A new Dawn (Clementine x Louis)

Chapter Twenty-Two - Rescued

"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.