March 11, 2025 - 2:25 PM

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## Abandoned Apartment in Pittsburgh

**Ledge [Narrator]**

[After narrowly escaping the clutches of who they assumed to be bandits while trying to cross the bridge, a horrifying realisation begrudged Lee and Clementine as they found out that the town of Pittsburg was occupied… and not by anyone remotely friendly. Clementine in a panic had shot and killed one of the said bandits, as the rest fired back they were forced to flee, barricading themselves up into a remote old apartment to stay hidden from the people that were undoubtedly searching for them by now. Although he had known her for so long, with every year that passed Lee often worried for her and her erratic behaviour that was starting to form as she entered her teen years.]

**Art [Clementine]**

Clementine's breath came out in small spurts, her body running on pure adrenaline as Lee tugged her down the street by her left arm. Everything happened in what felt like a split-second, a moment guided entirely by decisions and careless judgments made in the heat of said moment. She sprinted alongside Lee without looking back, hearing the harsh sound of shouting and gunfire following them like a shadow. The only thing going through her mind was the where the next alley or doorway was, her eyes widened in fear. They had to find somewhere to hide, they *had* to.

Once the gunfire ceased, and the yelling faded into the dense cityscape behind them, they stopped running, slowing down to catch their breath. Her feet burned with the strain, and her face was flushed red while she tried to breathe, only receiving short gasps, verging on hyperventilation. For a moment, all she could do was lean against the side of a brick building, listening to the sound of Lee's and her erratic breathing.

"L - Lee…?" She called out, stuttering, the words nearly lost in her throat amidst her heavy panting. Lee, however, not unlike the dozens of other times since the day she'd met him, was already one step ahead, trying to force open the front door of an abandoned apartment. It took several kicks, giving her the necessary time to get her breathing under some semblance of control before the wooden door finally gave in. Lee ushered her inside, and she did so with little to no hesitation, closing the broken door behind her.

The interior wasn't much to write home about, between old, dust-covered furniture and a decaying structure. She wouldn't be surprised if the whole building collapsed on top of them at any moment, but that little factoid hardly mattered, not when they were so close to the fire already.

Clementine's gaze was focused on Lee, and never wavered, as the older man searched the house in a rushed manner. Her eyes fell to the floor for a single instant as she helplessly struggled to think of what to say to him. Was there anything she could? It was all her fault. He knew it, she knew it, and there was no denying it this time. She fucked up. Words failed her as she choked on them, taking in a deep breath before closing her eyes. *I'm sorry.*

Finally, she managed to force the mental blockage out of the way, calling out Lee's name again, continuing to stand near the door they'd entered through. She waited silently, almost praying for Lee to answer her calling.

**Ledge [Lee Everett]**

With his heart pounding and his mind running a million miles a minute, he closed the door behind them without haste. Lee began to slide an old couch immediately after to use as a barricade for the door, making sure that if anyone planned to follow them, they’d have to get through that first.

He gave one final definitive grunt as he pushed the old furniture against the door, pausing with heavy breath for a moment, hoping to catch it and recompose himself. His hands stayed in place on the couch as he leaned on it, sighing as he closed his eyes and arched his head in the direction of the floor, avoiding eye contact with Clem.

The only thoughts he could muster were something along the lines of ‘*how did that go so wrong?*’ Everything happened so fast. Those men had practically shown up out of nowhere, and once they’d caught on that they intended to rob them… Clem didn’t hesitate in firing back, ultimately giving them a window to escape. Perhaps it was panic, or instinct... but it could’ve gone a lot worse, or a lot better. It didn’t matter now. They were both still here, alive.

Whatever group those people were a part of, they clearly weren’t friendly. This whole town was dangerous. *Maybe passing through here wasn’t the best idea after all.*

After taking a few seconds to catch his breath he let go of the furniture, confident it would hold against the door, he heard a soft voice call out to him, picking up a tinge of guilt in her tone as he tilted his head towards her, offering her a reassuring glance.

“You okay Clem?” *That wasn’t your fault.* “We’re fine. They’re not gonna follow us through here, that’s for sure,” he spoke reassuringly in an attempt to brighten the mood, somewhat, but these days that proved difficult with the teen.

**Art [Clementine]**

Clementine answered Lee’s question with a slight, quiet nod while helping him push the old couch against the door. She wasn’t okay in the least, but just as Lee said, they were fine… or so it seemed. After a few short seconds of silence went by, neither of them failed to notice Clem’s right arm, and how its sleeve had been noticeably soaked in blood right above her forearm. A bullet graze, easily identified by a sharp, messy cut in her shirt and skin respectively, yet despite its small size, it bled enough to become apparent even at a distance. Clementine covered the dripping wound with her left hand as soon as she noticed it, trying to hide it from Lee despite knowing for sure he saw it before she could. “It’s okay, it’s - I didn’t even feel it…!” Clementine assured him, sounding almost panicked while attempting to conceal it. “They just grazed me. That’s it.”

The girl’s gaze fell in a mixture of shame and embarrassment, fully aware that the entire thing was her fault. The grip on her right arm gradually softened, much like her expression. “He looked like he was reaching for a gun. I thought…” she tried to explain, her voice shaky. She clenched her eyes shut as words once again failed her, trying desperately to muster the strength to say anything else. They never came.

**Ledge [Lee Everett]**

“Hey, it’s okay… No use running all of those what-if scenarios through your head. You did what you thought was right. We don’t get to know what *could’ve* happened. That’s just not how it works. All that matters is that we’re both okay, and together.” He placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to relieve any guilt she may have been feeling from earlier.

He glanced down at her arm, examining the blood that was seeping through. “Now… let’s take a look at that arm you were trying to hide from me.” He knelt down, taking her forearm into his hand as he rolled up her sleeve. He glanced at it, relief evident on his face. “Lucky for us, it *is* just a graze, easily fixable.” He untangled his backpack from his shoulders, letting it plop to the ground, digging around until he pulled out some disinfectant to clean the wound. He grabbed a clean rag and dipped it, also applying it to the arm with slight pressure to stop the bleeding. Once it had stopped, he began to wrap it.

*Reminds me of that time back in my parents’ drugstore, when her finger was hurt… except now she’s a lot bigger… Time just really gets ahead of you.* He pondered with a slight smirk as he began to wrap her arm, finishing the process.

He then met her gaze, remaining on one knee. “We’ll find a way out of this town, I promise you.” It was a given that the bridge was their only way out of the town and the only way to where the supposed Fireflies were situated. They’d have to improvise, bide their time and come up with a plan on how they were going to get past the guards.

**Art [Clementine]**

Clementine endured the harsh sting stemming from her wound valiantly, simply looking the other way with a pout. The girl had long since gotten used to it, to that kind lifestyle… to that kind of pain. Yet even so, for Clementine not a day passed in which she didn’t miss her parents, and the farm she used to live on as a small kid. That craving only ever fueled her desire to meet the Fireflies, to finally be able to live peacefully again with Lee by her side.

“I know we will,” Clementine responded fearlessly. A scratch like that wouldn’t be enough to stop her. Some days, her devotion was strong enough for it to often seem like nothing could.

She walked past Lee almost as soon as he was done patching her up, way too quick to even bother lowering her sleeve once more, the thought of thanking him simply slipping her mind. The girl went straight to the window to her right, leaning on the glass as she scanned through the barren streets of Pittsburgh, seeing nothing but broken-down cars, decaying buildings and utterly desolate streets.

“I don’t see them, but I bet they’re close,” she said, refusing to drop her guard. Backing away from the window, Clementine sat opposed to it, taking off her backpack and placing it on the dusty wooden floor to grab a candy bar from its interior. “We should figure out a plan,” she told him decisively while gleefully munching on the sweet. ‘*Staying here for the night is trouble for sure*’ was the girl’s only thought, lost in the scenery as her eyes were naturally drawn to the window.

**Ledge [Lee Everett]**

She was just as determined as he was to get out of here, which was a good sign. With the door barricaded, they were at the point where there wasn’t any other choice but to navigate through the dingy and dark apartments to try and get back down to the bottom level and the streets. They’re going to have to find a safe place to hunker down and make a plan, and soon.

He zipped up his backpack and placed it back over his shoulders, chancing a glance out of the window to observe the lushly green overgrown streets. It was almost beautiful, if you took out the part about humanity falling. Almost felt like they were free. Being cramped up in a FEDRA safe zone, it was easy to forget what they were protecting the citizens from… until you left the zone and remembered what was truly out here.

He took a moment to gather his thoughts, focusing his attention on Clementine now. “Alright, a plan… I’m thinking we-”

At that moment, Lee’s head jolted to the dingy and dark hallway. A disturbing sound unlike anything he had ever heard echoed through the apartment halls. With a very worried gaze he outstretched his hand towards Clem, signaling her to stay back and be silent.

**Art [Clementine]**

Clementine’s gaze rapidly moved away from the window opposed to her, staring incessantly at the dark hallway located in the corner of the apartment building. It echoed, as though piercing her ears, this very much sudden and equally disturbing sound…

It sounded like someone, or something, choking in agony. Clem didn’t know how to react, or what to say even, and Lee’s gesture made sure that she didn’t have the chance to. ‘*Is it… a walker?*’ the girl wondered, complying to Lee’s instructions for the time being, but not without unsheathing her knife in watchfulness.

**Ledge [Lee Everett]**

Lee stood, his hand still outstretched and his body frozen stiff as he waited to see what would come of the sound.

*What the fuck could that be? Doesn’t sound like anything I’ve ever heard.*

It wasn’t long before he could hear it getting closer. He deemed it would be best to let it come to them instead of venturing deeper into the dingy halls. What he expected to see was a walker enter the room, which they would dispatch easily enough, but what he emerged horrified him more than he cared to admit.

*Holy fucking shit...*

Lee’s eyes widened in fear as a grotesque creature stood at the doorway. What looked to be some sort of fungus was coming out of its head, and its jerky movements were unlike any walker he’d ever seen. In fact, he’d seen *nothing* like it before. He’d heard rumors back in the safe zone of a different strain, but there was never any evidence of it. Walkers infested entire states surrounding the zone, and nothing else.

This thing was making some sort of clicking sound, which made Lee’s body tense up immediately, expecting it to attack. It stayed still, though, croaking. Whatever it was, it couldn’t see them.

Lee took a single step back.

**Ledge [Narrator]**

The Clicker stood at the doorway as it emitted a croaking sound, scanning the area for any potential prey. When it sensed a noise, a familiar sound of what it assumed to be the footstep of a survivor, it immediately growled, lunging forward with its arms flailing as it screeched.

**Ledge [Lee Everett]**

“Oh fuck- Oh!” Lee cried out as the grotesque creature charged towards him. With almost no time to react, it had already grabbed him. He fought against it, but it was strong, a lot stronger and more aggressive than any walker he had dealt with. That sheer strength had caught him off guard, causing him to lose his footing as he tripped, the gruesome thing falling on top of him as it gnashed its teeth. “Jesus!” He yelled out in an almost panicked state.

**Art [Clementine]**

“Oh shit,” Clementine muttered, just as frozen as Lee was, and somehow even more terrified. That thing charged out of the hallway before either of them could react, pouncing on Lee with a blaring and horrific screech. Clem couldn’t even think, giving into her most dominant impulse and rushing as fast as she could towards Lee and the disgusting creature trying to rip him apart, panic and adrenaline crushing her so profoundly that she struggled not to fall over whilst standing up from beside the window.

The creature moved his jaw madly, desperately trying to tear Lee’s face with his teeth. Clementine gripped the handle of her knife with both hands, focusing every ounce of her strength towards burying it in the creature’s skull. The knife went straight through its temple, a gush of blood flowing from its head and covering everything in its immediate surroundings. Clementine didn’t stop, nearly unable to in a fit of rage, kicking its dead corpse away from Lee and stabbing it in the head again, again, again and again, until it was dead for good… until *she knew for sure* that it was dead for good. By then, it looked as though no part of Clementine’s body remained not stained in blood. The girl laid breathless on top of the creature’s dead corpse.

**Ledge [Lee Everett]**

It all happened in a blur. Before he knew it, it was over. Clementine had killed… whatever *it* was. He sat up, more shocked at how brutal she had been at taking down that thing rather than the corpse itself. It took him a moment to catch his breath as he sat up, his body still shaking from the panic as his heart wouldn’t stop racing from that encounter.

Without haste, he crawled to his feet and made his way over to Clem, quickly ushering her off the dead corpse while keeping an eye on the hallway. Though it seemed quiet, he didn’t want to speak yet, just in case. “That was… I don’t even know what that thing was,” he admitted in a hushed tone, his tone still harboring slight shock as he stared at the dead corpse, turning his attention to Clem. “You alright?”

**Art [Clementine]**

Clearing away the blood from her face, Clementine falteringly stood up, immensely grateful for making it in time as she leaned against the wall with a sigh. “I don’t – I don’t know either,” the girl conceded, moving the thick, untidy hair slipping out of her baseball cap away from her face. As for Lee’s question, the girl didn’t bother answering, shrugging her shoulders before sliding down the wall into a sitting position. The blood from the Clicker was particularly rancid, running down her face all the way to the sole of her boots and causing her muscles to stiffen in discomfort. *Gross…*

Lee himself looked fine, which brought her a sense of relief unlike any other. Clem shuffled over to where her backpack was, picking up a tiny piece of cloth along with a bottle of water in order to clean herself the best she could. “I’m alright…” she finally told him with a soft smile, putting the cloth back in its place once it did the extent of what it was able to do when paired up with a chunk of clean water. She still smelled really bad, her clothes and hair in particular, resulting in a sullen, dreary look. There was however very little that the girl could do about it aside from frowning and moving on, which is exactly what she did.

Her eyes were fixed on the Clicker’s corpse, never before having seen anything quite like it. By the time the adrenaline wore off, all that lingered was the feeling of dread and unease in the air, as well as the strong stench of death. “We shouldn’t wait here long,” she quietly reminded Lee while keeping her head down, hoping he’d come up with some sort of plan.

Lee always did.

**Ledge [Lee Everett]**

“As soon as we get out of this place, we’ll figure out a plan... and get you some new clothes,” he spoke as he eyed off her bloody attire that has been caused by that... *thing*. In all of the eight years he had spent in the safe zone, walkers were the only thing he had the displeasure of coming across or seeing. This was the same case in the last 4 or so years on the road. They knew walkers inside and out... but not whatever *these* things were. Those rumors came to mind when looking at the creature, talks about that different strain affected places further out west, and he deemed these things must have been what the soldiers were talking about. He couldn’t lie to himself… they had exceeded his expectations as to how terrifying they were said to be.

“Let’s scoot. You know the gig. Take it slow and watch your blind spots when we’re going down here,” he spoke as he past her, heading for the hall as he pulled out a small flashlight, shining it down the corridor. He couldn’t hear anything, but if these things were anything like walkers, he knew they could still be hiding around every corner of this place. As they made their way through the complex, they took care to check the blind spots of the building while they made their way through. As they reached the bottom level, Lee approached the window leading out towards the streets, peeking out of it to examine both sides of the road. After giving Clem a nod signaling the all clear, he vaulted over the window, waiting for Clem to follow along before pointing out a specific building where they would be able to get their bearings and make a plan.

As they hurried along, approaching the new building, Lee used a tactic he usually did on walkers: knocking a few times on the door to see if anything would be attracted, and after no response, he entered. After perusing the place, it seemed clear and relatively safe. He made sure nothing would be able to get in by barring the door.

“Alright…” Lee sighed as he took off his backpack, sprawling out a map he had on a vacant desk. “We’re not alone in this city, that much is clear enough. There’s a lot of them guarding that bridge. What I’m thinking is maybe we could take the backstreets to an apartment overlooking the bridge... around here,” he spoke as he pointed to the area on the map.

“We can observe their shifts. What times of the day they’re guarding it. Early hours of the morning, there’s bound to be less of them there… could be our chance to sneak right past. What do you think Clem?”

**Art [Clementine]**

Clementine followed the same steps as before, pushing an old couch against the front door and turning her flashlight on once inside the dark building, helping Lee clear the place of any possible threats while being careful not to trip over anything. Once Lee sprawled the map on the desk by the living room, Clem aimed the flashlight towards the map, analyzing every street corner in order to single out the very best route to the bridge. *Got it.* Clem slid her finger across the map, poking its edge right across the fifth avenue. “There’s a coffee shop *thing* right around here, next to the university... *star* something. I saw it on the way to the bridge. We can get a good view from there, I’m sure of it.”

**Ledge [Lee Everett]**

“One of the old Starbucks stores. Good idea. From there, we should be able to see what we’re up against and plan accordingly.”

*After all this time… still can’t stay away from coffee, can I?* Back when he was teaching at UGA that was about the only thing keeping him running sometimes.

He rolled up the map on the desk, placing it into his backpack, nodding reassuringly. “Sounds like it’s a deal then, Starbucks it is.”

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