Author's Note: No excuse for being late on submitting this; I simply got lazy but, I love you guys who stick around anyway lol. I don't do this for reviews or anything; I just like writing and aim to finish what I've started. Been encountering an issue with my other story so, that one's on hold for now. Enjoy the chapter.
Clementine followed Bill past the shelves, towards where the' prisoners' were being kept. Most were sleeping at this point; doing this at night was better since others would most likely be bothered by the whole idea. Troy was waiting, leaning against the wall beside the pen. He lifted his head up, most likely hearing their footsteps approaching; he turned and pulled the pen gate up before picking up his AK-47 assault rifle from the floor beside him and entering, off to fish out Bonnie.
"Why do you want me to do this?" Clementine questioned Bill, standing to her left.
He turned and peered down at her, "You've just experienced a traumatic event; I just want to make sure you haven't lost any of that edge, and if you have, we've got to get it back." He told her before staring back out into the mostly dark pen.
"AAAHHHH!" A woman screeched out into the night.
"What's going on in there?!" Bill demanded, pulling his revolver from his side and walking inside the pen; Clementine followed.
"Hell, I don't know!" Troy called back.
"It's Rebecca! She's having the baby!" Luke yelled.
"Her water broke!" Sarita added.
"What?!" Bill yelled, pulling his radio out from his side and bringing it to his mouth, "Tavia, you there? Tavia?" He spoke into the radio as he jogged towards the corner to the left, where Rebecca was lying on the thin mattress bed.
All others were awake and surrounding her, many giving Clementine distasteful stares. Troy raised his gun, "Alright, just clear some fuckin' space already!"
"I'm here, Bill" Tavia answered.
"Good. Get some people to prepare a room for Rebecca; she's going into labor." Bill told her.
"You got it."
Bill outstretched his hand to Rebecca. Luke and Mike had managed to get the center fire lit back up at this point. Rebecca looked up at Bill with a glare, even though she was in intense pain.
"NO! This is... Alvin's baby! Not yours!" She barked at him, breathing hard.
He smiled, "You and I both know Alvin didn't have the means to procreate; it's mine now."
Half an hour later...
Clementine stood in front of a blue door; a screaming woman on the other side of it. She stared down at her bandaged fingers; the right one almost completely covered in white wrappings; to help protect it since the lower knuckles were bruised severely, while the left hand had just the pinkie covered.
"PUSH!" Carlos yelled for what felt like the twelfth time.
Clementine cringed from the sound of Rebecca's screams. At this point, she'd rather be off killing Bonnie. Wait, how was she expected to do it in the first place? Probably would have been told to shoot her. Suddenly Clementine wondered, where is her hat? She had it the day before she was kidnapped but, where was she sleeping before that?
Suddenly the screaming stopped.
"We've got a boy..." Carlos announced.
There was a brief silence.
"Wait, what's wrong with it?!" Bill demanded.
"Just hold on a second; sometimes it just takes a second for the child to start breathing." The doctor assured him.
There was silence for a quarter of a minute.
"He's not waking up, Carlos! Do something now!" Bill barked on the other side of the door.
"I'm trying!" Carlos returned a similar tone.
Clementine stood, unsure of what to do at this point. Another thirty seconds of everyone in the other room panicking. She didn't particularly care about Rebecca's baby but, maybe she ought to help somehow; might even gain more trust from Bill in the process. She reached her left hand out towards the door and grabbed the door-knob and turned it before slowly pulling it open.
"Is everything ok-"
"...Errraauugh...!" Rebecca's newborn baby let out in a soft hiss.
Clementine's eyes widened as she saw the abomination in Carlos' arms, wrapped in a white cloth. It was pale and covered in blood. Moving it's weak limbs and neck awkwardly. It nearly made Clementine sick. Carlos looked down at it, his face in shock before shutting his eyes. Rebecca turned stared at her son and instantly her face lit up with terror and extreme sorrow, her screams of pain echoed through the room. Bill stood, unable to move as he looked upon the new-born walker.
"Clementine..." Bill said, his voice low and slightly cracking.
"Yes...?" She answered.
He approached Carlos and held his hands out for the 'child'. Carlos handed him the boy and turned away from his, crossing his arms. Bill turned to Clementine; his face emotionless and empty but, his eyes told another story. As he stared down at the child that was reaching up at him, trying to scratch him, he sighed.
"I want you to... I... He's got..." He tried to speak.
She knew what he was asking; he want her to kill it.
"I understand." She said, reaching out for the boy.
He began extending the child to her but, hesitated, his mouth slightly quivered before he carefully gave it to her. She lined her arms up; the right one under the left one, cradling the undead baby. She looked up at the grieving man.
"I guess this is normal... I can't be a friend... a loyal leader... a good man... or even a father... take good care of Todd here..." He said before walking off down the blue and yellow hallway and into the warehouse.
Clementine flinched as Todd slightly brushed his hand on her face. She just now noticed he was trying to bite her purple shirt, only leaving little bits of dark saliva instead. She cringed as she carried him into the warehouse, up the stairs; receiving shocked stares along the way. She suddenly remembered Lee, when they first arrived at the mansion in Savannah, he had to send off a boy as well. At least she wasn't alone in this. She sighed before she entered Bill's office and kicked the door shut.
"...Graauuugh...!" Todd snarled from the sound of the door shutting.
"Easy there, Todd." She said as she walked up to the desk and carefully laid him down on top of it.
She wincing in pain from her fingers.
"Now... how are we going to do this..." She said, looking around the room.
She noticed the box of clothes Bill gave her two days ago on the floor beside the desk; she had already went through it and picked out what she liked, leaving the rest inside the box. It'll have to do, as a coffin. She dragged the box from the side of the desk and stared at the boy.
"I'm sorry, Todd." She said before reaching over and grabbing him, ignoring the pain in her fingers.
She placed him down into the box, layering a grey sweater over him.
"Okay... now what do I do?" She asked herself before stepping over the box and nearing the metal filing cabinets below the sky-light.
She fished through each of them, finding either paper, or just miscellaneous junk.
"Nothing in here that'll help." She inferred before moving to the desk.
She pulled open the drawer, revealing the small, antique-like gun from earlier. She picked it up, and briefly examining it she took a deep breath and took position over the box once more. Todd had managed to move the sweater off of him in the short time she looted for a weapon to kill him with. She took aim at Todd's head and stared into his empty white eyes.
"Shooting things... it changes you, honey... I don't want you getting used to it..."
Clementine cocked the small gun, leaving her left pinkie out as she did so. Her arm shook as she aimed at him. She'd killed walkers countless times before but, this time it was different. It couldn't hurt her in any way. She still has to do it. She slowly pulled the trigger.
"Goodbye, Todd..."
She fired the gun.
Author's Note: It is what it is. ;)