The Walking Dead : The In Between (Season 3.5)

New Girl

As Clementine drove all the way back to Alexandria, she let her mind wander.
She wondered if Glenn and Heath thought she was a murderer. She wondered why Rick wanted her to help them find a walker that looked like Gregory in the first place. She'd never seen the man. She thought about Carl, and his dorky hat, which made her smile a little. She counted the amount of abandoned white cars she saw on the way. She wondered what Liam Neeson's up to these days. He's probably still kicking. It's a long drive. Finally, she saw the gates of Alexandria. Rusted ugly metal walls were never such a beautiful sight.

Clementine approached the gate, as it began to open. She froze in her tracks when she didn't recognize the face of the person letting her in. Or.. not letting her in, by the looks of it. The gate was only open enough for the girl to peak out.
The girl was about ten inches taller than Clementine with long blonde hair, and red sunburnt skin.
"Who the hell are you?" the girl asked, scanning Clementine up and down.
Before Clementine could ask her the same thing, a more familiar face came up behind the girl. "Hailey, she's with us," Carl excitedly nudged her aside, and pushed the gate open for Clementine to come in. Clementine walked in, side eying 'Hailey'.
Hailey crossed her arms, and watched Clementine and Carl walk away, towards the houses. She shut the gate, and followed them.
Clementine glanced back, and turned to look at Carl.
"Who's she?"
"Some kid who came up to our gates while you guys were gone. I don't know what to think of her yet," Carl shrugged.
Suddenly, Hailey felt a wave of jealousy, watching the two interact. She ran to catch up, and squeezed her way in between Carl and Clementine, making them stumble.
"I didn't realize you were with us, sorry! I'm Hailey, and you are?"
She stuck her hand out in front of Clementine to shake.
Hailey was shoulder to shoulder with Carl. Clementine had no idea why that irritated her so much.
"Yeah, how would you have known? You've been here for less than a day," Clementine remarked, and hesitantly shook Hailey's hand.
"My names Clementine."
"Cool name," Hailey gave her a fake smile, picking up on the sarcasm.
"Thanks," she shrugged.
"Okay.. well. I've gotta go, I need to see AJ," she gave Carl a look before walking away.
"She's cool. We should all hang sometime. Oh! And Erin too," Hailey suggested, turning to Carl.
"Enid," Carl corrected, still watching Clem walk away.
"Oh, yeah," Hailey laughed awkwardly. They might be standing in the middle of a street, but she could read a room.
"Hey, so I have to go too, I'll see you later," he said.
"Cool, I'll see you around then," she said, before Carl nodded and jogged to catch up with Clementine.
"Clem!" Carl caught up, as Clementine opened the door, and turned around.
"Hey," she smiled.
"Listen, I wanted to thank you for watching AJ. I know he's a handful."
He shrugged, shaking his head.
"It's the least I could do. He and Judith get a long so well, it's sweet," he smiled.
Clementine smiled again, but her smile faded.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she cleared her throat.
"I'm just, ... exhausted. It was a really long night," she sighed. "I'm glad to be back though."
"Well.. I'm really glad you're back too," Carl told her, breaking eye contact.
Clementine smiled back, genuinely this time.
"You are?"
"Yeah..! I was worried, and I missed you."
Her smile grew, then she pulled him into a hug.
He hugged her back, still smiling.
AJ trotted down the stairs as fast as his little legs could take him, as Carl and Clementine broke their hug finally.
"I heard Clem's voice- Clem!" He ran up to her and hugged her real tight, as she crouched to greet him. She hugged him back.
"Hey, kiddo!"
"Come see the drawings I did!" AJ took her hand and led her upstairs, and Carl followed.
AJ showed off his drawings for about 3 minutes before Clementine fell asleep on the floor. AJ cuddled up next to her, and Carl covered them with a blanket.

"Okay, so here it is. Who's a celebrity y'all think is still out there? Alive?" Hailey asked.
"Oh my god, I was just thinking about this. Liam Neeson is 100% still out there kicking ass," Clementine smirked. Enid laughed.
"Definitely!"
"Ooh! Clint Eastwood is probably still alive," Hailey suggested.
"Isn't that guy like, obscenely old?" Carl laughed. Enid, Clementine, and Hailey busted out laughing.
"Jesus, Carl, respect your elders!"
Hailey joked. After the laughter, a silence fell between the four, except for the sound of Clementine shivering, and rubbing her arms. Carl took off his flannel, and placed it over Clementine's shoulder. She looked at him, and gave him a warm smile as she pushed her arms through the sleeves.
Hailey's heart sank.