Things That Are Lost: Season 3

Chapter 18: The Four Kinds Of Eyes.

AJ opens the door to their dorm hallway. "I've never met anyone like James before." Him and Clem head down the hallway. "I mean, he's tough. Not like you, though. He doesn't kill monsters... but he's not afraid of them, either. He's cool."

They turn the corner and see Ruby carrying pillows. "Hey, Clem. Willy told me the plan. How'd things go with that...guy?" "James. He agreed to help us." Clem explains. "If somebody'd told me we were gonna sneak onto a boat in a herd of walkers, I'd have called them crazy." "What're you doing with those?" AJ asks while looking at the pillows. "Oh. Well, I wanted to throw one last hootenanny before the big fight." AJ looks to Clem. "Swear..?" "Huh?" "It sounded like a swear."

"No, it's just another word for 'party'." Clem explains. "Right. I know it sounds strange, throwing a party. But people need something to lift their spirits right about now." "This could be our last chance." "I wanted to make some tea for everyone. Could I borrow your little heater thing?" Clem nods. "What can I do?" AJ asks. "We need to pretty up the old music room. Could you make us something colorful to hang up?" "Okay! I'll be an artist." AJ runs past Ruby and into the dorm room. Clem just shrugs. "Oh, you know where Sarah is, by the way? I was hoping she could teach us some of her fancy little moves." Ruby asks. Clem shakes her head. "No idea. We got into an argument, and she went ahead without us." "Oh. I'll look around, and let ya know if I find her." Clem walks past Ruby and enters her dorm room.

"I'm gonna make the deck...the decker..." "Decoration." Clem walks over to AJ sitting at the desk. "Decoration. For the party." "Okay. I'll get the heater." Clem walks over and grabs the make-shift heater from her drawer. "I'm done, Clem. Come see!" AJ calls a minute or so later. "Okay." Clem walks over and sees the drawing AJ made. "Hey, you're getting better at this. Soon, you'll be as good an artist as Tenn." "I dunno. He's really good."

AJ looks down at the picture, and his expression grows sad. "Something wrong?" AJ looks away from her. "AJ?" "I was just thinking about stuff, while I was drawing." AJ gets up from the desk and walks over to the beds. "There are four kinds of eyes, Clem." "Hm. Oh yeah?" "There are alive people eyes. I got those. Then there's monster eyes. Usually look like dirty water. Other times, monster's eyes aren't even wet. Then there are alive people eyes right as you kill them. Like Sarah did to Abel. His...his eyes looked like she blew a candle out. He was a bad guy."

"What's the fourth kind of eyes?" Clem asks. AJ looks at her. "Your eye." Clem stares at him. "W-What do you mean?" "Your eye is always red. Like it's burning, with hatred. Like you're angry all the time. Then, when you change into your dangerous self....it's....pu...pur..." "Pure?" "Pure. Pure anger. Like nothing can stop you."
Clem kneels in front of AJ. "AJ....you don't mean that, do you? You don't think I'm some sort of monster, right..?" AJ shakes his head. "Maybe..." Clem's eye widens. "D-Did Sarah tell you this?" "No. She just said that 'No matter what, Clem will always be there for you.' I'm not so sure she's right anymore."

Clem looks at him in fear. The kid she and Sarah were raising thought of her as a psychotic monster. "You're way too young to be talking like that, AJ." Clem says, trying to get AJ to rethink his thoughts. "No. I'm big enough. I know I'm big because I think of this stuff now. I care about what I do more. I'm getting real smart." AJ walks to the center of the room.

Clem scoffs as she stands. "Is that right?" "Yes. Because I'm always thinking all the time." "Okay, what are you thinking about right now?" Clem walks up to him. "You getting bit. Turning into a monster." Clem stares for a second. "Oh." "Yeah. The older I get, the more I see it. I don't know why." He looks up at her. "What happens then?" "AJ, we've talked about this. A lot. If I, or Sarah for that matter, get bit, you know what has to happen." AJ looks down and turns away. "I don't want to talk about this anymore." "But you brought it up, so we're going to." "It does something weird to my stomach. Like I'm gonna get the dookies."