Thanks to gaara king of the sand for the help.
Burying her sister was a difficult task. She felt her heart literally tearing in two. Becca choked back sobs, not wanting anyone to see her cry. However, she couldn't keep herself from crying. She hated it, she felt like a helpless little child.
Once the job was done, she wanted nothing more than to be alone and the group agreed to let her sit by herself for a while.
Vince and Wyatt were confused. They had been walking for so long, it seemed as if they were going in circles. When Luke suddenly stopped walking they did so as well. More confused than before, they glanced around. It wasn't long before they caught sight of other group members.
Luke strode forward, Vince and Wyatt following him.
Bonnie's eyes widened. "You made it!" She said approaching them.
"Yeah." Wyatt sighed. "Luckily."
"Where's Clem?" Luke suddenly asked.
"Carlos is taking a look at her." Bonnie said.
"Okay…" Luke mumbled, walking away to check on the other group members.
Bonnie looked to Vince, "Is he alright?" She asked.
"I don't know. He hadn't spoken for hours." Vince said.
"Yeah." Wyatt nodded. "I'm surprised he led us to the right spot."
Vince nodded in agreement. "Did everyone else make back okay?" Vince asked.
Bonnie shook her head. "Shel's dead."
"W-What?" Vince stammered.
"Shit…" Wyatt muttered. "How's Becca coping?"
"She's dealing with it…" Bonnie sighed. "She wanted to be alone for a while."
The men nodded in understanding.
"Fuck…" Wyatt said sadly.
"What about everyone else?" Vince asked.
"They're here…" Bonnie said. "Clem's unconscious."
"Poor kid…" Vince said. "What happened?"
"No idea." Bonnie replied. "Carlos is looking at her now…"
"So… What's the plan?" Wyatt asked.
"We need to find somewhere to go." Bonnie said. "The baby shouldn't be out in this cold… and it's definitely not helping Clem."
"Right." Vince agreed. "I guess we need to figure out what our next move is."
"How is she?" Luke asked, looking over to the unconscious Clementine.
"She's okay." Carlos replied. "She just needs to rest."
Luke let out a sigh, "Alright. We need to find someplace safe for the baby. Someplace warm." Luke said.
"I'll agree with that." Kenny said.
"Okay." Luke nodded. "I guess we should do some scouting. I'm going to talk to the others."
"Sounds good." Carlos agreed.
With that Luke walked away.
Luke approached the other group members. "We need a plan…" He spoke. "I'm thinking we can find some temporary shelter until we figure something out. Let everyone rest up for a bit."
"The museum's close by. We can get the group settled there." Bonnie said.
"What's the condition of the building?" Luke asked.
"Windows are broken, but as long as we're careful we should be fine." Mike said.
"That's good. Until then, we should probably look for another spot, just in case." Jane spoke up.
"Yeah." Luke agreed. "There's an observation deck around here. We can check it out."
"How about you and I go do that?" Jane suggested.
"Sure…" Luke said.
"While you're doing that we can start making sure the museum's okay to move our people in to." Mike said.
"We'll help." Vince said. "Better to get these kids out of the cold as soon as possible."
"Alright." Wyatt said." Sounds like a plan."
"I'll stick around. You should too, Russell." Bonnie said. "We need people here to be on the lookout if anything goes wrong."
"Got it." Russell replied.
With that discussion finished, the group started to head to do their assigned task.
Luke and Jane walked in silence.
Jane could tell something was bothering the man, she didn't know what. "You alright?"
"Why do you ask?" Luke questioned.
"You seem upset." Jane replied.
Luke scoffed. "The world's fucked up. Of course I'm upset."
"I know what you mean, but you can't let it bother you." Jane said.
"Why not?" Luke grumbled.
"Complaining isn't going to help anyone." Jane replied.
"Fair point." Luke said. "That's why I'm not complaining."
"Well… You shouldn't keep it bottled up either…" Jane said. "What's eating you?"
"Well, my best friend just died right in front of me a few hours ago." Luke said. "That's something…"
"That's not all." Jane urged him to continued.
"No, it's not…" Luke sighed.
"What else?" Jane asked.
"I keep thinking about Carver… What he did to Clementine…" Luke mumbled, he could literally feel his stomach turning. "It's sick…"
"I know." Jane said.
"He completely messed her up…" Luke said. "I'd be surprised if she didn't hate me."
"For what?" Jane inquired.
"I basically led her there. It's my fault." Luke said.
"You're not the one who raped her. That was Carver." Jane said.
"That doesn't make it any better." Luke shook his head. "I put her in that situation."
Jane sighed. "You can't go blaming yourself."
"I can't not blame myself…" Luke replied. "I can't imagine how much this is going to screw her up."
"Nothing we can do about it." Jane said. "The damage is already done."
"I know…" Luke said. "That's the worst part. He destroyed that child."
"She's still alive." Jane said. "She can get better with help."
"That kid will never be the same. She been through a lot… What Carver did to her probably tops everything." Luke said.
"Yeah, she's been through a lot. And she's worked through it. That's proof that she can get through this too." Jane said.
"I hope so…" Luke sighed.
"Come on. We can't worry about that now." Jane said. "Let's check out this observation deck. I like the height."
"Yeah." Luke nodded.
As the two made their way to the observation deck, Luke asked a question, "What about you?"
"Hmm?" Jane looked confused.
"Are you okay?" Luke asked her.
Jane hesitated before speaking, "Why wouldn't I be?"
Luke didn't respond.
Jane sighed. "Who is okay these days?"
Luke shrugged in response. Soon enough the arrived at the deck and Jane looked to the man.
"I just got some things on my mind…" Jane said.
"Want to share?" Luke asked.
"I'd rather not…" Jane replied.
"Come on…" Luke said. "It's not good to keep stuff bottled up."
Jane rolled her eyes as he used her own words against her. "Fine."
Jane was quiet for a moment and Luke waited for her to speak.
"I'm… I'm just thinking about my sister." Jane said.
Luke raised a brow. "You have a sister."
"Yeah… Well… I had one…" Jane sighed. "She died."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Jane." Luke said.
"Yeah…" Jane sighed. "Clem… She reminds me of her… I don't know why."
Luke sent her a sympathetic look, "How… How did she die?"
"I… I tried to save her… keep her alive, but she just gave up?" Jane said.
"She killed herself?" Luke asked.
Jane was silent for a moment. "I dragged my sister across four states... And every morning, she'd say she wasn't getting up. So I'd convince her. Or push her. Or goddamn carry her, if I had to. Until this one time..." She paused for a moment. "Walkers cornered us. Forced us up to the roof. And then when they kept coming... I... I couldn't make her jump. Couldn't throw her." Jane stammered. "So I tried something else. I told her she could have what she wanted. And I left her there. Jumped to the next building over by myself."
"You left your sister?" Luke asked in disbelief.
"It killed me for a long time. But I finally realized that I'd put her on a forced march through hell, when all she really wanted was for me to let her go." Jane replied.
"I'm so sorry." Luke said.
"It's fine. Nothing we can do about it…" Jane said before mumbling to herself. "Maybe that's what it is about Clementine…"
"What?"
"Nothing." Jane shook her head. She started to make her way up the stairs of the deck.
Luke stood in confusion for a moment before following her.
Once they were both on the deck, Jane cleared her throat. "This gate's still locked."
"Hopefully no one got here before us." Luke said.
"Yeah. That would suck." Jane said. "Anyway, there might be something useful in there."
"Right now the question is, how are we going to get it open?" Luke said.
Jane shrugged. "I probably have something I can use to pick the lock." She dug into her pocket, pulling out a pocket knife. "This might work." She mused.
"You think?" Luke asked.
"Well… It's worth a try." Jane replied.
"True." Luke said.
"While I'm doing this, how about you take a look around?"
"Sure…" Luke said. He looked around the area of the deck before making his way over to a nearby telescope. He looked through it, slightly surprised to find it was working. He could make out a building across the river. He knew the group needed rest, but that could be a good stop to where ever it was they would go next.
"See anything?" Jane called.
"Yeah." Luke said. "There's a building across the street."
"The next river crossing is miles away, but who knows… It might be a good stop."
"Right." Luke nodded. "This area is an okay spot, but the kids need someplace warm. Especially considering we have an infant with us."
Jane sighed, "Everyone else's problems don't have to be yours."
"What do you mean?" Luke asked.
"That baby isn't yours. It's Rebecca's. Same goes for the other kids. They're not your children, they don't have to be your responsibility."
"We're a group. We need to help each other."
"Groups don't always work out." Jane said. "And if you get an attachment… It's hard to turn away when things go south."
"I'm already attached. They're my family." Luke stated.
"I'm just saying… You can let their parents deal with them." Jane replied. "You're going to stress yourself out."
"Everything's already stressful. I care about those people. I'm not going to stop helping them." Luke said.
"Your choice." Jane shrugged. "I'm just letting you know."
"That's fine." Luke sighed. "I don't mind helping people I care about. They're what makes my life worth living."
"I guess it makes sense that you feel that way." Jane said.
"Yeah." Luke mumbled.
They fell silent. Luke walked around, looking for anything useful.
"How's that gate coming?" He asked after a few moments.
"I don't know." Jane said. "I think I almost got it."
"Well, that's good."
"Yeah…" Jane said.
Silence fell over them again before Jane suddenly placed her knife down, standing up.
"What's wrong?" Luke asked as Jane started to approach him.
"Nothing…" Jane said. "You know… You don't always have to put so much stress on yourself. Sometimes you just have to take a moment to forget."
Luke shook his head. "That's easier said than done."
"Doesn't have to be…" Jane replied, unzipping her jacket.
Luke looked confused. "What?"
"Let me help you forget." Jane dropped her jacket from her shoulders.
Luke's eyes widened. He knew where this was going.
"I… I…" He wanted to protest, but his words were lost. He was frozen as Jane tugged her shirt over her head.
Soon enough the woman closed the gap between the two of them and he could feel her hand run over his clothed member.
His lips trembled as two words fell from them, "Oh shit…"