The Walking Dead

Chapter 27

So they drove. Lee didn't know where the heck they were going but seeing as Kenny was the driver, it seemed like a good guess that they were headed to the coast. Lee and Lilly held onto whatever they could get a good grip on to prevent reckless movement, similar to as one would do on a filled bus. And as soon as the overrun motel they had once called 'home' had disappeared behind the sharp corner, the silence was broken, replaced by confusion and anger.

"Kat! Jesus, are you okay?!" Kenny half-yelled, trying to balance the task of driving and ensuring his family was safe.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" she reassured firmly, still holding onto her son in her lap.

Ben looked as if he were having a mental breakdown, he sat near the back with his head in his hands, "Oh shit, oh shit, oh-" Suddenly he stopped, and looked up at Lilly, "I'm sorry." Lee didn't understand what he was apologizing for.

"Everything's fine, Ben." Carley replied.

"What the hell are you talking about? Everything's not fine. We need to figure out how this happened." Lilly started, "We just lost everything."

"Well we're lucky as shit to have this RV!" Kenny commented.

"And, not to be cliché or corny or anything, but we still have eachother." Lee added.

"And nobody died." Carley concluded.

Kenny argued, "Kat's head is split open!" He gestured with his head to the horribly bloody wound on his wife's forehead. Her cheek was stain with the flow of red liquid, "I'm fine!" she repeated.

Lilly ignored it all, "Somebody in here caused this!"

The driver retorted, "Settle down back there; the bandits have had our numbers for weeks!"

"This is different." She looked Lee as if seeking his agreement and undying support, "Somebody was working with them. Whoever it was, was slipping them our meds. They didn't get their last package, so they attacked."

"Calm down back there! That's nuts!"

Lilly continued her story, "Lee found a bag of supplies hidden outside the wall." The others looked at Lee to confirm. He shook his head regretfully, "It's true."

Then Lilly snapped her head up and looked at the RV's occupants, eyeing each of them like a hungry vulture, "So, Carley, is there something you want to say?"

Carley's brow furrowed deeply and she scoffed, "Please." Lee couldn't believe that it was her. It was Carley! Why should she steal medicine? And it didn't make sense if she had told Lee to confess to his past secrets that she would hide hers.

"We have to get it out of you then?" Lilly pressed.

"Back. Off."

Lilly snorted slightly, "You're in no position to make demands."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're just pointing fingers here!"

Lee stood up for her, "Carley's trustworthy. She's not a traitor, Lilly."

"Thank you, Lee."

Lilly stared at Lee, "She can fight her own battles. Unless...there's something going on here that implicates you both."

"Don't be ridiculous." Carley shook her head, frowning once more.

The air in the RV was becoming tenser and more uncomfortable by the second. Lee felt anxious, looking from side to side even though he was innocent. Everybody else seemed to share the same experience. Ben suggested hesitantly, "Like, look, maybe we should, uh...vote or something like that!"

"Vote?! What." Lilly's eyes widened with utter disbelief.

"Just, look! Carley is, uh stand-up kinda gal and maybe, maybe this was all just a mistake."

The 'stand-up kinda gal' cut in, "We need to look at the facts. Let's calm down, we'll eat, and then we'll deal with it."

Lee tried to calm Lilly down, "Let's just let it go. People make mistakes and yeah, this is a fucking doozy, but, it's not worth it, Lilly."

"Then what do we not forgive? Honestly, tell me. Kenny can fucking kill my dad; Carley can steal from us? Where's the line?!"

"Nobody was stealing anything!" Ben tried to persuade, crossing his arms even tighter.

"Was it both of you?" Lilly leaned in closer, staring into Ben's blue eyes.

He jerked his head back, "WHAT?"

"I've seen you two together. Was it both of you?" Lee couldn't believe Lilly was claiming things based on facts like this. Just because they were seen together, they were suspects? Lee was with Carley before, he was with Ben before, the next thing you'd know, she'd be saying that she saw the whole group together and it was some ploy. Lilly was losing it.

"Look, just let me out. I didn't do it, but, I don't like this; I don't like where it's headed." Ben shook his head frantically, looking from Carley, Lee, and then back to Lilly.

She leaned in even closer. Lee could imagine her playing the bad cop of a Good Cop, Bad Cop game very well, "Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn't have anything to do with it."

Carley interrupted, trying to help Ben, "Lilly, lay off of him."

Ben gulped, his face showing extreme panic and confusion, "I-"

All of a sudden, there was a large wham from the front of the vehicle as the RV collided with something. Everybody shifted their heads, momentarily distracted from the overwhelming and troubling topic at hand. The RV kept driving. There was sharp, scratchy noise as the rammed object became lodged between the wheels of their get-away vehicle."Shit!" Kenny swore, losing slight control of the RV for a moment. "What's going on up there?" Lilly yelled from the back worriedly.

"I hit something." Kenny said matter-of-factly, "We gotta stop." He began slowing the large vehicle down, turning to a stop on the side of the road.

Lilly leaned in back towards Ben, "All right, well, we can deal with this now, then."

As they finally came to a stop, Lee let go of his grip on one of the many up top cabinets, "Kenny, is it safe?"

"Should be."

Lilly ordered, "Everybody out."

"Lilly..." Lee frowned. This was not going to end well.

"Out!" Lilly commanded, walking past Lee and down the few steps. The rest of them followed out. Kenny exited through his side door to examine the damage. They looked around warily for any signs of the dead. There was a faint croak of a walker coming from under the RV. So that's what we'd hit, Lee thought. It almost sounded as if the lodged walker was crying out of pain instead of the usual groan for flesh. Lilly bent down, carefully taking a look at the trapped thing. It wiggled its legs weakly and aimlessly. She got back up, "Kenny, the RV has some surface damage but there's a walker trapped underneath."

Kenny crouched to validate it, "God dammit. Everyone, keep your eyes peeled."

Leaving Kenny to solve the undead problem, Lilly continued her persecution-like interrogation, "You know what, we shouldn't just kick you out, we should hear what everybody thinks."

Ben flailed his hands down, "I think you should chill out!"

Carley shouted, "I'm not gonna take this! You can push Ben around but you're not going to push me around!"

"Well, I'm really sorry you feel that way." Lilly crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm starting to think maybe it was both of you."

Lee defended, "There's no way it was Carley. It was somebody else. It could've even been someone sneaking into our camp."

"That's ridiculous. That's what you actually think?" Lilly spat.

"Yes." He frowned in return.

"Okay, fine then." Lilly gave up on Lee's support, "Kenny?"

Kenny peered up from his work in front of the RV's grill, "I don't know! Fuck! Just, stop, would ya?!"

"Well your vote counts for you and Katjaa." She replied.

Ben screamed, beginning to lose his cool, or at least what was left of it before, "We don't need all these votes!! What do I have to do for you to trust me? I'll do anything! I'll-I'll do watches for a month!"

"Hah. The hell you will!" Lilly laughed in his face.

"I'll get more food! More medicine! Anything!"

Lee interrupted his hysterics, "Stop panicking! Seriously Ben, you need to stop and just take a breath."

Lilly looked back at Lee angrily, "Do we need any more evidence than this?!"

"Fuck EVIDENCE! Stop treating him like this." Carley spoke up.

"Shut up, Carley! I've heard enough out of you!" She looked back in Kenny's direction, "Kenny! What's it going to be?"

"Just..give me a damn minute!" Kenny barked.

"Ben, you have until that walker is dealt with to tell me it was her and not you!" Lilly continued.

Carley attempted to defend him, "Stop this. You're torturing him!"

"No..!" Ben tried to refuse before being cut off again by Lilly's snarl, "Ben!"

"Stop!" Carley repeated.

Lilly grimaced frustratingly at Carley before turning back towards Ben, "This is all about trust and I've never trusted you."

"Tell her, just do it, Ben." Lee couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth.

Carley reacted negatively to his mistake, "Lee! Jesus, wha-who are you right now?!"

"Tell her what?! She'll kick me out of the group!" Ben responded to his accidental suggestion.

He tried to reassure the hysterical teen, "We won't. We'll understand."

"Tell me. Now." Lilly grit her teeth.

Then there was the loud rumble from the front of the RV as Kenny dislodged the walker, "There. I got 'im."

Ben pleaded, "Please...let's just get back into the RV."

"That's not happening." Lilly snapped back.

That's when Carley spoke her mind, "You think you're some tough bitch, don't you? Like nothing at all can hurt you, but in reality, you're just a scared little girl on the inside. Get the fuck over it and grow up." Lilly glared daggers at her. If looks could kill. Carley continued, "Take a page from Lee's book and try helping somebody for a change."

Then there was splattering and crunch of bones and brain from the result of Kenny stomping roughly on its skull. Everybody turned to look. Lee felt Lilly subtlety reach behind her back. Kenny joined the party, "Now what the fuck's the problem?" Carley began looking back towards the center of the group when there was an ear-splitting bang and blinding flash.

Then there was Carley's unmoving body; on the ground submerged in an already deep sea of that color. Yes, red.