In the Willows

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Judgement

Y/N's POV

Your eyes flutter open as you choke on the dust floating in the air. The clothes you wear are ripped and singed slightly and your face feels hot. You quickly look around at your surroundings and see you're on the second floor now.

"What the hell- "

The floor beneath you caves in and you slam to the ground. You groan as you try to pick yourself up. You strain as your arms give out trying to lift yourself up. A piece of shrapnel sticks from your bicep and you pull it out.

"Damn." you huff.

You look to your left and see something blue sticking out of the rubble. You slowly crawl towards it and brush off the dust off the hat that belongs to Clementine.

Your girlfriend, the love of your life......

"You chose me, remember?" says Cerise.

You ignore her.

'Take it, for luck.' you remember Clementine saying to you.

You chuckle to yourself putting on the hat, "Lucky enough to survive an explosion."

Your mind starts to wonder on its own. Will that be the last thing she'll ever say to you? Can you even make it out of here? You can't even stand on your own two feet.

"Let's just make it out of here Y/N." you say to yourself as you continue to crawl.

Your arms and chest are raw from dragging yourself against the debris on the floor. You see a light shining through a small hole and you make your way towards it.

"Almost there love." Cerise says.

You keep crawling and try to get through the hole when you feel hands grab onto you.

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Louis' POV

"He should be here by now." Clementine says aloud looking out into the beseeched city of Richmond.

Smoke and fire can be seen flooding the area and the distant moan of walkers get closer and closer by the minute.

"They should be here." You say crossing your arms.

"They? There isn't a they Louis. I don't trust her and neither should any of you."

"What'd she do to you?"

"Other than leading Y/N into a death trap? I guess she's all good in my book, you're right Louis how silly of me to think that." she replies sarcastically.

"I agree with Clementine." says Gabe.

"Your opinion doesn't matter dingus." you retort.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me- "

"Enough!" says Kyan sternly, "Trust her or not, Y/N obviously does. He made the decision to go with her."

"We should go back for them." says AJ. "I'll bring them back."

Everyone looks at him.

"I'll go." Clementine says.

"We should wait." says Kyan.

"I'm done waiting Kyan. If you're that infatuated with going leave us behind."

"You know what Y/N told you to do if something happened to him."

"I don't give a shit." Clementine says walking off.

You look over at Gabe, "You going with her?"

Gabe doesn't respond and looks down playing with a rock on the ground.

You sigh walking towards Clementine, "Fine."

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You backtrack the path you made and reach the outer walls of the settlement and find a gap to squeeze through.

"You have a weapon?" says Clementine.

It's the first thing she said to you the whole way back.

"I do." You say pulling out the .22 Y/N gave you back at Mount Vernon, "You're worried about him."

"Yeah, I am. Is that a problem?"

"No, I- "

"Then shut up for a while."

You head down an alley and spot a huge group of Bastard Syndicate members huddled around.

You point your weapon out and Clementine grabs your arm and pulls it down giving you a menacing stare. That's when you both hear what the commotion is all about.

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Y/N's POV

You're dragged into the middle of the crowd by two large men. You see Mattias and Edward standing next to each other.

Edward smiles before grabbing you by the collar and throws you towards the crowd.

"This boy has been a nuisance to all of us caused mischief within our organization for years!"

The crowd cheers.

"And what's worse, is that he is a traitor to his brothers and sisters!"

The crowd becomes even louder in their cries for your blood.

You try to sit up, but you are kicked down immediately. Clementine's hat is knocked off your head.

"What do we do with traitors?"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" the crowd chants.

You force yourself up expecting to be knocked down again, but it never comes.

"Prefer to die as a man I see Anderson. Not like a dog on the ground."

You cough up some blood, "You done yet?"

Edward pulls out a gun and starts to rally the crowd again. You look around at the surroundings before your eyes fall onto a familiar pair of eyes. Soft golden honey eyes but without the hardened demeanor this time. She looks devastated.

"You caused this. You can only blame yourself." says Cerise.

"I'm sorry." you mouth to the girl you love.

"Any last words Y/N?" asks Edward.

"Don't miss, I'd hate to teach you marksmanship."

You breathe slowly and close your eyes awaiting your judgement.