Chapter 19

"K-Kenny?" Clementine croaked out, her voice sounded so strange to herself.

"Heh, took you long enough." Kenny weakly chuckled.

"Y-you'll be fine, we just need to stop the bleeding." Clementine knelt down by Kenny's side, trying to put pressure on Kenny's bleeding chest wound.

"Clem, you gotta get outta here." Kenny placed a bloodied hand on her cheek, tears dripping rapidly from her face.

"No! You can't die!" She begged futilely, she knew it was hopeless.

"Here. Give this to Sarita for me." He took his cap off and handed it to her.

"You do it! Please don't go, I can't lose you again."

"You know what you gotta do." He rubbed her wet cheek.

"End of the road for me. Just make sure I don't turn." His voice got weaker, his eyes closing and reopening weakly.

"I'm sorry, Kenny... for being so stupid." She chastised herself as she tried to ready herself to put down the last person from her past.

"You're not stupid Clem. Just a kid put through shit ya never should have is all... Lee would be proud of you."

She placed her head against his chest, drenching his jacket in tears and marking her face with his warm blood.

"I'm glad that I finally got to hear your voice again." He stopped breathing once he said those last words.

Clementine stood up and aimed her gun at his head, shaking as she slowly squeezed the trigger. She couldn't bring herself to look at his body after the gunshot rang out. Tears rolled down rapidly as she started bawling.

She suddenly heard someone coughing a few feet away. Rubbing the tears from her face she slowly approached the source of the noise.

It was the one that killed him! She got ready to leave him to suffer, but something caught her eye. A mark, just off the side of his neck. As she knelt closer to the dying man, she realized what the mark was.

"New Frontier?" The words seemed to surprise the dying man.

"Why the fuck are you up here?" She drew a knife on the man, but he had already died from his wounds.

"Goddamn it!" She kicked his body with enough force to roll him over.

She stomped back towards the truck, to grab anything she could use. Food being her first priority.

"Looks like my pal David finally grew some balls." Phoenix's mocking voice echoed through her head.

"Fuck you." She cursed, as she grabbed a backpack and filled it with food and water.

"Oh come on! You know what, Sweetpea? You should kill them all, avenge your friend."

She ignored the man as she grabbed a pistol and ammo for it.

"You're just going to let Kenny die in vain, hmm?"

She felt the rage creep back up in her heart, she really wanted to just... wring her hands around his, their necks.

"What if they decide to start heading South? You going to let Becca's blood be on your hands as well?" The man was full on laughing now.

She grabbed a shotgun, the one she had worked on all those months ago when she got a concussion.

"You're gonna get everyone you love killed." Phoenix quietly whispered, his voice grating to her ears.

Clementine reached her tipping point, roaring as she turned around and fired the shotgun.

A thud and gasping noises, she looked at who she had just shot. A woman, wearing a beanie, her chest mangled from the buckshot that had just shredded her body.

"There she is. My little murderer." She imagined the skinless man knelt down clapping over the body.

Clementine searched the woman. No branding anywhere on her body. She was from Wellington most likely.

"Sorry." Clementine apologized to the dying woman and grabbed the duffel bag she was holding, finishing the woman off with a stab to the temple. She then looked around at the bodies all over the place, fire illuminating the night sky.

Her fists clenched tightly.

'I'll kill them all.' She vowed to herself, grabbing a raincoat from the back as well. She put the coat on, it was taller than her old one, but she was also taller now as well.

She then searched for the map, clutching it in her hands and stuffing it inside her backpack.

"Good." Phoenix was like a corrupting force, her hand drifted towards her chest briefly before she clenched it into a fist tightly.

Clementine looked around for the raiders, they had attracted a herd of walkers that was flanking from behind.

A walker started shambling towards her, an old one judging by its appearance. She kicked its knees out, sending it straight to the ground, and stomping its head in to finish the job. Kneeling down she started gutting the walker and covering herself in its entrails.

Clementine started to sneak towards one of the raiders that was only a few dozen feet away. Unsheathing her knife, she crept closer, keeping herself low and using the gunfire to mask her footsteps.

The man had no idea she was even there as she charged into him, sending them both to the ground. She immediately started crawling towards the man and slammed the knife directly into his back, he couldn't make a single sound as the air was sucked out of his lungs. Clementine plunged the knife into him a few more times before getting up and seeking her next target.

A group of three this time.

She crawled under one of the semi trucks, aiming at one of the raiders feet. A guttural scream sounded out, as she turned the man's foot into mincemeat. She quickly cocked the shotgun and fired again directly into his chest, putting him down as the others finally took notice of their now dead compatriot.

Clementine crawled back out from under the truck as fast as she could. The other two began firing wildly, trying to find her. She cocked the shotgun, quickly peaking them as they ran out of ammo and fired. The raider she hit fell down like a rock as his head was blown off, she fired again as the other one tried jumping for cover, hitting them in the gut.

"God... damn it!" The raider grunted as he crawled away.

She cocked the shotgun halfway, there were no more shells in the gun so she slung it across her shoulder as she grabbed one of the raiders guns. Reloading it with a magazine that was on their body. Racking the bolt to put a bullet in the chamber, she started looting for more magazines.

"You... sons of bitches!" He coughed, the body that still had a head had started to move.

She stood up and slowly stepped over to the cursing raider, peaking the corner and seeing him attempt to crawl away.

"Fuckin' little shit! I'll fuckin' kill you!"

His former ally had fully reanimated now.

He laughed as he saw them crawling behind her, unknowing that it'd completely ignore her.

His arrogant smirk turned to panic as it passed her by, attracted by his cursing and laughter.

"What?" He sped up his crawling, but fell back as he clutched his abdomen.

"No no no n-" He started screaming as the walker tore him apart. She watched a sense of satisfaction filled her, as the sounds of his screams and flesh tearing filled the air. Followed by more screams from all around the area.

The herd had grown much larger, hundreds strong if she had to guess by the amount. The raiders wouldn't be around much longer now, which disappointed her.

She looked towards the starry, night sky, searching for the Northstar. Once she spotted it, she began heading southeast.

Clementine clutched Kenny's hat against her chest, as she walked along the highway. The freezing cold from last night had disappeared, replaced with a slight, comforting chill as she moved South.

She stifled a yawn, she probably had been walking for half a day at this point. Unable to get any sleep since Kenny's death. Although sleep was the last thing on her mind right now.

Clementine hadn't seen a single soul since she left Wellington. It was eerily quiet compared to Henderson, peaceful even. The sound of the chilling wind was calming, but the seething hate in her heart was the only thing fueling her as she went.

"I'll kill them all Kenny, every last one." She swore with every ounce of her being.

Her focus was brought towards a little rest stop along the highway. The sign was unreadable as it was in tatters, but it looked like it was in good enough condition.

Her body started feeling heavy as the possibility of getting sleep seemed plausible.

"Okay-y let's check it out." She shuddered from a sudden gust of cold air, snow starting to fall as well.

Clementine knocked on the windows, waiting for some form of movement in the area.

'Nothing'

She entered the building cautiously, a bell ringing as she opened the door. She froze from the sound, listening, but nothing seemed to be here. The place was in shambles, but it looked good enough to get some rest.

Clementine peeked over the counter, finding nothing but old newspapers. She placed her backpack down behind the counter, followed by the duffel bag and the guns she was carrying next to it. Shen then tossed the raincoat she was wearing into the corner of the building.

A loud yawn escaped her as she got down to the floor and laid her head against the backpack. Kenny's hat tightly pressed against her as she closed her eyes.

Clementine woke with a jump, she thought she heard a gunshot. She grabbed her Springfield , and searched for the source of the noise. A loud sigh of relief came from her lips as she realized what happened.

"Just a metal sheet falling Clementine." She grabbed a water bottle and took a drink, laying back down soon after. It was dark out now, she had probably slept for the entire day, but she still felt extremely tired.

The days passed by with a blur, she had been forced to hunker down in the rest stop from the blizzard that had arrived. Hunting had managed to yield good results, as she dragged a small doe back to the rest stop. She had decided to revert back to her old tendencies of hoarding whatever canned food she had left.

'Might as well try and save it for as long as possible.' She had thought when arriving at the decision.

The rest stop had finally appeared in her vision through the snowy fog. Her breathing had gotten heavier as she got closer, she desperately needed a break.

Once inside, she dropped the doe by one of the tables and sat down on a chair.

"Jesus." Clementine took deep breaths to try and recuperate as her heart started to slow back down to a normal pace.

Clementine rested for a few minutes, her eyes on the dead deer in front of her. Wondering if she'd be able to lift it onto the table to make skinning it easier.

Deciding that it was now or never, she rose from her seat, and attempted to lift the corpse onto the table it was next to. Grabbing it by its thighs and quickly trying to grab around its belly as she lifted the legs in the air.

"Fuck." The doe's blood made it slip from her grasp with a wet thud.

She tried again, making sure that she was holding onto the carcass as tightly as she could. This time she was successful and managed to carry the doe onto the table, slowly but surely.

Clementine began by cutting all the way down behind its back legs, starting near the hooves. She then dug the knife all the way down, until she made both cuts intersect near the deer's groin. She then started peeling the hide around the back legs, cutting the joint once she was done and using her body weight to help snap the leg joint. She proceeded to cut around the elbow joint on the front legs and snapped them in half. Tossing them outside the door.

She then made a cut from where she intersected the cuts on the back legs all the way down to the ribs of the deer. And began peeling the hide off, once she did that, using the knife to cut any silver skin or muscle holding onto the hide. Clementine ignored the memories of those she flayed as she got to work, she could mope about it later.

Clementine was being very careful not to ruin the hide, because she was planning on keeping the hide for gloves, and for making herself some form of protection from bites. She learnt how to tan the hides with brains from some old native guy named Kai that lived in Howe's. She didn't quite understand how it works, but she saw the guy do it once. The finished product was soft, but smelt very jerky like for some reason.

Clementine spent a long time slowly getting the hide all the way down to the doe's neck. Using all her strength to peel the hide off, the front legs being the hardest for her so far. By the time she reached all the way to the base of the head, she was exhausted, and her arms were covered in blood.

She took a few minutes to rest, before decapitating the deer's head, the flayed hide drooping along with the now separated head. Placing the head on another table, she started removing the deer's entrails. She saved the liver, heart, and kidneys, tossing the rest outside.

Clementine was unbelievably glad that it was so cold right now, it made cutting the deer apart so much easier on her. By the time she finished cutting the animal apart, the table was covered in blood, pieces of fur, and the cuts of meat she got out of the deer.

Firewood was her goal now as she left the rest stop again, entering the woods to get as much firewood she could.

It'd be wet, but once she eventually got the fire started, it'd make keeping it going easier, as the heat would help dry the wet wood out.

She made multiple trips back and forth, grabbing as many twigs, branches, and small logs she could find. She even got lucky enough to find a branch full of resin.

On the last trip she got started on making a fire just outside the rest stop, using shavings from the resin filled branch to try and get the fire going as fast as she could. The lighter she had certainly made things a lot easier for her as the flame grew stronger, placing the rest of the firewood close by to dry.

Clementine searched the kitchen of the rest stop once the flame was able to sustain itself. She need a large pot, one big enough to store the hide of the deer. She checked every cabinet until finding one she believed was large enough, grabbing it and filling it with snow and leaving it by the fire.

She then got started on the deer head, slowly peeling the hide from the skull, leaving her with a mostly intact hide. She had to remove the hair and all the remaining muscle and fat. She didn't have the time to soak the hide in water to make it easier on her, so she just winged it and hoped that it'd be fine. She spent a while scraping the hide until it was clean, leaving only the deerskin.

Clementine looked at the deer's skull, and briefly wondered how she'd get the brains out.

'Maybe there's a meat tenderizer in the kitchen?' She searched the kitchen again, finding a meat tenderizer in one of the drawers. She juggled it lightly as she tested its weight.

Walking back towards the skull, she brought it outside and began slamming the tenderizer on the base of the skull repeatedly, until she could scoop the brains out. She tossed the brains into the pot, and scooped more snow into it. Placing the pot over the fire, she kept putting snow in until she had about a gallon of water.

Clementine then started mashing the brains with a branch until she created what was essentially a brain soup. She rubbed the brain concoction into the hide and folded it to make sure that it soaked the fibers of the hide well. She wrapped it with some newspaper and her undershirt, deciding that the lost layer of clothing was well worth the reward. She placed the wrapped hide next to the fire to keep warm.

It would take a few hours until the hide was ready for stretching, so she got started on making an impromptu tanning rack and smoking rack for the meat. She would be awake well until the next evening most likely.

Clementine washed her bloodied hands with some wood ash and water she boiled hours earlier. The hide was on the tanning rack stretching now, and considering the weather, wouldn't be dry for a while. She was exhausted from all the work she had just done, but she was practically set up for the entire winter at this point. With a drawn out sigh, she plopped herself down onto the floor to rest.

The fire would burn fine for hours without her intervention now. And she desperately needed the sleep right now, so she closed her eyes and drifted off.

"Hey Sweetpea." Lee seemed to be in a joyous mood, despite their last conversation.

Clementine hadn't dreamt of Lee for more than a month, so she was wondering what caused the change in tone from last time.

"What are you so happy about?" She asked her former guardian with an inquisitive look.

"You're talkin' again." He gave her a soft genuine smile.

"So what? Kenny's dead, and I'm all that's left of our group now... I'm all alone again." Clementine was in disbelief at how this figment of her imagination was so glad about her current situation.

"Means you're healing. And you're not alone, not anymore." He rubbed her back as she turned away.

"Doesn't feel like I'm getting better."

"Oh, but you are. You were already on your way to speakin' again, that bastard Phoenix just delayed things for you." Lee's face morphed into a scowl.

"I'd kill that son of a bitch if I could."

Clementine imagined the scenario of Lee meeting Phoenix. She honestly didn't know who would win.

"You probably could, you're both in my head anyways." She joked, but it just reminded her of how sad this whole situation was. Talking to figments of her own imagination through her dreams. And in Phoenix's case, her thoughts as well.

"Maybe. But that's something you have to do on your own." He gave her a reassuring smile.

"Do what you have to, but don't forget you have a home to go back to." He stood up and left, and she looked back over at the trees.

"Cute." Phoenix sat down next to her.

"You should know that you're better off without listening to his bullshit."

"Fuck off, already." She flipped her middle finger towards him without turning away from the scenery, making him chuckle.

"Don't forget, you still have a job to do... Sweetpea." He disappeared soon after saying that, leaving her by herself.

Ashes fell from the sky onto her hands, she looked at the specks of grey on her palms. Her hands clenched tightly, to the point of making her hands shake from the tension.

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, and reopened them. She was back in the rest stop, and the sky was bright outside now. Well, as bright as it could be, the clouds had dimmed the sunlight to the point that she could barely tell it was morning. Thankfully, it stopped snowing, so she could begin the next step with her deer hide.

She checked the stretched hide, soft to the touch, and most importantly, completely dry now. So she moved it over the fire, far enough away to not burn, to begin smoking it for the next hour or so.

Clementine had the sinew and needle needed to use as sewing materials. She just needed to figure out how she'd make the gloves anyways. They needed to be small enough to fit in the trigger guards of her guns, but also have enough space for her to flex her fingers around comfortably. She had practice back in Howe's with shaping and sewing leather, but that was months ago. And importantly, she had none of the tools for it.

'Let's maybe leave it for another time.' She decided as she checked the large quantity of meat she was dehydrating. She fed and stoked the fire some as she removed and replaced finished strips of meat.

She was most likely going to be doing this for days at this point, but she didn't mind all that much. Having a long lasting source of food for winter, was a lot better than starving after all.

She left to grab more firewood while the weather was calm. Might as well keep herself busy as she continued on her hike.

Clementine finally finished smoking and dehydrating all the meat, after days of nonstop feeding and stoking the fire she had set up outside. She decided to leave the matter of making anything with the deerskin for later. Choosing to just hold onto it, and the sinew she was going to use for sewing, until she managed to find the proper tools she needed.

The snow had also decided to stop falling for now, giving her the opportunity she needed to leave the temporary shelter.

By now, the people in the Militia would most likely assume they were both dead, or stuck somewhere and unable to leave. The irony being that In someway, both were true.

The thought about their reactions to the fact was depressing. Sarita had just lost the father to her child, and she didn't even know how everyone else would react. She hadn't exactly been the greatest friend to Becca since she returned, and Shel had become a recluse since Vince's death. Bonnie had been busy with taking up Tavia's job, and everyone else just avoided bothering her.

The help of those she trusted would be nice. But she needed to do this by herself, she couldn't bring another war so soon to the closest thing she had to a family.

Clementine stuffed as much dried meat she could inside the deer hide, and began wrapping it. The hide was waterproof now after it smoked, so she hoped that it would help keep the majority of the meat from getting wet and spoiling. The rest, she just stuffed inside the duffel bag, she'd eat those first or potentially trade them for ammo.

She continued packing her things up, leaving as she finished. Securing Kenny's hat to one of her belt loops, and grabbing her raincoat from the corner she threw it in days ago. The cold had diminished its scent greatly, which she thanked as it made the days go by easier, even though she'd been used to the smell for years.

She exited the building and continued heading southeast, expecting to enter West Virginia some time within the next few days or so if she continued nonstop.

Clementine patted Kenny's hat as she followed the road, praying that the weather would warm up soon as she hiked.

A/N

SHE FINALLY SPEAKS! Anyways, I know that the whole Wellington New Frontier thing was just a goof, and Telltale being too lazy to actually make new models. But I decided to use the whole betrayal thing as a way of building that mistrust Clementine has with the New Frontier. This whole thing was essentially a return to form, as I wanted to explore how Clementine would act being alone again. A return to form if you will.

Also, I'm not the most knowledgeable on brain tanning, but I do understand the basics of it. That whole section was just to show how she'd be more knowledgeable about survival, learning things here and there from people in the community. I'll explore that further as things go on, but as of now, it's just Clementine by herself again.