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Chapter Text

Javi was pissed.

The last thing he remembered before blacking out was getting pistol-whipped by those assholes back at the junkyard. After some time, Javi had woken up sitting in the passenger seat of a moving truck. His vision was groggy, yet he could make out the indication of a man sitting in the driver's seat. His eyes focused on that nasty, familiar scar on his neck. He was one of them.

“My family,” Javi said in his dazed state. He quickly broke out of it, waking fully as he realized his hands had been tied together with a cable tie. With a more anxious tone, Javi continued. “My family, where are they?”

The driver looked straight ahead, paying Javi no mind. Typical.

Javi took on a more aggressive regime. “What the fuck did you do to my family?” His voice was angry, yet afraid at the same time. He hoped nothing had happened to them while Javi was locked in this truck. He hoped those men hadn’t found their hiding spot underneath the floorboard from that cabin.

“Hey!” Javi continued, hoping to ignite some kind of response from his captor. “Answer me, goddamnit!”

It seemed to have worked. Not peeling his eyes from the road, the driver responded to Javi in a cool, unbothered tone. “Just do us both a favor,” he proposed as Javi glared at him. “Just pretend you’re still asleep. I wouldn’t start talking if I was you.”

Javi’s glare softened ever so softly as he peered into the man curiously. He was talking now, which was a somewhat good sign.

The man spoke again, this time peeling his eyes off the road to make slight eye contact with the baseball player. Well, ex-baseball player. “You’re lucky we do things a certain way. If I had it my way, a bullet would’ve been in your brain right now for what you’ve done to Lonnie back there.”

Javi’s hands clenched from their tethered position. His heart started to beat a little more profusely, the man beginning to grow furious at the man’s words.

“Are you serious?” Javi spoke through his gritted teeth. “That man pulled a gun on me, so I defended myself. I won’t apologize for doing that.”

“I don’t expect you will.” The driver halted eye contact with Javi again, continuing to focus his attention back on the road. “Just stop talking. You open your mouth to speak again, we’ll find ourselves in a similar situation. Clear?”

Javi focused his attention on the road as well, defeated at that moment to keep on talking. “Crystal.”

They continued the long drive ahead of them in silence, both men detesting the other to strike up a conversation. Even if the man attempted to conceive one, Javi would immediately ignore him.

After a couple more minutes, the driver sighed to himself. “Fuck this.” He craned his neck down to tinker with the truck’s stereo, maybe hoping to play some tunes to drown out the silence.

Javi ignored him until he couldn’t. A couple of feet away from the truck was a tree that was falling down. From the looks of it, the vehicle was about to get hit by it. He knew there was no avoiding it, yet Javi still screamed out to warn the driver.

“Watch out!”

In a moment of seconds, Javi felt the vehicle drive off-road, his upper body slammed forward on the car deck as he hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt. He pulled his head up, coming face to face with a gun. He grabbed it, of course, turning to his left to see the driver was knocked out cold.

Or so he thought.

Before Javi knew it, his captor was rushing out of the truck, sprinting off to God knows where. Javi was on his ass, though. He was not about to let this motherfucker off scotch-free. Pumping the handle from the passenger door, Javi ran after him with the Glock in his hand.

They came to a standstill. The man had suddenly stopped running, his hands shot high in the air in defense. Javi raised his arms, pointing the gun straight after him.

Javi had two options. He could respect the man’s wishes and let him go, or he could let a bullet hit him right between the eyes. In any other case, Javi would for sure let the man go unharmed. He hated violence, not so much that he was a pacifist, but he always thought that everything could be talked out instead of fighting it out.

But this wasn’t one of those cases, especially since he’d potentially gotten Javi’s family into some deep shit.

As the driver slowly began to run away, Javi fired a single bullet which was enough to cause severe damage. He might’ve hit an artery, or he might’ve ruptured a lung. Either way, the driver’s body sank lifeless down on the rocky floor. Javi wasn’t satisfied with what he’d done, but he knew it had to be done regardless.

Then came the sound of a gun cocked behind him. Fuck.

“Drop the gun.” A voice, yet it sounded nothing like one of those men who attacked Javi at the junkyard. It was more feminine sounding, a little younger sounding as well.

Nonetheless, Javi complied. With a sigh, he dropped the gun in his hands before raising up his hands in surrender similar to how the driver did with Javi. Hopefully, it doesn’t end the same way.

“Good,” the feminine voice spoke again. “Just keep looking forward.”

Javi stood there, rattling the options in his brain on what he should do. Should he try to be aggressive with whoever this stranger was? No, especially not with a gun pointed at his back.

“Please,” Javi tried, the first attempt for help. “Could you please help me?”

The stranger scoffed a bit before returning to a more serious tone. “Help? You need help? From the look of things, it looks like you’re fine on your own.”

She, because the voice had to belong to a woman, was referring to the man shot and killed a couple of feet away from him with the same gun that was resting between Javi’s feet.

“That’s not what I need help with,” was all Javi could reply with.

Then suddenly, Javi watched as a brown-colored hand reached out for his gun. As the gun was carried away, the man followed its movement before his eyes landed on his new captor.

It was a girl, definitely not a woman yet. The key factor determining it was the fact that she was a couple of inches shorter than Javi. Pink rubber bands were holding her curly hair into two separate pigtails underneath a dirty, blue baseball cap.

She had young facial features as well. Slightly chubby cheeks, big eyes, and long eyelashes to match. She looked around his niece, Mariana’s, age. Maybe one or two years older. Javi’s gaze shifted to focus on a big ass scar underneath the girl’s right eye. Damn. He wondered what the girl had done to earn that.

He watched her pocket his gun as she kept her barrel gun trained on him. “Don’t do anything stupid,” the girl warned. “Or I’ll shoot a lot quicker than you did.”

Javi fully turned around, his hands still tied together as he watched the girl walk toward the truck. “You’re a kid,” he said in awe as he followed after her. They might have been similar in age, but Javi could never see Mariana become what this girl was.

“Wait,” Javi spoke again as the man looked at the fallen tree, the damaged truck, and the gun-wielding girl. He was putting the pieces together. “You did that,” he said matter-of-factly. “With the tree, I mean. You’re the one who cut it down.”

“Yup,” the girl said, not even bothering to look back. “I was trying to stop the truck.”

The girl climbed into the driver’s seat, grabbing an apple off the dashboard before closing the car door.

“What do you need the truck for?” Javi asked as the girl took a bite from the apple, stepping away from the truck.

“To drive.” Another bite, an audible crunch heard even from Javi’s distance. Her mouth was full as she spoke again. “Put your hands up and close your eyes.”

Javi wanted to ask why, but he knew better than to ask. He did what was told in the end.

“Look,” Javi began through clenched, closed eyes. “I’m the victim here, okay?”

“What’s your point?” The girl’s voice grew louder as she drew closer. “We’re all victims.”

He felt the girl dig around in his backpack. He didn’t even know he was still wearing it. “That doesn’t mean it’s okay to rob me.”

“Consider this payment for saving you.”

The familiar crinkling sound forced Javi to open his eyes, his mouth drawn open in despair as he realized what this girl was holding. It was a chocolate bar. The same one Kate had given him to give to Mariana.

“Please put that back.” Javi reached out for it, obviously not getting far with his hands still tied. His eyebrows were raised in a pleading state. The girl just looked at him, a bored expression on her face. “It’s for my niece, okay? I was planning on giving it to her until we got separated. I’m still planning on giving it to her once I find her. She loves chocolate more than anything in the world.”

Javi knew he was overexplaining, yet didn’t do anything to stop it. His words seemed to have affected the girl, however. Her expression never changed, yet Javi could see her eyes have softened a bit as she placed the candy bar back in Javi’s bag.

“Turn around and count to a hundred before you go.” Much to Javi’s avail, he detested those words that flew out the stranger’s mouth just then.

“Wait!” He exclaimed, the girl doing as told curiously. “My family, they’re still stuck at the junkyard. Those assholes, the same guy who was driving the truck, kidnapped me to take me to God knows where.”

The girl stared up at him through squinted eyes and pulled together lips. Her face was clearly asking Javi ‘so what’?

Javi got to the point. “I need to get back to that junkyard. I don’t know where I am or if they’re still…” the man hesitated, hoping that what he was thinking had happened to his family wasn’t true. “I just need to at least try. I need to know if they’re okay or not.”

The girl stared at him in silence until she finally took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a split second. “You guys were speeding down the 522 highway. There’s only one junkyard on this highway, yet that isn’t for another some miles away.”

She looked at the busted truck, then looked back at Javi.

“How did you guys get to the junkyard in the first place?”

“We drove there in our van.” Javi took a matter-of-fact approach, not sure where this girl was going with whatever she was trying to say. “That’s how we got in trouble with those guys in the first place. We were siphoning gas from old cars until they stopped me, telling me that the gas didn’t belong to me, some crazy shit like that.”

The girl’s face lit up as if Javi told her something she needed to know.

“A van, huh?” She asked, more to herself than to Javi. He still nodded. “I’ll tell you what. Give me the van and I’ll take you to your family. An eye for an eye.”

Javi really wanted to say no. What would he and his family do without their van? How would they press on the road like they originally planned to? But then Javi realized that as long as he’d get his family back safe and sound, the van meant nothing.

“Okay,” Javi nodded his head in agreement. “You’ve got a deal.”

The girl beamed, not with a smile but with her change in posture. She stood up tall before turning around as she walked forward.

“C’mon,” she commanded as Javi followed close behind her.

They headed for the main road now. As Javi walked, it felt like the cable-ties on his wrists clamped tighter with every stride.

“Can you take these off me?” Javi asked as the girl kept walking. “They’re killing my wrists.”

She called out in front of him. “How do I know you’re not going to attack me if I do?”

He paused in his steps, the girl in front of him doing the same. She turned around to face him. “You’re going to help me find my family,” he explained. “I’d be a fool to ruin any chances of seeing them again.”

There went that soft expression on her face again. She walked up to him, pulling the dagger knife from her side holster before letting it swing down between his wrists. The cable tie fell to the ground, Javier immediately rubbing his sore wrists.

“Thanks,” he said. The girl nudged her head forward as she continued her walk. “We’re headed to my camp. We’ll find a ride there for the junkyard. If we’re lucky, we might find your family tonight.”

Javi walked side by side with the girl now as she continued to speak.

“So,” she began. “Who exactly would we be looking for?”

“My brother’s two kids,” Javi answered, “and his wife.”

The girl simply nodded in response.

Javi decided to press his luck. “What about you?” The girl looked up at him once before replacing her attention back on the road. “You look young, so you must’ve been even younger when all of this shit started. Do you have any family?”

She froze, the action so sudden it almost made Javi trip on his feet. He looked at her in concern, the girl looking back before she shook her head and walked again. “Used to,” were the first words to slip out her mouth. “I used to.”

“What happened to them?” Javi asked as he followed the girl to her camp.

“Same thing that happens to everyone.”

There was silence in the air. It wasn’t awkward, just filled with an aroma of sadness and doubt radiating off the girl. Javi never liked when things got quiet, especially after a conversation ended abruptly like that.

“Y’know,” Javi started again. He never knew when to shut up. “You saved my life, know about my family, and are helping me get them back yet I never once introduced myself.”

They stopped walking again, facing each other as Javi gave the girl a small smile. “I’m Javier or just Javi.”

The girl stared up in return as Javi waited for her to speak. She complied.

“Clementine,” she introduced herself. “My name’s Clementine.

Chapter Text

It was a fucking disaster.

Pressed against the outer metal walls of Clementine’s camp, both the girl and Javi were fighting for their lives, defending themselves by shooting and stunning the walkers that were determinedly making their way towards the humans.

“Open up!” Clementine yelled from beside Javi. She screamed to someone above the gates, shooting frantically with her barrel gun at the same time. “Open the fuck up now! It’s Clementine!”

A horde had come upon them while they were walking silently on the road. Javi believed it might’ve been the same group of walkers he saw when he was patrolling the area back with Kate. He knew that considerable time had passed, but it was still the same night. These walkers were moving fast.

“We can’t!” Called a voice from above. “We can’t let you in until you clear them off first!”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

When the horde started to increase in size, Clementine was quick to hand Javi back his handgun. Well, the handgun he stole.

‘Don’t do anything stupid,’ The girl had warned. ‘My promise still stands. I’ll shoot a lot quicker than you did.’

They were making good progress. Despite the gunshots attracting them, they managed to clear off a large number of walkers. There were maybe nine of them left, Javi believing it shouldn’t take long for the gates to finally open.

Then it all came crashing down. Clementine’s barrel gun made a clinking noise, signaling she was out of ammo.

“Shit,” she cursed, casting the long gun aside to pull out her own handgun. Javi wasn’t really focused on the girl, his attention divided on gunning down Muertos. There were four left.

Clementine’s handgun made a muffled sound as she pulled the trigger, her anger and frightened state going through the roof.

“You can’t be serious,” Clementine said, attempting to reach for her dagger that hung on her hip’s holster. “Not now, not fucking now.”

She suddenly screamed, pulling Javi’s attention away from the monsters to look at the distressed girl. A muerto was on her while Clementine pushed against it to get it off her. Thinking fast, he shot the walker while the girl pushed it off her.

“Thanks,” Clementine said while out of breath and visibly shaken. He reached for her dagger that had fallen on the ground. Ah, Javi thought. She might’ve gotten attacked as soon as she was too distracted focusing on getting that dagger out of the holster.

They still had to focus on getting rid of these last two Muertos, which would soon result in chaos. With Clementine still shaken and Javi down to his last two bullets, they were practically walker chow at this point. They were closing in, Clementine rising up with her dagger while Javi aimed his gun to shoot.

Then suddenly the Muertos dropped dead, both Clementine and Javi stared forward in confusion. Two gunshots rang out as a woman on a horse stormed in, the gates behind them finally opening.

“Good work,” called a voice from above. “Now get in here before more of those fuckers come.”

The voice didn’t have to tell them twice. The woman on the horse trotted right on in, Javi and Clementine followed as the gates behind them closed.

While the woman turned left, Javi and Clementine continued to walk forward, the man following Clementine as she led him somewhere. They stopped outside of a structure that resembled a plane. There were lights on inside, the sound of talking present.

“Hey,” Clementine began. “Thanks for saving my ass back there.”

“It’s no problem,” Javi beamed. “Consider that a fair exchange for saving my ass back there with the tree.”

Clementine let out a slight smile, taking a glance inside the airplane before looking back at Javi. She looked anxious about something, Javi noted.

“Listen, I’ve got to handle something real quick, okay?”

“Do you need any help?” Javi questioned, his eyes darting towards the airplane structure.

“No, no.” The girl was already making her way inside the airplane. “I don’t think it’ll take long.” Clementine froze, her eyes scouting the area before she eventually pointed at something across from them. Javi followed her gaze, realizing her eyes were trailed on a person.

“There’s Tripp,” she said. She pointed towards a man that was too far to make out any specific details. All Javi could tell was that the man was blond and wearing an all-blue outfit. He was also making his way down the ladders that were connected to the long, metal gates. Was he the guy who opened the gates for them? “He’s got a jeep, so he’s our ride to the junkyard. You should go talk to him now before it gets even darker.”

Javi couldn’t even respond back to the girl. In the blink of an eye, she disappeared, stomping off inside the airplane structure. He looked back at the blond man who’d finally made his way off the ladders. Javi took a deep breath before making his way over to him. His family needed him. He had to get back to that junkyard by any means.

“Hey,” Javi greeted once he was within earshot. Tripp turned around, making Javi halt in his place. Woah, the darker-haired man thought. Tripp was huge. Not in an insulting way, but it was true. The blond had to be several feet taller than Javi, and even though Tripp was fully covered, Javi could tell the man was packing some serious muscle.

Damn.

“Hey,” Tripp greeted back. “You’re the guy who was out there with Clementine and Francine. Thanks for clearing out those creepers, by the way.”

Despite his awed state, Javi found himself scoffing at Tripp’s words. “It’s not like I had much choice. You wouldn’t let us in until we did.”

“Hey,” Tripp playfully threw his hands up in the air in defense. “It’s protocol. I was just doing my job.”

“I understand. I’m Javi, by the way.”

“Tripp.” He stuck out his hand, Javi politely shaking it. Once the formalities were out the way, Javi knew he had to get down to business.

“I need your help.” Tripp looked surprised, yet didn’t say a word as Javi spoke again. “Before I got here, I was kidnapped by a group of men from the junkyard not far from here. Clementine saved me, but I have to go back. My family is still there and I need to know if they’re okay or not. Clementine told me you have a ride. So I was wondering…”

“If I can drive you down to the junkyard,” Tripp finished. He rubbed his beard, still soaking in Javi’s words as the Latino man patiently waited for a response. “There’s only one junkyard on this road, so there’s no mistaking which one you’re talking about.”

Javi was impatient, yet tried his hardest to wait for Tripp’s verdict.

He didn’t have to wait long. “I’ll drive you down to that junkyard.” Javi smiled wide, yet faltered as Tripp continued. “The only problem is we might have to wait ‘till morning. If we go now, those shitheads might get the jump on us. I think the safety of morning daylight will come in handy.”

Javi wanted to rip his own hair out in frustration. “Tripp,” he spoke, a pleading tone in his voice. “Please, we’ve got to go now. I understand where you’re coming from with the whole safety in daylight thing but I’ve got to know my family’s okay. There were so many men there, so many dangerous men that could’ve done God knows what to a woman and two children hiding in a small space. Please, Tripp. I just have to know.”

Tripp remained silent before he let out a sigh of defeat. “Every second wasted is every second your family’s in danger back at that junkyard. Okay, Javi. You win. I’ll get you down to that junkyard right now.

Javi breathed out a sigh of relief, his hands clasping together as he thanked the taller man. “Thank you, Tripp. I mean it.”

“You’re lucky I’m a family man.” He walked off to the right. “I’ll bring my jeep ‘round back. There are too many creepy crawlies out in the front tonight so we’ll take the back route. Wait for me until you see my lights flash. I won’t take long.”

He was off, leaving Javi to stand alone. He planned on heading back to the airplane structure to inform Clementine that they would soon be leaving. He found himself shocked as he heard a gunshot go off from inside the airplane. Javi ran towards it, his heart beating fast from both Javi running and the nervousness he was feeling. Did something happen to Clementine?

The sound of Javi’s footsteps was altered as he stepped on the metal flooring of the structure as opposed to the dirt flooring from outside. He watched as people crowded a curtained-off spot from the building… Javi later realized it was a bar as the smell of familiar alcohol littered his nostrils. One bald man, in particular, looked very pissed as he stormed into the curtained area.

“Are you fucking serious?” He practically screamed. “You come into my bar just to…”

Javi and the bald man stepped into the curtained area, both men freezing in their spots as they took in the sight before them.

Sitting in a chair was a man, a bullet drove deep into his forehead as blood dripped from the hole. His eyes and mouth were opened in shock. Javi directed his focus to the girl standing less than five feet away from the dead man, a gun in her hand as she breathed in and out deeply.

Oh my God.

“It was self-defense,” Clementine was quick to say, making Javi believe the girl was possibly lying. “He was about to jump me, a little girl, over a stupid, fucking argument.”

Both men stood there frozen. Clementine bounced from looking the bald man in his eyes before looking Javi in his eyes. She looked like she was pleading for him to back her up, even though both of them knew she wasn’t telling the truth.

“I don’t know,” Javi began, the bald man beside him almost breaking his neck as he quickly stared at Javi. “Maybe she is telling the truth.”

“Or maybe she shot him for no fucking reason. And Clementine, you’re really about to pull the age card now? I don’t give a fuck if you’re a child or not, that does not grant you any permission to shoot a man especially in my bar.”

“He attacked me, Conrad!” The gun in Clementine’s hand rattled as she shook in anger and frustration. “He attacked me! What would you have preferred, a man kills a child over fucking bullets or a child defended herself over an uncontrollable man?”

“C’mon, man,” Javi spoke up again. “I don’t think she’s lying.” At this point, even Javi was convinced that Clementine was telling the truth. “Maybe she was really attacked. I don’t think she’d just kill that man unless she had a justified reason.”

Clementine smiled, grateful that someone was backing her up.

Conrad looked defeated, glancing back at Javi in the hopes that he’d change his mind. The look on his face told Conrad all he needed to know. Javi had believed Clementine.

He balled his hands into fists, before letting them drop. “Get out. Get the fuck out my bar.”

Clementine and Javi looked at each other before they did as asked. They made their way out of the curtained area and the bar before they found themselves outside again. On the right, car lights beamed as a familiar blond could be seen sitting in the driver’s seat.

“C’mon,” he spoke to Clementine. “We’re going to that junkyard.”

-

The jeep roared as Tripp parked it, Javi nearly getting run over as he jumped out of the car.

“Let’s be in and out about it.” Clementine had jumped out of the car, pulling her dagger out of her halter just in case. Tripp carefully closed the driver’s seat before he made his way towards Javi and Clem. “I left the car running so let’s try to be quick. Once you find your family, we’re getting the hell out of here.”

“Copy,” Javi said. He turned to step inside the junkyard before the crunch of a wire beneath his feet made him pause. He looked down, his mouth opened in shock as he realized what he had stepped on.

Mariana’s C.D. player. Her headphones were still plugged in, a feat Javi noticed as he bent down to pick them up.

‘She had to still be here,’ Javi thought. ‘She had to.’

“Mariana!” He yelled, not giving a damn about attracting any Muertos. “Mariana, are you still here?”

A brunette peaked her head out from one of the run-down dozers. Her face was fully exposed as she revealed herself, the girl running full speed towards Javi.

It was Mariana, still dressed in her purple jacket. Javi bent down with his arms extended, holding his niece tightly into a hug as the both of them reunited. “Javi!” The girl exclaimed into his ear. “You came back!”

“Of course I did.” Remembering the object he held in his hand, Javi extended his right hand out towards Mariana. It was her most prized possession that he held. “Here,” Javi said as Mariana took her C.D. player from his hands. “I found this for you.”

“Thank you,” the girl greeted as her uncle returned to his full height. “I thought I lost it!”

“Hey,” Tripp spoke out from beside them. “As much as I love seeing families reunite, we’re running on limited time and gas. We’ve gotta get out of here as soon as possible.”

Javi understood. “Mari,” he spoke. “Where’s Kate and Gabe?”

The girl pointed towards a vehicle somewhere off to the right. “They’re hiding in a truck down there. I was going to join them but a herd of Muertos came out of nowhere. We got separated until you showed up.”

“What are we waiting for?” Clementine said shortly after Mariana was done talking. “Let’s go get them.”

She sauntered off in the direction Mariana pointed, Tripp following after Clementine. Javi turned around for a brief moment. “Stay close to me,” he advised Mariana. She nodded, understanding as she remained close to Javi who was trailing behind Tripp and Clementine.

The group watched as the group of walkers mentioned was slamming themselves against a red truck. As they got closer, Javi could see Kate sitting inside the driver’s seat of the car.

“Kate!” Javi couldn’t help but exclaim, unintentionally drawing the muertos’ attention to the group of people.

They wasted no time. Clementine acted first, knocking out the knees of one walker before she shoved her dagger into its brains. Tripp pulled out his gun that was hidden in his front pocket, shooting a couple of walkers efficiently. Javi wasn’t even worried about the gunshots, they’d be out of there quickly once they’ve got Kate and Gabe out.

Javi pulled out his own gun, quickly remembering he only had two bullets left. He had to make them count. He shot at one Muerto, yet somehow missed the last shot he had. Fortunately, Tripp saved one bullet for that last walker, the dead things instantly dropping to the ground with the rest of his friends.

Javi dashed towards the truck, immediately opening the truck door to let Kate and Gabe out.

“Kate,” Javi greeted. “Gabe.” He embraced the two in a quick, firm hug, forced to pull away as he knew he’d get more time back at Clementine’s camp to properly reunite.

“Happy to see me?” Kate remarked as Gabe moved to hug Mariana. In response, Javi grabbed Kate’s face, absentmindedly kissing her before pulling away. “Eww’s” came out the mouths of Gabe and Mari. Clementine merely looked away.

“Alright, alright,” Tripp laughed at the disgusted children. “We’ve got to head back now. You all can spend the night at our camp before you find yourselves back on the road. Let’s go.”

Tripp headed off, Clementine trailing behind him. Gabe originally was going to stick beside his family, but as he noticed the teenage girl he set off for her. Javi held back a laugh as he heard a ‘hey, what’s your name?’ fly out of his mouth.

“They have a camp?” Mariana, Javi, and Kate walked, the three of them starting a conversation. “I hope there’s food, I’m starving.”

“Well I, for one, hope there are at least beds for us to sleep on. I’m tired of sleeping in the van.”

Javi forgot all about the van that was somewhere around the junkyard. “Hey, Clementine!” He called out, the girl turning around curiously. “The van, remember? I didn’t forget.”

Clementine’s eyes lit up as the group all stopped. They were close to the exit, Tripp’s car less than ten feet away from them. Javi looked off to the left, amazed that the van was still there. He had no idea how he managed to miss it as they drove towards the junkyard. Remembering he was still wearing his backpack, the man quickly dropped it, searching the sack’s front pocket before he found the car keys. He threw them to Clementine who’d caught it. Everyone looked at the both of them in confusion, even Clementine had like she didn’t expect this to happen.

“Keeping up my end of the bargain.” Javi stood up, slugging the backpack over his back again.

Kate looked at him, bewildered at the scene. “Javi, what the fuck?”

Clementine looked at the keys, back at Javi, before staring at the van itself. Javi started to look at the van too before his eyes widened at the scene in front of him.

“Everybody get down!” A gun was pointed towards them from across the street, the bullet being fired as soon as they all dropped down. Javi breathed heavily, glancing towards Mariana and Kate. They looked back at him, an equal amount of fear written in their expressions.

Javi knew that if he was even one second late, that bullet would’ve gone through one of their heads.

“Get out here, you sons of bitches!” One of the attackers screamed from across the street. Bullets still continued to fire. Clementine peeked up from her hiding spot to fire back at them.

“We’re getting the fuck out of here!” Tripp crept around a small car he was hiding behind to carefully make his way back to his jeep. “Everyone, get the car! You two, cover me!” Tripp tossed Javi his own handgun while Clementine continued to act on her accord. She fired more bullets, managing to take down a man from the other side. Javi crawled next to the girl, firing bullets himself as Gabe and Mariana hopped in the jeep. Kate was about to hop in as well, until she was knocked off her feet, a bullet piercing through her torso.

“Kate!” Javi screamed, leaving Clementine’s side to lift up Kate. He looked up, making eye contact with Clementine who stopped firing her gun for a moment as she hid behind a blue, junked barrel.

“We’ve got to go, Clementine!” Javi tried to command. “We’ve got to go before she bleeds out.”

“No way,” Clementine protested, standing up one minute to fire bullets back across the street. The men were shooting less and less… maybe they were running out of bullets. “We’ve got to get rid of them all. Look what they did to her,” she pointed towards a slowly unconscious Kate’s bullet wound. “What’s to say they won’t track us down again and do worse?”

“Hey!” Tripp’s voice called from the van. “What’s the holdup? Get your asses in here now!”

Javi looked back at an expectant Clem. For a brief moment, he was considering her words. But after glancing at Kate’s bleeding wound, it was clear what the right choice was.

He held onto Kate, rushing to the passenger seat of Tripp’s jeep with her in his arms. “Let’s go, Clementine!”

The girl looked back from across the street, back to Javi, before eventually letting out noise in frustration. She rushed towards the jeep, Tripp immediately pressing the gas pedal as Clementine rolled in the back seats.

The three kids in the back quickly turned around, watching as one of the men threw a can of something near Javi’s van.

It took Clementine five seconds to realize what it was. “Oh, shit.”

An explosion went off. Orange, red, and even white stripes of light danced as they bounced off the fastly burning van.

“No, no, no,” Clementine sank down on her seat, looking away from the colorful scene behind them as Tripp continued to drive. She placed her head in her hands, squeezing her eyes shut as she focused on trying not to cry. She could feel Gabe and Mariana’s concerned stares on her, but she didn’t care.

She just lost her ticket out of here. Her ticket back to A.J.

-

“How is she?”

Although mentally dazed, the group physically made it back to camp in one piece. When they returned, the sky was changing from a violet purple to a cashmere red, alerting the group that early morning was approaching.

They all parted from each other after Tripp had dropped them off. The blond man questioned was somewhere with his jeep, telling Javi before he parted that he was going to ‘check on her, give her a good polish after what happened tonight.’ Mariana and Clementine were getting acquainted. They were sitting on a bench not too far from Javi’s view. He could see they were trying to share Mariana’s headphones as they listened to music. Gabe was… somewhere. Last Javi saw him, the boy was storming away wordlessly.

Javi himself was at the makeshift infirmary, which was really just four cot beds sitting underneath a tent covering. Kate was lying on one of the cots, knocked out with a bandage wrapped over her torso.

A woman doctor, who Javi soon learned was named Eleanor, was standing on the other side of Kate’s cot. Her hand was placed on Kate’s forehead before she removed it.

“She’s sterilized, for now. She doesn’t have a fever, and by the looks of things, she’s still breathing.” Eleanor gave Javi a weak smile, an attempt to lighten the mood. Her smile dropped as Javi didn’t return it. “Don’t worry, Javi,” she continued to assure him. “I managed to get all the bullet shillings out. She’s out for now, but she’ll wake up soon.”

The doctor looked around, her sights setting on something in the distance.

“There’s some water bottles over there.” She pointed towards a table near Conrad’s bar, a couple of water bottles sitting on top of it. “You should go get one for Kate, hydrate her once she wakes up.”

“Listen,” she continued. “I’ve got to go check on a couple more patients. Go stretch your legs for a bit, okay? I’ll be back soon before Kate wakes up.”

Javi got up, giving Eleanor a tight smile in response. “Thank you,” was one of the first words he’d spoken in a minute.

Eleanor returned the smile. “Of course.” She walked away, setting Javi off to go contrive the water bottle and to look around.

As he set for the water, he passed by Clementine and Mariana, smiling to himself as he overheard their conversation.

“This is Donna Summer,” Mariana explained. “All her songs are good, but On The Radio is my favorite. That’s the song you’re listening to now.”

“I like it,” Clementine responded, bopping her head slightly to the beat. “It’s been a while since I listened to music.”

Javi grabbed the water from the table, planning on heading back to Kate. He was stopped by Mariana, however, Javi found himself walking towards his niece who was flagging him down relentlessly.

“Hey, Mariana,” he greeted his niece. He nodded towards Clementine. “Hey, Clem.” The girl nodded back, deciding to refocus her attention on Mariana’s C.D. player.

Mariana gave her side of the headphones to Clementine before she spoke to her uncle. “How’s Kate?” the girl asked. “Is she gonna be okay?”

Javi assured his niece by nodding. “Yeah, yeah. She’s gonna be okay, Mari. You’re okay, right?”

“Yeah,” the girl responded with a nod of her head. “Things back there were scary, but I didn’t get hurt.”

“That’s good.” Javi scoped out the area, trying to find his nephew. “Where’s your brother?” Javi asked.

Mariana pointed towards Javi’s left. “I saw him go that way, towards the gates.”

“Thank you,” Javi said, already making his way where Mariana pointed him.

As he reached the gates, the man looked around, not seeing a familiar orange beanie anywhere. He froze, however, as an unexpected voice spoke to him.

“Javier García.” Javi spun around, making eye contact with the man who was leaned up against one of the gated walls. “One of Miami’s greatest baseball players. Too bad they kicked you off the team. You were my favorite player.”

Conrad. The same bald man who ran the bar that Clementine got kicked out of.

“I knew who you were,” Conrad continued. “I knew it since I got a closeup look back at my bar.”

“Conrad,” Javi moved to speak. “Have you seen my nephew anywhere?”

“What, a little boy in a blue jacket and a hat with a scowl on his face?” Conrad pointed towards the metal gate. Javi was confused before Conrad explained. “He’s out there, cutting up a dead walker or some shit. Don’t worry, Enrique up there is keeping watch. Your boy is safe out there.”

“Enrique!” Conrad called out above the gates. “Open up for Javier García!”

The gates slowly opened, Javi making his way out before Conrad stopped him, a tight grip placed on his shoulder.

“Say, Javi,” Conrad said. “I assume you’re a good card player, right? Since that’s what the Marlins kicked you out for. When you come back, how about you join Tripp, Francine, and me for a card match today?”

Javi nodded in agreement, partly to get this man’s deathly grip on his shoulder off him. “Yeah, yeah I’ll join you guys later for a game.”

“Good, see you then.” He let Javi’s shoulder go, allowing the man to chase after his nephew. Just a couple of feet away from the gates sat Gabe, viciously tearing into a muerto with a mini ax. Who gave him that ax?

“Stupid,” Javi could hear Gabe mutter to himself with every blow delivered. “So, so stupid.”

“Gabe,” Javi greeted, causing the boy to stop his movements. He hadn’t turned around yet, the boy still staring at the dead monster. “Gabe, what’s going on?”

“I’m fine, Javi,” Gabe called out from his spot. “I’m, I’m fine.”

Javi approached the boy, crouching down next to him. The man could see tears pooling around the boy’s eyes, Gabe quickly wiping them away with the back of his hand.

Javi reached out to touch Gabe, yet the boy shoved him away. They remained quiet for a while until Gabe finally spoke up.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” Gabe silently admitted. “I’m just tired, Javi.” The boy turned to look Javi in the eye. “I’m tired of it all. Plus, that day in the junkyard was on a whole different level. I felt weak like I couldn’t do anything but hide and run. Kate got shot today by the same guys we were hiding from. And I couldn’t do anything about it.”

Javi listened to his nephew vent, the man’s eyebrows burrowing as Gabe spoke. Once he was done, Javi carefully planned out his words before he spoke. Gabe was like a rocket. One wrong word and he’d blast into pieces.

“Kate getting shot wasn’t your fault.” Javi rubbed Gabe’s shoulder, the boy allowing some form of physical assurance. “None of us saw it coming. Plus, Kate is still alive, Gabe. She’ll still need some rest, but she’ll be back on her feet in no time.”

“I wish we’d have a home again, Javi.” The boy quietly admitted. “Not the van, even though it got blown up.”

Javi laughed, although on the inside he was mournful. Too many memories were made on that van, some of them good… some of them really good. If Kate could read his thoughts right now, she’d slap the hell out of his arm. The van was their home, their sense of safety. Javi didn’t know what they’d do now without it.

“We’ll find a home,” Javi vowed, not knowing if he believed his own words. “A really good one, too. That way you don’t have to worry about running and hiding anymore.”

Gabe smiled, and Javi smiled back. From his crouched position Javi stood up to his actual height, Gabe standing up as well.

“C’mon,” Javi said, ruffling Gabe’s beanie as the two of them walked towards the now opening gates. “Let’s go check on Kate.”

-

She looked dead, to say the least.

Her skin was pale, her movements slow and uncalculated as Kate moved. She blinked slowly, her eyes baggy and puffy as she tried to open them. Her lips were chapped too, Javi handing the water bottle over to her to hydrate herself and her lips.

But despite the rugged appearance, Javi was glad she wasn’t dead.

He smiled as he watched her drink from the water bottle, the woman holding back a laugh as she closed the bottle. “What?” Kate asked playfully, a smile on her lips. “What’s got you smiling like a goof?”

Javi continued to smile, Gabe sitting awkwardly and disgustedly on the edge of Kate’s cot. “I’m glad you’re still alive, Kate.”

“I’m glad too. I really wish I had some kush on me.” Kate turned to address her stepson, a weak smile on her face.

“Are you okay?” Gabe asked.

“I’m not going to lie, it hurts like hell.” She rubbed her wound, slowly and gently as she put minimal pressure on it. “Don’t worry, Gabe. I’ll be fine.”

Gabe nodded as Kate continued to speak. “Can you bring Mariana here? I want to check on her too.”

“On it,” Gabe said, getting up from her cot as he dashed off to find his sister. Once he was gone, the two adults were left to speak.

“So what exactly happened out there, Javi?” Damn, just cut right to the chase. “I remember getting shot and seeing you toss the van keys to that girl. What was her name?”

“Clementine,” Javi answered.

“Clementine,” Kate repeated. “Right. I’ve got to thank her and that man for saving the kids and me from the junkyard. I would thank you, but I’m pretty sure that kiss solidified it then.”

Javi blushed. “The kiss I initiated.”

“The kiss I didn’t reject.” She paused for a second to laugh. “After that, everything was a blur. I remember screaming, a bang going off, but that’s all I can remember.”

Javi opened his mouth to talk, planning on explaining everything to Kate. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t get the chance. Both adults whipped their heads around to the front gates, a loud scream grasping their attention.

“Francine!” A voice yelled. Javi looked above the gates, surprised to see Conrad along with three other men aiming their guns at something below their view. One of the other guys was Tripp, Javi could see.

“Javi…” Kate began, tapping her hand on Javi’s arm. “Go get the kids.”

Javi was frozen. Other people were glued in their spots, looking up as they too listened to the scene being played before them.

“Francine!” Conrad yelled again. “Francine, baby don’t worry! Imma get you out of there!”

The only thing that broke Javi’s attention was the sharp pain he felt in his arm as Kate slapped it. “Javier!” She scorned. “Go get the fucking kids! Now!”

Just like that he was up, frantically rushing past a group of people before he spotted Clementine, Mariana, and Gabe standing closely together as they observed what was going down.

Mariana was the first to spot Javi as the man beelined straight towards them. “Javi?” She questioned. Gabe and Clementine turned around to look at Javi with confusion and fear on their faces. “What’s going on?”

“Get away from the gates,” he warned. “Let them settle whatever is going on outside.”

Then it all came crashing down. A sharp “NOOO!” left Conrad’s mouth, the guys above the gates immediately starting spraying their clips. People from inside the camp started screaming, unaware of the violence truly going outside those gates.

“Let’s go!” Javi screamed, already jet-setting back towards Kate. The three kids were trailing behind him as they should.

They continued to run, the vibration of something ramming against the gates knocking them off their feet. They soon learned it was a truck filled with Muertos and some form of gas. It rammed into the camp, some Muertos that had broken free were beginning to attack screaming civilians. The toxic gas was starting to set in, Javi recalling his throat feeling itchy and coughing frantically.

“Go!” He managed to scream out during a fit of coughing. “Go get Kate!”

“Javi…” Gabe started before Javi cut him off.

“Get out of here! I’ll catch up with you!”

“C’mon,” Clementine pulled on both Gabe and Mariana’s arms. “We gotta go!” They listened, the three kids off to find Kate during this madness.

It was getting bad for Javi. Smoke started to fill his lungs and vision, his coughing growing more violent as he was forced to close his eyes. With his senses all fucked up, he hadn’t even realized a Muerto jumped on him until he heard the growl of it in his ear. With the little strength he had, Javi tried to push the ghoul off of him. He was on the verge of giving up, his body slumping in defeat. The sound of a gunshot woke Javi up, the man watching as a bullet went through the thing's skull. He saw arms push the thing off him before those same pairs of arms pulled Javi up.

“Javi!” He heard a familiar voice say, arms shaking him frantically as Javi’s vision was blurred. “We gotta go, now!”

The next thing Javi knew was that his eyes slowly closed, his neck going limp as he passed out.

The last thing he heard before he went under was a last and final “Javi!”

-

A soft rumble of an engine was the first thing Javi felt when he woke up.

He slowly blinked around, hearing light conversation being held from somewhere that seemed far away. He noticed that he was slumped in a car, his body laying on a couple of car seats. He didn’t know where anyone else was. He couldn’t spot the kids, Tripp, or…

“You’re up,” called a voice next to him. Javi turned his head. Kate.

“Where,” Javi started as he sat up. “Where’s everybody?”

“Tripp, Conrad, Eleanor are outside talking,” Kate explained. Conrad and Eleanor were with them? “The kids are outside too, all three of them. They wanted to stretch their legs before the guys figured out where we’re going.”

Javi nodded, still trying to wake himself up. “Are you okay?” Javi asked.

“It still hurts like hell,” Kate jokingly replied. “And that attack back at the camp made matters worse. But I’m not dead yet, right?”

She let out a chuckle, yet it sounded slightly painful. Javi frowned at the sound. Kate must’ve caught his concerned look as she began to speak again.

“Why don’t you talk to the guys outside?” She proposed. “I don’t want to stay in one spot too long in case we get jumped by Muertos.”

“Got it.” Javi made his way out of the jeep, conversation noises accelerating as Javi walked forward.

He saw Mariana and Gabe were good, the two of them chatting with a straight-faced Clementine. Tripp leaned against the hood of his jeep, his gaze focused on Javi as the tanned man stepped closer. Eleanor stood close to another car, her face sad and mournful as she spotted Javi. Conrad was slumped sitting close to Eleanor as the man spoke.

“They killed her,” Conrad said, not looking anyone in the face. “They killed Francine.”

Everyone remained quiet. Even the kids stopped talking to listen in on the conversation.

“I didn’t even get to bury her.” Conrad shoved his face into his hands, Eleanor rubbing his shoulder to soothe him. “We have to go back,” Conrad proposed. “She deserves a proper burial.”

“Conrad,” Tripp said. “You know we can’t do that. You saw how they left our camp, dumping those creatures off. If we go back, we’ll end up just like everyone else.”

Conrad remained silent, knowing that Tripp was right. “We don’t have a home anymore. Where the fuck do we go from here?”

Everyone remained silent again at Conrad’s question until Clementine spoke up. “There’s a place we can go.”

The kids looked at her shocked, the adults looked at her curiously.

“If we continue on this road, we should reach a camp not too far from here. There’s… I heard they have medicine, food, and borders protecting the people inside from walkers. It might be a place we can stay for a while.”

“I think we should go for it,” Javi agreed with the plan. “Kate might need medicine soon for her wound.”

“I don’t know, Javi,” Eleanor challenged. “We don’t know if this place is legit or not.”

“It is,” Clementine spoke up. “It’s real. It’s got to be.”

Silence, until Tripp spoke up. “What’s this place called, anyway?”

“Richmond,” the girl answered. “It’s called Richmond.”

Tripp’s stomach growled loud for everyone to hear. “If they got food as you promised, Clementine, then I think this place is worth a shot.” Tripp moved towards his jeep’s driver's seat. “Everybody in, we’re going to Richmond.”

Everybody followed suit. The kids and Javi jumped in Tripp’s jeep, Conrad and Eleanor hopped in the other car. Clementine gave Tripp directions, the blue jeep leading the way for the silver car in the back.

It was settled, then. They were going to Richmond.