Your Savior is Here

by KarsTheDisputer

what happens when you cross a badass kid and a man with nothing to lose? an awesome story! possible oneshot, possibly not.

Negan was sitting on the chair, blood soaked on him and his new and improved barbed wire bat he had just acquired. This night was the first one where he had killed anyone in his entire life, having killed a few people before his latest victim sitting a meter or so away from him.

He shivered, a chill going down his neck. It took him a minute to process that he had murdered someone. This, to him, was very surprising as he thought he couldn't feel anything since his wife had died earlier that day. It was true for the most part that he wasn't able to feel anything, however killing someone is a little extreme. He went outside to check on the doctors that gave him his bat.

"Hello?" He shouted.

Some rustling came from the medical rv before Laura came out, looking around to make sure there was none of the gang outside.

She sat down, breathing in smoothly. She seemed to be trying to calm herself down with a breathing exercise.

"Rough day?" Negan said sarcastically, sitting a few feet from her.

"Heh," is all she could muster in response as a half laugh.

"Look," Negan began. "I'm sorry for causing so much trouble for you and your family. "I... I told them where you guys were. This is all my fault."

She looked at him quietly.

"I didn't want to tell them, but they beat it outta me. I did intend on coming back to make things right after I got the chemo for..." He slowed, "I just... I'm sorry."

She nodded.

"Did they threaten you too?"

"They were gonna destroy the chemo." He looked down.

"I understand, but you are gonna have to work to make up for it."

Before they could continue their little chat, a few walkers came from around the rv. Negan jumped up with his bat in hand, but before he struck Franklin came from inside the RV and shot them with a pistol he had been given earlier by Negan.

"We should get out of here. These gunshots are not helping us," stated Negan.

They all walked into the RV before taking off for a few minutes. They stopped in the middle of the road.

"Is it fine if I sleep here for the night?" Negan asked.

"Sure," Franklin said, suggesting a small padded bench.

"This time is free," Franklin said "but if you want to stay here any longer you'll have to earn your keep."

Negan nodded, grateful for the resting place.

"This first time would also come with food, buuut we don't have any besides some jerky," Franklin said. He tossed Negan the meat sticks. "We can go hunting tomorrow."

Laura gestured to a bow they had in the back. "We use that for hunting."

"Nice and quiet. I like it," Negan said.

He ate his food and went to sleep. At least, he tried to, but couldn't. All he could think of was Lucille. He hugged his bat subconsciously. Negan had eventually passed out.

Laura nudged him. She didn't want to startle him, but he seemed to be a heavy sleeper. Ever since one incident involving a sleeping kid and a potato peeler, she didn't like to startle people.

"Come on man, just wake up." She slowly started to put more force into her nudges and pushes.

She eventually decided against her fear and kicked him hard enough to awake him. She noticed him rubbing where she had kicked before looking up.

"Come on, we're gonna go look for food."

Negan nodded before helping himself up. Laura grabbed the Bow before they decided to leave. Franklin told them to come out.

"Alright guys," Franklin started "we're gonna have to find a way to stop being found if we're gonna have any chance out here, so a few suggestions."

Both Laura and Negan nodded.

"One, we can make a wall around the camper and plant ourselves. Two, we can move our trailer somewhere else and secure it at that place. If we go with one, we need to start as soon as possible, otherwise we need to..." Franklin pulled out a map from a bag beneath him. "Use this and find a place to settle. My preference, option two. I don't like this place, it's too open. We should find a building and plant ourselves."

Both Laura and Negan were still staring and Franklin.

"Of course, this all happens after we get food."

They continued to look at him.

"Jesus guys, thoughts?"

Laura looked to Negan, still thinking what she wanted.

"Oh that was it? I thought you had an actual plan." Negan said.

"Are you patronizing me?" Franklin said sharply.

"What? No, i just thought since you guys have been out here longer you'd know the woods or whatever better. I agree however, we should find a good place to build some sort of base that isn't here," Negan finished.

Laura breathed in, before letting out "I think we should stay. At least, for now. We don't know what any other building may hold as of right now, and I think we'd be better off where we are. I do think we should move soon, but that it should be low on our list of priorities right now."

"There's another thing. We need more gas. We can move another 25-30 miles and that's it, assuming we don't waste any of it at all."

Negan wiped his forehead. This is getting worse. "Let's go hunting for right now, and worry about this more when we come back."

The other two nodded and started to head off in different directions.

"Wh-where are you guys going?" Negan started.

"To hunt," Laura said.

"Not together?"

"Why would we hunt together?"

Franklin looked back at the other two.

"Hurry up and find a place to start," He said.

"To start what? Hunt? I have a bat and a pistol. One is not meant for hunting and the other is not meant for hunting. Together, they add up to not meant for hunting."

She smiled, before quickly returning to normal. "Fine, stay back and make a hunting weapon. I'm gonna use the bow and Franklin will probably make some sort of trap or something."

Franklin sighed before pulling out a pistol. "So, are you seriously not gonna use the pistol? I get the bat, you would need to get in close. The pistol on the other hand is..."

"Loud and inaccurate."

"You seemed just fine when you handled the people at the biker gang's place."

Negan looked at the pistol. He did have a point. "Alright fine, but try to let Laura do the hunting if possible. She's got the only quiet ranged weapon we have."

Franklin nodded.

Negan walked into a random direction, remembering which way he came from. He made sure to always keep a spare melee weapon on hand, so he pulled out a pocket knife and made an N occasionally on the Trees he passed. Before marking his 6th tree, he heard a twig snap.

He bolted around as fast as he could, bat in hand when he saw a walker. He sighed for a second, noting how it was only one. He readied and swung with as much force as he could muster. He caved its soft, dead dome in.

He looked around before squatting to see if it had anything on it. He checked its pockets, and felt a couple bullets. Wait, this wasn't...

This was a survivor. How did they die? He checked the other pocket and felt a knife. He looked for signs for a possible cause of death.

"Drop it."

The voice startled the shit out of Negan and practically made him jump out of his skin, but physically he barely moved.

He dropped the newly acquired knife and turned around.

"And drop that too."

"I can't," Negan said.

"Do you want to die?"

"I just... please don't take the bat. I can put it away or something, just-"

"Now!"

He dropped it. They picked it up.

"Turn around."

He turned around slowly.

Standing before him was very interesting. It was a dude with an almost orange-y brown eye color. He had green patched clothes in the shape of a poncho and a lump on his back that he could only assume is a covered backpack. He also had a mask and hat of similar color scheming.

"What're you doing out on your own?"

"I could ask the same thing."

Negan looked down at the boy's hands and saw a spear of questionable durability pointed at him.

"Can I have my bat back? I need to defend myself against these infected somehow."

The boy hesitated and looked down at the bat, and stopped focusing on Negan.

Negan took the opportunity to shove the guy back. There was a tree stump behind him and he tripped backwards, falling with the two weapons in hand. They landed with the spear hitting his leg in the process. Blood started to pour out.

The man screamed out before trying to swing at the leather jacketed man, who grabbed the bat in the commotion and raised it. The man took off his mask and hat and Negan stopped. It was a 16 year old kid. He lowered his weapon. The kid screams in pain again, before Negan squatted down.

"Look kid, I'm sorry for shoving you. However, you gotta understand where I'm coming from when I... do you have a group?"

"Yeah, we live in a barrel factory half a mile that way." The kid pointed.

"Alright, I'll drop you off, then we're even."

They left for the barrel factory.

Negan saw how pathetic the place was and almost laughed. He could tell they were just starting, but it was still funny as hell. The fence was broken halfway across and the rest was filled with wood sticks. There were alot of people however.

"Damn." Negan said in a sarcastically enthusiastic voice.

"Yeah, i know. Laugh it up, but it's the best we got in the area. Too many people to move."

"Well, if I help clean up this mess, will you give me some food I can bring back?"

"That's... actually not a bad idea."

Negan set the spiked bat down and helped get to work. He was working on the fences, using various metal sheets and breaking down barrels to fortify the wooden parts. A kid sat down next to him, no older than 10.

"Is that your bat over there?"

Yes, it is kid. What's your name?"

"Zach. What's yours."

"Negan."

"What about your bat? What's it's name?"

Negan thought about that for a second. A name? I guess he's named inanimate objects before, like how he named his old car betty. His mind wandered to his wife.

"SHE is named Lucille. She is very ladylike." He came up with on the spot. Negan gave a smile, and looked around. This place was nice, but he preferred to stay on the move, ever since he had to go further for gas for chemo. It was nice to have such high mobility without much worry about a big group. He felt like he could come back to this place and maybe live here long term, but that's only if he has no other choice.

After about an hour of labor, they gave him enough food for 2 people. He would have to0 ration it if the other two didn't find anything. He did have faith, and tied the food to his waist.

After making his way back, he noticed no one was there. He sighed, realising he wouldn't have to explain himself to the family for how he got the food. He dropped the food and sat down, bat in hand. Lucille...

He swung it around a little to get a better feel for it. He felt like it was made for him. It had the perfect weight for him, not too heavy and not too light. He threw it between his hands and smiled. This felt good, the bat practically gave him power.

"Negan, what are you doing here already? Find food?" Franklin came out with a bucket in hand.

"Yeah."

What animal is it?

"I uh- it's deer meat. You find anything?"

"I found a river, so I got a bucket from the camp and caught some fish. There's three."

"How'd you manage that? I thought you only had a pistol."

"I did, so I had to make due." He gestures to a pointy stick he had dropped seconds earlier.

"Alright."

Laura came out from another direction, not without hostility from Franklin and Negan. She was carrying 2 rabbits.

"Well, it doesn't seem I really need to ask what happened with your trip."

She nodded, and threw the rabbits on a nearby table. Franklin dropped the bucket of fish on it, and Negan pulled up the deer meat.

"You got a deer? Good shit. Where'd you find it?"

"I- there was this factory a few miles away with people in it. Some stuff happened and I ended up working there for a bit in exchange for food."

"You what?!" Laura asked.

"It's a long story."

"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?" Franklin blurted.

"I was- you didn't even ask where I found the damn thing!!"

"So I'm supposed to ask whether you went to go work at a factory with a group of..." he gestured for Negan to fill in the blank.

"I don't know, too many to count off the top."

"Jesus," said Laura. "What if they attack us?"

"Why would they attack us? If they wanted to they could have abducted me or some shit. Quite a few had guns."

"I see. Well, let's forget about them, they don't seem to pose a threat."

"Are you kidding me? They could be trying to use you to get more of 'your'," she gestured to her and Franklin "people."

He didn't want to say anything to her about her gesture she just made. "You're against meeting with these people in the future, Laura?"

"Very." She said.

"And Frank?"

He waited for a second, before saying, "I think this can lead to more good than harm. As you said, if they wanted something they would have done it already."

Negan nodded.

"You are the tie breaker, Negan. Choose whether or not we go with them or stay out here and survive on our own."

He sighed, not wanting for it to come to this. He did prefer to go Laura's route nowadays, but that didn't change the potential safety in numbers. He pondered, before finally making a decision.

"We stay out here. We simply can't trust those guys."

Laura sighed, while Franklin moaned.

"Shit. Well, if that's the majority, that's the majority."

"Alright, where do we go now?"

What?

Do you not remember our conversation?

We didn't agree on what we were gonna do, Frank! Laura nearly shouted at him.

Well, no, we kinda did. Both Negan and I said we should move first. Unless you don't want to do the whole voting thing?

She moaned, before realizing "well, Negan did say he wanted to move us, but he didn't say when. So again Negan, as our tie breaker, when do you want us to move around?"

Negan wanted to not be the tie breaker in this instance because he understood both sides. He looked up for a second, and let out a breath. "I don't think this subject matters that much compared to the previous one. Maybe we should go tomorrow?"

"It's decided. Tomorrow it is!"

"Alright, I'm gonna go gather wood and start a fire, you guys go gather water so we can boil it." Negan said to them, grabbing his bat before heading towards the nearest group of trees.

After picking up a few sticks, he heard some leaves rustling. He turned around and saw a walker. It was slightly bigger than him, with nasty features all across its face. He dropped the sticks before smashing his weapon as hard as he possibly could onto it's brain case. It died immediately.

It started to rain.

Two more walkers came out of seemingly nowhere, one being an average sized male with long hair, the other a taller girl. He hit the first one in a traditional baseball style, and knocked its head in. The second one was a bit faster so he didn't have enough time for a full swing. Instead he bashed Lucille over her head repeatedly.

He checked his surroundings in the forest landscape to see if there were more biters around. Seeing none, he dusted himself off. These trees oddly didn't drop many branches, as evidence of the lack of wood he could find. So, now he has to find wood, but also somehow manage to find dry wood since it's been raining for quite awhile. Negan sighed before he heard a few gumshots. Instinctively, he hit the ground.

"Shit," is all he could say. This was only gonna bring out more walkers, so he ducked down and tried to lay low. He walked near a ledge, where below it seemed to drop an amazing height. It was a giant cliff, and at the bottom was a river.

The storm had gotten much more intense.

The view was amazing, but he hadn't exactly had the time for it. He put his bat and looped it to his waist belt, and pulled out his pistol. A bat isn't gonna help if a horde is drawn out from the gunshots.

"Jesus, are you fucking kidding me?!" A man shouts from closer inland away from the cliff. Negan looked up. "What the-?" He saw a little black girl being chased by a middle aged man. He grew angry.

"Hey!" He yells, pulling out his gun. The man ignores him, too busy trying to grapple her and keep her in place.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Then stop running!"

"Quit squirming!"

She bit him in the hand to try and escape. She seemed in flight or fight mode, and for good reason. The man was twice as big as her, having no way she had been older than 10 years old.

Negan simply had enough of the dangerous fight and shot the man.

He showed a face of complete surprise, looking down before coughing up blood. He had been shot right in the stomach, and without medical help would die in minutes.

"You ok kid?"

The girl's face was temporarily frozen in shock before she shook her head to snap out of it. Negan reached down for the girl to help her up, and she accepted it.

"Th-thanks."

"Don't mention it kid. Now, I gotta get back to my-"

When both of them turned around from the cliff, they saw a small herd of the walkers surrounding them. The girl got scared and fell down the cliff, and accidentally pulled Negan with her since she hadn't let go.

"Shi-"

SPLASH*

SPLASH*

they both hit the water.

The man woke up with what seemed like hours later. The river now looked more calm and shallow compared to before, his head hurt like hell and his Lucille was still tied to his waist. The girl from earlier was lying still on the ground. She looked rough, wearing a dirty purple shirt and an even dirtier hat with a 'D' on it. He looked around and thankfully saw no walkers in the vicinity. He walked around a bit, not yet waking the girl who has caused him so much trouble. He saw a landing up above him. He knew he could reach and pull himself up, but he wasn't so sure for the girl, so he wanted to wait until she woke to help her climb up.

Her eyes slowly creeped open, drowsy from the fall. She might have hit her head pretty hard, might not have. The details (and her vision) were blurry. She pulled herself up in a manner of a few seconds and looked around.

"Hey kid."

"Oh, it's you! Thank you for saving me."

"I like saving people. It's what I do. Now, what's your name?"

"My friends call... called me Clem. My full name is Clementine." She chose to tell him, since he did save her. It was the least she can do.

"I've noticed the uh- the past tense. Do you got any friends left?"

"I was with a woman named Christa. She's probably dead, I heard her scream when we were being chased, and mid scream a gunshot was fired and she stopped."

"You got anywhere to be?"

"No"

"Then why don't you come back with me to a camp I have? It was pretty close to where you pulled me down a cliff."

"I'm sorry about that."

"It's not a problem. I'm fine."

"Why don't I help you climb that thing over there? We can walk back to my place."

She nodded, and they walked over. He boosted her up and pulled himself up.

"Do you wanna scout ahead while I look around further back for anything that might be worthwhile?" Negan asked Clem.

"Sure."

Clem ran up ahead to the point that he could barely see or hear her, and looked around for potential food. He lost his pistol in the fall, but still had the bat and a knife.

He looked around to get a feel for his surroundings. A whole bunch of trees is all he could feel. He saw a rabbit and stopped what he was doing. He dropped down and wanted to sneak up on it. He slowly raised his bat and...

BAM*

The rabbit saw his shadow and leaped at the last second.

"Damn."

He was about to go after it when he heard a scream. He could tell it was Clementine, and went to go see what the hell happened in the couple minutes he had left her.

She was so scared. The dog jumped at her for no reason. She was going to give it food, she was going to... she even threw a frisbee for it. She felt betrayed, and now the dog was lying there on the ground with a couple poles sticking through it. It was whimpering and whining. Clem looked at her knife and... she had to put it down.

After stabbing the dog, Clem's mind cleared up from the adrenaline and now her arm hurts like hell. She pulled up her sleeve and looked to see the damage of the bite the dog had inflicted, and saw a nasty gash all over her forearm. Shit. She looked up and saw Negan run up from where she came from earlier.

He saw her and got closer. "You alright?"

She looked down, her hand covering her arm.

"Wait, were you..."

"By a dog."

"What dog?"

Clem gestured to behind her, where the dog laid dead. Negan stood above it, sad. He liked dogs, but he understood the seriousness of the situation.

"Did you kill it on purpose?"

"I beat it on the head with a can when it bit, just wanting it off me, then kicked it. It fumbled over that log," she gestured to the log near the dog "and fell onto those... metal roddy things."

"Alright, let's go find something to patch you up. I could take you back to my group but it's far. One of them's a doctor."

She smiled.

They started to walk deeper into the woods. They needed to follow up the stream to get back up to where Negan's group was, but following the path seemed safer until they could find a map.

"Can you walk or do you want me to carry you for now?"

She contemplated the offer, and decided she wanted to walk just a bit further until she got a little more tired.

"Alright well, if you want me to carry you, just ask."

"Thanks."

snap*

They heard a twig break.

They looked at the source and saw a walker. Negan prepared to strike when he saw another. And another. And another. And... they were surrounded.

"RUN!"

Negan led the way, hitting a walker in the way of the path before jumping over it. Clem jumped over too, and they ran further down the path. *BAM* Negan hits another infected with Lucille in the path, this one bigger than the last. It stumbles, but doesn't fully fall.

"SHIT!" Is all Negan said before it reached out and tripped him. He had dropped his knife and bat, and all he could really do was kick at its face. His weapons were out of reach. Clem ran up and grabbed the bat, but struggled to lift it ouf of pain since she still had the bite.

She decided to throw the bat towards Negan and instead go for the knife. She stabbed it in the leg to try to bring it down closer to her height, before stabbing it twice in the face. Negan grabbed the spiked bat, and pushed himself up with it. They were nearly surrounded, but there weren't that many in one spot. If they could focus their attacks on one point, they could...

FWOOSH*

An arrow struck a walker from the back of its head and killed it instantly. A couple more shots rang out and out of it, two men came rushing out. One of them was an older man and the other a younger man. Possibly father and son, although he doubted it.

"Hurry!" The younger man shouted. Negan sprung into action, picking up Clem as fast as he could and running towards them. They all ran deeper into the woods. After a few minutes of running, they slowed down. Thankfully, walkers were slow as hell. Negan didn't even want to think about what it would be like if they were faster.

"So, what were you guys doing out here by yourselves?" The younger man asks.

"I was trying to bring me and her back to our group to fix her up. We got lost since we fell into the river awhile back."

"You fell into the river? Isn't the current super strong?"

"Well, not really near the end. But yeah, back where we originally fell it was pretty bad."

"So, Miss..."

She looked at Negan, before looking back at the man.

"Clementine."

"Miss Clementine, he..."

"Negan."

"Negan said you got hurt. What ha- OH SHIT," he yelled, looking like he was readying his weapon. He pointed to her arm, blood covering on it. "Oh hell kid... were you BIT?!?"

"Technically yeah, but by a dog. Not a walker."

"Bullshit. You're saying that to cover yourself."

She's telling the truth. I saw the dog."

"Let's hear them out, Luke."

Clem explained what happened to the best of her ability without sounding like she was bullshitting.

"So, the dog jumped at you for trying to feed it, so you killed it? Jesus, that's messed up," Luke asked.

"It was an accident!"

"Yeah well, still. You don't kill dogs."

"Say guys," Negan started "where are you taking us anyway? Do you have a larger group? Maybe a hideout for you two? Anything?"

Luke looked at the older man.

"Yeah, we have a house just a bit further. What about you? Are you in a group? Name's Pete by the way."

"Alright, well I was in a group with a few people. We were about to cook some food, when I ran into Miss Clementine here."

"That's the extent you know her?"

"Pretty much. So, do you guys have a doctor?"

Before the conversation could move any further, Clementine passed out.

Luke caught her.

"So, be real here Negan. Was it a dog bite?"

"Absolutely. If you look at it, it's much too long to be any human bite. We have flatter faces than a lot of other animals." Luke rolled up the sleeve.

"Well, it looks like a dog bite but I can't say for certain," Pete said "I believe you. However, you're gonna need to prove to the others."

Negan nodded and picked Clem up from Luke.

They walked to the cabin, which wasn't far. Seems like they weren't lying regarding how far the house was.

When Luke, Negan, Clem and Pete made it back to the cabin, more people rushed out. A man similar in age to Luke who was carrying a rifle, an older black man and a pregnant woman came out.

"Help! We need a doctor!" Negan said in a pleading voice.

"What happened?" The woman asked.

"A dog bit her on the forearm," He replied.

"A dog you say? That sounds like a lie. You sure it wasn't a lurker?" The black man asked.

"Yes I'm sure. If you want, I could take you to see the dog if you want to walk for however many hours." Negan shot back.

The man that was Luke's age lifted his gun a little higher. "Set her down first," is all he says.

Negan listens and puts her on the ground. "Look, all we need is for her to get stitched and cleaned up, then we can get out of your hair."

"So you can bring back your raider friends to come kill us?" The pregnant woman shot back.

"I'm not gonna do shit to any of you. I just want her to be safe. People are a resource, and I just can't let her die."

"What's going o-" Clem wakes from the ground.

BAM*

The man Luke's age nearly blows Clem's brains out.

Negan's eyes widen before he punches the man in the jaw.

"Woah, woah! What the fuck?!" Luke says from behind Negan. He tackles him to the ground.

"What the hell was that for?! It was an accident!" The raven haired man says.

"You nearly killed her!" Negan shoots back.

He looked down. "I-"

The door to the cabin bursts open again and a hispanic man walks out. "What's going on out here?" He yells.

"Your buddy almost shot my friend in the face!"

"It was an acci-"

"ENOUGH!" Luke yelled. The hispanic man made his way down to get a better look at what was going on.

"I heard something about a doctor. Who needs to be patched up?"

"I do," Clem says from the ground. "A dog bit me."

"A dog? Let me have a look." He walked over and pulled up her sleeve. Holding her arm, he examined the cut. "That is a nasty gash. I can't say for certain it's a dog, but it does look like it."

"So you'll help her?" Luke says.

"I'll wait to see if you turn. Just a few hours, and if you don't show any signs, I'll treat you. You on the other hand," he gestures to Negan "are coming with us. Take her to the shed. You will come with us to interrogate you."

"As long as she gets medical treatment," Negan sighs and accepts this fate.

Carlos looked around in the kitchen. Finding some rope, he pulled up a chair and told Negan to sit down. He wrapped him up a few times. "Just a precaution."

"Yeah, sure."

"Name?"

"Negan."

"Where you from? Larger group?"

"Couple people."

"Where?"

"Why would I tell you where my group is? We just met."

"Fair enough. You know anyone named Carver?"

"Who?"

"I'll take that as a no."

He turned around, ready to head out the door.

"Could you untie me? I answered all your stupid questions."

The man stopped. "Why would I do that?"

"What if something important happens?"

"I'm not just gonna free-"

"Dad?"

A girl halfway on the stairs said, staring with a shocked look on her face.

"Hey Sarah. Go back upsta-"

"Why do you have a man tied to a chair?"

"I'm busy, we can talk about this later."

"That's messed up, dad. Let him go."

"It's not that simple sweetie-"

"You should do it. I haven't done anything wrong."

"You shut i-" he stopped himself. He was setting a terrible example for Sarah. "Fine." He used a knife in his pocket and cut the ropes.

"Hey, that asshole punched me! You can't just-"

"Look, I'm truly sorry I hit you. It was a heat of the moment thing. Maybe I should've shoved you or something instead." Negan gave a half bow that didn't seem serious.

"You little-"

"You know where my Lucille is?"

"Your what?"

"My super badass bat."

"It's in the other room, along with your knife and the girl's knife. You can wait outside while the rest of us talk about what to do with you and the girl."

Negan nodded, and as he was walking out he swore he saw the door underneath the staircase move an unnatural amount. It might have been Clem sneaking around since everyone else was in the kitchen, so he didn't want to say anything.

"So, what's everyone's name?"

"I'm Sarah," the staircase girl blurted out.

"My name's Alvin," the black man said.

"Rebecca," The pregnant woman says.

"Carlos," the hispanic man says.

He nodded and started to head for the door.

Stepping outside, Negan found an even patch of dirt and squatted down. He found that it helped his back and made him more agile, plus it felt good. He looked around to see if any walkers were out and about before he started to look up at the stars. This was one of his favorite parts about the world since the fall, being that there was no more light pollution for the most part and let him see the countless stars above the earth.

"AAAAAAAHH" a loud scream came from the shed. "Shit," Negan said before running towards the shed. Negan burst through the door with the others coming out of the house. Negan hit the lock with Lucille. Negan's eyes were very surprised to not only see that a walker got in, but that she killed it. The others ran up next to him to see what happened.

"Still. Not. Bitten." Was all she said. Her arm had white cloth wrapped around, like it had already been cleaned up.

"Ho-ly shit kid." Was all Negan could say.

"Wow," Luke managed to say.

Everyone else just stared on.

"Did you heal yourself?" Carlos asked.

"With our supplies??" Rebecca almost yelled.

"You gave me no other choice. I needed to be fixed up and you guys weren't doing anything about it."

"Still..." Carlos said with an almost disappointed look.

"Well, what's done is done. Come on, let's all go back to the house for the night."

Everyone decided that was for the best and headed inside. The soup was pretty good. Clem chose to instigate shit with Rebecca and asked her whose kid was it, to which Negan responded rather dumbfounded. She was very ballsy, if her fixing her arm by herself wasn't enough to prove that. He very much liked her, and thought that perhaps in another life he would have had a kid exactly like her.

They had a bunk bed in a room in the basement that they were allowed to sleep in. Tomorrow they were gonna leave for their base to meet up with Laura and Franklin, and if they felt they could trust this group maybe meet up together and combine into one group. There was also the barrel factory that wasn't set in stone as a group they wouldn't come back to.

"Negan?"

"Yeah kid?"

"I'm bored."

"Well what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. Maybe play a game?"

Sure. What do you want to play?

How abooout poker?

"Sure, poker is fun. It can help teach you poker face too."

"What's that?"

"It helps you bluff, or lie, your way to a win. It's an important skill you'll need to know."

They asked around for a deck of cards and eventually they actually managed to find one.

"My favorite version is called Texas hold em. We both get two cards and whichever one gets the better hand wins. There will be 5 cards on the table slowly flipped over, and we would put chips in. These chips would represent something valuable, like food. The deeper into a game of poker, the more you can draw out of someone before they fold. Never play something you don't think can get you a win."

He wrote the order of best possible hands to worst from top to bottom.

The first game for Negan was easy, and he had no intentions of necessarily letting her win. She needed to catch on fast or she would die in this world. He may not try his hardest but he wanted to push her a bit more each game, like a personal gym trainer.

The second game was a sweep, she had three of a kind and he had a single pair. She was lucky.

The third game Negan won with a pair when she had two pairs. "Woooah, you sure got me there."

"You just need to drive uncertainty into your opponent, make them not be able to tell either way. You may also want to act like you're in an advantageous position but you don't want to give it away so they're more likely to fold."

She nodded while looking at her cards.

The fourth game she actually managed to trick Negan. She managed to beat him with literally nothing when he had a straight.

"You learn fast, kid. Although I thought I told you to not play something you don't think can net you a win."

"If I bluff well enough I don't need to though, right?"

"Well, sometimes someone may call you on your bluff."

"Oh."

"Alright, let's get some sleep."

She nodded. Clem loved to go to sleep, it was her favorite part of the day. At least, when she felt safe. This was the safest she's felt in a long... really long time. However, she did prefer to sleep with no pillow. The side of her arm felt more natural and never slept on her back.

The next day was finally upon them. The sun blaring through the cracks the light made around the blankets through the window hit Negan right in the face, but it wasn't enough to wake him.

After a little while longer Clem woke up first. She stretched.

Clem inspected the room. The bunk bed was rather big, at least for her. The height difference between bed one and two was about a foot more than her. There was a desk with a lined notebook, and a pen. She thought that keeping track of her adventures may come in handy, so she put it in her bag.

At least, she was going to. As she was putting it in, a page peeled back and revealed writing on the page under. She went to look at it, and saw cute handwriting. There were stick figures along the edge, the dots on the i's were hearts and so were the o's.

This must've been that girl's book that made her pinky swear into being her friend. She didn't want to abandon her, which made her feel bad. Maybe she could come back, after all Negan said they might. She put the book back, not wanting to invade the book's privacy. She looked around again, and her eyes landed on Negan's bat. She thought it was super cool. She did, however, think it could be improved further. Maybe if he put nails in it too...

Negan moaned, eyes barely open. He didn't know how he managed to let Clem convince him to sleep on the top bunk, but he did. You'd think the kid would want the taller view. He stretched and yawned, before climbing down.

"Morning."

"Hey Clem."

"Looks like it's almost time for us to leave these people."

"Can we bring them with?"

"I- actually that's a good question. You can ask them, but this is a nice place. If I were any of them I wouldn't have a reason to leave."

"Can we give them a place to go to if they ever want to leave to see us? Or find like, a walkie talkie or something?"

"You should ask them about a walkie talkie set. That would be pushing our luck though. I like them, so maybe we can arrange a way for them to find us."

"Alright." Clem ran off out of the basement.

That kid... he really only knew next to nothing about her. She seemed to like him and has practically stuck to him like glue. It was kinda weird, but he loved havin' a kid around. She was an ultra badass who got. Shit. Done. Her fixing her arm up in the shed was rad as hell and he knew that if she were to stick around she would be helpful. He also liked her in general as a person. He was never able to have kids with Lucille for... difficult reasons and he...

He picked up the bat and inspected it. He was looking at the crevices and ridges in the wood, simply observing it. It looked cool. The barbed wire was what truly topped it, and he wouldn't have it any other way. He thought maybe a metal bat would work better since those might hurt more and are harder to break, but you can make bigger changes to wood then metal.

Clem rushed back with a pair of walkie talkies.

"Well shit, kid! You actually found some."

"We just need batteries for them."

"Where the hell are we supposed to find batteries?"

"Beats me."

"Negan, can I... hold the bat?"

"Uh- sure? Also, her name is Lucille."

"Right. I wanna see Lucille."

He tossed it to her lightly, and she quickly grabbed the non pointy end.

"Make sure to treat her very kind, I'm gonna go and look around some more, hope to find some batteries on the way."

"Come get me when you're done so we can get out of here."

"Will do!"

Negan left the room so she could look at Lucille on her own. Clem waved it around to see how heavy it was. There was a tennis ball that was in rough shape under the bed, so she grabbed it. She tried to toss it with one hand before hitting it, but she was a bit too small and the bat was a bit too heavy. It didn't fit right with her. Not now anyways. Maybe when she was older.

There was some blood under the barbed wire, which was to be expected. She wanted to suggest nails on the bat, but she was afraid she was gonna get shot down and get called stupid. She laughed, thinking how that was her biggest concern right now.

Negan came back through the only door in the room. "Alright, let's go. Give one of the two walkie talkies to them and tell them to look for batteries." He had found a marker and wrote '5' on the back. "Tell them that they should go on channel 5 if they want to talk, and 6 if 5's occupied."

"Then what?"

"We walk back to my group. Unless, of course, you want to stay."

She contemplated for only a second before making up her mind. "Let's go."

Clem handed Negan his special weapon before they left the room, and both walked into the kitchen. "So, what did you want with those walkie talkies I gave you, Clem?" Sarah asked.

"Sarah, you take one and keep it. Try your hardest to find a battery, and I'll do the same. We'll be on channel 5, and channel 6 if we can't go to channel 5."

Sarah nodded.

"Leaving so soon?" Nick asked from the opposite side of the table. "We're gonna go fishing, me and Pete. You should come with us."

Clem shook her head. "No, sorry. I'm going with Negan, his friends are worried."

Luke looked down at the ground.

Clem walked up to Rebecca.

"I'm sorry for being so mean to you. I don't want us to be on the wrong foot. I hope we can be friends."

Rebecca looked down for a second, before her features softened. "It's fine."

"Well, we're off. See you guys again someday," Negan said.

They started to head to where the river was. They just needed to follow it upstream. "So, Negan."

"Yeah?"

"About Lucille..."

"What about Lucille?"

"She's cool and all, but you can make her better."

Negan gave a big toothy grin.

"How's that, kid?"

"Have you ever considered nails before? Like, through the bat?"

Negan stopped walking for a second.

"Holy shit kid. You are awe-some!"

"If you're gonna add nails, you shouldn't make em too long. Make 'em stick out just a little bit out more than the barbed wire. So that way you can maximize both without it only being the nails."

Negan gave a mouth open expression.

"You are sadistic as shit. You know I have used this on people before, right?"

She blinked.

"I figured that may have been the case. Still, might as well go all in."

Negan nodded. "Fair e-nough kid."

They continued walking.

"So Clem, what's your story anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, before literally running into me. "

"I was in Georgia. I was in a treehouse when it all happened. My parents left me with a babysitter who later died and became a walker. A man named Lee who later went on to teach me survival stuff had stumbled into my house. I came down after he killed it, and we went together to Macon. We met people in I believe it was a movie store or something. Some of them went with me and Lee, others went their own way, like a guy named Glenn. Met some farmer cannibals, got a guy killed under a tractor-"

"Farmer cannibals?"

Yup. Guy named Kenny who was Lee's friend had a family, wife and kid named Duck who was my age. I liked him, but he got bit. Both of them died and only Kenny survived. He tried to save this guy who fell off a rooftop and died. A couple named Omid and Christa took care of me. Omid got shot by this stupid kid who was probably a year older than me, and Christa got pregnant. The baby died that winter. Christa... I don't think she made it at all, but I can still hope."

"Well... Fuck. That's gotta be the most interesting story I've ever heard."

She smiled.

"How about you?"

Before he could respond, they heard a growl right behind them.

They whipped around as fast as they could and found three walkers right on their asses. He forgot how quiet these sons of bitches were. He raised his bat and immediately struck one in the head. Clem ran underneath his swing and ran around to flank the second closest walker, and jumped up. She stabbed it right in the side of the head.

"Lucille, give me strength," he whispers to his prized bat. He hits it and it goes down immediately.

"You are really in tune with that bat, huh."

"Of course. Once you give a weapon a name, it's game over."

"So, about your story."

He sighed, hoping she forgot.

"It's pretty simple, and not nearly as batshit as yours."

"Well, I did leave out a bunch in my story. That was the summary."

"Jesus christ kid. What have you BEEN through? Don't answer that, it was rhetorical. As for my story? My wife had cancer. I had been cheating on her before she found out about the cancer, and we did the best we could. We got the chemo like, a day before everything went to shit."

"And then what?"

The generators fucked up while we were asleep. Melted the chemo. Had to find more, knew about the doctors that are actually in my group now, and went to get more. A biker gang found me with chemo, pieced that I met them together and beat out of me their location.

I brought my chemo back to my wife, but she... she put a bag over her head and suffocated herself to death. The doctor had already given me a bat right before, and I had a barbed wire fence. Piece two and two together, and you can find out what happened to the biker gang."

"Jesus, Negan. I'm so sorry."

"It's... it's fine."

She stayed silent.

"Here's the river," Negan said.

"The river here's."

"Very funny."

They started to follow along it. It felt like it wouldn't take that long to get back. Maybe, half an hour or so.

"I want to play another game. There's nothing to dooo," Clem said two minutes in.

He was glad. He hated uncomfortable silences. Negan put his hand to his chin in thought. "We could play a few different choices. Would you rather, twenty questions, truth or dare."

"What's twenty questions?"

"Think of a random object, person, etc. This noun has to be guessed in twenty questions or less. Only yes or no questions I believe."

Clem nodded. "That sounds fun."

"Alright, you go first. Pick an object, any object."

She thought for a minute. "Alright, got it."

"Is it a person?"

"No."

"Is it a place?"

"No."

"Thing?"

"Yes."

"Is it bigger than you?"

She laughed. "No."

"Is it small enough for you to carry everywhere?"

"Yes."

"Does it help survival?"

"In a way, yes."

"Is it from the old world?"

She nodded.

"Is it shaped like a rectangle?"

"Yeah."

"Is it a cell phone?"

It's totally a cell phone. "You gotta say what it is when I guess it."

"That's no fair, we only did like, nine questions."

"Doesn't matter. You've never held a cell phone?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"That's fucking sad. I hate what the fall took from us."

"Honestly, I can tell you're gonna go far in this world." He started after another uncomfortable silence.

"Were you... not choosing a noun for twenty questions?" She looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Right, of course."

"Let's see..."

Got it.

"Is it a person?"

"No."

"Place?"

"No."

"Is it a thing?"

"Bingo."

"Is that a yes or no?"

"It's a yes."

"That question doesn't count."

"Of course."

"Can I see it?"

"Y-yes."

"Is it touching you in some way right now?"

Shit. "Yes."

"Is it your bat?"

"No."

"Leather jacket?"

"Yes..."

"Yay!"

"See? That was even fewer questions then when I asked you."

"You chose an easier object."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"I don't know, I think you cheated."

"DID NOT," Clem said.

They reached a cliff that led to the river if one were to jump down.

"Now we just need to follow it until we recognize the clearing we fell off of," Clem said excitedly.

"Yup."

They started to follow the river on the cliff.

"Negan, what-"

"Walkers!" Negan said, pointing up ahead.

There were four of them, three of which were larger than the usual walker.

"I get the two big ones on the left, you get the big and small on the right."

She didn't like to take the smaller ones, but there were four. She was gonna take them out quick and help Negan if any of them after.

Clem charged the small one and stabbed it real quick in the side of the head. It dropped quickly, but she struggled to pull it out. She hated when it does that, so she dropped it and chose to get it later. Negan saw she was struggling and threw his knife near her feet. He then charged the biggest one and smacked it over the head. It looked at him and shook it off, before Negan hit it three more times in very rapid succession. It eventually slumped, before Negan backed off. He pulled a muscle in his shoulder.

He looked at Lucille and the final walker he had to deal with. Clem had stabbed the bigger walker she had to deal with in the head after she stabbed it in the leg. Negan hit it once in the head as hard as he could, which messed up his shoulder a bit more. While it was dazed, Clem jumped at it from behind and stabbed it in the back of the head.

"You okay? Any bites?"

"I'm good," Clem replied.

They took a second to catch their breath, before continuing up the riverside.

"So, what were you gonna ask me before we got attacked?"

"I was gonna ask something?"

"Yeah, you said 'Negan, wha-'."

"Oh yeah. I forgot."

"Oh well."

"It might come back. I got another question. Why did you name your ba- her Lucille?"

"That's the name of my wife who had cancer."

"Oh."

"So, tell me more about Lee. Was he a good man?"

"He was great. Well, to me at least. He killed someone before the fall happened, but it was because someone cheated on him or something like that. I forgot the specifics. He was more like a father to me then... well my actual dad. I liked my dad of course, but he was always on a business trip, or maybe he was out drinking with his friends. He was nice to me and mom whenever he was around though."

"You said Lee taught you survival skills. Like what?"

"How to shoot a pistol. He seemed to have been a good teacher because I haven't met anyone better than me at using one."

"Damn kid."

"I think I see the clearing you saved me from the guy at."

"Yeah, that's him right there," He gestured to the walker shuffling about. "Forget him. I know the way from here."

"Alright, you lead."

Negan nodded. He walked, Clem staying near his side. After a little bit more walking, they saw the rv in the distance. Laura and Franklin rushed outside.

"Where the hell you been, man?" Frank asked.

"Who's the kid?" Laura asked.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?" Negan asked, looking down at his newer companion.

"I'm Clementine, or Clem for short."

"Hey Clementine, this is Franklin and I'm Laura."

Clementine nodded.

"This kid," Negan started "is the goddamn future."

"Really?" Laura asked.

"You know it. We got food, or we're gonna need to go hunting?"

"We got some fish, but not enough for the four of us without even further rationing."

"Clem, how about you pass the time, tell stories, maybe look around for some batteries."

Clem nodded.

"I will go look for food."

"Batteries? For what?"

"A group we met were nice people, and we want to be able to communicate with them on the fly. We found walkie talkies, we just need batteries now."

"Oh, we have some rechargeable batteries in the rv," Franklin said.

"Yes!" Clem let out.

Clem rushed inside while Negan walked towards Laura. "You guys still got the bow?"

Laura nodded before pulling it out. "I'm gonna borrow this," he said before pulling it away from her. She reluctantly let it go.

He left the area with three arrows in the same hand he held the bow and one in the other. He closed his eyes to imagine his surroundings with his ears. Quite a few birds in the area, he didn't hear much in terms of action. He opened his eyes and saw a deer, fairly far away. It was half behind a tree and much too far to hear it's steps.

Negan readied his bow and pulled back. He never shot a bow before, but he could obviously understand it was like a gun in that he needed to simply point, pull back and let go. He breathed in as he pulled back and aimed, pointing it a little higher to make up for the distance, and breathed out. He fired.

The deer made a whining noise before running. At least, running relative to what it could do, despite being shot through the thigh. It didn't make it far before it dropped.

Negan pulled out the arrow and looked down at the struggling animal. He tried to pull his knife out from his pocket, forgetting he gave it to Clem. She now had both her knife and his knife. He sighed and readied his bow again before shooting the deer in the face.

Dragging it back, he noticed the sun would soon set. At least he got food back before it came to that.

Clem had the walkie talkie up to her face. It seemed like she got it to work. "Clem, have they responded to you yet on the walkie talkie?"

"No..."

"I'm sure they will soon. Just keep it on."

She stared at it, and kept talking into it.

Laura walked up to Negan. "So, what exactly happened out there while I was gone?"

"Well, we ran into a good group of people. Saved us, fed us. I think it'd be worth joining forces. How about you? What happened while I was gone?"

A kid that looked to be about 15-16 came by and asked for you. Said he wanted to see you.

"Was he wearing green?

Yeah.

"He's from the barrel factory. I'll go to the factory, you take this deer."

Laura grabbed the deer by the leg that Negan dragged it by, and went to their fire pit.

"Where are you going?" Clem asked.

"I'm going to this barrel factory with a whole buncha people, see what they want."

"Are they good people?"

"I think so, but we voted against moving in with them. Now that you're here, we can hold a new vote."

She looked at her walkie talkie.

"Do you want me to come?"

"Well, do you WANT to come? It's not that far, maybe a 15 minute walk."

She put the walkie talkie in her pocket. As much as she wanted to get to know these people, she liked to stick with Negan nowadays. Maybe when they eat the deer by the fire, they could all get to know each other more.

"Stay safe you two!" Franklin said.

"Don't die on us!" Laura said as well.

Negan smiled before walking away towards the barrel factory, Clem in pursuit.

"You wanna tell me more about those cannibals?"

"What?"

"I mean, from your story. You met... cannibal farmers, right? How'd that go?"

"They fed us our friend. I almost ate human leg meat. I was trapped in this meat cellar with Lee, the man named Kenny I believe I mentioned earlier, and an older man with heart problems. His daughter named Lilly was also in there."

His eyes widened. "What happened in the cellar?"

"Oh you know, the man had a heart attack. Lee and Lilly tried to save him. He looked like he was moving, couldn't tell if they saved him or he turned because Kenny through a fucking cinder block or something on his head."

"Jesus christ."

"When I escaped through the vents, when I jumped out to open the door and let my friends out, I found myself in this horrible room. Blood everywhere, mystery meat. It was so gross." Clem visibly slightly gagged at the memory, as if she could smell it still.

Negan stayed quiet.

"You have left me speechless, kid. Shit."

They saw the factory. Usually a couple walkers would have come out, and were fairly surprised to not have encountered any.

"Alright, let's-"

Almost as if the universe hated them, a walker grabbed his jacket from behind. Walkers were always so quiet.

"SHIT!" Is all he could say.

BAM*

The walker dropped, it's head exploded.

They looked, and saw a silhouette on the roof of the factory. Clem was startled by the encounter, but it was so quick she didn't really have time to process it. It was here then it died.

"Let's hurry."

They started to speed walk a bit faster, and made it to the gates. Clem was shocked to see this amount of people. It was practically overflowing. There was no way this place could fit everyone here, there had to have been 250 or more people.

The gates were in better condition than Negan left them in. They were lined up with metal sheets, wood supports to help against walkers pushing against them. They even had metal pointy rods sticking out of the fence at head height to help kill walkers if they pushed against the fence.

"This place is cool," is all Clem says under her breath.

"You said it."

"Welcome!" They hear a shout from the gate. The green clothed man yelled, before gesturing to someone to open the gate.

"Negan, it's so good to see you!"

"Bullshit, we just met a few days ago and I got you stabbed."

"I know you did, but you did help us with the fence, and we value labor quite a lot. Come in. I want to show you around, make a proposition."

"Clem are- there?" Something buzzes out of Clementine's pocket.

Her eyes widened before reaching down instinctively. "I'll... be right back. Excuse me." She ran off out of earshot distance.

"What's up with her? Who is she talking to on that walkie?"

"Forget about her. I want to hear about this proposition."

"...Very well. Follow me."

"Clem! Follow me, talk to them later."

"But Negan, this is important!"

"Fine, but you still got to follow me. You can talk to them while I talk with this gentleman."

She nodded and stayed a little behind Negan and the green clothed man, walkie still covering her mouth.

"When I came to look for you and found your group of two, I saw that they had medical supplies."

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, that got me thinking that at least one of you in this group you got goin on is a doctor."

"Maybe we do have a doctor. What about it?"

"Well... we REALLY need a doctor. The last one we had died a few weeks back, and this has become a real problem. People are getting sick, dying, etc. From infections. We're practically living in the dark ages with the state of the world."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do." Negan said.

Clem looked up at Negan. It seemed like he couldn't say no to people, and helped whenever he could. That's the main quality he liked.

"We'll be leaving, and I'll try to help your situation best I can."

"Thank you so much, Negan."

"Clem, let's go."

"Sure, we need to talk about what I heard on the walkie."

Negan nodded.

On the way back, making sure it was clear, Clem finally started to talk about what she heard on the radio.

"Well? Was it them?" Negan said, pointing at the radio.

"Yes. They're in trouble."

"What? Really? We just left them."

"I know, but they said a few hours after we left a bad man found them. He followed them a long way to try to find them."

"Did they do something to wrong him?"

"I don't know, but going by how nice they were to us, I have to vouch for them."

"So what did you tell them?" Negan asked. He wanted to see what this kid was thinking.

"I think I have a plan. They said they needed a doctor back at the factory right? That's our key to securing our way to safety in that group. We demand them to take us in in exchange for everyone to be guaranteed safety in their factory."

"That's smart, but we know the 'bad man' followed them. They could follow them right to the factory."

"That's a good point." Clem said in return.

"Maybe we could..."

"What, Clem?" Negan asked.

"...split up their group? They follow one half and lead them away while we pick up the other half?"

"If it weren't for how obvious your age was, I'd say mentally you were like, thirty."

"I don't know if that's a compliment or not."

"Neither do I."

Negan asked for the walkie. Clem handed it over, and asked in channel 5 to see who was there.

"Negan?" Carlos said.

"Me and Clem have a plan to save you and everyone else."

"Really? Thanks for the help, Negan. Lay it on me."

They were close to the rv, being able to see it. He explained the plan to Carlos while Clem ran up to the rv.

"You sure that's gonna work? What if Carver figures out the plan and sends groups after both?" Carlos said.

"He'd be spreading his numbers thin and the group at the factory would probably outnumber his by a lot."

"We don't even know how many people are in his group, and how many people do you think are actually able to fight in the large group at this factory?"

"I'd say about a third of them. That's nearly 100 of them."

Negan continued to talk about the situation they were in, giving more details in a coherent plan he was making up as he went along.

Clem had told Laura and Franklin about the plan she had come up with.

"Are you sure this will work? How much do you trust the factory people?"

There's no reason to not trust them, Laura! They need a doctor, and we need people."

"We need to have faith in others," Clem says.

"...Shit, you're right."

Negan handed the walkie over to Clem. "Here, I trust you with communications for me. Frank!" He yelled towards the rv.

He popped his head out.

"Drive us to the factory. I will tell them demands and they will take us in."

He nodded.

Franklin was happy that they were finally gonna get more numbers. Just him and Laura was exhausting.

Laura was hesitant, but more open now that they knew they would be necessary and valued to this group. They wouldn't dispose of them.

After a short three minute drive, all four of them packed in the RV, rode down and stopped in front of the factory. Everyone tensed, but didn't really move. Lots of them had guns.

"Hello people. A little bird told me that you needed a doctor." Negan said.

Everyone looked at each other, little bits of excitement in their faces.

"Going by your reactions it seems they were telling the truth. I have a few conditions, and in return you will see your loved ones have a healing hand for the foreseeable future. Your kids," Negan gestured to a pregnant lady "will have a more healthy future."

"What are the conditions?" Yelled a woman, who looked desperate.

"I," he started, "am your new leader. None of that bullshit that's been going on with the makeshift walls, or the questionable weapons that look like giant pencil shavings."

Everyone looked around. Clementine looked worried. This sounded smart on paper, but he may be pushing it.

"We'll bring out Dave." The kid in green said from a distance.

This was the best and most peaceful way Negan could come up with to get these people on his side. A doctor was just too valuable.

"The doctor and I come in a packaged deal, we have friends that need shelter. I have a plan to help them, but I need to become the leader."

A man in a nice black insulated jacket and black pants came out. "Hello. Thomas said you wanted to... be this group's leader? You certainly have balls."

"Yeah well, I've been thinking. From the little amounts I've seen of this place, it's a mess. Your weapons are shit, this place is overflowing, and your defenses are weak. Even your crops," Negan pointed to some rows of what appeared to be dying plants "are garbage. You need new management, and I'm here to provide."

He had been walking back and forth in a charismatic way, as if giving a lecture. He had also been swinging around Lucille, giving his speech an extra kick. He seemed to be the dominant force through and through.

"I wanted to stay out in the woods and lay low, but I now see that helping people is just a part of who I am. I've made some friends and I want what's best for them. This place and the people here," he pointed his bat at the man "can provide that. We have a doctor, which you need." He then gestured to the rv. "Again, this is a package deal and I believe that you have no other choice."

Negan had been slowly getting closer to the man during his speech, too subtly for anyone to notice.

"This is bullshit people, he just wants more power. He wants to use you for his own gain."

"Even if that were true, you STILL need a doctor. Your loved ones are getting NO better during this conversation."

Everyone was believing in Negan's side of things, using his charisma to the best of his ability.

"My mom's sick," a kid says in the background.

"See? You NEED me, and my friends need me. People are a resource, and he wants to disregard me and other good people."

The man pulled out a knife, worried that Negan would win over the crowd and kick him out. Negan hit him in the arm. "See that, people?! Your leader tried to attack me after making no valid opposition to what I said." Negan hit him in the arm with all his might using Lucille when he tried to go for his knife again.

"Are you kidding me?!" Negan said, angry. He swung at his head full force, and the man dropped.

"This man,"

whack*

"Tried to kill me,"

whack*

"Over king of the hill."

whack*

whack*

whack*

Everyone covered their eyes, or watched slackjaw. Clementine's eyes were wide, unblinking.

Every kid was crying, being shielded by their parents or loved ones from the maniac.

No one tried to stop him for a few reasons. He made valid points in his speech, and they needed a doctor. They also needed a leader, and first impressions mattered.

Laura and Franklin looked down in shame, feeling guilty for Negan's killing.

Everyone who was thinking about this did in a way feel it was justifiable, but still thought it was extreme.

Negan stood up, looking at his bat. He looked around, seeing the fear in their faces. He saw the kids crying, and snapped out of it. He sharply turned to Clem, who was simply staring. He looked down, before accepting what had just happened, having lost control momentarily.

"I'm sorry you folks had to see that. That was a bit intense." He kicked the ground to get a bit of brain matter he had off his shoes. "All I want you guys to do, is think about my proposal."

He walked back in the rv.

Sitting down, he dropped his bat and rubbed his face.

"Jesus fucking christ, Negan."

"I know, I know."

"There were kids out there!! Clem saw the whole thing!"

He looked up.

"I feel bad about the other kids, but Clementine... I wouldn't worry about mentally scarring her. This is probably just your average wednesday for her." He pointed to Clem, who was simply looking at him. She was looking at him, but not so much in a judgemental way. It simply caught her off guard. She knew he said he'd used it on people, but...

"He's right."

Laura looked down at her.

"What the fuck?"

Clem looked at her before looking away. There was a silence.

Everyone in the yard sat down, or looked around trying to keep their composure, or didn't really move. Some people looked sad, others simply stared at the body on the ground.

Thomas dropped to the ground for a second. He had been left in charge as second in command, and since Dave was no longer a leader he would have to make the call on whether to accept Negan or not.

A few people looked at him.

He sat there.

And he sat.

He looked up in defeat.

He never really felt like this place was going anywhere, simply going from one day to the next. There was many problems with the base of operations that he currently resided in, and felt it would be better if someone as resourceful as Negan took charge.

"He's our new leader."

Some people protested, while most stayed silent.

"Are you serious?"

"We can't have such a vicious man take over. You can see more brains than man in that pile over there."

"I know, but... we need this. Our leadership has always been shoddy."

They looked down.

He lifted himself up. Thomas hesitated for a moment before knocking on the door to the rv. The door opened, and Laura opened the door. He peeked his head in, expecting Nefan to open the door, and saw Negan with his head buried into his hands. Negan slowly looked up.

"I should have said this before, but I was second in command. However, you convinced most of the people out there apparently, as there was very little opposition to your leadership."

"I could hear the yelling," Negan said from his chair.

"Vocal minority."

"So, what's the move now?" Clem asked.

"We need to bait the man named Carver."

"Who?"

"That's the guy Carlos said on the radio."

"How do we do that?"

"This is actually the easy part. One group goes out for a long time in a direction. Clem, you go with them. I will jump them with all the able bodied people we have here at the factory, maybe have a repeat of what happened outside. That is, I'm assuming he deserves this. Hold on."

He gestured and received the walkie from Clem.

"Anyone there?"

"Carlos here."

"Would you say Carver would deserve death? Has he killed anyone, shown signs of psychopathy?"

"He did kill a few of us for simply trying to escape his stupid fucking market."

"Really? Any other dirt you got on them?"

"Not really. But he is clearly following us, so I don't think he'll stop at any point."

"Alright, thanks Carlos."

Negan flicked off the walkie before he got a response.

"So, we kill him and then..." Clem trailed off.

"He did say they lived in a supermarket," Laura said.

Negan nodded.

"So how about this. He's clearly coming at them in a group. Maybe ten people at most. I say, we use tracks as bait. He follows right into a trap. We surround him, and I intimidate their group. Kill him, AND take half their shit for us. I don't think it will be too hard to intimidate the rest."

"What about long term?" Clem asked. This plan was full proof at first, but she couldn't shake the feeling that they would fight back.

Well, if we only kill him, I'm sure the rest won't do anything too spiteful. I doubt they like him much. I simply want to leave an impression.

"What if they resist while you kill him?"

"Hmm... I could... I'll give them one free pass, then beat another to death if they act up again."

Clem shook her head. This man was more brutal than she thought.

He walked outside, and went towards the factory.

"Anybody have a hammer and nails?"

Everyone looked at each other in confusion.

Clem talked to Laura in the rv while Negan was doing his thing outside. "What do you think of him?" Clem began.

"I think his methods are... intense, but he has a big heart for those he cares about. Losing your wife and feeling responsible is a pretty tough burden, and that was probably a week ago."

Clem nodded. She was right. Negan came back in with a bucket in his left hand and Lucille in the right. Inside were nails and a hammer.

"Clem, since you gave me an upgrade idea, I want you to learn this tip. use a knife and make an 'x' mark on the tip of a bullet. You'll thank me later."

She nodded. She had no idea what it would do, but she started to cut x's into her bullets for her pistol.

"Jesus, Negan." Franklin said.

"Oh come on, she'll use most if not all of those bullets on walkers."

Frank stayed silent.

"Thomas, tell the people outside to get ready in their cars. We leave in twenty minutes. Frank, tell Carlos," he tossed Frank the walkie "about the plan. Try to keep it vague as a precaution."

Negan went into the other room.

Clem finished making x's into her bullets. She had no idea what this did, and did not want to find out. She knew she would have to eventually.

Ten minutes passed and Negan came out with Lucille, now with slightly sticking out nails. They were slightly further away from the wood then the barbed wire. There may be ways to improve it further, but he had no idea. At least for now.

"FIVE MORE MINUTES!" He heard from outside. Clem could see the excitement in his face.

"Did you forget that I need to go with them first?" Clem asked Negan.

He looked down at her. "Of course not, your group is the main key to this."

She looked away.

Clem went to Franklin. "Ask them where they are so we actually know where to go."

Frank nodded, and pulled the walkie from his pocket and close to his face. "Carlos, where exactly are you guys?"

"Three miles west of the cabin. It's not hard to find, it's a bit of a clearing right now."

"Alright."

"WE'RE MOVING OUT!" A voice rang out from outside the RV. Clem looked in the clearing they were in outside. She saw a whole bunch of cars, trucks, some vans, etc.

"Nice," she said under her breath.

They all left to go to the cabin. It would take about ten minutes. Clem sat next to Negan, and Laura. Franklin was driving. "You guys wanna play a game before we get there?" Negan smiled and sat up. "We can play 'would you rather' this time." Clem nodded. She heard about this one before. Laura started.

"Would you rather be a dog sized cat or a cat sized dog."

"Dog sized cat, easily." Clem said.

"Yeah, gotta agree with the little psychopath here. Clem, make a harder one."

babump*

"What was that Frank?"

"Just a walker."

They looked at each other. "...Clem, gooo already."

"Uhh-"

Negan tilted his head back and pretended to snore as if he were asleep.

"Sto-o-op give me a second," Clem shoved Negan. He snored three times louder in response.

She laughed. "Alright fine. Would you rather fight through a small herd of walkers or a walker sized version of the thing you fear most."

"The herd," Negan blurted after almost no hesitation.

"Really?" Clem asked.

"Absolutely."

"What do you fear then?"

"There's this thing called a Komodo Dragon…" Negan began.

Laura leaned in. She wanted to hear this.

"It's probably the deadliest animal I've ever heard of. I believe it just needs to lick you once and you're dead. It's built like a smaller alligator."

Laura nodded. "I'm gonna have to go with the herd too. Could you imagine a human sized ant?" She shivered.

Clem laughed. "Wait, you're afraid of ants?"

"Well, there's this one ain't that sounds terrifying called the bullet ant. It's sting hurts like a bitch from whatever I've heard and trumps nearly all other stings."

"Still."

"Imagine the sting on a human sized one."

Clem shivers. "You got a point."

Negan looked up. "I got a good one. Would you rather have what happened to our world happen, or would you rather a meteor hit one time. Meteor has got to wipe out 80% of the population."

Clem looked down. Both were pretty fucking terrible options, but…

"What we have now. We can survive anywhere for the most part, you just needed to have survived the first week. The thing that killed off most of us is the government herding most of us into cities."

"That's fair." Negan responded.

Laura looked up after thinking about it. "I'd say what we got too. The devastation and long term effects would be terrible with the meteor. Even if you survived the initial impact…"

Negan nodded. "That's also fair."

"We're at the cabin!" Frank shouted from the driver seat. Negan sat up. This was gonna be a long night. Everyone stopped at a distance from the cabin. He didn't want to leave tracks near the cabin. Negan looked around, and saw the other cars stopped near his RV.

"Alright, listen up. We're gonna meet up on the small path 6 miles directly west. Clem, you catch up with the group three miles west and split them up. your small group will head towards the path another three miles west. The other group will go southwest, where we will set up our ambush."

Clem nodded.

"Alright, let's move out."

The majority of people went with Negan and drove to the path six miles west. "Now we need to head a little southeast and stop where our friends will end up…"

Clem had walked into the woods, walkie in her hand. She had been told that her group gets a walkie and the other group gets the other walkie. They only had two walkies so it was cutting it close.

Clem finally managed to find the group after constant surveillance on her end.

"Clem!" Sarah ran up and hugged her.

"Can- brea-," is all Clem can say.

"S-sorry."

"So, what do we do now?" Rebecca asked. Alvin had his arms wrapped around her in a comforting way.

"Which way is north?" Clementine asked.

Luke pointed to his right.

"Then me and half of us go this way, and the other half go this way." She pointed in different directions. "Who wants to go with me and who wants to go to Negan's group?"

They all made their choices in which group they'd rather stick with.

Clem's group consisted of Sarah, Carlos and Luke. Nick, Alvin and Rebecca were in the other.

"Where is Pete?" Clem asked.

Nick looked away.

"Oh."

Clem clenched her fist.

"It was lurkers. We were surrounded."

Clem took a deep breath.

"Let's go. We're gonna keep going as if we were simply running from Carver, while you guys," Clem gestured to the other group "will head to the ambush."

"Don't get lost, Clem." Rebecca grabbed her shoulder. "We'll see you guys in a bit."

"Good luck."

Rebecca's group left to go to the ambush. She knew that Carver was after her specifically, so she needed to give a clue that her path is the one with her on it.

She felt around for something she could drop. What did she have that Carver knew was hers? She did have a lighter that her dad gave her, but she didn't know if he would even recognize it. That and it was a pretty big sacrifice, because she may never see it again.

She decided to drop it on the ground.

Clem's group simply walked. They didn't really fear getting lost because they had their walkie, so they could be found eventually. However, it is easy to eventually veer off course since there weren't many paths in the woods, and none they were using at the moment.

Back with Negan, he had all the cars set up to make a clearing. There was a one way entrance into said clearing, from where Rebecca's group would come from. He stayed in the RV, practicing what he would say to the man known as Carver.

Laura simply watched. Even when he was simply practicing, he exuded charisma and it sounded like a final take an actor would have in a movie, compared to how it should sound like, practice. Franklin heard Negan mumbling a few lines. He had no idea what was going on in Negan's head. All he knew was that, if he was going to cave in a man's head with Lucille when trying to impress everyone and take over, he didn't want to know how he would do Carver.

Negan had explained to his new large group of people what to do when the time comes. They simply have to surround the area and look good. He'll handle the rest.

Everyone heard rustling and stayed quiet. Rebecca's group popped up.

"Where's Negan's group? They said they'd be around here…" Alvin said.

"Negan is here," said someone they couldn't make out, making the smaller group jump.

They looked around and were able to make out the cars. "Is this where you want to surprise Carver?"

"Yeah," is all they say.

"So, now we just wait? Or…"

"Yup," said another.

Clem kept leading on the group she was in. She knew she should come back, but she may or may not have gotten a little lost.

"Clementine, are you sure you know which way we're going?" He gestured to the same tree with an 'x' on it they may have passed twice.

"Well, it's not like walkie talkies come with compasses."

"You'll protect us, right Clem?" Is all Sarah says, looking around with a frightened expression.

"Don't worry, I can get us out of this."

Clem pulled out her walkie talkie.

Back with Negan and his group, they heard a rustling. "Shh, quiet." Laura says.

"Carver, how much longer do you think they walked? Surely they must have set up camp somewhere, it's the middle of the night," someone in the dark says.

"This is all we have to go off of, bonnie. We need to find them." A man with a deeper voice says.

"Why do we even need to find them? What's so special about them?" Another person says.

"Shut your mouth. These assholes get what's coming to them."

Suddenly, they were blinded. Lights came on from every direction, and it was too damn bright to even possibly see.

Carver looked around. They were surrounded. There were easily at the very least fifty armed men here. He looked down.

"Shit."

"Drop your weapons!" Someone shouts.

They all dropped their weapons, Carver slightly more reluctantly.

There were five people here.

"On your knees," Said another.

They went on their knees.

"I think you're ready to meet the big man." Said another, standing near an RV.

Showtime.

After a few seconds of anticipation, a man stepped out. Carver could make out a few noticeable traits on the man; a barbaric looking baseball bat, and a leather jacket. He had slicked back black hair.

"Pissing our pants yet?" He starts.

A silence spread.

"Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close. Which one of you pricks is the leader?" He asked.

A red headed woman next to Carver looked at him before looking away. Shit, she blew any cover he may have had.

"You're Carver, right?" Negan squatted down to get closer. "My name's Negan. I do not appreciate you following my friends." He gestured to Rebecca, Nick and Alvin sitting on the hood of a truck.

Clem had been trying to contact Negan through the walkie talkie, but it had been silent. They must have shut theirs off. Shit.

"Let's just keep moving, and try to find something that we can hole up in for now. A recognizable place they can find on the map, I hope." Clem said.

Carver glared up at Negan. This was bullshit. He hadn't done anything wrong, so what the hell was this? All he wanted was a safe and happy life with his child he had made with Rebecca.

"What's with that look?" Negan stood up. He pointed his bat at Carver's face and made a circle around it. "You look so angry. Is something the matter?" He asked rhetorically.

"What is all this?" Carver asked, giving Negan a seriously pissed look.

"This," he pointed around "is your LUCKY day!"

Carver looked down. He couldn't believe this.

"You see, These fine people," Negan began, gesturing towards Nick and Co. "told me some nasty things that you've done. I want to make sure this is all accurate."

Carver stayed silent.

"I just want to make clear from the get-go, that I do not like killing people."

A few in the crowd scoffed.

"Hey! It's true. I despise killing. But when I meet assholes like you, it makes my skin boil. Now, I'm going to go through some things that you've done, and I want you to stop me when I'm wrong."

Carver's glare intensified.

"You killed someone over a plant?"

"We were carrying mulch and the guy dropped it. He didn't want to pick it up, so I got…" he stopped himself. He was making his case worse.

"You beat someone's child in front of them?"

"It was to show-" he stopped again.

"You had someone hung for stealing a car?"

He stayed silent.

Negan stood up again.

"See, 'Carver', this is how this is going to go down." Negan got real close so only he would hear it.

"I'm going to ask these fine people if they want to join me. I'm assuming a lot of them want to join me, now that they've seen the future."

Carver started to stand up and punched Negan.

"Wrong move." Negan said before he gripped his bat.

WHACK*

Negan struck his left arm.

"Ah fuck!"

"I wonder what the kid said while you were beating them?" He said.

Carver held onto his arm.

"Maybe it sounded more like…"

WHACK*

Negan hit his right arm.

Negan put his hand to his ear to listen in an exaggerated motion.

"Nah, that's probably not right."

"I just want…" Carver began.

"What was that?" Negan began.

"I just came to get Rebecca. I want to raise the baby I made with her."

"How do you know it's yours?"

Carver looked down. "I can feel it."

"You went on a wild goose chase for a pregnant woman you don't even truly know is yours?"

Carver looked down.

"Here's the deal." Negan gestured to everyone else lined up.

"I'm sure you've all made terribly hard choices in the past, but that's fine. This however, is not. Give us half your shit."

The people looked up.

"I heard you got a supermarket as a homebase. That's valuable, that's necessary."

Clementine climbed onto a rock. "Hey Carlos, hand me those binoculars." She says. After tossing up binoculars, she was able to survey the landscape. There was a giant wooden log cabin on top of the mountain on the other side of a ravine.

"I have a lot of people with me. Going by the fact that you have mustered up 5 people, INCLUDING your boss, to try to catch a valuable group, it makes me wonder whether yours is all that big."

A black woman in the line looked down.

"So, you give us half your shit. One time. That would still leave you with a large surplus of stuff, and then we can call it even."

Carver looked up. Maybe he misjudged Negan. This didn't seem all too bad-

"Buuuut, I'm gonna have to kill one of you to get the ball rolling. You know, to show who's boss and all. Hey, who knew killing someone right in front of another was such a massive morale booster."

Carver started to sweat a bit more, but kept his composure.

"You see this?" He pointed his bat at Carver. "This… is Lucille. I think you'll get quite acquainted with her soon enough, but let me tell you right here and right now that she is awe-some!"

Bonnie looked around. She didn't want to see this, and couldn't understand how these people that were with Negan could just let him do this. It was cruel. If he was going to kill Carver he should stop this and make it quick.

"You can breathe…" Negan began.

Clem tried to call in on the walkie again, but got no signal.

"You can blink…"

"Hell…"

Negan raised the bat a little.

"You're all gonna be doing that!" Negan smacked the top of his head with a mighty crash. Some people looked away, others couldn't because the sound was stuck in their head.

Little bursts of blood got in various places along his body. He looked down.

"Do you know how much this jacket cost?" Negan began, Carver sitting up with his head wobbling about.

"I'm gonna need to bill you on it. No but seriously, how are you still up?! You took one helluva hit!!" Negan said.

The others lined up looked terrified. They may have hated him, but they all lived under the same roof at the market.

"I don't know if I should wait or not and let you catch a breath!"

Carver spat blood at him.

"That's the spirit! Taking it like a CHAMP!"

CRACK*

Carver fell to the ground.

CRONCH*

SNAP*

CRACKLE*

POP*

Rebecca simply watched. She didn't know how to feel other than that Negan was brutal and that she should stay away from him. She walked away and grabbed the walkie off of her hip. She turned it on to see what Clem's group was doing, wanting to distract herself from Negan.

Alvin was disgusted and walked out of the clearing, about to throw up. Nick's eyes were wide as dinner plates but didn't move.

Negan eventually stopped. "Lucille, baby! You are a vampire bat! Look at you!" He was walking around with adrenaline pumping through him. He was covered in blood and had bits of brain matter, a piece of brain hanging on some barbed wire.

He flicked his bat while waving it around, and got some blood on Bonnie's and an asian man's face sitting next to Bonnie.

"Wow… nothing?" He looked at the rest of the ones on their knees.

"I put on a show for you guys, and I don't even get an encore?"

"Which one of you is second in command?"

There was a brief silence. None of them wanted to say anything for fear of what he may do to them.

"Look, Carver was special, so he got a special treatment. I'm not going to do anything like that to whoever next is in charge."

"We… we don't have a second in command. Didn't think we needed one," Bonnie said.

"Well, I was hoping to offer whoever was next in charge to tell everyone else in your group that anyone is free to join my group."

A few of them nodded, agreeing to relay the message.

"If anyone wants to join, just stand up."

"Why would you think anyone would want to join you after you killed our leader?" A black woman on the right asked.

"You'd be surprised." Negan then gestured to everyone surrounding them.

Bonnie stood up.

"Bonnie?"

"I'm sorry Vince."

He looked down.

"Anyone else?"

Vince stood up.

The black woman decided to stand up too.

"Name?"

"Tavia."

Clementine had made it to a bridge with Sarah, Luke and Carlos not far behind. They had taken out a few lurkers and were now on their way to the other side. They wanted to get just a bit further and make it to the lodge before they stop and wait for Negan to come pick them up.

"Wait." Clem motioned for them to stop. A man was coming towards them. "I'll do the talking."

"Clem no, that's too dangerous."

"It would be more dangerous if you talked."

"That's…" Luke stopped himself.

"What are you guys doing here?" The man began.

"We just wanted to get to the log cabin for the night."

"I don't know if I can let you guys cross then. Are you guys assholes?"

"You're the one waving a gun around."

"…touché."

"You guys want some food? I live in the little shack place right there." The man asked.

"Sure."

They followed the man.

"You know, my group lives in the ski resort lodge on the top of the mountain. Some good people. I hope you don't make me regret letting you guys pass."

"We're just going to stay for the night at this point, seeing as it's so late. Would it be ok to sleep in the lodge with your group?" Clem asked.

"Why only the night? You got another group?"

"...n-"

"Yeah, it's a huge group." Sarah blurted out. Carlos nudged her and she closed her mouth.

The man narrowed his eyes.

"What's your name?" Clem asked him.

"Matthew. How about you guys?"

"She's Sarah, he's Luke and he's Carlos."

"And you?"

"Clementine."

"That name sounds familiar…"

"Really? Do you know anyone named Christa?"

Matthew opened the door to his cabin place. "Yeah to the your name being familiar, but no to the Christa thing."

Clem looked at the ground.

"Alright, here's a full can of beans. Hey, the girl kinda looks like you."

Matthew held the can of beans next to Clementine's face.

"Alright, you can head on up the mountain. I won't stop you."

"Not coming with?" Clem asked him.

"Nope, I prefer to be down here."

"Bye, Matthew!" Sarah said.

He waved.

Negan had managed to convince everyone who's name didn't rhyme with 'harm her' with his totally amazing charisma to join him.

"Alright, let's clear out!"

"You," Negan pointed to Nick. "Would you mind telling Alvin and Rebecca to hop in the RV? We need to discuss about Clem's group, and I know she has the walkie."

"Not the only thing we need to discuss…" he said, too quiet for Negan to hear. He stepped into the RV.

Franklin turned to Negan.

"Do you ever tone your shit down?"

"Wha-a-at? Come on man, they needed to see that!"

"I don't think they did, Negan. The fact that we surrounded them was probably enough."

"Bullshit, their leader was a total fucking asshole and they just let him lead. Beating kids?"

He had a point.

"They were lead by example. The death of someone like that in such a brutal way shows them that change is happening. You guys need to understand."

A silence was held after that.

Negan hated it.

"Rebecca, can I see the walkie talkie?"

Clementine and company reached the lodge. Stepping on the landing, they knocked. "Clementine, you there?"

She grabbed the walkie. "Jesus Negan, that took forever. What the hell hapoened?"

creak*

The door opened.

Two men stood there, one older and wearing a red sweater. The other had a full beard and a hat.

Clementine dropped her walkie.

"I killed Carver."

"May we help you, miss…?" The man in red started.

"Oh my god." Was all the other man said.

Clementine ran and hugged the man with the beard.

"Oh- Okay then," the red man said.

"Clementine? You know this guy?" Luke says.

"...yeah, you could say that." Is all she says, being released from the hug.