She dashes for the door, hiding against the wall where the door would open in on. She swallows any semblance of fear and takes the safety off her gun, heavily breathing with the barrel aimed at the space in front of the door. Even if it was Lee, she couldn't take that chance. She hoped it was Carver or Troy, she hoped.
The door opens, slowly. She can hear Troy's voice order whoever he's currently got under him to open it. She's covered now, directly behind the door, a spot nobody would bother to check at first glance… right?
A few steps in and she finds out who Troy's captive is. "Christa?!" Lee's voice breaks. He makes a run for her body, collapsing by her side. She gets into position.
"Hey, who said you could-" Molly jumps him, grabbing his shoulder, aiming at his crotch and pulling the trigger, blowing Troy's genitals off without hesitation. He screams the loudest howl they've ever heard in the highest pitch they've heard come from a male. He drops his weapon instantly, holding his broken family jewels as he collapses onto his side, squirming around on the floor in wretched pain. "AHHHHH! YOU SHOT MY DICK OFF! NGh! AHH!"
"Jane sends her regards, you pig fucking scumbag." She grabs Hilda, tossing the gun to the side before throwing the blade into his panicked, horrified eye socket, mangling him completely. She removes her with a squelching sound, turning to see Lee. "Hey, are you alright? What's going on?"
Lee is holding onto Christa's limp body, cradling her in his arms. "Christa…" He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, turning to Molly. "What happened?"
She can't speak suddenly, looking down at her weapon of choice with a blatant disgust for it. She swallows again. "I… I found her here, Lee. Carver… You know."
Lee hangs his head, placing Christa onto the chair she sat on prior. "I'm so sorry, Christa. You're with Omid now. Both of you are." He places his hand on her stomach. "I hope it's better up there than down here."
After a few seconds of silence, Molly takes a step or two forward. "Lee?"
Lee slowly stands up, still looking down at Christa while he speaks. "Right. Bonnie's dead, same with Mike. We need to find the other guards and meet up at the stockroom as fast as possible."
A series of small footsteps startle Lee and Molly into looking at the door. Molly gets into battle position. Fortunately, it's just Clementine. Her eyes light up, running up to her protector. "Lee!"
"Clementine! Thank god." He smiles softly, happy to see she's okay. Her expression turns from relief to pain when she spots Christa's body behind him.
"Christa.." She laments. Lee gets down to her level and hugs her. She reciprocates.
"Don't look, sweet pea. It's… she's gone now." Lee says. Molly can't look, simply folding her arms and looking down at the floor.
Shel, holding Carley by her arm, climbs up the stairs next. The ex reporter puts a hand on her mouth, squinting at the ghastly sight of her friend's corpse. "Oh my god. I.. I failed her."
Lee stands up and holds her hand, rubbing her soft knuckles whilst looking into her eyes. "This isn't your fault, Car. It's on me."
Molly stands in front of them. "It's nobody's fault. We have to move on. Carver's men are on the roof, shooting at the herd. They'll draw more if we don't stop them."
Lee lets go and starts pacing, working out a plan in his mind. "We have to stop them before every walker in the county is on top of us. Shel, take Carley and Clementine back down to the stockroom." Shel nods. "Shoot if you have to, but otherwise, if you see a civilian or another guard, ask them to join us. If they don't, Clementine, you'll tie them up. You can do that, right?"
"I can try." Clem uneasily replies.
"No, do or do not. We're in the eye of it now, honey. You have to do it."
"I'll do it, Lee." She nods determinedly.
He gives her a look of confidence. "Good girl."
"If you need help, I got you." Molly says.
"What about you?" Shel asks.
Lee walks over to the pocket pistol on the ground and picks it up. "I'm gonna go stop the guards on the roof by any means necessary."
Carley gives one look at the bodies in the room, picking up Troy's walkie talkie on his body and putting it in her jacket pocket before telling Lee, "Good luck."
He turns to her. "Always." With that, they split up, the girls heading to the stockroom while Lee begins running towards the roof entrance, the machine gun fire sounding more frantic by the second.
Luke and Jane stay crouched as they move into the stockroom. Only one guard is stationed there, Tisha, who appears on edge, frantically walking back and forth while speaking Spanish quietly to herself, mumbling it seems. Jane gives Luke a look.
"What's our plan?" Luke asks the quiet woman.
After assessing the situation, Jane gets into cover behind a charging station. Luke joins her. She whispers their plan. "We both sneak up on either side of her. Punch her in the face and I'll tie her up while she's stunned."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that. Get in position." She points toward the other side of the room. He follows her lead, while she begins sneaking toward Tisha's left. Going unseen, Jane quickly rolls forward before rising up just as Tisha turns in her direction. Luke sneaks behind her.
"What the!-" Tisha yells, Jane's fist propelling her backward after slamming into her cheek. Luke grabs her hand and ties them up. She curses at them in Spanish while Luke grabs a gag from his pocket and puts it into her mouth. Jane ties up her feet before dragging her behind a box of supplies. The sound of walkers groaning and gunfire drowns out any other sound in Howe's.
"Damn.." Luke pants. "That was intense. We make a good team, huh?"
Jane looks him up and down. "Perhaps we do. But we're not done yet. Keep an eye out for-"
Carver is on the warpath. Wielding an assault rifle, he makes a dead march towards the pen, fire in his eyes. He grabs the handle of the garage door and pulls it up upon reaching the prison. The prisoners look up from their beds. "Everybody out of bed! Right fucking now!" He demands, yelling loudly. He aims at them, so they quickly roll out of bed and approach him, hands up in unison aside from Nick, who's wheeling Pete. He counts everyone as fast as he can in his head before noticing the few stragglers missing.
"Where's Kenneth? Lee? Jane? Luke?"
Danny steps forward. "We haven't seen them, s-sir."
"Bullshit, Daniel. I thought you wanted to live." He aggressively aims at Danny, who immediately steps back defensively.
"I'm sorry, sir, it's t-true!"
"No, it isn't. Everyone, into the stockroom now, or I start shooting." They follow his order without hesitation, fearful for their lives. Everyone but Rebecca that is, who lags behind considerably. While Nick passes Bill, he stops him and socks Pete in the stomach, feeling up his pant pockets until he finds his gun. Pete slowly looks up at his fierce expression. "Not our first rodeo with contraband, Peter. Don't play stupid with me. Now go." Nick hesitantly moves along, wheeling Pete forward. Everyone else appears in the stockroom.
Jane looks Luke up and down. "Perhaps we do. But we're not done yet. Keep an eye out for-" Carver appears in front of them, pointing his gun at them. "...That."
"Hands up, weapons down. We need to have a talk. All of us." Bill threatens. Sarah can't help but start hyperventilating. Luke and Jane drop their bags of bindings and gags, holding their hands up. One of the gags rolls out of the bag. "Kinky. First Troy and now Luke. I didn't peg you for a slut, Jane. That's Rebecca's job." Jane glares alongside Luke. Rebecca tries to kill Carver with looks alone.
"Fuck you, Bill." Rebecca growls.
Bill smugly grins. "You did already, sweetheart, remember? Anyway, it's time for a swift punishment. I'm done taking care of the weak and shallow minded around here. You're all poisoning this great community. Lee and his friends will be with us soon, I'm sure. But in the meantime…" He struts forward, following the sounds of Sarah's broken crying. Carlos clutches her shoulders.
"No. I won't let you." Carlos calmly states.
"Dad… W-what's-" Bill hits Carlos in the face with the butt of his rifle, causing him to fall on the ground with a bloody nose. He watches as Carver proceeds to fish Sarah out of the crowd of hostages, keeping his gun on them at all times. "Daddy! N-no! Help me!"
"Let go of her, now! Please, Bill, stop it, let fucking go of her! I can't lose her, you- you can't DO THIS- BILL!"
As Carlos desperately shambles to his feet, Carver talks over him. He kicks Sarah in the calf, getting her down on her knees in front of the other hostages, all of which watching in pure shock. He presses the gun against her head, holding his foot on her ankle to keep her under him while she squirms and screams for help. Duck tries to run forward to stop it, but Sarita and Ben hold him back."Shut up, Sarah. People like you only exist to lower the usefulness of a doctor like Carlos. If he didn't have so much collateral…" Bang! "...He might be a little more willing to work!"
"NO! SARAH!" Carlos screams, his voice carrying throughout the entire building. He's joined by the entire cabin group, Sarita and Duck, all just as horrified and disgusted by her fall. Carlos launches himself forward, seeing red, but Carver easily shoots him in the side, causing him to fall on his waist. Luckily, the bullet only skimmed him, clashing with the floor. Amidst the chaos, Duck runs away.
"Duck! Wait!" And Sarita chases after him. Carver lets them go, focusing on his remaining hostages. What he doesn't know is that Clem, Molly, Carley, Shawn, Becca and Shel are all hiding just around the corner, only now arriving at the scene. Clem winces at Sarah's corpse, fighting back tears. Carley shields her.
Carlos squirms around on the ground, gritting his teeth and crying his eyes out, hopelessly face to face with his dead daughter, muttering her name over and over. Pete looks up at Bill. "We planned a coup against you."
Bill stops in front of him, leaning close. "Oh yeah? Tell me more."
Pete doesn't stop looking him in the eyes."We planned a coup against you so we could take over this place and snuff you out."
Nick mutters, "Uncle Pete-"
"Hush, boy." Pete replies.
Carver puts his hand on his lap, the gun aimed at his neck. "And.. Why'd you think that was a good idea? It's led to some pretty hefty losses for you folks."
"Because you are a degenerative piece of filth and you deserve to die."
Bill gets angrier than he has all night, kicking Pete's wheelchair to the side so he falls down on his side. "Pete!" Nick gets down to his side, making sure he's okay.
Bill starts pacing back and forth. "You wanna go against me? Fine. You wanna throw away the life that I tried to build for us all? Then fuckin' fine. You wanna run away with your dogshit group of crippled fucks? Then fine, be my guest." He aims at Rebecca. "But I will put a bullet in you and that baby, before I let you raise that child without me."
"He's not yours!" She yells through a sobbing voice.
Carver's grip tightens. "You don't fuckin' know that! And until we do, you're not going anywhere!"
Shel aims her gun. One good shot. That's all she needs. Molly charges in instinctively. "Molly?!" Carley whispers, reaching out for her. She doesn't stop running.
Lee runs through the halls, the sound of a singular gunshot making him turn around. He doesn't know who's been shot or why but it scares him beyond all belief. He clenches his fist. He has to keep moving forward. He starts running again, but Eddie turns the corner, holding his gun and gets tackled in a complete accident, his gun flying to the floor. Lee lands on top of him.
"AHHHH! WAIT, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! I'M BEGGING YOU!" Eddie yells, covering his face.
Lee smacks him in the face. "Quiet! It's.. Eddie, right? I'm not gonna kill you. But you gotta help me here." He stands up, offering his hand for him to take. Eddie hesitantly does so.
"Dude, whatever you need! I-I don't even like Bill!" He says, standing up.
Lee rolls his eyes. "Whatever! Just go down to the stockroom and protect the prisoners! Shoot Carver if you have to!"
"What?! But Tavia and Stan, they'll kill me!"
"Just go unless you want me to tie you up instead, like I had to do to your friend."
"Wyatt?! Is he hurt?!"
"No! He's fine! We're not trying to hurt anyone that doesn't deserve it! Look, I don't have time for this, so-"
Quick footsteps followed by Duck and Sarita appearing around the corner cause Lee to turn around frantically. "Duck!" Sarita calls. He doesn't listen.
"Sarita? Duck?!" Lee questions.
"Out of my fucking way!" Duck shoves past Lee, throwing him down on the floor with his sheer speed. Sarita doesn't stop chasing him.
"Ken, Jr. please!" She screams, sprinting as fast as he's ever seen her run. Lee gets up.
"Go to the stockroom, now!" Lee roars. Eddie nearly pisses himself.
"OKAY!" The stoner runs off to the stockroom in a hurry. Lee dashes after Sarita and Duck.
On the roof, Tavia and Stan are the only two guards fighting back against the herd. Duck rams the door with his shoulder, his hand throbbing in an intense heat. Sarita isn't far behind him. With all the growling from the walkers and shooting from their guns, Tavia and Stan are unable to hear them. Stan reloads his gun, which gives Duck enough time to pull the rifle towards him. Tavia notices the scuffle and aims at Duck, but instead focuses on Sarita once she notices her charging toward her. Stan pushes Duck down to the floor and aims his gun down at his head, getting ready to pull the trigger. That's when Lee runs in and sees the dilemma before him. He takes out Bill's pocket pistol and focuses. He has to save one life and forfeit the other. He won't be fast enough to save both.
Choices
A: Shoot Tavia; Save Sarita.
B: Shoot Stan; Save Duck.
Relationships
Clementine: 15/15
Carley: 13/15 (Christa's death is technically your fault, and although she recognizes this, she doesn't care too much)
Molly: 15/15
Kenny: 5/15
Ben: 11/15
Duck: 1/15 (His life is in your hands)
Sarita: 3/15 (Her life is in your hands)
Luke: 12/15
Pete: 15/15
Nick: 15/15
Carlos: 13/15 (He's suddenly very regretful about his decision to distrust Sarah)
Rebecca: 12/15 (She's not very happy with your decision to help Danny)
Jane: 6/10
Danny: 8/15 (He's extremely grateful that you've decided to help him out here)
Carver: 0/15 (He's never met anyone as crafty as you. He wants to be the one to put you down)
Tavia: 2/15
Stan: 2/15
Shawn: 8/15
Justin: 3/15
Wyatt: 4/10
Eddie: 7/10
Shel: 8/10
Becca: 8/15