Inside, I can already feel how warm it was compared to how it is back out there. I sigh a little bit in relief knowing that Clem will have somewhere warm to sleep tonight. I know it's violating one of our rules, but sometimes they can be broken every now and then for the sake of keeping our humanity and sanity. Then again, I can't get that recent encounter out of my head. How is it that she looked clean despite being 'starving'? Something definitely isn't adding up. I think we all should cut our losses with this place and-
"Elijah," Luke sees me and the little one come back inside the lodge and he makes a beeline straight for us. "Mind if I talk to ya for a minute? Just you?"
I took a glance between him and Clementine. "Why just me? Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of her too."
"I know, but this is somethin' that needs to be talked about between you and me, alright?"
"..." I don't have the faintest idea of what the hell it is he has to say to me, but if he's making this much effort to do it, the least I can do is hear him out. "Clem," I look down at her. "Go wait by the fireplace, this won't take too long." She wasn't so sure about it, but after another nod from me, the little one did as I said and left Luke and me alone to talk. "What is it?" I cross my arms, showing my impatience.
"I wanna talk to you 'bout back on the bridge."
"What about it? Was I 'too harsh' on Nick for nearly killing Matthew?"
"Nah, it ain't that. He's lucky you only hit him once in eh gut, I doubt he could handle his nose nearly gettin' broke again."
"Then what is it?"
"...It's what you said about Carver," Luke looks at me skeptically. "You gave Matthew a real specific description of him when you wanted to know if he's seen him or not."
"And? You guys have been talking non-stop about that bastard for the last five days and I wanted to know if Matthew had seen someone fitting that description."
"Yeah, sure. But you mentioned a stench of whiskey, somethin' none of us have mentioned before."
"..."
"Now, man, I ain't insinuatin' nothin', but I just thought it was a little strange that of all liquors you said, you get it right on the money. And I know that you said that you and Clementine don't know Carver, but I need to know-"
"Look, Luke," I interrupt him, my blood starts to boil with this conversation. "I won't lie to you, I used to know someone before who was like the same person you and your group have been running away from. To answer what you're about to ask. No, I'm not with Carver, and neither is Clementine. So for the last time, stop asking me."
"And I ain't saying you are, I just thought it was a little strange you mentioned a specific brew and just happened to be right. You're a good guy, Elijah. You wouldn't be travelin' with that little girl if you weren't. But..." Luke sighed, fumbling about what he had to say next. "Look, even if this guy you knew of happens to be the same one that's after us, I need to know to keep my people safe, you and Clem too."
"...This Carver," I know I'm probably being stupid, but I need to be sure. "has he ever mentioned anything about his life before the world turned upside down? A family? Wife or kid? Shit like that?"
"There ain't a lot we know," Luke shook his head. "He rarely talked about his life before, not like much of us gave a damn anyway. But he did always have this picture of a woman in his office, I got a look at it once and I supposed she must've been someone he knew from before.
"...What did she look like?"
"I only got the one look, but I think she had brown hair, glasses, and uh...a black wool cap on her head."
"..." Son of a bitch... I was about to question Luke a little bit further but a strange noise made my ear twitch. "Do you hear that?" It sounded like a loud humming noise...and It was coming from outside. "Come on," Luke followed me out of the lodge entrance and we immediately felt the strong breeze as we met up with Walter and Kenny. "What the hell's going on out here?"
"That's what!" Kenny points to the wind turbine that was near the lodge, now spinning at a faster rate thanks to the wind. "This storm's got it spinnin' outa control! That sound's gonna draw Walkers! We gotta shut it down, now!"
"Luke," I turn to him, now seeing that Clementine came out here to see what the noise was too, even Sarita, Nick, and Carlos came outside too. "Grab whatever weapons you can and get back out here." He nods and heads back inside with Nick.
"Here," Clementine thought ahead of the rest of the group and brought me my backpack along with her own, she handed me my sickle as well.
"Thanks, Kiddo."
"That thing's a damn dinner bell!" Kenny notes before running off to the wind turbine, Clem and I follow after with our handheld weapons. Hilda and Lee will keep us safe. Soon enough, the others from the lodge minus the less able fighters join us at the massive wind-powered machine. Now we just gotta-
BOOM!
"The fuck was that?!" I look around after that loud noise was heard in the distance, I see that the power to the lodge has been cut out and now is enveloped in darkness.
"Damn. it. Transformer musta gone," Kenny says. "Gotta check it. I could use a hand."
"I'll go with you," Luke volunteers.
"Me too," I say.
"No. I need you and Clementine to keep these people in order. The rest of you," Kenny turns to the others. "get this thing shut down!"
"We're on it."
Kenny and Luke leave with their guns in hand, Clem and I turn back to the wind turbine just as Sarita opens the emergency control panel. "Does anyone know how to do this?" Carlos asks only to get a shrug response from the foreign woman. "Great..."
"Oh, for fuck sake. Move," I push Carlos out of the way so I could get a better look at the controls. "Sarita," I turn to her. "Take your rifle and keep an eye on the treeline over there. Nick, look out to the forest behind the turbine. and Carlos, do something helpful for once. Clem and I got the controls. Clem, give me some light."
"Okay," She takes her lighter from her pocket and flicks it on, I can now see the controls a lot better. I can see two emergency shut-off switches that both need a key to be unlocked. Above each switch reads, 'Turn keys simultaneously for emergency shut-off'. I look around, thankfully finding both keys hanging off to the side of the control panel.
"Clem, here," I grab both keys and hand her one. "You put yours in that switch and when I say 'Turn', we turn our keys at the same time."
"Got it," She nodded and inserted her key as I instructed and I did the same for my switch.
"Three, two, one. Turn!" A bright green light turns on after we turn our keys, and the blades above us start to slow down as we hear the turbine start to power down. I sigh a little in relief as we accomplish our goal...but I know this isn't over yet.
"Somethin' ain't right," Nick says as I close the door, making me look out to the surrounding forest. He's right...it's too quiet now, I can't even hear any bugs in the distance. I know this feeling all too well...they're already here.
"Shit..." Like clockwork, the Walkers emerge out from the surrounding forest in vast numbers.
"We don't have much ammunition."
"No," I forcefully lower Carlos' pistol. "We can't risk drawing more than there already are. We use our melee weapons."
"Are you nuts?!"
"As long as we stay together and move as one, we can all get back to the lodge without a scratch. Everyone, form a circle," Clementine already knows what I'm planning but the others seem hesitant at my words, so I say again, only louder. "Form a circle, now!" They do as I say and have their handheld weapons drawn. "Now, no one breaks away from the formation unless you need to kill a Walker. We move as one back to the lodge."
"They're behind us!"
"Clementine!" I call out to her. "Show them how it's done!"
"On it!" With Molly's ice pick in hand, Clementine kicks one of the approaching Walkers in the knee, then she uses her weapon to put down the monster. "Once they're down, they're easy to kill. Just go for the knees and put a blade in the back of their skull!"
"Nice work. Now, keep moving! We're just about halfway to the lodge!" Under my instruction, we all moved in a tight formation back toward the lodge and killed any walker that got within at least three feet of us. I count we at least killed nine of them before we reached the front entrance where Walter and Matthew had their guns at the ready. "No guns!" I shout. "You guys stay out here and keep the Walkers from getting inside, Clem and I will check on the others."
"Go, we'll keep them busy out here!" Matthew addresses me before Clem and I go inside. We find Rebecca, Alvin, and Sarah in the fireplace area looking out the window, the pregnant woman sees us and looks concerned. "Clementine, Elijah, are you guys okay?"
"We're fine."
"Where's my dad?"
"He's-"
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
"The fuck?" I look outside at the sudden gunshots. "I thought I told them no to..."
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
I got a better look through the window, seeing that the gunshots were coming from the treeline...and they were automatic rifle shots. My face was practically pressed up against the glass as I tried to get a better look at who exactly firing those shots, I saw at least five people and four of them were holding AK-47s... I immediately recognize one of them thanks to their red hair tied up into a low bun. I knew we couldn't trust her. I try to get a better look at the man in the middle of the approaching armed people but the darkness isn't doing me any favors...but Rebecca recognized him immediately once he approached Carlos and the others.
"Carver!"
"..." No... Not like this...
"Dad!" Sarah runs out of the lodge after seeing her dad get punched in the face after spitting on the man.
"Sarah!" Clem calls to her. "Get the hell back here!"
"Get upstairs!" I say. "They're coming inside!" I rush Clementine, Alvin, and Rebecca upstairs as fast as I can and we all take cover behind the wooden railing. I don't exactly know how we'll get out of this but I know for a fact that we can't stay here... "Keep going," I whisper to the other three. "Quietly."
Whistle!
"Look at this place!" I hear a woman call out, they must be inside already. "Lenny, go outside and check the perimeter, see if any stragglers are hidin'."
"Got it," A man says as I keep crawling behind Clementine and the other two.
"You believe this fuckin' place, Bonnie?" Another man says. "Power and everything... Lotta windows, though. It's fuckin' huge. Bill's gonna hate it. The rest of 'em could be anywhere."
"Then stop fuckin' around and start lookin'!" A third man spoke in a deep southern drawl.
"Man, how the fuck are we gonna cover these guys and look for them too?"
Man, these guys talk too fuckin' much.
"Just...cover that window."
the four of us found ourselves in one of the corners of the lodge just above the kitchen if I remember correctly, I looked through one of the cracks of the balcony and saw that my friends were being forced onto their knees and tied up with zip ties behind their backs with rifles pointed at their heads. I finally got a better look at the man from earlier, and my heart immediately dropped in my stomach when he looked up at the balcony. This was a man I hadn't seen in over fifteen years...and If I didn't know any better, I would say that he was somehow looking right at me.
"Mother fucker... You can't still be alive..."
"Elijah," Clementine whispered to me. "are you okay?"
"I'm fine..."
"You're shaking like a leaf, man," Alvin points out which makes me look down at my hand...and I see that he's right. My hand is shaking like crazy and I didn't even realize. I hold my shaking hand with my free one, forcing myself to calm down.
"It's just my nerves. I'm fine. We need a plan to-"
"Augh!"
"DAD!"
Carlos crying out in pain followed by Sarah's plea for her father makes me look back through the small crack of the balcony, Carlos just took a punch to the gut by...Carver. "Listen, I'm only gonna ask you once," he says. "Where's Rebecca?"
"...Sarah, look at me," Carlos looks at his daughter, even he knows this won't be pretty. I'm just sorry that Sarah has to see this. "It's gonna be okay- Ah!" Carver hits him in the back of the head, making him double over in pain. Carver then takes one of Carlos' fingers...and breaks it. "AUGH!"
"DAD!"
"Rebecca!" Carver drops Carlos to the floor after calling out to the lodge, he circles the injured man and looks around the lodge. "Rebecca, our baby deserves to be raised in a place of safety!"
"..." 'Our' baby? No... I look over at Rebecca, she has guilt plastered all over her face, even more so when she locks eyes with me. Don't tell me that he's the one who got her pregnant...
"I know you're out there," Carver calls out again. "And Alvin, Luke, the girl, and a young man called Elijah."
Shit...he knows.
"This is real simple. You want this over quick, you all play nice and show your faces!"
"Don't hurt my dad, please!" Sarah begs through choked sobs.
"He'll kill him," Alvin whispers to us in a panic, I already know what he's thinking. "We gotta go down there."
"Fuck that," I say.
"I can't do that," Rebecca adds.
"Bec, the baby. You need a doctor."
"And that means he won't kill him," I try to make sense of the situation. "Even if he's a quack, a doctor is too valuable of an asset to lose. We can't do anything from up here though."
"He's right," Clementine agrees with me. "Let's get out of here so we can find Luke and Kenny."
"Only way out is through these windows," Alvin points to a few horizontal windows behind him, they look too small for him and Rebecca to squeeze through but it's perfect for Clementine and I think I can manage to get myself through.
"They can fit," Rebecca tells him.
"You heard him. He knows they're here. But I don't know how he knows your name," Alvin looks at me when he says that.
"I don't-"
SNAP!
"AUGH!"
"DAD!"
Sounds like Carver broke another one of Carlos' fingers. That's it, I can't just sit here and do nothing. "Clem, come on."
"Hold up," Alvin stops me before I can move another inch toward the window. "What are you guys even gonna do? You heard him, Carver knows you and Clementine are with us."
"Just stop! Don't just my dad, please!"
"Fuck you! Shoot him! Somebody just shoot hi-"
"You two go down there if you want, but I'm getting the fuck out of here and doing something about this mother fucker. Now, get out of my way," I move past Alvin and open the window as quietly as I can. "Clem, you first," I wait until the little one crawls out of the window and jumps down to the ground, I follow after by just barely managing to squeeze myself out along with my bag.
"Okay, now what?" Clem looks up to me and whispers...but I doubt she's gonna like what I'm about to suggest.
"I say we find Kenny and cut our losses."
"What?!"
"Shh!" I cover Clementine's mouth. "Keep your voice down!" I shout in a hushed whisper. "You saw what's happening in there, Clem. Those people have automatic machine guns and they won't stop until they get what they want. You, Kenny, and I can still walk away from this alive. I'm not putting you in any more danger than this." And I refuse to go back in there...
Clementine pushes my hand off of her face, her nose scrunched up as she looks up at me very angrily. "So your plan is to just abandon our friends?"
"If it means keeping you alive..."
"That's bullshit!" Clem pushes me. "If I was still in there, would you abandon me?!"
"No, that's not what-"
"They may not be the best people we've met, but they're still our friends! I'm not abandoning anyone!"
"Clem, I get it, but it's a suicide mission if we go back in there," I refer to mostly myself, but my point still stands. "I can't risk losing you in the crossfire."
"And it wasn't suicide when you and Lee went through a horde to rescue me?" The very mention of that name makes my heart stop for a second, the memory of that day still haunts my nightmares. We succeeded...but I still failed the man I admired. "And what if he was still here?" She continued. "Do you think Lee would just abandon all those good people in there?"
"..."
"Why are you so afraid?"
"... Because I know who that man is," I admit, the truth needs to come out sooner or later. "That man back there, Carver, there was a reason why he had my beanie back at the cabin."
"Why?"
"...Clem," I take a knee and rest my hands on her shoulders. "Do you remember the story about the bad man me and my Mom used to live with that Sandy and I told you about when you were little?" She nods at my question. "...That's him."
Clementine's eyes widen in horror when she makes the connection. "You mean...he's-"
"The hell is that?" A man's voice around the corner of the lodge makes me jump. Shit! I hide Clem and myself by the wall, I can hear footsteps getting closer to us. I try to look around to see if there's any place where we can hide that's better than where we are now...but there's no cover.
Looks like I have no choice...
"Hate this fuckin- Gaugh!" Once the man in the white coat revealed himself around the corner, I wrapped my arm around his throat and covered his mouth with my other hand. He drops his automatic rifle and tries to wrestle out of my choke hold.
"Shh! Shh! Go to sleep, mother fucker!" His struggling causes us to fall to the wooden floor underneath us, his legs kick like crazy and he tries to claw at my face to get me to let go of him...but he was dead the moment I grabbed onto him.
SNAP!
In one swift twist, I break his neck and his body stops struggling, letting out a few twitches before I let go. I stand to my feet, Clem rests a small hand on my arm to make sure I was alright. "Are you okay?"
"..."
I stare at the dead man beneath my feet...there's no turning back now. I can't abandon people...it's just not who I am. You'd be pretty disappointed in me if I did, huh, guys? I look up at the cloudy night sky, knowing just exactly who I was talking to as the light snowflakes falling down melt against my face. Mom, Sandy, Lee... You'd all do the same if you were in my shoes... I look back down, my eyes immediately landing on the AK-47 that was on the ground.
"Alright, Kiddo. You win," I pick up the rifle, quickly checking the magazine to see how much ammo is left. I reload it back into the rifle and set it to semi-automatic firing. "Let's go."
Clem smiles at me and follows alongside the back of the lodge. We don't have a lot of time before the people inside notice that their buddy has been gone for too long, so we need to find Kenny and Luke before that happens. Clem and I peek around the corner, both of us see Kenny in some kind of small gazebo just about twenty feet from the lodge. Thankfully, he sees us too but I put a finger up to my lips so he doesn't call out to us. We need to keep quiet for now. I go first and keep my new rifle firmly in my hands as I aim forward, we eventually come along the massive windows that were by the fireplace inside the lodge.
"Goddamn, it's dark," I heard a man speak inside. "Can't see a fucking thing."
"Clem," I look back at her. "You go first. Crawl underneath the window so you're not seen. Kenny and I will keep you covered." The little girl nods at me and moves ahead on her hands and knees. It took her a minute, but eventually, she got across and ran towards where Kenny was. Now it was my turn. I got on my stomach and began to army crawl with my rifle still in my hands.
"AAHH! AAAAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH!"
Halfway through my crawling, I could hear Carlos wailing in pain which made me cringe. Sorry, Carlos. Just hold on a little bit longer. Once I was across and I knew for sure that no one was looking through the window, I got to my feet and sprinted toward Kenny and Clementine. I crunched behind the small wall of the gazebo and caught my breath.
"You two alright?" Kenny asks us.
"Yeah."
"We're fine."
"Oh, thank God. Is Sarita okay?"
"She's still inside," I say. "They have her."
"Christ..."
"Where's Luke?" Clem questioned.
"Hell, I don't know," Kenny focuses his attention back on the lodge. "He was whining about somethin' or other, so I told him to take a hike."
"Fuck," I aim my rifle at the lodge. Through my iron sights, I see...Alvin and Rebecca came down the stairs and joined the others. While Alvin was being tied up by the hick-looking man, Carver walked up to the pregnant woman and caressed her face. "Mother Fucker..."
"Looks like they got everyone," Kenny notes. "Who the hell are these guys?"
"Bad people," I say without taking my eyes away from my sight. "If we're gonna do this we need to be precise. I have my eyes on one by the others."
"I got a pretty clear shot on the one by the window. Just a little bit to the left, you son of a bitch. That's right..."
"Shouldn't' we find Luke?" Clem brings up a good point. With a third person with a rifle here, we could take out more-
BANG!
Kenny goes ahead and fires his rifle, and I do the same. Kenny's shot manages to kill the man by the window but since I wasn't ready to fire mine, my bullet only manages to graze the hick's shoulder, making him fall to the ground. "Shit! Kenny!"
"Sorry. I thought you were ready! But at least we got one."
I aim my rifle again, seeing the redheaded woman drag the hick man behind cover so he couldn't be hit. The darkness should at least keep us hidden for now so we don't have to worry about being shot at right now. "Wait..." I moved my aim to...Carver, he was dragging Walter by the neck with a revolver pointing at the back of his head. He pushes him toward the window...and shoots him.
BANG!
"Walt!"
"Oh, my God!"
"Shit!"
"NOOOO!" I could hear Matthew screaming out thanks to the windows now being broken. Fuck...
"That's for our man!" Carver calls out from behind one of the wooden columns he was using as cover. "Now, I didn't want to do this, but you ain't leavin' me much choice! So here's what's gonna happen! I'm gonna march another one of your friends out here and I'm gonna put a bullet in the back of their head! Or you can give up now! Your choice."
BANG!
Kenny goes ahead and tries to shoot him, his eyes searing with hatred as he misses. "Motherfucker!"
BANG!
"Kenny!" I stop him before he can shoot another round. "Don't waste your ammo!"
"Guys, over there!" Clementine points to a few large rocks that were at the front of the lodge, giving us a better angle to shoot these bastards.
"Good eye, Kiddo," I pat her shoulder. "Come on!" The three of us run toward the rocks and take cover behind them, Kenny and I aim our rifles at the lodge, just in time to see Carver grabbing another person to shoot...
"Kenny! Stop!" I could barely hear Rebecca cry out from inside, begging for us to stop so that her husband won't be killed.
"Alvin..." My finger falls from the trigger. Even with two of us pointing guns at Carver, it's a tough shot to make. If we miss, Alvin's dead and Rebecca loses her husband...and her unborn child loses a father. If we manage to kill him, who knows what his lackeys will do once their ringleader hits the floor? I don't think we have much choice anymore...
"Damn. It's a tough shot," Kenny notes. "What do you think, son?"
"...Lower your rifle, Kenny," I sigh in defeat.
"What?"
"He'll kill him!" Clementine pleads.
"We can't just give up!"
"Kenny," I lower my rifle. "he'll keep killing people until he gets what he wants. Think about Sarita."
"..." Kenny sees my reasoning, he hates it, but he knows I'm right. I hate it even more...because I now have to come face-to-face with my past. Kenny stands and lowers his rifle. "We're comin' out!" He calls to which I drop my rifle to the ground and raise my hands up in surrender. The three of us slowly approach the front of the lodge, the front doors are kicked open by a woman and she aims her rifle at us.
"Let's go."
We all walked past her, I glared at her as I walked upstairs. I should've killed you when I had the chance. Fucking idiot... My bag was taken off my back, my hands were tied behind me, and we were forced onto our knees. I felt a cruel sense of irony as I was placed in the middle of everyone and Clementine was beside me. I know what's about to come...and I don't know if I'm ready.
"Well, well, well..." That familiar voice continued to fill me with a sense of dread I hadn't felt since I was a kid, I could hear him step toward me. I'm left with no choice but to look up at the man I once called...my father. "Hello, Son," He smirks at me despite my scowling look of hatred. "Long time no see."
"Don't call me that," I say, not even bothering to look at the others' reaction to this revelation. "You're nothing to me."
"Why the long face?" Carver squats down in front of me, his smile sending a chill down my spine. "Aren't you happy to see your old man after all these years? I got somethin' for ya'," Out from his back pocket, he pulls out...my beanie. "Look familiar? A little blonde lady was holding onto it and I just had to know where exactly she got it.
"Give that back!" I speak through clamped teeth. "That doesn't belong to you!"
"You shut your mouth!"
"Ah!" I fall forward after being hit in the back with a rifle. Fuck, that hurt!
"Easy there, Troy,' Carver says as I struggle to get back on my knees, I look up only to see him towering over me. "Only I get to discipline this boy. After all, a father needs to show his son the meaning of respect," I set back on my knees by the hick man so that Carver could get a better look at me. "You're right about one thing, this doesn't belong to me. Where is Ashley, anyway?"
"..."
"I see..." He takes my silence as an answer. "That's a real shame, but not surprising. She wasn't gonna survive too long in this world anyway."
"Fuck you. You don't get to talk about her like-" I'm smacked across the face before I could even finish.
"Hey!" Kenny shouted in anger. "Don't you touch another hand on my boy!"
"You watch who you're speaking to," Carver ignores Kenny and keeps speaking to me. "With the way I see things, you and I got a lot to catch up on. Troy, where's Lenny?"
"Boy's outside checkin' the perimeter," he says. "I'll go-"
"Eeeeeuuuuuggghhhh..." I low groaning sound grabs all of our attention. At the broken window, I see that it's the man I killed outside earlier, he was now a walker and he was trying to reach inside for a meal. Shit...I forgot to make sure he wouldn't come back.
"Lenny!"
"Aw shit..."
"Son of a bitch," Carver sighs and pulls out his revolver, he shoots the reanimated man and he fell to the floor lifelessly. Now coming back over to us, he looks around, wondering which of us could've possibly killed him because any walker within fifty yards of here was already dead. It didn't take him too long and he approached me with a scowl. "So...you killed him?"
"...He didn't really put up a good fight," I admit, Carver strangely found humor in my statement.
"Guess not, he was one of our newer guys. Then again, killing another one of my men can't go unpunished," He reaches into my jacket, pulling out my desert eagle. "Such a beauty..." I look down the barrel of my own pistol, my gaze never breaks away from the very man who's pointing it at me.
BANG!
I flinch at the initial gunshot...but my eyes widen as I watch Matthew's body fall lifelessly to the ground. "NO!"
"Matty!"
"You motherfucker!"
"There," Carver smiles before holstering my pistol in his back pocket. "Now it's even," He looks to the others and places his hands on his hips. "Where's Luke?" His question only gets silence from us since none of us know where he is. "Finally cut and run, huh? Why am I not surprised?" He paces back and forth with a frown. "I warned you. I warned you not to follow him. And look where he's led you. But you're safe now. We're going home," Carver stops in front of me, smiling down with a glimmer of pride in his eyes. "As a family. Alright, round 'em up. We're headin' back to camp."
One by one, each of us is forced onto our feet and dragged out of the lodge. As the others from the cabin group got to their feet, they each looked at me with different expressions on their face. Either silently saying, 'What the hell', or 'No fucking way', I really don't give a shit. Right now, the people I care about most are being taken to God knows where and there's nothing I can do right now. If there's any silver lining to this...I now know that Molly was definitely taken by Carver and his people, maybe Christa is there too...
I'll find out soon enough...