"Why can't Sarah have a weapon?" Clem's question didn't actually need an answer. She knew well why Sarah couldn't have a weapon. But she also knew she had to have one. Carlos turned to glare at her for even uttering such a question at a time like this in front of everyone; Sarah smiled at least, showing her appreciation. The smile quickly faded as Carlos put a hand on her shoulder, getting her to face forward.
"Sarah isn't like you. She doesn't need weapons." He turned back, thinking that batting the question aside would be good enough for her.
"Uh, everyone needs weapons. It's the apocalypse, Carlos." Clem shot back. The tension in the air grew uncomfortably as Carlos ignored the eleven year old's retort.
"Clementine, maybe uh, settle down." Luke softly said, looking at her with a 'quit while you're ahead' glance. Thankfully for Luke and the others, Clem listened. A few seconds of awkward silence later, and Christa just had to dig it up.
"You can't argue with her logic though. Clem was nine when she first learned how to shoot. She probably would have died otherwise." Carlos' hands clenched into fists.
He raised his voice, but kept a mostly passively annoyed tone. "I don't care about her experiences, Sarah is not Clementine. She doesn't do weapons. End of discussion."
Sarah folded her arms, hugging her quickly beating heart close to her. "But, dad.. I'm not a little kid." Her father's face softened when she looked up at him. Her expression told him she disagreed.
"I know, sweetie. We can talk about this later tonight. For now, we should be focusing on getting as far from the cabin as possible. Right?" He shot Clem a glance.
"I guess." She replied, shrugging.
"No matter how you dice it, we shouldn't argue. Not with morale as low as it is and Carver out there with a clue to our location." Pete added.
"Not to mention a car." Nick reminded him, much to the worry and despair of many group members
Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Would you be quiet for two seconds? Like talking about any of that is any better."
"Maybe we should just stay to ourselves then. Less drama." Alvin suggested, mostly to keep his wife peaceful and calm. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"More than fine by me." Carlos agreed, spite in his tone. Lee sighed; what a broken group. The rest of the day was spent in mostly silence, aside from the rare walker that was dealt with in seconds. Eventually, night fell and the group was forced to camp out in the woods. How familiar..
Luke and Nick prepared a fire while Rebecca and a still exhausted Clementine rested. Not many places to sleep that would be comfortable, but luckily Pete brought blankets, around four. There wouldn't be enough space for everyone to sleep at once, so they decided to do so in shifts. Currently, Clem, Sarah, Carlos and Lee were on sleeping duty, while everyone else watched the fort.
"This brings back memories." Lee thinks out loud, arousing the stares of the other three next to him.
"Not great ones. Especially without most of our group." Clem sighed sadly.
"You guys had to sleep outside too?" Sarah questioned, receiving a nod from Lee.
"Yeah, for a long time we had no place to live under. We've been that way for over a year now. Our car just died and ever since then we've been living in the woods. Only then we had tents and enough morale to keep us alive forever." He watched the stars carefully, counting them in his head. "Now.. Omid is dead. Chuck is gone. Christa is disturbed, Molly is frantic, Carley is guilt ridden.. I just want a break."
"After Omid, everything went bad so quickly."
"..Yeah. He was our good luck charm." A humorous sigh escaped the leader's lips.
"I'm sorry about your friend.." Sarah muttered remorsefully.
"Thanks." Was all Clem could really think to say. After that, the only sound aside from the bugs chirping was the fire crackling a few meters away. It was still young in the night.
"We used to live like this once." Carlos spoke, his voice sounding foreign and clogged like he hadn't swallowed in a while. He finally did. "We don't talk about it much, but.. Before we found our group, me and Sarah were alone. After, uh..-"
"Mom.." Sarah whimpered, cuddling closer to her father.
"Right.. After that, we were desperate. I did everything I could to keep us safe. She was always the more reasonable parent. I'm soft, or at least for her." He looked down at his daughter and rubbed her back, keeping her guarded under his arm. "Our family is all we have left. Those lurkers took a very vital piece of it away. Like I said, we were desperate, so when a woman named Tavia gave us a choice to be in their diverse, safe, strong camp of survivors, how could I say no?" The fire crackled dramatically in the background. Christa eavesdropped from a tree she was leaning on. With one last heavy sigh, he continued. "Carver wasn't our only problem. Troy, Stan, Michael, Tavia.. Not a single friendly face, for the most part. And the day I stood up to Carver for disposing of an entire group, including a child.. He laughed." You could hear the anger rising in his voice as he gritted his teeth. Lee and Clem looked at one another in shock.
"A-and then.. You hurt him. A-and he hurt you.." Sarah quietly began crying, her tears drying after contact with his checked shirt.
"Shh… I'm alright. It's going to be okay.." He rubbed her back calmly, comforting her trembling figure.
"I'm.. Sorry. I should have realized how much you had been through." Clem apologized.
"We've all been through a lot. I'm sorry too." And so did Lee.
"I know. It's alright." He looked around the night sky. "After that, Sarah and I were tossed into their prison. Luckily, he never put a hand on her, but I ended up with bruises, cuts and a broken finger. Do doctors have doctors though? Not in this day and age."
Lee opened his mouth in disgust. "You mean, you had to.." Carlos nodded.
"I had to do it myself. There aren't any other doctors aside from a veterinarian who isn't very capable with people. He worked on a farm, but that's the extent of his knowledge. I was a surgeon, I could handle it. We were the first prisoners there until.. Well, I shouldn't speak anymore." Carlos closed his eyes, getting into a more comfortable position.
Clem was a bit disappointed, but understood. She and Lee got more comfortable as well. "..Thanks for sharing that with us, even though I was rude to you earlier."
"It is alright. You simply didn't understand. You do now. We should get some sleep, Lee. We're up next for watch."
"Yeah, that'd be best.." Lee yawned, truly exhausted from overthinking, overstressing and walking. Clem was already asleep, her arms entangled around his waist. He smiled, closing his eyes and falling unconscious.
Carley and Molly barely had a lead outside of a rushed map Pete helped them put together. Luckily, it seemed they were on the right track. However, it was night time and Carley was extremely tired. Her ankles felt as if they'd burn off, and her lungs were done working overtime. Molly, on the other hand, was close to bursting with energy. She was currently skull deep in a walker with her trusted weapon of choice. Carley found a big rock nearby and sat on it, grabbing a water bottle from her backpack. She took a long, satisfying swig. "..Ah. Molly, let's stop for tonight."
"What? Why? We just found those tire marks, they must be close!" Molly argued, shoving Hilda into her holster.
"It's a car, Molly. It's long gone by now. I also don't think he and his gang are aware there are two crazy chicks tailing him."
A smile peaked at her lips. "Did you just use slang?"
"Not the point, Molly." Carley nearly facepalmed.
"Whatever. You're way older anyways, that's why you're so worn out." She turned back to keep walking before the brunette cut her off.
"I'm thirty-nine. Chuck was in his early sixties and lived much longer than a lot of young adults I know. We've been walking all day."
"Yeah, and he was in a war."
"A war I covered! God, please, just take a break." Her patience was really wearing thin. Joke dispenser or not, Molly could really get on someone's nerves if she wasn't careful.
Molly turned her hand into a fist, walking back to Carley, only two feet away from her face. "If we stop now, they might be gone forever! The group has five days to get to where they're going, we have four. If we can get Chuck in three, we can catch up to the group in five too."
"That's not how that works! Either way you slice it, we'll be cut off from the group unless Lee, Clem and Christa wait for us. We're sacrificing everything for Chuck, so we might as well not half ass it. If we go in there, dead asleep and our guards lowered to zero, we're done for!"
"Tsk, whatever, cynic. I'm staying positive and going alone. You can stay here and rest." The blonde turned back around, walking at a fast pace towards Carver's camp. She had the map, not Carley. No doubt she'd stick to her word too.
"That's not what we agreed to, Molly, stop being such a child! I came out here for you, I can't just let you go alone!" Carley started following her, her feet aching with every step.
"Fuck you. You have no idea how it feels to lose someone close to you like him!" She raised her voice to an angry yell, her face aimed towards the south, away from Carley. Otherwise, her looks could kill her.
"Like I didn't just lose Omid- Like WE didn't just lose Omid! Can you think logically for two seconds, please?!"
She stopped, turned around and glared, hard. "I am, Carley! I really am. I can't lose Chuck, separated from the group or not. We need to keep going or he will be gone for good. So, like it or not, I'm not resting until my body forces me to." Carley felt hurt from the stare down she gave her. Her own logic prevailed in her mind, but she couldn't convince Molly, no matter how hard she may try. This girl is as stubborn as a damn mule. Looks like she's playing by her rules.
(You are now playing as Carley)
Choices:
A: Concede and go with Molly
B: Stay to rest, leaving Molly to go alone.
C: Put her in her place.
Relationships:
Lee: 10/10
Carley: 10/10
Christa: 8/10
Molly: 7/10
Chuck: 9/10
Pete: 7/10
Nick: 6/10
Luke: 7/10
Alvin: 7/10
Rebecca: 4/10
Carlos: 6/10
Sarah: 5/10
Carver: ?/10 (He doesn't exactly know Carley exists)
((Once again posting the discord link. It's a great community so far! /9NhmuXpyyH
QOTC: What does The Wolf Among Us do better than the Walking Dead? I'd say it has it beat on animation and music for sure.))