(Violet's Pov)

It was about two weeks into my trip to Austin not that it would have taken me less time to get there but of course there had to be walkers still. How were they still around? Were there more survivors than we originally thought? Of course, many people would stay in hiding not because of the dead, no because of the living. I sighed as I make a stop in a gas station and I board up the entrance and looked for anything to grab, but of course everything is expired, no point in trying to look but hey it wouldn't hurt, could find some ammunition if I was lucky. Which lady luck was in my favor when I found a few shotgun shells. Do I have a shot gun? No, but I could trade them or give them to AJ or Liz.

"Could learn to shoot with one." I mutter. I've been talking more to myself lately, it still hurt from time to time but if I can talk more, it would make Clementine happy right? I'm not bottling up my emotions at least. Besides, Joan hasn't bothered me at all, I haven't seen her these past two weeks which I'm glad for.

"Should have grabbed my prosthetic." I mutter as I look to my stump and sighed. I set my bag to the ground and grabbed the map and marked off where I was and looked to see that I'm probably a day out from Austin.

"If I make less stops." I mutter and nod as I set the map into my pocket and I take a breath until I hear some groaning and I grabbed my bag and looked to see about one to two dead heads. I grabbed my knife and I moved to the exit and slowly made my way out the store. I look around and see no other walkers and I head out towards the city limits. As I predicted it was around nightfall by the time that I saw the sign saying Welcome to Austin. But it was handmade not like the signs usually welcoming you into the states or counties. I look around a bit and see the cars on the highway and I decided to go to a truck and lock myself in it for the night. As I got settled in, I grabbed my notebook and decided to write in it before I felt tired. I would look out the window from time to time to see if anything would pop out and scare me.

Of course, there was nothing, not even a Walker but it was to be better safe than sorry, especially since I'm alone. I begin to think if this is how Clem felt when she was alone. Did she feel worried for herself? Well, she had AJ to look after but the time that she didn't have him did she feel like this? Alone, scared? Ashamed? I know I feel ashamed. For what I had done but it was an accident, it really was.

"I didn't mean to hurt anyone… I'm sorry." I mutter to myself and then sighed as I lay down on the seats of the truck. Lucky for me it had a bed seat and not like the newer trucks where you could recline them back. I know I had fallen asleep because I woke up to a tap sound on the window. I slowly open one eye to see a Walker as they tried to break the glass but their arm hand had no muscle to it, nothing but a skeleton of the hand. I slowly get up to see more Walkers and I duck down a bit and went to grab my pistol in a panic. I ended up pulling the trigger making it shoot close to my hip and through the door of the truck and I covered my mouth dropping the pistol to the floor. I look to the driver's window to see another Walker passing by and looking in the window seeing me and it also tried to break the window but couldn't. though this one seemed to be a newly made walker, not enough decay to be dead for years.

"Fucking great." I mutter quietly and I slowly turn my body to try and reach for my gun. Once in hand I look to the windows to see a few more Walkers and I look around and see the keys in the ignition. It wouldn't be worth to try and test it out, batter must have been dead for years, plus it was a stick shift, I can't drive that right now either. How the fuck did the Walkers get so close to this supposed community though. Did they get the people here? Was it a lie that the guy Luke was here at all.

"Mother fucker of course he would lie in front of us, probably in Georgia not Austin." I mutter quietly and then there was another bang to the window and I could see some cracks and I grit my teeth. I take a breath and I get up quickly and grabbed my bag and looked around for any way to escape and I see a small opening. It was a bit risky but I had to take it. I unlock the passenger door and slam it into the Walker making it fall backwards and I hurry out the truck and run as fast as I could. There were Walkers everywhere. I groan as I made a left turn and ran but then I bump into a Walker and it grabbed my arm. I kicked it in the leg making it drop and I tore my arm away from it before I smashed my boot into it's face. The other Walkers of course saw me and tried to come after me so I ran again shoving Walkers away as best as I could before I ran into a building and locking the door behind me and I grabbed whatever I could to block the door. I was panting like crazy and leaned on the chair behind me before I hear a bang and I quickly get up and aim my pistol at the door. the banging continued and I hurry and run through the hallway. I could hear my boots hitting the floor as I ran and almost slipped as I look around to notice I was in a school. I slow down a bit and looked around to see some old drawing hanging up. Little kid drawings that they hadn't taken down.

"Fuck… great… ok." I mutter and I look around some more. I head into one of the classrooms and saw some blood and skeletons on the ground. Little skeletons. I felt sadden at the fact that these kids were here for safety. Did a Walker get them? Did they die of starvation? Were was an adult? I walk up to the skeletons and see that some of them had bite marks on their arms and legs. Some had bullet holes in the heads as well. I take a breath and set my pistol on the ground as I look around and found some blankets so I grabbed them and placed it over the skeletons. When I was done covering them up, I went into the next classroom to see more small skeletons and I wanted to cry. Again, no adult skeleton in sight.

"Fucking adult must have been the damn Walker… damn moron couldn't kill themselves to save the kids?" I mutter as I see something to cover up these skeletons as well. I kept looking in each classroom some had no skeletons, some had maybe one or two. It wasn't until I was in the gym that the whole room was filled with skeletons and I felt sick and I wanted to throw up when I saw fresh bodies of kids. I turn my head to the side and threw up whatever I had in my stomach and coughed a bit as I wiped my mouth.

"Oh god." I mutter and my hand was shaking as I threw up again. When I was done, I wiped my mouth once more and I closed the doors to the gym and I back up from them. I walked away and looked around some more. No adult to be seen anywhere until I reached what could be the staff room. There were two skeletons sitting in chairs leaning forward with bottles of what looked to be alcohol I look to see the plates were empty, though that could be from the decay of the food, or they had their last full meal. I see some poison by one of the skeletons and I go and shake the bottle but nothing was inside.

"Fucking cowards." I mutter as I throw the bottle to the side and I kicked the chair making the skeleton drop to the floor. Though the bones were already separated they dropped to the floor like when you topple down those Jenga towers. I sighed as I walk out the room and look around the school more. Just the sounds of my boots hitting the floors I look to the pistol in my hand and sighed as I go over to some doors and place my ear to it. I could hear more Walkers outside and I hit the wall instead of the door. I take a breath as I head over to an empty classroom. No skeletons just a bunch of desks.

"Must have been a storage room." I mutter and I head over to one of those little reading areas and take a seat on the beanbag chairs and relax for a bit. my legs were killing me, my back hurt like hell, my stump burned a bit and I was just so damn tired. I wanted to fall asleep but I couldn't so I sit up a bit and look to my stump a bit and sighed as it looked red from irritation. I then grabbed ahold of my shirt and tied it off to keep it covered for the time being and I lay back into the beanbag and closed my eye a bit. I was able to relax for a good while before I sit up in the beanbag once more and I rubbed my head a bit. I grabbed my bag and looked for my water bottle once found I take a drink and thought for a bit or well talked to myself for a bit.

"Ok… in a school, near or in what could have been a community… dead kids, some fresh so someone had to have brought them here recently, meaning there could be living people nearby… hope they aren't cannibals." I say and grabbed my notebook and wrote a bit of information down.

"I should just head back to the trailer park… warn Clementine and the others?" I mutter and groaned a bit as I place my hand to my head and then lean back once more.

"Oh, but Violet you're not supposed to be here for another two weeks, why did you head to fucking Austin, oh I don't know maybe because curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to know more about this Luke guy." I argued with myself and set my notebook back in my bag along with the pencil. I look to the door and I groan a bit as I get up and looked around for anything. It kind of reminded me of the boarding school. I mean not completely but the fact that kids died here, and they looked abandoned too just like we were.

I go and block off the door with a few desks and pull the curtains for the window to the side to see more Walkers and I closed the curtains so they couldn't see me. I lay back in the beanbag and shut my eyes for a bit. I didn't get any sleep as I would open my eyes from time to time when I would hear a loud groan or even a Walker hitting the window. It was getting a bit annoying but what else could I do? I look to my watch a bit and saw the time never changed and I rubbed my face a bit as I slowly get up and have a look around the room a bit. some old books by what could be the teachers desk. Wasn't much in all honesty, just a few pencils, books, old attendance sheets, nothing to take in all honesty. I sighed and opened the rest of the drawers and I see a small shot bottle of some fireball whiskey, though it had long been drunk. Though I doubt it would do me any good at this point.

"Can't drink any anyway." I mutter as I go back and take a seat on the beanbag chair and I take a breath. I have no idea how long I had been in here for but I finally get up and look to see the sun high in the sky once I moved the curtains. There were still Walkers and I sighed as I go and grabbed my bag and head on out the room. No Walkers had gotten inside but I still kept my guard up as I walked the halls and to what looked to be an emergency exit. I pushed the door open only to see Walkers all over the place and I quickly shut the door once they saw me and I run off down the hall and I hear them bust the door open and I groan.

"God fucking damn these things." I mutter and quickly take a left turn only to see more Walkers and I stamp my foot to the ground and run back where I had come from. I was able to find a stairwell and I hurry up the stairs as fast as I could go. I finally reached the top and bust open the door and close it quickly. I was on the roof and I look down to see the school was surrounded by Walkers and I yelled.

"FUUUUUCK, GOD DAMN IT!" I looked around for anything and there was nothing so I take a seat. Was this how I was going to die? Clem and them don't even know I'm here, no one knows. I sighed as I get up and looked around the whole roof to see if there was anything I could do to escape before I hear some shots in the distance so I quickly run to the sound and I see a jeep swerving and hitting the Walkers. They get to a somewhat clear path and I see as one person got out the jeep.

"WALKERS INSIDE!" I yelled to them and they look up to me.

"DON'T GO IN, WALKERS!" I warned them and they quickly get back in the jeep and come over to me.

"HURRY JUMP!" They yelled and I looked around and took a breath as I jumped and hit the roof of the jeep. I was able to grab onto a handle as they started to speed off.

"HANG ON!" Another person yelled as they kept hitting the Walkers. I gripped to the bar as hard as I could and they make a sharp turn making me almost slide off so I pulled myself up more and took my bag strap and wrapped it to the bar and I held onto that and placed my stump through the bar to get a better grip. Then a woman popped her head out from the window and I look to her as she looked to me.

"We're almost to a clearing, not much further." She tells me and I nod and laughed a bit.

"First time I rode on a jeep." I joked and she laughed as well. When we finally get to a clearing and the jeep stopped, I let go of the bar and lay flat on my back looking to the sky as I take some breaths.

"Holy hell, good thing we got to you when we did." I hear and turn to my side and saw two men and a woman and I nod and lay back on the jeep.

"Got a name?" They asked.

"Violet… Violet Everett." I tell them and I get up and slide down the jeep. The woman caught me and I thanked her and take a seat on the ground.

"Shit man, seems like she's unarmed." The man says and I laughed.

"Stump joke… nice." I say and looked to them.

"You good there?" The woman asked and I nod.

"Yeah just… tired as fuck." I say as I get up.

"Didn't get bit, did you?" The man asked and I shake my head.

"Nah… just… long time ago though." I say and wave my stump to them.

"You got a group?" The woman asked.

"I didn't catch your names." I tell them.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Elenor, this is Clint, and Amos." She says and I look to her a bit and back up.

"Ah someone I know." I hear in Joans voice and I shut my eyes a bit and take a few breaths. I feel someone come up to me and I open my eye to see Elenor looking at me with some worry but I was starting to get angry.

"Something wrong?" Elenor asked I think a bit and shake my head.

"You wouldn't happen to be a doctor… would you Elenor?" I asked. It could just be a different woman named Elenor. Who had grey hair and was way older than me at this point in her life, yea just a common name right?

"I am, how did you-." But before she could answer me, I tackled her to the ground.

"WOAH!"

"YOU BITCH!" I yelled as I was about to hit her before I was shoved off and had a gun pointed to my face.

"The hell is wrong with you?" She asked and I glare at her.

"Richmond, Joan, you fuckers let her live." I panted as I glare at them.

"Wait, she's still alive?" She asked and I glare at her.

"She's long dead but you… your actions let her fucking live." I tell her.

"Wait, I don't remember you in Richmond, you would have been a kid how do you know about Joan?" Clint asked and I glare at him.

"How do you know Joan?" Elenor asked and I look at her.

"She was in charge of another community named Valhalla…. You fuckers let her live god damn it, you especially." I say as I look to Elenor.

"How was that my fault?" She asked.

"Clementine told me how you betrayed Javier and them, told Joan about them leaving, and you." I say as I look to Clint.

"Why the fuck were you going to let her live? You're also part of the problem." I tell him.

"I didn't want anyone to die that day." He says.

"But a psychopath?" I asked.

"A drug addict as well?" I asked and I get up slowly.

"You mean Lingard?" He asked.

"Yeah, who else?" I asked and they look to me.

"Wait, you mentioned Clementine, did she tell you how she stole medicine from us?" He asked.

"You mean to save her boy? Ya'll would rather a child die then help them? You're worse than the teachers that left my school… left us kids to fucking die while they ran off to save their own asses." I tell them and they look to me.

"Look we aren't bad-."

"Aren't bad? You let that bitch live and you expect me to not think you're bad? The hell is wrong with you?" I asked them.

"Hey we saved you." Amos says.

"Oh, happy fucking days, you know that bitch Joan liked to cut people open? While they're alive?" I asked Clint and he looked at me.

"She didn't-."

"The hell she didn't…. she fucking did it to me, carved her name on me as if I was her property or some shit like that." I tell Clint.

"Look, we helped you get out of a heard of walkers, best if you head on back to your home." He tells me.

"No, I need to find a man named Luke." I tell them.

"Luke… why do you need to see him?" Elenor asked.

"He knew Clementine, I need to ask him some questions, and I'm guessing you know him if you ask something like that." I tell them.

"Fine we can take you to him but, once you are done talking with him you leave." Clint says.

"Fine." I say and they get in the jeep I look to them a bit before I get in but I keep my guard up. It was a good thirty or so minutes before I finally spoke up.

"Soo… any idea about what happened at that school?" I asked.

"Many people stayed held up at the school when things started to get bad." Clint says and I look to him.

"Lot of skeletons in there." I say.

"Lot of them were kids." He responds.

"And two adults I suppose." I tell him.

"There should have been more." Elenor says.

"Not from what I saw, unless they're in a different room…. Or they abandoned them." I mutter the last part.

"Not much of a people person hu?" Amos says and I look at him.

"I wasn't when I was a kid… hated adults when they left us to die at my school." I tell him.

"So, you think you're better than them?" He asked a bit mad and I glare at him.

"Listen here asshole, we may have been bad kids but there were five-year-olds at that school, kids with disabilities, kids who were even diabetic and died, because a bunch of assholes left us, we didn't know what was going on and they didn't want to tell us a damn thing but they sure as hell got into their cars and drove off leaving us to die…. So yea my group and I are better than them, we tried to save our own, we lost so many kids during the first winter, and we take in lost kids because we can't see a helpless child suffer like we did." I tell him and he looked to me.

"You still lost a bunch by what you said." He tells me and I grab his shirt.

"I ain't in no mood to be lectured by someone who doesn't know the shit I've been through, you have no idea the shit I've seen, or what my family has seen or done." I threaten him and he shoves me away and I shake my head.

"I've had it bad too, everyone has." He says.

"You ever been cut open while alive and awake? No numbing just feeling every single cut and your organs being placed in your vision?" I asked him.

"No bu-."

"You ever have a sibling of yours be shot in the head?" I asked.

"Not a sibling." He says.

"What about a daughter?" I asked him.

"You had a kid?" Elenor asked and I look to her as she turned to look at me.

"She's dead." I tell her and I lean back in my seat.

"How… if you don't mind me asking." She asked me and I rubbed my head a bit.

"Joan… shot her." I mutter and I look to the window a bit.

"How did you get mixed up with Joan?" Clint asked and I close my eyes.

"We had just left my friends new community, Me… Clem… AJ… we were going to travel the country but… we made a stop and Joans group found us." I tell him.

"She kidnapped you?" He asked.

"Yea I suppose…. I won't lie it looked like it was a good set up, I was blinded by the fact that we had a home, water, it was as if the world never ended…. Kids going to school, we had jobs hell we got paid for working, it was…. It was good…. But after a while things just went south." I tell them.

"Joan did know how to make a community be blinded by the good things." Clint says and I look to him.

"She's dead anyway, she killed her whole community, went crazy, so when she came to my home…. He had nothing but dead with her… I bashed her head in with a bat." I say and clench my hand into a fist and I sighed.

"What did you work as?" Amos asked.

"At first? I was just a soldier, guess she liked me a little too much and then I became second in command to the community, I tried my best to make people happy, people did like me, had some people say I should take Joans place, but… after what she was doing to me, I was scared to even have a thought like that." I tell them.

"You're pretty open for someone who we just met." Clint says and I look to the window.

"Best to talk things out when you can, besides, not like we will meet up again… least I hope." I say and sit up a bit.

"You mentioned family, got any other siblings?" Elenor asked.

"No… not blood at least if that's what you're asking." I tell her.

"Oh, so friends who became family." She says and I nod.

"And a wife and son." I tell her and she looked to me.

"You're married?" She asked.

"Been so for about… damn twenty years now? Dates are a bit fuzzy for me." I tell her.

"So, you do have a kid." Clint says.

"Not by blood… Lingard knows him, so does David." I tell him.

"Wait, so you're married to Clementine?" He asked.

"Got a problem with that?" I asked.

"No just… didn't think she would be the type to settle down is all." He says and I look to him.

"She's still hard headed and active, wouldn't change her for the world." I tell him.

"Well, that's good… least she found a home." He says and then he stopped the jeep and I see we're near a huge wall.

"Welcome to our community." He says and we all get out of the jeep and I look around. There was a bunch of people walking around some whispering as they look to me and I looked to Elenor and the others as they take me over to a building.

"Hey is Luke in today?" Amos asked.

"Yea, he's counting the supplies right now…. Who's this?" The woman asked.

"Someone that knows him, thanks Pat." Elenor says and they take me to what is supposed to be their supply building.

"Hey Luke, you have a visitor." Clint says and Luke turns around and I look to him as he looked to me. He frowns a bit when he sees me, I guess he was hoping it was Clementine.

"Uh… hello…. Clems friend." He says.

"Violet." I tell him.

"Right, uh… you three can go." He says and I look to him.

"Expecting Clem hu?" I asked.

"Actually, I was." He says and he pulls out a chair and we each take a seat and I look to him.

"Look I'm going to be blunt here, Clem has told me about you, maybe not enough but from what I can recall, she said you drowned in a lake." I say to him.

"I didn't, but Kenny was crazy, I couldn't go back to that." He says.

"You know she told me about Jane." I say to him.

"Is she… you know?" He asked.

"Dead? Yes, how? Hung herself, why? Because she was having a baby." I tell him.

"A baby?" He asked and I nod at this.

"Yea… not to be mean but you basically abandoned your kid." I say and he looks to me.

"I… didn't think about that possibility if I'm going to be honest." He says and I shake my head.

"Did it ever occure to you that maybe people would feel… betrayed if they found you?" I asked him.

"Not really, honestly I didn't think I would last this long, thought I would have froze to death after I got out the lake." He says and I nod.

"Alright I get that." I tell him and we sit in silence.

"Why isn't Clementine with you?" He asked.

"I have my own way of doing things, she doesn't know I'm here anyway." I tell him.

"That's a bit foolish." He says.

"Says the guy that just leaves from a supposed crazy man with a newborn, a little kid and a woman you slept with?" I asked.

"Well, it seemed that Clem went with Jane." He says and I shook my head.

"No, she was with both of them… Kenny and Jane kind of worked together from what I gathered… she just couldn't handle the fact that she was going to have a baby in this world…. There could have been other reasons but that was one that Clem could think of." I explained to him.

"They actually worked together?" He asked and I nod.

"From what Clementine told me, I mean they still fought but they decided to take care of the two kids." I tell him.

"And yet mine was going to be a bother." He says.

"Three kids, one that's already a newborn, formula and lack of food was an issue back then, plus bandits and wars now… it's a tough decision." I tell him.

"You're a lot more talkative than last time." He points out and I chuckled a bit.

"Yea I uh… I had some issues; I'm still working them out but…. It's just mental stuff." I tell him.

"Ah, got it." He says.

"Seems like we've calmed down a bit from our first meeting." I point out and he nods.

"No point in trying to fight in my old age." He tells me and I laughed.

"Same, though I know I have to be younger than you." I joked and he laughed.

"Oh, I haven't laughed in ages." He says and I nod.

"Only time that I laugh is when I'm being a complete moron." I say and lift my stump up.

"Case in point." I say and lower my arm and take a breath. I felt around my pockets a bit and found my cigarette pack but looked to see it was empty and I put it back.

"Here." Luke says and he hands me a cigarette and I take it place it between my lips and then grabbed my lighter, lighting it up.

"Didn't think people still smoked these days." He tells me and I take the cigarette out my mouth.

"Didn't think I'd ever touch one but…. Here I am." I say after I exhaled the smoke and looked around a bit.

"Haven't been in a place this big hu?" He asked and I look to him then took a hit from the cigarette.

"I've been in a whole town, military base, lots of land for farming, had electricity and clean water too." I say and flick the ashes and sighed.

"Must have been a great community." He says and I look to him and shake my head.

"It was hell for me… but I like my little home." I say and sighed.

"Well, that's good… so Clem… how is she?" He asked.

"Well… she lost a leg from a walker bite, she's raised AJ into a fine smart man, still a great leader, hard headed still." I tell him and he chuckled.

"She kept him alive…. It's… well it's Clem so I shouldn't be surprised but I am." He says and I nod.

"That woman is full of surprises." I say and take anther drag from the cigarette and flick the ashes again out of habit. I then chuckled a bit.

"What's funny?" He asked and I look to him.

"Clem… she knows so many people, people she thought were long gone and she meets them again… she's known almost everywhere… she's basically a… a legend… a beacon of hope you know?" I asked and he looks at me and I look to the ground.

"She is… honestly a kid living this long should be a beacon of hope for all of us." He says and I nod.

"AJ… a kid born in this… doesn't know what the world was like before, some of us barely knew what the world was like but them… all the knew was Walkers and having to be careful of who they have to trust, learn right and wrong by so many people." I say and flicked the ashes again.

"How old were you when all this started?" He asked.

"Eleven, maybe twelve, dates just aren't a thing anymore for us." I tell him.

"Fair enough." He says and I finished the cigarette and I snuff it out.

"Look I just wanted some answers from you, I didn't want Clem making the trip with her leg, and the kids back home." I tell him.

"Risk your life just to talk to me?" He asked and I nod.

"I want her safe, I want her away from all of this chaotic mess this world has become… I had eight years to not have to worry about people or wars… she deserves a break." I tell him.

"Don't we all." He says and I nod and I get up from the chair.

"Mind helping me out… maybe one day Clem will come, you're honestly one of the few people she once knew that I'd like for her to talk to again." I tell him.

"Sure… hey wait what do you mean by that?" He asked as he got up from his chair and we started to walk out.

"Some people she knew from this Richmond group weren't to kind to me, busting my leg treating me as if I'm the bad guy without knowing what happened to me… but you… you're not like them." I tell him.

"Well, I'm glad I am up to your standards, look we won't bother you or your group, but if you ever need a place to stay if anything happens, come to us and we can help you and your family out." He tells me and I nod as we kept walking.

"Same here… we might not have big home area but we could extend if we have to." I tell him and he nods.

"Thanks." He says as we finally make it to the entrance of the community.

"If you head on Northeast for a bit you won't have to deal with any Walkers for a while, there should be an abandoned mechanics shop a few miles out, talk to a man named Richard and he could trade you something for a small ride." He says.

"He got a motorcycle?" I asked.

"Oh yea." He tells me and I nod.

"Alright thanks." I say and shake his hand and then head on out to said location.