Re upload of my original story. A few weeks ago when I came up with the story I had VERY different plans, but ultimately decided against it. This left me with a very, very inconsistent first chapter that I neglected to change. So here is the official upload, the way I want it to be. I urge you to read and review. :)

Clementine awoke as she usually did, the sun hitting her eyes through the tattered curtains. "AJ?" she said almost immediately. Despite the fortified walls and trustworthy people at Ericsons, Clementine was still paranoid about AJ and his safety. When she opened her eyes, she saw him sleeping peacefully on his bed just across the room. He had earned that rest having just been through a full fledged war against Lilly and her Delta group. Clementine smiled as she watched the boy sleep. She made her way to AJ's bed and sat down, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hey buddy."

AJ immediately sat up, breathing heavily. "C-Clem?"

"Hey. It's okay." She pulled him into a hug as she rubbed his head. "Another nightmare?"

"Yes... It was about a monster."

Clementine almost smiled, but rejected the urge. After all, this was AJ, the boy she swore to protect and care for no matter what. However the thought of walkers being a threat was very far off from reality. Ever since Lilly's defeat one week ago, the walkers have hardly even been an inconvenience. "It's okay, goofball. If Lilly and her group couldn't get us, then the walkers don't stand a chance."

AJ pulled away from Clementines hug and shook his head. "It wasn't a walker."

"Then... What was it."

"I don't know. It was wearing all black and moved like a person."

"Was it one of the Delta members?"

AJ shrugged. "Maybe. Were any of the Delta members wearing all black?"

"Hmm." Clementine thought for a moment. She didn't recall anyone like that during the raid, but it all happened so fast that she may have missed a few details. "There may have been, I don't remember."

"Oh... ok."

"Aj... what is it?"

AJ exhaled deeply and glared at floor slightly turning his head from Clem. "I'm getting older, Clementine."

"I know." the girl smiled and patted his shoulder. "You're the strongest boy I know."

He stood and began to pace back and forth. "I don't want you to die Clem!"

Clementine noticed the tears streaming down AJ's cheeks. "Hey." she knelt down next to him and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. "I'm not going anywhere, buddy." Seeing AJ upset always hit a tender chord inside of her that brought about the emotion still left inside of her. Despite her best effort to stay strong, her stomach turned and tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

He hugged her back and nearly collapsed into her arms. "The monster in my dream killed you."

"People have bad dreams all the time. It's totally normal."

"But it felt so real. We were in the woods alone and it came out from behind a tree while we were walking and hit you with some kind of long stick thing made of metal."

Clementine chuckled through sniffles. "That's quite the weapon. But don't worry, we have guns. Nobody is going to hurt you, or me. Plus the woods are safe, James made sure of that."

"I don't wanna lose you Clem."

Her heart shattered, that was the same thing she said to Lee while they were in the back of that RV all those years ago. The memories began flowing back through Clementines head. She sobbed quietly. "I- I promise I won't. I love you, AJ."

"Love you back."

Within moments of being outside, AJ ran off to talk to Tenn at the picnic table. He was playing with the firefighter that he had previously attempted to give to AJ.

Clementine noticed Louis chatting with Violet, who seemed as annoyed as always whilst around Louis.

"Ah! The gal of the hour." Louis smiled.

"Ohhh god." was all Violet said. Her and Louis' bickering was secretly one of Clementines favorite thing to listen to. It surprisingly reminded her of innocence, kind of inthe same way kids at school would be before the outbreak happened. "Give her break from the cringy phrases, Louis."

"You pronounce 'respectful' differently than I do."

"I... I really fucking hate when you do that."

"It's a gift."

Clementine put a hand on Violets shoulder and gave her a pleasant smile. "Morning, Vi." After Lilly's defeat, Violet and Clem had become much closer as friends. They would spend about an hour every night searching for constellations on the roof.

"Hey. I heard you had some big plan you wanted to tell the group about."

Clementine glanced at Louis, who had a guilty look on his face. "You told her?"

"In my defense, she was gonna find out anyways."

Clementine rolled her eyes. "Yes, I want to go through with plan B." Plan B was a name given by Aasim regarding the action.

"Plan B? Uh, Clem. That's really dangerous, you know."

"I know, I know. But think about it, this may be our only chance to really live a peaceful life without any worries."

"Like how the world used to be." Louis chimed in.

Vi kicked at the dirt beneath her. Of course, living a normal life was impossible now a days, but the thought of creating something similar was inspiring, but also scary. Growing up in this sort of world, Violet grew to not get involved with other people. Having a full fledged community might change that. "I don't know, Clem. I think going through with plan B may be a bit unnecessary."

"Vi, we hardly have enough food to last us a few weeks. The greenhouse won't work properly when winter rolls around so we can kiss that goodbye too."

"What are you saying, Clem?"

"We need more people. More like minded survivors that'll help us grow."

"So you wanna just get on that radio and broadcast our location to everyone, then?"

"Plan B" Clementine confirmed. It sounded ridiculous when she said it out loud. "It's a risk, I know. But it may be the only chance to keep this place afloat."

Louis scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Uh... Clem? If we are running out of food then why would bringing more people here help us?"

"More hunters, more gatherers, more supply runners. Sure it'll be more mouths to feed but as long as everyone pulls their weight then we will be okay."

"That's a lot of trust to put into strangers." Violet said dully.

"You guys trusted AJ and I."

Louis and Violet seemed to silently agree to themselves. "Okay." Vi nodded. "But if we're really going to do this, we have to follow some rules."

"Fire away." Clementine leaned against one of the wooden barricades they used during Lilly's raid. It even had a few bullet holes on its surface.

"First of all, we don't tell them our location, we'll just simply state that we are searching for survivors, and we will direct anyone listening to the town just north of here, tell them to wait at the capitol building."

"Then how're they gonna know where to go? And how will we ever know if they are friendly or not." Louis asked. Clementine tilted her head at Violet, silently seconding his question.

"That's where it gets dicey. We'll have to have our own people make the trip to the capitol building everyday to check for anyone who heard the broadcast."

"What if the strangers aren't friendly? We can't just send our people into danger like that."

"They'll have to be sneaky. We can probably secure some sort of lookout near the spot for our people to use before coming into contact with the strangers."

Clementine rasped her lips. The situation was certainly stressful, but she was doing it for AJ, and for all of Ericson. "How far will the broadcast reach?"

Violet shrugged. "Aasim said it could broadcast a couple hundred miles from here."

"Wow. That's a far distance for some radio we found in a market. The whole world is gonna know who we are."

"That's what you want, right?"

"I- I think so..."

"Alright... I trust you on this, Clem. I'll let the others know and we'll start the broadcasting tonight at eight." Violet turned and began walking towards the front doors of the school.

Louis kept a neutral face as he leaned against the barricade next to Clementine. "How do you feel?"

"I'm not sure. Part of me is hopeful, but at the same time I feel like I'm putting AJ and everyone else here in danger."

"Well I mean... you kind of are."

Clementine rolled her eyes. "Thanks." she said confidently.

"No no no. i meant as like a bad ass kind of way, you know."

"Bad ass?"

"Yeah, like the fearless leader who charges headfirst into a fight against her enemies."

"Only except I'm leading the enemy to us."

"Not necessarily. Violets plan made sense. We just have to wait and see how it'll all play out."

Clementine allowed the silence to take over for moment just as the sun was covered by an overcasting cloud. "You'll support me no matter what, right?"

Louis looked deep into her eyes. "Of course I will, Clem. I got your back, always."

Without speaking, Clementine smiled and hugged his side. The boy wrapped one of his arms around her and rested his cheek against he head. "Always."

210 miles away, south Virginia.

10/24/2016

Hi

"No that's lame." A young boy said to himself, trying to find the proper way to start his first journal entry. "Hmm... how about this.."

Greetings.

"Okay that's worse"

If you found this journal, then I am dead. Congrats!

"No... wait, what the fuck is wrong with me?"

You must have killed me and stolen my journal. Asshole.

"You know what... Screw it."

My name's Kace, and I found this journal in some trunk of a car I'm sleeping in. It may sound desperate, but that's because it is. I suppose I'll leave little cliff notes in here just in case anyone finds this on my corpse. I find it's nice to know who the person once was after you killed their walker, I guess it just makes them seem more human... Anyways, I was nine when the infection first hit. Despite my young age, I had people who looked after me and taught me about survival as I'm sure many kids have. Truth is I'm currently at a loss of purpose. I have no destination, no one to care for, and no one to care for me. As bad as it sounds, I could die right now and no one would ever notice. I was always kind of a loner so I'm not too terribly bitter about this, but it would be nice to have a place I could call home surrounded by people I could call friends.

"Ok this is getting fairly depressing... I gotta change the topic."

Well, in two days it'll finally be official; One whole year without another person by my side. I think I'm upset, but more or less I think I've become numb to the feeling. I suppose I have my Shepard, Kaiso to thank for that. I found him just three days ago... and let's just say he's an asshole. He refuses to trust me and wanders off most of the time to do his own thing. I swear at this point I'm fairly sure he's just hanging around me because I have food. Oh well. Time to start the day.

Kace kicked the trunk door open and immediately felt the rain his his face. It was another sleepless day. "Ugh... Ok mother nature... fuck me, right?" he climbed out, Kaiso following right behind. "You know, Kaiso... At this point I'd be stunned if you would just look at me." the dog, as usual, ignored the boy and began walking south down the highway. Kace had no choice but to follow, after all, Kaiso was the only friend he had ever had. "Atlanta..." The boy said to himself. He was totally lost with no way to find out where he was. "What do you think, bud? should we go to the city or continue down the highway?"

For a moment, it almost seemed like Kaiso considered the two options before skipping out on the street that would have led them to Atlanta. "Hm. Smart choice. Cities are too dangerous... but I'm sure you already know that." The two walked seemingly forever through a mess of vacant cars and over bridges spanning across deep, forested valleys. "Do you think there's anyone else out there? Like anyone friendly? Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever find someone I can call a friend again. Don't get me wrong, you're cool... but you're kinda a dick."

Kaiso let out a huff, probably annoyed at his companions talking.

"It kind of sucks to think about though, you know? Just knowing that somewhere, somehow, there's a community of people living peaceful lives. I mean even right now they are probably making new friends, playing games, maybe even watching TV. People like me aren't cared for... people like me don't ever get thought about." He grew sadder the more he talked. His caretaker, Nathan, always tried to get the young boy out of his shell, but it never worked. While most kids at St. Simons were out playing with their friends or exploring the island, Kace was inside practicing with his bo staff or studying about survival. This led to an abnormal fear of others. Now a days Kace would do anything just to see a friendly face, maybe even one his age. The chances of this happening, however, were slim to none, and he knew this. "Whoa now, Kaiso. Walker." Kace noticed a flailing walker strapped the driver seat of a worn down red car. "He looks clean... Probably hasn't been long since he turned." The walker had a gun shot wound in his shoulder, followed by extensive bleeding. "Died slow... poor guy." Kace reached behind him and pulled his metal bo staff from its makeshift holster that the boy made. The window of the driver side door was open, making this an easy kill. "Sorry, brother." With a quick jab forward, the staff pierced through the walkers skull, killing it instantly. It slumped down into its seat and lied there lifeless.

Kaiso sniffed the driver door intuitively. "You find something, little dude?" Kace peered in and noticed that the keys were still in the ignition. "No fucking way..." the door opened with a loud creak, and Kace pulled the body from the seat. It left a nasty blood stain on the cloth seat, but Kace got in regardless. Kaiso jumped over him and took his place in the passenger seat. "Oh, so we're just friends now?" Kace asked with a sarcastic look. A expected, Kaiso growled and lifted one of his paws out from under him. "Oh shut up, you ass hat." Kace turned the keys over to start the car, and to his shock, the engine sparked, and eventually turned over. "Wow..." The radio played a steady static, but the boy was too memorized to care. He had only ever been in a running car twice in his life. he only knew about them through books and magazines he read. The fuel gauge indicated that there was little to no gas left. "Damn... looks like we're not driving after all, bud. Plus I'm no expert driver."

Just then, Kace noticed something through the rear view mirror. In the tree line behind a car there was a man kneeling down behind a tree, watching the young boy. "Ohhhh fuck." the man wore a long black jacket and a black beanie. What set off Kace the most, however, were the face piercings he had all over his face. "It's one of those dudes from the town." Just as he thought this, he saw two more emerge from the darkness of the treeline. "Kaiso, we gotta run. You ready?"

The radio suddenly got quieter, and a voice came over the frequency.

Hello? I hope this is working. My name is Aasim. I am part of a community nearby. I am broadcasting this message because we are in dire need of help. I won't go into any detail. If you are friendly, and you need a home, find your way to the capitol building in Newport, Virginia and wait.

Kace hardly had any time to comprehend the message before the car door swung open, revealing the three men watching the boy. One of them grabbed him and threw him out of the car. "Ah! Fucker!" he fell to his back and got his first good look of the three men. They all had piercings covering their face. "The hell?" the man with the black coat said. "How old're you kid?" his voice was deep and very scrathcy.

"Who the hell are you guys?" Kace asked angrily as he gripped his staff in both hands.

"What're you expecting to do with that stick, boy?"

"I'm shove this up your-"

The man delivered a strong kick to Kace's chin, making him cough up blood. "Whoa... Steel toes... nice."

The man rolled his eyes. "I can tell you'll need a lot of discipline. The master will not be pleased."

Just then, Kaiso jumped out of the car and lunged at one of the mans arms, sinking his teeth into the attacker. He let out a pained scream and fell to the ground. The other two men were distracted. Kace quickly got up and swept the man in black off of his feet. The man landed on his back and got a fast swing from Kace's staff to the face, knocking him out cold. "Fuck" before he finished, he lifted his staff high above his head and brought it crashing down onto the last man that Kaiso was attacking. "you."

Kaiso released his grip from the mans arm, leaving a large bloody imprint. For the first time ever, the dog looked at Kace with anticipation and trust rather than bitter resentment. The final man was unarmed, shook in fear when the two companions looked at him. "Just... just go away." Kace demanded. The man complied and took off into the treeline. Kace glaced at Kaiso and smiled. "Good stuff, bud. Let's get the hell outta here, I know exactly where we're going." As the two ran, Kace recited the boy in the radio. Newport, West Virginia. Newport, West Virginia. Newport, West Virginia.

Well what did y'all think? Leave a review and lemme know if it's garbage :)