Chapter 1: The Woods
The Georgia woods were dead quiet. No birds, no insects. Just the crunch of dry leaves under Lee’s boots and the low, gnawing ache in his empty stomach.
It had been three months since the power grid failed. Three months since they locked the gates of the Motor Inn.
"You think we'll actually find anything today, or are we just taking our axes for a walk?"
Lee glanced over his shoulder. Mark was trudging a few paces behind him, a hunting rifle slung over his shoulder and a frown on his face.
Mark was a recent addition to their nightmare. Two months ago, he had shown up at the Motor Inn gates in an old station wagon packed to the roof with military MREs and canned goods he’d scavenged from an abandoned Air Force supply depot. In the new world, food was currency, and Mark had bought his way into the group with three weeks' worth of meals.
He was a good guy—an ex-military mechanic with a level head—but even his massive stash of food had eventually run out. Now, he was starving just like the rest of them.
"We keep walking until we find something, Mark," Lee said, his voice low. He tightened his grip on his fire axe. "We can't go back empty-handed. Not again."
Mark sighed, wiping sweat from his forehead. "I know. Larry’s been looking at me like I'm a walking pork chop lately. That old man is one missed meal away from a heart attack, or murder. Probably both."
Before Lee could respond, a sound shattered the silence of the woods.
“HELP! SOMEBODY HELP US!”
It was a teenager's voice. High-pitched, terrified, and painfully loud.
Lee and Mark exchanged one panicked look before breaking into a dead sprint through the dense brush. They burst through a thicket of pine trees and slid to a halt in a small clearing.
Three high school kids in letterman jackets were trapped. Two of them—a tall, lanky kid named Ben and his friend Travis—were panicking, hovering over the third.
The third kid, David, was on the ground, shrieking in absolute agony. His right leg was caught in the steel jaws of a massive, rusted bear trap. Blood was soaking into the dirt.
"Hey! Keep your voices down!" Lee ordered, rushing forward with his hands raised to show he wasn't a threat.
"Oh my god, please help us!" Ben cried, his voice cracking. "Our teacher... he just left us! We were just walking and the trap just snapped!"
"Okay, calm down, son. I'm Lee, this is Mark. We're gonna get him out," Lee said, dropping to his knees next to David. He grabbed the heavy steel springs on either side of the trap and pulled with everything he had. The metal groaned, but it didn't budge. "It's rusted shut. Mark, give me a hand!"
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"We've been out here for days," Travis babbled loudly, pacing back and forth in a blind panic. "My dad is Special Forces, if you just get us to a phone—"
"Quiet!" Mark hissed, looking around the trees. "Your yelling is gonna draw them right to us."
But it was too late. The noise of the trap, the screaming, and the frantic conversation had acted like a dinner bell. Through the trees, the low, gurgling groans began.
The walkers were coming. A dozen of them stumbled from the deeper woods, their rotting bodies moving steadily toward the fresh meat.
"Oh, Jesus," Mark breathed, raising his rifle.
"They're coming! They're coming!" Travis shrieked. He completely lost his nerve. Instead of staying behind Mark, Travis stumbled backward into the brush, right into the path of an approaching walker.
The dead man grabbed Travis by the collar. Travis screamed, trying to pull away, but two more walkers swarmed him from the sides. They dragged him down into the tall grass. His screams turned into wet, sickening gurgles.
"Travis! No!" Ben screamed, paralyzed by horror.
"Don't look at him! Look at me!" Lee roared at Ben. He turned back to the trap. The walkers were closing the distance. Twenty feet. Ten feet.
BANG! Mark fired his rifle, dropping the closest walker. "Lee, we don't have time! We can't pry it!"
Lee looked at the rusted metal trap. He looked at his heavy fire axe. He looked at David's leg.
"I'm sorry," Lee whispered.
"Wait—what are you doing? NO!" David screamed.
Lee didn't hesitate. He raised the axe high above his head and brought it down with sickening force.
CHOP.
The blade struck the bone. David let out a sound that didn't even sound human. Blood sprayed across Lee’s arms.
CHOP. Lee swung again, desperation fueling him. The bone snapped completely.
CHOP. With a final tear of muscle and skin, David was free. He immediately passed out from the shock.
"Grab him!" Lee yelled.
Ben snapped out of his trance. Together, Lee and Ben hauled David's bleeding, unconscious body up by the shoulders. Mark fired one last shot, and the three of them bolted through the trees, leaving David's severed leg behind in the dirt.
The Aftermath
"OPEN THE GATES! LILLY! OPEN THE GATES!" Lee roared as they burst out of the tree line and hit the asphalt road leading to the Motor Inn.
At the barricade, Lilly and Kenny heard the screaming. They scrambled to push the massive, heavy trash dumpsters apart just wide enough for the men to squeeze through.
Lee, Mark, and Ben dragged David inside.
"Shut it! Shut it!" Kenny yelled, putting his shoulder into the dumpster and shoving it back into place, locking the courtyard down just as the moans of the dead echoed from the woods.
"Put him here!" Lee grunted, hauling David toward Kenny's truck. They hoisted the unconscious, bleeding boy onto the lowered tailgate.
"Katjaa! We need you out here!" Kenny hollered toward the motel rooms.
The doors flew open. Katjaa rushed out with a medical kit, taking one look at David's bloody stump and immediately going to work, shouting for Clementine and Carley to bring her boiling water and clean towels.
Lilly stood near the truck, her clipboard trembling in her hand. Her eyes darted from Lee, covered in blood, to the unconscious boy on the tailgate, and finally to Ben, who was shaking uncontrollably against the brick wall.
"Are you out of your goddamn mind?" Lilly hissed, rounding on Lee.
"They were trapped, Lilly. The walkers swarmed us—"
"I don't care about the walkers!" Lilly interrupted, her voice shrill with stress. She pointed at Ben and David. "Look at us, Lee! We are starving! We barely have enough food to keep ourselves standing, and you bring back two more mouths?"
"He's bleeding out, Lilly! Have a heart," Kenny snapped from the side of the truck, his hands covered in David's blood as he helped his wife hold the boy down.
"My heart isn't going to feed my dad, Kenny!" Lilly shot back, turning her anger on him. "This isn't a charity! It's math! We have zero food. And now we have a bleeding kid who is going to use up the last of our bandages and antibiotics!"
"We're not letting kids die in the woods," Lee said, his voice hard, stepping between Lilly and the truck. "That's final.
"
Lilly stared at him. The dark circles under her eyes showed just how much the pressure of leadership was crushing her. She didn't argue anymore. The fight completely drained out of her.
Instead, she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a small, crumpled plastic bag.
She shoved it hard into Lee’s chest.
"Fine," Lilly whispered, her voice trembling with anger and exhaustion. "You want to play the hero? You do the math today. You feed them."
Lilly turned on her heel and walked back toward her room, her posture rigid.
Lee looked down at the plastic bag in his hands. Inside were four small items: half an apple, a stale piece of jerky, a single cheese cracker, and a small sliver of a granola bar.
Four pieces of food.
Lee looked up at the courtyard.
Kenny, Katjaa, and Duck.
Clementine.
Larry and Lilly.
Carley.
Mark.
Ben.
Ten starving people. Four pieces of food.
The old world was gone. And right now, Lee Everett had to decide who was going to eat, and who was going to starve.
End of Chapter 1
Lee has four pieces of food (Half an apple, jerky, a cracker, and a piece of a granola bar). He has 10 conscious, starving people looking at him. Who gets to eat today?
