A/N: Okay... onto answering reviews and YESSSSS! 600 REVIEWS! I never thought I'd reach this landmark and this story is now the second most reviewed on this site (I know I keep mentioning it, but It's a strange habit of mine) either way I'll thank you all again for the billionth time and get onto answering your reviews.
olliboy123- hmm... if he did I imagine he would tell everyone about how far along Sarita really was, so they'd get the meds. The russians would still be after the meds but the conflict could have been died down or averted. Kenny could have stopped Eddie firing the bullet that led to the conflict. and let Nick talk some sense into Vitali, no one shot each other meaning Stef wouldn't have crashed the truck. Avoiding Marisol's group the group would carry on the first truck Sarita will have given birth with the meds needed to survive, Kenny would have been sane... hence avoiding his death. They could have reached Wellington without too much hassle.
BlackGalaxyStars- I always love a long review that sums up thoughts on characters and what the reader makes of them, so I loved reading your review and I hope I can continue to entertain you this chapter (well I say entertain... not that I'm going to make cry or anything like that... nope. Nope not at all.)
CCA. .AcP.496- a new reviewer! Welcome and yes, you were warned about last chapter. Still you're right Clem could use a cookie now.
Ayuka86- The blizzard won't a problem unless something happens to the truck...
ffapathy- I imagine Molly, Stephanie and Nate were the only survivors of Luke's pre life, Nate simply rode his truck onwards never encountering the others or the cult. Molly kept on going I imagine she'd be strong like that, and since the cult were focused on Clem/Luke near the end of the pre-life I imagine Stephanie was a 50/50 if the cult didn't get her than the blizzard probably did, or she probably somehow survived. It's like Jane, she was the only survivor of Clem's pre life, looks like it's Stef this time round and this fact will not go ignored I still have a few more twists up my sleeve...
Anyway I'm glad Luke's pre-life explained his determination to protect Clem, not only out of how much he cares for her, but a strong sense of guilt and trauma has also propelled him to act the way he has.
newsupergodzilla38- (Like your name by the way) Thanks for your kind words, making this into a book, comic or a video game would be awesome although I doubt it happen I can still dream.
Justsomeguy23- Okay... a lot of cult leader hate now.
transfrmersfan2013- I wanted to reference the stranger, how he went to ruin and how Nick went to ruin in a similar way, one of Nick's greatest flaws is his inability to let go of the past. (As shown in the game when he blames himself for stuff and grieves for Pete and his mother) this is a trait that got Nate killed in the end, and I imagine (in an alternative world where things got worse) this would be Nick's end as well.
emilyrose727- thank you!
bubbles2k100- Yep, I get the Irish slang (I'm quarter Irish myself) and I love how you want to see mama bear Rebecca's reaction, you know shit has hit the fan when you cross her.
A Writer With Mixed Interests- Another cabin group fan! Yep they were great people!
Kristal-Dynamite- I'm glad you like the way I write the characters as it means a lot to me to know I'm doing a good job with everyone
Chameishida- You're right about Bonnie's part, and that will be expanded upon this chapter.
transformer's g1's-prime- Yep, I think Eddie's words summed up the chapter perfectly and a lot of reviewers seem to summarise this chapter with Eddie's words.
and finally thank you to everyone else who reviewed and read last chapter!
"and what about the stream? What did the cult leader say to you there?" Rebecca finally asked of Luke, the encompassing silence around the truck was too heavy on everybody's shoulders.
"He... he didn't say much. He just..." Luke gulped as he remembered.
"I need the kids, Luke" came a voice, Luke's gun was too far away from him and he didn't make any effort to try and grab it anyway. Instead he continued to gaze down at his own daunting reflection in the moonlit stream.
"Why?" he simply spat at himself more than the cult leader. He knew that business-like tone from anywhere yet he didn't look up at the man he loathed. He tried to control his breathing... remembering now what the cult leader had done to him the previous time.
"You know, don't you?" Luke asked of him, still staring at his reflection.
"I know what? I know a lot about your group Luke, but I do not know what you are enquiring about? I merely ask for the babies, I want to raise them under the cult's protection. They would be safe, I want AJ and Sarita's baby when it is born, I will ensure members of my group direct you to a truck so you will be able to reach Wellington more quickly. I am saddened we couldn't come to a deal back at the hardware store, but as long as you give me the children..."
"You'll brainwash them! and no way in hell I am stealing babies and handin' them too you! Just kill me if that's what you want! But leave the kids outta this" Luke seemingly begged of the emotionless grey eyed man in front of him, as he finally glared up at the man. Still standing tall in Pete's decaying skin.
"I cannot do that. I shall walk away in a minute but you shall hand me the kids and you shall keep on moving and trying to get to Wellington" The cult leader announced, as Luke gazed at him. Even under Pete's skin mask he retained his mastered pokerface, the last time Luke had seen the cult leader (in this life) had been before they left Howe's. Was it possible the cult leader didn't know about his second chance? The cult leader was the one who went savage in the end. Was that the man behind the mastered pokerface. A savage?
Luke knew it was, but it appeared that the cult leader didn't know of his second chance, if the cult leader's memories had been erased back to the point of when his cult was chasing his own group into that giant herd... then what had changed? He hadn't asked for the babies the first time, had Luke saved more people this time? Leading to the cult leader trying to take action. He was so muddled in his own thoughts that the cult leader asked him "Are you considering the prospect, it would be most wise to do so".
"I ain't agreeing to any of this shit" Luke retorted as the cult leader merely sighed and proceeded back towards the treeline.
"You will agree to it Luke. In a few days time you shall give me the babies, regardless of Kenny and Rebecca's reactions. You will see, you don't want AJ... getting cold. He will be alive with us, and you... you don't want anything horrible to happen to Clementine. Rest assured if you refuse our deal and refuse to hand over the babies, we will have to do... terrible things for those that deny our beliefs".
He winked at Luke.
Luke knew that tone, he must have known something yet Luke continued to play the game, in the same way he pretended he didn't know about the cult leader wearing Pete. He wasn't going to break down and confess all to this cult leader who probably knew it all anyway. But if there was a chance he didn't... then Luke would continue to act oblivious.
"Remember, you always have a choice" The cult leader sang back at him.
"Yeah, to either do horrible shit to survive or simply die. That's the choice I've been given" Luke snapped back at where the cult leader walked into the frozen foliage.
"It's still a choice though" were the cult leader's final words to Luke before he departed. Leaving Luke alone at the stream, he did not tell anyone about the cult leader's visit and that offer, there was no way in hell he'd do it. That was until Bonnie was given back to him with that message scrawled on the skin cape
That stunned Luke to the core, he knew what it meant. The cult leader did indeed know about his second chance. Not only that but he knew about the people he had failed. The people he was going to fail, Luke had to ensure what happened to Clementine, and what happened to everyone did not happen again. With the cult leader's words ringing in his skull, he set about his task of handing the babies to the cult leader.
But... what if it was just like last time? What if the cult killed them anyway?
Luke had his doubts but he was willing to go through anything to save them all.
"But the cult leader told us nothing about offering the kids to him, he told me and Kenny that he expected us all to stay at that house until midnight, but then he goes and brings us a truck anyway... what the hell is that all about?" Rebecca asked of them all, as the group thought about this hard, trying to come up with some sort of logical answer.
"His just... playing mind games with us" Eddie said, as Stephanie gasped.
"No, don't you get it? We all knew Kenny was on edge and then the cult leader fills his head with rubbish about a traitor, one he labels the one with the second chance. He knew Luke wouldn't go on blabbing about the fact that he had a second chance, even more so when offered the deal about stealing the kids..."
"but why didn't you just tell us about the opposing deal Luke!? It could have spared us some hassle..." Rebecca moaned to a sullen looking Luke.
"I... I was scared Rebecca, I was shaken up because I realised the cult leader knew about my second chance and then Kenny rants on about findin' a traitor... what was I supposed to say!? That he was right! That I was plannin' on takin' the kids to that messed up motherfucker!? I wanted to protect everyone but..."
"No" Stephanie cut in, Luke became silent as his eyes found Stephanie's the raven haired woman picked up the conversation once again "You only came clean because Clementine did and she got hurt. You wanted to protect Clementine more than all of us because you felt guilty about what you did to her beforehand, that's why you only confessed everything. To protect her, you couldn't handle the guilt anymore. The cult leader has been observing us all, he knows what you're like Luke. He knew from the minute you didn't blurt out that he was wearing Pete's skin that you were..." she paused there as Luke glanced at her nervously.
"He knew your pride would get in the way, he knew you wouldn't blabber to the others about his offer, you didn't want too believe that he also had memories of what happened the first time around. So you didn't bring it up too him all that happened, in case it spurred him to act on again. He scared you into submission Luke before you even realised it was happening" Stephanie's wise words of wisdom crashed over a shocked looking Luke, as he realised that was the truth.
"Did you earn a degree in psychology overnight?" A gawking Eddie asked the fountain of knowledge that was Stephanie.
"No, I was just... trying to be someone I'm not" Stephanie muttered sadly, remembering Kenny's harsh words towards her. Nick patted her back somewhat as she smiled at him, she coughed as all eyes rested on her, expecting her too continue as she did "If you listen and watch it all begins to add together. Kenny was at breaking point, the cult leader tells us all we should stay at a house. While telling Bonnie to keep on moving and promising Luke a truck, he planted those differing seeds in our heads. He knew there would be conflict and doubt amongst us" Stephanie lectured.
"Meaning?" Bonnie asked.
"Meaning, judging from the fact he actually got us a truck that he does want us to keep on moving, but... he wants us to suffer at the same time as well. In fact the cult have given us a head start, they haven't directly killed any of us, they... gave us a truck. They look... almost generous to us"
Nick held back a hacking laugh as he managed to gasp "Yeah... nice my ass. They keep us on the move, we ran in fear of them! They're the reason were out here... they..."
"But we had a choice, regardless of what the cultists have done. They weren't the one's who made us spare Vince, or made Kenny go insane... can't you see! We had a choice!" Luke shouted remembering the leader's last words to him at the stream. As these words fully rested on his shoulders.
"The leader made us deals, deals to spare us. But he knew we'd reject them, he has been secretly encouraging us to move the whole time, his simply watched us go to ruin, his watched us kill each other... but... his been messing with us. Behind the scenes those subtle little things his played on, Luke's pride, his fear of what could go wrong... asking to take the babies he knew that would lead to conflict..."
"He wants a show, he found us entertain' to watch" Luke grumbled.
"The first time he didn't intervene, until the end. Where he showed his true colours when he killed Clementine and Luke, but... now Luke's changing things his intervened. He pretended to kill Bonnie to remind Luke that they were still in charge. Luke was scared, him stealing the babies would have come out at some point, Rebecca, Kenny, Luke... it would be war. But... it's what this guy wants. He wants us to destroy each other" Stephanie concluded as she looked around at the remaining members of the group.
"Except this time, it seems like he wants us to do it. Back at Howe's when I killed those watchdogs, they told me the cult leader was right, what about I didn't know. But now... now I get it. I know what they want from us!" Stephanie's eyes almost seemed to bulge out of her head as the conclusion finally dawned on her, it was too damn obvious now, why hadn't she seen it before!
"Oh, come to the big conclusion of what the cultists want?" Molly asked, glancing back at the others who all remained huddled in the back seats of the truck, Stephanie nodded in response as Molly was tempted to draw the truck to a stop, but she kept her fingers locked around the wheel. However Molly tried to listen on every word while the rest of the group leaned forwards into their seats to hear the cult's motive.
"Were a test" Stephanie uttered.
Needless to say, this left many of the truck-dwellers shaking their heads in confusion, or blankly staring at the young woman as if expecting her to say more, finally Eddie muttered "So... um... what the hell do you like... mean?"
Stephanie blinked, diving into a full explanation.
"We've just been a test this whole time, the cult... we've established their unstable because they shoot down tons of people for denying their beliefs. They are the walking dead! Don't you get it? They are walkers! They kill anyone whose different from them, unless they turn into them! Their beliefs... they believe that the living will die and that only acting like a walker will help you survive!" Stephanie drew this conclusion as Nick gulped "Well how does their belief about being walkers prove that they are somehow right when you slaughtered those watchdogs?"
Stephanie eyes became glassy for a spilt second as she recalled the memory of those watchdogs, Sarah remembered that was the first time she had killed anyone.
"I slaughtered those watchdogs, and Sarah shot someone for the first time. We murdered them, they wanted to kill me but that was just a ploy to get the rest of us moving. They... they were right, because they were assured that they were sane and we were the monsters... and we have been!" Stephanie yelled.
"Stef..." Nick began trying to comfort her, but she was yelling now.
"BUT IT'S TRUE! IT'S LIKE LUKE SAID, WE... WE HAD A CHOICE! THE CULT HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING US, WATCHING US GO TO SHIT AND THEY'VE WATCHED US ONLY TO REINFORCE THEIR OWN BELIEF THAT THE LIVING... THAT THE LIVING ARE BAD! THAT EVENTUALLY ALL GROUPS GO TO RUIN, THEY'VE SIMPLY WATCHED US, THE LEADER HAS BEEN STIRRING HIS WOODEN SPOON, USING HIS SECOND CHANCE TO STIR UP TROUBLE AMONGST US! THEY DIDN'T PUSH THE TRIGGER, BUT THEY PRESSURED US TO DO IT...!"
"THEY'RE TO BLAME STEF!" Nick roared over her, trying to calm her down as he continued to rant "THEY DROVE US AWAY FROM THE HARDWARE STORE IN THE FIRST PLACE! THEY ARE THE REASON KENNY AND SARITA FELT THE NEED TO STEAL MEDS! THEY WERE REASON THE RUSSIANS WERE HERE TO COME INTO CONFLICT WITH THAT! THEY INDIRECTLY CAUSED THE DEATHS OF EVERYONE... THEY CAUSED US TO RUN INTO THAT HERD... KELLY DIED AND VINCE WENT NUTS... THEY ATTACKED THAT OTHER GROUP, SEPARATING THEM AND LEADING THEM TO COME INTO CONFLICT WITH US!" Nick's point was clear as the other nodded, but there was still some doubt.
"But we still did what we did, cult or not. There's no excuse for that" Sarah mumbled quietly, yet her statement sent ripples across the group.
"Baby girl, we've all done bad things but this cult... are just as much to blame" Rebecca told the trembling teenager softly, as Sarah wiped her eyes and tried to stop herself from crying. She had to be tough now, if the rest of the group could be tough then she could be tough as well.
"So... were simply a test for the cult? They just want to see us go insane, to prove that they have the morale high ground?" Eddie summarised to Stephanie who nodded, titling his head back Eddie audibly let a curse escape his lips, as Molly (as an outsider) decided to speak up as well.
"It's more than simply proving they have the morale high ground"
All heads turned towards the back of the blonde woman's wild hair, after hearing these words pour out of her mouth.
"Think about it, you go around shooting anyone that denies your beliefs. It's inhuman and it's wrong and only the saddest fuckers out there would actually agree to policy like that. From what I've seen the cult numbers thousands of people, most of them probably only agreed to put on the skin suit to avoid death. There's no way in hell all of them would be satisfied with what they are doing, as you've all mentioned a massive majority of them simply follow you and observe you. They ease their own conscious but assuring themselves they're doing nothing wrong, that were the one's doing wrong". Molly finished speaking as Bonnie piped up.
"It's like Howe's, only a few fuckers there actually agreed with Carver's policies and his brutal methods, Carver... well Bill... he started off so nice and caring and then he grew more and more power hungry... it was the same with Vince. It's always been the same, this cult leader he is one of them! Except with this whole second chance thing his actin' on what he knows" she finished speaking there as Molly nodded and continued speaking.
"It was also the same as Crawford, I'm sure a lot of people in Crawford were nice people... at one point" Molly snarled, her distaste for the community in Savannah still remained, however she managed to speak onwards to get her point across "So yeah I agree with Stef, the cult chose this group, they've been following us, testing us. Showing us that without any interference any people that deny their beliefs will eventually go bat-shit crazy. and what do you have from that?" she inquired of the group behind her.
"Evidence!" Rebecca answered correctly.
Molly clicked and nodded "You got a star Rebecca, yeah see our group is an example. An example of why they are right and our way of life is wrong. When the more sane-minded of people see us... well you guys come from a stable store and now you've been reduced to this, even they will have their doubts. They will assure themselves that why they might be doing maybe bad, but they're probably sitting in large shelters with their families not caring. Knowing that the alternative is worse, and then eventually their children will start to agree with cult's policies and BANG!" Molly shouted at the end making everyone jump as Molly muttered "It's Hitler Youth all over again" and with that she concluded her saying as everyone looked around at each other.
"So... in a nutshell the cult are following us... to assure anyone that has doubts about their policies are wrong and that by using us as the star examples, anyone not in the cult. Will go insane, turn on each other... basically the way of the walking dead is the only way" Eddie tried to summarise as Stephanie nodded.
"Yeah and like I said, they're being generous to us, offering those deals. That cult leader puts on a great façade of being so caring, of finally changing his ways and giving this certain group a chance, not a chance but multiple chances. You know, he must have a small band of really loyal followers like Carver did, these elite band of followers are the one's who know his true intentions. The rest of the cult must be sheep... believing every word that comes out of his false little mouth..." Stephanie gritted on her teeth as she grew angry with the cultists, those watchdogs, they must have been part of the leader's "elite gang", they knew what they were doing.
"I still don't get why he chose our group out of all groups around this area, he can't have known Luke had a second chance, because Luke woke up after everything that went down at Howe's..." Nick thought aloud.
"No, but he knew about my second chance" Clementine spoke up, as Nick gawked at her, before she carried on explaining "They had the skins of Pete, Alvin, Walter..."
"They... they were wearing Alvin!?" Rebecca suddenly screeched, as Clementine flinched. Completely forgetting that although Nick knew about Alvin and Walter but Rebecca didn't. Luke sighed and muttered "I'm sorry Rebecca"
She lifted her head upwards "Look, I knew about Pete... but dear God Alvin? Luke... I can handle it, in a sense the cult leader was right, why didn't you tell me about Alvin? Why..."
"THERE!" Stephanie roared as Rebecca and Luke jumped as Stephanie babbled on "See right there! His filled both of your heads with rubbish, see how quickly that led to a disagreement, it could have led to argument or a rift forming!" Rebecca blinked and mumbled to herself "Fuck" at realising how easily that cult leader had manipulated her.
"Anyway Clem, you were sayin'?" Bonnie brought the attention back to Clementine, as the patient 12 year old inhaled before having her say.
"They collected the corpses of Alvin, Walter and Pete, that slaughter at the river... they've been following us for a long time. If so they were watching us at Howe's then... I don't know whether it was the leader himself or others... but one of them saw exactly what went down the first time. What happened when we all escaped and when we all died, then one of them, I think it was the leader... was sent back with me somehow. He saw me changing things, he knew I had a second chance like him. That's why he started bringing people back, like Christa, Lilly and the Russians, he wanted to stir the pot, he wanted to prove that..." she gulped before continuing.
"He wanted to prove that even a group with a second chance... that even they without the aid of his cult would eventually go to ruin and perish. Christa was with the russians and they would bring conflict because Natasha needed the meds and Lilly came here with bandits! The guy Eddie knew in the truck... he was brought to us for the truck and for that reason... conflict and..."
"...well I'm not causing conflict so why the hell I am here?" Molly inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"Because, your here to help us Molly, you've been alone for a long time, maybe the cultists think you'll clash with the rest of the group..."
"She kind of has" Nick pointed out.
"Yes thank you captain asshole, but I think what Clem is trying to say is that I'm here to prove that even the most sexy, badass, intelligent, you know all those traits and more. Yeah basically even with good ol' me in the group it will still fall apart. By some means" Molly interjection of humour caused a few people to laugh before the atmosphere in the truck turned more serious once again.
"Maybe the cultist leader wants something from you, I mean it's not often he probably comes across other people with second chances" Eddie suggested.
"Maybe" Clementine echoed.
"You know from the cult leader said the first time... when I..." Luke refused to utter the word "rape" so instead he censored the word in his vocabulary as he awkwardly continued "... yeah well at the end of my previous life. He said he did what he did, because he simply could. That's the telltale sign of a man gone mad. I think this guy's been sent back more than once, or even twice".
"So, we've gone from Carver to a time travelling guy in a skin suit? Great." Eddie mused with a layer of sarcasm.
"That would explain why he lost it near the end of your previous life, everything went perfectly beforehand. That was until he broke his cover and sanity and slaughtered you and Clem in the most horrible way...he thought you'd die anyway. But he was wrong, after witnessing that a few of the cult members must have seen him for who he really was and defected and killed him. Now from what I've gathered of the two examples of this second chance thing, you have to die to come back, so..." Stephanie voice dropped a few octaves before she spoke up once again.
"This guy's built up his mass cult through second chances, his probably messed up and died a dozen times and woken up knowing what to do a second time around. That's why he has loyal followers, he must have proven that he has these second chances to the cult. Some may not believe him, but the more chances he gets the more he proves to them. They start to believe, they start to follow, they start to obey. They start dressing up as watchdogs willing to die for their beliefs, because that power... nobody knows how him, Luke or Clem got it. It's... supernatural... maybe he promised them that they'd all wake up and get a second chance as well..."
"Jesus fucking Christ, my head hurts, This sounds like the plot to the most complex sci-fi flick I've ever seen" Eddie grumbled massaging the crinkles in his forehead.
"...So this isn't only Luke's second chance, it's the cult leader's well I dunno... tenth. and this time it seems like his mission to get this group all to die, without screwing up at the end. Although he got a second chance Luke did as well, making it more complex for him this time around..." Nick muttered as Rebecca slouched next to Eddie.
"So that's it then? That's the conclusion were coming too? The cult or the leader at least knows about Clem's second chance, they chose this group for that reason. He either wants Clem,or he wants to prove that a group with a second chance who isn't his cult will go to ruin. Or maybe he wants both. I don't know. But were being made out to be the bad guys, so the cult leader is trying to kill us off without getting his hands dirty this time. I imagine he wants us all dead and not one of us to reach Wellington alive, that's his challenge" Rebecca summarised.
"Well maybe his seen enough already, maybe his proved his point" Eddie spoke up hopefully.
"No, I don't think his done with us just yet" came Luke's opposing view.
"Either way, we've still decided that reaching Wellington as soon as possible is the best course of action. He gave us the truck to appear generous to us, he took a risk. Now let's make sure he made the wrong risk. Maybe his cult will turn on him if we reach Wellington, because all of us won't have died" Molly's words were probably the easiest to understand that day, as everyone could agree on that.
Well it was official, as the truck battled on through the snowstorm the remaining souls inside the truck knew exactly what the cult wanted from them now.
Luke himself emotionally exhausted from all the talking, and things he had to get off his chest lay next to where Clementine was gazing out of blizzard swirling around the blue truck.
"Do you still hate me?" he asked of her nervously.
She turned to face him, softly muttering "No" before returning to looking out of the window, Luke felt as if something was off as he muttered to her "Look Clem, about what I did... I'd never... I made a mistake last time. A massive one... I..."
"I know" Clementine said once again, her eyes locking on his "The others, they might know about this whole second chance, but we were the only one's who actually experienced it. I could try and comfort you like the others could, by assuring you that what you did... it wasn't real. But it was, I know it was, I know what it's like Luke. I don't hate you... I understand you now" she embraced Luke at this, as Luke pulled her further into his hug.
After what did, he was surprised all those times he had been able to hug Clementine. This time he felt even more uncomfortable know that she knew what he could be capable of. Yet by her own will she still chose to hug him and it was by this that Luke realised that he loved her like a little sister, even more so than he already thought was possible.
Guilt, yes it still propelled him to protect Clementine, but now they had both been through the same thing... they understood each other completely. The hug between them symbolised an unbreakable bond being formed, it was so similar to the one she shared with Lee... but Lee was dead. Her second chance came in the form of Luke. Luke had Jane, he loved her dearly but now she was gone and his second chance was Clementine, the little sister figure who meant the world to him.
Both of them would have to avoid making the same mistakes, if they wanted to keep each other alive.
Stephanie herself was admittedly rather smug about what she had managed to reveal about the cult, the group felt somewhat safer knowing they knew what the cult were doing. But for Bonnie, the cult had sub-missed her into silence.
They'd chuck her out if they knew she was taking the syringes the cult gave her, she couldn't move. Knowing whatever the cult had planned, they were using her as the wrecking ball, she would do the damage that they wouldn't. Those drugs, it was her choice to take them or not. Not the cult's, whatever happened would be her fault and not there's.
and she was sad enough to admit it to herself, she carved those glorious drugs more than anything right now. Almost as much as she craved Luke, she couldn't stop, her addiction had kicked it. She wished she could stop, but addicts didn't just stop, not even when the group could have been in mortal danger.
She was selfish, she knew that.
But she couldn't stop.
