The Walking Dead: Clementine and a dog named Sam
Chapter 10: a new friend
And here I bring you chapter 10 of my next story, ladies and gentleman. Once I finish this episode, I will get to working on "Fight for Survival" when I am free. In the meantime, enjoy the chapter.
"Hey, guys." a familiar voice to the former cabin group greeted them.
"Reggie?" Rebecca gasped, unable to tell if her eyes were playing tricks on her.
Rajeev-better known as Reggie from his friends-was a man whom was Pakistan around in his middle thirties, he had black hair all around the back and sides of his head, but the top of his head was bold, and he had short black facial hairs. He wore a light blue shirt with a beige hunting vest over it and dark navy jeans. And to everyone's shock, his left arm was missing, possible amputated from being bitten by a walker.
Rebecca moved closer to him and embraced him in the hug to which he returned with his one arm. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. What did they do to you...?" she noticed his missing arm and could only presume it was Carver who did this too him for helping them in the past.
"This could have been worse, trust me. I'm lucky to be alive." Reggie admitted, not seeming too bothered about his one arm.
"It's my fault." Nick sincerely told him, a guilty expression rose across his face.
"No, it's really not." Reggie assured the younger man. "I would tell you if it was. This happened well after you guys left. "I guess I should say it's nice to see you all."
"Good to see you too, Reggie." Pete admitted, folding his arms together with a slight smile across his face.
Not too far from where the rest of the group was, Clementine and Sarah were knelt down to Sam's height as they both were stroking him for a moment. Sarah did not think her dad would allow her to pet a wild animal, but after everything that happened to them, her stroking a dog was the least of his concern right now.
"Reggie helped us." Sarah declared to Clementine as she finished petting Sam and stood up to full height. "When we ran away."
Clementine looked towards the new man most of them had been reunited with, and could not help but stare at his amputated arm like she did with Lee once they were reunited at The Marsh House. "What happened to his arm?"
"I don't know." Sarah admitted, she could have sworn he had both arms the last time she saw him. "We were running out together...But then he fell...and everybody kept running. I know he had both his arms then."
Clementine continued to stare at Reggie whom was now explaining to his friends the story of how he lost his arm shortly after they had left. "They got me working outside. Lurker snuck up on me while I was hammering something. Luckily they took the arm off quick. Saved my life." he was able to raise a slight smile across his face.
"That's awful...I'm so sorry." Rebecca apologized for a second time.
"Look, it was my choice to help you guys." Reggie reassured them.
Tavia had returned all of sudden and marched over towards Alvin, still wielding her AK-47 in her hands. "Alvin. Carver wants you in his office."
"What? Why?" Alvin inquired, a worried expression rose across his face when the fear of being in a room alone with Carver raced around his mind.
"Don't make this difficult." Tavia requested. "It's too late for that."
"No! Please!" Rebecca pleaded, knowing Carver was not one to give mercy, and back at the ski lodge, Alvin was lucky enough to be spared then, but everyone knew luck did not last forever.
"It's okay, Bec." Alvin assured her. "Just get some rest. If he wanted to do something, he would have done it already. I'll be fine." but deep down, he was unsure if he was going to get out of this alright. Who knows what Carver plans to do to him? "Let's see what he wants."
Rebecca was only able to watch as her husband was being escorted out of the area they were in by Tavia. She prayed to herself that it was not going to be the last time she saw him again.
"Hey! Reggie!" Troy had finally spoken up after he had Bonnie had been silent while they guarded the area.
"Oh...hey, Troy." Reggie nervously greeted, still fearing him due to the fact he wanted to get back into Carver's group official, and with his friends returning, that may make it a little difficult.
"Don't go fucking up now!" Troy warned in a harsh tone. "Bill's real close to letting you out of here. You make sure things stay nice and quiet out here tonight, and I'll be sure to let Bill know just how helpful you were."
A smile raised on Reggie's face when he realized that this might be his perfect opportunity, his big break into getting back into the group officially. "Yeah, you can count on me. Thanks, Troy."
"Don't mention it." Troy requested, turning around and marching his way out of the yard now that he made sure Reggie would keep the group from doing anything stupid. Bonnie followed in suite, and the two exited the area together, locking the security shutters behind them.
After they were gone, Rebecca shifted his attention to the others whom merely stared towards her (Kenny with his arms folded) and decided it was time to introduce everyone to their former friend and ally. "Oh, right. Let me introduce you. We were with them when we got caught."
Reggie walked a little closer towards the new faces and introduced himself kindly. "Hey, I'm Reggie."
"That's Sarita." Rebecca introduced him to the kind woman.
"Hello." she quickly greeted in return. She moved her head back and focused her eyeballs on her boyfriend.
"That's Kenny."
"Heya." Kenny greeted, unfolding his arms and raising a slight smile towards him.
"And that's Matthew." Rebecca finished.
"...Hey..." Matthew did not seem too enthusiastic about meeting a new face.
Reggie shifted his attention over towards his left to see the young girl with hat and nervously rubbing her hand up against her arm, and he had yet to meet her. "Hello! Who are you?" he noticed her staring towards where his arm use to be. "This freaks you out. It's okay. Freaks me out too, sometimes."
Clementine could tell this man was nice just be looking at him, and felt comfortable enough to introduce herself to him, despite the fact he was part of this community. Well, technically, anyway. "My name's Clementine."
"It's very nice to meet you, Clementine." Reggie admitted, offering her a handshake with his one hand to which Clementine gladly accepted. He shifted his eyes over to her leg when he saw Sam merely staring at him, and he decided to greet him too. "A dog? Been a long while since I saw a dog."
"He's my dog. I found him a few days ago." Clementine replied, merely watching as she allowed Reggie to pet her dog.
Reggie knelt down to Sam's height and stroked his head with his one hand to which Sam did not mind. He even offered him a handshake and Sam was trained enough to know what he meant, and lifted his right paw up to shake his hand. "Good boy."
He stood back up to full height and noticed one member of their group was not accounted for. "Where's Carlos?"
"Bill's already got him looking at some folks." Rebecca answered.
"Oh...okay. Good." Reggie smiled.
"Can you guys save it for the morning?" a grumpy voice on the other side of the room requested.
Everyone shifted their attention over towards the location of where the voice had come from to see an African-American man in his middle twenties with a close shave haircut and a slight back beard, wearing a grey hoodie and blue jeans. And despite their distance from him, some of them could see he was missing a chuck out of his left ear. "Some of us got to be up early." he told them.
"Sorry about that!" Clementine apologized in a loud enough time for him to hear.
"No problem. Sorry about that." Reggie also apologized to the man, whom had turned his back on them and placed his pillow over his head in an attempt to block out their voices. Reggie shifted his attention back towards the others. "Okay, that's Mike. He's kind of a dick when he's tired, but...like I said he saved my life, so...I put up with that shit. Bill put him to work outside the wall with me."
"I'm so sorry." Rebecca apologized yet again, still feeling that the entire incident was partial her fault.
Clementine folded her arms together while everyone else continued speaking with Reggie. She shifted her attention over to the other side of the room where a woman was sitting on a wooden bench table, merely staring at them. She looked Caucasian-American; she looked to be either in her late teenage years to middle twenties. She had extremely short hair with dirt smeared across her face, and she wore a yellow jacket with bluish jeans.
"Stop with all the sorry." Reggie requested. "It was my choice. Besides, he said once you were all caught, he'd let me rejoin the group, so...I'm glad you're here. I'm just joking."
"I know." Rebecca grinned, glad that her old friend still had some of his previous humor left in him.
"I mean, he did say that...but, I'm not happy about it." Reggie admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with his one hand for a moment. "It's probably bullshit..."
Clementine continued to stare at the girl for a moment, feeling slightly uncomfortable with her constant staring. "Who's she?" she inquired towards Reggie.
"Hmm? Who?" Reggie shifted his attention over towards the opposite side of the room to see whom she was referring too. "The girl over there."
The unnamed girl got out of the bench table and made her way over to her bed to get some sleep for the night.
"Oh, yeah, right." Reggie now knew whom she was referring too and shifted his attention back towards Clementine. "Okay, so she's fucking weird. They found her sneaking around outside of the camp covered in guts and just, like, the grossest shit."
"It's probably best not to stare." Rebecca admitted, not wanting there to be anymore conflict than there already had been.
"I know how it must look, but...it's really not that bad here." Reggie assured them with a supportive grin across his face.
"Reggie." Rebecca sighed.
"No, I'm serious." Reggie reassured them. "Where else are you going to find food like we have? We've got the canned stuff and now with the greenhouse coming along, we've got fresh food. The buildings getting more and more secure all the time..." he walked a few steps forward while gesturing his one arm around. "...mostly through forced labor, but that's temporary. They even got the solar panels working...when was the last time you had electricity, huh?
That was not a hard question for Sarah to answer, and she was the one to speak up. "Well, we just came from a lodge with a wind turbine and-"
"It's not a competition." Reggie interrupted her, and this was quite rude since he did just ask them a question. "I'm just saying, it's not as bad as you think. We're building something great here, guys. A real community. Bill is making it happen."
Clementine and Kenny turned towards each other for a moment, both of them giving a look as they were saying "Is this guy crazy"?
"I've made mistakes, and he's forgiven me." Reggie explained himself to them, trying to further convince them that Carver's community was a great place.
"That doesn't make up for what's he's done, Reggie." Rebecca told him, crossing her arms together.
"I know that, but I'm starting to see what this place offers...I didn't before and with the accident." Reggie paused for a second and stared at where his left arm would be if he still had it. "...It's just that much more important now. "
"Carver killed my friend Walter." Clementine spoke up.
"That's right!" Matthew snapped, angry filling up inside of him when he had to take in all of these lies. "Walter was my partner. I loved him!"
Reggie's face has changed into a sadly and somewhat shocked expression, leaving him silent for a few seconds. "Okay, I don't know what happened, but...maybe he had his reasons-"
"Had his reasons? He fucking kidnapped us and is holding us here against out will!" Matthew told him, curling his hand like a fist as he wanted to punch this man, but was held back by Sarita and Pete.
"His reason is he's a crazy piece of shit." Kenny judged him.
"Listen, I'm really close to getting let back into the group. Once that happens, I can do a lot more to help you guys be more comfortable." Reggie reassured them.
"Comfortable?" Kenny queried, shocked and angry to what he had just offered them. "What do you think this is?"
"I just don't want you to mess things up for me." Reggie explained himself, fearing that these new people were going to ruin his chances of being out of this yard any time soon. "I've worked really hard to get to this point. Will you please just try not to cause any trouble? At least until they release me. Then once I'm out, I could help you more. Maybe even help get you out."
Clementine did not wish to get Reggie in trouble, despite the fact he did want to be in Carver's group, but there was a chance he could just be scared. "We won't get you in trouble."
"They're expecting me to keep things in line out here." Reggie told her.
"Well, if Carver's such a "great guy," I'm sure you got nothing to worry about." Kenny replied, placing both of his hands against his hips.
"We can at least talk about it more in the morning. Just have a quiet night and chat again tomorrow." Reggie suggested.
"I can't believe what I'm hearing." Rebecca admitted, shocked and surprised to what her old friend was saying.
"Look, the fact is, Bill had every reason to kill me when I helped you guys...but he didn't." Reggie reminded them. "Obviously I don't know what happened while you all were gone but he's given me a second chance and I know he'd do the same for you."
"Reggie...I don't want a second chance." Rebecca told him, wanting nothing more than to get out of here with her friends and her husband. "I want to leave with my family. That's it."
"Your family is safe here." Reggie assured, knowing that was not enough to convince her that going out there in that God-forsaken world was a huge mistake.
Rebecca gasped when she felt her baby kick harder than usual and she placed both of her hands against his stomach. "I need to sit down."
Sarita walked over towards Rebecca to help her sit down before she got even more pains in her stomach. "Yeah, come on. Sarah? Can you go and see there's something for her to drink?"
"Okay." Sarah agreed.
"Yeah, there's water over by the benches." Reggie assured, merely watching as the trio walked over to the other side of the room. "That didn't go as planned...should have actually made a plan."
Most of them group made their way to the small pit in the middle of the yard with chairs lined-up in a circle with a fire in the middle. But as for Nick and his uncle Pete, those two had headed to be like Troy had suggested.
Kenny merely glared at him and folded his arms together, wishing he never met this man after hearing all the stuff he spoke about this place being great. "Man...Fuck that guy. I don't think we can trust him." he told Clementine who was standing beside him. "Clearly he's already drank too much of the Kool-Aid.
"I think he's just scared." Clementine admitted.
"Everybody's scared." Kenny clashed, knowing that was no excuse to say what he did. "It ain't an excuse to sound like a nutcase. You got to take a look around." Kenny began walking off into a random direction.
Clementine caught up to him with Sam following beside her, following Clementine like he usually did.
"We got to know if there's anything we can exploit to get out of here." Kenny told Clementine, knowing there had to be some way to get out of here. "We're in a tight spot. Going to have to wiggle our way out."
"Well...what should I be looking for?" Clementine inquired, stopping at the same time Kenny had stopped.
"Stuff that they don't want us to know about." Kenny answered like it was obvious to know. He turned back towards the shutters and was able to take note of there being no guard outside. The only thing they had to worry about was Reggie. "That Troy asshole is gone for now. This is our chance. Don't worry about Reggie. I'll go run interference with him."
As he walked away, Clementine knelt down to Sam's height and stroked him softly against his head. "You stay here, boy. I'm going to go and look around, okay?"
Sam merely stared at her in response as he licked her face for a moment to which she found disgusting but funny.
"Good boy." Clementine smiled, standing back up to full height to begin her investigation around the area.
The first thing she decided to do during her investigation was speak to that Mike guy who had requested to be asleep for the night. She approached him and attempted to greet him. "Hello?"
The man did lean his head up for a moment, but his tone did not sound so charming. "Get lost."
"Will you please talk to me?"
"No. Get outta here."
She approached the girl that had been staring at them earlier, whom was now lying on the ground with her head rested against her arm. Why would she sleep them when there are clearly multiple bunk beds for them to sleep on? The girl had suddenly leaned her head up and glared towards Clementine, startling her that caused her to jump in fear. Clementine backed away from her and allowed her to sleep peacefully.
"I didn't treat him very well these last few weeks...Things go so complicated so fast..." Rebecca continued speaking when she noticed the young girl had walked over, now speaking to both her and Sarita. "It became all about getting through each day..." she silently prayed to herself that Alvin would come back to her, safe and sound. "I'm trying real hard to remember the last time I told him that I loved him...I've been racking my brain...but I just can't remember..."
Clementine was unsure if she was going to see Alvin again in one peace, but for Rebecca's sake, she had to comfort her. "You will be able to tell him real soon."
"I hope that's true." Rebecca admitted, appreciating everything Clementine had done for her, despite the fact she was just a little girl. "All right, get going. I'll be fine. I appreciate you checking up on me."
Clementine proceeded to talk to her best friend Sarah, whom had been sitting quietly the entire him.
"I'm trying to be good." Sarah admitted.
"What?" Clementine inquired.
"Reggie asked me to be good, so I'm being good. I don't want to get him in trouble." Sarah explained, but that was hardly a reason to be quiet and not speak to anyone. "I'll talk to you later."
Clementine did not wish to get her upset and walked over towards the man-made bunk beds where Nick was sleeping on one of them, and Pete sleeping above him with his arm around his head. "Guess it's better than the ground. " Clementine admitted.
"It's not." Nick told her, revealing that he was still awake, just with his eyes closed and arm around his chest.
Clementine arched an eyebrow as she marched over to the side Nick was facing to speak with him. She approached him from the other side, and at least he was kind enough to lean up and greet her. "Hey, Clem."
"Nick, Pete." she merely greeted.
"Hey." Pete mumbled, he being too tired to lean up and greet her, but this may be due to her old age.
"Just thinking about Luke. Just...there's no way he's gone." Nick admitted, unable to believe his best friend would just leave them like that. "That he left. How about it? Because me, I known him for damn near twenty years now and I can't buy it. Of course I can't say the thought never crossed my mind. Things change. The whole damn world changed."
"I'm sure Luke had his reasons for not being here." Pete told his nephew, not wanting him to lose fate.
"Yeah. You're right, Uncle Pete." Nick agreed with his uncle that was very rare to see. "He's still out there. You watch."
"Why wouldn't he help us before we got here?" Clementine wondered.
"I don't know. I just know he's out there still. He's smart. Smarter than me, that's for sure." Nick admitted, lying back down against his bed in an attempt to get some sleep for the night in this cold weather. "Guess I out to try and get some sleep. You should, too. They're going to ride our assess tomorrow for sure."
"Okay." Clementine agreed. "Night."
"Night, Clem, night, Uncle Pete." Nick bidden them both goodnight for the day, closing his eyes and lying his head down against a pillow with a slight hopeful smile across his face.
"Night, Nick." Pete yawned, falling asleep himself in a matter of seconds.
Clementine left the two alone and proceeded to continue investigating the area, but she was unable to find anything useful, unfortunately to aid in their escape. She walked back over towards Kenny, whom had just finished distracting Reggie at almost perfect timing. "Well, out with it. See any way out of here?"
"Not really." Clementine answered in a sad tone.
"Damn...I was hoping you would catch something these old eyes missed...they are getting more and more useless." Kenny admitted.
The security shutters had opened again from the opposite side, and to everyone's relief, it was Carlos whom was being escorted inside by Troy. Sarah cried with enthusiasm when seeing her father and ran over towards him. "Dad!"
Carlos embraced his daughter in hug to which she returned. He felt so relieved to see her safe, never being happier to hold her in his arms.
"All right, go the fuck to sleep." Troy ordered in a harsh and serious tone. "I'm shooting the first one of y'all I see wandering around before sun-up."
Rebecca did feel relieved to see Carlos, but her worries were yet to settle when she noticed Alvin was not with them. "Troy? Troy! Where's Alvin?"
"Everybody get to bed!" Troy told them, about to shut the security shutters until he noticed one of the group members marching up towards him. "What the fuck are you doing, asshole?! Get to bed!"
"No!" Matthew refused, marching up towards the man despite the fact he was wielding an AK-47. "I ain't staying here, you fucker! You can't keep me here!"
"The fuck I can't!" Troy denied, preparing to fire his rifle at him if he did not stop in his tracks. "I'm going to give you the count of three to get your ass over there!"
"Fuck you!" Matthew swore, now only standing a couple of feet away from him.
Troy growled and flipped his rifle around and whacked Matthew directly in his face with the butt of his AK. He grabbed him by his hood and dragged him away out of the yard, throwing him a couple of feet behind the shutters. "You fucker!"
"Matthew!" Sarita gasped, about to run over towards him but she was held back by Kenny.
"You and I are going to Bill; he's going to teach you some manners!" Troy told the unconscious Matthew, turning back towards the yard yet again and closing the security shutters behind him. "Now all of you get the fuck to bed!"
Everyone obeyed his order since they did not wish to get killed anytime soon. They all climbed into different positions on the bunk beds, some of them having to share due to the lack of space. As for Sam, he was happy enough lying on the ground, tucked up like how dogs usually lay down to get some sleep.
Kenny, whom was sharing the same bed as Sarita, turned around for a moment to speak with Clementine who was to his right. "Some of these folks ain't too keen on leaving...it's up to us to figure a way out of here. You up for it? It's your decision."
Clementine wanted nothing more than to get out of this place as soon as possible. She already lost Walter, and possibly Alvin, and Matthew because of him, and she sure did to wish for her or anyone else to get hurt. "I'm ready. Of course I am."
"Good...good. Confidence is good." Kenny admitted, relieved that he had Clementine by his side. "You got to have the right attitude. Now get some sleep. We'll need it."
Clementine closed her eyes and had already fallen asleep in a matter of seconds, knowing she would need all the energy she had for tomorrow when it came to working in this place.
The end of chapter 10, ladies and gentleman. They group has arrived to the yard and will be working hard in the morning. But what will become of Matthew? Will he be returned to the group safe and sound? Only one way to find out. Oh, and just a quick mention: as for the part when Kenny asks Clementine if she found a way out, that can happen on the game rather than having to get Reggie into trouble instead by pulling on the fence and shutters.