A Shred of Hope (The Walking Dead) (The Final Season Retelling)

7. The Forest House Dinner

The kids sat around the table on the front lawn, engaged in an animated conversation. Night had fallen, with the only source of light outside being the fire underneath the cooking pot. Laughter filled the air. Seldom had the forest house seen so much activity, the arrival of the newcomers making it almost inevitable.

"So, this guy picked up the rod and smacked the walker so hard behind the head, his fucking eyes flew out," Violet narrated, much to everyone's amusement.

"This story never gets old," Marlon laughed, clutching his aching stomach.

Clementine glanced at the glowing faces at the table, finally resting her eyes on AJ. He sat in the chair with his legs pulled up, giggling as he heard the stories.

"Hey, do you remember that time you ate a slug in front of Ms. Martin?" Brody asked Marlon.

"Fuck, that was weird. She was so creeped out," Violet recalled.

"Why would you eat slugs?" Clementine asked, disgusted.

Marlon leaned back in the chair. "Ms. Martin was our school nurse," he told Clementine. "She was getting on my nerves, this one day. Kept yelling at me for breaking stuff here and there. So, I went over to the gardens and found a slug, took it to the medical room and popped it into my mouth in front of her. Obviously, she wasn't very thrilled about it. I got quite a few canings that day."

She looked at him, confused. "But who eats slugs to piss someone off?"

"Definitely Marlon. I remember the weekly sessions with the school psychologist. Marlon's were nothing short of a disaster," Louis said.

"Were you guys in a school or a mental hospital?" Clementine asked.

"A mix of both, actually. It was called Ericson's Boarding School for the Troubled Youth."

"Troubled youth?" AJ inquired haltingly.

"Yep," Louis replied. "That means we were all messed up in the head. All of us were sent there when we were kids to deal with our.... issues."

"What did you guys do to get sent there?" Clementine asked.

"A whole fuck load of things," Marlon replied. "Not very proud of them, to be honest."

"We used to have a dog there," Violet remembered suddenly. "Rosie. She was the headmaster's dog."

"I don't like dogs," Clementine admitted.

"Why would you not?" Louis asked her.

"I used to like them. Up until this one dog took a bite out of my forearm cause he was starving. I had to put him down by slicing his neck."

"That's...... unfortunate. Rosie was different though. She was an amazing walker hunter," Marlon chuckled nostalgically. "We buried her out in the school backyard, last year."

"I still miss her," Brody said. She got up to stir the beans in the pot. "You guys remember that field trip we had? At the lake?"

"Oh yeah. I remember that very well," Louis replied. "You know what else I remember? Marlon asking me whether he should try and hold your hand," he told Brody, much to Marlon's chagrin.

"I didn't know this," Violet said, her curiosity piqued. "Leader Marlon needs lovey cues?" she taunted him.

Marlon went red in the face. "What about the time Louis peed himself in class?" he said, changing the topic.

Louis stared at him, wide-eyed. "Dude! You weren't supposed to tell people that," he said to his shrugging friend.

"You guys seem to have had a lot of embarrassing moments," Clementine observed, laughing.