A/N: There is some language in this chapter that isn't exactly PC. It's used as it fits the character and his socio-economic/educational level, but I'm not advocating for its use, merely trying to present an authentic story. Rant over, enjoy.

A single bullet shot through the forehead of the reanimated Rebecca. Luke yelled "No!"

In an instant all hell broke loose. Mike grabbed his shoulder and yelled "I'm hit", Bonnie dragging him behind a large boulder, on the edge of the forest.

The non-tattooed Russian was on the other side of the boulder firing at Y/N. Y/N had fired both guns instantly, hitting the woman, Natasha, in the chest but missing Arvo as he dodged the return fire from Natasha.

Y/N had then jumped behind a tree, poking out to fire at the Russian who was firing at him.

"Я убью тебя, ублюдок" the man screamed at Y/N.

"English motherfucker!" Y/N yelled back as he fired.

"I kill you. I kill all you motherfuckers!" the man replied.

Clementine had hit the floor covering her head when the shooting started. She looked up to see Arvo attempting CPR on the woman, screaming and crying; Y/N pinned down firing back and forth with one of the men and to her horror AJ laying on the ground, bundled up and crying. She suddenly heard Luke screaming to her:

"Clem get to cover. Clem you gonna get chewed up out there!"

Behind Clementine Kenny was behind the other small wall, the same side as Luke but on the other side of an opening to the field, exchanging gun fire with the tattoo faced Russian who was pulling himself backwards on the ground, firing at Kenny while bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to his leg.

"What are you doing?" Luke yelled as Clementine jumped up quickly and ran over towards Rebecca's corpse. She scooped up AJ and bolted, quickly making it behind the cover of the wall near Kenny.

"Fuck! I didn't even see him out there!" Luke said with a large smile, adding:

"Great job, Clem!"

Clementine hushed and shh'd a terrified baby AJ, desperately trying to reassure the tiny bubba as Kenny yelled:

"Fuck I'm out of ammo. He's gonna get the drop on Y/N if we don't keep him pinned down.

Luke suddenly shot up, running over to try and reach Kenny and Clem before screaming in pain as he was shot in the leg.

Bonnie screamed "Luke, No!" Kenny dragged him behind cover and as the tattoo faced man aimed his gun at Kenny and Luke he quickly dropped, Y/N looking over just in time and shooting him in the head.

This angered the lone surviving Russian even more as he roared in Russian, firing at Y/N again rapidly, Y/N yelling "Fuck!" and pulling behind cover.

"Y/N!" Clementine screamed as she saw in horror from her vantage point Y/N grab the side of his neck, blood splurging out before she watched in equal parts shock and disbelief as Y/N yelled "Fuck this!" and quickly rushed over, ripping Arvo up by the hair and shoving his gun into the teens temple as he yelled:

"You get out here, or I put a bullet in this cunt's fucking head!"

"What are you doing?" Bonnie yelled.

"Ending this!" Y/N yelled back.

Arvo suddenly began fighting and thrashing, trying to get out of Y/N's grip as he yelled between Russian and English.

"My sister" were the only words Y/N could decipher as he suddenly saw the woman reanimate out the corner of his eye. Y/N removed the gun from Arvo's temple and shot the woman in the head.

In a moment Arvo broke free and screamed "No!" rushing down to her and leaving Y/N completely exposed.

Y/N hit the floor, desperately trying to find cover as the man stood out with a grin, pointing down as Kenny yelled for Luke to give him his gun before the Russian stopped, dropping his gun, a knife emerging through the back of his throat.

Jane was standing there, having killed him from behind.

The smoke cleared, the gunfire being replaced by Arvo's anguished wails of "Natasha! Natasha!" and the group quickly trying to help their wounded.

Kenny tied a tourniquet around Luke's thigh to try and stop the bleeding from his calf, Bonnie tried to stop Mike's bleeding shoulder as Clementine rushed to Y/N, AJ in her arms and tears in her eyes as she arrived to him at the same time as Jane, sobbing as she stated:

"You're shot, you're shot. Y/N you're shot!"

Jane quickly grabbed AJ, as uncomfortable as it made her to hold a baby, she could see that Clementine looked distraught. Jane quickly moved away to Bonnie, handing the baby over as Kenny got done with Luke and rushed over to check on Y/N as well.

As soon as AJ was out of her arms, Clementine was on Y/N, checking his bleeding neck as she gasped in happy relief:

"It's just a graze. Just a graze. An inch the other way and-"

She cut herself off as she jumped into Y/N's arms and wept. The two stood in the embrace for a few moments before they heard the others speaking.

"How did this happen?"

"She turned quick"

"Clem was the first one to spot it"

The two teens released the hug and walked over, Y/N placing his arm around Clem's shoulders as she wiped her eyes.

"Hey, this isn't your fault" Kenny said supportively.

"Kenny's right. She just lost too much blood" Luke added.

"She's with Alvin now" Clementine whispered in sadness.

"You saved the boy's life" Mike smiled.

One person who wasn't smiling was Y/N. His hand that wasn't connected to Clementine balled into a fist. He turned, snarling, letting go of Clem and storming up to Arvo, spinning him around from crying over his sister and smashing him three times in the face quickly. Luke and Mike rushed over, separated the pair, and standing between them as Y/N pulled his gun and pointed it at them.

"Whoa whoa Y/N stop" Luke pleaded as Mike added:

"It's over, man. He ain't a threat to us."

"What are you both retarded? Of course he is. Get out the way!" Y/N snapped as Kenny walked up and stood next to Y/N protectively and armed himself as well.

"Move out of the way, Luke" Clementine called out. Luke looked at her shocked, saying:

"Clementine you don't mean that."

"Of course she does. This fucker just tried to kill us man" Y/N snapped.

"It don't have to go down like this" Mike replied with his hands raised in appeasement.

"There is house, food... please, I can take you" Arvo begged.

"Bullshit!" Kenny snapped next to Y/N.

"No, no, it's true! We have place. Not far. Food" Arvo begged again.

"See? He wants to help" Luke added.

Y/N stared at Luke, dumbfounded by his absolute stupidity as he added:

"You can't be fucking serious! He's just tryin' to save his skin! Why the hell would you help us, huh?"

" I... I not want to see more people dead"

"Then close your eyes and I'll make it quick."

Mike interrupted the back and forth between Y/N and Arvo snapping "Y/N back off!"

Bonnie spoke up, adding: "If he's telling the truth, it could save all of us."

To which Kenny added: "And if it's a trap, we'll all be dead!"

The group was quickly fracturing into two camps, Team Y/N and Team Insane, and Clementine moved quickly to try and calm the rising tensions. She walked up and placed a hand on Y/N's chest, looking up into his eyes as she smiled:

"I more than trust your instincts, Y/N. You know I do, but we're no good to AJ if we're starving. How bout we follow him, and when we get close enough you check it out? Better than possibly missing out on food and shelter, right?"

Y/N stared into Clementine's eyes for nearly a minute before asking loudly:

"Anyone got anything to tie up this shitbird?"

"I do" Bonnie added, pulling a small length of rope from her bag and tying Arvo's hands together. She got done and turned, shocked to see Y/N pointing a gun at her face:

"What're you-"

"Give me your gun, Bonnie" Y/N said with a snarl.

"What?" Bonnie asked in shock.

"Hey man- this ain't-"

Mike tried to jump to Bonnie's defence but instead was met with Y/N's second handgun being pointed at him.

"Gun! Now!" Y/N snapped, causing Bonnie to quickly hand him her rifle. He put the glock aimed at her away, taking her gun and sniffing the end of it. He growled, his eyes narrowing as he threw it back to her and said quickly:

"Kenny you take the rear. I can trust you to watch my back. Give me a fucking reason shitbird. Move!" Y/N finished by shoving Arlo hard, pointing his gun into the teens back.

"Yeah he gets it, Y/N" Luke said angrily as the group moved forward.

Y/N was at the front pushing Arlo, Kenny at the back with a rifle, Clementine fell back to the middle as Jane motioned her back.

"I'm still mad at you" Clementine said as she held AJ.

"Yeah I figured" Jane replied.

"But I am glad you're back. Thanks for saving Y/N like that."

Jane smiled, answering:

"You're welcome. And I'm glad cos you're 90% of the reason I came back."

The two were quickly cut off by another argument breaking out between Mike and Y/N:

"You don't gotta point the gun at him the whole time" Mike snapped.

"You forget what we just went through?" Y/N snapped back.

"He ain't goin' anywhere, Y/N. No need to get your arm all sore" Bonnie added, trying to keep the peace.

Jane spoke to Clementine in a low tone:

"I'm worried about Y/N. He's... he's in a dark place. We gotta keep an eye on him. Everything he's been through... that was done to him... it's changing him."

This of course instantly pissed Clementine off. Jane was back for thirty seconds and was already having a go at the boy Clementine loved.

"So this is helping? You don't have to constantly be criticizing him!" Clem snapped and Jane sighed;

"I'm not. I'm pointing it out as a precaution."

She stopped walking and put her hand on
Clementine's shoulder, making her stop as well.

"You and Kenny are the only ones that he trusts. That he really trusts. And he can do no wrong in Kenny's eyes, he loves him as a son."

"You damn right I do" Kenny said as he walked past the pair.

"I know, and I'm not criticising that Kenny. I'm not. I'm just saying it means Clem's the one that's gonna have to pull Y/N back. He's counting on you. If we're really going to make this work. We're all counting on you."

"Of course I will. I'd do anything for him" Clem replied instantly.

"I know" Jane smiled, before Kenny called out:

"C'mon slowpokes, don't wanna fall behind."

—~—

The group had been walking for a couple of hours and were now deep into the forest. As the group walked Luke suddenly stumbled and groaned in pain. Bonnie grabbed him, saving him from falling and yelled out: "Wait up! Wait. We need to stop!"

"No! No, I'm... I'm fine, okay? I just need a second. Sorry, I just... I just put more weight on it than I should've" Luke replied, more embarrassed than anything else.

"Alright stop there" Y/N said to Arvo, who ignored him and kept walking.

"Hey, what'd I say?" Y/N snapped, pistol whipping Arvo in the back of the head, dropping the Russian to the ground as he screamed in pain.

"Hey you don't ne-"

Mike cut himself off, as he watched in fear, Y/N rip the Russian around and shove the gun hard into his cheek-

"I fucking tell you to do something you fucking do it. You hear me!"

"Y/N, come on! There's no need for that." Luke said as he tried to get the teen to calm down.

"You two were shot because of him. He deserves it" Clementine said angrily as Luke added:

"He deserves to be treated like a human being. That's all I'm saying."

Clementine wasn't having it though:

"After what he did? What happened back there was his fault!"

"He lost all his people in one fell swoop. Ain't much we could do to him that'd be worse than that. Y/N, please. Ease up on him" Bonnie asked.

"Just fuckin' stay put" Y/N snapped at the Russian. Y/N stood with his gun pointed at Arvo's face, his lip curled in hatred.

Bonnie (with AJ), Mike and Kenny went for a break in the woods to "shake the dew off the Lillies" as Kenny put it. Clementine sat next to Luke and helped him clean and bandage his wound again. Jane walked off by herself to scout around.

When the trio returned from their bathroom break Bonnie sat next to Clementine and Kenny went off to look for Jane "in case she runs out on us again."

Mike though looked over at Y/N, his gun still pointed in the face of the frightened Russian.

"I'm gonna have a word with Y/N. He doesn't have to treat him that way. Kid's been through enough. You alright here?" He asked Bonnie.

"Yeah, yeah. Go on and talk to him. I got Clem if I need anything" Bonnie nodded, adding quickly:

"Here, just take the baby?"

"Uh, ok?" Mike asked as he was handed the little bundle and walked over towards Y/N.

"What is it with you guys?" Bonnie asked.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked puzzled.

"Every man I've known is always tryin' to let each other know how tough they are. Put 'em in their place. Buncha dominant, alpha-male horseshit. And it all ends the same way."

"Don't look at me. I ain't that guy" Luke replied. Bonnie chuckled:

"Oh, that ain't true. You get into your fair share of pissin' matches, too."

"Do I?"

"Are you kiddin' me? Yes!" Bonnie laughed back.

"I guess I should work on that" Luke chuckled.

Clementine looked up from making AJ a bottle of formula from one of the two tins they had left and laughed:

"Yeah, I mean I love Y/N, but he is the absolute worst for it. My friend Carley once told me he was the kind of guy who would wee higher on a tree just to prove a point."

Clementine smiled at the memory before looking up to see Bonnie and Luke smiling at her with shit eating grins.

"So you love him, hey?" Luke asked, Bonnie playfully slapping him on the arm and telling him to stop teasing. Clementine lit up like a Christmas tree and stammered:

"I-I just mean I've noticed that, too. I don't know why it has to be that way."

Bonnie laughed:

"It just is... get two of 'em in a room, and it's just a matter of time before they're challengin' each other to somethin'"

"Yeah... suppose I've been in enough spittin' contests to agree with you" Luke smiled.

They looked over to see Kenny and Jane return and speak to Mike and Y/N.

"Guess it took a woman to talk some sense into 'em. Looks like Jane broke it up"

"I'd say Kenny" Clementine chuckled as she applied pressure on Luke's wound.

"Keep pressure on it, okay? I'm gonna go fetch some bandages" Bonnie said as she got up and walked over to their supply bag.

"How did we get here?" Luke asked Clementine with a saddened tone.

"We walked. At least, most of us did. You basically had to be carried" Clementine chuckled. Luke didn't as he continued:

"Sittin' in the snow, leaned up against a tree, bullet in my leg, but alive. When so many of my friends are dead for no good reason, and I couldn't do anything to stop it. Everyone we set out with, just... gone. Nick, Pete, Alvin and Becca, Carlos, Sarah, and for what? It don't make any sense."

"You can't blame yourself. It wasn't your fault."

"I could've done more. And that ain't up for debate. I know it in my bones and I've gotta live with it" Luke sighed. Before Clementine could reply Bonnie had returned with a couple of rolls of bandages and a couple of other things in her hands.

"Alright I'll sort Luke here, do you think you can do Y/N's? I found a small tube of Aloe Vera. I think it's the last. And uh, I've got some peroxide, if you or Y/N could do Kenny. I don't think he'd let anyone else near it."

Clementine nodded and walked over where Mike, Y/N, Jane and Kenny were stood tensely, Arvo on the snow on his knees. Clementine handed Mike the baby bottle she had made up and said to Y/N:

"Can I do your bandages?"

Y/N sighed and nodded, askin' Kenny;

"You good?"

Kenny nodded and Y/N and Clementine walked off behind some trees for privacy. As they got there Clementine sat on a largish rock that had her at the perfect height while Y/N took off his jacket, jumper and shirt. Clementine removed his bandage for him.

Clementine stared at his lean but muscular physique and noticed the faint lines of his abdomen starting to show, covered slightly by the bright pink 'MINE' that would now forever adorn them.

"You ok?" Y/N asked, noticing the bright red hue on Clementine's cheeks. She nodded, not wanting to admit her embarrassment or the reason for it as she squeezed the last of the Aloe Vera from the tube and gently massaging it into Y/N's abdomen. She didn't look up as she asked:

"How is this feeling now? Honestly?"

"It's still pretty sore, but you doing this for me feels really good, uh makes my- it- uh better- feel better" Y/N stammered.

Clementine looked up at Y/N and both looked into each other's eyes momentarily, before looking away, overwhelmed as Jane called out:

"You two ok?"

"Yeah, I'm just about to wrap the bandage" Clem replied, wrapping her arms around Y/N's waist, pulling her oh so close to his body momentarily as she began to wrap.

When she was done and had fastened it she stood and smiled.

"All done and clean"

"Thanks Clemmy" Y/N smirked as she eased the plaster from his cheek.

"This has pretty much closed completely, I think it will be ok to be uncovered now" Clementine said as she examined Y/N's right cheek.

"Good. It don't look too bad does it?" Y/N asked.

"No, it looks like it's as healed as it's going to be" Clementine replied.

"I meant it doesn't, does it make me, uh, do you think I'm ugly with it?" Y/N asked, looking to the side, unable to look into Clementine's eyes.

If he would have he'd of noticed they widened in shock at his question before Clementine stammered back:

"No! No! Of course not, Y/N. You couldn't ever be, uh-no!"

Clementine had answered more forcefully than she meant to, and had looked up at Y/N as he looked back at her. Their eyes met momentarily before Jane called out close to them:

"You two ok back here? We were getting worried."

"Yeah yeah all good here. Just need to do Kenny now" Clementine said quickly as Y/N began putting his clothes back on.

The pair returned back to the group, Clementine smiling as Kenny bottle fed AJ before she said:

"Kenny, it's your turn now. Y/N can feed AJ, he's good at it."

Kenny smiled seeing Y/N get bashful at the phrase, Y/N taking AJ from Kenny before sitting down. Kenny smiled as Y/N restarted AJ's feed, adding proudly:

"You're doin great, son. Don't forget to tip it up so he don't swallow no air- you're a goddamn natural father, Y/N"

Clementine got a warm feeling in her stomach seeing Y/N being so gentle and caring with AJ, giggling as he coo'ed:

"That's my good little Ass Kicker" before she walked off with Kenny. They got a short distance away and Kenny sat on a fallen tree, saying the same thing he had every time she had done this:

"I'm sorry darling. You shouldn't have to do this"

"Like I said every other time Kenny, I care about you. I don't mind."

Kenny smiled as Clementine undid his bandage.

"So how you holding up after this morning? You alright?"

Clementine sighed, replying:

"For the most part. It was hard to do that to Rebecca, but I was just so scared she was about to bite AJ."

"You did what you had to, and you saved that baby's life. Don't ever doubt that Clem."

Clementine nodded, Kenny seething as she wiped his injury with peroxide.

"Sorry" Clem replied as she began wrapping.

"I'm a bit worried. I'm seeing some of our group turning against our boy" Kenny said with an angered tone.

Clementine nodded as she finished wrapping, adding:

"Me too. Pretty much all of them in one way or another. Arvo attacked us and they are taking his side over Y/N who defended us."

"Yeah it pisses me off too, darling. We have to be ready, in case it all kicks off."

Clementine nodded in agreement as the pair started returning to the group.