Hide For Me

Nine

Me and Clay walked back to the base, we were both quiet, I had put my jumper back on and the heat quickly engulfed me. Had I made him go quiet? Had I ruined my chances of being on the good side of Clay? Surely not, he wanted me to take it off... right? I felt so confused about everything, mainly about the way I saw Clay. For some reason I really wanted to make him happy, to make him proud of me. I would even change my actions for him. I shake my head, what am I thinking?? He's my new boss, that's probably why. No other reasons. I cross my arms, thoughts circling around my head. "Well if it isn't Clay with his new bff!"

I look over to our right to see two tall figures standing about 50m from us. It was the same guy from the couch and another one. He had brown, wavy hair, a light coloured button up and dark grey pants. Clay walks over to them so I follow. "Alastair! Karl! What's up?"
"Not much!" I feel short standing with all these people. "How's clearing all the dead things going?" Alastair rubs the back of his neck and chuckles, "It's been alright, just a really hot day, you know?"
"Yeah, it has been hot..." Clay says, mumbling the last part, although I can hear him. I can see his head slightly turn towards me momentarily and then back to the other two. "Find anything interesting?"
"We found a pair of keys in one walker's pocket! We are yet to find the car though," Karl answered. Eret nodded, "there are signs of another clan heading closer into our land though,"
"The Iwa clan I presume?" Clay crossed his arms, "Yes, are going to confront the leader again?" Clay looked down at me, "Yep, I'll take George to meet who he could have ended up with."

Me and Clay walked through the city, I questioned where he was leading me. "So um... Clay... where exactly are we heading?" I ask timidity, "We're going to the Iwa clan base. It's about 3 hours to the base in an abandoned subway station."
"3 hours?"
"Yeah, luckily we have 8 hours of sunlight left since we trained for only 4 hours." We continue until we end up at another large district. It had the words "Iwa clan territory" painted with red spray paint. "This is where our land ends and theirs starts. You see we have the largest territory out of all the clans in the city, mainly because we have the most recourses." He looked around before walking through the district, "I know someone is there. We are just here to see Timber!" He gestured to me and I quickly walked to his side. We waited. A girl stood up from behind a car. She looked to be around 15-16, her blond hair was in a single, long platt and was wearing camouflage. "Clay?"
"Hello, Adalia." I looked at them both curiously "George, this is Adalia she is the niece of my friend Timber,"
She walked up to us, "About that... Timber's dead,"
"What?" Clay spoke in a shocked tone. "What happened to him?"
"We don't know, he went missing one day and the next we found him with chunks missing and a Walker eating his leg." Clay began to follow her so I staggered along with them, making sure to stay close to Clay. "So now Ethan is in charge,"
"Oh..."
"Yeah, it's so weird because he's only 19 and his girlfriend gave birth to their first child a few weeks ago. Speaking of girlfriend. She turned around and looked at me, "I see you gave up on girls." My face turned bright red and Clay began to stutter, "N-No! He is simply a-a new member of our clan and I h-happened to be out with him so we b-both came here!" She rolled her eyes. "That's what you said about Elizabeth when you brought her here." Clay out his hands in his pocket and looked down at the ground, "I'd rather not talk about Elizabeth."

We made it to the entrance of a subway station and walked inside. There were a few people inside. There's a single train on tracks and we walk inside. It's been cleared out, inside is a boy sitting on a largish seat, he looked younger than me and Clay. "Hello, Ethan,"
"Hello Clay," Ethan spoke in a confident tone, "It been a while since I've seen you here, what brings you to my divine kingdom?"
"Members of your clan have been going into our territory, I would like to ask you to stay out of it,"
"But I thought clans cried for each other?" Clays mussels tensed, "Yes, but Clans who do that would give earn something back, wouldn't they?"
"Oh Clay, don't speak with that tone to me." The figure stood up and walked toward us, "Ok, you guys can probably handle this," stammered Adalia as she began walking towards the exit. Ethan stopped a meter away from Clay, "I'll be sure to speak to my clan," Ethan then looked towards me and smirked. "I see you sort of, gave up, on women after Elizabeth,"
"Let's not talk about Elizabeth. Right now." Ethan steps closer to me places a hand on my face. "I see why you like him, he has her eyes. A dark, beautiful brown, is what you used to say." Clay took a step forward, "Don't touch him, he's just a new member of our clan!" Ethan stepped back, "Clay, no need to get aggressive! Besides, I can tell that you think more of him."

Clay grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the train, before he walked out he turned back to Ethan, "just talk to your clan."

We walked back in silence, I could tell that Ethan had upset Clay. I wanted to ask him about what Ethan was talking about but I knew if I did, that would make things worse. So I decided to keep my mouth shut, for now.