AN: I'll be writing the events of Season 2 as they would unfold with a 19-year-old Clem. A lot of dialogue will be changed. Clementine will fall in love at some point, but how soon and with whom is still up in the air. yyyyyup.

"Christa? Talk to me, Christa."

Clementine focused her amber eyes on Christa's thin figure bent over the cooking fire. Christa scowled and poked at the damp wood with a stick. The fire sputtered and smoked far below the skinned animal propped above. "This'll never work," Christa scoffed. "Look at this…. It's pathetic. The wood's too wet to burn. There's more smoke than flame. At this rate, we'll be eating this for breakfast."

Clementine sighed inwardly and looked away. Christa was in a mood.

"It's fine anyway," Clementine muttered. "We shouldn't even be building a big fire at night. It attracts too much attention."

Christa's brows knitted. "We need to eat, don't we? We can't survive without food."

The wind picked up and pressed Clementine's damp clothes into her skin, sending chills through her body. Clementine wrapped her arms tighter around herself and shivered. They were somewhere in North Carolina, according to the license plates, and winter was fast approaching – not a pleasant time to be stranded in the woods at night. "I'm freezing," she mumbled.

"You think this is bad? Wait 'til we get to Wellington. Then talk to me about cold," Christa said wryly. "If we make it. We still have a couple hard months ahead of us. This rain will turn to sleet, then ice, then snow. It won't be easy." Oh Christa, ever the optimist, Clementine thought to herself sourly. "But it'll be safer there, Christa," she reminded her.

"Or so they say," Christa frowned. "We just need to keep moving north." She continued to pick at the fire as the silence between them lengthened. Finally, she threw down her stick in defeat and turned away in a huff. "I'm gonna go look for more wood," she growled. "You just keep the fire lit."

Clementine watched her back retreat into the trees. Without Omid around to crack stupid jokes, Christa's mood went south more often than not. It was hard to find things to keep her hopeful for when Clementine wasn't hopeful for much herself. She tried to keep her thoughts focused on moving towards a better life up north, but it's easier to hope with warm clothes and a full belly.

Clementine raised her eyes again to see the fire sputtering out. Reluctantly, she stood up from the log and walked to her backpack, her arms still wrapped tightly around her chest. She fished around in her pack for her lighter, pushing aside a picture of Lee as she looked. Lee…

She pushed down the emotions that threatened to bubble to the surface and walked towards the fire with her lighter. Kneeling down, she lit some crumpled receipts she collected specifically for kindling and nursed their flame until the logs once again started to sputter and pop. She added another damp log to the fire in an attempt to raise the heat closer to the food, but she wasn't optimistic about the soggy wood's willingness to burn.

Suddenly, Clementine became aware of male voices coming from the woods around her. She jumped up, startled, and craned her neck for Christa. Seeing nothing, she crouched and slowly walked through the trees toward the voices.

"Don't fucking lie to us!"

"Where's the rest of your group?"

Clementine's eyes widened as she saw a man forcefully shove Christa into a tree. "I- I'm by myself!" Christa stammered.

"Bullshit!" "She's lying!"

"Cut the shit, lady," a bandit threatened as he lowered his gun at her.

"It- it's just me," Christa offered, her eyes on the ground.

Clementine assessed the situation quickly. The weapons were at the camp… stupid. Her eyes darted around, looking for at least some sort of distraction. Finding nothing, she cast about for a rock and threw it as hard as she could towards a bandit. "CHRISTA, RUN!" she shouted desperately before turning on her heels and sprinting off. Scuffling in the underbrush… Christa's yelps… a gunshot rings out… There were too many sounds at once to determine what was happening.

Pausing in a clearing, Clementine looked over her shoulder. Footsteps rang out through the trees and a clumsy figure crashed through the branches – she was being followed. She crouched behind a tree and tried to decide her next move. There was no way to attack him without a weapon… Can't take a branch to a gunfight, she thought to herself. She darted to another cover, but was spotted immediately, sparking another mad dash through the trees.

A few walkers stumbled through the trees, apparently alerted by the gunshot. Good, Clementine nodded. That'll keep them busy. The trees fell away behind her and the ground turned to rocks under her feet. The ground dropped off abruptly revealing a river about 10 feet below. Yikes… Clem stopped quickly and looked back toward her pursuer. He's so close… Clementine dashed past him towards the trees, but he grabbed her leg and she hit the ground, hard. Despite her kicks and struggles, he climbed on her and held her arms down, threatening her. Heart pounding, Clementine writhed and struggled, looking for anything she could do… a walker appeared a few feet to the left behind the bandit. If she could just… angle… her kicks…

She managed to shove her knee into his crotch, flinging him back. Go on… a little more… Right into a walker's clutches. Clementine scrambled to her feet as the bandit was devoured, but a dozen walkers were now stumbling out of the woods toward her. She backed away, scanning for an opening, but tripped backward over a rock. Shit… shit… Casting around for something to throw, she grabbed a stone and flung it desperately. Eyes wide, she scooted away as fast as she could. Suddenly, the ground dropped off behind her and she fell backward off the cliff.

The first thing that hit her was cold. The icy water took her breath away and she struggled to the surface. Lungs burning, Clementine's head broke the surface, but every time she tried to breathe she got a mouthful of water. Increasingly panicked, she tried to fight the current, but the cold numbed her until her vision blackened and she sunk into unconsciousness.