Author Notes:
Wow. I know that it's been awhile, and I just want to thank everyone for their patience. I want to once again thank everyone (LRef298, FanficitonReader10000, and the rest of you) for your continued interest in this story. I'm no longer going to make promises I can't keep, but I'm hoping to at least be more consistent... at least avoid taking another hiatus. This chapter isn't necessarily the longest of this story, but I'm sure it will be a treat. I've also got an important announcement to share with everyone at the end of this chapter.
Before we get started I'd like to thank Duncan once again for proof-reading this chapter and congratulating him on getting over his writing block. I also will address a few specific reviews:
Worker72: Are you reading my mind!? In all seriousness, I do have some plans for Larry and AJ interactions down the road.
LRef298: I'm happy you enjoyed the closure on Glenn and the Andre twist. It's kinda funny honestly. Originally Andre was just meant to be a cameo. Now he's a full fledged main character. While Andre isn't going to be a major presence this chapter, I hope you look forward to seeing what I'm going to do with him in the future.
Mircoss: I really appreciate the compliment about my story, but Duncan and I, alongside every writer, has different strengths. Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, due to this chapter needing to introduce new characters and setting up the next story arc, expect not to be checking in with literally everyone this chapter.
Duncan: Now that I think about it, I never asked you what you meant by Telltale being waifu material, but I'm hoping that Telltale is intriguing for everyone. I know OC characters can be a turn off for many audiences, so I'm hoping that she's interesting enough.
Alright. With that out of the way, it's time to actually start the chapter.
The eighteen mile trek back from Warner Robins Air Force Base, to this point, has certainly been an exhausting one. Yes, you heard right: eighteen miles.
Lilly takes point at the front of the pack. Her gaze is firm, mouth still stuck in it's usual perpetual scowl. She turns to face the rest of the scouting team. "Keep up the pace. Should only be about another quarter mile down the road. We can't miss it." This only earns a small grunt of understanding from Andre while Clementine nods her head half-heartedly, her experience at surviving in this hell throwing her into auto-pilot, allowing her mind to drift.
Trailing the small scouting party was Lee Everett, the last member assigned to the mission, now sporting the brown leather coat Clementine had insisted he wore since she found it for him (a preventive measure against potential surprise bites of course). His eyes dart back and forth between the tree line and road in front of him, grip firmly around the sharpened axe. Slowly but surely, Lee was shaping up to become the kind leader and loveable father figure that Clem remembered him as.
And, of course, we can't forget the squad's newest addition and whole reason Clementine even considered going out on this fetch quest: the ever-faithful Mark, who's very much looking forward to getting to sleep in a bed again. He walks behind Lee, making friendly conversation and quickly cementing himself as Lee's best friend once again… well, outside of the slightly jealous Clementine of course.
Now you might be interested in learning more about exactly why Clementine, Lee, Lilly, Andre, and Mark didn't just take a vehicle back to the safety of their community. Well they would've and did on the way here at least. But the tale behind this particular walk is full of twists and turns.
This time around, it had only taken a single month for the Motor Inn survivors to finish clearing out the Everett family pharmacy and nearby buildings. The three extra sets of hands and the ability to actually scavenge the drug store before it got overrun by walkers certainly did much to speed up the time-table much to Clementine's dismay.
In all the loops beforehand, the Motor Inn group had largely stuck to one familiar area of town. Not once in any of those countless supply runs had the survivors ever run across the Save Lot Bandits until the St. John incident, and Clementine wanted to keep it that way. With Telltale's insistence on murdering Clem's whole family, the time-traveler didn't exactly feel confident about their odds of survival in an all-out war. Not without further back-up at least. And war is constantly on the mind.
The fact is, before the world ending apocalypse, Save-Lots was a general store. That means, in Clementine's mind, it's likely a gold-mind of supplies. I mean, sure, the Bandits were already resorting to threatening travelers and the St. John's long before stumbling on the Motor Inn, but they're either just stupid or stockpiling…. probably both. But that also meant waiting out for the reinforcements of the St. John's to show up on their doorstep looking for gas. If everything went well, it'd kill two birds with one stone, and so that was the plan.
Besides, even without considering her thinking three moves ahead, any mission forcing the supply runners to head into town or go hunting was a guaranteed brush with death. If Clementine didn't know better, she'd think the walkers actually developed some form of IQ. Clementine had more close calls in the last month then she did her entire time at Texas Two. I blame Telltale, again. The real problem was Lilly insisting that they make daily runs into town, even though it had long since been established the group could last the winter due to Clementine making sure they were probably rationing since the beginning,.. and maybe a few smaller, late night runs to the residential streets for reconnaissance. Something had to be done.
So yesterday morning, when Lilly had approached Clementine about heading out to Warner Robins, Lilly's old base of operations, in the hopes of raiding the commissary, and, if they were really lucky, finding some form of stable government, Clem couldn't help but be ecstatic. Originally, it took the group almost two weeks of internal politics (AKA arguments with Kenny) before Lilly could get a team together. Clementine wasn't exactly clear on Mark's food situation, but the commissary supplies would at the very least hopefully get Lilly to back off for a few days. While Clementine initially had no intention of interfering, appeasing Lilly immediately had it's benefits. Furthermore, Kenny wasn't the one that Lilly asked to be the third member in this timeline to begin with.
Clem turns her head to Andre, who doesn't notice her minor annoyance. Of course he had to volunteer because of Lee. It was no secret around the Inn that while Andre wasn't trying to take Lee's head off anymore, he wasn't exactly...trusting of him. Probably has to do with Larry stirring the pot any second Lee's out of earshot. Unfortunately, Andre is not exactly the smartest tool in the shed, even if the bitch stopped messing with his head. Honestly, as much as she hated to admit it, Clem didn't trust him not to mess this up.
Ugh...why couldn't Kenny have listened to me and agreed to come instead? While she would've enjoyed a day-off from babysitting these dumb-asses, she couldn't deny her very quickly developing hero complex.
Besides, hindsight is everything and Clem's positive none of them would've come back with what Telltale had planned for them. Sure, Kenny had been focused on getting the RV working perfectly, and he had two less weeks to work on it before taking it out for it's first test drive, but Clementine never expected the engine to literally blow up on them.
Sure, they'd all gotten out alive and with all the stored commissary food but… well, thank Telltale Clementine still had the walkie talkies to explain their tardiness of almost three whole days. Otherwise Larry probably would've dropped dead of a heart attack… alright, maybe that's not the worst thing after all.
But that wasn't the only reason to be pissed off with her omniscient enemy. Are you kidding me Telltale?! That was our ticket out of Macon! "Well sorry for getting rid of your free ride. Can't let you just take it easy now," the voice of the goddess echoes in her head. And who was the one who wanted to keep the timeline intact? "It was worth it to see you suffer like this, GF~" Yuck. Don't call me that. "But it's true." No it's not!
As you can rightfully see, the relationship between the goddess and the object of her obsession is… complex to say the least.
Andre groans and Clementine takes the bait. "What's with you all of a sudden? You're that tired?" Even Clem had to admit that, despite being accustomed to long days of travel on foot, it HAD been awhile since she was on the move. Not that I would admit that for obvious reasons.
"Kenny's gonna kill us." Yeah… you're probably not far off from the truth.
Mark jumps in. "This Kenny guy you keep mentioning; is he gonna be a problem?"
Lilly isn't afraid to voice her opinion. "He's an asshole, that's for sure. Never stops complaining either."
"Come on. Kenny's a good man." Lee reasons.
"You only say that because he's your friend."
"Our friend." Clementine corrects. Lilly just turns her back to them, seeing no point in arguing.
"Well whatever the case, I'm just happy to see living people again." Mark admits.
Lilly's mood though couldn't be worse, and so she continues to vent. "You're just lucky you had food or we would've turned around. This better have been worth that stupid RV."
Clementine's left eyebrow raises. "I thought you hated that, and I quote, "hunk of junk"". Lilly speeds on ahead a bit, not willing to answer back. Andre gives an apologetic smile, before increasing his own pace like the crushing little puppy dog he is. Larry better not find out about this or Andre might not wake up the next morning.
Mark, Lee, and Clementine continue to make small talk for a while, still getting acquainted. One question in particular simply catches Clem off guard.
Mark points to Clementine's left hand. "I noticed you're missing a digit. If you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened?"
Shit. Here's the thing. While Clementine wasn't exactly hiding her maimed hand from anybody, nobody even bothered to ask. Probably just failed to notice with everything going on. However, it drew unwanted attention. That question even got Lilly to stop in her tracks. "What?!"
Lilly turns around, marching up to Clementine. The time traveler tries brushing it off. "It's fi - -"
"Show me!" Lilly all but demands. Clem obliges, showing off her four remaining fingers. Where there should be her ring finger was only a stump, long since healed over.
"See? If you think I got bit you're sorely mistaken." That doesn't mean the rest of the group, Lee included, wasn't worried for her, even if they each showed it in their own way.
"It happened before everything went down. Car door slammed down on it. "
"Jesus. Almost gave me a heart attack why don't you." Lilly complains, even if some pity lies in the far, far back of her eyes.
Lee looks the most ashamed for not noticing. "I'm sorry."
"As I said, it's no big deal."
Andre seems hesitant, but asks the question on everyone's mind. "What's it feel like? Missing a finger I mean."
"At first, I'd look down at my hand and be shocked it wasn't there. That went away. The worst part though is when it itches. It feels like your finger's still there, and it itches, but there's nothing to scratch."
"Phantom pains are a thing then?" Mark questions.
Lilly shakes her head. "No sh - -"
"DANIELLE!"
A terrifying screech. That of someone who has lost everything. Followed by a gunshot. Another gunshot. The gunfire continues.
Andre pulls out his pistol from his hostler. "What the hell was that?!"
This… this has NEVER happened before. Clementine is in shock. Did she fail? What is she supposed to do in this scenario? No solutions. A mild panic attack that goes unnoticed. She recovers quickly, instincts taking over.
Lilly tries taking control. "It's not our problem. Let's just get outta here."
"We can't just leave her!" Mark argues. It seems Lee will be the tie-breaker.
"Clementine. Mark. On my six.." Lee drops the bags of food and pulls the rifle off his back. Clementine and Mark do as ordered, no hesitation. "Lilly, Andre! Watch our stuff! And if we're not back in ten, just take what you can."
"Are you kidding - -" They're too far for her to even hear Lilly's obvious complaints.
Jolene was having a horrible day. When the dead started walking, she had heard that the local Save-Lots she worked at was acting as a sort of evacuation shelter. She brought her daughter Danielle, praying to God they could just wait this whole thing out. But days turned into weeks and there was no sign of this stopping, their numbers dwindling to around twenty, either due to getting taken by the dead or infighting.
Even before the whole apocalypse, Jolene was never the biggest fan of her manager Jake. She won't lie that part of it has to do with the guy being rapidly promoted to a position she believed, based on seniority, was hers for the taking, but Jolene felt there was always something off about him, especially with the way that he looked at her Danielle.
At least two the people weren't exactly terrible. Jolene found herself becoming fast friends with Daryl Dixon, one of the newer employees who had also taken refuge at the start of this. Jolene had worked a few shifts with the game hunter before this all started. While she was pretty sure Daryl was only working at the Save Lots because he and his redneck brother, Merle, were still on parole after getting busted for drug dealing, he had been great for conversation. Hearing stories their military, drifter, and prison days were great for keeping her mind off the undead just outside. In fact, Jolene encountered no issues with either of them (when Merle wasn't drunk and/or high out of his mind at least). The only con, if anything, was that Jake (and everyone else for that matter) made it no secret they were terrified of them… which was fine by her. At the very least, most seemed to realize striking against Jolene and Danielle was a strike against them too.
But when Daryl expressed interest in investigating the CDC in Atlanta a few nights ago… well, it seemed Jake decided to follow through on his intentions for Danielle. When Daryl woke Jolene up and explained that morning Jake, Bart, and Linda had taken her daughter out into the words, of course Jolene had to follow them. It doesn't matter what protests Daryl had to give. It was her duty as a mother.
Jolene was drawn to the outcove by the laughing; the tears. What she saw… well, made Jolene shoot on sight. She takes cover behind a tree right as the shootout begins. Her former companions, now enemies, hide behind a rock. "You rapist fucks! Give me my daughter back!" Jolene can hear her daughter crying, the guilt pilling up by the second.
Jake speaks up. "If you wanna get outta here alive Jo, then I'll give you till the count of three to surrender. I'm telling ya, you wanna walk away when you have the chance."
Jolene fires again. "You think I'm afraid of you?! I'd rather die then leave her in your sick hands!"
Bart pops his head out from the makeshift cover. He has a clear shot at Jolene. "Screw that man. Let me pop this bi - -"
BANG!
Bart drops the gun and looks down at his chest, a bullet piercing his heart. He stares at Jake in shock before slumping over against the tree, lifeless. Clementine holds the smoking gun. "Put your hands where we can see them." After seeing Mark and Lee, who approach from the other side, Jake and Linda begrudgingly comply.
Jolene runs up to her daughter, embarrassing the crying nine year old. "There, there. Mommy's here. It's safe. You're alright now." She gives Lee an extremely thankful smile.
"Who the hell are you? We ain't never seen you people around before." Linda asks.
"Does it matter?" Clementine asks flatley.
Mark defers to his new friends. "What do we do about these guys?"
Jolene's eyes widen in fear. "You're not considering letting these monsters live are you? Look what they did to my poor Danielle!"
Clementine frowns. "She's right Lee. We already killed one of them. What if these guys follow us back to our camp for revenge?" Jolene's just happy that someone else agrees with her.
"These are human lives we're talking about here though. We shouldn't kill the living unless we have to." Mark argues.
"Are you kidding me? You saw what those human lives just did! You're defending that?" Clem argued.
"NO! Of course not. And I'm not just making excuses." Mark spat back defensively.
"Then what ARE you doing?"
"I'm just… this isn't how things should be done. We had a judicial system for a reason."
"You've been locked in the commissary this whole time Mark. Out here, everyone's their own judge, jury, and executioner." Commissary?
Jake looks around, getting extremely nervous as the realization that he's screwed makes itself more and more evident. "I'm sure we can work out some kinda arrangement. "
"I highly doubt anything you can offer us ends without a bullet in our backs." Clem retorts.
Jake looks toward Jolene. "Come on Jo, tell them what we got stored in that Save Lots of ours. I'm begging ya."
Jolene's eyes flare. "You're asking the wrong person."
Lee looks between Mark, Clementine, and Jolene before settling on Danielle. His eyes are full of pity. In a swift motion, he gives Clementine the look. "Stand down."
Jake, while his face is obscured by his ski mask, has obvious relief in his eyes. "This is the right decision." Mark insists.
"WHAT?! THIS SHOULDN'T EVEN BE A CONSIDERATION! LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO MY BABY!" Jolene raises her gun, but Mark puts up his hand.
"Please. This isn't the time to be has - -
BANG! As Clementine pulls the trigger, Linda collapses in a heap as the clean shot shatters her skull. Everyone is stunned. Jake tries to run. Clementine fires another shot straight in the man's leg. Jolene unloads the rest of her clip into his back. There's no getting up after that.
And finally, it's over. Mark stares down, in complete disbelief of what just happened. He's not angry, just disappointed. "Is this really what you think the world's come to Clementine? Murder?" And Clementine nods, her gaze absolute.
The five stand in silence. All around them, walkers begin closing in, but they're too slow. Clementine breaks it. "We should go." Lee walks over and offers Jolene a hand.
"Your daughter probably needs medical attention. Our place isn't too far and we've got a vet. It's not much but we're glad to help."
As much as the idea of joining another group doesn't exactly sound all that great right now, I don't have much choice. Still, at least they seem nice enough. Jolene takes Lee's hand, carrying her daughter piggyback style, her decency maintained by a picnic blanket.
"Thank you."
Other than getting some obvious shit from Lilly and Kenny for separate reasons, the return trip back to the Motor Inn had been a simple one. It had taken some justification on Lee's part, but the intel Jolene was able to offer on the Save Lot Bandits was considered valuable enough to allow her and Danielle's refuge at the Motor Inn alongside Mark.
Said information was vital in letting the Motor Inn know exactly what parts of town they needed to avoid, as it was considered Bandit territory, allowing for search party concerns all but fade away. It didn't exactly do anything to help Clementine's nerves considering this massive shift to the timeline and general paranoia about supply runs (she and Telltale constantly teased each other about), but Clementine had mentally prepared herself to meet some new faces. And after seeing what the bandits had done to Danielle, Clem couldn't exactly deny she's happy to have her and Jolene around.
Clementine already hated the Save Lot Bandits enough for basically leading her entire group to their doom in the original timeline. If not for Mark getting shot with an arrow, he never would've been served as dinner. If they didn't threaten Ben to give them supplies, Lilly never would've snapped and killed Carley. If the raid never happened, Duck never would've gotten bitten nor would've Katjaa taken her own life. And of course, had Ben Paul not felt guilty about causing said chain of events, maybe Lee wouldn't have dropped him from the bell tower. Almost the entire group's downfall was these assholes' fault, and Clem was still getting prepared to take the fight to them this time.
While Danielle was still very obviously shaken from her still fresh physical and mental scars, both Duck and AJ enjoyed company of their age. They also seemed to serve as a bit of a distraction for the girl.
Mark and Katjaa seemed to particularly take a strong interest in the well-being of Danielle and Jolene. Katjaa's mood never seemed to recover after treating Danielle, her hope in humanity deteriorating even faster than last time. Larry seemed to hate the newcomers in general, especially Mark, but Doug and Carley, now a full-fledged couple, took to them quickly.
Honestly, the hardest transition was for Clementine herself. She had made a judgment call that went against Lee's decision. She didn't blame him; he was too kind, not yet hardened by the dairy farm incident. But that didn't mean that there wasn't any strain on their relationship, much to her dismay. Less of a friend, less of a teacher. More like a cranky principal, though one who at least actually cared about your wellbeing.
Even Clementine had to admit it was a peaceful two-weeks, but at the dawn of the second month, things would shift once again.
Two months into the apocalypse. Ironically, on the day that they'd go to Warner Robins in every other loop, the war begins. Clementine, Mark, and Jolene are out on a typical supply run like any other. Quiet streets, few walkers, plenty of rations. Couldn't have gone more smoothly.
Clementine stops in front of a gated liquor store. Sure, the windows are busted and she can still see a walker or two inside, but these were the types of places best to find food. Christa always said that these were the places most overlooked. The alcoholics came for the liquor and sigs but were too drunk to actually grab the valuables, making it look thoroughly looted to everyone else. Christa's advice didn't always hold true, but it couldn't hurt to check. "In here" Clem whispers.
Jolene and Mark nod. Mark wasn't exactly talking with Clementine. Sure, he respected the time traveler's obvious survivor skills and instincts, but he never really got over the "murder" of, in his eyes, three simply horribly misguided individuals. At least Jolene seemed to trust Clem well enough for enacting her revenge.
Forcing the gate open, the place was about as Clem expected. While the main area was a complete mess of spilled liquid, chip crumbs, and shattered glass, the storage room was a goldmine.
Mark looks like a boy in the candy shop. "Holy shit!" Clem shushes him. "Grab what we can. Make sure you're fast and quiet" the girl orders. Jolene starts opening boxes, finding the most valuable.
The ex-military man grabs one of the nicer bottles, taking the time to examine it. "What are you doing?" Jolene questions.
"Come on. Let us at least take on - -"
"Take only what's important Mark. Remember what happened at the welcome party. We need to always be sober. Besides, we have kids."
"They do - -"
Clementine hears the cracking of chips and glass. There's somebody in the main room. Everybody shuts up quickly. Jolene loads her crossbow and Clem pulls out the hunting knife. They're prepared for a fight. Mark though...
"Cover me in case this all goes to hell." After saying his peace, Mark readies his axe and walks out of the storage closet.
There are two scavengers in the main area. Each point their weapons at Mark. "Drop the axe." Mark half complies, holding it by one hand, dragging it across the ground.
"We're cool. We're cool. There's no need for threats."
The second masked figure, who looks to be in his forties, speaks up. "I think there is. Drop. The. Axe." As Mark complies, she looks toward her companion. "Search him Gary."
Clementine, still in the closet with Jolene, watches as the ex-bandit's eyes widen. "Shit." That's all Clem needs to hear to put the pieces together.
Gary looks Mark up and down, head to toe. Nothing. "Who are you with?"
"Nobody. Just me."
"What about the supply room?"
"Just lukewarm alcohol."
Mark's bluff is successful. "You don't happen to belong to the group at a certain… motor inn?"
The military man can't speak, his eyes too shocked that somebody else knows about them.
Gary raises his gun. "Give that bitch Jolene a lesson."
The masked one seems shocked. "What the fuck you think you're do - -"
BANG! Mark collapses to the ground in pain, clenching his knee as a bullet shatters his kneecap.
"That was for Bart." Gary doesn't seem satisfied.
BANG! The second one goes out. Clementine holds Jolene back, covering the women's mouth to prevent a scene. "That was for Linda."
"Gary! Stop this shit!"
Mark tries crawling through the glass, but the woman steps on his back, places the gun to the back of his head.
"Suck it up Daryl. This is how the world works now isn't it? This is what your brother ordered." The malice in Gary's words are clear as day. He turns back to Mark's pathetic image.
Jolene breaks out of Clementine's grip at the sound of Daryl's name.
"And this, you son of a bitch, is for Jak - -"
"DARYL!"
BANG!
More Author Notes + NEW CHALLENGE!
So I guess people are probably wondering who Daryl and Merle are or why they are here. As I mentioned, I was having an issue with writer's block because of wanting to add in the comic characters but knowing how bad an idea that was in terms of focus. However, then I remembered that the Walking Dead Video Game takes place in the comic-verse. That got me to wondering what the television original characters would've been up to. Considering we are in the middle of the Bandit War Arc, it just kinda made sense to add in the brothers, with Merle (SPOILERS) in particular being our antagonist. Hopefully none of you mind seeing them here, and maybe learn to enjoy their involvement.
As for the challenge I mentioned... well, the games nor comics don't actually give us really any information on Stone Mountain High. I didn't know how exactly to address the death of basically Ben's entire group, especially considering their involvement with the Bandits. Yet I personally didn't want to add any other major OCs of my own creation as I'd get too attached. Then I remembered what happened with Brie in the original season. For those of you who don't know, Brie was based on an actual fan of the game, who won a contest to have themselves featured in it. Now I'm not asking you all to submit yourselves (and if you do, I don't want to know).
Let me explain. I'm asking you all to submit OCs to be featured in this story! My rules are simple:
1. You must give me a character's name, age, sex, occupation, personality, and any other miscellaneous information. If I feel like I need more, I'll message you about it.
2. You can only submit one character each. And please try not to abuse guest reviews. I'll have Duncan as a source.
3. Your character needs to fall into one of three categories: student, faculty, or miscellaneous tied to the school (think a parent-volunteer or new-student tours).
And that's it. There are no guarantees that your characters will be featured other than a promised reference. Furthermore, most are going to be minor characters (like Brie). But I think this could be a very fun way to engage everyone in the story. If your interested you can either send me your characters via review or a private message. Just title it something obvious like "Going Back [OC's Name] Character Submission"]. Don't feel pressured to do this either if you aren't interested.
Thank you once again for reading and I hope you are excited for more.