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It was another cold night. Only the white snow on the ground fought against the darkness in the reflection of the moonlight. The wind was forcing itself in to the delicate structure of the unfinished building. When a sudden stronger blow of the wind struck, it was almost like the house would give in in any moment. The wooden foundation whined and creaked.
The blizzard has been raging for so many days already. The desperation to its few occupants was starting to set in.
Kenny brought some wood to the fireplace where the rest of the group was gathered around it to take in the warmth.
“There isn’t much left anymore” Kenny said, stating the obvious.
Others watched with grim looks as he placed the planks they had ripped from the floor in the fireplace. All the furniture was already burnt, and the bare bones of the house didn’t insulated the heat very well.
“We had the last of the food yesterday too.” Jane reminded him and nudged the empty duffel bag with her leg.
“I know” Kenny said without emotion.
Kenny piled the planks in the fireplace on top of each other. The warm light of the fire touched his face and illuminated the living room of the otherwise dark house. The uneven unfinished foundation formed light shadows on the walls which danced on the tune of the fireplace.
Clementine thought that when she still lived with her parents, she would have probably found the shadows and the house somewhat scary. Not anymore, not after what she has gone through.
“It’s good that we found this place and got the food. We would have already perished without it” Mike said as he nodded at the empty duffel bag and gave a smile to Arvo.
Kenny closed his eyes for a moment. He tried to keep his anger in check. He sighed while having his back turned on Mike.
“I think we all owe him our gratitude.” Mike nodded to Arvo.
“Well, no shit? Are you trying to imply something?” Kenny taunted.
“I’m just saying we owe him.” Mike said.
“Is that right? After what happened? When are you going to stop sucking him up?” Kenny turned to him, while still crouching.
Mike’s smile washed off as fast as it came up.
“I’m just saying things could be worse. There is no harm of being positive and being thankful.” Mike reasoned.
“Positive?” Kenny laughed.
“And I’m not sucking him up” Mike protested.
“You know how we could have managed even longer, Mike? If we would have thrown this ruskie out like I told you all days ago!”
“Kenny, that’s enough! Can’t we have one day without being scared of you going ballistic?” Jane joined in.
Mike was about to say something but then noticed how Bonnie and Luke were shaking their heads slightly and glaring at him. He stayed quiet and looked at the ground.
“Right, I am the bad guy when I’m the only one thinking about this group and trying to keep everyone alive!” Kenny said sarcastically.
“You just told us how we should kill someone a moment ago, in cold blood no less. You really want Clementine to hear this shit constantly?” Jane tried to reason with him and nodded towards Clem who was sitting next to Luke, looking at the fire, acting like she didn’t hear them.
Kenny glanced at Clementine, looking like his anger would wade at first. He looked back at Jane, and it was back like from turn of a button.
“Well, you making a scene out of this isn’t really helping either.” Kenny’s words sounding hollow.
“I am making a scene?” Jane chuckled mockingly.
“Yes… yes you are.” Kenny said while staring Jane.
There was a silence. Kenny shook his head and looked at the others. He saw no one was engaging so he turned back to Jane
“I’m thinking the long game here.” Kenny continued.
Jane scoffed.
Kenny felt bad about the silence. He felt like he lost, even if he got the last word and he didn’t like it.
“For the record by the way. That someone isn’t part of our group, he was…he is the enemy. You act like he is one of us.” Kenny pointed at Jane.
“And it’s you only who gets to decided who’s one of us, is that it?” Mike couldn’t stay out of it.
“Yes, because none of you are not ready to make the big decisions. You are too emotional.” Kenny glanced at Mike.
“Yeah, we are the ones being emotional” Jane chuckled some more.
Kenny shook his head in anger, the skin around his nose raising and mouth tensing up.
“Mike, how about you shut the fuck up and Jane why are you defending this asshole? It’s you if anyone who should agree on this.”
“And why is that?” Jane raised his brows and gave a mocking look.
“Because you are selfish!” Kenny shot immediately.
Jane scoffed, but Mike could sense Jane was getting uncomfortable
“Why would you…?” Kenny started.
“Kenny, careful.” Mike interrupted.
“What? Am I wrong?” Kenny sneered.
“You are talking about killing a kid. I think so far, I’m doing better in that regard don’t you think?” Jane raised her voice. The mockery was long gone.
Kenny was silent and surprised Jane’s tone.
“The rest of us are the people who are actually thinking about the whole group. He hasn’t done anything to us after the shootout. Why is it so hard to give him a chance? Look at him, he is a wreck. You really want his death on your conscience?” Jane lectured.
“We could have had much more…” Kenny tried to say.
“…Or are you already that far gone?” Jane continued her speech and spoke over Kenny.
There was a silence, and Kenny could feel the stares everyone was giving to him. He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but the words didn’t come out. He looked at the others and saw Clementine holding her head on her legs and shaking.
“Clem, I’m just trying to… I don’t trust him. If we let him stay, he could…” Kenny tried to say.
“You are scaring me, Kenny.” Clementine said quietly.
Kenny sighed. He looked at the ground with his hands hanging about beside him.
“Everyone gave you and your family a chance.” Clementine said.
“Clem. How does it look like people have given me a chance here? Everything was fine at the lodge and after what happened, what is my reward? Constant contempt and looks of pity. People talking behind my back how I am crazy.” Kenny shook his head.
Kenny gave everyone a look.
“Yeah, I am not stupid. I know what you people talk about me.” Kenny said mockingly.
“I meant the pharmacy.” Clementine said quickly.
“The pharmacy?” Kenny turned at Clementine and narrowed his eyes.
“You are giving me the same feeling I had there. You remind me of Larry.” Clementine said quietly.
“What happened at the pharmacy?” Luke whispered.
“None of your business, Luke.” Kenny snapped.
Kenny put his hands on his hips and looked at the sealing. The insulation was teared. It was hanging like a piece of rope from it. He shook his head slightly and reminisced the incident.
“Give him a chance. Please” Clementine pleaded.
Kenny glanced at Arvo who was sitting at the back. He was like a statue. It was like he hasn’t moved in hours. Kenny shook his head and turned his back,
“Don’t tell me I warned you all if something happens. I wasn’t going to do anything anyway. It’s too late to preserve anything.” Kenny said firmly, his anger toning down.
“That’s not what she meant.” Jane corrected.
“I know I know!” Kenny said in frustration and waved his hand.
Nobody said anything and waited for Kenny.
“Fine! I’ll give him a chance, but make no mistake, if he fails to meet my good graces, I’m going to put the cap between his eyes.”
“That’s all we ask” Mike said.
Kenny glimpsed at Jane questionably and Jane replied with a nod.
“Thank you.” Clementine smiled a little out of relief, but there was a hint of wariness to it.
Kenny didn’t know what to feel. He was taken a back a bit by the sudden response from Clementine.
Luke was reaching to the firewood on the floor, but Kenny lifted them up from front of him and headed to place them in the fireplace, which was already almost out.
Bonnie held her hands near the fire, trying to catch the warmth better.
“Now that you all have sorted this out, can we finally talk about more urgent things?” Bonnie asked.
“There isn’t much we can do. We can’t go to that storm.” Luke responded.
“So, what? we are going to stay here, freeze and starve to death?” Bonnie glanced at Luke.
“No…But I’m just saying there isn’t really any options.” Luke replied back.
Jane looked out from the window from the sofa she was sitting on.
“I actually think the blizzard has toned down a bit from what it was hours ago. If it continues, maybe we could think of checking if there is anything nearby.” Jane said with slight enthusiasm.
After refuelling the fireplace, Kenny had sat down near it and taking some warmth too.
“The map from that broken down car showed that the only place is miles away, there is nothing very close to us”. Kenny said, taking the warmth with his hands without looking at the others.
“It’s still in the walking distance.” Jane said.
“Yeah, but not in that weather.” Kenny replied.
“I just said that IF the weather calms down, we could try it out.” Jane said in frustration.
“We’ll think it tomorrow and see in what direction that blizzard is going. Every one of us needs some sleep”. Kenny ordered.
“No matter the weather, we might need to do it anyway. It’s better to at least try to do something rather than wait to die here.” Mike in grim tone.
Kenny looked at Arvo behind his shoulder.
“Maybe we could eat him?” Kenny blurted out
Everyone was shocked and stared at Kenny. Kenny looked at other reactions in silence for a while.
“It was a joke!” Kenny scoffed and looked back at the fire.
“That’s not funny!” Bonnie gasped.
“Jesus Christ” Mike joined in.
Luke and Jane shook their heads and rolled their eyes.
A silence fell and everyone was getting closer and closer to the fireplace as the fire was dimming down again. They were running out of floor to cut soon. The indoors of the house looked empty and hollow without the furniture and torn down floor.
“Fuck. You can’t say anything around here.” Kenny snapped.
In the morning the blizzard had toned enough to a slight breeze. The group had decided to head for the small group of houses that they spotted from the map. Clementine, Jane and Bonnie headed to the edge of the lake, where the cattail was growing.
Bonnie ripped one from the ground and gave it to Clementine. Clementine looked at her curiously.
“It’s okay, you can eat it.” Bonnie assured.
Clementine glimpsed at Jane and Jane nodded. Clementine put a piece of the stalk prepared by Bonnie in his mouth. She chewed a bit, and his face twisted as he was taking small bits out of her mouth in disgust.
“Yeah, I know, it isn’t exactly the most favourable food there is.” Bonnie chuckled.
“Don’t worry, well bring them back and prepare them. Salt might do the trick.” Jane tried to assure her.
“The taste doesn’t improve much. Better to prepare her to not expect any culinary miracle” Bonnie joked, her words sounding more of a desperate than she intended.
They gathered as much as they could and then headed to the house, where the rest of them were preparing for the trip and melting snow in the pot over the fire.
They prepared the cattails with oil they found and cooked them over the fire while adding salt. They bottled the water and packed the cattails for the trip. They took everything worthwhile with them that they could carry and started the journey.
They were moving away from the house to the direction they planned from the map. Every step they took sank a bit to the snow, which has gotten higher and higher day after day. They passed the car and Kenny glanced at it melancholy. He shook his head in shame that he didn’t manage to fix it.
The cold was biting their faces. Before they left, they had ripped some insulation from the walls of the house and attached it to their bodies using rope and sticking some inside of their jackets and pants.
“I look ridiculous” Luke said as he walked and checked himself.
“Still better looking ridiculous than dead”. Mike stated behind him.
“I know but, still…and it itches.” Luke complained.
“You look like one of those car wash brushes” Kenny joked.
“Yeah, we all do.” Luke said.
“We really stripped that house almost bare.” Bonnie smiled.
“It wouldn’t matter otherwise but sticking them to our pants…It itches.” Luke complained more
“You are more than welcome to dig them up and attach them on top of your legs. Your ridiculous look would be complete with the waddling of a penguin.” Kenny smiled.
“Ha ha…” Luke mocked.
They walked for hours, the snow making it harder to walk. The wind and snowing were getting stronger too. The visibility started to diminish slowly. The wind started to howl loudly again.
They stopped for a while to rest, having a drink and munching the cattails. Kenny ate the cattails and cut the stalks in aggressive manner with a displeased look while his jacket and moustache flailed in the hard wind.
“We had some problems at the start of this whole thing, months after this whole mess started, yet somehow, I never expected that it would come to this. Eating some grass or hay or whatever this is.” Kenny complained.
The insulation they had improvised had helped them a bit. The walking had kept them warm, but it eventually started to bite through the clothing too, especially when they were not moving.
“Maybe we should go back, the weather is getting worse” Luke suggested.
“It’s too late we are already too far already.” Jane said.
“Also, what is the point in returning, we would freeze in the house anyway.” Kenny added.
“Well, we need to do something. We can’t deal with this much longer!” Luke gasped.
“No shit?” Kenny said and bit the stalk of the cattail again with a displeased look.
Kenny saw Clementine talking with Arvo. Jane and Mike conversing, albeit the loud howling of the wind made it impossible to hear them. He might have seen a glimpse of slight grin on Arvo’s face too, a start of an actual smile. He didn’t know due to the high wind what they were saying, but he could tell they were getting along. He frowned.
Bonnie and Luke followed Kenny’s stare.
“He helped us a lot with the preparations.” Luke said carefully.
Kenny raised his cheek and shrug, clearly in his thoughts.
“I doubt he has any ill intentions and if he had them at some point, I think they are gone. We are all in this together”. Bonnie added on Luke.
“Ehh…Maybe” Kenny allowed.
Bonnie and Luke shot a slight grin to each other while Kenny glanced at the other group.
“Anyway, we need to move before my balls will freeze.” Kenny said quickly, stood up and waved to the other group to continue the trek.
“Maybe you should add that itchy stuff in there too” Luke mocked.
“Who said that I haven’t?” Kenny caught an eye contact with Luke.
Luke was puzzled.
“Before you ask, yes, it feels like hellfire in there” Kenny stated, forcing to sound overly serious.
Luke and Bonnie chuckled and shook their heads.
They walked for hours again, they had to take a break in this tiny abandoned gas station which was scavenged by others long ago. They continued to move on. The feel of desperation intensified as the blizzard was getting stronger.
People were staggering and falling as they pushed against the wind.
“We need to find shelter!” Mike yelled through the howling wind.
“I can’t turn into a resort now, can I?!” Kenny yelled sarcastically.
“Snow shelter?!” Luke yelled from the back while shaking from the cold.
Kenny looked around him to the landscape, seeing barely 30 metres ahead. He shook his head.
Luke saw Kennys body language and grimaced. He held his hands on his chest, but it did barely anything against the cold.
“Hey!” Jane yelled.
The others turned to her and looked at the lone field surrounded by a fence which she pointed at..
Kenny slowly walked beside her to hear her better
“So what? It’s a field!” Kenny yelled.
“See those big haybales?” Jane asked through the wind and intensified his pointing.
“Yeah?” Kenny yelled, while grabbing the collar of his jacket to tighten it up.
“We can get to cover!” Jane yelled and smiled.
Kenny didn’t fully understand but waved to the others to follow them. They climbed the fence and were now looking at the huge hay piles placed there on the different spots of the field.
“We cut them and get our shelter!” Jane explained through the wind.
Nobody said anything, so Jane grabbed Lukes machete from his back and cut the plastic that was covering one of the huge hay piles. He cut deeper into the hay and then draw some of it out.
Kenny smiled to her improvisation in disbelieved and then chuckled.
Jane cut another hole and pulled the excess hay out from the other side too.
“Clem get in there!” Kenny yelled.
Clemetine was unsure, but moved towards the hay pile and Kenny lifted her feet first inside of the hay pile.
“Go cut that other hay pile too for the others”. Kenny motioned towards the other pile, barely visible to them.
Jane nodded and started to run with Arvo and Mike to the other hay pile.
After Clementine was all comfy inside of the pile opening, Kenny motioned to Luke and Bonnie to get to the other side, where Jane had already made the cut.
Kenny climbed up and awkwardly turned himself so he could get feet first beside clementine.
The blizzard was intensifying, and he didn’t see the other hay pile where Jane, Arvo and Mike ran towards.
Now Kenny was in this makeshift hay cover next to Clementine where there was barely any room. The hay and their close proximity of bodies with each other gave them warmth. In the same hay pile on the other side Bonnie and Luke did the same.
Kenny looked towards the way where the hay pile of the other group was, but it wasn’t visible anymore. The air had been so loud it was almost hurting their ears. Now that they are in cower and the sound have muffled a bit, he felt a slight tinnitus as the ear compensated for the lack of loud sound.
“That woman is a genius. He is annoying as all hell, but still...” Kenny talked as if to himself.
“Jane?” Clementine turned her head.
“I would have never figured this out.” Kenny frowned and grabbed the plastic that was moving in the wind. He drew it closer to give them more cover.
Clementine turned his head forward again and didn’t say anything.
“If only we didn’t follow that ruskie in to that stack of toothpicks.” Kenny sighed.
“We got the supplies he promised, didn’t we?” Clementine said and looked at the raging snow storm outside.
“All we got was borrowed time in that house, now look at us.” Kenny said and held the plastic wrapper more tightly against the wind.
Clementine didn’t answer.
“And what is it with Mike about him anyway?” Kenny continued.
Clementine didn’t answer and Kenny glimpsed at her.
“I should not drop this all to you.” Kenny regretted.
“We already talked about this. Arvo isn’t a bad person” Clementine frowned and looked at him
Kenny thought for a moment and rubbed his ear.
“Anyway. I feel so useless. No matter what I do, the shit will follow.” Kenny lamented.
“I mean, I bet we would be dead now if it wasn’t for Jane.” He continued quietly.
Clementine looked back outside, and Kenny took a glance at her.
“And again, after saying I should not dump this depressive shit on you, I continue.” Kenny shook his head.
“Just let others take the burden for once.” Clementine tried to reason, weary of talking.
Kenny sensed Clementine was awkward about the conversation and went silent.
“I feel so cold and tired” Clementine whined and shivered.
“Try to stay awake and make sure I don’t fall asleep.” Kenny instructed.
Kenny took the right hand out from his jackets sleeve and wrapped it around Clementine and drew her closer, holding her tightly between his arm and chest.
“We’ll get through this, don’t worry.” Kenny said in a shaking voice, while feeling cold and drowsy as well.
Kenny heard shuffling of a plastic wrapper near him and sounds of creaking snow next to them. It was still windy and cold, but it seemed like storm was having a calmer moment or then it was subsiding. Kenny noticed he had fallen asleep. He looked at Clementine who was sleeping, tucked under his arm. Kenny was relieved to see and hear her sleep and breathing. Kenny pushed Clementine gently to wake her up.
“We fell asleep, good that it didn’t seem to be very long nap. The storm seems to be less violent” Kenny analysed.
Clementine didn’t answer but shivered and rubbed her eye.
“The others are coming, we might need to move out, while this calmness lasts.” Kenny told Clementine who was still gathering her bearings.
Suddenly a walker tried to reach from them from the left side of the opening, violently pushing aside the plastic wrapper of the hay pile.
Kenny heard muffled gunshots from outside. The sounds which the wind stole immediately.
“Fuck!” Kenny held the walker by its forehead, barely keeping it at bay.
Kenny tried to reach his gun. He can see a silhouette of another walker in the white curtain of the storm closing in. The other walker came beside the other one and tried to reach for Clementine, but Clementine had managed to take her backpack and place it between her and the walker. The walker gnawed and ripped at the backpack trying to get through.
The third walker was closing in from behind the other two now.
Kenny managed to pick up his gun and pointed it at the walker he was holding with the other hand.
“Cover your ears!” Kenny yelled through the hungry walkers and the wind.
Kenny shot the walker who was trying to reach Clementine and then the one who he was holding. Both walkers collapsed and one of them fell in a way that Kenny dropped the gun outside. They both looked as the third walker was closing in with its arms stretched.
Kenny, now momentarily deaf and Clementine pushed the backpack to the front together to prepare for the third one.
The third one tried to reach at them, but three sharp spikes emerged from its forehead. The Walker collapsed outside out of their view, and they saw Arvo holding a pitchfork, its other part still facing downward where the walker laid.
“We need help!” Arvo yelled.
“WHAT?!” Kenny yelled, hearing only his muffled voice.
He looked at Clementine and read from her lips as she tried to make the words look as simple as possible in her lips.
“OKAY!” Kenny yelled.
Kenny and Clementine crawled out of the hay pile. There were three walkers lying next to the opening.
Kenny put one finger on the right side of his ear and made a weird expression, while shaking his head slightly. He picked his gun from the ground. He looked at Arvo and still dipped his finger on the other ear, as if to clean it up to hear better.
He nodded at Arvo half reluctantly and Arvo waved them to follow him. They went to the other side of the huge hay bale, where he saw Bonnie on full blown panic, looking at her fingers and Luke saying something to her while holding his arm around her.
Clementine said something to Luke, and he pointed at Arvo who gestured them to follow him. The muffled voices were starting to slowly come out from behind Kenny’s tinnitus.
They jogged with Arvo at the next hay pile where the others had took cover. Luke was holding Bonnie from the back and they slowly walked behind them.
“We got attacked, they ran” Arvo said shortly and motioned on their former cover.
Kenny could hear what he said now, albeit more quietly. He looked around. He saw multiple footprints leading away.
“We need to find them fast, the least we need is getting people lost in this storm.” Kenny said with concern in his face.
The wind howled softly, and the mixture of snow and fog gave the whole ordeal a weird feeling. Like they would be in a dream.
“Don’t yell, we don’t know if there are more of them” Kenny warned.
Clementine nodded. Arvo looked at them both and as he saw Kenny staring at him, he nodded as well.
They followed the footprints, while Luke and Bonnie stayed behind. There were multiple walkers put down around them. Some walkers were stuck in the snow and tried to desperately reach them from multiple meters away without hope to get unstuck.
Suddenly they saw a giant pool of blood, which had a thick red line of blood leading forward to the mist.
They followed the trail of blood to the mist.
They saw Jane crouching in front of a huge pile of snow some distance away.
“Thank God!” Kenny said in relief.
As they came closer, she was kneeling on top of a body. It was Mike whose foot had gotten stuck on the thick snow. His head was barely attached and the blood dropping from his neck formed a deep hole on the snowbank below.
Jane turned and looked at them. Half of Mike’s throat was on her mouth and the hollow gaze of hunger looked at the trio. She slowly started to stand up.
“No!” Clementine cried and the walkers stuck somewhere near in the snow reacted to the noise.
“Clem….” Kenny said urgently.
Clementine felt like running at Jane, but at the same time knew it would be a suicide. She was conflicted and in shock.
“Clementine, look away.” Kenny said calmly.
“No, no, no.” Clementine cried.
“Yes you will! I’ll be damned if I let you watch something like this again.” Kenny said with a face formed like iron.
Clementine acted like he didn’t say anything.
“Arvo, hold her and bring him back to Bonnie and Luke.” Kenny said and motioned back where they came from. He realised he had never addressed him by his name before and felt odd about it.
Arvo tried to gently take Clementine away and as Clementine was resisting a bit, Arvo said something to her and half forced her to go to another direction with him.
Jane was slowly moving towards Kenny, staggering and fighting the snow under her feet. Behind her, Mike raised up, still stuck in the snow, trying to reach Kenny from afar, waving his arms.
Kenny looked at his gun and then at Jane. He felt like he should say something. How he would be sorry how he treated her sometimes or how he should have listened Mike more often. Some words with deep meaning the priests do at the funerals for the complete strangers. The words that would try to give everyone solace. but in reality they would be shrouded by hollowness and indifference.
Kenny pointed the pistol slowly at the charging Jane. The edge of his jacket and his hair flailing wildly at the wind.
Kenny tried to find the words for what he felt about them, but as she looked at Jane’s soulless eyes glaring back at him, there were none to give.
Arvo and Clementine had reached Bonnie and Luke. Arvo had told them what they had seen as best as he could.
They heard two muffled gunshots from the distance and soon after Kenny came through the cold mist with a stoic face.
“Kenny, what…” Luke tried to ask.
“We lost them. I don’t want to talk about it”. Kenny said immediately as he looked at clementine who was shivering, the trails of tears still showing on her cheeks.
“It would be better for all.” Kenny added.
“Jane’s gone?” Luke said and was starting to fall into melancholy.
“Luke focus! I know how you felt about her but now is not the time!” Kenny exclaimed through the intensifying wind.
Luke nodded slightly and bowed his head, while Bonnie was holding her hand, shivering.
“Was she bitten?” Kenny asked and gestured at Bonnie.
“No, it’s just…” Luke mumbled.
“What?” Kenny demanded.
Luke gently held Bonnie’s hand which was covered in her coat. Bonnie whimpered and reluctantly showed her hand. Kenny came slowly closer to see.
Bonnies hand’s fingers were red and blistered, s light white shade have started forming at the tips. Kenny glanced briefly to Luke in concern as Luke responded the same way.
“She was holding the plastic and…we fell asleep and…” Luke murmured.
“We’ll… look at it later, but now we need to warm up.” Kenny tried to put it aside.
Kenny looked at the hay and the countless sticks the wind has blown from the nearby trees.
“We need to make a fire or there’s worse to come.” Kenny said, trying to think.
He looked around.
“Clementine and…Arvo. fetch some hay from this pile over here. Make a spot for the fireplace. Make sure it’s behind this stack of hay, so we get some cover from the wind.” Kenny ordered.
“Kenny looked at Luke and pointed at him. You take a lookout, so the walkers don’t surprise them, got it? I think Bonnie can manage for a while.” Kenny gave orders and glanced briefly at Bonnie.
“I’ll go fetch some sticks and rocks for us.” Kenny stated.
“Rocks?” Luke raised his eyebrows.
“Yes, keep a lookout while I’m gone…and do it better than the last time.” Kenny said and walked away.
“Asshole.” Luke said under his breath and started to look around them.
Kenny fetched a lot of fallen sticks and managed to even find one bigger branch too. Then he picked five medium sized rocks. Only a handful of walkers were seen, they all were stuck and were likely to not move for a while.
He walked back to where the others were already waiting for him. They all stayed close to Kenny as he placed the hay beneath the sticks. Kenny took Luke’s machete and carved the bigger branch, so the bark came loose a bit, but was still attached to the branch.
“The loose bark from the branch sets on fire more easily.” Kenny lectured them.
“A-huh” Luke said while holding Bonnie next to him, them both shivering.
Kenny didn’t know if he was mocking him or not, but he tried to start the fire with the lighter. After a couple of tries the fire slowly started to get bigger. The smoke was raising up and the moment it went higher than the hay pile, the howling wind snatched it away.
“We are lucky that its dry.” Kenny murmured.
“Lucky?” Luke sneered and looked at the others.
“Yes. It’s so cold that the wood is dry. So funnily enough, if it would be less cold in here, the wood would be wet and starting the fire wouldn’t be as simple.” Kenny lectured Luke.
“Right…” Luke replied.
There was a slight pause
“And the rocks?” Luke asked.
“Oh, right. I forgot” Kenny gasped. He took the rocks and started to place them one by one into the fire.
“As you can see, Luke. We let these rocks warm up and when they do, we can put them inside our jackets to make us warmer.” Kenny said, clearly proud for his knowledge.
“Where did you learn all of this” Clementine suddenly asked softly.
“My father, he took us fishing, but we also trekked a lot.” Kenny grinned as he remembered the memories so distant now.
“You are from Florida” Luke said.
“What about it?” Kenny asked as he placed the final rock into the fire.
“How do you know about this weird rock knowledge?” Luke asked.
Kenny glanced at Luke.
“It’s warm in Florida” Luke added.
“We didn’t just travel in Florida, numbnuts. What? Just because I’m from Florida I’m bound to only travel there?” Kenny rambled.
“Gee sorry for asking.” Luke rolled his eyes.
“Even the rus…Arvo probably knows this right. There’s cold in Russia?” Kenny tried to start a conversation.
“Not very cold in my area” Arvo replied quietly.
“Of course. I meet a Russian and it just happens that it’s the kind that don’t know cold” Kenny frowned.
Luke and Clementine chuckled
“Where are you from?” Luke asked from Arvo.
“Krasnodar, not very cold.” Arvo replied
“Luke. Why do you ask? Am I expected to believe that you would actually know any city from there?” Kenny said mockingly.
“Why such a sour attitude? Its polite.” Luke said smiling.
“Hmph” Kenny managed.
“Don’t worry, he is just mad that we didn’t continue his macho stories from his childhood” Luke teased and winked at Arvo and Clementine.
Clementine smiled and Arvo gave a slight grin.
“Whatever!” Kenny said playfully with a smile and took a glance at Bonnie and his face went grim again.
Everyone noticed and looked at Bonnie.
“How are you holding up?” Luke asked gently from Bonnie.
“I’m alright, I’m alright.” Bonnie insisted while holding one hand over the fire.
Kenny glimpsed at her one hand and then at her jacket, where the blistered hand was hiding. He felt sadness and the same feeling of uselessness hit him which he felt before they took cover in the hay piles.
“We’ll manage y’all. We get to that place, and we’ll find a proper shelter, you’ll have my word.” Kenny said determinately.
The brief joy was gone from everyone.
Kenny looked around him at everyone. They looked so rugged and tired. Only the fire was there to hold the remnants of their spirits up. He felt sadness, but at the same time a weird sense of peace.
“I’m sorry Luke, I know she meant a lot to you.” Kenny said suddenly quietly.
“Yeah…” Luke looked to the ground.
Kenny turned to Clem and rubbed her shoulder gently with his hand. He nodded and Clementine nodded back.
“She meant a lot to both of you. And after what happened to Rebecca and…” Kenny stopped.
“No matter” Kenny said and shook his head.
“Even Mike. I wish I wasn’t so harsh to him. I didn’t know him much, but still.” Kenny continued.
“He had his quirks, but he had his heart in the right place.” Luke said.
“Now that’s cliché if I ever heard it!” Kenny smiled, but the smile dropped as fast at it came.
“It’s still true.” Luke said seriously.
Kenny nodded reluctantly.
“I have been in a bad place for so long. Jane asked from me if I was too far gone. I felt like I was on autopilot before those words.” Kenny thought, like talking to himself rather than to the others.
“You are not too far gone.” Clementine smiled slightly.
Kenny nodded back and smiled a little, hoping she was right.
“What happened in the pharmacy you two talked about” Luke was curious.
Kenny thought for a while.
“It doesn’t matter and its better to venture into that topic further” Kenny said sternly.
Luke rubbed his neck awkwardly.
Kenny looked at Arvo who was looking at him with the others.
“I’m sorry.” Kenny said quietly, having hard time to say the words.
“I’m sorry for your sister.’ Kenny continued.
Arvo nodded slightly in surprise and bowed his head.
Kenny noticed a tear dropping from his eye.
“Fuck, why am I so emotional right now, it feels like I have drank a bottle.” He said and wiped his eye.
Everyone had a faint smile. They didn’t know what to say, but they felt some relief. The fireplace and the warmth gave them some positivity as they were munching the last of the cattails.
“I sorry too” Arvo said quietly to Kenny.
“I’m glad I have you all. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.” Kenny’s words cracked a bit.
“Now you are certainly sounding like you had too much to drink” Luke chuckled.
“I wish” Kenny sighed and grinned.
Kenny glimpsed at Bonnie who have been awfully silent the whole time and then looked back at the fire again. He stretched his arms towards the fire to get some warmth.
After they had sat on the fire and eaten the last of the cattails. Kenny looked at the map with Luke beside the huge hay pile some distance away from the others.
“If this is the same field we are right now, we could maybe reach the houses just in time.” Luke said and drew his finger from their location to the three houses located on the map.
Kenny looked up from the map. The blizzard has been intensified a lot.
Luke saw the expression on Kenny’s face and grimaced.
“This blizzard isn’t getting any better. We won’t stand a night in these…hay piles.” Luke said reluctantly.
“We might not stand the walking in that blizzard either. There isn’t much of a choice though now is there?” Kenny asked him, not expecting an answer.
There was a slight pause as they both thought for a moment. Luke was looking at Bonnie who was talking with Clem and Arvo some distance away. Kenny saw him staring and then looked at the them as well.
“Her fingers, they are gone. You know that right?” Kenny lowered her voice.
“We don’t know that.” Luke said back quietly and rubbed his neck.
“You know that, and I know that. Everyone who would see her fingers would know that.” Kenny said.
“We can’t really do anything about it now.” Luke said quietly.
“We can.” Kenny replied back.
Luke gave him a look, but there was a hint of pleading in it, rather than defiance.
“Do you want her to lose her fingers or the whole hand? Hell, her life before you allow us to do something about it?” Kenny insisted.
“She isn’t going to die” Luke said protested.
“Well, she isn’t now. Look, I’m not trying to be an asshole here. Those fingers need to go.” Kenny tried to sound gentle, albeit it was anything but that.
“It’s her decision, not ours.” Luke protested quietly while looking at Bonnie, who was still hiding her hand beneath the jacket.
“You need to talk to her. We haven’t used any of our bandages, we have plenty.” Kenny reasoned and kept his eyes on Luke,
“Why can’t this wait till we get there? She might be too weak to…” Luke tried to bargain.
“Look at her. She isn’t going to get better. The hand might get worse before we get there.” Kenny sighed.
Luke seemed like he was about to say something. He still looked at Bonnie and frowned. He slowly walked to others nearby. Kenny looked as Luke kneeled next to Bonnie and talked to her. He didn’t hear what they said, but Bonnie started crying.
“No, no no!” Kenny heard through the howling wind as Bonnie cried.
Kenny looked back at the map and sighed. After a while, Luke came back from the fire to Kenny and nodded reluctantly.
“Get the bandages ready.” Kenny said quietly.
“I’m sorry” Kenny added awkwardly.
Luke’s face dropped and he shrugged slowly.
They prepared the supplies, so that they were ready to go.
Luke breathed heavily as he held the machete, gripping it tightly.
“Kids, it’s better that you look at the other way and cover your ears.” Kenny said over his shoulder and then nodded at Luke who was next to him.
Bonnie presented her hand slowly from inside the jacket. Looking terrified with a glimpse of embarrassment. The fingers were already getting a black shade. She placed her hand on the stone which was flat enough.
Kenny offered a stick she could bite. Bonnie nodded weakly and then Kenny placed it on her mouth. Bonnie closed her eyes and waited. She shook both from cold and fear.
Kenny nodded to Luke again. Luke breath heavily and felt the machete in his fingers.
“I can do it if you…” Kenny said quietly.
“No.” Luke said and took a final breath.
She sliced Bonnies fingers with one cut, leaving Bonnie with only a thumb. Bonnie screamed and the stick in her mouth broke.
They quickly wrapped the fingers multiple times with bandages. Bonnie felt lightheaded and feeling like going unconscious.
“Hold your hand inside the jacket.” Luke talked, more clearly now so Bonnie understood.
Bonnie placed the hand inside the jacket, under the insulation they had placed there.
“She can barely walk” Luke said anxiously.
Kenny looked at the fire which was barely going anymore.
“We wait a few minutes, then we really have to go. The night is coming, we need to reach the houses before that.” Kenny met Lukes anxious look.
“Maybe…Maybe there is a farmhouse here? This is a field right?.” Luke tried to think.
“There is no house nearby, you saw the map” Kenny shook his head.
“Fuck!” Luke held his hands a second on his head and then put them back inside his pockets.
Luke took some insulation from under his jacket and placed them inside Bonnies jacket, where the hand resided.
“We have already given all we can to the kids. You’ll freeze.” Kenny was concerned.
“I can deal with it.” Luke said bluntly.
“I hope you are right” Kenny sighed.
After Bonnie had come out of most of her shock. The group started to travel to the direction of the houses. The visibility was almost zero and the cold wind was deafening. The only positive thing they had was that they only needed to follow the road and they would hopefully find their destination.
The snow was piling up on the road fast and the wind was blowing hard towards them from the side. Every step was behind an effort, and it only seemed to get worse. Luke helped Bonnie to walk. Kenny carried all the bags, which had all the little they had. Clementine and Arvo were walking in the front. They have walked only for about an hour, and the cold was already getting unbearable.
Kenny glanced at Luke and noticed how he had trouble moving and was barely able to stand while at the same time helping Bonnie.
It didn’t take long till both Bonnie and Luke collapsed on the snow on their bellies. Kenny rushed at them as fast as he could.
“It’s…Its okay, I got…got this” Luke yelled, the words barely coming out due to shivering.
“I can help her for a while!” Kenny yelled and dropped the bags.
“Clem!” Kenny yelled through the howling of the wind and snow.
Clementine and Arvo both got his attention and walked through the snow at him while holding their hands inside their jacket.
“You two need to carry these for a while” Kenny nodded at the bags.
“No, I…I can… can take them” Luke shivered.
“No, you focus on your walking” Kenny demanded and helped Bonnie up.
“Let’s go!” He ordered.
They walked for a while. Kenny sensed that they were bound to be close. If they had read the map wrong however, they would be done. He forced the thought out of his mind and focused on their destination.
He noticed how Luke was staggering beside him like he was sleep walking.
“It’s so co…cold…I can..I can barely feel my arms.” Luke repeated and repeated.
“It’s not far. just a little further!” Kenny yelled out of breath.
He checked if Bonnie was doing alright under his arm. Bonnie nodded back at him.
They continued. Every step feeling like they were lifting their boots out of cement.
Luke collapsed and Kenny gently let go of Bonnie. He noticed Luke was going frantic. It looked like there were invisible bugs and Luke would try to get them off. Then Luke started to take off his clothes.
“Luke what the fuck are you doing!?” Kenny yelled in disbelieved and ran at him.
“I’m BURNING” Luke yelled in panic, trying to take off his clothes.
“Luke calm down. Look at me!” Kenny pulled him from his collar.
Kenny tried to stop Luke taking off his clothes, but it was no use.
“Luke stop!” Kenny shook him by the collar violently.
“I need to get these off. It’s burning.”
“Luke!” Kenny yelled and shook him more, but Luke didn’t listen.
Clementine and Arvo were looking at them all scared as they were next to Bonnie with the supplies.
“Luke snap out of it. You are freezing, you are not burning!” Kenny tried to reason with him.
Kenny slapped Luke to the face, and Luke stopped for a while. Kenny thought that Luke came to his senses, but then Luke tried to get off and run. Trying to take off his jacket in the process.
Kenny hit him again before he managed to escape and Luke went unconscious.
“Great. There is no fucking way we are able to carry two adults the rest of the way.” Kenny grinded his teeth, feeling the anger emerging.
Kenny looked over the shoulder at Bonnie who was barely able to stand.”
“We are utterly fucked.” Kenny stated under his breath.
Kenny looked up to the sky, where the snowflakes were bombarding his face now. It felt like the storm was laughing at him between the howling.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Kenny yelled at the void.
Kenny stood up and stared at the sky
“What the fuck do want?! Have I suffered enough!? If you are there, go fuck yourself!” Kenny yelled as hard as he could.
He fell to the ground briefly due to his rage and his shoe came off. He stood up in an instant in uncontrollable rage and took the shoe from the ground and threw it as hard as he could. He collapsed on his knees and screamed.
“Kenny!” Clementine yelled through the blizzard.
“We are done.” Kenny said to himself, looking at the ground.
He thought of the times he had to endure from all the way back from when this shit happened. How they managed to somehow make it work with Lee. How after all odds he managed to survive from the street. The way Sarita took care of him and how he got new purpose from AJ….and Clem. The warmth that he got from the fireplace today. Not only did he managed to stay warm, but the words of others and the way he finally get to open up had finally given him some peace.
Kenny raised his head again to the sky and stood up, one shoe short.
“You know what? I’m not giving up, just to piss you off!” He stared at the sky, his face red.
“Amen!” Kenny yelled and showed the middle finger to the sky.
“Kenny!” Clementine yelled again.
“WHAT?!” Kenny yelled back, coming off more aggressive than he wanted.
“Look!” Clementine yelled and pointed forward. Kenny followed the direction of her finger.
There was a dim light barely visible and then it went dark again.
“Holy shit!” Kenny exclaimed.
Kenny glanced at Luke and then to the ground.
“We are going to make it.” Kenny set it in stone.
“Help Bonnie with Arvo, I’m gonna help Luke! We are leaving the supplies!” Kenny yelled.
“Where the hell is my shoe?!” Kenny talked to himself and scanned the perimeter.
He hopped through the thick snow and found a hole in the direction where he threw it. He put it back on. His sock was in snow and there was snow in the shoe too. He didn’t feel it anymore though.
Kenny ran back at Luke and raised him on his shoulders.
They walked slowly towards where they saw the light. Arvo and Clementine helped Bonnie who barely walked herself. However, Kenny had to carry the unconscious Luke.
The silhouette of the house was starting to form in front of them. Luke was too heavy for the weakened Kenny and they both collapsed to the ground.
Kenny stood up due to pure rage and grabbed Luke’s hands with both of his hands and started to pull him towards the house.
“You are not gonna be the next soul that dies on my watch. Mark my fucking words, Luke” He yelled at the unconscious Luke as he pulled him towards the house vigorously.
They managed get to the house and at the front door. Kenny let go of Luke and held his own knees gasping for air. Luke was mumbling something incomprehensive on the ground.
“Knock…..knock on the door” Kenny tried to yell out of breath.
Clementine knocked and they waited. No answer
Just when she was about to knock again, they saw the curtain of the door’s window move.
“Go away!” Man’s voice was heard from the inside.
“We…We need help” Kenny yelled.
“I’m sorry, you need to go!” The man yelled back and closed the curtain again.
“We are freezing!” Clementine joined in.
The man opened the curtain again and tried to look down from the window at Clementine. He waited for a bit and then disappeared.
“If that door is not going to open, I’m gonna…” Kenny started.
There was a sound of lock. The door opened and a man appeared in the doorway with a shotgun pointed at them.
“You have children.” He stated.
The man examined Luke on the ground, Kenny and the others.
“Yes. We need shelter and food…we have…” Kenny started to explain.
The man stopped Kenny.
“One of you is bitten!” he exclaimed and glared at Bonnie.
“No, she lost her fingers because of….” Clemetine panicked.
“Her hand froze badly we had to…” Kenny joined and tried to explain.
“You can’t come in here!” The man yelled, flailing the shotgun around.
“Please. She is not bitten. We die out here!” Clementine cried.
“I don’t trust you all. You get me killed! What if you lie? “What if she turns and…” The man yelled and was retreating inside again.
The man looked back a second to catch the door knob and then a shot rang. The man fell backwards on the ground with a bleeding wound on his chest. The shotgun fell on the ground beyond his reach. The man held his chest with his hands, trying to speak.
Kenny marched next to the man and pulled him by the legs and started to drag him outside.
“You motherfucker! We have children in here!” He yelled at his face as he pulled him violently through the stairs outside, the man’s head hitting every single step one at a time.
“Selfish prick!” Kenny yelled as he pulled violently one more time to get him out in the open.
Kenny aimed his gun again and pointed it at the head of the laying man.
“My friends are not happy if you shoot me” The man gargled.
Kenny looked at the direction of the small house, which appeared to only have a couple of rooms. Calling it a house was a stretch. It was more like small cabin.
“Where are they now?” Kenny questioned.
The man chuckled.
“That’s what I thought.” Kenny said and took a better aim.
“You are going to kill me in front of them?” The man said mockingly and nodded towards Arvo and Clementine.
Kenny looked over his shoulder at them.
“Take the shotgun and go inside! Give me a minute!” Kenny yelled at them.
Arvo grabbed the shotgun from the ground and slowly walked inside the house. Clementine followed suit while helping Bonnie.
The man sneered mockingly at Kenny and coughed blood.
“Go to hell!” The man managed to say.
“After this cold, I would welcome it” Kenny said and shot him in the head.
He put the pistol away and turned to Luke who was on the edge of consciousness. He helped him up and escorted him inside the cabin.
Clementine woke up in the warm cabin and to the sound of cracking fire. She saw how Luke and Bonnie were sitting next to the fire, the huge thick blanket covering them both. She startled as the front door opened, and Kenny and Arvo emerged inside. The brief cold chill followed them but was soon gone as the door closed behind them.
“The other houses are empty. “Kenny stated as he was removing his new gloves from his hands.
“That fucker outside had hoarded all the food from them to here” Kenny continued as he was walking towards the fireplace, Arvo following suit.
Bonnie glanced at Kenny and frowned. Kenny sat next to them.
“Don’t give me that look. We wouldn’t have lasted a second longer in that storm. It was us or him. I chose us.” Kenny said determinately and looked at the fire.
Arvo pushed Kenny gently.
“Oh right. There is also a snowmobile at the back, and it works.” Kenny said enthusiastically.
“How you know it works or how to drive it? Clementine asked from the back.
“What do you take me for? I doubt it’s rocket science. I’ll figure it out and it did turn on, so I assume it works.” Kenny explained over his shoulder.
“How’s the hand?” Kenny nodded at Bonnie.
“Its hurting, but it could be worse” Bonnie forced a smile.
“We changed the bandages before you left” Clementine added.
“Good…Good” Kenny glanced at the house around him.
“I feel like we’ll do nicely in here for the time being” Kenny said.
“We could stay here longer; we have a lot of supplies and the means to maybe fetch more” Luke said enthusiastically.
“That reminds me, we’ll need to pick up the bags we left behind” Kenny rubbed his chin.
“Who were you yelling at Kenny. I thought you were a Christian” Luke grinned.
“You heard that? I thought you were out cold.” Kenny grinned back.
Kenny paused.
“We have a complicated relationship.” Kenny shrugged and glanced up.
“I can’t believe we made it.” Luke said with a weary voice.
“At the end I had some doubts to say the least, but we fought on for ourselves and for the memory of those we had to leave behind.” Kenny concluded determinably, filled with purpose. The fireplace showering his face with the light of gold.