Episode 1: The Fallen Rise- New Friends?
Eleven Months Later
It was hard to adjust...
But a new day had begun in the apocalypse where the dead have risen and seek out to consume the living. Survivors of all kinds struggle to make it to the next day with their hearts still beating against their chests. But here in the camp of Wellington, terminus to its citizens, things may be too good to be true after all this time, especially with this particular young girl, twelve year old Clementine.
Clementine woke up from another bad night's sleep in her small hut made from tents and canvases sewn together in the camp of Wellington. Reclusive since she arrived, Clem gave an internal declaration to give it another chance to connect with people again and go out there to be a more prominent member of the community. Her only usual contacts were Kenny and Alvin Junior, but Kenny usually had guard duty or went on supply runs.
The brunette wiggled out of her green sleeping bag that was laid on the floor and quickly grabbed her blue jacket that Bonnie had given her so long ago, still fit thankfully. But she smelled, and she knew it. Maybe the nearby lake outside camp was warm enough by now that she could wash herself without jumping twenty feet out of the water as soon as she stepped in it. Clem also wore her usual blue jeans and tough boots. Her signature D hat still adorned her head since her father gave it to her, so she refused to part with it. It was time to head outside, so she climbed out and unzipped the flaps to exit.
Wellington was a place of sanctuary, a walled-in haven next to Lake Michigan where people like Clementine could call home, but all it really was to her was mostly a camp full of strangers. "Well... here goes..."
Among the field of tents, dotted with a few sturdy buildings, Clem walked outside and knew exactly where to start first: the leader of Wellington and head of their council, the largest tent in the middle of their settlement, a small circus tent. Clem quickly found it and hoped that they were here and she wasn't interrupting anything. "Hello?"
The twelve-year-old found who she was looking for when a response called her in, with a deep Haitian voice. "Yes! Come in, come in! Come, come!"
Clem entered the large tent as she examined her dimer surroundings: on her right there was the old man who answered her, sitting at his desk and doing some kind of paperwork, while on the left side there was his young adult daughter she knew as Maree taking care of Alvin Junior. She and her met when they first allowed her to take care of AJ during the workday. Clementine of course knew the old man's name to be Vaughn.
Vaughn beckoned her. "Clementine yes?" He gave a sincere smile. "Marvelous, I'm glad you're here."
Clementine approached the leader at his desk while she took a seat in front of him. Vaughn was an old father in his late fifties. He was bald and had dark brown eyes, but he had a bushy black beard with gray fringes on the end. He was wearing a seasoned brown sweater and black pants. And in contrast, his teeth were like pearls, not to mention for some reason Clem felt comfortable around him, in fact he had that effect on everyone. "Hi, Vaughn..." The lack of sleep was clearly showing.
"And a very good morning to you too, Clementine." Vaughn smiled putting down his pencil and paper as he propped his elbows up and interlocked his fingers. "How are you doing?"
Clem replied with a sigh. "I'm... I'm just tired."
"Tired you say?" The bearded man scanned her body language. "Ah well, everyone is tired Clementine. But it's a new day and you're still alive, be thankful for that."
She stared blankly at him. "Okay."
Vaughn nodded. "Good. With that in mind, you've done some work for our settlement, but most of it you've done it in solitude, no one else helping you with reeling in fish, standing watch at night, any of that ringing a bell?"
"That's why I'm here, I want you to assign me with other people. I'm also tired of thinking bad things from before I came here. I need a change."
(?) Vaughn will remember that.
"Magnificent, marvelous! You need say no more, child." Vaughn smiled as opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a piece of paper with writing on it. "Here, it is a small chore list I've taken the liberty to prepare for you. If you have any trouble out there, find me or Xavier, that man must be around here somewhere..."
"Who's Xavier?" Clem questioned.
"Oh? He should be the man over by the front entrance of the camp, with Edith you know her." Clem nodded to signal she understood. Also, Vaughn already answered the next question she was going to ask. "Your friend Kenny is doing another run for Xavier, he should be back by suppertime, do not worry Clementine. ...Now if you'll excuse me, I have other business to attend to. Au revoir, Maree."
"Vous aimer, Daddy." She waved him off for work.
Vaughn stood up and walked past the girl. He gave her a kiss on the forehead while she still cared for the baby in her arms and then he left. She smiled and went back to her nurturing, so Clementine decided to talk to her first before going off to work. "How's AJ doing?"
Vaughn's daughter was in her early twenties, she had her short black hair tied back into a little ponytail. Her small petite figure and her brown eyes made her look adorable to others, but Clem could tell she could hold her own because she kept a knife strapped to her thigh. Wearing jeans and a long-sleeved light blue shirt, she finally took notice of Clem as she put the baby down for another nap. "He's doing great, haven't heard a complaint yet."
Clem gave a ghost of a smile at that. "I'm glad."
Maree had put Alvie down in the old wooden crib behind her and tucked him in, making sure he was comfortable, she led Clem to the entrance of their tent so that their conversation would not wake him. "My name is Maree, bonjour Clementine."
"I'm Clementine." The twelve year old asked curiously. "Bonjour? What's that mean?"
"It just means good morning or hello in French, you've never heard French before?"
"I don't think so..." Clementine was still wrapping the idea of speaking more than one language around her head, to which she found confusing. "Can you teach me sometime?"
Maree grinned. "Sure," Then she looked down at the paper in her hand. "Dad got you working with other people?"
"Yeah..." Clem examined the chore list that was in her hand and saw several names of the people she had to work with today. Perhaps she could ask Maree about these people? "Do you think you can tell me who's on here?" She showed the young Haitian the list in question.
"Let's see... huh." She scanned the paper up and down and had a mixed expression on different parts. "Well, do you want the good news or the bad news?"
"I can use some good news right about now." Clem sighed as she pocketed Vaughn's paper. "What is it?"
"It said that you'll be working with Dusty, and that's good because he's a real... decent guy. I think he was in the military before all this started." Maree slightly blushed at the thought of him which Clem narrowed her eyes at. "I mean, he'll watch out for ya..."
"Then what's the bad news?" The little girl inquired.
Maree crossed her arms in dismay. "It's not my place to say, but you'll also be tasked with some target practice with the other kids in camp. You're fine Clementine but those other two..."
"Who are they? The other kids?"
"Teenagers. I'm worried, worried for the both of them. Whatever they say to you Clem, they won't mean it okay?"
"Are they bullies or something?" She inquired further as thoughts of impeding arguments within her invaded her mind. "Because I'm not afraid of that."
"I haven't talked to those two in a while, but I've heard rumors around the camp. Just... you never know, be careful."
The nurse and the little girl exchanged one more look of comfort from one another and Clem had to decide internally where to start first.
[FIND DUSTY]
[FIND TEENS]
"I think I'll start with the guy you like." Clem made the more positively appealing choice and decided to tease Maree with it. "Dusty."
Maree was momentarily alarmed and embarrassed at the comment but then she calmed herself down and nodded. "Good call."
(?) Maree will remember that.
*Cry!* *Coo...*
"And that's my cue to get back to work... you should too." Maree walked back to the crib to care for the baby. "Good luck today."
"Thanks Maree." She smiled as she exited the tent. Both she and her father Vaughn had both been so kind and helpful for Clementine that it was as Vaughn would say it, 'Marvelous!' She couldn't let either of them down and make sure to pay them back with loyalty and compassion, especially concerning with AJ's safety, care, and growth.
Clem was outside the main tent now and the work day had officially begun. People she didn't recognize or she didn't know their names passed by without paying her so much as a glance. Clem had to find this Dusty and according to Maree he looked like a military man, but that was when there were these two unnerving looking thugs strode past her, each had spider tattoos on their faces. Why were they staring at her? "Hi..."
Now that was a mistake because the pair of them gave her mean nasty scowls and her whole body stiffened as the three of them went on with their separate ways. The tattooed men never said a word; she only heard them cough loudly...
Wellington was quite large for its accommodation of its people. But in the center of the settlement there was sort of a town square in the middle, a little clearing between the tents and the other utility buildings. Everyone had gone off to their appointed positions already so the square was mostly unattended except for two more young men who were arguing at the top of their lungs, and one of them was a light-skinned black man wearing the full infantry uniform in camo. No helmet to go with it though, he was sporting an army haircut as well. His black hair matching his dark brown eyes along with his scruffy beard stubble.
"I knew it! I fucking knew it!" The other man who was Caucasian yelled at the one Clementine assumed was Dusty which it actually was.
"Just shut the hell up Wayne! It's none of your damn business!" Dusty stood firm against the slightly older man who was calling him out.
"None of my business?!" The man called Wayne crossed his arms in distaste; he was wearing a jean jacket and dark pants. He also wore a blue beanie hat but his face was relatively clean, yet his blue eyes were red with rage. "If you're lying about who you really are, how can anyone trust you?!"
"This is different, this is just something personal!" Dusty argued back.
"Personally lying about being in the army? Yeah I guess so." Wayne spat as he went on with his rant. "Where's your tags? Where's your service weapon? Or maybe you'd prefer a mop since that's what you really do best!"
"I... this is my dad's uniform and he..." Dusty confessed the truth but he just couldn't continue in front of him and he trailed off.
"You think you really earned that? Maybe you're lying again; fuck, maybe you stole that off a soldier. What kind of man goes around and lies to people the second they see you?!"
[Side with Dusty]
[Side with Wayne]
[Stay Quiet]
Clementine approached the two men and decided to end the fight herself; siding with the man she was going to work with. "Hey, leave him alone! He isn't hurting anybody."
The two of them turned their heads and were surprised to find a little girl interrupting them. Wayne exclaimed. "And who the hell are you?"
"I'm Clementine, and you should probably start being nicer to him." Her stare down of Wayne was not really a scare tactic it was more of a piece of advice to just walk away.
"The hell you looking at shorty?"
(?) You chose to side with Dusty.
"Yeah, I've seen you around. Vaughn told me we'd be working together." Dusty had some support albeit it was a little girl, so now he was a little more confident as he warned his opponent. He cracked his knuckles with a knowing smirk. "Wayne, I think it's a little too early to kick your ass, so I think you ought to just cool it or else." Perhaps he was just trying to look tough for Clementine.
Wayne scoffed; he gave a glance at the little girl then back at Dusty. "Fuck you, dust mite." It really was too early in the morning to get in a fight. So the man walked away, leaving the two of them victorious and grinning.
"He ain't worth the effort anyway." Dusty shook his head at his retreat and then he turned his attention to Clementine who was glad she sided with him. "Wayne the Pain if you ask me."
"He's mean, I don't like him." Clementine gave her opinion on the Pain.
"We should get along just fine then. Thanks by the way, I know you didn't have to do that." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "And yeah... name's Dustin, but everybody 'round her calls me Dusty."
"What was his problem? He called you liar because of what you wore, I don't get that." Clem crossed her arms trying to figure out the confrontation.
"Well these are my dad's clothes and I wear them because it helps me remember he was a hero... and yeah, easy mistake for anyone to make..."
"I understand..." Clementine stated as she gripped the brim of her 'D' hat. "My dad gave me this hat and it's all I really have left of my parents..."
Dusty got down on one knee to get on her level and console her. "Hey I'm sorry Clementine... it ain't like I enjoy having to explain all this to everyone I see, so I mostly keep quiet about my past and everybody just assumes I'm an army man. But really, I was just a janitor back in the day. Nothing impressive..."
"Is that how you got the name Dusty?" Clementine couldn't remember the last time she made or even heard a joke. It was kind of funny when the connection was made.
Dustin chuckled at that. "Sweeping the floors and all that; yeah it was quick to stick to me I guess, and I sorta like it. Makes me sound a bit tougher huh?" And so he stood back up and smiled down at the girl. "Alright, so here's our game plan. Xavier talked to me earlier and he said that we gotta report to him for our work. Probably going on another supply run outside the wall. Might take us all day so I want you to do everything else Vaughn told ya to do, okay? We can wait on it."
"I just got target practice with some other kids." Clementine informed him. "So I shouldn't take that long."
"Good, good." Dusty reaffirmed her. "After you do a little bit of shooting meet me by the front gates in an hour. Range is right over there." He pointed towards the far side of the settlement. "Got it?"
Clementine nodded. "Got it."
"Okay great, see you in a bit and... Oh and uh, watch out for Wayne. He kind of holds a bit of a grudge for stupid shit like this."
"Thanks Dusty." She smiled at him. Dustin seemed like a pretty good guy and they had their clothing mementos in common.
(?) Dusty will remember that.
"No problem." The two of them then split up, content with having a new partner to work with today. Dustin went off towards the front gates and Clem went in the opposite direction towards the shooting range. Hopefully her own peers would find some sympathy with her and this day could maybe get a little bit brighter too.
A/N- After nearly a year of peace, Clementine and her allies will face new obstacles in the coming chapters. The Walking Dead Season Three will continue. Review what you think of the new characters. And what would you have done? Stay tuned.