3rd Pov.
After a minute Troy and Bonnie comes back with the items that Carver as well as Madison had sent them to retrieve. Troy has the deep metal bucket on a pushing cart and Bonnie is carrying some metal branding iron on it. The brand is in the shape of a skull with crossbones sticking to the side.
Carver: Good, you're back. We can get started.
Madison looks at Y/n and smiles.
Madison: Unless you want to get your clothes wet, you'd better strip down~
Y/n sighs and starts to take off his clothes as the others watch. Molly is about to cry, Kenny is fuming with rage, and all Carley can do is hold Clem close to her. Y/n takes off his orange hat, followed by his necklace and walks over to Clementine.
Y/n: Hold these for me.
Clementine takes them but looks at him.
Clementine: Please...don't do this. You could die.
Y/n: I'll be fine, don't worry.
He walks back over to where he was and takes off his shoes, socks, tank top, and finally his shorts until finally he's in his boxers. All things considered he didn't really care much about people looking at him. Carver looks at the rest of the people in the yard.
Carver: Let this be a lesson to all of you. Anyone who breaks the rules will be punished regardless of age or sex.
Madison: Step into the bucket.
Y/n walks over to the bucket and as he does, Madison turns to Bonnie while holding out her hand. Bonnie hands her the branding iron and on the cart, behind the bucket, there's a mini blowtorch. She takes it and starts to heat up the iron brand as Y/n steps into the water which, of...course....is cold. He gets fully inside the bucket and as soon as his other leg steps in, that bucket is so deep it goes up to his waist.
Y/n: (Mind) Shit... This... I forgot how much this sucks.
Y/n loses the energy to stand and immediately falls down a little, having to use the sides of the bucket to prop himself up. Carver looks at Madison and nods to branding iron, and she nods to him.
Madison: It's ready.
Carver: (Nods) Alright.
He looks toward the others.
Carver: This is what happens when you break the rules here. Without rules you can't have order. Remember, I don't want to do this. But he left me no choice.
Y/n turns his head and looks back at Madison who's holding the bright orange branding iron.
Y/n: (Mind) Fuck me, this is going to hurt.
He looks ahead of him towards Clem and mouths to her.
Y/n: Look away.
Clementine shakily pulls Y/n's hat up toward her face to cover it. And just as she does, Madison appears behind him while raising the brand up high. She notices Y/n looking back at him and a small grin appears on her face.
Madison: Oh, don't worry about this... It's just going to hurt a lot!
Without saying anything else, she swings down and shoves the hot metal onto his back at he screams out in pain while holding onto the sides of the metal bucket. She presses down onto that branding iron so hard it goes deep as crackles and pops can be heard from the metal. The hissing of the metal and the blood. Bonnie turns her head to not while Carley covers her mouth and Molly looks away.
Kenny: (Whispers) Motherfuckers...
Clementine moves the hat away from her face as she hears his scream and she looks at Madison.
Clementine: Stop you're killing him!
Madison keeps pressing down on the hot metal and shoving it deeper into his skin until Bonnie finally says something.
Bonnie: Madison that's enough! There's a breach!
Carver looks at Madison.
Carver: Alright. That's enough.
Madison sighs and pulls away the branding iron from his back as flesh pulls away, hanging off of the hot metal. Upon seeing it, Clementine goes behind the group and throws up into a bucket of dirt as Carley went to pat her back. Carver looks at Madison and points to Y/n who's still holding onto the sides of the bucket.
Carver: Get him out.
Madison grabs Y/n and throws him onto the floor as Kenny and Molly yell at her.
Kenny: Hey!
Molly: You bitch!
Madison jumps down from where she was.
Carver: Alright, everyone come with me. Bonnie, you stick around. Make sure these folks don't get into any more trouble.
Bonnie: Yeah, okay.
Carver: No supper for y'all tonight. Maybe an empty stomach will give you some perspective, then we'll try this again tomorrow.
Carley and Clementine finally join them again. Clem sees Y/n lying on the floor, having passed out due to being weakened from the water and on top of that getting the branding on his back. She's the first to run to him and kneels down beside him, still holding his stuff as Carver leaves. The group see Clementine placing Y/n's head on her lap crying profusely over him. Bonnie looks at them.
Bonnie: Do your best with him, Carlos. You need to get him able to move, 'cause we're leaving tonight. We're leaving tonight.
Bonnie leaves the room and the others quickly gather around. Carlos looks at him and then to Molly.
Carlos: Pick him up, bring him to one of the cots. I need to clean him up. If his wound gets infected it could kill him.
Molly walks over to Clementine and looks at her. Clem looks up at her having already overheard what they said and she allows Molly to take Y/n over to the bed. Carley gathers his clothes & she folds them up before sitting them by the bed. They all want to check in on him, but Carlos needs time to work alone. So they're all made to go back by the fire while they begin to work on a plan. The entire time Clem can't do anything except for hold onto his hat and necklace while silently blaming herself for this predicament.
Clementine: (Mind) I-I should've given him the radio. It should've been me.
YOU ARE READING
The Walking Dead: Emperor of Flames
Action(I DON'T OWN THE WALKING DEAD, THE WALKING DEAD GAME, OR ANY CHARACTER, SONG, VIDEO, ART, ETC. THAT MAY BE USED IN THE STORY. THEY ALL BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.) Clementine & Violet x Male The Character won't be OP, at least not too Op, I p...
