The Sun Will Be Rising Soon

Boarding the Raider Ship

...
..
.

"Clem?"

Clement starts to stir, his eyebrows furrowing a bit before his eyes open. He smiles at the sight of (Y/N) standing besides the bed, her hand caressing his cheek to coax him awake.

"Hey," (Y/N) smiles down at him, Clement reaching up and setting his hand over hers on his cheek.

She sits on the bed besides him, her thumb stroking his cheekbone as he squeezes her hand lightly. (Y/N) leans forward, resting her forehead against his as their eyes fall shut in content. The two linger in this intimate moment, but her smile falls to a grim one as she pulls away.

"It's time to go."

And like that, their peaceful illusion was shattered as he remembers what's to come. Clement frowns as he looks away from her gaze, nodding slowly as he releases his hand and sits up.

"We've got a long walk ahead of us," she sighs as she rises, machete strapped to her sheathe around her torso. "I'll wait out in the hall with AJ."

Before she could walk, he grabs her forearm to stop her, lightly tugging her back down towards him and pressing a kiss to her lips. (Y/N) leans into it, the kiss stating the unspoken fear of losing one another. They linger just a bit longer, the moonlight shining down on them through the window.

...
..
.

A walker lowly snarls as it walks at a slow pace in front of the raider's ship, a spotlight shining onto it. It turns to the light with a growl, and a moment later, it was shot down. The light shifts off of the corpse, and the corpse was slowly dragged into tall grass.

Clement grunts lightly as he drags the heavy corpse towards the others, letting it drop with a sigh of relief as he dusts his hands off. The others join him, (Y/N) unsheathing her machete and lowering herself in a crouch at the walker's side.

"Ugh," Ruby groans in disgust, frowning. "I guess we're really doing this."

"Don't worry, only the ones blending in with the herd need to put this stuff on," (Y/N) reassures with a small chuckle, looking up at Ruby in amusement.

AJ hears movement, making him look up and around.

Ruby seems relieved at this. "Now we just need your walker friend to--"

"He's here!" AJ smiles widely at the sight of James a couple feet behind them.

Ruby turns, her eyes widening as she gasps with a jump. "Good Lord!"

James awkwardly stood with his walker mask on. "Uh... hello."

Tenn seemed nervous at the newcomer, Willy staring at him in fascination and Violet blinking slowly at the sight of his walker mask. James' eyes dart around nervously at the scrutiny, Clement joining his side.

"Guys, this is James."

"He's my friend," AJ proudly states, grinning as he crosses his arms over his chest.

(Y/N) rises from the walker corpse, glancing over to James. The two make eye contact, (Y/N) smiling kindly and catching him off guard as he slowly mirrors it.

"Uh..." Tenn stammers out, anxiously wringing his hands.

"So... cool!!" Willy shouts excitedly, eyes lighting up as he rushes up to James. "How do you get the skin like that?!"

James recoils back in surprise, "Oh-- I... uhm... (Y/N)?"

Before (Y/N) could intervene, Willy was already speaking.

"Can I try it on?!" Willy questions as he bounces on his feet.

James quickly shakes his head, "That's not a good idea."