I kept my eyes closed as the moving truck drove forward. My fingers reached up to play with some loose string on my rope bindings, which were slowly scabbing my wrists with every move I made.

I could hear Carlos telling Sarah that they would be at Howe's soon. I tried to tune him out, not really in the mood to know that I'm about to walk into Carvers 'home'. How long have we been in here? Three, four hours? Something near that.

My arm accidently brushed on Nick's, who was sitting right by me. That caught his attention and he turned his head toward me. He gave me a look of concern and I just returned it with a smile. He was about to look away, but we hit a pretty decent sized bump in the road and the force was enough to slam my back hard against the trucks side.

"Shit," I quietly cursed as I grabbed the back of my head. I closed my eyes again, only tighter this time, to help bear the second's-long sting.

Nick reached out for the back of my head, having to do it with both hands since his wrists were bound together as well. I think the only one who didn't have bindings on was Kenny, who managed to get his off and was now sprawled across the floor, still unconscious from his escape attempt.

If one could call it that. He mostly just yelled at everyone and then got a face full of door when the truck had made a sudden stop.

"You alright?" Nick asked, his fingers entwined in my ebony locks.

I gave a slight nod, "My head is. I'm still not crazy about getting into Howe's."

"I don't think any of us are," he shrugged and moved his hands back down, "You're going to hate it there. I'm so sorry, Clementine."

"It's alright," I sighed and let my head rest against the wall. We were quiet for a moment, seeing as how he probably didn't know what to say. It didn't feel quite right to just leave it at that, so I smirked at him, "Getting into shit together is what assholes like us do!"

"Oh yeah?" he played along, a smile tugging his own lips, "And then the two assholes bravely walked into the depths of hell itself and some stuff happened, and they both walked out, laughing about how ugly Satan's brown coat was?"

I chuckled, "That sounds about right…"

"Can't we just settle on dying Luke's hair a funny color next time?" he faked a pleading voice.

"Yes!" I giggled a bit more, "Oh God, yes!"

He let out an amused breath himself, but a minute later he turned to me again, this time he looked serious, "Clem, we need to talk real quick. Howe's isn't safe and Carver makes it worse. Something could happen to one of us."

I took a quivering breath and cast my amber eyes to the floor. "I-I know," I admitted and he placed his hand on my shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze, but it didn't have the intended effect.

Suddenly, the truck gave a violent shake and Rebecca said in a monotone voice, "We're getting close." I looked at Nick with a look of trepidation and he tried to convince me with a smile, but it only made my stomach drop. Even Nick was scared.

The vehicle stopped completely, and the door was raised by Troy, Bonnie, and a woman that I didn't recognise. She was chubby, dark skinned and had a large black afro.

Troy ordered us to move, and all of us did, before Kenny was held back by Troy for getting his bindings off. We were led to a large shutter door, that when opened, revealed a large section of the shopping mall, which held very few occupants.

Obviously this place wasn't very popular.

There was a large dark skinned man sleeping on the floor and a chubby, Indian looking man, who was missing an arm. Troy, accompanied with an insult, shut the hangar door and the one-armed man turned around with a soft smile. "Reggie," Rebecca smiled and hugged him. Reggie, being a little overwhelmed by the sudden arrival of so many people, couldn't find anything to do but smile.

"Hey guys," he said with a slight lisp. I quickly walked over to Sarah, confused as Sarita and Kenny went up to introduce themselves to the new ally.

"Who's he?" I whispered to her. "That's Reggie; he was with us when we tried to escape," Sarah explained, without even setting eyes on me.

"What happened to him," I said, indicating to my arm, and Sarah looked down this time, with an expression of awkwardness. "When we escaped, he fell over...and we just kept running," Sarah admitted quietly, and I felt my insides knot uncomfortably. I absentmindedly began playing with her curly black hair as a distraction from the impending cruel treatment we were going to receive

Rebecca and Reggie took seats next to each other, talking about what happened since the group left and she kept apologizing. He would shake her apologies off and hold up his only hand to stop her from doing it again. Troy came by to take Carlos from the pen, having been needed for something and Sarah's soft objections went by unnoticed.

Nick gave me a nod before heading to a bed and Kenny was walking towards me. "That guy's an asshole," he deadpanned, pointing his thumb backwards to Reggie.

I rolled my eyes, "You just met him Kenny. It's been a long night, you got your face smashed in a door, and you haven't eaten. You're just cranky."

"Maybe," Kenny growled, clearly not amused but recognized that I might be right, "But man, fuck that guy."

I just smirked at him as he turned to glance at Reggie before turning back to me.

"Alright, so we need to find a way out," Kenny lowered his voice and spoke sharply, "We can probably-"

"Kenny," I interrupted, my voice fading away into a yawn, "We just got here. Let's sleep on it. We'll figure out a way. And remember, Luke's out there somewhere. He'll come for us."

He opened his mouth to say something, but I walked off and didn't give him the chance. I figured Nick was already asleep, so bugging him wasn't a real option right now. Instead, I just sat on the closest bed, if one could call it that, and decided to lay down.

I let out a sigh before closing my eyes. Ever so slowly, I drifted off to a peaceful sleep.


Interrupted out of my slumber, I felt my side get kicked as my eyes forced themselves open. I almost forgot I was at Howe's and was about to reach out for a weapon, but the sight of Troy reminded me that I was not in the woods.

Troy just stared at me, giving my side another nudge. I stared back, squinting a bit to try and make myself look intimidating.

He just looked at me, uncertain of what to say, perhaps.

"Get up," he demanded, "Bill wants to have a word."

I didn't question what Carver could've possibly wanted, mainly since I'd find out in a second anyway. I lifted myself off the ground, wavering a bit when I stood up. Stretching out my aching, tired muscles and joints for a few brief moments, I walked toward where the rest of my group and Carver were.

He looked back at all of us, smiling at what he must've considered a job well done. Getting his girl and baby back with a new addition to the flock… How fun that had to have been for him.

"There's been increased walker activity by the walls, so be mindful when staying near them. The herds been moving closer, but that doesn't necessarily mean we'll be hit." Carver spoke, which ripped me from my thoughts and my attention stuck on him, "There are some folks who might be sore on what happened, and how things went."

"How'd you sleep?" Sarah leaned over and whispered to me. I jumped slightly, not expecting her to lean over and ask me anything. I tried to keep my eyes on Carver while responding.

"Pay attention, alright? We can talk later."

"Okay, cool," she smiled, "I just thought it was nice to finally-"

"CARLOS!" Carver interrupted, "You child seems to be in need of correction."

Being the protective (perhaps even a bit too much) parent that he was, Carlos gulped nervously before nodding his head; wanting to do whatever it took to get within the man's good graces. "R-right..." Carlos mumbled before turning to his unnerved daughter. "Sarah, apologize to Mr. Carver."

"Umm... s-sorry, sir..."

The grizzled man was about to mention something else, already looking displeased with how the day was starting off, until his stone-cold eyes landed on me. What the hell did he want? And why was he smirking as if he enjoyed this kind of cruel treatment? It was creeping me out to no end.

But what truly made my blood turn to ice was what he told me to do next.

"You... Carley," he mocked, clearly having seen through that lie when I talked to him back at the cabin, "I think your friend over here needs a little bit of a wake-up call. Why don't you deliver some swift justice? One good smack across the mouth for good measure."

Feeling the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stand up at such a request, I could already see Carlos' teeth gritting as his good hand clenched into a tight fist. "Wait, what?!" I spluttered, looking back between Sarah and Carver as the rest of the group tried to figure out a way to prevent this from happening. "No! You... you can't make me hit her! It was my fault for speaking up! I - "

"Can it, girlie! This ain't up for debate!" Troy spat as he knocked me lightly on the back of the head with his gun. Kenny and Nick, with both of their tempers flaring like wildfire, looked just about ready to try and knock the two of them on their asses, but thankfully they seemed to have recognized the situation. We all knew who had the power along with who was in control around here.

Folding his arms over his fluffy, brown coat, Carver glowered at me before motioning his head back towards Sarah. "Do it," he commanded, "as hard as you can, got that? We need to get the message across: step out of line, and you get disciplined. This could be the first step that leads to disorder and complacency around here. Go ahead, Clementine."

Purposely ignoring the other captives, including a bald-headed man with a piece of his ear missing and some weirdo with a crew cut slinging soil bags up on the roof, I turned towards my friend hesitantly. If eyes could speak, I'd be telling her to duck and run for cover, but she would be too scared of Carver to even pay it any notice. Shakily, I reached my hand up and lightly tapped her across the cheek; making her flinch slightly but not enough to do any real damage.

SMACK!

"YOU SON OF A - "

Onto my knees I fell as I gasped for air and coughed up saliva onto the cold, dirty pavement below; feeling my strength already beginning to wane as Nick was silenced by one threatening look courtesy of Tavia. It seems that Troy had hit me square in the back with his rifle, needing no word from his master in order to do so. What an asshole! I'd like to see him having to hurt one of his own friends in such a humiliating way!

"I'm not going to ask you again," Carver warned coldly as I was roughly lifted back onto my feet by the back of my shirt collar. "Discipline her right now, you got that? We can't have weakness or softness around here, or else this entire place will fall within days. Do I make myself clear?"

Still wheezing heavily, I reluctantly nodded as my back was forced straight and I came face to face with Sarah yet again. Here comes round two...

With no way out of this that won't end badly, I whispered for her to close her eyes and to take off her glasses so that nothing would break upon impact. I'm a lot younger than her, with Sarah being in the middle of her teenage years, but mentally I'm pretty sure that those differences could potentially be reversed.

"I'm sorry," I apologized in advance, and without any more indecisiveness I reached out and struck her right across the face; performing a second backhand maneuver out of instinct just to make sure.

The effect was almost immediate as she backed away from me and instantly ran towards her father, with the latter glaring daggers at me as I looked on in shock at what I had done. Clearly there was no need for a second swing, and I couldn't help but feel like a monster as Sarah's face started to go red from the pain.

"Now that's more like it," Carver praised, patting me on the shoulder and almost making me want to snap his fingers the same way that he had done to Carlos. "Let that be a lesson to you folks - if you all want to survive, which you will under my roof and protection, then you have to be cooperative. Anyone stepping out of line will be dealt with severely. Hell, maybe I'll even give the girl here a permanent position as Smack Master," he joked, snapping his fingers and whistling for everyone to get to their positions. "Tavia, take the kid out to the armory with Bonnie. Troy and I will file out the rest of the positions."

"Yes sir," she answered like a loyal servant. Not even a second later was I told to march through the docking bay at Howe's; sporting one last, longing glance at my friends who are still shaking off the surprise on their faces. "Keep on his good side if you don't want to get hurt," Tavia mentioned as we were out of earshot. "That's just my advice - make it easier on yourself."

I hadn't felt the hope draining away from me like this in a very long time.


AN: Hello all! So if you're wondering, yes, this is a five-person project between Paradoxilla, Rose, Meg, Clover and I. We're each going to take turns in pairs with writing the chapters in this, so for example, Rose and Meg could be writing a chapter, then Clover and I, then Paradoxilla and Meg, etc. We're all on the same page with this, so don't worry – it shouldn't get too confusing.

Also, we'd like to give a special thank you to Aspect of Unoriginal Thought, who said before that it was alright that we're using an idea that's pretty similar. We really appreciate it, and you guys should definitely check out his story, "Clementine's Betrayal", when you get a chance. It's definitely worth reading, so thanks again!