Welcome to Chapter 14! Don't forget to leave a review or favorite if you enjoyed!
I woke up earlier than usual today, mostly everybody was asleep, including Nick who I was snuggling into? Jerking back, I looked around, making sure nobody was around to see that. He was a pretty warm sleeping spot though, considering it's starting to snow outside.
I walked into the main room, only Clementine and Sarah were awake at the moment, I decided to walk up to them "What's goin' on lil' ladies?".
Sarah frowned, "I want to learn how to shoot, Clementine said she'll help me but my dad wouldn't want me to...". Poor girl just wants to learn how to protect herself, hm... Carlos is still sleepin' so we got a shot at it right now.
"Hon, fun fact about life, parents are going to be upset no matter what." Okay, maybe I was projecting my own problems onto her, but i'm not particularly far from wrong. "Let's try shootin' outside. Meet you out there."
I walked outside and saw Jane out there, looking at the ground and being her silent self. I walked up to her, trying to strike up a conversation with her.
"Hey there... uh, Jane. Somethin' wrong?" this was one of the first times I've approached her, and to be honest I'm intimidated by her.
She looked up at me, her eyes as steely as the rest of her appearance, "Why do you care?".
"Oh, just bein' friendly is all... y-you wanna help Clem and I teach Sarah how to, er, protect herself?" I didn't come over here to ask her this, but I thought spending some time with Sarah could be good for her. Maybe it'll make her feel more welcome with us?
Sighing, she replied with "This is just a waste of t- You know, i'm not doing anything right now, sure.".
That's when Clementine and Sarah walked out, with guns in their hands. Jane and I walked over as Clementine instructed Sarah, "Just do what we did at the cabin.".
Sarah raised the gun, taking a sharp breath in as she pulled the trigger. Wincing as the gun unloaded its bullet into the tree next to the can.
"Try again.", Clem called out. She sounded like a teacher, it was pretty cute. Jane was skeptical of Sarah, but I'm hoping Clementine and I can change her mind. Taking another shot, Sarah skimmed the side of the can this time.
Her face scrunched up in disappointment, I patted her on the shoulder, "Yer doin' just fine. Try goin' more to the right." Once again she shot out, this time hitting the can again. It was cute seeing Clementine give her a high five after that.
"Why don't you use a gun, James...?" it was an innocent question, Sarah didn't know what it meant to me. Hell, I don't think anybody does.
"You see... I hurt somebody with a gun once, somebody I cared about a lot. I – I don't trust myself with 'em still." I could see Jane glaring at me, not in a threatening way, just plain curious I would assume.
Sarah cocked her head to the side slightly, "Oh... what happened after that?'.
I looked at the ground, "They died, Sarah. That's why you don't aim at anybody unless you plan to shoot, okay?". There was no point in lying about it, we can't be sheltering her anymore. She understood though, nodding in response.
"There's one more thing to show you, but we need a walker first. Come with me" Jane chimed in, waling away with Sarah, I wonder what they were going to do? Maybe my plan was working, they are spending time together after all!
"So, Clem, what do you think of Jane?" it always felt weird trying to converse with Clem, she was different then the other kids I've met before.
Watching Clementine smile she looked over at me, "I like Jane, I'm glad she's with us.".
All a sudden I heard running. As I looked over to the source of sound I saw Carlos with a shotgun in his hands "Why was there shooting, where is Sarah?!"
I held my arms in the air, "W-Whoa! Hold on, everything's fine. We we just showin' Sarah how to shoot, false alarm.". I could've sworn Carlos' face was turning red, he started stomping over to me, his gun still raised.
Pressing the gun into my chest, he started to speak "If anything happens to my daughter I will-"
He was cut off by a familiar young girls voice, "Dad!". Sarah ran up, grabbing Carlos' arm "Why do you have a gun pointed at James?". Carlos didn't answer Sarah, instead he kept starring Jane down.
His stare held strong as he was staring Jane down, "We need to talk. Alone.".
I ushered the girls inside, not wanting them or myself to hear or see what was going to happen. While walking up the steps I paused to see if Nick was still there, letting the girls walk ahead of me. He wasn't there, the gunshots must've woke him up. Whilst walking into the main room I was grabbed, jumping I turned around and saw Bonnie and Luke.
It looks like these two were getting on better terms, but why do they keep pulling me aside? "W-What's goin' on now?". Bonnie looked pretty giddy, but Luke... Luke looked concerned. What was happening?
Bonnie was grinning, a strange sight to see these days. "We saw you talkin' with Nick last night, you two are gettin' pretty close, ain't ya?". Oh, oh no. I didn't want anybody getting ideas but I guess it was too late for that, huh?
I tried my best to steer them away from what they were thinking, "Oh, I mean we were just, u-uh talkin' and s-stuff. Friendly stuff like th-that and all.". By the looks on their faces I could tell they didn't buy it, I wasn't a very good liar.
Luke's face twisted, "Friendly stuff? Is that- Is that what you're callin' it? Man, I never thought Nick turned…. you know.". Did he just- You know what, I'm not in the mood to discuss this junk with others.
I accidentally slipped in an eye roll in my response, "I- Y-Yeah, i'm just gonna g-g-go now.". I turned around, walking back into the main room to be met with quite a peculiar sight. Nick was holding the baby- AJ. His whole body looked so wound up,as if he was holding a bomb. I couldn't help but chuckle, "This yer first time holdin' a baby? Ya look so tense.".
His arms tensed even more as he took his eyes off AJ to look at me, "I just don't wanna drop it, I got it.". His focus turned back to the baby in his arms, acting like any inch of movement will break the kid.
His hand was up a little too high, "Here, move yer hand down a bit more.". He just looked over at me, a less then happy expression on his face.
He huffed, "I said I got it.". Yet he still moved it anyway, I couldn't help but laugh at how stubborn he was. He turned his gaze away from me as I laughed, looking embarrassed.
That's when I could hear yelling outside, Carlos yelling to be exact. Man, I need to have a talk with him, I can understand his point of view on this but he needs to understand ours.
Looking around, I saw Troy talking to Sarah, he looked teary? Being my usual self I walked over, "Everythin' alright, Troy...?"
He turned around, "Yesterday just... got to me. I know I'm an asshole but I don't want to be the asshole nobody likes, I was just tellin' Sarah i'm sorry, for... you know.". He was changing, it made me smile. "Don't expect me to get all soft or shit!".
"I wouldn't count on it, bud." I nudged Troy's arm, causing him to laugh a bit. Maybe everything was calming down? That was until everybody heard Carlos outside again. Poor Sarah, it was obvious that she was distressed by it, how could I take her mind off of it? Hm...
I knelt down, "Hey Sarah, you wanna play a game? The hat one?". Her face lit up, nodding as I motioned her to get up on my shoulders. Now things were serious, this is our second strike upon the Nick's Hat Empire. Once Nick put down AJ and stood up it was our moment, we charged.
"GO GO GO!" we collided with Nick, knocking him over once again. Sarah went for the hat just like last time, and Nick yet again struggled under us. She got the hat in the nick of time, you could say. Instead of running with the hat this time she put it on my head? I looked over to what seemed to be a pissed off Nick, as soon as he saw the hat he cracked a smile, even a slight laugh?
Once he calmed down he spoke, "Looks good.". Well I didn't expect that, I mean, I don't know.
"Heh, looks better on you though.", I put the hat back on Nick's head, pushing the front over his face playfully. I heard stomping and sighing, looking over I saw Carlos, I might as well catch him while he's still fired up. "Carlos. We need to talk.". Oh boy, here it goes.
Basically spitting in my face, he turned to face me "What do you want?".
I breathed in, "Listen, Carlos, I respect ya but... but yer bein' unreasonable! Think about what we're trying to do for Sarah, we're trying to make it so she doesn't get hurt! The same thing yer tryin' to do! Sh-Shouldn't we be on the same page then?!". He didn't say anything, he just turned away. "You can turn away from me, Carlos. That's fine, but it's your daughter it's damaging.". I couldn't take it, I ran outside, but upon my arrival I saw Clementine and Jane.
Jane's face was tinged with sorrow, "I'm not gonna stick around and...".
"Are y'all alright?", by the look on their faces I might've intruded on a personal moment.
"Look, I gotta get out of here. I thought... I thought bonding with Sarah would make me want to stay, but I don't want to get attached to anybody, it's too risky. I have to go now... keep that girl safe.", I didn't know what to say at this. Jane's leaving? How's Luke going to react, or any of the group for that matter? Clem and I watched as she walked away, vanishing into the woods.
Though Jane was gone the air felt... peaceful? Eerily so, like the calm before the storm. Now it's time to go tell the others...
Avid-8Cancer - Thanks! I'm always trying to improve my writing! :D I hope you enjoy the next chapters too!
queenie - I don't know if i'm very comfortable with writing anything sexual at the moment, but maybe things will change later on!
ExTerminator2 - Thank you! Let's hope they all get a happy ending, they sure need one! ;D
clukeyforevr - Sorry but I'm not very comfortable writing cluke due to Clementine being a minor in this canon, thank you for the review though!