A/N: So this chapter took a long time to get out, mostly because of other fanfiction projects I'm working on, also school. If you follow me on twitter (which you should if you want updates) then you know that I was sick last week, which also delayed this from being posted. I'm a lot better now, so this chapter is yours. By the way, this is the longest chapter I've written, as in 20,000 words long. There is a shout out at the chapter for a person who helped, please stay tuned for that! I have no more announcments, so please enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Walking Dead.
It Just Happened
Daisyfan5534
Chapter 14
A rattle causes Clementine to turn around. She sees Tyrone holding a pill bottle out to her. "Here."
Clementine takes the bottle out of his hand, saw that they were painkillers, and took a couple pills. "Thank you." Her leg still hurt, but she expected nothing less from being stabbed. She gestured the bottle to Tad who just shook his head.
"I already got some." he assured her as he tightened the cloth around his severed pinkie.
"Are you guys sure we should be out in the open like this?" Clementine asked.
"We killed them all, we deserve a break." Tyrone mentioned.
The five of them decided to split up and take two floors at the same time. Andie and Rodney took the fourth floor while Clementine, Tyrone, and Tad took the third.
"Hopefully, Rodney and Andie did better than us." Tad said aloud.
"Come on, two isn't that bad." Clementine reassured. "I just wish we got more."
"We should get bonus points for that molotov Clem threw." Tyrone said. "We went from seventeen to thirteen thanks to you."
Clementine smiled at that. "Thank Rodney, he's the one who taught me."
"He taught all of us, but you actually made one while we were under fire." Tyrone added.
"I had to do something." Clementine said.
"Well, it was a good idea." Tyrone complimented.
Clementine smiled at that. That molotov cleared out the fifth floor.
"We should start looking for Andie and Rodney soon." Tad suggested. "It'd be best to see how many they've killed before counting how many we have left."
"Hopefully it's a high number." Clementine said.
"LET GO OF ME YOU CHICKEN SHIT!"
"The hell?" Tad asked.
"Was that Andie?" Tyrone asked.
"Who else would say chicken shit?" Clementine responded before running to the stairwell as best she could with her injury.
The twins followed Clem and the three of them took cover by the stairwell so they could see what was happening. Two men were walking down the stairs with Andie and Rodney over their shoulders, the two teens squirming to try to get out of the men's strong grip.
"Shut up, bitch! Or I'll shoot you!" The man carrying Andie yelled at her.
In the brief moment the man carrying Rodney passed the stairwell door, Rodney was able to catch a glimpse of Clem and the twins.
"Eleven!" He shouted.
"Same goes for you, too! Now shut the hell up!" The man carrying Rodney told him.
Once the coast was clear, the three of them got out of hiding to think about what to do.
"Shit, this is bad!" Tyrone muttered. "How the hell did they get captured?"
"I don't know, but we have to help them!" Tad responded.
"Wait! What did Rodney mean by 'eleven?'" Clementine asked. "Think about it."
"Maybe it's the number of people they've killed?" Tyrone suggested.
"Eleven plus the two we killed is thirteen, we just saw two walk down the stairs so that doesn't work!" Clementine pointed out.
"It has to be what they think is left." Tad said. "There was thirteen before we split up, they think there are eleven left."
"I never liked story problems." Tyrone said aloud.
"And you still owe me for doing your math homework that one time." Tad added.
"Tad!" Clementine exclaimed.
"Sorry. Anyway, they've killed two people and we've killed two people, that makes four. Thirteen minus four is nine." Tad finished.
"Nine people left? That's not so bad." Tyrone said.
"We should stick to the plan and kill everyone on the second floor." Clementine said.
"What about Andie and Rodney?" Tad asked.
"Rodney would want us to keep killing them so it's easier for us to all get out." Clementine told him.
"Fine, but if we get caught, it's all over." Tad said.
Clementine nodded, shifting her eyes to the window behind him. She walked closer to the window and saw four men approach the building. One of them she recognized instantly because he tortured her.
"He's back!" she exclaimed.
"Who's back?" Tad asked.
"The leader! We got to go!"
Clementine quickly started to descend to the second floor with the twins right behind her.
The hospital was creepy to everyone in the group. Luke was on alert, ready for anything to jump out and scare him. A lurker, a person, one of the kids. He could only hope that Clementine was okay. The place was huge, he didn't know how they were going to find five kids.
"Any idea where to look?" Luke asked.
"Hopefully, we'll run into one of the kids." Donald told him.
"Hopefully…" Luke repeated.
"Who the fuck are you?" A voice yelled.
The group of eight turned towards two men who came around a corner and they all drew their guns on each other.
"The hell are you people?" another one of the guys asked.
"We could ask you the same thing!" Luke responded.
"This is our turf, now drop your guns!" The first guy said.
"Fuck that! You're outnumbered!" Don responded.
"Well, they have back up." A calm voice spoke from behind the group as well as the sound of safeties getting pulled off of guns. "Now drop your weapons or I'll shoot one of you dead!" he commanded.
The eight of them dropped their guns.
"Good, now if you all would please follow my men to the cafeteria, that will save your asses for the time being." The calm voice said.
They didn't have a choice. Don led the way, and his group followed until they made it to the big cafeteria. The group of eight were forced into the center of the room. Out of the corner of Luke's eye, he saw five bags up against a wall. It didn't take a genius to figure out that those were the kids' bags.
"Welcome, gentlemen, to the Clubs." the calm voice greeted. "Who's the leader?"
"That would be me." Don spoke up.
"Ah, you look like a good man." he continued.
One of the goons came into the room and whispered in the man's ear.
"Really?"
The goon nodded.
"I'll let you know when."
"So… I take it that you're the leader, then?" Don asked.
"That'd be correct. The name's Allen."
"Donald."
"See, this isn't so bad. I like you already, Donald. You know how to comply."
"Thank you, I guess."
"Now, should I ask why you're group is here, or should I assume that five children turned up missing from wherever you're from."
"Well, I admire that you're straight to the point." Don told him, nervously.
Allen smirked and nodded to the goon who whispered into his ear earlier, and the goon left the room for a moment then came back with another goon who was holding Andie and Rodney by their necks.
"Dad." Rodney said aloud once he saw him and the others being held at gunpoint.
"Rodney." Don sighed in relief that he was alive.
Allen took notice of this. "Give me the boy."
The guy holding Rodney shoved him to Allen as he stood by him, now using his free hand to grip on to Andie's arm. Allen grabbed the back of Rodney's shirt and held a gun to his head.
"I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree; your son is definitely a leader." Allen complimented. "However, he's not as compliant and he's a liar as well."
Rodney wanted to tell him off, but he held his tongue considering he has a gun to his head.
"Your boy lied to me in exchange for him to medically tend to one of his friends." Allen explained.
"They're kids, just let them go." Donald tried to persuade.
"Let the girl join them." Allen demanded.
The man released his hold on Andie and she ran to the group of eight, relieved that she was potentially safe from those crazy men.
"Is this some sort of game to you?" Don asked.
"I don't know yet, we'll just have to wait and see."
One more room they had to check. Clementine opened the door and the twins aimed their guns inside.
"Clear." Tyrone said.
The three of them entered the room. It was an office and there were windows aligned on one side, but they were all boarded up with wood. They could see the light on the ground that shined through the parts of the window that weren't patched up and there was a sniping rifle on the ground by the window.
"They must all be on the first floor." Tad said.
"Well, it would make sense. They probably want to guard Andie and Rodney." Tyrone responded.
Clementine looked through the boards on the window and saw she had a clear view of the cafeteria. She saw what was happening. "Shit…" Clementine said aloud.
"What?" Tad asked as he and his brother looked through the window.
They saw eight people from the farm along with Andie and Rodney. Clementine saw Luke down there. He came for her, but he was held at gunpoint like everyone else.
"Fuck…" Tyrone muttered. "What do we do?"
"Guys… there are only eight of those fuckers down there, not nine." Tad pointed out.
CLICK!
"End of the line kids. Drop your guns and put your hands up." The ninth man said.
They did as he asked. Clementine looked over her shoulder and saw as he pulled zip ties out of his pockets. The man pulled her hands in front of her and tied them together before moving on to Tad. Clementine used her mouth to pull on the end of it, tightening it, then she lifted her arms above her head and slammed her wrists down against her stomach. The zip tie broke and she was free.
Clementine pulled out the knife that Andie gave her and stabbed the man in the side before he could tie Tad's hands together and the twins quickly joined in to take the man down.
The man punched Tyrone in the stomach and push Tad back, then he grabbed Clementine and threw her to the ground. She felt the stitches in her leg snap. Clementine placed a hand on her stab wound then pulled it slightly away to see that it already bled through her bandages. The man pulled Clem's knife out from his side and tried to stab Tyrone while he put Tad in a headlock. Clementine tried to get back up and help, but the pressure on her injured leg kept her on the ground. It hurt so much. The twins managed to get the knife away from the man and they pushed him up against the boarded up windows. Unfortunately, the wood snapped underneath the weight, and so did the glass, causing the twins to accidentally push him out of the room. The two stepped back to avoid falling as well as to avoid letting everyone down there to see them.
Everyone in the cafeteria watched as a guy fell from the second floor to the first, dying on impact. Allen looked up to the room he fell from and looked at his men. "You three, go check it out!" he told them.
The three kids in the room heard what he said. They didn't have a lot of time. Tyrone and Tad went to Clem's aid, Tyrone ripped off a piece of his shirt and tied it around her bleeding leg. Tad looked over to the sniping rifle by the wall.
"Rodney taught you how to shoot the rifle up in his tree house, right?" Tad asked.
"Yeah…" Clementine grunted as Tyron tightened the fabric around her leg.
The twins looked at each other. Clementine wasn't in any condition to move, especially since her wound reopened. "We'll go keep them away from here. If we get caught, we'll say we have no clue where you are." Tad said.
"Guys-" Clementine didn't want to be left alone.
"Use the rifle to get the rest of them. There's only eight left, now." Tyrone added. "You can't fight anyone with your leg like this, Clem. You'll probably pass out from blood loss or something."
Clementine looked at her leg. He was right, there wasn't much she could do. But she could snipe the fuckers from here. "Alright, go."
And with that said, the twins grabbed their guns and left the room. Clementine looked at her leg then to the rifle on over by the broken window. She used her hands and her good leg to scoot over to the rifle, trying to not look at the trail of blood that she was leaving. Once she got her hands on the rifle, two gunshots went off and Clementine felt her heart drop. The twins, were they okay?
Everything was silent, not a sound from her or the people downstairs. A couple minutes passed then footsteps came to everyone's ears, Clementine peered up from her position to see one of Allen's men come back holding the twins by their necks. They were okay, and Clementine felt relieved.
"The fuck happened?" Allen asked.
"These two killed Max and Sam!" the guy responded.
"Where the fuck is the girl?" Allen asked.
"They claim that they all split up after they pushed him out of the window." The guy explained.
Clementine began to set up the sniper rifle, while she eavesdropped on the chaos from downstairs. Tad and Tyrone killed two more, that left six of them down there.
"When we're done here, search the place top to bottom for her. Considering her state, I doubt she'll do any harm. Now let's see here." Allen looked at the twins, noticing one of them was missing a finger. "The boy with the bandaged hand, let him go to them."
"But-"
"Do it!" Allen demanded.
Tad and his brother stared at each other for a moment, then Tad ran over to his group, standing by Andie.
Rodney made eye contact with Tad and mouthed Clem's name to him. Tad used his eyes to gesture to the room the guy fell out of to let him know that's where she was.
Allen turned his attention back to the group. "There, another one of your kids. Now, where are you from?"
"What do you mean?" Donald asked.
"Where is your camp? Community, if that's what you call it?" Allen clarified.
"We're from Lacey." Don lied.
Allen aimed his gun at Tyrone and shot his shoulder, and he shouted in pain. Andie held Tad back from running to his brother's aid. Allen then moved his gun back to Rodney's head.
"That's what your son told us in exchange for medical attention. To use our supplies for one of his friends!" Allen explained. Though loud, his voice was still creepingly calm.
Luke glanced at all the kids in the room and remembered Allen's remark about Clementine. The other kids weren't in any need for medical attention, other than Tad with his hand. And if he wasn't the one who needed the medical attention, then what was Clementine's condition? And where was she? Luke began to brace himself for the worst.
"We went to Lacey on his word, and he lied to us." Allen continued. "Now either tell me where your camp actually is, or I'll shoot your boy."
"You're fucking insane!" Don exclaimed.
"We're cannibals, it's what we have to do! Gentlemen, listen, I know that cannibalism isn't that appealing, but it keeps us alive. Believe it or not, they are a lot easier to catch than animals."
"They're kids!" Don added.
"That means they don't have a lot of meat. However, we were gifted with five of them, and it turns out that younger people taste better than older ones." Allen told him.
Clementine finally got the rifle set up. She looked through the scope to decide which one she should aim for.
"Listen, I'm giving you a chance to save your son. What's going to happen is that we will eventually find the sanctuary you all are from, and take over. So, either comply and your son will live, or say nothing and he dies."
"Don't do it!" Rodney told his dad. "I'm not worth it!"
"Well, isn't that cute? Here, I'll make it easier for you." Allen looked at the guy who held on to Tyrone and told him to let him go.
Tyrone ran to his brother, hugging him before turning their attention to their friend Rodney.
"How's that for an offer you can't refuse?" Allen asked.
Clementine aimed for a guy in the back and put her finger on the trigger. She had to be fast.
"Now, what's it going-"
BANG!
One of Allen's men fell to the ground dead. Five more.
BANG!
Another dead. Four.
BANG!
Allen watched as his men continued to die. Three.
BANG!
Allen looked to the window Clem was in. Two.
BANG!
One left.
Clementine aimed her gun at Allen, saving him for last just as he aimed his gun at her.
BANG!
His sudden movement caused the bullet to go through the hand holding his gun, forcing him to drop it. Clementine quickly reloaded seeing that Rodney ran back to his dad now that Allen was distracted. The twisted man began to run, and Clementine managed to shoot him in his leg before he got out of her shooting range.
Her own leg was still bleeding, and she took a deep breath. She had to keep conscious. What if Allen was going to come and finish her off? Clementine reached for the survival knife a few feet away. Once she grabbed it, she put her back up against the wall and pointed the tip at the door. Ready for him.
Rodney looked at Andie, Tad, and Tyrone, and the four of them looked back up at the broken window then back at each other.
"Bring the truck around." Rodney said to his dad before him and his friends ran out of the room to go get Clementine.
While the kids went to get Clem, the rest of the men did as asked, as well as looking for the guy who got away. Luke felt a huge weight lifted off his chest, Clem was alive. That's all that mattered, and he couldn't help but feel somewhat proud of her for saving all of their asses.
Clementine heard quick footsteps near her room, she was ready to fight with whatever she could fight with. The door burst opened, and she relaxed after seeing the faces of her four friends. The knife dropped from her hands as they all run to her, enveloping each other in a group hug.
It was over. This nightmare was all over.
Rodney picked up Clementine and carried her out of the hospital since she could hardly walk. She didn't mind, she was exhausted. Soon they were out of that hell hospital then they piled themselves in the bed of the truck. The truck started, and they drove away.
NOW ENTERING TENNESSEE
The whole scenario kept replaying in her head. Her verses the two cannibal fuckers from the house by the river. It wouldn't stop; the thoughts, her actions, what she did… It scared her.
Luke looked over at Clementine. This was the second day since they were attacked, and she's gone quiet. She just wasn't herself. He didn't want to bring it up, mostly because one of them was a pedophile and Clementine's only knowledge of those people is just that they tease, abuse, and touch her, and even that hasn't gone further than her sides. Clementine is just so young, and her mind has been corrupted enough. Luke didn't want to add to the list of horrors she had to worry about, he just wanted her to remain naїve about the concept of sex. That wouldn't last forever though; she's getting older, and soon she'll start puberty. God, that'll be a day for him, having to cluelessly explain how women go through puberty. At least when the time comes, Clementine will learn about it sex by him explaining it to her. The worst thing that could happen is that she learns about it the hard way and ends up becoming traumatized. He'd do anything to protect her from that.
Luke turned his head back to the front to look at the road. He saw that he was heading straight for a bridge with a broken car in the way. Luke slammed on the brakes before he could crash the truck as his arm reached over to Clementine and held her back to keep her body from jerking forward too much, he remembered his mom did the same thing to him when some asshole sped through a stop sign and almost crashed into them. However that was one time and he was fifteen, but Clem was too young and small to be sitting in the passenger's seat, even with her seatbelt on, which it was in this case, that kid could have been injured if he actually crashed the truck.
"Fuck!" Luke calmed down from the rush of adrenaline and turned to a grunt of pain next to him. He moved his arm away from the kid and placed his hand on her head. "Sorry, kid. You okay?"
The pain from her body being slammed into the seatbelt and Luke's arm died down. "Warn me next time when you're almost going to crash the truck!" she yelled as she unbuckled her seatbelt.
"Yeah, you're okay." Luke confirmed. He removed his hand from her head and put the truck in park. That's the most he's gotten out of her. Usually, they don't talk because they wouldn't have anything to talk about, but over the past couple of days, Clementine's been really quiet. He had to snap her out of it. He looked at the gas gauge and saw that it was almost empty, then an idea popped into his head as he looked ahead at the cars on the bridge. "You know, I think it's about time I teach you how to siphon gas."
"Now?"
"Unless you got whiplash, then yes, now. Come on."
The two of them got out of the truck and Clementine followed Luke to the car they almost ran into.
"I'm serious, though. If your neck or head hurts, tell me, okay?"
Clementine nodded.
Luke continued to teach Clementine how to siphon gas, and she was able to siphon from the car they almost crashed into and two more cars that were on the bridge. It was nice to not think about what happened a couple days ago. Clementine was starting to get back to her old self, and Luke was happy that he's been getting her to talk.
"You know what you need? A booster seat."
"I do not!"
"Clem, you're short. You're not even big enough to ride in the front seat."
"You were the one who almost crashed the truck, not me."
"Doesn't change the fact that you're small as hell."
"I'm not that small, you asshole."
"You can be annoying sometimes too, you know. You being a little shit and all."
They finished siphoning from the last car and Clementine picked up the full gas can then the two made their way back to the truck as Luke continued to tease her about her height. Clem punched him in the arm to get him to stop teasing her before she filled up their tank. She felt Luke punch her arm back causing her to smile. She loved what they have, he was like a brother to her, an annoying one, but a brother.
"You know, I'm from Tennessee."
"Really?"
"Yep, born and raised in this state."
"How come you've never told me?"
"You never asked."
"I did ask!"
"No, you didn't."
"Yes, I did! I asked where were you from and you said down south!"
"No, I would have remembered."
"Well, you have a shit memory!" Clementine told him as she emptied the gas can and set it down on the ground.
"I think the gas is getting to you." Luke said as he pulled the bill of her hat down over her eyes, using it to shake her head a bit as well.
"Ow!" She grunted.
"Shit." Luke knelt down to her height. Damn it, he gave her whiplash or something. "Kid, what hurts?"
Clementine lifted her hat back up as she held her head. "I think…" she then looked him dead in the eye and smiled. "I think that you're an idiot."
Luke felt relieved that she was fine, but he was pissed that she tricked him. "You little shit! I thought I gave you whiplash!"
She laughed at him. It was good to see her smile. Clementine felt good, for once she wasn't thinking about what happened with those two cannibals.
"You want to keep laughing?" Luke asked as he poked her sides and saw that she pulled away.
"No, I don't." She giggled as he poked her sides again.
"What? You ticklish there?"
"No, I'm not."
"Really? Because it looks like you are."
Luke continued to tickle her sides as Clementine tried to pull away. He grabbed her and hoisted the child over his shoulder while she laughed as she yelled at him.
"Put me down! Put me down!"
"Give me one good reason why I should."
"Because you're an asshole!"
Luke shifted her up higher on his shoulder. "Guess you're staying up there."
Clementine looked up behind him. "Luke put me down!"
Though her tone was more serious, he was still messing with her. "Nah, I think I'll just keep you here."
"Luke, I'm serious." Clem started to squirm on his shoulder.
"What? You don't like heights, either?"
Clementine pulled her gun out and fired. At the sudden bang, Luke turned around to see a walker collapse to the ground. He set Clementine down and she tucked her gun back in her jeans.
"Thanks, kid." Luke said to her.
Clementine nodded then they both heard more growls. They watched as more walkers come out of hiding from further down the bridge.
"Shit!" Clementine breathed.
Luke pulled out his machete. "Come on let's take care of them!"
"Can't we just drive through them?"
"There are too many cars, I won't be able to quickly drive through all of them without crashing. There's not that many, we can take them."
Clementine pulled out her ice pick and she and Luke made their way towards the small herd of walkers. They were so easy to kill now, it wasn't even something to be scared of.
There were eight of them, and they both agreed to each take four of them. Other than the adrenaline rush, killing walkers wasn't any problem as long as you are aware of your surroundings. Clementine stabbed her third walker in the head after she knocked it to the ground. Its skull was so decomposed that her icepick dove in further than she would have liked. She glanced up at her last walker approaching her, only a few steps away from her. Clem pulled out her gun and aimed it at the dead, but it tackled her. The walker knocked her back and pinned her down to the ground as her gun flew out of her hand and over the edge of the bridge.
Luke killed his last walker and looked over to Clem to see her trying to push the heavy walker off of her. He ran over to her, killing the walker on top of her. Clementine felt a rush of relief as Luke pulled the walker off of her. She sat up and pulled her ice pick out of the other walker's skull, cringing at the amount of blood on it. Luke held a hand out to her, she accepted it and he pulled her up to her feet. Clementine walked to the edge of the bridge, looking over the railing to see the rushing river below. She's not getting her gun back.
"Damn it!" her fist pounded against the railing. She turned around and sat down on the road. Her brief moment of happiness with Luke wouldn't last forever, now she's back to her previous state.
"Clem, it's okay." Luke sat down next to her. "We'll find you another gun. I promise."
Clementine was lost in her own head. Maybe she's losing her mind.
"I had to, right?" she asked.
"Had to what?"
"Kill them. I had to." Clementine looked at Luke. "Right?"
"I would have been dead if it wasn't for you." Luke told her. "On top of that, they were going to kill and eat us. You're justified, kid."
Clementine didn't respond, she was thinking.
"What's eatin' ya, kid?" He asked.
"I…" she thought about what she wanted to say. "I didn't just kill them. I didn't hesitate to shoot that guy, and I just kept stabbing the other guy, over, and over, and over. He had to throw me off to get me to stop."
"Clem…"
"There was just so much blood on my hands… I didn't kill them, I murdered them."
"What you did to them came from a lot of pent up anger and fear from nightmares."
"That doesn't change what I did."
"Clem, what does Carver do, exactly?"
She remembered how Luke said they'd talk about it later, he kept his promise.
"He ties me up, he hits me, he pushes me around, he touches my sides; it creeps me out and I can't fight him."
"Another thing, I've said this before and I'll say it again: I don't want you doing what you did. I don't care if Carver does it and you think you can take it, don't do that shit again."
"I didn't really have a choice."
"I know, but you shouldn't be okay with things like that, you're a kid. And clearly you're not despite you saying you are."
"Because of what I did to them?"
"Clem, there's a lot you don't know, and I don't want you to know about it. You're dealing with enough as it is, I'm not going to add to it." Luke told her.
"But does it make me a bad person?"
"What you did to them wasn't out of spite or for the hell of it, it was self-defense, it was saving my life, stopping two fucks from doing this to other people. This doesn't make you a bad person, you're not a bad person." Luke placed a hand on her head. "You've got one of the biggest hearts I know, a golden one actually."
"Not this again."
"It's true."
Clementine rolled her eyes and Luke chuckled. Luke looked at the broken down cars, then he remembered that one of them didn't have a battery, but it had a bat in it.
"Come on. I want you to do something." Luke stood up and held his hand out to Clementine. She accepted it and he pulled her up.
Clementine followed Luke to a broken down car. He opened the door and pulled out a wooden baseball bat and handed it to her.
"I'm going to go clear the walkers so we can get the truck through, you are going to release all of your pent-up anger." Luke told her.
"What am I supposed to do?" Clementine asked.
"Just beat the shit out of the car. Have fun."
With that said, he left her. Clementine looked down at the bat in her hands then at the car in front of her. She lifted the bat up then swung at the car. She cracked a window, but it felt good. Her grip on the bat tightened then she continued to swing, breaking the windows, denting the metal, letting her anger show, it was amazing. The bat eventually broke off from hitting the car so much, she couldn't do any more damage. She felt better now that it was out of her system.
What was left of the bat slipped out of her hands and onto the pavement. She looked over what she did, all the broken glass, dents, and scattered wood pieces from the bat; all of that damage was built up inside her, now she was able to see what she was holding in. She felt nothing but power, strength, and an eerie sense of calm.
"Hey, kid!"
Clementine turned towards Luke who was over by the truck. He finished clearing all the walkers and was now waiting for her.
"Come on, let's go!"
Clementine ran over to the truck and got in with Luke. She buckled her seatbelt as Luke started the truck and buckled his.
"You feel better?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, thanks." she responded.
"You're welcome. Now, about that booster seat."
"Don't you start!"
Luke chuckled as he drove around the cars on the bridge and the two of them continued on. He was glad that Clementine was feeling better, and that made him happy. She was all he had, he'd be damned if someone were to take her from him.
Clementine hissed as a lady messed with her nose, attempting to fix it.
"You're going to have to keep it on ice." she told the child.
"We have ice?" Clementine asked.
"We have ice packs in a cold cellar. Until we get power for the freezer, that's what we have."
She hissed again at the lady touching her nose. They all made it back to the farm and now they were treating all the teens at the makeshift hospital they had. Clementine couldn't be happier that she's home and the cannibal fuckers are dead. As the lady grabbed a bowl of water to wash Clem's face and injuries of dried blood, she heard a familiar voice.
"I said the answer is no." Luke walked in, he was talking to Debbie, one of the mothers.
"Just think about it, please?" Debbie told him before she left.
Clementine watched Luke shake his head and walk over to her. She was confused at their conversation, but she didn't think about it for long since the woman accidentally brushed a damp cloth over her nose.
"Ow!" she hissed.
"Sorry." the lady apologized.
It wasn't long after she said that when Luke finally made it over to them.
"I got it." He said to the lady.
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, I'll get an ice pack for her." The lady turned and left.
"Thank you." Luke told her before facing Clementine.
The two of them looked at each other in silence, then Clementine broke eye contact and looked down at her feet dangling off the edge of the table. She's in trouble, she already knew it. They were going to have a serious conversation.
Luke cupped one side of Clementine's face, pulling it up then continued to wash her face. He was so gentle with her and yet she could tell that he wasn't happy with her.
"You're mad, aren't you?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm mad." he responded. "Clem, we talked about this."
"I know."
"Then what the hell?"
"I did tell you I was going to be with Rodney."
"That's not the point. You were supposed to tell someone where you were going."
"I thought he told his dad. How the hell was I supposed to know that the hospital was infested by assholes?"
Luke finished cleaning her face just as the lady came back with the ice pack. She gave it to Clementine before leaving the room again. Clementine put the pack to her nose, it wasn't ice cold, but it was cold enough to make it feel better.
"The point is that I had no fucking clue where you were!" Luke began to clean the dried blood crusted around the stab wound in her leg. He was able to do it through her ripped jeans. "Fucking look at yourself, Clementine! You got the shit beaten out of you, not to mention you fucking got stabbed."
"Well, I'm fine, aren't I?"
"You're alive, and god damn lucky if you ask me."
"Well, then I'm alive!"
Luke set the rag down and placed his hands on her shoulders. Clementine was confused and she removed the ice pack from her nose. His face was serious, then it turned to sorrow and relief and he hugged her. She sighed before hugging him back. She's alive, that's what he was worried about the whole time she was missing: if she was alive.
"I'm sorry." She said to him. She didn't mean to scare him, he's all she had, and she almost threw it away over a stupid mistake.
God, she loved him so much. He made her so happy, and she would have been dead without him. After everything they've been through together, they're still kicking, giving death the middle finger as they live to see another day. And as much as she wanted this moment with Luke to last forever, she had to let him know.
Clementine sighed before she spoke. "Rodney knows." she said into his ear, making sure that he's the only one who heard it. "Rodney knows about the shack, and David, and how he raped me."
She felt Luke freeze on her from what she said. He then pulled away, just enough to look at her dead in the eye. "Say that again."
"David raped me." She repeated.
Luke glanced over his shoulder to the other side of the room, seeing Rodney with his father, the one in charge of everything. He looked back at Clementine, knowing the situation they were in. "I'm going to see if I can get you cleared then we will talk about this when we get home."
Clementine nodded as she put the ice pack back on her nose and Luke walked off to get one of the nurses. It was going to be a long night.
"Look, it just fucking happened, okay?!"
"That does not fucking happen!"
They never argued. The last time they did was when Clementine tried to kill herself, but it wasn't as much yelling as this.
"What was I supposed to do?!"
"You were supposed to never bring it up! Ever! What the hell were you thinking?!"
"I was thinking of you!"
"You're not the one who's fucking screwed!"
Clementine brought her hands to her face as she laid her back down on the bed. She looked over at Luke who was pacing over by his side of the bed.
"You aren't screwed! I fucking saved your ass!" She told him.
"By lying!" Luke responded.
"What the hell was I going to say?! That you were the one who fucking did it?!" Clementine yelled.
"You should have said that it was none of his business!" Luke yelled back.
They both hated it; being mad, borderline furious at each other. It wasn't right, they should be asleep right next to each other, happy that they were okay and safe.
"What do you think he would have thought if I said that?! What if he thought that the reason why I didn't tell him was because it was you!"
"Then assure him that it wasn't, I don't know!" Luke ran his hands through his hair, trying to calm down. "How did you end up telling him?"
Clementine sighed. "After I lit off the fireworks, they caught me and beat me up. The leader then stabbed my leg and brought Rodney up. He threatened him to either tell them where the town is or he was going to fucking rape me!"
Luke stopped pacing for a moment and looked over at Clementine.
"I told him I would be okay because I figured I'd passed out before he did, but Rodney gave them a false address in exchange for him not to and to fix me up."
He didn't even ask her what even happened over there, what she was forced to go through. They've just been fighting, there was only one hug between them ever since she came back.
"When I came to, I was pissed at Rodney because he tricked them, and I told him that I would have been fine because I was raped before. Then he asked how it happened."
"And you said that it was David?"
"Yes! Everything up until the point he knocked you out was the truth! When he did, he brought me out and locked you inside. Then when you woke up, he beat me, touched me, threatened you to get me to strip, he raped me, then I killed him!"
"Fucking hell." Luke muttered.
"You know, a fucking thank you would be nice!" Clementine told him.
"After you fucking scared me half to death, then come back with this bombshell? Are you nuts?!"
"Would you have rather me said that you raped me?! Do you know how that would look?!"
"Yes, I fucking know! And beyond this, it was your irresponsibility that got us in this!"
"This isn't my fault!"
"All you had to fucking do, Clem, was say that you were going to be at the hospital across town! Maybe we would have gotten you all out sooner! Maybe you wouldn't have to lie to your friend about who raped you!"
"He seemed to believe it! And there is nothing that can prove that you did it! And even if there was, you didn't want to!"
"And you believe that will be okay?! I still raped you!"
They shouldn't be fighting like this, but they were pissed with each other. Clementine and Luke had their reasons, Luke had more than her, but it was enough to keep them at it.
"As far as they know, you didn't! It was David! It's our word against theirs!"
"For fucks sake, Clem!"
Luke finally sat down on the bed. She was right, it was their word against theirs, and he destroyed their tape back at the shack, but she still shouldn't have said anything about it. If they were lucky, they'd get through this no questions asked. Their fight made him tired and he wanted to get some sleep.
Clementine was trying to think if there was anything more she could say. He was right, she should have told someone where she was going. Maybe Tyrone wouldn't have been shot, maybe Tad wouldn't have lost his finger, maybe Rodney wouldn't have to kill someone, maybe Andie wouldn't have been raped, maybe her own condition wouldn't be as bad as it was now. The doctors said she was lucky she didn't get a concussion from the beating she got, Clem just felt lucky to be alive, and she was exhausted from her adventure gone wrong.
"Can we stop yelling at each other and go to bed at least?" Clementine asked.
Luke sighed, they both needed rest. "We'll continue this tomorrow."
"Fine."
They both angrily got under the blankets, absolutely ready for the day to be over. They weren't facing each other, not to mention the were at their edges of the bed. Luke remembered what Debbie said to him when they all got back. He told her no, but the more he thought about it, the more Debbie's offer looked appealing.
Despite the fact that they said they would continue it the next day, they didn't. Clementine and Luke barely talked but whatever they said, it was very passive aggressive towards one another. Even if it was just a simple "hey," they were too bitter to bring up the argument again. When they were at work, they were thinking about the fight and how they were pissed at each other. Then they got home and had to awkwardly sleep in the same bed, the bitterness and anger still there. And this continued for a couple days.
Luke was let off of work early and he was free to go home. Clementine didn't have work today due to her injuries, so she was there. To be honest, he didn't want to go home, things were just wrong between him and Clem. They should be able to smooth it over, but he didn't want to pick a fight.
"Oh, Luke!"
He turned his head to see Debbie walking over to him. He wasn't in the mood to be dealing with this, too.
"Have you given it some thought?" she asked.
"I've been busy." Luke responded.
"I overheard Clementine talking to Andie yesterday about you two getting in a fight?" Debbie probed.
"What exactly did you hear?" Luke asked with caution.
"Just that she's upset about the situation. Can I ask what it was about?"
"I'd rather keep that between us if you don't mind."
"Of course."
Luke sighed. Were things going to get better between him and Clem? They should, right? But who's to say this won't happen again, it could; him and her fighting.
"Now about Clementine," Debbie started. "I know you care about her, I do, too. But she's still a child, she still has a lot of growing up to do. Clementine needs a family to raise her."
He's no parent. If he was, he'd be doing a shitty job at it. Should he even be taking care of her? This is about her safety, this is for Clem, and maybe he's not fit to take care of her. Even when he and Clementine were first on their own, he was worried that he wouldn't be able to take care of her. Maybe this was for the best.
"Fine." Luke said.
"What?" Debbie asked.
"She needs parents. I'll talk to her, and I'll drop her off tomorrow."
"I know this is hard, but you won't regret this." Debbie assured him. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah." Luke nodded.
Debbie and Luke parted ways. As he was walking home, he was wondering if he made the right decision. Clem would understand, right? No, she won't. She'll get upset and more pissed than she already is. If he's lucky she'll take it well. He almost scoffed at that, that won't happen.
Luke finally made it home and walked through the front door. He saw Clementine on the couch, reading a book. She's been trying to read more and more to get better at it, and she's been doing great. Other than the occasional big word she doesn't know, she hasn't asked him for help.
Clementine glanced up, seeing him enter before going back to her book. "You're home early." she said, there was still bitterness in her voice.
"They let me off." he responded in the same tone as he sat down in a chair adjacent to where she was.
This passive aggressive thing has been going on for too long. They both hated it and they never talked about the fight because they didn't want to make things worse with the potential for another fight. They didn't want this anymore, though. How can one horrible event, one messed up person, one terrible thing between them, still be affecting them today? David destroyed them back then, and he's still destroying them now. Even with that, they were mad about what happened and the situation they were now in. They can't stay mad at each other, they were never mad at each other.
"I'm sorry." They both said aloud, at the same time. It was genuine.
Luke and Clementine looked at each other for a moment, then looked back down; Clementine back to her book and Luke to the floor.
"You were right, I-" Clementine began, but Luke interrupted her.
"No, you did what you thought-"
"I just-"
"It's fine, we'll…"
There was a pause.
"This was stupid." Clementine admitted.
"You can say that again." Luke agreed.
There was a light smile between both of them. They've always had each other, that's how they made it through everything together.
"We've been dicks to each other." Luke said as he stood up then sat down on the couch next to Clementine.
"We have." she responded as she set her book down. "Can we stop fighting now?"
"Yeah, we can."
Clementine smiled up at him and Luke returned the same one. However, his smile faded, remembering what he had to do.
"What?" Clementine asked.
"Nothing, just…" It wasn't nothing, this was hard. "Clem, do you know the Gardners?"
"The family down the street, yeah I know them."
"What do you think of them? Do you like them?"
"Debbie is nice, I guess, but she's overprotective. I don't know a lot about her husband other than his name is Daniel. And their son Michael is okay; really sweet until he's with his friends, then he's kind of a brat." Clementine thought over what Luke was asking. It was weird. "Why do you want to know?"
"But you like them?"
"I mean, sure. What's going on? Did something happen?"
"No, nothing happened."
"Then what?"
"They… They offered to take you in."
"Take me in?"
"They offered to take you off my hands and take care of you."
Clementine smirked. "That's dumb. You told them no, right?"
Luke didn't say anything.
"You told them no. Right?" She repeated.
Luke paused before he spoke. "Clem-"
"You didn't!" She exclaimed.
"Clem." He tried to calm her down.
"I can't believe you! You're fucking giving me away?!"
"I can't take care of you!"
"What do you mean? You've been doing that ever since we've been on our own!" Clementine was confused and angry, how could he do this? "Is this because of our fight?"
"No, it's not because of our fight. It's because I have no goddamn clue how to take care of you!"
"You know, if you wanted to fucking be alone, you could have just said so instead of going behind my back!"
"Seems a bit hypocritical for you to say."
"Me not saying where I was going is different than you giving me away without me knowing! What was this for anyway? Are you sick of me?!"
"No, I'm not, and I don't want to be alone, either!"
"Then why would you do this?"
"Because I can't take care of you!"
"That's fucking bullshit!"
"Will you please listen to me?!"
"Give me one good reason why I should!"
"I still fucking care about you!"
"So you care about me, but you just can't take care of me?"
"They have a kid! They know what the fuck they're doing!"
"No one knows what the fuck they're doing anymore! And it's clear that you don't either!"
Clementine grabbed her book and started to storm off.
"Clem-" Luke tried to reach out to her.
"Don't!" She backed away from him, lifting her arms up to stop him. "Have fun being alone!" Then she left the living room.
It didn't take long before Luke heard a door slam. They're back to where they were, and it felt worse than before.
They walked in silence down the street. Clementine had a backpack filled with her belongings and Luke was walking beside her, he was dropping her off at the Gardners before leaving for work. Clem was slightly limping due to her leg and she refused to have Luke help her. It was fine, she would just rather not be walking on it. Clementine and Luke climbed the two porch steps then Luke knocked on the door.
"Clem, give them a chance. Please?"
"Will you take me back if I don't like them?"
"You'll just lie your way out of it."
He knows her too well. Giving her away to almost complete strangers was hard, but it was for the best. They'd be able to take care of her.
The door opened to show the mother of the house.
"Morning to the both of you." Debbie greeted.
"Morning." Luke replied.
"I hope things went smoothly sorting it out between you two." Debbie said.
"Yeah, like gravel." Clementine said sarcastically, glaring up at Luke at the last part.
There was an awkward pause.
"You can come inside, Clementine. We'll make you feel right at home." The mother placed a hand on Clem's shoulder to usher her in the house. "We'll take good care of her, Luke. Don't worry about a thing."
Luke looked down at Clementine. "I guess I'll see you around, kid."
She said nothing, she glared at him again before letting the women bring her inside and close the door. The deal was done.
"Michael, come down here!" Debbie called.
Clementine turned back to the door that was shut behind her. Luke was probably on his way to work now, but she hoped that he'd come back and say that this was a mistake. She turned forward after hearing a pair of little feet race downstairs and stop in front of her and Debbie. It was Debbie and Daniel's only son.
"What are you doing here?" the child asked.
"Clementine's going to be staying with us from now on, Michael, and I want you to be nice to her, okay?" Debbie explained.
"Okay, mommy!"
"We don't have a room set up for you yet, but you can stay in Michael's room for now until it's ready." Debbie said to Clementine. "Michael, be a dear and show Clementine your room."
Michael took a hold of Clem's hand and guided her through the home, and up the stairs. The stairs were difficult to climb because of her leg, but she made it and wished her leg would heal faster. Once she made it up, she followed the boy to his messy room. Clementine set her backpack down by the wall right next to a sleeping bag on the floor, that's where she'll be sleeping until they find her better sleeping arrangements.
Clementine sat down on the sleeping bag then looked through her belongings. Abigail's bag, a deck of cards, and some books, including that stupid math book that still wasn't finished. She was still processing that she was going to be living with another family. It didn't sit right.
"Michael, I told you to clean up your room!" Debbie said as the young boy scrambled to clean his room. Debbie knelt down in front of Clementine and smiled. "I know this is hard for you, honey."
Clementine wanted to cringe at that name.
"But you'll adjust, it'll be like we're all a big family. We'll raise you, we'll take care of you."
Luke did take care of her and he did raise her along with the other people in her life; he was her family, but they weren't together anymore. She may not be a fan of the situation, but she'll give this family a chance. She'll do that for Luke because she cared about him.
It's been a week since she was dropped off and the Gardners were making their adjustments to Clementine joining the family as Clementine was getting used to being with them. Clementine was having a hard time adjusting to not being around Luke so much, it felt weird not having him around all the time. She always wondered if she was getting too attached to him, and maybe she was, but it was going to be rough to not wake up next to him anymore. The family has been very kind to her to help her get used to them, but it never felt right. She liked them, she did, however, she didn't feel like she belonged with them. It felt like she was just an over glorified guest, except the fact that she's still sleeping with Michael.
"Clementine?" a soft voice called as he shook her.
The twelve-year-old woke up with a jolt and a gasp, then she processed the fact that she was awake. It's the middle of the night, and she knew that from the little car clock on the wall. The moon was able to shine through the window and show that it was close to midnight. Clementine propped herself up on her arms and turned to the small boy next to her.
"Michael, it's late." she groaned.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Clementine figured that she must have scared him from the way she woke up. He probably expected her to just shake her awake slowly.
"Yes." No. "It's just a bad dream, okay? Now go back to bed."
"But… I have to go." he told her.
Right, he had to wake her up in the first place. She didn't want to get up, but she'd rather not go back to sleep after being woken up from her nightmare.
Clementine rubbed her eyes as she pulled herself out of the sleeping bag. "Okay. I'll take you."
She took the boy downstairs and outside to the back yard so he could do his business as Clementine took a seat on the back steps. Despite Michael being only six, he was pretty observant for his age. She was able to catch onto things too when everything all went down, a lot more than Duck could. Clementine liked Michael a lot more than Debbie and Daniel, mostly because they tended to talk to her as if she was a child or ask her things just to start a conversation with her, hoping to bond more. It didn't work entirely as they hoped, but they were talking to her, and she'd have to admit, she was starting to warm up to them, but they had a little hiccup today.
"Clem?"
The pre-teen pulled herself out of her thoughts and looked at Michael.
"I think you're smart."
During dinner, Daniel was talking about having Michael begin learning things like math and writing. He was even trying to quiz the boy on adding that he hasn't learned. He said that Michael will be able to get them right like himself, his wife, Clementine. And for an example, he asked Clem what eight plus seven was, and she answered thirteen; the wrong answer.
Daniel corrected her then asked her about her education skills and she had to explain that she forgot most of the stuff when everything started and how Luke practically had to reteach her. Then he smirked and said he thought she was smarter than that, then admitted that he went through her math book and said that all the eraser marks and number lines made sense now. Clementine wanted to explain how that was just with the 'two' issue, but she didn't want him to think any less of her.
"Thanks, Michael." Clementine looked up at the stars.
"My mommy says that dead people look down on us from the stars. Is that true?" He asked her.
"Some people think that's true. I like to think that they're always watching over us, not just when the stars are out." Clementine explained.
"Do you think they watch us all the time?" Michael leaned in closer to her ear. "Even when we go pee?"
Clementine chuckled. "I don't think they watch you do that. I wouldn't want to watch anyone do that."
"Look how bright that one is!" Michael said as he pointed to the star.
"That's called the North Star." She told him. "Before they had compasses and maps, people would use the stars to figure out where to go."
"Really?"
"Uh-huh."
"That's so cool!"
"Some people would make pictures out of the stars, those are called constellations. See? There's one right there."
"Where?"
Clementine pulled the child closer so he could see what she saw then pointed to the stars.
"Right… there. Do you see it? It kind of looks like a pot."
"I see it!"
"That's called the Big Dipper."
"Is there another cons-lation?"
"Constellation. And I only know the Big Dipper." Clementine yawned then stood up. "Alright, come on. We can go stargazing another night, let's go back inside and go to bed."
Clementine took Michael's hand and led him back inside. Once she closed the back door, she heard footsteps near her. She turned around and saw Debbie standing there.
"What are you two doing up?" she asked.
"Michael had to go to the bathroom, so I took him outside." Clementine explained.
"Michael, next time you have to go, wake up me or your father." Debbie told him.
"It's fine, really. I don't mind." Clementine tried to tell her.
"I don't want both of you risking your lives at night."
"We were literally right outside, you could see us from your bedroom. We're fine. Besides, the backyard is fenced and I would have kept him safe if it wasn't."
"You don't take him outside at night, Clementine."
"It was just the bathroom, and we weren't out there for that long."
"Not another word about it, both of you back to bed, now!"
"But-"
"Now!"
Clementine took Michael back upstairs with Debbie right behind her. She didn't understand what the big deal was, they weren't outside for that long, three minutes tops. After Debbie made sure they were back in their room, she closed the door and left the two to get back into bed. Clementine tucked in Michael before getting back into her sleeping bag. She didn't want to go back to sleep, not wanting another nightmare, but she didn't really have a choice.
The longer she stayed there, the more Michael became her favorite out of that whole family. Michael wanted her to teach him things, but his dad insisted that he did it instead. Clementine was willing to teach the child how to add and write, but his dad just joked about her teaching him the wrong thing. At least he made it up to her by playing poker with her every now and then. Then there was Debbie who constantly babied her and wouldn't let her out of her sight. Not to mentioned she called her honey, despite Clementine asking her not to call her that.
It was only the middle of her second week there and she still wasn't used to it. It's just so weird living with a different family. She missed Luke like crazy, and it's not easy getting over it. Especially since she's been having more and more nightmares.
"Piggyback! Piggyback!" Michael chanted.
"Okay fine, one more." Clementine squatted down and let the six-year-old jump on her back then she ran around the backyard, pretending they were an airplane.
The sun was beginning to set and everyone was coming home from work. Debbie just finished up at the hospital house so she took Clem and Michael home. Right now, Clementine was entertaining the child before it got too late outside. One thing she did find annoying was that she was a constant babysitter. She liked Michael, but she was always forced to watch him and it got tiring after awhile. Even more now, now that Michael really liked it when she gave him piggyback rides.
"Alright, that's enough." Clementine slid the child off her back then stretched. She always wondered if AJ was going to be like this, playful, happy. She missed him and she felt bad about what happened to him.
A growl pulled her attention to the fence between her and the forest. It was tall but old and because of that, two walkers were able to bust through the fence, just the top halves of their bodies as the bottom part of the fence stayed intact.
"Stay back, okay?" Clementine pulled out her survival knife as she ran over to the walkers, hearing Debbie shout for her husband from inside.
She quickly stabbed the first walker, then ripped the knife out of its skull before stabbing the other. Clementine pulled her knife out of the second walker's head then pushed them both off the hole they broke through. She checked around the forest to make sure the coast was clear, and thankfully it was.
"Clementine!" Debbie came running out with her husband holding a shotgun behind her.
Clementine tucked her knife away just as Debbie took a hold of her face then her arms. "Are you okay? Are you bit?"
"I'm fine." Clementine pulled herself out of her grip. "Really, I'm okay."
"I saw those things break through the fence-"
"I took care of it." Clementine told her.
"I'll get this thing patched up with something tomorrow." Daniel said as he walked over to the hole in the fence.
"You shouldn't have done that, honey. You scared me half to death." Debbie said to Clem.
"Killing those things are easy. I didn't mean to scare you, but I handled it, nothing to worry about."
"Daniel would have taken care of it."
"With a shotgun? That would have brought more of them."
"She's right, Deb. Using the gun wouldn't have been the best idea, she was quick to kill them, too." Daniel added.
"I don't care, I don't want her anywhere near those things!" Debbie exclaimed. "Clementine, give me your weapons."
"What? Are you serious?" Clementine asked.
"Yes. Hand them over."
"No!"
"Debbie, I don't think this is necessary." Daniel tried to persuade his wife.
"I've should have done this a while ago." Debbie said aloud.
"Listen, I've been killing these things since I was nine, I can take care of them. Besides, how the hell am I supposed to defend myself?" Clementine explained.
"Well, don't go near them."
"That's not that easy. They have a mind of their own until you put a knife or a bullet through their heads."
"I don't want you to have to do that, you're still a child."
"Considering everything I've been through, I'm not one. Ever since the world went to shit, I had to grow up."
"And I don't want you using that kind of language. Weapons, now!"
"I need them to keep myself safe, and I just used them to keep your own son safe! I'm not giving them up!"
"Clementine, I won't argue with you!"
"Then let me keep them!"
"Absolutely not! Daniel, tell her to hand them over!"
The two women looked over at the man, waiting for him to pick a side. Daniel looked back and forth between the two unsure how he got in this situation. Then he shook his head and turned to the tween.
"Clem, just-"
"No!"
"You heard him." Debbie said.
"This could get me killed." Clementine added.
"We won't let that happen, now give them up."
Clementine glared over at Daniel then back at Debbie, she didn't have a choice. She pulled out her knife and her gun and placed them in the mother's hand. Clementine crossed her arms, she was without her weapons for only seconds and she already felt like she was in danger.
"Thank you. Now you and Michael go to your room. I don't want you both outside." Debbie told them.
The two did as told, Clementine completely pissed the whole way to her room. Speaking of which she still was sharing one with that kid. What those parents did to her was practically giving her to death. If she got attacked by walkers or some bandits, there's a high chance she won't make it out alive.
Clementine sat down on her sleeping bag, thinking about the whole situation. Her one chance to prove that she didn't need to be babied only enforced the babying even more.
"We can get them back." Michael said, trying to cheer her up.
And it worked, she did smile. Optimism, it was something she missed.
"Want to know a secret?" Clementine asked.
Michael nodded. Clementine then reached under her hat and pulled out her pocket knife Luke gave back to her before he handed her over the Gardners. She flipped out the blade to show the child, then brought a finger to her lips.
"Don't tell them. I don't want this to be taken away. I need it to protect myself, okay?"
"Okay."
Yep. Michael was her favorite.
Her stay hasn't gotten easier, especially since her nightmares have gotten worse each night. Carver, David, Melissa, Allen, and tonight: her accidentally convincing that insane guy to kill his people. It was necessary, but it was messed up how she played with his mental state.
Only a couple days after her weapons were confiscated, Clementine found herself downstairs, softly crying to herself to not wake up Michael or an adult. She was trying to calm herself down before going back to bed, but the nightmare kept replaying in her head. Over and over, and it wouldn't stop. It was like her nightmares were having a field day now that she didn't have anyone to talk to.
"Clementine?" Debbie spoke, seeing the girl curled up in a ball on the couch.
Clem felt the woman sit down next to her and her hand on her back.
"Clementine, honey, what's wrong?" Debbie asked.
"Please, don't call me that." Clementine whispered from her ball. She hated that nickname. It creeps her out enough that Carver calls her that.
Debbie pulled her head up and wiped the tears from her face. "You can talk to me. I want to help you."
Clementine sniffed and pulled her head out of the mother's hand then rubbed her eyes as she leaned back into the couch. Maybe she should talk to her. It might bring them closer, and she might give back her weapons. Honestly, what did she have to lose.
"Did you have a bad dream?" Debbie asked.
Clementine nodded.
"What was it about?"
The twelve-year-old took a deep breath then proceeded to explain. "Back at the hospital, there was this guy… He- he was crazy and he didn't know I was stuck in the room with him. He was talking to rocks and I- I used those rocks to tell him to leave so I can escape, but he went on a massacre and killed his friends."
"Oh, honey."
"I know they were cannibals, but I still used someone's mental state against them. It's just so fucked…"
"It was just a dream, Clementine."
"No, it's not. I actually…" Clementine cut herself off. She still couldn't believe that it played out like that.
"I didn't happen, honey. It was a bad dream." Debbie tried to soothe. "I know they seem real, but-"
"You don't believe me?" Clem couldn't believe she said that. This is her way of trying to help her?
"You're so young, and you still have an active imagination. And even with those monsters outside, it can make nightmares even worse."
"No, it's what actually happened at the hospital. I did that. You never fucking listen to me, why did the hell did I think you would now?" Clementine curled up back in her ball.
"Honey, you-"
Debbie tried to hug the child but Clementine pushed her away, she wanted to be alone. Clementine tried to reach out, she tried to let her in, but it was pointless. She should have known better. Debbie sat there next to her for a moment, then she placed a hand on her back, she didn't want to leave her here.
"Please, just go." Clementine told her, shaking the hand off her.
There was a pause from the mother, then she stood up and did as the child asked; she left her there.
"Come on, Daniel. Please?" Clementine begged.
"I don't know." he responded.
Her third week there and things were still the same. She still shared a room with Michael, Debbie still babied her, and as for Daniel, he was still on the fence, constantly flip-flopping what side he's on. Her or his wife.
"I've been good all week and I just want to have some fun." Clementine continued.
"Well…"
"I won't be out too late, and I'll be right down the street."
"And Debbie said to clear it with me?"
"Yes!"
"What exactly did I say to clear?" Debbie asked as she walked into the room. And like that, Clementine's plan went right out the window.
"It's nothing." Clementine assured.
"Clementine just wants to hang out with her friends tonight." Daniel explained.
"Friends? Which friends?" Debbie asked.
"The twins from down the street. I haven't hung out with them yet, and they asked if I could come over tonight."
"Tyrone and Tyson Day? Absolutely not." Debbie responded
"Tyson?" Clementine asked aloud.
"Deb, I don't see what the problem is."
"I don't want Clementine to be alone with them."
"What's wrong with the twins?" Clementine asked.
"They don't have any adults there, and you're too young to be hanging out with boys." Debbie tried to explain.
"They're my friends, what do you think is going to happen?"
"Something that you're too young to understand."
"I know what sex is, I'm not stupid. The twins aren't going to do anything, we're just going to play some board games and bond. I'll be back by ten."
"No!"
"Nine-thirty?"
"Clementine, you can't go!"
"What do I have to do to convince you?"
"You can't go and that is final."
"This is unfair, you know that right?"
"We are just looking out for you."
"You don't need to."
Yes, we do. Now go upstairs."
"Why?"
"Because it's late and I said so."
"Fucking hell." Clementine muttered. She didn't want to argue anymore, this was bullshit. She huffed in annoyance then marched upstairs. She opened the door to her room to see Michael fast asleep in his bed, then to the clock: eight-forty-five. Clementine walked over to the window and looked outside. She could see the street and the porch roof below her.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
The door opened behind her.
"Clementine." It was Debbie.
"What?"
"Honey, I don't want you to be mad. I just want what's best for you."
"Don't call me honey."
"Please, I don't want to keep fighting with you. We can talk about this in the morning after we get some sleep, okay?"
"Whatever."
Debbie shut the door, leaving Clementine to think. What was that? An apology? They wouldn't trust her with a butter knife, which is why she kept her pocket knife under her hat at all times. How many times does she have to tell Debbie to not call her honey for her to stop? She wasn't going to explain to her why she didn't like it, she probably wouldn't believe her, anyway.
Clementine noticed that there was a trellis on the side of the porch roof, then noticed how the window didn't have a screen. She could sneak out. They think she went to bed and they're probably going to bed too, it would be so easy. Clementine looked back at the door, then to Michael, then to the window and pushed it up slowly. She stepped out onto the roof and closed the window behind her, leaving a tiny crack open so she could sneak back in. Clementine never felt so on edge and it was crazy and she felt the rush after her feet hit the ground from climbing down the trellis. She was free and the night was hers!
The walk down the street to the twins' house didn't take long, she sped walked all the way there to make sure she didn't get caught. Clem knocked on the door to the twins' house and looked back over her shoulder to double check she was in the clear.
The front door opened and pulled Clem's head back to the front.
"Hey, Clem!" Tyrone greeted as he let her in. "How's the leg?"
"It's fine, a lot better actually. What about you and your brother?"
"Clem, glad to see you could make it!" Tad greeted, holding some board games in his arms.
"She's asking about our injuries." Tyrone informed his brother.
"Well, Ty's shoulder is doing fine and I'm adjusting to only having nine fingers. I mean it was only the pinkie finger, at least it wasn't the thumb." Tad explained as he set the games down on the coffee table.
"I have a question by the way." Clementine started.
"Okay, shoot." Tad said
"You know Debbie Gardner? She said your name was Tyson."
"Yeah, that's true. Tyson Andrew Day is my full name, so we shortened it to Tad." Tad explained.
"And before you ask why, our own parents kept screwing up our names because they both start with 'ty,' and since my middle name is Jacob, we figured it'd be easier to call Tad by his initials." Tyrone joined in.
"Thank you." Clementine responded.
"No problem. Just don't call me Tyson." Tad told her.
"Got it." Clementine said before the three of them set up Sorry.
"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot you moved into the Gardners." Tyrone said to Clem as he gathered the cards.
"Not my first choice." Clementine responded while she unfolded the board.
"I'm surprised that women let you come." Tad said as he grabbed the pawns.
"I may have snuck out the window." Clementine admitted. "They aren't that bad… well, their son isn't, I'm not sure about the father, and don't even get me started on the mother."
"Tad, I bet a turn that she took her weapons." Tyrone said to his brother.
"If she still has one, you lose a turn." Tad responded.
"Deal. So did she take your weapons?" Tyrone asked Clem.
"She did, but she didn't know about the pocket knife I keep under my hat." She responded.
"Show it!" Tad said.
Clementine pulled the knife out to show the twins and Tad did a fist pump in the air in victory.
"And get this. She took them after she saw me killing two walkers that broke into the backyard. I saved her son and she still took them from me." Clementine added as she tucked her knife away.
"Will it make you feel better to know that you're not the first kid she asked to take in?" Tyrone asked.
"Who else did she try to take in?"
"Yours truly. We came into town with no adults, it was just us. She offered for us to live with her because we needed someone to look after us." Tad explained. "She constantly pushed that we stay with her, but we worked it out with Don and Rodney."
"Lucky."
"What happened anyway? Between you and Luke?" Tad asked.
"Yeah, you two seemed inseparable." Tyrone said.
"I honestly have no clue. I mean we had a fight a couple days before he gave me to them, but it wasn't about that. I mean, I don't think it was." Clementine told them.
"Hey, I'm sure it'll work itself out." Tyrone tried to support.
"I hope so." Clementine sighed. "Let's just play."
"You guys are going down." Tad said to them as he drew the first card.
Clementine smiled. It was nice to get to know the twins more like this; the first time they actually hung out together was back at the hospital. Getting to know each other over a board game was a lot better than doing it while they killed the cannibals.
Almost there. She's almost back at the house. Clementine had to briefly pause as she passed by the house she and Luke shared, wondering if she should go talk to him, but it was late enough as it is, and he's probably asleep. She'll talk to him another time, maybe they'll work things out between them. She missed him so much.
As she continued back to the Gardners, she was curious to why they offered to take her in the first place. In the twins' case, it was because they didn't have any parents, but Luke was watching out for her, Luke was there for her. What if it was because of their fight? She hated their fight, and she knew he did too, but they forgave each other. It couldn't be why right?
She finally made it back to the house. She'll sleep on it and maybe she'll ditch work or something and talk to Luke, she needed to. Clementine looked up at the porch roof then the trellis. Just as she put her foot on it to climb up it, the front door opened and she froze.
"Clementine." Debbie, she sounded pissed. "Get inside, young lady."
"Fuck…" Clem whispered to herself as she walked to the front of the house, up the porch steps, and inside the house. She saw Daniel in the living room and he stood up from the couch as Debbie shut the door. It was going to be a long night.
"Where the hell were you?" Debbie asked.
"With the twins at their house, okay?" Clementine answered before she began to walk to the stairs. "Tad kicked my ass at Sorry, so I'm going to bed."
"Hold it right there! We aren't done with you, Clementine!" Debbie exclaimed. "How dare you sneak out when we said no!"
"You scared us half to death when we saw you weren't in bed!" Daniel added.
"What do you care?" Clementine asked. "I'm not your child!"
"You live under our roof, you obey and respect our rules!" Debbie told her.
"You expect me to do that when you don't have any respect for me?" Clem pointed out.
"We do respect you." Daniel said to her.
"No, you don't, and you don't trust me, either!"
"That's enough, Clementine!" Debbie yelled.
"You don't trust me to take your own kid to the bathroom, you don't trust me with weapons, you don't trust that I can take care of myself! I fucking asked if I could go out tonight, and you said no because you don't fucking trust me!" Clementine yelled back. "So what makes you think I'm going to trust that you think you know what's best for me? Because obviously, you don't! You can't keep babying me as if it's going to make everything I've seen and everything I've been through go away as if they've never happened!"
"Clementine, you are a child! And you will be treated as such!" Debbie exclaimed.
"The last time I saw a father do that to his daughter, she got eaten! And I'll be damned if I let you cause it to happen to me!" Clementine told her. "You can't treat me like a child!"
"I won't take this from someone your age, I am your-"
"Mother?" Clementine interrupted. "No you aren't, my mom is dead and so is my dad! So stop acting like you're my fucking parents!"
"That's it! I've had enough from you young lady, you're grounded!"
"You can't ground me!"
"Yes, I can!"
"No, seriously, you can't ground me, not while everything out there is dead or trying to kill me. And after what you've done, what more can you keep me from that you haven't already kept?"
"Not another word out of you! Go to your room!" Debbie demanded.
Clementine looked at the two adults then rolled her eyes and walked upstairs, she wasn't going to win this fight. This was stupid. She wasn't necessarily a kid anymore, and they don't trust her with even the simplest of things. Clementine shut the door to her room quietly, even though she wanted to slam the door shut, but she couldn't because she didn't want to wake up the child already in there.
"Clem?"
Too late. The tween turned to Michael's bed to see him sitting up straight.
"Did we wake you?" Clementine asked.
The little boy nodded before he spoke. "Clementine, do you hate mommy?"
She felt bad for him, he probably heard the whole thing. Not to mention that he is aware that she does get in fights with his mother.
Clementine sighed as she walked over to him and sat down next to him on the bed. "No, I don't hate your mom. We just… have a hard time getting along." That was true, she didn't hate her.
"Why?" Michael asked.
"Well, she thinks she knows what's best for me, but she doesn't. I grew up in this world and learned to adapt to it so I could protect myself, whereas she thinks that the best way to keep me safe is to treat me like someone who's more your age." Clementine looked down at the boy. "Do you understand?"
"I think so." he answered.
"Your mother is a good person, but she doesn't get that I'm not completely a kid anymore. I may look like one, but I don't think like one. Does that make more sense?"
"Uh-huh."
"Okay, good. Now let's go back to sleep."
"Clementine, can you tell me a story?"
"Alright."
Clementine tucked the boy back into bed then proceeded to tell the story of the Three Little Pigs. She was pissed about the situation, but she'd worry about that tomorrow.
Clementine came downstairs the next morning, trying to figure out what to do with the situation. She didn't know what to do.
"Good, you're awake." Debbie called from the kitchen. "Is Michael awake yet?"
"No." Clementine told her.
"I'll get him in a little bit, as for you, you are to go straight to work and straight back here afterward."
"Like I do every day?"
"You aren't allowed to see your friends, and I'll make sure you and Andie stay separated."
"Fucking figures…" she muttered to herself.
"And if you keep swearing, I'll wash out that mouth." Debbie said. "You're watching the kids today. Now head off to work, I'll be there after I get Michael up."
Clementine didn't argue, she just left the house and walked down the street. She looked up and saw Andie walking towards her and they'd intersect just outside the hospital house.
"Andie!" Clementine called as they neared each other. An idea popped into her head.
"Hey, Clem!" she responded.
Clementine walked beside her and grabbed her arm stopping both of them. "I'm going to be at the construction site where the walker pit is, but if anyone asks, you don't know where I am."
"Shit, what the hell happened?" Andie asked. Clementine talks to her about living with the Gardners and what it's like. It made her thankful she had her grandma to live with.
"I just need to calm down for a bit." Clementine told her.
"My lips are sealed." Andie said.
"Thank you."
"Don't fall in."
And like that, the two continued on with their day; Andie headed into the house for work and Clementine continued down the street.
"See? Here he is. Luke?"
The farm boy turned around to see Don and Daniel approach him.
"Daniel needs some help." Don explained.
"It's about Clementine." Daniel said.
"What about her?" Luke asked.
"She's having a hard time adjusting to everything. My wife is on her last nerves with her, so do you have any advice." He told him.
"I don't know how much help I'll be. Clementine isn't like every other child, kind of assumed you and your wife knew that when you wanted to take her in."
"That's right, you weren't there when we went to get the kids back." Don remembered. "Clem used a sniper rifle and shot a lot of the fucks there and saved our asses."
"I knew that kid was capable of taking care of herself." Daniel said. "Her and Debbie, they were almost at each other's throats last night. I don't know how to get them to work it out."
"As long as you're treating her right, I don't know how to help you." Luke said.
"Finally!"
The three of them turned to Rodney running towards them.
"Rodney, what's wrong?" Don asked, letting his son catch his breath.
"Clementine ran away." he told them.
"What?!" Don exclaimed.
"This isn't like her, she wouldn't run away." Luke informed them.
"Your wife is pissed." Rodney told Daniel.
"God damn it, Deb." he muttered.
Rodney led the men to the hospital house so they could piece together what happened. Once inside they saw Debbie interrogating Andie about where Clementine was and she answered that she had no clue. Daniel rushed to his wife to try to calm her down.
"Deb, it's okay."
"She knows where she is! I know she does!" Debbie exclaimed.
"If I knew where Clementine was, I would have told you by now! I'm telling you I never saw her today!" Andie responded.
"Andie, come on. You're her best friend." Rodney said.
"I'm worried just as much as you are, Rod. I don't know where she is." Andie explained.
"Do you have any idea why she would run away then?" Luke asked.
"Don't ask me, ask them." Andie said, pointing to the Gardners. "If my grandma took my weapons and treated me like a baby, I'd probably run away, too."
Luke turned to the two. "You took her weapons? Why the hell would you do that?"
"She shouldn't have any weapons, she's only twelve years old." Debbie tried to explain.
"Clementine knows how to use them, and responsibly, too. She saved my ass and the entire town because she knew how to use them. Taking them is like sending her off to die." Luke defended. "You ask me for help with her when the answer was right in front of you? The two of you treated her as if she couldn't take care of herself, obviously, she's going to be upset about it."
"She's a child. And you were the one who gave her to us."
"Well, maybe that was a mistake. I thought she needed parents who had some clue on how to raise a kid and could take care of her better than I did, and maybe I was wrong on that part." Luke explained. "She's not a kid, she's alive; treating her like anything else will get her killed, and now she ran away."
"That child ran away because she was grounded."
"How the hell can you ground someone nowadays? On top of that, she probably thinks you don't have any respect for her, so was this really a surprise that she didn't respect that?" Luke asked.
Debbie paused so she could calm down. She remembered how Clementine mentioned that they didn't have any respect for her and how they didn't trust her. Debbie thought over her actions to her over the week and everything clicked.
"Oh, god." She brought a hand to her head. "I just kept pushing her."
"I'm sure she'll come back, Deb." Daniel tried to support. "Come on, let's go find Michael."
He and his wife left to go look for their son, leaving Luke to think over the situation. Clem was missing, again, and even if he was to find her, what could he say to her? They haven't spoken to each other in weeks.
"He right, I mean Clem will eventually come back." Rodney said.
"I'm curious to why you gave her over to them in the first place?" Don asked.
"Looking back on it, I don't even know why. We were both tense from a fight we had. That might have played a part of it, but I think a lot of it was me worrying about not being able to take care of her." Luke said.
"Well, maybe you were wrong." Rodney said aloud.
"Rodney!" Don exclaimed.
"No, he's right. Neither of us were in a good state of mind when it was arranged. I wouldn't be surprised if Clementine hated me over this." Luke added.
"Oh, for fucks sake. She doesn't hate you." The three guys turned to look at Andie. "Clementine would always talk about how she was being babied or treated unfairly by Debbie with Daniel backing her up. Honestly, I thought she'd be pissed at you for sending her to live with them, but she never was. Whenever she talked about you, it was always about how much she missed you."
Luke missed being around Clementine, too. The house was quiet, he didn't have anyone to talk to, and it never felt right that he had no clue if she was okay because he had no idea.
"Walker pit." Andie said. He and Clem needed to talk. "That's where she is."
"I can take you there. Thanks, Andie!" Rodney said before he started towards the door with his dad and Luke following him.
She smashed a broken down car with a rusty pipe, she fished a couple walkers out of the pit and killed them, and ran around the abandoned construction site doing whatever she can to blow off steam. Clementine eventually found herself in another car, she hadn't smashed the windows to. She sat in the passenger's seat, wanting something to be normal for once. It's been at least a couple hours since she got in the car and she took the time to relax and try to get some sleep after tiring herself out around the construction site. Her nightmares have been driving her up the wall with little sleep and them on her mind all day. Most of it was about the hospital with Allen and the guy, but there was the occasional night when Carver would greet her, or she'd have to watch Lee die, and it sucked either way.
"Clem? Kid, wake up."
A hand was placed on her shoulder and lightly shook her awake. Clementine woke up with a startle, due to another nightmare she can add to the pile. She looked over at the driver's seat to see Luke sitting there, he woke her up. God, it's been so long since she's seen him.
"You okay?" he asked.
She missed him so much. His voice was one she hadn't heard in a while; southern, calm, with a hint of worry that's only there when he's concerned about her.
"What do you think?" Clementine said with a yawn. "How'd you find me?"
"You're friend Andie." Luke told her.
God damn it, Andie. She told her not to tell anyone, but at the same time, it was so good to see Luke again.
"Clem, what the hell?" It wasn't in anger, just concern. "You don't pull shit like this."
"I tried to get along with the Gardners, I swear I did, but they…" She could feel herself getting mad and she exhaled to calm down. "They treat me like I'm Michael's age. They took my weapons, they don't trust me to look after their own son for five minutes, they don't listen to me. I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in weeks and when I tried talking to them they told me it was just my imagination; that it didn't happen, but it did."
Luke now noticed the bags under her eyes and it explained why he found her asleep.
"Do you know what I did? At the hospital? Do you know what I did that's keeping me up at night?" She asked. "I convinced a man to kill the people there. He was crazy, he was talking to rocks, and to keep myself from getting caught I pretended to be one of them. I told him to talk to his friends, but he grabbed a gun and he… I didn't mean…" She couldn't stop thinking about it. He killed his friends because she tricked him with his own mind.
"Hey, it's okay, just breathe alright?" Luke said to her as he placed a hand on her back. He knows that when she starts cutting herself off, she's on the brink of tears.
Clementine warmed up to his gesture as she took a deep breath. It was out of her system, she was able to talk to someone who listened and helped her calm down. She wasn't going to cry, Luke helped make sure that she wouldn't.
"Luke, why did you give me away?" Clementine asked.
"I guess I thought you needed to have better people take care of you. People who knew what they were doing with kids." Luke sighed. "I know we were both angry at each other when it happened and this made it worse, but I never gave you away because of our stupid fight."
"I'm alive because of you. I know I've might have pushed them as much as they pushed me, but they're not you. They don't get me like you do, they don't know about everything I've been through, and when I tried to talk to them, they don't listen like you do. And I miss that, I miss you."
"I miss you too. The house ain't the same, it's empty and I have no one to tease."
Clementine smirked at that. "Can I come home? Please?"
"Yeah, you can come home, sissy." Luke told her.
She's never been so happy to hear that stupid nickname. Clementine wrapped her arms around Luke and he responded by wrapping his arms around her. She missed his hugs, they were so warm and she always felt safe.
"But you have to do something." Luke added.
After their talk, Clementine and Luke met up with Don and Rodney and they headed back to town. Clementine and Luke were happy they sorted everything out, and now things could get back to normal. When they made it back and walked into the hospital house, the Gardner family embraced Clementine in a hug, thankful that she was okay. Luke explained to them that Clementine was going to be moving back in with him now, and as disappointed as they were, they agreed that it was best for her.
"Clem." Luke said. "Do you have something to say?"
Clementine looked back at him then to Debbie. "I'm sorry for arguing so much with you and for running away. You were trying to do what was best, and I acted immaturely."
"Oh, Clementine." Debbie cupped the tween's cheek. "I pushed you away just as much as you pushed me. I'm so sorry for the way I treated you, it wasn't right. You're smart and so good with Michael, I should have put more faith in you."
They were finally settling things between them and things are going to get back to normal. Everything was going to be okay between them.
"Tonight you can come by, pick up your things, and say goodbye. Michael is sure going to miss you."
"I'll miss him too, thank you."
A newfound respect for each other was formed. Everyone eventually went back to work, now that everything was fine. Luke picked up Clementine at the end of the day and they went to retrieve Clementine's belongings. After the two made it back home, Luke decided to take a lesson out of a parenting book.
"Clem?" he said after shutting the front door.
"Yeah?" she responded as she looked through her backpack, tucking away her gun and survival knife. She felt safer knowing that she had her weapons back.
"Now that you're back, I think we should establish some new rules."
"Rules?"
"Yep, one: you can't run off with your friends in the middle of the day, you have to stay at work. And two: I will pick you up and drop you off every day."
"Fine." Clementine signed.
"Don't be sad, kid. It's only for a couple weeks."
Clementine looked up at Luke confused and surprised. "Did you just ground me?"
"I guess I did." Luke smirked.
"What for?" she asked.
"You running off in the middle of the day without telling anyone where you were." he explained.
"I told Andie."
"I know, that's why it's not three weeks." Luke pulled the bill of her hat down over her eyes. "It'll be over before you know it, sissy."
As much as she didn't want to be grounded, she listened to him anyway. He trusts her to not break any of the rules over the next couple weeks, and she respects that, she respects him. Clementine overheard Luke and Debbie talking while she went inside her house to grab her stuff and Debbie asked how Luke was able to get Clementine to listen to him, how she had so much trust and respect for him.
"Clem and I have been through a lot together. She's saved my life and I saved hers, but what really did it was talking to her. Especially when you travel with someone for as long as we had, you pick up certain things that let you know that something is wrong. It's hard enough going through all of this with all the death and fucked up people in the world, just imagine having that weight get put on the shoulders of a child. That kid's tough as hell that's for sure, but helping her take the weight off her is what makes the difference."
Luke sat down on the couch and Clementine joined him. "So what exactly happened at the hospital?" he asked.
"All of it?"
"All of it."
Clementine smiled as she thought about where to start her story. He always let her vent, and there was so much more that happened back there than he knows. That was the third thing that was strong between them: communication. Along with the trust and respect for each other, they talked to each other; most days it's not about serious stuff, they'd just joke around and tell stories about their past and about their day. Occasionally all they'd say to each other was good morning and goodnight, and as rare as it was, just being with one another was enough. They were stronger together.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Rodney stood outside the house, rocking back and forth on his feet. It was about two in the afternoon, and he had an important order from his dad. The front door opened and Rodney was greeted by a very tired Andie.
"Morning, sunshine." he greeted.
Andie flipped him off with one hand as she rubbed her eyes with the other.
"The moms are letting you sleep?" Rodney asked.
"No, there's a closet right by the front door that they never check. I've been sleeping in there. It's cramped, but it's better than nothing." Andie said.
"I can imagine so. Is Clementine here? She wasn't babysitting at the house next door."
"Yeah, hold on." Andie turned her back to Rodney and called for Clem in the house and she came to the front door.
"Hey, you're up." Clementine said to Andie before turning to Rodney. "Hi, Rodney."
"Hey, Clem." he greeted. "Are you covering for her?"
"Pretty much. Oh yeah, Andie, did you know that Sheila is pregnant?" Clementine asked.
"Seriously? She's pregnant?"
"Yeah, four months apparently, she just told everyone."
"Well congrats to Sheila and her husband who's name escapes me." Rodney said. "Can't believe we're going to have a baby soon. Almost makes life normal."
"Yeah, babies do that." Clementine said as she remembered when she first held AJ and how for the first time in forever she didn't have to think about the world falling apart around her.
"Babies also cry and poop." Andie added. "I just don't know if we're ready to deal with babies."
"The town's safe, and we got enough supplies to raise kids, I think we can handle a baby." Rodney said. "I'm off topic, Clem, I need to talk to you. In private."
"I'm going back to my nap then." Andie said as she left the two and went inside the closet.
Clementine went outside on the porch and closed the door, to keep the conversation between her and Rodney private.
"Are you and Luke getting along just fine?" he asked.
"Yeah, we're a lot better." she responded. It's been a couple weeks since she moved back in. This was the last day of her grounding, she's pretty much free after today. "I've been meaning to ask, how was the trip back to the hospital?"
"Fine, we didn't run into Allen, thank god, and there was a shit ton of medical supplies there."
Rodney along with Tyrone and some of the men went back to the hospital to get its supplies now that it was cannibal free. As much as Clementine wanted to go, her being grounded prevented that.
"We might have to go back there with the truck another day and get actual hospital beds and some of the equipment there so we can hook them up here. We didn't check the basement when we went there last, but if we're lucky enough we might find another generator or something." Rodney mentioned.
"Have you guys got the solar panels to work yet?" Clementine asked.
"No, we've been waiting for nicer weather. Besides, I don't think it's a bright idea to implement solar panels in the winter, but my dad will give it a couple weeks now that winter is over before he starts to set them up. We wanted to wait for the clouds to clear up." Rodney explained.
"It'll be so nice to have power again!" Clementine said.
"Tell me about it." Rodney said. "I'm off topic again."
"Right, so what did you want to talk about?"
"Okay before I get into this, you know that I trust you and I trust Luke. My dad is worried about something and he's making me do this, so this is coming from my dad, not me."
"I don't know what you mean, but okay."
"How close would you say you and Luke are?"
"Brother-sister close, I guess."
"You guess?"
"He's been there for me for over a year, and he's my best friend… Other than Andie. I was an only child, I have no idea what it's like to have a brother, but if it's being annoying and purposely bugging you, then yeah, he's like a brother."
"Don't you guys sleep in the same bed?"
"We're used to being by each other. The truck we lived in didn't provide much room for sleeping and for a long time, he let me sleep on his chest when it was too cold to sleep in the bed of the truck. On top of that, it's nice to wake up with him right beside me, especially when I have a bad dream."
"Now don't take this the wrong way, but you two aren't like… More than brother and sister."
"The hell are you implying?"
"Nothing, just if you two… if Luke's-"
"No! For fucks sake, Rodney, no!" Clementine exclaimed. "Luke and I have been through a lot, and he's saved me from a bunch of sick fucks that would have done hell knows to me, and I've done the same for him. We're protective of each other, and yeah, I like to cuddle up to him when I'm cold, and he likes to play with my hair when he's bored, but it doesn't mean anything. It's what we do and I trust him. I swear to you: Luke would never do anything to hurt me, we aren't anything more than the brother-sister thing. We're close, but nothing more than that."
"Alright, I get it." Rodney responded. "He plays with your hair? Is it fun?"
"I don't know, I think it relaxes him or something." she explained.
"Really? I want to try!"
"Wait, Rodney-" Clementine huffed in annoyance as Rodney reached his hand under her hat and ran his fingers through her hair, ignoring the knife she keeps up there.
"Holy shit, you have a lot of hair!" He took her hat off and removed the pocket knife to look at it as he continued to play with it. "It's so fucking curly! I wouldn't have guessed you had that much hair under your hat!"
Clementine snatched her hat and her pocket knife out of Rodney's hand as she pushed his other hand off her head before putting her hat back on, tucking the knife underneath it. "God, you're just like Luke."
"I can see why he does it." Rodney responded. "I knew my dad was being paranoid. You and Luke are close friends."
"Why did your dad send you over?" Clementine asked.
"It's nothing, when he, Luke, and the other guy went back to the shack with all the supplies, he found a tape about what that messed up fuck did in that shack."
"A tape?" Clementine was confused at first then remembered how David input a tape before he forced Luke to hit her. There was power, he recorded it. She froze, was it their tape? It couldn't be, she saw him destroy it before she went down into the bunker. So who's was it? It didn't matter, it most likely contained the same shit she and Luke went through. "Did he listen to it?"
"Well, yeah and he told me about it, a basic summary of it. He was worried about you and Luke, but I told him what you told me on how that messed up fuck raped you… Sorry, I know that's personal, but he asked."
Shit. Of course things wouldn't go smoothly. Clementine felt like she was going to be in hot water soon, both her and Luke.
"He's talking to Luke now." he added.
"What?"
She knew Luke. If there is evidence of what happened in that shack, then they were both screwed, because she knows what he'd do. Clementine ran past Rodney and up the street towards the farm. She heard Rodney call after her and he was chasing after her too. The fact that she was still grounded was thrown out the window, she had to get to Luke before shit hits the fan.
"I'm glad to hear that you and Clem have settled things." Don said as he opened the door to his house. "Take a seat."
Luke did as he asked. He sat down at the kitchen table and the town leader sat down across from him after shutting the door.
"Look, I've been meaning to talk to you for a while now." the leader started.
"About what?" Luke asked.
"About your relationship with Clementine."
"She's like a sister to me, I don't know if there's anything else I can tell you."
Donald sighed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cassette tape and placed it face up on the table, showing the names of two unknown people in red sharpie. Luke felt like he was shot once he saw that tape with the very familiar handwriting and red ink. He thought he destroyed them all, how did he miss one?
"When we went to the shack to get the supplies, I found this in a cassette player." Donald said, noticing Luke's silence. Luke never found the man intimidating, with his dark, black hair and blue eyes, he looked like a nice, average guy; but in that moment he terrified him, considering his power. "I have listened to it, and I wish I never did. I'm also aware that you and Clementine were in that shack."
The tape, although it wasn't theirs, was evidence against them that he and Clem did something together.
"Do you have anything to say?"
"What do you expect me to say?" Luke responded.
"I can tell you're a good man, Luke. I expect you to tell the truth."
"I… God, fuck…" his hands rubbed up against his face and grabbed his hair. He was at a crossroads, go with Clementine's story that she told, or tell the truth about what happened. Luke didn't feel like he was in any position to lie. "You have to understand that there was a gun at us and we didn't have a choice. I would never do anything like that, especially not to her… it was just-"
The front door slammed open, Clementine standing in the doorway. The two men looked at her and her eyes looked at Luke, then shifted to Don, then to the tape on the table.
"Luke is an innocent man." She said quickly as she walked towards Luke as the men stood up.
Rodney soon came in and he shut the door behind him.
"Clem, stay out of this." Luke told her.
"He didn't hurt me!" She said to the leader.
"Rodney, I told you to keep her way." Donald turned to his son
"I tried, but she asked and I told her then she ran here." Rodney explained. "I've spent a lot of time with Andie, her big mouth rubbed off on me."
"You purposely tried to separate us so you could talk about this?" Luke asked.
"This wasn't exactly something I could talk about with both of you in the same room, for multiple reasons." Don responded.
"Clem, please. Let me deal with it." Luke said.
"This involves me too." She pointed out. "I was raped, by some sick fuck who made Luke watch."
"She's scared, but can you blame her?" Luke said, wanting to be honest with him.
The leader looked at Clementine, then Luke, then back to Clem. "Is he hurting you?"
"No!"
Don pulled out a gun. He didn't aim it at anyone, but the tension in the room rose as they all held their breaths. "If he is, I can end it for you."
"He's not." She was practically standing in front of him as a shield.
"Alright, if he's not, then did he in the shack?"
"Dad?"
"Rodney, stay out of this." He said to his son. "Answer the question."
"Clem." Luke spoke, causing the young girl to look at him. "Tell the truth."
"We both know what the truth is." She reminded him, a way to tell Luke that the truth would fuck them both over as well as telling Donald that her lie was the truth.
"Dad, they're good people." Rodney said. "You know this isn't right."
"No, it's not, but I'm having trouble believing it." Don lifted the gun slowly and tucked it away. "I don't know what happened in that shack, and frankly I don't want to know, though I have an idea. From what I listened to, I understand the circumstances of the situation. And if things were bad between you two, it would have shown by now."
"So what happens now?" Luke asked, cautiously. Don understood that whatever he believed happened in that shack, it was forced by gun. While that was a relief to hear, it's still bad.
"You've stated your opinion when we brought rape up in a meeting at the beginning of winter." Don told him before looking at Clementine. "You're defending your friend over a shitty situation."
Don remembered how Luke said if someone were to rape Clementine, he'd want him dead. He also remembered how he gave the same answer about if the hypothetical rapist got ahold of his son. If what happened in the shack with them did correspond to the tape, then he's been through enough, and Don was thankful he never ran into that sick fuck with his own kid.
"We're done here. Both of you back to work." the leader told them.
Clementine and Luke both looked at each other then back at him. Was he serious? Were they off the hook? It seemed too good to be true.
"Dad, are you-"
"What was spoken in this house, stays in this house. Not a word is spoken to anyone about this, am I clear?"
Clementine and Luke nodded, still shocked about what just happened.
"Good, now you two are excused."
The two of them paused for a moment before they walked out of the house and down the porch steps. They were free and nothing bad was going to happen to them. Luke and Clem were both in the clear and they were having trouble processing it.
"Luke, you know I couldn't throw you under the bus."
"I was okay with it, Clem. You should have told the truth."
"Do you think we would have gotten off like this?" she asked.
"Hey," Luke bent down to her height. "I don't know if telling them the truth would have put us in the same spot now or not, but we never, and I mean never, talk about the fucking shack again."
"To anyone?"
"To anyone. And I mean it, Clem. Not a word."
"I won't."
Luke's hand reached up to her head and nudged itself under her hat and began running through her hair. He loved playing with her curly hair, it was relaxing and after what happened in the house, he needed it. Clementine was everything to him, and he thought the leader was going to do something to him because of what happened in the shack. He knew that he was everything to her too, it was evident in her constantly defending him. Luke didn't blame her, after all, what happened was controversial and it was easier to understand if it was a sick man instead of him with a gun pointed at them. That one thing fucked up their lives so much that they were still dealing with it today.
"I'll come by and get you later, alright?" Luke stood up as he pulled his hand out from under her hat and pulled it down over her eyes.
"I'll see you then." Clementine responded as she fixed her hat, glaring at him afterward.
"We can talk about this more at home if you want." he told her.
"Okay."
Then Luke went back to the field and Clementine went back to the hospital house. The shack incident hopefully was behind them and they prayed that it would never get brought up again. They were safe from the leader, and they were fine. It was all okay.
A/N: Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it, and hopefully, I'll get the next chapter out faster than this one. Sorry it took so long, but school and sickness, and writing other things.
Lastly, I'd like to give a HUGE shout out to fellow fanfiction writer H8trzgonnah8te for the idea of Clem being handed off to a family, it was really fun to write and definitely made this chapter better than intended. If you have not read any of H8trz's stories, I highly recommend them, he is one of my favorite authors on here and the stories are fantastic just like the author, like holy shit the stories are so good! Love you and thanks again :)
