My big brother Luke (The Walking Dead Game)

12 - Collectors

"We got three cans of beans" Luke says coming in the room and shutting the door with his foot.

"Hooray!" I lift my arms in the air and he puts the cans on the desk.

"So what are you doing today?" Luke asks studying the cans on the desk.

"School" I sigh. Although I was slightly happy about it. I flicked the strings on my hoodie and stared out the window.

"Could be worst" Luke turns around the cans and I watch him in the reflection of the window.

"Do you have patrol?" I ask

"Yep, they're making me go round the perimeter today and check the outskirts, they want to make another wall for back up." Luke explains

"Two walls? With a gap in between?"

"Yep, pretty cool right?"

"I suppose" I begin to redo the hair ties in my hair. I didn't do this very often.

"Wait, what year is it?" Luke asks. I turn around and see him studying the cans again.

"I think its 2005. I have no idea" I think about the date. I had lost count along time ago.

"2005 huh. This can of beans ran out of date two years ago" Luke laughs.

"Makes it sound more appetizing" I lie as I rub my stomach.

There was a knock on the door. These had become regular. Luke put the cans back on the desk and walked over to the door and pulled it open.

"Hey" he says.

"Hello, sorry to stop by so early" I recognized the voice. It was Anna.

"No problem" Luke opens the door slightly and I turn around. Anna gives me a smile and a small wave and she continues to talk to Luke.

"Well, I needed to know if you wanted to be a collector with me and Jamie for a day or two. We need more of everything and not many people are willing collectors anymore" Anna admits.

I stand up and walk over to the door. Luke stood silent and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Does that mean you'll go outside the wall for a few days?" I look up at him and give him a stern look.

"It'll only be for a few days. He'll come back" Anna explains bending down and coming to level with me.

"What if he doesn't come back?" I argue back Luke stays silent.

"He will, he will be with me and Jamie" Anna grabs hold of my shoulders to reassure me. I didn't want her to hold me but I didn't pull away.

"Look Clem, it looks like its just one of them things. You gotta do what you gotta do" Luke explain. He doesn't look as if he was too happy about going either.

"I don't want to leave you. Why can't I come?" I ask.

"Its too dangerous" Anna explains

"Are you serious? I've been out there on my own for weeks before. There's nothing I haven't seen." I protest.

"Look Clem its a couple of days. You can survive. I'll bring you back something nice if I see anything" Luke comes down to my level like Anna and gives me a hug. I hug him back, I don't want Luke to leave me here on my own. Anything could happen to him out there.

"Luke's tough, plus I can look after him" Anna chuckles.

"This is such bullshit" I mutter under my breath.

"Clementine stop that. I will be fine! Its just collecting furniture and such." Luke frowns at me when I swear.

"Its only a 3 hour drive to a new town. We will strip whatever we find there and keep going back until the place is empty. We need Luke because its a big operation, we need these supplies. We are taking 4 of our trucks there, its a risk but we're doing what we can to make everything better here." Anna explains.

I walk over to the spinning chair and slump myself in it and spin around gently. Luke and Anna stand in the doorway awkwardly staring at me.

"I will be back soon, I promise. You make sure you go to school!" Luke comes over and gives me another tight hug. I pull him in closer and bury my head into his neck. I couldn't bare the thought of losing him, especially when I wasn't there to see it for myself.

I make my way to the school and line up outside. I see Luke in a small crowd of people near the trucks in the distance. I get distracted by the teacher calling us to come inside. I take my seat at the back of the classroom again and hope that nobody sits beside me, I didn't need that today.

All of a sudden Turners son Josh sits beside me the same as the other day.

"Hey Clem" he says sitting down beside me.

"Hi" I grumble resting my head against my hand.

"Whats the matter with you?" He asks.

"My friend. He's becoming a collector today" I sigh.

"My big brother Danny is a collector. He always comes back, it's fine." He reassures me.

I get handed my exercise book and I look at the front of it. The mess I had made of my name was atrocious and I couldn't look at it anymore. I flicked open the book and prepared for the teacher to write something on the board. They had a whiteboard at the front, most likely from the office block. Today we were continuing english, I doubt maths will be useful in times like these. After a couple of hours I leave the building and look around for something to do.

Luke wasn't there so I had no idea what to do. I decided to go to the laundry room and collect mine and Luke's spare clothes. I took them up to our room and put them underneath the desk. I stepped outside and I bumped into a tall blonde woman who was carrying some books.

"Oh shit" she says as the books all fall on the floor.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to" I fall to the floor trying to pick up the books.

"It's okay, just taking them back to the library" she explains.

I look up and see the room she had come out of which was across the hall from mine and Luke's room. It read on the door R.Lockley.

"Library?" I was shocked to hear the news that we actually had something cool here.

"Yeah, you're the new kid that moved in with that guy aren't you?" She asks.

"That's me, I'm Clementine and the guy is Luke" I say, she smiles at me.

"I'm Ruby, I'm across the hall if you ever need anything. I can take you to the library if you're not doing anything, show you around?"

"I'd like that" I smile up at her. She was a tall blonde woman in her mid 30's. Her hair was long and curly.

I follow her down the stairs and out of the building. We walk across the courtyard and go into the small wooden shed a bit like the laundry room but slightly larger.

"And here Clementine is where we get our entertainment" she announces as we walk in. I look around and see what must of been hundreds of books in storage boxes on various shelves. There was also a few board games.

"This is pretty impressive" I admit gazing at the various shelves.

"This is what the collectors bring back, books and boardgames" she explains placing the books she had taken back into the boxes.

"So do you just take what you want?"

"Pretty much. Then just take it back when you're done. Like a normal library"

"I'm glad there's some entertainment here. Other than school there's not a lot to do" I admit staring at the books.

"We all have jobs to do. When you're in school that's your job. Talking about jobs, I have to get to the garden. See you later Clementine" she walks out of the building and leaves me to myself.

I look around the shed for something to do. I see a board game of monopoly and pull it out. I study the top of it and wipe the dust off the top. I decide to take it back to the room.

I set up all of the board to the best of my ability. I stare at it for a while and move the pieces around on the board aimlessly. It began to get dark, it was the first night of me sleeping on my own in this place.

Even though there wasn't any walkers or harm in Wellington. I was actually scared when I curled up in bed and Luke wasn't beside me. I struggled to get to sleep, I couldn't help but think something bad was happening to Luke. I missed him.