The Walking Dead: Clementine and a dog named Sam
Chapter 4: a visitor
Here I bring you the next chapter of my story. A couple of you asked me in messaging will I be making a sequel to my last story "Only trying to do the right thing". And the answer: yes, I will. But not until I finish this one first. Could be a while yet, but nevertheless, here is the next chapter. I hope all of you enjoy it. :D
The door knocked from the outside of the cabin, startling the two girls slightly. Whoever he was, obviously wanted to get inside. To Clementine, this was strange since she expected it was just some random guy poking around, but as for Sarah, she knew one-hundred percent who this man was.
"He can't see me." Sarah replied, standing behind the wall to avoid being seen by the stranger outside. "You have to make him go away."
Clementine arched a curios eyebrow for a moment to why Sarah was so desperate to get away and fearful from this stranger who she seemed to recognize, but nevertheless, she agreed to help her new best friend. "Go and find somewhere to hide."
"Where?!" Sarah inquired, scanning the room they were in, looking for a hiding place.
"Hello...?!" the stranger called out, looking through the window on the door.
Sarah now panicked even more as she was one-hundred percent sure this was the same men she met long ago. She would never forget that voice in a million years. She struggled to breathe for a moment as fear was sent tingling down her spin. "Clem, I can't breathe...I can't breathe..!"
"Shhhh." Clementine shushed her, placing a finger to her lips. She then quietly began making her way towards the front door, hoping there was a way to get rid of him without any trouble.
Truth be told, Clementine wished she brought that Glock 17 that Sarah had found with her to use. It may be empty of course, but the man outside did not know that. The man outside called out a second time to see if anyone was inside, and by the looks of it, he did not seem to be leaving soon.
Clementine looked towards the lock on the front door that may be her only hope of keeping the man outside. She reached out her left hand to lock the door, but she was a second too late as the door had opened.
The young took a step back as she eyed the man who opened the door on his own and stood there, smiling at her. He had longish black hair, a black moustache like Carlos', and looked around in his middle forties. He wore a brown coat with a row of fur against the hood. "Hello there." he greeted.
"Hello." Clementine greeted in return, not exactly knowing what to say to him since she had no other options at this point.
"How are ya?" the stranger inquired, seeming friendly at the moment, but people can be surprised of what people are truly like in the inside.
"Okay." Clementine answered. "How are you?"
"Well I'm doing just fine, thank you." the stranger replied smiling, turning to his right slightly and gesturing his right arm back towards the way he came. "My family and I are set up a ways down river. I'm kinda surprised we haven't run into each other."
While he was talking, Clementine took no notice to what he was saying and looked towards his right hip where she could see he was carrying Colt Python in a gun holster attached to his belt, and this left her eyes widened slightly. Now he seemed dangerous, but then again, what person did not own a gun these days? Especially in this day and age.
"What's your name?" the stranger inquired, still talking in a friendly matter.
Clementine was about to answer, but revealing her name to him may not be a good idea. After all, he could have been working with the bandits who attacked her and Christa, and if Christa was alive, they may have forced her to tell them what her name was.
Rather than answering her real name, Clementine thought back to the one person who was almost closer to her than Lee: Carley, the former reporter who was killed in cold blood by Lilly during their escape from the Motor Inn. "I'm...Carley."
"Carley. That's a sweet name." the stranger admitted before he looked at her with a change of expression from a friendly one to a curious one. He stepped closer towards as he walked inside the cabin without even asking. "You mind if I come in, Carley? I've been out all morning and this heat has got me cooked."
Sarah, who was watching the entire conversation from where she was hiding, quickly departed when the man had taken a couple of steps inside.
"No, I guess not." Clementine assured, but deep down, she was only letting him inside in fear of getting him angry might provoke him to pull out his weapon, and that would not end well.
The stranger raised his smile again as he studied the inside of the cabin. He seemed to admire it, and he seemed to be interested in the fish that was hung on the wall. "This is a nice place? Is there anyone else around? You don't usually see cabins this big out here. You sure could pack a lot of folks in here."
"Just me, my dad, and my dog." Clementine answered, crossing her arms together.
"Really? Been a while since I saw a dog." the stranger admitted, dropping his smile again as he shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I'll cut to the chase; I'm out looking for my people." he said, walking past Clementine into the next room. "Seven of them to be exact. They're been gone a long while and...I'm worried they might've gotten lost. Maybe you've seen 'em."
"Couple of farm boys and an old man...Spanish guy and his daughter. Quiet girl, bit taller than you. A big black guy. This big." he paused as he gestured out his arms a couple of feet in front of his stomach. "And a pretty little pregnant lady."
Clementine gasped silently under her breath as she knew full fact he was talking about everyone in the group. The farm boys were Luke and Nick, the old man was Pete, the Spanish guy was Carlos and his daughter was Sarah, the big black guy was Alvin, and the pretty little pregnant lady was Rebecca.
Could he be one of the people who was with the man called "Carver" that had been mentioned a few times from members of the cabin. Or worse, could this even be Carver himself? This was bad. Any moment now, the others could return to the cabin, and to top it off, what if Sarah accidently exposes her to him?
"That's a lot of people to lose." Clementine admitted, not sure what to say exactly.
"Tell me about it." the stranger agreed. "This whole damn thing's a pain in the ass." he looked to both of his sides for a moment before walking towards the kitchen, peaking through the doors before going inside.
Clementine followed him inside and gasped slightly where she could see the stranger kneeling down to Sam, who was resting on the ground, lying on his side. It was a good thing he was asleep as Clementine knew he can be dangerous around new people.
"This is your dog? He seems tired." the stranger admitted, standing back up to full height.
"Yeah, took him out for a jog this morning." Clementine replied, walking over towards the sleeping dog while the stranger observed the dirty dishes in the sink.
"Well, looks like a damn tornado ran through here." he admitted, seeing how many dirty plates were scattered around the kitchen. "Quite a few dishes, isn't there for just you and your dad?"
"What can I say?" Clementine replied, leaning herself against the kitchen counter to act casual.
"Just passing' through, or you been here a while?" the stranger inquired, him too leaning against a kitchen counter. "Hey, listen kid. I hope you're not one of those nuts headed up north, looking' for Shangri-La. Now, I'm not sure why you'd go anywhere after finding' this place. "Hell, I just got here and I don't wanna leave."
While he was talking, Clementine looked towards the edge of kitchen counter near the backdoor where she could see a knife resting there. It looked sharp, and big enough to stab into someone. It may be her only hope, but getting to it was going to be a problem.
"Just passing through. Going north." Clementine lied, thinking it may trick him and stop him from coming back once he left.
"Whole lot of people headed that way lately." the stranger replied. "Me, I don't get it." he gestured his left hand upwards. "Just was much nothing up there as there is down here. And I can't stand that Yankee weather."
"The cold slows down walkers." Clementine explained, remembering how she and Christa were planning on heading north before they were separated.
"Well that's not worth the trade in my opinion." the stranger countered, looking confused for a moment as he noticed Carley (or so he thought that was her name) kept constantly looking towards the edge of the kitchen counter.
He followed to where she was looking and spotted the knife. He moved towards it before she would have the chance too and picked it up in his right hand and held it up, causing Carley to jump slightly.
Clementine tried her best to hide her fear. Was he going to stab her with the knife and save himself a bullet in his gun? His expression changed into a slightly angry one as he held up the knife into the air.
"Where does this go?" the stranger inquired.
Clementine felt relieved as she knew he was going to let her live. She pointed her finger over to a draw nearby. "Over there. Uh, in that drawer there."
The stranger followed to where she was pointing and walked over to the drawer. He opened up the draw and placed the knife into the drawer.
Before long, the stranger had left the kitchen, and Clementine followed him into the next room, which was the living room. He scanned the entire room, completely unaware of the other girl hiding behind one of the couches. "Well this is a real nice place. Kinda cozy."
Clementine merely watched as she secretly hoped Sarah was no longer in this room and was hiding somewhere where she could not be found.
The stranger looked towards the couch and spotted a familiar checkered on the couch. "I knew a guy that always wore shirts like this. Doctor. Real smug son of a bitch. But a smart man. I miss him."
"What happened to him?" Clementine inquired, thinking there was something about Carlos that he may not be telling her.
"Let's just say we had our differences." he answered, his voice somewhat deeper than before like he had just gotten more deeper. "Sooner or later, people close to you will find a reason to cross you. Happens every time."
The stranger folded his arms together as he eyed the chess board on the coffee table that a couple of the cabin members must have been playing. "Well, well...white's in trouble."
While he had his back turned to the stairs, Sarah emerged from her hiding spot and slowly sneaked up each step, praying that he did not turn around or hear her before she got to the top. "Three moves away from checkmate..." he paused as a slight thud shot through his eardrums, but was loud enough for him to hear. "What was that?"
Clementine shrugged her shoulders a little in response.
The stranger walked over towards the bottom of the stairs and looked up to the nearest door he could see that he could have sworn had just been closed, but it was too fast for him to know. "I thought you said nobody's here."
"It's...Probably just the wind." Clementine assured him, glaring towards him with her eyes half-closed.
The stranger placed his hand upon his holster and held up his Python in the air, marching up towards the stairs to investigate the noise he had heard. He was followed again by Clementine until he got to the top of the stairs, seeing how two of the doors were opened, but the one near the stairs was closed.
Being cautious as he turned the door knob, he burst inside, aiming his weapon around the bedroom, carefully checking for any intruders. Clementine secretly prayed that Sarah had hidden herself well. Her thoughts were soon answered as she looked towards the bottom of the bed, seeing Sarah had hidden herself underneath.
Clementine shifted her attention back towards the stranger, who raised his weapon up after he was done checking the room. She crossed her arms while giving him an annoyed look. "I told you, nobody's here."
"Seems that way." he agreed, placing his Python back into his gun holster as he moved towards the bedroom window. "Didn't mean to be rude." he turned his attention back to Clementine. "Couldn't just leave you here with a good conscience if someone was poking around, right?"
"Sure..." she sceptically agreed.
The man smiled as he prepared to walk out from the room but stopped when he spotted something on the ground. He leaned down and picked up a photo Sarah had taken earlier on from that camera she had spotted.
"Its you." he declared, holding up a picture of Clementine that Sarah had taken when she had got back. "Taking pictures of yourself?"
"Yeah, why not?" Clementine inquired, deep down, she thought the man had picked up a photo of Sarah, and if this was the case, that would not have ended well.
The two exchanged looks with one and other, both glaring with normal expressions. Clementine hoped he would go away soon, but as for the stranger, he could now see past her lies, knowing everything she told him was a lie.
"You have no idea who these people are, do you?" the stranger asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Clementine lied, crossing her arms together for a second time.
"Let me ask you this. When you met them, how much did they trust you?" the stranger inquired.
Clementine knew he could see through her lies and there was no point of continuing them any longer. She uncrossed her arms, finally deciding to answer honestly. "Well, they found me in the woods with my dog. They took me in."
"If people don't trust you, how can you trust them?" the stranger asked, knowing what the other group were like before they had been separated for certain reasons. "Well, I think I've troubled you long enough. I can let myself out."
Clementine watched him walk back down the stairs, finally ready to leave the cabin. She called out to him before he left; needing to know something that he had told her. "Why shouldn't I trust them?"
"You have a real good day, now." he replied, completely ignoring her question as he wondered out from the cabin.
Clementine stood in the same position as thoughts wondered around her mind. Why couldn't she trust them? She thought about this for a moment while Sarah crawled out from underneath the bed she was hiding under.
The two both stared out from the window together for a moment, knowing that they had trouble coming. Now that the stranger knew the group he was looking for was holding up there, he would be back, and this time, with company.
"He's gone." Clementine declared, stating the obvious while Sarah standing beside her rubbed her right wrist with her left hand nervously.
"What if he comes back?" Sarah asked a hint of fear in her voice.
Clementine did not answer as she was lost in words of what to say exactly. For now, all they could do was wait until the others returned, and once they did, make a plan of what to do next.
Shortly after the stranger had left the cabin, Clementine, Sarah and Sam were all in the living room together. The two girls sat on a couch while Sam sat in front of his new owner, who stroked his head as he panted slightly with his tongue out.
"We need to find the others." Clementine said, finally saying something after they had been sitting in silent for a while.
"We can't go outside!" Sarah countered, remembering how protective her father was of her, and going outside without his permission would make him extremely angry.
The two girls and the dog made their way into the kitchen, but at perfect timing, the back door had opened from the outside, revealing it to be Luke with the others following behind him.
"Clementine!" Luke greeted, feeling somewhat relived that she was okay.
"Sarah!" Carlos greeted as Sarah ran towards him with her arms open. He hugged her as she ran towards him, and after what just happened with the stranger, she was afraid and needed her father.
"Did you find Nick?" Clementine inquired, looking up towards the older man.
"Yeah, we found him hiding in a shelter. We all made it back." Luke assured her, smiling across his face as he was relieved that everyone was here and accounted for.
As the others made their way into the kitchen, Sarah moved out from her father's hug as she placed her hands together with her head lowered. "A man was here."
"What?" Carlos inquired, already fearful of what could have happened to her.
"What did she say?" Rebecca inquired.
"Someone came to the cabin." Sarah repeated, afraid to look at her father, fearing she was going to see his angry expression, but she did not do nothing wrong. "Clementine talked to him."
"And you just opened the door for him?" Rebecca asked, not believing how stupid Clementine was for letting in a complete stranger (or someone she may know) into their home.
"Calm down, Rebecca." Luke soothed her, knowing how easily angry and upset she can be, especially with her hormones being all out of control.
"Calm down?! I am calm! You calm down!" Rebecca ordered, raising her voice slightly.
"I didn't open the door!" Clementine countered, knowing that the older woman had a grudge against her for some unknown reason. "He just came in."
"She's telling the truth!" Sarah reassured everyone, defending her new best friend.
Carlos changed his expression to a worried one as he eyed Clementine, suspecting whoever visited her was someone they once knew. "Did he say his name? Did he say what his name was?"
"Maybe it wasn't him." Rebecca suggested, turning towards her husband for support.
"You know damn well who it was." Alvin replied, his voice showing some anger as he too suspected it could be the same person who they once knew.
Rebecca shifted her attention back towards Clementine, gazing upon her as she folded her arms together, and repeated the same question again. "Did he say his name?"
"Why do you care so much?" Clementine inquired, only just realizing how Rebecca seemed more worried about the man that came to the cabin than to the others.
"Excuse me?" Rebecca replied, shocked of what the young girl just said to her.
"Everyone just calm down for a minute." Pete said, seeing how everyone was getting worked up about the stranger.
"Look, Clem, just...Tell us what he look like." Carlos requested, asking multiple questions for her to answer so he could make certain it was the same person. "What was he wearing? Did he sound...Different? He old was he?"
"He had a moustache, deep voice, and a big brown coat." Clementine described him the best she could remember.
"What kind of moustache? Like mine or Alvin's? And what about the coat? Did it have a lining? A collar?" Carlos inquired.
"Yeah, his moustache was bushy, and his coat had fur on the lining." Clementine answered.
"He talk about you, dad." Sarah added, hearing the entire conversation he and Clementine were having while she was trying to hide. "You're not going to hurt anyone, are you?"
"Of course he won't, Sarah, alright?" Luke assured her, knowing how Sarah had a couple of problems that made her worried about certain things. "Your dad's the nicest man I know, which is why he's not going to do anything crazy or...not nice. Right?"
"You know these are bad people, sweetie. They will do or say anything to hurt us." Carlos said, comforting his daughter as he placed his left hand upon her shoulder.
"All right, what do you think?" Luke asked Clementine, wanting to be certain they were going to be safe. "Did it seem like he'd be coming back?"
"I think so." Clementine admitted, not wanting to make the situation any more badly than it had to be. "He described how he was looking for seven of you, and even gave detail on what you look like. I tried to lie to him, but he was smart. He even asked me if I trusted you or not."
The others looked towards one and other as they were not sure on what to do next.
Carlos sighed in response as he dazed out from his thoughts while showing some gratitude towards Clementine for making the stranger leave. "We got lucky. He wasn't expecting to find us. Clementine must have surprised him. If she hadn't been there, then he might have stuck around...Well, he was too smart to stick around. But he'll be back with the rest. We don't have much time."
"He's right." Luke agreed, folding his arms together as he looked towards the others. "Everyone pack up. We're moving out."
"Alvin, wait!" Rebecca called out to her husband as he had already marched out from the kitchen, obviously eager to get moving as soon as possible.
As the others left the kitchen, leaving only Clementine, Luke, Sam, Carlos and Sarah left in the kitchen.
Carlos knelt down to his daughter's height, trying to comfort her as he knew he would have to take her out there into this tragic world. "We have to leave now sweetie, before he comes back with more bad guys. But's it's going to be okay. Let's just go get your things."
"Why did you leave his camp?" Clementine inquired, now knowing the full truth to why this stranger had appeared to this cabin looking for them.
"Because we had to." Carlos replied, walking closer to her as he tried to explain the situation to her. "Clem, I don't know what he told you, but William Carver is a dangerous man. He is the leader of a camp not far from here, and he is very smart. We were...Lucky to escape. Look, I'm sorry to involve you, but now that he's seen you, you and your dog will be safe with us. We have to leave."
Before long, everyone got their things together, and it was time to go before Carver would return. Luke declared it was time to go as soon as everyone was here and accounted for. "Alright. Everybody grab your stuff. Let's hit the road."
William Carver has arrived, but question is: will he catch the others on their journey? Since both Pete and Nick are accounted for, the group will not need to stop to find them and can just go straight ahead to wherever their heading. Stay tuned for the next chapter, everyone.