Epilogue 1

"Wait, you said Bill's twins were almost two and call you Jackass. But if they were born after I disappeared, wouldn't they still be a few months old?" Clementine asked the two in confusion. The math was not adding up.

"Oh, they're not exactly his kids. More like adopted from one of the families that didn't make it." Becca clarified.

"Okay, I was worried that I had just lost track of an entire year there."

"Carrie is pregnant though. I think. I dunno, it's hard to tell what the hell is happening with her. Maybe she's just getting fat or something." The way Becca dropped that tidbit of information made Clementine chuckle.

"She's pregnant alright. It was s'posed to be under wraps. But well, it's kinda hard to hide somethin' like that." Al stated, confirming what Becca had said earlier.

"Anyways, we're 'bout an hour away from Nashville. Sun should be risin' by the time we get there."

"Thank God. My ass is numb from all this sitting." Becca complained.

"Shoulda sit in the back then. Look at Stiff back there, she's practically made herself at home."

Clementine chuckled at Al's response.

Becca turned her head to see Clementine lying down in the back seat.

"You know what. You're right, scooch over Clem." Becca undid her seatbelt and climbed over to the back. Clementine sat up and stretched, her back cracking loudly as she did. She groaned in satisfaction as she laid her back against the van door.

"That's better." Becca laid her legs across the seat, accidentally brushing against Clementine's injured leg and making her hiss.

"Shit, my bad Clem." Becca apologized and sat up straight.

"It's okay. Just be careful alright."

Becca laid her legs back across the seat and was careful to not cause Clementine any more pain.

"Wish we had Uno or something."

Clementine nodded, there wasn't much to do in this van except talk or sleep. And she wasn't tired at all, not even the slightest bit funnily enough. So she relented to just waiting for the ride to finish. Her sleep schedule was about to be out of wack for days, not that she even had one, to begin with.

"Welp, we're in Nashville. The settlement is gonna be right in the middle of a suburb. It's got walls 'n no bandits for miles."

"So it's not in some random hardware store in the middle of nowhere?" Clementine asked sarcastically.

"Sadly no, but we got a Home Depot nearby, there's that."

"You mean the one that blew up." Becca added, which made Al laugh.

"The very same."

Clementine raised an eyebrow at Becca's comment.

"Some guy high on paint thinner thought it'd be funny." Becca explained.

"I'm sorry?"

"Yeah, we found the idiot a few hundred feet away gigglin' like an idiot. We decided to keep him around just because he made some good bombs." Al clarified further.

"Huh." Clementine was too amazed to even come up with a response.

"We're here."

The van stopped in front of a gate that was made from a large shipping container.

"Gimme a sec." Al rolled the window down and stuck his head out.

"Open the gates! It's us!"

"Well, I'll be! Welcome back bud!" A friendly voice shouted back, one she wasn't familiar with.

"That's Bubba. He's from Texas. Dumber than a sack of bricks, but he sure can pull his weight in a fight." Becca informed as the van started moving again.

"He ain't dumb, he's just country." Al defended the man with a slight chuckle.

"He thinks a shadow cabal based in France is the cause of the apocalypse."

"To be honest with ya Becca, he could be right. Ain't the first time the French caused problems for the world." Al countered jokingly.

"Yeah right, I'd believe him more if he said aliens."

"Now you're onto somethin'" Al chortled and stopped the van.

Both Al and Becca got out of the van, leaving Clementine by herself for a few moments. It was daunting to be back in Tennessee after so long.

She took a deep breath before exiting the van as well. Al was talking to a tall, chubby man wearing a camouflage baseball cap. Becca was hanging around a group of teenagers around her age. Clementine looked around at the large number of people walking around, working, exercising, children playing, or hanging around firepits like Becca was.

It was nice, different from the dingy Prescott and all the other communities she had been to in Virginia. Best of all, it had actual electricity from what she could tell. The closest one she could think of that felt like this was Alexandria, but she left that place a day after she arrived.

Someone gave her a light tap on the shoulder.

"Welcome back." The familiar gravelly voice of Bill scratched her ears.

"Thank you, Bill."

Bill was taken by surprise by her speaking back to him. Al had seemingly forgotten to mention that part when radioing him in Virginia.

"So you talk now."

Clementine nodded shyly.

"That's good. Means you've moved on from whatever was keeping you down." Bill gave her another pat on the shoulder and went over to Al.

'That was… calmer than I expected.' Clementine thought, she had expected Bill to be more suspicious of her return.

She decided to explore the area and take in the sights of the settlement. Clementine found herself in front of a gym, weights were laid out, and there was even a pool according to the large lettering in the back.

'Cool.'

Clementine admittedly missed the P.T. sessions back at Howe's. They were great for relieving tension and getting some sense of calm during her worst days. But right now, she couldn't do anything strenuous.

She continued looking around for a while, before coming across some type of daycare. Through the window she could see a little boy sitting on the ground playing with a firetruck toy. His skin was a light tan, with dark brown hair and eyes. Clementine stared at the boy for a while, she didn't know what it was about him but she felt something familiar about him. Her hand drifted towards the red and white cap on her waistband, tracing the brim with her finger.

"What you lookin' at Clem?" Becca suddenly appeared by her side, making Clementine jump in surprise.

Becca snorted at her reaction, "What's got you so focused you couldn't hear me?"

Clementine looked back towards the window, pointing at the boy she had been so focused on.

"Oh." Were Becca's only words.

"Is he… Kenny's?" Clementine asked, her voice shaking.

Becca nodded, "His name is Kenneth, but we all just call him Junior."

"Um, uh shit. Where's Sarita?" Clementine dropped her hand and rubbed her eyes. She grabbed the hat of the last father figure she ever had from her waistband.

"Somewhere in there. She takes care of the kids." Becca answered.

Clementine wanted to go in, give the hat to the boy and apologize to Sarita for how she'd acted in the months prior to Kenny's death. But she hesitated, she was terrified to even go near the kid.

"Go on, she'll be happy to see you." Becca gave a light slap on Clementine's back.

Clementine gave Becca a thankful smile.

'Okay.' She took a deep shaky breath and rubbed her eyes a final time before stepping in.