A/N - Hey guys! I got some inspiration from A Writer With Mixed Interests and Heidipoo's absolutely brilliant joint written fanfic called 'Our Yearlong Struggle' and decided to write this. I hope you all enjoy, I'd like to know what you guys think of it!
Sorry for the long wait on my Bonnista fanfic, I've just lost a little motivation for writing it at the moment.
Also, I do not own TWDG or any of the characters. Also a good chunk of the lines are from the game, so they aren't mine either.
Chapter One - Tending to a Fire
They had been walking non-stop for hours. The heavy rain had recently stopped, but the air was cold and damp, causing the two people to shiver violently as they trekked forward. Clementine lagged behind, Christa leading them both ahead as they meandered through the tall trees and surrounding bushes. It was just the two of them, as it had been for well over a year now.
The eleven year old girl had been close to Christa since they met, but of course, after the death of Omid, which Christa blamed mostly on Clementine, their friendship was strained to say the least. The older woman would rarely start a conversation with her, and the majority of the time was hostile and sharp towards her. Clementine had learnt to accept that Christa didn't like her so much, as the young girl knew that if she had kept her gun with her at all times then Omid would probably still be here with them.
The two carried on forward for another hour or so, the sun beginning to set as the sky grew darker every passing minute. They both hadn't spoken to each other for at least half an hour, mainly because Christa had snapped back in response to Clementine every time the girl tried to talk to her.
Clementine let out a tired yawn, her eyelids drooping as she continued to drag her feet, following close behind the quiet woman. She knew that they would need to stop and rest for the night soon, but was well aware that Christa would not be as eager to do that. As the girl knew, nearly every night the other woman would cry herself to sleep thinking about the loss of Omid and her baby, or would stay up half the night and have barely any energy in the morning to move on.
"Christa, I- I think we should find somewhere to rest for the night. It's getting dark." She hurriedly caught up with Christa, who didn't even turn to acknowledge her presence. The other woman just let out a sigh, stopping in her tracks. Clementine glanced up at her wearily, a concerned frown on her face as she could see the dark circles around Christa's eyes. She clearly hadn't slept well at all the previous night, which wasn't surprising.
Christa nodded her head slowly, her hand absent-mindedly running along the spear she had crafted a few nights ago. She answered emotionlessly, "Yeah, you're right. Let's find somewhere to start a fire." Clementine nodded in response, and the two continued walking on. About another ten minutes later, Clementine pointed over to a log which was surrounded by a few trees. It was pretty secluded, and they couldn't spot any walkers lurking about nearby.
"What about here?" The young girl suggested, waiting for Christa to decide. She was always on edge around the young woman, because she didn't know when she was going to suddenly snap at her for doing the littlest of things. She could admit that she was slightly afraid of her.
The brunette woman trudged forwards, scanning the area for any signs of walkers or scavengers. Once satisfied, she spoke up quietly, "Yeah, this'll do." Clementine sighed in relief, shrugging her backpack off of her aching shoulders and dropping it gently beside the log. She sat herself down on the log, watching as Christa picked up some wood that was scattered around the area, stacking it to make a fire.
The older of the two let out a frustrated groan, "This wood might be too wet to burn." She knelt down beside the pile, inspecting the wood that was stacked together. She turned to look up at Clementine, "Pass me your lighter?" Clem nodded, reaching down and unzipping her bag, grabbing hold of the item. She paused for a moment, peering at the stickers on her lighter. It reminded her of Ben, as he had given her the stickers for her walkie talkie and she had used the left over ones for the lighter she had found a few months back.
She shook the thoughts of Ben out of her head, also grabbing hold of a scrap of paper which could be used to light the fire with. Passing both items to Christa, she shivered as a cold breeze blew past. Christa lit the fire, though it was only a small one, barely staying alight. The woman let out another sigh, offering the lighter and paper back to Clem. She seemed to be sighing like that a lot lately, and it saddened Clementine. She wished that they could be happy for a little while.
Before Clementine could ask her how she was feeling, Christa got to her feet again, taking ahold of her spear and muttering, "I'll be back in a little while, going to find us something to eat." Clem just nodded, her stomach rumbling at the mention of food. They both hadn't eaten for almost a day, and she had only registered how hungry she was. Christa wandered off deeper into the woods, leaving Clementine to look after the fire.
The sky was now pitch black, and the temperature was getting colder as the night went on. Clementine rubbed her hands together near the fire, attempting to warm herself up a little. The silence around her was unnerving, and it made her slightly uncomfortable. She placed her pistol down beside her, keeping an eye out for anything that could stumble out of the bushes that were surrounding her.
After only a few minutes, her eyelids began to feel heavy with sleep again, and she started to drift in and out of sleep. She tried to stay awake, knowing that anything could happen if she wasn't keeping a lookout, especially as she was all alone for the time being. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop the over-powering urge to close her eyes and get some sleep.
Clementine jumped as she felt something shake her shoulder. She opened her eyes groggily, her unfocused gaze returned by Christa's slightly cold stare. The woman stood above her had her hands on her slim waist as she shook her head in irritation, "Damn it, Clem. You mustn't fall asleep whilst alone. You don't know what might happen." Her voice was harsh and scolding.
"I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Clementine mumbled, bowing her head, feeling ashamed.
Christa shook her head, kneeling back down beside the fire. She had started to cook some sort of weasel, it looked like, and although Clementine was starving, she felt sorry for the poor animal. Christa collapsed down on the other end of the log, keeping her distance from the young girl who was eying her worriedly. She had been acting exactly like this since Omid had passed away, and the eleven year old didn't know when she would finally let go of her past and move on.
The silence was unsettling, so Clementine piped up from where she sat, "Are you okay?"
The question was ignored, as Christa just gazed into the small flames of the fire which crackled quietly ever so often. Clementine wouldn't give up trying to get through to her though, as she continued, "Christa. Talk to me." The young girl's eyes shifted from Christa's face to her abdomen, which was not so long ago swollen and carrying her stillborn son.
It caused a lump to appear in Clementine's throat, as she remembered how distraught Christa had been after hours of agonising labour, to find out she had lost the child she and Omid were looking forward to raise together. Of course, she would have had to deal with raising the child by herself, but Clem was determined to help out as much as she could, only to find out that the baby hadn't made it. He must have died only moments before birth, Christa having to shoot him before he could reanimate.
Christa sat motionless for a few moments, before lowering her head and squeezing her eyes shut as she let out a deep sigh, strands of hair coming loose and falling in front of her face. She tucked the strands of hair behind her ear, opening her eyes and getting to her feet once again, picking up her spear and moving towards the fire, prodding the wood with the weapon.
She changed the subject, "This'll never work." Her voice was weak and empty. "Look at this.. it's pathetic." She commented, narrowing her eyes at the small flames that were beginning to diminish. "The wood's too wet to burn." She continued to mumble about how useless the fire was, Clementine watching her with her hands clasped together.
"What else can we do?"
The brunette woman replied, not looking away as she continued to keep the fire going, "Find something that'll burn, maybe. I dunno. Won't be easy in the dark and in the rain." By the sound of things, Christa had already given up. Clementine needed to try and keep positive, for the both of them, if they were going to survive.
She stayed quiet though, Christa getting to her feet and folding her arms, her tone serious. "You should be doing this, not me. Tending a fire so you can cook and stay warm.. it's something you have to be able to do, Clementine. Otherwise.." She trailed off, glancing up at the girl with a frown, before closing her eyes again and looking down at the ground.
Clementine shrugged her shoulders, pausing for a second. "We need to find a group. People we can trust. We've been on our own for too long." As much as Christa knew deep down that Clementine was right, she shook her head, unable to agree after all they had been through.
"Trust?" She scoffed, "You think you can trust someone out here? Not now. Not anymore." Her eyes darkened as she clenched her fists. Clem looked up at her with a soft expression, before looking away. Maybe Christa was right, but she was sure that not everyone was untrustworthy around here, maybe it would be safer to find a group that could protect them and provide them with enough food to survive.
A gust of wind blew past, causing the young girl to hunch over, wrapping her arms around herself as she tried to keep warm. "I'm freezing." Clementine uttered through gritted teeth, and Christa looked back up at her.
"You think this is bad? Wait 'til we get up to Wellington, then talk to me about cold." She let out a growl of annoyance as the fire failed to improve, "If we make it." She added under her breath, and Clementine eyes widened as her body shook in the cold, goosebumps covering her skin.
Christa got off of her knees, pacing around the fire, "We still have a couple hard months ahead of us." She peered up at the sky, knuckling her forehead as she continued speaking, "This rain will turn to sleet, then ice, then snow. It won't be easy."
"It'll be better there, right?" Clementine asked with optimism.
"Safer, maybe. So they say. But I don't know."
The younger of the two smiled determinedly, "It has to be, I know it will." She nodded her head firmly.
Christa sighed, "We'll see, we just need to keep moving north." She went back to prodding the fire again with her spear, an unhappy expression fixed onto her face. The two sat in silence for a minute or so, Christa poking around the fire whilst Clementine fiddled with her hands, sat on the log.
"I miss Lee." She confessed as she stared down at her hands, her eyes starting to become teary. She didn't let herself cry, as she knew she had to be strong for him. Just like he'd want her to be.
Christa nodded her head. "I'm sure you do." Clementine immediately felt bad for not saying she missed Omid.
"I also.. wish Omid was here." As soon as his name left her lips, Christa's whole body tensed up, and she glared fiercely at Clementine. Perhaps she shouldn't have said anything. Christa's expression changed from anger to pained as she pulled herself to her feet.
Her voice was hostile and bitter, "I'm going to look for more wood." She took hold of her spear, and began to walk off again, calling over her shoulder, "You just keep the fire lit.. and don't fall asleep this time."
Clementine gazed after Christa, watching as her form slowly disappeared through the trees. She regretted mentioning Omid, but they needed to talk about it together sometime, otherwise nothing was going to change between them both. Her eyes drifted over to the weasel that was cooking slowly on the fire, realising that it was possibly going to take until morning to be fully cooked. Her stomach began to grumble again, louder this time, and she sighed in disappointment.
She turned to glance down at her backpack, hoping to somehow improve the fire. She got to her feet slowly, grabbing her backpack and unzipping it quietly. Her eyes automatically scanned over the photo of Lee, and it made her heart clench painfully. Clem took hold of it, before quickly placing it back into the backpack. No matter how desperate it would ever become, she would never burn it. It was one of the only things she had left to treasure, and it meant a great deal to her.
She then slowly lifted out a drawing she had done a couple of years back, when they were staying at the motel. It was of Duck, Katjaa and Kenny. That also brought back a lot of painful memories, so she rapidly tucked it back where she took it out from.
Finally picking out the lighter again, she closed her backpack, dropping it back down beside the log she had been sitting upon. She looked up, and sagged her shoulders as she realised the fire had gone out. Clementine began to search around cautiously, looking for any other items that she was more.. willing to burn. Kneeling down by the fire, she noticed a discarded piece of wood that Christa hadn't spotted, and grabbed hold of it, placing it on top of the stack of sticks that had already been burning.
She raised her lighter, pulling out the scrap bit of paper that Christa had used earlier, and lit the paper with the lighter. Leaning down, she dropped the burning scrap of paper onto the logs which were slowly catching fire again. Smoke began to rise as the flames grew stronger, and Clementine smiled in success, crossing her legs as she sat beside the fire, keeping warm.
"It'll have to do for now. I'm sure Christa will be back with more wood soon." She reassured herself, wrapping her arms back around her small body. She used to love winter when she was younger, she remembered her parents letting her friends come over. They would have snowball fights in her backyard, and then all run on inside to have a mug of her mother's special hot chocolate after.
Clementine sighed sadly, trying to put those memories at the back of her mind. She despised winter now, since she and Christa hadn't been able to find suitable shelter for the past weeks, and they could barely find anything to catch and eat this time of year. It was getting colder as the days went on, and it was getting harder for them to survive.
She picked up a twig and began to prod the fire with it, when she heard the sound of yelling in the distance. She immediately dropped the twig, her eyes widening as she rushed over to the log she had been sat on, taking hold of her pistol and loading it. Her breathing quickened as the noises were getting louder, and she wondered if Christa might be in trouble.
Cautiously moving in the direction of the shouts, she kept herself hidden alongside the towering trees. She walked a few metres ahead, but stopped dead in her tracks when she came across a clearing in the woods, and a quiet gasp escaped her lips at the sight in front of her. Christa was surrounded by three intimidating men, who were pointing their weapons at her and demanding for her to speak.
Christa backed up, fear in her dark brown eyes as one of the men snarled at her, "Where's the rest of your group?"
The woman stammered in response, dropping her wooden spear to the ground as she raised her hands up in surrender, "I-I'm by myself.." The man who was closest to her edged closer, cocking his pistol towards her threateningly.
He snapped, "Bullshit!" His gun was now aimed between her eyes, and Clementine began to panic.
"She's lyin'.." said another one of the men, who was carrying a long sharp spear.
The third man hissed coldly, also raising his pistol to her face, "Cut the shit, lady!
"It's just me!" Clementine heard Christa protest unconvincingly, and Clementine knew they didn't believe her one bit. They continued to shout as they moved closer to her, and the young girl thought fast, grabbing a small rock from the ground, and throwing it at one of the scavengers, the rock surprisingly hitting him square in the face, which knocked him off guard.
"Christa, RUN!" Clementine yelled out, and the woman was about to sprint off out of sight, when another one of the men grabbed hold of her arm roughly, dragging her towards him.
"You ain't going anywhere," He sneered, and the scavenger who had been hit in the face by the rock spotted Clementine crouched behind the bushes nearby. He raised his spear, stabbing it straight into the back of Christa's leg, causing her to yelp out in pain, falling to her knees.
"Lying bitch!" One of them shouted into her face, and Christa looked up, noticing Clementine who was watching in horror.
"Clementine, run!" She shouted towards the younger girl, but Clementine wasn't going to leave her friend to die after all of this. She watched as the man who had injured Christa stormed towards her.
Clementine raised her pistol out in front of her, shooting him in the head. His body collapsed to the floor in a crumpled heap, and the two other men were distracted as their eyes were glued to the sight of his death. Christa took the chance to grab hold of her wooden spear, jabbing it straight into one of the men's chests, piercing through his heart. He also fell to the ground, lifeless.
The last of the scavengers jaw dropped as his eyes shifted from the woman to the young girl. He didn't even hesitate, sprinting away as he feared for the safety of his own life. Christa dropped to the ground, groaning in pain as blood dripped down the back of her leg. Clementine shot the man who laid lifeless on the ground beside Christa, so that he wouldn't reanimate.
She then rushed over to her aid, kneeling down beside the woman and placing a soft hand on her shoulder. She whispered with concern, "Christa, are you alright?"
The woman winced as she tried to get to her feet, the pain shooting through her leg as she put pressure onto it. Her brown eyes met with Clementine's worried hazel ones, and she offered the girl a weak but reassuring nod.
"I'm fine, Clementine. I'm fine." She replied, panting heavily. "Let's just get out of here, the noise must've attracted walkers. And we don't want that asshole to come back with more of his group." Clementine wrapped an arm around the woman's waist, helping her to her feet. The older of the two had to lean against the other for support, but Clem didn't mind.
Christa grabbed hold of the pistol which one of the men had been carrying, shoving it inside of her hoodie pocket.
"Okay, but what about the weasel?" The kid spoke up questioningly, as the two began to head out.
Christa shook her head, "We'll have to find something else. Come on." Her tone was back to it's usual bitterness, and Clementine nodded her head, continuing to support the weight of older woman as they slowly ventured onwards.
A/N - I wrote this a few months back, I hope it's alright. I'd love to receive some feedback from this, and whether I should carry on with it.