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Just so you know, this story takes place a few months after the events of Season 2, so there WILL be spoilers!
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It had been about four months since the group of three moved away from the gates of Wellington. Since then, Kenny, Clem and AJ had been living in a cosy little cabin; some hunter's winter retreat tucked away in the deep forest, previously accessible by a narrow dirt road that was now mostly overgrown from lack of use. The previous owner had stocked it with cans of baked beans and corn kernels. This, in addition to the supplies given to them by the sentry at Wellington, Edith, and his ransacking of the houses of the nearest town meant that they could settle in one place for a while. They hadn't seen a single other human since claiming the cabin, and few walkers.
Kenny noticed that Clementine seemed more relaxed since they had settled down. She had begun drawing again and laughing more. He was glad to see it. Her childhood had been cut short and she had an adult's eyes now, too hard and knowing in her still-young face. The man was happy about this softening of Clementine, as he hadn't ever seen the now twelve-year-old as happy as she was now.
The bags that Edith had given them had baby formula in it, enough to last AJ a long time. It was also packed with food, medicine, blankets, ammo and some weapons, like machetes and knives. This, along with the cabin's canned food windfall meant that they didn't have to go out to look for supplies often, but when they did, it was to make foraging or hunting trips. Kenny mostly did this, leaving Clementine with AJ. His radius for food-foraging from houses was increasing noticeably now. They would have to do something about that soon, but in the meantime he made sure that his trips away didn't last longer then two days.
One day, after just such a foraging trip, Kenny was in the kitchen putting cans of food into the cabinets. He heard Clementine talking softly to AJ, who couldn't talk back yet, in the living room. He heard the baby laugh or murmured in baby language occasionally, causing him to smile. Two sacks lay on the kitchen bench, the first rapidly depleting as he emptied it. It had been a good haul this time, but there had been walkers upstairs in the house he'd been ransacking and he'd hurried, barely noticing what he shoved into the sack.
"Canned prunes. Ugh. Damned walkers, all their fault. Sorry, Clem," he muttered. "And what's this.., Spam! Two of them. Spaghetti. Another spaghetti. A packet of...ship's biscuit, what the hell is that? Who eats ship's biscuit?"
In spite of his complaints, everything went into the cabinets, and the litany went on.
"More baked beans, well, we ain't gonna get sick of them, are we? Soup. More soup. And...more soup. Pumpkin soup, hah, AJ just scored big time. Next...oh my God, no, I don't believe it. Oh, my God! Canned hot dogs! Hey Clem!" he shouted excitedly. "Look at this! And..."
He pulled out a box. It had a familiar label that seemed to glow in front of his dazzled eye. He shook it, to hear something rattle inside of it. It was still sealed. It was still perfect.
He opened the lid to see that the clear plastic packet inside held a brown powdery substance. He put the lid back down and looked at the box for a use-by date, which he found at the bottom. It had expired a month ago, but he knew nobody believed in that. He looked at the front of the packet again. The image of perfectly frosted vanilla cupcakes in their red paper cradles seemed to be telling him something. He heard soft steps coming towards the kitchen and quickly put the box in the cabinet, just managing to shut the door as Clementine came in.
"Hey Kenny, what's up?" she asked, and he heard the smile in her voice. She was always relieved when he came back safely. Kenny turned around and grinned at her.
"We struck gold! Look at this," he answered as he thumped the can of hot dogs down on the counter before her.
Clem's eyes lit up. "Are we having that for dinner tonight?" she asked, although both of them already knew the answer to that. Enjoy your best now, because you may be dead tomorrow.
"You bet. How's AJ?"
"He's good," Clem shrugged. "I was trying to teach him a game but he got bored and crawled away."
The man chuckled for a few moments. "What game were you tryin' to teach him?"
"Peekaboo. I was trying to get him to copy me. It was actually funny," Clementine explained.
Kenny smiled and chuckled a bit more, although he ducked his head slightly so she wouldn't see the memories of another little boy in his face. He had played that game with Duck. It was natural that raising AJ would bring past experiences with his son to mind, but he had learned that there wasn't any time to grieve in a world like this.
"So, do you need anything?" he asked, after a small pause.
"No, I came because you called," she reminded him. "Also, I just wanted to check on you."
"Check on me?" Kenny faked being astonished for a moment. "I thought I was the one takin' care of you?" The two smiled at each other.
"You were pretty quiet the last few days before this latest trip, Kenny," the kid stated as her gaze turned serious.
"Don't worry about me, Darlin'. I've just been a bit tired lately is all."
"If you want to go take a nap or something, I'll put away everything else," she said, shrugging as if it were no trouble.
"Thanks hon, but I'll be good."
Clem nodded and opened her mouth as if she was about to say something else, but she heard a certain baby start to fuss in the other room.
"He's probably bored again." Clementine rolled her eyes before she turned and went into the other room. Through the door that led to the living room, he heard Clementine saying things like, "Hey goofball, are you bored again?" and, "No! Don't eat that!"
After a minute, the crying stopped. Kenny opened the cupboard and grabbed the box again, staring at it with his single eye for all he was worth. An idea popped into his head.
He could make the cupcakes for Clementine.
He remembered a few months ago that the girl brought up the subject of cupcakes, and they got into a heated debate about which flavour was better. She ended up winning, but only because he wanted the girl to get some sleep and at the rate they were going, she would've been up all night. But Kenny could tell how much she missed cupcakes.
Sure, he wasn't the best cook, especially in times like these, but if anyone deserved a cupcake, she did. He turned the box over and read the instructions. It seemed pretty simple. All he needed was eggs and milk.
He looked up, his gaze unfocussing. While still on the road with Clem and AJ, he'd met a small group of survivors that lived about halfway back to Wellington, about two days' leisurely walk from here. They'd kept a few pigs and sheep, hens, and a milk cow. They were doing well in these times, but they weren't the nicest or most honourable people in the world. He'd left Clem and AJ in the forest while he tried to trade a can of beans for some milk for the baby. They'd simply taken the can and left him with nothing in return but bruises.
Man, that still stung. Yeah, they still owed him a cup of milk, at least.
And he would take some eggs for interest.
He remembered exactly where their farm was. He would have to extend the time limit, as the best he could do, if he moved fast, would be to get there and back within three days.
It would be risky, but he would do it for Clem
Next chapter will be out soon! Please leave a review if you enjoyed it, I love to read them!
See ya next chapter!
