"Did you check absolutely everywhere? Every nook and cranny? We aren't leaving until we've picked this place apart clean!"
"Jane, there's nothing around here," Emily complains, looking exhausted as she and Zayne lean up against a concrete cylinder to take a break. "And unless you wanted to jump into that big-ass hole, there aren't any other places she could be! Just… just give it a rest…"
Feeling miffed that they're willing to give up so easily after a mere two hours of searching, I lightly kick over a pylon before starting off on my own. There's no way that we've looked through this entire place already! Lilly's gotta be here, damn it – and I'm not gonna stop searching until I find her!
I try to block out the sounds of their annoyed groans as I start walking away. "Jane, wait! You're being irrational here!" Emily tells me, but I tune out her voice as I take my sister's old nail file and get to work on getting this lock undone on the office building. It'll take some time, but it's worth it – it has to be. "Would you stop screwing around already and get back over here?! This place is a dead end!"
"If all you two are gonna do is bitch at me," I comment, trying to have as delicate hands as possible for this to work, "then why don't you save yourselves the trouble and go home? I don't need the attitude! If you don't want to help, then just get out of the way!"
"Hey now!" Zayne responds with indignity. "We were the ones who helped get you here in the first place! If we didn't help you get here, then you wouldn't have even had a lead to where your stupid girlfriend might… be…"
Stopping when I give him a sharp glare, Zayne gulps and looks back down at his feet.
That's what I thought, asshole…
Being careful not to break the nail file, I resume shimmying the object back and forth into the keyhole. This thing's a lot sturdier than the ones that I'm used to, but I can proudly say that I'm pretty much an expert at picking locks by now.
Heh, not exactly what you'd want to put on a resume or anything, but what can you do?
"Come on, you…" I encourage, as if that's actually going to persuade the lock to open faster. When the rusting, metal object actually does click open, I smirk in success as I slowly open the door and peer inside. "Jackpot…" I whisper, getting discouraged when Lilly is nowhere to be seen, but at least thankful for some supplies inside the office. "Come check this out!"
Sitting in the corner of the room is a twenty-four pack of water bottles, a fully-loaded magnum with more cartridges stashed away in one of the filing cabinets, and some leftover handy stuff such as nails, hammers and screwdrivers. While all of this stuff can be really useful, none of it really matters to me in the grand scheme of things.
If she's not in here, then where the hell else could they have taken her?
Whistling in astonishment, Emily and Zayne walk into the room behind me as they marvel at the supply cache we've discovered. "Man, you weren't kidding about this! Just what we needed!" Emily praises, patting me on the back as she scoops up the pack of water bottles in her arms. "Nice find, Jane. I think you've got the golden touch for finding stuff we need."
"Yeah, like King Midas!" Zayne adds with a slight chuckle; grabbing a bucket of hammers and nails as I place the revolver safely into my back pocket. I'd rather have the golden touch for finding people, but clearly that's not the case.
Not saying anything, I curiously gaze over to the desk where the blueprints for this construction site are situated. There are various schematics for how to build all the shit they were going to, but the thing that intrigues me more is the situation they've got going for the underground part.
Pointing my finger and tapping on the little map they have, I turn to address my temporary comrades; clearly not looking forward to what I'm about to suggest. "That's the only place we haven't checked yet," I reemphasize, having my decision already set in stone. "So that's where I'm going. If there's a chance that we could find something – anything at all to tell us where she might be – then I need to go. You guys can take off if you really don't feel like staying. I can find my own way back."
"You know, as much fun as that sounds, I think I'm gonna have to go with no," sighs Emily as she cuts the pack open and starts chucking water bottles into her bag. She doesn't have enough room for all twenty-four of them, so she places the remaining few into Zayne's bag.
"Yeah," he comments, though not looking too inclined to staying here any longer than he needs to. "Besides, I think – what's her name, Clementine? I'm pretty sure she'd kill us if we came back without you. Literally."
Snorting softly to myself, I shake my head in disagreement. Just trying to picture Clem as a vicious little monster is just too funny to take seriously. Clem? A killer? Come on, now!
…although, that time back when Lilly and I first got to the space centre still rings a bell…
"Clem's one of the most down-to-earth people I know. You wouldn't need to worry about her," I chuckle again, just finding the concept funny for some reason. Swinging a small duffel bag over my shoulder, I start to head back outside towards whatever means we can use to get down.
"I hope you're right about that…" Emily mumbles, causing me to get slightly annoyed. I've got a bit of a soft spot for Clem, so to hear people question her really seems to grind my gears. "What's the deal there, anyways? I mean, she's really in charge?"
"Yes."
"Like, really really?"
"What is your god damn issue here?" I harshly ask, whipping my head back towards them with a scowl. "Yeah, she's twelve! I get it, okay?! Quit beating the dead horse and move on already!"
"Okay, okay! Sorry… forget I asked…" Emily replies glumly, staring down at her shoes while I turn away.
With that, I simply hold my gun at my side and proceed over to the hole in silence; watching as the sky turns a brilliant orange and red. It's almost like somebody just took a jar of paint and just took brush strokes all across the horizon, and I've got to say that I've really seen nothing like it before. I just wish that I had somebody to share it with right now…
Choosing to climb out of the depressed, self-absorbed hole I've dug myself into, I simply shake it off and walk over to some kind of elevator-looking thing for getting downwards.
"Looks like that's our ticket," I comment, scratching my chin until I come face to face with a large, enclosed motor nearby. "I'm guessing this thing must charge up like a lawn mower or something. Anybody know a thing or two about these kinds of things?"
When both of them shrug their shoulders, I bite my lip before tinkering around a little bit.
Please don't blow up on me!
"Come on, you stupid thing," I mutter, pressing a random assortment of buttons with no success. I hear something clicking inside when I press the buttons, but clearly there's something else you need to do first in order to get it to work properly. "Hmm… maybe…" I cut myself off, grabbing onto a cable of some kind and lightly yanking it backwards a little bit.
When something whirls inside of the motor, I grin slightly and stand up to get into a better position.
With enough force and two more pulls backwards, the engine roars to life loudly as the three of us see the elevator buckle and shake slightly. That's definitely not a reassuring sign, but I've got no choice. If Lilly's not here, then I have absolutely no clue where she could possibly be. This is my first and last stop on the tour.
"Looks like somebody has to operate the controls…" Emily explains with a frown. Well, that certainly puts a damper on our plans – good thing that they didn't decide to leave after all. "…I'll do it. Zayne, don't even start – I ain't letting you stay up here alone, and you know this place a lot better than me anyways. And Jane?" she adds, sternly looking over at me as I wobble a little bit on the mechanical lift. "You bring him back to me, understand? The both of you better be back up here when you're finished, or you might as well not come back at all."
"No need for the death threats, alright?" I calmly tell her, unfortunately used to this kind of thing by now. "Nothing's gonna happen to us. We'll be fine."
"Umm… did anyone happen to notice that guy up on one of the construction cranes?" Zayne asks nervously, pointing towards the tall structure as, sure enough, a person is just standing there; completely still with a rifle just leaning up against the railing. "HEY THERE! HELLO? ARE YOU FRIENDLY?! WE NEED HEL-"
"Zayne, shut up!" I hiss, putting a hand over his mouth as I glance nervously up at the figure. Why isn't he moving around or anything? He's too far away to tell if he can see us or not, but I for one don't want to find out. "Are you trying to get us all killed?! What part of stealth operation was confusing?!"
"Umm… the stealth part?"
Nearly smacking myself on the forehead, I wait for the kid to get on the lift as Emily presses a button to lower the device. The thing shakes constantly as it starts to take us downwards, and it feels as though this thing hasn't been used in years with how much the metal seems to scrape together. It's almost like the entire thing could collapse at any moment.
"Stay safe down there!" Emily yells at us over the loud, mechanical noises. "When you're finished, just try yelling real loudly , okay?! I'll take you back up!"
Yeah, as if that's not gonna cause any problems, I bitterly think to myself, leaning one elbow over the railing as the colours around us grow darker. Nobody's really sure how deep this thing is going to take us, but I'd imagine that it wouldn't be too bad. I mean, it's not like they were trying to dig a tunnel to the centre of the earth here, right?
"You're really worried about her, huh?"
Blinking, I silently nod as I continue to stare out into space. I really don't feel like having to explain myself today.
Of course, though, this kid just has to know every single little detail about my life. How typical.
"So, umm… do you like, have any family around?" Zayne questions, causing me to tense up a little bit. Going back and remembering Jaime and the folks always leaves me a little bitter and sore – mostly sore, now that my resentment for being kicked out has largely dissipated. It's not as if I really forgave them for throwing me aside like a piece of trash… but I can sort of see why they did what they did. As Clementine once pointed out, I was a pretty bad kid back then.
Not feeling like revealing my whole past to this nosy kid, I shrug my shoulders and tell it to him straight.
"Lilly and Clementine are my family."
"Oh," he acknowledges with a nod, "are you guys like… related or something?"
"You don't have to be blood-related in order to be a family," I explain to him honestly, finding nothing out of place with calling Clem my little adopted sister and Lilly my lifelong partner. I didn't think I'd ever be able to connect with two people on that kind of level, and yet there it is. "What about you?" I ask, noticing how he's grown a bit quiet after that. "Got any people like that in your life? Parents, siblings, close friends, anything?"
Looking slightly downcast at the mention of "siblings", I hear Zayne sigh heavily as the both of us grasp onto the railing after another rough shake. I swear this thing's gonna give me a panic attack.
"My parents died a little while after I was born, so my two older brothers took care of me for most of my life. They were twins," he explains; a pained expression on his face as he recalls what happened to them. "There were five of us in all – me, Liam, Harry, Louis and Niall. Louis got split off from the rest of us when this first started… got cornered by a pack of roamers with no guns or anything… Niall tried to … do things… to a girl around my age after he saw what people were becoming. Harry took him out back and gave him a choice – leave the family or die. Niall just took the easy way out after he saw what he did; what he was becoming…"
Chucking a stone off the dirt wall, Zayne puts his hands in his pockets as we finally reach the bottom of the hole; hearing the motor shut off and yelling up to Emily that we're both still alive and well.
As I take the lead out in front, Zayne continues his story as he switches on the only working flashlight we've got.
"Liam and Harry were the twins," he explains, shining the light over some barrels of some sort. There's a decaying skeleton with a hardhat still on its head that's just sitting there right beside the rest of the barrels; almost as if it's just watching the world go by. "The three of us were living in Oklahoma City at the time, but people there went absolutely bat-shit crazy. Bandits took over almost every single government-type building and drove out anyone who didn't agree with their ways. People started forming gangs and fighting over territory; straight-up murdering people out in the streets… Harry got knifed by some thug that wanted our food. Liam practically beat the guy with his bare hands as Harry… bled out. There wasn't anything we could do…"
Not wanting to interrupt anything, I silently open up one of the barrel lids and have a peek inside. Nothing but dried-up cement in here… that's completely covering a flashlight. Shit!
Alright, don't get me wrong – I do feel bad for this kid, and I'm not just brushing his problems aside. But honestly, that kind of stuff just happens to every single person who's managed to survive thus far. Everyone. Nobody's been untouched by this thing – every single survivor I've ever come across has lost somebody important to them, and each backstory is just as depressing as the last.
Hopefully this whole "Firefly" idea will actually be able to pull off the impossible. If it's true about what they said, that they're looking for a cure… then maybe it's not too farfetched to think that things might be different. No more sadness, no more losing people as they drop off like flies.
Who could say no to that?
"After that, Liam and I came further south down to Houston. That's when we met Tracy and the rest," he elaborates with distaste. "They were fucking monsters, all of them! We thought they might've been different from those rapist bastards back in Oklahoma, but… but no! Liam tried to get the both of us out of there, but they caught us and… and…"
"Hey, it's alright," I say to him gently, not wanting any waterworks to start after he's practically dumped his entire past out in the open. "You don't have to go on if you don't want to. I get it – they… forget I said anything."
"…they force-fed Liam an entire bottle of pain killers… Joshua held his hair back when Tracy dumped it down his throat…" Zayne goes on maliciously, kicking the dirt wall in anger. Holy shit, I've gotta say that I really hadn't expected to hear something like that. I was thinking more along the lines of just shooting him and being done with it, but that… that is some messed up shit going on right there.
Choosing not to say anything in case I upset him somehow (remember the whole Rebecca fiasco?), I sigh when we come across yet another dud in our search. It's practically pitch-black down here, with nothing but fallen rocks from the surface and a few rotting bodies that I'd prefer to stay as far away from as possible. When Zayne reports that all he's found is dirt, dirt and more dirt, I stand there in the dark for just a moment; trying to absorb all of this information. Lilly's not here… and I've got absolutely no idea where else to look. There's nothing I can do – I can't just pull her like a rabbit out of a hat, and I can't track her down without at least knowing where those trucks headed off to.
Miles in the other direction, by the sounds of things. Angrily, I kick the dirt in hopelessness as my voice echoes off the walls. "God damn it! Why?! What the fuck am I gonna do now?!"
"…maybe we should just head back. Retrace our steps, you know?" Zayne suggests with a shrug of his shoulders. Seeing no other option, I tiredly sigh and practically drag my feet along as I wander after him; lost in my own little world as I cough from the dirt.
Jesus fucking Christ… that's it. I feel like I've failed her. If Lilly were in my shoes and the roles were reversed, I've got absolutely no doubt in my mind that she'd have found out exactly where I was already, and we could've been back at the space centre; all nice and safe. I realize that that's kind of a stretch, but with her resourcefulness, that's just the way that I feel.
Hopping back onto the lift with little to no resolve left, Zayne tiredly bangs on the metal bar and hollers up for Emily to lift them upwards. When no response comes, Zayne yells a little louder, and even louder after the third time.
Nothing. It's almost as if Emily's not even…
"EM?!" Zayne bellows, growing concerned when all the two of us can hear are… growls. Low, menacing growls of the things that we've all more than grown accustomed to at this point.
"Shit, walkers!" I exclaim, frowning in confusion as I pull out my gun and try glancing up to the surface. "But where are they coming from? I don't see any… Oh fuck…"
Like a swarm of locusts, the bodies stumble their way towards the edge of the hole; falling down to the depths as they hungrily look towards us. There's gotta be a couple dozen of them or so at least, and I widen my eyes in worry as they somehow manage to survive the impact – even though their limbs are mostly crushed.
"It's raining fucking walkers! They must've followed our scent!" I say while shooting a dead one right through the skull; it's head exploding in a bloody mess of brain and bone. "Damn it, there's too many of them! They're gonna get right on top of us unless we do something!"
"Can we just shoot our way through?!"
"I'd rather not!" I retort; the only light source now being the blast of my revolver as more of the beasts shamble closer towards us. "Fuck's sakes! We need to get up there! Do you see a fucking staircase or something?! I don't want to die in a hole!"
As Zayne blasts at a walker that managed to sneak up on the left side of me, he fumbles with the flashlight until he can flick it back on once again. Shining it around, he desperately tries to find something useful, and he actually does!
Too bad it's on the other side of the fucking hole.
"There's a ladder directly across from us!" Zayne mentions, pointing to the rickety-looking thing as I look on in scepticism. "But how are we gonna get past these guys?!"
Gritting my teeth, I bash a walker's head in with the side of my weapon as I struggle to catch my breath. There's no way we'll survive at this rate – not with just two people. Bullets aren't a problem this time so much as the fact that Idon't actually want to use them, since we might need all the help that we can get when we arrive at the top.
"We don't have a choice! I'll clear us an opening, you stay on my ass, got it?!" I yell back to him as I shoot one of the walkers in the face. Pulling my knife out of its sheath, I clutch the handle ferociously as I yell out in anticipation. All at once, I charge forward and stab a walker right in the eye; pushing him forward as one of the dead ones bite at my jacket; ripping a piece off but leaving my body thankfully unharmed.
"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" I keep repeating as I finally manage to break free and start my run over to the ladder. Having no time to check and make sure that Zayne's still alive, I rip onwards; tripping over a shovel as I crawl on my hands and knees to the first rung.
As I fumble around in the dark for the cool metal of the ladder, my hand suddenly finds something that I didn't expect – somebody's leg.
"Get a move on already!" shouts a new voice, and I stumble in alarm as the woman grabs me by the collar of my jacket and forces me to my feet. "Quickly! Get up the ladder and get the hell out of here!"
"Zayne?!" I holler into the darkness, trying to make heads or tails of where he might be. The flashlight's been turned off yet again, so that's really not helping my chances.
"I'm fine! I'm fine!" he wheezes out as I partially see the kid heaving; completely out of breath. When I force him to go up the rusting, rickety ladder first, he whines about possibly being the first to fall straight off, but I've got no time for any of his bullshit right now.
The walkers moan in their undead language as they slowly walk towards us; the only indication of where they are being their hungry moans.
"You next! I'll follow you afterwards!" I yell to the stranger, getting no complaint from them as I randomly shoot a few stray bullets into the darkness. It must've gotten at least something since I hear a body collapse on the ground close by, but my nervousness only grows as one f the walkers come within inches of my face.
Struggling not to get bitten, I hold the beast off for dear life as it snaps its jaws mere centimeters away from my cheek. When my strength's about to fail me, and all hope seems lost, all of a sudden a bullet pierces the thing's head as it collapses to the ground with its fallen brothers and sisters. Glancing upwards, all I see is a tuft of short, brown hair hanging loosely in the wind; with the stranger nodding before continuing her climb.
Taking that as my cue, I scramble to climb up the structure as I hear the metal groan under all of our combined weight. This is worse than the time that Jaime and I got stuck on an upside-down roller coaster and had to hang there (upside-down, of course) for a solid fifteen minutes straight before getting pulled back down. Needless to say, I was in the bathroom puking my guts out for a good chunk of the afternoon after that little adventure.
But anyways, I manage to breathe a little bit as I get about three quarters of the way up the ladder; Zayne and the stranger having disappeared out of my view as I climb. Thank god walkers are about as smart as a fucking chair.
"Damn it all to hell… you folks just had to bring them on top of us, didn't you?!" the woman asks rhetorically; her words dripping with sarcasm.
"It wasn't us! We were just trying to find our friend!" Zayne insists, surprising me a little bit. Since when did we all become friends? I don't think I was there for that meeting.
Shaking my head, I decide to intervene before this lady blows a gasket. "Look, there's no point in arguing over this shit! Okay, we just need help! Have you seen a taller woman? Blonde-brownish hair, probably had a gun on her?" I question, trying to describe Emily as best I can.
When the brown-haired woman just rolls her eyes and randomly starts walking away, I frown and forcefully put a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't just fucking walk away from me! I don't take that kind of shit!" I hiss, spinning her around to face me as she glares darkly. "Have you seen our friend or not?! I'm not leaving until I get a god damn answer from you!"
"Oh really?" she questions, shrugging my hand off as she tilts her head to the side. "So first you trespass on my property, then I save both of your worthless lives from them dead ones that you brought here, and now you're expecting me to help you?! I've got half a mind to toss the both of you back into the hole where you belong! Now shut the fuck up and get off my land!"
"Listen up, you little – "
HONK! HONK!
Interrupted by the absolutely obnoxious noise, the three of us turn around to find none other than Emily and some other stranger with red hair tied back into a bun… both riding a bulldozer.
Yeah, I'm being completely serious right now. A motherfucking bulldozer.
"Katie! Get over here! We've got monsters to kill!" shouts the redhead as she stares in shock at the thirteen year old beside me. "Holy shit… Zayne? Is that you?"
Glowering upon recognizing a familiar face, Zayne scowls as he glares harshly at the red-haired woman. "Fuck off, Kelly…" he snaps, clearly wanting nothing to do with her. "What? Did you finally grow a brain and see what Tracy was actually doing to people?! Or did they kick you out after you let Josh beat me with a fucking stick?!"
"I… I didn't think they would go that far…" Kelly admits with a hint of shame in her voice. As she raises the front end of the demolition machine a little bit, she beckons for all of us to hop into the back. "Just… you need to trust me here, alright? I'm not with them anymore, but you have to get in with us! There are more of those things on the way!"
When Emily nods in agreement, Zayne very reluctantly does as was suggested, though refusing to even acknowledge Kelly's existence as he climbs aboard. Katie, the woman beside me, huffs out in annoyance as she practically shoves Emily off the bulldozer and takes the passenger's seat. "Get in the back! Let the experts clean up your fucking mess!" she says simply as the three of us sit there in a silent annoyance. No way is she coming back with us. Nope, not a chance. I can already see how badly this would be going if we were to bring this shithead home, and Zayne doesn't seem to like the other one too much, so it's basically a win-win.
Right?
"Crap… we've got more incoming," Kelly informs us over the roar of the engine. "There's no going around them! What should we do?!"
Taking the clutch and practically forcing Kelly's foot to press down on the gas pedal, we all turn in shock and fear as we try to charge right through the walkers; as if we weren't risking our lives enough already.
The claw part of the machine barrels through the walkers like bowling pins; ripping through thick layers of flesh as their blood and guts get absolutely everywhere. The yellow paint on the front of the bulldozer is now absolutely drenched in a dark shade of red, but Katie seems determined to break through their ranks as skulls and limbs are crushed underneath the wheels of this big-ass construction death machine. Any walkers that don't get absolutely ruined are shot at by Emily and I, and by the time that the two women stop the vehicle, the effect has already been shown.
There's literally a trail of red stretching for a good portion across the construction zone.
"Well, that was fun! Who wants to go again?" Katie suggests, getting an annoyed glance from all four of us as we climb off the bulldozer.
…
"…why the fuck would you want to find Tracy and the rest of those dick wads?" Kelly questions as she leans up against the fence; crossing her legs and looking apologetically towards Zayne. "They're nothing but a pack of raging lunatics!"
Scoffing, Zayne stamps his foot on the ground as he adjusts the straps of his bag over top of his shoulders; already getting ready to leave. "I can't believe a damn word you say anymore…"
"Look, Zayne… I know that I messed up pretty badly beforehand, and… I'm so sorry about your brother…" she apologizes, though I'm having a hard time believing that she's being sincere. This just reeks of another Bonnie type of situation, and no – it's not because of the red hair. "But I've tried to put all of that stuff behind me. If it helps, I finally realized that joining up with them was a mistake. I was with the wrong crowd of people, and I've changed. Really, I have – I've tried turning over a new leaf, Zayne."
Not saying anymore, Zayne simply huffs and stares at the ground; rolling a stone back and forth with his shoe as Emily and I try to get out any information that we can from these two. It was established a while back that they had no intention of leaving this place behind, even after all of the racket and ruckus that we managed to cause.
I suppose that you've got to be pretty persistent to live in a rat-hole like this.
"Some friends of ours got taken by Tracy's group – a man and a woman. Do you have any idea where they might be? Where they might've gone off to?" I hammer away, not wanting to waste my time with introductions or anything as Katie shrugs her shoulders.
"Kelly left those punks in the dust – smartened up and started hanging out with me," she says with a smirk; patting her friend roughly on the shoulder as Kelly scratches her chin in thought.
"Is there anything actually useful you might be able to tell me?" I infringe with an annoyed tone. "Look, either you know something, or you don't. It's not hard to pick – it's either yes or no. I need to find Lilly before they can manage to do anything else to her!"
"Chill out a little bit, would ya? It's like you've got a giant stick up your ass or something, seriously…" Katie rolls her eyes, causing me to purposely avoid eye contact with her in case I try something stupid. I've had a pretty shitty past couple of days, and I definitely don't want to deal with another type-A asshole with a big mouth. "Kelly, didn't you say something about… some kind of mall?"
Wracking her brain for anything that might be able to help us, Kelly massages her temples as I grow increasingly impatient. I honest to god think that if somehow I manage to survive up to a ripe, old age, that'll still get cut off by about five years or so just from the stress and anxiety of the past few months. I'm pretty sure that everything started to get turned upside-down around the time that Lilly and I got separated from Clem back at Houston Hills. Since then, practically everything has been one giant shit-show after the other, with a few notable exceptions thrown in here or there.
So please try to forgive my moodiness when one of the only people who was keeping me sane has gotten kidnapped and possibly already killed.
"Yeah… an outlet mall, I think they said that's where they were headed…" Kelly says quietly, trying (with great difficulty it would seem) to recall what was said. "I think Josh mentioned it once… Damn, was it… Ranger's Outlet Mall? Or was it Renegade? Shit, I can't remember which… but it was something along those lines. Sorry I can't really be more of a help than that."
"We appreciate it," Emily steps in, obviously before I can say something to get us in deep trouble. "And… you're absolutely sure that you two won't come with us? We've got enough room back at the store if you wanted!"
"I thought you said that you barely had any room! That's what your people were saying beforehand!" I point out with a forlorn expression on my face. Those lying bastards!
Ignoring me completely, Emily asks them again if they'll change their minds, but they insist that they've got a good enough setup going right where they are. They've kept this place going this long, so they might as well put it to good use.
"If you ever change your minds, or need somewhere to stay, then you'll know where to find us – either at Mill's Grocery or the Houston Space Centre," Emily reaffirms, reminding me of the deal that Clementine had set up earlier on. I've been so preoccupied with searching for Lilly that I completely forgot about the whole exchange.
As the two of us turn to leave, we glance ahead and see that Zayne has already started back down the path; which really seems to disappoint Kelly. I wonder if they were ever able to see eye to eye back when they were both in Tracy's camp – kind of seems like a shame that their friendship would be ruined now.
"Ever heard of a place like that?" I question as I walk beside Emily. "Rangers or Renegade… that's not a whole lot to go on."
"Racheal might know but I wouldn't hold out much hope – none of us really lived around Houston before the dead started coming back to life," she admits, patting my shoulder in a friendly way as I sternly look ahead. "Don't worry about it, Jane. No matter where they are, we're gonna find your friends."
"I've been telling myself that for the past two days now," I explain with a sigh. "Words don't mean anything if I can't actually back them up."
Despite my negative outlook on all of this… at least we've actually got something to go on this time around. A name is better than absolutely nothing.
Maybe I won't be so in the dark this time around.
…
Clem's POV
Biting my fingernail in anxiousness, I pace out in the hallway back and forth; stepping over the same tiles so much that it feels like I'm about to tear a hole in the floor. Racheal informed me earlier that James had finally woken up after getting his ass handed to him, and I'm pretty worried that he's just going to rage at me over… well, whatever it is he feels like yelling at me for today.
I'm pretty sure he'd tell me to fuck off just for blinking too many times in his general direction.
Stifling what's left of my courage and my pride, I sigh deeply and prepare myself for a verbal assault. Bo once told me that being the leader may also cause some people to blame you for their setbacks, but also bring about their successes as well.
I have almost no idea what the hell he was talking about, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with being responsible. Isn't the saying, with great power comes… uhh, great… superpowers, or… oh screw it! I'll just head on in and hope for the best.
Hopefully he doesn't decide to tear my face off.
Twisting the doorknob, I pensively step inside and close it behind me. "James?" I ask, having to squint because of how dark it is outside. "Are you still up?"
"…come here, Clem…"
Doing as he tells me, I practically drag my feet across the tile floor as I see him; propped up on a thin, lumpy mattress as he tries to find his glasses in the dark. Thanking me when I hand the shattered lenses back to him, James breathes deeply before trying to lean upwards.
I'm still not on the best terms with him knowing what I know about his… activities… but for a certain someone's sake, I need to make sure that I never even try to bring that up for as long as I can. Lives could very well be at stake here.
"...they took Bo, didn't they?" James asks me, sadly sighing when I nod in confirmation. "Damn it… he's a tough son of a gun, but I'm not so sure how those goons operate. They don't seem like the friendly sort."
"They told us to drop all of our supplies and leave," I point out as I hand the note over to James. After reading it over a couple of times, he flattens the paper and hands it back to me.
"And are we?"
"Doesn't look like it. This group isn't too fond of just throwing in the towel."
"Doesn't surprise me really," he admits as I notice the cuts that will undoubtedly start tuning into scars soon enough. So eerily similar to mine… "Who'd want to give up what they earned over a couple of strangers? Everyone needs to think of survival first."
Pausing and trying not to go into too much detail (since he undoubtedly still needs rest), I stay silent and notice his eyes lingering over at my face for an extended period of time. I constantly feel like I have to watch what I say around him; as if one false step will lead to a nuclear meltdown that I won't be able to avoid. However, this time, it seems that James has actually regained some of his senses.
At least a little bit, anyways.
"Lilly told me what happened to Debbie… how she killed her that night," he says quietly, not a whole lot of emotion in his voice. "She's gone too, isn't she?"
Nodding, I pull up a chair and put my hands in my lap.
"…did you know about it, Clementine? Did you know about Debbie the whole time?"
Staying still for just a moment, I heavily sigh and shamefully hang my head; nodding silently once again. There's nothing for me to say, really.
To my complete surprise, he doesn't get mad. Doesn't yell or scream or even twitch an eyebrow like he usually does. No, instead, James too nods his head in confirmation; as if he's accepted it as it is. "I know why you wouldn't tell me who it was," he explains, shrugging his shoulders as he maintains a neutral expression. "You just wanted to protect everyone – I can see that now. Maybe you were right to do that kind of thing… to try and spare my feelings and two lives in the process."
As I listen to his voice, I notice that he seems to be a lot more calm and accepting than he has been over the past week or so – perhaps it's progress, or maybe this is just a quiet phase that he's going through. I'm hoping it's the former.
"I'll admit it: I'm pissed off. But… not at you," he says exasperatedly. "I guess that really I'm just… tired. So, so tired… Have you ever felt like that, Clem? Have you ever wanted to just sleep and let the horrors of the world just slip on by?"
"More than once, yeah," I acknowledge; a bunch of nights with Christa coming to mind.
Turning his gaze to the far wall, James makes himself more comfortable as he rests his head against the wall behind him. "Despite what I may have said to you before… I respect you, Clem. I couldn't see past your age and inexperience beforehand, but now I see you for what you really are. You stepped up when nobody else would – that takes courage, you know? Out of anyone, they're gonna remember you as the one who took charge and made things happen. We'll make things better somehow, Clementine… I'm… I'm sure of it…"
With my mind heavy with thoughts of Ellie and dark images of what could possibly happen if this man were to find out about it, I close my eyes and simply nod once again. I need to keep her safe – safe from James, safe from the world… even safe from me.
I'll hide this secret for life, even if it kills me.
"I'm gonna try and make peace with Debbie…" he adds on, running a hand over his bald head. "It might take a while… but I'll make it. Somehow, I'll… I'll be able to wake up tomorrow with a smile on my face. I'm sure that she'd want us all to be happy."
Before he can say anymore, I see Zayne's flashlight shining around outside; giving me a valid excuse to get out before I really let something slip.
I don't need any more drama in my life.
AN: Okay, so Petulant Octopus and Emily Rose, don't worry! I'm not just abandoning your OCs lol, they'll be back in this story later! I just felt it was a good time to introduce them, that's all. They'll be having bigger roles to play in the coming chapters… so please don't try to hurt me, k? :D