A Shred of Hope (The Walking Dead) (The Final Season Retelling)

31. Redemption

Time had slowed down for Clementine. Her mind was drawing blanks as she stared at the advancing walker. All it had to do was take one step and it would be on top of AJ.

The next few seconds, in contrast, became a blur of motions. Aasim tackled the walker head on, taking it to the ground. The bloody mouth of the walker tried to get back at him as he pulled the knife out of his pocket and rammed it down through its skull. He rolled off the walker onto his back, breathing heavily.

Clementine seemed to have been freed from her spell, racing towards AJ. "AJ! Are you okay?"

He nodded slowly in response, stunned.

She hugged him, grateful for the aversion before turning around to face Aasim. She helped him up, noticing the slickness on his hand. That's when she saw it.

"A... Aasim?" She didn't need to say the rest. Her eyes were fixated on his shoulder.

He followed her eyes. His shirt had been mangled at the shoulder, a bloody mess of torn flesh. A trail ran down his front, drenching the cloth.

Nobody said a word; too shocked to react. Heavy footsteps moved inside the warehouse and Cain and Rob burst in through the door.

"What the fuck is happening here?" Cain looked at the walker. "What..." he broke off, spotting Aasim's bloody attire. He noticed the wound. "Fucking hell..."

"What happened here?" Rob demanded.

"Walker caught us by surprise," Aasim replied. Clementine was shocked by his calmness. He could just as well have been reacting to someone asking him for a cup of coffee.

"Fuck..." Cain appeared slightly distressed. He stepped closer, inspecting the wound. He looked back at Rob. "We can't do anything about this," he told her.

Clementine knew he was right. The wound was on the shoulder, and shoulders weren't particularly susceptible to chopping off like bites on arms and legs were. The damage was permanent. Aasim would turn.

"It's time we head back," he said.

"What?" Rob asked. "They haven't even found anything useful!"

"One of them is fucking bit! We can't have prisoners dying to walkers, least of all kids. With the war out there, you think we're sitting on a store of people?"

"You want to take back a bitten kid?"

Cain walked up to her, his hulking figure overshadowing her. "Are you disobeying orders?"

Rob didn't reply.

"Get to the van. We're going back."

*

"Does it hurt?" Clementine asked Aasim as they sat in the back of the van.

"No, not much," he replied, clutching the cloth to his wound. It had been soaked red through.

"Maybe we can do something," she said, despite the truth.

Aasim shook his head. "We all know what's going to happen."

"Is there nothing can do?" Minnie asked.

"No. And I'm okay with that. I did what I had to do and I'm fine with whatever's happened."

"I didn't mean to..." AJ started.

"AJ, you can't keep doing things like this!" Clementine said. Anger was beginning to show in her voice.

"It's not your fault," Aasim said. "We all make mistakes."

"Aasim, you're bit! It didn't have to happen like that."