12:16 AM — April 8, 2027
Dot [Tripp]
Being near that fucking building again went against every goddamned rule he had, but Lee would shoot the shit out of him if he didn't try to reign his girl in. Wherever he is, that fucker owed him a favor. He'd wrapped his hand in gauze after his conversation with Clementine, cursing as it used the last of his supply. Shoulda listened to El when she told me to bring some tylenol. Why d'you always gotta be fuckin' right.
The dumpster he hid behind left a large enough space for him to remain out of sight, and the activity outside the building across the street steadily increased. Definitely seemed like they were trying to guard the place.
Movement on the other side of the alley brought his attention towards the young girl approaching him, barely moving as she stumbled forward. "Goddamn it," he breathed, pushing himself to his feet to meet her the rest of the way. "What the hell happened to you?" She looked bruised and battered, and the way she was clutching at her chest, he had to wonder if anything was broken.
Art [Clementine]
As the night fell and grew longer and darker, Clementine felt unrest gnawing at her mind. The building was hard to find, and the rainbow hadn't a color before dawn, but find it she did. She tried not to act surprised, too, when Tripp snuck up on her.
She was tired, angry… mournful, still. Even while restraining it under a plain grimace. Clementine put it in her own eloquent way. "Runners."
If he had something to say, she'd wait for it. But Clem wouldn't wait for him.
Dot [Tripp]
Any chance of that girl getting inside that building in this state had gone out the window. He'd seen them packing shit up into trucks, all up and down this street, while fighting off Seraphite skirmishes. The thing was, they were right at the edge of the town. Just on the other side of that building was a ten foot wall. If there was a way through…
One thing at a time.
"What's in this place that's so goddamned important anyway?" Tripp asked, indicating for Clementine to follow them as he drew closer to the street. The abandoned cars outside the alleyway gave them plenty of cover, and ample time to figure out a plan.
If anything, he was looking for an opportunity to make a break for the nearest exit out of this fucking place.
"They got Ellie in there or somethin'?"
Art [Clementine]
She chose to put it bluntly again, and not just to be spiteful. "No."
Maybe it was better that he didn't know, though Clem didn't feel confident he'd believe her any which way. At any rate, Clementine followed behind Tripp in her own pace, telling herself she didn't need him even as her body shouted the opposite assessment. As time raced, any hope of saving AJ alone was nothing but a front.
She was hanging on by a thread.
"You wanna turn back, then do it," she insisted in a weak, raspy voice. "I don't need your help."
"…I just need a way in."
Dot [Tripp]
"I ain't going nowhere unless I'm takin' your sorry ass with me, so let's just get this over with."
There were reasons he didn't like Clementine. The way she acted was definitely one of them, throwing herself at any situation that'll get her killed, or someone else. Eventually, her luck'll run out.
Still, he wasn't about to back out now. If getting in that building brought her whatever peace to get the fuck out of his town, then he'd make sure they got it done quick. When it became obvious that Clementine needed help to move, he ensured that she wouldn't fall, sneaking behind one of the trucks parked along the road.
From here, the dozens of Saviors going about their business made continuing difficult. But, as more and more of them gathered up their shit and took a truck out, Tripp decided to make a break for the nearest car across the road. It'd give them cover for a little while, at least.
"Alright, I'm… I'm just gonna have to carry you to the other side," he said, glancing back towards the injured girl with a hardened jaw.
This was a stupid fucking plan.
Art [Clementine]
It was no small demand to keep up with Tripp. For every step, she felt slower, more exhausted. The number of Saviors cornering the building made even the faintest noise sound like thunder in her ears—Tripp's voice included.
"Carry me how?" Clementine asked, still unsure if she'd heard that right.
Dot [Tripp]
"How the fuck d'you think, genius?" Tripp said, his voice growing louder and more irritated with each passing second. Their window of opportunity was closing fast.
"Now c'mon, I'll carry you to the other side, and put you down behind that truck there." He pointed it out: another repurposed military truck left alone just next to their destination.
Art [Clementine]
"Don't push it," Clementine spat, even when the warning sounded so much more intimidating in her head. She hoped Tripp had a good one on his shoulders, because hers was pulsing. Even the truck opposite to them had a knack for duplicating if she stared at it hard enough. "Just… be careful."
Dot [Tripp]
Tripp didn't waste a second longer. Picking up Clementine in his arms, he rushed across the street as soon as the coast looked clear. Once on the other side of the truck, he began to set Clementine down. That was when she let out a painful groan, loud enough to echo in the alleyway.
"Goddamn it…"
Art [Saviors]
"I heard something over there!" A Savior shouted from in front of the refuge, catching the attention of his compatriots down the street. Rushing towards the truck sat between the refuge and the empty shopping strip, they prepared to kill whatever was out there.
Dot [Tripp]
He grabbed Clementine again, sprinting deeper into the next alleyway. They had to find a way into this place as soon as they fucking could, before the Saviors found them there. He found an open window near the back, the massive wall keeping them in blocking off any other exit out of this infernal place.
Breathless, he looked towards the window. "Fuck it." Lifting Clementine up and over the lip of the window, he only let her go once he was sure she'd make it without falling in. "Do whatever you have to do, I'll—find another way in, or something!" He grabbed his rifle from off his back, aiming it towards the way they came.
"Now, Clementine!"
Art [Clementine]
The distorted view ahead quickly came into focus, as Clementine squirmed and yelled out in pain. If not for Tripp they would've killed her, and for that at least she was grateful.
When Clem found herself on the other side of that window, she focused only on what lay ahead. With a rattle, her flashlight lit the darkened hallways of the once abandoned building, and she followed the rotten walls toward another source of light.
It wasn't just any building, and she mused the rainbow already gave that away. Where the surface hadn't withered she saw large trees painted in loud greens under a sun that was sickeningly yellow. Clem read the words 'Daycare Center' in the spaces not ravaged by age and graffiti.
Lee's pistol stayed between her four fingers as she approached the only lit room in sight, dragging her feet across the echoey floors. With a soft aching gasp, she leaned against a hard surface and tried to listen for signs of life.
Dot [Ellie]
She ran into minimal resistance on the way there, and none from the Saviors. She preferred it that way. Less to get in her way. The rainbow billboard shined bright in the moonlight, while activity around its entrance kept her in the darkness of night.
Her opportunity presented itself when the Saviors went off looking for something in the night, screaming about hearing something out there. They're on edge. Crossing the street quietly, she entered through the main entrance, rifle raised to stop anyone who decided to cross her that night.
No one did.
The hallways were so dark, she could barely see beyond the barrel of her weapon. The only sounds filling the air were skirmishes outside and her own sneakers scuffing against the linoleum floor.
And when that stopped being the only things, she stopped in her place, aiming towards the source of footsteps ahead of her. A flashlight that hardly illuminated its carrier; slow, careful steps; the silhouette of a hat.
Had she known any better…
"Clem…?" She had to try. If it turned out to be anyone else, she'd put a bullet in them. Nothing stood between her and getting her girlfriend and getting the fuck out of this town.
Art [Clementine]
The voice may as well have been an echo in her ears, rounded off by a certain booming that mauled her with chest pains. Clementine twisted around in a scare only for her flashlight to meet someone she knew. She dropped her head as she exhaled, and her smile was only faint, then.
"Oh my god—you just gave me a heart attack." If there were any better ways to meet up, Clem figured lots of them didn't have anyone squeezing their gun as hard as she had. "You're okay." She muttered a quiet cheer that really couldn't have gone any louder.
Dot [Ellie]
In the darkness, it was hard to tell how Clementine was, but her voice seemed so weak. So frail. Ellie shouldered her rifle, closing the distance between them to hold her hand. They didn't have time; the Saviors and the herd and whatever fucking else this place wanted to throw at them would be here any minute, and she couldn't let anything stand in their way.
Not when so much rode on this.
"Come on," she said, squeezing Clementine's hand, "let's get him and get out of here."
Art [Clementine]
When the quiet settled back into the hallway, Clementine leaned anxiously toward the gap where light escaped from, looking into a half-open door. Clem's ragged breaths faded into the void as her eyes found what waited on the other side.
There were two boys, three girls. Short and stubby. Some had large beanies, hoodies, earmuffs and winter coats, huddled together in one corner of the lit room. Clementine listened for footsteps beyond the lodging, and heard the sound of boots screeching against porcelain tiles. She let Ellie have a look of her own, and watched for a reaction.
"That's not him," Clementine warned. Where are you? Had the man lied to them? Or was he just mistaken?
"Knowing that boy, he's probably helping guard them."
Clem bumped Ellie's shoulder and threw a quick glance at the door. "How much ammo do you have?"
Dot [Ellie]
"Two," Ellie quickly responded. Using this rifle indoors was going to be a bit awkward, but if she had to, she'll make sure to make her shots count. Everything depended on it.
"I'll go first," she offered, "You sweep left, I'll sweep right."
Art [Bonnie]
Outside, it was chaos. Few knew when or why it started. Less, even, when exactly reinforcements were due. Every man and woman in that outpost had marched out onto the street to make themselves useful—all but her. Of course there were others with her, though neither quite struck her as the soldier type.
It was louder before, hours ago, but now the classroom had fallen to a silent gloom. Alvie had stayed in her peripherals most of the time… and even so, Bonnie didn't have any pity left to spare for the other kids, heavy eyes begging for sleep, now orphaned and awaiting rescue. She'd kept herself busy tallying the supplies gone to shit during the raid, and all the rest they were loading into the trucks. A few more hours, they'd promised.
The classroom resembled more an apartment space, bordering on cramped. Three guards other than her: the blond teen laid back against a chair, feet over the desk, listening to something on his earbuds while flipping the pages of a magazine. A young adult with hair dyed black, trying to entertain the kids with a story of sorts, gun holstered. Most importantly, a woman in a ponytail guarding the door with a pistol in her hands. Even the calmest ones looked on edge, and Bonnie was no exception.
A few more hours.
Art [Clementine]
Clementine braced herself, waiting for Ellie's signal. As soon as they pushed the door open, Clem would break for the left and fire at the first sign of threat; the guard standing by the door.
Dot [Ellie]
This was the hard part. When every ounce of conscience telling her that doing this was wrong got pushed to the back of her mind, replaced by the single-minded goal of getting to that boy. These Saviors deserved worse; they had done worse to others. What let that voice thrive in its little box, though, was the amount of kids in that room.
What the hell were they doing…
They entered with weapons raised, and Ellie aimed for the one with the children—the next one besides Clem's that was likely to get to a gun first—and fired, blowing a hole through the black-haired fucker's face.
Her next course of action was to load in the next bullet, her voice echoing off the walls. "Nobody fucking move!" Her eyes were already moving towards her next target, waiting for them to pull something.
Art [Saviors]
"…time to get up now! You've slept long enough, spring is coming! And there's work to be done. I've brought you scissors, and needles, and—" The young adult's head exploded from the inside as the children watched agape, a bullet lodged into their eye. Another gunshot rang out, and before long, two bodies fell on the floor at the same time, coloring the carpet in deep, dark reds.
The one left—the only one left—nearly fell off his chair. The blond teenager let his MP3 player drop with the magazine, and he could only shove his hands in front of his body as he crawled backwards in horror. "N—No, no…!"
Art [Bonnie]
It happened. Bonnie moved before she saw it, before she could even tell who it was. There was no voice in her head not yelling to protect the kids, and as she leapt behind the teacher's desk, Bonnie knew to go for her revolver and attempt to flank the attackers. "We surrender!" She lied, signaling the blond teen to distract them.
Dot [Ellie]
The fourth Savior had gone behind a desk, catching her attention for a moment. For now, she aimed her rifle towards the blond, her voice harsher than she'd ever heard it. "Kick your weapon over. Now!"
She'd deal with the last one once this one was unarmed. Then she'll see how real their surrender was.
Art [Savior]
He wasn't very responsive to either demand, be it threats or nods. "No, no, no…" The boy kept uttering the word, eyes stretched into intense shock
Dot [Ellie]
She gave Clementine the briefest of glances before passing over her rifle, choosing to pull out her knife—for extra safety. Approaching the blond, she held the knife towards him. "Don't try anything." She kept the knife raised as she grabbed for the man's holster.
Art [Savior]
He wouldn't have. No way. They'd just killed everyone else like it was nothing. Where the fuck had these Scars come from? Why were they using guns?! The blond teen named Kyle wouldn't move a finger if it meant surviving the rest of the night.
Then he saw his brother stand up among the crowd of kids. He looked at him, and he looked terrified, hesitant to do anything. But neither the girls had paid any attention to him…
And so Kyle's brother charged the girl with the knife, biting at her forearm to protect him, crying his eyes out.
Kyle did the only sensible thing. He faced his fear and pulled his gun out from the holster.
Dot [Ellie]
She let out a yelp as teeth clamped around her arm, pushing him off. The click of a safety had her turning back towards the blond boy, slashing her knife up wildly to slice through his arm. The gun went wide, and a bullet burrowed into a wall.
Holding down his arm, she pinned him to the floor, daring him to try anything else.
Art [Clementine]
Clementine struggled her way across the room, pistol in one hand and Ellie's rifle slung over her shoulder. She shut it all out. They just had to get to AJ. They just had to deal with the people who had him.
The girl peeked across the desk to find it empty. Where was—
Artie [Bonnie]
Bonnie picked her timing carefully before slamming the attacker onto the chalkboard wall, watching their pistol drop with little resistance. The woman pushed her own against their gut, and… didn't pull the trigger.
It was Lee's kid.
If she had the time to process it, Bonnie would've taken it in kind. But she only spoke in the quiver of her voice. "Tell her to stop," she ordered.
Art [Clementine]
"Ellie—" Clementine began, fire burning at her chest and forcing her to scream.
Dot [Ellie]
Her grip loosened the instant words from an unfamiliar voice hit her across the head, only worsened by Clem's own. Pushing herself to her feet, ripping the gun from Blond's hands before taking a step away, she pointed towards the redhead that had Clem in her arms.
"Let her go." Her voice and hands were shaking, but she wouldn't dare lose her courage now. "We're just looking for a kid the Saviors took away. No one else has to get hurt." She knew that was a lie. She knew that they weren't going to give them what they wanted, but she had to stall for time. Find a way to get out of this. Blondy was still on the ground, but that still meant she was outnumbered two to one.
Art [Bonnie]
Her breath was cut short. The seconds dug away at her skin, defrosting into drops of sweat. Bonnie's voice rose as her fingers trembled in disbelief. "No one else?!"
As she turned to face the children, cowering away from the corpses scattered across the classroom… where they didn't find rage, the woman's eyes mirrored the horror in theirs. What could they want with Alvin? "Do y'all have any idea what—"
Art [Clementine]
Clementine, in a desperate bout of her own, propped her knee upward and struck the woman's wrist from below. Bonnie's pistol fired at the ceiling, and Clem jumped to wrestle it away from her fingers. The effort made her twist in agony, and it wasn't so much a struggle when she could barely keep standing.
If not for AJ, she wouldn't be.
Dot [Ellie]
When the gun went off, instinct took over. Her finger found the trigger, just when her hands found the right angle to hold the gun, and her bullet burrowed into the woman's head. As she jerked backward, Ellie shifted her aim towards the blond boy on the ground, making sure he doesn't do anything else.
She felt sick.
But she powered through it, as always. What else could she do but focus…
"Find him and let's get out of here," she said, her voice shaky. "I'm gonna look for something to tie this guy up with."
Art [Clementine]
A gunshot.
The weight wasn't there anymore. Clementine felt herself slump forward, and the woman's gun stayed where it was, cradled by dead fingers. That was it.
Clem stumbled forward as someone else's blood dripped from her nose, trying, if at all possible, to catch her breath. A jolt ran through her arms when Clem recognized the corpse. And when Clementine had seen so many dead bodies before, it was hard to set aside the ones that frightened her.
She deserved it. She wanted to kill you.
That much was true.
Careful not to get her foot caught on stiff, cold limbs, Clem paced to where a man lay, clutching at a bleeding arm. She focused her gaze. "Alvin Junior…"
"Please just say it."
Art [Kyle]
"I don't know who that is." He said what he said.
Dot [Ellie]
She came back with a corded thing she found by a computer on the desk the redhead has been hiding behind. Tying it around Blondy's wrists, she stood up.
"Leave him. Others'll be here soon."
They could still find the boy on their own. They just… god, what were they going to do? How many other places were there to look in this fucking place?
Art [Clementine]
"That's the one who took him," Clementine said, as sudden as that, with nothing but a nudge of her eyes. "We're on the right track."
Dot [Ellie]
How easily Clementine shrugged that all off…
Ellie's breathing was sporadic as she led Clementine back out into the hallway, heading deeper into the building. Each booming crack of a gunshot outside had her flinching; each scrape of their shoes against squeaky tiles sending her heart out of control. The only thing tethering her to reality was keeping Clementine alive… keeping her moving.
She was well past worrying about her girlfriend's health. It didn't just take seeing her in lights to see how badly hurt she really was.
She wanted out of that fucking building. She wanted out of that fucking town, and somewhere they could rest, because her eyes were already starting to falter, and who the fuck knew how Clementine felt.
Near the stairs leading to the next floor, Ellie stopped. She found Clementine in the darkness, almost expecting the sniffling to have come from her, but it sounded farther away than that.
It sounded like it was coming from…
Holding out her hand, she whispered, "Hand me the flashlight real quick?"
Art [Clementine]
There wasn't much of an answer coming from her. She did what Ellie asked, breathing out low sighs that sounded almost like hums. "Here."
Dot [Ellie]
There was a locker left ajar, at the end of a row. Ellie approached it cautiously, pulling the metal door back. Inside was… "Whoa…"
Vi [Alvin Jr.]
The sounds of gunshots roared through the hallway, something that AJ has always insisted he was used to. Normally he'd hear them when soldiers were training, monsters were around, someone stepped out of line. But this was far from the normal gunfire. Firstly, the place was complete chaos, coming back here was a mistake among many. Then, the gunshots and screams from inside the building made things worse. Normally, Alvin would be the first in line to join the fight, anything to prove himself worthy… but now that it was all here, now that the war was alive.
That's when he hid in the locker. His heart was racing a mile a minute, the very thought of being caught during all of this… What about Bonnie? She was watching the other kids when he went to double check the other rooms for supplies. Was she okay? And what about the others helping? So many questions raced through his mind, though he had none of the answers.*
Fear was something that you never really think too in depth with. You usually know the basics, in which actions cause the emotional trigger that simulates fear. That emotional trigger can cause many different physical effects as well. Your palms can get sweaty, you can shake, your heart beat quickens, and some cry. Fear was a both your downfall and your savior. Tears Alvin forced himself to hold back was his response to fear. Though, with initial fear, no one ever talks about how it gets worse.
For the second the screams stopped, and everything went silent, that's when Alvin knew true fear.
His sniffling echoed softly among the halls, the weight of unknowing resting on his mind as footsteps slowly moved closer among the darkness. Just as the voices began to pick up, his deep brown eyes were met with a light, and two bloodstained girls. As if on instinct, the child screamed, waving the two away rather than going for his knife. Tears came flooding out, and his face was now hidden in his knees. The same child from before, now so much smaller.
Dot [Ellie]
The kid screamed, so loud that it made her wince. Falling to a knee, she tried to shush him, cooing, "Whoa whoa whoa, hey, you're okay. We're not going to hurt you."
She tried not to think about the fact he was in there because of her, or the five other children she'd killed people in front of not two minutes ago.
"My name's Ellie. This's Clementine." She indicated the girl standing next to her. "We're here to help you. What's your name?" It wasn't like she didn't already know, but she'd say anything to try and get him to calm down.
Vi [Alvin Jr.]
Alvin forced himself against the back wall of the locker, his small frame quivering as one of the teenagers tried to talk to him. Brown orbs looked her and their friend over quickly, his heartrate slowing enough to just echo his sniffles again. If Negan saw him now, he'd surely see him as a wimp.
Ellie, tall with freckles. She looked scary, like she could rip a book in half. That's an extremely hard thing to do, Alvin has tried. Despite the fact she was coated in… who knows who's blood… she offered a sweet, welcoming tone. He didn't trust it… but then again, maybe Bonnie sent them. They seem… just slightly familiar. He can't put his finger on it.
Clementine, shorter and standoffish. She seemed upset, annoyed… in pain. Either her friend knows and is choosing to disregard it, or she can't see the absolute pain in their eyes. None of his business, but considering the amount of blood covering her… everything, it probably had to do with a fight.
"A—Alvin Junior… Are you going to take me to Bonnie… or Negan…?" He was ready to go home… or, anywhere safe. He definitely wasn't ready to be a grown up like Negan… This wasn't worth it.
Art [Clementine]
It was him.
As she looked down at the boy, Clem felt herself lose grasp of the building around them, slow breaths wearing her out as they came. She forced a smile more resembling a grimace, waving him with the hand not wrapped around her chest.
"Hey, Alvin."
They could still fix it. It was a mess, but they could. If she could save him, just him, it wouldn't have been for nothing. "We're gonna get you back to Jackson, okay? It's not safe here right now."
It didn't seem safe anywhere anymore.
Vi [Alvin Jr.]
"Jackson…?" Last time he was there wasn't by choice, and it wasn't too pleasant either. The Jackson folks doubtfully care much for his safety, though he was lucky he got the good side to them all, being a kid and all had its perks. If that's where the safety was according to Clementine, then perhaps his family had already made it there. They're smarter than everyone else, so they probably gave these two the idea!
Alvin Junior took a deep breath in, reaching for the gun settled next to him. Rather than pointing at the two strangers in front of him, he opted to just put a little faith that Negan and Bonnie sent them. Neither of them would just leave him behind without reinforcements!
The small child climbed out of the locker, standing upright to look at the two as he held his gun up, ready to help defend however they needed. "O—Okay, but when we get there, we have to look for Bonnie. She's not gonna like me running off for too long, okay?" Ellie and Clementine, two girls with familiar features he can't quite put his finger on.
They better not be lying.
Art [Clementine]
Her coughs were hoarse, and they cut at Clementine's throat, leaving burns that trailed down her chest. The girl blinked exhaustion away, facing the kid with eyes hanging limply in a freshly darkened expression. She cut him off without mincing words. "I need you to stay close to Ellie. Can you do that?"
If AJ had an answer ready, she didn't wait to listen for one. Clem dragged her feet onward through the empty, shadowed hallways that led back toward the exit, clutching firmly at a rifle she had no strength to fire.
Where the snow arrived to land on her cap, Clementine pushed on without a clear thought in her head. The walkers beyond the thick haze of fog marched to where the thunder of bullets rang its loudest, leaving the three to their self-created isolation. Before she'd seen Saviors loading the trucks outside with boxes and crates—now she saw neither them or Tripp. Clem held a breath when her chest throbbed one time too many, and so they reached a stop.
Her icy cold fingers swiped clean the windows of a military truck. No one waited inside, and no one waited outside. They'd left the keys there, off to die like the rest. Before Clem pulled the door open, the girl's fading amber turned to the two behind her. Clementine's voice crumbled like dominoes, and before she knew it, the only person's gaze she could meet were Ellie's.
"You good to drive?"
Dot [Ellie]
There weren't much thoughts left in her head. Mostly just stuff about putting her next foot in front of the other, and keeping an eye on Clementine and Alvin while they trudged through the snow. Everything else stopped mattering. Everything but getting out of there.
When they came upon an unattended truck, Ellie watched as Clementine struggled with the door, turning towards her with barely enough energy to meet her gaze.
Ellie instantly nodded to the question. "Yeah. You rest." She drew closer, offering to help her get into the raised truck with an extension of her hand.
Art [Clementine]
Clem took Ellie's hand in hers, pulling herself inside the truck with a quiet grunt. Unlike the apartments, she found no thick layer of dust, no blood markings of someone past. She set herself down on a seat that smelled of air freshener, and waited patiently before ever letting her body rest.
Dot [Ellie]
Helping AJ in next, Ellie was the last to climb into the cab of the truck, shutting the door behind her. The vehicle roared to life, muffled by the closed windows, but she couldn't help but wince. Wasn't exactly the most stealthy option out of here.
Maneuvering through the narrow streets, she found her way towards an exit, blasting through the abandoned checkpoint and into the forest beyond.
Dot [Ellie]
The road had been quiet. Maybe they'd gotten lucky and found the one way back to Jackson that hadn't been smothered in walkers yet, but nothing about their situation felt lucky.
She'd been eying Clementine out of the corner of her eye the whole ride back, unable to determine what exactly was wrong with her. She was injured, that much was obvious, but how bad? Suppose she'd find out soon.
As the flickering glow of flames reflected off tree trunks ahead, Ellie's grip on the steering wheel tightened. The forest road opened up to follow the hill down into the valley, and from here, you could make out Jackson in its entirety.
And it was burning. The wall at the southern end had been toppled over, letting in an indescribable amount of infected that appeared as nothing more than dots from this distance. She stopped the truck there, staring at the spectacle in horror.
"I don't think we're going back to Jackson," she said, knowing that was the most obvious thing she could possibly say.
Goddamn it, she cursed inwardly. She'd wanted to grab a few things from home before setting out for the Fireflies. Now, it looked like that wasn't going to be an option.
Art [Clementine]
In the coldness she harbored, Clementine found it hard to move an inch. Even narrow, crossing past the dancing flames, her eyes found little, and couldn't stand to face what little they found. There wasn't one person alive waiting for them.
"Just keep driving," was all she had. "We'll find someone."
But as she ran through the words, Clem was caught in a different fire, one of thought and dread, that made staying awake something unavoidable.
Dot [Ellie]
Her hands were white-knuckled around the steering wheel, casting an uneasy glance towards Clementine in the darkness of the cab. "Clem…" She began, as if walking on thin ice. "We can just go."
"The Fireflies are still out there. The cure's still possible. Joel lied." Her words turned to seething when she'd mentioned his name. "There's nothing left in Jackson anymore."
Art [Clementine]
Clementine struggled to find her voice, letting out pained sighs that made speaking a strenuous effort. She found it, but she couldn't say it. "What about—"
She couldn't not think about Alvin Junior, who had nowhere else to go. She couldn't not think of all the deaths and all the nothing they could do about them. But her thinking wasn't worth a thing anymore. Clem couldn't think of what to say, let alone of what to do. "How safe is it there?"
Dot [Ellie]
"Safer than here, that's for sure," came Ellie's response. They had to go. Ellie couldn't live with herself if she didn't try.
Vi [Alvin Jr.]
The ride felt longer than it was, almost as if the settling dread of heading anywhere away from home was causing the whole world to feel much slower. Staring out the front window was his current source of keeping busy, counting trees as they passed. One, three… six? Number two. Two comes next.
Being seated between two strangers was odd, but perhaps what was worse was their way of making decisions without him. Jackson was on fire, Negan and Bonnie nowhere in sight, and he felt more alone than when this trip started. If they weren't at Jackson, then where were they? Talk of flying fires and cures were mentioned, something that easily went clean over his head.
"Is someone sick? Is that why they need a cure? Bonnie says your body gets really warm to help fight sickness, so is that why we need the flying fire?" AJ's voice was small as he looked between the two, hands twitching against the seat out of nerves.
Art [Clementine]
The girl's gaze swung down to the child by her side, and her breath again felt tight in her chest, tumbling out from a tightened jaw. "We need to find someone who can take care of you, Alvin," she spoke, treading as lightly as one could. Just how much did a kid like that know of what was happening?
Clem pressed her lips together and wallowed in the thought, forcing herself to say the rest. "Fireflies are that." When she blinked, Clementine turned to face the driver to her left. "…but they're pretty far out."
Dot [Ellie]
"This thing's only got enough gas to get us maybe a hundred miles," Ellie said, putting the truck back into gear to follow the road down the hill. As they approached the green, white-bordered sign that read JACKSON -, they turned left, heading deeper into the forest. And towards Salt Lake City.
"But that's a hundred miles we won't have to walk. Maybe we'll get lucky on the way." She gave them a millisecond of a glance, breathing in. "There looked like enough supplies back there to last us a few months. If we have to camp out for a while, I think we'll be okay."
As they approached another intersection, stopping, she focused on Clementine next to her. "How… bad… are you?" It came out awkward, but she had to know. "You've been struggling to move since we met up."
Art [Clementine]
Clem watched the town shrink past the trees until the fire gave way to smoke, and the smoke gave way to air. Had they been the lucky ones? The night silence cut sharply, giving her every reason to be afraid. As the engine bubbled in her ears, and the muddy, uneven terrain rocked her back and forth, "I'll sleep it off," she said back to Ellie.
Now that everyone else was gone, what else was there but to wait for their turn?
Sliding her shoulders down the side of the vehicle, Clementine whispered in a hurting voice. "Wake me up when you need to switch, 'kay?"
Dot [Ellie]
She didn't believe her for a second. But, what else was she to do? They had to put some distance between them and that herd. Digging too deep into Clementine's injuries could wait.
"Okay," she lied, following the stretch of road for as long as it'd take them. Sooner or later, they were gonna have to find a map. For now, she just didn't care.
The sooner they got out of Wyoming, the better.
10:15 AM — April 9, 2027 — Savior Camp, the day after the incident
Ledge [Scott Turner]
Today wasn't unlike most others for Scott, who was nestled within the confines of a stuffy room. So much had unfolded in such a short amount of time, and now it was time to pick up the pieces and try to make some sense of it. Seraphite attacks, an attempted mutiny, and a stolen child, all in one day.
It was an extraordinary blow to their progress, perhaps the biggest they'd received since the first war. A large table separated Negan and the doctor, with several maps sprawled out on it. Scott was standing, trying to keep his tone somewhat professional.
"Like you requested, we've pulled what's left of us back to the secondary outposts for now." He continued, drifting his finger across the paper. "Although, Jackson itself…"
"Nothing is left."
Basil [Negan]
Well… That was a shitshow.
For the last day, Negan could be described as having a permanent frown. Fuck up after fuck up after fucking fuckidy fuck up. Now he stood, looking at a map that showed how fucked they were. They'd lost so many key locations in the chaos. It felt like everything was falling down.
That wasn't the worst bit, what was hitting harder was the loss of AJ. The things he saw in that classroom. Yet, he couldn't see AJ. He'd been taken, and he was fucking clueless on where he'd been taken to.
Yet, with a few witnesses, he'd gotten an idea of who exactly it was.
Negan was sitting at the table, not even bothering to spare the doctor ahead of him a gaze. Just watching and listening as Scott outlined the situation.
It infuriated him, the loss of control, the feeling of losing. This wasn't how it was supposed to pan out. His heart was feeling so heavy. Bottled up with tension and anger, ready to explode at any moment.
After a few seconds of silence, Negan punched the table. Trying to do anything to vent out a portion of the anger without strangling the doctor.
"I can fucking see that! You… You don't need seven fucking degrees to look at a map and interpret how fucking fucked we are!" Negan almost shouted. Scott's tone was infuriating, although he was pretty sure anything was going to make him angry.
Ledge [Scott Turner]
He was waiting for the inevitable eruption, and there it was. Negan's fist rammed into the table, rattling the whole damn thing. Dr. Turner saw fit not to look up, keeping his gaze fixed on the map, trying to ignore the man's tangent. If one thing was for certain, he'd need to pick and choose his next words very carefully. Scott knew his place, which was high up… but Lucille never discriminates. Why Negan was so enraged, it was obvious.
"I have no doubts, Bonnie died protecting him…" He almost felt bad, for mocking her addiction the last time they spoke. The bullet in her head and the stolen truck spoke for itself however, those girls really wanted Alvin. For what reason exactly, he couldn't care less.
"We have several witnesses that all gave the same description." Based on what they heard, it really wasn't hard to piece together. He'd wondered why Ellie was there, and at least now he had a motive to go along with it. Of course, he hadn't yet told Negan of his prior run-in with the immune girl, or that she was immune at all. That sort of knowledge, was best left for minds that knew the right thing to do with it.
"And—If you could just indulge me for a second, I think I might have an idea of where they could be taking him."
Basil [Negan]
As soon as he was able to vent a little bit, Negan started breathing a little heavier, seething inside but trying to remain at least a little bit calm. It was a good thing Scott was good at handling such pressure, Negan was looking for any excuse to be pissed.
As the silence lingered, it was Scott who first spoke. Bringing up the elephant in the room. He didn't really know what to say in response. It was just words to try and make him feel better, and information he already knew.
That was until the last sentence, Negan immediately looked up. The frown on his face lightening up a bit as his narrowed eyes stared down the doctor. "How, in the flying fuck do you think you have an idea." As far as he was concerned, it was just two girls fucking off in a truck with AJ. Jackson was destroyed, so that was off limits, and he couldn't think of anywhere else.
Ledge [Scott Turner]
The conversation between himself and Ellie clung fresh to Scott's mind. He recalled that doe-eyed expression in her eyes the minute he brought up Marlene, full of hope yet confusion all the same.
If he had to bet, then he'd place it on the immune girl still thinking the Fireflies were operational. After all, it was obvious that the sorry excuse of a man had lied to her. Even if he was off the mark about them going there, it'd be a perfect opportunity to revisit the facility and tie up some loose ends. Either way, a win-win scenario.
"Back in that library, right before the savages started trying to barge in," Scott began, recounting the altered version of his story. "I heard other voices. Ones I didn't recognize as us or Seraphites.
"It was hard to make out over the gunfire, and the last thing I want to do is give out potentially misleading information, but—" He paused, brow furrowing as he stared at the map in apparent deep thought.
"I might've heard what sounded like two girls talking about getting 'him' to a Salt Lake outpost."
Basil [Negan]
Negan was silent as Scott justified his point, it sounded sound. If it was to be believed. Negan stopped hunching, sitting back into his seat as he mentioned where exactly they'd be going.
"Salt Lake? Why the fuck would they go to Salt Lake?" Negan responded back, frowning. Only thing out there was that fucking group of teenagers. Not that anyone really knew much about them. It certainly seemed to be a shot in the dark to him.
And yet, he couldn't go against it. It was just about the only lead Negan now had about the whereabouts of little AJ. He had to accept it as fact for now, until it was proven wrong.
Before letting Scott speak again, Negan continued "I don't fucking care, just… let's get moving then. If that's where they are." Negan stood up from the chair, ready to start putting things into place.
"And you better fucking be right here, Scott."
Ledge [Scott Turner]
Scott tried to open his mouth again to explain, but was promptly shut down.
Of course, it probably seemed all so strange to Negan, who hadn't a clue of anything. However, it was all lining up perfectly in the doctor's head. They weren't going to get far with that truck, the question would then ultimately beg… where to next?
What made sense was going back to a place where Ellie would be welcomed with open arms, a facility she still thought existed. The Fireflies could be large enough to provide protection from the Saviors, and that very well might've been the case if they were still functioning.
Luckily, no further point needed to be made. Negan was going to jump through hoops to get Alvin back, that much was obvious enough.
Dr. Turner stood firm, cold eyes glued to the back of Negan's head as he departed. Only after the room was empty, would he continue to glare at the vacant doorway, before the outer edges of Scott's lips ever so slightly began to turn upwards.