Chapter Text
A bit deeper into the night, the pair hears small footsteps approaching the lookout. Alerted, they break apart and Louis takes a peak in the direction of the rustling.
“Clem? Are you here?” It was only AJ.
“Hey, buddy. What’re you still doing up? You’re supposed to be sleeping already, it’s late.” The girl lectures, but her face softens as she sees AJ below. “I can’t sleep. I had a bad dream again.”
“Come here, then. Join us.” With her permission, he climbs up the lookout post.
“Hey little man.” Louis greeted, offering a fist bump.
“Louis! What are you doing here?” AJ asked, confused as he knew it was supposed to only be Clementine at the night shift, but regardless, he was delighted to see his friend.
“Just keeping Clem here company.” The boy smiled. AJ nods in understanding and picks up a binocular to look beyond the gate.
A few moments pass, and he decides to speak up.
“That man I almost killed back at the station. He’s gonna be with them, right?” AJ briefly stopped peering at the device and glanced at Clementine. “Abel. Yeah.” She frowns at his harsh terminology.
“Are your bad dreams about him?” The girl asked. AJ nodded.
“Can I swear yet?” The boy suddenly asked, making Louis chuckle at the boy, but curious to see what Clementine would reply.
She thought for a second then let out a deep sigh then smiled. “Okay, but not the F-word? Shit is the upper limit.”
AJ nodded at the response, as if he had been given very important valuable information. He was a bit disappointed not getting a free pass fully, but he’ll take what he can get for now.
“That guy is a f… a-a shitbird.” AJ managed to say. The two older kids laugh at his expression, making the boy frown. “It’s not funny. Come on.” AJ said, clearly unamused at their amusement.
“I’d take a big shit on his head.” The boy added.
“Okay, I think that’s enough shit for today.” Louis said, fake scoldingly. AJ chuckled.
He continued looking into the binoculars, deciding to count the monsters and observe where they would go. James had told him they weren’t as bad as people, and that people were more the bad guys than the walkers. Looking back to that guy at the station, Abel, he started thinking maybe his new friend had been right.
Hardened and all serious, the boy said, “Abel doesn’t frighten me. When he comes here, I call dibs. I’m the one that kills him.”
This had caused the two teens to share a concerned look.
“AJ, I don’t like the way you’re talking, kiddo. Killing is never easy, or fun, or to be treated so casually.” The girl explained. AJ had not expected the sudden lecture, but he had sort of an idea why.
“Is it because I’m trying to be good because of Marlon?” He asked. Upon hearing the name, Louis lowered his head. He didn’t want to intrude or comment as this had felt like an important moment between the two, so he just resorted to giving them space, and passively listened.
“It’s just because you should never think about killing like that. Lives are precious, and you shouldn’t be so quick to decide on who gets to live and who doesn’t. And you most especially do not kill someone you hate for your enjoyment. With that mindset, you’ll get a lot more people hurt, maybe even harm others you don’t actually mean to hurt.” AJ listened intently and nodded. He figured karma should handle Abel instead of hurting the people he cared about.
The calm of the learning moment was abrupt as Louis, who had been looking out at the far woods while listening to their dialogue had spotted something unusual— it was the raiders, sneaking towards the school’s direction, with a horse pulling a huge cage with them, as if to contain a large animal. Presumably in this case, it was for them.
“They’re here. Let’s tell the others and get ready.” Louis said, bidding them goodbye and running off to the building to wake the others.
The kids gather and Clementine decides to give a quick run through of the game plan as well as a quick assessment of the situation. These raiders were clearly not here to mess around— they weren’t going to leave empty-handed.
“Ok, remember what we’ve planned. They’ve got at least four more people, all carrying guns. And carts, probably to carry people away.”
“Assholes.” Mitch crossed his arms in fury.
“Listen. If they get inside, I’ll keep them focused on me. That should give Willy and Mitch time to set up the bomb.” The two boys nod, both holding the two small bombs they’ve been working on all week,
“If they manage to get in, we fall back to the admin building; right into our traps.” Clementine looked at everyone’s faces; all of them scared, but they also all had a fire of determination she could see in their eyes— they weren’t going down without a fight.
“So, uh, any final words of wisdom? You’ve faced them and won, after all.” Louis asked their leader of operations. “Whatever happens, look out for each—”
A gunshot suddenly rang, hitting Omar’s leg. “Everybody hide!” The rest of the unharmed kids scatter around the grounds as Clementine begins dragging the injured boy to a safer place, with cover.
“Just hold on, big guy, Alright?” Clementine told Omar who was clutching his leg. He nods, “I’ll be okay.”
The raiders, led by Lilly, soon manage to open their barricaded gates and infiltrate the school grounds.
“Lilly! Not one step, or I’ll shoot.” Clementine stood her ground from across the yard, drawing Marlon’s bow at the woman. The other raiders freeze in their steps, alarmed by the brave action. They all start training their guns at the young girl.
Lilly signals for the raiders to hold their fire. “Where’s our new recruits?” She asked.
“They’re not yours!” Clementine shouted. Her fingers were starting to get sore from the tension of pulling the string back.
“Search the yard.” Lilly directed Abel and the others. “If Clementine moves, shoot her.”
This made Clem’s eyes widen, a sudden flash of fear shining through her eyes, alas, she swallowed her fright and strengthened her resolve. “Just take me and leave.” She told the woman.
Lilly only shook her head. “I’m afraid we need more than one stubborn little girl, Clementine. We need all of you.”
Willy and Mitch, on the other hand, find themselves an opening and start creeping closer to the cage where they would be planting the bomb.
“So eager to sacrifice yourself for others, huh? Lee would’ve been heartbroken knowing his sacrifice to keep you alive had been for nothing.”
That had hid a nerve, but Clementine persisted. If her time with the Frontier had taught her anything, it was that showing emotion was a form of weakness, and she wasn’t about to show Lilly that she was weak. “That’s where you’re wrong, Lilly. You see, I’m just like him— not afraid to stand up and defend my people, my home. If he saw me now, he’d be proud.”
“Why? Because you pick fights you can’t win?” Lilly taunted.
By this time, Mitch and Willy get to the back of the cage. They quickly planted the bomb inside the cage and set it off.
They manage to get back far enough before the bomb detonates, detaching the cage to the horse and spooking the animal to run away. A few of the raiders, Lilly included, got blasted to the ground from the force of the explosion.
“NO!”
The other kids manage to all fall back closer to the admin building safely from all the commotion. They took this as an opportunity to start shooting with their bows.
“Argh! That’s it! Kill who you have to! Take the rest!” Lilly shouted, finding cover.
Arrows and bullets flew everywhere; the once peaceful school yards now a battleground. Clementine starts shooting at the raiders, giving everyone an opening to run inside the building and upstairs to hide, anticipating for the raiders to follow them in.
Three barged in, with Abel leading the two. Once the two raiders aligned perfectly under the traps, Aasim had cut the rope holding the duffel, and the bag of bricks fell on their heads, killing them instantly.
Abel threw a molotov at the second floor balcony, causing Clementine and AJ to fall back to Marlon’s office. It wasn’t long before the bad man made his way into the room as well.
“Your friend Lilly ain’t around this time, so we’ll have a nice little chat, you and me. Alone.” Abel said, menacingly drawing closer to Clementine. The girl quickly equips her knife from her sleeve and slices the man’s hand, causing him to fall.
The man then kicked the girl’s shin, causing her to drop the knife. She managed to pick it up before the man took it from her, but Abel quickly stood up and threw a punch, pushing the girl onto the principal’s desk, face down. He twisted her right arm from behind, almost succeeding to break it when Clementine found a small lighthouse statue on the desk and used it to stab Abel’s eye.
The man falls back, and AJ uses this as an opportunity to help out. He grabbed a metal fireplace poker and stabbed it into the man’s foot. Clem uses this chance to push him outside to the balcony. Though not without effort, she managed to eventually push him off, but the man grabbed her hand at the last second and pulled her down with him.
When Clementine got back to her senses, he heard Abel’s scream of pain as his leg knee had split open and started bleeding profusely. She looked up, attempting to get her bearings, when her face was met with the barrel of Lilly’s gun.
“Shit, this should be easy.” Lilly said, clearly hesitating to just pull the trigger, despite everything the girl had caused.
“You won’t shoot me. We were like family once. You won’t hurt family.” Lilly had looked even more conflicted.
Louis had watched the exchange from a distance. When he saw that Lilly had her defenses down, he immediately tackled the woman, causing her to drop her gun. Clementine was about to reach for the shotgun when Abel had pulled her leg back. To her rescue, Rosie appeared and chomped down on Abel’s arm hard.
Finally rid of the man, Clementine looked back to see Louis being dragged away by one of Lilly’s people. “Shit!”
“Aaah! Get off me!” Louis screamed in agony as the raider tugged on his dreads.
Without a second thought, Clementine’s eyes had focused on the raider dragging Louis to the cage. With a good aim, she managed to hit the raider’s shoulder causing her to stumble back, giving Louis the chance to kick her off and run away.
On the other side of the yard, Violet was fighting one of the raiders, but failing miserably. She had managed to get a few punches in, but the raider was still much stronger in stature than her.
“Shit! Vi!” Because Clementine had focused on Louis, she realized that Violet too needed help a little too late. Though she tried to shoot an arrow at the raider, it missed because they managed to get far enough away. “It’s okay! I’ll–I’ll be fine!” Violet yelled out as she was pushed into the cage along with Omar and Aasim.
‘We’ll kill you, you bitch! You hear me?! We’ll get you!” Mitch screamed out. Lilly only barely managed to escape with the others.
Now they only had the walkers who had been drawn to the loud sound of the fight to deal with. This being something everyone had been used to dealing with, they managed to quickly finish off the ones who had managed to get in through their opened gates.
Clearing the grounds, Clementine, Mitch, and Louis manage to close the gates, or a tleast what remained of it after Lilly had tossed a molotov at it.
“They took them. Aasim, and Omar, and goddammit, Violet.” Louis grunted in frustration. All he could do was look back at the closed gate in sorrow for his three friends.
Clementine placed a hand on his shoulder, “I know, but we’re going after them.” She was furious that the raiders had managed to capture some of them.
“If we knew where to look, I’d smash down their walls myself. But we don’t.” Louis looked down in defeat. For all they knew, the fact it took them weeks to come back was because they came from somewhere very far away.
Clementine remembered the man she had managed to take down, just barely. “Well, we’ve got someone who does.” She and the boy turned around to see Abel, unconscious, who had just been tied down by Mitch and Ruby to the lamp post.
Clem looked around at the rest of the group. Some visibly shaken from the events, others fuming. Despite them missing a few kids, she was thankful for the fact that no one had to die. That had to count for something.
The morning after the siege felt uncanny. A new day came with the bright sun and birds chirping nearby. It was as if nothing had happened the night prior.
Ruby and Tenn were sitting on the outside couch, sulking as they had missed the friends they lost. They wanted to look at the bright side and think that their friends will return, but realizing that it had already been a year since they lost Minnie and Sophie, they didn’t know if it was better to start mourning for them instead.
Louis approached Clementine who had just gone out to the courtyard with AJ.
“Me and Mitch moved Abel to the basement. Maybe it’s time you give it a try to question him, see where they took them.” Louis sighed. “I wanted to hurt him, you know, to make him talk. But… I just couldn’t. Maybe you’ll get more out of him than I did?”
Clementine saw the disappointment in Louis’ face. He had never looked more upset and downcast. She couldn’t help but hold his hand and grabbed it tight to comfort him. He managed a small smile before he let her go.
In the basement, Abel looked a bit more bruised up than she last remembered. Seeing Clementine, the man scoffed and spit out a bit of blood on the side.
“You better keep that angry little shit on a leash, kid wanted to kill me if it weren’t for the dreadhead.”
Clementine raised a brow, crossing her arms, deciding how to go about this interrogation. AJ walked in a little while later, keen on watching the ordeal pan out. He looked menacingly at the man, playing with the barrel of his revolver.
“Little boy, do you even know how to use that thing? Why don’t you give me some water, maybe it’ll loosen my lips.” Abel taunted.
“You’re not in the position here to be making demands, Abel. Tell us where you brought them, and we might just give you a sip.” Clementine slowly approached the man, crossing her arms.
“I see you’ve done this kind of shit before, huh? Smart girl.”
“Now, where are they?” Clementine asked, her tone unwavering. “It doesn’t matter. As soon as she gets there, she’s gonna turn around and come right back for me.” Abel said, laughing. “You better give me the five star treatment.” The man smirked, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.
“Oh I’ll make sure to treat you real nice.” She walked back to where Rosie had been tied to the water filter.
“You aren’t gonna do that. You don’t have it in you.”
Clementine scoffed, unleashing the hound who gladly bit the man’s leg.
“AAH! YOU PSYCHO BITCH CALL IT OFF!” After a bit more struggling, Clementine decided to finally call the dog off with a whistle.
“Just tell us where they took our friends so we can get them back!” AJ told the man, copying Clem’s stance.
“You don’t know what it’s like out there. Communities out for each other’s blood. We need the manpower, you’re not getting your friends back. We need the people to fight it. Soldiers who’ll point their guns the way we tell them to. You little turds were supposed to be easy pickings who—”
SLAM
Clementine grabbed Abel’s head and slammed it to the chair’s arm rest. “No fucking way I’d let my people fight for you.”
Abel starts coughing up a lot more blood. “Shit. I don’t think I’m gonna make it.” The man heaved. “When you pushed me off that balcony, something must’ve burst inside of me.”
“Will he turn?” AJ asked.
“NO!” Abel grunted. “My… my whole life, everything I ever got, I got with my own two hands and… and my will.” He spat out more blood.
“For my body to turn on me… to take control…” Abel shook his head at the thought. “I’ll tell you where to find Lilly. Just promise you won’t let me turn.” Abel pleaded, tears running down his face.
Clementine sighed. Despite her history with the man, the good in her couldn’t just let him die and come back against his own will. “If you’re honest with me, I’ll put you out of your misery. You have my word.”
Hearing those words, Abel nodded. “Okay… we have a boat. We’re docked a few miles west of here, at an old fishing pier. Your friends are on that boat.”
“You got what you wanted. Please, don’t let me become one of those things.” Abel looked into the two kids’ eyes.
Clementine took out the small knife from her pocket and looked at AJ. “You don’t need to watch this, kiddo.” AJ, remembering what she and him talked about just the night before, nodded. The old him would’ve taken pleasure in seeing the man he was so frightened of die right in front of him.
He looked away, remembering that killing and taking joy out of it is what makes you a monster. And he was no monster.
Clementine looked away from the man, stashing her knife back. She looked upset. AJ knew that she felt that way because she was a good person. She didn’t want to betray the man’s final wish; that was the only reason why she finished him off. AJ decided then and there that he wanted to be a good person, just like Clem.
In the afternoon, Louis, AJ, and Willy had set out to do some reconnaissance, to see if Abel had been telling the truth.
Not even ten minutes after walking towards the direction of the nearby river, they spotted the big boat— it looked more like a rundown ferry.
The only way in and out was the small pier the boat was docked in. Upon closer inspection with the binoculars, there were guards standing, keeping a lookout on each floor of the ship, as well as on the pier by the boat’s entrance. On one side of the pier, there are several raiders guarding it too, surrounding crates and barrels of what looked to be their supplies. That would be useful to ransack too.
Clementine looked at the second food closer, where she saw Violet being led to the room to the other end of the boat, a gun trained on her. “Abel wasn’t lying. This is it.” Louis said.
“There’s no good cover leading up to the boat. We’re gonna need one hell of a distraction.” Clementine looked at the boy, frowning as she started to think about possible ways they could get onto the vessel without getting unwanted attention.
“We should get out of here before they spot us. We can talk through the plan once we’re somewhere safe.” Clementine addressed the group and they all agreed and started walking back to the school.
Now at a safer distance, Clementine started running over the plan she had thought about. “We can burn that hay we saw as a distraction to lure the raiders’ attention there, and free the horses so they can’t chase after us with them. Someone can sneak up to their supplies cache and take what we need to help fortify the school. As for the distraction, James was able to lure the walkers to us back then to help me and AJ escape. Maybe if I talk to him, he can agree to help us and do it again.”
“What about after we get everyone home? The raiders’ll just attack us again. What then?” Willy had made a decent point. Clementine was about to respond when she froze in her tracks and held the others back. They had spotted someone out in the distance, chopping down trees. “Hide quick!”
She crouched to where AJ and Louis were hiding. “They must be one of them. You all stay here. I’ll see if they know anything that could help us.”
And with that, Clementine slowly approached the figure as the others watched from afar. She managed to sneak up behind the raider and hold a knife to their throat. “Drop it.” Signaling for the person to drop the axe. The raider obliged and held her hands up.
“Where do you keep the people you steal?” Clementine asked.
“I don’t know what you’re—” The girl attempted, but could only hiss as she felt the sharp blade of the knife against her skin. “I’m not fucking around. Answer the question.” Clementine taunted.
“The boiler deck. Second deck. They’re all there.” The raider finally answered.
Upon creeping closer to the two, Louis realized that he knew the raider. “Clem, wait!” This caused Clementine to turn her head around, giving the raider the chance to break free.
“That… that’s Minnie.” Louis mumbled, walking closer beside the girl.
The raider, who turned out to be an old friend, could only hug the boy. “After the attack, I wasn’t sure… I mean, I heard they burned half the school down.” Minnie started. “Who survived? Brody, Ruby, Mitch… Tenn?” Her voice faltered as she mentioned her brother.
“Ruby, Tenn, and Mitch made it. And Brody, um, she died.” Willy said, breaking the news to Minnie. The girl was clearly in anguish upon hearing the news. She now set her sights on Clementine.
“You’re Clementine. The girl who took over after Marlon died.” She said, bitterness in her tone. “You’re the one who convinced the school to fight back. Your “leadership” is going to get my little brother killed.”
Clementine could not believe the audacity of the raider in front of her. “Excuse me?”
“Abel figured he could talk Marlon into handing everyone over, like he and Lilly did before. You ruined the whole plan.”
Louis couldn’t just stand there and say nothing while Clementine was being berated by his old friend who had betrayed them. “What the hell? He gave you and Sophie away!” He argued.
“Yeah, and we all survived it. Marlon would’ve never made them fight, the way you did. He wouldn’t have gotten people killed.”
“Minnie you’re wrong. Clem protected us! And Marlon…Marlon killed Brody.” Louis couldn’t help but have his emotions wash over him as he rehashed the earlier events.
Minnie was taken aback. “What?”
“Where’s Sophie? Is she alive?” Louis asked, changing the subject. “She… she died protecting the Delta. A hero.”
Suddenly, another voice from the woods rang out. “Minerva!” It was another one of the raiders, making the kids scatter to hide. “Finish up, and get back to the boat. I want to be in before dark.”
Minnie looked at the others one last time before she yelled a “Yes, ma'am." and picked up her fallen axe. Atleast she had the courtesy to not rat out her old friends. She approached Clementine’s hiding spot. “Our boat leaves for the Delta in two days. Then it’ll be a couple of weeks before we can come back for the rest of you. When we do, don’t fight. The only way you’re gonna save your people is to let us take them.” Minnie instructed.
“If Tenn could see you now, he’d be ashamed to call you his sister.” Minnie lowered her head at this. She figured she was right. Regardless, she headed off to her new group, abandoning the kids.
When the coast was clear, the others headed out. Louis looked crestfallen, “ ‘Let us take them’. She clearly no longer identifies herself as one of us. She’s part of the Delta now. The old Minnie would have done everything to stand up for the school.”
Clementine could only sympathetically rub the boy’s back. “Are you okay?” Clementine asked, concerned for the boy. Then, something in his expression changed. He seemed more determined than ever.
“Nothing’s changed. Our plan is to get onto the boat and save our friends, so that’s what we’re gonna do. We’re not letting Minerva stop us.”