The Walking Dead

Chapter 5

It's late at night when Lee and his unlikely partners arrive in the countryside. The moon is bright. Clementine and Lee are exchanging friendly glances with each other while Chet relaxes in the back and Shawn drives. They drive past rows and rows of tall crops. There are enough crops to provide food for an extremely long period of time. But in the glow of the night, these crops seem dangerous and house many secretive things, good and bad. You'd never know what could sneak up behind you with these tall growths.

Shawn turns onto a pathway that is surrounded by the same crops. He slows down and eventually parks his truck next to a house, which Lee assumes is his family's farmhouse. The farmhouse is dimly lit from one window and the porch light. On the wall of the house, there is a green sign that says, "THE GREENES". There is a large red barn to the right of the house. A long line of brown fence circles the perimeter of the farmland. All in all, the place doesn't look too bad.

Chet hops out of his makeshift seat, stretching his sore arms from the bumpy ride here. "Hey, Shawn... I'm a' run on home. My mama's gonna be in a snit."

"No sweat, man. I'll catch you tomorrow night."

"It was nice to meet ya both." Chet expresses, nodding at Clementine and Lee before taking off.

Clementine holds Lee hand as the house's front door opens with a loud creak. An old, bearded man is at the door. He is dressed in a green, long-sleeved shirt that has a badge and his legs are draped in black. "Thank God, you're ok." He says, walking towards Shawn.

"I was worried it'd be bad here, too." Shawn admits, going up to the man and pulling him into a tight hug.

The man returns the hug and gives Shawn a friendly pat on the back. "Been quiet as usual the past couple days. Ol' Breckon down the way thinks his mare's gone lame but that ain't nothing new."

"I wouldn't have made it back without Chet."

"Well, I'm glad you took him with you then."

The bearded fellow turned to Lee and Clementine, putting his hands on his waist. "You've brought a couple guests." It sounded more like a statement than a question.

Lee took the chance to speak, "We just need a little... help. We won't stay long."

"Good. You're welcome to stay here, but just for the night. I don't run a bed and breakfast." He advises, before continuing. "So it's just you and your daughter then."

Shawn corrects his misunderstanding, "Oh, not his daughter, he's... well... Just some guy who found her alone."

The old man gets to Clementine's eyelevel, similar to Lee. "Honey, do you know this man?"

"Yes." Clementine responds quietly.

"Ok then." He notes, nodding his head, before gesturing to Lee's injuries. "Well, looks like you hurt your leg pretty bad there."

"Yeah, it's not doing so good." He admitted.

"I can help you out. Shawn, run on in and check on your sister. You, take a seat up on the porch and I'll go see what I have."

Lee sat himself up on the porch's bench. Clementine watching with worried eyes. The old man reappears in the door with a bottle of pills and squints at Clementine, before shaking his head and heading to Lee.

"Let's have a look." He feels the injury on Lee's leg, "Yeah, this is swollen to hell."

"Could be worse." Lee responds, thinking of the monsters back in the neighbourhood and woods.

"That's what it sounds like. Seems like things got awful bad in the cities." The man says before returning to his work. "What'd you say your name was?"