Ashes (Clementine X Male Reader Book 2)

Vagabonds-Maps

The spot you were heading to was an old community that was abandoned at some point. It took you most of the day, but you made it mid-afternoon. The sun is almost down at this point, and while the others were clearing the buildings, making sure it was safe, you were helping Brooklyn find a place to sleep. She was barely awake when you arrived.

You're sitting in a building with a couch, though you're sitting on the floor in front of it, resting your back against it. Brooklyn and Marina are asleep on it. Brooklyn has her arm draped over Marina.

"Hello?" Louis says from the door. You stand up and hold your finger to your mouth. He motions for you to come outside.

You follow him outside. "What?" You ask. You see the rest of the group, minus Clementine, Diana, and Aj, gathered around a table near the center of the community.

"We're talking about what to do," Louis tells you. "We've got a map out and everything."

"I'll be right over."

You quietly walk back into the building to where your bags are sitting. You start rummaging through Brooklyn's bag until you find the maps inside. You pull them out and start heading toward the group.

Cas has his back to you. "We could head north and then maybe west."

"No." You say. You throw your maps down on the table they're using. Their map doesn't have any markings on it. "There's too much shit to the north." You unfold one of the maps, the big one that covers the whole east side of what used to be the United States. "Ferals, slavers, raiders, all kinds of shit." You drag your finger across the northern part of the map.

"Ferals?" Louis asks.

"They're... I don't know how to explain it." You've only ever run into one group when you were young. They're more common now than they were. You're not entirely sure what they are other than people that don't act like people.

"I think they're just wild people. They've kind of started being more like a regular animal, I guess." Emma tries to explain.

"Anyway, no point in messing with them." You start again. "William's community is here." You point to Anarchy. "It's pretty south from where we are, so I assume they have other places they're using."

"Are all of the named spots other communities?" Aasim asks.

"Yeah, but as you saw, William is getting in contact with other communities before we can. And we didn't necessarily know a lot of these; we just knew where they were."

"So what do you think we do?" Violet asks.

"I don't know. Brooklyn and I have been arguing about this for months. We could never figure anything out." You're not thrilled to be having the same conversation again with different people.

"Where is Brooklyn?" Emma asks. "We could use her opinion too."

"Asleep with Marina. She hasn't slept for a few days, so she's not coming out here." You tell her. "She'll go along with what we decide. If she has a problem with it, she'll bring it up."

"So, if we can't go north, why don't we head straight west," Cas says.

"If we had a vehicle, maybe. But we don't. Walking across that would be stupid, and we don't know what's over there." You look at the map. There aren't many options. You've just traveled and hoped that William never caught up. You don't know what to do. You feel like you're running out of options.

"What if we go here?" Clementine asks as she steps up beside you. She points to your community, marked with a big US. "That's your community, isn't it."