Clementine x Male reader : We Are Monsters

Chapter 56

When you arrived at the house, you unloaded everything that you had taken along, and put it on the kitchen table. At first, everything was going well. You tried to not show any emotion when you opened some cartons and plastic bags that had some food and water inside of them, and even played some excitement when you found a few pieces of roast chicken breast that were still fresh in a plastic zipper bag.

However, you quickly shut up and felt a wave of heat in your clothes when you pulled out a map out of a carton. It was homemade, and every road, house and point of interest was roughly drawn into either squares for the interesting places, circles for just houses, and lines for the roads. Some had red crosses on them, skulls, and arrows were following a few paths across the streets. The town represented on the map had a big main street cutting it from side to side, and you saw a square near the middle of the map, with "Family Dollar" written next to it. This map is about the town you've been into, Crewe.

It's not the map in itself that got you feeling all sweaty and nervous, but a few notes on the corners of the map. One said : "Lock yourself up in D-12, brb" with a heart drawn next to it, and another one "Horde dead, I'll check Family Dollar". No other note. You felt your chest squeeze a bit, and acted like you were checking out a few places.

Clementine, curious, walked around the table and stood right by you while taking a look at the map as well. You tried to breathe calmly, fearing that she'd notice your shaky hands, hear your thumping heart or see the sweat on your forehead and temples. You couldn't stop looking at the heart next to that note. It's recent. Very recent. Especially the commentary about the dead horde near the Family Dollar, burned to a crisp, and checking the store.

You moistened your lips nervously and gulped harshly when the realization came to you that for once, you couldn't hide between the doubt that this guy could be a bad or good guy. That would justify not taking any risks and shoot on sight, but now, you could see that this man you killed, who was only armed with a knife, didn't seem to have any interest but provide for the person he loved by going outside and scavenging while his significant other stayed safe. Did he have a ring ? You didn't bother to look. 

To add insult to the injury, you didn't even destroy the guy's brain. By now, his corpse has probably started walking again, and all the effort that man did to keep his loved one safe won't matter, as he'll try to eat them alive if he has the chance. And that person he loved... child, girlfriend, wife, husband, friend, or family... will never see him again, except as a walking corpse.

- Look at that, suddenly said Clementine while putting her index over a building on the far East side of the map.

You jumped a bit in surprise, and followed her index. It was a square with a red cross logo, and "Medical center" written next to it.

- Yeah, what about it ? you asked while hiding your emotions, bottling them up nicely and pushing them to the bottom of your mind so they could come out and haunt you at night.

- Did you check it ? We could use whatever we can find there.

You looked at the map a little bit more.

- No I didn't, once I got the cart I left. Too many biters, and I'd have been too slow and vulnerable to keep looking around. (She nodded.) But I don't think it matters. Anything that once had medicine or weapons has been scoured down to the last pill or bullet, y'know that, right ?

She sighed, and nodded in agreement once again.

- Put the map aside, we'll take a look at it later. (She smiled at you a little bit.) If you could find a cart full of that much stuff in the middle of the street, that town might hold a lot more.