Flower Petals and Flesh - A Violentine Story

The Hospital

Violet woke up suddenly, taken quickly from a nightmare to reality by a gently tap. She was sweating but was frozen cold.

"Hey, it's alright. I think you were having a bad dream." Clementine whispered gently as she rubbed the blonde's shoulder calmly.

Violet took a deep breath, "Thank you, I'm fine. I'm fine." Her breath steadying slowly.

She looked around, the campfire was a small smoulder now and the grass had collected a thin layer of dew. She looked to the stranger, he was hunched over his bag rummaging through its contents.

The morning was relatively slow, Violet and Clementine shared the selection of foods from Violet's bag as the morning mist dissipated. After a while Clementine noticed Violet's quiet and subdued mood, she seemed distracted.

"Are you ok? You seem a little out of it."

Violet smiled a false smile, "Yeah, just a little tired"
She felt like kicking herself, she trusted Clementine more than most people she had known for years and for some reason she couldn't open up.

It didn't take them long to pack up and get moving, they were burning precious daylight and they still didn't know if Clementine's group was safe.

James took them down some secret paths through the forest which shortened their journey significantly. The walk however felt wrong, the air seemed stained and silent as if the foul aura of Violet's lie had held in the air.

Clementine was no fool, she knew something was wrong, the previous days walk had been almost fun, the two girls asking random questions about each other's experience in the apocalypse as if they were ghost stories.

"You talk in your sleep."

Violet sighed, it wasn't a new discovery. She had Minerva complaining about it most nights; and she was one of the prime factors of her unconscious ramblings.

"Anything specific or just random crap?" Violet asked staring at her feet nervously.

"Something about cigarettes and coffee I think."

The blonde stoped dead in her tracks for a moment and clutched at her chest, it was almost as if she was choking, struggling to breathe at the sudden influx of memories.

It took her a moment to catch her breath, her body trembling with an old fear. Clementine looked to the blonde with concern.

"Don't. Don't ask, not now." She muttered shakily.

Clementine was desperate to ask but she knew better, this was no safe environment to dig into deep trauma.

The remainder of the walk to the hospital was silent, nobody spoke a word.

The road approaching the hospital was stained with tyre marks both new and old; staring at the base of the hill and following the way upward towards the hospital. The smell of burning reached them before reached the top. A small collection of cars along with a bloody RV sat in a messy pile near the entrance of the medical building.

They approached the scene carefully with their weapons ready, they methodically cleared the area. Checking for any sign of life, the only noticeable sight being the corpse of an unfamiliar man in the seat of one of the cars.

The corpse was recent, he had a bullet wound to the head, his legs were mangled in the wreckage of the destroyed front of the vehicle.

"This is our RV! That means they must be here!" Clementine pulled the door open quickly and rushed inside.

The insides were thrown about, equipment, keepsakes and valuables lay strewn about. The floor covered in a mixture of cans and clothes.

"Damn it!" Clementine shouted, kicking at the exterior of the RV as she ran outside.

She paced around nervously for a moment. Every possible idea racing through her head, every possible death.

"Follow me, we're going inside." She commanded quickly walking to the entrance to the hospital.

Clementine's sudden confidence was surprising event to herself, hospitals were some of the most dangerous places, often teeming with the dead and impossible to escape. This one was no exception.

The front doors were wide open, a deep black blood covered the glass like paint. The floors and walls were no different covered in a paste of body fluids and filth. However a clear trail of footprints cleared through the mess, human footprints.

Clementine followed the trail, Violet and James following suit. They could all notice the suspicious lack of walkers, only a few of the dead had been exterminated and they seemed years old.

The footprints ended suddenly at a reinforced metal door, a small window sat in the middle of it with the title 'Morgue'

The brunette hesitantly raised her hand and knocked on the door. There was an immediate rush of hushed noise from inside.

Suddenly an eye appeared in the small window, it then disappeared before the door swung open.

A young man stood tall in the door frame, his face giddy with a toothy smile.

"Clementine!" He yelled happily.

"Duck!"