Duck seemed fine at his job, and Sarah.. She'd manage. Clementine didn't want to get Reggie into trouble, and she certainly didn't want to be seen with her work station empty so she could help the others. So she began clipping off the dead leaves and the berries, drifting away into autopilot as she hummed to herself a soft melody from her childhood.
Half an hour later, Clementine had done six bushes and counting, while Sarah barely managed to finish one.
"W-what the hell did you do?!"
She spun her head at Reggie's voice. Sarah also noticed his tone, clutching her arm and moving to stand next to Clementine nervously. Duck had sheared off eight plants completely, blueberry juice covering his dimpled lips and dotted cheeks. "I don't have to do crap you people say! Do the work yourself, I'm not your slave!" Duck shouts, stomping his foot defiantly. The sound of a door opening and closing from outside could be heard. Through the greenhouse window, Carver was walking towards them.
Reggie panically paces around, biting his knuckle. "Oh shit, oh shit.. Duck, you little fucking.. Sarah, you didn't do any work?!"
Sarah whimpers, "I-I tried! I did a little!"
"Oh my god.." He facepalms just as the door opens. Bill looks around, taking quick notice of Clem's work. Reggie rushes up to him. "Hey, Bill! W-what's up?" The leader immediately goes from a proud grin at the eleven year old to a suspicious snarl at him.
"Just checking how the kids are doing on their first day." Pushing past Reggie with ease, Bill notices the mess of petals all over the floor and the berry juice spread across Duck's face. Furious, he walks up to the boy, who fiercely glares up at him, only taking two steps back.
"I-I'm not afraid of you.." Duck stutters.
Bill points his finger at the kid, gritting his teeth with a scowl at him. "Pipe down, you waste of space. This is strike two, on day one. You think you're getting away with draining our resources and disrespecting me? Nuh-uh, you're done." He turns around. "Reggie, what the fuck happened here?"
Reggie opens his mouth, frozen. "W-well, it's just- you know, I, I mean me with my arm, it's not the easiest-"
Bill approaches, "Shut up, shut up, shut the fuck up. You and I need to have a talk."
"I'm.. I'm really sorry, sir." Sarah stammers.
"This ain't your fault. Just go outside, Sarah and Clementine, and wait for further instruction. Now." His orders don't fall on deaf ears. Clem takes Sarah's shivering hand and leads her outside. Duck glares at Carver, unblinking. Reggie breathes heavily, his pupils dilated. The door closes behind the girls. Sarah walks over to the edge of the building after departing hands from Clem and stares off into the vacant parking lot, practicing the breathing techniques Carlos taught her to avoid any anxiety attacks.
"Sarah..?" Clem begins walking up to her, raising her hand out with concern. "..Are you okay?"
Bang! The door flies open behind the girls, Reggie stumbling out of it and into the outside. Carver is screaming at him, fists clenched while Clem and Sarah watch. "I gave you plenty of chances!" Bill yells, shoving Reggie to the edge of the roof.
"No, please, Bill, NO! PLEASE!-" With one hard push, Reggie falls, screaming, right off the edge of the roof, his body crashing into the concrete below. Blood from his split head spilled underneath his body and filled the cracks around the floor. Sarah couldn't move, shaking like a leaf as Clem looked down at his lifeless body, shocked. Bill puts his hand on the girls' shoulders.
"Weakness, incompetence.. It puts us all at risk. Clementine, go see Bonnie. She's got more work for you." His voice is calm now, more relaxed. His breathing is rugged and heavy, but he's keeping himself together. He lightly pushes Clementine away, forcing Sarah to turn around. Clem doesn't move, watching as Carver whispers something to Sarah before walking back into the greenhouse. The two make eye contact, but Sarah looks down before long. A few seconds later, grunting and the sound of skin hitting skin can be heard as Duck yells out in pain.
Clem runs into the greenhouse. Carver's right fist tightens around Duck's shirt while his left punches his face, over and over, from cheek to eye to chin. "C-Clementine!" He yelps, weeping as he's beaten. "S-stop!"
"Stop it! Please!" Clem shouts, earning Bill's attention. He looks over his shoulder, rage in his eyes.
"Don't worry about this, Clementine. Go. He'll be okay."
"Fuck you!" Carver's fist descends, smacking Duck's vulgar mouth. He stands back up, leaving the boy to cradle his purple, swollen eye and bleeding cheek and lip wounds while he walks over to Clem and nods at her.
"You did good. Now I need you elsewhere." After a moment of listening to Duck cry, Clem turns around and leaves the scene. Carver consoles Sarah, the last thing Clem sees before she walks out the door.
Lee finds himself outside of Howe's amidst a couple of soldiers wielding assault rifles, making conversation with their backs turned to him, a kid and an adult. Stan stands behind him, ushering him towards the pair. "Danny, Becca, this is Lee, he'll be helping keep watch with you today."
"Yeah, I know him! He's my cellie. 'Sup, bro?" Danny holds a fist out, Lee bumps it.
"Hey, Danny. Becca, was it?" He turns to the girl, trying his best to sound friendly.
Becca shrugs. "Yeah."
Getting the hint, Lee steps back. "Nice to meet you."
Stan walks in front of Lee shortly after putting his walkie talkie away. "So basically you stand out here and watch the treeline for any sign of the herd or scavengers. I've got stuff to do around camp, so if you have any further questions, direct them to your coworkers."
As he starts walking away, Lee asks, "Don't I get a weapon or something?"
Stan rolls his eyes. "Yeah, right. Look, Bill might trust you, dude, but.. Most of us don't. Sorry, you know how it is."
Lee sighs. "Yeah, I do. No worries."
"I'll be back to pick you guys up at supper time."
"Okay, then." Lee says, directing his attention to Danny and Becca, who go sit down in two foldable chairs side by side.
"Wanna join us, bro? Grab a foldable chair, they're around there." Danny motions his hand east of himself. Lee follows his vague directions and finds a chair, planning to take it out next to Danny. He struggles, however. "Er, need some help?"
"Yeah, some two armed help would be good." Lee says with a smirk.
"Gotcha, man." Danny gets up and assists him, laying the chair out. "There ya go." He goes to sit down.
"Thanks." Lee plops himself down after him, leaning forward in his chair to gaze at the outside. "So.. any tricks to this job?"
"Not really. If you see chompers, go down and deal with 'em quietly. If you see people, aim your gun and phone Bill. If people shoot or look threatening, warn them and call Bill, then shoot to kill when you see someone draw a weapon. Pretty basic survival stuff." Danny explains.
"Alright then. I assume this is a slow one?" Lee asks.
"Unbelievably. But that's cool, means we got it easy." The ex convict replies, lounging in his chair with his shins crossed over one another.
"Way better than cooking duty or janitorial duties, that's for sure." Becca says with a half eye roll.
"Or working with your sister. She's always giving me the evil eye." Danny says, earning a laugh from her whilst laughing at his own joke
"Don't mind Shel, she's just jealous you're stealing my attention away from her. She'll get over it." Becca says, recovering from her laughing fit.
Lee takes interest in the conversation, taking the opportunity to get to know his fellow group mates. "She's your sister?"
Becca goes stone faced. "Yeah, she is."
"What's she do around here? How'd you guys end up here?" Lee continues asking.
"Mostly maintenance on vehicles. Why does it matter how we got here?" She asks, somewhat offended.
Danny puts a hand on her shoulder to calm her. "To make a long story short, Shel and Becca were with us with some of their friends before we got picked up."
Becca sighs, relaxing. "Sometimes I wonder if Steph and Brie are still alive."
Danny turns to her and shrugs. "Do you want them to be? I believe they are."
"Pfft, I don't care. They left us, that's on them."
"Come on, Becca, have a heart."
"Have a brain, dummy." The duo laugh together again, leaning against one another as if they were lifelong friends or something. Lee quirks up an eyebrow, somewhat creeped out. Becca stands up. "I'm gonna go get some food. You want some?"
"Sure, ba- uh, Becca. You want some Lee?" Danny stutters, his cheeks turning red.
"Uh.. no thanks. I oughta stay focused." He answers.
"Yeah, and food keeps your strength up, get him some food." Danny tells the girl. She nods, smiling at him.
"I'll be right back." With that, Becca walks away to the inside of Howe's.
"She's a good kid, once you get to know her. So what's up?" Danny says as soon as she's gone.
It takes Lee a few seconds to reply, finding the right words and thoughts. "Not much. Had a talk with Bill. Went well."
"Good! That's great, man! I told him about you saving our asses last night, I gotchu, bro." Danny pats his shoulder hard.
Lee gives a half smile. "I appreciated it, really. You might have saved my ass, too."
"We gotta look out for each other. How you feeling about your situation?"
"Better. We can't fight it, might as well work with it. Aside from that violence earlier today, which.. Well, that needs to be fixed."
Danny sighs. "Yeah, poor Sarah and what's his face- Duck? I can't believe he made Carlos do such a thing to his own daughter."
"Yeah, me neither. If he ever asked me to do that to Clem, I wouldn't hesitate in blowing his brains out." Lee responds, dead serious. Danny lets out a small laugh.
"Ha, if he told me to do that to Becca, he'd be getting slapped! I feel you, man."
Choices:
A: What's your relationship with that girl?
B: That girl seems like trouble. What's her deal?
C: Don't tell Bill we talked about any of this, okay?
D: I'm gonna get back to work now.
Relationships (Lee)
Clementine: 15/15
Carley: 15/15
Christa: 11/15
Molly: 12/15
Chuck: 15/15
Kenny: 5/15
Ben: 11/15
Duck: 11/15
Walter: 3/15
Sarita: 5/15
Luke: 11/15
Pete: 12/15
Nick: 11/15
Carlos: 9/15
Sarah: 6/15
Alvin: 13/15
Rebecca: 11/15
Danny: 7/15
Bonnie: 7/15
Carver: 8/15
Tavia: 6/15
Stan: 6/15 (Stan just doesn't trust you yet. He doesn't dislike you, he actually does like you. But he just tells it how it is)
Shel: 6/15
Johnny: 6/15
Shawn: 7/15
Troy: 5/15
Justin: 6/15
Wyatt: 5/10
Eddie: 5/10
Shel: 5/10
Becca: 5/10 (She's still not used to you, doesn't trust you)
Sam: 7/15