Clementine's POV
I followed Louis as he guided AJ and I back to the courtyard for dinner. We walked the hallways in mostly silence, with the exception of a few offhand jokes from Louis. As soon we stepped out into the courtyard we could tell something was off. Marlon was frantically dashing around and Tenn was perched in the watch tower.
Louis almost immediately questioned Marlon, "What's going on? Why is dinner not served yet?"
Marlon responded grimly, "The hunting party is trying to come back inside, but we've got a swarm of walkers just beyond the gates."
"It's almost like something drew their attention. I don't know, like an explosion or a car crash."
I looked up in shock at the voice I'd heard and saw a sneering blonde girl. She was around my age and was hunched over a bit. Her arms were crossed as she looked through the gates at the lurking walkers, and instantly I felt responsible.
I bit back any aggression and said, "I don't think we've met, I'm Clementine."
"Yeah, I know. Your kid won't stop talking about you." she replied snappily.
She seemed bitter and aggressive, though understandably, most people don't take well to newcomers anymore.
Suddenly, Louis coughed from my side and grabbed my attention once more.
"Hello Clementine, I'm Violet. Nice to meet you." he said with a false, girlish voice.
"What he said."
Louis's antics made me grin again. His positivity was contagious, and it kept getting the best of me. Though, that girl seemed to want nothing to do with me. The hunting group was arriving, which meant we had to take care of the walkers outside the gate. I looked over at Louis, who was holding a decorative chair leg, riddled with nails.
"I call him, Chairles." he joked.
"That was possibly the worst joke yet, you know." I responded.
"You love it, really." he said with a sly wink.
I readied my knife and slowly crept out of the gate, taking in my surroundings.
"Wait Clem!" a small voice yelled from inside the school.
"Stay inside, AJ!" Louis and I simultaneously yelled.
I raised an eyebrow at him, curious about the care he seemed to show for AJ, to this he gave laughed merrily and moved off. Interesting behaviour for someone sent off to battle a hoard of the living dead. AJ sulked behind the gate and I could already tell he would be angry with me later that night. Wandering in my thoughts, I wasn't prepared for the arm I felt grab my neck.
I yelled in shock and unceremoniously stabbed the walker in the head. The shock sent me into fight mode and I began to relentlessly kill each and every walker in sight. Walker after walker, I made my way to the hunting party which was compiled of a group of people I had yet to meet.
I heard a familiar and distinct yell in the distance. I immediately recognized it as Louis and ran to his aid. He was cornered by two walkers and hanging from what appeared to be a trap. I felt myself panic and run over to him, hitting branches and evading walkers.
As I reached him, the walkers began to close in. I kicked the nearest walker's knee, lowering him to the ground and embedded my knife into the back of the standing walker's head. The walker on the ground had crawled closer to me and I stabbed it ruthlessly.
"Holy shit." Louis said in exasperated relief.
"I'll get you down." I said reassuringly.
He was slowing his breathing, calming down as I cut the rope he was hanging from. He bounced off the ground unceremoniously and looked up at me accusingly.
"A word of warning could've been nice, Clementine."
"You're lucky I saved you, falling a meter is a pretty big difference to being ripped apart by walkers."
Perhaps that was a bit too harsh, but it was the antagonising reality, Louis could have very easily just died. I saw his face fall a bit as the gravity of his situation hit him. Our eyes connected, and I could see gratitude swirling in his chocolate brown eyes.
"Clementine." he said gaining my attention as he stood, "Thank you isn't enough..."
"We can talk later, Louis." interrupted Clem, as she looked around them, "We really don't have the time."
Louis looked around and saw three walkers enclosing them. His eyes frantically searched the ground and I realised, he was looking for 'Chairles'.
"God, where is it." he panicked.
I slowly crept up and kicked the upcoming walker's leg, temporarily disabling it. I followed it with a swift stab to the head. I scanned my surroundings as the next two walkers approached and saw a boulder trap rigged to a nearby tree. If I were to cut it, it would fall directly into the path of the next walker!
I crouched by the tree and waited for the perfect timing. I lifted the knife to the rope and swiftly cut. The boulder fell directly onto the walker's head, producing one of the vilest crunches I've heard in my life.
There was only one to go and it seemed Louis had finally found his weapon, as he was standing beside me. He ran towards the walker, swinging the chair leg and hitting a direct impact to the walker's head, killing it instantly.
"Good swing." I said appreciatively.
The hunting group had made it inside the gates and all of the walkers had been killed. I scanned my surroundings, double checking every walker corpse to cross my path. We entered the gates once again, the hunting group greeting Louis as he walked past and staring inquisitively at me.
Louis quickly introduced me to most of the group, 'Chef' Omar, Aasim, Mitch and the others. As he finished up, AJ ran up and wrapped his little arms around me tightly. He buried his head in my stomach, relieved I hadn't been injured.
"What did I tell you, goofball?" I said, connecting our eyes, "You don't have to worry about me."
"She's right, little dude" piped Louis from behind me, "I'd call that a B + performance out there, Vi. You've done better."
"Fuck off." remarked the bitter sounding blonde.
"B- then. Now, Clem here? That was a solid A, A+ even." he said encouragingly.
I felt myself softly smile, his antics really were amusing. I noticed how naturally he adopted my nickname, which only caused me to smile more. It's been ages since I've been with people my own age, maybe this is a good place for us.
"Well I'd hate to take all the fame. You were pretty good out there too, Violet."
Louis look slightly sulky for a moment, as if he was sad I complimented Violet instead of him. It seemed like the smart thing to do, building bridges with the group.
Smugly, the blonde retorted, "I know."
"You're both delusional." Interrupted Louis.
I chuckled slightly, and we walked further into the courtyard silently, the smell of cooking meat wafting through the air.
