A/N: I am back from the dead of finals. Once you read this chapter, I hope you understand why I changed the rating to M. Also season three may or may not had an influence in my writing. Season three Clem, though! She's so grown up.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Walking Dead Game.
It Just Happened
Daisyfan5534
Chapter 13
Everything has gone to shit. Hell, even the weather got the memo. It couldn't have been more than twelve hours since they left the radio shack when Clementine and Luke found a cabin in the woods. Well, Luke did, the numbness in Clementine's body sent her to sleep not long after they drove away from that hellhole. It was morning and she was up now, just curled up and lying there on the couch with a blanket covering her that she knew Luke covered her with after they arrived, because he knows how cold she gets at night, especially during storms.
The rain on the roof was all she could hear, hoping that it would lull her back to sleep, but she couldn't ignore the odd feeling in her body. It still felt numb, but it was different as if her body just locked up in the fetal position she was in. She remembered last night vividly. The threats, the touches, the look in Luke's eyes when she told him to put his hands on her, how they filled with regret and apology. She wanted to cry so badly then, but she held it in, knowing that Luke would stop if he saw her break down. If it were David in place of Luke, she would have fought back. She wouldn't cry in front of that bastard, but she knew she would have broken down in that final moment, just like she did in that same moment when David forced them to…
She couldn't even comprehend it, she didn't even know what they did.
Clementine sighed as she shook her head, not wanting to think about it anymore. She finally sat up, looking around the small cabin. Luke was outside, Clem could see him through the window with his head in his hands. She couldn't imagine what was going through his head, he must feel like shit. Everything was shit.
She turned her attention to their bag of supplies across the room. The last time she ate was three, maybe four days ago. Luke wouldn't mind if she took something, as long as she shared it with him. Clementine stood up, but only took one step before she collapsed to her knees, hissing as she did so. Her legs felt like jelly and there was a pain in between them, it hurt to walk. As if last night wasn't enough, now she had to deal with a painful reminder of how she got it. Clem pushed the memory to the back of her head, as she stood up again. She took a deep breath before she began to walk. It was difficult, but she managed to get to the supplies.
She thought about taking a painkiller, wondering if it would ease it, but she decided against it, figuring that it'd be a waste if she took it. Clementine pulled out a granola bar and looked back to the couch. Her eyes closed in annoyance, she didn't want to walk back, but she forced herself to anyway. She was so relieved she was when she finally was able to sit down. Clementine waited for the pain to die down before opening the wrapper. She broke off half of the bar before shoving it in her mouth. Clementine cringed slightly at the taste, not a fan of oatmeal raisin, or raisins in general. However, she had to eat and she wasn't going to be extremely picky. At least the granola sort of counteracted the taste of raisins.
Clementine placed her face in her hand, closing her eyes as she swallowed. She heard the front door open soon after, listening to Luke's footsteps as he walked inside. Clem kept her eyes closed, not wanting to look at him. She could imagine that he looked like shit, and probably felt like it, too. She heard Luke grunt and hiss at the same time, knowing that he only does that when he had a bad headache. This was soon followed by more footsteps, a zipper being pulled, a rattling of a pill bottle, water swishing against plastic, the zipper again, and more footsteps. Clementine soon felt weight on the opposite end of the couch. She could hear Luke open the pill bottle, taking what she assumed were painkillers before he drank some water to wash the pills down. Clementine held out her arm to him, offering the last half of the granola bar without looking at him.
Luke noticed the half-eaten granola bar in her hand. His eyes locked on the food, not wanting to look at Clementine any further than her small arm. After a pause, he took it, proceeding to finish it off. Clementine retracted her hand, placing her head back in it. She soon heard the rattling of pills on her right. Clementine glanced over at the sound, seeing the pill bottle in Luke's hand, holding it out to her. She stared at them for a second, feeling the pain in between her legs beginning to hurt again. She took the bottle from him, taking a couple pills before Luke handed her a water bottle to wash them down. Once she was finished, Clementine placed the items on the floor as Luke discarded the wrapper to the same place.
The two of them looked at the items on the floor, slowly and finally looking into each other's eyes. They both said nothing; hell, what could they say? While they kept their mouths shut, they could understand what each other wanted to say, it all said it in their eyes. Apology, regret, sadness, anger, pain. It shouldn't have happened. David and what he made them do to each other, it shouldn't have happened, not between them. In so many ways it was wrong, it was disgusting, repulsive and he deserved a worse death than he got. There should have been something either one of them could have done to prevent it. A growl from outside broke their staring silence for a moment before looking back at each other. Luke stood up, walking towards the door as he pulled out his machete. Clementine watched him leave to take care of the walker outside.
She laid back down on the couch, pulling the blanket over her head, wanting to go back to sleep, but she couldn't. The walker's growling stopped abruptly, knowing that Luke killed it. Clementine heard the door open and close, but she didn't hear Luke's footsteps. Instead, she heard his back sliding down the door so he could sit on the floor. She could imagine his head in his hands, silently cursing and blaming himself for what happened. She always hated how he did that to himself, although she's being a hypocrite by doing so, because she still does the same thing to herself about Lee.
Clementine wanted to cry, Luke probably did, too, but she knew Luke wouldn't be able to hold her like he usually would do if she let her tears fall. Their relationship was far from where it was before they met David, and it may never get that way again because of what happened. That's what tore them apart the most, the fact that they may never be as close as they were before; it hurt, it felt like shit.
Everything was shit, and they couldn't do anything about it.
They didn't say a word to each other that day, or the day after that. Luke was the first to say something to her on the third day after the shack incident. She offered him water and he responded with a, "Thanks, kid." Clementine froze when he said it, not expecting him to say something to her. She didn't know if it just fell out of his mouth by accident or if he was trying to say anything to her, but she shyly responded with a, "You're welcome." While that was all they said to each other that day, it was a start.
Their relationship slowly became what it was before, doing everything to forget the shack incident. Oddly enough, it brought them closer. No one understood her like he did, and that worked the other way around as well. It was almost like an inside joke, no one understood why they were close to each other, but they knew why. Only it wasn't funny to either of them, and hell knows what would happen if someone found out.
Clementine felt something tighten around the stab wound in her leg. With a moan she slowly opened her eyes, watching Rodney wrap gauze around it while he had her laying on her side.
"R-Rodney?" She softly called.
He looked at her, relieved that she was awake. "Clem." He replied with a sigh as he finished addressing her stab wound. "How do you feel?"
Her whole body ached, mostly her face.
"Like shit."
"I would imagine so."
Rodney rolled Clementine on her back now that he was done addressing her leg.
"They really did a number on you. I uh… had to pull your pants down to address the wound in your leg." he told her.
Clementine now noticed the draft feeling on her legs. She sat up slightly, seeing a towel cover her underwear and her jeans around her knees.
"I'm sorry, but it was the most important injury, and I wanted to stitch that one up while you were asleep because it was so deep and-"
"It's fine, I trust you." She said to him.
Clementine tried to pull her jeans up, now noticing that she was handcuffed to Rodney. The cuffs were threaded through the bed's sidebar to ensure that they couldn't escape.
"It was part of the fucking deal." Rodney said bitterly as he turned away from Clem, giving her privacy while she pulled up her pants.
It was difficult considering that Rodney's arm had to be dragged while she moved, but soon enough her pants were on.
"You can look now." Clementine told him.
Rodney turned back around before rolling up Clem's sleeve of her arm on her far side.
"This isn't as bad." He said referring to the stab from when they were first being tortured. "The knife was fucking small."
"What did you tell them?" Clementine asked.
"I told them what they wanted to hear," Rodney sighed as he dabbed a cotton ball in hydrogen peroxide from the bedside table. "That we were scouting Olympia for our group that's holding out in Lacey."
"Lacey? The hell's- ow!" She whimpered as Rodney applied the peroxide to the small wound in her arm.
"It's a city east of Olympia. That prick leader and a few of his buddies went to go check it out."
"Why'd you-" Clementine hissed from him dabbing the peroxide on her stab wound. "Why would you tell them that?"
"I figured that it would buy us time for Andie and the twins to escape and come find us or my dad and the others would get us. Besides, you were in no condition to fight, I wanted to fix you up the best I could before we escape."
"They're going to come back and they're going to kill one of us because you lied to them. You shouldn't have said anything."
"I wasn't going to let that fucker rape you, Clem."
Clementine closed her eyes, letting out a sigh. "I would have been fine."
"You're twelve."
"And I've been raped before, Rodney."
Rodney shook his head, tossing the cotton ball to the side now being done with it before running his hand through his hair. "You… No…" he was having trouble processing what she said. "Just no… you're a kid…"
"I'm three years younger than you, I'm not that much of a kid."
Rodney got a needle ready to stitch her arm. "Can you roll towards me?"
Clementine did as he asked so he could stitch up her arm. He's just trying to pretend she didn't say that, he didn't want to think about the hell she went through.
"This only needs like two stitches. You want something to bite down on?"
Clementine nodded.
Rodney grabbed the towel he covered Clem with earlier and gave it to her. She used her injured arm to push a small portion of the towel in her mouth since her other arm was cuffed to Rodney. After a few thread pulls and muffled moans of pain, he was finished and began wrapping her arm. Once he finished, he pulled her sleeve down and grabbed a rag from the table.
"Your nose might be broken, in case you didn't know."
Clementine pulled the towel out of her mouth. "The leader told some guy to beat me up. Believe me, I felt it."
"Well, it's definitely a bloody mess." Rodney said to her as he started cleaning the blood off of her face.
"Ha, ha." she responded sarcastically.
"Does it hurt?"
"It's sore, but don't- Ow!" Clementine was cut off by Rodney poking her nose. She batted his hand away and covered her nose, feeling that it was slightly crooked. "Don't touch it."
Rodney set the bloody rag down on the table. "You might want to put that towel back in your mouth."
"Why, what are you going to do?"
"I thought you trusted me, Clem?"
"I do, but what-" Rodney shoved a small part of the towel back in her mouth.
"I'll make this quick."
Rodney pulled Clem's cuffed arm through the bed's side bar so his cuffed hand could reach her face. Clementine grabbed his wrist, knowing what he was going to do. He moved her hand and placed his thumbs on both sides of her crooked nose. Clem shook her head slightly, not wanting him to do it.
"Clem, I have to." Rodney told her, feeling her grip on his wrist tighten.
The tween closed her eyes, waiting for him to readjust her nose. Her hand was still latched on to Rodney's arm; since they were cuffed together, she couldn't grab anything else. Her other hand gripped the edge of the hospital bed, ready for him to go.
Rodney took a deep breath, then counted to three before using his thumbs to try to fix her broken nose. Clementine shouted in pain, though it was muffled by the towel. He moved his hands away now that he was done.
"It's not crooked anymore." he said as Clementine let go of his arm, using both of her hands to hold her nose as she whined through the towel. "It should be good enough until we get back."
He still has high hopes that they're all going to make it out of this alive. The chances of all five of them getting out of here alive, while injured, is slim. These cannibal fuckers were going to kill them once their leader gets back and finds out that Rodney was lying.
Once the pain subsided, Clementine moved her hands from her face to her sides and closed her eyes, taking the towel out of her mouth as she did so. "If we get back…" she corrected him.
Silence filled the room, knowing that death might be knocking at their door soon.
"So… How'd it happen?" Rodney asked cautiously.
Clementine opened her eyes and looked over at him. "How'd what happen?"
"You said you were raped before, and I just don't know how that could have happened to you." Rodney said, pulling up a nearby chair to sit in.
"You'd be surprised how many creeps Luke and I ran into, but it only happened once." Clementine said aloud. "You really want to know?"
Rodney paused. "Yeah, I want to know."
Clem sighed. "It was about a month, I think, before Luke and I arrived. We were at Mount Rushmore and we caught this guy looking into our truck. He told us that he was trying to get to a radio shack and wanted to find a working vehicle to get there."
Rodney nodded as she explained to him what happened.
"He said that it had supplies and it was on a hill with solar panels. We were low on water so we took him."
"The place with the disaster bunker, that's where it happened?"
"Yeah." Clementine confirmed. "Once we arrived, he told Luke to go turn on a generator while we went inside. I didn't think much of it until he closed the door and pulled a gag in my mouth. He took my gun, held it to my head, and then tied me up in a sound booth. He left me in there and we waited."
Clementine had to stop for a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing.
"Luke came inside and he tried to free me, but the fucker knocked him out. It was then when he took Luke's weapons then he brought me out, locking Luke inside." Clementine closed her eyes tight before opening them up, knowing what she just said. "He hogtied me, leaving me on the floor to struggle for his own amusement. When Luke woke up, the guy sat me upright and started to hit me. It didn't last long, he soon began rubbing his hands all over me."
She had to stop once again, feeling hands run up and down her body. Clementine closed her eyes again, forcing herself to shake it off. Her eyes started to tear up from her past experiences and nightmares coming back to haunt her, her nightmares especially, since she's using them to help her lie.
"I don't know how long he did it, but when he finished, he untied me and told me to take off my clothes. He said he'd kill Luke if I didn't, so I did as he asked; I couldn't let Luke die, no matter how much Luke told me to not listen to him. After they were all off, he threw me to the floor, and…" A tear streamed down her face. "That's when he did it."
"Fucking hell." Rodney muttered.
"I cried and screamed, it was all I could do. I couldn't fight him because he had my arms pinned down. Luke did everything he could to break out of the sound booth to try to save me, he resorted to the point whee he begged him to stop, but nothing worked." Clementine sniffed, wiping the tear off her face. "He stopped eventually. He grabbed my gun and he picked me up, then he tried to kill me. I knocked the gun out of his hand and he threw me to the floor, grabbing Luke's machete and began approaching me. I backed up from him, and I was able to grab the gun from before. I didn't hesitate to shoot him."
"Jesus, Clem…"
"I let Luke out, then I cried in his arms like a goddamn fucking baby. He wouldn't stop apologizing to me as if it was his fault. Luke still blames himself for what happened, I know he does." While everything she told Rodney was a lie, that last part was true. "It just happened, and we couldn't do anything about it."
"Clem, I'm- I'm sorry."
"Like I said: I would have been fine." Clementine told him. "Other than bad memories, I would have been fine. I probably would have passed out, anyway. Thank you for stopping him, though. I mean it."
Rodney smiled at that. Their friendly moment didn't last long, however, because one of Allen's men walked in.
"Are you done fixing her?"
The two turned their heads from the man to each other. Clementine nodded slightly at Rodney to assure him that she was okay before they looking back at the man.
"Yeah, I'm done." Rodney responded.
"Alright," The man pulled out a gun aiming it at Rodney. "Stand up."
Rodney did as he said.
"Both of you, hands up."
"Is that supposed to be some kind of joke?" Rodney tugged at the handcuffs binding him and Clementine together. Since the small chain was threaded through the bed's sidebars, they couldn't put their hands up.
"Do you want me to take the cuffs off or not?" The man asked back.
Clementine and Rodney glanced at each other before raising their non-cuffed hands.
"If any of you pull something, you'll be eating a bullet. Got it?"
The two nodded.
The man walked over to them and unlocked the handcuffs on their wrists. Once he tucked the cuffs away in his back pocket, he pulled out two zip ties. "Back-to-back, on the bed."
Clementine and Rodney complied with his request, not given any other choice. The man tied Rodney's hands behind his back with the zip tie, then he did same Clem's, completely ignoring her certain positioning of her hands. After he was done, he left.
"I would be telling jokes to lighten the mood right now, but I'm a bit tied up at the moment." Rodney said.
"Really, Rodney? Now?" Clementine asked.
"Hey, I told you that I make jokes at bad times when we first met. You can't be too annoyed at me." he reminded her. Rodney felt Clem's arms shift on his back. "What are doing?"
"Give me a second." Clementine turned her wrists together and started sliding her hands back and forth through the zip tie. "I know how to get out of these."
"Really?"
"Yeah, Luke taught me… Got it!" Clementine pulled her hands out of the zip tie, rubbing her wrists afterward.
"You have to teach me when we get out of here."
"I will. Did they give you something sharp, when they gave you supplies to fix me?" Clementine asked.
"They gave me a scalpel, but that's not sharp enough to cut. Although, you could use it to pry the tab off the notches to loosen it enough so I can get out."
Clementine reached over to the table of supplies, grabbing the scalpel and began to mess with the locking mechanism on Rodney's zip tie.
"What's our plan once I get you free?"
"We wing it because that always works!" Rodney suggested jokingly.
"I could just leave the zip tie on." Clementine said to him.
"And in exchange for teaching me how to get out of zip ties, I'll teach you how to laugh." Rodney responded. "First we need to find Andie and the twins, then depending on our situation we can wait for help to arrive or we get out ASAP."
"What if Allen comes back?"
"Allen?"
"That's the leader's name. He told me before stabbing me in the leg."
"Well, Allen's a prick then."
"And if he comes back, knowing that you lied to him, what do we do?"
"Let's… Just hope he doesn't then."
"I don't want him to find the farm, Rodney."
"He won't."
"If we escape and he follows us back, what then?"
Rodney didn't answer. Clementine managed to break the locking mechanism, freeing him from his bounds. Rodney turned towards Clem, and she saw it in his eyes.
"You've never had to kill anyone, have you?" She asked.
"I've killed walkers." Rodney mentioned.
"Walkers are different than people." Clementine added. "That's not a bad thing, that you haven't killed anyone before. It's a good thing, I wish I never had to kill anyone; I'm jealous, actually."
"I understand why some people might do it, but if I was ever in that situation, I don't know if I could."
"It changes you." Clementine remembered what Lee said about killing people. "You never think you have it in you, but once you actually shoot someone, it's- it's like having your mind go back and forth on a decision, but a hundred times worse."
"And how many people have you killed? It won't change my opinion of you. I mean, I don't blame you for killing the man in the shack, but was it all self-defense?"
Clem thought back to all the people she's killed, all the blood on her hands. "Twelve, I'm pretty sure. One was a mercy killing after a friend of mine got bit. As for the rest, I was either defending myself or defending others. I prefer leaving them unconscious so I can leave, but there are times where it's between two lives and you have to choose."
"Is that why it's like making a decision?"
"I'd be lying if I said that was why. The decision thing isn't because you're choosing to end a life; the decision thing is about yourself after you kill someone."
"What do you mean?"
"You start to question if you're still a good person, if it was the right thing to do, if you're sane, if you still have humanity left in you." Clementine told him. "There was this one time when Luke and I decided to stay in a cabin for a night. We wanted to stay there because it was right next to a river, but we got attacked by two guys."
"And you killed them?"
"Yes, but… This one guy took a special interest in me. Long story, short, what I did to the guy who tried to blow your knee off, was basically what I did to him, only worse."
"And the other guy?"
"He had a gun to Luke's head, I had a gun to the guy who was bleeding out. Fucker teased me on how I didn't know how to use a gun, and I just shot him. I didn't hesitate, I just-" Clementine closed her eyes, pushing back the emotions of fear and anger. "Anyway, I couldn't stop thinking about what happened for a couple days. I murdered one guy with a knife and didn't hesitate to shoot his friend, I couldn't think straight because I thought I had completely lost myself."
"You had to, though, right?"
"Yeah, they would have killed us, but it was the way I killed them that kept my mind racing. I would have fallen into a dark place if Luke hadn't pulled me out."
"I get it, you don't have to explain yourself." Rodney said. "You're not a bad person, Clem. You've killed to save others, not because you wanted to. You've seen some bad shit, you've been through some bad shit. You're not heartless for killing people in a more bloody way, you've just been hurt way too much and-"
"And I don't take any chances." Clementine finished as she turned to him.
They stared at each other for a couple seconds, then Rodney wrapped his arms around her. Clementine accepted his affection. "Thank you, for understanding." she said.
"What are friends for?"
The hug lasted for a few more seconds before Rodney pulled away.
"Are you ready to get out of here?" he asked.
Clementine smiled and nodded.
"Alright, everyone! Listen up!" Donald shouted over the crowd of men.
He stood on the second level of the barn with the men on the first.
"We know where the kids are! And we're going to bring them back!"
The crowd cheered, ready to go on the mission.
"Now, eight of us, including myself, will take the truck and go do our best to hopefully bring all five of the kids home safe and sound! The rest of you will stay, guard, and protect the town in case things head south!"
The leader climbed down from the second level, meeting Luke at the bottom.
"Good speech." Luke told him as he handed him a shotgun.
"I feel like I don't need to ask if you want to come." Donald said to him.
"Clementine's out there. There's no way in hell I'm staying behind." Luke responded.
"Great, you drive then." Donald tossed him the keys.
Luke nodded as he caught them before grabbing an AK-47 and headed to the truck. He unlocked the truck and got in, waiting for the rest of the group that was going to the hospital.
Luke glanced up at the small hair tie with the fake white flower, hanging on the rearview mirror. The days when it was just him and Clementine against the world felt so long ago. He remembered saving her for the first time they were on their own in the clothing store, little did he know he'd be doing that a lot more in order to keep her safe. Clementine was tough, though. She always brought out the best in him, and in turn, he brought out the best in her. If it wasn't for her, depression probably would have pushed him to the point of no return. She was all he had, and if she's dead, then so are the ones who killed her.
The passenger and the back doors of the truck opened, people climbing inside, while three others had to sit in the bed of the truck. The doors slammed shut and Luke put his seat belt on.
"You ready?" Don asked.
"Yeah, let's get them back home." Luke started the truck, hoping- no, praying that whatever Clem was going through, she was alive and kicking some ass.
Clementine and Rodney stayed perfectly still, back-to-back with each other, acting like their hands were still tied because there was a man in the room watching them. It was irritating, having some guy in the room as if they were going to escape considering that Clem was injured and she and Rodney were both tied up- at least he thought they were. On top of it, he was smoking, which irritated them more.
"Isn't it ironic that you're smoking in a hospital?" Rodney asked.
"I guess you're right." the man responded, but he continued to smoke anyway.
"You know, normal people would do that outside or by a window." Clementine told him.
"In case you haven't noticed, there are no windows in this room, sweetheart."
"Don't call me sweetheart." Clem retorted bitterly.
"I'll call you whatever the fuck I want to call you."
"You don't have to watch us. It's not like we're going to do anything." Rodney pointed out.
"I know, but the boss should be on his way back soon if he's not already. I figured that I should be watching over the one he made a deal with and the one who killed our buddies."
"In self-defence." Clementine added.
"That so?"
"Not my fault you guys are assholes."
"Assholes? You've got a lot of nerve, sweetheart. If I were you I'd keep that pretty little mouth shut. Besides, I wouldn't want to hurt your pretty little body any more than it already has been."
"Fucking pervert." Clementine muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" he said as he walked over to her.
"You don't need to know." she responded.
"No, go on, repeat what you said." the man bent down so he was eye to eye with her. "I dare you."
"Why don't you go fuck off?"
"Clem, cool it!" Rodney said in a low voice.
Clementine glared back at him, soon shifting her glare back to the man in front of her, who just blew his smoke in her face. She coughed, wanting to use her hands to bat away the smoke, but she kept her arms fixated behind her back. The man just smirked before walking away from her.
"I oughta kill this bud on you." he said, smothering his cigarette on the wall to stop it from burning, letting it drop to the floor. Clem noticed his holstered gun on his side and a pair of handcuffs in his pockets while he did so.
"Hey, are you trying to get yourself killed?" Rodney asked Clementine in the same hushed but harsh voice.
"I'm just seeing how easy it is to provoke him." She responded back in the same voice only quieter so the man didn't hear. "It doesn't take a lot."
"Fuck, I'm out!" The man threw his box of empty cigarette down to the floor and headed towards the door. "I'll be back, try anything and it might be the last thing you do."
He finally left the room, which they were happy about. At least now they could come up with a plan.
"Clem, what the hell are you doing?" Rodney asked.
"I have an idea." she told him.
"Okay, but that doesn't give you an excuse to do that." he responded.
"Do you want to hear the plan or not?"
Rodney huffed. "Fine, what is it?"
"He has handcuffs and a gun. If we can catch him off guard, we can cuff him to the bed and use the gun to ask him what we need to know." Clementine explained.
"Okay, how are we supposed to catch him off guard?"
"We provoke him. He'll act like he's in charge and let his guard down, and that's when we attack."
"Is this going to be like a good cop-bad cop thing? I call dibs on the good cop."
"Why are you the good cop?"
"Because I'm a hundred percent sure that you're going to be the one provoking him. Not to mention that you'd be the one to kill him if he tried to attack us."
"Fine, you're the good cop."
Rodney smiled, but it faded with a question coming to mind. "Clem, are we going to kill him if he does cooperate with us?"
"No, we'll just knock him out or something like that. I promise."
"I'll hold you to that."
"I know, but if he does-"
"He's a cannibal at the end of the day; I won't hold it against you."
"I don't want you to think of me as a murderer." Clementine told him.
"I don't."
"Rodney, it's hard enough to know that I can kill just because someone wronged me or someone else. Like I said, I'm jealous that you never had to kill a person." Clementine said.
"Clem, I don't think of you as a murderer. You're not a murderer, you said it yourself that you only kill in self-defence."
"No, I'm not a murder… But I've killed enough to classify as one. And I get the feeling that getting out of here, won't be easy."
"Well, in that case, it's either us or them." Rodney gave her a reassuring smile. "I got your back, I mean that in a metaphorical sense, but it could apply literally, too."
Clementine felt him nudge her back, causing her to smile. "Just follow my lead."
"You got it."
The man came back in, right on cue. He pulled a cigarette out of a box and lit it, breathing in and blowing the smoke out.
"You kids want a hit?" he asked.
Clementine rolled her eyes at him, while she kept her mouth shut.
"I'll take that offer."
"Rodney, really?" Clementine asked.
"We're going to die anyway, might as well, right?" Rodney responded to her.
"I like your attitude, kid." the man said to him as he walked up to Rodney.
He put the end in Rodney's mouth, letting him breathe in and blow out. Rodney ended up coughing a bit from the unwanted smoke in his lungs, causing the man to chuckle at his attempt.
"You want some, sweetheart?" he asked.
"I'm good." Clementine responded.
"Suit yourself." the man said before posting himself up against the wall.
The room fell silent, waiting for something to happen. Rodney figured he had to break the silence.
"So… Cannibalism, huh?"
"What about it?"
"Nothing, just curious how you and your group are okay with killing others for food. I mean, how the hell did you get wrapped up in this?" Rodney asked.
"The world's about survival of the fittest; the fit eats the weak, the circle of life and that shit." The man explained.
"More like bullshit." Clementine said aloud.
"Call it what you want, sweetheart. It is how it is." the man told her. "You're dying either way, might as well loosen up like your boyfriend here. You can still have the hit if you want it."
"Still no and fuck you."
"Fuck you too, bitch."
Clementine shook her head. "You're so oblivious to it."
"What are you bitching about now?"
"I've run into cannibals before." Clementine admitted.
"Really?" the man asked.
"Really?" Rodney asked as well, surprised that this isn't her first run-in with people like the ones here at the hospital.
"Yeah, and I can tell you now that this group you have, it won't work out."
"Now that's bullshit."
"It's just a thought. The ones I've run into before were in groups of two and three. You guys have so many people, I'm surprised that you all haven't turned on each other yet, minus that one strange guy who I assumed did all the shooting while I got to the roof."
"What strange guy are you talking about?" the man asked.
"The one who was too busy talking to rocks to notice me enter, grab the keys to the roof, and leave." Clementine told him. She didn't want to admit that she somewhat assisted in him killing five people before someone shot him. It wasn't something she was proud of.
"Strange is one word for him, I'll give you that." the man agreed.
"But still, your group will fall apart once people start turning on each other." Clementine continued to make her point.
"That won't happen."
"I think you should listen to the lady, she's making a good point." Rodney suggested.
"I mean, I'm sure you guys are divided into your own little circles of people you constantly hang out with and agree to stick together if and when the whole thing breaks up." Clementine guessed.
"Is that your whole thought? Are you done?" The man asked. Clem noticed how antsy he's getting.
"You know, I can see it now. You all are hungry and you need to eat. All of a sudden, one circle decides to take matters into their own hands and ask around to see who they can kill for food. Then all of them gang up on the one guy who has no friends to back him up." Clementine watched how he shifted during her spiel, how nervous he was getting. "So you got a good group? Or were they all killed in the crossfire?"
"I see what you're doing." The man began walking over to her. "You're trying to get under my skin."
"I'm not doing anything but telling the truth, and something tells me you're alone. Why else would you be watching us other than to just make yourself look better in your boss' eye?" Clementine said to him, hoping it would piss him off.
It worked- too well. The man backhanded her when she finished her sentence. "You should really learn when to shut the fuck up!"
"Hey! Don't you fucking hit her!" Rodney exclaimed.
"With all the bullshit she was saying, the bitch was asking for it." The man responded.
"Doesn't give you the right to fucking hit her."
"Considering the position the two of you are in, I believe it does." he took ahold of Clementine's face, forcing her to look at him. "Take my advice, sweetheart. I wouldn't want to hurt that pretty face again."
"You want to know what I called you earlier? I called you a fucking pervert."
The man pushed her head to the side. "Okay, now you're asking for it. I take it that you're going out with a bang."
"Not like I was completely wrong."
"I'll make sure to ask the boss if I can kill you if we decide to eat you first."
"You don't scare me."
"I don't? Well, when your pathetic little life is in my hands, I guarantee that you will be when you start screaming and begging for mercy."
"Begging for mercy? You'll be doing that when you're starting at the barrel of my gun."
Clementine punched the man in the stomach as hard as she could, making him drop his cigarette as he hunched over.
"Rodney!"
At the call of his name, he turned and punched the man in the face. The two grabbed his arms and pulled him on the bed while he was dazed. Clementine grabbed the handcuffs out of his pocket, quickly giving them to Rodney while she grabbed his gun and held him down. Rodney cuffed one of his hands, threading the cuffs through the sidebars of the bed and cuffing his other hand. The man tried to fight against Rodney cuffing him, even after he was cuffed to the bed he fought against the sidebar, but stopped seeing that Clementine had his gun pointed at him.
"Why don't you take a seat?" Clementine suggested as she and Rodney scooted towards the end of the bed to make room for their captive.
The man, now aware of his situation, complied with her demands. He sat on the bed, trying to make himself comfortable since his arms were in an awkward position. "Okay, we- we can talk this through."
Clementine and Rodney looked at each other for a second and nodded before looking back at the man.
"Hey, come on. I'm stuck here, I'm not going anywhere. You two can just leave, and we can put this behind us." The man said in a desperate voice, pulling at the cuffs again.
"Leave? You want us to just leave? Yeah, we can leave, once we figure out what we're up against." Clementine told him. "I want to leave just as much as you do, believe me, but it's hard considering everything you guys did to us and what you were going to do to us and it is so tempting to put my finger on the trigger!" Clementine jerked the gun at him as if to threaten him. She was starting to see Rodney's point about having her be the bad cop.
"Hey, kid, you got to control your girlfriend here." The man said to Rodney, trying to appeal to him.
"You've got it wrong, dude. First off: she's not my girlfriend." Rodney said to him. "Second: if I wasn't controlling her, you'd be dead."
"You should listen to the man, he's making a good point." Clementine informed him.
"Look, we just have some questions and we'd like some answers. That's it, that's all we want." Rodney told him. "Once we're satisfied, you look the other way and we leave."
"I want that coming out of her mouth." The man said, gesturing his head to Clementine.
She sighed quickly before she spoke. "You've been the kindest compared to everyone else here; I won't kill you… Unless you try something. There, you happy?"
"That's fair enough." The man nodded, agreeing with the terms.
Clementine and Rodney looked at each other again, wondering who was going to ask the first question. Rodney reached over to Clem's arm that held the gun, lowering it for her. Clementine saw the reassuring look in his eye as if to tell her that it would be fine.
"How many of you guys are there?" Rodney asked the man.
"As of now, we have twenty-three people, including me. We used to have thirty-five people, but we lost ten people today and two others a few months ago never came back. We all assumed they've left for good."
Clementine gave Rodney a nod, confirming that the two who attacked her and Andie were the ones he was talking about. She reached over to the man's arm and rolled up his sleeve to show a club drawn on his wrist.
"I saw this symbol in the cafeteria and on some of you guys, what does it mean?" Clementine asked.
"I wasn't here when this all started. All I know is that when I joined, my boss told me that I had to have it on my wrist. We all have it, but I don't know what it means, I just thought it was funny because it was the club symbol and this was kind of like a club." The man explained. "There was a rumor going around that if we started to betray each other, then we lose the arm the symbol is on. I don't know if that's true or not, but as far as I know, no one ever went against the group."
"That's a messed up way of getting kicked out." Rodney said aloud. "Do you guys use sharpies or something?"
"Yeah, we use sharpies."
"When did your boss leave for Lacey?" Clementine asked.
"It was hours ago, I don't know how many. Like I said before, he's probably on his way back."
"How did he get there and did he go alone?" Rodney asked.
"He left with three people, they could have walked or they could have taken bicycles. There's a bike shop down the street, so they could have taken some of them."
"Or the ones we used to get here." Rodney said to Clementine.
"Maybe, but I doubt it. It wouldn't make a difference anyway." she responded, taking her eyes off of the man. He started pulling on the handcuffs. "It's like Andie said: We're too injured to ride them."
"Well, you are." Rodney corrected.
"Thanks for reminding me."
"Hey, I'm joking. Plus, by the time we get out, I'm sure your leg will be well enough to push a pedal."
"What about the others? What if they can't?" Clementine asked Rodney.
"We'll find them, and I'm sure they're fine." Rodney respond.
Clementine turned back to the man. "Our friends- Where are they?"
"Probably in the same room where you all were tied up."
"First floor." Rodney said.
"What floor are we on?" Clementine asked her friend.
"Top floor. AKA the sixth." Rodney told her.
"Do you know how long it took me to get from the first floor to the roof, without being spotted?" Clementine asked.
"You made it up just fine. We just have to go down, even if it takes some time."
"They will find out that we escaped this room when they find him." Clementine said, jerking her head to the man. "And when they do, it won't be like last time. They weren't looking for me because they thought they miscounted. They'll be on the lookout this time, they'll be looking for us."
"Okay, I see your point."
"And when the boss comes back, what then?"
"Let's take this one step at a time, alright?" Rodney suggested.
The man took a hold of the sidebar on the bed and started pulling it up.
"Let's just finish up here, find Andie and the twins, and get out of here." Rodney told her.
"But-"
"Clem, we can't plan everything out."
"I know, but-"
The sidebar was pulled out of its place by the man, freeing the chains from being wrapped around it. He cut off Clementine's sentence by grabbing her neck and banged her head against Rodney's, which knocked the teen off the bed and the force made Clementine release the gun from her hands. The man then used the chains of the handcuffs to choke Clem as he pulled her body down on top of his.
Clementine pulled at the chain choking her as her legs started kicking, desperately trying to breathe. While doing her best to free herself, she knocked the gun off the bed. This man was going to kill her, and maybe Rodney too. The chain around her neck continued to tighten, her nails digging into her captor's hands and into her neck, doing everything she can to pull the chain off, but there was only so much she could do. Flashbacks of the guy who choked her before trying to rape her ran through her mind, but this guy wasn't going to hurt her. He was going to kill her, and she realized that there wasn't anything she could do about it when her struggling began to slow.
BANG!
The chain around her neck loosened, finally letting Clementine breathe. She lifted the arms over her head as she sat up, coughing and gasping for air. Clementine rubbed her neck as she looked to her side to see Rodney standing there with the gun in his hand. He was the one who shot the man.
"Rodney?" she croaked coughing soon after.
His hands started to shake as he lowered the weapon, letting it drop to the floor. "I…"
Clementine reached her hand out to him and Rodney slowly took small steps towards her, then he wrapped his arms around her, burying his head into her shoulder. She remembered killing the stranger who took her from Lee, how she shot him to save the man who looked out for her- she understood how Rodney felt.
"I… I just…" Rodney was still in disbelief that he killed someone, his trembling hands gripping to the back of Clementine's shirt.
"I know." Clementine rubbed his back, trying to calm him down from the extreme emotions he was feeling. "Rodney, you saved my life."
The teen released a shaky sigh as he pulled back, steadying his hand as he brushed his fingers over the red line on Clementine's neck.
"Are- Are you okay?" Once again, he's trying to forget that something bad happened.
"I'm fine, what about you?" Clementine asked, pushing his and away.
"I couldn't let him kill you, I-"
"I know." She said again. "Listen, you're still a good person, okay? You didn't even want to kill him in the first place, you wanted to leave him. I listened to you, Rodney, I was going to do the same thing. And now I need you to listen to me: you are a good person."
"Clem-"
"I'm serious, you are doing everything in your power to protect the town and everyone there, you made a plan for me to alert the others to try to bring them here. Yes, I got hurt, but you were able to buy us time to help me and get the rest of us out." Clementine continued. "Whatever you want to do to get out of here Rodney, I will be right behind you."
Rodney closed his eyes, finally calming himself down. "If this is your way of saying thank you, you're welcome. I needed that."
"Believe me, I know you did." Clementine told him.
Shouts from down the hall broke their bonding moment.
"We got to go!" Clementine said aloud, remembering that they weren't alone in the building and the gunshot probably alerted the other cannibals.
"Yeah, let's go!" Rodney picked up the gun from the floor then put his arm around Clementine's side, trying to assist her off the bed. "Here, I got you."
"Rodney, I can wa-" Clementine cut herself off from the pain of applying weight on her bad leg, causing her to limp.
"You can hardly walk, I'm helping you whether you want it or not."
The argument ended there as Rodney held onto Clem's side to help her get out of the room. The two quickly stumbled down the hall, finding a place to hide in another room. Thankfully, the room had a closet that was just big enough to fit them. Rodney opened the doors and sat down inside. Since the closet was narrow, Clementine had to sit in his lap. Once the two were as comfortable as they could be, they closed the closet doors.
Clementine hissed in pain, her leg was burning. She bit down on her lip to keep herself as silent as she could be.
"We'll make it through this, alright?" Rodney whispered to her.
Clementine nodded as she wrapped her hands around her thigh.
They heard shouts down the hall, and they figured that someone found the body. The cannibals were looking for them now and until the bad guys stop looking for them as hard as they are now, they couldn't leave the closet.
"It hurts…" Clementine whispered.
"I know, I know. They didn't give me any painkillers, otherwise, I would have-"
Rodney's hand clamped over Clementine's mouth to muffle her whimpering after hearing the voices get louder and footsteps come closer to their location.
The footsteps stopped and someone shouted to the others, saying that the room they were in was clear. Relief came over them, but they weren't safe yet. People were patrolling the halls for them, they had to wait it out, at least for a little bit until it calmed down.
Minutes passed by and no one else came into their room. They had no clue how long they waited there, but after they felt like a half hour had passed, the kids agreed to leave.
Rodney opened the closet door slowly, checking the room for others. Seeing that the coast was clear, he assisted Clementine to help her stand up. She was upset- almost pissed- that Rodney had to help her walk, but Clementine knew that she wouldn't get that far without him. The two walked to the door and peered around the corner, looking up and down the hall for a cannibal.
"We're good." Rodney said. "How's your leg?"
"As well as it could be." Clementine grunted.
"Just hold out a bit longer. Let's find Andie and the twins, then we can figure out a way out." Rodney told her.
"Okay." Clementine nodded.
Clem and Rodney slowly made their way down the hall trying to find the stairwell. Clementine didn't know much about the top floor, only that the staff lounge was near the stairs. Rodney was beaten and dragged up to the top floor after the fireworks went off and they captured Clementine, not to mention that he was carrying her when he followed Allen to one of the rooms to fix her up as part of their deal, so he knows a bit more, but he was too focused on trying to fix Clementine to worry about the layout of the floor, but now he was starting to notice tiny spots of red spaced out on the floor as if it was a trail.
"Clem, look." Rodney said, pointing to the red spot.
"That's blood." she told him.
"I think that's your blood. I was carrying you when you were unconscious, I think it might have dripped from your leg." Rodney explained.
"We can follow it back to where Allen stabbed me, and we can find our way to the stairs from there." Clementine said.
"Hopefully, yeah." Rodney agreed with the idea.
They heard voices from down the hall and they quickly ran into another room to hide.
"They fucking escaped!" a voice yelled.
"Who?" a second voice asked.
"The kids! Allen's going to have our fucking heads if we don't find them!"
"We cleared this floor, they're not up here." a third voice chimed in.
"Well, keep an eye out! We don't need another stunt like that bitch pulled last night on the roof!"
Clementine limped over to a sink in the room, opening the drawers and cabinets. She pulled out a scalpel and held it in her hand, it was barely a knife, but it was a weapon. Clementine waved for Rodney to come over to her to look through the drawers for a quiet weapon. Rodney motioned for Clementine to keep an eye on the door, incase someone came in. After some searching, he pulled out a pair of scissors. They didn't have the best weapons, but they both agreed that they couldn't use the gun unless they wanted everyone in the whole building to come in their direction.
"How's the leg doing?" Rodney asked again.
"Still hurts like hell, but I think I can walk on my own." Clementine responded. She didn't want to hold both her and Rodney back, she was just hoping that the adrenaline would kick in to make the pain more bearable.
"Okay, if you ever need help or if you want to take a break just let me know." he told her.
"Rodney, are you doing okay?"
"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"
"The guy from before. I just wanted to make sure you were-"
"Clem, let's just get out of here. I'd rather not think about it for as long as I can."
"Alright."
Rodney was pushing his emotions down, and maybe that was for the better until they get out. Whatever he was doing, it was bringing out the leader in him, showing his determination to get everyone out of here.
The two peaked out of their room again, looking up and down the hall. No one was coming and the two took that opportunity to continue following the blood trail. Rodney ushered Clementine to go first so he wouldn't lose her in case her leg crapped out. They stayed close to the rooms, walking along the side of the doors. Since the rooms have been great hiding spots for them so far, they were ready to use them again for the same purpose. The blood droplets lead them to the end of a T-shaped hall and going right. Clementine glanced around the corner and then backed up after seeing two guys down that hall.
She looked to Rodney, wondering what to do about the men, then he grabbed an empty bottle that was lying on the ground and jerked his head to the nearest room to them. Clementine nodded and then Rodney chucked the bottle down the other hall, which shattered it when it hit the ground. The two quickly backed up into the nearby room and waited for the men to investigate the broken bottle. The kids listened to the men talk about the broken bottle and decide to split up to check out the other hallways. Clementine looked out of the room watching one of the men walk down the hall they just came from, while the other was walking the other way from the blood trail. When the two were finally out of sight, Clem gave a nod Rodney, letting him know that it was clear, and they continued down the right hall.
Rodney was constantly checking behind him, in case the two fuckers decide to double back. While doing so he accidently walked into Clementine who stopped walking.
"What's up?" he whispered.
"The guy who was talking to rocks, he was in here." Clementine whispered back.
Rodney looked at the door that had 'STAFF LOUNGE' printed in white letters on the door.
"So?"
"It was right by the stairs." Clementine finished. "That way."
Rodney looked at the blood trail, it continuing down the hall. Clementine was pointing down a hall that was directly facing the door to the lounge.
"You sure?" he asked.
"Yes." she responded.
Clementine and Rodney started venturing down the next hallway, however, they only took a couple steps before they were both grabbed from behind, with their arms pinned down and a hand over their mouths. They were pulled backwards into the staff lounge, struggling against the ones who held them captive. Clementine slammed her elbow into the stomach of the one who held her, which caused him to release her. She whipped out the scalpel, ready to attack, but a voice stopped her as the person grabbed her wrist with the weapon.
"Hey, relax!"
Clementine was finally able to look at the person, relieved to see that it was only Tad. She looked over to Rodney and was more relieved to see Tyrone who released his friend, knowing that he won't attack him. She and Rodney were so happy to see that they were okay.
"You scared the shit out of me, both of you!" Clementine said to the twins, yanking her arm out of Tad's grip.
"We're glad to see you guys, too." Tyrone said to them.
"Wait, where's Andie?" Rodney asked.
"She's over there." Tad told him, turning his head towards the couch where she sat. Her arms were wrapped around herself and her eyes were closed as if she was trying to shut them out.
The four of them looked at each other. The twins immediately noticed Clementine's condition, bruises covering her face, the dried blood surrounding a tear in her jeans where she was stabbed.
"Fucking hell, what did they do to you?" Tyrone asked.
"Rodney was able to clean me up. I look a lot better than I feel, trust me." Clementine told them, not wanting to go into detail of how she was beaten. "You two look like you've gotten into a fight."
"Tad, what happened to your hand?" Rodney asked, noticing Tad's bandaged hand.
"They made us beat each other up." Tyrone explained. "They said we had to keep going until one of us was unconscious. Then…"
"Then?" Clementine persisted.
"I was knocked unconscious." Tad admitted. "They made Ty cut my pinky off."
"They what?!" Rodney exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, man. They didn't give me a choice." Tyrone said to his brother.
Clementine put her hand to her mouth, now looking at Tad's hand, seeing that one finger was missing. It made her sick. She looked towards Andie again, seeing that she hadn't moved a muscle. Usually, by now she'd be running her mouth about what these men did or demand to know about what happened to her and Rodney, but she just sat there. It was familiar to her, as if she knew what she was doing. If these people were consistent with their interrogation methods then…
"What'd they do to Andie?" Clementine asked, although she had an idea on what they did to her.
The twins looked at each other worryingly before one of them spoke. "They started to ask us questions about the town." Tyrone started. "We denied it as long as we could, but they threatened to… They threatened to rape Andie."
Rodney rubbed the bridge of his nose with his hands. "They did the same thing to me and Clem, that fucker was going to… I-I couldn't-"
"Wait, what do you mean you couldn't?" Tad asked.
"What did you guys tell them?" Rodney asked.
"We didn't tell them anything." Tad told him.
"Does that mean that you told them something?" Tyrone asked.
"You two fucking let them rape Andie?!" Rodney almost yelled.
"You fucking told them where the town is?!" Tyrone responded in the same voice.
"Will you guys fucking shut up?!" Clementine told them.
Rodney glanced at Clementine before he spoke in a hushed voice. "I didn't tell them where the town is."
"Then what the fuck did you tell them?" Tad asked.
"That we're from Lacey." Rodney explained.
"Lacey? When was this decided?" Tyrone asked.
Clementine let the boys argue, she needed to talk to Andie. The pre-teen walked over to the couch and sat down on the cushion next to her friend.
"Hey." Clementine said.
Andie didn't speak, she didn't even look at her.
"I assume you've overheard what we-"
"Yes." Andie quickly interrupted. Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper.
"Andie, I-I don't even know what to say." Clementine said. "I know that a 'sorry' won't cut it."
The blonde tilted her head slightly so she could glance at the boys arguing quietly in the corner. "Did Rodney really lie so you wouldn't…" Andie's body shivered at what she went through and the thought of the same thing happening to Clementine made her sick.
"Yeah, he did."
Andie didn't say anything, neither of them did for a while. Clementine knew how she was feeling, what she was going through, and it sucked. She wished she had someone to talk to who went through the same thing or at least another woman. Clementine was grateful that she met Abigail, though she didn't discuss what happened in the shack with her, she was a huge help to her; it was nice to talk to a woman after being with Luke for so long.
"I didn't want Rodney to say anything." Clementine admitted. "In the state I was in, I was sure that I would have passed out before the guy… you know."
"You have no idea what you are saying, Clem, so don't you dare say that." Andie words were laced with bitterness.
"Trust me, I know what I'm saying, because if Rodney hadn't said anything, it wouldn't have been the first time."
Andie looked at Clementine dead in the eye at what she said.
"Luke and I ran into a guy on our way here. That guy, he- he raped me." Clementine managed to spit out. She hated that word: rape. It was a horrible, disgusting word. The lie she told Rodney was going to get bigger, but if it kept Luke in the clear, she'd tell it until she believed it herself.
Andie closed her eyes and turned her head forward, putting her head in her hands. "What kind of fucked up world is this?"
Clementine sighed. "I know what you're feeling right now, and I know that it sucks, it hurts, but you can't let it take over your life."
"Did it take over your life?"
"It almost did. It was after this group of guys ambushed us. I killed two of them, and then one of them tried to rape me. Luke was able to stop him before he could, but the fact that it almost happened again… and it wasn't even the first time something like that happened, either; where someone tried to do that to me, but this time was different because I actually knew what was going to happen."
"Clem…"
"I started thinking about all the past times it almost happened, and if Luke wasn't there to save me. And I remember thinking: If every single guy we were going to meet was just going to hurt me like that and there was a possibility that Luke was going to die because of me since he gets beaten a lot, then maybe he'd be better off without me." Clementine huffed. "I was in a dark place, and honestly I didn't want to live anymore, so I tried to kill myself."
"But you're still here." Andie pointed out.
"Yeah, because Luke stopped me and tied me up." Clementine said with annoyance. She hated that Luke's way of solving the problem was to tie her hands and feet together.
Andie smiled slightly at Clementine's tone of voice. "Did he really tie you up?"
"Yeah, because he's a fucking asshole." Clementine said bitterly.
Her comment caused Andie to smirk.
"He's not an asshole, I just call him that when he annoys me." Clementine admitted. "The point I'm trying to make is that this will he hard to get over, but these people are completely stupid and they always let their guard down when they confront a girl."
"Like those two shitheads who beat the crap out of us in the woods?" Andie reminded her.
"Andie, who won?" Clementine asked.
"We did."
"Who is alive?"
"We are."
"And what did you say to me before we stumbled back into town?
"That we are fucking badasses." Andie said with a smile on her face.
"Stupid men always let their guard down because they think that we can't hold our own, and that is what we use to our advantage. We're smart, they're not." Clementine told her.
Andie turned to Clementine, punching her arm lightly. "You're the bestest friend a girl could ask for, you know that?" she told her.
"Bestest isn't a word." Clementine responded as she lightly punched her back.
"I don't fucking care." Andie took a deep breath in and out. "You're right about two things. One: this is going to be hard for me to get over, and that makes me mad. And I like to take my anger out on breakable things."
"What's the second thing?" Clementine asked.
"These people are fucking stupid because they picked the wrong group of kids to mess with. And last time I checked, stupid people have breakable heads." Andie stood up, cracking the knuckles in her fists. "Thanks, Clem."
"You'd do the same for me." Clementine responded.
"You know I would." Andie said before jerking her head to the boys. "Come on."
The girls approached Rodney and the twins who were in the middle of arguing. Once Clementine and Andie joined the circle, the boys immediately stopped, surprised and glad that Andie was coming back to her normal self.
"How are you feeling, Andie?" Tyrone asked.
"I'm pissed, I'm tired, I want to go home, but better." Andie responded.
"Andie we're sor-"
"I know," Andie cut off Tad's sentence. "I'm not mad at you two. I'm mad at these fuckers who think that they can get away with this."
"I second that." Tad said to the group.
"Guys, we need to come up with a plan." Rodney told them.
"So now we come up with a plan? That would have been great before they started to interrogate and torture us." Tyrone mentioned.
"Now is not the time, Ty!" Rodney nearly yelled.
"I say we just go with Clem's plan." Tyrone added.
"My plan? What's my plan?" Clementine asked, confused about what he meant.
"That we fight, you said it back in the freezer." Tyrone reminded her.
"We can't fight them." Rodney stated.
"The hell we can't!" Tyrone exclaimed.
"Look at us, Ty! You were forced to fight your brother, Tad lost a finger, Andie's been raped, Clementine's been beaten to shit, and I lied to the man in charge. I'm a fucking mess right now, we're all a fucking mess!" Rodney ranted. "We can't fight them."
"Then let's kill them." Andie suggested. "I'm serious, why not?"
"After everything they've done, I think we should." Tad supported.
"We can't just- It won't be easy." Rodney didn't want to cause more bloodshed even though he knew that it was the answer.
"Andie's right. It's not a matter of if we should or shouldn't, we have to. They can't find the town, otherwise everyone there is going to be screwed." Clementine pointed out. "I don't like how we have to do this, Rodney but if we don't kill them, they'll kill us."
"I know. Just give me a minute to think about this." Rodney responded.
"You guys do know what you're saying yes to, right? Mass murder." Tyrone asked.
"Of cannibals. We are killing people who eat people, and after everything they've done to us, you can't say that they don't deserve this." Tad reminded his brother.
"I'm not saying that they don't deserve to die, I just don't want to kill them." Tyrone explained.
"Neither do I, but if we want to get out of here and keep them away from the town, then we have no choice." Tad pointed out.
Andie stuck her hand in the middle of the circle. "It's all or nothing guys. We do this, we're heroes. We don't, everyone dies." she stated. "Are you guys with me?"
Clementine sighed, putting her hand on top of Andie's. Tad followed suit, placing his hand on Clem's. Tyrone shook his head, but he put his hand in the middle as well. The four of them looked at Rodney while he thought about their situation. He looked at every member of their group, then their hands in the middle.
"We're all going to hell." Rodney breathed as he added his hand to the middle.
"Okay, so how are we doing this?" Andie asked as they all brought their hands down to their side.
"Clem and I were able to interrogate a guy for information. He said that there are twenty-three of them." Rodney began.
"Twenty-two." Clementine corrected.
"Right." Rodney remembered that the man was dead. "He also said that their boss and three others left to go check out Lacey."
"So that's eighteen people we have to deal with." Tad concluded.
"Yeah, until they come back." Rodney nodded. "For now, let's just clear them out, one floor at a time. As long as we're quiet about this, they won't suspect a thing. We all clear?"
The rest of his group nodded.
"Good, then find some sort of weapon and let's finish this."
The five of them split up, agreeing to go back to the staff lounge if things went bad. Andie and Clementine ended up together and they were trailing one guy. The girls were waiting for the right opportunity to ambush him, take his gun, and kill him quietly. Andie found a baseball bat in one of the doctor's offices, so that was her weapon of choice while Clementine still had the scalpel.
"I'm going to get him from behind, then you take his gun." Andie said to Clementine.
"We should bring him in one of the rooms before we kill him, so others won't find the body." Clementine suggested.
Andie nodded in agreement. The girls quickly took cover in one of the rooms when they saw the man start to turn around. They waited until the man passed by their room and then they attacked. Andie used the bat to put the man in a choke hold while Clementine grabbed his shotgun, then they forced him into their room. Andie released the man and Clementine kicked him in his knee, forcing him to kneel before Andie hit him with the bat and the man fell to the floor unconscious.
"That was easy." Andie said.
"He's not dead." Clementine pointed out.
"No, but it's a start."
Clementine breathed in and out, reminding herself that the man is a cannibal. "Andie, grab a pillow." Clementine reloaded the shotgun.
"Wait!" Andie exclaimed.
"What?" Clementine asked.
Andie rolled the man over to see his face. "You piece of shit." She whispered to herself before looking around the room, her eyes locking on a chair.
"Help me get him into the chair." Andie said.
"He might wake up, we have to kill him." Clementine told her.
"We are. Well, I am."
"Andie, what's going on?"
"Just help me get this fucker into the chair."
Clementine huffed, grabbing one of the man's arms while Andie grabbed his other, then dragged him to the chair. It was difficult to get him in the chair because he was heavy, but they managed to do it.
"Keep an eye on him." Andie said before searching through the cabinets of the room.
Clementine was confused to what Andie was up to. They could have just killed him and be on their way, but for some reason Andie changed her mind. The blonde came back with a roll of duct tape she found and began to tie the man's hands behind the chair.
"Clem, I need you to find a knife and a rag."
"Okay…" Clementine responded.
Whatever Andie was doing, she better do it before the guy wakes up. Clementine found what Andie needed and went back to her just as she was finished tying the man up with his arms behind his back and his legs tied to the legs of the chairs. Andie took the rag out of Clementine's hand and shoved it into the guy's mouth, which woke him up.
He started to panic, realizing that he was bound and gagged. Andie pressed her hand over his mouth, to keep the rag in.
"Shh…" she whispered. "Remember me, fuckface? I suggest you keep chewing on that, trust me."
Andie removed her hand and took the knife out of Clementine's hand, twirling it in her hand.
"This is going to be fun." Andie smirked at the man's eyes widen in fear.
"Andie, what are you going to do?" Clementine asked.
"I'm going to make him eat his dick." She said it so casual, it almost sounded like a joke.
"So what do you need the knife for?"
"So I can make him eat his dick." she repeated, emphasizing her words. "Clem, can you stand guard outside, please? This won't take long."
Clementine looked at the man, then back at Andie. She slowly nodded as she backed out of the room as she picked the shotgun off the floor. Clementine closed the door to the room, giving the two privacy as she waited for Andie to be done while she ignored the muffled screams from in the room.
She heard noise from down the hall. Clementine aimed the shotgun at the source only to see the twins and Rodney come around the corner.
"You can lower it." Rodney said as he and the twins approached her.
"Are we clear?" Clementine asked as she lowered the shotgun.
"Yeah, Tad and I got two of them." Tyrone told her.
"Where's Andie?" Tad asked.
"She's in there killing another guy." Clementine motioned to the room behind her. "She told me to stand guard out here."
"Why?" Rodney asked.
"I don't know, she just wanted to kill him."
"Clem, how tall was he?" Tyrone asked.
"I'm not sure, he was probably a bit taller than Rodney."
"Was he bald with a cross necklace?" Tad asked.
"Yes… why?"
The twins looked at each other before looking back at Clem.
"That was the guy who... hurt Andie." Tyrone trailed off. "I want to beat him up!"
"I wouldn't go in there." Clementine told him, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Why not?" Tyrone asked.
"I feel like it would make up for the fact that we basically let him do that to her!" Tad added.
"Trust me, Andie needs to do this." Clementine said. She remembered how she wished that David had a more painful death after destroying her relationship with Luke. "She said that she was going to make him eat his dick."
The boys paused for a moment, Tyrone and Tad took a step back from the room as they looked at Rodney who looked back at them. The three then looked back at the room, wincing as they moved a hand to cover their private parts.
The door behind Clementine opened and Andie stepped out with her one of her bloody hands holding a bloody knife while the other held the bat with it resting against her shoulder.
"Boys." She greeted as she wiped the blood on the knife on her jeans. "Here, this will probably better than the scalpel." Andie held the knife out to Clementine.
Clem hesitated for a moment, then accepted the knife. "You okay?"
"I'm a lot better, thanks for asking." Andie responded. "How many guys did you get?" she asked the guys.
"We- we got two." Tyrone stuttered, shocked at what Andie did.
"We got one, so that makes three." Andie told him.
"Nineteen more." Clementine reminded them.
"We get rid of all of them, and we're home free." Rodney said. "Keep an eye out for anything we can use, and I mean anything."
With that said, the five of them left for the stairs to start clearing out the fifth floor. Once they descended from the top floor, they slowly opened the door to the fifth and saw two guys standing in the middle of the room with their backs turned to them. Rodney nudged Tyrone in the shoulder as he started to creep up behind the two with his friend behind him.
In a swift movement, the guys each took one cannibal and cupped their hands over their mouths before jamming their weapons into their heads. Rodney looked around and gave a thumbs up to the rest of the group, letting them know that the room was clear. Clementine, Andie, and Tad came out of the stairwell to join the two who stood over the guys they just killed.
"Seventeen more to go." Tad said.
"We should hide the bodies." Clementine mentioned.
"We can hide them behind the reception desk." Rodney said, pointing the desk out to the group.
They all agreed on the plan and began to drag the bodies to the suggested spot. Right after the bodies were hidden behind the desk, the peace and quiet was disrupted.
"Get down!" Andie shouted as she dove under the reception desk with her friends following suit, just dodging someone shooting at them.
"WE FOUND THEM!"
Clementine peaked up from behind cover and shot the shotgun at the people who had them gunned down. However, she didn't get a good aim, seeing that she didn't hit anyone in that brief second because she had to duck to prevent herself from getting shot.
"Damn it!" she hissed.
"How many are there?" Tad asked in a whisper.
"I saw two." Andie responded in the same voice level as Rodney tried to shoot at them.
"I think I saw three." Clementine mentioned.
"Four, but there's probably more coming." Rodney corrected as he ducked behind cover.
"COME OUT, YOU LITTLE FUCKERS!"
Tyrone grabbed the shotgun from Clementine's hand and fired at the cannibals.
"What's the plan here?" Andie asked.
"I don't know, but we better think of something before we get killed!" Tyrone said.
Clementine looked around their cover, hoping to find something of use. She saw an empty glass bottle and a plastic bottle of rubbing alcohol. Clementine picked up the rubbing alcohol and shook it to find that it was half full. She looked over at the bodies of the recently killed and began to search them.
"Clem, what are you doing?" Rodney asked.
She pulled a lighter out of the dead man's pocket and smiled as she began to rip off a piece of the dead man's shirt. "Science, Rodney."
After an hour of trying to maneuver through the streets, Luke, Donald, and the rest of the men they brought with them finally arrived at the hospital. Luke parked the truck and everyone got out before they approached the hospital.
"This it?" One of the men asked.
"Yeah, this is it." Donald responded. "Keep your eyes peeled, everyone."
Luke noticed something sticking straight up out of the dead garden in front of the hospital and he picked it up, finding out that it was an all-too-familiar pocket knife. Then he noticed the dead guy a few feet away, it looked like he fell from the roof. Maybe fell wasn't the right word.
"Are we sure they're here?" Another guy asked.
"Look, there's five bikes right there against the wall. Five bikes, five kids." Donald pointed out. "Luke, what did you find?"
"I gave this to Clem." he responded, showing the pocket knife to him. "They're definitely here."
"Alright, we find the kids, grab them, and get out!" Donald announced. "We do everything we can to-"
BOOM!
An explosion cut off Don's speech.
"The hell was that?" Luke asked.
"I don't know." Don replied before he ran around the corner of the building with his group following him.
Up on the fifth story of the hospital, a wall of glass windows was broken and what looked like fire from inside along with screams and shouts of a bunch of men. Soon after seeing that, they watched as two people from the fifth floor try to pat out the fire on their bodies, but they misstepped and fell out of the window down five stories and killing them instantly when they hit the ground.
"Molotov Cocktail." Don said aloud. "That's them."
"You sure?" Someone in their group asked.
"I taught my son how to make one when we went camping before the world went to hell." Don responded.
"If they needed to do that, I don't think these people want to negotiate." Luke pointed out.
"Let's make them negotiate with us then." Don said before leading the group inside the building.
This was the start of a war.
A/N: Part one is done and part two will come when it's done. I hope you guys like the direction and understand my point of view of changing the rating. If you have any questions regarding the rating change, you can PM me about it.
Also, shout out to PeanutFangirl for helping me. Love you!
