Hey y'all magnificent bastards! I'm gonna try this in third person as PetulantOctopus had suggested – there's just gonna be a lot going on at once so I don't want to confuse anyone. I think it turned out pretty well, so no worries on that front.
Rebloxic: Yes, I am a very happy person indeed lol. I should've named this chapter "Unicorns and the Magical Fucking Rainbows" instead ;P I bet people would get a kick out of that aha.
Clemmyclue19: Things are about to get crazy, my friend! Thanks for sticking with this, I really appreciate it :)
Guest: Thank you! I've got some ideas in mind for a sequel, but we'll have to see where it goes lol.
PetulantOctopus: Your wish is my command :D
…
"Fuck!" Bo swears as the whole group rushes across the street; guns blazing as they shoot at the roof in a predictable fashion. He manages to kill off one person before having to retreat back into hiding. Normally the groups aren't nearly the size as this one… and it's almost as if they were expecting an attack on them this time around. Usually the bandits scatter around like chickens with their heads cut off; completely confused and freaking out because they're so misdirected.
The possibility of a smarter, more coordinated fighting force sprinting towards them puts Bo more than a little on edge.
"We've gotta warn the others!" Clementine exclaims, knowing fully well how much danger the center could be in if they manage to bust through the front doors. She might not know the place as well as Bo does, but she's seen firsthand just how defenseless these people can be if unprepared. "Bo, come on! We need to get downstairs!"
"Alright, I'll punch in the alarm," he agrees, sprinting down the stairs two at a time while also screaming at the top of his lungs for good measure. You never know – they might already be inside the building. "UP AND AT 'EM! WAKE UP! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"
By the time that Bo reaches the bottom, a handful of people have already heard the racket and are standing out in the hallway; fidgeting nervously at the prospect of getting raided by ruthless barbarians from the outside. He encourages them to stay calm, grab a weapon and come with him to get the advantage on these guys. That's the one thing that they have over these bandits – they live here, so Bo and the rest know every hiding spot and flanking position there could be.
As he opens the shutter on the alarm and sets it off, Clementine races up behind with a worried expression.
"Ellie and Riley – where are they?" she asks, expecting an honest answer even though Bo's trying to see things for the greater good of the majority.
"Clem, you can't think that way. We need to keep the whole group alive here! You can't pick and choose who you want to save!"
"Keeping the group alive means that we keep everyone alive!" Clem points out, getting a dark look about her that Bo hasn't seen before. It's pretty intimidating coming from a twelve year old girl. "Tell me right now! Where. Are. The kids?!"
Exchanging the girl's hunting rifle for two pistols instead, Bo sighs before massaging his temple; trying to avoid the inevitable headache that'll come from a night of settling everyone down. The kid's perceptive, he'll give her that, but he just hopes that her determination isn't the thing that brings her down in the end.
For all of this to work, they need her alive.
"Second floor by the elevators," he replies, watching as Clem sprints off towards the stairwell with haste. "Oh, and Clem? Try not to die out there, would you?"
If that was supposed to be a joke, the girl definitely doesn't find it funny as she simply ignores him and ventures downwards. Those two right now are her top priority.
…
"He didn't deserve that," Jane shakes her head as she glances back across the street; unable to see the body but knowing fully well that it's still there. Nobody turns into a walker that quickly, and from the looks of things Bryce was shot in the head. If they can shoot someone at that distance, then this might be a hell of a lot more difficult than they may have thought.
To think that all the guy wanted to do was go home and start over again…
As the hunter group try and break open the doors (ending up just shooting the steel-enforced locks as a means of breaking and entering), Derek looks out onto the concrete with sadness. One of our own is sprawled out with his blood leaking from a bullet wound in the neck.
"Joseph…" he whispers, clenching a fist as he softly bangs it against his leg. This is something he had hoped to avoid. "It wasn't supposed to be this way. He should be here right now at our side…"
"For every one person they kill," Lorna growls, her spirit unwavering as she gets a fiery look in her eyes, "we'll take down three of theirs. Count on it."
"Don't let that anger take over, Lor," Derek advises, shaking his head as he turns back to the situation at hand. "We can't let our emotions get in the way. Think about what you're doing and focus."
Glancing over at him for a second, Lorna huffs before shaking her head and readying her weapon. In her mind, people like Derek won't ever understand how the world truly works anymore. The days of peace and diplomacy are long behind her, and she doesn't need or want anyone like that to get in the way.
This venom on her face doesn't get unnoticed by Lilly, but she decides to keep her mouth shut on the matter for now. She's got more important things to worry about than Lorna's feelings.
Although it would be nice to bring her down a notch or two, Lilly thinks to herself; just wanting her to disappear for good out of her and Jane's lives. Is that too much to ask?
Apparently, yeah it is.
"Damn it! They've triggered the alarms," one of the hunters hiss, only making them work faster to get inside. "Double-time, people! We need to get in there before reinforcements arrive!"
"They could just be waiting for us on the other side of the door…" Lilly mumbles, holding her pistol out for protection. In these circumstances, a gun can be considered your very best friend.
Shimmying the door bars open a little bit until they hear a click, the hunters quickly burst inside as the Dallas group follows in behind. Jane closes the door behind them as the group arrives to find… nothing. The alarm's still blaring in their ear drums, but there are no guns being fired, no resistance and no light except for the very limited amount they're getting from moonlight reflections through the windows. Everybody's on edge waiting for someone to pop out and try to attack them.
Derek motions for everybody to break off into groups like he had suggested, so Lilly and Jane try to stick with him as the rest of the group scatters. There are only a handful of flashlights available, so they try to use them sparingly as they walk further inside; checking every corner to see if anyone's around.
That's when the alarm suddenly stops blaring.
Everyone freezes in place as if it's a children's game or something as they scan the room. You could practically hear a pin drop with how quiet it's become – the only sounds being a bit of shuffling from upstairs and everyone's heavy breathing.
"I don't like this," Derek whispers, hugging the wall as he slowly walks into some sort of kitchen area. There are pots and pans scattered about the counters with some hanging loosely above their heads, along with a few sinks, an oven and some cupboards. No people in sight, however. "Spread out and check everywhere on this floor. We'll work our way up after – "
"Shh…" Jane hushes him, putting a finger to her lip. The noises above their heads are getting slightly louder. "…hear that? I think they're upstairs…"
They hear something being rolled into place along with some muffled, hushed voices, but who knows what they could be doing up there?
"Keep as quiet as you can. This doesn't change anything," Derek cautions, opening up some of the cupboards to check for supplies. "The plan doesn't change – keep going."
"Like hell it doesn't! They're coming down to kill us!" the leader of the hunters blurts out quietly, motioning for his men to set up near the stairwell. Derek practically smacks his forehead before turning back to check the next room.
"Fine, go ahead and put yourselves in harm's way…" he mumbles sarcastically as Jane, Lilly, Lorna and Tommy all follow in behind. This looks to have been some kind of board room for meetings and such, if the circular table in the middle with all the overturned chairs and used coffee mugs didn't give it away already. "I've got to admit – I didn't see things going this way at the start."
"What were you expecting? Them to come at us guns blazing?" Lilly asks, glancing at a picture of the space center while Jane looks out the windows. This place must've been pretty fun to work at once upon a time.
Shrugging his shoulders, Derek inspects a busted water cooler before cocking his head to the side.
"I dunno," he admits, walking over to a little pile of boxes as he kicks one away with his foot. "I was expecting at least a little resistance inside, but I ain't one to complain."
Lorna's being unnaturally quiet, which only raises Lilly's suspicion as she watches her lean over the table in thought. Jane's trying to keep a lookout for any retaliation outside, but so far there's been none to be seen.
The crackle of gunfire roars down the hallway as the shrill screams of men and women follow closely behind, causing everyone in the room to widen their eyes and look over to where it's coming from. There's no way of knowing whose screams those were, so Lorna and Tommy rush out to investigate.
"What the fuck is going on out here?!" Lorna demands, causing Derek to cringe as he leans up against one of the cabinets.
"God damn it, Lor…" he whispers, glancing up to meet Lilly and Jane's dark glances. "What is it?"
Deciding that this is the best chance that they'll get to warn him, Jane sighs before deciding not to ignore the elephant in the room.
"Lorna's trouble… not in trouble, Derek. She is the trouble," she emphasizes, trying to make him see this for himself. "As long as she's near you, you're not safe. I know that you care about her and all… but she's after your spot. She practically told us herself."
"That's quite the claim," Derek responds, annoyance on his face as they accuse his girlfriend of being a traitor. "But unless you've got any proof, I'd suggest that you let me sort out my own problems. Don't you think we've got enough to worry about as it is?"
"Honestly," Lilly says, "she might be the biggest threat that you have to worry about here. You have to wake up and see that she's – "
BAM! BAM!
Derek's gun smokes as he stumbles backwards; seemingly realizing what it is that he's just done. A little boy and his mother… both with bullets in them. The boy died instantly with no pain whatsoever, but the mother is gasping for air and crying over the loss of her son.
"Y-you…" she points, her hand bloody as she cradles her dead son close to her chest. She doesn't seem to care how much it hurts in her chest – probably because her heart's just been ripped to shreds. "Oh my god… Cailan, sweetie? No… No, no, no, no, no, no…"
With widened and sorrowful eyes, Derek raises the gun again – the silent question hanging in the air as Jane and Lilly watch with mixed emotions. The kid and his mom were hiding behind the boxes, and in an act of panic Derek had shot the both of them thinking they were going to attack.
When the sobbing woman nods, Derek fires again with a heavy heart as she too collapses onto the ground. Nobody says anything as the three of them gather around the fallen mother and son; unable to do anything more for them except wonder how it could've come to this.
Derek, seemingly ashamed of what he's done, tries to say something to somehow make this better, but all he can come up with is a bunch of garbled nonsense. Giving up, he sighs sadly before shutting his eyes closed and leaving Jane and Lilly to themselves.
The one question on all three of their minds is this – why did they even decide to come here in the first place?
…..
Gotta find them, gotta find them, Clementine repeats in her head, her resolve only heightened when the bullets start flying on the floor below her. There's already a body count starting as she glances upon all of the dead faces of people she had trained just the other day. It almost feels as though she let these people down in some way, and that guilt eats away at her like the plague.
God, why does she have to feel so helpless in this situation? Hopefully some of these assholes died along with them…
Scrambling to open the door to their room, Clem breathes a sigh of relief as she sees Ellie and Riley huddled together on the bed – scared shitless as they desperately try to cover their ears and block out the screams.
"Oh thank god…" she breathes out in relief as she closes the door behind her and jogs over towards them. "Are you two alright? They didn't come in here, did they?"
"N-no…" Riley shakes her head, being the only one physically able to speak as Ellie shivers beside her. Attempting to comfort them, Clementine puts her hands on their shoulders and tries to force out a smile.
Unfortunately, it falters when the gunfire outside gets louder.
"Ok guys, I need you to hide somewhere, get it?" Clementine hurriedly whispers, grasping their hands as she forces them to step out of the bed. They're still in the pyjamas that they were given by Debbie earlier that day – not exactly the most protective clothing they could use. Suddenly getting an idea, Clementine snaps her fingers before practically dragging them out with her into the hallway.
"Where are we going?!" Ellie squeaks, finally finding her voice as Clem draws her gun.
"You know where to go…" Lee says in her head as the girl nods, which confuses the girls a little bit. "Get them to safety, sweet pea. That's the most important thing."
Shooting a bandit twice in the head before he can make his way towards them, Clementine sprints down the hallway away from the gunfire while trying to avoid as much of the heat as possible. Some of the raiders are calling out and pointing towards them as they run, but luckily the bullets simply whizz past them and hit the wall as they turn down the corner.
Running as fast as their tiny legs can carry them, the girls huff and puff as Clementine finally leads them to where she wanted. Punching in the code that Bo had told her previously, Clementine grows impatient as the suspense starts to kick in.
"Come on you stupid thing, work!" she orders, glancing back nervously every few seconds in case somebody comes to chase after them. When somebody actually does, Clem widens her eyes and ushers for Ellie and Riley to stay low. Maybe if they stay in the dark, then there won't be any problems.
Ding!
"Oh crap…" Clem mumbles, cursing her luck as the man hears the sound of the door opening. What perfect timing! Readying her gun, she waits until the guy creeps forward a little bit before shooting him twice in the neck.
The guy grasps fruitlessly at his bullet wounds as he gargles on his own blood, which gives the three of them the perfect chance to get inside the spaceship room. Clem wishes that Ellie and Riley didn't have to see that, but it was basically unavoidable in these circumstances.
"Over here," Clem whispers, putting her pistol back into her pocket as she struggles to open the door. "Help me with this, guys!"
As a team, the three of them grind their teeth together as they grasp the door handle of the spaceship. As cool as this thing is, right now none of them could really care less about that. All they want is for the fighting to stop, but by the looks of things it doesn't appear that that's gonna happen anytime soon.
With a screeching groan of thick metal and steel, the hatch opens as Ellie and Riley climb aboard. Expecting Clementine to come in with them, they bang on the window when the twelve year old shuts it behind them.
"Stay here and don't come out, no matter what you hear, okay?" she tells them, instantly getting a no in response. Seriously, these two are as stubborn as she is. "I don't want to hear it! Stay inside, keep quiet and keep yourselves safe! I'll be back as soon as I can!"
"You need to be safe, too!" Riley protests, getting a nod from Ellie as they try opening up the hatch again. Clementine blocks it with her foot.
"Come on – don't make me blast you off into space!" she jokes, trying to lighten the mood as she sadly smiles towards them. "Don't worry about me – I'll be fine. Just protect each other, alright? That's what's important now."
Seeing that her mind won't be swayed, Ellie and Riley reluctantly stop struggling as they start to worry even more. Despite only knowing her for a little while, Clementine's grown to be one of their closest and most trusted friends and guardians in a long time. If anything were to happen to her…
No.
She's strong, and if she says that she'll be alright, then she'll be fine. They choose to believe that she knows what she's doing, and for the most part it seems as though the girl's practically invincible.
Placing her hand on the window of the hatch, Riley and Ellie do the same as Clem nods one last time before disappearing from their sight completely.
It's too bad that Clem forgot just how mischievous Ellie and Riley can be…
…
"DON'T BREAK RANKS! KEEP PUSHING FORWARD!" Lorna roars, moving past the deceased body of the hunter leader as she takes command of the guy's remaining forces. It's an absolute slaughter fest in here, with bodies lying about haphazardly and blood painting the walls around them. There are definitely more people dead on the space center side, but Lilly and Jane's group hasn't gone without its own casualties. Tommy got shot in the shoulder by a scientist, but the guy clearly wasn't used to handling guns and was mauled down in an instant. That's the big difference here – clearly these people haven't become hardened as much as their own group had.
Derek's staying quiet for the most part, only ever talking when the situation requires him to. Jane and Lilly are trying their best just to not die in the bloodbath, while Lorna is trying to kill every enemy she comes across. They've broken through to the second level, and by the looks of things some of the hunters even managed to get to the end of the hallway – they were unsuccessful, but they're definitely in the heart of the building now.
"Over there!" Tommy calls out to Jane, still clutching his shoulder behind cover but calling out just in time. Lilly guns an older man down before he can shoot her girlfriend, and the two of them barge into the janitor's closet to avoid the gunfire from a couple of other people. The whole scene is incredibly chaotic, and it's actually ended up in people shooting some of their own group members by accident.
The last of the hunters go down fighting as the barrage of gunfire turns more into one-on-one, close-quarters fighting. The only people left now are Tommy, Lorna, Derek, Lilly and Jane – with a whole bunch of bullet-filled bodies decorating the floor. Thankfully, any that come back to life are instantly put down before they can cause any real harm.
"This was a mistake…" Derek criticizes, slamming his fist against a pillar as he reloads his weapon. Tommy gives Jane and Lilly the ok as they stealthily move into the next room. "So many dead… and for what? We're no closer to taking this place over than we were at the start!"
"What are you saying?" Lorna asks harshly, not liking the self-pitying mess that she thinks he's become. Really though, if anything he's being realistic. "What, should we throw in the fucking towel now, Derek?! That's not happening! We came all this way, and we're not turning back now!"
"If we stay here we'll all die, Lorna! Is that what you want?!" he barks, trying to make her see the situation as it really is. "Look around you, hon! We've lost too much already! We should just count our losses and get the fuck out of here! Nobody else needs to die today!"
"This is fucking pathetic…" Lorna spits as she grabs a beaker and smashes it over a guy's head. "We ain't leaving until they're all dead! Every last one! This place will be ours, damn it! Open your god damn eyes!"
Meanwhile, on the other side of the hallway, Lilly and Jane have entered what looks to be some kind of doctor's office. All the usual tools are here – doctor's bag, stethoscope, thermometer, the thing you use to test reflexes, plus a whole other whack of stuff that neither of them know the use of. It's all very scientific-looking, as Jane loots through the bag and widens her eyes in surprise.
"They've got enough here to look after this whole place," she comments, thinking darkly as she realizes that there won't be nearly as many patients as there were beforehand. Shaking it off, Jane closes the bag back up and sighs. She doesn't want to make the same mistake again. "Looks like it's clear on my end. How about you?"
"Clear," Lilly confirms, though keeping her weapon out just in case. "This place has everything – meds, electricity, protection… Why were people so afraid of coming here? I don't see anything wrong so far."
"Who knows? Maybe they were just being… shit."
"What? What is it?" Lilly whispers, crouching down at Jane's request. There's some muffled shouts and such going on, but it doesn't sound like there's a struggle of any kind. "Jane, what's up? I can't see anything!"
Glaring over the counter, Jane watches Derek hurrying down the hallway with Lorna calmly walking behind him – almost as if she's…
With one smirk over her shoulder, Jane knows what Lorna's about to do.
"Son of a bitch… She's gonna kill him!" Jane hisses, opening the door but huffing out in frustration as they turn down the corner. "Stay here and watch after Tommy, alright? I need to stop this shit."
"I'm coming with you – don't try and stop me."
"No!" Jane demands, placing one hand on her shoulder as she gives Lilly a pleading look. "Please, just… trust me on this, okay? I have to do this, and the longer I wait, the more likely that he's gonna die. You have to let me go, Lilly."
Biting her lip hard, Lilly tries her best to fight off the urge to go along with her greatest friend, partner and lover. Of course she trusts her – that much isn't being questioned – but having her run off into danger like this isn't something that she's openly willing to accept.
Still, with that determination in her eyes, Lilly basically has no choice but to concede. Jane's going to be just fine, she knows she'll be.
"You come back to me, you hear?" Lilly demands, getting a reassuring nod from Jane as she plants a quick kiss on her forehead. "I'll scout around here… but be careful. I love you, Jane."
"I love you too," she smiles warmly; the words making Jane melt in happiness all over again. As much as she'd rather just run off with this hard-headed, bossy, loveable lady, however, she knows that lives are at stake here, and Lorna's not going to wait for approval in order to kill the guy and eliminate the threat.
But what could she possibly rule over now?
Watching as she sprints out the door and down the hallway, Lilly clenches a fist and just hopes that nothing worse will come of all this. There's a whole lot here that could potentially go wrong, but Jane's had pretty good luck in the past – hopefully that streak will hold true.
Absentmindedly, Lilly pulls her Dad's ring out from her pocket and twirls it around in her hands.
When all this is over, Lilly thinks to herself, I'll do better by you, Jane. You've deserved way more than the shit hand you've been given, but I'll set things right. And maybe I'll work up the guts to ask you something along the way…
Her thoughts are interrupted by a sharp, stabbing pain coming from her left shoulder, as she clutches at it to reveal some sort of needle – filled with a greyish liquid inside of it.
"Jesus… Christ…" she hisses out in pain, clenching her jaw as she's roughly shoved against the glass cabinets. Her face smashes through the glass as rows of medical bottles and syringes come tumbling down, and she can taste the blood as it rolls down her cheeks and enters her mouth.
Grasping at anything that could be used as a weapon against this mysterious attacker, Lilly internally grins as she clutches the thermometer that she saw earlier. Using her strength, she slightly overpowers the person as she shoves the back into the medical bench and tackles the assailant to the floor.
"Urghh… get… the hell… off of me!" the person (a woman, as Lilly has realized) grunts as Lilly bashes her face in left and right. The woman manages to knee Lilly in the stomach, which briefly incapacitates her and gives an opening for a counter attack.
"What the… fuck… did you put in me?!" Lilly snarls as she struggles for dominance, internally freaking out as she wonders what kind of shit is now flowing through her veins.
The tables turn as Lilly gets her head slammed against the doorway roughly, but thankfully the girl has been through far worse before. This woman's stronger than she looks, but by the fresh cuts on her arms and the swelling bruises forming on her face, it looks as though the fight's drawing to its conclusion.
Dodging a kick to the head, Lilly rolls over to her side before taking out her knees and twisting her ankle until it snaps. As the woman howls in agony, Lilly, fueled with rage, takes the thermometer and jabs the woman in the neck with it as she keels over in pain. The thermometer's an older model, so if the blood loss in her neck won't take her down, the mercury poisoning definitely will.
"Fucking hell…" Lilly gasps for air, standing up and supporting herself against the medical bench. The person literally came out of nowhere and assaulted the living shit out of her… but even Lilly herself sees that she probably took that way too far.
Despite being a heat of the moment type of thing, she feels guilty for the dying mess of a person that now lays beside her. Not wanting to see any more of this, Lilly turns around and starts to head through the door at a slower pace due to her wounds.
"DON'T MOVE!"
Completely freezing, for a moment Lilly thinks that someone's just playing a cruel, sick, twisted joke on her. That voice isn't real – there's no way they could be here! Her whole body starts to tremble as Lilly, with fear in her heart that she'll just be blasted away anyways, slowly turns around with blood staining her jacket.
Neither of them can move as they gaze up at each other; somehow horrified and amazed at the same time.
Clementine snuck in here hoping to fight off and kill whoever it was that Debbie was attacking… but she didn't realize who it was exactly that that person could be. Her mind has to be playing tricks on her, right?! There's no way that Lilly Caul is standing in front of her right now , having just murdered Debbie and trembling at the sight of her!
It must be those damn illusions again!
Raising her pistol up, Clementine prepares to fire and end this stupid mental image once and for all; not wanting to be tormented any further by the thought of her friends dying. Hasn't she already suffered enough?!
"FUCKING SHIT! OPEN UP!"
Looking behind her in fright, Lilly makes a split-second decision to run before Clementine has a chance to shoot her on the spot. Clem makes an attempt, but can't find the target as she narrowly misses hitting her head. Seemingly glued to the spot, Clementine bends down to look at Debbie – who's knocking on death's door as she draws her final breaths.
The light fades from her eyes as she glances towards Clementine one last time and nods – she's realized just how capable the twelve year old really was.
When the door opens again, Clementine is roughly shoved to the side as James cradles the woman he loved in his arms; sobbing while clutching Debbie close to his chest.
"Oh god… Debbie, sweetie? No… please don't… shit… fuck…" he mutters incoherently before giving a dark glare towards Clementine. "Who? Who was it?"
Shaking her head, the girl slowly backs up in fear of what the doctor might do. At this stage of grief, it'd be easy for him to go off at any moment, so Clementine puts a protective hand on her pistol just in case.
"I… I don't know," she half-lies, still unsure if that was just her mind screwing around with her or if that actually was Lilly standing there in the office. Either way, she's not going to admit to what she saw. "I just… found her like this, James. You've got to believe me…"
"DON'T YOU FUCKING LIE TO ME, CLEMENTINE!" he roars, an accusing finger jabbed in her direction as he continues to break down. "FUCK THAT! YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHO IT WAS, BUT YOU'RE JUST NOT TELLING ME! WHO THE FUCK WAS IT, HUH?! WHO?! WHO THE FUCK KILLED MY GIRLFRIEND?! WHO FUCKING KILLED DEBBIE?!"
"I… I don't…" she stammers, for once truly afraid of this man as she stands up in fear. When James doesn't move and continues to cradle his dead girlfriend, Clementine takes out the other pistol and carefully slides it across the floor at James' feet. At this, the man just sobs harder as he realizes what he needs to do next.
Without another word, Clementine exits the office and rushes down towards the spaceship area. Her bridges may be burned around here, but there are still two little kids that she's got an obligation to protect.
Lee would do the same for me, she thinks to herself, glancing at Bo once as he appears from the stairwell before opening the door.