Thanks to gaara king of the sand for the help.
"How do we know we can trust her? She's one of Carver's guards." Kenny said.
"She did give us the radio, man." Mike pointed out.
"For all we know she might have given us the radio to trick us." Kenny said.
"What reason would she do that for?" Jane asked.
"Maybe Carver told her too or something." Kenny said.
Rebecca shook her head. "Shel wouldn't do something like that."
"Regardless, I don't see how this radio is gonna help us. We should just go with my plan." Kenny said. "We don't know what that son of a bitch is gonna do next! The faster we get out of here the better."
"You're plan makes no sense. You wanna bring the walkers to us. How is that gonna help us?" Mike retorted.
"'Cause this place'll be fucking chaos when that thing hits. No one'll be payin' any attention to us. And that's when we go. That's our opening. We just gotta figure out a way to draw 'em to us." Kenny said.
"So… with your plan we'll succeed in getting killed by lurkers before Bill can do it." Rebecca scoffed. "Great."
"What is it with you?" Kenny said.
"That's what it sounds like to me." Rebecca said.
"You know that's not what he's saying, but...it does sound dangerous." Sarita said.
"This shit is all dangerous!" Kenny exclaimed.
"Kenny! Do not speak to me like that." Sarita said, sending him a look.
"Okay, okay. Sorry." Kenny sighed, lowering his tone.
"Luke and Molly can monitor the herd; while Shel and the others kept us posted about what Bill is up to… we can use that to pick a good time to escape." Rebecca said.
"That seems reasonable." Sarita said.
"Who knows when that'll be? We just need something loud to get their attention." Kenny said.
"The PA system Carver is always using is quite loud." Sarita pointed out.
"There's some speakers outside the building...pointed toward the parking lot. There are a few along the roof." Mike said.
"It's all controlled in Bill's office. There's a switch in there that'll turn them on." Rebecca told them.
"How do you know that?" Mike asked.
"I used to make a lot of the announcements back in the day... I had it flipped on once...luckily there wasn't much around at the time to hear it. It was plenty loud, though." Rebecca answered.
"That's perfect! We just gotta get into his office. Why didn't you say something sooner?" Kenny asked.
"'Cause it doesn't change anything. This isn't a discussion about how to do it, it's a discussion about whether it's stupid. And it's still stupid. The sensible thing is to go with Luke's plan and wait for an opening." Rebecca said.
Kenny groaned. "You're real difficult to deal with sometimes."
"Kenny..." Sarita scolded.
"No, that's alright." Rebecca said before saying to Kenny, "You ain't exactly a peach, either."
"Luke's not gonna be able to help us! You wanna put our fate in that guy's hands? It's not happening." Kenny said.
"He can help us… He always gets us out of binds." Nick said.
"Fine, whatever. But the herd is what's gonna get us outta here. They keep us posted on the herd's movement. We fire up the PA thing and bring the walkers to roll over this place." Kenny said.
"And then what?" Mike asked.
"Get some guns and shoot our way out. I don't know! Whatever we can! We improvise." Kenny replied.
"Then that's not a plan. You don't plan to improvise." Mike said.
"I figured out what your problem is...you don't think this stuff through. If the end of the plan is just to stroll through a herd of walkers, then you should know from the jump that there's no way it's ever going to work." Rebecca said.
"Actually... I do it all the time." Jane spoke up.
Mike sent her a look. "And here you go, saying some crazy, stupid shit."
"Hush. What do you mean exactly?" Sarita asked.
"When you cover yourself in their smell, rub the walker guts all over you...they can't tell you from one of them." Jane explained.
"Now I don't know who's crazier." Rebecca muttered.
"Trust me, I've walked through herds before. It works. You just have to keep calm, and make sure you're good and covered." Jane said.
"You seem to know what you're talking about." Sarita said.
"This is nuts." Mike commented.
"No, it's not. It's perfect…" Kenny said.
They had their first radio exchange that night. Shel contacted them and slowly but surely, the group realized she was serious about helping them out of there. Especially when they heard Luke and Molly on the other side of the radio.
"Holy shit… You're both really here… Where are you?" Nick asked.
"We've been in the comic book store, no ones really been and here." Luke answered.
"And Clem, she's with you?" Kenny asked. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine…" Molly replied. "I can't say I'm happy with how some of you people have been treating her, but I guess that's a conversation for another time."
There was silence for a moment.
"I take it you know what happened to her…" That was Carlos' voice.
"Yeah. She told me everything." Molly said. "And a lot of it pissed me off."
"We wanted to help her, Molly." Nick said.
"Well you clearly didn't do enough…" Molly replied.
"Everyone calm down, please…." Shel spoke up. "We need to come up with a plan… At least that way we can get Clem out of here. You can fight all you want after that."
"Fine." Molly muttered.
The group began throwing around different ideas. However, when Kenny informed them of his plan it seemed many of them were torn.
"There's no way in hell that's gonna work." Luke protested on the radio. "I've never heard of anyone walking through a herd of lurkers and coming out without no bites."
"No… It'll work." Molly said.
"How do you know?" Luke asked her.
"Because-"
"I've done it before…." Clementine spoke in a small voice.
"What?" Luke's eyes widened.
"It's how my friend and I got out of the Marsh House. Lee covered me and we walked right through." Clementine said.
"Wow… Good one, Luke." Kenny said through the radio.
"Okay, but even if we settle on this plan, how the hell are we supposed to get into his office?" Luke asked.
"That's what we have figure out." Kenny said.
Molly sighed upon hearing that. "Well, we'll talk when we actually have something figured out." Molly huffed.
She placed the radio down and turned to Clementine who looked a bit sad.
"Are you okay, Clem?" Molly asked.
"Uh-huh… I just… I had a walkie talkie like that…." Clementine said.
Molly sighed. "I know, Clem…."
"…I used it to talk to my parents…" Clementine mumbled. "…I miss them…"
"I know…" Molly said, "I know you do, kiddo."
"Do you… think they're disappointed in me?" Clementine suddenly asked.
"Of course not… Why would they be?" Molly asked as she went to sit near the child.
"Because I'm a whore…" Clementine said.
"Clem, you're not." Molly replied.
The girl frowned.
"I miss my mommy and daddy... I miss my home... I miss my neighborhood. I miss the days when people were nice, when they tried to love and support each other. I miss everyone... I... I miss Lee." Clementine said.
"I know you do…" Molly said. "I can't bring them back. But I will promise you, that I'm here for you…. I'm never going to leave you, Clem."
"Good… I never want you to leave me." Clementine said.
"I never will." Molly promised.
"We have to be smart about this, guys. Carver sent a search team out, but he still has people inside keeping a good eye on things." Shel explained. "On the bright side. Vince, Wyatt, Russell, and Bonnie are willing to help out."
"Bonnie..." Clementine frowned at the mention of the woman. Luke and Molly noticed.
"We have supplies pack and stuff for the baby. So once we have an opening we can just leave no problem." Shel explained.
"How do we know any of this is gonna work?" Nick's voice came through the radio.
"We just have to hope it will." Molly replied.
"As long as we execute it properly it'll be fine." Shel said. "We gotta go. We gotta get everybody to their post. We'll talk more later."
The others agreed.
Luke placed the radio down.
"...Are you sure we can trust her?" Clementine suddenly asked.
"Who? Shel?" Molly questioned.
Clementine shook her head. "Bonnie."
"Why shouldn't we trust her? She wants to help us." Luke replied.
"She didn't trust me. Carver said I shouldn't trust people who don't trust me..." Clementine said. "She kept bringing me to Carver and she thinks that I'm naughty."
"I…. I'm sure she doesn't think that." Luke said.
"But she does…" Clementine replied. "She said so herself."
"She didn't mean it Clem. She probably wasn't thinking straight. A lot's been going on folks are stressed." Luke said.
"That doesn't give her the right or the excuse." Molly said.
"I know…" Luke sighed. "Look, I wanna believe we can trust her. She was supposed to leave us before but backed out. If she's saying she wants to come now, I doubt she'll change her mind again. We can trust her…"
"I won't say I'll ever trust her, after the things Clementine told me… But If she's helping us with the plan, I'll tolerate her. At least until we get out of here…" Molly said.
"Fair enough…" Luke said.
"I just hope this doesn't blow up in our faces…" Molly muttered.
The radios made things much easier for them. They communicated on the radios back and forth. Luke and Molly kept the rest of the group posted on the approaching herd, while Shel kept them posted on Carver and the other guards. And likewise, they were informed of Carver's actions. How he had been so focused on Clementine being missing, that he wasn't focused on the safety of the community, how some of his people were starting to doubt his leadership skills with him being so focused on Clementine.
They talked about ways to escape, both Kenny and Luke had a plan. The only problem…. Their plans conflicted with each other. Luke thought it best to wait out the herd, but Kenny and Molly figured the best time to leave would be when the herd was passing.
Listening to Kenny and Luke argue over the walkie talkies had become a regular habit. They both had their points of course, but at the end of the day either plan was going to be dangerous.
And everyone knew this.
They had been in here for days, without a proper meal. They were waiting for a time to leave to gather more supplies, however Shel had warned them that there were guards keeping a constant eye on the comic book store, making sure no one entered or exited.
They had no food left, and very little water. He hadn't eaten for over a day. Luke glanced to Clementine and Molly who were fast asleep. Both had been up all night; they were barely sleeping as it was due to them being on edge and because of Clementine's constant nightmares.
He knew the guards would rotate shifts at some point, but it was still too risky. He needed to know when the door was clear if he was gonna get out of there. He spent the whole morning radioing to Shel about who was guarding the door.
When Shel finally informed him that Wyatt would be there soon he was relived. He figured he would be able to gather the supplies easy. Molly always managed to do so very easily.
When the door cracked open and he noticed Wyatt, he knew now was his chance.
"You better hurry up, man. If you get caught-"
"I won't." Luke reassured. "Don't worry."
"I really hope not." Wyatt muttered.
Kenny was annoyed. He didn't understand why half of the group still seemed torn about going with his idea. And he had no problem with voicing his feelings to them.
Unknown to him, the walkie talkie he had put into his pocket was scanning channels. "l just think it's bullshit if anyone wants to wait any longer. We know that Carver asshole is crazy." The man shifted in his seat, accidently sitting against the talk button of the walkie-talkie.
He continued angrily ranting to the others about how stupid it would be to wait any longer. Completely oblivious to the fact that that the radio was on.
Carver sat in his office in silence, wondering to himself about Clementine. He never should have allowed her out of his sight. He should've have kept her with him at all times.
The fact that she hadn't been found yet was making him wonder if they would ever find the kid.
He was suddenly pulled from his musing by the sound of static on his walkie. He huffed ready to turn the device off, however a voice grabbed his attention. "We know that Carver asshole is crazy."
If Carver didn't know any better, he would think it was one of his asshole guards, talking shit while not realizing the radio was on, but he recognized the voice. And it did not belong to one of his guards.
He continued listening, every so often the voice would fade out and be interrupted by static, but soon return so he could gather bits and pieces of what was being said.
"I just think it's crazy if y'all wanna go with Luke's plan instead of mine."
Carver couldn't help but smirk. Luke was here and planning something…. Not only that, but these idiots had stolen one of his radios and had given themselves away. They made things way too easy for him.
Shel's eyes widened as she could hear muffled voices across channel thirteen. She realized with feeling of dread that Kenny had just gave away the fact that Luke was here, on Carver's channel. If Carver was listening…
She quickly flipped to channel thirteen and tried to speak to the man "Kenny! Kenny, get off the radio!"
There was no response, he probably didn't even realize it was on. And if it was on Carver's channel, she couldn't contact him without Carver finding out.
Panic hit her as she rushed to try to warn Luke and Molly.
"What the hell is that noise?" Mike suddenly asked, hearing a strange buzzing.
"What noise? Can't you see I'm talking here," Kenny huffed.
"Do you ever stop talking?" Jane huffed.
"Guys, I'm serious. What is that noise?" Mike asked again.
"What noise?" Kenny huffed.
"That weird buzzing noise." Mike said.
"I hear it too…" Sarita said.
"Kenny, you have the radio, don't you?" Rebecca questioned.
"Yeah, why?" Kenny reached into his pocket to grab it, "I'm pretty sure I turned it off." As he picked it up the buzzing stopped, but he noticed something that made his heart drop. He was on channel twelve.
When Wyatt heard Carver give out the order over the radio to "find Luke", dread filled him.
He quickly reached for his radio to warn Luke. When Luke didn't respond he decided to abandon his post to find him before someone else did.
Before he could get far, he ran into Shel who also seemed panic. "Is Luke still in the store?"
"No, he left a while ago," Wyatt said.
"Shit, we gotta find him before someone else does."
"What's going on?" Tavia's voice made them jump.
"N-Nothing, Tavia." Shel said.
"Really, because it seems to me that you two are plotting something." Tavia said.
"Bill, we found him." A voice on the radio met their ears, and they all felt their stomach drops.
"Fuck…" Wyatt couldn't help but mutter.
"Okay, what the hell is going on here? What are you two up to…" Tavia said.
"It's nothing, Tavia. It's nothing." Shel said.
Tavia narrowed her eyes, "Both of you get to your posts, before I let Bill know about your dilly dallying."
The two nodded in response, sighing in relief when the woman walked off.
Shel wasted no time in entering the store, to reveal to Molly about Luke while Wyatt kept watch outside.
He fucked up. He didn't know how but he got caught. Upon hearing about Luke being found Carver came down to greet him. And gleefully indulged in kicking Luke's ass.
He asked if Luke was the only one. Luke refused to rat anyone out.
Carver continued to question him, but Luke remained stubborn.
"Bill, something's not right…" Tavia walked over to him.
"What are you going on about, Tavia?" Carver asked.
"Something's going on in the comic book store. They're hiding something." Tavia said.
Luke felt his heart drop.
"Is that right? Who is they?" Carver asked.
"Shel and Wyatt. I saw them talking earlier. They were being pretty sneaky…" Tavia said.
Carver huffed, it seemed that they were proving to be disloyal. He turned to his other girls. "I'll deal with them. Take Luke, and throw him in the pen with the rest of the ingrates. I'll check that store myself."
"How the hell did he get caught? Why did he leave in the first place?" Molly asked after being filled in on what happened by Shel.
"I have no idea. He kept saying he had to get supplies for you and Clem." Shel replied.
"He should've leave that to me. He never should've went out there. Just… Fuck… What do we do now?" Molly said.
"We'll figure something out." Shel said. "Bill still doesn't know you're here, maybe we could—"
They suddenly hear commotion from outside. Shel quickly rushed out to see what's going on. She was surprised to see Carver beating on Wyatt while a few guards stood nearby.
"Oh my God, Bill! What are you doing?" Shel asked.
"Hi there, Shel." Carver smirks in her direction.
Shel freezes as she finds herself at the other guards' gunpoint. "Wh-What's going on?"
"Oh, I think you have a good idea." Carver replied. "Hand over your radio and drop your weapons while you're at it."
Still at gunpoint, Shel had no choice but to comply. "What's this all about?"
"Don't play dumb. You know exactly what this is about." Carver said before ordering to his guards, "Keep an eye on them."
The guards nod.
Carver enters the comic book store. "I know you're here, make this easy on yourselves."
A moment passes before Molly reveals herself, aiming her gun at him.
"Don't even think about it. You pull that trigger, and my guards will come right in here and end you." Carver said. "I'm sure you don't want that."
Molly glared at him and slowly and reluctantly lowered her gun.
"M-Molly…?" Clementine called in a nervous voice.
"It's okay, Clem…."
"I figured you'd be here too. I missed you honey." Carver chuckled. "Come on, let's go."
Molly gently picked Clementine up, the child clinging to her. Sam began growl.
"Oh, calm him down. I don't want to have to shoot him."
"Sam, stop." Molly ordered.
Sam growled a bit more.
"Stop it, Sam!" Molly ordered in a firmer tone.
The dog stopped as told.
Carver walked over to where they had been sitting and picked the radio up. He then followed them outside where his guards were waiting, with a still detailed Shel and Wyatt. Molly was surprised to see a familiar face.
"Co-Cordell…" Molly was shocked to see him.
"It's nice to see you again, Molly…" Cordell said.
Molly was in disbelief. She didn't respond, she just kept a protective grip on Clementine.
"Let's get them to the pen." Carver said.
Molly frowned as she felt a gun shove into her back, forcing her to walk. She couldn't believe they had gotten caught.
"Hand her over." Carver suddenly spoke to Molly.
"There's no way in hell I'm letting you touch her." Molly bitterly replied.
"Hand her over." Carver repeated.
"I can carry her." Molly gritted out."
"I'm sure you can, but I insist…" Carver said. "Cordell will carry her for you…"
"It's okay, Molly…" Clementine muttered not wanting her guardian to be hurt. "I'll be okay…."
Molly frowned but allowed Cordell to take the child. She really wanted to kill these people.
"-and how is it that we're repaid for our trust? With treachery...? With deceit...? With theft!" Carver brandishes the radio. "Whatever you were planning is over...it's done. You can't just run from your problems. You can't just up and leave when it gets tough...'cause there's nowhere else you can go where it ain't. Tough is all we got now. Get that through your fuckin' skulls. Luke here, he can't help you now...you gotta help yourselves...you gotta help me find the strength to forgive you. Now, you can start...by telling me where the other one is."
When no one response Carver huffs. "Now. " He then motioned to the child in Cordell's arms. "Or this little girl gets a bullet in her pretty little head."
"Bill, please!" Rebecca said.
Carver ignored her, "I'm gonna count to three. If that radio ain't in my hands by then, we'll have to make things more difficult. One. Two."
"I got it right here!" Kenny finally spoke, showing the radio to Carver. Carver smirks.
Sam is loudly barking and growling but is held back by one of the guards.
"Now that wasn't so hard." Carver said. He holds out his hand.
As Kenny steps forward, Sarita approaches him.
"It's alright." Kenny reassured her. Kenny goes up to Carver. "Sorry about that...not sure what I was thinking." He drops the radio in Carver's hand.
"Three." Carver said, looking Kenny dead in the eye.
Kenny scoffed at this. "Heh. Fucker."
Carver hits Kenny in the left side of his face with the radio, knocking him to the floor.
"NOOO! Let me go!" Clementine begins struggling in Cordell's grip, but the man refuses to release her. Sam's barking grows louder, becoming more aggressive. "Kenny!"
Sarita screams, attempting to run to Kenny only to be held back by Carlos.
"Oh, god! Jesus Christ! Stop!" Nick gasped.
Carver continues to beat Kenny in the face with the radio.
Sarita screamed, "Stop him! Somebody stop him! Let me go!"
"You don't have to do this, Bill!" Nick called.
"NO! STOP IT! KENNY! KENNY!" Sarita cried in horror as she tried to struggle from Carlos' grip. "Pleeeassseee...!" Sarita dropped to the floor, sobbing as she was unable to break free.
Bonnie enters and is horrified by what she sees. "Bill! That's enough, Bill! Please! Bill, there's a breach!"
Hearing this, Carver punches Kenny one last time, then lets him go, dropping the radio. "Alright, everyone come with me."
The guards nod, including the man who had been holding Sam back. He releases the dog and before Carver can get another word out Sam rushes towards Cordell and attacks, knocking both him and Clementine to the ground.
Cordell attempts to fight the dog off, but Sam is relentless and continues to attack, eventually resulting in a fatal bite to the throat.
Everyone is in shock.
Bonnie's eyes widened in horror.
A look of anger takes over Carver's face. "Get the girl, and the dog to my office, NOW!"
Clementine didn't want to be with him. The girl hated being with him. She looked to Sam who had been chained up. The dog was still growling at Carver. Clementine frowned, he didn't deserve to be chained, he had only been trying to protect her…
"I want Molly..." Clementine said.
"Well that's too bad. I have to punish you, you know that. For hiding from me." Carver said.
"I-I've already been punished. Y-You punished us in there." Clementine said.
"Not nearly enough honey. I punished them not you." Carver said.
Sam growled more, tugging at the chain.
"Sam..." Clementine mumbled. "Just… At least let him go. Please."
"So he can bite me? I don't think so, Clementine. He killed someone. He killed one of my people." Carver said.
"He was just protecting me..." Clementine said.
"That doesn't make it okay." Carver replied.
"Don't hurt him. Punish me instead." Clementine said.
"Oh honey. You'll get yours." Carver chuckled. "Come here honey."
Clementine felt him gently pick her up and place on his lap. Sam began growling and barking more.
"He doesn't like this. Me holding you like this..." Carver said with a smirk. "Settle down, I'm not hurting her! I'm not hurting you, right, honey?" His breath tickles her ear.
"Not yet..." Clementine whispered.
"That's right. Not yet." Carver said. "I wish you would learn, Clementine. If only you weren't so naughty. Do you think I like hurting you?"
"Yes..."
"Well you're wrong. I don't like it...but I know it has to be done. How else will you learn to behave. You make me hurt you, Clementine." Carver said.
"...I want Molly." Clementine said again.
"That's too bad. I told you once and I'll tell you again. We can't always get what we want." Carver said. "You owe me an apology for all the trouble you put me through." He enjoyed make her fearful of him. "You can't hide from me, honey. No matter what you do, no matter where you go, I'll find you."
Clementine shuddered at that but kept quiet.
"You know... you're the reason I had to do that to Kenneth. You're the reason I was so angry." Carver said. "You shouldn't have hidden from me Clementine. And now, because of you, Kenneth might not make it. How does that make you feel?"
Clementine began whimpering at that.
"You deserve to be punished. Don't you think?" Carver said.
Clementine whimpered a bit more, "I... I'm na-naughty..."
"Yes you are. Very naughty." Carver said. "You cry all you want honey. It won't make me stop. Molly can't save you. Kenneth can't save you. And your little dog can't save you. No one can save you. You're mine."
When Becca heard about her sister being forced into the pen, she wanted nothing but to find her. However, Vince convinced her not to, saying she would only be locked in there herself and Shel wouldn't want that.
They needed to stay out of there so they could find a way out. And they needed to get out of there as soon as they could.
Before things could get any worse.
The group huddled around a fire in mostly silence. Sarita is crying and being comforted by Rebecca while Carlos attends to Kenny, who is lying on the cot.
"This is so fucked… We were so close…" Wyatt grumbled.
"We're still getting out of here. Don't worry." Shel said.
"Look, I know part of this is my fault, I-I know. I was hungry, I got reckless tryin' to steal some food and I got caught..." Luke said.
"You shouldn't have left in the first place. Because of you, Clem is back with that pedophile." Molly hissed.
"We're gonna find a way out of here. She won't be with him much longer." Shel said.
"It's not completely Luke's fault. Kenny fucked up too." Jane said. "The dumbass had the radio going while he was talking shit…"
"He did have the radio going but… he didn't realize it." Rebecca said. "It was an accident."
"Still, it's his fault." Jane said.
"Enough. There's no need to play the blame game right now. We need to focus on getting out of here." Shel said.
"Yeah, Carver doesn't know our full plan. And if the plan works. Nothing needs to change. It's all set up. The hard part is done. This guy's fucking crazy. Who knows what he'll do next?" Mike said.
"Yeah, but now we're dealin' with a guy beat to shit, Sarita in no shape to do anything, and I'm a goddamn mess. Not to mention Clem is complete fucked up right now… Look, we should rest up, okay? We should bide our time, and we should wait for an opening." Luke said.
"We're not waiting any longer than we have to. As soon as Bonnie gives us the go ahead—" Mike said.
"We might not be ready by then." Luke argued. "What if Kenny hasn't woken up? What if Clem is still stuck with Carver."
"We'll find a way to get them both out of here." Shel said.
"It's not gonna be that easy," Luke argued.
"I don't know, guys... Luke's makin' sense. Maybe we should wait." Nick said.
Rebecca shook her head. "We're NOT waiting."
"Ain't nothin' out there, guys. Trust me! There's no food, there's no supplies. They picked everything clean. I'm just sayin', we gotta be sensible about this." Luke stressed.
"This IS being sensible." Mike retorted.
Carlos soon joins the group, looking despondent
"How is he?" Molly asked.
"His orbital is crushed... I don't think there's much hope for the eye... I got him as stable as I could, cleaned it, got some of the swelling down, bandaged it as best I could...but until he wakes up...we won't know if there's any damage to the brain." Carlos said.
"Fuck. This is so fucked…" Wyatt muttered.
"This is what I'm talking about, we're in no shape to do anything." Luke said.
"Luke, just stop, okay. We get it…" Molly huffed. "We had a plan and now it's fuck…. We have no choice but to wait…"
"I would suggest everyone get some rest. There's nothing more I can do now... except wait for him to wake up... if he wakes up." Carlos said.
Sarita's cries intensified upon hearing that. Everyone knew no one would be getting any sleep that night.
The little girl seemed to have gone blank, Carver huffed as he tried to get her to snap out of whatever state she was in. The girl didn't.
Sam was still growling and barking.
Carver huffed, "Shut up! Clementine, shut the dog up now!"
The girl didn't react.
Carver grasps her shoulders and violently shook her.
The girl locked eyes with him momentarily and quickly looked away.
"Shut that fucking dog up now." Carver ordered. "You can sleep on the floor tonight."
The child frowned but didn't protest. She did her best to stop Sam's barking, hugging the dog to get him to calm down. It worked. And fortunately for her that hug offered her a bit of comfort as well. Comfort she really needed.
The next day Carver ordered for his guards to do a thorough search in the pen.
They did so, checking bed, blankets, and even pockets of the inhabitants. It was when Tavia was checking Shel that she made a surprising discovery. Birth control pills.
Without second thought, Tavia presented them to Carver, telling him how Shel had them on her.
Carver was curious about who they were for. If they were Shel's, he wouldn't have thought much. But he had the feeling they didn't belong to her.
"What are these, Clementine?" Carver showed the child the pills.
...Medicine." Clementine whispered.
"Who's medicine?" Carver asked.
The child looked away. "I don't know..."
"Don't play dumb with me, honey." Carver said. "Have you taken any of these before?"
"No…" Clementine lied. "I haven't."
"…Why don't I believe you, honey?" Carver asked.
"I don't know…" Clementine said.
"I know… It's because you're a liar…" Carver said. "You're a filthy, lying whore."
Clementine frowned at that.
"And you know what happens to liars?" Carver asked.
Clementine bit her lip, "They… get punished."
"Exactly." Was Carver smug response…
"They took them..." Shel panicked after the guards searched them all.
"Took what?" Carlos asked.
"The birth control pills. I had them in my pocket, they took them." Shel said.
"It doesn't make a difference, it's not like we can get them to Clementine right now…" Nick said.
"Why in the hell would you give my girl birth control in the first place? Instead of helping her?" Molly inquired.
"That was the only way I could help her! There was nothing more I could do without putting my daughter at risk…" Carlos said.
"God… this is sick…" Rebecca said. "I remember at some point, back before we left Bill came up with some out of the blue rule that, only the leader was "allowed" to have children. He didn't want any kids in his camp. He thought they would be liabilities."
"Which isn't exactly false," Jane said. "But fuck…"
Rebecca sent Jane a look at that putting her hand over her stomach. "When I found out I was pregnant… He immediately assumed it was his… I really hoped it was Alvin's, but I couldn't tell him that. That was one of the reasons we left. It took a LOT of planning, and we knew it was risky to go out there, but we just couldn't stay here…"
"We can't stay here now… We need to get the hell out of here. We need to get Clementine out of here…" Molly said.
"You're right because if we don't Clementine's gonna end up pregnant…. Or dead…" Jane said.
They all frowned at the thought of either of those things happening to that little girl.
It was around noon when Bonnie came by to talk to Luke and Mike. The woman was horrified by everything that had gone on over the night prior. Kenny was still unconscious, leaving Sarita as a total mess.
"What'd she say?" Rebecca said.
"She said she can get us out of the pen if we can get the PA system going. Second she hears it, she'll run over and spring us." Mike said.
"Well, we're fucked then. How in the hell are we gonna get the PA going?" Wyatt huffed.
"Clem's in there…" Mike pointed out.
"Yeah, with Carver." Molly said. "She's not gonna be able to do anything.
"But she knows the plan, right… She might get a moment to do it?" Jane said.
"When? Before or after she's been raped by him?" Molly huffed.
"Exactly. We're not getting out of her anytime soon." Luke said. "Look…The only way I can see us leaving asap, is if we talk about maybe...leavin' some folks behind."
"No!" Sarita exclaimed.
"There is no other way." Luke said.
"This is bullshit!" Rebecca snapped.
"Well, I don't like it either, but guess what? It's where we're at." Luke said.
"Kenny and I are only here because of you people...and now you intend to leave us behind." Sarita snapped.
"The same goes for me and Clem." Molly pointed out. "My girl is getting hurt because of YOU people."
"So we should risk all of our lives?" Carlos asked.
"What are you saying?" Rebecca asked.
"Nothing... I'm-I'm just thinking out loud here." Carlos said.
"We are NOT leaving anyone!" Sarita hissed.
"I'm just tryin' to make the best of a bad situation, here. No one wants to leave them." Luke said with a frown.
"Good, 'cause...you won't have to." Kenny slowly approaches the group. His left eye is bandaged.
Sarita gets up and quickly hugs him.
"I'm alright, hon." Kenny said as he hugged back. "Look, we find a way into his office and we get the fuck out of here...plan don't change."
"Not bad, old man." Nick commented.
"Thanks, asshole." Kenny mumbled.
"You are one tough bastard." Mike said.
Kenny sighed, "Do tough bastards get their ass kicked in front of everybody?" Kenny looked around. Immediately he asked, "Where's Clem."
No one responded. Everyone's moods glum.
"Where the hell is she?" Kenny inquired.
"He took her…" Luke answered.
Kenny's eye widened. "Fuck…."
"Does he ever stop barking?" Carver grumbled, rubbing a hand against his head, clearly irritated.
"…He doesn't like seeing me hurt." Clementine replied quietly.
"I can tell." Carver said. "Go calm your dog down, honey. Let him know you're alright."
Carver allowed the child to slip to the floor.
Clementine did as he said, crawling towards the dog, ignore the pain her leg. She began comforting and calming Sam the best she could. When the dog had quieted down Carver sighed in relief.
"Finally, he was giving me a damn headache." Carver said. "Now come here, honey."
Clementine frowned, staying close to Sam, she didn't want to go to him. She stayed put much to Carver's annoyance.
"I said come here, honey. I won't tell you again." Carver said.
Clementine still refused his order.
Shaking his head in disappointment, Carver stood. As soon as he did so, the dog began growling again. Carver chuckled at this.
"You know, I always liked dogs. They're loyal to their owners." Carver said. "I can tell he's very loyal to you. Isn't he?"
Clementine didn't respond.
"You could learn a thing or two from him." Carver said.
Clementine had no time to react, when suddenly Carver was aiming a gun in their direction. "D-Don't. Please, don't!"
Her cries fell on deaf ears. The man walked closer to them, shoving the girl aside. Sam attempted to attack him, but without hesitation, Carver pulled the trigger.
A direct shot through the head, which caused Sam to dropped stone dead.
Clementine let out a shill scream of utter horror.
It seemed anyone who protected her ended up getting hurt… Lee… Kenny… Sam…
Who was next?
She was nothing but a death magnet. She wouldn't blame the others, if they left her.
The screaming had stopped, but something had changed now.
Through her grief and sorrow, she shut down. Shut down her willingness to show negative emotion. Shut down her willingness to react altogether. She shut down in order to shut out the hurt, the fear, and the bleak reality of what she was facing.
She didn't move, didn't speak, didn't wipe her dry tears from her cheeks. She simple stayed still, wearing a blank expression. It was as if she wasn't even there. The girl seemed to have gone blank. No matter what he did or said to her she didn't react.
Carver sighed, he didn't like her being like this. It was much more entertaining when she swore at him and fought back, or when she cried and begged. This empty, silent version of her was boring. Still it gave Carver an idea as he realized he had succeeded. He had succeeded in breaking the girl. And he wanted to show off his accomplishment.
His picked up his walkie talkie and spoke. "Tavia,"
"Yeah, Bill?" Tavia's voice came through after a moment.
"Bring Molly to my office. I have something I want to show her." Carver said.
Sam was dead…. That was the first thing Molly noticed when she entered the office.
Sam was dead. And her girl was seemly unconscious in a chair.
"What the fuck did you do to her?!" Molly inquired.
"Nothing she didn't deserve." Carver said.
"You're a sick fucking bastard." Molly snapped.
Molly knelt in front of Clementine to speak to the child. "Clem, hey... look at me, kiddo... It's me, Molly."
When the child's eyes opened Molly was relieved. She took the girl's little hand "I'm here, Clem."
"I can't talk right now. I have to finish my drawing for Lee." Clementine murmured.
"W-What?" Molly asked.
"My drawing... I hope he likes it..." Clementine said.
"Clem..." Molly frowned. "Clem, look at me. Lee's not here."
"He's not? Oh... he must have gone on a run with Kenny. But he'll be back soon, right?" Clementine asked.
"I... do you know where we are, sweetie?" Molly asked.
"Uh-huh. We're at the motor inn. It's safe here..." Clementine said. "Can... Can I finish my drawing now?"
Molly frowned at this. She suddenly pulled the child into a hug. The girl gave a flinched but hesitant returned the embrace. For a moment Molly thought the child had "returned" but when she realized the girl still had that faraway look in her eyes, she knew she hadn't.
Molly slowly broke the hug and allowed the child to close her eyes once again.
She turned to Carver and sneered at him. "You're a damn monster."
"I've been called worse, Molly..." Carver said. "I wanted to let you see her. Figured you two missed each other. What a sweet reunion that was."
"I'm going to fucking kill you." Molly said.
"I'd like to see you try." He called to his guards who were just outside the door. "Take her to the pen."
They nodded and tried to do so. Molly fought back, swearing and threatening Carver all the while. It took four of his guards to get the struggling woman out of the room and to the pen.
The woman was seething. She was going to kill that man.
"That guy is fucking crazy! I can't take this anymore!"
"Whoa, Molly, what's going on?" Luke asked.
"He killed Sam, and he did… God knows what, to my girl." Molly said.
"Who's Sam…?" Wyatt asked.
"The dog…" Luke muttered.
"Oh… Shit…" Mike said.
"I can't stay here. Clem can't stay here! If you guys aren't ready to leave soon, I'm gonna find a way out and go without you. I can't let Clementine suffer another minute." Molly said.
"Wait, you would leave us?" Nick asked.
"If I have to. At this point the only thing that matters is getting my girl out." Molly said.
"I with you, we need to get Clem the fuck outta here." Kenny said.
"We're safer if we all stick together." Shel said.
"Well, my girl's not safe right now. She's in an office with a pedophile. Who knows what he's doing to her right now. Whatever he did to her already has fucked her mind so much that she spaced out. She doesn't even know where she is…" Molly replied.
"Wh-What do you mean she doesn't know where she is?" Kenny asked.
"I tried talking to her, but she told me she had to finish a picture for Lee… She said you and Lee had gone on a "run" and she had to finish drawing for him." Molly frowned. "She thinks she's at motor inn, a place she stayed at years ago. She's regressing to when she was eight…"
Carlos frowned at that. "I'm not surprised…. Children, victims of abuse usually, do tend to regress."
"Regress? The hell are you talking about?" Kenny asked.
"Exactly what I said. Clingy or whiny behavior or regression to a younger age; those are all signs of trauma… Much like when she was sucking her thumb." Carlos said. "Those are coping mechanisms. It's not necessarily a bad thing… Her mind is trying to block out reality. It's trying to make her forget what's happening to her My only concern is that if this happens too often, her concept of reality and fantasy could start to blur together and she'll be unable to tell the difference between what's real and what's not."
"See… this is exactly what I'm talking about. We should've already left this place!" Kenny said.
"We were waiting for Luke to show up, and we were trying to think of a plan." Nick said.
Kenny shot him a look, "Look where we're at now, kid, Luke showing up didn't help us much."
"Don't pin this on me! You screwed up too, Kenny." Luke said.
"Say that again." Kenny huffed.
"You're the one who messed up with the radio. You blew our cover." Luke snapped.
"Stop fighting! Please…" Rebecca said. "Molly, I understand where you're coming from. We're all concerned about Clementine, and we all want to get out of here as soon as possible. But we have to be cautious too."
"Oh, I will be. I'll be very cautious when I go up to that office and put a bullet in his head." Molly said. "I mean what I said. If you all aren't ready to go soon, I'm leaving without you."
"You won't have to do that. Everyone get ready, we're leaving tonight." Bonnie said.
Throughout the day Clementine's condition hadn't changed. The girl had slept briefly only to be clearly plagued by nightmares. Even when she awoke, her eyes remained closed, so it was hard was Carver to tell when the child was conscious on not.
Every now and then the child would quietly mumble to someone named Lee.
But she remained blank and unresponsive if Carver attempted to speak to her.
Carver didn't care. Having the girl with him was enough to keep him satisfied and he had no plans of ever letting her go.
As the day drifted to night the calm silence that filled the pen shifted abruptly to chaos. He could hear yelling from downstairs, what sounded like fighting.
When he heard Bonnie frantically call on the radio, "Bill, we need you down here. NOW."
Carver groaned. He knew it had something to do with that group. "On my way." He replied.
With one last glance to Clementine, he left the room to see what in the hell was going on.