TWDG\\II-South State

TWENTY-FIVE

AJ
I clench my teeth as I wake up with an agonising cramp in my neck. I sigh as I shift upright, the sun shining lazily through the window, the white snow creating a path for our brown pickup truck. Gabe is driving, his knuckles gripping the steering wheel tightly as we drive at a normal pace. I look over my shoulder to see Clementine; who had been hurt and tired for the past nine hours. She had several cuts on her face that I desperately wanted to address with her; she needed a bandaid or two. Louis, who had been hurt real bad by Jerome had used the medical pack to apply some yellow ointment to his shallow cuts, and taped his broken nose in place.
And Violet.
She seemed fine, a bruise under her cheek, but that was it. I felt bad for yelling at her about Ethan...
The thought of him made me twist away from Gabe, so he wouldn't see me cry. He was just...laying there. His head laid to one side, the deep wound of the knife into his head. His lifeless hand in Violet's.
All my friends are gone. Tenn. Willy. Ethan.
They're all gone, because of me. I wish I had spoken to Ethan more in between the days before we were supposed to execute our plan. I don't even know how he died.
And I don't want to know.

I watched the wind catch the flurries as they wired around the car, the windows turning cold and fogged up. Gabe sighed angrily.
"Shit!" He groaned, and pulled over as the front window fogged up, no way he could ever seen the empty roads. "I can't see! I'm sorry."
I sleepily shrugged, and sighed as I moved out from my seat, opened the cold truck door. The cold brushed in, and I shivered, before shutting it again. I was gonna go for a small walk, but I think I would prefer the somewhat warm interior of the car.
Louis groaned as he sat up, his back aching as he leaned forward.
"Where are we?" Violet mourned sleepily. Gabe shrugged.
"I don't know." He spoke, and he stretched his stiff knuckles.
"Do we have enough gas to make it back to the school?" Clem spoke, her voice sore and scratchy.
"Are you high?!" Violet snapped. I didn't really understand her direct question, but I watched on anyways. "That's too far away! And we don't even know where it is from here!"
"Stop." Gabe spoke tiredly. "Just stop. Please don't start any problems...we're all tired, okay?"
Violet bit her lip, and leant back in her seat. Her hands were covered in dry blood; Ethan's probably. She looked at her palm, and rolled it into a fist, delaying that thought.
"Sorry." She said, and looked out onto the green and white winding forest that only divided for the snowy road.
"We can't just drive until we find something." Gabe concluded, as the foggy window began to decrease.
"We could try." Violet suggested, her voice and face grave.
"Seriously?" Gabe questioned. "And here you are, acting like Clem's suggestion is the craziest thing you've ever heard."
"We have nothing. No home, no safety, no nothing. The least we could do is drive along and find something." Violet spoke, keeping her short patience.
"Listen." Gabe spoke. "I don't know, okay? All I know is we're all in bad shape to start heading somewhere indirect."
Silence followed.
I looked over at Clementine, and saw that her eyes were closed, her eyelids a horrible shade of purple. I was worried now than I ever was before. She was more quiet, and sick. It hurt. Like she was already...dead. I shook my head. I couldn't think about those things.
Gabe started the car again, the front window now visible to see the road. The car jolted forward, where Gabe only wandered through the open road of the forest.
My stomach ached; I hadn't had a proper meal in ages. Yet, the thought of eating nauseated me. I couldn't...not after the gore that consisted all over the ground in Jerome's office as he beat the shit out of Louis.
I sighed, and leaned against the seat as Gabe continued driving, the bumpy road occupying my focus as I fell asleep.
...
Gabe
I continued driving, my knuckles gripped tightly along the steering wheel. I hadn't driven a car in ages; this one was rough and unfit for the snow; the worry that the wheels would slip the wrong way if I hit ice. The entire interior of the truck smelt like gasoline and, and the familiar smelt of filth that could only be explained by walker's stench.
The front window portrayed a white wonderland ahead; the trees base turning light due to the cold snow that loitered among its branches. I sighed, and looked up at the rear view mirror, and saw the haunting sight I was faced with last night.
Louis had his face beaten; very few features were seen underneath dry blood, and cuts that surrounded his eyes and lips.
Violet was in fine condition in comparison to Clementine and Louis; only a big, splotchy coloured bruise covered the bridge of her nose. Except she looked fatigue, the shade of purple cradling both her eyes as she leant poorly against the window, her poor posture identical to AJ's, who was quietly asleep in the seat next to me.
And Clementine; who looked worse than I've ever seen her. Her hair was tousled and clamped to her neck, which despite the cold, was plastered with sweat. Her skin looked awfully pale, and grey, scaringly like a turning human. Her face had individual cuts, a deep wound on the side of her neck that worried me. Clementine's cheek was against the cold glass, her breath fogging the area of the window that wasn't naturally configured by the cold. I sighed again, and shifted in my seat, facing the road. No more distractions.
Except I couldn't get those words through my head before an unwanted thought wandered in.
I wish Javi were here; he would've helped me on the road. God, I wished he had just taught me how to drive under snow condition. We have to stop somewhere, too. Somewhere safe, even for just a night. A sacred night to help us recover from that place.
Except I snapped out of that delusional state; there's no way a place like that can ever exist in a world like this.

Clementine
I woke to the windows of the cold dark, the features of the forest outside invisible. I jumped, and as I did, I hit my head on the roof of the car.
"Fuck.." I murmured, and rubbed my head. The sides of my temple throbbed as I massaged my scalp.
And then I realised that I wasn't in the sad, dark place I was in my dream. I was back in this wretched truck; Louis leaning against me, our shoulders colliding as he slept like a rock. I saw AJ's head of hair in the front seat. And I saw Gabe, turning in the driver's seat to examine my sudden awakening.
"You okay, Clem?" He asked, focusing his eyes on the dark road ahead, which was only determined by the weak light portraying out of the headlights; the icy roads glistened in the glare. I nodded, and as I did, I winced.
My head was still tender.
"You need to get a hold of that First Aid kit; and so does AJ and Louis; That cut on the side AJ's head looks bad...not too deep, just bad." Gabe said, his thoughts encouraging both of us to look over at AJ; who had been asleep all afternoon. That's when I caught gaze of a large spread cut that neared his chin from his forehead, the weapon cracking his skin slightly.
"Fuck." I said, and leaned forward with concern. AJ really needs to get that fixed; he might get an infection. "Where is the first Aid kit?"
"Violet packed it in the back of the truck; don't get it now!" Gabe warned, as I twisted in my seat to try and reach to the supples that squeezed in the trunk. "It's..not that serious."
"Are you sure?" I asked, my stomach still writhing with worry. "That doesn't sound like a good—"
"AJ," Gabe spoke tiredly. "Will be fine."
I wasn't too sure, but I sat back in my seat on edge.
"Okay." I spoke. "I believe you."