Episode 4:Beacon Of Light- A Familiar Face

A/N- I got to give credit to Chameishida for the picture on the cover image. A great drawer and artist if I may say so. And now, let's get on with the story!

Clementine and Michael stared down at the fishing village as the rest of the group caught up. Clementine glanced around at the landscape, her eyes being drawn to the lighthouse on the coastline. She couldn't help but wonder if that lighthouse was the outpost. Guess they would find out soon enough. "What's going on?" Dusty asked them.

"Outpost, dead ahead." Michael replied, pointing at the sign.

"Well I'll be..." Dusty trailed off as he followed Michael's finger. "It's about time."

Brooke walked up to the sign and knelt down beside it, resting her gun on the ground and running her fingers along the paint. She then scratched at it, managing to chip off a small piece of dried paint with her finger nail.

"How old is it?" Hazen asked her.

Brooke shrugged. "Can't tell. Few weeks, few months, I don't know. I never studied how paint dries." She joked, rising to her feet.

"Let's follow the signs" Michael suggested, leading the way. "We don't really need to know how old they are anyway."

The slope they went down was bare, with little to no grass sprouting from the earth. Instead, there was only thick, sticky mud. "Watch your step everyone." Dusty warned as they descended.

Michael turned around to walk backwards and face Clementine. "I'll make sure you don't fall." He informed her "Wouldn't want you or AJ slipping, would we?"

Clementine smiled. "Yeah, thanks."

The teen glanced over his shoulder every so often, occasionally losing his footing but not falling down. The group trudged further, until they were eventually close to the base of the hill. Once Michael noticed the slope wasn't as steep, he gave Clementine a reassuring glance and turned around and walked forwards. Mere moments later, Michael slipped and landed on his rear, just as they were reaching the bottom.

Clementine tried not to laugh, so instead she turned her head away and snorted as Michael sat amongst the mud and first signs of grass. He let out a huff and narrowed his eyes at Clementine. "It's not funny..." He grumbled, his cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

Clementine chuckled. "Sorry, Michael, I just couldn't help it."

Michael smiled nevertheless at her, and Dusty came over to help him back up. Michael took Dusty's hand gratefully and climbed to his feet, brushing some mud off his backside. "That's probably the first time I've heard you laugh." He murmured. "I'm glad I was the one to make you. It's nice to hear it."

"Someone was bound to fall on their ass. Now that you're up, let's keep going." Dusty ordered firmly. The group fell in line once again, Michael at the front, still clutching the outpost documents, with Clementine and Dusty behind him, Hazen behind them, and Brooke at the back. After walking across a plain of grass and going down another slope, that wasn't as steep as the other, the group walked down a narrow path and into the town. Dusty paused, waving at the two behind him to stop. "Michael, hang back a sec!" He told the teen at the front. Michael did so, turning around.
"We should all keep our guard up. There might be walkers around or bandits or..." He paused and grimaced "More people like Katherine's group..."

"I can't imagine anyone worse than them." Michael muttered.

Dusty ignored his comment. "Everyone take out your guns." He ordered.

Clementine watched as Dusty withdrew his pistol and checked the magazine. Michael repeated what Dusty did and checked his own ammo. Hazen moved towards Clementine and held out his hands "I can hold AJ for you. You're a crack shot, much better than me, and we need your eyes."

"I don't know about that, Clem. AJ might not be a good person in Hazen's eyes" Michael scoffed bitterly.

"Michael, don't start" Dusty said, shutting down the teen.

Michael gave Hazen a harsh glare before turning his gaze towards Clementine, shaking his head at her.

[Give AJ to Hazen]

[Carry AJ]

Clementine looked away from Michael's gaze and handed AJ to Hazen. Hazen smiled warmly in response, happy to be trusted with the child once again. He nodded gratefully at her and fell back into his original place. Clementine reached into her waistband and withdrew her gun, checking the clip. She lifted her head, noticing Michael staring at her, the look on his face clearly showing that he was disappointed by her decision. Clementine gave him a saddened expression and went back to checking her gun.

(?) Michael will remember that.

"How many bullets you all got?" Dusty asked. "I got six." He added, pushing the clip back into his gun.

"Four." Michael replied, his voice gruff.

"Five." Clementine stated, reloading her gun.

"What about you Brooke? How are you doing on ammo?" Dusty asked, glancing at the AK-47 she was carrying. Brooke proceeded to check her magazine.

"I'm doing good. Could probably take down a few walkers before I run out. And even if I do, I still have my sidearm."

Dusty nodded in approval. "Alright, let's keep going." He said, gesturing to Michael to carry on.

Michael turned and continued walking, holding his glock aloft. As the group walked, Clementine gave each alleyway a quick sweep, making sure that no walkers would end up sneaking up on them until...

*Groah...*

A couple of lone walkers hobbled around a corner of a building at the smell of the living. Rotting and their arms outstretched, they were coming towards the front of their line. Michael was about to fire his gun when Hazen cut him off.

"Michael." He addressed meanly at a whisper towards him. "The noise, think about the noise." Hazen did his best to shush AJ's whimpers as Dusty pushed past Michael by grabbing his shoulder.

"He's right. Save the bullets when we can guys." Clem added to his precaution. Didn't want more of them coming from miles off.

(?) They will remember that.

"They're right..." Dusty agreed when he pulled out the fire poker in his waist, keeping it as his melee weapon. "Cover me, Michael."

"I got ya." The fourteen year old nodded holding his gun at the ready.

*GRAH!*

A third walker suddenly showed up behind Brooke. "Jesus!" She exclaimed, heeding Hazen's advice on not firing their guns and instead use the butt of her rifle and swung it across its gross temple, as did Dusty as if it were a bat. "RAH!"

They both simultaneously killed two of the walkers as they fell to the ground, however the third one lunged at Dusty to everyone's fear for their leader. "Dusty!"

He grunted as he quickly backed away and dodged the lurker's grasp, barely keeping out of his reach. But then before Michael could fire his gun, Dusty thrust the fire iron through the walker's mouth and out the back of its skull, piercing into the wooden wall behind it, now dead. "It's alright, I got'em."

He pulled the poker back out, and everyone gave a sigh of relief. Clementine however, oddly noticed that when Dusty was killing the two walkers he was... smiling? She thought for a second but she decided to ignore it.

"Next time..." Brooke panted as she gave another bash on her walker's head with her rifle. "Think we can just shoot our guns?"

"Every bullet we save matters guys." Hazen grumbled as he adjusted Alvie in his arms. "Think about how much more ready we'll be for next time, just in case."

"Yeah whatever..." Michael rolled his eyes at Hazen's advice, not really caring about anything that came out of his mouth. "Let's just go before more show up." And they all nodded at that.

After covering some distance and going deeper into the small town, the group paused once again outside of a museum. Michael was the one to stop the group this time, approaching a map outside of the museum and pointing at an area that was circled with white paint. "That must be the outpost." he pointed out.

"Where's that?" Dusty asked him.

"Looks to be down by the shore." Michael replied. "If we just keep walking down this street we should be able to reach it in no time.

"Is it that lighthouse we saw when we were on the hill?" Clementine asked.

"I don't think so." Michael told her.

"Looks more like a warehouse." Brooke commented, looking up at the circled area. "It was probably where the fishermen kept their fishing equipment before this all started."

"I've never been to a lighthouse before..." Clementine murmured, a little disappointed that they wouldn't get to visit it.

"Don't worry, Clem, we could probably check that place out later." Michael suggested.

"Well, we're not far now... Let's give it one last push." Dusty ordered.

The group continued walking, until the smell of vast water filled the air and the sound of waves crashing against rocks could be heard. Before they reached the port, the sea came into view. Clementine brightened up at the sight of the greenish blue water, feeling somewhat refreshed. It had been so long since she had been close to the ocean.

The sound of squawking came from above as seagulls swooped down, gliding through the air and landing on the waves.

After three years of living in hell, Clementine felt like she could finally forget the pain and suffering she had felt just for a moment, to enjoy being a kid again and remember the joyful days that she had treasured so dearly. "It's been a while since I've seen the ocean." Clementine commented out loud.

The silence that had washed over the group was broken as Dusty chuckled. "Clem... Relax, this isn't the ocean." He told her.

Clementine was confused "It's not?"

"No, it's just Lake Erie. We're in Ohio, remember?"

"Oh..." Clementine's lack of education was shining through. She didn't show that side of her very often.

The group were silent once again, each of them staring at the large lake and at the horizon, the hot sun descending from the sky. Michael was the first to look away, and focused on the warehouse that was only a short distance away.

"We're here..." He stated, pointing at the grey, concrete building. The large, red, rusty shutters were shut tight, but painted in large white letters was the word "OUTPOST", though the writing was starting to ware off.

"Let's explore." Dusty ordered, moving towards the shutters. The group reluctantly followed, tearing themselves away from the lake and working on task at hand.

Brooke and Dusty worked together to throw the shutter open. It was simple enough to do, as it wasn't clamped shut. Once it was fully open, the group headed inside. It seemed that the warehouse was actually a boathouse, as there was moat in the centre of the room, and a second shutter that would lead to the lake. In the moat was a boat, that had been striped for parts a long time ago and probably wasn't functional.

Boxes littered the room, piled up by the walls and in the corners. "This is like the last place I was at..." Michael muttered, walking over to one of the boxes. "Everyone should check these boxes out, there's probably some supplies in them."

The group got to work, heading over to different areas of the boathouse and rummaging through the boxes. Clementine was drawn to the stairs in the far left corner, which led to the second floor. "I'm going to check up there." She stated aloud.

Michael lifted his head. "Okay, I'll follow you up in a bit." He told her, before turning his attention back to what he was doing.

Clementine nodded, even though Michael wasn't looking, and climbed the stairs, gun at the ready. The second floor wasn't much different, just a clutter of boxes along with several shelves.

Clementine exhaled deeply, before going for the nearest one and rooting around inside. As she was doing so, she heard footsteps. At first, she thought it was Michael coming up the stairs, but then she realized that they sounded heavy-footed and were coming from right behind her.

"Hey, you friendly?" A voice asked.

Clementine shot to her feet and spun around, only to come face to face with a man, who looked awfully familiar. He had blonde, thinning hair, which was odd for a man of his age, as he looked to be only in his early 30s. He had blue eyes, and wore dark green, striped shirt with a brown, leather over coat, along with blue jeans.
His words snapped her out of her train of thought. "Can't believe I'm asking a kid this, but... You can't be too careful these days."

Clementine paused, trying to picture his voice and his face... Where had she seen him before? After a worrying moment of silence and some awkward glances from the stranger, it finally clicked.

"Lucas..."

Lucas raised an eyebrow "How do you know my name?" He asked.

"It's me, Clementine. We met outside of Wellington about a year ago," When she, Kenny, and AJ all came in together. "You asked me to pass on a note to Edith, remember?"

Lucas paused. "Clementine..." Another pause. "Yeah, I remember. The jacket threw me off a bit... It's a lot more your taste than that rainbow one, though." He commented. "Right... you were with that man, Kenny was it? The guy that broke my nose." He grunted, rubbing his nose that had long since healed. "He was a real piece of work..." He said, folding his arms.

The mention of Kenny's name was like punch to the gut, but Clementine managed to keep her composure. "Well, he's not here anymore..." She said sadly, her voice quivered.

"Aww, I'm real sorry to hear that, darling." Lucas apologized "You and him... You must have been close."

"Yeah." She replied weakly. "Where have you been all this time?"

Lucas scratched the back of his neck. "It's such a coincidence... running into you again. I guess you didn't get a place in Wellington, huh?"

"No, we did, but Wellington fell..." She informed him.

"What?!" Lucas exclaimed, shocked by her words "How?!"

"There was a virus, and it made people sick, they died, and then they came back. The place got overrun too fast."

"Shit!" Lucas cursed, putting his hands behind his head and rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet "My son... He was at Wellington... Did he make it out okay?" He asked worryingly. "I know there were a lot of people there, but you must have met him, right? He's a bit older than you... Brown hair, long fringe, bit stubborn. His name was- is name is Michael."

Clem knew it. "Yeah, he's with us."

"Michael's with you? Oh thank god." He breathed a sigh of a relief. "For a second there I thought-" He cut himself off.

"Hey, Clem, I heard a noise, is everything okay up here-" Michael paused, his eyes falling upon Lucas.

"Hey kiddo." Lucas greeted calmly, his lips twitching into a smile. "It's so good to see you-"

"Get the fuck out." Michael snarled.

"Michael-" Lucas began, only to get off by his son once again.

"You're not welcome here so just fucking go!" Michael yelled angrily, clenching his fist. "Just fucking go." His voice wavered, his eyes watering.

"Michael, I-"

"Leave me alone!" Michael yelled, turning and running down the stairs.

"Michael, wait!" Clementine cried, but the boy had already stormed off and was long gone.

"Leave him be for a minute... He just needs to cool off." Lucas told her. The older man sighed and slumped down on one of the boxes, rubbing his forehead in a stressful manner. "Can't really blame him for getting mad... After all, I wasn't exactly the best father in the world. But you probably know about that already, he's probably mentioned how much of a useless dad I was several times."

"You could say that, yeah." Clementine told him honestly. Michael had said a lot of negative stuff about his father, but Lucas seemed to be trying his best, and he didn't seem like a bad man.

Lucas chuckled. "He's got his mom's temper." He paused, recalling on Rachel, who would've been Lucas' girlfriend. "Well, at least I got one thing right..." He murmured, picturing a certain event Clementine didn't know about.

"Oh?"

" ...I actually showed up for his birth." He muttered. "Then again, that's not something to be proud of..." There was a pause, before Lucas continued speaking. "I've made a lot of promises, to his mom, to him, and I haven't really kept them. I understand why he's mad, but he doesn't understand why I did it. I left Michael at Wellington for a good reason, not because I wanted to get rid of him. It pained me to leave him there, and it killed me for a long time, and many times I thought about going back but I knew it was too late."

Clementine furrowed her eyebrows at him. "Kenny wanted to leave me at Wellington too, but I wouldn't live there without him."

(?) Lucas will remember that.

"And then that's when you met me..." Lucas sighed as he shook his head at the situation, and he put two and two together on that. "But, my decision was set in stone, and I had to live with it. I left him there to give him a better chance at surviving, so I wouldn't have to constantly look over my shoulder and worry for his safety. If he had stayed with me, I would've gotten him killed, I just know it. I'm a hopeless dad, and a hopeless protector, and I just wanted to get one thing right for once, to do right by him. Wellington was his chance... To forget about all the shit he had been through and just forget and move on. I knew he could take care of himself, and I knew he didn't need me... Wellington was his best bet." He explained his defense. "I don't know if that sounds selfish but... It's the truth."

She thought hard on his words. "You care a lot about him and you've always put him first. That makes you a good father in my eyes." Clementine responded kindly.

"I don't know about that, Clem. There have been a lot of times where I've been selfish and not thought about him. Sometimes I would just look out for myself. What kind of a father does that?"

"A father trying his best to help his son." She consoled him. "Even if you make mistakes, you're still his dad, and you're still trying to do right by him whenever you can."

"But was it enough?"

Clementine wasn't sure how to answer that. Instead she turned her head away and glanced at the stairs. "I should probably go talk to him again."

Lucas rose from where he sat. "Yeah, I was thinking about doing that but... He'll probably want to talk to you more than me. Come to think of it, he'd probably take anyone over me. He hates my guts."

"Do you know where I can find him?" She asked.

"He wouldn't have gotten very far. My best bet is he down by the docks. He always loved the sea. Shame it ain't the real thing but it's close enough, I suppose."

Clementine felt a twinge of embarrassment at the mention of Lake Erie not being the sea, after what had happened early. "We should let the group know you're here."

"I don't think that's a good idea. Maybe I should just go, Michael doesn't want me around, and he's not going to warm up to me anytime soon." Lucas responded grimly.

"No, don't go. Michael doesn't mean it, he's just angry, that's all. I'll talk to him and get it all sorted out."

"You can try, I guess. He's real stubborn, though."

Clementine smiled. "I know he is."

She and Lucas descended the stairs to the moat level of the boathouse, only to meet up with Dusty at the bottom. "Is something wrong? Michael bolted and I couldn't stop him." He paused, glancing at Lucas, who shifted awkwardly on the spot "Who's this?" He asked wearily, slowly reaching for his gun.

"This is Lucas. Michael's dad." Clementine replied.

Dusty did not drop the hand that had been reaching behind his back by his side. "Oh Michael mentioned you a while back. Not so long and lost anymore, huh?"

"And I'm sure nothing good came out of his mouth about me." Lucas responded. All the man seemed ever to do was put himself down.

"It's surprising that we ran into you." Dusty commented. "Got any weapons on you?" He then suspiciously added. "You're outnumbered here..."

Lucas silently nodded to what he was insinuating, and he pulled out a six-shot revolver and a hatchet, and he handed it to Dusty. "Well, this is the second time I've ran into Michael after being separated from him. I doubt this time was just by chance, and I bet that list of outposts he's got has something to do with it."

"Yup, it sure does." Dusty confirmed, feeling safer with this man who had no gun. "Anyway, we better introduce you to the group, so that you're not a stranger."

Lucas nodded. "Alright then. Lead the way..." He paused, glancing at the man's burnt uniform. "Soldier."

Dusty flinched at that. "Please just... Call me Dusty." He replied, leading Lucas over to Brooke, Hazen, and AJ.

"I'll go find Michael." Clementine called after Lucas.

The man turned towards her and nodded in thanks, and then continued to follow Dusty. Clementine was about to make her way outside, when she overheard Lucas and Dusty talking. "Say, do you have a place to stay?" Lucas asked.

"Not at the moment, no." Dusty replied.

"Well, I have place where you can stay, if you want. Anything for my son's friends."

"That would be nice, thank you."

Clementine decided she'd heard enough of their conversation and walked outside of the outpost. Just like Lucas had predicted, Michael was sitting on the edge of a wooden dock, his legs hanging over the edge and almost touching the water.

"Hey." she greeted, sitting on the edge of the dock beside him.

Michael seemed distant, and for a few seconds her greeting didn't seem to register. "Oh, hey..."

"Are you okay?" She asked.

Michael paused and settled with the answer. "Not really, no. This is turning out to be a real shitty day for us."

"Yeah, but Lucas feels really bad about leaving you at Wellington and I think he wants to try again. He even offered the group a place to stay."

"I don't want to be in the same town as him, let alone the same room. I've already given him plenty of chances... I'm done with him."

"But, he's your dad." She commented.

Michael looked angered. "No, he's not!" He growled. "It may have been his sperm but it doesn't make him my dad. You have to earn it." He stated boldly.

"Sperm? What are you talking about?" Clementine questioned once more innocently.

"Oh, you don't know about- Never mind. That's a story for another day." He told her. Michael stared at the water for a moment and smiled to himself. "I always loved the ocean."

"I know. Your dad told me."

"He actually knows something about me for once." He chuckled. "Me and my mom, we'd have family trips to the beach. Just me and her. We'd build sand castles and go swimming in the water. Then we'd fill up on ice cream." He reminisced to her."We used to do that every summer." His smile disappeared. "I miss those days."

"I miss the days where I got to spend time with my mom and dad too.." Clementine responded, showing him that he was not alone.

Michael paused "Sometimes, I just wish she was here... Sometimes I even find myself wishing that she was alive and my dad..." He trailed off. "I shouldn't talk like that. My dad's a fuck-up, no doubt about him, but I wouldn't want him to be dead."

"You should be grateful for what you have." Clementine advised him. "Your dad is here, he's alive. I would give anything to see my parents again. To get a kiss from my mom... And a hug from my dad."

"What are you trying to say?" He asked.

"I'm saying... I think you should give your dad another chance."

(?) Michael will remember that.

Michael paused, taking her words into consideration, and then nodding. "I guess you're right. My dad he... He's the only family I've got. I should be happy, and I shouldn't push him away. My mom, she probably would want me to give him a chance." The teen looked up at the bright blue sky. "I'll give him a chance. For my mom." He then turned to Clementine "And for you." Michael leaned his head on Clementine's shoulder. "Before we go in, could we maybe enjoy the sunset?"

Clem chuckled. "I don't see why not." Leaning her head on his now too.

The two sat in silence, watching as the sun disappeared on the horizon, leaving behind an ever-lasting golden glow that tinted the sky orange as dusk was beginning to become night.

It was almost... Peaceful.

Something that they hadn't been able to enjoy for a long time.

A/N- Not who you expected right? Everyone said Molly, or Christa, or Lilly. But sadly not now. What are your thoughts on the chapter? Should Lucas be trusted? Find out more, next time! :)

Just out of curiosity, would you guys appreciate an Alternate Choices Version of Season 3 when this initial version is over? Tell me your thoughts.