Chereads / TWD: The Burden We Bear / Chapter 2 - Farm

Chapter 2 - Farm

Eddie groans softly as he wakes up, feeling a gentle kick against his leg. He opens his eyes to find his father, Kenny, smirking at him.

"Come on, sleepyhead," Kenny teases, eyeing Eddie's annoyed frown.

Eddie clicks his tongue in irritation but pushes himself up. "Where are Mom and Duck?" he asks, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"They're already outside," Kenny replies, starting to climb down the ladder. Eddie follows him down, the wooden rungs creaking beneath their weight.

Once on the ground, Eddie lets out a big yawn and notices two figures still sleeping in the barn. He elbows Kenny in the ribs, nodding toward them. "Hey, look."

"Hm?" Kenny turns to see where his son is pointing. "Oh. We should wake them up."

The two approach the sleeping figures, and Eddie kneels down beside a little girl, gently shaking her shoulder.

She jolts awake, gasping as she sees a stranger looming over her. However, she visibly relaxes when her gaze shifts to the familiar man beside her.

"Hey, time to wake up," Kenny says as he nudges the man wearing a blue shirt, a smile forming on his face when the man opens his eyes.

The girl scratches at her arm, clearly uncomfortable. "I'm itchy."

Kenny chuckles softly. "Well, you did sleep in a barn, little lady. Lucky for you, you don't have any spiders in your hair," he adds, gesturing to her hair.

The girl gasps and immediately looks up at her hair, her eyes wide. Eddie bites back a laugh and playfully smacks his father's arm.

"But I bet your daddy scared all the spiders away, huh?" Kenny grins.

"I'm not her dad. My name's Lee," the man corrects.

"I'm Kenny," he introduces himself, offering a friendly nod.

"And I'm Eddie," Eddie adds, giving a slight nod toward Lee.

Just then, Duck bursts into the barn, excitement radiating off him. "Dad, we're gonna build a fence! There's a tractor and everything!" he exclaims, his face glowing with enthusiasm, before darting off.

"We should probably get going," Eddie suggests, starting to walk in the direction Duck went.

"Yeah, or we'll never hear the end of it," Kenny agrees, moving alongside Eddie, with Lee and the girl following close behind.

As they exit the barn, Eddie notes that the girl is holding tightly onto Lee's hand.

"That's my boy, Ken Jr. We call him Duck, though. Eddie is too my boy-" Kenny says, but trails off when he catches the look Eddie shoots him. Eddie dislikes being labeled as 'boy.' "-older son."

"Duck?" Lee raises an eyebrow, intrigued.

"Yeah, nothing bothers him. Just like water off a duck's back, you know?" Kenny nods, pride evident in his tone.

"That's a valuable trait these days," Lee remarks.

"It's likely because he's a dumbass," Eddie quips with a smirk.

"Dad!" Duck shouts from a distance, his voice high-pitched with excitement.

"But he makes up for it with enthusiasm," Kenny adds with a smile.

They catch up to Duck and Katjaa, who is perched on some bales of hay in front of the porch, looking relaxed.

"Where are you headed?" Kenny asks Lee, curious.

"Macon, I think. My family's from there," Lee replies, glancing back at the little girl beside him.

"Well, Macon's on our way. Personally, I'd appreciate the company of another guy who can knock a couple of heads together if it ever comes to that," Kenny says, and Eddie nods in agreement.

"I'll see what the girl would like," Lee says, looking down at the girl who still holds his hand.

"Ah, gotta consult the missus. I completely understand," Kenny replies with a chuckle.

He turns to Katjaa and Duck. "Honey, Duck, this is Lee, and, uh, what's the girl's name?"

The girl hides shyly behind Lee, prompting him to answer, "Clementine."

"Clementine," Kenny repeats, turning back to Katjaa.

Katjaa beams at Clementine. "That's a very pretty name."

Clementine smiles back shyly. "Thanks."

Shawn then walks over to join the group. "Well, we should really get to work. We've all seen what those things can do out there, so the faster we put this fence up, the better."

"I wanna build a fence!" Duck exclaims energetically.

"Yeah? Well, I could use a good foreman. You can sit on the tractor and yell at me whenever I take a water break," Shawn replies with a playful smile.

"On the tractor? Cool!" Duck's face lights up with joy.

"Duck and I will hop to it," Shawn says as he takes Duck's hand, leading him away.

"I can keep an eye on your little girl here on the porch while we chat," Katjaa offers to Lee.

Kenny gives Eddie a light slap on the back. "Come on, help me with the truck."

Clementine takes a seat on a bale of hay next to Katjaa, while Kenny and Eddie head off to work on their truck, the sounds of their efforts blending with the chatter of the farm around them.

Kenny leans to the open hood of the truck, his brow furrowed in concentration as he examines the engine. Eddie leans over beside him, the familiar smell of oil and rust filling the air.

"Pass me that wrench, will you?" Kenny requests.

Eddie picks up the wrench and tosses it over, catching Kenny's grin as he catches it effortlessly. "You sure this thing is worth saving? Looks like it might be ready for the scrap heap," Eddie says, teasingly inspecting the engine.

Kenny chuckles, the sound warm and infectious. "Hey, this baby has seen some miles, but she's got plenty of life left. Just needs a little TLC."

"Sure, if TLC means 'Tirelessly Laboring on a Clunker,'" Eddie quips back, wiping his hands on his jeans before reaching for a rag.

"Very funny." Kenny rolls his eyes, but a gleam of amusement sparkles in his gaze. "Just you wait—once I get this going, we'll be speeding down the road."

Eddie nods, appreciating the confidence his father has in the vehicle. As Kenny tinkers with the engine, Eddie glances at his mother and Clementine.

"She seems shy." Eddie comments.

Kenny glances over, but focuses on the engine. "She'll warm up. Kids like that are like sponges; they soak up everything. Just needs a little time," Kenny replies while tightening a bolt. "Just like how you used to be with new crowds."

"Hey! You make me sound like a social introvert," Eddie protests, laughing but feeling a flush of embarrassment.

Kenny looks up and grins. "You were. Just took a bit for you to come out of your shell. But look at you now—the life of the party!"

"Yeah, well, you might want to save that praise for when I actually do something party-worthy instead of just fixing a truck," Eddie counters, glancing at the truck with mock seriousness.

When they are done with the truck, they wipe their hands on a rag, and when Lee was about to come over to the two, they heard a scream. It sounded like Shawn.

Eddie wastes no time starting to sprint toward the screaming, Lee and Kenny following behind. Eddie saw Hershel, the old man who allowed them to stay on his farm, run into the house, probably for a gun.

When they reached the behind of the house, Eddie saw Shawn being stuck under the tire of the tractor, most likely because of his little brother. He also saw Clementine nearby, being terrified.

Suddenly, a zombie grabs Duck's leg and pulls him down, then grabs his shoulders as Duck holds onto the wheel to avoid being eaten. Both Duck and Shawn scream.

"My leg is stuck!" Shawn screamed to the three men.

"Dad, get Duck!" Eddie shouted to his dad, who nodded, and went to grab Duck. "Lee." He turned to the man beside him. "Help me with Shawn!"

Lee nodded, and they hurried over the man. Eddie, and Lee at first tried to move the tractor off his leg, but they couldn't move it enough.

Suddenly, Eddie heard creaking. Lee and him instantly knew it's the fence, not bearing the weight of the zombie against it. Eddie moved away from the zombie, and punched one of the zombies with full strenght, knocking it back, making it stumble a few steps.

Lee grabs Shawn's arms and tries to pull him free, but drops them again when he is unable to.

"Fuck, it's crushed! Move this thing!" Shawn shouts.

As Lee was trying to free Shawn, Eddie punched the other zombie, knocking it back too.

As he was holding back the zombies, Kenny finally came too, and helped his son. Finally, Hershel arrived, and shot the zombies. Shawn was still stuck.

Now that the zombies weren't a threat, they managed to get Shawn out from under the tractor.

After things calmed down, everyone, except for the Greene family, got into Kenny's truck. Kenny was in the driver seat; Katjaa in the passenger seat, with Duck in her lap; Lee, Clementine, and Eddie were sitting in the backseat.