New story. This one is a co-write between gaara king of the sand, G0nna6of4rk1d, and I. Hopefully you guys enjoy it.

Thanks to gaara king of the sand for the help.

Go check out G0nna6of4rk1d's fics if you haven't yet.

"You have to shoot me, honey…"

Those words tore through her like a shredder, ripping her into little pieces.

The child quickly shook her head, looking horrified at the idea. "Lee, no…"

"It's okay. It's okay." His voice was so quiet it was barely a whisper. Clementine almost couldn't hear him over her pounding heart.

"Clem... when I was standing over Duck, holding that gun... it was so hard. I'm sorry you're in that position now. I'd give anything for you not to be." Lee said. "But you just have to point it at me, close your eyes and be thankful you never have to see me as one of them. You can do it. I know you can."

"Okay, Lee... I can do it. I can." Clementine whimpered.

"Find Omid... and... Christa." Lee breathed out. "They're outside of town... by the train. You remember how to get back there?"

"Yes." Clementine sniffed.

"Good." Lee said. "They'll take good care of you."

Clementine started sobbing. She didn't want anyone else taking care of her. She just wanted all of this to be a bad dream.

"And Clem..." Lee called gently.

The girl quickly looked to him, "Yes?"

"Keep that hair short..." Lee said.

Clementine gave a nod. "I will. I'll cut it myself."

"Great. Good." Lee said. His gaze dropped to the floor, he seemed detached from his body.

Clementine swallowed nervously, waiting for him to speak again.

"And also..." Lee suddenly stopped, head lulling to the side.

"What, what is it?" Clementine called, there was an urgent need in her voice.

"No, don't worry... Alright?" Lee said. "I'll miss you."

"Me too." Clementine replied, teary eyed.

Clementine slowly made her way to her feet. She raised the gun, arms shaking, almost uncontrollably.

They looked into each other's eyes, as if saying a final goodbye.

Clementine pulled the trigger and fired a single shot. The sound was loud and echoing; It scared her to hear it again.

The deafening noise continued to tingle in her ears. She stood still, body trembling, the gun slipped from her hands and fell to her feet.

The color drained from her little face, as her breath became short gasps.

This was it... She had killed him. She had killed Lee…

Her face was filled with a huge amount of grief and sorrow.

She reached down to pick up the gun.

Her tiny form was shaking as she tried to process what had just happened.

She had shot her guardian. The one person who took care of her and protected her was gone and it was all her fault. Lee was dead because of her.

Her head was low, heart bursting with pain as she cried to herself. She was weeping more than she had ever cried in her life.

She choked on her sobs, wanting nothing more than to drop to her knees and stay there with the lifeless form of her recent protector. However, she knew she couldn't do that. She had to keep moving, to stay alive. She couldn't allow Lee's sacrificed to be in vain.

She wiped away tears, but they just continued to come. She tried to take a moment to wait for the tears to stop flowing, but the longer she stayed beside her fallen guardian the more tears blurred her vision.

The child finally managed to get her legs to move, but they felt heavy as lead. She thought she would collapse any minute. Every step she took made her realize just a little more that she was alone. The same way she had been before Lee had found her.

Clementine sniffled. What would she do now?

Her gun was empty. She realized with dread. How would she be able to handle walkers without a weapon. She was little. She wasn't strong like Lee told her she was. She wasn't brave, she had only been trying to be because he was with her, but now he was gone.

She sat on a log, needing to give her aching feet a break.

Christa and Omid could still be around… At least she hoped they were. She didn't know what she'd do if they had left.

She looked down, spotting some gun shells on the ground, but upon further examination they looked unusable.

With a sigh the girl began to nervously chew the inside of her mouth.

She wondered what would happen if she wasn't able to find Christa and Omid. How would she, a barely nine-year-old little girl, survive on her own? How was she supposed to take care of herself?

She went from always having someone with her to being completely alone in the blink of an eye.

She hadn't the slightest idea what to do. Where would she find food and water? How would she keep warm?

Now she finally understood why the adults would often become so stressed and panicked. For a while Clementine only had to worry about little things, like her crayons breaking or going missing.

How did things get so bad so fast? She went from worrying about normal kid stuff to wondering if her parents were ever going to find her, but now she knew the truth.

Her mommy and daddy weren't coming back. They were gone. No. They were dead… just like Lee.

Clementine only had herself to rely on now.

Just the very thought made her want to cry again.

The girl looked up and something caught her eye. She stood, wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her. As she narrowed her eyes, she was certain she saw two figures in the distance. They were too far away for to make out if she knew the two. She could call out to them, but it bared a risk.

After a few moments of standing indecisive the child opened her mouth to speak.

"Clementine?"

The girl jumped, startled at the sound of her name. She whipped around to face the source of voice. Her eyes widened, jaw dropped in surprise. She wasn't expecting to ever see that person again. She couldn't help her stammering, "M-Molly."