Chapter Nine... Oh, how I hate you.
After a few rewrites and one computer glitch that ate two pages, it is done. I wanted to get this posted before Wednesday and see what happens in episode five of TWD game. What occurs there will probably effect want I will write in Chapter Ten. Anyways, thanks for the feedback and I will start Chapter Ten ASAP.
Chapter Nine: Fatal hope
I found them.
Carley continued to repeat the words in her mind. She could scarcely believe it even as she held Clementine in her arms. Driving through the main gate of the Nest, the exhausted little girl was fast asleep, her head resting comfortably against Carley’s right shoulder.
Pulling up close as they could to the mansion, Angel and Michael carried Lee inside while Carley carried a still sleeping Clementine right behind them. Not too surprising, bringing in two survivors gathered much attention from the Nest‘s inhabitants, the especially the child that Carley held. One of the sad facts was that there were no children here. The youngest person they had was nineteen. It seemed that single people did better surviving than entire families, simply because the ‘lone wolf’ types could immediately pack up and run with nothing slowing them down.
Once inside, Lee was taken to Doctor Cottle while Carley took Clementine to another room to wait. The little girl was still asleep as Carley gently placed her on a couch but she stirred as the older woman started removing her winter cap and heavy coat.
“Lee?” A sleepy eyed Clementine whispered, looking around at her new strange surroundings.
“He’s being cared for right now,” Carley assured her as she reached for a nearby folded blanket opening . “We have a doctor.”
The little girl didn’t put up much of a struggle as Carley gently laid her down and covered her with the blanket. “I’ll be right back.” The older woman promised as she stood up.
Suddenly, Clementine sat up and grabbed her arm, pleading. “Stay.”
All Carley wanted to do was to check on Lee and didn’t feel confident in bring Clementine along in case his condition took a turn for the worse. But listening to the girl’s heartfelt plea and staring into those imploring eyes, Carley couldn’t refuse.
“Alright,” The older woman smiled before sitting down on the couch next to her. Clementine moved closer to rest her head on Carley’s lap.
Carley could see the little girl was indeed very tired after watching over Lee for two days and at the very least, she could return the favor and watch over her for a few hours. Carley gently stroked her fingers through Clementine’s short hair and in moments, the little girl was fast asleep again.
It must have been a nightmare being outside in the cold and after dark with the threat of walkers possibly appearing at any moment. Carley thought with a shudder. She was an adult and just the idea of confronting that scenario by herself scared her.
Carley really wanted to ask some questions, like what did Clementine meant by Ben and Kenny’s family being gone? Were they dead or did they somehow get separated? What the hell happened in Savannah? Well, the questions could wait a while longer and she would enjoy sometime with the girl in peace and quiet.
Suddenly, there was a soft knock at the door and Carley looked up expecting it to be Michael or Dr. Cottle himself bringing news on Lee but instead it was Lizzy.
The blonde woman grinned gleefully. “Oh God, its true!”
Carley raised a finger to her lips, urging her to be silent and not wake Clementine. Then to her surprise when Lizzy walked in, she was immediately followed by Pegs, Kelly and Riley. They all wanted to see the Nest’s newest and youngest resident.
“Just look at her.” Lizzy whispered excitedly.
Pegs covered her mouth as she eagerly agreed. “She’s so adorable looking.”
Carley just shook her head in disbelief, whispering sternly. “She’s not a unicorn! Get a hold of yourselves.” The last thing she wanted was for Clementine to wake up and find a bunch of strangers staring at her.
“She might as well be,” Kelly replied matter of factly. “Unlike you, we haven’t seen a child in almost a year.”
“I might be guilty of wanting to see her again too,” Riley said confessed. “But I also got news, Doctor Cottle said Lee is stable but he has a concussion.”
Carley glanced down at Clementine to make sure she was still asleep before asking. “So, he has no idea when he might wake up?”
Riley shook her head. “No but beyond being dehydrated the doctor said he’s okay for the time being but...”
The French woman hesitated and Carley grew increasingly concerned. “But what?”
“We have another problem.” Riley started.
***
Michael was not having a good day as he approached the meeting hall. It was barely an hour after they returned to the Nest with Clementine and Lee when Burt notified him of some rumblings within their camp. Bringing in new people always raises concerns about the place being able to continue sustaining itself with dwindling food resources. Michael had to deal with it now before it got out of hand and he wasn’t surprised to find out who was stirring things up.
Stepping into the meeting hall with Burt in tow, Michael saw Chad with his supporters, five men and three women. That was about a quarter of the total number of people here.
Over the months since establishing themselves here, there was always a bit of a power struggle for control of the Nest. First it was Kelly with her objection over Michael’s leadership and him having the final say over everything. Michael even bumped heads with Burt on a few occasions over important decisions but since he started delegating tasks and responsibilities to everyone, things had improved.
However, it still wasn’t good enough for Chad. Michael and the others could see that he wanted to be in charge and challenged Michael at every opportunity. Bringing in two extra mouths to feed was one of those times. There was some grumblings over the addition of Carley months ago but she was a woman and of the 32 people here, only 12 were female. As Burt put it, a dame famine can be just as bad as the lack of food over an extended long period of time.
Michael knew that Chad was no fool and he was able to get people stirred up with fear mongering. Food was tight but it was far from critical, unfortunately empty bellies or the threat of it could get people to do things they wouldn‘t normal do. One concerned was that Chad wasn’t a good listener or team player with his own ideas of getting things done. Michael would hate to see if he was put in charge of the Nest and even Kelly recognized how unwise it would be with him calling the shots.
Let’s try to keep it civil. Michael thought before taking in a calming breath to speak evenly. “What is the problem?”
Chad just glared at the army sergeant before folding his arms across his chest. “Just how many strays are you planning to keep bringing in here?”
Screw with keeping things civil!
“Strange,” Michael said, returning Chad’s stare. “You were a stray too when we let you in with everyone else here in those initial weeks.”
“That was different,” Chad retorted. “Food is getting scarce now and you are out there playing hero to every sorry soul you find.”
“That’s right. I’m out there and risking my neck while you just stand there criticizing everything I do.”
“What the fuck are you talking about,” Chad just stared angrily at Michael. “I go out there too.”
“How many times have you gone out there in the last month looking for supplies?” Michael challenged. “Meanwhile, Carley, our newest member has constantly volunteered to go out there time and again and put her life on the line for the rest of us. If you had your way you would have kicked her out long ago!”
“You’re changing the subject. We’re not talking about Burt’s little pet.”
“What are you talking about?” Burt grumbled aloud, being suddenly brought into this argument.
“You’re tight about handing out guns but she’s now permitted to walk around with a sidearm.” Chad said.
“Because she’s responsible and I trust her which is far more than I can say about you, you piece of shit!” Burt fired back.
Chad laughed “More like she willing to tow the line in your little empire here.”
“Fuck you!” Burt moved to break the man in half when Michael stepped between them.
“Enough!” The army sergeant shouted before focusing on Chad and the others again. “Yes, we found two survivors, an injured man and an eight year old girl that was with him. Are you suggesting we turn them away?”
“Wait,” A woman in Chad’s group spoke up. “We’re just concerned about supplies. No one is suggesting throwing out a child...”
“I’ll handle this,” Chad interrupted her. “Of course the little girl can stay but how many more can we take?”
“We have enough food and we’re planning to help expand Peg’s garden.” Michael said. “There is no reason for you to cause a panic.”
“Panic? What if we have a dry season?” Chad questioned tightly. “What good is her garden then? We sure can’t hunt because the walkers are busy eating everything living outside these walls.”
“We have the pool and several rivers for water nearby.” Michael countered.
“I say we can’t take the risk. We should put this to a vote if the adult can stay," Chad demanded. "From what I understand he isn‘t even family to the girl.”
Michael took a step towards him. “There will be no vote because you are not throwing anyone out.”
“You see!” Chad turned to face his supporters. “They behave like our overlords refusing to listen and putting us all in danger! We need to look after our own first because no one else will come to our rescue!”
Chad suddenly saw that their attention was not on him but at the door entrance to the meeting hall. He looked to see Carley standing there holding hands with Clementine, as the little girl peeked from behind the older woman’s leg.
“No, please go on.” Carley said dryly to everyone but her full attention was on Chad. “But while you are all debating the fate of this man, please know he risked everything to protect this little girl and he has a name, it’s Lee. You should all know that.”
With that, Carley reached down and picked up Clementine before walking away. Michael saw that Carley’s and Clementine’s appearance took some steam out of everyone, shaming them a little, including Chad. He quickly took an advantage of it.
“No one is getting thrown out and no one is going to starve. That’s my promise,” Michael said calmly. “Now, is there anything else?”
Michael just stared at Chad, daring him to say another word. After a moment of silence, the army sergeant simply looked at everyone else. “Good, we’re done here.”
Leaving the meeting hall, Michael was closely followed by Burt.
“He has a point,” Burt said. “If we have a drought, it will make life a lot harder for us.”
“You don’t think that thought has been on my mind all winter.” Michael replied under his breath. “We have been lucky so far and I would like to keep it that way. If things gets bad, people will start losing hope.”
“You know what we really need?”
“What?”
“A few Amish survivors.” Burt declared.
Michael gave the ex-marine a confused stare. Was that a joke? But Burt was serious.
“I’m not kidding. Sure they dress oddly but their need to cling to the 1800 century sure makes them more adaptable to our situation without missing much of a beat.”
“Or a library.” Michael suddenly uttered outloud.
“What?”
“On our next outing, let’s hit some libraries. Just a couple of the right books with the needed information might just save us in the long run.”
“Hope to find the ‘Living in the Medieval Ages for Dummies‘?” Burt mused aloud.
“Something like that,” Michael agreed. “We’re lucky to have people like Pegs, Datu and our doctor in our group. Food is important but what are we going to do when our vehicles, generators finally stop working.”
“I might suggest using horses to get around but I think Chad is definitely right on one point, the walkers probably ate all of them.” Burt muttered. “Soon our light bulbs won’t have anymore electricity to power them and candles sure won’t last forever even though they are a freaking fire hazard.”
Turning a corner in the hallway, Michael nodded. “Yeah, we could use the Amish saving us right about now.”
“Or find a good how to book.” Burt chuckled as they entered Doctor Cottles little infirmary located in the corner of the mansion. There they found Carley watching as Dr. Cottle gave Clementine a quick examination. Seeing them enter, Carley walked over to them, looking anxious. Michael raised his hand to calm her.
“Everything is fine,” He assured her. “You took some of the fight out of them. Thank you for that.”
Carley smiled in relief. “Well, thank her too,” She gestured to the little girl as Dr. Cottle checked her pulse. “She wanted to help Lee just as much as I did.”
“They won’t try it again?” Clementine asked worriedly from the chair she was seated on.
“No they won’t,” Burt promised. “No if me or Shirley have anything to say about that.”
“Or me,” Dr. Cottle spoke up, looking annoyed. “No one threatens my patients.”
Clementine smiled at the reassurances as Dr. Cottle finished his examination.
“There, you are fit as a fiddle.” The doctor declared as Clementine jumped off the chair.
“Thank you,” The little girl said politely.
“You’re welcome.” Dr. Cottle beamed with a rare smile.
“Can we see Lee now?” Clementine asked.
The doctor hesitated before looking at Carley. “Will you be with her at all times?”
Carley walked over to Clementine and took her hand into hers. “Of course and I would like to see him too.”
“He’s just two doors down on your right.” Dr. Cottle said. “Saul is for now watching him . When Chad started his ruckus, he came down immediately and volunteered to guard him as a precaution.”
“Thanks.” Carley nodded as she led Clementine out of the room.
Michael watched them leave when he turned to Dr. Cottle. “So doctor, how are our two new arrivals?”
“The girl is fine,” Dr. Cottle answered. “Unfortunately, Lee is in worse shape.”
“Considering he was unconscious for two days that is not too surprising.” Burt said.
“Not just that,” Dr. Cottle replied. “Clementine has a healthy weight for a child of her size and age but Lee is badly malnutritioned besides being dehydrated and he couldn’t get like that in two days.”
“What are you saying?” The army sergeant asked. “I looked inside their car and I saw cans of food.”
“How much did you see?” Dr. Cottle questioned.
“Hmmm,” Michael thought. “Not a lot unless he had more in the trunk.”
Dr. Cottle nodded. “This Lee fellow had to be skipping meals to keep her feed.”
“A standup thing he did,” Burt commented. “But a little risky, he would be no good if he became too weak to protect her.”
“A tough choice but I understand,” Michael said. “Who of us would want to see a child go hungry?”
“No argument there but it’s still damn risky to cross your fingers and hope for the best,“ Burt then grinned at an amusing thought. “Can we trade Chad in for this Lee guy?”
Next Chapter: ‘Thirty-Four’