hi! this is a cross post from ao3, but i wanted more eyes on it after all the effort i put in, so i made a wattpad acc :)

this is the first time i've written a fanfiction since 2014, but quarantine has got me obsessed with twdg again. dark times call for old vices.

when re-doing S2, i fell in love with luke all over again. idk what it is, but I really fell for this character and his relationship with clementine. his death at the lake was poorly written bull, and since he first met kenny it was clear there was supposed to be a kenny vs luke storyline, which was then replaced with jane for some unclear ill-developed reason.

i've come up with some different game/story branches where clem is able to save him from the lake, and the fight at the tourist trap has new endings that account for he and jane's survival. i'll explain major player choices in the notes when they happen, but ultimately i'm writing just one branch.

in this branch clementine saves luke from the lake, kills kenny, and goes with luke and jane to howe's. it's a character exploration into jane and luke, as well as their relationships to clementine, aj, each other, and people who have died.

this story does go on though S3, where luke will play a part as a (spoiler) leader of the ANF. what happened with aj and why clementine left him will be revealed in the story later on. depending on player as javier's actions, he may live through S3 or not. if he does live, luke and javier begin a relationship bc this is my story and i think they would be good for each other.

please stick around! lol

_______________

Luke heard the ice splinter under him before he looked down. The subdued squeal, a low cracking. The ice beneath him became too fragile to move on, yet too risky to stay still. Luke kept his eyes on the ground, he looked for a way out, a place to step his leaden legs that could hold his weight without pulling him under. Not seconds after, Bonnie was searching well.

"Don't come over here," Luke warned, his eyes stayed down as he warned the approaching redhead. "Okay, I-I can make it. It's fine." Another crack split the ice further.

"You sure?" The fear in her voice was evident, the disbelief more.

"Yeah," Luke cast his eyes behind him. Lurkers. Of course.

"You got walkers on the way, let me help you," Bonnie took another desperate step forward, the young girl to her left watched intently.

"It's too thin for both of us. I just...I just gotta be caref-" It's warning unheeded, the ice beneath him opened up, now trying to swallow him. His injured leg was soon enveloped by the freezing water, the painful sting of his gunshot wound was now matched by the icy burn spread down the whole limb.

"Luke! No!" Bonnie and Clementine ran forward, their footsteps pounding the thin ice closer and closer each step they took, until stopped by Luke's demand.

"Stop! Stop," he placed his hands on the pads of ice, pressing down with enough force to keep him from falling in, but not enough to pull out. "I'm fine, I'm fine." He looked out at the two coming to his aid, who were more desperate to save him than to figure out how.

"No, you're not!"

"I just gotta pull myself out..."

Clementine cried out, but her protests couldn't convince ice to reform.

"The ice is too thin...I got it..."

The cold wind retained no pauses, the approaching lurkers had no respect needed patience. Pressed by time and tension, Bonnie pleaded to the little girl to help Luke. "You need to help!" She looked to the eleven year old, "Clem, go! Go help him!"

"No!" Luke yelled to her, "You're gonna fall through."

"Clem, just go back for him. You're light, you can do it-"

"Stop telling her that!" Luke looked at Clementine, speaking to her directly. Bonnie wouldn't listen, he knew Clem could. "Clem! Look at me. Pull out your gun, and shoot those damn walkers, okay? Just give me a little time..."

Bonnie didn't heed his pleas. The threat of the ice cracking further seemed detached from weight, walker or child, she pleaded for Clem to go again. "Clem, you can make it. But you need to go, now!"

Clementine, pushed around by the whims of wind and adults, took her tentative steps forward. Mike and Kenny, then near the shore, yelled after her, but she only kept her eyes on the man clinging into the ice.

"Just go back, please-" Luke pleaded once again. More time, he just needed more time. Not for her to drown with him too.

"I got you!" Her young voice was scared, it trembled as she did in the cold. "It's gonna be alright!" Had it struck her that things never were? Had it struck him that he had told her the same?

Luke reached his hand out for hers. Before they could touch, the skin on his face had hit the water. Clementine misstepped. The ice was broken, and underneath he had thrashed to see the light, eyes opened and embraced by the freezing water.

Clementine struggled as well. She pounded on the ice above her, before a walker latched onto her below. Struggling against the pull of the lake and the pull of the corpse, she kicked it off of her, and on her way out the opening, another accosted her.

Luke gained his bearings, and wrestled it from behind. It's growls had become gargles there in the deep. Sounds became disorientating, sloshing in the water with his own bubbled breaths escaping him. He swam up, but the girl watched in horror as the dead weight became an anchor to pull him down.

Maybe if he had time to catch a breath, he wouldn't have to feel the algid water flood into his lungs with his desperate gasps. Maybe if his leg hadn't been shot, he would be able to kick this lurker down. Maybe if he hadn't been walking for three days straight, he would have the strength to fight. Luke looked upward, getting one last look at the light, and one silent goodbye to Clementine.

But Clementine wasn't ready to say goodbye. That young girl, in all her stupid bravery, had swum down into the dark, freezing water. She kicked at the walker, and Luke pulled on her jacket. He wanted to tell her to stop; to go up. Breathe again. She was too young to drown with him...

The next thing he felt was cold, dead fingers peeled off his ankle, and little hands along his arm pulling him up. Luke swam up, but the higher he got the fainter he felt, the more swimming felt like floating.

Strong arms would pull them out of the deep. Mike and Jane had rushed over, Bonnie had hesitated and moved backwards, Kenny would stay with the baby by the shore, half his attention was yelling at them to save the two, the other half balled in a fist at the frail Russian.

"Oh, thank god!" Bonnie cried, she fell to her knees on the ice. The last dreadful quiet minute she had spent in regret and fear for their lives was over.

Clementine's little body was coughing and gasping up onto the ice. Despite shaking like a leaf, she managed to turn her head and get a look at Luke. She told him she would come back for him... "L-Luke-"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck-" Jane's voice came through, as did her fear. "Oh fuck, she's gonna fucking freeze to death!" Jane scooped Clementine up, and ran to the shore. "Come on, you're gonna be okay." She spoke to Bonnie, "Go to the house, we need a fire!"

Bonnie, with a second look back, ran to the half-built shelter.

"Come on, man," Mike's words had kept calm, but the panic was building. Luke hadn't moved.

He pushed the man onto his side, and patted his back, waiting for something to come.

Eventually, the man began coughing. The water held in his lungs poured out, some of what had been choking him was now free. His eyes were not yet open. Mike, though he struggled, carried Luke in slowly on his back to the house. The man's freezing, wet body was barely breathing, he could feel the weak rise of his chest. He had too much water in his lungs.

"Get the kid." Kenny yelled at the shore. As Clementine was carried into the house, he would run in too, casting a look at Mike and Luke on the ice. "Cum'on, Mike, hurry!"

"Fuck, man, I'm trying!" Mike yelled back.

The remains of their group hurried to start a fire, Clementine was conscious now and huddled by the exposed fireplace, her soaked jacket gone. Mike would come in and place Luke on the ground, he checked his breath again. For a second all they could hear was his faint wheezing breaths, Clementine's shivering, the strikes of a match, and the cold, dry wind blow.

The next second, Bonnie was on the floor, her hands on Luke's chest and pumping compressions. Where she had learned CPR no one knew, but none would stop her lone attempt.

Jane stripped Clementine's soaked coat off of her, "We have to get her warm, she's gonna freeze to death!" Jane saw the empty fireplace, and ran off behind the wall. There had to be firewood, paper, something to burn out here. She needed to get her warm, to get Luke warm. If Bonnie could get him breathing.

"We should have gone around, we should have gone around-" Mike voiced his regrets, watching Bonnie as she tried to get air into Luke's lungs.

The girl was freezing, teeth-chattering, but still able to keep her eyes open. Those hazel eyes were fixated on Luke and Bonnie, waiting for him to wake up. Why hadn't he woken up yet? She wanted to call his name, but the cold had its grip on her throat, only shivering groans and gasps made it out of her lips.

Kenny stewed up by the door, walking back and forth with the babe in his arms. He came over to set him down in a box near the fireplace, and saw Clem's poor condition. The old fire within him had begun to catch flames once again. Reckless flames, ones that scorched and sparked rather than warmed. His anger brewed more, and as he looked up the frail figure of that Russian gained his ire.

"You son of a bitch! This is your fuckin fault-" he charged over to Arvo.

"Kenny. Don't, man." Mike stepped in.

"Don't WHAT?"

"It's nobody's damn fault." He was exhausted, they all were. Why did Kenny still have the energy in him to fight?

Kenny remained consistent in his anger, "Look at this place, just a stack of damn toothpicks." Kenny scoffed, "Look at this place, just a stack of damn toothpicks. Bet those magical "supplies" are bullshit too. What? No "speaka de English?"

Foolishly, the Russian engaged. He met Kenny's eyes with his own defiant rage. "Fuck you."

"You fucking commie piece of shit!" Kenny smacked Arvo to the ground, soon on top of him in a sick parallel to Bonnie.

Bonnie pounded Luke's chest, re-shattered his already broken ribs, and brutally breathed into his unaccepting lungs. Desperately doing what she could. Kenny? Kenny was just doing what the rest in this world came to. He pounded into the side of the teen, and his glasses had shattered upon his cheek.

In a shivered but unshakable tone, Clementine gained her voice again. "Kenny, stop! Just stop..."

A pause, a harsh one-eyed glare. "What? You lose your taste for this sorta thing?"

Clementine flinched.

"What did you do to him?" Jane came back into the room, followed by a thud on the ground. A dufflebag, heavy. She brought herself to put some kindling in the fire. "There's another just like it. He wasn't lying."

Out from the bag rolled a single can to Kenny's feet. "Wanna tell me how a can of fuckin' chili is gonna help a baby?"

"How is beating a kid to death gonna help ANYONE!" Jane yelled back at him. The group's tempers were all as stable as the ice out there.

From Luke's throat came a choked sound, then a gargle. Bonnie, tears and sweat freezing on her face, rolled him to his side and pat his back hard. Jane knelt down with her, the rest all had their eyes. The water had lost the claim it held on him, it spilled out of his mouth and onto the floor, the coughing followed to the air.

"Oh God, oh thank God!" Bonnie nearly sobbed, a similar relief came over the rest of the group.

"Mike! Start a fire," Jane tossed Mike her lighter, and the man quickly obliged.

"Luke!" Clem came to the ground as well, she sat next to him waiting for the coughing to stop. It didn't stop for a while, his eyes opened before that. He was alive. Luke didn't believe it, but he was alive.

Kenny watched, although relieved the young man had lived, he was still more concerned for the children he had taken into his care. And how this world had taught him to protect, he protected.

"I'm tyin' him up," He walked over to Arvo, picked him up by his twig arm, and dragged him to the staircase. He ignored Arvo's pained yelps. Ties, produced from the dufflebag, he used to tie the Russian to the beams. Far away from the group, and the fire. He would keep them safe.

"Kenny, that's enough," Jane said. Her hands had been patting Luke's cold, wet back gently, coaxing the breath into him.

Kenny, tying the yellow cord tight around Arvo's wrists, didn't respond. He merely tied him up, then took the baby to a room away from her, from them all.

"He's hurt real bad," Mike said when he had the chance to glance back. He had been sympathetic to Arvo this whole time, and now Kenny was giving me more of a reason to be. The fire caught the kindling, then soon a log. Soon, it could be warm, maybe not soon enough.

Luke was still on the floor, his coughing now subsided, but his throat too raw to easily speak.

"Th-Thank you-" He looked up to Bonnie.

"It's okay, you're okay," Bonnie had now taken off her own coat and placed it over him, he was wet and shivering to the bone. She didn't want him to get hypothermia.

Jane now moved over to help Mike with the fire, a smile and glace at Luke now that he was awake. They needed to get him warm, and Clementine as well. The small girl was still freezing sitting by Luke's side on the floor after helping him sit up. Their backs were pressed to the fireplace, the closest part for warmth.

They all sat in that quiet for a bit, listening to the fire begin to crackle, and soaking in all the events of the last few moments. Luke and Clementine, in their identical exhaustion, fell asleep rather quickly. Both under the watchful eyes of the group, to make sure that they would wake up.

"Let me get a look at you kid. Jesus-" Mike spoke to Arvo, but his voice had stirred the young girl across the room awake. "He could've killed you. The fuck is wrong with him?"

In their sleep, it seems someone had placed a single blanket shared over her and Luke. All that they had, likely. Her friend was still asleep, but still breathing. She could accept that.

"You're up." Jane's voice came from the bench above her, AJ in a box at the end of it. Clem lifted her head more, and gently took the blanket off of her, passing it all off to Luke.

"Kenny's out back trying to get some stupid truck started..." Jane shook her head. That man...she didn't trust him. And the man she maybe did? Still asleep by the fire. She had been keeping eyes on the two while they slept, and eating a can she had heated up by the fire.

"Here, you should eat something." Jane passed over what remained off the can to Clementine. A good amount, one the half-starved girl would be full from.

Across the room, Mike and Arvo were still talking in their hushed voices. Mike was tending to him. As shitty as their group's day was, Arvo must have had it worse.

Jane and Clementine sat in silence for a moment. Jane's gaze settled on Luke's sleeping face, and he was the subject that broke the silence, "I just...can't believe he made it. That you made it."

Clementine looked between the two again, and nodded. It was hard for her to believe it too. "We've all lost so many...I'm glad he wasn't one of them..."

Jane sighed, "Me too..."

She looked off into the fire again, then pinched her nose bridge between her eyes. "I'm glad I came back. If I hadn't, then maybe he would be...maybe you would be..."

"Thank you, Clem," Jane looked at her, but Clementine didn't understand what she was truly thanking her for. But, in a way, she tremendously did. Every day was easier without another dead or spent alone.

"I'm gonna find something to clean that up." Mike spoke at the end of the room, Arvo thanking him in a hushed, scared voice. Leaving the room, Mike uttered to himself what they all felt, "I can't take this shit anymore."

After Mike left the room, Kenny entered it. Looking at Clementine, he asked the girl "Feeling better?"

"Yeah." Clem gave one firm nod.

"Hell of a day," he shook his head, "But we gotta get moving." Kenny motioned behind him with his thumb, "If you're feelin' up to it, I could use a hand out back with this truck. This house ain't worth a crap, but the vehicles ain't in bad shape. With a little luck we can get one fixed up and be outta here by nightfall."

"Yeah, sure Kenny."

"That's the spirit, darlin'." Kenny smiled, "I'll wait for ya out back."

Clementine, before getting up, looked down at AJ. Did she need to bring him? No, Jane answered that.

"I'll watch him," the woman spoke, her eyes over at Kenny. The man walked out a moment after.

A sense of dread pooled in Jane again, and she spoke to Clem. "Clem. Just, be careful."

The girl nodded, then heading out with that man. Jane was left in silence for a moment. Her eyes were not quite sure where to look. Looking at AJ made her feel anxious, and she would not make eye contact with the man made prisoner across the room. Luckily, Luke gave her something to focus on.

Luke had opened his eyes, though it seemed it was a struggle to see clearly for a moment there. "Jane?" he asked, then followed by coughing.

"Luke! You're awake." Jane smiled, it was good to see him up again.

Luke looked around, and his face was quite confused as it all started to come back to him. The Russian across the room was now tied up? This house...this was where they were going to. The ice outside, it cracked, he went down. And Clementine-

"Wait- where's Clem?" Luke began trying to get up, but winced at the pain in his chest and in his knee.

"She's okay, she just went outside with Kenny." Jane came down to the floor with him and put a hand on his shoulder. "He found some car outside, wants to get it working."

As almost a planned confirmation, the distant sound of Kenny's voice followed by the sound of an engine trying to start carried into the room. Luke turned his head in the direction of the sound, and his body relaxed again. She was okay, they were all okay.

"Luke? You're up man?" Mike came in with a smile and a roll of bandage in his hand.

"Yeah Mike, I'm gonna say that I am." Luke weakly smiled back at him.

Mike got down next to Arvo and began cleaning up a wound of his. "Need some of this too?" Mike asked Luke.

"No, not really. I'm lucky, reckon my injuries are mostly internal." Luke chuckled, which led to another poorly (if not perfectly) timed cough.

Luke looked over at Mike and Arvo. Upon further glance, the kid looked busted as hell. Black eye, broken glasses, bruising, Luke didn't remember him in that rough of a shape. "What the hell happened to 'im?"

Mike let out an angry grumble, "Kenny beat the shit into him while you were out."

"Ublyudok," Arvo angrily sputtered what seemed to be a confirmation.

"What?!" Luke furrowed his brow. Like much of the group, he knew Kenny's behavior was getting increasingly erratic and violent. But this? This had no purpose, no possible justification besides his rage. "That's-"

Outside, the sound of the engine sputtered out and was joined by indistinguishable yelling. First, Kenny's, then Clementine's seemingly telling him to calm down.

After a tense pause, Jane spoke up again. "He's gonna get that girl killed." Her voice was harsh, condemning, but ultimately held a sense of sad certainty.

Luke opened his mouth, his pacifist trying to come out again, but closed it. She was right. The way things were going, he knew she was right.

"If not the rest of us first," Mike agreed with her, then looked between them all in the room. It seemed almost like a silent recognition between Jane, Mike, and Arvo. An agreement, an intent. One that Luke had to speak up to.

"We can't just abandon the guy. Clem wouldn't let us do that. It ain't right." Luke knew the attachment Clementine had to Kenny, and vice versa. She couldn't be convinced so easily, Kenny wouldn't let her go either. He knew Kenny was a good guy, or at least used to be, or could be. But, not so deep down, Luke wanted to get her away from him. To get all of them away from him.

"Worrying about what's right has gotten too many killed, Luke." Jane said. "We need to do what's right for her. For AJ. For the rest of us."

Luke sighed, he pressed his lips together and turned his head away. He knew, but he couldn't quite say it yet.

They listened to the sound outside again. This time, instead of the engine sputtering, it began to roar. Instead of angry yelling, Kenny's voice sounded excited.

"Did he really get it started?" Mike got up, he headed for the outside. Jane followed soon after him, but Luke did not.

He stood up, but one step on his injured leg left him wincing and the pain pounding through him again, he instead sat down on the bench with the baby. "Tell me about it?" he looked to Jane. The woman nodded, and headed out without him.

Luke listened to the fight outside as he picked up AJ. It seems the truck was working, but Kenny still wanted to send them all on a death march to the promised land, while the rest all had their own ideas of where to go. Luke thought about where they should go next. Somewhere with baby formula, all they had was left in one bottle. Somewhere safe, where they could all lay low for a little bit. Not the cabin. Luke could never go back there. He was the last one left of that group. Him, and, well, AJ.

"We're all that's left, pal." He said to the baby, bouncing him a bit gently in his arms. He wished Becca was here right now. Or Alvin. Or Sarah, she had been so excited to see the baby. Or Carlos, to make sure AJ would be okay. Or Pete, to tell Luke what to do. Or Nick, just to...

No. He didn't want to think about Nick. Not yet, he still needed to just push it all down. He wasn't, ready to think about Nick yet. His friend of twenty years, his...his something they were never able to say. He couldn't think about him gone yet. He couldn't think about him hanging on that fence, head split open. He couldn't think about how he never got to say goodbye, or I love you. No. He couldn't think about any of that. Not yet.

"Luke?"

Luke looked up, Clementine was back in the doorway with Jane. The girl came to him to sit by him at the bench. "You're awake."

"Yeah, that I am." Luke smiled at her. "Thanks to you."

"And Bonnie." Clementine said, it was then Luke remembered who's face he saw when he came to.

"Right, right..." Luke nodded, his eyes went down, then back up to Jane.

"I can take him, for a bit." Jane said, holding her hands out for AJ.

Luke looked between the baby and Jane, then handed him off to her. It hurt to hold him, just a bit. Troy did a number on his ribs. Jane took AJ off to the other side room, giving him and Clementine some time alone.

"You saved me, Clem." Luke looked over at the young girl. His voice was hoarse, whether from the drowning or weariness of these past weeks. "...I really thought that was the end there...trapped in the water. I, I really did."

Luke sighed, and closed his eyes. Goosebumps came over him as he felt the water wash over him again. "And then when I looked up, you were coming down to me. Why, Clem? Why go down for me? That could've been it for you too..."

Clementine was unsure if Luke had told her she did something wrong. She saved him, at the risk of herself. As so many had done for her, as Luke had before. "I said I'd come back for you. You did for me."

Luke looked at her once again, and his chest hurt once again. A different pain than his lungs or ribs, one that reminded him of his group. Of his parents. Most of all of his sisters. All of who he could never see again.

"Yeah, Clem. You did," Luke smiled again, the same cast down, tired smile. "Thank you."

Luke reached an arm over her small shoulders, and pulled her closer to his side. It was cold here, but for a moment it felt warmer. The girl stiffened at first, but then leaned into him. Just for a moment. Until Kenny walked in again.

"Kenny?" Clementine straightened her shoulders out again, and Luke moved his arm back to his side in response.

"Hey, kid. Just fixen' up sumthin to eat." Kenny flashed a sparing number of cans, creamed corn and something or other with the labels peeled off. "Figured since the fire was still burnin' we can treat ourselves to sumthin warm."

Kenny looked over at Luke while he punched a knife into the rims of the cans. "You're lookin' better."

"Yeah," Luke said, a hesitant furrow creased his brow. "Still not feelin' better."

"Well, hope you feel good enough to get in the truck." Kenny pushed the open cans close to the fire, but backed his hands off and winced when he got too close. "I want to get all of us outta here tonight," Kenny cast a look behind him to catch a glance at Arvo, "Well. As much as will fit in the truck."

"Okay, man, cut that out. We ain't leavin' him here to freeze," Luke shook his head and looked back at Arvo with an apologetic, if not pity-filled, expression. "And tonight? Let people get some sleep first. We're all tired, and...irritable. Rest would do us good."

"What would do us some 'good' would be finding some formula for the baby. We've got maybe a day's left," Kenny shook his head and looked at the ground. For all his faults, at least everyone here knew Kenny would do anything to protect these children. At least, anything he saw was protecting.

Luke sighed, he was right. "We should head back to that church across the river. I think it's the closest place to here that could have somethin' for the baby."

"I think we should hoof it to Wellington," Kenny said. He picked up a piece of wood off the ground and pushed the cans deeper into the fireplace. "We're close. God, we gotta be close. Can't you feel it Clem? And with the truck, we should get there in no time."

Kenny had his eyes - well, eye - fixed on Clementine, pressuring her that way Luke had seen him do too many times before. And it was working again, the kid was shifting her gaze between the two men and the door, clearly uncomfortable speaking up. Well. Then Luke would.

"Close? Jesus, you said that place was up in Michigan! We need something now-"

"We need somewhere safe, and that's our best bet! And seeing how cold it's gettin' here, Michigan is an exaggeration. Clem-"

"Don't ask her for help." Luke said, "Your tunnel-vision on Wellington ain't hers-"

"Clementine can make her OWN decision where to go," Kenny gestured to the girl.

"Where we go ain't her choice to make!" Luke rose his voice for the first time in a while.

And Clementine, for another time too frequently, was looking nervous and on edge, once again she had to calm down the adults. "Stop it. Please. We're all tired, can we please just eat? Then talk about what to do? All together."

Clementine, unfortunately, had the voice of reason for this group. "I'm, I'm sorry," Luke said to her. He felt bad for speaking over her, again. He didn't want to be another adult making choices for her, she had earned more respect than that.

Kenny tisked and shook his head, then looking at the food in the fire. "I'll get the rest in here to eat."

A nice hot meal. Well, not so much a meal and not so much nice. At least something hot, was passed around and shared with all that remained of the group. Another discussion of where to go boiled over into another argument. Louder this time, with more voices against Kenny. Still, the one-eyed man wouldn't budge on Wellington. The baby cried, and there were threats of leaving Arvo there with his hands tied behind his back. But, at the very height of the argument, one thing had struck the group. Kenny's frustrated claim that since he fixed the truck, it was his, and Clementine and AJ would be going with him. It was then, they knew Kenny couldn't see right. It was then, after Kenny stormed off with Clementine following to calm him, that Jane gave that damning expression to Luke, and Luke knew there was no point in arguing. What he did know was that they would be leaving. That night.

"Clem. Clementine-"

Along with the hushed voice saying her name, Clem was woken up by a hand she shoulder lightly shaking her. She had fallen asleep after the group's argument hours ago, curled up on the window seat out facing the truck. One eye opened and the other was rubbed awake by her small fist, she saw Luke and Jane kneeling down to her, the latter with AJ in her arms.

Clementine stirred awake, she sat up and got a quick look around. It was dark, must be real late at night, and she could hear some hushed voices out the window behind her. Mike? Bonnie? What was everyone doing up? "What's going on-"

Luke put a finger to his mouth and gently shushed her, "Come on outside," Luke whispered, "Stay quiet, okay?" He stood up and glanced behind her at the window, his heart began to race again.

Clementine's face began confused and worried, but she nodded and followed the two adults. Outside, she saw Arvo and Mike tying to start up the truck, and Bonnie coming over with a dufflebag of their supplies.

"I've got the rest of it," she said quietly, then placing it in the truck bed next to the other.

"We're leaving now?" Clementine turned up at Luke and Jane with a puzzled expression. Night time seemed like an odd choice, but it could account for their quiet voices. Noise could attract walkers. "Where are we going?"

The adults all looked between each other, sharing a tense and almost sorry bearing on their face and shoulders.

"Clem," Jane looked to her and took another step towards the truck. "We're gonna talk about it in the truck, but we gotta go. We can't be here anymore."

Clementine looked between everyone, then back at the house. "Where's Kenny?"

Another pause from the adults. Another step back from Clem.

"Clem," Luke sighed and reached out a hand to her shoulder, but she stepped back again.

"No, where's Kenny?" Clementine looked back at the house. "Kenny!"

"Hey-" Mike shushed her. "Keep it down, alright?"

Clementine's brows twisted back into that confused furrow, then the angry scowl few had seen. "You're leaving him behind?"

Mike sighed, "Listen, we just got to get away from that guy, Clem. Okay?"

Clementine shook her head, "No! No, you can't do that-" She took another step towards the house, she needed to get her friend.

Luke sighed and came closer to her again. He knelt down to her, ignoring the pain in his knee, and put two hands on her shoulders, getting her to face him and listen. "Clem. I know you love him, I know he can be a good man, but right now he's not thinking right. He's dangerous, Clem, and I'm scared he might get you killed. So please, please ...just get in the truck?" His voice was a low, pleaded whisper, and there whole world of worry and guilt behind his eyes. He couldn't lose her too.

Clem's scowl morphed more into a frown, and she swiped Luke's hands off her. "No. Why are you doing this?"

"He didn't give us any choice," Jane spoke up, Arvo at the truck seemed to agree. He muttered something in Russian and spit in the stamped snow under him.

"Clem- Damnit, we don't have time for this." Mike spoke up again, "Luke, is she coming or not?"

"Mike- just give us a minute." Luke said, giving him a short scowl, then looking back at Clementine for an answer.

Clementine, however, was already back into the house. As she opened the door, Kenny was already there, practically so angry steam was coming off him.

"What the fuck is goin' on out here?" Kenny pushed Clem aside and charged down the stairs at them. His face and voice the same sinister expression they had seen back escaping from Howe's.

"Shit-" Jane spoke, the rest of the group had their own exacerbated and fearful reactions. She set AJ down in the backseat and was the one to step forward.

"I'll tell you, Kenny," she came forward with a finger up, ignoring Clementine who had come between them. Her arms were up, trying to prevent what she feared.

Before Jane could tell Kenny, a shot rang out. All stood stunned and shocked, and watched the little girl crumple onto the snow below. Blood pooled out from her shoulder and stained the dirty snow red. Her hyperventilation puffed out shaky little clouds, at least telling them she was alive. For now.

"No!" Mike yelled out, then turning around to see where the shot came from. The Russian stood there, firearm in hand, expression like a big blue-eyed doe in the headlights. Once Kenny glared at him, he bolted off on his rickety legs into the woods, as far away as he could go.

"Cle-Clem!" Bonnie yelled, she came close and reached out, but her arm was pulled back at Mike. "Don't you touch me! Clem, I'm-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen-" Bonnie shugged Mike's hand off, but then backed out with him to the woods to catch Arvo. Or protect him from Kenny, from much worse than he had done. From the wrath Carver had faced.

"Clem!" Jane got down to the ground and pulled Clementine's body into her lap, besides her shaky breaths, the girl's body went limp. "Shit, shit shit shit-" Jane cried, her hands hovered and shook above her, going between the wound, her cheek, and her neck.

"Jesus Christ, Clem-" Luke said in stunned shock.

"Clem!" Kenny came down to the ground as well, and Luke did too. Both men felt immense panic and confusion, and Kenny felt justified rage as well. "What the fuck did you do!" Kenny yelled back at Arvo, and saw Mike and Bonnie running with him into the woods. "What did you DO!?"

Clementine's hazel eyes rolled back into her head and shut. As she passed out, the last thing she heard were all the muffled, fading voices saying her name...