"Alright, we'll just start with a little medical testing," James tells me, instructing me to sit flat on my back on the doctor's bench. He then takes out a little flashlight and switches it on. "Ok… can you keep your eyes open for me?"
It's a struggle against the blinding light, but I manage to as he checks out my eyes in order to make sure they're focusing properly, whatever that means. As long as he doesn't drug me or put nasty stuff into my body, then I'll let him make the calls for now.
He then pulls out the classic doctor's tool with the ear plugs and the little circle thingy to listen to your heart – you know, the thing that kids never remember the name of.
"This is a stethoscope," he informs me, reading my confusion like an open book as he places the device over my heart. "I'm just gonna check your vitals; make sure that you're in top form and all that."
After he listens for about ten seconds or so, he smiles lightly and nods his head.
"For the most part, I think you're gonna be just fine," he comments, making me slightly worried as I sit up on the bench. "Wanna have a listen? These things are pretty cool – I used to love listening through the stethoscope as a kid."
I give him a blank stare as he holds the device out to me. No thanks, doc, not interested.
"Huh," he remarks, putting the instrument back into the cupboard, "that's odd. Usually this thing's a hit with the kids…"
"How old do you think I am?" I ask, raising an eyebrow and crossing my arms stubbornly.
Turning back around, James studies me for a moment before making his assumption.
"Well, judging by your looks I'd say around ten. Personality-wise… I'd probably guess that you're at least a teenager."
"I'm twelve."
"Could've fooled me then," James smirks, taking out a clipboard of some kind as well as a pen. "You're remarkably mature for your age. Mind answering a few questions for me? Don't worry, it's nothing too personal. Just some general facts that we need to ask if you're gonna be around us… and, well, if you plan on sticking around for a while. You ready?"
Shrugging my shoulders, I hear James sigh heavily at my reluctance and hesitance to respond to him or his friends. But can you really blame me after coming back from Houston Hills? Hell, I'd have trouble with trusting a sweet, old lady at this point – who knows? Maybe she could be carrying a gun in her purse!
Clearing his throat, James adjusts his glasses before sitting at his desk and starting to write.
"Name… Clementine… age… twelve…" he writes, before turning his gaze towards me. "So, where's home?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"We're gonna be at this for hours if you keep this up," he remarks with a smirk, as I sigh and look down at the floor.
"I used to live in Atlanta," I relent, not wanting to go into too many details just yet about how I got here. "I don't really have a home now, though."
The doctor looks as though he's ready to say something, but he frowns sadly and decides against it when I stare at him blankly. It's probably for the best – condolences don't really mean a whole lot nowadays. Everyone's lost something important to them.
"Do you carry any weapons, and if so, what are they?"
"Two pistols," I remind him, showing the unused gun in the backpack as I place them both on the doctor's bench beside me. Going out there without being able to protect yourself is incredibly stupid.
James eyes my guns wearily, almost as if he's afraid that they'll magically hop off the table and shoot him in the head or something.
Or maybe it's me he's afraid of.
"Any family or friends that you have?" he suddenly asks, causing a knot to form in my stomach. Of course this is the question he'd ask! "Anyone out there looking for you right now?"
"…no."
"You're telling me that you were out there all by yourself at twelve years old?"
Giving him a fierce glare that pretty much tells him to stop prodding, I grip the bench tightly and struggle to retain my anger. Who does this guy think he is, asking me my life story?! What right does he have to know all of this crap?!
"What does it look like to you?" I ask sharply, not wanting to blow up and spill my guts out at a stranger; especially if this is going to be more than a one-time deal. Despite proving that I can handle myself with the best of them, I'm still not so sure – I've got doubts like any reasonable person would.
Not saying anything for a moment, James puts the clipboard down and studies my face for a moment. That's one thing that I've really noticed about this guy – he likes to stop and think before he speaks. I kind of wish more people would do that, instead of just blabbering out something that they'll come to regret later. It'd make things go much more smoothly.
Not that I have anyone left to talk to, really.
"Well, I think that's enough for now. I can tell you're going through quite a bit," he explains himself, standing up and heading for the door. "How's about we have a bit of a tour of the grounds? What do you say?"
Seeing as that I'll really have nothing better to do, and nowhere really to go, I nod and hop off the bench; placing one pistol back in my backpack and the other strapped in my pants pocket. James doesn't seem to like this too much.
"You don't need to carry that around here, you know. Might make folks a little bit uncomfortable – "
"I'm keeping it with me," I inform him, not at all willing to give up my last line of defense. "I need it for protection."
"Protection from what? There's nothing around to hurt you!" he says, leading me back out to the hall as we travel through a set of double doors.
Glancing up at the balding man, I can't tell if he's being serious or not.
"You don't get outside a lot, do you?" I comment snidely, knowing fully well that he probably doesn't appreciate that. "A gun is one of the most important things you've got when you aren't cooped up in here."
"Yeah? And how much safer do you feel now that you're actually in here?" he questions, punching in a code that allows us to travel through.
The room that we've stumbled into smells… mmm, really nice actually. It reminds me of the botanical garden that I went to back in school, and it even looks like it, too. The walls are made of see-through glass along with the ceiling, there's plants that decorate all around with random pictures of safari animals painted in various colours. I'll admit, it's pretty nice in here.
A quiet person like me would enjoy sitting in here every once in a while.
"This is our green room," James tells me, sitting on a bench as I explore a little bit by myself. "We keep having to replant every few weeks or so, but we think it's worth keeping around. Helps people relax a lot of the time. I used to come in here on coffee breaks, well, when we actually had coffee. Now I just come in here to think."
I make my way over to what I assume was once a fake pond, but the thing is bone dry and has dirt covering some sort of plaque underneath. Curious, I wipe the dirt off with my hand and read what it says.
You've always had a magic touch – maybe you could help spread some life into this dreary place.
"That was for Heather… my first wife," James explains, walking up beside me as he frowns and places a careful hand on top of the metal plating. "She was a researcher here, once upon a time. Studied as a botanist – a umm, plant person. I met her in her a long time ago… God, it must've been fifteen years or so. She donated a whole lot of money to keep this place running – protested when developers were threatening to clear it for an apartment complex. Heather was one of a kind."
"What happened to her?" I ask gently, not wanting to be insensitive or anything after what he's done for me so far.
The man doesn't answer for a moment, instead brushing a few stray branches off of the plaque and shooing them aside. Once he's satisfied, James lets out a sigh and rubs the bridge of his nose, as if reliving a horrible nightmare.
"Heather was staying late to finish up some report at work, but I had gone home hours beforehand. She finished up and headed out to the parking lot to get in the car… but somebody stopped her first," he recalls sadly, with a twinge of anger thrown in – no doubt from whatever happened next. "Some thug came up to her, probably demanding money or something, I don't know. All that I found out was that… the guy shot her about five times before taking off. Heather died almost instantly, and the cops never found a trace of the killer. I was sitting in the living room waiting for her to come home… it was her god damn birthday, too."
"I'm… sorry," I tell him, contradicting myself about the whole condolences thing, but I want to make at least a decent impression. Besides, by the looks of things he seems like he at least appreciates the attempt. That's what matters – making the right allies is always important.
But I think that I'm starting to understand now why he doesn't like guns laying about.
…..
"Sounds like you guys put a lot of work into this place," I remark, changing topics as we leave to go to the next destination.
"It's something alright. We keep the power running from solar panels up on the roof, and somehow we've managed to keep going strong out here," he mentions, waving and smiling warmly at an elderly couple as they pass by. "It's not always easy to run a place like this…"
Heard that before…
"…but we're trying, and we've kept the peace around here for the most part. We do with what we've got, and we've been able to manage," he proudly proclaims, pointing out the cafeteria down below us as we travel through the walkway. It's pretty weird how carefree and relaxed these people all seem, especially with everything going on in the world.
"The important thing is to never give up hope," he elaborates, going into a speech that kind of reminds me of Walter a little bit. "The people here don't need to be scared. They can live a life here, without having to worry about any of those… things… outside. People don't need to live in fear anymore, and despite a few setbacks, life can almost be seen as the way it was before."
I used to think the same thing; that maybe one day things would return to how they used to be, and that this would all blow over and we'd all go back to our daily lives.
How naïve I was, indeed.
"You can't be serious…" I interrupt, causing him to turn around in surprise. "Do you even know what it's like to live out there? Does anybody here know?!"
"Clementine, you can't – "
"You don't know what it's like… to have to sleep under a pine tree for days – in the rain and snow and cold. If you don't hunt for food, you don't even eat! Do you have any idea what it's like to go hungry? Do you have a clue what it feels like?!" I ask, getting slightly aggravated at how easy these people seem to have it around here. How is it fair that they get to live in luxury while so many others are dying?
"If you had seen me a week ago, I'd still be in a damn wheelchair! I've been close to dying so many times that I can't even remember anymore! People are dying outside every day! So don't tell me that things are gonna get better, because they're not!"
"Finally, someone speaks some sense!" a voice interrupts, causing us both to look down the walkway. James seems slightly annoyed.
"Bo, now's not the time…"
"Seems like the perfect time to me," he answers matter-of-factly, giving off the impression that these two don't get along that much. Bo walks over to us with a small smirk plastered on his Italian face. "So… you must be the kid who came in through the floor. You practically made ol' James here piss his pants when you fired your gun."
"Is there gonna be a point to this anytime soon, Bo?" James cuts in, glaring at the man as the two of them bicker like children. "Because we could've kept walking instead of standing here listening to you flap your gums. Don't you have better things to do than waste our time?"
Chuckling bitterly, Bo scratches the back of his neck and puffs out his chest; trying to be the dominant alpha male or some horse shit. This leader act that they're both trying to show is wearing pretty thin with how stupid they look right now.
"The little lady has it right, you know. James, take one step outside and you'd be dead. I don't think you'd last a day," he boasts, poking the doctor in the chest. "We need kids like you around here – tough and able to handle themselves. You actually might be just what we need…"
"Bo! That's enough!" James puts his foot down, silencing the man as he steps in front of me.
What's he on about, though? Just what they need?
"We're counting the days out here, James. It's only gonna be a matter of time – you'd best remember that."
With that, Bo walks off and leaves the two of us alone again, with James exhaustedly running a hand over his head and rubbing his eyes together. It's almost as if he's been emotionally drained just from having one conversation.
But what the hell is going on around here?
"What are you not telling me?" I ask, placing my hands on my hips as he looks at me through the corner of his eye. "There's something going on around here, and I want to know what."
"You don't need to worry about it."
"I'm not staying if I don't know what I'm dealing with."
"Bo just talks a lot more than he should," James lies, obviously making up an excuse that'll satisfy my curiosity. When he sees that I'm not buying it, he lightly groans and walks further down, with me following behind him like a puppy. "It's just… people aren't always going to see things the same way that you do. Bo's got a different perspective, especially on the guns thing. Hmph… you and him seem as though you'd end up getting along like the best of friends, so what the hell do I know…"
"You're not answering the question," I remind him, my sassy nature coming through in full force. I practically breathe out sass at this point – Jane used to say that that'd happen as I started becoming a teenager. Seems kind of weird to me, though.
"We've let you into our home, checked you over and didn't restrain you the second that you popped into the building," he lists off his fingers, being cross with me as he stops in front of a large, imposing-looking door. "I'd say that's about as much as we owe you entirely."
Deciding to drop the conversation for now, I stay silent and place my hands in my pockets, waiting for him to calm down a little bit. Bo really seemed to rattle his cage up quite a bit, and even though I'm still not sure why or how, it's probably best not to push his buttons. James has been nice to me ever since I got in here, so the least I can do is show him a little bit of respect.
Even though I still don't really trust anyone here…
"Well… I suppose there's one thing I can show you," he suddenly blurts out, bending down to my height with a light smirk. "Wanna see something cool?"
Nodding lightly, I wait for James to punch in the passcode and swipe his card into the slot as the door opens. It makes those cool whooshing sounds as it opens that you'd hear in some of those sci-fi movies back in the day, and so far the room actually looks pretty futuristic. It's kind of chilly in here, so I roll my sleeves down as James leads us along a metal staircase.
We walk around a little bit with nothing really exciting being shown yet, but just as I'm about to ask what's so special about this place, my jaw practically drops to the floor.
"Holy shit…" I gasp in amazement, staring up at the object with wide eyes.
It's a spaceship. A giant, metal-encased, every kid's dream object come to life, and my god does it ever look cool. Black and white parts give it a smooth texture, and the word "NASA" is printed in bold along the surface. You can see the rockets near the bottom of the spacecraft with various people working down below on the ground floor, and there's a closed hatch on the side – instantly, my brain imagines me in a space suit climbing aboard the ship and preparing myself to launch into space.
"Can I go?" I ask jokingly, causing James to chuckle as we head down the stairs for a closer look. I sure as hell haven't seen anything quite like this before.
"Always wanted to be an astronaut, huh?" he questions, smirking at my newly-discovered enthusiasm. "This is the second launch pad, actually. We had two spaceships here – one we launched about three years ago but… well, it never came back…"
"You mean those people are…?" I question, cutting myself off as he sadly nods his head. That's… wow. I can't imagine getting stuck up on a spaceship for that long, with nobody left on Earth to try and get you home. As cool and absolutely life-changing as it would be to go to space, I bet it'd still get pretty lonely up there.
Once we get to the bottom, I watch as dozens of people quickly scatter about, trying to do… well, whatever it is they're doing. I'm not entirely sure.
There's a whole lot of chatter going on, but I don't really have a clue what it is that they're talking about. Hydraulic fluid? Thrusters? Forces of gravitational pull? What the hell are these people saying? Don't they know how to speak English?
"If you're not going to space, then why are they working on this thing?" I ask, placing a hand on the spaceship and shaking my head in wonder. I still can't believe that this is happening right now.
"It gives them something to do, mostly," James admits, shrugging his shoulders as he opens up the hatch. "But we're also preparing, when the day finally comes that this mess is sorted out with and we can try a space mission again. But… you don't need to worry about that stuff. Wanna have a look inside?"
"Can I?" I ask, excitement bubbling up inside me as I hurriedly enter the spaceship.
It's actually a lot more cramped in here than I thought it would be, what with all of the boxes and such sitting around inside of it. Still, though, it's got plenty of room for me to move around, though I try not to touch anything in case something goes wrong. James chuckles and jokes that they won't send me off to the moon without telling me first, so I climb up a ladder and sit in the driver's seat of the spacecraft.
This is without a doubt the single coolest experience that I've ever had in my entire life. There are dozens of buttons that rest on the control panel, and there's also a small monitor that's showing the workers on the ground floor going about their business. James seems to be talking to Debbie outside, so I'm all alone inside the ship.
Have I ever mentioned how badly I wanted to be an astronaut growing up? It was always a big dream of mine to go up on the next mission to the moon or something, even though Dad once told me that they stopped doing those years ago. Still, even if I was to go up anywhere at all, I think that I'd have achieved my dream.
Well, if I was to become a cop, that'd also be hella cool, too!
"Holy shit… we… we've got 'em! We've got contact!"
"Really?! Are you serious?! Don't screw with us right now, John!"
"I'm not kidding! Look!"
As my gaze looks back to the monitor, it seems as though everyone's stopped what they're doing and gone over to the computer to find out what's going on. I'm still amazed that they've actually got a computer to work around here, but that shock is mostly overshadowed by what I'm sitting in right now. This is practically leaving me speechless.
I grasp a space helmet and put it on my head without a second thought; laughing at how freaking big this thing is. In the mirror, I look like one of those bobble heads that you'd see in the stores, but it looks so bad ass at the same time that I don't really want to get rid of it.
Dad would've been bouncing off the walls if he were at a place like this.
"Clementine!" I hear James' buzzing voice through the monitor, as I see his face enlarged by the screen. "Come back down here! You're going to want to see this!"
Slightly intrigued, I take the helmet off and place it back on the seat with a sigh. I suppose that my time as an astronaut will have to come some other day.
Carefully climbing down the ladder, I get to the bottom and slowly make my way over to where everyone else is standing. James ushers me over to come stand in front of him and his girlfriend, so I scooch my way to the front with puzzlement.
"What's going on?" I ask, wondering what all the fuss is about.
Debbie just points to the screen with her hands on her hips, and what I see completely shocks me to the core. Man, that's been happening a lot lately, hasn't it?
"Houston… we're… okay up here…"
"That's the International Space Station…" James breathes out, shaking his head in wonder. "They'd been dark for nearly two years after the power started going out around the world. This… this is a miracle…"
Personally, I don't typically believe in miracles. I've been shaped to believe over the years that everything happens for a reason, and that the only way to change your destiny is if you do it yourself. There's nobody out there watching over you (except your friends), and that you control what happens to you.
But this… this might actually start to change my mind. How they've managed to contact someone up there is… astounding.
"Maybe things aren't so hopeless after all, eh Clementine?" James remarks, and right now I can't really find it within myself to argue.
I mean, how the hell can you explain something like this?
AN: Hello, faithful readers! Hopefully you're all enjoying this so far, and I'm sorry if the large amount of OCs is kind of throwing you for a loop in this. Don't worry, the story's still about the three main characters from the game. It's just that I want to see where I can take their characters in this, and to do that they need to be enhanced by other characters in the story.
Please drop a review, as they're always awesome to read ad really help support the story! Thanks for reading and I'll try posting the next chapter soon!
ALSO: if you're a Game of Thrones fan, then I highly recommend checking out Telltale's game for it! It's not quite on the same level of awesomeness as TWD game, but it's still worth playing! I thought it was pretty well done :)