Four days pre apocalypse.
Clementine stood anxiously by her back porch, kicking a soccer ball over and over against a garbage can. The loud KLANG KLANG sound it produced echoed up and down her neighborhood. Nothing seemed to care, though, and even the birds were still attempting to sing over her racket.
Creak...
Hearing a noise behind her, Clem looked up from her game. She glanced over towards her tree house, where the sound came from. The fence that separated her backyard from her best friend, Amy's, yard was just behind it. She could swear she saw something move.
"...Hello?" Clem called nervously.
Clementine picked up her soccer ball and began to approach the tree house. She was getting scared now, tiptoeing until she was directly beneath the structure.
A tree branch shook, sending leaves wafting down. Clementine jumped back in surprise before realizing it was harmless.
Something was in her tree house.
But what?
Clementine took hold of a tree branch. She gently set the ball down beside her feet, careful to insure that it didn't roll and alert whatever was in her tree of her arrival. After accomplishing a firm grip, she swung one leg over and hoisted herself up. After briefly regaining her balance, Clem reached up and took hold of the wooden platform leading up to tree house and pulled herself up. Then, She entered the tree house.
It was empty, as though it seemed.
She immediately spotted a green duffle bag hastily stuffed in the farthest corner. It seemed that someone had attempted to quickly conceal it, but had failed. Some of the toys that Clementine had organized earlier on were strewn all over, and her favorite blanket was thrown on top. Clementine smiled.
"Amy, come on out." Clementine said, rolling her eyes.
"Aw, man! How'd you know?"
Clem turned to look right into Amy's face. She was hanging upside down from above the doorway.
"Ha! You look like Spiderman!" Clementine pointed out, stiffling a giggle.
"Do I?"
"You should see yourself."
"Kinda hard to, Clem. As you can see." Amy joked. In one quick motion she took hold of the doorway with both hands and flipped over to land on her feet.
"Show off." Clem smiled.
Amy smiled.
"You need to try harder to hide your stuff, Amy." Clementine added.
"Yeah? Well, you didn't exactly give me any time." Amy said, approaching her duffle bag. "I WAS going to scare you and make up for it, but you know... you caught me, as always."
She knelt down next to the pile of animals and assorted toys and began to organize them. Putting them into their proper places.
"Nice hat." Amy said over her shoulder.
Clem reached up to touch her hat. She had completely forgotten she was wearing it.
"Thanks" she said as she knelt down next to Amy. "My dad said I could borrow it while he's away with my mom in Savannah. Their leaving tomorrow, did you know that?"
"Nope" Amy answered. "But I like it, it looks good on you."
Smiling, Clementine sat down next to Amy and helped her finish cleaning.
TWO HOURS LATER.
"Honey, can you go get Clem? Its dinnertime and I'm sure Amy's parents want her home by now." Diana called from the kitchen.
"Yeah, yeah, one minute, hon," He answered. He had his eyes glued to the television set intently. The news was on, and Diana looked up to see what he was watching.
'Breaking news update about the Lee Everett trial. The former UGA professor has now been charged with the murder of two individuals, including his Ex-wife and a state senator. Police say-'
Diana appeared and and pressed the off button on the remote. He looked up at her, surprised.
"Can you believe this guy, Diana? I'm glad he's off the streets now, I mean, who KNOWS how many more people he could've killed after that."
He glanced up at her.
"What?"
"Quit changing the subject. Go." She said, giving him a fake glare.
Putting his hands in the air like he was surrendering, he stood and walked towards the sliding glass door.
"Alright, alright, I'm going, I'm going." He joked, going along with it.
He placed his palm on the sliding glass door. He heard giggling coming from his daughters tree house. Smiling, he pulled the door open.
"Hey girls, where are ya?" he called into the dimming sunlight.
"Up here, Daddy!" Clementine answered.
AMY'S POV
"Hey, sweet pea. Mommy says its time for Amy to go home. Its dinnertime, You can see each other again tomorrow when Sandra gets here. We have to pack for Savannah." Amy heard Ed yell.
After sharing a disappointed look, Clementine stood and gave her father the 'okay' signal. She sighed and turned back to Amy.
"Well, I guess you gotta go." Clem said. "Need help with your bag?"
"Nah, I got it." Amy said. "Speaking of which..."
"What?" Clem asked.
Amy raced over to her bag, and began to search through it. She pulled out a notebook with multiple drawings hanging out, some clothes and a couple coloring books before she finally seemed to find what she looking for.
"Here" she said, sitting next to Clem. "I bought it for us."
Amy handed a small box to Clem. The box had BFF written in large black letters scrawled across the top. Clementine opened it to reveal one of those friendship necklaces that you could split in half and give one half to someone else.
Best friends forever.
"Oh my gosh, Amy! I love it!" Clementine squealed. She turned and embraced Amy in a tight hug.
Smiling, Amy hugged her back.
"Now, its official." she joked before pulling away.
Amy helped Clementine put it on. Then, Amy put her half around her neck.
"Thanks, Amy." Clementine said.
"Thats what best friend are for." Amy said. She swung her neon green duffle bag over her shoulder and began to to make her way down the tree.
"You Don't Leave Friends Behind!" Clem said, quoting from a TV show the girls watched.
"Ever!" Amy said added, before hopping her fence and disappearing into her house.
Clementine wished she held on a little longer.