Chapter 24:
It had been two hours since Lee, Clementine, Clark, and Kenny came back, and it had been the happiest two hours that the group had had. From Carley crying in Lee and Clementine's arms to her questioning them what had happened to Clark, to rushing them all to their rooms so they could rest.
But it didn't help that everyone saw the bite marks on his legs, as the mood plummeted to rock bottom. Lilly, immediately taking the opportunity demanded by John's brother that she would give them gas, if only they brought medicine for them, and she gave them a timeframe.
For a moment, the motel group sat on the edge, as the brothers talked amongst themselves and then seemingly came to a decision.
"Why do you need gas for anyway?" Mark asked them before they could say anything, and the brothers shrugged. "We've got an electric fence. Generators provide the electricity… and well-"
"They need gas." Mark nodded as Lilly thought about their defense and how much better it would be compared to theirs. But then, it didn't make sense to her. Generators, they would make a bunch of noise that would draw a lot of attention, yet they were fine?
It didn't make sense to Lilly as she remembered yesterday's event; she saw runners and a fast crawling variant as well. She hadn't told everyone of the variants of the walk- ghouls, yet, but Carley and Katjaa knew, and so did her dad.
"Lilly," Kenny called out to her, breaking from Katjaa's arms as he walked to the fence next to her, keeping an eye on the strangers, but also giving her his attention. She was surprised by the civility in him regarding her, but maybe it was a front. To show unity in front of strangers so they could go back to glaring and insulting each other in private.
"Something's fishy." He whispered to her as she nodded, "But what can we do? Clark needs whatever medication they got-" She saw Kenny crack a smile that turned into regret at Clark's mention. But he still nodded.
The southern man swallowed thickly, and- "I'll go. I need one or two guys to watch my back."
"Kenny, are you asking for my permission?" Lilly fully turned to her as Kenny completely looked away, a scowl on his face that she was extremely familiar with. "Don't toot your horn, I said I'll go. I'll go. Alone if I have to." He shot back as he walked to his wife, and Lilly looked back at him with confusion and how to deal with that.
But ignoring the surprise that Kenny talked to her civilly, which meant the world's about to end- oh wait, the apocalypse already came, didn't it? Brushing that thought to the side, for now at least, Kenny was right in that they needed the medication the strangers could offer in exchange for the gas.
The safer option, for them as a group, would be to send them back, without Kenny, and then once they are back, make the trade. But then, what if they find gas on their way back to their place, and they never come?
Thinking about the scars of the bite marks on Clark's body, 'At the end, it doesn't matter.' she caught herself thinking. The better trade would be food. On a logical standpoint, they were about to run out of food in the next day or two. Which meant they'd have to rely on hunting without Clark since he was injured.
Medication for someone who was bitten and would inevitably turn, it was a waste. She tried to push that thought aside, but couldn't. No matter how much she had gotten to like Clark and him being the biggest pillar to this group, she was the leader, and she had to think of others. Of her dad, Mark, Carley, Lee, Clementine, Duck, Katjaa, Kenny, and finally Ben- even if she disliked him, he was part of her group and she had to protect him.
While medications would be hard to find, they'd need food much more in the next two days.
She, with a heavy heart, had to change the terms of the trade.
"Medicine and food for gas." She instead spoke, scolding herself for getting too greedy. She watched as the brothers frowned at her. Since she spoke, she continued anyway. "You need gas much more than us."
"Lilly-" Kenny interrupted, but she ignored him. "You bring us food and medicine, we give you however much you want."
"How much do you have?" They tried.
"How many generators you got?" She shot back.
For a moment, the brothers glanced at each other, the false smiles gone from their faces as Kenny let her do her thing. At least for now.
"I assume the medications for the boy?" The shorter brother seemed to understand that her frown was the only answer he was getting, because he moved on without pushing it.
"We can do food," he said. "Canned goods and dairy, mostly. Some dried stuff. We've got more than we need right now." He glanced at his brother, who gave the smallest nod. "Medicine's harder. Depends on what you need."
"Antibiotics," Lilly said. "Painkillers. Bandages if you have them."
"We've got some of that." The taller one, who had barely spoken, said with flatness of someone measuring how much to reveal. "Not all of it."
"Some is better than none." She kept her voice even. "You bring what you have. We'll weigh it against the gas."
Another glance between the brothers. The shorter one was doing the talking, but the taller one was doing the deciding, and Lilly had clocked that in the first thirty seconds.
"Two gallons," the taller one said. "That's what we need to get through the week."
"We can do two gallons." She paused. "If there's everythings goes well on your side."
"It will." The shorter one spoke, a smug look on his face that had her frown deeper as they walked away. Almost as if they got everything they needed from this talk. They walked back the way they came, without looking back. Another thing that Lilly took note of. But they did seem to be in a discussion, as she saw the older brother talk and the shorter one nod.
"Something's wrong with them," Kenny spoke. Lilly couldn't help but nod at that. But right now, that wasn't the priority. The priority was to figure out how long since Clark had been bitten and how much time they had.
…
…
…
It didn't take long for Clark to wake up. His eyes opened, and he saw only the darkness of the room. He smelled Clementine before he saw her. Woodsmoke and leather, and her body's warmth being close to him.
His eyes adjusted. The room was dim, curtains drawn, the gray-dark of late evening bleeding through the gap. The ceiling was low and textured. Familiar.
Their room. The motel.
He lay still for a moment, trying to remember what had happened- he winced. There was still some phantom pain, but it wasn't important. He had to see how much he had healed, starting from his dislocated legs- 'Huh, fully healed.' Clark thought, a frown on his face as he moved his leg side to side and then up and down. Thinking that he was misremembering it, he tried his other leg, freeing it from between Clementine's thighs, and yep, no pain.
His side, where the glass shard had dug through, had nothing. He ran a hand under a shirt- his shirt? Why was the shirt so tight on him? As if it were two sizes small- it didn't matter. He touched his side- finding a closed scar that was still sensitive to touch. It still hurt, but it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be- or as bad as it was.
The next injury was his gut, finding another scar, but this one hurt at the touch. There were scrab on the injury, and Clark could sense the injury underneath it. He knew that if he removed the dark red patch that covered the wound on his body, he would bleed. With a sigh, he touched his head, finding a hole in his skull, under the flesh and his dark, wavy hair. His eyes widened, a little panic flooding his system. The pain was gone, and he didn't have any headache.
He pulled his hand back, worried now. What did having a hole in your skull mean? What happened to the shard or part of his skull? Was it swimming around in his brain until it hit his brain one day, turning him a vegetable at best or killing him at worst? Just at that thought, Clark froze, not moving his head at all.
'Did this mean that I am stuck in this position for the rest of my life?' Clark thought. He lay very still and thought about that for a moment.
Then he thought about the fact that he had just spent approximately fifteen minutes as a ten-foot hybrid cat monster eating ghouls in a lobby, and his body had rebuilt itself from the inside out, and his leg was no longer dislocated, and the glass shard was gone, and he was breathing without pain for the first time in five days.
He moved his head. Slowly. Left, then right.
Nothing. No shooting pain. No sudden vegetable situation.
He moved it again, faster.
Still nothing-
"What are you doing?" The sudden voice startled him and almost made him jump. Turning his head just slightly- he noticed Clementine awake now, looking at him with a confused expression.
She looked at him for a moment with the expression she used when something amusing was happening in front of her. "You look like you're trying to shake water out of your ear."
"There's a hole in my head." He instead told her, watching as her amusement died out. It didn't turn to surprise or panic, as if she knew. "Yeah, Lee had Katjaa check up on you and your injuries." She paused, staring at him, while a hand caressed his cheek.
"And?" He asked, watching her face do the particular thing it did when she was deciding how much to say.
"And Katjaa said the hole in your skull is a depressed fracture."
"And?" He asked, watching her face do the particular thing it did when she was deciding how much to say.
"And Katjaa said the hole in your skull is a depressed fracture." She kept her voice level, but her thumb had started moving in circles on his cheek, which she did when she was managing something. "The bone got pushed inward instead of breaking outward. She said as long as you don't have symptoms-" She paused.
"Like?"
"Headache, dizziness, and/or vomiting."
Clark shook his head.
"You've been asleep for six hours. Katjaa checked your pupils every hour."
Clark absorbed this.
"So the bone is just... sitting there."
"Katjaa said the body can work around it sometimes." Her thumb hadn't stopped moving. "She said she's seen it before in animals."
"Well, I don't feel anything slushing around up there. Maybe Surgical Destruction took care of it." Clark told her, her thumb finally stopping for a moment. Then it almost dug into his cheek, before it returned to caressing his cheek. He placed a hand on her, bringing it to his lips, and kissed her palm.
He turned his head to look at her properly. The curtains were doing most of their job, the room dim and close, and her face in the gray-dark was the first clear thing his eyes had found since waking. She looked tired, even after taking a nap by his side.
She had been crying at some point. Recently. Her eyes were dry now, but he could tell.
He didn't say anything about it.
"How long have you been awake?" He asked instead.
"A while."
"Clem."
"An hour." She met his eyes. "Maybe two."
"You should sleep."
"I will." She said it with the tone that meant she wouldn't, or hadn't decided yet, or was waiting for something she wasn't going to name. Her hand moved from his cheek to his hair, careful of the back of his head, the way it had been careful for days. "How do you feel?"
"Good. Fully rested, actually." He told her because he wanted her to stop worrying and close her eyes. To sleep. She huffed, exhaling sharply through her nose as if seeing through him. But she still nodded. "I'm glad."
Her hand returned to his face- cheek. "Your shirt is too small now."
"I noticed."
"And you got taller-" her hand traveled down, to his chest and then stomach, making sure to be away from the injury. "And more muscles. Your malnutrition seemed to be fixed. Not by a lot, but enough."
"I'm sorry," He told her, the apology tasting bitter on his tongue.
"Don't." Her voice was quiet but firm. "Don't apologize for that."
"I scared you. I didn't listen to yo-"
"Yes." She said it without softening it, which he appreciated. "You did. You scared me a lot." A pause, and her hand resumed its slow movement, avoiding the injury. "But you were right. Lee and Kenny, they were right." She told him, remembering the state that Carley was in. She looked far worse than any of them did, being stuck in the apartment. Even worse than Clark.
Her skin was pale, and her eyes had no light in them. Lilly had also told Lee that she wasn't eating and vomiting a lot, which she heard. If they hadn't returned, or had taken too long, she didn't want to imagine what would have happened to someone she cared about.
"Maybe or maybe not," Clark told her, taking her hand once more, landing kisses on her palm. "But I worried you. I scared you."
"Can you promise not to in future?"
Clark thought about it and almost nodded- he stopped. "I can't promise that." Because they were living in a new world, Clark would have to do things that might worry her. He promised himself that he would take better care of himself so she wouldn't have to do that for him. But worried and scared, that was something he couldn't promise her. And he didn't want to become someone whose promises meant nothing to the person he loved.
"I know." She sighed, bringing his hand to her lips to kiss back.
The room settled around them. Outside, the fire was going for the person who was on watch. He could hear the particular pop and crackle of it through the curtain gap, and somewhere below, the low murmur of voices he could identify without trying. Lee and Carley were awake as well, talking in Lee's room, which was the one right next to them.
"Oh, I have tickets." He finally noticed. One bronze, one advantage bronze, two golds, and one platinum. Before the roll of course, he needed to do something important. "Kiss me, please." He asked, watching as confusion took hold of Clementine's face, before it spread into a smile. "Am I your good luck charm?"
"No, I just like your lips on mine." A burst of laughter escaped her before she rose.
"As you wish, my dear love." She whispered, bringing herself closer to him and taking his lips, gently at first. A chaste kiss, and then another, but longer, before it turned into a opened mouth kissing with tongue.
Two minutes later, they were both panting, breaking the kiss. "Was that good or do you want more?" She asked, her voice nothing but a whisper, while cupping his face.
"Oh, I want so much more." Clark groaned, and Clementine giggled. She went to give-
Only for the knocking on the wall right next to them stopped her. A sigh left her, and she collapsed on him, her face going to his shoulder, a moan of displeasure escaping. "Was that Lee?" Clark asked and felt her nod on his shoulder.
"He's taking care of Carley right now, but he's also making sure we don't… go too far."
"Oh…" Clark let out and felt Clementine nod again on his shoulder. "So?" She asked and understood what she meant. Time to roll the tickets- guess not, first D20.
A 9, which meant nothing changes-
[Hunger]
|Uncommon Trait|
You recover energy and health slightly faster by eating food; the more nutritious the food you eat, the better the recovery.
"Oh, nice." He let out, the trait settling into his being.
"Hm?" She asked, and Clark explained to her-
Halfway explaining to her, she ordered him to take out the giving horn and then stuffed fruits and veggies down his throat. And while she was doing that, he prepared for D20 for the advantage bronze. A 12, nothing changes again.
[Thick Skin]
|Uncommon Trait|
Your skin is way denser and tougher than the average person's, and it is very smooth and nice to touch. This toughness scales with your physical stats, being able to serve as natural armor at higher levels.
OR
[Wardrobe of Mending]
|Common Item|
A wardrobe of fancy clothes that suit your tastes, when not worn for more than 24 hours these clothes instantly mend themselves into mind condition.
"Uhh." He let out, Clementine sucking and biting on his shoulder blade while feeding him blueberries, peaches, and pears, which stopped once he did that. "What's wrong?"
"I have two very good options." He told her, and she raised her head enough to show that she was paying attention. "Thick Skin or Wardrobe of Mending." He told her, explaining each option-
"Take Thick Skin." She interrupted, her showing of care taking an aggressive turn as she smooched his cheek and then took a bite of it. It didn't hurt, but still, aggressive cuteness overloaded or something was the term?
"While Thick Skin is good, the other is basically free clothes-"
"Clark, take Thick Skin." She ordered, pausing her playfulness and instead staring at him with seriousness. "Mending clothes is good, but it means nothing if you aren't safe."
He sighed, remembering the promise to himself. Already, he was going back to his previous mindset of taking care of others. If they had mending clothes, since he could change his preference of choice, he could share it with others. And if not, with Seamster, he could make new ones from those.
But remembering the fat ghoul exploding on him, he chose Thick Skin.
"Done." He told her. She watched him for a firm moment and noticed the trait changing him. A touch later, she was back kissing and biting him gently and playfully. "You're nice to touch now."
"Are you saying I wasn't before?"
A snort was all he got before she just settled, rubbing their cheeks together. It seemed like she knew the strategy well. Of course she did, since it was a common strategy used by women- He got a bite.
"Stop that train of thought." She warned.
"How'd you even know?" He asked, turning his head slightly to kiss the side of her head. "I know almost everything about you now, Clark." Her voice was clear as she whispered to him, which was doing things to his smaller head, as she bit just a little on his earlobe, before going back to leaving hickeys on his neck and shoulder blade, as if to mark him.
An 11 on D20 for the first gold ticket-
[Comforting Presence]
|Rare Trait|
Your presence is a very comforting one; those who encounter you might feel like they just came home. This also makes you feel very trustworthy. People are more likely to confide in you and feel less threatened by you. Comforting people in distress also comes naturally to you. Does not work on people with a negative opinion of you.
"You changed again." She let out before he could even fully read the description, a sigh of comfort and happiness leaving her. "Another trait?" She asked, and Clark nodded.
"Yeah, it's just as you feel. It makes me comfortable to be around and makes me appear trustworthy as well. Though it won't work on those who have bad opinions of me." He explained, and she nodded, another sigh leaving her.
"Clark?" She called him before he could roll the D20 for the second gold. "Hm?" He asked back. She backed away enough to see all his face. A mischievous smile on her face, even in the dark, they could see each other's faces clearly.
"Do you wanna… have some fun?"
Clark looked at her.
She looked back with that smile, the mischievous one, the one that had learned exactly what it did to him and had stopped pretending it hadn't.
He glanced at the wall shared with Lee's room.
"He's right there," Clark said.
"I know."
"He knocked a couple of minutes ago."
"And he won't hear us if we keep quiet about it."
Clark couldn't help but sigh in hurt. "Clem, I love you. But what happens if they hear?"
She let out a disappointed sigh, putting her head on his chest with a pout. "You're no fun."
"How about once I get a little better?" He comforted her and himself, while she sighed, clementines peeled at the speed of light, and offered to him. He stopped- or at least, tried thinking of having her naked body on top of his-
D20 for gold was rolled as a distraction, which landed on 18, turning his gold into advantage gold.
[In Time of Need]
|Elite Trait|
A Hero arises. Once every 120 hours, you can restore your stamina and energy to full. Hours afterward, you will be extremely exhausted.
OR
[Berserk]
|Elite Ability|
"Power at what cost?" You gain extreme strength and endurance, as well as near-pain immunity, in exchange for losing your inhibitions and entering a trance. With Berserk, even an ordinary man could throw around trucks, tear apart tanks, and eat missiles.
Clark winced at the two choices. It was almost ironic how they countered and complemented each other. But while Beserk was powerful and gave him the ability to tear a tank with his bare hands, the sole disadvantage of it was the trance that he'd be put into when he activated it.
Clark already got a taste of going Berserk due to pain, and even then, he had almost lost himself, if it weren't for the trait that fortified his mind. Heck, he almost tore Clementine's head off with his tail back at the apartment. That's all the argument he needed to pick the trait over the ability.
[In Time of Need]
|Elite Trait|
A Hero arises. Once every 120 hours, you can restore your stamina and energy to full. Hours afterward, you will be extremely exhausted.
He calculated the hours for his new trait and came to five days of the cooldown for being able to get back on your feet. The question was, how long would it take him to restore his stamina and energy? Would it be instantaneous or gradual?
He could try it out right now, but no. It was already dark out, and Clementine needed to rest. If he used it and went outside, she'd worry and wouldn't be able to rest fully.
With that, it was time to move on to the platinum, which turned to advantage due to D20 landing on 18.
[Hyper Reflexive]
|Elite Trait|
Your entire nervous system is overhauled, and your reflexes are so fast they almost seem like precognition.
OR
[Superhuman]
|Rare Ability|
You are superhuman, or whatever race you are. Even as a base human, you are able to lift trucks and are unharmed by small-caliber bullets. Basically, you are about as strong as Captain America is. All of these enhancements scale with your base stats.
He didn't know who this Captain America was, but Clark knew which he would choose. While Hyper Reflexive was nice and could have been useful against the fat ghoul that exploded on him, Superhuman would be better. That's not even including the items, traits, and abilities he has, which Superhuman would stack on top of them.
So, he chose it.
[Superhuman]
|Rare Ability|
You are superhuman, or whatever race you are. Even as a base human, you are able to lift trucks and are unharmed by small-caliber bullets. Basically, you are about as strong as Captain America is. All of these enhancements scale with your base stats.
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AN: YOOO, a new chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it.
This thing was on the works for the whole week. Brain's been foggy and I became sick and other things coming to play as well.
Had to fight myself to write this. I'll take a break until I get better and hopefully, it's soon.
For now, just enjoy it. Cya guys around
PS: Does anyone have a cure for a foggy brain? I feel like I'm seeing things through a curtain, thinking while drowning, and my reactions are delayed as fuck. It might just be cause im sick, but it's been foggy a few days BEFORe i became sick.
Webnovel side: I'm looking at the leaderboard, and I just gave up on getting on it. Cause what do you mean, 90% of the stories are AI slop. Not even AI ASSISTED, which I have no problems with, but AI slop, and they are in the top 10 or top 20.