Neo Soul King Yhwach

[Third Person Pov]

The train's slow creak finally came to a stop, and Lee leaned out of the boxcar, scanning the area. Savannah's train station wasn't exactly large, but it was sturdy and secluded enough, offering some shelter as night began to settle in. The sunset cast a warm glow on the building, but Lee was already on high alert, aware that this station, though deserted at first glance, might hold its own dangers.

"We're here," announced Lee as everyone besides Kenny, Katjaa, and Duck were in the boxcar. The sun had been setting for a while, so their arrival was right on schedule.

He hopped on top of the platform while everyone else gathered their things and joined him. Near the front, he could see Kenny, Katjaa, and Duck making their way to the back.

After a moment, Yhwach's gaze drifted over the supplies. "Are we leaving everything behind?" he asked, his tone carrying the barest hint of disdain for any waste.

Lee looked back at the vast number of supplies that they had. As of right now, there is no guarantee that they will all be setting sail by this time tomorrow. Lee didn't exactly have a backup plan, but it would probably make sense to use the train in said backup plan. The railroad did extend past Savannah, but there was no need to move to a different location at this time.

"Hold on a minute, everyone," said Lee. He waited until Kenny, Katjaa, and Duck were also inside the boxcar before he addressed the entire group.

"We're going to be making sure there's nothing lurking in that station before we move in. I'll take a small team to clear it out. Lilly, Kenny, Jugram, Carley—if you don't mind lending a hand." He pointed to Lilly, Kenny, and Carley. But when his eyes met Yhwach's, Yhwach's expression remained unmoved.

"I refuse," Yhwach replied bluntly, folding his arms with a look that clearly indicated he wasn't about to change his mind.

Lee blinked, surprised. "Why?"

Yhwach inclined his head toward the supplies. "While you're securing the area, someone must stay to oversee the packing. We can't afford disorganization, especially if we leave by sunrise."

Lee paused, then nodded. "Alright, that makes sense. Let's get everything packed. Food, water, and medical supplies come first. Anything extra, just prioritize as best as you can."

Mark chimed in, "What about our weapons? We got a lot of guns and melee weapons like your axe, and, not to mention, a few pistols. Should those be a priority as well?"

"Good call, Mark. Everyone heading with me, grab a melee weapon for tonight. Guns should be kept ready but quiet. Savannah's a big city, and we don't want to draw attention right off the bat." Lee's gaze shifted across the group. "Everyone good with that?"

No one had any objections, so Lee took that as a yes. Lilly, Kenny, and Carley joined him on the platform and the four of them headed over to the nearest door. Lee didn't have expert knowledge of the layout of this place since he had only been to Savannah a few times and they had all been by car.

"Does anyone know the layout of this place? Anyone come here by train?" asked Lee.

"Nope," said Carley.

"Never came here by train. I always took a car if we ever wanted to go see the coastline." Lilly stated.

"Nah, man. I'm from Florida, so I didn't have any reason to come here." Kenny stated.

"Well, it was worth a shot. Maybe there's a map or something that we can find inside the place. Everyone, get ready." said Lee as he readied his fire axe. The other three readied their melee weapons as well. Kenny had taken a screwdriver, Lilly had a knife, and Carley had a wrench.

Lee opened the door and immediately scanned the area for any hostiles. Surprisingly, the train station seemed to look pretty normal apart from a few blood stains near the seats. There was a small dining area with a couple of restaurants and a set of stairs that led downward. Lee turned to his crew.

"We'll split up in groups of 2. Kenny and Carley, would you guys mind checking the downstairs while Lilly and I check this floor?"

"I reckon that would work. Makes things go a lot quicker, anyhow." Kenny replied. He and Carley went down the stairs while Lee and Lilly went over to the dining area. Some of the seats had blood stains, a chilling reminder of the chaos that must have occurred when the apocalypse first started. There were a couple of used napkins laid out underneath some of the tables along with empty food trays.

They checked behind the counter of each store but didn't see anything amiss. There were employee entrances next to the counter, so Lee went inside the restaurant called Pizza Hut and checked the backrooms to make sure there were no walkers hiding in the back. Lilly went to check out another restaurant while Lee continued his investigation.

He opened the door labeled Employees Only and found nothing, but brooms, mops, and a cart full of employee uniforms. Lee sniffed his black, leather jacket and wondered if he should think about changing his clothes anytime soon. Underneath, he was wearing a blue polo with white sleeves, something he had changed into a few days before the group had left the motor inn. He had also changed his pants from jeans to beige khakis as they were starting to stink a little.

We had to leave our old clothes behind. There was no room in the RV and they still smelled a bit funky no matter how much we washed them. It wouldn't be bad to have another option in case our clothes get soiled.

Lee went back out the door and noticed Lilly was waiting for him at the front. He went over to the cash register and pretended to be an employee working for the restaurant.

"Can I take your order, ma'am?" joked Lee.

"Yeah, can you find me a new home, more supplies, and a weapon to instantly wipe out the walker population?" quipped Lilly.

"Looks like we're all out of that today. You could order a large pizza with pepperoni on it. I know I would." replied Lee as he walked out of the restaurant.

"Give me a nice beef burger with some fries and you got yourself a deal," Lilly stated as the two of them walked down.

"Really? That's what you want right now?"

"If that was my last meal before I died, I wouldn't have any complaints."

"Fast food? Nothing homecooked or anything like that?"

"Nope. Working long hours plus no internal desire to be a better cook equals me not learning anything about food. Once I moved out of my parents' house, I was pretty much eating fast food 3 nights a week until I learned to cook some basic stuff to keep myself healthy." Lilly explained.

"Damn. My mom made sure I knew how to cook from a young age. She always said that I would have an easier time finding a good woman if I could lessen the workload off her shoulders. Plus, with my...wife traveling a lot, I cooked meals for myself out of necessity." said Lee.

Lilly nodded and pointed toward the other two restaurants in the area.

"I checked both of them and there was nothing. No walkers or supplies or anything. The rest of this place is blocked off by the shutter on the far side. It provides a good natural barrier against any walkers, so we should probably keep it there." said Lilly.

The two of them made their way to the end of the room and Lee saw what she was talking about. A gray shutter had sectioned off their section of the train station from the rest of the station. He felt a lot more comfortable about sleeping here now that most of the work had been done for them.

"Keep it as it is. We'll wait for Kenny and Carley to come back and invite everyone inside," ordered Lee. They walked back to the main entrance and conveniently met up with Kenny and Carley who had just emerged from the abyss downstairs.

"Did you guys find anything?" asked Lee.

"Nothing, the place looked to lead to some kind of underground subway. There were a couple of walkers that we found and a lot of wreckage...the place looked fucked. If anyone was still alive, they were smart enough to leave a long time ago." Carley stated.

"How did you guys fare?" added Kenny.

"I didn't find anything besides some old employee uniforms in the back of Pizza Hut. The rest of this floor is behind a shutter, so we shouldn't have any trouble resting our heads here for a while. Since we're all going to need to get up bright and early tomorrow, I was thinking that we could all sleep without needing to put someone on watch." proposed Lee.

Lilly folded her arms.

"You sure? I don't feel safe being that unguarded in unfamiliar territory. If nobody else wants to volunteer, I can take watch for a little bit." volunteered Lilly.

"No, Lilly. We've all had a long day and we deserve a proper night's sleep. Did you even take a nap on the train today?" questioned Lee.

Lilly pressed her lips together and didn't reply. He understood her concerns, but, frankly, they didn't have a choice. Back at the Motor Inn, anyone who was on watch during the night had the ability to sleep in during the morning, but they didn't have a stable living space this time around. Lee wasn't even going to entertain the idea of leaving people behind while the rest went to find a boat.

We're strongest together.

"It'll be alright, Lilly. Let's get everyone situated before the sun fully goes down." Lee stated. Everyone moved back towards the front of the station and saw Clementine and Yhwach waiting for them at the edge of the boxcar. Lee was still wondering how the girl was coping with the realization that her parents were dead, but, for an 8-year-old, she seemed to have bounced back fairly well.

She's a lot more mature than her age would indicate. Learning how to shoot a gun, dealing with loss, and just...dealing with this world is not something that many people her age could do. Chuck and Jugram were right. The signs were all there. Even if I want to protect her, that doesn't mean I have to coddle her.

"Is everything secure?" asked Yhwach as the group got closer.

"We cleared the place out. It's safe to move in. How much stuff were you able to fit into the ration bags?" inquired Lee.

Yhwach tilted his head slightly. "See for yourself." He stepped aside as the four of them got back in the boxcar and, to Lee's delight, saw that most of the supplies had been packed into a few bags, a few food and water items had been left near the corner of the boxcar.

"We didn't have many bags," Yhwach continued. "but we managed to fit in most of our canned food and bottled water. We also secured five medical kits in our three main bags. Nothing vital was left behind."

"Three main bags? I see four in front of me," observed Lee.

"We had a couple of gas cans in the RV, so we decided to bring the only one that still had some juice in it. There's also some food and water in there, but we didn't want to put as much, since the gas can was taking up most of the space. Assuming we find a boat, we still need to make sure it has enough fuel to operate." Katjaa said.

"That's pretty smart, Kat." complimented Kenny.

"Wait, we only have one gas can that has any fuel in it?" confirmed Lee.

"Yeah, we put most of our spare fuel in the RV and uh...I don't think anyone siphoned it before we left on the train. I don't think it was that much anyway considering the distance we drove, but...yeah. We're kind of running low on gasoline." Mark said. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Yhwach's expression didn't flicker. "Not ideal, but manageable."

Okay. A mistake to be sure, but not one that's going to cripple us.

"On the bright side, we did fit some ammo boxes in each bag as well. Mostly pistol and rifle ammo, since that's the only two types of ammo we have, but we're not stretched thin on bullets. We had so much that we had to leave some outside." Doug stated. Lee did indeed notice that some ammo boxes had been left on the train in the corner of the boxcar next to the extra food and water.

"As for tools, I think the only tools that we have are the screwdriver and the wrench Kenny and Carley took. We didn't have a lot of room in the RV and we only brought things that we really needed, so we didn't bring a toolbox or anything," informed Mark.

Chuck, leaning against the boxcar door, piped up. "Well, between me and Marcus—and now that Justin's out of the picture—we've got all we found from the train. Gotta make do with what's here." He gave a little shrug, adding, "Ain't no one promised us easy, did they?"

"I don't remember us having much. The lack of hardware was the reason that it took me a while to even get that RV started in the first place. All you really need to fix something is a screwdriver and a wrench anyway." mused Kenny.

"What about a saw or a hammer or things like that?" asked Ben.

"Well, that would help, but we don't have those, so what are you gonna do? I'm not trying to make a boat from scratch. The plan is to take one that's already in good working condition." retorted Kenny.

"Kenny's right. I don't think any boat that needs an insane number of repairs is worth our time. Is there anything else you guys were able to fit in?" asked Lee.

"We found an extra flashlight and a pack of Double A batteries. It's not much, but it's something." Doug stated.

Lee nodded and made a mental note of the supplies that the group was taking and the supplies they were leaving behind.

We got food, water, medical supplies, ammo, a gas can, a flashlight with batteries, and a couple of tools. Since we can't take everything, we're leaving behind some food, water, ammo, and empty gas cans on the train. Now, it's just a matter of the weapons.

"While we're all here, I think we should divvy up the weapons. Just to confirm, does everyone have a pistol on them, correct?"

Everyone nodded although Lee could see the disappointment on Duck's face that he didn't get a weapon. The kid was eager to please, but he knew that shooting a gun had already been a big step for them. Not to mention, he promised Kenny and Katjaa that the kids wouldn't be carrying.

"We also have three rifles," noted Lee.

"Mark and I have been using rifles about as much as we've been using pistols. I think two of them should go to us. I think the last one was taken from the dairy by you, but you already have a pistol and a fire axe. Why not give it to someone else who doesn't have as many weapons?" suggested Lilly.

"That's a good idea, Lilly." supported Lee.

"I'll take it. I know how to actually use one of those things without getting knocked on my ass unlike the kid over here and I don't have a fancy tool to use otherwise." Larry said.

"I wouldn't get knocked on my ass like some little kid!" pouted Ben. Larry turned and looked at Ben with one eyebrow raised.

"Kid, you just started learning how to shoot a gun last week. Leave the big boy weapons to the real adults."

"Okay, that takes care of that," Lee interjected quickly moving on from whatever argument was about to ensue.

"Alright, in terms of other weapons that don't involve ammo, you have your fire axe, Kenny has a screwdriver, I have a knife, Marcus and Chuck have their tools, and Carley has a wrench, Doug took Justin's tool. Nobody else has anything they're either using or can give someone else to use, correct?" asked Lilly.

"Yeah, that's about as far as we got. We loaded up the supplies we could, divided all the weapons up, and we have a plan for tomorrow," confirmed Mark.

"Did you guys happen to find any blankets or anything? We didn't take the ones from the motor inn since we didn't have enough room to store them and, well, we all thought we were going to be sleeping on the RV." Doug stated.

Lee shook his head. "Nope, didn't find anything like that."

While he didn't agree with Lilly on staying at the Motor Inn, he was starting to miss some of the advantages of sleeping in an actual bed provided. The group had no blankets, no sleeping bags, no pillows, and no clothing that wasn't going to provide much heat as autumn progressed into winter.

"What's the sleeping situation like in there? I think I would rather stay in here and shut the boxcar doors just in case we needed to leave quickly. There is a large group of walkers following us if anyone forgot." Marcus said.

"It's pretty standard. The floors aren't that dirty and there's a few chairs and benches that we could sleep if no one's comfortable with that. The main floor is blocked off by a shutter, so no walkers should catch us off guard." Lee stated.

There was an undercurrent of apprehension drifting through the entire group and Lee could sense it.

"Alright, what is it?"

"No offense Lee, but all our stuff is already here. The sun's almost down fully and I really don't want to make my bed in some random station. At least if the walkers catch up, we can move the train and try stopping somewhere else. We can't really do that if we're trapped in the train station." Carley answered.

"Yeah, can't we just stay in here where it's familiar?" added Ben.

"We just cleared the station out," Lee stated in an exasperated tone.

"Lee, I think what they're saying is, it's smarter to stay in an environment where we have more options if shit hits the fan rather than pigeonhole ourselves into the train station for no real gain. Either way, we're leaving the train here and going into Savannah on foot." Lilly explained.

"Honestly, I think it makes sense to just hang our hats where we've already made our bed. There ain't no resting area in there that's better in here," added Kenny.

If Lee wasn't slightly irritated at the fact that they had just cleaned out the train station for nothing, he would probably be happier at the fact that Kenny and Lilly actually agreed on something. Nevertheless, he saw their point and it's not like the mission had been for nothing. They knew there weren't any walkers nearby, so they would be safe from any unexpected attacks.

"Alright, I see your points. We'll rest here and leave the train in the morning." conceded Lee.

Kenny took his family back to the front of the train while everyone else settled into their respective sleeping positions. Yhwach lay down next to Clementine who was curled up into Lee's body.

"Hey, Lee, Do you think we'll find a boat?" Clementine asked.

"I sure hope so, Clem," Lee replied. He had been a skeptic of the strategy behind Kenny's plan, but he had to put his faith in the man at this moment in time. They were so close that there wasn't a need to sow doubt amongst the group.

"Lee, you should take the map we examined earlier," said Yhwach. Lee accepted the map from him and shoved it in his back pocket before lying back against the wall. The doors to the boxcar had been closed and the group was pretty much lying down in the dark.

"Lee, did you know tomorrow's Halloween?" Clementine asked.

"It is?" Lee said.

"Yeah, at the Motor Inn, Jugram and I looked at the calendar before we left and today was October 30th. That means we're going to be heading into Savannah on Halloween. I remember that last Halloween I ate so much candy, I was too sick to go to school the next day." Clementine said.

Lee chuckled. "Was it at least good candy?"

"Yeah, it was Hershey's and Kit-Kats mostly. That's all I remember because that's all I ate. I think there were some Baby Ruths in there too." Clementine answered.

"The best candy is Hershey's or Twix. If you don't like either of those, you're not someone who is qualified to speak on candy. Personally, I never really understood the hype around Snickers. To me, they just felt like a regular candy bar full of nuts." Lee stated.

"Snickers are good. I really like those too," whispered Clementine. Lee remembered the time he had found Snickers candy bars while scavenging for food and Clementine had immediately eaten them before they even left his hand.

"I can tell. Clem, this won't be a regular Halloween, but we could still find some other treats for ourselves by the end of tomorrow." declared Lee.

"Yeah, I liked Halloween for a different reason. It was only a few days after my birthday," revealed Clementine.

"When's your birthday, Clem?" asked Lee in a surprised tone.

"October 26th. I know we already passed it, but there was a lot of stuff that happened and I kind of just forgot about it. People don't even celebrate birthdays anymore, so I didn't know if there was any point in telling you." Clementine explained.

"You can always tell me about things like that. I know that the bandits and the train and everything has been a struggle for you, so you deserve all the celebrations you can get. It's nothing that you should think is trivial." Lee replied earnestly.

"Trivial?" asked Clementine.

"Yes, it means small in importance. Like your birthday is important, so it wouldn't be a trivial event. When we find some time, I'll see if we can have a celebration for you, okay?" asked Lee.

"Okay," said Clementine after a few moments. "I don't really feel like celebrating anything after... I wanted to find my parents and tell you then, so we could all celebrate together."

"It's okay, Clementine. We can still celebrate without your parents. If they were here right now, they would want you to be happy. They would want you to be strong like we talked about before." encouraged Lee.

Clementine didn't say anything, but a clear yawn was heard and she nestled in closer to Lee.

"I'm tired."

"Alright. Good night, Clementine. Good night, Jugram." said Lee.

"Night, Lee," Clementine replied. but Yhwach remained silent. Lee took that as a sign he had fallen asleep, and soon after, he drifted off beside them

[Scene Break Location: Lee's Nightmare]

Lee woke back up, but he wasn't in the train or any other post-apocalyptic setting that he had become familiar with. Instead, he was back in his old bedroom, a place that he had only seen in his nightmares and one which he did not wish to come back to.

Like all the other times he had visited this place, two things were constant. The first was that he couldn't move from his current position on the bed and the second was that his ex-wife was sitting in a chair on the opposite side.

"Seriously? Why am I back here again?" groaned Lee.

"What? You don't enjoy my company, Lee? We shared the same bed for over six years together and that's only including the time we were married. If you want to include dating, it's a lot longer than that. I just thought I'd commend you on your progress." his ex-wife stated.

"My progress?" Lee asked in disbelief.

"Yes. The little girl told you when her birthday was. I'm impressed. No, really, I am. It still doesn't change how much of a fuck-up you have been in probably every aspect of your life, but it's impressive that, despite your flaws, she's entrusted such personal information with you."

"I've kept her alive and that is not easy. No matter how much you or anyone else wants to try and discredit me, I've kept a child alive. I've started to teach her what it takes to survive and I've told her secrets. Secrets that I've been hiding for too long. You can't take that away from me." Lee stated proudly.

"I'm not the one discrediting you. After all, I'm just a figment of your imagination." Lee's ex-wife said in a bored tone.

"You're the one talking to me saying all these things about how shit of a human being I am." accused Lee.

"No, I'm just saying what you think I would say. Oh, it's all semantics. Anyway, what are you going to get for her birthday present? The death of one of her friends? Maybe that other kid, Duck? No doubt he's going to be one of those heroes who tries to prove himself and fail miserably." his ex-wife asked.

Lee tried getting up even though it was no use. He had never had a murderous thought against his wife even after she had cheated on him, but he wanted to do nothing more than completely strangle her.

"Save your strength, Lee. You'll need it for tomorrow." his ex-wife replied.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lee replied.

"Let's move on to another thing you did today. You told a little girl that her parents were dead. Honestly, I didn't think you would be enough of a man to do so. Can I just say it was a guilty pleasure of mine when you got all hot under the collar and started acting like an alpha? I just loved it. Really, it's what attracted me to you in the first place."

"My anger is the reason I was going to jail in the first place. I need to suppress it, not let it out. I haven't even had a proper conversation about what I did to Andy with anyone, but I can tell they were scared. Clementine, Carley, and even Lilly, all feared me. I don't want my people to fear me. I want them to feel safe." lamented Lee.

"Ugh...there you go. Now, you want to act all depressed. Major turn off by the way. Seriously, you did what you did and that asshole kind of deserved it. Get out there and own it. Every time you do something to show people not to fuck with you, you become scared of it. Like you're desperately trying to convince yourself you're not that person. Well, newsflash, if you've done something like that, multiple times, and there's a clear pattern of violent, vengeful behavior, maybe you just are that kind of person." Lee's ex-wife stated.

"What? I don't do those things, because I enjoy them. I did those things because I lost control which is something I'm desperately trying to fix." Lee passionately replied.

"Whatever, it's not like I'm a psychologist. If you want to live in denial, that's on you. I can't wait to bring you back here when you do something like that again and hear you say the same exact thing that you're saying right now." his ex-wife said.

"The plan is to never come back here again," said Lee. As he succumbed to the fog of sleep, he knew that, no matter what, he would be back in this same position again.

[End of Lee's Nightmare]

Lee brought up the rear of the group. They were all currently walking down some street trying to make their way to River Street which provided access to the waterfront. If there were boats, they would most likely be there. Everyone was walking with their personal weapons attentive to the dangers Savannah could present.

The city itself was very old and historic with the group having crossed a few buildings that looked like they couldn't have been built any later than the 1800s. Katjaa, Doug, Chuck, and Ben were all carrying bags that the group had packed up yesterday. 

The sun was continuing to rise in the sky, but there was more than enough light for the group to clearly see anything that was going on in all directions. Trash littered the street and, while this particular street didn't have any, the group had passed a couple of old cars that looked like they had been looted at the very beginning.

The silence was almost eerie. Unlike Macon, there had been hide nor hair of any signs of life living or dead. Savannah was pretty much a ghost town and Lee didn't know whether he should be relieved that they hadn't run into trouble or worried.

"My feet are killing me," complained Ben.

"Come on. I'm over 60 and even I can handle this walk better than you. What are they feeding kids these days?" grunted Larry.

"Relax, it's only a few more blocks," Kenny said. He was at the head of the group directing them to the river. Lee elected to focus on Clementine who was beside him in the back. She was looking around the city and Lee wondered if the thought of her parents still lingered in her mind.

She was so hopeful about finding them. I was surprised that she believed me almost immediately, but maybe that shows just how much she trusts me. I have to do right by her or else I'm disgracing her parents' memory.

The group had arrived at an intersection that connected to streets in all four directions. Kenny started to head in the direction of the riverfront, but Ben started to speak up.

"Uhm, who is that?" he said in a shaky voice. The group turned to their right and saw a man, a human one, walking down the street in their direction. Lilly's eyes narrowed and she instinctively aimed at the man with her rifle. He put his hands up but continued walking in their direction.

"Stop right there or we'll shoot!" Lilly ordered. The sound echoed around the walls and Lee internally cringed at the thought of the noise attracting the dead. They had been lucky so far, but he didn't want to push it.

"Can I come closer so we can talk in a more normal voice? I don't want to attract the dead." said the man mirroring Lee's thoughts.

"Are you armed?" asked Lilly.

"Well, of course. I would be an idiot to not be armed. The dead are everywhere in this damn city. Haven't you noticed?" questioned the man.

"We haven't seen anything. We're just passing by trying to get somewhere. I think it would be best if you carry on by yourself." said Kenny.

While the man started talking, Lee took a closer look at his appearance. He was balding and seemed to be in his mid to late 30s. His clothes were actually pretty clean and there weren't any obvious marks that would indicate wear or tear. He also had a small goatee, a sharp nose, and scrutinizing brown eyes almost like he was studying the people in front of him.

"...community called Crawford."

Lee looked up and processed what the guy had just said.

There's a community here?

"What the hell is Crawford?" asked Kenny.

"We're the rulers of this city. All of this belongs to us. All the supplies, the resources, the houses, the buildings, everything. We're going to rebuild civilization under a new world order using only the very best survivors that we can acquire. There's no room for hand-holding where I come from." said the man.

"Hand-holding? What does that mean?" confronted Carley.

Silently, Yhwach pointed his pistol toward the man while Lilly inched her finger closer to the trigger while Larry followed his daughter's lead and aimed at the man with his rifle. Lee shifted closer to Clementine while Carley moved to the other side of her. Ben's fingers were trembling nervously. Lee didn't put any hands on his pistol, but he was starting to feel trepidation about the man's presence.

"It means we don't waste time on those who aren't going to contribute in any meaningful way. Like those kids you got. All they do is take up space and they require so much food and water that you could give to someone who can actually do something besides cry and complain all day." explained the man.

Duck's eyes widened and Clementine moved closer to Lee. Lee's eyes narrowed at the man's callous tone.

"So, what then? You just leave them to die without even trying? What kind of community are you a part of that does something like that?" Lee aggressively questioned.

"A community that wants to survive and be part of the new world order. Hey, it was hard for a lot of us at first, but our leader, Oberson Crawford, showed us the way. If you want, you can be a part of that community, too. Of course, you'll have to drop the kids and the old guys. Zero tolerance for them in Crawford." proposed the man.

"Hell nah. We ain't doing that. We're all equals in this group and it doesn't matter how young, old, strong, smart, fast, slow, or able-bodied you are. We're all survivors and we got to help each other out against the dead, not turn on each other." exclaimed Lee in disgust.

"I thought you might say that." said the man, shaking his head. During the whole conversation, he had slowly backed up near another intersection that was a little way down from where the group was currently located. He turned around and ran to the side out of sight. Larry immediately fired a shot at the man, but he just barely missed and the man quickly ducked out of sight around a corner. 

"Whoa! What did you do that for?" questioned Mark.

"That asshole just ran away like he was hiding something! You don't let people like him get away and cause trouble. We have to go after him!" exclaimed Larry.

"Dad, that could be a trap for all we know. Let's move and get out of here before he comes back." urged Lilly as she started moving toward the other end of the intersection. Lee turned to follow her, but, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the glint of a rifle peek out from the corner the man had disappeared from. 

"Get down!" yelled Lee. He grabbed Clementine and immediately ran to his right behind cover. The first shot fired and he saw Chuck barely get out of the way. Along with Yhwach and Marcus, the three of them took cover behind Lee and Clementine.

More shots rang out and the rest of the group tried to disperse in the other direction. Ben, Mark, and Doug hid behind a couple of wooden crates directly across the street from where the shots were coming from. The rest of their group ran to their left to get out of the street. A few shots were wildly fired by the group in their attackers' direction to try to get them to stay in cover, but one shot still rang out and went right through Katjaa's bag.

Unfortunately, she was carrying the bag with the gas tank in it, so the entire bag immediately started to leak. Katjaa shrugged it off in an effort to run and pushed Duck forward in an effort to get him to run.

"Come on! Keep run-"

Katjaa was stopped dead in her tracks by a bullet ripping through her skull causing her body to fly backward and land right next to her bag.

"NOOO!!!" yelled Kenny.

"MOM!!!!" screamed Duck.

Kenny let out a cry of agony and started to shoot rapid-fire in the direction of whoever killed Katjaa. Lee tried to join in the fight, but he only had a pistol. At semi-long distances, hitting someone was, no pun intended, a shot in the dark. From the direction of the bullets, he surmised that there was about four people shooting at them.

"Jason already got one of you, so you might as well just give up. You're not as good as this as we are!" taunted the man. Lee paid no attention to their taunting and peeked out quickly. For a moment, he saw a big, muscular man also peeking out before he quickly moved back behind a cover. A bullet hit near where he was standing just minutes earlier. Lee peeked back out and shot in the vicinity of where the man was to let him know he was still alive and kicking.

I'm not going anywhere, motherfucker.

"You trying to get Joe? Man, you're really playing a dangerous game." shouted another man.

"Shut up already!" growled Lilly. She aimed down at her sights and tried getting into position, but a barrage of bullets made her jump back into cover. With the nature of how the walls were aligned, only one person could really shoot at a time.

"Do you want to switch out?" asked Yhwach.

"Let me take a couple more cracks at it," Lee replied. The people from Crawford started focusing their attention on the trio behind the wooden crates. Mark had fired a couple of shots along with Doug but Ben had remained frozen. The crates weren't very durable and Lee knew it was only a matter of time before they splintered completely and left the people behind them defenseless.

"Hey, you guys have to get to better cover! We'll cover you!" yelled Lee.

"What?" asked Doug.

As if to prove Lee's point, another shot hit the crate, and pieces of wood came flying out. Lee looked over at Lilly and cocked his pistol to tell Lilly that he was ready. She nodded and the two of them peeked out of their cover firing at anyone they saw. Instead of the muscular man Lee had seen earlier, there was a shorter man with longer hair who fired before quickly getting back behind cover.

Lilly ran out of ammo and started reloading while Lee continued to fire. Mark had already run behind the same cover as Lilly while Doug and Ben followed him. Lee had to sit back and reload and, almost immediately, another shot fired out barely missing Ben. Instead of continuing to run, the teenager stopped and slowly raised his gun almost as if he was in a trance. His eyes displayed signs of shellshock and genuine fear, something that both Lee and Yhwach knew would kill him if he stayed out of cover.

"Ben, get over here!" yelled Doug.

Ben didn't reply, so Doug ran back out of cover, grabbed his friend, and threw him into Yhwach who caught him. Lee raised his gun and got ready to fire, but two more shots rang out. This time, they hit Doug in the chest and he dropped to his knees, blood gushing out of his wounds. Carley opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Instead, she looked like a fish gasping for air.

"Doug!!!" yelled Lee. Doug slowly raised his left hand to his chest wound as if he didn't believe he had just gotten shot. Then, he slowly tried to raise his gun, but another bullet hit him in the head and he fell over dead. The gun flew out of his hands to the left near the large group that was shocked at his demise.

"Doug!" yelled Ben.

"NOO!" yelled Mark.

"Hehehe. Two down and you motherfuckers still think you can win? You got lucky to escape tactics, but that doesn't mean...ack!"

The first man they had seen made a final cry before he slumped over from a bullet wound in his neck. Lilly had finally gotten him with a smug look of satisfaction on her face.

"Shit, they got Bruce!" yelled the man who had killed Katjaa.

Lee tried peeking out and taking shots at the other two, but they ducked behind cover. This was looking to be a game of attrition and neither side was really winning. They had gotten 2 and Lilly had gotten 1.

How much longer can this go on for?

Overhead, a bell started to ring. Startled, Lee looked up and thought, for the briefest of seconds, he saw someone climbing down from the bell tower before they hopped out of sight.

Who the fuck was that and why the fuck did they do that?

The growing sound of walkers converging on their positions answered his second question. Some of them had most likely been attracted to the shots, but the bell had directed them on exactly where to go. They were coming down the same street where Katjaa and Doug's dead bodies were located effectively cutting his group off from the rest of the group.

"Lee...they're coming." whimpered Clementine.

"I know, Clem. I know," replied Lee. He thought about making a run for it with his group to the other side, but he was immediately assaulted by shots once he peeked his head out. They weren't going to let him move to the other side.

Meanwhile, Jason seeing that no one was trying to shoot decided to make a break for it on the other side to join his buddies. While Bruce had died, they had killed two of theirs and he was smiling to himself at the thought that they had asserted their dominance over the newcomers. He glanced to his left and saw the muzzle of a gun. Panicking, Jason tried firing cover shots, but it was too late. A stray bullet hit his frontal lobe and he fell down, his tongue lolling from his mouth as he instantly died.

Lee looked to see who fired the shot, but it wasn't Lilly or Yhwach or anyone else he expected. It was Duck who had picked up Doug's gun and had jumped back into cover clearly shaking at the fact he had killed someone.

"Duck, Duck...what...did...?!" gasped Kenny.

By now, the walkers were very much closer to the group threatening to divide them, a threat that Lee would have to accept.

"Lee, you have to get over here now!" yelled Lilly.

"Come on, Everett. Quit lollygagging," added Larry.

"It's too dangerous. We have to focus on escaping. Just focus on getting to a safe place and we'll meet up with you when we can." Lee stated. Lilly looked like she wanted to argue, but she looked at the scene in front of her and saw that there was no time.

"Fine! Everyone follow me!" shouted Lilly. Lee didn't bother looking and instructed Clementine, Marcus, Yhwach, and Chuck to stick close behind him as they ran in the other direction. It seemed like the city, which had once been so dormant, was now overflowing with walker activity. Around every corner, they had to constantly change directions to avoid any of the dead.

Lee pulled out his map and tried formulating an escape plan.

There has to be someplace we can escape to.

Yhwach kicked a walker's head clean off with Marcus destroying a walker's skull with his monkey wrench. Likewise, Chuck killed a walker with his shovel.

"Man, where are we going?" demanded Marcus.

"Anywhere's better than here!" added Chuck.

"Calm down and keep running. We have to get out of sight before we can hide somewhere or else these walkers are just going to block us in," said Lee. The group obliged and managed to buy a few seconds of time by heading around a few corners. The stench let Lee know he wasn't out of the woods just yet.

"Ok, there is a sewer system that we could hide in. It's not going to be the most glamorous escape idea, but it will get us away from the horde." proposed Lee.

"The sewers? We could get trapped down there very easily. What about one of these buildings?" asked Marcus.

Yhwach's gaze shifted sharply toward Marcus. "The sewers may be less than ideal, but they offer one advantage these streets do not—space, controlled direction. Crawford's arrogance has left them blind to many threats, deeming them filthy or beneath their concern. It's precisely this arrogance that may give us the chance to evade notice." His eyes narrowed as he glanced around at the exposed buildings. "A city full of one-story structures would trap us just as easily if we were foolish enough to hide in them."

Lee nodded, turning to Marcus. "He's right. These buildings are low and cramped. They'd block us in the same way you're afraid the sewers would." He cast a quick look around, and his hand fell on the map. "It's the best choice we've got."

Before Marcus could respond, Clementine's small voice piped up from behind them. "What about the Marsh House?"

"What?" asked Lee as the rest of the small group looked toward her.

"The Marsh House. It's where my parents stayed whenever they would visit Savannah," explained Clementine.

"Clem, I don't think now's the time—"

"No! I don't mean like that! I'm saying that we could stay there until all the walkers go away. It's a hotel, so there's a lot of floors, right? We could at least see high up if anything changes and we don't have to be right near the entrance." proposed Clementine.

A hint of approval crossed Yhwach's face, his mind shifting with the possibilities. Smart girl, he thought, recognizing the keen sense behind her plan. She was perceptive, surprisingly so, and her suggestion aligned well with their current predicament. Although lacking the seclusion of the sewers, the hotel's height would provide a tactical vantage point.

"It would also have multiple exits, so we wouldn't get boxed in as easily. That's honestly not a bad idea, kid." complimented Marcus. Lee smiled at the girl. It was actually not a bad idea, but was it better than the sewers?

"Either way, we gotta make a decision now." reminded Chuck as the groaning started to get louder.

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Where does [M] (Lee Everett) do?

A) Marsh House

B) Sewers

Bonus: What should [M] (Yhwach) do? 

Yhwach can choose to stay with Lee's group or head out on his own to search the city for the others.

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Custom Option for Yhwach: [Unlocked]

Readers can create a custom option for what Yhwach should do. For example, suggest an alternate plan for Yhwach's actions, and other readers can vote on it by typing "I choose [ReaderName]'s suggestion."

Since the story is also published on other platforms, all votes will be tallied collectively. I'll share any custom suggestions from other platforms here, and vice versa, ensuring that everyone's ideas are considered when making a decision.

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Relationships [M] (Yhwach 'Jugram'): 

Lee Everett: 15/15

He thinks you will have his back when he needs it the most and he would do the same. 

Clementine: 15/15

Although she felt shaken by the recent reveal thankfully you and Lee made her feel comfortable and functional for the time being. Personal reasons aside, she would rather stay in a hotel than the sewers.

Chuck: 7/15

He has noticed your odd and out-of-place behavior but he doesn't care about it much rather he appreciates your tactical viewpoint when there is danger nearby.

Marcus: 5/15

He doesn't know you long enough to care about forming an opinion but so far he vaguely approves how you look at situations despite how desperate it might become. Yet he is also cautious because he noticed your reaction when dealing with Justin.

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