Clem remembers the last winter she had to endure with Chuck, Omid, Lee, Carley, Christa and Molly. Back then, the only warmth she had was the oversized coat of her guardian who demanded she wear it instead of him. Christa was still pregnant and just started showing, the group had discovered their hideout in the woods, and they were free in their little group of seven.
One night was particularly bad. A blizzard rained down on them, leaving them with no choice but to take shelter in the bathroom stalls for the night. Molly and Chuck sat by a tile wall leaning on their supplies, Omid cuddled Christa close next to a stall, and Lee and Carley wrapped their arms around her and tried to lighten the mood.
"So.. Christmas should be around the corner. Right?" Lee questions the group.
"If it hasn't already passed, you mean." Carley replies.
"I know it's winter, but that could mean a lot of things. Could be January for all we know." Christa adds on.
"Ooh, should we tell Christmas stories to pass the time? I love a good Christmas story." Omid exclaims with a big smile. Christa rolls her eyes with a grin.
"I second that. Chuck, wanna lead?" Molly nudges the old man's shoulder.
"Why me? My Christmas stories ain't nothing special, I'll tell you that." He responds, shrugging his shoulders. Molly rolls her eyes.
"Laaameee. Fine, I'll go first." She clears her throat. "When I was, like, fourteen, me and my sister went out to Christmas village. She was twelve at the time and still believed in Santa because dad was hellbent on keeping her innocence."
"You lost yours young, huh?" Lee sarcastically asks.
"Sure did! How else do you think I learned to climb walls and shiz? Anyway, not only did she still believe in the jolly old bastard, but she also was bullied for it and adamantly refused to believe her classmates."
"That's one thing I don't miss; those kinds of people." Christa says.
"Tch, yeah. Getting bullied in High School was the worst." Omid adds, then pauses and looks outside. "Well, almost the worst."
"Well, these bullies were at the village the day we went. Sis was anxious as hell about 'em, but I told her to chill and stop worrying so much, which obviously worked great." She says sarcastically. "Course we see them there, 'course they try something, and I end up using a midget dressed like an elf as a meat shield before kicking their asses. They had baseball bats. Apparently I ruined a pretty good prank."
"So you were always like this." Christa says with a deadpan expression.
"Not always was I this cool, but I was always cool, yes." Molly sarcastically concedes.
"That's kinda mean, using the elf." Clementine replies.
"Yeah, it was. Feel bad for the guy, but it was his nose or mine." Molly says with a shrug.
Omid giddily sits up. "Okay, my turn! One year, Christa and I bought matching sweaters for a party to her ex's house-"
"Was your life a sitcom or something?" Carley questions.
He nods. "Yes. The dude was 6'2. I was super intimidated. He ended up laughing at me a few times - what was it he said?" He asks his woman, turning to her.
"He didn't say anything after I poured all that eggnog down his nose." She mutters with a growl. Omid lets out a loud belly laugh.
"A lot of violent Christmas's, huh?" Lee points out.
"We shredded the shirts when we got home together and ordered a pizza. Tipped the pizza guy $30 cause we felt bad for making him drive in the snow. I love Christmas." He says dreamily.
"I miss it." Clementine laments, Lee's bulky winter coat sagging over her like a robe. He cuddles her closer to his chest.
"Me too, honey."
Omid rubs Christa's stomach. "Hey, when Omid Junior gets born, maybe we could bring back the holidays."
"Omid Junior?" Christa questions, almost horrified by the name.
"Name a more self obsessed person." Carley chuckles.
"Impossible." Christa answers, following her laughter along with most everyone else.
Lee looks down at Clem. "How about you, Clementine? Any fun Christmas tales?"
She shifts in her seat. "..There's one, I guess."
"Well, tell us, sweet pea."
She closes her eyes before opening them back up to the smiles and anticipation of her new family. The picture was clear as day, her younger self at home with her parents, snow drizzling down the "One year, my babysitter Sandra came to my mom's house crying. She wasn't allowed home for Christmas because her parents wouldn't allow her. So my parents let her stay with us. She bought me an outfit from the thrift store with what money she had, and we hung out every night. We had sleepovers and she talked about teenager stuff.. It was fun. I miss her."
Clem shakes her head out of the memory before it could show on her face and accepts the jacket, throwing it on over her sleeves before zipping it up around her pink shirt. She looks down and notices just how awful it looks on her, wrinkling her face at it.
"See? Real cute." Bonnie compliments, smiling warmly.
"I think she hates it." Luke says. Tavia shrugs.
"Is it comfortable at least? It looks like it fits you like a glove."
Clem sighs, supposing that yeah, it was pretty comfy. The silk on the inside felt like a blanket and the material on the exterior was puffy enough to protect against the elements. "It.. it is. Thank you."
"You're welcome." Tavia says, nodding before turning to Bonnie. "Mind if I steal her away for a second? We need some extra hands in the greenhouse, a lot of work to do."
"Whatcha think, Clementine? Wanna leave these annoying adults to work with your friends?"
"Yeah, I don't mind." She says, walking towards Tavia.
"Stay safe, Clem." Luke advises, looking her in the eye. She nods.
"You too."
The greenhouse is located directly above Howe's, on the rooftop. The sky is cloudy and white, almost ominously bright out. The clouds resemble the wings of an angel with the intimidation of a demon. Tavia and Clem walk there in silence, with Tavia occasionally radioing various members to check on them. She opens the door for the girl when they get there, guiding her inside of a room filled with greenery. Plants, mostly.
"Stay inside and don't touch anything, I'm gonna radio down and see what you're doing." Before she could even reply, Tavia slammed the wooden door behind her. She clenched her fists and rolled her eyes. There goes the nice act, she supposed.
Something snapped her out of her anger: whimpering. She could tell by the voice that it was Sarah. She looked in the corner of the room and found her, hugging her knees and crying her eyes out, trembling. She had never seen her so bad before.
"..Hey." Clem greets. No reply, aside from more sniffling. "..You want a hug?" Nothing. She gets down to her level like Lee does and holds her arms open, approaching her. Sarah flinches and shrinks herself against the wall. Clem gets the message and stands back up.
"Okay, maybe not now, but when you're ready, I'll be here."
Sarah sniffles, wiping her cheeks clean of tears. "...My dad's never hit me before. Like, not even when I was r-really bad.. He'd never hit me."
Clem furrows her brow, her dislike for Carver only increasing after seeing her friend like this, someone who never meant to hurt anyone. "He didn't want to do it, Sarah. Carver made him, he's the bad guy, not your dad. So, in a weird way, Carver's the one who hit you, not your dad."
"..I guess so. Well, then Carver hit me super hard, because it still hurts like crazy." Sarah finally looks up at Clem to speak to her.
Clem huffs. "Yeah, it looked like it did."
"...Thanks, for trying to help." Clem smiles at her, relieved to have gotten through to her. "I don't understand why people have to be so mean. Like, even when I'm really mad, I still don't wanna hurt anyone."
Clem avoids eye contact. For once in their friendship, she doesn't have an answer to that thought. Not even she knows why people hurt other people when mad. She's seen it happen a fair few times, but she's never understood it.
Just then the door opens, with Duck and Reggie ahead of Tavia. "Don't mess this up." She bitterly spits.
Reggie furrows his brows in a way that suggests that he hates being treated like this. "Yeah, I get it."
"Reggie's in charge here, listen to him carefully." She orders.
"Yup, no problem, Tavia." Tavia closes the door, rolling her eyes on her way out. Reggie turns to the kids. "Okay, we gotta do a good job, guys, the camp is counting on us." Clem looks at Duck, noticing how distant and frustrated he seems. Sarah stands up and joins the group, giving her boy crush an apologetic gaze. He doesn't acknowledge her or notice her.
"Come on, I'll show you what to do, it's super easy." Reggie leads, directing the kids to a table that holds several blueberry plants in orange pots next to some shears and baskets. "Pick up those shears." He directs and they follow, though Sarah is much slower than her friends.
"Okay so we're picking these berries, right? Just pick them and put them in the basket, simple." He cuts one off and puts it in the basket. "While you're at it, if you see any dead branches, take those shears, snip them off and stack them on the table neatly for composting. Got it?" Clem is the only one who replies, with a nod. "Clementine you can work over here, Sarah you can work to the left, Duck can be two rows ahead and I'll be right next to him. Bill's had it out for me ever since I helped everyone escape, so.. Let's move." Everyone separates, going to their own stations. Duck starts cutting almost immediately. Reggie approaches Clementine as she examines her plant.
"Hey, so.. Are they gonna be okay? Cause what happened down there.. That was straight fucked up. I don't want them freaking out and getting me into trouble."
"Of course they aren't."
"Well.. you know what I meant."
"Just let us work, and if anything happens, call it out. I thought you were the adult here."
"Alright, kid, I get it. Sorry." He looms over her for a few seconds, and she just glares, folding her arms. He puts a hand on her head. Her glare turns into a cringe. He backs away. "..That was awkward, I won't do that again. I'm gonna go to work now." He awkwardly walks away, leaving Clem to work. She cuts down a dead leaf, and then another, both majestically falling down together to the table surface. She glances at her friends, one chopping away and the other staring her scissors down with a ragged breath. She looks back at her own work, which is sizable but manageable. It looks like Sarah or Duck could use some help, though.
Choices
A: Focus on your work
B: Help Sarah with her work
C: Help Duck with his work
Relationships
Lee: 15/15
Carley: 15/15
Christa: 12/15
Molly: 14/15
Chuck: 15/15
Kenny: 10/15
Duck: 15/15 (He seems to be doing fine, but who knows?)
Ben: 15/15
Walter: 7/15
Sarita: 8/15
Luke: 13/15 (He's glad you took the jacket, even if it is ugly)
Pete: 14/15
Nick: 11/15
Carlos: 11/15
Sarah: 14/15 (She's happy to have you as a friend)
Alvin: 10/15
Rebecca: 11/15
Carver: 8/15
Tavia: 7/15 (She's a mean person when working, but she's efficient. She's happy you took the jacket off of her)
Stan: 5/15
Shel: 6/15
Becca: 3/15
Bonnie: 7/15 (She's glad you took the jacket)
Johnny: 5/15
Shawn: 8/15
Wyatt: 6/10
Eddie: 6/10
Troy: 3/15
Justin: 7/15
Danny: 6/10
Reggie: 6/10
Sam: 5/15