The Walking Dead A New Frontier: Six Years Later

Chapter Nine: A Well Deserved Day Off

"I gotta ask again, are you sure they didn't follow you here?" Javi asked for the third time that day.
"I'm sure." Clem responded.
"Okay, but maybe they could have-."
"I lead them into a pack of walkers, they were far enough behind me that they couldn't have seen where I went." She interrupted.
Clementine had been stuck in a large meeting room with Javi and other members of the city council for almost three hours. The discussion had barely progressed beyond asking if she had been followed and she was getting somewhat tired of it. Clem crossed her legs and tapped her prosthetic leg with her free hand as the other was in a sling. The rhythmic, metallic sound it made helped her focus on something beside inane questions.
"You said there were ten of them, is it possible that what you saw was their whole group?" A council member inquired.
"It's possible but I'd call it very unlikely. There's not a lot of small groups these days, people are usually either in a large community or by themselves."
There room became filled with chatter, the council members talked among themselves.
"Maybe we should send a search party out to where you said they were, they can have a look for a camp nearby." Javi interjected.
"And if we find them?" Someone spoke up.
Javi paused, his face fell.
"I don't know. I want to avoid conflict if possible." He said.
Clem sat forward, "those guns we found in the cabin belonged to them according to this Samson guy. There was too many guns for just ten people, thats a good enough reason to assume there's more of them."
"Clementine's right, we should be careful about this group," Javi agreed, "if we send out a search party, they're only to surveil Samson's group. No contact under any circumstances, agreed?"
The whole room murmured an affirmative.
"Clementine, you're free to go." Javi said.
Clem didn't have to be told twice, she stood up and left for her house.

"Shit." Clem swore under her breath as the fork slipped from her grasp and careened towards the kitchen floor. It hit the ground with a metallic screech that felt loud enough to alert the whole city of it's predicament.
"I heard that." AJ informed her from the lounge.
"I said shoot." Clem insisted.
AJ was having none of it.
"Here, I'll help." He got up and took the bowl of beans from her hand and picked up the fork. AJ set them down at the dining table for her and pulled out her seat. Clem smiled and hugged AJ with her free arm. She pulled him in close and kissed his forehead.
"Aw, Clem!" He protested, wiping his head.
Clementine laughed and ruffled his hair.
"How did I get so lucky?" She said, smiling. AJ went to the kitchen and grabbed his own bowl of beans that Clem had made for him, he then joined her at the table.
The beans weren't exactly pleasant but they were good enough for filling stomachs.
"Hey, Clem?" AJ looked up from his beans at her.
"Yeah?"
His gaze fell again and he sighed before speaking.
"I don't want you to go out there again."
Clem winced.
"AJ-."
"No," he interrupted, "you got hurt out there, you said we'd be safe here but you keep going out there and you got hurt this time."
She looked at her injured arm and sighed.
"AJ it's not that simple, I've got to work or we can't stay. That's my job, going out there."
AJ frowned.
"I can stay with you every day, at least until my arm heals. That's good, right?"
AJ shrugged, "I guess."
Clementine stood up, "wait here."
She walked to her room and dug through her backpack to find the gift she had scavenged for AJ.
She re entered the kitchen with her hand behind her back, smiling.
"What's behind your back?" AJ asked.
"Close your eyes." Clem said.
AJ complied and Clem places the gift in front of him.
"Okay, now open them."
AJ did as he was told, when he saw it his eyes widened and a large grin spread across his face, Disco Broccoli smiled back.The DVD cover was faded and dirty, but she had been lucky to find one. It didn't even seem too scratched up.
AJ opened it and was immediately confused.
"A circle book? What is this Clem?"
He held the case open sideways, examining the disc. Clementine laughed.
"It's called a DVD. We used to use them to watch movies, you'd put them into a special machine attached to the TV and the movie would play."
AJ's expression told her that he hadn't quite wrapped his head around the concept having never witnessed it himself.
"We're gonna find a TV and a DVD player and watch Disco Broccoli together."
AJ's confused expression immediately left him and was replaced with one of pure joy.
Clem and AJ left the house to browse the market. She had been here nearly a month and she hadn't actually been to the market before.
AJ's gaze shifted from left to right, taking in all the stalls and their wares. Clem eyed a warm looking knitted sweater, from the turn in the weather lately she assumed they must be coming into winter.
"Like it?" The woman running the stall asked.
"Yeah."
"Made it myself, looks to be about your size actually."
Clem wanted to buy the sweater, but she had no idea how commerce worked in Richmond.
"Tell you what, I'll trade you this sweater if you can bring me a new pair of boots."
"Alright, deal." Clem responded.
"Size 9 if you can."
Clem kept wandering, keeping her eye out for boots. AJ ran over to a table and admired the knives that were laid out.
"Clem, can I get one? My old knife is broken."
AJ pointed to a combat knife.
"How much for the knife?" She inquired.
The seller scratched his head under his trucker cap.
"Well I need a new hammer, if you've got one I'd be happy to trade."
Clem unzipped her backpack, she kept basic survival supplies in it just in case they needed to get away in a hurry. She produced a small hammer and handed it to the seller who handed her the knife in return.
They browsed the market for another hour, Clementine, much to her dismay, couldn't find boots. She walked past the sweater on the way out, it practically taunted her.

Clementine sat on the couch reading next to AJ, her prosthetic leg was on the floor beside her. Her concentration was broken by a knock at the door, she reached for her leg but AJ jumped out of his seat.
"I'll get it, don't worry."
He ran to the front door, Clem smiled.
"Hi Gabe."
"Hey AJ, how's it going buddy?"
"Good, we went to the market and Clem got me a new knife."
"Awesome, dude."
Gabe came around the back of the couch to greet Clementine, he poked his face over her shoulder and looked at her.
"Hey Clem."
She kissed him and jokingly pushed his face away.
"Hey Gabe." She laughed.
"So you finally went to the market? See anything you like."
"Yeah, this really nice sweater. The woman selling it wanted some boots but I couldn't find any."
Gabe nodded and let out a small 'hm' sound.
"Well if I see any boots I'll give them to you."
Clem was reminded of the gift she scavenged for Gabe when she got shot. She strapped on her leg as best she could with one hand and stood up.
"Wait here a second."
She returned with her hand behind her back.
"I got you something." She smiled and threw a six pack of pudding cups over to him. Gabe admired the dessert in his hand and looked up at Clem.
"I fucking love you."
Clementine began laughing.