The Walking Dead

Chapter 30

Lee turned away from the mess he had made, curiously glancing at the nutritional values on the side of the box he had obtained. It was unhealthy, but who really cared now? Food was food. He advanced on towards Katjaa and Duck, who looked up (Well, mainly just Katjaa.) after he slightly shook the box to get their attention, "Here. I found these crackers, if Duck's up for it."

"Thank you, that's very thoughtful of you, Lee." Katjaa smiled earnestly, "He isn't fussy, you know?"

"What?" he arched his eyebrow inquiringly.

She continued, "Most kids, they're really fussy about what they'll eat. Hate and refuse to eat vegetables, that sort of thing."

"Not Duck, huh?" Lee smiled with mirth.

Katjaa shared his expression, before continuing her praise of her son, "No. The most trouble I'd ever had is making him use a fork instead of his hands. Thank you, Lee."

"Sure." Lee nodded, returning to his other duties.

Lee glanced over at his young charge who sat solemnly to herself, lost in thought. She had said that there might've been a pencil in the RV. With his next destination in mind, he moved on.

Pulling himself through the RV's door, Lee began his search. He turned to his left first, noting a faded pink laptop with several Barbie stickers placed on the table. The battery was probably long dead. And even if there was some battery life, what would they use it for? Finding nothing else of any significant usefulness, Lee checked out the front of the RV.

Clementine's speculations had been right; there was a pencil lying abandoned in the cup holder. Lee scooped it up, smirking with satisfaction. Great, now they could progress with trying to get the train moving! Leaping out of the RV from the top step like an eager little school kid, Lee didn't waste time, heading straight towards the front of the train. He yanked the door open a little bit too roughly, alerting Kenny of his presence. Kenny spun around in his chair like he had been expecting him, "Hey, Lee, anything new?"

"Found a pencil." Lee said plainly, offering no further explanation. There didn't seem to be a need for anymore. He proceeded to pick up the hanging sketchpad, and roughly scribbled across the whole page.

Lee mentally did a happy dance. In faint but still visible scrawl and doodles, were the instructions to starting up the engine. Idiot-proof, was a term Kenny might've used to describe them. The pictures described the turnings and flips of switches which were clearly marked on the side accordingly to the symbols on the console before him.

6. Small switch down twice, large switch up twice, up down up.

Mere seconds after completing this first pattern of flips and whatnots, Kenny exclaimed with joy, "Son of a bitch, whatever you did lit the dash up!"

"So far so good."

5. First switch turned horizontally, second switch turned vertically.

The formerly red light besides these two switches turned green. "Now we're talkin'." Kenny looked over his shoulder. Lee grinned, looking back at the notepad.

9. Turn left then turn right.

Lee looked back up, scanning the console for the section labelled number 9. Realizing that the console only went up to 8, he continued his search outside, guessing that section 9 was probably one of the engine compartments. Finding the compartment he desired, he pulled it open, revealing the bar of switches on the side. Okay, first turn left...then turn right...

In response (to Lee's relief)to the successful and complete activation of the instructions on the notepad, the train began to vibrate, letting out a mechanical hum. Lee began to close the engine compartment's door, only to jump slightly when he realized Kenny had been standing right behind it, concealed. Not noticing, Kenny began his joyous banter, "Holy shit, we're golden!"