"Look Clem we don't have a choice" he shouts in my face.
I look around the room for something to use. An axe was sitting beside the door. I pick it up, it was heavy.
"Use this" I whimper as I pass it to him. I turn away so I can't see.
"I'm sorry Lee" Kenny proceeds to swing an axe towards Lee's motionless body. I stood still listening to the sounds of flesh being torn apart.
I woke up, there was sweat on my forehead but I felt cold. I pulled the duvet to my chin and tucked it under my legs, I felt like a caterpillar. I could hear Luke's quiet breathing and I shut my eyes again to go back to sleep. It had been a few days over a month since Luke had come back as a collector. Him and Anna had made their relationship official last week, it was good to see him smiling more often now he is with her.
I was getting on a lot better at school and I was finding it easier to write again, remembering the handwriting I had began to do when I was younger. It was easier when I remembered how to do it. Josh had invited me to play monopoly one evening last week, Luke had said yes so I went. I of course won after he explained the game to me a bit more. We had a good laugh, he was the only friend I had closest to my age, turns out he was 13.
"Clem wake up! Its Christmas for Gods sake." Luke begins to shake me. I force my eyes open and look at him above me.
"I'd prefer sleep" I say turning back over. What was the point in Christmas anymore.
"We have to go to church anyway. Get up lazy" he prods me in the stomach and I grumble. Inside I was excited for today, it was the first Christmas in a long time I could enjoy with the people I care about.
I roll myself out of the bed. We had been given a bed frame and a sofa for our room, Luke would sleep on the sofa every now and then. I didn't like it because I knew he didn't sleep well on it but some days he insisted.
I pulled my washed clothes over my head and walked downstairs with Luke to church, just like every Sunday but this time it was for Christmas. Everyone was gathered round the usual podium waiting for Turner to come out.
"Hey babe" Luke says to Anna. I stood in front of Luke so I couldn't see them but I could hear them give each other a small kiss.
"Get some mistletoe out for Christ sake" Jamie comes and stands beside me and folds his arms, I had a feeling he was jealous of Luke spending time with his sister. Jamie seemed to only have Anna and they always seemed to be together.
"Shut up Jamie" Anna remarks before sticking her tongue out playfully at Jamie. He sticks his middle finger up and laughs.
"I'm kidding this guy is great!" Jamie swings his arm around Luke and Luke pats him on the back.
"Right back at you" Luke replies. He was interrupted by a loud noise, it was Phil the patrol manager banging on the podium. This is usually just to get the attention of everyone before Turner comes out and speaks.
There he was, standing in front of us all. The man responsible for Wellington. The man who is responsible for my warm bed and room. He was a great man. He brushed his jacket before smiling at us all.
"Merry Christmas Wellington" he shouts. Everyone cheers. Wellington had quite a lot of people, I'd say around 40 people not including some of the guards that were patrolling the outskirts at the current time.
"Today we celebrate our second Christmas in this community, over the past year we have grown into something unbelievable. In the next year we will stretch Wellington to its limits and create a larger space for us to live and adopt new people, we will rebuild everything that was taken away from us by the undead. Lets not forget the original meaning of Christmas for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We have cooked deer for dinner tonight, collect at the main office at 5 if you want some. As always if you need anything come and speak to me. Merry Christmas everyone." He smiles at us all as he speaks.
We didn't have school today due to the festivities. There was a CD player in the reception that was running on batteries, it was blurting out old Christmas songs as we walked past to go back to our room.
"I'll see you in a second, just going to get everything" Luke smiled at Anna.
"You best not bail, we know where you live" Jamie laughs.
We were going to Jamie and Anna's room to exchange Christmas gifts and spend our day there. But first we were going to go back to the room to get the presents. I had to hide mine behind the office desk in a small box, invisible from prying eyes of Luke. There wasn't exactly any wrapping paper around. I grabbed them and Luke grabbed a box from the other side of the room, obviously his gifts to give.
"Ready to go?" He asks
I nod and we walk to the other office block where Jamie and Anna lived. Luke knocks on the door and Jamie pulls it open.
"Welcome to the Chapman room. Where ginger twins thrive" Jamie is stood there in a Santa hat. I chuckle at his comment.
"Where the fuck did you get a Santa hat?" Luke says as he laughs at him.
"When we were collecting last week we went into a loft, found a few of them. Gave some of them away, it sets the mood you know?" Jamie explains.
"Yeah I guess" Luke shrugs and we walk inside with the boxes in our hands. Jamie and Anna had a larger room than us. It had a leather sofa by a window and a printed canvas of a giraffe on the wall. There was a wall dividing the room, they're beds were obviously behind the wall.
We sit down and laugh for a while before handing each other gifts. The collectors were able to get the gifts they wanted, people like me had to just steal for the library or create something interesting.
"So I got you this Clem" Luke hands me a T-shirt with a book on top and a purple wrist watch, he knew purple was my favourite colour. I look at the T-shirt, it was a nice size and was red.
"Thank you, my present looks pretty crappy now" I walk over and hug Luke.
"I'm sure its not crap" Luke lies, my gift was awful. I reached into the box and pulled out a small sketch book and a pack of pens.
I had found these in the library. Something the collectors had most likely found. I had just claimed them as my own, the library seemed to be the place all of the random stuff got thrown, I guess if you wanted to take it you could.
"Wow, I miss drawing all the time." He smiles at the gifts and I could see him reminisces about drawing.
"You gotta let me have a go as well. I used to be a professional artist at one point" Anna perks up whilst laughing.
"Yeah, shut up you. Stop being so arty and shit" Jamie says mocking her like usual, just sibling banter I suppose.
"I can't help it, its just natural"
"So why ain't I good at art?" Jamie complains.
"I have no idea. I don't even see how you're my twin" she sighs
"Ahhh but you couldn't live without me" he gives her a smile.
"Yeah, I probably could" she laughs.
We exchange more gifts to each other. Jamie and Anna give me my own monopoly set since I spoke about playing it with Josh. I give them drawings that I had been doing. In the evening Luke was teaching me to do small drawings, I'd say I was getting quite good at it, sketching the animals from the book that Luke had given to me.
I asked to be excused before we all went down to collect dinner. Luke had found a snapback cap in the laundry and decided to keep it for himself. I asked him if I could give it away since he never used it, he said yes so I could give it to Josh for a Christmas present.
I walk into the reception block where the Turner family lived. I rung the bell on the front desk a couple of times as instructed by a note on the wall. A figure came running down the stairs by the side, it was Turner.
"Hey Clementine, meats not ready for another 30 minutes" he explains coming and sitting at the desk.
"I came to see if Josh was around. I wanted to give him a Christmas present" I admit.
"No one ever wants to see me" he laughs and stands up and walks back up the stairs he comes back down and informs me he's 'just coming'.
"So how was your first Christmas here?" Turner asks trying to make conversation.
"It was nice to spend time with everyone. I miss the wrapping paper and piles of presents" I say.
"Sadly Santa ain't about no more, probably had his guts ripped open by creepy crawlies" he chuckles.
I cringe at his joke and I feel happier when Josh comes down the stairs to save me.
"Clem! Merry Christmas!" He says, Turner just smiles and walks back upstairs.
"Hey, I didn't want to not give my only friend a Christmas present. So here I am" I say awkwardly. I pass him the black and red snapback and he smiles. He puts it on his head.
"This is great, thanks Clem. You should get some new hats, or at least wash the blood off of that one" he points out.
"I can't do that. The blood splatters....mean something to me" I couldn't help but think that the main blood splatter on my hat is Lee's blood from when he got bit. Kenny had told me.
"Well that's okay, it suits you. Couldn't imagine you without it."
"Thanks"
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a silver bracelet.
"I'm not sure if it was...your thing. It was all I could find" he admits awkwardly.
"It's amazing, I love it." I say quickly taking the bracelet out of his hands and putting it on my wrist. I never really got the chance to make myself look nice, a bracelet wasn't much but it gave me the sense of humanity. Let's just say it was prettier than blood stains.