Part 17-Lou isn't dead

Clem POV I knelt at Louis's grave. A gray stone laid upon the patch of dirt that covered his body. The stone had his name on it in black marker. My poor Louis. He didn't deserve any of this. I got up and patted my knees to get the dirt off of them. Vi came running up to me. "Clem!",she said with a smile. I smiled in return. "Yeah?" "Wanna go fishing today?" I nodded my head in agreement. I took the lose strands of hair out from my face and put them behind my ear. I went to the shed to get fishing supplies for Vi and me. The brown floor boards creaked underneath my weight. I liked spending time with Vi. Ya know,girl time. I walked out of the shed with a white container of bait and two fishing poles. She saw me and grabbed a pole. She walked to the gate and opened it for me. I nodded as a 'thank you'. The sun sine bright between the brown trees. It's rays coming down on us as we walked. The leaves crunched under our weight. I broke the silence between us, "Did I ever show you Louis and I's hangout place?" She crinkled her brows and narrowed her eyes. "You guys had a hangout place?!",she said with shock. "Yup.",I said while popping the 'p'. She walked next to me in awe. She shook her head left to right,signaling a 'no'. I pointed to the north, "It's right up here. Wanna see it?" "Sure." We continued to walk until we got to my happy place. The almond trees sway in the wind as little almonds toppled onto the ground. The sun's rays came through the trees branches. The wind rustled the trees branches,knocking the almonds onto the ground. The dirt trail lead to the small stream Louis and me went into. Her jaw dropped at the sight. Her eyes widened and her fingers began to tremble. "Woah..",she spoke in awe, "Why didn't you ever show me this place?" "Well,because it was Lou and me's place. It's..special to us. Well it was when he...ya know." "I-I",she stuttered as she spoke, "I'm sorry about Louis. I knew you were close to him." I walked towards the river. I looked to my left to see the tree Lou and I craved our initials into. The 'C+L' with a heart around it still lay engraved into the tree. I ran my fingers through its crevasses and sighed. Vi came over and sat down my the stream. She noticed my odd behavior and felt the need to point it out. "You ok?",she asked with concern in her voice. I continued to stare at the engravings. I felt someone's hand on my shoulder. I'm assuming the hand was Vi's. I looked at the ground and kicked the brown dirt with my feet. "Aw,that's...nice.",she spoke almost like she was questioning herself, "I-I don't even know how you feel." "I feel like shit." She let out a chuckle. She took her hand off my shoulder and sat down by the river. I contemplated if I should join her or not. Fuck it. I walked over to her and sat down. Nothing but silence and the sound of water in the stream filled the air. She decided to break the silence between us, "I just can't believe he's actually gone,ya know? Like, it just feels like a bad dream and such." I scoffed, "Tell me about it." I looked at the ground and ran my fingers through the tough dirt. "I just..it feels like a nightmare..like I'll just wake up someday and see Louis with a deck of cards on the couch. We'd all gather around Louis and play games together. We'd all laugh and...and I just,I just want it all back.",she stared at the ground while she spoke, "I just don't know how to feel,Clem." I sighed at her relatable comment. I felt the exact same. It's just really weird not seeing Louis around. After all the time I spent with him..it just feels really off without him. I heard small giggles coming from Vi. I turned my head to look at her. "Wait,what's so funny?",I asked. She continued to laugh. She brought her hand up and pointed to my neck as she laughed. I scratched my neck,confused. What..what's wrong with my neck? "Wait..what's wrong with my neck?",I asked scratching it with my left hand. "Clem! You have hickeys!",she said in between laughs. What's..what's a hickey? I ran my fingers over my neck. "Wait..Vi,what's a hickey?" She stopped laughing and stared at me. "Uh..",she sighed and scratched the back of her neck, "Well,if Louis was uh..'kissing' your neck really hard it uh left a mark and that's a hickey..." I began blushing like crazy. I smile spread across my red face. I simply scratched the back of my neck while my other hand rested in my lap. "He didn't tell you he left marks,did he?",she spoke while smiling. "Nope.",was all I replied with. My heart began thinking of what Louis and I did that one night. The hickeys will eventually go away and then I'll have nothing left of him. It'll all be gone. Everything. "Vi,all I have left is memories. I failed." Her eyes widened. The wind blew through our hair,leaving a cool breeze on our bodies. "What do you mean by failed?",she spoke. I sighed, "AJ was my responsibility and I let him get bit. Louis is dead now and that's only because I was too lazy to go hunting with Aasim and him." She put her hands up kinda like she was a criminal surrendering to police officers. "Woah,woah,woah. Clem,AJ and Louis we're not your fault at all. You had no clue that Louis wouldn't make it back when he went hunting and AJ you couldn't control either. Clem,your not a failure." I just looked at the ground. Lee,Kenny,Luke,AJ,Louis,and so many others died for my sake. I shouldn't even be here anymore. But,I have to keep fighting. I have to keep going. I promised Lee I would. Vi walked over to a bush and came back with a red rose. I stared at the red peddles that danced in the wind. My eye widened at the sight since,any type of flower is very rare in the apocalypse. She held the rose out to me. "Here,we can go back and dig a little deep into Louis's grave and put this with his body." I got up and grabbed the rose. The dark red peddles were absolutely stunning. The green stem's tiny thrones pieced into my skin as I held it in my hands. Vi picked up the fishing supplies and started walking back to the school. I followed. I looked up into the light blue sky. White,puffy clouds were shattered across the sky. The sun shine bright and it's rays cast between the tree limbs leaving streaks of sunlight on the ground. When we finally returned to the school Vi opened the gates for me. I thanked her and walked inside. "Wait for me. I'm gonna go put the fishing supplies back. I'll meet you at Louis's grave." I nodded and started walking towards his grave. A few minutes later Vi came up from behind me. "You ready?",she asked. I nodded my head in response. We both started digging with our bare hands. Tiny bits of dirt got trapped under my finger nails as I dug. Vi stopped digging and so did I. "Clem..",Vi said. I looked at her,my eye filled with confusion. I ran my hand over my black eye patch,feeling the rough material. "Huh?",I said. She stuck her hand insider the grave. "Look...",she motioned for me to come closer to the grave. I leaned over the grave and saw her stick her hand in. She stuck her hand fully into the grave,feeling the bottom of it. The grave was hollow. "Wait a minute..Vi,does this mean..?",I dung my hand into the grave. Nobody was inside of it. Vi nodded her head up and down,signaling a 'yes'. I gasped. This could only mean one thing.                            Louis isn't dead.             He hasn't been dead this whole time.

A/N:heh,ya'll thought Louis was actually dead. This is only the beginning of something HUGE. Also I've decided not to leave. Part 17 and 18 got mixed up but that's ok.