The Twisted Dead

Ch. 1

The soft click of the gun next to her bounced in her ear. It was so quiet otherwise that she felt his slight noise had broken it and made everything aware that they were there. That wasn't the case however since nothing and nobody had moved in inch that entire time. The bunny they were hunting was still in reach so their plans hadn't been ruined yet. Another minute passed and the bunny had slightly shifted, its nose buried in the dirt as it tried to sniff at the food they'd laid there earlier. Clementine was becoming anxious, the longer he waited and so she pulled up her own rifle. A disgruntled huff came from the other boys lips at the fact and he turned to give her the silent look of disapproval and a bit of anger but she didn't let it shake her. Instead, unlike him, she took the shot, the bullet piercing right through the bunnies middle and the loud bang echoing throughout the woods. She knew they didn't have much time so she hopped over the bush they'd camped behind and made her way to the bunny.

Picking it up swiftly and tying it to her side. Clem - 3, Duck - 0. "I had that." He grumbled from behind her and she rolled her eyes but kept walking. She didn't bother looking back cause she knew he was following closely behind. "You were taking too long. I thought Kenny had taught you better than that." She teased and looked behind her, an amused grin wide on her face. It brought another grunt of disapproval from him but he didn't say anything more. They started to pick up the pace however, seeing as the dead were starting to move towards them. The grunts and crunches of leaves were a dead tell and Clem knew they didn't have long before they'd be upon them. "Come on, slow poke." She called after and started to pick up her pace from a walk to a jog, the taller lanky boy right behind her.

The car didn't seem that much far ahead when they'd left it on the side of the road but this jog felt like they'd parked it miles away. Her legs were starting to burn with the amount of energy she'd spent and Duck had seemed to notice. He spun slightly, taking out a few walkers to let her get ahead before running to catch up with her. Clem let out a breath of relief when the car was finally within view and she could see AJ inside fiddling with his gun. She slid to a stop, back hitting the car and she let out a few bullets, about 3 walkers dropping so that Duck could catch back up to her. He gave her a side smirk of appreciation before leaping over her and sliding across the top of the car to get in the drivers seat. Clem held her position, firing at the walkers when they got within the distance mark to hold them off so Duck could start the car. Once it lit to life she heard him yell "get in!" and she flung open the door, flopping into the seat and barely shutting it as they drove off.

"Whoo! What a rush!" Duck shouted as they drove down the road, his eyes staying forward but he slapped the top of the dash in excitement. "Yeah, yeah." She brushed off his enthusiasm with a wave of her hand and a roll of her eyes but Duck didn't take her answer, he continued on. "Oh, lighten up, Clem. You gotta admit that was fun." "I don't know about you but running from walkers has never been fun for me." Duck rolled his eyes but he kept the smile on his face. Clem turned back to AJ, he hadn't said a word the whole time, just occupied with the weapon in his hand. She sighed and reached over, grabbing it from the top and pulling it from his hand. AJ opened his mouth, a protest forming on his lips but died the moment Clem gave him that look. "I got us dinner." She supplied instead and he sighed, turning his head to look out the window. Clem frowned but turned back to face the front. She didn't know what was going on with him lately but she'd talk to Duck about it later.

Of course then he'd chose the moment to speak to up. "You should really join me on my morning runs. You started slackin' back there." He teased her and she gave him a playful shove. "I'll show you slackin'!" She teased back and punched his arm before returning to her position in the seat. Duck laughed and brought a free hand up to rub his arm for a moment then dropped it back down to his side. "No but seriously. You need to be more careful when pushing yourself Clem." He said in a more serious tone this time, peaking over to look her in the eyes before looking back at the road. She sighed but only because she knew he was right. She hadn't been doing as many runs since AJ, she was always so worried about leaving him alone and in the beginning she couldn't because he was just a baby. She had to stay behind and watch him, keep him calm and feed him, just take care of him while Duck did everything. She helped when she could, switching off with him every once in a while but AJ and Duck were like water and oil, didn't mix well and she'd always have to come back early to take care of it. So she'd rested a lot but now that AJ was five, she could go back out there and she knew she needed to be more careful.