Damned: Clementine X Male Reader (Book 3)

Summit-Arch

Alice and I have decided that today, we're going to explore the ruins of the city. Yesterday, we spent the day exploring Yellowstone, and it's cool, but outside the walls is where you get to see all the really interesting stuff. This is why I brought Alice in the first place. I think she's really liking it so far. She's always smiling, she talks a lot, and we've... Kissed a few times.

"I want to go to that thing." Alice points at the Arch. We've been walking aimlessly through the streets.

"Me too. It looks cool." I don't know if Dad would like me going near it, but I don't think he'd tell me I couldn't, so I don't ask for his permission. He's probably in a meeting right now anyway... He might actually like if I called him to ask. It'd pull him out of the meeting.

"How long do you think it took them to build it?" Alice asks me as we walk towards it.

"I don't know. A few years, maybe. Seems kind of pointless to build."

"I know, right? They could have used all that stuff to build something more practical. I mean, look at it. Big and useless." She's not wrong... People before the walkers are people I'll never be able to understand. A small statue, sure. But this big monument to nothing seems like a waste. And they made things like this all over the world, all the time.

We walk through a large field to get to it, and up close, it looks so much bigger than it did as we drove over the bridge. "This is fucking massive." I run my hand against the metal leg. It's got writing all over it from people that visited long before I was born. "Do you have something we could write with? We could put our names on it."

"No... Sorry."

"Maybe we can just come back some other time. Do you want to go inside?"

"Hell yeah."

Alice and I walk through a tunnel. It gets dark, so I turn on a small flashlight I keep with me. We pass a security checkpoint into a lobby. There's lots of military equipment scattered around the place. Most of it has been moved to the side. It doesn't look like there are any weapons left, though. They must have used this somehow during the first days.

"You don't happen to have another flash light, do you?" Alice asks as I pull put my knife, just in case.

"No. You should start carrying one around," I advise.

"It's smart." She pulls out her own knife. "Maybe you can convince your Dad to let you take me out into the wild for a few days for some personal lessons."

"He wouldn't let me." I know it for a fact.

I shine my light to one side of the room we haven't looked at yet. "What are those?" Alice asks. She jogs towards the wall without waiting for me. I follow her, walking, keeping my light on her so she can see. "Marina, what... What are these?"

I reach her and shine the light from side to side, looking at the wall decorated with all kinds of...

"Hold this." I give her my flashlight. Adrenaline shoots through me, and I want to run, but I don't think we're in danger yet.

"They look like..." Alice trails off.

"Dad?" I ask into the radio. It takes him a few moments to respond.

"Yeah? You ok?"

"We're at the Arch. There are bombs strapped to the wall."