A/N: Okay here we go...
Marital Arts Master- I just felt thought after episode 2 he would try and sway Clementine further away from the cabin group, but he went full psycho in episode 3 (and it's kinda how I write him now) he was still a brilliant villain as I said, but I just think he flopped a little in episode 3 as I was expecting him to be another stranger who would manipulate Clementine and make the player question their morales. (Then again I suppose Clem is older and wiser and not as easily manipulated or fooled as she was when the stranger fooled her)
Obsessed naruhina fangirl- I beginning to like our discussions, review to Author's note wise (I might start sending you PM'S in future to avoid these mass author notes) never the less the suggestions you left in your review were brilliant. I particularity liked the one with the bamboo stick noise thing that would draw hordes of walkers away from the community. (How could someone like Carver not think of that?) and I forgot about the trucks as well and fuel and all that... be noted that everything you (or anyone else suggests) is taken into consideration. And although it might not be evident in these chapters you can rest assured in the long term you'll begin to see such ideas come into effect.
Right then, without further ado onto the next chapter...
Clementine had made the grave mistake in thinking that wits is what ultimately held a community together, wits, a calm mind, and a good set of morales. That's what they all had back at the motor inn? Didn't they? Yet that fell apart.
Here at Howard's Hardware the population were unified under a fist of fear, Carver wasn't stupid enough to rule alone he had selected the most submissive of sheep to follow him. By giving them higher positions and privileges he deluded them into thinking they were special and through this they grew confident... they wanted to protect the leader that had been kind to them. By bullying those lower than them to further there growing ego's and sense of importance.
In other words. A dictatorship. Plain and simple.
In this "Dictatorship" Clementine had tried everything to keep her friends alive, from deals, to bargains to begging and even to point blank manipulation of others. Her wits were wasted as she learned a simple rule.
If the Dictator didn't like something there was nothing you could do to save it.
She thought about that sadly as her gaze lingered on Nick, broken, beaten... everything she ever cared about ended up this way. She had seen what had happened to him before... him a walker and Sarah ripped to shreds it was all happening again. Carlos was dead killed by walkers just as he had done beforehand...
She had blown her second chance and now they were going to die under Carver's tyrannical rule. The man was too far gone, he would pick off the pen group one by one until he had complete control and the only thing he wanted from the pen group was the baby in Rebecca's womb. That along with their slave work, once the hardware store was fortified enough... they'd be disposed of.
She couldn't say or do anything. The ten minutes were ticking away too fast... and despite her determination to save her friends, she couldn't find any words to say to the pair of them. A cluster of people were around where Nick sat slumped, and they also clumped around a cationic Sarah who was gazing blankly into space, not listening to word anyone said to her...
Clementine sighed. It was pointless, even if she spoke to them what difference would it make? She could feel herself giving up once again, wanting to place a bullet into her skull to end this endless pain, misery and fear she had to endure.
However as memories of her "death" had surfaced, so did the last thing she saw... Lee's smiling face. She pulled the familiar photograph from her pocket as she gazed longingly at the still image of her former guardian "What would you do Lee?" she asked quietly of him, of course she would receive no answer but usually looking at him (even if it was only a still image) gave her a grain of confidence and security that she was once filled with when standing next to Lee.
What would Lee do? Well hand't Lee helped her? She was a lost cause at the start and yet here she was nearly 2 years later, still standing and still fighting. Didn't Lee always try to plough on when the odds were stacked against him? Didn't he travel through the whole of Savannah and all those herds just to get to her?
And here she was not even to travel a few feet to get to her friends? Lee would be ashamed, one setback (in this case, Carlos' death) could not lead to a series of other deaths, she may have been just a little girl, but Lee was just one man against thousands of walkers. If he could do it, then she knew she had it in her to do it as well.
Recovering from her temporary sadness as she placed the photo of Lee in her trouser pocket, she snapped out of her stupor. She had been given a second chance and she was going to waste it by standing there moping?
Hell no!
She marched towards a sunken faced Nick, Luke had placed a hand on his shoulder and was muttering kind words of encouragement to him "Yoou gotta be tough man... you need to protect Sarah..." yet these words didn't seem to penetrate through to Nick's skull without wasting any more time Clem barged right past Luke and slapped Nick hard across the face.
"Clem!" Luke yelled in shock, but she wasn't going to stop because of that, and sure enough her slap had seemingly brought Nick back down to earth as his sapphire eyes came back into focus, he blinked rapidly looking up at girl in some sort of sense of bewilderment.
"That hurt" he finally muttered.
"I don't care Nick, you're going to find those supplies and you're going to protect Sarah and get back here!" she ordered as viscously as Carver would (yet she was being cruel to be kind...)
"Clem... why should I go on? Carlos is dead because of me and I can't protect myself, how the hell am I gonna protect her?" he gestured at Sarah who was curled up beside a bunk a few feet away. "Look" he said "You should forget about us two just make sure that bastard Carver pays for what he did to us..."
Nick was making himself a martyr, something Clementine would not allow.
"No! Shut up Nick! You're coming back here whether you like it or not!" She screamed.
"Why the hell do you care so much!?" he finally snapped losing his very short temper as his body tensed up and he prepared to yell whatever came to mind to win this argument.
"Because I know what's it's like to lose a father Nick"
There was silence at these words, Nick's argument dissolved on his tongue and slithered down his throat as he remained speechless. Kenny instantly grasped what Clementine was saying...
"Clem..." he murmured weakly.
"When Lee died I felt so bad too. Like I was too blame for what happened to him. I know you blame yourself for what happened to Pete and Matthew and Carlos... but I did the same. One of the men I was travelling with before, I left my gun unsupervised and some scavenger picked it up and shot him... and it was all my fault..." Clem was saying as Omid's face flashed in her mind.
"Omid?" Kenny asked in horror as Clementine slowly nodded, as he muttered a curse under his breath.
"So, yeah were all gonna mess up at one point. But that makes us human I messed up and I hated myself and I still do, but despite everything..."
"Clem's here been a help to us all. Don't hate yourself Clem I dunno where we'd be without you" Luke reassured her as she smiled. This was the point of having friends as his words convinced her more than her own words ever could, and with that in mind she muttered her concluding words to Nick.
"So please come back I don't want to lose another friend. And you still owe me" Clementine said with a small smile, remembering how Nick would repay her for her honest confession that she was the one who had grassed the group's plan to Carver. At these light words Nick seemed to stand slowly but steadily. Finally he spoke...
"I want to come back" he began as his voice started to crack "I really do, but how the hell I am meant to get past all those walkers and protect Sarah, huh? I mean have you heard of anyone who can just sneak past walkers undetected?" he asked of them all.
"Actually, I do it all the time"
A new voice to many, which left many staring. However now couldn't have been a more perfect time for Jane to finally break her silence as every head clustered around Nick whipped around to face her.
"First words I ever hear you say and it's just some crazy shit" Mike remarked.
Ignoring this Jane ploughed on as she spoke to Nick directly.
"You can sneak past those things, if you cover yourselves in their guts, they can't tell you from one of them". She told him.
"That sounds like bullshit" came the expected reply from Nick.
"Trust me, I've been through herds before, it's your best and only shot if you wanna make it back here alive. Although God knows why, as this place is biggest pile of shit I've ever had the misfortune of coming across" She muttered dryly as her brown orbs locked onto the outside world.
"Why should I trust the advice you're giving me?" Nick demanded.
"Because I've done it too" Clementine spoke up at this point, determined to increase Nick's chances of survival.
"What? When?" Kenny asked in rapid succession his eyes wide in curiosity.
"Lee figured it out, we used it to escape the marsh house" she informed him as Kenny looked at the celling in awe "Wow... Good one Lee" he said as if complimenting his friend's ghostly phantom as if it were in front of him.
"I can smother myself in guts, but Sarah..."Clementine was glad to see an familiar fire in his eyes, he hadn't given up as of yet, but Sarah could still prove a huge problem for him. "'I'll speak to Sarah" she reassured them as she walked over to the larger crowd around Sarah.
"You gotta do something Clementine" Rebecca was on her almost instantly as sweat trickled down the pregnant's woman's forehead, "Sarah's not listening to any of us she'll die out there for sure!" Rebecca was nearly on the verge of hysteria, Carlos' death had already saddened her and the thought of losing sweet Sarah as well was a thought that tore her heart right from her ribcage.
"It's okay. I'm her friend I'll do whatever it takes to get her to listen to me" Clementine tried to reassure Rebecca as she walked past the Bonnie and Shel and reached to where Sarita was bent down and speaking to a catatonic Sarah "... your father was a good man Sarah, this is no way you're fault, We all care about you here, we all want you to come back..." yet her words trailed off to nothingness as she gave Bonnie a sad shake of her head. To them there was no getting through to her.
"Hey... Sarah... Clem's here. She wants to speak to you" Bonnie told her gently, Sarah still didn't respond as Clem fell to her knees next to her friend.
"Hey" Clementine greeted her with.
At the sound of her friend's voice, Sarah's eyes came back into focus as she looked directly into her friend's eyes "Hey" she sobbed trying to sound more calm than she actually was.
"Nick's going to cover you in Walker guts" was the first thing she said to draw Sarah's interest. Clementine knew the coddling of her was overdone and was not something that would drive her from her catatonic state. She tried that last time in that trailer and it hadn't gotten Sarah to move, now she had to try and scare tactic and sure enough Sarah responded.
"That's gross! I can't do that!" she panicked as she began to hyperventilate.
"You have too Sarah, the walkers can't you see you if you do that. I should know I've done it before and so has Jane" Clementine told her autistic friend as Rebecca turned to where Jane stood nearby "Since when do you become so supporting?" she shot the question at Jane in suspicion.
"I can't just sit around and let people die when they have a fighting chance" was Jane's simple reply. However Clementine knew that deep down she was thinking about her sister Jaime and she didn't want Sarah to end up the same way her younger sister had ended up. Jane had left Jaime behind and survived by herself, but her sister could no longer be helped.
Maybe this was Jane's way of trying to redeem herself in her sister's eyes by helping some strangers through a tough time. Then again would the group be stable enough this time for Jane to stick around? Clementine hoped so, she had grown very fond of Jane in the short time they spent together.
Breaking Clementine's train of thought on Jane. Sarah responded to her earlier comment.
"I can't Clementine, the walkers won't be able to see me but I can barely see myself without my glasses" she whined as she wiped a few more tears from her wide eyes.
"Stay close to Nick, he'll protect you" Clementine instructed her.
"You say it like it's so easy, but not everyone can be like you" Sarah stated sadly as she sniffed and hung her head in shame, she felt so awful about herself, especially after Carver's words to her.
"I know, but you have to try and be tough Sarah, you have to come back. Besides you never got to hear the rest of my story" Clementine smiled at this extra touch and it seemed like these words got Sarah to look up at her with hopeful eyes.
"C-can I listen to rest of it, If I come back?" she asked.
"Yeah, you will come back Sarah and then you can tell me about your stories with Nick" Clementine told her.
Sarah wiped away another salty tear and for the first time since her father died, she cracked a small almost invisible smile. Yet it was there "T-that sounds cool" she mused.
"Yeah, now promise me you'll come back" Clementine needed to know that Sarah had something to fight for that she wasn't going to simply just "give up" or have another breakdown out there.
"I... I'll pinkie promise I'll come back... If you'll be there for me when I come back" Sarah offered extending her pinkie finger.
"That's a promise" Clementine agreed as their pinkie's connected in mid air. The two shared a smile before the dreaded sound of the shutter opening once again averted all eyes.
"Alright! It's time haul ass you two... BONNIE!" Carver roared looking over to where the redhead stood "I said those in the pen only, what the fuck are you doing here!?" he demanded to know.
"I... I'm sorry Bill, I'll get back to w-work n-now..." she stuttered.
"Yeah, you do that" Carver snarled, as Bonnie walked out of the pen with her head hung low, she wanted to have one last glance of Nick and Sarah but was ushered out before she could even be allowed that small request. Clementine had to admire how Bonnie was willing to risk her position in the community to try and help Sarah and Nick through a tough time.
Proving they could pull together. As a group.
"All right! Nick! Sarah! Time's up!" He bellowed as Jane quickly went up to Nick "Remember this, hit the walkers in the knee, should get them on the ground, once there down there it will be easier to bash their heads in"
"Um... Thanks" Nick said feeling a bit overwhelmed by the advice he was getting.
A few feet away, Sarah had begun to panic once again "Clem, I'm scared!" She admitted as Carver glared at her, beckoning her to come forwards "You'll be fine Sarah... I promise" were Clementine last words to her, as she finally managed to walk forwards. Her legs like jelly, her vision blurry. Her father's death still replaying in her mind as she stood next to Nick.
"Alright out the hanger door you go, keep moving on to the woods or you'll be shot. Bring back bag loads of supplies... ammo, fuel, food whatever as long as there's a lot of it. If you come back empty handed then again you'll be shot on site, so now's your chance to prove your worth" Carver told them.
"Let's get this over with" Nick muttered.
Before he could move forwards another step, Luke felt a sudden urge to embrace Nick in a brotherly hug, as Nick felt the air get squeezed out of his lungs "Come back man" was all Luke could say to him. Those three words motivated Nick more than anything else, Luke wasn't bullshitting him with the usual sugar-coated talk. These three words were raw and signalled the true friendship between the pair lying beneath layers of distrust and anger.
Luke released Nick as Carver shouted "Enough of this mushy shit! You lot get back to work! And you two get outta my community and come back as better people or die trying!" he pointed his gun at the pair, as the others slowly watched them fade from their site.
Clementine's last glance of Sarah and Nick was of Nick trying to stand tall and Sarah gazing fearfully back at her. Clementine gave her a thumbs up as she rounded a corner and was gone for good.
"Quit staring! You folk have got work to do!" Carver was now waving his gun around like a madman (which he was) still, the group broke out of their saddened stupor's as they slowly but surely went back to their posts.
Following Luke, Clem could hear him sniffing slightly and decided to leave him to his business, too many that was it for Sarah and Nick the two were (as of now) dead. No one would dare hope they'd be alive or actually survive this.
But Clementine had seen them dead before, Sarah hadn't been so responsive the first time, yet now she had been. It was a small change but one that filled her with hope. They may have had the odds stacked against them...
But so had Lee and he overcame every obstacle he faced. Right to very end.
Nick and Sarah were going to get through this. Damn what anyone else thought.