The Walking Dead A New Frontier: Six Years Later

Chapter Ten: To Montpelier

It had been three weeks since Clementine had met Samson and his raiders in the woods. Three weeks since she had been shot. Three weeks since the search party returned, having found nothing.
Clem lay in bed staring at the ceiling, she was having trouble sleeping. Despite the fact that Samson hadn't shown up at Richmond, she still felt on edge knowing that he was probably still out there and not far away. She finally began to give in to sleep, her thoughts couldn't continue racing without some rest.
"Clem, you're on the wall this morning."
Clementine was stirred from her sleep by Gabe quietly speaking to her.
Clem mumbled something unintelligible and stretched, she now regretted staying up so late.
"I'll look after AJ, it's my day off." He told her.

Clem stood on the wall, she had been rostered onto the front gate on account of one of the guards getting food poisoning. For whatever reason, there seemed to be more walkers that approached the front gate than the other walls. Clem fired at one that hobbled up the road, it's brains staining the gravel. As she scanned the area in front of her she saw a figure standing on the tree line in the woods, it was too far to make out any detail but from the way they were standing they didn't look like a walker.
"Hey, over to the left on the tree line!" Clem called to the other guard.
"I see it!" He called back and aimed down the scope of his rifle, "what the fuck?"
"What?" Clem yelled.
"That weren't no walker, somebody's watching us!"
Clementine tried to find the figure again but they were gone.
Shit, that can't be a good sign.
She put down the rifle and ran to town hall as fast as she could. Javi was once again in a meeting. Clem didn't have time to wait for it to be over, she burst into the room.
"Javi, somebody's out there watching the gate. We need to send someone to follow them, they could be with Samson."
Javi stood up and left the meeting, Clem walked with him.
"Where did you see them?"
"Front gate, on the left side of the road. They disappeared into the woods."
They stopped at a the armory, a group of scouts gearing up for a run all turned and stared in confusion.
"You guys, change of plans. You're following someone."

Clementine was getting sick of all the waiting again, the scouts had been out for days and hadn't returned. If there was a threat, Clem wanted one that was tangible, one she could fight back against. Instead she was left in a constant state of unease, she felt like they were just biding time until they were attacked.
"You're thinking about that group again, aren't you?" Gabe whispered.
She leaned her head on his shoulder.
"How did you know?"
He ran his fingers through her hair. She needed to cut it, it was getting close to being shoulder length. Clem made a mental note to keep an eye out for scissors.
"I can just tell, you get really quiet and sort of stare at the ceiling. I get it, it's a big deal but those scouts will be back eventually."
Will they? Thought Clementine.
"Shit. Do you think this is our fault?"
Gabe frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"We took those guns. When I saw Samson in the woods he knew the gun I had was from the stash. Maybe if we had just left them there, Samson wouldn't be looking to fight us."
Gabe exhaled deeply.
"I don't know, Clem. It's best not to think like that though, it never leads anywhere good."
"Maybe you're right." She sighed, rolling over and putting her arm around Gabe.
"Hey, I've got a question." He said.
"Oh yeah? Shoot."
"When we first met, I obviously liked you, it was painfully obvious to everyone. But did you like me too? Because I mean, I was kind of an annoying dipshit back then." He chuckled.
Clem looked up at him and smirked.
"Yeah, you kinda were." She joked.
"Ouch. I'm allowed to say it but you aren't." He said, grinning.
"Honestly though, I remember thinking you were kind of cute. A massive dork, but cute."
Gabe exhaled through his nose in a laugh.
"Good to know."

The next morning Clem sat in the lounge with a bowl of stale cereal on her lap. AJ was sitting at the kitchen table drawing and she could hear Gabe showering in the bathroom. The cereal was awful, but it was what they had the most of so she ate it nonetheless.
There came a knock at the door, AJ attempted to get up but Clem stopped him.
"Don't worry kiddo, I've got it."
She opened the door to see a young man standing on the other side.
"You're Clementine right?" He asked quietly.
Clem frowned, "yes."
"Javier sent me, he wants you to know that the scouts came back."
Clementine was relieved.
"Meet him at his apartment, number 64 in the housing complex."
With that, the man left.
Well then, Clem thought.

"They're back, they told me they found someone out there." Javi rolled out a map on his kitchen table. He picked up a red marker and began circling a town.
"Here's where they found them, Montpelier." He tapped the area on the map. It was a small town a few miles outside of Richmond. It wasn't too far away, or at least it wouldn't be if they had a car.
Gabe scratched his chin.
"Are you sure these are our guys?" He asked.
"No, all we like know is they're armed and seem to have holed up in the suburbs over here." Javi drew an 'X' on the location.
Clementine crossed her legs and began tapping the metal part of her leg.
"Only one way to find out, I'll go and see what I can learn from them." She said.
"If you're going, I'm coming too." Gabe piped up.
Javi looked surprised.
"Clem you've been shot, besides I don't like the idea of sending you two into the lion's den like that."
"Javi, if they come after us it'll be my fault. I killed that guy, I advocated taking the guns. I don't want to wait until they hit us first, we need to know what we're up against."
Javi sighed and put his hand over his face.
"You're not taking no for an answer, are you?"
"Nope."
"Alright, fine. It's a nine hour walk there. You'll have to break half way through to keep your energy if shit goes sideways up there. Take supplies for a few days, and bring backup."
Javi handed Clem the map, "good luck, both of you," he said.
"Javi, one thing. I need you to look after AJ while I'm gone. I wouldn't trust anyone but you."
"Consider it done." Javi responded.
Clem nodded and she and Gabe left the apartment.

"Guess we should go pack, huh?" Gabe said as they walked back to Clem's house.
"Guess we should. Who are we bringing along?" She asked.
"I know a guy who's super reliable, I'll get him after we're done packing."
They got halfway there before Gabe stopped her.
"Wait a second, come to my house." He said.
They arrived and Gabe asked her to wait in the living room. His house was similar to hers in design, a by product of being part of a development neighborhood. His living room was decorated with all sorts of paraphernalia. There was a gramophone and a collection of records in the corner, the gramophone seemed to be modified to play newer records.
Hm, neat.
"Okay, got it."
Gabe came out of his bedroom holding a package crudely wrapped in brown paper.
"I'm shit at wrapping though."
He handed the package to her, she looked up at him with her eyebrows raised.
"Open it." He laughed.
Clem neatly unwrapped the paper, trying to keep it in tact as much as possible so it could be re-used. Inside the package was the sweater she had wanted to buy from the market.
"Holy shit, Gabe. How'd you get this?"
"I traded some records to a guy for a box of tea, then I traded the tea for a new frying pan, then I traded the pan for-."
Clem didn't let him finish, she kissed him and smiled.
"Thank you." She said, taking off her jacket and slipping the sweater on over her T-shirt, it was soft, warm and unbelievably comfortable.

Before they hit the road, Clem packed a rucksack full of food, medical supplies, and a bedroll. She strapped her holster on and packed spare magazines for her pistol. She met with Gabe and the other scout they were bringing with them. He was tall and lean with dreadlocks and a scruffy goatee, he introduced himself as Jensen.
"Ready to go?" She asked them.
"Ready." Gabe nodded.
"Yep." Jensen replied.
The three of them set off out the gate and into the wilderness.

Author's note: hello to everyone reading this, if you've been following the story thank you so much for the support! The last few chapters have been very dialogue heavy so I apologise for that. Action is coming, I promise. I've been having a lot of fun writing this even if not many people are reading it, so once again I thank the people who are and the next chapter will be coming soon.