Chapter Text
The first thing in her ears was a deep rhythm. Fast. Like taps on a window, or water drops falling from a leak on the roof after a storm; or how her fingers used to drum against the steering wheel, mind focused on the road and sometimes taking a look or two through the rearview to check on AJ sleeping on the backseat. It took a couple of seconds for her to realize that the sound was her own heartbeat.
The second thing she heard came along her vision. A loud, piercing ringing inside her ear so sharp she had to suppress a scream. When her eyes opened from being shut with such force, she struggled to focus. Then came the dots. Black. White. At the realization that her surroundings didn’t stop going in circles, and at the point when it was surprising that blood wasn’t sliding down her ears, she assumed her brain was really determined on giving her the worst headache of her life.
The third sound came along pain. An acute spark of pain over her leg as the groans of the dead seeped through her ears. Her body felt warm. Dangerously warm, and not burning by the patches of snow. When she tried to get away from the fire at her feet, the sudden movement made everything blurry, and in the weak attempt to get help with a dried throat, the only think that came out of her mouth was “AJ”. She just needed to find him, hear him, just a sign that he was okay.
As her head moved ignoring the pain in order to find the boy, trying to orientate herself, something grabbed her from under her arms. The pain of her body, her leg, now forgotten by the panic and her efforts to get out. Kicking, punching, but it was of no use. Too tired. Too beaten. She swore she had screamed for AJ at the top of her lungs until her throat started to rip apart, but it was only a faint whisper. A faint, desperate whisper as her body drained from all strength and silence reigned once more.
She woke up to the crackling of a bonfire and trees. Her eyes wandered over the night sky, the branches framing the darkness and stars like the most peaceful picture. The cold seeped through and flew inside her bones. Her thoughts slowly started to reappear. What happened. Where am I. Am I dead…
AJ.
Her body jolted straight up, and soon, her back suffered the consequences of laying on the floor. AJ, AJ, AJ repeated like a mantra, blinding her half-conscious mind from watching him turn to her. There weren’t walkers surrounding them. No groans. No car. And the only fire was confined to a spot on the ground. She tried to stand in the middle of her confusion, but a sharp pain flared through her leg, causing a scream to find its way out of her mouth, tearing the walls of her dried throat in the process.
“Clem!” The boy launched over her, arms wrapping around her neck and almost knocking her over. She allowed herself to enjoy the feeling.
“AJ, what is—" The surroundings engulfed her, mouth agape at the confusion. She remembered the horde, the car, the tree, and AJ getting out just as the engine gave up and flames took over; not the calmness, not the deep forest, not the gentle fire.
And certainly not the man sitting seven feet away from her.
In an irrational set of mind, her hand reached to grip her knife, but it wasn’t on its place. The amalgam of panic, confusion and pain threatening to put her back into unconsciousness. Incapable of forming coherent sentences, lone concepts floated around her head.
Totaled car. Forest. AJ. Pain. Man. Unsafe. Pain. AJ. Quiet. Pain. Calm. Fire. Pain. Silence. Pain. Pain. Pain.
Her leg.
It hurt. Bad. But the left leg of her pants was rolled up to the knee, with a belt as a tourniquet and a bloodied bandage wrapped carefully around her calf. And her boot was gone, leaving her foot to freeze, since her socks were thin and more hole than fabric. She didn’t remember carrying a lot of bandages with them.
“Clementine.” She realized that was the third time AJ called her name, holding her by the shoulders. “You’re okay.”
“Are you?” Searching him for injuries, she only found scrapes on his arms and face. Nothing else.
“I hit my head, but I’m fine. You passed out though, and your leg got hurt real bad,” he said, then reaching for something by her backpack, resting against the log. AJ handed the missing knife and then placed her hat on top of her head. He smiled. “Where it belongs.”
“Thank you, goofball.”
She wanted to smile back at him, but her gaze fixed in the person behind him.
She opened her mouth to ask, but AJ was faster. “James helped us out.”
“James?”
Her body tensed. Now that she was paying attention, she could see the boy clearer. He was pretty much around her own age, sitting against a log in front of the fire. His eyes were traveling without specific aim around both of them, nervous, and a mass of dark hair framed his strong features. He looked tall and heavy built, but that was maybe his thick vest. She had never seen him before. But she also hadn’t seen anyone that wasn’t AJ in a while.
“Yeah,” he spoke. His voice not too high, not too low; almost comforting. “Clementine, right? You were gone for a while.”
He handed her a bottle of water and she reluctantly took it. She hadn’t realized how dry her throat was until the water brought that lightly painful relief, the sensation almost enough to make her drop her defenses; but Clementine didn’t shake her expression. Alert. The boy—James, seemed like the opposite of a menace, but she didn’t know him, and she hadn’t had the best experience with strangers in her life. AJ looked equally conflicted, and the warm spot on her side showed that he hadn’t moved from his position. She didn’t know for how long she was gone, but she patently assumed that she hadn’t really interrupted any type of conversation.
Comprehending that he wasn’t going to get any words back, James started to talk again.
“Your car got wrecked. Straight against a tree. The motor exploded and I found both of you when I went to check for the noise.”
She had lost control of the car when the walkers started to crowd around, she remembered. The place they raided had been empty, and the few seconds in which the engine refused to work were enough to attract a whole horde going towards them. That, along the puddles of mud from consecutive rains and the spots that were starting to frost in the settling winter, made the wheels slip from her control. Then everything had turned black.
She tried to say something, but before her mouth even opened, her left leg tried to accommodate itself out of habit. The intense pain resembled that of a knife cutting a deep long line, not wasting a second more to spread across her whole leg. Every muscle in her body tensed, and the only way she could fulfill the urge to clutch something was squeezing her own wrist. Her scream got caught halfway and came out as just a soft whine.
She held up her hand to reassure AJ—who looked dangerously worried—, and when the pain reached a bearable point, she let out a ragged exhale. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re really not,” AJ rebutted without missing a beat.
“How bad is it?”
“Really, really bad. Like, stitches kind of bad.”
She looked at James trying to get some confirmation. AJ wasn’t one to exaggerate things, but he was still a kid clouded by concern.
James nodded. “It is.” Clementine let out a tired sigh before he continued. “A detached part of the car may have sliced your leg when you got ejected, something strong enough to cut the side of your boot. I have what we need to stitch you up on another place, but I’m… not in the best condition to carry you right now.” Just then, she noticed the blood by the boy’s bicep. It was dried on his clothing, not fresh, but still a wound.
“Why are you helping us?” she asked, almost too fast. Something inside her told her to trust this guy, and although her gut was right most of the time, it was also responsible of her worst mistakes. She had to get the question out of the way.
He was clearly expecting that, but the answered still lingered on his tongue. “I’ve seen enough death, so as long as I can help, I’ll do it.”
She’s met so many different people in her life that it almost seemed like a trick answer.
She calculated her chances, but the answer seemed almost obvious. They could either keep going on their trip leading to nowhere, without a car and a wound that was an open door to infections, or they could go with the boy and hope he was telling the truth. She was great at reading people, and, well, if now she ended up being wrong, AJ was a pretty good shot with his gun.
“I guess I can walk if I try.”
James nodded and stood up easily while Clementine took off the belt on her leg, passing it to the boy. The only thing that he was visibly carrying was a makeshift backpack for twigs made with sticks and rope that she had failed to notice before, and her slashed boot; but other than that, she couldn’t even figure out where his weapon was—and being unknowing felt, at the lack of words, unnerving. He extended his hand to help her, and she reluctantly accepted. He wore weird, almost leather-like fingerless gloves.
“I can help you if you lean on me,” AJ said, seeing her struggle to stand. He was still pretty short, but she was always grateful for his help. “That way, James can stay more alert in case of any walkers coming by.” She did so, and tried her best to press the less weight she could onto him.
The sun had set a while ago. When they were on the road and found a house to scavenge, the skies were painted in deep warm colors. Clementine had been out for no longer than an hour, so the red was quickly replaced by the night. Limping her way to a place that served as a last resort for an injured leg, with AJ’s support, wasn’t how she expected her night to go. It wasn’t how she expected any night to go. But she didn’t exactly have a plan that the events could have disrupted, as much as she told AJ otherwise; there were just a couple of words that served as a scheme for their day by day, and those were Move and Survive. Though it seemed like she wasn’t the best at the last one.
Clementine wondered where her energy to move was coming from. The last thing they had to eat was a bag of chips, and without even looking she had tossed it to AJ, refusing every single one of his offerings. Her stomach had been consuming itself for days now; her last movements powered maybe by the bag of nuts they found inside a mostly empty bag, or that squirrel that AJ (shockingly) managed to catch mid jump that one time. The effects of starvation were starting to get to her. They weren’t pleasant.
“So… where are you taking us, exactly?” Clementine asked.
“It’s a boarding school, ten minutes from here,” he answered. “Possibly fifteen with your leg.”
“A boarding school? In the middle of the woods?”
“Yeah. Had the same reaction.”
“So you’re new to this place?” Clementine arched an eyebrow. He seemed familiar with the woods, so it was a surprise.
“No. I’ve been here for a while.” His expression downed slightly. “I met someone there a couple of weeks ago though. She has what we need to fix your leg.”
“You said you were alone,” AJ frowned.
“When I found you I was.”
The three of them turned their heads at the sound of groaning from the side. A single walker appeared hobbling and Clementine pulled out the knife, alert. A single walker always meant a group of them was getting closer from behind. She couldn’t kick the walker’s knee anymore, so now her movements were risky. However, before she could do anything, James blocked her way with his arm.
“Quiet.” The creature hadn’t noticed them yet, and James took the opportunity to take a rock from his back pocket. “This way, no one gets hurt.”
He threw the rock and the walker followed its echo deeper into the woods. James loosened up and continued his walk normally, leaving Clem to wonder why he didn’t let her take the walker out, or took her weapon, or took his own weapon; but as she spotted the handle of a knife and its shaft tied to his pants, she came to the concerning realization that he didn’t want to kill them. She wasn’t going to pry for answers, but AJ had other ideas.
“You scared it away.”
“I didn’t scare him. I distracted him. Sound draws their attention.”
“I know that,” he huffed. “Why didn’t you just kill it? It will come back anyway.”
“I—” He cut himself off, pursing his lips. “We have to hurry up in order to avoid them.”
Walkers weren’t that much of a problem in woods like this one. According to the last map she saw, the nearest city was close to a hundred miles away, and the road they had been crossing was just countryside anywhere they looked at. Since the start, thousands of survivors had had her same idea of running from high concentrations of people, but it was undeniably easier to find yourself alone in the woods than in any city.
“Not that is really important, but as a heads-up,” James started to talk with hesitancy dominating every word. “She—the girl I was talking about, she may not be very fond of new people at first.” He scratched his neck as he looked around to spot more walkers. There were none.
Clementine confined herself to a nod, hoping that he would give them more information. He did not.
The school was, as James said, close to fifteen minutes of distance from the site they were on. She was met by a tall brick wall and a metallic gate, with “ERICSON ACADEMY” written in fancy letters on top. The walls were surrounded by debris and covered in wild vegetation, completely expected with all the years gone by; but what she did not expect, however, was to see a dead body right next to the wall and facing away from them. Her eyes wandered through the figure for a second, a white cloth over the face blocking her of getting any sight, but she quickly looked away. Thought she’d be used to it by now.
James opened the gate without any difficulty. In fact, it seemed that it wasn’t secured at all. The main building, as she assumed, stood in omnipresence at the center across the big courtyard; and apart from the broken windows and walls, it was in a prestigious state. She could tell AJ was curious, but he kept quiet nonetheless. The night didn’t let her see much more than tables spread across the whole area and barrels destined to be bonfires. But it was empty. Deserted. The silence was tense, almost uncomfortable, not what she expected to find in a mostly unscathed giant boarding school.
“Violet,” James called in his quiet voice and waited for a few seconds, as if someone from anywhere in the school could hear his tone. With no response, he tried again: “Violet!” He looked around expectantly, clearly uncomfortable for having to use a slightly (really slightly) stronger tone.
Clementine would have been more surprised if someone actually showed up.
He closed the gate behind them and waited a couple of seconds before signaling them to follow to the building on the right, not as tall as the main one —the dorms. Clem saw a dark stain of blood on the floor as they left the entrance, but didn’t think much of it. The sound of silence became even more uneasy at the interior, where the wind couldn’t get through and they were left with their steps, breathing and heartbeats. Apart from the lack of sound, what drew the most attention were the walls completely covered in graffiti. They weren’t really something someone would call poetic actions, since most of what she could read involved somewhat the words “shit, fuck, ass” and nothing more, but she applauded the ones that got a little bit creative. Couldn’t blame them though.
There were multiple doors in line to the right and no one there. Some windows were broken and dirty, but the mess didn’t go any further. James stopped at the second door to knock lightly. Once. Twice. The floor cracked and she turned around, but it didn’t take her long to notice that it was just her own weight against the floor.
“She would have come outside already if she was here,” James said, backing away. “I’ll check the other building.” Clem gave a step forward, pressing her leg harder than she intended to, forcing a grunt to leave her lips. James interrupted her before anything. “Stay here. It won’t take long.” He hurried towards the exit, and they were left alone.
She exhaled and leaned on the wall, and leaving her leg half-hanging, she felt as if ants were climbing her skin. Having nothing to get distracted with directed her mind exclusively towards the preeminent, and very annoying, pain. She tried to think of something else.
“Do you think they have some place where you could sit?” said AJ.
“I don’t really see any chairs, kiddo.” The only furniture was a single shelf, broken and not free of vandalism.
AJ motioned towards the hall with his eyes and then looked back at her. She hesitated, not really comfortable at having to invade someone else’s privacy, but also a little less comfortable with her leg sliced open. At the end, she complied.
They stood at the second door, a door away before a turn on the hallway. At the left, the windows showed some kind of indoor patio, with the rest of the dorm building following its contour. It looked empty and abandoned, with some plants taking over. She turned with the hallway, finding three other doors before seeing broken chairs and tables used as a barricade to the path towards the other side. The first was a metal door that, unsurprisingly, didn’t open. The handle didn’t move at all, so it was jammed, not locked. She knocked the next one, in expectancy for someone to finally come out—which, of course, didn’t happen. Before she could open it, however, AJ had already entered the room prior to the metal door, breathing out a “wow” that she could not ignore.
“The door,” he indicated, and Clementine was confused before remembering her own rule: ‘Every time you enter a room, look for a way to escape’.
They found a bunk bed with unmade covers, but folded clothes on top of a drawer. There were color pens and brushes, along with sheets of paper without organization scattered on top of the desk, but AJ was watching the multiple drawings hanging on the walls. For just a second she thought that she was in front of James room, but noticing that the clothes were way too small and the room as a whole looked childlike, the conclusion went out the window. Some drawings looked old, some new. They were clearly made by a kid, with stiff figures that still had distinguishable features; some animals, some people, some suns with sunglasses drawn at the edges. AJ had never been with another kid his age, and the mere thought of him finally meeting another put a smile on her face.
“Must’ve been an artist living here,” she said when AJ didn’t turn away from the drawings.
“What’s an artist?”
“Someone who likes making art, like drawing and paintings. Using colors.”
He contemplated for a second. “I’d like to be an artist one day.” He turned around, and ran to the corner of the room. “Look! There’s toys!”
“They are not yours to take, AJ,” Clementine warned.
“But there’s nobody here.”
“Not right now, but what if they come back and notice that someone moved their things out of place?”
“That’s a dumb thing to get mad about.”
“People are allowed to get mad about things, doesn’t matter if you think they shouldn’t.”
“But I’m not gonna move them! I just want to—”
“AJ,” Clementine reproached. He was crossing her patience, yes, but watching him getting sad over toys made her feel guilty. She wished she could give more space on her backpack to carry toys they found on the way, but it already weighed heavy enough.
He crossed his arms and pouted lightly, and while she felt bad, she couldn’t take him seriously like that. He looked at the desk. “They don’t have a chair.”
Clementine did the same as she exited the door. “Guess not.”
AJ opened the last door, turning to the left with the hall and paying no mind to linear order (or privacy for that matter). Just like the last one, it seemed owned, with a similar bed and furniture, but tidier and more organized. The window right in front of them was partially covered with fur, two pieces from small animals that she assumed were set to dry; and the end of the bed was covered by a bigger and reddish kind of fur, like one from a fox. The desk was exactly the same as the one of the other room. Clementine saw part of her reflection on a broken mirror against the drawer, so sick and tired that if the wound didn’t give her hypothermia she would maybe believe in God. From there, she could see a yellowish note on the desk, with thick black letters reading:
OMAR, MAKE INVENTORY LIST. BY NOON.
Just when she thought that this was just James’ room.
There were other people living in the school, but where were they?
AJ took a step inside the room before she could stop it, so she stayed at the door frame. He carefully looked around the confines of the room, walking towards the bookshelf to grab a book but stopping mid-stretch. He looked at her with smart eyes.
“They are not mine.”
“There you go.” She smiled.
This room did luckily have a chair next to the desk, yet AJ talked before she could ask him for help.
“Where are these people?” he said, dragging his finger over the wooden drawer. It darkened with dust.
“Maybe they’re in another building.”
“But the gate was unlocked.”
She stayed silent.
The quietness was so enveloping that when she heard gentle footsteps from behind, her senses shot straight up. Her hand went immediately to take the knife and turn around to face whoever it was, expecting at least to see James turning the hallway. But it didn’t make sense. If he were to step in, he wouldn’t do it with such caution, as in wait for the right moment. They stopped coming, and when that happened, she turned around.
Nothing.
Her shoulders dropped. Nothing. What she should have expected. They weren’t footsteps, but more likely taps from a bird on the roof, or the branch of a tree testing its strength. James wasn’t over yet, still searching for the girl. Her leg hadn’t stopped aching. Nothing changed, so she turned back at AJ.
And then she heard the unmistakable sound of a bow being tensed.