Sarahs POV

I looked up from my book so that my eyes could watch the new girl, Clementine. From what I know, she knew Luke, Pete, Nick, and Helena before the world changed. She seemed to squeeze right into our little group. Her friend didn't seem to like it here.

I asked Luke about her, he said that she was my age. Lately, I've been dying to have someone like me around. It gets rather boring around here. Helena and Rebecca are sweet to me, but they aren't very great when in comes to talking. Helena's young, younger than I would think considering that she has a twenty year old son. She's nice to me and offers me books often. Rebecca is more... serious? Yes, I think serious is the word.

Rebecca has a, 'no nonsense,' type of personality. Sometimes she lets me babble about my books, but it feels like I'm just talking to myself. She's always asking me how I am and asking if I need anything. Its nice, but she treats me like I'm more fragile than I really am. That's pretty much where our conversations end. Other times, she's with her husband. She's not all that social.

"Spying on Clem, are we?" My dad patted my back and looked at me. I blushed slightly before he said, "You might want to try flipping the pages on that book once in awhile."

"Sorry dad," I muttered. Dad doesn't like it when I do something without his permission. He, like Rebecca, treats me like some kind of porcelain doll. He acts like I don't know anything, which isn't true. I know there are some monsters out there. I've never killed one of them like the rest of the group have, but I've seen them, and I know they're there. Dad tried to pass them off as, 'sick people' a couple of times. But I never bought it.

"It's alright," He reassured me.

I looked back at Clementine and smiled. She was a pretty girl, for your average survivor. Her friend was pretty too, but Clementine had that warm face that made her prettier. She was laughing with Nick and Helena. I've not seen Nick this happy since...EVER! He was constantly grinning around Clem and spoke more to her than he ever did 's not that I was jealous, it was nice to see Nick that happy for once.

After a while, Nick and Helena got up and left. I looked up at my dad, "Can I please go say hi?"

My dad looked hesitant, but nodded, "Sure, Sarah." I thanked him and bounced over to her.

She looked up at me as I approached her and smiled. I smiled back shyly, "Hi," I said. "I'm Sarah."

She nodded, "I'm Clementine,"

I shook her hand and looked to the ground, shyly, "So," I thought of a conversation starter, "You knew Nick before all this?"

She nodded, "Nick, his family, and Luke."

"That's so cool!" I noted, "How did you know them? Were you guys great friends?"

She chuckled, "They babysat me, because my parents were convinced that I wasn't, 'old enough'" She rolled her eyes, "I loved having them around. It was like having two big brothers to tease."

"I don't have any siblings," I looked for things we could have in common.

"Me neither," She shook her head. She looked at me a bit closer, "How old are you? You don't look that old."

I grinned, "I'm fifteen."

She looked happy enough to jump out of her skin, "You're my age!" She squealed, "I haven't met anyone near my age since I met Duck!" Her smile dropped a little and the mention of, 'duck' but she kept her positive attitude. I pretended not to see the moment of sadness in her eye.

"We're friends," I said a bit suddenly, "We can be best friends!"

She clapped, "Of course we can!"

I blushed slightly before lifting my pinkie up, she looked at me confused for a moment, "Pinkie swear?"

Now understanding what I met she interlocked our fingers, "Pinkie swear!"

I gleamed, "A pinkie swear is forever!"

LUKES POV

I was outside, lost in thought. I couldn't believe Clementine was back! I was certain Sandra had eaten her.

Ever since we first met her, Nick had this 'attachment' to her. He treated her different, he usually didn't like kids. I can't remember him ever enjoying being around a kid. He was disappointed when we had college to worry about instead if getting to spend a week with her while her parents were in Savannah. Clementine made Nick smile, which in his case, is rare.

I remembered my childhood with Nick, when we would go roof jumping and have hunting competitions. We would basically go out for about an hour in the woods, and whoever killed the most would get all the meat. I always won though, Nick never wanted to hurt anything. So soon, it became me vs. Pete. That was a tough match.

From what I was thinking about, in a cartoon, you'd see a light bulb hovering my head. I grinned and walked back into the house.

Nick and Helena were in the kitchen, talking. Helena threw me a smile and Nick smirked, "What's with the look?"

"I was thinking two of us could have another hunting competition, ya know, to celebrate Clem's arrival!"

Nick shrugged, but Helena beamed, "And I could work up a nice stew with the meat y'all find! That'd be a great celebratory feast!"

My smiled widened a little at that thought, Helena's cooking was really fucking good! I knew Nick's family never went out to eat, they preferred anything Helena made. And she enjoyed making it. My folks never took me out to eat either. Instead of that, they'd take me to Nick's for dinner when I was a kid. And whenever Clem's family came, since Helena and Diana had been best friends in collage, she'd make a special treat for us. And usually sent some of it home with Clem.

I nodded, "Sounds good!"

Nick smirked and crossed his arms, "Is it gonna be you and Pete again?"

Pete had walked in a bit before that. He laughed, "Hell no, I'm tired out! Nick, you're more than capable!"

Nick put on a 'hard' look, but I really knew he just didn't want to kill anything if he didn't have to. "Nick don't have to, I'll find someone."

"What about me?" Molly announced, coming in with Clementine at her side.

I raised my eyebrow. That girl? I opened my mouth and spoke, "You're a girl!" I teased.

She seemed rather unamused, "This 'girl' is more than capable of killing a couple of squirrels."

"Squirrels?" I shook my head, "You're a girl and you don't have taste buds!"

"At least I'm capable of keeping Clem away from the sidewalk chalk," She mumbled, probably thinking no one heard. However, Clementine beamed a bright red and Pete burst into laughter. Molly just stood there, a bit awkwardly, "I think I can handle it."

She got me there, "Alright," I nodded and went to go get my machete, "GO get your stuff and meet me outside in ten minutes."

I watched as Molly turned and left. Clementine, who was getting over being embarrassed, followed behind her. I strapped my weapon to my back and ran a hand through my hair. I chuckled, my hair has grown longer since the outbreak. Rebecca offered to cut it for me, but I kinda like it. Nicks always had his beloved hair, which was usually protected by the brownish-red cap, with the, 'Halo' logo on it, that I gave him for his birthday. I popped my neck as I made my way out and saw the blonde playing around with some kind of weapon.

She noticed me and placed the... Ice pick? Whatever it was, she placed in on her back and straightened her hoodie. She and I walked in silence. I glanced at her every now and again. She seemed different, odd in a way. I tried to stop stealing looks at her. Okay, that's not true, I tried to not get caught. I was about to say something, but she crouched down and smiled. I looked at were her eyes were trailing, and saw a brown rabbit hoping around.

She drew out a knife, and began to sneak towards the creature. She moved quietly, and the rabbit kept hoping, unaware of her presence. With one graceful pounce, Molly had sunken her blade right into the things head, killing it instantly. I whistled, "Damn," I looked at the furry thing. Molly just simply shrugged. Tying the animal by the neck, she hung it from her belt. Still slightly bothered by the silence, I tried to strike up a conversation, "So," I poked around my head, "What did you do before all this?"

"all this?" She asked, "You mean, a job?"

"Yeah," I smiled, happy that she wasn't trying to kill me.

Molly shrugged, "I was a photographer for a local newspaper. I had a pretty shitty boss. He's most likely dead now."

Her voice showed no emotion, though she had that gleam of sadness in her eyes, "Sorry." She brushed it off.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a fat bird. He was just sitting on a branch on a tree. I ducked behind a fallen tree branch. That'd have some good meat on it.

What some people didn't know about me, I had pretty sharp aim, even with a hand gun, which is what I was using.I aimed for the bird, Molly crouched next to me and snickered, "You're just gonna waste a bullet." I rolled my eyes and made sure I watched the birds movements, I shifted my aim a bit and fired.

The bird fell to the ground, dead. I went over and picked it up. Molly stared at me, confused. I laughed, "Don't think I don't know what I'm doing."

Molly crossed her arms, "I am NOT losing to a farm boy, especially one that can't keep a little girl away from sidewalk chalk."

Now I was getting p1ssed off, "How did Clem deal with an attitude like that? And don't get on my back for the sidewalk chalk, you let her get drunk."

Molly's face turned red, and we just stood there, arguing for who knows how long.

I looked up when we heard some rustling. "What the hell?" Molly muttered, drawing her climbing axe. I drew my machete as well. We heard some groaning and a couple of lurkers came around us.

We killed a few, but then a couple of lurkers turned into a shit ton of lurkers!

"Holy shit!" I yelled. Molly kept whacking the brains out of a few of them. I grabbed her arm and made us dash through the forest. The growling and moans could still be heard in the distance. Molly yelled something at me, but I kept running. My mind kept thinking about the closest way to the group. However, I was more concerned about the flesh eating things behind us.

"Hey asshole!" Molly grabbed the back of my shirt to slow me down. I stopped in my tracks, "Listen," She started, "We're not going to be able to go back safely this way. The trial was awhile back," She rolled her eyes, "That's what I TRIED to tell you if you would listen."

I cant believe I feel a little embarrassed considering that my life is still in danger, "Then what can we do?"

She looked upwards, "We can stay in a tree for the night."

"A fuckin tree?!" I looked at her, bewildered by the crazy suggestion, "A tree?!"

She sighed, "Would you rather stay out here and die?"

I was about to argue, but the sound of an approaching lurker made me change my mind. She practically dragged me to the closest tree and I killed the closest undead creature. She dragged the thing by the trunk and stepped on it. Considering her shorter height, she needed a boost up, so she used the lurker as a stepping stone. She took my hand and helped me climb to the sturdiest branch. I thought about how stupid we were for trapping ourselves up here, but to my surprise most of the ugly walking corpses ignored us while some of the others carelessly reached for us, but failed at grabbing.

"Well Sherlock," Molly looked at me, "We might me stuck up here for the day."

"What?!" I looked at her, "You said this would help!"

"Are we still alive?" She said sarcastically and looked at me a bit angry. I stayed silent and she grabbed one of the stronger, longer sticks nearby and started to sharpen it with her pocket knife.

"What're you doing?" I questioned.

"Creating a weapon. I'll pick the walkers off one by one after it's finished. Which could be awhile." She continued her work.

"What about your," I stumbled on my words, "Ice... thingy."

She shrugged, "Hilda's down there," She pointed downward towards the small heard under us, "I dropped her while I was helping you up."

God dammit. Am I seriously going to be stuck with her for the day? In a tree? I ran a hand through my hair and leaned my back against the tree. I don't know why, but I don't think I like Molly. I don't think she's a good influence for Clem and didn't do that great of a job protecting her.

NICK POV

It's been hours since Luke and that Molly chick left. They haven't come back yet, and now I was starting to get worried. I could tell Clem was too. She was sitting at the kitchen table next to me, and she looked like she was having a seizure!

I was taking in nervous breaths, were they okay? Did lurkers find them? I wanted to go out and look for them, but something told me it was too risky. I sighed, "Where the hell are they!?"

Clem jittered, "Fuck knows, maybe we should go look for them."

I wanted to say yes, but something told me it was a bad idea. I felt that if we stayed, Luke and Molly were gone. But if we left, it would get us separated. For crying out loud, I just found Clem like, 12 hours ago!

I finally stood up, "Yeah, maybe we should."

Clemenetine jumped up and grabbed the nearest weapon. Which just happened to be the rifle I was reaching for.

You know those cliché moments in the movies were you and another person reach for the same thing and your hands tough? Well, Clem and I were having that small moment.

It's weird, when it happened, Clementine started to laugh, "Whoops! Didn't know that was yours!" She then grabbed the handgun beside it.

I hate to admit it, but Clem's really changed! She looks tougher and really aware of this world. She wasn't the sweet and innocent cute little girl I use to know. She was grown up, and I wasn't sure if it was totally a good thing. I took a deep breath an Clementine and I headed for the door.

"Where do you think they'll be?" Clem asked, snapping me from my thoughts.

"Hmmm," I thought around that medium sized brain of mine, "Luke has this spot he likes to go to, they might be there."

CLemenitne nodded, "You know where it is?"

I almost laughed at the question, "When he found it, he wouldn't shut up about that spot. I know where it is,"

She rolled her eyes and let out a small smile. I remember when she would do that. One time, when Luke was elsewhere and I was taking care of Clem, he called my phone. He had just gotten his wisdom teeth taken out.. He was going on about how the world depended on him, and how he had to travel to Hogwarts so that he could help Harry Potter save the wizard world. He was laughing uncontrollably and wouldn't shut up. I put it on speaker phone so Clem could hear. The young girl insisted that it wasn't funny, but her face had the same expression it has now.

"I missed you guys," She muttered. I probably wasn't suppose to hear it.

I offered her a warm smile, "We missed you too. We were determined as hell to find you."

"I knew you would," She said louder this time.

I thought back to what she had told me of her past, "Will you tell me about this Lee fellow?" I asked.

I kinda regretted the question when it was out. To my surprise, she said, "He was... my hero. He saved me. He's the person who found me, at my house. The one that killed Sandra. He took care of me. Taught me how to use a gun. and also," Her smile widened, "To keep my hair short."

"He's the guy who came back for you?" I asked. I remember how she had told me that she was kidnapped and a man had done some things to her.

"Yes. He tried to save me from the stranger."

"Speaking of that guy," I looked away and my face burned red, There had been a question that had been in my head that I've been meaning to ask her, "This stranger guy."

"Yeah," She said slowly and urged me to continue.

"He didn't..." now that I could ask the question, I really didnt want to, " You don't have to answer if you don't want to," I added. My face went redder.

"What?" She asked, with either concern or amusement laced in her voice.

"He didn't..." I repeated before giving up, "He didn't like... touch you... did he?"

She looked confused before she realized what I meant, "Nick!" Her own face become a pink color, "No! God no!"

I let out a breath of relieve. Still slightly embarrassed. I wanted to ask her considering the other things he did. I just wanted to make sure she was safe, and that no one had done anything to her. Maybe I shouldn't have asked, it's a personal question. I looked at her, "Sorry," I muttered

"It's alright," She looked at me, "You're just watching out or me."

I was about to say something else, but I heard someone yell, "AT LEAST I'M ABLE TO KEEP HER SAFE!"

Clem sighed, "That's Molly," She said as she began to walk in the direction of the sound.

"AT LEAST I'M ABLE TO PROTECT HER SANITY!"

"And that's Luke," I nodded and followed her.

LUKES POV

Molly and I were arguing like little kids. I wanted to stop, but Molly wouldn't shut up!

"COME ON, YOU REALLY THINK YOU AND THAT DUMBASS KID WITH THE RIFLE CAN TAKE BETTER CARE OF HER?!"

Okay, it was one to say I wasn't capable of taking care of Clem. It was another to say the whole group wasn't capable of taking care of Clem. What made me mental was saying that about my best friend,

I restrained my hand so I wouldn't slap her. But I snapped, "AT LEAST WE DONT HAVE SUCH A BITCHY ATTITUDE!"

Molly was red with anger, "WELL, SUCKS TO BE YOU BECAUSE WE'RE LEAVING TOMORROW!"

"What?!" Said a voice.

We looked down to see some dead walkers and Nick with Clementine beside him.

Clem was the one who spoke, "Leaving?!"

Molly looked shocked, "Clem, I-"

"Save it!" Clementine snapped. "I don't want to hear your sorry excuses for why you randomly announce we're leaving."

I gave Molly a smug look. But Clem snapped again, "Don't think I'm taking sides Luke! No one is taking care if me! I don't belong to you, or Molly, or ANYONE! I'm more than capable of looking after myself! I SAVED MYSELF FRON A MADMAN BY KILLING HIM!"

I was taken aback by Clementine's outburst. I could tell Molly was too. Nick glanced around, "You two, get down from the tree and let's get! Lurkers could've heard that for miles!"

Nick was right, I hesitantly jumped off the tree. I landed on my feet and a small, but sharp pain shot through my legs. I winced, but shook it off.

Molly jumped off too, doing a little flip and landing on her feet. She had a sour expression and scooped up her ice...thingy, or 'Hilda'.

Clementine glared at us and kept to Nick. I felt embarrassed, but that wasn't what was fully on my mind.

Molly had said she was taking Clemenetine and leaving tonight. I needed to make a plan to make sure that didn't Clem really just up and leave us? I mean, I know that she and Molly care about each other. But leave us? Her closest friends. Her last strings to her normal life. How could she? I care about clem. I missed Clem. Nick and I had cried many times over the little girl we had thought we lost. I'm not losing her now. Not again. I caught up with her and grabbed her arm. She looked back at me and I swear her eyes could kill a man,'

"You guys go on ahead," I looked at Molly and Nick, "I need to talk ro Clem."

They both went up ahead and the younger girl looked at me, "Would it kill you," She sounded harsh, "To try to get along with my friends?" She jerked her arm away from my hand.

"She started it," I tried to joke, but the attempt only made her look angrier.

"Luke," She sighed, "Shut up."

I looked at her with sad eyes, "ARe you really going to leave?"

"Can we," she lifted her hand to her forehead, "Can we PLEASE talk about this later?" She didn't give me time to respond. She sprinted back up to the two people ahead of us and I sped my walking up