The Bell Tower

Seven-Shot

"I knew I'd find you up here." Violet smiled as she walked out on the bell tower to find her girlfriend staring at the horizon. The sun just barely cresting, bleeding orange into the purples of the night sky. The stars were still visible above their heads, but they wouldn't be for much longer.

"Just wanted to come up one last time before we head out." Clementine inhaled deeply, taking in the crisp morning air. As near as they could figure, today was their one year anniversary. They had been preparing for months, drying meats and stocking up on other useful supplies for the journey.

"Happy anniversary." Violet wrapped her arms around Clementine from behind, nuzzling her face into the brunette's shoulder blades before resting her chin on her shoulder, gazing at the horizon with her.

"Happy anniversary." Clementine smiled, hugging Violet's arms, "It's been a good year." She held up her star bird tattoo and admired it, it was slightly faded but plenty visible, "Are you ready for this, it's not too late to back out..." Clementine angled her head so she could smirk at her wife.

"Me? Back out? Never." Violet kissed her on the cheek, looking at the top of her head, "Wearing the hat again I see." She hadn't seen Clementine wear it in the longest time.

"It's been with me on every adventure since all of this started, I can't leave it behind." Clementine smiled sadly at the thought of everything she and that hat had been through together, "It'll be your first time living on the road, are you nervous?"

"Nervous? It's a month alone with my wife, I'm excited." Violet stepped back, stretching, "We should get going soon."

"Yeah, you're right, let's go." Clementine turned and the two of them left the bell tower together.

Everyone gathered at the gate, hugging goodbye, Clementine and Violet both laden with back packs holding as much as they'd dare to carry.

AJ hugged Clementine around the middle and refused to let go, "Let me come with you Clem. I can help protect you!"

Clementine crouched down to AJ's level, prying his arms away, "AJ, I need you here. I'm trusting you to keep this place safe while we're gone, okay?"

"Okay Clem... but I'll really miss you." AJ whined, hugging her once more, "I love you."

"I love you back." Clementine chuckled, kissing him on the forehead goodbye. With a few final waves they exited the gates and headed toward the main road. Clementine pulled a map out of her back pocket, examining the route she and Violet had planned out.

"We're looking at about two weeks worth of walking to get to Atlanta... Sure would be lucky if we found another car, we could do the trek in hours instead of days..." Clementine sighed, missing the old mustang that her and AJ had lived out of for years.

"That would really be some crazy luck, the kind of luck you only read about in stories written by ridiculous authors that care nothing about the actual realities of living in a post-apocalyptic world." Violet said with a shrug.

~~~~~~~~~~~Hours later

"I can't believe we found a working car on the side of the road filled to the brim with gasoline and several gallons of spare gas tanks in the trunk." Violet shook her head in disbelief at the sheer coincidence of it.

"I know... it's almost too good to be true..." Clementine looked inside the car, unable to believe their luck. The keys were missing, but that wouldn't be a problem, hot wiring a car was one of the first things Kenny had showed her how to do. He was going to show her how to drive a stick... but she had to learn that on her own... she had learned though, and a good thing too, because sure enough, "It's a stick shift, it has a manual transmission..."