Life Goes On || TWDG Season 5 Fan Fic

Catching up

After a short walk, the group arrived back at Erickson. Omar opened up the gates for them this time, and greeted the group. Apparently, Evelyn, Henry, and Antoine were the only three that met anyone from Erickson. Everyone else was a stranger to them. Even then, the majority of the kids had only heard from Violet, Louis, and Alvin Junior in regards of what the group was like.

AJ quickly sprinted over, hugging Clem. "Hey, goofball.. careful there!" He quickly backed up, and noticed the other people. He drew his gun. "Clem, who are they??" Javi was the first to react. "Clem is this..?" She nodded. "AJ, put it away. They're nice." Christa came up from behind with Evelyn and Mariana. "So this is the kid I've heard all about.." AJ gave Clementine a confused glance. "Kiddo, these are old friends of mine." She gestured to Javi and Christa. They both nodded in return, Javi smiling. Clem's face went dark for a moment. "Javi is.. well, was, David's brother." AJ looked at him skeptically. "That fucking shit head.." Violet laughed, while the others all looked surprised. Christa looked at Clem. "Who taught him that?!" AJ smiled. "Clem did! She said swears are okay-" Clem put a hand up. "S-SHH!" Christa and Javi burst out laughing, Evelyn just standing there a bit lost. The rest of the travelers caught up with their supplies, glancing around. Louis waved over Aasim who was sat in his usual place writing. Ruby was fishing and checking traps with Willy. After a few quick introductions, Clem broke the conversation. "Anyway, you can all setup outside the school: you'll be safe within the walls, so I hope you can understand why we are a bit hesitant to let you in the main building." She looked back at the few people she did not really know well. She knew six of them: including Evelyn, Javi, Christa, Antoine, Henry, and Mariana, but the other two people she did not know.

The quiet woman stepped up, dragging the eldest man with her. "My name is Jessica, but you can call be Jess. This is my husband, Marty." The man offered a wrinkled hand out to Clementine, who shook it in return. "He's a quiet one.." She nodded, glancing at Louis. "That's fine." She looked over to see where AJ was, to find him on the swing with Violet. Seeing them together made her heart swell with joy. Evelyn grabbed her attention again. "Thank you, Clementine. We appreciate the hospitality. We'll do whatever we can to assist." Clem smiled. "Of course, any friend of Javi and Christa is a friend of mine. And, as for things to do.." She looked back at the slightly charred admin building, but decided not to bring it up. "Tonight just rest. We can discuss more tomorrow. For now, you guys can go meet everyone. I have something I gotta go do." Evelyn nodded, gesturing for the others to bring their things to find a spot to setup. Clementine knew that due to past events, it probably was a good idea to keep her guard up, despite her connections with the group. She hobbled over to Vi and AJ, seeing Violet teaching AJ to stand on the top of the makeshift swing. "Be careful, guys.." Violet paused and approached her. "Don't worry Clem, AJ's been through worse then skinning a knee on a tire." She smiled. Clem still looked back at him, a bit worried. She didn't like it when he got hurt, even if it was only a scratch. Vi noticed her expression, and gave her a soft kiss, snapping her out of it. Clementine smiled as AJ approached, laughing. "So.. you still never told me if you guys are, what's the word?" He looked at Clem to fill in his blank. She chuckled. "Dating?" He nodded. Violet put her arm around her girlfriend. "Yep." He jumped up, smiling. "That's great!! I knew you guys liked each other!!" Violet snorted a bit. "What can I say, Clem is pretty great." He nodded in agreement. "Yeah!" He did a happy dance, then ran back to the swing. "I'll keep an eye on him if you want, Clem. I get that you wanna catch up with them. Just promise me we can talk later? Alone?" She nodded. "Of course, I know this is all a bit confusing for you and.. well, everyone. Just know they're good people." Violet smiled. "Don't worry, I trust you." AJ called for Vi to teach him more tricks. "Gotta run!" She sprinted back over.

After she concluded that AJ and Violet were alright, Clem went and sat down at one of the picnic tables near the graves. Sometimes, she would go from stone to stone and read out the names, one by one. They didn't deserve to be forgotten. Even Marlon, that asshole. In her state of deep thought, Christa sat beside her. "Hey, Clem.." "Oh, hey Christa." She looked at her. "I.. I'm sorry about.. before we got separated. After he died I.. shut off a bit. Lee made me promise to take care of you and I tried but I just.. Omid.." She paused, shutting her eyes. "It wasn't your fault." Clem nodded. "I know that it's hard to.. lose people. I understand why you did what you did. At the end of the day, we still survived, so I mean.. you did something right." She laughed. "Honestly, if I never fell into that river, I wouldn't.. I wouldn't be here." She gestured around. "I would have never met AJ's parents, would've never found Kenny.." Christa's eyes widened. "Wait, you found Kenny?! I thought he died!!" Clem nodded again. "I thought he did too, but turns out he got.. what was it he said.. "Lucky". Well, the first time at least.." She shook her head, trying to shake away the memories. "Anyway, he really loved AJ too.. but, he didn't make it.."

(Authors note: I'm leaving it untold of what happened to Kenny so that the reader doesn't feel like it's all based upon one path alone.)

Christa frowned. "Still, I'm sorry.. after we split, I managed to escape those guys but lost all our stuff.. I tried to get to Wellington, but it took forever. I guess I was too late, there was a camp but it had been completely destroyed. I decided to head south east, try to get to the coast and back to the warmer weather. Eventually, I bumped into Javi. I guess it was after you had left. He had his nephew and wife, but.. in the end.." She swallowed hard, frowning. "Before she died, Kate had Javi's baby girl, Mariana. she's beautiful." Clem sighed, feeling regret wash through her. She wondered: if she had stayed and fought, rather then fled with AJ, if maybe they would've lived. Christa noticed her saddened expression. "I heard you were close with them.." Clem nodded, disappointed in herself. "Yeah I.. Javi's brother was an ass." Her tone quickly shifted when referring to David. "He took AJ from me when I was young and nearly got him killed.. The dick got what he deserved, but Javi, Gabe, Kate.. hell, even Mariana - the first one - were great people. I wish I hadn't left them.. but AJ's my world." She sniffed a bit, holding back tears, thinking about all the close calls that they've had over the years. "I couldn't risk losing him again. So.. I left them all after I found AJ. The situation got too much and I didn't want to force AJ to live a life in constant fear of being sucked into that.. though, I guess that's what the world is nowadays." Christa sighed. "Again, Clem, none of it's your fault. You did what you thought was best, and what came after was not a result of that." Clem sighed. "I think I'm gonna go.. rest.. for a bit." Christa nodded, respecting her privacy.

"Clementine..."

Clem looked back at her. "Yes?"

Christa smiled. "I missed you."

Clem smiled back. "I missed you too.."

She took a deep breath before retreating to her room.

(Authors note two: Hey guys! I'm workin really hard on this, holy shit. I'd really appreciate feedback from my readers! Let me know what you'd like to see, what parts you like or don't like. Also, if you're enjoying this, make sure to follow me and vote the story :) I'd really appreciate it. Have a good day my fellow still not bitten folks o> )