Walking Dead: Dark Burdens
Chapter 14 of my Walking Dead story, enjoy.
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead or its characters.
Chapter 14: Picketed
'Shit, no, please no...not again…' Violet thought desperately. 'Is this, is this what Sam meant?'
She had found herself once more in the basement, in the chair, now a full week since she had been kidnapped and she was being subjected to this horrific attempt at conversion therapy for a second time.
"Enough of this struggling, you need to accept this." Simon was saying sharply. "No wife of mine will have improper urges for girls."
Violet froze at that, she couldn't have heard that right.
"Wh-what, what do you…?" She gasped out.
Markus smiled serenely. "It's perfectly simple my dear, as my good friend Graham and I realized years ago. You and my son are a perfect match for each other; but first we have to fix you, so you aren't so sinful anymore, that you realize the error of your ways. Once this repugnant infatuation for girls is removed, you can turn your attentions to my son, your rightful husband."
"NO, that's, you can't-!" Violet cried.
"Silence!" Alyssa barked. "You do not talk to us like that."
Violet was vehement however. "I did not agree to this, you can't make me marry anyone I-"
"You will not deny me, you know we are meant for each other!" Simon cut her off. "You have been blinded by your sin, we will clear that up, you'll see."
Before Violet could protest further the screen before her turned on, projecting another image, another picture of Clementine and Violet's protests were not only shouted down, but stopped completely when she instead screamed in pain from the shock as the chair tormented her again. As she faced yet more pain as the 'therapy' commenced.
The mood of the big five was very different after the session however, when they convened in the dining room of the main house.
"This is ridiculous." Simon snarled. "Twice she's been in the chair, twice she's taken the treatment."
Alyssa nodded. "This doesn't make any sense, she should be broken by now."
"All others we have converted didn't last beyond a second session." Troy agreed.
Alyssa fumed. "She must be trying to force our hand, we need to ensure this works, otherwise…"
"It will work." Markus said.
Although frustrated like the rest of them, he outwardly kept his cool.
"She is stubborn, and very much focused on her sin, Graham did warn us remember that she would be very adamant against her salvation." He continued. "But we need only persevere, for she is alone in resisting us, while we have not only each other but God as well. We cannot do anything other than succeed, it is just the way things are."
They all nodded at that, their tempers cooling. They'd just have to keep going, keep Violet in the camp and press any advantage they got.
XXXXX
"Look, we both know the truth here, save yourself any further trouble and just confess already." Abel spat.
Clem glowered at him as she sat opposite him in the interrogation room. "Confess to what, I've not done anything."
Abel shook his head. "This denial isn't helping you, girlie. We know that you kidnapped Violet Adlon."
"I had nothing to do with Violet's disappearance, I'm trying to solve it, something YOU should be doing." Clem protested.
"That's what I am doing in case you haven't noticed, it's why you're here." Abel snapped. "Now just confess already, you did it."
"I didn't and you know it, why would I do something like that, then try to help find her?" Clementine fired back.
She could see the anger building in Abel, the way he seemed so close to launching himself across the table at her; it was only standard procedure for interrogations to be recorded that prevented him from doing so.
Abel shook his head. "Criminals are known to inject themselves into the investigation, to derail it or learn how close they are to getting caught."
"What investigation?" Clem snarked. "You're not investigating anything, you're just coming up with excuse after excuse to avoid looking for Violet and have now falsely arrested me on ridiculous charges."
Abel was beyond furious now, especially as all of Clem's outburst would be recorded. He did his utmost to calm down however, he had to make sure that this didn't blow up in his face. Her game was obvious.
Taking advantage of the silence Clem spoke up again.
"What are you even holding me on, you don't have any proof I did anything." She snapped.
Abel turned back to face her, smirking. "That's where you're wrong, we have eye-witness testimony of you kidnapping Violet Adlon and forging that note."
"Who, her dad, a man already proven to be a liar?" Clem snarked. "If what you're saying is true then let's prove I wrote the note-"
"Oh no, I'm not falling for that. Yeah, get a handwriting sample that you'll deliberately tamper with to ensure it doesn't match?" Abel scoffed.
Clementine rolled her eyes. "I don't need to tamper with anything, it won't match because I didn't write the note and I didn't do anything."
"We know you're a troublemaker just by looking at you, this is not that surprising, deflecting guilt isn't going to help you." Abel growled before standing up. "You know what, I'll leave you to think it over and see where your best interests lie girlie."
With that he removed the handcuff that secured her to the desk and cuffed her hands behind her back again before escorting her out and to a holding cell. It was then they both became aware of the noise outside.
Once he had Clementine locked up Abel hurried to the entrance of the police station to find several other officers and the chief.
"Chief, what's going on?" He asked.
Turning to him the chief sighed. "Protestors, apparently a group of people all angry at an arrest that has been made. They're demanding that person be released and constantly demanding justice."
Abel glowered. "Oh really, how ridiculous, we should disperse them."
"We already tried." The chief remarked. "But there's too many, almost the entire town is out there protesting this arrest."
Abel froze at that, startled; that number of people, all angry with the police, it made any efforts at trying to disperse them problematic, especially if the reasons for them protesting were what he thought they were.
But that didn't make sense to him. 'This doesn't make sense, I can see that stupid girl's friends are that, no doubt leading this thing but...All those others; how can they possibly stand up for an obvious lawbreaking troublemaker, especially when all I need it a confessions from her and it's all over.'
"Officer Fernandez."
He started only to see the chief looking at him curiously.
"I asked if you had any idea what might have caused this, no one else does so far." He explained.
Abel composed himself. "Possibly; it might be the arrest I made recently...A girl called Clementine Hutchison, she's accused of kidnapping the missing girl, Violet Adlon. Those people are merely deluded by those friends of hers who can't accept that simple fact."
The chief raised an eyebrow, suspicious. "Oh, we have proof she is guilty?"
"I will have the whole case to be presented to you before long sir, I can assure you of that." Abel replied.
But later that day, the protests had not died down and it was a struggle for any police leaving the station to get out. For Abel and the chief it was worse, for they soon found their own homes being picketed by protestors too.
XXXXX
Gabe honestly hadn't expected this; the moment word spread that Clementine had been arrested and was locked up, he had contacted the others and then, with Brody by his side helping him, he found himself at the head of a protest movement against the police arresting Clementine. That part he had expected and even endeavoured to ensure its success. What surprised him was the support they ended up getting, with practically the whole town turning up to support them out of anger at Clementine's false arrest.
'It just shows...we all knew Clem was well-known and well-liked around town...this is the result of that.' He mused.
Now it was Saturday evening and the protests were not slowing down. From what Gabe had heard, Marlon and Mitch had both formed other groups to picket the homes of the police chief as well as police officer Abel Fernandez, the one who had arrested Clementine and, as Gabe well knew, had constantly harassed her for no good reason before now. The shockwave of anger throughout the community had been so great that, to Gabe's relief, the police seemed hesitant about approaching them or trying to stop them, probably fearing riots or something.
'It gives us more chance to get out message across, to push for them to see the truth, that Clem is innocent. This is just a ploy to avoid investigating. How is arresting Clem and making her out like she kidnapped Violet going to find and rescue Violet?'
He was jolted out of his thoughts by Brody squeezing his hand.
He turned to her and she smiled reassuringly.
"Gabe, they're ready for us…"
He nodded and followed her, joining Clem's family before the news cameras as several reporters gathered, asking questions. Gabe was aware of Clem's family, his own, and Brody, all giving him the strength he needed to speak.
"We're here, protesting the unjust and false arrest of our friend Clementine Hutchison, almost everyone in town knows Clementine and we know that she cannot possibly be guilty of the crime she is accused of." He announced. "The officer who arrested her, right in front of her family with no ounce of respect or care, is well known to us as well. Officer Abel Fernandez who has frequently harassed Clementine for no other reason than her gender and her race, because we all know that is the sort of man he is."
"He has no evidence to back up the charges he has put against Clementine." Brody said, adding her voice. "He is basing them solely on a single piece of evidence that has been discredited once and an eye-witness account from a dubious source that is already proven to be a liar."
This brought another clamour of questions about their certainty of these claims, that was when Amy stepped forwards.
"They know from me. The girl who is missing, Violet Adlon, is my daughter and I know that Clementine Hutchison didn't kidnap her. She has been helping me look for her and I know the sort of person she is. She is more determined to find Violet and help me than even Violet's own father."
The interview continued and Gabe couldn't help but feel relief as it did. The more things continued, the more sympathy for the protests that seemed to be building. That then made it harder for there to be any justification for the police to take any decisive action against them.
XXXXX
Entering the station that Sunday morning, Abel was furious. He had just had to fight his way through a crowd of protestors outside his home, who had practically camped outside his home all night and then again at the station he had to force his way through. He soon found himself face to face with Officer Andre Mitchell and another officer, tall, slightly less built than Andre with short dark brown hair, dark brown eyes and fair skin; officer Shawn Greene.
"This is ridiculous now, we can't let them get away with this." He snarled. "We should get out there and force them to stop, arrest the ringleaders for this stupid stunt and-"
"Are you crazy, do you want a goddamn riot?" Andre snapped.
Abel snorted. "Don't be ridiculous, there won't be any riot. We arrest the ringleaders the others see their mistake and back off."
"You're underestimating public anger." Shawn spoke up. "They are furious at the police, for your actions, we shouldn't be making things worse."
"They are delusional fools who cannot accept the truth and I will prove that when I get the answer we need from that girl, let's get her to an interrogation room again and I'll get to work." Abel snapped.
With that he stalked off towards the holding cells while Andre and Shawn shared a worried look. They knew right away they needed to talk to the chief when he got in. Meanwhile Clementine found herself subjected to more questioning after being locked up all night, Abel's tone a lot more aggressive, but she stuck to the truth, refusing to break. She wasn't going to let him get away with falsely arresting her and trying to bury the investigation into Violet's disappearance, there had to be some way to fix this before it was too late.
XXXXX
Gabe continued to do what he could to keep the protests going. It was a new day and they still had much to do, they hadn't lost any steam and they wanted to keep that momentum. But someone approaching took Gabe by surprise.
"Gabriel, what the hell do you think you're doing?"
It was a tall muscular man with short dark brown hair; brown eyes and tanned skin; he had a strong military bearing and was looking at Gabe with a mixture of anger and shock.
"Dad…" Gabe gasped.
David Garcia shook his head. "What is wrong with you, you stand here, going against legal authority...I raised you better than that, I-"
"Yes dad." Gabe said firmly. "You did, you raised me to respect authority and to stand for what's right. That's why I'm here, leading this protest against the wrongful and false arrest of one of my friends for a crime she did not commit."
"That's, that's preposterous, it-" David stammered, taken aback."
Brody stepped up too, hand linking with Gabe's. "It's true Mr. Garcia. You've only just got back from the army, you've...not had a chance to see what's happened yet. Clementine was arrested yesterday for kidnapping one of our friends; but that's just impossible and the officer responsible, we all know he is...questionable at best."
"You should listen to her David, you don't know the whole story after all."
That caused David to turn, startled to see his brother Javier there, along with Kate and Gabe's younger sister, Mariana, all of them part of the protest too.
"I...this, what is going on?" He said at last.
So they did their best to quickly explain to him what had happened, why they were protesting and how Gabe, with Brody's backing, came up with the idea. Of course he had to explain that Brody was his girlfriend, but beyond that the focus was on the protest and why it was happening. It was all David needed to hear and he at once joined the protestors, giving them even more weight as the town's military hero was now on their side.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, last one before Christmas, read and review please.