The Walking Dead A New Frontier: Six Years Later

Chapter Thirteen: Licking Our Wounds

Clementine removed the DVD player from her rucksack and placed it on the kitchen table. She lifted the pack and turned it upside down, scattering the contents all over the table.
Loose ammo, empty magazines, two spare guns she had taken from the raiders and a bottle of water. She inspected the ammo, there were six rounds of .38 special. She nearly stacked them upright in a line, they would fit AJ's gun. One of the pistols, a Ruger LC380, had half a magazine left. The other pistol, a Colt Defender, was completely empty.
The odd ammunition and pistols were the only things she had to show for their trip to Montpelier.
Clem sighed and walked over to the kitchen sink. She turned on the faucet and began splashing water onto her face in an attempt to clean off the dried blood. The cut on her face stung when the water made contact, it was deeper than she had initially thought.
She dreaded having to give Javi the bad news. The entire trip was a disaster, not only had they lost Jensen along the way, but they didn't learn anything about Samson's group.
She took the handguns from the table, Clem placed the Ruger in the kitchen drawer.
She heard footsteps and felt Gabe wrap his arms around her, she tilted her head and kissed him.
"We've got tell Javi." She said quietly.
"Yeah, we do." Gabe sighed.
He let go of her and she turned around, handing the Colt pistol to him.
"You should take this, never know when you might need it. You'll have to find some .45 ammo for it though."
He tucked the pistol into his waistband and gave her a half smile.
"It'll be okay, don't worry."
Clem looked out of the window.
"It's not Javi I'm worried about." She said solemnly.

The meeting was going about as well as she thought it would.
"You killed all of them? Not a single one was left alive?"
Clem could tell from his tone that Javi was trying hard not to lose his temper.
"We didn't have a choice, we tried to get the information from them quietly but they got the jump on us."
Javi pinched the bridge of his nose and screwed his eyes shut.
"You said it was one of Samson's outposts. That means he's got a much bigger group than we initially thought," Javi leaned forward in his chair and rested his chin on his fist, "this could be seen as a declaration of war. If he didn't intend on attacking us before, he probably does now."
Javi has no intention of letting Clem and Gabe get a word in, not yet.
"I told you to go scope the place out, watch from a distance and learn what you can. I didn't tell you to go in there and start interrogating people."
"Javi-." Clem began.
He raised his hand to stop her.
"Gabe, you were almost eaten. Clementine, you only need to look in a mirror to see how you could have been smarter. Running this community takes all my energy, I needed you two to be smart about this but instead you lost our only lead and got your friend killed."
Clem's patience had run out. She stood up, inadvertently pushing her chair back as she did.
"No. You do not put that on Gabe, it was an accident that could have happened to anyone." She said angrily, jabbing a finger in Javi's direction.
Javi sighed and slumped back in his chair.
"What's done is done. Gabe, get home and have a rest. Clementine, go see the doctor and then do the same."
She stayed standing up.
"Where's AJ?"
"He's at school."
"School?" Clem asked, puzzled.
"Yeah. I asked him if he wanted to go, he told me yes. They'll be finishing at three." Javi said.

Clem sat in the waiting room of the hospital, she was still trying to wrap her head around the idea of AJ attending school. She didn't even know there was a school in Richmond.
"Clementine?"
The doctor poked his head through the door, calling her name.
She sat down on the bench when the doctor asked her to. He took out a bottle of peroxide and some gauze and began soaking it.
"This might sting a bit." He informed her.
"Yeah, I know."
The doctor understated how much it would sting. She hissed in pain, the feeling brought her back to when she had to stitch her arm in the shed as a child.
He went to work with the sutures, the needle went in and out causing her pricks of pain. Once he was done, the doctor stuck a bandage over the wound.
"That'll do it. I won't sugarcoat it, that one's going to scar."
She chuckled.
"Add it to the list."
The doctor laughed in response before handing her a stack of wrapped bandages.
"These should last you, if you need more come see me. Try not to get it wet if you can and come back in a week and I'll remove your stitches."
Clem thanked him and made her way back home to kill time before picking up AJ.

The sounds of chatter and footsteps approached the front door of the school. Clem stood with some of the other parents waiting. The doors opened and around thirty children made their way out. AJ noticed Clem from in the crowd and waved to her, smiling.
He ran up and hugged her once he was close enough.
"Aw, hey goofball." She grinned.
"Clem come on, there's other kids here." AJ pleaded, embarrassed.
"I missed you, kiddo."
"I missed you too."
They began walking back home, AJ was wearing his small backpack.
"So, how was it?" She pressed.
"So cool! We practiced writing, me and some kids played ball and I even got to draw." AJ was full of energy.
He looked up at her and made a puzzled expression.
"What happened to your face, Clem?"
She wished he hadn't asked that.
"It's nothing to worry about." She dismissed.
AJ came to a halt and crossed his arms.
"Don't lie." He said sternly.
Clem knelt down at AJ's level and put a hand on his shoulder.
"I got cut by a knife." She confessed.
"You said you'd be careful! You got hurt again."
He was visibly upset now, she could see tears welling up in his eyes.
"Hey, it's okay AJ. This is nothing, come on, you know how tough I am." She joked, trying to offset his sadness.
AJ hugged her again.
"I know, just please be careful next time." He mumbled over her shoulder.
"I promise."
They continued their walk but it wasn't long before AJ asked another question.
"Are the people who hurt you dead?"
She gulped quietly.
"They are." Clem said slowly.
AJ gave a slight nod.
"That's good, they were bad so they deserved it." He stated matter-of-factly.
Clementine had no response for him. She wished she had as clear a view on the subject as AJ did. In reality, she felt conflicted. Despite the fact that she had only killed them in self defence, Clem felt like she would have reacted a similar manner to them if she was put in that situation. Were they bad? Did they deserve it? She had no idea.