Home (Clementine x Female Reader)

Chapter 21 ; Nightmares Come From Fears

- 2 Week time skip 

OH YEAH AND THANK YOU GUYS SM FOR 1K READS, to anyone still reading thank you sm <3

You, Clementine, and the group have been preparing for the raiders to come while AJ focused on getting better.

It wasn't easy at times, the tension between you all still stinging from what happened with Marlon and Brody, but actually setting everything up was the easiest part. Though it was nerve-wracking because the raiders could show up at any moment while you were all preparing, they didn't. You weren't sure why, but you had a feeling it wasn't good.

Clementine glances up from the map that was placed on the desk, it was finally complete. All you guys had to do now was wait. She snaps her eyes from the boarded window and looks down at AJ and Milo comfortably sleeping together, a gentle smile overtaking her face.

That smile got even bigger when she looked at the top bunk and saw you sleeping up there silently, one of your legs comfortably propped up against the wall and slowly breathing in and out. She'll admit, these past few weeks with you have been great. You've both been getting closer and closer with each other, though it should be a good thing, it scares her, to have something else she could potentially lose again.

But she just can't find it in her to push you away.

She snaps out of her thoughts and lays down, getting some well-needed sleep.

-

A sound of a cry wakes her up. She quickly sits up in bed, her chest heaving as she gasped for air in fear. She immediately glances over at your bunks, her heart dropping at the sight of neither of you where you should be, resting.

"AJ? Y/n?" Clementine calls nervously. "Where are you guys?"

She slides out of bed, putting her shoes on quickly and rushing out the door, almost stumbling from her frantic movements at the sheer dread she felt. She immediately jumps when she sees a horse walking past her frozen form by the door. It stops at the end of the hall and glances at her, and walks off, prompting her to follow it.

She steels herself with a deep breath and walks after it, stopping where it glanced at her. Before her looms the usual hallway, but outside the glass panes of the exit door is a luminous glow of red, ominous yet inviting, beckoning her to come closer.

"Guys!?" she calls out again, and another cry of a child sounds.

She glances down in shock when she sees the horse laying to the side of the middle of the hallway, exhaling slowly in its final moments. She walks past it slowly, her hands shaking nervously as she approaches the red doors, the cries of a child not stopping as the sound of gunshots rushes past her ears.

She reaches for the handle of the door and finally notices her hands are shaking, ash falling past her and onto the ground, but she pushes forward and grabs onto the knob, pushing open the door. She steps into the red light and it all becomes blinding, too bright for her to make anything out.

-

This time she actually wakes up with the same gasp, her heart thudding against her chest as she sat up, her nails harshly digging into the sheets. She frantically looks around and immediately sees AJ perched onto the dresser between the beds and Y/n staring down at her worriedly.

"Hey, Clem, it's okay. You were having a nightmare," you say soothingly as possible, placing a calming hand on her arm.

"Same one you used to have all the time. About what happened at the ranch," AJ says grimly, perched on the dresser between the beds, staring out the boarded window.