Clementine continued stumbling down the road, not really paying any attention to where she was going. All she focused on was just putting one foot in front of the other, but the farther she got, the harder each step became. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left...foot, right...foot, left...She collapsed to the ground as she felt her leg give out.
She lay there for a moment, feeling the sun beat down on her. Even in the cold weather she felt hot, as if she was burning up. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that she was most likely dehydrated, having not had a drink of water since the escape from Carver's camp, but she really didn't care. It didn't matter...not anymore.
Slowly raising her head, Clem glanced around to see if there was anywhere that she could rest for a bit. Seeing a tree that was standing near the road, she slowly dragged herself up to a seated position, taking a moment to rest. She forced herself to stand, feeling as if a gentle breeze would be able to knock her right back down, but she managed to stay on her feet.
She slowly scooted her foot forward along the ground, not trusting herself to be able to pick it up. It seemed to take forever, with each foot barely moving forward, but eventually, she reached the tree. Clem grabbed a low hanging branch and using it for support she turned herself around and slowly lowered herself back down to the ground.
Clementine leaned back against the tree, momentarily forgetting about what had happened since the day her parents left. It was just her, sitting underneath the tree in her backyard, feeling a gentle breeze blow, waiting for her parents to tell her to come in for dinner. She shifted her left leg and the pain of it brought her back to reality. Back to...everything.
She leaned forward, took a deep breath to try to mentally prepare herself, grabbed a hold of the leg of her pants and yanked back, tearing it away from the dried blood to reveal the bite.
"Shit..." Clem sighed, as she leaned back against the tree. Even though she remembered getting bitten, she had been mentally forcing herself to hope that it was a scratch or a cut, but with it out in the open that hope went away. She realized that the reason she was feeling so hot was because she was infected. She suddenly felt tired...very tired. She felt herself begin to fall asleep, and she didn't really care that there was no one else to keep watch. It didn't matter anymore.
Clementine was back at Carver's camp, as everyone prepared themselves to go through the horde by covering themselves in walker guts and blood. Even though Clem had done this before, she had a bad feeling about it. Suddenly, everything went crazy.
Troy came running out, and seeing that the group wasattemptingto escape, shot Jane in the head, killing her instantly. The rest of the group, fearing for their livesand lacking any weapons to fight back with, began to move more quickly toward the horde, as Troycontinuedto shoot at them.Then, either due to his rage or incompetence, Troy wasswarmed by walkers,blockinghim from sight. Carver's group, attracted by the gunshots, arrivedon the roof and began shooting into the crowd. Clem managed to grab a hold of Sarah's hand, fearing that she would freak out as she hurried into the horde.
Clem didn't know whether Carver's group was aiming for them or the walkers, but in the barrage of gunfire, she saw Luke get hit in the chest. Luke cried out in pain and fell to his knees, only to be attacked by zombies attracted to his cry. As Nick gave up the charade of being dead and ran over to gohelp his friend, a number of zombies managed to pull him down. Clem saw him fightback, trying to get to his friend, until he disappeared in a bloody, mangled zombie pile.
Clem kept moving forward, knowing that if she stopped she would be next. Mike was taken down next, a bullet going through his leg. Bonnie was right behind him and as a group of walkers quickly overtook him, she tripped and fell to the ground. Clem didn't see what happened afterward but if she had to guess, once she heard Bonnie scream, she figuredthat Bonnie wouldn't be making it to the rendezvous point.
It was terrifying, watching friends being eaten alive, while the air was full of the sounds of moaning, gunshots, and screams of pain. No matter where she looked Clementine couldn't see Sarita, Kenny or Rebecca. By this time, Sarah was shivering, either from the cold or fear, but she had at least managed to keep quiet. Clem began to feel a little safer as she got closer to the edge of the horde, and the number of zombies began to die down.
Suddenly, Carlos, who had been right in front of Sarah and her, shouted out in pain as his shoulder exploded from a bullet punching through it. He turned and tried to make a run for it, but a nearby walker managed to grab a hold of him, taking a chunk out of his neck.
"Daddy! No!" Sarah screamed and broke away from Clementine, running off before Clem could grab her again.
Carlos had asked Clem to try and keep an eye on Sarah, so that was what Clementine was going to do. She rushed forward, grabbed the pistol that Carlos had dropped, and took off after Sarah.
Clementine tried to follow Sarah, but it was as if she had lost all reason, causing her to run forward, not paying attention to where she was going. Sarah, running at full speed, tripped over a rock, causing her to go tumbling to the ground where a group of walkers swarmed her. Clem pointed Carlo's gun at the group and was about to shoot, when suddenly, she felt a sharp pain coming from her leg.
With a shout, she jumped back and saw a walker had managed to crawl over and take a bite out of her leg. Putting a bullet through its head, Clem was about to head back and help Sarah when she heard her piercing scream.
"I'm sorry Sarah," Clem murmured before turning away and stumbling down the road.
Clementine slowly opened her eyes, feeling the cool breeze blowing against her face. By where the sun was, she realized she had slept for some time, putting her closer to turning. She tried to get up but fell back to the ground, having no energy left in her.
As she sat there, she began to think back to everyone she'd lost: Her parents, the Motor Inn group, Omid, Christa, Pete, Luke's group, and...Lee. He was always there for her, making sure that she would be prepared for this world. And yet...she had caused his death and had failed his memory by getting bitten.
Clementine felt something wet on her face. Reaching up, she felt water running down her cheeks and realized that she was crying. She smiled sadly as she let the tears fall, not even attempting to stop them.
She thought back to the final time that she was with Lee. Using the last of his strength, he had managed to protect her to the very end. His final wish: he didn't want to turn and had asked her to help make sure that he didn't. With that thought, she realized what she had to do.
She reached down and wrapped her hand around the handle of the pistol. Somehow, she had managed to keep a hold of it the whole time she was walking, and for that, she was thankful.
The pistol felt as if it weighed a million pounds as she slowly lifted the gun. When it was in front of her, she cocked the gun, turning it so she could make sure there was a round in the chamber. Seeing that there was, she slowly lifted the gun and set it against her head.
Clementine looked up at the sun one last time and smiled, tears streaming down her face as she enjoyed the light. She slowly closed her eyes and moved her finger toward the trigger.
"Don't worry Lee, I will see you soon."