S1E24 - Oranges

[AN: yes, I know this isn't where this scene happens. I'm bending it to fit the narrative.]

"shit…"

I look out the window. There's no way I could get through the horde. I looked around the entire building, and the roof. The only other exit is sealed off behind a mess of trash, furniture, and god knows what.

C'mon… Think!

…

"Ah!"

I head up the stairs to Ricardo's corpse and take out my axe. Fuck… this is gonna suck…

I take out my poncho and put it on, wanting to keep the gunk off of my clothes. I don't wanna smell like a whisperer any time soon. After this, I swallow hard and hold the axe above my head. And I swing down. Over, and over, and over again. The sickening sound of ripping flesh fills my ears, as well as the stench of the inside of a human. I end up stopping halfway through, and vomiting in the corner of the room. I take a pair of gloves out of my inventory as I wipe my face clean. I put the hood of the poncho up and start the real dirty work.

As I reach my hand into the guts, I feel the slimy, still warm texture across my fingers. I dry-heave as I scoop out a handful of viscera, and put it on my chest. I scoop out another handful and put it on my shoulders. I continue on doing this, stopping to keep myself from vomiting every now and then.

Eventually, I'm covered in guts and blood. And I have the worst stench imaginable stuck to me… after this, I head downstairs and ready myself for this terrifying task…

I slowly open the door, making sure to make as little noise as possible, and wait to see if the walkers react to me, as I won't blindly trust my TV knowledge. They look in my direction, but none of them truly acknowledge me. Good. Good… I slowly walk out of the apartment, and make my way back the way I came from. The stench of death all around me begins to overwhelm me, but my survival instincts keep me from gagging or coughing. I reach up and pull the neck of my shirt over my face, hoping to keep the worst of the smells away. Which does work, slightly.

I'm about halfway through the horde when one of the walkers bumps into my shoulder. I look at it, and see that its eyeballs have completely rotted out. It faces towards me, but seems to not even notice me. My heart starts to race as I feel myself being overwhelmed by the presence of so many walkers. I'm fighting every urge to run and to hyperventilate… When suddenly…

*BANG!*

I hear a gunshot off to my right, coming from a building. The walkers around me react by all turning that way and slowly trudging up to the building. I try to continue on my way, but more and more walkers bump into me and force me further towards the building… And that's when I see it… a door swings open in the alley beside the building, revealing a small girl holding a pistol. She runs the opposite way, but is quickly blocked off by another group of walkers. She turns back and begins to look around before going back in the building.

God dammit. I walk through the crowd of walkers towards the door, walking a bit faster than the crowd. I get to the door at the same time as one of the walkers and yank the door open, slamming the walker in the head. I get inside the door and close it. Seeing as I haven't been shot yet, I guess the kid ran further in. I speak in a hushed yell,

"Kid! You in here?!"

[New Quest Received!]

[Save the mystery kid.]

[Rewards: 300p, 2 stat points]

…

Mystery kid? Why do I feel like this is a trap again? Luckily the front windows are gated, so I don't have to worry about them breaking any time soon. I walk through the store with a flashlight out. I see magazines, candy, a couple sodas, a pair of legs…

Yep. A pair of legs. I take out my gladius and slowly walk over with it ready to pierce the skull of any walker. I see more and more blood stains on the clothes of this person until finally I see their face.

"Oh shit… Lee?"

I'd notice that face anywhere. His short hair and beard, and his iconic blue button-up, even if stained with blood, are very recognizable. I look down at him for a second and sigh,

"Dammit. You would've been a great addition to the team."

Well, no use crying over spilt milk. Let's go find Clementine. I start looking around again, after sheathing my sword.

"Clem? Clementine?"

I open the door to the bathroom slowly, and shine my light in,

"Clem are you in here?"

I hear soft crying as I ask this.

"Clem, I'm coming in, okay? Don't shoot at me."

I store my poncho,

[Walker Camo stored.]

Nice. I slowly open the door and peek inside, finding Clem pointing the pistol at me,

"Hey! Hey, Clem! Do you remember me?"

She shakes her head no while crying and continuing to point the gun at me,

"I'm Penny! I used to babysit for your mom before I had to go to college! You were probably about four when I did it. You got so big so quickly!"

Yeah. I'm lying to her. But that's better than being shot in the face by an eight year old. She lowers the gun and looks at me with tears continuing to stream down her face. Her eyes close as she begins to break down into tears fully, finally comfortable enough to cry like a kid should. I walk over to her and sit down beside her, pulling her into my arms and holding her tight. I hum a song to her and rock slightly, while taking the gun away from her.

"You're okay now… I'm here for you…"

She buries her face into my clothes, soaking them with tears. Pretty quickly, she falls asleep while crying. I hold her in my arms as I listen to the walkers hitting the gates at the front of the store. Luckily, they aren't humans because they would easily break in. After ensuring that Clem is fast asleep, I put the poncho back on and hold her in a princess carry underneath, making sure to rest her head on my chest. With my massive strength stat, this much is easy. I feel like I could hold her for days without getting tired. I get up with her and make my way over to the door from before. Luckily, I don't hear any walkers beating on it, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. I open the door a touch and peek outside. I see the group still outside. I breathe out and slowly pull the door open, walking outside.

I make sure to stagger as I walk, and I pray that Clem doesn't wake up. Sadly, I can't really just sit here and wait for the walkers to walk away. I already see Amy as a friend for the most part, and I wanna make sure she survives the attack. Jim too. He seemed like a good guy, if a little weird. Ed is dead. Ain't nobody saving that piece of shit. Though I wish I coulda beat his ass at least once.

I push the crowd of walkers with no issues, and see the end of the horde in sight. I continue to stagger that way, and accidentally bump into a walker, shoving it on the ground.

"Fuck it… we're close enough. With that, I take off sprinting. A few of the walkers around me start to agro, turning with what seems to be shock at this running thing that smells like they do. I dodge between walkers and finally free myself from the horde. I turn around, seeing a small part of the herd slowly shambling towards me. I flip them off under my poncho and continue running for a few blocks, passing crashed cars, downed telephone poles, and corpses. Eventually, we make it to the interstate, which makes finding the camp so much easier.

I store my poncho just in time for the mission to complete,

[Quest Complete!]

[Save Clementine]

[Rewards: 300p, 2 stat points, 1 gacha pull.]

[1530p]

Let's see about getting us a car.

—---------------------------------------------

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