26 S1E26 - Silent Night

As we pull onto the dirt road leading to the camp, I wiggle my shoulder, trying to wake up Clem who has been sleeping on my shoulder. That doesn't seem to work, so I just let her sleep. She'll wake up when we park.

As I drive up, I see Shane standing in the middle of the road with his shotgun as I pull in behind Glen's Dodge Challenger. I put the truck in park and shake Clem a little,

"C'mon, girlie. It's time to wake up."

She opens her eyes for a second, not really being awake yet, and goes,

"Mnn?"

I chuckle,

"Alright kid, we're here. It's time to meet the group."

I notice a little bit of blood on her face, so I do the mom thing where you lick your finger and wipe it off their face. She tries to fight against it, but I hold the back of her head still and clean it off of her,

"Ya gotta look presentable, Clem! Stay still!"

She puffs out her cheeks. It's nice to see that she still has a bit of kid left in her. I ruffle her hair and say,

"Alright, c'mon."

I step out of the truck and reach up for Clem, who opens her arms to be carried, I pick her up and set her back down on the ground. I hold her hand after shutting the door and see her wiping the sleep from her eyes. It's still night, so Shane has a flashlight out, pointed towards us. I speak with a smug smile on my face,

"Didja miss me?"

Amy runs up to me and hugs me, while Shane speaks up,

"Damn. How'd you get such a nasty scar?"

I look down at Clem and motion for Carol while hugging Amy back. I speak to Clem,

"You feeling hungry, Clem?"

She nods her head to me,

"Carol, do you mind getting Clem some food? She's had a rough day."

Carol nods her head and gets into mom mode,

"Certainly. Dear, can you come with me? We'll get you some good food!"

Clem nods her head and reluctantly lets go of my hand, walking with Carol. I pay Amy on the back and say,

"I missed you too."

Amy let's go of the hug and holds my shoulders,

"Jeez! You have no idea how worried we were when Andrea and everyone showed up without you!"

I smile at her and say,

"I can imagine. And Shane, mind if we sit by the fire as I talk? I don't really wanna have to repeat myself several times."

He nodded his head. I can see it in his eyes. He's already starting to feel inferior to Rick. Let's hope I can convince him to take the other way. Him and Andrea would be perfect for eachother, honestly.

As we sit by the fire, I see a small group of mainly main-cast characters. Some are faces that I don't recognize, so I'm guessing they'll be most of the victims in the attack when it does happen. Well, regardless, I'll still try to keep as many people alive as possible. I don't wanna treat this world like a movie or video game. These are real people, and I'd rather not leave them to die if I can help it. But, I will prioritize the main characters over them if push comes to shove, because I know they will be helpful.

Gathered around the fire is Dale, Lori, Carl, Sofia, Shane, Morales, Amy, and Jim. I sigh and scratch the back of my head as I sit down. Everyone around the fire goes quiet. I look straight ahead, into the fire and I say,

"There's no easy way to say this, and I know it'll change the way some of you look at me. While I was in Atlanta… I was kidnapped."

Looking around, I see most people have at least a slight reaction to that. The women cover their mouths in shock and the men get a more serious look on their face.

"If you couldn't tell from the bruises on my face, they were rather rough with me. They planned on using me to extort supplies from the group. Course, I didn't tell them where we were, so one of 'em got a little rough."

I lean back in the lawn chair and sigh again.

"During that short trip to Atlanta, I had to kill seven people. I'm not proud of it, but it was necessary."

I hear a few gasps as I say that, from Dale, and a few of the women. Dale is the first to speak up,

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, kid… It must've been tough. I'm glad you made it out okay."

I nod my head and give him a smile. A lot of people see Dale as the pacifist of the group, and while that may be true, he was always ready to take a life if need be. He isn't so much of a pacifist that he would refuse to do that no matter what, like a certain stick-wielding character.

For the next few minutes, I explain my trip to Atlanta, the fact that I saw Clem and the lie that I used to baby-sit her, and the group who wanted to steal the box truck.

By the way, I stopped outside of the city and filled the back of the boxtruck with a couple boxes of stuff that I took from V and her group. Mainly the food, clothes, weapons, and electronics. Lots of food and water from my previous jaunt in Atlanta. After the story is over, Carol comes back over with Clem, who is holding a pack of pudding and a bowl of rice. Clem comes over to me and starts to eat while standing, but I pick her up and set her on my lap. I decide to mention the stuff in the truck,

"I stole the supplies from the group that kidnapped me. There's some weapons, electronics, clothes, and of course food and water. I've already got everything I want from it."

I motion to the rifle on my back. A few seconds later, everyone is huddled around the fire, chatting. Amy went to the bathroom in the RV for a second. I decide to go ahead and buy [Walker Sense].

[-500p]

And immediately, I'm overwhelmed by an immense amount of new sensations. I instinctively know that there's 36 walkers around the camp. And just as I stand up,

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

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