The Walking Dead: Hey Sweet Pea
Episode 3: In Harm's Way (Part 5) / Chapter 21
"There's no way a man your size is gotta fit up there." Mike commented.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Lee said, jokingly.
"That ladder is fragile. Unless something's changed, it won't support much weight. I say Clem has the best shot at doing it." Rebecca suggested.
"Absolutely not!" Lee refused to let Clementine go up there. Clementine shrugged and looked at him with those eyes of hers. The word 'no' repeated in his mind, but he finally budged and then let out a sigh, "Fine."
"I'll boost you." Mike said to Clementine. She nodded, and then Mike boosted her up on his shoulders, and then she grabbed the rope, pulling it down and then grabbing onto it. Mike then grabbed the other end of the rope, that made her fly up.
"Sorry, pal. You woulda broken the ladder." Kenny said.
"I don't like this. She shouldn't have to do this." Lee shook his head. Clementine then grabbed ahold of the ladder, letting the rope go. She looked back down to Lee who was looking up to her with a concerned look, then she looked over to the walkers stumbling towards the hardware store. She climbed up the ladder, and then was now on the roof. She saw the greenhouse, and remembered Reggie being pushed off the roof by Carver. He had to pay for that. He had to. Clementine wasn't sure which one was the radio room, so she took a guess. She ran to the first window ceiling she saw, and looked at what was in there before opening it. She looked to see Carver settling down in his chair, he was just relaxing - she assumed. She then ran to the next one and looked to see a man standing on the next roof that was higher then where she was standing. He was talking to someone on the radio, much to Clementine's surprise - he wasn't able to notice her. Clementine opened the next window ceiling, and this one was it. She crawled into it, and jumped down onto the nearest box. She spotted Tavia sitting on a lawn chair talking to the man that was outside. She didn't know how she was going to play this, at any moment she could stand up from that chair and look and see her there. She would be exposed easily if she did that. Clementine risked it and climbed across the huge boxes that were attached to the wall. She jumped down to a lower row of boxes, and then jumped down to the lowest, she then jumped onto the ground - making a bit of noise, but not enough to attract Tavia's attention. She finally got up from the chair and Clem was hiding behind a rectangle shaped box, which smelled like there was some fruit inside. But why would they keep it in here? Clementine disregarded her thought and then approached the walkie talkie station, but slowly backed up and hid behind the box against once Tavia turned around.
Fortunately, Tavia did not see Clementine. Once Tavia turned back around, she approached again then slowly raised herself up to click the walkie talkies off the station. She succeeded, and then stuck them in her jacket pocket. She then jogged back to the boxes, and luckily Tavia had sat down on the lawn chair again, still talking to the man outside. She climbed up to the highest box and then got out of that room. The man had disappeared from his original position. Clementine's day just keeps getting better and better. She ran back to the pen, climbing down the ladder and then was caught by Mike.
"Holy fuck." Lee smiled.
"Good job, kid." Mike said, setting her down. Everyone else had began to go to bed, except for Lee and Mike. Clementine ran over to Lee, who gave him a hug.
"Hey sweet pea. You did good. I'm surprised on how you did it, but good job, Clementine." Lee smiled. Mike walked over to his bed, laying down. Lee was confused on where he was going to sleep. Clementine slept next to Kenny, and Sarah was above her.
"That was so cool." Sarah said.
"Thank you, Clem. You better get some sleep." Kenny said to her, and Clem nodded. Lee stood there, awkwardly. Unsure of where he was going to sleep. Clementine looked at him and shrugged, he smiled and then the woman who was supporting his idea about walking through the herd with walker guts called him over. Lee walked over to her and she looked at the small bed that was next to her.
"I think Dean put that earlier today, guess he's lookin' out for you." The woman informed him and Lee nodded, laying down. Lee remembered the last time he slept next to a grown woman, which was a long time ago. Lee just ignored his weird thoughts and shut his eyes.
"I'm Jane." The woman said, and Lee opened his eyes again, looking to her
"Lee." He said.
"So, is she your daughter?" Jane asked, looking over to Clementine.
"It's a real long story." Lee yawned, feeling too tired to explain the whole story of how he met Clementine. Honestly, he couldn't really remember most of his 'adventures' with Clementine. With Lilly, Larry, Carley, everyone else... The only survivors of that group was him, Clem and Kenny. Lee had sworn that Kenny died back at that alleyway. He was fucked. The exits were closed off, walkers flooding the area. Kenny was a tough son of a bitch to be able to push through that. He just wished the group hadn't been totally decimated.
"So no then?" Jane came up with her own answer.
"No. We just met each other at the start of all this. After that, we've been through so much. I got split up from her after I got- then we finally found each other, here. I couldn't believe it." Lee explained.
"Ah, I see. It's nice that you found her. She seemed pretty unhappy when I first found her, but when she saw you. She lit up like a goddamn christmas tree. Anyways, I don't mean to keep you from getting some rest. Night." Jane said, beginning to go to sleep. Lee nodded, "Thanks." And then he closed his eyes again. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.
The next morning, Sarah, Jane, Rebecca, Kenny, Nick, Pete, Mike, Lee and Clem were surrounding the table. Kenny was holding the walkie talkie in his hand.
"Alright. We're all here." He said.
"Somebody's gotta get the radio out to Luke. What's the problem?" Rebecca questioned.
"We should think about who's doin' what before we-" Kenny said, but was interrupted once the shutter open, and Tavia and Dean walked in. Lee looked at Dean, giving him a threatening look, which he returned the favor by smiling.
That fucking grin of his. Bet he won't be smiling once I rip his throat out.
"Time to get up. Daylight's burnin'. They let you sleep in all things considered." Tavia said, holding an assault rifle.
"Where's my Dad?" Sarah asked, cluelessly.
"Where the rest of you are goin' to work." Tavia replied. Lee rolled his eyes, tired of this hard labor - even though he hasn't really done any hard labor yet, but this was going to be his first day.
"Rebecca. Nick. Sarah. Jane. Pete. If you gotta take a piss, do it now. Next break won't be for a while." Tavia informed them. Jane gave her a dirty look while putting her hand on her hip. Pete nodded and followed her, and the rest of them followed Tavia as well.
"Troy will be coming for the rest of you." Tavia said, and Dean and Tavia walked out - along with the group that was being forced to go now. Dean then closed the shutter, and then Kenny began talking to what was left of the group again.
"I guess we're the troublemakers, huh?" Lee chuckled.
"Alright, if we're gonna do somethin' - we have to do it now. If Luke's all we got, we'll pair up with him." Kenny said.
"I can do it. Where's the meet?" Mike volunteered.
"Mike, Clementine should do it." Kenny said.
"Are you fucking kidding?" Mike asked.
"Why the hell is a eleven year old girl doing all the work?" Lee objected.
"She knows Luke. She got the damn radio in the first place!" Kenny retorted.
"Kenny's right. I should do it." Clementine volunteered.
"No. I can do this." Lee shook his head.
"Lee, it's the only way!" Kenny replied.
"No, it's not the only way, goddammit! She's a fucking kid!" Lee retorted.
"What the hell are y'all yellin' about!?" Troy yelled, pushing the shutter up.
"Nice to see the monkey joined the banana tree." Troy said to Lee. Lee scoffed, and then crossed his arms.
"Let's get movin'. Come on, now." Troy ordered, walking forward while the man who was on the roof last night was standing by the shutter. Mike, Lee and Troy walked forward but then Kenny pushed against Clem, "You have your pockets all out." He said, stuffing the walkie talkie in her jacket pocket. Clementine glared at him, and then Kenny shrugged and then looked forward to see Troy giving him a weird look. Kenny shrugged, and Lee rolled his eyes. Then the two of them followed the rest of them, and the pen was left empty.
"She's with me today." Dean said.
"Ah shit, I almost forgot." Troy said, pushing Clementine towards Dean.
"No, she's comin' with us!" Lee objected. Dean chuckled, walking with Clementine to her shift.
"Move it!" Troy ordered, walking out the door and Lee, Kenny and Mike followed.
Clementine went into the comic book store where she was supposed to meet Luke. Clementine was happy that Dean, as much of an asshole that he was - he let Clementine go back to Kenny, Lee and Mike. This gave her plenty of time to find Luke. Was he sleeping? He seemed to be sleep-deprived the last time she saw him.
"Luke!" Clementine whispered. No answer. After a few seconds, Troy barged in and then yelled, "I swear to Christ you're gonna regret this!"
"I was just-" Clementine was slapped in the face by Troy, he then grabbed her by the neck and threw her out of the store, dragging her towards Lee, Kenny and Mike who were beginning to walk back.
"Let go of her, you motherfucker!" Lee lashed out, lunging towards Troy, but Troy nudged him off with the butt of his rifle.
"You people been here one fuckin' day and already you're fucking up! You'll see what happens next, MOVE!" Troy ordered. The four of them continued walking.
"How is it that we're repaid for our trust? With treachery? With deceit? Theft!" Carver yelled, pointing to Luke who was injured on the ground. He must have been beaten by Carver at some point. That's why he wasn't in the comic store.
"Whatever you were planning is over...it's done. You can't just run from your problems, you can't just get up and leave when it gets tough. Cause there ain't nowhere you can go where it ain't. Tough is all we got now, get that through your thick fucking skulls." Carver ordered, holding the walkie talkie up. He walked over to Clem, Lee and Kenny. Then he walked back in front of Luke.
"Luke here, he can't help you now. You gotta help yourselves. You gotta help me find the strength to forgive you. Now you can start, by telling me where the other one is. I'm gonna count to three, and if that radio ain't in my hands by then... I'll have to make things more difficult." Carver warned, beginning a countdown. Clementine decided she should probably give up the radio, and she was just about to once Kenny had held up the radio, "It's right here - I got it!"
Carver held out his hand, giving a threatening look towards him. Sarita stopped him, looking at him worrisome. "It's all right." He responded. He walked towards Carver, "Sorry about that. Not sure what I was thinkin'." Kenny said, dropping the radio in Carver's hands.
"Three." He finished.
"Heh. Fucker." Kenny muttered. Carver then smacked Kenny's face with the radio, causing him to fall over. He then hit him repeatedly and quickly Lee was unable to react. There was heavy guns pointed at them, what could they do?
"No!" Sarita cried, and quickly Carlos grabbed her so she couldn't do anything.
"Stop, help me someone!" Carlos yelled. Clementine ran towards Kenny but was instantly met with a rifle smack to the cheek. Lee saw red and ran towards Troy, tackling him. He began punching him as Clem clutched her cheek. Dean eventually kicked Lee off of Troy, and was knocked out by Dean. Troy got up and brushed himself off, spitting out blood onto the ground.
"Fucker." Troy growled.
"Jesus, Bill! Stop! There's a breach!" A guard called out which caused Carver to stop beating his head in. Carver hit him one last time, slamming his head against the ground.
"Troy, Dean come with me! Sammy, you stick around. Make sure these folks don't get in any more trouble. No supper for y'all tonight, maybe an empty stomach may give you some perspective, and we'll try this again tomorrow." Carver said, walking out and then Dean closed the shutter.
"Do your best with Kenny, Carlos. We're leaving tonight." Sammy, the new guard said.
"Who the hell is this?" Nick muttered.
"The person who's going to help you get outta here." Sammy said.