Hey again! I'm back with another chapter of Redeemed. It doesn't really look like there are many people reading this, but I'm going to keep writing it anyways because it's fun. (Though I'd love some feedback if you do read it!) For those of you who are reading this, first of all, thank you so much! And thank you to user "Big Bad Wolf" for leaving me a nice review on both of my TWDG fanfictions. (: It's much appreciated! Secondly, I won't be updating again until at least Tuesday night at the earliest. I'm a senior this year, so my school is having our senior trip this weekend, Friday through Monday. I'll get back on Monday, but I'll have homework to catch up on. I'll update when I can. (: This chapter is a little shorter, too, so sorry about that.
Also, kind of a side note... I don't really like excessive cussing (multiple reasons—look on my author page if you want to see why in more detail). I know the game does quite a bit of it, but I try to limit how many cuss words I use. I try to use enough to keep everyone in character, but nothing too excessive. I won't use the f- or s-word, but the others I'll use sparingly. (:
Anyways, here is chapter two! Please let me know what you think. (:
"I'll kill you, I swear to God!" Kenny howled, face reddened in rage. "How the hell could you let this happen?"
"Kenny, please, stop!" Clementine sobbed desperately, tugging hard at Kenny's shirt in an attempt to quell the man's anger. "Please, don't hurt her! Jane, run, please! Get out of here!"
"Not happening," Jane replied dryly as she shoved Clem aside, out of Kenny's way. The younger girl fell to the snowy ground with a thud.
"Screw you!" Jane shouted back with a deep scowl, knife poised in her steady hand. "It was an accident, dammit!"
"Kenny, Jane, please!" Clem interjected again, trying desperately to push her two friends apart.
"You know what you are?" questioned the man, ignoring Clem's anguished cries as he and the woman slowly circled each other, fury evident in each person's countenance.
Jane scoffed. "I have a vague idea, but why don't you go ahead and tell me? I'm interested to hear what you think."
The man's fiery scowl deepened and he yowled back, "You're a damn baby-killer, that's what you are! I knew you couldn't be trusted."
"Grow the hell up, Kenny," Jane spat back, glaring daggers at the man as Clem sat wordlessly in the backseat. "I said it was an accident, for God's sake!"
"And you know what else?" shouted Kenny again, not even bothering to pause before continuing. "You're just a selfish waste of space. You don't care about anyone but your own damn self, and nobody gives a rat's ass about you. You're nothing."
Jane winced inwardly, but she didn't dare show Kenny he'd gotten to her. "Go to hell," she replied simply, voice level yet seething with barely-suppressed anger.
Clementine, despite her wounded shoulder, rose again and made a final effort to stop her friends from fighting. Too weak to hold either of them back, though, she was easily thrown to the ground again, jarring her shoulder even further. She softly shook her head against the onset of light-headedness and sat up, only to see Jane pinned to the ground by Kenny, her own knife just inches from piercing her heart. The older woman's eyes were locked with Clem's, hazel orbs wordlessly pleading with the younger girl to help her. Desperately looking around for a means of aid, Clementine noticed a gun a few feet in front of her. She strained toward it, but just when it got within grasp, it seemed to be just out of reach again. She couldn't grab it.
"Clem, please, help me!" Jane begged, finally able to speak. "Please, Clem, please hel—Aughhh!" The woman's sentence was cut short as her own knife, guided carelessly by Kenny's hand, bore through her chest cavity, piercing her heart and ending her sentence prematurely.
"Jane, no!" Clementine cried, tears coursing down her hot cheeks. Just then, the gun in front of her seemed to pick itself up. Before she could do or even think anything, the gun's barrel was pointed at Kenny, and the trigger was pulled by some outside force.
CH-BANG!
Kenny's limp body fell to the ground beside Jane's, a fresh bullet hole in the man's temple, blood mixing with that of the dead woman beside him.
"No, Kenny! Kenny, please wake up!" Clem sobbed, hopelessly shaking him before turning to the other woman. "Jane, wake up! You have to wake up! Wake up, please!"
"Wake up! Clem, wake up!"
Wait... what?
"Wake up!" Jane exclaimed, gently shaking Clementine's thrashing being. "Clem, wake up!"
Clementine awoke with a start. She bolted upright, a mixture of sweat and tears trickling down her face as she struggled to catch her breath. Confused and frightened, the young girl looked around, gaze eventually landing on her companion, Jane.
"Shh, Clem, it was just a bad dream," Jane murmured gently as Clem caught her breath.
"I... I dreamt that Kenny killed you, and I could've saved you, but he killed you, and I saw the gun, but I couldn't reach it, and then the gun shot Kenny in the head all by itself, and you were both dead and I was by myself, and I—" Clementine rambled, still crying, panicked sentences mashing into large run-ons.
"Hey, shh," the woman repeated, gently wrapping her arm around the girl's shoulders and giving a light squeeze. The girl turned and burrowed her face into Jane's side. Caught slightly off-guard, the woman hesitated a moment before pulling her closer. "It's okay, it's okay... It was just a dream. I'm right here, see? You saved me. I'm okay, thanks to you."
"I... I know," Clem replied, still clearly shaken yet starting to calm down. "It was just scary, though. I don't want to be by myself."
"I know," she replied simply. She wanted to promise she'd always be there, that somebody would always be there. She wanted to comfort the child with reassurance, give her some hope to get her by. But deep down, she knew that would be wrong of her to do. Jane herself could only make it so long, and after the close call of the prior day, she definitely couldn't make any promises. Instead, she added, "I can't promise you I'll always be here, but I can say that as long as I'm here on this earth, I'll never voluntarily leave you."
Clem said nothing in reply, but wordlessly snuggled up closer to her friend as her lids grew heavy again. Jane said nothing, either, but resorted to mindlessly rubbing the girl's back in gentle motions. Soon enough, both her fast asleep, exhausted from the long day they'd had prior.
The next morning, Clementine awoke on the concrete floor of Howe's Hardware. Still slightly groggy from sleep, she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes before surveying the area around her.
Where am I? she thought to herself before remembering, a flood of recollections from yesterday hitting her like an ice-cold wave. Oh, right... Hey, where's Jane?
The girl looked around for her older companion, and, not noticing her within her line of vision, stood and walked outside of the main room. Beside the metal gate the family had stood in front of before, Jane leaned against the wall, staring out into the horizon.
"Hey, kiddo," Jane greeted tiredly, looking as if she hadn't gotten sleep. "You doing all right? Sounds like you had one hell of a dream last night."
"Yeah, I'm find," Clem reassured. "I just... had a bad dream, that's all. We're both okay, and that's what matters. Lee taught me that."
Jane smiled slightly. "Good advice."
Clementine walked over and sat beside Jane, carefully watching her as the woman stared outside at seemingly-nothing. "Are... you okay?" she asked, concerned that her friend wasn't doing well.
"Yeah, I'm doing all right," she replied, a slight smile of appreciation donning her features. "Thanks. I just... wish yesterday wouldn't have happened."
"It's okay," Clem reassured, "it wasn't your fault. Not all of it, anyways. Kenny was the one who was getting too mad."
"I know," she sighed, "but it sure feels like it. I did piss him off in the first place, after all."
"It's okay, Jane," the young girl comforted, unsure of what else to say.
The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Jane quietly stated, "We can't stay here."
"What do you mean?" Clem asked, confusion clear in her eyes.
"Those people, they... They said they'd be back," relayed Jane. "And they said they'd be dangerous. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. But I still don't really want to find out. I don't think we should stay here very long, just in case."
"Okay," the girl replied simply. "That makes sense."
"Good," the older woman answered, "I'm glad."