A/N: Just me responding to reviewers:
Aiko: Thanks for the long review; it made me feel good! I agree that there was a lot going on in that chapter, but I just felt it had to be done! Although one of your assumptions about what would happen in the next chapter was slightly off. Remember when I said I was going to diverge from the storyline? I think you'll be taken by surprise :3 P.S: Yeah, Sarita's an Indian woman. I double-checked on the wiki site since I thought she was Hispanic as well!
Martial Arts Master: That was one of my initial thought for the story, but I decided against it. I didn't want to follow too close to the storyline :)
Updating will be intermittent from here on since schoolwork is slowly murdering me. But I promise I won't abandon this now after y'all like it! Enjoy Chapter 3!
Decisions
Chapter Three: The Truth
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"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."
The knife twirled around and around in the man's hands as he eyed Clementine. Warily, Clementine backed up until her back touched the banister of the stairs.
"Listen," she said, trying to keep the quiver out of her voice, "put the knife down, and we can talk about this."
Kenny narrowed his eyes and the knife glinted threateningly. "Where did this knife come from, Clementine? Tell me the truth."
Inconspicuously, Clementine looked at her backpack, which was lying to her left. Her handgun was sticking out slightly. She could reach it if she-
"I'm waiting." Kenny's eyes were narrowed dangerously.
The eleven-year old glanced down at her backpack again before she spoke. "Our group was split. Luke and I went ahead on the bridge and Matthew met us in the middle. He had a gun when he was talking to us. The rest of our group came up and Nick thought he was going to shoot us. He shot Matthew, but it was an accident, I swear!" Clementine's voice rose in pitch as she finished.
Kenny closed his eyes for a moment and Clementine edged slightly closer to her bag. When the grizzled man opened his eyes again, he spoke, twirling the blade between his fingers.
To her surprise, Kenny smiled. It wasn't a happy smile, however. "Of course, I don't blame you, Clementine. You're just a little girl, of course you didn't kill Matthew." The Floridian stepped toward the eleven-year old, still brandishing the knife. "Who did?"
For the first time in her life, Clementine was truly frightened of Kenny. He was standing over her, still playing with the large knife. The girl began to quiver as she glanced down at her pack again. There was no way she could get to her gun in time. She had to create some sort of distraction.
Clementine swallowed hard before she responded, her voice quivering, "It…it was Nick. Nick shot him. But it was an accident!"
Kenny narrowed his eyes and backed up, dropping the hand holding the knife to his side. "I knew it! That little Vanilla Ice prick couldn't be trusted! Not after…"
"He's a good man!" defended Clementine. "He was just trying to protect us! That man, Matthew, he had a gun pointed at us!"
"You're a little kid! Of course you think all people are nice; you're innocent!" Kenny snarled. "Well, I'm afraid to tell you, it's time to face the real world, where everybody's a shitty person! Even the ones you think you know!"
The other Clementine, the submissive and mild one, would have endured Kenny's words without a peep and timidly walked away. However, Clementine had changed in the two-and-a-half years since she had seen Kenny. She didn't feel obligated to take people's shit anymore.
"I'm eleven!" Clementine screamed. "I know how things work, I've killed walkers before! A lot! I had to kill Lee, too! Do you think that was easy? I've grown up a lot since I was eight! I've learned who to trust and who to be cautious around! And you know what I think?"
Kenny scoffed. "What?"
Clementine's lip curled up in a sneer. "I think the only shitty person I've encountered since Lee died is you!"
Whether it was her outburst, her bold tone, or the fact that she actually cursed, Kenny remained silent. When he offered no response, Clementine went on.
"When my friends doubted you, I told them you were a good person! That there was no way you would hit Sarita in a million years! But now I think you did! You're way different than you used to be, and there's no way I'm going to stay with your group now!"
Kenny got over his initial shock. "Why, you little pissant!" The grizzled man strode forward and seized Clementine's arm. "I'm going to teach you a lesson in manners!" As he started to drag her toward him, Clementine shrieked. His fingers dug into her thin arm painfully.
"Leave her alone, Kenny!" A threatening voice came from the stairs.
Clementine quickly turned to look. Walt stood at the top of the stairs, his hand planted on the gun in his holster.
"Now I don't want to hurt you, Kenny," the bald man warned, "but if you hurt that girl, you leave me no choice.
Kenny gritted his teeth as he looked at Walter, but he didn't release Clementine's arm. "You don't understand what's going on, Walt! Stay out of it!"
"I already heard the whole thing!" Walter retorted. "I heard everything you two said! I know that Matthew is dead! But I trust Clementine when she says it was an accident!"
"What makes you think she's not lying?" challenged Kenny, finally letting go of her arm. Clementine immediately wrenched herself away from him and lunged for her backpack, closing her fingers around her pistol. She turned cautiously, eyeing Kenny. His eyes were on her, watching her grip her gun tightly. She let go of her gun with one hand to rub her bruised arm.
"I know she's not lying because I overheard Luke and Nick talking about it earlier. Although, at the time, I didn't realize they were talking about Matthew. But Nick was pretty shook up about it, which is something that cold-blooded killers never are."
"But," Kenny protested, grasping at straws, "aren't you upset about it? Don't you want revenge?"
"Yes, I am upset," Walter replied quietly, and Clementine could see the sorrow reflected in his eyes, "but revenge is never the way to solve things. It only leads to more bloodshed." He looked in pity at Kenny. "It's about time people learned that now."
Kenny was silent for a few moments. Then he spat on the ground in disgust, tossing Matthew's knife to one side. "Revenge keeps people alive, Walt. Remember? If we had only-"
"I know what happened, Kenny." interrupted Walter. "I was there. There's no need to bring it up again."
Kenny watched Walter for a few more moments, then began to walk away angrily. However, before he went, he hissed some parting words at Clementine.
"You think your group's so trustworthy?" he challenged. "Well, let me tell you, I know some things about your so-called friends. And if you want to follow them and die right along with them, well, be my fucking guest!" Kenny spat on the on the ground again before stalking away.
Clementine looked at Walter cautiously. The bald man was trying to put on a brave face, but tears were streaming down the sides of his cheeks. "Oh, Matthew," he lamented. "if only you hadn't gone out alone…"
Clementine picked up the knife carefully and walked over to Walt, offering it to him. "Here," the young girl murmured gently. "You should have it."
Walter merely looked at the serrated blade with watery eyes. Finally he reached his hand out and took the knife, loosely gripping it.
"I know it probably doesn't mean anything to you," Clementine went on, "but I'm really sorry about Matthew. He seemed like a good man."
Walter sniffed and wiped his eyes. "He was. He really was."
Clementine heard footsteps rushing down the stairs and looked up. Carlos, Luke, and Nick were hurrying down, each man carrying a gun and a backpack.
"Are you ready, Clementine?" Luke asked urgently. "We need to get going, now!"
"Wait," she replied, looking at Walt. The bald man had his eyes on Nick, who was looking back at him uneasily.
"Nick," Clementine said quietly, "you need to tell Walter what happened on the bridge."
Nick eyed Walter cautiously, regarding the knife in his hand. Walter saw where Nick was looking and set the knife beside him on the banister, folding his hands behind his back.
Nick began shakily. "Clem and Luke were ahead of us on the bridge! I saw a man with a gun-could've been anybody, you know?" The nervous man fidgeted a little before continuing. "I didn't know if I hit him at first-but I did. He fell into the river. It was an accident! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Walt!"
Walter bowed his head sadly and Clementine saw more tears trickle down his face. Slowly, she reached her hand forward and touched his shoulder. When he didn't respond, she moved closer, giving him a hug.
Walter seemed to melt into her embrace, beginning to cry harder. Nick just stood on the stairs, seemingly at a loss. "I'm sorry, Walter," he said again.
The bald man cried for a couple of minutes before steeling himself and releasing Clementine. The eleven-year old backed away, still watching Walter.
"We're going to go find Rebecca," Clementine said gently. "If you still want to help us, you're welcome to. If you don't, we won't be mad."
Walter took out a handkerchief and blew his nose loudly. Wiping his nose, he put the cloth back in his pocket before responding. "Yes, I'll still help you. That woman is in trouble and I can't just stand idly by while you all try to rescue her. I'm coming along."
To Clementine's surprise, Nick walked forward, extending his hand. "Listen," he said, not meeting Walter's gaze, "I really appreciate that you're willing to help us still. Not many people would."
Walter nodded, sniffling again. "It's okay, son. I know you didn't mean to shoot Matthew. Now let's focus on the task at hand: finding Rebecca." The bald man strode down the stairs, grabbing a gun lying near the coatrack and turned to the rest of the group. "Ready?"
"Hold on," Clementine said, and turned to Carlos. "I think it would be best if you brought Sarah."
The Hispanic man frowned. "Clementine, you know how I feel about Sarah. If she got hurt-"
"I'm afraid of what Kenny might do," Clementine interrupted. "I'll explain later, just…bring her, okay?"
Carlos watched her silently for a couple of seconds. Finally he called upstairs, "Sarah?" As Sarah obediently appeared at the top of the stairs, Clementine asked, "Is Alvin fit to travel too?"
The Hispanic man shook his head. "He's lost a lot of blood. The best thing for him right now is to lie down."
As they left, Clementine took one glance back at the ski lodge. She was alarmed to see the glaring face of Kenny in the window, watching them leave. The eleven-year old quickly turned around and followed Luke more closely, tightening her grip on her gun.
Kenny's behavior had startled her; she had never expected him to behave like that. She certainly had never expected him to grab her arm. She knew she would have bruises from his tight grip.
Yes, there was definitely something wrong with Kenny's mind, she knew for sure, but there was another pressing matter at hand. Kenny and Walter both seemed to know secrets about her friends. Kenny definitely had some sort of problem with one or more members of her group.
Clementine didn't know what was going on, but she knew one thing. Kenny was not to be trusted around her group. She especially worried about Alvin, whom they had been forced to leave behind.
Kenny, she thought, you'd better not do anything to Alvin, or I'll kill you. I mean it.
She was only a little surprised at her own malice.
A/N: Whew. Talk about plot twists, huh? Kenny turns out to be a huge psycho, and Clementine does some verbal ass-kicking. And what's this secret that Kenny and Walter know about Clementine's group? Review, speculate, and I'll leave my responses to you in the next chapter! Love you guys! xx
P.S: The next chapter will probably take a little longer to be uploaded, but it will most likely be up in less than a week.
