Chapter 18: Lambs to the Slaughter

Chris's POV

I hissed in pain as Shel placed an icepack on the spot where Troy hit me.

"Jesus." I seethed.

"He got you good." Shel said.

"Yeah, he did."

Becca had come into the yard after Carver, Troy, and Tavia left. "I still can't believe Carver smacked you like that. Not even my dad would've done that." She told me, while I scoffed.

"Trust me when I tell you my father's done worse to me." I told her.

"Get some rest, Chris." Shel gently told me, and I nodded.

"I'll stay with him, Shel." Anne said, and I nodded, accepting her offer. She crawled into the bed with me.

I fell asleep. Anne had rested her head on my chest and also fell asleep.

/Later That Night\

I woke up to see Anne and Clem were over with Carlos, Mike and Luke with Shel and Bonnie, who were on the other side of the door, Becca and Jane over by the fence, and everyone else was around the fire.

"Ugh. Damn…" I muttered when I touched where Troy hit me, then stood up and walked over to Evonne. She looked at me and smiled.

"About fuckin' time you woke up." She joked.

"Thanks." I said as Anne walked over to me. I looked at her to see her looking at the spot where Troy hit me.

"Geez." She said simply.

"That bad, huh?" I asked.

She nodded and wrapped her arms around me, sniffling.

"It's okay, Annie. I'll be fine." I told her.

"I still can't believe your dad smacked you like that." Dylan said to me.

"Please, man. That piece of shit may hit hard as hell, but he's done worse to me." I scoffed.

Mike and Luke walked back over to us.

"What'd they say?" Bec asked.

"They said they can get us out of here if we can get the PA system going. Second they hear it, they'll run over and spring us." Mike said.

Bec smiled a little. "That's great."

"It's not great." Luke objected.

"What're you sayin', man? We can't stay here." I said.

Luke sighed. "Look, I know part of this is my fault… I was hungry, I got reckless tryin' to steal some food and I got caught."

Well, now we know how he got caught…

"We can't stay here!" Clem said.

"Exactly. We don't know how long Alvin's got before Bill just kills him. We have to leave now." Bec agreed.

Anne nodded. "Look at what he did to Kenny! We could be next!" She added.

I clenched both my fists as well as my teeth in anger. He will NOT get that chance!

"Look, I hear what y'all are saying, but it's risky."

The hell it is! It's risky if we stay here!

"It is pretty damn risky, guys." Nick said.

"Risky? You saw what he did to Kenny! I refuse to be next on that bastard I called a father's list." Tess said. "Look, the plan works. Nothing needs to change. It's all set up. The hard part is done. This guy's fucking crazy. Who knows what he'll do next." Mike agreed.

"He might aim at one of us next time, or worse…" Anne said.

"Yeah, but now we're dealing with a guy beat to shit, Sarita in no shape to do anything, Chris got smacked by both Carver and Troy, and I'm a goddamn mess." Luke said. He's right, he IS in pretty bad shape.

"Look, we should rest up, okay? We should bide our time, and we should wait for an opening." Luke said.

Is he being fuckin' serious?!

"Bonnie and Shel are agreeing to help us tonight." Mike said.

"And that doesn't mean they can't do it some OTHER night."

Nick sighed. "I don't know, guys… Luke's makin' sense. Maybe we should wait." He shrugged.

"We are NOT waiting." Tess insisted.

"Ain't nothin' out there, guys. Trust me, I've looked. There's no food, no supplies. They've picked everything clean. I'm just saying we gotta be sensible about this." Luke said.

"Dammit, Luke, this IS being sensible!" I snapped.

Clementine remained silent.

Carlos walked over to us. Sarita looked at him, as did we all, but she was still sobbing.

"This is what I'm talkin' about. We're in no shape to do anything right now…" Luke pointed out.

"How is he?" Anne asked.

Carlos's expression was grim. "His orbital is crushed… I don't think there's much hope for the eye… I got him as stable as I could, cleaned it, got some of the swelling down, bandaged it as best I could… but until he wakes up… we won't know if there's any damage to the brain."

"Fuck…" Mike muttered.

"Okay, look… maybe I'm just playing devil's advocate here, but if… damn it, if y'all are serious about going tonight, then we're gonna have to start talking about maybe… leaving some people behind." Luke sighed.

WHAT?!

"NO!" Sarita exclaimed.

"There is no other way." Luke said.

"What the hell do you mean 'no other way'?" Emily snapped.

"This is bullshit." Bec said.

"Well, I don't like it either, but guess what? It's where we're at." Luke said.

"Kenny, Chase, Dylan, and I are only here because of you people… and now you plan to leave us behind." Sarita said.

"So, we should risk all our lives?" Carlos inquired.

"What're you saying?" Bec asked, frowning at him.

"Nothing. I-I'm just thinking out loud here."

"We are NOT leaving Anne again." Chase said.

I smiled. Anne told me she thought of these two as brothers to her. I looked at Anne to see a smile on her face.

"Thanks, guys." She said to the brothers.

"No problem, Anne." Dylan said.

"No! We're not leaving Kenny!" Clem said. "That's not fair! We stay together!"

"Life ain't fair, Clem…" Luke said.

"So what?! Okay, that man is as much one of us as Clem! We ain't leavin' Kenny behind!" I snapped.

"Good… 'cause you won't have to."

Is that…?

We all looked past Carlos.

Kenny's awake! The swelling's gone down, and his eye is covered by a bloody bandage.

Sarita hugged him.

"I'm alright, hon." He assured her, then looked at us when they pulled away. "We leave tonight… plan don't change."

Nick smirked. "Not bad, old man."

Kenny also smirked. "Thanks, asshole."

Tess lightly punched Nick's shoulder.

"You are one tough bastard." Mike said.

"Do tough bastards get their ass kicked in front of everybody?" Kenny asked.

I chuckled. Nothin' stops this guy…

"If they do, then I'm a tough bastard, too." I said.

Clementine walked over to Kenny. He looked down at her. "You all right? That wasn't your fault, okay? So don't go blamin' yourself."

"I'm glad you're okay…" Clem said.

Kenny chuckled. "Me too… if you can call this okay."

I stayed quiet, remembering... that night. Emily walked over to me and pulled me close to her. I smiled and hugged her.

"All right… Well then, what now?" Luke asked.

"We get the hell outta here." Kenny replied.

"Like now, now?"

"Yes!" Bec and Tess said at the same time.

"Where are we goin'? In case things get squirrelly and we need to make a break for it, we need a place to meet up." Kenny said.

"We could meet out at Parker's Run." Mike suggested.

I rose an eyebrow. I ain't heard of a place called Parker's Run.

"The hell is that?" Kenny asked.

"A Civil War site a few miles north. Tourist trap. Got signs all over. Just follow the road."

Weird… I don't remember passing that place.

"Emily and I stopped there to rest one night when we left to find Chris and Anne. It ain't far from here." Tess said.

"We stopped there when we escaped the first time. Luke and Carlos know where it is. It's not that far." Bec said.

"Chris and I must've gone a different way, because we didn't see a place like that when we escaped." Anne said.

"Don't worry. We'll show ya where it's at." Luke assured her.

"Well, at least if a few folks know where it's at, it'll be easier to find if we're split up. All right, that works." Kenny said.

"Would you object to us coming with you guys?" Kate asked as she and Ashley walked over to us.

I looked at them and smiled. "Of course you can come with us." I said before anyone else could.

Kate and Ashley smiled. "Thanks, Chris." Ashley said.

I nodded.

"Then we just need someone to go set off that PA, right? I mean, you never to explain who's supposed to do that." Luke said.

Everyone's gaze slowly turned to Clementine. Luke widened his eyes when he caught on. "Wait, hold on. SHE'S the plan?" He asked.

"Why is it always me?" Clem muttered.

Poor kid… I don't blame her for saying that.

Anne walked over to Clem. "Tell ya what, Clem. I'll come with ya."

Clem's face had a look of surprise while Tess and I widened our eyes and looked at each other.

"You heard me." Anne said.

"Baby, I can't let you do that." I objected.

"He's right, Anne. It's too dangerous." Tess agreed.

Anne looked at me. "Guys, relax. My boyfriend ain't the only one who knows how to be sneaky. I'll be fine." She assured us, then handed me her guitar. "Hold onto this for me?"

I nodded and slung the guitar over my shoulder, next to mine. "You got it, baby."

She nodded and walked to the winch with Mike and Clem. I walked over to her as Clem got onto Mike's shoulders and pulled the rope down. "Hey, Anne."

She looked at me. "Hm?"

I kissed her on the cheek. "Good luck." I said.

She blushed a little, but smiled. "Thanks."

She then placed her foot in the hook with Clem and Mike started pulling them up.

"Be sure to remember to flip the switch for the outdoor speakers. Just the indoor speakers might not draw the herd. It's right on the microphone box." Bec explained.

"Right." Anne said.

"By default it's set to play music, so you should just have to turn it on, right? Then climb back up and drop into the skylight above the stockroom. We'll meet you there."

"Yeah. I got it." Clem said.

I looked at Anne. "Be careful, both of you." I said.

"'kay." Anne said.

"Clem, Anne! Make sure you bring Alvin." Bec requested.

Speaking of Alvin, I hope he's all right.

Anne's POV

Clem climbed to the roof first with me right behind her. We wasted no time and ran to the skylight above Carver's office.

As soon as we reached it, I saw Carver wasn't there.

Perfect…

We then opened it up, and made our way to the floor.

I looked in a chair not far from Carver's desk and my visible eye widened.

"Alvin! Clem, what happened to him?!" I asked, looking at the girl.

"Carver told me he did that when he talked to me last night." She replied as we walked over to him.

This is why Carver wanted to see him. His glasses were missing, not to mention he was covered in his own blood. And on top of that, he was unconscious.

I gently shook him to try and wake him, but it did no good.

"Alvin? Are- are you okay?" Clem asked. Again, no response.

We then walked over to Carver's desk when I saw the mic box behind the desk.

Bingo!

Clem hit the button for the outdoor speakers.

"Okay, now the mic…" I muttered, then turned the knob, but nothing happened.

"Wh- what's wrong?!" Clem hissed.

I looked at the CD player and pressed 'Play', but still nothing happened. "No, no, no, no, no…" I said, then opened the receiver to find no CD in it.

"Where are they?" Clem muttered. A second later, she handed me a CD. I took it, and placed it in the receiver, then pressed 'Play'.

"Come on, come on…" Clem muttered.

"Please, work." I muttered, then turned the knob to maximum volume and a female voice began to speak.

YES! WE DID IT!

I looked and saw Bonnie and Shel looking at us. They then ran to the fence and got to work letting the others out.

I then heard a clattering and saw Alvin was rummaging through Carver's desk.

"What… what did they do to you, Alvin?" Clem asked.

Alvin ignored her and kept digging until he found a small gun. "Carver talks all that tough gut shit… then keeps the tiniest gun in the universe… somethin' funny about that." He weakly joked.

I looked and saw Caver and a few guards, then saw Hank head our way.

"Can I have the gun?" Clem asked.

Alvin weakly laughed while coughing. "Jesu- Jesus, d- don't make me laugh… hurts too much. I ain't gonna let my last act on this earth be handin' a firearm to a child."

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"I ain't fit to move, girls. I've… I've run outta road."

A tear welled up in my eye. No…

"Let's- No, I'll-I'll just go up there and shut that thing off!" Hank shouted.

"You two gotta go. They'll be here any second." Alvin told us.

"Thank you." Clem choked out while a tear ran down my face.

"Alvin…" I said with a sad tone.

"Anne, go on. Tell Bec I'm sorry." He said.

I nodded sadly and ran to Clem. "You take care of my girls..." He said, making us look at him. "I get the feelin' that it's- it's gonna be a girl. Just a hunch."

Clem and I nodded and smiled sadly. As we climbed the lockers, Hank entered the room and aimed his gun at Alvin and pulled the trigger. Alvin gathered enough strength to shoot Hank, then died in the seat.

Clem and I closed our eyes, mourning for our friend, then climbed back to the roof. As we made our way to the stockroom, I looked out and saw the herd. Tavia came running up to the roof, but Clem and I ran so she wouldn't see us.

We then opened the skylight, and climbed down.

We then heard Carver's voice and saw he had the others at gunpoint.

"You wanna disrespect me, fine. You wanna throw away the life… I'm tryin' to build us all… then fuckin' fine!" He said.

You ain't buildin' a life here. You're building Hell on Earth!

Chris and Luke looked up and saw us. I placed a finger on my lip, telling them to stay quiet.

"You wanna run off with this dogshit group of crippled fucks, then fine! Be my guest. But I will put a bullet in you and that baby before I let you leave again with my child."

"It's not yours!" Bec snapped.

"Well, even if that were true, it's mine now!" Carver said, frowning, then looked at Chris, Tess and Emily. "And you three… I'm very disappointed in you."

"There was a chance for Coleen, and you refused to give it to her!" Emily shouted.

"She was infected! She would've put all of us in danger! And now, you're all gonna end up like Coleen!" Caver said.

"FUCK YOU, DAD!" Tess screamed.

"You watch your tone, young lady! I will not hesitate to-"

NOW!

Clem and I jumped and kicked him in the back, making him grunt in surprise. Kenny punched him in the face. Luke then snatched his rifle from him.

"Get back!" Luke ordered. Carver held his hands up in surrender as the others grabbed their weapons.

"Come on, Luke. This ain't none of your business." Carver said.

"Clem, Anne, where… Why isn't Alvin with you? Where is he?" Bec asked.

Clem looked away.

"I'm sorry, Bec." I said. Bec widened her eyes in horror before she shut them in sadness.

"Alvin…" She said.

"Bec, I am… oh god, I am so sorry." Luke said.

"Kill him." Bec ordered in hatred.

"Rebecca, Rebecca sweetie, my god. How did we get here, you and me? This is just a bit of a custody battle we got on our hands here." Carver said.

"Shoot him." Bec ordered.

"Just shoot him." Clem agreed, making Luke widen his eyes.

"What? No, I d…"

Luke got cut off by a gunshot to Carver's knee, resulting in the latter clutching his knee and groaning in pain. We all looked at Chris. He was the one who shot Carver. Glaring at his father, he then shot Carver in the other knee, crippling his father.

He then walked to a nearby crate and tightly gripped a crowbar. "Go on and wait outside." He said in a low voice.

Most of us reluctantly walked to the stockroom door.

"We have to go." Carlos said.

"Chris, please." Verity said.

"Come on, man." Patrick said as Mike opened the door.

"I only need a minute. Go on. You don't need to see this, Clem." Chris said.

"That girl's already seen more than you can imagine, boy…" Carver said.

"Shut your mouth, Bill." Luke said, then looked at all of us. "You're all just gonna let him do this?"

"Yes." Bec, Tess, and Emily said.

"There ain't one part of that son of a bitch I don't hate, but that does not make this right." Luke said.

"I'm not going anywhere." Clem said, making us look shocked.

"It's gonna get messy." Chris told her.

"I know." Clem said.

"Look at you… you fuckin' ingrates. You don't even know how good you got it. That's all right. You'll learn." Carver said.

I walked away with Sarah.

"Lambs to the slaughter. No shepherd to guide you. Clementine knows exactly what I'm talkin' about." Carver continued.

"How dare you compare yourself to her?!" Ashley screamed.

"Come on." Sarita said to Clementine.

"No." Clem defied.

"I'm not letting you see this." Sarita said, trying to pull Clem, but the girl pulled away.

"It's not your decision."

"Atta girl… she ain't afraid to look it in the eye. You go with that feelin' you got right now, Clementine. It's what makes you stronger than the rest of them." Carver said.

"Come on. Let's go." Carlos said to Sarita.

"Yeah, go on. Let the sheep out of the pen. We'll see how long that lasts." Carver said as Carlos looked at Bec.

"I'll be right there." She told him. Carlos then looked at Tess, Emily, and Kenny. "We're stayin' here." Tess said.

"You won't see anything." Chris said coldly.

"You really wanna do this to your own father? What would Vanessa think?" Carver asked with his stupid little smirk on his face.

He has the nerve to mention my boyfriend's mother like that?!

"She'll understand." Chris said.

Carver scoffed. "Should've put you out of your misery when you were born."

"Yeah, but you didn't. Now look at where we are, Bill." Chris said.

Carver turned to Bec. "The fuck are you looking at, bitch? Don't act like you didn't enjoy every second…" He started, before I heard the sound of metal hitting flesh. I then heard the same sound again and again.

Chris's POV

After I finished getting my revenge, I handed the crowbar to Kenny. "Let's go." I ordered.

We then walked out of the stockroom when I looked back and saw Tess hugging Carver's body. She looked like she was crying. I walked over to her.

"Tess, we gotta go." I said.

She nodded and I helped her to her feet. I noticed Anne's hunting knife and snatched it. Bec took out his revolver, then the three of us walked out of the community. Anne walked over to me.

"Baby?" She asked.

"I'm okay, Annie." I said, then handed her the knife. "Here." I said, then saw her eye had widened. She smiled and took the knife. I saw an axe on the ground and picked it up. "Nice." I thought aloud.

"Come on. We got enough to worry about." Kenny said.

"Man, we're never gonna make it through this." Nick said. Clearly, he's nervous.

"You kidding me? If Clem can handle it, you can." Luke said.

"Shit. I thought they were coming from the south." Kenny said.

"They did… looks like we're in the eye of it, now." Bec said.

"No shit." Jennifer said.

"Fuck… this is fucked." Mike hissed.

Luke handed Clem a hatchet. "Here. You're gonna need somethin'." He told her, then drew his machete.

"Thanks." Clem said.

A couple of walkers approached us. I swung my axe at one, killing it. Jane then cut one of them open.

"You guys better hurry up and get to smearing if you wanna live. Or you can die here… doesn't matter to me." She said.

Clem then sliced open the walker she killed.

"That's bloody disgusting." Rebecca said.

"We ain't got a choice, though." I pointed out.

"Good point." She said.

"I'll go first." I heard Clem say.

"You're gonna put that on yourself?" Sarah asked.

"Like my boyfriend said, we ain't got a choice." Anne told her. I smeared the guts on me.

God, this is so fucking nasty…

Once I covered myself, I looked at Anne. "Turn around, babe. I'll get your back." I said.

"Smells gross." Sarah said.

"No shit." Mike said.

"Everyone shut the fuck up and get covered." Jane said.

"It'll be okay, honey. Just stay still." Carlos whispered to Sarah.

"Are… are you sure?" Sarah asked.

"I'm sure. There's nothing to fear if you remain calm. I'll keep you safe."

I finished covering my girlfriend's back, then she turned to look at me. "Okay. Your turn." She said.

I nodded and turned around. I felt her hand rubbing my back with the guts and I held back a shudder of disgust.

"Hurry the fuck up." Jane said.

Well, someone's being impatient…

"Calm down, Jane." Evonne said.

"Turn around, I'll get your back." Carlos told Clem. The girl turned around and Carlos covered her back.

"We ain't got all day here, everybody ready? They're almost on us." Kenny said.

"What in the actual fuck is going on here?!"

Oh, come on…

Troy walked up to us. "What is this sick shit? Someone say something before I start-" He continued as Luke reached for the rifle. "HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY! Don't you even fucking think about it motherfucker. I will end you! You hear me?!"

"Troy." Jane said calmly. "Troy, we talked about this."

"What? The fuck you talkin' about?"

"I told you I wanted to get out. You said you'd help, then I'd help."

Walkers came up to us, and I held my breath, expecting to get eaten.

"I thought you meant get out of the pen! Not whatever the fuck this shit is!"

"I did, but now we can leave. Troy… you can come with us."

Walkers kept coming at us… and walked right past us! Holy shit, it's working! I released my breath quietly.

"What? Well… where would we go?"

"Away from here… together…" She said sweetly.

"Man, you smell really bad. You gotta get a bath before we-" Troy said, before Jane took his rifle and shot him right in his groin, resulting in him screaming.

"YOU SHOT MY DICK OFF!" He shouted.

Heh… serves ya right, douche bag…

"Nice one, Jane." I said, smirking.

"Thanks." She said then handed Bonnie the rifle. "Come on. Don't make any noise, got it? They might hear something they don't like. And for fuck's sake, WALK. Act like you belong and you will belong."

Easy for you to say…

We all then started walking slowly.

"We got this y'all…" Luke whispered as the gunfire continued. "Is that Tavia?"

I looked back and saw all the guards on the roof.

"Where's Bill? We need him up here." I heard one of them say.

Bill ain't comin' to y'all's rescue…

"Stay calm…" Jane whispered.

Sarah started whimpering.

"Shhh… we're gonna be okay." Carlos tried to soothe her.

"Don't run." Jane said.

"Watch Sarah." Nick whispered.

"Stay close, Becca." Shel whispered.

"We're gonna be fine, Ver." Patrick soothed.

"Not too loud, guys." Chase said.

"We'll make it." Jennifer said.

"Shhhh. Quiet, honey. Clementine, Anne, Chris, come help me! Calm her down. Please. Just say something. You're her friends." Carlos said before a bullet went flying into his neck.

NO!

"DAD!" Sarah shouted as Carlos got bitten in the neck.

CARLOS, NO!

"DAD! DADDDD!" Sarah screamed.

Walkers were making their way to us. Sarita stabbed one, Anne and I double-teamed one as Bonnie shot another.

"Sarah, get a hold of yourself!" Clem said. Sarah didn't answer. "Sarah did you-?" Before Clem could finish, Sarah took off.

"Clem, behind you!" I said as a walker approached her. She killed it, then dodged another, but it kept coming toward her. She killed it when we heard a scream.

SARITA!

Clem, Anne, and I made our way to Sarita to see a walker biting her.

Fuck! SHE'S BEEN BITTEN!

Clem raised her hatchet and started hacking into Sarita's arms.

"Oh my God!" Sarita cried.

Jesus Christ!

Another swing and Clem took off the arm. Sarita held her stump as blood gushed out of it.

She then let out a blood curdling scream.

That's chapter eighteen. I'm sorry it took so long to work on. Anyway, y'all know the procedure.