Salvation. The Walking Dead: Season Five.

Road to Atone - Part Three.

*

It was time to go. And though Clementine had followed suit in readying up, packing and swinging her backpack over one of her sloping shoulders; she held back when Louis, Violet, Minnie, and a briefly returned James started their descent from the tower.

She knelt to give a semi sullen AJ the goodbye he was pretending not to be waiting for. He sat staring through the faded cover of a book she had picked up recently for him to practice reading, but he had been struggling with the words in it, or so he claimed.

She regretted not being able to teach him as much as she would like anymore but between keeping him fed and keeping the peace it had become a challenge she felt she was soundly and presently failing at.

"I don't like this one, Clem. The words are too convoluted" He bemoaned, proving much the opposite. Clementine hid her smirk as she negotiated him into a one armed hug.

Really, she knew he was doing just fine. Still, interest in anything could wane without anyone around to share in what you achieve; even moreso as a kid. And a kid growing up in this kind of world could be stunted in so many ways already. Clementine really didn't want to see any of that for Alvin Jr.

Looking around at her options, she was thin on the ground. Aasim was back in the zone and Sophie was helping Tennessee draw up a mural on the wall of the tower.

Normally, Clementine would have sent AJ over to them while she was there to keep an eye on things but she didn't want to risk it with her gone. He still didn't play well with others. Not that her only option left did either.

She drew a deep breath and puffed it out. "Wait here, Kiddo." She said, turning and walking over to a perpetually sulking Lilly, found trying her best to lay comfortably off of her injured shoulder. However it didn't look as if she was particularly succeeding.

"Hey, Lilly?" Clementine said.

"What?" She snapped back, her tone enough to give anyone pause in further addressing her. Luckily, Clementine was used to it.

"Can you help me with something, please?" She asked. Lilly let out a cold and hollow laugh as she sat up gingerly with her one good arm; the other suspended in a sling.

"Help you with something? Oh, this should be good." She sneered. Clementine bit her tongue. She couldn't stand Lilly's unappreciation but this needed to go her way.

"I have to go on that supply run now, but AJ has to read... I wouldn't ask but-" Lilly cut her off before she had chance to finish, much less flesh out her plea.

"Ha! You want me to teach that little fucker? Do I look like a babysitter to you?" She growled. In truth she was beginning to look like a crack addict. Her sunken eyes and yellowing teeth just the tip of that particular iceberg. Again an observation kept beneath the surface.

"Please, Lilly" Clementine pushed, readily. She knew that no request ever passed Lilly without meeting some form of resistance. "He just needs another pair of eyes. He needs to know-"

"How to take somebody out! How to shoot!" Lilly barked, only to see Aasim pause mid press-up to add more unwanted friction to already heating proceedings.

"Oh, trust me, AJ has absolutely no trouble at all taking someone out. Hey, AJ?" He needled before resuming his press-ups, elbows clicking noticeably with each extension. AJ bowed his head moodily at this mention of his past.

"Shut the fuck up, Aasim. AJ... don't listen to him." Clementine defended, a sudden urge to drive her boot into the back of Aasims head pushed quickly to the back of her own. "Look Lilly, please. You're not doing anything useful until your shoulder heals properly anyway."

"And she has to- um, at- atone!" AJ accused suddenly over Clementines shoulder. Lilly sharpened her glare and fixed it on AJ while opting to address his guardian instead.

"What the hell is he talking about?" She asked, eyes narrowing involuntarily as she leaned into the sunlight still beaming through the open hatch. Her retreat to the only bit of cast shadow was almost instantaneous.

"Atone. It means like, get forgiveness." AJ explained, comically indifferent to the slight he was being shown. He didn't handle direct threats well but Lillys negativistic behaviour generally passed him by without awareness. It was a trait Clementine was happy for him to have, for this afternoon at least.

"I know what it means. And I don't need forgiveness from anybody!" Lilly protested over the calm chatter between Sophie and Tenn as they traded crayons and the like in making their mural. An altercation involving Lilly had simply become ambience of their daily lives.

Clementine spared a fleeting thought of longing to share in their ignorance, to not be Lillys verbal sparring partner before gloving up and giving her the forgotten arm anyway.

"Delta's gone, Lilly. And everyone in it. You're with us now. And you can be as pig headed as you like but I put my fucking neck out for you, because I knew you once. And I knew there was something worth saving. Don't prove me wrong. You know as well as I do that making it on your own now is almost impossible. Nobody wants you here because of what you did to their home, Lilly. You DO need to atone. Make a start, and just sit with my son while he reads! Please?"

She finished. It was a quick hit and felt good to get off her chest. Hell knew she had ducked ample opportunity to many times before now. Lilly scowled, leaning forward again. Her cheekbones were much more pronounced than in Clementine's foggy childhood memory.

The words came through gritted teeth, but they came. "Fine. But this doesn't mean shit. And it'll all be for nothing when he brings you down, Clementine." Lilly claimed, bitterly.

"Thank you, Lilly." Clementine said, choosing to ignore everything after the first word of her response. "AJ? Come here. Lilly's going to watch you okay? While you read."

She motioned him toward her as he wandered over, book on Viking Economics  held limp in his hand. Cringing, Clementine privately hoped for better luck literature looting next time out as she crouched to his level; placing her hands on his shoulders for her balance as much as his reassurance.

"Don't forget my present. You promised." AJ reminded. She hadn't, but smiled at his wish and nodded affirmatively anyway.

"You be good then, okay? I love you, goofball." She said, pulling him into a tight hug out of that same love, and a little out of pity for who she was leaving him with.

"Come on, Clem! You know I don't like that anymore." He said, putting up with a kiss on the forehead before she stood at her full five feet, one inch ready with reply.

"And that's why I only use it when I tell you I love you." Clementine smiled.

"But you tell me that all the time."

"Yeah I do."

Sliding a shiv into her right boot, Clementine hiked herself up and out of the hatch. Then she waited, watching while AJ settled down. She spared a look of appreciation toward Lilly, the practiced warmth of which was not at all reciprocated. Lilly simply stared back, a raw sadness flickering over her pallid features. She mustn't have realised she was wearing it however as it only disappeared along with her eye contact when AJ started to read.

It was only a few moments, but when Lilly inevitably looked back up, Clementine made sure she was gone.