Kenny groaned, feeling pain in his back from sleeping on the ground. He peeled his eye open, seeing bright shafts of sunlight streaming through the window.
The light cause him to once again close his eye and roll to his side. "Clem?"
When he didn't receive a response he reopened his eyes, only to discovered the child was missing from her prior spot.
Kenny had to force himself not to panic. Now awake, he forced himself up, taking a moment to stretch before entering the dining room.
He was a bit taken aback when he noticed everyone, except the kids, were sat around the table.
"Where are the kids?" He's asked
"They're in the other room. I made little Alvin a bottle and Clementine offered to feed him." Bonnie answered.
"Alright." He was glad that the group were willing to step up and take care of the kids. And he trusted Clementine with Alvie, she was responsible and mature. "So ya'll ready to head out."
"Actually...We talked while you were sleeping..." Bonnie said.
"Have you?" Kenny crossed his arms and raised a brow.
"We think we should just stay here a few days." Bonnie continued.
"What?" Kenny asked a bit irritated.
"Clementine needs more recovery time. Since we're here she should be able to rest a while. Luke's could use sometime to heal up. We all could." Bonnie stated.
"Yeah and this place is safe." Mike agreed.
"We'll run out of food." Kenny retorted.
"We already thought of that. Jane suggested that she go out and see what we can bring back." Luke said.
"Right. I'm gonna tag along, just to be safe."
Mike added.
"So...My opinion just don't matter?" Kenny huffed.
"You're not trying to give an opinion. You're trying to make a decision for the whole group." Jane said.
"I'm doing what's best for the kids." Kenny told them.
"The kids are fine." Bonnie sighed.
"For now. " Kenny said. "What happens when we run out of food."
"We won't run out of food. That's the point in going out to hunt." Jane rolled her eyes.
"And what about formula. Don't forget we have a baby with us." Kenny reminded them.
"That's why I suggested we go back to Howes." Jane said.
"We ain't going back there. That's fuckin' stupid." Kenny quickly shook his head.
"And why's your idea any better?" Jane questioned.
Kenny shook his head, fed up with having to explain why Wellington was the best idea. "If we get to Wellington-"
"Wellington doesn't exist." Jane cut him off.
"It does." Kenny said stubbornly.
"You really think so, man?" Asked Mike. "Cause it sounds too good to be true."
"Ain't no way so many people heard of it and its fake." Kenny said. "Ya'll-"
"Look what I found!" Clementine's little voice interrupted.
"Not now Clem." Kenny barely paid her any mind.
"But it's pretty cool." Clementine said, a nonchalant tone in her voice.
With a sigh Kenny turned to look at the girl. "Where's Alvie?"
"He's asleep in other room." She said quickly, with a glance over her shoulder."Look what I found." She repeated, bring the attention to the object in her hand.
"Is that a box cutter?" Mike asked.
"I don't know. I guess." Clementine shrugged, having no idea what it was called. She figured a knife was a knife. "It's sharp. So I thought I could hold onto it."
"Where'd you get it?" Kenny asked.
"In the the drawer by the bed." Clementine answered.
"I thought I told ya not to go back in that room." Kenny's tone was disapproving.
"Oh come on, Kenny. I was just looking for supplies." Clementine replied. "It had some extra blades too."
"Put it back where ya found it." Kenny ordered. He was already annoyed that the group had decided it wouldn't hurt to stay a few more days, and Clementine wasn't helping his mood.
"Why?" Clementine questioned.
"Because I don't want you playing with that." Kenny said. Plus it was probably dirty and he didn't want her to cut herself on it.
Clementine rolled her eyes. She hated being treated like a kid. "I'm not going to play with it. I know it's not a toy."
Kenny sighed, "Clem, put it away."
"But Kenny..." Clementine protested.
Seeing the situation getting bad, Mike spoke, "Clem, why don't you-"
"No." Clementine gave a childish pout. "I found it." Clementine replied. "Besides, what's the worst that can happen?"
"Clementine, c'mon." Luke joined. Clementine was being so mouthy lately and Kenny was in such a bad mood, he didn't want her getting in trouble.
"But I need it. It might be a good weapon." She tried to convince them to allow her to keep it.
"Would you just get rid of the damn thing?!" Kenny raised his voice, losing his patience.
Clementine narrowed her eyes, dropping boxcutter she had found before crossing her arms and walking away.
Luke knelt down to picked up the blade that the girl had dropped so no one would step on it.
Nobody said anything about the girl's act of rebellion.
Luke sighed, that was exactly what he was trying to prevent. He quickly followed after the girl to talk to her.
"Hey, Clem." Luke sat beside the girl.
Clementine didn't even turn to look at him as she questioned in annoyance, "What do you want?"
"You okay, kid?" Luke asked.
The girl stayed quiet, staring blankly towards the wall.
"Kid?"
Clementine finally let out a sigh. "Is Kenny angry with me?"
"Of course not." Luke said.
Clementine looked to the man. "He yelled me and I didn't even do anything wrong. He's always so mad."
"I know..." Luke knew that was true. The man did seem to be have a hard time keeping his temper lately and when it came to Clementine who loved to test people, it seemed to be impossible.
"He doesn't mean it Clem. He's just..." He trailed off thinking of the words.
"Cranky?" Clementine finished, with a tiny tilt of her head.
"Yeah. He's just cranky." Luke agreed with the child's choice of words.
"Doesn't mean he has to take it out on me." She huffed.
"Why wouldn't you just listen to him?" Luke asked.
"Because I don't have to. I'm not a little kid. And I wish he would stop treating me like one. It's annoying." Clementine stated.
"Clem-"
The girl raised a hand to silence him. "If you think I am, you're just as annoying as him."
"You don't think that." Luke said.
"I do." Clementine claimed.
"No you don't. How could you find this face annoying?" Luke joked.
"You're arrogant too." Clementine smirked.
"I'm arrogant?...Do you even know what that means?" Luke chuckled.
"You're conceited." Clementine defined. "You're full of yourself."
"And I think you're a bit cranky too." Luke teased.
"I am not!" Clementine snapped.
"You sure about that?" Luke asked.
"Yes..." Clementine pouted for a moment. "Maybe I am being cranky..."
"You think?"
"But I wasn't earlier. It's only cause Kenny was treating me like crap." Clementine explained.
Luke nodded his understanding. "Do you wanna talk about it?"
"N-No..." Clementine quickly shook her head. "No, I don't want to talk anymore."
"Listen, Clem. Kenny doesn't mean it, you know how he is."
"I guess."
"And you are a kid." Luke said.
Clem shot him a glare.
"But just so you know, you're a pretty badass kid." Luke told her causing the girl to grin.
"A lot more badass than you could ever be." Clementine teased.
"Aww...Is that how you treat me?" Luke pouted.
"Huh?" Clementine sent him a puzzled look.
"Look what I picked up for you." Luke dug into his pocket showing her the boxcutter.
Clementine's eyes grew wide and Luke noticed a small smile tugging at her lips. "I can keep it?"
"Yeah. Don't tell anyone." Luke brought a finger to his lips.
"I won't." Clementine nodded.
Luke handed her the knife. "Good. And you be careful with that."
"Yes, dad." Clementine rolled her eyes.
Luke let out a chuckle. "Alright, kiddo. I'll leave you to your thoughts." He place a hand on her head, surprised she allowed the gesture. "Call me if you need me."
"Thank you." She said turning away from him.
Thank you everyone for the faves and follow and reviews. I really appreciate it!
I'm glad you've stuck around so far. I know I'm not always to consistent with my writing because life happens, but I'm definitely going to be trying to improve on that.
Thanks for all your support! :-)
