Chapter Text
At first everything sucked. Since Delta appeared they lost four people. Brody, Marlon, Mitch and Tenn. Three of them were their best providers and getting any resources was so much harder now. To make things worse Violet couldn’t see anything but shadows with one of her eyes and another… It didn’t even react to the light anymore, so Ruby had no hope for it to ever recover.
Omar never was a good hunters and it always used to be OK, he had much more suitable “job”. Even wounded he thankfully found the way to cook again. He found a stool and used it to sit every time he couldn’t stand anymore. Cooking this way took him more time but the boy was clearly glad to get back to his favorite hobby. And yet his temporary disability was still a problem, since somebody still had to help him move around sometimes.
Clementine lost her leg and for a while they weren’t sure she would survive. For a first two weeks after one of the walker bit her she was mostly unconscious, walking up briefly to drink a sip of water or broth before drifting back to nowhere. Sometimes she was delusional, talking with people nobody, not even AJ knew. People who probably have died long time ago. Sometimes she called for her parents, for Lee, or for AJ, not realizing that poor crying boy was standing right there, near her bed. At some point her fever became high and Ruby and Louis spent a whole night rubbing Clem’s limbs with cold water. Ruby later confessed she was sure Clementine was going to die that night.
And yet she made it.
While Cleme was fighting for her life there were only five people who could somehow hunt. Aasim, Louis, Ruby, Willy and AJ. Willy never was a good shooter, so it was decided that he and AJ would mainly fish. Ruby couldn’t leave the school since she had three seriously wounded patients. She was much better bow shooter that Willy or Louis but nobody but her knew anything when it came to medicine, so the group had no choice but to let her do her main job. So for a while poor Aasim was their main provider when it came to the hunting. Louis tried to help as well, mainly by adding more traps in different parts of the woods and checking on them every day. But his thought were always near the bed of his barely alive girlfriend. As soon he was back at school he’d be back in Clementine’s room. There were days they couldn’t get any food at all and they had to rely on canned food they brought from train station several weeks ago.
And then… Clem opened her eyes and recognized Louis who was sitting near her bed. She ate properly (even if it wasn’t a lot) for a first time since she was bitten, talked with everyone for a bit and she fell asleep, not fell unconsciousness. The same evening Louis found Ruby crying in the nurse’s office. Poor girl was relieved and happy that finally something good had happened to them since the night of the raider’s attack. For days Ruby was sure Clementine was going to die too but she didn’t. It was a miracle, and it gave everyone a bit of hope that may be everything was going to be as OK as possible again.
May be the morale boost helped everyone, or may be Higher Powers finally thought poor children had enough and gave them some mercy. But next day after Clem opened her eyes, Louis found two huge rabbits were caught in his traps, Willy caught five fishes (while on his lucky days he only caught one at best) and Aasim shot a huge bird. For a first time since Delta attack canned food was left untouched. Life went on.
Then there was this caravan.
First time when Louis and AJ went searching for Caravan they found nothing but hoofprints on the ground. No people, no horses… no trouble. They searched for a bit but gave up as soon as they reached the end of the safe zone. Caravan must have left. In a way it disappointing but in the same time Ericson’s survivors were a bit relived. Meeting new people were not as easy as it used to be before Walkers appeared. They could use getting new resources and may be even new allies but still the idea was risky. New people could mean any sort of trouble.
So life continued. Clementine was recovering fast, Omar was standing without problems again and even Violet who was dealing with a lot of shit started smiling again sometimes. Honestly it was clear that poor girl lost too much lately and last events hit her way harder than others. First she finally was reunited with her girlfriend Minerva… only to realize that the kind shy girl Violet used to love so much was long gone. Minnie wasn’t the same person. She was lying, manipulation and cruel and yet she still was Minnie, and when she died Violet felt like her heart was torn apart once again. The fact that she had to mourn over the same person twice was weird, unfair, and cruel. And then she lost her ability to see at least with one of her eyes completely and another… Even Ruby wasn’t ready to give prognoses. Violet could see... something, mostly shadows and lights, enough to recognize familiar locations or her friends, but not in the same way as she could before. Tennessee’s death in a way became the final nail on the coffin.
Since the twins were gone, Vi and Tenn had became good friends. They grew close by grieve and shared pain and comfort. Now Violet was mourning Minerva all over again but Tennessee wasn’t near her anymore. The only person in the world she still felt connected to was now gone as well.
Honestly other kids were worried for her mental health and just tried to be around her in case she needs any of them. But the girl surprised them all when she started to laugh and smile again with time. May be Vi lost so much that she had nothing to lose anymore and she could just… live. May be she found her own way of coping with grief, but she seemed to be better. At least everyone hoped she was really better.
Then Willy and AJ made a small prototype of prosthesis leg for Clementine and with the help of her friends, mostly Louis she was slowly learning to walk again. The construction wasn’t perfect: a bit too heavy and the boys made a little mistake in calculation, making her “fake leg” a bit shorter than it had to be but at least she was able to walk… or mostly limp on her own. She hasn't gone hunting yet of course, she herself wasn’t sure she’ll can fight walkers with her unstable gait. And yet having an option to just… walk when she needed to was huge improvement.
So everything was more or less normal, nothing new… until one day Aasim, Louis and AJ went to check on traps.
***
“Will you show me how to set the traps?” AJ almost jumped in excitement, making his older friends smile at him. It sure was nice to finally see the kid act like… a kid again. Poor boy wasn’t himself after the death of his first real friend and while his mother figure was recovering. Actually, sometimes he looked more like an old man trapped in the body of the 5 years old child. But now Clementine was feeling so much better and AJ became friends with Willy (probably due to the lack of alternatives, but both boys seemed to enjoy the friendship anyway).
“Of course, little dude.” Louis had to admit that he sounded almost as excited as AJ. He loved to teach his girlfriend’s kid new stuff, to see how the boy’s eyes light up when he finally realized how something worked, how he looked at Louis with the wide grin, like if older boy knew everything in this world. In a way, sometimes AJ made Louis feel Almighty. Not like it was actually true bit the feeling was nice.
Aasim shook his head a bit but didn’t even try to hide a warm smile.
“Do you remember the first time me and Clem went hunting with you, guys?” The five years old became a bit more serious.
“You mean the time when me and Clem were hunting and you two were having fun?” Aasim chuckled. “We actually had nice catch with rabbits that day. Probably because Louis didn’t disturb us.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault my presence is so attention-grabbing!” Louis raised his arms in defense. “Especially when it comes to Clem.”
“I’d say you are delusional about her… but for some weird reason you are actually right this time.” Aasim snorted. “When she can hunt again there is no way you are going together. Ever! Unless for some weird reason everyone would want to starve.”
Louis just smiled warmly, probably thinking about his love life again.
When Clementine and AJ joined the Ericson school it was clear as day Louis took a fancy for the new female in the group. At first Aasim was sure nothing was going to work out for his friend: Clem was polite but way too serious and unsociable, she looked out of Louis’ league. So when Aasim was saved from Delta’s ship and he realized that those two actually were dating, he was… confused. They didn’t fit… and yet somehow they made their relationships work by gaining character traits of each other. Clementine started to smile more, sometimes cracking jokes alongside with her boyfriend. Louis changed as well. Saying that he became more serious and less annoying would be a lie but now Aasim was sure that in dark days Louis was… reliable. May be that’s why Clementine chose him, may be she saw something others couldn’t see – the boy who would go through a horde of walkers with her, avoiding bullets of raiders if it meant saving their friends. The boy who would sit near his girlfriend’s bed days and night long to make sure she is still breathing.
Actually seeing Louis whispering something to unconscious Clementine, seeing him bring a gramophone into her room while she was recovering and was bored and seeing the way her face lit up every time she saw her boyfriend made Aasim think of himself and Ruby.
He always thought that they don’t match too. She was like a fire – sometimes warm and charming, sometimes bright and furious. And he was like a still water – very chill, never trying something new. But the latest evens proved that everything can come to the end. He could die escaping Delta’s boat. And then Ruby would never know how he felt. It didn’t feel right. And… couples who didn’t match could work out too, right?
So he confessed. And it did work.
Meanwhile AJ sighed.
“I wish Clem could join us today. I miss her always being around… just walking with me.” The boy explained.
“Me too.” Louis sighed as well. “But you and Willy help a lot with making that wish to come true. She is learning to walk again and she is doing great. She is tough. I mean…”
The boy froze so suddenly Aasim literally bumped into his friend’s back. Before he could cursed he saw what Louis saw.
Three people in green khaki cloaks were standing near one of the traps, two females and one male. All had melee weapons in their hand, but the man had a gun on his belt. It was a man around 30 years old with snow-white skin and blonde hair. Near his stood a woman of the same age with dark-skin and hair, squeezing a knife in her hands. The third one was much younger, a teenager girl with fire-like red hair. Her face was covered in freckles and when she smiled, trying to look friendly, she showed the cleft between the teeth.
“It’s OK.” The dark-skinned woman nervously smiled too. “We found the trap and decided to wait for people. My name is Tamara, this is my husband Noel and the girl is Regan. We are part of the larger group.”
“A caravan?” Aasim slowly lowered the bow he held in his hands. The trio didn’t seemed like they wanted to attack. May be they could talk first. And he sure saw at least two of them when he first spotted the Caravan. “We saw you before. Wanted to meet and communicate but we couldn’t find you.”
“So you saw us, huh?” Noel chuckled with strong British accent. “It’s not like we hide ourselves. A large group, horses, wagonettes… Easy to spot. We moved back then but looks like we are a bit lost in the woods so we decided to head back. Than we found your traps and decided to wait here, hoping somebody would show up.”
“Are you always on the road?”
“Yeah. When you have no place to call home it’s easier. A whole world feels like home. We always travel and it helps to avoid troubles with other groups we trade with. Even if they aren’t friendly we usually are gone by they time they are ready to attack.”
“So, you are the traders.” Aasim nodded.
Regan suddenly clapped her hands and jumped excitedly, pointing in AJ’s directions. Her friends smiled as soon as they saw the little boy who frowned a bit at the girl’s reaction.
“Sorry for our friend here.” Tamara smiled. “She is such a kid sometimes. She is just 16 and she is the youngest in the group. Nobody close to her age. She is clearly happy to see other kids as well. Hi, little dude. What is you name?”
“I’m Alvin Junior. But you can call me AJ. Just… don’t call me goofball.”
“OK, noted.” Tamara exchanged glances with her husband. “I don’t think we heard your older friend’s names.”
“I’m Aasim. And this is Louis.”
“Nice to meet you.” Noel nodded. Regan made something like a curtsy and waved, still smiling from one ear to another.
“So… do you have a group?” Tamara asked.
“Do you?”
“Of course. You saw the caravan, right? There is no way only three of us could run it. As we said, we never stay in one place for long. Mostly survive on scavenging and trading stuff with other groups.” Tamara nodded. “Listen, it’s really OK. The fact you three are… so young, probably means that you don’t have adults at all or they can’t do much, right? There is no way we would send Regan to hunt on her own due to her age. So we are safe to say we have kids against adult with guns. But we don’t want to hurt you.”
The woman moved her cloak a bit to show she had a gun as well.
“We aren’t here to fight. I know it’s hard to trust people nowadays but… we don’t want trouble. We just want to trade if you want it as well. If you don’t – we’ll just leave. But if you try something stupid – there is no way we don’t fight back.”
“So what do you suggest to trade? What do you want?”
“Well, we have a lot of stuff to suggest. We sure can spare seeds. We don’t need them but they usually welcomed by the groups who have certain places to call home. We have food. Mostly canned, but it lasts longer. Actually everything depends on what people can offer us. You know what we really want? Fresh meat. You are hunters, right? We don’t hunt, we usually have no time for that. And canned food isn’t the best when it comes to taste. There is also stuff everybody need. Medicine, weapons, ammo. Just… bring everything that you don’t need. Even if we don’t find this stuff useful for ourselves other groups we’ll meet later might want something.”
“Bring when and where?”
“How about tomorrow? You can come here, on this spot, this way you’ll be sure we don’t know where your home is. We don’t need to know that. Then we’ll lead you to our caravan. That way the rest of your group won’t know where we are. You’ll can choose what you want to get in exchange of your stuff. Oh, and… Aasim, right? Are you the leader of this group?”
“No.”
“Oh. Then if you don’t mind can you bring your leader with you? Our leader, Connor, he likes to exchange leadership tips and tricks with other leaders, you know? It’s OK if you don’t but that’s a great way to get on his good side and maybe get more useful items during the trade.” Noel smiled again. “If tomorrow on the same time we won’t see you on the same spot we’ll leave and you’ll never see us again, do not worry.”
“How can we be sure that you don’t want to just take our stuff and kill us?” Louis said.
“The same way we know you won’t bring a whole group to attack us tomorrow. You just never can be sure.” Noel sighed. “Things… had been happening to us as well. Last time we tried to trade, Regan lost her older brother.”
The smile disappeared from red-haired girl’s face and she sighed.
“And yet you are still willing to trade again.” Aasim raised his brow.
“That’s the way we always live. You can’t just… stop trusting everyone. People need people. Not everyone understand that, but there were bad people even before the world has ended. We have to try, OK? Then next time we are in the area we know we have people we can trust in there. And we can trade again.” Tamara explained. “We’ll leave now. But we’ll come back tomorrow, OK. Just… don’t do anything stupid and we won’t do anything bad in return, OK?”
The woman slowly took several steps back, before turning to leave. Noel waited for a bit before doing the same thing: when his wife was almost hidden by the trees, he took several steps back to front before turning to leave, sprinting to catch up with Tamara. Regan was the last one to move away as slowly as her friends. She looked at AJ and gently waved her hand. When the boy waved back she smiled. Then she looked at Aasim, at Louis and waved again, still smiling, before turning her back at them and running away to catch other members of her group. The boys waited till she disappear, before breathing the sigh of relief. That smile could mean anything. The red-haired girl could be really friendly, but she also could be trying to keep them off guard.
Aasim couldn't help but remember the way Lilly smiled when she talked to them on the Delta’s boat. Her voice was gentle and melodic, but she said horrible things. Especially when she was talking about what happened to the twins.
You can never be sure what person hides behind their friendly face sometimes, right?
“What do you think?” AJ said, his gaze still glued to the direction where Tamara, Noel and Regan disappeared. “They seemed friendly.”
“There is always a possibility they might try to attack us tomorrow if we bring our goods, right?” Aasim shrug his shoulders. “Or they try to follow us now to see where we live.”
“I say we keep checking the traps now.” Louis suggested. “But after that instead of hunting we come back to the school and talk to others.”
“Just be careful. Keep your eyes open in case they do try to follow us.” Aasim sighed again.
If this new group would be trouble… this time they really would have no chance. They barely we able to win over Delta before Mitch and Tenn died, Violet became almost fully blind and Clementine lost her leg. They barely have started to recover and another fight could be the last for them.
But this group have already found them. And if they were friendly and only wanted to trade… that could benefit them, help to keep surviving. They needed some resources. And if they could gain new allies as well… that would be even better.
But now they needed to talk to others and see that they think.