Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. All rights reserved to their respective owners.
I do not own Madeline Carver or Talyne Summers. They belong to FanFic Productions.
The group gathered around the wall while Clementine continued to pull on the rope to get the hook of the winch to fall down to the ground. Clementine and Mike repeated the same process as last night except this time it was to get into Carver's office and not to get a set of walkie-talkies. Once again, the hook to the winch came down from the roof. Mike placed Clementine on the ground and grabbed the rope. "Be sure to remember to flip the switch to the outdoor speakers. Just the indoor speakers might not draw the herd. It's right on the microphone box." Rebecca explained.
"Right." Clementine said as Mike kept her off the ground with the use of the winch. He was ready to help her to get to the roof again.
"By default it is set up to play music, so you should just have to turn it on, right? Then climb back up and drop down into the stockroom. We'll meet you there." Rebecca explained.
"Down into the office, outdoor speaker switch, turn on PA, up to the roof, and then down to the stockroom to meet you guys. That's right?" Clementine said.
"Perfect." Rebecca replied. Mike started to pull the rope on the other end and Clementine started to ascend to the roof through the use of the winch.
"Be careful." Sarita said.
"I will." Clementine said with a smile.
Clementine neared the ladder, but Rebecca walked up next to Mike to get the child's attention. "Clem, make sure you bring Alvin." Rebecca said. Clementine nodded in response and grabbed onto the ladder. She made her way up as the rest of the group waited and hoped that their plan would work.
Clementine reached the skylight that would allow her to drop down into Carver's office. She opened the skylight and dropped down on a set of lockers that were underneath the skylight. She dropped down from the lockers and looked over to Alvin. It appeared that he had received no medical treatment since she last saw him, and he remained unresponsive. "Alvin!" Clementine said.
She approached the beaten man and tried to wake him. "Alvin… are you okay? Please talk to me." Clementine said, but the man remained unresponsive. Clementine was saddened, but she had to move on. The group was counting on her to get the PA system to work.
She walked up to the PA system and immediately clicked on the external speakers to turn on. There was a loud ring which indicated the switch in the speakers. "Okay, now the mic…" Clementine said and she adjusted the volume, but nothing happened. "What? What's wrong?" Clementine asked as she adjusted the volume again. She looked around and her eyes rested on the CD player. She pressed play but nothing happened.
Clementine's eyes widened and she started to panic. "No, no, no, no!" Clementine whispered. She opened the CD player to find that there was no disc inside. "No, where are they?" Clementine asked as she looked around. She then spotted one of the CD's and immediately placed it in the CD player. She pressed the play button and went to microphone box. "Please, work, please." Clementine pleaded and she turned up the volume. She heard the sound of recordings about the Fourth of July and Howe's product which was sweet music to her ears. The plan was in motion.
Clementine breathed a sigh of relief; her part was done. She saw Bonnie down below running for the yard to release the group from the yard. However, Clementine heard some rustling from behind, and she turned around to see Alvin going through Carver's desk. "Alvin? Are you okay?" Clementine asked. She was surprised but happy to see that he was up and moving.
Alvin finally pulled out a derringer handgun from the desk and he chuckled. "Carver talks all that tough guy shit… but keeps the tinniest gun in the universe… something funny about that." Alvin said. Clementine went over to the window and saw something that horrified her. Carver and his men were at the far side of the warehouse. They dispersed rather quickly with Carver heading toward the yard.
"Come on. We got to get out of here." Clementine said.
Alvin coughed and said, "I ain't fit to move kid. I've… I've run out of road."
Clementine looked down with a frown. She knew that Alvin was right; he didn't have much strength left. "Let's… No, I'll-I'll just go up there and shut that thing off!" Clementine heard a familiar voice say. It was the guard from earlier that was fed up with Troy's attitude. She remembered that his name was Hank.
"You got to get out of here. They'll be here any second." Alvin said.
Clementine looked up and she said, "Thank you…" She turned and ran toward the lockers to escape the office through the skylight.
"You take care of my girls…" Alvin coughed. Clementine looked back to Alvin as he continued. "I get the feeling that it's-it's going to be a girl. Just a hunch" Clementine nodded and she climbed back up to the skylight.
Suddenly, Hank ran in. Both men fired their guns and both were shot dead. Clementine looked to Alvin's corpse with a frown before she proceeded to climb up to the skylight.
On the roof, Clementine could see the herd of walkers heading right for Howe's. She didn't stay to watch the herd for long. She had to join the other in the stockroom. She headed for the skylight for the stockroom as she heard the door to the roof being opened. She opened the skylight and automatic gunfire erupted a few feet from her.
She descended onto the shelf that she used to get the walkie-talkie the other night and she heard Carver's voice. "You wanna disrespect me, fine. You wanna throw away the life I'm trying to build for us, then fucking fine." Clementine descended onto one of the shelves and approached Carver by holding onto the railing as he continued to rant. She stayed out of sight while Carver continued to pace in front of the group with an assault rifle in hand. "You wanna run off with this dogshit group of crippled fucks, then fine! Be my guest!" Finally, Clementine was underneath Carver as he raised his rifle toward Rebecca. "But I will put a bullet into you and that baby before I let you-"
Carver couldn't finish his sentence. Clementine dropped down and made the leader stumble toward the group. Kenny punched Carver which stunned him and Luke wrestled the gun from him. "Get back!" Luke said. Clementine rejoined the group as they lowered their hands and some retrieved the weapons that they were carrying when they were captured.
"Come on, Luke." Carver said as he raised his hands in surrender. "This ain't none of your business.
"Clem… where? Why isn't Alvin with you? Where is he?" Rebecca asked.
In response, Clementine looked down with a frown. Rebecca's eyes widened in horror and in sadness. "Alvin…" Rebecca said.
"My gosh… Rebecca, I'm so, so sorry." Luke said.
"Kill him." Rebecca hissed.
Luke was shocked by what he heard as Carver said, "Rebecca, Rebecca, sweetie, my gosh... How did we get here? You and me? This is just a bit of a custody battle we got on our hands here."
"We should kill him." Madeline said with a frown. "My true dad would have never hurt Sophia, mom, or Keith."
"We should tie him up." Clementine suggested.
"Yeah, yeah, okay. Do we got any rope-?" Luke asked but he was interrupted by a loud bang and Carver shouting in pain. Carver stumbled from the shot to his left knee; he tried to regain his balance.
Clementine and Luke were shocked by the shot and looked over to see who the shooter was. It was Keith! Keith aimed the gun at Carver's other knee and fired a shot into it. Carver yelled in pain again, and he collapsed on the ground.
Keith lowered his handgun and he said, "Go on and wait outside." At this point, most of the group looked to Keith with horrified stares while others wore solemn stares. "Go on, I only need a minute. None of you need to see this. This was something that I should have done a long time ago. Maybe then, so many people could have been spared."
Some of the group members obliged, and Mike went up to open the garage door. "We have to go." Carlos said.
"Keith, please don't do this." Clementine said.
"I have to. I'm his son. It's my responsibility… to do what needs to be done." Keith replied.
Carver chuckled on the ground and said, "That girlfriend of yours has seen more than you can imagine."
"Shut your mouth Bill!" Luke exclaimed. Luke turned to his fellow group members and he asked, "Y'all just going to let him do this?"
"Yes!" Rebecca hissed.
"There ain't any part of that son of a bitch that I don't hate, but that still doesn't make this right!" Luke said.
"No, you're wrong." Nick said. Luke looked to him with a shocked stare. "What's going to stop him from coming back and killing more of our group? We need to kill him now."
"Nick, do you even hear yourself, brother?" Luke exclaimed. "This isn't what Pete would have wanted!"
"Pete's dead, Luke! Get that through your fucking skull!" Nick exclaimed.
"He killed Walter! I haven't been the same since, so I want to see this." Matthew said.
"Look at you... fucking ingrates. You don't even know how good you got it." Carver spat out as Carlos, Sarah, and Luke headed for the door; they didn't want to watch what would happen next. "But don't worry, in time, you'll all learn... Lambs to the slaughter... No shepherd to guide you. Clementine knows exactly what I'm talking about."
"Come on, sweetie. You don't need to see this." Sarita said to Clementine while she wrapped her arms around the girl. Clementine looked back to Keith one more time before she walked out with Sarita.
"Come on, Maddie. You're not going to watch this." Talyne said as she took the young girl's hand.
"Keith, please, don't become like him." Madeline said.
"I won't." Keith said. "I gotta do something first."
Talyne and Madeline turned around and headed for the garage door.
"Yeah, go on. Let the sheep out of the pin." Carver said. "We'll see how long that lasts."
"I'll be right there." Rebecca said as she stared down at Carver.
"I'm staying too." Nick said.
"Same here. This is going to be fun to watch." Kenny said with a smirk.
"I want to see some justice for what happened to my love." Matthew said with a frown.
Keith looked down to his father who continued to mutter insults "So, how's that eye? Just follow my voice… it'll get you there." Carver said. Keith got on his knees so that he was staring at his father. "You got a thick fucking skull, Keith Blake. I should have taken you out of your misery right then… now look at you. You're a mess." Carver chuckled before he continued, "If I would have known that beating you nearly to death would bring the beast out of you, I would have done it a long time ago."
Keith sighed, and in one movement, he hugged his father. "What are you doing?" Carver hissed as he tried to break free from the boy's grip. "I beat you nearly death… you-you should be doing the same thing to me!" Carver continued to try to break free, but he needed to use his right hand to maintain his balance which meant he could only use his left hand in a hopeless attempt to break free. "Get off me!"
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 38 and 39." Keith said. Carver huffed as the words sunk in. Keith's voice started to crack and he separated from the hug to continue, "You still have that love inside of you. Part of you is still William Carver, a loving husband and father. I know that even though you have killed so many people that God still loves you. Mom still loves you, Sophia still loves you…" Keith looked to Carver as tears formed in Carver's eyes and Keith's one good eye. It was over; Bill Carver wasn't in control any more. Keith was looking straight into the eyes of his father for the first time in years. "…And I still love you."
At this, William hugged his son and cried. "My gosh… Keith, what have I done? Erin? Derrick? Sophia? Reggie? Alvin? They were- they were good people… I killed my child and nearly killed you." Nick, Matthew, and Rebecca looked on to the scene no longer seeking vengeance but it appeared that Kenny wasn't liking how things were going. He had a glare form in his features. William pulled back his own son and looked to him with tears running down from his eyes. "What have I done? I nearly killed my son. Maddie… my poor little girl… what I did… I left her with almost nothing."
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. Ephesians 1:7." Keith said. "I love you, I just want to hear you say that one more time."
"I-I-I do. I love you, son." William said as he wrapped his arms around the boy and rocked him as Keith supported the both of them. "I love you… I love you… I love you."
"I knew you were in there somewhere." Keith said. He then reached for his handgun which was on the ground next to him. Keith wanted this to be the last moment between him and his biological father. He knew that Bill would return in time, and he didn't want that to happen. "I love you; never forget that." Keith whispered as he angled the gun and pulled the trigger.
There was a loud bang and Keith dropped his gun. He grabbed onto his father's coat and proceeded to lay his father's corpse to the ground. Keith looked down with a frown and sighed in respect to his father. He prayed a silent prayer. Even though his father had committed terrible acts on his last days on Earth, Keith knew that William was still a righteous man in years prior.
"Keith, are you okay?" Nick asked as he placed a hand on Keith's shoulder.
Keith looked up to his adoptive father and said, "I feel better than I have been in a long time. My dad isn't suffering anymore. He is finally at peace. I know that you guys hated him for what he has done, but just like you saw, my dad wasn't always bad."
"We understand." Matthew said. "I'm sorry that I had so much hatred towards him… It's just after Walter was killed… a part of me died with him."
Keith smiled and said, "Thank you."
Rebecca also appeared to be understanding with a smile on her lips. However, Kenny appeared to be angered. "What the fuck was that?" Kenny inquired. "That motherfucker put us through all of that shit, and all you did was shoot him?"
"He was my dad. If anyone had the right to put him down, it was me." Keith said with his voice cracking a bit. Part of him was happy that his father was at peace, but another part of him was very sad.
"Fuck that." Kenny spat. "I should have killed him myself."
"You don't have that right." Nick said.
"Come on, we're wasting time." Kenny muttered and he stormed off from the group.
"You know, Walter always thought that Kenny was dangerous. At first, I thought he was wrong, but now, I think he may have been right all along." Matthew said before he headed outside as well.
"Let's go." Nick said with his arm around Keith's shoulders.
Meanwhile, Rebecca grabbed William's gun and said, "William, don't worry about anything. Your son and your daughter are in good hands. Nick, Talyne, and I and the rest of the group will do all we can to look after them." Keith could hear Rebecca as he got closer and closer to being outside.
Once outside, the group was greeted with a shocking surprise. They were surrounded by the walkers, when they originally thought that the walkers were going to slam on the other side of the Howe's. Automatic gunfire could be heard from the other side.
Nick hopped down and helped Keith to the ground as Luke helped Rebecca to get down.
"Shit." Kenny said. "I thought they were coming from the south."
"They did…" Rebecca said as she observed the herd of walkers. "Looks like we're in the eye of it now."
"What do we do?" Talyne asked Jane.
"We let them come to us." Jane replied with confidence lacing her voice.
"Fuck!" Mike exclaimed as he started to panic. "This is so fucked!"
"Here, you're going to need something the protect yourself." Luke said as he handed Keith a survival knife.
"Thanks." Keith said as several walkers approached them. Keith approached one of the walkers and sliced one of its legs so it would lose its balance and fall on the ground. He followed with a thrust to its skull. The walker slumped to the ground. Keith took his knife out and looked up to see that the others had finished with the stragglers that ignored the automatic gunfire from the other side of the building.
Jane got in front of one of the walker and sliced it open. She slathered some of the walker's entrails on her and she explained, "You guys better hurry up and get to smearing if you wanna live. Or you can die here… it won't matter to me." The group started to cut up their own walkers and smeared the entrails on their own clothes.
Keith got down in front of the walker that he had managed to kill and stabbed the walker. He dragged the knife up to the walker's throat and grabbed some of the entrails. He smeared them on himself as Madeline watched on. "Alright, your turn." Keith said when he felt satisfied that the walker's blood would hide his human scent.
Madeline nodded; however, she was hesitant to go through this process. Keith started to smear the walker's entrails on Madeline as she cried out in disgust. She whimpered and whined as Keith continued. "Are you done?" Madeline asked.
"Almost." Keith said. "Don't worry. We'll find somewhere to wash up after this. Go ahead and turn around, and I'll get your back." Madeline obliged and Keith started to smear the entrails on her back. The herd was getting closer which started making some of the other group members worry. Keith finished rubbing the walker's guts on Madeline.
"Keith, let me get your back." Talyne said to the boy. Keith nodded and allowed his adoptive mother to slather his back with the walker's entrails.
"Is everyone else covered?" Keith asked.
"Yes, honey." Talyne said. "Don't worry. Carlos helped your girlfriend to get covered."
Keith rolled his eye and Madeline giggled. "You and her remind me of Sora and Kairi. You both risk almost everything to save each other." Madeline said.
Talyne finished as Kenny said, "We don't have all day here. Everybody ready?" Kenny turned to the herd that was limping towards the group. "They're almost on top of us."
Suddenly, everyone heard Troy's voice. "What in the actual fuck is going on here?" Troy exclaimed as he approached the group with his assault rifle in hand. "What is this sick shit? Someone start explaining before I start-"
Luke reached for his assault rifle but Troy stopped him when he aimed his assault rifle at Luke. "HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY! Don't even fucking think about it, motherfucker!" Troy bellowed.
"I'll be back. Maddie, don't watch." Talyne hissed and she approached the guard. Madeline closed her eyes while Keith looked over to Troy. He knew what Talyne was going to do.
Talyne approached her older brother with her knife at the ready. "I will end you!" Troy snapped as he held the rifle close to Luke's skull. "Do you hear me?"
Talyne was finally close enough to Troy to attack. Troy took notice of her, but it was too late. Troy tried to swing the rifle toward Talyne, but she was faster. She stabbed Troy in the chest.
"Holy shit, Talyne!" Luke exclaimed.
Talyne pushed Troy back into the wall and started to drag the knife down the rest of his body. Meanwhile, Troy coughed out blood and begged for mercy, but Talyne was relentless. "This is for Chase, for Nick, and for Keith, you piece of shit. Go to hell and stay there." Talyne said with a bitter tone in her voice. Talyne finished the cut as the walkers started going past the group and headed for Troy. Talyne glared at the dying man and she said, "Good-bye and good riddance. I hate you." She huffed before she walked away. She could hear Troy screaming out in pain as the walkers tore him apart even more.
Talyne's face was now covered in spots with the blood of the man that she had mauled.
The walkers limped toward Howe's in huge numbers. It caused the group members to separate into smaller group, but they were still able to stay somewhat nearby to one another. Carver's group was firing at the herd which brought even more walkers toward their side of the building.
Clementine and Keith were trying to keep up with Carlos and Sarah. Sarah was starting to whimper due to the walkers being so close to her. She was panicking. Keith and Clementine continued to weave in and out of the walkers' paths and the bullets that were flying everywhere. "Where's Bill?" One of the guards exclaimed. "We need him up here."
"Clem, we got to keep moving." Keith whispered.
Clementine nodded and she walked behind Keith. The group of four continued to maneuver around the walkers, but it proved to be a difficult task. There were too many walkers, and they were drawing some of the walkers' attention from Sarah's constant whimpering. "Shh… quiet honey." Carlos whispered, but Sarah continued to panic. "Clementine, Keith, come help me. Calm her down, please just say something. You're her friends."
Keith and Clementine didn't know what to say to calm Sarah down. The situation was too intense for them to do much. "Clementine, Keith-" Carlos said but he was interrupted. He yelled out in pain when a bullet hit his shoulder.
"DAD!" Sarah exclaimed as Carlos stumbled a couple of steps forward. The smell of fresh blood and the noise alerted the walkers nearby and they attacked the doctor. He yelled out in a dying scream as the walkers started to eat him. "DAAAAAD!" Sarah shouted in horror as her father was devoured by the swarm of walkers.
The girl's scream alerted the other walkers around them. Keith and Clementine readied themselves with a couple of walkers taking notice of them. Sarita noticed what happened and stabbed a walker from behind that was approaching Sarah. Keith slashed a walker's leg and finished with a slash across the skull. Clementine hacked at a walker with her hatchet. However, another walker approached her but was shot down by Bonnie.
Sarah continued to cry as more and more walkers started to approach the three. "Sarah, get a hold of yourself!" Keith whispered as another walker approached him. He growled as he slashed the walker's leg. It was followed with him stabbing the walker in the head.
Clementine looked to see another walker approaching her and Sarah. Clementine turned around and asked, "Sarah, did you-" However, Clementine couldn't finish her sentence. Sarah bolted away. Clementine looked back and did a quick slash to the walker's head with her hatchet.
Keith ran towards her and he said, "Clem behind you." Clementine turned to see a walker approaching her. It growled as it tried to grab her but it was stabbed from behind. The walker fell to the ground, and it was revealed that Sarita killed the creature. The woman retrieved her knife and squatted down in front of Clementine and Keith.
"Are you both alright?" Sarita asked. "Where's Sarah?"
"I don't know. She panicked." Clementine explained.
The three heard a growl and they turned to see another walker approaching them. Sarita got up and stabbed the walker in the skull. Like the last walker, the creature fell to the ground, and Sarita reclaimed her knife.
Suddenly, the three could hear a loud scream. They ran toward the source of the scream with Keith lagging behind Clementine. However, Sarita was behind him.
"Clem!" Sarita called out. Clementine turned to see the kind woman getting cut off by the walkers.
"Sarita!" Clementine called out. However, Sarita was forced back by a couple more walkers. It didn't take long for neither Keith nor Clementine to be able to see where Sarita was. "Where is she?" Clementine asked.
"I-I don't see her." Keith said. The scream was heard again, and the two children turned toward the source of the screaming. "Maybe, we'll still find her at Parker's Run. Right now, the herd's too thick to go looking for her."
"Okay. I hope you're right." Clementine said. She ran toward the source of the shouts and was surprised to see Matthew struggling with a walker. The walker was biting down on his wrist. It was over for him unless he amputated the arm "Clem!" Matthew exclaimed. Clementine shook her head out of her daze and she slashed the walker that was chomping down on his wrist. Keith finally caught up and huffed as Matthew looked to his wrist in horror. "I…I'm bit. Oh my word. I'm bit." Matthew muttered. "Clementine, Keith, it bit me. I'm dead."
"You have to stay calm. They'll notice you." Clementine said.
"It doesn't matter… I'm bit." Matthew said. "I might as well be dead."
"We'll figure something out." Keith said. "But we can't do anything here."
"Sarita!" Kenny exclaimed as he and Mike approached the three. They looked over to see Mike kill a walker and Kenny rushing over. "Where's Sarita?" Kenny asked. Kenny looked down to see a bite mark on Matthew's wrist. He looked on with horror as Matthew stood up.
Mike walked up and he saw the bite as well. "He's been bit. He's going to turn." Mike said.
"Come on, there's got be something you can do." Matthew said.
"We can amputate his arm. It'll keep him from turning." Clementine said.
"Yeah because that really helped Lee out." Kenny muttered.
Clementine shuttered at the mention of her guardian's name. She shook her head to focus and she said, "Lee didn't act quickly enough. We can still save Matthew, but we have to hurry."
"Where's Sarita at?" Kenny asked.
"We got separated." Clementine said.
"You what?" Kenny bellowed. "You were supposed to help her, Clementine!"
"Kenny, I tried." Clementine exclaimed.
"I tried." Kenny said in a mocking tone. "You left her to die in this herd!"
"Kenny, she's doing everything she can! She's just a kid!" Matthew exclaimed.
"Guys, come on. We need to get out of here." Mike said. He took the lead and headed away from Howe's. Kenny and Matthew followed, but the herd's numbers separated Clementine and Keith. Even worse, Keith was having a hard time keeping up.
"Hey, are you okay?" Clementine asked as she turned around to look at the boy huffing with his hands on his knees.
Keith looked up and saw a walker heading toward them. "…Move." Keith mumbled.
"What?" Clementine asked as the walker got closer.
"Move!" Keith exclaimed and he pushed her away from the walker's stumbling. He brought up his knife and stabbed the walker in the skull. The walker's corpse fell limp on top of the boy.
Clementine rushed to his aid and pushed the walker off of him. Keith huffed as he laid on the ground. "You're not okay." Clementine said.
"…Unfortunately… no, I'm not." Keith said as he tried to get up. He was successful but he threatened to fall. "I'm good… for now." Keith said.
He went over to the walker and stabbed it in the chest. He dragged the knife down as Luke exclaimed, "I'm going after Sarah!"
"Wait up!" Talyne exclaimed.
"Tal!" Nick called out. "I need help with Maddie."
"Just carry her. She's scared Nicky." Talyne called back before she went after Luke. Keith slather some of the walker's entrails on while he watched Nick picked up the small eight year old. He noticed that Madeline jumped from being picked up, but she didn't seem too jumpy afterwards. He turned back to the walker's entrails and rubbed some on Clementine as well. "Okay… we should be… good now."
Clementine nodded and she followed Keith's lead. Unfortunately, they both lost sight of Nick and Madeline. It seemed that they would have to get out of the herd by themselves.
Suddenly, Clementine was grabbed from behind. She struggled and thrashed in the person's grip. Keith continued through the herd but was soon cut off by the immense numbers of the walkers. He looked back to see Rebecca holding onto Clementine.
Keith approached them as Rebecca exclaimed, "Stop!" She released Clementine from her grip. "Thank goodness." The three crouched down to avoid being hit by bullets. It was madness. The plan that Kenny had in mind was a disaster.
"We can't find anyone." Clementine said.
"I know." Rebecca said. "What do we do?"
"We got to get out of this herd… and fast." Keith explained.
"Keith, are you alright?" Rebecca asked.
"No, I…I'm getting lightheaded." Keith said. "I might be going into shock…"
"Then we can't stay here." Clementine said. "We got to keep moving."
Rebecca was somewhat conflicted by the decision. On the one hand, she wanted to get out of the herd, but on the other, she was paralyzed by fear; The size of the herd scared her. She looked over to Howe's and said, "Look. The walkers are still moving towards the hardware store. We can make it out if we stick toget-" Rebecca stopped herself and she released a pained grunt. The baby was coming soon. She took in deep breaths to relax, and she said, "I'm glad you are here."
"It's going to be okay. We're going to make it." Clementine said.
"Okay." Rebecca replied.
"I'm going to try and… find us an opening." Keith said. He looked out to the large crowd of walkers. It wasn't long till he took notice of a few trees. . "There's the forest. Let's go." Keith said as he struggled to stand upright. He approached the forest with Clementine and Rebecca following him.
However, the walkers limped in front of them and blocked off the trees. "Dammit!" Rebecca said. "Go back, go back."
Keith huffed and turned to retreated back to cover, but he saw Clementine bump into the woman from the yard.
Clementine gasped upon bumping into woman. She must have thought that the woman was a walker. Clementine looked up to the woman and she said, "Jane."
"Jane, thank goodness." Rebecca said.
"Stop." Jane hissed. "Relax." She headed for the group of walkers that the three tried to get through earlier. "You need to walk…. SLOWLY. You'll be fine."
"I can't do this." Rebecca said as panic started to overwhelm her. She walked toward a couple of trees that provided sanctuary from the herd's assault. Clementine and Keith walked into the trees with Rebecca. "You have to help us… please."
"We can't clump together like this." Jane said. "It would be better if we spread out. You three will be fine…" Jane walked from the three.
"No, you don't understand." Rebecca said. "Just stay with us… please."
"We should stay together." Clementine said. "It's safer that way."
"Wrong, the exact opposite is true." Jane replied as she continued to make her way through the herd. Jane left the three and Rebecca started to hyperventilate. Clementine and Keith didn't know what to do and Keith was worried that he was running out of time and that he would pass out any second.
Jane looked back to the three and cursed in defeat. She returned to them and explained, "We'll have to push through that cluster of walkers."
Jane looked to the large herd and Rebecca said, "There's too many."
"We'll make a cow-catcher." Jane said as she looked around.
"A what?" Clementine asked.
"You'll see." Jane said. She looked up and her eyes widened. "There." Jane said as she gestured to a female walker. "That one will be easy to carry. I'm going to get on the far side of her." Jane continued as she headed out of the brush. "I need you to get her attention."
Clementine nodded and she approached the walker. After several seconds, Jane appeared in front of the walker. "Hey. Over here." Clementine said. The walker turned around and growled at her. It approached her with outstretched arms as Clementine prepared herself to fight the walker.
However, the walker was grabbed from behind by Jane. Jane slashed the walker's lower jaw off with her knife. "Not going to bite anybody now, are you?" Jane said to the walker. She looked to the three and she said, "Stay close." She looked toward the herd of walkers that they would have to go through. Clementine helped Keith up and he huffed. "If you fall behind, I can't come back for you." Jane led the way with Rebecca close behind, followed by Clementine, and finally Keith who was doing everything he could to keep up with his fellow survivors.
Jane pushed through the herd with the use of the captured walker. The plan worked; the surrounding walkers ignored the four survivors and instead they limped towards the fortified hardware store. Jane pushed the captured walker on the ground and stabbed it in the back of the skull as Clementine, Rebecca, and Keith looked back to Howe's one last time. "Let's go." Jane said. Clementine, Keith, and Rebecca turned and followed Jane into the forest where they were met with a cold rainstorm that cleaned off most, if not all, of the walker guts.
…To be continued.