Telltale's The Walking Dead Ep. 2: After [Inactive]

The siblings were pushed to the ground by the force of the explosion, not having been close enough to be thrown. Blood and gore splattered the two, the parts flying outward from the impact.


Aylaela stood shakily, ears ringing silently as the world went without sound. It was all she could do to put her iron through a zombie's skull, turning to find the street littered with tons of bodies. All she could hear was her own breathing, before the girl leaned over and emptied what little was left in her stomach onto the blood slickened pavement.


Wiping her mouth, Aylaela looked to Braeden, her brother on the ground, regaining his senses. Slowly sound came back to the girl and she looked around. Corpses were strewn everyone and Aylaela fell to her knees, tears running down her hot cheeks.


It was over. Thank God it was over.
 
Evan chuckled. Resting his head in hands he examined the asphalt at his feet. How many cars had gone over it? How many people in those cars would've ever though that an Arkansas kid would be sitting here, so far from home. "You saw just one gettin' eaten alive? I watched once, from a barn. There was this guy near Haskell, gave me shelter for the night. He was a greasy guy, fat, slow, bearded. I never closed an eye. He touched me, scared me. So I hit him and he fell, then didn't move anymore. I climbed into the attic and watched. They ate his liver first. The next morning, I killed him again."


He raised himself and stood next to Daisy. "I just don't feel anything anymore, when I kill them. I am afraid, not of being alone, but of not feeling anything if I have to kill a living person." He lowered his head in shame. He would have to tell Jon too one day, just like he'd besieged heaven with repentance.
 
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Evan chuckled, and Daisy looked at him as he said that. "My dad. Our neighbor helped us, and when the walkers flooded our house, my dad tried to protect me and got attacked. My neighbor left without even looking at him. I stood there paralyzed as they chomped down on his leg, his screams pierced my ears. He told me to run, and I did." She looked away from Evan, focusing on the bushes. A shiver ran down her spine as she sighed. She looked back at him.


"You'll feel something. Nobody thinks anything of killing walkers. If you had to kill a living person, you would feel something." Daisy attempted to reassure him, as she spoke what she was sure of. "If you weren't able to feel anything, you would have left me behind. You wouldn't have come looking for me. You wouldn't have come with me to the office building. You wouldn't have helped me."
 
"...You wouldn't have helped me."


Finding much truth in her words, Evan smiled -ever so faintly- at Daisy. "Thank you," he mumbled. He rested his hand on her shoulder for a moment, "I am sorry about your dad." His hand slumped to his side again and together, they gazed ahead.


Another silence fell between them. He didn't mind. There was something soothing about just standing still, next to her. At last he tore his gaze from the horizon and began to head back into town. "Come," he motioned for her to follow.


He wrinkled his nose at the stench of the dead. Charred rotten flesh smelt infinitely worse than plain rotten flesh. Smoke burned his eyes and left a bitter taste in his mouth. His heart fluttered a little at seeing Aylaela alive, but he didn't greet her.


The air was cooler inside the pharmacy, dryer too, like a refrigerator. He could see why, the cooling in the back of the shop had been ripped open by shrapnel. His shoes sunk into the soft flesh of the saved undead, bones cracked, ribcages crumbled and he nearly slipped over some stray intestines.


Lia. He froze on the spot. She was dead, her eyes werk dark and sullen, her skin vale like parchment, her gaze was one that captured her insanity during live. He knelt at her side and checked if she'd been shot in the head. She was. "You should've killed yourself," he muttered. "May God have mercy on your soul." He closed her eyelids and picked her up. She reeked, but he didn't care. Gently, he carried her outside, away from the other walkers. He walked uphill again, towards the forest. When he was confident that no one would hear him, he broke out into tears.


His entire frame trembled as he carried her further upward, towards the settling sun. "I am sorry Lia, I am sorry for everything. I wish I could've told you once more, I wish you- I- I am sorry..."


He reached the edge of the town and crossed the border. Maybe someone had followed him, maybe not, he didn't care. He only cared that she'd get a proper burial, a good ending to her insane story. "Do y-you like flowers?" She remained silent as he put her down on the maroon soil. He plucked one for her anyway and folded her hands over it so she held it against her belly. "Happy birthday Lia," he choked out, before he dropped to his knees and prayed for her.
 
Kenny was hiding under a bed while the fighting broke out. He may have acted tough but he was really a kid who was afraid. He covered his ears to block out all the noise and started to rock back and forth.
 
"Yeah, I think we did a good job." Matthew smiled, and almost got to turn to the soldier, but then realized he had fainted. "I wish I could join you friend." He said to the unconscious body lying on the ground. Matthew waved down Braeden and Aylaela, then looked down on the man on the ground. "You're a real son of a bitch aren't you?"
 
Daisy nodded and mumbled a 'thanks,' as he placed a warm hand on her shoulder before it slapped back again against his side. He gestured for her to follow him, and together went back into the village. Daisy kept her head down, staring at the deceased. Her insides churned as the stench once again filled her senses, and filled her eyesight.


Daisy followed Evan inside, and watched him pick up Lia's dead body. She said a small prayer for her and then watched Evan leave. As she saw him go up the hill, she followed him silently. After a few heart-breaking minutes of Evan sobbing and celebrating her birthday in solitude, Daisy left. She couldn't stand it. She had gotten used to death, but not grieving. She re-entered the town, and the Pharmacy. The air was cooler, but Daisy didn't mind. She stumbled over to the spot where she had awoken today, and sat down sitting against the shelf. She closed her eyes, and leaned her head back against it.


"Tomorrow..Tomorrow is the day," she whispered quietly, willing tears not to form. Tomorrow was her father's anniversary of death, which only made sense to her, but she would mourn nonetheless. Taking a sharp inhale of breath, she scramble up and staggered outside after grabbing a bottle of pills and shoving them in her backpack.
 
Sam turned the corner. He flinched and fell backwards as he saw the eruption of Nathan's grenade. Concrete shards launched in every direction and cloud of rotted flesh, limbs, and bones rose into the sky, hiding the sun for a second and then it rained a rancid red mist. Sam got up observed the smoke, rising from the crater in the street in the likeness of an active volcano. He approached the pharmacy expecting the worst.


Sam saw that the others were okay and he was relieved.


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The sun sunk further into the horizon, casting its last few rays of golden light over the dead. "I hope you like the view," Evan whispered to her as he got up again. She remained silent once more. Drying his eyes, he pondered if he could just leave her there. It probably was for the best. He couldn't burn or bury her, now her stench would maybe protect someone someday. He couldn't get his lower lip to stay still, and ocassionaly -he blamed the smoke- a tear would be drawn from his eye. Sniffing and coughing like a sick dog, he slumped down again.


He hadn't liked Lia, but now that she was truly dead, he felt only guilt. Guilt for having wronged her, guilt for not truly ever having known her. The more he thought about it the more confident he became that he should make peace with Kenny before he too would turn and die. Before it was too late. He found the distressed boy in the corner of the bedroom.


"Hey," Evan said. "Are you okay? It's over now. They're gone, you don't need to be afraid anymore." He almost felt like he was talking to himself as he sat down opposite to Kenny and tried to look him in the eyes.
 
Kenny looked down. "Leaves alone." He said. " I know you wanna kill me." Kenny said, his voice muffled by his jeans. He started to cry. He wished he was dead. He didn't want to live anymore. Kenny remembered the tooth and pulled it out of his pocket, tossing it at Evan. "It was a dog." He said.
 
The sound of the explosion caused him to stumble on his third roof jump, bad enough to trip him into the collapsed roof of the third building. Jon flipped and fell onto his back. It hurt, but there was no crunch. As he was brought back to his senses, he noticed movement on the far wall.


He scrambled for the pistol, bringing the barrel to face the walker before dropping the pistol to his side. The walker was impaled on a thick rail of metal, waving it's arms at Jon. It wore a high school jersey, similar to the jacket he was wearing. Jon stood up, walking just out of the walker's reach. The creature reminded him of those who died in the old world, everyday people who were just plain unlucky.


Jon offered his pity, in the form of ripping a leg from a nearly broken table and bashing the walker's skull in. It left a bloody mess on the floor. With a wipe of his brow he dropped the table leg and kicked open the door on the far wall. He dropped into a sprint as he ran back to the nearby pharmacy and examined the scene.


Other than the blood and gore, everyone seemed to be alive. He signaled to Matthew for a moment, starting to say something, "Check everyone for bites or," he paused, "forget it. I'm glad you're all alive." Jon took that as his personal message to enter the building and climb the stairs. He found Evan and another kid speaking.


"It was a dog."





Jon blew out a long held in breath. Thank God for that. Though he wanted to see how Evan would handle the situation. He balanced an elbow on the railing and watched.
 
"It was a dog," he said.


He averted his gaze and traced a crack in the wall with his eyes. Denial wasn't an option, though he was very puzzled as to how Kenny knew all this. It was uncanny how easily the boy read him, was he really that much of an open book? "I don't have my gun on me, nor do I want to kill you." He caught the tooth and examined it before he decided he knew too little about teeth to be any more or less convinced by Kenny. "If I'd been bit, and you knew I was going to turn, what would you've done? Nothing?" He shook his head, "I was wrong Kenny, I admit that, but you can't blame me for being cautious."
 
Daisy walked alone towards a field. The plants cascaded up to her knees, and glowed yellow in the sunset as they tickled her legs. She fell onto her knees in the flowers, picking up white daisies. She braided and tied them together, until she had what resembled a crown of them. Placing it gently on her head, she watched tentatively as the sun set. She wished the world hadn't crumbled like this. Quietly, she sang You'll Be Okay to herself, and watched the sky mix purple and orange. She had always loved sunsets. They reminded her that life ends, and hers could end while she's sleeping, but life is beautiful too, and this is one of many examples. She reminisced, remembering when she was little, and used to watch the sunsets, and fall asleep in her backyard, so that if she died overnight, the sunset would be the last thing she would see.
 
Braeden stood from the ground, finally having regained his hearing from the explosion. He saw his younger sister, crumpled on her knees like a paper folded one too many times. Taking an elbow, he gently lifted her to her feet. "It's okay, it's over," he whispered to her, briefly hugging her before letting Aylaela to her own thoughts.


Braeden nodded at Matthew's words, coming to help him with a man wearing a gas mask. He could hardly tell the fainted man from the other bodies, everything covered in a layer of blood.


"Where should we put him?" The man asked Matthew, looking at the Pharmacy that had been damaged by the grenade.
 
"If you were bit and I knew you were gonna turn, I would run." He got IP and grabbed his bag, throwing it over his shoulder."I guess I will be leaving." He said. He walked past Jon and down the stairs to the front door of the pharmacy. He was about to walk out when he saw the B.C. pills. He hesitated and ran to pick it up. He shook it as he walked out.
 
Evan kept his eyes fixed on where Kenny had sat before he turned around and got up again. Flinching, he spotted Jon in the doorway, observing him. "It was a dog," he repeated. "I don't know what to think of him Jon. I don't-" Sighing, he sat down on the edge of a bed and stared dead ahead. "I feel empty Jon. I don't know what to do or say or think anymore." Surrendering completely to his exhaustion he kicked off his shoes, laid down on the bed and counted the tiles in the ceiling. With the walkers gone and Jon nearby he felt safer than ever before. "Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?" he asked softly.
 
Sam was exhausted. One moment they were planning to settle here, building walls and scouting streets and the next they were blowing up zombies with fist-sized timed explosives.


He opened the door, it's bell jingled perfectly, and entered the pharmacy wondering where the rest of the group was.


Lia was gone, dead. He shook his head and squeezed the bridge of his nose with two fingers. She passed away and not an hour earlier she had been skipping down the street, a pep in her step.


Sam returned to the street and found Aylaela. She was recovering from the explosion. Sam walked up to her and then embraced her. After the outbreak, he had lost love. Not just the warmth of romantic affection but the kind of love two friends share as they split a sandwich. With Aylaela safe and sound and everybody more or less hanging on, he felt better.


You're alright Sam felt a small knot of happiness as he held her. He suddenly released Aylaela remembering he was in the presence of her brother, a nervous cough coming from Sam's lips.


He turned around and examined the damage.


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"Let's take him into the pharmacy for a little bit, then we'll probably have to move. As you know, the pharmacy sucks." Matthew helped Braeden pick up the soldier, and began carrying him to the pharmacy. "Oh wow, he's a heavy fucker." Matthew blurted out, and grunted at the weight of carrying the man with all that equipment on him. Finally, they managed to open the door and bring the large man inside. "Hughhh!" Matthew released a breath of fresh air at letting the man down, and sitting him up in the chair.
 
That Kenny kid, Jon would definitely do something about him eventually.


It was late now though, the sun was nearly past the horizon and that left a lot of be desired, there was lots to do and little daylight to do it in. In a moment he would go downstairs and go and talk about finding more suitable shelter. Perhaps actually do what he had wanted to do in his fit of psychotic rage.


Evan though...


"You just gotta find a reason to keep on going... every member of the group is what does it for me." He turned his head, thinking of Lia. It was like Logan, he hardly knew them, but the deaths shook him, especially since he had saved her life earlier. "I'll stay with you Ev, I owe you that much."


Jon turned his head as he heard the door slam open, but turned his head back, shaking his head. He'd deal with it later.
 
Nathan wakes up with a jolt, panting. He looks around and everything seems ok. The walkers outside had been reduced to a small number and the people inside all seemed to be ok. Instinctively, Nathan touches his face and he notices his gas mask is not on. -Damn- He says to himself. He grabs the gas mask out of the back pack and pulls it over his face. He gets up off the counter and walks outside the pharmacy, as if nothing had happened. There where a few zombies here and there "That wont be hard to clean" up he thinks to himself as he yawns. "After this, I really need to sleep" He then walks over to the walkers with his katana and slices them down, one by one.
 
Braeden watched as the boy, when he had first arrived was holding Aylaela's hand, embraced his little sister before he turned his head back to the Pharmacy.


No, not little, she was a woman now, old enough to make her own choices. Though, Braeden admitted that if he didn't think the boy lived up to his father's standards. Well, he'd see if that came.


Acknowledging Matthew, and grinning when the man cursed, they both brought the military man into the Pharmacy.


-----


Aylaela stiffened for a moment at Sam's embraced before melting at the touch. Too long had the girl shuddered away from people, from feeling.


He pulled away quickly and coughed, and the girl straightened, turning and smiled at Sam's turned back. Maybe it wasn't a safe world any longer, but for now it wasn't as terrible as it seemed.


Aylaela looked down at the bodies surrounding her, realizing that she was drenched in blood and gore. How Sam had come near her was beyond the girl, though she cleared her throat, attempting to gain his attention, "Do you think the tap's still working?"
 
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Kenny saw a car a few blocks away from the pharmacy. He jogged there making sure he had enough daylight to see. He saw a heard of walkers coming down another street. He climbed into the trunk and closed the door tying it shut. He pulled out his last piece of food, a granola bar, and ate it quickly. He listened as the heard shuffled past. He put his backpack down to act as a pillow and closed his eyes, as he softly cried himself to sleep.
 
The night sky flung over head, another day quickly over. Matthew looked around the room at everybody in the pharmacy. They had managed to survive another day. He shook his head while smiling, and looked outside, standing next to Braeden. "I think we did a good job today. We lost a member of our group though. She was unstable, but she was just a teenage girl. Had her whole life ahead of her. And...and I shot her twice through the head. She was attacking Cynthia, and then I just shot the poor girl twice through the head. The bad thing is, I feel no remorse. I think I saw Evan taking her away and burying her." With that, Matthew saw Cynthia coming downstairs out of the corner of his eye.


"Are you okay?" She asked quietly, looking at the two men before her. "I heard the explosion outside, and it made my ears start ringing."


"Yeah, I'm ok. The explosion you heard killed all the walkers outside." Matthew kneeled down to his daughter's level and out a hand on her shoulder. "What happened to that girl? Why did she come back?" Cynthia asked, and Matthew stood up once again. "I think she was bitten. But, why would they bring someone on who was bitten?"


Matthew watched as Aylaela walked through the doors. "Hey, why did you guys bring Lia in if she was bitten?"
 
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