The Walking Dead: Return to Paradise Part Two

Chapter Eight: Into The Woods

"You ready?" Violet asked, looking back at Clementine.

"Ready." Clem nodded.

As Violet went to work picking the lock to the cage, Clem examined the area around the new Delta campsite.
The two guards were sitting on a rock together on the far end of the camp having a quiet conversation, so as to not wake up the rest of their people. Since the previous camp had been attacked, Lily hadn't let the caravan stop for the last few days.
By Clem's count, it was almost a week of constant travel. There had been a short break here and there, but overall the raiders had been on a long slog through the cold and they were now exhausted. It was perfect.
Violet had gotten the nail to a point where it could be used to pick the lock after brief, intermittent sessions of scraping away at it on the floor of the cage.
The raiders would likely be sleeping heavily tonight, it had been obvious to Clem for the last few days that they were all exhausted.
The new campsite was set up in the same fashion as the last one; a vast bonfire in the centre with everyone sleeping in amongst the supplies and weapons in a circle around the fire.

"It's unlocked." Violet whispered, seemingly in awe that the nail had worked.

"Okay, our stuff is over there. We go there first, get our knives and backpacks. After that, two minutes max to get as much food and supplies as possible. Then we meet over by that rock out there."

"Shit, alright. Let's do this."

Clem reached out and grabbed Violet's hand. The blonde turned around and Clem looked her wife in the eyes.

"Be careful..." She whispered.

Violet leaned forward and kissed her, giving Clem a little smile as she pulled away.

"You too."

Violet pulled the padlock off as quietly as she could. As it was being removed from the metal loop, the lock scraped against it. It let out a brief, high pitched, shriek.
Clementine and Violet froze, their eyes wide with terror. Clem could have sworn her heart stopped beating at that moment.
They waited for somebody to wake up, to see what they were doing and plug them full of bullets, but nobody so much as stirred.
The two girls took a breath and continued. Violet opened the cage door slowly, trying not to let the hinges creak.

Stepping out of the cage for the first time in a week felt amazing. In spite of the very real danger they were in, Clem was still glad to be out. Even if she died, she'd prefer to die out of that damn cage.
She and Violet crouched down and slowly made their way over to the circle. Their gear wasn't too far into the centre, but they still had to manoeuvre around the sleeping raiders to reach it.
Clementine breathed quietly and slowly through her nose. She stepped around a man in a sleeping bag, dropping her foot as gently as she could.
Their gear was barely out of reach, she had to step over another sleeping raider. She balanced carefully, if she tripped, it would be all over.
Clem silently breathed a sigh of relief as she grabbed hold of her bag. Her knife was inside, still in its sheath. She fixed it to her belt and Violet did the same with her Kukri machete.
They slipped their backpacks onto their shoulders and Clementine looked at Violet, holding up two fingers. Violet nodded and they went in separate directions to gather supplies.

Clem navigated the maze of sleeping bodies, picking up tins of food, bandages, first aid kits, bottled water and other essentials and putting them quietly into her backpack.
One raider slept with a handgun next to her, Clem took that too.
She regularly checked over her shoulder, making sure the guards weren't onto them. They seemed to be still chatting away.
One man she came across had a machine gun laying across his chest. That would definitely be useful in a pinch.
She delicately took hold of the carry handle on the top of the gun and slowly lifted it. When she was met with resistance, she furrowed her brow in confusion and examined it.
There was a strap that went around the raider's back, pinning the weapon to him.
Clem held the gun with one hand and took out her knife. She began slowly sawing through the strap with the serrated end of the blade. After a few seconds, the strap fell away.
She began working on the other side, cutting away at it.
Her face fell when she saw the raider's eyes slowly blink open. The man opened his mouth to shout and, without thinking, Clem thrust her knife forward into his throat.
The man's shout came out a laboured gurgle as he tried to speak through his own blood. His eyes rolled back and the gurgling stopped.
Clementine withdrew her knife and hastily finished cutting off the gun strap.
The two minutes was almost up, she looked over to find Violet. She made a gesture to her to move. They both snuck out of the circle, meeting up and heading for their designated meeting spot.