"Keep your eyes peeled, people!"
Duck called out to the group as they traipsed through a patch of tall grass. Clem was at his side, a knife in her hand and her trusty hat on her head, while Duck held his hunting rifle at the ready, scanning the trees for danger. Behind them, Violet and Louis followed close by, keeping a short distance between them.
"Roger that, boss," Louis exclaimed, heaving his chair leg and nodding excitedly at Duck.
"God, does he ever shut up?" Duck whispered to Clem, who smiled.
"Hey, cut them some slack," she admonished, "they've been living behind walls their whole lives, they haven't seen the things we have."
"Still, you'd think he'd take leaving the zone seriously," muttered Duck, cutting down the last of the ferns with his own knife.
Clem chose not to answer, and so they stayed silent as they got closer to their destination. Earlier that day, Duck had had a rather heated discussion with Marlon about their food situation now that three more mouths had been added to the school's ranks. After at least an hour of arguing, Marlon finally let Duck take a small hunting party outside the zone to search for supplies in a small nearby town.
After twenty minutes of walking, they arrived at the edge of a high wooden fence, over which the roofs of several houses could be glimpsed. Louis and Duck helped Clementine and Violet over and then helped each other up.
"This should be good," declared Duck, raising the barrel of the rifle in front of him and taking long, slow steps toward the back of the house.
"So, Duck, how come you know so much about this stuff?" asked Louis suddenly. "Was your dad Special Forces or something?"
Duck cringed at the mention of his father, and closed his eyes for a moment before answering, "I've just had to adapt to the circumstances. And my name isn't Duck, it's Kenny," he added bluntly, glancing over his shoulder.
"Then why does Clem call you that?" Louis responded before he could stop himself, earning a glare from Violet.
"I've known her for eight years," Duck explained, "She could call me shitbird if she wanted to," he said simply.
"Ah, gotcha," said Louis, awkwardly glancing at Violet, who rolled her eyes at him.
"Seriously, could you be any more insensitive?" she whispered to him while Clem helped Duck force the back door open.
"I'm just curious, Vi," he defended himself, "how many times have we met people from the outside?" he asked rhetorically, looking around the backyard in search for something useful to take.
When they got it open, Clem went first. She had her knife out in front of her and advanced slowly, turning her head only inches to either side, keeping her eyes trained in front of her. While she did that, Duck held his rifle aimed high over her head, scanning the room's flanks.
Louis and Violet shared a look as they entered behind them. "Wow, you seem pretty good at that," Violet commented.
Duck was about to retort something, but Clem caught his eye and raised her eyebrow. "Thanks," was all he said, shooting a fleeting glance in Clementine's direction.
After that, they set themselves to search the house thoroughly. Once they had confirmed the absence of walkers or people, they ransacked the place looking for supplies. Although the coast was clear, they still thought it best to go in pairs in case something happened. Duck went to Clem's side at once, but Louis spoke up at that moment.
"Hey, how about we pair up amongst ourselves?" he suggested.
"What do you mean?" asked Duck gruffly, eyeing the dreaded boy up and down.
"Well, since you're staying with us indefinitely, I think it would be good to get used to one another," he explained, "so why don't you go with Vi, and I'll go with Clem."
Duck looked like he was about to refuse, but Clem cut him off, "I think that's a great idea, Louis. Right Duck?" she added, glancing at Duck from the corner of her eye with a small grin on her face.
Rolling his eyes, Duck muttered, "Sure, why not?"
And with that, the two pairs went in separate directions, Clem and Louis taking the upstairs part of the house. The walls here were a deep purple, lined with a number of portraits of a family of four. The previous owners of the house stared blankly at them from their frames as they passed them by. They entered what looked like the master bedroom.
At first glance, it didn't look like much. A king-sized bed stood in the middle, with two simple bedside tables on either side. On a wardrobe to their left were more pictures, long forgotten and covered in a thick layer of dust.
"Well, at least we know no one's been here yet," said Clem, checking the right side of the room and opening drawers as she went by.
"How do you figure that?" asked Louis, who was looking under the bed.
"Well, if there's dust everywhere, that means none of this has been disturbed," she explained, "and the owners may have left something worthwhile."
"You're pretty good at this," Louis complimented, making Clem's cheeks flush. Fortunately, he was still busy elsewhere, so he didn't notice her blush.
"Thanks," she said finally, "I've had to learn this stuff the hard way," she added under her breath.
"I can't imagine what you guys have been through," said Louis apologetically, now looking at her with a frown.
"We've managed," Clem dismissed with a shrug, shaking open a wooden box that was sitting atop the wardrobe. "Duck has kept me sane, mostly."
"How'd you guys meet?" he asked as they left the room, sadly empty handed, and forced the door to another open. This time, it was one of the kids' rooms.
Clem worked silently on opening an old trunk at the base of the bed before answering, "We met on the first day. He was with his family, and I was with Lee," she added sadly, looking down at her hands.
An awkward silence fell upon them as they searched. Louis searched for the right words, sensing the sensitive topic.
"I take it Lee wasn't your dad?" he said slowly, his brow dropping when he noticed her flinch.
"He was the person who found me when I was all alone in my tree house," she told him, "He protected me for as long as he could," she said trailing off and silently checking the trunk's contents. Lucky for them, she found a pack of batteries and a stack of candy bars stashed at the bottom. Thank God for preservatives, thought Clem.
Louis stopped what he was doing to turn and stared at Clem's back while she kneeled in front of the trunk. "What – What happened to him, if you don't mind me asking?" he said slowly.
Clem stayed silent for a moment, weighing his words carefully. She hadn't thought about Lee in some time, and although it was a sad topic she was always glad when her protector swam into her memories. But then she remembered a very important detail, and her mood turned sour.
"What happens to everyone. He died," she said bitterly, looking down and slowly turning to face him.
When Louis met her eye, his heart dropped. Although her expression was neutral, a single tear had escaped her eye, and Louis's eyebrows shot up, "Oh fuck, I'm sorry," he said quickly rushing to her side and putting a hand on her shoulder. "I shouldn't have said anything. Stupid Louis!" he chastised himself.
Clem placed her hand on top of his and chuckled, "It's okay, Louis," she assured him, nodding, "It's just hard sometimes, to remember him."
"I can't even imagine," he admitted, looking away in embarrassment as they continued their search.
While Louis and Clem were having a heart-to-heart upstairs, Duck and Violet kept to themselves as they worked. They were efficiently sweeping the living room and kitchen, gathering a small box of miscellaneous supplies and a crate of canned goods that had been stashed in an already broken down freezer. Once they loaded the last of the cans, Duck nodded at Violet.
"We make a pretty good team," he said, smiling.
"I guess we do," she replied warily, eyeing the cans and looking around for anything else they could grab.
Awkwardly, Duck scratched the back of his head while he followed her lead. Though they said nothing, the tense atmosphere lingered for a few minutes before Violet broke the silence.
"So, Kenny," she started, taking the young man's attention from a pack of expired meat. "How are Clem and you not together?" she asked suddenly, making Duck do a double take.
"Uh, excuse me?" he blurted, frowning.
"You two seem pretty tight, but you guys don't act like a couple," she explained nonchalantly, standing on her tiptoes to reach a tall shelf that seemed to contain yet another can for the pile, "Which leads me to believe you're not one."
From behind her, Duck stood tall and easily grabbed the can, handing it to her with squinted eyes. "She's like a sister to me, I've never looked at her like that," he told her simply, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm just saying, she's cute," she told him, shrugging for a second before realizing what she'd said and widening her eyes.
Duck let out a snort of laughter and smiled cheekily at her, "If you say so," he said, his deep voice getting somehow lower.
"If you tell anyone, I'll kill you," she warned, seemingly shortening the height difference suddenly.
"Hey, it's not me you should be worrying about," he raised his hands defensively, "I get a bad feeling that my 'little sister' might have eyes for someone else, though," he added bitterly, looking up.
"What do you mean?" she asked innocently, confusion written on her face. "You mean Louis?" she said incredulously.
"Unfortunately, yeah," he muttered, crossing his arms, "but she's made it perfectly clear that she can take care of herself, and I am not to meddle in her life, as she would put it," Duck said, taking another can and cursing when he found it half opened and its contents rotten.
This time, it was Violet's turn to laugh. She had a throaty laugh, Duck noticed, which seemed to fit her mysterious persona. "You scared of your little sister?" she teased, tipping his hat slightly upwards.
"I'm not, I –," he started, but was cut off by a clang of metal on wood, and cursing coming from somewhere inside the house. They both looked at each other and nodded, Violet unsheathing her cleaver and Duck cocking his rifle. They slowly crept forwards and peeked through the gap on the door.
Duck could see nothing from this angle, but could hear at least two people talking. He looked back at Violet and raised two fingers, followed by a fist. She seemed to understand, and they opened the door slowly, tiptoeing in the direction of the voices.
When they got to the living room, they saw them: A man and a woman were trying to reach the top of a shelf at the base of the stairs, on top of which was a box of possibly useful things. They had their backs turned to them. The man was rather short, with black curly hair and a denim shirt. His pants were covered in blood; whose blood, Duck couldn't tell, but the man himself seemed to be mostly unharmed.
The woman, on the other hand, was taller than her partner. She could almost reach the top of the shelf standing on her tiptoes, and her jeans were a size or two too short for her. She wore her brown hair in a bun behind her head, and a tan leather jacket to shield her from the cold autumn chill. Duck looked around and saw that they had left a handgun on the coffee table, and there was a large hunting knife sticking out of a sheath on the man's belt.
Duck aimed his weapon at the back of the man's head, and removed the safety deftly. The soft clicking sound alerted the couple, who turned abruptly scrambling for their weapons.
"Uh, uh," said Duck before they could reach for the handgun on the table. "That's not happening, missy," she directed it at the woman, who raised her hands carefully and pursed her lips.
"Please, just let us go," pleaded the man, his voice sweet and mellow. Looking at his face now, Duck estimated the man must be in his late twenties, though a few white hairs tipped his perfectly trimmed goatee, "We didn't know anyone was here."
"Funny, I thought the same thing myself," said Duck, dangerously low. Violet looked to her left and stared in awe at Duck's determination. His unwavering tone and pulse was unnerving, she thought.
"We don't want trouble." This time it was the woman speaking, her voice gravelly and low. A smoker, Duck gathered.
"Neither do we," Violet put in, still clutching her cleaver in her right hand. Unlike Duck, her pulse was starting to shake.
"Who are you?" commanded Duck, still pointing his rifle between the man's eyes.
"I'm Sam," said the man, "and this here is my wife Miranda," he gestured to the woman, who nodded.
"You got a group?" asked Duck, squinting as his eyes darted between the couple.
"No," blurted Miranda, eyeing the barrel of the rifle with a frown, "We're alone. We were just passing through, and figured we could scavenge some supplies for the road. We didn't know you guys would be in here, honestly."
"Kenny, I think they're telling the truth," Violet whispered to Duck, and shook his head.
"We can't take that chance," was all he said, cocking his rifle.
Before he could pull the trigger, Violet grabbed the barrel, "No, Kenny!" she told him, "We should let them go and we get on our way."
"I'm sorry, how many times have you been in this situation?" he asked her bluntly, never taking his eyes off Sam.
"I, uh," she stuttered, "Never," she admitted.
"Well, I have," he reminded her, "And trust me, I wish there was another way."
Before they could continue their impromptu conversation, Clem's voice could be heard coming down the stairs, "Duck?" she asked as she got to the base of the stairs, "What's going –."
She was cut off by Sam darting forward and forcibly grabbing the knife from her left hand. He held her up in a chokehold, keeping the knife's edge close to her throat as she thrashed. Louis came down a second later and was tripped by Miranda, who grabbed his chair leg off the floor. Louis scrambled to his feet and stared in shock at the scene.
"You let her go, damn it!" Duck yelled, aiming his rifle at Sam with murder in his eyes. "You let her go, or I swear to God –."
"What will you do, kid?" Sam cut him off, increasing the pressure on Clem's neck and preventing her from fighting him off. "Now, you will let us go on our merry way, or I will cut her throat faster than you can say 'walker'," he warned, shaking his head when Violet raised her cleaver instinctively.
Although Violet lowered her weapon, Ducks eyes and gun were still steadfastly glued to the man holding Clementine hostage. They were at an impasse, Duck realized ruefully.
Suddenly, Clem spoke up with choked breaths, "Let him kill me, then take these fuckers out," she commanded Duck, her hands still clinging to her neck.
Violet and Louis shared a bewildered look at the request, but Duck shook his head determinedly. "Clementine, you know very well I won't do that!" he reminded her, shifting his aim from Sam to Miranda, and then back to Sam.
"It's the only way, he'll kill me anyway," she breathed, her captor still holding her locked in position.
"Look, I don't want to kill her," said Sam suddenly, "only thing you need to do is let us go, and everyone goes home happy, understand?"
All the while, Miranda had her eyes trained on Violet and Louis, threatening to swing 'Chairles' in their direction should they make any sudden moves. But their focus was on the exchange between Duck and Sam, now bartering for Clementine's life and the couple's freedom.
"And who's to say you won't just slice her throat anyway, shitbird," Duck shot back, venom in his words as he held his ground in perfect stance.
"Because if I did, you'd surely shoot me, wouldn't you?" Sam said, "And that's not what anybody wants here, is it?"
Duck thought for a moment, before training his eyes on Clementine's. For a split second, they had one of their mental conversations, which involved Duck blinking twice and Clem nodding at him. They didn't really have a code, but years together had forged a special bond that transcended words and signals.
"Alright, just don't hurt her," said Duck suddenly, slowly lowering his rifle. He kept his eyes fixed on Clem as he did so.
"That's more like it, bo –," Sam started, but was cut off by Clem raising her left leg and thrusting her boot into Sam's shin. When he recoiled, Clementine swiftly ducked down while Duck raised his rifle and fire two shots in quick succession. Still accurate as ever, both his bullets found Sam and Miranda, and the couple dropped to the floor, dead.
Duck raced forward and grabbed Clem by the shoulders as she rubbed her neck, trying to gulp some much needed air into her lungs. Louis was the first to break free from the spell.
"What the fuck was that?" he exclaimed, "I thought we were letting them go," he said, looking at the couple with a bewildered expression.
"Believe me Louis, they weren't going to let us go," said Clem, regaining her composure.
"And they would have killed us before letting us get away with this stuff," Duck added, gesturing to the box of supplies in the adjacent room. "Those shitbirds deserved what they got."
Violet and Louis shared a concerned look as the four of them gathered the supplies they'd collected. Duck kneeled and searched the couple for extra supplies.
"Dude, come on," pleaded Louis, looking away.
"What? They won't be needing this stuff, right?" Duck reasoned, finding five 9mm bullets in Sam's back pocket. He then took the handgun and the knife, and tucked them safely in his back pockets. They exited the house with five boxes full of useful stuff and, most importantly, enough canned food to last them a while.
"At least this trip wasn't a total waste of time," said Duck as they hauled the boxes over the fence.
"I guess you could say that," replied Clem, heaving the last one into his arms.
"I got it," he told her, nodding.
They walked back to the school in silence, though Louis seemed to think lifting the tension with jokes was a great idea. No one else thought so, and after the fourth unanswered riddle, he stopped, awkwardly looking down at the box in his hands.
Once they got back, the first thing Clem did was search for AJ, who she found in the courtyard drawing with Tenn. When he saw her, he dropped his pencils and rushed to her, hugging her tightly.
"Clem!" he exclaimed, burrowing his head in the crook of her neck.
"Hey, goofball," she whispered, kissing the top of his head.
"Hey, little man," Duck's voice broke their hug from behind her. AJ gave him a similar treatment, while Duck and Clem shared a look over his head. They'd agreed not to say anything about the couple they found at the house, so they told AJ all about the cool things they'd found before their encounter happened. Needless to say, he was excited to hear about their trip outside the safe zone.
Later that night, when AJ had already been tucked into bed, Clementine, Violet, Louis, Duck and Marlon sat on the bench outside the school. They had finished eating dinner, and were silently admiring the night sky. After a few minutes of silence, Louis cleared his throat.
"Alright, I think it's time for a little game," he said, producing a deck of cards seemingly out of thin air.
"A game?" asked Duck, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, a game," repeated Louis, evenly splitting the cards among the players. "It's called war, you know it?"
"Not the game," Duck said simply.
Clementine rolled her eyes and looked at Louis, "How do you play it?" she asked, receiving a glare from Duck.
"Easy. Highest card wins, winner gets to ask one of you guys a question," he explained.
"And what if one of us wins?" Duck asked, crossing his arms over the table.
"Then you get to ask us a question, it's only fair," said Marlon, while Violet and Louis nodded.
"Alright, sounds fun," commented Clem, while flipping the top card of her stack over: a two of spades.
"Hey, what do you know, I win," said Marlon, showing them his ace of diamonds. "So, Kenny. There's no way you've been alone this entire time. Who used to take care of you guys?"
Duck and Clem shared a look, and Clem nodded at him. Sighing, he reluctantly answered the question, "At first we had a small group, led by Lee and my dad. We survived for as long as we could, but fate has funny sense of humor, and we lost most of them on the way. Now it's just us and the little man," he finished bitterly looking away.
"Oh," muttered Marlon, pursing his lips, "Sorry, shouldn't have asked," he apologized.
"Don't worry about it," assured Duck, as they all flipped their cards once more. This time it was Duck's time to ask. "So what's the grossest thing you've ever eaten?" he asked, a morbid smile on his face as he started to relax around the other kids. Clementine smiled, trying to recall the last time Duck had actually smiled for real when AJ wasn't around.
"Easy, horse eyeballs," said Violet, cringing at the memory.
"Slugs," Marlon announced proudly.
"Cantaloupe," said Louis, scrunching up his nose in disgust.
"C'mon, seriously?" replied Duck, chuckling.
"Dude, I fucking hate cantaloupe," Louis shot back, nodding.
"We ate a guy's leg once," said Clem, glancing sideways at Duck, who grimaced.
"Please say you're kidding," said Violet, frowning at Clem.
"I wish she was," said Duck. They all shuddered at the thought, and decided to blow past it, flipping the cards again. It was Violet's turn to ask them a question.
She looked awkwardly at Marlon, and mumbled for a second before saying, "Where are AJ's parents? You guys don't really look related, so, what happened there?"
"We met them after we were split up from a friend of ours, and we promised we'd take care of him before they died," Clem explained, glancing in the direction of the dorms, "they were good people," she added, closing her eyes.
After that, they kept playing for a while, asking random innocent questions in between laughs. Clementine was surprised to be enjoying herself, after the day they'd had. Marlon had freaked out when they mentioned their encounter with the couple, but relaxed when Duck had nodded and said he had taken care of it.
After about five more questions, Louis finally got the high card. He pretended to think about it, scratching his chin pensively.
"Just ask your damn question," Duck snapped, rolling his eyes at the boy's antics.
"Um," Louis stuttered, looking at Clem, "Ever – ever had a boyfriend?" he asked, taking her by surprise. "You can also answer, if you want to, Kenny," he added when he saw Duck's glare boring into his skull.
Clem glanced at Duck before rolling her eyes, "Nope, never," she replied, sighing.
"I find it hard to believe, but okay," said Louis.
Duck suddenly rounded on Clem and gave her a cheeky grin, "Poor Gabe, he'll be so disappointed," he teased, making her blush.
"Ooh, do tell," said Marlon, grinning in Clem direction. It was probably payback for commenting on his weird hair, Clem thought.
"It's nothing," she told them, but they weren't convinced, "he was just this dork who had a crush on me, and Duck scared him off," she explained, gesturing to a very smug looking Duck.
"What'd you do to him?" asked Marlon, now as intrigued as Louis, who was listening intently.
"I just told him, nice and calmly, that if he got close to Clem I'd break both his legs," Duck said with a deadpanned expression on his face.
At his response both Marlon and Violet laughed, and Louis gulped, sparing a glance for Clem. She, on the other hand, was glaring at Duck, oblivious to Louis's stare. Duck obviously noticed Louis looking at his little sister, but decided against his impulse to beat him up. He would respect Clem's decision; plus, he couldn't deny they would look cute together.
After that, their card game wound to a close, with all of them going their separate ways to their respective dorms. When Clem and Duck got to theirs, Duck stopped her on her tracks and looked down at her.
"You sure about this?" he asked her.
"Sure about what?" she inquired, an innocent face beneath her bloodstained hat.
"You know what I mean," he told her. When she didn't catch on, he rolled his eyes. "Are you sure about Louis and you?"
"Duck, I don't even know what I want yet," she admitted truthfully. She actually didn't, and it bothered her that he was pushing this hard on something that hadn't happened yet. "But yes, I'd like to see where it goes…" she trailed off, looking down.
"Alright, Clem," was all he said.
"Excuse me?" she was taken aback, to say the least.
"I won't stand in your way," he promised, crossing his heart, "You're a big girl, you can take care of yourself. Although, I won't say I'm happy about it," he added.
"Seriously, Duck," she teased, kissing his cheek and walking into their room, "when's the last time you were happy about anything?" Chuckling, he straightened his hat and followed her in.