Life Goes On || TWDG Season 5 Fan Fic

Around Every Corner

Louis was pacing the room, his boots hitting the floor in a rhythmic pattern. Antoine was chatting with Clay, their hushed conversation a mystery to him. He didn't feel like joining them. It wasn't like he'd be able to contribute, anyway. So instead.. He paced. It felt oddly therapeutic. Five steps forward, five steps back. Louis didn't like the wait. He paused for a moment, looking towards the door. His mind began to wander. What were the others up to? It felt like the room was closing in on him. He observed his surroundings: taking note of the faded canvas', the broken brushes.. The collections that were never completed. It was a shame, really. Ever since.. the incident, he had been increasingly distancing himself from music and had considered taking up art. Alas, he couldn't draw. Not even a bit. Sometimes he'd go back and look at Sophie's old pieces: her craftsmanship putting his sorry scribbles for shame. He tried to stay in high spirits: it could be worse. Clay helped a lot. Louis felt much happier around them: as if nothing was wrong. He played piano for them and they actually listened.. something that was rare. The others heard the music, rolled their eyes at the jokes.. and then moved on. But Clay hadn't. It was a fascinating feeling.

Eventually, Clay approached Louis. "Hey." They sounded exhausted: as if the conversation had drained their energy entirely. Louis gave them a questioning look. They sighed, their words coming out hushed to avoid the statement reaching Antoine. "He's really.. not great lately." Louis was a bit surprised. He nodded, reaching into his pocket for a notepad, before remembering it was left behind. He grunted in frustration before pulling open a few cabinets in search of some paper. He settled for an old sketchbook, half the pages full. He didn't bother reading the name. The person was guaranteed to be long gone anyway. Louis started to scribble down his thoughts with Clay looking over his shoulder. His sloppy handwriting read out: 'I don't know about him.. he was nice at first, just distant. Then all this stuff happened. It's fine, though. The guy hasn't given me a reason to hate him.' Reading the note over, they nodded awkwardly. "Maybe you're right.. We've never been too close, but.. I dunno." They backed up, leaning against the wall. "It's weird being in a classroom." They were clearly trying to change the subject, and Louis couldn't blame them. He smiled, giving them a thumbs up, and sat beside them. "When I was little, art was my favorite class.." They laughed, looking up at the art adorning the cracked walls: all the paint peeling, all the sketches dusted with age. 'I was always more of a music boy, myself.' Clay smiled. "Guess we're a good pairi-" they paused half way through, realizing what they were saying. They looked at the ground, refusing to meet his eyes. "Good friends. Opposites attract, I guess." Louis was taken aback a bit, but shrugged it off, smiling. He remembered back when he thought Clem liked him: he totally misread those signals. He didn't want to make that mistake again. He just laughed and nodded. 'When I was young.. I always wanted to sing.' They leaned their head against his shoulder, patiently waiting for the story he was about to lay on them. 'Like I told you a few days ago in the music room.. We were stupid rich. I won't go into that fiasco.' He paused, thinking through his next words carefully. Clay stared down at the paper, occasionally glancing at his face: contorted into an expression of deep consideration. He wondered what his face portrayed. Did he look pained? Fearful? Or just plain lost in thought?

'I began begging..' Pausing again, he scratched out the word begging. 'Frequently asking my father for singing lessons. I already knew how to play piano, so it just made sense. I really wanted to.' He shook his head, remembering his youth. How oblivious to the world he was. How stupid. Has he really evolved? This was the sort of thing no one understood went on in his head.. Lou continued nonetheless.

'He told me I could either be rich or be happy. I couldn't have both. He wouldn't let me be happy so I..' He cleared his throat and looked away before continuing. 'I wouldn't let him be happy either. I staged this elaborate bullshit plan and broke up my parents. Those two would've been happily married for the rest of their lives if I hadn't gone and fucked it up.' He looked at Clay and gestured around. 'Sent me here after I confessed.' Clay was frowning, and Louis could not place if their expression was that of sympathy or disgust. "You regret it.. And you've made up for your mistake to the rest of the world.." They smiled. "Your dad sounds.. Unpleasant anyway." The subtle creak of a door opening cut off their hushed voice in his ear. Antoine stepped closer to them. "Is that one of us or..?" Louis shrugged, trying to ignore it. 'It may just be the wind?' He knew that that was a long shot, but he wanted to believe it. Lou got up and peered out the window. It looked like the herd was beginning to surround them. They weren't moving fast enough.. What had happened to the others? Smoke could be seen, yet the horde was unfazed. Were they alright? He gestured for the others to come over. Clay's face went pale at the sight. They looked like they were going to be sick. None of them had ever seen so many walkers. Antoine just stood there, staring. His reaction was muted, non-existent. Did he blame himself? When Marlon was shot, he treated Clem like shit.. When it wasn't her fault. It wasn't AJ's fault either.. In the end, they overpaid the debt that they owed the group and helped lead them. He had his fingers crossed that Antoine would be the same.

A scream pierced the twisted hush in conversation. It was feminine : yet not that of Clem or Ruby.. could it be the young girl? The one that AJ was friends with? It took Louis a moment to remember her name. Mariana, that was it! Antoine approached the door, leaning his ear against the wood. "We gotta go see what's going on!" He turned to them. "Clay, you should go." Louis raised his eyebrows. Why Clay? Why didn't Antoine go himself? "Oka-'' Lou cut them off by putting a hand on their shoulder. He pointed to the coward before him, implying he should go instead. Clay shook him off. "It's probably nothing, I can do it.." They were slightly offended, and it showed. He backed off, but not before staring daggers at Antoine. He just stared right back. Apparently he misread this asshole.

They made quick work of getting past the flimsy barriers, opening the door ever so slightly to see Mariana standing at the window: Evelyn trying to get her back into their room. Clay frowned, dashing over, and Louis followed quickly behind. Mariana was pushing away the woman who was desperately trying to save her. Omar's voice could be heard through his door. "Is everything okay?!" Evelyn was the one to shout back. "Just stay in there!" Looks like no one cared about being quiet anymore. Walkers could be heard below, banging on the main door. They had gotten through.. In seconds of hearing the screams, the walkers broke down their main defenses. How strong were they?! He tried to focus on Mariana, fed up on trying to convince her, and picked her up. She continued to cry. Everyone tagged along: Clay holding Evelyn's hand to speed her up, Louis carrying Mariana. A crash could be heard just as they shut the door. Soon, the overwhelming symphony of the infected filled the halls. Antoine made an effort to block the door. "Quick, move some shelves or some shit! Once they get up here I can't hold it!" Evelyn took Mari from Louis and cradled her as she slowly cried. "Nona.. los muertos.. Los muertos están comiendo.. Los muertos are coming!!..." Clay ran to Antoine, carrying a chair, and shoved it against the handle. "That'll buy us a minute, quick, get some shelves!" Louis nodded to them and began searching. The heaviest shelf in the room was filled with pottery. Moving it would be too loud.. Instead, he pushed the large professors' desk, gesturing for them to move the chair. They did, and it was replaced with the new barricade. By now, walkers were up the stairs: their footsteps and groans echoing through the halls. Antoine was clearly starting to panic. "What the hell do we do now?" Louis tried to think. They were too high up to jump out a window, and the walkers were blocking the only other exit. "What are the others doing? How did this even happen?" Evelyn said, rocking back and forth with the young girl in her arms. Antoine replied in a rageful tone. "If you had kept that little bitch from crying we wouldn't be in this situation!" Louis was taken aback. He was about to attempt to argue, but Clay got to it first. "What the fuck, Ant?! She's a CHILD." They were rarely like this.. Their soft spoken, gentle aura seemed to crumble away as they slapped him across the face as hard as they could. It seemed to shut him up. He shrunk away silently to look out the window. Louis retrieved the tattered sketchbook as he watched the man pout. 'We need a plan.' He waved his hand, requesting for Clay to read it out loud. They were happy to verbalize his ideas for him. "Louis says we need a plan.. I mean, we can't stay here forever.." He nodded vigorously. Antoine returned to them, ashamed, yet trying to hide it. "It's too far to jump it.. But there's a bit of a ledge off the window. If we're careful, we could try to climb it." Louis shook his head, pointing to Mariana. Evelyn seemed to catch what he meant. "It's too dangerous for Mariana, Antoine." He sighed, nodding. "What else can we do?" Louis took a moment to think. What else could they do? He tried to think of what Violet would do in the situation. Maybe if he had done that last time he wouldn't have.. He tried not to think about it. Then it hit him. Hadn't Violet, Clem, and AJ worked through a horde with everyone? They used the guts! He began to write again, proud of his quick thinking. 'If we can get a walker in here, we can use it's guts to go through the horde without them noticing. The smell throws them off or something.' He flipped the book to show Clay. They gagged. "Are you kidding?" He shook his head in response, then wrote more. 'If one of us uses the ledge and goes around to distract them, then we can grab one and pull it in while they're preoccupied.'  Antoine shrugged. "What other option do we have? I think Louis should go on the ledge and smash a window or something, then he'll loop back and help us with.. that." Lou didn't wanna argue. He stepped to the window and swallowed hard, looking down at the ground below. Note to self, he thought: don't fall. 

Clay reached out and squeezed his hand. "Be careful..." He nodded, smiling, and departed.

It was a long way down.

Time to get climbing...