The group had been traveling for hours now and their feet had already began to worn out long before then. The sky was a grayish, pink tint, the sun had set halfway over the horizon.
Kenny and Clementine stopped. The man had his gun trained on the hostage. They were on a small snowy hill, looking down at a gated power function.
Clementine scoffed before walking in front of the hostage, her smug smile hopefully irking him. "So, I guess this is the safehouse you were talking about." She folded her arms.
"This pile'a junk!? This ain't even a house!" Kenny exclaimed. "Hey asshole!" The hostage turned around to look at the older man. "Is this the placeyou were talkin' about?"
The hostage merely grunted an answer, making Clementine frown. "Uh, what? We didn't hear you."
"This is not house," came the man's disgruntled reply.
"Of-fuckin'-course!" Kenny exclaimed.
The group had caught up with the three. Luke and a few others decided to sit down on an idle log, laying over by the trees. "We should think about taking shelter." Carlos said, walking over to Kenny and Clementine. "We shouldn't travel at night... What about that?" He gestured to the fenced station.
"It's something but we gotta make sure it's empty," Kenny replied.
"I'll go with you." Sarita said, coming up to her partner.
"Alright, we'll get y'all once we know it's safe." Kenny and Sarita began walking over to the gated outpost, leaving Clementine with the group.
The child sighed, taking in the scenery but it was short lived when the baby started crying again. She sighed once more, rubbing her mouth. As the infant was crying it's eyes out, the child began to notice the growing frustration of the hostage. He probably hated babies just as much as she did. "I hate babies." She quietly whispered so that the others wouldn't hear her. The man stared off into the distance, not responding to her comment, not even acknowledging she was even there. "It probably annoys you hearing that... annoying thing cry." The man still didn't respond.
Clementine began chewing on the inside of her cheek. "You are an idiot." She said, no longer whispering. The man sighed through his nose, she could tell he was getting mad... or, well more mad. "What country are you from?" She began gesturing to herself. "I'm from America... A-me-rica. Here, this is A-me-rica. Where are you from?" She then pointed at him.
"Russia," he grunted out, making Clementine chuckle at his annoyed tone.
"Russia? Ohhhhhh okay. So, are all you Russians this angry?" She earnt yet another grunt from the man. "Are your eyebrows too heavy? Is that why you frown so much?"
"Clementine, leave the man alone for christ sakes!" Bonnie exclaimed, gently rocking the baby in her hands.
"Or what?" The child turned to glare at the freckled redhead. "I'm just asking questions."
"You're pesterin' him, quit bein' a little smartass."
"Oh fuck you, Bonnie!" Everyone except Buricko and Carlos jumped at the child's outburst. "You always have something to say, just shuddup!" She shook her head. "You are so damn annoying."
"Well ah wouldn't be if you weren't such an indulgent little brat!" The baby began crying again. Bonnie was practically shouting at the child and she forgot she was holding a drool factory in her hands.
"Oh see! Look what you did! Even the baby hates you." Bonnie threw a scowl at Clem but didn't respond instead began tending to the child. The child then turned back at Buricko who had a small smile on his face. "Oh wow, you're smiling. I didn't know Russians can smile."
Kenny and Sarita then walked out of the fence and started for the group. "Alright, it's safe!"
The group sat around a fire, all silent enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. The night had brought on a calmness that the group hadn't felt in a long time.
They were under a large power station and the fence that was fairly large had provided security to the the group. It added certainty that, if anyone was lurking around, they would know.
Clementine sat near the outer area where the roof of the generator no longer covered the night sky. No thoughts were passing through her head. She just sat there, listening to the popping of the fire, observing and watching the flames as they danced.
"T'days mah birthday," Luke blurted out, ending the silence. "Neatest ah could tell... at least."
Clementine frowned. "Wow... how do you even remember?"
The young man didn't spoke for a second. It almost seemed like he didn't want to respond to her inquiry. "A-ah kept track of the days that went by," he answered.
"Oh well, happy birthday Luke." She offered a small smile. At least he responded that time. Earlier that morning, after she killed Arvo, he barely spoke a word to her neither did anyone else. It was only Kenny who had actually talked to her.
Afterwards, everyone wished him a happy birthday. Even Carlos was smiling a bit... which was rare.
"So... that makes you, what? Twenty-seven?" Bonnie inquired... like the idiot she was.
"Yeah, that's-that's right! Ah'm surprised you remembered." Luke responded. That's weird. How did she even know his age? Stalking him or something? "Got outta collage five years ago... feels like a million years."
"College?"
"Yeah, college."
"That sounds boring." Clementine was met with silence. "What do you even do in College?"
"You... l-learn certain skills. Y'know? To help you get a job." Luke explained.
The child frowned. "Can't you just get any job?"
"No-uhh, there's some jobs that you have to be-um qualified for."
"Like being a doctor," Carlos interjected.
"Yeah, you'd have to go to university to learn."
Clem nodded, understanding their explanations.
There was a pause in the group, the fire popping filling the silence. "How do y'all feel about this?" Bonnie pulled out a bottle of some type of liquid.
"Uhh, what is that?"
"Alcohol." The redhead simply answered.
Clem had to suppress the urge to roll her eyes. Alcohol? Great... . She's tasted alcohol before, just a tiny sip when her father had offered her some, much to her mother's dismay and instantly hated it. Why drink alcohol? People say that you get used to the taste but why get used to something that taste gross?
When Bonnie handed the bottle of alcohol to Luke, she suggested that he make a toast before taking a sip. He made a short speech about the people they had lost along the way and hoping that they'd see them again some day.
Soon after he took a swig of the bottle then passed it around the group. Nearly everyone took a sip from the bottle, everyone except Kenny, Sarah and Clementine.
The child began to find herself growing tired as the night went on and decided to catch some early Zs. It wasn't hard to fall asleep, Kenny and the rest of the group quieted down when Clem had told them about wanting to go to sleep earlier which she was thankful about. She drifted off to sleep within minutes.
She woke up with a spasm. The first thing she remembered was Carver bringing the radio down on her face.
Clementine glanced around, seeing everyone fast asleep. Then her eyes landed on the infant, cradled in Sarah's arms and resting peacefully... thankfully. She was glad that it wasn't screaming it's ass off like it did the other few nights.
It looked like Sarah was getting close to the infant. She was practically the only one who's held it, besides Rebecca but she's gone now so it didn't matter.
This was the worst case scenario, they're out here in the middle of the woods. No shelter, no food or security and it was cold as a freezer. The last thing they needed was that worthless drool factory attracting the horde.
She then turned, looking at the prisoner who looked like he was in a very uncomfortable position. His hands were tied up to a small transmission tower. If it wasn't for these stupid people, he'd be dead by now.
With a sigh, she layed back down onto the ice cold pavement below her and attempted to fall back to sleep instead she found herself wanting to go back to the cabin; where she first met Luke and his group.
The child then adjusted herself so that she was lying on her back, staring at the night sky. After a few moments, she found herself wishing she could go back to the cabin.
It was so cozy living there, she always liked cabins and that was the perfect one. The way it was constructed, the amount of beds there were. Oh man, she missed those beds. Before she met Luke, all she slept on was dirt and sometimes a sleeping bag if she was lucky to find one and even that was still garbage to sleep on.
And here she was, sleeping on the ground again. It was all because of that bastard Carver... . He had come along and fuck up everything! Destroyed her life, and mutilated her face and for what!? A petty radio!? Some useless ass object that could've been replaced easily!?
Suddenly, the child found that she was too furious to go back to sleep...