Though Carley felt there was no way of reasonably reasoning with Molly, she decided to push forward anyways. She had had it up to here with her stubborn idiocy. The mocha skinned woman grabbed Molly by her shirt, pulling her forward to look her right in the eyes. Whether out of surprise or acknowledgement of a shift in Carley's more go with the flow nature, she didn't fight back.
"Listen! I know this is hard, I love Chuck almost as much as you do. He's not only a great friend, but an amazing fighter. I don't want to see him away from us any longer, I feel horrible that we let him get swept away, and I'm sure you feel guilty too: don't." Carley's advice seemed to only make Molly's eyes roll.
"I was drunk while he was out defending the group. How could I not blame myself? Not to mention Christa, who ruined any chance of him taking down that asshat who kidnapped him and made all of our efforts vain!"
"Christa tried to help. Don't act like your mind would have been rational."
"Would be a lot more rational than her depressive one." Molly mumbled, looking down at the dirt.
"It's been a hard few days for her, you know that." Carley growled through gritted teeth.
"I get that, but I don't get how it's my problem." An icy stare ignited the anger within Carley. The stare she gave was on par with the devils in terms of ferociousness.
Carley shoved her away, landing her on her shoulder with a 'oof!'. That was it. "How fucking ironic. It's not your problem that her best friend and lover is gone, never to be seen again. How ironic is it that it's not your problem, but that was mine and so is this? Enough with the goddamn survivors' guilt. I am sick of survivors' guilt. At least Christa knows Omid is dead, you're just in denial that you could ever do anything to save him. 'Everything is terrible, woe is the world.' Shut up." She regained her breath slowly, pacing back and forth with her hand over her face. Molly watched, getting up to her feet.
"I.. Huh. You really are clueless, huh?" Silence. Carley approached.
Plap!
Thud.
"Thank god." Don't mess with a reporter. They tend to be irritable without coffee. Finally, they were able to rest.
Day two, afternoon.
Clementine is hanging back with Sarah, chatting away about their favorite shows before the outbreak. "So, it's this show about these guys called Feathermen. They're so cool, they all wear different colored suits and battle ugly monsters, but they're, like, huge! At the end, they always transform into a big mech and destroy whatever evil is attacking the city."
"Huh. That's really cool. My favorite show growing up was this cartoon about these vegetables who wore clothes and-" Sarah gasped.
"You mean Disco Broccoli and Friends?! Oh my gosh, I haven't watched that show in ages! I really liked Beet Nick!" Her smile was a rare sight that Carlos treasured seeing. Maybe he was too hard on Clementine.
"You say something?" Nick asked the girls.
"Just a show we used to watch. One of the characters is a beet named Beet Nick." Clem answered.
"A show, huh..? I remember watching TV a long while back." Nick said as if it were ages ago. It was ages ago, to be fair. At least that's how it felt.
"You remember that show with the sea sponge?" Luke inquired of his best friend. Nick nodded, grinning.
"Yeah! Man, too bad the apocalypse struck before that could finish. That show was great to get uh.. Recreational to." Nick stifled a chuckle, thinking back to lost memories. It seemed the whole group radiated good energy today.
"You got high, watching Spongebob?" Alvin interjected.
"That was his name? I was too out of it to get into it, I guess." A cacophony of laughter came from the group. Even Christa cracked a smile and the hum of a chuckle. She quickly disguised herself back into misery though.
"Reminds me of Duck."
Lee muttered to himself, shaking his head once the laughter died. He didn't seem sad though, just nostalgic.
"Yeah.." Clem felt the same way.
"Dad, I'm thirsty!" Sarah beckoned, purposely drawing out the y. Carlos grabbed the liquids bag around Pete's wheelchair.
"C'mere, I'll find you a juice box."
"Gotcha!" She ran over like a bat out of hell, leaving Clementine in the dust. The group walked further, the scenery not changing much and the conversations becoming more specific, with most group members having their own. Sarah talked Carlos' ear off as he handed her a simple, barely lethal ice pick to use 'just in case', the doctor nodding at Clem with a half smile from a distance. Clem definitely felt proud of herself there.
"Not thirsty?" The distinct, this time not aggressive voice of Rebecca asked the eleven year old. She looked towards the pregnant woman with a shrug.
"Not really. I just had water."
"Don't wanna go for a pee break until everyone else has to? If only I could will myself into not having to go as much now." She rubbed her belly, blaming the pregnancy for her frequent breaks.
"Um.."
"Oh, uh, right. I've never been good at this, but I just needed to say.. I'm sorry. Truly. About my attitude, my readiness to just kill you or abandon you, my general lack of care. All of it."
"I understand though. We would have done the same."
"And you still would have apologized. Sure, it was precautionary. But it was also really bad, threatening to send a disheartened group including a kid out to the woods to die. That's not me, that's just the apocalypse bringing the worst out in me."
"It brings out the worst in everyone. Well.. Almost everyone." Clementine gave a whimsical look at her caretaker for life, Lee. The man who had only become better through walkers destroying the world. Clementine was certain he was the only one who benefited from all of this.
"Seems like Lee benefited from it. Most of us though.. Not so much." Rebecca stared between her stomach and Christa, then a pained glimpse at Alvin. The man caught her staring and flashed a wink and a thumbs up. She laughed, stumbling in her own pained expression. "Despite how that idiot may act, our lives were ruined from all this too. I guess that's a story for another day though, huh?"
"If you want. I would like to hear the story though, if that's okay."
"Oh, well.. I guess so. Not much to lose by telling you now." She sighed, dragging her fingers across her messy, brown curls. "Well, I guess I should start at the beginning. Alvin and I were happily married and planning on children shortly before everything started. Obviously, that plan got thrown out the window. We survived with a smaller group for a while, until this one incident." Christa, once again, began eavesdropping. Lee was busy listening in on Nick's business story, in which Luke corrected him on the name of the dead company.
"What happened?"
"A lot. We were boxed in after one the leader of the group, a Japanese guy named Maruki, was bitten. He tried to convince us he was alright, that nothing would happen after we cut his arm off. But.. We didn't know. We cut his arm off, sure, but it was an hour after the initial bite. Alvin and I stayed as far as we could away from him in that little trailer. A hoard swarmed us outside, so there really was no way out. When he finally did die from the infection, he was put down by some idiot who decided shooting was better than using his knife. Lurkers from miles away marched towards us."
"Did you get out because of Carver's group?" Rebecca nodded.
"How'd you guess?"
"Something similar happened to Carlos. He needed help, and they helped him. Or, at least that's what he said."
"Well, it's true. Machine gun bullets rained onto the dead, and before we knew it, every lurker outside was dead. It was at that point I realized how precious life is.." She looked down at the bump in her body, smiling. "And when they offered to let all three of us into a shelter of clean water, a roof over our heads and food for years, how could we say no?"
"Who's the third guy? Is he here?"
"Nah, he's s uh.. He was supposed to come with us. But he didn't make it. He just slipped, when we kept running." Her smile turned into a frown. "Anyways, we'll get into that later. The leader, Carver, was admittedly quite the charmer." Yeah, Clem did not like that description. "I agree with you. That's why I said 'was.'" She put her arms up in surrender.
"Alright, fine. Continue." Clem joked. Rebecca complied.
"Right. Alvin and I were finally seeing Carver's camp, and it was incredible. A grocery store filled to bursting with survival equipment and plenty of opportunity for expansion. We thought that maybe, just maybe we could try a family again. Well, that's what I thought.. But Alvin insisted it was a terrible idea. He knew what would happen if we brought a child into the camp. It was already hard work for the kids living there, and he didn't want our child to go through the same thing when they were older. I.. Was selfish."
"Did he.. Come around?" When Rebecca stayed silent, both listeners raised their brows.
"Bill offered after a rumor spread that I wanted kids. I told Shel- I knew I shouldn't have told Shel. She told her bratty bitch of a sister, and she spread it directly to Tavia for 'fear of weakness.' Tch. Bill called me to his office subtly after night had fallen and I.. I don't know. I was weak."
"Clearly." Christa blurted out, a look of wretch on her face. The pair's attention focused on the third wheel. "You cheated on your husband in these times? That's low, even for a woman who threatened to kill a little girl."
"Christa, stop." Clem scolded, donning a tone Lee would be proud of if he could hear her.
"No, no. It's fine." Rebecca eased Clem's pointed finger, closing her eyes with regret. "I deserve it. Because the very next day, Alvin changed his mind. We found a spot and.. I felt so disgusting. A moment like that shouldn't hold disgust or discomfort. The moment your child is conceived should be pure ecstasy. It should be filled with love.. Now I have no idea when that moment was." Christa already felt shitty for what she said.
"How did you get bunched in with Pete?"
"Carver found out after Alvin told him. He thought full disclosure would prevent any malice from arising. That's when Bill told him everything and… God. He beat him in front of everyone as an example of what happens to 'rule breakers.' It's all my fault we were thrown into a cell alongside Carlos and Sarah shortly afterwards. Bill is an insane bastard, but he's also smart. He knows what happens when he threatens the life of a woman's husband and beats him into unconsciousness. You'd revolt too, wouldn't you?"
"I'd do much worse than revolt. I'd fucking kill him." Christa replied. Rebecca smiled at her loyalty.
"I wish I was more like you."
"Pete did tell me your bark was worse than your bite." Clem teased, trying to lighten the depressing mood. Becca smirked.
"Did he now? I'll have to ask him about that."
The rest of the day was spent walking, breaking, walking, breaking. It was absolutely exhausting, not to mention how homesick everyone was starting to feel. At least Clem was starting to get to know her new group better.
Later that night, Clem was on watch for two hours. Tired, legs in unbearable pain and spirit practically drained, she lazily looked around with her pistol in her hand. The trees looked so pretty this time of night.. And the moon is so..
A tap on her shoulder caused Clementine to jump, nearly falling on her ass. Rebecca chuckled, shaking her head. "Hey, you can go back now. I can cover you." A nice gesture, but Rebecca didn't have watch tonight. Besides, one more hour and she'd be done anyways. Should she take the early sleep offer or let Rebecca have her nightly rest?
"Bec? Where'd you go?" The restless, pudgy husband of Rebecca shuffled away, standing up with a hint of urgency to find his wife.
"I'm gonna cover for Clementine. She's exhausted." Rebecca answered quickly, turning to see his face barely illuminated by the orange fireplace.
"Bec.. You know you should watch your health, right? Which means you should get rest." He sternly advocated.
"I'll be fine. I'm not due for another month." She carelessly brushed her hand through the air.
Alvin, ever involved in the life of his lover, corrected her. "No, you're due this month. No cigar, you're not doing it. Clem, back me up here."
Choices:
A: Cover for Rebecca
B: Let Rebecca cover for you
Meanwhile…
Molly and Carley walk through the woods, mostly silent. There's a difficult to process tension in the air, but Molly now knows not to challenge Carley if her head isn't in the right place. No apologies were exchanged, only a meek "Thanks.." From Molly when she woke up from a sleep so good she snored through it. They were back to being coordinated, even if Molly was now deathly afraid of pissing Carley off. At least she respected her now.
(Carley) Relationships:
Lee: 10/10
Clementine: 10/10
Christa: 8/10
Molly: 6/10 (Much more strained, even if Molly now has insane respect for you)
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
(Clementine) Relationships:
Lee: 10/10
Carley: 10/10
Christa: 8/10
Molly: 8/10
Chuck: 10/10
Luke: 8/10
Pete: 10/10
Nick: 8/10
Carlos: 8/10 (After being cautious of you, he finally decides to give Sarah a weapon now that he has a better grasp of who you really are)
Sarah: 10/10 (She now has a weapon thanks to you, making her feel really important and much safer.
Alvin: 6/10
Rebecca: 6/10 (Now you both know each other better)
Carver: 2/10
((QOTC: If you had to cut one plot out of the game entirely, from seasons 1-4 not including Michonne, what would it be? Easily Kate's cuckold plotline for me.))