AN: Good news! I'm finished exams now, and you guys get to suffer through reading my story 'cause I've got two weeks off lol. Hopefully I haven't bored you to tears with this thing, but I think this chapter's gonna be pretty cool. It's reminding me more and more of the comics where everybody's at war with each other all the time, even though I haven't actually read those yet :P
Also, this whole chapter is going to be rated M because of… well, "intimate" stuff, I suppose. The language may also be a bit offensive, so viewer discretion is advised I guess :) Please don't be alarmed, it's nothing too graphic, and hopefully it doesn't come off as cheesy or anything.
Anyway, enough babbling. Enjoy!
Jane's POV
The car shakes as another explosion rocks the foundation of a camp building, as we see chunks of debris flying outwards and landing directly onto someone's face. They scream in agony as the burning hot embers scorch their skin; blinding them whole before they're torn up by bullets. Derek and Lorna are nowhere to be found… but these assholes managed to find Henry's body outside the fence.
They've got his head propped up on a wooden spike just inside the camp as a way of tormenting us. It's pretty damn effective on me at least…
Growling and gripping the steering wheel tighter underneath her bony fingers, Lilly angrily turns around and roughly snatches Bryce's shirt in her grip. He's in for it, now.
"Is this what you fucking wanted?! Huh?!" she snarls, slamming his face into the window as he grunts in pain. "Your little take-over seems more like mass murder! Tell me what you see out there!"
"Grghmph…" he mutters, unable to say anything with his face pressed up against the glass like that. Very reluctantly, Lilly allows him to sit normally as she shuts the vehicle off and hands me the keys.
Quickly, she caresses my cheek with her thumb with sweet concern.
"Stay in the car, and don't come out. I'll be back in no time."
"Fuck that!" I argue, unbuckling my seatbelt and angrily groaning as Lilly firmly shoves me back down into the seat. "God damn it, Lilly! You're not going out there without me!"
"I wasn't asking, I was telling you," she shakes her head, unwilling to change her mind as she glares over at Bryce. "You need to keep this asshole on lockdown – if he tries anything, kill him."
"You're too stubborn for your own good, you know that?" I point out, earning a small chuckle from my companion.
"Between you and me, we're the most stubborn fucking team around," she jokes, planting a quick kiss on my head before stepping outside with her rifle; locking the doors for quick measure.
Come on, Lilly – you don't honestly expect me to listen to you, do you? You should know me better than that by now!
I worry about that woman constantly – especially recently. Lilly's gotten kind of bold ever since we've arrived at Derek's camp, and it's got me concerned that one of these days she's going to slip up… maybe do something reckless. I can't have that, not after all of this. We're all that's left, and I don't intend on losing the woman that I (let's face it) love. Aside from Clementine, I didn't have any other person to count on, and unbeknownst to her, I always kind of admired Lilly; even when we were at each other's throats. I held a level of respect for her that couldn't be toppled.
So she better not get herself killed… Something like that might just break me.
"You two, uh… together?" Bryce asks; a bruise forming on his cheekbone after getting roughed up just now.
"I wouldn't be concerned about us, if I were you," I tell him, leaning one arm against the passenger door with my gun lazily held in my lap. "You're just lucky that I was with you out in the woods. If it were just up to Lilly, she probably would've dumped your corpse and left you for the walkers to eat."
"But you're not like her. You're… different," he says softly, slowly inching his way closer to me in the back seat. "Good different, I mean. You're soft, nice and you could possibly… let me go?"
The guy stops speaking as he looks down to see my pistol wedged right below his stomach, as I see him gulp in nervousness.
"If there's one thing you need to know, it's this – I'm not nice," I mock, jabbing the gun further into his gut as he slowly starts moving back to his original spot. "Just because I spared you that one fucking time doesn't mean that I'll do it again. In fact, I'm about fifty percent less likely to do so if you step out of line. I shot a man in the balls and left him for the dead just because he looked at me funny, and I'd have no problems with doing the same to some creepy, old man who can't keep his dick in his pants. Understand?"
Well, it's a little bit true, at least. I did shoot Troy in the balls… but for a much different reason than that. A much darker reason… Let's just say that "looking at me funny" is putting it mildly. Every day that I was at that hell of a hardware store, Troy would make sexual jokes behind my back or even right in front of my face when he was feeling bold enough. Commenting about what I was wearing (which was the same thing all the time), touching me in places that I'd rather not say aloud… It was a fucking nightmare. Not wanting to get shot by that asshole, I'd usually keep my mouth shut on those types of things.
I even told him that I'd sleep with him if it'd help me get out of the pen – yeah, I was in a pretty desperate and shitty situation, that's for sure.
But trust me when I say that it was damn satisfying seeing the look on his face as I walked away for the final time… his screams were a final release, and I could finally leave that wretched place behind for good.
Hey, I know that I ended up coming back, but it was under our rules the next time!
Machine gun fire rips through the air, while Bryce and I watch in shock as a whole bunch of their crew start to pull back and hide near the fence. I shoot one of them through the front windshield before he notices me, which is about the time that I figure enough is enough. I'm sorry Lilly, but you're not the boss of me!
"Get out and open the trunk," I order, motioning for him to unlock the door as I keep my aim upon him. "No sudden moves – trust me, I won't miss."
Seeing that he has no choice, Bryce nods and slowly does as he's asked, even though I'm sure he's confused as to why. Making sure that nobody can see us, I impatiently tap my foot on the ground while I hand him the keys to open the trunk. Obviously I can't just pop it open electronically with the key anymore – that would require something to actually work for once.
"You don't really think of me as some creepy, old man do you?"
"Why? Did I hurt your feelings or something?" I question, glancing at him through the corner of my eye. "I know all types – the dumb, the smart, the cocky, the assholes, all of 'em – you thought that just because I'm a chick that you could overpower me."
"Well, you did leave the weapons unguarded in here…" he points out, looking back and forth between me and an assault rifle in a means to pick it up and kill me with it.
In a daring gesture, I point towards it and offer him to make an attempt.
"Go ahead and try it, Bryce. Take a chance – maybe you'll get lucky," I point out, shrugging my shoulders as his fingers graze over the weapon. "Or maybe you lose a few fingers when I blow them off your fucking hand. Only one way to find out."
Pausing, Bryce sighs deeply before pulling his hand back and shaking his head. At least the guy's smarter than the teen he was with… god, that Todd guy was just asking for a bullet to the brain.
"You live to fight another day, old man," I praise before roughly smacking him across the temple a couple of times; rendering him unconscious as he collapses like a ragdoll against the trunk of the car.
Satisfied, I swing his legs upwards and use the trunk as leverage until I can somehow get him to fit inside. He's gonna be pretty uncomfortable if and when he wakes up, sitting on top of the guns and all while getting squished in like a sardine. It's like looking at a human pretzel from this angle.
Slamming the trunk closed again, I make sure to put the keys back in my pocket before leaving the area. Hopefully he'll be able to breathe in there, but hey, that's not my problem.
Lilly's gonna be pissed when she finds me out here…
….
"JANE?! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?!" she bellows, having to do so because there's so much mayhem going on around us. Buildings are on fire as the firefights get more intense among the combatants.
"I CAME FOR YOU, IDIOT!" I yell back, shooting some dick in the leg as he's dragged away by one of his friends. "I'M NOT OUT HERE TO PICK DAISIES OR SOMETHING!"
Little bits of dirt and gravel spring up as the last of the grenades go off, but thankfully the fighting's now mostly gone down to either hand to hand combat or gun on gun. Lilly's legs are getting scraped by all the debris, even though she's wearing those tight, leather pants that… I've noticed. Her face is all dusty now and has smudge marks that match a few cuts that she's gotten from crawling to safety so much.
"I'm almost out of bullets! Why didn't you just stay in the car like I told you to?!" she snaps, reloading as I sprint over to her side. I hand her an extra pistol as I too reload my weapon.
"Since when do I ever listen to you anyways, Lil?" I smirk, chuckling as she rolls her eyes at the stupid nickname. "How many are left?"
"Of us, or them?" she asks, shooting down a woman as she comes sprinting out of the alleyway. One less than before, I suppose. "No idea, but it looks like things are starting to slow down a little bit. They're not blowing our shit up anymore, so that's a start."
"But they've wrecked most of the camp," I point out, gesturing to the burned tents, busted-up buildings, several massive holes in the granite around us as well as the fallen telephone poles. What was once a decent-looking setup has turned into a burning, crumbling ruin that's likely not going to get repaired. "Well, you're the military gal here. What should we do?"
"I was a secretary…" she reminds me, ushering me along as we try making our way to Derek's little setup that he has near the back of the camp. "Last I checked, people were still fighting over there. If they get into our armory, we're all fucked."
"Doesn't look like that's gonna be a problem," I shrug, looking as the last few stragglers are kneeled down in front of Derek, Lorna and a handful of others. He nods towards us as we approach.
"Glad to see you made it out," he comments, kicking over a stone as he spits on the ground. "Not many of us did."
"Did Margaret…?" Lilly asks, looking really solemn as Derek sadly shakes his head. If I remember correctly, she was the one who helped fix her up after her ear was blown off so horrifically. "Shit…"
"It's still light out, so keep an eye out for any leftover assholes who might be wandering around the camp… not that there's much left to look at," Derek remarks briskly as he addresses the remnants of his crew. Most of us are battered and beaten down, but somehow we've managed to keep going strong. We're a lot tougher than we look. "For now, though, it's up to us to decide what to do with these people. Should we keep them hostage, shoot them or set them free?"
"We should string their heads up on the fence like they did to Henry!" somebody shouts out, getting a round of agreement that actually kind of startles me.
It's nothing compared to what these people are probably thinking of right now.
"We're not animals," Derek advises, holding firm as he shakes his head in disagreement. "We're better than these fuckers – we don't need to stoop down to their level. It's what they'd want us to do, and what would that accomplish? Would any of you be able to sleep at night knowing that you've decapitated someone and hung their heads out like the fucking laundry?"
"THEY SLAUGHTERED MY COUSINS! I DON'T CARE ABOUT BEING BETTER THAN THEM! I WANT REVENGE!" shouts a very angry and saddened man, going up and grabbing one of the hostages by the shoulder before roughly yanking them forward.
In response to stepping out of line like that, Derek calmly walks over to the man and clocks him right in the nose.
"Get your shit together! We do things as a group around here!" he snaps, dragging the hostage back to her spot in the centre.
One of the men look towards me with begging eyes, but Lilly steps in front of me and glares at the man without another word. The man slowly starts to whimper as he looks to the ground in sadness.
"They're a bunch of fucking rats," Lorna comments, joining Derek's side as she looks upon them with disgust. "You can't just let them go, Derek. What message will that send to the rest of us? That we can let people walk all over us while killing us and taking what they want? You have to end this before it spreads, honey."
Gasping, the captives look up and start to beg for their lives; some of them grovelling at their master's feet while others just start praying to whoever's willing to listen. It's rather pathetic to witness grown men and women acting this way, but circumstances are different when your lives hang in the balance.
"PLEASE! WE'LL DO ANYTHING YOU ASK OF US, WE SWEAR!" one woman pleads, her voice cracking as she croaks out the words. With Lorna whispering her ideas into his one ear and his other ear listening to everything else, I'm surprised that Derek hasn't gone completely bonkers yet.
What surprises me even more is when he looks over at us.
"What do you two think we should do?" he asks, understanding the shock as we look over with widened eyes. "You've got some pretty clear heads on this sort of stuff. What's your opinion?"
Knowing full well that Lilly won't be the least bit sympathetic to these people, I shrug my shoulders before chipping in my two cents. If we are to keep some of them around, I'd better speak up.
"I've got one of their guys in the trunk right now – says that he might know where we can move to if we can't stick around here," I tell him, watching as he nods with uncertainty. "Even if they tried to kill us, it might still be a good idea to keep at least a few of them alive. You need to fill in some of the spots they left behind, don't you?"
"What makes you think they won't just shoot us when our backs our turned?" Lorna asks, raising an eyebrow as she looks on with disapproval. I'm getting real tired of listening to this crazy bitch, to be honest. "Sounds like a stupid idea to me, not to mention reckless. You'd have to be pretty naïve to think they won't attack us after all of this."
"It doesn't matter if we trust them or not!" Lilly comes to my defense as she shoots Lorna a glare which she returns. "Killing them won't change anything – save the bullets for the walkers. Revenge killing isn't all it's cracked up to be…"
"Yeah, you two cunts would know all about that, wouldn't you? I'm sure you had a grand old time murdering those people in Houston that I keep hearing about!"
"Say that again, you fucking shithead!" Lilly rages, only stopped by me holding onto her arm tightly. She's totally not worth the breath to yell at, and it already seems as though Derek's made up his mind.
"Now that the drama's finished with," he comments, looking pointedly at his girlfriend, "we'll take it to a vote. We're keeping your man in the trunk alive, but the rest of you lot's fates are up for debate. All in favour of sparing them?"
Me, Lilly and two other very reluctant people. Their sobs get louder as they realize what the end result is probably going to be.
"All in favour of killing them?"
Everyone else, including Lorna.
Emotionlessly looking towards the doomed attackers, Derek motions towards them with his head as they're helplessly pulled to their feet. They struggle and flail about in a desperate attempt to flee, and it's then that I notice that Todd is among their numbers.
"PLEASE, HELP ME!" he begs, not wanting to die at such a young age. But there's nothing either of us can do about it. "DON'T LET THEM GET TO ME! PLEASE!"
"I'm sorry…" I mumble, refusing to look him in the eyes as a cloth is thrown over his head. "…but I can't help criminals…"
"WRAGGGHHH!" he screams, struggling to break free as Derek's followers await the command on what to do with them. With a heavy heart, Derek places his hands on his hips as he makes a final verdict.
"Make it quick," he tells the camp, pointing over to a toppled concrete wall a few yards away. "Set up a firing squad – headshots only. We don't need them coming back."
Like a bunch of Nazis, the camp do as they're told; marching their prisoners off to their demise as one by one they're forced to stand beside each other. I turn away from the scene as I glance over at Lorna, who's waiting patiently to shoot the men and women.
Lilly follows in behind me as we start to walk away, but not before giving Derek a disapproving look as we slump along.
I don't want to think about what we've become, as I cringe and put my hand over my mouth while the roar of gunfire signals the ends of their lives.
…..
Lilly's POV (This is the graphic part coming up :P)
How the tent's actually still intact deeply surprises me – I don't remember installing a force field around it, do you? Aside from people coming in here and knocking a few things over, everything seems to be right as rain. My stuff is back in its rightful place beside my messy, uncomfortable bed, and if somebody had stepped inside of this tent right now you might not have even been able to tell that that a battle just took place outside. We're pretty fortunate in this regard – a lot of other people didn't have the same luck.
I'm still trying to figure out why I agreed with Jane that we should stay here… Obviously I'll go wherever she does, but why would she still feel responsible for these people? I mean, they forced us to join them! They're the people that separated us from Clementine (which I still feel like shit about) and they basically ruined our lives!
How did it come to pass that we're now concerned about whether they live or die?
Maybe it's got to do with Lorna… that fucking jackass… Without Jane to calm me down I probably would've tried to rip her head clean off of her shoulders. I don't know what I'd do without Jane around, honestly. She's always there to set me back on the right path, and it hurts that it took me this long to figure out just what she meant to me.
Speaking of which…
"Did they get him to talk?" I ask, referring to Bryce after she left to take him out of the trunk. I tried to convince her to forget the guy and leave him there for a bit, but Derek had insisted. "What did he have to say?"
Sighing, Jane runs her hands through her short hair before sitting down next to me; leaning her head on my shoulder as I rub comforting circles upon her back. I feel a lot more comfortable doing this sort of thing when other people aren't around.
"At first he refused, which we all knew was coming," she explains, listening to the sound of my breathing as she whispers to me. "But then he saw them on the wall… and he caved. Bryce will show us where this place is, if it even exists. I still can't believe that happened…"
"It's over now, Jane. There's nothing either of us could do about it."
"I just don't know if I made the right choices today," she admits, showing a soft side to her that I don't usually see. "Don't you ever feel like that? Like no matter what you do, things just happen that don't make sense and are out of your reach?"
"…all the time."
Nodding against me, Jane leans back on the bed so that she's staring at the roof of the tent; the familiar bullet holes in the top making her grin.
"Doesn't that bother you at all?" she questions, lazily pointing upwards as the wind whistles through. "I bet it gets cold over here, especially at night."
"All the time," I repeat, sliding my boots off as Jane chuckles behind me.
"Is that just going to be your answer for everything?"
"Possibly. Why? Does it bug ya?" I ask, poking her in the ribs as I watch her squirm beneath my finger. Suddenly, my eyes light up as I get a mischievous little smirk upon my face.
Knowing full well what I have in mind, Jane gives me the finger before moving farther back on the bed.
"Don't even fucking think about it," she tells me, getting slightly nervous as I block her attempts to escape. "I'm warning you, Lilly! Don't come near me like that! Don't – Heh… ha ha… hahaha! Stop it! God damn it, Lilly! HAHA!"
"It's nice hearing you laugh once in a while, you know that?" I smirk, chuckling as she giggles like a toddler underneath my fingers. My hands find their way underneath her shirt as I continue to tickle her sides, only stopping when she starts to gasp for breath. Planting a kiss on her forehead, I absentmindedly brush my hair over top of my dismembered ear, but Jane quickly snatches my wrist. "Jane… stop it. You know that I…"
"I like you no matter what," she interrupts, brushing my hair away from my face as she gazes at me lovingly. "Isn't that all that matters?"
That's almost all it takes for me to set myself upon her and crash my lips feverishly on hers, totally convinced that I was meant to be with this woman for the rest of my life. Deeper and deeper I go, almost enveloping her tiny body into mine as my left hand rubs her head while my right one grasps underneath her jacket. By the small, satisfied groans that she elicits occasionally, I'm pretty sure that Jane's enjoying this just as much as I am.
My lips travel down to her neck as Jane breathes more heavily with each stroke of her hand against my arm. She can't help but squeal as my cold hand meets her bare stomach once again, and I feel all giddy and excited inside when she forcefully grabs my arms and brings me further onto the bed.
"Do you… want to…" she asks, the question hanging in the air as she breaks in between kisses for air.
Stopping for just a brief moment, I pause to collect myself and catch my breath as I look upon Jane's face. Never have I wanted her more in my entire time of knowing her, and it almost pains me to realize that if the apocalypse hadn't occurred – if the dead hadn't risen and none of this stuff ever happened – I probably would never have met this amazing, beautiful young woman.
Well, at least one good thing came out of the apocalypse.
"Fuck it," I nod, unzipping my leather jacket and tossing it carelessly on the floor. "We might be dead by tomorrow anyway."
"That's the spirit…" she jokes, starting to take her clothes off as we jump underneath the covers. After a few more minutes of kissing and seeing her… in all of her painfully-beautiful glory… I can't take it anymore. I brush myself against her as we begin our dance – our wonderful, mind-numbingly pleasurable movements that make me lose all sense of self-control.
Why the fuck did I have a crush on Lee again?
"Let's make this a night to remember…" I hum lowly before grinning and giving her another kiss; our clothes forgotten on the ground nearby.
It'll be a night to remember indeed.
…
"Close your eyes."
"No way," Jane shakes her head, looking over at me flirtatiously. "Not with the show you're putting on over here! I get front row seats!"
Jesus Christ…
Chuckling, I toss the covers off my bare body as I quickly get my things together and go behind a flap of the tent; not being able to hold back a smirk as Jane pouts in protest. Call me crazy if you want, but I still don't feel comfortable changing in front of people – even if we did some… ahem… kissing stuff…
"I don't bite, Lil," she calls out from the bed as I hear her gather her shit together as well. "At least, from what I've been told, anyways."
"There's always the chance that you could turn into a vampire and bite my neck," I reply cheekily, putting my jacket back on before rejoining her on my lumpy-ass mattress. This thing's a piece of shit.
But I suppose I won't need to worry about it for much longer, seeing's how we'll be leaving in a few hours anyways.
"Hmph… still a better love story than Twilight…" Jane comments, causing me to roll my eyes. "What? You know I had to say that! You can't say vampires and not think about that!"
"I'm going to pretend that you didn't say that," I tell her, kissing her on the lips every time she tries to protest. It gets to the point that she can't help but giggle in bliss after the fifth time that I do it. "You wanna try that again?"
"I think you've worn me out enough for one night," she sighs in content, interlocking her fingers with mine as we lean our heads back on the pillow. "But that was nice… did you enjoy yourself, at least?"
Vigorously nodding, I shift over a bit to make myself more comfortable on the mattress. The two of us go into a nice, quiet silence for a few moments, just relaxing in each other's embrace. Feeling her with her arms wrapped around me like this… I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around why she chose me of all people to be with.
And with everything that's been going on lately, it makes me really start to question our future.
"I remember almost a year ago now," I recall, shaking my head at the stupid thought, "you and I wanted to kill each other. We actually tried to several times, if I'm remembering right."
"That's what the best relationships are based on," she chuckles, snuggling up against me as she holds me tighter. "If you haven't tried to kill each other at some point, then you're not doing it right."
"Spoken like a real guru," I nod, glancing over to the picture of my Dad and I when I was growing up. Reaching out for the photo, I blow the thin layer of dust off of it before sitting up to examine it. Jane looks over my shoulder to look as well.
"That's…?"
"Larry, my Dad," I tell her, frowning slightly as I recollect on my past. "You probably would've hated him – he could be a real ass sometimes."
"Come on, he couldn't have been that bad!" she tries to console, but giving up when I give her a look. "Clem mentioned him once, back at Howe's."
Closing my eyes, I sigh deeply and place the picture back near my bag. That photo's been in my pocket for a very long time now.
"Let me guess," I interject, frowning as the meat locker comes back to mind. Always the fucking meat locker. "It was about how Kenny fucking smashed his head right in front of me?"
"…I'm sorry, Lilly. Truly."
Not wanting to dwell on the past any longer, I choose to put on a brave face and fake a small smile for Jane, but she knows me too well and can see right through that. Am I that easy to read?
"What's on your mind?" she asks, sitting up and placing her hand on top of mine comfortingly.
"A lot of things, actually. But…" I pause, not wanting to upset her in any way by blurting out something stupid that I'll later come to regret. "…do you think this will last?"
"Huh?"
"This – all of this," I point out, shaking my head as doubt fills my thoughts. "Any fucking day could be our last, and I'm not sure what we're gonna do if Lorna spills the beans on that whole walker thing. I don't want to lose you, and I sure as hell don't want to see you get hurt."
"This is about more than us, isn't it?" Jane picks up, raising an eyebrow as I slowly nod my head. "Clementine?"
I can't help but imagine the worst kinds of things happening to her… Who knows if she even made it out of the house or not? We don't know if Kyle killed her or if she got burned alive in the blaze or if she got eaten by walkers! There's no way of knowing what's happened to that very special little girl, and I think the guilt would tear me apart if I found out she had died.
"Clem's smart, Lilly. She's got a gun, survival skills and she can think on the fly. She's alright, Lilly, I know she is," Jane reiterates, trying to seem determined but looking frightened at the same time. "She just… she just has to be…"
After things start to quiet down a little bit, I hear some soft snores coming from behind my back, indicating that she's asleep. I smile lightly as I look over at her sleeping form, noting that I'll have to tease her about it later.
Planting one last kiss on her forehead, I turn back on my side before softly opening up the drawer. My prized possession sits inside, and I carefully take it out to examine the shiny surface between my fingertips.
Twirling Dad's old ring around for a few seconds, I can't help but think of what the future might hold for us – for me, Jane and Clementine as well. Will we ever be reunited again? Thinking the way that I am, certainly won't help, so I try to take my mind off of it as I gaze upon the small object one last time.
Placing it in my pocket, I go to sleep with a smile – knowing fully well that I'm in the loving arms of someone that I care deeply for.
Maybe it's time this ring went to better use.