A/N: Well… this chapter is going to be different. I'll have to go into Gil's POV for a little bit. Also, the reason why it took so long to post this chapter along with the other chapters to my stories is because there's a bug in Doc Manager. I actually had to use the copy-paste method instead of the file uploader which is the method that I've always used to post a story. Hopefully, it'll get fixed.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. All rights reserved to their respective owners.
2 Weeks Later
It had been a somewhat relaxing two weeks at Howe's. Clementine was hard at work doing her daily chores for the community along with Becca and Gil, but she was also planning to find a way to escape. She had thought over the many possibilities in her head, but she believed that her plan would succeed in getting them out. Still, she would have to talk to Becca and Gil first.
"Well, well, you three are doing a good job." Carver said. Clementine looked over to see him holding a baby in his arms. "I decided to take junior here out for a little stroll." Carver said as he gestured to the boy in his arms. Clementine knew that it was Rebecca's baby. Carver walked over and inspected each of their work. Meanwhile, the baby cooed and made baby noises which made Carver chuckle. The leader of the community had become more relaxed since the boy's birth.
"Well… I'd say this should suffice." Carver said. He cleared his throat and looked to the three children. "I'd say you three have earned your places in the community. If you can wait until morning, I'll let you back into the community. I got to make it official so that the guards don't make the mistake of putting you in the pin."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Becca muttered.
"I've been meaning to ask you. Did you and your people grab a tomahawk from the ski lodge?" Clementine asked Carver.
Carver looked up to Clementine with a smirk and he said, "As a matter of fact we did. Why do you ask? Was that yours?"
"Yup and I'd like it back." Clementine said while she returned the smirk. She hated to admit it, but Carver almost acted like her father with the way he teased her and would play a cat and mouse game with her. It was surprisingly fun for her. She always wondered why adults would talk so much. Maybe this was the reason why.
"Tell you what. If you continue being a good little girl, I'll give it back to you by the end of the week." Carver said.
Clementine shrugged and she said, "Deal."
"Good." Carver said. "Now… it's almost time for supper. One last night out there with those savages in the yard, and then you're inside this place… free to do whatever you want… well to a certain extent…" He gave them a gesture to move along to the yard. The three children obliged and started to walk away toward the yard.
"How's your leg, Gil?" Clementine asked.
"Getting better." Gil said. He was right. The eleven year old boy wasn't limping anymore. Plus, he wasn't grunting in pain when he walked.
"Can you believe that we'll be stuck out in the yard one more night?" Becca snapped while Clementine looked back to Carver. It appeared that he wasn't really paying attention to the three. He just continued to look over their work and looking to the baby in his arms.
She looked around more for any other guards, but they were scattered within the building. "I'm just glad that we're getting out of that yard." Gil said. "I can't stand Carlos or Luke anymore. They're really annoying."
Clementine huffed and she said, "Alright. I know how to get out of here now. It took a while but there's only one real way of escape. Gil, you're going to have to help Luke and his group escape, but what you're really going to do is gather up a pistol for each of us and some food. Next, we need to leave a note about Luke's escape plan for Carver."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Becca said. "What are you talking about? You're wanting to leave again?"
"Becca, you and Shel can come with us." Clementine said. "We want you to come with us."
"Clem's right." Gil said. "Carver's calmed down a bit, but we still need to get out of here and find our missing group."
Becca frowned and she said, "I can't come with you…" Clementine and Gil looked to Becca with a pair of frowns as they continued to walk to the yard. "Shel thinks this place will work out… I know she won't leave… and I can't leave her. She's all I got left."
Clementine sighed and she said, "I understand. I hope you stay safe while you're in here."
"Yeah… you stay safe while you're out there. I bet there's a lot of crazy shit out there." Becca said. The garage door that led to the yard was finally in sight. The three children approached it with silent and solemn looks on their faces. It would be the last day that they would be together. Tyler stood on watch in front of the door and he opened it for the three children. They would have to endure Luke's and Carlos's ridiculous antics for one more night.
2 Hours Later
Clementine stayed close by as Gil walked over to Luke and his group; however, it wasn't much of a group. It only consisted of Luke, Carlos, Jane, and Mike. She could faintly hear their conversations. She had to listen in just in case her plan backfired.
"What do you want?" Luke snapped.
"I want to come with you." Gil said.
"Absolutely not. You'll only mess things up." Carlos said.
"Hey come on now… let's give the kid a chance." Mike said.
"I heard that Clementine tried to leave without me on the first day we started working here… so I'm really angry about that. I want to get back at her for trying to leave me by helping you guys and leaving her." Gil said.
There was a moment of silence amongst them which was followed by Luke saying, "Alright. Welcome to the group."
"I don't understand why you guys are so bent out of shape by some girl." Another voice said. This one was new… was it Jane?
"Because that girl got my best friend killed." Luke said.
"Plus, she stole from us and nearly killed my daughter." Carlos said.
"Alright… whatever." Jane said.
Clementine could hear footsteps coming towards her. She was nowhere near the wall that they had planned to use to escape. She looked over to see Luke and his group heading toward her. Something wasn't right. Clementine stood up and she asked, "What do you want?"
Luke didn't reply. Instead he punched her to the ground. Clementine groaned in pain as the man said, "Consider that a small act of retribution for getting Nick killed."
"We don't have time for this." Gil said. Clementine was surprised that he kept a straight face, but she was also happy. Her plan was still intact.
She got up from the punch as Carlos said, "Goodbye and good riddance. We'll never see each other again."
Clementine stood upright and she said, "Yeah goodbye. I always wondered what kind of people you were before all of this, but I guess it doesn't matter."
Luke scoffed before he turned around and headed to the wall with the other three group members joining him. Gil stayed behind for a moment, but he stayed in character in case Luke was listening in. "It's not too late. You sure you want to do this?" Gil asked. He was asking about her plan.
"I'm sure." Clementine said.
Gil nodded before he turned around. He walked over to join the group. All Clementine could do now was wait for him. Plus, she had to hope that he would fulfill everything that she had planned for. Although she thought over the plan for weeks, it still had little room for error.
Gil's POV
"Alright… you're going to go in there, activate the speaker, play one of the CDs that are in there, and then jump down into the stock room to regroup with us." Mike explained. "The controls are in Bill's office."
"You think you can handle that?" Luke asked.
"Yeah." Gil said. Mike pulled down the rope that was a part of the winch. Gil had seen them use the winch before. It was used mostly to bring heavy bags of soil to the roof. The hook to the winch reached the ground and Gil placed his foot into the hook of the winch. Mike began to pull on the rope, and Gil started to ascend up to the roof.
"You better not backstab us or there will be serious consequences." Carlos said.
"That's right." Luke said.
Gil just ignored them and waited for Mike to get him high enough on the winch to reach the emergency escape ladder on the roof. Mike grunted a couple more times as Gil got closer and closer to the ladder. He jumped off the winch and grabbed onto the ladder once he was close enough to it. He then climbed it to the roof.
Once Gil reached the top, he noticed that there was only two guards on the roof and there was a good distance between them. Gil moved across the roof in a crouched position. He did his best to avoid detection as he got closer and closer to the skylight that led to Carver's office.
Gil looked over upon hearing one of the guards speak up. "This is Russell checking in. Area's clear."
"Copy that." Another guard's voice was heard from the radio.
Gil looked back to the skylight and saw that it was dark within the office. It was abandoned. Gil opened the skylight and jumped down on a set of lockers. From there, he jumped down onto the ground.
He walked out of the room and went to the armory first. There, he grabbed a couple of handguns and some ammo. Plus, he grabbed his and Clementine's backpack. The people within the community must have been too lazy to take the backpacks somewhere else. He also picked up Clementine's tomahawk. He knew that she would want it back since it had proven to be a useful tool and weapon in her hands.
He crept out of the armory and went to the shelves of food next. He grabbed a few canned goods and went up to the office.
He walked up to the PA system and started to turn on the speakers. Next, he turned up the volume. It was set to play within the community rather than outside as Luke and his group had intended. Gil turned to the CD player and opened it. It was empty, but it didn't take him long to find one of the CDs. He placed the CD in the tray and pressed play.
Suddenly, the radio within the hardware store came to life with a woman's voice explaining shopper deals. Gil had to act fast. He noticed that Bonnie was running toward the pin. She must have been the other half of Luke's escape plan.
Gil pulled out the letter that was addressed to Carver. It was Luke's plan which was written down by Clementine. He ran over and started to climb up on top of the lockers in an attempt to reach to roof. He was almost to the skylight when he heard the door open. He was out of sight, but he could see that the person who entered was Carver.
He needed to move. He opened the skylight and got back onto the roof. He could see the retreating forms of the two guards on the roof. They were heading back inside. Gil ran over to the yard and saw that Luke and his group had left. It was just Becca and Clementine in the yard.
Clementine's POV
"Perfect, Gil. It worked." Clementine said.
"So, I guess this is it." Becca said. "I'm not that good at saying goodbye."
"Me neither." Clementine said as she turned to the older girl. The two sighed before they hugged each other.
"Good luck." Becca said.
"Thanks." Clementine said. They separated and Clementine ran over to Gil.
Gil grabbed onto the rope of the winch and adjusted it to where he could pull Clementine up. It was a struggle, but he managed to pull the girl up slowly. He huffed as he continued to pull her up onto the roof. All Gil would have to do was get her close enough to the emergency escape ladder. From there, they were free. Gil finally managed to do so and Clementine jumped onto the ladder. She climbed up to the roof and grabbed her backpack.
"Good job." Clementine said. "You've gotten stronger."
"Thanks…" Gil said with a huff. "We need… to get out of here."
Clementine nodded and the two went across the roof. They used the scaffolding in the expansion to climb down gradually and reach the ground below. Once on the ground, they darted for the surrounding forest. Clementine looked back to Howe's one last time. She knew that she would miss it, but she also knew that she would have to find Christa, Omid, and the others.
"Hey, you alright?" Gil asked.
"Yeah…" Clementine said. "I think I now know what's going on with my life. I guess I'm not a death magnet; I just didn't think of all of the flaws in my plans."
"Clem, people will die no matter what you do. You can't change that." Gil said.
"I know… at least… I know that now." Clementine said. She looked to Gil and she said, "Thank you… You saved my life more times than I can count. No matter what happens from here on out, I'm thankful that you were there for me."
Gil smiled and he said, "You saved my life many times as well. Come on… we're free. First thing we need to do is find our friends." He had his hand out in a gesture for her to grab it.
Clementine nodded and she took his hand. Together, they ran through the forest. They were tired, but they were happy. They were free from the community, and with a little luck, they would find Christa, Omid, Genevieve, Alvin, Sarah, and Sarita.
The end
A/N: Well… interesting little story…