A new Dawn (Clementine x Louis)

Chapter Nine - Kidnapped

Clem awoke to the flickering light of a lamp on the ceiling. Irregular shadows painted faint outlines of unseen persons onto the walls, phantoms of the past looking for the presence of the living. She moved her head and realized that she had slept on Louis' lap, her cheeks taking the color of dusty pink as she adjusted her sloppy fitting jacket. Luckily nobody was awake to see her in this state. Her mouth felt horribly dry, she needed something to drink, a drop of sweet water would be enough. Grabbing the bottle strapped to her belt she gently shook Louis.
"Oh come on, just a minute more!", he pleaded with a low childish voice.
"There's no time to sleep now, you can make up for it at home.", Clem whispered into his ear, her warm breath caressing the dark freckled skin of his face.
Louis opened his sleepy eyes, the white in his eyes looking redder than normal, almost bloodshot. Even though he had no strength yet a smile played with his lips as he saw her face.
"What time is it?"
Clem looked around, there was no evidence whatsoever how long they had been asleep. The white walls were free of any clocks, they were sterile and clean, nothing like the cars she had seen till now.
"I don't know. We should try to open the doors.", she suggested, quietly standing up and sneaking to the other side of the truck.
"Good morning love-birds, how's it going?", a rusty and sleepy voice asked, Frank had awoken.
The girl scratched the back of her head in embarrassment and looked downwards, the floor suddenly looked very interesting for her.
"I didn't want to wake you up, sorry."
The man just shook his head in response,
"Don't you worry, I was awake all the time, just dozed off a bit."
Clementine smiled at his answer.
"I wanted to see what time it is, I've got no orientation in here..."
Frank smirked and pulled off the hat he had used to blend out the light.
"Ditto, just watch the walkers outside."

Sunlight flooded the back of the truck when Clem opened the doors, she had to shut her eyes for a second, blinded by the sudden change of brightness. Anne churned in her sleep, still not fully capable of talking or anything else. The street was free of the living dead, Clementine couldn't spot any of them. Something built up in the pits of her stomach as she looked around the dead looking road.
"Where did all the walkers go, normally they never leave completely..."
Frank and Louis moved to her side, both blinking furiously in surprise.
"That's interesting", Louis said, "they must have been drawn away by sound or food or whatever."
Frank was the most suspicious, he pulled his gun out of hiding and stepped out. He let his gaze swoop around them, his knees slightly bent, ready to face any appearing threat. His eyes widened as he fixed them on something on the far horizon, just outside the teenager's line of sight.
"Clear...what in the world?"
The teenagers followed his look. In the distance a big column of smoke was visible. The gray substance obscured the rays of the sun, painting a completely different picture of the usually peaceful horizon.
"Fuck, that's where the school is!", Clem almost yelled in fear. The knot in her stomach churned around, her feeling hasn't been wrong after all. She knew that something terrible had happened, something that would turn her blood into pure ice when she arrived. Pictures of maimed corpses lying in front if busted gates flashed before her inner eye before a voice interrupted her dark thoughts.
"What is happening here, can't you just leave a woman her precious sleep?", Anne called from the inside, her voice as rusty and weak as Frank's had been.
"Anne, wake up, the school's under attack!", Louis shouted.
Her head jerked up, no sign of dizziness were notable in her expression, the shock had driven away all of it.
"What?"
"Look at the horizon, that smoke is coming from the school!"
She jumped to her feet, gun ready in her hand. She put off the safety with a loud click as she ran to their side, her fingers turned white as she clutched the weapon in anger, the grey smoke leaving trails in the white of her eyes.
"Then we have no time to waste, make the cars ready to drive!"
Clementine's thoughts were racing, -No no no no no, this can't be happening. Not again!-
Louis pulled her out of her catatonic state, his warm hands found place on her shoulders,
"Hey, don't worry, they know how to defend themselves, they'll be fine!"
She could hear that he wasn't believing that himself, the crack in his voice had given that away. Then, a sudden change occurred to her, determination and anger replaced her fear from one moment to the other. Her friends didn't need an intimidated small child, they needed the strong independent leader they had chosen.
"Let's show those fuckers who they're messing around with!", she scowled angrily as she pulled the bow off her back, the dark metal glistening and irradiating death.
Her boy looked at her, grinning wildly.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!"