- So, back to that subject. I am your father, no matter how much you deny it, blood doesn't lie.
Ed said, walking slowly around his desk, and picking up a bloodstained machete on the way.
The girl stared at him coldly, hiding her fear at seeing him with that blade in his hands.
- So, thinking about it... a father's duty is to discipline his children. And you, my dear, have been a very naughty little girl. You need correction.
He said, stopping walking and leaning right in the middle of the table, holding the wrist of the hand that held the machete and looking at Clementine in a neutral way.
- But first... I need to ask you a question. Though I already suspect what the answer will be. As much as I hate with every cell of my body this idea, you say that Lee is your father. Well, there can't be two fathers in a child's life, that's inadmissible. Who do you want to be like, me, or Lee?
Ed asked, and the girl narrowed her eyes at the question.
He already knew the answer, he had no reason to ask that question. But, after some thought, the girl understood where he was going with this.
Shaking her head slightly, she took a few deep breaths, preparing herself for what came next.
- Lee.
She said, and the girl felt her body tense up a little as she heard the footsteps of the guards behind her, and the disgusted look Ed gave her.
- I figured... well, if you want to be so much like him...
Suddenly, the girl feels her body being pulled backwards, and she was knocked down by the guards, right next to Lee's pool of blood.
- You can start with the eye now.
Ed said, and just as he had done to Lee, he stabbed his machete into the girl's eye, and she struggled vigorously as she screamed in pain. She could feel the blade entering her eye orbit, and her eye moving as the blade penetrated further and further.
And in yet another scream of pain and anguish, the girl felt her eye being ripped forcefully out, and part of her vision simply going dark.
As soon as that small moment of torture was over, she brought her hand up to her face, feeling the blood trickling down her cheek and the searing pain spreading to the right side of her face.
- Oops, sorry, I think I made a mistake. I gouged out Lee's left eye, not his right. Well, I guess you will learn to live with it. I'll keep your eye in the same place I kept his, don't worry.
Ed said with a small smile, taking the girl's eye and admiring the golden color of her irises.
- Your eyes have always been so beautiful... and now I can admire them every day on my shelf.
He said, almost in a whisper, without taking his eyes off the golden color.
- You... crazy... piece of shit!
The girl cried out in a groan of pain, standing up with some difficulty.
Ed looked over his shoulder at her, and grumbled slightly.
- Don't make that face, sweetie. That angry look on your face looks a lot like his, and it makes your eyes look ugly...I mean your eye.
Ed said, covering her eye completely with his hand and reaching into his pocket.
- Well, now, I think we can wrap up our little "reunion". It was great to see you here again, Clem. We'll have a great time together from now on, I can see.
He said with a cynical smile, and the girl was forced to leave the office.
On the way back to the prison, those same looks she had hated on the way there, only this time filled with pity.
Pity!? Bunch of assholes!
They could shove that pity up their asses, or end up with bullets in their heads... probably the second option.
The girl sighed. Not only was she frustrated and angry about the whole thing... damn, she just lost an eye!
Lee would not be at all happy to see what Ed had done to her. And she had already seen him angry. It was not a very good sight for whoever he was directing that anger at.
She just hoped he wouldn't do anything impulsive, they weren't in a situation where he could just go out shooting at everything that moved. Lee had always been a more rational and patient guy, but his patience had limits.
And there were some very thin lines that people couldn't cross. Those lines being herself, and Aj.
- Hey, who's the girl?
A woman, a little taller than her, dark skinned and with shaved hair with a scar on her head, asked the guards, approaching from the park.
- It seems that this is Ed's daughter. He had a... conversation with her.
One of the guards answered, and the woman, like all the other people, looked at her with a certain pity in her eyes. This only served to irritate the girl even more.
- And he plucked out his own daughter's eye? Damn it, I swear, Clint is taking it too easy on him.
The woman said, softening her expression a little more and looking at Clementine in a friendly way.
- Are you all right?
The woman asked, and Clementine held herself tightly to keep from laughing in mockery.
"Do I look fucking all right to you?"
The girl just sighed, and looked away, walking back toward the prison.
- Not much of a talker, well, I don't blame you. I'm Ava.
The woman said, walking beside Clementine, much to her dismay.
Great, in addition to having had her eye put out by the man she once called father, the girl now had to put up with one of those assholes annoying her in that nest of pests.
Just great!
- I... I don't know what kind of history you have with your father, but-
- He's not my father!
Clementine interrupted her rudely, still concentrating on looking forward.
Gosh, it seemed even walking had become more difficult without an eye... nah, maybe it was just all that stress.
Mixed with the fact that she had just lost a fucking eye.
- Ok... sorry. Well, it looks like you are in prison... you know, some people, depending on the case, are invited to stay here in the community with us.
The woman said, and Clementine suddenly stopped walking, staring at the woman.
- I might, maybe, ask them to let you stay here. Such a young child... it's surprising that you survived out there. Or at least in some of our affiliated communities.
The woman continued to say, and Clementine was surprised at how much shit came out of Ava's mouth. Was she really making that offer? Fucking hell.
- I'd rather die than stay in this place.
The girl said with disdain, and a hint of disgust, which didn't go unnoticed by the woman.
- Hey, this is a good place. The people are decent. Well, there are assholes like Ed, but generally, they are kept under control and-
- Shut up.
The girl interrupted her, shaking her head and starting to walk again.
-... What?
- Are you deaf? Shut up and leave me alone. I don't know why you're trying to get close to me, but you can stop. We don't know each other, we have nothing to do with each other, and my life is none of your fucking business!
The girl said, walking down the stairs to her cell and leaving a static woman standing on the sidewalk, still trying to process what she had just heard.
The cell door was opened, and Kenny was the first to see it, since he was leaning on the wall just in front of the door.
- Ah... for fuck's sake...
He said in a whisper as he looked at the girl, who just shook her head.
- Oh god...
Carley whispered in regret.
- That fucking asshole! How could he have the nerve to do something like that to his own daughter?!
Kenny asked rhetorically in anger. And Clementine just ignored him.
Her eye was focused on Lee, who stared at her with an expression as cold as ice, although she knew he was as hot as fire inside.
After a few moments, he sighed, and the girl could see lively anger in his eye.
That was not the look of someone who just wanted to kill another person. Lee wanted to make Ed suffer.
She was quite sure of that, she knew him just as much as he knew himself.
-... Did he hurt you somewhere else?
Lee asked in a hoarse voice, alternating his gaze between all the girl's body parts.
- No, just the eye... Look, Lee, you have to stay calm, okay? The situation is a little delicate.
The girl said, walking a few steps toward him and staring deeply.
- Stay calm? Sorry, Clem, but "calm" is something I'm not going to be at the moment.
He said, making it more than evident how self-controlled he was at the moment.
- We know, Lee, but as she said, the situation is rather delicate.
Carley said in a gentle tone, a futile attempt to calm him down.
- I'm not leaving here without his head.
- What? Look, pal, I understand, nothing would make me happier than to kill that son of a bitch, but... this community is fucking big. Besides the fact that they have a lot of guns, the rescue group is made up of a little less than a dozen people and that's being very considerate.
Kenny said, standing next to Carley.
- It doesn't matter. I didn't need a group to kill before, I don't need one to do it now.
Lee said, running his hand through his hair in nervousness.
- Lee, you're not listening to us, you don't-
- He needs to die!
Lee shouted suddenly, interrupting Clementine, who looked at him in surprise. There were few times she had ever seen him so angry like that, and although she understood him, she couldn't help but be a little frightened.
- Think about Aj.
She said, and Lee softened his expression slightly.
- If we do something rash, who knows what they might do to Aj.
The girl said, and Lee closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths to calm himself.
It was almost insane how much he wanted to get out of there and just kill those people. His heart was pounding and his muscles tensed at the mere thought.
-... Okay...
He said, sitting back in his chair and propping his elbows on his legs, but still with the same macabre expression on his face.
Clementine stared at him for a moment, until she sighed lightly. She had talked him out of doing anything rash, and now he was probably thinking of different ways to kill Ed, or who knows how many other people.
That should be good... for now... probably.
- So... how are these people going to get into this community?
Clementine asked, wiping the excess blood that had dripped down her face, and trying to focus on something other than her eye. She didn't want to get any more frustrated than she already was.
And besides, it didn't seem that Lee was very... willing... to ask any more questions. A group with just under a dozen people didn't stand much of a chance against an entire community.
- One of them was part of here. He was expelled after having a friend killed in an... accident, and he got the blame. He knows about some blind spots. And maybe, as a last resort, he can use that herd that is practically at the back door of the community.
Carley said, crossing his arms, and Clementine arched an eyebrow.
- Well... can this guy really be trusted? How do you know about this herd? And how can these people sleep so close to a herd?
Clementine asked, feeling her eye... or the place where her eye should be, throbbing. It was agonizing.
- Yes, he is reliable, we've been with him for a year now. When we were brought here, we passed a street at the back of the community and saw the herd, we were far enough away not to attract it. And well, the walls are pretty strong, and they are planning to eliminate the herd, they just need more ammo to deal with all those runners.
Kenny answered, leaning back against the wall, and slightly annoyed by the girl's eye. Still cursing Ed for such an atrocity.
- Is it a horde of runners?
Lee asked suddenly, still not looking at them, but with interest in his voice.
-... Yeah. There must be at least a hundred runners.
Kenny answered after a few moments, slightly uncertain whether he should confirm this to Lee, who remained silent after hearing his answer.
- Ok... any prediction of when they might arrive?
Clementine asked, putting her hand on her head as she felt everything hurt.
- I don't know... tomorrow, maybe the day after... we were a little far from here.
Kenny said, and the girl grumbled slightly. They didn't have much time. Who knows what Ed would do in those days.
Footsteps were heard coming down the stairs, and soon, the door was opened by some guards with bowls in hand.
- Dinner for you, assholes. Enjoy yourselves, you probably won't have many dinners from now on.
One of the guards said, putting the bowls on the floor and laughing disdainfully.
The cell door was locked again, and Clementine sighed as she heard their footsteps moving away.
- Well... I guess we'll have to wait then.
The girl said, walking towards the door and picking up one of the bowls on the floor.