Episode 3: Means To An End- Starless Night
A/N- To the guest who asked in the last chapter: Yes, that is Nate from 400 Days. Any more questions you have you can PM me or TWDGamerKenny'sBro if need be, or if you don't have an account just drop a review and I'll try to answer you in the next update. Thanks, and enjoy!
"Clem..."
The voice was faint, but it was there...
"Clementine...?"
Was it Lee? Was it Kenny...?
"Clem?"
Her vision went from darkness to light as the twelve year old opened her eyes. She wanted to cough up a lung but her throat was so sore, she didn't have it in her. Then she realized she was laying on the solid ground, right in the dirt. She could hear though that a babbling creek was nearby, and she peered up at the sky only to find the underside of a concrete bridge in the way.
"You're awake!" She turned to suddenly have arms wrapped around her and a relived and smiling Michael as the culprit, kneeling down next to her. "You had me worried..."
She guessed she really did have it in her as she coughed loudly while covering her mouth. "...Michael, what happened?" She was surprised by the embrace but welcomed the hug, about a moment passed until the fourteen year old released her.
The fourteen sighed in response. "Well, shit happened..." He then looked back at the small campfire that Clem noticed was illuminating the area, and the fact that it was the dead of night. "We lost fucking everything..."
"Where's everyone else? Dusty?" She knew he was hurt pretty badly back there, but that was when she noticed that the young man was on the other side of the fire, sleeping against a boulder. His back facing towards them.
Michael's expression turned to that of a sad one. "Helga and Wayne are out looking for some food, and..." He gave a glance at him as well. "Dusty's... not doing so good..."
"What's wrong with him?" Clem immediately wanted to inquire as she positioned herself so that she could hug her knees. "Is he going to be okay?"
It took a moment for the boy to answer. "...I don't know." He paused when his gaze was aimed at the fire. "Wayne told me everything that happened in there, how he..."
But Clementine finished for him. "He saved me." Michael or Clementine would've been absolutely crushed under that debris, and the fact that it was on fire...
"He did." Michael nodded. "It took us nearly forever to carry you and him all the way here from the resort. But at least all the walkers in the area were drawn to that giant fire, made getting away a little easier..."
And then reality began to set in... "AJ's gone..." Clem sadly stated. "So is Maree, and Hazen."
"Yeah, that deranged bitch... fucking psychos..." His tone lowered to frustration. "I bet you my left hand that she wanted to replace her dead son... that's why she took the baby, raise it anyway she wanted. Maree for her nursing skills, Hazen for... extra company I don't know, he was the bargaining chip to begin with so why not?"
"We got to get them back. All of them." Clem declared to him.
(?) Michael will remember that.
Michael agreed 100%. "You're damn right we do."
"Oh look, she's awake." Both kids turned to see the familiar blond teen and her older brother joining them under the bridge. "Now Michael can stop practicing CPR on her..."
Michael looked at the blonde teen with a look of embarrassment, however Clementine was more confused than anything. He stuttered trying to compose himself. "No! Shut up, I didn't-!"
"Ah, calm the hell down, I was just teasing you..." Helga smirked at her feat, and then she addressed Clementine as Wayne tended to the fire while beginning to cook some food. "Nice of ya to join the living squirt."
"Where are we?" She openly questioned to any of them.
" 'Bout a mile inland from the lake." Wayne answered her as he skewered a dead animal, looked like a squirrel. "Couldn't find any houses around, but this bridge was better than nothing."
Helga sneered as she sat down adjacent to them and crossed her arms. "We're fine by the way. It's not like you had to carry anyone, right?"
"Oh my god Helga, just lay off her, okay?" Michael defended and bit back at her. "If it wasn't for Clem, we'd all be fucking barbecue for the walkers!"
She paused. "If you ask me, it was that useless baby that caused this..." Helga hissed with distaste. "If he would've been quiet for just another minute, those freaks would've just left...
"How could you say?" Clementine wouldn't have any of that. "It wasn't AJ's fault! He's just a baby, he couldn't help but cry."
(?) Helga will remember that.
"Cry, eat, poop, and cry. That's all it ever did." She retorted scornfully. "At least it's gone now, so walkers won't come to us and rip our throats out at night. Finally get some sleep..."
"That's why we have someone on watch." Wayne stated plainly.
"Either way, now we don't have to waste all the time and energy on taking care of it." She shrugged her shoulders. "Am I the only one trying to find the silver lining in all this?"
"We have no supplies, no nothing! And if you don't shut up, I'll be more than happy to put you to sleep!" Michael threatened, clenching his fist. "Stop talking."
"Listen!" Clem butted in trying to put a stop to this. "What happened back there... it... it just went bad."
"Just went bad, huh? Is that what you keep telling yourself when Kenny died?" Helga arched in eyebrow, daring her to retaliate. "Or do you just blame yourself?"
Clem furrowed her eyebrows and unlatched her arms from each other. The twelve year old suddenly found herself on her feet and a rush of red and emotions clouded her vision. "Shut the fuck up Helga..." She felt slightly better after saying that, letting a little bit of steam come out. No wonder adults swore all the time.
(?) Helga will remember that.
Swear. Clem usually never swore, and Michael was alarmed that she said so. So much so, he stood up and got in her line of fire before a surprised Helga could respond. "Clementine! Calm down, you know she didn't mean that."
"She doesn't need to say things like that!" The twelve year old sobbed as she looked at the blonde teen. "And I do blame myself because it was my fault, okay? Kenny was my friend, we've..." She couldn't continue down that sad memory lane. "And now AJ's gone, and she has nothing better to do but make me and the rest of us feel bad?"
"That's enough! All of you!" Wayne shut down the argument himself by standing up. "We're all tired and we're all hungry. I ain't about to play babysitter. So all of you, grow up!" He then directed his attention to his sister. "And you! That's enough outta you, one more word or I'll-!"
"You can't tell me what to do. None of you!" She got on her own two feet as well. Now they were all standing. "Those crazy fucks still think we're dead, so by morning we can all go out and keep heading to that damn outpost before another one of us dies."
"...We're not leavin' them." A weak voice proclaimed.
The four of them all turned to see Dusty awake. But Clem's expression turned to worry and fear when Dustin stepped into the light of the fire. He had some pretty nasty burns that were very apparent on the left side of his forehead and his left cheek. They looked like they were scarred red, but his left arm looked even worse. Blisters up and down his forearm populated the skin, he was way too close to the fire, and must have been in horrible pain...
Wayne turned towards the young man he did not regret saving, even though they usually never did see eye to eye. "Hey man, you okay?"
He chuckled a bit. "I'd be lying if I said I was. But we're alive, aren't we?" He winced. "That's a good enough start."
"Holy shit." Helga her eyes widened at the sight of him. "That's one hell of a sunburn..."
"Your skin will probably scar. That won't go away... But uh... here." Wayne showed him a small bundle of gauze in his hand. "This'll cover your arm at least."
"Thanks Wayne." He was really grateful. "I appreciate it." He took the gauze and began to wrap up his burned arm himself, hissing all the while. "Now... we're gonna talk about what we're doing next. And that is getting AJ, Maree, and Hazen back."
"Listen dust mite, I hate to break this to you. But... that would be suicide. We would be outgunned, out-manned, and those guys were fucking insane. You'd think they would even listen to us?" Wayne tried to be rational, wanting to survive. "Probably shoot us on sight."
"We'll figure something out..." Dusty lazily replied as he crudely finished wrapping his arm.
Clementine then spoke up. "They mentioned a church earlier. Maybe we should be looking for them in a church?"
"That's what I was thinking." Dustin nodded at the little girl. "When I was fadin' in and out while you were carrying me, I remember seeing a sign back on the road."
"I saw it too." Michael confirmed while he crossed his arms. "...St. Francis, it wasn't too far from here actually."
"It's perfect!" Dusty tried to rouse them up with a game plan. "If we go right now, we can use the cover of darkness, sneak it, grab them, and sneak back out."
"Are you fucking serious? You sure you didn't hit your head at all?" Wayne berated him with simple logic. "That's easier said than done. What about scouting? Infiltration and point of access? And we'd probably have to spill some blood too." The three kids remained quiet as the two adults discussed. "...Look, I'm sorry about Maree..." He then glanced at Clementine. "And the baby... and the kid. But do you think they'd expect us to risk our lives to save them? When they know how goddamn dangerous this is?"
Dusty suddenly became very stern and visibly ticked. "Yeah I do. But what if it was you and your sister Wayne?" He challenged. "Would you two want us to come back for you? Would you even believe we'd come back for ya?" Before Wayne could respond he went on with his rant. "How many times have you come into the infirmary back in Wellington and Maree was able to patch you up?! She IS your friend Wayne, and you'd just turn your back on her?! Hazen's just a kid, he doesn't deserve any of this either, right?! And a baby! One of the few good things left in this world, you'd let a baby die even... even if you knew you had a chance to save him...?" Wayne then began to look guilt-ridden. "Do you or your sister really want their blood on your hands?"
"Dusty's right..." Clementine affirmed her position boldly declaring this. "We go after AJ, Hazen, and Maree. If we just abandon our friends then we're no better than the people that took them!"
(?) They will all remember that.
"Then you're crazy." Helga scowled at them. "The both of you."
"It's what's right, Helga." Michael agreed as he looked around at them. "I think we all know where we stand..."
"No one's forcing you and your sis to stay here Wayne." The man in the burnt uniform reminded him. "I can't make you or her do this. Not with how things are now..."
"Well, that's fine by me." Wayne stated meanly, seeing where this was going. "Helga?"
"We finally gonna leave this lame group of crippled martyrs? Geez... it's about time."
And then it occurred to Clem. If these two would just leave, their group would be down to three. Could they possibly save the others with just Dusty, Michael, and herself? Maybe... or maybe not. They didn't know how many people were in Katherine's group, at least four and well-armed. But they had the element of surprise, not to mention the extra number of able bodies could mean the difference between life and death. Anyway, what would it take to convince them to come too? Would they even listen?
"Then go!" Michael hissed pointing out into the darkness outside the ring of light provided by the fire. "If you two won't help us then you're both dead weight!"
The crackling of the small fire was all they heard as they remained silent and the smell of cooked squirrel filled their noses. Clementine had something to say...
[Convince Them To Stay]
[Tell Them To Go]
A/N- What would you say to Wayne and Helga in this situation? Would you tell them to help out? Offer them anything? Threaten them? Apologize for anything she might have done to them in the past? How do you rally people like this to your cause? It's possible, and it's also your vote once again. Vote via review! Next chapter will be pivotal and jaw-dropping! Stay tuned!