It was a few hours later that Clementine managed to regain consciousness.

In that time her hands had been tied behind her in a chair that she was placed upon.

Clementine groaned in pain as a headache like no other she had experienced hit her, which was understandable given the heavy blow she had suffered.

She tried everything in her power and will to try and focus on her current situation.

How did she get here?

Why was she tied up?

"Look who's finally awake."

Clementines memory hit her like a freight train as her head shot up to stare at the man before her in shock and surprise.

Carver gave her a soft smile, or at least what Carver considered a soft smile. But Clementine could see through it. After all she had been through with both Lee and the cabin group, she could practically see evil and selfishness basically radiate from anyone with ill-intention.

Carver wasn't fooling her. They both knew it too. But Carver didn't really seem to care. In fact, he seemed to enjoy playing with her.

Clementine's shock quickly made a turn to resentment and anger.

"What do you want?" Clementine questioned through clenched teeth.

Carver didn't really seem angry, but annoyance was showing through.

"Oh, it ain't polite to talk like that." Carver told her.

Given that Carver had hit her in the back of the head with a blunt weapon and tied her up, Clementine didn't think Carver was really in a position to talk about polite behavior. She held her tongue though and rolled her eyes discretely.

The backhand she received afterward told her she wasn't very discreet however.

Clementine coughed and spluttered out blood from her mouth, tears threatening to fall with her headache being intensified by Carver's assault. But she refused to let any pain show through. She wouldn't give him that sadistic satisfaction.

Although she managed to hide her emotions, Carver still, somehow, seemed satisfied.

"That's it," Carver said proudly, "I wish everyone at my camp had the nerve you did."

Clementine was confused.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

Again, Carver gave her that sick grin of his that told how he prides himself in stepping on anyone. For the first time, Clementine seemed to notice a certain look in his eye, one that she hadn't seen until now. He seemed to glow with insanity, not like he didn't seem insane back at the cabin, but back then he had a certain control over it, or so it seemed.

"Back at the cabin, when you looked at me, you were scared," Carver told her, then he raised his hand toward his face and pointed two fingers at his eyes, "but you looked me in the eye, kept your nerve."

That was something that she was practically forced to learn upon Lee's demise. She learned that others will always be looking for signs of a struggle within another to take advantage of them.

She wanted to show Lee that he trained and raised her well. To show him that his sacrifice wasn't in vain.

"That's what I need in my community." Carver continued crouching down in front of her.

"I had others with me," he told her after analyzing her for a moment, "They came with me to track you down, but one by one, they all fell because they were weak."

Clementine figured, even though he didn't care much for them, all his people dying on him had shaken him to give off his aura of insanity.

He smiled at her with pride as if he raised her himself.

"But you," he stated victoriously, "you survived much more."

"Gas station explosions, getting bitten by a wild dog, escaping from a shed, sneaking into a house undetected and grabbing supplies to help yourself, not to mention taking on a fully grown walker by yourself in that shed."

Clementine was shocked to say the least.

"You've been following me?" Clementine asked, although it had come out as a statement.

He smiled at her perceptiveness.

"A little girl roaming the woods alone," he stated, noting the annoyance in her eyes at the "little girl" comment, "I couldn't help but be curious."

He smiled that sickly smile again at her that sent shivers down her back.

"You may not like hearing it," Carver told her, "but you and me, we have a lot more in common than you may thin-"

"I'm nothing like you!" Clementine defended.

"But we are," he told her defiantly, "you do whatever it takes to survive."

He smirked at her in approval.

"You will make a fine addition to my community."

Clementine only knew what Luke had told her about Carver's "community" and even that wasn't too much. Just that Carver was insane and hurt a lot of people who questioned his leadership.

"At first," Carver interrupted her thoughts, "I came to take the others back to my community. But now, after thinking over it and watching you, I may just kill the others, teach them a lesson."

Clementine wasn't able to hide the horror on her face at this revelation.

"Of course," Carver added, "I'll keep Rebecca alive. She IS carrying my baby after all."

All these new revelations combined with her current state of injury threatened to overwhelm Clementine.

"It isn't yours." she blurted out, immediately expecting a slap in return.

Carver seemed amused.

"Do you really know that?"

Clementine didn't respond.

"Who knows," Carver told her, grabbing her face firmly and forcing her to look into his eyes, "I may just become like a father to you"

Clementine scowled fiercely.

"I already have a father."

Carver seemed to ignore her and let go of her standing up deep in thought.

"Of course, I will need to teach you a bit. Your weakness with loss needs to be dealt with."

Carver rambled on and on for a while, leaving Clementine to her thoughts. That's when she realized, with shock and horror, that she was repeating past events.

She ran off to do something that her group told her not to.

Just like last time.

She got captured by a mad man, wanting to be her father.

Just like last time

And someone who came looking for her would die because of her.

Just like-

No

She refused to let that happen.

Clementine scanned her surroundings for a way to escape. That's when she realized the chair she was in was propped against a shattered display case. A piece of glass was stretching up in a point that was sharp enough to cut off her restraints.

As she was almost free of her bindings, Carver turned toward her, forcing her to drop her hands so he wouldn't see.

"I left a little note back at the diner you were in," Carver told her mockingly, "the others will be here soon enoug-"

"CARVER!" a voice thundered from outside as a figure burst through the door, gun aimed at Carver.

Luke.

She took this distraction to finish cutting her restraints.

"Where. Is. She." Luke demanded.

Her bindings came loose.

Carver nodded in her direction

The ropes fell to the floor.

Luke fell for the distraction as he looked over at her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Clementine spotted Carver raising a gun he hid from Luke's sight.

"NO!"

Luke looked back at Carver, seeing his gun.

Clementine had to make a split second decision.

"Not again." she thought.

She leaped in front of Luke.

Two gunshots rang out.

Two bodies fell to the floor.

Sorry the update took so long, every time I typed up something about Carver, it didn't seem right. Carvers character always seemed like an oddball to me. He was hard for me to get right. It's also hard to get any peace in this house too. Everyone seems to want to scream at each other rather than talk with "inside" voices XD The last chapter is coming up next! Like always, READ AND REVIEW! I love hearing your feedback and thoughts. They fuel my inspiration and I want to thank everyone who convinced me to extend this story. LOVE YOU ALL!