4. Numb
6 years ago
Luke slices his machete into the final walker's head, aggressively jerking the weapon out of it's skull. It heavily collapses at his feet, and his eyes scan the interior of the building after the store goes quiet.
"Alright, that's all of 'em," he breathes, and Clementine follows him further inwards, tucking her bloody hammer into the back of her jeans.
They had spotted a shop on the side of the highway during their trek, and both agreed it wouldn't hurt to search through it for anything they might need while passing through. They'd drawn out the walkers in the building simply by rattling a glass jar filled with small pebbles, which has become a familiar method for them. It's a fairly small building, and they figure it shouldn't take too long to clear out.
"I'll take the front of the store, you take the back," Luke proposes. "Maybe we can find some new clothes for you, too," he gestures to Clementine's blood-soaked sweater with a smirk. An unfortunate run in with walkers on their way here had left her as a dirty mess, and after travelling for so long, the smell was really starting to become unbearable.
Clementine strolls through numerous aisles, eyeing the countless racks of clothing. There are a few garments that catch her eye, but they all appear to be too big for her. Clementine sighs, figuring she shouldn't have expected to find a kid's section in the first place. It was always so difficult to find clothes that fit her small frame.
Still, she picks out a forest green long sleeve shirt with a few buttons lengthening down the middle, hoping it will fit her. She removes her blood-stained sweater and pulls the garment over her t-shirt. Clementine approaches the full-length mirror on the wall. It's shattered in the middle but she can still examine herself despite the sprouting cracks on the surface.
The sleeves hide her hands, so she rolls them up until they reach her wrists. The shirt lengthens almost to her knees and she groans, tucking the hem into her jeans. It looks better, but it's still too loose for her. Clementine sighs heavily again. She looks like a boy. Still, she decides to stick with it, presuming she won't be able to find anything better.
After leaning in close to the mirror, she pushes away the curls that hang in front of her eyes from underneath her hat. There's blood splattered on the side of her face and she attempts to wipe it away, but most of it only ends up smearing and leaving an even bigger red mark than before. Pursing her lips in thought, she figures it doesn't really matter what she looks like.
Stepping back to the clothing racks, she picks out a checkered red flannel as a final touch and pulls it overtop. She likes the color, and it does well in covering up how terrible her shirt fits underneath. Deciding she looks much better now, Clementine rolls the sleeves of the flannel up to her elbows and keeps the buttons undone.
"What do you think?" she asks Luke from the other side of the store.
He turns to her from his spot at one of the shelves, and when she poses with her arms extended outwards, he realizes how loose it appears on her. "It's great, Clem," he beams, then comments jokingly with a teasing grin, "Yeah, I really like the whole 'cool kid with baggy clothes and a baseball cap' kind of look."
She narrows her eyes at him, unamused. "I like it," she says with a smirk, turning away from him.
Luke chuckles while searching through the drawers at the cashier counter. "Alright, it's up to you. I'm just sayin'."
Clementine moves around the back of the store, walking through the shoe section now. It's silent between them as they both continue searching. Suddenly, she beams in excitement and pops up to peer above the aisles. "Hey, Luke," she holds up a pair of vintage cowboy boots by her face, presenting them with a sweeping hand motion.
Now standing a few aisles down from her, he scoffs in disbelief. "What, you want to me to wear those?" he asks sarcastically.
"Why not?" she chirps, flipping them over in her hands a few times. "They'd look great on you."
"Yeah, well, I know what you're thinkin'," he strolls around the outside of the shelves, walking towards her. "Believe it or not, I ain't ever owned a pair of those in my life."
"Well, now's your chance. Come on, try them." Clementine encourages.
Luke rolls his eyes as he takes them from her in defeat, but she doesn't miss the smile that lingers on his lips.
"Oh, wait!" the girl suddenly exclaims as she races over to one of the racks by the wall.
Luke shakes his head as he pulls the boots on, chuckling softly at her energy.
She quickly returns with differently styled cowboy hats in each hand. Plopping one on his head, she observes it thoughtfully before switching to the other one. She stands back to eye the final product. "You know, I really like the whole 'rodeo cowboy' kind of look. It fits you well," she teases with a smug grin, referring to his comment of her before.
"Oh, yeah? You sure you ain't just jealous of my awesome hat?" Luke runs two fingers across the rim of it, then quickly snatches Clementine's baseball cap off her head.
"Hey!" she laughs, reaching for it. He holds it above him as she desperately tries to jump for it, even though she's only half his height. Luke removes his cowboy hat then heavily plops it onto her head instead, the front of it completely covering her eyes.
Huffing, Clementine lifts it up with both hands, peeking underneath. The stray curls from her pigtails fall in front of her face again.
Luke tilts his head as he observes her new look, pretending to be deep in thought. "Yeah, I think the sporty look suits you better," he returns her baseball cap to her head. They exchange smiles, and after a warm moment, Luke playfully tugs on the rim of her hat. "Come on, let's keep lookin'."
They separate to opposite ends of the store again. After a while, Clementine browses her way to a separate room of the shop that's filled with objects she's never seen before. Rising on her toes, she peeks over a tall shelf and curiously observes a box-like machine with rows of buttons that each have a different letter on them. When she presses one, it makes a click sound and the paper sticking through the top momentarily jerks outwards.
She purses her lips in confusion, then continues along the tables. She lightly brushes her fingertips across the surface of a record player, recalling that her dad used to have one in their basement. They never used it though, and she didn't understand why he'd keep it around. She turns over a few different trinkets in her hands too, admiring them. Then she remembers Luke telling her that such things are only a waste of space in her backpack, and she puts them back with a frown.
When Clementine exits to the main shop again, Luke is standing on the outside of the cashier counter by the doors with his back turned to her.
"I don't think there's anything useful in here," she says disappointedly as she approaches him. "But I found all this weird stuff back there. It's kinda cool, though, I guess. Do you wanna see?"
Luke doesn't respond, and she slowly steps beside him to see what he's distracted by. His head is hung low and there's a jewellery rack on the counter in front of him. He's holding one of the necklaces in his hands, gently rubbing his thumb over the pendant.
Clementine peers at it curiously, then glances up at him in confusion. "Are you okay?" she asks.
"Yeah- yeah. Sorry, it's just…" he looks to her apologetically, then eyes the necklace in his palm again. "My mom- she used to have one of these, exactly like it. Used to wear it every day," he reminisces, "You know, before everythin' happened."
Clementine looks to it again with sorrow in her eyes, observing it closer. The pendant is a shimmering, bright blue snowflake, with another small golden heart-shape attached to the necklace's chain. She grins gently at the beauty of it.
"She didn't even make it a day, you know?" Luke exhales at length, still staring down at it. "The world broke into chaos and- before anyone knew, it just… happened right in front of me. Just like that."
Clementine tilts her head to look up at him, resting her arms on top of the counter. "She's in a better place now," she comforts, and memories of her own parents begin to reach her mind. It's something she regularly tells herself, too.
"Yeah," Luke nods faintly, glancing to her.
It's silent between them for a moment. Clementine frowns again, wishing he didn't have to feel bad. "It's you and me, now… remember?"
He smiles at her, and the girl's comforting expression and tiny voice lightens his heart. "When did you start to become the wise one?" he jokes warmly.
"You told me that," she giggles, playfully nudging him in the arm.
"Yeah…" he agrees, recalling the day he said those exact words to her. "you and me, kid."
ooo
Clementine wakes with a painful headache, and every one of her limbs feel as if they haven't moved in days. She moans when she flutters her eyes open, her head pounding even harder. She closes them again and twitches her fingers, feeling the surface of the bed beneath her. The senses begin to return to her muscles.
"You're awake," a soft voice says from somewhere close to her, and she doesn't recognize the sound of it. "I was beginnin' to think the effects wouldn't wear off."
She swallows from the dryness of her throat, her voice hoarse and broken. "What…?"
There's a moment of silence, and all that can be heard is faint shuffling next to her, as well as light footsteps. "What's your name?"
Every inch of her feels heavy and exhausted, like she's being weighed down and is unable to move. But when she finally manages to open her eyes, Clementine turns her head to catch sight of a table with a tray of medical tools right next to her. The area is small and dim with a few lanterns illuminating the space. It must be some kind of doctor's facility. There's four walls surrounding her, but when she notices the grass on the ground, she realizes she's actually in a large tent. There's wooden framework in every corner, supporting the dark fabric ceiling.
"You were out of it for quite a long time." The voice is only a distant echo in her head.
Clementine's gaze wanders to the foot of the bed, and she notices a figure standing near the wall of the tent. Her breath catches in her throat at the sight of him, suddenly realizing she's in a small, dark room with a stranger. He's fairly young, and… he looks oddly familiar. But when she notices the bullet proof vest and the ammunition holster he wears, the distant memories of a black van and swarmed city streets suddenly rush back to her.
The gunmen… they had been hiding from them. Then the next thing she knew she was inhaling a cloud of gas and couldn't see an inch in front of her. And then she felt her head start to spin until she couldn't breathe any longer and everything had gone black.
Oh, no… Luke.
She looks to the man in the room again, opening her eyes fully. His hands are casually shoved in his pockets, and he's staring at her expectantly with a blank expression. He was the driver. The one who told them to search the area, and… they were all looking for someone.
"I need you to talk to me," he says. His chin raises as he confidently strides towards the bed, like he wants to intimidate her.
"Don't…" mumbles Clementine. Her heart pounds harder within her chest and her grip tightens on the edge of the bed until her knuckles go pale. When his hand slowly reaches out to touch her arm, she violently slaps his hand away and squeezes her eyes shut. "No- don't fucking touch me!" she screams, and she jerks up to a sitting position.
In an instant, he grabs her arm to attempt to cease her violent outbreak, but she only yanks away from him, grunting, and he refuses to let go. Her other hand snatches the medical scissors on the table next to her, and various metal tools from the tray clatter to the ground in the process.
She raises them above his head, but he reflexively snatches her other wrist with an empty expression. Clementine holds the tools inches away from him while struggling to break free. He easily contains her, pushing her away.
Another set of hands grab her, and Clementine cries out when she feels something pierce the side of her neck. Her grip instantly loosens on the weapon.
"That's it…" he murmurs, still maintaining his hold on her as the scissors lazily falls out of her fingers.
She feels her body going limp and her eyelids turn heavy, and everything around her fades into blackness once more.
ooo
When she opens her eyes again, she feels cold. Even without seeing where she is, she knows she's in a different place. There's no longer a bed beneath her, and the surface she lays on is hard and painful instead. It's dark, and her eyes meet a wooden ceiling.
"Clem?"
She recognizes that voice this time. It's familiar, and gentle, and so relievable to hear.
"Clem… Oh, thank god, you're awake." Luke is suddenly leaning above her now, and the next thing she knows she's being pulled up by the arms to come to a sitting position on the floor. His hands hover around her as she feels the blood suddenly rush down her body.
"Luke," she breathes, and tears threaten to fall just from the comforting sight of him. He smiles at her, breathing heavily, and her arms are wrapped around him so fast he almost falls back. "Oh, god…" she pants as she closes her eyes, feeling overwhelmed from the relief.
He hugs her back tightly, awed just from her affectionate outburst. He finds he's at a loss for words, just as she is. All Luke can do is burrow his chin in her shoulder, thinking about how much she must need this, and the guilt from the past couple of days flood back to him again.
A moment later, panic suddenly hits him and Luke grips her by the shoulders, pulling her away from him. "Hey," he says, "Did they hurt you?"
"No," Clementine responds quickly, shaking her head. He sighs in relief, and she realizes how worried he must have been this whole time.
She whips her head around to observe her surroundings. It's dark where they are, but there's a small window above them where bright light shines through… and it's shielded by iron bars. There's more next to them, containing them in a certain corner. The building is completely made of wood, resembling some sort of cabin. Beyond the bars are a few different archways that lead to empty rooms, as well as a pair of large double doors a short way down the hall.
"Where are we?" Clementine asks, attempting to maintain the concern that reaches her voice. "What happened?"
"I don't know, we're- we're in some kind of camp. I woke up in here… a few hours ago, maybe. And when they didn't tell me where you were, I thought… I- I don't know. I just-" Luke pants, gazing worriedly around the room. He doesn't dare let his mind wander back to those horrible thoughts.
He'd been so afraid for her. She could've been alive or dead, or hurt. There was no way of knowing, and Luke had no choice but to sit there and wait. There may have not even been anything to wait for… he just didn't know. He had tried everything to escape, but the bars were securely built into the wooden floor, and there was no hope in breaking the shielded window without a tool. They'd taken all his weapons and backpack while he was passed out, including his pocket knife. He was left completely useless.
Then the doors had suddenly opened a couple of hours later and they'd dumped Clementine in there with him, unconscious. He rushed to her side instantly, desperately checking for a heartbeat. "She's delirious," the man had said to him, then left without another word. The doors had loudly slammed shut and the room was encased in darkness again.
Luke briefly lowers his head to the ground, composing himself. "Listen, Clem," he tightens his grip on her arms. "The guys that run this place… they are not nice people, you hear me?"
Frightened by his serious tone, her eyebrows crease in confusion and she stares into his intense eyes. Then she nods faintly, speechless.
"Those guys you ran into, back in the town? 'Kay, they were with 'em." He assumed it at first, but it's the only explanation he can think of for why they're being held here.
Clementine inhales. "I know," she says, holding a nearly blank expression.
Luke averts her gaze, thinking, then turns back to her with hurt in his eyes. He doesn't understand why she seems so calm. "Clem… what they did to you…" he begins softly, his face contorting from the memories, "it ain't right. You know that, don't you?"
Sorrow suddenly flashes across her features and she turns her head away, uncomfortably chewing on the inside of her lip.
He sighs. "I'm gonna get us outta here, okay?" Luke continues with determination. "I- I don't know how, but… we'll- we'll figure somethin' out… 'kay, I promise."
ooo
Later that day, someone finally opens the doors to the cell again. Clementine recognizes him instantly as the man from before. The one she was with in the tent when she first woke up. The one she attacked, before something had put her to sleep again.
The bright morning light momentarily illuminates the room when he walks in, and Luke notices an armed guard keeping watch just outside the building. The door closes shut behind him and they're encased in darkness again.
"Oh, good. You're both awake," he says casually while strolling towards them.
Memories of seeing him back at the town rush back to Luke, and he remembers when he'd brought Clementine to the cell, too… as if she was nothing. Suddenly filled with anger just from the sight of him, Luke quickly strides closer to the bars, gripping them. "Who the hell are you?" he jeers, "What do you want from us?"
He smirks, unfazed by his urgency. "It's Bennett. We go by last names around here," he informs, and Clementine glares at him from behind Luke. "I don't suppose you'd both wanna share yours?"
"Why would we?" Luke responds with malice.
"Fair enough," he grins again, amused. "As for the other question? Well, I'm sure you could answer that one for yourselves."
Luke only responds with a dangerous glare as Bennett begins pacing back and forth on the other side of the bars.
"That's exactly what I came to talk to you about, actually. See, exactly two days ago, two of my men went into town for one of our group's monthly supply runs. My brother was one of 'em. He's a good man, always lookin' out for the group," he pauses, glancing back at Luke as if checking for a reaction. "He volunteered to cover the area, so I assigned 'em to it expecting their return that night. But the thing is," Bennett stops in front of Luke, staring intensely into his eyes, "they never came back."
Clementine's heartrate increases just from his threatening tone, and she warily glances to Luke then back at him.
"We figured they may have gotten holed up somewhere, fightin' against the dead," Bennett explains. "But after two days of waitin', a group of us decided to go into town searchin' for 'em, and instead… we came back with you."
Luke scoffs sarcastically. "Yeah, well there's a lot of dead out there these days. Not everyone can be so lucky."
"See, that's the curious thing. That city didn't seem to have a single biter on those streets," Bennett tests, pretending to be deep in thought while looking at the ceiling. "Come to think of it, how did you two manage to clear out an entire town on your own?" he questions. "Then again, I'm sure you've been managin' just fine, judgin' by all them weapons you had."
The weapons you took from us, Luke judges silently.
"Not to mention your tendency to kill whoever is in your path," Bennett finishes accusingly.
"Don't tempt me," snarls Luke, tightly gripping the bars in front of his face.
He ignores Luke's comment and continues to pace across the room. "Now, I'm only gonna ask you once and I want you to answer me truthfully," he starts. "How is it that our men just disappeared when they went into that town, yet you seem to have been the only other people livin' there?"
From his implied accusation, Clementine looks worriedly to Luke again, but his stern expression remains unfaltering. He only continues to glare angrily into his eyes.
"You see what I'm sayin'? It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together," Bennett states smugly.
"So why keep us in here? Why not just kill us if you're so sure we had somethin' to do with it?" asks Luke.
He ponders the question, rubbing his hands together. "We have three of our own confirmed dead, and two missin'.If what I believe is true, we wanna know why. And we wanna know where they are. But I can't guarantee your survival if you don't tell me what I want to hear."
"Why does it matter?" Luke exclaims in disbelief. "No matter what we tell you, you'll just kill us either way."
"Because I know you wouldn't have done what you did unless you had somethin' to hide. Either way, you're both killers." Bennett recalls the man they had found dead just before activating the gas bomb. They had found the other two shortly afterwards. "My men, the men I swore to protect, to keep this group alive, you murdered them in cold blood!" he accuses with anger rising in his voice.
"Don't tell me you haven't done a thing or two you ain't exactly proud of," Luke points out defensively. "We do what we need to… to survive! Those bastards would've killed us first if they had the chance."
"Well, until we find them, I'm keepin' you alive. I have to know for sure… what happened to him." Despair briefly flashes across his features, and he gazes longingly at the ground. After a moment, he turns to Luke again with determination, his voice stern again. "I'm sendin' another unit back out to that town, and you had better change your mind about tellin' me what you know before they find something they don't want to," Bennett stresses threateningly, then slowly shakes his head at Luke and Clementine, as if he's disappointed. "You're dangerous people, and I won't have you around any longer than I need to."
"We're dangerous?" Luke argues, his voice raising. "'Cause I don't see us usin' sleepin' gas on people then lockin' them in cages like fuckin' animals!"
He chuckles darkly. "It's funny you should say that. Because the way I see it, not only did you kill three of my men during our little… complication back at the town…" he describes it lightly, then Bennett shifts to focus his gaze on Clementine, his voice lowering dangerously. "but she tried to kill me as well… when all I wanted to do was talk."
Luke blinks in shock, looking over his shoulder at Clementine a distance behind him. She glares darkly at Bennett, her fists clenching by her sides as her knuckles turn pale.
Bennett raises his eyebrows at Luke's surprised reaction. "Did she not tell you about that?" he asks slowly, amused. "She started screaming at me. Tried to stab me with a pair of scissors, and I had to stop her before she did. Injected her, in fact."
"Fuck you," Clementine bites back, her voice low.
The gears turn in Luke's mind. They had drugged her? He struggles to piece together what exactly happened while she was kept away from him. She had told him they didn't hurt her.
"So, she does speak," Bennett strides closer towards the bars, refusing to take his eyes off Clementine all of a sudden. "I never did get your name, sweetie."
"Hey! You don't fuckin' talk to her, you understand?" Luke shouts, stepping in between them and forcing Bennett to look at him instead.
He only tilts his head at his outburst, seeming to think nothing of it, then begins slowly pacing back and forth in front of the bars again. "They say that violent outbursts are a part of havin' a troubled mind," Bennett states casually, his tone level. He peers at Clementine again, as if he's trying to taunt her. "Some kind of… mental illness of sorts."
"Shut up!" Luke screams, grasping the bars again. Anger boils within his eyes. It's like Bennett is deliberately trying to push him, both of them.
"She attempted murder! She's disturbed. And you better be sure that girl don't kill you in your sleep!" Bennett bellows back, the bars being the only thing separating them.
Luke clenches his teeth, rage threatening to explode from inside him. He wonders why Bennett takes such an interest in something that is so irrelevant to him. He has no right to imply such things. He doesn't know a thing about her, about either of them.
Bennett's voice is calmer when he speaks again. "Who can tell? She could've slaughtered my brother just for the fun of it, because of whatever bullshit's goin' on in that pretty little fucked up head of hers." With a final glare shot Luke's way, Bennett swiftly turns on his heel and triumphantly strides towards the door.
Luke jerks to clutch the bars. They rattle from his body slamming into them, and he screams at the top of his lungs, "They fuckin' raped her, do you hear me?!"
Clementine flinches.
"She's only seventeen years old! You wanna look for 'em? Go right ahead! I fuckin' killed 'em!" Bennett doesn't look back or even seem to be listening as the door loudly slams shut behind him. The bang echoes throughout the room and they're left alone in darkness once more, but Luke's booming voice only continues to shout louder with every word. "Those bastards ain't even comin' back from the dead! Your piece of shit brother got what he deserved, and you better rot in hell with 'em, you son of a bitch!"
Luke stares after the closed door with panting breaths, and Clementine vomits at her feet.
