Remember Me
Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of its characters besides my OCs. All rights go to Skybound, Telltale, and Robert Kirkman.
Author: So, the newest season has inspired me to finally finish this story. It's sad to know the series is coming to an end and i love Clementine, but I'm also glad its the last one. Sooner or later, Clem's story was going to end. After A New Frontier, i actually lost interest a little in the series but now after playing the demo of The Final Season, i'm back on board. I hope to finish this story before the new season ends.
I've decided to skip doing A New Frontier for my next story and have it be during The Final Season. There are several reasons as to why i decided to skip A New Frontier: I wasn't a fan of it, little to no character development, and you can completely skip A New Frontier to understand The Final Season. I don't wanna go into too much detail since it contains spoilers. Anyways, i hope you guys are okay with this.
Chapter 3: The Past Hurts
"This is gonna hurt like hell."
Clementine took a deep breath as she rolled up her sleeve and set her arm down on the workbench. The thread, peroxide, bandages, and the juice box from Alvin was placed on the workbench as well.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" She asks in a low voice.
Austin nods his head confidently, "I've done this plenty of times. I'd even call myself an expert."
"You better be right about that." Clementine says, sounding unsure of his response.
Austin chuckles as he set the needle down and picked up the bottle of peroxide, "Okay, here comes the first hard part. Now, try to hold still."
Wasting no time, Austin poured a fair amount of peroxide onto the bite. Clementine yelled in pain as the liquid made contact with her wound. Tears were forming from the corner of her eyes from the sting the peroxide was giving her.
The sting was too much and she swat her arm blindly, knocking the bottle out of Austin's hand. The liquid spilled from the bottle almost like a stream as it fell into the cracks of the shed floor.
"Dammit." Austin mumbles, "We might've needed that in the future."
Clementine was too busy recovering from the sting to respond. Curiously, she looked closely at her cut to see the peroxide bubbling around the edges of her bite.
"Okay...okay." She then glanced over at the needle, "Now the fun part."
Picking up the needle, Austin took ahold of her wrist to keep it still in case she tried to retract like last time.
"This part isn't so bad." He admitted, flashing her a warm smile, "The first few stitches hurt, but you'll get used to it near the end."
Clementine nods, flinching as the cold steel of the needle poked her skin. When it fully poked through her skin, she cried out but stopped herself from screaming. As the thread enclosed some of the wound, she started to calm down. In fact, the rest of the process wasn't as bad.
"How did you learn to sew?" She suddenly asks, breaking the short silence between them.
Austin continued to look down at his stitching, "My Aunt taught me how whenever I came over to her house. Believe it or not, I actually enjoy it."
"Really?" Clementine laughed before flinching when the needle entered her skin again.
"Yeah. If my cousin was sick or grounded, she'd teach me how to sew to keep me entertained." He explains with a smile, "I thought it was only something girls do, but of course, she always proved me wrong. I remember this one time when me and my cousin accidentally broke one of her vases and she grounded us. She refused to teach me anymore sewing for a whole week."
Clementine laughed again, "And you were upset about that?"
"Of course!" Austin nods, "I was bored out of my mind that week but me and my cousin would always find a way to keep ourselves entertained for the time being."
"Sounds like you two were close." She commented, watching Austin continue to stitch her arm.
"We were practically brothers." He responds, "If one of us jumped off a bridge, the other would follow. We were inseparable, even in school. He used to get picked on a bunch so I'd stand up for him. I'll never forget the time I did that and we got beat up near the playground."
Austin then laughed at the memory but Clementine's eyes went wide in shock, "You got beat up?"
"Got my ass kicked." He continued to laugh, "I was all bark and no bite back then. Now, I bite more than I bark."
Clementine couldn't help but shake her head at him, a small smirk on her face,"What happened then?" She asks in interest.
"The next day, my Dad, Uncle and Aunt came to the school and raised hell." Austin replies, examining his stitching job, "Well, my Aunt did. My Dad and Uncle couldn't even get a word in when they were talking to the principal. You wanna know what my Uncle said to me during that? He said 'Austin, remember this if you ever meet a girl: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'."
Clementine remembered Omid telling something like that to her when Christa was having one of her "episodes" during her pregnancy. At first, she never understood what it meant until it finally dawned on her many months later.
"Your family sounds pretty interesting." She chuckles until she rose her eyebrow, "Do you have any idea where they might be now?
As expected, Austin shrugged, "No idea. I beat myself up over not looking for them, but my heart tells me they're okay."
"Why didn't you go looking for them?" Clementine asked before hissing in pain as the needle entered her skin awkwardly.
"Sorry." He apologizes in a low tone, "Anyway, it wasn't in Adam's plan. He only cared about my safety, what was best for me. Looking for them would've been too dangerous, especially in Atlanta."
Clementine nods, showing him much sympathy.
"Who was Adam, anyway? Was he family?"
Austin was silent for a moment. She noticed his narrowed eyes and opened her mouth to say something, but Austin cut her off, "He was family. Not by blood, but he was a very close friend. He was like my second Dad."
"So I'm guessing he was your Dad's friend? The one who taught you how to make a fire?" Clementine recalled back to when they first met near the shore.
He nods, "Yeah, but that wasn't the only thing he taught me. He taught me how to shoot, hunt, fish, bandage myself, even a few tricks whenever we meet a hostile group like bandits. I wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for him..."
"You were with him when all of this started?"
"Yeah...from the very beginning..."
"Hello? Hello? Jeff? Jeff can you-ugh, FUCK!"
Austin jumped when the phone collided with the ground.
"Dammit. Phone lines are cut..."
Peering around the corridor, Austin watched as Adam began to pace around his living room, biting his nails as the chaos from outside continued. Just a while ago, they heard people scream and police sirens wailing past their house followed by the sound of gunshots. Concerned, Adam locked the door, closed the blinds, and told him to stay in his room until he could figure out what was going on.
"Adam?" He asks quietly, walking up to the middle-aged man.
Adam was a well-toned, young man with unkempt blonde hair that was cut around his shoulders and a deep set of blue eyes. He usually looked unkempt like his hair, but, in his own words, he didn't give a damn how he looked. From what his friends had said about him, he was what they called a "Stud". Austin never understood what it meant, and Adam wanted it to keep it that way.
The young man turned his head around so quickly Austin thought he got whiplash, "Austin, what did I say? Stay in the room!" He scolded as he took ahold of his arm and guided him back in the room.
"No! I don't want to! There's...something outside in Miss Stevens' yard." The young child whimpered as the door opened, leading to the guest bedroom.
Adam looked at the boy in disbelief as he pointed at the window. "What are you on about, child? There ain't nothing outside…"
The young man walked towards the window and looked outside, only to gasp as he witnessed the sight in front of him.
His next-door neighbor, Miss Stevens, was laid out on her backyard as stiff as a board, her white sleeping gown stained with her own blood. A part of her white picket fence was now painted a dark red that ended up turning black. There was a trail of the same dark red color leading from the glass doors all the way to the fence where she must've drawn her last breath. The doors were shattered as well, almost like someone had broken in. What made Adam lose his color was the fact that there was somebody kneeling over Miss Stevens' corpse, its hands digging through her ripped open stomach which exposed her insides. The figure then lifted up some of her small intestines and bit down on it like a piece of meat.
The sight made Adam sick to his stomach. Yet for some reason, he couldn't turn away from it. It was so bizarre yet so unreal. It looked human, but no human would ever just tear someone open with their own bare hands and feast on their flesh. Nobody would be that insane to do something like this.
It was like something out of a fucked up fairy tale.
"Jesus, fuck..."
"It killed Miss Stevens!" Austin cries as he watched the person continue to feast on the elderly woman's body.
"Stay away from the windows and don't leave my sight!" Adam ordered, grabbing Austin's shoulders to look him in the eyes, "Do you understand?" The boy nods while he shut the blinds, "Good. Let's go back in the living room and stay there for a while..."
"What if those...monsters get inside?" Austin asks, nibbling on his thumbnail.
Adam placed a hand on his shoulder, comforting the child. Whenever Austin bit on his thumbnail, it was a sign of him being nervous or anxious. He's been doing that ever since he was a baby, Adam thought with a small chuckle.
Though he didn't show it, Adam himself was nervous. He was one who never liked to show his weakness, especially in front of others close to him. Only when he does, its if things were far beyond his control.
"Then we'll stop them, okay, Austin?" Adam smirked which the boy returned.
"SOMEBODY HELP! PLEASE! OH GOD!"
They heard someone screaming from the front door as they began to pound on the door.
Austin gasped and Adam hurried to the door and looked outside from the peephole. There was a woman with blood on her clothes, looking pale and out of breath as she kept banging on the door. Her face was drenched with her own sweat and her eyes were so wide that it looked like dinner plates.
"What's going on?!" Austin asks from the corner of the room, looking spooked from the screaming.
"THEY'RE COMING! PLEASE!"
Austin ran up to Adam and tugged on his arm, "We gotta help her!" He cried out.
"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME! OPEN UP! PLEASE! I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Her pounding on the door increased so much that Austin feared she'd bring it out of its hinges.
"Adam!" Austin yelled, covering his ears to stop all the screaming and banging.
The man darted his eyes between the door and the small boy, who looked like he was on the brink of tears.
Adam grumbled, "Shit..."
He opened the door and the woman ran inside with no hesitation. Just before Adam could fully shut the door, one of the people chasing her was in the doorway, snarling as it clamped its teeth near the man's nose. The smell they were emitting nearly made him vomit. Its eyes were cloudy, showing no signs of life. It reminded him of a demon. Or a ghoul. Almost like it came straight out of a Stephen King novel.
Wait…that person…he recognized him! It was Tommy Burgan from across the street. He could tell by the scar he had across his cheek from a motorcycle accident a few weeks back. He also wore the same necklace everyday, the same necklace his father gave him before he passed.
The necklace had a symbol he never understood. When asking Tommy about it, he said it was a symbol for life in Celtic culture. Tommy was a proud Irishmen, as was his Dad, so that answer didn't surprise him. He said it was called The Spiral of Life, and it was something his family cherished for years. Tommy was a family man, but was always a religious man as well.. He was one of those people who put God over his own family, something Adam thought was ridiculous.
The holy, religious man he once knew as Tommy was now trying to eat his face off. What the hell happened to you, Tommy? Adam thought to himself.
With enough force, he was able to knock most of Tommy back, but the being once known as Tommy leaned forward, his arm and head stuck in between the doorway and the door. Adam pushed against the door, hearing it crack under the weight of both Adam and Tommy against it from opposite sides.
Then the woman ran up to Tommy and repeatedly brought down a lamp down on his head. Both Adam and Austin looked at her in shock as she kept beating him, blood pouring out of his skull and onto the lamp and doorway, painting it a nice dark red. Tommy refused to die, however, and kept reaching for her despite his head nearly being caved in.
Just when The Woman was gonna bring down the lamp again, Tommy managed to take hold of her arm and pull himself forward so he can sink his teeth into her arm. The woman screamed as she tried to pull away and Austin cried out in horror.
Adam shook his head and quickly kicked Tommy in his arm while still pushing against the door. Tommy's arm was bent in a horrid angle, his bone sticking out his arm but he never made a sound beside snarling. Luckily, the woman escaped his hold and stood a few feet away from the door.
"I'm sorry about this, Tommy." Adam sighed as he quickly opened the door.
Tommy fell on the floor face first. Before he could get up, Adam jumped and stomped his foot onto his head. Tommy's head crushed like a grape.
The woman covered her mouth and Austin felt his stomach churn. Before he knew it, he vomited on the rug, leaving a puddle of what resembled kerneled milk on the floor.
Adam, using his foot, slid Tommy's body out from his house and shut the door before locking it. He began to pant from what transpired. That wasn't Tommy he just killed, was it? No, it couldn't be. He looked…dead before he even killed it.
"Are you okay?" Adam asks the woman, who was curled up on the couch.
She was still shaken up, but managed to give Adam an answer, "Y-yeah…T-thanks."
Austin walked up to her, "You're not hurt, are you? We have a first-aid kit here if you need one."
"Oh? You do?" Her eyes seemed to light up at the mention of the kit. "Thank God. One of those pricks b-bit me while I was running here." She hissed in pain, pulling down her collar to reveal a purple and red bite mark on the top of her shoulder.
Adam examined the bite for a quick second before glancing at the small child, "Austin, fetch me the First-Aid Kit in the bathroom. Second shelf."
"On it." The boy nods.
When the boy was gone, Adam returned to checking on the woman, "What's your name?"
"Zoey."
"Okay, Zoey, you mind telling me what happened?"
Zoey sighed out in exhaustion, "Well, I was coming back from North Carolina after my cousin's party when those...monsters started to attack. I had to get home first to check on my family. When I got there those fucking...things got to them first. My husband, my dog, Oh God, even my kids. They were eating them like it was nothing! Just...so much blood."
Adam stared at her in horror. Whatever those things were outside, they weren't people anymore. That explains the stench, the foggy eyes, and the very pale skin. Not to mention the craving for human flesh.
"I got it!" Austin exclaims as he hands Adam the Kit. The man began to clean the bite with some rubbing alcohol before bandaging her up. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine, hun. Thank you." She smirks until looking back up at Adam, "You guys have a phone anywhere? I have to make sure some of my friends are okay."
Unfortunately, Adam shook his head, "Afraid not. Phone lines are cut."
"But what about Dad?" Austin tugged at the sleeve of his shirt. "What if he's in trouble?"
"There's nothing I can do, Austin." Adam sighs out in defeat, "I'm sure your Dad will find a way to keep in touch with us. I was able to keep in touch with Shane for a second but his line went dead too."
Austin knitted his eyebrows together, "I don't care about Shane! I need to know how my Dad is!"
"And like I said: There's nothing I can do." Adam repeated, crouching down to meet Austin's eye level, "I'm just as worried about your Dad as you are and I'm sure he feels the same but right now we have to focus on each other. Your Dad is a smart guy. He can figure out what to do. And when he does, we'll be ready for him."
Austin never returned eye-contact, but nods.
"You promise?" He asks.
Adam bit the inside of his cheek but nods anyway, "Of course. Now, go put some clothes in a bag in case things go downhill, alright? If things continue like this, we can't stay here for too long."
The boy did a salute and ran back in the guest room to collect his things.
"Would've fooled me." Zoey laughed.
Adam rose his eyebrow, "Huh?"
"You're not his Dad, but you would've fooled me if you didn't say anything." She explains, "Where is his dad anyway?"
"Barcelona." Adam replies.
Zoey's eyes went wide, "Spain? Holy shit. And you expect to hear anything from him?"
Adam never made eye contact with the woman. Instead, he grabbed a towel from the kitchen and pressed it against Austin's vomit on the floor. It was a awkward minute of silence, according to Zoey.
"No." Adam finally spoke up and shakes his head much to Zoey's surprise, "But for the boy, then yeah."
"Why?"
Adam made his way to the remains of Tommy's head. In the small of pile of brain and skull, Adam noticed something silver hidden in between some skull and brain. Taking a closer look, he was able to find out what it was.
It was pieces of Tommy's Spiral of Life necklace. He must've broken it when he stomped on his head. The chain was split in two and the symbol was broken into 3 small pieces. Hopefully Tommy had the heart to forgive him, wherever he was.
"False hope is the best thing I can give him right now."
"That's what happened, pretty much." Austin finishes his story as he began to wrap the bandages around Clem's now finished arm.
"Sounds like your first day was...peaceful to say the least." Clementine joked, rubbing her hand along the bandages around her arm. "I watched my babysitter get bit by a walker the first day it happened. Then get her head smashed in with a hammer by Lee."
"Lee was the guy who found you?" He asked, which made Clem nod in confirmation. Then, Austin made a face at her, "You make it seem like that was nothing."
She shrugs, "It was something, but it wasn't the worst I've seen by now."
"And this Lee guy, who was he to you?" Austin asks as Clementine took a few sips from her apple juice box.
"My guardian for a while until..." She glanced off to the side, the memory of her shooting him to prevent him from turning replaying in her head. Even to this day that memory still haunts her. It might even haunt her for the rest of her life.
Austin leaned against the workbench, looking down at the ground, "I guess we both keep losing the ones we loved...right?"
Before Clem could reply, Austin gasped as he felt something grab onto his ankle. Looking down, he noticed a walker hand grabbing his ankle and held onto the workbench for support. The walker came through the small hole in the shed where they had escaped and was now crawling closer to him.
Clementine yelled out in shock.
"Oh shit!" Austin exclaims as he lost his support from the workbench and collapsed on the floor.
Clementine ran up to the undead monster and rose her hammer over her head. She brought it down onto the walker's skull, the back of the hammer being stuck in its skull as she tried to bring it back over her head.
Still, it wasn't dead yet.
The walker had let go of Austin and turned its attention to Clem. Snarling, the walker had its grip on the girl's pant leg, its teeth inches away from her calf. Clem was trying her best to shake her leg free all the while trying to free her hammer.
Austin, now recovered and able to find his knife, kicked the walker in its head, making it turn on its back. The walker lifted its head before the knife struck in between its eyes, killing it for good.
The shed door was pushed open and the group was met with a sight they'd never thought they'd see; Two kids, blood splattered on their face and clothes, standing over a walker with a knife plunged in its head.
"Holy shit!" Luke exclaims with wide eyes.
"What the...?" Alvin mutters in disbelief.
Austin reclaimed his knife from the walker's temple and wiped it clean on his pants. Clementine, meanwhile, reclaimed her hammer and clutched it in her hand as she faced the group with a dangerous glare.
"How the hell'd it get in here...?" Nick questioned.
"Little kids is tough as nails." Pete observed.
"You all right...?" Carlos asked.
Clementine glared harder at the group, "I am still. NOT. Bitten. I never was. And you left me out here to die."
Luke and the others looked away for a brief moment, looking guilty about the whole situation. Well, they should feel guilty at least.
"Wait," Luke looked at Clem's arm, "You patched yourself up...?" He asks in disbelief.
Nick narrowed his eyes at the two and took a step forward, "Where the hell did you get that stuff?!"
Rebecca glared at the two, "Did they steal from us?" She questioned.
"This doesn't change a thing." Pete quickly took their side, "They haven't done anything to us."
"Says the man NOT carrying a baby." Rebecca countered.
Austin rolled his eyes in annoyance. Rebecca must've taken notice of this and folded her arms over her chest, glaring harder at the boy. He didn't know if she tried to look intimidating or not, but if she did, she was failing.
"You left us no choice." Austin said while crossing his arms over his chest, mimicking the pregnant woman.
"You could have just left." Rebecca spat.
Pete sighed, "Relax, Rebecca."
Carlos sighed as well, "Bring her in and I'll take a look at her arm." He ordered before turning his back and walking towards the cabin.
The others followed suit with Luke being the only one staying behind. Clem and Austin shared a look with each other until Austin motioned for Clem to lead the way. Clutching her arm, she started to walk towards before being stopped by Luke, who looked at the two with guilt written on his face.
"Y'all hungry...?" He asked.
Clementine stopped and refused to make eye contact with him. Austin, on the other hand, glared at Luke for a moment. Luke unfolded his arms and looked down at the ground in a mixture of guilt and regret as the two kids walked back towards the cabin.
Back in the cabin, as Carlos was "fixing" Clem's arm, Austin took a good look around the kitchen. To him, it reminded him of a default kitchen you see on those generic TV shows. You know, the ones that have no color or anything that makes it seem stylish.
Then again, it's not like that matters anymore.
No bowls or any cutlery were lying around and the table looked clean, so these people must still value cleanliness. Nothing was on the kitchen island, besides Carlos's medical supplies, and the sink area was empty.
Since there was no running water, they filled up the sink with water from, what Austin guessed, a well or the nearby river from what he's heard from the group.
Luke stood next to him, watching Clementine nervously while pacing back and forth as the doctor worked on her. Nick was near the doorway, biting his thumb nail, looking at Clementine. Occasionally, he'd also look down at the rifle on the table in case any of them made a move.
It was weird, Austin thought, that those two looked more nervous than he did.
"This might hurt a little." Carlos warned the girl.
Clementine hissed in pain and flinched, "Ow!"
Luke stopped pacing and looked at the doctor, "How's she look?"
"The boy's suturing skills need some work, but otherwise, I'd say she should be fine." Carlos replies, glancing at Austin when he mentioned him.
Clementine looked back at him with a scowl on her face, "I thought you said you were an expert at this?"
Austin laughed and shrugged his shoulders, "Never said it was going to be perfect."
Despite being a kid, Carlos had to admit, the boy's stitching would give some doctors a run for their money. That was a skill to come in handy nowadays. The fishing line was a good substitute for thread and the wound itself was cleaned for the most part. The stitch pattern was off though. It looked like he started to swerve a bit after the first few stitches.
Luke walked up to the doctor, a smile on his face, "So it wasn't a lurker bite?"
Carlos shook his head, "If it was the fever would've already set in and her temperature would be through the roof."
That was enough for Nick. Wasting no time, he stormed out of the kitchen, walking past an annoyed Luke, who glared at him as he walked out. Nick nearly shoved Austin out the way, but the boy managed to stay on both feet as Luke followed Nick, possibly to calm him down.
Austin shook his head before walking up to Clementine, who was sitting on a stool, examining her new bandaged arm.
"I like it." Austin nodded, taking a seat in the empty stool next to her.
"Hmm?" Clementine hummed, turning her head to look at him.
"I like it." He repeated, smirking at her, "You're gonna have a badass scar." He then held up his bandaged hand, "But mine's gonna be stupid. It won't be as cool as yours."
Clementine smiled at him, blushing, "Are you trying to make me feel better?"
"Maybe. Did it work?" Austin chuckled.
"A little." Clementine responds, a small smirk curving her lips.
She forgot what Omid had told her a while ago. Something about boys and girls saying stuff to each other to make the other one feel…special. She remembered overhearing Christa make fun of Omid for doing it despite them being together already.
Whatever it was called, she had a feeling Austin was doing just that.
Carlos glanced back at the two, scowling at the two of them dangerously.
"I wish you wouldn't have done what you did." He grumbles, startling the two.
Clementine and Austin shared glances with each other.
"She was hurt and you weren't helping." Austin replies, scowling back at the doctor.
Carlos began to wash his hands in the sink, "Because we considered you a threat. Which you were. Maybe you still are."
Austin couldn't help but feel somewhat proud of being called a threat. It was a lot better than being called harmless, which he wasn't.
Clementine shook her head, "No. I'm not."
"We put you in that shed out of concern for the safety of our loved ones." Carlos's voice rose as he spoke like an parent about to punish their child, "And then you escaped and persuaded my daughter to steal from us."
Clementine grew quiet, knowing everything the doctor said was true. She did persuade Sarah to take from her father. That she couldn't deny.
"If you wanna pull the concern card, I can do that too." Austin spoke up confidently, "We only escaped because I was concerned about my friend. And we didn't persuade your daughter, she offered us help…"
Carlos turned around so quickly that it was like a blur. He glared daggers at boy, who looked up at him with his eyebrows risen.
"Don't you dare accuse Sarah of breaking the rules!" He growls.
His eyes trailed down to the boy's side. His hand was gripping the handle of his survival knife, which was sheathed in its holster. Clementine looked at the boy worriedly.
The doctor calmed himself down, not wanting to escalate things any further.
"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt," the doctor sighs, "but there are a few things you need to know about my daughter."
Austin let go of his grip on his knife and Clementine nodded at the doctor, still looking at him nervously, "Okay."
Carlos turned to look at them, "She isn't like you. You may not get that initially, but once you're around her for a while you'll understand. If she knew how bad the world is…what it's really like out there…she would…" He then looked out the window and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, "cease to function."
The two looked at each other, both now understanding what he meant. Sarah was sheltered ever since the world went to shit. Now it started to make sense why he always kept her in the house and why she never left her room.
In their opinion, it was a bold choice to make. Going this long in the apocalypse and not knowing about the walkers outside? That's insane! Surely she had to know, at least, what the fuck is happening to people.
"She's my little girl." The doctor continued, "She's all I have left and I would ask that you stay away from her."
Austin couldn't tell if this was a threat or just an ultimatum. Judging by Carlos's tone, he assumed that it was a simple threat.
"You don't have to threaten us." Clementine replies.
Carlos was silent for a minute before saying, "Rebecca was worried you might be working with someone else. That your being here was no accident. I guess we'll find out, but one thing I know for sure—you are not to be trusted."
He began to walk away from the duo before coming to a halt in the doorway. Looking back at the two, he gave them one last warning, "Stay away from my daughter."
Just as Carlos exited the kitchen, Luke walked in, carrying two bowls in his hands. He looked surprised by the doctor's exit, but shook it off when he glanced at Austin and Clementine, a smile on his face.
"Hey, Uh…" Austin and Clementine looked at the young man, "I got some food, if y'all are hungry."
Despite Carlos's words echoing in her head, Clementine couldn't help but smile at the opportunity of eating again. She hasn't eaten anything good the last few days.
Luke placed the bowls down on the dinner table, which was covered with a decorative cloth that resembled something straight from an old folks home. On the table were several small candies that lit up the room like any normal lamp would.
Austin and Clementine sat next to each other, happily eating the bowl of oatmeal. It wasn't strawberries and cream, Clementine thought, but it was better than eating nothing at all.
Watching the two eat, Luke picked up on how Clementine was much slower eating than Austin was. Seriously, it looked like the boy didn't eat for days and was just shoveling the food in his mouth, letting some drip down onto the table.
"Easy there, tiger." Luke laughed, "There's plenty to go around."
Austin stopped shoveling the food in his mouth and swallowed it.
"Sorry about that." He apologizes, earning a giggle from Clementine, "I haven't eaten anything like this in forever."
"Me too." Clementine nods in agreement, her mouth full of oatmeal.
Austin chuckled as he set his spoon down, "Try eating nothing but berries for the last few weeks."
That was his diet for a while before he met Clementine. Thanks to his boy scout experience and Adam's survival advice, Austin was able to tell which berries were good to eat and which to stay away from. Though, one time, he got too reckless and his stomach got the better of him. When he found a bunch of berries on a bush, he didn't hesitate to eat a few.
Then he realized he ate an Evergreen Berry, one of the most poisonous berries in the United States. Luckily, he stopped himself from eating more and threw them back up by sticking his finger down his throat.
Ever since then, he stayed clear of berries for a few days.
Clementine smiled at him, "I haven't had berries in a long time. Did you eat any blueberries?"
"Of course, I did." Austin nods, "They're my favorite berry."
"Mine too."
The two of them smiled at each other for, what seemed to be, the longest until Austin's eyes went wide and he quickly looked away. Clementine blushed and turned the other way, a shy smile curving her lips.
"Uh...There's a few berry bushes not too far from here we were planning to pick." Luke says, breaking the awkward silence while looking at Austin with a grin on his face, "Maybe you can tell us if they're dangerous or not?"
"I can do that." The boy nods.
After that exchange, the three sat in a short silence with Luke watching them eat their oatmeal again. He felt like asking them about their life, but he didn't want to make things awkward. Hell, he was nervous that he'd trigger them if he asked about their past. It wasn't any of his business to know. Also, it's not like it mattered anymore. They were alone until they found each other and ran into him and Pete in the woods. That's it, right?
Yet, he was too curious and interested to just ignore it.
"So..."
Before Luke finished, the door swung open and everyone turned to see who it was. Nick was standing in the doorway, looking over at the table directly at Clementine and Austin. To say those two weren't happy to see him was an understatement. The glares they were giving him pretty much summed up how they felt about him being in the room.
They soon ignored the blue-eyed man and continued eating their food. Nick, however, kept his eyes trained on them and walked towards them.
"Hey, look." Nick started awkwardly, scratching the back of his head, "Um, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for...well...being a dick out there. I got kinda aggro and that was definitely not cool."
Clementine averted her eyes at Austin, who looked back. They weren't sure if the man meant what he was saying. He could be just playing friendly until he decided to off them when no one was looking. Both of them had experience with people who pretended to be friendly just for them to betray them. It was the easiest trick in the book.
Luke, noticing the looks they gave each other, came to Nick defense, "Nick's been known to go off every once in a while. Don't hold it against him."
"I guess we all have our moments." Nick shrugs.
Luke flashed him a smirk, "You definitely had one out there."
Clementine continued to eat her oatmeal until sighing out in defeat. She knew Nick meant well. He was just looking after his group. She understood that. In fact, he reminded her of someone from her old group named Kenny. He was very stubborn, but everything he did was to look out for her group. Sure, he and Lee fought a few times, but they both had the same goal of keeping each other alive.
That's what Nick was trying to do.
"You were just protecting your friends. I get it." Clementine said with the shrug of her shoulders. "Right, Austin?"
Austin bit the bottom of his lip. He agreed with what Clem said, but then again, he tried to blow her head off when they first met. That and he wanted to them to leave without checking on her arm.
"Right." He nods in agreement, "But that doesn't mean I'm not mad at you still."
Nick rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, you have every right to be. I don't blame you. I just...didn't mean to be so harsh. We've had a bad experience once."
Luke looked up at him with a frown, as well as Clementine.
"We've all had bad experiences." She nods in agreement.
Nick sat down in the empty seat next to her on her right. Austin could tell he looked like he was on the verge of tears.
"Nick lost his Mom. We took care of someone who'd got bit." Luke explains.
Nick furrowed his eyebrows together, "It was my fault...!" He exclaims to himself, clenching his fists so hard his knuckles turned white.
"It was no one's fault." Luke said sternly, "We thought we could control it, but...we couldn't. And then she turned and his mom was standing right there and she got attacked...there was nothing we could do about it."
"Hopefully you'll understand." Nick mumbles while standing up.
We do, Austin thought to himself.
"Bad things happen to everyone." Austin said, giving Nick a nod in understanding.
Nick flashed them a smile before walking out of the room, leaving them alone with Luke yet again.
"So, since you two are pretty much on your own...what's your plan?" Luke asks.
Austin finished swallowing more of his oatmeal, "Well, we don't really have one right now. The whole dog bite thing and running into you threw us off balance."
Clementine nodded in agreement beside him.
"Well, you're welcome to stay here if you want, you can let yourself heal up and take some time to sort things out." Luke gave them a warm smile as he said that.
Clementine was delighted to hear that, but Austin wasn't so sure. It was a nice play, but there was still two people on his bad side: Rebecca and Carlos. Those two can make staying here feel like hell, especially Rebecca. Not only that, but this place was easy to find...for experts. A cabin in the woods? What's the reason for you to NOT raid this place?
It was an easy target for scavengers or another bad group to raid.
"Will the others be okay with this?" Clementine asked.
Luke smiled again, "They'll have to deal with it."
Austin couldn't help but smile.
The two continued eating their nearly finished oatmeal before Luke asked them something that Clementine dreaded to answer when they first met him.
"So... what happened to your parents...?" Luke questioned, his curiosity getting the best of him, "If you don't mind me asking. I already asked Austin about his so...I figured I'd ask you the same." Clementine gave him an uneasy look, "I mean, I assume what happened to them is what happened to just about everyone's parents. You're just so young...didn't think you could've made it on your own for so long, but maybe you did."
Clementine looked down at her bowl, the memories of Lee and the others flashing before her eyes. Just remembering them made it hurt. There was more bad than good moments she remembered the most. Lee killing her turned babysitter, Shawn getting eaten alive, the pharmacy, the dairy...there was so much.
"Clem, if you don't wanna talk about it, then don't." Austin placed a hand on her shoulder, trying his best to comfort her.
"It's okay." Clementine removed his hand from her shoulder before facing Luke, "Other people took care of me, if that's what you're asking."
"I was just curious on how you made it this far." Luke replies quite quickly.
"I just tried to stay with good people and not do anything dumb." Clementine explains so low that it nearly came out as a whisper. She hung her head so low that it almost made contact with the bowl.
Austin bit his lip before facing Luke, "Me too. I always did what I was told to do. Though, I regretted listening."
Luke look panicked for a second, "I-I'm sorry..."
Clementine ignored him and continued with her story, "My parents went on vacation and left me with a babysitter and they never came back. We went to Savannah to find them...but they were already dead."
Austin continued to face Luke, not batting an eye in Clem's direction. She knew she had his sympathy and she knew he went through the similar thing. He decided it was best, for now, for Clem to tell her story to Luke.
"Wow..." Luke was at a loss for words for a moment, "...well, I'm sorry to hear that."
"This man found me and took care of me. We met up with other survivors and we all tried to make it, but...it didn't work." Clementine continues, her eyes casting down back to her bowl before a small smile curved her lips, "His name was Lee. He taught me how to survive. He taught me how to shoot a gun."
Austin smirked at her. He found it amusing that the two of them were looked after someone who wasn't even in their own family, let alone their own parents. At first, Lee was just some stranger when he met Clementine and Adam was simply his Dad's friend when he met Austin. He's met him a couple of times beforehand, but they weren't as close as they were after everything hit.
Luke bit the bottom of his lip, "What, uh, happened to him...?"
Clementine sighed, "The same thing that happens to everyone. But he saved me, fist. Lots of times."
"Well, sounds like he was a real good guy." Luke says.
Clem smiled, "Yeah, he was."
Luke gave Clem a nod before glancing back at Austin, who just finished eating the rest of his oatmeal, "So, uh, this Adam fellow you mentioned, you said he looked after you, right?"
Guess it's my turn, Austin thought to himself.
He nods, "Yeah, but like what Clem said, others also looked after me. We were in a group for a while. Most of them were Adam's friends and some of their kids, and the others we found while traveling. We moved around a lot. We'd stay in one area for a few days before moving on to find another place."
"Sounds smart...and exhausting." Luke commented.
"It was, but it was Adam's plan." Austin nodded in agreement with the young man, "We stayed with them for a while until a larger group attacked us. We got separated from them. We just...ran. We ran for what seemed like miles. I wanted to go back and look for them, but Adam said it was too dangerous right now."
"Did you ever go back and look?" Clementine asked.
Austin nods, "We did, but when we got there, it looked like everyone didn't make it. I think some got captured, but I don't know. Ever since then, Adam was wary of staying with a group so it was just me and him. I haven't been with a group in... forever. It's actually kind of...weird."
Luke chuckled, "It can be like that sometimes. You just need to stumble on the right people. It's risky, but it'll all be worth it when you find the right people."
"Right." Was all Austin replied.
She didn't blame him for feeling that way. When Clementine first met with Lily and the others in the pharmacy, they were met with hostility thanks to her Dad. Then, there was the time when Lee told her about Vernon and how he pulled a gun on him when he first met him and his people. It was pretty dangerous meeting new people.
Then again, what Luke said was true too. You just had to stumble on the right people.
"Sorry to interrupt," Came Pete's voice from the doorway. The older man walked in, giving Luke a stern look, "but I'm out there standing watch and I can't help but notice this place is lit up like a goddamn beacon in the middle of the woods."
Luke nods, "Yeah, it's time to turn in anyways."
"Get your winks while you can 'cause we're goin' fishing at first light." Pete told them, "A couple of fresh brookies for dinner? Mm, wouldn't that be nice."
Luke stood up from his seat and walked out of the room with Pete following. Austin set his spoon in his empty bowl before also standing up from his seat. He grunted as he stretched and let out a small yawn.
"I'm tired. Thinking about taking a nap." He says directly to Clem, who was still eating her oatmeal, "Want me to wait for you or are you fine here by yourself?"
Clementine rose an eyebrow at him, "You make it seem like I can't handle myself."
"N-no, just trying to be a gentleman." Austin laughs nervously while rubbing the back of his neck.
She giggles, "I know. Go ahead, take a nap. You look like you could use some sleep."
"Tell me about it." He scoffs, "I haven't had a good rest since...y'know."
Before Clem could answer back, the door swung open which startled the two. In the doorway was Rebecca, who looked pissed that they were still in the house. Austin glared at her while Clem simply ignored her, deciding it was best to not test her.
"Anyway," Austin turned to Clem, "Night, Clem."
She smiled, "Night, Austin."
With that, the boy left the room knowing that Rebecca was giving him a look behind his back. She thinks she's intimidating but she couldn't do a thing, Austin thought to himself while sitting down on one of the sofas.
He thought back to what Luke said earlier. Maybe he was right about that. Everyone here was on his good side, minus two people. Yet it was like what he said, it's a risk that you're gonna have to take. Maybe these are good people.
Hopefully that was true.
Author: Well, a long chapter for you guys. Hope you guys enjoyed it! Thank you and please show some love! Plus Ultra!
