Louis's voice echoed, announcing Omar had finally finished dinner. It was stew, as usual. You decided to sit next to Ruby and Aasim. You hadn't talked to them for a good while anyways. Ruby waved at you, her hand looked slightly bruised. "What happened to your hand?" She looked at it before rolling her eyes, "Small new kid, what was his name? AJ? Bit me. He apologized though so, it's fine." She smiled at the end of her sentence. Aasim just continued eating his stew, but nodded at her, making sure you guys knew he was listening.

"So, Clem, the girl, you like her? I think she'll be staying with us." Ruby asks, taking a sip of her stew. "She's fine. She talked to me, Mitch, and Willy and seemed nice." Ruby nodded, "I like her. I think maybe me and AJ could be friends as well, putting aside the kid acting like he's got rabies." You smirk as Aasim agrees with her. Not being here long and already knowing Aasim likes her? He's a bit too obvious. And Ruby's apparently oblivious.

"Hey!" Louis grabs your attention, "We're playing a game with Clementine, wanna play?" Aasim and Ruby both shake their head. You shrug, "Why not?" Ruby grabs your empty bowl, "I'll put this back for you." You smile at her, "Thanks Ruby, I'll be sure to help you with something tomorrow." She waved your suggestion off, "No need. I'll be fine, but thank you!" Aasim then got up, grabbing his empty bowl as well to walk into the school with Ruby. "Violet it's time!" Louis pulled up a chair to the end of the table as Violet sat next to Marlon. You took a seat next to Clementine as Louis separated the stack of cards. Brody walked passed, mumbling quietly, "Oh god, goodnight."

"Alright basic stuff yada yada, except! The person with the highest card can ask Clementine something, but if Clem gets the highest card then she can ask us something!" Louis explains as he finishes passing the stacks out. You shuffle your stack and look at the little group playing. "Oh you're so gonna lose." Clementine says boldly. "Ooooo, confidence, I like it!" Violet sighs loudly and rolls her eyes, "Alright Prince Charming, let's get on with the game." Marlon chuckled, "Bold talk." Clementine shook her head, "Uh uh, TRUE-talk." You gotta admit, she was fucking cool. After a moment of more explaining Clementine asks about AJ. "What about him? Seems he made a new friend." You all turn to the next table which was occupied by AJ who was looking at what Tenn was drawing. Good for Tenn, he needed some company. "Louis? If you would?" Marlon speaks Violets mind, she was getting bored pretty quick.

You all lift up a card and turn it over, in conclusion, the one who had won the round was Violet. "Way to go me." Violet paused for a moment, "So about AJ.. Where are his parents?" Clementine stared at the table for a second, "They're dead, didn't make it." Already assuming, you already thought so. Nobody here has any alive parents, or adult figures since they're all just kids. Or at least, not anymore. Really it's just Tenn and Willy that are taken care of the most since they're the youngest. Ruby had told you about this one nurse that had been here, Mrs. Martin was her name. She taught her everything she knows about medical stuff. Like stitching, bandaging, that kind of stuff. You weren't much of a fan of blood yourself, so you decided to not have Ruby teach you how to stitch. You just asked about bandaging and giving meds. Anything else that related to going into a wound made you want to barf imagining it.

You look away from the game for a second, taking a glance at Mitch who was waving Willy goodnight. The kid walked off and Mitch looked at the table. You motioned him to come over, but he shook his head, motioning to the school letting you know he was also going to bed. You nod and wave at him. He acknowledges your action with a smile and walks inside.

Someone tapping you got your attention, it was Clementine. She tapped her stack of cards, you instantly got the hint and flipped over your next card. "Hey, I win." Clementine grins. She looks around for a second before stopping on you. "You seem angry and quiet a lot, there a reason?" Violet beats you to a response, "He's just got anger issues, similar to Mitch and a few of us. It's common round here, you'll get used to it." You nod, "As for the quietness, I just usually have nothing to say. I barely know you, and with you threatening Tenn, I didn't want to talk to you. But you do seem cool." You shrug. "Extremely cool!" Louis cuts in. Clementine nods, "Understandable, and I apologized to Tenn earlier, I was just confused and didn't know where AJ was. Also, thanks, you guys aren't too bad yourselves." You smile in understanding and you all flip your next card over.

"Yes I win! Sooo Clem.. uh.." Louis stammers, "Come on, hurry up!" Violet huffs, "Okay okay! Clem, have you ever had a uh.. boyfriend?" Violet mutters, "Oh good god." And shakes her head seemingly disappointed in Louis. Clementine chuckles, "Nope. Never." Louis looked astonished, even you were shocked, shes fucking beautiful. Respectfully, you thought she would've had at least one. Or a girlfriend, you can't judge. "What about a girlfriend?" You raise an eyebrow, you're just curious. She smiles anyways, "Nope, no girlfriend either." You chuckle, "Bitchless?" She laughs, "Bitchless." She says confirming it.

"Jesus Christ, y/n. You can't pull either." Violet says as you shrug, "Nah, you're right, I used to be able too though. Had a girlfriend and a boyfriend, snagged both of em during elementary, different times though. Also ended up breaking up not too long after. Elementary relationships never work out. Wonder what happened to them." Marlon nods, "Damn, honestly I wonder what happened to a lot of people in my life as well. Hope I can find out one day." You all turn over another card, and this time, Marlon wins.

"Hah, winner." He smirks, "So Clem, you couldn't have been alone this entire time, who took care of you?" Clementine thought for a minute, "Well, the first person who did was a man named Lee. He taught me a lot of things." Marlon started getting interested, "What kind of stuff?" He questioned, now resting his elbows on the table. "A lot of stuff." Clem answers quickly. Marlon thinks for a minute, "Most important thing?" She took a second to think, "How to say goodbye." Marlon gave her a sympathetic look, as did the rest of you. It's not easy to say goodbye to someone close. Everyone knows that. No matter how bad of a person you are. There always ends up being that someone that you need with you.

And at the moment, you thought of everyone. Including Clem and AJ. You loved these people so much already. They were nice, adventurous, and showed kindness you've not received after you lost the people taking care of you. They were also kids like you, kids who understood you and what you went through. You couldn't have been happier.

Marlon doesn't push further and flips his card, the rest of you doing the same. "Victory Violet." Violet declares and grins, "Here's something I like to ask in groups, which one of us do you think it gonna die first?" Clementine looked around, deep in thought. "Hmm.. maybe you Marlon?" Marlon's brows furrowed, "Oh really?" He asks, slightly tilting his head. "That's what's happened to everyone I know that's tried to keep a group alive." Marlon smirks, almost concerning to you, "Almost, everyone." Your frown towards Marlon goes unnoticed.

You all flip your cards once again. And this time, you finally won. "Hell yeah." You shout throwing one of your hands up. For some reason the only game you're ever able to win is Uno. "Clementine." She turns to you along with everyone else. "You thinking of staying? I think most of us would enjoy your company." Clementines face brightens. "Maybe! If that's okay with everyone of course." Violet and Louis instantly agree. Marlon, shockingly to you atleast, also said yes after a moment. "Surprised your the one suggesting it." Louis notes.

"The room you guys were staying in was my room though. What do we do about that?" Violet thinks for a minute, "Well maybe we could put you with someone that has enough room for another. Aasim does.. Mitch does.. I do too but I like being alone. I think that's all of the choices you have at the moment." You nod, you don't interact with Aasim much so it was a quick decision. "Mitch then." Violet nods, Louis thinks for a second, "I thought you disliked him?" You shook your head, "Nah he's cool. We talked earlier." Louis seemed unsure but he nodded. "It's settled then." Marlon responds. Plus, being roommates with Mitch, you'll be able to maybe learn more about him.

"One more round?" Louis holds up another card. "Why not?" You all turn your cards over, and for the last round, Louis wins. "Alright! Have you ever lost someone close to you?" You facepalm, obviously she has from the multiple hints she gave throughout the game. Violet gives Louis a small glare. "What? I want to know!" Clementine nods, "I had to shoot Lee. He was bitten. He wasn't gonna make it." Her face fell to a grim expression. "I thinks we're done here." Violet stands up. "Yeah. Goodnight." Clementine quickly leaves, calling AJ to come with her. He didn't want to leave Tenn but eventually walked off with her. "Nice one, Louis." Violet crosses her arms as everyone else including you stood up. "I didn't mean any harm by it! We've all lost at least someone!" He explains throwing his hands up. "Yeah but you didn't have to mention it." You shake your head. "Well, goodnight guys. We've got things to do in the morning anyways."

Marlon opens the door for everyone, you're the last one to enter before Marlon stops you. "If you and Mitch have any problems let me know and I can try to move your rooms around." You nod, "Will do, thanks." He closes the door and walks a few steps away. But before he leaves, you stop him. "Wheres Mitch's room?"

———

Eventually after a little bit of walking and stopping by your room to grab your stuff and throw on a hoodie, you make it to Mitch's room. "You know where my room is if you need me." Marlon puts a hand on your shoulder. "Thanks man, night." He waves and you turn to Mitch's door.

You lightly knock, just in case he's awake, and apparently he is since you didn't have to wait long for the door to open. Mitch stood there in a white t-shirt and shorts that stopped just above his knees. "Hey so, Clem and AJ are taking my room and I had the choice to room with you, that fine with you?" Mitch shrugs and moves aside, letting you in.

"I don't keep much in here. But I'll move a few things." You walk in and set your stuff down next to the bed that didn't have the sheets messed up. There were a few things on the bed though. Just a few knives and random materials. "You making something?" You ask as Mitch moves the items off the bed and put them under his bed. "You know what I do." And he's right. You do. He makes weapons, bombs included. He basically contributes to the group by making things to protect yourselves from walkers, people, anything.

"True." You mutter and lay down on the now clean bed, kicking off your boots. "Wait." Mitch mutters. You sit up and he reached under the pillow pulling out another knife. "Do a quick sweep of the bed first, I don't want my room to smell of death if you land on anything." You give a sarcastic smile, "How kind." You get up though and search the bed, when you found nothing else, you relax and lay back down. Mitch had threw the knife under the bed as well along with the rest.

"Well uh, night." You say as Mitch pinches the candle [he had lit earlier to see who was at his door so late] so that it would go out. He doesn't say anything else as he turns to face the wall. After a moment of zoning out, you hear soft snores coming from him. You turn to look at him, only seeing his back facing you from across the room. You turn over to face the wall as well. You close your eyes, trying to let sleep take over. It takes a while though, all you could think about was a feeling of dread in your stomach. Something bad was going to happen. And you'd rather not find out.