Ashes (Clementine X Male Reader Book 2)

Resurrection-Hunted

Marina is asleep in the backseat of a car. You're going to stay in the middle of a highway for the night because this solitary vehicle is the best thing you could find. You and Brooklyn are at the front of the car, discussing your next move.

"We're around here." Brooklyn points to a spot on the map. "I think we should start heading back toward the community. Maybe some of them survived, and we could get something together."

"William will probably have people watching that." You say.

"The maps don't cover this far. We don't know what we're getting ourselves into. There may not be any communities around here, and we may starve to death. We're already struggling with supplies as is." Brooklyn starts folding the map up. "At least if we go back, we'll have information to go off. We're in the dark here."

"I can't justify going back. It's too risky."

"Every move we make at this point is risky. William has been on our tail this whole time. We need to make some sort of plan to stop him, and going back is the best thing we can do because we may still have people alive that are willing to help."

"It's the same argument every night." You shake your head. "We can't do anything right now. Going back would put us in more danger than continuing on."

"We don't know what we're heading into, and William is getting communities to come after us. We can't keep this up forever. Eventually, they'll catch us."

"Who's William?" Marina asks.

You look at her, standing beside the driver's side door. You didn't see her wake up. Did she ever go to sleep? "No one."

"He's someone."

"No one, Marina. Go sleep." You don't know when or if you should tell her. You're still trying to figure it out.

"I want to know." She ignores you.

"Marina, we're not talking about this."

"Why?" She raises her voice.

"Because I said. Go to sleep, Marina. Now."

She lets out a puff of air and stomps to her spot in the backseat of the car.

"Don't you think you should tell her?" Brooklyn asks.

"I don't know, Brooklyn. I don't know what to do about anything anymore." You walk away from the car, running your hands through your hair. You're lost. You don't feel like there's a way out of this. "I don't want this for her."

"Things will get better," Brooklyn says. You think it's naive, but you don't say it. You're not sure that she even believes it. "You're getting too stressed. You need to take a minute."

"We don't have a minute."

"Let me help somehow." She steps in front of you. "Let me do something. We're not getting anything done right now. You take care of Marina, and let me deal with the rest... We've survived a lot of shit. We survived a skyscraper falling on top of us. We'll make it through this."

"I'm worried about what will happen if we don't figure something out soon. I can't let him have her."

"I know. We won't let him."

You nod. "I need to go talk to her."

"What are you going to say?"

"I don't know."

-

"Cas. Are you there?" Kaylee speaks into her radio and then waits. "Cas."

"Yeah?" He responds.