure something must have happened between you and him. With him being the activator."

 "Not a bad guess; if you were my lawyer when I was on trial, I might have been a free man."

 I looked at Lee for a moment... "Is that so... and why is that."

 "The lawyer they gave me was a trainee and racist, so he wasn't trying too hard to fight my case."

 "So, they set you up to fail, eh?"

"Ya..."

 "What a damn shame."

Cop cars whizzed by one after another; Lee was curious but didn't ask about it.

 "Say, Lee, I don't want to seem rude, but after you serve your time, would you be willing to consider joining the police force? I can recommend you as a candidate after your release... if you want."

 Lee thought for a moment. "That doesn't sound bad, but why do you ask?"

 "Well, Lee, I'm getting old, and sooner or later, I'm gonna need some 'actual' help around the station."

 "don't other cops work at your station?"

 "There are, but they are either too stupid or jump the gun too fast. They're like headless chickens running around with a gun." " I need someone with actual balls to help me out, someone who's not afraid of using a gun when needed, and someone who doesn't crack easily when under stress; I can find all these qualities in you, Lee, that's why I'm askin'."

 Lee didn't know why, but that made him slightly proud.

A helicopter and more cop cars flew by, but he ignored it.

 There was a moment of silence before Tori turned to Lee and began to tell another story, but Lee suddenly yelled out, telling him to watch the road.

 His eyes should have never left it.

 There was a loud thud as they hit something and began to spin out of control before bursting through the guard rails and into the forest. When that happened, Lee's vision went black.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 I drifted in and out of consciousness; my vision blurred, and my ears ringed each time I became conscious, limiting me to what I could see and hear.

 .....SOMEONE HEL...PLEAS.....I DON'T WANT TO D....AHHHHHH!.....GET OFF!... GET O...GGRRGL.....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Year 3392 Feb 17

 "Uh... what happened?' I thought. 

 I tried to move around a bit, but that just caused me excoriating pain in the form of a large gash on my upper thigh.

 Ignoring that, I started to look around, taking notice of the large hole that had presented itself on the car's back windshield; I also noticed the officer a couple of feet away, lying face-first on the ground.

 "Officer! Hey! I'm still cuffed back here!" He didn't respond.

 Seeing no other option, I began to look for a way out myself, and it didn't take long.

 "Hmmm, well, it looks like I'll be adding something else to my list of crimes," I said as I took my good leg and started kicking out the window. It only took a few solid hits before it caved, throwing glass everywhere.

 Pulling myself closer to the window, I then proceeded to throw myself out the car window and onto the ground.

 "Damn..." Using a combination of my good leg and still-cuffed hands, I was able to push myself up and off the ground while using the car as a prop to help me center myself. Limping past the window, I got a good view of what behind the car looked like, and to say it wasn't good was an understatement. 

 Tori seemed to have thought it a good idea to bring out a shotgun to deal with whatever was attacking him.

 Slowly limping my way over to the shotgun, I picked it up; it had no rounds in it and would be a pain to carry with these cuffs still on, so I put it back down and limped my way over to the officer.

 "Hey, Officer, are you alright?" No response.

 "Looks like I'll have to find the keys and uncuff myself." I then proceeded to pat down the officer until I found the keys.

 "Got you," I picked up the keys to unlock my cuffs but fumbled and dropped them right in front of the officer's face; cautiously, I bent down and snatched the keys. Careful not to drop them this time, I managed to uncuff myself. Letting both the keys and cuffs fall to the ground. 

 "Ughhhh..."

"Officer?"

 "RAAA!"

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" The officer... No, the thing lunged at me, so like how any other person would react, I kicked it in the face, but that hurt my already injured leg and toppled me over. 

 The thing, seemingly not fazed by this, started crawling toward me, and understandably, I started pushing myself back while using my leg to make sure it stayed a fair distance away; each time it got too close for my liking, I kicked it square in to face stunning it for a second or two.

 I did this until my back hit the car. Knowing that there was a shotgun next to me, I grabbed it, as even without ammo, it would still make for a decent blunt weapon. Luckily for me, there so happened to be a single round sitting a foot to my left, so with more than minimal effort, I managed to grab the shell and load it into the shotgun.

 Cocking the shotgun, I shouted, " Don't make me do this!" It didn't listen, so I pulled the trigger.