Our Troubled Youths

Richmond - 5

Words- 2590

Nerves shot through all 10 of Willow's fingers. Here she was, riding on a horse, hugging her mothers torso. Clementine and Louis put up a fight, but in the end- AJ and Willow were able to convince them to let her go. It took about an hour to actually get the couple on their side- but with the reminder of Willow's naivety to real world events– they caved in.

"We're here." Clementine announced to the group.

They all stopped their horses, hooking them up on nearby trees. Before Clementine got off, she looked behind her to Willow. She looked into Willow's big doe-like eyes, "Willow, it's not too late to go back."

Willow shook her head, now resting herself on her mothers back. She hugged Clementine's torso tighter, "I'm okay." She replied. Clementine rested her hand on her daughter's hand that rested on her stomach. She squeezed it. With that confirmation, the two got off the horse- hooking it to a nearby tree.

Clementine stayed close to Willow as they approached the scene.

The group stood in silence. It smelt bad, and flies had already made their way over. Collectively the group had grim expressions.

"I'm gonna go get Wayde, I'll be back." Aasim broke the silence. He hopped back onto his horse, "Hey, it'll be alright Clem. We've dealt with worse." He gave her a sympathetic smile, seeing as she looked incredibly stressed.

Clementine nodded back to him. Aasim then made his way over to Oakwood, leaving the group to investigate more. AJ was the first to actually enter the scene, counting the number of bodies.

"There's four." He said, bending over to investigate them more. That's when the others entered as well.

Before Willow could go in and see more of it, Louis stopped her. "Maybe you should just wait for us to be done ok?"

Willow shook her head, "I know all you guys want is to protect me- but shielding me from this won't help. I need you to let me be a part of this. Ok?"

Louis sighed, hugging Willow and resting his chin on her head. "Promise me you'll be okay."

Willow hugged him back tighter. His dreads dangled in her face, reminding her of her childhood. "I promise. I love you."

He kissed her head, releasing her. "I love you too."

Willow walked into the part of the woods where the rest of the group remained.

Suddenly, Willow's breathing got shallow. There it was again, the blood spilt on the floor– the widened eyes of a victim, and the smell. It was truly a traumatizing sight. But a sight she felt she needed to be accustomed to. Like it or not, someday something was gonna happen. Willow doesn't live in a world run by government or protectors like police officers, hell even that world had many brutal events– but she lives in a world where it is much more common. To deny her any experience in handling these situations- is to deny her long survival.

Willow and Louis walked up to the fallen homemade cart. It was on its side– tons of crops falling out of it and other goods. On one end of it, there were loose ropes sprawled on the floor.

"It had to be attached to a horse, right?" Willow asked.

"Yea." Clementine then made her way over, placing her hands on her hips and staring down at the flipped over cart. "We just don't know where the cart even came from."

"Oakwood." Willow announced. Louis and Clementine looked at her. It was like a lightbulb shined over their heads.

"Wait.. yea..Oakwood always puts out a caravan group around this time of year." Clementine folded her arms, "Shit. What the hell? What does this mean?"