Patching Up Old Wounds

 Clementine stiffened as a cool breeze swept across her face. She held a struggling AJ while watching Kenny gingerly touch his face. They'd been standing like this for the past few minutes with her trying to be patient with him on their way to Wellington. Shushing AJ, she began to feel concerned about Kenny because he'd been grunting in pain for quite some time now. She'd watched him repeatedly raise the bandage and poke at his eye while cursing to himself. Clementine winced slightly as she recalled Jane gouging at the eye while Kenny begged her to get Jane off of him.

"Kenny? Do you want me to take a look at your eye?" She spoke tentatively, not wanting to upset him. She was still reeling from the trauma of the fight that had escalated to murder.

Kenny stopped and lowered his hand, looked at her. His shook his head, voice trembling as he spoke. "I don't know, Clem. I feel like somethin's wrong with it. Maybe...maybe a ripped nerve or somethin'?" Kenny muttered as he returned to massaging his eye a bit too roughly for Clementine's liking.

Despite her anxiety, she felt like she had to do something before he took his eye out right in front of her. She was also feeling exhausted due to the long trek in the cold, so she felt they should quickly take care of this issue. "Ripped nerve or not, I think we should stop and take care of it. If that's alright with you," she felt she had to add.

Kenny looked at her oddly for a moment before he nodded. He reached into Clementine's backpack and pulled out a blanket for AJ. They looked for an area on the ground to let the baby rest as comfortably as possible, wrapping him in the blanket as well.

When Kenny finally turned to Clementine after the baby was taken care of, Clementine asked him to sit down so she could get a good look at his eye. Kenny sighed as he found a large rock to sit on. Clementine took off her backpack and pulled out a small towel and some water. She noticed Kenny couldn't leave his eye alone as he kept touching it.

"Kenny, stop. Please. You're going to irritate or infect it," Clementine chided gently, remembering Carlos had said something similar to her in regards to her stitched arm once. To her relief, he stopped abruptly and lowered his hand guiltily.

"Sorry Clem. It's just...I think she opened the fuckin' wound. Just the cold air is makin' it sting like a bitch."

He was right. Clementine saw some blood smeared around Kenny's eye where he'd been rubbing feverishly. Some of it looked caked and old, but most of it was fresh and wet. She felt a bit worried because she had almost no knowledge of how to properly take care of it if it did become infected. For now she'd just have to clean it for him. It was the least she could do to prevent its condition from worsening. They could use a short break anyway.

Clementine cleared her throat. "Kenny, maybe you should lie on your back. I'm gonna put some water on your eye. It should clean it because it looks like it's bleeding. It might also relieve some of the pain."

"Right. Sounds like a plan." Kenny shifted from the rock and sat on the snow covered ground. He then lay down on his back with his hands held over his chest. "Shit it's cold. Let's hurry it up so Alvie doesn't get sick."

"AJ? You're the one lying in the snow," Clementine couldn't help but note.

Kenny chuckled. "I would have thought you knew by now I can take a lot."

Clementine rolled her eyes. If there was one thing he couldn't take it was an opinion different from his own. She didn't dare say it aloud, though. "Close your eye for me, will you?" she said instead, sitting next to him. Kenny did as she said.

She poured some of the cold water into her cupped hand. She then let it drip onto his eye, rinsing away some of the blood. Kenny hissed at the contact and let loose a string of curses, making her tense and lean back reflexively. It wasn't uncommon for him to curse profusely when even remotely inconvenienced. But for some reason, she'd anticipated him getting physical on top of that. Perhaps due to the trauma of what she'd witnessed earlier. To her surprise, he relaxed and didn't lash out like she'd expected he would.