The Walking Dead: Return to Paradise

Chapter Four: A Buck and A .38

Clementine thrust the spear into the stream, the fish didn't stand a chance. It was pulled out into the air and dumped into a bucket, flopping around in a vain attempt to escape.

"How are you so good at that?" Violet huffed, missing another fish.

Clem shrugged and looked for a new target, another fish swam into her reach but this one was too quick. The spear dig into the loose stones and sand at the bottom of the stream.
Clem withdrew it and stood back for a moment, surveying the area. Winter was on its way, luckily the snowfall was extremely light so they had time until everything became frozen over. She felt a tap on her arm and looked over to Violet who pointed to the tree line across the stream.

"Holy shit." Clem whispered.

A deer was grazing just outside the woods, it cast the occasional glance at the two girls but continued on with its business nonetheless.

"That deer could feed us for weeks." Violet said.

Clem quietly took the bow off her back and nocked an arrow. She drew the string back and lined up the shot with where she guessed the deer's heart was. She breathed in and out slowly before letting the arrow fly, it struck the deer in the side and it let out a panicked grunt before running away into the woods leaving a trail of blood droplets.

"Come on, we can't let it get away!" Clem said, jumping the stream and running into the woods.

Violet did the same, running at Clem's side. They followed the trail of blood deeper into the woods. The deer was out of their sight but from the amount of blood, Clem guessed it would bleed out soon. The trail came to a sudden stop, Clem sighed and crouched down on one knee to inspect it.

"Shit, what now?" Violet said, crossing her arms.

"Hmm, we need that deer. We should split up and see if we can find it." Clem stood back up and began scanning the trees for any hint of the deer. 

"How do we know which way to go?"

"Well, pick a direction." Clem said with a shrug.

"Alright, I'll go left." Violet said, gesturing over her shoulder with her thumb.

"I'll check to the right then."

Clementine picked up a fallen branch from the ground and stuck it vertically into the dirt.

"Meet back here in five minutes."

"Okay, be careful." Violet said.

Clem stopped and gave her a smile.

"You too."

***

Violet stepped over a log on the path, she saw a walker lying down against a tree in front of her. If groaned and reached out, standing up and taking a few hobbling steps.
Violet took out her cleaver and swung it down, burying it in the walker's forehead with a crunch. She kicked the walker backwards and it fell to the ground, brains and blood splashed out of the wound in its head.

Violet continued walking until she saw something up ahead. An arrow with orange fletching, the kind Clementine used, sticking up behind a large rock. She ran over and saw the carcass of the deer lying sideways, it was well and truly dead.

Fuck yeah!

Violet knelt down and pulled the arrow out, placing it next to her. She quickly realised the deer was incredibly heavy, she had no idea how she was supposed to get the deer back to the meeting point, let alone the school. She was interrupted by a click from behind her, Violet craned her neck to see someone standing behind her.

"Stand up." The person said uncertainly.

Violet did so and turned around, she was faced with a young man. He wore a backwards cap and a green basketball jersey and was clutching a revolver which he had levelled at her chest.

"What the fuck is this?" Violet said.

He hesitated and licked his lips nervously.

"Give me all the shit you got."

Violet glared at him.

"Is this a fucking joke?"

"Don't fuck with me, kid! Just hand over what you got." He said aggressively, jabbing the revolver in her general direction to punctuate his threat.

Violet saw the fear in his eyes and heard it in his voice. She was confident he was too much of a coward to do anything.

"You ever shot anyone before?" She took a step towards him in an effort to intimidate the man. 

He retreated a step and shoved his gun at her again.

"Shut up, bitch! Just let me take that deer and I won't have to."

Violet pulled out her cleaver, deliberately showing off the blood on the blade.

"That deer is mine, I tracked it here. My people need it, get your own." She said sternly, standing in front of the deer.

He lowered the gun slightly, Violet began slowly walking towards him. She hoped he would get scared and run, she was half right.
The man panicked at the sight of the girl walking towards him with a knife and fired a shot. The bullet struck Violet above her left hip, the cleaver fell from her grip and she stumbled back, pressing a hand to the wound.

"Fuck." She hissed through gritted teeth.

Violet fell flat on her back, her ears rang and her vision became white around the edges.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit." The man paced in front of where Violet was laying, his hands balled up on the sides of his head.

Violet stared up at the man having a panic attack, all she wanted was for Clementine to show up and take her home. But she had no idea how far away Clem was, or if she even heard the shot.