Forever Fighting: TWDG Fan-Fiction

Part Four. Take Us Back: Extended Version

"I hear ya girl. I hear you..." his voice lowered. "Goodbye Tenn." And watched him disappear into the forest.

Ruby rounded the corner of a green truck moments later and saw AJ.

"Hey hon, it's gettin' late. Just comin' to Check on you. Dinner's soon." She said, smiling at him.

"Okay." AJ responded and turned around to look one last time at where Tennessee was just standing. "I'm done anyway." Ruby bent down to Rosies height to scratch her behind her ears.

"That a good scratchin' spot? Yeah I think it is." AJ walked closer to both of them with Clems hat in hand. Ruby glanced up and noticed him holding it. "Oh wow! You found her hat!" AJ looked down at it, a small smile resting on his face.

"It found me." Looking a bit concerned at his very solemn expression and tone of voice, she changed the subject.

"Okay hon. I'm...I'm gonna go check on Aasim over at the rabbit traps." She gave him a sad look before walking away, watching the young boy carefully. He was such a puzzle. AJ looked at Rosie, who was sitting patiently on the ground and asked her, "let's go home?" And with those simple words her stubby tail began to wag, her way of saying "yes". AJ still wasn't happy after what he saw of Tenn but he forced a smile anyway.

"Let's go home."

As Aj walked through the forest and down the winding path with his companion Rosie, he noticed Aasim walk over to Ruby with his bow and arrows and reach for rubies hand. Omar came out of the woods with an axe in hand, most likely from chopping up wood to add to the fire that was cooking the food, and Willy climbed down from a very tall tree; who knows what he was up to.

Louis was up on the lookout podium and he waved down to everyone coming into the school. Aj went straight towards the cooking pot where Omar had made his way to also. He sat down his bucket of fish and turned around to go sit down at the table when a familiar voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Whatcha doin' there goofball?" AJ stopped in his tracks and turned towards the voice and there she stood, Clementine, out of bed and with a pair of crutches. Aj ran towards her and threw his arms around her waist in a big hug. Clem almost lost her balance in the process and smiled.

"Woah! Easy there." She said with a giggle. AJ backed away from her.

"You're out of bed! You're walking!" He said excitedly. He looked down at the long wooden objects beside her. "And you have wood arm legs!" She looked at them herself.

"Crutches." She said to correct him and tried to suppress a laugh.

"Crutches..." AJ repeated in a curious tone of voice. He then took the hat off the loop of his pants and held it out to her."I found your hat, it was in the creek down by the shack. I thought I wouldn't get it, but then Rosie jumped right in and got it out of the water. It's all wet now." He looked down at it with a solemn expression and Clem stared at it too. Her face scrunched up a little thinking about what she wanted to do with it. She softly smiled.

"It's definitely seen better days. You know what? You keep it if you want it." AJ stared down at the blue rimmed hat that had accumulated moss and mold from being in the water too long.

"I'll put it in our room." He said, hooking it back onto his paint loop. Clem looked at him, she was excited about something.

"I have a surprise for you too." She said. "Come with me, I wanna show you something." She turned around and slowly made her way to the side of the school where a garden once laid but has now been transformed into a cemetery. A large tree near the fence came into view and it held a tire swing. Clem stopped right beside it.