Chapter Text

Act I

Δ

Autumn

There's a calm breeze through the vast abandoned city. Brushing past the bright greens that lace up and down each building. Leaves and moss spreading like tendrils up the tallest skyscrapers to the lowest roads. Water seeping into the old entrances of tunnels and subways, whilst also partially flooding around half of anything to knee height until it reached the higher-level roads. Where once more the lush foliage took over the city. Nature taking over the human-made landscapes for miles, just as the dead had done to the living now.

From the buildings that collapsed years ago to those that were simply crumbling by the second. A shadow of what anything had been before. When people would be found within every square inch of it, only now part of the shell of the auras of walkers, or some of the many bandits and scavengers willing to do anything for any bit of scrap they could find. Searching for those like the wrecked cars that lined the streets to the shelled out interiors of buildings whose roofs had collapsed since the beginning of the end. Now covered in the same nature that would engulf the rest of the city. And come night, would plummet it into darkness. Without a source of light other than what the moon was willing to give. And, if those searching within it were lucky, a light source they could hold. Something temporary that could help prevent something permanent such as death.

It was where it landed a young survivor and scavenger now. As she gently listens to the breeze around her as she steps up and over the cracked surfaces in the age old asphalt. As she kicks the small pebbles laid out past the water that was just reaching at the surface as if it'd come from a natural lake, rather than a man-made flood from the chaos that ensued when the dead started walking. From the events that led her to where she was now. Alone and a shell of her former self. No better than the bandits that were killing to help themselves survive just a little bit longer.

She keeps her grip tight on the strap of her faded black backpack. Almost to the point her palm was raw front began fabric running back and forth across it roughly. Her worries of losing everything was not even just from sentimental, but the essence of her life as well. Doing it to make herself feel just a little safer in a world where she could only trust herself.

She remembers the lessons that someone had taught her. Those of warning of places like the city she was in and specifically how she could avoid them. But with the changing world she found herself straying from those...and the rest...more and more. Because everything was dangerous. Everywhere was too. And it wasn't like there was much you could really differentiate from them when one had more walkers, while another location could have more people.

But she recalls most of what she was taught. Those from good people and those who took care of her, to the others she saw just as monstrous as the walkers around them. As their lessons might still have some malice and truth to them, for better or worse she found it possible to follow them more than she had before.

A pair of amber eyes glance upwards at one of the many collapsed buildings. Counting the broken windows up until she reaches the fourth one —which is more on its side and easier to reach because of it, before she starts climbing some of the wreckage. Wet and muddy footprints from her boots visible in areas she needs to continue to step near. As one mistake could land her into a plummet downwards.

Which would definitely not be a great way to go.

Almost there she tells herself, easing herself as she reaches relatively flat surfaces, keeping her grip steady before she finally reaches the broken window and steps inside.

Her boots crunch down on some of the small pieces of glass beneath them, shattering them down to even smaller pieces before she moves past them. Glancing inwards at the old apartment and the broken furniture inside. As well as what she has stocked inside a possibly temporary home.

She sighs to herself, relaxing her shoulders and joints as the sun begins to set outside, marking another one of her scavenging trips and journeys around the city as over...as well as a success for once.

Her muscles ache as she rummages through her bag again, pulling out the extra ammo she'd found for her weapons, as well as a few, but nearly destroyed, cans of food.

But something was better than absolutely nothing.

She smiles to herself as she tosses the can between her hands. Knowing that at least she'll get something in her stomach rather than absolutely nothing or something small like the previous nights. Something simple that'll literally keep her going another day. Something small that she can look forward to.

Especially the little face on the front of the can. How they'd said it looked just like her. How they told her she was exactly like the little girl there. Smiling and a signal of hope.

Yeah, right.

It wasn't like that at all anymore. Not as she kept her hat facing backwards, knowing it was too painful to see that blood stain on the front of it anymore. Her denim jacket ripped at the sleeves from so many close calls she'd simply cut them off slightly past her shoulders. Letting her dirtied off-white, thin hoodie trail past and end to the lengths of her arms. Showing through to the unzipped part of her jacket as well.

The scar that ran diagonally across the bridge of her nose. The matching one above her brow that showed past the darkened amber eyes that only looked to the can blankly. The mark of The New Frontier —her last attempt at hope, all still there in what was once the burnt flesh in her arm. A reminder of another failure, and another reason she could hardly look at herself in the shattered mirror nearby. Not through any of the pieces, and certainly not the can anymore.

Even if she did look similar to it.

The brunette makes a grab for her knife, looking into the old red stains still clearly marked across it, glinting off and through the small amount of light they emitted from a nearby lantern.

Just as quickly, she brushes it off on the edge of her navy blue jacket before she stabs it into the top of the can, pulling at it to open it forward before carefully taking the top off, minding the fact that it could have rather sharp edges and cut her palm, she opens the can. Glancing down at the peaches laid within as her mouth practically waters at it. Easing herself to not eat it all too quickly. The fear of getting sick from her own indulgences was definitely something Clementine was keenly aware of.

Which each tentative bite, the brunette gets memories to when she was younger. To when she was in a Christmas cabin and ski lodge, unknowingly going to be led down a darkened path that would only lead her to where she was now. Alone and a shell of her former self. Even pushing it further as she remembers the lessons she'd learned. The ones she could hear so clearly. Ringing in her ears from two separate people. Both of whom she vowed to never trust again. Both of whom had been there since the very beginning.

Lee was wrong. Lilly was wrong was all that repeated in her head. Knowing the conflict between the both of them and how both of them caused her so much pain. Leaving her in the solitude of her own silent night as she takes another bite of the peaches. Squeezing her eyes tight as she feels a pang of exhaustion reach its way through her joints. Her stomach not fully content with the food it's gotten, but it was all she could gather if she didn't want to puke. And it was enough to tell her to get some rest. Easing back into the hard flooring and nearing the small blanket she usually rested upon, Clementine thinks back to those moments.

To the ones she had with the people she cared about. The ones she learned from. And how she trusted them even as the world changed. Even as she remembers and wishes she could tell one of them just how wrong they were. How their lessons were wrong and didn't help you in this world. and how neither of them truly brought her to where she was now.

She had to create her own rules. From revising old ghosts' teachings or making things up as she scavenges every day. She would do it. It was what she told herself each night and what truly kept her going with nothing else left.

It's all Clementine thinks about as she nearly falls asleep. Her exhaustion sleeping into the floor below just as she hears the noise of glass shattering down below. Sending the pools of amber to open quickly and readjust to the faint light in the distance. Listening closely and silently for anything else, as well.

Her whole body tenses as she tries to figure out what had caused it. Knowing it could've simply been an animal or some sort of walker roaming nearby. Merely messing with what was left of the decrepit environment around them.

Or it could be something more dangerous…

Clementine holds a breath as she gets up on her feet. Eyeing the old bow and arrow off to her right, nearly one of the dressers that was blocking a nearby door from anyone curious enough to want to wander in, or a walker that was going to come into a new snack just resting in front of it.

The brunette knows her circumstances as she takes tentative steps. Making sure each and every one is silent. That the water that’d moved in from the incoming rain currently picking up within the night wouldn’t make even a splash across the old wooden floors, or the ripped up rugs and carpets Clementine currently relied on. Hoping that the old wood wouldn’t creak or break beneath her as her hand grips across the smooth wood of her bow. Her grip tight and secure as she brings it and a handful of arrows her way before looking back across the broken windows she’d entered from. Where the shattered glass and the remaining shards across the sill still reflected off a small amount of light. Flickering as her amber eyes did the same, knowing this wasn’t an ordinary encounter.

Those were flashlights, and whoever was out there was certainly human. Not necessarily the dead or something waiting to sink its teeth into her neck, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t a monster.

It only proves its point as Clementine peers her head slightly out, trying to keep herself stiff and quiet as she attempts to look through the sheer-sharp edges of the broken glass on the window.

Her face is shadowed by the nearby storm clouds as the rain begins to pelt the area around them. Cascading on each and every surface it could find from the flooded areas of the city across the subway entrance, to the now hooded figures the amber irises caught standing across the way. Nearby a contingency of wrecked vehicles, where their actions and words soon after are what truly catch Clementine’s attention.

One of the hooded figures reaches down near one of the obscured wrecks, pulling a small figure out and towards the center by their neck as Clementine watches them attempt to flail and cry out.

“You all thought you could run away after stealing our supplies, is that right?!” He shouts. His voice deep and contorted as Clementine watches more figures be dragged into view. Counting a multitude that are scattered within the dying flashlight’s vision, and she is certain there are more simply by the way the other hooded figures are looking back towards the ground and near the wrecked vehicles rather than towards the figure in the center of view.

“W-we didn’t think anyone lived there!” One of them tries to answer for themselves, keeping an arm in front of their trembling body as they look up and to the main ‘leader’ of whatever this group was. “We just needed some supplies, we didn’t use any of it! You can take it back!”

“Oh? And what makes you think we’d simply just…’let you go’?” One of them retorts, and Clementine can just imagine the sneer the man must be having as he sarcastically chuckles to himself. “Last time we did that...our own got killed. Now we ain’t just gonna let that happen again...even if yer’ just a buncha’ kids roamin’ round here.”

“Everything is in our bags!” Someone else cries out. “You can just take it!”

“Oh we’ll definitely be taking your stuff, don’t you worry my dear. We just need to take some precautions with all of you here...we can’t exactly let you go.”

Clementine feels her heart quicken at those words. Knowing that if it was her down there they’d do the exact same thing. If not would have already. Her teeth grind together as she pulls her bow in front of her. Listening to the whimpers and pleads the random group is calling out within the wind and rain as her fingers wrap around the string of the bow. Her other hand pinching the edges of an arrow, ruffling against the feathers behind it as she pulls it back. Wincing at the sound it makes --though luckily clouded by everything else, and the way her arm stretches past the soreness as she holds a breath. Waiting for the right moment to let go of the arrow.

“Now what do you say, kid?” The man speaks up again, his voice thick and tearing through all the other noises as his southern accent seems to shine through even further. “Knife to the gut and let it all trail out of ya? Or hang you up by the ol’ lampposts out here? Or the-”

His voice cuts off as it there’s a rush past the air and rain. A gurgling sound emits from his throat as the others turn to him, shining their flashlights onto him as his hand is on his neck, a burst of red liquid floods from where the arrow is now sticking out, right as he falls limp to the floor, still alive and choking on his own blood and the sharp arrow that pierced his neck.

“What the fuck?!”

“Johnathan’s down!”

“Get down!”

“Find whoever the fuck had shot that arrow!”

Clementine hides herself behind the wall adjacent to the window, barely peeking out far enough to glance at whatever else was happening. Watching the way one of the men was already off in a sprint, running and abandoning the last two who were left. But those two were definitely set out for trouble.

“Whoever you are out there! I suggest you come on out and show yer’self! It’ll make it easy for all of us!”

Clementine prepares another arrow as she looks out again. Watching one of the men reach out to grab whoever they were holding as captives and at their mercy, releasing the arrow as it piercing through their forearm. Sending him back with a scream in agony.

“Stupid bitch! Phillip, they’re up near tha’ window!”

A gunshot goes off as it slams into the bricks next to where Clementine was standing, sending bits and pieces of it flying as they scrape at her face and send her flinching back. Enough to hear a shotgun be picked up as they speak up again.

“I’m gonna go around em’! You stay here, make sure they don’t move!”

The brunette looks out again, watching as the man with the gun stays near the wrecked vehicles. Crouched too low for her to get a good shot off with her bow as she hears someone climbing the meticulous route it takes to get to her ‘home’.

Shit.

She turns her attention away from the armed man as she looks to the siding, watching as a man catches her glance, and as lightning strikes, an angered glare passes on his face right as he charges at her swinging a knife her way as Clementine is quick to dodge it, hearing the thrashing of the knife right over her before she sends a hard kick to the back of the man’s knee. Forcing him down just as she grabs at his knife, digging her nails into his wrist as he shouts something else. All coming out as foggy and unmemorable to her as her hands finally clench around the blade, enough to pull it back and free while tearing deeply into the palm of the older man beneath her.

He turns his head to the opening, about to shout something to the man outside, but Clementine is quicker. Just as she slams the knife down into the top of his head. Sealing his fate and preventing him from becoming a walker like the rest of them.

Clementine looks away from the bloodied blade as she takes it out of his head, her grip tightening on it just as it did her bow earlier. And as a piercing and deafening shot goes off, it only tightens further. Worrying her that whoever was left out there had begun killing those they were holding to rob. But as her darkened and angered eyes look out, he’d done it to the man she killed earlier. Out of mercy in the worries that they would’ve turned otherwise.

“Bill?! You out there?!” He calls out, desperate and emotional --almost human if he hadn’t been robbing a group down below. “Fucking- I’ll kill you! I’ll fucking kill all of you! Starting with these right here!”

He makes a grab for a nearby teenager, holding them and wrapping an arm around their neck as they let out a surprised gasp. His grunts in anguish finally relaying as a lightning bolt highlights his figure, and a blonde teen he has in a steel tight grip. Not enough to use them as a human shield, but not enough to risk a shot, either. And as Clementine determines her options, she deems herself lucky enough to not have been seen by this final hunter just yet.

He also doesn’t hear it through shaking hands holding his shotgun as one of the other teens hidden near the wrecked vehicles lunges out, tackling the man at his knees as all three of them are sent toppling to the ground. Where more seem to flood it in an attempt to help whoever he’d been holding, as the man gets overwhelmed much before Clementine even gets to him. Watching and listening to the hits he’s taking, even if she knows it isn’t enough.

Her footsteps become more audible as she reaches for the shotgun that’d been thrown across the wet asphalt. Holding it heavily in her palms before she looks to the man as he attempts to fight back at those he’d tried to rob and kill. And as her hands move across the wet and cold metal of the shotgun, her finger etching on the trigger finally tightens. And a loud and ringing sound soon encapsulates any chance of hearing she had. And the rain soon filled the reddened blood spilling out quickly from the head wound the now dead man had. While the many pairs of those nearby soon caught her attention. A plethora of colors in irises looking to her in fear.

In horror. Even if she saved them. They didn’t trust her, and she couldn’t trust them. They could be a threat, just like the others.

Even if she didn’t believe they needed to die --much less deserved it, that didn’t mean that she couldn’t threaten them to keep them in a safe distance. Especially as she kept the shotgun raised their way. Watching the way they’d cower and hide behind someone else for safety, while others moved their hands out to stop her. A collision of voices mixing with the rain like a slick oil.

“Wait! Don’t hurt us!”

“We aren’t one of them!”

“We’ll just leave!”

Clementine merely sighs, letting the gun rest on her shoulder as she gets a slight glance to them. Still hidden within the darkness against the wet steel of the old vehicles. But her eyes remain pierced on the others in front of her. Watching them, as if they were going to move or their faces would turn from horror and fear into the unbridled anger the hunters and bandits previously had.

But they didn’t. Instead showing a sign of innocence to her as her grip loosened. Listening to the cracks of thunder and feeling the way her muscles ached beneath the cold rain battering them over and over. Knowing the teens in front of her were probably feeling the exact same way.

It wasn’t ever easy, was it?

“Fuck…” She mutters under her breath, shaking her head as she finally points back up to her home. To a small location that is barely lit by one of the lanterns she’d left on before her attack on the now bloodied bandits. All but the singular one who’d escaped. “Follow me. We’ll be safe up there.”

She watches for their reactions. More notably when a singular one had their face etched in skepticism. The blonde from before. Now soaked in the rain and the blood of the bandit Clementine had ...disposed of. Her face and fierce emerald eyes staring right into Clementine’s amber pair. As if she was reading her, only coming confused and conflicted, just as Clementine felt.

“We can just get our stuff and be on our way-”

“Trust me.” Clementine interrupts, rummaging her hands through the pockets of the jacket from the nearly headless robber now, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and what looked to be a candy bar. A smile forming on her face before she wiped it away, facing them again with a serious expression. “They’re all around here. And chances are after those gunshots and my own murders of these fuckers? They’ll be all around town, I advise you don’t stick around.”

With the thrash of an arrow out of the arm from one of the men she killed, Clementine hauls her findings over her shoulder once more, and begins to head back towards her home with no hesitation. Wondering which path of fate the others might as well take, even if she seemed rather unsure herself if it was even wise of herself to offer it up. Sure she could be wary, but so could they.

Though, she did have a shotgun against them if anything were to happen. Plus some arrows...and her knife. Even if they had the numbers, she was confident and unnerving. She knew what she was getting herself into now.

And she didn’t even care what the outcome may or may not end up as. Whether it was life or death, she’d accept either. Besides, what was the saying now? Anything to change the pain? Yeah right, like that was even possible.

She doesn’t even look back to the teens behind her. Not even caring to listen to anything other than the storm outside as she makes her way back inside the relatively warm room --her “home” if you will. Not as she eyes the old can of food down and beneath the cabinet, the one she’d been peacefully enjoying before she went out and killed a couple of hunters. How quickly and in a snap it’d changed it all. Almost to a point of reflection.

And now, instead of her lonesome, she was letting a group of kids inside of her safe space. Where they could simply kill her in her sleep without another moment’s notice. Or maybe they were worse than the hunters themselves, she didn’t exactly care. Whatever was left to happen, and whether she’d see the light of day? She just didn’t think it mattered anymore.

And it hadn’t for a while.

Yet here she was, listening to the sounds of whispering and boots hitting the old trucks as they made their way to the high opening to Clementine’s self proclaimed home. Shivering and rubbing at their soaking wet clothes as they entered the otherwise barricaded room. Glances to the signature warmth and feeling of comfort the lantern provided them. As their well-worn faces looked back to Clementine’s in curiosity and in hesitation.

“So uh...thanks for letting us stay here. I think.” One of the other teens finally speaks, Wiping at a long and brown trench coat before running his hands through his dark dreadlocks, as the droplets pass by an array of freckles. And for some reason, he smiles.

Now that was what confused Clementine the most. And for fairly obvious reasons considering she just murdered and practically decapitated some random robbers outside. But alright, sure...she totally thought that a smile was called for.

She doesn't say anything back however, as her lack of care is the primary fuel for that stone faced expression she’s able to keep as she lays back against the leather couch in the center. Letting out an exhausted exhale before placing her hat over her face. Relaxing as her body delves deeper into it, even as she listens to the others who are definitely still standing around.

“So uh...where do...we go exactly?”

“Anywhere. Find a spot. It’s better than out there.”

There’s a bit more shuffling as she hears more of the group enter. And a collaborative whisper echoes among them, none of which she even bares any mind to. Until a singular voice is pointed out like a knife thrown across the room.

“Better here than Delta.”

Clementine suddenly stands, her hand on the holster of her knife as she stares at the group ahead. Her eyes furious and her hat falling across the room as she’s gritting her teeth. Confusing them all as she waits for them to answer themselves.

“What was that?”

There’s a pause as the kids look behind them. And as a taller girl walks forward. Both her and Clementine’s eyes widen. Realizing it by the mark on their wrists. By the group they’d both been a part of.

The group that caused Clementine so much pain.

“You.” She glares, starting for the redhead and not stopping amidst the worried eyes as she grabs her by her collar, pinning her to the wall as the girl merely looks at her in fear. Not in seething anger or revenge as the others wait to step in. Their faces dimming and growing angered instead, ready to jump and help their friend.

“You’re with Delta.”

“Sophie-“ one of the others attempts to call out to her. Scrambled in the yells and talking amongst the others for Clementine to let her go. But the two girls staring each other down instead blur them out as they stand there momentarily. And Clementine’s gaze flickers back upon hearing the name, but she only fully pauses when she looks back to the girls, who’s more than happy to speak up.

“Not anymore. I escaped there ages ago. Unless that’s already what you need to know considering you have the same mark on your wrist!”

Clementine shakes her head, not releasing her grasp on the girl as she still glares forward “I found my way out. And I’m never going back there or so help me-“

“So I did the same.” She tells her. Eyeing her friends who were getting rather close to the girl, not realizing it might just spin around the danger into the rest of them if they were to step in on someone else trained as a soldier. “So neither of us are still with Delta, it’s okay.”

Clementine’s grip shakes as she gets a good look at the girl in front of her. Glancing at the features like the faint freckles across the redhead’s face, and the longer hair trailing past her shoulders. All to the icy blue eyes that she’d recognize as someone else had they not called her Sophie.

Sophie. She knew that name. In fact, she knew exactly who this girl was. Someone she was told was dead. Some fate Clementine would share the same if Lilly had truly been that angry with her. Which in all honesty she hoped for. Two of her ‘Star’ soldiers escaping didn’t exactly look good on their morale. But to be in front of the sister of someone she do purely hated certainly caused Clementine to stare off. Realizing that she could be different. That she wasn’t Minerva. She wasn’t the girl she’d been at odds with for so long and was practically rivals with.

She slowly lets go of the girl the more she thinks of it. Looking to her with surprise considering everything she’s heard of this supposed dead traitor. Knowing she was probably labeled as the same thing to them all. Though that wasn’t exactly a bad thing.

There’s a silent nod from Sophie as she puts a hand up to get the others to stop. Glancing and staring at the amber eyed girl in the middle of the room as she is still practically shell shocked by such information. And the blonde can practically read her face as she starts to turn into a widened expression as well.

“She knew Minnie…” she says, piecing it together.

Clementine only nods back.

Sophie’s eyes stay lowered in sorrow. “Is she the same?”

“The same?”

“Has she- is she still like a model soldier? To Lilly?”

Clementine’s eyes lower at that name. Almost clenching a fist before she realizes she has a question to answer. “Yes. Has been when they took me there. Was when I escaped.”

“Fuck…” the blonde mutters, running her sleeve across the rest of her wet and dirtied face. Looking to the old blood that is now staining the rest of her shirt with forlorn.

“It’s what we expected, Vi.” Sophie whispers, nodding to the tall dread headed boy as well while he merely comforts what must be a good friend of his. “I’m just glad more of those child soldiers are escaping. I wanted to from the get go, what about you?”

Clementine crosses her arms, looking to her muddied boots in hopes that the girl would just simply drop it, considering none of them exactly had a great past.

But it doesn’t work.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I wouldn’t blame you for believing them ...they're rather persuasive.”

“If I was on my own I wouldn’t have.” Clementine mutters. Barely enough for them to hear as they slightly freeze. Looking around the room as they notice she is alone. But the answer soon hits them like a brick as Clementine explains it away. “We all lose people at some point.”

“Yeah… hey listen I-“

There’s suddenly a slamming noise as Clementine feels something hit her head. Her knees buckle quickly as she hits the wooden floor. Letting out a groan as her vision quickly begins to darken and the sounds around her slowly begin to drown out. Staring up at the ceiling as she tries to get some of her strength back, but it’s of no use. She’s only able to listen to what they’re saying as her heart pounds inside of her chicest, and her head begins to ache. Unable to tell who’s saying what, as all the voices collectively sound the same. And through her fogging vision, she’s able to see a figure crouch next to her, shaking her shoulders roughly before everything soon fades to black.