Clementine could barely catch her breath, as her heart hammered erratically in her chest. The traumatic and tense experience of meeting Carver had drained her emotionally, and there was nothing she could do to stem the tide of frustrated and relieved tears that began to flow. Luke's concerned face as he walked through the door, and his immense relief upon seeing her, was enough to break through the high walls she built around her feelings that morning, and as his arms settled around her, she wept into the front of his jumper with uncontrollable abandon. She reached up and grabbed handfuls of his jumper beside her face, holding him tight against her as if afraid he might disappear. The reassuring smell of all things Luke surrounded her and she was vaguely aware of concerned voices all around them, but she could hear nothing over the words that were whispered between her and Luke amid her ragged gulps for air.
"Please don't leave me again." She begged as quietly as she could, trying to at least hold on to some shred of her dignity. The others might be witness to her breakdown, but she hoped to at least keep them from hearing her fearful pleas. As much as she had wanted to keep herself isolated from these people, Luke had managed to worm his way through her defenses, and if she had lost him, she knew her meltdown would be so much worse now. She knew that wherever these people led him, she would gladly follow to stay with him. She hoped he never knew how truly important his presence in her life was to her.
"It's okay, I gotcha..." He murmured, gently rubbing her back. "I ain't goin' nowhere Clem, don't worry. I promise." Her heart felt lighter, as his calm voice and kind words a balm which soothed her frayed nerves.
"..." She glanced up at his kind, warm eyes and felt her cheeks warm slightly, before she hurriedly looked away. "Sorry about your favorite jumper..." She muttered. She looked up as he eased her away from him, gently brushing her tears away with his finger as an amused chuckle erupted from deep in his chest.
"I guess its just lucky you happen to be my favorite Cookie," He joked. Clementine looked up and met his eyes, which were flooded with the clear warm relief that she was safe and standing before him. She rested her cheek against his torso once more and squeezed him gently, feeling awkward that her cheeks felt so oddly warm at both his soft tone and the kindness in his expression as he gazed at her. She even let the use of his pet name slide, so focused on the strangeness of her bodies confusing reaction. He chuckled lowly and she raised her head and moved away, feeling awkward and shy for reasons she couldn't decipher. If Luke noticed he said nothing, and she was grateful for it, though as his face grew more serious, she guessed it could also just be that he was distracted.
"You were with Nick and Pete, right?" Luke asked, and Clementine felt her heart constrict at the mention of the two men she had left behind. She hoped they were ok. "We gotta go find 'em." Clementine bit her lip and looked away, unsure of whether he had been told about what had happened, or whether she would have to do fill him in herself. Luke's hand settled on her shoulder, and she reluctantly peeked up at him. "You might well have saved his life Clementine..." He added, quietly enough for the others not to have heard him.
"Doesn't mean I feel any less responsible for maiming him Luke." She said, shrugging her shoulders noncommittally. He looked saddened by her words, but before he could counter her opinion they were interrupted by Sarah's voice cutting through the room.
"A man was here." She said, and Clementine noticed all the adults were suddenly om high alert.
"What?!" Carlos demanded.
"What did she say?!" Rebecca cried, clearly unsettled.
"Someone came to the cabin," Sarah said, ducking her head submissively under Rebecca and Carlos' combined glares.
"What?!" Rebecca demanded, and Clementine fought off a smile at the thought that the woman was parroting Carlos' original reaction.
"Clementine talked to him." Her amusement died abruptly, as Sarah dropped her right in the cowpat. She tried her best to appear unaffected by Sarah's revelation that she had spoken with a stranger, but when she glanced up at Luke, she could see the mix of anger, fear, concern and hope in his eyes. She suspected his hope, was that it was anyone but Carver. She was upset to know she would destroy that hope.
"-just, opened the door for him?!" Rebecca accused, though Clementine had missed the start of her question as she had been paying more attention to Luke and the way his jaw had tightened with his various emotions.
"Calm down, Rebecca." Luke said stiffly, turning towards her. Clementine took a deep breath and told herself to get a grip, as she mentally shook herself and prepared for a fight with the older woman and Carlos. Most others generally knew she wasn't a threat to them, but Carlos and Rebecca just couldn't warm to her. Carlos because he knew Clementine was right about his abuse of his daughter by neglecting to teach her the life skills she needed to live without him, and Rebecca because; well, she wasn't entirely certain about Rebecca really, but she guessed it was about the baby she was trying to hide from everyone.
"Calm down?!" Rebecca cried, turning her furious gaze to Luke, "I am calm! You calm down!" Clementine rolled her eyes, because that had been a calm and rational response.
"He was coming in either way." She said, folding her arms over her chest. An action to defend herself, show she wasn't afraid of them, and hold her aching heart in her chest, as it felt like it could crumble out of her any moment. Too much had happened in the past thirty hours than she could comfortably cope with, and the stress was making her feel strange, like her weird reactions to Luke when he first returned. "He was literally reaching for the doorknob, had I of locked the door then, he would have just come in guns blazing; better to try and throw him off with a civil reaction." She added, and she was pleased to note both Alvin and Luke were hiding grins from her determined stance.
"I told you not to open the door for anyone." Carlos said, clearly exasperated with her.
"And I, ignored you." Clementine replied sarcastically. Carlos turned an odd shade of red, and Clementine hastily decided not to goad the man quite so much. "To protect your daughter." She added reluctantly, though her words had the desired effect. Carlos seemed to immediately cool off, instead the colour seemed to rapidly drain from his face, as his eyes widened in fear.
"Did he say his name?" He asked. When she didn't immediately answer, he took a menacing step towards her. "Did he say what his name was?!" He demanded. Clementine took an instinctive step backwards as she shook her head.
"I didn't ask his name!" She cried, which she immediately decided was a bad thing to say, as Rebecca started shouting.
"You didn't ask his name?!" She screamed, clearly furious. "How could you not ask his name?!"
"He had a gun, I'm a twelve year old girl; you tell me you'd have done different in my shoes." Clementine said dispassionately. Rebecca seemed to deflate a little at that, and Alvin settled his hand on her arm, which she immediately began to gently rub. Clementine would have smiled at them, had she not been so irritated.
"I thought you were eleven?" Luke muttered quietly, taking advantage of the lull in the immediate conversation while everyone caught their tempers. Clementine glanced up to see his brow was furrowed, genuine curiosity and a tiny almost hidden hurt in his eyes. She sighed and shook her head minutely.
"I turned twelve end of last summer." She admitted reluctantly. Omid had been alive. Christa's baby had been alive. Christa had been a different person. She shut her eyes, closing out the past. When she reopened her eyes, she met Luke's gaze easily. "It's not a time of year I like much anymore..." She said quietly. "For a lot of reasons. I spent a few years with Christa after..." She hesitated, but Luke nodded in understanding, knowing from their occasional talks at night after her nightmares that Omid had died. "So, I'm kinda twelve and a half, if you really wanna know. Age just never really came up; I'm sorry. I wasn't keeping it from you or something." She needed Luke to not think badly of her, it was hurtful to see him looking at her like that. Like he was seeing her for the first time. She hadn't lied, it was just something that had never really come up; it wasn't even something she thought about anymore, with the world all crazified as it was. Some of her unease and panic must have shown in her eyes, for Luke gently patted her shoulder and smiled, erasing any of her worries his seeing her differently. A weight slipped from her heart which she hadn't known had been gently crushing it, and she breathed easier knowing their easy friendship remained.
"Look, Clem..." Clementine rolled her eyes, it figured it would be Carlos next latched onto her old nickname. She frowned at him as he rubbed the back of his neck uneasily. "Just, tell us what he looked like." He eventually finished. Clementine thought for awhile, squinting her eyes as she tried to remember how Carver had looked.
"He... had short hair." She began, gesturing with her hands to the sort of length she remembered Carver's hair to be. "He had a grey mustache, and stubble. Big nose... Deep gravelly, scratchy kinda voice..." She thought some more and decided there was just one more thing to add to her description. "Smug. Really, like, uber smug. Like he knew everything already, but just wanted to hear me tell him he was right."
"Uber?" Luke said, watching her with laughter in his eyes. His warmth had returned, and she was pleased and frustrated by the confusing way her body was obviously pleased by that. "Such an old persons word." He joked, winking at her. She grinned and elbowed him playfully.
"You'd know; its your word not mine, I just stole it for emphasis." She said, to which he groaned and rolled his eyes. Clementine grinned, enjoying his efforts to stop her from being caught up in the melancholy and fear of the other adults. She could tell he was nervous too, but he was trying to keep her mood up, despite the fact she noticed the other adults moods were all sinking.
"He talked about you, dad." Sarah whispered, as the other adults all shared knowing, and disappointed looks with each other. Carlos turned away from Sarah and scratched his jaw, his thoughts clearly turning sinister as his face darkened. "You're not gonna hurt anyone, are you?!" She pleaded desperately, though Carlos made no move to reply.
"Of course he won't, Sarah." Clementine looked back at Luke, who was glaring at Carlos meaningfully. The 'good' doctor had the grace to look bashful, but still did not speak. "All right, your dads the nicest man I know-" Clementine patted her chest heavily, as a loud cough escaped her at Luke's description. He sent her a withering look, but she noticed his lips curled slightly as he continued to reassure Sarah. "Which is why, he's not gonna do anything crazy or... not nice." Luke narrowed his eyes at Carlos, and Clementine couldn't even bring herself to giggle or tease his lame ending. The fact he had to say it meant that at some point, Carlos had done something very not nice indeed. Clementine shivered at the thought, as Carlos finally met Luke's eyes, although only briefly as he turned to his daughter. "Right?"
"You know these are bad people sweetie..." Carlos said to Sarah, holding her shoulder gently. Clementine fought of a wave of nausea at the endearment but wisely chose to keep her opinions on the mans sickening display to herself. "They will do and say anything to hurt us." He said, trying to make his daughter understand the danger, before the whole room lapsed into thoughtful silence.
"All right..." Luke said suddenly, turning to Clementine. His expression was of grim determination, and she desperately hoped he wasn't about to do what she thought he was. "What do you think?" He asked her, and she hoped he could see the flat glare she sent him so he knew how very unimpressed she was that he was asking a twelve year old girl to make an informed decision on a man whom they had all deemed her unworthy to be actually warned about. "Did it seem like he'd be coming back?" Luke's expression didn't change, and Clementine sighed, realizing this was the moment that mattered.
"Look, you guys know this Carver guy; I don't." She started, and when Rebecca gasped she threw her a withering glare. "Oh please, you guys talk about him all the time! Ok, so you never bothered to tell me he's some psycho with a huge gun who likes to torment little girls and has obviously got some serious domination issues, but hey; I can do the math. Creepy strange guy plus Carver guy you all fear equals; ding ding ding, creepy strange Carver guy." She glanced at Luke when he finally broke his serious expression, silently laughing behind his hand at her comical rant. She narrowed her eyes at him briefly, before looking at the rest of the group. "You tell me; is he the kind of guy to come back?"
"Clementine said we couldn't stay here," Sarah said suddenly, turning to her father, "she was just about to lead me to you." Carlos looked far less furious than Clementine thought he would have by such an admission. She assumed he was either so mad it didn't show, or was torn between wanting his daughter safe in the cabin or away in case Carver did return.
"Guess that settles it then." Luke joked semi-seriously. Clementine elbowed him in the ribs, and pretended not to notice when he mimed an 'ow' at her whilst he rubbed at his offended ribs.
"He... he saw picture of me..." Sarah admitted.
"What were you doing taking pictures?!" Carlos roared, turning to his daughter with all the fury Clementine had expected to be unleashed on her. Sarah cowered before her fathers temper, and Clementine acted before thinking.
"I took it." She said, cursing herself for acting so quickly. Carlos turned his gaze to her, burning with fury at such foolish behavior. Seeing Sarah so frightened, deserved though his fury might be, made her want to at least spare the girl such fear. Disciplining your child was one thing; scaring them was another, and Carlos had been scaring his daughter. "You told me to distract her, that was one way to do it."
"No, Clementine is being a good friend and taking the blame," Sarah said quickly, flashing her a grateful smile. Clementine was torn between feeling irritation at being shown up as a liar, and being impressed that the girl was for once taking a stand.
"Carlos." Luke said sternly.
"What?" Carlos spat, turning to the other man.
"You need to calm down, all right? You're scaring your daughter." Clementine glanced up, pleased that he had seen it too. She felt the warmth in her cheeks again, and quickly looked away when he glanced down at her. Carlos took a deep breath and visibly tried to calm himself. After a long pause, he finally let his breath go and his shoulders slumped, as he accepted the obvious truth.
"He was scouting." He said disgustedly. "We got lucky. He wasn't expecting to find us. Clementine must have surprised him. If she hadn't been here..." Carlos trailed off, resting his hand gently on Sarah's shoulder as the group all considered the very real possibility that Sarah wouldn't have been here when they returned. Five sets of eyes turned to her, each holding different emotions as they examined her. Clementine turned her eyes to her shoes, not wanting to see the fear, the gratitude, the suspicion, the concern or even the pride, which was from Luke. he didn't want their thanks, or anything else other than their groups safety. "Well, he was too smart to stick around... But, he'll be back with the rest. We don't have much time." He said, as Alvin and Rebecca came over to join them from the other side of the kitchen.
"He's right." Luke said with a sigh. He ran a hand through his hair distractedly and then folded his arms over his chest. "Everyone pack up, we're movin' out." Alvin stormed past Luke, his expression dark. Clementine watched him curiously from the corner of her eye, not wanting anyone to notice the concern she felt for the man. He had shown her extra kindness when it wasn't expected of him, getting her a juice box when she had only asked for a bandage. She hoped he was alright.
"Alvin, wait!" Rebecca called, hurrying after her husband. The kitchen door swung shut on silent hinges after they left, and Clementine turned to Luke expectantly, but it was Carlos spoke first.
"We have to leave now sweetie, before he comes back with more guys... But it's gonna be ok..." Carlos said softly to Sarah, kneeling before her. Sarah hung her head a moment, before she looked back up at her father.
"Dad, I'm not a little girl anymore." Clementine felt her mouth fall open as Sarah spoke up to her father. Sure, the girl didn't exactly sound too sure of herself, but it was a start. "You have to stop treating me like I am. I'm alive. Just alive." Sarah said, glancing at Clementine as if for confirmation she had said the right thing. Clementine hastily snapped her mouth shut and nodded weakly, though she was mentally swearing like Kenny would have. She winced at the comparison, perhaps she wasn't quite that bad. Carlos glared at her, as if already knowing this was her fault. She cleared her throat and tried to ignore the queasy feeling where the bottom of her stomach had just disappeared.
"So, why did you leave his camp..?" She asked, trying to change the focus from herself. Carlos seemed to fight with his temper a moment, before he apparently succeeded in calming himself.
"Because we had to." He said darkly. Carlos walked towards her, and Clementine had to forcefully glue her feet to the ground so she wouldn't take a step back, refusing to let him intimidate her. "Clem, I don't what he told you; but William Carver is a dangerous man." Clementine couldn't help the eye roll, or if she could she didn't. She also folded her arms and raised a brow, as if to emphasize that she had figured that much out for herself. "He is the leader of a camp, not far from here, and he's very smart. We were... lucky to escape." Carlos continued, undaunted by her attitude. "Look, I'm sorry to involve you, but now that he's seen you, you'll be safer with us. We have to leave."
"Was that supposed to convince me to go with you?" Clementine asked quietly cocking her head to the side curiously. Carlos seemed surprised she was fighting his offer, though it was more of an order. She was irritated he had decided for her, but also that he presumed she would be safer with him; the doctor who had locked an injured child in a shed.
"Clementine!" Luke's rebuke made her cheeks warm again, but she stared at Carlos instead. The older man merely shook his head and waved Sarah ahead of him, presumably giving up on her and going to pack his and his daughters things. When he and Sarah were gone, Clementine was left alone with Luke. She played with the hem of her t-shirt, ostensibly trying to avoid meeting his gaze.
"What? I said that first night I thought I should move on; this seems a good time to do so!" She burst, unable to take the strained silence any longer, she looked up and met Luke's reproachful stare, and immediately sighed, knowing he didn't believe her anymore than she did. "I'm scared of that man." She admitted quietly.
"So are we." Luke replied. Clementine felt his hand on her shoulder, steering her to the kitchen cupboards, where he released her. "Come on, we're gonna be travelling awhile, we need to pack all the food we can and get going, fast." Clementine nodded glumly, opening a cupboard mechanically and beginning to collect all the foods within on the counter. "Hey," Luke said softly, making her pause in her task as she looked over to where he was emptying his own higher cupboard of food. "I won't let him hurt you, ya know that, right?" Clementine nodded, unable to give voice to the overwhelming surge of relief, gratitude and warmth that his words instilled in her. She smiled a thin, tight smile, and returned to her task. Soon after, she heard him begin collecting food again too. Once all the lower cupboards were emptied, she stopped, and turned to Luke with a thoughtful expression which made him stop what he was doing.
"You know, there's really something else we should do too..." She said slowly, hastily thinking out her plan. She could tell Luke wanted to know, but was waiting patiently for her to finish collecting her thoughts. She smiled wickedly and wiggled her brows. "How bad do you wanna annoy Carver?" She asked. Luke's slow grin was all the answer she needed, before she launched into telling him the details of her plan. Within ten minutes, they had cleared the remaining cupboards and the fridge of everything they could ostensibly carry, without it going bad immediately. Luke and Clementine hurried to check on the others, before grabbing the few personal effects they were able to take with them. She headed to the room she had both stolen and shared with Luke, and dug out her pistol, checking that it was loaded, but that the safety was on, as she stashed it down the back of her trousers. She shrugged on her backpack, looked fondly around the room a final time, and then headed out to wait for the others.
"Okay, good." Luke's voice carried to her from the kitchen, and she hurried through the door to find the others all assembled and waiting for her. She noted only a few bags with them, all travelling light save for the food they would carry between them. "So, I know we're all eager to be away from here; but Clementine made a very valid point earlier and I think you guys should hear about it." Clementine felt her cheeks warm as all eyes turned to her, some briefly, some angrily and some just curiously, but she stubbornly stared at the floor, cursing Luke for mentioning her at all. She vowed a bug-pillowed vengeance. "So, we're all ready to rush out here and go get Pete and Nick, but if we all travel together, then we're gonna be leavin' one huge ass trail for Carver and his cronies to follow. The plan is, that we can all leave via different paths, stamp your feet, tear your clothes, whatever you have to do to make a visible trail. Yes, I know," he added, foreseeing the objections already arising in both Carlos and Rebecca. He raised his hands, palm out towards them to placate them. "It will make it seem too obvious; but the fact is, Carver doesn't know where we're going. He got lucky today, finding this place... But so did we, because we had Clementine; fearless defender against strange, armed men who are twice her size." He grinned briefly at her, and despite a few murmurs of discontent, there were no objections to the plan. Luke met every pair of eyes, Clementine's being last. His smile widened as he opened the back door, and led everybody outside.
"Okay, groups of two; Alvin and Rebecca, Carlos and Sarah, Me with Clementine. Rebecca and Alvin; head to the garden, pick everything you can. Carlos and Sarah; set obvious trails in any and every direction you can over the east side of the cabin. Lead them in a circle back to the cabin if you like, or to the river, just make it quick. Clementine and I will do the same on the opposite side of the house; everyone meet back here in twenty minutes so we can go get the others." Clementine smiled at the authority in Luke's voice and expression. He was a natural born leader, or, more likely given Nick's earlier story about their business together; a natural born bullshitter. She grinned as she cocked his brow at her, shaking her head as everybody set off in their various directions.
Luke and Clementine worked well together, they broke branches so it would be obvious people had passed, and seemingly in a hurry. They tore small swatches of fabric and artfully snagged them to make it seem like clothing had torn on sharp thorns and brambles, sometimes adding extra wayward strands of thread to add to the effect. They ran, then fell heavily to the ground, leaving both hand and footprints, plus the occasional full body scuff on the ground where the mud was slightly wetter, making it easier to see. Clementine actually found it a little fun, and from Luke's easy laughter, she guessed he did too, though under the severe circumstances, neither would admit to it. When they finally felt satisfied that there were enough trails leading between the cabin, the river and generally in circles between the two, they headed back to meet the others.
"You need a bath young lady, you're filthy." Luke said, gently swatting her hat lower on her head.
"Hey, watch the hat dude," Clementine scolded, her eyes filled with laughter as she righted her cap and looked up at him. He seemed torn between amusement and concern, and she knew that despite their enjoyment of laying the false trails, he was worried that Carver wouldn't fall for it. "You're pretty dirty yourself ya know, old man." She added, eyeing his muddy jumper.
"... did you just call me a dirty old man?" Luke asked, his amusement winning out as he tried not to laugh.
"Why not? You called me a filthy young 'lady'." Clementine joked. Luke's cheeks turned red as he looked away and laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck roughly.
"Well uh, that is, I mean... It's just that..." Clementine watched him stutter for awhile before she rolled her eyes, wondering if he would ever spit it out. Luke cleared his throat again, loudly, and decided not to continue, so Clementine just shrugged and grinned, which seemed to make his cheeks turn even redder. She thought it made him look cute. They emerged back in front of the cabin, where the others stood waiting for them, looking nervous and unsettled. Clementine led them to the area she had exited the woods that morning. She took a deep breath before marching in determinedly, not waiting to give her mind a chance to make her hesitate. She wondered if Pete had survived, if Nick was alright, whether he had had to... She forced herself to think of other things. Luke walked beside her for a while, the groups silence companionable enough as they walked through the woods. He gently squeezed her shoulder some time later, drawing her attention from her inner thoughts and worst imaginings.
"You said it was just up here..?" He asked, nodding towards a path a moderate distance ahead of them. Clementine nodded, feeling dazed that she had been daydreaming, or perhaps nightmaring, while she walked. Luke smiled tightly and lengthened his stride, walking off ahead of her easily.
"Yeah, just a little ways..." She muttered, though he was too far ahead to hear her by then. She was about to hurry herself and catch up, when Rebecca's voice sounded from just behind her.
"Hey, Clem..." Clementine rolled her eyes, thinking it really was inevitable that everyone now use her old nickname. It didn't hurt so much as it had yesterday though, and she wasn't sure if it was because she was used to it now, or because she had just been through too much to care right now. "I'm sorry, if I gave you some shit back there..." Rebecca hedged. Clementine threw her a sideways deadpan glare, to which Rebecca chuckled lightly before she continued. "Okay, so maybe there's no 'if'... I'm just, a little on edge... I still don't like what you did. Sneaking aroun' on us and, taking advantage of my husband..." She said, glaring meaningfully at the young girl. Clementine said nothing and met her glare dispassionately. She'd barely done anything to Alvin really, only said he was nice. Which he was. "But, I know you were in a tough spot..." The older woman conceded. Clementine was quiet for a long moment, before she looked back at the path ahead of her.
"I didn't like doing those things either." Clementine said quietly, though she could tell Rebecca heard her. "But I had no choice. I'd have done the same if it were one of you." Rebecca seemed surprised by the revelation, but Clementine didn't give her a chance to comment as she continued. "I still would. Sometimes, we just have to do what we can; and live with the consequences." Rebecca watched the path for awhile, as they fell into a companionable silence. Clementine was surprised to realize that this was a; the first time she and Rebecca had been civil to each other in an actual conversation and b; the first time Rebecca had looked at her like she was something other than a threat. Like she was actually a part of her group. She felt incredibly childish for the small spot of hope that bloomed in her heart that she might be right.
"So..." Clementine began, wanting to speak to the woman more now that she wasn't screaming at her. "Why is Carver after you?" She asked quietly.
"After me?!" Rebecca squawked, surprise and panic in her eyes as she glanced at the younger girl. Clementine frowned at her, glancing around them, but was pleased to see that nobody had noticed the older woman's outburst. "Oh, you mean... us?" Rebecca said, sounding relieved. Clementine nodded slowly, though she was beginning to think maybe she understood why Carver had been most interested in Rebecca after all. She glanced at Rebecca's stomach, still not showing the more obvious signs of pregnancy, though it wouldn't be long now before she couldn't hide it. "It's a long story. He... he has a hard time letting go." Rebecca said reluctantly, unconsciously running a gentle hand over her stomach. Clementine quickly looked back at the path, pretending she hadn't just seen confirmation of her fears. "I know you did your best back there." Clementine looked up suddenly, surprised by the warmth in the older woman's voice. "You know, none of us would make it one our own..."
"I did." Clementine said quietly, not meeting the other woman's eyes. It wasn't something she was proud of, or even liked to think of if she could avoid it, but Rebecca was clearly worried and Clementine wanted her to realize that if she, a lone child, could survive, then Rebecca certainly could too. Rebecca smiled thinly, but Clementine could still see the indecision and fears in the other woman's eyes. She opened her mouth to say something further, but was distracted a path opened out into a clearing beside them. She closed her mouth as it turned dry, her breaths coming faster as panic swelled in her heart. Luke up behind her, having waited for her to catch up. Upon hearing her rapid breathing, he settled a hand on her shoulder, calming her without the need for words.
"That's it... That's where we were..." She whispered, unable to find her voice through her fears over Pete and Nick's health. They stared at the scene for a moment, though it felt like a lifetime. Three walkers were in front of the shack, in which she knew, or rather she hoped, that Pete and Nick were hiding inside of. She took a deep breath and walked forward, drawing the hammer from the old shed she had been locked in from her backpack. Luke charged beside her, his machete already in his hand. He raised his arm and then slammed it down onto the back of a walkers head, jerking it forward in surprise. He yanked his arm free, pulling his blade away cleanly, as the walker fell to the ground, finally and truly dead. Clementine aimed for a walker which had collapsed against the shut doors, though it was struggling to get up as they approached. She sank her hammer into the female walkers skull, the thud of its impact sickening to her ears, though she didn't show it in her expression. She shook her hammer free, as the woman fell to the ground, blood slowly leaking from the wound as Clementine hurried to pull the woman away from the doors. She looked up at Luke's drawn expression, as he studied the door.
"Nick..?" He called hesitantly. Clementine threw him a withering glare, finding his hesitance cute, though she wouldn't let him know it. A rough sound of groaning could be heard vaguely through the door, and Clementine stood quickly, her eyes widening at the implications. Her heart stopped, as tears sprang to her eyes. She shook her head, denying all possibility of Nick or Pete's turning. "Clementine..!" She ignored Luke's sudden plea, unable to wait. She had to know. She had to see them, had to know for sure. Tears blinded her, as she threw her weight against the door and stumbled to her knees in the small room. Catching her breath, she reluctantly raised her eyes to the prone figure laying on the floor before them. Her heart was in her mouth, as she inched across the room on her hands and knees, desperately hoping that she was wrong, that this wasn't how it appeared.
"Clementine..!" Luke's concerned calls seemed dulled, as a numbness settled over her. She felt his hand on her shoulder, drawing her away from the body on the ground. She couldn't hear her reply, wasn't even sure she made one. All she could do, was stare. "Jesus..." Luke breathed, crouching down beside her. She turned and buried her face into his jumper, as his arm snaked around her shoulder.
"Urgggghh..." Clementine screamed, as the body moved, groaning loudly. She whipped her head around to see, her free hand already on the butt of her hidden gun. "Hey man... you got any aspirin?"
"Nick, you asshole!" Luke laughed, relief flooding his voice. Clementine felt him squeeze her shoulder slightly as he grasped Nick's offered hand and helped him sit up. "Look what you did to Clementine, man." He said sternly, making Clementine's cheeks warm and her eyes sting as she fought off tears. Nick's expression seemed suitably contrite, and so she launched herself into his torso.
"Ah, ha ha haa... Oh, man, easy Clem..." He groaned, though he wrapped his free arm around her and held her close as she sobbed in relief over his not being a walker. "I feel like shit."
"Good," Clementine laughed, trying to frown at him. "You should, you asshole.." She added, causing them all to laugh at her stealing Luke's line. Nick's expression softened, and he gently pat her on the head fondly.
"Well, if you're all done with seeing how my drunken nephew is, I could use a little help over here myself..." Clementine turned quickly to the far corner of the shed, where Pete was watching them with obvious amusement. He leaned heavily on a make-shift walking stick, apparently having been made from the broken rake handle. Her tears flowed freely as he smiled at her, his paleness and obvious pain nothing compared to the pride of her return with aide. "Well done Clementine, well done." He said. She felt her heart break, though it was from an overflow of love for the people around her. Luke's warm hand on her shoulder, Nick's in her own hands. Pete's warm eyes on her, Rebecca's kind words. It all amounted to a feeling she hadn't felt since Lee had died, chained to a radiator because he had wanted to spare her the pain of having to shoot him. These people, this group, were her family. And she suddenly knew, she would do anything to keep them safe from the psychotic plans of Carver and his followers.
A.N:~ Wow, I know right - not even Friday!
So, yeah - this was both easier and harder to write. Like; I don't know if half of it even makes sense, but even though I struggled with it, I struggled less than I did the bit with Carver's conversation...
Having said that; I REALLY don't know if this works. AT. ALL. So, if you could please let me know what you think of it, because if you don't I'm gonna assume its shite and delete it.
Um... I can't say for sure when the next chapter will come... might be soon; might be a little longer - I'm going to probably START it soon... like, maybe tomorrow? But, who knows XD
I'll reset the poll soon, so you can go vote for the next part of the stories progress :)
In the mean time, please please review; LET ME KNOW IF I'M RIGHT AND THIS IS GARBAGE SO I CAN DELETE IF NEED BE! Or tell me its not garbage so I know not to delete it, either way :p
I hope you enjoy it tbh, I mean, that's why I wrote it; but I guess I'm full of self doubt atm so, yep, need ya input!
x My love to you all x