:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

the midnight sky was smeared with slow-moving, murky clouds, as the heavy rain poured down, creating a gloomy atmosphere. the ground was covered in mud and water puddles, in which you stepped into the second you walked outside the school building, due to the outrageous noise coming from the front yard, that woke you up from your sleep.

when clem, aj, violet and louis returned last evening with surprisingly big amount of food, they revealed the unexpected encounter they've been through, after leaving the safe zone and setting out to a place with useful supplies clementine found before their car crash. everyone was excited about the new food, until brody and marlon found out.

the moment the group told you and others about the strange man they've met, brody began to freak out, as marlon attempted to calm her down, sending her to his office to have a talk afterwards. but before that, clem tried to assure both of them by explaining how she had pushed the man through a window into a bunch of hungry monsters, yet the information didn't seem to calm brody down in the slightest.

"get this psycho away from me!" masculine voice shouted over the sound of rosie barking and the boom of thunder, followed by a bright lightning. your eyes went wide in shock at the sight. marlon with his hands raised in the air, as aj pointed his gun at him, while others watched in terror. cautiously, you walked towards the group, joining them in silence. "where is she?!" aj shouted desperately.

"she's- she's in the basement. she murdered brody!" stumbling backwards, marlon loudly stammered. you froze in place, completely taken aback. "what..?" not caring if anyone actually heard you or not, you muttered under your breath.

"is that blood on your face?" mitch pointed out, taking a step closer to marlon, who took a step back instead, eyes wide. suddenly, everyone started throwing worried questions at marlon about brody. "hey, marlon!" a shout came out from behind you, causing everyone to turn around, only to be met with clementine.

"you might want to get your story straight." placing her hand on her hip, clem objected, before continuing : "you killed brody! you hit her so hard her head split open!" clem proclaimed, as she begun to make her way towards marlon. "that's a lie!" he chanted, pointing his threatening finger at clementine. "i saw you kill her!"

"what the hell is going on?!" violet called out, after walking out of the building with tenn following close behind her. tilting your head to side, you met her eyes and gave her a worried look. "look at her hands! she's covered in brody's blood!" marlon tried to defend himself, as everyone kept glancing between him and clem, confused and stunned upon the evolving scene.

glancing down at her own hands, clementine realised her hands truly were covered in brody's blood, which made everyone gaze at her once again. when aj's wide eyes were glued onto clem, marlon saw that as an opportunity and went for it, stealing aj's gun out of his grip, before knocking him down on the ground.

"we saved their lives, when anyone else would've kept walking! we fed them, we kept them warm! and this is how they thank us?! guns being pulled and murder?!" waving the gun around, marlon continued to shout, worrying everyone more and more by each nerve-wracking second. "well fuck them!" marlon raised his hand, pointing the gun at clementine, followed by a loud noise of thunder.

"you shoot me and what do you offer up to your raider friends, when they come knocking? he won't do it, because he needs us alive!" clem acclaimed, angering marlon more with her words. "brody told me marlon was gonna give me and aj up to raiders in exchange for safety. the same way he gave up sophie and minnie." gasps echoed around the place.

"brody told me the truth and that's when marlon killed her!" clementine added, as marlon let out a grunt. "shut the fuck up, clementine!" waving the gun around once again, marlon interrupted. "let her talk!" aasim objected, taking a step forward.

"aw, come the fuck on! they only met up with these "raiders", because clem insisted they go out there." marlon crowed. "quite the coincidence, isn't it? shame i don't believe in those." he continued, pointing the gun at clementine's head. "think about how scared we all were, when the adults left. i pulled us out of that fear. i gave us all courage again. who are y'all gonna believe?" at marlon's words, everyone exchanged quick glances, before gazing down at the ground. "or me? your friend?" clem's eyes widened, as the gun was pointed at her again, causing her to look at you and others, silently begging for help. as soon as your eyes met, you gripped the weapon you silently pulled out even tighter.

the group begun to argue. "violet, you have to believe me." clementine called out the the blonde, who slowly shook her head from side to side, arms crossed over her chest. "i don't know you clem, i'm sorry." violet explained, looking down at the ground again in shame. "so you'll let marlon shoot me? seriously?!" shouting over the sound of heavy rain, clem questioned.

"don't let her get into your head. hey, what would minnie want you to do?" marlon announced, staring at violet. to you, this was too much. bracing yourself, you slowly walked up from behind everyone, before standing up in front of clementine and surprising the others, your katana in one of your hands. unlike marlon and the others, you've been outside the walls and seen what a world out there can do to a person.

"y/n trying to play the hero, of course." marlon loudly scoffed, rolling his eyes. "is this how desperate you are for someone to like you? that you'd defend them, even if they are a murderer?!" for a second, you averted your gaze. "shut up, marlon." you muttered. "you know what, y/n? i'm not surprised, not even in the slightest." taking a step closer, marlon announced.

the truth was - you and marlon never got along. right from the beginning, the two of you had some sort of an issue with one another. when everything begun, you and marlon were the ones to step up, but soon - disagreements appeared. and it seemed marlon finally took the chance of hitting you right where it hurts, after years of suppressing his dislike towards you.

"after all, you're a traitor and always have been!" he spat, waving his gun in the air. "get the gun out of my face and let's solve this the right way. no more people have to die." you demanded, keeping stern eye contact with the blonde, after ignoring his hurtful words.

"if any of you were there the day the raiders came... he would have abandoned you, too!" clementine tried to persuade the rest of the group, already having you on her side. noticing movement from the corner of your eye, you tilted your head to the side.

rather cautiously walking up towards the two of you, violet stood right next to your side, pulling out her meat cleaver. "put down the gun. now." once more, your eyes met and the two of you shared a quick nod of agreement.

"stand down, marlon. be reasonable." others begun to join in, shocking marlon. "you don't get it. you don't understand at all, do you?" marlon stammered, as he started to back away. "i'm trying to protect you! all of you! every fuckin' one of you!" the thunder rumbled in the background, soon followed by a lightning. "you're fucking wrong, if you think waving a loaded gun is supposed to protect us!" you shouted, angering marlon even more. "brody's dead. sophie and minerva are gone. you suck at protection!" pointing her finger at him, clem called out.

"shut your fucking mouth! i made the right call. i saved the lives of everyone in this fucking school! if they came back... i'd do it again!" marlon shouted as loud as he could. ruby, mitch and aasim started shouting at marlon, clearly affected by his words."you told me they died!" tenn cried out, having all the reasons to be upset.

"you gave my sisters away! why would you do something like that?" making his way closer to marlon, tenn continued. "i trusted you, marlon! they trusted you! we all trusted you..." he looked down at the ground sadly. "i know.. i know." shutting his eyes closed for a few seconds, the blonde shook his head from one side to the other. "i wanted to get them. stage some kind of rescue. honest, tenn. i just couldn't. i was... i was too afraid." marlon finally admitted, lowering his weapon to everyone's relief.

"you killed brody, because she knew?" tenn slightly furrowed his eyebrows. "mhmm. i didn't mean to. i didn't want this." shrugging his shoulders, marlon begun to softly sob. "we can still fix this, marlon." clem tried to reassure him, taking a few steps closer, as rosie continued to bark in the background. "it's going to be okay. we can make this right."

"we'll help you. we're all family here. the only any of us has left." louis joined, which made marlon finally drop the gun. "i know i betrayed you. all of you. just let me leave. you'll never have to see me again. just... let me become a bad memory." marlon walked up towards clementine, pleading.

letting out a quick sigh, clem replied: "fine--" gunshot. suddenly, everything went quiet. your eyes rapidly widened, as you felt like the world has stopped. with your heartbeat increasing with each passing second, you watched marlon's now lifeless body drop to the ground with a this.

"w-what? i aimed for the head." aj attempted to defend himself, as everyone stared at him in pure shock - at the little kid that has just killed marlon.

"oh my god!" omar shouted, followed by ruby's panicking: "we could get medicine. from the nurse's office!" "you shot him! he's dead! you're a murderer." louis retorted, staring at aj with disgusted and shocked expression. "what the fuck did you teach this kid?!" everyone stared angrily at clementine. "back off. all of you." standing up in front of aj, violet demanded, still gripping her weapon. "take aj, go inside." she told clem, shocking the others even more. "oh, just let them back in the dorm?!" louis threw his hands around, while clem hid aj behind her. "what happens the next time one of us does something this kid doesn't like? should we expect a bullet, too?" louis took a few angry steps closer. "that's enough!" you cut off louis, stepping in front of him. "enough?! it was over, 'til little mr. trigger-happy decided otherwise!"

"clem, take aj and just go inside." you glanced over your shoulder, earning a small nod from the brunette, ignoring louis as he scoffed at your words. clementine did as she was told, while the rest of the group gathered around marlon's body.

gulping down, you backed up. "i can't fucking do this." you murmured under your breath, before turning around and fastly walking the other way, unaware of the pair of eyes watching you slowly disappear into the darkness of the stormy night.

leaning your back against one of the school's walls, you let out a long, shaky sigh, as you closed your eyes and looked up at the night sky, letting the rain flow down your skin. you slowly slid down the wall on the ground, staring mindlessly right ahead of you. goosebumps appeared all over skin, your wet clothes sticking to your body, but you couldn't bring yourself to get up. not yet, at least. "i think we should talk." at the sudden presence of someone new, you flinches, a nervous lump appearing in your throat at the sight..

©anm3mi