Shaded In

It's Just Us Now

The sky held a gloomy look past the branches of the tall pine trees, threatening rain, but none had fallen yet. It felt like they hadn't seen the sun in weeks as they continued to trudge through the ongoing forest. Nothing but the sound of the branches swaying in the wind. The clouds overhead shifted from light gray to a darker hue as a few rain droplets found their way to the forest floor. The pine trees not being the best of cover, let oncoming droplets land on the girl's clothes. The fabric greeted the raindrops as they easily soaked into its surface.

A rush of wind caused Clementine to shiver slightly. It wasn't too bad, she had dealt with way worse conditions, but damn it was sure getting cold fast.

"Told ya, you should of brought your jacket." Came a man's voice. Luke turned around to give her a knowing smile. It was late October, almost November and the weather decided to play its crappy cards.

Clementine sighed and rolled her eyes at Luke. Yeah, he may have been right, but she wasn't about to give him that satisfaction. "I'll be fine," she said as another gust of wind blew by and caused her to wrap her arms around herself disproving her point.

Luke chuckled at her failed attempt to prove him wrong. "Don't worry. We're almost back to the house," he said.

Clementine and Luke had been together for five years now, ever since Luke had met her back at the cabin after her and Pete had saved her from a group of walkers. And yeah they may have thrown her in a shed to let her fend for herself, but Luke had been the one who had stood up for her when everyone else wanted to throw her out. That must of been why she seemed to connect with him so much and had always stood by his side.

It had been a rough five years, especially towards the beginning when she was eleven. They had lost so many people. Pete, Alvin, Carlos, Nick, Sarah, Sarita, Rebecca, and even Kenny. He had been with them for a while after everything had went down, helping them with taking care of AJ. But eventually...he died protecting Clem and AJ from a herd of walkers. Clem had blamed herself for Kenny's death for so long just like Lee, but Luke had managed to pull her out of those negative thoughts. Now it was just the three of them. Clementine, Luke, and AJ.

A few minutes passed before Clem and Luke came to a small clearing. A house stood alone, surrounded by the presence of the forest. They had stumbled upon it a few months back while looking for supplies and had decided it would be a nice place to stay. It was well hidden like the cabin had been, far enough from civilization that walkers weren't a huge problem. There were times when small groups or herds roamed past, but nothing they couldn't handle. It was actually quite big for just the three of them.

As they came out from the edge of the forest the rain started to pick up. Turning form a few stray droplets, to a storm of clear bullets that pierced their clothing. "Run for it!" Luke spoke up. Not wanting to be completely drenched, the two survivors sprinted to the wooden porch that covered the front door. Taking a moment to catch their breath before Clem opened the front door and the two of them stepped into the living room.

"AJ we're home!" Clem called out to the little boy that she loved more than anything in the world. There were nights that Clem found it hard to continue moving on in this world. The nightmares that continually haunted her most nights, the thought of losing more people, and just trying to survive in this fucked up world in general. But being with Luke and protecting AJ gave it a silver lining. Luke was always there to comfort her when she needed it and AJ always made her smile, no matter how down she was feeling.

"Clem!." Her eyes landed on the little boy in a green sweatshirt coming down from the stairs. She ran up and hugged him before he could get another word out.