Chapter 12

The community merger happened three days ago, the group of newcomers arrived by horse-drawn cattle trucks, with their livestock, cows and chickens, in the containers. They were definitely an interesting bunch, once she finally got to meet them. Their leader, Marcus, was a huge muscular black guy, extremely gentle, and funny, according to everyone else, she didn't get the jokes. But he'd gotten really friendly with Bill and decided that he wanted to head the security for the community. Their field surgeon, Carrie, looked really scary though, she was a redhead like Bonnie but had curly hair, and her pale skin was covered in all types of scars, the biggest being a burn scar covering the right lower half of her face and all the way down her neck. She also didn't speak much as it hurt her to do so, the large tearing scar going across her throat had explained the reason. Supposedly, she survived an improvised explosive going off near her in a surprise attack with 'minimal' damage, but she seemed like an okay person, just a bit off.

The kids were annoying though, they were all around Becca's age and never seemed to stop bothering the both of them. The two boys were identical twins, with light tan skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. They were named Franklin, and Joseph, the major difference being Franklin had a missing finger tip on his right middle finger, from when he stuck his hand under a lawnmower when he was little. The girl, Katherine, was Carrie's daughter and she was the worst of the three, weirdly friendly, and freakishly strong for her thin build as well. The girl had lifted Clementine into a deep bear hug the second they met, and cooed about how adorably tiny the "little eight year old" was. Becca hadn't even bothered correcting Katherine until later, because of how hilarious she found the situation. Clementine still felt self conscious about her height, but she was still growing, hopefully. She had just found out that she was four foot six, not exactly a huge increase from when she actually was eight years old, but it was something she guessed.

The veterinarian, Seth, was a middle aged half hispanic, half asian guy. He didn't talk about anything else except animals, and how much he misses watching football. There were the three Sato sisters that had come to the US from Japan for vacation. The youngest two, Ai, and Noriko, only had a basic understanding of English, the oldest, Amaya, was fluent and basically the interpreter for the other two. Gary, brunette white guy, was a former competition shooter, he shew her how to quick draw a revolver which was cool. The other five, Amy, Brent, Jose, Nathan, and Roy weren't anything special, just survivors getting by.

Clementine started thinking about being on patrol duty with Becca, walking around the forest nearby, wearing coats covered in walker guts. Never could be too sure after all. They still had an hour left on their shift, and Becca had been unusually quiet the entire time. It wasn't because of anything bad from what she could tell, but she was definitely out of it. Clementine stared at the teen longer, until Becca took notice.

"What?"

Clementine raised an eyebrow at Becca, the girl sighing right after.

"Sorry... it's just that... I don't know what to think about the whole boot camp situation."

Clementine understood that, Bill and Marcus had been making everyone train for a few hours a day. Clementine was only required to do less because of her age and weight. But that didn't stop Bill from also teaching her how to be leader as well. Bill had seemingly been treating her much differently now though. Ever since the baby died, Bill had become more broad about the things he taught her. He taught her how to torture someone for some reason, she didn't understand why she would ever need that knowledge. But the man was very adamant about it. He even went so far as to teach her the optimal way of insuring you killed a person. Two taps in the chest, and one in the head, reason being if the first two didn't put the bastard down, the third definitely would.

"It's cool that I'm able to do stuff like this now, but it really makes me wonder how things could've gone differently if Shel never brought us here." Clementine had been in the same boat, she thought about what might've happened if she never went with Bill, or even never decided to leave the cabin. She hadn't regretted her decision, as she had finally stopped hating herself after two years of constant nightmares. Kenny actually being alive had helped a lot with that as well.

Clementine pointed at the girl and made a slit throat gesture with a grin.

"Very nice, Clem... But yeah probably."

Both girls kept walking around for a few minutes when Clementine spotted a group of people a distance away. Clementine signaled Becca to stop and get low to the ground.

"What is it?" Becca quietly whispered, Clementine pointing at the group of people walking in the trees.

"Shit. You think they're friendly?"

Clementine watched the group as they walked around, one of them was limping badly. She couldn't see why exactly but she wasn't exactly keen on asking. Clementine gave Becca her radio to call it in.

"Clementine spotted some people in the forest, I repeat there are people in the forest. Over." Becca whispered as she lowered the volume on the walkie talkie.

"How many? Over." Marcus's voice came through.

Clementine only saw four so she put four fingers up.

"Four."

"Roger that, don't do anything to alert them, we're on our way. Over." Marcus cut the channel and Becca handed back the radio, Clementine muting the device so as to not make noise.

The group sat down, she aimed at them with her scoped Springfield M1A. A blonde woman was walking with the limping boy. There was large bald man covered in tattoos, the leader most likely. The last one was another man, with a receding hairline. Clementine could faintly hear them speaking to each other, the language was definitely not English though.

The two girls waited as they heard multiple footsteps behind them. Bill, Marcus, Vera, Tyler, Mike, and Gary had kneeled beside them.

"I see 'em. Two rifles, a shotgun, pistol on the woman." Marcus looked through some binoculars, his face filled with scorn as he scanned the group.

"Fucker's a skinhead." The man growled, Clementine had no clue what that meant. But the term made Becca and the other adults groan in annoyance.

'Probably not a good thing.' She idly thought.

"That big guy is bad news."

Clementine signaled the man if she should take them out. The man gave her a sad look as he registered what she just asked him.

"Nah, just watch our backs. Stay with her Becca." Marcus and the other adults started slowly spreading out to circle around the group. Clementine kept her aim on the tattooed guy.

"Put your hands up!" Marcus roared as they aimed at the group of four. Who shot up and drew their weapons.

The group started yelling at them in a language that none of them understood.

The boy had shouted something that Clementine didn't quite clearly catch, but it seemingly had eased the tension a bit, as the shouting quieted down. She was glad that things had seemed to be going well, but then she noticed the bald guy's finger twitching in the edge of the sight picture. His body had tensed as he started slipping his finger into the trigger guard. She quickly searched around as none of the guards or Bill had seemingly noticed. She moved her aim back to the bald guy, his eyes showing intent to kill. He started raising his rifle, she got ready to shoot the man, but a gunshot rang out next to her. Surprising the eleven year old, as she lost focus and more gunshots rang out. Clementine stared to her right, Becca had a shocked, horrified look in her face, her eyes unblinking as she stared in the direction of the man she just killed.

Becca hadn't moved for a while, even as the adults approached.

"Shit! Why'd you shoot?" Marcus' voice came out as a deep rumble. The man was glaring at Clementine, thinking she was the one who fired.

"He w--w--was going t-to shoot." Becca stuttered, her voice was oozing panic as she had just taken her first life.

"What do you mean?" Bill gave Becca an inquisitive look.

"H--he had his fff-inger on the trigger, he ra--raised his gun." Becca was practically on the brink of tears.

"Goddamn it!" Marcus started scolding himself.

"Loot the bodies, scavenge anything useful, Clementine, you take Becca back to Howe's." Bill quickly ordered, Clementine slung her rifle on her back and took Becca's from her hand, as she helped the girl stand up.

Clementine placed the Becca's left arm on her shoulder, holding it with her left hand, and placed her right arm around Becca's waist. Becca had started trembling as she helped the girl walk back home. The girl had tears streaming down her face but she didn't make much noise except for the hitched breaths she let out.

Clementine hadn't expected the behavior from Becca, the older girl never cried once since she knew her. But taking your first life was always hard, and it always stuck with you. She didn't consider the man she shot in Savannah as her first, he wasn't any better than the walkers, but Lee. Taking Lee's life had left her broken, especially since his last wish for her to find Christa and Omid had only resulted in her putting them out of their misery.

They finally reached the entrance to Howe's, and Becca had gone completely silent now. Taking both of their raincoats off, and throwing them onto some hooks.

"The fuck she cryin' for? Work too hard for 'er?" Troy sneered as he stomped past them. Clementine sent him a murderous glare behind his back.

Clementine took Becca to her room just so she could watch over her easier. Slowly settling the older girl onto the bed, and sitting down next to her.

"I-I was always afraid... of having to kill somebody one day." Becca started,

"Back in my old group... one of our members tried escaping with a a bunch of stolen supplies. She was a close friend of Shel's..."

Becca looked ready to start bawling her eyes out. Clementine decided to take the initiative to calm her down and embraced her emotionally distressed friend, patting her back. Becca had managed to stop herself from crying again, thanking Clementine for helping.

"She got caught. Roman decided that Shel should be the one to kill her." She took a deep shaky breath.

"Shel was afraid to do it and I told her I would do it instead. When she grabbed the keys to the RV and left, I screamed at her for abandoning them, but in my head I was glad. I was terrified of the thought of having to kill her." Becca released herself from the embrace.

"Did I do the right thing?" Becca was pleading, hoping that she was in the right.

Clementine nodded and stood up to grab her journal.

'If you didn't, people in our group would be dead or seriously hurt. You did the right thing.' Clementine neglected to mention that she was already prepared to shoot the man. Better for her to believe that she was the only person who could have done anything about it.

"Thanks Clem." Becca rubbed the tears off her face.

Clementine kept rubbing Becca's back, thinking back to when she admitted to seeing her as a little sister. It was nice to think about, having a sister that she could rely on.

"You said it gets easier right?"

Clementine nodded with a frown, we shouldn't even have to kill people in the first place.

"That's... good I guess." Becca's tone had become more like her usual self.

They sat in relative silence for a bit, Clementine wondered about what to do. supper wouldn't be ready for another five hours, and they were both supposed to start working on filling buckets and pots with soil in the new greenhouse after they got off patrol. Deciding that the best way to forget about it was work, Clementine decided to take Becca to get started in the new greenhouse early.

She took Becca's right hand, and tried to move her, failing miserably as she did.

"What're you doing?" Becca was confused at Clementine's actions.

Clementine signaled her to follow, and dragged her back outside Howe's. They walked past other guards as they went, who decided to leave them alone with pity in their eyes as the news went around.

'Shel won't be happy.' Clementine worriedly thought, it hadn't been long since Becca had managed to convince her to let her use guns, and partake in jobs that involved carrying firearms.

Vince ran up to them with worry all over his face, "Hey, I heard what happened. You doin' alright Becca?" Said girl just shook her head.

"Yeah... I'll try making sure your sister calms down before she comes to see you." Vince pat Becca's shoulder, and shot Clementine a pleading look as he ran off.

"Let's just go okay." Becca trudged off, Clementine running ahead so she could make sure the girl didn't get lost.

They both arrived at the almost finished greenhouse after a minute. Clementine grabbed some gardening gloves and handed them to Becca with a soft smile. Becca put them on as Clementine grabbed her own pair, having to grab the smallest ones which were still big for her.

Clementine helped Becca with her work, her friend getting more energetic as the hours went by.

'She'll move on.' Clementine smiled as Becca had finally lost the dejected look on her face.

It was well into the spring now, Howe's had grown even larger, almost sixty people living here now. Bill finally had the manpower he needed to start expanding outside the general area. Right now Clementine was in a truck with Bill, and eight others, heading towards a nearby town. Stan had gotten busy with making black and biodiesel which allowed them to use the trucks again.

"Y'all ever come across the cult?" Nina, some eighteen year old girl from Appalachia and one of their newest members randomly asked.

"Cult? Like robe wearing lunatics?" Mike was intrigued by the sudden question.

"Nah, they wear armor made from scrap n' leather. Mutilate themselves as a sign of loyalty." Nina described, shuddering as she mentioned the self mutilation.

"Don't think so... only bandits and people gettin' by."

"Crazy buncha bastards I tell ya, strangely friendly though. Go around killin' and scarin' bandits. Don't get why they go around hurtin' themselves." Nina trailed off, the cogs in her brain turning, Clementine could almost imagine smoke coming out of her head.

"Sounds like some good folks." Jose chipped in cheerily.

"Sounds like a bunch of psychos if you ask me." Tavia joined in, the woman had slimmed down considerably since Bill had been making everyone stay physically active.

'Definitely.' Clementine had been learning a lot about the affairs of the areas surrounding Howe's from the new groups and loners joining up with them. There were apparently an excessively large number of communities in Virginia, many of which were constantly at blows. Bill had decided to ignore scouting out Virginia when he learned that, for now at least. There's a large community in Ohio called Wellington, someplace Kenny had originally been planning to go, or Shangri-La as Bill called it. One group of people that joined even mentioned hearing "talking roamers." Clementine personally thought that they were just hearing things, as they were sleep deprived and starving when they first found them. Like, talking walkers was just impossible, right?

Clementine suddenly felt like someone was staring at her, looking up she saw Jane's gaze boring into her. Jane always seemed to be staring at her since she first met the woman, so Clementine didn't think much of it. Clementine just turned her head to ignore the woman, she was more worried about trying to not pass out while stuck in this hot container with eight people.

Becca and Shel had remained quiet throughout the ride, Becca was angry at her older sister for hiding something from Vince. Shel had been very sick recently and probably was afraid to tell others about it. It wasn't exactly her business but she hoped the woman got better. Clementine was more worried about Becca, after she killed the bald Russian guy she'd become more irritable. She'd been coming to terms with it, but the number of bandits they'd come across recently, had only been stressing people out. Becca's body count had increased substantially over the months as a result, each kill affecting her less and less. Clementine's body count wasn't getting much better either, and she'd been forced to shoot someone her own age as well, although that kid deserved it after she shot Franklin.

They lost a few people during the bandit raids. Walter, Franklin, Carlos thankfully, and one person she never got the chance to meet. The only good thing that came about was the guards getting really good at defending their home. Guards now worked twelve hours on, twenty four hours off duty. It helped to keep them from burning out, as well as letting them work on other community projects. Such as the new nursery and pseudo-hospital that had just been built. The reason for the nursery was Kenny and Sarita recently announced that they were having a baby, the news had managed to lighten the mood at Howe's, but it stressed Shel, and Jane out for some reason.

Clementine tried getting Becca's attention, but the truck skidded to a stop. The doors opening soon after, everyone exiting soon after. Clementine's eyes widened as she recognized the area, before quickly regaining her composure.

"Alright folks, this fire station here, is to become one of the many outposts we'll set up down the line." Bill declared, pride in his voice.

"Right now, I just want y'all to clear the general area. There's a small neighborhood 'round here, be sure not to go in the houses alone, so grab a partner."

"Tavia with me." Bill then entered the station, Tavia following right behind him.

Clementine was stuck with Jane as her partner, as everyone else had departed. They both stared at each other for a second before departing as well. Clementine headed towards the neighborhood, passing by homes already being searched.

"So... Clementine, I know we haven't spoken to each other a lot, but uh... well you seem like a good kid. Can I bother you with something?" Jane tried breaking the ice, the eleven year old just raised an eyebrow at her request.

"I know it might be a lot to ask of you, but could you maybe try asking Bill to get Troy off my back?"

Clementine stopped moving as she contemplated the request. She had no reason to not accept, but maybe she could get something out of this.

'Will you stop staring at me weirdly if I do?' Clementine scribbled in a small notepad, and handed it to Jane.

"Oh, sorry about that... you just remind me of my little sister." Jane handed the notepad back, leaving Clementine feeling bad, as she clearly brought up a bad memory.

'Sorry'

"Don't be, happened a long time ago, you seem strong and smart enough not to let what happened to her, happen to you. Plus you're practically a princess." Jane laughed as she walked off.

'Princess?' Clementine chased after her, wanting the woman to clarify.

She ran in front of the woman and placed her hands on her hips. Expecting Jane to give an answer as to why she called her a princess. Jane just rubbed Clementine's head roughly with a smirk.

"Want to hear a joke?"

Clementine fixed her hat and glared at the woman.

"Well too bad." Jane entered a house, forcing Clementine to follow after her.

"You know that old joke about the two hillbillies and all the sheep?" Jane looked at her for a response, getting a quick shake no in response.

"Oh it's a good one... This father and son are walking through the country and climb a hill. And down below them, see this field full of sheep. Now the son gets all excited and says, "Dad! Let's run down there and fuck one of them sheep."" Clementine's glaring face started changing into one of confusion.

"And the father looks at him and shakes his head and is disappointed in him. "Son." He says, "That's just wrong." The son hangs his head, and the father says, "Let's walk down there, and fuck, all of those sheep."" Jane chuckled as she finished the joke, Clementine was still confused and a little horrified at the joke.

"You get it?"

Clementine slowly shook her head, mouth slightly agape.

"Right, still a kid. You'll get it when you're older." They cleared the house out, and Clementine was trying to crack this joke Jane had decided to hit her with.

'Why were they fucking sheep? What is fucking?" Clementine was getting a headache trying to figure it out, before deciding she'd just ask Becca about it.

The neighborhood took the entire day to clear out, night had fallen around an hour ago when Bill had called for all of them on the radio to return to the station. Clementine was walking with Becca, chewing on some dried meat, her friend had seemed less irritated than she was earlier in the morning. Seeing this as good a time as any, she decided to ask the girl what the people in Jane's group were doing to the sheep.

'What is fucking?' She handed the notepad to Becca, who proceeded to gasp and place a hand over her mouth to hold herself from laughing.

Becca took a few deep breaths to calm down, "It's just a swear version of the word sex." Clementine just looked at her in confusion.

"It's how babies are made." The word baby made her friend look upset for a second, she handed the notepad back. They entered the fire station as Clementine began writing again.

'So it's just another word for kissing?' Becca started snorting, apparently she was finding her questions hilarious.

"You'll learn when you're a bit older, it's not exactly something you should worry about now." Becca was still laughing a tiny bit. Clementine sat down on a chair as her legs were burning from the constant walking today.

"What's so funny?" Shel suddenly interjected, Becca had become upset the second her sister joined them.

"What do you care?" Becca brushed Shel off, Clementine wasn't sure if she should leave or not.

"My god Becca, you're still on this?" Clementine decided that she shouldn't be involved in this.

"Yeah, because you refuse to tell Vince you're pregnant!" Clementine fell back off the chair as she sat back down too hard in surprise at the sudden revelation.

"Clem!" Both of them worriedly called out, rushing to her side.

'Pregnant?' Suddenly it all clicked, why Shel had been so sick lately.

Clementine groaned as Becca lifted the chair back upright.

"You okay?" Both of them asked, forgetting their previous argument for a brief second.

Clementine nodded, she was still in shock at Becca's words earlier.

"Keep your voice down." Shel quietly hissed.

"He has the right to know." Becca countered.

Shel angrily sighed, "I'm just not ready yet okay?" Clementine kept switching between the two, she didn't know how to react to the information being thrown around. The whole situation was bizarre to her, she'd never seen the couple kiss before, so she was at a loss.

"Can we just not have this conversation right now? Especially, since there's a little kid here." Clementine was much too shocked at the revelation to even care about the last comment.

"She doesn't even know what y'all did." Shel gave Becca a stern look.

"Fine! But the second we get back you're telling him. Or I will." Becca took Clementine's hand and dragged her into another room.

"Sorry Clem." Becca apologized, she realized that this probably explained why Becca had been so irritable.

"I-" Becca was cut off as someone knocked on the door.

"Bill needs us." Mike's voice came from the other side.

"I'll finish this conversation later, let's go." Clementine was still stunned for a few more moments, before following behind her friend.

'When'd they have the time to do kissing stuff?' Was the only thing on Clementine's mind as she entered a large room with fire trucks. And what seemed to be ambulances? Why were ambulances in a fire station?

"Alright we're stayin' here for tonight, Nina and Jose, you two 're on first lookout. Wake up Clementine and Becca in two hours to take your place."

Clementine followed Becca back to the room they just came out of. Clementine just noticed that it was a bedroom.

"Okay, as I was saying. I don't get why Shel's being so secretive about it. It isn't right." Clementine was more focused on how Shel even got pregnant, she practically moved in with them to help Becca recover, and had never seen the couple do anything other than hug.

'Could hugging make a baby? But that wouldn't make sense since her parents hugged a lot and she never had siblings.' Clementine didn't understand how this worked, was there something else she was missing.

Becca noticed her confused expression, but there was still some form of amusement in her face. "They "kissed" while we weren't in the room with them." Clementine didn't understand why she made quotation marks around kissing, was this about the sex stuff she mentioned? Maybe she should ask Kenny instead.

"Let's stop talking about this and go to sle-" Both of them stared at the singular small bed, with only one small pillow. They both looked at each other.

"Umm... lemme check the closet." Becca searched around and found a large bag. She opened the bag and found a bunch of old, over-the-counter medication.

Becca looked at her and decided to just place the bag down.

"You take the wall side, and I take the edge?"

Clementine looked at the bed again, judging if there was enough room. They weren't exactly the largest kids in Howe's, Clementine was the shortest much to her dismay, Becca was only five foot three, and underweight all things considered. She shrugged and climbed into the bed, pushing her back against the wall.

'There's definitely enough room.' Clementine bluntly thought to herself as Becca also climbed in, back towards her as she slid the blanket over them.

"Night Clem."

Clementine closed her eyes to sleep.

Gunfire, the smell of smoke, and shouting. Clementine shot up, Becca threw herself off the bed and grabbed their guns.

"Here!" Becca tossed Clementine her Springfield, as Becca pointed her AK at the door.

Clementine climbed out the bed and slowly tried opening the door. It burst open, slamming into Clementine's hand and making her throw herself against the wall.

A large man entered the room, just to get immediately gunned down by Becca.

"Let's" Clementine shushed her, and peaked through the door. No one so far, she signaled Becca to follow her and watch her back. Keeping their guns ready, they walked through the empty hallway. When a raggedy woman slid into the hallway, carrying a hatchet.

The woman screamed and started sprinting towards them, Clementine shot the woman straight in the neck, sending her tumbling face first into the ground. She grabbing the hatchet and slammed it straight into her head, pocketing it once she was sure the woman wouldn't come back.

"Fuckin' pricks!" Clementine faintly heard Nina shout, followed by large quantities of rapid fire. Clementine stared at Becca, who was slightly panicking, and then back in front. Looking around for any raiders, before heading towards wherever Nina's shouting came from.

Clementine peered into another hallway, Becca close behind when they both got tackled and thrown to the ground.

"Come here you bitches!" An aggressive snarling came out from one of the assailants, Clementine went to raise her gun but it had been thrown from her hands, the sling torn off.

The man grabbed Clementine by her jacket, lifting her up and brutally slamming her into another door, throwing both of them into the room.

Clementine groaned in pain as the man tossed her against the wall, plopping straight onto the bed. The man licked his lips and jumped on top of the bed, Clementine tried fighting the man off, but she was whiplashed from the assault he'd just put her through. The man attempted ripping her jacket off when he suddenly arched his back and screamed in agony.

Becca was behind him holding the hatchet that had slipped from her pocket, the teenager's face and hands were covered in bright red blood, from her own attacker Clementine assumed. Clementine slipped out from under the man as Becca ripped the hatchet out and brutally hacked the man to death. Clementine nodded in thanks and attempted to stand up on her feet, but quickly fell to the floor as her head throbbed in extreme pain. Clementine grabbed her throbbing head, the pain was agonizing, the lights from the fire were only making it worse. Becca helped her up and assisted her with walking until they entered a room.

She seemed to have entered an office room, Nina, and three others were cooped up in here, aiming at them. The woman pointed her gun down and beckoned them closer.

"Have you seen Bill?!" Nina shouted quietly.

Clementine shook her head, her eyes laying upon the body of a dead Jose.

'Shit.'

"Fuckin' bastards were watchin' us. I've killed 'bout six of 'em, you?"

"Four, between us." Becca set her down against the wall.

"Why're there so damn many of them?" Mike cursed, another raider ran inside the office, before his head turned into a bloody mess of bone and gore.

Bill, Tavia, and Shel stepped inside the office.

"Becca!" Shel threw herself into a hug with her younger sister, who returned it with one arm.

"Where's Jane?" Bill was looking around the room, counting heads.

"No clue, haven't seen her since the shooting started." Nina stated, checking her ammo count.

"I think I saw her in the garage." A quiet voice came out, Mia, if she remembered right. She was a timid girl, white, black hair, and around thirteen, she was found by Bonnie and Mike while being assaulted by bandits.

"Alright, Tavia, Mike, and Gary with me. Everyone else make sure to secure an exit."

"Clementine can't move! One of them knocked her on her head pretty bad." Becca cried out, Clementine tried standing up again, but only succeeded in tiring herself out.

"Shit! Stay with her Becca, when y'all secure the exit, come back and get them." Bill and those he ordered to follow him left the room, the others doing the same to prepare their escape.

Clementine started feeling sleepy, her eyes were getting heavy and her head was killing her. Becca had noticed her nodding off and tried doing her best to keep her awake.

"Hey Clem, don't sleep okay?" Her friend was snapping her fingers in front of her. Clementine couldn't even move her head in response as she was so tired.

"Please don't fall asleep Clem." Becca was pleading, tears in her eyes. Clementine tried, she truly was, but it was getting harder and harder ever second. Clementine saw multiple figures enter the office, but she couldn't tell who they were, she could barely even register her surroundings anymore.

She felt someone lift her up, and many moments later felt cold metal on her neck. She fell asleep not long after, unable to hold it back anymore.

A/N

This'll be really short, briefly explaining the order of leadership in Howe's, and how this new faction is going. It goes Carver, Marcus, Tavia, the guards, and everyone else. Clementine is directly under Carver and can make decisions when he allows her. Carver has essentially gone full Delta at this point and is creating his own army, albeit with less childnapping and following a more moral approach to it. Clementine doesn't really feel bothered by it, as she has essentially been groomed to accept it as a good thing. Carver is a great manipulator after all, and people would naturally be drawn to follow him. Now the only issue I have as of now, is the name for this new faction. As they move out of Howe's, they can't just be called the Howe's Hardware community. Bill's Marauders was an option I thought of, but it sounded a bit corny to me. Anyways that's all, see you next chapter.