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The school had been preparing for the raiders for what felt like weeks; everyone was on edge, finishing traps or learning fighting techniques.
The day before, Clem was checking the food supplies and noticed they were getting low, and the fact that there wasn’t any greens bothered her somewhat.
So, Clem decided to go out to the forest and forage for anything that could be edible.
As she grabbed her backpack, she headed to the admin building. Going up the stairs, she reached the main office, where Violet kept to herself most of the day.
She knocked on the door softly twice. With no response, Clem just shrugged her shoulders and walked in; the chair was facing away from the door.
As she approached Violet, she called out softly, trying not to alarm her.
“Hey.” Clem simply said her hand up, as she spoke up the chair spun around, and Violet had a book in her hands.
“Oh, hey—what’s up?” Violet placed down the book and looked up to Clem curiously.
“I wanted to let you know that I’m heading out to find something or just anything.” Clem shrugged her shoulders, she left it ambiguous, and she motioned at her back pack.
“What kind of anything?” Violet crossed her arms and leaned back in the chair, sinking into it. She looked at Clem skeptically.
“Just some herbs and plants—you know, foraging?” She said simply, as it was, just plants were all she wanted to go find.
“Oh. You probably need this more than I.” Violet slid the book over to Clem. It was all about the plants in Virginia and the berries that could be found in certain areas. Just what Clem needed.
As Clem had the book now in her hands, flipping through the pages suddenly the door swung open, and in came Mitch he came up fast towards them, and he had this certain look in his face; he was beaming.
“Vi remember that boring ass book we read for English this one?" Mitch held up a tiny book. was pages were worn and falling apart, but he held it up as if it were the most prized thing ever. Clem looked at them both, and she didn't recognize the title.
“Yeah? What about it?” Violet moved her hands in a 'what' motion. She didn't really care about it, and his excitement kind of bothered her.
“We should do this!” Mitch flipped through the pages where an old sticky note was and showed the page to the girls, they both leaned in, checking out the small words. It was 'Lord of the Flies' and the page read where the kids had placed the head of the pig on a stake as an offering for the beast of the jungle.
“There are no pigs around?” Violet said as she leaned back, crossing her arms. She was unamused by this and didn't understand what Mitch was thinking. This was going to be.
“No, stupid. It’ll be Walker heads,” He rolled his eyes, closing the book and placing it on the desk, he crossed his arms as well.
“It’ll freak the raiders out,” Mitch said with a smirk. With the barbed wire and messages they had written all over the school, this would definitely tie everything together.
“Sounds interesting.” Clem shrugged her shoulders, half impressed with the idea and half concerned over the idea of Mitch being this eccentric about making the school seem strange.
Her backpack strap fell a bit as she did so. Clem fixed it back on her shoulder and looked at them both again, being in the middle of it.
“Right?” He turned to her, glad that someone saw his vision and didn't completely shut it off.
“Sounds dumb, but do what you like." Violet just sighed and spun the chair around, not looking at them anymore, as the conversation was over, and she motioned her hand as if dismissing them.
As they were both about to walk off to work on their own thing, Violet's voice called out.
“Take Mitch with you—wouldn’t want him accidentally dying trying to get a walker head.” She dryly laughed at this, and Clem simply nodded her head and headed down the stairs.
Mitch seemed to have stayed for a while there because he left the office with Violet's hatchet. And he rushed down the steps of the staircase and walked beside Clem as they left the building.
“You’ll see, this idea is great.” Mitch simply said with a nod as he looked at her gripping the hatchet in his hands.
She simply smiled and nodded her head, and they both walked out of the school and began to head into the forest. Clem still had the book in her hands, and she looked around.
“I’ll be checking out for plants, so keep watch for any walkers.” She simply said, studying the plants and berries on the page. Clem wasn’t planning on killing any walkers; instead, it’ll be Mitch’s job.
“So—now I’m your bodyguard or something?” Mitch grumbled, crossing his arms as he peered over at her, as Clem just kept walking with the book in her hands; she had no urgency.
“It’s the least you can do. I’ll help you with the walkers in a bit.” Clem didn’t look over at him; instead, her focus was on a bush she was looking for.
Suddenly, she spotted the exact same bush that was on the page in front of her, and she picked up the pace.
As she was in front of it, Clem began to pick at it, grabbing a few leaves, while Mitch strayed behind keeping watch.
She was opening her backpack, having it on the ground, she crouched down and was completely open to any threats. A groan came from the side, a walker inching closer to her.
Mitch quickly picked up his pace, running up it. He whacked it on the head, knocking it down.
“Thanks.” Clem smiled at him as she zipped up her backpack and was now carrying a small tin box where she had placed the leafs.
“Yeah. Yeah,” He rolled his eyes, and picked up the head of the walker by its small strands of hair, since its head had fallen off by the whack.
“Check it out.” Mitch held the head up with a smile.
“Cool?” Clem nodded her head, being supportive of this, but still weirded out because of his enthusiasm for something so twisted. But she thought it was silly, so she shrugged her shoulders.
They continued walking for a bit, getting deeper into the forest, and there was new stuff Mitch hadn’t seen before. He looked over at Clem, always keeping an eye out for her; she wasn’t in front of him anymore.
Mitch looked around, confused about how he lost her so quickly, until he heard a soft hum. A few meters to the left, Clem was busy tasting some berries she found in a bush.
With a relieved sigh, he walked over to her and stood next to her.
“Ugh, gross. Do you always have to put weird shit in your mouth?” He groaned, seeing her eating some strange berries she had found.
The scene reminded him of when they were in the greenhouse and Clem decided to try the mushrooms.
“What? People used to forage; it’s a useful skill.” She rolled her eyes, not caring about his opinion, and she began placing them in the tin box since they were Clementine proved.
“Yeah, if you want to test your fate.” Mitch shook his head. He didn’t know what to make of it.
'What? I have the book here—see it’s edible.” She held up the page where the exact same berries showed, and information was on the page over the berries and their origin.
“Still.” Mitch didn’t buy this as he peered at her weirdly.
“Here, just try it. It’s not so bad, you’ll see.” Clem held out her palm where there were some berries. She looked at him and she motioned for him to grab one.
Mitch placed down the walker head and reluctantly grabbed a few of the berries, and he stared at them as he had them. With a sigh, he shoved them in his mouth, taking in a taste. The realization of it set in, and he began to spit it out.
“Fuck! Why is it so sour!?” Mitch stuck out his tongue; it was stained reddish, and he looked at her as if it were Clem’s fault.
He was shocked by this, and he kept staring at her and back at the berries on the ground.
Clementine simply laughed at him, covering her mouth; she had expected the reaction from him. But this was so much better seeing him almost choking and trusting her.
“Hey. Stop being so wasteful.” She playfully said as she stopped laughing and shook her head, closing the tin box, she was done.
“Do you actually like this shit?” Mitch asked as he was taking deep breathes, in panic, he had gotten poisoned or something.
But before Clem could respond, Mitch hadn’t noticed the walker behind him, which was inching closer, its long arms about to grab him.
Clem pulled out her knife from her pocket, and she moved faster than Mitch.
She pushed him aside as the walker was closer; it managed to grab a hold of her, but she held it off before kicking its shin.
As the walker was on the ground now, she finished it off by stabbing its head.
“Guess not only the berries were trying to kill me.” Mitch looked at her, shocked, but he walked up beside her and peered at the dead walker.
“That’s what you get for being so dramatic.” Clem retorted before grabbing her backpack, which was on the ground.
They began to walk again, Clem kept grabbing herbs and leafs while Mitch protected her from walkers and grabbing their heads for his plan.
They were finally done with everything, and he had collected four heads while Clem had collected a bunch of different plants and berries.
“Sorry about my reaction earlier. They weren’t too bad, I’ll admit.” Mitch said shyly as he mumbled the words instead of saying them clearly.
“It’s fine, I understand.” Clem moved her shoulders, and they kept walking in silence. The only sounds were their steps against the dirt and the Walker heads groaning.
With the silence, Clem pulled out the tin box once again and opened it. She began to count everything she had found.
At her side, Mitch peered at her, looking at her and back at the box; he couldn’t help but smile.
“It’s impressive that you know so much,” Mitch said softly. He found it admirable how Clem was able to adapt to situations and how resourceful she was.
“Well, it’s all about experience. Being on the road all the time teaches you stuff.” Clem sighed and closed the box as she looked at him.
“Could you teach me a few things?” Mitch asked, his arms swaying with the walker heads as he mumbled the words.
“Sure, I don’t mind.” Clementine continued walking the school gate was starting to come up in view.
“…The knee thing?” He had paused before saying what he wanted to learn. Ever since the first time she came, Mitch noticed her technique. And today he saw it once again; it was impressive.
“Alright, only if you teach me how to carve wood.” Clem smiled and shook her head at him, and they kept walking next to each other, the space becoming smaller between them.
”Deal.” Mitch simply said and adjusted his grip on the hatchet he had in his left hand.
They finally reached the gate, and Clementine opened the gate since Mitch’s hands were full, as they stepped in, he stood next to her for another second.
“I had fun today—by the way,” Mitch said as he looked at her.
“Me too.” She said simply and gave him a small smile.
They stood there for a second just looking at each other until there came some footsteps in front of them, and they stopped looking at each other. It was Violet approaching them, her arms crossed.
“How’d it go?” Violet peered at them, and she stepped closer to Mitch and held out her hand for him to return the hatchet. As he did, she stepped back again.
“Pretty good. See.” Clementine pulled out the tin box and opened it, revealing all the plants and berries she had found. And Mitch, beside her, held up the walker heads at the same time.
“Okay, perfect.” Violet nodded her head and felt relieved that their trip went good.
Mitch nodded his head and was about to walk off until he stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Clem.
“If you ever need to go out again, let me know.” He said softly, and Violet perked up at this, her arms crossing once more.
“Sounds good—in one condition. You try the berries before me.” Clementine smiled as she said this, knowing he was picky and wouldn’t want to try again after today.
“Why me?” Mitch looked at her his face turning into disgust and confusion.
“So I’ll have less of a chance of dying from poison.” She simply shook her head, trying not to laugh.
“Ha. Ha. Funny.” Mitch just scoffed at this and walked away smiling, but she didn’t see it, and he walked over to the stakes, ready to get them set up.
Violet just stood there, surprised by the interaction. She unfolded her arms. Clementine was starting to walk over to Omar again, a faint smile on her face, and as she walked past Violet.
“What’s up with you two?” Violet placed her hand on Clem’s shoulder, stopping her, and she whispered softly as she looked at Mitch and back at Clem.
“What do you mean?” Clementine raised her eyebrow in confusion, not knowing what she meant.
“Uh—nothing. Never mind, go do that.” Violet just backed out and moved away her hand since she noticed how Clem wasn’t picking up what Mitch was placing down.
Clementine just gave her one last look and walked off to Omar.