Work Text:
It had been six months since Clementine and Sarah’s encounter with their now trusted and loved friend Ellie. Stories of adventures and near death experiences had been shared. Tears had been shed because of the journeys and comfort had been given when needed. Much to Sarah’s pleasure Ellie had given them a full report on what the Fungal pandemic was, the back story on how it came about and why she had an ominous looking scar on her right arm.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore. I was bitten but that’s when I realised I was immune-like I told you?- And also, funnily the day I realised I had a thing for girls. So tell me. Are you two a thing?” Ellie had smirked and looked pointedly at Clementine, giving her a devilish look that sent shivers down the younger girl’s spine. And not in a bad way.
Sarah had scoffed while Clemmy had blushed and flustered. “No! Don’t be ridiculous.”
The brunette leaned closer to Clemmy and whispered one simple word, “Good.” And that was the start of Clementine’s feelings for Ellie.
“Masks on. Spores ahead.” Sarah warned, directly as usual. The two of them slipped on their masks taken from bandits that stupidly attacked them, all those months ago.
“We need to get out of here.” Clemmy brought out her knives whispering to the two other girls.
Ellie chipped in, bow and arrow at the ready. “Yeah, this place is swarming with clickers.” Sarah silently held up a hand and gestured for the girls to stop. She turned to Ellie and asked, “Do you know any place we could get some shelter?”
For a moment she was quiet, thinking of anywhere the three of them could retire for the night. She looked around in search for some exit that would lead them in the direction to the graveyard where they could potentially stay. On finding one she smirked and nodded firmly.
“There’s a graveyard about six miles from here. If we can get there and find a tomb to stay in or something?”
Sarah looked to Clementine and they both shared a nod. “Alright. Lead the way Ellie.” Clemmy held Ellie’s gaze steadily as butterflies danced in her stomach. She couldn’t help but cast her thoughts back to the other night.
Clementine and Ellie had been sitting round a fire they had set while Sarah was off trying to gather some food for them. Ellie had looked at her the way she was looking at her right now. It was a look heavily laced with admiration, respect and passion. Ellie had kissed her that night; she told her that she loved her, and if that meant risking her life to save Clementine’s then she would do it. Thousands of times over.
And all Clemmy could do was stare. When Ellie asked her to say something she got up.
“I can’t do this.” She had said to Ellie, tearing her eyes away so she didn’t have to see the hurt and disappointment on the other girl’s face. “I don’t want to be hurt. Not anymore”
“Clem!” The youngest girl snapped out her thoughts upon hearing her name. She looked back to Ellie who had gripped her shoulder’s obviously worried.
“I’m fine. Let’s g-“ Clementine pushed Ellie aside abruptly and embedded her dagger into a clickers head. She pulled her dagger free, allowing the dead creature to fall to the ground with a satisfying thud. She looked ahead to see more advancing, obviously they had heard the commotion. Without turning around she rand a hand through her hair and asked, “So, should we run, or kick some clicker ass?”
The other two girls got up and stood by either side of Clementine, gripping their weapons almost artistically. Sarah smirked and answered with a question of her own.
“What do you think?”
The three girls sprinted into the fight without hesitation.
~~~~~~
It had been months since Lara had seen another human. She had been living out her days in a small, manageable tomb she had come across one night while looking for shelter. It was situated in an overgrown, eerie looking graveyard which was enveloped in a thick forest. The tomb was open enough for a fire. It had one entrance and one exit which made it easy to defend but difficult to escape from, if escaping was necessary. The tomb had three rooms. She had no idea why, but she didn’t complain. Lara was experienced in surviving. She had been doing it pretty much her entire life. The tomb- her, tomb was stacked full with medical supplies, food, clothing, weaponry, everything she thought she needed.
Tonight she had been skinning a rabbit she had caught that day when out of nowhere she heard quiet voices. Instinctively she grabbed her bow and arrow and crouched next to the entrance, which was well hidden by vines and tall grass. She loaded her bow with an arrow from her quiver and lifted the bow to the direction the voices were coming from. After a few minutes she spotted the people who had destroyed the monthly long silence. Three girls. Two talking and grinning, the other stoic expression. They looked friendly, but she was very aware what friendly could turn into if the friendly felt threatened. Lara left her tomb and slyly crept closer to them. When she was about a yard away, she replaced her bow and arrow for two pistols. She sprang up and into view.
“Don’t come any closer!” Lara pointed her guns in the girl’s general directions. Immediately after she had made her presence clear, the three of them had raised whatever weapon they had to hand and took on a threatening stance.
A brunette girl with a ponytail lifted up both her hands and spoke. “Hey. We don’t want any trouble here. Just looking for some shelter. We haven’t exactly had an easy night.”
Lara’s eyes scanned them watching as the two that had been laughing slowly dropped their guns, placing them back into holsters or the back of their jeans. The oldest looking girl, looked sceptically at Lara before also putting down her weapon.
“Alright. Now, care to point those things elsewhere?” The same girl spoke again and after a few minutes, Lara obliged.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to look somewhere else for shelter. This place is taken.” Lara turned to leave when another girl spoke. The one with the baseball cap that looked older than its owner.
“Hey! Look, we have injured. She needs her leg tended to; can you please just let us camp here? One night.”
Lara turned back round to witness a hushed argument between the two girls that had spoken. The one with the cap spoke up a little, and Lara caught what she had said.
“No, Ellie that’s bullshit. We barely made it out the warehouse. You need to rest.”
The Ellie girl smirked and muttered something to the other girl making her blush and look away. Lara sighed heavily and shrugged.
“Fine! One night love birds and co. Just, quit the flirting please. And I do not permit sex in my tomb.”
This made the older girl laugh and the other two squirm awkwardly. Lara began to walk back to her shelter with the other girls following.
“I’ll need names please, and whoever it is that’s injured. Come with me and I’ll have a look at it.”
The four of them entered the tomb, Lara leading them straight into the infirmary slash armoury as she liked to call it. The injured girl hopped up onto handcrafted bed and rolled up her leg, revealing a deep looking gash.
“My name’s Ellie, and I’ll be your patient for today Doctor London.”
Lara sighed and took a good look at the wound.
“My name’s Lara and not all English people are from London. Or sound like this at all actually. Can one of you two get me some disinfectant?”
The older girl walked over to the large medical supply and picked up the required stuff, including the stitching equipment and bandages. “My name is Sarah. I can see you’re experienced in medical, but if you do need any help. Just ask. Politely.” Sarah put down the stuff then stood back, crossing her arms and leaning on the wall. She was quite obviously not happy with all of this.
The youngest looking girl with the cap stepped forward and half waved at Lara. “And I’m Clementine. Or Clem. Whatever really.”
“Well, Ellie Clementine and Sarah. I’m Lara, as I have already said, and apparently your host. If anyone knows how to cook rabbit. Go do it. I’m hungry and I’m pretty sure,” She sighed softly. “My patient will be too, after this.”
***
After Ellie had been stitched up and bandaged, they had all eaten and told the regular campfire stories, it was time for them to rest.
“Alright, go rest. You three can take this room, I’ll be through there.” Lara pointed to an arch which led through to another room.
“If there is any bother just let me know.”
Sarah was the one to answer. She had been sitting in the corner, loading all their guns and sharpening their knives. Other than right now, she had been entirely silent the whole night.
“Thank you Lara. We appreciate it.” The others nodded in agreement. The Lady smiled slightly and bowed her head in acknowledgment. “It’s been a while since I had company… So, I guess, I should say thanks.”
Clementine watched as Lara turned to go into her own room, while the other two were getting ready for bed. Clementine took off her jumper and threw it at Ellie. “Use it as a pillow. Use your own one as well.”
Ellie smiled and rolled Clem’s jumper into a ball, placing it behind her before taking off her own jumper. In the process Ellie cursed loudly and stood up.
“What is it?!” Clem looked over at her and frowned. Ellie was holding her scar that had reopened and was bleeding.
“I-I don’t know, I must have nicked it on something.”
Sarah rolled her eyes and finished loading the guns. “Calm down will you.”
Lara, looking a bit hacked off came back into the room. “What the bloody hell is going on?”
Ellie spoke up and with a shrug dismissed it. “It’s nothing, I just—“
“Oh my god, you’re bit!”
Clementine’s eyes widen as Lara took out her gun and held it in Ellie’s direction. “No! It’s not---!”
Her protests were in vain as a shot was fired from Lara’s gun and the bullet planted itself in Ellie’s chest.
It felt as if her heart was getting ripped from her chest and she felt every single strand breaking as it did. She watched as Ellie fell onto her back.
Everything seemed to slow down.
Her heart beat.
Her breath.
The tear that trickled down her face, the scream that erupted from her throat and escape out her mouth, probably tearing every vocal cord she had.
She crawled over to Ellie’s fallen form, and didn’t notice the excrutiating sobs coming from her. She brought the dying girls head into her own lap and spoke.
“No. No, no. Ellie, god. No. You can’t leave me. Ellie! Please, not you too.” Sarah had joined them and was not wasting any time checking over Ellie’s wound. It was a forty five calibre. The entry wound was small and the bullet hadn’t left her body, but that meant internal bleeding .
“Ellie. PLEASE! You can’t die. Don’t leave me. No.”
“Clementine let go of her!”
Sarah shouted at Clementine but her shouts were wasted on the girl. She was in shock.
She couldn’t lose someone else. Not again.
It wasn’t fair. She needed Ellie, like she needed Lee all those years ago. “Please…” Her voice was barely audible. “Ellie, I’m sorry… Please come back. I- I love you! Okay you stupid girl! I love you!” At this point Clemmy was in hysterics and Sarah had to rip Ellie’s body out of the grieving girl’s arms.
“No… Please.” Clementine curled into a ball on the tomb’s ground, feeling absolutely defeated. She was lost and alone, despite having Sarah. She felt like an iceberg out in the middle of the ocean, separated from civilisation, warmth and companionship.
Anyone she happened to get close to would always be ripped from her. Kenny, Carlos, Luke, Rebecca, her parents… Lee. And now, now it was Ellie’s turn.
She cried silently for what seemed like hours and hours before sleep finally took pity on her and sent her cascading into a dreamless sleep.
***
The cracks of sunlight that broke into the tomb through small gaps in the thick vines woke Clementine from her sleep. For a placid, brief second she had forgotten everything that happened the previous night. Alas, it did not last long; She sat up and wiped her face, completely devastated.
“Sarah?” She called out quietly and looked around. Behind her there was a body sprawled out on the floor, lifeless. Clementine stood up and took a closer look at the corpse.
It was Lara. A bullet wound to the head. Feeling as if her heart was about to shrivel up she turned her head away from their dead host.
Clem wasn’t sure how she should feel. Lara had killed Ellie. Lara had killed her friend, her recently admitted love. She should feel satisfied, perhaps she would eventually, but today she was empty.
“Clementine. I’m through here.”
Apathetically, Clemmy walked through to the infirmary. She looked up and automatically her eyes filled with tears and her breath hitched.
There, sitting propped up on the bed, was Ellie. She was grinning smugly and looking at Clementine expectantly.
“Oh hey you. I was wondering when the pretty one would wake up… Not as if I was shot or---“ Ellie was interrupted by Clementine launching herself into Ellie’s arms, hugging her tightly, as if she would evaporate into thin air.
“You’re alive! Oh my god Ellie! I thought you were dead! I thought you left me…”
Sarah cleared her throat and quickly explained how after she had disposed of Lara who was in fact about to shoot them all, she had taken Ellie out of Clementine’s arms and operated on her as best as she could.
“She’ll need a hell of a lot of rest, frequent medication and food before we can even think of moving anywhere.”
Clementine had stopped hugging Ellie and was now just gripping onto her hand tightly.
“O-okay. W-What do we do about Lara’s… Corpse?”
“I’ll deal with that, you two… Well yes.” Sarah, visibly uncomfortable left to presumably deal with the body.
“So you love me huh?” Ellie wiggled her eyebrows and Clemmy blushed furiously.
“You were… I thought you were dead.”
“It’s funny, how death can make someone realise their feelings for another individual.” Ellie had become a little more serious and was looking at Clem steadily.
“I would never leave you Clem. Or Sarah. What did I say to you? The Three of Us. Against the rest of the world. I wasn’t lying then, and I’m still not.”
A tear ran down Clementine’s face and she bent to place the softest of kisses on Ellie’s lips.
“The three of us... I like that.”