"Reunion" Gabentine sequel

Chapter Eight Plans Of Trouble and Love

2364 Words

The next morning passed without much going on. Violet was running out things to do and she was tired of working as much as the other teens, so she didn't even assemble them to talk. "Just...do whatever the fuck you want." She told them as she leaned against a school wall, looking at the fortified courtyard.

With nothing important to do Gabe and Louis took turns playing baseball,with one of them swinging and the other throwing a pinecone. "Oh, yeah!" Louis yelled as he hit a cone over the school wall, "I still got it!" He said with a fist pump.

Gabe grinned, "Was that the best you can do? Give me a turn with the bat and I'll show how far you can really hit it!"

"Why, of course, your highness!" Louis said, bowing before Gabe and holding the bat out with one hand on each end of the it.

Clementine was taking a few shots at a target with her bow, she was becoming a better shot by the day and by now a good number of her shots were kills.
She noticed that AJ was strangely quiet today, he had been watching her shoot for several minutes without a word before Clem spoke, "What is it,Goofball?" She asked turning to face him.

AJ looked surprised that she talked to him and he quickly answered, "Nothing."

"Okay...",Clem said, not really believing him, "When you want to talk about it, just let me know ok?"

AJ nodded before quickly walking away. He approached Gabe and Louis, who were having a good time.

"I wonder what's gotten into him." Clem thought as she drew the bow back again. She hit the target a bit to the left of the center, "Not bad."

She retrieved the arrow and turned to see AJ holding the bat in his arms, it looked to be pretty heavy for him. Gabe was holding a pinecone in his hand and he was smiling at AJ. Clem walked over next to Louis who was standing a few steps away and grinning. "Think he's a good hitter?" Louis asked her as AJ said to Gabe, "Ready!"

Clem watched as Gabe threw the cone which AJ managed to scrape and it went flying at back Gabe's face.

"Whoa, Shit!" Gabe yelled diving to the ground as the cone grazed the top of his beanie.

Clementine and Louis laughed as did Gabe a minute later while AJ ran to check on Gabe,worried that he had hurt him. "I'm fine, buddy." Gabe said,getting to his feet with a grin.

AJ exhaled in relief and offered Gabe the bat back, shamefully. Gabe refused it, "Hey, don't you want to try again? Tell you what, I'll give you some pointers and Louis can throw the cone so if you hit him, There's no problems!"

"Hey!" Louis said, still smiling, "I'll have you know that,the world can't afford to lose a man like me!" Louis said in mock pridefulness before he grabbed a cone off the ground.

Gabe stood next to AJ, "Okay, so you want to pull the bat back here to get full strength." He said moving AJ's arms back gently. "Try to stay relaxed and hit smoothly." He said stepping back a step to get a good look at AJ's form.

AJ took a deep breath and tried to relax. "Okay...I think I'm ready."

"I think so too." Gabe said with a happy nod.

Clementine smiled happily at the two of them, they got along so well despite Gabe probably not being next to a kid in years. 'He really is a great guy...' She thought before AJ swung and hit the cone.

The rest of the morning passed with them taking turns at swinging(even Clem took a few swings and she was decent at it). Around noon Violet called the kids together. Once they were together around a table with a map of the school,(Gabe was among them) Violet spoke, "Alright, the school seems pretty good. Does anyone have any remaining ideas on what we can do to fortify it?"