The Walking Dead: Red Sky Reloaded

Episode 1: Sweet Pea

"E-Excuse me, mister? Mister, you have to get up now, please?" A small, sweet voice brought him back to the land of the living. Lee slowly opened his eyes and immediately regretted he did. His head felt heavy and he fought the urge of nausea coming over him. It didn't take a rocket scientist to diagnose him with a concussion, but he knew he was never going to get medical treatment for it. This place was just a hell-hole for him to die a slow and horrible death.

[Who are you?]

[Who is that?]

[Leave me alone.]

[…]

"Who are you?" Lee asked with a groan as he grabbed his head. He slowly got into a sitting position on the concrete, at least until his neck began to ache. His vision was still blurry and it was extremely difficult to make objects out. The only thing he could see on the left of him was a small figure separated from him by only the glass of his cell.

"I'm Clementine," the figure began as it pushed itself onto the glass, trying to get a good look at this stranger. "You've been sleeping for a while. Are you okay?" Lee sighed and slowly leaned back against one of the concrete walls. His vision slowly was coming back and he could finally get a good look at this mysterious little person.

Clementine was a cute little thing that's for sure. Unlike many of the other 'Specials' he had gotten a quick glance at, she was quite clean looking. Her curly, black hair which came down to her shoulders was wild and probably could never be tamed. She wore a white gown that was way too big for her, but it was clearly made for an adult. The color of her gown brought out her lively eyes, which were bright golden and almost seemed to pierce you. The little girl smiled at him and awkwardly waved at him.

[Feeling pretty shitty.]

[Could be better.]

[I'm okay.]

[…]

"I'm okay, girl," Lee started. He didn't want to worry the child about his condition, which probably was not great. "My name's Lee by the way." Clementine beamed at him for a moment before sitting pretzel legged on the floor of her own cell. A sad expression slowly began to fester onto her small face.

"This was Sandra's cell," Clementine began with a sigh. "She was my only friend, but she's been gone for a couple days now. She said the guards were gonna take her to get 'special medicine', but she seemed really scared about it. I don't know why though…I thought medicine was supposed to help people. Maybe she was scared that the medicine would taste gross? I think medicine tastes gross a lot, but it always helps me feel better." Lee felt his heart shatter as he heard the girl go on about her friend. "Special medicine" of course meant an injection of sodium cyanide, something that the General would give 'Specials' when they became defective or useless to him.

[She's dead, Clem.]

[I'm sure she's okay.]

[She went on a vacation…]

[…]

"Clem," Lee sighed and shook his head. The girl needed to know the truth about Sandra no matter how hard it was. "Sandra's dead."

(?) You were brutally honest with Clementine. She'll remember that.

"I had a feeling she was," Clementine replied as she looked out into the hall way of the prison. "I saw one of the guards carry away a body bag near here a few nights ago. It makes me sad though because she was my only friend."

"I'm sorry, Clem-"

"Will you be my friend?" She said abruptly as she jumped up. "It's not fun being lonely here. I don't have anybody to talk to anymore now that Sandra is…gone."

[No.]

[I don't know how long we can be, but sure.]

[I guess we can.]

[…]

"I don't know how long we can be," the older man started with a smile. "But, I would love to be your friend." It was weird for Lee to admit it, but the look on that little girl's face when he said that made his heart swell. Out of all of his thirty-seven years on Earth, he had never seen anybody so happy before in his life.

(?) You agreed to be Clementine's friend. She appreciates it!

"I can show you my drawings I made!" Clementine said as she ran over to the table in her cell. "Oh no, I lost the one I wanted to show you!"

"I'm sure it's somewhere…You'll find it, Clem."

"I hope so," Clementine replied with a sigh. "It was one of my favorite pictures. I won't come back over to you until I can find it!"

"Okay, Sweet pea." Lee could use this as an opportunity to finally get a good look at his surroundings.

(o) Examine your cell.

"Not much to see," Lee muttered as he looked around the concrete cell. The only thing close to furniture was the slab of stone for a bed and a dirty, old toilet. "This place is definitely not a five star resort."

(o) Look out at the hallway.

The hallway and the cells surrounding them reminded Lee of those concentration camps he saw footage of when he was a child. The cells were just as deteriorated as his, but the 'Specials' occupying them were in much worse shape than Clementine. They were all dirty and extremely skinny to the point where ribs were prominent on their barely clothed bodies. What made it even more sickening was that some of these poor people were children even younger than Clementine. "Jesus…"

(o) Examine Clementine's cell.

It was weird to see Clementine's cell compared to the others around them. It looked like any other little girl's room he had seen, but that's what made it disturbing. It had a twin bed, a table, carpeting, decorations and some toys. Why was her cell better than the others? Why was she in better shape than the others?

(o) Examine Clementine's wall.

The main wall of her cell was covered in hundreds of pictures that she drew. Lee couldn't help but smile at them before noticing a familiar pattern in each one. All of the drawings had Clementine in them with two other adults; a man and a woman. They all were doing an activity together like going to the zoo or feeding the ducks. They were her parents. Parents who she probably never met before and never would.

"Do you like my wall?" Clementine asked as she still searched for her one picture. "They're of me and my parents."

[Why are you getting special treatment?]

[Looks great, Clem.]

[I like your cell.]

[…]

"Why are you getting special treatment compared to the others?" Lee said as he crossed his arms. "There are children with barely any clothes and starving to death, but you got your own suite here." Clementine immediately stopped searching and looked up at Lee with a look of sorrow.

"I don't think it's fair either," the small girl began as she walked back over to the glass wall. "I always tell General Carver that if I'm treated good everyone should be, but he doesn't listen to me."

"You talk to the General?" Lee's eyebrows went up with that. Something was more to this girl than what met the eye.

"Yeah, he comes over and checks up on me sometimes. He says I'm more special than the others, so I should be treated better."

"That bastard-"

"Don't say that," Clementine scolded him. "The General is really nice to me. He told me if I do what he says I can see my parents. He even lets me draw my pictures and hangs them up!"

"Oh god, Clem… You don't understand do you?"

"No, what?"

[You're not gonna see your parents.]

[He's a very bad man.]

[He's using you, Clem.]

[…]

"Clem, the General is just using you sweetheart." Lee began with a sigh. "He's not gonna let you see your parents, Clem. He's prepping you to become a human weapon!"

"No, that's not true! Carver promised he would take me to my parents and let us be a happy family. Promises are never broken like that…right?"

"I-"

"Goddammit, Luke! Get your ass back here!" The sound of yelling and the door being slammed open startled the two. A young man stormed down the hallway with a look of anger and pain on his face. He looked no older than twenty-three at the most. Behind him was one of Carver's main guards, Troy. "What the hell was that stunt?"

"You shot that boy point blank! That was a little boy, Troy!"

"That ain't a boy, Luke," Troy growled as he grabbed on the other man's shoulder. Luke turned around and began to get defensive. "That was a monster. He would've killed you with no remorse."

"He was five, Troy! You murdered a five year old!"

"A five year old that would've murdered you first."

"Y'know what, I'm done! I never thought that I would be seeing this shit when I signed up! I quit!"

"You can't leave until the end of the month, but don't worry, Luke. Your days here are definitely numbered here…Carver ain't happy with you." Troy said with a smirk as he headed back to the door. Luke leaned back on Lee's glass and slid down slowly. He eventually sat in a fetal position and stayed there for a good fifteen minutes. Clementine looked at Lee with a confused expression and shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm a monster…" Luke mumbled tearfully. "I'm sorry..."

To Be Continued...