A/N: WOW, so it has literally been almost THREE WHOLE YEARS since I last touched this fanfic. I kind of lost interest in TWDG and writing about it for a while, but I just recently remembered this story and felt the urge to keep writing it. Even though season 3 of TWDG has come out and Jane's fate is showed in-game, I'm going to keep writing this as if all of that hasn't happened yet (or won't happen). Some of it will remain the same, but this story won't have Javi, Kate, or any of the New Frontier stuff in it.
An old season 1 character will be making a comeback, though! Any guesses as to who it is? Hint: It's a female, and she's a rather controversial character. I personally loved her character, but a lot of people hated her.
Anyways, enough of my rambling. Here's the next chapter that took me three years to actually write!
The next morning, Clementine was startled awake by the sound of Jane shouting.
"Fucking bastards!" Jane's voice yelled from somewhere downstairs. Still groggy from her slumber, Clem rubbed her eyes and glanced over at AJ's still-sleeping form. How the little guy slept through such a ruckus, Clementine wasn't sure. Ever so gently, she picked the sleeping infant up and slipped out of the office, heading down the stairs and towards the front fence.
"Jane?" she called, trying her best not to wake AJ. "What's wrong?"
"That asshole family snuck in last night and made off with a bunch of our supplies," she spat angrily, rummaging through what was left. "They took almost everything, Clem."
"Everything?" Clem cried in disbelief, fighting to stay calm. "Wha... What about the formula?"
"No, they left that," Jane replied, a slight bitterness in her tone that she did her best to hide. She knew Clementine was aware of her... vague dislike... for the infant, but it's not like she wanted him to starve, either. "A little formula, a few cans of beans, and one bottle of water... This won't even last the rest of the week."
Clem was relieved they still had some baby formula, but she supposed it wouldn't do AJ much good if her and Jane starved to death first. "What are we gonna do?" she asked worriedly, clutching AJ closer to her chest. "Do you... Still think we should leave?"
Jane paused, considering this. A couple days ago, she had been so ready to grab the supplies and leave. They'd find someplace to settle down—somewhere without so many horrible memories and painful reminders of the past. But that was before this scumbag family came and stole most of their supplies. Was traveling aimlessly with no supplies really a great idea? Sure, they might all starve to death at Howe's anyways, but at least they were relatively safe from walkers here. It sure beat sleeping in the woods. Maybe, if they worked hard enough, they could build something here.
"I... I don't know. Maybe, but... Maybe not. What if we stayed and tried to, I don't know, make something of ourselves here? We could secure this place up and stay for a while."
"But a few days ago you said we should leave," the girl reminded her. "What if those people come back? Or what if there's more of them?"
"I don't think they'll come back," she answered honestly. "They took almost all of our supplies, and I think they knew it. There's no reason for them to come back here if there's nothing more to take. But really, either option is risky. If we stay, there's always a chance this place could get overrun—by walkers or people. But if we leave... Well, anything could happen. You know that as well as me."
Clem silently weighed their options. As many bad memories as this place held, she couldn't deny that it would be nice to actually feel somewhat safe, even for a little while. At least here they had a roof over their head, and with a little reinforcement, some fairly sturdy walls and gates to hold back any intruders. "I think maybe we should stay. Not forever, maybe, but at least for a little bit. Maybe we could find more food?"
Jane nodded grimly. "Yeah, we're gonna have to. We won't make it very long on a few measly cans of beans and corn. That greenhouse still looked like it was in decent shape, too," she added.
"We'll figure it out," the girl chimed, trying to sound positive.
Jane smiled, appreciating her efforts. "Yeah, we will."
A month later, things were finally starting to look up for the trio. They had managed to scavenge a bit more food from various stores deeper in town, and they had built up the fences to secure the perimeter around the building. Aside from a few stragglers, they hadn't seen very many walkers at all.
Despite this, Jane still made her go on perimeter checks every few days. Clementine found the task tedious and annoying, but she supposed it was better to be safe than sorry. After giving her a shoddy tattoo of AJ's name, Jane had retired inside, claiming she didn't feel well, and left Clementine to her own devices. The young girl began her almost-daily walk around the hardware store, keeping an eye out for any breaches in the fence or signs of anything being tampered with. She walked slowly, taking her time and bouncing little AJ from time to time. As she walked, she thought about Jane. She hoped her friend was okay—she'd been pretty quiet and down the past couple weeks. Clementine had asked her several times if something was wrong, but she'd always brush her off and claim she was fine. Clem knew something was wrong, but she knew better than to argue with her stubborn companion.
Just then, AJ began to fidget in her arms. "Hey, what's wrong, goofball?" she asked the infant, though she knew he couldn't understand her. He continued to fuss, his occasional grumbles turning into the beginnings of a wail. She didn't want him crying and attracting any attention, so she did her best to quiet him down. "Shh, it's okay," she soothed, rocking him slightly. "Are you hungry?"
As if in response, AJ opened and closed his mouth, drooling as he continued fussing.
"I'll take that as a yes," she laughed. Clementine knew the perimeter check was important, but she didn't want AJ to start screaming. Although they hadn't seen many walkers lately, she knew they were out there somewhere. "Let's go get you some food, then we can check the rest of the perimeter."
Clementine made her way back inside Howe's, then up the stairs and back to Carver's old office where they slept. After that family stole most of their supplies, they made a habit of keeping anything important in that office, too, so they would hear if anyone came and tried to steal anything.
"Shh," the young girl shushed, "don't wake up Jane." Jane had said she was going to take a nap, and she didn't want to wake her if she was already asleep. Trying to be as quiet as possible, Clementine gently eased the door open, expecting to see Jane lying down. Instead, Jane was standing on an office chair holding rope. Clementine stared at her, and after a few seconds, she realized it wasn't just rope—it was a noose tied around one of the metal support beams on the ceiling.
"J-Jane?" she cried out in confusion, shock written all over her face. "What are you doing?"
A/N: And there ya' have it! I'm not really sure if anyone will read this, but if you made it this far, please let me know what you thought in the reviews! I'm pretty busy with work and such, but I'm trying to pre-write a fair amount so I can publish fairly regularly. I already have most of the next chapter written, so I'll publish that tomorrow at some point. Anyways, that's all for this chapter. Thanks for reading! (:
