The Walking Dead

Chapter 21

Lee woke to the disgruntled sound of Larry pounding away, "Open the god damned door!" The first image he saw through his half-opened tired eyes were more those salt licks that were in the barn. "You can't keep us in here! OPEN UP! I WILL TEAR YOU FUCKERS APART WITH MY BARE HANDS!"

Of course, there were no answers to these threats.

"Will you stop that banging! We've gotta find another way out of here." Kenny came into view. Behind him, Lilly was puking her guts out. With his headache, Lee also felt like vomiting.

Larry was still cursing, "You sick fucking bastards! OPEN THIS DOOR GOD DAMMIT! I will knock the GODDAMN DOOR DOWN!" Lilly, having recovered from her spill, tried to calm him down with her words.

Lee opened his eyes once more to see Clementine, watching Larry's angry attempts with a nervous expression. Then, she took notice of him, rushing to his side, "Lee!"

He shook his head, trying to get rid of the headache and blurry vision.

"It-it was a person! They tried to make us eat a person!" Clementine stammered.

"But you didn't do it…" Lee replied weakly.

"No…"

Larry snarled, "The rest of us did, God dammit! If you hadn't dragged your feet…"

Lilly mediated, "C'mon, Dad. Now's not that time."

Lee ignored Larry, focusing his attention on the small girl who sat in front of him, "You okay, Clementine? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Mm-hmm." She shook her head, Lee felt relieved.

Larry continued to hammer at the door, shouting his head off, "OPEN UP!"

Kenny went over to Lee, bringing him back to speed, "Lee, those psychos have my family, and we're stuck in a damn meat locker!" He grimaced, his eyes widening, "We've gotta get the fuck outta here!"

Clementine whimpered, "I'm scared."

"Don't be." Lee comforted, "It's gonna be okay… I'm gonna find us a way out of here… Don't give up."

"Can I help?"

"Sure, honey! You keep your eyes open for exposed screws or loose panels… anything we can pry away to open a passage out of here."

"Okay…"

The meat locker they were apparently in was small and there weren't many things inside apart from shelves, wood, boxes of some sort, and a large amount of salt licks. A large air vent pumped cold air into the room, obviously meant to keep the food cold and lasting. This gave Lee the chills; (literally and metaphorically) it seemed that he and his party were the planned meals. Bon appétit.

Lee looked around, there had to be something they could use to get out, right? Larry was still knocking on the door and Lilly continued to try to calm him down. Kenny was in one corner of the room, examining the paneling for any loose cracks or holes. Lee went over to a bunch of wooden pallets, his hopes perking up, "Could there be a hole behind these pallets?" He looked behind it, sighing, "No such luck."

By the sound of Larry's voice, it sounded like it was getting weaker and he took more breaths.

Lee examined the shelves to the side of the pallets, "These shelves seem sturdy, and we could climb up." He looked at the pipe littered ceiling and grunted, "But there's no way out through the ceiling. He decided to check the air conditioner, "Hmm…"

Not long after he started examining it, Larry began to slow, "…I'll break the damn door down..!"

"Dad! You can't-" Lilly began, noticing the symptoms.