"So... What happened to everybody? Did they all make it out of Savannah?"
Kenny had taken Cry inside and sat him down on a couch near a fireplace. He had appraised him for a moment, probably wondering if the masked man would say something first, but Cry was at a loss of what he could say in this instance. He was still a bit shocked at the information that he was trapped inside of a video game again. The same one as last time, in fact.
"I'm not sure," he lied. He couldn't let on that he knew any more than he should. "I made it out to Omid and Christa and we were waiting out by the train for any others who made it out. I got really sick though, just like James and Felix and those guys. I was worried it might be contagious, so rather than put everyone at risk, I took off on my own."
"Shit... I see you pulled through though."
Cry nodded. "It was shaky for a while. I was lucky though, and eventually started to get better. Never managed to meet up with anyone else from the group until now." He paused, then decided to change the topic before too many questions were asked. "How'd you make it out alive?"
Kenny sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "I went after that idiot, Ben. We got swarmed; I couldn't save him. I could barely make it out of there, but I guess I got lucky too. Very lucky. I can still hardly believe I survived that shit." Kenny took a deep breath, a dark look coming over his face. "Things were... rough for a while after that. I still wasn't doing well after Du-" his voice cut off and he had to clear his throat. "After my son, and... Well, eventually I ran into Sarita and things fell into place."
Playing his part, Cry asked, "Sarita?"
Kenny stood up, gesturing for Cry to do the same. "Ah, that's right. I haven't introduced you yet."
Cry was led to an area that appeared to be where meals took place in the building, then was told to wait there. Kenny left and returned a couple of minutes later with two people in tow. One was a woman with caramel coloured skin and dark, shoulder length hair, and the other was a balding man with a kind smile.
"Walter, Sarita," Kenny began, "this is Cry. I used to travel in the same group as him. Cry, this is my beautiful wife Sarita, and my good friend Walter."
Cry shook both of their hands in turn. "It's nice to meet you." Then he turned to Walter, "Oh, and also, Matthew wanted me to let you know that he'll be up in a few days."
Walter nodded in acknowledgement. "Alright. I suppose he sent you up here for somewhere to stay the night?" Cry confirmed this. "I'll show you to your room then. It's late, we should get to bed. We can talk more in the morning."
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As it turned out, it was decided that Cry could stay with them if he so wished. With no other plan in mind, Cry accepted the offer. While he was still in search of (Y/n), he had no clue as to where to start other than staying in the storyline. He only hoped that she'd have the same idea. It was his best bet at finding her. If he was correct in assuming that she had pulled back into the game as well, that was.
Weeks passed. Cry reconnected with Kenny even though he had changed since the last time Cry had been in the game with him. He also got along with Walter and Matthew (when the latter was actually at the lodge and not guarding the bridge) rather well, and Sarita was decent as well. Cry finally acquired a weapon to protect himself.
Everything was normal.
Until, of course, something came along to make things chaotic again. Which always seemed to happen for some reason. In this particular case, it turned out to be a someone that brought the chaos to them, as it was almost like it followed her around.
Cry had been in the middle of a nap - he had been having nightmares about (Y/n) that had been keeping him from sleep recently - when shouts from outside woke him up. He was immediately alert at the potential of danger.
He kept up from the couch he had been laying on and pulled out his knife before racing for the front doors. There seemed to be some type of conflict going on. Sarita, Walter, and Kenny were at a standoff with five people, one of which was a child partially hiding behind who Cry assumed was her father. Kenny, of course, was shouting a warning at them while holding his gun up, ready to pull the trigger.
As Cry arrived to the scene ready to back up Kenny if need be and keeping a wary eye the man from the other group who also had his gun raised, another man ran up. He looked distantly familiar, but Cry pushed that aside for the time being. His blood pounded through his veins, preparing him for an attack.
The newest member of the other group held up his hands in a disarming gesture. "Listen, everyone, just stay calm," he said carefully.
"Who are you?!" Sarita demanded. "Are you trying to rob us?"
"Excuse me, honey," a very pregnant woman snapped at her, "but do I look like a fucking thief?"
Walter, as usual, was trying to play the peacekeeper. "Everyone calm down."
"Hey man, you calm the fuck down," a nervous man countered from beside the pregnant woman.
"Just tell us who you are," Walter tried again.
"We ain't here to rob nobody," the nervous man assured. "Put the gun down."
Kenny snorted, "Fuck that!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa."
"Please, just do as he says," Sarita implored.
Cry caught the movement first. While everyone else was honed in on the argument at hand, he turned his attention to the short person who was pushing their way through the opposing group. His sharp intake of breath was audible enough to catch Kenny's attention and make his eyes shift to what Cry was fixated on. Kenny's eyes widened and he lowered his gun, mouth falling open slightly.
"Holy shit," the little girl approaching breathed, same wonder etched onto her face. Her eyes flitted between Cry and Kenny.
"Wait, you know this guy?" a man from her group asked.
"Clementine?" Kenny barely whispered, shock evident.
Not responding, Clementine propelled herself forward and hugged Kenny tightly for a long moment. When he released her she immediately moved to Cry to give him the same treatment. Cry wrapped his arms around her just as firmly, rubbing her back comfortingly when he felt her shaking somewhat.
"Hey Clem," he said so that only she could hear. She tightened her arms around him and he chuckled lightly. "I've missed you too, kid."
"I'll take that as a yes." The smile could be heard in Walter's voice. He was relieved that the thick tension had been lifted.
Cry let go of Clementine, but he and Kenny remained kneeling at her level. Kenny kept his focus trained solely on her, taking her slightly more matured features in with a soft expression on his face.
"These people with you?" he asked, studying her face. She nodded. Kenny stood and gestured everybody towards the building. "We can talk inside."
Cry stood as well, offering Clementine his hand with a fond smile on his lips. Clem smiled back at him and didn't hesitate to grip his hand with her own. He squeezed hers a bit, and she squeezed back.
"Great," Walter said. "I just started dinner."
The man with his daughter still clinging to his side observed them unsurely. "Are you sure you don't mind?" he asked.
"It's going to storm soon. Please, come in," Walter replied. He led Clem in with Cry and Kenny first, making casual conversation as though nothing had just transpired outside. "Kenny and Sarita have been staying with us for several weeks. Cry arrived here recently, but has been getting along very well. This used to be a ski lodge, obviously, so we have plenty of food. And believe it or not, we still get some power from that wind turbine out front."
Cry saw Clem looking around in amazement. She still looked awed, even though that may have also been contributed to her being reunited with himself and Kenny after who knows how long.
"We tend to keep most of the lights off at night to avoid drawing attention," Walter continued. "But after we found this stuff in storage, we couldn't resist making an exception." Kenny gestured about how Walter was blabbing on and on and rolled his eyes, earning a giggle from Clem. "What's funny?" Walter asked, turning around?
"Oh nothin', Walt," Kenny chuckled. "Walter here is one smart son of a bitch. Makes a mean can of beans too."
"Well, why don't you three catch up while I got some dinner started?" The rest of the group walked in. "Please, make yourselves at home. You can leave your things over there," he said to them, pointing out a bench by the door.
They all looked at the bench warily before facing Walter again. Cry could see the hesitation and distrust plain as day. They had reason, he supposed, knowing what kind of world it was now, but he knew that none of them had anything to fear here at the moment. But he also knew how argumental Kenny could be and it seemed like this group wasn't backing down.
"The hell we will," the pregnant woman crossed her arms.
The man with the gun nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm holding on to my rifle, thanks."
"You're our guests here. There's no need to worry," Walter tried to soothe them.
"Tell him to put his gun down, then," the man argued.
Walter turned to Kenny and said his name, clearly indicating that he should make the first move. Kenny narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the people. Then he turned to Clementine. "Will you vouch for these people, Clem? If you tell me they're good, then I'm good."
"Us?" The other man with the rifle stepped forward. "You were the one wavin' a gun around, man."
"We're cool, okay?" the possible leader of the group said. "Hey, hey, we're cool, we're cool."
"Everyone, calm down," Clementine said slowly.
Just then, Sarita and the last two members of the other group - the father and daughter - finally walked in. The air was tense, but Sarita and the girl didn't seem to notice.
"Dad! Look! A Christmas tree!" she exclaimed, pointing at said object.
Her father, however, picked up on the uneasy mood in the room. "Not now, Sarah." Cry mentally stored her name, wishing he could remember the others.
"Isn't it great?" Sarita was also oblivious to the atmosphere of the room, or she chose to ignore it. "We found it all in storage."
"It's amazing!" Sarah gushed happily.
Cry sighed and decided to make the first act of peace. He let go of Clementine's hand, walked over to the bench and laid down knife. While returning to his previous position, he nodded in respect to the other group's leader, who was also moving to put his machete down. Everyone else followed suit. Clementine even put her entire backpack down.
"Good," Sarita smiled, happy with how the situation turned out. "If you'll all follow me, I'll show you where you can sleep."
Everyone from their group - minus Clementine - trailed along behind Sarita while Walter went to go prepare the food. Clem followed Kenny and Cry to the comfortable area by the fireplace. It was time to catch up with the young girl.
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