Author: Dear Readers.

Voting on key decisions is a huge part of the story, and right now, only a handful of readers are participating.

If the voting slows down, I might have to make the decisions by myself or start wrapping it up sooner than planned, which I really don't want to do. Your involvement helps shape the story and keeps it moving forward. and having more of you involved makes a big difference.

So please, if you're invested in the story, take a moment to vote and be part of the adventure!

Thanks so much for your support.

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"You sensed that you should be following a different path, a more ambitious one, you felt that you were destined for other things but you had no idea how to achieve them and in your misery, you began to hate everything around you." - Fyodor Dostoevsky

[Scene Break Location: Lee's Nightmare]

Lee woke up, and instantly realized he wasn't in Hershel's barn anymore. He was in a house and upon further inspection, realized it was his own house. He was also standing in the front of the house near the door rather than sleeping in a bed.

"Huh, that's weird," said Lee. It seemed like there was a reddish hue outside, so Lee assumed that meant the sun was setting. However, the light was kind of….intense. If anything, the red light symbolized more of an entrance to hell rather than the outside world.

I guess life has pretty much been hell for me these past few weeks.

"Lee! Are you there? Your dinner is on the table, son!" shouted a voice. Wait, that sounded like Lee's dad.

"Dad? No, it can't be. Is that you?" asked Lee. He was completely flabbergasted. What was his family doing here?

"Of course, it's me son. Can't your family visit you every once in a while? Now come on, your food's getting cold. Your mother and brother have been waiting to see you for a long time now."

"Mom, Bud…." Lee whispered. Was this some kind of sick joke? He quickly walked his way to the kitchen and saw his dad, mom, and brother all seated at the dinner table. They looked at him and smiled.

"Hey Lee, how you been man?" said Bud. "It's been a while since we chatted."

"Lee, sweetheart. Come on and eat with us, before your food gets cold," said Lee's mom.

"Oh shit! I forgot to get the salt." cursed his dad.

"Honey, don't swear at the dinner table. Lee, could you please get the salt, dear?" asked his mother in a gentle tone.

"Uh, sure thing Mom," said Lee, as he went to the kitchen cabinets. The kitchen itself seemed prepped for a family meal. There were helpings of food on the table including a roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, a huge number of vegetables, and much more. The scene reminded Lee of Thanksgiving dinner, a time when the whole family would get together to show their appreciation towards each other.

Does this mean that my family still loves me?

He didn't get to dwell on it for too long once he opened the cupboard, as spiders came crawling out en masse. Lee backed away in fear, as the spiders started crawling up his legs, before spreading out to the rest of his body.

"FUCK!" screamed Lee. He desperately tried shaking them off without much success, until the spiders suddenly disappeared. Lee breathed heavily as he tried to recollect himself.

"Lee….." groaned someone.

As Lee turned around, he noticed the food that was once plump and luscious now looked rotten and dirty. Flies were buzzing around the kitchen, so much so, that Lee wondered if the food had ever looked good. What dumbfounded him most of all was the sight of his family. Instead of looking like themselves, they looked like dead versions of themselves. Their skin was decaying and their eyes had no pupils. While their expressions had been warm and inviting, they glared at Lee with contempt now. The red light that seemed to originate from outside had also grown a lot brighter.

"What happened to you?" asked Lee in horror.

His dad, or what used to be his dad, just chuckled darkly. "What happened to us? What happened to you, Lee? You were supposed to bring honor to our family. Instead, you permanently shamed us forever. Is that what I taught you to do? Murder people, whenever you're angry?"

Lee's mom continued the verbal assault. "He's right, Lee. Do you know how much it broke my poor heart when I heard what you had done? If I knew what you were capable of, I would have just disowned you when I had the chance. No son of mine would ever do something like this."

Lee could only watch helplessly, as his brother joined the conversation. "Remember when I commended you on your toughness? When I said that I looked up to you a lot. I can't say I look up to you much anymore. Do you think killing a man who slept with your wife makes you tough? Makes you strong? You trying to be one of those gangsters, huh?"

He then spit on the floor in disgust. "You're fucking pathetic, Lee."

"Don't worry, Lee," said Lee's dad. "It's not our place to judge you for your crimes. Everyone else has already done that. The jury certainly did when you were put away for murder."

He then looked out the window and smiled.

"And, it seems like your executioners are here to deliver justice."

At that moment, the windows started to break and banging could be heard all around the house. The sound of walkers was evident as they started growling trying to get inside. Lee panicked and ran away, but walkers were at the front door as well.

"Shit, Shit, SHIT!" yelled Lee, as he ran upstairs. It was the only safe haven he could think of. Maybe he could hide in his room until the dead ran away? There was something else waiting for him though. As Lee barged inside his room, he quickly shut the door behind him and locked it.

"Oh, so you came back?" said a female voice.

Lee froze and turned around, muttering "No, no….no" as he took in his wife's appearance. His wife looked just as deceased as the dead creatures currently trying to kill him, but Lee didn't care about that. Just her appearance alone was enough to make his emotions spin from grief to denial to anger.

"What are you doing here?!!!" shouted Lee. His wife merely chuckled.

"Oh, Lee. This is my house too, baby. Did you already forget about that? Of course, after what transpired here, I can see why you wouldn't want to remember anything."

Her words were dripped in a condescending tone and that only served to make Lee even more irritated.

"No, I couldn't forget how I came back home and found you sleeping with someone else. My own wife. Did you forget about that?" challenged Lee.

"No. I didn't. I also didn't forget about the times you constantly tried to push your idea of having the perfect family. How you just wanted me to settle down, abandon my career, and become a housewife." She practically spits the last word at Lee.

"And when you didn't get your way, you resorted to murdering a man. Tell me, what kind of lesson does that teach a child, hm?"

Lee shook his head in denial. "I never wanted to kill that man. It was an accident in the heat of the moment." Lee's wife just laughed cruelly at his statement, almost as if she didn't believe him. "It never would have happened in the first place if you hadn't cheated on me with him. Don't pretend you're innocent here!"

"Oh, Lee. When it comes to adultery vs. murder, I think we both know which one is worse. My actions do not absolve you of your crimes. You tried pulling the same stunt with 'Jugram', and look what that got you. A lifetime of distrust. I'm surprised the old coot forgave you so quickly. I guess old age has rotted his brain after all."

Lee vehemently shook his head. He was close to tears at this point. "Jugram is my friend. I would never do that."

"So what? He still doesn't trust you enough to give you a gun. He never will. You know why?"

At that moment, Lee's wife smiled. Her teeth were rotting, but Lee figured that was an apt representation of the rotting heart she had inside.

"It's because you, Lee Everett, are a convicted killer. No matter what you do, you will always be a convicted killer. Anybody that acts like a rabid dog will eventually be put down like one."

The dead started to bang on the door fast. Lee looked back in fear. His wife looked as well.

"Well, it seems like you're about to be put down right now. Any last words?"

Lee barely had time to say anything, before the door broke down and walkers stormed in. They quickly latched on to Lee and started tearing at his flesh.

"Help!" shouted Lee. But no one would help him in this cursed world. As he lost consciousness, he swore that the red light had never been brighter.

[End of Lee's Nightmare]

Yhwach lay in the dark barn, the earthy scent mingling with the faint rustle of hay. He was unused to such primitive accommodations, but his mind was far from the discomfort. The events of the past days played on a loop in his mind, he couldn't shake the feeling of being out of place in this world. The farm, the humans, the undead—it was all so foreign to him.

When he first made contact with Lee, Yhwach had shared a fragment of his soul. It was a necessary act, a means of ensuring his survival in this unfamiliar world. His sliced torso had healed completely, but he was dangerously low on reishi, and this world offered no means to replenish it.

The next morning, Yhwach woke up early, feeling slightly different. He noticed his mustache had become smaller. This world lacks reishi... I'll be forced to share fragments of my soul and consume other souls to maintain my power. But these undead creatures, they don't have souls. They are a far deadlier threat, unseen and unfelt by my reikaku.

He remembered the warning R-1, his so-called uncle, had given him about bites. Will a bite from these creatures turn a person into one of them? A soulless, human-eating monstrosity? Yhwach mused. I'll have to confirm my suspicions when the time comes.

There was another unsettling revelation: he felt himself becoming younger. It was subtle but noticeable. His magnificent mustache had become slightly smaller. This regression was alarming. If he didn't start sharing his soul with others soon, he would continue to de-age until he reverted to a senseless infant—a fate far worse than death for someone like him.

Yhwach's mind wandered back to his own predicament. Sharing fragments of his soul with others was a double-edged sword. It would help him maintain his form and abilities, but it also made him vulnerable, and dependent on the humans he despised. Yet, he had no choice. He had to survive.

Suddenly, His thoughts were interrupted as he heard Lee jolted awake, drenched in sweat from another nightmare. Yhwach watched him silently, noting the fear and exhaustion etched into his features. Lee looked around and saw that he was back in Hershel's barn. It seemed that it was daytime now. Clementine was waking up alongside him and she looked at him concerned.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Are you ok?" asked Clementine.

"Yeah, I'm fine Clementine. I just had a nightmare, that's all."

"Oh, are you scared of the dark too?"

"What, no…it was about something a bit more personal. Wait, you're scared of the dark?" asked Lee.

"No!" denied Clementine. She then sighed and said, "Well, maybe a little."

"It's ok. I think everyone was scared of the dark at one point," reassured Lee.

Just then, a man came into the barn. He was wearing a well-worn trucker hat, a yellow shirt, and black pants. His rugged appearance was accentuated by a thick mustache and a few days' worth of stubble on his face.

"So, you guys finally woke up then?" he said, his tone light but tinged with a hint of impatience.

Lee stirred and looked up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Yeah, we sure did."

Clementine, still waking up, muttered, "I feel itchy."

The man chuckled. "Well, you slept in a barn, little lady. You're lucky you don't have spiders in your hair."

Clementine gasped in shock, her small hands reaching up to her head as she glanced upwards as if expecting to see spiders tangled in her hair.

"But," the man continued with a grin, "I bet your daddy scared them all away, huh?"

Lee blinked, confused. Dad? What the hell? Does he think we look that similar? He cleared his throat and said, "I'm not her dad. Name's Lee."

The man's smile widened. "I'm Kenny." He then glanced at Yhwach, who was observing the interaction with his usual detached demeanor. Kenny was about to ask Yhwach his name when—

A boy, looking around Clementine's age, dashed to the door of the barn. "Dad, we're going to build a fence! There's a tractor and everything!" He then bolted off in the direction of the house.

Yhwach observed the boy thoughtfully. That one seems like he's a handful.

Kenny sighed as he looked at Lee, Clementine, and Yhwach. "We better get going, or we won't hear the end of it." He gestured towards the distance where the boy had dashed off. "That's my boy Ken Jr. We call him Duck, though."

Lee blinked, confusion evident on his face. "Duck?"

Kenny chuckled, "Yeah. Nothing bothers him. Like water off a duck's back, y'know?"

Yhwach nodded in agreement. "That's a valuable trait lately."

Lee added, "No kidding."

Kenny's smile widened as he continued, "To be honest, I think it's because he's dumb as a bag of hammers, but he makes up for it with enthusiasm." The pride in his voice was clear as he spoke about his son.

In the distance, they heard Duck call out, "DAAAAD!"

Kenny laughed. "See?"

Lee, Clementine, and Yhwach followed Kenny toward the house. Duck was beside his mother, Katjaa, who was sitting on a hay bale outside the porch.

Kenny began introducing his family. "This is my wife, Katjaa. Honey, this is Lee, and uh… what are your names?"

Yhwach stayed silent, his usual impassive demeanor in place. Lee spoke up, "He goes by Jugram."

Clementine, shy and hiding behind Lee, peeked out as Katjaa asked, "And what's your name, sweetie?"

Clementine mumbled, "Clementine."

Katjaa's expression softened with a warm smile. "That's a very pretty name."

Clementine replied with a quiet "Thanks."

Kenny then turned to Lee, "So, I hear that your group is expected to move on somewhere today?"

Lee nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking about going to Macon. My family is from there, so we thought we should check to see if they're alright."

Kenny shrugged. "Well, Macon's on the way, and I personally wouldn't mind the company of a couple of guys who could knock a few heads together if they had to."

As they spoke, Shawn walked over and said, "Well, we should get to work. We've seen what those things can do out there, so the faster we get this fence up, the better."

Duck looked at Shawn with wide eyes. "I wanna build a fence!"

Shawn smiled and said, "Yeah? Well, I need a good foreman. You can sit on the tractor and yell at me whenever I take a water break."

Duck's face lit up. "On the tractor? Cool!"

Shawn and Duck headed towards the fence. "Duck and I will hop to it."

Lee watched the boy with a smile, thinking, Man, I wish I had 1/10th of the energy that boy does.

Yhwach seemed to be feeling the same way since he started to walk to the porch muttering under his breath.

Lee saw Yhwach move towards the porch with a certain stiffness that caught his attention. Something about Yhwach seemed off. His movements were deliberate but lacked their usual fluidity, and his expression was more somber than usual.

"Hey, 'Jugram'," Lee called out as he walked over. "You okay?"

Yhwach turned slightly, his eyes narrowing. "I'm fine," he replied curtly.

Lee studied him for a moment, noting the slight change in his appearance. "Your mustache looks... different. Did you trim it last night or something?"

Yhwach's frown deepened. "Do you have short-term memory loss? I've always looked like this." He said this as he sat down on a chair on the porch. The chair was in the shade, a desirable spot given the hot summer day in Georgia.

"Jeez, no need to get so defensive about it," Lee said, raising his hands in a placating gesture.

Yhwach ignored him, staring off into the distance. Lee decided to drop the topic.

Meanwhile, Shawn and Duck made their way to the fence to start working on it. Kenny returned to his truck, checking for any signs of damage. Katjaa began chatting with Clementine, who seemed to be warming up to the kind woman.

Lee, feeling a bit out of place, decided to be more proactive and help Shawn and Duck with the fence. In this new world, socializing had become a rare luxury, and pitching in was a way to connect.

Lee walked over and saw Shawn hammering away on some planks, while Duck was busy….being Duck.

"Hey Lee, you need something?" asked Shawn.

"Yeah, you guys need any help with the fence? I don't want to just sit around doing nothing if I can help it," replied Lee.

"Sure, if you could help me cut some of these 2x4s, that would be great," said Shawn.

Lee got to work and took another saw from the toolbox lying near the floor. As he started to cut the planks, his thoughts shifted back to his family.

Should I really go to Macon? I want to find my family, but I'm worried about what else I might find there. If my secret gets revealed, it's over for me. Kenny will not want his family anywhere near me. Clementine will probably be scared shitless and leave. 'Jugram' might protect them and probably leave me too.

The voice inside Lee's head started back up. To Lee, it sounded like his ex-wife.

Yes, you'll be alone. Just like you deserve. Do you really think that anything you do will wash away the stain of what you did? If you really believed in your character, you would just tell everyone else the truth rather than hide it away and pretend it doesn't exist.

"So, you seen how bad the city was?" asked Shawn. Lee looked over at him. He had stopped hammering the boards and just seemed deep in thought.

"No, 'Jugram' and I got out before the worst of it occurred. We saw a lot of police vehicles heading towards the city. It was horrible." said Lee.

Back when I still thought I was going to spend the rest of my life in a prison cell.

Well, Lee supposed he still could. After all, the government could take control of the dead and start to make this a world dominated by the living once again.

Selfishly, Lee wished for a second that the world wouldn't go back to normal. The feeling of being a free man had been intoxicating to him. He never wanted this feeling to end. Shawn started to speak again, bringing Lee out of his thoughts.

"I saw a guy kill someone in Atlanta. A boy. Just shot him right in the face."

"Wait, what?" said Lee. He immediately felt ashamed at what he was just thinking moments earlier.

You want this world to stay Lee? A world in which people kill children without remorse? And why? Because you're hoping that one day, people won't care whether you killed someone, because everyone else has done the same thing?

Lee was brought back to the grisly scene that he had encountered on the first house he had searched with Yhwach in the neighborhood. The blood on the walls, the desperation in the man who had killed his family, the peacefulness of his dead children as they lay in bed for the last time. It was horrible, simply horrible.

Like a nightmare. Man, I wish this was a nightmare.

Lee shook his head in silence. He already had enough nightmares to deal with.

While Lee was having his existential crisis, Shawn continued speaking.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. I mean this guy didn't even hesitate. He just turned, put the barrel of the gun between the kid's eyes, and pulled the trigger. It didn't look like it does in the movies, that's for sure."

Lee only caught the last part of his sentence and agreed. "They don't fall like you think."

Meanwhile, Yhwach watched as Hershel stepped out onto the porch, his gaze sweeping over the scene before him. Hershel's eyes narrowed slightly as he took in the various people scattered around his property—Lee and Shawn working on the fence, Kenny tinkering with his truck, Katjaa and Clementine chatting quietly, and Yhwach himself sitting in the shade, observing it all with his usual detached demeanor.

Hershel's gaze lingered on Yhwach's attire, his curiosity evident. "I see everyone's making themselves at home," Hershel said, his tone light but probing. He then looked more closely at Yhwach. "Are you some sort of special forces or government operative? That getup isn't something you see every day around here."

Yhwach met Hershel's gaze steadily, his expression unchanged. "Does it matter what my job is?" he replied, his voice cool and commanding. "The old world is gone. Titles, positions, professions—they hold no meaning in this new reality."

Hershel's eyes widened slightly at Yhwach's response. The man's detached demeanor and cryptic words only added to his air of mystery. He nodded slowly, acknowledging Yhwach's point but clearly not entirely satisfied with the vague answer.

Hershel's gaze settled on Yhwach with an inscrutable look. "Can I give you a piece of advice?" he asked, his tone measured but carrying an undercurrent of gravity.

Yhwach's reddish-brown eyes locked onto Hershel, signaling him to continue with a slight nod.

Hershel took a breath before speaking. "I don't know who you are or what you did," he began, his voice steady. He then paused, as if reconsidering how to frame his thoughts. "Let's say things don't get better back in the cities. Or they get worse before they do. You're gonna have to depend on the honesty of strangers if you're gonna make it. And if those same people get to questioning yours, you're gonna be in trouble."

He let the weight of his words settle before continuing. "So whoever you are, and whatever you did, keep it to your damn self."

Hershel turned as if to leave but paused and glanced back over his shoulder. "And another thing: you're gonna have to figure out how to answer a goddamn question when someone asks."

With that, Hershel walked away, leaving Yhwach to contemplate the implications of the advice given.

Yhwach's expression remained impassive, but internally, he was assessing the implications of Hershel's words. His usual demeanor, marked by calculated detachment, began to show a hint of irritation. The man's tone had been laced with a familiar undercurrent of disdain, a reminder that in this world, his usual sense of authority and command did not carry the same weight.

In his own world, he had been a king, revered and feared, commanding respect without question. Here, however, he was just another figure in a landscape of uncertainty and danger. The advice was both a challenge and an insult—an implication that his presence was as precarious as his standing.

The directness of Hershel's words was a stark contrast to Yhwach's usual interactions. Yhwach's brow furrowed slightly, his face betraying a hint of irritation.

He was not accustomed to being spoken to in such a manner, especially by someone of Hershel's apparent status. The admonition felt almost like a challenge to his authority, something he was not used to experiencing.

In his mind, Yhwach weighed the impact of Hershel's advice against his own understanding of the situation. The notion of needing to "answer a goddamn question" was foreign to him; he was used to commanding rather than being commanded.

Yet, there was something undeniably practical in Hershel's approach, a kind of raw honesty that Yhwach had to begrudgingly respect.

Yhwach looked over at Lee, who was still engaged in conversation with Shawn. The contrast between their interactions and his own dealings with Hershel was striking.

He wondered how long it would take before the problems of this new world would force him to fully confront the need for this new form of diplomacy.

As he sat there, Yhwach's thoughts were interrupted by a distant scream— The shrill cry pierced the otherwise quiet morning, He rose quickly, his mind racing as he pulled out his pistol, the cold metal a reassuring weight in his hand.

"AGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"

Without hesitation, Hershel bolted toward the house, his voice sharp with urgency. "Go! I'll get my gun!" he shouted to Yhwach.

Lee ran past a confused Katjaa and Clementine who had no idea what was going on. Beside him, Kenny and Yhwach also sprinted towards the fences. Lee turned a corner and saw a horrible scene in front of him. Somehow, Duck had accidentally managed to turn the tractor on and ran over Shawn's leg. Shawn was screaming in pain, so much so that the dead were beginning to get attracted to the noise. Even though the fence was nearly complete, Shawn was still too close to the edge, such that one of the dead could grab his neck and tear into it.

Meanwhile, Duck was confused about what was happening and didn't know how to stop the tractor. Suddenly, one of the undead creatures grabbed him and he screamed holding on for dear life. Three more walkers started making their way to Shawn and he struggled to get away from their reach.

"Somebody help!" Shawn screamed.

Lee didn't have much time to make a decision, but he needed to do something now.

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What does [M] (Lee Everett) do?

A) Help Shawn

Lee rushes to Shawn's aid, trying to free him from the tractor before the walkers reach him.

B) Help Duck

Lee focuses on stopping the tractor and saving Duck from the undead grabbing at him.

C) Let Yhwach handle it

Lee relies on Yhwach to take charge of the situation. If you choose this option, Yhwach will be forced to make a tough choice between saving Shawn or Duck if you don't let him handle it Yhwach will be providing support by shooting the undead with his pistol.

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Relationships [M] (Lee Everett):

Yhwach: 4/10

You think that 'Jugram' is wary of you and clearly has trust issues. Despite the times you've helped him, it's obvious that he sees you as a potential threat or liability. His cautious demeanor makes it hard to gauge his true feelings, but you sense he's keeping a close eye on you, probably assessing your every move for any sign of betrayal or weakness.

Shawn: 8/10

Shawn appreciates your support, especially with the fence. He seems to value your help and is someone you feel you can count on in tough situations. There's a sense of mutual respect between you two. but needs someone to save him.

Hershel: 7/10

Hershel seems to respect your efforts with the fence and appreciates your willingness to assist. His concern for his family is evident, and you get the feeling that he's hoping you'll be someone he can rely on to protect them. and wants someone to help his son if he's in danger.

Kenny: 5/10

You haven't had many interactions with Kenny, but it's clear he's keeping an eye on you. His main focus seems to be on saving Duck, and while he doesn't seem to have strong opinions about you, you sense that your actions could sway his view.

Katjaa: 5/10

Katjaa is clearly worried about Duck's safety. While she doesn't know you well, She hopes you help him save Duck. You can tell that earning her trust might come down to how you handle the current crisis.

Duck: 5/10

He's clearly scared shitless.

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Group Stats:

Trust: 45/100

Both Shawn and Duck are in danger….

Members: 6.

Choose wisely... Every Decision Counts.