The Walking Dead: Return to Paradise

Chapter Ten: The Second Siege Of Ericson's

Clementine stayed low as the sharp snaps and pops of bullets sounded over her head. A chunk of the picnic table was blown off, showering her with splinters. Pain radiated from her severed finger and warm blood coated her hands.
Violet was not far across the courtyard to her left, firing back with the rifle. Clem had no weapon, her bow was on the ground right in the middle of the gunfight. Asim fired an arrow at the raider's position.
Clementine grabbed the hem of her shirt with shaky hands and tore a section off. She wrapped it around the stump of her finger in lieu of proper medical attention.
Violet leaned over the bench, trying not to expose herself too much. She fired the rifle at a raider who was visible behind a tree, the bullet caught him in the thigh. He yelped and fell over before being dragged to cover. Wily ran across the courtyard to the left by the dorms, positioning himself behind the brick pillar with a bow.

Zeke fired his handgun through the gate, behind careful to stay as much behind cover as he could. The slide held open on his final shot and he growled, reaching for a spare magazine.
An arrow embedded itself into the tree he was behind before another arced through the air and pierced a woman's collarbone. She shrieked and convulsed on the ground before falling silent.
"We'll be here all day if we stay like this, move up!" Zeke shouted at his group. They all followed his lead, using the trees as cover to get closer to the school.

Clementine ran from the bench she was behind, keeping low on the way to the next vacant table. She crouched down behind it and looked around frantically for a weapon, her search was cut short by someone jumping over the barrier and onto her. One of the raiders shoved a pistol into her face, she grabbed his wrist and wrenched it away from her. The gun went off, sending pieces of snow into the air and causing Clementine's ears to ring. She gripped his wrist, pushing it as far away from herself as she could.
The man struggled against her grip, they were at a stalemate, until he began kicking her in the ribs. His heavy boots crunched into her side repeatedly. She tried her best to hold on with one hand, trying to use the other to block his kicks. He broke free of her grip and levelled the pistol with her face again.
Something swung into his neck and he tensed up, the pistol fell from his hand into the snow. His eyes were wide with confusion as the fire axe buried in his neck was retracted before being swung down again into the top of his head. He fell to his knees, spraying blood into the snow before the axe was pulled free and his body crumpled to the ground. Minnie stood behind him, axe in hand and gave Clementine a nod before extending a hand to help her up. Clem grabbed the pistol and got back behind cover.
Violet fired at the raiders advancing through the courtyard, the bullet barely missing him. She attempted a follow up shot but the striker fell on an empty chamber with a click. She dumped the gun, instead taking out her kukri. The lackey that had hit her in the face fired his shotgun at her, advancing on her cover. The buckshot embedded itself into the table and Violet kept low to avoid having her head taken off. The lackey rounded the corner of the table and aimed his shotgun.
Before he could fire, a volley of bullets tore through his chest, he coughed up blood and turned to face his assailant. Clementine stood there and fired another shot into his head, his body dropped like a ragdoll, his finger squeezed the trigger letting off a final shot into the ground.
Clem rushed to Violet's side.
"You okay?" She asked, rather pointlessly. It was clear that nobody was okay in this situation.
Violet shrugged.
"I should be asking you that."
She looked at Clementine's crudely wrapped finger, the blood was soaking through the rag already.
"I'll be fine, we need to finish this before I can worry about that." Clem said, catching her looking.
"We should fall back to the admin building, Ruby, Tenn, AJ and Omar are already back there."
Clem nodded.
"Guys, admin building!" She called to Asim, Wily and Minnie.
She readied her pistol and nodded to Violet. Clem didn't have the chance to move before a boot collided with her head, knocking her on her back. Zeke vaulted over the barricade, Violet tried to rush him but was elbowed in the nose. He picked up Clementine's gun and spun around, seeing Violet moving in his peripheral vision. He pointed the gun at her, but was too slow to stop her attack. Violet sliced through his fingers with little resistance, sending them spinning out of control and into the snow, each one leaving a trail of blood. Zeke wailed, clutching his wrist.
"You fucking little-."
Whatever his insult was going to be was lost, Violet swung the kukri with as much strength as she could. The blade slashed Zeke horizontally across the face, cutting through his skull with surprising ease.
An arc of blood followed the blade, splashing into the snow. His wailing was cut short and his body fell flat on the ground. Blood spurted from his head, making a sickening sound akin to water draining from a bath. It stained the snow around him, spreading out in a halo of red.
Violet knelt in front of the corpse, hands shaking. She dropped the weapon and heard a ringing in her ears, every other sound fell away, every sound except the blood spraying from Zeke's mutilated face.
Violet's stomach churned and she doubled over, violently throwing up the remains of her breakfast.
Clem gave her a worried look, she would have comforted her but they were still under attack. That needed to be dealt with first.
She fired the pistol at a raider who attempted to sneak by, killing him with a headshot.
"Come on, Clementine!" Minnie shouted from the door to the admin building.
She went back to Violet, who was struggling to stay standing.
"Vi, Vi look at me. We need to go, come on." Clem took her hand and sprinted up the steps with her. Violet followed her lead, her ears still ringing. Wily joined them, retreating from his position behind the pillar.
Just as he reached the door, he seemed to trip over and landed hard on his shoulder. He let out a scream, clutching his side and Clementine saw the blood rapidly soaking his shirt. She rushed to his side and she and Violet dragged him towards the door.
As they got to the top of the steps, the raider's gunshots stopped for a moment. The silence was broken by a scream before the guns were turned in the opposite direction from the school, Clementine stopped and stared out in confusion.

One of the raiders kneeled beside a tree, he saw two girls running from cover towards the building. He took aim and fired at them, missing each shot. The raider changed his target to the young boy sprinting ahead of them, he fired and saw the boy drop to the ground.
His ears were ringing from the cacophony of gunfire around him, and so he was unable to hear the walker coming up from behind him. It bit into his neck and he screamed, catching the attention of the others.
They turned and saw the herd coming for them, there must have been at least a hundred of them.
They swarmed in, attacking anyone who was unfortunate enough to not have seen them. The raiders fought back, firing their weapons into the groaning crowd of decaying bodies.
Their efforts were in vain, the herd enveloped them. One man was devoured while still standing, his screams turning into laboured gurgles after a short while.
A raider bashed one of the walkers with a pipe, trying to hold his ground. He was grabbed by his colleague and pulled away by the sleeve.
"Fuck this, man. We gotta go!" He shouted over the chaos.
The pipe wielding raider reluctantly joined him in running away.

Clementine saw some walkers break off from the herd and begin moving towards the open gate.
"Fuck, the gate!" She tore across the courtyard to the main entrance.
One walker was already inside, she fired the pistol at it, blowing a chunk of its head off. Clem reached out for the heavy iron gate, pulling it shut and slamming down the deadbolt. The walkers leaned against it, rattling it back and forth in an attempt to get in.
She backed off from the gate, catching her breath. Clem pushed the magazine release on the pistol and examined it. It was empty, there was a singular bullet left in the chamber. She laughed, in spite of everything that had just transpired. All the adrenaline and trying to avoid being shot had diverted her attention away from the pain in her finger. Now that it was over, however, the burning sensation returned.
Everyone was back outside, Ruby was already working on Wily. She spent the next few minutes picking the buckshot out of his back and dabbing a cloth soaked with peroxide onto his wounds. The pellets were spread further apart and didn't penetrate as deep as they would have if the shooter had been closer.
When she was done, Ruby ran to Clementine clutching a first aid kit.
"Clem, come here." She said, flipping a picnic table the right way up.
Clem glanced over at Violet, she had her arms hugged around herself and she was paler than usual. Violet wandered away towards the front of the courtyard, Clementine started in her direction before being stopped by Ruby.
"I need to see to your finger, sit down."
Clem shook her head.
"I need to see if Violet's alright."
"Clementine, don't be an idiot. I need to clean and stitch your finger so you don't get an infection, so sit the fuck down and let me do my job." Ruby frowned.
Clem hadn't seen her angry in a while, she chalked it up to stress and sat down. Ruby cleaned the stump of her finger with saline before going to work on it.
After a while, she was done. Her hand was wrapped in bandages and her the searing pain still emanated from her finger.
Ruby had also seen to the gash above her eye from where she had been kicked in the head which had left a trail of blood trickling down her face.
Clem was finally free to see Violet, she approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Violet flinched and tensed up, she relaxed somewhat when she saw it was Clementine.
"How are you holding up?" Clem asked gently.
Violet shakily breathed in and out. 
"I've never... killed anyone before. I know he was a piece of shit and I shouldn't feel bad, but I do." She choked up, tears welling in her eyes.
Clem pulled her into an embrace, careful not to hurt the stump of her finger.
Violet put her head on Clem's shoulder and began sobbing. Clem stroked her hair in an effort to comfort her, it seemed to work. Violet eventually composed herself and let out a long sigh.
The herd were now pressed up against the gate,  reaching in frantically. Violet and Clementine approached them, Clem drew her knife and got ready to start clearing them off. She noticed something off, the walker at the front middle was the only one not reaching in. It stood there calmly with its hands at its sides, following Clem with its head.
"What the fuck is up with that?" Violet said, wiping her eyes.
Clem's eyes widened.
"James?"
James nodded.