Walking Dead Game Collection

"Mistake"

Title: Mistake
Characters: Clementine, Luke, Carlos, Rebecca
Summary: While locked in the cabin at the beginning of season 2, Clementine dies. The cabin group feels guilty, and discusses how it all could have been prevented.
Author's Note: Swears ahead. Side note, I hate writing Clementine dying. It breaks my heart.
Requested By: Anonymous
---------♥️♥️♥️----------
"Please don't leave me in here! I'm not bitten!" The child's voice, pleading and hoarse, echoed through the chilled vicinity of their cabin, sparking activity in the forests amongst them.
Carlos rapidly surveyed the scene and crossed his arms. "Walkers are going to start heading out here if we aren't careful." He grumbled to his team, the threat drawing closer. "Close the door."
"No! Please! Don't leave me in here. I didn't do anything! It was a dog!"
"Close. It." He gritted his teeth, tension showing in every move he made.
Luke watched the girl writhing on the floor, clutching her arm against her chest, pleading with the people around her to let her live. To bring her in. To help her. Yet, all he did was stare at her, watching her blood smear against her purple shirt.
"Guys," Luke breathed quietly, rubbing his palms together nervously. "Maybe we shouldn't do this."
Carlos scoffed.
Luke furrowed his brow, shooting him a harsh glare. "Hey, she's just a little girl. You have one yourself."
"And that's why I'm doing this. To protect her."
"And not her? She's alone, Carlos."
Carlos squinted at him, gripping his shoulder and tugging him to the side, hoping to escape earshot of the frantic child.
Finally, away from the chaos, he crossed his arms and flipped to face him. "We don't know her. We don't know who she's with or what the bite is from."
Luke furrowed his brow. "She's just a kid. You're treating her like a criminal."
"We don't know about her. That's the point." He shook his head. "She's staying in there. Wether you like it or not. It's decided."
"She's alone, Carlos."
"It's been decided." He snapped back. "Drop it, Luke. It's done."
Before he could protest further, throw more desperate truths in an attempt to save the girls sanity, before he could dash back a catch a final look at the teary-eyed face of a stranded child, before he could move, the door clicked shut.
The lock sounded.
An arm was gripped harshly by and dragged inside.
The gentle screams and cries, muffled by a wooden barricade, sounded through the night. The cries and screams. The desperate and lonely pleads for help. For someone to talk to.
She was left alone.
That was, until later that night. But nobody would know until 8am the next morning.
Instantly, as the group discussed heading out to release here, Luke bolted out the door. His soul was aching to crack open that lock and swing open the door, bringing the child out out of her solitude and swinging her into the house where she would remain.
She was only a child, after all. She was lonely, and hurt, and scared. Just like he was when it had all began. When he had lost his family. Only she was far younger. Far too young to be thrown into such horrors.
Almost purposely, the group daunted along, slowly lugging themselves outside and trudging through the dew-painted grass. They had made it obvious by now that the last thing they wanted was an outsider to join them. But, they would need to accept. Now there was no turning back.
At least, that's what Luke thought.
He pried the doors open, tossing the small lock to the side and deciding that one of the many who had wished to plant her inside could fetch it.
She was only a child, after all. They deserved to feel guilt.
The door was pried open, and immediately, a smell hit him like a brick wall. So much so that Luke stumbled backwards, the stench knocking him back a few steps. He rubbed his eyes, brushing away the defensive wall of liquid building against them and dared to look inside.
The child sat propped up against the back wall, her neck ripped open and skin sprawled around her. Her body haunted the room with the lifelessness it radiated, her pale skin paining the eyes set upon her.
Without a doubt, a walker had gotten her.
There was a hole gaping in the back corner of the shed. The gash on her arm - which had bled onto the floor - was clearly the cause for her visitor.
She only had one working hand, and she was expected to hold off a hungry walker.
She was only a child. Alone. With no weapons.
She lost everything.
"My god." Rebecca hushed in awe behind him, taking a step closer and staring in through the door in horror. "It got in."
Carlos's eyes painted the scene. "It must have heard something and left."
Silence. Haunting silence filled the air. Silence that should have been filled with a child's voice, but instead filled with bitter and daunting hesitation. Guilt dripped from the walls. Grief fell among them.
"Are you guys happy?" Luke spat through clenched teeth, turning to shoot visual daggers at his house-mates. "She was only a kid. And you left her in there alone, hurt, and scared during the end times?" Carlos remained silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "It wasn't intended to--."
Luke scoffed, rubbing the back of his head in disbelief, his fingers shaking against his scalp. "Yeah, okay, sure." He sarcastically threw back. "You didn't 'intend' for anything bad to happen? How did that work?" He rolled his eyes.
"We didn't expect anything bad would happen." Rebecca retorted, brows furrowing together in defence for their decision.
"You know, I'm baffled as to how you thought locking a child alone in a cabin overnight in walker-infested woods sounded safe to you." Luke shook his head, starting inside the small shed she sat in.
"Luke--"
He ignored Carlos's pleading tone and instead shot back bitter retorts instead. "You know, the saddest part is you guys are trying to say that we're the good guys."
Somehow, that comment made all the back-and-forth quips stop towards him to stop. Luke had the floor.
"You're trying to defend locking a child away and killing her." Luke shook his head. "Because despite what you say, we killed her."
His eyes faded closed with the same amount of defeat and agony he could imagine her last gaze was. She died alone, and in pain, and betrayed by people whom she had hoped would help her.
"She's dead because of us." He eyes opened. "Because of your ignorance."
"We didn't know what she was packing." Carlos defended, arms crossed and tone livid.
"She's a child is this not sinking in?" He yelled, baffled by the ignorance. "She was a kid! An injured, scared, lonely kid who came to us begging for help and we turned her away and let her die." Luke could feel his throat tighten, the anger and heartache rising in his chest and stomach. "When we start turning on people who pose not threat or risk, are we any better than people like Carver?"
They all stood silently, jaws opened in awe. A brick of realization smacking each of them in the chest, their lungs closing in.
"I hope her death was worth it to you all." He turned, glared at his team. "Especially you parents."
Luke turned, stomach churning and twisting in on itself. He couldn't bring himself to stare at her anymore. To stare and study the life he could have saved. The life his team decided to let slip by. He didn't care if they were shocked by his outburst. He didn't care if they were bitter, even angry about it. He didn't care.
After all, she was only a child.
---------♥️♥️♥️----------
Original Link: http://thatglitterygeek.tumblr.com/post/146367856802/walking-dead-game-fanfiction-mistake