Clementine looked towards a tree in which a butterfly had landed on. She thought its colors were very pretty. It had been a while since she saw one. She slowly approached it with her hand, attempting to pick it up, but it flew off as her hand got too close.
"Are you about done over there?" Troy yelled out.
Clementine flinched and looked back to face the man. She thought Troy was the creepiest of Carver's men. She always got a bad feeling whenever she was around him, but she couldn't explain exactly where the feeling was coming from.
"Yeah, one second!" Sarah yelled out as she began to walk over. She was still adjusting her pants. Sarah looked towards Clem, "Thanks for coming with me. It's scary out here." She said as she looked around the forest.
"I know they made you… But it's still nice that you came." Sarah said.
"We're friends… Friends look out for one another." Clementine exclaimed.
"We are, aren't we… Well, if you need to pee, let me know. I'll keep lookout for you too."
Clementine nodded, "Uh… okay."
Sarah and Clementine made their way back to the truck which was driving them to Carver's camp. They saw Troy, Carver, and Bonnie on the outside of it. Troy turned to face them as they made their way over. Clementine couldn't help but keep an eye on his gun, she couldn't stop feeling anxious around these people.
"Everything come out alright, girls?
Clementine looked at him with a look of annoyance as she crossed her arms.
"Troy. Get 'em tied up." Carver muttered out. The man was using a radio, attempting to talk to somebody on the other end.
"Will do." Troy muttered out, letting the girls walk past him.
"Well, we're on our way, probably thirty minutes out. Make sure everyone's prepped. Emotions might be running high. Carver out." Carver said to the radio before bringing it down from his mouth.
"If I find out you've been wasting fuel to keep that fuckin' heater going, I'll make you walk back." Carver muttered out as he looked at Troy.
"Nope. Froze my ass off… just like you told me to." Troy said.
Clementine had been staring at Carver this whole time she stood in front of him. She hated his guts, especially after he tried to kill Lee. She wanted nothing more than for Lee to end him.
Carver looked to Clementine as he raised an eyebrow, "It ain't polite to listen to other folks' conversations. Has anyone ever taught you that? Where's your manners?"
Clementine crossed her arms once more before responding, "Is it polite to kill my friends and then force us to go to your camp?"
"Fair point. But did you forget the part where your friends tried to kill me? Did you forget when they shot Troy and killed one of my men? I gave them plenty of fuckin' chances." Carver said angrily.
"It wouldn't have happened if you never came to mess with us." Clementine spat out.
Carver raised an eyebrow. Carver started approaching the girl, raising his palm up. Clementine flinched just as her face met with Carver's palm. It was a hard slap, sending Clementine to the ground instantly. Clementine yelped out in pain as she held her face, it still stung as bad as it did when he first hit her.
"No, stop! Don't hurt my friend!" Sarah yelled out.
Carver looked down to Clementine with anger in his eyes, "You don't wanna test me girl! I'll pass every time."
"Leave her alone!" Sarah said.
Carver looked at the other girl angrily. His eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the girl. Sarah broke eye contact instantly, looking towards the ground.
"Tie her up and throw her in with the rest of 'em." Carver muttered out.
Troy tied the two girls up and then opened up the back of the large truck. He then pulled out his revolver and held it to the girls, "In."
As Clementine and Sarah stepped in, Lee instantly looked towards Clementine. He quickly noticed the small bruising on the side of her face. His eyes quickly filled with anger as he looked at Troy.
"What the fuck did you do to her?" Lee yelled out. Lee stood up and began approaching Troy.
"Lee, just stop. You're making things worse!" Carlos yelled out.
Troy pointed his gun at Lee as Sarah and Clementine sat in the back of the truck. Lee stood for a few moments, staring at Troy. He eventually sat next to Clementine. Troy closed the back of the truck, and moments later it started up. They were going to this camp, whether they liked it or not.
Quite some time had passed since they were first put in the truck. Clementine felt so anxious about where they were going, and her face still stung slightly even after all this time. Both her and Lee hadn't been able to sleep whatsoever. Both of them were exhausted, mentally and physically. Lee wanted nothing more than to kill this Carver man, especially after Clementine told him that he hit her.
The truck had stopped a few times, sending the group members in the back of the truck forward, and then back again abruptly. Kenny looked around the truck, then looked at Clementine and Lee.
"All right, we gotta do something. Come on. Anyone got anything sharp? Anything?" Kenny asked.
"We need to get these bindings off!"
"Hey! Clem, help me find something to get these off. Anything sharp that could cut these…" Kenny muttered out.
"Kenny. It isn't going to do any good. They're walking around with fuckin' AK47s, man. Wake the hell up! What do you think you're going to be able to do with your bare goddamn hands? Use your damn head." Lee said angrily.
"I'll tell you what I'm going to do, Lee. I'm going to punch the first son of a bitch I see. Then I'm going to take his gun and use it to shoot the next son of a bitch I see!" Kenny yelled out.
"Just calm down." Carlos spat out.
"Shut up, Doc! This ain't your call!" Kenny spat out in response.
Kenny looked around at the group; they didn't seem too fond of his ideas.
"I'm trying to help!" He muttered out angrily.
"I'm sure Walter really appreciated your help. You and Lee, both of you are to blame!" Carlos spat out.
"That's not fair! You're blaming them for the actions of a madman." Sarita said.
"I am pointing out that, regardless of intent, there are consequences to rash actions. Something that they both seem to be misreading as capitulation."
Both Kenny and Lee looked towards Carlos angrily.
"I don't know what the fuck you're saying, but I know it's bullshit! We have to do something!"
Lee looked back over to Kenny, hoping to reason with him. "Kenny. Calm the fuck down for a minute. What if you do something rash? I don't know… you take your bindings off. You don't know what the fuck they'll do! Do you want to get killed in front of Clementine? In front of Sarita? We'll be able to plan this out once we're in a stable situation and when we know what we're up against."
Kenny glanced down for a minute, contemplating Lee's words.
"I'll tell you who the fuck we're up against. We're up against a goddamn psychopath. He's going to fuckin' kill us! And you know, you've got some fuckin' nerve judging me on my actions, considering what you did just a moment ago." Kenny muttered out.
Lee furrowed his brows at Kenny; he was angry. At everything at the moment, but he knew he had to use his head instead of letting his anger dictate his actions or thoughts. He just wanted to get Clementine out of this situation.
The group stayed silent for quite some. Sarah had started to cry from everything that was going on. She hated it when the group argued.
Rebecca looked over at Sarah with a concerned look on her face. "There, there, baby. It's okay. Everything's going to be fine."
Carlos sighed, "At this point, maybe Luke is the only hope we have."
"If he was going to do something he would have done it by now." Kenny spat out.
"Who knows what he's dealing with? Anything can happen out there." Rebecca said.
"I'll tell you what happened… He abandoned us." Kenny exclaimed.
Nick looked towards Kenny, "You don't know that."
"I know he ain't here." Kenny said in response.
"He may not be around, but he wouldn't just leave us behind." Rebecca muttered out.
"That guy is a flake. I could tell the second I set eyes on him." Kenny spat out.
"Kenny, please calm down. Please." Sarita begged.
"I'm calm, Sarita! Do I look angry to you?" He spat out in response.
Clementine looked over to Kenny, "Luke will help us!"
"Oh, yeah? When? After that crazy fuck's killed us all?"
Clementine's eyes filled with fear at Kenny's words. She let her eyes gaze at the floor. She just wanted to get out of here. More than anything.
"Hey, look, Clem…" Kenny said, feeling guilty for what he said. He didn't want Clementine to be worried. The truck came to an abrupt stop, shaking the group around. The group sat in silence for a few moments before the back of the truck finally opened up.
The bright light from the inside of the building that they had been driven to shined in, blinding them for a few moments. A few members of Carver's group had been there to take them inside. Clementine only recognized two out of the three, Bonnie and Troy.
"All right. Up and adam." A dark-skinned woman muttered out.
The group got to their feet, making their way inside the building. Clementine noticed Carver's voice echoing through some speakers inside the building; it seemed to be a store of some sort. Clementine listened intently to what Carver was saying.
"We've got some familiar faces back with us tonight. Now, I understand some of you are confused as to why we are bringing these people back when they left us as they did."
"I think I've got an idea." The same dark-skinned woman from earlier muttered out.
"Now, it might not come all at once… but time will heal these wounds… so be patient with them until it does… and take solace in knowing that they're here to help us make our home a better place."
The group continued to walk deeper into the store. Clementine noticed a logo that read, "Howe's Hardware Store." She looked up from the logo and noticed Carver through a large window opening. He was on the second floor, in some kind of office. That's where he was able to speak through the PA system.
"All these feelings you have of anger… betrayal… hate… they're all valid. No one needs to forget what they did… but we do have to find it in our hearts to forgive them."
The group was led through one of the store aisles, and Clementine was greeted by the sight of so much food. She couldn't believe how much they had.
"Look at how much food they have." Clementine muttered out.
"Oh, I hope you aren't saying what I think you're saying." Kenny muttered out.
"As many of you already know… a large herd of lurkers gathered just south of us… we've kept an eye on it-" Carver's words were interrupted by Troy talking to Carlos.
"C'mon. We need you for something." Troy muttered out.
"Can it wait until morning? We're all exhausted." Carlos pleaded.
"Just come the fuck on." Troy spat out.
Sarah stopped in her tracks. "I need him. I need my dad. I can't… he… he looks after me." Clementine had stopped along with Sarah. Troy turned to face them before putting his gun up slightly. The girls then rushed along to get back to the group. Bonnie started to open up a large gate which led to some kind of pen outside.
"Make sure y'all stay off the fence. Bill can see if you're messing with it." Bonnie said.
"Thanks, Bonnie." Nick muttered out.
The rest of the group had wandered into the pen, their ties being taken off by Troy.
"Alvin. Carver wants you in his office." The dark-skinned woman said.
"What? Why?" Alvin asked.
"Don't make this difficult. It's too late for that." She said.
"No, please…" Rebecca muttered out.
Alvin looked to Rebecca, "It's okay, Bec. Just get some rest, if he wanted to do something to me, he'd have done it already. I'll be fine. Let's see what he wants." Alvin then walked off with the woman.
Clementine felt that Alvin wouldn't be coming back. Carver hit her just for saying something to him, and she was a kid. What would he do to an adult? The group continued conversing with each other, but Clementine wasn't listening very intently. They were eventually interrupted by someone else.
"Hey, can you keep it down? Some of us got to get up early." He yelled out from a bed.
"Yeah. Sure." Lee yelled out in response.
Clementine looked around and saw a woman sitting on a picnic table. She was staring at Clementine. Staring hard. She felt anxious when the girl stared at her. So many people are weird around here…
"Who is she?" Clementine muttered out.
"No idea." Rebecca said in response.
The rest of the group started to settle in. Most of them had either made their way to beds or gathered around a small fire in the center of the pen. Kenny, Lee, and Clementine stayed back near the gate. The three started walking around the place at a slow pace.
"Clem… we gotta know if there's anything we can exploit to get out of here. We're in a tight spot. We're gonna have to wriggle our way out." Kenny muttered.
"Ken. C'mon. Are you sure that's a good idea right now?" Lee said.
"If she doesn't make a bunch of noise I'm sure she'll be fine." Kenny responded.
"With that Troy asshole gone for now, this is our chance. Why don't you two go look around? I'll keep looking out to make sure that asshole doesn't catch you two doing something you're not supposed to." Kenny said.
Clementine and Lee nodded. The first thing that caught their attention was a ladder. It was just out of sight from the gate. Lee looked up and noticed a rope hanging down to the side of the ladder, but it was too far up to reach.
"Looks like this would be our best chance to get out of here… There might be access to the inside of the building from the roof. Well, we can hope." Lee muttered.
"If by chance there is… we can easily get things we need back in here. We just need to either catch whoever's coming down the ladder or use the rope. But we'd have to do it when no one's able to watch." He said.
Clementine nodded her head in agreement with him. Lee walked towards Kenny to inform him of what they had found, but Clementine tugged on his arm. Lee stopped for a moment, stepping back to face Clementine.
"What is it, Clem?" He said as he got on one knee to speak to the girl.
Clementine let her left hand rest on her right arm as she glanced towards the ground. She gulped down the feeling of anxiousness that she had been holding for the past few hours. "I'm just… scared, Lee."
"Oh, sweet pea… I'm here with you, aren't I?" Lee said.
Clementine nodded as she looked up at Lee.
"If I'm here, nothing bad is ever going to happen to you. And not only do you have me, you also have Kenny watching over you. You may be scared sometimes, but you're a survivor, Clem. You made it on your own without me for a long time. You're strong. You're smart; you can do anything."
"But, Lee… anyone can die whenever… No one's ever safe. Carver even almost killed you at the lodge!" Clementine said.
"But you made it this far, didn't you? We made it this far. Kenny, me, and a little girl like you. If we can make it this long, what's another year? We're survivors, Clementine."
Lee looked at his left arm as he brought it up to face him, the left arm he once had. Now all it was… was a stub.
"Hell, when I cut off my arm… I thought I was pretty much done for. I thought it would make me incapable of doing the things I needed to do. But like anything else, you learn to live with it. I even went through a horde of walkers to get to you once that man took you… The point is, we'll adapt to the situation we're in now. We'll get out of it. Find a way out of it. We're going to be fine, Clementine."
Clementine smiled at Lee and ran into him for a hug. Both of them smiled as they held tightly onto each other.
"Talking to you always makes me feel better." Clementine said.
"I'm glad, Clem." Lee said with a smile.
"Why don't you go get some sleep. I'll go talk to Ken." Lee exclaimed as the two broke out of the hug.
"Yeah, sure." Clementine said, heading towards the beds in the pen. She crawled into a small mat on the ground underneath another bed. She rested her head on the available pillow and let her thoughts run wild. She had so many…
Clementine awoke in the morning time from a light kick to the gut. She opened her eyes, being greeted by the sight of Troy.
Clementine stared at him for a few moments before saying, "Don't kick me. It's rude."
"Get up. Bill's gonna have a word." Troy muttered out.
Clementine finally willed herself to her feet. She was still tired, she had tossed and turned the whole night. Her thoughts wouldn't let her sleep. And while talking to Lee made her feel a bit better, she still couldn't help but feel anxious. Clementine walked towards the rest of the group, who were bunched up together near the gate of the pen.
Lee noticed Clementine walking up towards the group, he gave a smile to her as she walked up. Clementine couldn't be more happy as she saw Lee, but she knew bad things might happen today… as long as that Carver man was around.
Carver made his way into the pen slowly. He glared around at the group before speaking. "There's been increased walker activity along the fence so be mindful when outside the walls. The herd's moved a little closer as of this morning, but that still doesn't necessarily mean we'll be hit… Know we're monitoring the situation. Now…"
Carver took a few moments before speaking again, "There are some folks who might be sore about what happened. And how things went. Well, that's all in the past now."
"Some of you are new to our community. Some of you are members who went astray. But know that you can find redemption here… forgiveness… by proving your worth through what will undoubtedly be hard work."
As Carver continued to talk away, Sarah started to talk to Clem. "How'd you sleep?"
Clementine looked up at Sarah with uneasiness, she knew Carver would do something if they continued to talk.
"Just shut up!" Clementine whispered.
"Well, you don't have to be rude about it." Sarah said.
The girls stood in silence for a few moments before Sarah started speaking again.
"I just thought it was nice to finall-"
"CARLOS!" Carver yelled out.
Carlos looked at Carver with fear in his eyes as the man spoke to him.
"Yes?" Carlos muttered out.
"Your child seems to be in need of correction." Carver exclaimed.
"I'm sorry. I– Sarah, a… apologize to Mr. Carver." Carlos muttered out.
Sarah looked towards the ground as she fidgeted around in nervousness. "S-Sorry, sir."
"No, no. That ain't gonna cut it. I can't have this kind of behavior on day one of your reform. You discipline her now, Carlos." Carver said.
"How do you propose I do that?"
"One good smack across the mouth should do it. It'll make her think twice before opening it up again. Go on, we'll wait." Carver said in a bout of anger. The man crossed his arms as he continued to glare at Carlos.
Lee stepped forward, closer to Carver.
"She's just a fuckin' kid." Lee exclaimed.
Carver looked to Lee with his eyebrows furrowed. "Shut your fucking mouth."
Clementine looked ahead anxiously as the two men glared at each other. She kept telling herself Lee would be alright… She didn't want that man to hurt him.
Carver smiled as he approached Lee slowly before stopping right in front of him. Lee hadn't broken eye contact. Carver looked at Lee's amputated arm for a few moments.
"How'd you lose it?" Carver asked.
Lee looked at the man with anger in his eyes. He finally responded a few moments later, "I got bitten."
The men stood in silence for a bit before Carver spoke again. "I think you and I need to have a little chat." Carver said.
"Troy. Get him to my office. Now." Carver scoffed.
Troy nodded and pushed Lee forward, he put the gun that he held into his back. "Get moving!" He yelled.
Clementine's stomach dropped as Lee was taken away. She stepped closer to Carver, continuing to watch as Lee was taken further into the building. She felt tears well up in her eyes, but she held them back as she looked towards the ground.
Kenny looked at the girl's face and instantly felt bad for her. Kenny didn't know what Carver was going to do to Lee, but if he had to, he would protect Clementine with his life.
"Now. Carlos! Discipline that girl!" Carver yelled.
Carlos held up his broken fingers, "My… I'm not sure with my hand I could."
Carver walked towards the man. "Well, that's why you got two hands, Carlos. Come on. And not some namby pamby thing, all right? A good hard smack. Otherwise, I'll do it for you. I don't think you want that. I can be… overzealous. Is that the word?"
"Go on, Carlos." Carver muttered.
Clementine looked at Carver, "It's my fault!"
Carver looked at Clementine with his eyebrows furrowed.
"Unless you want one of what she's about to get, I'd pipe down, missy." The man spat out.
Carver looked at Carlos for a few moments before the man eventually made his way over to Sarah.
"I'm sorry, Dad. I'm sorry." Sarah muttered out.
"Close your eyes honey. It's only going to sting for a second." Carlos muttered out.
Carlos looked to the side for quite some time before slapping the girl across the face. She was sent to the ground instantly, sobbing all the while.
"I'm sorry, Sa-" Carlos was cut off by Carver.
"STOP! You're not cuddling that girl anymore. Let her sit there and think about what she's done. Troy, get Carlos to his post. Everyone else should have their assignments. It's time to get to work."
The dark-skinned girl from yesterday came up to Clementine. "You're working in the armory. Follow me." She muttered out.
Lee was taken to Carver's office by Troy. The man told Lee to go take a seat in a chair across from Carver's desk. Lee waited patiently, he was scared… but not for himself. He didn't want Clementine to lose him… again. He knew it would break the little girl. She was strong, but she could only take so much.
Eventually, the voice of Carver sounded out from behind him.
"Go on." Carver said.
Lee turned around to face the door of the office. Troy nodded and walked out. Carver then shut the office door, locking it.
"It's funny that the crippled fuck is the one giving me the most trouble. Ever since I met you at that lodge, I knew you were going to be a fuckin' problem." Carver spat out, making his way to his office chair. He sat across from Lee, his eyes stuck on him.
"I know you care about that little girl. And if you don't want her to be stuck without her little guardian… Well, I'm sure you'll be up to speed here shortly... Is she your daughter?" Carver asked.
Lee shook his head. "No. I found her when all of this started. Took care of her for a while, but we got separated. It wasn't until recently when we just happened to run into each other again."
Carver nodded, "It's a brave and courageous thing to do. Take care of a little girl who isn't even yours… I applaud it. How'd you two get split up?"
"We were looking for her parents when some man took her… Went tearing through Georgia lookin' for her. When I finally got my hands on him… I killed him. The thing is, I thought I was still dying from a bite, and so did she. I was so weak I could barely move… She somehow got me into some shop to shield us from a horde of walkers, and that's when I told her to leave me. I thought if she shot me, it would just create more problems. But sometime later… I-I came to. I lived through it. Felt fine afterwards. " Lee said.
Carver stayed silent for a few moments as he thought about Lee's words. "You and Clementine are stronger than the rest. There's no doubt about that… you and her would be a fine addition to this place, y'know that? Everyone that comes here doesn't like it at first, but they realize soon enough that it ain't all that bad."
Lee shook his head, "You're crazy if you think that… You think I'm gonna fuckin' join you after you put your hands on that girl? Also, trust me, she won't let you manipulate her."
"Sometimes you have to be rough with them to understand. She can't go around disrespecting folks and think there will be no consequences." Carver exclaimed.
Lee slowly hunched closer to Carver, "Just hear what I'm saying to you. You put your hands on that girl again… It won't just be that herd you have to worry about."
Carver smiled in response to Lee's threat. Carver slowly stood up, his revolver held behind his back. He walked over to Lee's side before quickly smashing the gun over his head. Lee fell out of his chair from the impact of the gun, his head had already started to bleed from the injury. Carver quickly picked up Lee, throwing him onto the office desk.
Carver hammered the revolver into Lee's face a couple more times. He thought the man would go down easily… Lee's face felt like it was on fire, but he fought through the pain that he felt. Lee quickly slapped Carver's hand away before he could hit him again, then smashed his head into Carver's face. Both of the men felt the impact of the hit.
Lee fell to the ground, while Carver stumbled around for a few moments. Carver's nose had already started to bleed again. "Motherfucker!" Carver groaned out.
Lee quickly got back to his feet, he rushed towards Carver, tackling him onto the other office door. Lee restrained Carver's hand which held the gun, keeping his body weight on Carver's other arm. He was able to get the gun out of his hands but was pushed forward by the man. Carver swung at Lee, but he was able to dodge out of the way in time. Lee retaliated with his own punch, which landed on the man's jaw.
Carver landed on one knee from the punch before getting back to his feet. This time he grabbed Lee by the shirt, slamming him back onto his office desk. This time he held down Lee's arm with one hand, while he sent punches into Lee's face with the other. He kept going until Lee was no longer responsive.
He eventually threw the man to the ground as he walked over to retrieve his revolver.
Clementine couldn't stop worrying about Lee. All she could think about was him. It was making her struggle to focus on the work she was supposed to do, and she was constantly getting berated by someone for not doing a job that was up to par with Carver's standard. She eventually found herself working with Bonnie, where she was tasked with loading magazines.
"That's it. You got it." Bonnie muttered out.
The two kept loading the magazines in silence for a while.
"I suppose I owe you an apology… I wasn't truthful when I came across y'all at the lodge… and I was shown a kindness I never would've expected from a group of strangers. But… now folks are dead… and I can't help but to feel that I'm to blame. But the plan was for no one to get hurt."
"I truly believe that was the intent… At least it was mine goin' into it." Bonnie muttered out.
"Carver's the one who pulled the trigger. He's to blame." Clementine said in response.
"Yeah, but… I surely didn't help matters." Bonnie said with clear pain in her voice.
"I thought if I was the one who found everyone, I could control it… Keep everyone safe… but that ain't how it went. I apologize… which doesn't account for much, but it's all I can offer right now." Bonnie said.
Clementine rummaged through the box of ammo that had sat on a small crate in front of them, picking up a few of the bullets to load into the magazine she held.
"How was your first night in the yard? I know it isn't so comfortable… but it's safe." Bonne said.
"You mean my first night in prison?" Clementine spat out.
"It ain't a prison. More of a… work release." Bonnie exclaimed.
"Didn't they do those in prisons?" Clementine retorted.
"I… probably. I don't know… never been to prison." She said.
Bonnie smiled, "Don't tell no one. Tryin' to keep a tough reputation."
Clementine smirked a bit at the woman's words.
"I was supposed to go… when Luke and Carlos and all them left, I was plannin' on leavin' too." Bonnie exclaimed.
"Why didn't you? Leave… I mean." Clementine asked with a raised eyebrow.
Bonnie glanced away for a few moments, "If I'm bein' honest… I guess I chickened out. I justified not goin' by tellin' myself it's easier to try and change somethin' that's broken than start all over."
"Take this situation with the herd… that's the type of thing that rips a community apart… Carver keeps things in line… he's got a lot of this stuff figured out."
"Herds have come through before?" Clementine asked with a hint of uneasiness in her eyes.
"Yeah… it's happened a few times. We've always come out on the other end all right. It's something I think about whenever I consider leaving… I mean, it ain't easy keepin' a group this big fed and protected. I don't envy that position. I figured that would make anyone a little stressed." Bonnie exclaimed.
Clementine glared at her with her eyebrows furrowed.
Bonnie sighed, "I'm not defendin' what he did. That was… I'm alive because of him. That's just a fact."
"He killed Walter!" Clementine muttered out.
"Only to protect his own people. Kenny and Lee could've killed us all!" Bonnie exclaimed.
Clementine looked towards the ground at the mention of Lee. She was just starting to get her mind off of him, and now she had that worry start back up all over again.
"You okay, Clementine?" Bonnie asked.
Clementine looked back up to Bonnie. Bonnie could tell the girl was anxious about something.
"Do you know what happened to Lee? Carver took him away a while ago… and… I-I haven't seen him since." Clementine muttered out, looking back to the ground.
"Oh… I'm sure he's fine. Bill probably just wanted to have a word with him." Bonnie said.
Clementine still hadn't looked back up to face the woman. She was lost in her thoughts.
Bonnie placed a hand on her shoulder, and the girl snapped back into reality. Clementine looked the woman in the eyes.
"Everything's gonna be alright. Don't you go worryin' now." Bonnie exclaimed.
Clementine nodded in response.
A voice emitted from a radio from the table to the side of the two.
"Hey Bonnie, is that girl down there? I need to come get her."
Bonnie picked up the radio and started to respond, "Yeah, she's here."
"Okay, I'll be right over."
"Alright, Tavia." Bonnie responded.
Bonnie set her sights back on Clementine. "I'm sure it's fine. Oh, and almost forgot. I grabbed this for ya." The woman said as she stood up off of her chair. She made her way to a box in the room, digging through it for a few moments before coming out with a jacket. She walked back to Clementine and held out the jacket.
Clementine gladly accepted the jacket, although she thought it was kind of ugly. Bonne smiled as the girl took the jacket.
Clementine put the jacket on, zipping it up. It was a snug fit, and it felt rather warm.
"Huh. What do you think?" Bonnie asked.
Clementine looked down to the jacket's ugly colors, her arms stuck out a bit from her sides as she glared down at it.
"I found it at the lodge y'all were at." Bonnie said.
Clementine shrugged and gave a warm smile.
Bonne smiled in return, "You better watch yourself. I think some folks might be jealous of that cool jacket of yours."
The two turned as another woman walked into the room. "Oh, there you are." Tavia muttered.
Tavia walked closer to the two, "What's with the ugly jacket?" She said as she glared down at Clementine.
"Tavia!" Bonnie muttered out.
"What?" She responded.
"Never mind. I'll see you later, Clementine." Bonnie said.
"Come on." Tavia said.
Clementine followed the woman outside of the room, and the two eventually made their way up to the roof of the hardware store. On the roof was a small greenhouse, which Clementine was led to.
"Stay here. I'm gonna figure out what you're going to do." Tavia exclaimed.
Clementine wandered deeper into the small greenhouse. She picked up on the sound of someone crying, and she started walking closer to the source of the sound. She noticed Sarah sitting on the ground with her knees tucked into her chest. Clementine walked over to Sarah before stopping.
"Are you okay?" Clementine asked with concern in her voice.
Sarah wiped away tears from her face before responding, "My dad's never hit me before."
"Even when I was really bad. He never hit me." Sarah muttered out.
"He didn't want to do it, Sarah. Carver made him. He's the bad guy, not your dad. So, in a weird way, Carver's the one that hit you, not your dad." Clementine said.
"I guess so… Well, then Carver hit me super hard, cause it still hurts like crazy." Sarah exclaimed.
Clementine shrugged, "Yeah. It looked like it."
"Thanks for trying to help." Sarah exclaimed.
"I don't know why people have to be so mean… Even when I'm really mad, I still don't want to hurt anyone." Sarah said.
The two girls were alerted to the greenhouse door opening up behind them. Clementine looked over and saw an asian man walk in. He didn't look as rough as most of the other men in Carver's group. Tavia walked in after him a few moments later.
"Vince's in charge here, okay? Listen to him carefully." The woman said before walking back out of the greenhouse, the door shutting after her.
"Hey guys." The man said as he let his hand rush through the back of the hair on his head.
"It's a pretty easy job to do in here, actually. I'm sure y'all won't mind it. Come on, I'll show you what to do." Vince said.
The man walked over to a few plants which rested inside pots on a table. Clementine and Sarah followed after him.
"Pick up a pair of those shears." Vince said.
Clementine picked up the shears and then looked to Sarah, who had now stood next to her. Sarah picked up the shears and began examining them.
Vince looked towards the plant on the table.
"Okay, so we're picking these berries, right? Just pick them, put them in the basket. Simple. And while you're at that, if you see any dead branches, take those shears and cut em' off. Stack them after that for composting."
Clementine stepped away to another table that was across from Sarah's. She started working on picking the berries, placing them in the basket, and then stacking the dead branches up. After a few minutes, Clementine looked over at Sarah. She noticed that the girl hadn't done any work so far. Sarah was still looking at the shears she held in her hands.
Vince caught the girl's gaze and made his way over to Sarah.
"Hey. You alright?" The man asked.
Sarah nodded.
"Why don't I help you with this." Vince exclaimed.
The man gently took the shears from Sarah's hands and started to do the job that she was supposed to do. He mentored her on the whole process as he went through with it.
Some more time had passed and the trio had finished up all of the work which needed to be done in the greenhouse. A door creaked open outside of the greenhouse, Clementine looked outside of the foggy greenhouse window and saw Carver making his way to them. Sarah gasped at the sight of the man.
Carver opened up the door to the greenhouse and stepped inside. The man had a rather large bruise on his nose, partnered with some swelling and a few minor cuts on his face.
"Just checking in. See how the new girls are working out." He exclaimed.
Vince nodded at the man.
"Huh. Nice work here." Carver said as he looked around the greenhouse.
"Why don't you get downstairs. I heard Bonnie's got some stuff for you to do." Carver said to Clementine.
The girl made her way back to the entrance of the roof, but Clementine felt a hand on her shoulder drag her back. Clementine turned around, greeted by the sight of Carver.
"You need to talk some sense into that little guardian of yours, missy. Because if you don't… Well, let's just say what I'll do to him won't be pretty. He's already got his first strike. Next time he does something like he pulled earlier, I'll have to act." He said before pushing the girl back towards the roof entrance.
Clementine was scared, but she also felt relieved… Lee was okay. She wondered what he and Lee had talked about once he took him away…
Clementine looked back one more time before heading downstairs, she noticed Sarah and Carver talking. She also wondered what that was about.
Clementine looked around the hardware store for Bonnie, eventually finding her near an emergency exit.
Bonne smiled as she saw Clementine, "Oh, hey. So, they want you to run some supplies out to the guys workin' at the expansion. Real simple. Just take this over to 'em."
Bonne handed a bucket full of some supplies to Clementine. The girl looked down, her face looked a bit sad.
"That jacket looks real nice. I don't know what Tavia's talking about…" Bonnie said as she crossed her arms.
Clementine nodded and Bonne opened up the emergency exit, allowing Clementine to step outside.
"Hey Troy! Clem's just gonna take them boys some nails."
"Alright." Troy yelled back from the roof.
"Go on." Bonnie muttered out as she stepped back inside, closing the emergency exit door.
Clementine looked outside a fence near the door. She saw a few walkers outside past the fence. Walkers being so close to them made the girl feel anxious.
"Hey! That ain't your concern. Get that stuff to them boys. Just follow them cables." Troy yelled out.
Clementine turned around, her eyes settling on the cables that Troy had talked about. She followed it, passing by a comic store. The girl wished she could go inside, she loved comics. As she continued following the cable, she stopped to listen more intently. She could hear the pounding of walkers from the walls around her…
She continued forward, walking inside of the store which the cable led to. Clementine looked to her left, she saw Kenny and the man from the pen scrapping with each other. Kenny shoved him to the wall.
"I ain't nobody's laborer. Fuck that! Let 'em do this shit themselves if it's so goddamn important." Kenny yelled out as he pinned the man to the boarded up window. Clementine ran towards the two, stopping a few feet away from them.
"Get your fucking hands off me, man." The man yelled out.
"You ain't gonna force me to do this bullshit, Mike!" Kenny said, thrusting his arm deeper into the man's neck.
"I said get your hands off me!" Mike yelled out.
"Or what? You gonna go tell me?" Kenny said mockingly.
"I'm trying to help you, asshole." Mike scoffed.
"Kenny, calm down, please!" Clementine pleaded.
Kenny looked to the girl and then back at Mike. He sighed before loosening his grip on the man, letting him go. Mike slid down the boarded up window, the plank falling off as he did. A walker was instantly on the other side of the window, letting out its disgusting groans.
"Shit!" Mike yelled out as two walkers burst through the window.
"Fuck! Grab something!" Kenny yelled out. The man quickly picked up a hammer as more walkers started climbing through the now broken window. Clementine retreated back into the store as a walker began to make his way after her. She looked around desperately for anything she could use to defend herself, eventually picking up a large plank on the ground. It was heavy, but she managed to get it over her head.
The girl slammed the plank onto the walker's head multiple times, but it did nothing. The walker kept getting closer and closer, and the girl felt her back hit a wall. She looked around quickly, realizing she was trapped. Luckily, there was a large shelf that was overturned on the wall, which she was able to slip through. The walker still followed after the girl, letting out its disgusting groans as it reached for the girl.
Clementine let her hands rest on the wall as she quickly made her way to the other side of the shelf. The shelf was blocking the way out. The girl had to push the shelf back. She was able to get the heavy shelf off the wall enough that she could squeeze through it just as the walker had made its way to her. She emerged on the other side, the shelf falling back and impaling the walker's head with a sharp corner.
The girl wasn't out of the woods yet, there were multiple walkers still inside the store. She looked to the ground and saw a sledgehammer, which she picked up quickly. A female walker quickly approached the girl and was met with a sledgehammer to the knees, sending her to the ground. The sledgehammer fell to the ground with the walker, leaving the girl defenseless.
She looked ahead, as multiple other walkers were making their way to her.
Her face filled with fear as she ran into an open room that was in the back of the store. The girl tripped on one of the cables hanging around the store and hit the ground hard. The cable was wrapped around the girl's foot, and she was starting to hyperventilate. The girl looked around and saw a screwdriver to the side of her.
She picked it up and held it out, waiting for the walker to fall on top of her, which it did. The walker fell straight into the screwdriver, impaling its head. The walker wasn't dead yet, and the girl had to struggle for a few moments before completely killing the walker. The screwdriver went completely through the walker's head and fell on top of the girl. She was defenseless again.
Another walker made its way into the room, the girl desperately tried to get the heavy walker off the top of her but had no luck. Suddenly, an arrow was shot through the walker approaching her. Troy pulled the walker off the top of the girl. He looked at the girl with anger for a few moments before saying something, "Get up. Get outta here. Come on!"
The girl was still panting heavily, but she got to her feet and started to walk out of the room.
"Make me save your ass. Jesus." Troy remarked.
The two made their way back into the store, which was filled with walker corpses. Clementine looked ahead and saw Kenny catching his breath. Mike was also behind him. Kenny looked up at the girl as she made her way over. "Oh. Thank god you're okay."
"Alright. Enough mushy shit. You get back inside right fuckin' now. I'm sure they got shit for you to do in there." Troy exclaimed.
The girl looked at him for a few moments, not responding. The girl was still scared from what had happened.
"Now! Think I'm fuckin' around? Now I gotta sit down here and babysit you assholes. Can't do a simple fuckin' patch job without me here crackin' the whip?" Troy yelled out.
Clementine had made her way back outside and headed back towards the emergency exit. Everything was fine until she had passed by the comic store, which she was dragged inside by someone. The man's hands were over her mouth as the girl tried to yell out for help, but she was let go as she was dragged completely inside the store.
"No! Stop!" Clementine yelled.
Clementine turned to face the man.
"Hey! Hey! It's me! Luke. Okay? Just calm down." Luke said.
The man looked extremely sleep-deprived and even a bit pale. Clementine thought back to how Lee looked after he was bitten. That's how Luke looked.
Clementine hugged the man, "I was worried. We all were."
The girl broke out of the hug as Luke looked up at her.
"Aw, it's good to see you too, kid." Luke exclaimed.
"All right, listen, we ain't got much time, okay? I followed y'all here best I could. Haven't had a night's rest since y'all got nabbed and… well, this's the first chance I got to talk to somebody. They're everywhere, okay? They got guards. Watchin' everything."
The two heard some noises outside of the comic store, glancing back to the door.
"Shh… shh." Luke muttered out.
The two heard footsteps luckily pass the comic store. Luke got back to his feet and looked down at Clementine, "There's a herd of lurkers just south of us. It's bigger than I've ever seen around these parts." The man said as he approached the comic store entrance.
"Carver mentioned that. Said he hopes it passes us." Clementine said.
Luke made his way back over to Clementine.
"Yeah, I heard folks talkin' about that, but that, but that ain't so, okay? It's gonna hit this place. I know it is… I don't know when, but it's comin' and it's gonna be soon." Luke exclaimed.
"see , I've been lookin' for places to… to get y'all free… but, haven't been able to find anything yet" The man muttered out.
"Are you feeling okay?" Clementine asked.
The man shrugged.
"No… no, I mean.. Yeah, yes, sorry. I– I just could use some sleep, you know? Hard to rest when you think a lurker's about to get the jump on you at any, any moment, but yeah. Yeah. "I'm fine, okay? Don't worry about me." Luke said.
"It seems dangerous." Clementine exclaimed, her arms crossed together.
"Well, the whole situation is dangerous, but, well, we're in it now... It's what we got. We just… we just need a plan… y'know, a way to get you… and everyone…" The man went silent for a bit, pacing around the store before stopping. He looked towards the ground, his eyes fluttering a few times before closing completely. Clementine heard footsteps outside of the comic store again.
"Luke!" She whispered out.
The man snapped out of the daze that he was in and turned back around to face Clementine.
"Oh, sorry, sorry. Shit… okay. Troy ain't gonna like you bein' late."
The man knelt down to see eye level with the girl.
"Listen, Clem, I need you to meet me here tomorrow, about this time,'cause I– I need you to get me one of those radios, okay? Do you think you can do that? Just– one of those walkie talkies. I just need to be able to tell y'all what's goin' on with them guards… you know, I'll figure out the schedule their patrols are on. I mean, they're… they're all over the place but I can keep an eye on 'em for y'all from out here." Luke exclaimed.
"Where do I get one?" The girl asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I think they keep 'em in the stockroom. I ain't completely sure, though. Just… keep your eyes out for the charging station. They put most of 'em back on there at night. Remember, you meet me here tomorrow. I'll try and be here around this time, but if I ain't… just wait as long as you can, 'cause I really need one of those radios. Just let everybody know I'm all right, okay? I'm worried they, uh…" Luke said before being cut off by a man's voice outside.
"Clementine! Get out where I can see ya!" Troy yelled out.
The girl looked to the door in fear as she heard the man's voice.
"Go on. Get out of here." Luke muttered out.
Clementine headed outside of the comic store, Troy had instantly started to walk up from behind her.
"What the hell were you doing? Huh?"
Clementine took a few moments to respond, letting her left hand rest on her right arm.
"I-I was looking at comics… there's a whole store full of them."
"Yeah? No shit. You best not dawdle, girlie. Pull somethin' like that again and you'll be meetin' the back of my hand." Troy said.
"Bill radioed. Wants a word with you up in his office, so get on up there. Now."
Clementine headed inside and then to the man's office. She walked up the long staircase to his office before Rebecca came down the stairs; she was sobbing. When Clementine got to the top of the staircase, she saw Carver step outside of his office.
"She's a strong woman, surrounded by weak men. I ain't lettin' my kid get raised around that. Now. Get in here." The man muttered out.
Clementine walked inside the man's office and noticed dried blood on the floors. It made the girl uneasy as she saw it. She glared around the office before her sights landed on someone in a chair. She stepped closer, and her stomach sank. It was Alvin in the chair. He had blood all over him, and his face was bruised.
"Alvin!" The girl yelled out as she jogged towards him.
"He passed out hours ago. He can't he can't hear nothin'. No point in making a racket." Carver exclaimed.
"You're a bully." Clementine said.
"Come again?" Carver asked.
"You're just a bully… I know it wasn't a fair fight." The girl muttered.
"Yeah, I suppose it wasn't. But life ain't fair most of the time. I wouldn't be so concerned about his well-being if I were you. Not with you so close to the fire yourself." Carver said.
"Now…" The man gestured for Clementine to sit in the chair in front of his desk, which she did. Carver walked around the side of the chair to face the girl.
"You make sure and tell me the truth when you're sittin' where you are… and you won't end up in that chair…" The man stayed silent for a few moments before going to his side of the desk. He placed both of his hands down as he looked the girl in the eye.
"Now.. I'm sure you've been worryin' about him. Worrying about Lee. I'm sure its crossed your mind as of what was going on in here… And I plan to be truthful. He wanted to threaten me, so I had to remind him of who is in charge here."
Clementine looked shocked at the words that the man had said. She felt like there was a brick in her stomach.
"W-what did you do to him?" The girl said. She fought back the tears that wanted to well up in her eyes.
"I had to give him a few good smacks with my friend here…" The man pulled out his revolver and placed it on the desk.
"I had Troy take him back to the yard after that. Carlos should have fixed him up." Carver said as he took a seat in his chair.
Clementine sighed. She didn't think she could hate the man anymore than she already did, but here he was, surprising her once more. She was just so glad that he hadn't killed Lee.
" Now… the only reason he's not dead right now is because I respect him. He's got guts. And he raised a girl who knows how to survive. The way I see it, me and him see eye to eye on how things should be done."
"Lee isn't anything like you." Clementine muttered out.
"You keep telling yourself that, honey… He's just one bad day away from becoming just like me." The man said with full confidence.
"Lee isn't weak like most people who are maimed. You think it would set him back, but he's just as strong without the arm… he doesn't let it get to him. We had a man named Reggie here once. He was maimed too. But that wasn't his whole problem. He was weak of will. Weak of character… so I had to kill him. We can't have that around here, not anymore."
"He probably didn't even deserve it…." The girl muttered out.
"Oh, he certainly did." Carver said.
The man sat up and made his way over to Clementine, sitting in front of her on his desk.
"You see, Reggie put us at risk with his incompetence. He had a string of screw-ups at the time… Killing one in order to save many is part of survival. It's one of the tough decisions that a weaker person couldn't make. It's why it falls to people like us to lead them to safety." The man said as he pointed to himself.
"Do you understand? Well, I wish it was different, I do. But they are weak… and we are strong. That's why it's our responsibility to shepherd the flock… to keep them safe. It's in their nature to follow… not to lead." Carver exclaimed.
Clementin glared at the man for a few moments. "I'm not like you."
"I know it when I see it. And we're more alike than you think. In fact, I think you realize it…but you're not comfortable with it yet." Carver said.
"There's no way you could have lasted this long otherwise. I realized it back in that cabin. You were scared… but you looked me straight in the eye. Kept your nerve. That's what we need if we're gonna get through this. The next generation has to be stronger than the last to… lead us out of this. Kids like you, raised the right way. The way my child'll be raised." Carver exclaimed.
"It ain't this herd that keeps me up at night. We can handle that. It's not knowin' if I got anyone to hand all this off to… but I ain't worried about that anymore." Carver said.
"It's not your baby. It's Alvin's." Clementine retorted.
The man glanced away for a second before responding, "Well, even if that was true, it's mine now. Alright. Now."
Suddenly a walkie talkie behind Carver set on, "Bill? You there?"
The man got up to answer the radio. "Yeah? I'm here."
"The loading bay door is jacked. Troy really knocked the shit out of it."
"How bad is it?" Carver asked.
"Rails are tweaked so it won't shut all the way. I don't think it's an emergency or anything, but it's somethin' Stan should take a look at when he can."
"I'll get him on it. Out." Carver responded before setting the radio down.
Carver looked back towards Clementine, "That fucking idiot."
"Herd is on its way and he puts a goddamn ding in my door… Go on out to the yard. It's almost supper time." Carver exclaimed.
Clementine was let back into the yard and was instantly bombarded from the sound of adults arguing. All of them were circled around the fire, she even saw Lee sitting in one of the chairs. He had a bandage wrapped around his head, and it looked a tad bloody. Clementine hated seeing Lee hurt like that.
"'Cause we all know what happened this mornin! I don't know what that son of a bitch is gonna do next!" Kenny scoffed out.
Clementine made her way to Lee and sat next to him in one of the chairs. The two smiled at the sight of each other, Lee put a hand on Clementine's shoulder before the two embraced in a hug.
"I'm so glad you're alright, Lee." Clementine muttered out.
"And I'm glad you're alright…" Lee said.
The two broke out of the hug that they were in.
"I heard you got dragged up to Carver's office. What'd he say to you?" Lee asked.
"A bunch of bullshit. I think he was just trying to get me to like him." Clementine muttered out.
"He was… he's just that type of man. A manipulative son of a bitch." Lee said with anger.
"So you wanna ring the dinner bell for a herd of walkers to show up? How is that better?" Mike blurted out.
Clementine and Lee started focusing in on the conversation the group was having.
"Cause this place'll be fuckin' chaos when that thing hits. No one will be payin' any attention to us. That's when we go. That's our opening. We just gotta figure out a way to draw 'em to us." Kenny exclaimed.
Rebecca looked towards Clementine and Lee. "Your friend here wants us to get killed by lurkers before Bill can do it."
Kenny looked over to Rebecca with his eyebrows furrowed, "What is it with you?"
"That's what it sounds like to me." Rebecca responded.
"You know that's not what he's saying, but… it does sound dangerous." Sarita remarked.
"Maybe Luke could help us… he's outside. He wants a radio to help keep an eye on the guards." Clementine said.
"Thank you! That's the plan I vote for." Rebecca remarked.
"You know about Luke?" Clementine asked.
Mike looked over to the girl, "He flagged us down when Troy wasn't lookin'. Told us his plan… mentioned he talked to you."
"If Luke can tell us what's going on with this we can use that to pick a good time to escape." Rebecca exclaimed.
"That seems reasonable." Sarita remarked.
"Who the hell knows when that'll be?" Kenny exclaimed.
"There was a girl back at Crawford that used church bells to send walkers all over the city. We just need something really loud. C'mon, Lee, you can vouch for me here!" Kenny said.
Lee nodded, "That could work. That PA system Carver uses is pretty damn loud."
"There's some speakers outside the building… pointed towards the parking lot." Mike exclaimed.
"I saw the controls. They're in Carver's office." Clementine remarked.
"She's right. It's all controlled in Bill's office. There's a switch in there that'll turn them on." Rebecca added.
"How do you know that?" Mike questioned.
"I used to make a lot of announcements back in the day… I had it flipped on once… luckily there wasn't much around at the time to hear it. It was plenty loud though." Rebecca said.
"That's perfect! We just gotta get into his office. Why didn't you say something sooner?" Kenny exclaimed.
"Cause it doesn't change anything. This isn't a discussion about how to do it, it's a discussion about whether it's stupid. And it's still stupid. The sensible thing to do is get Luke the radio and wait for an opening."
"I gotta agree with Kenny here. We don't got all the damn time in the world to sit around here." Lee remarked.
"Finally, someone's got a lick of damn sense! That fucker just beat the shit out of Lee a few hours ago! Who knows what the hell else he's gonna do." Kenny exclaimed.
"Why can't we do both? Even if we bring the herd to us it's probably good for Luke to be able to tell us where they're coming from." Clementine added.
"Y'know what… Fine. I can get behind that." Kenny said.
"Okay, so we get that turd a radio, he keeps us posted on the herd's movement. We fire up the PA thing and bring the walkers to roll over this place." Kenny exclaimed.
"And then what?" Mike asked.
"Get some guns and shoot our way out. I don't know! Whatever we can! We improvise." Kenny remarked.
"Then that's not a plan. You don't plan to improvise." Mike scoffed.
"I figured out what your problem is… you don't think this stuff through, if the end of the plan is just to stroll through a herd of walkers, then you should know from the jump that there's no way it's ever going to work." Rebecca exclaimed.
The girl that Clementine had seen way back when they first arrived walked up to the group.
"Actually… I do it all the time." She said.
"First words I ever hear you say, and it's just some crazy, stupid shit."
"Hush. What do you mean exactly?" Sarita asked.
"When you cover yourself in their smell, rub the walker guts all over you… they can't tell you from one of them… My name's Jane, by the way." Jane exclaimed.
Lee instantly thought back to the Marsh House, that desperate time when he had to save Clementine no matter what. They used walker guts to get back to the streets without being touched by them.
"Now I don't know who's crazier." Rebecca remarked.
"Trust me, I've walked through herds before. It works. You just have to keep calm, and make sure you're good and covered."
"I figured that out too." Lee remarked.
The group besides Clementine, all looked at him in shock, especially Kenny.
"What?" Kenny muttered out.
"It's how me and Clem got out of the Marsh House. I covered her, and we walked right through. After I fought my way through all of those things on my way there, I was already covered in all of their blood..."
"Really… holy shit. Good one, Lee." Kenny said.
"All right! What the hell are waitin' for? Let's get that stupid radio!" Kenny said as he stood to his feet.
"We still have to find a way to get in the stockroom." Rebecca remarked.
"I got a plan for that, too. Come on, kid. Gonna need your help." Jane said.
Clementine and Lee followed the woman over to the ladder that they had scouted out when they first arrived there.
"We just need to use the winch… she can just climb up from there. Then just drop into one of those skylights over the stockroom. There are shelves and stuff for you to land on, so… you probably won't fall to your death." Jane exclaimed.
The rest of the group had also made the way over to the three of them.
"Woah. Hold on now, we can't make Clem do it. What if she gets caught?" Lee exclaimed.
"That thing breaks all the time. Unless something's changed, it won't support much weight." Rebecca added.
"Shit." Lee muttered out.
"I can do it, Lee." Clementine said.
Lee sighed. "You be safe now, Clem."
The two embraced in a hug before Lee helped boost her up onto the rope. The child pulled it down all the way to the ground, Lee then setting her down back to her feet. Lee walked over to the winch and held the other rope to support Clementine. He began to pull on it, sending the child slowly up closer to the ladder as she held onto the rope.
"Try to hurry in there, alright?" Lee asked.
Clementine nodded.
Lee looked towards the gate of the yard, "Shit! Troy's coming back! Clem, I gotta let you go. Grab onto that ladder!" Lee muttered out.
Clementine let go of the rope and fell down, grabbing onto the outside of the ladder. She crawled inside the cage of the ladder and began to make her way up to the roof. She looked towards her side as she climbed up the ladder and noticed the huge herd coming for them.
"We're in trouble…" Clementine muttered out.
Clementine finally got to the top of the roof and crouched down. The last thing she wanted was to be seen. She walked forward slowly, noticing another man on a higher part of the roof. Luckily the man was too caught up on a conversation on his walkie talkie. Clementine looked to her right and saw a large skylight, she then headed towards it.
Clementine opened up the skylight, crawling directly inside of the stockroom. She landed on top of the items stored there, large crates and such. She was at the very top of the large shelving in the room. She stopped for a few seconds, noticing that Tavia woman was there with her. She was talking to a man on the radio.
She started crawling her way down, eventually making it almost to the ground floor. She crawled down a few more crates before finally getting to the ground.
"You never got used to a light buzzing or anything?" Tavia asked.
"Little different when it's dead human beings walking around." The voice on the other end of her radio said.
"I'll give you that one." Tavia responded.
"So what are you doing tomorrow?"
Clementine headed for the radios to which she saw laying on a large table in the room, two of them charging right in front of her, there was another charging station which had one radio inside of it.
"Bill wants me to start getting this bay door fixed." Tavia responded.
"That why you down there?"
"Yep." Tavia responded.
"What happened to it again?"
Clementine quickly got two radios out of the charging station while the woman wasn't facing her, she then started heading back the way she came, crawling up all of the crates and such, making her way back to the skylight. She crawled out onto the roof and slowly closed the skylight. She took a sigh before making her way back to the ladder.
"Psss!" Clementine muttered out to Lee who stood at the bottom of the ladder.
"You got them?" Lee asked.
"Yep." Clementine responded.
"Jump down Clem. I'll catch you." Lee said.
Clementine let go of the ladder and began to free fall to the ground until she was caught by Lee. She got back to her feet and hugged Lee.
"Glad you're alright, sweet pea." Lee said.
Lee stood to his feet as he looked towards the gate of the yard, "We should get in bed now. Troy's gonna be back any minute."
The two of them headed towards the beds in the yard.
"Well?" Kenny asked as Clementine made her way over. The girl had a bed right next to Kenny and Lee. Lee on her left side, Kenny on her right side. The girl pulled out the radio, showing it to Kenny. She smiled as she hovered the radio out to him, Kenny smiled as he saw the radio.
"You little devil!" Kenny said with a smile.
Clementine made her way over to her bed, instantly toppling onto her pillow.
"Everybody stay where you are. No need drawin' suspicion." Kenny said.
"That was so cool." Sarah said to Clementine, she slept in a bed above Clementine. Clementine smiled at the girl's words.
"Thank you, Clementine." Kenny said.
"You did real good, Clem." Lee remarked.
"Thanks." Clementine responded with a smile.
They rested in silence for a few moments before Kenny spoke up again.
"I thought about Duck today, about his dumb little face… first things that always come to mind are always the dumb things he was doin'... Kid was always runnin' in circles. Every damn place we went he'd just run. Couldn't stop him." Kenny said as he looked over to Sarita who laid on the mat with him.
"Makes it harder to remember… he was a good boy." Kenny exclaimed
Clementine and Lee both couldn't help but feel pity for Kenny. Lee remembered back on the day he had to shoot Duck… how hard it was for him to pull the trigger. He couldn't imagine what Kenny felt on that day. The day he lost his family…
"Yeah… he was a good kid, Ken… always tried to brighten up someone's day... " Lee exclaimed, reminiscing on the days of the Motor Inn.
Clementine closed her eyes and her thoughts slowly drifted her to sleep.
—-
A few of the group's members were all gathered around a table in the morning. The radio laid on the table as they began to discuss their plan.
"Someone's gotta get the radio out to Luke. What's the problem?" Rebecca said.
"We should probably figure out who's doing what before w-" Kenny's words were interrupted by the sound of the yard gate opening up.
Lee, Kenny, and Clementine all looked toward the gate. Kenny quickly swiped the radio up off of the table, holding it to his side where it was out of view.
"Time to get up. They let you sleep in, all things considered." Tavia exclaimed.
"Where's my dad?" Sarah questioned.
"He's where the rest of you are goin'. To work." Tavia responded.
"Rebecca, Nick, Sarah, Jane, Mike… if you gotta take a piss, do it now. The next break won't be for a while. Troy'll be comin' up for the rest of you." Tavia said.
"Why just them?" Kenny asked.
"Like I said… Troy's comin' for the rest of you." Tavia responded.
She walked outside of the yard as the gate was closed by one of Carver's men.
Kenny turned to face Clementine and Lee. "All right, look. If we're gonna do somethin', we have to do it now, and if Luke's all we got, then we pair up with him."
"I can do it. Where's the meeting spot?" Lee said.
"Lee.. I don't know if that's a good idea man." Kenny exclaimed.
"What the hell you mean, Kenny? I don't want Clementine getting fucking hurt by one of them." Lee responded.
"Yeah, Lee… well she's a little girl. They're gonna take it a whole lot fuckin' easier on a little girl then if they find you out there meetin' up with him. Carver's already got it out for you after you fuckin' fought with him!" Kenny said with a bit of a harsh tone.
Lee sighed in response.
"Yeah.. I don't want Carver to hurt you again." Clementine muttered out.
Lee looked at the girl with a bit of sadness in his eyes. "He won't, sweet pea,"
"Then it's settled then." Kenny said.
The gate opened up once again, Kenny quickly turned the radio to his side as Troy walked inside of the yard.
"All right little chickens, let's get to peckin'." Troy yelled out.
Troy got closer to the three before stopping. "And don't think today's gonna be like yesterday. No way. No shenanigans. This rooster's gonna be surveilling your ass every second of the day, you hear?"
Troy looked down at Clementine, "You got that?"
The girl didn't respond.
"I'm afraid I need an answer, little girl." Troy scoffed out.
"Yeah. She's got it." Lee said.
"Did I fucking ask you? Let the goddamn girl answer for herself." Troy said with anger.
Lee looked at the man with rage building in his eyes.
"Yes sir." Clementine responded.
"Come on!" Troy yelled out.
The three began to follow after Troy, but Kenny still had the radio. Kenny stopped Clementine and began shoving the radio into her pockets, making sure to cover her up with himself.
"Ah… you have your pockets all out. Gonna get your tags all snagged on something." Kenny said as he then turned to face Troy. Clementine made sure to cover up the radio by crossing her arms. Troy looked at the two for a few seconds before speaking up.
"Let's go." The man said.
The trio began to make their way back outside, heading for the emergency exit.
"Hey! She's with me." Bonnie yelled out.
The four of them had stopped as Bonnie made her way over.
"Ah. Shit. Almost forgot." Troy muttered out.
"Yeah." Bonnie replied.
"Well, take her then, I don't give a shit." Troy said as he pushed the girl forward with his gun. Lee eyed the man down anytime he did anything to Clementine. He wanted nothing more than to kill the man.
"Hold on, man. What's going on?" Lee said as he stepped forward, turning to Troy.
"Just chores of a different sort. Come on, city mouse." Bonnie exclaimed.
"Can't you cut her a break?" Kenny yelled out.
"Yeah. She'd rather be with us." Lee exclaimed.
Clementine turned to face Lee and Kenny, "Won't they need my help?"
"Well, today I need it more." Bonnie said with a smile. Clementine looked down to the ground in annoyance.
"C'mon." Bonnie said.
The girl took one last look to Kenny and Lee as they were escorted outside.
Bonnie was led to the room where she and Bonnie had loaded up magazines before, they had stepped just inside of the room, allowing the door to close behind them.
"You alright? You look anxious, Clementine." Bonnie asked.
Clementine hesitated on pulling out her radio to show Bonnie… she didn't know if she could trust her or not, but she gambled on Bonnie not telling anyone. The girl pulled out the radio and hovered it in front of Bonnie.
"Luke's waiting for me to give this to him. He needs it."
Bonnie looked shocked. "Clementine!"
"And all I need from you… is just to not care where I am… for fifteen minutes." Clementine said as she stepped a bit closer to the woman, putting the radio back into her pocket.
"If you get caught and you mention my name, Carver will be the least of your troubles. Okay?" Bonnie exclaimed as she put one hand on her hip.
The girl stood in silence for a bit. "What are you waiting for?" Bonnie exclaimed.
The girl rushed outside, making sure she wasn't seen by anyone. Clementine took cover by a small cart outside, she saw Troy down the alley, by the store in which Kenny and Mike had gotten into it earlier. He stepped inside, disappearing out of Clementine's view. The girl rushed forward, slowly opening up the door to the comic store.
"Luke! Luke?" Clementine yelled out.
Clementine saw dried blood on the comic store floor.
"Looks old… he's… probably fine." The girl said. She checked around the comic store for a few minutes, but she didn't see any sign of Luke. She walked towards the comic store door as she was going to make her way out. Troy instantly barged into the comic store as he glared down at the girl.
"I swear to CHRIST you're gonna regret this!" The man yelled out.
"I was–" The girl's words were cut off by a huge slap to the face. The slap stung even worse than Carver's slap had.
"You ain't supposed to be out he-" The man's words were then cut off as someone pushed him over, sending him to the ground. His weapon flew a few feet away.
"O-oh fuck. Calm down man!" Troy muttered out.
Clementine looked at Lee as he began to make his way over to the man.
"Lee… don't!" Clementine muttered out.
Kenny stepped inside of the store and looked towards Lee.
"Oh shit." Kenny muttered out.
"Bill will fucking kill you if you do anything to me!" The man said as he stood to his feet. Lee slammed a punch into the man's face, sending him to the ground instantly. The man's head bounced off the hard flooring of the comic store, and Lee then toppled onto him. Lee hammered more punches into the man's face, the man kept begging for him to stop, but Lee never did.
Clementine's heart was pounding. Even Kenny looked shocked at what Lee was doing. Clementine and Kenny took a few steps closer to Lee.
"Lee… he's had enough!" Clementine said with fear in her voice.
Lee didn't stop. He kept hammering punches into the man's face, which was already completely bloody, and swelling up. Troy was no longer responding. Lee's fists and knuckles were completely covered in blood, but he didn't stop. The anger that he had built up being in Carver's camp needed to be released on something, someone.
Lee continued to hammer punches into the man's face, each punch making a nasty sounding crack in Troy's face, blood filling the floor around his head.
"Lee! Jesus Christ!" Kenny said as he pulled the man off of the top of Troy.
"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" Lee yelled out as he pushed Kenny away.
As Lee stumbled around for a few moments, off balance from Kenny pulling him away, he finally looked down to Troy. Lee realized what he had done.
"O-oh fuck." Lee muttered out.
"Lee…what the hell man? Shit… I've never seen you lose your cool like that.." Kenny said, with somehow a slightly amused chuckle.
Clementine looked at Troy's brutalized and mangled face, she had never seen such a horrifying sight just caused by punches…
"Fuck em'. Son of a bitch got what was coming to him." Kenny spat out as he walked over to Troy's corpse.
…