Hey, guys. I'm back with the next chapter. So, real quick. This is a reply to the review of Jackie the fox, who asked for permission to post this fanfic on Wattpad. I appreciate you asking for permission, first, but I'm afraid the answer has to be no. Thanks, for asking me first, all the same. So, other than that, please enjoy.
(Summer, several months ago)
Clem was asleep in her room. She wore a grey and red-striped tank top, and blue boxers. She was the only kid who had an entire dorm room to herself in the boarding school. The door to her room creaked open, then closed. Someone, or something had entered, and crept quietly to the edge of her bed. The shadow crept on top of her, hissed, then bit down on the edge of her neck.
Clem shot up awake, pushed the figure off her bed, and grabbed her switchblade, from underneath her pillow. Clem pointed to the figure, who was giggling. Clem couldn't believe her eyes at who it was.
"Angel?" she asked.
Angel was a female snow leopard, around a year older than Clem, seventeen. She had grey fur, dark spots, and sapphire blue eyes. Angel wore a grey v-neck t-shirt, a navy blue denim, short sleeved jacket, jeans, and carried a red backpack on her.
"Ow. I landed on my hip." Angel giggled, stood up, and rubbed the sore spot on her back.
"What the heck? I thought I was bitten." Clem said, rubbing her neck.
"I know. It was pretty awesome." said Angel. "You're not gonna kill me, are ya?" Angel pointed to Clem's knife.
"I haven't seen you... in I don't even know how long." Clem said, putting away her knife.
"Forty-five days. Well, forty-six. Technically." said Angel, matter-of-factly. "Wanna know what I've been up to?"
"All this time... I thought you were dead." Clem said, still amazed by her best friend's sudden reappearance.
"Yeah." Angel said, looking a little guilty. "Here."
Angel took off a necklace around her neck, and gave it to Clem. It was a dog tag, with Angel's full name, and a military number.
'Angel Growley'
'000129'
On the back of the pendant was the Firefly symbol.
"No way. You're a Firefly." Clem said, amazed again.
Angel nodded, smirking, before looking around the room.
"Still no roommate?" Angel said, noticing the empty bunkbed above Clem's bed. "I had to sleep under Liz for three years, and you know how bad that skunk girl smelled."
Angel then noticed the last taken photo of Angel and Clem, hanging on a bulletin board. Angel took it to look at it better.
"You still have it up." said Angel, then noticed Clem looking out the door. "What're you doing?"
"Making sure I don't get caught with a Firefly in my room." Clem stated, closing the door behind her.
"Relax. There're no soldiers on the entire floor." said Angel.
"Here. Congrats." Clem said, handing back the pendant.
"Hey." Angel said, noticing Clem's changed mood. "Are we cool, now?"
Clem scoffed, disbelievingly. "Are we cool?"
"I disappear, you're mad, AND I owe you an explanation." said Angel. "Let's get outta here, and I'll tell you all about it."
"It's almost morning, and I have military drills. Y'know, how we learn how to kill Fireflies?" said Clem, sarcastically.
Angel just threw Clem a pair of jeans. "Put some pants on, and let's go." she stated.
"This is so dumb." Clem muttered, putting on her pants, and grabbing her backpack.
"C'mon, Clementine." Angel smirked. "When have we ever gotten into any trouble?"
...
(Autumn, Present Day)
Judy was frantically searching the drawers for something.
"Shit. C'mon, give me something. Fuck!" Judy grunted, in frustration.
"Oh, here we go." Judy sighed, with relief.
Taking a roll of duct tape, she rushed to Nick's side, who was lying on a medical sled. Judy and Clem rolled Nick carefully onto his side. Pulling up his shirt and coat, they could see where the rebar left the wound.
"Oh, my God." Judy whispered, worried for the state of her friend.
Clem draped her old red shirt over the wound, while Judy taped it on, to slow the bleeding.
"Okay, that should buy us time." said Judy, pulling Nick's shirt and coat back down. "I'm gonna find something to stitch up the wound."
"I'm coming with you, Jude." said Clem.
"No, Clem. It'll be faster if I went, alone." said Judy.
"If I come help, it'll be even more faster." stated Clem.
"Fine, but you follow what I say, when I say it." said Judy.
Clem nodded. "Danny, you and the ostriches keep an eye on him."
"We ain't going anywhere." said Danny, who was sitting by the ostriches.
Judy and Clem hurried towards the garage door. Judy opened the door, and she and Clem headed out, before they turned around to face Nick and Danny.
"We'll be back in a flash." said Judy.
"Promise." Clem whispered, before Judy slammed the door.
Judy locked the garage door with a padlock. Clem used her switchblade for the key.
"Alright. We totally got this." said Clem. "Alright, Jude. Now, where do we go?"
"Let's try looking for a pharmacy. We'll start on the second floor." said Judy.
Judy and Clem walked up the escalator, which stopped running a long time ago, and towards the second floor. The group had found shelter in an abandoned shopping mall, which once served as a military compound and medical center. The early snow had started to fall, as it also made it's way inside the mall, through the broken holes in the roof, and the broken doors and windows.
Looking towards the right, Judy and Clem found the pharmacy. They immediately searched the shelves, but found nothing for stitches. Nothing but empty pill bottles, sponges, and magazines. There were some alcohol and cloth they could use to craft disinfectant bandages, but not what Nick's wound needed, for now. That's when Judy found a large first-aid kit on the other side of an office door through the window, but the door was locked.
"I don't think you're switchblade's gonna unlock this lock, Clem." said Judy. "So, how the heck are we gonna get inside?"
"Jude, look. The pharmacist. Maybe, he's got the key." Clem said, handing Judy a note.
The note read, "The pharmacist went crazy, and tried to attack me. I knocked him out, and locked him in the American Princess store, next door. The combination is 30-35-3."
"Alright, let's check there." said Judy.
The two exited the pharmacy, and towards the locked door of the American Princess toy store. Judy threw on her gas mask, just in case of spores, while Clem, needn't worry with her immunity to the virus. After getting the right combination, Clem opened the door, and the duo slowly crept inside, switching on their flashlights.
Looking around the spore-infested, Night-Howler covered store, they found the body of the Howler-turned cougar pharmacist. Judy carefully searched his coat pockets, until she found the key. Judy also happened to have found a picture of the cougar and his girlfriend, a lioness. The photo had somehow filled Judy with a sadness in her chest.
The body of the cougar, upon moved and touched, limped a little forward, which startled Judy and Clem. Once collecting their cool again, they started to dart out of the store, but stopped once the sound of a hare Howler came from outside. The duo waited quietly, until the Howler passed, and Clem ambushed the Savage, taking it out with her switchblade.
The duo proceeded back into the pharmacy, safe for Judy to take off her mask, again. Judy unlocked the door, and they rushed to the med-kit. However, upon opening it, they found it was empty.
"What?! No!" Judy grunted, kicking the empty kit away.
"Wait, Judy! Look!"
Clem pointed to another open window, where a military medical helicopter had crashed through the roof long ago, and was hanging above the ground, from the second floor.
"Now that's something you don't see everyday." said Judy.
"But, it could be our best bet, for finding supplies." said Clem.
"Right, let's go." said Judy, as she and Clem hopped through the open window.
"Hang in there, Nick." Clem whispered.
Judy and Clem took a shortcut through a salon on the right. In the salon, they found the remains of a badger soldier right by another open window. Next to the skeletal remains was a small first-aid kit, and a note. The kit just had bandages, but no stitches. Judy still brought it with them, then picked up the note.
"Looks like these guys came from the Denver QZ. At least that explains the helicopter." said Judy, reading the note. "Looks like there were four of them on a rescue mission, but the sole survivor was infected, via spores. In the chaos, they crashed, killing the Savage, and the pilot. One of the soldiers was bit, so they had to put him down, too. I'm guessing this is him."
"Poor guys." said Clem. "I don't always agree with how they run, but they have kept people safe."
"I always thought so, too. Despite being a Firefly, I wanted to be an officer of the law, someday." said Judy. "We live in such a complicated time."
The duo headed out of the salon, and down a flight of stairs, towards the helicopter. The rest of the stairs were blocked by rubble, so they decided to hop the railing. Thankfully, it wasn't that big a drop.
"Here we go." said Clem, as she jumped after Judy...
...
"Hurry! This way!"
Clem and Angel jumped into the window of an abandoned building, just before the headlights of a military truck passed by.
"Sorry about that. Kinda jumpy, lately." said Angel, as she and Clem caught their breath.
"You're pretty fast, there. I'm kinda impressed. Well, follow me." Angel said, as she and Clem headed down a hallway.
The two teens began climbing up the top floor of the apartment building, having to cut across one apartment to advance up. Clem found the Firefly symbol painted on the wall.
"So, have you found the light, yet?" Clem joked.
"Oh, har, har." Angel said, sarcastically.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend your kind." Clem joked, again. "So, what? You buy into this, now?"
"All I know is that I'm not a soldier." said Angel.
"Speaking of the Fireflies, how did you find them?" asked Clem.
"Well, you remember that grizzly bear Firefly you bit, then stole his gun?" asked Angel.
"Yeah, I remember him." said Clem.
"That's Trevor. I saw him going down this alley, so I tailed his tail. I followed him straight to the end of the alley, when these other Fireflies ambushed me. They took me straight to their hideout. Right to Dawn." Angel explained.
"Were you scared?" asked Clem.
"Terrified." said Angel. "I thought for sure that she was gonna shoot me, but then she said, 'What took you so long?'. She was expecting me."
"So, then she just made you a Firefly?" asked Clem.
"Something like that." said Angel. "So, who do you hang out with, these days?"
"I dunno. No one, really." said Clem.
"What about Tino, and the rest of the guys?" asked Angel.
"Angel, those are your friends." said Clem.
"But, you talk to them." said Angel.
"Yeah." said Clem.
"Attention! We are pleased to report that the quarantine zone has been free of Night Howler infection for thirty days." Clem and Angel could hear the loud speaker announcing outside.
"Thirty days, my tail." muttered Angel. "Mammals get infected all the time. They just do a good job of hiding it."
"You've run into more Savages?" asked Clem.
"As part of my initiation, they made me shoot this..." Angel trailed off, the unpleasant memory slowly working it's way into her mind. "You know, let's talk about something else."
The duo reached the top floor of the complex, and jumped out of an open window, back onto an open roof.
"Oh, snap. Get down." Angel whispered.
Angel and Clem hid behind the railing of the roof, as a military truck drove by.
"Okay, coast is clear." said Angel.
The duo continued across a wooden board, and onto the roof of the mall, which was off-limits, due to Savages. Of course, there hasn't been Savages sighted in that area for a while.
"Hey, so maybe I should join the Fireflies." said Clem.
"Clem, that was the first thing I asked Dawn, but she wants you safe at that stupid school. I'm not even supposed to come see you." said Angel.
"Why does she care?" asked Clem.
"She's worried that I'll get you into trouble." said Angel.
"Well, I can get into trouble, and out of it, just well on my own." Clem smirked.
"You know, Dawn talks about you. She said you remind her of your mother." said Angel.
"Really?" said Clem, as she and Angel jumped down into the mall, via the open roof window.
"Say, remember when I first brought you here?" Angel asked, as they walked down the powerless escalator.
"What're we doing here, Angel?" asked Clem, when they reached the ground floor.
"I have a surprise for you." Angel grinned.
"What is it?" asked Clem.
"You'll just have to wait and see." said Angel.
"Okay." said Clem, who turned her attention to some billboards on the walls.
"Hey, you still saving up for that vacation?" Clem asked, pointing to a picture of a beach.
"Every penny. You?" said Angel.
"Every penny." said Clem.
"What is it that we voted on doing first?" asked Angel.
"Uh, surfing in L.A." said Clem.
"Yep. Surfing in L.A." said Angel.
"Y'know, I almost got them back." Clem said, pointing to a picture of two water guns.
"Our water guns? Bullshit." said Angel. "You telling me Corporal Dickhead just gave them back to you?"
"Of course not. I snuck into his office. I had them in the palm of my paws, Angel." said Clem.
"But, your tail got caught." said Angel, matter-of-factly.
"But, my tail got caught." Clem admitted.
"What'd he do to you?" asked Angel.
"Cleaning duty. Scrubbing bathrooms for two weeks." said Clem.
"Oh, Clem. I keep telling you to just give up on them." said Angel.
"They will be mine, again." said Clem.
The duo climbed down to another lower level of the mall, right next to a military tent. The tent belonged to the one wolf soldier Clem and Angel considered a friend, Wolford. Well, used to belong to.
"I can't believe Wolford's gone." Angel said, sadly.
"You heard?" Clem asked.
"What exactly happened?" asked Angel.
"They say he just fell off his ostrich. Had a heart attack, or something." said Clem.
"Geez. Well, how many mammals do you know that have been killed from natural causes in this world?" asked Angel.
"Not a lot." said Clem.
"Exactly. What do you think happened to Princess?" Angel asked, pointing to the ostrich saddle, lying on a bench.
"I assume after what happened to Wolford, they just took her." said Clem. "Poor bird. She's probably out there scared, and alone."
"Come on. Let's see what Wolford left us." Angel said, heading into the tent.
Inside, Angel was checking through a crate, while Clem found a picture of Wolford on his desk. Wolford had grey and white fur, and blue eyes. He was wearing a blue ZPD t-shirt, and blue jeans. In his paw, was a hunting rifle.
"What? Is this Wolford?" Clem grinned. "Man, guy used to be handsome."
"Here we go." Angel grinned, holding up a bottle of bourbon.
"Want some?" Angel asked Clem.
"Nah, I'm good." said Clem.
"More for me. Cheers, Wolford." Angel said, taking a sip from the bottle. "Whoo! That's strong."
The duo left the tent, and continued down the hallway, stopping at a caved-in pile of rubble, blocking the way.
"Here, we can use this." Angel pointed to a metal bar, which she and Clem used to pull up some of the rubble.
"Always feels like we're gonna get crushed, going through here." said Clem, as they placed the bar on a rock, balancing the rubble.
"It's okay. I'll go first." said Angel.
Just then, the girls backed away as the metal bar broke under the weight of the rubble, blocking the way further.
"On second thought, how about we find another way around?" Angel grinned, nervously.
"Um, how about over there?" Clem pointed to the halloween decoration store.
Clem went to open the doors, only to find they were locked.
"Hm. The window's open. So, I'll boost you up, and you unlock it." said Clem, getting into position.
"Nice. Good call." Angel said, as Clem boosted her up and over the window.
"Well, see anything?" Clem called to her friend, but got no answer. "Angel?"
The door opened, and Clem walked inside, switching on her flashlight. Suddenly, Angel came charging at Clem, startling her, wearing a scary clown mask. Angel laughed at her friend's reaction.
"You dick! That's two times today!" Clem shouted, lightly pushing Angel aside.
"Sorry, couldn't resist." Angel giggled. "Oh, here. I got the perfect mask for you."
Angel brought Clem to one of the shelves, and handed Clem a werewolf mask.
"Really, werewolf?" Clem gave a sarcastic look.
"Come on, try it." Angel insisted.
Clem finally put on the mask.
"Oh, yeah. Now, roar." said Angel.
"Roar." Clem sighed, clearly not feeling it.
"Clem, really? Freaking roar!" said Angel.
Clem decided to play along, and added more oomph to her roar. "RRRROOOOOWWWRR!
"Yeah! There she is!" said Angel. "Now, let's see what else this place has."
The girls looked around, trying on several other different masks. They also looked at various gross-out toys, like a jar of fake eyeballs, or Skele-seer, a magic eight ball, in the shape of a skull.
After touring the store, they exited to the back door, and out onto another balcony. Just below them were two cars, one red, and one blue.
"Hey, Clem. I got an idea for a game." said Angel, picking up a brick. "See those cars? We throw bricks at the windows. Whoever breaks them all, wins. You're red, and I'm blue. Loser has to answer a question. No sarcasm?"
"What is this? Truth-or-truth?" Clem scoffed. "Alright, fool. You're on. Gotta warn ya, I'm the brick master."
Clem and Angel began chucking bricks at the cars, smashing against the windows. Angel had good aim, but Clem had more speed. Sure enough, Clem had broken all the windows on her car.
"Oh, yeah! Brick! Freaking! Master!" Clem shouted, victoriously.
"My car had tougher windows." Angel stated.
"Whatever, loser. Question time." said Clem.
"I'm scared." said Angel.
"Okay, so... Before you left, why did you lash out at me?" asked Clem.
"I was in a weird space." said Angel. "I just needed some time to figure stuff out, but you wouldn't just leave me alone."
"Well, it's because I cared about you." said Clem.
"I know. I know. I do." said Angel. "But, look. That's the past, and we're here, now. So, come on. Let's keep going."
"Sure." Clem said, down.
The duo continued down another stairwell, leading to the basement of the mall.
"What're we doing here? Place is creeping me out." Clem asked.
"It's part of the surprise." said Angel.
The duo ended up down a hallway, then continued towards a power room. Angel took her flashlight, and whacked at a padlock, trying to get the power box open. Eventually, Angel got the lock off, and opened the box, motioning for Clem to flip the switch.
"So, it turns out the whole city has power, Clem. They just flip the circuit breakers. You just gotta flip it back on." said Angel.
Clem flipped the switch, and the roof lights flickered back on to light.
"Sweet." said Clem. "Wait, is the whole mall lit up?"
"Let's go find out." Angel said, heading back into the hallway.
The duo headed towards the end of the hallway, and to the double doors that led back to the main part of the mall.
"Hey, wait." Clem said, stopping Angel.
"I just... I just wanna say, I'm glad that you're not dead. I'm glad that we're back together." said Clem. "And also..."
"I didn't mean it." said Angel. "All that stuff I said, before I left. I didn't mean any of it."
"Angel... You're such a sap." Clem teased.
"Bitch, you started it." Angel giggled. "You ready to check this out?"
Clem nodded, as they opened the doors, and they were greeted by a cool sight. "Are you kidding me...?"
...
Clem and Judy looked up, to see the helicopter balancing above the second floor ledge. The duo were on the ground floor, which was once a food court, now it was once used as a medical center, for the military. The only way up to the second floor, was through a flight of stairs, but it was blocked by a locked gate. Judy tried to open it, but to no avail.
"Ah, great. Thank you, military." Judy grunted. "Gotta restore power to this thing."
"Just follow the cables. Right, Jude?" Clem said, pointing to the yellow cable.
The cable led to the power box, and all the way beyond a set of double doors. The girls followed it past the doors, and down the hall, which half of it was overflowed to waist-high water.
"Gah, that is freaking cold." hissed Clem.
Look, through there." Judy pointed to another set of double doors on the left, up a leveled platform.
The duo went through, entering a garage. The garage was also filled with water, but only ankle-deep. On another platform, there was a generator, connected to the same yellow cable. Judy tried to fire up the generator, but it wouldn't start. Judy checked the lid, to find it was empty of gas.
"We're gonna have to find some gas." said Judy, putting a gas can and a small hose into her pack, which were laying idly near the generator.
"Wait, hear that?" Clem whispered, as the sound of Savages came into the room.
"Keep your gun ready, Clem." Judy said, pulling out her gun.
The duo slowly searched the room, when three beaver Stalkers came out, screeching at the duo. Judy and Clem open fired, and quickly brought the Stalkers down. After double checking to see if the garage was clear, Judy handed Clem the gas can, and hose.
"Okay, Clem. I'll keep a lookout for Savages. You find some gas." said Judy.
Clem nodded, and started searching a couple of trucks, and a van for gas. Flipping the lids, she would try to sniff out the scent of gas, but no good. Clem finally found gas in a large truck. Clem sucked in some gas, spat it out, and the gas was easily siphoning out of the fuel tank.
With a full can, Clem and Judy went back to the generator, and filled it up the tank. Judy fired up the generator again, and it sparked to life, again. The lights flickered on, the noise drew out two more beaver Stalkers. Just then, a loose cable fell into the water, zapping the two Stalkers.
"Yikes." said Clem. "Okay, note to selves. Do not fall into electric water."
"Come on. We'll use that ladder to climb up and over the water." said Judy.
The girls past through a gate, which they couldn't open without the power on, and up the ladder. They then began crossing onto a set of metal support beams, which held the roof together.
"Okay, don't fall in. Don't fall in." Clem said to herself.
"It's okay, Clem. Just look at me, and don't look down." said Judy.
The duo balanced on the support beams, but their path was cut short. So, they hopped down onto the hood of the truck, and down onto another platform. Judy and Clem went to two garage doors, with Judy opening the right door. Inside, was a wheeled cart of stacked boxes. Judy pulled the cart over to the the hanging garage door, holding it in place. The duo climbed up another stack of boxes between the two doors, and crossed the right door, which served as a bridge to another ledge, which led to more support beams.
Judy and Clem crossed another set of support beams, then hopped back down onto another platform, right next to the door out of here. They entered the back of a pet store, then took cover, once they saw several Savages had filled the store. Three cougar Runners, and three rabbit Howlers were either standing or limping over the store.
Through careful stealth, Clem and Judy took two of the Runners out first, with their knives. Then, Clem snuck up and took out one of the Howlers, while Judy snuck up, and took out both of the other two Howlers. Clem took out the last Runner, who was standing by the garage door.
"That's that." said Clem.
"You're getting pretty good at this, kiddo." said Judy.
Clem nodded, in thanks. The duo then opened the garage door, and were back at the food court. That's when three more Savages, two beaver Runners, and a hare Howler, ran out into the open.
"I got this, Clem." said Judy, pulling out a molotov.
Judy threw the molotov, and set the three Savages ablaze, until they fell to the ground, sizzling to a crisp.
"That's another close call." said Judy.
"Alright, this door better fucking work." Clem hissed, then pressed the button. The door buzzed open. "Oh, fuck yeah!"
"Alright, helicopter. Let's do this." said Judy, as she and Clem climbed the steps.
The helicopter was to the right, but the only way to reach it was to cross a small walkway, which probably was part of the broken roof, made of several glass windows, and a metal bar.
"Alright, Clem. Let me do this. I'm quicker, and can make that jump-"
Judy stopped when she saw Clem had already began to slowly move across the glass, then up the metal bar.
"Clem, wait!" Judy called.
"I'm okay, Jude. I can do this." said Clem, then jumped into the chopper.
Upon impact, the chopper lurched a little further, but not all the way, thankfully. Clem grabbed onto the leg of a seat, to stop from falling, then climbed back up to regain her balance. That's when she saw the first-aid kit.
"I'm okay, Judy. I found a med kit." Clem called.
Clem grabbed the kit, and searched it's contents. It had a clean syringe, some antibiotics, bandages, a needle and surgery thread, for stitches.
"It's got everything we need to stitch up Nick's wound." Clem called, again.
"Okay, just stay there. I mean it, okay? I'm gonna find another way around to get to you." Judy called.
Clem nodded, then closed the med kit back up, holding it close to her chest. Clem leaned back against a pilot's chair, and she closed her eyes, hoping to rest for a minute.
"I'm not letting you go. I'm not letting you go..." Clem whispered, over and over. Exhaustion came over her, and she felt herself dozing off, slowing slipping into unconsciousness...
Well, guys. I think that's a good way to end off this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it.
I own nothing, except a few OC's, minus Danny. All rights go to original owners. No copyright intended.
Thanks. Stay tuned for more of this crossover fanfic.