The Long Road Ahead
Several days after their encounter with the group in Emporia, Jeff and Clementine found themselves approaching a pile of rubble.
"What was this?" Jeff asked.
At first, they didn't think much of it, as they looked around. But upon further inspection, they realized where they were.
"Could it be?" Clementine asked.
The look of Jeff's face was grim.
"Wellington," he answered.
"Guess it's a good thing we declined the offer to take AJ and I in," she said.
"Who knows what would've happened if Kenny and I had let you go," Jeff replied.
The realized quickly that all they could do was count themselves lucky and, after taking a few moments to look for anything they could use, they moved on.
"So, if we're supposed to go to the ski lodge, why were we lead to Wellington?" Clementine asked, as they walked.
"I don't know," Jeff replied. "Maybe we'll find out when we find whoever took the kids."
Clementine nodded in agreement, as they continued their search.
2 Weeks Later:
The sun had just reached the high noon position in the sky when Jeff and Clementine arrived at the ruins of an old rest stop. Upon further inspection, they started to see something familiar about their surroundings.
"Does this look familiar to you, Clem?" Jeff asked.
"It does," she replied. "It's as if… we've been here before."
"We have been here, before," he replied. "Think about it." He pointed to the buildings and playground. "That's where Jane and Kenny almost killed each other."
"When she tried to make him think AJ and I were dead," she added.
"All to prove a point that didn't need to be made," Jeff concluded.
Silence fell and the pair thought about that day.
"Even though she didn't need to prove anything,"Jeff said, breaking the silence. "Kenny almost proved her right."
"Until you stopped him," Clementine added. "I still can't believe she would do that. It makes me wonder if she took the kids."
"She's messed up, Clem," he replied. "But not that crazy. Either way, we're better off without her."
"Agreed," Clementine said.
Taking one last look at the area, they turned and walked away.
2 Days Later:
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Clementine asked.
"Yes," Jeff replied. "There's no doubt we're going the right way, Clem."
Before they knew it, they reached a clearing where a familiar structure still stood.
"I don't believe it," Clementine said. "It's still standing."
Before them was the unfinished house they had stayed in. The house where the group had split, thanks to the treachery of people they thought they could trust. Not taking any chances, they drew their guns and slowly approached the building. As they approached, Jeff noticed something different about the area in front of it. There were three grass-covered piles of dirt next to the front door that looked like graves. They reached the mounds and saw names painted on planks of wood: Luke, Sarah,... Arvo. The last name had them in shock. Arvo had been the reason for the split in the first place, as well as another near-death experience for Clementine.
"Who would bury someone like Arvo?" Clementine asked.
"Only two people would do that," Jeff replied.
"Hold it right there!" came a voice.
Jeff and Clementine immediately raised their guns.
"You wish!" Jeff replied, with his finger on the trigger. "Put your gun down."
"Like **** I will," the man said.
"Mike," came a female voice. "What's going on?"
Jeff and Clementine froze, then slowly lowered their weapons.
"Mike?" Jeff asked, in shock.
"Jeff? Clementine?" Mike said, in disbelief. "You're alive?"
"Unfortunately, for you," Clementine replied, with hatred.
Just then a woman hurried outside, with a gun of her own.
"What is going…" she began, then stopped in her tracks. "...on?"
"Bonnie. Just our luck that we would run into you traitors," Clementine said, before raising her weapon again.
"Traitors?" Mike asked.
"Leaving us to join Arvo was a treasonous act, Mike," Jeff said, with his gun aimed right at Mike's head. "Taking our food and leaving us- No, leaving AJ to starve to death."
"You and Kenny were talking crazy, man," Mike replied. "We did what we thought was the right thing, at the time."
"It looks like we made a mistake, though," Bonnie said, with a look of guilt. "Please tell me AJ didn't suffer."
"He's still alive," Clementine replied.
"Oh thank heavens," Bonnie said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Where is he?"
"He was abducted from a ranch he had been placed at, for safety," Jeff replied.
"What? When?" Mike asked.
"A few weeks ago," Clementine replied.
"Maybe it's better if we talk inside," Bonnie suggested. "Then you two can catch us up on everything that's happened since we last saw each other."
Jeff and Clementine agreed and followed them inside, where they found the house had been well taken care of, in the years since they had last been there. Once everyone found a place to sit, Jeff and Clementine proceeded to tell Mike and Bonnie everything that happened. Kenny nearly killing Jane for lying about AJ and Clementine dying, finding Wellington (this left Mike feeling dumb for not believing), having to move on from Wellington, Finding Abby in Jeff's hometown, and so on. When they reach the part where Kenny died, they choked up a bit, earning some sympathy from the other two. Once they recovered, they continued on to the part where they were separated and finally the events involving the Garcia family. When they finished, Mike and Bonnie were speechless.
"Holy ****," Mike said. "All that and now this."
"Yeah," Jeff replied, with a somber tone. "We're following the kids and their abductor, thanks to information we received shortly after we left Richmond. Hopefully it'll help us find them…"
"And whoever took them," Clementine finished for him.
She looked over at the graves for Luke and Sarah, with a nagging question resurfacing.
"How did you get them out of the lake?" she asked.
"It wasn't easy," Mike replied. "We had to wait for the temperatures to be warm enough that we could go and collect their bodies from the lake, for a proper burial. After all: They were our friends and they died trying to save others in the group. It's the least we could do."
There was some silence before Bonnie spoke up.
"Since you told us your story," she began. It's only fair we tell ours."
With that, Mike and Bonnie took turns telling everything that happened before and after burying their friends. There had been trips back to Howe's Hardware and the old Civil War site at Parker's Run, for whatever supplies they could find. There had also been close calls with herds of walkers, as had been the case before the group fell apart. Finally, they explained how they felt after the split, when asked.
"It tore us apart," Mike said. "We didn't know if you were dead or alive."
"Not to mention we knew Kenny and Jane would eventually butt heads about something," Bonnie added. "She was just as convinced as we were that Wellington didn't exist and I could tell it would get to Kenny." She looked at Jeff. "Then there was your obsession with trying to get back home to see if you could find anyone alive. We wanted you to make it… but Jane didn't have to even speak for us to know she believed it was a lost cause. I admit: Jane did turn out crazier than Kenny, as your story explained, but we still couldn't take a risk. You know that, right?"
"Yes," Jeff replied. "I, too, believed he was losing it. But I didn't want to give up on him, just yet. He was a broken man. He lost his family, he lost many, many friends he'd made, and the hits kept coming. Both figuratively and literally."
With this, they ended the discussion and went inside, as a lite rain began to fall. After some more discussion about happier topics, they all fell asleep and the rain outside became a steady downpour.
The next morning, Jeff and Clementin were preparing to continue their journey when Bonnie and Mike walked up, with some supplies.
"Here," Bonnie said, handing Clementine a bag. "It's not much, but it should help you keep going."
"Thanks," Clementine replied.
Meanwhile, Mike had something for Jeff, wrapped in an old, worn out blanket.
"Something to help you deal with the walkers," he said, handing the gift to Jeff.
Jeff opened the cloth and gasped. There, in his hands, was Luke's machete he always carried… right up until his death.
"Luke would want you to have it," Mike continued. "You guys had become good friends by the time he died, so we figured he would've given it to you, had he been able to."
Jeff smiled.
"Thanks," he said.
With some help from Clementine, Jeff placed the weapon on his back, just like Luke used to. With all their belongs accounted for, they walked over to their friends.
"I wish you didn't have to go," Bonnie said.
"If we didn't have to, that would mean we would've found the kids and returned to Richmond already," Clementine began.
"Right," Bonnie replied.
"Take care out there," Mike said.
"We've made it this long, Mike," Jeff relied, with a smile.
After a final goodbye, the team set out and around the lake, taking out walkers as they went. Once around the lake, they headed for the only place they could think that the kidnapper would go: Howe's Hardware.
That evening:
The sun was beginning to set as they reached another familiar location.
"Still looks like it did the day we left," Jeff said.
"What'd you expect?" Clementine asked. "Other than the signs of time passing, Parker's Run doesn't look much different from…"
Jeff picked up on the sudden change in his friend's mood.
"The day I left," he finished for her. "Don't forget that I came back, Clem. Right when you needed me most… despite what I had convinced myself to believe. You knew I was wrong and what Arvo's group did to ours backed that up." He paused. "Thanks for never giving up on me."
Clementine smiled.
"You never gave up on me," she said. "Why should I give up on you?"
Jeff didn't have an answer, nor did he need one. Deep down, he knew she was right.
The all too familiar sound of walkers snapped them back to reality, once again putting them in survival mode. The small herd was no match for them as Clementine shot down several, while Jeff made use of Luke's machete to cut down the rest. After taking a look around to make sure they got all of them, they hurried for the old gift shop, which was surprisingly still in great shape. They entered through the door at the bottom, after remembering the stairs were gone, and barricaded themselves in, in case any walkers figured out where they were. Once that was done, they settled in for the night, again taking a trip down memory lane.
"Remember this?" Jeff asked, pointing to the room they were in.
"How could I forget?" Clementine asked. "Through the chaos, AJ came into this world in this room."
"I remember the madness to get Rebecca up here so he could have the chance to live," Jeff said. "Then AJ had to go and scare us into thinking he didn't make it. Sneaky little guy even before he knew where he was."
"Yeah," Clementine replied. Then her face changed to show concern. "We have to get him back. I promised Kenny I'd look after him. You and me… We're all he and Abby have."
"I know, Clem," Jeff said. "We'll get them back. We won't stop until we do."
"And what if we get bit saving them?" she asked.
"Like Katja did for you?" Jeff asked in response.
"Yeah," she replied.
"Well, we'll do what we can to get them back before our time's up," he said. "From there, it'll be up to Abby to look after AJ. But… you and I both know we're gonna make sure that doesn't happen. Right?"
Clementine smiled.
"Right," she replied.
They continued to talk for a while, before they both started yawning and realized that it was getting dark. As the last of the light faded, they both picked a place in the room to lay down and were soon sound asleep.
Hey guys! I'm back! Sorry for such a long wait, but a number of factors lead to the delay. Vacation, writer's block, and procrastinatioin were the main causes (mostly the last one :P), but I'm back and hope to get into a more frequent release schedule after this update. See you next time!