AN: Hello anyone! It's nice to be on here and be able to write about one of my favourite TV & Game series. It's been an awful long time since I've done some writing, so my deepest apologies if this is unpleasant for you to read. I've been a massive fan of this series since PewDiePie first aired this series and it's been a thrill watching this series develop. But, after Telltale's unfortunate close, it's left many of us wondering what could have happened in the last two episodes. It pained me and I imagine, you, to see a much loved series not get it's ending, so because of that, I thought I'd try and bring some closure in my own way. I hope you will enjoy this story and hopefully find some closure with me on this little adventure of mine.
Anyway, enough of my waffling. Without further ado, I present to you:
The Walking Dead: Episode 3 – We Lonely Few
It was over. The battle for Ericcson. The fight against the walkers. The conflict against Lilly and the raiders. Finally, it was over, for the time being.
Clementine looked over the courtyard of the school, once a fortified ground, now a blood-stained field, littered with dead walkers, shell casings and the heavy musk of burning smoke and fire. The entrance to the school had been torched to cover the retreat of Lilly and her invaders. They had come for one purpose; to take everyone away.
The Raiders had been unsuccessful in overtaking the school and taking everyone captive. Yet, in their efforts, they had managed to capture Omar, Aasim and a close friend of Clementine's. Who, on the same night, had confessed their feelings towards her, and likewise, she had too.
The thick smoke left from the fight brought a sharp stinging to Clementine's eyes, forcing her to wipe her dried, dirty face with equally dirty hands. She broke her gaze on the courtyard, and look down to shield herself from the smoke. However, her eyes landed on another morbid event that had occurred that night. Mitch.
He had been mercilessly stabbed by Lilly amid battle, in an effort to overthrow her, before being finished off by another stab through the brain. His lifeless body sat limp near the makeshift barricades. His blood formed a large pool around his head, staining his blue denim jacket and darkening the surrounding ground with a red tinge. It was a cruel reminder to Clementine what this world was, and what It could do to the people left in it.
From behind, Clementine could hear several pairs of feet shuffling towards her, as well as the small but noticeable sound of sobs. She looked behind her, seeing the kids of Ericcson coming forward, with Ruby and Willy leading the pack, and Louis, AJ & Tenn close behind.
Ruby and Willie walked past and lent down to Mitch's body. Ruby's sobs became louder as she stared shockingly at his body. Looking almost like what happened hadn't really happened; like it was all just a bad dream.
"It's not your fault Clem" A familiar voice spoke. Clem glanced over her shoulder, seeing a tallish figure wearing a tan coat on in her peripheral vision, with unmistakeable brown dreadlocks.
"Isn't it though?" she replied. "I could have stopped them from taking any of us away. But they did" Clementine sunk her head to her last sentence. A great wave of misery hit her as the adrenaline from the fight faded away, being replaced by this horrible burden.
She felt Louis's hand rest on top of her right shoulder; his best gesture to showing comfort. She also felt a small but familiar figure lean against her other side, joining the effort. "You did what you could, and that's what counts"
"Thanks, AJ" She forcibly smiled down to him. Despite their best efforts to comfort her, neither Louis nor AJ were having an effect on her lead lined stomach. She somehow felt responsible for it all. As if she should have prevented it from happening.
As she looked over Mitch, with Ruby now fully crying over his chest, she couldn't help but feel like she needed to do something. If anything, to try and address the reality of the night.
Clementine sighed, took a deep breath, and walked forward. She knew what she was going to do was going to be difficult. She walked past Ruby and Willy, stopped a couple paces past them, and took another deep breath, before turning round to face the group. Everyone looked to her with solemn faces and desperate eyes. Needing something to ease the pain.
This was going to be hard to stomach, and she had no idea if it would work. But she had to at least try. She tried her best to calm her shaking thoughts before she spoke.
"Tonight has been an awful night. Perhaps one of the worst any of you have seen" She looked down to Ruby, before carrying on. "I understand the pain that you all feel, but it doesn't make it any easier for us to deal with".
"With this fight, they've not only killed Mitch, but they've also taken Omar, Aasim and, and-" Clementine paused, feeling a slight stab in her chest.
"Violet". Clementine looked away from the group, briefly unable to deal with the stares and gazes of her friends. Even uttering her name made her feel lost. Willy and Ruby stared on with their puffy eyes at Clementine, hoping for some comforting words to deal with the whole ordeal. AJ, Louis and Tenn just looked solemn. Louis in particular could see that Clem was struggling, trying to find words that would help an impossible situation.
"They've taken a lot from us tonight. But we must remain strong. For ourselves and for them. I promise, we'll get them back, and hit Lilly and her group where it hurts"
Clem took a deep breath and looked over at Mitch's body before continuing.
"But first" She slowly walked towards Mitch's body. Ruby looked back to Mitch, as Clem knelt down beside her. She put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Let's deal with our friend".
Ruby silently nodded. She stood up, shaking heavily in her legs, looking like she might collapse halfway through. Clem helped support the girl with her arms. Louis and Tenn walked forward while AJ remained still. Louis grabbed a nearby cloth sheet that was blowing lightly on one of the spikes in the courtyard.
Louis placed the sheet over his deceased friend as best as he could. The cloth immediately became stained at the head area, and the material was dirty and ragged. But at this point, anything would do, just to cover the horrific sight.
Clementine let go of Ruby, and positioned herself at Mitch's feet, Louis imitating Clem's movement at the upper end. They grabbed hold of his body, and lifted together. Carefully, they carried the body across the courtyard, towards the graveyard and garden. Ruby's cries started up once more as the pair did so. Willy now also joining in, while AJ sadly looked on.
Never had the child witnessed a human life be taken in front of his eyes. A part of him thought he never would have to experience death. But now that it had happened, the young child felt a heavy feeling of sadness wash over mind, and the world all of a sudden became a darker place.
Once Louis and Clem reached the courtyard and found an empty space, they carefully lowered Mitch's body to the ground. As soon as they did, Louis turned and walked away, shoulders slumped, his walk fast. He wanted to get away from this as soon as he could; not wanting to deal with anyone else. Clem watched as the tired boy made his way into the main school building. She understood how he felt, and left him be. Clementine herself felt drained of any happiness or energy that she had had tonight. When she kissed Violet, she felt like she was on top of the world, like she was flying. But now, that feeling had long gone, when she saw they had taken her away.
She looked down at the covered body once more, before setting her gaze on the solemn survivors. They had all experienced a great loss and tragedy, one that they would never forget nor forgive. For it had been brought on by those who they once called friends. By those who were ruthless and aggressive. And for some, brought on by someone they once called family.
It would be another morbid night to remember at Ericcson School.
They ran. Ran as fast as they could through the darkened forest. Twigs snapping with every paced step. A crow gawking in the distance. The sound of heavy panting becoming louder and louder.
Eventually, the group stopped running, and with it the dead silence of the night fell upon them. Nothing but out-of-breath soldiers to fill the woodland. It was pitch dark, in the middle of the night. It was difficult to see more than 10 metres in front, and the long silhouettes of the tree trunks made for an eerie and tense atmosphere between the soldiers.
But not for Lilly.
After a few seconds of catching her breath, she wasted no time on saying her thoughts. "What, the fuck happened?!" She yelled, almost to the point of screaming. "What the fuck? Some small school, with small kids, managed to defend against a whole fucking lot of grown adults! Pathetic!" She cursed loudly. A deep and angered expression present on her features.
"This should have been a quick and easy operation. Not some fuck up where we retreat!"
The soldiers looked shamefully down to the ground, avoiding making eye contact with their leader. Lilly was renowned in her group for her fiery temper when something went wrong. Even the slightest muck up from someone could cause her to snap. Tonight however had been a massive failure, and so she unleashed her fury in full force to the group.
"It wasn't so bad " one of the soldiers perked up. "We captured some of them, an-". Before the man could finish his sentence, a loud defying shot rang throughout the forest, causing the others to jump in fear, and stare at bewilderment at what had happened.
Lilly was standing with her arm stretched out. Her hand clasping her sidearm. She had shot the man in the head with her pistol. The smoke from the barrel could be seen rising from the cold metal, while the body of the solider fell dead to the ground. Blood poured and coated his forehead as he laid in the dry mud.
Lilly turned round and looked at the raiders, pointing her gun around to wherever she looked. "Anyone else like to offer some words of advice?" She said threateningly. A deep scowl across her features as she looked at everyone.
The soldiers, not wanting to be the next victim of their leaders rage, made no effort to break the silence, and returned to looking embarrassed facing the ground, avoiding eye contact with the crazy woman.
After a few tense moments of Lilly's wavering of her weapon, she lowered her arm and returned the pistol to its holster on her waist before speaking.
"Then let's keep fucking moving!" Lilly set off, rifle in hand once again. Still frustrated from the events of tonight. The soldiers waited a moment for her to lead before doing the same; wanting to keep a safe distance from her.
Lilly looked to her right side as she walked through the woods. She could make out a few walkers moving in the opposite direction to them, seemingly unaware of their presence. She quickly assessed how far they were before shifting her gaze to the horse following close to her side. The animal also pulling a cage along with it. Within the cell it held three of the kids from Ericcson School. Aasim & Omar were sprawled across the wooden base of the cell, while Violet laid on top. Despite the loud bashing and gunshot, they all remained deeply unconscious; unmoving since the battle.
Lilly angrily looked at the unconscious kids, before looking back ahead. How could an organised group be faltered by a couple of squabbling kids? The plan had been to take everyone at the school as prisoner and get them to join her group. She thought the whole operation would be quick and simple; done and dusted within a couple hours. But, to her dismay and anger, it hadn't. The kids of Ericcson had been anticipating and planning for the Raider's plot. And because of it, Lilly's plan had failed miserably.
The kids of Ericcson had been more organised and actually efficient for the group that they were. Much to Lilly's chagrin. A lot more organised than they seemed when she met them a year ago. When Marlon was in charge. She imagined Clementine had somehow changed all that, and had managed to fend off her group without much loss.
"Damn you Clementine" She mentally cursed at the teen. "Damn you for growing up smart". She shook her head in anger. She had underestimated how capable the kids were. How capable Clementine was. She had hoped the once feeble girl would quickly side with her and get the others to join. But, it would seem the teachings of her mentor, Lee, had paid off.
She continued walking through the darkened woodland, rifle in both hands. She only stopped occasionally for the odd shadow that she saw move across the tree trunks, before silently continuing. This continued for another hour, before the woodland boundary suddenly stopped, and ahead lay train tracks. Stretching from left to right, as far as the eye could see in the dark, the metal reflecting the moon's light. About half a dozen old train carriages formed across the tracks, all seemingly lined up. In the dim light, they seemed to form an impenetrable wall.
With all of her thoughts running everywhere, Lilly hadn't noticed how long they had been travelling before seeing the train carriages ahead. The group had travelled from one end of the woods to the other and emerged onto the tracks. The soldiers knew that beyond the tracks lay a train station that they called base. And beyond that, the town centre. She looked ahead, faintly seeing a beam of light move across the base of the carriages.
A couple of the henchmen breathed a sigh of relief. Happy to see they were finally back on friendly group. Lilly shouldered towards the tracks.
"Get a move on. We're nearly there" Once again they continued walking towards the tracks. As the distance between them and the train wall shortened, they could all see more visibly the beam of light going across the ground. The beam moved from left to right, before retracing its path a few moments later.
Lilly looked to her left as the group stopped in front of the train carriages, now seeing that they simply overlapped on different tracks. She spotted a young, brunette haired woman a couple yards from her. She was clasping a rifle similar to hers, but with a scope perched on top of the sights in her hands, pointing down at the ground. She seemed to hold the weapon in a tired grip. The woman herself zoning out slightly, staring at the moving light.
"Clara" Lilly signalled to the woman. She snapped out of her trance like state immediately, not wanting to be yelled at again. She looked up to her leader.
"Take the horse and kids round the back as usual" She signalled with her hand, gesturing to behind the woman.
Clara, half tired, half-awake simply responded "Yes Lilly". Trying her best to suppress the tiredness in her voice. She walked over to the horse, grabbed the reins around the animal's neck and pulled it to follow her, around the path Lilly had shown. She disappeared around the side of the last train on the tracks. Lilly watched her intently for a few moments as they vanished around thecorner, before looking back at the carriages in front.
"Rest of you, with me" Lilly walked towards of the carriages' edge, the rest of the group following closely behind. They traversed across the various tracks, weaving across each lane to pass the carriages blocking the way. That, and the dozen barricades that had been put in place to make it difficult for wanderers to traverse across.
Lilly had memorised the route off by heart by now. Enter from the middle right, across one, turn left and back one. Cross under the carriage, three tracks right and fit across the gap, before turning left. She initially had struggled to get to grips with the route when she first settled in. Mainly due to her inability to memorise things for long. That, and she had only just joined the group at the time, after running away from her previous one. Now, the route was like instinct, she knew her way around, even if she was blindfolded.
They emerged from the carriages, and in front of them lay a massive open courtyard and the train station. The building itself appeared large and rustic in appearance, surrounded by walls of corrugated steel sheets and thick wooden planks, with a large set of gates in the middle. Perched on the top of the walls were 2 soldiers. One holding a rifle, looking across the courtyard, while the other moved a large, makeshift spotlight across the open ground.
The man with the rifle spotted Lilly's shadowy figure among the train carriages, and quickly raised his rifle at the ready.
"Oi! Who's there?!" He shouted, his gruff voice almost echoing across the courtyard. "You better clear off before I put a round in ya"
"Calm the fuck down Gerald. It's only us" Lilly shouted back, replying in an annoyed tone. The man moving the spotlight shifted the bright light towards her position, and the beam shone on her, illuminating her out of the dark. She waved up at them both.
Spotting that the stranger was their leader, Gerald lowered his weapon and responded more timidly. "L-Lilly, didn't know it was you". He turned his back on Lilly and shouted down at someone.
"Open the gates. They're back".
Knowing it was safe to proceed, Lilly walked across the open ground, heading towards the gates. As they approached, the heavy steel began to slowly open inwards, letting out a low but heavy rumbling noise and revealing the base within.
A few people could be seen moving across the base, going about doing their duties like busy bees. As she approached the gateway, she spotted two people in particular coming towards her. One of them being Clara. The other, a tall, dark haired lad with thick stubble and slightly aged features.
"Lilly" He greeted warmly, smiling.
"Connor" She greeted back. No hint of friendliness in her tone of voice.
Spotting this, Connor looked confused and concerned.
"What happened?"
Lilly sighed deeply, having to rely the bitter information to someone.
"They were ready for us. We managed to take three of them, but we didn't expect them to put up much of a fight. They killed one of ours"
"So I hear" Connor replied. "Clara told me about that" He paused for a moment before continuing.
"Is it true you killed one of them too?" His tone turning serious.
Lilly looked at the man in the eyes. He didn't respond with any words, but he didn't have to; his reaction was enough for Lilly.
"I had to alright?" She responded defensively. "The kid was lunging at me with a knife, what do you expect?"
"I expect you to deal with someone who's half your age more effectively than that" He calmly replied. Although Lilly could tell he was irritated.
"I'm the boss around here okay? I don't need your fucking approval on how I handle things. My life was in danger. I did what anyone else here would do" She responded furiously.
"Maybe, when I'm next out with you Connor, I'll lunge at you with a knife and see your reaction to that. Maybe you can show this mystical sympathy when I plunge it in your heart! And with that said, Lilly pushed past Connor hastily. Giving him a hard shove on his shoulder with her own in the process. He stood still, taking the hit, not wanting to pursue the issue.
"See if you can calm her down for me" Connor said to Clara. She responded with a tired nod. "I'll try my best" Clara then immediately took off after Lilly.
"What is it Clara?" Lilly said half annoyed as she heard Clara's footsteps approach hers from the right.
"What should we do with the prisoners? Connor told me we should put them in the spare rooms" Lilly huffed and let out a little laugh.
"Ha! He fucking would, wouldn't he?" She looked at Clara in the eyes. The woman shied away from her gaze and looked to the ground.
"Put them in the cells as normal".
While Clara would normally leave it at that and be on her way, Connor had asked her to try and help her. And she didn't want to disappoint. So, she persisted.
"Wouldn't it be a better idea to keep them in the rooms? If we want to get them to join-" Clara was suddenly cut short by Lilly.
"And you think that will work better?" She snapped violently, her face forming into an all too familiar sight.
Clara recoiled slightly from her leader's reaction before replying. "Well, it didn't go smoothly the last time we did that. Remember the red head who wouldn't give in?"
"Minerva" Lilly uttered. Clara silently nodded. The girl who caused the most trouble out of all the captives from Ericcson School. She had proven remarkably resilient to the Raiders efforts to get her to join them, and for that, Lilly had both admired and hated her for it.
Lilly let out another a sigh, this one in annoyance. "fine. We'll keep them in the spare rooms" She stopped in her tracks and pointed right into Clara's face. She jumped slightly at the act. Lilly held her in an intimidating manner.
"But if this turns out to be a load of bullshit, it's your head Clara Reeston" Clara nodded quickly, and with that, Lilly carried on walking.
Clara looked on as her leader walked off across the base. She hoped her strategy would work. Otherwise, from experience, Lilly truly would have her head.
She had hoped she had made the right decision.
"AJ!" Clementine shot up from her bed wide eyed, as she heard the cries of a baby echo through her head.
She looked around her room, looking for the child, but he was nowhere to be seen. The room was dark and empty; only her laying in the darkness.
"AJ. Where are you?" She said, as she heard another cry be let out. This time quieter. It appeared to be coming from outside, in the hallway.
Clementine climbed out of bed and walked towards the door. She turned the knob and slowly pushed the door open. She gasped and tensed up as she saw a gigantic horse in front of her. She had had this dream many times, but every time reacted in the same scared and frightened manner as before.
The saddled creature walked past her, as if she was invisible and walked down the hallway. It turned right, briefly stopped, then continued walking. Clementine watched, stood frozen as the horse disappeared around the corner. Then, she heard another cry echo across the school. It appeared to be where the horse was going.
She walked cautiously down the ghostly hallway, frightened that something may jump out and grab her from around the corner. As she approached, the faint sound of gunfire could be heard and over the top, more cries of a baby.
Clementine turned to face down the long hallway and went wide eyed at what she saw. The blood red sky gazed brightly from outside the school doorways. It blazed evilly, illuminating the end of the hallway with a hellish appearance.
Not only that, the hallway was scattered with walkers up and down, some of them lurking still in the shadows, while others were illuminated against the red light.
Almost by instinct, all of the walkers turned to face the teen and began shuffling towards her. Their pace seemed quicker than usual, and the light gave them a demonic aura. The sight terrified the teen to the core as she saw them shuffling towards her at the terrifying pace.
She quickly looked down to her right and gasped once more. She saw the horse on the floor, appearing wounded. It raised its head up to her and stared at the girl with its brown eyes. Looking desperately for an escape from its impending doom as they advanced towards it.
AJ's screams echoed throughout the hallway once again. Without hesitating, she began running towards the entrance way, hoping to find the child before it was too late. She shoved past the first few walkers as they made an attempt to grab out to her. The next few she dodged and sidestepped out the way.
Clementine continued to sidestep and dodge past the undead. Occasionally shoving one in the shoulder to get past. However, one of the walkers made a lunge at the teen. Seeing this, she instinctively jumped to the walker's side, landing on the floor hard and winded.
She scrambled to get back up onto her feet. Before she could however, something grabbed onto her right foot and tried to pull her back. She looked back, to see a male walker, heavily decayed in the face, tugging forcibly at her boot, trying to bite her.
Clementine's heart was racing with fear, as she saw the male grip her leg in a deep hold, coming close to biting her exposed knee. The walkers she had gotten past were also drawing in, shuffling dangerously close to her.
Clementine kicked as hard as she could with her gripped foot. The effort was in vain however, as the walker had most of the girl's foot trapped in its grip. She tried again, but again the walker wouldn't let go. The other walkers had now caught up to the pair; their arms reaching out to taste Clementine's flesh.
Clementine screamed as she saw them approaching. She kicked the man as hard as she could with her other foot in the face, and kicked again, until the walker loosened up her grip. It was all Clem needed. She seized the opportunity to break free and hastily got up back on her feet before more walkers could get a hold of her. She continued running down the hallway, her heart jumping out of her chest from the adrenaline and fear.
At this point, the gunfire and screams became louder, to the point that it rang through Clementine's ears with a deafening effect. The remaining hallway was now clear of walkers, but the ones she had gotten past had caught up with her, and almost seemed to be running as quickly as her. Clem sprinted desperately towards the red sky, hearing the collective moans of the undead close on her tail and another cry.
"AJ" she gasped as she sprinted towards the doors.
She almost barged into the wooden doors as she approached them with break neck speed. Now feeling hot heat hit her skin as she came into the red light. Another cry rang out from outside. She fumbled with the door handle, trying to open the battered door to escape. The walkers drew closer and closer to her as she frantically twisted the metal knob, to no avail.
She turned her head round, to see the hallway of undead a couple metres from her. One walker grabbed Clem by the shoulder with their hand and began pulling her back.
"No!" Clem screamed, not wanting to meet her fate. She shoved the walker back as best she could and twisted the knob again. This time the door opened, and without wasting one more moment, Clementine darted forward.
"AJ!"
