As soon as the door closed behind me, I began to breathe heavily. There was about 15-20 walkers inside, and my fear quickly took over. My hands started to shake and my feet were frozen as if they were glued to the ground. 'Come on (Y/N).. breathe in, breathe out.. you can do this.. for Clem and Aj...' I thought, I quickly scanned the room, looking for the wind chimes that James was talking about. I noticed it was in the middle and I silently cursed to myself, there was no escaping the walkers.. I had to go closer to them if I wanted to touch the wind chimes. I took one last deep breath, and slowly began to walk forward, trying to mimic the way the walkers were walking, keeping my eye on the wind chimes that hung from the ceiling. I bumped into one of the walkers and froze, it slowly turned its head towards me and stared, I remained quiet and stayed put, although I was secretly freaking out. The walker lost interest then began to walk away again, I let out a breath I was holding and continued to walk, the wind chimes just in sight. I raised my hand as I got closer, a walker breathing in my right ear, so close I though that this might be the end. As I rose my hand to touch the wind chimes the walker turned towards my hand, inches away. I closed my eyes and touched the wind chimes, but nothing happened other than the sound of the walkers and the peaceful ringing of the wind chimes. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around, all the walkers turned towards the sound and they all came closer, I looked back at them, then looked back up at the wind chimes, the sound filled my ears and calmed me down. The walkers brushed past me and I looked at their faces, they weirdly seemed to be at peace, even if it was just for a moment. My eyes widened, I've truly never seen them like this, it was oddly.. beautiful. I looked at them again then back at the wind chimes. I smiled a bit, maybe James was right..? I stood there for a bit until the walkers decided to split off again. I turned and slowly walked to the door. I pushed it open, then took off the mask as it closed behind me, Clem and Aj stood there for a second before Aj quickly ran and hugged my waist. I stumbled back a bit the chuckled, giving his head a pat.
"Woah, hey buddie. Don't worry, I'm okay, no bites." I smiled, Aj wouldn't let go and I smiled and bent down to his level.
"Would it make you feel better if you checked?" I asked and Aj nodded. He began to check my arms for bites, as well as my neck and legs. I chuckled and Clem walked over to me. I smiled and stood up after Aj finished checking me, she quickly pulled me into a hug.
"I'm so glad your safe.." She muttered against my jacket, I smiled and nodded.
"Haha of course Clem. No walker is gonna bite me that easily!" I joked, she nudged my shoulder and I smirked, giving her a sly wink. Jame awkwardly cleared his throat, getting our attention.
"So... do you still think their "Just monsters"? Now that you've seen them at peace? Any different..? At all?" James addressed me, looking serious. I looked down, and sighed. I thought in depth about what I experienced in the farm, and I looked over at Clem and Aj who were waiting expectantly. I looked up at James, and nodded.
"Your right. There is.. definitely something there.. something.. more than just dead people being brought to life to eat people." I agreed, I smiled.
"It was actually.. pretty peaceful in there when I took a few breaths and calmed down." I added, James looked shocked, then a small smile appeared of his face. I was a bit taken back, since I've never seen him smile before. Clem looked at me.
"Really..?" She asked, shocked. I nodded.
"I'd never lie about something like this Clem. If you don't believe me.." I began, I put the mask out in front of me, offering it to her.
"You need to see it yourself." I finished. She stared at the mask and grabbed it from me. She looked over at James then at me, she nodded. She trusted me and my word, which is all I needed her to do.
"I'm glad to see that you understand (Y/N).. thank you.. I'm glad." James spoke, taking the mask from Clem.
"Have you ever killed a walker before?" Aj asked abruptly.
"Aj-" I spoke.
"I have. Many." James answered, Aj looked up at him.
"Have you ever killed a person?" He added. James frowned, looking defeated.
"...Many." He answered again. It was silent before he spoke again.
"But that was a long time ago." James looked off in the distance.
"I've killed someone before too." Aj spoke, Clem's head quickly turned towards him.
"Aj!-" She snapped. James' eyes widened.
"Y-You've killed someone?" James asked, astonished. Aj looked away but turned back, a sad but intense expression on his face.
"Yeah.. I'm a murderer.. but I'm trying to atone." Aj spoke sadly. I put my hand on his shoulder.
"Well.. that's good.. I guess." James muttered, Clem let out a small sigh.
"That's enough. What about the walkers? Are you going to help us save our friends?" Clem asked, handing him the walker mask. James looked at her and slowly took the mask.
"I.. thought I could.. but I can't. So many walkers would die. All the death this would cause.. I'm sorry Clementine... (Y/N)... I can't have more blood on my hands." James quickly spoke, turning away from us. My eyes widened.
"But James.. we need you. And I know how you feel about walkers, but they are our friends. And I risked my life to walk in your shoes, you should do the same for us and walk in ours. Please James, our friends might die." I begged, he was our only chance, any emotions I was holding in I couldn't hold in anymore, and I felt I was about to cry. Clem looked at me.
"(Y/N).." Clem muttered. I turned to her.
"Clem.. I blame myself for what happened to Louis.. maybe if I didn't get grabbed.. you would have had a chance to save him." I spoke, I felt so hopeless and guilty, remembering how he was caught and how we could have saved him. Clem looked me in the eyes.
"It's not your fault (Y/N). You can't control and know everything that will happen in a moment. I couldn't let them take you either. I wouldn't forgive myself either, and neither would Aj. You can't save everyone." Clem calmly spoke, I nodded.
"I know.." I muttered, James looked at us both then turned away. He clenched his fist and shook his head. He turned back towards us.
"I may be stubborn. But I'm not heartless." James spoke, he looked off into the distance and glared.
"Those "raiders" are cruel. They force others to be the same. And if your friends are anything like you.." James spoke, looking at me.
"....I don't doubt their worth saving." He agreed, I smiled and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, Clem nodded and crossed her arms. James walked up to the barn doors.
"It will take some time to guide them through the forest. To the shore. Others will join the herd as they go." James finished, slipping the mask back on his face. Me and Clem walked up to him and nodded. I wanted to hug him, but I feel like he's not much of a hugger.
"James. Thank you.. I won't forget this." I smiled, Clem and Aj began to walk and I followed. I looked back at him a couple times before catching up with Aj and Clem.
"Tomorrow night. Be ready... I can't undo this." James called out behind us. Clem turned once and simply nodded. James turned and opened the barn door, we watched from the trees as the walkers began to walk out of the barn. Clem gestured for us to get moving. As Clem, Aj, and I began to walk back towards the school, Aj's hand slowly slipped between mine and I smiled, wiping away tears that had formed in my eyes.
"(Y/N).. when you said there might be people inside walkers... did you mean it?" Aj asked, Clem also looked at me, curious. I smiled.
"Well.. we don't know for sure do we? But for now.. I want to believe it. Death might not be like we thought. After all, we still don't know much about it." I responded. Clem smiled.
"It.. sounds weird. But if you believe it, I do too." Aj agreed.
"Yeah.. the thought does sound nice. I trust you, and I believe you too." Clem added. I smiled, as the barn slowly disappeared from sight.
I stretched as Clem opened the doors to the school. I still was relived that James decided to help us. Aj looked at both me and Clem, hand still in mine.
"I've never met anyone like James before. I mean, he's tough! Not like you and (Y/N) though, he doesn't kill monsters.. but he's not scared of them either... he's cool." Aj spoke, I smiled. I felt pride knowing that Aj said I was tough, even though he's just a kid. As we walked down the hall, Ruby came into view, she was carrying some pillows and had a gleeful look on her face.
"Hey Clem, (Y/N). Willy told me the plan. How's things go with that guy?" She questioned.
"James. He agreed to help us." Clem responded.
"If somebody told me we were gonna on a boat in a herd of walkers, I'd have called them crazy." She joked, I chuckled.
"Haha yeah. I could definitely see that too." I smiled, Aj looked at the pillows, curiously on his face.
"What are you doing with those?" He asked. Ruby looked at him.
"Oh! Well. I wanted to throw one last hootenanny before the big fight.." She explained, Aj looked at us.
"Swear?" He asked, me and Clem looked at him and laughed.
"Huh..?" Ruby spoke, confused.
"It sounds like a swear.." He muttered, I placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It's not don't worry. It basically another word for party." I explained, Clem raised an eyebrow at me.
"How do you know that?" She asked, I shrugged.
"I had cool grandparents." I winked, Clem rolled her eyes jokingly.
"I know it sounds strange.. throwing a party. But everyone needs something to lift their spirits right about now." Ruby spoke, Clem looked at the ground.
"This could be our last chance.." Clem muttered.
"Yeah, I agree. It's nice to relax after the chaos of the last couple days.." I sighed.
"I wanted to make some tea for everyone. Could I borrow your little heater thing?" Ruby asked, Clem nodded. Aj looked up at Ruby excitedly.
"What can I do?" Aj asked, grinning.
"We need to pretty up the old music room! Could you make us something colourful to hang up?" Ruby smiled, Aj nodded, excited that he could help out with the party.
"Okay! I'll be an artist!" Aj saluted, and quickly dashed off towards the room. I laughed and Clem shrugged her shoulders at Ruby. We waved and headed into the room. I placed my bag on the ground and sat on my bed.
"I'm gonna make the deck.. the decker.." Aj began, I smiled.
"The decoration?" I chuckled, walking over to him.
"Yeah! The decoration for the party." Aj grinned happily. I looked over at the papers.
"Maybe I'll make some with you too." I smiled, I grabbed a page and looked at the limited colours. There was red, green, blue, orange, purple, and yellow. The colours of the rainbow, I decided that drawing the school with a sunset behind it would be cute, after all I'm pretty good at drawing.
"You two have fun. I'll grab the heater." Clem smiled. We both nodded and began to get to work. Aj looked over at my drawing in awe.
"Your a good artist (Y/N)!" Aj complimented I couldn't help but smile.
"Haha thanks. But it's not THAT good." I chuckled Clem walked over and looked at my half-decent drawing of the school.
"Aj's right, you have talent (Y/N)." Clem smiled, I sighed.
"A talent that's not useful now but.. thanks." I smiled, Clem gave me a pat and placed a couple things in the room. After a bit I was about finished with my drawing, when Aj put down his pencil.
"Look (Y/N), Clem, I finished!" He spoke happily, I looked away from my page to look at his drawing. It was a rough but very cute drawing of Louis, Aasim, and Omar. They were on a boat in the water, and Louis looked like he was carrying Chairles. I immediately smiled at it.
"Wow. Your getting better Aj!" I spoke.
"Soon you'll be as good as an artist as Tenn." Clem added, I turned back to my drawing to finish it.
"I don't know.. he's really good. How about yours (Y/N)?" Aj asked, I smiled and finished colouring the last bit of grass. I slid my page over to him, a drawing of the school with a beautiful sunset behind it. Aj looked at it with a smile.
"This is really good!" He spoke, almost yelled. Clem laughed.
"Yeah it's very beautiful." She added. I smiled and placed my hands on my hips.
"I'm glad you guys think so." I replied. Aj then looked at the two drawings sadly. Me and Clem gave each other a worried look and bent down to his level.
"Something wrong?" Clem asked before I could. Aj stayed silent, his gaze sinking more into the table.
"Aj..?" I spoke softly.
"I was just.. thinking about stuff while I was drawing.." Aj responded sadly, he slid off his chair and went over to the window. What was upsetting him?
"There are three kinds of eyes.."