One year later

Chapter Four

I never even saw her turn. She was just sitting there, a coat draped around her shoulders, holding AJ close . . . trying to kill AJ . . .

It takes a long time to get to the forest, and I'm almost starting to wish I was alone again. Almost.

"You do realise how annoying you are, right?" I ask, irritated.

He rolls his eyes, "You do realise how pathetic you sound, right?"

"Seriously? Can you please just be quiet?"

"Oh come on! All I asked was when do you think we'll get to the forest . . . If that's what being annoying is to you, then I'm seriously worried about how much time you've been spending alone,"

"I don't know, okay? Could be an hour, could be a-"

"Finally!" he says, walking ahead of me. I follow him to the side of the road, where there's a weatherbeaten sign.

"Do not enter. Well, that sounds promising," Daniel says cheerfully.

"Are you sure we should go this way?" I ask cautiously. He nods. "Don't worry, I'm sure whoever built that sign is long dead. We should start walking, I don't know about you but I don't wanna be out here when it starts getting dark."

Ignoring my suspicion, I take out the map and unfold it, double checking we're in the right place. Seeing that we are, I put the map away and begin to follow the track.

There is silence for a while, as we're both deep in our own thoughts. Eventually, I decide to ask him about his past, just for something to kill time with.

"So, what's your story?" I ask. He doesn't say anything for a moment.

"It's not exciting, if that's what you mean. I came home from school to find my dad collapsed on the floor, after stabbing himself in the chest with a knife. My mother packed a suitcase and we managed to escape before he turned. I think she wanted us to go to my grandmother's, but we never made it. There were some really crazy peole out on the streets during the first couple weeks, looting shops, murdering anyone who wasn't one of them. Well, they found us, took all our stuff and left us to die. My mom, she . . . she pretty much lost it after that. I was on my own for a while, just think about that, an eight year old kid running around on his own. Honestley, I'm surprised I'm not dead. Luck was the only thing that kept me alive through those first few weeks. I found a father and his daughter, and kind of stuck with them. Then, we met other survivors . . . and formed the group I'm still with today. Well, was, untill they left me." He finishes, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

"Why would they have left you if you were so close?" I ask confusedly.

"I don't know! Look, can we just stop talking about it?" He snaps. I raise my eyebrows.

"Sorry, sorry . . . I'm just confused and kind of worried," he says apologeticly.

"It's fine," I assure him.

"Well, what about you? You can't have been on your own all this tim-"

He shuts up immediatley as three walkers stumble towards us. Two of them, the scraggley ones at the back, look very weak and fragile. The walker in front on the other hand, is huge. A tiny head ontop of a huge musculed body. I raise my gun and fire at the biggest walker, aiming for the head. The bullet hits him squarley on the nose . . . and he keeps walking. I gasp in alarm, shooting again, this time hitting his forehead. Nothing. The walker keeps coming. Daniel takes out the smaller walkers, but no mater how many times I shoot this walker he won't fall down. Finally, I get him right between his eyes and he collapses, making a garbled cry as he hits the ground. I sit down, gasping for air, feeling confused and alarmed.

Daniel walks over to the corpse and grimaces. "That's a lot of bullet holes," he says, studying the walker's head, which has been caved in by shells.
"Have you ever seen anything like that?" I ask anxiously.

"Never. It's weird, really weird . . ." He mutters thoughtfully. I take a step back. "It must've mutated or something."

"Yeah? And how exactly did that happen? Life isn't all some alien movie Clementine."

"I never said it . . . Look. We should get going, just try to forget about it," I say, shuddering. Daniel nods. "You're right. Come on, let's go," he says, heading back to the path.

"So what makes you think your group will be here?" I ask. "I mean, it sounds kinda . . ."

He turns around and glares at me. "Kinda what? I don't know what else I'm supposed to do, so just . . . Just give me a break, okay?" I raise my eyebrows.

"Okay okay, sheesh."

Later

It's already getting dark by the time we reach the village. There's a house that looks reasonably intact which we break into and check for walkers. Finding none, we barricade the door and talk about what we're going to do next.

"Tomorrow I'm gonna have to gather supplies and then I'll be heading back to camp," I say. Daniel nods. "I've gotta look for my group, but that's it really." He sighs.

"What if they're not here? What are you going to do?" I ask.

He looks miserable, "I'm sure they'll be here."

"But what if they-"

"I said they'll be here," he snaps. I glare at him. "Oh yeah? What makes you so sure? And besides, have you ever thought they might not be too happy to see you?"

"You know nothing about me Clementine," he says bitterly.

"You're right about that. I don't, and I sure as hell don't want to, either," I say angrily.

He stands up. "Well then. Why don't I just leave? Clearly you can't stand me, and anywhere's better than here," he says furiously, pulling the chest of drawers away from the door and leaving, slamming the door behind him.

"I was just . . . Wait, Daniel! Come back, its not-" I break off, going over to the door and opening it. "C'mon Daniel, don't be an idiot. You're gonna get killed if you stay out here all night!" I call out into the darkness.

"And how bad would that be?" He calls back angrily. "I've already messed everything up, and I can't do it! I just can't," his voice cracks.

"Can't do what?" I ask, confused.

"Just forget it. And don't even try to follow me Clementine," he says angrily, before disappearing down the drive. I wait a couple of minutes, before sighing and heading back inside. I'm not going to get myself killed over some stupid boy I hardly know. Besides, he'll probably be fine.

But the bad feeling I have in the pit of my stomach won't leave. I feel too sick to eat, and I can't sleep. But I'm not going out there, no matter what. I have to bring back food for Lily and AJ, or else they'll starve to death. So I wrap a rug around me, close my eyes, and try to get some sleep, ignoring the anxious feeling in my stomach.