Chapter Text
Clementine sees the state of the girl upstairs. She can tell that the girl is a mess.
"I'll go talk to her. So Alvin can help down here." Clementine comes to the conclusion she would be better up there. If Pete began to squirm around she wouldn't be strong enough to help keep him steady.
Chet nods, Pete does as well. Rebecca, despite her face remaining the same, gives a small nod.
With that, Clementine heads upstairs. She tells Alvin that he is needed downstairs. Alvin gives Clementine a critical look.
"I've kept her in good shape. I trust you can do the same?" Alvin asks.
"Of course."
"Alright then." Alvin heads downstairs to assist the others.
"Hi there." Clementine says, slowly approaching Sarah. Sarah was sitting in front of a door, curled up into a ball.
"H-hey. I'm Sarah." Sarah would say nervously, trying to keep her nerves in check. She tries to forget what she saw but the image keeps coming back to her head. The image of Pete’s hand being reduced to a mangled mess of flesh and bone.
"Hi Sarah, I'm Clementine, but you can call me Clem." Clementine says with a smile. Sarah's breathing is less erratic seeing Clementine smile.
"C-clem. Why is Pete? What's wrong with his hand? Why is he bleeding? What happened? Please tell me something. Alvin wouldn't tell me anything. Where's my dad? Where's Luke?" Sarah begins asking rapid fire questions, catching Clem off guard. Clementine would be taken aback, but recovers.
"Sarah calm down. Breathe. I can only answer one question at a time." Clementine says in a calm tone.
Sarah would comply, taking a few moments to calm herself down.
"Is Pete okay?"
"Sarah i'm going to be honest with you. Promise me that you won’t freak out?" Sarah looks unnerved but nods vigorously.
"Pete was bitten. He lost a few fingers." Sarah's eyes widen. Despite not being told much, she knew that getting bitten meant you were going to become one of the things outside. She didn't want that to happen to Pete. He was one of the few that told her how the world really was.
"But..." Sarah looks at Clem as she continues.
"Cutting off the infected part can stop them from turning. So right now. Chet, Rebecca, and Alvin are preparing to cut off his hand in order to stop him from turning."
“Cut his hand off?” Sarah asks, looking at her own hand with wide eyes. She couldn’t imagine having her own hand chopped off. Clementine nods solemnly.
“Yeah. Just have to be quick, otherwise-”
"AAAAAAAAAAAGAGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Clementine is cut off as a bloodcurdling scream is heard from downstairs. Sarah begins walking towards the stairs, but Clementine blocks her. She spreads out her arms as Sarah looks at her surprised.
“Clem what are you doing?! He needs us to help him!” Sarah says, her eyes wide.
“Sarah trust me. He doesn’t need us.” Clementine tries to stay calm, but Sarah is frantic. She raises her voice.
“B-but he’s screaming!”
“He’s screaming because they are cutting his hand off. Sarah stay with me. You’ll only get in the way.” Clementine has her hands on Sarah’s shoulders as Sarah tries to force her way past Clementine.
“I won’t get in the way! We need to help!”
“Rebecca, Chet, and Alvin are fine! We’ll only get in the way.” Sarah starts to frown, getting mad at Clementine indirectly calling her a screw-up. Sarah then realizes something. There are people from their group missing.
“Where’s my dad? And Luke?” Sarah asks.
“They’re outside taking out the walkers that get too close. Everything is okay. Just stay with me up here. We’re fine.” Clementine says slightly straining.
Sarah’s breathing picks up as she starts to push Clementine aside.
Clementine does her best to keep Sarah back, but her strength was fading. Pete screams once more, and gunshots are heard from outside.
Clementine remembers Lilly explaining how panic within a group can cause people to act irrationally or do something that hurts themselves or others.
She had to do something to stop Sarah before she could interfere in the operation downstairs.
What Does Clementine Do?
A) Convince Sarah to stop with words.
B) Stop Sarah with force.
C) Smack some sense into Sarah.
A/N - Happy Halloween! I wanted to make sure to get this chapter out on Halloween. I’ve been busy a lot lately and haven’t had a lot of time to update the story. That being said, I am going to be picking up the pace with chapters that move along quicker than others. In order to get to the other parts of the story.