AN: My Greek class is kicking my butt, so updates might become sporadic for a while. We'll see. In happier news, I finished the first draft of a love scene with Clem and... someone ;)
Carlos turned to Nick. "Help me carry the guns," he instructed.
"Guns?" Sarita asked, her eyes wide.
Clementine looked at Walter in concern as Nick passed out weapons. He handed her a small handgun.
"That windmill's a damn dinner bell," Kenny yelled. He ran toward it with the group close in tow.
A low thump came from the lodge. "The hell was that?" Kenny asked. The lights in the building flickered and then went out. "Dammit. Transformer musta gone," he swore. "Gotta check it. I could use a hand."
"I'll go with you," Luke offered.
"I'm going, too," Sarita declared.
"No!" Kenny turned on her. "It's too dangerous. Rest of you, get this thing shut down." He ran off toward the lodge with Luke, leaving the others to stare at the control panel with puzzled looks.
"Does… anyone know how to do this?" Carlos asked.
"I can do it," Clementine said.
"Okay," Carlos nodded. "We'll watch your back. Nick, scan the trees with me."
Clementine held her lighter up to the switchboard, finding a key hanging on a hook. Guessing, she inserted it into a red button and turned. The blades of the wind turbine slowed to a stop, and she breathed a sigh of relief, wiping her palms on her pants.
However, in the silence that followed, distinctive groans came from the woods around them.
"Somethin' ain't right," Nick mumbled, his eyes narrowed.
Dozens of walkers began to stumble out of the woods, converging on the small group. Carlos lifted his handgun, but his brow creased. "We don't have much ammunition."
"We gotta get back to the lodge," Nick breathed.
The group began to fire, trying to clear a path back to the house. Clementine shot a few walkers, but soon ran out of ammunition. She found herself trapped behind a rock with a dozen walkers still stumbling toward her relentlessly. Just as she was about to make a break for it, the closest few suddenly dropped.
She turned to see Carlos lower his gun. "Get to the lodge!" he yelled.
Sprinting forward, Clementine saw a walker almost on top of Nick. He was barely holding it away from his neck. His eyes fell on Clementine.
However, before she could even make a move to help him, the walker fell to the ground. Walter lowered his gun, looking at Nick with a set expression. Nick looked shocked, his face soon relaxing into a grateful look. Walter only paused for a moment, soon darting off to help Carlos. Nick followed close behind.
Clementine looked at the empty gun in her hands and decided to run inside for more ammo. She saw Sarah, Alvin and Rebecca standing at the window anxiously. She ran up to them, intending to ask where the ammunition was, but she then noticed what they were staring at. Automatic rounds were coming from the woods, picking off walker after walker. There seemed to be four, maybe five shooters. Clementine watched in confusion as the strangers cleared the lodge of walkers.
Four figures strode out of the trees. Clementine recognized the man in front as the man from the cabin, and the woman to his right as the stranger from the window. She shook her head, feeling like an idiot for letting Walter give her food.
The strangers surrounded Sarita, Carlos, Nick, and Walter. "Carver," Rebecca gasped. Carver stepped up to Carlos and said something, but Carlos spat in his face. Carver came back with a punch, causing Sarah to cry out. She ran out the door and sprinted to her father before Clementine could stop her. She tackled him in a hug and hid behind him as Carver's eyes fell on the lodge. He pointed toward it, and Alvin, Rebecca, and Clementine exchanged terrified looks. They crouched and climbed the stairs as quickly as they could, hiding upstairs behind a small wall where they could still hear what was going on.
Clementine heard the others file in. The strangers chattered to themselves, admiring the lodge.
"Look at this place! It's huge!"
"It's indefensible, though. Look at all those windows."
"Bill's gonna hate it."
Clementine peered down cautiously, seeing a man tie up the others. She sat down again by Rebecca and Alvin, shaking her head at them.
Suddenly, Sarah gasped, and Clementine peeked just in time to see Carver drag Carlos to the middle of the floor and punch him hard in the gut. Carlos's eyes bugged out in surprise and he doubled over on the ground, gasping in pain.
"Listen, I'm only gonna ask you once," growled Carver. "Where's Rebecca?"
"Sarah," Carlos choked out. "Look at me. It's gonna be oka-" He grunted as Carver grabbed his hand and bent his middle finger back, filling the air with the sickening crack of snapping bones. Carver raised his voice over Carlos's agonized cries.
"Rebecca? Rebecca, our baby deserves to be raised in a place of safety." Rebecca winced at his words. "I know you're out there. And Alvin. And Luke. And the girl. This is real simple. You want this over quick, you all play nice and show your faces."
Sarah began to whimper and cry. "Don't hurt my dad! Please!" she sobbed.
"He'll kill him!" Alvin hissed.
"No, Alvin." Rebecca shook her head, terrified but firm.
"We gotta go down there," Alvin insisted.
"I can't do that! Where's Luke and Kenny?" Rebecca looked at Clementine desperately. "Can't you go find them? Sneak out somehow?"
Clementine scoffed. "And do what? They're better equipped and they already have bargaining chips. I won't give them a chance to hurt anyone." She crossed her arms firmly. Rebecca's obviously too afraid to think clearly.
Alvin nodded his assent. "We start shootin' and people are gonna die on both sides."
They heard the crackle of more bones breaking and Carlos's cries of pain as Carver pulled back another of his fingers.
"Dad!" Sarah screamed in horror. "Just stop! Don't hurt my dad! Please!"
"We're going down there." Alvin stared Rebecca down.
"He'll kill you," she said, her voice quivering.
"Fuck you," Carlos choked out from below. He began to yell. "Shoot him! Somebody just shoot hi-" Carver cut him off, grabbing him by his hair and holding a knife to his neck.
"Rebecca! GO!" Clementine hissed.
"Say goodbye, Carlos," Carver said through gritted teeth.
"Sarah, don't look-"
Rebecca took a deep breath and stood. "Bill, stop!" she cried.
Carver's eyes lit up. "Ah!" he breathed. He threw Carlos to the ground. Rebecca, Alvin, and Clementine filed down the stairs as he watched, smiling. He walked up to Rebecca and stroked her cheek. "You alright?" he asked tenderly.
"Fuck you, Bill," she spat.
Clementine, Alvin, and Rebecca were tied up and lined next to the others kneeling against the wall.
"You don't have to do this," Walter tried to appeal to Bonnie. "Just let these people go."
"Shut up," she said, her voice shaking a little.
Suddenly, a gunshot cracked, and the sound of shattered glass filled the air. One of Carver's men fell lifeless to the ground.
"Kenny!" Sarita gasped.
Carver and the others quickly moved behind pillars. Carver's face was dangerous. "Watch them," he directed to Bonnie as he strode toward the group.
Grabbing Walter roughly by his neck, he pulled him up and dragged him to the window, using Walter to shield his body. Walter stared at the ground as if fascinated, and Clementine saw the picture of him and Matthew still lying there. He opened his mouth to say something, still staring at the picture, but Carver shot him in the temple before he made a single sound.
Sarah gasped and screamed as the group stared at Walter's lifeless body in horror.
"That's for our man!" Carver yelled at the window. "Now, I didn't want to do this, but you ain't leavin' me much choice. So here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna march another one of your friends out here and I'm gonna put a bullet in the back of their head." Sarah screamed again, sobbing hysterically. "Or, you could give up now. Your choice."
Kenny's answer came as another gunshot. It grazed against the pillar, narrowly missing Carver's nose.
Carver stepped back to the group, scanning their faces before stopping on one. "Hi, Alvin," he grinned, lifting him up.
"Bill, no!" Rebecca cried. "Tell him to stop. Kenny, stop!"
"Do you remember George, Alvin?" Carver murmured to him as he dragged him to the window. "You see, I do. I remember a guy that was your friend named George. I remember when you murdered him in cold blood. And why. Because you didn't like me? You could have lodged a complaint. You could have… well, you could have been civil."
"Bill, no, we'll do anything you want," Rebecca sobbed.
Carver waited for a moment, before giving a disdainful "hmph" and sending a bullet through Alvin's head. Alvin's body dropped to the ground heavily.
Carver's eyes fell on Clementine, who was watching his every move through wide eyes. He lifted her effortlessly into the air and carried her to the window with a gun to her head. Her breathing was fast and shallow, her eyes squeezed shut. She tried not to think.
"We can do this all night," Carver yelled, his voice loud in her ear. "Is that what you want?" She felt the cold metal of the gun pressed against her cheek.
Suddenly, the door creaked open, and Kenny walked into the lodge with his hands up, his head hung in defeat.
They tied him up quickly, and Carver paced in front of them, surveying his captives. "Where's Luke?" he demanded. The only sounds were Sarah's quiet sobs. "Finally cut and run, eh? Why am I not surprised?" He turned and pointed his finger at them accusingly. "I warned you. I warned you not to follow him, and look where he's led you. But you're safe now. We're going home." He walked to Rebecca, the only person making eye contact with him, and smiled. "As a family." She placed her hands protectively over her stomach. He looked over them, satisfied. "All right. Round 'em up. We're headin' back to camp."
The strangers lifted them one by one and packed them into the truck, and they drove off into the storm.