(A/N): Fair warning, in this chapter, the fate of AJ will be revealed. It's a sad and tragic thing that sadly happens everyday around the world- if you don't think you can handle it, skip the italicised part of the chapter.
"Shouldn't we be following the others now?" Clementine asked. Hannah looked at the sky, and then around the land around her. She recognized this place; she'd been in the area for, admittedly, quite a while.
"I know this place pretty well," Hannah said. "Which means I know a lot of shortcuts. Relax, we'll catch up to them in no time," Hannah said, giving Clementine a smile. "We'd just have to cut through the forest... That way." Hannah said, nodding Northwest of them. Clementine rose an eyebrow at that but didn't protest.
"C'mon, les' go." Hannah said, leading Clementine and Shade into the forest. By now, they'd gone ahead of the bridge and a little ways down the road. The forest was, thankfully, level with the road at this point.
The leaves in the forest were beginning to change colors, signifying the arrival of fall. The overgrowth of the forest was beginning to shrivel and wilt, making the trek through the forest ultimately more pleasant. The cold, crisp air of fall was refreshing to Hannah.
"It's a nice day." Hannah said, looking at the canopy of golden leaves above.
"I guess." Clementine said with a shrug. "Seems like a normal day to me."
"It's only gonna get colder," Hannah commented. "You should probably find some warmer clothes soon."
Clementine looked at Hannah, raising an eyebrow. "You're one to talk. That hoodie? That's as thin as paper!"
"How would you know?" Hannah asked indignantly, carefully stepping over a tree root. So far, the girls hadn't encountered any walkers in the forest.
Lately, Hannah noticed that, as time went on, the population of walkers was seemingly starting to dwindle.
Clementine reached over, pinching the fabric of Hannah's hood. "That's how I know."
"Smart alec." Hannah said.
"Why don't you get a thicker one?"
"I can't." Hannah said, looking down. The sentimental value of it was too great- a remnant left by someone she didn't physically remember, and yet remembered having cared about them deeply at some point.
"Why not?" Clementine asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's from my brother." Hannah replied with a shrug. Clementine's eyes went wide.
"Oh." Clementine said, taken aback by that. She reached up, gently brushing the rim of her hat, before taking it off. Hannah looked over at her, her eyes going wide at Clementine's messy hair.
"This hat belonged to my dad." She said softly. Hannah's eyes flickered over to the hat. Nearby, she could her the flow of water, and it occurred to her that they were near a river.
"It looks pretty dirty... Do you want to wash it?" Hannah asked. Clementine hesitated for a moment, looking up at Hannah, and then back at her hat.
"Yeah, I guess it could use a wash..." She mumbled. Hannah nodded and looked over her shoulder, spotting Shade grazing. She whistled, causing the horse to lift his head.
"Shade, follow," She said, turning and going left. The river cut through the forest, dividing it in half. "It's a pretty clean river, I guess. There's some limestone rocks upstream that act as a filter for the water, since limestone has a bunch of little holes in it."
"Huh. That's... That's really cool." Clementine said. Shade approached the water, bending his head down and taking a drink. Hannah slid her hoodie off of her body and submerged it in water. Hannah watched as a small stream of red began to come from the hoodie. The darker stain on the shoulder began to fade away.
Clementine bent down and carefully dipped her hat into the river, scrubbing the brown spots with her fingers. They faded quite a bit, and when Clementine pulled her hat out of the water, it looked much cleaner than it had been before. She perked up, looking around, and spotted a large boulder. She walked over to it and climbed onto it, setting her now soaked hat down beside her.
Hannah stood up straight, wringing her hoodie out. She went over to Shade, going around to his left side. There was a satchel attached to the saddle, a rather large one, that Hannah used often. She opened it up and rummaged inside, frowning. Then, she pulled out a bag of chips.
"Heads up!" Hannah said. Clementine perked up, and when she did, Hannah tossed the bag over to her. Clementine caught it and eyed it warily before opening it and snacking. Hannah felt around the bag, her hands brushing something soft. She pulled it out, and immediately regretted it.
It was an old picture of her, Kai, and Annabell. Kai was the one who took the picture, with him being on the left side, Hannah in the middle, and Annabell on the right side. Each of them had a broad, toothy grin on their face. She froze, staring at the picture with wide eyes. Clementine noticed the strange behavior, tilting her head at Hannah.
"Hey, are you okay?" She asked, sliding down from the rock and walked over.
"Oh, uh... Don't worry about it," Hannah said, hastily stuffing the picture into the satchel. She pulled out a silver flask and shook it, frowning when she saw that it was nearly empty. "Looks like i'm out of water." She said. Clementine looked at the river, raising an eyebrow.
"is it safe to drink?" She asked.
"It will be, I just neeeeed... Ah, there it is!" Hannah said, fishing out a black pill bottle. It had a blue label on it, with directions inside of a what box. "It's just a precaution, really. I forget what it's called, but someone told me that these clean water." She said, reading the direction. "I use em' all the time and I ain't never gotten sick before." She said, turning and kneeling down beside the water. She filled her flask up, peered at the directions, and dropped two small white pills into the bottle.
"It kills germs and stuff," Hannah said. "Read it yourself if you don't believe me." Hannah added, holding the bottle of pills out to her. Clementine took it, peering at the tiny directions.
"That's helpful," She said. "How do you know about these things, anyway?"
"I think I learned about it in school, when I was a fourth grader," Hannah said with a shrug. Clementine hummed and dropped the pill bottle back in the bag. "You thirsty? I don't mind sharing." Hannah said. with a smile. Clementine paused, staring at Hannah for a second, before speaking.
"How can you be so happy all the time?" She asked. This took Hannah off guard.
"I... What?"
"You're always either smiling or trying to make other people smile, or help them. Why? Hasn't that affected you negatively before?" Clementine asked. By the look on her face, Hannah could tell that she was genuinely curious and confused.
"Being nice to people can have a negative effect on you, but just because there's the small chance that it might backfire doesn't mean you shouldn't try." Hannah replied. Clementine blinked and looked down, pondering Hannah's words. "Now drink, I think you need it." Hannah said, pressing the flask into her hands. Clementine's fingers wrapped around it and she took it, looking down. Her face couldn't be hidden by her cap, so Hannah could see her expression become sad.
"Don't be afraid to talk about your feelings, Clem," Hannah said softly. Clementine stared at the flask for a moment before deflating completely.
"I don't deserve happiness." She said softly.
"What? What'd you mean?"
"I failed him. Both of them..."
In the dark of night, Clementine sat on the ground with a group of people. In the middle of a circle was a moderately sized fire keeping them warm.
"Is there enough for seconds?" Ava asked, having finished her dinner already.
"Well, since Kenny turned in early, yeah." David replied, happily scooping more food onto her plate. Ava grinned and dug in greedily.
"Hey, Clem, why did Ken turn in early? You know?" David asked,, direction his attention to Clementine. Clementine shrugged.
"I don't know. He told me he was just tired. He's one to talk... I have to stay up all night, listening to his snoring."
At that, a chorus of chuckles rose from the group, and then died down. "Ahh, yeah. My wife used to complain about my snoring a lot," David said. He scoffed. "Everyone did. Like, 'David, you're snoring loudly!' But it was nothing compared to how my dad snored." He said. Clementine smiled at that.
"Oh my gosh, my brother? His snores were awful!" Max spoke up. "Y'all ever heard the sound of an airplane? That's what he sounded like! I'm surprised the poor bastard didn't suffocate in his sleep."
Clementine snickered at that. She looked down, her face falling. David and Ava exchanged a knowing look, each feeling sorrow for the girl. AJ, her adoptive brother, was dying; there was no denying it at this point.
"Clem, i'm sorry," Ava said, putting her hand on the girl's shoulder. Clementine sighed and looked up.
"You did your best. I appreciate-"
Before Clementine could finish her sentence, the cry of a toddler rang out across camp.
Oh no...
Clementine was quick to get to her feet, dashing towards the sound. Her feet took her to Lingard's tent, where Dr. Lingard lay, his eyes bloodshot, staring dully at Kenny and a very sick AJ. Kenny cursed and tried to shush AJ.
"The hell's going on here?!" David snapped as he came up behind Clementine. His eyes snapped over to Lingard and his expression became even more furious. He grabbed Lingard, pulling him up to his feet. "Pull yourself together and help us deal with this!"
"Kenny, what did you do?" Clementine cried fearfully.
"I'm saving him!" Kenny snapped, rounding on them. "All of y'all are just... Giving up on him!"
"You were told that he was a lost cause and you STILL USED OUR MEDICINE?! This is how you repay us for taking you in? STEALING FROM US!?" David roared.
"David, please, he's just trying to help his kid-" Lingard tried.
"No. Don't fight me on this, Paul. He has to go." David snapped.
"No, please! Give us another chance, we- we'll replace it!" Clementine begged, feeling panic rising inside of her chest. David looked at her, his face softening.
"This doesn't concern you." He said. Kenny grit his teeth, anger flashing through his eye. Then, he turned, picking up AJ.
"Fine. We'll go then." He said. Clementine felt her heart sink. The place was safe, but when it came down to it, she couldn't leave Kenny, no matter what.
Kenny began to leave, only to stop when Max stepped in front of him. Ava, Lingard and David formed a loose circle around Kenny. Clementine felt dread begin to tear at her. This was never a good sign.
"Please-" Clementine began. A gentle hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She didn't fight back, not wanting to hurt herself by accident.
"The hell are you fuckers doin'?" Kenny growled, his voice low.
"You're dangerous, Kenny. Clementine and AJ are staying here."
"No!" Kenny snapped. Clementine suddenly tried to jerk out of the grasp of the person behind her, only resulting in them physically restraining both of her arms.
"No!" Clementine screamed. The group of people around Kenny closed in on him, with Ava taking AJ out of his arms. David dragged him away and threw him to the ground.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Kenny roared, jumping up and going at David. David dodged and grabbed his arm, kneeing him in the gut. AJ reached out to Kenny, a frown on his small face.
"Max, help me with this!" David ordered. Clementine watched in horror as David and Max dragged a raging Kenny away. She felt numb, and at the same time she felt betrayal; she was angry at Kenny, she was angry at the New Frontier. The person let go of Clementine, and she slowly walked over to Ava. Ava turned to her, a sad look on her face.
Nothing needed to be said; Ava held AJ out to Clementine, and Clementine took him, holding him in her arms.
"He's going to die soon, isn't he?" Clementine asked in a voice barely audible. Lingard stepped forward, his brows furrowed together.
"Yes." He said softly. "I'm... I'm sorry, Clem."
Clementine let out a shaky breath and looked around, spotting a wooden crate nearby. She hurried towards it and took a seat, placing AJ on her lap. He was very pale now, a bit yellowish even, with labored breathing, and his eyes were drooping. The whites of his eyes were turning yellow, and his mouth hung open. Clementine sniffed, feeling a heavy lump form in her throat. She tried to put on a brave face for AJ, hoping he wouldn't notice her trembling lips and teary eyes.
"It's just... Once you catch yellow fever, you're a goner." Lingard said.
"Shut up, Paul, she knows that!" Ava hissed. Clementine let out a choked sob and held AJ close, shutting her eyes tightly. AJ babbled softly and incoherently, blinking slowly.
His breathing began to slow down. Clementine pulled him back and checked the pulse in his arm. It was a very weak pulse, and for a moment, Clementine didn't know if he still even had once.
A few minutes went by- minutes that felt like an eternity to Clementine. Soon, AJ's eyes closed, and his small breathing stopped, and then, he was gone.