Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. All rights reserved to their respective owners.
Kenny, Sarita, and Clementine looked to Reggie who looked to the three with a questioning stare. "Oh right. Let me introduce you. We were with them when we got caught." Rebecca explained.
Reggie smiled and he went to greet the newcomers. "Hi, I'm Reggie."
"That's Sarita…" Rebecca introduced the Indian-American woman.
"Hi." Sarita greeted the man.
"And that's Kenny." Rebecca continued.
"Hi there." Kenny said with a smile.
Reggie smiled to the two but then noticed Clementine and asked, "Hello, who are you?"
"I'm Clementine." The girl introduced herself.
"Otherwise known as Keith's girlfriend." Rebecca said with a smirk.
Keith and Clementine rolled their eyes at Rebecca, but Kenny was extremely shocked, since he didn't hear Keith's confession back at the ski lodge. He glared at Keith and grumbled, "I f****** knew this was going to happen. I think it might be best that we keep you two away from each other for a while."
"Kenny!" Sarita exclaimed.
"I'm not going to let Clementine date a boy who has a psychopath for a dad!" Kenny snarled.
Reggie backed away noticing how the situation was getting extremely tense. Meanwhile, Rebecca and Nick glared at Kenny for his unkindness.
"How about you f*** off!" Nick barked.
"Stay out of this asshole." Kenny snapped.
"Kenny, you can't just tell them what to do." Rebecca said to Kenny.
"The hell I can't. Now that I found Clementine, I'm going to protect her from anything and that includes this asshole kid who has only got one damn thing on his mind." Kenny replied as he glared at Keith.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Clementine snapped. Everyone looked at her shocked by her outburst. "I know you think he's just some piece of crap, but I love Keith! You're not my dad, so you can't tell me whom I can and can't date! So leave us alone! All you've done is distrust him and treat him like crap! JUST STOP!"
She huffed as she calmed down. Keith's initial surprise turned to worry as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Sarah, Sarita, and Rebecca remained shocked by the girl's outburst since she always managed to keep a calm and leveled head in tense situations. However, Kenny looked on angrily at the girl and snarled, "How dare you? You think you can talk to me like that?" Something finally snapped in Kenny, and he slapped Clementine to the ground.
Clementine gasped and cried out in pain as she hit the ground. Upon realizing what he had done, Kenny looked to Clementine shocked that he had hit her as Clementine looked to Kenny surprised by what he did to her. "Kenny!" Sarita exclaimed.
Keith got down and placed his arms around Clementine protectively as Kenny said, "Aw Clem, I-"
He was interrupted when Rebecca and Nick got between him and Clementine. "I think you've done enough." Nick snarled.
Kenny looked down in defeat and started to walk away. Sarita looked worriedly to Kenny and followed him to make sure he was okay.
Meanwhile, Clementine's shock turned into sadness and she started to whimper. The fact that someone she cared about would hit her devastated her. Rebecca crouched down in front of the two with sympathetic eyes. Keith released Clementine from his grip and allowed Rebecca to take over.
Rebecca nodded and hugged the girl. "It's okay, baby." Rebecca soothed the child. "Sh… it's okay." Clementine cried for several seconds, trying to control her tears but to no avail. "Sarah, could you help me get her up. We're going to take her to that cot." Rebecca gestured to the bed that Carver had prepared for her.
Sarah nodded and the two helped Clementine to her feet. They escorted her to the cot as Nick, Reggie, and Keith looked on sadly.
Nick looked over to Kenny and glared at him. "Motherf******." Nick spat.
"It seems there is a lot of tension with you guys." Reggie said.
"Yeah, most of that tension if not all is coming from Kenny." Keith said. "It's like he's an expert at making grudges against people, even people who are considered his allies."
"Can you guys save it for the morning?" An angry exclamation was heard from one of the plywood beds. A lean man who wore a gray and black sweatshirt, blue jeans, and black shoes looked to the group with a slight glare and continued, "Some of us have to get up early in the morning.
"Who the f*** is that?" Nick asked.
"Mike." Keith said. "The same guy who saved Reggie's life."
Nick nodded as Reggie replied, "Yeah, sorry about that!" Mike only grumbled as he used the pillow to cover his ears as Sarah came back over from comforting Clementine.
"Is Clem alright?" Keith asked.
"I-I don't know. I mean she's not hurt, and she is calming down now that Rebecca is looking after her." Sarah explained.
"She was just surprised and hurt that Kenny would hit her." Nick concluded.
Meanwhile, Keith noticed a woman over by one of the dining tables. He looked to her with an intrigued look and said, "Reggie, who's she?" Keith gestured to the table where the woman sat. "I don't recognize her." She looked back over to Keith with a glare to which Keith shrugged off. She wore a brown leather jacket, a light blue pair of jeans, and black combat boots.
Reggie looked over to the woman as she got up from the table and headed for one of the plywood beds. "Oh yeah, her. Okay, so she's f****** weird." Reggie explained. "They found her sneaking around outside of the camp covered in guts and like the grossest shit."
"Ew…" Sarah shuddered at the thought of Reggie's details.
"Freak." Nick muttered as he stared at the woman. Keith looked back over to Clementine and Rebecca and noticed that Clementine was asleep on Rebecca's shoulder. Rebecca herself was rubbing the girl's arm comfortingly. Nick followed Keith's line of vision and said, "Rebecca always did want a girl."
"I know how it must look, but… it really is not that bad here." Reggie explained.
"Reggie." Nick said.
"No, I'm serious!" Reggie exclaimed. "Where else are you going to food like we have? We've got the canned stuff, and now with the greenhouses coming along, we've got fresh food. The building's getting more and more secure all the time… mostly through forced labor, but that's only temporary. They've even gotten the solar panels working. When was the last time you've had electricity, huh?"
"We actually came from a place powered by a wind turbine." Sarah said.
"Came' is not exactly the right word. I'd say abducted would fit better." Keith remarked.
"Yeah, I agree with Boy Wonder." Nick said.
"Look guys, it's not a competition." Reggie said. "I'm just saying that it's not as bad as you think. We're building something great here. A real community and Bill is making it happen."
Nick and Keith looked at each other with a confused look until Keith looked to Reggie and asked, "Did my dad brainwash you or something?"
"What? No!" Reggie exclaimed. "I made mistakes and Bill had every right to kill me, but he didn't and instead he's giving me a shot at redemption."
"That doesn't make up for what he has done, Reggie." Nick growled. "He played a part in what happened to my uncle."
"Pete… he's gone?" Reggie asked being shocked and saddened at the same time.
"This place is a prison, Reggie." Keith said rather coldly.
"Well that is quite a negative attitude." Reggie scolded Keith.
"No, he's right, Reggie. We aren't staying here for very long. If anything, we're going to do everything to escape from this hellhole. If that means we burn down the walls and kill everyone here, then that is what it will take." Nick said with a scowl.
"No, listen guys!" Reggie pleaded with the three. "Bill is really close to getting back in the group and once that happens, I can do a lot more to help you guys get comfortable."
"Reggie, we don't want to stay here!" Nick exclaimed. "If anything we want to destroy this place so that we don't return to it!"
Reggie sighed and said, "Guys just please don't mess this up for me. I've worked really hard to get to this point. Will you please try to not cause too much trouble for me?"
"I'm not making any promises, Reggie." Keith said coldly as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Same." Nick said with a disgusted glare. He couldn't believe what was happening. He remembered Reggie wanting to leave Howe's as soon as possible by the time that Luke, him, and the rest of the cabin survivors were about to escape, but now, Reggie was almost brainwashed into thinking that he owed Carver his life.
Reggie sighed in defeat; he accepted their decision, even though it would probably cause trouble for him in the future.
Nick eyed Clementine and Rebecca out of the corner of his eye and then looked down to Keith. "Go ahead and join Sarah at the fire, I'm going to go get Clem." Nick said.
Keith nodded, and he and Sarah went to the fire pit. They were joined by Sarita who had exhausted all of her option to calm Kenny down from the earlier incident. Reggie sighed sadly and said, "Well that went about as well as planned… I should have made a plan." He then walked to the fire pit.
Nick approached Rebecca and crouched down to be eye level with the woman. "She's asleep." Nick whispered with a smile.
Rebecca smiled and whispered, "I know." She rubbed the girl's arm and sighed. "I forgot Kenny wasn't in the lodge when Keith confessed his feelings for her. I feel as though this is my fault."
"It's not." Nick said and he sighed as he looked down sadly. "It was my fault. I should have saw that coming, I mean I'm supposed to protect them… her and Keith…"
Rebecca place her free hand under his chin and lifted his head to her smile. "Look at you." She said proudly. "When we were at that cabin, you were just a reckless boy, but now you're a real man. If Pete could see you now, he would be so proud of you."
"Thank you." Nick replied with a smile. "You don't know how much that means to me." He looked to the resting Clementine and said, "I can take her. You're going to need to be rested up for tomorrow." Rebecca nodded and Nick got up. He placed an arm under Clementine's back and another under her knees, all the while having her head positioned on his chest. Impressively, she didn't stir a bit as he carried her from Rebecca's cot to one of the plywood beds. He placed her on the plywood bed and went to the fire pit.
Keith looked to Nick and smiled appreciatively for his kindness towards Clementine. Nick smiled back but his smile soon fell as he thought over the group's current situation. "So what do you think Boy Wonder?" Nick asked. "Do you think that there are going to be many openings along the courtyard?"
Keith shook his head and said, "I'm afraid not. If anything, my dad had this area especially fortified to prevent escapes.
Suddenly the garage door opened up. Everyone looked over to see Carlos walking into the courtyard with Troy escorting him.
"Dad!" Sarah exclaimed happily and she ran up to hug her father.
"Alright, the rest of you go the f*** to sleep." Troy barked. "I'm shootin the first of y'all that I see wonderin around before sun-up."
Troy grumbled as he headed for the garage door. "Hey, where's Alvin?" Nick exclaimed. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" However, Troy ignored him and slammed the garage door down. "Motherf*****." Nick muttered.
With that, Sarita, Nick, Carlos, Keith, Sarah, and Reggie went to their own plywood beds and laid down. Keith laid down between Clementine and Nick. He looked to Clementine somewhat worriedly, but then, he turned to Nick as Nick said, "You know, I wish we would have gotten along with each other sooner. I feel like I have lost so much time, and Pete, I hope he knows what's happening, so he could be proud of me."
"Clementine told me what Pete's dying words were." Keith said.
Nick's eyes widened in shock and he asked, "Wh-What were they?"
"He said that he loved you and he wanted Clem to look after you, but if anything, it's been the opposite. You've been looking after her… and me." Keith said.
Nick smiled and he looked up to the sky. "Go ahead and get some sleep, Boy Wonder. We're going to need every bit of strength tomorrow."
Keith smiled back and said, "Sure thing, Batman."
The two then allowed sleep to take them and what must have been hours of sleeping felt like minutes.
Morning
Clementine felt someone nudging her. "Hey wake up." Keith said as he continued to nudge the girl awake. Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked to him with a smile to which he returned the smile. She needed the extended sleep that she got last night. She was noticeably chipper now.
However, Troy didn't see her wake up and grumbled. "Alright that's it; you're taking too long!" Troy approached the two and continued, "Get out of the f****** way and let me wake her up, which is what I should have done to begin with!"
Keith sent a glare at Troy and said, "She is up, moron."
"F*** you!" Troy spat.
Keith turned to Clementine and said, "Come on. Dad usually gives us a lecture before anything else."
Clementine nodded and Keith helped her to her feet. The two walked over as Troy sent a glare at the two children. They, of course, shrugged him off and joined the group as Carver started his lecture. "There's been increased activity along the fence so be mindful when outside the walls." Troy walked up and joined Tavia. The guards glared towards the group as Carver continued, "The herd's moved closer as of this morning, but that still doesn't necessarily mean we'll be hit. Know that we're monitoring the situation." Carver adjusted his focus to a new topic and started to explain, "Now… there might be some folks who are sore about what happened… at how things went. That's all in the past now. Some of you are new to our community, some of you are members that went astray. But know that you can find redemption here… forgiveness… by proving your worth through what will undoubtedly be hard work."
Keith rolled his eyes at his father's lecture; he knew his father was lying. Carver turned to Reggie and said, "Reggie, you're nearly back in. Keep following the path, and we'll welcome you back with open arms."
Sarah noticed Clementine next to her and she asked, "Hey, you okay?"
Carver looked to Sarah with a slight glare and then continued, "I'll let Reggie be an example to you all-"
However, Carver was interrupted slightly as Sarah continued, "We were worried about you last night."
"I'm okay, Sarah." Clementine said. "Thank you for your concern, but we got to listen right now."
"Are you sure? We can talk about it if you want." Sarah said. "I mean I-"
"CARLOS!" Carver shouted angrily which caught everyone's attention.
"Yes?" The doctor asked.
"Your child seems to be in need of correction." Carver said. Keith winced as memories flowed of all of his 'corrections' provided by his father.
"I'm sorry, I-" Carlos began but he looked to Sarah and said, "Sarah a-apologized to Mr. Carver."
"Sorry." Sarah said nervously. "I'm sorry sir."
"No, no. That ain't going to cut it." Carver said. "I can't have this kind of behavior on day one of your reform. You discipline her now, Carlos. Hell, I would never let Keith Blake get away with this kind of behavior, I would beat his ass for it." Carver said as he turned to his son.
"How do you propose that I-" Carlos began to ask but Carver interrupted him.
"One good smack across the mouth should do it." Carver said. He glared towards the frightened teen and continued, "It'll make her think twice before opening it up again." He looked to Carlos and said, "Go on, we'll wait."
Everyone, except the heartless guards looked to Carver in surprise, even Reggie was shocked to see Carver act so cold and heartless.
"Well, I'm not sure with my hand that I can-" Carlos started to say as he raised his hand with two broken digits.
"Well, that's why you got two hands, Carlos." Carver interrupted the doctor once again. "Come on. And not some namby pamby thing, alright?" Carver went up to the doctor and continued. "A good hard smack. Otherwise, Troy here will do it for ya." Carver indicated to the heartless guard behind him. "He can be… overzealous." Carver turned to Troy and asked. "Is that the word?"
"If it means that I'll smack the shit out of her, then yeah." Troy said with a smirk.
"It's my fault, too." Clementine exclaimed.
"Hey! No one's f****** talking to you!" Troy snapped as he got closer to Clementine only for Carver to stop him with a hand gesture.
"Unless, you want one of what she's about to get, I'd pipe down, missy." Carver said threateningly.
"Dad, just let her off with a warning." Keith said. "We just got here, and-"
"Shut your f****** mouth Keith Blake, or I will discipline you as well!" Carver bellowed. Keith looked down and stayed quiet as Carver looked back to Carlos. His eyes glared with an icy cold stare that told the doctor to do as he was asked.
Carlos looked down sadly and obliged as he stood in front of his daughter. Sarah shook obviously afraid of being hurt by her own father. "I'm sorry dad. I'm so sorry." Sarah said tearfully.
"Close your eyes honey." Carlos said sadly. "It's only going to sting for a second." Sarah looked down sadly feeling as though that she disappointed Carlos. Carlos accompanied his daughter being reluctant to hurt her.
"Do it." Carver commanded after several seconds of hesitation. Carlos sent an apologetic stare at Sarah which was followed up with a hard smack across her face. Sarah wept from the hard hit as both Clementine and Keith cringed, Clementine especially since the same thing happened to her last night, with the only exception being that Kenny wasn't forced to hit her.
Sarah continued to weep to which Carlos instinctively approached her and said, "I'm sorry, Sarah."
"Stop!" Carver snapped. "You are not coddling that girl anymore. Let her sit there and think about what she's done." Carver turned to Troy and said, "Troy, get Carlos to his post. Everyone else should have their assignments. It's time to get to work."
Troy went over to Carlos and smirked as he looked over Sarah. "Damn, you really did knock the shit out of her doc."
"Shut up, Troy!" Nick snapped.
"Everyone get to work!" Carver exclaimed.
Clementine looked to Sarah sadly as Keith said, "We're working in the armory, I'd imagine."
"That you are." Tavia said. Keith rolled his eyes upon seeing Tavia. She ignored his gesture and said, "Follow me." She then headed for inside the warehouse with the two children following her.
Both children stopped when they heard an exclamation, "Soil, coming up." It was followed by the churning and breaking of wood.
A couple of bags of soil landed left to them as they heard Kenny snap, "Damn this thing."
"Oh shit." The woman from last night spat.
"Clementine! Keith!" The two ran into the warehouse upon hearing Tavia bellow out their names.
"Who are these two?" A teenage girl asked as Keith and Clementine continued to walk with Tavia.
"She's one of the new people." A young woman explained. She then looked to Keith with sympathy as soon as she realized who he was. He ignored her gaze, not wanting her sympathy. "The boy is Keith Carver." The woman continued.
"Wait, Bill's son?" The teenage girl asked.
"That's right." The woman said. "They were with Carlos and Sarah and-"
"Ugh not Sarah." The girl complained as she turned back to the woman. "I wish she'd stay gone."
"She's had a hard time, Becca." The woman said.
Clementine looked back to the two as they continued their conversation. "So have we." Becca said as she sent a glare towards Clementine. "But, we're not sitting on the ground crying like babies."
Clementine went back to following Tavia and asked, "Who are they?"
"Shel and Becca." Keith said. "Shel is nice enough, but as you could tell, Becca can be very bitter and mean."
Tavia led the two children to a metal door and said, "Go on inside. Bonnie's waiting." The two obliged and Keith opened the door to where they could see Bonnie with two lawn chairs set up around an ammo box.
Bonnie gestured them to sit with her and she said, "Hey, I guess you're starting your day with me." The two nodded and took a seat as Bonnie grabbed a couple of empty magazines and handed one to Keith who sat closest to Bonnie. "We're loadin magazines." Both Clementine and Keith started to place bullets within the magazines as Bonnie looked to them happily and said, "That's it. You got it."
They continued to load the magazines for several seconds until Bonnie said, "I suppose that I owe you an apology… I wasn't truthful when I came across y'all at the lodge… and I was shown with kindness I never would have expected from a group of strangers. But now… folks are dead… and I can't help but feel I'm to blame. But the plan was for no one to get hurt."
"Mistakes were made on both sides. Let's just be thankful that it didn't get worse…" Keith said sadly. He closed his eyes tightly as his mind drifted off to the horrible memory of Carver holding Clementine at gunpoint. He shook his head to refocus and nodded indicating that he was okay.
"Keith's right. If I would have known that Kenny was outside about to shoot, I would have stopped him." Clementine said. "It's not your fault."
"That's big of you two, but I know what I did. And I ain't proud of it." Bonnie said as she continued to load the magazine as did the two children. "The plan was if I was the one that found everyone, I would control it. Keep everyone safe… but that ain't how it went."
"You should know by now that my dad will always control the situation, especially when you let him." Keith said.
"I know and I'm so sorry." Bonnie said in a pleading tone. "I know that it doesn't account for much, but it's all I can offer right now."
Keith sighed as Clementine looked to him for his own decision. She then looked to Bonnie with a smile and said, "I forgive you. It's not like you intentionally tried to get us killed. You had good intentions, but others got in the way."
"Yes, exactly." Bonnie said happily. She then frowned and looked to Keith who was now looking up at the two. "Well, how about it, Keith?" Bonnie asked. "Can you forgive me?"
"Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other, also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either." Keith phrased and he looked up with a smile. "I forgive you."
"Wh-what was that?" Bonnie asked.
"…Luke 6:29, right?" Clementine asked after pondering for a couple of seconds.
Keith grinned and said, "You're amazing."
"Well then, I guess I now know why you two are a couple. You almost have the same mindset." Bonnie said as she continued to load the magazine. Both children smiled towards each other and joined Bonnie in loading the magazine. "So how was your first night in the yard?"
"You mean our first night in prison." Clementine scoffed.
"It ain't a prison… think of it as a work release." Bonnie said.
"You call it what you want to call it and we'll call it as it is." Keith said. "Bonnie, that yard is a prison and you know it."
Bonnie looked down sadly and continued, "You know, I was supposed to go… when Luke, Carlos, and all of em left, I was planning on leaving too. When Luke approached me about it, I-I thought that he was crazy. I mean we got food, electricity and shelter here."
"And a psychopath spearheading the whole thing." Keith added as he continued to load his magazine.
"You know Bill wasn't always like this Keith. His obsession with Rebecca… it drove him off the deep-end." Bonnie said sadly.
"Either way, it doesn't matter. I'm going to have to fix this one way or another." Keith looked down sadly and said, "I should have tried to fix it the first time. Maybe then so many people could have been spared from this nightmare."
"Anyway, I justified my reason of not going by saying that it was easier to fix something broken than to start all over." Bonnie explained to the two. "Take this situation with the herd… that's the type of thing that rips a community apart. He keeps things in line… he has a lot of stuff figured out."
"Nobody is safe here with Carver around." Clementine said.
"You're safe as long as you stay on his good side." Bonnie said.
"I would if I knew where it was." Clementine mumbled.
"I mean it ain't easy keeping a group this big fed and protected. I don't envy that position. Figured that'd make anyone stressed. I'm not defending what he did back at the lodge. That was…" Bonnie remarked. "…I'm alive because of him and that's just a fact."
"It sounds like you really respect him." Clementine said.
"It's not that… I just have sympathy for the man…" Bonnie said as Keith dropped his magazine.
"Sympathy is not exactly the right words." Keith said with a slightly angry tone. "He killed my mom, Derrick, and Walter. Plus he had hand in Pete's death. The way I see it, he has brought all of the pressure of running this community upon himself."
"That's rather cold, Keith." Bonnie criticized.
"I only call it as I see it." Keith stated bluntly.
"He's still your dad-" Bonnie said.
"You don't think I know that!" Keith snapped. "Everything he does, everyone he kills! That's all on me just as much as it's on him!" Keith sighed as he tried to calm down. "And just like I said back at the lodge, I still love him because he is my dad. I'm sad that he has become this psychopath, and I'm disappointed that he has killed so many people just for his own means."
Bonnie looked to Keith sadly and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to suggest…" She stopped herself and looked back to Clementine. "Luke had ideas about how things should go, but they didn't line up with what Bill was thinking… then Rebecca started showing signs, and that only made things worse." Bonnie sighed as she considered everything that was said and continued, "Maybe Luke was right about him… I wish he was around, but… I just hope he's safe."
Suddenly, Bonnie's hand-held radio came on and Tavia's voice came over it. "Hey Bonnie, is that girl and Keith down there with you. I need to come get them."
Bonnie pressed the button and said, "Yeah, they're here."
"Okay, I'll come right over." Tavia said.
Clementine looked to be distressed by the fact that Tavia mentioned her and Keith by request. Bonnie noticed this and said, "I'm sure it's fine." Bonnie reached over and grabbed the magazines from the two and said, "Oh, I almost forgot. I grabbed this for ya." Bonnie then got up and retrieved a light blue winter coat and handed it to Clementine.
She looked back with a grin and as Clementine placed the coat on and asked, "Huh? What do you think? I found it at the ski lodge that y'all were at."
Clementine zipped the coat up and smiled, "It's cool. I like it." Clementine replied.
"Well I'm glad. I thought it looked cute, but I didn't know what you'd think." Bonnie said.
"You look cool, Clem." Keith said.
"Thanks Keith." Clementine said.
"Oh there you are." Tavia said as she entered the door. "What's with the ugly jacket?"
"Tavia…" Bonnie said angrily.
"What?" Tavia said.
"Never mind, I'll see you two later." Bonnie said to Clementine and Keith.
"Come on." Tavia said. Clementine and Keith followed Tavia as Clementine now looked down at her jacket questioningly.
"Ignore Tavia." Keith whispered. "You look awesome in that jacket."
"Thanks." Clementine said happily. Keith smiled back as Tavia escorted them to the roof of Howe's Hardware.
…To be continued.
A/N: I'm going to say this right now, so I don't get flak. I am NOT for or against Kenny. To me, Kenny has several flaws, but when you really need him, he can be a really good ally. So, don't give me flak for being anti-Kenny, because I'm not. I can usually go both ways with Kenny. On a different note, look at how much Nick is growing up… Pete would be so proud. I'd say Nick does a good job of being a father figure in this chapter for Clementine, since Luke is off at who knows where.