Forever Fighting: TWDG Fan-Fiction

Ep. 2 Old Memories Part One

Ch Word Count: 4,080

That night, Clementine went to bed with a headache. All those moments lost to time came rushing back to the front of her mind. Not only was she reminded again of the barn, but now she was haunted by the faces of those she lost. They all cross her mind once in a while, every single one. It's as if the universe refuses to give her a break as if it likes telling her that she will never be at peace. If she were being honest though, she wouldn't want to forget them, at least not the ones who helped her; the ones who cared.

She tossed and turned throughout the night, forced her eyes to close, and tried to think of something else, anything else to keep her mind at bay; but it was all too much. She sat upright in her bed a few hours later then let out a sigh. She was getting nowhere. Maybe it was time for a change of scenery. Clementine looked over at AJ, sleeping soundly in his bed. At least he was fast asleep, she didn't want him to worry about her.

One leg touched the ground, and the other she looked at. She gently felt around the newly replaced bandages and then felt the end of her leg. It was healing well, especially given her circumstances of not having a real doctor around to give her the right medication or advice. It was still unpleasant to look at or to touch, to say the least. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as it was when she first woke up over a week ago but it still ached, especially if she walked too much. She swung the leg over the side and then bent over to grab her crutches. As she walked towards the door to take a midnight stroll, she took one last look at AJ. He was so cute when he slept, he would totally hate her if she told him that to his face though. She quietly chuckled to herself then left the room.

It was fairly quiet that night; only the distant sounds of walkers near the camp Javier gave the warning shot at were heard, it could have been worse. In the little spaces between the trees, she could see the tiny sporadic lights twinkling about; the sky was always bright with stars. The one decent thing about being in an apocalypse, she supposed, was the lack of light pollution or pollution in general. Without humans operating the world, there was nothing keeping mother nature from healing the Earth one step at a time.

She slowly made her way down the steps, appreciating the cool air, and took a deep breath. Life will always be chaotic, bad things are inevitable in this world, she knows that, but at this moment right now she couldn't have been more grateful for the school and the people in it. She decided to focus on the good instead of the bad for now, a little positivity couldn't hurt every once in a while. She slightly scoffed to herself at the thought. Positivity was a dyeing word in her vocabulary.

She walked a little way out in the courtyard before hearing the sound of an arrow whizzing outside the gate which put her on edge real quick. She instinctively hunched down before she realized it came from the lookout post. She let out a breath and then rolled her eyes. She groaned a little at her dumb reaction knowing full well that someone was on lookout 24/7, but hey... she forgot. And when she realized who it was, she was doubly annoyed with herself, it was Louis. She wouldn't have heard the end of it if he had seen her being an idiot, out and about when she should be resting. Maybe she could shrink back out of view before he notices.

"Clem?" Louis cut through her thoughts. Her heart jumped at the sound and looked up to see him staring at her. Well, so much for staying out of sight. "What are you doing up?" he leaned over a little, concern evident in his voice. Clementine walked closer to the post so they didn't have to talk loudly.

"Um," she shrugged. "Couldn't sleep?" She could see his questioning look even in the darkness.

"That sounded more like a question. Wanna come up?" He held out his hand for her crutches, which she obliged to. "I can help you up."

"No, no. I've got it." She managed to hop a little way up the ladder before using her good leg and arms to hoist herself up the rest of the way. Louis looked at her impressed.