The Walking Dead: Clementine and a dog named Sam
Chapter 12: escape plan
Quick author's note: this chapter would have been released yesterday, but my laptop just decided to be like "Nope" and crashed on me. But here is the next chapter, nevertheless.
When Clementine got back inside, the first thing she needed was focus her gaze towards the big window where the manager's office (AKA, Carver's office) where she could see Carver speaking with Rebecca inside, and by the looks of it from Clementine's point of view, it did not seem to be going well.
Clementine began making her way towards his office, but a man was walking in her direction so to avoid trouble, she changed course and walked another way. The man she passed like Caucasian-American, he wore glasses and had a brown/yellowish long hair and beard, he looked overweight, he looked around his middle twenties to early thirties, and to top it off, he wore a green jacket with blue jeans. And to make Clementine feel more uncomfortable, he was carrying an AK-47 like the rest of Carver's guards.
The man stopped for a moment and shifted his attention over towards Clementine, giving her a small warning in a friendly tone that she might want to take into consideration. "Dude, you better get up and see Bill. He doesn't like to wait." he watched as Clementine stopped for a moment after he had said this to her. "So...you should probably go."
Clementine was unsure of how this man knew of her orders to go and see Carver, but nevertheless, she knew he was right and had to make her way to his office as soon as possible. It was likely that the man feared Carver like most of the people in this community, and he did not seem to be a bad person like Carver, Troy and many others. She did not have no time to think about it now, and had to get to Carver's office without any more distractions.
She arrived to the top of the stairs where a devastated Rebecca came marching out from Carver's office, crying heavily as she made her way over towards Clementine at the top of the stairs. "Rebecca?"
Rebecca did not respond to her and merely walked past her down the stairs, continuing the sob heavily along the way.
Clementine shifted his attention back towards Carver's office where Carver was waiting for her just outside his office with his arms folded together. "She's a strong woman, surrounded by weak men. I ain't letting my kid get raised around that. Get in here." he ordered.
Clementine obeyed and walked into his office that looked a lot bigger than she would have imagined. She looked to her left the second she was in the center of the office, and was shocked to see an unconscious Alvin sitting in an office chair, blood smeared all around his clothes and skin, and he no longer had his glasses on. "Alvin! Alvin!" she approached him and attempted to wake him up by shouting his name, but got no response.
"He passed out hours ago. He can't hear nothing." Carver told her, not wanting Clementine to waste her energy trying to wake him up. "No point in making a racket."
"You're a bully..." Clementine told him, shocked that he would do this to a kind man like Alvin.
"Come again?" Carver requested, wanting to make sure they he just heard what he think he just heard.
"You're just a bully..." Clementine repeated a second time, not afraid to say this to him right in his face. But she sure did wish Lee was here to protect her like he always did. "I know it wasn't a fair fight."
"Yeah, I suppose it wasn't." Carver agreed, deep down, he had to admit he was impressed that a little girl stood up to him like this. But he did have to make sure she did not stop out of line as that could cause chaos. "But life ain't fair most of the time." he folded his arms together. "I wouldn't be so concerned about his well-being if I were you. Not with you so close to the fire yourself. Now..."
Clementine noticed him waving his hand around, beckoning for her to get away from him. She sat down in a office chair behind Carver's desk, worried to what he called her in here for.
"You make sure and tell me the truth when you're sitting where you are...and you won't end up over in that chair." Carver told her, gesturing his arm over towards the unconscious Alvin. He folded his arms together and began making conversation to why he summoned her here. "Now, your friend, that Asian fellow Matthew, was it? I'm afraid he was not willing to do is he was told around here, and well...You can guess the rest."
Clementine watched in confusion for a moment as Carver pulled something out from his draw. She gasped in shock and fear when Carver had pulled out a hand and placed it on his desk. It was Matthews! The sick bastard had killed him and cut him up into pieces.
"Now, I didn't want to do that, but got to make the tough decisions." Carver explained himself for his actions, but was never going to be enough to convince Clementine it was the right thing to do. "We can't have that around here...Not anymore. Now with what we got at stake. You have to be able to contribute..."
"You're a murderer!" Clementine accused him before hateful expression rose across her face. "You can try and call it something else...But I know what it is. What it really is."
Carver remained quiet for a couple of seconds, still surprised that she would talk to him like this. Everyone else in this community feared Carver and would not dare say something to him, but here she was, a little girl standing up to him like this.
He got up from behind his desk and sat down in that desk just a couple of feet away from the young girl. "Listen, Clementine...It ain't murder. You see, Matthew could have put us at risk with his incompetence. Killing one in order to save many is part of survival. It's one of the tough decisions that a weaker person couldn't make. It's why it falls to people like us to lead them to safety. Do you understand?"
Carver did not get any respond from her at all, but he did continue, nevertheless. "Well, I wish it was different, I do. But they are weak...and we are strong. That's why it's our responsibility to shepherd the flock...to keep them safe. It's their nature to follow...not to lead."
Clementine was certainly surprised to everything she had taken him from the evil macaw, especially the part of him saying "people like us". No-one she was like him, not by a long-shot. "I'm not like you."
"I know it when I see it." Carver disagreed with an evil grin across his face. "And we're more alike than you think. In fact, I think you realize it...but you're not comfortable with it yet. There's no way you could have lasted this long otherwise. I realized it back in that cabin. You were scared..." he paused and moved his face only a couple of inches away. "But you looked me straight in the eye. Kept your nerve. That's what we need if we're going to get through this."
Carver leaned back up away from Clementine's face. "The next generation has to be stronger than the last to...lead us out of this. Kids like you, raised the right way. The way my child will be raised. I ain't this herd that keeps me up at night. We can handle that. It's not knowing if I got anyone to hand all this off too...But I ain't worried about that anymore."
Clementine had only just remembered that Rebecca was pregnant with Carver's possible child, but it was still unknown whenever he is the biological father or not. "What if it's not yours?"
Carver thought about that question of hers for a moment, realizing he had never thought about that. But he was still certain that Rebecca's baby was his and not Alvin's. "Well, even if that was true, it's mine now...Alright, now-"
Carver was interrupted when Tavia's voice rang in from the radio resting on the table. "Bill? You there?"
Carver proceeded to answer her call and picked up the radio, holding his finger against the button as he placed it near his mouth. "Yeah? I'm here."
"The loading bay door is jacket. Troy really knocked the shit out of it." Tavia explained the problem at hand.
"How bad is it?" Carver asked, knowing that would be a problem, especially if that horde going past them, but he still had hope that it would not approach them.
While they were talking over the radio, Clementine looked towards the microphone speaker on the table and this gave her an idea. Maybe this could assist her and the others once it came to getting out of this place.
"Rails are tweaked so it won't shut all the way." Tavia answered. "I don't think it's an emergency or anything, but it's something Stan should take a look out when he can."
"I'll get him on it." Carver assured. "Out." he placed down the radio and silently growled to himself, annoyed to what Troy had done to their community. He may be good when it came to keeping people in line, but he sure did not have any intelligence. "That fucking idiot. Herd in its way and he puts a goddamn ding in my door." he sighed and turned back towards the window. "Go on back to the yard...It's almost supper time."
Clementine did not hesitate to get on out of here and away from Carver. She walked towards the office door. Once she was out, she hopefully wished she could band everyone together and make a plan to get out of this awful, awful place.
After everyone's shifts were over and they had eaten their dinner for tonight, and now they were back into the yard where would be living until they could prove they deserved to be allowed back into the camp. Clementine had informed them of Matthew's death, and it left everyone saddened and more the reason to get out of here as soon as possible. She had just returned after doing a quick favor for Bonnie, and proceeded to the pit where everyone was around the fire arguing with one and other.
"Kenny, slow down!" Pete told him, not wanting there to be anymore conflict between them. "Why is it you want to get out of here and risk everything without much of a plan?"
"Because we all know what happened this morning! I don't know what son of a bitch is going to go do next." Kenny explained himself.
"So you want to ring the dinner bell for a herd of walkers to show?" Mike inquired, wanting to be certain that he just heard what he think he just heard from the man from Florida. "How is that better?"
"Because this place will be fucking chaos when that thing hits." Kenny explained to them like it was obvious. "No-one will be paying any attention to us. And that's when we got. That's our opening. We just got to figure out a way to draw them out to us.
Once Rebecca had noticed Clementine return and join them in the pit, she quickly debriefed her of the situation at hand. "Your friend here wants to get us all killed by lurkers before Bill can do it."
"What is it with you?" Kenny inquired, feeling like he was back in the situation when he and Lilly always use to argue all the time back at the Motor-Inn.
"That's what it sounds like to me." Rebecca answered.
Sarita, whom was sitting in between Kenny and Rebecca, tried to choose on whose side to be on. Kenny was her boyfriend, of course, but she did agree that his plan was a little crazy. "You know that's not what he's saying, but...It does sound dangerous."
"This shit is all dangerous!" Kenny snapped at his girlfriend.
"Kenny!" Sarita gasped; shocked that he would dare speak to her like that. "Do not speak to me like that.
"Okay, okay. Sorry." he apologized.
Clementine, whom had sat down on one of the chairs with Sam sitting beside him, spoke up between all of the adults to help suggest with this plan of theirs. She only just remembered that she had yet to tell them of Luke's presence. "Maybe Luke could help us...he's outside. He wants a radio to help keep an eye on the guards."
Rebecca actually agreed with this plan of hers, deciding that would be her vote. "Thank you! That's the plan I vote for."
Clementine was surprised that everyone had already knew Luke was hiding out in here somewhere. Did he get the jump on everyone in their group when they walked past, or something? "You know about Luke?"
"He flagged us down when Troy wasn't looking." Mike told her. "Told us his plan...mentioned he had talk to you."
"If Luke can tell us whats going on with the guards, we can use that to pick a good time to escape." Rebecca suggested.
"That seems reasonable." Sarita was the only one to agree with Clementine and Rebecca's plan, but Kenny still seemed to disagree with their plan and would rather go with his own.
"We all sure Reggie can't help us?" Pete asked them. "He said so himself when he got back into Carver's group."
"Reggie won't do anything to risk himself getting put back in here." Rebecca replied, feeling somewhat betrayed that their old friend would not help them, but in his defensive, he might even lose his other arm if he tried to help them again. "We need to rely on Luke then."
"Who knows when that will be?" Kenny asked them, trying to convince them his plan was better by referring to the one woman whom he use to know did stuff similar to this. Molly. "There was a girl at Crawford that used church bells to send walkers all over the city. We just need something really loud."
Sarita understood that there was no changing her boyfriend's mind, and had to make the best of it by suggesting ideas to him. "The P.A system Carver is always using is quite loud."
"There's some speakers outside the building...pointing towards the parking lot." Mike joined in, suggesting yet another idea that may help with his plan. "I saw them when we were walking out to the work. Troy's always standing next to one of them. There are a few along the roof."
Clementine remembered seeing those speakers when she was on the roof and when she was taking those supplies to Kenny, Mike, and Pete. "He's right. I saw them too."
"Really..." Kenny grinned, sounding somewhat excited about this sudden news.
Rebecca did want to get out of here and somewhat agreed to Kenny's plan than Clementine's, but she did see a flaw in his plan. "It's all controlled in Bill's office. There's a switch in there that will turn them on.
"How do you know that?" Mike inquired.
"I used to make a lot of the announcements back in the day...I had it flipped on once...luckily there wasn't much around at the time to hear it." Rebecca answered, but by the sounds of her tone at first, everyone was unsure if this was the full truth. "It was plenty loud though."
"That's perfect!" Kenny enthusiastically said, a smile rose across his face under that beard of his. "We just got to get into his office. Why didn't you say something sooner?"
"Because it doesn't change anything." Rebecca explained. "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."
"You're real difficult to deal with sometimes." Kenny admitted, annoyed and shocked that she would rather just wait around then just get out of here as soon as possible.
"Kenny..." Sarita told him.
"No, that's all right." Rebecca assured, but she did have something to say to Sarita as well as Kenny. "You ain't exactly a peach either."
"Luke's in no shape to help us. You want to put our fate in that guys hands?" Kenny asked, and this was something Clementine had to agree with since Luke did not look his usual self, possibly from lack of sleep and food. "It's not happening."
"He did look pretty rough." Mike agreed.
"You guys should take a look in the mirror sometimes." Rebecca suggested.
Clementine thought about both of their plans for a moment, trying to debate who's was better. Getting Luke a radio would be good, but when it came to escaping, they would have no distraction. Getting the herd her would be a good distraction, but they would have no plan. "Why can't we do both? Even if we bring the herd to us it's probably good for Luke to be able to tell us where they're coming from."
"You know what? Fine, I can get behind that." Kenny agreed, settling it once and for all that it was their plan of action. "Okay, so we get that turd a radio, he keeps us posted on the herd's movement. We fire up the PA thing and bring the walkers to roll over this place."
"And then what?" Mike asked.
Kenny was unsure on what to do next if Carver's group were to concentrate all of their attention on the herd, and improvised for now. "Get some guns and shoot our way out. I don't know! Whatever we can! We improvise."
"Then that's not a plan." Mike argued, knowing this plan of his was just plain stupid. "You don't plan to improvise."
"I figured out what your problem is..." Rebecca told Kenny. "You don't think this stuff through, if the end of the plan is to just stroll through a herd of walkers, then you should know know from the jump that there's no way it's never going to work."
"Actually..."
Everyone shifted their attention over towards the location of that voice. Everyone was surprised to see it was the girl, whom had finally spoken up after being quiet ever since they arrived. "I do it all the time." she admitted, placing her hand upon her hip.
"First words I ever hear you say, and it's just crazy, stupid shit." Mike admitted.
"Hush." Sarita told Mike, eager to hear this plan of hers. "What do you mean exactly?"
"When you cover yourself in their smell, rub the walker guts all over you..." she explained to them all, but by the looks on their faces, they did not seem to like the idea. "They can't tell you from one of them."
"Now I don't know who's crazier." Rebecca admitted, unable to tell who's idea was better.
"Trust me, I've walked through herds before. It works. You just have to keep calm, and make sure you're good and covered." she explained herself a second time.
"You seem to know what you're talking about." Sarita replied.
"This is nuts." Mike admitted.
"No, it's not." Kenny assured, agreeing with this idea of hers. "It's perfect."
Clementine wish she did not have to cover herself in walker cuts again, but she knew full fact that it worked when she and Lee did it to escape the Marsh House back in Savannah. "Lee figured that out."
"What?" Kenny asked, wanting to make sure what he just heard was correct.
"It's how we got out of the March House. Lee covered me and we walked right through." Clementine explained, closing her eyes for a second when the painful memory of losing Lee raced around her mind again.
"Really?" Kenny smiled, responded with a slight nod from the young girl in response. "Holy shit. Good one, Lee." he stood up excitedly, eager to get a move on while they could. "All right! What are we waiting for? Let's get that stupid radio!"
"We still have to find a way to get in the stockroom." Rebecca reminded him.
"I got a plan for that, too." the girl assured, beckoning for Clementine to follow her as she would require her help for the next part of their plan. "Come on, kid. Going to need your help."
Kenny watched as the duo walked over towards the broken ladders in the corner of the yard, and he had to admit, he liked her plan. "Where the hell did she come from?"
The girl (now calling herself Jane) showed Clementine the broken ladders, the rope and the winch supporting it, explaining to her what they needed to do next. "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. There are shelves and stuff for you to land on, so...you probably won't fall to your death."
"Great." Clementine frowned.
Everyone else had soon approached Clementine and Jane to check on this plan of theirs, and Rebecca had to admit it did not sound good for one of them to climb that thing. "That thing breaks all the time. Unless something's changed, it's won't support much weight."
Kenny shifted his attention over towards Clementine, knowing she was the only one light enough to climb up there. "Come on, up and at 'em."
"Don't push her, Kenny." Sarita told him, not wanting to make Clementine too nervous about her job.
"She's our best bet. I mean that, Clem." Kenny assured.
Clementine observed the rope she would be climbing, and she had to admit, it did look unsafe and if it were to break, someone of her age might die from that height. "It seems pretty flimsy."
"This plan? Yeah, I agree with that." Kenny agreed, but that did not change his mind from wanting to send Clementine up there. "Clem, it's you or nobody, so you're nominated. We got to get that rope down." he shifted his attention over towards Mike for assistance. "Mike, you want to boost her up?"
Clementine knelt down to Sam before leaving and stroked his head, knowing he did not like to be alone without her. "Stay here, boy. I won't be long."
Mike nodded in agreement and proceeded over towards the rope. "Come on, kid." he picked Clementine up and hung her in the air as high as he could with all his strength.
"Don't let go." Clementine told him.
"I got you." Mike assured in a calm tone.
Clementine struggled to reach the rope for a moment, but she was able to reach it eventually and pull most of it down for them to use. Mike put her back down once both ends of the rope were dropped down for them to use. He gripped onto the normal rope while Clementine held onto the rope with the hook on the end that she used to put her feet on it.
Slowly, Mike pulled the rope and lifted her up to to the top. "Try to hurry, all right?" he suggested in a whispered tone. "I don't think they're the sharpest guards in the world, but they're not idiots, either. They see you're not in your bunk, we're all done."
Mike shifted his attention over towards the security shutters when he could see Troy was returning, and this was not going to end well if he caught them doing this. "Shit, he's coming back! I got to let you go, I can't stand here. Grab something!"
Quick as a flash, Clementine leaped onto the ladder cage, grabbing on for a dear life. "Oof!" she grunted as she swung onto the ladders and climbed her way up to the rooftop. She stopped just for a moment when seeing a herd of walkers in the distance. "We're in trouble."
She continued climbing the ladders, and hopefully, she would be able to get the radios before the guards noticed she was missing, or if they would spot her on her way there.
Chapter completed, ladies and gentleman, and I will have a lot longer to work on chapters because I broken up for a week. Stay tuned for the next chapter.