"Clementine?" Lee called as we entered the house.
"Lee," I whispered, my eyes falling on the walker that lay ahead, a gunshot wound in its head.
"Clementine!"
The little girl appeared on the staircase. She ran down and embraced Lee in a big hug. The sight was heart warming.
"You made it back!" She beamed.
"Told you I would, didn't I?" He smiled.
"Did you find my parents?"
"Her parents?" Vernon sounded shocked. I was confused about what the man knew, since I'd been told very early that Lee wasn't Clementine's dad.
"No, I'm sorry," Lee told the girl. "Crawford was... there just wasn't time."
"Clem, what happened with that?" I asked, gesturing to the walker.
"It tried to get upstairs. I stopped it."
"Upstairs?" Christa panicked. "Omid?"
We all ran upstairs to where Omid had been left. I waited outside the room while Vernon, Christa, Lee and Clem went inside.
Christa was crying, it sounded like. I leaned into Travis, his arm going around my shoulder instinctively and holding me near. After a minute, we also heard Omid speak. Immediately I felt better and more relaxed to know he was still alive.
I went into the room with the others and Omid studied our faces.
"You okay, kid?" He asked Ben. "You look worse than I do."
"We almost didn't make it out of there because of this asshole," Kenny told the sick man. "Shoulda left him behind when we had the chance."
"Guys, what the hell happened out there?" Omid enquired.
"Let someone else tell ya, I've got work to do," Kenny snapped and left the room.
Lee and Vernon went to talk to each other outside and Clementine left too.
"I'm really glad you're okay, Omid," I smiled.
"Yeah, Christa does nothing but worry about you," Travis added, probably to get back at Christa for the comment back at Crawford.
"I'm glad you're all safe too," he said. "Did you hurt your leg?"
I looked down, noticing the blood extremely visible from the cut caused by the barbed wire.
"Shit, you weren't bit were you?" He sudden widened his eyes.
"What?" Christa looked my way.
"Marcey?" Travis reached out to me, putting his hands on my shoulders.
"I wasn't!" I denied, frightened by their words, which kind of made me feel like I had been bitten. "I got cut on barbed wire."
"Barbed wire?" Christa raised an eyebrow. "I didn't see any wire in the classrooms. Vernon? Lee?"
The two men returned to the room with worried expressions.
"Lee, tell them! It was the wire!" I pointed to my leg, the wound still covered by my jeans.
"Yeah, it was barbed wire when we went to find the doctor," Lee defended.
I released a breath I didn't realise I'd been holding.
"Let's go," Travis guided me out of the room and away from the apologetic eyes of the others.
We went downstairs in silence and to where we'd left the backpack, which I opened and got the bandages out. I covered the cut which was actually deeper than I'd hoped and looked at my clothes.
"I look a mess," I complained, collapsing onto the sofa.
Travis smiled at me. "You don't look that bad. The zombie-killer look suits you."
I giggled and looked at him. His hair had grown long and his face had splatters of dirt and blood. Under his eyes sat heavy bags, highlighting how sleep deprived he was and his mouth was cut in the corner. His chin had stubble on it from the lack of shaving, although it wasn't as much as Ben. Travis' school jacket had tears in it and seemed more grey than white now, also hinted with blood marks. He still looked far better than me.
"What are you staring at?" He chuckled.
"I'm just admiring your own zombie-killer look."
"You're admiring my looks?" He smirked.
I covered my face with my hands. "I meant that I was comparing us."
"I'm flattered," he mocked playfully.
"Stop picking on me," I moved my hands from my face and Travis sat beside me.
"How come in apocalypse films, the people manage to get new clothes and hardly any blood on them?" He questioned me.
I let out another small laugh. "What happened to you being Mr Serious earlier?"
Travis sighed. "I don't want bad stuff to happen anymore. To the group, I mean. Molly threatened that when she pretended not to have the battery, and I guess I just snapped."
I nodded my head.
"I hate to interrupt," Molly appeared, startling me. "But I'm gonna get going."
I turned my head away from Travis and saw Molly stood nearby.
"Going? Where?" I asked.
"I think it'd be best if I leave. Your group doesn't need any more people, and now Crawford lacks the living, I plan on taking everything I can from there. I'm better by myself."
"You're sure?" Travis checked.
"Positive. You guys stay safe, okay?"
She opened the door and went outside, but I stood and ran after her. "Molly!"
"Wha-"
I threw my arms around her into a hug, which she returned.
"You keep yourself safe," I told her.
"I will."
"Thank you for helping us."
"I'm not good with these goodbyes," she let go of my hug and I could see her eyes had watered a bit.
"Me neither."
"You kind of remind me of my sister, you know?"
My eyes also filled with tears. "Thanks, Molly."
She nodded and walked over to the gate to leave, saying one final thing before vanishing from my sight forever. "Give Travis a kiss from me!"
I blushed and smiled, staring at the gate as it closed. It was strange how there was something about Molly that made me feel like I'd known her for a long time. I remembered my own friends from school, since I had no sisters. One of them resembled Molly in personality, and that might have been why I felt like I was losing someone important again. I decided that it was good to leave Molly now, as I wouldn't need to witness her death, and that was the only good thing I could think of her departure from the group.
I went back inside and over to the backpack near Travis.
"You okay?" He asked, noticing my eyes.
"I'll be fine," I told him, taking my red hoodie from the backpack. "I'm gonna go see Clem and Lee, okay?"
Travis nodded and I went upstairs to where my other friends were.
Lee was sat on a chair resting his head on his hands while Clementine lay on the window seat. I pushed the door open and walked in quietly, smiling slightly at Lee before I heard the young girl's little cries.
"Clem, sweetie?" I walked over and sat on the seat with her. "Everything will be okay."
"I miss my parents," she told me.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, knowing that we didn't have time to look for them. Lee had told me that he doubted they were even alive, and after seeing how infected the city was I agreed. "I lost my family too when this started. But you'll see them again one day, they're not gone forever."
I placed my hoodie over Clementine as a comfort and moved away. Lee nodded his head at me to show he appreciated the gesture of me giving Clem the hoodie and I slightly smiled back, before going back downstairs.
I finally got a decent sleep during the night, the first proper rest I'd had for a while. I woke up to hear Kenny talking at his usual loud volume. I sat forward on the sofa, making Travis' arms drop slightly from around me.
"What?" I rubbed my eyes. "What's up?"
"Clementine and Lee are missing," he informed me.
"What?!" I gasped, moving abruptly and waking Travis up.
"What's happening?" The boy yawned.
"Lee and Clem," I bolted up from the sofa and ran outside.
"Lee? Clementine?" I called. I noticed the man through the fence and went with the others to him, instantly calmed by recognising him.
"Are you crazy? What are you doing out here?" Kenny asked him as we walked closer. "It ain't safe!"
"Lee, where's Clementine? She's not in the house."
"Vernon ain't in the house either! What the hell is going on?"
"Whose blood is that?" Christa questioned, noticing the marks on Clementine's hat that Lee held.
"It's a walker's. Fucker jumped me from behind," Lee informed us, turning around.
"So where's Clementine?" Kenny wondered.
"And are you okay?" I enquired.
"Clementine's gone. I found her hat and radio on the ground out here. That's all I found."
"There's no chance she just wandered off on her own?" Omid suggested.
"No. No way."
"Then who the hell took her?" Kenny narrowed his eyes.
"I don't know. Last night Vernon came to me and offered to take her with him. Said she'd be better off."
"Son of a bitch. I knew we couldn't trust that fucker," Kenny shot.
"Wherever she is, I have to find her."
"We will," I replied.
He looked around the group. "There's something you should all know."
"What's up?" Travis stepped closer to me a bit, his hand brushing against mine.
"I'm bitten. Walker jumped me while I was out here looking for her."
My stomach twisted and my lungs forgot how to work.
"You... no," I stuttered. "You can't be."
"Oh, God." Christa mumbled.
"No way. No fucking way!" Kenny pointed at Lee.
"I don't know how much time I've got. I'm gonna need your help finding her. Who's with me?"
"We're all responsible for Clementine. And in your condition, you may not make it to her in time. She needs our help. All of our help," Christa decided.
"Damn right, we can't let you do this alone," Omid agreed.
I couldn't process what was happening as I stared at Lee's wrist that had a bite mark on it.
"Thanks, you guys. I appreciate it. Really."
"I'm in," Kenny said.
"Ben?" Travis questioned.
"Now hang on a damn minute! I'm not going if this shitbird is too. Lee, if you want Clementine back alive you'll leave him behind- he fucks up everything he touches!" Kenny argued.
"Can we not argue now?" I begged, my voice almost inaudible.
"Ben, I'm sorry, but I need Kenny on this. Maybe you should stay with the boat."
"Okay," Ben sighed. "Sure."
"Just don't fuckin' lay a finger on it, y'hear?" Kenny ordered.
"Okay guys, we should go find Vernon, see if he took her. Let's head out."
We went to walk, until Omid made another point. "Are we okay just leaving the boat like this? With only Ben to look after it?"
"What choice do we have?" Christa questioned him.
"Maybe Marceline and Travis-"
"No!" I yelled. "I'm going."
I couldn't stay behind. I was too worried about losing Lee to the walker bite.
"If anything has happened to that boat when we get back, I will fucking bury you in that back yard. Are we clear?" Kenny checked with Ben, who just stood looking sad and miserable. I was kind of worried about him.
Everybody went to walk and I flashed a smile at Ben briefly. "You'll be okay."
He nodded and forced a smile back, then I ran to catch up with the group. We had to find Clementine, especially before the bite took over Lee.
Lee guided us underground to where he knew Vernon was hiding out with the rest of his group. My heart raced as Lee got his gun out and readied it before flinging the door open and bursting into the room... which was empty.
"Where the hell are they?" Lee asked.
We all walked forward and scanned the room.
"Looks like they got out of here in a hurry," Kenny observed.
Lee walked forward. "Vernon! Get out here! There doesn't have to be any trouble here, all I want is the girl! Give her back and nobody needs to get hurt."
There was no response. The room was so silent it was uncomfortable. Lee rested his head in his hands, leaning over one of the counters in the room.
A dull roar suddenly approached, getting louder. Everybody turned to the small windows, seeing the shadows move past.
"Walkers," I whispered.
Then the walkie talkie beeped, and a little voice spoke. "Lee?"
"Clementine?" He replied, grabbing the talkie and speaking into it. "Are you alright? Where are you?!... Vernon, you son of a bitch!"
"Hello, Lee."
That wasn't Vernon.
"Who is this?"
"It's not Vernon, if that's what you're thinking. And you should really watch your tone. Clementine's fine, but I was you I'd choose my next words veeeery carefully."
Lee lifted the walkie talkie to his mouth, his face flashing so many different emotions at once; anxiety, sadness, rage, determination. He pressed the button to speak.
"Fuck," I whispered.
Suspense! I loved the scene in the game when this happens, I don't know why. It's just clever! Okay I know this was very heavy on the game dialogue, but I hope people understand that it's fairly difficult to incorporate new characters and text into a game when I'm keeping the original plot :')
In another bit of news, I'm writing another Walking Dead game fic! Quite excited about it, to be honest. New characters and its season 2 based, so hopefully that will be uploading in the new year!
Once again, I thank you all so much for taking your time reading this. When writing it, I wasn't sure if it would even get many views so you have all made me so happy. Thank you, see you Wednesday!
