"I feel like an umbrella could be useful, I don't know," Kamille said into her radio. "I mean, what if it rains?"
"How are you planning on fighting off walkers with one of your hands holding an umbrella?" Al replied mockingly.
Kamille pressed her lips together, dropping the umbrella she'd found in the backseat of the abandoned car. "Touché."
After deeming that car invaluable, Kamille moved onto the next one in the junkyard they were searching. Her and Al were out looking for supplies whilst dropping some boxes around in case anyone needed help.
The past month had been pretty uneventful as Al's tapes had constantly led them to dead ends. They hadn't really found anyone to help, but on the bright side, the factory was safe enough to stay in. They had enough food and supplies but nobody to share them with. It felt like they were the only ones left in Texas sometimes.
"Ooh, mints!"
With a childish smile on her face, Kamille grabbed the mints from the glove compartment and stood up to check them out. They were sealed, as if brand new, so after ripping off the plastic wrapping, she opened the container and eyed them suspiciously. There was no mould or anything on them and they didn't smell funky, so she popped one in her mouth and was satisfied with the result.
Before she could put them in her pocket, she heard the sound of someone flicking the safety off their gun and felt the barrel press to her head.
"Hands up and turn around," the stranger said slowly, a slight tremble in his voice.
Kamille did as he said whilst saying, "Okay, okay, I don't want any trouble, mate."
"There won't be any," he promised, as Kamille faced his direction. He didn't look older than fifteen, despite how built he was. "Give me your bag."
"You're a kid," she realised aloud, only making the stranger clench his jaw and change hands with his gun.
"Don't underestimate me!" he shouted, in what should have been a threatening way, but only made him seem scared. "Now give me your goddamn bag."
"Okay," Kamille agreed, before carefully moving to take her backpack off. "Look, there's no need for this. I can help you."
"Shut up," he muttered, glaring at her.
Kamille pursed her lips as she held out the backpack by the strap. "My name is Kamille. I'm part of a group. We've been looking for other people. We can help you."
He tore the bag from her grasp and dropped it in front of his feet. Kneeling down with his gun still pointed Kamille's way, he began to search through it.
"Are you alone?" she tried again.
He ignored her, pulling out a book with a look of disgust before throwing it to the side. Kamille sighed, pulling a face.
"Come on, I was reading that," she said, trying to lighten the mood.
He glanced at her before spotting something in her hand. "Drop that," he said quickly. "Whatever it is."
Kamille dropped the mints to the ground. "It was my find of the day, but sure, take the mints..."
He seemed confused as he looked up at her. "Why are you acting like that? Stop it."
Kamille refrained from smiling with amusement. "What's your name? I told you mine. S'only fair."
He seemed reluctant and eventually decided against speaking.
"We have food, water, first aid," Kamille listed calmly as the stranger rifled through her bag. "Even got a TV working for movie night. You can come with us. This...," she nodded before her, "this isn't necessary."
He paused, glancing at her. "You're lying."
She raised an eyebrow. "Why would I lie?"
His glare disappeared. "Nothing is safe anymore. People lie."
"I promise you I'm not," Kamille said gently, sensing a rough history with the boy before her. Taking the risk, she began to lower her hands. "I don't know what you've been through, but it doesn't have to be like that anymore. My group and I... we just want to help."
The boy lowered his gun hesitantly, just as Kamille spotted Al appearing behind him, taking in the situation. Kamille subtly shook her head when she raised her rifle, but the boy noticed and stood up quickly, turning around with wide eyes. He raised his pistol and Al had him in her sights.
"No, stop!" Kamille shouted, stepping between them. She looked to Al, adding, "Lower it, Al, he's okay. He's okay."
Al glanced at Kamille before nodding and lowering her rifle. Kamille looked to the boy, offering a small smile.
"It's okay," she promised him. "We won't hurt you. You can trust us."
His hand was shaking, poor thing, but he seemed to believe Kamille and eventually lowered his weapon.
"My name's Kyan," he said quietly, answering her question from before.
Kamille felt relieved as she straightened up. "It's nice to meet you, Kyan. As I said, I'm Kamille. This is Al."
Al waved awkwardly, shouldering her rifle. "Nice to meet you, kid. Thanks for not, er, shooting my friend an' all."
Kyan nodded before putting his gun away. He glanced behind him, at the mess that was Kamille's bag.
"Sorry," he apologised. "I'd like to come with you if you'll let me."
Kamille smiled wide, looking at Al who seemed impressed.
"Of course," Kamille answered him, before going to pick her stuff up. "You can even have a mint."
"Ooh, you found mints?!" Al called, running to join her.
Kyan seemed confused as he watched them both.
After collecting her things together again, the three of them returned to Al's van where they told Kyan of what they had to offer. He could barely believe it, clearly having been through a lot himself, but he seemed grateful to have found them.
Of course, Al couldn't wait until he'd settled in first to question every sliver of his life.
"What's a kid like you doing out here all alone anyway?" Al asked as she drove back.
Kamille quirked an eyebrow her way, about to scold her for being impatient, but to both of their surprise, Kyan answered from behind.
"I wasn't alone at first," he said quietly. "I was with my older brother."
Kamille turned to the side in her seat and watched him supportively. He was playing with the water bottle she'd given him before, distracting himself.
"Kyan, you still with us?" she asked, half-joking.
He looked up, a small smile appearing on his lips as he nodded. "Yeah, sorry. I was sayin', er... I was with my brother, but he got killed not long ago."
Kamille frowned. "I'm sorry."
He shook his head with discomfort. "He took care of me. Did everything he could to make sure I was safe. Even joined a stupid gang which got him killed."
Al and Kamille exchanged looks of pity before Kamille watched Kyan shuffle uncomfortably in his seat.
"The place we're taking you, the people... we've all lost someone," Kamille told him truthfully. "But staying with us should stop that from happening again. That's what we want."
He nodded, eyes flickering between her and the floor nervously. "Have you found anyone new before?"
Kamille tried not to smile as Al refrained from laughing.
"You're actually the first person we've found," Al admitted. "But it'll work. Once people hear that we're helping, they'll get back to us. It's hard to trust people, we get that."
"But you're giving us the benefit of the doubt, so thanks," Kamille added with a kind smile.
After making light conversation the rest of the way back to the factory, Al and Kamille jumped out the van with Kyan in tow. They'd given everyone a heads up on the way back and they seemed pretty excited to finally have someone new joining them.
"You're back," John said with a bright smile, being the first to meet them out front, with Morgan in tow. His eyes fell on a nervous Kyan as he added, "And this must be the boy. It's nice to meet you, Kyan. I'm John Dorie."
Kyan looked to Kamille, who nodded encouragingly, before looking to John. "Hi, John."
Morgan smiled as he looked to Kyan, standing by John's side. "Hey, Kyan, it's great to have you here. I'm Morgan. Welcome."
Kyan nodded, still nervous around everyone.
"We can get you settled in, give you a proper meal," Morgan continued, before his eyes glanced at the gun Kyan had on him.
Kamille picked up on it and cleared her throat, looking to Kyan. "Kyan, you're obviously still new here, and it's not that we don't trust you or anything, but I think everyone would feel a lot better if you gave your gun in." Kyan stepped back a little, and Kamille added quickly, "You can have it back later, I promise. It's just precautions. Honestly."
Kyan looked between everyone, before saying to Kamille, "I need it to protect myself."
Kamille nodded. "I get that, but you have my word that nothing will hurt you here. Infected and people alike. You're safe here."
Kyan swallowed hard, pausing with thought, before nodding reluctantly. "Okay... yeah, okay."
He handed over his gun and Kamille accepted it, smiling reassuringly.
"Alicia will be really excited about this," John said, before looking to Kyan. "I'll show you around a bit, bud, then I'll introduce you to Alicia. She'll be happy to finish the tour."
Kamille half-smiled to herself, knowing John was right. Alicia would love showing Kyan around, having someone new to learn about and help. It would cheer her up, pull her out of her rut.
"Go on, I'll catch up," Kamille encouraged Kyan. "I've got to empty the van."
Kyan nodded and allowed John to lead him inside. Kamille gave Morgan Kyan's gun and watched as he headed inside, too, leaving her and Al to empty the van.
"Not gonna lie, I was starting to lose hope," Al commented as she grabbed a box from the back and left it on the ground.
Kamille did the same as she said, "Me, too. But we found him and I think it's the start of what we've finally wanted to do. Make a difference and help people."
Al chuckled. "You're right. It's good. Kyan seems alright. Bit damaged, but isn't everyone?"
"Yeah, true," Kamille agreed. "He'll definitely help with morale, that's for sure."
Al hummed in agreement and the two of them finished emptying the van and returning the boxes with the others before Kamille excused herself to check on Kyan. After finding John hanging around, he directed her to the TV room where they held movie night, saying he left Kyan there to meet with Alicia.
Heading to the TV room, Kamille couldn't help but feel a little relieved that they'd found Kyan, at least for Alicia's sake. The Clark girl needed that motivation again, clearly not recovering from the last bad news they faced.
Kamille could see Alicia was trying her hardest – heck, everyone could – and it made her realise that despite all the bad stuff Alicia had done before, she would never be that person again. She was trying to make it better, even with the smallest of actions, and ultimately, Kamille wanted her to be happy. Alicia wasn't a bad person, she never was, not really.
Lately, Kamille's choice to stay with everyone was making more and more sense to her as she saw a glimmer of life return to Alicia's eyes every day.
When she found the TV room, Kamille was admittedly looking forward to seeing a smile on Alicia's face. A real smile, not a forced one or a heat of the moment one, but a real, genuine hopeful one.
She certainly didn't expect to find Kyan straddling her, throwing punches to her face repeatedly.
"HEY!" Kamille yelled before racing forward and yanking Kyan off Alicia's limp body.
Kyan, despite being a teenager, was pretty muscular, so tearing him off Alicia was more difficult than she thought. After scratching at his arms and pulling hard, she managed to shove him away, into the metal chairs once laid out for movie night.
Heart caught in her throat, Kamille kneeled by Alicia and rested a hand on her face, eyes watering at the sight of the bloody mess that made her face barely recognisable. Kyan had done a whole job on her.
"Alicia, you're okay," Kamille said, searching her eyes for any sign of consciousness, but one of her eyes was swollen shut and bloody; the other was barely open, a mixture of tears and blood falling.
Kamille's mouth went dry as she studied the rest of her face, but she didn't know how bad everything was because there was blood everywhere.
"Get away from her!" Kyan shouted, and Kamille almost forgot he was there.
She looked over her shoulder and saw he was pointing a gun her way. Hand immediately going to her holstered one, she realised he'd taken it off her when she pushed him away and panicked.
"Kyan, don't," she got out, lump in her throat and eyes glassy. "Please, don't."
"I said get the hell away from her!" he repeated, before shooting a warning shot at the floor.
Kamille jumped and looked at Alicia with concern; she was still unmoving, save for the bated breaths and twitching hand. Reluctantly, Kamille stood up slowly and raised her hands.
"Kyan, what are you doing?" Kamille asked lowly, trying not to show her anger. "Put the gun down, please."
He pointed his gun to Alicia, tears streaming down his face. "She killed my brother. He was part of their gang. The Vultures. And her and her fucking friends slaughtered them all. It's her fault he's dead!"
Kamille's mind was reeling as she tried to catch up, and that's when it hit her. Alicia, Strand and Luciana had killed them, and Kyan's brother was caught up in it all. Kyan must have recognised her and... fuck.
"Kyan, I'm sorry that happened, but I can't let you hurt her anymore," Kamille said, blocking Alicia from his view.
To Kamille's relief, the others must have heard Kyan's warning shot as John, Sarah and Morgan appeared in the doorway with weapons in hand.
"Hey, boy, put that down!" John ordered, realising what was going on. He drew his pistol in no time, reluctantly pointing it at the kid.
"This is the new kid?" Sarah asked, pulling out her own gun breezily. "Geez."
"Kyan, you don't want to do this, you're outnumbered," Morgan said calmly, gripping his stick tightly as Kyan pointed his gun their way.
"You don't get to tell me what to do," Kyan said angrily. "She deserves to die. A life for a life."
He pointed his gun back to Alicia, but Kamille held her position.
"Kyan, Alicia has changed, okay? She isn't that person anymore," Kamille said, trying to defuse the situation. "She's sorry."
"She's not!" he screamed, gun waving around carelessly. "She killed him and now I'm alone. My brother is gone and it's her fault... I tried to go on without him, but I can't. I can't do this anymore..."
His hand trembled as he squeezed his eyes shut, tears forced out. Kamille was beginning to have hope that he would reconsider, but he surprised everyone when he pressed the gun to his own head.
"Woah, Kyan, don't– don't do that," Kamille said, voice shaking.
He seemed calmer than ever as he opened his eyes. "I don't want this anymore. I can't do it without him... there's no point."
Kamille swallowed hard, eyes focused solely on Kyan. "Please don't do this, Kyan. You don't mean that."
"I do–"
"No." She shook her head, slowly taking a step forward, despite how much she wanted to get to Alicia. "You're scared and you feel like you're alone, but you're not. It's hard, I get that, but it can get better. It will get better, Kyan, but you have to trust me. Please, trust me."
Kyan's lip trembled as his finger hovered over the trigger. Kamille widened her eyes, struggling with what to do next, but thankfully, she didn't need to do anything as John took the shot, his perfect aim shooting Kyan's gun from his hands and surprising him.
Wasting no time, Sarah and Morgan moved forward to apprehend him, and Kamille instantly turned to go to Alicia.
"Get off me! Get the hell away from me!" Kyan was screaming from behind her, but she was too busy trying to get Alicia's attention.
"Hey," she said gently, tears brimming her eyes as she grabbed Alicia's hand. "We're gonna fix you up, okay?"
Alicia swallowed hard, attempting to lift her hand, but she grimaced as soon as it rested on her stomach.
Kamille contained her anger as she looked behind her. "Keep him in a room, somewhere he can't hurt himself."
John and Sarah nodded, and Kamille ignored Kyan's protests as they took him out of there.
"Morgan, find June and tell her to meet me in the medbay," Kamille continued, to which Morgan nodded and left.
Trying not to think the worst, Kamille looked back to Alicia and tried to find a way to lift her without hurting her, but all she could do was feel was a combination of anger and confusion inside of her.
"Why the hell didn't you do something? Call somebody? Fight back?" she muttered, shaking her head. Alicia wasn't incapable, she could look after herself. So why the hell did she just let Kyan do this? She has a bloody gun on her for crying out loud!
Alicia's breathing was raggedy, and Kamille thought she would say something, but her one good eye ended up closing and Kamille realised she'd passed out.
"Shit," she muttered, before hooking her arms underneath her torso and legs.
"Kamille, oh my god, what happened?!" June said when she appeared in the doorway.
"Kyan's brother was part of The Vultures," Kamille explained quickly, standing up with Alicia in her arms. "Alicia and the others killed him and he must have recognised her or something, I don't know, but we need to clean Alicia up and see what the damage is."
"I'll go prep the bed," June said, backing up. "You okay with her?"
Kamille's heart beat quickly in her chest as she looked down at Alicia's beaten, bloody face. She didn't deserve any of this.
"I've got her, just go," Kamille said finally, looking back to June. "I'll meet you there."
June nodded and rushed off to the medbay. Kamille hurriedly yet carefully brought Alicia there, her thoughts only on the younger girl's safety and wellbeing.
After settling her in, June was getting some supplies out and ordered Kamille to clean up the blood on Alicia's face so she could inspect the damage. Kamille got to it immediately, using a wet cloth to wipe away the blood around her nose, mouth and eyes. It only looked worse, somehow, as her face was swollen and bruising, with her right eye swollen shut and her cheeks clotted with blood.
"Kamille, come on, she'll be okay, but I need you to stay with me," June said, pulling Kamille from her thoughts.
Kamille nodded, finishing up with the now-blood-stained cloth, before giving June her attention.
"Good thing we got the ice machine working," June said, moving a tray with a bowl of ice on it closer to Alicia's bed. "You done with that? We gotta check her ribs. I think she may have broken them."
Kamille nodded and June pulled Alicia's tucked shirt from her jeans before opening the buttons. When she opened her shirt, fresh red bruises dusted her skin all over her torso and Kamille squeezed her hands together into fists, trying not to get angry.
June pressed her fingers to the bruises, feeling around gently.
"The good news is it doesn't seem like her ribs are broken," she finally said, a hint of relief in her voice. "Bruised ribs is a lot better. We can work with that."
Kamille nodded, too furious to say anything verbally.
"Help me take off her shirt," June continued, carefully moving Alicia's body towards her so Kamille could access it.
With caution, Kamille and June managed to remove Alicia's shirt for June to check all around her torso. As Kamille was putting Alicia's shirt to the side, something dropped from it and hit the floor, gaining her attention.
She bent down to pick it up, realising it was the necklace she'd given her, that Kamille had refused to accept. She kept it on her this whole time.
"Kamille, you okay?" June asked, and Kamille cleared her throat, pocketing the necklace subconsciously.
"Yeah, sorry," she said quickly, standing up and putting Alicia's shirt to the side.
June glanced at her with concern, but chose not to question her. "She's sustained a lot of injuries and she's gonna be in a lot of pain when she wakes up. I'm gonna attach an IV and that should help, but she'll need ice to help with the swelling."
Kamille nodded, half-listening as she grew distracted by how vulnerable Alicia looked with all of the bruises coating her skin.
She never meant for this to happen, for Alicia to get hurt. But now she was, and Kamille felt overly emotional at how she couldn't do anything to make it better except wait and read a kalima for her.
"Kamille, she'll be okay," June said, resting a hand on hers. "We'll figure this out."
Kamille nodded, sucking up a deep breath and wiping away a few stray tears. "I know, I know... I'll, er, I'll go get the others. They'll probably want to see her."
June nodded, offering a small, reassuring smile, but it did nothing to ease the pain in Kamille's heart.
The Brit left the room and found the others in the hall outside, waiting impatiently to hear something.
"How is she?" Strand asked instantly, concern in his gaze.
Kamille nodded, trying to smile reassuringly, but she was sure she looked terrible. "She's fine. She'll be fine. June is taking care of her." She looked between Strand and Luciana as she added, "You guys should see her."
They nodded and walked past her, but not before Luciana squeezed Kamille's arm comfortingly.
"The boy is in the spare room," John said, taking his hat off with respect. "Al is watching him."
Kamille nodded, breathing out through her nose. "Thanks, John. I should go check on him."
"'Course," he said with a nod. "I'll stay here in case they need me in there. The others'll be on their way. They're just finishing up."
Kamille nodded once more before leaving him and heading to the spare room to find Kyan. She wasn't going to hurt him, but she needed to talk to him. He did a bad thing, but that didn't make him a bad person. Kamille was learning that more and more in this new world.
//
i swear they can't have a single day to rest in this book, there's always gotta be some sort of beef but i love it 😂
anyway, if you couldn't tell already, here's some more free styling to help develop the relationships between certain characters – this clearly didn't happen in the show lol.
but yeah, i hope you like it! ♥️