#and the kids are like 'mitch...u have ur legs'

[oftextmessages-a]

this is like the dumbest thought that’s ever popped into my head but like. aperture interns just standing around not doing their jobs, and cave comes in and says ‘i’m not paying you kids to stand around all day’ and one intern says ‘you’re not paying us at all sir’ and cave says ‘like i said, i’m not paying you, so get back to work’

[yellowsugarwords]

hi i hope ur having a great day !! i was just wondering, if u have the time that is, if you could write some headcanons on how you think the first few days of the apocalypse were for the kids at ericson’s? as of now, we know that most of the kids were between 9 and 11 and that willy and tenn were both around the age of 5. so with most of their teachers/older peers leaving them behind at the start (besides the nurse ofc), how do you think they dealt with the beginning of the apocalypse and how do you think they dealt with the loss of other kids at the school and the nurse? how did they deal with the abandonment from their teachers and older peers? and how especially did they deal with taking care of the youngest kids? i know mitch and willy are super close and that willy even says mitch took care of him but i wonder exactly how the kids managed to find food and take care of such young kids when they were also kids themselves y’know? anyways, feel free to ignore this if you’re piled down with work. regardless though, i hope ur doing well and i just wanted to let u know i lovelovelove ur work so much. you’re an absolute gem 💗🌷

WHAT HELLO this made me cry???? ilysm. thank you so much for reading my things WOW it makes my heart so happy. this blog is such a special part of my heart and I’m so glad that it matters to you guys too :’)

I hope you enjoy this buddyyyyyyy I kinda just ran with a single plot but I am MORE THAN WILLING to do sequels haha

The first two weeks were the worst.

After they’d passed, things became easier.

More ‘normal’.

At least, it was starting to feel that way.

A new normal.

The normal that involved them, all on their own.

Trying to survive the end of the world.

Violet was the one keeping the peace at first.

She had seen bloodshed before.

It didn’t phase her.

At least, not as much as it did the others.

Willy and Tenn were inconsolable,

Among the other children inhabiting the school.

“Our parents will come soon.” The kids would always say.

Violet never said anything, but she knew better.

Spotting her reaction each time, Mitch approached her.

“I know.” He said lowly.

To that, Violet turned to meet his stare,

For the very first time.

“I know they aren’t coming for us either.”

Violet looked down,

Realizing flooding her,

Before she turned away again.

“Yeah.” Was all she said.

She hated that she wasn’t just bitter.

That other people shared her fears.

That other people thought they were on their own too.

“I just think we need to make the best of this.” Was all she said.

It was all she could think to say.

Ruby and Aasim spent most of their days crying,

Hiding in their rooms,

Much like the younger kids at Ericson.

They begged for everyone to leave them alone.

To afraid of the world.

Unable to trust anyone.

It wasn’t until one of the younger children got bitten did everyone snap to reality.

He was in the front yard,

Searching for one of his friends,

When a walker snagged him and bit his ankle.

He screamed.

The entire school reacted.

Mitch charged outside and kicked the no step off of him,

Trying to handle ‘it’ while Violet brought him inside.

Hearing the connotation, Louis darted out as well,

Spotting Violet struggling to carry the boy,

Running to help her.

The child, the entire time, wailed and screamed.

As soon as they brought him inside, panic ensued.

Children screamed and panicked at the sight,

Throwing up and running away,

In any way they could.

“Oh my God!” Someone screamed.

“Does anyone know first aid?” Violet called.

Louis took over carrying the child and laid them on a couch,

Trying to keep them calm.

“I do,” a pale and shaky Ruby replied.

She was shaking,

Petrified,

But slowly made her way to the front of the growing crowd.

“I need a kit.”

“You got it,” Louis said,

Darting out of the room.

Aasim rushed in with water and a blanket,

Shaking and trembling as he passed it to the child.

Mitch rushed in,

Panicked and disoriented,

And gasped when he finally spotted Violet.

“God,” he cried darting up to her. “I had to lock the front gate.”

“What?” Scoffed scoffed. “Why?”

“Those things that bit that kid are everywhere out there.”

Violet blinked,

Her face, slowly growing paler.

“Things?” She finally asked.

Mitch’s heart dropped to his stomach.

When the group peeked outside, enough had arrived at the gates that they knew.

They weren’t monsters.

They were people.

Or maybe something in between.

The one who had bitten their classmates was legless,

Wobbling on the ground,

Easy for Mitch to take down.

“How many were there?”

“Four.”

“Holy shit.”

Mitch sighed and ran a panicked hand over his face.

“I had help.”

Marlon dashed up from one of the back rooms,

Helping Louis carry medical supplies and extra food up to the music room;

Their current home base.

But just as Ruby approached the child, he snapped.

Changed.

And lunged for her.

Ruby froze,

Eyes wide and petrified.

Everything was happening so face.

She didn’t have time to react.

Louis jumped forward,

Swinging a broken chair leg against the child’s head,

Knocking him to the floor with a thud.

Then, they all froze.

Louis dropped his bat.

Ruby threw up.

Omar, trying to quell the panic, tried to comfort her,

Offering her water and a jacket. 

Marlon looked away in horror.

Mitch and Violet stood in silent horror,

Taking in the scene.

“That’s them.” Mitch said, shaking his head,

His stomach twisted.

Everyone was screaming,

Crying,

Begging for help,

Or were terrified and running for cover.

The world was ending right before their very eyes.

And they could do nothing to stop it.

All they could do is try to help each other survive.

Which they did without contest.

Without debate.

They had no one else.

Naturally, they only had each other.

And they clung to each other.

Until the very end.

𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 💌☕️♡

[were-cheetah-stiles]

The Recruit (Chapter 11) - Mitch Rapp

Author: @were-cheetah-stiles

Title: “Day 62″

Characters: Mitch Rapp, Stan Hurley, Beth, Dan Brunski, Peter Collins, Jacob Clemens & Reader/OFC

Warnings: Separation anxiety, anxiety, somewhat detailed description of sexual assault/attempted rape.

IM SERIOUS DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE EASILY TRIGGERED. you can always just message me and ask me what important plot you missed.

Author’s Note: “y/n/n” means your nickname, like if your name can be shortened to something, if it can’t then just go with your name. “y/f/i” means the first initial of your first name. 

Summary: Mitch is forced to take a day trip with Stan to the Ghost Protocol Training facilities, and y/n takes off for New York City to see someone from her past.

Chapter Ten - Chapter Eleven - Chapter Twelve

"Y/n/n.. Y/n/n..." Mitch whispered and nudged you awake. "Hey, hey... it's me." You flinched backwards in your bed, your legs struggling to get you upright fast enough under your sheets. You were clearly having a nightmare about the attack. Mitch wanted to leave even less.

"What's going on? Why are you dressed?" You asked groggily.

"I heard Stan telling Aiden that he'd be gone for a couple of days so I went and slept in my room after you fell asleep. I was worried he’d come in my room and I wouldn’t be there."

"You're leaving?"

Mitch held up Joseph Heller's novel, Catch-22.

"You're going back to Ghost.."

"Yea and I've gotta go now. I told Stan that I'd be down in a minute, I was just stealing one of your books. I'll only be gone for a day."

"Be careful." You looked up at him with emotional eyes, and he nodded.

"I will." Mitch leaned down and left a lingering, sad kiss on your lips.

"Don’t go." was what you wanted to say but didn't. You watched him walk out the door, your book in his hand, and you sunk back into your pillow. It was still dark out. You glanced up at the bookcase on your wall and saw the space where Catch-22 had been. It was the first time that he had left in a month and you were anything but excited to go through the day without him. You decided you wouldn't.

The perks of being Stan's niece and de facto daughter, coupled with the fact that you had been at The Barn for forever  was that you had more free reign around here than basically any one else. You also had your Uncle's cellphone number. You waited for it to be light out and grabbed the burner phone that Stan had given you from the loose floor board under your bed. It was dead. You rolled your eyes and waited for it to charge. The phone finally turned on and you sat on the floor next to the outlet, composing a text to your uncle.

Y/N: hey.. can you text Aiden or Campbell or someone and tell them to give me a personal day?

Stan: everything ok, kid?

Y/N: yea, i just realized that last week was Dad's bday and I didn't go to the grave. I was going to drive up to NYC and visit.

Stan: I'll be back tomorrow, want to wait and I'll come with u?

Y/N: I'd like to go today if that's okay.

Stan: I'll call Aiden and tell him not to expect u today

You walked over to your closet and grabbed a tight black skirt with buttons down the front, a striped blue and white long sleeved top, your thigh-high suede black boots, and your heavier black bomber jacket. You heard the phone vibrate on your dresser and you walked over, your boots slumping around your calves as you hadn't tied them against your thighs yet.

Stan: BMW is gassed up. Be back by tomorrow morning. Take ur phone with u.

You tied your boots up, grabbed your keys out of their hiding place in the floor, and replaced the board. You walked on your tip-toes as not to let your noisy heels hit the wooden floors and wake up anyone in the house. It was barely 5:15 in the morning and everyone was pretty much still asleep. 

You walked down to the garage level of the house, which was restricted to everyone but you, Stan, and the other instructors, Aiden, Campbell, and Smith, and unlocked the door. You turned over the engine of your E52 Z8 BMW convertible coup, a classic car that your father had owned, you had inherited upon his death and that Stan gave to you when you got your driver's license in high school. You pulled open the glove box and took your iPhone, charger, sunglasses and wallet out and laid them on the seat next to you. You plugged your iPhone in and watched the screen light up for the first time in ages. You pushed the button for the garage door and peeled out onto the gravel road that led away from The Barn and into downtown Williamsburg, Virginia. You hadn't left the premises by yourself in a long time.

You took the top down, regardless of the fact that it was only the middle of March and it was still cold, and enjoyed the passing scenery and fresh air on Interstate 95 going North to New York City. You typed out a quick text on your iPhone as you drove through early morning D.C. traffic. You got a "see you at noon." text message in reply, and threw your phone back on the seat beside you. 

You admired the view of Manhattan as you crossed the George Washington Bridge from New Jersey into New York and made your way onto a familiar block. You parallel parked, got out of your car, locked it and walked up to the beautiful brownstone apartment across the street. You rang the buzzer and waited for a familiar face to open the door.

"Hey Beth."

You sat on the comfy couch and tried to remember the last time you had been in that room. It hadn't been even six months but it felt like it had been forever.

"I'm not used to seeing you this time of year, Y/N, what are you doing up here?"

You rubbed your arm and glanced around the room. "Did you have to cancel any appointments to fit me in?"

"Y/N/N, you're avoiding my question and eye contact. What's going on? Is my Dad okay?"

You sighed and looked at the girl in front of you. She was two years older than you, beautiful and tall, with platinum blonde hair and long legs. "Stan's fine, Beth." You told your cousin.

"You're not fine though. Did something happen at The Barn?" Beth stared at you, waiting for you to stop being evasive. "You're the one who came up here, Y/f/i. I'll cancel all my patients for the day if I have to, you're going to talk to me. You never just come up out of no where."

You stared down at your hands. You dug your fingernails under each other when you were nervous, a habit that Beth was surprised to see since you had been trained to not do it anymore. "We still have doctor-patient confidentiality, right? Even though I haven't seen you in a while?"

"You ask me this every year, and every year the answer is always yes. These meetings stay off the record, there is no chart, and my Dad never finds out you saw me. What does he think you're doing up here anyway?" Beth asked her younger cousin, a girl that she grew up with as a sister when you moved into Beth’s house after your family died in the terror attacks on September 11th.

"My Dad's birthday was last week and he thinks I'm down in the dumps about it, and I told him that I was going to bring flowers to their graves." You finally gave Beth a straight answer.

"Are you down in the dumps about it?"

"Of course... but.." You sighed. You didn't know where to start.

"Start from the beginning, Y/f/i." Beth told you.

"I met someone."

Beth's face lit up. "At The Barn?"

You nodded. "His name is Mitch, and B, he's the best I've ever seen. Stan has completely taken him under his wing and he's training him personally, and he keeps trying to trip him up andget him to fail, but he hasn’t yet. Stan has been, like, whisking him away for special sessions.."

"Wow, he really must be good then." Beth commented, a surprised look on her face. "Did something happen between you two? Did you get caught or something and he got kicked out or..?"

"No, no, no.. he's great. I'm really happy with him and we've only been together, together for a like week or so. He's not why I'm here... well, I mean, your Dad took him on some special assignment before the sun even came up this morning, so his lack of being around is why I'm here, but he and our relationship are not the issue." You were babbling.

"What is?" Beth inquired, watching her cousin's bizarre mannerisms. You weren't acting like yourself at all.

You rubbed your hand against your nose and mouth and scratched at the corner of your eye. You weren't ready to talk about this. "About..." You cleared your throat and sighed. "About a month and a half ago, these three guys tried to rape me in the shower at the main house."

"WHAT?! y/n.. shit, what are you talking about? Does my Dad know?"

"What do you think?" You looked up at Beth with a deadpan look on your face.

"What happened?" Beth fought the urge to scrap her professionalism and embrace her beloved adopted-sister and best friend.

"There were these three guys, Dan Brunski was the main aggressor. Peter Collins and Jacob Clemens were his... lackey's essentially. Clemens being much more involved and much less remorseful than Collins... and anyway, Dan Brunski clearly is the kind of rich white kid who has never been told 'no' in his life and he either liked me or just wanted to fuck me or hates women and wanted to brag about conquering me or was just a regular old sociopath, I really have no idea. But he kept making all these really aggressive advances on me and I was not giving him the time of day. I had definitely humiliated him a few different times in front of multiple other trainees, and he just, I don't know, really internalized it all."

"So what happened?"

"Well, first he accused me of sleeping with Stan and said that was the only reasonable explanation as to how I got into the program. That pissed me off so I punched him in the face. I gave him a bloody nose and it wasn't a big deal."

"Your idea that assault is not a big deal is so far from the reality of what a big deal is, y/n/n." Beth interjected.

You shrugged. "He tried to make a few moves on me, cornering me in the woods or trying to slide his hand up my thigh during class, and I shut that shit down every time... Then Mitch got to The Barn and we had this weird instant connection."

"And Dan was watching you more closely than the other trainees?" Beth had seen the behavior before.

You nodded. "Yea, I guess he was. Honestly, he probably realized that there was something going on between Mitch and I before Mitch and I even did. But one morning, Dan snuck into my room while I was still asleep, he covered my mouth and tried to get under my blankets with me.. to rape me." The breath hitched in Beth's throat and her stomach did a flip. It was one thing when her patients told her these things, but it was another thing when the story was coming from someone she loved dearly. "I stopped him, but he was like 'I see the way you and Mitch are with each other. If you're willing to suck his dick, why won't you suck mine. I know you're a slut. I won't make you beg for it the way he does.' and whatever... I threw his ass out of my room, but Mitch sleeps literally across the hall from me, and he heard the tail end of the interaction, and that was when he knew something was wrong."

"Y/n, this Dan guy sounds like he's done this before, how is he at The Barn? How'd he get through the vetting?" Beth asked.

"I don't know." You shook your head. "But later that day, him and Collins, Clemens and a guy named Brian Keller, tried to attack me in the woods. Mitch stopped it before anything could happen. A consequence, not related to the attack, got Brian Keller kicked out of the program no more than ten minutes later, and Dan blamed Mitch and I."

"So he became more angry, and it accelerated his actions, huh?"

"Later that night, I was taking a shower and I hadn't been in there for more than a few minutes but it was late because Mitch and I had been working out together late and no one else was in there, Dan, Clemens, and Collins.. well, Dan and Clemens... Collins was the lookout. They came in the bathroom, ambushed me in the shower.." Your eyebrow furrowed as you thought back to the incident in detail. "Clemens held... he held my arms back against the wall and Dan stood in front of me, touching my naked body with his hands. He was getting undressed and telling me that him and Clemens were going to take turns and I was going to love it and if I didn't that they would kill Mitch and then they'd kill me." Beth had tears in her eyes as she listened to the story. "Dan... he.." You wiped a tear from your own eye. "He stuck a finger inside of me, while Clemens covered my mouth and hit me across the face every time I tried to scream. I knew, I knew I couldn't take the two of them on at once, so I had to wait. Finally, I became more compliant, just waiting to get the upper hand, and Clemens left so that Dan could rape me. I got on my knees in front of him, and he.. he put his dick in my hand and made me stroke him while he was hard..." You shut your eyes and shook your head, tears streamed down your face. "That was when I heard the bathroom door open and I knew it had to have been Mitch, everyone else was asleep, and we had worked out so hard earlier that we both had to shower or else it would've been disgusting the next day."

Beth nodded, and you continued. "Dan grabbed me off the floor, pulled me against him, and covered my mouth. I tried to climb the walls but they were too slippery, I tried to hurt him and kick at the curtain, but he restrained me. I think Mitch may have already been suspicious by Collins and Clemens just... loitering in the bathroom, and he knew it was my towel.... I kicked the tile hard enough that it made a noise and Mitch pounced into action. He held off Clemens and Collins, which gave me the opportunity to finally take on Dan."

"What'd Mitch do?" Beth asked, her face portraying how devastated she was.

"He broke Clemens' wrist and knocked him out, and he broke seven of Collins' teeth against a sink. He broke the sink with Collins' face."

"Did he help you with Dan?"

You shook your head. "I didn't need it. By the time Mitch got through the other two, I was bashing Dan's head against the shower stall. I broke his cheekbone and temporal bone."

"Good." Beth gritted her teeth.

"Mitch took care of me that night. He literally dressed me in his clothes, put me in his bed, sat in a chair in the corner of the room, and watched me sleep the rest of the night." You remembered, fondly and painfully, how wonderful he had been that night.

"What happened when my Dad found out?"

"I never told him. The only people who actually know what happened are me, Mitch, Brunski, Clemens and Collins."

"You never told Stan?" Beth asked again.

You huffed, a part of you thought that Beth would understand why you had kept the secret. "Your Dad raised me.. he's in charge of my fate as a CIA agent, do you know how hard it would've been to tell him that story and have him never look at me the same again or think that I couldn't handle the job. This shit happens to women in the field, Beth. It just does. They've dealt with it and so have I." You raised your voice at Beth.

"Are you dealing with it though, y/n/n?" Beth raised her voice right back. "What happened to Dan and the other two?"

"Dan had to get facial reconstructive surgery.. multiple surgeries from what I hear. Collins and Clemens were gone for a while, but now that they can both fight again, they're back at The Barn."

"So you're just living with your attackers?! y/n, holy shit. This is insane." Beth was getting more and more upset.

"Beth..."

"What about Mitch? I'm surprised he hasn't told Stan.... He has to know how ridiculous this is."

You lowered your eyes from Beth. "...He's wanted to tell Stan from the start, but he hasn't because I asked him not to."

"That's bullshit, y/n/n, and you know it."

"Beth, you're losing your therapist hat right now.." You warned your cousin.

Beth shook her head and tried to regain her composure. She leaned forward and looked at you. "What happens when you try to have a relationship with another man, Y/N? Like Mitch, for example."

"Mitch and I finally had sex about a week ago."

"How'd it go?" Beth knew that you were about to prove her point.

"It was hard... at first, but Mitch.. he kept me in the moment and he was tender and he was there holding me and making sure I knew it was just us and he would stop if I needed." You divulged your secrets to Beth.

"What happens when Mitch wants to be a little rougher in the bedroom? Maybe do it doggy style or something less 'tender'? What happens then, y/n? Are you having any side effects from what happened? Panic attacks? Flashbacks? Nightmares?"

"Yes."

"Which?"

"......All of those."

Beth sighed. "Oh, y/f/i... fuck." She got up and hugged you, then sat on the couch next to you. "If this happened a month and a half ago, why are you only telling me now?"

You leaned back against the arm of the couch, and looked at Beth. "I thought that there would be some improvement by now, and there just hasn't been and I want to be with Mitch. I am falling for him, but I am never going to be able to give him everything of me, and he is always going to walk on eggshells around me, if I can't figure this shit out." You wiped a tear from falling down your cheek. “On top of that, the nightmares and the panic attacks. I don’t know how much longer I can hide them.”

"You've gotta get rid of those guys.. if Dan comes back.."

"I know." You confirmed that you understood that no good could or would come from Dan Brunski returning to The Barn.

"Getting rid of your attackers is the first step. Coming back up here and talking to me in a more regular fashion would be a good second step.. the rest of it, y/f/i, unfortunately, the rest of it is just time and talking. Talking about it, confronting what happened, whether it be with Stan, or Mitch, or me, or someone else, not letting it be a secret.. it'll lose it's power over you. Communication will also help in regards to being intimate with Mitch. Be explicit with what you expect and what you want and what you're struggling with."

"And then time."

"You're just going to have to wait. 'Time heals all wounds', you know?" Beth reiterated an old saying, and took her cousin's hands in her own. "Y/f/i, I am so sorry that this happened to you. I know they prepare you for the possibility of it happening in the field, but at training?" Beth shook her head. "It's not fair. I could kill those guys."

"You sound like Mitch." You said with a small and short chuckle.

Beth leaned back on the couch, copying you. "What's he like?"

"Intense... and smart and kind and so. fucking. sexy. Beth, oh my god." You couldn't help but laugh.

"How old is he?"

"My age. A few months younger, but he doesn't act it. He's been through some shit too. I don't know. He's amazing. He's kind and witty and he has a smile that just knocks me to the ground, every time." You were grinning. "You know, Easter is coming up..."

"Dad's doing the cover story exercise?"

"I think so. I told Mitch about it and we thought we'd come up here for the break. Maybe you could meet him." You offered.

"I'd love that." Beth glanced at the clock. "Oh shit.. I have someone waiting in the waiting room."

You shook your head. "It's okay. I have to get to the cemetery before it closes anyway. I'll see you in a couple weeks?"

Beth nodded and hugged you.

You drove around Manhattan for an hour, revisiting old haunts and hangouts, but avoiding the Lower East Side, where you grew up. You brought flowers to the 9/11 Memorial fountains and placed them on your parents and brother's names. You got back in your car and drove to the cemetery. You placed flowers at their graves and sat to talk to them for a while, then got back on the road. 

It was late and you didn't want to have to get a hotel and drive early in the morning to get back before shooting range at 0700. Your iPhone rang and "S" popped up on your caller I.D. You picked it up.

"Hey."

"Hey. How was it?" Stan asked through the speaker.

"Fine. Thanks for letting me go. I needed it. Talked to them, got some pizza, I feel re-energized." You only told half the story.

"Anytime. You on your way back?" Stan usually used nicknames for you, just like Beth did, but he wasn't so you knew that Stan wasn't alone.

"Yea, I just passed into Maryland on 95. You?"

"Just got in the car. I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yep."

Stan hung up the call. You shifted the car into fifth gear and sped back to The Barn.

You pulled onto the gravel road back to The Barn behind Stan's black SUV. You smiled because you knew that Mitch was inside. You pulled into your spot in the garage and threw your iPhone, wallet, and charger back in the glove compartment. Stan shook his head at you as he got out of his own car. It was so much easier to hide the truth when none of the recruits knew that you had access to a car and they did not. 

Mitch stepped out and tried to act surprised, although, he was surprised since you never mentioned that the classic BMW in the garage was yours, or at least, yours to drive. You pocketed your keys, nodded at Mitch and Stan, and walked inside.

"How does y/n have a car here?" Mitch asked Stan as they followed you up the stairs.

"She's been here for three years, Rapp. She gets some amenities that the rest of you will eventually earn as well." Stan lied. You had a car because you were his niece and, unlike the other recruits who got to go home on breaks, The Barn essentially had been your home for the past few years. Letting you keep a car there was the least Stan could do. "Don't worry about it, Rapp. Just go to bed. You did well today."

"Thank you, sir."

Mitch headed off after you. He looked at his watch. It was just past midnight.

What’d you guys think? Let me know! and as always, if you’d like to be tagged. Get your requests in soon for the Recruit, because I will probably stop taking tag requests in the near future for this series.

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[yellowsugarwords]

hi ! regarding the clem/luke/nick reunion, a fic would be great but either that or a simple hc is fine :) ++ may i add two other details? upon meeting aj, he asks more abt his parents and they begin telling him tales and giving him more details abt them. a more minor one ( which is actually an hc of mine ) is either nick or luke having a beard at the point which louis and/or mitch come/s to adore lmao. thank u for taking this into consideration + for providing this fandom w ur beautiful writing!

Okay!! I’ll write it here :)

Clementine thought they were from Delta.

They had been prepping for their arrival for weeks, and knew they were on the brink of an attack.

Two adults approaching the school were the last thing they all wanted to see.

“Strangers!” Willy said, leaping off of his platform to meet the rest of the school.

“Stay back!” Violet said. Louis, at her side, aimed a bow and arrow.

Clementine squinted, trying to get a better look.

They raised their hands in surrender.

“We’re not here to cause trouble,” a voice said.

Clementine recognized it.

Two men approached the locked gates.

One had a thick beard, a heavy sweater, and a gun on his back.

The other had shaggy clothes, a dirty hat, and a backpack.

She knew more than their voice.

“I know them,”

Their eyes widened as she stepped forward.

They noted her hat.

“Clem?”

Clementine smiled, her teary eyes welling as her cheeks pushed them forward. “Luke,”

Violet seemed confused by the reunion, but Louis was the one who abandoned his weapon to unlock the gate.

Violet was tempted to stop him.

Seeing Clem’s happy tears, she didn’t.

The moment the gates swung open, Clementine was in his arms.

His beard tickled her head.

“Nick!” She said, hesitantly peeling away from Luke to reach out and get a hug from him.

He hugged her tightly.

Her soul was tugged back together.

Clementine, after they were inside the yard, realized she hadn’t asked the Ericson crew if they minded.

Already, Violet was introducing herself.

Wily was standing with Mitch, waving at Nick from afar.

Louis stood gawking a few paces away.

All Clem could do was smile.

They didn’t mind at all. She didn’t even need to ask.

Luke started for Clementine, smiling in awe that he had found her again, when he spotted a child behind her legs.

His eyes widened. “Wow, another little guy!” Luke knelt down, smiling at him. “What’s your name?”

AJ smiled warmly as Clementine patted his back. “AJ.”

Luke’s eyes widened, his jaw dropping. He stood, meeting Clementine’s stare.

Teary-eyed, she smiled.

“You’re still with him,” Luke gawked. “He made it.”

Clementine nodded, blinking back tears.

Luke wrapped her in a hug again.

“Nick!” Luke called. “It’s AJ!”

Jaw-dropped, Nick darted over from where he and Mitch were talking to see the child.

Violet scrunched her nose and brows. “How do you know AJ?”

Luke gawked, kneeling and holding a hand out for the child to shake. “We knew you when you were just a baby.”

“That’s when we got separated.” Nick said, crouching behind Luke. “We got separated when we were cornered by a violent family.”

“They split us up,” Luke hummed, smiling at AJ one last time before standing. “That was the last time we saw either of them.”

They talked consistently until dinner approached.

The school invited them to stay.

Luke frowned. “We can’t take your food.”

“Clementine helped us come into a lot of it.” Louis said. “There’s more than enough.”

Luke smirked, patting Clem’s back. “That’s our girl.”

Luke and Nick sat across the table from Louis and Mitch.

Mitch stared at them silently as he ate.

Louis gawked with his jaw open.

They’d never seen a beard like that before.

AJ sat beside Nick at dinner.

“What was I like as a baby?”

“Quiet,” Nick responded. “It was really fucking weird.”

“Nick!” Luke scoffed.

Nick lifted his hands in defense. “What! Baby’s aren’t normally that silent.”

Mitch smirked.

He thought Nick was cool.

After dinner, Luke and Clem turned to AJ.

“Let’s go on a walk,” Clem said. AJ happily agreed.

“I’m coming too!” Louis claimed.

He joined their group without asking for permission, smiling at Luke as he joined them.

Mitch and Nick, arms crossed, watching them leave.

“Wanna practice blowing some stuff up?”

Nick turned to him, eyebrow raised. “Uhm, of fucking course I do.”

Violet rolled her eyes as they left.

When Luke, Clem, AJ, and Louis came back, AJ was on Luke’s shoulders.

“I wanna be able to grow one, you know.” Louis said.

Luke laughed. “This took a lot of negligence for it to get like this.”

Louis scoffed. “Negligence is my middle name.”

Clem dipping in, raising an eyebrow.

Louis rolled his eyes. “You know I do nothing around here.”

Clementine smirked and turned away.

Nick and Mitch came jogging back, laughing.

“That was amazing!” Mitch chuckled. “I never thought to do that before!”

“That’s how you get the best explosion range,” Nick said with a smirk. “Blowing shit up was my jam as a kid.”

Violet shook her head.

Clementine beamed.

Clementine turned back to face the rest of the school.

Louis was lifting AJ so he could feel Luke’s beard.

Louis turned, gawking at Clem in glee, before turning back.

At least she didn’t need to worry about them fitting in.