Out on a Limb

Summary: If Clementine had to make a more difficult choice with her cleaver and a bite victim.

Rating: T

Notes: Don't hate me 'cause Electric Sheep or Sharp and Sheer haven't been updated. D: I've been busy with personal issues, and spat this thing out in a night. It might be continued, if I get the time and inspiration. Anyway - please try to review if you can! Reviews keep me going!

Out on a Limb

Closing her bright brown eyes briefly, the girl tried to focus on spreading the walker's insides over herself and Sarah, making sure to cover every last bit of live human beings with the stench of death. The teen was trembling as Clementine smoothed the blood over her, complaining in a hushed voice at how disgusting the act was. This whole situation just brought back painful memories of Lee, anyway; Sarah acting exactly like Clementine did when they escaped the Stranger's house was not helping anything. It took everything she had to swallow the lump building in her throat; she needed to be strong. For him.

"Shh, you need to be quiet, Sarah," she murmured, wiping her hands on her pants once she was finished. "I promise, this will keep you safe." This ritual had worked before - like a charm, even - and this was a promise Clementine intended to keep. Sarah was her friend, and no one else in their group was getting left behind.

Carlos was nearby, repeating the same words to his daughter as reassuringly as he could. Clementine gave a nod to him, entrusting him to know what to do to keep Sarah safe as they prepared to walk through the hoard.

"We ain't got all day here. Everybody ready?" Kenny asked, checking the group for anyone who was still smearing guts over themselves. Thankfully, it looked like they all had done their job; they looked like a group of dirty hobos, but they would survive. Clementine's gaze flashed into Kenny's, and she nodded to him, as well. He returned the notion and added, "They're almost on us."

And before anyone could respond further, a new voice sounded from behind them. "What the actual fuck is going on here?!" Clementine stiffened at Troy's loud hiss. She still felt the wound on her cheek from when he had smacked her for attempting to defend Kenny. As far as she was concerned, Troy was a horrible man, and he would ruin everything if he got too loud in this situation.

He babbled on more, demanding what their 'sick shit' was, his rifle pointed to the group. Luke reached for his own weapon, but Troy caught him in the act and threatened to shoot him if he moved. Clementine bit her lip, gaze trailing over her friends. It was do or die.

[Yell to Kenny]

[Distract Troy]

[Run]

[...]

"No! Stop!" Without thinking, the child rushed at Troy, attempting to redirect the rifle. Once her hands clamped around the weapon and pointed it towards the sky, a shot rang out, the heat radiating from it burning her ear.

"What the fuck is your problem, you little-!?" he squawked in surprise, cut off as Clementine let go. She backed up and watched as the color drained from his face. Her eyes followed his to the walker hoard, her own heart sinking in her chest.

Shit…

"Clem! You okay?" Luke cried, sending a swift punch to Troy's mouth. Dazed, the man staggered, only to charge forward into the walkers with his gun firing freely a minute later. The girl watched him disappear into the mess of walking rotten flesh, wondering how long he could survive without reeking of death. She nodded to Luke, turning back to see the rest of the group beginning to slowly walk into the hoard.

"We need to go," she whispered, receiving a nod in response. It became evident that the lurker hoard had become agitated by Troy's shot, and that if they didn't move now, they wouldn't make it. Nick joined his friend moments later, and Clementine found Sarah, trying to murmur words of encouragement to her naive companion.

Jane, their mysterious new ally, was softly giving instructions to the group. "Don't make any noise," she advised, tracking her eyes about the crowd, "And for fuck's sake, walk. Act like you belong and you will belong."

Clementine remembered Lee mentioning something like that - by acting like a walker and smelling like one, the things couldn't tell the difference. It wasn't a perfect method of safety, but it was all they had. She couldn't possibly trust Jane fully yet, but from her own experience, this seemed to be a great way to escape, and their only option to boot.

Tavia and the others were shooting from the rooftop, yelling out demands for more ammo and asking where Carver was. Clementine fought back the urge to cover her head; she didn't want to risk being spotted by the walkers, but being shot by Carver's followers wasn't a pleasant thought, either. She tried not to think about it, and focused on where she was going, and how much further there was to walk. The others' quiet words of encouragement did help some, as well.

She kept as quiet as she could, taking cautious but full steps and keeping an eye on Sarah in front of her. Carlos was leading the girls, his facial expression spelling out more worry and fear than ever before. However, it was understandable - Sarah was not doing well. She was shaking again, and her breath was quickening, preluding to the panic she felt when things went to shit. Her father encouraged Clementine to say something, and just as she was constructing whatever words she could to make Sarah's anxiety calm down even a little, a bullet went through Carlos's neck.

He fell instantly, getting gnawed on by walkers in the process. Clementine watched, suddenly reminded of those she'd lost to walker bites in the past - Shawn, Doug, Duck, Pete, and Lee, oh God Lee…!

No! This isn't the time!

She wrenched those thoughts out of her head; what was she thinking?! This was not the time to dwell on the past, and Sarah needed her help now. The girl was screaming her heart out, alerting walkers to her status as their prey. Her nails dug into the sides of her head as her despair poured out all at once, and Clementine feared she would sink to her knees at any moment.

The monsters around them were closing in, being picked off by Bonnie and Sarita as best they could manage.

"Run, Sarah!" Clementine cried without thinking, watching the teen sprint off into the hoard blindly. She attempted to follow, but walkers blocked her path. Raising the cleaver, Clementine drove the blade into one's head with a strong strike and managed to snake out of one's grasp before it could claw at her. Her weapon drove into two more monsters' skulls before hearing a low scream nearby.

As she ran towards the noise, time seemed to come to a halt. Clementine's breath caught in her throat as she stared at the man struggling with a lone walker, his gun clicking uselessly as he attempted to fire bullets that were not there. The creature's teeth were sunken deep into his wrist as he tried to wrench himself from its grasp. The girl slowed down as she raised her weapon, unsure what to do and knowing she didn't have much time to think it through.

This was Troy - this was the man who stood by and watched Kenny get beaten, who would have smacked Sarah and smacked Clementine herself without mercy. He treated the group like shit, asserting his authority as Carver's right-hand man by parading himself around the prison like a slavedriver.

Clementine was fully aware of how horrible he was, and she almost set the cleaver down and turned around to go find Sarah, to aid someone who actually deserved her help. But she saw Troy's fearful gaze, noticed the way his eyes pleaded with hers silently as he tried to escape and knew he was as good as dead. Something about that look bothered her, but she couldn't place her finger on why. Just for a split second, she wondered what Lee would have done in this situation - would he have saved an enemy, or at least spared him from being eaten alive?

He'd taken mercy on those men back on the dairy farm, hadn't he? He'd known she was watching, knew it was a tough decision to make but did it ultimately for her sake. It wasn't something she understood then, but in this moment in time, it connected with her all-too-quickly. She had to do this, if only to not become a monster like Troy, or Carver.

Carver claimed she was just like him, that she had the same look in her eyes. Well, she'd prove him wrong right here and now - her eyes would not see the death of this man - her enemy - so long as she could help it.

Her weapon raised above her head, she made the decision that would prove her actions different than William Carver's.

[Hack Off Troy's Arm]

[Cleave Walker's Skull]

The blade sliced into Troy's flesh sloppily with a squishing sound, and he stared over at the child, wide-eyed and in disbelief at the sudden pain surely coursing through his body. Clementine didn't say a word as she released her weapon, giving one last glance around her before plunging the cleaver through his arm, hacking the limb off and surrendering it to the walker.

Troy clutched his upper arm, his eyes bugging out at Clementine and back to his dismembered limb a few times before he let out a bloodcurdling scream. She didn't blame him; it looked… well, horrible (not that that was unexpected), a mess of blood, meat, and bone exposed to the world. Clementine winced at the wound, noticing chunks of his flesh dripping from it before she had to tear her gaze away, to meet Troy's eyes.

Again, not unexpectedly, he was absolutely horrified, expression showing a form of raw terror and agony that Clementine had seen before - more times than she should have. For a moment, after seeing his eyes blink quickly and his body wobble a little, she feared he would faint right there on the spot. If that were the case, then chopping his arm off would have been pointless, for he'd be as good as dead. She still held up her arms, as if she could somehow catch him and drag him to safety. That delusion, thankfully, wasn't put to the test, as he seemed to gain at least some sense and gave her a shaky nod.

A walker approached the two of them; Clementine raised her weapon and sliced it into its skull, watching it fall to the ground. As quickly as she could manage, she cut a small crevice out of the corpse, retracting some of its guts to smear around Troy's torso. She felt oddly in charge of him now; grabbing his remaining arm, she hissed a low, "Get behind me," and kept her steady pace through the hoard. She had only managed to hit a few before they overwhelmed the two of them; before all hope was lost, however, bullets flew into the skulls of the approaching walkers. Whether those were from the rifles of friends or foes, Clementine didn't know, nor did she particularly care.

"C'mon!" she yelled to Troy, watching him stumble silently behind her. It wasn't much further, and finally, towards the outer edge of the mass, Clementine spotted Sarah. The girl was curled up on the ground, Bonnie nearby shooting any beasts that got too close. Clementine yelled out their names, knowing not keeping quiet wasn't going to hinder the situation further.

The redhead turned to see Clementine approaching, shooting two more lurkers that were behind them. "Troy? Y-you made it through...?" she asked, almost bewildered at the survival of her 'co-worker'.

Before the injured man could respond, Kenny's strong voice rang out above the walkers' hungry growls. He shot a few monsters before backing up into Bonnie, turning around and nearly blowing her head off in the process.

"Whoa, whoa! Chill the fuck out, Kenny!" Nick hissed, appearing with Luke and Rebecca mere seconds later. Mike and Jane trailed behind, both with cold expressions on their faces once they spotted Troy.

"Sorry, sorry - still havin' trouble shooting with one eye," the older man replied, shaking his head and lowering his weapon. The lot of them were just outside the hoard, which seemed to be focusing on Tavia's group atop the rooftop (and the blaring announcements regarding Howe's Hardware's newest sale on barbeque equipment).

"It's fine, I'm not hurt," Bonnie insisted, turning her gaze to Troy. "But… he is."

Kenny's eyes widened once he noticed the man, his lips curling into a snarl as he sauntered forward and grabbed Troy's collar, yanking him closer. "You - you son-of-a-bitch! How fuckin' dare you show your face around here-"

Troy's eyes widened as he tried to squirm out of Kenny's grasp, blabbering out, "W-whoa, h-hey, man, I- I don't want-"

Sarita placed a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder before he could do anything drastic. "Kenny, please calm down. The man is missing an arm!"

"I don't care if he's got one, two, or ten arms, Sarita! If he's a danger to the group, he's gotta go!"

Clementine stepped forward, her voice as clear and confident as she could manage - and as mature as she could seem for an eleven-year-old. "I cut off his arm," she declared, eyes narrowing at Troy. Her light brown gaze shot to Kenny, giving him the same fierce look. "He was bitten. I did it so he could survive." There had been no choice - she was taught it was all about survival, after all (with a side dish of compassion).

Without warning, Troy started to babble on further: "Y-yeah, yeah, that's- that's right, she did. Fuck, man, I- I don't know wh- why that happened but it fucking did and - and shit man fucking shit…I..." His words, of course, didn't make much sense, and it was obvious he'd lost a lot of blood already. Before anyone could respond to that mess of slurred words, Troy's legs gave out, making him collapse to the ground like dead weight.

Clementine didn't jump, but her gaze softened a bit as Sarita bent down to check the man's pulse. "He's lost a lot of blood, but he's only passed out for now. Can we get to a safe place?" she asked.

Everyone looked at one another, and Rebecca was the first to notice that someone was missing. "Wait a minute… Where's Carlos?" she asked, not realizing Sarah was nearby, a shaking and sobbing mess. It only took a glance at the broken girl to understand immediately what had happened.

Clementine bit her lip, approaching her friend cautiously. "Sarah…?" she murmured, bending down to the other girl's level on the ground. "Sarah, we need to move," she insisted, holding out onto her hands. "Come on."

Sarah seemed to drain of life, her eyes empty and her mouth hung open still in the aftermath of shock. She merely nodded weakly, bloodshot eyes avoiding Clementine's gaze and standing up, fixing her sights on the ground again.

"Oh, sweetheart…" Rebecca whispered sympathetically, but no one moved.

"Alright," Kenny began, pointing with his gun towards a building dead ahead of them. "That's our next stop 'til we can find that civil war museum." Leaving no room for arguments, he added, "C'mon, y'all. Nick, grab the asshole." The man nodded towards Troy, unconscious and bleeding out onto the ground.

"I thought I was the asshole," Nick quipped sarcastically, quirking a brow at Kenny.

"Well, looks like your position's been taken."

Nick merely rolled his eyes and bent down to lift Troy, receiving a groan of pain from the injured man in response. "Shit, sorry…" he murmured apologetically.

"Here," Luke chimed in, taking some of Troy's weight to make him as comfortable as possible as he was supported between the two of them. Luke flashed a smile at Clementine before beginning to walk forward with Nick.

The girl smiled back, pleased with how her group was handling her decision. It really made her feel mature; she had decided to save a life, to not be like Carver and let someone weak die. Of course, there was still the problem of whether she'd severed Troy's arm quick enough, but given Reggie's experience, it didn't seem like it would be a big threat. After all, the amputation was nearly instantly after the bite.

From what Clementine could tell from her position, Kenny's pointed destination seemed like more pieces of a strip mall, broken into several stores like Carver's camp had been. "Let's move," the one-eyed man said, leading everyone towards the building. "Our first stop will be the strip's pharmacy."

Oh, the irony. But Clementine didn't think about the last time she had been in a pharmacy as she went along with her friends (and that one man whom she saved - he wasn't her friend); instead, she focused on holding onto Sarah's hand, giving comforting squeezes every-so-often. There was only so much she could do, though; loss was inevitable in a world like this, even when you give your all to fight and save as many lives as possible.