Tables Turned

Loss

Disclaimer – I don't own The Walking Dead Game or the characters used in this story, save a few that appear from time to time.

-f-

Quiet. Cold. The hallway had no life within it, just like the world surrounding it, and behind every door the growls of the dead can be heard softly. Footsteps echoed through the emptiness as Lee made his way through the darkness, eyes scanning the doors quickly and retreating once the growls warned him off.

Not this door.

Not that door.

Being seen off by the threat of the undead just behind the locked doors; he kept trying every one. Eventually, he was rewarded with one that was completely silent, save for the faint sounds of weeping that broke his heart. His mind jumped to the conclusion that the crying was Clementine, that she needed his help, and that was enough for him to open the door slowly; his gaze grazing over the entire room before he determined it safe. Entering with caution, body tense and ready to fight, he noticed that the door at the end of the room was locked by a rope, connecting it to the closet door and keeping whoever was in there prisoner.

"Clem?" His deep, gravelly voice called out. "Clementine? It's me, Lee."

All was silent. The crying had stopped. The lack of a response made the hairs on the back of Lee's neck stand up, and his chest began to feel tight as he pushed himself to near the locked door. A hand stretched out to remove the rope, when all of a sudden the sound of a gun perked his ears and he froze completely, breaths dying in his throat as his mind began racing between fright and anger. Whoever was behind him, holding the gun to his head and threatening him, was the man who stole Clementine away from him.

Twisting the top half of his body around, his glare was met full-heartedly by a man looking the same age as Lee, if not slightly older going off the wrinkles and bags underneath his soulless eyes; though that can be contributed by the stress of getting through each day. Though this was not what was grabbing Lee's attention; the gun in his hand was what was grabbing it. They both stared at each other, almost daring one another to move or strike, though neither did so. Instead, the man simply smirked.

"I got his adjoining rooms." His voice was chilled, and was almost non-human to listen to. It was like the world had sucked all of what made this man human and just left an empty shell; no emotions, no expressions, nothing. Glaring at the man with all the hate that he can muster, Lee didn't reply. Instead, he thought back to all that he sacrificed to get this far; all the people that he cared about gone... all because of him stealing Clementine away from them. This kept him going as the man pointed to the chairs facing one another. However, before any of them could move, a faint voice called out.

"Lee?" It sounded tired, almost as if the person couldn't stay awak much longer, and instantly Lee knew it was Clementine calling out to him. "Where are you? Are... you still there?"

The click of the gun killed the words he was going to say, and he could not say any more as the stranger put his finger to his lips, signalling to him to remain silent. Doing so, Lee was powerless as the man replied. "Be quiet, sweetie."

The young child complied, and Lee couldn't help but think about how scared she must be, how tired and hungry as he didn't even know if the bastard in front of him even feeds her. With the silence once more filling them chilled air, the men trudged over and sat in the two chairs, the gun still threatening Lee to remain where he was and not to do anything that result in the stranger pulling the trigger and ending this conversation.

After only a few seconds of sitting there did the man finally speak. "Do you know who I am?"

What sort of question was that? Why should Lee care about who this person is or why he did what he's done? He's taken Clementine from him, resulting in them going after him and losing not only the boat, their only means of escaping Savannah, but Ben and Kenny. His glare heated as he sneered. "No. I don't know anything about you."