Chapter 4 - Saving a Life or Two

One Year Later

Marlon tackles a walker to the ground, plunging a knife into its head before it can do anything, casually wiping the blood and brain residue off on what's left of its clothes. Violet and I watch on as he does the same to another one, once again trying to show off his toughness.

Benji and I have been at Ericson for roughly a year now, and life hasn't been better since the world ended. The place is thriving, everyone's pretty happy, and we've been able to keep to ourselves. Although, the place isn't without its issues. Since it's been about a year since we joined, it's also been about a year since Minnie and Sophie were killed. And with that, Violet has been in a mood, not that it's unjustified. Tenn's gotten over it, for the most part, but I can tell it still bothers him a bit this time of year. But Violet worries me more. Because she was there when they died, Violet blames Brody for them being dead, which is ridiculous. Furthermore, over the past week, she's snapped at Brody at least a dozen times, which doesn't help her anxiety issues, which I have been trying to fight tooth and nail to help her with, and I like to think that I've helped a pretty good deal.

Speaking of Brody, things have been absolutely fantastic with us. She's easily been the brightest part of the past year for me, and things only seem to get better as the days go on. The group did not take too long to figure out our relationship, whether Louis and Benji spread it around or if we really were that obvious about it. It didn't really bother me. I was falling in love with her and that's all I really needed. Just about everyone was happy for us. I say just about because Mitch is still a complete chode about it all. I guess he can't really accept the thought of Brody being with someone he hates so much. I haven't really done anything directly to him about it, but I make sure to sneak a kiss or hold her hand in front of him as often as I can. It pisses him off and it makes things feel that much better. Willy, being Mitch's right hand man, isn't a fan of this either, but I couldn't honestly care less. I already know he's going to side with Mitch regardless, so there's no use fighting it.

I taught Brody how to shoot, and while it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do, she proved to be a quick learner, and she's become a pretty good shot over the last year, especially with bows. Next time she wants to shoot the ground in front of me, she actually will, probably.

Benji, the one that's usually quiet and keeps to himself more, has become a completely different person since we joined, and that might be my favorite part about all this. Six years of living on the road and killing walkers might've hardened him up, but the two of us needed to spend time with kids our own age, especially him. Seeing Benji being social, having friends, and having more people to talk to makes me feel a lot happier about deciding to stay here, and maybe that's what we needed all along. Some friends our own age.

My thoughts are interrupted by the sounds of a small explosion, coming from maybe a couple hundred yards away, and the three of us freeze.

"What was that?" Violet asks. And I glance over to Marlon for an answer.

"I don't know. We should get back, just in case. We're getting pretty close to the edge of the safe zone as is."

I ignore him, walking toward the explosion, pulling out my handgun cautiously.

"Brett? What the hell are you doing?" He asks me, following. In the distance, I hear… a car ignition? Along with that, a lot of walkers. I hear the sound of the ignition firing up, and the car speeds off, only to hear a loud crashing noise moments later.

I start sprinting toward the source of the noise, despite yells of protest from Marlon and Violet, who follow me, despite their protests.

By the time I find the car, we're well past the safe zone, over by the old train station that was on Marlon's map. A Challenger, crashed into a tree and flipped over, getting swarmed by a pack of walkers. From inside, I hear a girl yelling.

"We gotta go help her." I tell them, and Violet shakes her head.

"No way. There's way too many of them. We'll all get killed."

I glare back at her. "Fine then. Suit yourself. I'm going after her."

"Motherfucker…" I hear her mutter as I start walking towards them, pulling out my knife. Marlon fires a shot from behind me, an arrow finding the skull of a walker near me as I plunge my knife into a skull, hearing the disgusting crunches and squishes of my blade piercing the skull and brain as the walker dies with a final gasp.

Violet joins in on the fun as she stabs a walker with her knife, before noticing something by the car. "What the fuck… There's a kid!"

I look over and, sure enough, a small black boy, slowly tries to sit up as he crawls from the wreck.

"Cover me, I'm getting the driver." I tell Marlon as I move toward the several walkers trying to get in. An arrow flies past me and takes the first one down as another one meets my knife, the third one also finding an arrow in his skull from Marlon, clearing the way for me to get her from the wreck.

There she is, Lightly tanned skin, black hair, and amber eyes weakly looking back at mine. A nasty gash on the right side of her head, but it doesn't look like a bite. Maybe just a cut. Hopefully it's just a cut.

"Please… Help… AJ…" She whispers before her eyes close.

I glance behind me to see the walkers starting to get close, so without a second thought, I grab the girl from under her shoulders, dragging her out and picking her up, running over to Marlon, Violet, and the boy who, like the girl, passed out.

"Does she have a pulse?" Marlon asks as I set her down, putting two fingers to her neck. Sure enough, I can feel her heart beating, just enough for me to feel it. I nod to him before looking over to Violet.

"What about him?"

She nods. "Yeah. He's alive."

"Well come on. Let's get them back to Ericson. We'll figure out what to do with them after."

I pick up the girl, Violet gets the boy, and Marlon covers us as we make our way back to Ericson. I hear her softly groaning in my arms, and I look cautiously at her, out of fear she may have turned, but the groaning stops, and I quickly turn her face away from me, just in case she does turn, I don't want her coming at my neck.

"So, what if they're bitten? There were a lot of walkers around the car. Who's to say one didn't get them." Violet asks.

"Well, I guess we just gotta do what needs to be done. But I don't think they're bitten. She's got a bad gash, but I think that's just a cut from the crash. I can't see anything that would suggest otherwise, anyways." I tell her, and she just shrugs.

The three of us come back with the two unconscious kids, and Willy lets us in.

Marlon leads us to the dorms, and brings us to a room with an S and an M inscribed on it. Sophie and Minnie's old room. We set the girl down on one bed and the boy down on another just as he starts to wake up.

"Owww…." He says with a stir. "Hey, where am I? Who are you?"

"Easy, buddy." I assure him. "You were in a car crash. My friends and I brought you back to our place."

"Who are you?" He asks me again.

"My name's Brett. I helped pull your friend out of the car after you guys crashed."

His expression turns to pure panic as he looks over at his unconscious friend, laying on the bed with her wrist bound to the bedpost, in case she doesn't make it. "Clementine!"

"She's alright. She's just gotta rest, buddy. Like Brett said, you guys were in a really bad accident."

"How long will she be asleep?" He asks us, and I shrug back to him.

"I don't know. But we need to let her sleep until she feels better. Why don't you come along with me and we can let your friend sleep, alright?"

"But I want to stay with her." He protests.

I smile softly and nod. "I know you do, but she needs to rest. We'll have someone keep an eye on her, and you can see her when she's awake. How's that sound?" I ask, but he shakes his head.

"No! I wanna stay with Clem!" He says once again, albeit much louder.

I sigh. "She's gonna be fine, dude. She needs some time to sleep. Now come on. Let's hang out for a bit and when your friend, Clem, wakes up, we'll see how things are. Sound good?"

He glares at me, but he reluctantly agrees with a sigh. "Fine."

I turn to Marlon. "Get Tenn or Ruby to watch her. I have to think that they're the best-suited for this sorta thing." He nods and walks out to go and fetch one of them. Violet follows, but I think that's because she's got her watch shift soon. So, I'm left with sole responsibility of this kid. I think of what to do for a second, before a genius idea hits me.

"Do you like music?"

He shrugs. "I don't really know music."

I smile. "I think you'll like it. And you'll like Louis a lot, too. He's super funny."

He looks at me curiously, but nods. "Ok. Let's go."

I lead him out the door, through the halls and the courtyard, with a couple curious looks from other kids busy at work, into one of the other buildings. Upon opening the double doors, the sound of piano music floods my ears, and I can't help but smile. Louis is pretty damn talented. He's cocky about it, but he can back it up.

I lead the boy through the halls, the music getting louder and louder as I approach a set of double doors, which I push open as the music blasts. I look over at the boy, who looks on in awe at Louis.

The song fades away as the both of us start to give Louis a respectful applause, to which he bows to us.

"Stuck on babysitting duty?" He asks me with a grin, and before I can answer, the boy speaks up.

"I'm not a baby." He says with a pout, getting a laugh from Louis.

"My bad, little dude. What's your name?"

"It's Alvin Junior, but Clem calls me AJ."

Louis looks at me, confused, before looking back at AJ. "Who's Clem?"

"A girl we rescued from a car crash over by the old train station. It looked pretty messy, but she's gonna pull through." I inform him, to which he nods, before scowling.

"Wait, the train station? That's well outside the safe zone. Marlon was cool with that? Usually he's really strict about that."

I shrug. "I heard people that needed help, and I helped them. Marlon and Violet weren't totally on board, but that didn't really matter. I made the right call back there. They would've died if we didn't help them."

I put my rifle on a table and sit down next to it pulling out an old rag from one of my jean pockets and wiping my gun with it as Louis starts a new song. AJ notices me and walks over, looking at what I'm doing.

"What are you doing?" He asks as I clean the stock.

"I'm cleaning my gun. You might as well keep your weapons in good condition nowadays. Plus, it's a nice way to kill time." I tell him as I move onto the barrel. "Have you ever shot a gun before?"

"Uh-huh." He says with a smile and an affirmative nod. "Clem taught me. She lets me kill walkers sometimes, too."

"Really?" I ask him with a curious glance, to which he nods again. "You're what, four? That seems a bit dangerous."

"I'm five. I'm pretty much grown up." He scowls, which gets another smile out of me.

"Of course. My bad."

I don't know how much time passes by, but it's enough where I've fully cleaned my rifle, handgun, and my knife as I see Ruby walk in. I give her a nice smile as I reholster my gun.

"Hey y'all I was wonderin' if y'all knew where- OW! GAH! YOU LITTLE MOTHERFUCKER!"

My eyes dart back up to see Ruby clutching her hand, a nasty bite mark, clear as day, now right by her palm. Louis and I glance at each other, and then turn to AJ as he backs away.

Ruby storms out of the room, and turns the corner, and I hear her yell something to someone down the hall. "Hey! HEY!" is all I hear before she gets muffled by the doors.

Louis stares back at me, and I shrug before he starts playing the piano again, and AJ just watches him, like he hadn't just bitten Ruby a second ago. I get back to messing with my M9, unloading it, reloading it, spinning it on the table, just killing time.

A minute later, the door opens, and the girl, Clementine, walks in. AJ turns around and his face lights up.

"Clem!" He runs to his friend and she pulls him in for a tight hug. "You're ok!" He says, laughing at seeing her again.

"I'm ok, goofball." She assures him. "And you know what you are?" He looks at her, confused, as a devilish smile forms on her face. "Ticklish!". She tickles the boy, who despite his protests, can't stop laughing.

Despite the nice moment between the two, Clementine's expression turns more serious. "Aj, listen to me. Did you bite that girl?"

He looks back at her and frowns. "She snuck up on me. I didn't want to hurt her."

"I know you didn't, but no more bites, ok?"

"Ok…" He says quietly, so I speak up.

"Glad to see you're up and walking. Wasn't sure how long it would take. That was a pretty nasty crash, but I'm glad to see you and your boy are alright."

She smiles. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

I return the smile. "No problem."

Louis quips from behind me, "Well, not 'no' problem, he was a bit of a handful. But it seems like we got off light compared to what Ruby went through."

I glance over at Louis. "Louis…"

"AJ doesn't like people coming up behind him." Clementine explains.

"Don't do it." AJ adds, and Louis grins.

"Loud and clear, little man." He says before turning back to Clementine. "Thankfully, I was able to keep him pretty calm by playing my alluring music." He starts playing the piano again. "I'm Louis."

"Clementine."

"And I'm Brett." I introduce myself.

"Oh! You know what? Marlon left your bag in here, somewhere." Louis mentions, but Clementine is way ahead of him, walking over to a corner and picking up a backpack. She fishes through the backpack, pulling out a knife, an old baseball cap, and a revolver, which she casually hands to AJ.

"Uh…" Louis speaks up. AJ inspects the gun, spinning the chamber a couple times before putting it in his back pocket. "Does he know what that is?"

"He's a better shot than you with it, I'd guarantee it."

"That doesn't take much, to be quite honest." I joke and AJ and Clementine both giggle, as Louis scowls back at me, flipping me off before going back to the piano, playing the same song as before.

"Don't you know any other songs?" Clementine asks him, and he sports a cheeky grin.

"Well, I do know another song I could play, buuuuut you're armed."

Clementine gives him a confused look as he starts a new song. I don't know what it is when he starts, but it hits me the moment that he starts singing along.

"Oh my darling, Oh my darling

Oh my darling, Clementine.

You are lost and gone forever,

Dreadful sorry, Clementine."

I glance over at her, expecting glares, but she actually smiles.

"I love this song." She says, beaming.

Smiling, Louis continues.

"Light she was and like a fairy,

And her shoes were number nine.

Herring boxes without topses,

Sandals were for Clementine."

I'll give Louis all the credit in the world. He's arrogant as Hell about his music talent, but the man can play piano and can sing better than anyone I know or can remember. And he's definitely gotten better since I got here.

"What do you think, AJ?" Clementine looks down at the boy, who tries to look away, but can't fully cover a smile.

"I dunno, it's loud."

"It is."

"Loud is bad."

"Not always."

Louis slides over on his seat, patting the area he was just sitting, indicating for AJ to try.

"Go ahead AJ, give it a try." Clementine encourages him. Hesitantly, AJ sits next to Louis, and Louis has him press a few keys, and soon enough, AJ is getting the hang of it.

"Hey!" the four of us turn to see Marlon at the door. "Have you guys seen Rosie?"

Louis and I shake our heads. "Nope. Haven't seen her all day." I inform him.

"Shit. We've got a bit of a situation out there. Uhm, I hate to ask, with you just coming to and all, but can you help?" He asks Clementine.

She nods firmly, and Marlon smiles.

"Alright, great. This means you guys, too, Brett and Louis. Get your asses in gear. There's a lot of 'em."

I get up from my seat, holstering my M9 and grabbing my rifle and knife as the four of us walk down the hall, out towards the gate.

"You guys ready?" Marlon asks us as I pull out my knife. Clementine does the same and Louis pulls out Chairles. "We've got a hunting party out there that's trying to get back. "Mitch, Aasim, Brody, and Benji. We need to clear the way to get them back in. But as you can see, there's a lot of walkers. A lot more than usual."

"Huh. It's almost as though something drew them over here. Something like, I don't know, an explosion or a car crash." Violet sarcastically remarks coldly. I glare at her, as does Clementine, but Louis once again interjects and frankly, I can't stay irritated for too long when he's always keeping it light.

"Hi, Clementine. I'm Violet. Nice to meet you."

She glares back at him before walking out the gates. "What he said."

Willy pops out from his guard post, "Alright boy and girls, I can see them, but there's an assload of walkers. Get our friends back!"

I step out to see a few dozen walkers, mostly just standing around, but soon enough Marlon and Violet start up the action, shooting arrows and hacking away, so I start to do the same.

One walker finds my knife in the side of its head, killing it instantly. Another gets a leg swipe to the knee, knocking it over as I crush its skull. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Clementine snap a walker's knee with a kick before stabbing the side of the head. While she's doing that, however, I spot one sneaking up on her. Without a second thought, I rush up behind her, tackling the walker to the ground before I plant the knife in its skull, making a nasty squishing and crunching noise as I do it.

She looks at the walker and then back up at me. "Thanks for that."

I grin. "Don't mention it."

Without warning she shoves me to side, and I look over to see her stabbing her knife into a walker's head, its corpse falling down right in front of me. I look back up a her, visibly shocked by the close encounter.

"Even?" She asks.

"Even." I nod.

"Yo! Over here!" Marlon calls out to us, and Clementine and I find him, just across the stream, motioning for us to join him. The two of us run over, joining him, to see Benji put down one last walker with his bow. I smile to see him safe, but I grin as Brody runs into my arms, and I pull her in for a hug.

"I'm so glad you're ok!" I say to her, not breaking the hug.

"So am I, where did all these walkers come from?" She asks me.

"It's a long story, but I'll explain when we get back. Let's focus on getting back safe first, alright?"

She nods as we start walking back, and I hear my brother catch up to us, loading a new arrow into his crossbow.

"Who's the new girl?" He asks, as we see her talking with Louis and Violet. Interestingly, she and Violet seem to be getting along decently well, even after Violet's snarkiness earlier.

"Her name's Clementine. She's… interesting. Haven't gotten to talk to her very much, but she seems pretty cool." I explain.

Out of nowhere, I see Rosie run and leap onto a walker, catching its skull in her jaws and biting down hard. She does the same with another straggler crawling towards Clementine.

The area finally seems safe, and after petting Rosie a bit, Marlon gives us an announcement. "All right, fun's over. Let's get inside. I'm fuckin' starving."

My stomach growls audibly, getting a chuckle out of Brody and Benji.

"How'd it go out there?" Marlon asks Aasim, who just groans.

"How do you think?" He snaps back. "The safe zone's nearly dry. We barely found enough for tonight. We're gonna have to scout out further if we want food for the winter."

"We'll talk about it later." Marlon dryly responds.

"Bullshit, we should talk about this right now-"

"I said later, damn it." he growls, bumping past Aasim, and through the gates.

Brody and I look at each other weirdly, but don't say anything as we follow him back in. As we walk in, AJ's face brightens up, running right past us to hug Clementine.

"They're so good with the monsters!" He exclaims.

I look past him to see Marlon walking towards them. Before I can say anything, though, he makes the same mistake Ruby did.

"Come on, y'all. Food's nearly-" As he puts his hand on AJ's shoulder, AJ panics, immediately giving him an elbow to the groin, and I wince so hard, I have to look away.

"AJ!" Clementine exclaims to the boy, who runs away, embarrassed. Brody pulls me away, trying to give him some space. The two of us sit down on a ledge, right next to Rosie. I scratch her ear as Marlon slowly makes his way towards us.

"Kid packs a punch." He says with a groan as he sits down. Brody and I can't help but giggle at that.

"Yeah, I felt that one. You alright?"

With a pained smile, he nods. "Yeah. I'm fine. It hurts like the Devil, but I'm fine."

"So what happened with them? You said you'd explain when we got back." She asks me.

I nod. "That's right. So, we were on a little lookout thing this morning, killing walkers around the area, try and secure the area a bit more, when I hear this explosion in the distance, like a grenade or something went off. Then I hear a lot of walkers, and a car ignition, so I'm wondering what the hell is going on. I run towards the scene, and I see Clementine's car crashed, and a bunch of walkers trying to get in. Marlon, Violet, and I killed a good amount of the walkers, and I dragged her from the wreck while Violet got the boy. We barely made it out after that. But, we saved 'em. I don't know how things would've went if we showed up a minute later."

Brody looks at me, impressed. "Well look at you. My boyfriend, the lifesaver."

I feel my cheeks redden at my girlfriend's remarks, and I give her a quick kiss.

"I always think it's so funny how the two of you wound up together. Like, she shot you, and yet the both of you fell for each other that night. Are you sure that arrow wasn't one of cupid's?"

I roll my eyes, as Marlon makes the same joke Louis did a year ago about us, and ever since, several others have, too. It wasn't funny when Louis said it, it hasn't been funny since, and Brody agrees, although if we say anything, they do it more, so I guess that's gonna stick for a while.

Clementine and AJ walk over to us, which Brody immediately notices, and greets them with a warm smile. "Clementine, right? I'm Brody. He's a sweet little fella." She says, nodding over at AJ. "I figured there wasn't a lotta room for sweetness out there.

Clem returns the smile. "I'm the lucky one. He's just naturally good."

"Naturally good. That's really rare stuff nowadays." Brody remarks. Clem nods in agreement, and then nudging AJ, who looks down at the ground.

"I'm really sorry I hit you. Can we please stay here and eat dinner and not go out into the forest and get killed by monsters?" the boy pleads to Marlon. Marlon looks at the two of us with a soft smile, before turning back to AJ. "Don't sweat it, buddy. You can make up for it by teaching me your technique. You are a regular heavyweight."

The boy smiles wide upon hearing this, giving me a good feeling in my chest, but that's brought even further when I hear Louis's booming voice shouting out, "Hey y'all! Stew's done!"

We all grab bowls and sit down at our respective tables, and I find myself sitting next to Brody, across from Tenn and Violet, who simply looks down at her stew, lightly poking at it.

"So, how've you been, Tenn? I haven't seen you all day." I ask the boy, who slowly eats while drawing a new picture, probably his sisters.

"I'm pretty good. Except when Clementine pointed a knife at me. But it was my fault. She didn't know who I was, and she was scared, so she defended herself."

I frown. "Well that doesn't sound like it was your fault at all. She's in a new place with a bunch of new people. Hell, Brody shot me before I met her, you know that. And now, a year later, she's my girlfriend. Don't blame yourself. Did she at least apologize?"

The boy nods, but I hear Violet scoff and mutter something under her breath. I glance at her, wondering if she said something about Brody, but I decide to let it go. I chow down the last bit of stew with a satisfied sigh, and Brody does the same. The both of us get up to bring Omar our dishes, as I look over to see Louis pull out a deck of cards. Louis notices me and grins, motioning for me to come over, but Brody scoffs.

"Oh God. Goodnight."

"Sorry Louis. The lady comes first. Maybe another night." I shrug to my friend.

"Aww, come on, Brett. You can play one round of cards, can't you? I thought we'd get to know our new friend Clem a little better." He pleads, and I look over to Brody, who just smiles to me.

"Fine. Go ahead. Just come to bed after, all right?"

"Of course, baby. I'll see you in a bit." We end the conversation with a quick kiss before we go our separate ways, Brody to her room and me to the card table, where Marlon, Louis, and Clementine already are waiting.

With that, Louis motions over to Violet. "Violet! It's time!" She joins us, sitting down between myself and Marlon.

"What's the game tonight, Louis?" Marlon asks as Louis shuffles a deck, handing a stack of cards to all of us.

"War. It's pretty simple. We all draw a card, highest card wins and asks Clem a question." He explains, this was just like my first night here.

"And if I win?" She asks.

"Then you ask us a question."

Clem looks around her for a second, confused and concerned. "Wait… where's AJ?"

I point right behind her, seeing the boy sitting across from Tenn and Benji, the two of them drawing on some paper. "He's with Tenn. My brother'll watch them. You've got nothing to worry about."

"You can take your eyes off him for one game. I'll bet you both can use a break from each other."

She sighs before conceding. "Yeah, maybe. He doesn't really spend a lot of time with kids his own age, so maybe it's a good thing. He spends so much time with me, it's almost like he's an adult more than a kid. It's kinda nice to see him acting like a little boy again."

With that, the game begins, and we all draw a card. Violet pulls the queen of hearts, winning the round. "Way to go me," she says with a small smile. "So, about AJ, where's his parents? You two don't really look related, so what happened?"

Clem frowns. "It was a very dark couple of days. AJ's parents were part of a group I was in, back down in Tennessee or so. His dad, Alvin, was this really big guy who was a really nice person, and his mom was this woman, Rebecca. She had a temper but she was nice when she wasn't angry. Anyways, this man, Carver, kidnapped our group and killed a few in the process, including a girl not much older than us, my friend's sister. He beat up Alvin until he was hanging by a thread, and Alvin used that last little bit left in him to help us escape Carver, letting himself die because of it. A few days later, Rebecca gave birth to AJ, but it was cold, and she was weak, so she passed away a bit later, so someone put her down, but another group thought we were shooting at them, so they started shooting back. In that gunfight, the same man that lost his sister to Carver, he lost his wife, too, a woman named Carley I had known since this started. It was… really sad. From there, our group kept getting smaller and smaller until AJ and I were all that was left."

The four of us listen on in stunned silence. Louis joked that Benji and I had seen Hell and back, but Clementine has us beat by a mile, judging by the sound of this.

Clem wins the second round, drawing the jack of clubs. "Hey, I win." She says with a surprisingly upbeat tone.

"Hey, you do. So, what do you wanna know?" Louis responds.

"Grossest injury you've ever witnessed?" She asks us.

"I saw a walker get hit in the head so hard, his eyeball flew out." Violet immediately replies with a morbidly satisfied smile.

"I saw someone have their intestines pulled all the way out. Like ALL the way. It goes on for a while. We've got a lot of guts." Louis adds, with a somewhat less morbid smile, but still kinda unsettling regardless.

"I saw a full-on compound fracture. This guy's shin bone was jutting out of his skin. Pretty brutal." I tell her, and she nods.

"I saw a man get his head smashed in with a salt lick once." She says to us, and the four of us look at her, intrigued but kinda horrified. "He was an asshole though, he deserved it."

With that, we all draw another card, and Louis immediately yells "Booyah!" as he pulls a Kind of Diamonds. However, despite this, he timidly hangs his head, looking away.

"Come on Louis, spit it out." I urge him.

"So, uh, Clem. Have you ever, you know, had a boyfriend?"

All eyes shoot to Louis after asking this, with no one saying a word.

"What? It happens. it's a perfectly valid question." He justifies. "You can ask me if I've ever had a girlfriend. I haven't, by the way." He says with a smile.

"Yeah, I'm sure she's real surprised about that one." Violet jokes as all eyes turn to Clem, whose cheeks are a bright pink now.

"Yeah. I actually have a boyfriend right now, back at my community. It's been about three years. His name's Gabe." She informs us, and the table starts cackling as Louis hangs his head, embarrassed.

"Oh, man! All the embarrassment, none of the reward!" Marlon exclaims as Louis flips him the bird.

"I thought if it could work for Brett, it'd maybe work for me, too."

I simply smile and shake my head toward Louis. This is going fantastically.

Marlon wins the next one with the ten of spades. "So, Clem. What community is this that you're talking about? We're in a pretty closed-off area so you've gotta be pretty far from home right now."

"Richmond. Over in Virginia. It's a big city with a lot of good people. My friend, Ian, the one who lost his wife and sister a few years ago, is in charge over there. We were on a supply run this morning, looking for food, supplies, anything of use, really. Fuck, he's gonna be pissed when he finds out the car's totaled. But yeah, it's pretty far from here. A day or two's walk, at least. There used to be this woman, Joan, that was in charge. She was evil, and Ian was one of the people who helped overthrow her, and bring stability back to the city."

We play the next round, where I win, with a Queen of Diamonds. "So, this Ian guy, you've talked about him a lot. How long have you known him? What's he like?"

She smiles softly, and I can tell she's going way back. "I met Ian Sullivan pretty early on. It was maybe the second or third day of this whole thing, and he and his fiancée, Carley, were a part of a group that was holding out in a pharmacy. We were part of the same group for the next few months, until things fell apart, and I thought he and Carley were dead. He and Carley almost died so my friend Lee could find me. Two years later, I found him and Carley, now married, at a cabin in Tennessee, with a new group. This same group fell apart, especially after Carver kidnapped us, and after he lost Carley, he was a different man. He was getting into arguments with other members, and this other man, my friend Kenny, lost his mind after losing his wife, and he snapped on this kid. Ian was scared, so he and a few others abandoned us, and I hated him."

A few of us look at her, surprised. This guy, who she spoke so highly of, he ditched her?

"Our paths crossed a few years later, in Virginia. I saw red, and I was fucking furious, but in all honesty, I was relieved. I was on my own for a few months, and I was glad to see him. He didn't get any sort of forgiveness, but when we started getting shot at, we knew we needed to set aside any differences to make sure we didn't die. We made up after that when we realized how big of an enemy we had, and now we're pretty good friends again. I was a bridesmaid when he married his wife, Kate."

I nod at her story. "Seems like a pretty good guy when he's got his head right."

She nods back. "Usually he is. That was just a really hard week. I don't hold it against him anymore."

We play our next round, and Clementine wins with the ten of spades. She smiles as she asks her next question. "You guys ever meet anyone famous out there?"

We all shake our heads, and Louis speaks up.

"It's too bad. You'd figure a movie star or something would show up somewhere."

Violet scoffs. "They had like millions of dollars. They're probably living in a bunker with butlers and water beds out the ass."

"Yeah maybe." Louis agrees.

"Ian played professional football. Well, he hadn't played a game when this started. But I met a guy who used to be a baseball player, and he made money from it."

"That's cool. I loved baseball." I tell Clem. "Was he good at it?"

"I don't know." She shrugs. "We never got to play. He was good with a bat, though."

"Baseball sucks…" Violet mutters under her breath, but Louis can hear her, regardless.

"You suck."

"Not as much as baseball." She fires back at him.

We play our next hand, and Violet wins with the queen of diamonds.

"Victory Violet. Here's a fun one. Out of the five of us, who do you think is gonna die first?"

I look over at Violet. "That's fucking morbid."

She softly chuckles in response. "I know."

"Louis. Definitely." The rest of the table nods in agreement, even Louis, which gets a weird look from Clem.

"What? I'd have said the same."

The next round is played, and Louis wins with the Jack of Clubs.

"I am the greatest card player of all time." He gloats, which causes Violet's eyes to roll.

"Just ask your damn question."

"Ever… actually, nevermind." He looks away.

"What? Ask it." Clem asks him.

"It's a really not fun one." He warns her.

"Ask."

"Ever have to kill someone you love?"

A pained look comes to her face as she looks down at the table. Clearly, this question struck something in her and I can tell she's reliving a painful memory.

"I killed Lee. From the day this started, Lee protected me, taught me how to survive. He taught me how to use a gun. I was lost one day, and he got bit trying to save me, so I put him down, as his final request. It was the same day I found out my parents were dead. It was the worst day of my life."

Another stunned silence follows. We all see her get up, walking off without saying another word.

Yeah, that's probably for the best.

We all go our separate ways for the night, but before I go to Brody's room, I make a pit stop to me and Benji's, where I see him curled up with his book in bed.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"You meet the new girl yet? Clementine?" I ask him.

"Yeah, a bit. We talked a bit, but I got to know her boy, AJ, a lot more. Did he really bite Ruby?"

I laugh out loud. "Yeah. She snuck up on him and paid the price. From what I saw, they made up."

"Good, Good. So, Clementine seems pretty cool."

"Yeah, she seems pretty neat. She's from this big community over in Richmond. Apparently there's a guy in charge there she goes way back with. She's also got a boyfriend back there, so I'm not sure if she'll be around for very long. Seems like she might want to get back to him."

"Oh," My brother frowns, not looking up from his book. "She's got a boyfriend."

I stare blankly back at him, seeing him feeling dejected. "Yeah. She's taken. Sorry buddy."

He shakes his head. "It's whatever."

"If it's any consolation, Louis tried to hit on her, too. It failed spectacularly and everyone laughed, so be happy that wasn't you." This gets a smile out of him, which makes me smile, too.

"That makes it a bit better, I'll be honest."

"I knew it would. I'm gonna spend the night with Brody, alright?"

"Use a condom." My brother teases me, knowing I damn well don't have one. I casually flip him off and walk out of the room, shutting the door before walking down the hall to Brody's room. I walk in to see her already in bed, and I slip in right next to her.

Without another word spoken, she snuggles right into me, and the both of us drift off to sleep, spooning for the rest of the night.

Well, there we go. Clem and AJ are finally introduced, and the story's about to pick up soon. Any and all constructive crticism is appreciated. See you guys next Friday :]