A/N: It's been a while, but now I'm back. You may or may not hate me by the end, but a writer's got to do what a writer's got to do. So enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead Game.
It Just Happened
Daisyfan5534
Chapter 11
"Okay now that we're all here, we can start the meeting." Donald called.
Winter just started. The cold has killed off some of the crops, but because of the trip to the shack in Wyoming, they were making it through the winter. The weather hasn't been the kindest, either. Freezing nights, frosty mornings, and a lot more rain. There was a hail storm once, but no snow.
"How's everyone doing for winter?" Donald asked to break the ice. "For those of you who are new to the state, all I can say is: Welcome to Washington."
The council would always meet in the barn since it was the only place big enough to hold everyone. It was mostly men on the council, but there were a few women.
"Alright, so I've prolonged this as long as I could, but we're going to discuss law-breakers." Donald said. "If someone in this town were to abuse, kill someone else, or risk the whole society fall, what would we do?"
"Well, what have you done in the past?" Someone spoke up.
"No one's done anything yet. We haven't had anything like that happen." Donald explained.
"Do we plan on bringing in the death penalty or are we going to kick them out?" Luke asked.
"I haven't decided." Donald responded.
"We aren't animals. We shouldn't kill them." A woman spoke up.
"Well, we can't kick them out, either. What if they try to rally against us?" A man added.
"Then we kill them." Someone responded.
"Is that before or after they kill half the town?" Another woman said.
"Supposedly, the Wellington camp has high walls. If we had that, then we could kick them out." Luke spoke.
"Okay, so what about other camps or sanctuaries? What did they do?" Donald asked.
"The last camp I was in was run by a dictator. My old group and I had to escape because of the treatment there; anyone who tried to escape or couldn't pull their weight were abused and sometimes killed." Luke explained.
"How far did the abuse go?" a guy asked.
"Depends how pissed he is. Lets just say that he would've gone to the extent of raping a child. His camp was doomed to fall because of how he lead it." Luke responded.
"That's… That's just inhumane. A child?" A woman spoke up.
"You can see why we had to escape."
"Okay then, let's put this into perspective. Let's say Mr. Asshole Dictator was living here and he did rape a child, what do we do?" Donald asked.
"Well, seeing that some of us are taking care of a child, you included, Don; you should ask yourself that question." another guy said. "Heaven forbid, someone were to come in and rape Rodney, what would you do?"
Donald went silent. It was a difficult question. "Honestly, I'd want him dead."
"Carrie, what would you do if someone were to rape one of your young kids?"
"I wouldn't want to live a few houses down from him." she responded.
"Luke, you have Clementine. If someone were to rape her, what would you do?"
It was a question he already knew the answer to. He didn't want to live anymore after hurting Clem like that. "I'd want him dead." he responded.
"And if someone were to rape Andie, we all know that Molly will shoot his ass with a shotgun, no questions asked." The guy said. He was right, despite being old, Molly is practically a vigilante for the town. "My point is, we can't side completely with either killing or kicking. It's just going to have to depend on the situation."
"As difficult as it might get, I think that's what we're going to have to settle with." Donald said. "If it's something like murder then we can kill them, but for something small, like stealing, we can kick them out."
"I don't know, it seems too open-ended for a law." a woman said.
"Well, it's a start." Donald responded. "Lets keep going with this, and-"
"Dad!"
Donald turned to his son who came running in. "Rodney, you know you can't be in here while we're having a meeting.
"Well, meeting adjourned! Clem and Andie were attacked in the woods!" Rodney responded.
"Bandits?" the father asked.
"I don't know, they just told me to let you know and get our other doctors." Rodney said.
"Alright, we'll finish this next week! Let's go!"
Clem and Andie were sore. They both helping each other get to the hospital house, since they could barely walk on their own.
"Okay…" Andie grunted. "We're almost there."
Clementine huffed from exhaustion, they were both done and wanted to rest. "About… Time."
Finally, the two made it to the steps of the house. They didn't have enough strength to climb them and get inside, so they just sat on the porch, swearing as they did.
"Well, that could have gone better…" Clementine said as the pain lessened.
"The fight or walking here?" Andie grunted as she tried to get comfortable, but she was in pain as well.
"Where the hell is everyone?" Clementine asked.
"I… I don't know. Fuck this hurts!" Andie exclaimed as she held her hand.
While they were hunting for animals that haven't gone completely into hibernation, Clementine and Andie were jumped by two men. The fight was intense, but the girls won and the men are dead. Andie came out with a broken lip, a couple cuts on her arm and leg, and a busted hand. Clementine made it out with a black eye, a stab in her shoulder, and a twisted ankle. Both of them had received punches and hits all over, they've been thrown a couple times, and despite it all, they managed to kill the two assholes who attacked them.
"We- We showed them!" Andie said, trying to start a conversation.
Clementine pressed her hand over her stab wound, trying to stop the bleeding.
"We barely made it out." Clem said.
"How much you want to bet they won't let us hunt anymore?" Andie asked.
"Considering that we look like shit, most definitely." Clementine responded.
"Well, it was fun while it lasted." Andie sighed.
Clementine closed her eyes feeling a headache coming on. Luke is probably not going to let her out of his sight after this.
"Clem, you know the four suits in a deck of cards?" Andie asked.
"Andie, not now." Clementine groaned from her headache.
"I'll take that as a yes. Anyway, the assholes who attacked us both had the club symbol on their wrists."
"So?"
"I don't know, I notice weird stuff."
Andie! Clem!"
"Rodney!" Andie exclaimed as the teenage boy ran over to them, the rest of the town council not far behind.
"Hey, you girls okay?" He asked.
"Define okay." Clementine responded, joining the conversation.
"What the hell, happened?"
"A couple of fucking assholes jumped us!" Clem explained harshly, the headache wasn't making her the most cheery person.
"Rod, can you interrogate us after we get looked at? We're both beaten to shit." Andie asked.
"Right, sorry." He said as he held out his hands to Andie and Clem to help them up. Rodney wrapped his arms around the girls and helped them up the stairs and inside.
Clementine sighed. Her check up was done and Rodney finished asking about what happened. Clem got her shoulder wound patched up and had her ankle wrapped. Andie's hand wasn't broken, but she had to get some bones popped back into place. Andie also got her cuts stitched and her lip cleaned.
Luke was currently carrying Clem back to their house, refusing to let her walk.
"I can walk." She said.
"Really? Because you barely had the strength to walk a couple hours ago." Luke responded.
"I'm stronger now."
"I'm not letting you walk on your bad ankle. Unless you want to hop like an adorable, little bunny."
"Just don't drop me on my ass this time." Clementine said bitterly.
Luke smirked to himself at the comment, he enjoyed poking fun at Clementine. The two made it to the house and walked inside. The farm boy set the pre-teen down on the couch before sitting next to her.
"So… What do you want to do?" He asked.
"I've been meaning to cut my hair ever since we got here." Clementine responded.
"Alright, you can do that." Luke said as he reached his arms out to her.
"Luke, I swear if you carry me, I'll punch you!" She told him.
"Fair enough, do you need help getting to the bathroom?" Luke asked.
"I'll be fine." Clementine said as she stood up. "Can you find a pair of scissors, please?"
"Yeah." Luke stood up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen. He found the scissors in one of the drawers and he also grabbed a bar stool for Clem to sit on. He didn't want her to hurt her ankle even more.
Luke walked into the bathroom and placed the stool down. Clementine sat on it as Luke set the scissors on the sink.
The little girl took her hat off and pulled out her hair ties, running her hand through the curly, tangled mess to shake it out. Clementine looked in the mirror and paused. She looked like her mom.
She sighed, taking the scissors in her hand and bringing them to her hair. Clem look at herself one last time before she started cutting the curls. After fifteen minutes of cutting and evening the hair out, she was done. Clementine put her hair back into the little pigtails. She turned her head to one side then the other to make sure her hair looked nice, then she put her hat back on.
Clem turned her head to light knocking on the open door to the bathroom. "How's it going?" Luke asked, who came to check on her.
"I'm done." She responded.
Luke walked behind her and ran his hand under her hat and through her hair, noticing how short it was now.
"I'm going to miss your long hair." He said.
"You know…" Clementine picked up the scissors, making a few snips in the air. "Maybe I should cut your hair."
Luke chucked before pulling the bill of her hat over her eyes and taking the scissors out of her hands. "Not a chance, kid."
Black hair and green eyes. It was the first thing Luke noticed about her. After only a few days of sleeping together, they started to flirt with each other. Then here they are now, a month after arriving, making out in the kitchen. Just him and Melissa. Luke had no idea if this was a dream or a memory, but oddly enough, he wasn't complaining. He forgot how amazing Melissa was at kissing.
Melissa pulled away, smiling at Luke.
"Follow me." She said as she walked towards the door.
Luke willingly followed her into the next room, only to see the bedroom he and Clementine shared. He saw the little girl sleeping peacefully on the bed. Luke only took a few steps into the room before getting punched in the face, knocking him to the ground.
"Tie him up. I want him to see what I have planned."
"Will do."
Luke looked at the person pulling him up. It was David, he and Melissa ganged up on him. Despite Luke trying to fight against him, David managed to force him down in a chair and pull his hands behind his back to tie them together.
Melissa sat on Luke's lap, pulling his hair to force him to look at her.
"You should try to enjoy this, Luke." Melissa pressed her mouth up against Luke's. He could feel her cold hand trail up and down his body and her tongue slide into his mouth.
So many things were going through his mind, and he didn't know how to handle it. David finished tying his hands, so he couldn't really do much. The only thing he could do was to just sit here and let Melissa have her way with him… or fight back.
Luke slammed his head forward against Melissa's, knocking her off his lap. It hurt, but there wasn't anything else he could really do.
"Go fuck yourself, Melissa!" he spat before glancing back at David. "You know, why don't you and David go fuck each other. I'm sure you two have a lot in common."
"Luke, baby. I understand that you're mad." she said as she stood up, walking back over to him with a rag in her hand. "But it's no reason to take it out on someone you used to love."
"After what you did to Clem? Not a cha-" Melissa stuffed the rag in Luke's mouth.
"Shhh… Baby, it's alright. Just remain calm and everything will turn out just fine." She said with an evil smile before looking at David behind him, letting her smile turn to a bitter expression. "Do what you want to him, I'll figure out how to handle the problem."
"I've been waiting to do this…" David came into view as Melissa went to go lean up against the wall.
David began punching Luke. It was mostly his face, a few to his torso and stomach, but it hurt either way. Luke was defenseless, all he could do was chew on the rag and take the punches. He could tell that David was enjoying himself.
"That's enough." Melissa spoke after what felt like hours. David glanced at her before hitting Luke one more time. "Why don't you get some rest, David. You look like you need it."
If anyone needed rest, it was Luke. He felt like he got hit with the truck.
"Speaking of sex, Luke." Melissa said pulling the rag out of his mouth. "You had sex with a little attention whore, and not me?"
"I never wanted to hurt Clem like that. If you were in her position at the time, the same thing would have happened, so don't you dare call her a whore!" Luke hissed, trying to recover from the pain. He then noticed David get into the bed, right next to Clementine. "Get the fuck away from her!"
Melissa pulled a gun out and placed it against Luke's temple. "Make a sound, and I'll kill you. You don't want her to become David's little whore, do you? Because I can make that happen."
Luke watched as David wrap his arm around Clem. Seeing that pervert right next to her was enough torture for him and Luke couldn't do anything to save her. David shifted his position and gently glided his fingers down the side of her body and back up, making sure not to wake her. Luke wanted to say something and Melissa knew that he wanted to. She pressed the barrel further into his temple as a reminder to stay quiet.
This continued for a while. David brushing his fingers along Clem's body. He only stopped after Melissa spoke up.
"I figured out how to handle the problem."
David glanced at her then at Luke before looking back at Clementine. He sat up only to lean down and place one, single kiss on the child's cheek to piss off Luke and it worked. Luke wanted to murder him at that point.
The man got out of bed and walked back over to the hostage situation.
"I forgot how small she was." David taunted. "I bet she'll have a beautiful body once she's older. You know, with curves in all the right places. Do you have something to say, Luke?"
No one was allowed to talk about Clementine like that and David's taunts would have made him dead by now, if only Luke wasn't tied up and had a gun to his head.
"So how are you going to deal with the problem?" David asked.
"Oh you'll see." Melissa removed the gun from Luke's head. "Make sure he can't escape."
Luke was confused on what 'the problem' was. They never specified what it was. It only became clear to Luke that the problem wasn't a thing, when Melissa was walking towards the sleeping child.
"You really shouldn't have saved her, Luke." she said.
"Melissa," Luke knew what she was going to do. "Please, I'll do whatever you want, just leave her out of this."
"I'm just going to get the problem out of the way." Melissa responded.
She set the gun down on the nightstand and pulled the pillow out from under Clementine's head, immediately shoving it over her face. Melissa straddled her, making sure she couldn't get out. Luke watched as Clementine squirmed under Melissa. The child tried to attack her by scratching her arms, body and face, but it failed to get Melissa off of her. The child managed to grab a hold of Melissa's hair and started pulling as hard as she could, forcing the woman to press the pillow down harder over her face.
In a last resort, Clementine's arm flailed over to Luke's side of the bed, as if she was trying to wake him up. But he wasn't there, he was tied to a chair forced to watch the whole thing. Clem's arm was pounding the bed at this point, probably panicked that she couldn't find him.
Finally, her struggling slowed down; Clementine's hold on Melissa's hair loosened and fell limp, her small arm collapsing on itself and landing on her still body. That was it, she was dead.
"What a pathetic, little brat." Melissa scoffed, fixing her hair as she left the pillow over the child's face. "I can't believe you actually care for her enough to cry."
Luke didn't even notice that he was crying until she pointed it out. "She did nothing to you!"
"She was getting in the way of us. Just be glad I'm not letting David fuck her dead corpse." Melissa said before looking back at Clementine. "Speaking of which…"
Clementine was moving underneath Melissa. She reanimated.
Melissa picked the gun up from the nightstand and placed the barrel against where her head would be under the pillow. "Nighty night, you little whore." She said.
"NO!"
BANG
Luke woke up from the nightmare with heavy breathing. He glanced to his left to see Clementine sleeping. She was safe. The most important person in the world to him was alive and safe.
He couldn't go back to sleep, not after that nightmare hell. Luke sat on the edge of the bed and put his face in his hands, taking deep breaths to calm down. The nightmare replayed over and over in his head. David and Melissa taunting him, torturing him, threatening him. And the worst part, watching Clem get killed. Luke wiped a couple tears from his eyes and sighed heavily. He had to be strong. He had to be Clementine's wall and keep her happy.
Luke felt a hand on his shoulder and heard a soft voice break the silence in the room.
"Luke?" It was Clem. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Clem. Just go back to sleep." He responded, trying to keep his voice steady to not worry her.
Clem opened her mouth to say something, but she decided against it. She huffed before doing what he asked. Clementine laid back down and closed her eyes, trying not to worry about Luke.
The farm boy took one last deep breath before he laid back down. Luke turned his head to look at Clem. She's dealt with nightmares, too. He's seen her stay up late just to avoid sleeping in case Carver paid her a visit. The week he left, Clementine had a nightmare that was so bad, she didn't sleep for days. Clem told him that Carver literally stabbed her in the back, saying that it will feel like that once she realizes that Luke wasn't coming back.
Luke did come back, thank god, but seeing that Clem practically believed that asshole and avoid sleeping in fear of running into him again, it goes to show that nightmares and fear can be brought to life. Her greatest fear: Losing Luke.
This plays the other way. Luke's greatest fear is losing Clementine. That nightmare was hell to him. Clem deals with Carver occasionally, Luke didn't think he could handle another dream like that. He gave her props for that, she's a tough kid.
Luke moved closer to Clementine before wrapping a protective arm around her, not wanting to let go. He was mad at himself; he couldn't save Clem in the dream. How could he keep her safe in real life? Luke hugged her tighter, burying his face in the back of her neck. The only place where he knew she was safe was in his arms.
"Hey…" Clementine rolled over to look at him. Luke tilted his head down. "Are you sure you're okay?" She asked.
"I'm fine, kid. Go back to sleep." He responded. Luke didn't want her to worry.
Clementine took his head into her hand, pulling it up so she could look at him. She became concerned after feeling that his cheeks were a bit wet.
"Luke, were you crying?"
The last time he cried was after Abigail died, but he was drunk then and he doesn't remember. Luke was sincerely upset this time, no alcohol involved. Clementine wrapped her arms around him burying his head in her shoulder. Luke accepted her affection and cried in her hold, feeling her fingers curl and uncurl on his back to try and soothe him.
"I love you, Clem. You'll never know how much." Luke cried.
"I love you, too." She responded. "Luke, why are you crying?"
"Clem, you… you don't want to know…" Luke told her.
She sat up, curious on what was wrong. "Tell me."
Luke knew she wouldn't let it go, so he sat up as well. He then proceeded to explain the nightmare. From when David tied him up to when Melissa shot Clementine when she turned. Luke explained the whole thing to her. It hurt to walk through the whole thing again, tears streamed down his face when he had to tell Clem about how Melissa killed her.
"I couldn't do anything to save you. You tried to reach me, but I wasn't there. I'm supposed to keep you safe, but I couldn't…"
"Luke, you did everything you could. It's not your fault." Clementine said, trying to comfort him.
"Then why do I feel like shit?" Sure it was just a dream, but if it were to happen in real life and Luke couldn't save Clem, he'd never forgive himself.
"Because nightmares fucking suck." Clementine responded.
Luke chuckled at that response before asking something more serious. "How do you do it, Clem?" He asked. "How do you deal with Carver? And how do you get over it?"
Clementine thought to herself for a moment before she spoke. "It's not easy. I'm absolutely terrified of him ever since the first nightmare; the first one is always the worst." She remembered clearly what Carver did to her. "The escape plan went wrong. I went into his office, and he was waiting for me. His face was caved in, bloody, and disgusting, like how we found him. Carver pushed me up against the wall, tied my hands behind my back, then he turned me back over to face him. He held my throat with one hand and rubbed my arm with the other while he looked at me."
If anyone had experience with nightmares, it was Clem. Carver enjoyed tormenting her, and she had to deal with it.
"I was scared, confused, vulnerable; I didn't know what else to do but to knee him in his nuts. He released his grip on me and I tried to run, but I tripped. Carver got closer to me, I tried to back away, and he managed to straddle me. He put his hand over my mouth so I couldn't scream, and that was when he threatened me not to tell you or he'd hurt me." Clementine explained. "Then he started rubbing my side and whispering things in my ear. His entire body was on top of me, and I couldn't get out. I tried to get him off, until he told me how much he liked it when I squirmed."
"Clem, what did he say to you?" Luke asked.
"I'd rather not say." She responded. "I didn't get a lot of sleep that night, or the night after that. Then I remembered a trick my dad taught me when I was too scared to go to sleep, and it worked."
"What did you do?"
"I thought of things that made me happy. Thinking of all of the old memories that made me feel better and I felt relaxed… There was also this other thing."
"What?"
"I had you." Clementine smirked. "Abigail was right. You're just like a teddy bear. You're always there when I need you.
"You're a tough kid, you know? I probably would have lost my damn mind if it wasn't for you." Luke said as he laid back down. "So think of happy things?"
"Yeah." Clementine began rubbing Luke's forehead to try and help him fall asleep.
"Wait, why were you and Abigail talking about me?" Luke asked, looking up at Clementine.
She smiled, seeing Luke get wound up over something she and Abigail talked about was funny. "Just go to sleep, Luke."
"Should I be worried?"
"Just go to sleep."
Luke closed his eyes and pushing the discussion between Clem and Abby to the back of his head and began to think of things that made him happy.
Every time his dad came home from war was the first thing he thought of. Goofing off with Nick was fun; jumping rooftops, pulling pranks together and on each other, snowball fights in the winter. Then there was Clem. She made him happy, she gave him a purpose to live. Seeing her smile, messing with her, making sure she's safe; all of that made him happy.
Clementine was amazing, and Luke had no idea what he did to deserve her. With that thought, he finally went back to sleep.
The snow was beginning to melt in her hand. Clementine peaked out from behind a tree, then quickly reverted back to her hiding spot, missing the snowball that was thrown at her. Clem threw the snowball in her hand at her attacker, and she didn't expect to hit her.
"Oh, you're going to get it, Clem!" She heard Andie yell.
It's been a few weeks since she and Andie were attacked, and they were both pretty much healed. As long as Clem minds her stab wound and Andie minds her hand, then they were fine.
Now they were just enjoying the snow. According to Rodney, it was rare for the snow to stick on the ground; usually it'd be slush because of the rain. So today he told them to make the best of it, since it could be washed away tomorrow. To add to that, Rodney told them to meet him by the pond.
If the town was low on food, then they'd fish from the pond during the warmer seasons. The pond was only a mile walk from the farm and while the girls were on their way to it, Andie started a snowball fight.
Clementine ran to another tree for cover, getting hit with a snowball on the way. She brushed it off, then quickly formed another snowball. Clem threw the snowball in Andie's direction and ended up getting hit in the face. The cold snow stunned her slightly, but she quickly managed to wipe it off. Once the snow was cleared off of her face, she couldn't find Andie. She formed another snowball to get ready for when she attacked, but it was no use.
One push from behind, sent Clementine to the ground. She turned on her back only to have Andie sit on top of her, pinning her hands down by her head.
"HA!" Andie exclaimed.
"Alright, alright. You win…" Clementine huffed in defeat. "Now get off!"
"No, you have to declare me the snowball queen." Andie responded.
"Andie, I know how to kick you off; don't make me do it!" Clementine added.
"Awe, really?" Andie pinched her cheeks jokingly. "But you're just so cute! How can you hurt anyone?"
Clementine, who now was getting annoyed, pulled her head out of Andie's grip and propped herself up on her arms. "I'm not cute! Now let me up!"
"All you have to say is, 'Andie is the snowball queen.'"
"And if I don't?"
"Well," Andie leaned in closer to Clem with a devilish look on her face. "I guess that means I'm not going to let you up. Rumor has it that you are ticklish, but if you don't want me to do that, I'm sure I can think of some other things I can do to you."
"MAKE OUT! MAKE OUT! MAKE OUT!"
Clem and Andie turned their heads to a couple of boys leaning up against the trees. They were teenage twins, one had messier hair than the other. Clementine has seen them around a few times, but never actually gotten the chance to meet them.
"Well, look who it is. It's Tweedledee and Tweedledum." Andie greeted, using as much sass as possible.
"Good morning to you, too, Andie." The twin with the messy hair said.
"Morning? I thought it was the afternoon." The other twin said.
Andie turned back to Clementine. "Have you met them yet?
"Not formally." Clementine responded.
"If you want to share the title of snowball queen then play along." Andie whispered to her. "So what are you two doing?" She asked the boys
"We were on our way to the pond, then we saw you girls, and we thought you were going to make out. Who wouldn't want to see that?" The neater twin asked.
"Okay, if you want us to make out, we will." Andie turned back to Clem. "On the count of three. Got it?"
"Yep." Clementine agreed as they both secretly gathered snow in their hands to make snowballs.
"Alright. One, two…" Andie and Clem took the snowballs in their hands as they inched closer to each other. "Three!" They both threw the snowballs at the twins, quickly getting up soon afterwards and running towards the pond before the boys could throw snowballs back.
The girls made it to the frozen pond. They made more snowballs, getting ready to throw them at the twins when they arrive.
"You girls better watch out!" One of the boys called from the woods.
"Come out and face us like men!" Andie yelled back.
"You asked for it!"
The twins popped out from behind the trees and the great snowball fight commenced. Girls against boys. They were having fun, it was nice to take a break from the work they had to do. The snowball fight lasted for a good fifteen minutes, until the leader's son arrived.
"Attention all freaks and geeks! Your king is now here!" Rodney shouted as he emerged from the trees.
All four of the kids looked at each other and smiled before throwing the snowballs in their hands at Rodney.
"Glad to see you all can make it." He said after wiping the snow off of him.
"Rod, what's with the duffle bag?" Andie asked.
"I'll explain later," he responded as he walked closer to the group tossing the bag near the pond's small dock. "Now Andie, would you be so kind and introduce Clem to the twins? I know she hasn't met them yet."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Clem, these are the twins: Tyrone and Tad." The twins bowed once introduced. "They are both thirteen and annoying. If you ever need to tell them apart; Tyrone is messy and red, and Tad is neat and blue." The twins had brown hair and brown eyes, but like Andie summarized: Tyrone was the one with the messy hair in the red hoodie, while Tad's hair was more neat and wore a blue hoodie. Fairly simple to remember.
"Boys, this is our badass, newbie: Clementine." Andie said, finishing off the introductions.
The twins held out their hands to shake Clem's, which she accepted.
"Okay, now that that's taken care of, what's this all about?" Tad asked.
"Yeah, not that I'm complaining, but why did you pull us out of our jobs?" Tyrone added.
"Well, let's face it. All of us are teenagers… except Clem who is a pre-teen, but still we are bored out of our minds." Rodney started to explain. "As I saw earlier with the snowball fight, I can tell that we are just about done with doing whatever we have to do to survive."
"So you pulled us away from our jobs so we can goof off?" Andie asked.
"Yes and no. I talked to my dad, and he's agreed for us to become our own group. Our job is to make the town a better place and do whatever odd jobs that are needed. This place is basically being handed to us when my dad and the others can't be in charge of it any more." Rodney explained. "I want to know I can trust the four of you and I want to live my life. I'm not letting the dead control it."
"So you want to have fun with your friends before we have to do shit?" Clementine asked.
"Yeah, that's what I want." Rodney confirmed. "One of our jobs in this group is try to find things that can benefit the town. We can't all just work, we all need to have fun."
Rodney opened the duffle bag by the dock, dumping out it's contents. There were five pairs of ice skates.
"If we have fun ice-skating, then we can get more ice skates for the whole town. The winter is stressful as it is with the crops and all, but I think this will help." Rodney noticed someone was missing from the group. "Where's Clem?"
The teens looked around for her, but they couldn't find her. Rodney could see footprints heading towards the woods from where Clementine was standing.
"You guys start skating, I'll go look for her." Rodney said before following the footprints.
Being a former track athlete, running was never a problem. He still enjoyed running, that's why he would do it when he needed to get somewhere. The footprints took him back to his dad's farm where he found Clementine behind the barn.
"Hey, there you are!" He exclaimed. "Clem, why did you run?"
"Rodney, I'm sorry. I just can't." Clementine told him. She sounded worried, maybe even scared.
"Really? I thought you'd want to be apart of the group." Rodney said.
"No, I do. I want to be in the group, but I don't want to ice-skate." Clementine explained.
"Why? It'll be fun."
"Rodney, please. I'll do anything else, but don't make me do that."
With that said, Clementine ran off again. Rodney was about to chase after her, but then he switched his route to go look for Luke. Clementine probably wouldn't say anything about why she didn't want to skate, but Luke could know why. It didn't take long to find him; he was with his dad, mending the surviving crops. Rodney's dad has been spending more time with Luke, he just thought it was because they've been getting along or because of Luke's history of working on a farm before.
"Luke?"
The farm boy turned to the teen and so did his father.
"I had a question about Clementine." Rodney told him.
"Alright, shoot." Luke responded.
"Well, I'm making a group of teens who are trying to have fun during this hell." Rodney started.
"If you're asking me if Clem would be apart of it, then I'm fine with it. As long as you guys aren't doing anything stupid, or something like that." Luke said.
"No, it's not that. Clem said she'd join, but the first thing we tried to do, she ran off."
"What did you guys do?"
"It's nothing bad, there's a pond about a mile away from here that froze over and we were just going to go ice-skating on it."
"Oh…"
"What?" Donald asked.
"Something happened in our old group." Luke said.
"Did it involve Clem?" Rodney asked.
"Yeah, it was probably about a year ago. There was an unfinished house on the other side of a frozen lake. One of our guys wanted us to walk across the ice, but someone else suggested that Clementine should test out the ice and make sure it's actually sturdy." Luke explained. "It wasn't; the ice broke, Clem fell in, and a lurker pulled her under. The kid nearly froze to death, if she hadn't drowned first."
"Damn…" Donald said aloud.
"Like I said, she's a tough kid." Luke said in response. "Anyway, if there is a reason why she wouldn't want to go ice-skating, that would be it."
"Is the ice sturdy, Rodney?" his dad asked.
"It was sturdy last year, the twins dared me to walk across it and it was fine." Rodney explained.
"Last year isn't this year." Donald said.
"Right… Luke, do you know where Clem would be?" Rodney asked.
"Probably back at the house." Luke responded.
"Rodney, I know you're trying to do the right thing, but it might be best to let Luke handle it." Donald said.
"Okay, I'll head back to the pond and check on the others." the teen said before running off.
"Luke, I had a question about what you said about the asshole dictator." Donald started. "What you said about him raping a child, was that child going to be Clementine?"
He sighed, remembering what Carver told him. "Yeah, it was."
"Does she know?" Donald asked.
"I eventually had to tell her, so yeah, she knows." Luke said. "Someone took the fall for her, thank god, but the fact that he would have done it to her…"
"Damn…"
"She is tough, but almost everyone we ran into wanted to hurt her like that. About a week or two before we arrived she was almost raped, then a few days later she tried to kill herself."
Donald stayed silent for a bit, hearing that was upsetting.
"Clementine is safe here. She can grow up, make friends, and live instead of survive. And I can't thank you enough for that." Luke finished.
The leader sighed. "Go find Clem. I'm sure she needs you."
Luke looked to him, uttering another thank you to him before going off to find her. Donald thought to himself about the tape he found.
It had two names written on it in red sharpie: Dan and Mary Ann. What was on the tape wasn't something to be repeated. But he had an idea of what might have went down in the radio shack with Clem and Luke, but Donald didn't have their tape even if there was one.
It didn't take long for Luke to find Clementine. She was hiding in the box fort she built in the other bedroom in the house. He got her to come out and convinced her to take a walk with him. They didn't say much, Luke was trying to figure out what to say, but at least he had an idea of what he was going to do.
"So, how's that jacket?" He asked. The jacket he gave her was light, but it was warm.
"It's good." Clementine responded.
"If it gets colder, you should probably look through the clothes in the other bedroom. I'm sure there's some clothes that fit you, like a hoodie or something."
"Okay."
Luke thought to himself, trying to think of a way to bring the issue up.
"So, are your friends nice?"
"Yeah, they're great."
"I'm glad that you were able to make some."
"Me too."
There isn't an easy way to bring it up, but at least he had somewhat of a plan, and actions speak louder than words.
Luke picked up the girl, throwing her over his shoulder. Despite her protests, he continued to walk towards the direction of the frozen lake. Once he was there, Luke set Clementine down and she punched him him the arm.
"Why did you do that?" Clementine asked.
"It was the only way I could get you here." Luke told her.
Clementine looked at the frozen pond. Her friends were gone, just the skates were left behind.
"You know, we probably should have sent Kenny or Mike first to see if the ice could even hold them." Luke said. "Not to mention, that there is a lot more snow here than wherever we were last year."
The farm boy looked through the pile of skates, pulling out a pair that would fit Clementine, and tossed them to her.
"What if I fall in?" Clementine asked.
"Then I'll pull you out and you can call me an asshole whenever you want." Luke responded. "I'm sure it's safe, Clem. And I'll prove it to you."
Luke began to walk on the ice, himself. He was scared that it would break, but it was a pond; it shouldn't be that deep.
"Luke, don't." Clementine tried to walk closer to try an stop him, but pulled back when she stepped on the ice.
He made it halfway across before turning back to the kid. "See? The ice is sturdy. Not to mention your friends were skating on it, all of them together probably weigh more than me." Luke walked back over to her, she still seemed scared.
Luke looked through the pile again and found skate that were roughly the same size as his shoe. He picked them up and started to put them on. "I'll skate with you. Come on, put them on."
Clementine sighed, knowing that Luke wouldn't let her get out of it, she put on the skates as well.
Luke stood on the ice once his skates were laced up and took Clem's hand when she finished hers, and pulled her on the ice. She grabbed his arms, afraid that she would fall and because she wasn't used to the feeling of being on skates.
"Have you never skated before?" Luke asked.
"No. Have you?" Clem looked up at him.
"Yeah, a few times with Nick. I'm practically a professional." Luke told her.
"Did you ice-skate in order to impress a girl?" Clementine asked.
"Come on, Clem. You really think I'm that desperate for a girl?" Luke responded.
"You were pretty dumb when you were a kid." Clementine said.
"I only went skating with Nick because he needed a wing man so he could win a girl's heart." Luke told her. "The only time I was there for a girl was with Abigail when we went on a date, and it was her idea."
Luke took a hold of Clementine's hand and started to skate slowly, pulling her along. She let him pull her, not moving her legs in case she fell and broke through the ice.
"Just follow my lead, kid. The point is to move your feet." Luke told her.
Clementine looked down at Luke's skates, seeing him propel himself forward ever so slightly, not wanting to scare her so much by going too fast. She took a deep breath before she copied what Luke was doing. The fear she had soon left her mind as she started to relax.
"See? It's not so bad." Luke said, seeing her confidence rise.
Clementine let go of his hand and pushed him slightly at the remark. Luke pushed her back, but she lost her balance and landed in the snow.
"Shit," Luke stopped skating, turning towards the child. "Sorry, Clem."
Clementine threw a snowball in his face. "Asshole."
"Yeah, I deserve that." Luke said as wiped the snow off of his face and sat down next to her. "So, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay."
"Good." Luke started untying his skates.
"What are you doing?" Clementine asked.
"I have to get back to work." Luke told her.
"Do you have to?" She wanted to keep skating with him.
"Yes, I do. But now that you aren't scared anymore, you can skate all you want."
Clementine sighed. "Okay…"
Luke pulled her hat over her eyes as he stood up. "I'll see you tonight, sissy."
Clementine fixed her hat, making another snowball and throwing it at Luke. She missed and he glanced back at her, chuckling before walking away. Clementine stood back up and started skating again. It wasn't long before she got hit with a snowball, almost knocking her off of her balance.
"Clem!"
She turned her head to Andie who came running towards her through the woods with the twins not far behind.
"I'm so glad I found you! You have to help me convince them not to try and jump the dock." Andie explained.
"We'll make it, we just need to get enough speed." Tyrone told her.
"The dock is pretty big…" Clementine trailed off.
"Thank you, Clem. You both are going to get splinters." Andie said.
"Don't worry about it." Tad said as he and his brother begun to put on skates.
Luke watched Clementine interact with her friends. She was enjoying herself and she was happy.
"Luke."
The farm boy turned towards Rodney who walked up beside him, seeing Clementine on the frozen pond.
"I don't know what you did, but thanks."
"I trust you to keep her safe; don't get her killed." Luke told him.
"Yes, sir." Rodney responded before he and Luke parted ways.
Days went by and the snow finally melted. As sad as Clementine was, she was more worried about something. Luke got her a jacket for her birthday, and she had no clue what to get him. Getting her a jacket was a given, because of the winter and all, and she did take Luke's advice and looked through the old closet of the boxed up room. Clementine found a purple hoodie, which she added to her layers of clothing.
Luke didn't need clothes. Unlike her, he had meat on his bones. If he needed something, he would have looked through the closets in their bedroom.
Clementine was looking through some of the old, empty houses near the farm with Andie to try and find something. They managed to get away from working with the mothers and babysitting. It's not like they didn't like their job, but it was boring. And ever since they were attacked, the mothers have been on top of them, making sure they couldn't get away. Besides, Clem and Andie weren't allowed to go hunt anymore. If anyone asked, they could say that Rodney asked them to clear out the houses to make room for more people.
"Why is this so hard?" Clementine said aloud as she looked around the kitchen.
"I don't know. Hey, I found a hoodie!" Andie pulled out a faded orange hoodie out of the closet by the door.
"Luke doesn't need a hoodie, and that'd be too small for him." Clementine reminded her.
"I know, but I've been looking for one." Andie put it on. "How do I look?"
"Like a traffic cone." Clementine said.
"At least I don't look like a little grape." Andie pointed out her purple hoodie.
Clementine sighed before noticing a pull down ladder that would lead to the attic. "Just help me reach the string."
Andie stood under the string, cupping her hands for a foothold.
"You know, Clem." Andie started as Clementine put her foot in her hands. "We should trade hoodies, then you'd really be a clementine."
"I'll kick you, Andie!" Clementine exclaimed.
"Come on, I'm just messing with you."
Clementine got a hold of the string and pulled, bringing the ladder down.
"We should become the hoodie clan. You know, the five of us." Andie said as Clementine climbed the ladder.
"Does Rodney have a hoodie?" Clementine asked.
"I think he has a green one." Andie told her.
Clementine looked through the attic, coming up with nothing at first. She didn't know what to get him, but she just needed to see the right thing. After moving a few boxes, Clem came across something. It would take a while to put together, but she knew it was going to be Luke's present.
The end of the day came sooner than expected. Luke got off of work and he was on his way to pick up Clementine from the hospital house. He walked up the steps of the porch and knocked on the door. After a few seconds of waiting, a woman opened the door.
"Luke, I assume you're here to get Clementine?" she asked.
"Yeah, I am." he responded.
"She ran off with Andie." she told him. "You better tell that girl of yours to stop leaving in the middle of the day. I don't give a damn about what Rodney says, I just want to know where she's going, if that's the case. I don't want her to get hurt."
"Clem's a tough kid, she can handle herself." Luke said to her.
"She's still a child; let's not forget that she and Andie were attacked not too long ago. They could barely walk on their own, so they had to help each other."
"No, I didn't forget."
"And to think what would have happened if those bastards got the upper hand."
"I'd rather not think about that. Like I said, Clem can handle herself."
The woman sighed before noticing a figure approach. "Well, I was wondering where the hell you were, miss Andie."
"Relax, I'm fine." Andie responded.
"I better talk to your grandmother again, you can't just run off in the middle of the day."
"Didn't I tell you?" Andie asked.
"No, you didn't. Where's Clementine, and what were you two doing?" the woman demanded.
"Don't worry, she's fine. Rodney wanted us to clear out some of the houses for new people." Andie explained.
"We don't have new people." the woman said, trying to catch her bluff.
"They're for the people who will soon arrive. With the winter and all, I would assume that people will start going to a safe place where there is food and shelter."
The woman sighed once again. "If you were my child, Andie, you'd be grounded. However, I'll leave that up to your grandmother, after I talk to her."
"Why don't you let me do it," Luke asked her. "You look exhausted, and I'm heading home anyways. It'll save you the trip."
"Luke, you don't have to…" the woman tried to say.
"No, it's fine. I'll bring Clem along and I'll talk to her, too." Luke said.
The woman rubbed her face. "Just make sure she knows-"
"I got it, don't worry." Luke interrupted. "Have a nice night."
With that said, Luke left the front door with Andie and started down the street to her grandmother's house.
"I cannot thank you enough for doing that." Andie told him.
"I figured that it would be a nice trade." Luke respond.
"Shit…" Andie sighed. "Okay, Rodney never told us to inspect the houses, we just wanted to get away from the women, the moms, and the children for a bit."
"That wasn't what I meant, but now that you mention it…" Luke was intrigued to learn more about what Clementine was up to all day.
"Damn it." Andie muttered. "Sometimes I just don't know when to shut up. I'll be honest, they just want to make sure we don't get bit. I understand that, but watching over us like a hawk as if we are criminals isn't the way to do it. They're just so overprotective and we get bored so easily, so of course we'll sneak away. I'd tell them, but they won't let us go anywhere."
"I remember being a teenager; you're not a kid, but not quite an adult." Luke said aloud.
"So when Rodney let us go hunt, we were happy that we actually got to do something worthwhile and adventurous; we brought back food. Yes, there was the occasional walker, but killing those things is child's play." Andie explained. "Then we get jumped one time by a couple of assholes, and now they won't let us out of their sight."
"To be fair, you and Clem were beaten to shit." Luke mentioned.
"True, but we're both okay now. Wait, if you getting me out of another scolding isn't a trade for me telling you what Clem and I were up to, then what was it for then?"
"For being her friend."
"Oh, you're welcome then."
"I'm glad she has someone who's more her age... and her gender."
"You do make a good point there."
"Just make sure you and Clem stay out of trouble."
"No guarantees, but I'll try."
Luke left it at that as Andie went home. He then started his way back to his own house, trying to figure out what to say to Clementine. That girl was going to be the end of him. He didn't want the women to have his head for not taking care of her, even though he knew that he couldn't control Clem. She's independent, Luke couldn't hold her down if he tried.
"Clem?" Luke called as he entered the house.
"Luke!" Clementine came running in from the backyard, taking a hold of his hand. "Close your eyes."
"Clem, we need to talk." Luke told her.
"We can do it later, just close your eyes."
Luke placed his free hand over his eyes, covering them as Clementine pulled him through the house and into the backyard. They didn't have to walk that far before Clem asked him to stop.
"Can I look now?" Luke asked.
"Yep."
Luke uncovered his eyes to see a hammock in front of him.
"Happy Birthday." Clementine said. "I know it's not the right season, but it's for your back."
Sleeping inside the truck for about a year wasn't good on his back. Now that they have a bed, it's gotten better, but working on the farm wasn't helping.
Luke stepped forward to it, grabbing onto the material and taking a seat so he didn't fall on his ass. "I don't know what to say, kid. Thanks." He leaned back so he was laying down, straightening out his back after the long day.
"You're welcome, Luke." Clementine began to walk back inside until he remembered what he had to tell her.
"Get back over here, Clem. We need to talk." Luke demanded.
She never heard him use that tone before. It was almost like a parent and it made her nervous. Luke sat back up and moved over for Clementine to sit next to him. She huffed as she sat down, curious on what he had to say.
"Clem, I love the hammock, but where did you get it?" Luke asked.
"Andie and I looked through the houses in the next neighborhood. I found it in one of the attics, so we put it together." Clementine explained.
"Okay, but I'd thought I'd let you know that one of the women where you work nearly had my head, because she didn't know where you were." Luke told her.
"You don't need to worry about them or me. I'm fine." Clementine responded.
"Well, how's your shoulder?" Luke asked referring to her stab wound that's in the final stages of healing.
"That was one time, and we handled it."
"And if you didn't… Clem, we're not in the truck, you're not by my side twenty-four-seven, you can't just run off and not tell anybody where you're going."
"So you don't trust me?"
"No, I do. I just don't trust what is out there, beyond this place. I get that you're going into your teenage years pretty soon, and all of your friends are teens; I just want you to stay safe." Luke explained. "You don't have to tell the ladies what you're doing, just let them know where you're going to be. I don't want to come back and not know where you are, and then the next time I see you, you're not breathing or you're one of them."
Luke has claimed Clementine as his responsibility; the whole town knew that. He didn't like to parent her, but someone had to. It was this, or hand her off to one of the mothers who actually know how to deal with kids. But none of them understand the things the kid has actually been through. Luke's been with her through thick and thin, so handing her off was out of the question.
Clementine waited in silence for a bit. She understood what Luke was trying to tell her. She remembered what it felt like when Luke left for longer than he thought he would. Clementine was worried sick over the thought of not being able to know where he was. It was heart wrenching. And if Luke found her dead because of a mistake she made, he would be heartbroken. On top of that, even if it wasn't his fault, she knew that Luke would blame himself.
"Luke, if it wasn't for you, I don't think I would be alive. Those assholes would have beaten me to death, but you taught me how to defend myself." She told him. "I'll try to let them know, okay."
"Thank you, kid."
With that said, Luke laid back down on the hammock. Clementine joined him, getting close to his warm body as he began to rock it back and forth, relaxing them from a rough day.
After their talk, Clementine's been more mindful about letting the adults know where she was going. Andie wasn't keen to it at first, but she eventually got over it. They just made sure they didn't leave too often in case they get another scolding.
It's the middle of winter. There hasn't been any snow ever since that one day. They've gotten slush, but that was it. The days have gotten shorter and colder, but what else was new in the winter.
The one thing Luke and Clementine missed about the winter was the holiday season. It was hard to celebrate it so they never talked about it, until they found a plastic Christmas tree in their house. So one day after they finished working, they decided to put it up for the hell of it. They weren't going to get each other gifts or anything, they just wanted to put it up.
The tree was only four-feet tall, so they put it on the dining room table. They found a couple tote boxes with lights, ornaments, and house decorations in it. They didn't want to completely deck the house with cheesy decorations and they couldn't use the lights, so they just stuck to the ornaments. They wanted to put as many as they could on the tree to make it look nice. Of course they had to discard a couple of ornaments because they were pictures of the residents who lived in the house before the world went to shit.
"What would you and your family do for Christmas, kid?" Luke asked as he handed her an ornament.
"My parents wouldn't let me leave my room to wake them up until seven in the morning. I was so excited for Christmas and I barely got any sleep." Clementine started. "I'd wake my parents up, we'd open presents, and then we'd go to our grandma's house for a big, family breakfast."
"I wouldn't be lying if I said my family did the same thing." Luke told her. "My mom and I would have dinner with Nick and his family."
"Did your dad ever come home for Christmas?" she asked.
"Sometimes he'd surprise us, but it wasn't as often as I would have wanted them to be. It would be months, years even, before he'd come home." Luke explained.
"I couldn't imagine having a parent be away for that long."
"Not a lot of people can. I almost joined the military, but I knew that I'd scare the shit out of my mom by doing so."
"Momma's boy." Clementine muttered under her breath, hoping that Luke wouldn't hear.
He did, and the comment made Luke pull the bill of her hat over her eyes. "Daddy's girl." Clementine didn't talk about her parents much, but after hearing her relationship with Lee, the comment felt appropriate.
Clementine fixed her hat before reaching into the box, pulling out something she was unfamiliar with. "Luke, what's this?"
Luke looked to what she'd holding before responding. "That is mistletoe."
"What do you do with it?" she asked.
"Well, you hang it on a doorframe or ceiling, and when two people stand under it, they're supposed to kiss." he told her.
She quickly put it back in the box, not wanting anything to do with it.
"Not feeling the love, kid?" Luke asked sarcastically.
"You wish." Clementine responded as she put the final two ornaments on the tree.
Luke handed Clem a star-shaped tree topper and she put it on the tree. Now that the tree was finished, the two stepped back, admiring their work. They both wished that they could see it with the lights on, but there wasn't a lot they could do about it.
"Merry Christmas, I guess." Luke said to her.
Clementine smiled up at him. "Merry Christmas."
Neither of them were sure that the world would be able to go back to the way it was, or if it would be able to, but they did the best that they could to try to do so.
"When it gets warmer, you're going back to school." Luke said aloud.
"What do you mean?" Clementine asked.
"More math." he said with a smile.
This made Clem groan in response.
"We're going to move you on to multiplication, but I have to make sure you can count to one hundred." Luke continued.
"You're not going to let me live that down, are you?" Clementine asked in annoyance.
Luke rubbed a hand on her head. "Nope. Huh…"
"What?"
"Nothing, you're just getting taller." he said.
"Soon I'll be taller than you." Clementine responded.
"That's not going to happen, but you can dream, though." Luke told her.
Clementine sighed before walking back to the totes, pulling out a book she saw earlier. "Luke, can you help me read?"
He approached her taking the book out of her hand to look at it, while he reached into the tote to grab something. "The Night Before Christmas. I remember reading this when I was a kid."
"So will you help me?" Clementine asked.
"Yeah, I just need something in return…" Luke bent down to match her height as he pulled the mistletoe from earlier out of the box, holding it above their heads.
"Oh, you asshole." she muttered once she noticed it. Clementine took the book from Luke's hand and lightly pushed his chest as she walked away towards the couch. "I'm not going to do it."
"I was hoping for a kiss on the cheek, but it was worth a shot." Luke admitted, setting the mistletoe down before following her.
Clementine sat down on the couch, opening the book on her lap as Luke sat down next to her. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. She began to read the story. Clementine was getting better at reading bigger words, she just stuttered a little bit and Luke didn't need to correct her with anything.
"The end." Clementine closed the book.
"Nice job, kid. You'll be a pro at reading in no time." Luke told her. "You should read more often, it'll help."
"Really?" she asked.
"Yeah, you don't have to read to me, but maybe find books that are more advanced than that one." he said.
Luke felt small lips press against his cheek as he went to stand.
"That was from earlier." Clementine said as she stood up, setting the book down on the coffee table in front of them. "And thank you."
She ran off, probably to go look for another book.
Winter came and went and more survivors made their way to Olympia. Men, women, and a handful of children. It got to the point where people could have days off from working on the farm. That included Luke, who took the time to educate Clementine like he said he would.
"So, if three times three is nine, then three times four would be…" Luke wanted Clementine to answer the problem.
"It would be three more than nine, so…" Clementine used her fingers to count up from the number. "Twelve… It's twelve?"
"Yeah, that's it. Good job."
Clementine wrote the answer down next to the problem. "You had to memorize all of this?"
"All the way to multiples of ten. I think they taught us further than that, but I can only remember up that much." Luke explained. "In fifth grade, they'd give us worksheets and you had only a minute to complete the front and back side."
"No way." Clementine said in disbelief.
"My teacher took it a step further, she'd give out a king-sized candy bar to whoever did it. The bribe worked, and I did complete both sides, but my teacher was told that she couldn't give out candy bars anymore because of allergies. So, I got a sucker instead." Luke told her.
Clementine smiled, she liked hearing his stories.
"You can imagine how pissed I was, especially since no one in my class had any allergies. I still got to taunt Nick, though."
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Luke stood up from his chair and walked to the front door. He opened it to be greeted by Rodney.
"Hey, Luke. I just want to drop off the rations for you and Clementine." the teen said as he handed a bag to him.
"Thank you." Luke responded.
"Also, we need you down at the farm. Someone got injured, and I know it's your day off, but-"
"No, it's okay. I can come down." Luke interrupted. "Let me just say bye to Clem."
Rodney nodded as Luke went back to the dining table where Clementine was.
"I got to work, kid. Finish these, and I'll check them when I get back."
"Alright." she agreed. "Bye, Luke."
"See ya, Clem." he responded before setting the bag down and walking out the door.
Once Luke left, Rodney entered the house to see what Clementine was doing. He saw the paper in front of her with multiplication problems on it.
"Having fun?" he asked.
"Absolutely." Clementine responded with a sarcastic tone.
"Is Luke making you do this?" Rodney asked.
"He thought it would be a good idea, since I was only in first grade when it started." she explained.
"That doesn't sound right…" he said. "How were you in first grade?"
"My parents held me back a year, because I was born in October." she told him. "Something about me not making the cut off date or something."
"That would make more sense. So, do you plan to do this all day?"
"I just have to finish this."
"I can see why Luke's teaching you math, but has he taught you science?"
"No… And I don't see how he could."
"Do you want to learn science?"
"Sure, but Luke wanted me to finish this."
"Here." Rodney took the pencil from her hand, filling out the worksheet for her. Before Clementine could blink, he turned it over completing the back side in under a minute. "Who would have thought that those minute worksheet things would have actually come in handy."
"You had to do them, too?" Clementine asked.
"Yeah, and they were the worst. Now that you are done, are you ready for your science lesson?" Rodney said as he started towards the door.
Clementine got up, following him out of the house.
"So what are we doing exactly?" Clementine asked as she and Rodney entered a duplex.
The two were backpacking in town, scavenging for supplies and whatever Rodney needed.
"I'm going to show you a very useful science experiment." he told her. "Just look for cloth and anything that contains alcohol or gasoline."
"Why?"
"For science, Clem."
It didn't take long to find the materials Rodney required, they even found a few medical supplies. Clementine and Rodney walked a couple of blocks and ended up at a construction site, immediately smelling rotten flesh.
"Sorry about the smell, that's the walker trap." Rodney told her.
"That's gross. How is that one walker?" Clementine asked.
"Actually, it's not one walker. With help from Ty and Tad, we made this hole in the ground deeper. There was a crane above it, so we tied a dead bird to it." he explained. "The goal was to bring out all of the walkers and trap them in the hole. The three of us didn't expect it to work, but the next day, there was five walkers in the hole."
"So they can't get out?" she asked.
"Yep, so I'd advise that you watch your step. Don't want you to fall in now."
They came up to the walker trap, seeing at least a hundred walkers in the hole, all walking around aimlessly and clawing at the walls.
"So what are we doing and what does this have to do with science?"
"I'll show you" Rodney set his bag down and pulled out a small whiteboard and a black marker that he picked up from the duplex. He began drawing and writing on it and showed it to Clementine. "Welcome to science class, today we are going to learn about fire."
"That is the shittest fire I've ever seen." Clementine commented after seeing his attempt at drawing one.
"I never said I was good at drawing. Now pay attention." Rodney added. "To make a fire, you need three things: heat, fuel, and oxygen." he said as he used the marker to point to the words on the whiteboard.
"Okay…" Clementine was confused to where this was going.
Rodney erased his whiteboard with his sleeve before drawing on it again. "Imagine a silo on with wheat in it. The sun is out and it makes the inside of the silo heat up. The wheat is the fuel and the sun is the heat."
Clementine nodded, following along to Rodney's explanation.
"All you have to do is open the door to the silo and let in oxygen. Then BOOM!" Rodney scribbled over his silo drawing, showing an explosion.
"So, how does this relate to the walkers?"
"Get out the alcohol and the cloth, and I'll show you."
Clementine set her backpack down and pulled out the materials.
"Step one: Don't drink the alcohol." Rodney told her.
"That's a given." Clementine responded.
"Step two: Take the cap off and put the cloth in the neck. Make sure that the cloth is hanging out of the top."
Clementine did as he instructed, then Rodney took the bottle out of her hand.
"Step three: Light the cloth." Rodney took out a zippo and lit the cloth. "Here's your heat, and the alcohol is your fuel."
"So, what's next?"
"All you need is oxygen. So, step four: You throw it." Rodney handed her the bottle and pointed at the horde of walkers in the hole. "Just make sure the bottle breaks."
Clementine looked at the bottle in her hand before lifting it above her head and then throwing it as hard as she could into the hole. The second the bottle left her hand, Rodney grabbed her arm and pulled her back a little bit. Then they heard glass break and an explosion from the hole.
"Holy shit…" Clementine pulled her arm out of Rodney's grip and walked closer to see what happened and to get her backpack. She saw the flames engulfing the walkers, worsening the smell of the rotting flesh.
"Congratulations, Clem. You just made a molotov." Rodney said. "Now let's get out of here before more of them come out of hiding."
The two ran from the scene, getting away from the walker trap as fast as they could. A few walkers came out, drawn to the fire, but Clementine and Rodney were able to avoid them. After they passed a couple of blocks they slowed down, catching their breath.
"Glad you could keep up. I hope your lungs aren't burning." Rodney said to Clementine.
She huffed, trying to catch her breath and ignored his pun before she spoke, "So, is that how you kill the walkers?"
"No, fire doesn't kill them." Rodney told her. "The twins and I tried that, because we were bored as hell, they were all still roaming the next day when we threw the first one."
"If fire doesn't kill them then why did you make me throw a molotov?" she asked.
"The fire draws the other walkers towards the pit, plus I wanted to show you how a molotov works. We can't really throw it anywhere else other than the walker pit." he said. "So now that our science lesson is over, do you still want to hang out?"
"I've got nothing else better to do."
"Great, because I have something else planned."
The two walked back to the farm, well they walked back into the woods behind it. Clementine was following Rodney, wondering what he wanted to show her. Eventually, Rodney stopped in front of a tree with planks of wood nailed to it as a ladder, leading up to a tree house.
It wasn't really a tree house, since it had no roof. It was like a circular deck with a barrier so no one would fall. Not to mention there was a similar one way up higher than the first one.
"Welcome to my tree house." Rodney said. "You're not scared of heights are you?"
"No…" Clementine respond.
"Good, because we're going all the way to the top."
Rodney began climbing the ladder to the first deck of the tree house. Clementine took a deep breath then followed him. Rodney pushed the hatch of the first deck open and continued to climb up to the second deck. The climb to the second deck was longer, but they made it eventually. Rodney pushed the hatch to the second deck and climbed in, pulling Clementine up before closing the hatch.
"Welcome to the sniper nest." Rodney greeted. "My uncle was a hunting expert, so he and my dad built this."
Clementine looked around, seeing a few comic books and decks of cards scattered around with a blanket and a pillow, as well as a sniping rifle set up since it is a sniper nest. The view was amazing, even though it was mostly tree tops.
"Why did you bring me up here?" she asked.
"I wanted to show you this place. Andie and the twins know about it, so I wanted you to know, too. Now we can hang out, on the lower deck, because we can't have too many people up here." Rodney explained.
"No shit." Clementine muttered.
"So, do you want to play go fish, or something?" Rodney asked.
The two played a few rounds of go fish, talking to each other as they did so. Rodney eventually passed out and Clementine did soon after. Ever since more people joined the town, they've been working harder. Clementine still babysat for the children and did odd jobs for the mothers, and Rodney added scheduling to his list of duties.
Clementine opened her eyes, noticing a blanket covering herself and Rodney who was sitting next to her. She yawned, shifting her head that was on Rodney's shoulder.
"Hey, you're up." Rodney said.
"How long have I been out?" Clementine asked him.
Rodney looked at his watch. "About an hour and a half. You don't need to worry about it, I fell asleep first."
"I'm exhausted."
"That makes two of us."
Clementine picked up the deck of cards that she and Rodney were playing with earlier and started to sort through them, trying to put them all in order. She didn't want to move and Rodney didn't tell her to move her head, so she kept it on his shoulder.
"Clem, when was the last time you had a good dream?" Rodney asked. "You know, one that doesn't make sense now, but it made sense then."
Clementine thought for a second before she spoke. "I vaguely remember hanging out with the creatures from the book 'Where the Wild Things Are.' I don't remember how I got there, but I didn't care."
"When was that?"
"It was right after I read the book, a few weeks before Luke and I arrived." She told him. "So what about you?"
"It was last week, I think. I had to find the king's shoes, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find them. And then right when I did, I woke up." He said.
"I hate it when that happens." Clementine said.
"It's such bullshit." Rodney shifted, causing Clem to lift her head as he moved closer to the rifle. "Have you ever shot one?"
"No."
"It's mounted, so don't worry about the kick back. Here, I'll teach you."
Clementine moved towards the gun. Rodney showed her the basics of a rifle and got her ready to shoot something.
"Just look through and make sure the cross hairs are aligned with your target. It's okay if you don't make the first try, you'll get the hang of it-"
BANG!
"Got it!" Clementine exclaimed.
"Shit, you learn fast. What did you get?"
"A crow."
"Well that's one less bird picking on our crops. I'll go get it, you be my eye in the sky."
Rodney began climbing down to retrieve the bird. No walkers attacked him, thankfully, so he was able to bring the animal back up to Clementine.
"I didn't expect you to be that good." Rodney told her as he tossed the dead bird at her.
"It was probably a lucky shot, and the gun's mounted." Clementine responded as she turned the rifle to try and shoot something else, until something caught her eye.
"Good point. I mean-"
"Do you have binoculars by any chance?" She interrupted.
"Um…" Rodney looked around and found them on the ground and handed them to her.
"Thanks." Clementine took the binoculars in hand and climbed a couple branches higher. She leaned her back up against the giant tree and looked through them.
"What do you see?" He asked.
"I don't know…" She responded.
"Let me look." Rodney and Clementine traded places. After a couple minutes went by, Rodney was able to figure out what it was. "It looks like a hospital."
"Like an actual hospital?" She clarified.
"Yeah, and a giant ass one at that. It looks like it's on the other side of town."
"I think the one of the mothers mentioned that we were running low on medical supplies."
"I'm sure we have a map somewhere. We can find some bikes and head up there tomorrow with Andie and the twins. Are you up for it?"
"Hell yes!"
Rodney held his hand up as he applied the brakes on his bike, letting his group know to stop as well. He pulled a map out of his backpack and checked to see if they were all going the right way. Tad and Tyrone wanted to check a couple of small stores while Clementine and Andie stayed with Rodney.
It was still morning, the five of them wanted to leave early to use as much as the day provided them. They packed small snacks and a couple bottles of water; not a lot in case they hit jackpot with the hospital.
Clementine pulled the out the pocket knife that Luke gave her and started to twirl it in her hand, waiting for the twins to get back so they all could get going again.
"Rodney!" Tyrone exclaimed.
About time.
"Guess what we found." Tyrone said as his brother pulled out something from behind his back.
"You two found fireworks?" Rodney asked.
"Yeah, they were just sitting there in back of that store." Tad told him.
"Well, we can bring them along. We could throw it in the walker pit when we get back." Rodney said.
"Dude, that's going to be so cool!" Tyrone replied.
"Boys…" Andie sighed. Even with the dead walking around, they still wanted to see explosions.
"So how long is it going to take to get to the hospital?" Clementine asked.
Rodney turned back to the map. "I'd say we should get there by at least noon, then we should head back around sunset. That way we'll be back at the farm by night."
"Alright, then let's get going." Andie said.
Clementine almost put the pocket knife in her back pocket, then decided to put it under her hat. Once she did that, she and the group continued on their way to the hospital.
She was having fun. It's been so long since she rode a bike, she forgot how much fun it was. The wind in your hair, the speed you get, it was great. Clementine was happy with her friends, she and Luke lived in a safe place, and other than the occasional walker, no danger.
The sun was at the highest point in the sky once the kids arrived at the hospital, just like Rodney said. They parked their bikes against the wall and walked inside the old hospital. The plan was to go to the top floor and work their way down. As the teens tried to locate the stairs, something caught Clementine's eye down one of the wide halls and through an open door.
She looked at her group for a second, figuring she could catch up quickly after checking this out, then ventured down the hall. Clementine carefully looked inside the room, seeing that it was a cafeteria. She only took a few steps inside the room and quickly found what caught her eye. A black club symbol spray-painted on the wall, like the one you'd see on a deck of cards.
It wasn't a second later when she pieced the puzzle together. She had to get everyone out, now! Clementine turned around to run, but she was met with the butt of a gun hitting her head, sending her to the floor unconscious.
Yelling, pounding, dim lighting. As Clementine's senses came slowly back to her, flashbacks of the meatlocker on the dairy farm ran through her head. Finally she came to, trying to prop herself on the cold ground, letting out a small moan at the horrible headache.
"Clem…" Andie, who heard the moan, stopped pacing and knelt down next to her.
"My head…" Clementine muttered as she pressed a hand to where she was hit, wanting the pain to go away. The boys banging on the inside of the metal freezer that served as their prison and yelling weren't helping.
"Hey, you okay?" Andie asked.
"Make them stop…" Clementine pleaded.
"Will you guys shut up?!" Andie complained. "Obviously, they're not going to let us out!"
Clementine knew who these people were, and she had to let her group know. "Andie."
"Right, not helping." Andie turned her attention back to the child. "But what the fuck, Clem? We turn around one minute and you were gone, then five men come around the corner with guns and one of them holding your unconscious body with a gun to your head. That's how they got us in here, after they stripped us of our weapons and bags, you included."
Clementine felt the back of her pants, feeling that neither her gun or ice pick were there. "I saw the symbol. In the cafeteria."
"What symbol?" Andie asked.
"A giant-ass black club, like the one on a deck of cards." Clementine watched as her friend place a hand over her mouth as she stood up. "Andie, I think it's them."
"Oh fuck…" Andie said aloud, drawing the boys into the conversation.
"What?" Rodney asked.
Andie took a deep breath in and out. "These are the guys who attacked us."
"You girls were attacked by two guys, right?" Tad asked them. "And you both-"
"Were beaten to shit. They almost killed us." Clementine informed them.
"Why did they attack?" Tyrone asked.
"We were chasing a fucking bunny, and we would have caught it, too. That's when they attacked." Andie told them.
"We didn't know they were there until they jumped us. They didn't mention anything about what they were doing." Clementine added as she stood up.
"Considering how you two ended up, we can only assume that they'll…" Rodney trailed off.
The five of them let the silence fill the room, along with fear and worry. Clementine pushed herself up against the wall, trying to think of a way out of this. She looked around for a vent like the one at the dairy farm, but the one she found was way too small for her to fit through. They were all trapped.
Clementine pressed her hands against her face, slowly moving them towards her hair. Her fingers went under her hat, brushing her small curls until they touched something.
She took a hold of it and pulled the item from under her hat. It was the pocket knife she stashed there from earlier. The men were too stupid to check her hat. Clementine looked up, seeing that her group was lost in thought, unaware of Clem's weapon. She didn't want to give a false hope of security, or risk losing their only weapon, so she kept quiet about it and tucked it away in her back pocket.
"Clem," Andie spoke. "Did you tell Luke were we were going?"
"I told him that I was going to be with Rodney all day." Clementine responded.
"That's what I told my grandma." Andie said before looking to Tyrone and Tad. "Twins?"
"We only have each other." Tad told her.
"Rodney?" Andie turned her attention to their last hope, as did everyone else.
"What?" he said, joining in on the conversation.
"Did you tell your dad where we were going?" Andie asked him.
"I told him that we were going to check something out in the city." He told the group.
"Please tell me you specified where we were going…" Tyrone said.
Rodney shook his head.
"So what you're saying is, that no one knows where the hell we are?" Tyrone exclaimed. Everyone was getting pissed.
"Look, we'll get out of this." Rodney said to him.
"How?" Tyrone asked.
"We fight." Everyone turned their attention towards Clementine who spoke. "It's how Andie and I survived the attack."
"You and Andie could barely walk. Like you said, Clem, you both were beaten to shit." Rodney responded to her.
"Then we have to be stealthy about it." Andie added. "We just need to get out of here, get back to the town, and warn everyone about the people here."
"What about the bikes?" Tad asked.
"Fuck the bikes! If we're too injured to ride them, then there's no point." Andie said.
"She's right." Rodney spoke up. "We just need to get out of here."
"One problem. We don't know how many there are." Tad added. "We saw five, and they mentioned something about a boss."
"As far as we know, they don't know that we killed their men." Clementine said. "We're just intruding in their building. We don't know what they want, we just have to stay calm."
That was easier said than done. The teens heard a loud unlocking sound from outside the door, sending a quick wave of fear over them all. The freezer door opened and two men with shotguns walked in.
"You five, up against the wall. No funny business." One of the men said, using his gun to gesture where the teens were supposed to go.
They listened to him, given no other choice.
"Look, we haven't done anything. Just let us go, and you'll never see us again." Rodney said pressing his back up against the wall.
"Shut up! No talking!" The other man said.
"You, blondie, come with me." The first guy said, referring to Andie. She nervously walked towards him, letting him push the shotgun in her back and began to walk out of the room.
"Where are you taking her?" Rodney asked.
"What did I fucking say?" The second guy yelled.
They had no clue what was going to happen, they were all scared out of their minds, but they had ready for whatever came their way.
The two men brought them out one by one, and of course Clementine had to be last. They took her to the cafeteria where the rest of her group was. One of the men who forced her to sit in a chair and have her hands pulled behind it so he could tie her up with duct tape, while the other guy left, figuring he could handle her on his own. Clementine could tell that man tying her up was annoyed because he had to rinse and repeat this process with all five of them by his bitterness and him wrapping the tape around her wrists extremely tight.
RIP
Clementine felt the man wrap his hands around her wrists from behind the chair she was sitting in, making sure that the duct tape was secured around them. He then pulled the back of her chair, startling her slightly, moving her to fill the empty spot of the circle of chairs that were occupied by her bound and gagged friends.
The man walked around the circle of chairs, making sure that they were all positioned with their backs facing the inside of the circle. He then knelt back down in front of Clementine, tearing off another piece of duct tape before trying to place it over her mouth.
Clementine moved her head to try and avoid it, but there wasn't much she could do. He managed to place the tape over her mouth, using his thumbs to smooth it down. She gave him her puppy eyes, anything to convince this guy to let her and the others go.
He didn't let that bother him, though. He just got up and walked out of the room, leaving them alone. Clementine began pulling on her bounds, as did her friends, but the tape didn't budge. Was this it? Were they doomed? They had no clue what was coming for them and no one knew where they were.
Clem looked to Andie and Rodney who were sitting next to her, reminding herself that she wasn't alone and to see if they had any ideas on what to do. They didn't, they were just as scared as she was.
After a long and silent fifteen minutes, someone entered the room. It was a different man, one that none of them recognized. He pulled an x-acto knife from his pocket, taking the cap off and carelessly tossing it to the side as he approached the twin next to Rodney; Clementine couldn't tell which one, though.
"Eenie," The man started walking around in a circle, moving towards the other twin. "Meenie."
Then to Andie, the knife pointed at her. "Miney."
"Moe." He stopped in front of Clementine. She closed her eyes, feeling the tip of the blade touch her nose. The silence from the man scared her.
"Catch." The blade was removed as the man continued his way to Rodney. Relief briefly swept over her as he kept singing the old song, with each pause he moved to another person.
"A tiger. By. It's toe… If. He hollers. Let him. Go… Eenie…"
Andie.
"Meenie…"
Clementine.
"Miney…"
Rodney.
"Moe."
The twin he started with.
Silence only filled the room for a second before it was interrupted by a slice and a muffled scream.
A/N: We have arrived at the end of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed this! The ice-skating scene idea was given to me by PeanutFangirl and was based off of the picture by chameshida on tumblr. So thank you to both of you awesome people. Now I go and laugh evily
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Bye!
