All By Her Lonesome - DigBipper (2024)

Chapter 1: Alone

Chapter Text

The only thing that ran through Clementine's head after she had to shoot Lee was finding Omid and Christa. She searched for hours trying to find them eventually stumbling back to the train where Lee said she could find them. The train was still surrounded by walkers, not wanting to stick around she guessed that they'd move on if it wasn't safe. She left the city shambling around before eventually stumbling upon a red car as well as a fallen log under a tree. Exhausted from hours of nonstop walking and her feet hurting, she sat down on the log and looked around finding shotgun shells and pistol rounds next to her feet. She picked up one of the shells before looking up and spotting two figures walking on the hill in front of her one of them shorter than the other.

She hesitated for a couple seconds wondering to herself whether or not it could be Omid and Christa before she eventually decided to approach them. The walk towards whoever they could've been felt like forever in her mind, stemming from the mental and physical exhaustion that she'd been subjected to in the past few days. Eventually she got close enough to start seeing what they looked like and her heart felt like it had stopped and she froze. It was Omid and Christa she had finally found them.

"Omid, Christa!" Clementine shouted with a smile on her face.

She was about to run at them but then dread had begun to settle in her as she noticed they hadn't said anything back. The smile on her quickly disappeared as she heard the raspy growls and saw their staggered movement, they had blood all over them and pieces of their body were missing. They weren't themselves anymore. Clementine couldn't stop herself from falling to her knees and crying as they inched closer and closer to her but one of Lee's final words to her had begun to ring in her ears over and over.

"Don't be afraid." Lee had told her before she shot him and she found the strength to get up and point her gun at the two Lee had entrusted to care for her.

"I'm sorry." Clementine apologized with tears in her eyes before she fired twice, hitting both in their head and putting them to rest.

She stood there for a bit unable to bring herself to move before hearing Lee's words in her head again. She began stumbling closer to the dead couple and found that Christa was wearing her backpack. She attempted to roll the dead woman's body to get easier access to it for around a minute before she eventually succeeded as well as falling straight on her butt with a yelp. Out of breath she stayed on the ground for a couple seconds before getting back up. She began folding Christa's arms in order to pull the backpack straps off her body. Once she finished pulling the backpack off, and then sat on the ground with the backpack behind her feeling tired more than she's ever been.

Clementine sat there for a bit looking around for more walkers as well as to get her breath back and thinking about everything that happened. Finding none she began blaming herself for getting Lee and everyone else killed.

"Stupid, dumb, idiot, worthless!" She began telling herself as tears began welling up in her eyes again. For what felt like the hundredth time she's cried today she began bawling uncontrollably.

The only thing running through her head was the images of everyone that had died before settling only on Lee's corpse.

"I'm sorry, Lee." She kept repeating to herself. Eventually, she couldn't cry anymore having run out tears long ago.

Finally, she grabbed the backpack from behind her and began searching through it. There were a few cans of food, packets of jerky, a lighter and some matches, scraps of paper, a map, a knife, first aid kit and two full water bottles. She closed the backpack back up and stood up slowly. Walking back down the hill towards the log picking up the ammo on the ground. Seeing that it was getting dark entered the backseat of the red car placing the backpack down as a pillow and eventually fell asleep.

Clementine found herself back at the log she was sitting on a few hours ago. Rubbing her tired eyes she noticed the backpack was gone and the ammo was back on the ground. She started looking around and she spotted two figures on top of the hill. She ran towards them to figure out who they were hoping that what she saw yesterday was just a terrible dream.

"Clementine!" She heard them yell with a giant smile forming on her face. Throwing herself into a hug with both Christa and Omid almost crying tears of joy at having found them.

"I missed you two." She cried to them feeling hopeful that they might be able to escape the hellhole that was Savannah.

Clementine heard no answer from either of them, as she felt their grasp on her tighten. Looking up they had become walkers and proceeded to start eating her alive. She started screaming from the pain before eventually closing her eyes and drifting off.

She jumped up heart racing, her eyes dry, throat sore from screaming with a terrible headache. She wasn't on the hill and was back in the car she slept in yesterday. She rushed to grab a water bottle from the backpack opening it and began chugging the contents. Her throat feeling better she started panting from running out of breath, wiping her mouth and placing the empty bottle back in as well as pulling out the map while she was at it and zipping the backpack back up.

The sun had started rising and she threw the backpack on and crawled out the ruined car. She opened the map and began looking at it, she didn't really know where she wanted to go or even how to exactly read it but she eventually decided that she was going to back track from the train tracks.

After an hour of walking around she found herself back near the train. Still surrounded by what seemed to be hundreds of walkers, hoping she could sneak past them she sniffed herself and realized that plan wasn't going to work as she no longer smelled as bad she did yesterday when Lee covered her in walker guts. Scared that she wouldn't be able to walk through the herd she decided to take the long way around and follow the tracks through the trees in the hopes that there'd be nowhere near as many walkers as well as being able to sneak past them.

Walking through the woods made it far safer and easier to walk around the walkers, after what felt like a few hours of walking the tracks cleared up and there weren't any more walkers for the foreseeable distance. Continuing her journey for the next few hours following the train tracks and walking nonstop she reached her limit and had to take a break. Her stomach growling and throat dry. She pulled the backpack off herself and grabbed one of the cans and the knife. She searched the can to see what it was and saw that it was chicken noodle soup, placing the can down she began pulling on the tab to pry it open. She struggled for half a minute to pull the tab before eventually deciding to use the knife to pry it up a bit to make it easier to open the can. Once the can was open she began gorging on the soup, chugging the liquid and grabbing the solids out of it with her hands swallowing the chicken pieces and noodles whole.

When she finished, she wiped her mouth and threw the can away and rested for another minute before standing back up and continued walking down the tracks. As more hours passed and the sun began to set, not wanting to sleep in the open she kept walking until she found a small shed near the tracks in the woods. She tested the door finding that it was unlocked and slowly opened it, looking around it was mostly empty with just a few tools scattered around. She closed the door, locking it and continued searching the shed, grabbing one of the hammers on a workbench, a handsaw, another knife, as well as another first aid kit.

Seeing that weren't any walkers in the shed and feeling too tired to do anything else she took the backpack off placed it down and tried to sleep.

She woke up to the door of the shed rattling and hear hearing voices from outside.

"Babe I'm gonna look around while you try to get that thing unlocked." A voice that sounded like a man told the person she assumed was messing with the shed door.

"Well place your f*cking bag down first dummy, I don't want you losing it or getting surrounded by the and dead leaving me stuck with nothing." The voice that sounded like a woman's sharply replied.

"Alright don't get your panties in a twist, just shout for me when you need me. Also let me know if you find anything cool or whatever okay?" The guy asked as she heard something drop and footsteps drifting off.

Grabbing her backpack she began looking around for somewhere to hide before settling on pressing herself next to the door as the shed was too small to hide anywhere. Standing for what felt like an eternity the door eventually made a clicking noise and opened, a woman with light brown skin with what seemed to be camouflage clothing and a black beanie on her head entered the shed. The lady was carrying a rifle and began searching around for anything of importance.

"sh*t, this was a waste of time." The woman cursed to herself. Finding no other chance to get away tried to sneak out. Holding the door open she barely took a step outside just to feel herself get yanked back inside.

"The f*ck do you think you're going?!" The woman shouted at her slamming Clem onto the work bench causing her to yelp in pain and grabbing her arms tightly. Clementine kept struggling to pull her arms out of the woman's painful grasp but she didn't relent.

"Hey babe I found us a new toy to play with!" The woman shouted to her partner letting up just enough for Clementine to just barely slip her right hand out and grip one of the hammers on the table.

"Bitch!" The woman let out a surprised yell before a hammer struck her directly on the temple knocking her down and taking Clementine with her. The young girl too scared to let up just kept slamming the hammer on the woman's head until the hammer got stuck and she slipped onto the floor trying to pull it out. Hearing footsteps coming back she grabbed the woman's rifle and pointed it at the door.

"You found wha-" The man never got to finish as a gunshot rang out causing Clementine's ears to ring loudly and making her drop the rifle as she tried to cover her ears. Disoriented from the noise Clementine tried to get back but slipped on the blood from the woman's body. Trying again she managed to finally stand up although still wobbly from the ringing. She checked the woman's pockets for anything useful finding some weird tool with a bunch of key looking things, a granola bar, and a compass. Remembering that there was another one she began walking towards the guy who was clutching his neck in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. Clementine began searching his body as he attempted to fight her off to avail as he slipped out of consciousness. Finding some ammo for a gun she couldn't use she just placed them in her backpack and grabbed their bag next to the door and stumbled off before the man turned.

5 DAYS LATER

After days of nonstop walking, and dreams of the people she once knew becoming walkers and eating her. Clementine eventually found herself at the RV they had left behind for the train. Deciding to enter the vehicle she searched for anything they left behind finding nothing useful she sat down on the couch and checked her feet that were sore sore and blistered from all the walking she's done. Unable to find herself to care about the pain she walked back out after a few minutes and looked at the sun. Seeing that it was still in the middle of the sky she checked the map to see if she somehow could figure out where she was. She followed her pointer finger from the train tracks leading from Savannah to whatever was closest to the Motor Inn. Seeing that she just had to follow the road if she read it right which she hoped she did. Clem began walking again, with nothing to keep her company but her thoughts and images of her former group.

3 DAYS LATER

Clementine found herself back at the motor inn, bodies from the bandits and walkers that were killed in the fight she began searching around for any supplies that may have been left. The bag she looted from the couple more than a week ago didn't have much food in it except water, ammo, and clothes that didn't fit her that she just tore up for rags and threw most of it away. She found a crossbow on one of the bandit's bodies with a couple of bolts, picking it up she continued looking around before she walked back into her and Lee's old room. She stood there for a bit contemplating before continuing her search finding a few bullets for her pistol in a drawer as well as the torn picture of Lee she picked up back at the pharmacy. Finding that she couldn't bring herself to cry she stuffed the picture in her backpack and walked outside.

Clem looked down at herself specifically at her clothes and realized that what she was wearing wasn't going to work as the fight with the woman had ripped and soaked her dress in blood. Her shoes had practically ripped apart from the constant walking being held together by nothing except hopes and dreams.

Deciding that she needed new clothes she walked towards one of the many walker bodies and pulled out a knife from her backpack. She began to cut the corpse open forcing herself to not vomit from the stench and began rubbing herself in the cold, and viscous goop. After covering the front of her body realizing that she couldn't get to her back she groaned and decided to place her back in the open belly of the body. Feeling that she was probably as covered as she possibly could be she began her trek to Macon in the search of new clothes.

Almost an hour later she had entered the city and began searching for a clothing store. After a bit of walking around randomly she found one and entered it. Searching for the children's section she found some clothes that were a little big for her but were a lot warmer than what she had on now. She grabbed a striped white and gray long sleeve shirt, a lavender colored tee shirt, a blue hoodie, some denim jeans, a few random socks, one pair being disco broccoli themed, and black tennis shoes. She kept searching around for a bit before stumbling onto a yellow rain coat that reached down to her knees, staring at it for a second she shrugged and grabbed it as well. Looking around a bit longer she also grabbed some new underwear as well because she didn't exactly feel comfortable wearing something that was probably soaked in walker guts after the sat in the belly of one. Happy with her find she began tracing her steps back to the motor inn to change her clothes.

Back at the motor inn it started thundering and pouring. Still covered in gunk she decided to sit outside for a bit let the crap wash off her before went into her old room and dried herself off and changed into her new clothes. Not wanting to ruin her new clothes already she decided to take the rest of the day off and just stayed in the room. Taking the photo of Lee out of her backpack she stared at it for a bit still unable to bring herself to cry anymore as she felt she had probably cried out a lifetime of tears in the past week. Placing the photo in her pocket she laid herself down on the bed and stared at the roof. Simply repeating to herself in her head the words 'I'm sorry' over and over until she drifted off to sleep.

A/N

Now you might be wondering as to where I'm probably gonna go with this fic. I've seen maybe two fics with a similar premise but they never really kept to the whole Clementine is alone till season two idea entirely so I never really bothered to fully read or finish them. What I'm going for right now is a 'what if' scenario in which Clementine has no one to essentially help her with the psychological trauma like Christa and Omid probably did for the 6 months she stayed with them before Omid died and Christa probably became negligent towards her from how they interacted with each other after the 2nd time skip. At least that's what I understood from their dialogue when I played the games. With no one to help her with the trauma of what was essentially the worst day of her life. This Clem will be truly alone and most definitely a little off her rocker in a way I won't really spoil right now it'll be pretty obvious if you think about it but she's definitely not just gonna go American Psycho that's all I'll say. She'll just have no one to accompany her or help her with anything until the events of season 2. She'll just figure things out as she goes, read things, or wing it.

Onto the math of her lonesome adventure back to Macon I just looked at it from a point of, if the train ride took like around 12 hours and it was moving at 40 mph or around 64 kph for anyone not using freedom units. I just looked at it as if Clem walked 50-60 miles or so a day and the train drove around 400 miles. It'd probably take her a week to end up back at the train. Now I know Clem is just a little girl and her stride ain't exactly the longest considering she's like 4'1 or 124 cm she'd probably take a little longer to get back to the RV but I don't remember or believe it's ever stated how long and how far the train went. Now the walk to Macon was purely guesswork I just know they left the Inn when it was getting dark and arrived at the train when it was light out. So don't exactly take the 3 day walk thing at face value I just guessed they drove for a bit.

You might also wonder why the outfit change into the season 2 getup happened so early and that was simply because I thought it would make a lot more sense considering that when they get to Savannah it's stated or implied in episode 2 that winter is approaching and the way season 2 starts with Clem still in her season 1 outfit didn't make much sense to me as she definitely would've froze to death before Omid originally died.

Now onto the couple she killed and why it might seem like she didn't react much to it. She definitely did react to it but I didn't really want to go into the nitty gritty details of what was really going through her head other than Clem was probably thinking they were gonna kill her and she had to kill them. Now you can probably assume what they were gonna do by what they said and Clementine doesn't really know what the woman meant other than it wasn't good.

This story is more or less gonna be a rough draft of what the story is before I decide to go back and edit things. Reasons being I'm not exactly the best at putting my thoughts down on 'paper' as I am thinking about plots and a way a story will go down. The dialogue might be a bit iffy or hard to read I think but its not exactly the final product and more so a prototype leading to it. If someone were to wish to edit or proofread things that'd be fine with me as well.

After this A/N there won't be another on this site, as they will be more or less a FanFiction.net thing exclusively.

Chapter 2: Adrift

Chapter Text

Clementine had been walking north for a while now, no longer keeping track of the days as she had lost count weeks ago. Winter had finally arrived and she had been forced to take shelter multiple times a day more times than she'd want. The cold had started getting too intense for her at times.

Dragging along a wagon she had found a few weeks ago as well as two more duffle bags she had placed the duffle bags on the wagon so she wouldn't have to lug them around everywhere for so long letting her walk longer distances. She had also taken to covering the raincoat in walker guts with a pair of rubber gloves she had found a couple days ago as well to keep her hands and clothes clean, she tried to keep the crap off her bare skin as much as she could as she got extremely sick around a month or so back and was forced to hunker down in a cramped apartment for a week.

Clementine had spent weeks just following herds on the roads for safety, which the young girl didn't fail to find ironic. Consequentially, the strategy of herd following lead her to never venture outside during the rain when she knew a storm was coming, instead preferring to use the camouflage to explore large buildings to clear them out as well as grab supplies without worrying about being eaten alive.

She had recently discovered a few days ago that she could lead herds around somewhat with sounds, preferring to throw rocks or random junk instead of using her voice as she didn't feel comfortable speaking in a herd of walkers. Clementine couldn't even remember the last time she had even made so much as a peep, finding that she didn't really feel like she had much to say when there was no one to talk to. The walkers, her dreams, and nightmares were her only company over the months as she hadn't stumbled across any people since the couple she killed that were worth interacting with in any way.

Her daily schedule was summed up by walking, breaks, a quick meal and drink, and even more walking. Finding that the nonstop movement had helped to keep her mind off how terrible things had been. She found herself missing Duck's constant blabbering, Katjaa's calming voice, heck she even missed Kenny and Lilly's constant arguing, anything if it meant that she'd still have at least someone with her. Clementine missed Lee the most though, anytime she thought about her former guardian she'd hear her old groups voices in her head scolding her, blaming her for getting him and them killed which she couldn't bring herself to argue against.

Although, recently she started to find that as the days and weeks passed she had just completely stopped caring about the things the horrible voices would say. Deciding that if she already agreed with them, that it was pointless to keep reminding herself of it.

Eventually, she arrived at a 'Gil's Pitstop.' The herd she was leading around had spread around the area a bit. Feeling tired she decided to enter the woman's restroom to clean up as well as rest for a bit finding herself more and more tired as she neared ever closer to the border of South Carolina. Leaving the wagon at the entrance she started to check the bathroom stalls, pistol in hand, for any walkers or strangers who might be hiding behind them. Finding them all empty she moved her wagon into the first stall and placed her gun on the sink. She grabbed a water bottle and a rag from her backpack and stared at herself in the mirror. Her face was covered in dry blood and grime as well as stuck in a perpetual frown. Testing the sink first hoping she wouldn't have to waste and drinking water, getting her hopes up as nothing came out the faucet. 'Of course it doesn't have anything.' she thought, a little upset as she grabbed her water bottle and wetted the rag. Wiping her face clean she stared back in the mirror, being able to see more of her face as all the gunk was off, she also noticed that her eyes seemed to be frowning as well. Shrugging to herself, she went to place her rag back into her backpack, accidentally throwing her water bottle into the last stall and spilling water everywhere.

'oh shoot.' she hissed to herself in her head as she went to grab the bottle. Opening the stall she grabbed the bottle, staring in disgust as it was covered in gunk and empty. Dropping the bottle she went to leave the stall when she heard the restroom door creak open. Rushing back into the stall and closing it, she climbed onto the toilet seat trying her best to stay silent. Seeing what seemed to be a girl that seemed a few years older than her grab her pistol left Clementine cursing herself in her head. The toilet seat had moved from her legs shaking a bit, causing it to make a noise as the ceramic seat smacked the bowl. Letting out a tiny gasp she saw the teen move towards the stall door, pointing her gun at her through it.

"I see you." The older girl told her. "Get outta there. Hey, you're not fooling me. Come on out now." She ordered as Clementine stayed quiet. The teen opened the stall, gun pointed at Clem.

"What are you doing? Get out here." Clementine stepped off the toilet leaving the stall, sniffling a little loudly.

Digging through her backpack the teen started talking again. "You got anything on you? Come on, let's see. I ain't gonna ask again." Clementine stayed silent.

After a few seconds the girl looked at Clementine angrily. "I'm serious, what else you got?!" She said loudly. The younger still refused to speak as the older girl got angrier. "You stupid or something?" The teen insulted her as Clem tried looking around for anywhere she could run. "Don't." The teen shook her head. "Give me that hat." The teen ordered.

Clementine could only shake her head in response. "Where'd you get it?" The older girl asked her getting no response once again. Realizing that she wasn't going to get an answer out of the younger girl, the teen just kept searching Clem's backpack while insulting her stuff. The door to the restroom slowly opened, not having closed entirely when the teenager came in, a walker entered attracted by the yelling from the older girl. Surprised, she went to shoot it, missing and hitting the neck of the walker instead of the head. Seeing no other chance Clementine ran at the teen and pushed her, making her stumble towards the walker and drop her pistol.

The older girl started screaming in terror as the walker bit down on her neck drawing even more walkers to enter the restroom from the noise she had made. Clementine grabbed the pistol from the floor, closed her backpack, throwing it back on, and pulling her wagon out of the first stall. The walkers had completely blocked the entrance to the restroom by this point, and seeing no other choice she decided to wait, listening to the screams of the older girl die down leaving her with just the munching sounds and snarls of the feasting corpses. The raincoat she had on still disguised her from the group of dead that had entered the restroom.

Hours had eventually passed since she left the pitstop, she had replayed the event in her head a few time. She was sure it couldn't have gone any other way as she would've been left with nothing, or dead as soon the teenager had gotten everything she wanted. Choosing not to dwell on it further the little girl decided that it was deserved, not even caring about how easy it was for her to move on from having pushed the older girl to her death.

As she kept walking north she noticed that she had entered South Carolina at some point, celebrating the occasion with an early break.

As the weather got colder, she noticed the walker herd she was following for the past few days had began to slow down to a crawl. Taking that as her cue to walk on ahead she came across an abandoned gas station. A bell rang as she opened the door, entering the building with the wagon still behind her she had begun to look around for anything useful. Finding nothing except giftcards and dollar bills she entered the woman's restroom she positioned her wagon under the sink, checked for walkers in the stalls. Discovering them to be empty, she pulled one of the duffle bags off the wagon and dropped it on the floor to use as a pillow, throwing her raincoat off somewhere as well. The sky had started to dim and she decided to get some rest, locking the restroom door she laid down her head on the bag and went to sleep.

Many days had passed since she entered South Carolina and she found herself in a county named Allendale. There was light snowfall but not enough to worry Clementine about her camouflage potentially washing off, although she planned to gut another walker soon as she felt like the stench was wearing off.

She ha found a new herd to start leading around as the one she had been leading previously had slowed down to point of being nearly unable to walk anymore. The new herd had a couple of former soldiers in it, so when she had the chance she shot them in the head with the crossbow she looted back in Macon. Looting the bodies she found more ammo for a gun she didn't have so she just stuck it in the bag she had dedicated for ammo, hoping she could maybe trade it some day if she ever found someone that didn't want to take everything she had or kill her. She had also found some ammo for her own pistol that she just stuck in her right pocket. Covering her coat up in a new layer of guts after cutting up one of the former soldiers, she began following the herd again, looking around for any points of interest.

An hour or so later, she guessed as she never kept track of time anymore, she had stumbled upon a hardware store. The sign had faded so she couldn't read the name but she entered the building and looked around finding a small hatchet as well as a crowbar. Throwing them into her tool bag she kept looking around for anything of importance, when she found a few packs of batteries that she quickly shoved into her backpack. Finding nothing else that she might need other than some rope, and some candy bars at the register she exited the building and continued on her journey north.

As the days and weeks went on that she had started becoming more aware of different noises that happened around her that she hadn't been noticing previously. She didn't know if it was because she hadn't had anyone to talk to for the past few months or if it was because her ears had learned to ignore the hungry snarls and growls of the walkers around her, but she realized she could hear things around her better or was more aware of the happenings around her. Screams and gunshots in the distance, animals running around in the woods, and so on sounded clearer to her ears than they ever were before.

The weather had also started warming up a bit, but it was still much too cold for her to take off any layers of clothing she had.

Checking her compass and map to see where she was, she discovered that her compass had decided to stop working at some point and she put it away. The map ended past the middle of South Carolina and she had exited Allendale a few weeks ago she began looking around the area for any marker that might clue her in on where she might be. Disappointed that she found nothing to help her out, she decided to keep going until she did.

Clementine was completely lost, that much she knew for certain now. She had somehow found herself back in Georgia and had no clue where to start going from there. Months had passed since she had finally left South Carolina, as the weather had gotten extremely hot by now, forcing her to take off most of the layers she was wearing, only having her tee shirt, jeans and the raincoat that now let off a rancid, horrid stench from the heat boiling the guts stuck to it.

She was blowing through her water supply fast as she had to keep boiling more and more water everyday to keep herself from dying of thirst. She just hoped that the weather would cool down soon.

Her luck didn't get much better as days later and she got stuck in a vicious storm, buildings were being broken down and trees had fallen onto the roads. The streets had begun to flood and walkers potentially being anywhere she decided she'd be best off just staying in a house for a few days until things had finally let up and she could walk around without worrying about walkers biting her ankles underwater.

She found a group of living people living in a campsite a few hours ago. She decided to just watch them gauging them, whether or not it was safe to interact with them. She started writing stuff down like her name and things she could trade on a notebook she found a while ago, that she had no use for till now. Just as she was about to start walking towards them a car drove up to them, a chubby black woman with huge hair exited the car. After a few minutes of arguing, the group eventually packed their things and followed the woman. Feeling like she had just wasted a few hours of her life watching people made her a little upset but she decided to just move on and find a place to sleep tonight instead of scolding herself further.

Winter had arrived again while she was in Tennessee, which let Clementine know she was ten years old now. Nothing noteworthy had occurred to her in the recent months, other than avoiding people and passing through a massive herd by the state museum. She had caught a cold yesterday and was forced to stay in a cabin she found in a forest to stay warm and safe. She had placed a few snares around the area to catch any critters for food learning to make the traps from a book she had in the cabin as she was worried about running out of canned food. Her wagon's front axle had also snapped at some point as she dragged it up here. She searched for anything she could use to possibly try fixing it, only finding a pipe that was slightly wider than the axle and short enough to reach both wheels. Slipping the pipe over the snapped axle and testing it, she found that it worked just well enough to be able to move it around but she'd have to keep adjusting it so the snapped axle wouldn't slip out. Deciding that's about as good as she could get it until she found a replacement for the broken wagon she went to sleep waiting for the next day to check her traps.

Five days had passed before she finally succeeded at catching anything. A squirrel and two rabbits which she began dressing immediately as soon as she got back to the cabin. She started a fire and began cooking the squirrel in a pot while placing the rabbits high above to smoke and dehydrate as the book she read had told her would let the meat last longer. Her cold was still bothering her as she refused to eat out of her canned food supply that was running dangerously low with only five cans left as she wasn't as lucky to find anything still edible in the recent weeks. Hoping that she'd be able to stockpile more meat she decided she'd stick around a little longer as she desperately needed more food.

Nearly two months had passed since Clementine had decided to stay in the cabin for longer. Her duffle bag she designated for food had quite a bit of strips of smoked and dehydrated squirrel and rabbit meat that she had hoarded up during the winter. Deciding that she had stayed long enough she began walking east hoping to find a replacement for her wagon as well anything else she could possibly use.

During her travels east she had spotted another group of people. Grabbing some binoculars she found in the cabin from her backpack she looked through them to get a better look at decently sized group. They had working trucks from what she saw and were heavily armed with rifles that she recognized only from action movies her dad used to watch. They seemed to be looting a Home Depot for supplies. One of the men, an older looking guy dressed in a brown coat with fur lining, seemed to be the boss as he kept ordering the other guys around. One of them some guy in an orange shirt was getting an earful, watching them for a few minutes, she decided that it was smarter to just stay back and wait for them to leave. Her wagon was still hanging on for dear life, the front left wheel having fell off a few hours ago. Hoping she could find a replacement in the store, she laid there for what felt like years before they eventually decided to leave.

She entered the store searching around and found something that could replace her old wagon. However, it was a bit heavier and she wasn't confident it would be able to go for hikes up into the woods but it was better than a wagon that was essentially held together by tape and a pipe. She searched the store for about an hour or longer hoping to find anything else and found some small propane canisters she could use in a camping stove she'd also found. Not being able to carry around much else she left the store and kept walking east.

Clementine had stopped having any dreams about the others in her old group for a while now except for Lee. Replaying the moment she had shot her former guardian every night, as well as having talks with him on the train to Savannah. Although she noted she could never remember what her own voice sounded like or even what she had said in her dreams. The dreams, the good ones at least, she could only remember what Lee had said to her. She guessed that after so long of not having anyone to talk to, she had forgotten what her own voice sounded like. But no matter how hard she tried too outside her dreams, she never could bring herself to ever say anything. She didn't know why she couldn't do it because she knew she definitely capable of speaking, but something was stopping her every time she opened her mouth to say something.

Only in her dreams with Lee did she speak and even then she could never remember anything she had said, the words never registered in her ears although Lee would respond to them. Leaving Clem to guess what they'd have even talked about, which angered her but she couldn't bring herself to really care all that much about it.

She had started writing down her personal thoughts about her feelings a few days ago, at least ones that she considered important enough to care about in her notebook. Skipping past pages of possible conversations for trades that never happened and words she might have to say to someone, to pages dedicated to what she could remember about her dream talks with Lee, she began writing down her thoughts on paper wondering if she was possibly sick or something.

While writing she heard a vehicle honking its horns, she was sitting in an abandoned fire department building and ran towards a window to see what was happening outside. She spotted the trucks and people she had saw days prior at the Home Depot. They began exiting the truck and started executing any walkers that were attracted by the noise.

'sh*t' she worried about what this group of people might do to her if they found her, she grabbed her wagon and began searching for an exit that didn't have any people or walkers nearby. Hearing the sounds of fighting begin to die down, in a panic she opened a door and began running away from the building as fast as she can in the hopes that no one would chase after her. Failing to notice someone to her left she heard a gunshot but didn't stop running until she made a considerable amount of distance away from the fire department building. She felt a hot liquid running down her left cheek, she chose to worry about it later and kept running. She heard the trucks start driving, getting closer, she spotted a neighborhood she could hide out in on her right.

She searched around for a house that was mostly intact that she could hide in, in the hopes that the group would eventually give up and leave. She could hear the trucks driving around getting closer to the neighborhood she was in. Settling on a one story house in the middle of the street she opened the door and dragged her wagon inside and slammed the door shut locking it. Running towards the backyard door she found it already locked and began pulling the wagon into the bedroom locking the door. Seeing that the room had a mirror in it she checked her cheek seeing that the bullet had grazed her just slightly. Taking her backpack off she checked for any something to clean it, only finding a tiny bottle of rubbing alcohol. Not wanting to waste a bandage she just poured some of the liquid directly onto her cheek sucking in some air as the pain caused her to flinch and nearly drop the bottle. Throwing the bottle of rubbing alcohol back in her backpack and looked for anything to block the bedroom door. She found a small dresser and pushed it behind the door and began listening for the truck. It had gotten louder and eventually stopped causing her heart to stop for a second. She heard a door nearby burst open.

"Hello!" A rough, gravelly sounding voice shouted nearby.

"Sorry about my man Nick shooting you, he says you startled him when you bolted outside the fire department building nearby." The man apologized for the actions of one of his group members.

"Now I know you probably don't trust me." Another nearby house door slammed open. "But we truly don't mean any harm to you, at the least any further harm if you come out, I promise to help you out with any injuries as I noticed some blood on the road. Hell I'll even let you join my community." The man promised attempting draw me out.

The front door to the house she was in began to be kicked. Clementine heard multiple voices just outside. After a few more attempts the front door burst open with a loud bang, followed by heavy footsteps. She grabbed her pistol and hid next to the bed pointing her gun at the door. She heard the footsteps move around the house for a bit, as well as doors being opened. Eventually the doorknob to the bedroom she was in started to rattle.

"Hey, you in here man!" A different voice came out rattling the doorknob some more, the mans voice sounding a bit country with an aggressive tone.

"I'm gonna kick this f*ckin' door down, if you don't open it!" He yelled waiting for a response for a few seconds before proceeding with kicking the door.

"Pull back Troy, we got lurkers inbound." She heard another voice ordered as someone else entered the house, another man from the sound of the voice though it was much lighter and friendlier sounding.

"sh*t!" The voice that had been identified as Troy cursed as the kicking stopped and she heard them exit the home.

She stayed frozen in place with her pistol pointing at the door until she heard the truck drive off. Placing her gun back into her waistband she lifted her backpack up noticing that her hands had begun to shake from the adrenaline. Standing up and walking to the door she pushed the dresser away, unlocked and opened the door, grabbed her wagon and left the house. Looking around the neighborhood to make sure they were actually gone, she decided after that event, that she had to Tennessee immediately and never come back.

She eventually found herself in Asheville, North Carolina, it had become spring she noted as the weather had warmed up significantly in the past week or so. She had managed to find a decent sized herd a while ago, leading them around as she searched around for supplies. She had ran out of canned goods a bit ago but still had dried meat that was slowly running out.

The herd had grown significantly as she passed through a few city blocks noting down any points of interest. Spotting an upturned semi truck she walked around it, seeing the gate open and looking inside she found a gold mine of canned beans and peaches that she quickly grabbed and begun stacking multiple cans into her backpack, food bag, tool bag, even her ammo bag and placing boxes of canned foods on the wagon itself. Knowing that something like this would probably never happen to her again and she should take as much food as she needed or could carry. The food had weighed her down a bit but she didn't care as the food she had found could last her a while. Feeling that her luck had started turning around since the fire department incident and the close call she had to being shot in the head. Her cheek started to itch as she thought about it, the wound had healed but left a line of slightly lighter shade of skin on her cheek.

"Hey sweetpea, what's wrong?" She heard Lee whisper to her.

She felt her mouth move but the words didn't register in her ears.

"You're strong Clem, stronger than anyone I know." He reassured her as a response to something she had no recollection of saying.

She said something again for a minute to which Lee just responded back with "I know." pulling her into a hug as he rubbed her back.

"Just remember Clem, don't be afraid of anything." He told her as he got up and started walking into the shadows of the train car.

She looked up at him, getting up and attempting to run towards him, not wanting him to leave. She woke up with a jolt as soon as he disappeared from her sight, she gasped for air and looked around to dozens of walkers around her resting spot in the back of a random broken down van on the highway. She placed her raincoat back on and waited for sunrise as she rubbed her eyes before putting her rubber gloves on. She sat there speculating as she waited as to what the conversation from her dream was even about.

Stepping out the car as soon as the orange light from the sunrise appeared, she grabbed the handle of her wagon, threw an empty can and continued walking down the road with her herd, losing some and gaining some as they continued on their journey.

They had walked for hours until noon had finally arrived. Arriving at a shoe shop, she entered the store and started looking around. Her shoes had begun falling apart as the soles had started to flop around and detach. Grabbing a similar pair of shoes that fit her snug this time, she replaced her old ones and then left the store.

It had become summer again recently and the heat was on the brink of unbearable. The food she had stockpiled months ago was finally nearing its end as she only had 11 cans left and she had to start hunting again.

Eventually she found a creek not too far from the road, dragging her wagon out of the road and covering it in branches and anything else she could find. Pulling a knife from her pocket she grabbed a large branch and started fashioning a spear learning how to make one after reading that book she found in cabin all those months ago. Taking her socks and shoes off she stood in the creek waiting for any fish to pass by. Catching only three small fish after a few hours, she gutted and descaled the fish, throwing them in a pot with some water and started cooking them in her camping stove.

After the small meal she washed the pot off and grabbed some water out of the creek and boiled it for a few minutes, let it cool and poured it into her empty water bottles. Repeating the process one more time to refill all of them and then packing her stuff up.

Putting her socks and shoes back on she got up, grabbed her wagon after throwing the junk off and continued walking down the road. The herd had left while she was fishing so she was alone for now and had decided to take her raincoat off to stay cool. She walked for a few minutes before stopping as she heard something, she didn't recognize the sound for a few seconds before realizing it was a truck. She ran into the woods thanking god that the entrance to them wasn't steep so her wagon wouldn't slip down and dropped behind some trees. She waited a few minutes as the truck stopped for a bit, two men in camo attire stepped out, one older and the other younger. They began yelling at each other angrily, she recognized the voice of the younger guy as being Tony or something, the guy who tried busting down the bedroom door she was hiding behind in Tennessee, inadvertently finding herself trying to sink further into the ground. The older guy didn't sound familiar to her at all but seemed angry about something Tony was saying. They eventually stopped arguing and drove off leaving Clem wondering just how far she'd have to walk to get away from these people.

She started wishing she could drive a car but she was still too short to even reach the pedals, on top of not knowing how to even do so. Getting back up off the ground and brushing off dirt and twigs that had stuck to her, she pulled her cap off and used her forearm to wipe the sweat off her face. Using the hat as a fan she began dragging the wagon back towards the road and decided to try going north in the hopes that they wouldn't go that far.

The weather had started cool down a bit, guessing it was around September or October, she didn't know for sure exactly. All she knew is the weather was cool enough to not sweat buckets everyday but warm enough to not have to wear her hoodie and multiple socks everyday. The area she'd also arrived in was surrounded by forest, having seen nothing but trees and hills for the past month. Her herd had long since disappeared in that time, having chosen to just leave her and enter the forest when she had to sleep somewhere.

She had to abandon her wagon and her ammo and tool duffle bags from a close call with that group she'd kept encountering over the past months, a thin woman with red hair had spotted her in a building they were searching, promptly assumed she was a walker and had fired at her. They seemed to be searching for something had Clementine had deduced as they ransacked every town and building she'd seen them in. The guy in the fur-lined coat seemed especially upset about something having executed some random group in a fit of rage, although what had him angry she didn't really care about. All she knew is that she wanted to avoid the group like the plague as they had tried killing her twice now and left most towns empty of any supplies as she waited for them leave.

Leading to her current predicament, she was worried about her food supply as she only had 3 cans of ravioli left that she'd found a few days ago, the peaches and beans having ran out a few weeks ago. Hunting hadn't been going so well for her either, everything seemingly avoided her from what she guessed was because of the raincoat that smelt like death. She was on the fence about cleaning it as on one hand it'd make it a whole lot easier to sneak up on something, on the other, she didn't want to get eaten by some walker or animal that snuck up on her as she walked through the trees or if she had to sleep in the open.

She'd tried spearfishing again but the river she found was much too big to use her spear so she decided against it. She skimmed through the survival book she'd found and learned how to forage some wild fruits, veggies, and mushrooms that were safe to eat. She tried avoiding having to eat mushrooms though as she wasn't the biggest fan of them, but ended up having to eat them most of the time anyways. Currently she was snacking on some mulberries she had found, enjoying having something sweet for a change.

Night was approaching and not managing to find any shelter, she chose to crawl inside a hollowed out log, for some semblance of cover. Just as she closed her eyes, something started rustling around nearby. Clementine grabbed her pistol out of her waistband, aiming at the entrance to the log, she froze and held her breath in an attempt to make less noise as well as to better hear what was around.

The first thing she noticed were the footsteps and the breathing, they were heavy, too heavy to be human. She refused to make a single sound as the creature outside the log began sniffing loudly, letting out a huff every few seconds. The noises stopped when it had gotten close to the logs entrance and her heart felt like it had stopped before whatever was outside decided that whatever it had smelled didn't seem worth the trouble and walked off.

Clementine let out the breath she was holding, gasping for air from having to hold her breath for so long. She didn't get much sleep that night if any, paranoid about any animals nearby or whatever had been outside coming back.

The next morning, she pulled her stuff out of the log and stared at the tracks that were left behind by whatever had passed by last night. The prints were huge, bigger than her head even, a bear had been outside the log last night. Clementine could only guess as to what had caused it to leave the area, but she hoped the scent of her raincoat had made the bear decide that whatever drew it here wasn't worth it. She decided not to wash it after that, in the hopes that it was driving predators away.

Beginning her search for shelter, she had come across a snare trap that had a living rabbit stuck in it. Not having had meat in weeks, she picked the rabbit up out of the trap. 'Sorry' she apologized in her head as she snapped its neck and shoved it in her backpack, deciding against dressing it right now as she was still paranoid about any bears being nearby getting attracted to the smell of blood. She didn't really know what her plan past finding shelter though was as she wondered where would she go past this point, she needed food which the forest had more than enough of, from fish, to wild game and vegetation. The forest had everything she could ever need and she saw no reason to leave yet, if ever, and although the potential for coming across a hungry bear still scared her to no end. Clem had decided that was a risk she was willing to take, as she was sure that the potential for coming across anyone in the large forest was low.

Hours passed and she had found her new home, a ruined truck with cigarette boxes in the back. Not really sure what to do with them she just threw them onto the front seat. She placed her bags down and started dressing the rabbit outside the truck, grabbing some leaves, sticks and branches, she started a fire with matches. She sharpened a stick and speared the critter on it, holding it over the flame and devouring it once it had finished. Throwing the carcass into the trees somewhere she reentered the truck, closing the doors and locking them. She laid down on the ground only realizing just now how tired she was from getting no sleep at all the past night. Her eyes had been burning from the lack of sleep and she found herself closing her eyes against her will.

Clementine didn't dream about anything that day, having her first peaceful rest since Savannah. Happy that she had a semi-permanent home now that she had shelter to come back to and a forest full of food. She had spent weeks in the truck after finding it, finally finding some sense of normalcy. Although, unknowingly to Clementine it wouldn't stay that way for much longer, completely unaware of the groups that had begun to converge onto the forest.

Chapter 3: A Home Lost

Chapter Text

After Clementine's first day since moving inside the truck, she started placing traps within the surrounding area. She marked areas with her traps by marking trees with a 'T' with her hunting knife. She also attempted finding a stream or river she could use for fishing marking trees with an 'R' as she hiked. After plodding around the forest for a while she eventually found a stream that she could for water on top of fishing. She walked along the bank to scope things out and stumbled upon a part of the stream that had an island in the middle splitting the it in two for a bit. 'sh*t.' She had found fish traps in the water, and decided she'd be better off going back the way she came in the case they came to check on their traps.

As Clementine began her hike back, she started pondering on what her ultimate plan here was. She knew that someone was around for sure now. Thankfully, her truck was a considerable amount of distance from the snare she had found the rabbit in, as well as the fish traps from the stream. Knowing that she still had to be prepared in the case somebody decided to come around, she started by attempting to make the area more defensible.

Clementine, however, had quickly realized that was nearly impossible for her right now, as she didn't have most of her work tools anymore. She still had a hammer, hunting knife, gutting knife, a crowbar, and hand axe. She could use the hunting knife to make more spears, but she didn't have anything to sharpen the blade with, so she didn't want to risk making the blade more dull than it already was. She also had the option of making a fall back area somewhere far away from the truck, though considering she had nowhere near enough food or supplies to even bother attempting it that plan was ignored for now. Deciding to return to that option for a later date, stuck on what she could do, she kicked an empty can. Which made a light bulb go off in her head, as she decided that she could just tie up some of the junk around as a type of alarm system to let her know if anyone or anything had entered the area. Searching for any junk, scraps, or anything that could make noise, in the truck and on the forest floor, she got started setting up noise makers, using vines as rope and tied them to trees to hold them up. Clementine only managed to surround about a tenth of the area with the crap she had managed to find.

Afterwards, Clementine decided to try hunting and foraging around for anything edible. She only managed to find some wild onions and acorns that she just ignored before the sun began to set. She knew that the acorns could be made to be edible, but had no idea how to do so. The page from her survival book that brought up the topic had been torn up when she found the book a year ago, only showing tidbits that didn't give any meaningful details on what to do. She had once even tried to just bite into the flesh of an acorn weeks ago and had to spend the rest of the day tasting nothing but that awful bitterness.

As she trudged back to the truck, she saw a bird's nest in one of the trees, attempted to climb it for the eggs or baby birds that were up there. As she climbed, she went to grab a branch that immediately snapped once she had grasped it, surprising the little girl. 'f*ck.' is all she thought as she lost her footing and proceeded to fall off the tree and straight onto her back. Laying there for a second contemplating before letting out a groan, she sat up placing one hand on the ground and the other on her knee, and started pushing herself off the forest floor. Not wanting to go hungry today, and feeling like her pride had been injured, she tried climbing the tree again and this time successfully reached the nest.

'Five tiny little eggs.' she did a little celebratory fist pump, climbed down the tree and returned back to the truck she had made her home.

Starting a small fire once she got back, she boiled the eggs in a pot. She wished she could fry them, but the lack of any oil or pans had forced her to boil most of her food. She washed the onions in the stream, then placed some in the boiling water as well. When the eggs had finished she scooped them out with a 'Y' shaped branch she had found. Waiting for them to cool before peeling them she started thinking about whoever else might be here. They were knowledgeable enough to make snares and fish traps, possibly had a group, considering that she had found more than a couple fish traps when she had found them. She had thought about leeching off the traps, considering that they were already established, but didn't want to risk getting caught in the act. She could go at night, but it got extremely dark by then and it was dangerous considering the wildlife that was around. After a few minutes of indecisiveness, she scooped the onions out of the pot and started peeling the eggs. Botching the first two a bit, she managed to remove the shells from the last three with no problems.

She took bites from both the eggs and onions at the same time, practically inhaling them. Once she finished eating, she watched the fire die down and moved the pot out of the minuscule flame. The water from the pot eventually cooled down enough that she started sipping it, noting the oniony flavor it had. All in all, apart from falling off the tree, today was a very successful day in her book.

The very next day at sunrise, she decided to go down to the stream to check out the fish traps and wait to see if anyone would come to check on them. She waited for a few hours as the sun had moved to the center of the sky, and when no one came she decided to leave and check again another day. On the way back home, she had been up random junk and throwing it in her backpack to extend her alarm system, finding a few glass bottles and cans.

Her alarm system had drawn in three walkers, that she began clearing out and then gutted one of them to smother her raincoat in the walkers insides. As she removed the coat, she noted the patches of duct tape that had grown in number over the years as it got caught on things. This once bright yellow coat had essentially been her lifeline, even if she got sick from the stench sometimes, for the longest time. The outside layer of the coat having been stained a dark brown color from having been drenched in walker blood and guts, with only a few splotches having retained the original color. She knew that eventually she'd need to find a replacement for the dingy coat one day, but she that didn't stop from feeling the least bit sentimental towards the piece of clothing as she finished rubbing guts on it and put it back on.

She decided to check her traps, most were empty finding that the last one had been triggered by a mouse. She checked to see if the rodent was dead by twisting its head before untying it. Not wanting to risk what happened last year with a squirrel escaping her once when she thought it was dead, back when she stayed at the cabin in Tennessee. If she remembered where that cabin was, she'd probably return there, but was also extremely hesitant to return to the state, as she was still extremely cautious about coming across the large group that seemed adamant on ruining her day every time she came across them. She still thought about that first real encounter she had with them every now and then. She truly thought that she might've died that day, the scar on her cheek reminding her of just how close she was to death.

The memory had made her angry enough to want to get revenge towards whoever that guy 'Nick' or whatever his name is, that had shot her that day. The stress and anxiety from that event had still made her extremely paranoid about entering or leaving any buildings. She was also angry at the red haired lady, but she kind of understood why that one had shot at her as she was walking with a group of walkers when the bullets started flying, although she was still extremely pissed about most of her stuff being gone.

Returning back to the truck, mouse in hand, and even more junk to use as noisemakers, she started getting busy before the sun could set. Having managed to now surround about a third of the area in alarms. After that, she started a fire and got started with preparing her mouse, dressing it and skewering it with the leftover onions she had found yesterday.

'Never thought I'd be eating a mouse.' She joked to herself, holding the rodent over the fire. Then again she didn't think she'd be doing any of the things she'd done in the past two or so years. She was approaching her third winter in this messed up world and she had amassed a bit of a body count over that timeframe. She'd probably killed hundreds of walkers in her nonstop journey around Georgia, the Carolina's and Tennessee. She'd also killed some living as well, although she never thought about the act of killing a living person as much anymore. It had become a normal thing for her at this point, the teenager in that Georgia restroom was the tipping point for her she guessed, as each time she'd been the cause of someone's death after that had just been something she did to survive. She mostly used walkers to do the deeds, but sometimes she did have to shoot someone, stab, or smash their head in with a hammer. She remembered each one though, the stranger was her first, then Lee, the couple in the shed, the teenager, some weird old lady in a zoo that had tried to lock her up in a cage, three bandits that had caught her rubbing herself in walker guts inside a library. She didn't exactly know what they had wanted from her as they kept saying words she didn't understand, but she didn't want to ask as she stabbed the guy who had tried to grab her, running away and shooting the other two while they looked for her. The last people she had killed were a group of five that were attacking a family stuck inside a burning house, she had been in a herd at the time that were attracted by the noise and followed them to the conflict. She had shot at some of them with the crossbow she used to have, and let the herd take care of the rest as she attempted to help the family in the building... they didn't make it.

Clementine shook herself out of her thoughts when she saw that the mouse had finally finished cooking. Noting the flavor to be similar to rabbit meat, just nowhere near as big and filling. Throwing the carcass into the trees when she finished eating, she snuffed out the flame and entered the truck to sleep.

A week had passed since she had moved inside the truck, she had finally finished setting up her alarm system and had managed to finally rack in enough food from her traps and fishing that she needed to start preserving the meat. Her daily check ups on who might own the fish traps had been fruitless, the group either seemed to check on them before she got there or after she left. She could see the tracks the group had left on the other side of the riverbank but chose not to follow them just in the case that they might be more trouble than it's worth. The weather had also started cooling rapidly since then, her hoodie just barely keeping her warm now as she filled out her clothes entirely now, no longer needing to roll the sleeves up. Consequently, leading to her needing to find something warmer whenever she could. The hides from the rabbits and squirrels would have been useful to her so she could make gloves or some form of scarf, if she still had her sewing kit, so she just threw them into the fires she made whenever she cooked something.

Clementine had also started practicing trying to start fires without a lighter or match, the result being less than satisfactory most of the time, but she found that the bow-drill thingy worked the best for her. She just needed more practice to keep up the pace and not let the ember die out. Her tinder supply had also been growing as a result of her practice attempts. Although, perhaps she was hoarding more than she needed as the amount of firewood she collected could last her awhile. Considering the fact she only had a fire lit for at most a half hour or so.

The only thing that she was really worried about was the wildlife, she'd heard wolves or what she thought were wolves running around whenever she checked her traps. She didn't think they'd bother her, as she smelt like a rotten corpse and never saw a walker on her hikes that looked like it had been eaten by something. Not to say she didn't clean herself, as she washed her clothes and herself every now and then. She just never really thought of the act as too important these days, the smell of her raincoat stopped truly bothering her a long time ago and whatever her body could cook up was practically like walking in a field of flowers compared to it.

She had begun her eighth trek towards the fish traps, hoping that she'd finally see who owned them. Before she could even see the riverbank though she heard voices, she didn't recognize them at first, but as she got closer she froze. Two of the people there she had sworn she'd seen before, the old guy in camouflage and the guy in an orange shirt, the other one was some lanky dude with a baseball cap.

"You think Carver will find us here, Pete?" The guy with the orange shirt asked.

"Maybe, I don't see how he would, but considering the type of man he is, I dunno. Carver'd probably dig to the depths of hell if it meant that he'd get us back." The older man joked, but with a serious tone.

"Ain't that the truth, the bastard was obsessed with finding whoever I shot at in that neighborhood sixth months ago, for like a month or so." The lanky guy stated.

'You asshole.' Clementine cursed in her head as the guy she now identified as Nick spoke again.

"Say Luke, you ever figure out what came about with those searches?" He asked the guy in the orange shirt.

"Nah. But that asshole Troy did swear he had found 'em before we were forced to leave from the Lurkers." He answered. "He did also say he had seen someone by your description of "a midget in a yellow raincoat running around covered in sh*t and guts" walking around with some walkers a few weeks after on a scavenging run." Luke said in a bit of a mocking voice.

"sh*t." Nick cursed softly as he watched the backs of the other two checking the traps.

"Maybe you'd feel better, if you learned to keep your finger off the trigger, son." Pete chided Nick who got angry after the words came out.

"How many times do I gotta tell you, I ain't your damn son?!" Nick yelled at the older man. "Plus the f*cker shouldn't have startled me like that, especially covered in all that crap." Defending his actions.

"Can you both quiet the f*ck down before you bring out every damn lurker in this damn forest towards us?!" Luke scolded both of them. "sh*t, what's done is done, let's just get these traps emptied and get back. Carlos has been on my ass about the food situation, and I don't feel like telling him Sarah might not eat today because of you two arguing." He kept going on after that.

Clementine decided that she didn't feel like listening to them argue anymore and left. She knew who owned the traps at least, and judging by what they said, they had left their previous group. That didn't exactly absolve them of nearly killing her, especially since that Nick guy didn't exactly seem all that apologetic about believing he got her killed. Her opinion of the other two wasn't all too bad though.

After finding out who owned the traps, Clementine chose not to bother checking their part of the river anymore as there wasn't a point in it anymore. She spent the rest of the day foraging, finding more wild onions, a mushroom that her book identified as 'chicken of the woods' as well as some mulberries. She also started building fish traps of her own once she got back home, deciding that she should try to make obtaining her food as hands off as she could. Not for any particular reason, just for the reassurance that if she didn't catch anything during the day, the traps would make sure she at least had something to eat. She also felt like being a little petty, if it meant the other group got less food.

Five days had passed since Clementine found out who owned the fish traps. Her own traps had been doing a good job at getting her fish, steadily obtaining a surplus of meat that she had been keeping the fire going to smoke the meat and fish almost every night now. She had gotten started on making a tiny little smokehouse out of mud, logs, and vines. Mostly just to hide the light of the fire she'd have to leave burning overnight.

Most of her day was spent foraging around now for anything that could help with making the food taste better. During that time, she'd also write in her notebook about anything she'd learned or was planning on doing while in the forest. Right now, she was documenting what she'd need for a fallback area, in the case someone had found her truck. She had been storing the dehydrated fish and small game meat in rags she had cleaned and placed in her duffle bag and backpack. Clementine had also stored her duffle bag, a few minutes walk away from the truck, under the roots of a tree and buried it under a bunch of branches and leaves. If there was anything that she learned from the people she'd come across, is that she needed to have a fallback plan, especially in an area like this. She also marked the tree with an 'F' if she ever forgot where it was. As of now she was debating on whether or not she would need to make spears in case she lost her weapons. She still had one she had made when she first arrived in the forest, that while not the longest, refused to break. Clementine had burned the spear tip black, as she had read it could make wood a little stronger and it seemed to work well enough. She didn't have much use for spearfishing anymore, so she used the weapon for killing walkers that had been drawn to her home. The weapon struggled a tiny bit at getting through the skulls, but she blamed that on her lack of height as she had no problem stabbing downed walkers with it.

Placing her notebook back in her backpack, she looked at her haul for the day. Onions, garlic, and some extremely sour grapes called muscadine that she had confirmed were indeed safe to eat. The sun still had a few hours before setting, leaving her with a decent amount of time to gather her thoughts as she walked back home.

Clementine had dreamt about talking to Lee in the train again yesterday, the man had seemed sad about something. She knew it wasn't real, but the dream had put her off a bit, if only for a few minutes. He didn't say much to her in that dream, just sat with her and watched the trees pass on by as the train had chugged along the tracks. After a while he just stood up, said "I'm sorry Clem" and left. She didn't really know what the dream had meant, all of the dreams, the good ones, he had just been there to help her with something she was struggling with mentally, or to just remind her of something he'd told her when he was still alive. This dream had been different though, and she didn't know how to feel about it. She hadn't been very good at dealing with her emotions in the past two years, remembering how Kenny explained where Duck got his nickname. She didn't really get the joke at the time, but she understood it now. Whenever something bad had happened to her since Savannah, she didn't dwell on it much. Sure she still felt angry or sad about things, it just didn't seem to affect her that much anymore. She'd found it easier and easier to kill a living person every time she did, and walkers didn't even bother her all that much anymore since she practically lived with them for two years.

Clementine had finally gotten back home and decided to look at herself in the rearview mirror of the truck. Her hair had grown a lot since she last cut it, taking her cap off and grabbing her knife she started trimming it. Checking the mirror after finishing to see how she'd done, she frowned. She'd cut a bit too much on the top, and if she didn't have her pigtails, she was sure someone would think she was a boy. She placed her knife back in its sheath and picked her cap back up. Staring at the blood stains Lee had left on it for a moment before putting it back on. That hat had always stirred up bad memories for her, but she never could bring herself to get rid of it. It was the only thing she had left of her dad, and Lee had died trying to save her and return the hat back to her.

She eventually got over herself and went to the stream to wash the fruits and vegetables she had gathered. As well as to wash her some of her clothes and herself.

The weather had gotten even colder, winter was approaching fast and she already started noticing that her snares were catching less game. It also got harder to sleep in the truck, as the metal floor made it hard to stay warm, although she fixed that problem somewhat by using the cardboard from the boxes full of cigarettes cases and pine needles. She needed to find something warmer than the aforementioned cardboard and pine needles. Although she didn't have much luck in that department as there weren't many blankets or clothing stores in forests. The fabric of the chairs were an option she considered as she didn't have much use for them, the only problem with the idea being the fact that she'd have to work around them being bolted down. Seeing no other issues with the idea, she got to work cutting the chairs open, pulling the spongey material out and placing it under the cardboard she had laid out for sleeping. She then got to work on the fabric, making sure to keep both the chairs fabric in one piece as she cut them up. She had to cut around the bolts holding the chairs to the frame, leaving a few tiny holes in the makeshift blankets, but other than that she was proud of her work. They weren't the warmest coverings on the planet and they were kind of itchy when they met bare skin, but it was better than literally nothing so she didn't care all that much.

Clementine waited for her clothes to dry near the fire, putting them back on and curling inside her makeshift bed in the truck. When she woke up the next day, she saw that five walkers had entered her camp. Grabbing her raincoat and spear, she went to finish them off, smothered her coat in guts and dragged them off somewhere so she didn't have to smell them. By the time she got back to camp, she was exhausted from having to move five bodies just as she woke up.

Her alarms had been working a bit too well it seems, but she didn't bother to remove them. She just repaired any that broke or fell and went on with her day.

She repeated that schedule of killing walkers, checking traps, foraging, and so on. After a week, Clementine noticed that her snare traps at this point had stopped catching anything. The fish traps were still catching fish, but she was going to have to start eating less meat now until the winter passed and the critters started coming out again.

It had also started raining nearly every other day, which had really messed up things for her as she had to abandon her coat in the truck when she checked her traps. Her blue hoodie had also seen its last days, being torn up from a bad fall she took when slipping down a tiny hill.

She ripped the piece of clothing down into rags she could use, but she was aggravated by the loss. She now had to start using makeshift torches to stay warm during her daily trap checks. Using fabric from clothing that the walkers she killed were wearing as fuel. She also noted that walker goop as she had called it was decent enough for burning if she soaked rags in the stuff, since the old walkers didn't really retain water in their bodies anymore the stuff inside them burned easy and for a while, which was good for her, even if it smelled something awful and the stench stuck to her clothes.

She'd hear the group of runaways every now and then while checking on her own traps. They argued quite a bit it seemed, hell she was surprised they hadn't killed each other by this point, seeing as they never seemed to shut up when they started. She'd always try finishing up early when she heard them going at it, as she had to deal with some walkers sneaking up on her one time when her trip had coincided with their own.

She found herself hating the other group more and more as the days went on. They kept finding ways to make her life harder it seemed. She was on the verge of packing her sh*t up and leaving, but decided against it, as she had a good thing going for her right now. She knew it would only be a matter of time before the runaways decided to leave, it was just a matter of who would go first.

Catching nothing for the day, she got up and started walking back home. Just as the truck came into view though she heard people talking. Sticking the torch in the mud to put the flame out, she started listening.

"I'm telling you Roman, there's gotta be someone here, look at all this sh*t." One of the voices stated.

"And I'm telling you Winston, that it isn't worth the trouble. Let's just grab the stuff and go." The voice she assumed was Roman argued.

"If we take this sh*t and leave, whoever owns this crap is gonna want to know where it went man!" Another voice argued.

Clementine mentally cursing to herself, attempted to make a quick getaway. As she walked away she slipped on some mud and lost her footing, making a loud splashing noise as she got covered in mud and water.

"What was that?" She heard a voice chime in.

'sh*t' Clementine stood up and started running away, she started searching for her duffle bag she had hid away, but was forced to leave when she heard the group of scavengers get closer, yelling to each other trying to scope her out.

"I think I saw 'em over here!" One of them yelled.

"f*ck! Someone help me up, I slipped in some sh*t!" Another begged the voice much quieter than before.

She ran even harder, not even looking back in the fear that they'd be right behind her.

She ran for a long time, tripping over roots, dodging walkers, never looking back as she did.

Clementine stopped running, placing her hands on her knees as she ran out of breath. Her chest hurting from the nonstop running.

'Goddamn it' taking deep breaths to trying regain her energy. 'Just calm down and think Clem' she thought to herself. She only had a few things in her backpack as she needed the room to carry anything she had caught or foraged. The bag only contained a few scraps of paper, a lighter, a water bottle, the picture of Lee, and a two dried strips of meat. She still had her pistol in her waistband and her hunting knife attached to one of her belt loops.

Clementine was completely drenched at this point and was forced to search for anything dry to use to make a fire. It was becoming night soon and she'd need to eat soon. Grabbing any wood she could find she attempted to make a fire, she spent almost an hour trying to get it to stay hot as the rain kept trying to put the flames out. Eventually the fire had gotten hot enough that it could somewhat sustain itself, she kept throwing random sticks and logs she could find into the fire though, just incase it tried to die. She stayed up all night, picking at a strip of dry meat that wasn't enough to keep her full, shivering in an attempt to keep the fire alive.

Chapter 4: All That Remains

Chapter Text

Clementine had been forced to abandon her camp, because of the scavengers, three days ago. She hadn't eaten anything substantial for two. Today though, she had caught some type of weasel, roasting it over a fire that was much too wet, low and dim to even cook the damn thing. The rain was getting real bad lately, hell she'd probably be eating the damn thing for breakfast at this point. She'd been sitting on some fallen tree, waiting for the weasel to cook. Getting impatient she grabbed her backpack out from inside a slightly hollowed out part of the log in an attempt to keep it dry. She'd also stored her gun in there, as she was scared of damaging her gun. Searching around for a lighter, she grabbed her photo of Lee, staring for a few seconds at it before putting it in her back pocket. After a bit of digging she found the lighter and grabbed some scraps of paper.

Walking over to the fire, she lit the pieces of paper and dropped into the fire in the hopes it'd somehow make the thing grow. When that failed she searched around for anything that was somewhat dry, grabbing a split log she had sitting next to the flame and throwing it in. It took a second but the flame did grow a tiny margin, but not enough to cook the weasel. Realizing she had to get up and search around for more wood to burn, she left the fire unattended for a bit. Walking out into the darkness in search of tinder, she had found a couple of sticks, and rotting branches. As she was walking back though, she suddenly was forced to the ground as someone had pushed her. Spitting out mud that had gotten in her mouth, and standing up, she found herself face to face with the barrel of a gun.

"Where's your group?" A black guy in a grey hoodie asked shoving the gun in her face.

The girl tried to open her mouth and say she was alone, but the words refused to come out. So she tried shaking her head and pointing at her mouth, to try saying she can't speak.

"Jesus, are you f*ckin' kidding?!" A balding white guy yelled.

"A mute, little girl out her alone? In the middle of nowhere?" Another one chimed in, another black guy, but this one had lighter skin and long hair.

"But we haven't met anyone yet. How many people are you with?" The guy asked her.

"Hate to see someone get hurt." The guy pointing a gun at her threatened.

'sh*t sh*t sh*t' Clementine tried shaking her head again pointing her hands towards herself in an attempt to try saying she's alone. Only raising eyebrows as they tried to understand what she meant.

"Now, hold on, she's setting you up." The balding white guy tried arguing.

"You're obviously with someone. Where's your group?" The guy in the hoodie pushed the gun towards her head.

"Don't f*cking lie to us!" The white guy yelled at her.

"Who do you think you're foolin'?" The hoodie guy questioned her.

"Give us the truth, and you don't get hurt." Baldy threatened.

Trying to figure out how to say she was alone again, she was brought out of her thoughts as she found herself on the ground again.

"You f*ckin' with me? Where's the rest of your group?! The hoodie guy shouted.

Looking at all of them, desperately attempting to figure out how to get them to believe her. They started bombarding her again.

"Come on guys! She's not saying!" The light skinned guy got closer, pointing his gun at her as well.

"You expect us to believe you're out here all alone?!" Hoodie guy questioned her.

Clementine heard walkers approaching as the group kept yelling at her. Realizing it was do or die time, she waited for them to notice the shambling corpses approaching them, before throwing a rock at the white guys head and taking off.

"What the f*ck?!" The guy groaned in pain, before pulling himself out of his stupor noticing the little girl running off. "Hey!" He shouted, chasing after Clementine.

Clementine ran as fast as she could in the muddy terrain, trying to escape the man chasing her. Gunshots ringing out from what she assumed was the other two fighting walkers.

"Get the f*ck over her! NOW!" The one chasing her screamed.

Hiding behind a tree, Clementine tried to quiet down, her breathing rapid from the brief over exertion.

"Motherf*cker! Come out here, girl. I'm not f*cking around. Look, girl, ain't no way you're smart enough to get outta this. Just come out." The man tried drawing her out.

The man got closer to her hiding spot. Seeing no other choice she bolted, the man quickly taking notice of her.

"sh*t! Get the f*ck over here!" He ordered as he chased after her.

As she ran she realized a tree was blocking her way, crawling under it and continuing to sprint off. Lungs burning as they begged for her to stop.

"Goddamn it!" The man yelled, eventually catching up to her. Knocking her to the ground and dragging her by Clementine by her foot.

Clementine kept thrashing around, doing everything she could to break out of his grasp.

"Man, this is such sh*t. Come! On! Just-f*ckin'-god, if you aren't a f*ckIN' pain in the ass!" He cursed pulling her along with him.

Clementine spotted and grabbed a rock, turning around and smashing it against his hand. Taking off once he let go.

"Ah, f*ck! sh*t!" The man screamed, clutching his hand, before chasing after the little girl again.

Clementine dodges past a walker, hoping for it to slow or kill the man.

The man kicked the walker's knee, making it fall down as he proceeded to stomp the hungry corpse's head in.

Clementine stops by a tree, ripping off a pointy looking branch.

The man charges towards her, dodging and countering it with a stab to his shoulder.

"Jesus, are you f*cking kidding me?!" He yowled in pain. Knocking her to the ground again.

Clementine tried kicking his hands, attempting to aggravate the hand she had injured earlier.

"Ah, f*ck!" He howled letting go of her.

Clementine continued trying to escape, stopping as she had nearly fallen off the riverbank.

The man grabbed her again.

"Stop f*ckin' running! Quit squirmin'!" He ordered.

She bit down on his hand hard, drawing blood.

"Ah! f*ck! Ah! Ow, let go, you little bitch, Jesus Christ!" He released her and she tried crawling into a hollowed out log.

"Come out of there!" He grabbed her leg again, dragging her out of the log.

Clementine attempted kicking his hands again, but he refused to let go of her. As he continued dragging her, she grabbed onto a nearby tree.

"Jesus, are you f*ckin' kidding me?! Come on, girl." Finally pulling her off the tree, and throwing her to the ground. He grabbed her wrists to hold her down, Clementine kicking him in an attempt to get away.

"Kid, you are on my last f*cking nerve! Stop f*cking kicking!" Spotting a walker nearby, she puts more behind this kick

"No, sh*t!" Getting him off and nearly getting him eaten.

She tried to run off again, but a walker had grabbed her arm through a tree. Struggling for a few seconds, she managed to break the walker's arm off. Sidestepping as another walker approached her, the walker going for the other guy instead, biting and ripping out his throat as he screamed.

Clementine broke out into a sprint, dodging walkers, before tripping on a root. Turning around and trying to crawl away, she grabbed a rock in some futile attempt to slow the walkers down. Breathing heavily as she continued crawling back, feeling nothing but the air as she fell over, rolling down the riverbank and straight into the rough waters.

She woke up feeling exhausted, wet, cold, and shivering. It had turned morning while she was out cold. Somehow her hat had managed to stay on her head. She got up, looking around spotting a broken canoe that had "JR. TANUKI'S KIDS CAMP" emblazoned on the side. The other half was stuck in the river, in between some rocks. Walking around, she spotted a broken set of stairs, jumping she tried grabbing the ledge but failed. Trying again, she managed to grip the ledge and managed to climb up with a struggle.

Looking around, she spotted a grave made from sticks, frowning at the sight. She also spotted a sign impaled into a walker's skull. Staring at the sky she also noticed the sun was already pretty close to setting soon, guessing she only had about two hours of sunlight left.

Seeing a dirt trail, she decided to follow it, coming across a wildlife warning sign.

YOU MAY ENCOUNTER:

BLACK BEARS

COYOTES

MOUNTAIN LIONS

POISONOUS SNAKES

OR OTHER SPECIES

BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS

'No sh*t.' She thought as she continued following the trail. Climbing over a tree in her path, and continuing on her way.

As she walked, she heard something rustling around in a bush. It had orangish colored fur from what she could she. Walking around she spotted a dog, who immediately started growling at her.

'Uh oh.' Clementine tried reaching out, calming the dog down as she managed to get a look at the collar. 'Nice to meet you, Sam.' She attempted to pet the dog, but he growled. 'Okay he doesn't like that one bit.'

The dog ran off a couple feet and started sniffing the ground. Clementine looked at Sam confused as he ran off.

Clementine's eyes widened as she chased after the canine. Eventually stumbling upon what seemed to be an abandoned campsite. It seemed to have been abandoned for a while, judging the appearance of it.

'God I hope there's food.' She looked around the abandoned campsite. Finding a picture of what seemed to be Sam and his owners inside the open van. 'Looks like they were a happy family once.' She frowned and placed the photo back. Searching a box next to the run down vehicle she picked up a disco broccoli toy. If she wasn't starving, she'd probably be happy about that. Tossing it back in the box she continued searching. Looking inside the grill, she found nothing on it. Moving on towards the ripped up tent, she looked inside finding nothing useful. She spotted a frisbee on the ground and stared at Sam for a second.

'Maybe later.' Walking away from the toy. She found a can on the ground, but she threw it away as it was empty. She eventually stopped at the blue cooler, staring at it.

'Please let there be something in there.' She prayed, as she opened the cooler and immediately regretted it as a horrid stench assaulted her nose.

'No food on the grill, nothing in the cooler... Ugh! I hate scavengers! They take EVERYTHING!' She cursed in her head. She began walking towards the only thing she hadn't checked yet, the trash can that was letting off a rotten smell. Scrunching her nose and rolling up her sleeves, she started digging around and grabbed a can that felt like it had weight to it. Lifting it out of the trash and looking at the can, she saw it was untampered. She went to grab her knife, but found herself grabbing air.

'Dang it!' It probably fell off her as she was escaping the group of bandits. She started searching around for anything she could use to open the can. Almost giving up, when Sam started barking at something behind a tree.

Clementine wondered what the hell the dog was barking at, in some desperate attempt to shut him up. As she closed the distance, she noticed a walker that had been tied up, unable to move away from the tree. She got closer, spotted a pocket knife stuck in the walker's shoulder, stabbing into a bite.

'Looks like he tried to cut it out.' Clementine frowned, remembering when she first noticed Lee was missing an arm, after she had shot the man that kidnapped her.

She looked at the knife embedded in the walker's arm. Then looked around for anything she might be able to use, to kill the undead corpse it was attached too. She picked up a branch that was a few feet away, stared at the walker that was desperately trying to reach her.

Clementine lifted the branch over her head, and slammed it against the walker's skull. Waiting for a bit as the walker didn't move for a second before snarling at her again. She bashed it over the head again and again, eventually breaking the walker's head open and putting it down for good. Searching the body for anything useful, she was left disappointed feeling the empty pockets. Getting back up, she yanked the knife out of the now dead corpse, she stared at the grimy, slimy liquid that was covering the blade. Wiping it on her jeans to try cleaning it, ridding the knife off of the blood. The blade was still somewhat sharp, she noted as the blade gleamed in the sunlight.

Walking over to the middle of the camp, she started opening the can with her new knife, making jagged cuts along the top. Prying the can open with the knife, and immediately began scooping the beans in the can with her hand. The dog sat in front of her whining, she contemplated sharing, but the lack of any real food for what was almost four days now, had caused her to just try eating faster.

Sam started growling at her, making Clementine jump a bit as the dog lunged at her, biting down on her arm and dragging her to the floor. Yelping in pain and surprise from the sudden onslaught, started punching the dog's face. Realizing the lack of any damage, she grabbed the knife that had fallen to the floor on her left, and stabbed Sam in the snout. The canine jumped back from the pain, before leaping straight back towards the injured child.

Clementine kicked the dog as it just barely reached her, throwing it straight behind the log she was sitting in a few seconds earlier. Picking the knife back up, she stood up and slowly started walking towards where the dog fell. Hearing its whines and subtle yelps, finally spotting the dog flailing around, impaled on some rebar spikes. She kneeled down next to the dog, staring as it desperately tried to escape the spikes that penetrated throughout its body.

'Sorry, Sam.' She brought the knife towards Sam's neck, slitting its throat and ending its suffering as it let out one final pitiful groan.

Standing back up, she rolled her sleeves down in attempt to keep the bite clean. She started trudging through the forest, the pain and exhaustion making her vision blur, and her head shake. She sat down next to a boulder, groaning as the pain worsened. Her eyes started getting heavy, but her ears had caught a walker coming towards her. Looking around she spotted one limping towards her.

Getting back up off the floor, using the boulder as support, she attempted to limp away. As she tried to escape the small herd approaching her, another walker that had caught up to her, pulled her to ground snapping its jaws at her. Trying her best to push the walker off of her, just as she started feeling her arms failing her, the walker's head disappeared. Looking around she sees another walker get its head pierced by a crossbow bolt. Then another and so on before a familiar voice came out.

"I'm out! Grab her, and let's go!" The voice she recognized as being Pete shouted.

"Come on, kid. We gotta get." Another one said, recognizing the voice as Luke, as the man lifted her up and took off.

They ran for a short while, before slowing down once they had made enough distance from the shambling corpses.

"I think... I think we're safe." Pete assured as they slowed down.

"Yeah... yeah, we're good. Hey, you alright?" Luke asked her, trying to start a conversation with the girl.

She just stared at him, not having the energy to even explain that she couldn't even talk. Choosing to just shrug in response instead.

"Okay. I'll take that as a no." Luke decided, looking at Pete for a second and continued on walking. After, a few seconds of silence they both started trying to talk to her again.

"What are you doing out here?" Pete asked her, Luke chiming in right after.

"Where are the, uh... the people you're with? There's no chance you made it this long on your own." He questioned.

"I don't want them thinkin' we're doin' anything but tryin' to help you. Hmm... not sure how the group is gonna feel about another mouth to feed." The older man thought out loud.

"I hate to break this to you, kid, but, uh... I'm an expert at talking to girls who don't want to talk to me." Luke joked.

"Well, you've got plenty of practice." Pete joined in.

"Pete. C'mon, man. I don't need yer help." Luke lightly chided the older man.

"Well, I'm Luke, and this is Pete." Luke said, deciding to make introductions.

"Hey, there." Pete smiled at her.

Clementine just stayed silent, trying her best to ignore the pain in her left arm.

"You uh... don't talk very much do yah?" Luke noted. Clementine just shrugged in response.

"Well anyways, for now, we're gonna take you back to our group, okay? We got a doctor with us, and you look like you could use some- Oh, sh*t!" Luke spotted the blood on her arm and dropped her.

Landing straight on her injured arm, letting out a pained groan, she grabbed the injury in an attempt to soothe the pain.

"What? What is it?" Pete questioned, surprised at the action of the other man.

"She's... she's been bit, man. f*ck! f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, what are we gonna do here?" Luke panicked, clearly not expecting the situation.

Pete just went 'hmm' in response to the panicking man's question.

Clementine shook her head rapidly, lifting her bleeding arm in an attempt to get them to see it wasn't a walker bite.

"The hell's that mean, kid?!" The man exclaimed in confusion at the little girl's actions.

"Think she's trying to tell you to look at her arm." Pete answered, to which she nodded yes in response.

"What? Why me? You do it man." Luke said in disbelief.

"Hmm... alright. Let's see it." The older man relented.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, watch yourself." Luke worried, to which Clementine furrowed her eyebrows and glared at the man. "Hey, don't look at me like that! You're the one that's bit here, okay?" He defended, crossing his arms and turning away.

Pete rolled up her sleeve, investigating large gash in her arm. He looked at the large bite for a while. Clementine looked at him, trying to gauge his reaction.

"Is it, uh... bite or not?" Luke asked the other man.

"Hmm... hard to say. It could be a bite, it could also not be. Now kid, you gonna tell me what did this?" Pete questioned, an inquisitive look in his eyes.

"Now, what... what does this matter, Pete? Seriously." Luke argued with the man

"I wanna know how believable her story is." He answered.

Clementine pointed at her mouth with her right hand, making a talking motion and then shook her head.

"Oh." Was his only response.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked the older man.

"She's mute." Pete replied back bluntly.

"Huh. That... kinda makes things difficult, don't it?" Luke joked, in a saddening way.

"Alright, just... look at me kid, I wanna know the truth. Did you get bit?" Pete interrogated her, she shook her head in response.

"Hmm. Alright, that's good enough for me." Pete declared.

"Well, what else was she gonna say?" Luke angrily stated.

"I've got a good bullsh*t detector, Luke. That's why you can never beat me at poker." Pete replied jokingly.

"You don't always beat me at... Alright, how can you be sure?" Luke asked the man.

"Well, I'm sure I ain't willing to leave a little girl in the woods to die when we got a doctor with us that can make a call. We can have Carlos take a look at it first." Pete answered.

"Nick ain't gonna like this... Not with what happened to-" Luke was saying before Pete interrupted him.

"You don't have to remind me of that, boy." Pete chided the younger man.

"Right. Sorry, sir." Luke apologized, looking away for a second. Pete pat Luke's shoulder.

They started walking again, approaching a cabin in some clearing. Both of the men stopped, watching worriedly as the little girl, limped towards them.

"Come on. Kid, are you feeling alright?" Pete worriedly asked her. Clementine nodded her head slowly, dragging her feet.

"Well, you better be fine. 'Cause I ain't carryin' you anymore with that bite on your arm." Luke stated.

Clementine just kept walking, her vision blurring, eyelids feeling like they gained a hundred pounds. Clementine, suddenly found herself falling to the floor.

"Ah, sh*t!" Luke exclaimed, being the last thing, she saw or heard before everything went black.

Chapter 5: The Cabin

Chapter Text

The first thing that Clementine heard, when she came to, was arguing.

"Don't you tell me that! Not with what f*ckin' happened." One voice rang out, she was still a little out of it, and couldn't tell who was speaking.

"Would someone mind telling me what the f*ck is going on here?" Another voice asked, a woman she could tell, as her vision cleared up, and sound's became clearer.

"Now hold on, Rebecca." Pete chimed in, Clementine now fully aware of her situation.

"We got this, don't worry." Nick chipped in.

"Like hell you do. Did anyone even think to ask where she came from? For all we know, she could be working with Carver!" The woman, that she now had identified as Rebecca, started yelling.

"The girl's mute, at least give her a chance to defend herself!" Pete defended her. "We found her alone, hurt, and barely able to walk. And I don't know how I'd feel about leaving a kid to get eaten by lurkers."

"What? And you just believed her? You should've put her out of her misery right there. Mute, my ass!" She exclaimed, not wanting to hear Pete's side of the argument.

Scared, Clementine tried to run away from the group of arguing adults.

"Hey!" Nick shouted, just before a gunshot rang out.

Clementine turned around and froze still, out of fear of being shot. Glaring at Nick, as Pete ripped the rifle out of his hands.

"You're lucky my nephew can't shoot for sh*t." Pete scolded the young man.

'Ain't that the truth.' She thought.

A door slammed open, Luke ran out of the cabin, a worried look plastered on his face.

"Whoa, whoa, what the f*ck?!" Luke cursed, wondering what was happening.

"You idiot! Every lurker for five miles probably heard that!" Rebecca scolded Nick.

"You're the one tellin' me to f*ckin' shoot her!" Nick defended.

"Everybody, just calm down for a second!" A very big black guy tried to calm the group.

"You okay, kid?" Luke asked her kneeling down to her level.

Clementine shook her head in response.

"Oh right, Alvin, Rebecca, I grabbed y'alls notepad so the kid could talk to us." The man told the couple, handing her a notepad and pencil.

"Alright now, can you tell us your name, and what happened to you?" He asked.

Clementine nodded, placing the pencil on the paper. She froze for a second, contemplating about what to say. They wouldn't believe her, if she said that she was alone for two years. Thinking quick she made up some story, that would be believable.

"My name is Clementine, my guardian, Lee, died in a scavenging run a few days ago. The other men in the group, tried to hurt me and I ran away. I fell into the river trying to escape. When I woke up, I found a dog, that brought me to a campsite. I found some food, and he got mad at me and bit my arm." She finished writing, blending truth with lies. Handing the notepad to Luke.

The man read it back to the group aloud, looking at her weirdly, once he got to the part about the men trying to her. Actually, a few of them gave her a weird look, when he said that. Pete, especially, as he kept looking back at the bruise on her wrists from when the scavenger had grabbed them.

She didn't understand the looks, but it seemed they had misinterpreted something she wrote, along the way.

"Dog bite, my ass." She heard Rebecca scoff to herself.

Luke shot the pregnant woman a look, before turning towards her. "Um, here you go. Just... say what's on your mind." Luke said softly, handing her back the notepad.

Clementine, thought for a second, and then started writing again.

"I just want some help with my arm. I will leave right after." She finished, handing it back to Luke.

Luke finished reading and Nick spoke up. "She tried to run, man."

"Well, Nick, can you really f*ckin' blame her?" Luke chided the other man. Which made Clementine, nod her in agreement.

"We got a doctor right here, okay? He'll have a look. Now what the hell is wrong with you people?! Okay, she's just scared!" Luke argued, trying to defend her, which made her feel bad about wanting to steal from them a few weeks ago.

"We're all scared, Luke. Don't act like we're the ones being irrational 'cause we don't buy this bullsh*t story." Rebecca chipped in.

'Never mind.' She quickly went back on that previous thought.

"No way she survived out here on her own! Why are we even arguing about this?!" Nick shouted.

Another man exited the cabin, and walked straight towards her.

"Let me take a look." He brushed past the other group members, stopping right in front of her. Clementine took a step back as the man held out his hand.

"It's okay. Go ahead. He's a doctor." Luke reassured Clementine.

Rolling up her sleeve slowly, blood making the clothing stick to her skin.

"Damn, that must've hurt." The man she had learned was named Alvin empathized.

The doctor, inspected her wound for a minute. "Hmm. Whatever it was, it got you good." The doctor said, prodding the injury with his hands, making Clementine groan from the pain. She also frowned at what he said.

"This isn't how we do things, man. When you're bit, you get put down. End of story. I'm not going through this again." Nick spoke, advocating for putting her down.

"No one's suggestin' that." Luke tried shutting, Nick, down.

"We could take her arm off." Pete chipped in, making Clementine, gasp in fear. "I know that worked for a cousin down in Ainsworth. We could try that." He added.

"It won't do any good. You'll just be makin' it worse for the girl." Rebecca argued against the idea.

"It's crazy. No one's gonna volunteer to do that." Alvin tried saying, but she thought that was mostly his own personal opinion.

"I would. If it means saving her life." Pete stated matter of factly.

"Then what? How would we know it worked?" Nick argued.

"Just let Carlos have a look first!" Luke yelled, trying to shut the group up.

Clementine glared at Nick, angry at the man for nearly killing her twice, and preaching for killing her.

"What're you looking at?" Nick shook his head at her.

The cabin door opens, a girl with glasses peaks out.

"Who's she?" She asked softly.

"Sarah, what'd I say? Stay inside." Carlos ordered, the girl closing the door.

"Look Carlos, she just wants help with her arm. She said she'll leave right after." Luke begged the man.

"And where exactly would you go?" The doctor questioned her.

"She's mute, Carlos, she can't answer you." Pete chimed in.

Carlos stared at the man, before looking back at Clementine.

"She said a dog bit her." Luke spoke up.

"A dog?" He questioned. "Could be a dog." He wondered aloud, she looked at the man, his face radiating that he knew it was true. The man just didn't want to use supplies on her, from what she gathered, leaving her feeling sick inside.

"Look, I dunno what the hell took a bite outta her, but still... she's just a kid. Worst case, she turns and we can deal with it." Pete stated, trying to help her out.

"I'm no doctor or nothin', and I'm good with whatever you decide, but maybe we should be sure before we go off and do something crazy. I'm just sayin'." Alvin joined in, staying neutral in the conversation.

"Carlos, we've been through this before. We all agreed, we don't wait for sh*t like this. End of story." Nick argued, Clementine glared at the man again.

Carlos, stood up, walking back to the group.

"So what d'you think? Was it a Lurker?" Nick and Alvin asked the doctor.

"A bite like that... could be anything. Only one way to find out." He told the group, Clementine forced herself to not hit the man, settling on just scowling at him.

"How?" Pete wondered.

"We wait." Carlos stated, Clementine, decided that she really didn't like this man.

"What?!" Rebecca blurted out in confusion.

"By tomorrow morning, if the fever's set in, we'll know if she's gonna turn. In the meantime, we can lock her in the shed." He casually said, knowing full well she'd already start getting sick by that time.

"The girl's in bad shape, Carlos. We should at least clean her arm up, stitch the wound, and bandage it." Luke tried convincing the man.

"We have all that stuff inside the cabin, we could probably get by with..." Alvin was cut off.

"Alvin please..." Rebecca interrupted the man.

"But, yeah, we can't do nothing." The man finished, siding with his wife.

"I'm not wasting supplies on a lurker bite. If it turns out you're telling the truth, I'll clean it and stitch it up for you in the morning." Carlos declared to the little girl, before walking off.

"I'm sorry. It's the best we're gonna get." Luke apologized to the girl. Clementine just, looked down, trying to conceal her hatred for the doctor.

'He wants me to die!' She snarled in her head.

"Finger off the trigger, son." Pete scolded Nick, handing him the rifle back.

"I ain't your son." Nick scowled, snatching the gun out of the man's hand.

"Don't be like that, man." Luke tried calming the man down.

"It's alright. Boy's got his mom's temper." Pete stated, seemingly unaffected from the outburst.

"Come on." Nick ordered Clementine, leading her to a shed, Luke walking beside her.

"This is just a waste of time. You'll see. And when she turns, I ain't gonna be the one cleanin' up the shed." Rebecca pouted to the group.

Clementine let out a slight whimper, the pain in her arm growing.

"Look, hold out the best you can, Clementine. And we'll see what's what in the morning." Luke tried reassuring her.

The trio eventually reached the shed, Luke, opening the doors, they stood there for a few seconds, Luke staring at her sadly, until Nick threatened her by lifting the gun up slightly. She walked inside the shed, looking back as Luke closed the doors and locked them.

"Why are we doing this? It's so f*cking dumb." Nick seethed.

"Because it's safer this way. And I'd rather be sure." Luke answered the man

"Yeah, but safer for who?" Nick questioned back, both voices fading out entirely.

'I can't believe this... You're gonna be fine, you're gonna be fine.' Clementine assured herself, pacing around.

Clementine started looking around for anything useful, checking a barrel in the corner.

'Nothing.'

She glanced at an anchor, vice, and a board marked with the shapes of tools, yet lacking any. She tried looking up, seeing a life saver and a hammer high up on a shelf. Attempting to reach the hammer, grunting from the effort, just to be left disappointed as she only managed to push it out of her grasp.

She started searching for anything she could use to reach the hammer, discovering a folding table next to the shelf, raising it up and climbing it.

Once Clementine had stabilized herself on the table, she tried reaching for the hammer. Panting as her hand nearly reached the tool, before hearing a crack and finding herself meeting the floor.

Clementine letting out an agonizing yelp, as she landed directly on her injured arm. Clementine stood up slowly, letting another grunt of pain out. She lifted the board, that had made up the shelf with both arms, her left arm feeling like it was on fire from the effort. She grabbed the hammer and searched around. She spotted a box in the corner, checking it for anything useful, she found some fishing line. She placed the fishing line on the workbench, moving the box out of the corner, and discovering that the area behind it seemed to be in disrepair, only being held together by a board, and some plywood.

Turning the hammer around, wedging the claw end In between the board, and pulling the hammer with both hands. Ignoring the growing pain in her injured arm, she eventually pried the board off the wall. She stuck the hammer in her right pocket, and started kicking the plywood. Snapping it off after two kicks.

Laying down on her stomach, she crawled out of the hole she'd just made. Immediately getting soaked in rain, and hearing walkers roaming around, she started inching her way towards the lit up cabin. Mud splashing on her jeans as she got closer. She tried opening the side door, and windows, finding them locked, she moves around the back. The windows being much too high for her to reach, she just keeps walking around to other side of the building. As she rounded to the other side, she noticed that she had to keep walking around to the front to get the windows on this side. As reach neared closer to rounding the corner towards the front of the cabin, she spotted some plywood covering a spot in the crawl space.

Clementine pulled on the board, trying to rip it off and failed, but she saw that the nails holding it in place had detached enough, that she could use the hammer to pry them off. Once Clementine finished prying them out, she pulled the board aside and entered the crawl space.

"House meeting in five minutes." Clementine scowled at the sound of Carlos's voice.

"That's... that's great." Alvin tiredly responded.

"It won't take long. There's a few things we need to discuss." Carlos assured the man.

'Yeah, how you're willingly dooming a litter girl to her death.' Clementine scoffed, as she neared some type of hatch under the house.

"Fine." Alvin sighed.

Clementine crawled directly under the hatch, pushing it, and quickly realizing it was locked. Looking closely, she saw that the space where the latch that was locking the thing, was too thin and could only be accessed with her pocket knife, that the group had failed to notice, thankfully. Flicking the knife open, she stuck the blade into the latch, snapping the blade in half, but successfully unlocking the hatch. Entering the cabin, she waited a bit, as she heard footsteps entering a room.

"I've already made my decision." Carlos declared to the group.

"Well, Luke has more to say, I guess. Where's Sarah?" Pete asked the doctor.

"She's got her book. She doesn't need to be a part of this." Carlos answered.

Entering what seemed to be a living room, she took in her surroundings. The table had book, lit candles, and playing cards scattered around. Listening to the conversation through walls, she noticed they were talking about her.

Until the next break, this whole section is just a slightlymodifiedversion of the eavesdroppingconversation, this is here just in the case you wish to skip it.

"For all we know, she could be connected with Carver." Rebecca assumed.

"Come on. There's no way." Luke reassured the group, Clementine found herself liking the man, more and more, even if he did drop her.

"She could be. We don't know." Alvin defended his wife.

"She's connected to somebody. There's no way she's out here by herself." Nick stated.

"She said she was escaping members of her own group, and if you couldn't tell, from the bruises on her wrists, they seemed intent on tryna... you get the idea." Pete mentioned, although that last part confused her.

"Yeah, right." Nick scoffed.

"Whoever she's with, they'll probably come looking for her." Carlos brought up.

'Should've thought about that before. Dick.' Clementine insulted the man in her head, her opinion of the doctor lowering more and more.

"Great. They show up and we've got her locked in the shed." Alvin groaned.

"You think we should bring her in here?" Rebecca questioned her husband.

"No. I'm just saying it wouldn't look too good." Alvin responded back.

"It's just a precautionary measure. Anyone else would do the same." Carlos stated, in a matter of fact tone, that only made Clementine disgusted.

"You really think Carver would come after us?" Luke asked the group.

"You think he wouldn't?!" Nick butted in.

"He's not exactly the type to let things lie." Pete mentioned.

"What happened, happened. There's nothing we can do about it now." Luke assured.

"Let him come. I really don't give a damn." Alvin snapped.

"Alvin!" Rebecca exclaimed.

"What? I don't." Alvin replied.

Clementine kept listening to the group argue, trying to see if they might give her any hints on where anything that could help her, might possibly be.

"You brought her back here, not me. You knew she was bit." Nick scoffed at Luke.

"What was I supposed to do, huh? Leave her out there to die?" Luke defended.

"Better her than us." Nick responded.

"You'd've done the same, Nick." Pete chimed in, defending Luke.

"It wasn't the brightest idea." Nick argued.

"Oh, and firing your rifle was, huh...? Next time we'll just put up a neon sign that says "Lurkers Welcome"." Luke bit back.

"Where you goin', hon?" Alvin asked his wife.

"I want to get my sweater." She replied back

"We'll be done in a minute." Carlos came in, interrupting her from leaving.

"You're in the middle of nowhere, runnin' away from child rapists, surrounded by lurkers, about to get eaten alive, and you're telling us it was a dog?" Nick said, skeptical at the excuse.

"Yeah, yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but...look, for whatever reason, I think she's telling the truth." Luke seemed very adamant on defending her, it seemed.

"Look, there's no point in arguing about it now. She's in the shed, she's not gonna hurt anyone. We'll just see what's what in the morning." Pete chimed in.

"But Carlos said she could die if she doesn't get her arm treated." Luke argued with the man.

"Assuming she doesn't turn." Rebecca hissed.

"That true? The girl could really die?" Alvin asked worriedly, suddenly regretting his choice it seemed.

"If the infection spreads...anything's possible. It could definitely get a whole lot worse for her." Carlos stated.

Clementine, swore that she'd never been so angry at a person in her life.

"Don't we have penicillin? Or something that could, y'know...stop the infection from spreading?" Luke asked the man.

"We have some. But not enough to spare." Carlos sighed, intent on denying Clementine any form of assistance.

"We're not wasting anything on her. What if one of us needs it?" Nick sided with Carlos.

"Look, I'm just saying, we could help, that's all." Luke was very quickly becoming her favorite person in this cabin.

"We need to think of ourselves first. That's just the way it is." Rebecca said, which Clementine found herself agreeing with Rebecca. If only for the logic of the argument.

"We can't just let her die. Not if there's something we can do about it. Let's just say she's telling the truth and she doesn't turn. Then what?" Pete asked the group.

"We apologize for being assholes. And then we help fix her arm." Luke declared.

"She can't stay with us. We barely have enough supplies for ourselves." Rebecca argued angrily.

"We've got more fish in the traps than we could ever eat." Pete stated.

"Yeah, but she's seen us. She knows we're here." Nick mentions to them.

"What, you scared of a little girl?" Luke jokingly insulted the other man

"A little girl is not the problem. It's who she might tell." Carlos reminds them.

"We gotta keep an eye on her." Alvin decided for them.

"IF she doesn't turn. Which she probably will." Rebecca chimed in.

"I gotta take a leak." Nick abruptly stated.

"Hold on. We're almost done." Carlos stated.

"Fine." Nick sighed.

"My point is, if a little girl can find her way here, then almost anyone can." Carlos theorized.

"Pete, you saw those lurkers, alright? That's more than we've seen in a while." Luke mentions.

"Yeah. Seems like it's not as safe as it was. Least not like when we found this place." Pete responded sadly.

"Maybe it's time to move on." Nick suggested.

"We can't just keep running. At some point we've got to settle down." Rebecca tells the group.

"We should. And we will. But can we find somewhere safe? I don't know." Carlos questions.

"You seen what it's like out there." Pete states.

"I was just starting to like this place." Alvin whined.

"Look, we've had a good run here. But if it's time to move on, then I got no problem with that." Pete seemed to be the levelheaded one in the group she could tell now.

"Yeah, but...I mean, where do we go from here?" Luke asked the group.

"No more cities. We all agreed on that, right...? Too many damn lurkers." Alvin chips in.

"We're not going back the way we came. That's for damn sure." Nick declared.

"We can probably find somewhere better. We just need to look." Rebecca says, hopeful.

"Wherever we go, we can't get too attached. We'll be fine as long as we keep things fluid." Carlos decided.

"We can't forget we need to check the traps tomorrow." Pete reminded the group.

"What do we do with the girl?" Nick asked.

"You're not leaving her here with me!" Rebecca rebuked.

"We can't just keep her locked in the shed. We're not animals." Luke argues with them.

"Then take her with you." Carlos suggests to them.

"What?" Nick says, flabbergasted at what Carlos just said.

"You want to keep an eye on her, then take her with you. Are we almost done here...? I want to make sure Sarah's ready for bed." Carlos said, eager to want to leave now.

"Wait a second. There's something else I want to talk about." Pete tells them.

Clementine realized that eavesdropping on the group was getting nowhere and kept searching around. Walking into the bedroom, right next to the living room. Searching around, she found absolutely nothing to help her injured arm. Walking out the room, she snuck towards the stairs, slowly walking up them to try and make as little noise. She walked inside a room on the far left of the hallway, searching around she walked towards a dresser, she found some rags on the top of it, opening it, she found a watch. Deciding to take it, she grabbed the object, and shoved it in her also saw a board game on the desk, but it seemed super complicated for her to understand.

Stepping out, she entered the room next to the one she exited. A bathroom, checking the linen closet, she found it empty. Walking towards the mirror, she pulled it slowly to try and make as little noise she could. With the medicine cabinet exposed, she looked inside it. Find a needle, embedded inside a pincushion. Pulling the needle, she inspected it, seeing no issues, she pocketed it. Closing the medicine cabinet, she started walking towards the door, when she heard footsteps walking up the stairs.

"That man sometimes, I swear!" She heard Rebecca scolding someone to herself.

Panicking, Clementine jumped into the linen closet and held her breath.

Rebecca stepped inside the bathroom, opening the sink and taking a sip of water.

"Damn it... Just need to have this baby and...oh, god. Let it be okay and...let it be his." The woman begged, before taking a deep breath, and leaving.

Clementine's, eyes widened at what she had just heard. 'Poor Alvin.'

She slowly exited the linen closet and bathroom. Entering the last room, she was surprised when another girl was in the room, sitting on her bed with a book. Sarah she gathered, gawked at her, to which Clementine, brought a finger to her lips to try and tell the girl to stay quiet.

"What happened to you?" The older girl asked Clementine, who just ignored her and started searching the room.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" She quietly yelled at Clementine, who just ignored her.

Clementine started digging through the closet, eventually finding a bottle of peroxide. Showing it to the other girl, she simply shushed the other girl again, and nodded her head in thanks, at the girl not screaming for help. Clementine exited the other girls room, sneaking down the stairs and entering the storage room.

Dropping down the hatch, she crawled back out from under the house, and walked back to the shed, stolen medical supplies in hand. Crawling through the hole, she stood up, and placed the stuff on the workbench.

'It can't be that hard, right?' She tried reassuring herself as she rolled up her sleeve and placed her left arm on the bench. Grabbing the bottle of peroxide, she unscrewed the lid of the bottle and grabbed the sewing needle. Pouring the liquid over the needle, just to make sure it was as clean as possible before placing it back down on the bench.

'This is gonna suck.' She thought, just as she poured the peroxide over the wound, as soon as the disinfectant had touched the dog bite, the pain in her arm increased tenfold. Yelping from the sudden onslaught of pain, Clementine, dropped the bottle of peroxide on the floor, the pain making her lose her grasp on it, and gripping her arm in some futile attempt at making the pain disappear.

Clementine, let out some labored breaths, gritting her teeth as she tried to calm down. 'Okay... okay, I'm good. I'm fine. Now the fun part.' She inwardly loathed this moment. Taking the needle in her hands, and grabbing the fishing line, pulling out more line than she probably needed, and bit the line to cut it from the spool. She then started attempting to thread the fishing line through the needle, taking a few attempts to do so, as her hands kept shaking. Once she managed to tie the line in place, she looked at the needle and then at the wound.

She sat there for a few seconds, dreading this moment. Taking one deep breath, she started stitching up her arm. Once the needle entered her arm, she immediately let go of it, slamming her fist on the table, as the agony had been nearly too much for her. Taking a breather, she started suturing again, not slowing down, in the belief that if she finished faster, it would be over quicker. Not even realizing she was screaming from the pain, tears in her eyes, she kept going. Once she finally made the final stitch, the two separated sides of skin had fully kissed, she bit the line attached to the needle, and started both the ending and start of the stitching.

Sweat dripping down her forehead, and breathing heavily, she began the final step, grabbing the rags to bandage her wound, she started rolling it around her arm. Just as she started though, her hands still shaking, she accidentally dropped the roll on the ground. Mentally cursing herself, she bent down to pick up the roll.

A rotting armed suddenly gripped hers. Surprised, she tries to grab the hammer on the workbench, kicking the arm holding her, as she tried to separate herself from the walker. She held onto the table for dear life, struggling to reach the hammer that seemed to get further away from her. Clementine lost her footing, as the walker had finally managed to knock her to the floor. Clementine tried reaching for the rake that was next to her, but couldn't get to it.

The walker burst through the opening in the shed and got on top of her, nearly biting her throat out. Struggling, she kicked the walker away, she stood back up and jumped for the rake, dodging the walker's lunge at her. Grabbing a broken piece of wood, she stabbed the walker trying desperately to kill it, but only managed to spin themselves around. Clementine stabbed the walker's head again, the undead creature still trying to eat her, she pushed it away. The walker stumbled back and fell onto an anchor, shoving its intestines outside of it abdomen.

Clementine grabbed the hammer, and started bashing the walker's skull in with the claw end, again and again, until she was sure it would stop moving. She didn't even notice the shed doors being opened, as she struggled to pull the hammer out of the mangled skull. Breathing heavily, and dropping the hammer to the ground, she crossed her arms.

Turning around, gripping her now stitched arm, she glared at the group that was gawking at her.

"Holy sh*t." Luke amazed at the sight.

"What the...?" Alvin didn't finish that thought.

"How the hell did it get in here?" Nick wondered, astonished at the sight in front of him.

"Little girl's tough as nails." Pete praised her.

"Are you alright?" Carlos asked her, receiving a quick glare from her.

"The shed should've been safe." Luke stated, worried.

"Girl's tougher than I thought." Alvin thought aloud.

Luke stared at her stitched arm. "You patched yourself up?"

"Where'd you get that stuff?" Nick questioned, glaring at her, to which she glared back.

Rebecca darted her eyes around at the group. "Did she steal from us?"

"This doesn't change a thing. She hasn't done anything to us." Pete still seemed to want to defend her, even after stealing from them.

"Says the man not carrying a baby." Rebecca angrily blurted in response.

"Enough already!" Pete shouted at the pregnant woman.

Luke, seeing things going down hill, tried to calm the group. "Guys, please."

Clementine stared at the group, her anger at them visible.

"She must've stolen it. It didn't just magically appear." Nick stated the obvious.

"Unless she had some help." Pete suggested, which she found surprising that he'd assume that.

"Bring her in and I'll take a look at her arm." Carlos sighed, Clementine could tell the man was clearly disappointed at the way things had gone against his plans

"Damn lurkers sneakin' around out here... We better get inside." Alvin warned the group, as they started leaving towards the cabin. Clementine followed them, passing Luke who had stood still.

He suddenly spoke. "You hungry?"

Clementine, froze at the question, surprised, she hadn't expected it somehow, even though the man seemed to be on her side ever since she passed out on the way. She nodded after a second, and continued walking, she could tell that her exhaustion from the past few hours was plastered all over face as she entered the cabin.

Carlos waved her into the kitchen, directed her to sit down on a chair, and started inspecting her arm. Luke was pacing around, and Nick was biting his fingernails for some reason. She thought he'd be happy about the situation, from all the times the man nearly killed her.

"This might hurt a little." The doctor said, just as he squee her arm, a little harder than he needed to.

Clementine hissed in pain, the man raised his eyebrows in confusion at that. 'Asshole!' She thought to herself.

Luke suddenly spoke. "How's she look?"

"Her suturing skills need some work, but otherwise I'd say she should be fine." Carlos told the man.

"So it wasn't a lurker bite?" Luke asked the doctor.

"If it was, the fever would've already set in and her temperature would be through the roof." Carlos started bandaging her arm, Luke and Nick left the room as he did. Once he finished, he started washing his hands in the sink.

"I wish you wouldn't've done what you did." The man suddenly started. Clementine furrowed her eyebrows at the man.

"You have nothing to say for yourself?" To which Clementine, raised her eyebrows at the man's question. She thought he already knew she couldn't speak, although for her, she didn't know what was stopping her.

"I heard the screams, and the noise you've been making, would be impossible for someone truly mute." He continued, angrily, her eyes widening at the statement.

"We put you in that shed out of concern for the safety of our loved ones." The man seethed, looking ready to hit her.

"And stay away from my daughter!" He ordered, his voice making Clementine nearly jump at the sudden outburst. The man stomped out the kitchen, leaving the girl staring dumbfounded at the empty doorway.

Luke walked inside the kitchen, staring at where Carlos had stomped off too, holding a bowl of food. "Hey, uh... brought you some food, if you're hungry." He said softly, handing her the bowl.

Clementine inhaled the food, her stomach had been hurting from hunger for days now, the beans she had before Sam bit her, had only quieted the stomach pains for a bit.

"That's gonna leave of hell of a scar." The man tried lifting up her mood, but she ignored it, choosing to keep eating.

"Better than a stump, at least." He tried again, which immediately flashed images of Lee's final moments in her mind, making Clementine try hiding her face, in an attempt to hide the sadness that had come over her.

Luke quickly noticed her reaction. "What?" He waited for a response, before nearly facepalming. "Right. One second." He walked off for half a minute, and came back with the notepad and pencil they had her use hours before.

"My guardian, Lee, lost his arm the day he died." She wrote, the memory suddenly finding itself at the forefront of her psyche. Tears had nearly started falling, but she stopped herself.

Luke shoot her an apologetic look. "Sorry for bringin' up bad memories."

Clementine just sunk her head a bit and kept eating.

The kitchen door opened, Nick, walking in. Clementine scowled at the man, hate radiated from her face. The man seemed ready to ready to say something, but changed his mind. "Whatever." The man walked back out.

Luke noticed her reaction to Nick. "Look, sorry about Nick, he lost his mom recently, tryna help someone that got bit." He explained to Clementine, the anger still showing on her face. "We thought we could control it, but... we couldn't. And then she turned and his mom was standing right there and she got attacked... There was nothing we could do about it."

"And I know there's no excuse, for the way he's treated you... but just try to understand where he's comin' from." Luke tried to make Clementine give up on her hate of the other man, but sighed.

Clementine looked at Luke, her features softening. The man had been nothing but nice to her, and she felt like she could somewhat trust the man. Although she wasn't about to give the man her life story.

"This group of yours." He froze, trying to find the words. She suddenly remembered something Nick had said when she was eavesdropping on their conversation.

'What's a child rapist?' She asked, showing him the paper.

The man seemed visibly shocked at the note. "Well, uh... it's someone, that umm... well it's someone that wants to do something bad to kids." He said, clearly dodging the question.

'but like how?' She wrote, handing the paper back to him.

The man sighed. "They do something to you, something only grownups should do. Even if you say no to them, and beg them to stop, and it hurts you, and leaves you damaged in a way that nothing can ever fix. It's something that should never have even been close to happening you. You're lucky, Clem, let's just leave it that." He finished, distraught at the conversation.

Clementine raised an eyebrow at that, she still didn't understand what that meant, but moved on, the conversation clearly making Luke uncomfortable.

'They just held a gun to my head, threatening to kill me, if I didn't tell them where my stuff was, because I hid it from them when Lee died, and one chased after me when I ran off? That's why I have the bruises, because the guy chasing me grabbed my arms.' She finished writing, and Luke read it again, the man taking a deep breath.

"I'm so sorry, Clem, I... we thought, something bad was happening to you kid." He apologized to her, which only made her feeling more confused.

"Anyways, since you're pretty much on your own, what's your plan?" He asked her, trying to move on from that conversation.

'leave' is all she wrote.

The man seemed saddened by how blunt of a response she gave. "Well, you're welcome to stay here if you want. You can let yourself heal up and take some time to sort things out."

Clementine, stared at him, and pointed above her, and then towards herself. The man seemed to catch what she was saying.

"They'll just have to deal with it." He smirked.

"So what happened to your parents? If you don't mind me asking. I mean, I assume what happened to them is what happened to just about everyone's parents. You're just so young." He asked remorsefully.

She just shook her head and looked away.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I... I shouldn't have asked." He apologized to her.

'Went on vacation and left me with a babysitter and they never came back. We went to Savannah to find them, they were already dead.' She wrote, having moved on from their deaths.

"Wow. Well, I'm sorry to hear that."

'This man found me and took care of me. We met up with other survivors and we all tried to make it, but, it didn't work. His name was Lee. He taught me how to survive. He told me to stay away from cities. He's the reason I keep my hair short. He taught me how to shoot a gun.'

"What happened to him?"

Images of his body, a bloody hole in his forehead flashed. 'I killed him.'

Luke seemed to understand what she meant by that, even if she didn't fully write it. "I'm sorry."

The door opened again, Pete walking inside the room. "I hate to interrupt, but I'm out there standing watch and I can't help but notice this place is lit up like a goddamn beacon in the middle of the woods."

Luke stood up. "Yeah, it's time to turn in anyways."

"Get your winks while you can, 'cause we're goin' fishing at first light. A couple fresh brookies for dinner? Wouldn't that be nice." Pete said, lightening the mood.

Luke left the room, Pete gave her a smile, and left too. She finished eating her food. The door opening, and Rebecca entered the room. The pregnant woman, walked towards the sink, and started washing her hands.

Rebecca started. "Oh, you're still here. I wouldn't get comfortable, if I were you."

"Maybe you fooled everyone else, but not me."

Clementine just glared at her. The woman ignored the venomous look the girl gave her.

"Nothing to say? You got what you needed. You got what you came here for. Now go."

The woman left the room, Rebecca seemed to really dislike her for some unknown reason.

Clementine placed her empty bowl in the sink, washed her hands, blew out the candles and walked out of the kitchen. Looking around for a spot to sleep, she laid down on the couch. She stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, pondering on the past few days. She then started thinking about tomorrow, she knew they were going to make her go with them to check the traps, she wondered if she could somehow convince them to let her go to the truck. Clementine was hoping she could find anything the scavengers hadn't stole, and also to find her duffle bag of supplies she had hidden away.

Her eyelids started getting heavy, and she fell asleep.

Chapter 6: A New Day

Chapter Text

Clementine had nightmares throughout the night, reliving that terrible day in Savannah. The second she shot Lee, she felt a jolt, immediately sitting up after waking up. That gunshot rang through her ears, she felt restless, the nightmares preventing her from getting a good nights rest. She heard voices in the kitchen, slowly throwing herself off the couch, she rubbed her eyes and entered the kitchen. She saw Luke and Nick sitting at the table, talking about something she didn't entirely understand, hearing something about a misunderstanding. Pete, and Carlos were preparing breakfast it seemed. She sat down at the corner of the table, and placed her head down between her arms, she still felt tired, unable to drive the thoughts of Savannah out of her mind.

"Hey Clem." Luke spoke first. "You sleep alright?"

Clementine shrugged, head still down in her arms. She didn't feel like interacting with anyone right now. Luke quickly realized that the little girl didn't feel like "talking" and decided to leave her be.

"Breakfasts ready!" Pete's voice sounded throughout the entire cabin. He brought two bowls of oatmeal and placed one in front of Clementine, and then walked off, towards the living room.

She raised her head, and pulled the bowl closer. Clementine sighed, dejectedly, and started slowly eating the oats. She saw Carlos, in her peripherals, walk out of the kitchen with two bowls. Luke and Nick got up to grab some food. She also heard heavy footsteps coming in, Alvin she assumed.

Luke and Nick both returned with their own bowls of oatmeal.

Luke tried starting another conversation with her. "You excited to check the fish traps?" He asked cheerfully. Clementine shrugged, she already knew the purpose of her going with Nick and Pete.

"What's up with her?" Nick nonchalantly asked, pointing his thumb her.

Luke stared at the young girl, gauging her body language. "Probably just something we talked about last night." He chose not to give an answer, probably not wanting to make her remember their conversation that night. She gave a sad smile at that and finished her bowl, standing up and placing it in the sink. She walked towards the living room and sat down on one of the couches, her eyes burned from the lack of real sleep. She didn't even realize she fell asleep again, when Pete nudged her.

"Come on, we're leavin' to check the traps."

Nick was right behind the man, carrying a rifle. She stood up, stretched, and followed the two men out the cabin.

During their walk through the forest, Nick told them "Wait up, I gotta take a leak." Pete decided to keep walking instead, Clementine choosing to follow the man.

"How ya holding up? I heard you got an earful from Rebecca last night. Once she gets going, there's no bringing her back. Her bark's worse than her bite." Clementine just shrugged, she chose not to dwell on the angry pregnant woman's antics.

"She was in a mood last night, that's for sure."

They continued walking in silence for a bit. Clementine kept stealing glances at the man's rifle, she'd only shot one once, to kill that man more than two years ago. She thought about the conversation with Luke yesterday, and then thought about the couple she killed, mainly what the woman had said. Her realization about how the woman had described her as a "new toy" before Clementine bashed her head in, made her shudder. 'Good riddance.'

"The traps ain't much further." He noticed Clementine staring at the rifle again. "Anyone teach you how to shoot? By that I mean taught proper. Any idiot with a finger can shoot."

Clementine nodded to his question.

"That's good. It's important nowadays."

"Nick was about your age first time I took him huntin'. Came across this beautiful 13-point buck just standin' there on the ridgeline. The boy takes the rifle, lines up the shot just like I taught him, then I hear him start whinin'. He turns to me and he says, "I can't do it. I can't shoot it, Uncle Pete. Please don't make me shoot it.""

Clementine smirked at the story. 'What a baby.'

They both heard running behind them and stopped, Nick was breathing a little heavy.

"Hey! Why didn't you wait?"

"You want us standin' around while you piss on a tree? You know where the river is, boy." Pete chided the young man.

They started walking again. "Anyway, so I grab the gun out of his hand before this big buck runs off when BANG! The gun fires. Boy nearly gut shot me. And of course the buck gets away."

"What're you goin' and tellin' her this sh*t for?" Nick angrily butted in.

"'Cause you almost blew her face off yesterday. Seems relevant. Tryin' to let her know it's nothin' personal with you." Pete bit back.

Nick got angrier that. "Why are you always giving me a hard time?"

"Because you're always givin' everyone else a hard time." Pete answered.

"I tried to apologize already. She ain't havin' it." Clementine raised an eyebrow at that, not remembering that happening.

"Well, can you blame her?"

"You're always trying to embarrass me." Nick stated.

"You're doing a good enough job of that on your own." Clementine silently laughed at that, although if they weren't busy arguing with each other, they'd probably wonder why she was breathing so hard.

Nick started walking ahead.

"Leavin' us again?"

"I know where the f*cking river is!" Nick hissed at his uncle.

Pete sighed.

"So anyway, I found that buck later that season. Shot it right in the neck. Brought it up to my sister's, figurin' she'd want to freeze some of the meat. Nick didn't speak to me for weeks. Sometimes you gotta play a role, even if it means people you love hate you for it."

Clementine nodded at that, wishing she understood that before running away in Savannah.

"Uncle Pete!" Nick suddenly shouted.

Clementine and Pete both started running towards Nick.

"Nick...? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph." Pete interrupted himself, gawking at something ahead.

Clementine finally got into view of the riverbank. Dead bodies littered throughout the area.

Pete started poking one with his rifle. "Full'a holes."

Clementine stared at the man worriedly, wondering who did this.

Pete seemingly understood her reaction to the situation. "Not sure yet. But it ain't your average gang'a thugs, that much I know."

"Think about it. You're Carver, what do you do?"

Clementine looked at Nick, kneeling next to a body.

"Check those guys there. Be careful. Some of 'em might still be movin'." Pete ordered.

Clementine walked around, kneeling next to a body wearing a leather jacket, 'plastic toys' written on the back.

"Shot through the head?" Pete inquired, to which Clementine nodded.

"Check the rest. And look for ammo. We're runnin' low."

Clementine looked over at the tiny island separating the two streams. Noticing more bodies, she nudged Pete to get his attention and pointed.

"This wasn't no rinky-dink pissin' match."

"What was it then?" Nick asked the man.

"FUBAR." Was all Pete said, Clementine didn't know what that meant, but she understood it wasn't great.

Pete started walking towards the small island.

"Where are you going?! We need to get the f*ck outta here!" Nick quietly shouted.

Pete just simply replied "Gotta check the rest."

"What?! Why?!"

"Calm down and think about it, son." Pete implored his nephew.

"Calm down?! We've gotta get out of here, now." Nick begged the older man.

"Jesus Christ, get a hold of yourself." Pete finally got to the island.

"One of these folks might still be alive, and they might just be inclined to tell us who did this."

"We gotta do this now. Stay here. Keep searchin' these." He ordered Nick.

Clementine hopped on some rocks to get across.

"This is a dumb idea." Nick complained.

"You know, Nick, I don't like this either, but sooner or later you're gonna have to realize a simple truth."

"What? That you're an asshole?" Nick insulted his uncle.

"That nobody in this world is ever gonna give a goddamn whether you like somethin' or not. You gotta grow up, son." Pete chided.

"Whatever." Nick rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Clem. You wanna be useful, keep a lookout on that treeline. Whoever did this might still be out there. Waitin' for another sucker to stumble across this mess. Just like baitin' a fish. It's what I'd do." Pete directed to Clementine, nodded at the order. But quickly started to wonder how she'd alert them, but started searching the small island.

She started searching around, a walker pinned to the ground by a spear started growling. They both walked towards it.

"Hm. Same deal. All shot to pieces. Hope this isn't anyone you know."

Clementine shook her head no.

"Good."

Pete ripped the spear out of the walker's chest, and impaled its skull with it.

Pete looked to the other side of the riverbank.

"Damn it. More on that side. You check out these ones. See if there's anything on 'em that'll tell us who they were."

Clementine stared at bodies, they already seemed looted. She started edging towards another body, and noticed her backpack behind a rock. Running towards it, she started checking the bag for anything, seeing everything still there, most importantly, her pistol. Clementine let out a sigh of relief, but immediately perked up when the body next to her started coughing.

She stared at the man next to her, coughing. Clementine immediately recognized his face.

"Please..." the man started begging, pointing at the water bottle in her pack. Clementine glared at the man, and closed the backpack, putting it on. "Please..." Clementine ignored the man's cries.

"Ah!" Pete's voice rang out. A gunshot followed right after.

Clementine stared at the man in worry.

"Pete!" Nick cried out.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! Just... just lost my footing! Damn it. Goddamn it!"

Clementine spotted a tear in his pants, then the blood. 'Oh no.'

Pete noticed the stare.

"sh*t! Lurkers!" Nick yelled, gunshots ringing out on both sides.

"I'm outta ammo!" Pete yelled back.

"Come this way!" Nick told both of them.

"Son of a bitch. Damn it, you get your asses over here, both of you!" Clementine started looking at both of them, deciding on what she should do.

"I'll cover you! We gotta get out of here!" Nick tried telling his Uncle.

"Get over here, goddamn it!" Pete dead set on his plan.

"Can't you listen to me once?! Just one time?! I've got ammo!" Nick begged.

"Listen to me, damn it! I see a way out!" Pete was adamant about where they should go.

"I'll cover you!" Nick shouted at the man.

"I've got a clear path over here, goddamn it!"

Clementine chose to run towards Pete, deciding that she'd much rather follow the man she trusted the most out of the two, even if he was bit.

Pete shouted at both of them again. "Come on! Come on!"

A walker attacked Pete and knocks him to the ground. He grabbed its wrists, trying to keep the corpse off himself.

"Jesus! f*ck!"

Clementine grabbed a plank from a nearby pallet and smacked the walker's arm with it, breaking the limb off Pete. Pete then kicks it backwards and hits it with the stock of his rifle.

Nick yells and hits a walker with his rifle.

Pete tries to limp toward his nephew. "Nick, hold on! Nick!"

Nick panics and runs away.

"Goddamn it! Nick!" Pete screams.

Clementine drags the man's arm, trying to get him to run. She knew where the truck was, and hoped to find cover there. Pete, begrudgingly follows her, as walkers begin surrounding them.

Clementine held onto Pete's sleeve like her life depended on it, dragging the man towards the location of the truck she stayed in. After a few minutes of running they arrived at the truck, Clementine slammed the back doors open, jumped in, and helped the older man get inside.

"Well, they shouldn't be able to get through that. On the downside, we can't get through them." He remarked, walkers pounded on the truck.

They both sat down, Pete clenched his injured right leg. Clementine stared at the bite sadly, she might not've liked everyone in the group, but she didn't want the man to die, or Luke.

"What're you lookin' at? Starin' ain't polite." Clementine looked in the man's eyes, he didn't show it yet, but fear showed in his eyes.

"Hand me that there." Pete nodded his head at something behind her, her hand axe.

Clementine hands it to the man, watching him cross his leg and lift the axe. The man grit his teeth, in anticipation for the pain, but then tossed it aside.

"I'd bleed out like a stuck pig. What are you gonna do, carry me outta here on your back? Hell. Just...just give me a minute." Clementine stared at the man, she only knew the man for nearly two days, and truly wished he wouldn't die. Lee's missing arm flashed in her head again. She wouldn't let that happen again.

She grabbed the bottle of water from her backpack, shaking it around.

"Anything in that?" Clementine found the opening she needed, handing the bottle over to the man. Waiting for when he started drinking.

Clementine rushed over and grabbed the axe, slamming straight down on the man's leg cutting halfway up his lower leg.

Pete spit the water. "Ah, f*ck!" He shouted in agony, dropping the bottle.

Clementine had only gotten halfway through, she raised the axe and slammed it down even harder, blood splashed on her face as the leg had been severed into two pieces. She grabbed rags out from her backpack, tying them together tightly, then grabbed a half foot long stick, that was about half an inch wide. She then wrapped the bundle of rags just under his knee multiple times as tightly as she could. Leaving enough fabric to use as a support for the stick, she then placed it over the two ears and tied them extremely tight over the stick. She then start twisting it, making a makeshift tourniquet, once the blood flow stopped, she placed Pete's hand over it. The man was in shock it seemed, but could understand what she was asking him. She looked around the truck, for anything to help with cleaning the wound. Finding nothing, she looked for at least anything else she could use to cover it. Finding some more rags she had, she bundled a bunch together and placed it over the wound. Then she grabbed another rag, placing it over the bulk and around his leg. Tying it in place with another rag.

Clementine kept searching for anything useful, and found it. Her raincoat, the blood and guts had dried since she had to abandon it. She quickly threw the coat on, hoping it was enough, and grabbed her notebook out of her backpack.

'I'll get help, be back soon.'She wrote, showing it to Pete, who simply nodded, still groaning in pain.

Clementine stood up, grabbed the tools the scavengers left behind, and walked towards the front doors of the truck, throwing the passenger door open, and slammed it shut. The walkers, hearing the noise, came towards it. One of the closest walkers, attempted lunging at her. Sidestepping, she then started sprinting past the group of shambling corpses, back towards the cabin to get help.

Clementine had crossed the river, still running, her legs burned and her lungs were screaming for air, but she didn't stop. She'd gotten a little lost for a while, unfamiliar with the area, and unable to think straight from the exertion she'd put herself through. She took a quick breather, trying to regain some semblance of direction. Spotting the trail that Pete and Luke had carried her through, she started following it. Eventually spotting the cabin through the trees, she started sprinting even harder.

She practically broke a hole through wall, when slammed the cabin door open. Carlos, and Rebecca ran out the kitchen, surprised at the noise. Clementine had her hands over her knees and was breathing heavily.

"Clementine, are you alright? Luke's not with you?" Carlos worriedly asked.

Rebecca questioned her. "Where's Alvin?!"

"What happened? It's been hours. Where are they?" Carlos got a little louder.

"Clem?" Rebecca's voice softened.

She pulled her notebook out of her backpack.

'Pete got bit, walkers swarmed us, I cut his leg off, in truck other side of river, help him'She tore the page out and shaved it into Carlos's chest.

The man frowned at that, but his eyes widened as he read the note, and handed it to Rebecca.

"We gotta go!" Rebecca exclaimed.

Carlos tried calming the pregnant woman down, not wanting to take the risk. "Just hold on a minute."

"My husband is still out there! Get the guns!" She shouted at the man, who promptly ran off into another room.

"Luke and Alvin went out looking for you. I told them not to go. Damn it, Luke!" She paced around.

Carlos returned with two rifles, handing one to Rebecca. The man nearly exited, before stopping.

"Clementine, can you... sh*t." The man realized she was covered head to toe in blood, and walked to the stairs.

"Sarah! Rebecca and I are going to go fishing, just stay in your room! We'll be back in a bit." The man then turned to her.

"Don't let her see you covered in that, and don't let anything happen to her!" The man hissed, then took off after Rebecca.

Clementine sat down against the wall,next to the door, still breathing heavily, she had been running around for so long. Once she could no longer feel her lungs burning, she stood up slowly, using the wall as support. She entered the kitchen, and sat down on a chair. This was her chance to finally leave, she placed the notebook on the table. She placed her pencil on on empty page, and froze.

What was she going to say? She thought for what felt like an eternity.

Shen then finally decided what to write.

'If you're wondering where I am, I left, I'm sorry for taking for taking the medical supplies, even if you left me no choice.

You all will most likely never see me again. I'm leaving the forest, and will probably leave North Carolina.

If Pete survives, tell him, thank you for being nice, and I'll never be able to repay you, Luke, I'll never forget you, for defending me, even if everyone was against it and didn't believe me. And also for dropping me. Here's a little gift for you two, from me, I didn't know what to get, so here. They're empty, as I can't risk not being able to make fire.

And sorry for whoever's watch this was, I was really angry when I grabbed it.

Goodbye'

She tore the page out, placed it on the table, and then pulled out the watch.

Clementine grabbed two lighters, she then started etching their names into the lighters, using a screwdriver she had found in the storage room after looking around for something to do it. Once she finished the lighters she placed them next to the watch.

She then exited the cabin, and started walking away. Clementine was about halfway to the tree line, planning to find her duffle bag.

"Hello there!"

Clementine froze, she recognized the voice clear as day. Turning around, she saw the same man, whose group had been practically tormenting her for months, walking towards her.

Once the man was in front of her, he stared at her, a light smile plastered over his face. Clementine shyly nodded to the man, hoping the man didn't notice how badly she wanted to escape.

"How are ya?" The man asked her, still smiling, but his eyes seemed to be looking into her.

Clementine shrugged in response.

"Not much a talker are you?" He joked. Clementine put a finger up, and placed her pack down. Grabbing her notebook, and looking through the pages she had dedicated to conversation starters/information about herself.

She found the page that said she couldn't talk, showing it to the amused man.

The man nodded in acknowledgment at the gesture. "Sorry 'bout that, don't really come across many mutes these day. Except for the dead people." He joked again, the man finding the whole situation funny.

She finally took notice of the man's holstered revolver.

"My family and I are set up a ways downriver. I'm... kinda surprised we haven't run into each other yet. What's your name?" The man lied easily.

Clementine held herself from furrowing her eyebrows at the blatant lie. She switched to the first page.

'I'm Clementine, what's your name'

"My name is George, honey." George offered her a handshake.

Not wanting to take any risks, she accepted and shook his hand back.

"Pleasure to meet you, Clementine. You mind if I come in for a bit?" He gestured towards the cabin.

Clementine was at a loss, she wasn't prepared for this. She remembered Carlos's words, and even though she hated the man, she didn't want to risk his daughter getting hurt, if George was, in fact, Carver as she suspected.

She wrote'it's locked'and left it at that.

"I see, sorry for assuming the place was yours." George apologized to her, he seemed to be enjoying the situation.

"Where's your group, hard to believe a sweet, little girl, like yourself is out here by yourself?"

Clementine shook her head,'Alone'

"Really?" He seemed surprised at, although she also saw something else, recognition maybe?

Clementine nodded.

"Well, I'm impressed." He pat her on the shoulder a few times.

"Well, I'll cut to the chase; I'm looking for my people. Seven of them, to be exact. They've been gone a long while and... I'm worried they might've gotten lost. Maybe you've seen 'em. Couple of farm boys and an old man... Spanish guy and his daughter. Quiet girl, bit taller than you. A big black guy. This big. And a pretty little pregnant lady." The man did a bunch of gestures to try and give an idea, of what the group looked like.

Confirming her suspicions on who the man was. Shaking her head, she wrote something else down.

'I passed by a bunch of dead bodies, down by the river, could be them.'Showing him the note, and pointing in the direction of the river.

"The river? You sure about that?" He checked.

Clementine nodded yes to the question.

"Well, no offense, but I'd guess that wasn't them. 'Cause the ones I'm lookin' for are very careful people."

Clementine shrugged at that.

"Just passin' through?" She nodded.

"Hey, listen, kid. I hope you're not one of those nuts headed up north, lookin' for Shangri-La."

Clementine stared confused at the man.

'What's Shangi-La?'

The man laughed "It's Shangri, S-H-A-N-G-R-I. Some place up north, supposedly. Some big community, takin' survivors by the dozens or whatever." He explains.

She shook her head at that.

"Oh good. Whole lot of people headed that way lately, north, that is. Me, I don't get it. Just as much nothin' up there as there is down here. And I can't stand that Yankee weather." He said disdainfully.

'I've noticed that really cold weather will slow the walkers down a bunch.'Clementine wrote, trying to explain the reason as to why people were going north.

"Well, that's not worth the trade, in my opinon." He countered.

Clementine pointed at the man, and then placed her hands together, pretending to sleep, and straightening up. She always felt embarrassed doing stuff like that.

"Sleep? Oh, down by the river there. There's a sweet little spot with a boat where we pitched camp. Got a few tents up and everything else. Almost surprised you haven't seen us yet."

'How long'

"Been there a good while now."

They both stood there for a while, he stared at, and Clementine stared back.

"Well, you're welcome to come with me, back to my camp. I enjoyed this little conversation, and you remind me of someone." Carver offered.

Clementine was now truly at a loss, if she didn't, he might kill her, if she did, she didn't know what might happen to her. She thought for a minute, about the recent days, the past two years of drifting from place to place. She hated to admit it, but she was tired of living like that. She so desperately wanted to make the truck work as a place to live.

This decision albeit hard, could quite possibly risk everything for her.

Chapter 7: Sacrifice

Chapter Text

Clementine, nodded at the older man.

"Good choice, kid." He started walking off, before realizing the girl wasn't following.

"What's the hold up?"

Clementine, held up a finger to tell the man to wait, and put her backpack down.

"Alright, just don't take long."

She pretended to search the bag, so she could quickly write down a note.

'Carver here. Go with, to protect.'

Tearing the page, and crumbling it into a ball in her right hand. Grabbing her pistol as a cover and putting it behind her back, securing it under her waistband. She dropped the paper ball at the same time, and zipped up her backpack.

She stood up and threw the backpack back on, following the man. She didn't dare look back, in fear of drawing suspicion.

They walked through the forest for a few minutes, before Clementine wrote a note, asking the man if they could look for a duffle bag that she had hidden.

He looked at the sky, gauging the sun's position. "Yeah, we got time. I'm assuming you know where it is?"

Clementine nodded, walking ahead of the man.

They trekked in relative silence for a couple minutes, before the man started another conversation. "You know, I gotta ask, what's with the raincoat? The thing looks like like you threw it into a pile of sh*t, no offense."

She thought about it for a second, would telling Carver about walker camouflage be the right thing? If she didn't, and they'd have to deal with a herd, knowing she could've prevented any deaths would make her feel terrible. But if she did, and they used the herd to kill groups instead, that would as well.

She eventually decided that she'd be somewhat honest about it, figuring they might learn about the technique eventually.

'If I tell you, will you promise not to laugh?'

The man raised an eyebrow at that, probably assuming it was some kind of embarrassing story by the wording.

"Why would I laugh?" He seemed confused, but his eyes still showed some sort of amusem*nt towards the girl.

'If you cover yourself in the walker's insides, at least the ones that have been around for longer than a few days. They can't tell you apart from one of them, as long as you stay calm, and don't make any noises to draw attention. I wear the raincoat, so I don't have to put it all over my clothes and skin. I've gotten really sick doing that, the coat helps with that.'

The man read the note a few times. Seemingly amazed at the ingenuity of it all.

"And you're sure this works." Still a little skeptical at the idea.

Clementine gave a quick nod.

After around half an hour of walking, her left arm started flaring up, the pain had intensified from the sweat she'd accumulated earlier, and the sweat was pooling into her stitches. Clementine almost let out a groan, but held it back, placing her right hand over the covered bite.

They eventually reached the river, wading through the water. She noticed the trees she had marked weeks prior, pointing them out to the older man following her. They both followed the trail to her old camp.

Clementine, ruminated on the decision she made, she hoped it was the right choice. She didn't want Luke or Pete's, if he survived, blood on her hands.

They had just passed the truck, finding it entirely empty, with the bodies of walkers all around it. She was searching for her duffle bag, passing by dozens of trees, checking for the mark signifying the right one. Once she found the right tree, she started digging, throwing the sticks and leaves wildly.

Once she was done, she smiled. The bag was still there, in all its dingy, muddy glory. She pulled it up, out of the tree roots, and placed it next to her. Opening the bag, she started searching it.

About two weeks of dried, preserved meat and fish, three cans of ravioli, that she still had yet to eat, some handmade tools that she had made, namely a wooden mallet, and a bow-drill. The important things though, being the crowbar and some type of knife she'd found on walker's body. She didn't exactly know what to call the thing, just that it seemed to be meant for killing things. It was double sided, maybe nine inches long if she had to guess, the blade was almost as big as her forearm, the blade was almost entirely black, and the handle was textured, gripping to her hands when they got wet. She had stored the knife in the duffle bag, as the hunting knife was doing a good job of taking care of things. But now, this was all she had left, in terms of melee weapons that she could use easily without tiring herself out quick.

She slipped the knife's sheath into one of her belt loops on her right, this one having a metal belt clip instead of the hunting knife's buttoned leather one.

She zipped up the duffle bag and went to carry it.

"Woah there, honey." Carver yanked the bag out of her hands, carrying it in his left hand. She frowned at the man, who chuckled at her reaction.

"Sorry Clementine, but I ain't the typa guy to just let an injured little girl carry something heavy." Clementine's eyes widened at that, how'd he know?

"You've been avoiding using your left arm for a while now, clutching it."

She sighed, walking beside the man.

"So, what exactly happened?" He questioned.

'dog'

"Dog huh, don't think I've seen a dog in a long time, since the dead started walkin' around." Clementine shrugged.

"Looks like it hurt, you do that yourself?" He pointed at the bandage with his thumb.

She nodded.

"Good job, it's a good thing to learn how to do these things. Especially, shooting a gun." The man congratulated her.

Clementine rubbed her neck shyly, not expecting the man to be nice to her, after what she'd seen him to do to a small group, around two months ago.

They passed by another stream, next to the road. One large truck was on the road, and three smaller ones. A semi-large campsite nearby, made up of three large orange tents, a large campfire in the center, and a group of people around it, talking, and cooking something in a large pot.

The man placed the duffle bag down and whistled. Their heads turned towards the man, and then to her.

"Alright everybody, we got ourselves here a potential new member of our community." He patted her back lightly. "This here is Clementine... she's mute, so only ask her yes or no questions, unless she has something to write in."

She looked at the older man next to her, and then at the group near the fire. She only recognized two of them, Troy, not Tony, she remembered and a redhead. Clementine waved at them shyly, not expecting much.

"Now aren't ya just the sweetest, lil' thang. Bill where'd you find her?" The redhead suddenly started.

Troy started grumbling about something.

"Go on." Carver nudged her. "They don't bite... well Troy might, but don't worry 'bout him."

Clementine slowly walked over to the group.

"So what's a little girl like yourself, just doin' out in the middle of nowhere?" An asian man asked her.

"Didn't Bill, literally just say yes or no questions, Johnny?" The redhead smacked the asian man's arm, who she now knew as Johnny.

"He also said, unless she had something to write with. What's she f*ckin' holdin' Bonnie? 'Cause to me it looks like a journal." The man, countered, with a smug smirk.

Bonnie sighed at the man. "Alright, you win."

Clementine was thoroughly surprised at the group's antics. Seemingly friendlier, than she had perceived them to be through the last few months.

'I've been alone for a while, I came to the forest looking for somewhere safe, and food. But some people attacked and robbed me. I got bit by a dog trying to escape, and had to stitch up my arm.'

"A dog? What'd you do to it?" Johnny asked after reading the note.

She made a slit throat gesture.

"Poor thing, well you're safe now at least. We got walls, people, food for years, and lots of guns. I know, how 'bout this, when we get back to our community, you can stay with me, would you like that Clementine?" Bonnie offered her, a smile on her face. The woman was very friendly when she didn't mistake you for a walker.

"Now, now Bonnie, don't get ahead of yourself, she still has to start in the pen like everyone else." Carver had butted in.

"Bu-" Bill cut the redhead off.

"However, this little can of sunshine, has brought forward some very interesting information to me. If she can prove to me that it works, she'll get a fast track towards becoming a member of our community."

Bonnie seamed to beam at that.

"Now then, finish eating and let's return back to Howe's. We've gotta get our trucks restocked, and someone's got something revolutionary to show us. After that, we head back out towards the Blue Ridge Mountains, start another search there." Carver's eyes seamed to gleam as he stared at her. She really hoped, she hadn't made a terrible mistake.

They'd been on the road for an hour or so now. She felt uncomfortable, they'd taken her weapons and she was told to throw her raincoat in the back of the large truck, because of the stench it was letting off. And they also her backpack and duffle bag, she wouldn't need them anymore apparently. Apparently, because she had to spend at least one day inside the pen.

Clementine sat behind Bonnie and Troy, the two had been arguing for almost the entire ride so far.

"I'm just sayin', what in the flyin' f*ck, do we have use for, with a mute?!"

"Troy, she's right here, and stop swearing, she's just a kid."

"Oh sorry, my bad, it's not like the world ain't f*ckin' ended already."

"Just 'cause the world's gone to hell, don't mean you can't have common decency."

Clementine had started tuning the two arguing adults out. She'd gotten a headache listening to them rambling on, and her arm wasn't helping. She tried entertaining herself, by watching the world pass by in the windows. She hadn't been inside a working, or even moving car since the RV in the motor inn, she didn't count the train, as it wasn't really a car.

She eventually got bored watching the trees pass by after a few minutes.

"God, you're insufferable Troy, just shut up and let me drive."

"Fine, all this damn yellin' has got my throat burnin'." The vulgar man reclined his seat, shooting a glare at Clementine, then turning his head.

Clementine thanked all that was holy, that the man had finally shut up.

"So, Clementine, what's this thing Bill wants you doin'?" Bonnie asked her, the woman moved her rearview mirror to look at the girl.

Clementine showed her the page, she had showed Carver.

"That's about the craziest thing, I've ever heard." Clementine raised an eyebrow at that.

"Well, you get what I mean." The woman was flabbergasted at the notion of covering yourself in walker guts.

"Like, doesn't it smell, I can barely even handle being near one that's already got its stomach hanging out. But wearing it, you're braver than me, Clementine."

"sh*t, it's 'bout the dumbest lie I've ever seen." Troy declared.

"Oh don't you start now. If she's tellin' the truth, then she might save your behind one day." The woman reminded her of Luke right now.

"It's bullsh*t, if you're tellin' the truth kid, I'll make you your room myself. But if you're lyin', well we'll figure that one out." Clementine shuddered at the comment.

"You're sick, Troy."

"Love you too, Bonnie"

Clementine, woke up from a harsh nudge from Troy. She glared at the man, who gave her another aggressive nudge in response.

"Wake your ass up kid, and follow me."

'Asshole.' She got out the car, her body was sore from the firm chairs. She didn't even realize that she'd fallen asleep on the way.

She was in some sort of garage, from what she could tell. Following Troy, he pushed a door open, not bothering to hold the door open, forcing the little girl to hurry. Walking through the doorway, she started following the man again, she looked around at the surroundings and froze. There was just so much stuff, food, supplies, you name it and it was probably there.

"Hurry your ass up, we ain't got all day kid!" Troy's shouting broke her out of her stupor.

He led her towards a gate, lifting it open.

"Welcome to the pen, girly. Enjoy your stay. Don't forget you got work in a couple hours." The man pushed her in harshly, Clementine just barely managed to not fall down. Troy smirked behind her, closing the gate behind him.

'I really don't like that guy.' Was all she thought.

There were three other people in the pen. A man with brown skin, with an extremely receded hairline missing his left arm, a dark skinned man laying down with his back turned, and a woman with a very boyish haircut.

"Hey, I'm Reggie. What's your name?" The brown man walked up to her, offering his only hand to her.

Clementine just stared at him, her notebook was confiscated along with her stuff. She chose to just ignore the man.

"Okay... you don't want to talk, that's fine." She looked at the man again, he seemed overly friendly, like Bonnie, but she saw something else in the man. What that was, she couldn't exactly tell, maybe cowardly, or something of the sort. All Clementine knew, apart from being crippled, she couldn't bet on the man holding her back at least.

She shook her head and just walked towards a bed. Choosing to pick one on the floor, it felt safer to her, less open. She wanted tomorrow to come sooner, having her own place to sleep would make her feel much safer. Bonnie's offer was nice, but she didn't trust her, or anything.

She preferred being alone, since Savannah, it was driving her anxious being near people. Even being in the Cabin was hard for her, she felt embarrassed, timid, and angry at everything. She only came here because she didn't want Luke and Pete, potentially dying if she didn't follow Carver, the only living people she'd met in two years, that hadn't tried to kill or do something to her. Being alone was freer, the walkers weren't great company, but they never tried to speak, or lie to her or tried killing her as long as she stayed covered in their guts.

She didn't trust people anymore, that's why despite Luke and Pete being nice to her, she still left. Even the good ones eventually become bad, like Lilly, she didn't like the woman, but she knew she only wanted the best for the group. Then, she shot Carley, and from there she knew that the woman had cracked. Ben, an idiot she once thought of as a friend, but he ruined everything, only realizing that later. Even Kenny, she saw the changes happening in the man after Katjaa and Duck died, if he'd survived that day, she wouldn't be surprised to see the man become someone who could only cause pain and suffering. She was sure, in some shape or form, that the same would happen to Luke, Pete, or Bonnie. The second she found a chance, she vowed she'd leave, back on the road with nothing but herself and the dead.

She was tired, but she had to go on, for Lee, for everyone in Savannah that died because of her. She couldn't let their deaths be in vain.

"Hey kid?" Reggie had started bothering her again.

"You okay? You've been staring at nothing for an hour."

It was starting to brighten outside, she could tell by the sky beginning to redden. The trip had started around one to two hours before sunset, and took almost the entire night to get to this place.

Clementine knew she had to spend at least one entire day here, before having to show Carver how to camouflage against the walkers. She didn't know what exactly that entailed, but she at least knew she was supposed to work, and get to know some of the people here.

Reggie sighed, clearly realizing he wasn't getting anywhere and walked away.

The other two had started waking up, stretching their bodies and massaging sores from the rock hard beds. Walking towards a small unlit campfire in the center. They didn't even notice that she'd been here for a while, probably never would until they got their work schedules. But Reggie bought her to their attention immediately.

"We got a new kid in the pen with us. Come on over kid, meet your pen mates" She glared at the man who waved her over, he was starting to really get on her nerves.

Both of them, turned towards her, sighing she stood up.

The woman didn't talk much, preferring to stay quiet. The dark skinned man was similar, only exchanging a greeting that only got answered with a tiny wave. They sat there for a while, Reggie just talking every now and then, until Carver, Troy, and some others opened the gate.

"Alright, Reggie and Michael, you're with Troy, you got wall duty. Jane, you got lift duty with Hank, need you moving those bags of soil and fertilizer to the greenhouse. Clementine, you're in the armory with Bonnie, Tavia'll take you." Carver kept it brief, she had expected more for some reason.

The assigned guards lead the people in the pen out to their assigned posts.

"Come on, kid. Armory is right ahead." Clementine nodded, but she strangely felt like she recognized the chubby woman for some odd reason.

She followed the woman through the store, passing by people on the way.

"Who's this?" An older girl, asked someone.

"Some kid Bill found while scouting, she can't talk from what I've heard." Another woman answered, probably the girls mom or something.

"Why does everyone close to my age have some sorta problem? Sarah was a crybaby, and now someone I can't even talk to." She heard the girl complain as Tavia led her inside a room.

"Go on inside. Bonnie's waiting." The chubby woman, closed the door behind her.

"Hey, I guess you're startin' your day with me." Bonnie motions her hand to tell Clementine to sit down on a stool next to her.

"We're loadin' magazines." The woman showed Clementine how to do so, Clementine simply repeated the motions.

"So Clementine, have you thought about staying with me after that thing with Bill?" The woman handed her a few pieces of paper, and pink pen.

"I brought you some paper and a pen, don't know why Troy took the notebook."

Clementine just apologized and wrote she prefers being alone.

"That's fine, just... try to stay away from Troy, okay? Make sure to lock your room or wherever you're stayin', that man is a person." Clementine raised an eyebrow at the woman's recommendation. She wasn't planning on associating with the man at all. What was she implying about the man?

She suddenly remembered what Luke had told her in the kitchen two days ago.

'Is he a child rapist?'The woman gawked surprised Clementine even knew that word.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far, just... he's a sick person, enjoys making things hard for newcomers. Bill keeps him around only 'cause he's an idiot that follows orders." She said with a stifled, worried voice.

Clementine nodded at that, it made sense from what she's seen. The man had already pushed her around and she didn't even know the guy.

They continued loading magazines, Bonnie would start a conversation with Clementine, every now and then.

"How was it in the yard? I know it ain't so comfortable... but it's safe. Which is more than I can say about a lot of places out there."

Clementine shrugged, certainly wasn't the worst thing she'd laid down on.

"Yeah, Bill likes the beds in the yard bein' like that. Says it makes the move into your own room all the better."

'makes sense'

"I guess, I just wish you didn't have to stay there, especially that Jane woman." Clementine looked at the redhead confused.

"She's fishy, we found her covered from head to toe in blood and other stuff. Had to spend a while cleaning her up before we got her here."

Clementine just kept loading magazines, she found it oddly satisfying, although she probably didn't know if she could even use the weapon these bullets fed.

A walkie-talkie on the table started crackling. "Hey, Bonnie, is that girl down there? I need to come get her."

Bonnie grabbed the walkie-talkie to respond. "Yeah, she's here."

"Okay, I'll be right over."

Clementine raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sure it's fine. Probably just got another job for ya."

The door opened a minute later, Tavia walking in.

"Come with me kid, we're going to the roof." Clementine jumped off the stool, and followed the woman.

They walked towards a door, warning about an alarm if opened. Clementine found herself worrying for a second, but the alarm never came when the door opened. Leading her up some stairs and opening another door, they were both on the roof.

"Follow me, come on." She led Clementine to some wooden building, unlocked the door and led her in.

"Stay in here for a minute, I'm gonna radio down and find out what you're doing. Don't touch anything." The woman seemed to think of Clementine as some kid who couldn't stop herself from getting her grubby little hands on everything.

She sat there for a bit, when Tavia walked in again.

"Alright, you got berry pickin' duty, grab any berries you find, need you to fill a basket, and trim off any dead branches with those shears." Pointing at a tool on the table. Clementine nodded and got to work, it wasn't difficult at all. She managed to fill her first basket relatively quick, and had neatly stacked the branches she had to trim in another. She was already halfway done with her first, when the door opened.

"Just checking in... see how you're doin' with the work." Carver's voice sounded throughout the greenhouse. The man noticed the second basket she had started.

"Jesus, kid. You're a natural." He praised the kid. "Might just have you working here all the time."

The comment had her feeling giddy for some reason. She wondered what had even happened to cause the group in the cabin to leave in the first place. Like even though she was planning to leave anyway, this place seemed to have a good thing going for it. It left her feeling confused for some reason.

"Well, anyways, Bonnie asked me to let you know she has something for you to do. I'll have someone come here and pick this up."

Clementine nodded at the man, and left the greenhouse to go to Bonnie. She walked for a few minute, passing by other guards, and people working. She finally returned to the armory, the redhead carrying a bucket.

"Oh, hey Clem. So, they want you to run some construction supplies to the guys workin' the expansion. Real simple. Just take this over to 'em and come back. It's just past this door here, and then head on your left." Bonnie pointed to a glass door on her right.

"And also, be careful, there might be some lurkers outside being attracted by the noise. So just watch where you're goin'." The woman handed her the bucket, which Clementine had to carry with both arms, hugging the thing to make sure it didn't drop.

"Alright on you go, city mouse." Clementine raised an eyebrow at that, which only made Bonnie chuckle. She rolled her eyes and followed the woman's directions.

She had to go slowly, the bucket was a little heavy for her, but she soldiered on. She eventually reached a building that had construction noises coming out of it, placing the bucket down, she opened the door and held it open so could drag the supplies in.

"Just place it over there, kid." Michael pointed at a window, with a bunch of boards that had yet to be installed. She kneeled down to pick the bucket back up, and plopped it down where the man ordered. She stood back up to leave, went to open the door to leave, when it burst open, hitting her square in the face, sending her to the ground with a groan.

"Holy sh*t, you okay kid?" Michael ran towards her.

"sh*t, kid. You just got knocked the f*ck out." Clementine looked up, seeing Troy chuckling at her. Throwing a scowl at the man, she wiped under her nose, some blood pouring out.

"Now as funny as that was, you gotta get." He motioned his head to tell her to leave.

Clementine stood up, stumbling a bit, before walking out of the building. She held a hand over her nose, more blood was dripping out and she felt a bit lightheaded. She pulled the glass door open to enter the store, Bonnie waiting for her, her smile disappearing as soon as she saw the blood dripping down her face.

"Oh my God, Clem what happened?" The woman rushed over, checking her face.

Bonnie grabbed her radio. "Bill, we need some medical assistance quick, Clementine got injured badly, bringing supplies to the expansion."

"What happened?" The man's voice cracked through.

"I dunno, but it's bad, blood's pouring out of her nose real fast." The woman's voice getting more worried.

"I'll send someone over." Bonnie made the girl sit against the wall.

Clementine didn't feel like it was that big of a deal, she'd been through worse. Her mom had usually gotten her fixed up quick, she remembered the steps somewhat. Look down, and pinch the bridge for a few minutes. She stayed in that position for a bit, Bonnie worrying all the while.

"What happened?" An asian man arrived with a first aid kit, kneeling next to her and opened the box.

"I dunno, she walked in with blood pouring out her nose." Bonnie relayed to the man who inspected her nose, prodding it for a reaction. She winced slightly, the man then plugged her nose and wiped her face from any blood with a clean cloth.

The man unclipped a radio from his belt. "Well, she'll be alright Bill, just looks a bit swollen, and feels tender. I recommend she get some rest for the rest of the day, looks like she lost a bit of blood."

"Tell her to write down what happened, and bring it to me. Make sure it doesn't happen again." Carver ordered, which made Bonnie rush to grab the pen and paper she had left in the armory.

Bonnie returned only a few seconds later holding the writing utensils.

'Troy slammed a door in my face, when I went to open it.'

"That piece of shi-." Bonnie cut herself off, looking at the girl.

"Anyways, let's get you back to the yard. Vince, take that to Bill." The woman helped Clementine stand up, and walk her back to the pen.

"Oh right, make sure she keeps those in for a bit. Soak up all the blood and whatnot." Vince informed the redhead, who nodded in response.

The woman lifted the gate up, and led Clementine to a bed. Staying with the child until she was laying down on the firm mattress.

"You okay, city mouse." Bonnie spoke lightly.

Clementine just nodded, the pain wasn't that bad anymore.

"I'm gonna give that scumbag a piece of my mind." The redhead hissed, storming outside the pen, and closing it behind her.

Clementine, sat back up, placing her back against the wall. She still had the pen and paper Bonnie gave her, minus the page that Vince took. She stared at it, she was going to be stuck here for the rest of the day with nothing to do, so she decided to doodle.

She decided to draw random things she'd seen throughout her travels. After a while she got bored, and started looking around the pen. She was still a little light headed, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. She stared at a ladder that looked like someone ripped off half of it. Some sort of makeshift pulley system was near it, which she found somewhat cool. The gates opened again, Carver entering the pen.

"I saw the blood trail, and from what I hear from Troy, it was an honest to god accident. Is that true, Clementine?" She nodded, although she was half tempted to say the bastard enjoyed nearly breaking her nose.

"How do you feel? Vincent recommended you be put out of commission for the rest of the day."

She shook her hand, she wasn't exactly in pain or feeling good either. Uncomfortable mostly, being forced to breathe through her mouth was weird for her.

'bored'she wrote on the paper Bonnie gave her, which made the man chuckle.

"Not one for sitting still?" Clementine shook her head. "Yeah, me neither, I prefer to stay busy, we're alike in that way."

"You think you can get back to work, doin' lighter jobs of course?" She nodded, she hated being stuck in one place doing nothing. She learned that about herself back in the motor inn, never being able to help Lee and the others made her feel helpless. The times she got really sick and had to hunker down for a week, because she couldn't walk for a few minutes had also cemented that feeling in her.

"Alright, go help Bonnie with whatever she needs." The man waited for Clementine to leave the pen before closing it.

Once she found Bonnie to help her, she strode towards her. She tapped the redhead on the waist, who took a second glance down at her.

"What are you doin' here city mouse? You need to be restin', come on." Clementine shook her head, crossing her arms to let the woman know she wanted to do something.

Bonnie sighed, "Well, come on city mouse. We're on cookin' duty. Grab that bag o' rice over there." She pointed at a small open bag sitting on the ground. Picking the bag up, she realized it was heavier than she thought, but she brought it to Bonnie without a problem.

"I'll get the water, you just wait here." The redhead left, Clementine stood there for a bit, bouncing up and down with her feet from boredom.

"Hey." A young voice rang behind her. Turning around she saw the girl that was complaining about everyone her age being weird earlier today.

"Shel tells me you're mute?" Clementine nodded, but she definitely wasn't from what she could tell.

She knew she stopped speaking sometime after she returned to Macon for new clothes. She hadn't even screamed, when she had night terrors, Carlos's words about her screams in the shed seemed unreal to her. She never even heard them, but she guessed the pain from stitching her own arm had blocked out sound.

"Are you a crybaby?" The girl suddenly asked, Clementine just shook her head. She remembered her saying something about Sarah being a crybaby, which made her feel somewhat glad she wouldn't have to interact with the girl anymore.

"Good, they say you've been alone for awhile, do you know how to shoot?" The girl seemed eager at that question. Clementine nodded slowly, she felt like she was about to put herself in a bad situation.

"Can you teach me? My sister never lets me touch the guns, she's super overprotective." Clementine didn't know how to respond to that. On one hand, she felt like it was a necessary thing to learn now, on the other hand, well, to be honest she didn't really care about that option.

Clementine nodded at the girl who started to beam. "Yes." The girl pumped her fist, Clementine just stared awkwardly at the older girl, who seemed to notice the stare. "What? Oh right, I'm Becca." The teen held out her hand.

Clementine stared at the hand for a second, before shaking it and then pulling a piece of paper out and writing her name.

"Heh, that's funny. You're a fruit." Becca giggled at Clementine's name, who just rolled her eyes in response.

"Anyways, I gotta go, Shel'll kill me if I don't get back." The older girl ran off, Bonnie peaking out of a store aisle soon after, carrying a few jugs of water.

"Making friends already I see, city mouse." Clementine shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed, she wouldn't consider it making friends, just making sure another kid doesn't die.

Bonnie chuckled at the eleven year olds reaction.

"No need to be shy, Becca might be older than you, but she's a good kid. If a bit reckless, and insensitive, but she means well." Bonnie then sighed.

"Poor kid, she got used to this messed up world so fast, faster than her big sister. Shel keeps trying to protect her from losing what remains of her childhood, but... well it's good you're deciding to help her." Bonnie's voice trailed off at the end, before she spoke up again.

"There was this other girl, Sarah, that used to live here. Her dad never let her interact much with most o' us. Was real overprotective, more so than Shel, man didn't even have the heart to let 'er work. He'd work long hours in the infirmary just to make sure it wasn't a problem. They disappeared with some others a few months back, and well... I'm just not sure that kid's gonna make it much longer." Bonnie seemed really saddened by Sarah's situation, which Clementine well understood, before Lee decided to teach her to protect herself, babying the girl would get her taken advantage of, killed or worse eaten alive by the dead.

"Anyways, I need you to pour this rice over in that colander there, so I can wash it." The woman pointed at a table with a large metal bowl a bunch of tiny holes all over it, that was above a large drawing pot. Clementine lifted the rice bag, and brought it to the colander, pouring the contents inside the bowl. Bonnie then started slowly pouring water over the rice, swirling it around with her hands until the water ran clear through the huge colander.

"Okay, now we move this rice into a cooking pot." She moved to another pot that was over a large burner, dumping the rice into it, and then filling it with water till it reached the top of the rice pile. "I'll get to work cookin' up some veggies, and the meat. I just need ya to watch the water, once it starts boilin' turn the burner down n' cover it." Clementine watched the pot for a while, the water took a while before it started boiling. Bonnie having already chopped up the vegetables and some type of game, and placing them in another pot.

"Welp city mouse, we got some time before we gotta worry about this rice. Anythin' in particular you wanna talk about to pass the time?"

Clementine thought about how she'd even teach Becca to shoot. Choosing to ask Bonnie about it.

"Well, sometimes Bill likes doin' some typa expeditions or somethin' around the county area. He says it's for scoutin' out herds or groups. Shel I think is scheduled to go this time around next week or so. So that'll be as good a time as any."

The two spoke about many things, once the rice had finished simmering, Bonnie turned the burner real low.

"Okay, I need you to help me pour most of the stew into the rice. Some o' the people here can't stomach the rice, they get real bad bloating or somethin' of the sort, so they just get the stew when we cook some." The woman answered before Clementine could think of asking.

Clementine took one handle, grunting a little as she needed to use two hands, Bonnie the other and carried the pot over the one filled with rice. pouring the stewed vegetables and game meat into the rice pot, leaving some stew behind.

"There's probably a better way of goin' about this, but I've never been the best at this." The woman placed the stew pot down and placed her hands on her hips for a few seconds. She then grabbed a large wooden spoon and handed it to Clementine.

"Alright now, get to it Clem." Clementine looked at the spoon for a bit, before trying to mix the pot, her arms just barely not touching the top of the pot.

"Oh right, lemme grab you a footstool." The woman ran off for a second and returned with something for her to stand. Clementine started mixing, turning the rice over the stew they'd poured for a few minutes until it was mixed evenly.

"Now all I gotta do is announce dinner." The woman notified Bill on her radio. Not long after an intercom ringed, and he ordered people in the pen to go back and wait for their meal and then told everyone else that food was ready.

Clementine went to return to the pen, when Bonnie grabbed her left arm to stop her.

"Nuh-uh city mouse, you get to eat your meal now, while it's hot, Bill's orders before you got here." The woman handing her a bowl, full to the brim of rice and stew, and a spoon inside.

Clementine devoured the stew in seconds, not even bothering to sit down.

"Woah slow down, city mouse." The woman chuckled, as Clementine finished her bowl.

"Well, I wish you could stay here, but rules are rules. Everyone has to do time in the pen, even if you're on the fast track." The woman sighed and waved her off.

Clementine was a bit sad to have to leave so early, but knew better than to defy the law so to say. When she got there, she saw some blonde guy in glasses standing next to the gate.

The man stared at her for a second, squinting his eyes at her. She could almost imagine the lightbulb in his head going off, when he started opening the gate.

"Go on in, dude." The man's voice reminded her of one of those stereotypically chill characters in a cartoon.

Clementine smiled at the thought, before walking into the pen. Walking towards the bed she'd chosen for herself, she pulled the plugs out her nose tossing them in the campfire. She was tired, the work wasn't exactly exhausting, but the door accident had definitely caused her some issues. The blood loss, and lightheadedness being one of them. She laid down on the mattress, and turned to her side. Night was approaching and she had to prove the camouflage worked. Closing her eyes, she dreamt of the train again, similar to the last one she had where Lee never spoke until the end.

Clementine felt a rough kick to her stomach. Opening her eyes, Troy was staring at her. There was barely even daylight outside. Clementine glared at the man.

"Get up, follow me, Bill wants you kid." The man waited for her to climb out from under the bunk. Once she was out the man simply started walking off, not even checking for her to be behind him.

Clementine followed Troy up to some stairs leading to an office. Opening the door for her, and closing it behind her.

"Sleep well?" Clementine nodded, although she still felt somewhat tired, the beds in the pen weren't the least comfortable thing she'd slept on, but it certainly wasn't the best.

"Well, I'll cut straight to the chase, you and me are headin' out. If you prove to me that this camouflage works, then I'll have my men start workin' on a room for you to stay in, as soon as we get back. Alright?" Clementine nodded to the man, who threw her the raincoat they'd taken when they arrived.

Carver stood up, beckoning her to follow him. They walked to the garage, one of his men, Vince she remembered, opened one of the garage doors. The duo stepping out, the sun just starting to rise.

"And also, I want you to kill the lurker with your knife, you won't get any help from me. Need to make sure you're capable." He handed her the blade, Clementine nodding again as the garage door closed down behind them.

They walked around for a while, before finding a lone walker. Carver whistled, grabbing the undead creature's attention.

Clementine took that as her cue and walked towards it, pulling her knife out, and waiting as the walker lunged at her, sidestepping she slashed at the back of its knee, severing its tendons. The corpse slammed down into the ground face first, Clementine gripped the blade with two hands kneeled on its back, and stabbed the knife down on the walker's head, killing it.

"Good job, kid. Now, show me how exactly how you do it." His voice turned serious. She gulped quietly, the man's voice had a way of intimidating people.

She pushed the walker over onto it's back, making a large incision across the dead walker's abdomen and started scooping out the entrails. Shuddering, she wished she still had her gloves, the feeling of the walker's insides being cold, slimy, and oily. She smothered the outside of the coat, making sure she didn't miss the hood or hems. She then sighed, this part she always hated, ripping the belly open more, she turned around and laid down, wiggling around to make sure her back was covered.

Standing back up she looked at Carver, whose face remained unchanged at the action, the stench of the gutted walker not fazing him. She nodded at the man, remaining calm, despite the intense pressure the man was giving off.

They both started wandering again, searching for more walkers. Eventually, coming across five walkers appearing from the woods. The small group quickly taking notice of the two.

Carver spoke up suddenly, "You know that if this is true Clementine, you'll have saved dozens, if not hundreds of lives in the future?" Carver never stopped looking ahead when he said that, he seemed eager at the thought of being able to wade through the undead without fear.

Clementine slowly moved towards the small group of walkers, they didn't even take notice of her, as she expected.

"Clementine, you are a hero." Carver declared, the gleam in his eyes seemingly grew.

She stood still, turning towards the man, the words repeated in her ears over and over and over again. She'd be lying if it didn't make her feel proud of herself. But the feeling quickly died down, she could never consider the idea, especially after Savannah.

Carver watched as the walkers stepped past her, and continued shambling towards Carver. A smug grin plastered over his face, he drew his revolver blindingly fast, five gunshots rang out in quick succession.

"Now let's head back home, your room'll probably be ready by the end of the day, you are one of my people now." Clementine followed the man, she could only hope that he wouldn't abuse what she'd shown the man. The only thing she could do, was hold off on telling him about leading them with sounds. Until she was absolutely sure, in case she couldn't leave soon.

Chapter 8: Change

Chapter Text

It's been three days since Clementine proved that the walker camouflage worked.

Carver, or Bill now as he preferred her to refer to him now when she wrote his name, had decided that it was a time of celebration. At least what he considered celebrating, holding off on the search to the Blue Ridge Mountains for a few days, instead choosing to take it upon himself to dedicate the past few days in teaching her things.

She had no idea what for at first. The lessons ranging from how to organize schedules, manage different people, play to their strengths, intimidate, and even math. The man had admitted to her, when they got back from her proving the camouflage worked, on how he used to be a civil engineer, before the world became the way it is, and Bill decided to teach her a thing or two about it.

She thought it was strange at first, why he was even teaching her these things. When she had finally asked the man, he simply said, something about the next generation should be leading the old. Which, to be honest with herself, she didn't know how to feel about that comment. It made sense at least, children seemed to get used to the current state of the world quick, Becca was proof of that, the teens older sister, Shel, being more of a detriment to Becca's chances of living.

Right now, the man was showing her how to judge people, who was strong, weak, brave, cowardly, and so on. Bill first asked her to give her brief first opinions on all the people she'd met in the community so far. Seeing if she had come to the same conclusions as he did. If she got anything wrong, she assumed he'd be teaching her how he does it.

'Troy, is dumb, malicious, and a terrible person, but follows orders.

Bonnie, is overly friendly, afraid of conflict with authority, and a large fear of the unknown.

Wyatt, is similar to Troy, but is instead well behaved, preferring to stay out of causing trouble.

Vince, is a stickler for rules, choosing to report anyone he finds breaking them.

Reggie, is a coward that has no will of his own.

Mike, is strong, quick to make hard decisions, but knows his place.

Jane, is a loner, doesn't talk much or get involved with anyone.

Becca, is reckless, cynical, and insensitive to the feelings of others, and puts the community over friends first. Possibly might be antisocial or something of the sort.

Shel, is overprotective over her sister, trying to sield Becca from the world's state, but not to the point of preventing her from working or interacting with others.

Russel, is timid around those he doesn't know personally, but he follows orders without question.

Tavia, is a stickler for rules when it comes to others, but breaks them when she thinks no one's looking.

Johnny, is a grunt, following orders without question, even if he disagrees.

Hank, abides by the rules, but doesn't care that much if anyone breaks one that doesn't affect the community in a meaningful way.'

The list went on, a few more names of people she'd been made to interact with.

Carv-Bill, read the list, nodding along at her assessments of people within Howe's.

"Well, we certainly do think very similar when it comes to judgin' people. But you forgot one person." Clementine tilted her head at that.

"Me." Her eyes widened, as she didn't even think about giving her thoughts on the man. "Here, give me your personal assessment of me." The man passed her the notepad he had her writing on.

She thought about it closely, honesty was important, the man could clearly tell if someone was lying if they slipped up. However, she also didn't know what exactly she did think of the man. She stared at the sheet of paper thinking for a long while.

'William, is a leader that makes tough decisions even if it means being hated, intelligent, cunning, charismatic, fearless, arrogant, ruthless towards those that harm his own and betray his trust, believes in second chances, but punishes failure harshly. Believes in the survival of the fittest, despising weakness, and a strong believer in taking an eye for an eye.'

She was happy with her assessment on the man, showing it to him.

Bill smiled at the paper, "Spot on, Clementine. You want to know what I see in you?" The man asked her, sitting up and placing his elbows on the desk, interlocking his hands.

Clementine nodded as she knew she probably would get it anyways.

"You're strong, one of the only people here who can look me in the eye, without losin' their nerve. You judge people as soon as you meet them, deciding whether they are safe or not to be around, but you never trust those that are, not fully. You are determined, wise beyond your age, spiteful to those that wronged you, introverted but you don't avoid conversations unless you have absolutely no interest in the person starting it. You hate incompetence, but wish to help those being forced into it. You also have a great deal of trauma that you hide from others." Clementine's felt her heart sink at that, the man seemingly smirked as he realized he struck right on the money, before continuing.

"Whatever it was, it broke somethin' in you, made you prefer being alone. The company of others fills you with a sense of anxiety that you can't quite get rid of, even if you are comfortable around the person. You've also been thinkin' about leavin' since you got here, because of that feeling." Clementine, was shocked, but refused to let it show.

"You've killed before, many times, the thought of takin' a human life, no longer bothers you. You hate injustices towards yourself and others undeserving, I can keep goin' but you get the idea." Clementine felt naked, Bill had managed to read her like a book.

"I know you're shocked about me figurin' your plan out, but it was obvious the way you looked around at every corner. Lookin' for any possible blind spot, or hole in the walls. You don't like being around other people at all, a bad experience in the past, or a form of mental illness, I don't care. But that's not what's important, the important thing is Clementine. Is that you and I are more alike than you think." He declared, Clementine felt intrigued by the man's last comment, she didn't think they were alike, but wanted to hear more.

"If I asked anyone out there, what'd they think of me, they wouldn't even dare to say what you did. Except maybe Becca, but that's not out of some sense of strength, but recklessness, as you've noted. You have something these people here don't, Clementine." Bill paused for a bit, Clementine waiting for the man to finish to break the suspense.

"The ability to lead. You might be unable to speak, but you've certainly got a knack for the job. The way you've picked up the things I've shown you in the past couple days prove it. Your ability to read others, just by watching them, within seconds is unprecedented. I'm sure you can probably name people in the community who are bringing the rest down with their incompetence right now." Clementine knew that the man was right about that. She could already name one off the top of her head.

"Today's lesson is done. I want you to think about this conversation. Repeat it in your head, and in a few days, you'll let me know what your thoughts are. And also, I've had someone bring some educational textbooks to your room." Bill stood up, and walked towards the PA system, naming people in the community and ordering them to the garage. He then turned it off, and returned to his desk, opening a drawer.

"Bonnie told me, that you're gonna teach Becca to shoot sometime around next week?" Clementine nodded, Bill pulling her pistol out and handing it to her. "You're doin' the right thing, honey." He nodded and left the office. Clementine stood up and watched through the office window, as Bill walked towards the garage, grabbing a large dark green raincoat while he was at it.

Clementine didn't know how he figured so much about her, but it had made her desire to leave lessen. She wanted to know more, whether it was out of some feeling of intrigue, or some kind of attachment she'd drawn to the place. But, she wanted, no needed to find out what the man would tell her.

"So, Clem, can I call you Clem?" Becca asked her, receiving a nod in response.

Becca had been interacting with Clementine quite a lot since she moved out of the pen. Visiting her room, that was in some form of storage closet, every day. Bill noticed the budding friendship immediately, and decided to have the two work the same schedule. Clementine assumed Bill wanted the older girl to pick up some of the eleven year olds habits to be more like her or something. She didn't mind it all that much, the fifteen year old making decent company, but the inability to speak had certainly made it much harder to have long conversations.

"Great! So I wanted to ask Clem, what does Bill talk about when you're up there with him?" Clementine just wrote that he was teaching her random things.

"Huh, he never did that with me, or Sarah when she was here, but then again, you did show him how to make the walkers not be a threat anymore." One of the first things she learned about Becca, and Shel at that, was that they both called the undead, walkers, just like Lee and her old group did.

When Clementine first asked about it, the teen just said "Because all they do is walk, duh." Which the younger girl had found funny, just by the way they came up with the same name, from the same reasoning.

Clementine shrugged, she didn't exactly think much about it. Bill genuinely seemed to be interested, in teaching her things, which led to her learning some things about the man. Bill seemed to be a master manipulator, when it came to getting others to do what he wanted, he wasn't overtly threatening, unless you were Reggie, but he just knew what made different people tick. It was interesting to her, seeing the man do it in front of her, he'd somehow plant the idea in people, that they genuinely wanted to do something he ordered.

"Will you show me how you do it, when you teach me to shoot?" Clementine nodded, planning to do so anyway for safety reasons.

'Just be aware that it smells, real bad'Clementine warned the girl.

"Oh that's fine, back at my old group actually, we used to keep some walkers chained to lamp posts like watchdogs, to alert us of any intruders. And Shel, would never let me go out and feed them, or be near them. But I snuck out to there a few times anyways. They smelt awful, like leaving a piece of fish out for a few days in the summer. At first, it was hard to be around, but eventually your nose just starts to ignore it."

Clementine found the watchdog idea interesting, which made her wonder why they never told Bill about it.

"When we first got here, Shel actually tried to convince Bill, to set some watchdogs around the perimeter. But Bill, thought the idea of having walkers set up so close was too risky at the time, and decided against it." Becca answered before Clementine could ask.

"How'd you even figure that out though, that they can't tell you apart if you're smothered in their insides?" Becca wondered.

Clementine frowned, the memory wasn't pleasant for her at all, but it always made her feel better in some ways. Knowing that Lee had managed to keep her alive for so long by figuring it out.

'My guardian, Lee, found it out when he rescued me from this crazy guy. He plowed through an entire herd to save me, and when he finally found me to take me back. A walker snuck up on him, but didn't notice him from all the walker blood he was soaked in. He decided to cover me up as well, so we could walk through the herd.'Clementine felt pride for the man, but also sad knowing that she had to kill him not long after.

"Cool, what happened to him, I heard you only came by yourself?"

'Got bit saving me, I killed him so he wouldn't turn.'

"Oh." Becca seemed to realize she had struck a soft spot. "Well, I gotta head back." Becca stood up to leave Clementine's room. When she reached the door she froze.

"Umm, thank you again for deciding to help me, and I'm sorry for bringing up bad memories." Clementine realized she may have misjudged the teen, not expecting the reaction. Clementine smiled softly, and nodded in thanks. Becca leaving shortly after.

She got started reading a textbook on emergency medicine, one the textbooks Bill had ordered be put in her room. She had gotten halfway through reading a third grade English textbook, Bill seemingly wanting her to get some form of an actual education. Clementine never really enjoyed English in school, never seeing the point in the class past learning to read and write. Even still, she hated it, preferring to learn more on relevant subjects that'd help her stay alive.

Clementine was now learning how to shoot rifles on the roof, currently shooting a bolt action rifle, from Hank.

"Try again, and remember kid, left foot forward, right foot back, bend your knees slightly and lean forward. Keep that stock firmly placed against the pocket of your shoulder, rest your cheek on the stock in a comfortable enough position to see through the sight clearly, keep your left hand on the grip, keep your elbows down and don't let go of the gun no matter what. After you shoot, you take your right hand off the trigger, push the bolt up with the palm of your hand, pull it back all the way, then turn your hand 'round to push it back and down to rechamber a round. You got that?" Clementine nodded and tried following his directions on holding the rifle, she stood awkwardly, the gun heavier than she thought.

Hank kneeled down, placing one hand on the back of her shoulder, pushing it forward and another pushed the left side of her waist forward.

"Alright. Now take a shot at that lurker over there on by that broken down semi." Clementine aimed the weapon towards the walker and squeezed the trigger. The bullet striking the truck container, missing the head by a few inches.

Clementine racked the bolt, aimed the rifle, and made sure to take her time before shooting. She took a deep breath, exhaled and held her breath. The sight was still, she squeezed, the top of the walker's head disappearing in a burst of gore.

"Good job, kid!" The man offered a high five, she returned the gesture with a smile.

"Now, lets try that again with my help. But first, Imma show you my baby." Hank grabbed an old looking rifle that had been laying down on a table that'd been brought up here.

"This right here is an m1916 Spanish Mauser, this bad boy right here was manufactured for La Guardia Civil. You can tell by this engraving right here in front of the bolt mechanism. This bad boy is chambered in 7.62 NATO, or 7.62 x 51 millimeter. Much heavier caliber than that .223 Remington Bolt Action you just shot. I've been keepin' this thing in good shootin' condition for years." Clementine had absolutely zero idea what the man was talking about, but the brief history lesson intrigued her.

"Here, you're gonna shoot this boy at that lurker all the way over there on the road. No help from me at all." He took the Remington from her hands, and gave her the Mauser.

She got in the stance he taught her, the gun was much heavier than the Remington she noted, aiming at the walker. She took a deep breath, slowly exhaling and holding her breath. Everything in her body stilled, she tracked the walkers head for a few seconds. She fired, the walker dropping to the ground like a sack of potatoes, the kick of the gun sending her stumbling back.

"Nice shot, Clementine." They both shared another high five.

"Now, I'd love to show you how to shoot a lever-action, but we ain't got any on hand. But I do have this thing." Hank grabs another rifle, a semiautomatic she could tell this time, from what she could tell.

"This right here, is an AR-15, in the M4 configuration. I got this from a former military camp around the start of everything. It's chambered in 5.56 NATO, it's the same size as the .223 Remington, but it pack more oomph. More powder in the cartridge, means a faster, harder hittin' bullet, which is also a little heavier. Now, just because the 5.56 is the same size as the .223, doesn't mean you can shoot it in rifle chambered specifically for .223, except if that weapon has a .223 Wylde upper. Now just to reiterate, you can shoot .223 in a 5.56 upper receiver, but not 5.56 in a .223 receiver, unless it's a .223 Wylde which was designed with it in mind." Clementine had somehow managed to keep track of the gun nuts tangent.

"Alright now shoot it at that fella, in the parkin' lot." Clementine aimed, this gun was noticeably lighter than the bolt actions. She got in the stance, took a deep breath, exhaled and held her breath, tracking the walker's head for a second and firing. The walker fell to the ground immediately, a huge hole in its head. The weapon also didn't kick nearly as much.

She smiled, she liked this gun a lot.

"Yeah, that's a real nice gun to shoot, huh. A lot easier to shoot than the AK-47s we got that's for sure. No idea where Bill found so many Type 1s, but can't really complain about it. Shoot if I knew him from before, I'd ask where he found 'em." The man started off on a tangent about the difference between AKs, which she stopped paying attention to around when he got to the tenth variant.

"Anyways, you're a natural shot kid, better than most of us here at least. Bill's probably the best though, I've seen that man nail a lurker clean in the head, from about fifty yards without even takin' time to aim. I'm pretty sure you got the greenhouse next, with Becca and Reggie. So head on now." The gun nut waved her off.

Clementine was in the greenhouse now, Becca had decided to have a race on who could fill their basket the quickest. Whoever won got to ask the loser to do something. It was close, but Becca managed to beat her, simply because she could reach the berries easier.

"Yes!" Becca cheered. "I want you to also show me how to shoot a rifle."

Clementine actually didn't know if they'd be able to, there was the matter of time, permissions to use the guns for it, and other issues like drawing walkers, or even worse, people. Although, Bonnie did say she'd watch over them, when she finally got back from the search, and she didn't doubt Bill wouldn't let her use more guns. Clementine thought some more about and decided to nod.

Becca let out a real loud cheer at that.

"Can you keep it down, girls. I'm trying to work here." Reggie scolded the teen, who simply rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"You'd be done already, if you weren't an idiot and got bit." Becca bit back harshly, Clementine let out a silent laugh at the rebuke.

"That's not very nice, Becca."

"That wasn't very smart, Reggie. I don't even know why Bill gave you another chance, all you do is mess sh*t up."

Clementine thought back to some of the words Bill said before he left. About naming someone who was detrimental to the community as a whole. Reggie was definitely the one that came to mind, she'd seen firsthand how much the man screwed up during tasks that didn't even involve two hands. The screw ups, often extending projects another day or so, had led to some walkers being able to damage the expansion. She knew that the man wasn't very dependable when she first met him, there was the fact he was crippled, and also that he let himself be pushed around.

Clementine sighed, deciding to break up the verbal fight, by picking up both her and Becca's baskets. Making the older girl follow her, who took the chance to flip the middle finger at Reggie before closing the greenhouse. They passed by Jane, sitting by the lift, who glared as the two walk by to get downstairs.

Three days have passed since Bill left with Bonnie, Johnny, and Troy.

Clementine had been sitting on the bed in her room, just thinking of the past few days. She'd gotten really good at shooting rifles, Hank was proud of his only student getting so good. She had also gotten closer to a lot of the other people in Howe's as well. Noticing more personal details about the people there, like Vince had a huge crush on Shel. Becca was annoyed at the lack of any boys her age. Hank, and Tavia were super close. Some other things as well, like Bill's last word's before leaving.

She could name Reggie as being a detriment to the group, the man having no will of his own, other than appease those above him, and doing a terrible job at that. Being able to lead though, she couldn't even begin to understand how she'd be able to do so. Especially, during a fight, how would she relay orders during a firefight with bandits or a large herd. She could be good at leadership within the community, writing out orders and whatnot, judging people's work schedules, on their strengths or expertise.

She didn't feel anxious around Becca anymore, the feeling of wishing to leave Howe's had waned even more, she had gotten close with the older girl. Although, this morning the girl seemed out of sorts. When Clementine asked what was wrong with her, the girl said she was on her period, not knowing what that was, Clementine asked what that was. Becca had seemed ready to choke the eleven year old, before telling her. Apparently, once she got old enough, she'd start bleeding and getting abdominal cramps every month, it also came with bad mood swings according to Becca. Once she gets the first, it means she would be able to become a mom? The thought had made her confused, how would bleeding every month let her be able to have kids?

Clementine was brought out of her thoughts by the noise of the PA system going off. Bill's voice ringing out soon after.

"We've got some familiar faces back with us tonight. Now, I understand some of you are confused as to why we'd bring these people back when they left us as they did." Clementine jumped off her bed at that.

"It might not come all at once, but time will heal these wounds. So be patient with them until it does... and take solace in knowing that they're here to help us make our home a better place. All these feelings you have of anger, betrayal, hate. They're all valid. No one needs to forget what they did... but we do have to find it in our hearts to forgive them." Throwing herself out of her room she saw Troy, and Bonnie, Johnny nowhere to be found. Some of the people from the cabin, Rebecca, Carlos, Sarah, Luke, and two others she didn't recognize at all. They seemed upset at the four in front of them, the balding white man especially.

"As many of you already know, a large herd of lurkers gathers just south of us. We've kept an eye on the movements, and, well, with any luck, it's just passing through. But rest assured that if it does turn our way, it's nothing we can't handle."

Vera dragged Carlos off, which made Sarah start to panic. Making Clementine scoff, the girl needed to grow up.

"Some of you have voiced your concerns about the need for expansion with the looming threat. And they have been taken into consideration. However, this is not up for debate. The expansion project will move forward."

"Hey we ain't with those assholes!" A familiar voice shouted.

Clementine's eyes widened, 'It can't be.'

She pushed forward, wading through a group of people.

She saw him, everything going quiet around her. It was a ghost, someone she'd thought dead for two years. Kenny was alive?

His eyes that were filled with rage locked with hers, and instantly calmed down, his face frozen in disbelief.

"Clementine?" Kenny let out, the man never looking away from her as he was dragged away.

She tried to say his name, the only noise coming out of her mouth being gurgles.

"Get movin'." Troy pushed Kenny forward with the barrel of his rifle, leading him into the pen. She chased after them, Troy and Bonnie already closing the gate behind them.

"To provide a light... a bright light. Bright enough to shine in all this darkness. So that is what we'll do."

Clementine stared through the holes in the gate, knocking on it to get Kenny's attention. The, once thought dead man approaching the gate.

"Is that really you, Clem?" The man's voice came out like a croak. She nodded at the man, her eyes welling up slightly.

The man sighed happily, before his face morphed to one of anger.

"These f*ckin' assholes back here, and the rest of their group, are the reason mine are in this damn mess!" He snapped, turning his head to them.

"f*ck you!" Rebecca shouted.

"We told you bastards to leave, we don't know you, trust you, and now I certainly f*ckin' don't! You murderers killed Matt!" Kenny roared at the woman.

"It was an accident, chill the f*ck out, before Troy gets back!" Luke tried to breakup the argument.

"Can you guys save it for the morning? Some of us gotta be up early." Mike scolded both parties, annoyed at the fighting.

Clementine didn't know what to do, she didn't want Kenny getting hurt so soon after seeing him. Troy had a terrible personality, and would beat those arguing if they kept going.

She banged the door, Kenny looking at her sadly, she gave him a pleading look.

"I'm sorry Clem, it's just... alright." The man gave up, heading towards a bed with a woman.

Clementine smiled sadly, watching the man for a bit more, before heading back to her room.

Kenny was alive.

Chapter 9: Little Acolyte

Chapter Text

As Clementine, walked back to her room, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Bill was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Somethin' on your mind?" Clementine slowly nodded her head.

"Alright, follow me to my office. Let's talk about it."

They both walked for a minute. She felt strange, she couldn't even fathom the situation right now. Her mind was constantly spinning, searching for answers on how Kenny could've made it. She was so stuck in her thoughts that she didn't even realize they were both already outside Bill's office. Following the man inside, and sitting down, she waited for him to sit down.

"So, you look like you've seen a ghost, Clementine." Bill joked, Clementine didn't respond, only dragging a piece of paper towards herself.

'The guy wearing the baseball cap. He was in my old group before I was alone.'

"Ah, the ones that all died two years ago." Clementine nodded softly. "The man's got a fiery temper, wouldn't shut up while we were restraining him, and bringin' him here. Although I think he's more angry about being in the pen with the traitors more than anything." Clementine felt tempted to ask, why they'd even left.

'What happened to make them leave?'Bill didn't even read the page, to know what she asked.

"They disagreed with how I was doin' things, didn't agree with my leadership. So one day, they got it in their heads to leave, they had 'bout nine people when they tried. Reggie was one of 'em, heh, he didn't make it all that far. But while tryin' to escape, Alvin, one of the traitors, shot a man, his name was George, close friend of ours. Murdered him in cold blood, just because he didn't like me." The man slammed his fist on his desk loudly.

Clementine jumped in surprise at the sudden outburst, this was the first time she'd seen Bill get angry since she got here. She'd only seen him angry while coming across his group a few times when she was still by herself, though she never knew the reason as to why. She understood now though, she'd also felt angry at Lilly, when she shot Carley.

Bill sighed, "Anyways, that man, Kenneth, he's got a good head on him, untrusting of strangers. His yelling had actually helped us figure out where our traitors were. Man seemed ready to gun them all down when they realized that the traitors shot one of his group members.

"Though by the time we got there, a massive herd showed up, one of them had been eaten alive. And Nick, another traitor shot and killed Johnny, and shot me in the arm. We had to kill two of 'em, eye for an eye." Clementine finally noticed the bloody bandage on the man's right shoulder. Finding herself almost smiling at the thought of Nick's death, she hated the man.

"Your camouflage actually helped us out a lot though, there were probably dozens of lurkers we had to clear out, before we could get to 'em in this ski lodge, they shacked up in. Probably saved our lives." Bill praised the girl, pride filling her chest.

"The two groups were still arguin' though, by the time we arrived. Kenneth didn't seem to mind all that much when the shooting began, only started gettin' mad when we dragged him, his girlfriend, and that bald guy along with us. Didn't exactly agree with being restrained without consent and thrown in a truck, but we weren't about to leave 'em to fend for themselves, against a herd like that. That's really I gotta say about this whole debacle." Clementine nodded in understanding, she wanted to see Kenny again, she needed to know how he was doing, how he survived.

Clementine stood up to leave, she didn't have anything else to talk about.

"Before you head on to bed honey, I need to know. What were your thoughts about my last lesson?"

Clementine sat back down, she already had her answer.

'I'll learn how to lead'

Bill read as Clementine wrote, "Good, tomorrow I'm going to have you follow me around. I want you to watch me, learn as I do, and I'll let you make some decisions near the end of the day. We'll check in on the people in the pen first thing in the morning, to give them their jobs for the day." Clementine nodded to the order, stood up and left. Returning to her room, she laid down on her bed, and stared at the ceiling.

'Kenny is alive.' She repeated that in her head, smiling at the fact.

It was early in the morning, and Clementine was walking next to Bill, Troy, and Lowell as they approached the gate to the pen. Lowell opened the gate, and stayed behind as the other three entered.

"Everyone wake up! Bill's gonna have a word." Troy shouted to bring everyone forward, and wake anyone who was still asleep.

Once everyone, except Jane, who was working already, had approached, she noticed some murderous glares from the cabin group that was directed towards her. Clementine ignored them as Bill started.

"There's been increased walker activity along the fence, so be mindful when outside the walls. 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... There are some folks 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."

"Yeah, Reggie slipped up last night, but that doesn't mean he should lose hope. Today will be a test for him, so let's all wish him the best of luck." Clementine remembered Bill saying something about a fight starting between Kenny and Luke. Apparently, because the latter was there, when the guy from Kenny's group was murdered by Nick.

Sarah started whispering to Luke, Bill glared at the teen, for not paying attention.

"I'll let Reggie be an example to you all. Salvation is available, but it must be earned." Clementine doubted that Reggie would ever earn it.

Sarah seemingly didn't catch the cue to shut up, as she kept trying to talk to Luke. The man trying to make her be quiet.

"Kenneth will be taking over Reggie's duties outside the wall. Michael will continue on showing his value. Walter you're with them as them as well."

"I just thought it was nice to finally-"

Bill snapped, "Carlos!"

The doctor jumped at his name being called.

"Yes?"

"Your child seems to be in need of correction."

"I'm sorry, I- Sarah, apologize to Mr. Carver."

"I'm... sorry, sir." Sarah timidly apologized, her eyes looking to the floor.

"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." Clementine wondered where this was going, her eyes darting between the two.

"How do you propose that I-"

Bill cut him off, "One good smack across the mouth should do it. It'll make her think twice before opening it up again. Go on, we'll wait." She only hoped it actually did.

"My... I'm not sure with my hand that I could-" Carlos raised a bruised, bandaged hand. Clementine found some closure, being able to see her would be killer all beaten up.

"Well, that's why you got two hands, Carlos. Come on. And not some namby-pamby thing, alright? A good hard smack. Otherwise, Troy here will do it for ya. I don't think you want that. He can be... overzealous. Is that the word?"

'He certainly is.' Clementine instinctively started rubbing her nose.

"If it means I'll slap the sh*t out of her, then, yeah." Troy eagerly stated.

"Go on, Carlos. Just get it over with."

Luke suddenly chimed in, "No, you don't need to do that. She's already scared. She won't do it again."

"Hey, no one's f*ckin' talkin' to you!" Troy yelled at the man.

"Unless you want one of what she's about to get, I'd pipe down, boy." Bill shut the man up from saying anything else.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I'm sorry." Sarah had tears well in her eyes.

"Close your eyes, honey. It's only going to sting for a second." Carlos hesitates, unable to bring himself to do it.

"Do it." Bill orders.

Carlos smacks Sarah hard, and she falls to the floor, sobbing. Clementine wasn't expecting the man to his daughter so hard, it was almost funny.

"I'm sorry, Sarah." The man went to comfort his daughter.

Bill interrupting the man, and started shouting, "Stop! You're not coddling that girl anymore. Let her sit there and think about what she's done. Troy, get Carlos to his post. Everyone else should have their assignments. It's time to get to work."

"Goddamn, you really knocked the sh*t out of her, Doc." Troy seemed to be amused by the situation.

"Everyone get to work!" Bill shouted once more, walking off.

Clementine stared at Kenny for a second.

"Goddamn this thing." She heard Hank suddenly.

"Oh, sh*t..." Jane's rang out as multiple bags of soil smacked the ground hard.

Clementine decided to stop idling and chased after Bill. Slowing down as she reached his side.

"Carlos needs to learn that he's gotta stop babyin' that girl, or he's goin' to get that kid killed. I didn't want that to happen, but she's got to learn not to interrupt when someone's speaking." Clementine nodded, the older girl struck her as someone who saw the world like it was still like before. Probably from Carlos shielding her for so long.

"We're going to the armory first before goin' to , Bonnie wanted to give you somethin' when she got back." Clementine followed Bill to the armory, the man opening the door for her, and closing it behind her.

Bonnie looked up, beaming at the sight of the eleven year old. "Hey city mouse, I missed you." Clementine smiled at the redhead, who stood up from her stool and grabbed something behind her. Hiding it behind here back as she approached the eleven year old. Once she was in front of her, she pulled it out and held it in front of her. It was a blue puffy ski jacket, with a rainbow going around the chest, and a yellow sun in the left side of the rainbow.

"What do you think? 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." Clementine put the jacket on, she didn't care much for looks when it came to clothing anymore, shrugging in response.

"You better watch yourself. I think some folks might be jealous of that cool jacket of yours." Bonnie rubbed the girls head, making her pout.

Bonnie chuckled at Clementine's expression, "Go on now, city mouse." The woman opened the door for her. Bill stood by the door, relaying orders to someone on his radio, before realizing the girl was outside. He looked at the new article of clothing she was wearing now.

"We should see about finding you something less inconspicuous." Bill seemingly didn't like the bright coloring of the jacket.

"Alright, let's check in on our stocking team. Someone called for my assistance on some manpower issues they're having." She trailed behind the man, arriving at a group taking stock of supplies. Becca, Shel, and Luke were in the middle of a scuffle. Luke seemed to be angered by something.

"What the f*ck is happening here?" The three stopped and stood straight.

"He started it." Becca pointed at Luke, who shot her a scowl.

Bill turned towards Luke and raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Luke angrily sighed, raising a hand to massage the space between his eyes.

"She insulted Nick, and joked about him and Pete becoming lurkers." Was his response. Clementine knew that the two men were close friends, but she couldn't help herself from not finding the situation a little ironic. She did feel bad for Pete though, poor guy.

"They deserve it." Becca scoffed, crossing her arms.

"Brat." She managed to catch from Luke.

"You're twenty six years old Luke, and letting the words of a child get under your skin." Shel had finally spoken.

"I'm not a chi-" Becca tried to interrupt but Shel glared at her, making the teen look down.

"Look, it's just... it's just too soon." Luke whimpered out.

Bill sighed in annoyance, "Go to the expansion Luke, I'll have Tavia take you there." Luke walked off, giving her a strange look as he went.

"And Becca." The teen jumped at her name being called.

"Try keepin' those thoughts to yourself. Most of us here don't mind, we know it's just how you are, but don't antagonize them. They're on the path to redemption, and if we make them angry or hateful, they'll refuse to work with us." Becca nodded, but a jab from Shel made her change her mode of response.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now get back to work, if y'all manage to get ahead of schedule, Becca I'll give you a lesson alongside Clementine here tomorrow." Bill promised the fifteen year old. Becca waved at her, before rushing to get back to work, a fire put in the girl's heart.

"Always give them an incentive to work harder Clementine, that way people don't get lazy. They're also less likely to make mistakes, as a result." Clementine nodded, taking the information to heart.

"Alright, let's head towards the greenhouse, see how things are goin' up there." Clementine walked beside Bill, sending a goodbye wave to Becca who returned it.

They reached the stairs to go up to the roof, walking up and towards the greenhouse.

"Just checking in... see how Sarah is working out." Both immediately noticed the half finished basket, and poorly done trimming job. Live and dead branches mixed in the basket for compost.

"Reggie." Bill's voice lowered.

"Yeah, Bill. Hey." Reggie shakily greeted Bill.

"What the f*ck happened in here?"

"Look, Bill, she's new, and me with my arm, it's just not the eas- I just ha- I have one arm, so-" Clementine frowned, it would only take around a few minutes to explain how to do the job.

Shut up, shut up. Shut the f*ck up. You better have an explanation for this. And I mean now.

"Bill, please, just... ju-" Reggie was just making it worse for himself at this point.

"Sounds like you're about to give me an excuse when I asked for an explanation."

"We'll get it done, just give us some more time, we jus-" Reggie pleaded to Bill.

"Time's up, Reggie. You had a task and you didn't get it done. Looks to me like you failed."

Clementine noticed Sarah shaking terribly, furrowing her eyebrows.

'Pitiful.'

"We talked about this, Reggie. Didn't we? But you just don't get it, do you?" Bill looked ready to explode.

"Get what? I... I..."

"Why don't you wait outside, Sarah? Reggie and I have a few things to talk about." Sarah didn't move, Bill looked at Clementine and she already knew what he wanted. Clementine dragged the older girl outside, and reentered the greenhouse.

"Well, that's where you're wrong. I shouldn't have to hit people. But I do know plenty of people who need to be hit. You know should know I don't like havin' to resort to violence. I'm not a patient man. I try to be, but there ain't room for weakness when you got so many lives in your hands." Clementine missed something Reggie had said.

"Ma-maybe you could l-let me go out on explorations?" Reggie was begging for his life right now, Clementine crossed her arms. The man only had to help Sarah for a few minutes and this wouldn't be happening.

Reggie tried looking at her, hoping the girl could help him somehow.

Bill pushed a finger into Reggie's chest, "Hey, don't look at her, look at me. Exploring is for those who fall in line. I got no use for the other ones."

"I-I c-an work longer?" Reggie was trying everything at this point. She turned towards Bill, wanting to see how he'd take care of the situation. She froze when she saw the man's face, she could tell that the man had snapped.

"No." Bill grabbed Reggie, throwing the man at the door and pushing him through it. Clementine could only watch as the scene unfolded, unable to bring herself to help the cowardly man.

"I gave you plenty of chances!" Bill advanced on Reggie who tried miserably to back away. Clementine following after him.

"No, no, no, no, please, Bill! No, no! No, no, please!"

Bill grabbed Reggie and pushed him over the roof. Clementine watched as the man screamed, flailing on the way to the ground. A crunching and splattering noise came out. Blood and brains spilled all over the sidewalk he landed on. She stared for a few seconds, she then looked towards Sarah. The older girl looked ready to shut down entirely, any form of shock she may have felt at the brutal killing suddenly disappeared. Finding that it was replaced by anger instead that was directed towards the group she met in the cabin. This girl needed to see stuff like this, know what the world was like soon, or she'll be subjected to horrors that she'll never survive.

"Weakness, incompetence, it puts us all at risk, and it won't be tolerated." Bill was looking at her when said it, a lesson she assumed.

He then looked to Sarah, "You think about that the next time you're asked to do something."

Bill placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder, and said something to her quietly. The teenager walking off, and down the stairs right after.

"We're goin' to head towards the infirmary, check on the doctor, then head back to my office." Bill walking away from the scene that just unfolded.

Chased after him, she walked by him, looking at his face trying to read him.

'He's angry, but there's something else in his eyes.' She couldn't figure it out, by the time they nearly reached the Infirmary.

Bill grabbed his radio, "Vera grab the medical inventory records from last night and bring them to the infirmary, it's in my office on my desk."

"Roger that."

"Alright Clementine, I'm gonna have you make sure he isn't stealing anything while he works on my arm. Check the stock of medical supplies and compare them to the inventory from yesterday. After that, we'll go back to the office and I'll have you work on the schedules for tomorrow and next week." She nodded as they both entered.

Carlos jumped up as the door opened, his eyes showing his fear for Bill and absolute loathing for the both of them. Bill sat down on the cot, taking his coat off.

Carlos started removing the previous dressing, removing the roller gauze. The bandage underneath, had a large splotchy red circle where the wound was located. Once Carlos had fully removed the dressing he started cleaning the surrounding area from blood, before grabbing some peroxide and soaking another bandage. He placed the disinfectant soaked bandage on the wound, Bill didn't even so much as react.

Vera walked inside the infirmary and went to hand the inventory sheet to Bill.

"Give it to Clementine." Bill ordered the blonde woman, handing the paper to the girl. The woman shot her a quick glare as she did. Vera didn't like her much, neither did Tyler and Lowell. She assumed they disliked how quickly Bill had taken her under his wing.

Clementine looked at the inventory from yesterday and started comparing things. Everything seemed to be in order as she checked the infirmary's cabinets, drawers, and fridges. They gained some medicine from the ski lodge Kenny's group was staying in, but that was it. She turned to Bill, the man was already finished with getting treated, and gave a thumbs up to let him know everything was good.

"Looks like everything is okay, Carlos. You can lighten up." Bill slapped a hand on the beaten doctor's shoulder.

"From now on though, I need you to start documenting instructions on how to conduct emergency aid. Just in case you're not around or we have too many injured for you to care for."

"Yes, Carver." Carlos said quietly as he looked away from Bill. She felt satisfied at the man being so afraid, finding it ironic how the man looked so stone faced when leaving her to die in a shed.

"Alright Clementine, let's head back to the office." Clementine started following the man, ignoring the rage filled glare of Carlos.

Once they arrived at the office, Clementine sat down on the chair across his desk. Bill had walked towards the window, contemplating something.

"Start working on the schedules." Bill let out, still watching over everything.

Clementine got started, tomorrow the guard schedules would stay working the same shifts they already were, but next week they'd be switching shifts. Anyone working the dayshift would work the nightshift and vice versa. Rebecca was exempt from any exhaustive work so she'd be working in the greenhouse and cooking duty. Carlos would stay in the infirmary, or helping out with organizing new supplies. She made sure Sarah was as far away as possible from Carlos when making hers. Luke, Mike, Kenny, and Walter worked the expansion. She wished that she could give Kenny something easier and jobs that would let her be able to talk to him, but it was a job he was suited for. Mike she noted was about two weeks from being released from the pen. The schedules for everyone else remained mostly unchanged, most changing as needed throughout the day.

She stared at it for a moment, then looking at the man who stood frozen at the office window. She grabbed a sticky note from his desk.

'Why'd you kill Reggie?'She wanted to know the man's reasons completely. Standing up and handing him both the schedule for tomorrow and all of next week. He read the schedules, nodding approval as he looked through it. Once he reached the last page, he saw the sticky note she wrote.

Bill sighed, placing the sheets of paper on his desk and turning to her, "Killing one in order to save many is part of survival. It's one of the tough decisions that a weaker person couldn't make. It's why it falls to people like us to lead them to safety. Do you understand?" Clementine's mind immediately thought about what would've happened if Lee never took Ben in. Images of Duck's sickly body and Katjaa's hopeless face flashed through her head. Clenching her fists at the thought and nodding.

Bill continued on with the monologue, "I wish it was different, I do. But they are weak... and we are strong. That's why it's our responsibility to shepherd the flock... to keep them safe. It's their nature to follow... not to lead." Clementine understood the logic, there were plenty of people here that could never survive on their own, Becca was one of them, but she'd change that.

"Now, do you agree with what I did to Reggie." Clementine took a second to think about it. She was shocked at first, possibly even angry, but people like Reggie, like Ben, would damn this place to failure, the people to death. She nodded in agreement to Bill's question.

Bill smirked, "I told you we were alike. You might not believe this after what just happened earlier, but I liked Reggie. He was a funny guy. He kept things light. You need folks like that... it's easy to let depression sink in during times like this. But he was weak. And I don't mean just 'cause he was maimed, that wasn't his problem. He was weak of will. Weak of character. And we can't have that around here, not anymore. Not with what we got at stake. You have to be able to contribute." Clementine nodded along as she couldn't find it in herself to disagree. Maybe when she'd first come here, before she'd gotten to know the people she would've. She digested the information, her outlook on everything had been changing constantly since Bill started teaching her.

"The next generation has to be stronger than the last to lead us out of this. Kids like you, raised the right way. The way my child'll be raised."

'Child?' Clementine wondered, confused because she'd never seen the man with a woman, let alone a child.

"It ain't this herd that keeps me up at night. We can handle that. It's not knowin' if I got anyone to hand all this off to... but I ain't worried about that anymore." Clementine felt touched that he thought that way, but she still felt lost on what child he meant.

"I need you to be strong, strong enough to make the hard decisions, strong enough to keep this place and the people safe when I'm gone. When that day arrives, do you think you can do that?" Bill was being genuine, he wanted her to take over for him. She'd been afraid of meeting this man for so long, and here he was, pleading for her to keep this place from destruction when he died.

Clementine gave the man a determined look, and nodded.

"Thank you." She smiled at that.

"Before you leave, grab a radio from the stockroom, and I want you to know that Shel will be in the expedition around the county two days from now. Let me know what you need from the armory before then." Clementine smiled and nodded in thanks, before getting up to leave.

She walked past Rebecca on the stairs, "I knew we couldn't f*ckin' trust you." The woman kept walking towards Bill's office.

'Guess they didn't find the second note.'

She walked toward the stockrooms, grabbing a radio from the charging station.

She approached the cafeteria, which was just a random shop that they'd converted into one, stopping in her tracks as the radio went off.

"Bill? You there?" Tavia's voice cracked through.

"Yeah? I'm here."

"The loading bay door is jacked. Troy really knocked the sh*t out of it." Clementine couldn't control her eyebrows furrowing.

"How bad is it?"

"Rails are tweaked so it won't shut all the way. I don't think it's an emergency or anything, but it's somethin' Stan should take a look at when he can."

"I'll get him on it. Out."

'Troy you idiot, did you forget there's a herd on the way.' She inwardly cursed the man's existence.

She continued on her walk to the cafeteria, grabbing a plate of venison steak, boiled potatoes, and some blueberries. She looked around, spotting Becca, Shel, Vince, and Bonnie sitting together.

Walking over to where the group was sitting, all of them taking notice as she approached. "Hey Clem" They greeted as she sat next to Becca. The girl seemed giddy about something. Clementine raised an eyebrow and stared at Shel, the woman just shrugged.

"We finished organizing the supplies they got from the lodge early." Becca had finally let out.

"That's great Becca." Bonnie smiled at the teen.

"Not just great. It's awesome, Bill said I could be there with Clem when she gets her lessons from him tomorrow!" The girl cheered, Clementine smiled at the girl's happiness at being able to take part.

The group ate their food, joking and reminiscing on good days from the past. Clementine couldn't join in the conversation though, as she wasn't carrying something to write on or with, so she stared at Vince who kept shooting glances at Shel every now and then. She kicked the man in the shin softly, the act making the man stare at her. Nudging her head towards Shel, and looking him in the eye. Vince sighed out of embarrassment, then shushed her as if she could speak. She kept staring at him with a raised eyebrow. Vince stared at Shel longingly and then back to Clementine. Mouthing the word 'later' to let her know he'd do it when he was ready. Everyone else was still seemingly distracted in their own conversation. She frowned at the man, and threatened the man by raising an arm to tap Shel's shoulder.

"Okay fine Clementine!" The man relented to the girl's threat to get Shel's attention. Everyone looked at Vince in surprise.

"Umm... Shel... would you maybe..." He glared at Clementine who returned it with crossed arms and a glare of her own.

"Would I maybe what?" The woman in question asked, Becca started snickering at the man's suffering.

"sh*t. Would you want to go out with me?" Vince blurted out, finally bringing himself to say it.

"What?" Shel stared at Vince in shock, a blush creeping on her cheeks, at the man's attempt to start a relationship.

Becca burst out laughing, if looks could kill, Becca would probably be dead a million times over from the stare Vince and Shel gave her.

"This is amazing, took one of you long enough!" Becca kept laughing at the two lovesick adults.

The girls statement made the two she had been laughing at, stare at each other. Clementine found herself silently laughing at the situation. Remembering that Becca had told her, two days ago, that Shel had also been crushing on Vince hard.

Bonnie had also joined in on laughing at the two's despair, as the two of them realized that they were both into each other.

The laughter eventually died down as they started rushing to finish their food before suppertime ended. Clementine waving goodbye to the group as curfew was almost in effect, she started walking towards the pen, wanting to see Kenny again, before heading to bed. Passing by Tisha on the way, the woman giving her a small smile and continuing on her way.

"I don't see what's got you four all hung up over it, the man wouldn't be trustworthy at all." She heard Kenny's voice, Clementine slowed down to make less noise and sat beside the gate eavesdropping on the conversation.

"Reggie was our friend, what part of that aren't you gettin'?" Rebecca hissed.

"Your "friend" would've f*ckin' told on you sh*theads the second you brought it up. Why the hell are y'all so damn scared anyways?"

"'Cause Carver's a f*cking monster, and will kill us all the second he gets a chance." Luke angrily replied.

"Maybe you murderers, but we haven't done anything to wrong him. The man seems civil enough to be giving you second chances. So either you are lying to us, or you're trying to underrepresent exactly what you did to leave here in the first place." A man's voice she didn't recognize countered.

"That doesn't matter! He's f*cking crazy!" Rebecca cursed.

"Yes it does, that girl he came here with this morning is the closest thing to a family I have left! I couldn't give two sh*ts about your escape plan, I ain't leavin' Clem."

Clementine smiled at Kenny's comment about her being like family to him.

"I'm with Kenny, I ain't leavin' here either. I'm already close to gettin' out of this sh*t hole." Mike joined the man.

"So be it, stay here if you want, but the herd's the only chance we have to get out of here. If you wish to stay here fine, but we're going." Carlos interjected.

"Good luck with that, that girl already told them how to camouflage against the dead, they'd just chase after you once it passed. If I knew that I'd be stuck in this f*cking prison with you assholes for company, I would've beaten her to it." Jane spoke up.

"Camouflage? that's bullsh*t." Rebecca scoffed at the woman's statement.

"It's true, she's been doing it for two years, according to some of the guards." Mike defended Jane.

"And I've been doing it for a long time as well." Clementine didn't even know that Jane already knew how to camouflage herself.

"Hear that assholes. You ain't gettin' anywhere no matter what." Kenny mocked the group.

The argument seemed to just be going back and forth between those on Kenny's side and those in the cabin group.

"Then take her with you, when we escape." Luke suddenly recommended.

"What?!" Kenny and Rebecca both shouted at the man.

"Carver's just going to groom her to be just like him if she stays here. You heard what Sarah said, she was right there when Reggie was killed. Didn't even try to stop it, just watched it happen."

"What was she supposed to do, she's a little girl?" A woman with an accent, Sarita she assumed, asked.

Clementine got up, having heard enough of the constant arguing, she took a quick look inside to see Kenny before leaving to head to her room. Curfew would be starting in five minutes and she felt tired from the day's events.

She entered her room, and laid down on her bed. Staring at the ceiling as she drifted off.

Chapter 10: The Herd

Chapter Text

Clementine woke up feeling anxious, stepping outside her room, she noticed the sky was still dark, and a clock on the wall read that it was only two hours past curfew. She felt on edge, the argument between the two groups in the pen had her unable to shake the feeling like something terrible would happen today. She put her hat on and practically ran towards Bill's office. Knocking on the door a few times, she waited for a response.

"Come in." She entered the office hurriedly.

"Something wrong, Clementine?" Bill quickly noticed how she felt. She hurriedly went to sit down on the chair grabbing a piece of paper and a pen.

'There was arguing in the pen a few hours ago. Some of them were talking about escaping today. They're planning on using the herd from the South.'The writing was jagged, having been written without a care for being neat at the moment.

Bill read the warning with a frown. "Is it safe to assume that I already know who was involved in the discussion?" Clementine nodded, Bill sighed in exasperation right after.

"We'll keep an eye on them, make sure they don't get up to anything once the herd passes through. Anything else I need to know?"

Clementine started writing again just to make sure that anyone that wasn't involved wasn't hurt.

'Kenny's group, Mike, and Jane are against the idea.'

"Thought as much, the two groups were on the brink of killing each other before we got there. Mike's got a good grasp on his situation, wouldn't ruin that unless he was sure it'd be better for him, and Jane wouldn't take a chance on something that's less likely to work than it working, she's a survivor through and through."

"Go on back to bed, honey. Tomorrow's a big day, and I'm going to need you to come in early before Becca wakes up, need to teach you something before the lesson." Clementine nodded and returned back to her room to sleep. She wondered what the man wanted to teach her.

"Good mornin' Clementine." Bill greeted her, Clementine waving in response.

"The reason you're coming here before Becca, is I'm goin' to have you learn some hand signals, and other ways for you to communicate. It's inconvenient for you to only be able to communicate in writing, nodding, and body language. Especially if we're in a situation where we can't make noise or it's too loud to hear anything." Clementine nodded, she'd been wondering how she'd be able to communicate to anybody in a situation, where she wouldn't have time to write.

"Most of these I learned in the military, used to be a squad leader back in the day, before becoming an engineer." Clementine had no idea the man had a military background, but it made sense in a way.

"Let's get started with countin' to ten, now doing it the normal way works, but you can't always use your two hands, as you need to keep a hand close to the trigger at all times. Counting to five is the same as you normally do, but for three you use your thumb, index and middle fingers. After that, it gets a little more complicated, for six you touch the tip of your thumb and pinky, then raise your three other fingers. Seven, you touch the thumb and ring fingers, raising the other three. Eight, you place your thumb over your middle finger. For nine, you make a circle with your thumb and index fingers, and don't space the other three fingers out. Ten, you just do the same as nine, but don't raise any fingers." Clementine watched closely as Bill was showing her how to count to ten with one hand.

"You try."

Clementine remembered the steps, counting the numbers in her head as she did it.

"Good job, now someone might not know what those five mean, in that case just do the first five again."

Bill spent the next half hour teaching her different hand signals.

"That's about all the relevant ones you might need right now. Let's repeat it until you can do them without messing up." Bill had her repeat it for an hour multiple times, even after doing it five times in a row without a single failure. Clementine prided herself on having a great memory, she didn't forget things that much anymore. Ever since she'd lost the ability to speak

"Alright that's good, let's move onto something more audible. You might not be able to talk, but you can still click your tongue, whistle, snap your fingers, or make duck calls." Bill then proceeded to make a fist, that wasn't entirely closed, and cupped his other hand over the empty space. He then placed it over the side of his mouth and started making duck sounds.

"It might sound or seem stupid, but it's a good way to bring attention to yourself, without drawing someone else's attention and making them think there's people nearby, if you make sure your people know that you're the one doin' it."

Clementine raised her hand, the man chuckled at that.

"No need for that, what is it?"

'I don't know how to whistle.'

"It's easy, just practice blowing air through your mouth, then use your tongue to build pressure in your mouth, and your lips and cheeks to affect the pitch."

Clementine tried doing it for a few minutes, to no avail.

Bill chuckled at her failed attempts, "You won't get it right at first, it takes practice, and eventually you'll get it to happen." He reassured the girl with a smile.

Bill started rolling up his sleeve, "Anyways, since we've still got about... twenty five minutes to spare, how about you keep practicing hand signals. I'll say a word, and you do the signal relating to it." Clementine gave the man an 'okay' with her left hand.

"Freeze." She raised her arm ninety degrees and made a closed fist. The man nodded as she got it right.

"Move up." She lowered her right arm, her palm facing in front, and she moved it forward. The man nodding again.

They kept doing it until someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Becca stepped inside the office, excitement and nervousness showing in her face.

"Okay, since you're both here now. Here's the lesson for today." Becca was practically ready to explode from anticipation.

"Clementine, you will be teaching her everything I just taught you earlier. After that, I want both of you to go to the garage. There's something I have to show you two." Bill then left the office, leaving the two girls alone.

"Huh?" Becca was at a loss.

Clementine started writing down the words and numbers that the hand signals he had just taught her related to.

"So what are you supposed to teach me?" Becca seemed a bit irritated by the man just leaving it to her.

Clementine finished writing down everything. Starting the teen with counting to ten.

"Can't I just say the numbers?" Clementine shook her head. She pointed to the word enemy, and grabbed her right forearm with her left index finger and thumb.

"Oh, so it's if we have to be quiet." Clementine nodded.

Clementine started showing Becca one through ten, pointing at the numbers as she went. Then making the girl do it herself.

"Why can't I just use both hands?" Clementine thought for a second, before remembering she had her own gun, in her room. She pointed at the girl, and beckoned her to follow. Becca was about to speak, but decided against it. As they walked back to Clementine's room, Bonnie called out to them.

"What are you two doin'?"

Clementine looked at Becca, and signaled the girl to talk by shaping her hand like a mouth and mimicking a mouth moving up and down.

"Bill wants Clementine to teach me how to talk without talking, in case we're in a situation we can't speak."

"That's cool, um, I'll see you two later then. Get back to it you two." Bonnie left the two to go back to what they were doing.

Clementine walked into her room and grabbed her pistol, putting it into her waistband, and leading the teen back to Bill's office.

"I feel like I'm learning to be a spy in an action movie." Becca joked as they reentered the office.

"So what was the point of that?" Clementine pulled her pistol out, taking the magazine out, and pulling the slide back to empty the chamber. She then handed the gun to Becca, and made the girl count from one to ten. The teen tried to count past five with both hands, with the gun in her hands, before realizing it just made things needlessly difficult.

"This is much more in depth than I thought it would be." Becca's interest in the lesson grew, as she followed along with Clementine.

Becca repeated counting through one and ten, repeating the signals Clementine made. Clementine then made the girl do it by herself, until she got all of them right without messing up.

Clementine pointed at the word 'me', and then pointed a finger at herself, and 'you', pointing a finger at Becca.

Becca didn't need any help figuring those two out. They spent nearly forty minutes just going down the list of signals, after that, Clementine then had the girl repeat each signal without help for almost an hour, until she got them all right without messing up.

Clementine pointed at the word pistol, Becca made a finger gun, and pointed her arm up in a ninety degree angle. Female, Becca made a fist and placed it against her chest. Teenager, Becca flattened her hand and placed it just lower than her head. Friendly, the teen gave a thumbs up with a huge grin.

"f*ck yeah! Never thought doing stuff with your hands would be so complicated." Becca celebrated as she finally managed to get them all right twice in a row.

Clementine smiled, and clapped at the girl's excitement.

Becca calmed down after a minute, "Oh right, here's your gun back."

Clementine grabbed the gun from Becca's hand, and loaded the magazine and chambered a round. Becca stared at her doing it with envy, Shel had tried to keep her away from guns as long as she could. But one day, if Shel still had her way, Becca could get seriously hurt if she didn't learn. Bill could've forced it, but Shel was a good worker and Becca never outwardly complained.

"We should probably go now, huh?" Becca suggested as they'd both lost track of how much time it took for Clementine to teach the girl hand signals. Nodding, they both began walking towards the garage to see what Bill wanted to show them.

When they arrived just outside the door to the garage, they looked at each other as the loud sound of power tools rang out. Stepping inside, they bumped into Stan. Stan was an interesting guy, he was some kind of repairman or maintenance man, and he kept to himself mostly. He was a middle aged white guy, with shoulder length pepper hair, and a huge bushy mustache and beard. Stan was also tall, very tall and practically all muscle with a somewhat protruding belly. The man only graced others with his presence when he was needed. He spent most of his time working on building projects that required more finesse and tools, than the projects the people in the pen were subjected to. Today being such a case, as the door that Troy had backed into was no longer able to close all the way.

Stan stared at the two kids as they entered the garage. He was holding some type of power tool, and was standing on a ladder.

"Umm, hi?" Becca nervously greeted the man.

He looked them up and down, before grabbing his radio.

"Bill, they're here. O'er" His voice was deep, rumbly, and he spoke quietly.

"I'll be there in a few minutes, still preparing something we'll need. Over."

Stan just kept staring at the two as he clipped the radio back to his belt. He stood on that ladder staring for probably a minute, before getting back to work. The echoes of him replacing parts in the garage door hinges, and using power tools to install and repair parts that'd been broken by Troy.

The two girls looked at each other, Stan was very weird, and very strange.

They waited for around half an hour, sitting down on some chairs that were placed by a workbench. Becca suggested practicing the signals as they sat there, the teen had found herself enjoying the concept of speaking without using her mouth. Bill and Hank walked in, watching the two girls practice as they carried some boxes and cases towards one of the smaller trucks. Hank eventually left once they were done loading the truck.

"Becca, Clementine!" Bill yelled over the sound of Stan repairing the garage door. The two girls shot up from their seats and moved towards Bill.

"This truck here, is the one Bonnie'll be takin' you two in when you learn how to shoot a gun Becca. There's ammo, weapons, and anything else you might need in case you can't get back in time. I've already told Bonnie and she'll get you two once we leave tomorrow." Both of them nodded to the man.

"Now then, I know you're a bit disappointed that I just left the lesson up to Clementine today, Becca. So in order to make it up to you, you'll be learning how to defend yourselves without a weapon against a bigger opponent."

Clementine had been hoping to one day learn something like this, since she hadn't grown that much since everything started. She was probably only a couple inches taller than when she was nine, and she most certainly wasn't going to grow much taller later, much to her own dismay. Many days of being unable to scrounge something to eat, and two years of malnutrition had definitely ruined any chances of her growing to be anywhere near Becca's height when she got older.

Turning to Becca, the teen's eyes were practically burning from anticipation.

"Now against a male, you have one easy to hit and very painful target." Becca quietly snickered at that.

"Against a woman, it's a bit harder, they're not as physically strong as men, but they also don't have any easy to take advantage of places on their body to demobilize 'em. If you can, go for the eyes, kick their knee in, or go for the throat. You can do that as well after demobilizing a man, just as insurance he don't get back up anytime soon."

"Now, since you're so tiny Clementine, you have both the advantage of being hard to grab, but the disadvantage of also being unable to do much if they do grab you." She frowned at the comment of her being tiny.

"Becca, you're still growin', but this'll still help you out. Now-" Bill was cut off by his radio going off.

"There's been a fight in the pen, two of them got at it pretty good. One of them got hurt real bad though. Over" Vera's voice came through.

"Goddamn it." Bill cursed before picking up his radio.

"I'll be right there. Over." He replied with an angry sigh.

"We'll save this for later, follow me."

Becca looked disappointed at the sudden interruption to her learning to fight today. Clementine couldn't help feeling the same as well. Following Bill, they came across Bonnie about halfway there.

"We got Carlos working on the worst of the two, but it ain't lookin' good." Bonnie followed them as she spoke.

"He might not wake up anytime soon." The redhead looked at her nervously, for just a second, before turning back to Bill.

They arrived at the pen, the first thing Clementine noticed was the blood on the floor. She looked around and saw Luke all beaten up, his face swollen and bloodied. Then she saw Kenny, lying on a bed, Carlos and his group were next to him, blocking her view of the Floridian. She walked around to get a better view, the angered yelling of Bill towards the pen inhabitants wasn't even registering in her ears.

She first saw the blood, there was so much of it covering his face. Carlos was cleaning the man up, she watched as the blood was cleaned up. The left side of his face was extremely swollen, his eyelids were sinking into his socket. She didn't even realize that she had been nudging the man in some attempt to wake him up until someone brought her out of it.

"It's okay kid, he'll be fine." She didn't bother paying attention to who said it. She just kept staring at the still body of Kenny, his chest was still rising, but she didn't know if he'd ever wake up.

'I just found out you're alive, and now you'll die before we can even talk to each other.' Anger had built up in her chest, she felt something desperately clawing its way through her throat, as if it were trying to escape. She held it back, not knowing what the feeling was, instead choosing to just watch Kenny, in the hopes he'd wake up.

She sat there for a while, looking at Kenny's beaten but peaceful looking face, until she felt someone tap her shoulder.

"We gotta go Clem. Some walkers broke through the fence." Clementine gave her a dejected nod, stood up and followed after her. She took a quick look back as the gate closed behind them.

"Clementine, go to my office and rest. I'll be there once I'm done here." Bill was agitated, not towards her, but at the situation in the pen.

Clementine had already began walking towards Bill's office.

"Can I go with her, make sure she's doing okay?" She heard Becca ask faintly.

Clementine entered the room, sitting down on the chair, the door opening behind her as Becca entered.

"Hey Clem, you good?"

Clementine shook her head, she felt horrible, almost as bad as she felt during the first few months she was alone.

"Umm, well Bill said that he was gonna punish Luke and his group. If that makes you feel any better?" Becca waited for a response, getting none she sighed and sat down on the chair, next to her.

"According to Mike, Kenny was winning the fight, Luke just managed to stick a thumb in Kenny's eye and crushed it."

"Mike was the one who stopped it, that's the reason Luke has the bruises on his neck. He put him in a chokehold and threw him off Kenny." Becca tried rubbing the eleven year old's back, desperately trying to get the girl to respond.

"They got into a fight because Kenny tried stopping Luke from stealing from the armory. Troy apparently, forgot to close the gate all the way." Clementine clenched her fists at the mention of Troy. Everyday she started hating him more, but Luke, her image of the man had entirely changed. She felt betrayed, angry, and confused at the man's behavior.

'What would drive him to want to escape so badly?' A scowl formed on her face.

Becca suddenly grabbed under Clementine's arms and lifted the eleven year old off of the office chair and wrapped her in a tight hug. Clementine tried pushing her off, twisting and fighting, but the teen refused to relent.

Then the tears started falling, Clementine never thought she'd have another crying fit like this again. She hadn't truly cried since she was nine, only a few tears at sad thoughts or when she had to treat an injury or sickness she got.

Becca kept whispering words of comfort and patted her back. Clementine finally returning the hug, with her chest still heaving from the breathy sob she was letting out.

"You uh... feelin' better now?" Becca inquired when Clementine finally managed to stop crying.

She nodded, her opinion on Becca's character had now done a complete, and utter one-eighty. Sure the girl was still completely insensitive to the plight of others she wasn't close with. The two sat back down on the office chairs, in complete silence.

"Shel told me, a few years ago, that I had some kind of developmental disorder." Becca suddenly dropped out of the blue.

"I never really felt like something was different with me, but she said it's why I have problems acknowledging other people's feelings. Can't pick up on social cues or whatever, like if something bad happened to them or whatever."

'That explains a lot.' Clementine thought to herself.

"I just get angry at people a lot, or ignore their feelings. Shel understands me somewhat, tries to be patient or puts me down when I start acting up." She paused for a few seconds.

"I dunno... it's different with you or something." Becca had a soft smile on her face as she said that. The strange clawing in her throat that she felt earlier had returned, although she forced it back down.

"I just... I guess I just kinda relate to you." Becca admitted to the younger girl.

"I used to always complain about the lack of kids my age, but to be honest, I was worried about them treating me weirdly. Sarah, the glasses wearing girl in the pen, was the first person I met that was my age when everything started. I made her cry almost every single time we spoke to each other, not intentionally either, but one day her dad had gotten it in his head that I was trying to bully her. So he slapped me after I tried talking to her again."

'That jerk.' Clementine got extremely mad at that.

"I remember Shel getting super mad at him for it, but he never apologized. After that, he never let her out of their room until supper, and then they left with the others. I guess... I resented Sarah after that, for being a crybaby, and for being scared about everything." She rationalized.

"Then a couple months later you show up. At first, I expected you to be weird or like Sarah. But I was curious and decided to talk to you, and now here I am. Talking to you about my own problems, like you're the little sister I never had, in some attempt at making you feel better." Clementine eyes widened at the last comment. Becca had stopped talking after that, reflecting on what she just admitted to the eleven year old.

Bill walked in shortly after, sitting down on his chair roughly. She looked at his disheveled appearance, blood had splattered over his hands and clothes, his breathing was faster than normal. He sat there for a second, looking at Clementine before he finally decided to speak.

"Luke is going to be exiled tonight, sent out with nothing but the clothes on his back." He declared to them, Becca could've cared less though as she just gauged Clementine's reaction. The girl just nodded in understanding and gave a sad smile. She didn't want it to be this way, maybe in another life they could've been friends, maybe not.

"Kenneth'll be fine, Carlos said he's stabilized somewhat, but we're going cuff him to a bed, just in case he doesn't make it through the night." Bill informed, Clementine only gave a shallow nod to acknowledge the information.

"You two can take the rest of the day off, and when we get back next week, we'll continue where we left off."

"Yes, sir." Becca replied as she and Clementine exited the office.

Clementine followed Becca around as the teen tried figuring out what they should do. Eventually settling on some board games she found sitting on one of the shelves.

Night had finally fallen, Bill woke Clementine up so she could be there when Luke was thrown out. The herd would be arriving soon as well, possibly thousands of them, judging by the dust cloud they were kicking up.

Vera and Tisha dragged Luke outside the garage, he was covered in more bruises, cuts and swollen injuries, since she last him. The two threw him onto the concrete parking lot and reentered the garage.

'Guess that's where the blood on Bill came from.' Clementine couldn't find it in herself to care about the added injuries though.

"Today, someone we'd brought back to our home, to give them a chance at redemption and to contribute to the future of humanity. Squandered it, by attempting to break into the armory, and nearly killing somebody for attempting to stop him!" Bill angrily explained Luke's crime.

"But, no matter, tonight he goes, away from our community and out into the world with nothing." Bill snarled viscously.

"Close the damn gate, Tyler!" Bill ordered the man, the gate closing shortly.

Bill then left, the guards following him shortly after.

"Hey city mouse, try goin' to bed soon, okay?" Bonnie placed a hand on her shoulder, with a pained smile, before leaving as well.

Clementine exited the garage shortly after, and began walking around the store aimlessly. She found herself at the door leading to the roof, following the stairs up and walking towards the side the garage was on, she looked down. The herd had finally arrived, and some of the walkers had spotted Luke. The man was attempting to get on his feet, but his legs kept giving out. He then decided to opt for crawling away instead, but he didn't get far.

Screams, then nothing, just the sound of flesh tearing and the munching of dead jaws. Clementine watched the scene unfold, staring at the same place for an unknown amount of time. She watched as the massive herd finally passed completely through, the only thing marking their brief appearance was a mangled, unable to move, living corpse, where Luke used to be. She frowned at the sight, the clawing feeling in throat had only gotten stronger, like something desperately wanted to escape, but she refused to let it out no matter what. She instead, decided to look over the pen, Kenny had woken up at some point apparently, as he was no longer cuffed to the bed he had been cuffed to earlier.

'That's good.' She thought, as she left the roof to go to her room. The anxiety she had felt in her heart during last night had disappeared.

Chapter 11: The Days After

Chapter Text

It was currently sometime around the evening, Clementine was currently in the truck that Bill had set up for her and Becca. They would've left earlier, but Bill had to make sure that nothing disastrous would happen in the hardware store while they were gone. Bonnie was currently letting Becca learn to drive, the redhead making sure the teen didn't drive too fast. Clementine was sitting in the back, thinking about yesterday's conversation with Becca, and Luke's "exile" as Bill had called it. It really was just a death sentence, but she didn't dwell on it. She had cared for Luke, at one point, though nearly killing Kenny had ended that.

Becca, when both of them met up to leave, had asked what happened to Luke once he got kicked out. Clementine simply waved her hand flat in front of her throat in a slitting motion, telling her he died. Becca didn't really seem to care about the man's demise, but she was very pragmatic when it came to these things.

Bonnie wanted them to be a few miles away, before they started shooting. The woman didn't want to risk potentially bringing a herd back their way, and also because apparently there was a shooting range nearby.

"Alright Becca, let off the gas and slowly press on the brake. We're gonna park right there in that parking space, usually someone would make you try to park perfectly, but it don't really matter anymore." Bonnie directed the teen, who only managed to respond with a nervous "Uh huh."

Once the truck was parked, Bonnie pulled out a sheet of paper from her pocket and started talking again.

"Okay, let's see here... so we've got a few guns here, thanks to Bill and Hank. We've got a Beretta M9, .223 Remington Bolt Action Rifle, Mossberg 500, and an M4. He's also given us three raincoats, earphones for the noise, latex gloves, knives, some extra ammo, and a few days of food in case we need it." Bonnie read over the note one more time silently, in case she missed anything.

"I don't know why Hank felt the need to write the gun names down, but let's get the coats on and cover up." Bonnie shuddered slightly, clearly not a big fan of the smell.

"Can't wait." Becca was beaming with anticipation, already grabbing a dark green coat and knife.

Once the three of them were geared up, Bonnie whistled loudly. At first, nothing had happened, but a few seconds later two walkers exited the forest. They waited for the walkers to come closer, before Bonnie stabbed the closest one to her in the forehead. The second one went to lunge towards Bonnie, but Clementine kicked its knee in. Becca kicked its chest right after, the force of the kick sending the undead corpse slamming straight into the ground. Clementine let Becca get the kill, as she stomped on its head a few times.

"Phew, you two make a good team." Bonnie praised, the girls smiling at each other.

"Now the hard part." Bonnie groaned in disgust, before kneeling down.

Stabbing her knife just below the walkers sternum, and dragging it down to open up the abdomen. A rank smell immediately spewing around the area, both Becca and Bonnie gagging once it hit their noses. Clementine wasn't bothered by it anymore, having long since gotten used to it.

"O-kay... get clo-closer." Bonnie was struggling for good air, as the smell assaulted her nostrils.

Becca looked at Clementine with a wince, waiting for confirmation as the eleven year old kneeled down, and started scooping with gloved hands.

"I'm so glad I didn't eat anything this morning." Becca declared as she also kneeled down to start smothering herself, holding her breath with puffed cheeks as she went.

"Lemme get y'alls backs." The two of them turning around as Bonnie started rubbing the entrails all over their backs.

"Now get me." Bonnie turned around, Clementine started rubbing the guts all over her back.

"Alrighty, let's get the guns and get started. Follow me." Bonnie led them towards some stalls, about a few dozen yards away, were some huge mounds of dirt and sand.

"Okay, so I'll go look for some targets." Bonnie placed two gun cases down and walked off.

Clementine decided to take this chance to show Becca how to load each gun.

"Cool." She pointed at M4, a wide grin on her face.

Clementine handed Becca the Beretta's magazine, showing her how to load it.

"So that's how it works." The teen thought out loud, as she tested the spring in the magazine, before loading it. She practiced it a few times, loading and unloading the magazine, before Clementine handed her the Beretta. Clementine showed the girl where the mag release was, the safety, and how to pull the slide back. Clementine, then had her practice inserting the magazine, and ejecting it, just so she could get used to the action. She did this with every gun until Bonnie came back with a stack of paper targets.

"Okay, so we got deer targets, bad guys, and circles. Which one do you want to shoot at?"

"The bad guys." Becca eagerly stated, Bonnie shaking her head jokingly.

"Make sure to keep your hands off the guns while I'm out here okay?" Bonnie grabbed a paper target of a guy wearing a ski mask holding a pistol.

"So aim for the head for walkers, and people you just shoot them until they die right?" Becca was practically shaking from the excitement and potentially being nervous as well, this was probably the closest she'd ever been to a single firearm in her life. Clementine nodded her head, as Bonnie started walking down range.

"Did you ever have to shoot any bad people out there, while alone?" Becca asked as Bonnie finally set up the paper target.

Clementine nodded, it wasn't something she was shy about, no one just bothered asking her.

"Was it hard?" Becca's voice had lost some of the excitement it previously had.

Clementine shook her head, she never really thought about the act of killing the living anymore. It was just a normal thing now, something everyone would go through. She'd be saddened if anyone close died to her again, she learned that yesterday stressing about Kenny. But, she tried not to dwell on it.

"Alright girls, I'll keep watch while y'all get to it. Just make sure to be careful." Bonnie placed a pair of earphones on her head, and rolled her blood smothered raincoat hood over her head.

Clementine and Becca doing the same shortly after.

She had Becca start with the Beretta, since it was a lighter caliber, and would be a good stepping stone for her to get used to the recoil. Becca inserted the magazine, pulled the slide back and got into position to shoot. She held the pistol awkwardly, her elbows locked, feet too close, and her back too straight. So Clementine fixed her friend's shooting stance. She relaxed Becca's elbows, widened her stance, moved her left foot forward, pushed her knees forward. She then gave Becca a thumbs up, the girl firing shortly after. She missed by a few inches to the right of the head, so she had Becca aim to the left of where she shot. Firing again, a neck shot this time, she realigned the teen to aim slightly higher up. A clean headshot this time.

"Yes!" A barely audible cheer from Becca came out, the older girl had jumped for joy at getting the headshot. Becca sent a high five Clementine's way, before getting ready to shoot again.

Clementine had Becca shoot the pistol until she could get a grouping on the target's head five times in a row. Clementine, made sure the girl had kept a hand off the guns, as she switched out the target for a fresh one.

Returning to the stall, she noticed a few walker bodies littering the parking lot now. Bonnie wasn't even stressed or tired, as the walkers had been ignoring them completely. The echoes from the trees around them had made it almost impossible for most to determine the exact location of the gunfire.

Clementine handed Becca the shotgun, the weapon was fairly straightforward, and had a much longer range than action movies had portrayed. Learned that when Hank had her shoot a walker from the roof one day. She suddenly remembered that she wasn't supposed to watch action movies, but she'd sometimes sneak into the living room and watch her dad chilling on the couch, watching movies with buff guys shooting guns. She always liked the one with the time traveling robots, watching it one day when Sandra had fallen asleep when she was babysitting. The memory had her smile, as Becca loaded the shotgun.

Clementine only had to slightly fix Becca's firing stance this time. The older girl only shot it around fifteen times, as the spread at this range made it almost impossible not to hit the head. It was mainly just to get her used to the recoil of the weapon.

Clementine replaced the target again, more dead walkers littered the lot now, probably twenty at this point. Bonnie looked like she was in an action movie, covered in walker guts, a bloody knife in hand as she was smoking a cigarette, even though Bill said they weren't allowed, she didn't really care at the redhead doing it.

Onto the .223 bolt action, Becca was hitting headshots perfectly fine, her problem was struggling with the concept of having to lift the bolt back and pushing it in every time she fired. She'd have to practice more tomorrow, or at Howe's, but they had to hurry up before it got late. So she gave the girl the M4, not bothering to switch targets. Clementine made sure to keep the weapon off the "fun switch" as Hank called it.

Becca was having a giggling fit as she handed the rifle. She got started immediately, inserting the thirty round magazines, pulling the charging handle back and firing. She seemed disappointed that it wasn't full auto, but neither of them were ready for that one. Hank had been adamant about it before they left, saying something like, "It's fun while you're at it, but next thing you know, you're outta ammo, and a dead guy is eating your ass."

Becca kept firing, the teen seemed to be overcompensating for the recoil, and had blinked a lot every time she fired. But that was expected, she'd get used to it eventually, her later shots got better. Reloading the M4 two times, before they had called it quits and decided to head back. Placing the weapons back in the cases, and loading them back up.

"All done?" Bonnie asked them, taking her earphones off, even more dead walkers surrounded the parking lot.

"Yeah." Becca answered tiredly, the adrenaline had worn off as she massaged her shoulder. The constant shooting taking a toll on it.

Bonnie chuckled at the teenager's expression as she tossed the bloodied raincoat in the back, and entered the truck, sitting in the driver seat this time. Both girls removed their raincoats and earphones as well, tossing the bloody coats in the back as well. Becca decided to sit in the backseat with Clementine this time.

"Man... my shoulder is killing me." Becca kept massaging her shoulder as Bonnie started driving back to Howe's.

"You'll get used to it. First time I had to shoot the AK, there was this large herd that had breached the fence. My arm was sore for days."

"Sounds awful." Becca winced.

"Yeah... but after a few more times, and suddenly you don't get sore anymore. There's that." Bonnie cheerfully stated.

"I guess." Becca yawned, the constant excitement from getting to shoot guns today had finally caused her to crash.

Clementine thought it was funny, her hands had hurt like crazy when she learnt to shoot,and she was scared to death of the things. But now she's teaching others to shoot, like Lee taught her. The clawing in her throat resurged, it felt like her throat was trying to explode outwards. She didn't know what exactly the feeling was, but she refused to let it escape.

"I'm goin' straight to sleep when we get back." Becca declared as she let out another tired yawn.

Clementine looked at the trees passing by, absorbed in her own thoughts.

"We're here." Clementine was suddenly inside the garage of Howe's. Bonnie turned the keys and pulled them out the ignition. Becca stepped out the truck the second it unlocked, and practically dragged herself towards her and Shel's living area. Which was just some break lounge in some fast food joint, connected to the hardware store that they had to share with Vera.

'I should see Kenny.' Clementine stepped out of the truck and entered the main aisle room, walking towards the pen. Russell was on guard today, she never really interacted with him often, and he left her alone unless Bill needed him to get her or something.

Russell stared at her as she approached the gate. Staring inside the pen to look at Kenny, he was laying down, and had a hand clutching the area where his crushed eye was.

"Need something, kid?" Russell inquired with a dismissive tone.

Clementine nodded, and pointed in the direction of Kenny. Russell followed her finger, looking at the Floridian. He stared at her with an inquisitive look, raising his radio.

"Hey Vera? Over."

"Yeah?"

"The kid, uhh, Clemen-something wants to see the f*cked up guy in the yard. Over."

"It'll be fine, Bill says she knows the guy or somethin', I don't really care. Over." The radio cut off after that.

"Alright, you got five minutes, and don't do anything that'll get me in trouble." Russell lifted the pen gate up, Clementine walking in shortly after.

Rebecca looked like she was in deep pain for some reason, Carlos was helping her. The second they both noticed her, they sent a glare her way. Sarah seemed to have shutdown completely, staring at nothingness and clutching her knees. Mike just gave her a nod acknowledging her presence. Jane just stared at her, with that expression of uncaring and almost contempt. She'd never interacted with anyone in Kenny's group, Sarita seemed nice, Walter just seemed angrily depressed about something.

Clementine strode towards Kenny, poking him slightly to get his attention.

"What the hell do y'a-" Kenny cut himself off as he stared at the cap wearing girl in front of him.

"Clem! Sorry... I uh... how you doin' sweetheart?" Clementine shrugged, pointing at him to let the man knock she was worried about him.

"I'm fine." She crossed her arms and gave him a disbelieving look.

He sighed, "Look Clem, I'm alive and that's all that matters. I'm more worried about you to be honest. They've told me you were by yourself for two years, is that true?"

Clementine gave him a nod, she didn't really care about that lonely era of her life anymore.

Kenny gave her a sad look, and stood up from the bed. He kneeled down to her level, and opened his arms to offer a hug. She accepted the offer, hugging the man tightly. They embraced for a few seconds, before Kenny placed both his hands on her shoulders, putting a tiny bit of space between them.

"So um... talk to me, want to tell me what you've been up to these past couple years?" Clementine's eyes briefly widened before returning to normal.

'Kenny doesn't know.' She felt bad, she didn't know how to break it to him.

Clementine chose to look away instead, in some attempt to make the man give up on that question.

Kenny let out a dejected sigh, placing his hand on her hat. "Still wearin' this dirty old thing, huh?"

"You know, I half-expected to see Lee walk up next to you. When I saw you in them aisles. You guys were like two peas in a pod." Clementine felt a rush of sadness at the comment.

"Oh, sh*t, I didn't mean to... It's just hard not to think about it, you know?" Kenny apologized quickly after noticing her reaction.

Clementine took a deep breath to try and center herself.

"Aw, hell, I'm sorry, darlin'." Kenny paused, reminiscing on something. "He was a hell of a guy."

Clementine smiled sadly, 'He sure was.'

"When my son... well, he helped me do the right thing. I'll never forget that." They both grimaced at the depressing memory.

"So. Where'd you end up?" Clementine shrugged, an attempt at trying to make him stop trying to get her to talk.

Noticing the girl didn't feel like talking about it, he moved on. "Sounds like it ain't been easy for you. I'm sorry, darlin'. I wish I coulda found you sooner. But everything's gonna be fine now."

"Tell you the truth, I should've never made it out of Savannah." Kenny grumbled, his eye looking at some nonexistent thing past her.

"For some reason I tried to save that f*ckin' sh*tbird Ben. Then it turned into a damn cluster. Couldn't help the kid. But I got out." The mention of Ben had filled her with anger, but it quickly died down.

"Long story short, I got lucky. Real lucky. Spent a long time alone after that. It, uh... And then I met Sarita, thank god. Gosh, it's great to have you back." Clementine smiled at the man, when a bang on the metal gate sounded out.

"Come on kid." The five minutes were up she guessed.

"Damn... well Clem, see you soon." She gave the man a smile and nodded. Leaving the pen to go eat supper as it was almost time to eat.

'I should go wake Becca.' She decided, already walking towards her place.

Entering the lounge, she saw the teen, face planted on her bed. Slowly sneaking up to her, she nudged her softly. Becca groaned, but didn't budge. Frowning, Clementine nudged the teen again, who still refused to budge, Clementine decided to just bring the food here instead.

Walking outside the room and towards the cafeteria, the smell of chili hit her nose, Tisha was probably cooking today she guessed. Clementine liked the woman, she was nice as long as you were on Bill's good side. Although, Tisha hated Troy with a passion, actually most of the people in Howe's did. Heck, Bill didn't even like him, only keeping Troy around because despite being dumber than a rock, he followed orders, barely, and was good muscle. She also had an inkling suspicion though that Troy was a creep though, he always messed with Jane in weird ways. Just thinking about the guy made her blood boil. She was just glad that Bill decided to punish Troy to doing latrine duty for six months. Apparently, it was something officers in the military liked to assign when someone acted up.

She finally gained view of who was cooking, and sure enough it was Tisha. She was plopping scoops of Chili into bowls. Clementine went up to grab two bowls and spoons.

"Where's your friend?" Tisha suddenly asked her, she pretended to fall asleep which made the woman laugh.

"Alright, just make sure the bowls are back before supper is over." Clementine nodded, and began returning to Becca's place. Clementine stared at the chili as she walked.

'Please don't be too spicy this time.' Clementine hoped, Tisha always made food spicy, and Clementine hadn't eaten anything spicy since she was still eight. Clementine reentered the break lounge, and placed the bowls on a nightstand next to Becca's bed.

Clementine stared at the still sleeping teen, and nudged the girl super hard this time.

"What?" Becca tiredly groaned, rubbing her eyes.

Clementine grabbed a bowl and placed it in front of Becca's face. She accepted the bowl of chili and scarfed it down, before Clementine could even begin eating. Becca burped loudly as Clementine started eating, almost spitting out the chili in her mouth at the noise.

"Forgot I was hungry, thanks Clem." Clementine smiled at Becca and finished the food. The chili was still a bit too spicy for her, but she finished it before supper ended. Taking Becca's bowl, she started walking outside the room.

"Wanna sleepover?" Becca blurted out, surprising Clementine. She couldn't even remember the last time she had one, if she did. The closest thing she could consider one, was sleeping next to Lee at the motor inn and RV. Clementine thought for a second, before giving a nod.

She thought about what'd they even do during a sleepover. There weren't any boys to gossip about, she hadn't even seen a boy their age since maybe Duck and Ben. Maybe just talk or play games or something people do at sleepovers.

Clementine was forced out of her thoughts as she bumped into Troy. The man had just finished cleaning one of the main bathrooms, judging by the stench he was letting off.

"Watch where you're f*ckin' goin'." Troy stomped off and gave her a malicious glare. Clementine shuddered at the uneasy feeling that man gave her each time she'd interacted with him.

She continued on back to the cafeteria to return the bowls. Tisha thanking her as she placed them down, before shooting a glare at Troy who picked up the last bowl of food. Clementine suddenly remembered something that Tisha said about the guy, calling him a racist asshole. She didn't exactly understand what that meant, but it sounded bad. She suddenly remembered Lee saying something similar about Larry as well. Clementine glared at Troy for a second, before shrugging and looking around the main aisles. She had managed to find a monopoly set, and some playing cards. Returning back to Becca's room for the third time in half an hour.

A week had passed and snow had begun to fall. Becca had gotten really good at shooting, but they had to stop going to the range once Shel finally returned. Shel hadn't figured it out yet, but Becca was planning on bugging her older sister about her being able to start using guns until she relented. Since Bill returned, Clementine had been learning to fight from him, he'd been training her and Becca for an hour or so everyday. She enjoyed the activity, learning to defend herself was fun, if exhausting. Becca usually won their spars though, mostly from her size and because Clementine was still somewhat weak from being malnourished the past two years.

Rebecca also gave birth to a baby boy, around the second day that Bill was gone, but she and the baby didn't make it. Clementine had a suspicion that Carlos and Rebecca had killed it though, but she couldn't actually prove it. Bill was upset about it, apparently the baby was the child he spoke of the day Reggie died or something, but he quickly moved on, Rebecca had cheated on Alvin while they were first here.

Carlos had been working double time now because of the deaths, documenting how to do emergency surgery and other medical procedures, for practically the entire day until he slept. Sarah had only shutdown even more since Rebecca and the baby died, moving on autopilot at this point, she wouldn't be surprised if the girl didn't live much longer the way she was doing. Kenny, Walter, and Sarita were doing really well. Although, Kenny had been really pissed about the baby dying, but he calmed down after a few days. Mike had been moved out of the pen early, once Bill returned, for stopping Luke and being a good worker. Jane still had a long while before she moved out though.

Clementine as of this moment though was going to break the news about losing her ability to speak to Kenny. She'd already wrote down what she'd say and stuck it in a letter, but as she neared the door to reach the expansion, she started feeling nervous. Would he treat her differently, get upset, she was usually pretty good at reading people, but Kenny could just change within moments when he learned something heartbreaking.

Clementine walked towards the expansion where he worked, carrying a bucket of nails and some weird looking metal things, that they'd need while working. She walked past a comic store that had been deemed completely off limits. Why? She didn't bother to ask, but not every building had been deemed safe or needed, as of yet. Bill wanted to make sure the expansion and the walls were completely secure first, before even trying to fill in any buildings that were within the scope of the expansion. Passing by another building, the one where Troy had slammed a door into her face, they'd finally managed to completely board up this store now. They'd had a few break-ins from walkers when it came to this building, but now that it was done, the walls had been expanded further.

She entered some connivence store from what she gathered, Kenny, Walter, Mike, and weirdly enough Stan were working. Mike could've stopped working on the expansion when he moved out, but he said something about it being a great way to relieve stress. He'd also quietly whispered about it being a great way to keep Troy's ass off their backs, since Mike could technically become a guard now.

She knocked on the door to get their attention.

"Hey kid, just bring 'em right over there." Mike pointed towards a broken window. Clementine sat the bucket down, she'd noticed she'd gotten slightly stronger now that she'd been eating actual full meals now, on top of the training from Bill. Stan was working on some metal sheets next to her, flattening them out with a hammer and banging on something else. It looked like he was nailing the sheets together, but it wasn't exactly nailing at the same time.

"Rivets." His voice boomed, noticing her staring at his work.

"I'd prefer welding, but we ain't got the power. Diesels finally goin' bad, stabilizers done all they can." Stan informed, Clementine nodded at the sudden new, she just learned that fuel could actually go bad.

She also realized that was the first time she'd ever heard the large man say a complete sentence. Clementine smiled at Stan before walking towards Kenny, she handed him the letter, writing on the envelope telling him to open it once he finished.

"What's this about?" Kenny chuckled, confused as he held the letter. Clementine gave a faint smile, and left to work in the armory.

Bill had her learning to clean the guns now, he joked about wanting her to be able to do it blindfolded. Though she was positive that he was being serious about it. Hank was working the armory the past few days, something about checking the new guns and ammo they found at a former military encampment.

Entering the armory, she waved at Hank, who barely acknowledged that she entered, the man was busy glossing over some huge sniper they found.

"It's beautiful ain't it?" He asked as he placed his hands on his hips. She raised an eyebrow at the question, she didn't understand what was beautiful about the abnormally large gun.

"This here's a .50 Cal, this baby will take out an engine block and f*ck up anything behind it. Made the case to Bill, that if we ever found a hostile community with the capability of makin' fuel, this here'll stop them dead in their tracks." Clementine was getting worried about the emphasis on fuel, she didn't even know that gas or diesel could even spoil. Now they were worried about groups being able to make their own?

Hank finally looked over at her, "Ah sh*t, don't worry about it, probably not that many people know how to even make their own fuel." He paused for a second. "Except maybe Stan, he's been collecting all our used motor oil."

Clementine just stared at the man, waiting for him to teach her how to clean more guns. They both just stared at each other until he realized what he was supposed to be doing.

"Oh right, come here." He beckoned her over, and had her sit down on a stool. "You're gonna dismantle these ones, and put them back together." He placed an AK-47, some type of shotgun, and a revolver similar to one Bill uses.

He began showing her the steps to taking the AK apart, grabbing one of his own to demonstrate just because of the abundance of them. Clementine then spent the next two hours just dismantling and putting the guns back together. Say what you will about Hank, but the man certainly knew his guns.

A month had passed now, the snow was thick and Clementine was wearing camouflage hunting gear because of the cold, and also because she was out hunting. Bill hadn't been a real big fan of children going out alone, but he made the exception because of the fact she'd survived on her own for two years. So here she was, a Springfield M1A on a sling across her back, as she walked through the snow covered woods looking for game. She'd seen a large deer pass by here a few minutes ago, and was following its tracks. She hiked for a while, suddenly she heard the noise of a branch cracking. Unslinging the rifle and putting it in her hands, she searched for the source of the noise.

She spotted it, a large deer with massive antlers. She aimed at its chest, the creature was still moving. A whistle stopped it in its tracks, it looked in her direction, and then fell to the ground. The shot killed it instantly, but the corpse was still twitching. She put the rifle sling back around her back, and approached the body. She'd been carrying a folding board with some rope tied at the ends in a backpack, so she could drag anything she shot. Sliding the board under the body, she began the long hike back to Howe's, she'd be back in around half an hour, before evening at the least.

She was thinking about recent events, around a week ago, Bill had managed to convince some small community a few dozen miles away to join us. They had horses, and livestock we needed, and Bill had plenty of firepower they needed. They'd be moving here sometime next week, so Bill had people working overtime right now to set up some pens for the animals. The design for the pens involved a lot of dirt being transported from the forest, making a decent amount of noise, but the unexpected freeze which was being a bit of a hindrance, had made the walkers a nonissue thankfully. The only reason they were being moved here as well, was mostly because Howe's was a lot more fortifiable than some random farm. We also just had way more room according to Bill, so that was another primary reason.

Bonnie did tell her some interesting facts about their community. They had fifteen people, three children around Becca's age, two of them boys, and one of them a girl. Their leader was some veteran from the marines who returned home just as everything started. They had a veterinarian, and another veteran who was a field surgeon or something of the sort. Whatever it was, it made Bill extremely happy, and she was sure Carlos wouldn't be living much longer. Not that it would matter anyways, the doctor had become extremely depressed, and reclusive since Sarah died during a minor breach twelve days ago. The poor girl had just froze and got dragged through the break in the walls. It was a sad situation overall, but she couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for the doctor.

The other group also had a still on their farm for making biofuel, which made Stan really excited, at least she thought he was. The man had just recently managed to finish building a small refinery to make black diesel out of their old motor oil, the biofuel from the still would just make keeping the trucks running even easier.

Clementine had dragged the deer about halfway the distance she needed to go, she was getting tired but she didn't feel safe stopping in the middle of nowhere. She started thinking about Kenny to keep her mind off the burning in her calves. Kenny had taken the news of her newfound muteness better than she expected, but the man had kept trying to get her to talk every time he saw her. She tried, but it just refused to come out as nothing but gurgles of spit. Carlos refused to help her when Kenny had begrudgingly asked the man, to which the doctor just cursed him out for even trying. She thought back to the cabin randomly, she wondered what would've happened if she never accepted the deal with Bill. Maybe she'd still be alone, or dead,she didn't know but she didn't regret her choice. She finally told Bill, once he returned, that you could lead the walkers with noises and that had given the man an idea. Which essentially boiled down to, packing dozens of walkers in a truck container, and letting them loose in a hostile community. She thought the strategy was barbaric, but the man assured her it would only happen to those who deserved it. She trusted Bill at this point, so she accepted the answer, but she didn't fail to notice the changes in the man.

Bill had recently gotten a more militaristic mindset when it came to leading the community, for better or for worse, it led to a lot changes within the hardware store. First, every single one of the guards had been mandated to tactical training from Bill. Second, Bill had essentially gotten rid of sending new people to the pen, replacing it with what was essentially a boot camp, though anyone currently in the pen still needed to work their way out. Third, which concerned her the most, the increased emphasis on expansion. Bill had expressed that he wanted their community to expand past just Howe's and the surrounding area. He wanted them to have multiple outposts within the state. The only reason they didn't set one up at the farm, was because it was way too far, and the lack of manpower would be detrimental to them. So Bill had the idea of attracting more groups or lone people to Howe's, but in a larger capacity than they were currently. Time could only tell how the plan would work out, but she was worried about the potential setbacks from the idea.

She had finally gotten back to Howe's, her legs were practically on fire now. She waved a hand to get the attention of anyone that was on lookout duty. About a minute later, Tyler had jogged towards her and dragged the deer for her as she walked back inside the hardware store.

She trudged towards her room, took her hat off and plopped down onto the bed. She stared at the book pile next her nightstand, having read all of them by now. Her eyes then moved towards the calendar in her room, dates for what she'd be learning from him plastered all over it. She'd finally learned what the actual date was since Savannah, which had cracked a smile on her face when she received it. Clementine had fallen asleep not long after, mentally preparing herself for what's to come.

Chapter 12: Growing Nation

Chapter Text

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.

"sh*t. 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.

"f*cker'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.

"sh*t! 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 f*ck 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 f*ck 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 f*ck, 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 f*cking sheep? What is f*cking?" 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 f*cking?'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 amusem*nt 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.

"f*ckin' 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.

'sh*t.'

"f*ckin' 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.

"sh*t! 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.

Chapter 13: Recovery

Chapter Text

Carrie was inspecting her eyes, "Concussed. She'll be fine. Just needs rest for few days, keep out of light." Her voice a quiet rasp.

"Thank you, Carrie." Kenny was sitting next to her, the man released a breath he'd been holding since she was brought back to Howe's. The woman just nodded in response, rushing to grab a sip of water as she did.

"How ya feelin' sweetheart?" Kenny had been stressing out since they got back. She'd gotten quite the head injury when that man threw her at the wall.

Clementine shrugged, her head was still pounding and the lights were only making it worse.

Clementine had been out for almost two days at this point. When she finally woke up, Becca had been passed out on a chair next to her, and Kenny had been pacing around the room. Becca had left a few minutes ago to relay the good news to Bill and the others.

"I feel ya, I felt like sh*t for weeks after losin' my eye." Kenny chuckled for a second before apologizing for cursing.

She went to massage her forehead, and realized her hat was missing. Patting around for it, until Kenny took notice.

"It's at your friend's place, as well as all your other stuff. Doc ordered you stay there, once you woke up, until we can be sure you're better."

Clementine sighed in relief, she tried standing off the bed but the second her feet touched the ground she almost fell. Kenny had caught her and placed her back on the bed.

"Easy there squirt, it's gon' be awhile before you can walk normally."

"Should I take her, doc?" He looked over at Carrie.

The woman just held up a finger as she checked Clementine's vitals. The woman nodding and handed her some water.

"Soup in cafeteria." The doctor rasped, and then went back to doing whatever she was doing.

"Let's get you to your bed, and I'll bring you some food. How's that sound?" Kenny gently lifted her up into his arms and started walking out of the hospital.

Clementine smiled weakly, before hissing and covering her eyes from the sunlight.

"Yeah... concussions suck. Try to not go nowhere while I'm gone alright?"

They entered Shel's place and he placed her down on the bed with her hat on it. Clementine smirked at the man as he chuckled and headed out the room.

Clementine looked around the room before laying her head down on the pillow.

'This sucks.' She groaned as her headache flared up again. She stared at the ceiling trying to figure out a way to distract herself when the door opened again.

"Alright, time to eat Clem." Kenny helped her sit back up as he fed her soup. She tried eating it herself, but she only succeeded in shaking the spoon around and dropping the liquid back in the bowl as she lifted it.

"This brings me back to before." Kenny smiled sadly, Clementine didn't need to guess what he was thinking about.

"That Jane girl is the one who carried you out of that hellhole."

Clementine suddenly remembered that she had to ask Kenny about how babies were made. She pointed at her journal trying to get the man to hand it to her.

"Not now sweetheart, eat first, talk later."

Clementine pouted, but relented as he kept feeding her.

'I hate this.' Is all she could think to herself. The thought of having to be taken care of royally pissed her off.

Once the bowl of soup was empty, he handed her the notepad. She used the dim light coming from the slightly ajar door to write. She asked the man how babies are made and he just stared at her.

"Now why 're you askin' that Clem." Kenny coughed at the note.

'Shel's gonna have a baby.' It took a lot of effort for her to make her writing readable.

"You don't say." Kenny stared at her with a knowing look and crossed his arms.

'Of course it'd be obvious to him, he'd already had a kid.'

The man stared at her for a few moments, and then sighed.

"You really wanna know?"

Clementine didn't like the way he said that, but she wanted to know badly. She nodded, her face like stone to show the man she was serious.

Kenny sighed again, and gave her the "talk."

Clementine felt sick to her stomach after Kenny told her how it happens. The man had also taught her to avoid any adults, if she thought were trying to do something to her.

'Why were they doing that to those poor sheep?!' She screamed in her head internally. Kenny had softened at her reaction, misunderstanding why she was so disgusted.

"Yeah, some sick bastards out there."

She decided from then on, never to listen to one of Jane's jokes ever again.

Someone knocked on the door before entering, Becca stepped inside and Kenny stood up.

"Imma head on over to work, you watch over her now." Kenny exited the room as Becca sat next to her on the bed.

"I thought you were gonna die." Becca started crying and embraced the eleven year old in a bone crushing hug.

Clementine couldn't even resist as she didn't have the strength to do so, so she tapped the girl's shoulder to let her know she wasn't able to breathe.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I was so scared. And you helped me out so much when I killed that guy..." Becca was speaking at a mile a minute and Clementine was unable to keep up with her rapid speech. Becca kept talking for what felt like an hour, Clementine had barely been able to make out some of it as her headache would exacerbate every now and then. She pat the girl on the back and smiled tiredly, she was feeling really fatigued right now and wanted to sleep.

Clementine went to lay down, and tried pulling the blanket over herself.

"Lemme get that." Becca threw herself off the bed and placed the blanket over Clementine.

"I'll be right here. So don't worry about anything." Becca sat down on the chair next to her bed, and grabbed a comic book from under the bed. Clementine fell asleep the second her eyes closed.

It took only one day before Clementine was able to walk on her feet, though she needed assistance to get around without falling. Carrie was adamant about her resting though, and wouldn't allow her to move around. Ordering whoever was on break to make sure she wasn't trying to sneak around. Not that she could if she wanted, walking out the room would make her throw herself back in the room from just how badly bright lights hurt her head.

Clementine was reading a comic book right now, using the lighting that leeched into the room. She didn't bother reading the title but it seemed to just be about a superman character but evil. She wasn't particularly interested in the comic, but it was better than just doing nothing.

She really hated being unable to move around, it made her stressed, anxious, and worse, it made her bored. Clementine wished this concussion would just go away, but apparently it could take her two weeks or more, before she'd be back to normal. Carrie said it was because of how severe her symptoms were.

So here she was, doing absolutely nothing, unable to help or train or even just walk around the hardware store.

Someone knocked on the door and entered, Carrie entered carrying some equipment.

Clementine already knew what she needed and rolled up her right sleeve. The woman placed her equipment down on the bed and pulled out a blood pressure cuff, placing it over Clementine's upper arm, and placed her stethoscope in her ears. The woman also took her pulse as she started taking her blood pressure. Almost a minute passed when Carrie nodded to herself, wrote something down on her journal and packed the stuff up. She then checked her breathing, and finally grabbed a tiny penlight, snapping her fingers to make Clementine look at them and not the light. Her head still hurt somewhat from the sudden onslaught of light.

"Good." The doctor grabbed something out of the bag, and handed it to her. It was a pair of sunglasses, she guessed it was to help with her light sensitivity.

Carrie left the room after packing up, Clementine put the glasses on and opened the door some more. It certainly made it easier to actually look around the store and not flinch in pain. Some people she didn't recognize were walking around the store. New members of the community most likely.

It bothered her that she was missing important matters. She desperately wanted to be up and moving around again, but she understood that she'd just be making it harder on herself. Even if she hated it.

Clementine sat back down on the bed and got back to reading her comic book.

One week into her mandatory rest period and she was finally allowed to work lighter jobs. After she pestered Carrie about it until the woman got pissed off of course. Currently, she was in the armory just loading magazines and doing maintenance on their weapons. She took a look at some firefighting gear that was hung up. Bill returned to the fire station with a larger group and had wiped the area completely of any raiders. They brought back the uniforms, axes, other tools, and medical equipment.

She learned that Marcus had laid claim to one of the uniforms when the man entered the room an hour ago. He was planning to modify the uniform by making it more "badass and sh*t." He also had a cart of scrap and body protection behind him, so she guessed the absolute tank of a man was planning on making his own personal custom armor. Which was cool she guessed, the gas masks did have an intimidating look to them. She was pretty sure anyone would be terrified by a man that was six foot six, three hundred pounds of muscle, dressed up in armored firefighting gear.

Clementine went back to cleaning one of the shotguns they looted. It was a Remington 870 Police Magnum according to the markings on the side. The stock was missing, replaced by pistol grip, and the barrel was short judging by another they looted. There was also a shell holder on the top, blocking the sights for some reason. The gun just looked like someone decided to just make it look cool without a thought for usability. But guns are guns, and even this piece of crap could be somewhat useful.

She removed the shell holder on the thing, because all it was doing was preventing someone from using the sights. She then got to work dismantling it, the internals looked good, just needed to be cleaned a bit. She checked one of the shotguns of the same model that had were in bad shape. She dismantled it, noting the terrible amount of rust inside as well and took the stock from it, it would be better off on a working gun.

Clementine made sure to clean as much as she could before putting the working gun back together. Now sporting an actual stock instead of the "Wrist Breaker 9000" as she decided to call it. She then searched for literally anywhere else to place the shell holder. Screwing the attachment into the stock, she put a shell into the gun tube and co*cked the shotgun twice to test the action.

Satisfied with the results she placed it on the gun rack and switched to another weapon. There were a few she didn't recognize, so she just placed them in a pile and drew a large question mark on a piece of paper in front of them. Clementine wasn't going to risk breaking them.

Someone entered the armory, "Howdy there?" It was a new guy, he was wearing some type of antique uniform with a cloak. Clementine waved at him and went back to work.

"I'm sposed to be workin' in the armory right 'bout now wit' a Bonnie. You Bonnie?" The man had a thick country accent.

Clementine shook her head, not looking away from the AK she was cleaning.

"Ya know when she's gettin' 'ere?"

Clementine did in fact know, but that wasn't supposed to be for another ten minutes according to the clock. The man was early, so she help up ten fingers.

"Well sh*t. Ya mind if I just sit then?"

She shrugged, she didn't really care as long as she could keep an eye on him so she pointed at a chair in the corner away from any guns.

"Aight... so what's a lil' girl like yaself doin' in a room like dis?"

Clementine just ignored the man at this point, he'd figure it out eventually.

"Ya don' talk much d'ya?"

And for the next ten minutes Clementine ignored the man's attempts at casual conversation, waiting for Bonnie to arrive.

"Hey, city mouse."

'Right on time.' Clementine waved at the woman with a relieved smile and exited the armory. She could faintly hear the country guy asking Bonnie what her deal was before the door closed.

Two weeks had passed and Clementine was finally allowed to work harder jobs again. She had never felt so glad to actually be working on patrol or lookout duty. Finally being allowed to exercise again was great as well, she noticed that she'd gotten a little pudgy in her face from the lack of activity.

Right now, Clementine was sitting on the north side of the rooftop. Her Springfield seemed a bit heavier than before, but she had no doubt about getting reused to the weight. Contemplating about the things she missed, and the information their community received from new members. She also got around to telling Bill about Jane's request, the woman had seemed a lot peppier because of it.

More trucks, and people mounted on horses had arrived and left, Bill had expanded Howe's reach past just the hardware store greatly. There were two outposts so far in Tennessee, the fire station way in the East, and some town nearby Howe's. The outposts had been extremely successful in attracting more people to their community, the amount of survivors numbering in eighties now. They grew the outposts with the newer folk, and trusted people lead each outpost, each head having a long-distance radio directly connected to Bill's.

Most of the people who joined up were relatively well behaved, but some were unable to gladly accept the way Bill ran things. Many of those people eventually saw reason and gave up on acting up, but some of them just left when they had a chance. She didn't really care either way, they were large enough to hold their own against any bandits or raider groups.

Bill had been holding off on teaching her anything for now as he was extremely busy. But he would still have her visit his office and watch him give orders or do paperwork.

She'd hadn't failed to notice of all the maps he had laid out on a board when she visited. He replaced many question marks on the map with green checks. Although each day it seemed that Virginia would be covered in more question marks. Borders drawn on the map of rumored communities, The Saviors, The Kingdom, Hilltop Colony, Alexandria Safe-Zone, Richmond, The New Frontier, and many others.

The news that came out of the state was damn near terrifying, it was practically an unending war zone, with communities rising and falling everyday. It seemed that everyday they were finding more and more refugees escaping the godforsaken state, the news only getting worse as time went on.

She knew they'd have to send scouts to the state at some point, but she just prayed that it calmed down by then.

Chapter 14: Outpost War

Chapter Text

A month after Clementine recovered from her concussion, the fire station was attacked again. The group this time was larger, but we managed to fend them off. The defenders described the attackers as screaming, psychotic pyrotechnics that were obsessed with fire, and melee combat. They also carried a lot of addictive drugs on their bodies.

The description fit the profile of the same group that had attacked them almost two months prior. A war with another community was on our hands, the first one we'd have to deal with. From where they came from, was no question to those in Howe's, or as Bill decided to start calling their community, "The Henderson Militia" or "Militia" for short. Some had joked that it should be called "The Tennessee Empire" though and named Bill their emperor. Which wasn't quite wrong in her opinion, the man did have final say in everything.

Bill had ordered those in the outposts to ready themselves and prepare for any possible attacks in the future. Scavenging groups set out to loot firefighting gear as well, seeing as "The Drug Fiends" as some had taken to calling them, were obsessed with the aforementioned flame. Reinforcements from Howe's were also set up in the nearby suburbs, Marcus leading the efforts.

Which brings us to the now, one week later, Clementine was set up on the rooftop of an apartment complex with Gary. Both wearing ghillie suits made with trash to blend in with the urban environment. Which she honestly didn't expect to work as well as it did. She probably wouldn't have even noticed the man if she didn't see him put it on, he had even covered his rifle in trash to complete the look.

"You see anyone yet, Stiff?"

Some of the adults, mainly the newest ones, had taken to calling her Stiff, or Bells for some reason, maybe because she just refused to join conversations while she was recovering. Or what Marcus said about her scaring people, because of the fact she didn't make much sound when walking around. She didn't really understand that, she felt like she was plenty loud when moving around.

Clementine shook her head, she was looking through a pair of binoculars to spot any burned maniacs.

"Thought so. You'd think they'd be itching to pick a fight, judgin' by the description of 'em."

She nodded in agreement, having actually fought the group was an unforgettable experience. They were brutish and bloodthirsty, the woman who charged her, with nothing but a hatchet had stuck with her. They had to be insane, because there was no way the woman could have actually gotten to her in time.

They were coming, she was sure of it. Maybe not now, or a month from now, but she was sure.

The two sat in silence for a long, long while.

Absolute... nothing.

"Clementine, Gary, it's time for the shift change. Over." Marcus' voice cracked through the radio.

"Let's get goin' Stiff." Gary stood up off the ground, and slung his rifle over his shoulder.

The door to the roof banged open.

"sh*t!" Gary grabbed her and brought her to cover behind an ac unit.

The three people that emerged from the roof entrance were wore burnt firefighter uniforms and carried fire axes. One of them, was covered in burn scars, his skin was rough, fibrous, and almost entirely a pinkish red. All of them had a satchel on their sides, carrying flammable materials no doubt.

"I thought you said you heard a voice, brother?" The burned man licked what would have been his lips. She noticed a brand on his shoulder, but it had been ruined by whatever caused his burns so she couldn't tell if it was Frontier or not, the only group they knew of from Virginia that practiced the act.

"f*ck off, I know what I f*ckin' heard Walk-!" This one's head was covered in a mask.

The burned man, drove the flat end of his axe into the other man's stomach hard. Sending him keeling over to the ground, and kicking him across his face.

"The man that went by that name died in those fires! You'd do well to remember that, brother." He spat that word out like a curse, stomping back into the building.

"Yes... Phoenix."

"Dumbass. You know how that f*cker gets." The third finally spoke up, helping the other man up and smacking the back of his head.

"f*ckin'... goddamned motherf*cker's a lunatic... I should've left his ass in that orchard." The masked one spat.

"Let's just go Dan. You know he hates people dilly dallyin'." The third sighed and walked off.

Dan roared, and kicked the air conditioning unit they were hiding behind roughly, following after the third once his tantrum was over.

Gary waited until the trio was gone for a few minutes before reporting it.

"Marcus, they're in the building Clementine and I are in. I repeat they're here. Over." Gary whispered into the radio.

"Finally."

Almost the entire community was set up around the station. Those incapable of defending themselves in melee, were instead set up as snipers or scouts. Some who were irreplaceable, like Bill, Carrie, and Stan, stayed back at Howe's to insure that the crops and livestock didn't die or get stolen. Those too young or pregnant stayed as well.

It was deathly quiet, not even the birds were singing. As if they were waiting for the upcoming battle.

"They're here." Someone she didn't recognize spoke through the radio.

The sound of vehicles roared throughout the suburb, must've been at least a dozen if she had to guess. It was a cacophony of many different vehicles, and there was something else in the background. She recognized it immediately once she registered it was there.

They were... howling like rabid animals.

They were out for blood, and the noise was unnerving. Like when she was stuck in that log, all those months ago with the bear sniffing around.

'They'll regret this.' She clenched the objects in her hands.

She was carrying a detonator and some plastic explosives. Marcus wanted her to sneak up on the raiders, once they arrived and blow their vehicles to kingdom come. The loss of the enemy vehicles and fuel would suck, but it would mean they'd be forced to fight. Or they'll have to run on foot and be gunned down by anyone chasing after, or sniping on the rooftops.

In preparation for the coming battle, the outpost was surrounded by walls and fences to draw the bastards into a choke point. The neighborhood was filled with walkers that were lured by camouflaged squads, fences placed along the roads to make sure they didn't roam off. Buildings filled with traps, roads covered in sharp objects to blow out wheels, and the explosives she had.

Fifteen trucks drove by, the howling maniacs holding onto the sides with their guns and axes held in the air.

'Psychos.' Clementine was laying down prone in an alleyway almost two hundred feet from the station, covered in trash and walker guts watching as these howling freaks rode by.

She slowly stood up almost half a minute after they had passed her. Peaking around the corner, they were stopped in front of the station. They had men watching their backs, meaning she'd have to wait for the fighting to start if she wanted to go this way.

Walking back into the alley, she ran around into another alleyway behind a ruined bookstore. They had some walkers sitting around in this building she was pretty sure. She could use them as a distraction if she was quick enough.

"Hey! Get the f*ck outta here!" Marcus shouted at the group of invaders.

"Can't do that stranger!" The voice was familiar, but she couldn't place it immediately.

"The f*ck y'all want with this place anyways?!"

"You've killed many of my men! Usually I would be mad, but alas you are strong, and I'm in need of strong men now that you've killed them. Surrender now, and I'll assure that none of yours come to harm." She recognized the voice now as the burned man Phoenix.

"Why the f*ck would we do that?!"

"Because you either accept... or every man, woman, and child in that building of yours ends up burning alive."

"How about I just f*ckin' kill you all and be done with it."

Shots were fired, the walkers in the library were growling.

'Now.' She peaked around the corner and the back of the raiders was now uncovered.

She kept low as she ran towards the trucks, placing a brick under every other trucks gas tank. She only had eight bricks of the plastic explosives and had to make them count.

A raider grabbed her as she placed her sixth brick, "The fu-" the raider was cut off by a bullet piercing their neck. She was dragged to the ground with them, blood spraying her face as she slipped out of their grasp.

She got back to work immediately, placing her eighth and final brick. Clementine ran towards the library, entered the back alleyway and clicked the button on the detonator.

At first nothing happened, but then a large ear piercing boom erupted throughout the entire town. She fell to the ground covering her ears as the noise echoed throughout the alleys. She barely heard the shouts and screams as the ringing grew louder.

After a minute, Clementine regained her bearings and stood up. She peaked around the corner again, many of the raiders mangled bodies littered the road. She went around and threw open the front doors of the library, the herd bursting through like a sea of hunger as they unlocked.

The sound of bloodcurdling screams was sounding out through the air as she inched towards the station. The first thing she saw were the bodies, many of them from the raiders caught in the explosion. Some from Howe's, people she never met or interacted with often thankfully.

She heard grunting, screaming and gurgling coming from an office next to the entrance, so she pulled her pistol out with her right hand, and her knife with the left. Opening it slightly, she saw Marcus in his customized firefighter gear that was now covered in pieces of bone and gore. He was holding a sledgehammer, surrounded by the dead, dying, and five raiders still trying to fight.

They charged, Marcus slammed the hammer directly into one's leg, snapping it in half like a stick. The raider's screams were cut short by the hammer breaking through his skull. Another came from his left, Marcus charged into the raider with his shoulder. Knocking the raider out, as Marcus proceeded to grab the unconscious raider and push them directly into the path of an axe headed his way, a sickening crunch sounding out.

"f*ckin' kill him you idiots!" She recognized this voice as the one who got scolded by Phoenix, Dan.

Clementine entered the office to help Marcus, but the man had already charged the last three. Grabbing an axe directed towards his head, he ripped it from the raider's grasp and threw it at another. While slamming his fist directly at the now unarmed raider's throat, crushing it from the way the raider fell trying to breathe. She could only watch as this tank of a man brutalized the raiders.

Dan pulled a pistol out from behind him, aiming it at Marcus. Wasting no time, Clementine aimed at the man and fired, Dan slamming into the ground with a hole in his head.

Marcus looked towards her, she couldn't read the man as he was wearing a gas mask, but she could tell his muscles relaxed as he saw her.

"Thanks kid." He grabbed Dan's gun, a glock like hers but not as clean.

Clementine took a bit to take in the carnage the man left behind, there had to be like fifteen of them on the ground.

"Let's go kid." He held the door open for her.

She nodded and followed after Marcus once he entered the hallway with her.

'I hope Becca's alright.' Her friend was one of the snipers on the rooftops, but that didn't stop her from worrying.

A rabid woman burst through one of the bedrooms and charged into Marcus. He grabbed the woman's hair with his free hand and slammed her face into the concrete wall, knocking her out.

"sh*t, come on." Marcus started to hurry as the gunfire started to quiet down.

Marcus went around killing any raiders and saving their own as they cleared out the station. Smoke was everywhere, and she swore that she had spotted Phoenix at some point, the man was covered in blood with a feral look as ran across the hallway ahead of them.

They approached the garage, but froze as they spotted nine of the raiders holding Gary, Amaya, Troy, and Al at axe point if she had to call it something.

"Imma need you to get them outta here while I distract them." Marcus whispered to her as he readied his sledgehammer.

She snuck around one of the firetrucks and waited for Marcus to start.

Marcus roared and charged into the raiders, giving her time to fire at the raiders closest to the four hostages and let them escape.

Marcus had killed two of the raiders already, their battered bodies lying on the ground. A third tried to grab him, but he grabbed the man's arms and tossed him towards another raider. He slammed another raider directly in the arm, snapping the appendage and sending them to the ground.

"GO!" The marine pulled out the glock he looted from Dan and fired at the men chasing after the four escaping.

Clementine wanted to help the man, but he wasn't having it.

"GO NOW GODDAMN IT!" Marcus was disarmed, but he grabbed the attacker's axe and snapped it in half with his now empty hand. He punched the raider's liver and kicked him to the ground, grabbing another axe coming from behind and twirling it into the ambusher's neck.

'sh*t!' She bolted towards the four escaping, following Marcus' order, ignoring the multiple cries of pain escaping the garage.

The raider's were losing, but they just seemed to just multiply every time one of them died. Troy had fallen behind and they didn't have time to stop. So they kept running until they escaped the station.

The massive herd they'd collected had now surrounded them, and it wasn't looking like it'd be good for either side. They at least had their camouflage, but that didn't stop her from worrying about the others who might not.

The gunfire had completely ceased by this point, which meant either the raiders were dead, or we had lost. She spotted some of the remaining raiders, including Phoenix, manage to escape in a truck that survived the explosion, but most were eaten alive as they tried.

"Who's still alive in the station?" Vera voice cracked through their radios.

"Gary, Amaya, Bells, n' Al. Troy was wit' us but we can't figure out the f*ck happened to him." Al replied.

"Can't say I'm mad about Troy." Vera stated after a second, which made some more people laugh through the radio.

Many other voices reported in, only eighteen didn't report in, including Troy and sadly Marcus. She didn't know any of the ones who hadn't called in except Marcus, but it still hurt at how much they'd lost.

She'd remember Marcus for how ever long she managed to stay alive. The man was a hero and was the reason probably most of them were still alive.

The raiders had lost dozens though, their penchant for melee costing them. They wouldn't be back anytime soon.

"Everyone get somewhere safe. Let the lurkers pass and we'll return to Howe's." Vera ordered through the radio, as hundreds of walkers passed through the streets.

The ride back to Howe's was quiet, everyone was too tired or injured to bring themselves to speak. Becca and Kenny were next to her, Becca was passed out with her head between her legs.

Clementine could only think about the rebuilding process, Bill would want to make sure they reclaimed the outpost or anything that had been left behind. She tried to find Marcus' body, but the garage had completely burned down leaving only ashes and burnt ambulances and firetrucks.

By the time they got back to Howe's everyone just dragged themselves to bed. Shel had cried when she saw Becca safe and sound, but the teen seemed more embarrassed than glad.

Clementine was just glad her friend was alive, and that she wasn't dead either. Clementine felt too tired to bother waiting around though and just went to bed, placing her hat on her nightstand and going to sleep.

The next day was very somber, no one dared mention the past day's events as many lost friends or loved ones. Many were saddened by the loss of Marcus, the man had saved many lives that day, and taken many in return. She wished that she could've helped the man, but there's nothing she could've done as she was the only other person in the group that still had a gun on them. Someone needed to make sure the others survived, but it didn't mean she couldn't wish that both made it.

They were going to hold a short funeral for those they lost at the end of the day. Bill would be heading the service, but she didn't feel comfortable going. Felt it would be dishonest as she didn't really care much about the rest who died, especially Troy, but she knew she'd be required there. Bill wanted her there to listen to his speech and Becca was going as well.

Clementine stopped thinking about the funeral as she stared at the door to the infirmary. Her stomach was killing her since she woke up, knocking on the door and waiting as Carrie opened it.

The scarred woman looked at her with a motherly smile before leading her to one of the beds.

"What's wrong?" Carrie rasped, keeping it brief as usual.

Clementine pointed to her stomach, it was cramping bad now as she held it. The woman nodded and started inspecting her abdomen. The woman raised an eyebrow, and looked at her.

"Feel?" The woman seemed to be onto something it seemed.

Clementine didn't know how to respond, it just hurt and she felt agitated. She shrugged and just kept holding her stomach, massaging it as she tried calming the pain down.

"Any blood?"

Clementine went to shake her head, but stopped as she remembered thinking she saw some this morning when going to the bathroom. Her eyes then widened as she remembered what Becca told her months ago.

Carrie laughed, or tried to at least.

"Here." The woman handed her a box of something and a painkiller, which Clementine took without hesitation.

"Change every few hours." She pointed at the box of pads.

Clementine just stared at the box, she didn't know how to react. She read the box for the instructions, looked down, and then back at the doctor with an incredulous look. The older woman just pat the eleven year olds back and sent her off.

Clementine stood outside, frozen in place as she couldn't believe the situation. She had seen how Becca acted during them, and was terrified at the thought of ever bleeding from there.

Kenny walked past her, looked at her face and then at the box. The Floridian laughed at her expression before walking off.

Two months passed by since the battle at the outpost, summer was nearing its end as the temperature cooled. They had dealt with more attacks from Phoenix and his raiders, the man and his raiders were persistent.

Bill had started some union with two other small communities around the border of Kentucky, they had been dealing Phoenix's group as well. They decided that they needed to come together

Things had remained mostly quiet in Henderson though, they had started expanding again once they regained their past numbers and then some. They now had four outposts around the state in Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Clarksville. The fire station was a lost cause, but the looted any guns, ammo, and anything else that was useful before abandoning it completely.

Clementine was sitting at a table with Becca, Mia, and Ai, the Japanese girl had gotten better at speaking English during her stay. She hadn't been paying attention to the conversation, she was tired from the constant moving around Bill had her doing.

'I'm gonna head on to bed.'She passed the note to Becca and walked off.

She dragged herself to the lounge when someone running knocked her over. She glared at the careless person, but they quickly apologized before running off.

Clementine dusted herself off, but noticed more people running in the same direction... towards the garage?

Her eyes widened as she followed them, she grabbed her pistol and entered the garage. People were just gawking at the gates, they seemed amazed by what they saw. Pushing through, she had the same reaction as she saw someone that was supposed to be dead just standing there. A group of five people behind him. The man still had his firefighting gear on, gas mask on his neck.

"Holy sh*t, Marcus is alive." Someone blurted out in amazement, followed by cheers.

The man laughed as he entered the building, many thanking him for saving their lives.

'How'd he survive? The whole garage was nothing but ash?' She wondered as more people entered the garage wondering what the commotion was.

She could barely make anything out anymore as more people entered the garage and spilled out onto the parking lot.

Chapter 15: Dread

Chapter Text

The smell of flesh burning... the screams that cried throughout the smoke filled air... the blood in her mouth that wasn't her own. They were the only things she could sense at the moment.

She couldn't see anything but an inky red and an orange flickering in the distance. Her body felt heavy, painful, and weak.

"...!" She could hear someone screaming, and arms around her body. But all she could hear was the screaming.

'Too loud!' She tried to cover her ears but her arms wouldn't move.

"CLE...!" She could faintly hear whoever was carrying her try to say something.

She felt like something was pulling her down now, a sharp pain in her legs and forehead. And then it all went black.

The war with Phoenix's group had only worsened in the past month. One of the communities up north had fallen, its remnants fleeing towards Howe's, Albany, and wherever else. Phoenix was obsessed, his men had only become more rabid, the man himself... was worse than ever now.

He'd taken to burning people alive in front of their loved ones personally, but he always put them out just before they passed.

He had... lots of practice to do that...

The attack during the Scottsville trade reemerged in her head. Reminding her of why she was even in this shuddering truck. And also reminding herself of the new scars she had acquired on her head and legs.

They were going to Knoxville, the outpost had spotted Phoenix's men in the area. "The Burned" is what Phoenix referred to his gang of raiders as.

She looked around at the people around her. Many, like Mike, were trying to make the mood lighter. Others, like Bonnie, were praying, and some, like Mia, just... stared into space. Their eyes reminded her of a corpse's, the glazed look and emptiness behind the eyes. They were tired, and she had been the same at one point, maybe she still was.

Her fists clenched tightly, she felt a rage build up in her chest. She wanted blood, she wanted the bastards to burn alive like Vince had. She wanted to... she wanted to just take a break. The changes in Howe's hadn't made it any easier either.

Bill's temper had worsened lately, the man had even started forcing other groups they'd come across into the fighting. She didn't blame him, but she'd be lying if she wasn't afraid of the man now. He had even personally tortured a raider they captured for trying to kill Carrie. Bill didn't even bother to do it in private. Clementine could still feel the warm blood that splashed on her face when it happened. And she could never forget the look of satisfaction on Becca's face. But she couldn't blame her friend, especially not after what happened to Vince.

She was terrified of what they were becoming, what she was becoming. Not that she could stop it anyways. War is pure, unadulterated horror, and she could only wonder what it was like before. Bill had only mentioned the wars he fought in briefly, and Marcus and Carrie hated talking about it.

Al had mentioned world war one at some point, the war to end all wars as it was nicknamed. The man explained that the antiquated uniform that he wore, was once his great grandfather's trench raider uniform. The man had described the war as the first time that the species had accepted their knack for brutality. Mustard gas, flamethrowers, no man's land, artillery, and more. She could only imagine the destruction and horrors as the man described it.

Clementine closed her eyes, attempting to get some sleep before they stopped.

She dreamt of fire and the screams of those that burned alive in Scottsville.

By the time they arrived in Knoxville, the outpost was already getting attacked. They had to exit the truck earlier than intended, lest they come under fire immediately after arriving. She was separated from the rest a few minutes ago, because of a molotov full of napalm that was thrown at them.

She ran behind a concrete barrier on the road and searched for any raiders around the area.

Seeing nothing for now, Clementine kept running with her head down. The sound of fighting getting closer the longer she ran. And she could smell the rain that was soon to arrive.

'Damn.' Was all she thought as their camouflage would be useless in the outside for now.

A group of three burned men ran across the street, their telltale burnt firefighter uniforms distinguishing them from anyone who came from Howe's or Albany.

She placed her rifle on top of the barrier and aimed it at the trio. Some walkers appeared from an alleyway as she did. She couldn't get a clear shot at the men so she ran around to a better spot.

Next to a wrecked car now, she took aim again. She had a clear shot on all of them now. She placed her sights on one's head, but then a thought arose in her head.

'That's too good for them.' She instead aimed at their legs.

The first man screamed as the bullet tore his leg apart, the walkers lunging at the screaming man. The other two didn't know how to react as she fired at both of them. Their screams were like music to her ears.

But the silence afterwards had only made her realize what she had just done. And she didn't feel a single ounce of regret. She didn't know how to feel about it, but she couldn't dwell on it. Now wasn't the time.

Clementine continued running towards the Knoxville outpost, dodging walkers left and right. The rain had started falling as she approached the outpost. Burned men and walkers were everywhere, and she couldn't yet see anyone she arrived with.

She hid behind another ruined car, aiming at some raiders close by that were fighting walkers. She shot their legs out as well.

'They'll distract some of the herd for me.' Clementine ran past the screaming group as she got closer and closer to the outpost.

"Get that bitch!" A woman yelled, five of them charged towards her. She took aim, but someone beat her to it as a multitude of molotovs struck the aggressors.

They couldn't even scream for more than a second, as the oxygen was pulled from their lungs.

"Over here!" Another woman yelled from a building nearby. Clementine didn't recognize the woman, but she was right next to Tisha and some others from Howe's.

She ran over to the group and checked her magazine. Only five bullets were left in it so she switched it out, and reloaded the old one.

"sh*t kid, the f*ck you doin' running through a herd in the rain?" The woman exasperated.

"Clementine's mute Rachel." Tisha informed the woman and went back to defending their current position.

"You serious?"

"Yup." Tisha made a popping noise, not bothering to look away from the warzone.

Rachel stared at Clementine incredulously before sighing. She opened her mouth to speak but her head blew open before she could get the words out.

"GET THE f*ck DOWN!" Tisha ordered to everyone as more bullets impacted the building.

Clementine threw herself to the ground and stared at the dead woman's eyes that seemed to be staring back at her. She laid there for a few moments until the bullets stopped flying.

Clementine crawled towards the corpse, taking her AK, checking for ammunition, and any supplies she held.

"f*ck man. Hasn't even been a minute yet." Wyatt whispered quietly in some form of disgust.

'Doesn't need it anymore now though.' Was all she thought, as she grabbed what she assumed to be a food bar that was wrapped in beeswax paper, stuffing it in one of her pockets.

Looks of pity and disgust were plastered on everyone's faces. But they couldn't argue against her actions.

She peaked over a shattered window to see if she could spot any raiders.

There was a group of ten or so in the building across from theirs. She signaled ten towards Tisha, the woman nodding and passing it down quietly.

Clementine drew her rifle and aimed at the group across. But another idea came to her head as she looked around the area of the raider occupied building. She could sneak through the alleys and weed them out with a molotov.

Clementine slung her rifle and crawled towards a molotov sitting under a window. She grabbed one, and a lighter next to it.

"What are you going?!" Tisha quietly yelled, Clementine ignored her as she exited from the backside of the building.

She searched for any walkers around and started slowly moving around to the enemy building. As she approached a walker slammed a chainlink fence nearby.

"What was that?"

'f*ck!' Clementine unsheathed her knife and stabbed the walker before it could make more noise. She stood still as she waited for some sort of response.

"Sit the f*ck down Ronnie." A man ordered.

Clementine let out the breath she was holding in relief as she got closer. She could see a broken window, someone walking past it. She drew the lighter from her pocket and ignited it, lighting the molotov fuse soon after. Tossing it through the window she ran off and grabbed the AK she looted from Rachel's corpse. Setting it to full auto, she laid prone as she waited.

Five exited the building from the window she threw the molotov through. Squeezing the trigger, gunshots echoed through the alley as she let loose. She stood up, ignoring the ringing as she reloaded, slung the rifle across her back and grabbed her knife.

Approaching the bodies, she stabbed each one in the head before they had time to reanimate. She got ready to finish off the last one when the raider started coughing blood.

"H-help-p mee." The woman gurgled, Clementine felt a scowl form on her face. She decided to leave the dying woman to suffer, and looted the bodies for anything useful instead.

The dying raider kept pleading until finally kicking the bucket. She stabbed the now dead woman's head and searched her body.

'Drugs, more drugs, and even more drugs.' She tossed them into the fire and checked what else she had managed to find from the other bodies.

Some ammo for a gun she had never used before, some type of pistol ammo using carbine she'd never seen till now. Snacks, lighters, and napalm molotovs. That last one put a smile on her face, but she had no way of carrying all of it at the moment.

She searched for the others, they had already finished the other raiders off.

A small herd was headed Clementine's way, attracted by the noise no doubt. She grabbed one of the napalm molotovs and lit it. Throwing it as hard as she could at the walkers. The fire would take a while to kill them, but they would spread the fire amongst themselves and any other walkers that joined them.

She grabbed another molotov and caught up to the others. They had finished looting those they killed and were just waiting for her.

"You're crazy kid." Tisha rubbed her hat and then ordered everyone to follow her.

Clementine fixed her hat and chased after them, the weight of the AK was starting to slow her down, so she handed the rifle to Wyatt.

"Thanks man."

Clementine just nodded and looked ahead, drawing her own rifle. Looking around the area as she followed the adults. There were so many bodies, burned and otherwise. The fighting had quieted and radios started going off around them.

"They're retreating for now, good job everyone. Over." Tavia's voice sounded throughout the block from all the radios. The group around her let out a sigh of relief and thanks as they slowed down.

Clementine and the others finally entered the outpost, that was in some type of history museum, where she saw the others she arrived with. Everyone seemed to be fine, with no serious injuries thankfully.

"Thanks for the support. Probably saved our asses." Tavia offered a handshake to Al.

"No problem, jus' doin' my duty." The man accepted the handshake and sat down.

Clementine sat down next to Mia, the girl still had that glazed look in her eyes. Her mouth, neck, and shirt were covered in blood, but no visible wounds. She frowned once she realized that the girl had probably bit someone's throat out.

'I hate this.' She rubbed the girl's back, who didn't even seem to care or realize that she was there.

"Goddamn it."

Clementine was woken up from the sudden commotion. She searched around, but it was much to dark to see anything.

"Don't back out of this now."

She heard the voices coming from outside. Unslinging her rifle she started to slowly walk towards the noise.

"You're asking me to just up and leave?" A woman's voice, she could tell now, but she still couldn't tell who it was exactly.

"This ain't our f*ckin' war." This voice was a man, his tone desperate.

She approached the doorway, looking through the slight hole.

"I know... but I can't just go back out there, by ourselves not knowing when our next meal is."

"I get that honey, but it sure beats gettin' cooked alive by some drugged up maniacs!" The man was getting angry now, and she could see the desperation in his eyes start to morph into something else.

"Keep your voice down!" The woman shushed the man, and then sighed.

"I-I'm staying." The woman started approaching the door, when the man had snapped.

He drew a knife from his belt, and time seemed to slow down for Clementine. She burst through the door and aimed her rifle at the man, firing a single shot and disabling him.

The woman fell down in shock, and the man screamed in pain as his shoulder now had a large hole blown through it.

There was running and shouting behind her. Clementine just stared at the man crying on the ground, blood pooling around him.

'An artery.' She watched as his eyes began to close, the woman was staring blankly at the knife the man had pulled out.

"Clementine the f*ck!" Someone forced her to the ground, their knee digging into her back painfully.

People were yelling at her, but she wasn't hearing them. She was more focused on the man she had just killed.

She had just killed one of their own, even if the man was about to hurt someone, she expected there to at least be something, that felt wrong about what she had just done.

She... didn't... feel... a single... thing.

This war was changing her, and she was terrified by the fact.

Clementine was staring at the door of a large freezer. The woman, who's actually named Honey, explained that the guy, Phil, had pulled a knife on her while she was walking back inside.

The silence was a good change of pace. Let her ruminate on what happened an hour ago without interruptions. She didn't regret her actions, and she certainly didn't regret saving Honey's life. But she wished that she never had to do it in the first place.

She checked her pockets for anything that she could pass the time with, they took her guns and any weapons she might've been carrying. Her lighter was missing and all she had was a battery, and some snacks.

Sighing, she grabbed the food bar she took from Rachel's corpse and unwrapped it. It smelt very smoky, and beefy. Taking a bite, she tasted what felt like jerky and dried fruit, her mouth immediately was coated with fat as she chewed. She didn't hate the taste, quite enjoyed it actually, but the oily feeling in her mouth was unpleasant to say the least.

'Might be better in a stew.' She casually thought as she kept chewing on the bar.

The freezer door opened as she finished the meat bar, the sounds of fighting echoed throughout the museum.

"Clementi-" Tisha was cut off by an axe slamming into her skull.

She pushed her back to the wall and stood up. She searched for any possible way to escape. But there was nowhere for her to go, as the only escape route was where whoever killed Tisha was standing. The hispanic woman's body was pulled back and another person took her place.

'Phoenix.' She felt her entire body tense as the disfigured man stood over her.

"There you are." The man knelt down to her level with a maniacal grin on his face.

"I've heard so much about you, Clementine."

The man suddenly grabbed her, she tried fighting him off, but no avail as he butt her in the head with his axe handle. She fell down with a thud, groaning as the man tied her hands up with a zip tie and lifted her back up. She tried desperately to pull herself away, but the man just yanked her back.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything to you. I just want to talk to you is all." He laughed as he drug her past the bodies of people who died in the fighting. She saw Mia tied up as well, two of the men around her were fighting.

Phoenix noticed what her gaze was focused on, "She won't come to harm either, if that makes you more cooperative."

She glared at the man, which only made that grin on his face widen. She stared back at Mia, her features softening as she looked down and nodded.

"Good. Brothers, Sisters!" The two men stopped fighting, and the rest looked to their leader.

"No touching the girls!" One of the men that was fighting grumbled, which was followed by a bullet entering his skull.

"I hope I need not repeat myself." He glowered around at his men.

Clementine was bewildered, as she hadn't even seen the man draw his gun.

"Yes Phoenix!" They all shouted as they got back to doing whatever they were doing.

They exited the museum, more bodies were laid out throughout the road, she didn't see Al's body anywhere. Which had left her feeling hopeful as she was lifted and locked inside one of their own trucks. Mia and three others following soon.

Clementine sat herself against the wall and wrapped her tied hands over her knees.

'sh*t.' Was all she could think as the truck turned on and started driving.

Chapter 16: Phoenix's Teachings

Chapter Text

The truck stopped after hours of driving. Clementine couldn't sleep as her brain was working overtime to try and figure out why he had captured them.

The container gates opened, Phoenix and three of his men of his men standing outside.

"Get up." He ordered, she and Mia were the only ones to stand up. The other three were cowering in a corner.

She could tell that Phoenix was losing his patience as his face morphed into a scowl, so Clementine tried to help them up.

"NO!" One girl gave a shrill, ear piecing shriek at her touch, and tried to push herself further into the corner.

"You two, come here." Phoenix pointed at her and Mia, Clementine stared at the three sadly for a second before following Phoenix's orders.

They both dropped down from the truck.

'It's evening.' She

"Kill them." Phoenix told his men as he dragged both of the obedient girls away. The cries of the other three only lasted for a second.

She looked at her surroundings, some type of prison she gathered as he led the two inside.

The first thing she noticed noticed was the stench, it smelt like burnt syrup and flowers. The next thing was the people, they were in some daze. And finally, there were only about thirty of them in total as she counted, including those she saw outside. That gave her hope, as the Militia could definitely finish the raiders off if they only had this many people here.

Phoenix led them to a cell, pushing only Mia inside it and locking the gate. Clementine stared at the blank faced girl with worry as the man dragged her away.

He led her to the warden's office, she spotted a small metal cage made from rebar, that was located in the corner of the room, right next to the fireplace. There was minimal padding inside the cage. She looked around the office, she didn't spot any animals in the barebones room, or on the way.

"Get in the cage." The man opened the gate, she grimaced as she realized what he was saying.

She kneeled down and crawled inside the cage, the padding certainly didn't help much as she bumped her knees against the rebar flooring.

She sat down with her back against the rebar cage with a wince, she was unable to move around in the cage that much. She couldn't stand, and she only had around two feet of extra space if she had to guess.

"Good job." Phoenix closed the gate behind her, locking it with a chain and padlock.

The man left the office soon after, leaving the eleven year old alone. She searched around the room, the skylight had showed the dimming sky.

'This brings up bad memories.' She suddenly remembered the crazy woman from the zoo.

She tried kicking the gate open a few times, to see if she could break out, but it wouldn't budge. She then tried inspecting the frame of the cage for any weaknesses, but there wasn't anything she could take advantage of.

A few minutes passed before Phoenix reentered the office, the man was carrying a large duffel bag. He dropped the large bag on top of the desk.

"Your people don't have tight lips Clementine." He started emptying the bag, she could only make out a few objects he pulled out. The one that stuck out to her the most was a small photo.

"The mute little bitch." He turned towards her with a look of amusem*nt, she returned his gaze with a defiant glare.

"Heh, that's what one of the militiamen as your people call themselves referred to you as that. Didn't even have to torture him to get him to crack. The mute little bitch with the hat." He sat down crosslegged, right next to the cage, his eyes boring through her own.

"I've heard a lot about you. Your leader is grooming you to be his heir no?"

She refused to answer the man, but he seemed to take her lack of a response as a yes.

"William Carver... I knew someone by that name."

Clementine's glare intensified towards the man.

Phoenix laughed, "Back in the Gulf War, the squad I was in was visited by some black ops types. Needed one of us for a mission of some sort." He showed her a photo, his finger directly above a smiling man.

"That man was me... Corporal James Walker. Everyone else in that photo were my squad mates. David, our squad leader, is this ugly son of a bitch." His finger moved towards a tall hispanic man.

"He refused to participate, didn't trust the bastards. So I decided to go with them instead." He stood up to grab a small black bag from the desk, and sat back down.

"The leader of this black op was no one else but your own William Carver." He opened the bag, revealing some tools.

Clementine refused to let the revelation bother her, she wanted to know where he was going with this.

"They captured some Iraqi officers in some sh*t hole, didn't care to remember the city. But Carver, that man tortured them when we got back to base. I watched as he did it. Felt sick at first, but by the last man, I learned... a harrowing fact about myself that day." He grabbed a small knife from the bag, trailing it with his finger.

"I hear he teaches you many things. He ever teach you how to torture a man?" She noticed the hungry, disturbed glint in his glazed eyes.

She nodded slowly, unsure of why he was asking her this.

"You ever do it?" He licked his nonexistent lips.

She shook her head with a frown, the thought of those she gave a painful, drawn out death in Knoxville flashed through her mind. The man's gaze seemed to harden a bit, before he lunged into the cage and grabbed her tied arms. She tried to fight him off, but his grip only tightened around her wrists, which made her yelp in pain. He cut the zip tie holding her arms together.

"Calm down kid, just freeing up your arms." He smiled as he returned the knife to its place in the small bag.

"When I got back home after the war, I wasn't the same, the civilian life was much too quiet, peaceful. So I joined back up with the CIA, served in a few more black ops myself. Eventually decided to seek out Carver one day, but he'd already left for the civilian sector. Became a civil engineer of all f*cking things." He looked disappointed when he said that.

"One day I was ordered back home for some mandatory rest. When I returned, all this sh*t went down the same day. Weeks go by, and I met back up with my squad leader, David. Started this group and found a home in this random orchard." He let out what seemed to be a genuine laugh.

"Man couldn't keep a crop going for sh*t, only made it because of some civilians that approached us. Started this group, you might recognize it from some of your people. Seen some bodies with our symbol." He revealed a scar he had, it was melted over, but she recognized the icon.

'New Frontier... they're behind this?' The information didn't make sense to her, the refugees they accepted had only mentioned good things about the group, but people always changed.

"I got fed up with the way things were going. The person I'd become over the years hated the peace. The wars around us were only growing, and I didn't want to wait for us to be attacked with our pants down. I was afraid to reveal that side of myself to my only last war buddy, but by the time I could suck it up and bring forth my thoughts. It was already too late, someone that joined up with us at the start betrayed us for another group. And when the flames cleared, and I rose from the ashes covered in bandages and burns, the man I once was. The coward afraid to reveal himself died in that orchard, rended apart by the flames." His eyes regained that former sense of amusem*nt and hunger.

Clementine could tell this man was deeply disturbed, but she found herself intrigued by the monologue.

"I know I'm losing this war kid. I don't have the men to keep the raids going. William trained y'all very well." The man closed the small bag of torture tools and stood up again.

"I'll be back tomorrow kid. Get some sleep... you'll need it." He placed the bag back on the desk and left.

She subconsciously rubbed her wrists as she thought about the things he had just told her. And she was praying that someone arrived soon.

Clementine woke up with sores all over her body, she tried to stretch them out, but she didn't have the room to do so comfortably. She backed into the cage and cracked her neck and back, offering her a brief surge of pleasure.

It was barely even sunrise, she rubbed the tiredness from her eyes, and a wet feeling assaulted her. She looked down at her hands, bloodied and blood pooling around her, the smell of flesh cooking burned her nose. She looked up and saw Vince's thrashing body covered in flames, Phoenix standing behind him. The shrieks and cries of Shel and Becca pierced her ears.

The burned man's laughter had overpowered everything else, and she saw Vince's body replaced with Lee's. A blaming, angered look on his face. The man mouthed the words 'your fault' as his face turned to bone.

She awoke with a frightful jump, her heart pacing, and her breathing rapid. She checked her hands, they were free of blood. The smell of burnt flesh was gone, the screams and laughter gone. She stared at the skylight, the sun was already in the center of the sky.

It took her a few minutes to calm down from the nightmare. Her rage towards the man was renewed.

The door opened not long after, Phoenix entering with some firewood, a gas can, and a fire poker. He sent her a menacing smirk as he placed the firewood in the fireplace. He poured gas over the wood and lit it.

"I never thought in all my forty years that I'd be here." The man started, he started poking the burning fire.

"Talking about my impending demise with a little girl." He looked over at her, his gaze made her uncomfortable.

"They'll be here sometime this week. I've made sure of it." The man's soft expression suddenly morphed into one of insanity.

She found herself crawling away instinctually, the man didn't even look human.

"I'm going to teach you lots of things before I die, Clementine. You'll learn something about yourself before I go." He strode over to the chains and padlock holding the cage shut. She crawled away, the heat from the fireplace warming her neck to an uncomfortable temperature.

Phoenix unlocked the gate and dragged her out by her legs violently, she tried to kick the man's hands, but his grip was like iron. He drug her towards the desk and sat her down on the worn chair. He grabbed a long chain from the desk, and wrapped it around her, locking it in place with a padlock.

Clementine thrashed as much as she could to try and escape, but the man backhanded her viscously. Her vision blurred and she barely managed to stay conscious from the powerful smack.

"Stay still sweetheart. Will only make this easier for you." He picked up a small dark brown block, the stench of it was the same as the one that permeated throughout the prison.

"This block here, is opium. This'll make you forget or care that you were ever in pain." She was confused, and scared as to why he had chained her up to tell her this.

"I personally don't use it, lost all sense of pain and touch months ago." He stared at the block for a few seconds.

"I'll be right back."

She was now utterly terrified of what he was planning to do with her.

Phoenix reentered the office with another, a woman that was in a daze, her pupils were almost invisible.

"This one." He pat the woman's shoulder in a friendly manner.

"Is currently under the effects of opium." He sat the woman down on another chair. He grabbed the fire poker from the fireplace, it was glowing red from the heat.

"This is the capability of that small, little brown, sh*t colored block." He placed the poker against the woman's face, the drugged woman barely reacted. The smell of the woman's flesh sizzling made Clementine sick, she almost threw up from the smell assaulting her nose.

"Come on now, we didn't even get to the best part." The man let out a manic laugh as he dropped the fire poker and grabbed a large knife from the desk.

"This here, is how you cut a finger off." He placed the blade on top of a joint of the barely conscious woman's right middle finger.

She tried to close her eyes to hide the sight, but the man slapped her again.

"Watch." The man's voice lowered intensely, making her body tense up.

He slammed the knife straight down on the woman's finger, her stomach started twisting.

"And this... is how you make others break, by only hurting one person." He started dragging the knife around the woman's chest, ripping through the clothing.

She watched as the man began trailing his hand behind his incisions, peeling the skin slightly. The woman on the chair had started becoming more aware. Phoenix arrived back to his first incision, and started dragging the knife under the skin, his bloodied hand was digging into the now screaming woman's body. But the screams died quickly as she passed out.

"Funny... I taught some fellas down south how to do this. The victim never stays awake long." He laughed at her nauseous face.

"Felt sick at first too, but then it fascinated me." He ripped off the now detached layer of skin, she could see the woman's muscles twitching.

Clementine turned her head and threw up on the floor, which made Phoenix laugh even harder, like he just heard a funny joke.

"You're a funny kid Clementine." He let out a joyful sigh, before slitting the woman's throat.

"Tell you what, how about I give you something to remember this lesson by." He approached the young girl, carrying the bloodied knife.

She didn't dare move in fear of what he might do. He hummed to himself as he looked her up and down. He placed the knife over her face, she tried to flinch away, but the man held her face still with his free hand. The rough texture of his skin felt sickening, but she didn't care about that much longer as the man began cutting into the side of her face. It only lasted for a second, but she screamed and kicked wildly from the agony.

"Perfect... now let's see..." He tapped a bloody finger on his chin.

"How about... got it!" He snapped his fingers, he exited the room again.

Clementine tried to escape the chains holding her down, but it was to no avail as the crazed man reentered with another drugged person.

"You will do the torturing." His monstrous smile made her sick as he pulled the dead woman's body off the chair, sitting the other person down.

The dead woman started growling, a knife quickly piercing her temple.

"Almost forgot." His voice cheerful, a disturbing glee as he strode towards her and unlocked the chains.

He forced Clementine towards the barely conscious man.

"Take it slow, if you end his life too soon... you'll be punished, and your friend will wish she was dead." Phoenix threatened, a dark whisper in her ears.

Phoenix handed her the knife, Clementine stared at the bloodied blade.

'I could end this right now.' She clenched the blade tightly, her knuckles turning white.

"Don't even think about it. The second I die, and don't check in with the others, is the second your friend is tortured in ways that she'll never recover from." The threat made Clementine despair, she felt like anything she tried was pointless.

'Survival... at all costs.' She repeated that mantra in her head as she placed the blade over a finger.

She hesitated.

"NOW!" Phoenix loudly boomed, she flinched from the sudden shout.

Rage swelled in her chest, the memories of Scottsville, Knoxville, the fire station and all the other engagements she'd been in. But then she remembered Savannah, for the first time in a long time. The rage had reached past its boiling point and exploded. By the time she came to, the man on the chair was already missing all of his fingers.

"Good job Clementine. Remember that feeling you just felt, it'll take you far. Give you the strength to do what must be done." Phoenix praised her, the man was smiling.

"Now start with his face. Make it into one large piece."

The rage swelled again, but this time she was fully aware of what she was doing.

She was locked in the cage again, staring at the dead body cooking in the fireplace. The smell didn't bother her anymore.

Clementine looked down at her body. She was covered in dried blood and caked vomit from head to toe. Some hers, most of it from the ones he had her flay open and cut apart.

She trailed the markings of a roman numeral three he had etched into the back of her right hand. The latest one, and the one she realized that she had started looking forward to the act of flaying one of these bastards alive.

Clementine's stomach growled, moving her gaze upon the bowl sitting at the end of the cage, a pound of raw flesh sitting on it. Tempting her, but she wasn't that far gone, not yet. She could withstand the hunger, she'd done so many times.

Her eyes then moved towards the chair in the middle of the office. The sound of flesh cutting, skin ripping, warm blood, and exposed organs flashing through her head. She clenched her fists around the cage bars.

'You'll be on that chair one day you bastard.'

She then looked up at the skylight. The starry night goading her to slumber, she curled into the corner, her back against the walls as she fell asleep. The thoughts of tomorrow's victim would be her last thought before the night claimed her.

Over the week, he had made her go through five people, one for each day. He slapped, punched, kicked, and threw her around if she made a single mistake or did something he didn't want her to do. Like throwing up on the body, or killing them off too soon.

She was working on the sixth person now, this one wasn't even drugged this time. She could only imagine the pain they were going through as the still conscious man had his chest flayed open. The sight of his intestines peaking out didn't bother her anymore, it had lost its shock value by the second person. She hated that she started to enjoy this, but the reflection of her face in the blood pooling on the floor, only reminded her of the disdain she had for this man. The man had marked her body with cuts for each victim, each one was masterfully done by the man as he engraved reminders of "his lessons" into her skin.

"You're a natural kid!" Phoenix praised her again for what seemed to be thousandth time this week, but the sound of gunfire began to echo through the prison.

"Looks like school time is over kid. Now for your final gift." He grabbed her by the neck and forced her to the ground roughly, dragging her to the fireplace and sitting on top of her chest.

"With this, you'll never forget what I've shown you today." He plunged his right hand into the burning fire, his face hadn't lost its maniacal look.

Clementine tried to push him off, thrashing and twisting, but he simply placed his knees over her arms.

He ripped his arm from the fire, it was on fire and he ogled it with some sick sense of wonder at the sight.

She was trying everything at this point to try and shake the psychotic freak off her.

"From now onwards, you'll carry the branding of my hand on you to remember these lessons, I'll live on through you, until the day you die." He ripped her jacket and shirt open and placed his flaming right hand in the middle of it.

The first thing she felt was the heat, then the excruciating pain, and then screams erupted from her throat, her throat felt like it was ripping open as they did.

'IT BURNS!' She was kicking her legs and trying to pull her arms free from the man's weight.

"This is my final lesson unto you Clementine!" He lifted his hand from her chest and put the flame that had threatened to kill her out. He then violently cut the burning flesh from his right arm.

"Always carry the rage you feel now in your heart. It may die down some day, but it'll always come back. This will make sure of it." He stood off of her, and stabbed the gurgling walker on the chair. Pushing the dead creature off and sitting down on it.

"Now!"

Clementine's chest felt terribly cold and hot at the same time. Her skin was bloodied, blistered, and terribly red, in the shape of a malformed hand.

She felt a visceral growl escape her throat, as she grabbed the knife from the dead walker's skull.

"Your final test."

She was caught in a daze as she started the first cut, by the time she finished, the man was laughing softly and the skin on his upper body was practically all gone.

"You've made... an excellent student Clementine." He coughed blood on her.

Her face remained blank, even as the door to the warden's office was kicked open. Bill was standing in the hallway with a... worried face?

"sh*t. Let's get you covered up." The man removed his trademark, fur-lined coat and placed it over her. Blocking her exposed chest from view.

Phoenix kept laughing maniacally as she was escorted away by Bill. She ignored the looks of pity, and the calls of her name as she dragged herself down the hallways. She just wanted to go back home and take a break from all this.

Bill opened a door to exit the prison, and lifted her into the passenger seat of a large truck. She shuddered from the cold feeling in her chest, the sudden jerk had only aggravated the injury, making her wince.

"Don't worry, we'll get you taken care of." Bill's voice was surprisingly comforting, she never expected him to act like this. But people were always full of surprises.

Her eyes felt heavy, and everything went black.

"Hey Sweetpea." A familiar voice called behind her.

She waved at her former guardian with a soft smile, as she dangled her legs outside the train car.

Lee sat down next to her, the man letting out a choppy breath.

"I wish I could've been there... to stop this madness from happening to you." His teeth were clenched, and his fists were practically white from the pressure he put them under.

'But you weren't.' She thought to herself as she stopped dangling her legs.

She looked down to her chest, she was no longer in the dress she wore during this day, but in the camouflage hunting gear that Bill had given to her months ago. There was a large disfigured burn scar in the shape reminiscent of a hand.

"I know Clem. If only Christa and Omid had made it. You wouldn't have this... this thing on you." His voice was full of pity, and his face scrunched in disgust.

'Just stop.' She felt a tear drop, her gaze switching to the passing trees.

"I'm sorry Clem." He whispered softly, his tone ever caring.

'No you're not... you aren't even real.' She bitterly thought, she began to feel angry at the man.

"I... I'll just go." Lee moved to place a hand on her shoulder, but she inched away.

She didn't even bother to look at his face as he stood up, and probably disappeared into the shadows as he always did. She just kept staring at the trees, her face forming into a dejected frown as the minutes passed by.

She blinked, and the trees were suddenly on fire. Another person sat down next to her.

"You don't need that bastard anymore anyways, Sweetpea." Phoenix said the nickname mockingly.

"He'll just bring you down with him. I'll be there to give you the "hope" you need now." She ignored the man's mocking laughter as the trees burned brighter.

"Ignore me all you want. But the day will come when you need someone's advice. And the only one who can help is me." The man disappeared in a plume of fire.

The flames disappeared instantly with him, the trees now leafless and charred black and white.

The sight was a pleasant change to her, was all she could think.

Clementine awoke in the infirmary being tended to by Carrie. She had an IV in her arm, and bandages wrapped loosely around her chest. Her chest hurt, and her throat felt terribly dry.

"Hey Clem." The woman's voice a soothing rasp.

Clementine looked around tiredly, no one else was here.

"No one can... hurt you now. I'll get your... friends." Carrie spoke the longest sentence, Clementine had ever heard the woman speak. She knew the woman had to be in pain as she placed the blanket over her chest, exiting the room right after.

She laid there, her chest was starting to feel itchy as she waited for Carrie to return.

"Don't worry Clementine. Your gift is safe and sound." She looked around for the source of that awful voice, but the room was still empty.

Her eyes locked onto a mirror, stitches, scabs and still healing lacerations, covered her face and body. They didn't hurt anymore, but each time her eyes were drawn to one, she could remember the cutting blade dragging across her skin.

"-od" The doors opened, Kenny, Becca, and Carrie entered the infirmary.

"Thank god, that you're okay Clem!" Becca cried and ran towards the side of Clementine, throwing herself into an embrace.

She winced as the teen put pressure on her injury, but she didn't fight it.

"Come on, she needs to breathe." Kenny joked, but his face betrayed his tone.

"Sorry." Becca apologized tearfully and sat down on a chair next to the bed.

They remained silent for a moment, but she didn't mind it.

"We were scared when you didn't wake up for almost three days." Kenny started, his face and eyes oozing pity about what happened, it made her angry to see that look in his face.

"Kept slippin' in and out, screamin' wildly like an animal caught in a trap."

'I was.' Her face remained blank, her eyes half closed from exhaustion.

"Anyways, glad you're doin' alright honey." Kenny placed a comforting hand on her knee, but it didn't help the anger that was bubbling inside her.

"They'll get you killed." Kenny was replaced with Phoenix for half a second before the man flickered out of existence.

She only felt rage in her heart, when she saw the man. The terror she felt from the man died by the time she realized that she was enjoying torturing his men by the third victim, replaced with pure unadulterated hate.

'I despise you.' She clenched her fists tightly.

"I know." The man laughed mockingly in her head before it was drowned out by Becca speaking up.

"Can I... stay here tonight, Carrie?"

"No... she's fine to leave now. Just be careful." Carrie then stood up and offered Clementine some painkillers, but she refused them.

The doctor frowned sadly at her refusal, before she placed them back.

'I deserve this.' Was Clementine's only thought as she slowly stood up. Her legs wobbling from not being used for so long. She tried moving on her own until she regained her balance.

Carrie handed Clementine a loose shirt and her jacket, it had been cleaned from all the blood and vomit she had gotten on it. Becca helped her put them on, she felt her burn flare up from the movement, a slight wince marked her face as she finally finished getting covered up. Clementine started slowly stepping out of the infirmary.

"Alright, let's get you to the room. Shel will be happy you're finally awake." Becca chuckled as she followed close behind the eleven year old.

Clementine kept seeing his mocking gaze and laughter as she walked through the store. She ignored the attempts to get her attention as she laid down on her bed, falling asleep soon after. The burnt trees were the only thing she dreamt about.

Chapter 17: Broken

Chapter Text

Clementine stared at herself in the mirror, her eyes tracing the numbers etched onto her skin, and other scars she'd accumulated when the man beat her around. Each one was a face that she cut to pieces, for others, a terrible man's sick pleasures.

She never told anyone what happened to her in that office, didn't want, or have to. They knew what she had done to him, and she hated the pitiful, scared looks they gave her.

Her eyes then stared at the large hand burned into her chest, the screaming sixth and the maniacal Phoenix staring at her through it. Tracing the outline of the scar with her hand, she grit her teeth as the flesh was still tender. It'd only been two weeks since, and she still felt the pain of her skin searing from his burning hand.

The scar would never leave her according to Carrie. By the time she had gotten back for any meaningful care, the heat had already killed any chances of the wound healing normally. She grabbed an alcohol wipe and cleaned the wound.

She hissed as the wipe brushed on the brand. It had closed thankfully, but the cool feeling of the alcohol evaporating made her wince.

Throwing the wipe away once she finished, Clementine's focus diverted to the hat on her head, eyes focusing on the splotches of bloody that had made themselves home. Even now, she still couldn't find it in herself to get rid of the damned thing. All it just did was remind herself of her failures, her stupidity, and her inability to do anything.

Somehow, no one ever found out about what happened in Knoxville. Al, for some reason never told anyone about the incident when he found his way back, and Mia had stopped speaking weeks ago. But in return, she never discovered how they found their way to the prison. Phoenix had mentioned that he would make sure they'd find it, but the how was lost on her. Not that she even cared, the man was gone, couldn't hurt anyone else again, anyone except her.

He still tormented her thoughts, dreams, and she saw his face everywhere. Each time she saw that damned face, the rage in her started to boil, and every... single... day, she had to find a way to calm that rage.

She washed her face and dried herself off with a towel. Putting her shirt back on, she exited the bathroom and headed towards the roof.

Bill had decided to stop teaching her anything entirely. He said he had nothing left to teach her, but she didn't believe it. She was a lost cause now, she knew that much. Her newfound temper had already strained her relationship with the others as well. Their pitiful looks only served to anger her further, she didn't want or deserve it.

Sitting down on a chair looking over the road, she started counting the trees to pass the time.

'One, two, three, four...' She went on and on, and by the time she got to the thousands her shift was already over.

"Stiff, Carrie wants ya to checkin with her, 'fore you head to the greenhouse." Al had appeared next to her.

She rose from the chair, and began to leave.

"Hey Stiff." Al called, stopping her in her tracks.

"For what it's worth, I don't blame ya for what happened in Knoxville."

She continued on her way as the man said his piece.

She sat down in the infirmary as Carrie checked her scars for any signs of reopening. She felt the woman prod at one of the stitches in her left arm, nodding to herself as she did. Carrie grabbed a tiny pair of scissors and tweezers, and began undoing the stitches. The feeling of the stitches being pulled out from under her skin was never pleasant, it didn't hurt at all, but the feeling was like something was crawling underneath.

The doctor began checking her other stitches, and removing them as well. Clementine sat there for almost ten minutes as the woman gently removed each stitch. Rubbing some alcohol on the healing scars to clean them.

Clementine jumped up to get back to work, once Carrie finished cleaning her scars, but Carrie just forced her back down.

"One sec." Clementine watched as Carrie grabbed something from her desk.

"Here." She handed her something.

'Candy?' Clementine tilted her head at the caramel colored blob in the doctor's hands.

"Kat made it. Take it"

Clementine accepted the candy, but she had no intentions of eating it. She attempted to place it in her pocket, but that seemed to anger Carrie as she stopped her.

"Eat." The woman's raspy voice was stern.

With a dejected sigh, Clementine plopped the caramel blob in her mouth. It was good, rich in flavor, and buttery. But it felt wasted on her.

Carrie finally let her leave once she swallowed the candy.

Approaching the greenhouse, she got to work on trimming the plants growing, and removing the fruit or vegetables. Time passing by quickly as she worked.

Clementine stepped towards the tomato vines, she only had about five minutes left on her shift. There only seemed to be around five, fully ripe tomatoes. She ripped the ripe ones from the vines, but she squeezed the last one too hard as she detached it.

Blood started to ooze from it, she shook her head and it turned to juice.

'I'm going crazy.' She plopped the oozing tomato in its basket, and she got to work shearing off the dead branches of the vine.

Snip, snip, snip she went, the branches turned to bleeding fingers as she trimmed. Her breath hitched, a distant laugh echoed in the greenhouse, she rubbed her eyes with her free hand. The branches were branches again, she threw them into the compost bin and left. She didn't want to stay in there any longer than she needed.

Entering the hardware store, dread filled her, it was supper time now, and she had to deal with the stares again. She hated the stares so, so much.

She trudged towards the cafeteria. Kenny cooked fish and rice for the day. She grabbed a plate and sat down by herself, attempting to finish the plate before anyone else could sit down. She scarfed the plate of food down, returning the plate within a minute or so of grabbing it, Kenny was disappointed by that. But she couldn't bring herself to care as she returned to her bed.

She'd returned to sleeping in her storage closet again, the only place she was sure that there'd be no one watching over her and pitying her. The room just how she had left it, laying down on the bed, she stared at the ceiling. The silence was comforting to her as she drifted off.

"Hello Clementine."

She jumped at the sound of that awful voice. She was back in the cage. Phoenix was sitting in front of her, the skin from his upper body draped around his legs like some skirt. His internal organs were protruding from his body in many places. She could see his lungs shrinking and expanding as he breathed, his heart beating slowly. She gave the horrific flayed man a murderous glare.

"Oh come on now, I know you enjoyed doing this." He gestured towards his flayed appearance.

"I know you would've done more before that prick Carver showed up. I never even got the chance to gift you for the last one either." The man's meaty face twitched into some form of smile.

"I got an idea, how about we get to doing that right now." The man grabbed her through the cage, his grip was impossible to fight off, as she tried yanking herself back in desperation. He grabbed a serrated knife from thin air, a sad*stic look in his eyes.

He began slicing a deep 'VI' into her left forearm, she grunted as she gave up on fighting him off. Thankfully, the pain was nowhere near as bad as the first few times he had given her "gifts."

Phoenix admired his handiwork once he finished, "Well look at that girl, you've gone and done the job for me."

'Huh?' She looked down in confusion and she was suddenly standing in the bathroom, almost an entire two minute walk from her room, bloody knife in her hand, and blood dripping from her wrist.

'How'd I get here?' She felt lost, the pain in her wrist was nonexistent as she dumbly looked around.

The door slid open, Becca entering the bathroom with a tired sag.

"Oh hey Cle-" Becca shot up as she noticed the bloody knife in her hand, blood oozing from her wrist, and the crimson fluid dripping onto the floor.

"What'd you do?!" Becca was angry at her, but Clementine blankly stared back, still in a confused daze.

"I... I'll just go and get Carrie." Becca left the bathroom.

Clementine looked at her wrist, the marking Phoenix gave her in the dream was there now. It was hard to see from the blood, but she could make it out now. The screaming man reflected through the red.

She only hummed in response as she looked at the new reminder.

'They're going to be mad.' She thought as the door reopened, a tired Carrie entering the bathroom with a first aid kit.

Carrie had disappointment all over her as she slowly pulled the bloody knife from her hand, and grabbed a tourniquet, placing it directly above the wound. Clementine barely reacted as her forearm began to numb. The blood had finally stopped oozing, and Carrie got to work on cleaning it.

Becca reentered the bathroom soon after, she entered a stall with a pissed off look.

Clementine looked back towards Carrie, the woman had started stitching the new wound. She didn't say anything, but Clementine could already tell what she was thinking. Probably wondering why she did what she did, but she had no recollection of it, she woke up here, with her arm already cut up.

Clementine knew that they would never believe her, so she just decided to let them assume what had happened.

Becca exited the bathroom stall, washing her hands and then standing behind Carrie with scolding look.

Carrie finished stitching Clementine's arm, and began washing her hands from the blood. She then started wrapping the wound with a tight bandage, undoing the tourniquet once she finished.

"Why?" Becca interrogated her, receiving a shrug in response.

"I can't believe this. Did you ever stop to think about what the people who care about you would think?!" Becca shouted in disbelief, and worry.

Clementine just stared back at her friend blankly, in her mind she had done nothing wrong, because she wasn't aware of having even cut herself.

Becca waited for Clementine to so much as move a muscle, but when no response came, she just stomped out of the bathroom.

Clementine's focus was now back on the doctor packing up, the woman took her hand and led her to the infirmary like a lost child. She didn't feel like answering any questions so she just laid down to sleep.

Clementine stared at the calendar in the infirmary, her birthday was in a few days. She always rued the day arriving, so she made sure never to tell anyone about it. Her gaze moved towards Carrie, the woman's face laden with concern as she documented her recent findings.

Clementine had started sleepwalking at night, which explained her sudden appearance in the bathroom. She hadn't done anything harmful to herself over the past two days, even though there were sharp objects everywhere.

'Just a one time ordeal.' She guessed as she massaged her wrist. It had finally started to scab over, which had caused it to start feeling itchy. She wasn't dumb enough to act on the urge to scratch her wrist though.

"You can leave. Stay with Kenny." Carrie finally ordered as the woman had stopped writing. The doctor also repeated her orders through the radio.

Clementine begrudgingly accepted the order as she quickly exited the infirmary. She searched around for the work schedule of the day, but Bonnie stopped her.

"Hey city mouse..." Bonnie seemed to be struggling to find words to say.

"Umm, Bill actually told me to let you know, that you need to take it easy for a few days."

Clementine scoffed, but Bonnie gave her a stern look. She groaned, the redhead was clearly not going to let her have her way.

"Come on, let's get you to Kenny's place." Bonnie dragged the girl towards a small break room, the redhead leaving soon after.

Clementine entered the room, ignoring the greeting from Sarita as she plopped down face first onto the spare mattress. She laid there for a few minutes, before deciding to look around the break room.

'Table, crib, beds, pregnant lady, and a bunch of books.' She decided to grab a random book, her hands fell upon a book titled 'Dune.'

"That's a good one. Although I wouldn't recommend you read it at your age." Sarita recommended, Clementine decided to start reading the book anyways.

Most of the words, and terminology fell short on her, she barely understood what most of the words even meant, but the plot was interesting, if confusing to her. This Harkonnen guys reminded her of Phoenix a bit, their deaths made her feel a twinge of joy.

Kenny had walked in the room at some point, as she saw the man's silhouette behind the book. She pretended to be engrossed in the book so she wouldn't have to interact with him. She wasn't ready yet.

"Clem." Kenny spoke up, but she didn't look towards him.

"I know you're ignorin' me sweetheart."

Clementine pressed herself further into the book, she'd delay this as much as she could.

"Kid, you've gotta stop this sh*t." Kenny walked up to her bed and pulled the book away. She gave him a glare for doing so.

"Look I get it. I was in the same position you're in after... well you know." Her heart stopped at those words, but then she started to get mad.

"I know you're upset about what happened, sh*t it should never 'ave happened to ya."

Sounds of flesh cutting entered her ears before disappearing, she didn't soften her angry gaze at the man.

Kenny sighed, "How 'bout this... in about forty days or something, Bill wants me to head up on to Ohio. He wants us to make contact with them Wellington fellas."

Her eyes unfurled a tiny bit, wondering what he was getting at.

"If you can manage to not do anything that'll get you or anyone else hurt. I'll take you with me. What d'ya think?"

Clementine's glare disappeared and was replaced with one of anticipatory glee. She nodded quickly, which was met with a hand on her shoulder that quickly turned into a hug. One that she slowly returned as she felt her excitement ramp up, a feeling other than anger had entered her after weeks.

Blood on her hands, the taste of metal and acid in her mouth. The sounds of flesh tearing, guts falling to floor with loud squelches, bones separating with a loud crunch, screams and shriveling, pleading cries ringing in her ears. Laughter of a psychotic skinless man, and the feeling of cold metal on her skin.

"-entine!" She heard a distraught voice yelling.

The sounds of viscera were gone, her body clean, and the office was empty of anything that was just there.

"Clementine!" Someone shook her violently, waking her up.

Her eyes groggily opened, she was in what used to be the pen. She looked around in a confused daze, Kenny was standing in front of her with a perturbed expression.

"You've gotta stop doin' that." He embraced her quickly as she finally realized what had happened. She saw that the sun was starting to rise now, and she realized what day it was now.

October, twenty seventh, just six days before everyone in Savannah died. A day that was once filled with happiness, but now just a reminder of that day.

A deep and terrible sadness entered her, like threads coiling tightly around her heart. She was twelve now, but she wouldn't be celebrating today, no one would, and they never will.

She removed herself from the embrace and got ready for the day's physical training. The only time that the mocking laughter of Phoenix, and the agonizing screams of those she skinned never bothered her.

Chapter 18: Breaking Point

Chapter Text

Clementine sat in the passenger seat of a small red pickup truck. It was loaded with all sorts of supplies in the backseat from guns, ammo, food, sleeping bags and tents, and whatever else they needed. She was reading one of the books she brought with her. Kenny was giving Sarita a goodbye kiss, as well as giving goodbyes to everyone else he was friends with.

She stared at the 'VI' etched on her wrist, the scar was jagged and ugly, unlike the others she had. They still showed her those faces, their pleading cries, but she had gotten used to them. The scars had their advantages, funnily enough. Most new, and current community members tried to avoid her, which gave her the peace and quiet she needed when trying to be alone. They also worked well at intimidating strangers, but she felt that their fear was more pity than the actual thing.

Kenny enters the truck with a smile, "Alright Clem, let's head on out."

He turns the ignition on and begins driving, he only drives for a few minutes before suddenly stopping and exiting the truck.

'Huh?' She watched as he circled around to her side and open the door.

"Get in the driver seat. You, are gonna learn to drive" He held the door open, she could only stare blankly in surprise.

She climbed over to the driver's seat, Kenny sitting in the passenger seat as she did.

"Put your seatbelt on. And adjust the seat so you can see better"

She quickly followed the directions, her heart was pacing from the excitement.

"So now what you're gonna do, is keep your hands on the wheel, in the two o'clock, and ten o'clock positions."

She gripped the wheel tightly.

"Ease up sweetheart, the wheel ain't gonna run off from you. Now put your right foot on that brake pedal. It's the one on the left."

She did as he instructed, relaxing and softening her grip on the leather steering wheel, and pushing the brake pedal down as far as she could.

"Now grab the gearshift, and put the truck in drive. Make sure to keep your foot on the brake." He pointed at some stick thingy behind the steering wheel.

She pulled on the shift, and started lowering it, the letters on the dashboard started to shine brighter as it moved. She assumed that 'D' was drive and stopped there, letting go of the shift and it locked into place.

"Then, slowly move your right foot over to the gas, and tap it slowly." The second she let go of the brake, the truck started moving slowly, putting her foot on the gas and slowly pushing it, the truck started moving faster.

"Remember this, only use your right foot for the brakes and gas. The left is used for manuals to press the clutch, but this ain't a manual so you don't gotta worry about it for now."

She kept herself laser focused on the road as he spoke, the truck moving even faster.

"Clem, tap the brake and ease off the gas a bit, just keep your foot slightly pressed on it. No need to drive fast right now, we got plenty of time before that."

The truck slew down as she did what he told her, she looked at the speedometer and they were moving at around thirty miles an hour now.

"Okay, we've got a few days before we actually get there. So you've got lotsa time to practice. Hopefully, by the time we get back I can get you started on manuals."

She drove for a long time, following Kenny's directions as they traveled.

"Alright, slow down and turn into this motel. My ass is killin' me." Kenny pointed towards a lone, run down motel on the road.

She slew down and turned into the parking lot, pressing the brake to stop the car.

"Put it in park, and turn the truck off Clem."

She pulled on the gearshift and lifted it all the way up. She then lifted her foot and turned the keys, pulling them out once the truck was off.

"Okay, imma fill this thing back up. You just make sure nothin' sneaks up on us." Kenny walked out, grabbed a can full of diesel from the bed, and started refueling the truck.

Clementine exited the truck, and stretched with a loud moan, sitting for so long had made her body a bit sore. She looked around at the motel, it reminded her of the motor inn a bit.

The good and bad memories flashed in her mind as she walked around the parking lot. She could imagine hearing Duck running around, blabbering about something dumb like his favorite superhero or cartoon. Lee walking around and conversing with the others. The thought of it made her a little depressed, how little they knew back then.

"Hey Clem, let's check some of these rooms. See if we can't find anythin'." He knocked on a door, listening for any walkers.

She went up behind him, Kenny tested the doorknob but it wouldn't budge. Kenny looked at her with his one good eye.

"Guess we're doin' this the hard way." He nudged her back as he started kicking the door.

The noise he was making was pretty loud, so she watched for any walkers that might be attracted by the noise.

"sh*t." A loud slamming noise came from behind, as Kenny managed to snap the door straight off from the hinges.

She waited for a minute, but no walkers made themselves known thankfully. She stood watch as Kenny searched the room, coming back out a few minutes later both hands behind his back.

The man had a large grin on his face as she raised an eyebrow.

"Found some whiskey, and this." He revealed a large glass bottle full of caramel colored liquid, and a bag of chocolate candies.

He probably expected more of a reaction out of her, because he sighed in disappointment when she just stared at him.

"Here, I'm just gonna stick this one in the back." He handed her the chocolates, shook the bottle of whiskey and opened the truck. The man returned carrying a crowbar.

"Let's finish checkin' this place."

The next door was already unlocked, the room had a kitchen in it. Kenny tested the knobs, a small flame igniting.

"Alright, after we finish the rest, let's come back here and cook us up some dinner." She nodded in affirmation, following the man as they went door to door.

Most of the rooms were locked, and didn't really have anything other than beds and other stuff they couldn't use. Some though, had canned goods, and other goodies like a random gun under the bed, or luggage bags that could be used for storing supplies.

They were both standing outside the last room, Kenny knocked on it, a few seconds later the door started banging. Kenny readied his crowbar, and she readied her knife. He jammed the crowbar straight into the doorway and started to pry the door open.

The second it snapped open, Kenny kicked the door open and backed up immediately. The walker had fallen over when the door slammed opened, and by the looks of it, couldn't get back up.

The walker was extremely emaciated, barely even any skin left, mostly just bone at this point. It was probably was locked in here from the start judging by the rank stench in the room.

She slowly walks towards the struggling walker, and stabs it directly in the head. She looks around the trashed room, nothing of any value could be seen.

"Let's just head on outta here and eat." Kenny covers his nose with his arm as he backs away from the room.

Clementine closes the door behind herself as she leaves. Heading towards the truck to help Kenny prepare lunch for the day.

"What you feel like eatin' Clem?" He pointed towards an assortment of the food they'd found or brought. She looked at the man and shrugged, she wasn't a picky eater, as long as the food wasn't extremely bitter.

"Come on, pick somethin'."

She relented and pointed at some canned spaghetti and meatballs.

"See? It ain't that hard to pick. Now try and see if you can find us something to eat these with." He rubbed her head grabbing the can she chose, a can for himself, and a pot to cook it in.

She fixed her hat, and began putting the food they weren't eating into one of the luggage bags they found. When she finished, she grabbed two paper bowls that were stored in one of the bags, and two plastic forks. She also grabbed the book she was reading before the surprise driving lesson, and entered the room that Kenny was cooking in. Jumping onto one of the beds, she continued from where she left off.

"Give it about... five minutes."

She wondered why they were even bothering with heating the food up, but continued reading until he brought the pot over.

She handed him one of the paper bowls, and forks. He started pouring the spaghetti inside it, and handed it to her when he finished. She gave him, his and then started eating her own.

The food burned her tongue the second she tried eating it, forcing her to spit it out and try cooling her mouth down.

"Gotta let it cool first, sweetheart." Kenny laughed as she wafted her mouth.

She glared at him, which only made him laugh harder. She twirled her fork around in the spaghetti again, blowing on it this time to cool it down.

They both ate in relative silence after her little incident, neither wanting to waste the heat from the warm food.

"When you finish, clean the pot and ride shotgun, it'll be night by the time we get to where we headed. And you ain't ready to drive in the dark yet." Kenny then scooped the remaining sauce from his bowl and ate it. Leaving the motel room soon after.

She followed suit soon after, getting up and grabbing their pot. Grabbing a rag from the truck and cleaning any pasta sauce that didn't make it out of the pot. The truck turned on whilst she cleaned, she hoped it would be warm by the time she finished.

Clementine tossed the pot in the back of the truck, grabbed her book from the room, and then hopped in the truck. It was pretty late in the day, and it had gotten extremely cold in the truck. She shivered slightly, the cold had managed to creep through her hunting outfit, and the truck had yet to warm up enough.

"Damn it's cold." Kenny cranked the heat up and pulled out of the parking lot. The truck warmed up quickly as he drove.

She read her book some more, it was about aliens or something, she couldn't tell and didn't really understand any of the words. Which did bother her, but it wasn't exactly something she could really do anything about.

Clementine finished the book right as the sun started to set. The windows were super foggy at this point as well, the only thing keeping them on the road was the heat blasting directly onto the windshield.

"You want some whiskey?" Kenny held the glass bottle towards her.

'Isn't that a grown up drink.' She raised an eyebrow at the offer, she didn't exactly know if she should.

"It'll put some... actually I'll keep that one to myself." He frowned for half a second, before deciding on giving it to her anyways.

She stared at the bottle, she had to try it now she guessed. Opening the bottle, a strong scent hit her nose which made her wince a bit.

"It ain't gonna kill you. Though you might wanna take it easy." Kenny chuckled at her reaction to the strong, burning scent.

She took a hesitant sip of the drink, her throat started burning immediately. Coughs escaped her throat as she felt her body warm up. Kenny slapped his knee as he started cackling.

"Go on, have a few more, it'll make you feel better. We won't be at our rest stop for another two hours anyways." He wiped his eye as he kept laughing.

Clementine took a really large gulp of the liquid, letting out a violent cough once she got it down. Closing the bottle, and handing it over to a chortling Kenny. She started feeling funny, everything seemed a bit wonky, and she felt hot. She looked over at Kenny, but it felt like her body was moving with a delay. A dumb smile crossed her face as she passed out soon after.

Clementine woke up with a warm blanket over her. It was morning now, she groggily rubbed her eyes and looked over at Kenny. He seemed to be in good spirits, but she felt like someone had just knocked her over the head with a baseball bat. A groan escaped her lips as she rubbed her head.

"Yeah, not my greatest moment, givin' a kid whiskey, but you were sleepin' like a baby." Kenny pat her on the shoulder, with a weak smile.

She knew that expression, he always had it when he found her sleepwalking, or tried to get her to talk. She hated it when he would give her that look, like she was broken or something. It made her feel like something was wrong with her, which she didn't want to be reminded of.

Although it did make her feel better, she had an actual good dream that night. She was back in the motor inn showing Lee her...

She let out a quiet sniffle, before stopping herself. She wouldn't cry, it would give Phoenix something to mock her with.

The skinless man hadn't bothered her much in her day to day anymore, but he was always there in her dreams. The sleepwalking didn't happen as often anymore either, but she'd always find herself in the former pen when it occurred. Probably, Phoenix's way of telling her she'll remain caged.

Clementine decided to stop thinking about it, she grabbed another book to pass the time.

"Clem, you know that you don't have to keep what you're going through to yourself right?"

Clementine didn't give him a response, choosing to just engross herself in this new book. She briefly heard Kenny sigh to himself.

"Well we've got maybe... five hours before we reach the border of Michigan. You want to take over?"

Clementine thought for a second, before eventually nodding, climbing over as Kenny took her place.

"Remember what you need to do?"

She pressed the brake and put the car on drive, letting go and pressing the gas instead.

"Good job. Now remember to just stay calm, and slow down before takin' any turns."

Kenny continued giving her tips as she drove.

She imagined where she'd be if she could drive while she was by herself.

'Mexico, Texas, maybe even on the other side of the country.' She was driving on the highway, they'd be entering Columbus soon.

"Stop right on this gas station, let's get some blood flow back in our legs."

Clementine turned into the station and put the truck on park, turning it off as she did. They both exited the car and entered the gas station. Kenny was checking the maps, and she entered the restroom. She entered one of the stalls to go about her business, exiting to Kenny looking deep in thought.

"This map here shows a town named Wellington in the west. You think it'd be that obvious?"

Clementine looked at the map, he was pointing at a town that was, in fact named Wellington. She gave him a shrug, Kenny put his hand on his chin as he looked at the map for a minute.

"Might as well try going there once we're done eatin'." He exited the station and grabbed some food and utensils, reentering as quickly as he left.

Kenny held up two cans of chili, he opened one and handed it to her with a spoon, and got started on his own.

Clementine scarfed the chili down in seconds, she had been feeling increasingly hungry since she woke up.

'Never drinking alcohol again.' She decided, wasn't worth the aftermath in her mind.

"I'd let you drive there, but you were out till noon, so just ride shotgun while we head on over." Kenny then finished up eating, tossing the can away and taking the map of Ohio.

The ride towards the town was mostly uneventful, Kenny cracked a few jokes here and there trying to get her to respond, but other than that it was quiet.

"Looks like we're just a fifty miles out now. Hopefully, it is just that simple." Kenny cracked a smile as he said that. She just hoped that if they were there, it'd be quick and easy.

Clementine started feeling tense as they got closer. She couldn't explain it, but as the amount of miles they needed to get there lowered, the more she got worried. They were only about two miles away now, judging by the street signs.

She looked over at Kenny, the man seemed pretty relaxed considering he'd be making first impressions with a potentially much larger community.

Kenny stopped the truck in front of a large metal wall.

"Guess this is it." He was about to exit the truck, when a bunch of large semi-trucks arrived, driving around the wall to another location.

"The f*ck?" He turned the headlights off, and followed the trucks slowly.

A large number of people exited them, they were heavily armed.

"Clem, get the guns."

She quickly undid her seatbelt and started digging in the backseat. Grabbing an AK and her Springfield M1A, she also made sure to grab spare magazines. She gave Kenny the AK, and the magazines for it, then they both quietly exited the truck.

"We f*cking begged you, man! Our people are sick! And starving!" One of the people from the trucks started shouting.

"It didn't have to be this way! You coulda just given us some grub, some medicine, that's it! This is your fault! Y'all are just hoarding it for your f*ckin' selves!" Another joined in with the first.

"We don't have enough supplies. That's not a lie. We're barely gonna make it through winter as it is." A person on top of some gate tried to point out.

"Horsesh*t! If y'all don't have nothin', then why are you hiding behind such huge f*cking walls?!" The second guy countered the person from Wellington.

"Now, listen. You need to go, now! We're armed!" The gatekeeper threatened, Clementine expected things to start getting hairy.

"Clem, we need to get ready to leave now!" Kenny quietly shouted to her.

"You think we're not?! Drop the food in front of the walls and everyone goes home happy. Happy and alive!"

"So, hurry the f*ck up!"

"Not happening, guys. Come on."

"Listen, sh*tf*ck, you got two minutes! If I don't see a loaf of f*cking bread, we're coming in!"

"Guys, don't do this! Come on!"

'Just give them what they want you idiot.' Clementine was dreading them coming here for no reason.

"Time's ticking!"

"Don't make me fire!" The gatekeeper was pleading at this point.

"Don't make us f*ckin' fire!" The truck raiders were practically itching for the upcoming fight.

"One minute, man!" She assumed that this voice was the leader, she couldn't see them clearly.

"sh*t, sh*t, sh*t! Come on, I'm f*cking begging you!"

"Hey, take it from us! Begging doesn't f*cking work out here!"

"Jesus Christ, no! Stop!"

"Time's up! Run, f*ckers, run!"

"No, no, no!"

"sh*t!" Kenny cursed as the gunfire started.

'sh*t!' Clementine repeated Kenny's words in her head as a truck rammed into the gate.

"Tear that sh*t down!"

Both her and Kenny tried to reenter the truck as bullets came their way.

"Burn this f*cker down!" Molotovs were thrown over the large metal walls.

"Run, run! Get outta here! Run!" The gatekeeper was shouting loudly before going silent, dead most likely.

"f*ck!" Kenny shouted as the glass from the windshield shattered.

"Over there! Get those f*ckers tryin' to escape!"

Clementine fired back as Kenny tried to get the truck started.

"Goddamn it! Engines f*cked. We gotta run." Kenny slipped out of the truck, she followed closely as more impacts struck the truck. They ran for a minute, getting behind some trees to check their surroundings.

"What a f*ckin' waste of ti-"

Clementine's eyes widened as Kenny was cut off by a gunshot. The man fell down to the floor clutching his chest. She fired wildly behind where he'd fallen, a thud sounding soon after.

Her eyes then shot towards the bleeding man in front of her, blood was dripping everywhere around him. The clawing feeling she hadn't felt for months had returned with a force, and this time she couldn't hold it back.

Chapter 19: Alone Again

Chapter Text

"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 sh*t 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 f*ck 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.

"f*ck 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 co*cked 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 co*cked 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 co*cked 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.

"f*ckin' little sh*t! I'll f*ckin' 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.

"f*ck." 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 bullsh*t."

"f*ck 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.

Chapter 20: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Chapter Text

Clementine entered West Virginia almost two weeks ago, and she was ashamed to admit that she had gotten completely lost. The mountainous terrain of the state didn't make things any easier, as she was pretty sure she'd walked past the same tourist attraction five times in the past week.

She threw a rock at the building, shattering the window it struck. Grunting in anger at the situation she found herself in.

"Stupid f*cking!" She cursed, kicking some dirt up in anger.

Clementine took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down, plopping herself down on the dirt as she tried to regather herself.

"Just gotta head south Clementine. That's all you have to do, can't be that goddamned hard." She contemplates for a few minutes, looking for the sun's position, before standing back up.

A deep breath, and one step after another. She had fallen into a rhythm as she continued on her way. Finally finding herself in an entirely new area.

She hummed to herself to keep herself busy as she hiked down the mountain. It was strange that there was not a single peep from the wildlife, despite being in the middle of the woods. It was eerily quiet, almost like being completely alone in an empty world. But she didn't mind the silence, it would just make it easier for her to hear anyone coming.

Clementine wasn't too worried about the walkers hearing her either. There weren't too many in the mountains, and she hadn't seen a single one in days. Although, that didn't mean she couldn't just stumble upon a herd, they seemed to collect in the most random of areas. Having come across many herds just sitting in barns, or shacks. It had to be a deliberate action from someone alive, and the why definitely wasn't with good intentions.

Maybe someone else had figured out how to camouflage themselves against the walkers. And that someone had decided to just pack the undead into random locations to set them upon some poor bastard scavenging for loot. Or for just needing to go to the bathroom, she shuddered as she remembered coming across a bathroom in a house back in Ohio that was just filled to capacity with walkers.

Clementine stopped humming as she heard footsteps and twigs snapping, drawing her looted AK out of caution. She checked her surroundings, backing up to get behind a tree for cover.

A small group of seven people, that all seemed to be in rough shape. Only one had a gun, and she couldn't spot any spare ammo on the guy.

"At this point we're gonna starve to death." A blonde haired woman complained, she looked like she hadn't had anything to eat in months.

"Shut it. You're not the only one that's hungry." The one with the gun hissed.

"Don't tell me to shut up! You thought it was a great idea to attack that place. And now most of us are dead."

"We had no choice. We needed the supplies." Another woman defended the guy that was armed, who Clementine assumed to be their leader.

"Bullsh*t. We could've just gone to some other place."

"Look, what's done is done. We just need to find some food, and get the hell out of these mountains."

Clementine was about to just let them pass, when she spotted a brand just off the back of his hand. Her heart immediately started racing as she realized that these were the ones that raided Wellington.

She fired a shot directly into the leader's hand, disarming him.

"Ah f*ck! Get to cover now!" She would applaud the man for being able to rush back into giving orders, right after losing a hand. But she needed information now.

"Don't move, or I will kill all of you!" Clementine shouted with contempt.

They froze in place.

"Stand side by side, and raise your arms."

Clementine exited her cover, making sure to stay well enough away to prevent herself from being disarmed.

"What do you want?" The leader seethed from pain.

"Where's the rest of your people?" She pointed the rifle at the brand on his injured hand.

"This? They're probably somewhere in Virginia. Although, I wouldn't know exactly, we uh... got split up a bit ago." The man winced, but his hesitant answer set her off.

Clementine furrowed her eyes in suspicion, she could tell he wasn't telling the entire story. He noticed her disbelief and decided to speak up again.

"Look kid, I can tell you've been through some sh*t. We're just looking for food, we get some, and we'll be out of your way. They're waiting for us, and you don't want an entire community after you, now do you." He threatened her, but she wasn't going to let it scare her.

"Why would they be waiting for you, if you just said you didn't know where they are?" Clementine bit back, the others were starting to worry.

"I just want it to be known, I only joined up with these guys because they convinced me that it'd be safer." The blonde woman suddenly decided to add.

"You're a piece of work, Grace." A man with a large scar on his face insulted the woman.

"Is what it is." She said with an exaggerated shrug.

"I don't care how you know them, I want answers. Now!" Clementine urged them on, switching her aim between them. She spotted at least four of them with visible brands.

"Alright! Last I knew, they were around D.C." The leader finally admitted.

She stared into his eyes for a second, gauging the reliability of what he had just told her.

"Who isn't New Frontier?" She switched her aim back to the leader.

"New what?" Grace confusedly blurted out.

Clementine mentally checked her off as she looked at the rest.

"Grace is the only one here that wasn't, bu-"

Clementine switched the rifle to full auto and fired into the group, leaving only Grace alive. The woman had dropped to the ground curled into a ball, with her hands over her ears.

"Get up." Clementine ordered the terrified woman.

"Wha-" Grace looked up at her.

"Get. Up." Clementine impatiently repeated, emphasizing each word.

"O-Okay, just d-don't shoot me." She pushed herself to stand up with shaky legs.

"Walk ahead." Clementine nudged her rifle forward.

"What d-do you-u w-want?" Grace looked at the bodies of everyone in her former group.

"I said walk."

Clementine was losing her patience with the blonde, which to the woman's credit, she managed to catch onto. She checked the leader's gun and body quickly for anything useful. Only thirteen rounds were left in his magazine, which thankfully were for the same gun she looted back in Wellington. Placing it in her pocket and walking a few paces behind Grace.

A plan was brewing in Clementine's head, one that might get her closer to her goal of getting revenge on the New Frontier.

They walked for almost an hour, Grace glancing back towards Clementine every few minutes in fear. She chose to ignore the woman's fearful gaze, nudging her forward every time she slowed down.

"Can you at least tell me what you want from me?"

Clementine was still thinking about her plan.

'Would it even work? Would she go through with it?' Thoughts like those ran through her head.

"Hey!" Grace snapped, bringing Clementine out of her thoughts.

"What?"

"I asked, what do you want from me?"

"To be a spy." Clementine stated bluntly.

"Spy on what?" Grace nearly tripped over a branch as she asked.

"New Frontier."

"Who the f*ck are these New Frontier people you keep talking about?"

"Group in Virginia."

"And why am I supposed to spy on them?"

"Not important, what's important is that if you do your job and shut up, I won't kill you." Clementine was tired of her rampant questioning.

"Okay! Sheesh, I'll stop bothering you." Grace looked straight ahead once she was done.

She only managed to go half a minute before speaking up again.

"Why'd you kill them, and not me?"

"Was I wrong not to?" Clementine checked the surroundings for any walkers and a place to hunker down for the night. The sun would set in around two hours if she had to guess.

"Just curious is all."

"The brand. You don't have one." Clementine decided to answer, hoping it'd shut the suddenly chatty woman up.

"Does it have something to do with this New Frontier you keep talkin' about?"

"You ever shut up?" Clementine was so close to just shooting the blonde and being done with her.

"Only when I'm not terrified for my life." Grace nervously chuckled.

Clementine wasn't amused at the woman's attempt to joke. But decided to stay silent in the hopes that it would make Grace be quiet.

"They give you those scars?"

"No! Now shut up!" Clementine had reached her wits end with the constant blabbering, aiming the rifle directly at the woman's head.

"S-sorry." Grace apologized fearfully, walking stiff as a rock.

Clementine held back a sigh of relief as they approached a small log cabin.

"Get in." She nudged Grace forwards to the entrance.

Grace didn't argue as she slowly opened the door, finding nothing but a few beds, shelves, some weird copper contraption, and an antique stove.

Clementine entered the cabin behind Grace, dropping her bags and guns on one bed. She opened the duffel bag and tossed a few strips of dried venison to Grace.

"T-thank you." Grace quickly demolished the food she was given.

Clementine got busy inspecting the shelves, there were mason jars of clear liquid, small boxes containing some long expired food products, and pots. She lifted one of the jars and opened it, sniffing the contents inside. Her eyes and nose started burning from the strong fumes, stifling a cough as she closed the jar.

"Let me see that." Grace held a hand out, looking at the jar.

Clementine looked at the jar and back at the blonde, cautiously handing her the jar. Grace opened it and took a small whiff, shrugging afterwards.

"Bottoms up."

Clementine felt horrified as the woman took a large sip of the pungent liquid.

"Whew! God that's strong." Grace coughed, her face scrunched into a wince, and shaking her head.

"Want some?"

Clementine suspiciously glared at the woman.

"Come on it ain't gonna kill ya."

Clementine accepted the jar, sniffing it again with a wince.

Grace had a toothy grin on her face, and a look of anticipation in her eyes.

Clementine hesitated for a second, seeing Grace's grin widening as she brought the jar higher, she slowly tilted the jar to her lips, taking a small sip. The drink burned all the way down, a large cough escaping her throat as she handed the jar back. Grace laughed at Clementine's coughing fit, taking another sip of moonshine as she did. She shot the laughing woman a glare, before she went back to investigating the shack.

"You gotta lighten up a bit, kid. I can't keep calling ya kid, you have a name?"

Clementine ignored her, she didn't trust this woman, probably never will. Most likely, after all was said and done, they'll never see each other again.

"Come on, tell me." Grace insisted, her speech started to slur.

"Carley." Clementine lied with an annoyed sigh, picking up a pot.

"Carley? Didn't take you for a Carley." Grace replied with disappointment.

"Something wrong with my name?" Clementine asked as she placed the pot back on the shelf.

"No no. It's just not what I expected to be honest with ya." Grace took another sluggish sip of moonshine.

"You uh, gon tell me why you got this whole... war thingy whatever?" The blonde was completely drunk now.

Clementine sat down on the bed across from Grace.

"They killed someone important to me... someone who was like family." She took a staggered breath at the last word.

"Huh, I resp-pect it. I wish the best of luck to ya kid." Grace hiccuped before plopping herself back onto the rest of the bed.

Clementine raised an eyebrow as she approached the woman, who was now snoring really loudly. She poked her a few times, trying to see how Grace would respond, but she was completely passed out.

Clementine felt at ease now that she didn't have to listen to the blonde's blabbering anymore. Moving her bags and guns over to the wall side of the bed, and deciding to go sleep as well.

Clementine woke up feeling pressure on the bed, and hearing a zipper open. She opened her eyes to see Grace grabbing food from the duffel bag. She tried to move but found that she wasn't able to.

"Wh-"

"Look I'm really sorry about doing this." Grace's voice came out as an apologetic whisper.

Clementine tried to struggle, but found that she was only able to move her left arm, her right tied to the bed frame with a bedsheet.

"Shh, don't worry, just grabbin' some food, a gun, and I'm leaving." Grace remained quiet, taking a heavy breath afterwards.

"What the hell are you doing!" Clementine tried to grab onto the woman.

"Look Carley, I-I can't do the sh*t you want from me." Grace grabbed the AKM, the magazines for it, and emptied the duffel bag to stuff some supplies in it.

"I should've just killed you." Clementine hissed at the woman.

"I'm sorry, I really am. You seem like you were a good kid before... but I'm a nervous wreck, and a big coward, I can't risk my life on some revenge plot, not knowing if I'll be brutally murdered." Grace slung the duffel bag across her body.

"They wo-" Grace cut her off before she could correct the woman.

"I just want to be safe alright. And maybe grow old enough to be someone's grandma." The blonde's wishful thinking had no affect on calming Clementine down.

"I left most of your stuff, and your knife is behind you on the bed frame... I really do hope you come out of this thing of yours okay."

Clementine saw the faintest hint of a pitiful smile on Grace's lips before she left the cabin. She rushed to grab the knife from behind her, quickly cutting herself from the bedsheet holding her, and running outside to try and catch Grace. But she was nowhere to be found, and it was still dark out, so she was unable to see the tracks.

Not wanting to give up that easily, she ran blindly through the woods. Her anger clouding her better judgment.

'Where is she?!'

Clementine hears footsteps nearby, she slows down and readies her knife. A stillness fills the air as the footsteps get closer.

A walker emerges from the trees, tripping over something as it did.

She shouted in rage as she stomped the walker's head in to a pulp. Not stopping even as it was put down for good.

Clementine takes some ragged breaths and finally quits kicking the walker after a minute. She looks around and realizes how badly she's messed up, and tries to retrace her steps back to the cabin.

The sun begins to rise, Clementine starts worrying about being lost, and potentially having to spend hours looking for the cabin.

"Should've just f*ckin' killed her you idiot!" Clementine screams while banging the balls of her hands against her forehead. Not caring about any walkers that might be nearby as she was too angry at herself.

Spending nearly an hour looking for her own tracks, her panic and self deprecation only increasing. Haphazard footsteps were laid out all over the ground, and attempting to follow them was only making her angrier.

Another hour was spent hiking around until she finally got back to the cabin. Throwing all the crap that Grace tossed into her backpack.

'At least she didn't take everything.' Was her only silver lining out of the situation. But she was back to square one.

How would she be able to get information about the New Frontier to take them down, if she had no one able to feed her information now? Thoughts like those ran her head as she finished packing up.

She still had her Springfield, a shotgun with no shells, and a pistol she'd yet to use. Clementine preferred to save handgun ammo for last as it was lighter, and took much less space compared to the rifle and shotgun. Only keeping the shotgun around simply because once she found shells for it, the weapon would probably be her best option when it came to people.

Clementine stood at the bed for a second, looking up at one of the jars of moonshine. She sighed as she grabbed two, shoving them inside the bottle sleeves.

"Might be good for fire..." She grabbed another one, staring at it.

"STUPID!" She threw it at the wall, glass shattering everywhere as she grabbed another.

"PIECE OF-RAH!" The entire cabin smelt like alcohol now, glass littering the beds and floor.

"LET'S GET A SPY CLEMENTINE! SURELY THAT'LL GO WELL!" She resorted to throwing pots around as she'd ran out of spare mason jars to throw.

Her tired and ragged breaths echoed in her ears as she finally calmed down from her fit of rage. Something that seemed to become a normal thing for her as she was unable to hold herself back at times.

Her rage quickly turned to despair as she began crying, the reason for, she didn't know exactly. It was like something had just taken over and decided that she needed to just let it out. Her stomach had started to hurt from the constant flexing of her abdomen from the uncontrollable bawling she had been subjected to.

Clementine felt like her own head was betraying her as she finally managed to reach some semblance of calm. She wasn't thinking things through, acting on emotion when it came to the New Frontier. She should've killed Grace and been done with it, but her obsession wouldn't let her. Something needed to change in her, she needed to return to the uncaring perspective of the world she had before meeting the cabin group. She needed to be able to remain calm and not be a rage filled maniac who can't control herself from having outbursts.

But that was easier said than done as her hands automatically began dusting the backpack from any glass shards, throwing it on once it was clean. Clementine did the same with the guns, slinging them over her shoulder, and shoving the pistol into her waistband. She gripped the knife firmly, the blade's edges gleaming from the hints of sunlight peering through the door. Sheathing it, she left the cabin for good, and continued heading to an approximation of southwards.

Walkers almost surrounded Clementine as she ran through the woods. A large herd had suddenly snuck up on her while she was hunting a rabbit. Her raincoat hadn't been covered in walker entrails for weeks, so she was forced to abandon her potential meal.

A small run down bus, turned into some dingy shack, appeared through the tree line. Sprinting even harder, she slammed into the door in her rush to get inside. Clementine barricades the door with a shelf, and lays low to the ground, attempting to not make a single sound as she crawled around the bus. Walkers pounding on the bus, their hungry snarls getting louder as more arrived. She sat down on a tiny mattress in the corner, attempting to wait them out.

Removing her backpack, she searched for anything edible, finding only a singular unlabeled can of mystery food. Her stomach growled as she contemplated eating her last morsel of food.

The walkers had stopped pounding on the bus as she shoved it back in her backpack.

Something started banging on the door hard.

"Son of a bitch! Hey! I know you're in there! Let me in! Please! Oh, God, there's so many... Please, don't leave me out here." A woman pleaded, the sounds of walkers intensifying each second.

Clementine sat there completely silent, choosing to not help in the hopes the woman would just run away, or get eaten, it made no difference to her.

A bald, brown skinned woman burst through the door and slams her body weight against it shut. Clementine draws her pistol in a flash and aims it at the woman. Her finger off the trigger just in case the woman was friendly.

"Oh, sh*t. Hey, there." The woman greeted, surprised at the sudden pistol directed towards her.

"Hello." Clementine returned, her eyes laser focused on the woman.

"You can keep that thing pointed at me if it makes you feel better... But if you shoot me, you'll have to deal with all of them." The woman tried to deescalate, but Clementine didn't budge.

"Pretty big group of 'em out there. But it'll pass... eventually."

Clementine didn't respond.

"Alright, don't talk. Just don't shoot either." She starts struggling to keep the door closed as walkers pound on it harder.

"sh*t..."

Clementine runs over and helps her hold the door closed; the woman barricades it with a large piece of plywood that wedges itself stuck behind the shelf.

"Goddamn it! Well. I'd say we make a pretty good team."

The woman sits down near the door, and Clementine goes back to the mattress, holstering her pistol.

"The two of us, that is" She clarifies.

Clementine just watches her for any sudden movements.

"I couldn't have survived without you... And I'm not too big to admit it."

Clementine nods in response, the tension in her body releasing.

"You live in here?"

"No."

"So you do speak." A grin plastered on her face.

"Sometimes." Clementine's replied coldly.

"How old are you? Thirteen?"

Clementine shrugs, she was still twelve, but she had no care to interact with the bald woman more than she needed.

"We were out there scouting... nothing out of the ordinary, and then... chaos in... sh*t. Those bastards are slow, but goddamn it, when there's enough of them, I got separated from the others. God, I hope they all made it. Thought we were ready for anything. But they were all around us before we saw them." The woman started explaining, worry for her group laden in her tone.

"I don't care." Clementine wasn't in the mood to share life stories right now.

"Jeez kid, who sh*t in your cereal?" She gave a hearty laugh, the pounding on the bus had started to break. The walkers were beginning to leave which boded well for her getting this random lady out of her hands.

Clementine rolled her eyes, praying internally that the walkers left faster.

"Anyways, my people are probably at the rendezvous by now. What's left of them, at least... By the way, I'm Ava. And my group... we call ourselves the New Frontier." Ava rolls up her sleeve to reveal their trademark brand on her forearm.

The tension that had left Clementine's body returned tenfold, her vision started turning red before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her stomach growled again, Clementine scolded herself mentally at the uncontrollable workings of her body.

"Hey, why don't you come with me, meet my people? We have food, blankets, bottled water... C'mon, dinner's on me. I owe you one." Ava offered ecstatically.

"No." Clementine glares at the woman, trying to hide the disdain and hate she now felt for this woman.

"No woman is an island... Have it your way. But you did me a solid here. I won't forget it next time we cross paths."

"There is no next time." She said through her teeth, doing her best to try and mask her bloodlust.

"We'll see. The world does work in mysterious ways."

Clementine felt her hand begin to inch behind her, like gravity was drawing it towards her pistol, but she managed to hold herself back.

Her chest began to feel itchy, and she could almost hear a faint mocking laughter in the air.

"Got a name kid?"

Clementine scratched her chest, her brief scornful gaze on the woman softening, as she tried to calm herself down from potentially doing something stupid.

"Clementine." She decided not to lie about her name.

"Hah, you kinda look like one. All banged up, but you do." Ava joked in attempt to get Clementine to lighten up.

Clementine didn't respond, her mind was running miles a minute trying to figure out a plan. One that didn't involve anyone after her last debacle with that blonde a few weeks ago.

She could "join" them, but she wasn't all that thrilled about getting branded again. It was her technical best option at the moment, and would give her the information she needed about their current numbers and firepower.

"You don't talk much d'ya?"

"No." Clementine replied.

"Something to do with those." She pointed towards her own cheek where Clementine's first scar was.

"Before."

"Who could do something like that to a child?" Ava asked in disgust.

Clementine thought for a second about mentioning Phoenix's name. It could make the woman sympathetic to her if she found out it was one of their own.

"James Walker." She lifted her lips into a tiny, near unnoticeable smirk.

"What'd you say?" Ava's eyes widened, her body tensing.

"James Walker." She repeated, right on the money as the bald woman's reaction had been exactly as she expected.

"Was he military?"

"Yes."

"My god, how'd he survive?" Ava whispered to herself.

Ava seemed to be deep in thought at the revelation of her former comrade having survived and tortured a kid.

"He al-"

"Dead." Clementine cut her off sharply.

"sh*t... I always thought he was a bit off... but nothing like this."

Ava looked at Clementine with worry and pity.

"Was there a reason for..." Ava trailed off, unable to find the words.

"No."

"Damn. Did he do... anything else?"

Clementine felt like she was being interrogated at this point, but did her best to not let her annoyance show. Letting people draw their own conclusions always tended to bring out their sympathetic side.

"Wish I could've killed the bastard." Ava scowled and clenched her fist tightly.

The walkers had all wandered off now, and Clementine waited expectantly for Ava to leave. Sitting in complete silence just watching the woman, and studying the soles of her boots. Memorizing the pattern for when she would follow her tracks.

A loud sigh came from Ava, and she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You sure you don't want to come with me?"

"I'm sure."

"Goodbye then. Hopefully, we'll see each other again. In better circ*mstances of course." Ava stood up, removed the large plank and exited the bus.

Clementine stayed seated on the floor, waiting a few minutes before deciding to follow the tracks Ava left behind. She would stalk the group for as long as it took. Until she was confident in her ability to kill them all.

Exiting the bus, she followed the boot imprints Ava left behind.

Chapter 21: "Joining" The New Frontier

Chapter Text

Clementine watched the campsite from a tree she climbed a few hours ago, when it was just barely getting bright out. The group wasn't doing very well from what she could see, their supply count boiled down to a small amount of food, ammo, and judging by how empty the medical tent is, a very minuscule amount of medical supplies. The New Frontier would probably crumble with or without her intervention.

She saw Ava pull a tall, muscular, Hispanic man, that seemed familiar to her inside a tent. Maybe a face that she saw in the photo of Phoenix's former squad mates? She couldn't exactly place the face yet, but that's what she assumed was the case.

There were quite a number of people in the camp, but they all looked to be in bad shape. Especially their doctor, the man seemed defeated, and his face is extremely flushed for some reason. Possibly sick, or just naturally red like a tomato.

Clementine was going to wait for nighttime before sneaking in. She was planning on sabotaging their supplies, or even stealing some. A good way of making things harder on the group, and possibly turning them against each other.

Her stomach started growling again, but she couldn't leave the tree to eat just yet. She wasn't planning to stay up here for long, but she needed to know more about the group's inner workings, and make sure that the lookout that was right under her didn't see her leave.

The sun was still high up in the sky, and she couldn't bring the unnecessary attention to herself.

Ava and the man she dragged off exited the tent. The man's face was contorted with rage and confusion. Ava looked concerned for the man, but she was upset as well. Clementine could tell she had mentioned the little girl she found in a rundown bus, that had been tortured by a man they once knew.

Their voices were to far away for her to understand what they were saying, reaching her as nothing but mumbled words, and the other conversations happening in the campsite didn't help much either.

A bald guy came up to the lookout under the tree.

"Hey Lonnie, we're headin' out for supplies. You're with me."

Clementine watched the bald guy lead the lookout away with four others.

An older woman, and older guy approached Ava and whoever she was speaking to. They started talking, and after about a minute or so, the conversation between the four seemed to go quiet.

The larger man reentered the tent with the two older people, the leaders of the group she assumed. Which meant that the guy that looked familiar was Phoenix's squad leader, David. The three exited the tent soon after, and who she believed was David left the camp with Ava, who was carrying a duffel bag.

Clementine took that as her queue to head back. Climbing down the tree carefully and grabbing her backpack, and weapons from the base of the tree. She began heading back towards the bus, making sure to take her time, as she saw no reason to rush back, as that would waste energy she didn't have.

Clementine was still careful to make as little noise as possible. Just in case she ran into the scavenging group, or into Ava again.

The trek back took a while, and Clementine ate her last can of food on the way. No longer able to hold off on eating for another day. She still felt hungry, but at least she would have more energy throughout the rest of the day.

"Really wish I could've gotten that rabbit." Clementine thought out loud, the bus had finally appeared within eyesight.

"You said you found her here?"

Clementine dropped to the ground, Ava and David were standing in front of the bus. The large man was peering through the windows to see if anyone was inside.

"Yes, she was sitting right there on that mattress, pulled a gun on me the second I got inside trying to get away from the herd."

"She pulled a gun on you?"

"I don't blame her. She was in pretty rough shape, covered in grime and smelt like one of the roamers too."

Clementine sniffed herself once she heard Ava say that.

'Definitely need to bathe sometime soon.'

"Probably more scared of me than the roamers outside trying to eat us."

"Sounds like she can take care of herself." David moved away from the bus window.

"It sounds like there's a little girl out here who's starving and needs help." Ava was more affected by their interaction than Clementine had thought. A saddening thought, the woman could've been nice to know if it wasn't for the current circ*mstances.

"Especially after what James did, we have to at least make it right somehow."

David contemplated on Ava's words for a few seconds.

"Alright, but if she wants to stay by herself I won't stop her. And if she doesn't return before noon we're heading back."

She hadn't been expecting the bald woman to come back not even half a day later since they met, but maybe she could use this to her benefit. This David guy reminded her of Bill in some way, except Bill probably would've been ecstatic at the thought of finding someone like her if they hadn't already met.

Clementine sat there for a few minutes, wondering what she should do in this situation. She hadn't expected the visit at all, and was wholly unprepared for it. Waiting them out was an option, but she also needed to better understand the inner workings of the group. And what better way to do so than to speak directly with one of the leaders.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped outside of the tree line towards the two people.

"What are you doing here?" Clementine spoke with an annoyed tone from behind them, which made Ava jump in surprise.

"sh*t kid, don't do that."

Clementine looked over at David, who regarded her sudden appearance with a raised eyebrow.

"This her?" David turned to Ava.

"Yes sir, that's her."

David turned back towards Clementine, looking her up and down.

"I heard you drew a gun on Ava." The man didn't seem to be angry, he was trying to read her.

"I did."

"Why?"

"Could've been anyone, I didn't shoot because of the walkers." Clementine told the truth with a shrug.

David didn't seem all too concerned about that statement. Ava seemed genuinely concerned about it though, less for herself and more for Clementine.

"I thought you said she was scared?" David looked at Ava.

"Scared?" Did Clementine give that impression when trying to hold herself back?

"I don't know, she seemed all over the place once I mentioned a group." Ava admitted.

"Look..." He was reaching for a name.

"Clementine."

"Look Clementine. That man James... he used to be a soldier."

"I know." Clementine cut him off for no real reason, but it seemed to annoy the man a bit, which gave her some semblance of enjoyment.

"A soldier under my command. So as a gesture of goodwill and faith, I'm offering you safety and a place in the New Frontier."

Clementine blankly stared at the man for a few seconds.

"If you don't want to, I brought this here for you. It's got food, ammo, and some other sh*t you might need." Ava chipped in, lifting the duffel bag she was carrying.

Now Clementine was truly at a loss for words. This... woman, only knew her for a few minutes. Why was she so concerned with her wellbeing? It made Clementine's stomach churn at the thought of killing her, but she steeled herself.

"Will I have to get one of those?" She pointed to her neck. Clementine already knew the answer to that, but she couldn't let them know she knew.

"Yes." David answered bluntly.

Clementine inwardly cringed, she wasn't excited in the least about it.

"But I'm twelve years old." Clementine tried her best to sound distraught over the idea.

"Doesn't matter, either you accept the mark, or you're on your own."

"David, she's got a point." Ava tried defending her.

"I don't care how old she is, it's the rules."

'Maybe I can try something else?' Clementine searched her mind for any ideas, her mind suddenly being drawn to the hand burnt into her chest.

Clementine looked to Ava, wondering if she should, but it was her last chance at trying to get out of the branding.

"Can I show you something in private?" She pointed at Ava, who looked over to David for confirmation.

"Alright, go on." He waved them off.

Clementine pulled Ava inside the bus.

"What's this thing you're showing me..." Ava trailed off as Clementine revealed the rest of the scars Phoenix left behind.

"Jesus... he did that to you?" Her voice a mixture of shock, anger, and concern.

Clementine nodded, finally revealing the hand that had been branded on her chest.

"C-cover yourself up." Ava turned around with horror and disgust on her face.

Clementine redressed herself, and Ava left the bus to tell David what she saw. She felt sick for manipulating the woman who had been nothing but nice to her since they met, but she needed to do this.

Clementine caught some snippets of the conversation happening outside, but her mind was focused on finding a way to make sure she could do what needed to be done. This would make getting in easier, and she wouldn't have to worry about getting shot at night sneaking in.

Ava and David entered the bus after a minute.

"No exceptions." David said, his face barely showing any signs of emotion.

Clementine clutched the hat that had been attached to her belt loop. Echoes of the hand burning into chest flared up, but she had to do this.

"You alright Clementine?" Ava placed a hand on her shoulder.

Clementine nodded, "I'll do it."

"Let's head on back then." David exited the bus.

Ava stood still for a bit, giving Clementine a pitiful look.

"Sorry, he's a bit of a hard ass when it comes to rules."

"I get it." Clementine exited the bus as well, following David from a small distance.

Ava walked beside her, the duffel bag was slung over shoulder now.

"Don't worry, Lingard will make sure it heals up nicely."

"Who?"

"Our doctor. He's a bit of a cynic, but he's good at his job."

'So that's his name.'

"Sorry for asking... but what exactly did James do to you?"

Clementine stared ahead for a bit, the memories of that week were still fresh on her mind as if it was yesterday.

"Torture." Her voice came out as a quiet whisper, her grasp on Kenny's hat tightened.

"Marked me for each one."

"Each one?" Ava was confused by that statement.

"Pho-James made me torture his own people. Each scar is to remember each one." Clementine's face became blank of emotion.

"sh*t."

"How did he die?" David spoke up, apparently listening to the conversation.

"Skinless."

"You do it?" He asked her, his hands turned to fists.

"Yes." Clementine looked over at Ava, who had placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't need your pity." She removed herself from the attempt to comfort her and walked ahead.

"Hey, there's no reason-"

"Drop it." David cut Ava off.

"Yes sir."

The rest of the walk back towards their camp was completely silent. Which Clementine was thankful for, she didn't want to interact with them more than she had to. Especially, not with Ava, the woman's genuine concern for her made uncomfortable. How could someone who is part of a group that raids settlements, and kill people for not sharing supplies be so nice? It didn't make sense to Clementine, it wasn't fitting the atrocity they committed in Wellington.

"They're back!"

Clementine was quickly brought out of her thoughts as they entered the camp.

"Badger came back early, wait who's the kid?"

She ignored the questions about her, walking past the welcoming group and sitting by the campfire. The older woman she had seen earlier in the day sat down next to her.

"What's your name, honey?"

Clementine looked at her, trying to gauge the older woman. She seemed somewhat off to Clementine, the same vibe that Bill gave when she first met him.

"Clementine."

"That's a very pretty name. Oh where are my manners, I'm Joan, one of the leaders of this little group." She held a hand out towards Clementine.

Clementine didn't accept the gesture.

"Not much for formalities?" Joan pulled her hand back.

"No."

"I don't blame you, after what I heard about what happened to you, it only makes sense. Although, why do you wish to join us? I thought you would be afraid to be around others."

Clementine realized that Joan was also trying to read her.

"I was told you have food." A quick and believable answer, supported by her having run out of food as well.

Joan's eyes furrowed slightly, before returning back to normal.

"Food... I used to bake cakes back in my free time before all this." The older woman randomly decided to admit.

"What does this have to do with anything?" Clementine was confused by the random confession.

"Just something to take about. A way to remember the past. Is there any food you miss from the old world?"

'What does this have to do with anything?' Clementine knew she couldn't ignore one of their leaders though, and begrudgingly answered the question.

"Sundaes."

"Ice cream would be nice to have in this day and age."

"Why are you asking me these things?" Clementine wanted to know the purpose of this conversation.

Joan gave her a soft look, but there was still the hint of something off about her.

"Just trying to make conversation. You remind me of my own child."

Genuine sadness was shown on Joan's face, but Clementine couldn't bring herself to feel bad for the woman.

More people joined the two next to the campfire. Clementine took this chance to tune Joan out, and try to get a better picture of the group's situation. Their tents were very spartan in their setup. Not a lot of amenities for comfort, other than blankets to keep warm. It was honestly quite depressing compared to Howe's and the outposts. Although, the one thing she could say was better was the split in leadership. Bill had final say in everything, as he was after all a dictator, or emperor depending on who you asked in the militia. Marcus did take care of all the security and defense matters, Bonnie was now the one handling job distribution, and whoever was head in each of the outposts. But they all had to go through Bill for anything important or drastic, which wasn't too big of a hassle thanks to the radios.

"Hey kid! Anyone ever tell you that you look scary as sh*t?" The bald man she'd seen around two hours earlier asked her.

"No."

"Well they should, you look like you just walked out of a meat grinder." He laughed, and she didn't know why, but she felt like he was insulting her.

"Leave her alone Badger." Ava spoke up.

"You're no fun Ava, you can't tell me that kid doesn't look like something straight out of one of them sh*tty slasher movies."

Clementine shot the man a scowl, she didn't get tortured for a week to be this guy's entertainment.

"See? Look at that face, the girl's a stone cold killer."

Clementine's hands clenched to the point of drawing blood.

"Badger! The f*ck's wrong with you?"

"Everyone shut the hell up!" David intervened, the two arguing adults going quiet.

"Now, it's time for your initiation Clementine." David placed a branding rod into the fire.

"Where do you want it?"

Clementine watched as the metal turn red hot.

'Somewhere I'll never have to see it.' She thought in disgust as she braced herself.

She pointed just above her elbow on her left tricep.

"Can't we give her something for the pain? She's just a kid." Ava pleaded, but that only made Clementine feel spiteful.

"I do-"

"No. I don't want it." Clementine cut David off.

"You would've made a good soldier." David grabbed the rod from the fire.

"Pull up your sleeve, and I'll count to zero from three. And don't move, it'll only make this take longer."

Clementine did as the man ordered, taking her jacket off and rolling up her left sleeve.

"Three."

Clementine felt anger build up in her heart.

"Two."

She remembered Kenny's last words, and the dream about Lee she had that day in the rest stop.

"One."

She took a deep breath and held it.

"Zero."

The sound of her flesh sizzling reached her ears before the pain. She closed her eyes tight enough that they started to hurt, her teeth bared and clenched as the pain only intensified. Flashes of Phoenix on top of her with his hand on fire coursed through her head. But she didn't dare make a sound, this was nothing to her. She'd already been through worse, and had no reason to feel sorry for herself.

"Damn kid, you got more balls than most of the people here." Badger broke the silence that she just noticed.

"Badger..." David growled at the man, making Badger turn his head.

"Paul, take care of her. Badger, come here."

The doctor stood up, and lead Clementine to the medical tent.

He cleaned and bandaged her arm in silence, apparently understanding she didn't like to be bothered.

Clementine felt sick that she had this cursed symbol on her body. The rage she had felt when Kenny died came back, but this time she was able to hold herself back. She wouldn't waste this chance to avenge Kenny.

"Take this, it's an antibiotic." The doctor handed her a pill and some water.

Clementine yanked it from his hand, throwing the pill in her mouth, and chugging the water.

"Make sure to rest, it'll take many days before the pain dies."

She left the tent and sat back down at the campfire. Joan was looking at her again, and this time she had the same amused look that Bill always had when seeing something he found interesting.

Clementine moved her gaze towards the campfire, finding herself entranced in it. Her hand mindlessly found its way back to Kenny's hat on her belt loops. Tracing the brim of the cap with her fingers.

Chapter 22: Tensions Rising

Chapter Text

It had been a week since Clementine had gotten branded. Despite the stares, rumors, and insults in some cases, she had managed to keep herself calm enough to at least gain enough trust to go out on scavenging runs. They were currently heading into D.C. for a supply run. Max had apparently discovered some sort of food cache of non perishables that required more people.

"This kid is f*ckin' creepy as sh*t man."

"Tell me about it. Feels like she's always watching us, listening for something."

Clementine heard two people whispering to each other from behind her. She didn't show that she could hear them though as she continued walking.

"Hey Clementine."

She looked over at Badger who was trying to speak to her. He reminded her so much of Phoenix.

"How many people have you killed?" He had his trademark smug, sh*t eating grin that seemed to be permanently etched on his face.

"Why does it matter to you?" Clementine was tired of the man constantly asking her this same question.

"Just want to know. Can't hurt to tell after all."

"I dunno, dozens." Clementine said nonchalantly.

"sh*t girl, I think you got a bigger body count than all of us. I knew you were a little killer."

Clementine glared at him, she really didn't like Badger. He seemed to just be another Phoenix who hadn't gone off the deep end yet.

"Hey Lonnie, you believe this sh*t. Says she's killed dozens." Badger let out a mocking laugh.

"I believe it. Look at how banged up she is. Like she just crawled out of a war. Got that whole thousand yard stare thing goin'."

"Can y'all two idiots shut up? Gonna attract every damn roamer for miles." Max spoke up, annoyed at their antics.

"Lighten up will ya. Just some friendly banter, ain't that right Clem?" Badger gave her a light slap on the back.

"Don't call me Clem, and keep your hands off me asshole." Clementine angrily spat, the grip she had on her gun tightening.

"Alright then, girly."

"Say that again, I dare you." Her face had contorted with disgust.

"sh*t Badger, she looks about ready to kill you." Lonnie gave a hearty laugh.

"Both of ya shut up, we're here."

They stopped in front of a large concrete building.

"So what the f*ck are we lookin' at?" Badger looked over at Max.

"Some typa canned goods warehouse or something. Saw a few crates and some dollies inside when I went inside."

Clementine entered the building ahead of the others. It smelt terrible inside, a sickeningly sweet smell, typical of something rotting.

"Phew, smells like you Max." Badger joked waving his hand over his nose.

"Tsk, dumbass." Harry whispered to himself, separating himself from the group.

"The f*ck you goin' Harry?" Lonnie called out to the man.

"I gotta take a sh*t." Harry grumbled as he disappeared from view.

Clementine noted the direction he had walked towards, before searching around warehouse herself.

"Hey kid, see if you can find us some crates I missed, or anything we can use." Max asked of her, before grabbing a dolly and moving an open crate of canned peaches.

She walked up some shaky metal stair, entering some type of office. There was a decayed body with a large part of its head missing, it reminded Clementine of some type of messed up flower.

A shotgun was on the floor, a Mossberg 590, she ejected the spent shell and checked for any inside the tube.

"Still loaded." Clementine hummed to herself as she holstered her pistol and decided to carry the shotgun instead.

She checked the body for more ammunition, finding two extra shells; loading both into the shotgun. Clementine then decided to search the desk, finding a box of shotgun shells, twelve gauge slugs.

"Damn." Clementine frowned, she would've preferred buckshot, but ammo was ammo.

She opened the box, and was able to load two more shells into the magazine tube until it wouldn't accept anymore. She then shoved the box inside her backpack.

Clementine checked the other drawers, finding nothing of any real value, except an expired bag of M 's. She grabbed the small bag, tearing it open and chewing on the stale pieces of candy. Tossing the wrapper away once she was finished.

The rest of the cabinets just had old documents inside. She left the office and went back downstairs, the creaking of the rusty metal stairs echoing throughout the entire building.

"Find anythin' up there?" Max was standing at the bottom of the staircase.

Clementine held up the shotgun, but decided not to tell him about the shells.

"More guns can't hurt I guess. But uh, just keep looking or whatever, we're almost done here anyways."

Lonnie was moving the second to last crate from what she could tell.

"Anyone seen Harry? Motherf*cka ain't done sh*t since we got here." Lonnie cursed, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Now that you say it, I haven't seen him for a long ass time now." Badger looked around the warehouse with an uncaring look.

"See if you can't find him kid." Max waved her off.

Clementine walked towards where she had seen him head off to when they arrived.

She came up to a door of a break room, knocking on the door lightly. Clementine waited a few seconds, but there wasn't a response. Knocking again, much harsher this time, she finally heard the man speak.

"Don't come in!" The way he shouted had made Clementine suspicious.

She raised the shotgun, moved towards the wall, and quickly threw the door open.

"Goddamn it, I said don't come in!"

"Jesus Harry, the f*ck are you doin' in there?" Badger suddenly appeared next to her looking through the doorway. He quickly started laughing at what he saw.

"Hey guys, come here!" Badger shouted smugly, the others appearing soon after.

"What th- Harry come on, we got a kid here." Max turned away in disgust.

"Kid, how about you go outside and watch over the food. You don't wanna see this." Lonnie closed the door, hiding whatever had Badger laughing and Max disgusted.

Clementine wanted to know what had happened, but ultimately decided to just leave.

Outside of the warehouse, she sat down on an unopened crate and inspected the shotgun. It needed some cleaning, the barrel had rusted a bit, but it seemed to be in working order.

Clementine sat there for a few minutes, standing up once everyone had finally decided to stop doing whatever they were doing. Harry looked ashamed of something, and Badger's smug banter certainly wasn't helping the matter.

"Harry, I hope you know that you're never living this down you horny bastard." Badger slapped Harry's back lightly.

"Man just leave me alone."

"Nah man, you could've scarred the sh*t outta her. You're lucky she didn't look inside, otherwise Ava woulda cut your nuts off." Lonnie laughed, making Harry shudder.

"Should've just told us you needed some "me time" or whatever." Badger continued messing with the man.

"Alright, alright, let's just this food back towards the camp. We can bully this idiot some once we're back." Max began pushing a dolly forward.

Badger and Lonnie shrugged to each other and started pushing their own as well.

"Assholes." Harry walked off with a dolly as well, leaving her to follow behind them.

She wanted to ask what had happened in the room, to see if she could learn information about them, but just as she opened her mouth a gunshot from the right rang out.

Clementine dove into an alleyway for cover, and aimed at where she believed the shot came from.

"sh*t!" Badger cursed as he slammed his back into a dumpster next to her. Max and Lonnie did the same.

"Come out with your hands up!" A man's voice came out from the building across the street.

"Where the f*ck is Harry?!" Max peaked over the dumpster.

Clementine spotted the aforementioned man on the ground cradling his right knee, blood was smothered onto his hands.

"You f*cking asshole!" Harry screamed at the top of his lungs.

Another gunshot rang out, silencing Harry, who now had a gushing hole in his neck.

Clementine saw the muzzle flash in the building, and fired in its direction. Another gunshot rang out, but the flash was directed upwards. She quickly racked the shotgun and fixed her aim back across the street.

"You get him?" Badger was also aiming towards the building.

Clementine waited a minute, a distinct lack of any noise except the dying gurgles of Harry. She stood up slowly, stepping towards the dying man on the street.

"Damn... poor bas-" Lonnie was cut off by Clementine blasting the man's head into a confetti of viscera.

"Jesus f*cking Christ!" Badger shouted in surprise at Clementine's actions.

She looked at them like they grew two heads.

"What? He turned." Clementine lied with a straight face, and then entered the building of their would be mugger.

"What the f*ck man?! She just blew his head to pieces. He was still breathing." Lonnie's voice was panicked.

She found the assailant, he had turned into a walker. She racked the shotgun and finished it off.

"An AR-15." Clementine muttered to herself as she picked up his gun. She kneeled to place the shotgun down on the dead body, and ejected the magazine from the rifle.

There was only one bullet left in the magazine, meaning two shots remained. She searched the body for more ammo, but only found two empty magazines and a photo of a family. She tossed the photo away and grabbed the shotgun, leaving the building as she did.

"He had this and two shots left." Clementine jangled the AR-15.

The three men didn't care about that though, they were still focused on Harry's corpse.

"Kid, I get that you said he turned... but damn, that wasn't okay." Max sounded tense, and slightly fearful.

"I put him out of his misery."

"He didn't deserve... that Clementine." Max started, trying to make her regret her actions.

"I did what had to be done, he would've had a hole in his head either way. And in case you forgot, I killed the guy who killed him in the first place. I did more for him than either of you assholes did."

Max sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Let's just head back. Push Harry's crates Clementine."

Clementine didn't fail to notice the looks the three gave her. But Badger's made her feel uncomfortable, like the man had found some form of humor in the situation. A shudder ran through her body at his gaze.

"Look, Lonnie says that he was still alive when you shot him." David told Clementine.

"He doesn't know what he saw. I was the only one who did anything!" She tried to emphasize her point.

"I'm sorry Clementine, but you're staying here in the camp until we're confident enough you can go back out."

"This is bullsh*t." She crossed her arms and turned away from the man.

"I get it, people struggle with having to put down one of their own. They'll come around eventually, but until then, you stay here." He left the tent, leaving Clementine alone.

"Buncha idiots." She grumbled to herself, standing up and leaving the tent as well.

The stares she received let her know exactly who they believed. Which to be honest, Lonnie was right, Harry was still alive when she shot him. But there was quite literally nothing that anyone could have done to save him. If anything, she stopped his suffering short, more than he, or any of them deserved.

Clementine sat down by herself next to the campfire. She knew that she would have to make her move soon the way things were going. Jotting down in her memory, the perfect places to set fires and cause the most damage to the group.

"Hey Clementine." Ava sat next to her.

Clementine acknowledged the greeting with a quiet huff.

"Don't feel like talkin'?"

"What do you think?" Clementine said harshly.

"Well too bad kid, I'm not leaving till you start."

"I just want to be left alone." Clementine didn't fail to realize how childish she sounded when she said that.

"And that's okay, but you can't just put yourself in a bubble and ignore what's happening around you. The people here are worried about you."

"Why? I did what needed to be done."

Ava sighed in some degree of annoyance.

"Because of how absentmindedly you're able to do these things. It also doesn't help that you just stare at people like a hawk most of the time." Ava placed a hand on Clementine's shoulder.

"Some of them are asking for you to be kicked out." Ava whispered quietly.

'sh*t.' Clementine cursed mentally.

"Everyone is getting stressed about you. Not that it's your fault or anything, but it's just how it is. They're still not ready to see someone your age doing these kinds of things so easily."

"And you are?" Clementine said with a condescending tone.

"I'll be honest, no I am not. But I am worried about you. You shouldn't have had any of this bullsh*t happen to you."

"You're a good person Ava." Clementine blurted out mindlessly.

"I'm just trying to help out. Try not to think too hard about it." Ava stood up and walked away.

"Why did I say that?" Clementine scolded herself.

She stood up and stretched, a tear forming in her shirt sleeves.

'I need new clothes.'

Clementine looked around the campsite for anything she could switch into.

"What are you looking for?" Joan suddenly appeared from behind her.

"Clothes."

"Your clothes do look to be in bad shape. But I don't think we have any in your size currently, but I'll see about the scavenging parties finding some."

Joan's expression told Clementine that she was here to talk about something else.

"I've been watching you Clementine, and I just can't figure you out."

Clementine didn't know how to respond to the confession.

"You aren't here for food like you said, I can tell that much."

Clementine felt her muscles go stiff.

"What do you mean?" Clementine said harshly, mixing in a fake sense of disbelief.

"I have seen the looks you give the people here. Watching us, and everything around you, constantly on edge." A smirk crossed Joan's face.

"And?" Clementine's heart started racing, had she been found out?

"There's a bloodlust in you... Harry, he wasn't dead was he?" Joan's eyes were burning through Clementine's own.

"You don't know what you're talking about." She tried to dodge the question.

Joan however, had correctly assumed it to be admission of guilt.

"So it is true. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. But I will ask you to do me a favor someday." Joan walked away, leaving Clementine alone.

Clementine watched Joan walk away, her menacing aura gone, back to her warm personality. A facade to trick others, and get them to do what she wanted.

'I can't stay here any longer.' She looked around the campsite.

Her eyes rested on Ava for a second, a frown on her face forming.

'No Clementine, no backing down now. For Kenny.'

Clementine steeled herself for the upcoming days.

Chapter 23: A Sick Little Girl

Chapter Text

The food they had managed to scavenge would last the group for a few weeks if they rationed it correctly. Which meant that there really was no more need to stay inside the dangerous environment that was the United States capital. So they decided to return back to the woods they had stayed in a few weeks ago.

Clementine lagged behind the rest of the group. Not for any real reason in particular, it was mainly because she had shorter legs and didn't feel like using up the energy to follow their pace. She looked down at the new clothes she had gotten this morning. A bit of displeasure filled her as she felt like the non-camouflaged clothing would make her an easy target. The dark green pants were okay, but the thin orange tee-shirt they'd given her just made her feel naked. At least they were smart enough to bring her a puffy jacket for some protection, but the blue coloring made her feel like her location was put on full broadcast. And the hiking boots they gave her were made from leather, so at least she wouldn't have to worry about her feet or the lower halves of her calves being bitten.

It was difficult to hide her discomfort from no longer wearing her hunting gear, but it was better than wearing something that wouldn't fit her anymore she guessed.

"Hurry up kid, Joan wants to speak to you." One of the New Frontier grunts notified her.

Clementine rubbed her tired eyes, she hadn't managed to get any sleep lately from the stress of Joan having figured out the truth about Harry. She was on edge about what the woman meant by a favor, and she wasn't prepared or planning to find out.

Clementine started walking faster, approaching the middle aged woman to see what she wanted.

"What do you want?" She said with an obvious tiredness.

"I just wanted to check in on you. How are you feeling, you've been awfully tired lately?" A knowing smile on Joan's face.

"Peachy."

Joan laughed at her sarcastic response.

"That's good, but you will be happy to know that's I've been speaking with the others. As of now, you are free to head back out with the scavenging parties. However, there were compromises to be made."

"What do you mean?" Clementine didn't like where this was going.

"You are directly under me now. My orders take priority over David's for you now."

She felt dread at the news.

Joan leaned in close and spoke in a whisper, "Tonight you are to head out on your own, come to me when it gets dark for your mission."

"Y-yes, ma'am." Clementine stuttered unintentionally.

"That will be all, you can head on back now." Joan's face took on the fake warm smile she always had and waved her off.

Clementine cursed herself for stuttering, but had no intentions of staying close to Joan any longer. Quickly making her exit, and heading to the end of the group.

"sh*t." She muttered to herself.

Whatever Joan wanted from her couldn't be good.

Clementine stared at the tent ceiling waiting for everyone to fall asleep. She couldn't even think or attempt to rest, her mind was racing over what Joan wanted from her.

It was made even worse that she started feeling extremely sick halfway through the day. Her body felt both cold and unbearably warm, her eyes were burning, the urge to throw up was growing, and she was prettier sure she was finally on her period again. It had been at least two months since she had one. This thing was confusing her, was it because of the lack of any real

Clementine barely forced herself to get out of the sleeping bag she was laying in. Trudging towards Joan's tent, wiping her forehead and putting her hands over her aching stomach.

"You alright Clementine?" Paul asked from his tent.

Clementine swallowed the vomit that threatened to escape her mouth and nodded. She didn't trust him to help her, even if he was a trained professional.

Paul frowned at her response, "Just don't push yourself."

Clementine continued on her way, finally arriving at Joan's tent. She stood outside for a minute, breathing heavily at the effort she had forced herself through. Her legs started feeling like jelly now, and sweat was pouring from her forehead. Another urge to vomit came, but she forced it back down.

Entering the tent, she saw that Joan was sitting on a cot reading a book.

"I'm here ma'am." Clementine croaked out.

Joan closed the book she was reading, and looked to Clementine. Her expression changing from one of seriousness to concern at the disheveled and sickly appearance of the twelve year old in front of her.

"Are you okay, Clementine?"

She tried to nod again, but fell to the ground roughly before she could. Her body felt like it was burning now, and her vision was blurring. Clementine could faintly hear Joan call out for Lingard.

The second the doctor arrived, her vision went black.

When Clementine woke up, she was wrapped up in blankets and laying down on a cot inside the medical tent.

She groaned, and attempted to sit up. But as soon as she moved, the urge to vomit came back, and she was unable to force it down. She was move her head away from the bed fast enough to not get throw up all over herself. The acidic fluid escaped her throat violently, burning on its way out and covering the floor.

Clementine moaned painfully, as her vision began to clear up.

"Huh?" She looked on in confusion as she stared at the vomit on the floor.

'Blood...'

Clementine felt pangs of worry and terror at the blood filled vomit on the ground.

"I see you've finally woken up Clementine." Paul sat down on the stool next to her.

She barely registered his comment as she placed her head back down on the cot.

"You've been out for almost thirty three hours." He placed a hand on her forehead, a deep frown covering his face.

"What?" The words barely came out as nothing more but a whisper.

Paul didn't answer, grabbing a clipboard and pen instead.

"When'd your symptoms start, and what were you doin'?"

Clementine looked at him worriedly, slight panic filling her.

"About... halfway through the... day we left." Her head was pounding.

"Anythin' make it worse?"

"Everything... moving mostly."

"Okay, does anythin' make it feel better?"

"I don't know." She couldn't think straight from the pain.

"That's alright, how does it feel?" Paul's face lost his constantly defeated look, replaced with a sense of focus.

"Like fire."

"Where's the pain?"

"My head, and stomach mostly."

He looked over at the vomit on the floor, writing something else down.

"On a scale from zero to ten, ten being the worst pain you've ever felt, how would you rate it?"

She thought about his question, before holding up a nine.

The doctor hummed to himself as he continued writing stuff down. He finally stopped after a few minutes.

"I'll be back with some food and water."

Clementine watched as the doctor quickly left the tent, disappearing from view of the tent. Her eyes darted around, attempting to distract herself from the pain she was in.

"What is it?" She heard a faraway voice.

"An infection... she's throwing up blood."

Clementine felt the urge to vomit again, throwing up on the puddle already next to the cot.

"That bad?"

"It's been almost two days since she got sick, and it's only getting worse."

"There anything you can do?"

"I don't know. It might be viral or bacterial, but I don't have the tools to know what she needs. She might not make it Joan."

Clementine felt like the entire world had stopped around her. Sounds had stopped registering to her, even after Dr. Lingard returned.

"Clementine!" He clapped his hands in front of her loudly.

"I'm gonna give you some medicine, it's a strong antibiotic. It might help you out, it might not, but it's our only option for now." He held up a small, nearly empty bottle, and a syringe.

She only managed to nod weakly, memorizing the name of the medication.

"Try not to move, it'll only take a second."

Clementine barely even noticed the needle entering her arm, she was more concerned about the conversation she had heard earlier.

"Am I going to die?" She choked out miserably, her hate for the group taking a backseat for now.

Paul gave her a defeated look, "I don't know."

Depression set in as she realized the gravity of her situation.

"You need to eat something." He helped her sit up, and gave her a bowl of some type of soup.

Clementine ate the soup slowly, the weakness in her arms making it difficult to lift the spoon.

"Try not to think about it." He handed her some water as well.

"Hey Doc, there's a meeting!" Badger shouted across the campsite.

Paul sighed dejectedly, placing the medicine back inside the safe.

"I'll be back later tonight to check on you." He left her alone inside the tent.

The food had managed to make her feel a little better, but the weakness in her body wasn't going away.

She stared at the empty bowl on her lap for a long time. The thought of dying before being able to avenge Kenny, and returning his hat to Sarita and the child that had most likely born by now had hit her hard.

A small sniffle escaped her, before she laid back down and tried to sleep.

Clementine's gaze was focused on the corpse of Kenny in front of her.

"Damn, gonna die before you even manage to see it through. Ain't that a bitch." Phoenix sat down cross legged by Kenny's body.

She didn't acknowledge the statement, she just kept looking at the corpse in front of her.

"Never thought I'd see you like this. All weak and tired. Even when you returned to Howe's you had fight in you."

"Hmm, you are a goddamned failure kid. You're just going to let all the work we've done go to waste! The sacrifices people made for your worthless ass be for nothing!" Phoenix stood up and shouted in rage.

But Clementine couldn't find it in herself to deny the accusation. She was a failure, she was going to waste their sacrifices, and it's all because she got sick.

"They'd be disgusted seeing you give up like this." His skinless face was now in front of hers.

Those unblinking, maniacal eyes bore into her soul for what felt like an eternity.

He suddenly grabbed her face, squeezing it tightly, his eyes like a torrent of starving flames.

"You can't give up now! I didn't teach you those lessons, and I didn't give you those gifts for you to just give up! Get your ass out of the bullsh*t you've dug yourself in, and do what you came here to do!"

Clementine pulled his hands off her face and slumped down next to Kenny's fake dead body.

Phoenix gave her a look of disgust before disappearing.

Tears rolled down her face as she curled up.

"Why?" She cried weakly as the concept of dying became more and more apparent.

"You ain't gonna die Clem" The corpse next to her had suddenly spoke.

"K-Kenny?" She looked up slowly to see Kenny as he was before he died.

"Maybe, it's up to you to decide. This is your dream after all." He laughed and tussled the top of her head.

"What do you mean I won't die?" Clementine asked, her voice coming out as a sad whimper.

A smug look crossed his face as he looked at her.

"That's up to you to figure out." She didn't know what she was expecting from a figment of her own imagination.

"I'm just f*ckin' with ya." Kenny laughed at her distraught face, before turning serious.

"Clem they have medicine, just steal it."

The idea was sound, if it wasn't for the fact she didn't have the means, nor the strength to do so.

"But how? I don't have the keys for the safe. And in case you forgot, I can barely even sit up." She waited for some type of response from the imaginary Kenny.

"You'll figure it out Clem. Just don't give up so easily alright, you still gotta return my hat." He rubbed her head one last time, his body reverting into a corpse.

Clementine wiped her eyes as she finally took in the surrounding area of her dream.

Wellington... the spite in her returned full force, and she gave the dead man next to her a final goodbye.

Clementine's eyes opened weakly as she woke up. It had become nighttime, and Lingard was laying down on the cot next to her. She attempted to sit up on her own, using all the strength she could muster to get up.

Her vision started to clear as she finally managed to sit upright. She looked at the calendar on the desk, she'd been out for an entire day again. The weakness in her body hadn't faded at all either, since Paul gave her the antibiotic. But she couldn't just succumb herself to dying to whatever infection was killing her.

Clementine strained herself as she placed her feet on the ground and stood up. Her legs wobbled uncontrollably as she'd been unable to use them for nearly three days. But she powered through it as she knelt down next to the doctor. He didn't react as she nabbed the key from his pocket.

She turned around towards the desk, and realized grabbing the keys was pointless, as he had left the safe open. She wobbled over to the safe and grabbed the small bottle of medicine he had used on her.

"Vancomycin..." The bottle was almost entirely empty.

She grabbed the syringe in the compartment above it, and drew the remaining liquid out. Hesitating as she ejected the air bubbles out.

What if she still remained sick? What if it didn't work like last time?

The doctor started to move around, and any hesitation that remained disappeared as she injected the last of the antibiotic.

"Clementine... what have you done?" He groggily sat up, his face extremely flushed.

"What I had to." She coughed a small amount of dried blood as she stood back up.

"That was the last of it. It's wasted on someone like you. You won't make it." He spoke in a defeated, and matter of fact tone.

"You don't know that for sure." She sat down on the ground, breathing heavily as sweat dripped into her already burning eyes.

"Sadly, I do. It's my curse."

Clementine scoffed at the comment, and coughed some more.

"Knowin' when someone's gonna die. I'm sorry, Clementine... I tried everything. I-I really did."

"C-clearly not."

"Nothin' will help you Clementine. I'm sorry, but you have to leave before they find out what you've done."

She started coughing violently as she attempted to speak.

Attracting the attention of David who had been walking nearby.

"How's she doi-" He noticed the syringe in her hand, and the empty bottle of medicine on the floor. He glared in barely controlled anger at Paul

"What the hell is this?"

"She... I couldn't stop her, it was too late."

David stomped angrily towards Paul.

"You f*cking high again? Pull yourself together before the others see you!" He roughly lifted the doctor off the cot, before turning towards her.

"What the f*ck were you thinking? How could you be so stupid? So selfish?!" He grabbed her arm and forced her to stand up.

Clementine couldn't respond as she barely managed to keep herself from falling to the ground.

"Nothing to say for yourself? That waste will cost someone else's life down the road. Someone in this camp who could be saved. Not some kid who is going to die anyways." More people were drawn to the commotion.

"Screw you." She barely managed to spit out, before vomiting on the floor.

"C'mon David. She's just scared." Ava came to her defense.

"No! We should've put her down the second she lost consciousness."

Clementine wiped her mouth, her stomach had finally stopped cramping.

"You ungrateful little sh*t. We opened our arms to you; made you one of us. This is how you repay us? By stealing? By putting yourself before the group?" He paused for a second.

"You're done here. You broke our rules. Violated our trust. There is no place for you in the New Frontier."

"f*ck you, and f*ck the New Frontier!" Some semblance of her former strength returned as her heart started racing, and her spite for the group returned tenfold.

"You already did! That's why you have to go!"

Clementine gave him a scornful, murderous look.

"Glare at me all you want. Then get your stuff and get the hell out!"

"Maybe we should give her another chance, at least, in case she gets better." Paul spoke up, not comfortable with abandoning a child to die alone.

"Don't fight me on this, Paul. You know what Joan would say if she were here. I'm sorry, Clem. You brought this on yourself."

She spit on the man as one final insult she could give the man, before stumbling off towards the tent she stayed in before falling unconscious. She grabbed her backpack, and her weapons, panting from the exhaustion and pain she was in. Her fists clenched over the backpack straps as she left the campsite.

Clementine somehow managed to find herself back to the bus she had met Ava in. She entered it, and plopped herself onto the mattress roughly. The exhaustion hitting her like a truck as she felt herself drifting off again.

Clementine woke up the next day feeling leagues better. She still felt like complete sh*t, but compared to how she felt days prior it was practically night and day.

A nasty cough escaped her throat as she rose out of the bed.

"f*ck... Where am I?" She rubbed her aching head as she remembered the events of last night.

Her stomach growled heavily as her appetite finally returned. She searched her bag for any food, grabbing a can of beans she snatched from the food crates, a few days ago before they left the capital.

Grabbing the knife from her bag, she stabbed the top of the can harshly, and began cutting it open. She practically drank the contents of the can, as her hunger had taken hold over any decency she had left.

A satisfied sigh leaving her as she laid back down.

"I'm not going to die." She whispered in a hopeful tone, and grabbed Kenny's hat from her waist.

Clementine knew it was her own mind telling her not to give up. But she felt comfort believing that it was actually Kenny telling her to keep going.

She was back to square one now, but at least she still knew where the New Frontier was. And she had no qualms about being alone again.

Her body still felt exhausted from being bedridden for so long, rest was her current priority as she quickly fell asleep again.

The days flew by quickly as she regained her strength. She stopped throwing up blood relatively quick, and her fever had dropped completely.

"Die anyways, my ass. Go screw yourself David." She muttered to herself while carving a large branch.

The medicine had worked wonders for curing her of whatever infection had ailed her. But spite towards David's comments about her being dead anyways had definitely contributed to her recovery.

She had snuck back into the New Frontier campsite a few times for supplies over the week. Amassing a decent haul of canned goods, and some ammo for herself.

Clementine blew the shavings off the branch she was carving, a spear that reached up to her neck in her hands now. She needed to go out hunting again, she was getting antsy at being cooped up in this bus for however long she had been at this point. Leaving the bus, she entered the woods looking for any critters she could find.

Minutes went by as she trekked through the trees and brush looking for any small game.

The sounds of birds chirping filled the area, notifying her that it was definitely well into spring now. She still kept her jacket on, purely for the extra protection it provided.

A branch cracked in the distance.

Clementine froze as she waited for whatever made the noise to show itself.

'Oh sh*t.'

A black bear was in front of her, and it had cubs behind it. She slowly backed up to get out of sight of the mother bear. Raising her feet high to make sure she didn't get caught on anything.

The bear sniffed the air and looked straight at her. They had a standoff for what felt like hours, before it decided to turn away and leave her alone.

If she had her shotgun on her, maybe she'd be able to take the animal on. But then she'd have to spend days making the meat last, which would be a pain for her as she still was unable to stay awake for long periods of time. Whatever the infection she got was, it had done numbers on her body, and her ability to labor for long hours. The fact that she had even survived was probably a miracle, and she wouldn't be wasting it.

For the next few hours, she searched for any small game, mostly finding wild fruits, veggies, and mushrooms. But the lack of any small animals, the one thing she was looking for, was starting to upset her.

"Be patient Clementine, you've had moments like this before."

Clementine stopped walking as she started feeling increasingly tired from the search for game. She sat down under a tree, rubbing her eyes and placing her head against the tree.

"I must be going crazy. I'm talking to myself like some nut." She snorted as she realized the absurdity of her current situation.

A crack sounded behind her.

Her grip on the spear tightened as she slowly, and silently pushed herself back up. She peaked around the tree, and thanked whatever higher being was out there as a bobcat had decided to lay down where she was looking.

'Not exactly the tastiest thing out there, but meat is meat.'

She put all her body weight into the spear as she drove it straight into the large cat. Lodging itself straight into its neck. Clementine quickly drew her knife and finished the bobcat off with a quick slit of its throat.

She quickly grabbed the carcass and returned to the bus as quickly as she possibly could. The fact that bears were here in these woods didn't bode well.

By the time she arrived, she got started on making a fire to mask the scent of any blood still left in the bobcat with smoke. She grabbed the last jar of moonshine she had left, staring at the clear fluid inside before pouring it onto the small fire she had lit. The practically pure source of ethanol burning wildly as she stuffed more firewood into the growing flames.

Clementine began skinning the animal, tossing anything she wasn't going to use into the fire. After skinning, she separated the cuts of meat from bone as best she could. Throwing whatever she finished directly over the fire, or onto small racks she made. The smell of the meat was awful, cat meat always smelt terrible. It was almost as bad as being in the thick of a walker herd.

She waited for the meat she was cooking to finish. Before eating, she grabbed some ashes from an old fire and rubbed the ashes on her hands. Supposedly, the lye from the ashes would make sure any bacteria on her hands would be dead. How people back then figured that one out was beyond her. But according to Kai, apparently ash was used in soap-making for hundreds of years.

Clementine grabbed a strip of bobcat and started chewing on it. The extremely gamey flavor almost made her gag, but she still managed to finish it.

She shuddered after eating the last of the meat she cooked on the fire directly. A disgusting aftertaste in her mouth.

Clementine grabbed the jar of moonshine and contemplated using the alcoholic drink as a mouthwash to get rid of the taste of cat meat in her mouth.

"f*ck it." She took a small swig and swirled it around her mouth, spitting the alcohol into the fire once she was done.

The aftertaste of bobcat was gone now, but it was replaced with the burning of the alcohol covering every crevice of her mouth. Though in her mind, that was a win compared to tasting bobcat all day.

A tired yawn left her as she sat by the fire. It seems she would be going to sleep early again today.

Clementine placed a few more logs into the fire to make sure that it kept burning for a long while before entering the bus and turning in.

It had been maybe a month since her exile from the New Frontier. The time that had passed since, was hard to judge, as the days flew by from her practically being asleep for most of it. She would have been stealing more supplies from them, but she was forced to stop sneaking into their camp after they decided to increase security around the area.

Someone probably noticed the missing supplies she was stealing, but it also could have been the recent swell in their numbers. Which definitely put a damper on her idea to burn everything down and scatter them.

Which led to Clementine's current situation, she was returning to the bus after an unfruitful day of failing to find anything to eat.

By the time she arrived, it was already nighttime and she was thoroughly pissed at the lack of anything from foraging today. She sat down on the bed and rubbed her forehead, the sounds of crickets chirping lulling her to sleep.

A loud crack of a branch, and rustling of bushes alerted her. Exiting the bus, she looked around the pitch black tree line before drawing her knife.

"Woah there, Clem!" Ava stepped out from behind a rock.

"It's just me." Ava approached the bus holding a large duffel bag.

"What the hell do you want?" Clementine crossed her arms and glared at the bald woman.

"I'm really glad you're alive."

Clementine was debating putting Ava down here and now to be done with it.

"Clementine, I know this is hard. I'm sorry about David kicking you out like that. I really am."

"I don't care what you think. I did what I had to."

"I know you don't. Look, it's not much, but... here." Ava tossed the duffel bag at Clementine's feet.

Clementine raised an eyebrow, kneeling down to search the bag.

'Three cans of food, energy bars, and water.' It was barely anything, but the sentiment had taken her by surprise.

"Why?" She was suspicious receiving charity from a group that for intents and purposes decided she was no longer one of them. Even if it was justified.

"Let's just call it a peace offering. I understand why you did what you did, and clearly David was wrong about you being dead anyways."

Clementine snorted at that.

"But I just wanted you know, that there are still people who care for you. Even with all your... problems."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Clementine furrowed her eyes at Ava.

"Listen, it's dangerous out here and you're not exactly in tip top shape in case you forgot. You're a strong kid, but that won't get you far. I don't doubt you have some sort of plan, but make sure you keep a level head Clem."

Clementine's face softened, turning away to hide the regretful look that she now had.

"I'm sorry Ava, y-you're a good person." She choked up a tiny bit.

"Thank you, Clem. Sorry, I know you don't like people calling you that, it's just easier for me."

"It's alright."

Clementine's previous thoughts about killing Ava disappeared completely. They both stood there awkwardly for a few seconds.

"Look, just because it didn't work out with us doesn't mean you won't find happiness somewhere else. Don't stop looking. For me, staying alive has always been about finding people I could trust as much as they trusted me. That's what The New Frontier has been: a silver lining. Made me feel worth a damn. Kept me going in the worst of times. You'll find yours. I know you will."

Clementine sadly thought about Kenny's hat, anger filling her again.

"I don't need one." She said through gritted teeth.

"I wish that were true kid. But the things you've been through, you need someone to help you along. When you find that someone, or something. Let them help you with whatever is killing you inside."

"Just... go away."

Ava sighed, "I should get back, before anyone notices I'm gone. I know you probably don't care, but well, there's an old airfield, about ten or miles south of here - Prescott. It's a bit of an acquired taste, but there's good people over there. I'm sure they'll take you in."

"I'll miss having you around, Clem." Ava offered her a handshake.

Clementine stared at the offering, maybe, just maybe this one person wouldn't have to die. She accepted the handshake, but didn't say anything.

"You're going to be okay. Good luck out there, Clem" Ava walked off back into the tree line.

Clementine stood there, wallowing in regret and sorrow about the past few months.

"What's even the point anymore?" She unclasped Kenny's hat, rubbing her fingers on the brim.

A growl drew her out of her thoughts, grabbing the duffel bag and closing the door.

She sat back down on the bed, thinking back on her time in The New Frontier. The brand on her arm itching as she massaged it.

"Don't give up." Kenny's voice echoed in her head.

The image of Wellington on fire reemerging in her mind. Kenny's smiling corpse, the innocent woman she shot, the people she gunned down in the woods. She had already gotten this far, she couldn't just stop at this point could she?

Clementine laid down, staring at the rusted ceiling of the bus. She didn't manage to get any sleep that night, and when checking up on the campsite the next day, The New Frontier was gone.

Chapter 24: Meeting Javier

Chapter Text

"What d'ya need, girl?"

Clementine looked at the shady, smug man in front of her.

"You have .308?" She hadn't had ammo for her Springfield in a year.

"Nah, ain't got the materials."

She cursed to herself quietly.

"What do you want for some twelve gauge buckshot and nine mil?"

"Hmm, ya got any batteries?" He sat down on a fancy antique chair.

"I might, but I want to check the ammo first."

Eli pointed to some old ammo containers in the corner.

Clementine opened one of them, filled with loads of nine millimeter rounds. Full metal jacket, and hollow points. She eyed the rounds closely, checking the primers, and casing for tampering. They seemed to be fine, but the man had a terrible reputation for scamming people in the town.

"These bullets are trash." Clementine lied with confidence.

The smirk on Eli's face disappeared.

"The f*ck you mean they're trash?" He stood up in a threatening manner.

"Where's the sh*t that actually works?" Clementine put her right hand behind her, clasping her knife.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I've spent weeks of my life tinkering with guns and ammo, and I'm telling you, these bullets are bullsh*t."

Eli drew a large combat knife.

"Get out." Eli seethed, his teeth bared like some rabid animal.

"No, give me something that works, and you get your batteries." Clementine drew her own knife.

The two had a stare down for about a minute.

"Fine. I'll be back girl." Eli put his knife away and entered some type of back room.

Clementine sheathed her knife and crossed her arms as she waited for the man to return.

"Here." He dropped four boxes of ammo on a stool table.

Two boxes of twelve gauge buckshot, twenty shells in each box, and two boxes of fifty rounds of nine mil full metal jacket.

"How'd you figure it out girl?"

"You reek of lying asshole." She grabbed a box of batteries from her backpack and tossed it to him.

"Heh, just watch yourself, with a mouth like yours, you are just asking for trouble." He sat back down on his chair.

"Now get the hell outta here."

Clementine reloaded her guns with the ammo, shoving the rest into her backpack and leaving the bar. It was evening, but she couldn't stand another second in this town for at least a month. She approached the front gate, to leave the town.

"Leavin'?"

"Yeah."

"Phil, open the damn gate!"

She'd spent the better part of a year looking for The New Frontier after they disappeared from the woods. She had no clue where to start, but rumors of communities being raided by people with brands had reached Prescott.

Clementine stood there waiting as the guards began to open both front gates into the airstrip.

"Hey Tripp, someone's here!" Presumably Phil, shouted to the community leader.

"Let 'em in! It's probably one of the traders." Tripp yelled back.

She exited the first gate, looking at the truck that just arrived. For some odd reason, she felt like she recognized the guy in the driver seat. But she shrugged it off and began following the road. Her search for a vehicle of her own continuing.

Walking on foot to every community for any sort of clues to The New Frontier's location, had taken a lot of time that she wasn't getting back. A car of any sort would drastically reduce the amount of time it would take to search the state for evidence.

As of now though, the only community she hadn't checked out on this side of Virginia was in Richmond. But the problem was the massive herd heading directly that way. The dust cloud went on for miles last she checked, there were probably tens of thousands of walkers in that herd. Possibly hundreds of thousands if the rumors were true.

Clementine reached a long strip of road, trees surrounding it on both sides.

She stood there for a second.

'Maybe cut down a tree until it just barely starts to fall, in the hopes a car passes through?' She contemplated the idea as she walked into the tree line on her right.

"Perfect." A tall, and thick tree that was already slanted towards the road was ripe for the job.

Clementine grabbed a hatchet from her bag, and began starting the long process of chopping into the tree until it was just barely about to fall.

By the time she finished it had already become nighttime. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and sat down by the tree. Many minutes would pass as she realized just how cartoonish her idea was.

Maybe the spending the time cutting a tree in the hopes of some random idiot driving through had been a complete waste of her time and energy.

She sat there for a few moments longer, the sheer absurdity of this idea finally setting in.

"You've actually gone crazy, Clementine." She spoke to herself as she decided to set up camp for the night. The second she stood up, a sound just down the road drew her attention.

She looked down the road to see what it was.

'What a coincidence.' Headlights from what seemed to be an eighteen-wheeler were barreling down the road.

Clementine quickly stood up and began hacking at the tree, felling it and watching as it slammed loudly against the asphalt road.

"sh*t." Whoever was driving the truck swerved off the road.

Clementine grabbed her shotgun and slowly started to step out of the tree line, when she saw a man rush out of the truck with his hands tied and a pistol. There was another man running up the hill to escape as well.

A shout came from the one that was armed, the other guy stopped running and threw his hands up.

She slowly edged closer to the one that was armed, as it seemed to look like he was letting the other guy go.

Clementine pushed the shotgun into his back.

"f*ck... Yeah, alright..." He dropped the pistol.

"That's good. Just keep looking forward."

"Look, I'm no threat to you, okay? I surrender." He assured her.

"You definitely should've shot that guy. I know for a fact he wouldn't have done the same for you." Clementine grabbed his dropped pistol, a .45 from what she could tell.

"Okay. Now, don't do anything stupid. 'Cause I'm not as nice as you. I won't hesitate."

He turned towards her, and followed as she began to inspect the truck.

"You're a kid... Whoa, wait. Did you do that? With the tree?"

"I was trying to stop the truck." She climbed into the front seat, grabbing an apple on the dash and getting out.

"sh*t." She cursed as she realized there was no way she was getting this truck out of the ditch.

"What do you need the truck for?"

"To drive." She stated the obvious, was this guy stupid?

She took a quiet bite of the apple, "Put your hands up and close your eyes."

"Look, I'm the victim here." He states, doing as she ordered.

"We're all victims." She remarked cynically, searching his backpack.

"Oh, so it's okay for you to rob me."

"This is payment. For saving you." She finds a large candy bar.

"Hey, that's for my niece. She loves chocolate, more than anything. I promised it to her. Please." The man was being genuine.

But Clementine couldn't really bring herself to care. Shouldn't have gotten himself in this situation was her thought as she kept it.

Continuing her search through his stuff and finding nothing else of import, she decided to let them man go.

"Keep your eyes closed and count to a hundred before you go." She began walking off.

"Wait, just... my family. I need to get back to them. We were attacked and I don't... Look, I just need to know where I am. We were driving down the 522... and that's when we found the junkyard. They're still there. I need to get back to them."

Maybe her luck wasn't god awful after all.

"I know where that is. You said you were driving?"

"In our van, yeah."

"I'll take you to the junkyard. If you let me have your van. I get you there in one piece, then I drive away." Clementine got back behind him.

"That van is our home. It's all we got."

This guy was really starting to annoy her.

"That sounds like a no."

"How 'bout you just give me directions like a normal person?"

"How about I shoot you and take the van anyway? This is a better deal for you."

Did this guy just not understand his position in this entire situation?

"Look, you know it's worth it. Let's go."

Clementine and her temporary partner walk down the road.

"This really necessary?" He raises his tied up hands.

"I don't know you, I don't trust you, and I'm not taking any chances. So it's safer for both of us if you're tied up."

"Come on. You must trust me at least a little. We're here, aren't we?"

'Is he serious?'

"I trust that if I don't get a van at the end of this, you'll regret it." She spoke with annoyance and some disbelief at his attempt to be free of his bindings.

"The name's Javier, by the way. People...call me Javi."

"Clementine."

"Well... Thanks for not killing me, Clementine."

"Don't thank me yet." She grumbled under her breath.

A walker started approaching the two, she kicked its knee in and stomped on its head. Splattering its brains on the ground.

"You're good at that."

'Does this guy ever shut up?' Clementine kept that thought to herself.

"Look, you don't wanna talk, fine. But how 'bout you give me that gun back so I can at least defend myself?"

"No."

"Look, I'm not gonna shoot you."

"Because I'm not letting you."

"Come on. This whole silent loner thing you got going on? Just be real with me."

"I don't know what you're talking about. And either way, I still don't know the first thing about you."

He went quiet for a few seconds, until possibly the largest wandering herd she'd seen to date started passing by. She ducked low, practically crawling as they attempted to sneak past the herd.

"Muertos... the herd caught up with us." Javier whispered.

"Muertos...?" She asked once they got far enough from the herd without being spotted.

"What do you call 'em?"

"Walkers."

"What do you call the ones that run?" He jokingly asked.

"They're all f*cking walkers, okay? I'm not your friend, and I never will be. Now please, just shut up."

"Alright Clementine, whatever you say."

She rolled her eyes as they entered the woods.

"So who's at this junkyard?" Clementine wanted to know exactly what she was walking into.

"My brother's kids... and his wife."

The way he brought up the wife had given her weird vibes.

"He dead or something?"

"I dunno... he never came back home. So we left."

"Say, you must've been really young when this sh*t started. Who took care of you?"

"Doesn't matter, they're all dead now." That came out harsher than she intended it.

They came across another massive herd again, possibly the same one from an hour ago.

"sh*t..." Javier cursed quietly.

"We can't stay here. There's a town up ahead. We can stay there until the herd passes. Otherwise we're walker food. Can you do that? Please?"

"We can't make a detour! I need to get to my family!"

"And I need that van! But right now, you have to trust me."

"Oh, you mean the way you trust me?"

Clementine sighed in annoyance, "Fine." She cut his bindings.

"If you try to run I'll shoot you. Now come on!"

They both run through the woods to get to Prescott, Javier following closely behind her.

"How far is this damn town?!" He shouted as he dodged a walker.

"A few miles that way." Clementine pointed to the North.

The both of them picked up the pace as more walkers began to swarm the area.

"How much longer?!"

It couldn't be much longer until the both of them were there.

"There! Get to the gate!" Clementine yelled at Javier as she fired at walkers.

"Just keep going! They'll open up!"

Javier dodges another walker, "sh*t!"

The gates close just as they reach them.

"Hey!" Javier screams at the guards.

"Open up!" She smacks the gate with her fist, before turning around and firing into the herd.

Tripp fires at the walkers swarming the gates.

"I can't open the gate 'til you clear them out! Can't risk it!"

Clementine runs out of shells in her shotgun, and switches to her pistol.

She squeezes the trigger, but all she hears is a click. She tries clearing the chamber and trying again, but all she gets is the same result.

"f*ck! These bullets won't fire!"

A walker charges her, grabbing her wrists. Clementine just barely manages to overpower the walker, throwing it to the ground and stomping on its head until it dies.

"Get your ass inside! Come on, now!" Tripp shouts at the duo just as the gates open.

Tripp continues laying into the herd as they run inside, followed by Francine riding in on her horse, the gate shutting behind her.

"Whoa, there!"

"God effin' damn it, Francine. One of these days those doors are gonna close and your ass'll be on the other side!"

"Yeah. And when that day comes, Tripp, I promise... I'll eat you first." Francine laughs as she rides off.

Tripp rubs the bridge of his nose and sighs, "It's... Clementine, right? You staying a while this time?"

"No. Once the walkers pass, I'm taking this guy to a junkyard off the highway."

"My family might be trapped there. Hiding from some very bad dudes."

"Well, sh*t. I am truly sorry to hear that. This herd rolled in pretty quick. We're hoping it's gone just as fast. So... just keep your heads down, and steer clear of trouble, you got me? There's too much going on outside the walls tonight."

"I'm not the one you should be worried about."

She glares at Javier, doing her damndest not to choke the man.

"Well, you know the score around here, Clementine. Don't do anything that would make me want to pick you up and throw you the f*ck out, and I won't pick you up and throw you the f*ck out. My boots weigh more than you. Now head on in, I got sh*t to do." Tripp walks away.

"This is Prescott." Clementine starts heading towards the bar, Eli had a debt to pay.

"Not my favorite place in the world. And most the people here are assholes, but follow the rules and you'll be fine."

"No, no. This place is actually kind of charming. It's got... walls all the way around, and... well, that... thing..." Javier gestures to a water tower in the distance.

Clementine looks at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I've seen better."

"Where? If you don't mind me askin'?" Clearly not believing her.

"Tennessee."

"Tennessee? The f*cks in Tennessee?"

Clementine pretended he didn't say that.

Javier stops abruptly.

"What now?" She just wanted to kick Eli's sh*t in and get some working bullets.

"My family... They're still out there..."

Clementine took a deep calming breath.

"If you guys somehow managed to make it this far, they're probably fine."

"Hopefully... wait what's that supposed to mean?"

"Just follow me."

They both enter the bar.

"Jeez. I haven't been in a place like this since..well, you know. It's just like the old days."

"Stay here, there's someone I have to see."

"Wait, wait. What should I do?"

"I don't know, it's a bar. Get drunk or something." She heads towards Eli's little corner in the bar.

"Eli!"

"Oh hey, girly. Need some more bullets?" He laughs at her angry expression.

"We had a f*cking deal."

"And that deal has already been discussed and done with." He walks away from her and towards his chair.

"Don't turn away from me. I'm talking to you prick."

"Hey, what's the point in talking when I already told you, a deal is a deal. And it's done."

"What's going on?" Javier stepped in behind her.

"This asshole ripped me off. I traded him a crate of perfectly good batteries. And he gave me a box of bullets that won't fire! He could've gotten both of us killed!"

"Oh, yeah? And who the f*ck are you? Her bodyguard or something? 'Cause I don't scare easy, alright? And I don't respond to threats, neither."

"Oh, well, you can't even prove those are the bullets I traded you."

Clementine drew her pistol and pointed it directly at Eli's head.

"Whoa, hey, Clem. Come on." Javier tried stopping her.

"He knows the bullets don't work. Listen to him. He's not even nervous. I could have died because of his bullets." She pulled the trigger, and the only thing that happened was a click.

"Unf*ckin' believable." Eli draws a knife.

Clementine kicks Eli in the back of the knee and pushes him into the chair.

"Hey, listen. Let's all cool down, huh? You were acting crazy... I was, too. We just... got a little outta hand, that's all."

"Just give me what I'm owed!" She points the pistol back at his head, her vision started turning red.

"Jesus. You gotta get her under control, man! This ain't no way to do business."

"Alright, stop. Seriously. This isn't getting you anything."

"Javier shut up! I want my f*cking bullets now!" Clementine grabs the neck of Eli's shirt, and smacks Eli against his cheek with the butt of her pistol.

"Hey! What's going on in there?" Conrad, the bar owner yelled.

"God! Hey, I got it, we can trade back. Take your batteries and we'll go our separate ways."

"f*ck the batteries! Bullets. Now." Clementine lifted the pistol back up, about to slam it back into his face.

"Clementine calm the f*ck down!" Javier grabs her arm and throws her off Eli.

"And you, give her what she's owed already."

She stood back up, and nearly charged Javier in blind rage when Conrad rushed in and pulled her back.

"I asked you what the f*ck is goin' on in here?"

"He ripped her off, and she's gone apesh*t." Javier pointed at her and Eli.

"Jesus f*cking Christ Eli. You ripping off kids now?" Conrad said in disgust, the aforementioned man chuckling at his reaction.

"I want my fu-"

"Shut the hell up, kid! Now, Eli get the damn girl her bullets and whatever she f*cking gave you for 'em." Conrad stomped out of the room and back towards the bar.

The tension between the three could practically be cut.

"Goddamn it." Eli stood up and entered another room.

"You really gotta ca-"

"Shut the f*ck up Javier!"

"Alright." He raised up his hands.

A moment later Eli reentered the room with ammo boxes, and the batteries she traded.

"This sh*t wasn't even worth it." He dropped them onto the table and sat down on his chair.

"Give me the sh*t that don't work."

Clementine's eyes twitched as she slowly began to calm down. Opening her bag, she tossed them back to Eli, and emptied her pistol, dropping the bullets on the ground in front of him.

"You got what you wanted. Now get the f*ck out of here, the both of ya."

Clementine flipped her middle finger at the scumbag and left the bar.

"Woah, wait up."

"I don't need to hold your hand everywhere we f*ckin' go Javier."

"About that, I told you that people call me Javi."

"Who gives a sh*t? The second I get that van, we'll never see each other again anyways." Clementine didn't look back as she entered one of the rundown planes.

Her head started hurting from all the bullsh*t she had to deal with.

Clementine placed her head into both of her palms.

"I just want to go home."

Someone knocked on the plane door.

She groaned angrily, "I told you to leave me the f*ck alone!"

"My bad. Thought it was unoccupied."

Why was that voice so familiar?

"You wouldn't happen to know where I might find me a place to sleep in this here town?"

She looked over the window to get a glimpse of who was speaking.

"Al?" She whispered quietly.

"Uh, t-try asking Conrad... the bar owner, or Tripp."

"Much obliged." The man walked away, still sporting parts of his antique uniform, although it clearly had seen better days.

Her eyes followed the man all the way to bar.

"Why is he here?"

Chapter 25: The Junkyard

Chapter Text

Clementine couldn't fathom how and why Al was here. According to Bill's plans, they shouldn't be sending parties into Virginia for a few years.

"sh*t."

Al could not see her, whatsoever. If he was the man in the truck earlier today, then she got lucky. They could not learn she was alive until The New Frontier was gone. But she needed to know why he is even here.

Clementine exited the plane, throwing her hood up and sneaking towards the bar. She briefly heard Javier hitting on someone as she entered the bar.

"This deal of yours sounds way too good to be true." Tripp spoke with suspicion.

Clementine sat down at one of the tables, crossing her arms over it and placing her head down between them.

"I know, not many folks out here with a sense of common human decency. Y'all ain't got much of anythin' we need, no offense. But y'all got one thing we could use. Information 'bout the happenings of this here state."

'Al is in charge of diplomacy now?' She looked up slightly to see the two talking better.

"What do you need the information for? All we got is rumors, scumbags and crazy people."

"Our leader, who you will be meetin' if you agree, has a keen interest on expanding his influence into Virginia. Only problem, all the rumors we hear are how much of a war torn sh*thole it is."

'Goddamn it, Bill, why couldn't you just hold yourself back like you said you were?!' Clementine could feel her blood start to boil.

"I wouldn't disagree with you there, the wars drive me nuts... I'll think about it, in the meantime just spend the night in one of the rooms upstairs. I'll be back with an answer later tomorrow, gotta help some guy find his family in a junkyard."

'Since when was Tripp coming to help us?' Clementine briefly wondered.

"Anythin' I can do to help? As a gesture of good faith. My companion and I are good shots."

'Tripp don't you dare.'

"It's up to them, I wouldn't mind the help to be honest. But I can't really make decisions for the guy. Although, you could try asking the girl he's with. Her name's Cl-"

"No!" Her voice cracked out loud.

"Welp, there you have it. She don't want it."

"Ya sure? We could help y'all in the case somethin' goes wrong."

She could not let him or whoever his companion was, know she's alive.

"I don't need the help. I trust Tripp to help 'cause I know him. I don't know you hick." She spoke with false aggression, feeling bad for even speaking to him this way.

"Well that's not very nice. But well, trust is hard to come by these days." Al shrugged at her insults, acknowledging the reasoning behind them.

"Don't mind her, she comes by every now and then to barter for supplies and leaves just as quick. Doesn't exactly like being around people, surprised she's even putting up with helping the guy." Tripp waved a hand at her as he spoke to Al.

"He has a van, I want it."

"Thought it was something like that. Well, thanks for offering man, but this one's got no people skills." Tripp shook Al's hand.

"No problem. And kid, if you change your mind tomorrow, I'm still here."

Clementine didn't respond to the man, quickly standing up and exiting the bar. She walked towards Javier, who seemed to be talking to someone.

"Javier! Come here I gotta talk to you."

The man looked back to her, and then back to whoever he was speaking to for a few seconds before jogging towards her.

"What's up, Clem?"

"Don't call me Clem, but if anyone that isn't Tripp, tries to help us out tomorrow. You tell them no. Got it?"

"Why?"

"I am only letting Tripp help because I know he won't do anything stupid. And thanks for that by the way, going behind my back."

"He offered to help, and he has a car to take us there."

"Jesus, are you actually just this f*cking stupid? Not everyone will offer to help you out of the goodness of their heart!" Clementine scolded the older man.

"Alright fine, let me just tell this girl never mind." Javier started walking away.

Clementine peaked around him to see who it was he was speaking to. She covered her mouth in surprise and turned away.

'Becca's here too?'

"I told her you said no... You good Clem-entine?" He noticed her odd behavior.

"Yeah, nothing's wrong. I'm just... tired and pissed off." She had to find the right words to deflect the question.

"If you say so. Just try not to kill anyone."

Clementine stood there frozen, trying to figure out a way to get around Becca.

"Javi said your name's Clementine. Funny, I had a friend with that name."

"Who cares?" Clementine could feel the tears threatening to run down her face as she quickly stomped off.

"Wasn't lying about her being a dick." She caught Becca mumble as she reentered the plane she picked out for herself earlier.

Clementine started to hyperventilate the second she was inside.

"Calm down, Clementine. They don't know you can talk now, so it's just a funny little coincidence." She tried to deflect the sudden influx of emotions that threatened to bring her down. A quiet laugh starting to ring in her ears.

"They can never be part of this."

The mocking laughter of Phoenix started to get louder, and she covered her ears in a futile attempt to make it go away.

Clementine stared at the empty cup of coffee in front of her. A groan escaped her lips as she rubbed her forehead with both hands.

"Didn't sleep?" Conrad asked from behind the bar.

She shook her head and lifted the mug, shaking it to let him know she wanted more.

"I thought nothing could phase you Clementine."

"Fu... just pour me some more coffee." Clementine held herself back from cursing at the man.

"Try not to drink too much." He poured some coffee into her cup and left the kettle.

Clementine quickly chugged the warm brown liquid.

Someone entered the bar, and sat down next to her.

"Mind if I get a cup?"

Clementine tensed as she heard Becca speak. The hood she was wearing being the only thing hiding her face. She poured herself another cup, and moved the kettle over.

"Thanks."

Clementine didn't know what to do in this moment. It was taking every ounce of her being to not turn her head.

"So-"

Clementine chugged her coffee again, and quickly left the bar. She began searching for Javier and Tripp so they could leave immediately.

Tripp was waiting by his truck, so she kept looking for Javier. Eventually finding the man sleeping on a couch.

"Javier! Let's go." Clementine woke the man up with a nudge.

"Jesus. You really need to work on those people skills." The man slowly stood up, stretching his body once he was fully awake.

"Tripp's waiting." She stormed off ahead towards Tripp's truck.

"Javi, you said it was at the junkyard by the highway right?"

"Yeah, that's the one." Javier confirmed.

"Let's go, I don't want to spend to much time away from here." Tripp entered the driver seat.

Clementine sat in the back, and Javier took shotgun.

She spent most of the ride tuning everything out, her head stuck in another place.

"Hey, Clem... we almost there? Hey, Clem?" Javi snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Yeah. We're close."

"I gotta say, I hope your people are safe and sound. Eleanor asked me before we left to make sure of it."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yes, sir. So that's what I'm gonna do. Though why she went to bat for you, I've got no idea. I mean, she hardly even knows you. And you don't know her, for that matter. Makes a guy wonder, you know?" Tripp sounded oddly jealous to her.

"There's not much mystery to it, Tripp. She's a good human being."

"Yeah, Eleanor's got a big heart, that's for damn sure."

"We're here." Clementine informed Tripp.

"Yeah, this is it."

Tripp put the truck in park and shut it off.

Clementine noticed the countless number of walker corpses littering the ground.

"Oh, sh*t..."

"What a mess..."

Clementine drew her knife and exits the truck. She looks around the ground to make sure no walkers are still alive.

"What's this?" Clementine kneels down and tries to grab something on the ground.

"f*ck." A walker lunges at her hand, but she quickly stands up and stomps on its head multiple times.

She takes a quick breath before grabbing the item on the ground. Javier notices the item in her hand.

"Mariana's tape player... Mariana! Mariana, are you here?" Javier shouts loudly in worry, which almost led Clementine to tell him to shut up.

"Javi!" A young girl runs out of a car and embraces the man.

"Oh, my God. You're safe... I can't believe it!"

"You told me where to hide; I just listened to what you said. "Lock yourself in and don't come out, not even once it's quiet." It kept running through my head, like on a loop. I don't even know how long I was in there... Then I heard your voice. I thought I was hallucinating at first."

'Guess he's not entirely stupid, just mostly.' Clementine thought as she started looking for the van.

"Did they hurt you? Are you okay?"

"I hid before they could get to me. I'm fine, really."

Clementine ends up out of earshot as she finds the van completely trashed.

"Goddamn it!" She kicked the van roughly.

"Oh, no... No... No sign of 'em. They must have seen it like this, then gone someplace else to hide."

As if on cue, the sound of a vehicle revving rings out.

"Kate..." Javier runs off, forcing them to follow after him.

They find Javier's other family members trying to start a truck while walkers surround them.

"They're trapped in there!" Mariana cries out.

"Mariana, stay back!" Javier orders the young girl.

Javier walks towards the small group of walkers, bashing their heads in with a hammer he found.

Tripp charges into a walker, the undead corpse grabbing onto his gun as he did.

"Javi!" Tripp calls out, Javier helping Tripp out not a second later.

Clementine dispatches three walkers fairly easily, and watches as Javier reunites with a woman and a boy.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. I got you."

"You happy to see me?" The woman says with a tone she only really heard between Shel and... Vince.

"Hate to disappoint you, but that really is a gun in my pocket." Javier laughs.

'Gross.'

Clementine walks away, uninterested in the family reunion.

Standing near the truck, she waits for the others to get back.

"Hey Clementine, you still got that cassette player? It's my nieces."

Clementine looks up at the man, sighing as she grabs it from her coat pocket and hands it to him.

"Don't think our deal is over yet." Clementine crosses her arms as she waits for the rest to arrive.

"Don't be like that. Celebrate a little bit." Javier slaps a hand against her arm.

"No. And shouldn't you be worried about the assholes that napped your ass, possibly still being here in the first place?" Clementine asked the man in an insulting manner.

"sh*t, you're right." Javier ran off back towards his family.

Clementine looked towards the tree line as she continued waiting. Her eyes narrowed as she swore she could see movement.

Then they proceeded to widen as she saw what looked to be... Badger?

Realization began to fill her as she noticed the other men next to him.

Clementine grabbed her shotgun from the truck and fired towards his location just as Badger raised his rifle.

"They're here! Get over here. Now!" Clementine shouted at the top of her lungs, as she continued firing towards Badger's location.

The New Frontier members fired dozens of bullets towards her as the others arrived.

"You f*ckin' thieves! You ain't just gonna waltz on outta here like it was nothing!" Badger cackles loudly as the gunfire intensifies.

"Jesus H. Christ!" Tripp slammed into the back of the truck.

Clementine opens one of the doors, giving herself more cover as she reloads her shotgun. Firing towards Badger's squad once she finished.

"We have to get out of here!" Kate she believed shouted at her family, the two kids followed close behind her.

Javier grabbed Mariana mid sprint, and took cover behind the truck.

"Kate, Gabe, hurry!" Javier shouted at the last two.

Clementine started reloading again, flinching from the glass shattering all over her. For the briefest of moments, her focus moved towards the two who hadn't yet made it to cover. Gabe, the boy, had almost made it, and then a torrent of red liquid shot out of his head.

"GABE!" Kate shrieked in horror and ran back, getting shot in her gut in turn.

Clementine focused back on reloading and firing at Badger. She counted at least five men that she had killed.

"Clementine get in!" Tripp entered the driver seat.

"Someone has to distract them! Go without me!" She yelled over the gunfire and moved to another spot of cover.

"I'm gonna f*cking kill 'em! I'm gonna kill all of 'em!" Javier started mag dumping into the tree line.

"You wanna die, too? You think that's gonna help your boy?" Tripp argues with the grieving man.

"So, what, I'm just supposed to let them live?" Javier says with tears and anger all over his face.

"If you wanna do what's right for your family, you'll come with me."

There was a brief argument between Javier and his remaining family members before the man relented and stuck with his family.

Clementine checked her bag, she had already nearly gone through an entire box of shells.

The others drive off as she continues firing at Badger, grazing him as he brought a hand to his cheek and ducked.

"All alone now f*cker! How 'bout you give up and maybe we don't kill your sorry ass?" Badger gave out a psychotic laugh as the back and forth firing continued.

"f*ck you!" Clementine shouted back, and reloaded again.

The gunfire suddenly stopped and she saw a small object land at her feet.

"Ah sh*t." Clementine dove away as the grenade went off. She landed right next to the body of Gabe, she rolled over and looked at the tree line, Badger's group was gone.

"Damn it!"

Clementine shot back up, and ran towards where they just were.

Nothing.

Her gaze falls upon a car that had been left behind.

'I have to warn them.' Clementine jumps into the car, and starts racing towards Prescott.

Chapter 26: The Fall of Prescott

Chapter Text

Clementine sped past a convoy heading towards Prescott. Dozens of walkers were caged up inside the livestock trailer attached to an eighteen wheeler. The sight of the trailer made her slam her foot all the way down on the gas. If she drove fast enough, she'd get to Prescott possibly around half a minute or so before The New Frontier arrived. Which would be all the time she needed, but that damn truck needed to be taken care of.

Clementine swerved in front of the gates of Prescott, quickly grabbing her stuff and running out of the car.

"Open the gates! They're coming!" Clementine turned back, the convoy had nearly arrived.

The gates opened, and she bolted inside. The gates closed within seconds of her getting inside.

"They follow you back?" Tripp asked her.

"No. They were already headed here." Clementine followed Tripp who was climbing to the the top of the wall.

The sight below didn't bode well for anyone, those walkers could potentially cause massive damage to both sides. She grabbed a rifle on the wall, and focused her aim focused on the driver of the walker truck.

"Knock, knock! Anyone home?" Badger shouted in a menacingly, gleeful manner.

"sh*t, he was one of the men at the junkyard. These are those freaks that brand themselves." Tripp cursed, she barely registered Javier and two others joining them.

"The New Frontier? I thought these guys were supposed to be chill?" Becca whispered loudly.

"I wish we hadn't had to come all the way out here, but unfortunately, Badger here says you attacked his men! He says you fired on them. Took out a lot of our people." Max started.

"They shot first! they killed my nephew! Shot a woman in cold blood!" Javier shouted back in anger.

"How many of my friends died because of you, huh?" Badger countered with his own anger.

"Sounds like a bunch of he-said, she-said sh*t to me." Max looked between the two men.

"Well, what the f*ck do you want? An apology?" Tripp yelled at Badger.

"What I really want is for my dead buddies to be alive again. But I don't think that's too likely, is it?"

"He needs to come with us. Answer to justice, accept his punishment. Men have gotta have laws, otherwise, we're no better than the animals." Max says trying to diffuse the situation.

"Or else what? What are you gonna do?!" Javier retorts.

"You know damn well what!" Badger lifts his AK slightly to emphasize his point.

"Fact of the matter is, you stole from us, you killed some of us. Give it up now, and get down here."

Clementine sent a quick look towards Javier, his face the definition of conflicted. She quickly turned away when she noticed Al next to him.

"I think they need a little... incentive." Badger waved towards one of the soldiers. The soldier bringing out a tied up Francine.

'Of course she had to go out again.' Clementine thought disdainfully.

"Francine!" Conrad shouts in worry.

Another one of the soldiers holds a pair of shears to one of Francine's fingers.

"You hurt her, I'll kill you!"

"Whoa. You didn't tell me you had a hostage." Clementine barely managed to catch Max whisper to Badger.

"It's gonna be okay, baby! I love you, baby!"

"I'm alright, baby! Just... just give them what they want!"

"There's no reason this has to get ugly. But we ain't leaving without what we came for." Badger states.

"She's innocent in this! You don't have to drag her into our fight!" Javier tries in an attempt to dissuade the soldiers.

'That's just gonna make him want to do it more.' She cynically thought, her distrust for Badger from the little experience she had with the man being found to be justified.

"I don't have to, but I kinda want to." He nods to the soldier holding the shears.

Francine cries out in pain, her missing finger squirting blood briefly before stopping.

"Francine! Oh, my God! Oh, my God, please!"

"Now, get your ass down here, or I cut off the rest of 'em!" Badger threatens with a smug smirk.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Max shouts as he turns towards Badger.

"Javi. Please, man. Just go with him. You got to. He'll kill Francine!" Conrad begs Javier tearfully.

"Nobody's giving in to them!" Tripp declares defiantly.

Clementine didn't know who to support at this moment, Javier going with them was the smart play. But she also didn't trust Badger to not go against his part of the deal.

"I got an idea." Al states.

"We got some folks a few miles west of here. I could contact them on the radio for support, but... you gotta agree to our deal."

Tripp contemplated the plan, while Clementine was thinking of ways not to let it happen. The New Frontier was her fight, not theirs, and never will be.

"We should start shooting now." Clementine blurted out.

"No f*ckin' way! He'll kill Francine!" Conrad yelled at her anger.

"He might kill her anyway, Conrad. We gotta risk it." Tripp defended her, but he still seemed deep in thought.

"Nuh-uh, no way. We do not open fire while she's down there!"

"Hello?" Badger calls out with a mocking wave.

"It's cool, I'm coming out! I'm all yours!" Javier raises his hands in surrender.

"Thank you." Conrad says gratefully.

"I don't know, man." Tripp looks at Badger with suspicion.

"Me neither..." Javier walks down, and out of the gate.

"Good man." Badger waves to one of his men, the grunt grabs Javi.

"Let's lock him in the truck and get the hell out of here." Max turns around.

"I don't wanna wait that long."

Another grunt points her gun straight at Javi's head.

"Jesus Christ..." Max looks at Badger in disbelief.

"Come on! I wanna see him pay for what he did."

"We got what we came for, Badger."

"We had a deal! You asked for me to come down, and I did!" Javier struggles against his captor.

"Yeah, well, f*ck the deal." Badger nods to the woman who would be Javier's executioner.

"Al... do it." Tripp tells the man, who nods and whispers something in his radio.

Clementine feels a sense of urgency, and aims at the woman about to execute Javier, and fires a shot straight into her chest.

"The f*ck?!" Badger curses in surprise.

Javier picks up the shears that had fallen, and jams it into a grunt's throat. The dying man falling backwards onto Max and Badger, his blood spurting through the gaps in the shears.

"sh*t!"

"Francine, run!" Javier shouts at the woman, who manages to run a few feet before getting shot in the back by Badger.

"Francine!" Conrad screams before firing into The New Frontier as well.

Clementine hears an explosion, the vibration from it shake her legs and makes her stumble around. When she regains her footing, she hears the truck turn on.

"Jesus Christ!" Tripp shouts as the truck bursts through the gate.

Objects are thrown through the air over walls.

'Smoke?' Clementine wonders as they explode throughout the airstrip.

"f*ckin' tear gas!"

The smoke hits her, and uncontrollable urge to cough hits her as she feels her eyes start to burn and tear up. She runs down the stairs and covers her face with her hood as a makeshift mask.

Clementine can barely see walkers through the tear gas as they begin to fill up the town. Bloodcurdling screams, and the sound of flesh tearing fill the air.

A walker attempts to lunge at her, but she barely moves out of the way and trips it. Killing the walker wasn't worth the trouble right now, as the burning in her lungs became worse and her coughs became more violent.

"Head east, we'll catch up!"

Clementine turns towards the sound of Tripp's voice, inching towards it.

"Don't come! It's already fallen, we're headin' east with the remnants. Over." She heard Al shout.

"Affirmative. Bill's orders are to stay safe, find an area that's easy to defend, and wait for recovery. Over." A voice she didn't recognize cracked through the radio.

"Got it, tell Bill The New Frontier is hostile, I repeat, hostile. Over."

Clementine finally catches the man within her vision, and moves her hood back up out of her face. The man was sitting in a large truck with Tripp, Conrad, and Becca.

"Get in! We're leaving!" Tripp shouts at her.

Right now, her own safety was her priority and she jumps in the back of the truck. As the truck drives off she does her best to clear her lungs of any tear gas, her throat burning from all the coughing she's done in the past couple minutes.

"You alright back there?" Tripp asks in concern.

Clementine responds with a thumbs up as she finally feels the urge to cough disappear. She removes her backpack, and unslings her weapons as she lays her head down against the bag.

"Why the f*ck is she here? She opened fire on them and got Francine killed!" Conrad cries out in grief and anger.

"Conrad, it wasn't her fault. You heard the bastard, he had no care for the deal anyways."

"You don't know that! This girl's been nothin' but trouble since we first met her." Conrad states.

"Hey! There's no need for fightin', let's just meet up with the others and head someplace safe." Al jumps in, before his radio comes back to life.

"Al you there?"

"Yes."

"Change of plans. Recovery isn't possible at the moment. Something's come up with one of our allies in Kentucky and all hands on deck are needed. You're on your own. Over."

"sh*t!" Becca curses loudly.

"Got it. We'll try findin' our way back. Over."

Clementine felt guilty for being happy about the news of them being abandoned.

"Now what?" Becca questions the man.

The truck suddenly stops moving.

"Our people are parked on the side of the road. Let's figure out our game plan before doing anything irrational." Tripp exits the truck, followed by Conrad and the others.

Clementine sits still for a minute, contemplating things. She removes her hat, tracing her fingers over the bloodstains it had collected over the years.

Someone knocks on the glass, "Come out, they want your input."

Clementine puts her hat back on and rolls up her hood. She crawls into the backseat and exits the truck.

"Now that we're all here. What's the plan?" Tripp starts.

"Well seeing as me and my partner here are stuck for the time being. We might as well help y'all out until we get things situated."

"We have to go back. We have to bury her."

"I wish we could. But Prescott's overrun. We can't go back." Tripp says in an attempt to comfort and help Conrad see reason.

"Well, we're not safe here, either." A woman, Eleanor she thinks chips in.

Clementine thinks for a second. Richmond was an option they could consider, and would let her find a way to get Al and Becca safe before she continues her search for The New Frontier.

'f*ck it.'

"What about Richmond? I've heard there's a community there. If it's true, they'll have food, walls, maybe even a hospital." She gestures towards Javier to make a point.

"All I want is to find the motherf*ckers who did this! They took my home! They took my... Goddamn it!"

"You want revenge? You're gonna need help. Maybe going to Richmond is the way to get it." Javier inspires the grieving man.

"Geez, he sounds like Bill." Clementine hears Becca whisper under her breath.

"Richmond, huh?" Tripp looks over at Clementine.

"It's something, at least." Eleanor shrugs.

"Yeah. f*ck it. Let's go."

"That's the spirit, man." Tripp slaps Conrad's back lightly.

Clementine looked over at the car Javier had arrived in. His niece was sitting in the back and seemed to be crying, most likely about her dead brother and mom that was currently dying. The sight tugged at her heartstrings a tiny bit, it was never easy losing someone especially close to you.

Clementine turns back towards the truck and takes her spot in the back. Laying back down and trying to get some sleep.

More doors open and close as she hears everyone reenter the vehicles. The truck starts moving, and the ride continues on in silence for a bit.

"What's her deal?" Becca asks.

"Clementine's? She's just a bit... I don't know how to word it in any other way, but that she's got a real dislike for being around other people. Might have to do with all the scars she's got." Tripp answers, the last part causing Clementine to tense.

"Scars?" Al joins the conversation.

"Yeah, now that you mention it. She's really defensive about those scars. But don't ask her about it, I've seen her look ready to kill a man in the bar for askin'." Conrad informs them.

"Sounds like someone we knew. She just wasn't able to speak." Al says with a tinge of sadness.

Guilt started to fill her as she bit her cheek.

"Yeah..." Becca responds, slowly trailing off.

"What happened to her?" Tripp asks them.

"Went on a mission like ours with another, they were goin' to meet up with some community up in Ohio. They didn't ever come back. We sent out a group a month later to check the community out, after they never called in or came back, and it was burnt to the ground. Found the truck they left with all shot up, but not the bodies. We guessed they must've walked into a raid and got killed, but not finished off." Al explains, and she briefly hears Becca take a heavy breath.

"sh*t, can we stop talking about this now." Becca says, her tone slightly agitated.

"Sensitive topic?" Tripp asks.

"They were close." Al says, leaving Clementine feeling even more guilty.

Clementine thought about her behavior back then. She definitely could've left things off in a better manner, but at the time she couldn't get those horrible screams out of her head. They still tormented her to this day, but now she was able to tune them out.

She felt herself begin to finally drift off once everyone went silent.

Clementine stared at the bloody knife in her hands. The smell of blood in the air making her nose itch.

A corpse was in front of her. A member of The New Frontier she had found. The man had cried that he knew nothing of what she had asked, but she didn't believe him.

An all too familiar face laughed at the actions she had taken. But the noise only registered in her ears as ringing as she continued staring at the knife in her hand.

"Wake up."

Her attention was shifted away from the blade as she looked around for the strange voice that called out.

"What the?" Something was wrong, but she didn't know what it was.

"Clementine, wake up." A masculine voice boomed around the room.

She dropped the knife and began looking around, the strange voice calling for her was a new thing for her. She eventually found herself outside of the building she was in.

"Clem?" A new, distinctly feminine voice said in a confused manner.

The environment around her started to burn violently and fill with smoke as she searched for the voices that seemed to come from everywhere.

"Clem!"

Her eyes opened wide after the voice shouted her name.