The quartet crouched in the bushes, waiting for their prey to arrive. Rabbits were a difficult target to hit for any novice, but that hadn't deterred Clementine. The notion of the hunting grounds had fascinated AJ and her when they went on their first hunt, nearly three weeks ago. She'd come a long way since then, learning how to handle the bow and trying it out on live targets.

Hunts took place twice a week, with the current one comprising of Clementine, AJ, Louis and Violet. Their first hunt was with Marlon, who was genuinely impressed by Clementine's aim. She wasn't perfect, but she understood how to shoot and most importantly, where to shoot. AJ had also tried his hand at the weapon, but it wasn't designed for children, making it impossible for him to pull back the string and hold the bow at the same time.

"Are you sure this is a good spot?" Clementine asked, bow in her hand as she peeked over the bushes at the little clearing between the trees. "Cause Marlon only showed me the ones by that side." She pointed her thumb in the direction behind her.

"Positive. You gotta trust me, Clem. I've been here a few times and gotten lucky," Louis replied. "You just gotta be patient."

Clementine ducked out of sight once again.

"You sure you're gonna be able to hit one? Or do you want me to take over?" Louis asked jokingly.

"Not a chance," she replied. "If anything, I'm better than you." She grinned at him.

"Oh, you're on."

Clementine once again scanned the area with her eyes. Then she saw it. The rabbit sat by the tree, nibbling at the grass, the morning sun shining off of its brown fur. It hadn't noticed her yet, allowing her to slowly get up and ready the bow. She placed the arrow against the string and pulled it back, aiming at the animal. Taking a deep breath, she released the arrow. They watched as it sliced through the air and found its mark.

"Well, gotta admit. That was a pretty damn good shot, although, it was just a sitting duck," Louis said as Clementine retrieved her prize.

"You're such a bad loser, Lou," Violet told him as she took the bow from Clementine.

"That was a really good one, Clem," AJ said. "I wish there was a smaller one for me to use."

"Thanks, AJ. We can try making one for you," Clementine said, smiling as his face lit up.

"That would be really cool."

Louis grasped Chairles in his hand. "It's time we get back. I could use some breakfast."

"Yeah, me too," Violet agreed. "We're running really low on supplies. We'll need to do a run soon enough."

"I spoke to Marlon last night and he said the same thing I did. That our last one wasn't very useful."

"At least we salvaged some meds. Food is just becoming difficult to come by and... I hope we don't have to move again."

Clementine sighed. "If we have to move, we will. There's no point holding out here until we're starving."

"I know. I just don't like being out there, without a place to go to, you know? It was shitty enough when we had to leave Ericson's."

"I get it. Let's discuss this with everyone."

They began making their way back to the house. Clementine and AJ had been staying there ever since Louis brought AJ there three weeks ago. She felt safe within the walls of the house and most importantly, she felt AJ was safe. She was proud of the way he was stepping up to do his share of the work. Seeing the other kids, he felt motivated to make sure he earned his place at the house.

The four kids walked their usual path through the hundreds of trees. Clementine had come to enjoy the walk after the hunts, basking in the rays of the sun. She loved the chirping of the birds. It made her feel like she was in a different world, away from all her troubles. However, she did dislike the cold. The nights were cold enough as it is, and now, the days were also starting to get chilly.

Hunts always took place in the morning, since the rabbits, if any at all, only turned up around the first few hours of daylight. Even that had reduced, making the catch of a rabbit for the day quite rare. The traps also sat untouched. Clementine wasn't a morning person, having overslept once through a shift, only to be roused by a red-eyed Louis. She didn't particularly enjoy waking up to the cool mornings, but the fact that she liked hunting made her push herself.

The few weeks had passed by in the blink of an eye. Clementine and AJ found themselves getting used to the idea of waking up in a bed every morning, smiling at each other across the room from their beds, knowing that another day awaited them. An event they enjoyed was the dinnertime. Everyone would ensure that they sat together, recounting their daily activities. Not that any of them had something extraordinary to share, but quite to the contrary, everyone looked forward to discussing their mundane lives, almost as if the outside didn't matter.

"Something on your mind, AJ?" Clementine asked, noticing the downcast look on his face. The two of them were trailing behind Violet and Louis, who were engaged in a conversation.

"It's just... what you and Violet said. Will we have to leave this home?" he asked

"Do you want the truth?"

He nodded slowly.

"It's not looking good," she told him. "Supplies are very low and we can't stay here if we don't find anything soon."

"But I don't want to leave. I feel safe here."

"I feel safe too." She stopped walking and crouched in front of him. "It feels good to have a roof over our heads. But it doesn't always work out. We'll figure out a way to make it work somewhere else, if we have to, okay?"

"Can't we try to stay?" he asked.

Clementine shook her head. "It's not that easy. The winter will set in too, soon enough, and we can't be caught here without any food or water."

AJ nodded again. "At least all of us will be together."

"They're nice people, aren't they?" Clementine chuckled.

"They are. Louis said if we can find a piano, he can play music for all of us."

"Let's hope we do then," she said, standing up. "I wouldn't mind some nice songs."

They continued along their path. Clementine loved the way the fallen leaves crunched under her feet. She used to love running over them as a kid when her parents took her out for picnics.

"Do you hear that?" Louis asked as he halted suddenly.

They all strained their ears to listen to what had made him stop. The sound was unmistakable and all too familiar.

"Walkers," Violet said, pulling out her hatchet out of habit.

Clementine focussed on the sound. The growls seemed to be coming from further along the path. The trees made it difficult to see what was ahead of the turns.

"If there aren't too many, we can take them on," Louis suggested.

"We can. Let's find out how many there are before we show ourselves," she replied.

They steadily made their way to the source, taking care to not make a sound themselves. Any attention drawn to them was inviting an encounter with death. There were nearly half a dozen walkers scattered on the path ahead of them. They ducked into the bushes in the nick of time, almost having been noticed by the undead.

"That's a lot of them," AJ commented.

"Yep," Louis agreed. "More of the stragglers from the horde probably. What's our plan?"

Clementine thought about it for a moment. Judging from the growls, there appeared to be more walkers off the trail as well. She didn't want to pick a fight with them where there wasn't enough open space to move around. "It's better if we kill these walkers and run through here. We'll attack them head on," she answered.

"What can I do?" AJ asked.

"You're my eyes. Warn me if one of them sneaks up behind us."

She dropped the rabbit onto the trail, drawing her knife as she led them towards the walkers. The walkers had seen them by now and were slowly moving over to them, arms outstretched.

Clementine kicked the closest walker in the knee with all the strength she could muster, sending it straight to the ground. She heard a satisfying crunch as Louis brought Chairles down onto a walker's head. Her knife quickly pierced the fallen walker before she aimed for the second one's head. In one motion of her hand, the knife went through its skull, silencing it immediately.

With the road now clear, Clementine dashed back to the rabbit. She hastily slung it over her shoulder before taking off down the trail with the rest of the group. Walkers were now slowly ambling towards them, giving them a short window to make their way back home.

The four of them sprinted away from the dead, stopping only once they were sure that the walkers were out of sight. They stood quietly, catching their breath before proceeding to the house.

"There's too fucking many of them around. We should be careful," Violet said.

"The horde was pretty big," Louis recalled.

"It's not safe to roam around out here anymore. We could be overwhelmed at any time," Clementine said. "Let's get back home and we can figure out what to do."

They brisked up their pace, only relaxing once they sighted the black gates of the house. Clementine handed the rabbit to Brody as she opened the gates to let them in.

"Oh, thank God. There's some food at least now," Brody said, looking the animal over.

"Most of the spots were empty. We got lucky at one though," Clementine told her.

"I'll go clean this up. Marlon's doing a food count right now. From what I saw, we've only got a few days' worth remaining."

"Fuck. We'll figure it out," she told Brody. "I'll be up in the tower." She climbed up the ladder to the top of the tower. Placing her elbows on the wall of the tower, she leaned against it. Her eyes gazed at the trees, while her mind slipped away into her thoughts.

"Mind if I join you?" she heard a voice behind her.

Clementine turned her head to find Marlon standing near the tower, looking up at her. "Come on up."

He leaned back against the wall once he'd made his way up, eyes pointed towards the forest. "I take it the grounds are dry?"

"Barely caught one. It's not going to keep us going for long."

"Fuck. The walkers are growing here too. I killed four of them this morning alone." He pointed at the corpses lying near the treeline. "Even the house isn't safe if they keep increasing."

"How much food do we have left?" Clementine asked.

"Five days maybe? Six, if we stretch it thin."

"Shit." She glanced back at the house. "We can't stay here in the winter if we don't have anything. We have more chances if we look for a different place while we have the resources."

"I know." Marlon sighed. "I had the same thoughts. I don't know how I'm going to keep everyone safe out there."

"You don't have to do it alone. We all look after each other."

Marlon smiled at her. "Thanks, Clem."

She smiled back at him. "Where do you think we should go?"

"We go along the stream. We need water and even if we find a good place, it won't be useful if there's nothing to drink."

"That's true," Clementine agreed. "We could find a place close to water. Something like this."

"There's not too many places this well-hidden, but yeah, something like this."

"We should move at the earliest. We can't risk another failed supply run."

"I was thinking tomorrow. We have the entire day today to talk to everyone and figure out what to take. We could leave in the morning."

"That's probably the best. We can raid something along the way," Clementine suggested.

"Let's hope so." He paused. "Hey, could I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you keep AJ safe? I mean... it's getting really difficult looking after everyone. And after Ericson's... fuck... I'm really worried something will happen again."

Clementine looked at the distressed boy. "What happened back there wasn't your fault. You can't prevent everything. You just have to do the best you can." She glanced back at the house again. "You know, when I was with AJ out there, I had no idea what I was doing. I just made decisions and hoped they were right."

"That's kind of what it feels like here. All the decisions fall to me and I don't know whether I can make the right ones."

Clementine laid her hand on Marlon's shoulder. "You're doing a kickass job. You're a good leader and we're lucky to have you."

Marlon gave her a grateful look. "I appreciate that," he told her.

"Come on, now. We should go talk to the others."

"Give me a second," he said.

Clementine climbed down the ladder and started walking across the front lawn. She paused halfway, turning around. Marlon was rubbing his eyes, his back to her. Her eyes fell upon the gates and the forest beyond it. They would leave tomorrow in search of a better home to survive the winter. She wondered what lay in store for them beyond the safety of the forest house. Taking a deep breath, she disappeared into the house.

Author's Note: As like every chapter, hope you enjoyed this one too! Reviews, favourites and follows are appreciated.