The River (Clemerva)

Chapter Twenty-Four: FUBAR

Clementine felt a chill down her spine.
Something about the empty halls of the barracks made her deeply uncomfortable. It was dead silent, save for the sound of the group's footsteps echoing lightly through the cement tunnel.
Minnie led the way. The pistol they had taken from Lilly was tucked into the back of her waistband.
She approached the exit and carefully opened it a crack, peeking through.
The redhead turned and nodded, opening the door all the way, leading the group out into the cold night air.
In the distance they could hear yelling and the dull thundering of large groups of people running. Obviously their fire distraction had worked out.

"Try to act natural." Minnie whispered.

Nobody was quite sure what natural meant in this case, so they continued walking single file across the open courtyards.
Eventually they made it to the docks, carefully crossing the open area and crouching behind a large wooden crate sitting by the water.
Clem peeked out and searched for the guards. She saw one in the watchtower, as expected.
Violet tapped her on the shoulder and pointed.

"One over there." She whispered.

A guard wandered along the wooden pier that wound around the inside of the concrete dock.
He was holding a rifle low, but ready to fire if need be. There were another two on the far side. One was helping the other light a cigarette, the orange glow giving away where they were.

"Okay, I'll get up into that watchtower and open the gate, you guys get to the boat." Clem said.

"What about the guard?" Louis asked.

She took out Lilly's knife and held it up.
Louis' face fell a little.

"Wait." Minnie interjected, "I know this sounds insane, but please don't kill anyone."

Clem cocked her head to the side, a little confused.
Everybody looked to Minnie, expecting elaboration.

"A lot of these people are like us, they're not doing this job willingly, they were kidnapped too. Just- if you can avoid it, don't kill anyone, they don't deserve that."

"Alright." Clem said after a brief pause, "nobody dies."

Determined, she broke away from the group and moved low and fast down to the dock.
The guards that had been smoking were sitting on a box and facing away from her.
Clem began to move along the length of the boardwalk, peeking up past the rows of boats to keep track of the guards.
The creaking of wood planks up ahead was gradually getting closer.
Her eyes darted around, looking for a place to hide.
Thinking quickly, she clambered onto one of the smaller fishing boats and lay down inside the cabin.
The guard walked up and stopped in front of the boat.
Clem held her breath and watched him roll up his sleeve and check his watch.
The guard let out a sigh and kept on walking.
As soon as his footsteps faded completely, Clem crept out of her hiding place, going around the corner and arriving at the base of the tower.
It was a monolithic cement structure with a glass box at the top and a metal catwalk running along the outside.
At the bottom was a door that thankfully remained unlocked.
Clem carefully turned the handle and opened the door just enough to slip through, closing it behind her.
The tower had a narrow staircase along the walls that snaked around and up to the top.
She could see the shadow of the guard, illuminated by a light source inside the glass booth.
When she got to the top, the guard was sitting in a wooden chair, his gun resting against the wall.
Clem raised the knife in a reverse grip and swung it down, handle first, cracking the guard over the head and knocking him out of his chair.
He hit the ground limply, a book falling from his hands.
Clem pressed a finger lightly against the side of his neck.