Chapter 7 - Silence
Benji's POV
The Next Day
This place has been dead over the last day. Barely anyone has said a word since we had to kick out Clem and AJ, and rightfully so. I hope those that voted to kick them out feel some sort of remorse, because those that voted stay are feeling absolutely awful. Myself included. I just hope they made it back to Richmond safe and sound. Maybe they're still on the road. In that case, I hope they make it back.
I feel awful for a few people in particular. Violet clearly voted to stay, and she was absolutely distraught at having to kick out Clem. The two of them seemed to be very close, so having to kick them out like that, it's pretty fucked up.
Tenn needed a friend that he could talk to and play with, and although AJ's a lot younger, the two of them were also very close, much like Clem and Violet. AJ might've been Tenn's first real friend here, and I feel absolutely awful for him. The poor kid had no one to really talk to, except AJ for maybe two days. And now it's back to nothing.
Despite all this, the one I'm really scared about is my own brother. Brett stormed off after the vote, and I found him lying in bed, unresponsive to anything I tried to do. I know he's mourning Brody, but he's not doing anything at all. He just lies there, blankly staring up. He doesn't talk, he doesn't move, he just stays there. It's like I don't even exist when I try to get him to talk to me. He's been in his own little world the last day, and I don't know what will break him out of it. Although I hope something does soon. We need leadership here, and while Violet took over, Brett's leadership is still something we need around here.
After Violet and Louis came back, they told us something very chilling. They came across the people that kidnapped the twins. The raiders. This man, I assume the guy that stole some of our food he other night, and this woman, who the two of them noted seemed to be familiar with Clem already. Although, they did not seem to be on good terms, as both Clem and AJ were roughed up before the two of them ran away. So while it's unknown if Clem and AJ are even still alive, we might have a bigger problem on our hands if what Violet and Louis told us is true.
Today, I'm on lookout duty, and while it's been a quiet day, aside from the occasional walker that'll pass through. This quiet is a chilling one. It's too quiet. No conversation, nothing. Just the breeze and my thoughts. It doesn't feel right. I've had the feeling I'm being watched, but I really can't see anything out there. But if these asshole raiders are really coming out to get us, it makes me wonder how long they've been scouting us out. They could've been scouting it out longer than Brett and I have been here; the sheer thought that we've probably been watched by another group all this time is creepy as Hell.
I see something move by the treeline, and I raise my bow. Is it a raider? Shit. Is it?
No, it's not. Two figures emerge. A walker, but he's moving like a human naturally would? And, what the? Clem?
Yep. Clementine. Holding AJ, a visible blood stain seeping through his shirt. I immediately rush down from the post, over to the gate, just in time to see the walker walking away, still just like a normal person. But more importantly, I see Clem collapse to the ground, AJ still in her arms.
"Clem!" I cry out to her as I force the gates open, rushing over to her. 'Shit, is he-"
"He's alive." She assures me. "He was shot. He's running a fever. We need to get him inside." She weakly tells me.
"Here," I grab AJ in my arms, blood slowly seeping through the shirt and onto my jacket, but nonetheless I carry him in, Clem keeping up, even though I can tell she's completely exhausted. The three of us make our way into the Admin building, much to the surprise of the others, and we rush upstairs.
"Ruby," I turn to her, "He's been shot. Can you help him out?"
"Let me see." She tells me, taking the boy into her arms, inspecting the wound, before handing him back to me and nodding upstairs. "Come on. I have what I need upstairs."
She motions for me to set him down on a couch, which I do. She puts a hand to his forehead, frowning and shaking her head. Poor little guy, his body's running a fever, trying to fight the infection."
"Ruby and Louis will take care of him. But you and me need to talk, in the office." Violet leads Clem inside, but she turns back to me before closing the doors. "Benji?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you get Brett? We haven't seen him since the vote, and if what happened yesterday is any indication of what's to come, we're gonna need him."
I nod to her, taking one last look at the boy, slowly writhing in pain from the wound as Louis and Ruby tend to him.
I slowly jog down the stairs, out the door and towards the dorms, entering the building and making my way to the room Brett and I share. I hesitate a moment, thinking about the condition he's in. He hasn't spoken a word, hasn't eaten, hasn't moved in a day.
Regardless, I slowly open the door. Sure enough, there he is. His eyes stay wide open, bags forming, his light breathing the only sounds he's making, and the only indicator he's even alive. His eyes stay fixated on the ceiling, just as he has the last day.
I kneel down by his bed, and I lightly nudge his shoulder. "Brett. Brett."
He doesn't respond, still staring upwards in a trancelike state. I nudge him harder, trying to snap him out of it. He still doesn't respond, like I'm not even there. With a reluctant hesitation, I wind up, and swing an open hand towards him.
Brett's POV
My mind snaps back to reality as I feel a stinging pain on my cheek. Stunned, I lay there for a second before looking at my brother, who just slapped me.
"Benji?" I hoarsely ask him as he hands me his water bottle. "Jesus…"
"You need to get up. Clem's back and she needs your help." He explains to me, and I feel my face brighten a bit. Clem and AJ are back. Thank God. But why?
"What's going on?" I ask him as I sit up, rubbing my face.
"Clem and Violet will explain. We need to get to the office right now. Come on."
Minutes later, I'm walking up the stairs that lead to the office, and as I reach the top, I'm immediately met with the sight of Ruby and Louis operating on AJ.
"What the fuck happened?" I ask them, but Ruby shoos me away to focus on her work, and I barely catch a glimpse of AJ, barely conscious, and bloody on his side.
I step into the office to see Violet and Clem leaning over a map of the property, and the two of them both look up with a smile to see me.
"It's good to see you." Clem remarks, and I return the smile.
"I could say the same to you. I figured you'd be halfway to Richmond at this point."
"We were on our way. But we got… sidetracked."
"That's certainly one way of putting things. So, what's going on?"
Violet slides the map towards me. "Clem ran into some of the raiders Marlon was doing business with in the woods. It turns out they're fighting a war and they need soldiers, and they do that by kidnapping people, and forcing them to fight."
"And they're coming back for more?" I ask in a follow up. Violet nods in response.
"Bingo."
"What else do we know?" I ask the two of them.
"I have history with one of them." Clem explains to me, which garners a curious look from me, before she continues. "A woman named Lilly. She was a member of my first group, back when I met Ian and Lee, and others. She and her dad were some awful people, and she became vicious after her father died. She shot Ian's wife, this woman Carley, during a dispute, so we ditched her on the side of the road, never to be seen again. Or so we thought. There's not too much else I know about her, other than that she was in the military and she's ruthless."
"So these raiders are coming? We should do what we can to defend this place. It's a bloody fortress, so whatever we can do to make it stronger, I say go for it."
"Clem and I were just discussing that." Violet informs me, pointing to various areas on the map. "We've gotta fortify the walls, set up some cover in the courtyard, and we can even rig some traps around the area, just to catch them off-guard."
"I'm going to the greenhouse to grab some barbed wire, for fortifying the walls." Clem adds, and Violet nods in confirmation.
"Sounds like a plan." I agree. "We can't be too careful with this. These assholes are more experienced, ruthless, and they've probably got numbers on us, too. But, they're coming to us, so we've got that going for us. It won't be pretty, but we can do this as long as we stay cool and we don't lose our heads.
As though right on cue, the doors slam wide open and Mitch barges in, angrily. "Okay, what the Hell's going on?". Almost immediately, he takes notice of Clementine, to which his anger doubles. "Willy told me she was back, but I was like, no way, Violet wouldn't just go against what we all decided."
"Would you keep it down?" Ruby shushes him as she gently closes the doors. "The little boy is recovering and is asleep."
"Oh, great, we're just giving them our medicine, too?" Mitch sarcastically remarks, to which I get in his face.
'Look, motherfucker, those raiders that shot him, the ones that took Minnie and Sophie, they're getting ready to come and take more of us. We are on a fucking timer, and we need all the help we can get to make sure we don't lose anyone. Including Clementine's."
"Like Hell we do." He scoffs in my face. "For all we know, she's one of them."
"She's not." Violet fires back. "If you saw their leader's boot on her neck, you'd know that."
"All I know is that ever since she showed up, it's been trouble." He shoots back to her.
"Use your head, Mitch. You saw AJ on the way in. If I was with the raiders, why would
they have hurt him like that?" Clem asks him.
"I don't know, maybe he shot one of their friends." He remarks, referencing Marlon's death in a way that makes me want to kick his ass again.
"Clem's going to the greenhouse to get barbed wire and anything else she thinks we could use to defend the place, and you're going to help her."
He scoffs. "Uh, no. I'm not."
I grab him by the collar, glaring right into his eyes. "Listen here, you dumb son of a bitch. Those raiders will be here any day now, ready to take us or kill us. Now, I don't know about you, but I like living here, freely, not kidnapped. Now, Violet didn't ask you, pretty please with a fucking cherry on top. She's telling you how it is. You're going with her, to find anything we can use to make sure we live another day, Anything she says, you do. Am I clear?"
He glares back at me, but he firmly nods. "Crystal."
"I'll go along, too." Ruby volunteers, "To keep the peace."
"Since when were you guys the ones making the calls, anyways?" Mitch snarls at us, and Violet and I both glare back at him.
"Because no one else stepped the fuck up." She tells him, before turning to Clem. "They'll meet you by the gate once I've told them the situation."
With that, Clem leaves, just leaving the four of us. As Violet briefs them on the situation, I lean out the open window, overlooking the courtyard. So, preparing for an attack. From some ex-military people in a zombie apocalypse. At 19, I should be a college student, worrying about exams and shit, not this. But something, somehow, I feel surprisingly confident. Maybe it's legitimate confidence, maybe I'm just arrogant. This all depends on how much them coming to us is. If we can defend our place, then we'll do just fine. But, that's all depending on how well we can defend it. But, I'll fight till the last breath for this place, cause I'll be damned if I fight for these raiders.
"Brett?" I hear Violet ask, and I turn to see we're alone. "How're you feeling?"
"Fuck, Vi, I have no idea. I've spent the last day mourning Brody, but now all this with the raiders and I'm feeling all fired up. Like, I wanna fight them, for her, and for everyone we lost."
"Yeah, I understand. Do you think we have a chance?"
"God, I have no idea. I don't really know much anything about them, but all I do know is we have our work cut out for us. It's gonna get bloody, I just hope we can make it out."
May God help us all.
Short little chapter to segway into the climax of Episode 2. Tried something new with switching POVs, so I think I might jump around with that a bit as I see fit from now on, we'll have to see. Truth be told, I haven't felt very inclined to write lately, mostly because of school, sports, and I was just on vacation too, hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things soon. Anyways, Happy Friday and I hope you guys enjoyed. See you next week.