A Farm Of Wonders

 /Usual warning, this is my first fic, so don't expect it to sound great, and expect plenty of mistakes. Apologies for fucked pacing, poorly written sentences, and more. Enjoy.\

"I SAID BACK THE FUCK OFF!"

 There was a brief silence before someone on the other side of the gate responded, "Woah lady, no need for the gun, me and my brother, we... we just want to know if you could help us out."

 "I could care less about what you want. Now as I said, back the fuck off!"

 Then Lilly stepped in, "Carley, that's enough."

 Seeing it as the best time, I took over the conversation. "What do you want?"

 The two looked eased by this. 

"We just need some gas, that's all. After that, we will be out of hair."

 Carley spoke up again, "Why do you need gas?"

 They responded without delay. "Well, first, how about we introduce ourselves? My name is Andy St. John, and this here is my brother Dan." He said while motioning to his side. "And we own a dairy just up the road. We need the gas because we use an electric fence to keep the place safe, but it runs on gasoline... a lot, so we're constantly running low these days."

 Despite being skeptical of them, I continued, "And what's in it for us?"

 This question seemed to throw them off, if even by a split second. "Well, you guys need food? We would be more than happy to trade you some if you're willing to help us."

 This got a reaction out of everyone who didn't receive any of the remaining food stock we had, so I continued, keeping them in mind. "We'd be willing as long as you have enough for all of us."

 Something was off; the way he smiled when I said that was... different for some reason.

 "Well, you're just in luck because we have plenty of it back at the dairy; if you'd be willing to bring the gas, we can have you folks eating good before the night is over; what do you say?" 

 As suspicious as this was, the thought of getting enough food for everyone was too enticing to pass up; I glanced at Lilly and then Kenny. Their expressions told me they wanted to take the deal but were hesitant also.

 "Okay, give us a moment to talk it over. And we'll get back to you with the answer."

 Not giving them any time, I turned and walked away, pulling Clem with me. That was when Clem, who had been quiet the whole time, spoke up.

 "I don't like them."

 A bit surprised by this, I asked. "Why?"

 "They're weird."

 I nearly laughed. "Clem, that's not nice, even if it's true."

 She puffed her cheeks. "That's not what I meant."

Lightly chuckling, I asked, "Then what did you mean?"

 She continued, "They smell like a walker."

This left me confused. "Smell like a walker? How so?"

 "They smell like iron and rot. Just like a walker."

"Is that so... I'll keep that in mind for later; thanks for telling me."

 She merely hummed as we continued. Not long after we got to Lilly's room to talk it over, the group was split; some of us wanted to take the deal, while others were still skeptical and unwilling; Clem and I were a part of the second group.

 An argument had broken out. "God damn it, you old coot, why can't you see it's a trap."

 "A trap! No, you're just an ungrateful asshole whos doing his damndest to make sure the rest of us don't eat!"

 "Dad, Calm down."

"Calm down! Why should I when he's trying to ruin our chances of getting food!"

 This pissed Kenny off. "I'm not trying to ruin anything; you're just being stubborn and blind because I don't know if you noticed, but plenty of dead cars around here still have gas in them, and they are asking us for some? There's no way it's not a trap."

 "Shut the fuck up already, Your arguing like children again!"

"Ohh, I know the trigger-happy bitch isn't talking."

 "The fuck do you mean trigger happy? That was the first time I shot my gun in months."

 Larry was about to continue when Lilly stopped him. "That's enough, both of you. Arguing like children isn't going to help anyone."

 I voiced my agreement with a simple hum.

 Kenny visibly calmed down, along with Larry. "Well then, what do you suggest we do?"

 It would seem she didn't think that one through as she remained silent; lucky before anyone could get onto her for that, Carley spoke up. "We should split the group up, have one go with them, and have the other stay at the motel. What do you think?"

 Agreeing with this plan, I spoke up. "Carleys, onto something; we have a group stay at the inn while the other goes to make the deal; once it's done, we'll send someone back from the group that went. With the person we send back, we'll give the food promised from the deal. Sound good?"

 There were hesitant looks around the room before there was a collective nod. Mark spoke up next. "So how do we pick who goes and who stays?"

 This seemed to quiet the room even more than it was before. It was Carley who broke the silence. "I'm going." 

 Mark looked surprised, "You sure?"

"Yep, as sure as one could be in this day and age."

 It went from there; Lilly, Katjaa, Lary, and Kenny would stay at the inn with the kids while Carley, Mark, Ben, and I would go with the brothers to make the deal.

 After the agreement was struck, half the group joined the brothers on the walk back to their dairy, leaving the rest behind. For my part, I was silent most of the way, leaving Ben and Mark to talk to the brothers. Carley was doing the same until she started to get bored.

 "You there, Lee?"

Her voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

 She huffed, "I swear, you and Clementine are like two peas in a pod."

"What do you mean by that?"

 She gave me a dead look, "God, sometimes I wonder how you made it through the first wave of walkers."

 Holding my hand to my chest in mock hurt. "How dare you; I'll have you know I am your savior, so if anything, it's the other way around."

 She chuckled. 

"Ya, ya, I didn't know your ego had grown that big. Overcompensating for something?"

 "Why, whatever do you mean?" I said, trying to poke holes in her jab.

Her smile turned playful, "Nothing big, I suppose."

 Had I been a bit lighter in color, you could've seen the light blush that painted my cheeks.

 "Hey, that's cheap," I said with a light grin.

"What do you mean?"

 "Going after a man's manhood like that is the lowest of the low."

 Her smile switched from playful to one full of mischief, "Ohh, look at this pervert, thinking I was talking about his partner. What a pervert. I can't wait to tell the others."

 I could only give her an embarrassed glare as we continued walking. I could feel the aura of cockiness gushing off her in droves, and it annoyed me to no end. But if I tried to call it out, she might turn it around and make it another sex joke, embarrassing me more, and while I don't think the others can hear us from back here, it never hurts to be cautious; best not to be known as a pervert.

 Luckily, I wasn't the one to initiate the change, as her playful attitude turned into that of a hardened survivor, chilling the atmosphere around us by quite a margin.

 "You need to deal with Lilly and Kenny; hell... add Lary to that as well."

 The sudden demand caught me off guard, so I could only mumble in confusion. "What?"

 She sighed, "You, Need, To, Deal, With, Them. Got it?"

Reorganizing myself, I spoke, "I got that part. But, what do you mean by deal with them?"

 She looked ready to tear someone's head off, thanks to the look on her face. "I don't think you need an explanation for why I'm saying this, but I'll give you one anyway. The constant bickering is becoming unbearable, and if you don't do something about them now rather than later, then I will, and if I do it, well then, it won't be pretty. Understand?"

 I could only huff and nod my head.

 "Good. As the leader, this is part of your job."

 I gave her a dead look at the statement. "You too?"

Her grin returned, "Is that a problem?"

 There was a short pause. "No, I guess not, but I got to ask, what's your selling point on me being the leader?"

 She looked slightly confused for a second before something seemed to snap into place. "You mean what I think makes you the leader?"

 A simple nod from me had her continuing. "Well, if I had to name a few, your ability to stay calm during rough situations is a leading factor, while being quick on your feet is a minor one. Your intellect is nothing to scoff at either, and you don't start unnecessary arguments with everyone who disagrees with you. And a final biassed reason is that you saved my life."

 This had me thinking. I had never noticed my lack of panic during rough situations because I was too busy trying to pull through it, and starting arguments with people always results in someone getting hurt, whether it be mental or physical, so I tend to try and avoid any argument.

 The last two she named are something almost everyone has, so there isn't much going on for me in the skills department.

 Thanks to my continued thoughts, I failed to notice the dairy approaching; moments later, Carley interrupted those thoughts with a tap on my shoulder, pulling me from said thoughts and allowing me to see the approaching building.

 With Clementine's statement still fresh in mind, I turned to Carley. "Stay alert. Somethings wrong with these people, so don't get too comfy because we're leaving as soon as possible."

 She looked slightly surprised at my sudden announcement but not too surprised as she had already stated her disagreement on trusting them back at the motel. So, with a slight nod, we continued, catching up to the brothers, Ben and Mark, who had already entered the gated farm.

 Once we did, we could hear the conversation with Mark and John; Dan had already walked off, and Ben was staying quiet.

 "But, as I said, this place is a haven that welcomes all, so if your group wants to move, we'd be more than happy to welcome you to the farm. Plus, the extra hands would be welcome; you have no idea how long it takes to maintain the farm with only two people to look after it; let me tell you, it's a nightmare."

 Everything he said suddenly sounded like bullshit after the last part. If it had been so hard, there would have been more people here, but there weren't, which was odd because you would expect such a well-maintained place to be packed with survivors seeking the food and safety they supposedly supply. Something was up, and it was something I'd rather avoid altogether.

 Looking to my side, I could see the same look on Caley's face; she also knew something was up but kept quiet so as not to draw attention from the brother, lest our suspicions be noticed.

 But it seems those efforts to hide them were unnecessary, as someone else could be seen leaving the elevated home with a basket in hand. The other brother, Dan, also chose that moment to wander back over from whatever he was doing when he walked off.

 John, motioning to the new person, spoke. "This here is my mama."

 The now-mentioned mother spoke up. "Nice to meet y'all; I'm Brenda St. John, and I welcome you to the St. John dairy."

 "Ma, this is Lee, someone down from Macon."

 She seemed genuinely surprised by this. "Well, I'll be some of our best farm hands were down from Macon."

 At the mention of more people from Macon, I asked. "They make it?"

 Another odd reaction was given to my question, making this situation all the more fishy.

 Dan was the one to answer the question. "Sadly, we don't know; they were out getting feed and fertilizer for the farm when this all started."

 The woman, Brenda, continued. "It's a real shame; they would have been a nice hand to have around."

 "I can't disagree with that, Ma, but back on point, we made a deal with these people for some gas, so if you could get some of the food out of the stock in the back, that would be nice."

 The mention of food sparked something in Brenda. What she was reminded of was soon revealed as she handed Carley the basket full of bread.

 "This is a small gift for y'all, so don't be shy; we'll get you some real food later. For now, why don't you eat this to hold you over until supper."

 This had Mark and Carley questioning, "Supper?"

 Brenda chuckled at this, "Why yes, you are our guests, so it would only be common courtesy to feed you."

 I was about to interrupt as I felt this conversation was doing the opposite of getting us out of there faster, but Mark spoke up before I could. "Does that go for all of us?"

 Even as tempting as it was to give in and stay for food, this situation was becoming more and more out of control, and before I knew it, Mark and I were left behind as Ben and Carley went off, heading back to the motel, to tell the others and get Katjaa.

 The getting Katjaa part was because Mark stupidly spoke up before thinking after they mentioned a sick cow. 

 So now, even more of our group is walking into what I still think is a trap, and worst yet, they're most likely going to bring the kids over with them. 

 I could only sigh as Mark and I continued to walk the fenceline, pushing dead or what looked to be dead walkers off of it, their burnt visages reeking of decay and gore. Had this been the first time I experienced this smell, then I might've thrown up, but luckily, that was already taken care of, thanks to Clems long away caretaker.

 The walk continued with Mark talking about whatever came to his mind, and it went on like that until he said something that immediately baffled me. "Wait, what did you just say?"

 The question must have surprised Mark as he proceeded to tell me about how cheesecake was made, which would have been nice to know had we not been in the middle of an apocalypse, on a farm too sketchy for my liking, and that's just the farm, I didn't even want to get started on the three oddities living on it.

 But here Mark is talking about moving here. "I meant the part before the cheesecake."

 His eyes widened a bit. "Ohh, you mean when I was talking about staying here."

 My eye slightly twitched at his obliviousness. There was a limit to which I would tolerate that kind of behavior from someone before I would take care of their oblivious mind myself, and Mark was reaching that level at a record pace.

 "Ya, that. Are you insane?"

Mark looked genuinely hurt by this comment. "Hey, back off; I never said anything about anyone else staying, just me."

 I could only look at him like he was stupid. "Did you pay attention to what we talked about at the motel? Because if you did, you would know this whole thing is sketchy and likely a trap."

 "God, you still on about that? Lee, we've been here for a bit now, and if this was a trap. Then why haven't they sprung it yet? Let me give you a hint; maybe it's because it was never a trap, to begin with, and this whole thing about it being a trap is something you and the rest of the paranoid group have cooked up."

 God, if only Mark knew how badly I wanted to deck him right now, maybe then he would gain a fraction of awareness that would let him see that his logic is fucked and naive.

 "You know-" My voice was cut off by an arrow whizzing by and nailing Mark in the arm; his short scream echoed as I reacted quickly enough to pull him out of the way of another arrow aimed at his neck.

 We were both pinned, as while we were arguing about staying, we had stepped outside the fence to set two of the fallen posts back up, and now that someone was shooting at us while we were on the other side of it, the fence lit up and hummed with electricity, further compacting the idea of this whole thing being a trap, but now wasn't the time to linger on it, as we were still getting bombarded with arrows.

 Having to come up with an escape quickly led to us pushing the tractor along for mobile cover until we could get to the silo a yard away. Mark did his best to help, but with an arrow still sticking out of his shoulder and a loss of blood, he couldn't do much. 

 So, doing as best I could, I pushed the tractor along, pulling or pushing anything in front of said tractor out of the way, and that went smoothly up until the final few feet, where one of the scorched walker corpses lay in the path of the tractor, stopping whatever advances were being made.

 The walker was already partially under the tractor wheel, so it took a lot more effort to pull it out from under it; a more correct term would be ripped it out, as the walker's already fragile and rotten body was pulled apart as I dragged the top end to just behind the tractor leaving the wheel to roll through the gore it's lower end leaked out.

 It was just a short distance away from the silo when two things made themselves known. One, my arms were starting to throb in pain, and two, the walker I pulled out from under the tractor wheel was using what was left of its upper half to crawl to us.

 It was a disgusting and terrifying thing to witness. Entrails fell just behind the thing, leaving another set of red strokes next to the one the tractor wheel left behind; in a sick way, some would see it as a work of art or even admirable, but I could tell that it wouldn't care, as its eyes held nothing... No, light and no sentience; whoever the person was before was long gone, and that was probable for the best.

 With one final struggling push, the tractor hit the many metal rims spanning the silo, giving us the signal to barely dodge the walker's grasp and book it back to the front gates of the dairy. 

 The gate had only been a short distance away, but Mark's labored breaths could be heard prominently behind me, which, if I could remember right, meant he was losing too much blood and would soon bleed out.

 Pausing in my tracks, I backtracked and wrapped one of Mark's arms over my shoulder while doing my best to help him balance. With Small limped steps, we made it to the front gate where the johns and most of our group were waiting and watching in shock.

 "Mark! Oh my god, what happened?!" came the panicked voice of Katjaa, which was soon followed up by. "Christ, are you going to be okay!?" from Lilly.

 My group looked genuine in their worry, Bar Larry, but the Johns once again had an eerie feeling resonating from them, almost like they were... Happy?

 Thoughts were cut short by a small form crashing into my leg; already knowing who it was, I reached down and gently patted her head. Not soon after, Mark was pulled off my shoulder but refused anyone's help as they tried to help him walk up to the Johns' elevated home, and he was followed by Brenda and Katjaa, presumably to help take care of the arrow still lodged in his shoulder.

 "What the fuck happened out there!?"

An irritated scoff left my lungs at Larry's question. "That's what I'd like to know; one second, we were setting up two fallen posts, and the next, Mark had an arrow buried in his shoulder. And I'd also like to know why the fuck that fence was turned back on." I said as I shot a pointed glare at the brothers.

 "Shit must have been those bastards in the woods."

This pissed me off to no degree, as they knew and didn't tell us, but it seemed to piss Kenny off even more. 

 "YOU FUCKS! You didn't think to tell us that sooner! WE HAVE KIDS WITH US FOR GODS SAKE!"

 This seemed to shut up anything they were going to say in their defense; even Larry kept his mouth shut, and that was something that only happens every twenty-four eclipses.

 This was when Lilly started taking pieces of them for herself. "Got nothing to say? Maybe you wanted us to die then."

 Andy was quick to defend himself. "No! That's not-"

 Lilly didn't let him finish. "Ohh? THEN WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU TELL ONE OF US?!

 I could tell Andy was starting to lose control of his voice as he continued to try and come up with an explanation but always stopped short when he was about to speak.

 "Well! Are you going to say something? Or continue to stand there and gawk like a fish!?"

 That line made even me wince.

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 As everyone continued to scorch the brothers, none bore witness to the oddly shaped scar marring Clementine's shoulder, shifting into a crimson butterfly with wings as red as blood and eyes as dark as ink. A set of two skulls lay bare for all to witness on both wings, making it look as if it had four bone-white eyes.

 Its antennae had morphed into two distinct hanging stingers leaking red liquid.

 The once-still scar had now become fully animated on her skin. Shifting, it moved and flew wherever it wished on her body; even so, no one noticed or glanced at her, leaving the butterfly to fly around and fill every part of her body with unchecked rage.

 They had tried to hurt something that belonged to her, so she could only return the favor with joyous Glee. Were her thoughts as her lips morphed into an angry yet Gleeful smile.

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  Location Unknown

 In an unknown place, a room could be seen. To anyone other than other divine creatures, it would look like a very dark room that was spacious enough to have its own echo; to the mentioned beings of divinity, they would see countless skulls lining every inch of the darkroom, not a single spot unoccupied by one. With the very center holding up a throne made from only the most bright red skulls one could find.

 Perched on said thrown was a figure of shadow and crimson, eye sockets made of nothing but red orbs. The only thing that stood out on the figure was the jagged, crooked, and long pointy teeth, which highlighted the smile of malice placed on its shadowy face.

 A laugh of death echoed out from it as it watched the floating substance once more. "Soon, my little general, we will see what you are truly capable of. Ohh, how beautiful it will be to see the look of fear soon to mare the creatures who have drawn your ire; their howls and echos of pain and misery shall be my entertainment."

 "IT WILL BE MAGNIFICENT!"

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 Planet Zero

 Dull emerald eyes lay pierced to nothing, as the being they belonged to had long since gone into slumber, Leaving only the unchecked power the body still contained to keep it functioning.

 "Soon... Soon, you will know the pain humans can cause... and soon... you shall hate them just the same... I wish you luck... My dear... Clementine..."

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 Once again, I'm walking through the woods just as I had hours ago, except this time, it isn't with Mark but one of the brothers, Dan.

 After a bit, my group stopped grilling the brothers, thus giving Dan the time to offer a way to get some revenge by finding and raiding one of their camps. While most of the group was hesitant to accept such a plan, they eventually caved and agreed, which got me stuck being the one to go with the brother.

 So here we are, armed with rifles and out hunting for the supposed camp somewhere out here, and if it hadn't been for the small plume of smoke I could see in the sky, then I would have plenty of suspicions about this little walk.

 Motioning to Dan, who hadn't spotted the column of smoke yet, I pointed up and gestured to the direction it was coming from. After a second of looking up at the smoke, he looked back at me and nodded in silence. 

 Taking this as confirmation to move, we started the short trek up to the camp until it came into view, and to say it was disappointing was an understatement, as the camp looked to be just big enough to fit one person at most, not the dozens that were shooting at us back at the dairy.

 But ignoring that, we continued into the empty camp with our rifles drawn and ready to shoot. 

 Dan made a quiet noise to call my attention before he motioned to the boxes on the plastic table just a few feet away. With a nod of confirmation, I started inching toward it while keeping watch of the treeline surrounding it.

 After a few grueling moments, I made it to the table and started going through them, but finding that everyone there was empty, with only a select few having discarded trash lying in them.

 It wasn't until the very back I found something of interest. A small compact metal gray camera; a few buttons were slightly caved in but still held tension, giving me the impression they still worked.

 Flipping the camera over showed me the screen used to view pictures taken and the power button that was switched off. Flicking the switch on, the camera lit up before flickering and showing a battery icon before abruptly shutting off.

 Knowing this to be the universal sign of showing something was dead, I pocketed the camera and turned to see what Dan had been doing, only to see him right next to me, looking at the boxes I had just gone through.

 "I didn't find anything food-wise if you were wondering."

 Dan only shook his head. "It's not that. These boxes were part of one of the food stashes we had put back."

 "Food stashes?" I questioned.

 "Yep, they were something me and my brother put back in case we ran into a bad harvest. But it looks like that won't help, as whoever was here broke into one of them and took everything inside."

 I could see the grip on his gun physically tighten.

 I continued, looking to drive off this topic. "Anything in the tent?"

 With a short sigh, Dan sighed and shook his head, "Not much other than a stuffed animal, blankets, and a hat. Whoever was here is either long gone or out."

 I hummed in response before going to the tent to check it out myself. Kneeling, I pealed the tent flaps open and started looking around, but to no surprise, the exact things Dan stated were there.

 And I wouldn't have batted an eye at it had I not seen something that sent shivers down my spine. Sitting there partially covered by a throw blanket was Clem's hat, the one she lost at the motel. 

 She had already told me she lost it, but I don't think someone could lose something miles away from where they were, so that meant someone had managed to not only sneak into our camp but also take something without getting caught.

 Deciding to deal with the sudden discovery later, I backed out of the tent and stood with the hat in hand; that's when the cock of a crossbow was heard. Parinoiya kicked in and had me spinning around fast enough to cause a small dust cloud; without realizing it, I had the rifle in hand and cross-hair trained on a woman's head.

 It wasn't long before I noticed the stand-off the three of us were in, but Dan and I were the calmest in the situation, as the woman standing before us was frantic and huffing labored breaths. 

 Even so, she was the first one to shoot off a conversation. "Why the fuck are you here, you monster." 

 "Monster?" I spoke with a questioning tone.

 "Did Jolene send you? No, there's no way she would ever even get close to a monster like you."

 Dan chose this moment to speak up. "Hey, we had a deal! No shooting as long as we gave you food!"

 "What the fuck is happening!?" My question only drew the woman's attention for a split second before she returned to eyeing Dan with the crossbow.

 She gave a psychotic giggle. "You had a deal with them! I'm not them!"

Dan raised his gun just a bit higher but stopped when the woman screeched. "Don't you fucking move, you disgusting rat!" "I know who you are! And I know what you do!"

 A glance at Dan showed me the split second his face morphed into a cation before restructuring into that of calm. "You don't know me."

 She laughed hysterically this time, "Ohh! But I do know you, or should I say, what you eat!"

 Filing this all away for later, I interrupted their spat, "Where the fuck did you get this hat?!"

 Without hesitation, she answered. "A little girl."

Her bluntness pissed me off, "You fucking thief!"

 She looked about ready to burst out laughing. "Me, a thief! No; if anything, it's you people who are the thieves. YOU TOOK HER FROM ME!"

 The noise she was making was starting to worry me, as there was no way a walker hadn't heard her shout just now.

 "What the hell are you talking about!?"

She ignored me. "You know what, I've changed my mind; I'm putting this arrow right through your balls! Yeah, right through! After that, I'll string them up and use them to decorate that tree over there."

 Doing my best to calm down, I continued. "Put down the crossbow."

Once again, she met me with her hysterical laughter. "No, sir! I need it! I need it to kill you fuckers!"

 My restraint was running on fumes by this point and continued to drain the longer she spoke.

 Even so, she continued, now shooting pointed and scathing looks at Dan, "Why don't you tell him?! Go on, tell him!" Her giggles carried on. "GO ON! TELL HIM WHAT YOU D-"

 My vision went red, and the sound of a gunshot rang out far.