At All Costs

Inspiration

A good amount of time passed, still without Gabes' return. Clementine decided to go and hunt for him, so she headed out of the gates, having given Javi a look of pure disgust. She headed out to the now daylight forest where the two had been playing mere hours earlier. Several moments of scanning the tree - filled landscape later, her eyes settled on a shape in the distance, wearing the ever - recognisable blue hoodie and orange beanie. He was sat on the ground, staring at the ground. She made her way over to him and perched on an old tree stump next to him. He didn't turn to face her.

'Gabe,' she said.

Nothing.

'Gabe...' she tried again, jabbing him in the ribs in an effort to make him laugh, or even smile. He squirmed a little, not altering his facial expression, indicating that her attempt in insincerity had failed. 'Talk to me.'

'About what? You heard everything already,' he mumbled, still not looking at her. He sighed glumly and tilted his head to the side. 'I know you're not really supposed to have friends in the apocalypse, because they could die or leave or worse in an instance, but it would mean so much to me just to have someone who's even close to my age, if only to talk to...' he trailed off, lost in thought.

'I know how you feel Gabe,' Clem sympathised. 'We've all lost people: friends, family, even other people we didn't know we relied on so heavily.' She tried not to let her eyes well up with tears as she thought of Lee, her parents and all the other people that she had lost since the whole mess had started. It wasn't the time or place for her to break down as well. She had to be strong for her friend, who was going through a rough time, even rougher than hers. It's hard on everyone but we need to be strong, for the others. I didn't know Mariana, but I'm sure she wouldn't want this, you being glum and miserable, she'd want you to be as happy as you could be,' she said, as the teenage boy turned to face her. Deep down, Gabe knew she was right. Clem hadn't known his sister, but she knew what she'd have wanted, and somehow managed to sum up her charisma in just a few short words. These few words, he found to be inspiring. How he should be from now on, and what he had to do to in order to be what his remaining friends and family needed him to be.

She gently placed a hand on his shoulder, making his head and eyes face upwards to meet her soft gaze. 'I'm always here if you want to talk about anything, no matter how personal, ok? You know where you can find me,' she smiled. A small change in expression crept across Gabes' face.

'Come on, let's head back. They'll be getting worried about you, you know.' Gabe didn't try and debate this, instead he got up from his spot and walked slowly with Clem back towards the camp. They made pleasant small talk, before they entered the gate and went their separate ways, waving as they left one another. Gabe went to talk to Kate, and Clementine found AJ crawling around by her fireplace.

'Hey goofball, what are you doing?'

AJ didn't respond at first, but as soon as Clem uncovered some of the food she'd... "borrowed," he started paying attention.

'Thought that'd catch your eye, you hungry?'

The toddler clapped his hands and nodded, smiling broadly as she fed him, clearly somehow enjoying himself in the mess of a world that the group now lived in.

On the other side of the camp, Gabe was talking to Kate.

'What do you think Javi will say, or do to her?' he asked, motioning towards where Clem and AJ were playing. 'He seemed pretty annoyed with me.'

'I honestly don't know Gabe. I doubt that he's made up his mind yet,' his stepmum advised.

'In that case, I'll make up his mind for him,' Gabe replied bluntly, his eyes flicking down, then focusing on his pistol, which was nestled snugly inside his trouser pocket. It was clear to Kate that Gabe was still prepared to go to the extreme to keep Clementine with the group.

Kate was alarmed at this. 

'Gabriel! If you're not careful you'll end up like David,' she hissed. Gabe glared at her, but he couldn't say or do anything, as his Uncle was strolling over. He called everyone in for a short instruction.

'Right. We didn't actually gain anything on the supply run this morning, so we're going again tomorrow. The group going will be: Tripp, Conrad, Gabe, Clementine and myself. Kate, I need you and Eleanor to hold the fort down, so something bad doesn't happen, ok?'

The two nodded.

'Good. We're leaving first thing in the morning, so everyone get some rest.'