Chapter 18
Clementine sat in the passenger seat of a small red pickup truck. It was loaded with all sorts of supplies in the backseat from guns, ammo, food, sleeping bags and tents, and whatever else they needed. She was reading one of the books she brought with her. Kenny was giving Sarita a goodbye kiss, as well as giving goodbyes to everyone else he was friends with.
She stared at the 'VI' etched on her wrist, the scar was jagged and ugly, unlike the others she had. They still showed her those faces, their pleading cries, but she had gotten used to them. The scars had their advantages, funnily enough. Most new, and current community members tried to avoid her, which gave her the peace and quiet she needed when trying to be alone. They also worked well at intimidating strangers, but she felt that their fear was more pity than the actual thing.
Kenny enters the truck with a smile, "Alright Clem, let's head on out."
He turns the ignition on and begins driving, he only drives for a few minutes before suddenly stopping and exiting the truck.
'Huh?' She watched as he circled around to her side and open the door.
"Get in the driver seat. You, are gonna learn to drive" He held the door open, she could only stare blankly in surprise.
She climbed over to the driver's seat, Kenny sitting in the passenger seat as she did.
"Put your seatbelt on. And adjust the seat so you can see better"
She quickly followed the directions, her heart was pacing from the excitement.
"So now what you're gonna do, is keep your hands on the wheel, in the two o'clock, and ten o'clock positions."
She gripped the wheel tightly.
"Ease up sweetheart, the wheel ain't gonna run off from you. Now put your right foot on that brake pedal. It's the one on the left."
She did as he instructed, relaxing and softening her grip on the leather steering wheel, and pushing the brake pedal down as far as she could.
"Now grab the gearshift, and put the truck in drive. Make sure to keep your foot on the brake." He pointed at some stick thingy behind the steering wheel.
She pulled on the shift, and started lowering it, the letters on the dashboard started to shine brighter as it moved. She assumed that 'D' was drive and stopped there, letting go of the shift and it locked into place.
"Then, slowly move your right foot over to the gas, and tap it slowly." The second she let go of the brake, the truck started moving slowly, putting her foot on the gas and slowly pushing it, the truck started moving faster.
"Remember this, only use your right foot for the brakes and gas. The left is used for manuals to press the clutch, but this ain't a manual so you don't gotta worry about it for now."
She kept herself laser focused on the road as he spoke, the truck moving even faster.
"Clem, tap the brake and ease off the gas a bit, just keep your foot slightly pressed on it. No need to drive fast right now, we got plenty of time before that."
The truck slew down as she did what he told her, she looked at the speedometer and they were moving at around thirty miles an hour now.
"Okay, we've got a few days before we actually get there. So you've got lotsa time to practice. Hopefully, by the time we get back I can get you started on manuals."
She drove for a long time, following Kenny's directions as they traveled.
"Alright, slow down and turn into this motel. My ass is killin' me." Kenny pointed towards a lone, run down motel on the road.
She slew down and turned into the parking lot, pressing the brake to stop the car.
"Put it in park, and turn the truck off Clem."
She pulled on the gearshift and lifted it all the way up. She then lifted her foot and turned the keys, pulling them out once the truck was off.
"Okay, imma fill this thing back up. You just make sure nothin' sneaks up on us." Kenny walked out, grabbed a can full of diesel from the bed, and started refueling the truck.
Clementine exited the truck, and stretched with a loud moan, sitting for so long had made her body a bit sore. She looked around at the motel, it reminded her of the motor inn a bit.
The good and bad memories flashed in her mind as she walked around the parking lot. She could imagine hearing Duck running around, blabbering about something dumb like his favorite superhero or cartoon. Lee walking around and conversing with the others. The thought of it made her a little depressed, how little they knew back then.
"Hey Clem, let's check some of these rooms. See if we can't find anythin'." He knocked on a door, listening for any walkers.
She went up behind him, Kenny tested the doorknob but it wouldn't budge. Kenny looked at her with his one good eye.
"Guess we're doin' this the hard way." He nudged her back as he started kicking the door.
The noise he was making was pretty loud, so she watched for any walkers that might be attracted by the noise.
"Shit." A loud slamming noise came from behind, as Kenny managed to snap the door straight off from the hinges.
She waited for a minute, but no walkers made themselves known thankfully. She stood watch as Kenny searched the room, coming back out a few minutes later both hands behind his back.
The man had a large grin on his face as she raised an eyebrow.
"Found some whiskey, and this." He revealed a large glass bottle full of caramel colored liquid, and a bag of chocolate candies.
He probably expected more of a reaction out of her, because he sighed in disappointment when she just stared at him.
"Here, I'm just gonna stick this one in the back." He handed her the chocolates, shook the bottle of whiskey and opened the truck. The man returned carrying a crowbar.
"Let's finish checkin' this place."
The next door was already unlocked, the room had a kitchen in it. Kenny tested the knobs, a small flame igniting.
"Alright, after we finish the rest, let's come back here and cook us up some dinner." She nodded in affirmation, following the man as they went door to door.
Most of the rooms were locked, and didn't really have anything other than beds and other stuff they couldn't use. Some though, had canned goods, and other goodies like a random gun under the bed, or luggage bags that could be used for storing supplies.
They were both standing outside the last room, Kenny knocked on it, a few seconds later the door started banging. Kenny readied his crowbar, and she readied her knife. He jammed the crowbar straight into the doorway and started to pry the door open.
The second it snapped open, Kenny kicked the door open and backed up immediately. The walker had fallen over when the door slammed opened, and by the looks of it, couldn't get back up.
The walker was extremely emaciated, barely even any skin left, mostly just bone at this point. It was probably was locked in here from the start judging by the rank stench in the room.
She slowly walks towards the struggling walker, and stabs it directly in the head. She looks around the trashed room, nothing of any value could be seen.
"Let's just head on outta here and eat." Kenny covers his nose with his arm as he backs away from the room.
Clementine closes the door behind herself as she leaves. Heading towards the truck to help Kenny prepare lunch for the day.
"What you feel like eatin' Clem?" He pointed towards an assortment of the food they'd found or brought. She looked at the man and shrugged, she wasn't a picky eater, as long as the food wasn't extremely bitter.
"Come on, pick somethin'."
She relented and pointed at some canned spaghetti and meatballs.
"See? It ain't that hard to pick. Now try and see if you can find us something to eat these with." He rubbed her head grabbing the can she chose, a can for himself, and a pot to cook it in.
She fixed her hat, and began putting the food they weren't eating into one of the luggage bags they found. When she finished, she grabbed two paper bowls that were stored in one of the bags, and two plastic forks. She also grabbed the book she was reading before the surprise driving lesson, and entered the room that Kenny was cooking in. Jumping onto one of the beds, she continued from where she left off.
"Give it about... five minutes."
She wondered why they were even bothering with heating the food up, but continued reading until he brought the pot over.
She handed him one of the paper bowls, and forks. He started pouring the spaghetti inside it, and handed it to her when he finished. She gave him, his and then started eating her own.
The food burned her tongue the second she tried eating it, forcing her to spit it out and try cooling her mouth down.
"Gotta let it cool first, sweetheart." Kenny laughed as she wafted her mouth.
She glared at him, which only made him laugh harder. She twirled her fork around in the spaghetti again, blowing on it this time to cool it down.
They both ate in relative silence after her little incident, neither wanting to waste the heat from the warm food.
"When you finish, clean the pot and ride shotgun, it'll be night by the time we get to where we headed. And you ain't ready to drive in the dark yet." Kenny then scooped the remaining sauce from his bowl and ate it. Leaving the motel room soon after.
She followed suit soon after, getting up and grabbing their pot. Grabbing a rag from the truck and cleaning any pasta sauce that didn't make it out of the pot. The truck turned on whilst she cleaned, she hoped it would be warm by the time she finished.
Clementine tossed the pot in the back of the truck, grabbed her book from the room, and then hopped in the truck. It was pretty late in the day, and it had gotten extremely cold in the truck. She shivered slightly, the cold had managed to creep through her hunting outfit, and the truck had yet to warm up enough.
"Damn it's cold." Kenny cranked the heat up and pulled out of the parking lot. The truck warmed up quickly as he drove.
She read her book some more, it was about aliens or something, she couldn't tell and didn't really understand any of the words. Which did bother her, but it wasn't exactly something she could really do anything about.
Clementine finished the book right as the sun started to set. The windows were super foggy at this point as well, the only thing keeping them on the road was the heat blasting directly onto the windshield.
"You want some whiskey?" Kenny held the glass bottle towards her.
'Isn't that a grown up drink.' She raised an eyebrow at the offer, she didn't exactly know if she should.
"It'll put some... actually I'll keep that one to myself." He frowned for half a second, before deciding on giving it to her anyways.
She stared at the bottle, she had to try it now she guessed. Opening the bottle, a strong scent hit her nose which made her wince a bit.
"It ain't gonna kill you. Though you might wanna take it easy." Kenny chuckled at her reaction to the strong, burning scent.
She took a hesitant sip of the drink, her throat started burning immediately. Coughs escaped her throat as she felt her body warm up. Kenny slapped his knee as he started cackling.
"Go on, have a few more, it'll make you feel better. We won't be at our rest stop for another two hours anyways." He wiped his eye as he kept laughing.
Clementine took a really large gulp of the liquid, letting out a violent cough once she got it down. Closing the bottle, and handing it over to a chortling Kenny. She started feeling funny, everything seemed a bit wonky, and she felt hot. She looked over at Kenny, but it felt like her body was moving with a delay. A dumb smile crossed her face as she passed out soon after.
Clementine woke up with a warm blanket over her. It was morning now, she groggily rubbed her eyes and looked over at Kenny. He seemed to be in good spirits, but she felt like someone had just knocked her over the head with a baseball bat. A groan escaped her lips as she rubbed her head.
"Yeah, not my greatest moment, givin' a kid whiskey, but you were sleepin' like a baby." Kenny pat her on the shoulder, with a weak smile.
She knew that expression, he always had it when he found her sleepwalking, or tried to get her to talk. She hated it when he would give her that look, like she was broken or something. It made her feel like something was wrong with her, which she didn't want to be reminded of.
Although it did make her feel better, she had an actual good dream that night. She was back in the motor inn showing Lee her...
She let out a quiet sniffle, before stopping herself. She wouldn't cry, it would give Phoenix something to mock her with.
The skinless man hadn't bothered her much in her day to day anymore, but he was always there in her dreams. The sleepwalking didn't happen as often anymore either, but she'd always find herself in the former pen when it occurred. Probably, Phoenix's way of telling her she'll remain caged.
Clementine decided to stop thinking about it, she grabbed another book to pass the time.
"Clem, you know that you don't have to keep what you're going through to yourself right?"
Clementine didn't give him a response, choosing to just engross herself in this new book. She briefly heard Kenny sigh to himself.
"Well we've got maybe... five hours before we reach the border of Michigan. You want to take over?"
Clementine thought for a second, before eventually nodding, climbing over as Kenny took her place.
"Remember what you need to do?"
She pressed the brake and put the car on drive, letting go and pressing the gas instead.
"Good job. Now remember to just stay calm, and slow down before takin' any turns."
Kenny continued giving her tips as she drove.
She imagined where she'd be if she could drive while she was by herself.
'Mexico, Texas, maybe even on the other side of the country.' She was driving on the highway, they'd be entering Columbus soon.
"Stop right on this gas station, let's get some blood flow back in our legs."
Clementine turned into the station and put the truck on park, turning it off as she did. They both exited the car and entered the gas station. Kenny was checking the maps, and she entered the restroom. She entered one of the stalls to go about her business, exiting to Kenny looking deep in thought.
"This map here shows a town named Wellington in the west. You think it'd be that obvious?"
Clementine looked at the map, he was pointing at a town that was, in fact named Wellington. She gave him a shrug, Kenny put his hand on his chin as he looked at the map for a minute.
"Might as well try going there once we're done eatin'." He exited the station and grabbed some food and utensils, reentering as quickly as he left.
Kenny held up two cans of chili, he opened one and handed it to her with a spoon, and got started on his own.
Clementine scarfed the chili down in seconds, she had been feeling increasingly hungry since she woke up.
'Never drinking alcohol again.' She decided, wasn't worth the aftermath in her mind.
"I'd let you drive there, but you were out till noon, so just ride shotgun while we head on over." Kenny then finished up eating, tossing the can away and taking the map of Ohio.
The ride towards the town was mostly uneventful, Kenny cracked a few jokes here and there trying to get her to respond, but other than that it was quiet.
"Looks like we're just a fifty miles out now. Hopefully, it is just that simple." Kenny cracked a smile as he said that. She just hoped that if they were there, it'd be quick and easy.
Clementine started feeling tense as they got closer. She couldn't explain it, but as the amount of miles they needed to get there lowered, the more she got worried. They were only about two miles away now, judging by the street signs.
She looked over at Kenny, the man seemed pretty relaxed considering he'd be making first impressions with a potentially much larger community.
Kenny stopped the truck in front of a large metal wall.
"Guess this is it." He was about to exit the truck, when a bunch of large semi-trucks arrived, driving around the wall to another location.
"The fuck?" He turned the headlights off, and followed the trucks slowly.
A large number of people exited them, they were heavily armed.
"Clem, get the guns."
She quickly undid her seatbelt and started digging in the backseat. Grabbing an AK and her Springfield M1A, she also made sure to grab spare magazines. She gave Kenny the AK, and the magazines for it, then they both quietly exited the truck.
"We fucking begged you, man! Our people are sick! And starving!" One of the people from the trucks started shouting.
"It didn't have to be this way! You coulda just given us some grub, some medicine, that's it! This is your fault! Y'all are just hoarding it for your fuckin' selves!" Another joined in with the first.
"We don't have enough supplies. That's not a lie. We're barely gonna make it through winter as it is." A person on top of some gate tried to point out.
"Horseshit! If y'all don't have nothin', then why are you hiding behind such huge fucking walls?!" The second guy countered the person from Wellington.
"Now, listen. You need to go, now! We're armed!" The gatekeeper threatened, Clementine expected things to start getting hairy.
"Clem, we need to get ready to leave now!" Kenny quietly shouted to her.
"You think we're not?! Drop the food in front of the walls and everyone goes home happy. Happy and alive!"
"So, hurry the fuck up!"
"Not happening, guys. Come on."
"Listen, shitfuck, you got two minutes! If I don't see a loaf of fucking bread, we're coming in!"
"Guys, don't do this! Come on!"
'Just give them what they want you idiot.' Clementine was dreading them coming here for no reason.
"Time's ticking!"
"Don't make me fire!" The gatekeeper was pleading at this point.
"Don't make us fuckin' fire!" The truck raiders were practically itching for the upcoming fight.
"One minute, man!" She assumed that this voice was the leader, she couldn't see them clearly.
"Shit, shit, shit! Come on, I'm fucking begging you!"
"Hey, take it from us! Begging doesn't fucking work out here!"
"Jesus Christ, no! Stop!"
"Time's up! Run, fuckers, run!"
"No, no, no!"
"Shit!" Kenny cursed as the gunfire started.
'Shit!' Clementine repeated Kenny's words in her head as a truck rammed into the gate.
"Tear that shit down!"
Both her and Kenny tried to reenter the truck as bullets came their way.
"Burn this fucker down!" Molotovs were thrown over the large metal walls.
"Run, run! Get outta here! Run!" The gatekeeper was shouting loudly before going silent, dead most likely.
"Fuck!" Kenny shouted as the glass from the windshield shattered.
"Over there! Get those fuckers tryin' to escape!"
Clementine fired back as Kenny tried to get the truck started.
"Goddamn it! Engines fucked. We gotta run." Kenny slipped out of the truck, she followed closely as more impacts struck the truck. They ran for a minute, getting behind some trees to check their surroundings.
"What a fuckin' waste of ti-"
Clementine's eyes widened as Kenny was cut off by a gunshot. The man fell down to the floor clutching his chest. She fired wildly behind where he'd fallen, a thud sounding soon after.
Her eyes then shot towards the bleeding man in front of her, blood was dripping everywhere around him. The clawing feeling she hadn't felt for months had returned with a force, and this time she couldn't hold it back.
A/N
And cliffhanger! Don't worry I'll get started on the next chapter practically as soon as this one uploads. I have an AO3 account now, I'm just tryna figure out the site now. So expect this fic to be up there soon, minus all the previous author notes of course.