Ruthless - Clouis

Chapter 1 - They're actually gone...

The wind whistled quietly while the brown grass blew around. The smell was putrid; the smell of the dead. Blood was painted into the walls, ground and weapons which all once belonged to a fearless group; now only three of the family remained and the rest were scared for their lives. The howls of the distressed dog killed the only two humans sitting on the steps to the broken entrance. The raid was last night, now morning, so the fire had cooled down and was now at a safe level so it could be put out.

Yet, smoke still rose from the campfire which the couple slept at that night. 

Clementine stared blankly at the burnt grass, in pain from a scratch on her arm which was the result in Lily stabbing her. She didn't exactly know what to think of the whole situation her and Louis were in, but she knew that it was a bad situation. Rosie whimpered beside her and nudged the girl, missing her best friend and owner: Marlon.

 Was he even still alive? Was anyone still alive?

Clem hated to think it, But was AJ still alive? She had promised that it would all be alright, but in the end he was one of the many that were gone. After all of these years of looking after him, after the many days planning the whole attack; just for it to fail. As she was on the edge of wailing again, she felt a warm presence near her and sit beside her, making her feel safer. It was Louis, wearing a sad smile across his lips.

"Hey," He said simply, looking across the yard. "Are you okay? It's cold." Clem shrugged and sighed, putting her head on his shoulder.

"I'm just scared. What if they come back here for us? Then there's no hope for them or us, unless a random group saved us; which would never happen in these woods. I promised AJ that he'd be okay, but now he's gone and probably scared. Though I am cold, I'd just rather sit in the cold than be inside warm. I'm sure they're suffering more than us right now..." Clem started to hug her legs, again about to cry.

"Clem, listen to me: were going to be fine! You've seen Rosie kill walkers before, so you know that as long as we have her we'll be fine!"

"But what if something happens to her? Then we won't have our fuzzy friend anymore, would we girl?" Clem started roughhousing Rosie, causing her to jump in excitement and bark when she got the girls hands down. 

"You know, for now, you could be her new owner. While Marlon's away, of course. I'm probably not cut out to look after an energetic dog like her."

"No, Louis. Marlon's you best friend, you take her." Louis looked down at Rosie, pouted, then bowed his head. "Are you Alright?"

"Before I was sent to this damn boarding school, I used to have a dog. Never remembered his name, though. He was the sweetest little dog you could meet. Then one day I got sent here and before I left, the dog was nowhere. I searched the whole house only to find some blood leading down to the basement, and that's when I found out that my grandad was a butcher for pets and he killed my dog." 

He looked at Clem's sorry face then turned away. 

"I know that I'm rambling but-"

"That's messed up." Clementine said before looking into his chocolate eyes deeply. "I wish there was something I could do but...I guess I can't really go back in time."

"There was nothing you could do. But I just wanted to say that I can't look after Rosie because I can't look after my own dog."

"But that wasn't your fault. We can look after Rosie, together." She placed her hand on his, a sweet smile crossing both faces. Instead of replying, Louis just held her in his arms and watched the sun set, Rosie by their sides.

"Before we go to sleep, we need to sort out how we're gonna save everyone. If we leave too late then they'd be dead in about a week if they don't cooperate." They both sighed in relief that both were thinking the same thing then headed inside while Rosie slept by the door.

The two entered the headteachers office, Louis checking the drawers by throwing everything out. It was all, surprisingly, organised. Just as he remembered a second map found its way to his hands as he examined it, dragging his finger along the dusty paper.

"What's that?" Clementine asked, peering over his shoulder. Louis continued to look through the  A3 paper as he finally found a small doodle of a ship. 

"There." He said. "That's where everyone is. And we're here," He then pointed to a red circle. "If we can get ready tonight and set off tomorrow, we should be okay. But remember that you're dealing with Lily, Minerva and that dickhead Abel is still in the basement."

"I suggest that we should talk to Abel. He might know more about how everyone's organised."

"Good idea. Should we go now?"

"Yeah. Before he dies or something." 

The two headed out into the basement, Clem remembering clearly how Marlon nearly killed Brody; if she wasn't there then she's be dead. She felt proud of how she saved her, but not how Marlon traded the twins for safety. 

It still felt dead cold, wind blowing all around the dark atmosphere. Rosie had moved down there to her usual bed, now about to go to sleep until the two came inside. After the raid at the train station and all of the organising Ruby and Aasim did, the food was now neatly on the shelves with an old metal stove in the corner. And in front of Louis and Clem sat Abel, struggling to stay awake; or alive for that matter.

He looked terrible. Green, slimy snot running from his nose as he'd been crying, bags under his red eyes, a scared and sad expression on his face and a can of soup on the table to tease him. He looked up at us like a puppy, about to whimper again. "Please...I'll tell you anything you want..." he spoke, trembling. We were only meant to leave him out for a night but it ended up being 3 nights and he hadn't eaten or drunken anything. 

And it absolutely stunk in here.

"Okay then," Louis spoke in an unusual, threatening tone. He was usually soft with his words but it was as if he was the worst teen in the world. Tough, brutal, unforgiving...I just stood behind him and hoped that he didn't do anything too crazy. "Where the fuck are my friends?! What is that witch going to do with them, huh?! Kill them? Torture them? Make them one of her?"

"Exactly," Abel said, coughing. "They're going to become soldiers and you can't do nothing about it. I expect that you know where the place is, considering that you've been there before." Then there was a croaky laugh that echoed around us, causing me to shiver. Louis, however, grew angry and sad at the same time as he grabbed the can on the table and hit Abel over the head with it.

"Fuck you!" Louis roared, hitting him again in his open wound as blood rushed out. Clem just stood there blankly, watching how her boyfriend took his anger out on a man who was already half dead and was now just plainly suffering. Though, she didn't care too much. He and his group did just take his whole family away from him and they also had all of the information they needed. "Your heartless! You a fucking psycho! Your a piece of shit!" 

"Louis!" Clem screamed, grabbing his arms. "He's dead! Stop!" 

"Why, Clem? Are you scared of me?" The girl froze, honestly and truly scared of what he might do. He sighed. "Sorry. I guess your not used to me, huh?" 

"It's just that I never knew that you were so...violent."

"I rarely am. But he's dead, and I don't-" Suddenly, there was a cough that caught us both off guard. I guess Abel was still alive. He coughed again, blood this time. His head was thrown back violently as he chocked on the blood, desperately trying to catch some 'fresh' air. Then finally, his head fell down and he was lifeless, completely. "Get ready." Louis said, facing me with a ruthless look on his face. "We're going tomorrow morning."