Just before you read this chapter, I want to apologise for this late update. I thought there was only a little bit of improving left to do for it after I published the last chapter, but turns out there's no such thing as 'a little bit of improving' in writing. Plus, The Final Episode concluded (Finally!), so I was dead excited for that! What a frikking plot twist, am I right?
Anyway, don't let me keep you any longer! Enjoy ?
As events unfolded for Violet & Aasim over at the barracks, another story was slowly unveiling for Connor, who was making his way up through the stairway of the station building.
He was clutching a rifle in one hand, while the other was wrapped around the waist of a silent and visibly shaking Clara. He held on to her with a firm grip, helping to support her weight as she dragged her feet lethargically up the steps.
Since being attacked and nearly eaten alive, Clara's body had erupted in the violent tremors that she was suffering now. As the pair took one slow step at a time up the stairway, Connor could feel the trembles vibrate passively through his body. The movement was throwing his coordination off slightly, feeling as though they may trip up at any moment.
"You alright with walking for a bit Clara?" He asked as the pair reached the top of the stairs. The woman silently nodded as she paused at the top for a moment, grabbing onto the end of the handrail of the stairs for support. She leaned against it heavily, taking the majority load of her body off her unsteady feet.
Connor waited patiently, as Clara took a few deep breaths to help steady herself. Her skin had a faded into a ghostly pale hue, like the colour and life had been drained of her, leaving her looking like half dead.
Clara sniffed loudly, wiping her blocked nose & puffy cheeks with her shirt sleeve, before she weakly pushed off from the handrail and began walking down the hallway. Connor quickly approached her and wrapped his free arm back around her waist before they continued to their room.
Clara had remained deathly silent since the attack occurred. She was in a complete state of shock, not really having a sense of what was happening around her. Her vision was blurred around the edges, and every now and again she'd have 'passive moments', where she'd be walking one moment, and the next leaning against the wall for a breath. Her mind raced wildly as she kept thinking back to the ordeal, how it all happened so fast, and how close she was to meeting her fate if Lilly hadn't intervened.
Connor had taken it into his own hands to look after her, since she'd been stood shaking uncontrollably after the attack, and nobody but Lilly had really noticed. Not to mention the full on crying she'd been doing.
"Come on, only a little further to go" Connor spurred the woman on, as they made their way down the hallway.
What Connor couldn't believe was how it all happened in the first place? One moment there was cries of help, the next gunfire, followed by more shouting and people running about madly. It had happened all too quickly for him to process.
In his own right, the ordeal had rattled him a little, he too feeling confused at how it had all unravelled suddenly. But seeing how it had affected the poor woman next to him, he seemed to have gotten off lightly.
The pair stopped as they came up to a brown door. A pair of tarnished numbers that read 29 were nailed into the wooden surface. Connor gently leaned down and placed Clara's rifle up against the wall, being careful not to let Clara go. He then reached for the brass handle and twisted it open.
As the door swung inwards, Connor picked up the rifle back up and supported Clara as they walked through into the bedroom. He closed the door behind him with his foot as they passed the door's swing. He hastily put the rifle down on a set of drawers propped against the wall, before moving Clara to the opposite of the room where her bed was.
Connor eased Clara down on the bed's edge before sitting himself down next to her. He used his now free hand to rub the woman's shoulder, as a way of trying to provide some comfort and reassurance.
As if on some sort of queue, Clara suddenly buried her head into Connor's shoulder, as she broke down into another violent cry.
"Heyyy, it's okay. You're safe now. Away from harm" Connor spoke softly to her, as he rubbed the girl's shoulder more strongly. He cradled the girl's head and stroked her brunette hair, as he began to feel his clothes become soaked with tears.
"Let it all out sweetheart"
Clara very much did that, as the wet patches now started spreading across Connor's chest. He sighed deeply, looking about Clara's room. At this rate, he wouldn't have to bother washing his clothes or himself.
Minutes passed by before Clara sniffed loudly and mumbled something from Connor's shoulder.
"say again Clara?"
He prompted for the her to sit upright so she could talk clearly. Clara obliged with the signal, lifting her head up off from his shoulder. She looked at him dead in the eyes, her own being bloodshot and distant looking. Her cheeks and nose were now a deep shade of red, and Connor could see the fresh streaks paths her tears had formed from her eyes down to her chin.
"English isn't your forte when you're upset" He reached up to Clara's face, and gently wiped the tears away from her eyes with his hand. She sniffed loudly as he did so.
"It all happened so quickly" Clara croakily spoke, emitting another sniffle in the process.
"I didn't even see it was there. One second I was fine, the next…" She trailed off mid-sentence, unable to continue for a moment.
"That could have been it for me Connor. I could have died today"
"Well thankfully you didn't. Lilly made sure of that" Connor reassured Clara and rubbed her arm affectionately. Clara however, pulled away from the gesture.
"Yeah, all thanks to Lilly. Again. She hovers over me like rain, and I always feel so insecure around her. She's in it to get me" Clara deflated a little as her mind casted doubt through her. She hated feeling like this, but with Lilly, she couldn't seem to shake it.
"That's nonsense Clara. You know that's not true" Connor replied back, slightly defensive.
Clara broke away from the man's hold and pushed him back with her arm as she noticed his tone. She got up from the bed and faced Connor directly. Her face screwed up into a furious expression.
"It doesn't help that you're always defending her. Everything she does around here, you praise her on. 'Lilly's so great', 'Lilly's got a good plan', 'Lilly says do this'" Clara shook various gestures at Connor as she felt her fury build.
"Why is it always her?" Clara was eyeing daggers towards Connor as he sat silently, not wanting to anger her any further. His body tensed up at the sight, his eyes widening in surprise. This was a new level of rage he had never seen in the woman, and it frightened him to say the least.
However, Clara's intimidating anger soon dissipated, as moments later, her expression returned to the sad and depressed look as before.
"What about me?"
Clara began snuffling again, which triggered her tears to form up again in her eyes. Connor mentally breathed a sigh of relief as the woman returned to her previous state. As his body relaxed, he reached out with his hands to her. Clara took them willingly and sat back down next to Connor. She leaned back into his shoulder.
"I always feel so useless compared to her. Like I'd be better off not being here"
"That's nonsense Clara" Connor protested. "You do a lot for this community. You help with guard duty, make a great inventory of our supplies"
Clara huffed at the man's remarks. "Everybody helps with guard duty and inventory. I'm nothing special"
Connor sighed for a moment. He wasn't going to win her over that easily.
"Okay then, how about the infirmary? You're always helping out over there. More than anyone else does around here. Tending to people's needs, making people happy. I could go on!"
Clara's face grew a small smile at the reminder of her work at the infirmary.
"You even put the doctors to shame in there. Everyone's so happy to see you when you're there"
Connor gave off a wide grin. "In fact, I think people pretend to have something wrong, just to SEE you!" Clara sat upright and playfully shoved Connor in the shoulder, while laughing a little at the remark.
"Stop it. They don't think that of me"
Connor maintained his happy demeanour. "I'm being serious. You ask anyone, who's been in that infirmary. Which is everyone by the way, who they'd love to see" He gently placed his hand under Clara's chin and softly lifted her head up, causing the two to interlock looks.
"It's you"
"You think so?"
"I know so" Connor reasserted. "People like you here. You're kind, caring, funny. I could give you a heap full of words to describe how wonderful you are. I'd probably run out of time though if I did"
Once again, Clara let out another laugh. This time louder and more exuberant. For the first time since the attack had happened, Clara was cheerful. It reassured Connor he was doing right.
"Stop it you. You know how to be a big tease"
"I mean it! I could use so many words to describe how perfect you ar-"
Connor was suddenly interrupted from his sentence, as Clara leaned in towards him and kissed him firmly. He felt her gently caressing his mouth with her own. Her soft, hot and perky lips pressing arousingly into his. She passionately changed angles of every kiss and wrapped her arms tightly around the man's neck. He gladly returned the affection with his own authority, leaning into every breath and stroke that they shared.
The pair became instantly aroused as their minds rushed with pleasure and lust. They completely forgot about the ordeal they had just incurred, only focusing on the other's comfort, and who was inside who's mouth.
The two remained in their little make out session for a good few minutes, not wanting it to end.
"Are you. On. Duty. Tonight" Clara said passionately between each pause of a kiss. Connor, almost unable to answer, managed a quick nod. Clara briefly broke away from the kissing, feeling slightly out of breath.
"Got the group meeting before too. Talking about what to do with Abel" Clara looked slightly disappointed at Connor, giving him a frownful yet sultry look at him. Connor however, grinned wildly.
"But that's not for another couple hours yet" At that, Clara grinned wildly.
"You sure that's enough time?" Clara said playfully, tracing one of her fingers down the man's chest in an S-curve way towards his stomach
"It might just be" Connor leaned in and kissed Clara, resuming their make out session.
Connor then rolled Clara onto her back, landing softly against the bed sheets, all while still kissing the woman. He started taking off his shirt, while Clara unbuttoned hers.
"You definitely are a tease, Connor McGillian"
Connor's grin just grew wilder. "I'll be showing you plenty of that"
"Are you sure Aasim will be alright?" Violet proclaimed, as she walked off with Minnie, while Aasim remained within the Barracks' quarters. He was sat at the table with the unloaded weapons with another soldier, helping the man load ammunition into the guns.
"He'll be fine Vi, he always is" Minnie replied back, as the pair exited the tent. "Gerald will take care of him anyway. He's only loading weapons for us"
"Remind me again, why are just you and me heading out, and Aasim is being left behind?" Vi asked, as Minnie hadn't really explained as they left the barracks. Minnie turned round and look at Vi while still walking.
"So you and me could have some time alone, obviously. I haven't seen you in over a year. Would be nice to catch up with you in privacy, rather than everyone overhearing" She shook her in amusement.
"Would have thought that was easy enough for you to spot Vi" Minnie let out a small giggle.
"Yeah well. Better to be sure I guess" Vi simply replied.
"I've missed you a lot you know, Vi"
There was a moment of silence between the pair before Violet finally replied.
"Yeah. Me too"
Wanting to avoid any awkwardness between them, Violet decided to restart the conversation.
"So, uh, where we heading again?" Minnie rolled her eyes and again let out a little giggle at Vi's comment.
"To the storage room silly. I just said that back there. We're sorting out some group supplies for the morning. I've got to pick up the keys from my room though first"
"Oh yeah. Right. I forgot about that" Violet muttered the last sentence under her breath.
In truth, Violet knew full well where they were going and what they were doing. She was just hoping for a conversation to the girl she hadn't seen in over a year. That somehow, her words could summarise how she'd spent her time away from everything. And, perhaps also, an explanation to where she'd been all that time. Not that Violet would be asking that directly though.
"So, you uh, in charge of doing this for the group then?"
"Sort of, yeah. Some other people do it with me, and we take it turns who does what. But generally, I hold on to the keys"
Minnie looked to Violet as she approached alongside her.
"How are things your end? Everyone alright at the school?"
Violet casually shrugged. "Same as usual I guess. Still trying to survive the shit show we call life"
Minnie giggled at the girl's response. "Aren't we all? I guess it's all we can do these days" Minnie said, as she felt a cool breeze blow across her cheeks, despite the warm weather.
"And it's only gonna get worse, what with Winter fast approaching"
"You got that right"
As the girls approached the entrance to the train station with the storage area, a spell of silence fell between the pair.
"Minnie" Violet finally asked.
"Hmm?"
"You never really answered Aasim's question, back at the Barracks. Why you never came back?"
"Why didn't you?"
Minnie didn't greet Violet with an immediate answer. She fidgeted almost agitated with her right fingers whilst looking down at the ground. She seemed to angle her face slightly away from Violet, as if to obscure her features behind her red hair.
"With everything going off here, and trying to stay alive, I guess it slipped my mind" Minnie finally managed to reply.
"It Slipped your mind, huh?" Violet looked over to Minnie inquisitively, despite the girl still looking away from her.
"Yeah. Busy trying to make it through. You can understand" Minnie almost blurted out, her voice seemingly rushed.
"You uh, been with anyone since I left?" The girl quickly diverted to another topic.
Minerva's question threw Violet off the tracks a bit. They hadn't seen each other in 12 months, and she was asking if she'd met someone else?
"That's a bit of a weird question to ask Minnie?"
"It's an important one to know the answer to" She now looked back to Violet, with a cheeky grin on her face.
"If you get what I mean" The girl winked at Vi seductively.
"Not Really. No" Violet replied.
Minnie looked at her puzzled, seeming unsatisfied with her answer.
"Not really? Does that mean you have? Oooo, don't tell me. Ruby's secretly bent!"
"What? No!" Violet shot back defensively. "Ruby's not bent, and I haven't been dating her! Like I told you, I haven't been with anyone since. Period"
Sensing the hostility from the girl, Minnie decided to back off with the prying. She held her hands up in a gesture of surrender.
"Okay, okay. I get it. Gee, don't bite my head over it. Was only asking"
Despite knowing that her last sentence wasn't entirely true, Violet didn't want to reveal that to the girl. She had only learned Minnie was alive a hour ago. It wasn't like she could pick up from where they were last.
Besides, something didn't sit right with Vi on how Minnie was acting. She seemed to be a completely different person to what she use to be, which unsettled Vi a bit. And because of it, she felt slightly hostile towards her.
That, and she was now in Lilly's group, which only made things worse. She didn't trust whether the information she could say would stay between the two.
"It's not like you've got many options there anyway" Minnie said, grinning at her own remark. Violet silently agreed with the girl.
While Minnie did her best to disguise her reactions behind her hair, Violet knew full well Minnie was delighted that she hadn't found someone else to be with. She knew the girl far too well to understand that.
They came up to the old extended station building and entered through its double door entrance at the front. Violet noticed they had entered the opposite building to where she was staying, where the storage area had built attached to. It was considerably older than the other building, with the exposed brick walling giving the whole interior an aged look, like it had been built in the 60's. Not to mention, it was considerably darker and creepier than its counterpart.
"Is this all used for storage and accommodation then?" Violet asked as they made their way up a pair of stairs.
Minnie let out a chuckle at Vi's comment. "If that was the case we'd have more bedrooms than people"
"We have an armoury and a small fuel depot on the ground floor, next to our storage space. Makes sense to have everything centralised"
"Don't be getting any ideas though about the armoury. It's constantly guarded"
"yeah, I bet it is" Violet silently muttered under her breath.
Minnie led the way up another flight of stairs, and down another hallway through the building. This time however they stopped only a few doors down to their right. Nothing special about the door, made of wood, and seen its fair share of use throughout the years, as evident with its dents & scratches. One of the numbers on the door was missing a screw, causing it to hang loosely in the wood and be easily rotated round if wanted.
While difficult to see at first with the crooked number, Violet saw the unpainted outline of the number underneath from where the door had been previously painted. It read 26.
"This is my room. Do excuse me if it's a little messy" Minnie sheepishly replied. She retrieved a silver key from her pocket and placed it into the door's lock. As she twisted the key round, a loud click could be heard from the door, signalling it was unlocked. Minerva then turned the handle and entered, leaving the door open for Violet.
Violet slowly walked through with the girl. She walked past the doorway, turning back round to close the door behind her.
"We better make this quick. There's a group meeting soon" Minnie spoke from behind, her tone faster than usual.
"Make what quick?" Violet asked to the girl. She gently closed the door behind her.
"We're only here to get ke-"
As Violet swung round to face the room, she was interrupted mid-sentence, as she suddenly felt a force push her body up against the closed door. She felt hot smooth flesh pressed against her lips and a pair of arms gently cradling the underside of her neck. Violet shockingly opened her eyes, the sudden force initially causing her to close her eyes instinctively. She saw Minnie's face right up against her own, her mouth interlocking with hers.
" " Violet finally mumbled out between breaths as she finally processed what was occurring. She leaned back in an effort to break way, but Minnie kept her body firmly up against the door and her lips pressed onto her own.
"Shut up. I've waited for this a long time"
Minnie passionately continued her borage of kissing, enjoying the silky flesh that she felt against her lips. It was a heavenly feeling, as she felt her mind dash with excitement and pleasure. A strong wave of adrenaline hit the girl's body, which only further added to her excitement.
Violet likewise felt the same sea of adrenaline hit her body, but for an entirely different reason.
"Stop. Minnie"
Violet pushed the girl slightly with her arms in effort to move her away. The red-haired girl simply took the push as a playful gesture, which only added to her own excitement and continued kissing. Violet felt a wave of anger slowly building up by the second as Minnie continued kissing her.
"Stop"
Violet repeated, this time more assertive than before and pushing harder. Still, Minnie didn't let stop. In face, she seemed to become more passionate the more Violet resisted, like she was actually enjoying Violet's pleas. But then suddenly, Something in Violet finally snapped, causing her building rage to finally boil over.
"Stop!"
Violet shoved Minnie as hard as she could with her arms, causing the girl to break from her embrace and stumble backwards. Finally, the pair were broken from their hold.
Minnie stood a few paces opposite from Violet. Her once lustful expression replaced with fury, as she stared daggers at Violet.
"What the hell was that for Vi? I haven't seen you in over a year, and this is how you treat me?"
"How I treat you?" Violet sarcastically replied. "You've been missing for a whole year Minnie! A whole fucking year! How do explain yourself for all that? You sat here for all this time, when you could have come back to us"
"it wasn't that easy Vi. I didn't have a chance to" Minnie weakly replied. Her response however only seemed to add fuel to Violet's rage, as the girl clenched her hands into shaking fists.
"Don't give me a bullshit excuse, Minerva! You had every fucking opportunity to come back to us. Yet, you chose not to"
It was Minnie's turn to finally snap back. "I had no fucking choice okay?! Shit happened Vi, to me, Chloe. It changed us both!"
Violet angrily crossed her arms, unimpressed with her answer. "Enough to forget your own brother?"
Minnie looked at Violet straight on, looking at her with hurt eyes and a wounded expression. "Don't you dare bring Tenn into this, Vi! That's not fair"
"And you think it's fair to leave him on his own? Not knowing that his sisters are still alive? He thinks you're both dead Minnie. Don't tell me about what's unfair in this argument!"
"You tell me then Minerva, what should I tell your brother? That is sister is very much alive, living a better life without him? That's she's moved on from her old life and start another? You tell me right now Minvera, what should I say to Tenn when I get out of this god forsaken hell hole!"
Minnie's tears finally let lose, unable to hold them back anymore. She let out a loud whimper, as she tried to reply back to Violet, but words seemed to fail her.
Violet satisfied with the girl's answer. She approached up to the girl, stopping just in front of the girl as she balled her eyes out with her head down.
"When I do get out of here Minnie, I'll tell Tenn that his sister is alive, and that she's doing well. But when I do, I'll also tell him that his sister was too busy trying to survive to try and come back to her brother. That it slipped her mind. Let's see if he'll forget something like that, like you did"
Feeling as if she had let out everything she wanted to say, she turned to exit the room. She approached the doorway and began turning the handle, before she heard another sniffle erupt from Minnie.
"Vi…" Minnie feebly called out to Violet. Violet looked round to see what the girl had to say, but Minnie's response fell short, as her words seemed to catch in her mouth.
Seeing this, Violet saw her opportunity and opened the door to leave. She exited the room, leaving the room and a crying Minnie.
A disgruntled and irritated Lilly exited from a nearby room. She huffed angrily as stormed down the hallway back to her dormitory.
She, along with several other key members of the community had just finished a meeting regarding the group's future. They had discussed problems regarding the war against the group in Richmond, Abel's capture, but nothing in regard to dealing with Ericsson's School. It was safe to say, the meeting had stirred out a foul mood from the woman.
As she made her way out of the building, attending members of the meeting also exited from the meeting room, going in their own directions towards their own rooms or duties. Some took the opposite direction down the hallway, while others followed behind her. Their footsteps clanging loudly in the silent hall.
One pair of footsteps in particular appeared to be fast approaching, increasing in loudness rapidly as they approached Lilly from behind.
"You okay?" The person following her said. Lilly didn't bother turning around to address the person.
"What do you think?" Lilly answered, obviously pissed off.
"You heard what they had to say right?"
"Oh, I was listening alright" the man replied, seemingly annoyed himself. "This whole war has to stop. It's a losing battle for everyone. More and more people are coming back wounded and dead"
Lilly huffed in amusement. "And are you going to be the one to stop it?" Get the people we're fighting against to suddenly quit? They're not going to stop until we're all dead"
"And what about Abel"
Lilly huffed in amusement. "What about him?"
"You're happy to leave them there by himself? No effort to rescue him at all?"
"Abel's a fucking pawn in all this. He knew what he was getting himself into"
"Besides, we'll get him in a couple days, when we go back to the school and finish things off" Lilly said, as she envisioned a successful capture of the school and the kids holed there.
It had been agreed that another attack would be carried out at Ericssons in a few days to finish the jo and recruit the kids to their war efforts. This time it would be carried out with more troops and better prepared.
While Lilly was happy to attack the school once again, it had annoyed her that she'd have to wait for the few days until she could.
The man sighed and shook his head. "You're obsessed with capturing that damn school. Aren't you worried Abel will talk?"
"Not in the slightest. They're kids after all. What are they going to do? Torture him? They won't know the slightest thing about such things"
"And even if they did get him to talk, their only option is to negotiate with us. We have more troops, training, weapons and better walls than they do"
"They won't win" Lilly re-affirmed.
Connor looked over to Lilly with a look of disbelief. "yeah, and look how that turned out for you last time"
Lilly huffed as he reminded her of the attack. She shook her head in anger.
"Are you going to keep reminding me of that, or am I going to have to cut out that tongue of yours?
The man half held his hands up in surrender, submitting to his leader's threating matter.
"Only saying"
Before long, the pair were stood outside in the corridor of the accommodation block. Lilly retrieved her key from her jacket pocket, and slid the key in.
"Don't you have your little mistress to keep company tonight?" Lilly snidely remarked to the man.
The man scratched the back of his head playfully. "Ahh, I thought I was doing that right now?" Lilly glared at him for a moment as he playfully grinned at her.
"She'll be asleep by now. Wouldn't want to disturb her" The man's smile suddenly grew wider.
"Besides, she thinks I'm on guard duty tonight"
Hearing this, Lilly's serious demeanour suddenly dropped, and her features curled into a playful look.
"Well in that case, you'd better come in"
Lilly swung the door open and entered her room. An eager Connor quickly followed her into the room, before hastily closing and locking the door.
As the evening began to draw to an end, the sun began its usual descent over the horizon, and with it, the darkness of the moon began to creep in.
Clementine watched as she saw the distant sun shine above through the trees of the woodland, casting its final rays down to the ground. It signalled that night time was beginning to set in. Which meant that Clementine didn't have much time.
"Damn" Clementine cursed mentally. She'd spent the good part of the day searching through the woods for James, with no luck finding him whatsoever. A distant part of her hoped she would have found him by now, and that they'd be setting back to the school. Within the safety of the walls. But, to Clem's better judgement and rotten luck, she knew that wouldn't be the case.
She slowly crouched down and knelt behind some bushes, taking some time to gather her bearings and feeling the weight of her shouldered rifle through its leather strap. She peered around at her surroundings.
She had traversed a good distance away from the safe zone that Marlon had originally mapped out for everyone, probably further than what anyone else at the school had managed. She event so far as to reaching one end of the woods within a couple hours. All she had come to however were open fields that stretched as far as the eye could see, before she looped back into the woodland.
"Ruby was right. This place is huge"
Clementine was interrupted from her thoughts, as the sound of faint footsteps trekked across the ground. She listened intently, sitting deadly silent behind the shrubs as she gathered which direction they were coming from.
As the steps began progressively louder and sharper, she deduced whoever was moving was in front of where she was hiding. Clementine slowly reached for the rifle and readied it in her shoulder. She cautiously peered over the top of the bushes to get a better view.
Over the bramble's branches, she could see someone of some sort crouching down, grabbing something on the ground and fiddling with it in silence, their whole attention drawn to whatever they were doing in front of them. No sound erupted from the person as they fiddled about with the ground, making Clem believe that they might be a survivor. The shrub's branches however prevented Clem from fully seeing what was happening. She arched her neck to try and get a better view, but to no success.
Clementine slowly lowered back down to her original position. She inched the safety catch of the weapon forward until it clicked in place. She drew a slow steady breath, closing her eyes in the process as the girl felt her muscles tense up slightly.
"This is it" Clem calmly told herself. As she came to the end of inhaling, she slowly exhaled her breath and reopened her eyes. Then, with shear speed, she rushed forwards through to the other end of the bushes and pointed her gun down at the figure in front, pressing the end of the barrel into the person's neck.
"Don't. Move"
Clementine spoke threateningly, her tone dark and assertive. Her grip on the rifle tightened as she pushed the barrel firmly. The figure however didn't comply, as they tried to turn round to face the girl. Clem pressed the barrel further into the person's neck again at the movements, keeping their head lent forward.
"I will kill you if you don't stop"
The person again neglected her comment and continued trying to turn around. At this point Clementine looked down to view the figure. They were wearing a torn and ragged green puffer jacket, with what was once a clean white shirt collar sticking out from underneath. Dirtied jeans adorned their legs, covered in dried mud and the fabric ends by the shoes torn and tardy.
Her gaze then turned to the ground that the person was knelt at, curious as to what they had been fiddling about at. As her eyes landed on the ground in front of the person, Clementine gasped in shock to what she saw.
She saw a dead rabbit lying idly across the ground, torn apart from the waist down. End trails of its guts protruded out from its blood-soaked fur, with chunks of bone and other bits of gore dotted across the ground.
As Clementine took a step back from the scene, realising what was standing before her, the person was finally about to turn their head round, revealing them to be a walker. A fresh one at that, as they showed little visible signs of decay. The only sign that gave the walker away was the glazed, lifeless look in the person's eyes.
The creature's jaw had completely been removed, with bits of muscle hanging loosely where their mouth had once been. A fresh coat of blood was splattered across the mouth area, with bits of guts and dirt at where the walker had tried to feed itself the rabbit.
Clem looked shockingly at the walker's mouth. It was like someone had vigorously torn out the person's mouth before they turned.
The walker stared at her blankly for a few moments, before it started trying to stand up and shuffle towards her. Seeing this, Clementine withdrew the knife from her belt, holding it at waist level, ready to strike.
As the undead creature rose to its feet, Clementine could now see a large chunk of its stomach missing on its side, the wound looking fresh. Whoever the person once was, had only died recently.
As the Walker scuffled towards her, it frailly stretched out its arms in an attempt to reach out to the girl. As the creature began to approach her, Clem gripped her knife tightly, before thrusting the blade upwards through its jawless mouth and piercing into its brain.
The attack caused a splash of blood to be painted across Clementine's face as she twisted the weapon through flesh, causing her to flinch. The walker gurgled helplessly, its head twitching violently as the knife destroyed what little life there was in the brain, before Clem sharply withdrew the blade and it crashed to the ground.
The girl stared at the walker for a moment as she caught her breath, wiping the cold blood from her face as best she could. She could have sworn the walker was a survivor.
As the walker's body twitched every now and again, its blood soaking into the dry ground, Clementine looked around once again, looking for any signs of trouble. It appeared she hadn't attracted any walkers from the attack, but she spotted half a dozen to her right, a few tree rows ahead. They were moving as a small horde in her general direction.
Clementine cautiously crouched back down as she spotted the herd, not wanting to be seen. She manoeuvred round the walker's corpse and bee lined behind another row of brambles. She wanted to get out of the vicinity as possible, as the smell of the rabbit the walker had would no doubt attract the others to the spot.
She carefully moved along with the lining of the bushes. As she came within the treeline the herd was, she stopped and carefully peeped over.
Sure enough, the walkers suddenly turned to where she'd been a minute ago, as they caught the smell of animal blood in the air. They all turned and honed in on the area like a pack of wolves, their pace quickening as their hunger set in.
Clem watched briefly as the creatures crashed through the bushes and began tucking into the rabbit and walker as they spotted their prey, before setting off away from the scene.
"Tenn was right about there being a lot of them out here" Clem grimaced to herself. She'd came across several groups of walkers during the day. Some scattered around individually, but quite a few moving in small groups like she'd just seen.
It struck Clem with a sense of fearful curiosity. Why were there so many about the area, and why were they in such large clusters? It led her to believe something or someone was attracting them into the area for whatever reason.
But why?
Whatever way she looked at it however, it was a big issue. As it posed a huge threat to Ericcson's safety. The possibility of the school being overrun was now being increasingly real, and sooner or later, it would become unbearable if something wasn't done.
For now though, the girl would have to worry about that later, and concentrate at the task at hand.
Clem scanned around her surroundings as she saw another small cluster of walkers shuffling across the trees. she tucked herself behind the cover of a tree trunk as the horde slowly passed by her. As she waited for her chance to move past, she spotted a structural object in her peripheral. She snapped back to her right as she realised this and looked at it more thoroughly.
Multiple tress blocked the girl from fully seeing the building, but from what she could see, she figured it was a small shack of some sort.
She peaked her head out from the cover, checking she hadn't alerted the walkers, before moving out from cover and towards the shack.
Clementine treaded carefully across, ensuring she didn't step on anything that might create noise.
As she approached, she emerged into a clearing, and stood no less than 15 metres away from the building.
The shack was in fact a cabin, and a cosy sized one too. It was built entirely out of logs and wood, as evident by the exterior design, sitting on top of a stone foundation, that came a quarter of the way out the ground. It stood a storey tall, with a small chimney adorned on its roof. Two large glass panels were cut into the front of the house with closed curtains inside. It also had a stoned porch, with a couple seats on its deck and a swing chair to the side of the door.
Several bits of rubbish, including opened tins, wrappers and glass bottles sat scattered about the area. It was evident no one had been here for a long time.
Clementine stood upright as she spotted no walkers in the vicinity, relieving her knees slightly of her weight. At this point she spotted a large embankment hill that stretched up at the back of the house, clear of any vegetation, made entirely of dirt. It was at a sharp incline, with a built, stepped pathway up and a log bannister up to the top, where the trees resumed their boundary.
As Clem looked at the house, the forest all of a sudden became increasingly dark, and a cold breeze suddenly swept through the woodland. A violent shiver erupted from the girl as the air blew through her jacket, reminding her that it was getting late.
"I guess I'm making camp here then"
Clementine unshouldered her rifle and held it at the ready as she started proceeding towards the cabin.
As she approached the 1 story house, she spotted a few solar panels adorned on the front side of the roof. Seemingly intact and working.
"They could come in handy sometime" Clem Mentally noted, before looking back to the ground.
She went up the steps on the porch slowly, rifle slightly raised at the front door. The swing gently swayed as another breeze gently blew past, emitting a small but pitchy creak with each oscillation. The slight wind also caused a few bits of rubbish on the floor to roll along the plank boards, creating a loud rattling against the wooden flooring.
Clementine stopped at the foot of the door, her feet sitting on a worn front porch carpet. She read the faded writing on the mat, barely making out 'Home Sweet Home', but returning back to the door. Clem slowly lowered her gun down and pulled out her knife from her belt, and knocked on the door with the butt of the handle. She did so 3 times.
She listened intently for a minute as she paid attention to any scuffling or noises coming from within inside. She then pressed her ear against the door for better hearing. Nothing could be heard, except for the outside wind and the swing's dying creaks.
Deciding it was safe to proceed, Clementine tried twisting the door knob to open. She gently pushed, only to find the door unable to budge; it was locked.
"Nothing new there" Clementine said out loud.
She looked down at the door mat she was standing on, an idea suddenly striking her. She stepped off the mat, lent down and lifted it up from the planks. It peeled away from the planks beneath like a heavily worn sticky plaster. Nothing was underneath, only a clean outline of where the mat had covered the flooring from dirt. The girl sighed to herself.
"Great"
Clementine sat the mat back down and stood back up. Forcing the door open may attract attention, so she decided to look around for another entrance.
She turned and began making her way off the porch towards the rear of the cabin, her feet catching some of the rubbish that had rolled in the wind. The sound of metal kicking up against the flooring suddenly caught the girl's attention. She looked down, seeing a couple shell casings dotted across the floor. She stopped and eyed them for a moment as they rolled along, before continuing. She followed the porch's steps down and turned right, going down the side of the cabin with the embankment and pathway on her left.
Clementine looked around at the structure. It was odd to think that this place had been tucked away, unaffected by the world's affairs and ordeals. That such places even existed anymore. It made her happy that she was proven wrong for a change.
The girl reached the back of the house and was greeted with the sight of a small patio pave the ground, with a rusty BBQ & patio warmer, and some broken toys dotted across the stone tiles. She then saw to the right a pair of bins leant up against the cabins wall and a pair of stairs leading up to a backdoor.
She walked up the stairs and spotted a small rock on the porch. Intrigued, Clem picked it up flipped it over. She was greeted by a silver brass key, sitting in a cut out hole in the stone.
"Bingo" Clementine smiled, as picked the key out from its hold. She then inserted the key into the lock, twisted it, and then slowly opened the door.
As the door swung inwards, Clementine was greeted by the sight of the kitchen, followed by the dark interior of the house. She could see through the kitchen to where the living room was, the windows from the front allowing a little light through. Aside from that however, it was rather difficult to see.
Clementine entered the kitchen cautiously, holding her knife at the ready. Her footsteps silently tread against the tiled flooring as she made her way to the entranceway to the living room. She peered her head out from the frame and looked around, looking left to right. All she saw was a little hallway to the right, which led to what she presumed were a bedroom, a bathroom and cloakroom.
"Hello?" Clementine spoke. "Anyone here?" She readied her knife as she scanned the room for any movement in the shadows. She relaxed however, when she heard or saw nothing move.
It was at this point however Clementine spotted somebody in the far left corner of the room, sitting idly in a chair. The girl made her way across the living room to investigate, passing various bits of furniture as she did so.
As she approached, she saw the skeletal remains of a body leant back on an old fashioned style armchair. A ragged set of jeans and shirt hung loosely over the bones, appearing extremely baggy on the person's bones.
As the girl stopped at the foot of the scene, she saw a massive hole gaping through the top of the skull, with faded blood stains on the wall behind it, and a handgun in the corpse's boned grip in its lap.
Clementine stared at the body sadly, seeing how it had ended for them. She couldn't help but feel remorseful at the scene, as it reminded her that not everyone could deal with the world ending.
Clementine stood in silence for a couple seconds, looking at the scene, before she crouched down. Her intention to retrieve the pistol. She carefully reached over with her left hand peeled the boney fingers off the gun's handle, before taking it out with her other hand.
She quickly examined the weapon's condition as she briefly turned it round. It appeared in good condition. She pressed the magazine release by the trigger's side and pulled out the gun's clip from underneath. Clementine smiled, seeing there was a few rounds still left.
She pushed the magazine back into the weapon, and was about to put it away, before she noticed some scratch marks along the gun's slide by the cocking hammer. Four little lines were crudely etched into the metalwork in the form of a tally. Two lines in particular however, appeared deeper and wider than the other two.
"Hmm" Clementine looked at the markings for a moment, before placing it behind her back.
Clementine then spotted a rolled up piece of paper hanging in the other body's hand in its lap. Curious, she reached out and gently slid the scrunched up note from the skeleton's hand. She carefully unscrambled the note, untangling the various creases and making sure not to tear the paper apart. She opened the note fully, seeing faded parchment written all across the paper. Clementine squinted slightly, as she struggled slightly to read it in the dark.
My Dearest Anna. I didn't mean to drag you into this whole mess. The whole ordeal that went down in town. It just happened all so quickly. She was standing next to me 1 minute. And then the next. Maybe she'd still be here if I'd paid more attention, rather than rushing into decisions. I hope the family at the farm can help her, but somehow, I doubt they can. I'm sorry how this all ended. I hope you can forgive me.
Yours and Always Mine
Ian
Clementine looked up from the note and sadly shook her head at the skeleton. A wave of nausea suddenly hit her, as she began to feel melancholy. How this man must have felt in his last moments alive must have been awful.
Not wanting to dwell on it anymore, Clementine slowly stood upright and began searching the place for supplies. She figured there must be something useful in the house and distract her from the man in the chair.
Clementine first closed the back door, before starting in the living room. Once she searched the room, she moved on to the kitchen.
As she progressed into each room, she secured all the windows and entrances walkers may use to get in to the cabin and closed all the curtains so no one could see inside. She made a note of the parameters as she did so, assessing the best ways to escape if she had to.
Clementine spent a good 30 minutes rummaging through various bits of furniture, as she found little bits and pieces that could be useful. Despite the cabin's small size, it had a fair amount of areas to search through.
After wrapping up the bathroom, Clementine finally came to the bedroom. She entered through the open doorway, seeing a large double bed propped up against the left side. A large black fluffy rug was laid across parallel to the bed, with the addition of a wardrobe, set of drawers, a bookshelf and a curtained window to the right.
The girl pulled the curtain out slightly, gazing out the window. Outside it was nearly pitch black, she unable to make out much, other than the outline of some trees nearby and the embankment's incline. Clem felt a little startled that it had grown dark so quickly. She let go of the curtain, allowing it to return to its normal position.
She searched through the room like the others for about 10 minutes, before she settled down on the rug by the bed and placed her backpack down beside her. She opened it up and pulled out a candle and match.
She placed the candle in front of her away from the rug, whipped out a match from its box and lit it, before lighting the candle. It glowed brightly as she brought the match to the candle's wick, emitting a low but visible light in the room, allowing the girl to see a little more clearly. She placed the matches to the side, before pulling out her newly acquired supplies.
"Ok, let's see what we've got here"
A first aid box with bandages and antibiotics. A spare magazine clip with full rounds, matches, a couple kid's comics and a Beet-Nick toy.
"AJ & Tenn will love these" Clementine grinned to herself as she placed the books and toy to her right before continuing her inventory.
A claw hammer, a whetstone, a couple shotgun cartridges, and a can of beans.
She gazed over to the wardrobe within the room. She had also found some fur lined jackets, as well as fresh pairs of clothes and shoes, but she decided to leave those for now, as she wouldn't be able to carry everything otherwise.
"And of course, the candle"
Clementine quietly grinned to herself as she looked at the burning flame. There had been a fair few dotted about in the bathroom. Half melted most of them were of course, and the entire bathroom had a lingering odour of burnt wax. Nevertheless, it smelt pleasant, and surprisingly to Clem, comforting.
"Huh, didn't think I'd be the type" Clementine quietly thought to herself, grinning at the thought. It seemed she was still learning things about herself.
Lastly, she pulled out the pistol she'd found from the living room. She examined it more in depth, seeing that, other than a couple parts on the sights & trigger were worn down, it was in good condition.
She rotated the weapon round near the candle light, spotting the tally marks from earlier. She looked at the deeper etchings on the side of the weapon's frame. She looked in intriguingly at the markings for a minute, before putting it away.
An uncontrollable yawn suddenly erupted from the girl's mouth, closely followed by a heavy drowsiness. Clementine's eyes suddenly became heavy as she stretched her arms outright; her body signalled for rest.
The girl stared at the flickering light from the candle for a few more seconds, before she gently inhaled and blew the flame out. The room descended into darkness as the wick snuffed out and small smoke entrails rose up through the room.
Clementine placed her bag underneath the bottom of the bed, and then crawled under it herself. She positioned herself as comfortably as possible at the top of where the bed frame was.
As she found a comfortable position up against the plaster of the wall, Clementine tucked herself in a ball. As she laid on her side against the cool plaster, Clementine tucked her hands underneath her head and brought her knees up slightly to her chest.
She immediately felt the calling of sleep beckon her as she closed her eyes, and as her body relaxed into a peaceful state, Clementine felt her mind slowly drift into the realms of sleep.
As night fell and people began heading off to bed, ready for the next day, some found it more difficult to find such peace.
AJ was one of them.
The boy silently sat in the guard tower, staring sleepily out at the dark wilderness beyond the wall. He balanced his head against his arm, which was supported by the brick walling, in an effort to keep himself propped up and awake. He felt his eyes droop every now and again as his tiredness set in, but he was determined to fight against it.
From across the other side of the courtyard, Louis & Ruby watched the boy with concerned gazes.
"He's been up there all day, bless him" Ruby said worryingly.
"Yeah, ever since he found out about Clem" Louis replied. "He sure does care for her"
"You got that right. Never seen anyone care so much for someone. Not even when Minnie and Vi were a thing"
"Yeah, me neither" Louis sighed deeply. "I guess it's strange, seeing that kind of care from someone these days. Seems unheard of"
"Yeah"
A long silence filled between the two as they continued watching AJ. They both knew they needed to get him down to bed, but neither of them wanted to be the one to do it.
After a while however, Louis surprisingly broke the silence.
"Are you gonna do it, or me?" He looked over to Ruby. She looked back with a slight frown on her face.
"How about you do it? Do something useful around here for a change?"
Louis grinned at the comment. "Hey, I've been trying to interrogate that creep all day, remember?"
"Yeah, Trying to. Didn't exactly get us far from what I heard. Willie said It was like talking to a brick wall"
Louis huffed. "He would. All he did was stand there and mock me for not getting anything out of the guy"
Ruby simply stood in silence, crossing her arms in a serious matter.
"What?! I tried my best alright. Interrogation isn't exactly my thing"
"I'll tell you what" Louis reached down and rummaged through his right coat pocket.
"I'll flip you for it" The boy pulled his hand back out, holding a deck of cards.
"Really? You're going to decide through those" Ruby spoke half sarcastically, as she looked down at the boy's hand.
"Of course. How else do you think we'll decide, other than bickering to ourselves?"
"I dunno, maybe by you behaving your age for once and doing it yourself"
Louis couldn't help but laugh a little at Ruby's comment.
"Touchè my dear old Ruby" He cocked his eyebrow at the girl in a mocking manner. It was Ruby's turn to let out a huff.
"Besides, these babies have helped deal with a lot of situations like the one we're in now. We've gotten to know Clem better, helped Willy & Tenn settle their arguments" Louis paused for a moment as he leaned in slightly towards the girl.
"Heard confessions of who loves who"
Louis raised his eyebrows playfully up and down a few times, a cocky smile painted across his face. Ruby realised what he was implying and felt her cheeks quickly flush, before shoving the boy back in the shoulder.
"Hey!" Was all Ruby could muster.
"I'll take that as you'll participate?" Louis's grin grew wider as he cornered the girl into an answer.
"Fine"
At that, Louis extended the deck to Ruby.
"Ladies first" Ruby rolled her eyes, before she reached out and took a random card from the pile. Louis did the same afterwards. As both teens held a card, they simultaneously revealed their cards to each other.
Louis held a 10 of Spades. Ruby on the other hand, held a Queen of Hearts.
"Well that settles it then" Ruby let off a large grin. "Looks like you're going up" She gestured to the tower. Louis frowned as he stared at their cards, before accepting his defeat. The boy huffed, before making his way to the tower.
As Louis made his way across the courtyard, Ruby couldn't help but feel amused. She was loving every moment of this.
Louis stopped as he came to the base of the tower. He looked up at the wooden ladder that reached up to the top. He sighed and took a deep breath to calm himself.
"You got this" Louis quietly whispered to himself, before he grabbed onto the ladder and began climbing up.
Every step that Louis passed, the wood creaked under his weight, making him feel nervous and tense. No doubt that, AJ could hear the boy ascending up.
Louis felt slightly nauseous as he neared the top. Talking to people was one thing, but in a serious way? It was unchartered territory to him, as he'd never really seen the need to. Why dwell on being serious, when you can have fun and make people laugh? That's how he saw the world. In fact, that's all he's ever seen it as; a world without care.
But being in the apocalypse, there seemed to be little room for that anymore.
As Louis finally reached the top, he saw AJ still propped against the wall with his hand heled against head. He still staring out to the dark abyss of the forest.
"Hey Little dude" Louis warmly said.
"Hey Louis" AJ replied half tiredly, not breaking his distant gaze on the woodland.
Louis immediately felt the pit in his stomach grow. He knew this was going to be difficult.
"What ya doing up here so late? Willie's supposed to take over soon"
"I told Willie I would do his guard duty for him"
"That's nice" Louis paused.
"Why don't you let me take over though huh? You get some rest for tomorrow"
AJ sighed, tapping the brick wall lazily with his other hand. Despite him being visibly tired & struggling to keep his eyes open, AJ still wanted to stay up.
"I'm okay" AJ drowsily replied.
"You're worried about Clem, aren't you?" Louis stated, finally having the guts to address the issue. AJ's silence gave the answer Louis was looking for.
"She'll be okay. She's tough and knows how to handle herself. Better than I can anyway" Louis continued.
"We expected that though. Clem said you guys had led a sheltered life, and not to be surprised if you can't handle yourselves"
"Gee, she actually said that?" Louis scratched the back of his head out of slight embarrassment.
"I guess we could improve our game haha" Louis nervously laughed. This conversation wasn't help calm his nerves at all.
At this point, AJ finally looked over to Louis. "You guys don't know what life's like out there. Like what it's really like" the boy turned his look back to the forest. "living out there, on your own. Struggling to find shelter. Not knowing when you're going to see food again.
AJ paused for a moment before continuing.
"I do. And I know how hard that can be. I know Clem does too. And she's done it by herself for a lot longer than I have. But that doesn't stop me worrying. I care for her. A lot.
The kid looked back at the forest.
"If I lost her, I don't know what I'd do"
Louis was stunned to say the least at what AJ was saying. He was only about 6 years old, and already he was acting more mature than himself. It was a concept that Louis was only now beginning to learn about. It shocked him slightly, but in a weird sense, also enlightened him.
Feeling this, Louis decided to respond.
"I understand that little dude. I hate the idea of not knowing what's going to happen next. But, it's something we have to deal with"
"But people like Clem, they always make it out of that unknown. No matter what happens, she'll always emerge from the shit show and be standing tall" AJ looked back at Louis with intrigue.
"And I know, whatever she encounters, she'll deal with, so she can continue being with you. She cares for you just as much as you do for her. And in this world, that gets you a long way"
"I know she's not here now, but she will be. I promise"
"You mean that Louis?" AJ looked at Louis with his deep brown eyes. He nodded firmly at him.
"I sincerely do" He then put his left hand up to his chest where his heart was. He then crossed 2 lines perpendicular to each other in the shape of an X, while he did a scout salute in his other hand.
"I cross my heart, and hope to die if I ever do lie"
AJ laughed a little as Louis did the gestures. "That's a funny way of promising"
Louis couldn't help join in with the laughter. "It's some stupid thing we use to do in Scouts"
"You do that when you're out scouting?" AJ looked puzzled at the boy. He simply smiled at the boy's naivety.
"I'll explain it to you another time. But for now, scuddle out of here and get some sleep. It'll be no good if you're asleep when Clem comes back"
AJ nodded. He rose up from his position and walked over to the ladder where Louis was standing. But before he made his way down, AJ wrapped his hands round Louis's waist as best he could and hugged him tightly. The teen was taken back slightly by the gesture, but he welcomed it nevertheless. He felt a smile grow on his face, as he hugged the child back.
"Thanks Louis"
"No problem little dude" The pair broke away from one another as AJ let out a loud yawn. Louis looked down and saw Ruby slowly approaching the tower.
"Go on, get outta here before Ruby comes up here too"
AJ looked behind him, seeing the red haired girl coming across the courtyard. He looked back at Louis.
"She's not scary you know"
Louis let out a cheeky grin. "She is to me. Quick, let's go before she catches us up here!"
AJ made his way down the ladder as fast as he could. Louis followed suit a few seconds later, as the little boy hastily made his way down the wooden steps.
As Ruby approached the tower's base, AJ stepped down off the last step and turned round. He looked at the girl, who looked back at him. She smiled warmly at him, while AJ giggled and ran off away from her like a little kid in the playground.
Ruby watched the boy make his way across the area towards his room, before turning her attention to Louis. She looked at him and furrowed her brow at him as he began his descent down.
"What exactly did you say to him about me?" Ruby asked. She knew he'd said something.
"Nothing at all my dear" Louis called back down. "Just general chit chat"
"Just general chit chat" Ruby mockingly repeated, knowing she wasn't going to get an answer.
"How did it go then?"
"Not too bad to be honest. Being serious for a change actually felt good"
Surprised at his answer, Ruby's frowned expression changed to one of intrigue.
"I never thought I'd hear that from you Louis Greene, of all people" She let a small chuckle at the revelation.
"Maybe things are finally changing for you, for the better"
"Yeah. Maybe so" Louis said as he reached the bottom of the ladder. He turned round and faced Ruby. "Not gonna lie, kinda felt good"
"Good. I'm glad" Ruby smiled smugly in triumph. Without him knowing, Ruby had managed to finally break some sense into the boy, after all these years.
"One thing that I'll ask you about it though" Louis chipped in.
"Mmm, and what's that?" Ruby replied as she came out of her thoughts. The boy gently leaned in towards her, and as he did so, he raised a hand and cupped it to his mouth.
"Don't ask me to do it again"
Louis grinned wildly one last time at the girl, before he casually walked off from the girl. Realising what he'd said, Ruby's smug expression quickly returned to it's original frowned look. As she watched him make his way back into the school however, she giggled to herself one more time, realising that some people, will never change.