The stock room, filled with crates stacked on large metal shelves against the walls along with several radio chargers on top of a pair of crates in the center of the room was quite the mess; walkers had forced their way inside through the door knocked by Troy; there was still blood all along the floor. They eventually managed to clear the room, and repair the door. Luckily, they were only partially hit by the herd; this is the only reason they managed to keep the horde of the dead at bay.
Clementine watched, her arms crossed, as several people continued to mop up the floors. She knew her excuse for the shoes now but, what other leverage does she have? She led them to the body, and she was in the area at the time.
"This is such bullshit..." She whispered out of frustration.
Could she just wait it out and hope she isn't accused? They don't have any credible evidence after all. Maybe it'll sort it's self out? No, she has to frame someone. Someone else has to take the fall for this. There are no laws set so, the least bit of paranoia could mean her undoing. The only question at this point was, who?
"Hey!" A woman called from behind Clem's line of vision; she turned to see Bonnie, frowning as she quickly advanced towards her.
"I know what you did!" She said as she reached her and scowled down at her; standing closer than comfortable.
"What?" Clementine replied, playing coy.
"Don't be stupid!" Bonnie quickly peered around to check who was listening before bending down and getting in Clementine's face,"You killed Becca... I can feel it in my gut... and I will not stop until you pay; do you understand me?"
"Bonnie I-"
"I don't wanna to hear it, Clementine. Not unless you're goin' to admit what you done."
Clementine turned and stared off at the others working before turning back to her red-haired accuser.
Bonnie raised a brow and turned her cheek as if to say, 'I'm listening.'
Clementine reached down and grabbed Bonnie's radio from her belt and switched it off as she held it close; Bonnie simply rolled her eyes through her frown.
A long sinister smile formed on the young girl's face as she stared up at her, and whispered, "...Yes..."
Bonnie gasped, taken aback by the girl's response, "You... You BITCH!" Suddenly Bonnie cocked her arm back before swinging it forward and landing a firm smack across Clementine's right cheek.
"...Argh...!" She let out as she fell back onto the cold hard floor, landing on the radio and unintentionally smashing it.
"Bonnie! What the fuck!?" A large black-bearded Caucasian man with a green shirt, blue jeans, and blue trucker cap yelled as he ran towards the incident. "What do you think you're doing!?"
All the people mopping suddenly stopped working and stared, clearly disturbed.
"Hank I-I-I... She! You don't understand-just-" Bonnie stammered holding her arms close to her chest nervously.
Clementine grinned as she hid her face with her arms before changing expressions; she began fake-crying, "I don't know what I did... She just-just hit me for no reason!" She said, sniffing, and forcing tears to drip down her face, making her mouth quiver; it was actually rather convincing.
"Ahoo-ahoo! stop lying! You know exactly what you did!" Bonnie beamed, pointing down at her angrily.
"That's enough, Bonnie! I'm calling, Bill..." Hank said before pulling his radio from his side and pressing the red button.
"Hank! Please hold up! I can explain this!"
Hank shook his head at her before raising the radio to his mouth, "Bill-Bill you there? We've got a personal situation by the breached area."
"What is it?" Bill replied.
"It's Bonnie." He said, glaring at the woman.
Bonnie placed her hands on both sides of her head as she stared down at the floor, "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!"
Hank bent down beside Clementine and outstretched a hand to her, "You okay, kid?"
Clementine nodded as she took a hold of his hand and got back to her feet, "I'm sorry, I-"
"No, you're fine. Just let Bill sort this out, okay?" Hank said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Clementine stared at Bonnie, smirking while slightly raising a brow; Hank couldn't see because of her hat.
Bonnie sucked her teeth before turning away from her and crossing her arms, clearly frustrated.
A couple of minutes later, Bill arrived with Troy right behind him. "What happened?" He asked, a distasteful look on his face.
Bonnie stepped forward, "Bill! I-I-I think she's the-"
"Shut the FUCK up! Am I speaking to you? No, so keep your damn mouth shut." He snapped, clearly agitated.
Bonnie obeyed, shutting her eyes and bowing her head down at the floor.
"Now, Hank. What happened?" He repeated.
"She just up and slapped this poor girl; totally out of the blue. She was literally just standing there; I saw the whole thing." Hank informed him.
"I see..." Bill said, nodding his head before walking past Bonnie and kneeling down in front of Clementine; whose cheek was still bright red as she held it painfully. "Is that what happened, Clementine?" He asked, looking her straight in the eyes yet again.
Clementine looked up at Bonnie, who stared back with stressful eyes, as if crying out, 'please don't do this' Clementine looked back at Bill, "She said... She hates how 'us kids just don't have to do anything-aren't expected to have to work...'"
"Oh really...?" Bill asked, surprised.
"Then she said... 'If we can't help out, we have to be removed...'" Clementine manufactured.
His eyes widened, quickly shifting back to anger.
"Bill! No! She's lying! I never said that..." Bonnie defended. "Just... trust me... and listen to me!"
He stood and turned to face her, "So, it was YOU. You killed Becca... I must say, I'm deeply disturbed... and very disappointed in you, Bonnie."
"What? No! It was her!" She yelled back desperately.
"You really expect me to believe that this girl has the strength to fight off someone twice her size? You don't have the right to chose who can, and can't live here." Bill scorned, edging closer and closer to her.
She stared at him, shaking with fear.
"Tie 'er up... I want her out of my face and in the pen." He said, beaming at her angrily.
"With pleasure." Troy said before advancing towards her and pulling out some rope from his right pocket.
"Bill, I swear to GOD I didn't kill that girl, PLEASE... you got it all wrong..." Bonnie pleaded, nearly breaking down as her arms were being forced behind her back.
"Shel I need you to come here, it's important." Bill spoke into his radio.
"...Alright..." Shel answered, her tone low as it buzzed through the radio.
A number of minutes later, Shel arrived with Vince accompanying her, his left arm wrapped around her back, while holding her right hand with his. Her face was red and visibly damp. Her hair messy and sticking up in various places. She looked like a complete mess. Vince let her go as they reached the group.
"What?" She asked, her voice hoarse from crying; she frowned through her red squinted eyes, making it apparent that she just wanted to be left alone.
"Bonnie... Bonnie killed Becca..." He told her, carefully and quickly to get it over with.
Shel opened her eyes and fixed her stare at Bonnie, her face drastically changing back to sorrow before her mouth began quivering yet again. Her face told how she felt, shock, anger, disbelief, sorrow, and betrayal.
"Bonnie... why...?" She asked, choking on the words as tears gently slid down her cheeks.
A set of tears flowed out of Bonnie's eyes as she shook her head, "No... Shel... it's not me... I promise..."
Clementine stared, at the pair, finding sudden interest in what would happen next between them.
"Just... TELL me..." Shel demanded, her tone shifting to frustration.
"She did it because she thought Becca wasn't contributing enough." Bill stated, pointing at her spitefully.
Shel shut her eyes.
Bonnie walked forward a few steps towards her, "Shel, Shel listen to me, please. I didn't do this. I LOVED Becca... You know that. We used to laugh together, do you remember? Shel?"
In the blink of an eye, Shel dashed forward and tackled Bonnie; both went down. Shel began furiously punching and scratching at the defenseless woman's face. Vince ran up and grabbed Shel's arms and pried her away as she screamed, enraged and sad at the same time.
"SHEL! STOP!" Vince yelled, gripping her arms and shaking her.
She latched back onto him and began loudly sobbing into his shoulder, heaving and gasping rapidly. "Becca... Oh, Becca no, no, no, no, no..."
Bonnie bowed her head as she sat up from the assault, blood dripping from her cheek. She sobbed quietly before all else.
Clementine felt like grinning but, held it in.
"...Not only did she die a brutal, horrible, AWFUL death... but, it was from a trusted friend..." Shel said, lifting her head away from Vince. "I remember holding her in my arms as a small baby, her first words... her first steps... mom was so proud of her... I was so proud of her... and you took her away from me... for a stupid fucking reason!"
Everyone in the room was visibly downcast by the emotional trauma-fest before them.
Bonnie's fate was sealed from then on. No-one would doubt that Bonnie was the killer now. Clementine turned and walked away, placing her hands on her face, pretending as if it were too much for her. She made her way into the warehouse, dawn the isles, up the stairs, and into Carver's office. She shut the door and walked across the room before she sat down in the large chair behind the desk. She stared blankly at the wall across the room.
After seconds of stillness and silence, she began grinning. Over a short, time the grin grew until she began giggling in the chair. It changed to progressively louder laughter; she stopped, placing a hand on her mouth.
"...I can't let the others hear me..." She whispered with a slight maniacal chuckle. "I can't believe how easy that was... how stupid are they?" She began covering her mouth with two hands, trying not to let out her non-ceasing laughter.
Suddenly, the door swung open; Bill entered and shut the door. Startled, Clementine made sure to compose herself.
"What a fuckin' mess..." He stated.
She stared at him blankly.
"Sorry about the language, and about Bonnie hitting you."
"What are you going to do with her?" She inquired.
He approached and sat on the desk, right beside her and looked down at her, "What am I going to do with her? For now, nothing. There will be an actual trial in a few days as to what everyone else wantsdo with her."
"What do you think should happen to her?" She asked.
He sighed and scratched his chin, possibly thinking up a response, "I don't want to let her go; no doubt everyone else wants her punished; that is an option but, what if she's not done? What if she comes back for revenge? This doesn't necessarily mean I want to kill her either; that's too good for her... and such a waste..." He leaned close to her, focusing into her eyes, "That's too easy for her; we need to exploit her... Make sure she pays for what she did..." He backed off to a normal distance. "And... perhaps, one day, she will redeem herself... like the others."
Clementine thought about this, "So, you want to give her another chance?"
"We all deserve a second chance but, we can't do that until we know we can trust her. Trust is important. And trust is real hard to gain, and real easy to lose. You understand?" He asked.
"I do." She told him, nodding her head.
"Good." He said as he got off of his desk and stood over his PA system. "You're a smart girl, Clementine. You were able to put your feelings aside for what is important for you, and everyone else. I admire that. And I can already tell that you've changed since our talks; I can see it in your eyes."
"Really?"
He didn't respond, instead he examined his PA intently. "Hey, how would you feel about working the PA in my absence?"
"Like, make announcements?" She asked, turning around and sitting on her knees, hugging the back of the chair.
He turned to her with a smile, "Something like that. I mean, I'm rarely in here and uh, it'd be a big help to have someone up here to call for announcements and someone to help keeping watch over the warehouse from up here." He explained.
"Sure. I can do that." She said, grinning.
For some reason, she had begun to like Carver. He took the time to tell her things and was almost always honest and straight-forward with her.
He moved out of the way of the PA microphone so that she could see it, "It's real simple, you just make sure it's on before you use it but, I wouldn't use it right now, what-with that herd outside. Also, don't connect it to any other wires; back in the day Rebecca left the damn thing screeching with our outdoor speakers connected, led a small herd right to us I think."
Clementine nodded, "I understand. I won't mess up, I promise."
He looked down at her, not with any kind of smile but, as if evaluating her. She looked off, not trying to make it apparent that it bothered her, or at least that she noticed; she turned and sat right, facing the desk in front of her.
"You understand why I let you out of the pen, right?" He asked, resting his hand on the chair above her.
She didn't answer him, unsure what he expected her to say.
"I let you out because, like I said before, I need someone to hand all of this off to. And there ain't no-one else in this building like you and me, Clementine. They're all weak, and pathetic. You and I, we are strong."
"What about Rebecca's baby?" She questioned, twisting her neck to look up at him.
"He's not going to lead nobody, at least not for awhile. With your guidance, he'll be ready one day." He told her, walking past his desk and towards a box lying on the chair in the corner.
"You want me to look after your baby?"
He picked up the medium sized cardboard box and walked back to his desk before placing it down in the chair in front of the desk. "That's right. I wouldn't have it any other way but, until he's ready, and if I'm gone before he can, it'll be up to you to lead these people. It's a big responsibility that I'm confident you'll be able to handle."
She smiled. Nobody had ever given her this amount of attention or encouragement, at least not since, Lee. "So, what's in the box?"
"I had Tavia go out and find a number of clothes she thought might fit you, along with a few other odd and ends. So, pick out what you like. In all honesty, that jacket you've got there is... repulsive."
With that, he turned and walked towards the door out of his office. Clementine got up and began following him. He stopped at the door, having noticed her approaching,
"What do you need?" He asked, curious as to why she were following him.
She walked up to him and, without warning, gave him a hug.
He raised his arms to his sides, surprised by the sudden gesture of affection towards him. He laughed and returned the hug, patting her on the back.
"Thank you, Bill." She said, a warm smile on her face.
This was someone who understood her better than she understood herself. She felt as if she could trust him. She felt as if she could learn from him. She felt as if he were her friend.
Later that night...
Clementine awoke to the feeling of her wrists being bound together. Startled and half asleep, she opened her eyes; nothing but darkness, her eyes were covered by a dark blindfold. She couldn't scream for help either, just as she gained consciousness, someone placed a piece of duct-tape across her mouth and cheeks. She had absolutely no way of defending herself, or even identifying her captors. She began squirming as she was lifted and hung over someone's shoulder and hauled off. She could hear faint whispers, indicating that there were several captors.
Could it be Bill? Did he find out about what she did? Was so being hauled off for questioning?
She felt her heart rate speed up. Adrenaline coursed through her veins. She felt the blood rush to her head as she dangled upside-down towards an uncertain location. She felt her wrists scratching against rough rope.
Whoever it was, she knew it wouldn't end well for her.
Author's Note: Real sorry for the eight hour late post but, I wasn't home. "Behind the wall" will be updated tomorrow. Really sorry, loyal readers.