I'm going to be completely honest; this is going to be a major change of pace... I'm not the one to hunt for game, so I'm kind of excited when Ellie said that she would help us. It's usually not in my best interest to trust people easily, but I trust Ellie. Not with my life though, no sir. It's nice to have an extra person to talk to and to survive with. Although I have been pretty cautious about sticking around groups, numbers could really make or break the group and I know that from experience. It had aways been me and AJ.

Raising him was not easy and almost got me killed. There would be times when I would run out of clean/drinkable water to add formula in, there are others when I would run out of diapers for him to wear so I had to get... creative, and don't get me started on his never ending howling. At times I couldn't make out what he wanted so he starts crying.

There was this one time that we were in an abandoned gas station and I was searching for... anything actually. It was pretty bad, I had no ammunition, two days' worth of rations, a ibuprofen tablet, and two bottles of water. I was out of formula. AJ was growing teeth anyways so I went on to feed him a couple of solid food, but I would always make sure to mash it good enough so that he won't choke on anything. So yeah, we were in a tight spot and I needed something that I could use to keep us alive. So far, I got nothing to show and I was getting more and more frustrated with myself. I then heard a whimper coming from AJ oh no no no... Not now I thought. As if on cue, he started wailing. Are you freaking serious? Why do you have to cry that loud? It's like you want us to die. I rushed over and cradled him, rocking him back and forth shushing him in the process. I guess he didn't like that, because he got louder; almost deafening. So I sung him a lullaby.

Hush now my darling, the day is done.
The moon is here to say goodnight to the sun.

Gather your blankets and climb into bed.
Close your eyes and lay down your head.

Rest for now with peaceful dreams,
Of twinkling stars and shining moon beams.

Sweet dreams my darling, sweet dreams my love,
Sweet dreams my precious gift from above.

He finally went quiet. Just as I thought I was in the clear, the banging of the window startled me. I looked to find the source of the banging and found out that it was a walker outside the front of the store. I put AJ in a safety seat that I picked up before I got there, just to make sure that he's not out of my sight. I triple checked the place so when I go outside, I'll be certain that AJ will be safe in the store. I placed him not too far nor too close to the door and gave him a toy to keep his hands busy.

I ventured out towards the front door being as quiet as possible so I don't attract it. I got my sharpened screwdriver ready to put it in his decayed skull when I get the chance. I opened the windowed door slowly and hopefully no creak would be audible. The walker was still staring into space like a moron; it's a good thing that it wasn't tall; the kill would have been more awkward that way. Just when I was about to strike him, I heard another snarl from behind me, causing me to whip my head around pretty fast. Just in time too, any later and I would have been lunch! I evaded an attempted grab and ran off to the opposite direction of the store to steer AJ away from any danger. Luckily, those are the only two walkers out there at the moment, so I took the time that's been given to me by the walkers chasing me at a pretty slow pace. I looked at the gas pump and I had an idea. I lured the walkers in a certain direction and I bolted for the gas pump and started to unravel the tube, trying to block the passage between the two gas pumps as quick as possible. When I thought the bonds were tight enough, I ran back into the store and looked out the glass door, watching the two walking corpses trying to free themselves from a trap that could have been easily avoided, given if they were alive. I spoke too soon as they were, slowly but surely, breaking free from the bonds I made. I had to think of something, so I went with my instincts and made a blockade behind the door. I turn around and see AJ is still there playing with his toy. Still in the heat of the moment, I grabbed the handle of the car seat and proceeded on to the back room. When I opened the back room, I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world. There was water, canned food and... Ammunition! I wasted no time to open up my pack and stuff it with water, canned apples and peaches. I had to check if those were the right bullets. They looked compatible so I took a few boxes. I had to feed AJ, even though there are walkers trying to get in the store, I had to give him something... I filled his baby bottle with water and gave it to him to drink. Just when he stopped gulping, I took the bottle and got ready to get as far away from those walkers as possible...

End of flashback

Thankfully, I learned to cope with AJ's outbursts and handled it accordingly. It's hard raising AJ, knowing full and well that you're a kid yourself. I had to grow up quick for AJ sake, and I'm glad that he's still alive with me. I felt a poke on my back, turning around to see AJ calling me to bring my ear closer.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"I honestly don't know." We resumed walking behind Ellie who's trying to get us something to eat. I came so I could watch her back just in case something happens. AJ is here because, I'm not leaving him alone in that hotel, no sir. We followed quietly, trying not to break her concentration. She look like she really know what she's doing, although, I'm a bit skeptical of her abilities.

"Clem. Get down." Ellie whispered harshly. I took AJ by the hand and squatted down with one knee, turning to AJ putting my finger to my lips, gesturing him to be quiet. He nodded and he did the "zip my lip" gesture as acknowledgment. I crept up towards Ellie, trying to look at what she's looking at.

"Did you find something?" I whispered.
"Shh." Well then, excuse me. As I was about to comment, she unsheathed her bow and took out an arrow, making sure she is as quiet as possible.

"Stay here."

"Okay." I replied. There she goes… I wonder what she was looking at. Curiosity took over and I took a peek through the bush to see a deer. Deer? Here? H-how? It was young, and as tall as AJ. I heard the release of the arrow and saw how the deer staggered when it got hit right between the eyes, causing the deer to finally drop. My eyebrows shot up Me and AJ came out of hiding looking at the now-dead deer. Suddenly, Ellie came out of the bush, walked towards us, and casually scooped up the game and walked ahead.

"Come on, we're burning daylight." Ellie hollered. Me and AJ Looked at each other and he gave me a shrug and walked ahead of me; I followed suit right after. I shouldn't underestimate her, that was a pretty good shot I can't lie. Somebody must have taught her. I was still amazed with the kill she got, I heard the it's pretty hard to work a bow and arrow, but she seemed to have the talent for it. I was trying to catch up to the others, first, passing AJ, and I caught up to Ellie. When I got closer to her, I noticed that she still had a limp in her walk. So without warning, I grabbed the deer and carried it on my shoulder instead.

"Hey! What are you-"

"I saw your limp."

"I'm fine. It's just a limp, I'm not in pain or anything."

"You need to take it easy. I wasn't joking when I said you needed that leg." I shot back. Ellie crossed her arms.

"Jeez. Why are you acting like a mom for? Moms are no fun."

"Raising a kid changes you. You know? You become more concerned of their safety more than your own."

"Wait. So AJ is your son? But I hear him calling you sis? How does that work?" I looked at her sideways thinking about how I should go about clearing up this situation without sounding like a complete jerk.

"Ummm... AJ is not my son; and besides, our ages are way too close for me to have him as a baby anyways."

Oh? How old are you guys?" she asked. Wow I mean it would be terrible if I forgot how old I am, but there wasn't really that much thing to help me keep track of the years, days have went by without anybody noticing it. I guess we don't have that type of luxury to check dates like we used to anymore. I did actually kept track of AJ age though. It was easy because he was born in the winter, so whenever it get's cold, I would assume that his birthday is coming up or it passed.

"I'm sixteen, AJ is ten."

"I don't know girl... it could happen." I got taken aback by the statement this girl made. Did she just say that I could of had AJ when I was six? What the fuck? I wanted to say something, it's just I'm too shocked at what I heard. Oh that's it.

"Are you crazy?" I spazzed. All she did was chuckle and looked over at me.

"You should of seen your face! You was all like 'is this chick serious?' Ahaha" Ellie laughed. I just walked along getting more annoyed than usual. I'm just scrunching my eyebrows and merely facing forward only focusing on the trail.

"AJ."

"Yeah?" He replied.

"Come here." I hollered behind me. He was pretty quiet back there. He came up beside me and I held his hand. I felt a nudge from Ellie, still chucking over my reaction.

"Aw come on. Lighten up. How about this, I got some jokes for you to make you fell better." Ellie said with a big grin on her face. She reached in her pack to get a slightly tattered book that read "500 Corny Jokes: 2nd Edition" She gingerly flipped through page after page looking for a good joke to tell me, she then stopped at a page and put a finger on the book.

"Ah here's one. Hey Clem, why did the fish get bad grades?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know. Why?"

"Because it was below sea level." Oh my god.

As we got back, We were looking forward to eat the deer and we needed a fireplace. We're starting the fireplace inside the hotel, but in the lobby. I told AJ to stay with Ellie so they could start a fire while I'm going to secure the perimeter and make a barrier of noisemakers, just in case a walker wanted to pull a fast one on us. I went back to the center where AJ and Ellie is to see how's it going with the fire. On my way to them, I heard them talking but I was too far to make out the words. AJ noticed me approaching them and ran to me.

"Sis! Ellie said he rode a horse! And It was brown and she was running away from these bad guys, and, and, and then the horse died." he said quickly. Woah what? That flew by me real quick.

"Oh did she now?" I questioned, looking at Ellie. I'm not really the one to pry into peoples business, but anything to make conversation right? I walked up to her. She just got the fire going and currently waiting for the the wood to catch heat.

"Want to talk about it over some deer?"I asked. She sighed.

"Sure."

Me and AJ brought three chairs at the site while Ellie butchers the deer and cook it on this spit-roast set up. We all settled down and took pieces of uncooked deer and hovered it in the open fire.

"So Ellie, tell us about your horse."

A/N

Hey guys... I hope this chapter isn't too short. If my schedule calls for it, I could be more consistent with my updates. So until then, Sayonara.