Ashes (Clementine X Male Reader Book 2)

Aftermath-Gone

The meeting ended, and you headed home. You had trouble falling asleep. You have a sense that things are about to get bad again. You'll fight whatever comes to prevent them from taking what you've gained in this community.

You had dreams of death when you did sleep.

There's rapid, hard knocking on the front door. You jump awake and out of bed, hurrying out of your room. Brooklyn does the same, meeting you in the living room. You open the door. Don is standing there, a panicked look on his face.

"What's up?" You ask.

"Linda... She's gone. Marina too." Don looks around. "Someone came to me and told me they saw her leaving. They didn't think it looked good." Brooklyn is already heading to grab the things you'll need.

"Why?" Now you're panicking. There's a chance that Anarchy is out there, and she's left the community. Even worse is that she took Marina with her.

"I don't know why, but they said Tim was around," Don mentions Tim, and you're already out the door.

"Where is he?" You ask as you walk.

"His house, I think." Don catches up to walk alongside you. "What are you planning to do?"

"I don't know yet." You might just kill him.

-

You kick Tim's door open, splintering the door where the knob is. Tim stumbles from his room in a panic. "What the hell are you doing?!" He reaches for a knife on his table. You put your own through his hand before he gets it. Tim recoils, clutching his hand.

"Nice throw." Brooklyn compliments you. You've gotten better at throwing knives.

"What did you do?" You grab the knife and push his hand to the ground, giving you more leverage. "Tell me, or I'll start ripping your hand apart."

"I don't know what you're talking about! You're crazy!" Tim yells.

"Do you want to test me?" You start moving the knife, cutting through his hand to make the point. "I'll ruin this hand. Then I'll move on to the other one. Maybe I'll cut some fingers off."

"I kicked them out!" He's sobbing from the pain now. "I kicked them out! I had to. Can't you see that we can't let them stay here?"

"Any idea where they went?" You ignore him. You don't have time to discuss whether or not Linda and Marina should live in the community.

"They headed west." He sounds defeated. You rip the knife out of his hand.

"They could have changed directions." Brooklyn brings up as you turn away from Tim. "They could be anywhere, and we don't know when they left."

"Tim." You turn your head.

"Two hours ago." He replies.

"Did they take a vehicle?" You ask Don. He's now standing in the doorway.

"It doesn't look like it, no." Don has taken on a calm attitude, starkly different from the way he was when he came to your home just a few minutes ago.

"We can get them." You tell Brooklyn. She nods. You can tell how worried she is. She really likes Linda.

"You two go. Take a vehicle. I don't think anyone would complain about you wasting gas. I'll stay here, treat Tim, keep people calm." Don moves into the house. "Please bring them back."

-

"We're going to get them back, right?" Brooklyn asks.

"Yes." You tell her what she wants to hear. Truthfully, you're not sure. You look over at her. She's in a relaxed position even though she's not at all relaxed. "They'll be fine."