Chapter 16: Finding Strings

Why was there so much? Why was it leaking out so fast? Blood shouldn't leak out that fast. Mammals should never lose that much blood, right? He pulled the reverse, he accelerated again. Keep your paws in the wound, Finnick! Don't fucking let go! Don't fucking let go! Keep it steady. She's gonna be fine. she's gonna be fine. she's gonna be fine. she's gonna be

"Clementine?"

"Huh?" Gideon freed her from her trance by tapping her gently on the shoulder. The 19-year-old was confused. She felt like she'd been somewhere else just then. Adjusting the strap of the hunting rifle on her shoulder, she looked back at her uncle.

"Are you with me?" asked the chipper old fox, always with a smile on his face. It probably had to do with the fact that he was teaching her how to use the rifle, which was usually reserved for either Judy or Nick. He was glad to have her once or twice.

"Yeah," she answered, still wracking her head around what she had imagined. "Yeah, I'm good."

Gideon made a quick snicker and looked back on the road ahead. "Okay," he said. Clementine assumed he wasn't fully convinced about her being fully there. "Anyway, this silent treatment…" he began saying. She wasn't too sure about what the conversation was about. Hopefully, she'd pick context clues along the way. "Man! I mean, I'd forget my own birthday if she didn't remind me when it was."

Her memory started slowly forming back. She and Gideon were on a savage hunting trip, and he was telling her about his troubles with Vicky. "You should just apologize to her," she said, drifting off from the main path and looking at a gorgeous mountainous view that she couldn't help but record on her notebook.

"I just said-" Gideon stopped talking, apparently baffled at Clementine's response. It seems she hadn't truly listened to him. She felt kinda bad. "Okay, what's going on?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, trying to brush the subject of her weird behavior away. "Why?"

"I can tell when you're off."

She sighed. It was apparently impossible to hide anything from a Wilde. "Got some stuff on my mind," she admitted.

"Well, I'm here if you want to talk about it, Clem," Gideon assured her.

She didn't think he would ever understand, but the polite thing to do was for her to say, "Okay." Finishing her sketch, the vixen

fell into the water. The idiot Arctic fox had launched them into the river, and the car was sinking quickly. She panicked even more as she saw the green water turn red in a near instant. Eyes closed, slow breathing, loud sounds

Pow! Was the way she heard the shot from her mind as she shot at the stragglers a few miles in front and below her. Gideon was impressed by her markmanship. Every shot she took, whether it had failed or succeeded, was met with a few words of encouragement from the fox. She always admired his kindness. "There you go!" "Nice shot, kiddo." "Little bit below and you got the bastard" were a few of those.

"Got the assholes," she said joyfully.

"Usually more over this way if you want to keep shootin',"' he suggested. She definitely wanted to keep shooting.

The glass! Shoot the fucking glass! The glass was shot and the water was in, but it was enough for them to slip out. Fuck why was there so much blood? Was there even breathing? Was she still breathing?

"Inhale, exhale, remember," Gideon told her. "Always gotta keep your aim steady. Hold your breath when you feel like you got the shot."

Doing as she was told, she held her breath, and took the shot, hitting the savage cleanly in the head."

"You're a natural, Clem!" he complimented. She tried to dismiss him, but she couldn't deny it felt good.

"Where do all of these guys even come from?" she asked him, genuinely wanting to know.

"Hordes like to move through this area in winter. They always end up leaving behind a few stragglers."

"They do the same routes every year?" It wasn't so much about learning as it was about hearing Gid explain it. He was always so happy about telling her about things he knew. He always brightened up whenever he wanted to share something, and it was satisfying to see him so pleased.

"Like a migration or something," he explained.

"What's that about?" That's how it always went. She would keep on asking until they came to a standstill.

"Well, when the barometric pressure reaches a certain temperature… shit, I don't fuckin' know," he shrugged, chuckling at the vixen. She chuckled as she tried aiming at another savage. She made contact.

"Beautiful," he said to the shot.

A few more stragglers ruled over the mountains but quickly felt themselves dispatched by the great shooting of Clementine, who kept getting better with each shot she took. Down they went, and further, the duo moved down the mountain. After taking care of a few more savages, they continued the walk.

"Hope Nick's been stirring that stew," Gideon commented. "Probably just left it to burn on the bottom."

"Hey, thanks for letting me shoot. It was just what I needed."

"Sure. Don't mention it," the fox nodded, but made a gesture in his mouth that showed he was going to speak again. "I'm not supposed to say anything, but Nick's worried about you."

She scoffed. "There's nothing to worry about."

"I'm sure there isn't," Gideon said. "But if you don't talk to him, he's going to think something's wrong."

"But I do talk to him," she protested.

"You have to do more than hi and bye."

She sighed, afraid of the possible future conversations between her and the sly fox. "Okay," she resigned herself to say. "I will try."

"Attagirl."

Trails of blood. Leaking. Like water from a faucet. Face as white as phosphorus. Eyes like she's not there. But she's still there. Because she is speaking. Speaking of nothing and speaking of everything all at the same time. She talks of home. Of Nick. Of her. Rambles that mean nothing and yet. And yet. She will hold on to any hope. To any hope that she's still there. To any hope that she's still here. They knock on the door of the theater like demons. The door opens

To Nick playing with his guitar, or rather, Clementine's guitar, relaxing on a sofa like the world wasn't dead and gone, with a smile that portrayed just how optimistic and happy he had become the last few years. She supposed she had something to do with it, and another part of the blame had to go to Judy, of course. He immediately put the instrument down and went to receive them, firstly saying, "That was you guys shooting out there, right?"

"Yeah, just some stragglers," Gideon informed him. "Clementine got most of them. She's impressive with a rifle, I tell you."

Nick and Clementine looked at each other with the same frightful air that had been softly forming the past few months. She sat down a few feet from him, waiting for his opinion on the shootings. "How'd you like it?"

"It was fun. Really fun, actually."

"That's good." He gave a pause, a hard inhale and exhale, looking back at her guitar and then at Clementine with interest. "I see you've, uh…haven't gotten around to changing the strings yet."

"I was…supposed to?" she said awkwardly, while also letting out a nervous laugh that she tried to hold. It was news to her that guitar strings were something that could go bad. But quick thinking made her realize that, like guns, usage of them tends to wear them out.

"Yeah, you uh…" he seemed to lose his train of thought, reconsidering his next words. "We'll get you some new ones."

Nick put the guitar down, and Gideon nonchalantly swiped the guitar into his paws, leaning on his chair while also starting to play with it. "There's that music store down there," he mentioned, smiling. "I bet they got guitar stuff."

You slick son of a vixen, Clem thought. With his smug smile it was clear that he was trying to get them to hang out. A day didn't go by when Gideon wasn't all up in their business, especially when it meant he could annoy the daylights out of the young vixen. Very deep inside, though, she knew he meant well.

"I mean, that area's long overdue for a sweep anyway. I can keep watch," Gideon added, gently rocking himself on his chair with the help of his leg pushing against the table. Nick and Clementine looked at each other, both of them with their arms crossed, until Nick gave a smile very similar to his brother's.

"What do you say, kiddo?" asked Nick.

Of course he asked her, but it's clearly just a formality. What else was she supposed to say? 'I can't hang out with you because I don't trust you'? 'I kinda don't want to do that today, I just wanna go home'? Okay, maybe she could say that, but then she would just be letting the tension build up more and more, and she didn't want that. Gideon didn't want that. For him and for Judy, she could try. She shrugged and said, "Sure."

With another big smile, Gideon strummed his guitar loudly, prompting Nick to start getting up. "And that's our cue," he said, making the younger fox chuckle as he began making random melodies. Part of her still wanted to ask him to come, but she knew he would refuse. He wanted her and Nick to have some alone time, and by all bunnies above, she would have them. She gave one last sigh before exiting through the door where Nick was patiently waiting.

"Took you long enough, Vixie," he said, leaning on one of the walls of the lookout.

"Vixie? What's that?"

"I've been holding out on you. It was about time I gave you one of my famous Nick names."

"Nicknames?"

"Nick names, with a space in the middle."

"You're the worst," she said, walking over to her ostrich.

"You know you-"

"Nope, not gonna let you finish that sentence. Let's go get those strings."

"Okay then. You're the boss."

"Since when?"

"Since now. It's your strings we gotta find, after all."

"Yeah, well, as my first order, lead me to it cuz I don't know where the hell we are."

"Painfully honest as always, Vixie."

"It's who I am."

Fun banter aside, Nick got on top of his ostrich, and began to lead Clementine towards the right path. Clementine noticed that his right ear was twitching more than usual. "So, you and Gideon cross anything when you were out?"

"Just the few we saw from the ridge, you?"

"Found two runners in a house. One of them snuck up on me. I can't believe I didn't hear them."

"Did it come in from your right?"

"How'd you know that?"

"Your right ear is kinda twitchy. Are you losing your hearing there?"

"Huh?" Nick said, confused. He touched his twitchy ear, covering it to listen through his left, and then doing the same with his right. "You're right. I can hear way better through my left. Great, just what I needed."

"Don't worry, Nick, I'll have Vicky build a nursing home just for you."

"Har har har," he said, not at all amused. "Oh, man, Judy's gonna be so worried."

"It's not like you're gonna die, dumb fox, just go to the doctor."

"Well, I…kinda don't like doctors, or hospitals."

"Trust me, I've had my fill of those too."

"I bet."

"We'll get these strings and get you healed up quick. Maybe it's an infection."

"Yeah, maybe."

They were quiet for a few minutes, enjoying the warm light of the autumn afternoon, the maple leaves falling quickly around them. It was satisfying hearing Shimmer stepping on them. The sound it made relaxed her, as well as the air that hit her face, which had pleasant and rich smells of tulips, daffodils and honeysuckles. Always the honeysuckles, she thought.

"So, moving on, Jesse tells me you're handling your own quite well on the group patrols. He was even recommending you for paired patrols. Though I still feel like you should stay on group patrols for a while more."

"I'm a better shot than almost all of them."

"Almost isn't alright with me. You gotta be better than all of them. This ain't about pressure, it's about safety. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I have experience, Nick. I can do this."

"I know you can, honey, I know, and I trust you. Just want you to be careful, is all."

"Appreciate it," she said. She did mean it.

She was anything but careful. Look at what it cost her. She had to dig out the bullet from inside her. With her own claws. Her blood-stained paws now had familiar blood. A tainted liquid that she wanted to get rid of no matter what. There was a sewing kit nearby. They were more prepared now. She was too shaky to use it. The other vixen was too busy crying to use it. The arctic fox was busy shouting, and maybe crying as well. Tinier paws, a fennec's, ended up taking the needle and making quick work of the wound. She felt the sting of a slash. A clawing. Three claws had drawn blood in her orange fur. Screams came after that. A terribly mad, terribly scared white-furred face, bathed in tears, being held back by Jesse.

"But please, for my sake, just choose the shorter routes still. I wanna see how you do in 'em before you move on to the harder ones."

"Alright. I can do that."

"On another note, remember those Pig Hero 6 comic books that you're into?" he asked sheepishly.

"Yeah."

"Gideon and I found some when we were moving through that school the other day."

"Did you like them?" Clem asked enthused.

"Well, it's not really my cup of tea, but Dr. Honey Lemon is pretty…"

"She's a savage."

"What she does to Clawdashi in that deathmatch? Hoo boy," he said, laughing a little as he remembered the scene in his mind.

"Yeah, I mean he definitely deserved it but…"

"It was a nice twist how they escaped, though."

She laughed warmly, enjoying that the fox went the extra mile to enjoy something she liked. Clearly shows how much he cares. "You're funny."

They rode into a shallow river, empty and dark with mud and plants floating on the water. Just across it, they had finally arrived at the small town that hosted their objective.

"Music store's up that way," Nick said. "We're gonna have to leave the ostriches here."

"Sounds good," she said, riding the ostrich to the river bank and getting off with a hop. She saw the fox had already done the same. "Don't get into trouble while I'm not here, Shimmer," she said to her bird and climbed over the small wall that divided the river and the street of the town.

"There's that music store," Nick said, pointing at a big sign a few meters down the street labeled Music Center Jackson, with the logo of a guitar on top.

"Yeah, I see it," said Clementine, walking slightly behind him. The grass around them was yellow and large enough for them to crawl if they needed to hide from savages. Their first obstacle of the day was no such savage, fortunately. It was a small van hauling a container, probably used for moving houses back in the day.

"Need a boost?" Nick asked her. She didn't know if he was serious or not, but she still scoffed at him. Long ago were the times where she even needed his help. She was her own independent fox now, strong enough to get through (almost) everything.

"I got it," she told him, jumping and grabbing the edge of the container before climbing up without much trouble. "You coming, old man?"

"I'm thirty-five, for berry's sake," he said, annoyed. The ear thing was definitely worrying him still. She'd make sure not to tease him too much. Just the right amount was fine.

"Oh, don't even try climbing here," she told him, finally looking in front of her.

"What? Why?" Nick asked, climbing anyway, and looking at it with his own eyes. The street was caved in, too vertical and tall for them to even attempt to climb it. "Damn. Used to be able to swim across this."

"Okay, so…now what?"

"Well, if you're up for it, we can try cutting through that hotel," Nick advised.

"I'm up for it," she decided, climbing back down. The hotel Nick mentioned was on their immediate right. The entrance, and pretty much the entire hotel, gave a very alpine vibe, considering they were in an alpine forest. There was a wooden moose statue on the roof of the entrance, still standing nearly untouched after all those years. Approaching the large door, Clem gave it a push, then another, then another, then she realized it was unlikely to budge, not even with Nick's added strength. "Dangit."

"This might be something," Nick said, looking below at a piece of broken roof hiding a small hole in the wall. "Think you can fit in there?"

"You definitely can't, so I'm your only hope."

"Not my fault Bonnie's cakes are so darn delicious."

"Not her fault you keep eating them," she retorted. "Anyway, let's try it."

"Okay, then," Nick said, lifting the wreckage to allow Clem to crawl inside. "Careful now."

"Always am," she told him, starting her crawl into the hotel. The hole was the perfect size for her, able to get her into the hotel without a scratch. "I'm through! Hold on, I'll open the door."

"Alright," he told her from outside.

She had crawled into one of the hotel rooms, and it was pitch black. With her night vision, she would be able to save in flashlight battery, as well as prevent any savages from knowing her location right away. She came out of the room and into the hallway where the old fox awaited her. The door was being blocked by a few chairs, which she was able to take out quite easily. Unlocking the door from its hinges as well, she finally opened it. The fox was leaning on one of the roof pillars, kindly but expectantly waiting for his turn to come in. "Well, hello," she told him, as if she was welcoming him into her own house.

"Howdy," he said, starting to come in.

"You impressed by my skillz?"

"Nope, you're just too skinny. You need to eat more of Bonnie's treats."

"You're welcome, by the way," she said, as he started to explore the hotel's first floor. She did so as well, finding some ammo and other useful things in the many rooms that surrounded it.

"Clem, over here," the older fox called. She approached him, who was about to push a vending machine away from a hole in the wall. "I think I see a way through but we got Nighthowler pollen. Put your mask on."

"Ugh, do I have to?" she asked him. She hated wearing it, especially when it did nothing but stuff her face and mess up her fur. Nick was quick, though, already wearing his. Contrary to the vixen, he could go savage from a single sniff of the pollen. "It's just us."

"What if we run into someone?" he reasoned.

"Okay, fine," she sighed and put it on. As soon as she finished adjusting it, the fox was done removing the vending machine, allowing them to go deeper into the hotel. She heard him grumbling and groaning.

"You gotta be smart about this," he said, sounding frightened. "You stop wearing that mask, kiddo, and eventually you're going to slip up in front of someone you shouldn't."

He had logic. He really did. But, "I've never slipped," she told him.

"You haven't told anybody else, have you? Not Jesse, or Skye, or-"

She scoffed. "Of course not."

"Okay, good."

She was offended that he would think such a thing. She'd never failed him. Why would he think she would risk their safety like that? As an immune person, probably the only immune animal ever, she knew the responsibility of it. Lack thereof, at least. The fact she was immune was more of a curse rather than a blessing. What's the point of it, when she can't even share it with the people around her? The people that she loves the most in the whole world.

"You ever been in here before?" she asked him, as they kept passing through darkened halls and corroded rooms akin to The Shearing.

"No. We've just patrolled the streets. Feeling like a bit of an oversight now," he replied, shining his flashlight on the most secluded spots. While he had his night vision, she had told him it wasn't foolproof. Sometimes the light would act funny and not show them a few things you could only see with a light. She preferred being ignorant of what she couldn't see, however. What she could see was enough.

"Maybe," she agreed with him, as she took more provisions that had been untapped by anyone before they came in. She saw many things that had been left behind and many things that probably remained there since the beginning of the pandemic. She was glad she did not see any red patches covering the strollers and baby carriages. She wouldn't handle that carnage today.

Were her babies gonna die now? Were Nick's babies gonna…gonna…

If his babies died…if Judy died…they would've come here with a cost much greater than the one they had payed before. Maybe that's why she let herself be damaged by Skye. Maybe deep down she knew that it was probably a mistake to feel so hateful.

Yet…

Yet now it became even more personal. The blood hadn't stopped at Nick. Well, if they plan to keep on making her bleed, she will make sure that they all bleed harder, and harder, and harder, until all their blood is expunged from every single orifice in their body.

If that is not enough. If somehow that blood follows them back, she'll just drink it.

She'll drink their blood until she bursts.

With silence, she licks some of the blood running through her cheek, and walks away from them, having done enough to try to help her mother, and went to her own corner to tend to her own wounds.

Her arm wound was almost fully healed. Despised by the reminder of the bite that changed her life forever, she poured acid on it hoping to forever erase it. But obviously, that's not how it works. She remembers when she came to Judy about it, and how worried she seemed at the prospect that her daughter was self-harming. Clem just told her the truth. She didn't hate herself enough to take her own life, but she hated that bite with all her being, enough to even try and cut her own arm off. She knew that would be a bad idea in such an apocalypse, but it was what she felt. It's what she still feels, nearly a year later. That same day, Judy suggested a tattoo.

With that tattoo also came Kat, an attractive tiger that reminded her too much of Angel. On her third tattoo session, they'd made out in the back of the shop and smoked weed until midnight. At that point, she started to remind her of Angel too much. She wanted to do everything with her that she couldn't do with Angel, and she even wanted to go to a secluded mall like they had gone to before. She proposed the idea to Kat, and she accepted. The mall of Jackson was much smaller and deserted, and they made sure to inspect for any infected before entering. Mistakes would not be made again. They made out again on the back of an abandoned Moo-Cho Taco. It was pleasurable for the brief time it lasted because as soon as Kat went down to massage Clem's folds with her long claws, the fox couldn't help but moan Angel's name.

That had been the end of their relationship. Kat wasn't mad, she was a sweetheart. It was Clementine. She couldn't continue a relationship she knew was just a rebound; a way to relive something that she hadn't lived fully. She was trying to replicate the joy of a first love, taken too soon. But then that was taking any protagonism away from Kat. Kat was just a tool for Clementine, as harsh as that sounded. A tool of remembrance and of pleasure, but not of comfort. She wasn't comfortable, and she knew Kat would not be comfortable being with her. She was fucked up. She knew it deep down.

She was glad the tattoo had been completed because she never went to that part of town again.

She saw Nick looking at the corpse of a wolf. "Looks like it was shot a while back."

"When'd the last patrol go through here?" she asked.

"Not sure."

"Is it one of us?"

"The only people that went missing from Jackson are the squirrel and ferret couple from last year. This one's a wolf."

"Poor Larry," she said. She hadn't known the charismatic squirrel for long, but he was a funny and respectable mammal among the tinier mammals, not to mention a sweetheart to his girlfriend. She wondered what happened to them.

By chance, she approached an old letter.

Ruby - I'm sorry if our patrol overwhelmed you yesterday. We don't run into new people too often. I understand why you might have been nervous to follow us to Bunnyburrow. But it really is a nice place. We've got electricity. Good crops. Could be something special for you and your family.

My boys are different people here. Before Jackson, we were so focused on staying alive…I didn't like who they were becoming. They started acting like the people we were running away from. These days, they're on roofs fixing holes, digging trenches. Hard work, but they come home every night excited about building this place. They've got community. A reason to be accountable. You used to be a teacher! You could have a classroom of kids hungry for knowledge. This isn't a fantasy. Please consider just stopping by. Let me show you around,

-Tara.

People from Bunnyburrow were here…she thought. She didn't know of anyone named Ruby, but it seemed like they might still be part of the community. She might track her and find out who this Tara was. Maybe she did put her up on her offer. Maybe she's the teacher she always sees at the daycare every afternoon when she picks Cotton up.

They reached a double door with a sign on the left that said Reception and another sign below saying Lobby. Nick was at one of the doors, waiting for Clem to push the other one. When she got there, she realized why he was being so cautious. She could smell and hear savages.

Specifically, howlers and runners, moaning away around the place looking for any person they could sink their teeth into. Nick was reserved about going there, not wanting this trip to turn bloody. It was supposed to be a normal outing with his daughter to get her some strings.

"We are on patrol, right?" she told him.

He sighed. "Okay, let's take 'em out."

The one good thing about that room was that the light was back, reflecting through the windows. If they were gonna die, it wasn't because they couldn't see what killed them. Nick was the first to attack, silently taking out one of the howlers, who were significantly sensible to every sound. Clementine found an easier adversary to take out, a stoat with his back turned to her. She grabbed him by the throat and stabbed him twice, placing him gently on the ground. She and Nick then orchestrated a dual assault, taking out two infected at the same time with the same tactic.

Unfortunately, their stealth did not last long, as a pesky howler previously unseen by the two suddenly appeared, ready to pounce on the back of her father. She wouldn't allow that, so she sent a rifle round its way, blowing its head open. This of course set off the remainder of the savages, who were not a small number in the slightest. While her father distracted some savages by running away from them, she used a Molotov cocktail to burn some of the runners. While at first it seemed to only hit one, soon it spread to at least two of them, and in the chaos, she began to make her move.

Jumping through the fire, she used a pipe she had gathered in one of the bathrooms to deliver a mighty strike on one of the infected, instantly dying on the floor. She shot at one of the howlers in the head, throwing out it's protective flower shell, and also struck its head with decision. Another runner who came her way got shot twice, once on its shoulder, and a final one on its head.

"More infected!" screamed Nick, standing at the center of the lobby, seeing the infected climb out from the second floor and through some of the boarded-up windows.

She started fighting two of them, stunning them with her pipe and destroying one's head with the weapon. As the second runner was ready to claw her, Nick was ready to deliver a shotgun blast to protect her. Running around the lobby, she dispatched one of the noisier runners with a single bullet from her pistol. She saw Nick take out the last one with his machete.

"Eyes up, second floor!" Nick screamed again. Those had not been the last. Three angry runners came at them with claws ready to cut them. Nick used the last of his shotgun rounds to take out one of them, beginning to use his much less powerful revolver on them. Clementine used her pistol to weaken their bodies and took out the remaining two with a single swing of her pipe, finally breaking it.

More runners came from the second floor, and at this point, Clementine was pissed off. Were they never gonna stop coming? No matter, at this point they were just fodder to her. No matter of runner could ever hope to stand in her way. She pushed a runner against one of the walls and knifed them on the head.

"Behind you, Clem!" Nick said as he shot at a hyena runner coming to her. "Below you, Clem!" he said, pointing at the downed runner.

"You're not funny!" she screamed back as she grabbed a bat and went off on some more infected. For the last two runners, she was tired of paw-to-paw combat and filled them each with one bullet to the head, courtesy of her borrowed rifle. She expected some more to pop out, even from beneath the floorboards, but it was quiet once again.

"Nick…I think we did it."

"Think so," he said, breathing heavily at the action they had just received. "Good job, kiddo," he said earnestly. He knew he would've been dead if he had been alone.

"So…what do you say we give up on those strings for today?"

"Read my mind, Vixie. It can wait another time. But unfortunately, I think our only way out is forward now."

She sighed, looking at the damage that had arisen at the door they had come from, blocking their exit from that place. Luckily, he was able to open another door where they could squeeze through and move forward. The darkness came back. Nick saw a tiny space where they could also squeeze, and said, "That looks like it might be something."

"Following you," Clem replied.

They started moving tightly in between two rooms, their vision in front of mostly wood and tubing. It was mostly quiet except for their still recuperating breaths and their steps across the wooden terrain. Nick crouched a little bit to evade a tube on his way. Clementine did the same.

The mistake was grabbing it.

As she neared the other side of the tube, it let go, making a whining sound that seemed to alert something of their location. She was looking straight at the wall, as it kept vibrating violently. She saw a hand the size of her head next, grabbing her by the neck and launching her to the other room, destroying her gas mask along with it.

"Clementine!" Nick screamed, while Clementine struggled to get back up, as the large figure of a Bloomer loomed above her. "Come on, you bastard!" Nick said, leading the Bloomer away from her by shooting at him with his revolver, which seemed to work, as he quickly began to follow after Nick.

She got to her feet and started shooting as well. Their space was much smaller than the lobby, so they had to be quick to avoid it. The huge rhino Bloomer would be a challenge. She had two Molotov cocktails, so she used the first one, hitting it straight in the back. He stayed in that spot, screaming in agony as the many flowers surrounding his body began to burn and soften his skin again. Nick kept shooting with his revolver, and Clem with her rifle. The Bloomer launched a ball of pollen at her feet, but she just soldiered through it, knowing the horrible smell would not turn her into a foul beast like that rhino. Both of them passed through a small opening on the wall thinking it wouldn't reach them, but the rhino simply stampeded through it, managing to also hit Clementine. Thankfully, she was enough out of the way to not be impaled by his sharp horn. She threw another cocktail at the bastard, but he was still standing. The group moved back to the other room, only for the maniacal savage to make yet another massive hole. She was running out of rifle rounds, and she had ran out of cocktails. With her ammo quickly dwindling, she wasn't sure what would finally be able to bring that gigantic beast down.

After nearly minutes of avoiding it, the rhino finally caught up again, grabbing her with incredible force and beginning the process that Bloomers were very well known for. With both of its fat paws, the rhino began opening her jaw to an impossible length. No matter how much she fought, or how much she could hit him, or how immune she was, there was nothing stopping any of these beasts from straight up destroying her body, as this monster was about to do. She felt strength leaving her as the Bloomer began to dislodge her jaw.

"AAAAAAAHH!" Screamed the other fox in the room, using the machete so aggressively, it cut one of its fat arms clean off. Nick would not stop at that. With fury rarely seen in the fox, he hacked and slashed with the machete until both the rhino's arms were gone and he was on the floor. Then, the fox began to hack at his torso and head, also decapitating him in the process. When he realized he would no longer be a threat to Clementine, he stopped. With heavy breaths, he cleaned up the rhino's blood from his mask as well as the fur in his paws and arms. She could hear fear in his breath as he pulled her to him, hugging her in the process.

"You good?" asked Nick.

"Yeah," she said, returning the hug. "I am. We sure fucking showed that guy, heh," she said, smiling nervously.

"We sure, did, hehe," said Nick, still enjoying the warmth of her arms. She was alive.

They were like that for only a few seconds, and then Nick let go, and looked at her face with glee. She wouldn't die today. She'd live to see more sunrises.

"Now, let's truly get the fuck out of here," she told him.

"No complaints there."

They got to the end of the room, with yet another blocked entrance. Nick was tired of taking shortcuts, so he just used his own hands on the furniture, able to open a single door.

"What if there's like two bloaters down there?"

"It'll be fine," Nick dismissed, not thinking their luck was that bad.

They reached another hallway, happily clear of pollen and infected. With his, Nick took off his gas mask and smelled the fresh air presented to him.

"That was quite a fight back there, huh?"

"Yeah. We don't get a lot of Bloomers around these parts."

"Yeah…Jesse and Skye are gonna lose their shit when they hear about this."

"What's the deal with those two, anyway? Skye looks at me funny sometimes."

"Well, you're a hero to a lot of people, so maybe she's got a crush on you," she teased him.

"Apart from the fact that it's pretty weird she's crushing on me of all mammals, ain't she dating Jesse?"

"On and off."

"It's weird, though. I hear the way Jesse talks about you."

She blushed at the implication of that statement. "No. Jesse and I are just friends."

"Now, now, now, I've got a pretty keen eye for these sorts of things. I knew Judy was in love with me the first two days we traveled together. Can't hide those things from a fox."

"Noooot so keen with this one," she told him. In reality, he was only half-right. She was definitely pining for an Arctic fox, but it wasn't exactly the male one. If only you knew, Nick. She didn't think she was ready to talk to him about…her alignment when it came to love partners. Even if he probably would accept her, the embarrassment would still be too much for her. She hoped to tell him someday, though. She wasn't not gonna invite him to her wedding with Sk- What the fuck are you thinking about, Clementine? Wedding, really? Gosh, you're down bad.

"We'll see," the fox replied, keeping his smug smile. She thought that maybe it was a trick. That maybe she had baited him into confessing that she wasn't attracted to Jesse, therefore naturally inferring she was attracted to Skye. No, that can't be. Nick wasn't that crazy smart, was he?

Was he?

"D-don't hold your breath," she told him.

The light was turning a deeper orange, telling the two that the sun was about to set. If they didn't leave the hotel soon, they'd be confronted with more savages in the dead of night, which would be a bad idea. So they kept walking through the maze that was the hotel, going door through door to try and find an exit. They didn't find an exit. What they found was much more shocking.

"See what it is?" Nick asked.

"Yeah," Clem said slowly, walking to them. It was the corpse of a ferret. Kara. But if she was there, then where was-

"Clementine!" Nick screamed once again, shooting at a howler that began crawling to her. There she was. Larry the squirrel. Kara's girlfriend.

"Thanks," she told him.

"Yeah…"

"Hey, Nick," she said, approaching the corpse of the squirrel. "It's them. Larry and Kara. The couple that ran away last year."

Nick, taken aback by Clem's reveal, started looking over at the bag still around the squirrel's shoulders. Clem didn't have to look too far to find something. A letter.

"I think you're right," Nick said.

"'Jackson is a wonderful place, but we got tired of hearing the stories of people suffering everywhere else'," she started reading the letter. "'We wanted to save lives. We had good intentions. We didn't make it an hour before running into a horde. Now we're bitten. We've decided to end our lives instead of turning.'," she choked up at the last part. "'Please tell our family and friends that we're sorry. Love, Larry, and Kara'." But apparently, that was not the end of it. She recited the words found on the back of the letter. "'I shot her. I can't take my own life, I'm a fucking coward. Larry.'"

To this, Nick looked away in sadness and pain for the two. Their cause was honorable, but they should've stayed where it was safe. In this world, you think of yourself and your loved ones first, because the world is already damned, and people are already suffering. There's no point in trying to change.

Clementine still looked at the letter, and back at the two dead lovers. She thought of what would happen if Skye died by being infected, while she still enjoyed being immune. She thought about Angel, who died in the same circumstances. It all came down to her. Her and her fucking curse. "If only they were immune, right?" she said.

"Well, um…" Nick started, awkwardly walking to the front door. "Let's go get Gideon and then we can see about burying these bodies, huh?" He kept walking, only Clementine didn't follow.

"After you took me out of the Firefly hospital," she started saying, stopping Nick in his tracks. His back was still turned to her. "you said there were dozens of people like me."

Nick slowly turned to her, with a neutral expression. It was usually the face reserved for moments of subtlety. Moments where he was trying to take the reins of a conversation. In other words, Clementine could tell he was about to lie. "Yes. Yeah, that's what they told me."

"I've never met another immune person before," she pushed, challenging his statement. "Have you?"

He remained quiet, and his face remained neutral. "They could be hiding it. You do."

She put the letter back on the table and confronted him, getting closer to him. "Do you believe that?"

Nick's face stopped getting neutral, instead gaining a bit of sass and incredulity. "Is now really the time for this?" he asked slowly, also heading her way a couple of steps.

"We traveled across the entire country to bring me to the Fireflies…" she said, her voice gaining sound with every word. "I had so many questions for them. I know it wasn't your fault, but why didn't you at least try to wake me up? Why didn't you wake Judy up? She wasn't sedated! And why didn't you at least tell the surviving Fireflies to stick around?"

His face looked solemn now, probably remembering that day. The battle that ensued, in which he said they lost both Dawn and Danny. "Because I let them run their tests…and when I saw that they were useless I got us out of there before they tried to pry for more information from you."

"How do you know they were useless?! Maybe if you would've given them more time, they would have figured something out-"

"Clementine!" he raised his voice by a few decibels. He got closer to her, and repeated what he had told her two years ago. "There was no cure," he said it quietly, and with a hint of sadness in his eyes. "There's nothing that could've helped these people or anybody else. I know you wish things were different. Heck, I wish things were different. But they're not."

Clementine's eyes watered. His statement was true enough, and as much as she pressed, she knew he was never going to tell her the full truth.

"Now we gotta bury these kits and take mementos for their families. Or is there something else you want to rehash?"

With her lips pursed, she knew there was a lot she wanted to tell him. A lot she wanted to rehash. A lot she wanted to ask about. But for now, the time didn't account for that. They needed to get out of there and do what they had to do. "No," she resigned herself to say.

"Good," Nick replied. "Now let's get Gideon."

With a weak nod, she followed the fox out of the room, not before stealing another glance at the two lovers. In the bodies, she saw herself and Skye, she saw herself, and Kat. She saw herself and Angel. But she won't be like Larry. She'll kill herself before she has to kill someone she loves again. With that thought, she closed the door behind her, following the fox.