AN/ Hey guys sorry it's been a million years since I've updated, but here it is at long last, a new chapter. Big shoutout to MyNameIsMordecai they have been a HUGE help with writing this chapters and future chapters to come. I hope everyone likes this chapter, as pure usual feel free to comment, feelings ideas and opinions. :)
Later the night I found myself crowded around the fire with the others, the small heap of burning wood and garbage scraps did nothing to ease the cold creeping into my limbs. I had spent the remainder of my day movie bags of soil to the roof, the lift broke twice and at one point I was tasked with bringing the bags up myself, running up and down stairs until my legs burned with each and every shift of movement. I had barely managed stumbled into a chair, my exhausted muscles twitching with the sudden relief to cease their constant straining. I pulled my legs up onto the weaved seat of the outdoor deck chair, my heels hanging in one of the openings. I let my head roll back and let my eyes flutter shut, this place was draining me, both emotional and physically. The thoughts of how I had spent my whole day doing work for Carver made my blood boil beneath my skin. I clenched my teeth in rage as my mind flashed back to our conversation from earlier that day, my hands gripping the armrests so tight I heard the cheap plastic cry and creak under the pressure.
"Hey Scar," a voice beside me called for my attention. I looked over to Nick as he leaned over in his chair to talk to me, his voice just above a whisper as to not draw attention from the others who spoke idol conversation. I raised an eyebrow to the dark haired man.
"Did Luke find you?" The aching exhaustion and burning anger that weight heavy on me disappeared in seconds.
"What do you mean did he find me?" I let my legs fall back to the ground as I leaned closer to Nick, "Is he here?" I asked cautiously throwing a look to the guard at the pen gate.
"Yeah." Nicks' eyes lit up, he looked more hopeful than he had in weeks. "He flagged us down while we were working, snuck right by the guards. He said he talked to Clem that they were working on a plan or something. He also said that he was going to try and find you too since none of us knew where you went after this morning. He seemed pretty pissed when we told him you went with Carver." I smiled to myself as I looked at the ground. Of course Luke had found a way, even with all my doubt and fear I somehow knew he would find a way. Damn, I thought as a spark of hope warmed my chest, even the reassurance that he was purely alive made me feel like anything was possible at this point.
"I was pretty pissed too," I said leaning back in my chair, smile still locked on my lips at these stupid feels that came with Luke.
"What did Carver want with you anyways?" Nick asked, dragging me from my little bubble of hope to the hard pavement of where I was trapped. I blinked back my happiness before looking to him.
"To talk, he gave a few threats. I think he was trying to intimidate me. He brought Tommy in and wanted us to talk," I used figured quotes to exceed my point. "He just wanted to get a rise out of me, and figured that bringing in the asshole that betrayed me was a good way of doing it."
"Did it work? Did you freak out or something?"
"I punched Tommy in the face if that's what you mean." Nicked chuckled.
"Bet that hurt."
"Damn right it did." I shared his smile as I looked into the bowels of the fire pit. The hot red and orange flames danced around a burning log, painting it in red and white ash as it burned away the material.
"Are you two done pissing around now or do you actually want to help us?" Kenny asked in a harsh tone.
"Help you with what?" I asked as I crossed my arm tightly over my chest, the bruise from where my brother had grabbed me pulled painfully with the shift.
"A plan to get out of here that's what."
"Oh, so I assume you've got one hell of a plan then," Mike said with disbelief, it was the first time I had heard the man speak.
"Yeah, that's right I do," Kenny said, he sneered at the large man two seats over from me.
"We've all seen the massive herd of walkers out there, I say we use those fuckers to our advantage for once and draw them here." He drew the attention of everyone around him,
"Look, we've gotta get outta here, that monster is beatin' up on children. You've all seen the cut and buries Clem so fuckin' magical seems to get around here, and not to mention what that asshole did to Sarah this morning." I looked down at Sarah who rubbed her cheek absently mindlessly.
"Kenny it's not like that, they don't just beat up children." Rebecca tried to sooth the raging man.
"Really?! Cause we all know what happened this morning! I don't know what the son of a bitch is gonna do next!" I looked up at the sound of the gate sliding open and then shut again. Relieved I watched Clem cross through the yard over to where the rest of us were sitting. I let out a breath I hadn't even realized I had been holding. Once Kenny mentioned the cuts and bruises that seemed to decorate the young girl's soft features something twist in my stomach. I couldn't let them hurt her anymore.
Clem walked over to where I sat and took the seat next to me, she offered me a weak smile in her passing. I let my hand drift across her arm in what I hoped was a comforting gesture before she left my reach.
"Your friend here wants to get us killed by lurkers before Bill can do it," Rebeca said to Clementine, her tone wasn't harsh nor was it angry, she sounded as though she was looking for someone to talk Kenny down. The joke was on her, Kenny was a stubborn man, he reminded me too much of my own father for me to try and change his mind.
"That's not what he's saying Bec." I pleaded although it seems my voice went unheard.
"What is it with you?" Kenny asked Rebecca harshly, resentment burning in his eyes.
"That's what it sounds like to me."
"You know that's not what he's saying, but it does sound… dangerous." Sartia spoke in place of her boyfriend. Kenny himself was looking directly at Clem, always looking to her for answers of some kind. It's like he thought just because they went back a couple years she would always agree with him.
"This shit is all dangerous!" Kenny snapped his attention drawn back to the woman on his left.
"Kenny! Do not speak to me like that." Sartia scolded. I leaned back in my chair and brought on hand to cover my eyes. Here came another long and drudged out argument.
"Maybe Luke could help us… he's outside. He wants a radio to help keep an eye on the guards." Clem said, her hands held gently in her lap, her tone nothing more than hopeful. A feeling the reach all the way up into her large round eyes. Maybe hope was contagious.
"Thank you! That's the plan I vote for." Rebecca said with a ghost of a smile.
"You know about Luke?" Clem asked surprised to find her secret was shared.
"Not really." I murmured, earning nothing but a look from Clem and a short chuckle from Nick.
"He flagged us down when Tory wasn't lookin'. Told us his plan…mentioned he'd talked to you and that he was gonna try and find your friend next." Mike said nodding to me in reference to your friend, I doubted he acutely knew my name, hell I barely knew his.
"If Luke can tell us what's going on with the guards we can use that to pick a good time to escape." Rebecca mused.
"That seems reasonable." Sartia agreed
"Who knows when that'll be." Kenny snapped, here came the hard sell. Kenny babbled about plans from the past, when the disaster was still fresh to the world, about church bells and some town call Crawford. But even if it was a barely held together notion it seemed to spark an idea amongst the group. Carves P.A. system was questioned as was its functionality. Clem mentioned that the controls were in Carver's office, that dash of switches and buttons flashed through my mind. Rebeca confirmed her knowledge of the speakers, and I remembered hearing her voice over the system back when I was still trapped here the first time.
"That's perfect!" Kenny said, with hope glittering in his aged eyes. "We just gotta get into his office. Why didn't you say something sooner?"
"'Cause it doesn't change anything. This isn't a discussion about how to do it, it's a discussion about whether it's stupid. And it's still stupid. The sensible thing is to get Luke the radio and wait for an opening." Rebeca shot down the ideas before all sides could be heard.
"You're real difficult to deal with sometimes." And another debate was started. It seemed as though Kenny couldn't go ten seconds without getting pissed at someone. My headache had risen to a migraine and as I open my mouth to give Kenny a piece of my over irritated mind Clem cut in.
"We should get the radio to Luke. It doesn't hurt to have more information." Wow, thank goodness there was a level-headed member of our group, and to think it was a young kid who often spoke the wisest words.
"Fine fine. We can do that, but the herd is still what's gonna get us outta here. Maybe Luke can tell us where it's hittin' from." He noted to himself before anyone spoke. "Okay, so we get that turd a radio, he keeps us posted on the herd's movement. We fire up the P.A. thing and bring the walkers to roll over this place." Kenny looked triumphant in his plan as he spoke. Only to be shot down a second later by the others. I lost myself amongst the bickering voices my head pounding so loud it was almost defining. It took the voice of the strange woman who appeared to have been eavesdropping to get everyone to shut up.
"First words I ever hear you say and it's just some crazy, stupid shit." He didn't understand what she meant, but I did. To walk through a herd of walkers was far from impossible. I had done it several times before, two of which Clem and Christa had been with me.
"What do you mean exactly?" A confused Sartia asked as she gazed at the strange woman. The woman went about explaining, I just nodded, everyone else spoke words of objection or disbelief. All except Kenny.
"I've done it too." Clem peeped.
"What?" Kenny's eyes lit up with fear.
"It's how we got out of the Marsh House. Lee covered me and we walked right through. Scarlett, Christa and I have done it too." Clem's voice grew tight at the mention of Lee and I put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It's a good way to stay hidden from people like Carver, plus you get through city and towns that are crawling with walkers a hell of a lot quicker than if you go around," I said and I earned myself a nod of approval from the strange woman.
"All right! What are we waitin' for? Let's get the stupid radio." Kenny said as he bounced to his feet.
"We still have to find a way to get into the stockroom." Rebecca clarified as she looked up at Kenny.
"I got a plan for that, too." The stranger said "Come on, kid. I'm gonna need your help." She said to Clem before heading off across the yard. Clem looked over at me but my eyes remained glued to the other woman. What was she planning?
Clem slowly rose from her chair and followed after the woman, I stuck close behind her. The woman might have wanted to help but in what way, I didn't know. And I sure as hell wasn't willing to put Clementine at risk unless it was absolutely necessary. The woman stopped before the ladder leading up to the roof. She looked over at me as I stood between her and Clem.
"We just need to use the winch…She can just climb up from there. Then just drop into one of the skylights over the stockroom." She then turned and looked at the little girl at my side.
"There are shelves and stuff for you to land on, so…you probably won't fall to your death." Red flag number one.
"Great," Clem muttered, she didn't want to do this. Red flag number two.
"That thing breaks all the time. Unless something changed it won't support much weight." Red flag number three, you're out. I turned away from Rebeca and back to the woman.
"This is way to dangerous, and there's to many variables. I won't let her do this." I said crossing my arms over my chest glaring hard at the woman.
"It's fine, I have this all planned out. Nothing's going to happen. Probably."
"If it's so safe why don't you do it then?" I asked cocking one eyebrow at her.
"Because like it or not she's the only one small enough for the winch to support."
"It's fine, Scar." I felt Clem put her hand on my arm. "I can do it."
"I know you can, you just shouldn't have too."
"She's our best bet. I mean that, Clem." Kenny said, he the caught the young girls eyes.
"We don't have time for this, kid are you going or not?" The stranger argued with a sour look on her face. With a deep breath, Clem spoke.
"Now or never, I guess."
"That's my girl," Kenny said before he turned and asked Mike to lift her up. They grabbed the rope and soon after Clem was holding the rope as she rode up on the winch. I held my breath watching her go up. My heart pounded against my ribs as I watched her with concern.
"Shit, he's coming back! I gotta let you go, I can't stand here. Grab something!" Mike scolded.
"Don't you dare let go of the fucking rope." I hissed at him under my breath. I glanced between him and the guard who shuffled around the gate.
"I got it." I small voice peeped from above and Mike dropped the rope. Clem's feet fell from under her and she hit the great of the latter hard. I gasped but before I could ask if she was okay Mike grabbed my arm and roughly dragged me away from the winch. I was ushered back to the fire pit where everyone was still standing around, in the absence of the mystery woman. She had curled back up in her spot on the floor. Something about her nonchalant ease made my blood boil. Clementine was putting her neck on the line of all of us and she couldn't even give two shit about her.
"Hey Scar?" A gentle voice asked, a hand falling on my shoulder. I looked over to see Nick looking at me with concern.
"What?" I asked a little harsher than I meant, Nick flinched back at my tone. My face quickly shifted from anger to sorry and I looked back at him.
"Sorry, sorry. I'm just…" I ran a hand through my hair pulling the greasy tangled locks away from my face. "I don't like sending Clem off by herself," I said with a sigh and Nicks look of hurt faded.
"Yeah, but she's one tough little girl. Good thing she's on our side." He said with a comforting smile.
"No kidding. She saved my life you know." I said casting a sideways glance at the man beside me.
"What? A badass like you gets saved by a ten-year-old girl? That's something I never saw coming."
"She's thirteen, but wait, was that an actual compliment I heard?" I teased my friend.
"Ha, no I wouldn't go as far as to call it a complement; all I'm sayin' is I wouldn't want to fight you." He walked over to a pair of empty chairs and we sat down side by side. In spite of it all Nick had become a pretty good friend, he reminded me or Tommy in a way. Always trying to ease the tenon, protective of the ones he loved, a little resentful of authority.
"So uh what do you think of Luke?" Nick asked and I looked over at him a little surprised.
"Why are you asking?" Nicked looked away to the fire and shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know, he's our leader now right? I guess it's kind of important that everyone likes him."
"I like Luke, I think he's a good leader and respectable man," I said simply if Nick was doing what I thought he was doing my answer wasn't what he was looking for.
"Yeah? Okay, good." He got quiet again and a subtle silent fell over us since the others had since gone to their bunks. I wouldn't even able to stomach the thought of sleeping while Clem was out there risking safety.
"Okay, the thing is," Nick said, breaking the quiet quickly and sitting up in his chair, he turned to acutely look at me. "Like I've said before Luke's pretty into you. And I swear if I have to stomach that guy starting at you one more minute without saying something I'm gonna go crazier than I already have." I looked at him stunned for a minute before breaking into a fit of laughter. Nick sat their wide-eyed not sure what to do, he just looked rather confused as I doubled over laughing.
"Shut the fuck up!" The guard on the other side of the gate shouted. I quickly struggled to get a hold of my frantic bouts of laughing.
"Did you just tell me Luke has a crush on me?" I tried to hold back a giggle as I said the last word of the sentence. This all seemed incredibly stupid and childish, to worry about crushes in the middle of the apocalypse. Nick's eyes settled again and he opened his mouth to object but then he shut it again, thinking about his words a little harder.
"Yeah, I think I did." He gave his own chuckle this time. "Pretty stupid right?" He asked and I leaned back in my chair, my laugh was gone but my smile remind.
"It's the end of the world, were prisoners to a mad man and you're trying to hook your friends up."
"Okay fair enough." I cast a glance at him out of the corner of my eye and he was smiling. He did that all too little anymore. He was a good guy who had been through way too much. I let the joking subside and the quiet returned, only this time I thought it might stay; it didn't.
"But all jokes aside Luke's not the most subtle of guys. I'm surprised you haven't put it together yourself."
"Yeah, well, I've been missing out on a lot of things." I thought back to my brother, how I had so easily missed warning signs that something was wrong, that he wasn't himself.
"When you reconnected with your brother back at the lodge, I think Luke got a little jealous, he worried we were gonna lose you to Tom or something."
"Well, looks like he won't have to worry about that anymore," I said solemnly
"I'm really sorry about your brother, I know you're probably sick of hearing that but, I am." I didn't say anything. "I've never had any siblings but Luke's practically my brother, I can't image what would happen if he… You know."
"Yeah, but the thing is, Luke would never do that. To you, or to any of us he's too good of a guy. Where Tommy… Tommy just isn't. "
"I'm sure he was a good guy once." I nodded,
"He was, he still might be. But he is easily mislead, and it's been his downfall all his life." I paused thinking back to that one moment at the lodge. "But I swear Nick for a second at the lodge I saw that he regretted this, that he knew it was wrong. Even if he did some bad things does that make him a bad guy?"
"If he came back to you, asked forgiveness would you give it to him?" The moment in Carver's office came to mind, he had asked to apologize but I hadn't let him.
"If he left Carver, maybe, I don't know."
"Heres hoping he gets his priorities straight then."
"What are you guys talking about?" Sarah stood in front of us, hands held in front of her.
"Just about some stuff from before, back when things were normal," I said gently smiling at the little girl, sincerely hoping she hadn't heard any of the dispensing nature of our conversation.
"Oh, can I talk too? I know I should be in bed, but I can't sleep." She asked and her voice was so sweet and full of excitement I would have been a monster to say no.
"Of course," I said welcomingly, she sat on the ground in front of Nick and me.
"So uh, where were we?" I asked adjusting how I sat in the seat.
"Just talking about before," Nick said casually.
"What did you do before?" Sarah asked, her high voice sweet with curiosity.
"I was a college student, I was acutely in school to study ancient cultures and civilizations when all this happened," I explained and I relaxed back into my chair.
"That sounds so cool!" Sarah squeaked, her voice filled with childlike wonderment and joy.
"My dad use to read me books about kids who would travel back in time. My favorite book was the one where they went all the way back to old Greece. They rode chariots and fought lions. It was really cool."
"I know some stuff about ancient Greece if you'd like to hear it." I offered and Sarah's eyes lit up and she sat just a little straighter.
"Yes please." She asked. And for the next couple of minutes, I told her about what like was like in ancient Athens and Sparta. About the library of Alexandria and the great Peloponnesian war. I left out some of the more distasteful parts of the tales but she seemed to hang off each of my words. So engrossed in the story it made me feel a little bit normal to talk about something I use to love so much. Something that held no real place in this new world we lived in.
"Get to bed!" A guard at the door grunted as I continued my rambling to the young Sarah. I glared at the man and stood up stretching my tired limbs.
"Sorry Sarah times up, but I can tell you more tomorrow if you'd like."
"That would be awesome! Thanks, Scarlett." The young girl quickly wrapped her arms around me in a short hug before she took off her to bed and crawled onto the wood plank above the one Clem and I had shared.
"You're doing a good job of keeping her sane," Nick said beside me was we slowly walked toward the bunks. "Her Dad owes you some seriously," he said, I smiled.
"I like her, she's a sweet kid. Her father doesn't owe me for nerding out about history with her."
"Scarlett, the badass survivalist, nerding out. I think that's one for the history books." He mocked his poor pun made me scrunching my face up into a cringe. But as I reached my bunk and Nick crawled onto to his own I turned back to him.
"Thanks for distracting me, I would have gone out of my mind with worry if you hadn't." He smiled tiredly.
"No problem, just try not to freak out too much, she'll be back soon. Like I said she's a tough girl." I nodded and crawled onto my cot on the ground. The cold cement damp and icy through my clothes. I shut my eyes and tried to count my breathing in order to calm myself down as I silently wait for Clementine. But the minutes felt like hours, and with each on I got more and more worried. It wasn't until I heard the swift sound of Mike catching someone and the soft steps of two parties that I relaxed a little. Soon Clem was beside me and she flashed Kenny a view of the walkie-talkie before slipping onto the ground behind be. Her warmth and weight next to me finally allowed me to breathe. I knew she was okay, that I could protect her again. But how long would that last?