Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapte, at long last! It's time to find out what awaits Jeff and Clem in Savannah!
I don't own The Walking Dead or its characters, just Jeff.
Confrontation and Closure
As the sun rose over Savannah, Georgia, Jeff and Clementine gathered their belongings and slowly made their way into the long abandoned city. As they walked, they took out the small number of walkers they encountered, which was a lot easier than Clementine's escape, years before.
"I'm glad to see that herd moved on, after I left," Clementine said.
"Likely moved on within days," Jeff replied. "Most walker herds don't linger in one place for long, from what I've seen."
"Depends on the herd," she replied. "Learned that from some experiences I had, during the time we were separated."
They continued down the street, moving cautiously as they went. Soon, they reached an intersection and Clementine gasped. Before them were three long rotted bodies.
"You knew them?" Jeff asked.
"Yes," Clementine replied. "It's Omid, Christa, and Chuck. This is where they made their last stand, to allow me a chance to escape."
Jeff sees tears in her eyes and backs up to give her a moment. She didn't get to know them very well but she still felt guilty over leaving them, even though it had been their choice for her to leave them. Jeff could see her guilt and decided he'd hung back long enough.
"I know you feel guilty for their deaths, Clem," he said. "But they knew they couldn't get out of it alive, so they made sure you could. Your continued survival has made their sacrifice worth it. It wasn't in vain."
Clementine nodded in agreement and slowly stood back up.
"I'll never forget Christa's last words to me," she said, wiping the last tear from her eye. "'You have to survive.'"
"And you've been doing just that," Jeff replied. "You even spent time alone, which makes you that much better at survival than most your age."
She smiled and they continued on their way. Nearly an hour later, they had been walking around to see if there was anything left worth taking and weren't surprised to find nothing. Realizing it wasn't worth staying anymore, Jeff moved to leave the city. Clementine didn't move.
"We can't leave, yet," she said.
"Why?" Jeff asked, turning back to her.
"I never got to find out what happened to my parents," she replied. "They were on a trip to Savannah when the outbreak happened. I need to see if I can find them… even if they didn't make it."
"Alright," Jeff said. "Where would they most likely have been when it all began?"
"They liked to stay at a place called the Marsh House," Clementine said. "It's near the river. I remember going there with them a few times. They had the best deserts."
"Alright," Jeff replied. We'll go take a look."
With that, they walked toward the river. After a while, they reached the street where the hotel was located. All they saw was an older station wagon and a pair of walkers that weren't looking in their direction. Quietly, they walk toward the main door of the hotel and make every effort to not to alert the walkers to their presence. However, they turned around without hearing a sound and Clementine froze… The walkers were what remained of her parents. Immediately, she broke down and cried.
"I didn't want it to be this way," she said, wiping tears away. "I held out hope that they were out there somewhere, alive and looking for me."
"I know, Clem," Jeff replied. "But you knew there was a chance of this being the outcome. It's like me with my parents… I held out hope that they were still alive. When I found out they weren't, I grieved too. It'll never stop hurting, but if we keep living, I like to think they're looking down from above and smiling at us."
Clementine nodded in solemn agreement, then slowly pulled out her knife. She knew what had to be done. With a few quick movements, she took both of the walkers down. The deed done, she knelt down beside the corpses.
"Goodbye," she said, with a few more tears.
Without another word, the duo moved on in silence to the main entrance of the hotel, hoping to find the kids and whoever took them inside. Unfortunately, fifteen minutes of searching yielded empty rooms, on the first floor. Moving to the second, Jeff and Clementine continued their cautious pace, in case any undead guests were around. Finally, they found a room with a partially opened door and what sounded like a voice and decided to investigate. Slowly, Jeff opened the door and walked in. It didn't take long for both of them to find it empty, as well, which was both a relief and upsetting.
"We've looked in every room," Clementine said, in defeat. "They're not here."
"But I am."
Jeff and Clementine gasped and turned with their guns drawn to find a man standing before them.
"Who are you?" Jeff asked.
"Someone who's been waiting a long time for someone to finally show up," the man replied.
"Who were you waiting for?" Clementine asked.
The man seemed surprised at the sound of her voice, but quickly recovered.
"You, Clementine," he said.
"Why her?" Jeff asked, with his gun still raised.
The man smiled.
"Five years ago," he began. "I was trying to survive the early months of this madness with my family. Through unforeseeable circumstances, I lost my son… then my wife and daughter, after the former ran off with the latter. Tess was angry at me for losing our son… but her decision to run off wouldn't end well. She and Elizabeth died that same day."
"That doesn't explain why you've been waiting on me," Clementine said, lowering her weapon.
"Before Tess and Lizzie took off," he continued. "We went looking for Adam. We couldn't find him, so we decided to go back to our car to move to another spot to look… but we found the station wagon raided."
Clementine gasped in realization.
"You're the man from the other end of my conversations on my walkie-talkie," she said.
"Bingo," the man replied. "This raid was what sent my wife over the edge. She was already mad at me for not listening to her to not take our son hunting… but that raid was what made her take Lizzie and walk off. Your group did that, Clementine. Even though you tried to convince them to not take anything, they did it anyway. Speaking of your group… where are they?"
Clementine thought hard about how to respond.
"They're all dead," she said.
"How?" the man asked.
"During a chaotic escape from the motel we had been living in," she began. "A boy in the group was bitten. Lee failed to get his dad to accept that he needed to be put down… and the boy turned. He attacked us, biting his mother, a teen boy in the group, and Lee. I was knocked off the train were were riding in, but managed to survive. The rest, including people who joined after the incident, died making sure I got out of the herd that had come to Savannah alive. Except for one, who lived a few years longer before dying around two years ago. Of my original group, I'm all the remains."
The man smiled, and it disturbed Jeff to see it.
"Then my revenge is complete without having to do a thing," he declared.
The words angered Clementine.
"You're disgusting!" she spat.
"It's no different than your group killing my family," he replied. "I'd say their deaths make it even."
The statement made Clementine see red as she charged at him, knocking him to the floor. She hit him in the face over and over, until Jeff grabbed one of her wrists.
"That's enough, Clem," he said.
"He deserves what he's getting!" she snapped. "You heard what he said!"
"Yes I did," Jeff replied. "But beating him to death will only make you like him: A monster. Do you want AJ to grow up knowing his guardian is a monster?"
He released her arm and waited for her response.
She sighed.
"No," she said.
She stood up and stared at the man, who was holding his hand over a bloody nose.
"Now do you understand?" he asked. "Your group killed my family. And they got what they deserved, in return."
"You could've avoided losing your family if you had just listened to your wife, in the first place," she replied. "Leaving you alive to live with your mistake until the day you die is worse than killing you."
Without another word, she grabbed her gun from where she had dropped it and then followed Jeff out of the hotel.
Scratch the Stranger off the list of suspects for kidnapping the kids. Also, the first part of this chapter quickly shut down any ideas of Christa being the one. Yeah, I only saw one person say it was her, but it had to be addressed, anyway. We're closing in on the end, with only a handful of chapters left! Until next time, take care!