Chapter 7- Going down hill.
So we're at the seventh chapter of our story, and like the title suggests, things are starting to go a bit down hill in Howe's community.
Plus we're getting close to season two territory.
It should take about one more or two more chapters.
But enough talk let's get right on with it.
On Previous chapter, our Clementine received a custom golden gun (and a military rambo type knife), and now she was going to meet George at the rooftop, because he promised that he was going to teach Clem how to use a riffle.
The rooftop
Clementine went to the rooftop as planned before, she found George standing at the edge with his riffle.
He was looking at the florest and at some random walkers who were walking around Howe's.
"Hey George, I'm here." Clementine made her presence known.
"Come closer Clem, I wanna show you something." George said but he did not stopped looking at the view.
Clementine did so and went to George until she was almost at the edge of the rooftop.
"What is it, wanted to show me?" Clementine asked.
"Take a look at the view Clem." He told Clem.
Clementine confusingly did so.
"What do you see?" George asked.
"I see…" She spotted some roaming walkers. "I see walkers?"
"Walkers Uh? Sadly that's what most people see nowadays." George said "But that's not what I'm referring to, forget about for one moment what's down, and just look at what's in front of you."
Clementine did so, all she could spot was the sun, the Forest and the yellow sky.
"I see the sun and the yellow sky." Clementine said.
"That's good, what else do you see?" George asked.
"I see the forest in the distance." She vaguely said.
"That's a bit vague Clem, can you tell what's in it?" George said.
Clementine was getting a bit confused with the line of questioning.
"Well… I see trees?" Clementine said.
"Trees you say?" George said before taking out a pair of binoculars "Use this, then tell me what can you see with it."
Clementine took the binoculars and looked trough the viewfinder, she could see a lot better in the distance now, and she eventually found something that made her awe.
George noticed that "Have you found something?"
"I found a baby doe and his mother." Clementine said smiling "They look happy, not bothered on how the world has become, they act as if nothing happened or changed."
There was indeed a baby doe hoping around his mama doe, happy and eating the fresh grass and leaves, without a care in the world, not even worrying about some of the walkers that were roaming around.
It was a peaceful spectacle, rare sight in this world now.
George smiled at that "You know what Clem, the sunset has always been my favorite time of the day, I love come up her to the rooftop and sight see the view, of the sun and forest." George explained "And sometimes I encounter the life of nature's habitats, the doe's are a good example, I sometimes feel jealous of them."
"Why is that?" Clementine asked.
"After all this time is good to know that no matter what happens, the wildlife will always be the same." George said "I wish I could be like them, just running around without a care in the world. Plus they never turn into walkers when they die."
"I always wondered why, they never turn." Clementine admitted "Why do you think they don't?" Clementine asked.
"I don't know Clem, this is beyond my knowledge, I like to think that all this is something bigger than the human knowledge, I like to believe that all this is nothing more than divine intervention." George said.
"Do you think things could ever go back to normal?" Clementine asked.
George shook his head "Even if we found a cure Clem, at this point society can never go back to normal, this is our normal now Clem, we need to get use to it."
Clementine frown at George's cold honesty, but at the end of the day it really didn't mattered if a cure was found, society was already broken, and the only memories of it, besides the city ruins were communities like these.
That's why communities such as Howe's are worth protecting.
Suddenly Clementine remembered why she was there in the first place.
"Can you teach me now, how to use a riffle?" Clementine said.
This made George snap into reality "Oh right… Sorry I got distracted there for a minute."
He coughed before beginning and took his riffle out "Now Clem, before we start I need to tell you somethings."
"Ok, what is it?" Clementine asked.
"A riffle is not like a simple handgun." He started "You are stronger now Clem, thanks to you exercise, but it's still going to fell a bit heavy to you. Here try to lift it." He said before handing the riffle over to Clem.
Clementine almost dropped the riffle, it was indeed heavier than any normal handgun, but thanks to the exercise, she was able to lift the weapon for a bit, before handing it over to George again.
"It really is heavy." She agreed.
"You'll get stronger in time, another thing you have to remember is that a riffle has a lot of quick when fired, so when we start shooting, I'll be behind you making sure that you don't get knocked out from the quick." George said.
"Got it, so what are the targets?" Clementine asked."
With that question George got up, grabbed 4 empty bottles and placed them all lined up.
"These are our targets Clem." George said.
Clementine smiled at the bottles, it was just like when Lee had teach Clementine how to use a gun back at the train cargo after Duck had died.
Tanks to that training, she was able to save Molly from a walker and even saved Lee from the stranger.
"Now it shouldn't be hard to hit those bottles, you see my riffle has a scope, which means that you'll have better accuracy when shooting." George said.
"How do I hold it?" Clementine asked.
George Knelled down to her level "You hold he rifle, with both your hands, you need to have one hand on the trigger, and the other one on the fore-stock." He started "You also need to hold the butt of the gun with your shoulder." He added.
With the help of George Clementine was able to correctly hold the rifle.
"Now Clem, before we start shooting, you just need to now that this rifle is a bit different from others." He started "This is an M1A Semi-Automatic rifle with a scope, which means that it works like a normal gun would and it doesn't need to be reloaded each time it's fired, so when it runs out of bullets, you simply need to take the magazine off and insert another one."
Clementine nodded "Got it, can we start shooting now?"
George smiled at her enthusiasm "We sure Clem, but beware because when you pull that trigger, you're gonna fell a bit of a kick, so I'll be staying right behind you, to make sure you don't get knocked out."
With that he got behind Clementine, he put his hands on her shoulder.
"Now Clem, make sure that you look trough the scope, in order to center the bottle, then pull the trigger." George suggested.
Clementine nodded, she centered the riffle with the bottle, then she slowly pulled the trigger.
Now it was expected the riffle to have some kick after fired, but this was pretty powerful for Clem, if George wasn't holding her she would of been knocked down to the floor. Also she winced in pain, because the kick of the riffle hurt her shoulder. But she was able to hit the bottle.
George noticed that "Are you alright Clem?"
"Yeah, but my shoulder hurts a little." Clementine said
"You'll get better and stronger Clem." He assured "It's better than my first time firing a riffle, I was about 8 years and I almost dislocated my shoulder that time."
"Should we try again?" Clementine asked.
"You did manage to hit the bottle, right on your first try, that's pretty good." George praised "But I honestly think we should stop for today, you now know the basics, but if we continue… let's just say I don't wanna be held responsible if actually dislocate your shoulder."
"Oh I guess that's alright." Clementine said.
"We'll try some other day Clem, besides it's getting dark now, it's almost supper time." George said.
The duo was about to leave, until they heard a truck coming inside the community, it was the truck used for supply runs.
"They're back." Clementine said.
"Yeah hopefully they've brought something good." George said.
But when the truck finally stopped and the passengers got out, there was something wrong.
And George knew it.
"What the fuck happened?" George said confused.
"What's wrong?" Clementine asked.
"I was there when they deployed the guys for the supply run, they were 15, now only 5 have came back." George said.
Bill's office.
Today was a good day for Bill.
His relationship with Rebecca just got into the "Next Level".
They were both laying in a mattress, both covered by a sheet, but underneath it they were both nude.
They just had sex and now they were looking at each other with a big smile, talking to one another.
They were mostly talking about the past.
"I can't believe you and your wife first meet at the debut of the Titanic." She said chucking at the cliche type romantic situation.
"That was actually the second time, the first was on my job, she was one of my clients." Carver said.
"So you just fell, in love with every pretty female client you get?" She joked.
Carver let out a laugh "It wasn't exactly love at first sight, it took me 6 months for me to finally propose to her… well she was actually the first one to propose."
"You don't say? That usually is the other way around." She said "I also never took you for a movie type guy."
"Well you can thank my wife for that, we used to watch all kinds of movies in our house tree times a week, we would go to a blockbuster and rent a movie." Carver said "I miss that."
"The movies?" Rebecca asked.
"I do miss that… But what I truly miss is my wife, and my son." Carver sadly said "It may not look like it, but everyday I think about them."
Rebecca frown at that, Carver had always been s strong personality, but now Rebecca had just witnessed his soft spot.
"But enough about me, tell me more about yourself, how did you and Alvin meet?" Carver changed the topic.
"Well we actually know each other since college, you wouldn't believe how he was back then. It was around mid 80's when I first meet him, he had the body of a football player in fact he was part of the football team, he was all muscular, had an Afro and liked to flirt with all the hot chicks." Rebecca said.
"Were you one of those "Hot chicks'?" Carver joked.
"He tried, but always hated jocks, so at first I told him to take a walk." Rebecca said "It was when I turned 25, that I fell in love with him, we randomly found each other in the middle of the street." She started "He was barely recognizable, he was clean, he had short hair, and he even gain some weight, far from the douchebag jock that he was years ago. We talked for a bit, we gave each other our numbers, and we occasionally talked."
"So how did you two decided to get together?" Carver asked.
"I guess we slowly fell for each other with time." Rebecca said "We married, moved on together, we really were and still are a happy couple… unfortunately we've never been able to have children."
"You'd like to have a kid?" Carver asked.
"I've always wanted to be a mom and raise a family. But now with the world the way it is, I think it might not be a great idea." Rebecca sadly said.
Carver put his hand over her cheek "It's never a bad time to bring a family into this world… Hell it might be the best time to be doing it."
They both stared at each other, was Rebecca really starting to fall for Bill?
And did Carver just found love?
Suddenly walkie rang.
"Bill It's Troy, we got a situation over in the entrance!" Troy spoke over the radio.
Bill got up and immediately grabbed the walkie.
"This is Bill, what's the matter?"
"The supply run group came back!" Troy said.
"So? What's the big problem?" Carver asked confused and a bit irritated.
"Only five came back."
Bill couldn't believe "Are you telling me that, out of the 15, only 5 came back?"
"That's what I said Bill." Troy said.
"Get those five round up, I'm coming down." Bill said before shutting the radio.
He immediately started dressing up, he also noticed that Rebecca was dressing up as well.
"You don't have to come with me, if you don't want." Carver said.
"Alvin was with the group!" Rebecca said worried.
"Then start crossing your fingers."
Howe's community front gate.
Carver rushed to the main gate entrance, there he spotted the 5 survivors.
He also saw that 2/3 of the community were around watching the 5 survivors
They were Luke, Nick, Pete, Alvin and Marie.
"Look Troy, just let us go to our dorms, we had a shit run." Luke said, not understanding why they were forced to be there.
"Just shut the fuck up, Bill wants to speak with you 5." Troy said.
"Then why can't we go to his office, why's he making us wait here?" Luke insisted.
Troy got frustrated and pointed the AK-47 at Luke "I told you to shut the fuck up!"
Thankfully George was there to intervene "Hey Troy put the fucking gun down!"
"Mind your own business George!" Troy said.
"I'm warning you Troy, you got 5 seconds to put the weapon down, or I'm gonna take that fucking AK and shove it up your ass sideways!" George threaten
But before things could escalate any further, Carver came.
"Knock it off you two!" Carver shouted "Lower your AK Troy, you look like a moron!"
Troy did as told and lowered the AK.
When Rebecca saw Alvin alive, she immediately ran to him and gave him a hug.
Carver allowed it for a moment.
Carver wasn't happy, he wanted to know what happened.
But before that he went to check the back of the truck, to see what have they brought.
To everyone's shock, the truck was completely empty.
Carver was furious now.
"Luke." He called out.
"What the fuck happened!" Carver asked. "Only five if you came back, and you didn't even brought anything back!"
"We were boxed in by walkers." Luke tried to excuse himself.
"How did you manage to get box In? Hell, if that's what happened, then how the fuck, did y'all manage to escape?" Carver asked, but he already new the answer.
"We drove off." Luke whispered.
"LOUDER, Luke!" Carver shouted.
"We got in the car and drove off." He said louder
"So at the first sign of trouble, you just hit the road, and left them to die." Carver said
"They were already surrounded by walkers, there was nothing we could do." Nick got into Luke's size.
"Oh really? And what have you brought back, what have you brought back, that justifies their sacrifice?" Carver sarcastically asked.
"Look Bill, we got overrun before we could even get inside the drug store, they heard us and..." Marie immediately defended her son's statement.
But Bill stopped her sentence "Wait a second, they heard you?" Carver said, and he now knew that it was someone's fault "Alright, which one fucked up?"
The five looked nervous, they realized that Bill had figured them out.
"Look Bill, it was no one's fault it was an accident ok." Luke said.
"An accident that cost us the lives of TEN of our workers!" Carver shouted "My patience is running low Luke, so one of you better start talking!"
After moment of suspense Nick took a step forward.
Bill wasn't surprised that he was the one who caused all this.
"Look, I saw a deer, so I shoot him so we could bring him back and store it, and the sound of the shoot must of attacked the walkers." Nick tried to explain.
Carver face didn't show the anger that he was felling right now, inside he was boiling up, but his face was calm.
"I got a question, did your shoot hit the deer?" He asked in a calm tone.
Nick didn't expect the question "Well… no."
After Nick spoke, Carver punched him squared in the face.
Marie tried to get in between in order to protect her son, but Pete was holding her, preventing things to escalate further.
Luke was in shock, Carver had screamed at people, but he had never really hit anyone.
Once Nick was on the floor, Carver kicked him in the stomach three more times.
"Weakness, incompetence, it puts us all at risk." He said .
"What the hell was that for!?" Luke asked, still a appalled by Bill's actions.
"I'm doing, what a leader is suppose to do, which is lead it's people!" Carver replied.
"How are you leading, anyone like that?!" Luke shouted "It was just an accident."
Carver let out a laugh after Luke's comment "You really are weak Luke, this is why I'm the leader and your not." Carver started "You would of just forgive him right away, wouldn't you? No punishment no nothing, you would just let this slide." He continued "I gave you a chance this morning when I put you in charge of this supply run, and not only did you manage to get 10 of our workers killed but you also didn't get anything out of this trip, that might justify their sacrifice!" Carver spat "And you have the balls to ask me to give you a role on the decisions, if I let this community on your rule, this would all fall within a week!"
Every single word Carver said felt like a punch to Luke, but a small part of him knew that Carver's words held some truth, but still he convinced himself that Carver was wrong and that he wasn't a bad at leading.
Carver gave a quick look on Nick "Troy, take this idiot to Carlos so he can patch him up, then take the rest of them to the PEN." He started "Maybe no supper for you five tonight and a few weeks, will give you some sense!" He said "Now get the fuck outta my sight!"
And with that Troy, George and Tavia took the five survivors out of Carver's sight.
Carver then turned to the workers who watched the whole scene "Get back to work!"
And with that everyone went back to their assembled jobs.
But one thing was for sure, there was going to be some major changes and Carver was going to change with it.
So this is the end of the chapter.
Next chapter is going to be the escape of the Cabin group, and the aftermath.
As always thank you for reading and don't forget to review.