~The Will to Survive~ (Super soldier) Male reader x Clementine.

Chapter: 10 Ericsons

After following the kid with the bow for a bit, you both then realized you are a decent distance away from the train station and the walkers. So, you decide to hop off your bike, turn it off, and walk it the rest of the way with the kid. You then realize that Clementines head was bleeding badly, so you quickly take a bandage out of your duffel bag and wrap it around the wound to try and stop the bleeding.
"Well I don't have the time to fully patch her up. But I can at least stop the bleeding, or at least slow it." You said to yourself, finishing your wrapping job on Clementines head.
"*Few*, I think we lost 'em." The kid said, turning around and looking back in the direction you two came from.
"Yeah, looks like it." You confirmed to him.
"Sorry if you were having trouble keeping up. I couldn't exactly fit you on the bike as well as these two." You apologized, directing his attention to Clementine slung over your shoulder with AJ sitting on the bike as you walk it.
"Hey don't sweat it. I mean, you just saved two lives today and besides, I kept up just fine." He replied to you in a reassuring tone.
"Yeah, I made sure to ride slowly so you had a chance. Also I didn't do it alone. I appreciate the help." You said to him with a smile.
"No problem. Happy to help." He replied returning the smile. You two continue your walk for a bit until the kid decides to break the silence.
"So... what's your name?" He asked you with a look of curiosity.
"Y/N." You answered him.
"Well Y/N, that... was some bad ass fighting I saw back there. You were just tearing into those walkers like it was nothing. It didn't seem like they stood a chance." He complimented you with an impressed expression.
"Thanks. I did what I could. You weren't too shabby yourself. You seem to be pretty good with that bow." You replied to him, pointing out the bow on his back.
"Oh yeah. I've had plenty of practice with this baby." He said to you proudly.
"So what do I call you?" You asked him with a curious expression through your mask.
"I'm Marlon. I'm the leader of our little community just up ahead. Don't worry it's not too much further." He replied to you, ushering you to keep following. The both of you continue walking. During the walk, Marlon offered to hold AJ for you so that you didn't have so much to carry. You went ahead and let him carry AJ back to wherever you were heading to. The both of you then walk up to a gate with concrete walls surrounding what looked to be a school of sorts. You see a kid standing on a wooden platform, looking down at the both of you. Marlon then signals him to open the gate.
"Willy, open the gate would you! We have injured guests." He said, of course referring to Clementine and AJ. Willy then runs down and opens the gate letting the both of you in.
"So Y/N, let me now personally welcome you to our home. This is Ericson's Boarding School for Troubled Youth." He says to you while still carrying AJ. You take a minute to look at the place, admiring its beauty. It actually seems to be in pretty good shape even after all these years.
"You can keep your bike in the outer halls if you want." He says to you while pointing towards the hallway entrance. You then walk your bike into the halls, put the kickstand down, and rest it there. Marlon walks in right behind you.
"You can bring her to that room over there and lay her down on one of the beds. I'll have Ruby come in and start working on that head of hers." He said, pointing to a door just down the hall.
"Hey, appreciate it." You said to him with a kind hearted smile.
"Don't worry, she'll be fine." He said to you returning the smile.
"I'll bring the kid over to the admin building just over there. That's where Louis's room is in the library. I'll have him watch over him until he wakes up." He said to you reassuringly. You give him a quick nod then head to the room that Marlon pointed out to you. You open the door revealing a room with boarded up windows, a desk, and two bunkbeds. You then walked over to the bunkbed on the left side of the room and placed Clementine down on it gently. You then remembered that you left all your stuff on your bike for just anyone to grab.
"Crap! I'll be right back Clementine." You said to her while she was still unconscious. You then head back out the door to the room and proceed over to your bike, but then you are met halfway with a shorter heavier set red haired girl who gives you a warm smile.
"Oh hey there, sug." She says to you with a southern accent.
"I'm Ruby. I'm kind of like the nurse here, I was just coming on through to check on the girl. Heard she was pretty banged up." She explain to you with a concerned look.
"Oh, Right. Nice to meet you. My name is Y/N. I was just heading back to my motorcycle to grab my stuff." You explained it to her pointing to your motorcycle.
"Alright sug, I'll start patching her up." She said to you while walking over to the room you placed Clementine in. You then continue your walk over to your motorcycle grab your duffel bag and your sniper rifle then head back to the room. You walk in to see that Ruby had already gotten to work on clementines wound. She was cleaning her head with some peroxide and some cotton gauze. She noticed you walked in and gave a smile before speaking.
"She's pretty banged up but she'll be fine. The wound is good and clean now. I'm just gonna wrap her head up and let her rest, and you should do the same. By the way. Not a bad job with the wrap there, Y/N. You managed to slow the bleeding quit a bit." She said, praising you with a motherly tone. You couldn't help but think that she resembled Mary a lot. What with her southern accent and her motherly tone of voice.
"Alright. Thanks a lot Ruby." You thanked her with a tone of gratitude.
"No problem, sug. I can tell she means a lot to you. Are you two a couple or something?" She asked you with raised eyebrow.
"Oh uhh no. No we aren't. I actually just met her today." You explained to her with a stutter.
"Oh. My bad sug. I just assumed." She said with a giggle.
"Yeah. Well thanks again. I'm gonna go and check on AJ in the library." You said to her, pointing your thumb back at the door.
"Alrighty. Well I'm just gonna duct tape her wrist to the bed. You know just in case she turns." She said to you while pulling out some duct tape and duct taping clementines wrist to the frame of the bed.
"She won't turn, but I guess that's fine." You said with a giggle. You then walk out the room, make your way out to the courtyard, then start heading over to the admin building that lead to the library where AJ was being watched by Louis. You make your way through the admin doors and start hearing a piano playing. You then follow the noise leading to the library where you saw AJ was awake and he was watching Louis play the piano. You open the door a little more, making a creaking sound. AJ turns around to look at you his facial expression turning into one of excitement. He then runs up to you.
"Y/N, You're here." He said to you with excitement. You then kneel down attempting to get to his level but are still towering over him.
"Of course I am AJ. I'm the one that brought you and Clementine back here, with a little help though." You said to him while messing with his afro.
"Hehe stop." He said with a giggle, trying to swat your hand away. His facial expression then changes to one of worry.
"Is Clem gonna be okay?" He asked you with a worried tone.
"She sure will little man. Her head got hurt pretty bad during the accident. But Ruby was able to clean her wound and patch it up pretty well. She should be up shortly." You explained to him with a reassuring tone. His expression then changes to relief.
"Good. I was really worried." He explained to you, looking down.
How're you feeling?" You asked AJ.
"My head hurts a little bit. But I'm okay." He said while rubbing his head.
"Good. I guess you got knocked out from the crash, but not enough to keep you out. Lucky you." You replied with a smile. You then direct your attention to Louis who is still sitting over on the piano playing it. You then walk up to him to introduce yourself. He notices this and turns to you in his seat then starts to speak.
"Hey there. Names Louis." He said to you. He had darker skin with long dreadlocks and a trench coat.
"I'm aware. Names Y/N." You said while taking your helmet and mask off. His expression turns to an intimidated one as he saw your face and the armor you were wearing.
"Woah. Damn dude. You look like a badass. Also a person I probably wouldn't want to mess with." He says to you with a sheepish grin.
"Uhhh. Thanks I guess." You replied to him with a confused tone. Louis then goes back to playing the piano. AJ walks up beside you and starts watching Louis again.
"Hey AJ? I'm gonna go double check on Clementine real quick, do you mind staying here?" You asked him getting his attention.
"I guess not." He replied looking down with a slight depressed look.
"Don't worry little man. I'll be right back, if she's not awake that is." You said to him in a reassuring manner. He then looks up to you and then smiles.
"I like that nickname." He said to you with an approving expression.
"What? Little man?" You asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah! It's better than goofball." AJ replied with a chuckle.
"Is that what Clementine calls you?" You asked him.
"Yeah. Oh! But d-don't tell her I said that. She might get upset." He pleaded to you.
"Don't worry. I won't." You reassured him before exiting the room, walking back out to the courtyard. When you arrive outside to the courtyard, you see Marlon walking with Clementine right behind him, seemingly giving her a tour of the place. Your expression then turns to one of happiness and relief seeing that Clementine is up and well. You then start to walk over in their direction. Clementine noticed as you walked to them, her expression then turning to one of excitement and happiness. She then ran up to you and gave you a quick and friendly hug. You're hesitant at first but decide to hug her back. She then releases the hug and looks up to you.
"Y/N! Oh thank god." Is all she said to you with a tone of relief.
"It's good to see you up. Sure didn't take you long. And don't worry, AJ is up and well too. I just got done checking on him." You said to her with a tone of reassurance.
"Thank you so much Y/N. I was so worried I had lost him again." She said to you with a thankful expression. You then give her a look of confusion.
"Again?" You asked her. Her expression then changes to one of shock then to depression.
"I-it's a long story." She replied back, looking away. You notice the depression and sadness in her expression and words and decide to try and lighten her mood.
"Hey don't worry. You can tell me later over a cup of coffee." You jokingly said to her. This causes her to look at you with a smile.
"Oh yeah? At what coffee shop?" She replied, playing along with the joke.
"I don't know. Let's go find one." You said to her sarcastically. She then let out a cute giggle before replying.
"Maybe some other time, Romeo." She said to you while lightly nudging your shoulder.
"Sure thing, Juliet." You fired back with a sarcastic grin while returning a nudge to her shoulder. She giggles again and stares into your blue eyes with her hazel ones. You two stay like this for a few seconds before Marlon interrupts.
"Ahem. You two done there?" Marlon asks, noticing both of you staring at each other.
You and Clementine then stop staring at each other looking away blushing a little bit.
"Well, glad that everyone is awake and well. I couldn't imagine what it's been like on the road for both of you. Must've been hard." He said to you and Clementine with a look of pity.
"Ummm yeah you could say that. But we've managed to get by." Clementine replied to him.
"Yeah I mean, the survival part has been the easiest, but letting my loved ones go and saying goodbye, is a completely different story." You say to him in a slight depressed tone. Marlon then looks at you with a sympathetic expression.
"I uhh. I'm sorry to here that." He replied in a soft tone.
"It's okay. I've moved on." You said looking to Clementine with a smile. She then returns the smile then both you look back to Marlon.
"Well that's good to hear. Anyways. You two probably want some alone time. So I'll just get going." He said sarcastically. You and Clementine then eye each other real quick then realize what he's referring to.
"Wait! It's not like that." You both reply in unison.
"Alright alright. I was just kidding. Well still, I gotta get back to-." Marlon says before being cut off by Willy shouting to him.
"Yo! Marlon! We got walkers on the fence!" Willy shouted to Marlon. Marlon then sighed.
"Damn, I gotta take care of this. Knowing Willy, it's probably two grandma walkers and a squirrel. You two go on back to Louis. The kid is probably waiting for you Clementine." He says to you and Clementine before walking over to Willy.
"Louis!?" Clementine shouted to Marlon.
"Oh. Right. Just follow Y/N. He knows where he is." Marlon responds while continuing over to Willy. Clementine then looks up at you waiting for a response.
"Well, come on Clementine. AJ is waiting." You said to her with a smile. She returns the smile but then looks at you, getting ready to say something.
"Clem." She said to you with a kind tone. You then look at her with raised eyebrow.
"You can call me Clem." She said to you with a warm hearted smile. You then return the smile, happy that you now have a nickname to call her.
"Alright, Clem. Let's go see AJ." You responded returning a happy grin. You both then start making your way into the admin building then towards the library before being met with an angered Ruby, holding her hand in slight pain.
"Ow! You little motherfucker!" You heard Ruby say to someone in the library.
"Hey? Hey!?" Ruby shouted to Clementine in a pissed tone.
"Y-yes?" Clementine replied.
"Bout time you woke up! Your little boy just bit me!" She replied to Clementine.
"He's lucky I didn't take a boot to his head." She said to Clementine with an angry expression.
"I-I'm so sorry. He acts out sometimes. He's been through a lot." Clementine explain to Ruby in an apologetic tone.
"Yeah ain't we all? Don't see any of us sinking our teeth into either of you." She replied back to Clementine.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it Ruby. He probably just needs time to acclimate to this place and the people here. Plus he's been worried sick about Clem here." You said to Ruby, trying to calm the tension.
"You shut your mouth Mr. Big bad hero. The only reason I ain't yellin at you is cause you've been polite here so far." She replied to you in a sarcastic tone.
"But. You just did yell at me. Just now." You said to Ruby in a confused tone.
"Ugh anyway. Your boy needs to learn some respect." Ruby said to Clem while walking away.
"Well that could've gone better. That's Ruby if you didn't already know. I guess she's kinda like the doctor here or something." You explained to Clementine with a shrug.
"Good to know. I guess. Hey thanks for trying to jump in and help." She thanked you with a smile.
"No problem. Now let's get in there." You said to Clem before the both of you continued into the library.