Here it is.. the long awaited continuation of Alive Inside :)
I'd honestly recommend reading through the whole story again, just because of long I've been gone. Or re-read at least all of the choices and outcome chapters again, as the rest of this episode will be a bit cluttered with endings. Anyways, sorry for the wait.. but I'm finally back :)
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Your POV*
The sound of AJ calling your name slowly wakes you up as you drowsyly open your eyes.
Your room was filled with darkness, with the only light being the streaks of moonlight coming through the boarded up windows.
"Y/N.. it's time," AJ repeats as you look over to him. You watch as the boy hops down from his bed as you anxiously go to rub your eyes, remembering the plan and everything that was about to happen.
AJ starts to get his things ready as you glance over to your side to see Clementine peacefully leaning up against your body, still fast asleep. You really didn't want to wake her up to the current situation.. but you had no choice.
You start to slowly sit up, pulling away from Clem as you hesitantly go to nudge her shoulder.
"Clem, hey.. it's time to get up," you softly say to her, causing her eyes to slowly flutter awake as she looks up to you drowsyly.
You watch as she slowly continues to wake herself up as a sudden realization hits her. She sits up and looks to you with a slightly worried expression crossing her face.
"It's time.. isn't it?" She asks quietly.
"Yeah.." you reply as you look back to her with a similar expression. The two of you lock eyes as you think back to her words of comfort back up on the bell tower. The scared and nervous feelings were still present within you, but you both had to be strong now.
The two of you take a few more moments to fully snap out of your drowsy states before you both climb out of your bed to get everything ready to set out.
You head over to the drawer next to your bed as you pick up your machete and knife, as Clementine slings Marlons old bow around her shoulder.
The three of you finish gathering your things as you all make your way to the door. You and Clem both glance to each other, unsure of how to feel right now as AJ moves past you both.
"We've got a long walk," he says as he pushes the door open.
The walk down the hallway was completely silent. A few other kids had also left their rooms at the same time, but nobody had anything to say to each other. The nervous realization that this was actually happening had finally set in. You just hoped you'd all be able to keep your cool until it was over...
You and the others reach the doors leading outside as you all walk outside, seeing Violet and Louis already waiting by the flagpole in the center of the schoolyard.
Everyone gathers up next to the flagpole as you look around, making sure you were all present. There were eight of you in total. That's how many of you were left standing at the school... eight people up against what would be an entire army.
Everyone looks around nervously for a moment before Louis clears his throat with a worried look.
"So.. we're actually going to do this..." he quietly says as he looks around to everyone. You feel the eyes of the other kids land on you and Clementine, as Clem steps past you into the center of the group.
"We have to. Mitch, Aasim, and Omar would do the same for us. We can't just give up on them," she replies as she looks to everyone confidently. The others all nod their heads in agreement, realizing that she was right.. You all couldn't just give up. After fighting this hard for the school and each other.. giving up now wasn't an option.
"We'll talk more about our plan once we're out there. We're going to meet James at the same spot where we scouted the boat out earlier today, so we've got a lot of ground to cover," Clementine adds as everyone starts to move out, still somewhat hesitantly.
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Roughly an hour has passed since you all left the school. You figured you were about halfway to the meeting point now, which you could tell was effecting all the other kids.
The walk through the woods so far has been mostly silent. Louis and Violet had tried to start a few conversations throughout the trip, but you felt that the ongoing fear and nervousness had shut down any chance of having conversations with one another.
As of now, most of the kids had drifted away from each other and started to walk alone, with the exception of Tennessee and AJ, and you and Clementine who were following behind everyone.
You both had done your best to reassure each other and the other kids throughout the entire conflict with the raiders, but deep down you both knew you that the chance of everyone walking away from this alive.. was slim.
You were both pretty much the only ones with experience with any dangerous missions like this.. which didn't help the probability of survival. This rescue mission had hundreds of ways it could go wrong, and one slip up from any of the kids could get all of you killed. None of you were guaranteed to survive tonight.
The two of you continue to walk alongside each other for another few minutes before you hear Clementine sigh from next to you.
You look over to her, noticing a distraught look crossing her face as the two of you keep walking.
"You okay Clem?" You softly ask after a second. You knew this whole situation was getting to her too, but you still wanted to try to comfort her as best as you could.
Clementine looks over to you for a moment, thinking over her words before she nods her head.
"Yeah.. I think I'm okay. I'm just... thinking about everything," she replies as you look back to her, silently asking if she wanted to continue. After a moment she lets out a defeated sigh before looking towards the grass in front of you.
"It's about Lilly.. and everything we went through together at the start. I really thought she was going to die alone out there after we kicked her out of our group.. so seeing her again after all these years... it was almost like seeing a ghost," Clementine explains as she looks to the ground.
You nod your head as a thought suddenly enters your mind. You take a moment to put your words together before speaking up.
"How did everything that happened with Lilly end up like that? I mean, I know you said her dad died or something.. but what's the full story with her?" you ask after a moment. You remember Clementine telling you and Violet about how Lilly killed someone in her group.. but that was about all you knew.
Clementine takes a second to think through everything as a saddened look crosses her face, causing you quickly start to speak up.
"If you have bad memories with all of that you don't have to answer me. It's.. fine if you don't want to talk about any of this..," you add after a moment of hesitation.
Clementine nods her head as she looks to you, seemingly wanting to continue.
"..Back at the start when Lee and I first met her.. she actually seemed like an okay person. Her dad Larry made things difficult for everyone all the time.. but Lilly always seemed to care about everyone, and she was always nice to me.." Clementine explains as she looks down sadly. You look towards the trees ahead as Clem continues.
"During those first few months into everything, our people scavenged through the city for whatever supplies they could find.. but things went dry after awhile, and we ended up having to get food from a family that lived on a farm. They... turned out to be cannibals, and they locked us in a meat locker when we tried to get off the farm," Clem continues to explain as you look to her, not knowing how to reply to that last part.
"Uhm... wow.. that sounds..." you stutter to explain as Clementine lets out a quick sigh.
"Like one of the worst things an eight year old could ever go through.." she replies with a hurt expression as you both continue to walk.
"...Anyways.. after we were locked inside of the meat locker, Larry started to freak out.. and he ended up having a heart attack. Lilly and Lee.. tried their best to bring him back, but he wasn't responding to anything they did," Clem explains as she looks away from you for a moment.
"When they couldn't bring him back.. one of our other people decided to take matters into his own hands. He.. ended up slamming a salt lick onto Larrys skull to keep him from coming back. Seeing everything I saw that day.. still hurts to think about.." Clementine continues as a pained expression crosses her face. You look back to her sympathetically.
"I'm.. sorry you had to go through that, Clem," you say quietly, not really knowing how to make her feel better right now.
Clementine nods her head after a moment as she looks to you with a weak, but thankful expression before continuing.
"After her dad died.. Lilly was never the same. She quit talking to the rest of us.. and when she did have something to say it was just her yelling at everyone. All of that tension between her and everyone else led to arguments.. and one eventually ended with her shooting one of our people in the face. After that happened, we immediately kicked her out of the group.. and I just assumed that she didn't make it much longer," Clementine explains as she looks over to you.
"I was obviously wrong.. and now... it all just feels weird. Like if we run into her on the boat, I'm not sure if I'll be able to kill her.. just because of everything we went through all those years ago..." she explains as she shakes her head.
"I mean- I know it's really stupid to even think about this and if we were to let her live it would be a huge risk.. but I just can't force my mind past the fact that we were like family once.." Clementine adds hesitantly as she sends you a hopeless shrug. You look back to her, feeling a bit unsure of where you stood with this topic. But after a moment you open your mouth to reply.
"..I.. I know I can't say I understand how you're feeling about all of this, Clem.. but I do understand that with how this delta group seems to operate... I'm honestly not sure if she or anyone else with them could ever deserve a second chance," you explain as you look back to her.
Clementine looks away as she takes a moment to think your words over before looking back to you, this time with a bit more of a relieved and certain look.
"..Yeah, I know you're probably right.. I guess it's all just wishful thinking.." she replies softly. You send her a small smile as you look back to her eyes.
"Just.. try to focus on finding and getting our friends back right now. We can think about Lilly and the other raiders after we've got everyone to safety," you say.
Clementine looks back to you and nods her head before sending you a small, thankful smile.
"That sounds good to me."
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Pretty fun and easy chapter to write after taking some time off. Will continue to work on the next few and will hopefully have them out by at least this weekend :)
Also will be updating and publishing a few more things today, ranging from my oneshot story.. to a few more stories that'll be made in the future;)