The Walking Dead: Return to Paradise

Chapter Fifteen: Making Ammends

"I think I'm wearing your pants." Clem whispered to Violet as they walked down the dark corridor of the dormitory.
"I was wondering why mine felt smaller." Violet chuckled.
"We need a candle or something in that room." Clem said, pushing open the door.
They exited the building and stepped out into the courtyard where Minnie and the others, save for AJ, Tenn and Wily, were gathered.
"There you guys are." Louis turned away from what they were looking at.
"What's going on, why's everyone out here?" Clementine asked.
Minnie bent down and picked up something, handing it to Clementine. It was a stone the size of a baseball with a piece of paper lashed to it with string. Clem cautiously unwrapped the paper and folded it out, revealing a note scrawled across it.
"We're breaking camp and going. Don't come looking for us. Leave us alone and we'll leave you alone." She read aloud.
"It came over the wall while I was on watch. Somebody snuck up and tossed it in, I thought it was a grenade. By the time I realized it wasn't, they were long gone." Minnie explained.
Clementine felt her stomach drop.
"What do you think, are they fucking with us or is this legit?" Minnie asked Clem.
"I don't know..."
That was the only concrete answer she could give, the only thing Clem knew for certain was that she didn't know.
There were two possibilities.
One: whoever had left the note was telling the truth and didn't want any trouble.
And two: the note was some kind of ploy to get them to lower their guard and make it easier to take the school.
"It could be true." Clementine finally said.
"What makes you say that?" Louis asked.
"Think about it, if they wanted to come here and attack us, why send the note? Wouldn't it be smarter to just attack with no warning, sending the note gives us the chance to prepare if we don't believe it."
Louis paused to think on it for a moment.
"That's a good point." He nodded.
"It's a good point, sure. But we can't just take it on faith that it's true." Minnie interjected.
Clementine sighed, Minnie also made a valid point.
"Wait a second, James. Didn't you say you saw their camp?" She asked.
"Yes. It's further out into the woods, past the old train station." he said quietly.
"Can you take us? We can scout it out and see if-."
"No," he cut her off, "They've seen your faces, they know who you are, I'll go."
"I don't like the idea of sending you alone into bandit territory."
"I can blend in, they won't see me. I've done things like this before."
Clementine looked up at James, he towered nearly a full head over her.
"You're sure about this?"
"I'm sure. I'll be back in the morning." He said, pulling his walker skin mask out of his coat.
James pushed open the gate and stepped outside, he looked back at the group.
"Be safe." Clementine said.
James nodded and put on the mask, trudging off into the darkness. The only visibility came from the moonlight reflected in the snow, Clem had no idea how James would navigate the woods like that.
"So what do we do now?" Louis asked.
Clementine walked over to the picnic table and seated herself on top of it. Her instincts told her to trust James, he knew what he was doing, he was living out there for years after all. But her rational side berated her for letting James go alone to investigate what could very well be a trap.
"Now, we keep watch." She said.

Violet leaned against the wall with one hand resting on the handle of her kukri hanging from her belt. She and Clementine had thankfully given each other the correct pair of pants when going inside to retrieve weapons. She glanced sideways to where Louis was sitting. She felt a pang of guilt, Violet still hadn't apologized to him for their fight a few days earlier. Louis had been speaking to her like normal and he wasn't acting like anything was wrong, but she still felt terrible about the way she had treated him. It was true that he got on her nerves on occasion, but in spite of that he was still her best friend.
She sighed and pushed herself off the wall, making her way over to him.
"Hey." She said, sitting opposite him on the couch.
"Hey, what's up?" Louis replied.
Violet leaned back, crossing her legs.
"How are you holding up?"
Louis shrugged and breathed a slight laugh.
"Alright I guess. As well as I can be with weird assholes hiding in the woods who may or may not be planning to come back here and kill us."
"Well when you put it like that it sounds just great." She chuckled.
Violet's laugh trailed off.
"Hey Louis... I just wanted to say I'm sorry, for all that bullshit I said the other day. You didn't deserve that."
Louis leaned across and put his hand on her shoulder, giving her a kind smile.
"I get it. You were scared, we all were."
"Yeah... still doesn't make it okay."
"It's cool Vi, don't even worry about it."
He withdrew his hand and they both sat back in their seats.
"Sooo, I gotta ask. Were you wearing Clem's pants earlier?" He said, a smug grin growing on his face.
"Wha- no. Seriously dude?" Violet lied.
"Sureee." Louis teased.
As if on cue, Clementine wandered over. She put down the rifle she had resting on her shoulder and joined them.
"Hey guys, how's it going over here?" She asked, taking a seat next to Violet.
"Surprisingly good," Louis nodded, "how about you?"
"All quiet out there, a few walkers far out but they're not a problem. We're probably still a few hours off sunrise." 
Violet could hear the stress in her voice, it was clear she was worrying about James. Violet placed her hand on Clem's knee and gently squeezed.
"He'll be okay. I've seen that guy control herds, he's not getting caught." She reassured her wife.
Oh shit, wife.
It still felt inconceivable that she was married now. She wondered how they would tell the others. Louis would no doubt want to throw a party of some sort, the biggest question in her mind though, was how Minnie would react. Her ex had been acting strangely of late. Violet constantly saw her staring at Clementine, and there was her outburst earlier in the evening during Louis' game. Something was bothering her about Clementine and Violet was curious as to what.
The night continued much the same way it had been going. Everybody was on edge, patrolling the courtyard in case the raiders returned. Louis tried to keep things light, throwing in a joke here and there to diffuse the tension. After several hours, the sun finally appeared from above the treetops, sending cascading rays through the canopies and lighting up the glistening snow. James still hadn't come back.
He said sunrise, where the hell is he?
Clementine paced around by the gate, looking out into the woods hoping to catch a glimpse of James.
After seeing nothing but empty snow, she sighed and walked back to the couches, tossing herself down onto the aged leather. Omar was already sitting on the other, Clem noticed the pistol tucked into his waistband. It had only just occurred to her that she hadn't ever seen Omar fight before, his skills seemed to lie in cooking rather than killing.
"Tired?" He asked.
"Oh yeah," Clem chuckled, "you?"
Omar nodded.
"I'm sick of all this to be honest. Nothing's worse than living in fear of being murdered every day."
This time Clem nodded, she didn't really have a response to his statement. She did wonder why there were so many raider groups in the area of late.
"Guys, he's back!" Asim shouted.
Everyone made a beeline to the gate, eager to hear that James had seen. They all gathered around him expectantly.
"I saw them at their camp, but it seemed like they were packing everything up. There were less loose items and more bags, everyone was moving around putting supplies away."
"So whoever threw the note was telling the truth?" Violet asked.
"It seems so." James replied.
"Awesome, so those pricks are packing up and leaving. That means we're all good right?" Louis asked hopefully.
"Hold on," Clem said, "we still need to keep on our guard, just in case. Only until we can be sure they aren't coming back."
Clem absentmindedly touched the stump of her missing finger. She hoped that the raiders would leave, she hoped they wouldn't ever see them again. As much as she hated to admit it, the encounter with the raiders terrified her. Being completely helpless wasn't something she was used to, but Zeke made her feel that way when he had been deliberating how best to hurt her. Above all else, Clem hoped that everyone wouldn't have to pay for her actions if the raiders came back. Unfortunately, now it was simply a matter of waiting.