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Ellie felt someone shake her shoulder gently, which caused her to awaken. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Ellie looked up to see her father smiling down at her, "Mornin'" he greeted. She smiled back, "Mornin'." Ellie looked around to see that everyone was still asleep. Well, except for the mysterious woman and that guy, Mike. "They said they're having us work outside" Kenny glared at the guards that were by the pen gate. Ellie swung her legs over the side of the bunk, attempting to stand up. Before Kenny could object, Ellie stood up. She groaned a bit as she felt a tiny sharp pain in her side, but she ignored it.
"Whoa" Kenny put an arm around her "Ellie, you sure you're able to walk?" Ellie nodded, "It's just a minor pain, now. I'll be fine." Kenny nodded slowly before walking to the gate with her. Ellie's heart stopped when she saw Carver. She felt like she could collapse at any moment. Carver looked at all four of them, "Walker activity has increased outside, so be mindful when outside walls. Know that we're monitering the situation. Now..." he paused a moment "Some folks might be sore about happened, and how things went. Well, that's all in the past now. Some of you are new to our community. Some of you are members who went astray." He looked at Ellie.
Ellie tried to keep her expression brave, but she knew Carver could read her like a book. "There's no need to be nervous, Ellie" Carver said, smiling. Ellie shook her head, "I'm not nervous." Carver just shrugged, "All of you get to work." Mike came up to Kenny and Ellie, "C'mon, we're working outside. Follow me."
Mike took them outside and led them to this shoe store. It was all boarded up and looked pretty secure. "Carver wants us to work on the exspansion" Mike said. Ellie looked up at him, "Huh, so that plan is finally going full circle."
Kenny nelt down in front of Ellie, "You okay?" "As good as I can be" Ellie answered. Kenny reached up and ran his thumb on her dried up cut, "We'll be okay. I'll protect you no matter what." Ellie nodded, "Thank you" she smiled lightly "C'mon. We gotta get to work."
About an hour passed since they started working. Ellie was helping Mike nail down a board when Troy came in. "Hey! Ellie!" Ellie turned to him, "Yes?" "Bill radioed. Said he wanted a word with you in his office." Kenny couldn't help but worry, "Wait, what's goin' on?" "None of your business!" Troy snapped. Ellie turned to her father, "It's alright. I'm sure it's fine." Kenny gave her a worried look before nodding his head slowly. Ellie walked out of the store and headed for Carver's office.
Ellie could hear the walkers moaning and groaning as she passed. She could also see them banging against the fence. There must have been dozens of them. And that was just near the fence. She couldn't imagine what the parking lot looked like.
Ellie broke out of her train of thought when she felt someone grab her from behind. She tried to scream, but they covered her mouth and dragged her into the comic book store. Ellie struggled to get out out of their grip, but they were too strong.
"Ellie! Stop! It's me!" Ellie stopped struggling. She knew that southern voice from anywhere. They quickly turned Ellie around in their arms. It was Luke. They locked eyes. Ellie didn't know what to say, but she had an idea. She stood up and playfully punched him in the arm.
"Hey!" Luke clutched his arm like he was in pain, which he wasn't.
"That's for scaring the crap outta me."
"Well, I'm sorry about that-" Before Luke could finish, Ellie wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
"And this is for coming back."
"You make no sense sometimes, El" he rubbed her back "But it's good to see you."
They both pulled out of the hug. Luke's eyes widened when he saw her face, "Ellie! Jesus, what happened to you?!" "Carver happened." "That piece of..." Luke couldn't finish. Ellie put her hand up, "I'm fine. What's your plan?" Luke nodded, "There's a herd of lurkers just South of us. It's bigger than I've ever seen around these parts. Ellie nodded, "Carver said that he hopes it passes us." Luke shook his head, "I heard folks talkin' about that, but that ain't so. It's gonna hit this place. I don't know when. But it's comin' and it's gonna be soon."
"So, what's the plan?"
"I need you or Clem to meet me here around this time to give me one of those walkie talkies. This way I can figure out the patrol schedules and figure out a good time to escape."
Ellie nodded, "Okay. We'll get you one." Luke smiled, "Thanks, El. I'll try and talk to the others if they come by here." Ellie nodded and headed for the door, "No problem. Just... be careful, okay?"
"You too, Ellie."
Ellie made her way up the stares to Carver's office. She saw him waiting by the door. "Ellie," he greeted "glad you could make it." "So, you gonna knock me around like the first time?" she asked, sarcasticly. He ignored her and motioned for her to go inside. When Ellie walked inside, her eyes went wide when she saw Alvin. He was bloody and battered and unconsious. "Alvin!" Ellie shouted. "He passed out hours ago" Carver said "He can't hear you." Carver motioned for her to sit down.
Ellie sat down across from him at his desk. "Ellie," Carver said "there's no reason for us to be at each others throats here." Ellie gared at him, "That's funny. Comin' from a guy who pointed a gun at my head."
"That was just a precaution. I'm sure you understand." Carver leaned back in his chair. "Ellie, you think I wanted to put you in the pen? You're smarter than that. You have the potential to be a real leader. But your backed up in a corner here."
Ellie raised an eye brow, "What's your point?"
Carver leaned forward, "They don't listen to you. I mean, they must rely on you and that other girl more than anything. They're weighing you down. And sooner or later, it's going to come back and haunt you." Ellie thought for a moment, "These are good people!"
Carver just shrugged, "When you first came here, you took charge. And maybe you could do that again. And when you get let out of the pen, you can have this back." Carver reached inside one of the droors and he pulled out Ellie's knife. Ellie stared at it, but said nothing. Carver got up from his chair, "All right, we're done here. Go back out to the yard. It's almost supper time."
Ellie walked inside the pen to see everyone there. Well, except for Rebecca, Clementine, and Reggie. "Guys!" Ellie ran towards them. Everyone turned their attention to her. Kenny raised an eye brow, "El, you okay?" She quickly nodded, "I saw Luke outside." Mike looked up at her, "We know. He flagged us down when Troy wasn't looking. Mentioned his plan. Said he talked to you and Clementine."
"Here" Kenny gave Ellie some canned food and she sat down in one of the lawn chairs by the fire. "Ellie," Sarita started "there's something you need to know." Ellie looked confused, "What is it?" The Indian woman closed her eyes and sighed, "Reggie's dead, sweetie." Ellie's eyes went wide and her heart stopped. "W- what? H- how?" Kenny looked down, "Clem said that Carver tossed him off the roof." Ellie closed her eyes and tried to process the information, "That son of a..." Ellie sighed.
Ellie turned her attention towards Matthew, "Matt? You alright?"
"Yeah. Just... just really frickin' tired" He rubbed his forhead "Are you alright? I mean, you did get knocked around like a punching bag." Ellie rubbed her hand on her stomache, "Yeah. I'm good."
Ellie saw Rebecca walk into the pen. Rebecca sat down next to Ellie and smiled, but Ellie could tell she was not happy. Her eyes looked a little red, as if she was crying. "I'm sorry, Rebecca" Ellie whispered. Rebecca noticed this and nodded slightly. "I saw Luke" Rebecca said "We need to get that radio to him." "I was thinking of something else" Kenny said "We could bring the herd to us. I don't know about you, but after what happened this morning, I don't know what that sonuvabitch is gonna do next!"
Out of the corner of her eye, Ellie saw Clementine walk in and sit down next to her. "So you want to ring the dinner bell for a herd of walkers to show up?" Mike asked "How is that better?" "Because this place will be fuckin' chaos when that thing hits" Kenny said "No one'll be payin' any attention to us. And that's when we go. That's our opening. We just gotta figure out a way to draw them to us. There was a girl back at Crawford that used church bells all over the city. We just need something loud."
Sarita thought for a moment, "The PA system Carver is always using is quite loud." "There are some speakers outside the building... pointed towards the parking lot" Mike said. "I saw the controls" Clem said "They're in Carver's office." "She's right..." Rebecca said "It's all controlled in Bill's office. There's a switch in there that will turn them on."
Kenny smiled, "Thats perfect! We just gotta get into his office. Why didn't you say something sooner?" "Because it doesn't change anything" Rebecca said "This isn't a descussion on how to do it, it's a descussion about whether it's stupid. And it's still stupid. The best thing to do is to get Luke the radio and wait for an opening."
"Why can't we do both?" Clem suggested "Even if we bring the herd to us it's probably good for Luke to tell us where it's coming from." Ellie smiled, "I agree." Kenny nodded, "Okay, so we get that turd a radio, he keeps us posted on the herd's movement. We fire up the PA thing and bring the walkers to roll over this place." "And then what?" Mike asked. Kenny turned to him, "Get some guns and shoot our way out. I don't know! What ever we can! We improvise." Mike shook his head, "Then that's not a plan. You don't plan to improvise." "I've figured out what your problem is... you don't think this stuff through. If the end of the plan is to stroll through a herd of walkers, you should know from the jump there's no way it's ever going to work."
"Actually..." the mysterious woman stepped forward "I do it all the time." Mike glared at her, "First words I ever hear you say, and it's just some crazy, stupid shit." "Hush" Sarita said "What do you mean exactly?" "When you cover yourself in their smell, rub the walker guts all over you... they can't tell you from one of them." Ellie eyes widened. That's what she did to escape Savannah. "I've done it too" Clem said, quietly. Ellie nodded, "Yeah. Me too."
Kenny looked at both girls with wide eyes, "What?" "It's how we got out of the Marsh House" Clem said "Lee covered me and we walked right through." Ellie nodded once more, "That how I got out of Savannah. I figured it out after I killed a couple of them." Kenny smiled, "Holy shit. Good one, girls." Kenny stood up, "All right! Let's get that stupid radio!" "We still have to find a way into the stock room" Rebecca said. "I got a plan for that, too" the woman turned to Ellie "Come on, kid. Gonna need you help."
The woman led the group over to a half broken ladder and a winch. "She just needs to use the winch... she can just climb up from there. Then just drop into one of the skylights over the stockroom." Ellie nodded, "Now or never, I guess." Kenny smiled, "That's my girl" he said "We gotta get that rope down. Mike, you wanna boost her up?" Ellie walked over to Mike and hopped on his shoulders. She started to pull down the rope until the hook was down to the ground. Mike put her down and Ellie stood on the hook. Mike began pulling her up towards the ladder. Once Ellie was near the ladder she jumped to it. She looked over to the parking lot to see about a thousand walkers. "Monitering the situation my ass" she muttered. Once Ellie was on the roof, she ran over to the stockroom skylight and climbed in.
Ellie landed on one of the shelves. She noticed Tavia sitting in a chair below. Ellie made her way down the shelves as quickly and quietly as possible. When she got down, she saw the radios on a table and Tavia talking to one of the guards on one. Ellie snuck her way over to the table. She quickly took two radios from the chargers and went back to the shelves quietly.
Ellie climbed back down the ladder to see Mike standing under it. "Did you get 'em?" he whispered. Ellie nodded. Mike held out his arms, "Okay, jump down. I got you." Ellie jumped down and Mike caught her. He quickly put her down, "We best get in bed. Troy'll be back any minute." Ellie walked over to her bunk. "Well?" Kenny asked. Ellie pulled out one of the radios from her pocket. Kenny smiled, "You little devil." Ellie layed down. "Nice job, kid" the woman said. Ellie smiled, "Thanks. The name's Ellie by the way." "Jane. Anyway get some rest." Ellie closed her eyes, but imediately opened them when she heard her father.
"I thought about Duck today, about his dumb little face... first things that come to mind are always the dumb things he was doin'... Kid was always runnin' in circles. every damn place he went he'd just run. You couldn't stop him. Makes it harder to remember he was a good boy."
Ellie closed her eyes at the thought.
"Well, Long day tomorrow" Kenny said "One long day."
