Chapter 34:
The first thing they did with the bodies was pile them in one corner of the farm, and then buried them all in one hole that almost everyone contributed to dig. Clark also volunteered, but at that point, he was beyond exhausted, and his energy levels were nonexistent.
Larry's burial was somewhere else, in another corner that Mark, Lilly, and Lee had dug, and then planted a small tree on it. Meanwhile, while everyone was doing that, Clementine had dragged him upstairs to the bathroom, taken all his clothes until he was in his birthday suit, and then entered the shower with him.
She made him do nothing, as she washed him from head to toe. It was a little bit hard to scrub away at dried blood that was all over his body, but after about half an hour, he looked normal again. Washing his head was another hard task, and by the end of it, he suspected that he might still have dried blood in his hair, but Clementine had gotten really tired. Clark didn't want to tire her out more, so after she rinsed off her own body, they had new clothes delivered by Carley.
Clementine's clothes were a purple hoodie with a zipper in the middle, looking quite comfy, a scarf, and jeans that had some holes in the knee area. Underneath her hoodie, she wore a simple black shirt. Clark promised himself that he would patch those up.
For himself, he had a black simple hoodie, a gray shirt underneath it, and jeans that were a little big on the waist, but he could fix it with his Seamstress trait.
And then, he was dragged to the room next to the bathroom, put on the bed, tucked in, and cuddled with Clementine as she caressed his cheek, his arms and legs wrapped around her.
That's when she spoke up about the Savannah plan, about her parents, and that she knows they are dead since they had called her from a hospital, and that her dad had already been bitten. She told him, with clear eyes and an unshakable voice, that she wanted to stay with him and, wherever he went, she would follow. Because he was her home now.
Clark tried to convince her otherwise, that he was ready to go there and find her turned parents if he had to, to give her closure, but Clementine shook her head. She already had her closure. Now, all she wanted to do was live in the present, with him, and look to their future together.
"Thank you." Clark sleepily let out, and she smiled, their face close enough that they could feel their breathing on each other's faces. Clark felt a soft kiss on his lips, a smile on her face, and whispered back. "Just sleep. I'll be here when you wake up." Just before sleep fully took him, he summoned back the horn on the nightstand and murmured something that he himself didn't understand. But Clementine seemed to, since she snuggled even closer to him, their bodies practically glued now under the blanket.
He slept for fourteen hours.
He knew because when he opened his eyes, the light through the curtains had gone from the gray-gold of late afternoon to the flat pale of early morning, and the room was cold from the chill of the morning. But he was warm- hot even. The reason-
Clementine was still there.
She'd shifted at some point, turning so her back was against his chest, his arm draped over her waist at some point during their sleep, and her breathing was slow, yet not slow enough to indicate that she was sleeping. Her hair was loose from the shower, dark against the pillow, and she smelled of the soap and the musk her body let out. And another thing that he noted was the hand that was over her waist and directly on top of her belly, she was drawing little circles and squares and other formless shapes, while his other hand was used as a pillow by her- he tried moving his fingers, and he felt numb in that arm.
Clark lay still for a moment and let himself relax in that warmth.
"You're awake?" Clementine asked and then turned around, facing him fully, her eyes wide open, and no sign of sleepiness, meaning she had been awake for a while now. Her beautiful eyes stared at his. Immediately, Clark was compelled to kiss her, and he did. She let out a pleased moan and deepened the kiss on her own, letting his tongue explore her mouth.
Immediately, his lower body woke up as well, hard enough to poke Clementine on her thighs. She giggled into the kiss, finally breaking it. Whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by Clark just giving her lips small, chaste kisses and then her cheeks, the tip of her nose, her brows, and forehead.
"I love you too." She whispered, his heart melting at her words. He wished time could stop at this moment, so he could give her more kisses.
For a few minutes, the two just stayed under the blanket, leaving pecks on each other's faces, and while their body craved more, their hearts were more than satisfied by holding each other and staring into each other's eyes.
"I missed you," Clark told her, bringing Clementine even closer to his body, even if it was not possible anymore, thinking back to when he left, needing to deal with Terminus.
"I missed you, too." She kissed his closed eyes.
He was aware of the ache in his body, the deep, accumulated soreness of everything the last several days had asked of him, but it was background noise now as he bathed in her love.
From downstairs, the low murmur of voices reached him, the sound of people in the early morning trying to figure out what they should do afterward. Someone was at the stove, from the smell of it, something warm and savory threading up through the floorboards. He heard Carley's laugh, brief and genuine, and Lee's voice answering it, low enough that the words didn't carry, but the warmth of it did. He also heard Rick, Glenn, and Maggie's voices, but not the words, as the two groups seemed to be getting along.
Another worry was extinguished from his mind as Clark gently caressed Clementine's cheeks.
The voices downstairs eventually won as Clementine was attracted to the noise. Also, because the horn was missing from the nightstand.
It was especially not because his stomach had made itself known to them that he was starving- loudly, and Clementine had started to giggle at the sound of it.
"Let's see what's going on downstairs." She pecked him one last time, and Clark felt the loss of her body on him as she stretched, letting out a big yawn that infected him as well. She turned to him with eyes full of love, pinching his nose at his dissatisfied face.
"Come on, I'm hungry as well."
Before she could fully get out of bed, he dragged her back to him and kissed her forehead once more before untangling himself carefully, his pillow arm taking a full minute to remember it was attached to him, and then it tortured him as lightning and ants crawled up to it.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Just arm is asleep."
"I see…" Clementine's curiosity turned into a mischievous grin as she tickled it. "Wha- hey, stop!" Clark grunted, but she didn't… It was a beautiful torture that Clark wouldn't mind going through. Though it ended at some point when Clementine saw him freely wiggle his fingers, "Well, see you downstairs." She escaped, a teasing smile on her face, her hips flaunting more than usual. It was his defeat…
After a minute of basking in that sweet moment, Clark got up from the bed, his new pants almost falling off his hips, until he held them. Looking around the closet, he found a leather belt that he used. For now, they'd hold his pants.
The hallway downstairs had changed a lot, and it had the vibe of a filled space that had been recently lived in by more people than it was designed for, the small crowding of shoes near the entrance door, and the jacket hung on the frame of the room across from theirs that belonged to someone from Rick's group, he thought Glenn, based on the size of it. The bathroom door was closed, the sound of running water behind it indicating someone had gotten there before them.
The stairs opened into the living room, which had become Rick's group's territory just through the accumulated presence of people sleeping, eating, and existing in a place until it smelled of them. There were bedrolls along the far wall that hadn't been there before, and someone had moved the couch to face the window that looked toward the yard rather than the dead fireplace, which Clark thought was the better arrangement anyway. Carl's hat was on the armrest.
The kitchen was the source of the smell, with Carley, Tara, Maggie, and Carol moving around, helping each other, talking, and getting to know Carley, and Carley was getting to know them. Clark could still feel some awkwardness as he peeked at them, but everything was going well.
Carley was at the stove with something in a pot that had the smell of tomatoes in it long enough to become sauce for something else, and Maggie was at the cutting a collection of vegetables with a nostalgic look on her face and his horn not far from her. He heard Tara talk about her life before the outbreak, but Clark thought it was disrespectful to listen while sneaking, so he walked away from there.
Lee was at the dining table with Rick, both of them holding cups of something that was coffee, and he couldn't help but mutter where they'd got that from.
"Good morning, Clark." Lee greeted.
"Morning." Rick shot him an upward nod.
"How'd you guys get coffee?" He asked again, and both men and women now in the kitchen looked at him, and then at the horn on the counter.
"Right." Clark followed their eyes, nodding.
"Hungry?" Carley asked, walking up to him after wiping her clean hands on her clothes, she gave his head a pat, before opening the working fridge's door-
"Whoa…" Clark let out, watching the fridge be full of fresh and ripe fruits and veggies. There were even three types of melon, apples, and mangos, which he immediately took, alongside dates that were on the door.
"Yeah, everyone kinda went mad with the horn." Lee chuckled, which made Maggie's cheeks flush.
"I hope you didn't mind. I also used it to feed the cow and calf at the barn." The southern accent was something that tickled Clark's ears, but he nodded. "Ah don't mind." He tried imitating, but shook his head at everyone now staring at him.
"I don't mind. You can keep using it." With that, he escaped their giggles and chuckles, going to the living room, finding it still empty. He wondered where Clem had gone, still settled on the couch, putting the fruits on the table, and, pushing through his embarrassment, went back to attack the fridge.
When he had come back to the living room, he found a dejected and depressed Clementine staring at the food.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Clark asked, but she shook her head, giving him a stiff smile.
"Nothing… Just… Never mind, let's eat."
Clark wanted to push, but she gave his hand a squeeze, a plea to let go, which he did after a sigh. Though that didn't mean he'd let her be depressed for more than another minute.
"Open up."
When Clementine turned to him, she had dates in front of her lips that instinctively opened. "Wha-"
From there, Clementine was hand-fed by Clark, her mood lifted, and she returned the favor, feeding him back. Sasha and Bob had returned from outside, from some sort of task, and when they saw the two young couples, Bob had to drag Sasha away to not ruin their moment.
The dates were gone by the time Glenn appeared from upstairs, his hair still damp, and he stopped in the living room doorway with the expression of a man who had walked into something and was deciding whether to stay or quietly reverse.
"Morning," Glenn said, to the general area.
"Morning," Clark said, without looking up from the mango he was currently attempting to open with his nails, which was not going well.
Clementine took it from him without comment, produced the pocket knife from her hoodie, and opened it in four seconds- "That was part of my plan." Clark grinned, only to have his mouth full of the mango a moment later. "Morning." She finally greeted Glenn, who awkwardly stood there, a stiff smile and two thumbs up later, he went to check the kitchen.
Clark heard him say something to Maggie about the horn, heard her answer, heard the sound of Glenn finding something in the refrigerator that made him go "oh" in the reverent tone of a man who hadn't seen a refrigerator that worked in months.
He heard Carol's gentle voice, and then Tara's, and then the low steadiness of Rick and Lee at the table, and underneath all of it, the farm was doing its morning things outside. As he cut Clementine's favorite fruits, apples, and fed her, Clark's eyes went to the outside, the fence for a moment, an idea sparking up in his head.
"What's that look?" A chipmunk Clementine asked, which had Clark bite her stuffed cheek-
"Ahhh, Clark. Stop!" He obeyed, giving her a kiss on the cheek as an apology.
She glared at him, but Clark shot her an innocent smile.
"I was thinking that I could summon the earth golems and stack them on top of each other. Have it act like our first line of defense." She was still glaring at him, wiping the saliva from her cheek with her shoulder.
"Clem?" He asked, a bit worried for his safety.
"You have no idea what you started." Was her final warning, and then leaving him alone in the living room, after stuffing her pockets with apples and walking out.
Clark sat with that warning for a moment, decided it was probably deserved, and then looked up at the traits he had so far.
Hunger and Superhuman were a nice enough combo that could help immensely with building their safety wall for the farm, and that's what he did. He asked Carley if he could take back the horn and explained his plan to the women and the two men at the dining table, who immediately nodded.
"I'm coming with." Rick stood up, his mug empty now. Lee also stood up, giving a kiss on Carley's temple that had the rest of the women let out 'aww' and comments like, 'cute.'
Both adults had their faces flush with embarrassment, and then the trio was out. Even at the entrance, Clark could hear everyone teasing Carley, and she was stiffly shooting back their words, until Glenn came up from the basement and the tables got turned on the two young couples.
"So, how do you really plan to do this?" Rick asked, and Clark shrugged, bringing his attention from the kitchen to his company as he walked towards the electric fence.
"I was thinking of putting two golems, one on top of another, behind the fence on our side." He pointed to the area and then the parameter. "The second one would have its arms in front and towards the tree lines, so it'd give us a platform at the top."
"That's… not bad." Lee commented, "But what about the railing?"
"Hmm, I don't know, maybe just have the top golems look disabled, so their hands act as railings?" Lee raised an eyebrow at him, which Clark shot back with that's the best I got.
"I think I understand what you mean-" Rick began, but truthfully, he didn't. While Common Sense made all of it seem normal, there was still a little bit of a glitch in their mind. "But what does the food horn have to do with this?"
"Oh, that's to replenish energy faster. Summoning the golems, especially permanent ones, will suck a lot out of me." He explained, remembering how just the four temporary ones sucked 90% of what he had. "But with the horn, I can get back to top shape faster since everything we get out of it is top tier."
"Okay?" Rick commented.
"Yep, so, Bananas, dates, and watermelon-" he shot Lee a look-
"What's that look supposed to be?!"
"Um- oh, nothing."
"Don't think I won't kick your ass just cause you have powers." Lee scolded him, and Clark raised his hands in surrender. "Sorry, sorry. I was just wondering if you'd want some-" Immediately, he had a slap to the back of his head.
"Shut up and work!"
"Yes, owner-"
"You little bra-"
Before it could escalate, Rick broke them up with a sigh.
…
Clementine, once she saw the commotion outside and the source of it being her loveable Clark, she went back inside and then to the kitchen, her dejected look coming back.
"Carley, can I talk to you?"
Once the older woman saw her face, she nodded, and before she could even tell Maggie and the others, they took over her station, preparing the beans and other food for everyone. "Go, we got this."
"Thank you." With that, Carley and Clementine went upstairs to the room that now belonged to Clark and Clementine as the younger one sat on the bed, the older one closed the doors, and then settled next to Clementine, taking her hand in hers and squeezing in comfort.
"What's wrong, Clem?"
Finally, the tears escaped, and she nodded towards the nightstand's drawer. A look came on Carley's face as she left to find what Clem wanted to find-
"Oh…" She looked at the pregnancy test. Finally, everything was coming to her, and the look on Clementine's face. She sighed, a sad but understanding look on Carley's face as she sat back next to Clementine and brought her into her hug.
"It's okay." She whispered, and the tears finally came as Clementine hiccuped and cried. "It's okay…" She comforted, looking at the test in her hand, a single line showing the result.
"I… I was so happy." Clementine sobbed into her chest, "I- I wanted to tell him so bad. But it was all-"
"Shhh… It's okay. I understand." Carley kissed her hair, an action that just happened and felt natural. "It's okay." She repeated those words to a dejected Clementine, rubbing her back, and whispering comforts.
"You still have time. A lot of time. Just… take it slow." Carley told her, giving her a gentle squeeze. "At the very least, now you know with certainty."
"Sniff- what?"
"That you want children with Clark. With the man you love." Carley whispered, giving her another kiss on the head. "For now. Take your time in learning more about yourself and ask yourself what kind of parent you'll be. And what it takes to get there." Carley told her, swaying side to side a little.
"How will you raise your baby? What will you teach them in this new world?" She continued as Clementine finally calmed down. "Think about all of this. And work to get to your answers. Think about them and talk about these questions with Clark, don't just do it alone."
"Parenthood is teamwork. Cover each other's weaknesses and support each other." She paused. "You two are already doing this far better than anyone else. But continue."
"Hm." Clem finally let out, nodding in Carley's chest, which made her kiss her head again.
"If you have questions, Lee and I are always there for you. Don't hesitate. Okay?"
"Hm, okay."
Carley smiled at her, breaking the hug just enough to see her face. "Now, why don't you give me a smile?" She wiped Clementine's tears. Clementine struggled for a minute, but Carley was patient, and when she finally smiled, Carley's smile widened, a proud look on her face.
"You two would make excellent parents. Just don't rush into things."
"Okay."
"Now, why don't you come downstairs with me. Meet the others."
"Hm." Clementine nodded.
"That's my girl." The words were flowing naturally, which Carley noticed, but didn't stop. "Go wash up, I'll be waiting for you, okay?" At her nod, Carley squeezed her hand in comfort once more, before leaving the room and going back to join Maggie and the others, while Clementine washed her face to make sure there were no tear marks.
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AN: Please help.
This was my exchange with the AI: For volume 3, I have the following plan, let me know how many chapters this plan would make if we wrote it in detail. I'm guessing 10?
ME: Posts the plan and my story.
AI: Your plan is detailed and rich enough that it would realistically run 18-22 chapters at your established writing style, not 10. Here's why, and how I'd break it down: Breaks it down and already planned each chapter for me with titles and word target.
Me: Ah, yeah right! *Reads through it and slowly gets filled with dread* Oh no... *insert Rick oh no meme*
"Chapter 34: Farm cleanup, burial, small horde, establishing the new living arrangements, first golem stacking experiments. Clementine's negative test and her conversation with Carley. 3k-4k words." That's the plan that AI had divided for me from my rough outline. And it really is true. This chapter got to 3.5k words...
I'm really stuck writing another 20 chapters...
HELPPPPP PLEASE!!!!
HELPP!!!!
Take me out of the muse! please! I'm sobbing! HELP!
On other news, below is the ko-fi link. BEFORE YOU CLICK IT, I WANT TO SAY SOMETHING!
I have decided that everything I write now and in the future will be free. Nothing will be behind a paywall.
The only reason I even set up Ko-fi is I can see a life where I can do what I love and live off of it. I speak more about this just a little on Ko-fi.
But a warning. Never, ever spend a cent or penny when you are in need. I don't need it. And if you did by mistake, I will refund it immediately.
So, let me know!
Ko-Fi here (remove space after . and after /): ko-fi. com/ night132