Clementine x Male reader : We Are Monsters

Chapter 66

You didn't pay much attention on the road. For maybe thirty minutes, you watched countless trees, houses and abandoned vehicles flash before your empty gaze as you were leaned against the window. It felt like you were driving in some kind of valley. A few hundreds of yards away from each side of the road, there were some pretty big wooded hills that stretched out for miles like walls. They weren't tall enough to be called mountains, but certainly tall enough to be a pain in the ass when moving around the area without a car.

It felt like each of those small mountains, that must look like ripples on the earth from very high up in the sky, were protecting a valley and the little settlements in the middle of them. They were like walls, in a way. And to be fair, they must've done a pretty good job at dispersing biters as all the little towns and hamlets you drove through weren't infested by the dead. However, thousands of raiders picked those places clean already, when they didn't trash them.

You ended up wondering if it was a good idea to settle down inbetween those mountains, in a nice valley with plenty of farmlands, isolated houses and settlements to crash in and scavenge. You could hear any vehicle coming from very far, and it'd be easy to run away up in the mountains if you had to. However, you felt like this wasn't a good solution in your current state. You need to gather food. Those small villages that have been picked clean won't cut it.

Besides, a horde of biters flows like water. They will follow a path, the shortest possible to their destination, but get moved one way or the other depending on the terrain. And in a valley, a horde would just move between the moutains, overrunning the villages along the way. A few small groups could maybe wander off in the forest, but it'd be unlikely. And sure, considering how small the population must've been here before, you don't really believe any sizable horde could turn up here, but with all the noise you're doing with the Mustang you need to think ahead of the curve.

Eventually, not wanting to test your luck and keep wandering around in the car until nightfall, you settled for a little house along the road. The driveway, made out of gravel, was sort of hidden by ferns, bushes and trees that had grown out of the ditches on the side. There was a metal gate, which looked like the ones you can use to close out a field. On the other side of the road, an isolated rusty mailbox sat alone, with the numbers 7770 painted on it with white paint.

Being deep into the Appalachians, in the midst of the most rural and poor areas of Virginia, felt oddly peaceful. Maybe too much, to be fair. There wasn't a single noise, except for birds in the distance and the wind wooshing in the trees. In the distance, nothing but a sea of green. There was nothing but large fields filled with old haybales that were ripped apart, and deep forests that seemed to completely surround you. Any building looked completely out of place, like if it pulled itself out of the ground for a very finite time before the wildness claimed the place again.

The house in itself wasn't that bad. It had that countryside feel, that felt like you were comfortable and cozy inside. There was nothing useful inside it, and it consisted of a kitchen with just the necessary commodities, a small living room with a couch in front of a TV and a fireplace, a few cabinets, a bathroom and three bedrooms. The wallpapers looked old and moldy, but probably from before this whole mess. They were a mix of some dark green and yellow colors. 

The parquet was creaking under your steps, and you had a little fun with AJ, pretending he was a secret agent trying to silently stalk his target. His goal was to walk in the corridors and find the floor boards that wouldn't creak under his weight. It amused him, while you and Clem waited for him to find the right path and guide you. He took his little job very seriously, and frowned every time when you stepped on the wrong board or made them creak under your weight regardless. He'd come running over to you, then show you where and how to correctly set your foot. He didn't allow you to keep moving until you could step where he wanted to without making a noise.