Chapter Two – You're Safe Now.
The prison could be seen in the distance. Clementine was still curled up in a shivering little ball on the back seat of the car, her heart racing with fear and anticipation. What would this group of survivors be like? Would they be kind and loving like Lee? Brave and headstrong like Kenny? Or…maybe even scary and mean like the stranger… With all these thoughts rushing around her head she felt physically sick. She could hear the two men talking in the front.
"Okay, Clementine." Rick said in a friendly, almost comforting voice "here we are!"
Curiosity getting the better of her, she peered out of the window. As they pulled up to the gate she saw a young boy, about 13-years-old and wearing a brown sheriff's hat, opening the gate to let the car pass through safely. Once they were inside, she saw him quickly shut the gate behind them which was obviously to prevent any nearby walkers getting in. At least it looks safe…she thought to herself. As they drove into the prison's complex, Clementine could see people, lots of people, talking and laughing as if they were almost happy. There were even children! Whole families still intact. This made her smile slightly.
"Th-there are kids here!" she gasped
"Yep. They came to us when we saved them from…"
Rick hesitated.
"A bad man." Added Daryl
Their reply made her feel more at ease. If they'd helped so many people they couldn't be bad men. Still that being said, she still felt a little anxious. The car came to a stop and Rick and Daryl climbed out of the car. Clementine hesitated a bit, not wanting to leave the safety of the back seat. Rick opened the door which made her shuffle to the other side of the seat in a desperate attempt to keep him away.
"Come on sweetie." He beckoned her softly as he held his hand towards her "You'll be alright I promise."
Clem said nothing, she simply shook her head.
"Want me to find something to coax her out?" asked Daryl
Rick nodded. On that note, Daryl limped into the prison, the gunshot wound in his foot still throbbing. Sensing that she was clearly terrified, Rick decided to talk with Clementine to keep her calm and to get to know where she'd come from and why she was alone out in the field. He smiled gently as he kneeled next to the seat, not taking his eyes off of her.
"You okay in there?" he smiled
She said nothing.
"Were you always by yourself out there?" he asked her "Or is your family still hiding out somewhere?"
"My…" she fought back her tears "Mom and Dad are…walkers now."
Ricks heart melted. He knew how it felt to lose loved ones. After the death of his wife, Lori, he'd never been quite the same.
"So you were all by yourself?"
Feeling herself choking up with emotion, she couldn't help but want to talk about Lee.
"There was…a nice man who took care of me." She whimpered as tears began to flow down her cheeks. "And there was a family with a little boy…and a nice couple who were really funny sometimes…but they're…they're all…"
Without warning, she burst into tears, crying harder than she'd ever cried before. Rick felt so bad for this poor little girl. He wanted to scoop her up and give her a hug but he knew that might freak her out even more. He could only offer words of condolences.
"Baby, I'm sorry. So, so sorry." He sighed sadly.
She carried on crying as she once again curled up into a shivering little ball.
Just then, Rick could hear footsteps behind him. He turned to see Glenn and Maggie walking towards him.
"Hey. My dad's taking a look at that bullet hole in Daryl's foot so we came out here to help." Said Maggie "What's going on?"
"We found a little girl out in the middle of nowhere" answered Rick as he pulled himself to his feet. "She's scared to death and she won't get out of the car."
Clementine laid there on the back seat, still sobbing as she listened to the voices outside when suddenly, something snapped her out of her grief. Amongst the other voices outside, she heard a familiar one.
"She was all by herself? That's horrible…" said the voice.
All at once, her hear began to thump once again. She knew that voice…It was the voice of that young man she lent her walkie-talkie to, the one she had met in Lee's parent's drug store. Feeling scared and vulnerable, she felt relieved to hear a familiar voice. She sat up and crawled to the open car door, only to peek outside to make sure it was indeed him. Her eyes widened as she saw him standing there. He looked back at her with an equally surprised look on his face.
"Clementine?!" he gasped
"G-Glenn…" she couldn't hold her emotions back any longer. "GLENN!"
She leapt out of the car with incredible force and ran to hug him, almost knocking him down in the process. He was speechless. How had she survived this long? It was almost a year ago since he last saw her; in fact he was rather shocked that she still remembered him. The first thought that popped into his head was why was she alone? Where were Lee and the others? Rick looked at him with a puzzled look on his face.
"You guys know each other?" he asked Glenn
"Y-yeah barely…" replied Glenn "Before you joined up with us back in Atlanta, I went to down to Macon to see if I could get any supplies and I got stranded in a drug store with another group. She was with them"
"The poor thing, she came all the way from Macon?!" gasped Maggie
Glenn knelt down to Clementine's level, gripped both of her hands gently and looked her dead in the face. Her eyes were all red and puffy, and her cheeks looked sore from all the tears.
"You okay Clem?" he asked.
She looked up at him and noticed he had a small but noticeable scar on the side of his face, next to his right eye.
"Your eye looks sore…" she said sadly
"Don't worry about me, what matters is that you're okay" Glenn smiled as he wiped a stray tear off of her cheek "Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
"That's good…come here…" he smiled as he pulled her in for a hug.
She felt a lot safer now that Glenn was there, having someone she knew really helped to calm her down. She rested her head on his shoulder and sobbed quietly into his shirt. Maggie smiled as she watched her fiancé comfort the child. She knelt down to their level and placed her hand softly on Clementine's back, causing her to flinch slightly. Releasing her from the hug, Glenn put his arm lovingly around Maggie.
"Clementine, this is Maggie." He smiled "my fiancé."
"It's really nice to meet you, Clementine" smiled Maggie as she held her hand out, inviting Clem to shake her hand.
Clementine felt a little wary but she smiled and shook Maggie's hand anyway. She figured that if Glenn liked her she must be a nice person. Maggie noticed some scratches on Clementine's hands as she caressed them.
"Th-they're from a bush I was hiding in!" Clementine panicked, she didn't want anyone to think a walker had got a hold of her. "I wasn't scratched by a walker! I promise!"
Noticing how terrified she was, Glenn pulled her back in for another hug.
"We know Clem, we know!" he shushed as her rubbed her back "it's okay, it's okay."
"We need to get her inside." Said Rick "Maggie, we just need to check her over for any injuries, you think you can run ahead and let your dad know?"
Maggie Nodded in agreement and ran back into the prison.
"C'mon Clementine, let's get you checked out" Rick smiled
As soon as Glenn clambered to his feet, Clementine gripped onto his arm as tight as she could.
"C-can I stay with Glenn?" she asked.
"Of course you can, sweetie."
Glenn lifted Clementine into his arms and began to carry her into the prison.
"It's okay Clem, you're safe now." He smiled
Safe…she'd been waiting to hear that word for ages. She felt a little better now she was with someone she knew; still…the memory of Lee was still fresh in her mind. She felt happy that she was safe but…at the same time she felt terrible that Lee wasn't safe with her…
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Another Chapter done :) I don't know what I'm doing starting a new walking dead fic when my other one needs to be finished :P (I'll get on to that tonight) I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading :)
