Author's Note: Welcome ladies and gents to the sequel of the story Second Wind. If you haven't read the prequel to this, I highly recommend it because I'm biased about my own creations. If you have read it and don't really know or remember who Cal is, pull up Youtube and search for Halo Legends: The Babysitter. She's quite the badass Spartan. Make sure to leave a review for whatever you liked, disliked, or any suggestions.
Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or TWD as they belong to Microsoft/343 Industries and Skybound.
"Quotes."
"Radio Messages and/or Thoughts"
Reading
Emphasis/Emphasis
Georgia Railroad
November 26, 1346 Hours, 2012
Their train ground to a screeching halt. Cal checked the fuel gauge and silently swore to herself. Their only method of transport for a hundred miles had chugged its last gallons of gas. Sighing, she stood up and made her way to the cargo container that had acted as their mobile home. Entering the red train car, she saw Omid playing with Clementine while Christa shot her a confused look.
"Why did we stop?" She asked.
"We finally ran out of fuel." Cal stated bluntly.
"Damn. This makes heading North already harder than it is." Christa remarked, looking back at Clementine.
"I'll make sure we get there. You know I wouldn't do anything that jeopardizes her safety. Until the day I die, she'll have a wall protecting her." Cal reassured the woman.
"That's what I'm worried about. When, not if, you're no longer here for her, what's she going to do? I know she's capable, but she's still a kid." Christa asked worriedly.
"By then, if we haven't found a group to call family and place to call home, then we're all fucked. Plain and simple. Besides, the only way I'm dying is through old age because I can't become something I already am." Cal joked, holding up her healed bite mark with a shit eating grin.
"Right, good point." Christa nodded. "Still have that map of the rail lines?"
Cal patted her backpack. "Sure do. Let's stick to them until we find a road or riverbank. No doubt crumbling infrastructure some ways up ahead has taken its toll."
"Good idea. Omid, Clementine? Start grabbing your things. We're on foot from here on out." Christa alerted the pair.
Cal's boots were the first to crunch on the autumn leaves. Scanning the immediate area with her pistol, she silently thanked ONI for giving her every advantage she needed in the apocalypse. "Clear. Let's get a move on." She said, taking the lead.
Unknown Forest, West Virginia
September 14, 0528 Hours, 2014
Cal's internal clock went off as her eyes opened against the morning breeze. Quickly rubbing off the morning grogginess, she almost sat up before looking to her side. She saw the figure of a sleeping girl no older than ten or eleven snuggling against her for warmth. For everything that had gone wrong in her life, from being kidnapped to literally dying, she made up for it.
"Hey, Clem, it's time to get up." She whispered softly to the girl, shaking her a little.
All she got in reply was a groan. Shaking her a little more eventually did the trick as the sleep stricken Clementine slowly stirred awake.
"Cal?" She asked groggily.
"Yeah, I'm here. It's time to get up. We've got to keep moving." She informed her.
Sitting up, Cal patted Clementine's shoulder to arouse her to a more alert state. Begrudgingly, Clementine got up and dusted off the sleepiness. Taking apart their measly campsite, they were ready to be back on the move within just a couple of minutes.
"Cal?" Clementine asked.
"Yes?"
"I miss Christa and Omid." She said solemnly.
Cal locked eyes with her surrogate daughter. "I do too. But we couldn't have done anything about it. The horde that separated us was just too big." She explained.
"It was my fault. I left the door open like an idiot." Clementine said, self - berating herself.
Cal took a knee and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's no one's fault. Bad things happened and we can't go back and change them. Besides, I'm still here." She reassured the pre - teen.
Taking a deep breath of the cold morning air, Cal looked up at the sky and located the North Star. Nodding to herself, she began moving forward with Clementine right beside her. Keeping her eyes out and senses on high alert, she paid attention to every little detail around her. Any signs of movement, sound, or other identifying feature immediately had them seek cover. Forests were always tricky. On one hand, you were harder to detect by other people, but on the other, that same logic applied to everything else.
"— believe we lost her." A faint voice said in the clearing ahead.
Cal immediately brought a fist up and motioned for Clementine to get low. Doing as she was silently told, she crawled onto her stomach and followed Cal as the two of them crept their way to the origin of the voices.
"You always whine and complain when we're sent out on a job. Can you shut the fuck up for once in your life Joshua?" Another member of the group said, clearly annoyed
"Look fuck you too man. I have every right to complain when shit doesn't go right." Joshua defended himself.
"Yeah, but you do it every single time." The third member chimed in."
"Oh so now I'm being ganged up on. Is that how this is?" Joshua berated his comrades.
Whatever this argument between them was about wasn't all too interesting. What mattered was if they could — snap — a twig beneath Clementine broke in two. She closed her eyes and prayed that it wasn't loud enough for these unknown men to hear, but it was in vain.
"Who's there?!" The blue jacketed man yelled.
"I don't like this guys. First we lost the girl and now this?" Joshua complained yet again.
"Shutup Josh. Whoever's out there, show yourself. You already fucked up by telling us you're there so –." The third, yellow one tried saying.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Three shots rang out. The goons' bodies hit the floor within milliseconds of each other. Standing up, Cal looked around and saw some encroaching zombies in the distance.
"Shit, those sounds brought the dead down on top of us. Quickly, search their bodies and get ready to run." She warned Clementine.
They were able to find a couple of magazines, extra food, and a radio who's other owner was unknown. Bagging the equipment and clipping the radio to her belt, Cal grabbed Clementine and darted off with superhuman speeds. Bobbing and weaving through the thick, tree laden forest, zombies slowly closed in from every angle.
The sound of rushing water caught their attention. Spotting where the ground broke and opened up to a river, Cal charged towards it with zombies now bearing down on them. Shoulder checking one that had gotten in the way, the upper half of its body was blown apart by the sheer impact. Several crawlers that littered the ground were simply crushed under roughly two hundred fifty pounds of muscle.
Reaching the river bank, Cal held Clementine close and turned to see all of their available options, of which there were two: jump or die. "Son of a bitch. Clementine, hang on." She said, leaping off the edge and falling into the rushing river below.
The freezing water tensed up Cal's few exposed muscles. Keeping a death grip on Clementine, the rapids shoved them wildly down river. Pushing them to the surface at every opportunity, Cal was about to give Clementine as much air as she needed, yet that wouldn't matter if she froze to death. After a minute or two of struggling, the water calmed into a gentle stream, one which Cal could get a solid footing in and waded out onto a nearby embankment.
Setting Clementine down, the poor girl was shivering. Quickly taking off her jacket, she wrapped it around Clementine's much smaller frame. Her own Mjolnir undersuit began to regulate her body temperature to keep her from developing hypothermia.
"C - C - Cal?" Clementine sputtered out.
"I'm here. Don't speak, conserve your strength. We need to find someplace warm." Cal informed the freezing Clementine.
She didn't even get a nod in response, just a silent stare. Picking up the girl once more, they continued trudging forward, the super duper water slide behind them. It wasn't long before their immediate need was met as they stumbled onto an abandoned campsite. Setting Clementine by the burnt out pit, Cal set out to find some wood. Due to the rainy season, it took her longer than she wanted to find dry enough wood. Returning to the campsite, she saw Clementine was curled into a ball.
"Shit." She thought to herself. Using her expert survival skills, she was able to quickly light a fire and held Clementine closely in her lap.
She didn't keep track of time. They could have been there for minutes, hours, hell it could have been days and it wouldn't have mattered. All Cal focused on was keeping the fire lit, warming Clementine, and keeping an eye out.
Clementine, for her part, had fallen asleep in Cal's lap. Cal softly hugged her. "For two years I've been her maternal figure. God time flies by. Jorge should've been here instead of me, he was always the best people - person out of all of us. Still, this is the hand I'm dealt and I can't complain. For all of this Earth's faults, Clementine is its reframing quality."
Bzzzzttt.The stolen radio crackled to life. "Jos — where t — uck are yo —" The voice of a gruff sounding man coming through.
Quickly putting it to her ear, Cal sat and waited for another message. It didn't take long before the radio came to life a second time.
"Fin — u'll be fe — to walkers if I — come find yo — ss." The voice said again, sounding more pissed off than the last time.
Clementine stirred as the radio went off. Putting it aside, Cal waited for the somewhat rejuvenated Clementine to be ready to move. As she woke and sat up, most of her weight naturally fell onto Cal.
"Clem? How are you feeling?" Cal asked, using her hand to gauge her temperature.
"Warmer." Clementine replied.
"You feel warmer. Do a couple quick exercises to check your muscles, nothing strenuous." Cal told her.
Doing a couple jumping jacks and windmills, Clementine felt that her body was sore, but could move nonetheless, even with Cal's jacket flailing all about.
Cal nodded approvingly and chuckled at her jacket flopping around on Clementine. "We need to find some place we can stay for the night. Most of our gear was damaged in the river so we need to let it dry out." She informed her. Taking her jacket back, she rubbed a hand on Clementine's aging baseball hat.
"You do that every time, staaaap." Clementine demanded.
"Stop what? This?" Cal asked, doing it again.
Clementine simply pouted.
"Oh come on, it gets a smile out of you sooner or later." Cal teased her.
"It's stupid is what it is. Can we just go?" Clementine asked.
Cal smirked and nodded. Pressing onward, the forest was just as quiet as before. Keeping their wits, and their aim, about them as much as possible. It wasn't long before their walk through the woods was interrupted by an all too recognizable stench. Getting low behind a large rock, they slowly made their way to the source of the horrid smell.
What they saw was a zombie munching down on some wild boar for lunch. Cal was about to get up to simply stab the zombie, but her instincts began flaring: someone else was watching. It didn't take long for whoever it was to reveal themself by firing a bolt at the zombie. Unfortunately, whoever it was missed and hit the tree right next to Cal and Clementine. Their second shot rang, or rather wisped, true, as the zombie was struck right through the eye and fell over dead.
"I can't believe I missed,ya know? It was a clear shot, but it moved its damn head at the last second." A man with a deep southern accent asked, frustration clearly emanating from his voice.
"Yeah, they tend to do that. Let's get your bolts and head back to the lodge. Seems quiet today." Another, older sounding man said with a hint of sarcasm.
Cal and Clementine sat and waited. These two, and possibly more, used reusable ammunition which Cal had to give some credit for. They laid in wait for several minutes before the sound of brush crunching under boots became louder and louder. Just as the footsteps rounded the corner, Cal sprung into action, grabbing the crossbow from one of the men and sweeping his legs out from under him before grabbing the shirt of the second and throwing him onto the ground with a boot on his rifle.
Aiming her pistol at the two of them, she crucially analyzed both men who now laid on the ground groaning in pain.
"Who are you?" Cal simply asked them.
"What?" The crossbow user asked, dazed and confused.
"Who. Are. You?" Cal asked again, this time more intensely.
"I— I'm Luke. This here's my friend Pete. We don't mean to cause any harm. We just were patrolling." He stammered out.
"Are you alone?" Cal then asked.
Luke was slow to comment, but the barrel of Cal's cold pistol touching his forehead gave him an incentive to think faster. "Out here no, no no no. But, we have a group back at the cabin a little ways back. We're good people I promise you, please." He explained, begging at the end.
Cal took a moment to think. While her instincts told her they were nearby, her gut wasn't giving her any bad feelings about the two men.
"Alright." Cal said, holstering her pistol and picking them up. "Sorry for the tsuedo interrogation. We've been on the road for some time now and need a place to stay for a while. And we haven't exactly met the best of people along the way." She apologized, handing Luke his crossbow.
"You gave us a damn scare that's for sure, hurt quite a bit too. If you're just looking for a place to stay, I don't mind since you already seem like better people than we know, but the others will definitely be more around unknown faces. And who might 'we' be?" He asked.
It was then Clementine poked her head out from behind Cal's large frame. "Holy shit, you got a kid?" Pete asked, shocked. "Been a long time since I've seen one, not including Sarah of course."
Cal reactively placed a hand in front of Clementine and got into a defensive stance.
"And you're protective of her, I like that. Don't worry, I've got no reason to fight you." Pete said calmly, relaxing Cal a little.
"Let's continue this conversation with the others back at the cabin. Looks like the sun isn't gonna be out for too much longer and we gotta get back anyway for supper. I'm not missing out on Alvin's stew." Luke suggested.
As Luke and Pete turned and began walking back the way they came, Cal and Clementine followed behind. As the blue sky slowly faded into a soft orange, and Cal's silvery - golden hair blew in the afternoon breeze.
"So, who are you anyways? I think I can safely assume the kid is Clem, but what about you, miss?" Luke asked with a familiar southern politeness.
"Callista, although I prefer Cal since it was my designation for the longest time." Cal replied.
"Designation? Sounds military." Pete commented.
"Because it is, or was."
"Mmh. Where'd you serve?" He inquired.
"In a place that does not matter anymore." She answered vaguely.
"Oh come on, you gotta give us something other than that." Luke tried pressing.
"I said it doesn't matter." Cal said, hardening her stance.
"If the lady doesn't want to tell us she has every right not to. We're not Carver and you're going to respect that, ya hear?" Pete scolded the younger man.
"Yeah, yeah I hear you. Sorry Callista." Luke apologized.
"Cal."
"Right, Cal." He corrected himself.
"Who's Carver?" Clementine asked.
Luke and Pete stopped and looked at each other with hesitation to which Cal raised a brow. She was curious as to who this 'Carver' was, but kept quiet in order to not potentially cause a scene.
"Let's keep moving. It's not safe to stay out here after dark." Pete said, changing the subject.
Cal nodded, making a mental note of this 'Carver' name in her mind. She and Clementine continued following the two men, keeping a good ten feet of distance between them. Soon the trees began to be more spaced out until it opened into a clearing where a wood cabin stood a few yards away.
"Stay right here, Pete and I will go get the others. Like I said earlier, they ain't the most welcoming when it comes to new faces." Luke said.
Waiting until the two men were confidently out of earshot, Cal turned to Clementine. "So, what do you make of them?"
"They seem friendly enough. I think they told the truth about being good people." Clementine responded, giving her input.
"I'm thinking much the same. But remember, words alone don't mean anything nowadays, so just because I believed them doesn't mean I fully trust them."
"But so far so good, right?" Clementine asked.
"Yeah. So far so good." Cal agreed.
"Like hell they just found you in the woods on their own!" Someone suddenly shouted from the lodge.
Looking over, they saw a young man wearing a black and white shirt with a baseball cap. His expression was twisted in anger, his eyebrows furrowed as sweat dripped from his brow whilst aiming a rifle at them.
Cal pulled Clementine behind her protectively and placed a hand against her sidearm. "Calm down. We're just looking for some shelter for the night."
"Yeah fucking right!" The young man sneered. "Who are you working for? Carver!?"
"We're not working for anybody named Carver." Cal said calmly, narrowing her amber eyes at the young man; he was clearly unedged.
"Bullshit! You're gonna fucking tell us who you're working for now!" He said, trying to intimidate Cal.
Poking her head out from behind Cal, Clementine spoke up. "We don't know any — "
Bang!
"Agghh!" Clementine shouted.
Cal quickly looked behind her to see Clementine not quite hit, but more so heavily grazed on the cheek. Turning back to the man, everything around her slowed to a crawl as her adrenaline pumped: Spartan time. Dashing towards him, she looked like a blur to everyone around her. Easily ripping the rifle from his hands, she snapped it in half like a twig before grabbing his shirt and throwing him hard against the wall, no doubt breaking a rib or three.
"Do that again and I will fucking kill you." Cal said, venom seeping from her words.
The man's only response was heavy gasps for air as blood trickled out of his nose. The other occupants, who by this time all stood in front of the lodge, stared in complete disbelief at what just happened.
"Luke, who the fuck did you bring out of that goddamn forest?!" A pregnant black woman exclaimed, quickly rushing to Nick's side.
"What an absolute dumbass. If he's made decisions like that this entire time, how is he still alive?" She thought before turning her complete and undivided attention to Clementine.
Kneeling to her level, Cal placed a hand on Clementine's cheek to stop the bleeding which got a pained yelp from the girl. Quickly digging into her pack, she grabbed what little they had from their remaining first aid kit and grabbed some disinfectant and cotton swabs. Removing her now bloody hand from Celestine's face, she brought the sleeve of her jacket to her mouth.
"Bite." Cal simply told her.
Doing as she was told, and knowing what was to come, Clementine bit down hard on the leathery material and shut her eyes. Wetting the cotton swabs, Cal rubbed the disinfectant onto the wound, both cleaning the area and burning the ever living shit out of it.
Muffled cries of pain wailed from the eleven year old as her face lit up like a firecracker. A few tears streamed down her face as the wound was cleaned. After what felt like an eternity, which was really just ten or so seconds, Cal applied Vaseline around the bullet graze before applying a long patch of gauze to seal it from the outside elements.
After it was all said and done, Cal brought Clementine into a hug. She hummed an old cadence that Clementine had grown to like to soothe both her mental and physical pain. Clementine's crying continued, wetting Cal's shoulder who didn't even bat an eye. Holding Clementine close, she let herself be vulnerable for this singular moment to help the one person she cared for heal.
From the outsider perspective, this intimidating monster - size of a woman who just beat the absolute hell out of one of their own without so much as throwing a punch, but rather throwing him, turned from killer to healer in less than a second. From the speed at which she worked, it was clear that she loved the girl. None of them could deny that what happened to their friend was an act of self defense, but the way in which it happened baffled them.
"So uhh… is she your daughter?" The older black man from before asked.
Cal took a minute to respond, still closely hugging Clementine until her tears dried up. "No. But I try my best." She responded without meeting his gaze.
"Well from the looks of it you do a good job; almost too good." He trailed off, taking a glance at the now wounded, hobbling man being helped inside. "You did a number on Nick. You must have been a pro wrestler back in the day if you threw him like that."
"Nope, wrong." Cal simply replied.
"You can't just give us short answers like that. We want to know what you're doing here. Who the hell are you and how did you find us?" The black woman demanded.
Cal stood to her full height of six foot nine and planted herself between Clementine and the woman. "Lady, your friend just shot my kid. Excuse me for not wanting to be buddy - buddy with your group and tell you my life story. You get what you get, and right now I don't feel like sharing." She hissed at her.
"Rebecca, leave them alone. You saw what she did to Nick. You think she won't do it to you too?" The black man cautioned her.
"You should listen to him. He sounds like he's got a good head on his shoulders." Cal warned Rebecca.
Rebecca scoffed before ultimately giving up and storming her way back into the lodge. "What the hell were you thinking!" She yelled, turning her anger onto Nick who was barely sitting up and being tended to.
"Sorry about Rebecca. She gets emotional when something new happens in her life since she and I are expecting a kid of our own in a couple of months. And with Nick, he doesn't get along with anyone outside of our group. We've all had it rough for a while now." The man explained.
"I can't forgive him. Whatever you people may have gone through, we've all been there and done that. He's lucky I didn't rip him in half for nearly killing my girl." Cal said between gritted teeth.
"And we're sorry, ok? I know I promised you that we're good people, and we are. Just let us show you so… that doesn't happen to the rest of us." Luke apologized.
"This was your one free chance. So far first impressions have been positive for some and negative for others. If I want to keep my girl safe, prove to me that I don't need to hurt any more of you to do it." Cal bluntly threatened.
"Of course." Pete calmly chimed in. "We should introduce you to everyone properly if we're gonna start. This is Alvin, one best chef out of all of us; makes a mean stew. The one you see tending to Nick is Carlos. If you ever need medical help, go see him, but it seems like you knew what you were doing. You already met Rebecca and Nick. We have a spare room upstairs if you'd like, I doubt splitting you two up will do us any good."
"Wise decision. You three seem to be the smartest of this group so far, keep doing it." Cal suggested, pushing past them.
Making her way inside, Cal and Clementine got a series of mixed looks from Carlos, Nick, and Rebecca, ranging from concerned to fear to annoyed. Brushing the latter half off as assholes, they made their way upstairs and searched each room until they found theirs; but not before finding yet another member.
As her door swung open, Sarah sat there thinking it was her dad telling her dinner was ready. Instead stood two unknown females, one a serious hulking mass of muscle and the other a child younger than herself. "Daaaaad!" She yelled in surprise and fear before hiding on the other side of her bed.
Her father, apparently Carlos, came running up the stairs at his daughter's cry, only to see Cal and Clementine standing at her door. Pushing past them, he ran up to Sarah.
"Honey, what's wrong?!" He asked in an alarmed state.
"Them!" She pointed to Cal and Clementine. "You don't want strangers near me and they're strangers!" She exclaimed.
"Oh no no no honey, it's ok. They are staying with us for the night and must have stumbled into your room by accident, right?" He emphasized his question, looking back at the duo.
"No one said you had a daughter so yeah, that's the gist of it. Which room can we take?" Cal asked.
"Two doors down. And please, don't interact with my daughter. I don't want her talking to people she, nor I, don't know." He explained.
Nodding, they left the father - daughter duo. Entering their room, they found it was a similar layout to Sarah's room, with a large bed, dresser, closet, and all the other standard functions of a bedroom, only barren in contrast. Cal's face lit up when the first thing Clementine did was run and dive bomb onto the soft bed.
"Enjoying yourself?" Cal asked with a smile.
She only got a muffled 'mhm' from the sprawled out girl. Setting down her own bag, she laid down beside Clementine and let the soft mattress take control of her muscles.
"God. Even through all the shit I've been through, nothing could top a hot shower, meal, and comfortable bed. Speaking of which, you should go ahead and get bathed. I can tell the smell's been bothering you." Cal said.
Clementine stared at the room across the hall for a minute before getting up, reluctantly leaving the heavenly mattress. As Clementine showered and did any other necessary business, Cal stood right outside the door completely blocking it with her hulking frame.
"Ahem, excuse me." A familiar southern accent said, catching Cal's attention. "Dinner's gonna be ready here in a few minutes. Alvin's making his signature stew. The meat's fresh from this morning's hunt. Would y'all like to join us?"
Cal pondered for a moment. "We'll sit at the end of the table; and no guns." She said, making her offer.
"Deal. Not like we eat with guns in our laps anyways." Luke joked with just a blank stare from Cal. "But I understand your hesitation to sit with the group. I'll make sure Nick's on his best behavior; not much I can do with Rebecca though. She might try to give you shit or just sit there with contempt."
Cal just shrugged. "So long as they don't try anything with my girl again, there's nothing to fear."
"Good, then we'll see you two in a few minutes." He said, turning and heading back downstairs.
"God, a hot meal. When was the last time we ate something other than captured shit over a fire? Four, maybe six months ago? Clementine's gonna love this." Cal pondered. Knocking on the door, there was a startled yelp that shortly overtook the running water. "Clementine, dinner in five. I know you want to enjoy a shower, but hurry up so it doesn't get cold."
"Ok." Clementine's muffled voice washed through the door.
A minute later, a refreshed, if still a little damp, Clementine opened the door. The feeling of hot condensation spewed out into the hallway, overtaking the relatively cool air for a moment before equalizing between the two rooms.
"How do you feel?" Cal asked.
Clementine took a moment to stretch her now relaxed muscles, thankful hot water still exists in the world. "Amazing. Hot water is by far better than cold." She said, smiling happily.
"Really? I thought you enjoyed that ice bath." Cal shot at her.
"Har har." Clementine rolled her eyes.
"Get dressed kiddo. Let's enjoy whatever hospitality these people provide, starting by stealing their food." Cal said, moving aside for the towel wrapped Clementine.
Quickly changing into her only other set of clothes, Clementine met back up with Cal and together they made their way downstairs, following the smell of freshly cooked food. In the kitchen, they saw the group members sitting around a large table with a large, aroma filled - steaming pot in the center and two extra chairs sitting off to the side.
Sitting in the chair that was a little too small for her, Cal sat and waited, listening to the meaningless conversation as everyone poured themselves a bowl of stew. When it came to their turn, she let Clementine fill her bowl first before getting her own.
Digging in, her first 'bite' sent an exploding aroma of meat, vegetables, spices, and broth soaring throughout her mouth. "Whatever Alvin put in here, it's good, no, more than good. It's the best damn thing I've eaten in months!" She thought with an expression of shock and surprise.
"That look tells me it's good." Pete piped up, a hardy smile plastered on his face.
"Damn right. It's got flavor unlike the bland meat we've been capturing and cooking, not like I can complain. Arguably the worst food I've ever had were these shitty nutrition bars they handed out when I served. Things tasted like dirt blended with shit, but they gave enough energy to last a couple weeks." She explained.
"Weeks? Damn, what did they fill'em with? Steroids?" Alvin half - joked, a curious look held on his face.
"I mean look at her. She's tall as hell and jacked in every which way." Luke replied.
"All this," She said, motioning throughout her body. "Not that hard to keep, with all the shit they gave me."
"What did they give you?" Alvin asked, his curiosity now peaked.
"Enhancements." Cal simply responded.
"So I was right?"
"In a way, yes." Cal somewhat confirmed.
Alvin opened his mouth to try and ask something else, but his words were cut off by a more somber sounding Nick who laid flat on an adjacent couch nearby. "Hey, Clementine right?" He asked, his eyes telling stories of pain and guilt over what happened a short twenty minutes prior.
"Yeah, that's right." Clementine answered, cautiously regarding the wounded man.
"I'm sorry for what I did to your face. It was stupid of me and I should've known you guys were cool if Luke and Pete vouched for y'all. I nearly killed you, and being a kid, I don't think I could've lived with myself if I had." He said with a solemn and deflated tone.
"I forgive you. It hurt a lot though." Clementine said without hesitation.
"Really? That's a relief. I want to make it up to you if you guys decide to stay for a while." He said, sorrow wrapping itself in his words.
"You'll have a huge hole to fill if that's the case. Just because Clem forgives you doesn't mean I do. You're gonna have to work hard for that." Cal spoke up over Clementine, her voice changing from casual to authoritative.
Nick just nodded before turning away and going back to sipping on his meal. The others sat and stared in awkward silence, unsure of what to do now that their good mood has somewhat soured.
". . . So uhh, I think I'm done. Thanks Alvin for making dinner, but I think I'm gonna turn in now." Luke said, breaking the deafening silence. "Cal, Clem, we talked it over and if y'all'd like you can stay for a good while."
"It'd slow down our journey North, but I suppose we could take advantage of this opportunity." She thought. "Sure."
Pete pushed his bowl away. "So am I. I'll take watch tonight, unless anyone has objections." He said.
"I can do it. We're using your home so it's the least I can do. Besides, I don't need that much sleep." Cal offered.
"You sure? You're guests here so it wouldn't feel right making y'all work." Luke asked.
"It's fine. Just let me finish my meal and I can get started." She said.
"If you say so. Not like I'll say no to some sleep." Pete said, cracking a smile.
As dinner slowly came to a finish, everyone dispersed to their rooms. Giving Clementine a hug, Cal sent her to their new room before settling down in the living room. Holding her gun close, Cal kept an eye out on the forest, her augmented eyes making it easy for even the slightest of movement to be noticed in what would have been otherwise pitch blackness.
West Virginia
September 27, 0126 Hours, 2014
Cal sat in the living room which was now shrouded in darkness. A single, small candle for light would have been slowly melting its wax stick, but she had little use for it, so blew it out. She sat there still as a rock, not moving an inch if she could help it.
She had taken some time to reflect on her life leading up to this moment. Her kidnapping by ONI when she was six, her decade long training followed by the augmentations. She internally flinched at that. Every time she thought about those painful surgeries, they came back to haunt her. She could handle the physical pain, it was nothing to her anymore. Her thirty two unfortunate brothers and sisters who didn't successfully complete the augmentation process weighed heavily on her. Every mission, every objective, she kept them in mind, thinking of them whenever a task was completed; doing it for them. Her thoughts then shifted to her death, and she placed a hand where the Brute Chieftain's hammer had slammed into her head. She wondered where those ODST's were: Dutch, O'brien, and Cortez. Wherever they are now, she hoped they were safe.
Her thoughts then moved on to her new life. Being brought back to life was certainly a shock, but done so at the beginning of a zombie apocalypse was a massively unexpected twist. She, however, found solace in the group she'd been able to form: Lee, Kenny, Katja, Doug, Carley, Mark, Christa, Omid… Clementine. Slowly each of them faded away. Seeing allies fall always pained her to some degree, feeling as though she failed her duties as a Spartan to protect them. Knowing them personally as friends made it even worse, as that pain intensified. One by one, they were devoured in the name of survival until Clementine was the only one left. The day she found that little eight year old girl in the treehouse when it all started, she vowed to protect her at all cost. When they finally left that god forsaken city of Atlanta, she vowed to not only protect her, but teach her everything Chief Mendez taught her.
A single creak of wood snapped her back to reality as she turned and raised her pistol at the staircase. She saw it was no other than Rebecca who had her hands raised, but a look of contempt on her face. Lowering her weapon, Cal let her finish her journey to the first floor and raised a brow when she walked up to her.
"I know you're full of bullshit. You and that girl of yours may have fooled the others after what happened with Nick, but I'm not buying it. Rebecca bluntly stated.
"Listen, Rebecca, I understand you don't like us, but Luke and Pete invited us to stay when we had nowhere else to go for the night, so we're here." Cal shot back.
"That doesn't matter. They don't get to make decisions for us. We make them as a group because they aren't the only ones living here." Rebecca growled, scoffing and crossing her arms.
Cal stood up, towering over the woman, her stature nearly double that of Rebecca's. "If that's going to be a problem, you can suck it up and be helpful, or, if you push it any further you'll end up like Nick." Cal gritted through her teeth with venom dripping through her words.
Rebecca could tell that this anomalous, hulking mass of a woman wouldn't hesitate to kill her and her baby if she pressed any further. Thoroughly frightened, she quickly turned on her heels and darted back upstairs and out of sight.
"What a bitch." Cal muttered to herself before taking back her seat on the couch. "I still need to ask them about 'Carver' tomorrow. I should know who to look —."
Bzzzzttt. Bzzzzttt.
Author's Note: And here we are, the first chapter of Cal - 141's sequel story! I plan on making this story longer by breaking up segments of gameplay chapters rather than writing out the entire chapter as its own… well chapter. Anyways, I hope y'all enjoyed it and make sure to leave a review for whatever you liked, disliked, or any suggestions.
