Ashes (Clementine X Male Reader Book 2)

Vagabonds-One Bad Decision

William joins the small crowd gathered around a dozen mounds. He watches in silence, frustrated. The group finishes their funeral, unaware that William has joined them, and then begins to disperse. There aren't many tears. They're all too used to the losses, or maybe they believe their dead are better off.

Kal stops in front of William. "You didn't tell us who they were." He says.

"Would that have changed anything?" William asks.

"We wouldn't have underestimated them. If you would-"

"That's not my fault. That's your fault." William tells him. "Can you give me any information?"

"If you can give us food like you promised if we caught them," Kal responds.

"That's not what our deal was," William tells him. He thinks for a moment and decides an incentive for Kal to give him information may help. "I'll give you some of what we would have given you."

"How much is that?"

"I don't know. Depends on the value of the information." William needs anything he can get right now.

"They're with a group. They have, uh... Eleven people."

"Who? When did they get a group?" William asks, confused. He knows they weren't with a group before now.

"They were staying in our community, and apparently, they knew each other," Kal tells William. William is hiding his rage. "If you've heard of Salvation, you know that the two you're after were gods. They have two more now."

"You're kidding. And you want food for that? For letting them walk out of your community with eight more people than they entered with, which is more than the opposite of what I asked you to do." William turns away and runs his hands through his hair. "I need to know what direction they went in."

"I'm sorry, I don't know that." Kal doesn't. They left before he could see them off. He never saw which way they went, and no one was watching them.

William turns on Kal and grabs him by the throat. He pushes a pistol into Kal's stomach but doesn't pull the trigger. "Why shouldn't I?" William asks. "Why shouldn't I kill you?"

"Because I had information."

"All you told me was that you fucked up so bad they left with more people than they entered with and took out a dozen of your own. I should have my people roll through here, kill all of you, and take whatever you have." William has considered it already.

"Please." Kal starts the beg. "We... We can work something out."

"I already told you what I wanted." William stares Kal in the eyes. Kal tries to avert his eyes but can't because of how close William is. William shoves Kal back. "You're moving."

"What?" Kal rubs his throat and holds his stomach. "What do you mean?"

"You're going to live in our community and do what we tell you." William pulls a map out of his jacket pocket and throws it on the ground. "On the border between Georgia and Florida, you'll find us. Tell them I sent you. They'll know." William holsters his pistol. "I'll be seeing you."

William walks out of the community, paying no mind to those he passes by. The gates open, and William sucks in a deep breath. He looks to the sky and waits for the gates to close behind him. "Sir?" Someone says beside William. "What do you want us to do?"

William looks at the man, down at the Molotov in his hand. "Don't torch the place." William takes the bottle. "Kill them and take their shit. We could use it, and we can't use them."

William thought it through. Kal's people are low on food and would never make it to Anarchy anyway, and the supplies William would need to nurse them back to health would not be worth it. They've proven their worth here, unable to catch Y/N and Brooklyn. So William gave Kal false hope. Surprise attacks are easier that way.

As Kal lies on the ground, listening to the sounds of his people dying, smelling the sulfur in the air, he thinks about what he was told. That William wasn't a good guy. Blood pours out of the bullet wound in his shoulder, he holds it, but he knows this is it. What would have happened if he had listened? If only he had trusted Cas and Emma and Louis and Aasim and Clementine. He made a call, but it was the wrong one. Maybe he wasn't meant to be a leader.

A boot is placed on Kal's chest. He reaches up toward the gunman above him. Reaches out his hand for help. "Please. You don't have to do this." Kal is scared. He doesn't want to die. He should have listened. One different decision, and he could have lived. All he had to do was trust his people. He ruined his life with one bad decision. He ended his life with one bad decision.

And now he's dead. His people are dead. All because he trusted the wrong person.

One bad decision is all it took.

Section 3 end...