Chapter 11: From The Gallows
Javier: "Kate!" Clem runs away, you look around and see your brother escaping behind her. How can you lose so many good people in a day.
Javier and you shoot a walker and start to run up to the truck. You take cover as the New Frontier fires at you, luckily Javi dives beside you. Not getting hurt. Javi tries to kill a walker nearing the truck, but just shoots off its leg. You fire at the New Frontier by putting your gun on the barrier and firing, you injure a soldier and she runs back from the right. As Javi and you leave cover, a walker knocks him over, and you shoot it. You both reach the truck and Javi kicks the nearby walker he shot earlier.
Javier: "Kate?! Kate?! Gabe?!" Your mind looks for any sign of Kate but don't see anything. Fuck Gabe he can go die.
You and Javi run through the square you turn away from the truck and jog on the sidewalk.
Javier: "Kate?! Gabe?! David?!"
Y/N: "Clem?! Jason?! Kate?!"
David: "Over here?!" He notices that Kate's not with you. "Where's Kate?'
Javier: "She's not here. She must've gotten out."
David: "If something's happened to her... If you've gotten her--you better hope she's alive." David gets up in Javi's Face.
Javier: "Shut up, for once, and help me find her!"
David: "What do you think I'm doing?" The three of you now leave the grass and onto the streets.
Javi and David run through the square.
Javier: "Kate!"
David: "Kate!"
David sees a walker resembling Kate fall nearby.
David: "Kate!"
Y/N: "David, wait!"
David inspects the walker, and it tackles him. Javi tries to pull it away with his bat by putting it around the walkers chest and pulling. A figure hits it in the head with a crowbar.
Kate: "I found you!"
David: "Kate, I'm so glad you're--"
Kate: "Javi! Thank god you're alright!" (hugs Javi) "I'm just glad you're still in one piece. Thanks for making it back to me."
David shoots an approaching walker and stomps on its head.
David: "What the hell's the matter with you two? Focus on your surroundings!"
David: "Are you trying to get yourselves killed?"
Nearby, Gabe, Jason and Clementine are surrounded by walkers. Near the entrance to a guitar store called "Gee Takes."
Y/N: "There's Gabe, Jason and Clem!"
Kate: "Lead the way, Javi."
Javi, Kate, and David run up to them, you kill around three walkers with the bat along the way.
Clementine: "Get the knee, like this!"
Clem kicks a walker's knee, then stabs it in the head. Gabe does the same.
Clementine: "Nice!"
Gabe: "I got a great teacher."
Javier: "You guys alright?" You really wanna hit Gabe with this bat, but that'd be bad for everyone.
Jason: "Fine as I'll ever be." He shrugs.
Clementine: "Yeah."
Gabe: "I'm fine!"
Kate: "Look at them. There's so many!"
David: "We'll be safer inside! Get in!"
The group enters the nearby building.
You, Javi, and Clem barricade the door with a wardrobe. A reddish glow seems to come from a light. Illuminating the place in an ominous glow.
Javier: "That should hold them for now"
Kate: "Joan's probably looking for us."
Gabe: "No. She isn't. Y/N shot her." You facepalm. God damn it Gabe.
Kate: "What?!"
David: "Good riddance."
Gabe: "You were negotiating. I heard you. You didn't have to shoot! Everyone started panicking and shooting. We almost died!"
Jason: "Gabe, she was going to kill your dad."
Javier: "You know what Joan's done: Prescott, Mariana... They're gone because of her. We couldn't trust her to keep her word."
Gabe: "We'll never know now."
Gabe walks away and stands behind Javi.
David: "Hey, you do not walk away from me! When someone speaks to you, you stand up and answer them. Even if you don't want to."
Javier: "Cut it out, David! You don't need to show how big and bad and tough you are to a fourteen-year-old boy."
David: "He needs to be taught the same way I taught you."
David: "I'm just... I'm trying to protect you, Gabe. I lost you once. I won't let it happen again. Okay?" His shoulder slump in defeat.
Javier: "We made it through alive. Let's just be glad about that."
David: "We need to check the other entrances. Make sure we're safe. Gabe, wanna help me out?"
Javier: "Just be careful, buddy. Lot of muertos out there."
David: "Gabe and I will watch each other's backs."
David: "Now!"
Clementine: "I'll help too." Clem c'mon why'd you do this.
Gabe: "O--okay." Your brother stops at the top of the steps and leans into your ear. "Don't worry, I gottem covered." You nod a thanks to him.
Gabe, Jason Clem, and David go downstairs.
Javier: "Hey, Clem's with them. It's fine."
Kate: "It's not that. It's--let's just... I'm all over the place. I need to focus on something. Anything. Just need to focus. On...whatever."
There are several survivors in the hallway, most of which are wounded.
Kate: 'Oh, my god. This is a fucking nightmare."
Child: "Mommy! It's them!"
Kate: "I'm glad Mariana didn't live to see this. To her what her father's become. To see what...I've done. She'd be just like that little boy: scared that the monsters are coming after her next. She would never trust us again. And I wouldn't blame her." You decide to not talk, it's not your place.
Javier: "Leave Mariana where she is. In peace. In the past."
Kate: "How many children become orphans today because of us? How many parents are now childless?"
You walk through the hallway, and see someone crying over the body of their loved one.
Kate: "I did this to them. That hole is there because of me. This is all my fault."
Javier: "I'm just as responsible for it as you are."
Kate: "You weren't behind the wheel, Javi. It's different." You take a right into a hallway.
Kate:" I can't leave until I make this right. All of this. Let's fix this. As best we can."
Javier: "Alright, Kate. Let's make things right."
Kate: "I don't know if it's actually possible. But I feel a lot better knowing you're there too." The three of you enter a brown wooden doored room.
Eleanor is treating Rufus.
Eleanor: "Tripp was my best friend, Y/N! He died because of you! He didn't deserve this." Eleanor stands up from rufus's body.
Y/N: "You have no one to blame but yourself. Your actions betrayed Tripp. And to think of how much he cared about you..."
Javier says nothing.
Eleanor: "I never thought it would be like this. You have to believe that! Everyone from Prescott is dead. Everyone but...me. What's done is done. I don't have to like it, but I can't change it. But you...You've got a lot of nerve showing up here, after the bullshit you pulled! You're unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable." You traitor.
Y/N: "Oh, I've got a lot of nerve? Everything that happened is because of you! This is all your fault!"
Eleanor: "I told you I wanted you out of my life after what you did to Conrad."
Eleanor: "I was triaging a bad situation. Their doctor is barely functioning."
Eleanor: "And before you guys fucked it all up, their walls worked. It's not only about me. I can actually save lives here--not just stitch them up and hope for the best. These people will die without me, Javi."
Kate: "I know she...well, fucked us over, but she's trying to help them. She's trying to make something right. That's worth forgiving, right? She's trying. That counts."
Javier: "She can go to hell! I want nothing to do with her."
Eleanor: "I'm sorry you feel that way."
Gabe, Jason, Clem, and David enter the apartment.
Rufus: "Fern? Is that you, darlin'?"
Fern: "I'm here, handsome." She leans down and holds his hand. You barely noticed her as she sits on a small crate.
David: "Fern and Rufus... What's wrong with him?"
Eleanor: "Bitten. He's slipping in and out of delirium."
Rufus: "We have to find Ida. We have to find our daughter." He hallucinates.
Javier: "I know that guy. We had a...situation. He's lucky I didn't shoot him."
Jason: "Looks like his luck just ran out."
Eleanor: "Let them have a minute. It's the least we can do."
Fern: (holding axe) "Y'all get over here! You gotta...cut his arm off!"
Eleanor: "It's too far along. I'm sorry."
Fern: "Bullshit! It can work! I've seen it!"
Eleanor: "Do you want his last moments alive to be more painful than they need to be?"
Fern: "I just want to try. I can't...lose everyone. Please! I'm begging you. Please!" You look around and see no one going for the axe.
Y/N: "I'll try. Hand over that axe."
Fern: "Thank you." (gives axe)
Y/N: "Don't thank me yet."
David moves the coffee table and places Rufus' arm on it. You amputate it and Rufus screams, then dies. Fern checks his pulse.
Fern: "No. No! No! No!"
Eleanor: "I told you. He was too far along. The blood loss didn't help either, I'm sure."
Y/N: "I'm sorry, I tried."
Fern pulls out a gun and points it at you.
Y/N: "What the..."
Fern: "We're all fucking dead because of you!"
Javier: "Hey... Easy. We're--"
Fern: "You blew a hole in our wall! Got my little girl killed! Got my whole fucking family killed! Richmond was fine until your stupid ass showed up!
David: "Easy, Fern..."
Fern: "We're dead fucking meat, David! Might as well take out this asshole while I can!"
Y/N: "I didn't mean for this to happen! I'm so sorry about your daughter!"
Fern: "You can apologize to her face in just a second!"
David: "It was a mistake, Fern."
Fern: "Yeah? Well, this isn't!"
Jason: "Don't!"
David: "Stand down. That's an order."
Kate steps in front of the gun.
Javier: "Kate, no!"
Kate: "Fern. This is all because of me. I caused the explosion. I killed your daughter. Please...forgive me. It's my fault. Please."
Y/N: "Please, forgive both of us."
Fern's hand shakes and she starts to cry. David grabs her wrist and breaks her arm, taking her gun.
Kate: "No!"
Eleanor: "Fern!"
Gabe: "Holy shit."
Kate: "DAVID!"
Javier: "Oh, my god!"
Rufus: "David..."
David shoots Rufus.
David: "Okay. Don't thank me." You shake your head, not sure whether or not to thank him.
Fern scoots backward, nearing the gun. David draws his own pistol.
Gabe: "No!"
Gabe grabs David, and gets elbowed backward.
Javier: "David!"
David: "Gabe! Oh, my god, I--I'm so sorry! That was an accident!"
Gabe: "You were going to kill her!"
David: "She was going for her gun!"
Gabe: "Look at her!"
David looks at Fern, who is huddled in the corner, crying.
David: "Gabe, I'm--"
Gabe: "She can't even stand up! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Javier: "He was just being safe, Gabe."
Gabe: "That doesn't mean she has to die! That isn't the answer for everything!"
David: "Gabe... I'm sorry. I--I didn't mean to do that to you... You know that. Why the hell are you all looking at me that way?" Gabe did deserve it though.
Javier: "They're just... They're scared, David."
David: "Of what?! I'm protecting them!"
Kate: "Then why are you pointing a gun at us?!"
David: "So I'm all alone? Fine, then. You people are on your own."
David puts his gun away and leaves the room.
Gabe: "Such an asshole."
Kate: "I've seen that look in his eyes before. You should go after him."
Javi leaves the room leaving all of you down here.
Timeskip till you are all together again
Kate: "Hey! They're up here!" Kate yells down at you. And the rest of you walk up the steps. Ava right behind you.
David: "so what do we do?"
Javier: "Stabilize the city. Figure out how to make it safer for everyone."
Kate: "I saw construction vehicles when we got the armored truck. We can use those to stop the muertos, seal the breach, and save Richmond."
David: "That's over by the motor pool at the water tower. We could use the highway overpass to get to the water tower."
Javier: "Come on. Let's jump!"
Javi runs and jumps off the roof onto the fire escape.
Javier: "Come on! It's an easy jump."
The rest of the group jumps over to the fire escape and climbs up to a different roof.
David: "Keep your eyes open, stay aware of your surroundings. All of you. Let's move out."
David: "When we found Kate earlier, she hugged you. Why do you think she hugged you?" You overhear.
Javier: "You really wanna know? Then ask her."
David: "She won't even make eye contact with me."
On the streets below, the soldier who stabbed Javi is devoured by walkers.
David: "We need to be careful up here or else the exact same thing will happen to us. Stay sharp, and do not fire your guns. We're gonna be fine. That guy was all alone. We're not."
The group climbs over a fallen billboard and onto the highway.
David: Everyone hold back. Let Javi and I clear out these walkers.
David and Javi kill the walkers on the highway.
David: "Good to go, let's move."
In the distance, a herd of walkers follows the group. You stay behind Javi And Gabe, being nosy and listening.
Javier: "You okay, bud?"
Gabe: "When I was little, Dad used to ask me what I wanted to be when I was a man. And I'd point at him. He always liked that. I thought he was such a great guy. It would always make him smile. Every time."
Javier: 'David may not be perfect... But he's not the worst role model in the world."
Gabe: "Maybe..."
Gabe: "Never be like your uncle!" He told me that all the time. "Don't be a man who relies on other people to solve your problems... Because then you're not a man at all." I used to think he was right. Not anymore, though, Javi. I can only hope I grow up to be like you. So... Here's hoping."
Javier: "I hate to admit it, but... The guy may have had a point. I screwed up pretty badly, buddy."
Gabe: "So what? You bounced back. Dad was wrong."
Gabe: "You took such good care of me. Now we need to take care of Dad. He's the one that needs our help."
The group reaches a section that is blocked by a pile of cars.
Jason: "Well shit."
Y/N: "We're gonna have to go around the side."
Kate: "There's barely any room."
Javier: "No time to waste. Come on."
The group walks along the edge of the highway.
Kate: "You know, I didn't there was much that could scare me anymore. And yet, here we are. Just goes to show you, life is full of surprises."
Gabe: "Oh, my god, oh, my god, oh, my god."
Javier: "Fear is the coffee of emotions. Wakes you up, keeps you sharp. It can be a friend if you let it."
Javier says nothing.
Everyone but you and Ava reach the other side. A car behind you falls slightly, bumping into you.
You grab Ava's hand and steadie yourself
Ava: "You've got to be more careful!"
Javier: "I was being--"
A walker in the car jumps out at Ava.
Ava: "The fuck?!"
The walker and Ava fall off the highway.
Javier: "Holy shit!"
David: "Oh, my god! Ava! Fuck! Oh--goddamn it, no!"
Y/N: "I'm sorry, man. I know she was important to you!"
David: "I would've died a long time ago without her. Thank you, Ava. Goodbye, my friend."
David: "Let's keep going. Ava would kick my ass if she knew I was sitting around crying."
The group reaches an area that is broken across the middle, with only a helicopter between the two sides of the highway.
David: "We have to get across."
Gabe walks over to the edge. David grabs his arm to pull him back, and Gabe shrugs him away.
Y/N: "I know Gabe doesn't see it, but David really is trying to look out for him. He's not doing the best job, but...no one gives you a rulebook to raise a kid."
Y/N: "They sure as shit don't."
Clementine: "There's just one thing I don't get, though... Did David really think he was helping AJ by letting him go? Why did he stop guarding him?"
Javier: "Maybe you should ask him that? It might be that he just didn't care. Not everyone's like you two, Not everyone wants to take care of a baby."
Clementine: "I guess not, but..."
David: "AJ was a brat. He lived with me after we kicked you out. And I had already raised two kids--thought it'd be a piece of cake! Pfft! Not with that tyrant!" He looks out over the edge as he talks.
Javier: "Is that why you gave him away?"
David: "We had a bad winter. Destroyed every crop we had. I couldn't leave Richmond--and AJ couldn't stay in Richmond. I gave AJ to Lingard and told him to do whatever he had to to save his life. I miss that brat. Never asked Lingard about it again. Though I've wanted to... Often."
Javier: "I'll bet the little brat misses you too. All of you." David turns towards you.
David: "Don't think it doesn't haunt me. Not a day goes by where it doesn't."
David: "It wasn't easy, Remember: far as I knew, I had already lost two children. Wasn't any easier with number three."
Javier: "It's never easy."
David: "I'm gonna keep you alive--keep all of us alive--and hope that that's enough... Enough for atonement."
Y/N: "He was your responsibility! No matter what."
David: "I thought...it was best."
Clementine: "You thought wrong!"
David: "Yeah... Maybe I did."
David and Clem walk away. Javi and you approach the helicopter and see a walker cut in half.
Javier: "Holy shit! Chopped right in half..."
You grab the helicopter blade.
David: "You're not thinking..."
Jason: "It's that, or go back."
Y/N: "We should go lightest to heaviest, that way it won't break on the first swing."
Gabe: "I'll go first, Clem."
David: "Get a long run-up, but not too long. If you take too many quick steps, you'll propel yourself upward instead of out. Same with your jump: just run off the end. Don't leap. Try not to--"
Clementine: "David, he's got this."
Gabe: "She's right. I do."
Gabe grabs the chopper blade and swings across to the other side. He pushes the blade back to the others.
Javier: "Come on, Clem. Your turn."
Clementine goes across.
Kate: "For the record, I do not trust this thing. Not at all. It's one thing for the kids to swing across, but us?"
Javier: "You've got this. I've seen you do things that are way scarier."
Kate: "Okay. I can do it." Kate swings across, next is Javi. Then jason. Leaving you with David.
David: "Go On." You shake your head.
Y/N: "I like making sure everyone goes before I do, you know. Trust issues." He shakes his head with a smirk, he grabs the chopper blade and glides across.
As you go across, the blade breaks and bends downward, but you manage to hold on.
Kate: "Y/N!"
Clementine: "Javi!"
Jason: "Y/N!"
David: "Y/N, hang on!"
The top half of a walker is tied to a rope connected to the chopper. It reaches toward you as you climb up the blade. You grab its intestines and swings it to the side the slick goo still on your hands, and it gets impaled on a piece of rebar sticking out of the highway. As you continue climbing, the blade breaks again, and you grab onto a pole that's sticking out go the walker, you climb up onto the pole and onto the highway.
David: "C'mon, man!"
You manage to climb up and join the others.
Y/N: "Oh, my--fuck that! Seriously? Fuck you, helicopter!"
Clementine: "Glad you made it!"
Javier: "Almost there..."
The group continues walking.
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