Clementine kept staring at Troy's dead body. Lee looked over to the girl, he felt bad for what he had done, but only because Clementine was there. He never wanted the girl to have to see him do something like this. Lee had never felt more angry than when he saw Troy lay his hands on Clementine, he even felt more angry than the day he had killed the man who slept with his wife. Lee gulped down the ball that had tightened in his throat as he thought back on those dreaded moments.
Lee gently placed his hand on Clementine's shoulder, resting onto his knee as he looked up at the girl.
"I'm sorry that you had to see that, Clementine." Lee said as he gently hugged the girl.
"It's okay, Lee… you did what you had too." The girl replied.
Clementine agreed with what Lee did. She decided that Troy deserved what happened to him, and she would watch it happen to him again if she could. She knew that man had done horrible things in the past.
Kenny paced around a bit, every so often glancing towards Troy's body. His eyes eventually settled onto the now free AK-47 which laid on the floor. Kenny picked up the gun and his eyes lit up. The man was instantly thinking how he could use it to end all of their problems. Lee looked back towards Kenny, releasing his hold of Clementine as he stood to his feet. Lee took a few steps towards Kenny.
"Lee, this is our fuckin' chance!" Kenny exclaimed as he turned to face Lee. He held the AK-47 up like a prized possession.
"I'm gonna fuckin' end that fucker!" Kenny grumbled out angrily.
"Kenny… you can't do that. It's too risky." Lee replied.
"Yeah, well you beating Troy to death was pretty fuckin' risky too, Lee. Y'know that? We got our fuckin' chance, right now! Just wait for some of those fuckers to stroll up, and I'll put a goddamn bullet in their heads!" Kenny exclaimed.
"Kenny… you're just one guy! There's too many of them to handle, we need to get rid of this son of a bitch's body before they find out what happened to him." Lee said.
Clementine stepped towards Kenny, shortly glancing up to Lee before looking towards Kenny.
"Lee's right, Kenny. It would be too risky to do that… they could kill everyone else before we even got the chance to hurt one of them!" Clementine said with a slight frown on her face.
Kenny seemingly listened to the girl's words, he glanced to the floor for a few seconds.
"We can throw him out at that fuckin' store that me and Mike was at. Slip off one of the boards from the windows, we'll throw that shitbird out there. But we keep this puppy hidden somewhere, it might just come in handy." Kenny exclaimed.
Kenny placed the gun on the ground as he and Lee began to pick up Troy's body.
"Clem, go make sure that there's nobody out there watching.'" Kenny said.
Clementine nodded and slowly opened up the door of the comic store, she glared around, looking towards the roof as well. It was all clear, to her surprise.
"Nobody's out here." Clementine exclaimed.
"Good." Kenny said with a slight smirk on his face.
Kenny and Lee continued to drag Troy's body until they reached the other store at the end of the constructed wooden walls. They walked inside of the store, holding Troy's body as Clementine slipped one of the boards down from the window. The window was already shattered, as it was the same one from which walkers had entered the store from before. Lee and Kenny threw the man outside, Lee then placing the board back up.
"I'm gonna go back for that gun. We'll put it somewhere in here." Kenny exclaimed.
Lee nodded and then glanced towards Clementine, Kenny then walking outside of the store. Lee glared around his surroundings, his eyes landing on a table which had a hammer and some nails lying on it.
"Hey, Clem. Get that hammer and a nail, will you?" Lee asked.
Clementine smiled before grabbing the hammer and a nail off the table, then making her way over to Lee.
Lee held up the board with his hand as he glanced at Clementine.
"Hammer that nail into the side of the board. We need to make sure it stays up." Lee exclaimed.
Clementine nodded as she held up a nail to the side of the board. Her eyes narrowed as she steadied the nail onto the board, slowly raising up the hammer. She quickly smacked the hammer into the nail a few times before it was completely jammed into the board. Clementine glanced around for a few moments, hammer dangling in her hand. She seemed to have something in her mind.
Lee seemed to pick up on it as he let go of his grip on the board.
The girl looked up to Lee, "I miss how things used to be, Lee. Before all of this… before…" Clementine stuttered on her last words before falling silent. Lee looked saddened by the look that he saw on the girl's face.
"I know, sweet pea. Things can be horrible nowadays…" The man exclaimed.
Lee got onto his knee once more and glanced up to Clementine.
"Clem, I want you to know… what I did to that man, it wasn't a good thing. It wasn't the right thing to do either. I acted out of anger, and I did something I shouldn't have. What I did could have, or even still could be putting us at risk."
Clementine looked confused at Lee's words, "But… but he hit me Lee! He probably did that to other people too. Maybe even worse."
Lee sighed at the girl's words, he knew she was right. But Lee didn't want Clementine to think that killing anyone that made you angry was right.
"I know, Clem. He did deserve what was coming to him. But the thing is, you shouldn't go around acting on your first instinct like that. There's a right time to act, and what I did there was wrong. Now we could have more problems from what I did. You need to know when it's the right time to act and when it's not.
The girl looked to the floor, trying to grasp her head around the words that Lee had told her. She let her right hand rest on her left arm, seemingly lost in thought.
Lee stood back on his feet and looked down to the girl, "And for the record, I feel like things will get back to how they used to be. How it was before all of this. Maybe not right now, but eventually." Lee exclaimed, a small smirk on the side of his mouth. He truly wanted to believe his words. Sure, the circumstances of the world were terrible and would be for a long time. But tough times can't last forever, right?
Clementine looked up to Lee and smiled a bit, she liked the idea that the world could come back from such an event. She hoped that Lee was right, but part of her felt like that wouldn't ever come true. And even if it did, surely by then they would have lost so much… would it even be worth it to live anymore at that point?
Suddenly the door of the store jolted open once more, emitting a loud creak as it did. Clementine and Lee were relieved to see that it was just Kenny, returning with the gun as planned. The man still had a smile plastered on his face as he looked around the store, eventually finding a place to hide the weapon.
"We should get back before they really get on our asses." Kenny exclaimed.
Lee nodded, and the three of them began to make their way back to the pen. As the three of them finally made their way inside, they were eventually angrily escorted by Carver's men. Clementine was surprised to see that it was Vince acting this way, as he was completely different back in the greenhouse. Clementine thought he was different from the rest…
The three of them were quickly brought to the pen at gunpoint. Clementine's stomach twisted and turned as she saw Luke on the ground, with the rest of the group rounded up, looking towards Carver. Lee looked furious as he realized that the plan had now fallen apart, his brown eyes focused on Carver like a predator watching his prey.
Carver paced around in front of everyone, anger set on his face, "And how is it that we're repaid for our trust? With treachery? With deceit? With theft."
Carver stopped his pacing, pulling a radio out and waving it out towards everyone, "Whatever you were planning is over… it's done. You can't just run from your problems. You can't just up and leave when it gets tough… 'cause there's nowhere else you can go where it ain't." The man exclaimed with anger, or rather frustration still set in his voice. Carver walked towards the group, letting his cold eyes wander around, seemingly analyzing everyone. Clementine initially didn't fear the man very much, but the feeling she had right now, said completely otherwise.
"Tough is all we got, now. Get that through your fuckin' skulls." Carver said, returning to his original position, in front of the group and near his own people.
"Luke here, he can't help you now… you gotta help yourselves… you gotta help me find the strength to forgive you. Now you can start… by telling me where the other one is." Carver stood silently for a few moments, the group offering the same response. Anger built on Carver's face as time continued to pass, "I'm gonna count to three. If that radio ain't in my hand by then, we'll have to make things more difficult."
"One." Carver yelled out, a brief pause before his next words.
"Two." He yelled out once more.
Clementine's eyes seemed to be completely filled with fear… she felt that she had no other option but to give the radio up. She didn't want Lee or Kenny, or even anyone else for that matter, getting hurt if they didn't have to be. Clementine dug into her pocket, just about to pull the radio out.
"I have I-…" Clementine stammered out before she stopped. Lee grabbed onto the radio and held it up into the air.
"It's right here. I got it." Lee said with an aggressive tone, his eyes still dead set on Carver. His eyes hadn't left the man since he had walked into the pen. Carver looked amused with what he assumed to be the man's attempt to intimidate him… Carver knew one way to break Lee, tear him down. Carver held out his hand, and Lee approached him.
Lee dropped the radio into his hand, and Lee stood there silently for a few moments. Carver glared into his eyes with a small smirk on his face.
"Restrain him." Carver exclaimed with a cold tone to his voice. Clementine felt shivers run down her spine as the man said this, was he going to kill Lee? The girl instantly had thousands of these thoughts running through her head, each one imagining the worst situations… but somehow, it was something even worse.
Two of Carver's men dragged Lee away from Carver, and with just one arm, it made it quite difficult for Lee to budge out of that hold. Suddenly, Carver quickly walked towards Clementine, grabbing onto her hair violently before throwing the girl to the ground in front of everyone.
"NO! What the FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Lee yelled out, his words seemingly getting stuck in his throat. The man violently tried to get out of the hold the two men had held him in, but another man came over to restrain him, thus making it almost impossible, but he surely tried.
Clementine looked up to Carver, she felt hopeless. As she gazed into the man's eyes, she already knew what he was intending to do. Her stomach twisted and turned, seemingly filled with a brick, she had even started to sweat profusely. She had never felt this nervous in her life.
Kenny looked at the girl with shock plastered onto his face, Carver couldn't do this… could he really do this? Suddenly, Carver grabbed the girl by her hair, bringing her head up before smashing the radio into her face. The impact instantly made blood draw from the girl's face, and Clementine could already feel herself losing consciousness from the hard blow.
"NO!" Lee yelled out. A couple tears had run down Lee's face, the first tears he had released in a very long time. The rest of the group looked towards Carver with horror filling their eyes, they knew he was a fucking psychopath… but to do this…
Lee smashed his head into one of the men restraining him, then quickly threw a punch at another one of Carver's men. His attack worked, briefly. He was then shut down as the butt of an AK-47 was smashed into the back of his head. Lee fell to the ground, unconscious. Kenny attempted to run towards Clementine… he had to help that girl. He had to do something.
Kenny was restrained by Carlos and Sarita as he desperately tried to get his hands on Carver. Kenny yelled out words that weren't even making sense anymore, just pure adrenaline and rage spurted out into a ball of words.
Carver continued smashing the radio into the girl's face, and after three or four hits, he seemed to hold back some of his power. He smashed the radio into Clementine's face one last time, sending the girl back to the concrete floor. Her face was swollen, bloodied, along with the floor below her head.
"Oh my god… Bill! Ther-there was a breach." Bonnie stammered out, her eyes deadset on the little girl that had been beaten brutally. Carver's clothes and face were covered in blood, he finally listened to Bonnie's words, throwing the radio to the ground.
"All right, everyone come with me. Bonnie, you stick around. Make sure these folks don't get into anymore trouble." The man spat out angrily, making his way out of the pen before stopping briefly.
"No supper for y'all tonight. Maybe an empty stomach'll give you some perspective. Then we'll try this again tomorrow." Carver exclaimed with anger set deeply in his voice, sending chills down the spines of everyone who had heard. Carver and the rest of his men finally walked back into the hardware store. Kenny, Carlos, and Sarita had surrounded Clementine. Kenny was teary-eyed, and was barely holding it together.
Lee was still knocked unconscious, Luke was trying to get him to his feet.
"I'm so… so fuckin' sorry, Clementine… oh m-" Kenny stammered out as he let his hand rest on the girl's head. He kept looking at her face… how swollen and brutal it looked. He failed Clementine, he should have never given the radio to her…
"Carlos… just… do your best with her. We're leaving tonight." Bonnie exclaimed, her face still in shock from the sight of the little girl.
"Damn right we are." Kenny said as he glared back at Bonnie, the man's face had turned from sorrowful to now being completely filled with anger.
"And… and I'm gonna fuckin' kill… that son of a bitch.. You just leave him to me." Lee said furiously, each word emphasized. No one there doubted the words that he had said.
Lee hadn't said anything for the past few hours, it was now in the middle of the night, and the group was discussing whether or not they should still go through with their plan to escape. Lee blocked out most of the words, the only thing that had come to his mind these last couple hours, was how he wanted to brutalize Carver. He never was a man to necessarily enjoy killing, but when he got his hands on him…
"Look… we should just rest up, okay? Bide our time, and we should wait for an opening." Luke exclaimed.
Mike looked annoyed at Luke, "Bonnie's agreeing to help us tonight."
"And that doesn't mean she can't do it some other night." Luke responded.
"Man… I don't know, guys… Luke's makin' sense. Maybe we should wait. We don't even know if Clementine is… gonna wake up." Nick added.
Kenny shared an angry glance at Luke and Nick, "We ain't fuckin' waiting! We've waited around enough. We're gettin' the fuck outta here tonight, and we're killing that son of a bitch."
"Well… if we do wanna leave tonight… we might have to leave her behind." Mike exclaimed.
Kenny glanced at Mike with his eyebrows furrowed, then looked towards Clementine, who laid on a bed not far from the campfire that the members of the group had surrounded. Clementine was still knocked out cold, but presumably still alive. Carlos seemed to still be working on the girl.
"Clementine is fine. She's gonna wake up. Y'all actin' like she ain't even here, just fuckin' dead already." Kenny said with a mix of anger and sadness in his voice.
"She might be alive, but fucking brain dead." Nick mumbled out.
"Shut the fuck up!" I odd to slap the shit out of you for saying that!" Kenny yelled out angrily as his body subconsciously moved closer to Nick.
"Shit… I-I'm sorry, but man…" Nick stammered out.
"I've gotta agree with Nick here. I mean, a little girl like that… taking a beating as bad as that. I don't think she'll come back, at least not the same as she was before." Jane exclaimed, walking closer to the group, previously standing a distance away. Kenny wanted to retort back at Jane with his own words, but Carlos finally made his way over to the group. Lee finally perked his head up at the sight of Carlos.
"Is she alright?" Lee quickly asked, his voice still filled with a range of emotions, yet still at a deep and rather calm tone for the circumstances.
"Her orbital… it is… crushed. I don't think there's much hope for the eye. I got her as stable as I could, cleaned it, got some of the swelling down, bandaged it as best I could… but until she wakes up… we won't know if there's any damage to the brain." Carlos exclaimed, his face filled with sorrow. He felt extremely bad for the girl, he felt pity for Lee as well. He couldn't imagine his daughter being put through something like that, nor himself.
"Fuck sakes, man… If I just… hadn't made her get those radios in the first place, none of this shit woulda' happened. We should have just found another way, just… fuck." Luke muttered out.
"I'm… I-I'm okay. I'm good." A shallow and higher pitched voice echoed throughout the pen. Everyone looked over in shock, Clementine was up, moving. The girl had her eye bandaged, the bandage already soaked in a decent amount of blood. Her face was still a bit swollen, and she looked quite a bit different.
Lee instantly stood up and jogged over to the girl, embracing her into a tight hug. The man let his head rest on her shoulder, a few tears dropping out of his eyes.
"I'm so sorry, sweetpea. I'm so… so sorry." Lee exclaimed as he got choked up on his words. Clementine felt strange, saddened almost. She had never seen or heard Lee cry, the closest she ever saw to him crying, was all that time ago back in his parents drugstore. Clementine hugged Lee tightly, a tear dropping down her face as well.
Lee let go of the tight hug and let his hand rest on the girl's shoulder. He looked her in the one eye that she had, and he couldn't help but notice, her eye seemed different. He couldn't exactly point out what it was, but it was there. It looked colder.
More devoid of innocence than it already was, more broken looking. Lee couldn't help but feel his heart drop, he felt that strong urge to cry once more.
"We're gonna get out of here sweetpea. Tonight." Lee exclaimed. Clementine smiled a bit at Lee's words and nodded her head.
"You are one tough little girl." Mike exclaimed.
"She sure is." Nick responded.
"Hey!" A voice on the outside of the pen muttered out. The group looked towards the pen gate, wondering who would be calling to them at this hour. Lee, Kenny, and Clementine, along with Luke, walked up towards the gate. They were surprised to see Vince on the other side.
"You may think I'm some monster, some asshole that would just sit here and agree with what that fuck did today. Well, I don't. I would kill him myself if the circumstances were different… but listen, guys. They know one of you killed Troy, you gotta get the fuck outta here. Tonight." Vince exclaimed.
Luke looked shocked at the mention of Troy being dead, he instantly looked over to Lee and Kenny, "Did you?"
Lee and Kenny both nodded their heads. Luke looked shocked, but nodded his head. That piece of shit deserved it. After what Carver did to Clementine, Luke felt little pity for anyone simply standing by his side.
"Is there any way you can help us out here?" Lee asked.
"If there was any way to help you, I would have done it. If I opened this gate, Carver and his little fuck buddies would be on my ass in a minute. I feel the best thing I can do for you right now, is to tell you to get the fuck out of here while you still can." Vince responded.
"Wait. You couldn't do something as simple as… turning on the PA system? All you gotta do, sneak up in that bastard's office and turn that shit on. Once you do that, all the rest of em' are gonna be too busy dealing with that shit to notice you opening up this gate. C'mon man, after what he did, you're not even gonna try?" Kenny exclaimed.
Vince sighed as he looked towards Clementine in particular, then to the rest of them. "I'll do it. But we have got to be quick about this shit, do you understand?" A smile erupted on the faces of the four on the other side of the pen gate.
"Got it." Lee responded.
Vince then hurried off into the direction of Carver's office, and the group immediately started to ready themselves.
"Guys. We're leaving right now, Vince is gonna open up the gate for us, he's turning on that PA system." Lee exclaimed.
"Holy shit. Really?" Rebecca responded.
Lee nodded his head, and Kenny placed his hand on Lee's shoulder. "Lee, I'm gonna go for that gun I stashed. He said they found Troy, but didn't mention anything about that gun though."
Lee shook his head, "Ken, we should just focus on getting the hell out of here."
"Yeah, and y'all can still do that, but in case shit goes south in here, at least I'll have something to defend you guys with." Kenny responded. Lee sighed and nodded his head.
Sarita looked towards Kenny with a worried look in her eyes, "Be careful, Ken, please..."
Kenny smiled at Sarita before embracing her in a quick hug, "Always, hon."
Lee got down on his knee to face Clementine, letting his hand rest on her shoulder.
"Clementine, no matter what, you stick close to me. I know you're older now, but you're hurt, and I need you to stay by my side. Head trauma can be dangerous, you could be dizzy… off balance, or worse, have a seizure. " Lee exclaimed.
Clementine nodded, and Lee held onto her hand, the same as they had done back when the apocalypse had first begun. It made Lee reminisce for a few seconds about those early days of the apocalypse… so much had happened since then, and much more was still to come.
"Sweetie, you stay by me at all times. Do you understand?" Carlos asked Sarah with total seriousness in his voice. Sarah nodded her head slowly, letting her gaze fall on Clementine and Lee. It was strange to see the girl like that, she had always felt so mature and older than her actual age. Now she was holding hands like she was a little kid or something…
Eventually the sound of the PA systems sounded out, and chaos inside of the hardware store then began. The sounds of people waking up, yelling, running for their weapons. The group stood near the pen gate, and after a while, the hardware store was cleared of most people. Most of them had run to the rooftops, others heading towards Carver's office. Eventually Vince made his way to the pen gate, quickly opening it up.
"Come on guys, we gotta go now! Get to the stockroom, we can get out there." Vince exclaimed.
Lee held onto Clementine's hand tightly and began to make a run for the stockroom, along with the rest of the group. On the way to the stockroom, Lee noticed a table, along with Luke, which had some of their weapons on it. Lee grabbed his pistol, which he had recognized instantly. Luke grabbed his machete along with its sheath, placing it onto his back.
The three of them continued their way to the stockroom, Luke leading the charge there. Eventually Luke slowed his pace as they had finally entered the stockroom, Carver was holding the group at gunpoint. The man had an AK-47 in his hands, and he was waving it around aggressively.
"You wanna run off with this dogshit group of crippled fucks, then fine! Be my guest. But I will put a bullet in you and that baby before I let you leave again with my fucking child!" Carver yelled out. The man had noticed Luke, who was unarmed, so he presumed him to be no threat. However the man had not noticed that Lee was there, the man had stayed out of his view. Clementine felt Lee's grip loosen on her hand, and she saw the man pull his gun out from his waistband. Lee approached quickly, and before Carver could react, he shot him in the leg. Carver groaned out in pain, dropping the AK-47. Luke marched forward, grabbing the weapon and then aiming it towards Carver. Clementine stepped closer to the whole ordeal, watching as it took place.
"Ahh… come on Luke, this ain't none of your business." Carver exclaimed, groaning out in more pain.
Vince and Kenny finally made their way to the stockroom, Kenny had already set his eyes on Carver, his face filling with rage at the sights of him. He resisted the urge to shoot him with the AK-47 which he held… he wanted Lee to have Carver for himself.
"Rebecca… Alvin was… he was dead, in the office." Vince said, approaching Rebecca and gently placing his hand on her shoulder. Rebecca shook her head as her eyes widened, her eyebrows then furrowing.
"Kill him." Rebecca muttered out.
Carver laughed a bit, amused at her words, "Rebecca, Rebecca sweetie, my god. How did we get here, you and m-" The man's words were cut off by the sound of another gunshot which penetrated his other leg. Carver groaned out in more pain, resisting the urge to place his hands over his wounded leg. Lee quickly approached Carver, shooting him again in his hand. This time, Carver let out a yell of pain.
"Look… look at you…should have fuckin' put you out of your misery back in my office. Could have had that girl all to myself." Carver exclaimed, taking in a couple breaths in between his sentences. Lee's eyes fired up, his brown eyes not focusing on anything except for Carver, the one thing that he had to mutilate. Tunnel vision.
"You fucked up when you met me back at that lodge. Did you really think I wasn't gonna end up killing you? I already told you I would." Lee said at a dangerously low tone, a tone which sent shivers into the spines of most people around. Luke always thought that most of the time, regardless of the situation, his voice was always so calm. It made him even more intimidating.
Suddenly Lee approached even closer to Carver, then quickly snatching the machete out of Luke's sheath. Luke quickly grabbed for his machete, but then thought against it. Lee approached Carver with the machete in hand, slowly but steadily making his way to the man. Clementine never stopped watching this entire encounter. Vince and a few other members of the group had opened up the garage door which led outside, a couple others stayed to watch what was going to happen.
"Look at you, you fuckin' ingrates…" Carver mumbled out before his arm was met with the slash of a machete. It took a few swings before his arm was completely cut off. The man screamed out in pain, using his one last arm to hold his now non-existent arm. Carver looked up at Lee, trying to crawl away from the man.
"I always knew… you and me… weren't so different." Carver groaned out before the machete collided into the center of his body. The man spouted up blood as it did, coughing more up after the machete was pulled out from the center of his chest. Lee then aimed the machete at his remaining arm, this time cutting his hand clean off.
Clementine and Kenny watched the entire time, never taking their eyes off of it. Clementine felt good about what was happening to Carver, she never thought she would feel good about killing, but here she did. It was brutal, disgusting, but so necessary.
Carver screamed out in pain before Lee took the machete and drove it straight into his skull. Lee then ripped it out, making a horrifying sound as it was. Lee stepped away from Carver's body, and handed the machete back to Luke.
"Here." Lee said in a cold, and again, calm tone.
Luke looked horrified, to say the least.
"Let's get out of here." Lee exclaimed.
