(Violet's Pov)
It's been a few weeks since Louis and the others had left, AJ and I had stayed behind in Texas while the others headed to Florida, if they have to move, they'll leave a sign for us. Clementine hasn't returned yet, I'm getting a bit scared but, I have to be strong for AJ, Clem is alive I know it.
"We have to go on another supply run." AJ said as he looked in our bag and I nod a bit as I barricade the door for the night. I handed him one of the apples that was growing in the neighbors' yard and he takes it and looks at me.
"What about you?" He asked.
"I'm fine, we'll find more food tomorrow." I said and he looked at me.
"Where's the knife?" He asked.
"AJ please just eat it, I'm not hungry anyway." I said as I looked at him.
"But you have to eat." He said and I sighed a bit.
"AJ, I know you're looking out for me but I'm fine I promise you that, now please eat the apple." I said and he looked at me and sighs and I chuckle a bit.
"Stubborn just like your mom." I said and he looked at me.
"Clementine is stubborn." He says and we chuckle a bit.
"God, I remember when she didn't want me doing any god damn work at the farm, she wanted to do everything." I mumbled and looked at AJ.
"She didn't let me really do anything." He said and I nodded.
"Well, neither did I to be honest." I said.
"Yea… you're stubborn too." He says and I laugh more.
"Oh yea…. Everyone is stubborn." I said and he nods.
"Why did the others leave? I mean I know they didn't want to stay but, they could have." He says and I look at the wall. It had some of AJ's new drawings hung up and I looked back down at him.
"I made them leave… Ruby didn't want to but they need her more than we do honestly, Louis just didn't want to stay…. He was scared, and the others just I made them leave." I said and he looked at me.
"We'll all be together soon." He says and I nod a bit as we just fall asleep for the night. I woke up to the sound of walkers groaning and banging on the door so I got up a bit and looked to see AJ still asleep and I place the blanket on him more and I looked out the window a bit and saw it was only three walkers. I rubbed my face a bit from sweat dripping down and I move away from the window and I sit back down in my dads' chair. I look at AJ as he slept holding his Disco Broccoli toy, I remember that Clem said she had found it for him when he was around four years old, a year after she had found him.
"God Clem where are you?" I asked myself as I closed my eyes again just to get a few more minutes of sleep. I don't know how long I was asleep but I felt someone shaking me and I open my eyes a bit and see AJ looking at me.
"You ok?" I asked and he nods.
"Yea just… thirsty." He said.
"Oh, ok." I said and slowly got up and I got him some bottled water.
"You never have to ask me for water, you know, that right?" I asked as he drank some.
"But we only have so much." He said and I nodded and thought for a bit.
"Want to know a cool trick?" I asked and he looked at me and I smile as I grab some containers for water and I grab my backpack as I place the containers in. he grabbed his gun and I grab my rifle as we head to the old creek bed by my home, I fill up the containers and so does he and I watch as he sees some frogs and I watch as he tries to catch them.
"Damn." He says and I laugh as he covers his mouth.
"Nah it's good, Ruby ain't here." I tell him and he smiles and nods as he grabbed the water bottles and I closed the huge water jugs and we head back to the trailer.
"What's this cool trick?" he asked and I looked at him.
"Well, we can't keep looking for water bottles here and there, so what I'm going to do is take this water." I said as I lifted the jug up a bit.
"And I'm going to boil it, that way the water is safe to drink." I said and he looked at me.
"But wont the water be hot?" He asked.
"After we let it cool that is." I said and he nods.
"So that's how they cleaned water before walkers?" He asked.
"Well, yea but also no, they did way before we had water cleaning systems and all that fancy stuff that we kids don't know how to work, but before that was made, they use to boil water to drink." I explained a bit. He nods as he starts to understand, I've been trying to teach him with some old book I had in my home, it was old school books that would be right for his age though.
"Clementine would love it here." He says and I look at him.
"Yea not as many walkers around, nice and quiet place, we could fortify the fence a bit more make it better, hell could go to an old construction site and get some concrete." I said as I thought a bit more.
"You're getting a tan." AJ said randomly and I look at him then my arm and I nod.
"Yep, happens when you go out in the sun a lot." I said.
"does it hurt you?' he asked and I chuckled.
"No, well if you hit me yea it would hurt a bit." I said as he looked at me.
"Don't even try it." I said as he smiled a bit and he tapped me and runs. I chuckle as I go after him and we get to the trailer, as we get back home I look at the back yard as I make a fire in the fire pit, we got some pots and filled them up with water and I watch as AJ grabbed some twigs and brought them over to me as I kept the fire going.
"You know my grandfather would make smores right here." I said and looked up a bit. I could see my grandfather sitting across from me as he handed my grandmother a smore just the way she liked it.
"What's a smore?" he asked.
"It's a really sweet treat, with gram crackers, a piece of chocolate, and a marshmallow all put together like a sandwich and you uh, you take the marshmallow and roast it in the fire, to what you like it as…. I wish I had some to show you." I said and he sits next to me.
"It's ok, I think I have the right image." He says and I look at him.
"Why do you think Walkers exist?" He asked and I thought a bit.
"Probably…. hmm…. why do you think they exist?" I asked.
"I asked you first."
"Well I asked you second."
"Well now I'm asking you third." He says and I laugh and so does he.
"Honest opinion?" I asked and he nods.
"Maybe they exist cause…. It was to show how strong people can be…. I eh… I mean the teachers left us to die…. Kids…. Shit." I said and looked down and I felt his hand on my back.
"I think walkers are here to get all the bad guys but it went wrong." He said and I looked at him.
"Like the people who abandoned you, the teachers, maybe they're all gone because they left kids to fight for themselves." He said and I nodded a bit.
"That kind of makes sense but then wouldn't we be dead too cause… well I'm a bad kid." I said.
"You're not, Troubled yes, but bad? No, you take care of me, and you're taking care of me right now, for Clementine."
"You're a good kid." I said and rubbed his head gently. We let the water boil for a bit and once it was good enough, I let it cool down and set another pot on the fire and I looked at him as he relaxed a bit. I talked to him a bit more as we just talked for a bit.
"Clementine gave me a pocket knife once." He said.
"Is that so?"
"Yea, it was cool too, Clem had put her um…. Initial?" he asked and I nodded.
"Yep."
"Yea it was a C and she put that on the knife so if someone took it we know it was them." He said.
"Smart." I said.
"Yea, well she gave it to me but… I lost it in the car… when we met you." He said and I looked at him a bit.
"Sorry." I said.
"Nah it's fine….. I wish Clem was here." He says and I nod a bit and look up at the sun a bit and look at the clouds.
"Me too buddy, me too…. Don't worry Clem will be here before we know it, then she can comment on how big you've gotten." I said and he nods. We get back to work on the trailer patching some holes up and I worked on the fence a bit and rubbed my face. The sweat was dripping down my face again and I sighed as I wiped it off again and I looked around a bit more as I worked on the fence. I jiggled the board a bit and I looked over to AJ who was watching the water boil. I went and moved the pot over and I filled the others up in the jugs and I looked at him as I gave him a bottle of water.
"Drink up." I said.
"You drink too." He said and I nod as I grab my bottle and I take a few sips and look around a bit.
"Are you going to let me help with the fence?" He asked and I looked at him.
"You can help keep watch for walkers if that helps." I said he nods as he goes and grabs his gun. I grab the tools again and start working on the fence as he keeps watch for walkers. It was hours later before I decided to take a break, I had the whole front of the fence all done and I'll work on the rest later. I look at AJ as he looks at some walkers, I come up to him and I look at the walkers too.
"You think they feel any pain?' he asked and I looked at him.
"Not really sure on that bud…. I don't think they do." I said as we looked at the walkers and they looked back at us and tried to grab at us.
"What if they do?'
"Then I'm sorry for causing them more pain."
"Are you really?" he asked and I nod.
"I wouldn't want to have the same shit happen to me." I said.
"So, are you going to ask me to shoot you too?" he asked and I looked at him.
"No… if anything I'll take myself out before you have to do something like that." I said as I looked at the walkers more.
"I could though if you asked." He said.
"I know you would but I don't want you to do that, I don't want you to have to shoot someone that you…. That took care of you…. Look at clementine, she…. She shot Lee and." I said as I lied about Clem having to take Lee out, but it still caused her pain when she couldn't, how bad would AJ get if he had to take me out like that.
"I don't want you to have to take out someone you love just because I was stupid enough to get bit." I said.
"You're not stupid, you'll never be stupid Vi." He said and I just looked at the walkers and I grabbed my dads' gun and shot them both and shook my head.
"Are we going to bury them?" He asked and I looked at them and rubbed my neck a bit as I looked at the walkers.
"Yea…. We can." I said as I looked at him and we dragged the bodies in. I started to dig in my back yard and I looked at AJ as he covered their faces, then went and got two extra pieces of wood and started on the cross. By the time night had come the fire still going and both holes done I grabbed the bottle of water and took a drink. I looked at the bodies a bit and I set the bottle down and dragged the bodies near the holes and I set them in as best as I could. I finish up and then begin to fill in the holes and I look at the bodies a bit as I finish the holes and AJ sets the crosses behind the graves.
"Do you have anything to say?" he asked as he stood next to me.
"No…. nothing at all." I said as I looked at the crosses.
"But."
"Sorry… I have nothing to say right now…. Maybe later." I said and he nods as we head inside. I look at the barricade a bit and I see AJ grab a can of food and we head back outside and we warm it up in the fire and I look at him. He looks back at the graves and I rub my face a bit as I look at him and I open my mouth just to close it. He looks at me and I look down and I sigh then I look to the graves a bit and I look down and hold my hands together a bit.
"I have nothing nice to say." I said.
"Anything is better than nothing at this point." He said.
"But something bad will make you regret what you say later on." I said and he looked at me. I look at the fire a bit and sigh as I close my eyes for a bit and I put my hands to my face and I look back up as I look at AJ again.
"I guess I forgive them…. Shit if they came back for me, I'd be dead like them." I said and looked at the graves.
"I wouldn't have met you, or Clem, so they did one good thing in their life, they kept me safe at least." I said and looked at AJ and he nods as we grab the can and I give him more food and I take a few bites.
"You don't eat much anymore." He says and I nod.
"Rationing, you need the food more than I do, besides we'll find more food tomorrow, we have clean water for now." I said as I shook the water bottle a bit and took a drink.
"But you need food too."
"AJ, I will be fine, trust me on this, I will eat and drink and sleep when I know you're safe and full, and hydrated." I said and he looked at me.
"Clem did the same thing, always thought of me before herself."
"We care about you AJ."
"But you don't need to hurt yourselves to keep me safe."
"AJ."
"No…. you have to eat too." He says as he shoves the can to me and I look at him.
"No, you eat it, AJ we will be fine just trust me." I said as I gave the can back.
"Mom." He says.
"Don't…. please just for me, I'll have a small snack later." I said and he looked at me and I look back at him.
"Fine, but you better eat, or I won't go to bed till you do." He said and I nod.
"Roger that." I said and he ate a little more and I looked at the stars.
'God Clementine, he's just like you, stubborn as all hell.' I thought as I looked at the stars. It wasn't long till I ate a small snack so AJ wouldn't worry and I took him to bed where he laid on the mattress, we set in the living room and I covered him in the blanket and he had the Disco Broccoli character with him again. I rubbed his back a bit as I hummed a small tune to him to help him sleep better. When he had finally fallen asleep, I got up and sat in the recliner and closed my eyes a bit. It had to have been hours later when I heard something banging on the door and I got up quickly along with AJ as we grabbed our guns and I looked out the window and saw a person banging on the door, but it was so dark I couldn't see their face. AJ looks at me and nods as I go to the door and I open it as he aimed his gun at the person.
"CLEM?!" He yells and I look quickly and I see that it is Clem. She smiles at me a bit and her faces is bloody and god she looks like she's going to pass out so I quickly grab her and pull her in as she collapses and AJ quickly shuts the door and puts the barricade back up as I lay Clem on the mattress and she strokes my cheek gently.
"T-T-Told, you I-I-I'd find you." She says before she passes out.
"Shit, Clem no, wake up." I mumbled as I shook her and checked her for any injuries.
"Clem?" I asked as she didn't wake up.
"Fuck." I mumbled as AJ puts the pillow under her head and I look and sees her injury from Lilly was wide open and I grabbed a blanket as I tried to stop the blood.
"Fucking god damn it." I cried.
"We have stitches." AJ says.
"G-Get it, and um… the... rubbing." I tried to say as he ran to the bag and grabbed what we needed and I grabbed my lighter.
"P-put god, warm up the needle." I said as I moved the blanket and I grabbed the bottle and I began to rub her wound gently but my hands were shaking like crazy as I tried my best to help Clementine.
"Vi." AJ said as he was at the foot of the mattress and I looked at him as he had Clems' pant leg lifted up and what I saw, will haunt me forever. There was a nasty bloody, bite on her leg, made by a walker I know. I look down at Clementine sadly as I rub her head gently as she sweat a lot and I gulped.
"We got to cut it off." AJ said and I looked at him then at Clem and I nod a bit.
"O-Ok, go get the um…. Get the hand saw and after that put your knife in the fire to put on the wound." I said and looked as clementine slept. God, I didn't want to wake her up or cause her pain. I looked up as I saw the hand saw in my vision and I grabbed it and I grabbed an old shirt and tied it on her leg tightly and I saw her open her eye a bit.
"Hm? Wha?" she mumbled and I come up to her and I rub her head gently.
"Clem, y-you got bit so…. So, w-we're going to…." I tried to say.
"I got bit?" she asked and I nodded.
"On the leg." I mumbled to her.
"Is it going to hurt?" she asked and I looked at her and nodded a bit.
"Like a fucking bitch." I said and she nods.
"Ok…. Ok." She mumbled as she closed her eye again and I looked at her leg.
"AJ hold her down while I cut." I said and he nods and goes over to Clementine and holds her shoulders down and I put the blade on her leg. And I begin to cut.
