A/N: No other words, than simply this is it, get ready for the big one and I'll see y'all next chapter!
"What the fuck!?"
Luis looked down at the bled white corpse of Ethan Hart, it seemed surreal to know that the strongest of them had already fallen, but apparently he had done. The former Wellington Wolf, lay in a puddle of his own blood, eyes closed and facing a clear blue sky above him. Luis blinked in disbelief and looked back at where Terri and Melanie were in the helicopter, Terri had explained it quickly to him about how the roof was clear and how they didn't have much time, the second James got there, they were leaving, with or without anyone else.
"Ethan died for this" Terri had explained to Luis coldly, her eyes still tinted red, but Luis pretended not to notice "If we wait here seconds longer than we're supposed too, it could mean the difference between life and death. If James gets here right now, we're leaving without the others".
Luis wanted to argue back and gasp at her "How could you...!" but seeing her face and the general bitterness in her tone after Ethan's passing, made the words dry up on his tongue. She had a point, they all knew the deal, once James got into that helicopter he had to pilot it off, regardless of whoever had made it with him. Even if James was hesitant about leaving people behind, Luis had a feeling Terri would force him (probably at gunpoint) to pilot the damn thing and Luis didn't even want to think about the possibility that James was already dead...
"...No, he's down there, he's gotta be..." Luis thought to himself.
When he cleared the bodies off him and ran up to the roof, this was the last thing he was expecting to find, but no, here he was. With a grieving Terri, a cautious Melanie (who had taken the soldiers place in guarding the machine gun and firing it, should anymore of Olivia's men grace their presence) and a dead Ethan. In those moments he evaluated his options he could sit and wait, or...
"I'm an idiot" he muttered out loud "But I'm going back down there to look for them"
"If James turns up..." Terri began.
"I know, just fucking go if that happens, like I said, I'm an idiot" Luis informed her.
Terri nodded, but there was nothing more Luis could think of to say to her, so he span on his heel and headed back down in the direction of the earlier bloodbath, he was stupid, so fucking stupid for doing this... but after that massacre and seeing Ethan lying dead... first he had to deal with his mother dying, just when he was adjusting to this new group the most invincible of them had died. It left Luis shocked and numb, he should have been used too this by now, but if Ethan was already dead, then it was likely a lot of the others were too and Luis plodded onwards, down the stairs, past the bodies he had hidden under earlier, he felt a depressing emptiness fill him once again.
Back when he had messed up with JJ and how much of an idiot he felt like, he couldn't rage at anyone else because that was his own fault and he felt... useless. Empty... barely able to go on... after his mother died he was filled with rage, but facing this slaughter...
Maybe he finally understood that his uncontrollable rage was him trying to cover a much stronger and much more frightening urge, back when he was sitting in that basement feeling the lowest he had ever done. If Clementine hadn't have shown up, he didn't know what he would have done to himself.
There was the possibility she'd be dead as well.
Then what would be the point? What would be the point of everything she had taught him? If she just went and died? His whole group, his family, everyone was going or gone, he always liked to think he could do this all on his own. But no, he always had someone, whether that be his mother, his group, Clementine, Nick or anyone else, they were there for him. Clementine had taught him and restored his faith in people once again, for the most part he was happy with that but now he had to face the consequences of becoming attached to a group of people. His first group getting decimated or becoming psychopaths was difficult enough in itself, before that he had to deal with his best friend's betrayal, everyone ended up disappointing him in some way.
"No" he growled to himself, feeling that rage seep into his being once again.
Clementine. Luke. Stephanie. James. Eddie. Molly... his remaining group as well as Kate's group, they weren't going to disappoint him, he wasn't going to be let down once again. He had been friends with Juan, look how that turned out. He had given JJ a chance, look how that turned out. He had trusted Tom, look how that turned out, it was the same story over and over again, even with Tripp and Eleanor. With what he told Nick about having to go onwards, regardless of whether or not he lost people, it seemed inspirational back then, but now after going through all of this, he wondered if he could trust his own words. After all, if everyone died, who would he be alive for?
He had betrayed by so many people, his newfound faith in people was shaken by this, reduced to this uncontrollable rage.
If he lost these guys, if he was disappointed again...
He knew he'd be torn, either he'd end up swallowed by the depressing emptiness that grief brought, or his own rage would consume him, either way he didn't want that to happen, so with a heavy heart he took grim steps forward and kept his eyes peeled.
"I'm going to find you and I'm gonna get your asses outta here!" he growled openly to himself.
"So don't you fucking die on me today"
Clementine slowly opened the door to the bathroom she was hiding in, quickly peering to the left and the right, she saw that the coast was clear and nobody was present down the corridor. Limping on her one leg, she slowly proceeded forwards, she hadn't gone far from the roof and if she was careful she could navigate back there with relative...
"...fucking crazy, I swear man, when all of this is over..."
Voices, Clementine froze and quickly vaulted into a nearby room, making as little noise as possible as she did so, peering out of the crack in the door, she could make out two of Olivia's armed soldiers passing by, she breathed a sigh of relief when they passed by her, now all she had to do...
"Clementine?"
She froze, turning on her heel, she was face to face with a bloodied Gabriel Garcia himself, with a few of the new frontier's soldiers situated behind him.
"Anyone?"
The daze of the battle was slowly beginning to wear off for Luke, as panic was beginning to overtake his previous sense of numbness, he had to find them all before it was too late! Clem and Molly in particular, he had grown to dearly love the blonde woman and Clementine was with him right from the very start and they had been through so much together... their bond was unbreakable, their connection irreversible no matter what words were said. He couldn't even fathom the thought of the girl being dead, if that was the case, Luke had no reason to continue. He knew Molly would try and get him to get his ass up, but he had gone through far too much, from what had happened at Howe's, losing Jane, everyone that died on the journey to Wellington at the hands of the stranger's sick cult, or each other. The losses of Sarah, Rebecca, Nick... his whole group being whittled down one by one, the pain becoming more worse with every passing.
"Damn it!" he snapped, leaning his head on the wall and facing the ground.
This is exactly what he always feared, being the last one left. He had (in Molly's own words) made himself a daring young rebel, when he rejected being Carver's son, he still felt a part of that personality was there. He was the daring young rebel, the idiot, the nice guy, the guy too nice for his own good.
He should have been the one to take the bullet for Jane all those years ago.
That was the perfect place to die, surrounded by loved one's but saving the woman he loved, they'd all move on and maybe things would have turned out better if he hadn't have been leader in the first place. If only, if only he...
Then he remembered with a bitter sigh, he did. He did have a second chance.
"What the hell did that amount too, though?" Luke thought miserably to himself, die by the stranger's hands or die by Olivia's (or David's or whoever's) hand in this alien city a few years later? Was it the quality of life not the quantity that really mattered? Maybe it was a moral lesson he should have learned, but it was difficult for him to hold his head up high, take that lesson on the chin, accept the deaths of Clem and Molly and march to that helicopter and escape once again.
"I had a second chance and I still messed everything up!" he whined to himself "If I'd have just moved when Clementine told me too, then... then..." he couldn't continue, because he had felt sorry for himself for too long. Feeling sorry for himself after Nick's death is what landed them here in the first place, if he was going to stand in balancing on one leg, feeling sorry for himself at the probability of Clem and Molly and the rest of the gang being dead then what good was he?
"I've gotta find them!" he thought to himself, as he hobbled forwards, he wasn't leaving anyone behind, anyone who was still alive was coming with him and that was the end of it.
Eddie. The man Luke had wronged for so long, the man who always (in one way or another) tried to amend Luke's numerous mistakes and always ended up paying the price for Luke's stupidity and acts of taking the moral high ground. Today, Luke would alleviate his guilt and pay back a man who had done nothing but try and help him and lighten the mood right from the very start.
Stephanie. The woman who loved and married his best friend, a friendship developed between them during that terrible journey to Wellington and they shared a lot in common, they both made stupid mistakes but both did their very best (in their own ways) to protect the people they cared about. Now Stephanie had lost everything, a worrying reflection of what Luke could become, but he was going to find the broken woman and ensured she survived this ordeal, it's what Nick would have wanted and Luke couldn't abandon a good friend of his.
Molly. He had grown to love her, as she was only woman amazing enough (even without eyes) to see right through him and be a constant friend in that journey to Wellington and beyond, he fancied her at first and then it developed into love and she reciprocated. After Jane, she had become the new light in his life, something he relied on, something he never thought was possible, a woman he never thought was possible to exist, he lost Jane, he wouldn't lose Molly, they had promised on that.
Clementine. Nothing more needed to be said, if she was going to die here, Luke would die with her. Clementine had stood (or sat) by him as they were led here, he wouldn't escape here alive if she was dead, that was the deal he had made in his head. Everything these second chances had been for, her's and his seen to give them a bond closer than anyone else's, every second they spent with each other was worth fighting for, so Luke was damned if he was going to give it up now.
Luis, Terri, Ethan, James and Melanie, all trusted allies and since Robert was gone, it was down to Luke to lead them all once again.
To lead them out of this hellhole.
As he thought that, he turned a corner and nearly collided face to face with someone, Luke blinked in surprise before he took a deep breath and recognised a pair of widened azure eyes.
"Stef" he breathed in relief.
Yet his relief quickly turned into concern, when he saw that Stephanie had been shot in several places, how she was even standing up was a mystery to Luke, yet her eyes focused on him, as she blinked and wiped some blood off her forehead, as she did so the gun she was holding fell to the ground with a loud clatter.
"Luke, howmanydidi...?" she slurred, before she fell directly onto his chest, quickly catching her, Luke placed his fingers against the unconscious woman's neck and was relieved to find a pulse and felt her soft breathing on his hand. Without another word, he (by whatever means) managed to sling her onto his back while he leant against the wall. Giving someone a piggyback, with one leg and a missing eye, was a near enough impossible task. But thankfully Luke had the wall beside him to support him, Stephanie's bloodied rifle in his hands, a knife at the ready that he had obtained from a soldier in a scuffle earlier and the relief that he had managed to find one of his group, alive.
She was going to bleed out fast though, if those injuries were left untreated so the second they left this place they'd have to try and patch her up. Maybe Luke wouldn't be able to do it, but he didn't want to think about it now. He had her alive, she was alive now and that's what mattered.
He had to find the others, alive as well.
Because what kept him standing, what kept him limping onwards, weren't the confidence his weapons gave him, nor the wall that supported his and Stephanie's weight, nor the fact Stephanie was light on his back, but what kept him going, was a fierce determination to find and lead those he loved out of here.
"Even if I have to die for it" he panted to himself, sweat pouring down his battered body "I will be the leader, I never was this time"
"Clem... I..."
"SHE'S ONE OF THE TRAITORS!"
Clementine gulped, as the new frontier soldier shouted the obvious, there was no sign of David with him, but the three men behind Gabe looked intimidating enough in their own right and right now the one who had shouted, was shooting daggers at her.
"Gabe, we need to fucking kill..." he began once again.
"Wait!" Gabe exclaimed pausing him in his tracks, he looked at the soldier and then back at Clementine, the teenager could see the sweat developing on his forehead at this awkward situation.
"You... you can't kill me!" Clementine shouted, feeling the pressure rise on her shoulders as she blurted these words out, she was truly in a sunk situation here, if she attempted to flee she knew one of the soldiers behind of Gabe would land a bullet in her before she could muster another breath. There was no reason to keep her alive, the soldier was right, she was a traitor and David had most likely ordered them to kill all traitors and if it wasn't for Gabe's hesitation, then she'd already be dead. The faint interaction they had beforehand... that's what was keeping her alive right now, a friendship, her life was literally in his hands and now she felt panic seep into her being, after what she had shouted.
"Why not missy!?" Another soldier taunted, making an obvious gesture of holding his gun upwards.
Clementine desperately looked over at Gabe, who seemed devoid at words right now, she wanted to slap him, if he was going to shout "Wait!" why was he silent now? With a sigh, she knew she'd somehow have to stand her own ground, no matter how pathetic it sounded.
"Me and Gabe are friends!" Clementine muttered in desperation, "Aren't we Gabe?"
Gabe finally looked her in the eyes.
"Yeah, I guess" he mumbled "I suppose we..."
"Oh, this is the girl you like isn't it Gabe!?" One of the soldiers called out, as another one wolf whistled "I heard you talking about this with your dad..."
Gabe turned red, even by the gloom of the room, Clementine could see his cheeks flush, as he gaze dropped once again, Clementine wanted to sigh and give some sort of sassy rejection to a boy she just met. But this wasn't like Edward, she had known Edward for ages and simply hadn't liked him back, she was always free to walk away from Edward. But here she was trapped in this room with three soldiers and the son of a raging psychopath, Gabe had been nice to her once and that was it, now she learnt he had a crush on her, which she wouldn't be fussed about if she learned about it anywhere but here.
"We barely escaped that bloodbath back there Gabe" the third soldier said, he was quieter, but his voice more deadly than the other two "Why don't we keep your lady friend there prisoner and... and well... indulge"
Clementine felt her gut turn to ice, she knew which route this conversation was going down straight away and her immediate plan in her mind was too stall, she had to stall for as long as possible, either until someone else turned up and somehow saved her from this, or she somehow managed to break out of this room and run for it. With her leg the way it was, that wasn't going to be easy, but it was better than the alternative, she wasn't allowing herself to be violated in that way. Luke had seen it happen to her in the end of his original timeline and with what happened to Sarah as well, with all of Clementine's fears on what would happen to Wellington with that re-population policy, it made her skin crawl... no. She wouldn't allow it to happen to her, she wouldn't, she simply wouldn't.
"So you'd rather die?" a cynical voice in her head whispered.
She gulped, as she knew (with a short space of time) those two options would soon be in her mind. It would be pointless dying, if she could keep herself alive by fulfilling Gabe's urges... would he agree with what the soldier was suggesting? She thought back to Sarah, Molly, Stephanie and Rebecca they had all been through similar experiences in this shitty world and as women they had lived through it, even managing to laugh and joke in the future. Was this some sick rite of passage that happened to every woman now!? Clementine wouldn't stand for it, but she had to keep herself alive if she wanted to see Luke and her group once again.
As Clementine's mind raced, she heard Gabe cough awkwardly and utter "We... we h-haven't got time for that, w-we n-n-need to find my dad and..."
"So we should just kill her then?" the aggressive soldier muttered "Can't find your dad and run and gun while keeping a prisoner..."
"I've been shot in the leg, I won't get very far...!" Clementine began to protest.
"Well, easy meat there Gabe" the creepy soldier said.
"We can keep her prisoner and..." Gabe began.
"Woah, Gabe. We don't listen to you, we listen to your dad" the aggressive soldier reminded him "and his orders were too keep you alive and I don't think running out there is the best idea right now"
"So what, we wait here? Let everyone else do the work and...!" Gabe began to exclaim.
"If you die, you little shit. David is going to fucking kill us!" The soldier snarled back to him "Let's wait here for your dad to find us, then we can rejoin the fight"
"and if they're all dead! What have we actually done!?" Gabe snapped "Hidden away like fucking cowards! We can make a difference if..."
"The four of us!" the soldier snorted, as his companions laughed with him "If you say so Gabe, go fucking risk all our lives, so you can impress your daddy. But we can't keep a fucking risk around us, what if she escapes? and David found out she was with us? We'll be in deep shit, besides with what's going on out there, maybe you need to learn to live a fucking little, in case we all die".
"You want me too...?" Gabe looked at him, back at Clementine very briefly before he looked back at the soldier "No fucking way! We have better things to do then..."
"Then she's no good to you, right?" the soldier said, lifting his gun once again, as Clementine went cold once again.
"NO! Wait, I..." Gabe began, as one of the soldiers laughed again.
"Young fucking love, just get on with it" one soldier grunted harshly "One little toy for you to play with Gabe, to keep you distracted..."
"You're just cowards!" Clementine exclaimed, before Gabe could say another word, she could see what these soldiers were trying to do and there was no doubt how they ended up hiding in this room with Gabe of all people. They didn't want to fight at all and were lying low and now with Clementine here, they had another, much more sinister reason, to justify what they were doing.
"You're too afraid to fight and don't force Gabe into making this choice!" she blurted out.
"Forced!?" the creepy soldier muttered in disbelief "Either way Gabe gets the best part of the deal, either you dead and he gets to impress his daddy by going rambo, or he can stay here and become a man at last, honestly Gabe my man, you don't know what you're missing out on..."
"I..."
"Don't you have enough faith in your daddy?" the soldier continued to inquire of the teenager "Surely if you idolise him so much, you know for a fact he's coming here without a scratch..."
Clementine gulped.
This wasn't looking good.
"Anyone ahead?"
"No, and I don't know the way back"
Molly sighed to herself, clinging onto Eddie as the pair of them slowly traversed forward, keeping their ears peeled for the sound of gunfire, footsteps, or anything that signalled impending doom.
"I haven't had the chance to say it yet" Molly mumbled "But thanks for getting my lousy ass out of there"
Eddie smiled back at her.
"Well, we're not out the woods just yet"
"Please, I'd give both my arms to be back there" Molly replied "Fuck, never thought I'd say that about the woods, for the past couple of months, I've wanted out of them more than you can imagine"
"We've become feral beings alright" Eddie mused "Refusing this big ass city for..."
"Someone's coming!" Molly hissed suddenly, with her lack of sight, her hearing had amplified, so she was able to hear the heavy footsteps coming in their direction. Eddie tensed and looked up and down the near featureless corridor they were in, long, narrow with a few doors leading to rooms side by side. He thought it would be ideal, so he could hear or see someone coming towards them, yet in those moments he realised how stupid this plan was. The soldiers had guns that could shoot them at range, with little room to dodge. With his own injuries and supporting a blind woman, their mobility and speed was limited. They were too far away from the nearest door, to duck into the room and even then the doors could have been locked, dooming them even more, why had he wasted his time chatting away when he should have been alert! Now he could hear the footsteps coming from a point ahead of him, as his heart leapt into his mouth, he was preparing to roar the word "RUN!" in fear of his and Molly's lives.
But as the tension reached it's highest and Eddie felt his own heartbeat in his ears, a familiar head poked out of the corner at the end of the corridor.
"LUIS!" Eddie exclaimed in relief, as the moody 20 year old turned to face them.
"Keep your voice down idiot!" Luis shouted back.
"Why don't you both get lessons in voice control!?" Molly hissed in a quieter tone.
"Why don't we all stop arguing and be relieved we're alive!?" Eddie inquired "Luis, where are the others? Have you...?"
"The roof's clear" Luis informed them "Terri and Melanie are waiting by the chopper now, but we haven't got long until they find out what we've done, so we gotta move!"
"Is Luke...?" Molly began.
"No sign of him or anyone else, other than Melanie and Terri" Luis said "We need to get James there asap, also... we've lost Ethan".
"What!?" Eddie echoed, even though he had heard Luis clearly, as the shock waves crashed over him, The infamous Wellington Wolf, Ethan Hart himself was dead? Violet would have longed for this a lifetime ago and he would have been onboard with it as well, considering the Wellington Wolf had nearly killed him but hearing of his death, left Eddie feeling somewhat numb and shocked. He should have been immune to loss by this point, but every new death it was always the most unexpected person. If the wolf... or Ethan was already gone then what were the odds for the rest of them?
"Died clearing the roof, Terri's not taking it too well" Luis said, as if he could read Eddie's racing mind and providing him with some answers "I came down looking for you guys, James in particular..."
"Fuck, I really grew to like that werdio" Molly muttered, thinking of Ethan before she continued "But I'm not leaving until I find Luke, end of story".
"He could have got to the chopper already" Luis pointed out.
"I'm not going up and waiting like some damsel" Molly scowled.
"Your blindness is going to slow me down" Luis told her bluntly "Eddie get her to the damn roof, save yourselves and I'll find Luke and the rest of them"
"and if you don't!?" Molly inquired "If you die as well? I can't live with myself if I waited on the rooftop and had to leave Luke and Clem behind, because we all know the second James reaches that chopper we all get left behind anyway".
"That's why you need to go!" Luis insisted "I can lead you there, the new frontier are distracted by Olivia's soldiers, can't find any up here. This is the perfect opportunity for us to escape! While they're fighting each other we can...!"
"Look, we're not getting anywhere by arguing" Eddie informed them both "To please you both, let's just stay down here for another couple of minutes, see if we can find anyone and if we can't, we make a break for the roof, that sound fair to you, because they could all be there and waiting on us"
"They won't be if James is there..." Luis pointed out.
"Yes but Luke and Clem might be there and if we don't get back soon, they'll come down looking for us and the whole cycle continues..." Eddie explained.
"I get it, I get it" Molly said "Let's look around and make this fast alright?"
"Yeah" Luis and Eddie replied in unison, as they slowly crept forward.
"By the way, work on keeping your voice down, now's not the time for casual conversation" Luis said.
"You need to work on your sleath, you sound like a dinosaur with your footsteps" Eddie retorted.
"Conversation. Hush. Footsteps, tiptoe Luis, good, now let's not waste anymore time" Molly said to hush them both, as she could only see black in front of her, but she had made a promise to Luke. A promise that she would try to survive, but she was worried sick, because she knew how self-pitying and self-sacrificial he could be. She couldn't imagine losing him after all they had been through, it was a cliche saying and she had carried on when she had lost her sister and she thought that was the end of the world. But by whatever means she had managed to struggle through that and here she was to live, fight and breathe another day.
But that didn't mean her sister's death still didn't haunt her and she had tried her damndest in Crawford to make sure she didn't meet her cruel fate, which had sadly come to pass.
She'd be damned if it was going to happen again, she was keeping her promise to Luke. She'd stay alive for him and try her hardest to make sure he stayed alive as well.
While Luis wondered what the hell he was doing, Eddie smiled to himself, a strange reaction in this scenario, but he wasn't as emotionless as he had first thought, he still felt something. He wanted to live, his fear for his own life indicated that, his shock at Ethan's death, even now he was longingly thinking of that chopper on the roof. He could have gone up there, he could have ensured his own safety, but then he thought of Stephanie and the conversation he had with her beforehand. He didn't want to leave her behind, Luke, as stupid as he could have been sometimes, did want the best for everyone and Eddie couldn't fault him for that. He couldn't imagine leaving Molly behind, nor James, or especially little Clementine, even though she had done some growing up. This was his group, his friends, his family, through thick and thin he had always stayed or came back to them, as much as he dreamed of that chopper and his own life, as Rebecca had taught him to care for AJ...
He'd care for this group, right until the bitter or happy end.
It seemed surreal to James as he had just spotted the white faced form of the little, bloodsoaked Marianna, how she had managed to escape from a running David was anyone's guess. But here James was, as the pair of them nearly collided into one another, James looked at Marianna and the girl looked back up at him, he could see the tears that ran down her face.
"Y-y-y..." she stuttered, before her face scrunched up and she screamed.
"WHERE WERE YOU!?"
James blinked.
"Kate and Javier, the-they... Dad, he..." she spluttered out through her tears "WHERE DID YOU GO!? WHY DIDN'T YOU...!?"
"You know why" James muttered tonelessly, yet over her tears he doubted that Marianna heard him, but it didn't matter because Marianna's screams had attracted attention, as door barged open to their left and out from within it...
"HELP! MARI IS THAT YOU!? HEL...!"
BAM!
A scream of pain, as little Clementine crumpled to the ground, James felt his world dimming, as he saw she had been shot between the shoulderblades.
"DON'T LET HER FUCKING GET AWAY! GABE! GET HER!" Came a roar from within the room.
Gabriel Garcia came outside of the room and looked down viciously at the wounded Clementine, only to be met with the sight of his weeping sister and James himself, Marianna looked down at Clementine, who was injured and shaking like a leaf, the usual confident and mature girl looked panic stricken and with a horrifying lurch to her stomach Marianna knew why, as the fly on her brother's jeans was undone slightly.
"H-he... he was going too..." Clementine muttered in a shaky breath "M-Mari, help me! Stop... stop him!"
"Mari I..." Gabe began, looking at his sister.
"Y-you too?" was all Marianna could say, the sadness and disappointment in her tone, was an alien sound to Gabe's ears,because he was used to his younger sister being happy or carefree, but to see her crying like this. To see her this upset and defeated and knowing this was partly his fault.
"I... she's a traitor Mari!" Gabe protested feebly "We... we can do what we want...!"
He got no further, because Marianna blindly sprinted away from him as well, wailing as she went, her closest family dead and those that remained were now (in her own eyes) irredeemable. Clementine and Gabe (both for different reasons) yelled out her name as she sprinted away, but she couldn't turn around or go back to face them, the young girl now having seen too much and was completely mentally broken by everything that had occurred in such a short space of time.
With Marianna gone, Gabe turned to James and the dots connected instantly.
"Hey" he muttered "Your... you're the pilot! You...!"
"IF THAT'S THE PILOT, WE NEED TO...!" James didn't hear much after that, if the soldiers knew who he was they were already coming for him, guns at the ready and everything would be for nothing. So ignoring Clementine whimpers he leapt over her and ran directly towards the roof, going as fast as his legs would carry him, for the second time that day he had left his group behind for death and had most likely destroyed another girl's mental psyche because of his cowardly actions.
No. Not cowardly. A necessity, that's what he had to tell himself if he wanted to reach that helicopter.
Clementine knew this too, she knew why James had to run, but that didn't make it hurt any less for her, she was being left to the devices of Gabe and these soldiers. After she heard Marianna of all people screaming from outside the room, she thought she was saved. Her heart lifted in joy, she could take the risk, Gabe had to stop what he was being persuaded to do, if his sister was present. But now that hope had been snatched away from Clementine once again in the most cruel way possible, she didn't hear the soldiers cursing at James' escape, or what Gabe was muttering about Marianna, maybe they'd chase them down? Maybe there was still hope for her too...
Her stomach turned to ice, as two powerful hands wrapped around her ankles.
"No" she thought in panic.
They were dragging her back to the room.
"NO! LET GO OF ME!" She screamed, but with the strength of these soldiers, it was impossible to fight back, her fresh wound on her back and her already injured leg were aching worse than ever, she was tired, but every fibre of her being fought this pain, to not be dragged back into that room.
"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!" She shrieked.
She dug her fingernails into the hard carpet like floor, she was gripping it so tightly that all her nails snapped as she dragged further back into the room.
"NO! SOMEBODY PLEASE!" She begged at the top of her lungs, hoping somebody would hear her screams, like she had heard Marianna's.
"SHUT HER UP!" A soldier bellowed.
WHACK!
A throbbing on her head, she was looking at the deep scratch marks she had left on the floor and the blood that trailed on them, but it wasn't enough, she fought her hardest, but it simply wasn't enough, because with a final tug, she was engulfed back into the darkness of the room as the door was slammed shut in front of her.
"CLEMENTINE!"
Luke had heard her clearly, a floor above him, or at some point above him screaming for help, senses on high alert (and also disregarding who else could have heard her) he quickly ran forward, or hopped forward drastically, as he did, he felt Stephanie fall from his back, he turned around for a second and was surprised to see that she was conscious and despite the pain she must have been in, she was holding herself upright with a maddened look on her face.
"Stef..."
"I heard Clem as well, It must have woke me" Stephanie growled, "I'm not slowing you down this time Luke, we both care about her, we're getting to her, one way or another, now let me help you"
Luke was thankful that Stephanie (like she had done all those years ago in the woods) gave him a shoulder to lean on for support, as he did so, Stephanie began to run forward and despite his one leg struggling to keep up, he managed to keep up with her, without falling over, because nothing was getting between him and Clementine and if she was in trouble, then he was getting to her as fast as possible.
His heart was pounding in his ears.
He prayed and he begged that he wasn't too late.
"Mari"
Marianna turned around, it was there she saw Luis, Molly and Eddie looking over at her, their eyes widened in panic, because the large window at the end of the corridor had been smashed open, after she managed to smash a loose chair from one of the rooms opposite her, through the window. The chair now rested on the pavement several floors below, surrounded by a dozen perplexed citizens and a sprinkling of glass, Marianna was looking down at the people who looked like ants below her and felt the warm breeze of the Nevada desert sweep through the dark hair, before these three had turned up.
"Oh" she muttered lamely, despite the tears that loosely fell from her face, there was no more emotion in her tone, as she rested her red tinted eyes on Luis "You again".
"Mari, what... what happened?" Luis inquired.
"Everything" Marianna replied duly.
Eddie made a gesture to try and sneak forward, but Marianna noticed this and edged closer towards the edge of the window, Luis harshly gestured at the bearded man to stop, which he complied too, as she looked at them both before reverting her gaze back towards the streets below.
"We... we heard your screaming" Eddie muttered "Why don't you step away from the window we can talk about this, the escape's all set up and..."
"Kate and Javier are dead"
Eddie blinked, more crushing news coming over him at the reveal of even more casualties in their group.
"What... but how!?" Molly inquired deciding to join the conversation and trying to use her words carefully, as she couldn't see just how close Marianna was to the window, she could feel the breeze on her face and had overheard the conversation, but she had to know what atrocities had occurred to Kate and Javier to cause Marianna to go into this state.
"My dad he..." Marianna couldn't speak on from there "and then Gabe he... he has Clementine... he was going to..."
"Going to what!?" Molly interjected sharply.
"You know, don't you?" Marianna said miserably.
Molly felt sick, which reflected off the faces of Luis and Eddie.
"Where!?" Molly breathed "Was anyone else there? Did...?"
"James, but he ran for the roof no doubt" Marianna informed them, this gave them a bit of comfort, in the knowledge that their only pilot was still alive and heading for the roof, but also set off alarm bells in Luis' head. Not only was Clementine in a shitty situation, but now they had very limited time, because if James was already running to the roof, then he remembered Terri's haunting words as his gut turned to ice, they couldn't waste anymore time! He really had been an idiot!
"Then we need to get to the roof now!" Luis spat "Eddie grab Mari and Molly and go, I'll get Clem, deal with that fucker Gabe and..."
"I'm not leaving without Luke!" Molly stubbornly persisted.
"The man has one leg Molly!" Luis snapped losing his temper "Assuming he's not already dead, he'll slow us down!"
"I'll go myself then!" Molly exclaimed "I don't care if I'm blind, I'm going to get to him, Goddamn it I made him a promise to see him again and I..."
"All he's done is slow us down!" Luis roared, really beginning to lose his temper now "IF HE MOVED IN THE FIRST PLACE WE WOULDN'T BE HERE! COME ON EDDIE, YOU HAVE TO AGREE WITH ME HERE, HE'S FUCKED YOU OVER AS WELL, RIGHT!?"
"So that's a reason to leave him behind?" Eddie snapped back "Dude, that's never cool. What about all the times we could have left your lousy ass behind?"
"I'm just being practical about the situation, that's all" Luis muttered "Even if we wanted to be good people and go back and save Luke, the man can't run! We knew we'd have to leave people behind and remember JJ? Yeah, I admit I fucked up on that one, because of me being a good person it killed my mother and we knew people we're going to get left behind during this, it's a pill we have to swallow. So let's stop fucking arguing here, we know Clem's in trouble. We know where James is headed, we need to go!"
"Mari, where was Clem exactly?" Eddie inquired of Marianna.
"A room, on this floor some corridors back" Marianna answered vaguely "You'll be able to hear the screams"
"Then I'll go there and grab Clem and..." Luis began.
"Whatever happened to just going!?" Molly snapped "If it's Luke you more than fine to leave him behind, but when it's Clem..."
"Because I know where Clem is and..." Luis began.
"Can we quit arguing already!?" Eddie finally snapped "Seriously you guys, Clem's being... well every second we spend here arguing is wasting fucking time! Mari, come on, I know how you feel but you've got to move!"
"You didn't see what I did" Marianna said "What my dad did to Kate and Javier... I can't... just try and imagine you saw your own father. A man you thought loved you, doing that to your own family and then my brother and what he was planning to do. I always thought, maybe, just maybe they weren't as bad as they seemed. Or at least around me, they'd show some mercy, some compassion, but I've seen today, there's no hope for them anymore, so why should there be hope for me? Where would I go?"
"We can be your family now Mari!" Eddie persisted "I know it's hard, I really fucking do, alright? I've lost so many people, but... you need to move because we're not leaving you!"
"Really?" Marianna inquired of them "If you couldn't find me, you'd have left me. It's all part of the mission isn't it? Like how James left me... you know I've only known you a couple of days..."
"Mari..." Luis piped up.
"...I knew my family for years, my brother, my father. They were good people and watching them turn into... monsters" she shuddered there "I know the same thing will happen to you, you're already discussing leaving people behind and arguing and..."
"We have our spats, but we're still here, still fighting!" Luis exclaimed to try and persuade her "Honestly I felt the same way as you do now Mari, it's not the end, if you come with us..."
"You want to leave me because I'm wasting time" Marianna snapped bluntly "You think you can just say you've experienced it like I have and that will somehow make me move, you don't understand it. I've lost everything, everyone I care about has been slaughtered, Max, Kate and Javier and my dad and brother, they've..." she sighed there "For the rest of my life, I know whenever I try and close my eyes or block sounds out with my headphones, that's all I'm going to see or hear, what happened to Max, Kate, Javier, Conrad and Francine... what my father and brother did..."
"I'm not just going to leave you here, I'm not that type of..." Luis said, but he was cut off by Marianna.
"No, you're only saying that" she muttered "Let's face it, we all just want our own Utopia. Molly wants her's with Luke, even if it endangers everyone else. You want to save Clementine Luis, despite what you said. I wanted my Utopia with my family, but that's never gonna happen now. It's best just to die now, we'll give Olivia the cure she needs and save so many other people's lives, all those people below did nothing wrong, so why are we being so selfish!?"
Luis was stunned into silence, he wanted to say something, anything to prove her wrong, but something switched off in him in those moments as he looked over at the dead eyes of Marianna.
"Is this really what you want then?" he inquired of her.
"Yes" she responded plainly.
"Fine then. Do it. You are wasting our time" Luis said.
"LUIS!" Molly and Eddie exclaimed as one, but Luis didn't bat an eyelid as he and Marianna store each other down.
"Go then, you need to rescue those that can be saved" Marianna said to him.
"You can be saved!" Eddie exclaimed, "Luis what the fuck man...!"
"I hope your change your mind, I really do" Luis muttered, as he turned his back to her "But I can't change it for you and I don't have the time to, so Goodbye"
and with that he was gone, sprinting down the corridors and out of sight, as Eddie was left to stare after him, appalled at his behaviour, where did that come from? How could he even consider leaving a little girl to this fate? If he felt like she did, then how could he justify not helping her!? Eddie knew they were short on time, but he wasn't going to give up, not yet and not so callously.
"Listen I'm not giving up on you!" Eddie muttered, "There's..."
He got no further because in those moments, more footsteps could be heard and Eddie knew this wasn't going to be Luis returning this time, because there were numerous heavy footsteps, and sure enough when the bloodied David Garcia rounded the corner, with his soldiers in tow, he knew he was in deep shit. Yet David seemingly looked past himself and Molly for a few brief moments, and his bloodied visage crinkled as a crooked smile formed on his face at the sight of his little girl.
"Mari" he breathed in relief "What happened back there I..." he sighed there, wiping his hair with his hand before continuing "Listen, that will never happen again, I'm sorry, please come back to your old man"
"No" Marianna replied bluntly "No I won't dad"
With that, very simply and with a straight face, she allowed herself to drop out of the open window, as David bellowed "NO!" and charged forward, as he did this, Eddie looked over at him, the wall of soldiers behind him that were momentarily distracted by Marianna's suicide, taking note of this moment of opportunity, Eddie turned to Molly.
"You wanted to see Luke again didn't you?"
She nodded, her hands were shaking as Eddie took them into his own.
"Then just run and don't look back"
"I don't know where..." Molly began, but it was then Eddie simply bellowed "RUN!" and with a mad surge building in his body, he threw himself at the soldiers, who tumbled to the ground like bowling pins, in the moment, Molly tripped over them, but quickly regained her feet and sprinted down the empty corridor, Eddie saw her for a brief second and smiled to himself.
"I'm not giving up on you" he repeated to himself quietly "I'm not giving up on any of you..."
It was then he felt his head get jerked back upwards, David Garcia had spent a few seconds gazing down at his daughter's mangled and crushed body on the roadside below, a giant pool of blood already expanding around her, bones pulled out of her small joints, as passer's by screamed in horror and looked up at the building above, David quickly let this sink in, his precious little girl was dead. It couldn't be his fault at all, no. Even thinking that would destroy him, so blame had to go somewhere else, it was the other fucking group! They set this all up! They had killed his little girl! Now he had one of them in his grasp, so with that he threw Eddie onto the ground.
"I'M-GOING-TO-FUCKING-FUCK-YOU-UP!" David roared, spraying spit onto Eddie's face, as the bearded man lay pinned below the enraged new frontier leader, each scream he emitted and every curse was now punctuated with a punch to Eddie's face, he wanted to destroy it! To end it all! To release his rage on someone other than himself.
"YOU!"
WHACK!
"KILLED!"
WHACK!
"HER!"
CRACK
Eddie's nose broke in those moments, his face after the frenzied attack was now a puffed up, unrecognisable version of it's old self.
"I'M GOING TO KILL THIS FUCKER, WITH MY BARE FUCKING HANDS, NO ONE ELSE GET INVOLVED!" He screamed at his soldiers who watched the ordeal in morbid fascination, the relics of Olivia's soldiers still with them, there was no doubt about it, David would be taking a part of Eddie to show any of his comrades who he came across.
"YOU'LL DIE SLOWLY AND FUCKING PAINFULLY!" David screamed down at Eddie, "HOW'D YOU LIKE THAT FOR...!?"
Without any warning, Eddie felt strength return to his body, as he kicked David in the shin and as David's grip lessened, he freed his arm and jabbed his finger into David's eyes, the first thing he could think of doing, as David thrashed his arms around wildly, Eddie felt pent up rage build up inside of him, as he ignored his near none existent sight and focused on David's face, as he freed his other arm and used his thumbs to push down on David' eyeballs, he felt the things begin to squish and bleed beneath his grip, as David screams became wilder.
"YOU LIKE HURTING PEOPLE, YOU SAD FUCK!" Eddie roared back to him, blood and a dozen loose teeth from his mouth fell onto David's face as he said this, but ignoring the agonizing pain the bearded man continued in his tirade against the new frontier leader.
"I'M NOT DYING LIKE THIS! I'VE BEEN THROUGH TOO MUCH!" Eddie exploded, as he felt satisfying pops from below him, as David struggled ever harder and wailed to the high heavens above "I'M NOT LETTING YOU HURT ANYONE ELSE! YOU UNDERS...!"
Then it was over.
Eddie didn't feel any pain, the soldier had shot him, a dozen rounds entered Eddie's body, as he went limp and the world went black, his grip on David was gone, as the bloodied Eddie fell on top of him, David shoved the bloodied body off his own and cramming his mouth shut, he gritted his teeth so hard together to prevent himself from screaming due to the pain, he couldn't... he couldn't see anymore, but he could feel the blood pouring from his eyes, it was like molten hot lava trailing down his face.
David managed to get himself to his feet, although he couldn't see it, he was looking directly at the corpse below him.
Eddie was dead.
"Who... who shot him?" David asked, whimpering slightly.
"I... I did" a soldier said stepping forward "He was going to kill you..."
"Yeah, I know" David said, stepping forward, following the soldiers voice, he rested his bruised hands on the soldier's shoulders, "So it was you wasn't it?"
"Yes"
SNAP
It a second the soldiers neck had been snapped, he fell to the ground, his eyes still widened in slight shock, as the other soldiers all backed away from him in alarm.
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO GET FUCKING INVOLVED!" David roared down at the soldiers neck he had snapped "THAT WAS BETWEEN ME AND HIM!"
"But sir...!" another soldier piped up.
"BUT FUCKING WHAT!? WHO SAID THAT!?"
No one dared to speak, these were all bloodthirsty soldiers, but even those that remained were now scared of David, who looked completely and utterly deranged, with blood pouring from the silts where his eyes once were, his teeth cracked in several places due to how hard he had been gritting them together, several bones in his hands broken due to the pummelling he had given Eddie, the blood that caked his clothes, face and hair was overwhelming.
"If no one's got anything else to say, let's find the others, you idiots guide me!" David instructed of them, as they reluctantly agreed, throwing looks at one another and then at David in the centre of them. Blindness wouldn't stop David, but it seemed as though Eddie had done irreversible damage to the new frontier. With a blind leader what were their hopes now? a few of his soldiers had even begun to silently sneak away from David and none of the other soldiers were stopping them.
Yet further ahead another blind woman managed to stop for a minute a catch her breath, with no guide and no idea where she was going, she'd have to rely on her hearing right now. She was doubtful she'd make it, but she had to try, not just for Luke now, but for someone who had given his own life so she could escape.
"Oh Eddie..." she muttered to herself, she'd be sobbing if she had eyes left to sob with.
"You deserved so much better"
"Well that's them cleared up down here"
The soldier grumbled this as he dragged the body of one of the new frontier members across the dull corridor, Olivia acknowledged this with a small nod before her eyes reverted upwards.
"We best clear up there then, there can't be many of them left" she informed her remaining soldiers.
The ambush had been a success although David had managed to slip away along his son and some other members of the New Frontier, the majority of them (as the bodies had been counted here) had perished during this ambush, her own soldiers had also fallen. But they knew the stakes here, they wanted the new frontier wiped out as much as she did, David had led his own soldiers here because he selfishly wanted revenge. They had died due to his mistakes and if they weren't already losing faith in David, Olivia wondered what would make them lose such misguided loyalty.
With the ambush on the roof set up as well, it should have been game over for everyone, except for herself.
There was just one problem with that.
"Morrison, have you heard back from the roof yet?"
The soldier she was addressing shook his head.
"We better get up there, I don't like this" Olivia muttered, but even through her unease, if they had somehow managed to secure the chopper that was supposed to be for her, then she wondered where would they go on it? Where was there to go? and most importantly, with the bodies strewn around her...
Who the hell would be left to get on it?
She felt disgusting.
She wiped her mouth nearly vomiting in the process, trying to get the vile taste of her tongue, while Gabe simply smiled down at her, while the watching soldiers cheered like a sick set of clowns, laughing at a dirty joke.
"Oh come on Gabe! Give her some more!" a soldier begged of him.
"FUCK OFF!" Clementine screeched, snot and tears running down her face, as she wiped herself down, Gabe grasped her chin and forced her to look up at him.
"Hey come on Clem, that wasn't that bad was it?"
"I FEEL GROSS, YOU... YOU FUCK!" She screeched, impulsively she ignored the pain in her leg and her back and reached up and managed to leave three deep scratch marks against his cheeks, he hissed in pain and recoiled backwards, before kicking Clementine in the stomach, who doubled over.
"You'll think about before doing that again!" A soldier roared over at her.
"Worth it" Clementine grunted under her breath.
"Clementine, come on" Gabe growled "I'm being nice here, I can make them go over into another room if you'd like..."
"BEING NICE!?" Clementine roared back up to him "I WANT YOU TO LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE! I DON'T WANT ANY OF THIS...!"
"You know what, you really are a fucking traitor!" Gabe spat, "Siding with all the other troublemakers like that Luis kid, all we tried to do was make a better city and you completely and utterly fucked it up! You should be thankful, I'm not killing you..."
"Thankful!? I'd rather be dead!"
"Don't lie to me" Gabe spat "You know you enjoyed that and just wait till your clothes are all off..."
"I fucking hated it, you're fucking revolting" Clementine swore "Believe it or not, I have a pretty good idea of what Utopia will look like run by the New Frontier and you people are worse than monsters!"
"I can have whatever the hell I want!" Gabe spat "I tried to be nice, but these guys are right, I want you, so I'll have you and it felt good to me and it will feel better when we go all the way..."
"Keep dreaming, you might as well shoot me now!" Clementine exclaimed.
"If you really hated it cupcake!" a soldier yelled over at her "You'd have stopped just then, then we'd have shot you. But you didn't, so she really does like it Gabe, give it all to her!"
"You're all sick" Clementine muttered harshly "Fucking sick..."
"So you're not? We've all done bad things Clementine" Gabe said.
"Yeah, but I thought that you were actually alright" Clementine informed him "So did your sister apparently, maybe you were once, what the fuck happened to you? Did you want to please your daddy that much you turned into this? Is this what it means to be a man? You're absolutely pathetic"
Gabe turned scarlet, Clementine knew she was in for it now, but she didn't care.
"You know what, I am going to rape you Clementine" the simplicity of the statement said by Gabe sent shivers down Clementine's spine but she tried to look at him and maintain a tough demeanor "Then when I'm done all my friends back there will have a piece of you as well. Then when we take this place, you'll be locked up. You'll be mine whenever I want you, I'll make you like Uncle Javi or torture you like James in your group".
"You're delusional" Clementine croaked.
"No I'm not, I finally fucking get it!" Gabe exclaimed, a maddened look entering his eyes "Dad was right, bitches like you and Kate and Javier, you all need controlling and sometimes tough love is the best way to go about it! I already saw what my dad did to James and I knew it was the right thing to do, to ensure the new frontier took over this place and improved the lives of everyone! and to get us here, to get James on our side, we had to shoot dead that King woman, and then when that Nick in your group found out, guess what? I fucking shot him too!"
"Nick, you... you killed him!?" Clementine exclaimed in shock, anger building in her system as this news was dumped on her.
"Yeah, I did it and my dad was proud of me!" Gabe boasted "and you know what, I'd do it all again if I could...!
SLAM!
The door was nearly thrown off it's hinges, Clementine was momentarily blinded by the light and her heart leapt up in joy when she saw who was standing there.
Luke, with Stephanie by his side, Gabe turned around in dread, while the soldiers cowered in the corner of the room almost instantly due to the shock of the door being barged open, momentarily losing grip of their guns, as Luke looked down at Gabe, he saw everything and knew what the situation was.
"So" he muttered with a voice of ice "You'd do it again, would you?"
Gabe didn't speak, he didn't move, but Clementine could see the sweat building on his forehead or how he was nervously gulping, he looked around wildly and in those few intense seconds, Clementine knew what was going to happen next.
It was going to be Carver all over again.
"N-n-NO!" Gabe screamed, trying to make a runner for it.
Suffice to say, the massacre began.
Clementine watched it as though it was scene from a horror movie.
Luke screamed in pure hatred, grabbing Gabe by the throat and swinging the (in his own words) "little shit!", against the wall, as the soldiers gained their bearing and attempted to fire back, Stephanie was already on the case, propping up her injured body she instantly set to work in gunning them down, as they screamed and blood spurted across the room, as Gabe struggled helplessly against Luke's deathly grip.
Luke screamed again, pulling the knife he had obtained from the soldier early and despite Gabe's desperate pleas for mercy, they all went unheard, as Luke placed the knife in between his downed trousers, he sliced upwards as Gabe roared as his precious parts split into two, but Luke didn't stop there. He continued upwards, leaving a deep slash in the teenager's stomach, as Gabe struggled and screamed so loudly, Clementine could feel her ears ringing and pints of blood sloshed on the ground below Luke, but despite his one legged balance, he didn't release Gabe at all.
"Eat shit and fucking die" was all Luke was able to say to the terrified teen.
Ripping out Gabe's stomach innards and mingling them with his ruined privates, Luke used his other hand to ram Gabe's flesh into his own open mouth and forced it down his throat, as he finally released Gabe, whose screams were muffled as he choked on his own flesh, the son of David Garcia slipped on the bloody ground and twitched in pure agony as he bled out all over the place, the walls now a constellation of blood droplets, as Luke (exhausted) collapsed next to Clementine on his single leg, as Stephanie stopped and turned around, looking down at the form of Gabe who was dying in agony below her, choking on his flesh and bleeding out from below.
"Perfect" she muttered in glee, before her gun hit the ground and she began to laugh, the last thing Gabriel Garcia saw was Stephanie laughing down at him as he died, the raven haired woman had heard what Gabe had said through the door. Her husband's killer, was finally dead in agony, the person she had been searching for all this time had died the perfect and horrible death and although she wasn't the one to deliver it, it certainly had completed her final goal in this city and she had one person to thank for all of that.
"Luke" she muttered, as the pair of them locked eyes.
"Thank you"
and with that she collapsed next to Gabe, whether she was dead, or passed out from blood loss, Luke didn't know, all he knew is that Clementine was next to him, so when she stretched her arms, Luke hugged her tightly, as she openly wept on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry" he muttered "I should have got here sooner, did he...?"
"He didn't get that far" Clementine muttered, "But Luke, he still... I..."
"I'm so fucking sorry, It's my fault we're all here and this happened to us!" Luke exclaimed.
"But here you are" Clementine said, still clinging onto him.
"You know I was never leaving you behind right?" Luke mused, offering her a smile which she returned.
"Shit... shit... shit... Luke..." Molly panted, she was navigating the corridors, but using the wall as a guide, Luke, or Clementine had to be around here somewhere, she had heard the gunshots and from what Marianna had said to her, Clementine was in a room on this floor and if she was quick, she'd get there and do whatever she could to help or try and find someone to guide her.
Being blind really sucked.
Then she felt her hairs stand up on end, footsteps and a lot of them. Cursing to herself she took quick steps forward, trying to feel for a door handle she could hide within, as the footsteps grew ever closer, finally her hands locked around a door handle and she pushed on it.
Locked.
Game over.
"It's one of the traitors!" came a yell from one of the new frontier members "THE BLIND GIRL FROM EARLIER!"
"FUCKING SHOOT HER THEN!" David Garcia roared, "SHOOT HER!"
She heard rifles being mounted, she had mere seconds.
"Eddie I'm sorry" she muttered, his sacrifice, all for nothing.
The first shot went off, Molly felt a stinging pain in her stomach.
"Luke, I'm... I'm sorry" she muttered.
What's that?"
"LUKE!"
A scream, one Luke clearly recognised from Molly, detaching himself from Clementine he and the teeanger shared horrofied glances at one another, before Clementine helped Luke stand up, the second he did so, he bellowed back "MOOOOLLLLLLLLYYYYYYY!"
"LUKE!" she roared recognising the voice, she could hear it, and as she turned a corner she heard him again.
"MOLLY!"
"LUKE!" She screamed again.
"MOLLY, I'M RIGHT HERE!" Luke exclaimed and now he could see her, blindly stumbling forwards, covered in gunshot wounds, which tore through her clothes and skin. Luke felt himself go light headed, "No more... please God no more... not her as well... not her..." but as he stood in doorframe of the dreaded room, he managed to bellow her name once again and this time she used the last of her energy to propel herself forward and felt herself trip, but this time Luke caught her in his embrace.
"MOLLY!" He panted desperately "It's all right, I'm here".
"L-Luke" she uttered if she could barely believe it, "Is that you? Have I actually made it, I'm that... badass?"
"Yeah" Luke said tearing up "Yeah Molly, you are".
"Anyone else here".
"Me" Clementine piped up shyly.
"Hey" Molly smiled "The whole gangs here... right?"
"Molly come on, you need to keep breathing here... we'll get you out..."
"New frontier got me, David and those assholes..."
"They didn't get you Molly, we're getting you outta...!"
"Eddie's dead" Molly informed them flatly "His last goal was to get me to see you..." she coughed up some blood there before continuing "See you... ha! I get his joke now, he always was a funny bastard".
"No, not Eddie!" Clementine squeaked, barely able to process anything anymore, yet her squeak of shocked grief, went ignored by Luke who was still clinging onto Molly for dear life.
"I'm not gonna lose you too" Luke muttered.
"But I... I kept my promise, I stayed alive for you... I tried..." Molly said.
"Stay with me, I can't lose anyone else!" Luke begged of her.
"It's been fun knowing you all".
"MOLLY!"
But with those last words leaving her system her head drooped and Luke knew the inevitable had happened, Molly had died in his arms, another loss while Clementine was too numb to feel anything. Eddie and Molly... gone. The two comics of the group, killed like that, slaughtered with no mercy. A little less than a few minutes ago when Luke turned up to save her, she had hope. But now, Stephanie was on her way out or probably already dead, Molly and Eddie were defiantly gone at this rate her and Luke were all that were left, but this couldn't be happening! It was going to fast and who knew where the others were? Luis, Terri, James, Melanie, Kate and Javier... were they all dead too. Was this really the end? Their escape completely botched? Maybe Olivia was right all along.
Maybe it was best if they all died here.
Luke had little time to weep over Molly's corpse, because a familiar figure had appeared at the end of the hallway. He was blind, just like Molly was and it seemed his followers had finally deserted him. When he broke another soldier's neck after the soldier admitted to failing to headshot Molly there and then, he once again lost his temper and ended the man's life. Now the new frontier had fully abandoned someone (who in even their eyes) was too insane to be followed anymore.
David heard the crying and he knew the bitch was dead, that brought a smile to his face.
"SO SHE'S DEAD, ISN'T SHE!? FUCKING TRAITOR DESERVED IT!"
Luke gently dropped Molly's body to the ground, he wiped away the tears from his remaining eye and turned to Clementine.
"Clem, move back, I'll deal with him".
"Luke" she muttered in fear.
"Do it" Luke ordered harshly, in too much pain and too numb to try and stop him, she simply let Luke have his revenge on David, as the new frontier leader stumbled blindly towards where he heard Luke sobbing.
"It's Luke isn't it!? and that's Clem as well! You'll both be dead come...!"
"Where are your men David?" Luke snapped.
"Right here!" David snapped "Look they..." he reached around and his face turned whiter than it already was when he realised none of his soldiers were surrounding him anymore. Luke didn't need to put two and two together on what had happened, he doubted even the most bloodthirsty of his followers were going to follow this lost cause into more ambushes and death traps, all in the name of his own revenge and desires.
"I'LL DEAL WITH YOU MYSE...!"
"You've lost everything" Luke told him bluntly "No more followers, rebellion has failed and your son is dead, I should know David I killed him, he died choking on his own flesh".
David was silent for a few unbearable moments, gunfire echoed from somewhere a few corridors away, it seemed as though Olivia's men were closing in on them, and the first of David's deserters were being gunned down as they spoke.
"You're lying..."
"You know I'm not" Luke muttered back grimly.
"Kate, Javier, Mari and now... now Gabe!" David muttered in complete disbelief "My-my family..."
"You killed them all David" Luke said (also having to quickly process the fact Kate and Javier were now confirmed to have died by his hand as well as poor Marianna) "You killed Kate and Javier didn't you?"
"THEY DESERVED IT!"
"and did Marianna deserve it?"
"THAT FRIEND OF YOURS CONVINCED MY LITTLE GIRL TO KILL HERSELF! IT...!"
"and Gabe tried to be like you, he tried raping Clementine, so he got what he deserved".
"YOU'RE TRAITORS! YOU ALL DESERVE...!"
"YOU KILLED MY FRIEND EDDIE, YOUR SON KILLED MY BEST FRIEND NICK! AND NOW YOU'VE GONE AND KILLED MY GIRLFRIEND!" Luke now roared letting his own rage overtake him "I SEE EDDIE ALREADY BLINDED YOU, I'M GONNA DO WHAT'S RIGHT AND FINISH THE JOB, HOWEVER FUCKING MAD YOU ARE AT ME, I FEEL THE EXACT SAME TOWARDS YOU!"
"WELL THEN, LET'S FUCKING DO THIS!" David roared, as both him and Luke screamed and barrelled towards each other, but despite his blindness, David had much more strength left in his body and tossed Luke backwards, back into the room, as Luke fell backwards and David landed on top of him. Deciding his hands were no good for punching anymore, he quickly reached for a dagger which he knew was on his holster, clenching his fist around the hilt, he lifted it and quickly found Luke's still struggling leg and plunged the dagger within it, as Luke roared in pain.
"YOU'RE MISSING ONE LEG! LET'S CUT OFF ANOTHER!"
"FUCK YOU!"
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU! LIKE YOU KILLED MY SON!" David thundered, as he tore the dagger through the muscles in Luke's upper leg, Luke roared in agony as he desperately tried to pry a raging David off his own form.
"LUKE!" Clementine roared, she was crouched by the bed in the room, but she couldn't continue to watch him get mauled like this.
"STAY BACK CLEM!" Luke warned dangerously.
"YOU THINK THAT WILL KEEP HER SAFE!?" David said laughing hysterically "ONCE THIS LEG IS GONE! I'M GONNA CUT OFF YOUR ARMS AND THEN AS YOU BLEED OUT, I'M GONNA HAVE MY WAY WITH LITTLE CLEM THERE, WHILE YOU WATCH EVERY GODDAMN SECOND OF IT!"
He had said the wrong words, because it was these words that sparked an even greater rage in Luke.
"I WON'T, WON'T SEE THAT AGAIN, EVER! YOU FUCKING HEAR ME!" Luke bellowed.
"AGAIN!?" David snapped in a moment of confusion, yet in that moment Luke used his damaged leg and kicked his last with it, it hurt David just enough so Luke could grab the knife he had used to kill Gabe from the floor nearby and without thinking he blindly swished it at David and instantly David stopped moving.
The screaming, the raging, it all ended as Luke became aware of the familiar sound of the squirting of blood he felt warmth on his leg that wasn't his own blood and saw he had made a perfect line across David's throat, David made a little choking noise before Luke slid out from underneath him.
"N-n-no!" David croaked trying to hold onto his throat, but too much blood was pouring from it, he tried crawling forward, calling out softly...
"Gabe..."
Nothing.
"Mari..."
Nothing.
"Anyone... please... please! We... we...!"
He could barely speak anymore, it was hurting too damn much...
"...we were gonna rule the world!"
Then he fell next the mangled corpse of his own son, and stopped moving completely, the nightmare of the new frontier was finally over, Luke panted in relief and in surprise at how quickly the large man had fallen, yet as he did he became aware of the dagger in his leg, with a painful wheeze he pulled it out, as more blood poured onto the saturated floor.
"Luke" Clementine coated in blood, was crawling slowly up to him, she looked at David's corpse and then back at Luke himself again who smiled at her.
"Let's just get out of here"
"Clem" he mumbled sadly.
He was looking at his leg, Clementine did so and saw that David had managed to slice through most of it, so much so only a few muscles and exposed bone were keeping it attached together, the lower half of his leg was dangling from the rest of his body, as if it were some sort of sick ragdoll, essentially he had now lost use of both of his legs and couldn't move.
"We'll think of something!" Clementine muttered in desperation.
Because Clementine would not let the inevitable happen.
"He's here!"
Terri looked out of the glass of the chopper to see James (coated in blood that wasn't his own) was sprinting towards the chopper, he didn't hesitate for a moment, but instantly hopped aboard, Melanie who had heard what Terri had said, shot her head up and (delighted to see him) embraced him. Something that James barely seemed to acknowledge. As the blonde woman released him, he turned to face a stony faced Terri.
"Where's Eth...?"
"Dead"
James gulped.
"No one else here?"
"No"
James sighed and looked around at Terri and Melanie, was it really only the three of them who had managed to escape, out of the giant group they had assembled, had everyone else really died? But then he remembered he had left little Marianna, little Clementine, he had left Javier and Kate to their grisly fates, there would be time to mourn them all later, for now they had to escape, if so all their deaths were in vain.
"I'll start her up then" James mumbled "Should be ready to go in a minute..."
A forest.
Stephanie blinked, she was frozen in this place, she was in pain but not the sort of pain that gunshots brought, this pain was different. Caused by starvation of sorts as her stomach roared in hunger and her hands shook feebly. She became aware that she was not in control of her own body, instantly she knew what this was. It was another dream, another vision, she knew just by the way of how her body felt and the heavy winter clothes she was wearing, that this... this simply had to be...
"Luke's timeline!" she thought to herself, she remembered in those moments before she had passed out, she had thanked Luke, the gift of appreciation of what he had provided to her in his new timeline had allowed her to view her demise in his old one. Something everything had seen with thanking Clementine, but now here she was, right before (she knew what was going to be) her death in the new timeline, she'd be fitting together the final piece in the second chance puzzle.
What had happened to her in Luke's timeline.
She became aware that she was in the forest, she was aware of the freezing snow crunching beneath her body and of the fact she was looking through the scope of a sniper rifle of some sorts. Where had she attained it? Who knew? Maybe this was one the supplies she stole from the group, or she found it later on. But right now, she stopped herself from over thinking and focused her eyes on what her past self was looking at. A small building, through the magnifed lens of the sniper, she could make him out clearly, the cult leader, that stranger and she could also make out (at his feet)...
"Luke and Clem" she thought to herself, as the other Stephanie snapped "Fucking bastard, I never should have left you guys, God I'm sorry..."
Luke and Clem were stirpped down, confirming what Luke had told her beforehand about what the stranger had made them do, the other Stephanie knew something bad was happening, but didn't seem to know the full details, as she muttered to herself "Why are they naked, what the fuck have you done you sick fuck...?"
Stephanie also saw the other masked cultists surrounding the stranger, the other Stephanie was in the dark about what was about to happen, but Stephanie knew what was going to occur instantly.
BANG!
"NO!" she heard Luke roar with grief even from this distance, as little Clementine slumped to the ground, as dead as could be.
BANG!
Another gunshot, Luke was dead as well.
"I was following them" Stephanie concluded quickly in her mind "I wanted them to forgive me, to rejoin them, so I watched them from afar, but now the cult have done this... you wanted to redeem yourself didn't you past Stef? You thought the cult would take them prisoner and not kill them, then you could bust them out... but now you have no one..."
"Fuck... fuck! What now!?" Stephanie heard herself utter in disbelief, but then she saw that smug bastard's smile and it just hit her.
"Only one thing I can do for you now" Stephanie muttered, she had been cautious about using her rifle but seeing him murder in cold blood and her own guilt at leaving them behind, compelled her to fire. The crosshairs were directly on the stranger's head and the bullet soared past every other head and ended up blowing the stranger's brains out of his head, as he fell to the ground next to his recent victims.
"I'm sorry, I left you" past Stephanie muttered through chattering teeth, she knew she had made a risk, but it had to be done, the cult leader was dead by her hand, but her position was revealed and she saw guns being cocked in her direction from the remaining members of the cult, a short whizz, everything went black with a burst of sudden pain.
Headshot.
Then, it was all over.
Stephanie shot up once again, this time she could barely feel her own body anymore, she was aware she was lying on the corpses of others, who they were she didn't know, but her quick gasp of air caught the attention of two others in the room.
"Stef!" Luke and Clementine exclaimed as one, as she locked eyes with them.
"Luke..." Stephanie muttered softly "You told us to tell you if we had one of those visions and I just had one..."
"Stephanie, are you okay?" Luke muttered "Listen, it can wait. If you could help us..."
"I haven't got any time" Stephanie muttered "But in this dream, after I left you guys in your timeline Luke. I saw what happened, I was following you and Clem hoping you'd forgive me, then the cult ambushed you and killed you and I sniped that bastard cult leader, I died seconds after from return fire but... it proves our theory doesn't it? The stranger did die right after you guys did..."
"and was sent back, that's the final piece of the puzzle we've solved, hey Stef?" Luke said, offering her a smile.
Stephanie smiled back at him, she saw the corpses of Molly and David nearby and knew she'd be joining them shortly, but she'd also be reunited with those long gone, Nick, Lilly, Sarah, Rebecca and AJ, the group, the family she had found.
She wasn't scared anymore.
"In that old world, I also regretted leaving, but it's something I always did" Stephanie explained to him.
"This time, I stayed, I stayed right till the end and I was glad for that, so thank you"
and with that another member of Luke's group fell to the ground, as dead as could be.
The nightmare had come to life.
Everyone was dead, Kate, Marianna, Javier, Max, Eddie, Stef, Molly... the others were probably rotting somewhere as well, Luke never wanted to be the last one left, but that's exactly what had happened. Now he was too numb to feel anything, the blood from his leg continued to pour out, turning him whiter by the second, he couldn't move a muscle, he just turned back to Clementine after Stephanie had died, revealing that final bit of information to him.
"Clem, you've got too..."
"I'm not leaving" Clementine stubbornly insisted.
"Clem" Luke begged, the tears beginning to fall from his eyes.
"The answer's no!" Clementine screamed, the tears starting to fall from her own eyes "The helicopter will be gone now, if James has any sense and I've been shot twice and I can barely move, just like you! Luke... I don't want to say this, but I think I'm ready"
"For what?" Luke groaned, although he knew the answer clearly.
"To die" Clementine muttered, before she smiled at him "Olivia and her soldiers will be here shortly, without a doubt we'll die for a good purpose saving other people's lives!"
Luke blinked stupidly at her, he wiped away the tears and saw her smiling face and something made him smile as well.
"M-maybe you're right Clem" Luke said glumly "I... I can't go on, even if I got to that chopper, after everyone we've lost, Molly, Eddie, Stef... I can't... and it's my own fault we're here anyway. I can't escape if they all had to die. I'd never be able to live with myself".
"We had a good run" Clementine said, the tears continued to fall, but she was smiling, "Second chances and all we tried to beat the world Luke, but it beat us in the end".
"I guess it was always going too" Luke informed her, as she laid her head on his shoulder "But I'll stay with you Clem, we'll die together and this time, it'll be for a good cause, not like last time".
"It'll be quick, won't it?" Clementine couldn't help but ask, the child in her coming out with this question.
Luke used his remaining arm to pull her closer to his own shaking form.
"You won't feel a thing Clem, that's the least Olivia can do for us"
Clementine smiled, she closed her eyes, Her and Luke had finally been battered and broken physically and mentally enough to finally give in to this relentless world, but here surrounded in this hellish room with corpses piled on top of one another, guts and blood soaked on the walls, Herself and Luke drenched in blood, guts and injuries, they were leaving this hell together...
and hopefully going somewhere better together...
"LUKE! CLEM!"
The peace that started to overcome the pair of them was shattered, as Luis sprinted past the open door and looked down briefly, even he (accustomed to the stench of blood and death) retched and covered his nose and his remaining eye widened in horror as he looked around the room.
"What the actual fuck happened here!?" he exclaimed "It looks like a damn human slaughterhouse in here... is that Molly!? and Stef as well!? David and Gabe and...!?"
"They're all dead Luis" Clementine informed him "Luke can't move, I can't carry him and I doubt you can either, so I'm staying with him, we're going to die".
"You're going to let them do this!?" Luis muttered in complete disbelief, gazing at Clementine and then back to Luke.
"Luke you're going to let her die...!"
"Where would we go!?" Luke spat "Howe's again!? Even if we do somehow escape, I can't do this anymore, it's my fault we're here. I'm not escaping if everyone had to die for my mistake".
"So Clem has to die as well!?" Luis spat back at him.
"It's my choice" Clementine snarled up to him "Luke would probably want me to go, but don't you see, this is the best way to die!? We can die for others...!"
"Have you gone fucking insane Clem!?" Luis roared over at her, before he felt his temper flare up again "FIRST I LEAVE MARI TO DIE AND NOW THIS! WHY THE FUCK IS EVERYONE GIVING UP!?"
"If you knew what..." Luke began.
"No, this isn't happening, the Luke and Clem I knew would crawl to the damn helicopter, not give up like this!" Luis snarled.
"This is our choice Luis, just go..." Clementine muttered "Please, you've been a great friend to me, but... maybe one day you'll understand..."
"I already understand! Alright!?" Luis snapped at her "You... you saved me from that Clementine! How the hell do you think it makes me feel, seeing you go back on your own words! Seeing you give up like this!?"
"I just... can't do it anymore!" Clementine now wept "ALL THOSE DAMN SECOND CHANCES! THEY DIDN'T HELP AT ALL! THEY JUST MADE ME DIE OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND THERE'S ONLY SO MUCH SOMEONE CAN TAKE LUIS, UNTIL THEY CAN'T DO IT ANYMORE, UNTIL THEY HAVE TO GIVE UP AND AFTER EVERYTHING TODAY... IT'S TIME FOR ME TO GO!"
"So you're just fucking giving up then, both of you are... FUCKING PATHETIC!" Luis roared, it was then he felt red hot tears pour from his own eyes, he couldn't stay here, he couldn't... he had to move.
"Goodbye then Luis... you were a great friend to me, I won't forget it..." Clementine sobbed.
Luis was crying as well, but those words made him stop, the rage inside of him evaporated in those moments as he looked over at Clementine again.
He couldn't be mad anymore and he couldn't leave her like he had coldly left Marianna, he had risked his life to come and save her's, because she was right in a way. There was always a point, a breaking point where someone couldn't take anymore and would give up especially in a world like this, he had been through it and Clementine had helped him out of it.
Because she had been a great friend to her, just like she had said.
It was time to return the favour.
He turned around and sighed, before he crouched in front of Luke and Clementine once again.
"I want to leave, really I do, but I can't just..."
While he had Luke and Clementine's eyes locked on him, he managed to slowly creep his remaining arm outwards and while Clementine wasn't looking gave her a hard enough knock on the head to make her lose conscious once again, Luke yelped in surprise, seeing Clementine out cold on the ground in front of him and was even more alarmed to see Luis picking her up and propping the girl on his back.
"The last time she thought you were dead, I did the exact same thing" Luis told him, remembering the incident at the hospital in Wellington.
"I wanted her to die with me" Luke admitted selfishly "She wants that, you can't... you can't do this...!"
"Tough" was all Luis could utter "Olivia's soldiers were right on my tail before I got here, I have to go now Luke, before they catch us"
"PLEASE!" Luke begged "I don't... I want to say goodbye!"
"You know she'll never say that too you" Luis muttered "Not unless you're going together".
"You're just taking her, because you want her to yourself!" Luke snapped "You heard her, you're doing this against her own will!"
"Maybe I am" Luis muttered down to him "But I don't consider yourself or Clementine to be in their right minds right now, besides I'm not losing anyone else, especially not her because of a mistake you made!" Luis shouted at him "I think deep down you know that too, I'm not letting the good Luke die, I'm keeping him alive".
"I just... I never wanted to die alone, you know" Luke wept.
Luis sighed.
"No one does Luke" he muttered "But you want what's best for Clementine don't you?"
"Yeah and what's putting her out that gonna do!? She'll just carry on suffering, dying pointlessly to bandits or walkers or whatever else out there! At least here...!"
"It's selfish of both of us" Luis admitted cutting him off "But the fact is, I can escape here, you can't. I can't carry you as well Luke, I really, really need to go..."
"WAIT!" Luke roared once again.
Luis turned on his heel.
"I-I'm sorry..." he wept "Please... please... make her life worth living, promise me that Luis"
Luis looked over at him.
"I promise"
Luke smiled.
"Thank you" he sobbed "Now just... just fucking go before I say more stupid shit!"
Luis took one last look at the weeping Luke before he took his leave and Luke looked up just in time to catch one last glance at Clementine, on Luis back, his most trusted companion and friend through all of this and now she was gone, gone forever and he wouldn't see her again. If Luis hadn't have come they'd have died together and that's what Luke really wanted. No matter how selfish it really was, after everything that was the last thing both of them wanted, but that was now denied of him and he had to accept the fact he'd die here... alone.
"Goodbye Clementine" he muttered to himself, he decided he wasn't waiting for Olivia to come and finish the job, grabbing a gun from one of the dead soldiers behind him, he placed the gun at his neck, he knew he couldn't destroy his own brain, and this would be the way to go, it would be quite painful, but it would be over and whatever was waiting for him on the other side, it was better than this hell he was in now.
A shadow of his former self, wanting Clementine to die with him, how pathetic had he become? Driven to end his own life like this, he didn't know what else to say as his final word other than "Sorry" but deciding he couldn't utter another syabelle or stay in this torture for another second he pushed his finger down on the trigger.
It was painful, he couldn't breathe as blood leaked from his throat, as it had from David's beforehand, but he'd saved others, that's all that mattered now and he was finally free, the dark room soon descended down on him and he felt himself falling into a pitch black abyss.
After everything he'd been through.
Luke was dead.
Luis found the roof fast, just as the helicopter blades had started to spin, he ascended the stairs and bellowed "WAIT!" as Terri did a double take, and shouted out to him "COME ON!" as he did so, he managed to pull himself into the chopper, just as James ascended from the ground.
"Everyone else is dead!" Luis quickly informed the blonde girl, who nodded grimly, as Melanie laid Clementine on the ground in front of her, as she shit the sliding doors of the chopper, a numb Luis took his seat, while the chopper swayed dangerously, as James lifted them into the air, Melanie was already tending to Clementine, by inspecting the gunshot wound on her shoulder, while Melanie looked over at a sweat drenched Luis.
"I didn't think you'd make it" she muttered.
"Neither did I" He admitted rather numbly, not looking at her, but of the rooftop below which was gradually growing smaller, were they really leaving this place for good? He still felt light headed after everything he had been through, all the deaths, all the drama, all the crying and shouting he had done...
"She didn't want to leave Luke did she?" Terri inquired looking over at Clementine, putting the pieces together instantly "So he forced her to go, when she refused, you knocked her out and here we are".
"Yep" Luis muttered tonelessly.
"That's what Luke did"
Terri looked over at Clementine once again.
"She's gonna be pissed at you when she wakes up"
"I don't care" Luis admitted honestly "As long as she's alive, that's all that matters to me"
"How bad was Luke injured?"
"Other leg was nearly hacked off, he wasn't going anywhere, but I think he killed David and Gabe so that's where he obtained those injuries"
"and Olivia?"
"No chance of her killing her, too well protected, the new frontier lost. She's got her cure now, best just to leave".
"It's what Ethan would have wanted" Terri nearly whispered "His missions complete and we're...we're no longer a part of it".
A silence engulfed the chopper at this point, both Terri and Luis lay slumped against the window, exhausted, emotionally wrecked and numb after the maniac escape they had endured and the fact out of nearly 20, only 5 of them had managed to escape, a 15 year old girl, a limbless, moody 20 year old, a mute woman, their mandatory pilot and the cut throat cub herself. Luis used his remaining eye to look down at the city behind him the grey blocks they soared over, soon became a featureless orange desert and Luis was more than happy to see nature once again, to finally be rid of that fucking, grey blocked city.
"GOOD FUCKING RIDDANCE UTOPIA!" James suddenly bellowed from the cockpit,(as if he could read Luis thoughts) causing the remaining four passengers to jump in surprise, before James (slightly hysterical) said "Alright guys, this is James your pilot speaking, we've cleared enough distance between us and the city now and it doesn't seem like anyone's following us, so it's looks like we've officially escaped, we've got enough fuel here to keep us going for a few states"
"Well, that's great and all" Luis muttered "But where do we go now?"
That was the question on everyone's mind, but Luis left that question hanging in the air, as he looked down at Clementine and wrestled with the inner debate in his own head.
"Did I really do the right thing back there, does she really want to live?"
"So we're not gonna follow them?"
Olivia shook her head, she looked at the dead soldiers on the rooftop, the bodies of Luke, his group and the new frontier they found in that room, all of them flashed in her mind as she looked up at the blue sky, today had been a day of bloodshed, death and madness and if all was right with the world she should have been dead with Luke, David, Molly, Stephanie, because she had deserved that much.
But she wasn't, she had won.
But it wasn't a glorious feeling.
"Why aren't we following them?"
"We'd have to blow up the helicopter and we'd be left with charred remains, hardly useful to us" Olivia said "If we wanted to track them, well, I doubt we will, they'll have moved their helicopter far enough away by the time they land. We could search, but we have enough bodies here now. Of course 5 bodies would be helpful, but it is a small number, we have to focus on here now. The bombing run will stop, we'll distribute the cure and then focus on our defences..." she sighed there, before looking down at the body of the Wellington Wolf, his brain had not been destroyed and she had seen Luke, shot in the neck. That... that wasn't on accident, these men had died saving her citizens and in a way... that upset her.
"When we're done, we should bury those from Luke's group" Olivia muttered, "The new frontier... no. But Luke's group, they weren't willing, I don't think anyone would be in their position, they lied to me, they tried to hide it from me. But in the end, they gave me what I wanted, they sacrificed themselves for the greater good. They were my enemies, but the least I feel I can do is honour them, because they didn't try to challenge me like the new frontier did, they just... got caught up in all this. I admit they deserved better".
"We could build a statue to them, I know we're sparse on supplies, but those survivors saved this city" a soldier informed her.
She smiled.
"Indeed, I don't know what Luke, Robert, hell any of them would make of that" she mused "Probably wish I'd just burn in a hole somewhere but... they gave us a cure. I'd... like to honour them, it's the very least an so called evil hag like myself could do".
She fell silent and looked at the sky once again, the group had also prevented the new frontier from overthrowing her, she'd owe them for as long as she continued to rule, for as long as the city stood, they'd be honoured.
So, Luke's group was gone, tragically they'd almost all been wiped out.
But as an old saying went...
Gone but never forgotten.
