Darling Clementine
by Lohce Azcry
Lyrics used from the song "Oh My Darling, Clementine".
Dedicated to ChaoticMoki, otherwise known as Cry, because we all know The Walking Dead was made for that guy.
Oh my darling,
Oh my darling,
"Clementine!"
She didn't even know it was there. How could she, when he didn't know himself? The shambling corpse had been as silent as the dead (what irony, he bitterly thinks) and she had been so occupied gathering the bounty of supplies they had discovered that she couldn't have heard the shuffling of feet or the trademark moan of a hungry walker.
It had been a jackpot really, what they found. Six cans of cream corn, a jar of peanut butter, pickles, and God knows what else, all shoved into a little cardboard box in the back of an old shed located in the overgrown backyard of a one story house. The door was nailed shut with planks of wood, heavy boxes stacked up against it, but his relentless kicking had loosened the boards enough to give them a small amount of berth. Not enough for the possibility of Lee going in, but just wide for Clementine.
Clementine, eager to please, had immediately crawled through the small opening after he had muttered the all clear, carefully maneuvering her way to the supplies. Still, even then he hadn't felt quite certain about the safety of the shed. You couldn't board up a door that heavily from the outside, and there had been no alternative signs of entry that he could find. But walkers moved when they heard the slightest noise, and the racket cause by his foot had to have woken up any dead inside.
But the dead can hide. You know that better than anyone.
But how many times had they done this? And how many time had he feared that he missed a corner, that there was a small crook somewhere beyond his sight, where a rotting corpse silently waited for a little girl like Clementine to satisfy it's eternal hunger? And how many times had those fears never been realized, that Clementine came back with nothing but an armload of supplies and a victorious grin on her face? The fear of letting Clementine venture by herself had long ago been proven wrong, so why did he feel like this was the one time he loused up and let something horrible happen to her?
He was still slugging his way through his conflicted thoughts when he heard it: a soft moan, just behind the door.
"Guaa...Guaaaaa..."
Oh my darling, Clementine
He dashed back to the door, his calm heart suddenly hammering, pumping adrenaline into his system. Please God don't let it be what I think it is. Please God don't let it be what I think it is, please...
It, or better yet he, didn't look like he had been dead very long. The skin, although slightly rotted, was still held together, and the only blood present was the dark red stain on his arm where he had been bitten. The back of his torn green jersey was turned to Lee, his legs jerking forward in an awkward motion as the zombie slowly made his way to an oblivious Clementine.
"CLEMENTINE!" he screamed again.
She turned to him, arms loaded with cans of food, an expression of confusion on her face. "What's wrong, Lee?" she asked.
At the sight of the dead man shuffling toward her, the confusion vanished. Her eyes widened, cans of food tumbling from her arms as her mouth formed a perfect O. She screamed, a high pitched wail that caused the zombie in front of her to reply with its own low "Guaaaaaa."
He was already fumbling for his gun.
"Leeee!"
"I'm coming Clementine, I'm coming!"
Checking to make sure it was already loaded, he turned back, lifting and aiming for the tuff of black hair. The corpse was maybe eight feet away from the door, plenty of space for him to get a good shot, and he wouldn't hit Clementine, there way no way he could hit Clementine.
"Hold on Clementine!" he instructed, pressing the trigger. "I'm gonna be right there, just hold on!"
The bullet whirred through the cramped space, missing the head and puncturing the spine with a low schpup. The corpse jerked to the side at the impact, but made no sign of notice, continuing it's slow shuffle towards a screaming Clementine. Another bullet soared through the air, again missing its mark.
"Damn it!" he muttered, aiming again. Why in God's name did the walker not already have a bullet in his head? This was stupid, utterly stupid, that he couldn't steady his damn hand and shoot the goddamn zombie that was going to eat Clementine if he didn't kill it now. But the inside of the shack was narrow and cramped, and the internal fear of accidentally hitting Clementine shook his hands and fogged his eyesight. Again he squeezed the trigger, and again another bullet came into contact with everything but it's intended target.
It was a nightmare. It had to be. There was no other rational reason. The zombie was maybe four feet away from sinking it's teeth into Clementine, and all he was doing to stop it was pathetically shooting a gun in a haze of fear. The poor girl was bawling now, clawing at the shelves in a vain attempt to climb them.
"Climb the shelves Clementine!"
She looked back at him for a second, tears streaking her cheeks, before turning her gaze back to the corpse before her. She was terrified, and the horror and fear suddenly locked all the muscles in her legs and prevented her from moving. All she could do was stand, like a deer in headlights, and watch as her doom approached with a loud "Guaaaraaaa..."
He squeezed. A bullet hit the shoulder blade and knocked the right arm out of its socket. He shot and shot and shot until there were no more bullets left and all he could hear was the soft click of an empty gun. And now he was crying, hot tears leaking from his eyes and rolling down his face in waves. Discarding the useless gun, he slammed a fist on the door.
"Hey! Hey! Over here!" he screamed at it, praying that he could distract it, that he could coax it away from Clementine. Anything, just please God don't let it get Clementine she's all that I have left.
He froze as the walker stopped, and felt something in him rise as the zombie paused, turned to him with listless eyes that all walkers inherited, eyes that held the absence of a soul replaced with death, glaring at him, uttering a low "Guarrrrrrr." Lee glared right back at it with pure hatred. He hated that thing that wanted to eat Clementine. He hated that it wouldn't shut up and die, damn it, because you were already dead and you should've stayed dead like you were supposed to you asshole.
"Right here! Come and get me! Right here, come on!" he screamed again, slamming the door, kicking it, doing anything he could to make noise. "Over here! You want me!"
Somewhere in the corner of his mind he wondered what he was going to do if he actually succeeded in luring the zombie to him (if? what do you mean if? there isn't going to be an if). He gun was nothing but useless metal now, but he could probably use it as a club, or maybe the zombie would do him the favor of ripping the boards off in trying to grab him.
Just focus on getting it away from Clementine. That's all you need to do right now.
The dead man dragged a foot forward.
"Yes!" he shouted, "You want me!"
Another limp foot shuffled forward.
"Here! Come and get me!"
"Lee!"
She couldn't have helped herself, he would think later on. She was scared, and the sight of a walker approaching a defenseless Lee, the man she trusted and cared for more than anyone else, had horrified her so much she must had forgotten for a second who was in the shed and who wasn't. How could she not have cried out his name? It was only natural. The action to call out his name if there was any trouble was so pressed into her that it was all she could think of doing. Again and again he had told her during brief moments of rest that if she was ever in any danger that she was to call for him, no matter what. No buts about it Clementine.
The walker hesitated.
Clementine gasped, hands covering her mouth, as it turned away from Lee.
Thou art lost and gone forever
"No!" he screamed, feeling the small scraps of hope that had gathered in him disappear. "No goddammit! It's me! Me!"
Now Clementine was shrieking, realizing what she had done; that she had signed her own doom with that shriek. The paralyzing fear released it's hold on her and she frantically began to climb up the shelves, shoes slipping on moss and lizard droppings.
"Me! Me! Damn it, climb Clementine! Climb!"
For one single second, it looked like she might have made it. Her foot was only one push away from safety, one push away from freeing herself of her horrible fate. Whatever happened next, she would be alive, and he could go get Chuck, reload his gun, and together they would push open the door and he would grab Clementine and hold her and never let her go again.
But the zombie was already too close to her, and by the time her foot had begun to rise it was already too late.
A pale hand wrapped around Clementine's ankle.
Time stopped.
"NO!" he shrieked, pounding his fists against the door. Huge, wracking sobs that had patiently waited for the right time burst from him in an agonizing wave of helplessness. This was not happening. This could not be happening. He had done this song and dance too many times for this to happen. This was impossible, and yet it was happening before his very eyes and he could do nothing to stop it.
"CLEMENTINE!"
"Leeee!"
Schulp
"Leeeeeeeeee!"
Crunch
"...eeeeeeee...!"
Chshuck
"...eeeeeee..."
Chshuck
"...eee..."
Chshuck
"..."
Chshuck
Dreadful sorry, Clementine