Author's Note Before We Continue
As you all read in the previous chapter, Elijah recognizes Mike as one of the scavengers who attacked Molly and Christa a few chapters back. What some of you may not know is that Mike was originally supposed to be part of that group in the game, but it was scrapped. So I thought it would be interesting if I did it anyway!
Hope you all enjoy it! Feedback is always appreciated; just don't be mean!
As always, I'm Average. And I appreciate your existence!
P.S. You are loved!
The Next Morning...
I feel a hard kick to my stomach, immediately waking me up from my sleep. My eyes jolt open and am met with the son of a bitch who provided me with a wake-up call. Troy only smirked at my misfortune, but it did nothing to intimidate me in the slightest. If it weren't for that assault rifle in his hands, I'd break his fucking arm in two and leave him to be a Walker's breakfast. But instead, I only offer a snarky comment.
"The fuck you want, limp dick hick?"
"You might wanna watch your mouth when you're in front of a man with a gun, boy," Since when the ever-loving fuck have you been a man? "Just get the hell up, your daddy's gonna have a word."
I fight the urge to kill him just for saying that and just roll out of my makeshift bed on the ground. Underneath the cot next to mine, I see that Clementine is still fast asleep. I crawl over to her before that hick prick Troy decides to kick her too, I gently shake her by the shoulder and Clementine wakes up in seconds.
"Hmm? Elijah?"
"Time to get up, Kiddo. Come on, we don't wanna piss off our new hosts."
"Get a fuckin' move on, you two!"
Wanting to get away from Troy rather than do what he says, I help Clementine to her feet, and we both head over to the closing door that leads inside the hardware store. From what I can see, most of our people have already gotten up and are now waiting for Carver to come down to hear what he has to say. The only people missing are the quiet girl and that scavenger son of a bitch, guess they've already gotten to work. Clem and I wait with the others, I lean over to Molly and whisper.
"You didn't wake me?"
"Figured you could've used the extra sleep," She shrugs. "You and Clem both."
"Thanks," I take her hand in mine. "How ya holdin' up?"
"I slept on the floor. What do you think?" Molly playfully nudges my arm, earning a small laugh from me. "Still, it was a lot better than it was the past few days."
"Hmm," I smirk at her, knowing the reason why. "I wonder why that is?" I tease.
"Don't get a big head, Brown Eyes."
"Too late."
Our playful banter is cut short by the loading door opening, Carver comes through with a few extra armed guards. Everyone else goes silent at his presence. Guess it's time for him to speak. I sigh. You always did love the sound of your own voice...
"There's been increased walker activity along the fence, so be mindful when outside the walls," He begins. "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 eyes down each and every single one of us, his gaze lasts a few seconds longer on me. If I had been born blind, I wouldn't have seen that small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "There are some folks who might be sore about what happened...at 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. Reggie," He focuses his attention on the one-armed man. " you're nearly back in. Keep following the path, and we'll welcome you back with open arms."
Yeah, sure. Tell the man what he wants to hear to give him false hope...
"How'd you sleep?" I look to my left at the sound of Sarah's quiet whisper to Clementine...and I can see Carver's annoyed frown out of the corner of my eye. "I was so tired, I didn't even-"
"Shh!" I say. "Pay attention, Sarah."
"Yeah," Clementine nods. "We'll talk later."
"Okay, yeah. Sounds good."
"...I'll let Reggie here be an example to you all," Carver continues now that no further interruptions are being made. "Salvation is available, but it must be earned. Kenneth here will be taking over Reggie's duties outside the wall. Michael will continue-"
"I just thought it was nice to finally-"
"CARLOS!"
Goddammit, Sarah!
"Yes?"
"Your child seems to be in need of correction."
"I'm sorry," The Spanish doctor nods obediently before turning to his daughter. "Sarah, apologize to Mr. Carver."
"I'm...s-sorry, sir," She speaks like a delicate sheep shaking as a wolf eyes it down...but I know Carver isn't going to accept that.
"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."
"...How do you propose that I-"
"One good smack across the mouth should do it! It'll make her think twice before opening it up again!"
Real original, you son of a bitch...
"Go on," Carver insists, folding his arms. "We'll wait."
"My..." Carlos raises his bandaged fingers. "I'm not sure with my hand that I could-"
"Well, that's why God gave you two hands, Carlos. Come on! And not some namby-pamby thing, alright? A good hard smack! Elijah here's been on the receiving end of a good few, that's how he knows when to shut the hell up," Don't bring me into this, asshole. "Go ahead, Carlos. Otherwise, Troy here will do it for ya. I don't think you want that. He can be...overzealous. Is that the word?" Carver turns over to Troy as if he'll know.
"If it means I'll slap the shit out of her, then, yeah," He responds with a gleeful smirk.
"Go on, Carlos. Just get it over with-"
"No, you don't need to do that," Clem speaks up, I firmly grasp her shoulder to keep her from walking another step forward. "She's already scared, she won't do it again."
"Hey, no one's fuckin' talkin' to you!" Troy has a good mind to smack the hell out of Clementine, but Carver holds a hand out in front of him, effectively stopping him.
"Unless you want one of what she's about to get, I'd pipe down, missy."
"Just get it over with, Carlos," I say. "You'll only make it worse if you keep stalling..." Seeing that he has no choice, Carlos turns to his shaking daughter.
"I'm sorry, Dad," She pleads. "I'm sorry."
"Just close your eyes, honey. It's only going to sting for a second..." We all stand by and watch as Carlos hesitates to 'discipline' his child. I think I'd understand if the roles were reversed and me and Clementine were in their shoes...but at least Clementine knows how to take a hit.
"Do it."
"..."
SMACK!
I flinch at the sound. Carlos' hard hit made Sarah fall to the floor. The poor girl started to cry silently as she held her cheek in pain...it was already turning red. "...I'm sorry, Sarah-"
"Stop!" Carver stops Carlos from comforting Sarah. "You're not coddling that girl anymore! Let her sit there and think about what she's done."
Still using those same words on someone else's kid? Fuck. You.
"Troy, get Carlos to his post. Everyone else should have their assignments. It's time to get to work."
"Goddamn," Troy smirks at how Sarah was still weeping on the floor. "You really knocked the shit out of her, Doc!"
"Everyone get to work!"
Well, I guess we all better get a move on before someone else gets hurt. I turn to Molly as everyone else gets ready to 'get to work'. "You gonna be alright?"
"Yeah," She nods. "They got me and Christa fortifying parts of the fence outside, We should be alright. I'll tell you anything we find," Molly whispers that last part.
"Good. Before we go, here..." I pull my shirt collar out a bit, I'm still glad that out of all the things they didn't manage to take, it was Sandy's pendant. I quickly take it off and wrap it around Molly's neck, hiding the heart shape golden necklace underneath her shirt. "For a little luck, just in case."
"You're such a sap," Molly says, annoyed, but her smile betrays her tone. She then plants a quick kiss on my lips. "I guess that makes me one too. Stay safe out there with Clem."
"Always," I nod.
"Elijah. Clementine," I turn and see the heavy-set woman calling to me and the little one. "You're working in the armory. Follow me."
Clementine and I reluctantly follow her, I feel a pinch of intrigue when she mentions the word 'armory'. This could be an opportunity to see what exactly kind of manpower they have. I know that they have a lot of AK-47s, but that can't be all that they have. Plus, I'm pretty sure that's where they kept Hilda, none of the guards here would have a use for an ice pick when they're holding an automatic rifle. At least, I hope they're stupid enough to think that.
"Who are they?" A girl looked at us with her arms crossed as we were on our way to the armory, an older woman came out from behind her...and she looked strangely familiar to me.
"They're just some of the newer people. They were with..." Her eyes squint at me once she sees me, I don't know what it is about this short-haired girl, but I just can't help but feel like...that I know her from somewhere.
"Elijah!" The heavier woman looks back at me and grips her rifle firmly. "Let's go!"
"Wait...Elijah?" The woman spoke that name as if she recognized it. "Hold on a second, Tavia," She tells her before taking a closer look at me...a little too close. "...Elijah Everett?"
My eyes widen when she says my last name. "How do you-"
"It's me...Shel."
Shel? Shel... I try my best to remember that name, it was familiar to me but... Oh, shit! The memory finally comes back to me, this woman was Shel, a good friend of my old friend Stephanie back in college. We shared the same photography class, she was even one of the top students. I've only met Shel a handful of times thanks to Stephanie inviting me out for either lunch or just to simply hang out. I think she had a small crush on me back then too but I was so focused on schoolwork that I never really got around to questioning it.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I ask.
"I should be asking you that," Shel says back to me.
"You know this guy?"
"Yeah, he's one of...Stephaine's old friends."
"Oh..."
"Speaking of," I probably already know the answer to what I'm about to ask, but curiosity is getting the better of me. "Do you know what happened to her?"
"...She...didn't make it," Shel took a few good seconds to answer me, and with how she looked back and forth between me and the younger girl, I had a feeling that she wasn't telling me the entire truth. "We can talk about it another time, you should get going before Tavia gets any more wrinkles on her forehead."
"Yeah... See ya," I offer Shel a small wave and I join back with Clementine, Tavia gives me a disapproving shake of her head before finally leading us to the armory. Looks like it's made out of an old break room, Tavia opens the door for us to go inside.
"Go on inside already. Bonnie's waiting."
Oh, great. I silently sigh. Of all people me and Clementine are working with, the bitch who's the very reason we're in this mess. On the wall across from me, there are a variety of pistols, machine guns, shotguns, and even melee weapons just hanging there. Most of their ammo has been organized and separated by large dark blue plastic bins, from shotgun shells all the way up to sniper ammo. Thankfully, Hilda was easy to spot amongst the weapons right underneath...a hanging M4A1 rifle. I smile as I keep an eye on my favorite type of rifle.
Oh, I'm definitely taking you...
"Hey, I guess y'all are with me today." Bonnie smiles at us but we offer none in return. she gestures to take a seat across from us where a bin filled with bullets lies in between the chairs. "We're loadin' magazines," Clem and I take a seat and we each grab one. "It's real simple, Darlin', just-"
"She knows how to load a magazine," I deadpan as Clementine was already halfway done with her first one.
"I see..." The three of us work in silence, and I finish my third rifle magazine by the time Bonnie speaks up again. "I...suppose I owe you two 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 feel 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."
"It doesn't matter what you intended, it doesn't change the fact that you and your people killed two good people...my friends."
"If I could change it, I would. I promise you that."
"Wow, thanks," Clementine rolls her eyes. "I'll be sure to send your regards to Walter and Matthew when... Oh, wait, they're dead!"
"I understand you're mad at me, and you've got every right to be, but I wanted you to know I regret my part in all this. I apologize...which don't account for much, but it's all I can offer right now."
"Whatever..."
"By the way, I never woulda figured you were Bill's boy. Y'all don't look very much alike. He never really did talk about his life before all this, who would've thought that he had a little boy of his own runnin' around out-"
"He's not my father," I say through clamped teeth, effectively interrupting Bonnie. "Carver's just the son of a bitch who got my mother pregnant, nothing more, nothing less."
"I see...still, I guess we all have somethin' to hide. So if your momma ain't here, where's-"
"That's none of your business." I don't even look up to answer her.
"Right, sorry..." Another few minutes pass, and I now finish at least ten magazines' worth of ammo before Bonnie tries to make small talk again. "How was y'all's first night in the yard? I know it ain't so comfortable...but it's safe."
"You mean our first night in prison?" Clementine corrects her.
"It ain't a prison. More of a...work release."
"That's just another way of saying we're still prisoners but with more freedom. Even then, we still return to a cell like fuckin' animals."
"I wouldn't know...I've never been to prison. Don't y'all tell no one. Tryin' to keep a tough reputation."
"It doesn't show."
"And they didn't even feed us," Clementine adds after finishing another magazine.
"They didn't? Bill said you'd eat every night."
"We haven't eaten since yesterday."
"Oh...I'm sorry."
"Yeah, it's easy to say that when you're not the prisoner..."
"...I was supposed to go," Bonnie admits, "when Luke and Carlos and all them left. I was plannin' on leavin' too. When Luke approached me about it, I-I thought he was crazy. I mean, we're safe here."
"Why didn't you?" Clementine asks. "Leave, I mean."
"If I'm being honest...I guess I chickened out."
"And yet you were willing to attack them instead of leaving with them?"
"Hey, I didn't attack anyone. Bill did all that."
"You still pointed a gun at us; not pulling the trigger makes you just as guilty. Just because you're not the one who caused any pain doesn't make you any less responsible."
"I didn't...I wasn't expectin' any of that to happen," Bonnie makes up another pathetic excuse. "I just wanted everyone to be safe. Out there ain't exactly all flowers and rainbows. I justified not goin' by tellin' myself it's easier to try an' changed somethin' that's broken than start all over."
"It's not," I say. "My mother knew better than to try and 'fix' Carver, so she took me away from him before any more damage could be done."
"I'm just saying... Take this situation with the herd, that's the type of thing that rips a community apart, and Bill... He keeps things in line, he's got a lot of this stuff figured out."
"Nobody's safe here with Carver around," Clem says.
"You're safe if you stay on his good side."
"I would if I knew where it was."
"Trust me, Kiddo, he doesn't have one."
"I mean, it ain't easy keepin' a group this big fed and protected. I don't envy that position. Figure that'd make anyone a little stressed."
"What's your fuckin' deal?"
Bonnie's eyes widen a bit from my bluntness. "Whatcha mean?"
"Why are you defending that bastard after everything he's done? It's like you don't see what's right in front of you."
"I'm not defendin' what he did."
"That's exactly what you're doing," Clem agrees with me.
"That's just..." Bonnie sighs. "I'm alive because of him. That's just a fact. And there's somethin' to that."
For Christ's sake, stop suckin' his dick!
"He killed Walter and Matthew!"
"Only to protect his own people. Kenny and Elijah here could've killed us all."
"Yeah, but we didn't. We were defending our own, Carver's the one who took things too far."
"Bill overreacted. He was in the heat of the moment, and he overreacted."
"Call it what you want, but killing an unarmed man with his hands tied behind his back is still murder. Don't you go around justifying-"
ZZTT!
My ranting is cut short by the sound of Bonnie's walkie-talkie buzzing with static; a woman's voice came through shortly afterward. "Hey, Bonnie, is that girl and boy still there with you? I need to come get them."
"Yeah," Bonnie picks up the radio and speaks into it. "They're here."
"Okay, I'll be right over."
"The hell is that about?"
"I'm sure it's fine. Oh, almost forgot," Bonne stands from her chair and goes over to a corner of the armory. "I grabbed this for Clementine." She returns with a small, puffy, blue jacket and hands it to her. Clementine puts it on...and my palm found its way onto my face once I saw the obnoxious rainbow and small sun across the front. "Huh? What do you think?" Bonnies sounds too proud of herself. "I found it at the lodge y'all were at. Think it might be for skiing. Had to wait for no one around to be around to get it to you."
I sigh and Clementine simply shrugs. That has got to be one of the ugliest jackets I've ever seen. Not only that, but it looks like it barely offers any actual warmth. I really need to find her something better once we get out of here. That, or I just steal some scrawny guard's jacket and Clem can grow into it. Shortly after Bonnie gave Clem the ugly jacket, Tavia comes back to the armory with her rifle in hand.
"Oh, there you are," You're the one who brought us here, dumbass. "What's with the ugly jacket?"
"Tavia."
"What?"
"Never mind. I'll see you two later, alright?"
Clementine and I offer no goodbyes of our own and just follow Tavia out of the armory. Wonder what this bitch wants us to do now. Tavia leads us a few flights of stairs until we eventually lead up to the roof and from the looks of it, this is where they're growing all of their available crops. I can see that they're growing some tomatoes just outside the greenhouse, along with some kind of beans. I can also see the solar panels that Reggie was talking about. It's smart, I'll give this 'community' that. But it won't last long...
"Come on." Tavia has repeated that at least three times now since we've left the armory. Bitch, shut the fuck up and tell us something we don't know. She opens the greenhouse and Clementine and I go inside, finding a variety of vegetable plants and berry bushes. "Stay in here for a minute. I'm gonna radio and find out what you're doing. Don't touch anything." Tavia leaves.
"So she brought us up here without even knowing what we're doing? Dumbass," Clementine laughs at my jab at the woman but stops once she hears someone sniffling in the corner of the greenhouse. We look over and find out that it's Sarah. The poor girl is hugging her knees tightly to her chest, and her cheek is still bright red from her punishment earlier this morning. "Hey..." Clem and I go over to her. "I know it was scary, but you can't afford to be like this, Sarah. There are real consequences for even the smallest mistakes these days, people can die... I know that's not what you want to hear, but that's just the way things are. We need to be strong in order to survive."
"...My dad's never hit me before," Sarah admits in a soft-spoken voice. "Even when I was really bad, he never hit me."
"Troy would've been way worse," said Clementine. "Your dad had to be the one to do it...Carver made him."
"That's right," I nod. "So, in a way, Carver's the one that hit you, not your father." Sarah doesn't seem so sure about my reasoning. "You saw how he immediately regretted the way he hit you, but it wasn't his fault. Carver is the bad guy in this situation, not Carlos."
"I guess so... Well, then," Sarah rubbed her cheek, wincing in pain. "Carver his me super hard, 'cause it still hurts like crazy."
"Yeah. It looked like it."
"Oh, I know it did," I add. I can still hear the smack.
"Thanks...for trying to help, guys."
"Of course."
"It's what friends do."
"I don't know why people have to be so mean... Like, even when I'm mad, I still don't to hurt anyone..."
"Sarah..." I rest a hand on her shoulder. "I know it's scary, I used to think I could never hurt anyone before all of this, let alone kill another human being. But there are people out there who would do a lot worse than what the Walkers do. Now, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to protect my family. Do you want to protect yours?"
"Huh?"
"Don't you ever feel like you can be doing so much more? Clementine told me how you wanted to learn how to use a gun. You have what it takes to become a survivor; you just...need to overcome that fear you have."
"How?"
"Elijah and I can teach you," Clem suggests. "We know how to-" But her words were cut short when the front door to the greenhouse opened with Reggie coming inside. Tavia held the door open for him with a sour expression.
"Don't mess this up," She said.
"Yeah, I get it," Reggie responds like it's the millionth time he's heard it today.
"Reggie's in charge here, okay?" Tavia tells us. "Listen to him carefully."
"Yep. No problem, Tavia."
She leaves and closes the door, I sigh in relief. "Finally, thought she'd never leave."
"Okay, we gotta do a good job, guys. The camp is counting on us. Come on, I'll show you what to do. It's super easy." Reggie leads us over to one of the tables with a bunch of berry bushes, a couple of pairs of shears, and a few baskets. "Okay, so we're picking these berries, right? Just pick them, put them in the basket. Simple. While you're at it, if you see any dead branches, take those shears and cut them off, and stack them neatly for composting. Got it?"
"Fair enough."
"We got it."
"..."
"Hey, so," Reggies sees how silent Sarah is so he pulls me and Clem aside so we can talk. "Is she gonna be okay? 'Cause what happened down there, that was straight fucked up."
"She'll be fine," Clementine says. "Elijah and I will look after her."
"Yeah. You don't have to worry about getting in 'trouble'."
"Good, good... 'Cause I'm awful at that stuff."
"Why do you put up with these guys anyway?"
"Look, Bill's had it out for me since I helped those guys escape, so I gotta concentrate on my work. Just...please, work with me here?"
"Fine..."
"We got this, Reggie."
"Thanks, guys," The one-armed man gratefully smiles at us...then he does something completely out of the blue: he pats Clementine on the head, leaving her and me with dumbfounded frowns on our faces. "That...was awkward. I won't do that again..." He slowly backs away from us, rightfully feeling uneasy about what he did. "I'm gonna go work now."
Yeah, you do that.
I go to my station and grab my shears, figuring that it's easier to get the dead branches off of the bush first before I start picking the berries. I cut off around four branches before I saw that Sarah still hadn't moved a muscle at her station; she was just standing there and staring at the shears in her hands. I can only guess that she's still a bit shaken up. I look over at Clem, she's got a good grip on her work. I know this is probably not a good idea, but letting Sarah take the fall is an even worse one. I drop my shears and go over to the young girl.
"Hey..." Sarah notices my presence but barely moves her head to look at me. "Here, you see this?" I point to one of the dead branches on the bush she has to work on. "You can tell it's dying by the change in its pigment, I'll help..."
Fifteen Minutes Later...
Thanks to my guidance, Sarah is starting to get the hang of her gardening skills. She hasn't made a mistake and she's getting a little more confident in her work. "See? You're getting the hang of it, it's not so hard."
"I know, I'm just afraid I'll make a mistake."
"It's not gonna be the end of the world if you do. Just keep going. You think you can handle things on your own?"
"I...I think so?"
"Good," I give her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I'm gonna be right over there if you need help, okay?" Sarah nods at me, and I go back to my station, only to hear Reggie speak up in worry.
"Oh, shit..."
"Oh, no..."
"What?" I looked to where both Reggie and Sarah were, which made them have scared expressions on their faces. My face immediately fell when I saw Carver coming to the greenhouse. Great, guess he's here to check on us. Well, we're getting it done, that's what matters.
"You didn't do any of your work, Elijah!"
"It's gonna get done," I tell a panicked Reggie. "I just had to give Sarah a hand. Don't get your undies in a twist."
"That's not-" Reggie cuts himself short as I hear Carver coming inside.
"Just checking in," He says. "See how the new girls and my boy are working out." I stop my 'work' and step away from my station. Carver doesn't seem too happy with how my work looks practically untouched compared to Clementine's and Sarah's, but instead of taking it out on me...Carver looks pissed at the one-armed man in the room. "Reggie."
"Yeah, Bill. Hey..."
"What the fuck happened in here?"
"Look, Bill, they're new, and me with my arm, it's just not eas- I just ha- I have one arm, so-"
"Shut up, shut up," Carver had no patience for how Reggie was fumbling over his sentence, his anger made Sarah hide behind me and Clementine stand by my side. "Shut the fuck up. You better have an explanation for this. And I mean now."
"Bill, please, just...ju-"
"Sounds like you're about to give me an excuse...when I asked for an explanation."
"It's gonna get done," I speak up. "Sarah just needed a little help, now she understands."
"...Nah, this ain't your fault," Carver says without even looking at the three of us, his eyes are still focused on Reggie's. "We talked about this, Reggie. Didn't we? But you just don't get it, do you?"
"Get what? I...I..."
"Why don't you three wait outside?" Carver says to us. "Reggie and I...have a few things to talk about."
I already don't like where this is going...and I'm pretty sure I know how it's gonna end. I escort the girls out of the treehouse, Reggie offers us a hallow thank you, and we wait outside. I walk over to the edge of the roof, joining Sarah and Clementine. Off in the distance, I can see a small cloud of dust picking up beyond the trees that I recognize all too well as a Walker herd. I can estimate that it will be at least another day until it's right on top of this place. We need to start planning before then if we're gonna escape from here. Either that or use the herd as the perfect cover.
BAM!
My head turns suddenly when the door of the greenhouse is busted open, Carver had just pushed Reggie out of it and is now backing away from him. "I gave you plenty of chances!"
"No, no, no, no, please!" Carver advances on Reggie as he stumbles backward, then he grabs Reggie...forcing him over the edge. "No, no, please!" With one final push...Reggie falls off the roof. "AAAAAAHHHHHH!" With a loud thud, Reggie dies instantly as his blood and brain spill onto the concrete below.
Shit...
"Weakness, incompetence. It puts us all at risk, and it won't be tolerated." The man who just murdered Reggie crosses his arms, speaking as if he just didn't do it right in front of me and these two girls. "You two think about that the next time you're asked to do something."
"...You mother fucker," Not thinking it through, I storm up to Carver, he sees me coming and grabs onto the collar of my jacket...and hangs me off the edge of the roof as he did with Reggie.
"Elijah!"
"No!"
Carver ignores the desperate pleas of Sarah and Clementine and stares straight at me. "I thought I taught you better than this, son. You really want to die for the sake of a man you just met? Not like it matters now, he's dead as a doornail now."
"Let him go!"
Not a good choice of words, Sarah...
"You still got your mother's heart...too bad it didn't do her well in the end."
Instead of spitting in his face, I decided to call out his bluff. "Yeah? Well, what the hell are you waiting for, huh?" I release my grip on his wrists; the only thing keeping me from falling off the roof is Carver's grip on my coat. "If I'm such a disappointment, you can just get rid of me right now!"
"..."
"Go ahead! Come on!"
It feels like forever as I dangle off the roof...but thankfully, I was right to call him out. Carver throws me back toward the greenhouse, and I fall to the ground. "Elijah!" Clementine rushes over to me and offers a hand to get me back up on my feet. We both face Carver and his scowling face.
"Both of you get downstairs, Bonnie's got some stuff for you to do. Go!"
Clem and I don't waste another minute around Carver, leaving him and unfortunately Sarah on the roof alone. I'm not too worried about her since I know she's the only thing keeping Carlos working for him. he still needs him for when Rebecca has her baby...but who knows how far along she is now...