I Can't Lose You | Walking Dead Fan-Fiction [Violet x Clementine]

Chapter 15: We Need You Clem

Clementine's POV
Shit shit shit! How could everything have gone to hell so fast? How could everything have gone so fucking wrong? "AJ watch out!" I shout as I kick a walker that was crawling towards AJ's ankle. I don't have time to worry about the setbacks; we need a new plan and we need one now. I look around as we run, trying to think of anywhere we might be able to go until the swarm passes by. "Clem!" I turn when AJ shouts, managing to look just in time as a walker lunges towards me. I grab the axe and swing it into the side of the walker's skull. There was too many of them for us to be out in the open like this. I look around managing to spot what looks to be a gas station in the distance. "AJ, come on!" I grab AJ's hand and make a beeline for the building, praying to some other worldly force that we will be able to barricade ourselves inside.

I stop running when I feel something snag. I turn my head right as AJ yells and my heart drops. A walker had emerged from behind a tree and grabbed AJ. In that moment it was as if my body had moved on its own, I didn't even think. The next thing I knew AJ was behind me and the axe was plunged into the walker's neck. I don't even remember moving, it happened so fast. I felt so overwhelmed, as if everything was moving so quickly but so slow at the same time. "Clem! Come on we gotta go!" AJ tugs at my jacket, and I snap back to reality once more. I run with him through the forest and past the walkers. I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my head, it was so loud. Everything was so loud and bright. Am I having a panic attack?

When we finally reach the gas station, we quickly shut the doors and work on getting the door barricaded. Luckily whoever was here before us had been bunkered down here for awhile, since all of the doors and windows were boarded up or reinforced with some sheet metal. I finally sat down, just for a moment to catch my breath. Walkers weren't exactly known for quitting once they had found a decent meal. We couldn't just wait them out here, eventually we would have to move. "Clem..." AJ stutters out, his tone sounding like one of fear. At first I thought he was just scared after such a close call, until I saw how he was staring at me. I follow his gaze downward, seeing my pant leg had been ripped. "Shit!" I quickly sat up and reached down to pull my pant leg up, revealing a small bite mark. At the sight of the bite, AJ covered his mouth and sank down against the wall. I felt as if time had stopped, I didn't even notice it had happened. Everything went by so fast. "Clem.. you.." AJ couldn't seem to get the words out, but I knew what he was going to say. "I got bit.." I finished the sentence for him, trying to think of what to do.

My mind flashes back to that moment all those years ago, back when Lee had gotten bit. He had gotten so sick, he looked to be in so much pain. I remember him telling me I had to kill him, that it was the only way to stop him from turning. I hated seeing him like that, the way he looked so sick and miserable. Kenny tried to save him, everyone had tried to save him. They even cut his arm off hoping it would help or at least buy him more time. But nothing worked, and having to shoot him that day was something I was never truly able to get over. I didn't want to put AJ through that same thing, I didn't want him to live with that like I did. "AJ, listen to me very carefully.." I started speaking softly yet with a serious and firm tone. AJ looked at me with full attention as he always did. He always listened, whenever I needed him to he always listened. "You need to go find the others. You get back to that school and you stay safe, you hear me? I.. I need you to get back to your room, sleep in your bed. I need you to have friends and grow tall. Taller than I ever was I hope.. I need you to live AJ, for me. I need you to live the life I never could.." As soon as I said this, AJ stood up in protest.

"No! Stop talking like that! I am not leaving you here! You're not gonna die!" He shouts, trying to give me that serious look he always gives me when he doesn't like my plan. "I'm not asking. I can't walk with this leg and even if I could you know what will happen when we get back to the school." I hated having to argue with him and yell at him, but this was my call to make. I'm not turning into one of those things, I won't allow myself to. "No! You said you trusted me to make my own decisions. Well, this is my decision! I'm staying with you!" I sighed at this, figuring AJ was gonna put up a fight with me on this. "AJ, come here.." I held my arms out, and he walked over to sit in my lap and hug me. Normally he hated this, saying he was becoming a man and I couldn't keep babying him. But this time he didn't fight me, he held onto me tight and he cried softly as he gripped onto the back of my shirt. "You know I love you, more than anything. I've lost so many people, so many friends. So many people that had become my family. It got to the point where I tried not to get attached to anyone, knowing they would probably end up dying or leaving me." I pulled away from the hug, looking down at AJ and wiping his tears away.