Home (Clementine x Female Reader)

Chapter 24 ; Lilly and Abel

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You both climb up the ladder to where AJ stands. The first thing you notice is the binoculars in his hands, scanning the area, the second thing you notice is all the zombies scattered about, moonlight peeking through the trees to give you enough light to see them.

"The raiders.. That guy. He's gonna be with them," AJ says, his tone clipped.

"Abel, yeah," you sigh, still shocked he wasn't dead. You've seen few people survive after they get a zombie bite, and a chopped limb does not have an easy recovery at all, for your physical or mental health.

"You're bad dreams, they're all about him, aren't they?"

He drops her binoculars to look at you both. "Yeah. Can I swear yet? I think it's time I can," AJ asks, making you chuckle.

"Okay, but not the F-word? Shit is the upper limit," Clementine says, making you raise a brow.

"But that's the best word," you whine. She gives a warning glare and you immediately shut up, zipping your lips playfully.

"That guy is a f..." he catches himself, nervously looking at Clementine to see her warning glare now pointed toward him. "a- a shitbird," he finishes, crossing his arms. You both laugh and you try your best to contain any pointed words about the man.

"It's not funny, guys. Come on." he exclaims, making you laugh a little harder before you stop. He pulls up his binoculars again to look through them. "I'd take a big shit on his head."

"Okay, that's enough," Clementine warns him, slapping your shoulder lightly when she sees you're about to laugh again.

You all look out to the zombies again, and you hum, taking on a more serious role. "Try thinking about something else, kid. Count the monsters you see."

"Same number as before," he says, his eyes not leaving his binoculars. "Three.. Four..."

"AJ, it's okay if Abel scares you," you say softly when he trails off.

"You know how to control that," Clementine says.

"There's ten monsters out there." He pulls his binoculars down, his eyebrows furrowing as he looks at you both. "He doesn't scare me. But when he comes here, I call dibs. I'm the one that kills him."

You stay quiet, knowing that if you agreed with him, like you wanted to, Clem would be undoubtedly angry. He shot AJ, after all, he shot him without remorse so why couldn't you act the same when it came to him? Still, you kept your mouth shut.

"AJ, I don't like the way you're talking. Killing is never easy, or fun, or to be treated so casually," she explains. That doesn't change your thoughts, but it still made sense to inform him of that, something you wouldn't have thought of in your simmering rage that was ready to burst.

AJ looks down for a moment before looking back up at you both. "Is it because I'm trying to be good because of Marlon?" he asks.

"It's just because you should never think about killing like that," she says. He nods, going back to look through his binoculars.

"There's twelve of them now. Oh, what if we played rock, paper, scissors?" he asks and you both look at him questioningly, wondering what he was talking about. "If I win, you change your mind, and I get dibs on Abel. I can take him. I know I can. Please. I'm not being casual."

"AJ. I said no," Clementine says curtly, placing her hands on her shoulders.

"You won't always be able to tell me no," he says, looking away.

"What did you say?" she asks, shock and a hint of anger laced in her voice. AJ seems to recognize this because he freezes up, realizing his mistake.

"Nothing. I didn't mean it," he says, looking out past the gates once more.