CosmicArmor-Huh, that's a bit of a surprise. I get that Molly won't be everyone's favorite character but i'm glad that the relationship didn't turn you off the story. As for Jane, I do not in anyway like her but I won't just ignore her character because of that. Anyway hope you like this chapter as well.
EroSlackerMicha-Yeah Kenny can be a dick sometimes but not everyone in the world is a nice guy. Despite his gruff personality he is a good guy at heart so I always looked past that. In the end Carver took a step too far and lost himself, I bet he was a good guy but the burden of leadership changes people. Plus Troy was a bully who got more power turning him into a huge asshole.
Guest-Lee is of course a protective father figure for Clem so no doubt he wouldn't want to send her out but you'll see what happens soon enough.
Guest-Haha, yet another one who hates Jane. I get it, I was always Kenny over Jane. Yet I still think I can develop some cool things with her despite her being my least favorite.
Fewpolecat93-Right so Matthew turning into another "Sarah" always confused me, I never get why people thought that would happen. Matthew lost Walter sure and it hurts him hard but he has the development to handle his feelings while Sarah was such a sheltered kid who didn't really understand lost.
Worker72-Carver was a guy who desired control and started to lose it, when that happened he over acted and lost himself thus marking himself for death eventually. As for Lee and Clem this whole thing is going to be a relationship changer for them, Lee is going to learn that she really had grown.
ArktosFTW-Glad you liked the last two chapters and as for this vote event...who knows what will happen, well you will by the end of this chapter. Hope you like it.
FocUs24-Glad you like the story and dang how evil would that be for Carver to take out Molly for Lee's actions, yet you never know this could happen so just read on.
Windyrat-I have a plan for the story but it won't go the season 3 way. I may add the characters eventually but the whole story and setting of season three won't happen in this story, sorry.
Enjoy, based off votes Clem will go. She won 68% to 32%
Lee looked between the two torn, the woman Jane had a point Clementine, if caught, would probably not be killed but who knows what could happen. On the other hand Molly was trained, she had been doing stuff like this since before they met, he just couldn't decide. Clementine spoke up, "Lee let me go, I can do it."
Lee looked at her weakly, "Clem...it's dangerous."
"Yeah it is but Carver won't kill me if I get caught, Molly should stay here, it's the right thing to do." Clementine said firmly,
Molly looked over at Lee who looked at Clem a bit agreeingly, "Whoa, you aren't seriously thinking of sending her, are you? She's just a kid." Molly said growing agitated,
"I know." Lee said rubbing his brow,
"Lee." Kenny said from behind him, "Let her go, she's just as capable...hell maybe even more capable than the rest of us." Kenny said with a warm smile to Clem,
Lee lowered his head and walked over to Clem. He knelt down and put his hand on her shoulder, "Clementine can you do this?" He asked watching her closely,
"Lee, i'm the only one who can do it safely." Clementine replied earnestly, "Jane's right, Molly will be killed if she's caught. I won't, you can trust me."
Lee closed his eyes and slowly nodded, "Okay." He whispered out then stood up, "Alright Clementine is gonna do this."
"Lee! What are you thinking?!" Molly exclaimed,
"Ssh!" Jane said quickly, "For god sakes if you don't keep your mouth shut no one is gonna do this." Jane then turned towards Mike, "Now go give her a boost."
Molly looked back to Lee bewildered, "Lee, you can't be serious here. You know I can do this, this is no job for a kid." Lee raised his head and looked past her causing her to turn around only to see Clementine starting to climb the ladder. She narrowed her eyes and turned around pushing past Lee and heading towards the fire pit.
Jane walked over to Lee and glanced over to Molly, "Harsh, but you made the smart choice. The kids got it." She said in some support then headed back to her bed,
Kenny walked over next and rest his hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry pal, she'll be fine." Lee let out a short but rather weak nod before heading back to the fire pit. He sat down across from Molly not really making eye contact, as he could feel the tension lingering between them.
Meanwhile with Clementine, she got up to the room and let out a little smirk. Despite being pretty worried she was happy to have the support from not only Kenny but Lee as well. She moved forward slowly constantly looking around for anyone on patrol. As she past the greenhouse she stopped dead in her tracks, a patrol guard began walking towards the edge of the roof. Clementine pulled back and slowly circled around the greenhouse and she spotted a sunroof window, she moved over to and quietly popped it open.
Clementine let out a slow sigh, "Now or never I guess." She whispered to herself then pulled herself in and landed on a pallet of boxes. She looked around and saw no one in the area, she began to carefully climb down the side of the large shelving. As she got about halfway she heard two voices talking and coming closer to her. Clementine quickly let go of the edge and fell to the floor, she looked around just as Vince and Tavia rounded the corner. She dove behind some boxes and went silent.
"I'm just saying Vince, holding this many people in the pen is just stupid. I mean they almost outnumber us." Tavia said as she stopped and reached into her pocket for a cigarette,
Vince crossed his arms and shrugged, "I don't know, they seem nice enough but Bill is keeping them prisoner, what would you do?"
"Probably try to escape, or kill Bill." Tavia admitted as she lit the cigarette with a match, "You want one?"
"Nah, gave it up. Besides those could be the last ones in the world for all we know, why get hooked all over again." Vince said with a smirk,
Clementine slowly peeked over the boxes she hid behind and looked around, she saw the walkie talkie charging bank and slowly began to move towards it. "Whatever you say buddy, I'm just living it up. I got a bad feeling about this herd." Tavia said shaking her head. Vince let out a chuckle that ended quickly as he saw Clem's hat poking over the boxes, "You okay?" Tavia asked with a raised eyebrow at his shift in personality,
"Fine." Vince said quickly, "I'm just...with you on that, whole things got me on edge." Vince said returning his attention back to Tavia. Vince mind was racing knowing that Tavia would catch Clem if she so much as turned around. Suddenly an idea popped into his head, he let out a long annoyed sigh, "Hey since I saved you a cigarette could you do me a huge favor?" Vince asked with a grin,
"I'm not sure denying my offer makes me owe you one." Tavia said with a smirk,
"Please Tavia, I was suppose to make sure the greenhouse was locked up. Could you just check for me?" Vince begged,
Tavia rolled her eyes, "Fine, fine, lazy prick." She said jokingly as she headed out of the room. Vince watched as she walked away and as soon as she was out of sight he ran over to Clementine.
Clementine froze in fear as she heard him walking over to her and she shakily looked up as Vince towered over her, "Kid what the hell are you doing out here? Do you fucking know what would happen if they caught you?" Vince hissed out to her,
"I'm-I'm sorry sir." Clementine whimpered out,
"Look just follow me, I'll lead you back to the pen. I don't want anything to happen to you guys so just...just don't do this again, alright?" Vince said quickly,
"Y-you're not going to tell on me?" Clementine asked a bit surprised,
"No, fuck knows what Bill would do. Just come on." Vince said quickly leading her along. Vince slowly moved through the building checking around for patrols and to his and Clem's luck he saw no one. He reached the gate and began to unlock it, he pulled it open causing Lee and Molly to look over. Vince put his hand on Clem's back and pushed her inside as Lee got up and ran over, "Lee I don't know if you knew she was outside or not and I don't really want to know. Just listen to me, if you or anyone else gets caught outside the pen after dark things will go very bad." Vince stared at Lee's stoic face for a few moments then he let out a sigh, "Just try to not get yourselves killed." Vince said as he began to close the rolling door.
As he locked it up and began to walk away Lee called out, "Vince, you gonna tell anyone?"
Vince looked back at him, "Hell no, far as I'm concerned none of you ever left this pen." He said before heading back towards the main room.
Lee let out a slow exhale and looked down at Clem, "You alright sweet pea?"
"Yeah." She said with a small nod, "He made another lady leave before leading me back here, no one knows but him. I'm sorry I got caught Lee." Clementine said lowering her head,
"It's alright, that doesn't matter." Lee said kneeling down and pulling her into a hug,
As the pair hugged Kenny came walking over, "Hey did you get the radio?"
Lee stood up, "She got caught, thank god Vince was the one who found her. He isn't gonna tell a soul." Lee said while rubbing the back of his neck, "Guess we'll have to try tomorrow, maybe lift one off someone."
Kenny let out a grin as he looked at Clem, "Atta, girl." He said warmly,
Lee looked down at Clem and saw a small radio in her hand, "What the fuck?" He said confused,
"Swear." Clementine said with a smile,
"Sorry." Lee said smirking, "But how?"
"I grabbed one before Vince found me, he doesn't know." Clementine said confidently,
"Good job, one step closer to getting the fuck outta here." Kenny said with wide smile, "C'mon should grab some shut eye, we got a long day ahead of us." He added on as he turned around and started heading towards the bunks.
Clementine gave Lee a final smile before heading off to the beds as well. Lee slowly followed lagging behind. As they past the fire pit he headed over and sat down next to Molly, "So, how bad did I fuck up?" He asked softly,
Molly looked up at him with a mixture of anger and sadness, "If it were anyone else I'd say pretty bad but since it's you I should just expect this type of asshole." She said crossing her arms and leaning forward,
"I'm sorry, but Jane had a point. If you were caught who knows how it could have went down. I didn't want to take that chance." Lee said moving his hand over to hers.
Molly didn't move her hand away but she didn't take hold of his hand in return, "Lee I can handle myself, I don't need you putting others in danger because you're worried about me. For fuck sakes you put Clem at risk." She said almost confused, "I don't know why you would do that."
Lee let out a low sigh and slowly looked around making sure Clem was out of earshot, "I love Clementine, but she...doesn't need me. She's capable, she's independent, I saw it immediately at lodge. I don't know what happened to her in the past year but she grew up. I-I want her to be safe but like Kenny said she's capable." Lee said lowly,
"What don't you think I'm capable?" Molly asked with raised eyebrows,
"Of course I do, you're just...you're all I got. I don't want anything to happen to you...I think it'd kill me." Lee said with a small break in his voice,
Molly's eyes softened, she leaned in and lifted Lee's head before kissing him softly, "Listen to me, I'm not going anywhere. Nothing is going to happen to me, me and you we're in this together. And I know you think Clem doesn't need you anymore but that is such bullshit. You mean the world to that girl, hell I bet she did that to impress you." She said with a little smirk,
Lee's lips slowly curled into a smile as Molly rested her head on his shoulder. "Man, what would I do without you to keep me together?" He said resting his head on hers,
"Probably fall straight the fuck apart." Molly said with a grin. Lee let out a low chuckle as they sat together. After a few more minutes Molly got up, "Come on, better get some sleep." She said, causing Lee to nod in response and follow her over to the beds.
Early the next morning half the group was gathered around at the table. Lee, Mike, Kenny, Jane, Rebecca, Clem and Sarah were getting ready to put the final part of their plan in motion. "Okay with Molly already working with the others that means we need to figure out who takes the radio to Luke." Lee said from the head of the table they surrounded,
"Well I can take it." Mike said raising his hand, "I'll get it done no problem."
"I don't know about that, I think Clem should take it." Kenny said crossing his arms,
"What? Why?" Mike asked confused,
"Ken...I don't really see why she should, Mike seems pretty capable." Lee said dismissively,
"Thank you, I mean what reason do you have for a kid to do this?" Mike said crossing his arms,
"There is a million reasons! She's smart, she's small, she can hide, she's the one who got us the damn radio in the first place! And nothing against you Mike but I don't know you from Adam." Kenny said frowning,
"Fine if you don't trust me then let Lee take it." Mike said pointing his thumb over,
"Lee could do it." Clementine said with a nod,
Kenny put his hands on his hips and looked over at Lee, "Do I really have to say it?" He said peering to Lee's stump,
"Oh come on, it's just a radio. He can do just fine with one arm." Mike said firmly,
"Kenny what the fuck man?" Lee said annoyed,
"Look it ain't nothing personal pal, it's just this radio is our best shot to get out of here. All i'm saying is we should make sure our chances to get it to Luke the best we got." Kenny said easily, "And if we want that we give it to Clem." Kenny said firmly,
"Kenny I can handle this." Lee said grabbing the radio,
"Lee you gotta listen to me on this, you ain't fit to be-" Kenny started to say,
"This is happening, swallow it." Lee said coldly as he slipped the radio into his pocket,
Kenny narrowed his eyes, "Fine, just don't fuck this up."
Lee looked down to Clem, "Alright Clem, where is the meet up?"
"It's in the comic store next door." Clem replied, "Luke is hiding in the back."
Just as she said that the rolling doors to the pen opened up, Tavia flanked by two other men walked inside and looked over at the group, "Alright everyone time to get a move on. Daylight's burnin, you got to sleep in all things considered."
"Where's my dad?" Sarah asked timidly,
"He's where the rest of you are, at work." Tavia replied then she looked around, "Jane, Rebecca, Sarah, if you got to piss you do it now. You aren't going to have any time today. Now follow me." She said leading the three of them out,
"What about us?" Kenny asked,
"Troy is coming for the rest of you in a minute." She replied as she began to close the door.
As she closed the door and walked away Lee turned back to Kenny, Mike and Clem, "Look we all know that that herd is coming soon, it could hit tonight so I need to make sure you are all ready if that happens."
"Of course were fucking ready." Kenny said firmly.
Mike and Clem both gave a firm nod, "Good." Lee said with a smile and a nod.
They waited a few moments then Troy opened the pen door, "Alright little chickens, let's get to pecking." Troy said as he walked right up to the four of them. "And I want no funny business today. You hear me?" Troy said glaring down at Clementine, "Afraid I'm gonna need an answer missy." He said directly to her,
Clementine glared up at him coldly before nodding, "Yes sir."
"Good, let's get a move on." Troy said as he turned around and lead the four of them out of the pen.
The four of them were brought out to the expansion personally and Lee saw the comic store yet with Troy right there he had to wait. Hours past as they all worked under the watchful eye of Troy, Lee continued to look for an opening and just around sunset Clementine came over to him, "Are you going to get the radio to Luke?" She whispered to him as they worked on putting a piece of plywood up,
"I will if I can just shake Troy for five minutes. We need a distraction." Lee whispered back,
Clementine thought for a minute then whispered over to him, "Maybe we can get Kenny and Mike to fight, then when Troy is separating them you could sneak away."
Lee raised his eyebrows, "Good idea." He said with a smirk. Clementine let out a little proud smile and said she would go and tell them.
Moments later Kenny and Mike started to argue while Lee slowly moved towards the front door. Just as Kenny took a swing and Mike tackled him to the ground Troy put down his radio and came storming over, "Alright what the fuck do you think you're doing! Stop this fucking shit!" He shouted out angrily as he raised his rifle.
Lee wasting no time slipped right out of the door and ran over to the comic store. He slipped through the door and looked around only to see nothing. "Luke?" He whispered out. Just outside the door he could hear Troy shouting and it sounded as though he was heading out of the store. Lee quickly moved forward and started to search around the store, "Where the fuck is he?" He asked himself as he found nothing.
With time wasting he slowly moved back to the door while giving one last look around. "Fuck." He whispered to himself as he walked out of the door. He looked to his left and saw Troy staring right at him with Kenny, Mike and Clem right behind him.
"What the fuck were you doing in there?" Troy asked angrily. Lee stared at him silently as Troy kicked the door open and looked around. He looked around for a moment then looked back to Lee with narrowed eyes. He moved up to him and slammed the butt of his rifle into Lee's stomach sending him to his knees,
"Hey!" Kenny shouted out as his eyes flared up,
"Lee!" Clem exclaimed as she ran over to him,
"You're all fucking lucky that Bill wants you in the pen. I'll just let him deal with you, now get the fuck up." Troy said with his rifle raised. Lee slowly got to his feet and the four of them were lead inside. As they got into the pen they were shocked to see Luke laying on the ground, clearly beaten as Carver stood over him. Carlos was kneeling down trying to see if anything was broken as Carver began to speak. Lee looked up and saw Bonnie and Vince along with a few other guards surrounding the group.
"After all we've done for you this is how we are repaid for our trust? With Treachery? With deceit? With theft!" Carver said as he paced in front of the group. Molly ran over to Lee who was still holding his stomach, "Whatever you were planning is over...it's done! You can't just run from your problems. You can't just up and leave when it gets tough…'cause there's nowhere else you can go where it ain't." Carver said slowly walking up towards Lee and Clementine, "Tough is all we got now, get it through your fuckin skulls." He glared at them in particular for a moment then walked back to the front of the group, "Luke can't help you now, only you can do that. You must help yourselves...you must help me find the strength to forgive you." Carver slowly crossed her arms and looked at each of their faces, "You can start by telling me the other one is?" Carver said holding up a walkie talkie. Lee raised an eyebrow seeing that Luke didn't wait for them he must have been caught stealing a radio for himself. "I'm going to count to three and if that radio is not in my hand by then, we'll have to make things more difficult." Carver paused then started to count, "One…...Two…."
Lee's face tightened then he put his hand into his pocket grabbing the radio, "I got it!" He called out causing the others to look at him surprised and now fearful. Carver put his hand out and glared at Lee stoically.
"Lee." Clementine whispered out to him,
"Don't." Molly said grabbing his wrist,
"It's okay." He whispered back to them and slowly started to walk up to them. Lee made direct eye contact with Carver as he continued to walk up to him,
Lee held up the radio and began to drop it into Carver's hand, yet just before it hit his palm he said, "Three."
Lee stared at him and narrowed his eyes, "Motherfucker." He said shaking his head as Carver slammed his hand into his gut.
"Lee! You sonofabitch!" Molly shouted out and started to run forward,
"Fucker!' Kenny shouted out and tried to follow suit only to get hit on the back of his head. Kenny fell to his knees as Troy towered over him, Sarita started to run over to him only for Carlos to reach out and stop her. As Molly reached Carver he simple shot his hand out and slapped her to the floor. Lee felt his veins course with fury and he got up trying to slam his head into Carver's stomach. Carver reached out and slammed his knee into Lee's head sending him sprawling back onto the ground.
"Every just calm the fuck down!" Carver shouted out as he pulled out his revolver, "This is your choice you either learn a lesson or you get killed. It makes no fucking difference to me, so what's it gonna be?" Carver said glaring around at the group who stood there unmoving. Carver slowly slipped his revolver back into his holster and knelt down grabbing Lee by his collar, "Now what the fuck am I going to do with you?" He asked menacingly.
Alright long time no see everyone, I know it's been awhile but I was working on some other stories as well as planning out how I want this to go. So next chapter is going to be pretty big and I also hope you liked this chapter as well. Catch you all in the next one and I look forward to reading all your reviews!