The Walking Dead Game What Ifs: What if Clementine joined the Delta before Season 4?
[TWDG What Ifs Master List] [Volume 2]
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Delta
What if Clementine joined the Delta before Season 4? Prompt Submitted by Anonymous on Tumblr
Accepting Requests
Clementine honestly didn’t know what she’d been expecting, sure she’d turned up, shot some guys, kidnapped her own kid, and stole a car, but did it really warrant chasing her down and shooting at her car while said kid was screaming and wailing because he had just gotten to sleep and the people at the ranch would routinely lock him in a box and subject him to loud noises for misbehaving. Maybe she should’ve picked up some more guns, or supplies, or both. AJ let out a high-pitched, wailing, shrieking sob, just before he loudly soiled himself. She took her eyes off the road for a second, trying to comfort him, before she focused on where she was driving, before she was forced to bring the, admittedly cool, car to a screeching stop, which resulted in AJ sliding forwards and slam his face into the glove box. He was suddenly silent, making Clementine worry that he’d been knocked out, or killed, for a moment. Then he let out a whine and started screaming.
Sighing, Clementine looked at what forced her to stop, a literal roadblock in the form of a camp of very well armed survivors. After a moment, a tall-ish woman, with crudely cut short brown hair, walked up the car and knocked on the window.
Rolling it down, Clementine wondered what Lee, Luke, or Kenny would do, before her mouth engaged before her brain, “I’m not gonna get arrested for driving without a license, am I?”
The woman stared at Clementine, before a bullet hit the rear window. One of the trucks that had been chasing her came to a stop, with the driver, a balding man with mismatched eyes, jumping out.
“Abel, what the fuck is going on?” Asked the woman, looking away from Clementine.
“That little bitch shot at us!” Yelled the man, Abel.
“Hey, you shot first!” Responded Clementine, before rolling her window up and getting out of the car.
One of the people that was riding in the truck with Abel hopped out and did a double take when they saw Clementine, “How old is she?!”
“How old are you?” Asked the woman, making Clementine look at her.
“Old enough.” Rebuked Clementine, before she heard a thud on the window behind her. Turning around, she found that AJ had shed his clothes and was throwing his own filth around the car. Closing her eyes, Clementine groaned, before she looked at the, assumed, leader of the group, “I don’t suppose you’d let me clean him up first?”
D
Surprisingly, Clementine had been allowed to clean AJ up, as long as someone kept an eye on them, which was easier said than done, since AJ was in full tantrum mode, and had wriggled out of Clementine’s grip more than once, which resulted in him being dropped more than once, with him losing a tooth after he bit down on a rock.
Her and AJ’s guard, Dorian, had silently watched her carry AJ by the ankles, before the boy was put in a tub of warmish water. AJ let out a scream, before throwing punches and slaps at Clementine’s face, getting a growl from the girl, before she grabbed his wrist, “AJ, if you don’t stop, I’ll slap you and, unlike you, I won’t miss!”
AJ decided to call her bluff, before he punched her on the nose. It wasn’t very effective, but she kept her word, and slapped him across the face. AJ stared at her in silent shock, before his face crumpled and he started crying.
“Huh,” Dorian’s voice made Clementine look at her, “didn’t expect you to follow through.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Asked Clementine, frowning, “You don’t learn anything from words alone.”
“Dorian,” the leader, or who Clementine assumed was the leader, “I’ll take over here.”
“You sure?” Asked Dorian, getting a nod from the leader.
“I want to talk to our friend here.”
Clementine heard Dorian leave, instead choosing to focus on cleaning AJ, who’s cries had turned into sniffles.
“Here,” Clementine looked towards the leader, finding her putting a small, folded pile of children’s clothes near the tub, “we found these when we attacked a hostile community.”
Clementine looked at the clothes, letting go of AJ, allowing him to ‘swim’, which was just him crawling around in the water. Knowing that he had fuck all experience walking, as she tried to get him to walk when Abel shot at them.
“So, what’s his problem?” Asked the leader, “He retarded or something?”
AJ evidently didn’t like that, as he let out a squeal and started crying. Clementine looked at him, “AJ, I know for fact you can talk, so stop acting like a baby, or I’ll dress you like one.”
It turned out that today was the day AJ decided to test her patience and splashed water at her as he started to throw another tantrum. An hour later, Clementine was strapping AJ into a car seat, as he blubbered and cried around a pacifier that was being kept in his mouth by a bonnet that was tied in a complicated knot under his chin, Clementine had, once again, kept her word and dressed AJ in a pair of baby shoes, a diaper, a too small t-shirt, and mittens.
“How long’s he gonna look like that?” Asked Abel, as Clementine went to walk away, before she stopped and gave AJ a rattle, and closed the car door.
“Dunno.” Said Dorian, as Clementine rejoined them.
“Okay,” the leader looked at Clementine, “we don’t know your name, so who are you? And why do you have a car belonging to the New Frontier?”
Swallowing, Clementine looked around them, “Well, I have the car because I was part of the New Frontier.”
“Past tense.” Said a woman in camouflage.
“Yeah, AJ got sick, they said he was dying, but they had the medicine that could be used to treat him,” Said Clementine, “so, I stole some for him, I got caught, was told to leave, and they decided to take AJ when I tried to leave with him.”
“Okay, history aside,” the leader, Clementine thought she looked familiar, “you haven’t told us your name.”
Clementine paused, before sighing, “Clementine.”
The leader of the group frowned, before looking at her closely. Clementine watched as her eyes widened in recognition, as she leaned back.
“You probably don’t remember me.” Said the leader, making Clementine’s stomach drop, for a moment, Clementine thought that the leader was one of the exiled raiders from the New Frontier, or a guard from Carver’s camp, or someone she robbed while she thought AJ was dead, then she continued, “My name’s Lilly.”
Then it clicked, and Clementine blinked and said, “Huh.”
D
Clementine looked around the boat Lilly’s group had taken her and AJ to, there was a guy that seemed to be a little too interested in the toddler, who was still cartoonishly dressed as a baby.
“Mmmm!” AJ hummed around the pacifier, making Clementine look at the car seat she was lugging around.
“What?” Asked Clementine, adjusting the seat.
“Hmmm-Mmmm!”
“No, you’re not getting out of the seat.”
“Hm-Mmmm-Hmmm!”
“Hey, you decided to act like a baby, AJ.”
“Hmm-Mmmm-Mmmm.”
“I think he’s learnt, Clem.” Said Lilly, getting a sigh from Clementine.
“Alright,” Clementine set the seat down and untied AJ’s bonnet.
The three-year-old spat the pacifier out and screamed, “I NEED TO SHIT!”
Clementine heard someone behind her snort, before she unbuckled AJ, who got up, rapidly crawled towards a bucket, and tried to get the diaper off as he crawled, before remembered that he was wearing mittens, prompting him to sit in his place and bite at the knots keeping them on. Clementine went to help him, only for him to successfully bite through the ties and remove them himself. Pushing the diaper down, AJ tried to climb up onto the bucket, getting Clementine to pick the half-naked toddler and set him on the rim of the bucket. Clementine then remembered that she, and an entire group, was watching a toddler go to the toilet.
“Okay, everyone, leave him to it.” A tall dark-skinned man called out, dispersing the group.
Turning around, Clementine saw the guy that was too interested in AJ watch the boy while licking his lips.
“Finch!” Yelled Lilly, “Get the boiler ready!”
The guy, Finch, scowled before walking away, with Lilly walking up to Clementine, “He almost done?”
Clementine glanced back at AJ, who was visibly straining, “Hold on.”
AJ let out a small scream, before there was a thud, and he loudly said, “All done!”
Clementine looked at AJ, who was crawling towards her with his diaper left behind at the bucket, “AJ, put your diaper on.”
“No, I’m a big boy!” Argued AJ, sounding as petulant as he looked.
“Goofball, you can’t go around naked.” Said Clementine, walking over, “C’mon, pull the diaper up, and I’ll take you to get dressed.”
“I don’t wanna wear a diahappie.” Said AJ, stumbling over the word.
“Hey, kid,” Lilly’s voice made Clementine look at her, “Say ‘die’.”
AJ looked confused, “Die?”
“Okay,” Said Lilly, “now say ‘per’.”
“Per?” Repeated AJ, still confused.
“Now say both.” Ordered Lilly, folding her arms.
“Both?” AJ’s response got a quiet snort from Clementine.
“No, say ‘die-per’.” Corrected Lilly, making AJ frown.
“Die-per?”
“Repeat it faster.”
“Dieper.”
“Again.”
“Diaper.”
“There you go,” Said Lilly, unfolding her arms, “you’ve just said it properly.”
“I thought I said diaper?” Asked AJ, getting a loud snort from Clementine.
Lilly looked at AJ, trying to figure out if he was trying to be funny or if was genuinely confused, before she sighed, “Fair enough. Clementine, get him dressed.”
Clementine sighed, before pulling the diaper up and picking AJ up and grabbing the clothes Lilly brought for him from her bag.
D
“So,” Said Lilly, looking at Clementine, who had AJ cuddling into her chest while sucking his thumb, “how’d you have him?”
Clementine frowned, before she looked at AJ, “His dad was killed by an asshole, and his mom died not long after he was born.”
Clementine didn’t miss the relieved look that passed over Lilly.
“What happened?” Asked Lilly, getting a frown from Clementine.
“With what?” Asked Clementine, as she felt AJ shift as he fell asleep.
“After I…” Lilly looked uncomfortable, making Clementine realise what she meant.
“Shot Carley?” Asked Clementine, getting a nod from Lilly, “We found a train and a homeless guy, Chuck, Duck was bit in the raid, and Katjaa killed herself.”
Lilly blinked, before she frowned, “And the others?”
“We met a couple, Omid and Christa,” Continued Clementine, swallowing, “Chuck was killed when we got to Savannah, Ben almost got me killed, and we found a house. Lee and Kenny went to look for a boat, Omid was injured, Christa was focusing on him, and Ben was more or less useless, so I snuck out and followed Lee, where we met Molly.”
Lilly looked confused, but didn’t say anything.
“Lee found a doctor, and a community that had a ton of supplies, so we went to them, busted in and found that the place had fallen.” Clementine paused, before she let out a sigh, “Ben decided to confess, telling all of us that he was the one giving supplies to the bandits.”
“I knew it.” Muttered Lilly, getting a scowl from Clementine.
“You killed Carley.” Retorted Clementine, before sighing, “Any way, shit happened and we barely made it out alive.”
“Then what happened?” Asked Lilly, looking Clementine over.
“I’d been talking to someone,” Said Clementine, after a moment, “since we’d taken from that car, the guy it belonged to… he followed us to Savannah and he took me, after than happened, Lee got bit, Kenny vanished, and Ben died. Lee rescued me, before the bite got to him, but hey,” Clementine tried to shrug, “I found my parents.”
Lilly blinked, before she let out a sigh, and leaned back in her chair.
D
A week later, Lilly’s boat arrived at her community, the Delta. Following the woman, while carrying AJ, who’d abruptly decided he like the pacifier, was looking at as Clementine carried him.
“Jonas!” Barked Lilly, getting a man’s attention, “These two need to be checked.”
The man looked at Clementine and AJ, before nodding at Lilly, “Okay,” he then looked at Clementine, “follow me.”
Clementine glanced at Lilly, before she followed Jonas. After watching Clementine vanish with the boy, Lilly walked through the community, until she reached Gus’s home. Sighing, she knocked twice, and walked in.
“This better be good.” Said Gus, cleaning a revolver.
“We picked up a couple of potential recruits.” Said Lilly, getting a frown from Gus.
“What do you mean by potential?” Asked Gus, setting the gun down.
“A fourteen-year-old girl, and a three-year-old boy.” Said Lilly, making Gus raise his eyebrows.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“It’s complicated.” Confessed Lilly, getting a sigh from Gus.
“Sit down, Lilly.” Said Gus, pulling a bottle of whiskey and two glasses out.
D
Clementine quietly carried AJ, who was licking on a lollipop Jonas had bribed him with in exchange for letting the doctor check him over. In front of her, Lilly and a guy her age, Adam, were leading her and AJ to their ‘quarters’ in the Delta. She’d just spoken with Gus, the leader of the community, and she and AJ had been given a provisional place in the community. Gus had wanted to know her strengths, only to realise that AJ didn’t know how to walk, read, or write. Gus then decided that any probationary period could wait until AJ was independent enough for Clementine to leave him for a few hours each day.
“Here,” Said Adam, looking back at Clementine, “number thirty-eight, between me and Lilly.”
“That’s… nice.” Said Clementine, as AJ tried to grab her hat, “No, AJ.”
AJ gave a pathetic whine, before slumping against her.
“There’s a preschool that’s being set up,” Said Lilly, looking at AJ, “might be a good place for him to make friends his own age.”
“You like the idea of that?” Asked Clementine, looking at AJ, who wriggled against her in an attempt to get comfortable.
“Adam, if you could show her around,” Said Lilly, looking at him, “I need to get some paperwork done.”
“Sure.” Chirped Adam, as Lilly left them.
“Potty.” Said AJ, getting a sigh from Clementine.
“Okay, Goofball.” Adam opened the door for her, and led her inside.
“Thanks to Ollie, we actually have a working plumbing system,” Said Adam, grinning, “same with hot water.”
“I can’t remember the last time I had hot water.” Said Clementine, before she located the bathroom and left AJ alone so he could have some privacy.
“Yeah, believe me, it was a shock for me,” Said Adam, leaning against a countertop, “I almost shit myself.”
There was a brief silence, before Adam blushed and coughed, “Er… l-let’s pretend I didn’t say that.”
“Sure.” Said Clementine, before there was a splashing sound, followed by AJ screaming for Clementine.
“I’ll… er… I’ll see if I can find a training potty for him.” Said Adam, before quickly leaving.
Rolling her eyes, Clementine went to pull AJ out of the toilet.
D
Gus watched at Lilly’s recruit took her boy into the preschool that Wilma had set up, it’d been three weeks since they’d first arrived, for a moment he thought that perhaps the girl could be a member of the staff there, but she’d also shown herself to be fairly proficient with firearms, although her hand-to-hand could do with some improvement. She’d actually shocked them, when they came across a raider out in the wasteland, and she’d all but shoved him into some Walkers in order to get the supplies he’d found in a shed.
The boy, after Clementine had started teaching him how to walk, had taken to toddling around the community. There had actually been an incident where Jon Finch, one of their more problematic community members, had tried to get AJ to do something that was completely inappropriate, and had been exiled for it. Clementine had vanished for a day, before coming back.
“Still trying to figure out where to put her?” Asked Micki, one of Gus’s top lieutenants.
“She seems a good fit for anywhere, honestly,” Said Gus, as Lilly joined them, “she’s also leadership material.”
“She grew up in the wasteland,” Said Lilly, crossing her arms, “she’s spent her whole life running.”
“Is that a hint of emotion?” Joked Micki, her eyes lighting up.
“Fuck off.” Scoffed Lilly, as Micki smirked.
“I’d rather you fuck me.”
“If you two could leave flirting for your home.” Sniped Gus, as he made a decision, “The girl’s going to be part of our relief effort.”
“Ooh, the substitutes and reinforcements.” Joked Micki, as Lilly crossed her arms.
“That’s the same division as Adam.” Said Lilly, after a moment, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were hoping for something.”
“Well,” Said Gus, glancing at Lilly, “it’s a good thing you don’t.”
The two women watched Gus walk over to Xavier, before they left to perform their own tasks.
D
It’d been just under a year, before the attacks started. Of the seven satellite communities the Delta had, three were destroyed, and another two captured. Clementine often found herself out in the field, even identifying some of the attackers as other exiles from the New Frontier, she’d taken great pleasure in giving Joan another eye socket. Clementine often found herself under Lilly’s command, as well as in command of some of Lilly’s people, and they did fairly well, when they listened to her. She was going over a map of the local area they were in with Lilly and Abel, when she heard someone be brought into their tent and shoved to their knees.
“Clementine,” Clementine looked up when she heard Max’s voice, “never thought I’d see you here.”
“And I thought you’d be dead.” Said Clementine, bluntly.
“I… I didn’t know what they did to your boy.” Said Max, making Clementine frown.
“What?” She walked around the table.
“One… one of the survivors from McCarroll Ranch,” Said Max, wincing, “they said David had told them to… toughen… him up… I didn’t know.”
Clementine’s face hardened and walked around Max, “And your group attacking us?”
“We… we didn’t know you were…”
“That’s not a reason.” Said Clementine, interrupting Max.
“Please.” Begged Max, making Clementine unholster a sawn-off shotgun she’d started carrying. Without a word, Clementine levelled it with the back of Max’s head and pulled the trigger.
D
Walking off the S.S. Stewarts Fitzgerald Clementine looked around, before spotting AJ with Adam, the little boy showing the older boy a ‘spear’ that he’d obviously made himself by taping a knife to a pool cue. Part of her wondered what Max meant by ‘toughening AJ up’, but she decided to dismiss it from her mind, instead she walked up to the pair.
“What’s that supposed to be?” Asked Clementine, making the four-year-old look at her, suckling on his old pacifier.
“Ith’a kuh-nith sphick.” Said AJ, around the pacifier.
“I thought you were ‘too big’ for dummies?” Questioned Clementine, making AJ look down, “What happened?”
“He had an accident,” Supplied Adam, wincing as he straightened up, “a pretty big one, and he’s been wetting the bed more often than not.”
Clementine frowned, “Okay, what happened?”
Sighing, Adam looked down, “Wanna tell her, buddy?”
AJ responded by breaking down in tears, getting the attention of more than a few people. Crouching next to him, Adam accidentally brushed AJ’s arm, getting a scream from the boy, before he started wailing because he’d had an accident.
Sighing, Clementine winced as she picked AJ up, grabbing the pacifier that had fallen to the floor and shoved it in the boy’s mouth, before she and Adam walked back to her and AJ’s home. After cleaning AJ, and putting him in his room with some of his toys, Clementine looked at Adam, “What happened?”
“Couple kids at the school were bullying him, so he decided to take out a Walker, all by himself,” Said Adam, sighing, “so, he told them that he was going to kill a Walker, and he was gonna show them that he wasn’t a ‘baby’.”
“Okay…” Said Clementine, slowly.
“Problem was, he chose a tall Walker,” Continued Adam, “and he used his ‘knife-stick’ and it got stuck.”
“Right…”
“And, when he tried to get it free, the Walker managed to grab him,” Said Adam, before wincing, “he started screaming, got our attention, got the attention of a load of Walkers, and got the attention of his whole class. We dealt with the first one, and I guess AJ panicked and ran towards a Walker that was roughly your height, he, er…, he was screaming ‘mommy’ and other variations of it, when he saw it was another Walker, he screamed, again, and tripped over himself, it picked him up, he crapped and wet himself, had a hard landing and was curled up in a ball, rocking himself, as he continued to cry ‘mommy’.”
Clementine blinked, “How… how’d he get outside the walls?”
“We don’t know.” Confessed Adam, before sighing, “But, there’s more, he went to school the next day and, naturally, everyone had heard, I then got called to pick him up because they’d held him down and forced baby clothes on him, and that’s not even covering the fact they’d forced him to soil himself.”
“They what?!” Seethed Clementine, anger flooding her.
“Yeah, Gus was with me when I got the call,” Said Adam, wincing, “he, kinda, tore into all of them, before telling me to bring AJ home. Word is, all their parents have been told to get them in line, or get out of the Delta.”
“Christ.” Muttered Clementine, quietly, before glancing at AJ’s door, “How’s he been since?”
“Well, we may have to put him back in diapers,” Said Adam, “and he’s started crawling, but we all make sure to correct it when we see it.”
Clementine sighed, “I’m gonna go talk to him.”
“You may want to know, before you go in.” Warned Adam, looking at her, “He’s started to take all his clothes off, for some reason.”
Clementine didn’t doubt that it had something to do with what his bullies did to him, which made Max’s last few words come back to her. Deciding to tackle the bully issue tomorrow, Clementine went to check on AJ, and hopefully repair some of the damage done.
As she approached the door, she heard the sound of the bedsprings creaking, before there was a thud, and a loud grunt, as AJ fell off the bed. Sighing when she heard AJ start crying, Clementine knocked on the door. She really hoped AJ was dressed.
Next Story: What if Lee found Sarah instead of Clementine?