Guest: She almost did hit Lilly there :/ Things aren't going very well right now lol. And just for the last two chapters here, I think I'm gonna keep it on third person – there's a whole lot that I want to explore from the characters, so I don't think in this instance first person would be able to cover everything. If and when I do a sequel, though, it's back to first person as usual :D
ClemmyClue19: I can't tell you how much I enjoyed that dialogue option in the game lol. Yep, things are coming to a head here – Lilly killed Debbie, James doesn't know, Clementine isn't sure what she saw, etc. Thanks for reviewing!
VictoriaSW: We'll have to see about James, unfortunately :( And yeah, I didn't want the whole Lilly-Clem thing to be completely sunshine and rainbows at the start at least, you know?
Rebloxic: Oh you have no idea lol :D
Galen: Thanks bro! I'll keep that stuff in mind for this chapter!
Ashes2Ashes: Thank you so much :D And good, I'm glad you got a chance to play it! The Last of Us is a really awesome game – I kind of just wish it could've been longer lol.
Okay, that's everyone I think. Unfortunately I think this is going to be the second or third-last chapter for this story, unless I can think of something else to add on to it, but most likely there's only gonna be a couple more chapter after this. It's been awesome writing this thing, guys, you have no idea. This series has turned out to be my favourite by far, and I know that I've asked before, but would you guys be interested in seeing a third addition? Orrrrr should I just add another story onto this one? That way people don't have to keep switching back and forth like they had to before. Anyways, just an idea.
…
The human body is made up of millions – if not billions – of tiny, microscopic cells all working together to achieve a common goal: life. There are cells for your brain, for your heart, your lungs, everything. All circulating around every second so that you don't collapse and stop functioning altogether. There are red blood cells for transferring oxygen through the blood stream to the rest of your body, white blood cells used to fight off normal infection, palates… hell, there are even cells that work for your nervous system; sending signals to your brain to let you know when you're comfortable, sad, under duress or even intense pain.
James wonders just how well Debbie's nervous system was working when she was murdered by whatever animal did this to her.
He knows Clementine was lying… most likely either trying to cover for someone or to try and spare his feelings; as if that would actually help somehow. There was no doubt about it – you could see the shock and hesitation in her eyes.
I don't know, James! I swear, she was like this when I found her! You have to believe me!
What a load of bullshit.
The tear-filled sobs escaping his esophagus have made his throat incredibly hoarse and dry, but they have stopped completely now. He's now devoid of any emotion except possibly confusion, but he isn't entirely sure. James can't understand why this had to happen. God damn it, if she had waited for just five minutes for him to follow her inside then… but it doesn't exactly matter now, does it? Debbie's gone from his life, just as everyone else had left him – far too soon.
This shouldn't have been her time. It should've been his… He'd done so much wrong in the past couple of years that James should've been put down again and again – once for every life he'd destroyed. Debbie wasn't on board with the project straight away; nobody was at first, really. James, like all the others, had to convince her. He had to prove that this was the only option for saving what was left of humanity, and that no good could come around sitting on their asses and waiting for a cure to fly in that wasn't being created. People hadn't changed out there – just like before the dead rose, all they ever cared about were themselves. If people truly cared about what happened to each other, then diseases would be far less prevalent, and maybe this whole mess would've been sorted out before it even began.
But no – just like in history, they need to look out for number one.
Maybe James should just cave in and do the same.
He doesn't tear his gaze away from his dead girlfriend when he hears Bo enter the room; quietly shuffling inside as he shuts the door behind him. As far as James is concerned, it's just him and Debbie who are still here – Bo doesn't even begin to exist in his world. He doesn't register the guy as any more than a distraction meant to tear him away from his loved ones.
Still though, he persists.
"James…" he says quietly, tapping the doctor on the shoulder lightly a couple of times. When he doesn't immediately respond, the watchman grows slightly worried. Usually this kind of behaviour isn't reserved for him – James doesn't break that easily. "James, we've gotta go. They're inside the launch pad, and if they manage to get in deeper…"
"Let them do what they want."
Flabbergasted, Bo walks around the hate-filled doctor until he's bent down right in front of the guy on one knee. This isn't the same man that he met over a year ago. That one's gone, replaced by this stranger that he's never met before.
"You don't mean that," Bo refuses firmly, unable to accept that he'd give up so easily. "That's your work in there – the stuff that's gonna save lives someday! You can't just give it up because of this! Think about everyone that you'll – "
BAM!
Bo's words fall on deaf ears as James puts the pistol calmly back onto the floor; staring at Debbie with a fresh bullet hole oozing out blood onto her face. The eerie stillness of her body sends shivers down Bo's spine as he loses his balance and sits down on the floor.
"People haven't changed a bit," James sighs venomously, gently setting his girlfriend onto the floor as he crosses his legs. There's a whole mess of blood staining his old, white lab coat; making him seem more like a mad doctor than the man he truly is. "Out there, it's every man, woman and child for themselves. They're like a pack of wild dogs, Bo – they'll fight each other to the tooth and nail to get and take what they want. Why should we bother trying to save people?"
"Because they would do the same for you, if they were in your shoes."
"Ha! Lies! You're just like them, Bo!" the doctor laughs mirthlessly, stretching his head back to the ceiling as he shakes his head.
Frowning deeply, Bo picks the pistol up off the floor; wondering just where he got this from but not really paying it much mind. Clearly there are more important things to worry about right now, such as his friend's sanity after this traumatic event.
If nothing else good can come of this, saving James from himself might be the best that Bo can do.
"You don't have to go through it alone," he tries to reassure, trying to hold back his pensiveness as James shoots him a dark glare. "Look, there are people in there that are gonna destroy everything we've – you have – worked so hard for. Sitting in here isn't gonna change any of that! You have to believe me!"
"Look at her."
"James, this isn't…"
"FUCKING LOOK AT DEBBIE, BO!" James roars, his eyes bloodshot behind his pair of glasses as he slams his fist and dangerously points to the corpse on the floor. "Now tell me, friend – what do you see there? Go ahead, be honest with me, Bo. I can handle it."
Feeling that he should probably go ahead in case James decides to get violent, Bo regrettably glances over at the body; trying to hold himself together as he looks at the damage. This is a gruesome scene, indeed, and Bo finds himself not wanting to look at her for more than a few seconds without letting a shaky sigh erupt within his chest.
Turning back towards the broken shell of a man, Bo shrugs his shoulders. "What the hell do you want me to say? I know you two were close, James, but she was my friend too!"
"My Debbie was butchered like an animal for slaughter," he snarls, not registering Bo's words as he spits fire from his tongue. "People have been doing this for centuries, regardless of the circumstances. People, Bo – as in the ones that we've been trying so hard to save! If they can do this to each other, then what the hell is the purpose? No cure would be able to save her from being brutally murdered… No, if people aren't changing, then… maybe our species was meant to die off like this. Maybe this is nature's way of bringing balance to this world."
Bo is about to come back with a reply, but the sound of someone groaning in pain can be heard from out in the hallway; causing both of their heads to swing in that direction.
"Go… just… go check it out…" James tells him pitifully, staring at the tiled floor as he wallows in his misery. "I… I need to say goodbye anyhow…"
Quickly getting up and exiting the room, Bo shuts the door behind him as James continues to sit there; unmoving and uncaring if the whole building collapsed on top of them at any given moment. It'd crush them, obviously, but at least it would alleviate the pain that he feels in his soul. This burning, aching gap has been re-opened once again… not having done so since Heather died so long ago.
As he clutches Debbie's cold hand one last time, James tilts his head to the side in curiosity. On the floor a few feet away from him is a syringe; mostly empty save for a few droplets that have spilled onto the floor beside it.
…
Huff… puff…
With each step she takes forward, Lilly finds it increasingly difficult to stay focused and stand upright. Could it be the fact that Jane's hiding behind one of the worktables; desperately trying to avoid the gunfire coming towards her? Is it that Derek's on the floor in the other room, making a valiant (but ultimately fruitless) attempt to crawl away after getting shot in the stomach multiple times? Or is it maybe because Clementine, coming completely out of nowhere, tried to kill her after all the shit that she and Jane had put her through?
No – while those things are wracking her brain harder than you'd ever believe, it's not actually that stuff that's taking its toll on her mind.
Fucking morphine, Lilly thinks to herself with a grimace, holding herself along the wall as she enters the room with nobody else noticing yet. That fucker drugged me!
With her face and arms still bleeding from the encounter beforehand, and everything starting to feel all numb and disoriented, Lilly coughs before making her way further inside. There's a damn rocket ship in here, which she definitely didn't expect to find, but what really startles her is the fact that there are two little girls hiding behind a pile of broken electronic equipment; trying to look threatening to her but failing to do so.
Her head's getting increasingly fuzzy, but she can at least tell that one's got red hair and the other's got black hair. The faces are pretty distorted though.
She really wants to say something, but it's almost as if her voice has suddenly vanished somewhere. Lilly can't talk at all, perhaps as a side effect of the drug, but she pays it no mind as she turns her attention back towards the fighting. Jane's had to duck on numerous occasions to stop from getting hit in the skull, but Lorna's so distracted that she doesn't even notice Lilly coming up on the side.
Being in no condition to shoot a gun or inflict (or receive) any damage, Lilly decides that her best course of action would be to get to Derek. If there's a chance that he can be saved, then she's at least willing to make an attempt.
Even though he's still an asshole in her books.
Brushing past the two kids, Lilly struggles to make her way towards the doorway where Derek is; glancing at Lorna as she tries to reload behind a control panel for the rocket. She seems to realize what a disadvantage this is gonna put her in, so she too races to the back room using an alternate entry point.
"You know how to put up a fight, I'll give you that much!" Lorna shouts to Jane, catching her breath as she tries to ignore the pain of a bullet scraping by her arm. "It don't have to go down like this, Jane! We can just drop our guns and go our separate ways!"
Whatever snarky reply Jane probably came up with, Lilly doesn't hear it as she stumbles next to Derek; sprawled out on the floor like a starfish as he grunts in agony.
"Get… out of here…" he groans, shooing Lilly away in the hopes that she won't succumb to the same fate as him. "You have… to hide…"
Rolling over onto his back, Derek gasps as the bullet wounds stretch outwards painfully. Lilly can tell that he's under enormous stress, but he still manages to pull off a small smirk as Lilly reluctantly does as he says. She's getting woozier with each passing second, but she manages to catch one last glimpse of the guy before her eyes start to close. She's out of Lorna's view, thankfully, but Derek's definitely not.
Pulling off one last smile in the hopes that things might end up better down here, Derek lets out a content sigh before Lorna puts a cartridge into his brain.
Lilly, unable to hold on any longer, passes out onto the floor with her legs sticking out into view.
….
With that last blast from the other room, Jane knows that the guy's dead. She wasn't fast enough, and now he's gone… She let him down, and she damn well knows it. If she had just shot Lorna when she had the chance so many times beforehand, then Derek would still be alive and they could've escaped – all three of them, together.
Instead, there's yet another body painted in red at this place. Another death, and another statistic.
How did it come to this?
Her breathing has become agitated and difficult as the shakes start to come. Her fingers are trembling as she holds the pistol in her hands; pulling the slot back to make sure that she's got enough bullets. Three left… all it takes is one to the head for Lorna to go down, but Jane's still not liking her chances this time around.
Suddenly, something dashes by as she sticks her head up. It was almost a blur with how quickly it was trying to get to the two kids over near the wall, and once the person slows down Jane can hardly believe her eyes. Two pigtails tied back, that same poncho she's been wearing for months, that blue and white baseball cap…
"Clem?!" she gasps, causing the girl to turn her head almost robotically. Something's wrong in her eyes… very, very wrong. There's no longer that warm, pleasant glow that she had gotten used to back when they were safe at Houston Hills. The smile she'd occasionally have is gone and replaced by a look of mistrust, confusion and danger. "Wh-what the hell are you doing here?!"
Clementine, seemingly just realizing that someone's called out to her, spreads her arms out against the two kids and pins them behind her against the wall; seemingly trying to protect them. But… protect them from her?! Why?! Why would she have to do something like that? Doesn't she know that all Jane wants to do is help?!
"Get out…" Clementine snarls lowly, pulling out a pistol and sending a round to whiz right into Jane's arm. She topples over and falls to the floor in excruciating pain. "You… you're not real! Neither of you! GO AWAY! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I WON'T LET YOU WIN! YOU'RE ALL DEAD! NOW GET OUT AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"Oh my… god…" Jane hisses as she clutches at her left arm tightly; trying to put some pressure on the wound as she looks up at Clem from the floor. What the hell happened to her? They were on the same side – they still are supposed to be! Why would she possibly be acting this way?!
None of this makes sense, but Jane's face contorts into a scowl when she sees Lorna approach the trio dangerously.
"Thanks for helping out, I suppose," she shrugs, also trying to wave off the pain as her arm hangs loosely at her side. "It was supposed to be me though, darling, but I'll let it slide. Sounded like you two had quite the history together, didn't y'all?"
Silently crawling forward, Jane's blood drips onto the floor and is smeared underneath her as she tries to make her way over to Clementine. This can't be what it's come to – she won't believe it for a second. Something's wrong with the young girl, and it's probably something that happened after they left her at Houston Hills. Honestly, at one point Jane thought the girl was a goner.
Yet here she is, standing tall and trying to face up to Lorna in the middle of all this. Jane was right… that kid's gonna outlast them all.
"Still fightin', eh?" Lorna mocks, chuckling bitterly as she looks upon Jane with disdain. "That's a pity, lassie. You know, out of everyone at that camp, you and your partner were the only ones who I knew could make it. Like I told y'all before – we're survivors. We did what was necessary."
Clementine tries multiple times to shoot Lorna right in the face and get this over with, but her gun chamber's empty and all that can be heard are the clicking sounds. Seeing this, Lorna takes her pistol and smacks her hard with it right across the forehead; sending a deep gash onto her as the kids gasp and Jane's eyes widen with rage.
"That's for steppin' out of line, missy! Don't let me catch you like that again!" the cruel woman snaps, kicking Clementine roughly in the stomach as she helplessly tries to fight back. The only thing Clem can do, however, is weakly put her tiny hand on top of Lorna's boot.
Flicking the kid's fingers off of her, Lorna smirks and looks back and forth between the two.
"Now I see the resemblance," she remarks, the connection clicking as she nods her head. "Y'all were together at one point, weren't ya? Makes sense – the lot of ya fight with your last breath to the very end. Even Lilly did, at least until she caved in too."
Suddenly, everything goes black as Jane hears those words. Lilly what?! She… she couldn't be…
"Where?!" Jane demands, her voice full of malice as she speaks in a tone that she's never felt before.
Chuckling, Lorna steps to the side as she finally sees – Lilly, eyes closed and lying dormant in the corner. At this angle, it almost certainly seems like she's…
"…no…" Jane mutters, angry tears pricking at her senses as the pain in her arm seems less intense than it was before. There's so much raw emotion prickling inside of her very being that everything else is starting to feel obsolete. Clementine's going to die, those kids are going to die, and the love of her short life is dead.
Balling her hands into fists, Jane growls uncharacteristically as she tries to stand.
"Having another go, are we?" Lorna taunts, readying her weapon as she aims it shakily towards Jane. This could very well be it. "I'm sorry it had to come to this, pup, I really am. But you know the score – the strongest survive, while the weak have to be killed off. Such a shame that this time it's you."
"I'll fucking…" Jane snaps, unable to even comprehend her own words right now. She's so incredibly distraught that everything else has become a blur. Her target tsks before shaking her head and aiming the gun at Jane's head.
"You'll thank me for putting you out of your misery," she states, calmly squeezing her finger as the bullet zooms through the air.
…unfortunately for her, it misses the target completely, as she grunts from the little switchblade being put into her hip.
The little redhead just saved Jane's life.
Wasting no time, Jane charges forward and slams herself into Lorna; physically lifting her up and crashing with her through a glass window into the room where Derek and Lilly lay motionless. Lorna manages to kick Jane in the side of the head, but the feisty woman immediately shakes it off and lands a punch right in her bad arm.
"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Jane screeches as she knees Lorna in the gut, pulling out her knife but unfortunately tripping over Derek in the process. The blade falls a little bit out of reach and gives Lorna enough time to shove Jane roughly into the wall; hitting some big screen in the meeting room and cracking it in various places.
"JUST… DIE!" Lorna bites back, trying to choke the woman to death as she grips her throat violently. At this point, both women have completely lost their minds trying to kill each other – the hatred for one another has never been as fueled as it is at this very moment. With a swift kick to Lorna's injured leg, Jane manages to break free and scramble towards her knife.
Just barely avoiding the last of Lorna's rounds, Jane dives over to her hunting knife and hides it at her side; hoping that by all accounts the crazed woman won't have noticed it.
Thankfully, Lorna, in a last ditch attempt to end this once and for all, rushes forward and punches Jane right in the nose.
Why is this good, you ask?
It's good because that's given Jane just the opening she needs.
"WRAAAAGGGGHHHH!" Jane bellows, driving her knife right into Lorna's chest cavity; causing her to violently cough and sink to her knees as blood starts spraying onto the floor. Not satisfied, Jane stabs her again, and again, and again, and again… ten times in the chest until she lays there in a pile of her own blood.
The girl's not finished yet, though.
Yanking the knife out of her chest, Jane drives it right into her forehead multiple times; each one more venomously than the last. Her hands are completely drenched in blood at this point, and she's so furious that she doesn't even feel her fingers dislocate after attacking her for so long.
"FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!" Jane belts out, only stopping when the once purple pants-wearing, Boston accented, vengeful, power-hungry Lorna is nothing more than a bloody, gory, disgusting mess that's practically been implanted into the floor. She reminds Jane so much of Carver that it disgusts her.
Tossing the blade aside, Jane lies on her back and sobs. Loudly. She's distraught over the fact that her whole life is in tatters, that everything the three of them have worked so hard for is now gone in an instant, and that she doesn't know if she has the willpower to go on after this. Coming here was a complete and utter mistake, and it's cost them everything.
That's not what scares her the most, however.
No, the thing that terrifies Jane – shakes her to the core, holds on for dear life and never lets go…
…is the fact that right here in this room, she's become the one thing that she wanted to avoid at all costs.
She's become like Kenny and Carver.