In The Dark (Sequel To Light) -Clementine/Louis, Clouis, Louisentine

Chapter 18

"Shit..."

The despair in the single word Clementine had uttered under her breath chilled Louis as much as the rain that was soaking him to the bone. It wasn't a frustrated sound, nor an angry one. It was a tone that held one clear meaning;

'We're fucked.'

He had kind of expected for Nathan to start mocking them, or to smirk at them in that typical villain way he saw in all those superhero movies he watched as a kid. At the moment, he wasn't really doing... Anything. If Louis were to guess, the most he could see from him was exasperation.

That and perhaps, some disappointment.

"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this," Nathan strained his voice to be heard over the rain. "I wanted this to end on better terms."

"Better for you, maybe," Clementine snapped, her hand slowly inching towards the gun in her back pocket. "Not for us. Your vision for the future isn't one we wanted to be a part of."

"Such a selfish choice..." Nathan utters. "I gave you a better choice. One to ensure the future of all of us. Of yourself, and your children before you. You've let your own selfish morals get in the way of that."

"A choice? You didn't give us a choice! 'Join us or die' isn't much of a choice!" Louis retaliated.

"The 'or' is there, is it not? It's not my fault you chose the wrong option. Surely it's better to choose the option where you live, above all else?"

"And who says we're going to die here?"

This time, Nathan does smile. It's not happiest in the slightest. "Probability does, I'm afraid."

Clementine bites on her tongue to keep herself from blurting the words she so what's to say in response to that- 'I wouldn't be so sure'

She doesn't, though. If they play their cards right, they could have the element of surprise on their hands. Seeing just how confident Nathan was in his own men, she was sure nothing would surprise Nathan more than for half of his people to suddenly turn against him.

Question is; Was Zara telling the truth? Even if half of Nathans men were on their side, what would it take for them to defect? What kind of signal could they give to kick this off?

"Now, your friends here..." Nathan begins, turning his body slightly to glance at the others, who had been forced to their knees with guns to their heads.  "They were easy enough to capture. Put up a hell of a fight, I'll give them that. You trained them well--but not good enough. After your escape, I knew you would be heading back here. It made the most sense, of course. You knew we would wipe you out no problem if we attacked. So you strike first. Simple enough. Unfortunately for your people, I had pulled all men available into guard duty."

"Go fuck yourself," Aasim grits through his teeth, receiving a sharp blow to the head from the butt of the gun that was aimed at him for his comment.

"Don't-" Nathan barks out his order, turning to address the soldier that had struck Aasim
"There's no need for that. We're not like that. They're already beaten. Stand down."

Aasim pushed himself back up with wobbly arms, glaring ungratefully up at Nathan once sitting back up. "You haven't beaten us yet."

Nathan raises an eyebrow at Aasim's defiance, eyes flicking over to the others in his captivity before turning back to Clementine. "Now, you though...You weren't with them. I'll confess, I never would have thought you would be dumb enough to try and fight your way through those walkers, just to get to me. That was of course until I had the pleasure of meeting your friend there."