Thanks to gaara king of the sand for the help!
Clementine couldn't help but feel nervous and each time she noticed Sarah anxiously glancing around, she felt even more nervous. They had been walking for over twenty minutes and had made a good distance away from the cabin.
"You two okay?" Ray asked. "Do you need a break?"
"I'm okay…" Clementine said.
"What about you, Sarah?" Ray asked.
"I… I guess I'm okay…" Sarah muttered. "But…. Where are we going to go?"
"As far away from that cabin as possible." Ray said.
"But what if my dad comes back?" Sarah questioned. "He's going to look for me and I'm not there."
"Unless the walkers got him." Clementine piped up.
Sarah sent the younger girl a look.
"Clem… hush…" Ray said. "I'm sure your dad is fine, Sarah. If he's lasted this long, he must be smart. He knows how to survive."
"Y-Yeah…. He… He is smart. He's a doctor…" Sarah said.
"Exactly…" Ray said.
"Do you think we lost that Carver guy?" Clementine asked Ray.
"I sure hope so." Ray said.
"What about the others…?" Clementine slowly asked.
"Who?" Ray asked.
"Those guys… who hurt me…" Clementine said.
"We've lost them a while ago. Don't worry." Ray told her.
"Okay…" Clementine said. "You don't think they're looking for us."
Ray was quiet for a moment. Knowing Lance and his men, they were definitely looking for them. He didn't want to scare the two girls. "No Clem…."
Clementine looked at him for a moment before frowning. "…I don't believe you…"
Ray frowned. "Clem…"
"I don't believe you! They're looking for us and they're going to find us!" Clementine exclaimed in a slight panic.
"Clementine, please calm down. They're not going to find us." Ray said, trying to calm the girl.
"How do you know?" Clementine inquired. "You don't. You don't know that!"
Sarah was looking back and forth between the two with a concerned expression.
"Clementine, look at me." Ray knelt to the child's level, taking hold of her shoulders. "I won't let them hurt you. I promise I'll protect."
"Like you did before?" Clementine demanded before taking a deep breath. "S-Sorry… I'm just… scared…"
"I know…" Ray hugged the young girl. "We're going to be alright. I'll die before I let anything happen to you two."
"I don't want you to die. Please don't die, Ray. You're all I have left." Clementine said, tears threatening to leave her eyes.
"Which is why I'll do whatever it takes to protect you… Don't worry though. I don't plan on dying any time soon." Ray said.
"Good…" Clementine said.
The two separated from the hug.
"Let's take a break… I need to figure out where we're going to head." Ray said.
The young girls nodded.
The three of them sat in silence for a while.
Finally, Sarah spoke up again, "Ray, why can't we go back to the cabin now?"
"We don't know if that guy is still there. It's too dangerous. Especially if he brought back up…Something tells me he's not alone."
"What does he want, Sarah?" Clementine asked. "Why is he after you guys?"
"I… I don't know…" Sarah frowned.
"Really?" Clementine raised a brow. "You don't know. There has to be a reason… I mean, he killed Pete
"Dad said I shouldn't talk about him because he's bad…" Sarah said. "So… I'm not going to talk…"
"But your dad is not here…" Clementine said.
Sarah was quiet for a while. "When we first went to Howe's Carver seemed nice… but… but then he got mean. He forced everyone to work all day and he would yell if things got messed up… It was so scary. I remember him and Luke would fight a lot. It wasn't until we found out Rebecca was pregnant that things got really bad. He was obsessed with her. He wanted everything to be perfect and if it wasn't he would get really mad. He said anyone who didn't pull their weight was a liability and… and that they didn't deserve to live…."
"What the fuck…? What a psycho…" Ray muttered.
"Dad said he wouldn't find us…" Sarah said. "What does he want? Why can't he leave us alone?"
"I don't know… But I'm going to make sure he doesn't find us now." Ray said.
"What about my dad? What about Rebecca, Luke, and the others?" Sarah asked.
"They'll be fine, Sarah. Hopefully they'll catch up with us…" Ray replied.
"How? We don't even know where we're going..." Sarah said.
"What about Wellington?" Clementine said. "We could go there…"
"What's that?" Sarah asked.
"My friend Christa and I were going there. It's supposed to be safe. It's in Michigan somewhere." Clementine explained. "Why don't we head there?"
"…It might be our best bet…" Ray said.
"Do you think we'll find Christa on the way?" Clementine asked.
"I don't know, Clem… Christa… Christa might be gone…" Ray said.
Clementine's face fell at that. "She's not. She's tough. I'm sure she's okay."
"Alright…" Ray said. "Well, if she's heading there we might run into her."
"I hope we do…" Clementine said.
"For now, you two just stay close to me." Ray said.
"Okay…" Sarah said.
Clementine gave a nod in response.
Luke was feeling extremely anxious, it had been far too long since they had set out on their search for Nick, Pete, and Ray. With no sign of any of them, Luke and Alvin were beginning to fear the worse. The scattered bodies along the riverbed only worsened those fears.
The two men had searched the bodies and were relieved that none of their group members lay among the corpses.
Hours had passed and they carried on through the woods, hoping to find at least one of their missing group members.
"You think they're okay?" Luke asked, looking worried.
"I hope so… I thought they'd be back by now…" Alvin said.
"Yeah, me too…" Luke said. "They never take this long…"
"Well… Maybe we should split up and see if we can find them…" Alvin suggested.
"No way. That's a bad idea…" Luke asked. "For all we know, Carver could be out there…"
"I guess you're right..." Alvin said. "I wish that asshole would just leave us alone already."
"Don't we all." Luke muttered.
"If I could kill him I would…" Alvin said.
"Too bad you won't get that chance…" A voice spoke as a man stepped out from the bushes.
Alvin glared at Troy as the man chuckled.
They had no time to react before they found themselves surrounded by Carver's guards. Clearly outnumbered their only choice was to surrender.
The guards disarmed the two men and began to tie them up.
"This is way too easy." Troy said. "Three down, four to go."
"What about our girl?" Lance inquired. "We still need to find her."
"Your girl?" Luke repeated.
"Ain't nobody talking to you." Troy snapped before looking to Lance. "Bill said he'll find your girl, and he always keeps his word."
"Well I hope he does… I don't like being lied to…" Lance grumbled.
"Tie these assholes up, we'll take them to the camp." Troy ordered.
"Where's Carver?" Luke asked as Johnny started tying his wrist.
"He went to find the rest of your friends." Troy said.
The guards finished tying the two men and led them to a nearby came.
Troy forced them to the ground and they proceeded to wait for Carver to return from wherever the hell he was.
Luke was surprised when he spotted Nick. "Nick?"
"You guys too?" Nick said with a sigh. "Damn… We're fucked."
"No, we're not. We need to come up with a plan. We need to figure out a way to escape." Luke said.
Alvin shook his head. "You need to figure out a way to escape."
"What do you mean?" Luke asked.
"You need to go warn the others about Carver…" Alvin said.
Luke furrowed his brows, not sure what Alvin was getting at.
"Did Uncle Pete and Ray make it back to the cabin?" Nick asked in a hushed tone.
"I'm not sure… We headed out looking for you guys yesterday…" Luke said. "They were together though?"
"Last I saw them, yeah." Nick said.
"Which means they might have gotten back by now… Either way, Luke needs to go warn the group about Carver." Alvin said.
"Are you out of you mind? I'm not leaving you guys." Luke said.
"We don't have a choice, Luke. Alvin's right. We can't all go…" Nick said. "I'm pretty sure that wouldn't end well."
Luke sighed, "Alright… I'll come back for you guys as soon as we figure out a plan…"
Nick and Alvin nodded.
"We'll distract them and you make a run for it…" Nick said.
Luke gave a nod. He didn't want to leave, but he knew their options were limited.
"Alright…" Nick said. "Hey assholes! You think you could loosen these ropes?"
Troy sent him a look, "Now why the hell would we do that for?"
"You're cutting off my blood circulation." Nick complained.
Bonnie frowned, letting out a sigh. "Alright… Johnny, undo their ropes."
Johnny raised a brow, "You sure?"
"Yeah, what the hell, Bonnie?" Troy complained.
"I'm sure." Bonnie said.
"But why?" Troy demanded.
"You probably tied them too tight." Bonnie said. "It's not like their going anywhere.
"They're prisoners, who cares?" Troy grumbled.
"They're not prisoners, Troy. Stop it." Bonnie said. "Now, Johnny, go ahead. Undo the ropes."
Johnny hesitantly motioned for Nick to come over. Nick did so and Johnny started to untie his ropes.
"So… what, you're Carver's slaves?" Alvin asked. "He tells you to jump and you say, "how high"?"
"Fuck you, man! Ain't no one a slave." Winston growled.
"You sure act like slaves." Alvin said.
"I ain't nobody's fucking slave!" Winston hissed.
"Winston, calm down…" Ralph said.
"Don't tell me to calm down. Did you hear what he just fucking called us?" Winston snapped.
"Ralph's right. No point in getting worked up over these assholes." Lance said. "We need to focus on the task at hand. Getting our girl back…"
"Right… Sorry…" Winston said.
Johnny finished undoing Nick's ties and Nick took a moment to rub over his wrist.
"That's better." Nick stated.
Before anyone could say another word, Nick delivered a punch to Johnny's face.
Johnny stumbled back from the blow.
"Hey!" Troy snapped, aiming his gun at Nick.
With the attention focused on Nick, Luke opportunity to run. He hoped Nick would back down before Troy decided to actually pulled the trigger.
When the sound of a gunshot reached his ears, his heart dropped in his chest.
Luke tried to shake away the horrific thought of his two friends lying lifeless on the ground. He told himself that they were fine.
He forced himself to keep running, hoping he would make it to the others before Carver did.
Ray looked over a map, trying to pinpoint exactly how far they were from this Wellington place. Clementine had mentioned it being in Michigan, which meant they had quite a distance to go.
Ray just hoped they'd be able to find some place safe soon. He glanced over to the girls who were caught in a game of "I spy". They seemed to be okay for now. "How you two holding up?"
"…I miss my dad…" Was Sarah's response.
Ray didn't know how many times she had said it, but his answer was always the same. "I know…"
"I hope he finds us soon…" Sarah said.
"And maybe he will… But right now, we need to focus on getting somewhere safe." Ray said.
"Okay… But we were safe at the cabin…" Sarah said.
"We weren't. If Carver is as bad as you guys say he is, then it's not safe to be there with him." Ray said.
"I know, but did we have to leave the others? My dad is probably worried." Sarah said with a frown.
"He'd want you to be safe, Sarah. That's important." Ray said. "Leaving was our only choice."
"Or we would've ended up like Pete…" Clementine said.
Sarah gasped, looking over to Ray fearfully. "We… We won't end up like Pete… Will we?"
"No… I won't let that happen. I promise." Ray replied.
"You have to pinky swear…." Sarah said. "That's forever…"
"Okay then…" Ray agreed. "I'll pinky swear."
Sarah held out her pinky, motioning for Clementine to do the same.
Ray looked to the two young girls and locked pinkies with them. "I'll keep you two safe."
Luke didn't even take a moment to catch his breath as he rushed towards the cabin.
A thousand thoughts were running through his head. He had no idea what to do if Carver was at the cabin. He was weaponless, thanks to Troy.
His musing came to an end as he bumped into someone.
"Luke?" Came Rebecca's voice.
"Rebecca, Carlos… Thank God." Luke said.
"Where's Alvin?!" Rebecca inquired, noticing Alvin was not with him.
"They… They caught him." Luke said.
"Who?" Carlos asked.
"Carver men…" Luke said. "Our guard was down and we got caught…"
"No! We gotta do something!" Rebecca gasped.
"What about Nick? Did you find him?" Carlos asked.
"They got him too..." Luke said. "What are you two doing out here."
"We were searching for you. You were gone for so long…" Rebecca said. "I can't believe this is happening…"
"Where are the girls?" Luke asked.
"We left them at the cabin…" Carlos said.
"Alone?" Luke asked.
"Yeah…" Carlos said.
"Shit… We need to go get them." Luke said.
"Wait, what?" Rebecca asked. "We NEED to go help Alvin and Nick!"
"No. We need to get the girls. Alvin and Nick will be fine, they're tough. But Carver's out there and if the kids are alone at the cabin and he shows up there, it's not going to be good." Luke said.
"Luke's right. We need to make sure the girls are safe." Carlos said.
Rebecca sighed. "Okay… You're right… But then we go help Alvin and Nick."
"We will, but we need a plan. Did Ray and Pete ever come back?" Luke asked.
"We left first thing this morning. We wouldn't know…" Carlos said.
"Hopefully they did… This whole situation is fucked…" Luke muttered, shaking his head.
"I told you not to go… I warned you." Rebecca said. "It was a bad move…"
"We had to help our people, Bec…" Luke said.
"And now look what's happened. Leaving didn't help anything! Now Alvin got caught!" Rebecca snapped.
"We didn't know that was going to happen…" Luke said.
"How did you get away?" Carlos asked.
"Nick and Alvin distracted them… They told me to warn you guys and make sure you were safe…" Luke explained.
Rebecca just frowned. "I can't believe this… This is awful…"
"Everything's going to be okay…" We're going to figure something out. We just gotta get the kids and…" Luke trailed off as the cabin came into view. "Something doesn't feel right…"
The others nodded in agreement.
As they walked through the clearing and towards the cabin, they couldn't help but feel something was wrong.
Approaching the front porch stairs, they saw the door was wide open.
Carlos felt his heart thunder in his chest. He had specifically told Clementine to lock the door and not open it.
They entered the cabin, Carlos and Rebecca kept their guns close as they stepped inside.
The place was a mess, glass from picture frames was shattered on the floor, furniture was thrown backwards, the lamp was broken. The three stood in shock for a few moments before they finally took notice of a familiar form on the couch.
"Pete?" Luke called, a look of concern on his face.
When there was no response, Carlos inched closer to the man on the couch. The doctor felt his blood run cold as he noticed the bullet wound in Pete's head. Carlos felt ill from the sight.
"Is he…?" Rebecca trailed off, anxiousness filling her at Carlos's silence.
"He… He's dead…" Carlos said.
"Fuck…" Luke swore, eyes wide. "What the fuck happened?"
"He's been shot…" Carlos noted. He looked over Pete's form and something else caught his eye. "He… He's missing a leg…" He tried to put together what must have happened to the man, but there was so much to take in it was hard to imagine…
"Damn it… Just… fuck…" Luke muttered as he began pacing a bit.
"What do we do now? What are we going to do?" Rebecca asked.
"Where's Ray? Nick said him and Pete were together… He should be here…" Luke huffed.
"I don't see him…" Rebecca said.
"I'm going to check on Sarah…" Carlos said. "She must be terrified."
The doctor rushed upstairs before anyone could get another word out.
Rebecca looked to Pete with a sad look. She couldn't help but feel guilty about everything that had happened. "This is horrible… It… It's all my fault."
Luke shook his head. "Don't say that, Rebecca. It's not your fault."
"But it is… We all know what Bill wants." Rebecca muttered.
"He's fucking crazy. We're doing the right thing by staying away from him. You know that…" Luke said.
"Pete didn't deserve this…" Rebecca said.
"No… He didn't…" Luke said.
"We… We gotta help Alvin… We need to hurry. If not… Carver is going to kill him…" Rebecca said.
"We're going to help him. Nothing else is going to happen. We'll get the girls, figure out a way to help Alvin and Nick, then we head north. We'll lose him up in the mountains."
"Okay…" Rebecca nodded. "We-"
"They're gone!" Carlos suddenly exclaimed, rushing downstairs.
"What?" Luke asked.
"The girls are gone!" Carlos repeated.
Rebecca's heart dropped, her eyes grew wide in horror. "Bill must've gotten to them… God damn it!"
"What do we do…?" Luke asked.
"I'm going to find him… I need to find my daughter…" Carlos said as he started to make his way towards the door.
"Carlos, wait!" Rebecca grabbed his arm. "We can't go to him…"
"We don't have a choice. He has all our people. We have to go." Carlos said.
"That's what he wants. You're walking right into his trap." Rebecca said.
"If that's what it takes to get Sarah back, so be it." Carlos replied.
"Carlos, do you even hear yourself right now?" Luke asked. "Be rational about this. We need to come up with a plan."
"We don't have time to make up a plan." Carlos said. "My daughter's life is at risk."
"So… what? We turn ourselves in and then what do we do?" Luke demanded.
"Who said anything about turning ourselves in?" Carlos responded, pulling his arm from Rebecca's hold. "I'm going to find Carver… and I'm going to kill him…"
"We won't be able to… Not with all his men… Our best bet is to play it cool so he lets his guard down, meanwhile we'll come up with an escape plan." Rebecca said.
"Rebecca's right. That's our best bet. And in order for that to work, you need to keep a cool head, Carlos." Luke said.
"Okay…" Carlos grumbled.
"Good…" Luke said. "Alright… Now or never… Let's go get our people back…"
"Lead the way…" Rebecca said.
