The Second Coming: The Walking Dead: Season Six.

Chain Of Events - Part One: Under Lock and No Keys.

*

Clementine eased herself down onto a set of semi-stable tires to her left, wincing as she did so. Listening absent-mindedly to the sound of crickets chirping away in the reeds by the creek, she started to unbutton her jeans.

Violet looked back; muted concern on her face. "You Okay, Clem?"

"Yeah, the frictions just getting a little much." She replied without looking up, lightly drawing her finger across the scabbed over incisions that littered her upper thigh instead.

She could feel Violets judgemental stare as she inspected the wounds closer. They were still weeping a little, but healing nonetheless. "They'd heal quicker if you stayed put at home, you know." Violet voiced, stating the obvious.

Clementine smiled.

"Home?" She repeated, now looking up to meet Violets disapproving eyes. They had only managed to cross over the threshold of the bunker four days ago after all.

"Anywhere is home with you, Clementine" Violet replied, as if there would never be anything she uttered with more certainty despite the impatience in her tone.

She stood with her arms folded, back to the creek that blocked any further passage forward without submerging themselves past their knees if they wanted to cross.

Clementine blushed with a fierceness in her heart for the girl; a matching faith in her words "I love you, so much." Violet pursed her lips in response, her tongue pushing against one side of her cheek as her eyes narrowed.

Clementine could tell she was trying to subdue a smile of her own.

"Don't change the subject. You know you shouldn't be out here until you can walk again without the limp." She half scolded, her eyes flitting back to Clems exposed thigh while she resolved to cover up the wounds with spare gauze.

"I know." Clementine started guiltily. "But I made a deal and I'm seeing it through." Rising up off her perch, she hiked her jeans back up; standing unevenly as she buttoned them closed again.

"And I'm sure they can wait. I mean it's not like they haven't already spent who knows how long like they have." Violet said, surprisingly cold to the plight of the once captive girls they now sought to release from their literal shackles.

"That's not fair, Violet. They might have their freedom, but they aren't going to be free until we can separate them from each other. I promised them that. No one else." Clementine argued back, steadfast in her commitment to the cause.

And yet it couldn't change how deeply uninviting the creek looked to them both, even after traversing much worse bodies of water on their journey to successfully reaching The Greenbrier.

It was a mutual aversion that left the partners opting to sit back down by the waters edge instead, their fingers automatically threading through one anothers while Clem eyed their next destination; a farmhouse standing silhouetted in the distance.

Violet exhaled deeply after the short silence, an apology from her inbound. "I'm sorry. I know it must feel like I'm nagging... or whatever."

Clementine however shook her head fervently, squeezing her hand for reassurance. "You just want me to get better, faster. I know that."

Violet came again, defaulting back to her sleepy tone; though the apology had done nothing to change the pout in her disposition. "I just don't see why it always has to be you... is all. You're always the one out here - and I know you promised, but they could at least search with us."

The truth was that despite the fact Clementine had been running on empty physically for an hour or two now, she was glad for the fact they weren't trawling the nearby towns with Emryn and the other three in toe.