(And here we are, in the last chapter. Wow, I can't believe I made it to the end, much less that I had the patience to finish a story with more than a hundred chapters! Thanks to everyone who has followed along up to this point, which, to my surprise, has been quite a lot, more than I thought, actually. There are still some things I wanted to add, but maybe, just maybe, I'll do some extra chapters after this one... most likely not :D Thanks again, enjoy!)
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- Fucking awesome!
Willy shouted excitedly, and impressed.
The boy was sitting next to Lee, and looked at him with bright, admiring eyes.
Lee looked back at him with a raised eyebrow, not used to that kind of reaction, much less that look.
- That must have hurt like hell.
Aasim said, sitting two chairs to Lee's left, staring at the tall fire in the courtyard.
Lee had to admit that the welcome he received was much warmer than he thought it would be, and he was surprised to find out why he was so welcomed there.
Who knew that the little girl who was afraid of thunder would become the savior of a bunch of kids stuck in a school.
He put his hand on the head of the girl on his lap, giving her a light petting, the same way he used to do when he stood guard over that damned RV.
She didn't want to let go, or leave him, from the moment she saw him again. And he could understand the girl, he felt that way himself.
Afraid that if he got too far away, she would disappear, and he would go back to those hellish days he spent looking for her.
The others, besides being surprised that they had met again, since they already knew the story, were also surprised to see another side of Clementine.
A more emotional, softer side. And even more caring, since she started treating everyone so well, and so affectionately.
- At the moment of impact, not so much, but afterwards...
Lee said, enjoying the friendly conversation he was having with a bunch of teenagers.
His life seemed to get crazier and crazier.
- Did you really cut your arm off by yourself?
Violet asked, curious.
She would be lying if she said she wasn't interested in hearing Lee's stories. She had never been in such an... unusual situation before.
- Yes, with this machete right here.
He said, taking the knife from Clementine's back and staring at the blade.
It looked as sharp as it did years ago, he never thought a simple weapon could be so beautiful. Unlike the other knives and blades he had encountered along the way.
- I can't believe you still have this thing.
He said, looking at Clementine, who looked back at him warmly.
She had had that silly expression all day, still not believing her eyes.
- This blade has saved my life many times. And I couldn't just throw it away, or leave it behind, no matter how the situation was. Just like my hat.
She said, taking the machete from Lee's hand and putting it to the side, hugging his arm shortly after.
They looked at Clementine differently, they never thought they would see the girl like that, so... delicate.
Usually she was quite rough.
- Another thing that must have been very uncomfortable.
Aasim said, still staring into the fire.
- Aasim, the master of brilliant comments. Where do you get all this wisdom?
Louis said dramatically, mocking his friend, who just pointed his middle finger at him.
- Well, I can agree that it fucking hurt.
Lee said, looking at what was left of his arm.
It was strange, when he had both arms, he couldn't imagine without one of them.
Now he could no longer imagine having both.
- Swear...
Clementine scolded him, giving him a light pat on the side of his abdomen, and Lee looked at her slightly confused.
- What?
He asked.
- Swear.
She said again, with an amused smile on her face, and Lee rolled his eyes as he remembered what she meant by that.
- Oh, come on.
- Swear!
He rolled his eyes, giving her a slight nudge on the forehead, and she laughed with amusement.
Even AJ was surprised by Clementine's personality change; it was as if he was seeing a different person.
- How did you get this one?
Willy asked, interrupting the little moment between the two, and pointing to a specific scar on Lee's face.
- Oh, I don't know. Maybe when I met a group of people in the forest, and got into a fight. Or the time I was kidnapped and forced to fight in an arena, unarmed in front of an audience.
He said slightly thoughtfully, and Lee could have sworn he saw the boy's eyes light up a little more.
Clementine turned slightly and looked at him in surprise.
- An arena? Where?" she asked, and Lee smiled.
She asked, and Lee smiled slightly as he realized why she had been uneasy.
- Just before I found the new frontier. Me and this other guy, Victor, were thrown into this arena, zombies on one side, people with machetes on the other.
He said, feeling very excited to have all those eyes focused on him, curious, attentive.
It reminded him of when he was still teaching.
- We used the zombies to our advantage, we took their weapons. I killed two guards with rifles, Victor took one of them and shot the remaining guards, I went after the guy who threw us into that place.
He said, looking curiously at Willy, and the other boy, Mitch. Both looked a little more immersed in the story, as if they were trying to be there.
- And what did you do? How did you get out of there?
AJ asked, sitting down at the end of the couch they were on, with Clementine's legs resting on his.
- I went into the room where he was, beat him until I was sure he wouldn't get up, and then threw him to the zombies.
He said, watching the incredulous and surprised expressions that formed around him.
- Daaaamn.
Violet said, with an impressed smile on her lips.
- Hahaha, that must have been really cool.
Mitch said, laughing slightly as he imagined the scene.
- It must have been pretty amazing. I wish I could have seen it.
Willy said, leaning his back in his chair and staring into the flames ahead, losing himself in thought.
Lee arched an eyebrow, although he liked the reactions, he didn't know whether he should really like this or be a little concerned.
- Did you meet the new frontier?
Clementine asked, staring at him intensely, a slightly lighter expression.
- Yes, I met some friends of yours. Javi, Jesus, Mariana... I only found out you were there when I met Carley, after the community was destroyed.
He answered, getting a little melancholic as he remembered the woman, as he remembered where he had buried her.
What would their grave be like? He knew that no one would dig up the bodies, but he felt like going back there. To visit the place where the two women were buried.
- Did you find Carley?
The girl asked again, so many questions she wanted to ask at the moment, it was almost torture to ask just one.
- Yes... and she asked me to shoot her.
He said with some regret.
Clementine stared at him for a moment, and sighed. She wasn't surprised by the woman's request, the way she was, she just wanted it all to be over soon.
- Was she bit?
AJ asked, still looking curiously at Lee.
The boy was very excited that he could stay there with them, especially since he was the guy who had taught him so many things in such a short time.
He could now learn even more, as well as hear more of his stories.
Years on the road, he must have tales that even he couldn't remember at the moment.
- No, she... she just gave up. She could no longer bear the weight of being alive. She had lost everything.
He replied, staring into the flames in front of him, being able to visualize the moment when he pointed the gun at Carley's head and pulled the trigger.
It gave him several nightmare-laden nights.
-... Gosh, I don't think we've ever lost anyone to suicide, they've all gone by... accidents.
Ruby said, in a low voice, with a heavy, distant expression.
- It wasn't suicide. I killed her. I buried her body a day later.
Lee said, closing his eyes and remembering the landscape that hill had to the horizon. It was a relatively beautiful place, he believed he had chosen well.
- Were you in Richmond, all that time?
Clementine asked, a mixture of feelings and thoughts piling up in her chest, and mind.
- I was going to help David clean up the place. There were people who just wanted to live a quiet life there, good people. I went to the place where they used as an arena and... well, in the meantime, Richmond was destroyed, many people were killed, and a horde had taken over.
He said, looking at the images that appeared in his mind, those people did not have to go through that, to die like that.
- They threw grenades everywhere. They shot those who were trying to escape. Duck and Kenny died there. They saved some people earlier, at least.
Clementine said, and Lee looked at her wide-eyed for a moment, but then he got a heavy look on his face. The cap he had found really belonged to Kenny. He spent a while trying to refuse to believe that he was there.
It was only after meeting Carley, that he really accepted it.
- I figured as much.
He said softly, remembering his friend.
They had been through bad things, caused bad things, but yet, in the end, Lee still saw him as a friend.
A friend who made mistakes, and redeemed himself for it.
He smiled slightly, dying to save someone was a noble act.
- Wait, they killed people from their own community? Why did they do that?
Louis asked.
For the first time Clementine saw the boy really quiet, and attentive.
How many other miracles would happen that day?
- Some of them were... corrupt, to say the least. They were sick-minded, crazy. The scum of humanity.
Lee replied.
- It's a shame they got away, I would have loved to have put a bullet in their heads. But, I had to go after AJ here.
She said, looking with a warm smile at the boy, who was staring at her.
- Oh, they didn't run away.
Lee said, causing the girl to look at him in confusion.
- Did you find them?
Mitch asked, quite interested in the conversation, and in hearing more of those stories.
It was a relatively boring place there, it was easy to get bored, and it wasn't often that someone came along with a story for every scar they had.
- A few hours... or days, I think. I was wandering aimlessly along the road, and found the vehicles they used. I entered the forest, and found their camp.
Lee said.
- And how was it? From the looks of it, it was a relatively large group.
Violet asked.
- First, I killed the ones who went to check out the area, three pairs. I didn't destroy their brains, I used them to my advantage. The forest gave me great cover, the rest was easy. I made one of the zombies bite the neck of one of them, I shot others. The zombies were a good distraction. And finally, I stuck a knife in the throat of the last one.
He replied, hiding the atrocity he had done to that guy, Max.
He would not say that he had made a man be devoured alive by his best friend, and most of all, that he had enjoyed watching it.
- Man, I can't do something like that with two arms, I definitely couldn't do it with just one.
Louis said, picturing the scene in his mind.
- Now we are a fucking fortress. Guns, walls, and two people who have spent their lives fighting outside, no one is going to mess with "Castle Violet."
Mitch said excitedly, ignoring the grumbling Violet gave over the name.
Lee and Clementine looked at each other for a moment, and smiled at them.
They had fought the world, and won.
- How did you get out of the Delta? I mean, how did you blow up an arsenal and walk out through the front door?
Violet asked, she had had that question in her mind for some time.
Lee looked at her surprised for a moment, he didn't know that Lilly had told them that story.
- Well, nothing that a gallon of propane in a place full of ammo and alcohol wouldn't handle.
Lee said, looking curiously at the broad smile Mitch gave.
The night, for the first time in a long time in each of their lives, passed extremely quickly.
(...)
Lee couldn't even believe he was lying in a bed again. Although old and torn, it was much better than a few sheets on a forest floor.
He never thought that old beds could be so comfortable.
Or that an abandoned school in the middle of nowhere with only teenagers around could be so warm.
They were good kids, he had liked them, and they seemed to have liked him too.
He felt strange, happy that he had finally found the person he was looking for.
He smiled slightly as he remembered the expression he'd made when he'd seen her all grown up. It was a shame that he hadn't accompanied her during her growth, unfortunately, he hadn't had the opportunity.
He also felt a little confused. Now that he would no longer have to wake up every day thinking only about finding the girl, that routine he had created was shattering, and a certain emptiness remained within him.
He would have to replace it with a new routine now.
Helping those children to survive was a great motive.
- Kenny said you were alive... I even tried to look for you.
Clementine's voice brought him out of his thoughts, and he looked up at the top bunk.
Her voice was even softer and more enchanting than he remembered. Although different, he could hear a spark of her childlike voice behind all that mellowing.
- We stayed together, for a while. We would have continued our journey to Wellington if that damned roof hadn't collapsed.
He said, remembering that day. Remembering the moment Molly had died.
It's been so long now, her body is probably unrecognizable, if she's still in that airport.
- He told me. I wanted to go out looking for you that very day, and like I said, I even tried, but, I didn't know where to start, where to go. You could be anywhere. And I couldn't just leave the group behind, or leave AJ in the background.
Lee could hear a certain guilt in the girl's voice, nervous words were coming out of her mouth, uneasy.
- Don't blame yourself for this, it's good that you worried about other things, you had your life to live. In the end, we found each other.
Lee said, trying to calm the girl's emotional voice. Even though he couldn't see her, he could feel her trembling, nervous body.
- No, Lee, you found me. How did you do it? How did you have the strength not to give up on looking for me?
She asked, and Lee closed his eye, sighing slightly as he remembered all the places he had been. All the miles he had walked all over the country.
- I haven't always had the strength, Clementine. I've thought about killing myself several times.
Lee said, and could feel the worried look that surrounded the girl.
- I was alone on the road for a long time. I was on the verge of madness... or I was mad, I don't know anymore. But I made a promise, didn't I? That I would protect you, until the day I die. I know I haven't done a very good job these past few years, but, I couldn't just forget you, and I met some people who helped me, even though they didn't have a happy ending.
He answered, remembering Alice, and Brenda, two girls that he would surely never forget. They were both silent for a while, and could only hear the small grumbles AJ made in his sleep.
- For this? Just because of a promise? I spent years believing that you had died, years thinking that we would never see each other again, and here you are, in the same room as me, in the bed below.
She said, and Lee could imagine the girl putting her hand on her head as she let out a loud sigh.
- Oh, Clem.I didn't want to die without seeing your face one more time, even though I wanted to kill myself at some point. I couldn't forget the little girl who had become part of my life so quickly. If I didn't try to find you, then there was no reason for me to be alive.
He answered, hearing the weeping sigh of the girl, who was probably wiping her tears at that moment.
- Do you remember Savannah? When you told me to get out of that place and leave you behind?
the girl asked suddenly, and Lee raised an eyebrow, curious.
- One of the last things you told me. You said you loved me.
She said, no longer able to control her choked voice. She hadn't cried so hard since that day, and this time it wasn't from pain.
- I never stopped loving you. Your memory comforted me in hard times.
He said, and Clementine sobbed a little louder.
- Well, I wish I had told you earlier that day. I love you too.
Lee's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, and then he softened his expression, feeling his chest heat up.
How long had it been since he had felt that? How long since he had heard those words? Not even when he was with his ex-wife.
A warm smile broke out on his lips.
Ah, that feeling was wonderful. He wanted it to last forever.
Everything he had been through, everything he had seen, everything he had suffered, everything was worth it, just to hear those simple words.
They both fell asleep at the same time, each holding something that reminded them of the other.
(...)
He opened his eyes, and closed them again with some force as he felt that white light burning his eyes.
Lee put his hand over his face, and noticed that something was different.
His beard was smaller, much smaller, and he no longer felt the scars on his face.
He opened his eyes again, and only now did he realize that the arm he had put over his face was the same arm that he had ripped off decades ago.
He sat up suddenly, looking at his arm intensely, thinking that his brain was playing tricks on him.
It was then that he realized he could see a larger area, his stabbed eye was no longer injured.
Lee stood up, confused, surprised, and it was then that a flash of memories flashed through his head as he remembered that place.
The same place he had visited when he was in a coma in Savannah, shortly after finding Clementine.
He remembered everything, and reality finally fell on his shoulders.
A sad, but at the same time, proud smile was born on his lips as he remembered the last time he closed his eyes.
He was on the third floor of a renovated school, in a room that Louis had made especially for him.
The room where he took his last breath.
He didn't feel sad, he had died better than millions of people, lying in a bed, surrounded by people who loved him, and of old age.
Nothing better than that.
A small tear ran down his cheek as he remembered Clementine's expression when she saw him in that bed.
She had lost him once, and now she had lost him again.
Although this time it was better. She spent most of her time with him, and they enjoyed the rest of their lives together.
The girl had grown into a beautiful woman.
AJ had grown into a great adult, with a good heart.
Yep, he lived well the rest of his life.
- And we meet again.
The policeman's voice came from behind Lee, who turned and looked at him with a slight smile.
He looked the same as he had last seen him, and it was only now that Lee realized that he was wearing the same clothes as when he was being arrested.
Whatever his punishment, he would accept it gracefully.
- You said we would.
Lee said, stepping calmly towards the policeman.
- I have to say, it was a beautiful journey. One of my favorites.
The policeman said, in a light, friendly tone.
Lee arched an eyebrow, did God have favorite stories? And could he take the form of anyone?
- I admire your story, you had a second chance, and oh boy, you held on tight. Sure, there were times when you doubted yourself, when you were frustrated, when you suffered more than you ever thought you would, but in the end you were rewarded. Believe me when I say that, most people would have given up, and the rest would have simply done nothing. You are one of the few who took advantage of the opportunities, and went through your punishment.
The policeman said, and a door appeared beside Lee, who alternated his gaze between the door and the policeman.
- That... was my punishment?
Lee asked, and only now realized how young his voice was. It was as if he really had gone back in time.
- Oh, Lee, don't pretend you don't know. You always thought so. One of the reasons you didn't give up, and kept your faith, even if little, during your path. I would say that the opportunities you had, you grabbed with both hands, but well, in your case, with just one.
The policeman said, and Lee arched his eyebrows again. Did God make a joke?
- Why, of course I do, an innocent and conscious joke doesn't hurt anyone. Even more so with someone who is grateful to still have the other body parts, and fought bravely with everything he had in a world infested by death.
Lee arched an eyebrow. Apparently he would have to be careful what he thought, he couldn't swear with God watching him.
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Shit.
- Watch the swear!
The policeman said, however, in the voice of an eight-year-old Clementine, making Lee's eyes widen and he looked at him startled.
That would give him nightmares.
The policeman smiled, and soon after, a loud laugh came from his throat, making Lee look at him confused, though still frightened by the last scene.
- You should have seen the look on your face.
The policeman said, controlling his laughter, and a screen, just like the last time, appeared behind him.
Lee turned and stared at the screen, where he could see Clementine crying on his body, and AJ next to her, with the girl's cap in his hands.
- They miss you already, and it hasn't even been ten minutes since you left. All of them.
The policeman said, looking at the screen next to Lee.
- They will get over me soon, use what they have learned, and live their lives.
Lee said, not even remembering the last time the school was attacked by bandits, or people like that.
- I wouldn't count on that.
The policeman said, and Lee smiled slightly.
Something he never thought he would do again, for sure, was to go back to being a teacher.
When Louis built what would be the classroom, Lee didn't even have this thought in his head, but when they found some children lost in the forest, right after they had escaped from a group of maniacs who were selling people, his little dream came true.
He would miss those children.
- And they will miss you, trust me. But they will be fine, they will all be fine.
The policeman said, moving a few steps away while maintaining eye contact with Lee, who arched an eyebrow.
- "This is usually when I get the supplications, this is when people get down on their knees and beg me, saying that they haven't committed those sins, that they are good persons."
The policeman said, and Lee made a confused expression at first, however, he understood what he meant, soon after.
Lee smiled, and looked at the screen once more, before looking at the policeman.
- I am not.
Lee said, and the policeman smiled.
The door next to him opened, and a strong glow came from inside.
Lee's eyes widened as he heard his name called, tears streaming down his face as he heard the voices of Brenda, Alice, his brother... so many other people calling out to him, anxious to see him again.
- You are forgiven.
A voice, different from the policeman's, echoed through the room. It was a calm, soothing, warm voice.
Lee looked forward, and was confused to see the policeman no longer there.
There was no one else, just him.
Lee bowed his head and sighed. Smiling broadly as heavy tears streamed down his face.
He turned to the screen again, looking at Clementine's face one last time, before walking through the door.
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(That's it, I hope you enjoyed it, see you around, maybe I'll start another story here. I loved writing this one, but I admit that I could have done better, or taken advantage of a few more points. Anyway, problems that I will correct with time. I never thought I would write such a long story for my first time writing. If you want, leave a review, tell me what you guys thought of the story, if not, just know that I thank you for reading this far. Especially you, mysticrage89, have been with me since I started this story, thank you. See you later)
