The sky held a gloomy look past the branches of the tall pine trees, threatening rain, but none had fallen yet. It felt like they hadn't seen the sun in weeks as they continued to trudge through the ongoing forest. Nothing but the sound of the branches swaying in the wind. The clouds overhead shifted from light gray to a darker hue as a few rain droplets found their way to the forest floor. The pine trees not being the best of cover, let oncoming droplets land on the girl's clothes. The fabric greeted the rain drops as they easily soaked into it's surface.

A rush of wind caused Clementine to shiver slightly. It wasn't to bad, she had dealt with way worse conditions, but damn it was sure getting cold fast.

"Told ya, you should of brought your jacket." Came a mans voice. Luke turned around to give her a knowing smile. It was late October, almost November and the weather decided to play it's crappy cards.

Clementine sighed and rolled her eyes at Luke. Yeah, he may have been right, but she wasn't about to give him that satisfaction. "I'll be fine." she said as another gust of wind blew by and caused her to wrap her arms around herself disproving her point.

Luke chuckled at her failed attempt to prove him wrong. "Don't worry. Were almost back to the house." he said.

Clementine and Luke had been together for five years now, ever since Luke had met her back at the cabin after her and Pete had saved her from a group of walkers. And yeah they may have thrown her in a shed to let her fend for herself, but Luke had been the one who had stood up for her when everyone else wanted to throw her out. That must of been why she seemed to connect with him so much and had always stood by his side.

It had been a rough five years, especially towards the beginning when she was eleven. They had lost so many people. Pete, Alvin, Carlos, Nick, Sarah, Sarita, Rebecca, and even Kenny. He had been with them for a while after everything had went down, helping them with taking care of AJ. But eventually...he died protecting Clem and AJ from a herd of walkers. Clem had blamed herself for Kenny's death for so long just like Lee, but Luke had managed to pull her out of those negative thoughts. Now it was just the three of them. Clementine, Luke, and AJ.

A few minutes passed before Clem and Luke came to a small clearing. A house stood alone, surrounded by the presence of the forest. They had stumbled upon it a few months back while looking for supplies and had decided it would be a nice place to stay. It was well hidden like the cabin had been, far enough from civilization that walkers weren't a huge problem. There were times when small groups or herds roamed past, but nothing they couldn't handle. It was actually quite big for just the three of them.

As they came out from the edge of the forest the rain started to pick up. Turning form a few stray droplets, to a storm of clear bullets that pierced their clothing. "Run for it!" Luke spoke up. Not wanting to be completely drenched, the two survivors sprinted to the wooden porch that covered the front door. Taking a moment to catch their breath before Clem opened the front door and the two of them stepped into the living room.

"AJ were home!" Clem called out to the little boy that she loved more than anything in the world. There were nights that Clem found it hard to continue moving on in this world. The nightmares that continually haunted her most nights, the thought of losing more people, and just trying to survive in this fucked up world in general. But being with Luke and protecting AJ gave it a silver lining. Luke was always there to comfort her when she needed it and AJ always made her smile, no matter how down she was feeling.

"Clem!." Her eyes landed on the little boy in a green sweatshirt coming down from the stairs. She ran up and hugged him before he could get another word out.

"Are you alright? Nothing got in?" She knelled down to his level and checked him over for any bites or scrapes that he could of possibly gotten if he was hurt.

The younger of them chuckled at his supposedly older 'sister' and her overprotective side. The older of the two not finding it funny. AJ pushed her hand away, "Clem I'm fine! I protected the house, just like you said. I still have my gun, see!" The little boy smiled up at her while showing her the pistol in his hand, proud that he had been aloud to stay home alone and handle an important job while Clem and Luke had been out.

Clem gave a sigh as she stood back up. But she smiled down at the boy she considered her family. "I know. You did good goofball."

AJ pouted at the nickname, but his face returned to a smile as he caught a glimpse of Luke setting a large duffel bag down on the kitchen table. He ran over and knelled on one of the chairs in order to see what the man was doing. "Luke I watched the house and didn't let anything get in!"

Luke gave a small smile. "Nice job kid!" Luke loved the kids he had come to accept as his family and thought it was cute how AJ got excited over accomplishing the simplest jobs.

"Did you find any supplies while you were out?" The little boy asked as he excitedly eyed the bag that Luke was rummaging through.

"Sure did! That town a couple miles west of here seemed to be untouched. We lucked out." Luke unzipped the duffel bag and started to take out a variety of items for the kid to see. They had left in the morning and had been gone for quite some time, much to Clem's displeasure. But they were low on supplies and Luke wanted to get an early start so they wouldn't be searching when they were at the bottom of the barrel.

Clementine hated leaving AJ alone for such a long time. He may know how to shoot a gun, Clem made sure of that, but he was still only five years old. It bothered her if she was away from him for too long. There was no telling what could happen while they were away. Bandits could show up, walkers could pour in, the house could catch on fire, AJ could of fallen and gotten hurt or worse. Luke told her not to worry so much, but she couldn't help it. There were times when she didn't see herself as AJ's sister, but rather as a mom. AJ meant everything to her and she didn't want to think about if anything ever happened to him.

Luke had laid out various cans of food, some energy bars, bottles of water, some bandages, and they had even been lucky enough to find some penicillin and a bottle of Tylenol. They would be good for weeks with what they were able to bring back. Plus Clem still had her backpack that they had managed to fill as well. Speaking of the girl, Luke looked up to find the girl had disappeared. Probably to go put on her jacket after being out in the freezing rain.

He started to put there supplies away while letting AJ help at the boy's request. He found he was right, when Clem came back downstairs now with her jean jacket over her yellow shirt. He watched as she walked over and picked up her backpack and brought it over to the table so they could put their supplies away. He loved that little girl, thought she was as tough as nails, but he often thought she was too set on surviving. She never seemed to take the time to relax. Sure she played with AJ, but the kid was constantly worrying about him. Luke understood her concern but there was a point in overdoing it.

He hated that they had to grow up in a world that had gone to shit, but what could they do about it. Luke sighed, if only she had someone her own age around. People to talk to, that she could relate to. They weren't very fond of groups after a couple of bad experiences, but he just wished there were some more kids out there. It was nice when she had Sarah around for a friend. Those two always had something going on. Wither it was reading a book, playing a game, or just annoying himself and Nick. He was glad Clem at least had him and AJ to survive with. He couldn't imagine Clem having to be on her own in such crappy conditions.

After they were done putting away their things. Clem walked over to the couch and sat down in front of the fireplace to warm up. With the nights starting to get colder they had to constantly keep the fire going in order to heat the house. Last thing Luke wanted was one of the kids getting sick from the cold weather.

AJ followed her over. "Hey Clem, wanna play a game?" He asked, hopeful that she'd say yes.

Clem smiled. "Sure. How about Uno?"

"Okay!" AJ nodded happily and ran to get the card game from the bedroom. He came back not to long afterwards with the box in hand. One day when they were searching the house Luke had found a bunch of board games in a closet in one of the rooms. Clem had been overjoyed and wanted to teach AJ how to play all of them.

Luke smiled as he watched the two of them. It was nice to see her act like a kid again. He walked over to grab their attention. "So what do you guys want for dinner?"

Clem shrugged as she laid down a card. "Anything besides beans." She said making a face.

"Hey I happen to like beans!" Luke joked with her.

"We've had them for the past week. I'm sick of them."

"Me too." Added AJ as he laid down one of his cards. "Uno!" he called only having one card left in his hand.

Clem was surprised she had let him get down to one card. "No fair!" She joked with him, a smile on her face.

Luke chuckled. "Okay..." He scratched his head thinking about what they had brought back. "How about a can of Spaghettios?"

Clem smiled at him. "Sounds good." While her head was turned AJ placed down his last card. "I win!"

Clem faked her feeling of surprise for AJ's amusement. "No way! I'll get you next time."

AJ chuckled a large grin plastered across his face. "You wish!"

Luke smiled as he went to go get dinner started. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed the cans down from the cupboard.

When he returned with their food. He saw they were getting ready for another game. "Hey can I play this round?" He asked as he placed three bowls on the coffee table.

"Sure." Clem said dealing out the cards, leaving an extra hand for Luke.

Luke sat down on the floor at the end of the table closest to the fireplace. It was getting darker out as the rain continued to pound onto the roof of the house, and then proceed to slide down the side of the windows. The fire's light caused shadows to dance across the ceiling and walls as it burned in the fireplace, emitting warmth to spread throughout the room.

It was peaceful. A chance to finally just relax as they continued to play games as they ate. It was nice to be able to just enjoy life like this. Something that felt like they haven't been able to do in awhile. Sometime passed and Clem had taken their empty bowls and put them in the sink. They were in their fourth game with Luke included. It was now completely dark outside. Luke had lit various candles around the house so they'd be able to see.

Clem was seated on the floor with her back against the couch. She had surprisingly took her hat off and had set it on the couch next to her. She had just placed a five down on the top of the stack of cards when a loud crash of thunder sounded. It seemed to echo through the forest. A sharp flash of lightning followed right after, causing the room to light up for a split second, shadows littering the room.

The sudden noise caused AJ to jump. He ran over and latched on to Clem's arm.

She smiled down at him and placed an arm around him. "What's the matter goofball?"

"Your not afraid of a little thunder are ya?" Luke said playfully.

"I-its loud." AJ said as if it would explain everything.

Clem nodded. "It is."

"Loud is bad! It brings monsters." AJ stated.

Luke offered a smile towards the boy. "The walkers should be the ones who are scared when we've got someone as strong and brave as you around to stop them. You are brave. right AJ?"

AJ's spirits seemed to lift at that. "I'm brave!" He let go of Clem to prove his point. "Don't worry I'll protect you and Clem if the monsters try to get us!"

Clem gave him a comforting smile. "Don't worry AJ. Were safe inside the house."

No sooner had she said that, a gunshot pierced their ears and rang out through the woods.