"Are you kidding me right now? A herd, how are you supposed to do that?", Javier asked Clem in shock.
She remembered her time back at the school, back then when the fight between the kids and the raiders raged. She showed the skin mask in her hands to Javi and started to explain.
"This belonged to a boy I met in the forest, he was part of a group that calls itself "The Whisperers". His name was James. He showed me how they fought their war, they used these masks to cover their scent and lead hordes of walkers to a spot they wanted them in. James even saved and helped me twice with this tactic before... well before he couldn't any more."
Her gaze met Lilly's, Clementine saw guilt in her eyes, she had killed the boy in cold blood even if it was him who had saved her from being shot by AJ. Javi noticed this and realized what must have happened, he kept quiet and laid one of his hands on Clem's shoulder. After a brief moment of silence he continued.
"You know this could be dangerous, it will distract the Deltas for sure but we will be at risk as well, how do you want to avoid us getting attacked by the muertos?"
The teen looked at him, she knew that he had done this before but didn't remember.
"You did it once already, back when we tried to free Richmond."
His eyes widened as he remembered the old days.
"You mean we should cover ourselves in walker guts? Does that work for a longer period of time?"
"It does, that's how we won against Lilly here.", Louis answered and pointed towards the woman with his thumb, "Only downside is that your clothes ain't gonna look as good as they do now and probably smell bad as well, I can remember that!"
A smirk made its way up to Javi's and Clem's faces. "You only think about that coat don't you?", she asked smiling.
"Goddamn right I do, I have it since the beginning, it made it this far so why shouldn't it live until the very end?"
This moment of fun didn't last very long, the situation demanded way too much concentration. Clementine stood up and got ready for the task she had to carry out, the whole group relied on her, even the unknowing people of Richmond needed her to be successful. Her mind was racing about what was lying ahead, her breathing became a little more sporadic, she was nervous as hell. Back when she was on the road with AJ this wouldn't have been the case, she was way more confident then, there was only the small boy she needed to protect and she had her "real" legs back then as well, now everything had changed. Peoples lives were in danger if she failed and since she had developed feelings for Louis it became even harder to lead a group and keep calm. Her rapid breathing was not noticed by Javier and Lilly but Louis knew when his girlfriend had troubles with something. He followed her to the door that lead to the street and stopped her right in front of it. He smiled even though his eyes indicated that he was worried.
"Hey it's okay, I'm here, you can tell me whatever troubles you." Clem turned her face to his, great concern was weighing on her soul.
"Lou, this whole situation, it's so... I don't know how to describe it. It's way more important than what we did back in the school, there are so many people that depend on us, on me to get this done right. The whole south coast depends on us killing Moore, it could end this war so quickly... There's so much responsibility, I don't know if I can take that..."
Tears welled up in her eyes, all her feelings came out of her again. Louis bend down and hugged her while slowly and gently stroking her back.
"Shhh, it's okay, you are the strongest woman I have ever met, you've got this. These people chose the right person to help them, try not to think about all of them, try to think about the people that you love. We had this conversation before, only the other way around. We believe in you, I believe in you, there's nothing to worry about!"
There was only one person on this infested planet that could cheer her up in such hard times, Louis was the only one that could make all her bad memories go away in split seconds.
"Thank you Louis, I needed that.", she told him after a short kiss, he grinned like a small child in response.
Clementine slapped him gently and turned to face the door, James' mask ready in her hands. She pulled the musty smelling face cover over her head and made a shaky step forward, the slight metallic sound of her prosthesis was dampened by a cover of cloth tied around it. She looked back to her friends, the mask reducing her field of view.
"Wish me luck out there guys, it shouldn't take me long to reroute the herd.", she said, the people in the room grimly nodding to support her.
The dark buildings on her right and left seemed like they were animals, waiting for their prey. Clem expected danger behind every corner while looking for a herd big enough to cover their doings. She unsheathed her combat knife, the cold steel blade weighed heavy in her hand, the leather grip seemed to get cold as well. Her nervousness was unbelievably big, she tried to suppress it with thinking about AJ, her little boy was alone out there, behind enemy lines, missing her as much as she missed him. Clementine couldn't help getting mad at every man or woman working for the Delta, her rage replaced the fear and nervousness in her mind, determination caused her to speed up her pace. She sneaked past smaller groups of undead, they got bigger and bigger with every side-street she passed. It didn't take her long to find a giant group of infected that had gathered around a much smaller green space than the Jefferson Park where Moore and his men had built their campsite. Sweat started to gather on her forehead, it was absorbed into the mask that covered her head.
"Let's do this then...", she whispered to herself.
With great calm and slow steps she waded into the horde, every time a walker stared at her she had to stop or move slower, she couldn't take the risk of getting recognized as a human. She reached a small space in between the walking dead and quickly opened her backpack, pulling out a small red gun with a big barrel, a signal pistol. She aimed it towards the street on her left that lead to the park she wanted the walkers to flood. The loud swoosh alerted most of the herd to look towards the big red light that was flying along the street and the walkers started pursuing it. Clementine sped up her pace a small bit to get to the front of the column so she could guide it. The walkers in the front looked at her for a short second but they didn't seem to know that she wasn't like them. Instead they followed her along the road and around a corner of a building.
-I hope Louis and the others have cloaked themselves already, I can't stop this anymore-, she thought when the first walkers heard the running engine of one of the vehicles placed in the park by the Deltas.
Behind her even more of the undead joined the horde, it was getting bigger every second it existed. Then she saw the small group of people, their clothes were covered in blood and guts, sneaking through the walkers towards her. They had handcuffed Lilly differently than Clem had seen it last time, her arms were in front of her now so she could at least push a walker away if it was getting too close.
They nodded towards each other instead of greeting so it would be quiet, the deadheads would kill them if they didn't keep being silent. Clem pointed at the park where the Delta soldiers had spotted the horde and got ready to shoot, shouting at each other. Louis, Javier and Lilly followed her as she started to approach the camp from an other side, the men in it were completely focused on killing the walkers in front of them. The UAZ was not guarded anymore, Javi tapped on Clementine's shoulder and whispered into her ear.
"I will take care of Gabe, you three should seek and assassinate Moore."
She nodded in response and the man pulled out a small key for the handcuffs Lilly was wearing.
"Don't make me regret this.", he hissed as he unlocked the iron shackles holding their former enemy.
"You won't, trust me, I've got a plan.", she whispered with narrowed eyes.
With quick but silent steps Javier ran up to the car and signalized Clem and Louis to follow Lilly.
They obeyed and turned around to see her already standing next to a crate, a sharp curved knife in her hand.
"I hope she won't stab us in the back with it.", Louis commented in a comedic but also worried way.
"Let's hope for that.", Clem answered and approached the tent which was the center of control according to Lilly.
The woman followed them and opened the front latch that was used as the entrance. Light came through the slit, it was produced by a light bulb on the ceiling. It threw its light on a small foldable table in the middle of the tent, a figure was sitting right behind it on a chair. A loud snore was emitted by the sitting man, he was sleeping tightly. Lilly approached Moore with the knife ready, her face was twisted into an expression of hatred and contempt. With a quick motion she grabbed his head and punched it into the desk, a surprised scream came out of the man's mouth.
"What the fuck?!", he raged before Clementine sprinted forward and ripped his arms behind his back, handcuffed him and sent a punch right at his face.
"You better keep quiet or we'll gonna kill you a lot quicker than I planned.", Lilly told him, her knife at his throat.
"You pieces of shit, how dare you to attack us?!", he asked them whilst suppressing his anger, he had understood Lilly's threat.
"You've ripped away my only home, turned friends against me and marked me as a traitor you asshole! I was your best and most loyal soldier and you just kick me out with no proof? I'm going to let you pay for what you did, slowly and painfully.", she spat in his face, her knife gliding over the mans belly, leaving a long bloody trail behind.
Clem and Louis watched in shock until Javier came in behind them, two crowbars in his hands.
"I need your hel-", he started to say till he saw the spectacle in front of him, his eyes widened. Lilly moved her knife towards Moore's left hand and let it hover over it.
"I know your little habit of producing pain through cutting peoples hands off, I'm going to let you feel the same pain that you inflicted inside me!"
With a loud whirring sound the blade came down, burying itself in his wrist. He screamed out in pain but before he could do anything the second slash cut even deeper into his arm.
The scream of pain wasn't as loud as the machine gun fire outside, nobody had noticed their presence yet. This was the last straw for Clementine, she turned away and looked towards Javier.
"Where do you need our help?" He took his eyes from the torture and gave her one of the crowbars the other one found its place in Louis' hands.
"The truck's closed, I need you to pry it open, I can't make it on my own."
The two teenagers nodded and followed him to the car with Gabe inside. They rammed the crowbars into the door slits and started pulling, Louis on one side, Clem on the other while Javier pulled at the door. With a metallic creak it opened, revealing the still unconscious Gabriel. Javi pulled him out and carried him on his arms when suddenly a scream of pain reached their ears, not from Moore though, it came from Lilly. Louis and Clementine grabbed two rifles from one of the boxes behind them and aimed at the tents entrance. It opened slowly, a man stepped through, his face was hidden in the shadows but the brand on his neck was clearly visible in the light, the brand of the New Frontier.
"Guys, we've got intruders!", the man shouted with his raspy voice towards his comrades, his gun was pointed at the four, a bullet hit the truck next to them. Clementine and Louis fired back while running away with Javier and Gabe. One of the shots connected to the mans shoulder, he was ripped back and a short beam of light revealed the man's identity. Clementines eyes widened in shock when she realized who it was and she yelled his name in fury:
"Clinton Barnes!"