Chapter Text
About two years after the events of the first Season, James, Aaron, and Clem all live together under James' protection out on the road. They travel long and far in hopes of finding a place called Wellington that many have spoken about. It's meant to be a safe place for the winter especially. Walls everywhere, plenty of food and protection. A real home. The three fantasise about this place every day, hoping that it's really out there and that they'll someday find it.
During a very dull and stormy night, James, Aaron, and Clem were camping in the woods with a campfire set up. It was freezing tonight.
"Man... I'm freezing!" Aaron complained while shivering and trying to keep warm. James looked at him.
"You think it's cold here?" He responded. "Wait until you get to Wellington, then you'll know what cold is."
"How far is Wellington anyway?" Clem jumped into the conversation while she was looking through her stuff. James looked back at her and shrugged.
"No clue, Clem. We should find it if we keep going north. It's supposed to be near Michigan." James told her while trying to focus on keeping the fire lit.
Forgot to mention, but by this point, Clem and Aaron are 11, and James is 41.
James shrugged in slight frustration when he struggled to keep the fire lit.
"Sigh... this will never work. I'm gonna go get more wood. You two stay here and try to keep the fire going." James said as he stood up to look for more wood in the forest. Clem and Aaron had a chat by the fire while he was gone.
"I miss Lee," Clem told him, trying to hold her tears. She always worried about Lee and if he was okay.
Aaron looked back at the grieving Clem before saying. "I know you do. Just I like I miss my brother and a lot of the folks we lost."
Clem nodded as she looked at the photo of Lee in her bag.
"Doesn't get easier, does it?" She suddenly asked Aaron. He nodded in agreement.
"It sure as hell doesn't." He replied.
"Do you think we'll find Lauren again?" Aaron asked with hope, wishing she didn't wander off AGAIN.
Clem didn't answer as she was thinking the worst for the poor girl. "I don't know, she could be alive. I guess we'll never know."
Aaron didn't say anything but he only nodded at what she told him.
The kids then went to try and burn something to keep the fire going. After cosying up by it, they both heard voices out in the woods. This got their attention.
Clem didn't like this and looked at Aaron with the same face that the latter gave her. "You hear that too, right?" Clem said.
Aaron nodded. "I sure do and I don't like it. We should probably check it out."
"Good idea." Clem agreed.
The two kids slowly crept their way out into the woods away from the safety of their camp. Together, they slowly approached the direction where the noise came from until it was loud enough to hear. It was people arguing.
"Where's your people? We know you ain't out on your own." A man aggressively asked James who was surrounded by multiple bandits.
"I'm by myself." James tried to lie but they didn't buy it. This only made them angrier.
The bandits laughed at his lie as they got more aggressive with him. "Bullshit!" One of them shouted. "You're obviously with someone." The bandit kept going on. "Where's the rest of your group?"
"I told you, I'm by myself." James persisted. The bandits still weren't buying it.
"Cut the shit, dude! Just tell us the fuckin' truth and you won't get hurt." They continued to warn him as the one who warned him pointed a gun at his head.
Aaron and Clem sneaked up closer to them. Aaron looked at Clem before grabbing a rock. He crept closer to the bandits and hit one of them with a rock to distract them. "RUN!" He yelled at James as he grabbed Clem and ran away to avoid being shot. James tackled one of the men before being shot and forced to flee. Aaron and Clem heard the gunshots and got worried as they ran away from the bandits who pursued them. James ran his own way and got separated from Clem and Aaron. Upon fleeing, Aaron and Clem got cornered by a ledge and with no choice, they fell down into the river to lose their pursuers. They got washed up at a shore the next day.
The kids dried themselves off and made their way down a nearby forest path. Aaron was feeling very tense with James being missing now. He mostly wandered off on his own, staying distant from Clem in his moment of pain. Aaron and Clem soon came across a dog in the woods. A dog called Sam. They followed Sam to a nearby camp where his family used to be. Aaron sat down while Clem looked for food in the camp. Sam wandered around with Clem. Aaron had a moment to himself.
"Doc gone... just Clem and I now. What the hell do I even do?"
Clem then came over with a can of food for them both. "I found us something," Clem said as she sat with an emotionally hurt Aaron.
She opened the can of food which was beans and as she started to share some with Aaron and have some herself, the dog whined which made Clem feel bad.
"I guess you're pretty hungry too." Clem said to Sam with a smile. "Here you go." She said as she let Sam eat from the can.
Sam tried to eat all of the food for himself. "Hey! Don't eat it all." Clem told Sam as she picked the can up from him. This caused Sam to attack her. Before he could bite her, Aaron quickly got into a brawl with him.
"GODDAMIT!" Aaron yelled as he struggled to fight Sam, getting severely bit in the arm, giving him a deep wound. "Help me, Clem! Get him off of me!"
Clem helped Aaron and kicked Sam away, causing him to fall back and get impaled on something. Aaron was badly hurt and Clem helped him stand up and move out of the camp before walkers came. As Clem struggled through the woods trying to help Aaron walk, Aaron felt nauseous and had to sit down by a tree. They didn't have long. The walkers started heading their way and it wasn't long before 3 of them were on them. Clem tried to move Aaron but he wouldn't budge. He was in too much pain.
"Aaron, you gotta move!" Clem tried to tell him. Aaron simply couldn't move. He felt faint.
"I... I can't, Clem. Just... leave me. Don't let them get you too. Please... just go!" Aaron muttered slowly with his last few breaths before passing out from the pain.
"NO!" Clem screamed, trying not to cry. "NOOOO!!"
The walkers caught up, and Clem was unable to move Aaron out of the way. She had to leave him behind. As she ran, she saw Aaron behind her being eaten, and she tried her best to not go back. Tears could be seen in her eyes, but she had to keep moving to get to safety. Aaron was gone, and there was no saving him. On the way through the woods, Clem ran into two men. One with a machete and the other with a crossbow.
"Jesus Christ!" The guy with the machete said out loud in shock since Clem frightened him. "You alright, kid? We heard a lot of noise."
Clem cried in response as she hesitantly replied to the man's question. "My friend... he got killed."
"Damn." The guy with the crossbow said.
"That shit sucks. I'm sorry to hear that. Anyway, I'm Luke and this is Pete."
"I'm Clementine."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Clementine. Pete and I can take you back to our group. We wouldn't wanna leave you out here on your own."
"Are you sure? What about your people?" Clem responded in concern as she knew groups could be trouble.
"Hey. They're not the nicest but just like us, I'm pretty sure we're all not willing to let a little girl die out in the woods. If those lurkers got your friend, I'm sure you wouldn't be far down their list." Luke persisted. He wanted Clem to join them.
Pete smiled as he stood in between them for a second. "Both of you just chill out. Rebecca and the others will just have to deal with it. Anyway, did you happen to see a man lurking around at any point?"
Clem shrugged at that question. "No? Not for a while. Why? We did get attacked by some bandits earlier but we got away."
Pete took note of what Clem said as did Luke. "It's nothing. Just wondering."
Luke was curious about Clem's story. He wanted to know a little more. "So Clem? What were you both doing out here anyway?"
Clementine kept her cool and tried to answer as honestly as possible. "My friend was my age. We got separated from the guy looking after us last night. Bandits attacked us. My friend got bit by a dog earlier for our food and he passed out back there from the pain and then... then..." She said calmly to then cry before being able to finish her sentence. Luke sympathised with her as did Pete.
"I'm sorry." Luke sympathetically apologised. "Sucks to lose people you care about. At your age as well."
Clem thought about the harsh reality when she listened to Luke. "I guess what happened to him will to me one day. It'll happen to all of us."
Luke continued to feel bad knowing that what Clem was saying was true but the negativity didn't flow well with him. "I know, Clem. Best we can do these days is hold out as much as we can. Anyway, we should get back to my people before dark. You comin'?"
Clem hesitantly nodded. "Sure."
Luke and Pete smiled, glad that Clem decided to accept their help. They all travelled back to Luke's group to help Clem settle in and be safe.
Clem was now on her own, surrounded by complete strangers. She was scared, and the young girl had no clue what trouble she'd be getting herself into by associating herself with this group. She was unaware of the history Luke's group had with another man. She will find out soon enough.
To be continued soon...