chapter 16 : Winter is coming
After nearly a month and a half on the road dodging hordes, pushing vehicles on the road, stocking up on fuel, water and resources, they finally arrived in Savannah and the city was infested by walkers .
Calvin looked at the city and scratched his temple with the hilt of his saber.
« We arrived ? » Clementine said as she got off the truck with Christina.
Christina: Here we are, my angel. We're going to find your mom and dad.
« Don't move from here, I have to find a safe place we can stay but the streets are full of walkers. I will contact you by walkie-talkie if I have anything to report. » He said as he walked out with his saber while over his clothes he wore a black hooded poncho because it was the very beginning of winter and it was cool.
Quickly, he began to wander from roof to roof to search the surroundings and he instinctively went to the north-east of the city where there were plenty of hotels and shops including a large supermarket on the street of Marsh House and several stores whose metal shutters were lowered, drastically reducing the risk of looting.
He looked at the roof of the Marsh House Hotel and saw solar panels there, more than on the other roofs and decided to make it their home in the city.
He entered the building through a window and began searching the rooms for walkers and found 13 throughout the building .
Calvin checked the main electrical system which was completely out of order in the control room and tried switching to auxiliary power through the solar panels and for water, the building was close to the sea so they had installed a water filtering system to supply the building.
He seriously wondered where his luck came from and the instinct to always find what he needed and when he needed it but quickly left that question behind him before checking the basement of the hotel and he did well because there were 21 walkers in this place.
Calvin cleaned up with his saber before going back up to leave the hotel. He had left his poncho there and made another one out of a sheet before rubbing blood and guts of dead walkers into it to hide his scent and go out to walk into the great horde that was in the street.
There were thousands of walkers there but he managed to get through thanks to the camouflage.
He had discovered this trick during their trip (The first to have the idea in the series was Rick. It's okay, everyone knows it.)
Quickly, Cal returned to the others and told them what he had found for their de light. He grew closer to Lee and Christina to whom he gave two sheets which he brought back and he made a new poncho with his but he had a kind of hood.
Calvin went to kill a walker not far away and brought back his corpse, the others also knew this camouflage trick so they didn't waste their time before putting on gloves and rubbing the rotten flesh and guts of the living dead.
Under Calvin's poncho, there was Clementine whom he carried on his back with his head close to Calvin's in order to see where they were going.
Slowly, they arrived in the street in which there was the small horde. Suddenly Clémentines hand gripped Cal's shoulder tightly.
Cal: (whispers) What is it, princess?
"My parents...they're here...they're also..." Clementine whispered very sadly as her voice shook, Calvin felt Clementine's tears falling down his neck, even in this pain she didn't make any notable noise.
[The entities]
Death :…
Eternity: That was quick!
Reality: They hadn't even started the search yet when they already found Clémentine's parents. Is this a joke?!
Death: I gave him Supernatural Instinct and a lot of luck. You've forgotten ? What are our blessings for if not to make their job easier?
Eternity:…
Reality: It's okay, it's okay! Let's just watch.
[alternate reality]
Discreetly, they returned to the hotel where Clementine got off Calvin's back who quickly told the others that she had seen her parents in the horde while the child was crying and Christina rushed towards her to take her in her arms.
« Princess, can you show me where they are in the horde? » Calvin gently asked Clementine who nodded while crying.
They went upstairs where on a balcony, Clementine indicated the two walkers quite close in the horde before looking away to cry in Christina's chest who looked at Calvin without saying anything before taking the child into one of the rooms to console her.
Lee: If only she hadn't seen that, Clementine is too young and innocent for this new world.
Calvin: She was already too much for the old one. The only way to protect these children is to make them stronger. New world, new education.
Lee: Don't say that like she just had to accept it, it was her parents. You don't realize...
Cal: Before I was sent to Los Angeles, my parents and I lived in Lafayette. I don't really remember their faces because I was too young when they were killed in a church. I don't really remember the details, but it was a bomb attack according to the reports. I was at my Aunt Rachel's house for the weekend that day and the perpetrator was not found until 11 years later. He was a fucking former white supremacist turned pastor, I was already in L.A And I was selling drugs
Lee: I'm sorry, I didn't know.
Cal: I hate this part of the country and its people but there are always really good people there too, they are rare towards people like us but they are there. I am not saying that Clementine must normalize this new reality but become stronger than it, I preferred to harden myself and live my life for me instead of crying injustice towards our people. Anyway, I'm definitely going to make her stronger.
Lee :...
He went back downstairs without saying anything more before going back down the street with his camouflage and returning with Clémentine's late parents.
He had pinched part of their clothes with his fingers to take them inside very slowly before killing them for good there.
There was no place to bury them so he wrapped them in several layers of sheets before carrying them up to the roof of the hotel and placed them on the roof of the neighboring building which was stuck to the hotel at the same height, he also brought 4 mattresses there and sandwiched the bodies between them before pouring gasoline on the pile.
He then went to get Clementine and carried her to where the others saw what he did by crossing onto the neighboring roof.
Calvin: Princess, your parents' bodies are here, I couldn't leave them like that. They are still alive somewhere but it is up to their daughter to free them so they can begin their journey to the other side.
Clementine: You mean...in heaven?
Calvin: Yes, they will wait for you there but you have to let them go.
He put his lighter back in the girl's hands and brought it closer to the mattresses.
Calvin: You must burn their bodies and wish them a safe journey so that their smoke rises into the sky where they will always look at you and watch over you.
Clementine: Is that true...?
Calvin: I promise.
She sadly knelt down to say a little prayer for her parents before lighting the lighter and igniting one of the mattresses.
"Have a good trip mom, have a good trip dad. I love you, I will miss you very much..." she said before breaking down in tears and Cal picked her up to carry her.
When she calmed down slightly, he handed her some items like her mother's pendant, her father's watch and their two wedding rings. She immediately wore the pendant and as for the other items, she put them in the pocket of her hoodie.
When the ceremony was over, Lee took Clementine to sleep and Calvin decided to start chasing the horde out of this alley.
On the roof, he looked around to see a bell tower in the distance, he then went to take two earplugs spotted earlier before returning to the roof.
He ran at full speed, jumping from roof to roof, sometimes jumping over insane distances or heights to finally arrive at the large building which he climbed with as much ease as speed before arriving at the bell.
Calvin first put the plugs in his ears before starting to ring the bell.
*GDOOOOONG*
*GDOOOOONG*
*GDOOOOONG*
*GDOOOOONG*
He took long-range binoculars and looked towards Marsh House Street to see the horde beginning to move towards the bell tower. He started ringing the bell again and when the noise stopped, he contacted Lee via walkie-talkie.
Cal [Lee, You get me ? ]
Lee [Perfectly. Where are you ?! Was that noise you?]
Cal [Yes but we don't have enough time, go straight to the vehicles and bring the van back to the street, I'll take care of King. Be careful, walkers are attracted here but there must be a few left ]
Lee [Received.]
Calvin put away his Walkie Talkie to ring the bell a few more times before heading out of there.
He started jumping from roof to roof again quickly until he hid behind a wall and a few dozen seconds later, another person wanted to run by but Cal came out of the corner and grabbed the neck of the person who was apparently a blonde girl before slamming her against the wall.
The girl reacted quickly and wanted to hit Cal with a mountaineering ice ax but he was much too fast and for him the girl's movement was very slow so he blocked the attack with his left hand and tightened his grip on the neck of the girl whose face had turned completely red with her right hand.
"I don't really like being watched and followed. » He said squeezing even tighter.
" Mer... Cy" The blonde said as her eyes turned completely red and Calvin let go of her as she fell to his knees to cough.
"You've 10 seconds to tell me who you are and what you want." he said coldly as he aimed his gun on her head.
The girl who saw Calvin's expressionless look and something told her that this guy wasn't going to hesitate to kill her.
The blonde: My name is Molly, I'm a survivor and a rascal. I Noticed smoke at the top of the hotel earlier and I saw you running and moving, moving like I've never seen anyone do before. I'm using this bell tower too so I followed you.
Calvin: To see where my camp was and loot me?! Where is your group?
Molly: I'm alone...I swear...I swear. Yes, I wanted to plunder you but not anymore.
"Thank you for your honesty…don't you ever dare follow me again." He said before leaving.
"WAIT…" Molly tried to hold him but he was already gone.
This guy intrigued her, it was completely impossible for a normal human to move like he did and his physical strength was monstrous so she imagined she could try something to gain his favor but this guy was really fierce.
Lee and Calvin finally brought the vehicles back, they placed the van in the driveway and the King was positioned to close off the street and block the view as well as the passage of walkers in their area .
They then proceeded to clean up the street then the surrounding area and then Cal sent Lee to clean himself up, eat something and rest while he stayed to get rid of the corpses by throwing them into the sea.
Cal went to the supermarket where he opened the padlock on the floor before lifting the metal gate and entering.
"Holy shit!" Molly cursed as she looked through her binoculars. She had never been able to free this area to even search it a little but this guy had completely appropriated it without much effort in just a few hours and he was not alone.
Later that night, Calvin returned to the hotel where the upper suites had lights and he saw the others.
Calvin: I completely cleaned the street and all the surrounding buildings, the area belongs to us and we are going to spend the next few months here. Winter is coming and it's going to be quite cold felling how the temperatures quickly became colder .
Reyes: The hot water works perfectly, as does the heating and some televisions. The elevator is also in excellent condition, it looks like they did maintenance shortly before the epidemic.
Lee: The place is good, there is even a gym.
Calvin: That's good because I'm going to train you in survival this whole time. We will stay here for a total of seven months and then we will see where to go.
Clementine: We can go back to the farm, Duane, Sophia and Carl are my friends and I miss them.
Calvin: Yes princess but first, I have to make you all stronger for this new world.
Clementine: Strong like you?
Calvin: Yes, strong like me. That way you can protect your friends when we get back to the farm. Okay ?
« All right ! » Clementine said excitedly. They ate something before going to bed. Lee slept with Clementine in a luxury suite with two beds, she couldn't sleep alone on his bed so she asked Lee if she could sleep with him and he agreed.
Calvin currently kissing Christina in the large bed of the luxurious suite they occupied while under the blanket, you could see Christina spreading her thighs while Calvin's pelvis made slow rhythmic movements in the middle.
Reyes kept holding back her voice as she moaned as her and Calvin's mouths intertwined, they were making love and it clearly wasn't recreational sex.
Reyes: I love you, I love you so much.
"Me too" He ran his hand through her hair as he looked into her eyes. Christina was speechless for a while.
Reyes: Is that true?
Calvin: I really love you but in this world, loving is a privilege for the strong because only they can truly protect the subject of their affection. I am strong enough to love you with all my strength but you too must become stronger...for us.
"I was in the army, that doesn't scare me. I'll follow you wherever you go" She told him as Cal started kissing her again as his rhythm down there became harder and faster.