Always the Quiet Ones

Chapter 7: History Lesson

Nick and Clem had about a few more blocks to reach the Museum.

"So how are you doing with all the stuff that's going on?" Nick asked. Clem shrugged. Rebecca with her baby, Kenny after he lost Sarita.

"It's bad." Clementine replied. Nick looked towards her.

"Well, I can't really blame Kenny. And sure as hell can't blame Rebecca. I mean she did let herself get pregnant but-" Nick stopped when Clem was giving him a glare.

"Yeah, I guess that isn't fair." Nick smirked.

"Oh, look at that!" Nick pointed towards a deer that was walking around in the woods. Clementine squinted her eyes to see the deer.

"I haven't really been that good with hunting deer. You ever went hunting before?" Nick asked.

"No. I do know how to shoot a gun, though." Clementine replied.

"Oh, that I know. I'm kind of wondering how you were before all this started." Nick chuckled. That thought hit her, at how much she changed during the two years. She remembered her parents, Lee.

"I – uh, I didn't mean –" Nick said, referencing to his silence.

"Don't be. It's fine. Let's just get to the museum." Clementine said as she faced towards the walkway to the Museum. Nick nodded, the two of them were walking in an awkward silence. They saw a sign that said Parker's Run Museum. Just a few more minutes of your feet.

"I guess they didn't want to be serious with this sign." Nick raised his eyebrow.

"No kidding." Clem laughed.

"So, uh.. who taught you how to shoot?" Nick asked, as they kept walking.

"My friend Lee. He helped me do a lot of things, helped me learn how to survive." Clem said.

"Oh yeah, you did mention him. Sounds like a great guy. So wait was that the person you were split up when Pete and Luke brought you to the cabin?" Nick asked. Clem sighed.

"No. I.. I had to shoot Lee. My friend was Christa." Clementine said. She wished she didn't have to think about them. But he was just curious.

"Dammit, I'm sorry. I – I just wanted to learn more about you. I'm horrible at this." Nick sighed.

"It's – It's fine, Nick. Don't worry about it." Clementine said.

"Well, you're a pretty strong kid, y'know that Clem?" Nick smiled.

"So I've heard." Clementine smiled back. The two of them had become really good friends. Back when the two of them first met, he had almost shot Clementine.

"Thanks for the watch. I didn't really have anything left of Pete. But – did you steal it when you stole the medical supplies?" Nick had to ask. Nick didn't really like what she did at first, but he realized he would have done the same thing.

If you had the balls for it. Pete's voice popped into his head.

"Yeah. I did. I'm sorry." Clementine said.

"Sorry? If you hadn't taken it from my room, then I would have nothing left of my Uncle Pete. Thank you."

I'm right here, kid.

"Ah, here we are." Nick smiled as he looked at the entrance to the Parker's Run Museum. Nick saw Mike standing by a shutter, searching the box that was right by it. Bonnie was looking around by the cannons.

"Hey Nick. Hey Clem." Mike greeted the two of them.

"Hey. Any progress?" Nick asked.

"Not much. We're still looking around. You mind helping out?" Bonnie asked.

"Well, that's kind of what we came here for." Nick smiled to Clem.

"Nick, I could use your help over here." Mike said. Clem walked over to Bonnie. Mike was a nice guy, he always seemed to be a good ally to the group. Not many people were like that.

"I'm worried about Kenny, and Y'know, I don't think that was necessary, what you did." Mike said.

"Yeah, I've heard that from pretty much everyone. I couldn't watch Kenny just yell at her like that. That was uncalled for." Nick replied, looking to his shoulder wound. It seemed to have dried up, and his shoulder didn't even feel sore. That was fast.

"Yeah. I guess so. You should go apologize to him." Mike said, searching throw the small box that was right by the shutter.

"Y'know, why don't you pull up that shutter?" Nick asked. It didn't look like there was a padlock on it, so why not just open the damn thing?

"I was gettin' around to that." Mike smiled, he grabbed a small role of tape, which had a few tears on the edges.

"Need some tape?" Mike asked.

"Next time my Lego toys break, I'll give you a call." Nick smirked. Nick thought about what he knew about Mike. There wasn't much to know about him, since it was just the two of them, he figured he might as well talk to him.

"So, uh... I don't really know much about you, Mike. What were you doing before Carver's?" Nick asked. Mike stopped looking through the boxes, facing Nick and crossing his arms. Obviously everyone had plenty of adventures considering it was over two years since the start of the apocalypse. Nick know he did, with Pete, with Luke. With Carlos, Rebecca, everyone.

"Must have been a few animals around here." Nick heard Bonnie say, looking at some of the Civil War statues.

"Well, I was with a group of about eight for the first six months of the apocalypse. We were at a small abandoned church. It wasn't a horrible setup, we had food; but that wasn't enough. We were attacked by a bunch of bandits, they killed all but two of our group. I made it out with another man. It was just us left, and we had nowhere to go. The bandits had burned down the church. We survived just the two of us for just about another three months. The man I was with, George. He wasn't the same man after we lost the church. He lost his brother and sister, and we both lost our close friends. It was about nine months in, and we ran into a man called Steve. He was in charge of Howe's Hardware. We were there for about a year. That's when everything fell apart. Steve was killed when some random group had attacked. They took out alot of our numbers, but we eventually took them all out. That's when I killed my first human being. I hated it, but I realize it's what I had to do. Since Steve was dead, the next in line was William Carver. He took control, and everything just went to shit. You know the next few parts. Everyone was afraid of him, except for me, Jane, and a few other friends that Tavia brought a few months after I arrived. The other friends didn't want to come with us on the escape." Mike explained.

"You weren't there when we first escaped. It was only seven months ago.." Nick said, trying to remember if he knew Mike. There was a lot of people at Carver's, but it wasn't exactly fully packed. Nick would have seen Mike if he was there.

"I went on runs alot. I remember when I was gone for a whole three weeks because I had to walk to a whole other city. That city was surrounded by walkers. I'm not sure. I never saw you guys either." Mike replied.

"Ah, I see. Well, Mike. I just wanted to get to know you a little better. Shall we open the shutter?" Nick asked. Mike nodded as he reached the bar of the shutter, pushing it up. He couldn't push it up that far.

"Hmm. Damn it. It won't budge." Mike sighed as he tried harder to push it.

"Maybe you should put your hand through it and reached for the lock?" Nick suggested. Mike nodded, and was about to when stopped by Clem and Bonnie.

"Clem, you could probably fit in there?" Bonnie suggested.

"Why do I have to do everything?" Clementine sighed.

That's exactly what I was thinkin' Nick said.

You're thinkin', boy? That's a first. Pete's voice returned.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Here, I'll do it." Bonnie said.

"No, it's fine. I - nothing." Clem said as she leaned up against the counter, sticking her legs out as she reached her hand inside the small room, she spotted two gallons of water.

"Will you look at that?" Mike chuckled.

"Ugh. I'm stuck." Clementine groaned. She couldn't reach the lock, and the shutter was touching her back. It was cold feeling, which was weird considering she had the jacket on. She heard a low raspy breath, when suddenly something grabbed her arm. It was a walker. Once it had reached up to Clementine, it pulled her in.

"Shit!" Nick yelled as he kicked the door. The walker made a chomping noise as Clem's wrist was getting closer and closer to the walker's teeth. Clementine yelled for help, and she thought it was over for her. Mike and Nick had kicked open the door together, and then Nick had tackled the walker down. The walker and Nick scuffled a bit. The walker liked to make threatening chomping noises right before he would bite. The walker was leaning in to bite Nick's neck out, when Nick kicked the crotch of the walker, and it flew off of him, falling against the wall. Nick got up and Mike tossed him the hammer. Nick grabbed it, smashing the sharp side of the hammer into the skull of the walker. He smashed the walker's head multiple times. Once he was done, he yanked the hammer out of the walker's eye, which some traces of walker blood was still left on the tip of the hammer. Nick's shirt was covered in blood.

"Well, that happened." Mike sighed.

"Look at what we got. Nick, you mind carrying one, and I'll get the other?" Mike said, lifting a gallon of water. Nick nodded as he reached to grab the other gallon of water.

"Thanks, Nick." Clementine sighed in relief.

"Don't mention it." Nick smiled. He felt he had hit the walker a little more than he should have, but it didn't matter. It was dead now. At least Clem was safe.