Chapter 22:
It had been four days since Lee, Clementine, Clark, and Kenny had gone on their supply run and four days since they hadn't returned. The group had been on edge at first when they didn't return by evening. And when night fell, they grew more restless, but Lilly had everyone calm down, giving them solid logical arguments as to why they could have taken so long.
Her speech didn't help them calm down, especially Carley and Katjaa, who had people they loved out there, but Lilly promised them that she'd go out there and follow their tracks to find what happened.
When she came back, her face was pale, and she looked worried, frightened- under her mask of leadership. So, she lied to everyone, or half lied. She told them that there was a small horde that had gathered by the place they were scavenging, which was false.
There were hundreds of walkers circling the apartment complex.
She had told them that she'd seen them from a window and they were fine. Which was another lie. She hadn't seen them; if anything, she saw the reason why Clark made fun of them when they called them walkers, because there were runners in that massive horde, alongside one that was on all fours, crawling faster than she could run.
She said that they were simply waiting for the horde to pass them by and they'd come back, but Lilly doubted if they were even alive. No, they were dead, because no one would survive all that.
All that was left was to break the bad news to Carley and Katjaa, but Lilly hesitated and waited, hoping for one more day. That maybe they are alive, and are really waiting for the horde to pass.
That one more day became two, and two became four, and Lilly was still waiting, hoping.
She hadn't slept properly in any of those four days, which wasn't unusual for her; sleep had always been something she negotiated with rather than surrendered to nowadays, a habit from years of military household schedules that the outbreak had only made worse.
But this was different. This wasn't the alert, functional sleeplessness of someone on watch. This was the other kind. The kind where she'd lie down and the ceiling would be there, and her brain would be there with it, running the same calculations over and over and arriving at the same results.
Four people.
She kept coming back to that number. Four people, three of whom were pillars that made everything easy for her. Three pillars that took leadership from her shoulder and shared it amongst each other, even Kenny, no matter how much she disliked him. Four people, out of eleven, were gone, just like that. It made everything suffocating to her and Lilly; she wouldn't admit to anyone, but she cried the second night.
She cried herself to sleep because it had gotten hard to breathe under everyone's expectations, on top of keeping two worried women from doing something stupid, a kid that she had to protect, and her dad's heart issue.
She didn't know what she was supposed to do, other than hope for one more day. Just one more day, and they'd come back. She didn't want to go back to having everyone hate her.
She hoped that her group- no, her friends made it back.
Lee. Who had been the closest thing this group had to a conscience that didn't come at the cost of function. Who had talked her down from things she hadn't realized she'd been climbing toward, without making it a confrontation, without making her feel managed. Who had disagreed with her consistently, loudly, and correctly enough times that she'd started, privately and without telling anyone, taking his disagreements seriously and changed her ways from what she was slowly becoming.
Kenny. Infuriating, stubborn, myopic, completely unable to separate his personal feelings from group decisions, and the only other person in the parking lot who understood that sometimes the right call was the one that kept your family alive and didn't require anyone's permission. She hated agreeing with him. She'd been agreeing with him more often lately and pretending she hadn't.
Clark.
Clark's arrival had changed their group, made everything easy and breathable. He seemed Larger than Life. Enough that she could focus on other things, like showing her interest in the fool that was Mark, a fellow veteran, and pursuing that interest. Have a small friendship with Carley that was slowly growing day by day. Worrying less about her dad because he ate well and was much calmer than before.
Clark wasn't a pillar that Lee, Kenny, and she were to the group. No, it felt more like he was the wall that protected them from everything else that they couldn't. He was bright, no matter how much tragedy and heartache he faced, in a way that made others relax in his presence.
He guided with his actions rather than words. He went hunting and came back with food every time. He taught Clementine how to defend herself against walke- ghouls and had taken Duck as well. On his first- or more like second day, he had woken up earlier than almost everyone and had a fire for everyone to enjoy in the cold of the morning.
The fire that Lilly now took over. Mark had insisted on doing it, but Lilly refused.
She needed to do this. At least for now, so that, maybe, just maybe, when she returned to her demeanor before Clark's arrival, at the very least, they would understand.
And Clementine… The warmth of the group and their future in this messed-up world. When she first saw the terrified girl, she felt sorry for her and almost suggested that Lee put her out of her misery.
The girl was weak and cared for everyone. And in this world, people like her would die in more agony than others. Her weakness, to care for others more than to care for herself spelled her doom and Lilly put walls, because it would happen very, very soon.
But then, her life changed one day, and now, she missed the girl more than she'd ever miss others. Clementine, Duck, and Ben were a reminder of what a world was like, and now, everyone was watching as that reminder slowly died, as they adapted. At least two out of the three did.
She shot a look at Ben, finally taking a watch, as the rest ate their lunch.
Why couldn't it have been him out there instead of Clementine?
She shook her head and stared blankly at the meat soup that Katjaa had made. It had nothing much, except meat that Clark had hunted and they had stored through various means, a little bit of corn, and some mint that Mark had found during an attempt at hunting.
She looked in front of her and stared as Carley watched her bowl, not taking a bite, as her eyes seemed lost and worried.
Carley had stopped asking her questions on the second day. Not because she'd stopped wanting answers, but because she'd read Lilly's face well enough to understand that Lilly didn't have better answers than the ones she'd already given, and Carley was smart enough to stop asking questions that weren't going to get better answers just by being repeated.
What she'd done instead was go quiet in a specific way, the way she went quiet when she was putting something away to deal with later, and Lilly had watched her do it and said nothing, because there was nothing to say.
Katjaa was different. Katjaa cried, quietly and privately, in the way of someone who had decided they were allowed to do it as long as no one else had to see it- especially her son, Duck, who was asking them when his dad would come back. Lilly had found her once, in the early morning of the third day, by the water inventory, and they had stood there for a moment and not said anything, and then Katjaa had finished what she was doing and gone back inside.
She remembered how Duck had asked, once, when Kenny was coming back. Lilly had told him soon, and he had nodded with the trust of a nine-year-old who hadn't yet learned that soon was sometimes the kindest lie available, and gone back to whatever he'd been doing.
She'd had to leave the area for a few minutes after that.
Lilly had stood by the gallons of for a while after. Thoughts racing, but silent. Her decision was made and if everyone in the group would hate her, if they wanted her dead at some point in the future, then so be it. At the very least, she would still consider them her friends, even if they had not, and she'd make sure they'd be alive for as long as she could.
Her father hadn't said anything. He'd been watching her for four days with the expression he wore when he was worried about her and had decided not to say so, which was its own kind of weight, because her father not saying something was considerably more notable than her father saying it.
On the morning of the fourth day, Mark had found her on the RV roof during his shift handover and hadn't said anything either. He'd just set a tin of Soylent Green beside her that she hadn't asked for and hadn't moved away from, and after a while she'd drunk it without tasting it, which was probably the intended outcome.
She was still on the RV roof now, her shoulder remembering Mark's comforting grip, to show that he was there for her.
The parking lot below was doing its quiet, midday things. Ben was by the fence, working on a section that didn't need working on. He was simply doing the act so everyone would stop looking at him with annoyance, since pity had run it's course and no one had pity for him anymore. He was a waste of resources, Lilly decided, and an ultimatum was already on her mind.
Either he'd make himself useful and go out there with Mark or someone else to hunt and find something edible, or he'd have to really put in the work at the motel. And if she found him wasting time and resources again, she would kick him out so others like Duck could use them.
With that, she judged that it was time. Time to tell the group the truth, what she'd seen, and that Lee, Clark, Clementine, and Kenny were dead, turned into ghouls, or torn to pieces. She just needed the shaking and nervousness to stop. That's what she was waiting for. But even if it hadn't, she'd tell them tonight. Before everyone had gone to sleep.
The night would also give them and her time to face their new reality.
She was still deciding how to start when the sound arrived.
A crack. Single, distant, sharp.
A gunshot.
Lilly was on her feet before it had finished echoing. Her rifle was up, eyes on the tree line, the rooftops, the street- scanning. Old reflexes snapping into place before the rest of her had caught up.
Nothing moved.
"What was that?" Katjaa worryingly asked, looking to the sky due to the sound, and then her.
She waited. Ten seconds. Twenty.
Then another shot. Different direction, she thought. Northwest, away from the apartment complex, further out. And then, before the echo of the second had fully resolved, a third and a fourth, rapid, less than a second apart.
It wasn't random. It wasn't a single person or group reacting to something. The pattern of it was wrong for that. Too organized. The first and second had space between them, the kind of space that existed between people with distance between them. The third and fourth were tight, answering to the first and second shots.
Two positions. Firing at each other.
She heard Ben below her, his footsteps on the pavement, looking up. "What was-"
"Everyone, inside. NOW!" She ordered, glaring at them all as they froze-
"Lilly-"
"CARLEY! INSIDE NOW!" She stopped her friend's question and ordered, jumping down the RV, as Duck was the first one to listen to her, taking his mom's hand and dragging her inside a room, not caring whose it was. And then, everyone else followed suit. Ben went to his, Mark and Larry went to one together, leaving only Carley and her alone.
She ran to the fire, putting it out as fast as she could, and with Carley's help, hid the hearth with chairs and crates, before running inside the room Mark and Larry were in.
More shots. A burst this time, four or five in fast succession, and then a gap, and then a single answering crack from what she estimated was a different elevation, higher, roof level maybe.
Two parties. With weapons. With enough ammunition to expend it in bursts, which meant either a large group or a group that had access to resupply, neither of which was a comfortable thing to be true about unknown armed people within half a mile of the motel.
The shots stopped for a minute. Then two.
And then began once more, as Lilly watched the tree lines and the fence, hoping that the sound wouldn't attract anything, human or ghoul, to their motel.
She had the rifle up, her eye on the scope, tracking the tree line across once more. Mark was behind her left shoulder, close enough that she could hear his breathing and it calmed her down just a little. Her dad was against the wall to her right, his jaw set, a hand on his chest and controlling his breathing.
Carley was between him and them, her hand on her pistol, as she waited for Lilly if trouble would come their way.
The trees were still. The usual kind of still, branches moving with the cold breeze, the occasional shift of shadow that was just shadow. She'd been reading this specific tree line for more than two months. She knew it like the back of her hand.
Nothing.
Then something.
A figure, at the far left edge of the tree line, where the road curved. Moving fast. Not the shamble-drag of a walker. Not the careful, deliberate movement of a survivor who knew what they were doing and moving towards the noise.
It was none of them.
This… thing ran, sprinted without pause, without a break. Its movement brought a shiver down her spine, and her body got covered in cold sweat as that thing moved faster than anyone in the group could. She saw it hit its shoulder on a tree, and it ragdolled for a moment before jumping back on its feet and sprinting once more.
It hit another tree. The impact would have put a person down. It didn't go down. It spun, corrected, kept going, toward the sound of the gunshots.
"Lilly." Mark's voice, low and careful, from her shoulder. He'd seen it too.
She didn't answer. She was watching the tree line.
A second one emerged from the shadows at the right edge. Then a third. Then two more together, close enough that their shoulders collided and neither of them registered it. They moved in the same broken sprint, all of them oriented in the same direction, all of them pulled toward the sound like iron toward a magnet.
She lowered the rifle slowly.
Her hands were steady. She made a note of that to distract herself from the complete feeling of despair. Her hands were steady, and her breathing was even, and she was cold all over in a way that had nothing to do with the temperature.
"What is that," Carley said. Not a question. The specific flatness of someone who had asked the question and heard the answer and didn't like it.
"Runners," Lilly said. The word came out even. "I saw them at the apartment complex. When I went to find-" She stopped. Reset. "When I went to check on the others."
The silence in the room shifted.
"You saw them before?" Mark asked in a careful tone of a man deciding whether to push.
"Yes."
"And you didn't-"
"I made a decision." She kept her eyes on the tree line. "I can explain it later." She felt Mark looking at the side of her face, and she let him look, because there wasn't time for what came after, and she needed him functional. He looked away.
More figures at the tree line, but these were slower- walkers she thought. She started counting without meaning to and stopped when she reached twelve because twelve had already become fifteen while she was counting, and fifteen was becoming larger, shapes resolving out of the shadow between the trunks in ones and twos.
She heard Mark gulp, and she did as well, her hand still on her rifle. "There are at least twenty of them, all moving toward the shooting. Not toward us."
"How can you be sure?" Carley asked, and Lilly glanced at her.
"Otherwise, our makeshift fence would have been destroyed, and we'd be dead."
"Yet," her dad said, from against the wall, and she didn't look at him, because he wasn't wrong and she didn't have anything useful to add to it.
The horde moved across the gap in the tree line, flowing through it with the mass and direction of something that had found a purpose. The gunshots were still going somewhere to the northwest, still the two-position exchange she'd clocked before, and the horde was aimed at it the way a compass found north.
As long as the shooting continued, the horde had somewhere to go that wasn't here. But from what she was noticing, the gunshots had become fewer between them. Meaning either the fight was at its last stretch due to dangers, or they were retreating.
Carley had moved to the window beside her. She was looking at the tree line with the expression she wore when she was putting something away and dealing with it in order. "Once the shooting stops, then they'll look for the next sound."
"Yes."
"Which would be us."
"Only if we give them one." She looked at Carley directly. "So we don't give them one."
A beat.
"Lilly." Carley's voice had shifted into something else, stern, firm, but worried. Something that wasn't about the horde, or not only. She was still looking at the tree line, her jaw working once. "The runners. You said you saw them at the apartment complex."
"Yes."
"When you went to check."
"Yes."
"On Lee. And Kenny. And Clark and Clementine."
The room was quiet.
"Yes." She muttered, closing her eyes for a moment. The gunshots had killed and trashed her plan to say it during the evening. But now that she was confronted by someone she considered a friend, Lilly had no choice but to tell her now.
She straightened up, turning to face Carley, and that's all it took for the woman's eyes to be filled with tears that she was holding back, her bottom lip trembling as Carley held back her cry.
"I'm sorry, Carley." She told her in the gentlest and softest voice she could. She watched as the dam on her friend broke, a sharp, painful, silent sob escaping her as she brought her hands to her chest and crumbled to herself.
Lilly didn't move to comfort her.
Not because she didn't want to. Because, based on what she thought of her friend and her personality, Carley didn't need comfort right now. Comfort was for after. Right now, she needed space to absorb what she'd been handed, and Lilly was going to give her that, because it was the only thing she had left to give.
Mark's hand found Lilly's shoulder from behind. A brief, firm pressure. He didn't say anything. She didn't need him to.
Her dad was looking at the wall. His hand was still crossed on his chest, the stillness of a man who had received news he'd been bracing for and was now sitting with it. Even her dad, who had made no secret of his feelings about Clark Rogers since the day the boy had pointed a gun at him, had gone quiet. Because, at the end of the day, her dad liked Clark more than anyone in the group, except Lilly.
She gave them time to process and shot a glance at the fence, watching as the final bit of the horde moved towards their dinner bell, and Lilly hoped that there wouldn't be any other leftovers that would stay in their area.
For about ten minutes, Carley sobbed to herself, and Lilly judged that it was time for comfort, so she got to her knees and hugged her friend, not offering any words. Because there were no words that she could tell her.
In a matter of one day, Carley had lost Lee, her man and lover, Clementine, someone she treated like a little sister or daughter at best, and Clark, whom she loved the same way she loved Clementine, like a brother or a son.
There were no words, and saying sorry felt like an insult to her. So, Lilly said nothing and tightened her hug as Carley stopped holding her grief, hugging her back and crying on Lilly's shoulder. She wasn't sure when, but at some point, she felt her eyes get wet, but Lilly pushed the ache in her chest back and ignored the tightening of her throat.
She couldn't show any sign of weakness since they all counted on her now.
…
…
…
There were a lot of things on Clark's mind as he rested in the bed alongside Clementine in the master bedroom in their hideout apartment. Kenny and Lee had taken the other room, the one that belonged to a kid.
Due to his injuries and the horde outside that was thining out slowly, they couldn't return to the motel. The tension was high the first two days as Kenny just seemed ready for him to turn, even when they broke the news that he was immune and had powers. That was until Clark proved it, using the horn to give him a pear.
There were a lot of questions and demands and clarification, but at the end of it, Kenny nodded in reluctant acceptance since Clark had helped Duck not be hungry with his abilities and items that he would pull from his ass- his words.
Since then, the tension had morphed into something else. Now, on the fifth day, the tension was due to worry for the group, as the horde thinned in the dozens, leaving fifty or so around the complex.
"Are you sure you don't have anything to get us out of here?" Kenny asked him a hundred times, and Clark almost rolled his eyes- the pain stopped him. "Kenny," Lee called him, and the man clicked his tongue in frustration, marching back to the living room to look at the horde- carefully.
Another realization that they had to face, Clementine included, was the reason why Clark called the infected and those who turned ghouls, instead of walkers. The word walker was a huge mischaracterization on their part, since Lee, Kenny, and even Clementine had seen a couple of them break off and run towards the gunfight that they'd heard at the fourth day since they were hiding. Long enough that the bathroom was starting to smell from almost everyone using it for their needs.
Thanks to his Speckled Stoneplate, Clark could ignore it. Though he really wanted to give it to Clementine, she refused, saying that it would help him with his pain more. She could deal with bad smell, but she didn't want to risk him losing himself in pain that the ring gave the strength to hold back.
So, while Clark recovered and waited for the horde to thin, Kenny would sometimes come to him, asking him to tell him about his lottery power, and Clark would oblige.
"And finally, there's a fusion mechanic that I have access to." He finished.
"What does that do?" Lee asked, and Clark tried to remember, since it had been a while since he used it.
"It can take two things, anything from any category, and fuse them. The result of it would either empower the effect of one with the sacrifice of the other, give the result properties of both things, or have it create a new side effect."
"So, don't you have any healing shit-"
"Kenny!" Lee interrupted, and the man shrugged. But Clark picked up on what he meant. "No, I've got nothing healing-related. I wish I had."
"Then why don't you fuse your things-" he glanced at Lee, "and see if anything could create the side effect of healing."
"That's not how it really works." Clark told him, "I have a limit on the fusion. Three fusion, and then I'd get a cooldown period of a week on the mechanic. And then they unfuse a day later."
"But can't you see the result before you confirm the fusion?" The mustachioed man asked, and Clark nodded, a frown on his face now.
"So, do that!"
Immediately, Clark closed his eyes, a surge of energy appearing in him as he looked through his list and picked some of the things for trial runs.
Astral Injection, the thing that Clark called a death sentence, Ancient Fruit Wine, Scrap Iron Candy, Heat Object, Cor Leonis, Stone Skin, Dry, Immunity System, Phantom Sensation, Half Light, Larger than Life, Seamster, and, finally, Gambler, because why not.
He tried Heat Object and Dry, and the ability that he received was named Cauterize. And it was self-explanatory. The stamina consumption from the first ability would be halved, and Clark could control the intensity of it as well. Such as being good enough to cauterize wounds, which Clark made note of, but didn't select.
While he was now stitched, there was a chance that they would reopen if Clark moved too much. So, burning his flesh close would be a good idea, at least practically. Even if he doesn't get any infection.
He also tried Scrap Iron Candy and Cornocupia, with the candy fusing into the horn. The end result was a horn that would not only nourish with food, but it would boost the properties of foods. Immediately, Clark thought of medicinal herbs, but there wasn't one that he could actually think of. He'd seen them being used in movies or shows to be used as an alternative to bandages or gauze and even mushed-up medicine, but what were the names of those leaves and herbs?
The more he thought about it, the more Clark found out that they needed a doctor or a nurse to be part of their group.
He tested out other combinations, with Kenny and others interrupting him once, and most fusions didn't give him any recovery-related item, ability, or even trait.
Except for Astral Inject combined with Seamster.
Reading the description, Clark had to suppress a shiver. Even the name had him doubt it, but the description was bleak and hopeful.
Surgical Destruction | Uncommon Item:
An injection that MASSIVELY increases recovery for 15 minutes, destroying your body and rebuilding it to be at its peak. In short, you could compete in the Olympics without training. But while the effect is active, you will have to endure the pain of your body being destroyed and burned inside out. Your body needs energy to transform and heal from years of neglect. So, make sure you eat a lot. If you don't, well… Find out. Warning: This item can only be used once per person. Using it twice will melt and rot your body into a slime.
"I think I got something." He finally voiced to others, a frown on his face. "Yeah?" Lee asked, and Clark barely nodded.
"Yeah, but it'd be painful. Extremely painful." He told them, staring at the end result of the fusion that he hadn't confirmed yet. "We don't have much choice." Kenny voiced out, and Clementine glared at the man next to him.
"It says the recovery will depend on how much energy my body has." As one, they all looked at his malnourished, injured body that was barely recovering, lacking the glass shard and then the bone that they had gotten out of him. Lee had stitched the glass shard wound pretty tight, but the bone one. Kenny volunteered, torched his pocket knife, and burned the wound closed. "And… how much recovery are we talking here?" Lee asked, and Clark shook his head, barely. "It doesn't say."
"I'll see if I can use the immunity ability with the item that's behind the recovery." He interrupted whatever Kenny was about to say, focusing on the thing in his head. He removed Seamster from the slot and put in Immunity System.
Astral Regeneration | Trash Trait
You now have a healing factor that would make THE Wolverine jealous and immune to all toxins, some poisons, and bodily harm- as long as you have the stamina to burn. If you don't, well, you'd turn into a husk and die, leaving behind only your bones and dried flesh.
"Okay… I got another one, but I'd have to have infinite stamina for a whole day." He told them, Clementine's free hand already going to the necklace he gave her, the horseshoe one. "What about-"
"That only gives the stamina of a horse. Based on the description-" He looked at it, "It burns through all of my stamina until it unfuses on its own. Which means, now we-" He corrected himself, because at the end of the day, he was going to have to go through them. "I have two choices. Pain or wither and die, leaving behind only bones, which was better than a couple of minutes ago."
No one said anything, but Clementine's hold on his hand became tighter.
That was enough to focus on another possible fusion. Seamster and Immunity System.
Biological Intuition | Uncommon Skill
You can identify injuries and their severity faster and more accurately than training alone would allow; you read bodies the way you read fabric. Useful for treating others.
Based on all his end results of the fusion, Astral Injection seemed to be the one that had the capacity for him to recover. But the downside of it would also carry into the end result, which was not great at all. He also attempted to see the result for Gambler mixed with the injection, and it gave him bleak news. For a D20, based on the roll number, he'd either get a good dose of energy for 10 minutes without any cost, if it was higher than 17, or he'd rot alive.
So far, the only possible solution was Surgical Destruction. But it also had the most danger, since even Astral Regeneration had told him what would happen if the criteria for use weren't met. Surgical Destruction, it just… teased. Left it unknown, and that was scarier than everything else on that list of fusion-
"Eat," Clementine said.
Not a suggestion. Clark recognized the tone by now, and it didn't invite a discussion on his part. She had already reached into the horn next to them, and three dried but big dates fell into her hand.
He ate the dates as she commanded.
The horn had become Clementine's domain over the past five days as Lee and Kenny worried for the group back at the motel. While she was also worried for them, her priority seemed to be him and only him. Not the danger outside or the threat that if one minute, they raise their voice too much, the front door would collapse.
Thankfully, the gunfight that had happened yesterday had most, if not almost all, of the horde gone towards it, and the only ones that remained were inside the building. Kenny insisted on thinning them one by one so that when they do move Clark, it would be less dangerous. Lee saw the logic behind it. But it didn't mean he wasn't hesitating. Especially when they saw running ghouls head towards the gunfight and how Lee had told them that there might be at least one of them inside with them.
The Ring of Protection with Carley, Clark decided to give one of them Scrap Iron Candy and had the other wait 8 hours before giving him one as well. Then he explained about Mentats, and Kenny begged him to give them before they went out to the hallway. Clark explained the danger behind it and how addictive they are if taken too much, but at that point, the risk didn't outweigh the result. So, he had both of them on the mental enhancement drug.
As soon as they took it, Clark and Clementine saw the rush on their face, the mental clarity, and more. They seemed to remember things that they had forgotten, and in Lee's case, he had popped his leg wrong, which explained why it was pulsing in pain for so long. The only reason Clark hadn't seemed to realize or ignore it was because almost all of him hurt, and that had gone to the background, thanks to the Speckled Stoneplate Ring.
After dates came other fruits, and then veggies and green leaves, such as basil, cilantro, and mint, and he was full afterward. Even then, she put more food in his mouth. Lots of mint that she also took and gave to Lee and Kenny. She also put them around the room to combat the smell coming from the bathroom. And when both adults had gone to the living room or were busy cleaning out the hallways one by one, Clementine would attack his lips hungrily and desparingly, not letting him breathe and place his free, uninjured hands under her shirt to play with her, as now.
"Clem-" She bit and moaned into the kiss, using her tongue to lick the bite and then wrestle with his. Wanting to breathe from the surprise attack, he pinched and pulled her two sensitive buttons, and she whined, breaking the kiss, her hips shaking just a little for a long moment. Once she finished her orgasm, she started to pant, and the kisses became more loving and less hungry.
"Clem-" He got interrupted again, her hand on top of his, covered by her shirt. "I want it too." He voiced, her eyes going to the tent in his pants, but she grinned as she deepened the kiss. "No." She decided, not even touching his tent, her hands still on his.
"No." She stopped whatever complaining he had with her lips. "That's your punishment. For worrying me. For scaring me." She reminded him, and Clark almost growled, as her kisses slowly trailed to his jaw and then throat, leaving another mark on him.
"I'm sorry." He whispered, freeing one hand and running his fingers through her curly and beautiful hair. "I'm sorry, Clem." He repeated to her, as he's been doing for the past four days out of five. Two of which she has been punishing him for.
She simply hummed for a moment, her lips trailing back to her lips for a moment, and then a gentle kiss to his forehead. "I know."
For a moment, they remained like that, him blue balled, while Clementine enjoyed her bliss. "I don't want you to pick any of the fusions." She finally told him, alone so that no one, especially Kenny, could hear her.
She understood Kenny, and she felt for him. But to her, Clark was now her everything. She didn't want to see him in pain any longer. And if that meant having a slow recovery that took months and months, she'd be fine with that.
He wouldn't be carrying burdens that were supposed to be adults'. Back at the motel, she was starting to see how his trait, Larger than Life, made them unconsciously or consciously rely on him more and more. The more times he went hunting and came back with food, the less others, such as Lilly, Kenny, and even Lee, seemed to take their leadership role seriously.
At first, she was confused, but when Clark told her of all his previous ticket results, it clicked, and she realized how she was also just like them. But after almost losing him, she wanted him to rest. To let the adults take over once more, so her lover, her unofficial- but official to them- husband, simply rest and heal slowly.
They had everything they would ever need. With the new item, the horn that Clark called a cornucopia, their food worries were basically non-existent, which, if she understood his powers correctly, he should have a ticket-
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?" She halted her thoughts, looking at him in worry.
"Nothing- I just got a ticket- a platinum rank. For potentially solving our food crisis." He told her, and Clementine froze. Did that- 'Clark, can you hear me?' She tried and saw no reaction on his part. 'I'm going to ride you, Clark.' She tested again, a glance sent towards his tent that was slowly lowering. Nothing, not even a twitch.
"Roll it." She told and he briefly nodded, her heart breaking at the smallest expression of pain at moving his head. The only reason why she might even think about him going through one of the fusions was his head injury.
She'd read somewhere in school, which felt like a lifetime ago, how some people had survived being shot in the head. But she also read about how someone had sneezed hard during sleep, hitting their head on the wall, and then the morning after, they were found dead.
'No, think about what else he had done.' Clementine told herself and came to another potential "feat." His walker kill count. He did say he survived for a long period of time, almost a month more or less, alone. He should have killed count-
"Wha?"
"Clark?" She tested, her heart drumming in her chest, and she saw hope.
"I just got another few tickets, a couple of bronze, special bronze, and a few silvers as well…"
"Does it say why?" She asked, gulping air.
Her sweet lover, fully trusting her with no hesitation, listed the new feats he seemed to get. The few bronze and special bronze tickets, for a kill count of about 50 walkers, that he still called ghouls. Included in that list were also some human kills, people that he killed directly and indirectly. The last two were silver, and one of them was special, because his kill count on humans was twice that of the ghouls, being over 100 and less than 150.
Before he could continue with his roll, Clementine decided to let go of some of her restraints, her lips stealing his bruised ones once more, for a moment. Before she parted, her tongue licked the blood that had oozed due to her biting it.
"For luck." She whispered, watching as her heart glared at her in a way that conveyed how much he disliked her teasing him and then punishing him, his tent being fully back up.
He looked the most cutet cuty potaoy and adorable man in the world with his pouting.
"When I heal, you're not wearing that necklace, and I'll be punishing you instead." He declared with a glare, and Clementine gave him a kiss.
…
After a sigh, Clark focused back on his lottery powers and the tickets. He had two bronze, one advantage bronze, one silver, and one advantage silver, including the platinum rank for solving their food crisis.
Hoping that her kiss did something, Clark began with the D20-
20!
'Wha?' Clark was speechless as he watched fireworks happening in his vision, as his bronze ticket turned to silver. He turned to Clementine, jaw wide open, and watched as she raised an eyebrow in that Lee way.
"Kiss me." He demanded, and she obliged, not asking anything, as it was much deeper than the previous one and more gentle and loving as well. He felt the smile growing on her face, and his length twitched and hurt.
When they broke, both were panting, a bridge of saliva between them as Clark got lost in her beautiful dark brown eyes and she in him.
"So?" She inquired, and Clark rolled his bronze, turned silver ticket-
[Blue Stoneplate Ring]
|Uncommon Item|
Dark Souls - Stoneplates, the symbol of a true knight, grant the strength to face various hardships. The cyan stoneplate symbolizes ice and boosts defense against ice and cold.
He smiled at the roll result and deemed it perfect, hoping to get it for a different finger than the thumb. Which changed to his preference. With a thought, it was in his palm. The same ring, the only difference being the color and a little extra effect.
She seemed to pick up on the similarity as well.
"It does the same as mine." He showed her his on his thumb. While his gave him some protection against all elements, hers was mainly cold and ice, which he told her. Taking her left hand, he circled her ring finger, staring as she gasped and looked back at him.
At the question in his eyes, she gave a nod, the ring fitting perfectly around her finger. "You're officially mine, for everyone to see." He whispered to her, Half Life warning him that instant that he should shut up because she was barely stopping herself from devouring his rod with her lower lips and riding him with her stamina necklace.
Damn his injuries.
She stopped staring at his beautiful green eyes that she wouldn't hesitate to look at forever. But she needed to control herself, her lower private part getting wetter every second. She needed to stop being near him because she really wanted to take him inside her.
She had gotten the talk from Carley, and while she explained what safe days were, and the low chance of pregnancy after having intercourse. It was never zero. For all she knew, having their way with each other, exchanging their first time, and going at it for hours- or more like, she was going at it for hours, while Clark barely held on because of her stamina necklace- there was a chance she had gotten pregnant. Carley had told her to wait for her period and, if it was late, to find a test and take it.
So, now, she had to wait. But after having the man of her life put a ring on her finger, waiting was torture. She didn't want to care for any of the risk and just pleasure him with herself. To show him how much she loved him and how he could have his way with her.
Her throat did something she didn't have the word for.
"You didn't have to do this twice," she said. Her voice came out quieter than she intended.
"I did." His words made her inside clench around nothing.
"Am I a Rogers now?" She asked while begging herself to stop. To stop moving. To get up from his lap and stop messing with his belt and pants- even if he dearly wanted to himself. He was injured. He was hurt. He needed to rest.
But the other part of her negotiated. That she wouldn't move. That they wouldn't move. Instead, she would just impale herself on him and use clench and unclench around him. Maybe that would be enough for him. She did punish him a lot more than he deserved.
Immediately, that hesitating part of her died, his lenght free from its prison, precum on the tip and more flowing. It took her a few seconds to get naked on her lower part, as she slowly let him enter.
Immediately, moan and a groan met as she fully let her weight be on his lap. And then warmth flooded inside of her as she clenched, another throaty moan as her hips trembled-
Hiss-
She opened her eyes wide, the pleasure gone from her mind, as she stared at the pained face of Clark, and her heart ached in guilt. "Sorry-"
Before she could finish, hands traveled up her hips, under her shirt once more, and pinched her nipples, shutting her up as another wave of pleasure washed over her-
"Clark~" She called his name, biting her lower lip to not make too much noise, her forehead filled with sweat even when she did nothing but put him in.
Before the wave of pleasure could hand, one of her nipples lost its fingers, as his hand traveled down, on her messy bush that she really needed to find something to trim-
She shook as if electrified, her hips fully diving back down on his length and wanting more, as Clark flicked her clit- and then she felt it again, as her lover- her husband's warmth flooded inside her once more, extending her pleasure. Her body shook, and at some point, Clark had brought her face closer to his as he shut her moans, whines, and cries of pleasure with his mouth.
It took her minutes, as she finally stopped trembling, her body's weight on one side of Clark's, and she remembered the injuries once more-
"Clark~!" She had to stop the moan as he was still inside her, half erect. "Let me go~" She weakly tried, not wanting to hurt him, but he stopped her. "I hurt you-" A pinch on her butt that sends a small spike of pleasure, making her open eyes at the new door being opened to her. But that was for another day.
"I love you, Clem." He told her, a kiss landing on her sweaty forehead, and she calmed just enough to take in his scent, smelling more of sweat and other things than a couple of days ago. But it still smelled of him.
"I lo-" She heard the door of the apartment slowly open, and their eyes widened. Immediately, Clementine jumped off of it, making him wince, as she tucked his penis into his boxer, then pants, and threw a cover. Then she rushed to wear her own pants, clean the snail trail on her thigh with her panties, and then putting it in his pants and then sat on the bed's edge, her leg crossed, with a poker face, even if her breathing seemed to be rushed.
They could hear Lee and Kenny making their way to them, to tell how many they took care of and if it seemed to be safe to move on.
On Clark's side, he tried his best to get his breathing controlled, analyzing to make sure there was nothing that could point to their fun time- that's when they entered the room, the adults' words dying in their throats as Lee smelled the room and his face turned sour, while Kenny looked at them as if he were disgusted.
"Really, you two fucked while we were risking our lives?" Kenny spat, annoyed at them, while Lee glared at the two. "And with his injuries!" Lee pointed out, and both young adults turned crimson with embarrassment and guilt.
"I've got tickets." Clark decided to distract them with something better and saw that it worked- only because they let it. But he knew they would be having a Talk.
So, he told them. He had two bronze, one advantage bronze, one silver, and one advantage silver, including the platinum rank for solving their food crisis. The two bronze had become one due to using it, and the result was the ring on Clementine's ring finger. This made the adults look at them with conflict and understanding.
On one hand, they figured out that the younger couple had gotten overwhelmed with each other, especially with Clementine teasing Clark for days- they noticed but kept it quiet to save them embarrassment- and so, they couldn't hold on.
On the other hand, if they made a noise that traveled during their happy time, then Lee and Kenny would be in danger due to being outside and the ghouls getting alerted. That part was what had them upset with the two.
With a sigh, Clark rolled the D20 and sighed once more at getting 7. Meaning, the ticket would rank down. Or in this case, the rarity tier would rank down since bronze was at the bottom tier.
With the max rarity going down to 3.3 from 2.3-
[Perfumer]
|Common Trait|
You smell nice, that's about it, you have no distinct, your smell like what the person that's smelling you likes.
Clark felt like his power was making fun of him. But he wouldn't reroll it anytime soon if he could. With Clementine close to him, she frowned, taking a sniff, as Clark's smell changed to something like spicy vanilla. Immediately, she sent him a look that had Lee clear his throat, loudly.
Now, it was time for his advantage bronze tickets-
With the D20, showing another 20 and another firework, it transformed into a silver advantage and began its own roll. While Clark's rod, underneath the cover, got hard and twitched. Thankfully, Kenny and Lee didn't notice-
[Venom Vial]
|Uncommon Item|
Batman/DC - A sealed injection vial filled with a dose of Venom, a very powerful, fast-acting steroid that enhances the physical strength of whoever consumes a full vial for 12 hours, after which they are left in a weakened state. Venom is incredibly effective and can have debilitating withdrawal symptoms. It may also fill the user with an urge to break people's backs. Restock Timer: 24 Hour.
OR
[Nothing Strange]
|Uncommon Trait|
There is nothing strange about you. People try to normalize your weirdness or oddities, like why you keep skipping out on class, how you speak weirdly, or how it's weird to kiss your relatives in the mouth. Just the normal stuff.
Clark sighed and immediately picked the Venom Vial.
Another drug that could become addictive, which he explained was his new power. Immediately, they wanted to take it and planned to use it when they wanted to leave this building and rejoin at the motel.
With a possible runner or screamer, Lee and Kenny were taking their time to clear out the hallways and stairways, instead of simply leaving. So, when it was time to leave, they wouldn't cause an issue.
With a nod, Clark decided to go for the silver ticket-
3 on the D20- which meant rank down to bronze.
[Project Image]
|Common Ability|
Allows you to conjure 2d planes that show images or play a video that you can remember or imagine accurately. The 2d planes created are stationary and are as durable as 1cm of untempered glass.
Clark shrugged, barely, and sighed. An ability that would get him closer to having another slot for his ability. Otherwise, the other way he could think of using it was to have a movie night with Clementine or the others.
With that said, time to use the silver advantage- but before that, cast the D20-
And again, it ranked down to simply silver-
[Purification]
|Rare Ability|
Allows you to touch a target, wiping them of negative effects or foreign substances; the potency of the purification scales with energy spent.
"Huh…" He made the sound, and everyone turned to him, "I can make it so others don't turn from bite now." He told them, and everyone's eyes widened.
"What?" Lee asked, and Clark nodded, finally looking at them-
"I can wipe off negative effects or foreign substances from those I touch," Clark told them, in a clear and normal tone, as if he didn't just become the cure to everything while their brain short-circuited. And as if to test it out, he took Clementine's hand, replacing Sharpen with Purification.
A moment later-
She wasn't feeling the stickiness that was between her thighs anymore-
"I got another ticket." He announced-
[Diamond Ticket Acquired.]
|The first human cured — You are the only human on earth who has cured someone of a deadly virus.|
=========================
AN: Yes, this really took me 6 hours to write. Well, mostly 5 hours. Due to my having to research and do fusion tables for all the abilities and such.
So, enjoy it, cause I spent almost my whole day writing this. And I will write the next chapter today as well, cause I'll be busy tomorrow and then I'll be off for a week.
So, what do you think about the fusion abilities? Spent a lot of time on making sure they are "fair," meaning that while game-changing, they wouldn't be easy to pick. I really liked the Surgical Destruction. So, if I get nothing on the diamond, I'll pick that since I have a plot point in mind.
Speaking of the diamond ticket, what do you think? Curing someone of the virus should deserve the highest tier in this story, even if they aren't immune to the virus. I think if we get to share immunity or make them immune forever, we can increase the min rarity rate or even make it adv diamond.
Anyway, that's all from me for now, i gotta go eat breakfast (woke up at 8, started writing at 9 till 3, and haven't even eaten anything. So I really need the love here guys, so give me all your powerstones. I want to get into the power leaderboard at least once).
PS: Special thank you for F4u5t for being the wall to see what sticks.
PSS: What did you think of the small smut scene in there?