A.N: 10 reviews, 22 favorites and 3 follows. Holy Shit.

You people are awesome.

So anyway, after the events of the Season 2 finale, I just felt like writing something, so why not make another chapter to continue that little one shot I wrote back in December and see how things work out?

So yes, this means that Long Night Ahead is no longer a oneshot fic, and here's part 2, taking place sometime during their 5 day journey from the log cabin to the ski lodge in episode 2.

She sat at the corner; far from the small campfire they had built a while ago, where everyone was.

It didn't feel right, to be among them. She just met them after all, and it just didn't felt right to just sit down among them join in the conversation when she's just some stranger they picked up less than seventy two hours ago. Especially if they were doing something like toasting to Pete, a man she barely knew.

Not that they didn't care about her since Luke and Alvin had already asked her to join them but she pushed them away, said she needed some fresh air. A poor excuse, she knew it and they knew it, though they decided not to pursue the issue and further complicate things.

She could've said she'll stay on watch, but there's no way they would let her do it, reason being she's just a kid and still a newcomer to their motley group. Plus, it had long been decided that Nick would have first watch, being the best shot and all, despite having displayed a reckless streak numerous times.

In fact, she probably shouldn't worry about walkers sneaking up on her, but more about being shot by Nick.

Then again, its probably been a while since they had to do something like having someone constantly on the watch, having lived in a log cabin for who knows how long.

Clementine briefly considered just leaving without a word, go out and try to find Christa. Might be a good idea too short term wise, considering that the group she's with now was being pursued by some man called Carver, and that this conflict between them had nothing to do with her. Plus getting involved in other people's business, more specifically, a conflict that's got totally nothing to do with her was a very bad idea. be selfish essentially, since the selfless and the idealists were often the quickest to perish in such times.

Long term wise; she didn't know the lay of the land, having never been to Virginia before, nor read a map about the place. If she couldn't find Christa, that's it for her. Might as well just tie a blindfold over her eyes, pick a random direction and start walking if she chose that option. Besides, t-

"What you doing?"

Sarah's sudden question caused her to jump slightly, her hand immediately darting her side to wrap her fingers around the cool handle of the hammer, ready to raise it and bludgeon the living daylights out of…

Oh…

"Don't do that." She snapped at the older girl, annoyed. Despite her best efforts, Sarah was still bent on 'becoming best friends' with her, much to her frustration. Combined with the fact that Sarah had displayed a total ignorance of basic gun safety earlier on in the day by pointing a handgun straight at her, its only logical to be weary around the sheltered teenager. "I thought you were… something else for a second."

And nearly caved your head in. She bitterly added. Wonder how did you last this long out… oh right, you didn't, daddy's girl and all.

"S-sorry." Sarah backed away at the sudden hostile reaction, holding her hands tight to her chest as she looks away apologetically, looking downcast. "I forgot." Then just as quickly as it appeared, the apologetic look was gone, back into her old self as she squatted down to Clementine's eye level. "Why are you seating here?"

"I don't know." Clementine shrugged honestly. "Its comfy?" Not really, she quickly corrects inwardly. The bark of the tree she is resting on is digging into her back and the insects around are making her feel very itchy all over. And hoping that Sarah would get the message that she wanted to be left alone.

Sarah blinked. "Really?"

No.

"Well, that's not important, you should join us." The teenager offered, holding her hand out to her. "By the fire I mean, Luke's telling us about this one time he's been to Boston before everything started going down."

"Erm… okay?" She replied hesitantly, holding herself back from rolling her eyes.

"Do you think that we can have a chance to go there and see it for ourselves? With my dad's permission of course."

"I… don't think that we'll get the chance." Clementine said, leaving out the part that there's probably nothing to see in Boston except for wrecks and walkers.

Undeterred, the bespectacled girl opened her mouth again. "Well, that's okay though, because we are going to the mountains." She said, looking back towards the said geographical landform looming in the distance. "Have you ever hiked in your life? I don't mean the small tiny hills but the real big ones."

"Well…" Clementine frowned at the incessant pestering, shifting slightly from where she sat. Her social skills weren't as good as they once were, having spent most of the past year in silence with Christa, who hadn't been much of a talker ever since the accident at the gas station. Been quite a while since anyone tried to strike her up for a conversation. "I guess not."

"Well, that's okay, we can go together, up the mountain with everyone else. Maybe we can all take a trip to Roanoke Valley." She exclaimed, causing Clementine to nod along even though she had no idea what the teenager was talking about. "Heard the view up there is spectacular at this time of the year, though it might be a little cold but still…

"Roanoke Valley?" Clementine interrupted, trying to get Sarah to slow down and maybe get a rough idea of what's she's talking about.

"Oh, it's somewhere up the mountain. I promise you'll like it, the fall color is beautiful with shades of red, maroon, orange, yellow…" She quickly listed off. "Though… we could've missed it already."

"You seem to know quite a lot about this place." Clementine remarked.

Might as well play along right?

"I read about it in an old travel brochure." Sarah said, the smile still on her face. "Though never been up the mountain to see it for myself personally."

"That makes two of us." Though unlike Sarah, hiking up mountains for the view was positioned at the bottom of her things to do list, despite how appealing the thought might sound. One of the first things Christa had made sure to do after she broke out of her trance was strip away her childlike curiosity for the world around her.

Unless it involved food, water, shelter and other items vital to their survival, nothing else mattered.

Harsh, but necessary, especially since she lost count of how many times it had helped her.

Especially after that one time where she dipped her legs into a lake while resting on the wooden walkway, not realizing that there were walkers beneath the murky waters perfectly capable of reaching up and grabbing her foot. Christa dragged her away, right as she felt something wrap around her ankles.

While she did manage to make it out of that incident unharmed, she lost a shoe that day, and had to hear the woman rant about it for two weeks.

Good times.

"… birch, red maple, Clementine?"

"Hmm?" She caught herself, snapping out of whatever that was, grimacing. That's the fifth time it happened, losing herself in her own mind, she's starting to worry about how increasingly frequent she's been doing that. Sooner or later, she's going to walk straight into a tree without noticing.

Or into the waiting embrace of a walker.

"Right?" Sarah rubbed the back of her neck, a little embarrassed though for what reason, Clementine had no idea, having filtered her voice out quite a while ago in favor of being encapsulated in her own mind. "I'm just saying, you don't have to agree, but it will be nice if you did."

"Well, I guess?" Clementine looked down at her hands, away from Sarah. She hoped she didn't make a promise to Sarah on accident. She hated promises, since it's hard to keep them when there's so many factors to be taken into consideration these days.

"Thanks." Sarah beamed, looking like she was about to start bouncing up and down on the spot. "Anyway, come join us, its not good to be seated out here all by yourself right? I mean, sure, it might be less noisy and all but…"

Sighing softly to herself, Clementine turned her gaze to the group by the fire, just in time to see Carlos crack a rare smile at something Alvin had said.

She remembered the last time she sat around a fire with a group, back in the old days with everyone.

In her mind, she did her best to recall what happened, using the fragments of what she could remember. It had been two months since they settled down and fortified the motel; Mark had just joined them around two weeks ago if she wasn't wrong. At then, they were safe, they were warm and they were fed. Food supplies was never really a concern and they were never in any danger, the walls having proved to be more than capable of keeping walkers out.

Despite the world collapsing around them and the hardships they had to endure, everyone was oddly content in some way or the other. Then Kenny managed to bag himself a buck, dragging it all the way back to the motel with Lee, boasting about what an amazing shot that was and how everyone would be having venison for dinner.

She could've sworn she saw Larry's jaw drop slightly, staring at the deer with his mouth agape, quickly snapping it shut when he realized what he had been doing, then walked back to his room saying he could've done it better. Then quietly trying to grab seconds during dinner later on.

She remembered hearing Lilly giggle, an actual giggle out of from the normally stoic and harsh woman, laughing about some long forgotten joke that was being told at the time.

She remembered Carley coming down with a bad bout of diarrhea the following day, raving about undercooked meat.

She could've…

Clementine felt her blood froze in her veins as she took in the sight before her.

Duck… ?!

Sarah was gone, so is everyone else by the fire. Instead, she saw Duck, resting his head on Katjaa's lap, dark blue veins clearly visible under his deathly pale skin, lips impossibly purple, lifeless hazel eyes staring straight into the void. His mother had a bloody cut on her forehead, humming softly as she stroked her son's hair, then leaning down slightly to whisper into his ear.

She saw Mark, or what she believe to be Mark, having long forgotten how the man even looked like. His face was shrouded in the darkness, moonlight reflecting off his glasses, one arm supporting his chin as the head. There's two bloody stumps at where his legs used to be, blood spilling out of them and staining the dirt beneath him blood red.

She saw Lee, a gaping hole at where his right eye used to be, where the bullet had went through when she shot him. She had been aiming for his forehead, but her shaking hands ruined it, and instead the round had tore its way through the eye, splattering the wall behind him with gore. Messy, sloppy, far from the clean shot she had hoped to achieve.

"Clem? Clementine?" She felt someone shaking her, a distant voice. Turning, she saw Carley bent down beside her, totally at ease despite the bloody whole in her cheeks, allowing Clementine to see through it and the bloody mess behind it. "Do you want to join us by the fire?"

Clementine blinked.

"Clem? Clementine!" Carley was gone, in her place was Sarah, looking concerned, her eyebrows taut with worry. "Are you… okay? You kind of…"

"I…" Taking a deep breath, she realized that she had been shaking, her hands clenched tightly into a fist, nails digging sharply into her palm. Her breathing was a little erratic, and she felt her heart thumping loudly in her chest. "I…" She looked over by the fire and saw Rebecca, hands held protectively over her swollen belly as she looked up at the night sky high above her, as if counting the stars. Then a hand settled over her shoulder, Alvin's hand, leaning closer to his wife as he said something to her. "I'm…"

Lee, Katjaa, everyone else… They were nowhere to be found.

She let out the breath she had been holding, trying to get her breathing back under control "I'm fine. I'm fine."

"A-Are you sure?" Sarah asked hesitantly. "I can go get my Dad if you…"

"No!" Clementine cried out, a little louder than she had expected. "I'm… fine. I'm fine, I'm fine." She repeated, like a mantra, getting the feeling that the reason she was doing so was more for the sake of reassuring herself rather than Sarah.

I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm f-

She found herself wrapped up in an embrace, causing her mind to go blank, shocked and surprised. Her first instinct was to struggle against it, like some animal that didn't want to be picked up, squirming and pushing.

S… Sa-rah… ?

Clementine found herself relaxing, resting against the older girl's shoulder. Lee used to do that, whenever she got scared or emotional.

I barely know you… why?

Despite that, she felt her breathing slowly stabilize, no longer straying on the verge of a second breakdown.

It was nice, while it lasted.

Unfortunately, it ended when she shifted slightly, causing Sarah to immediately back off, face crimson. "S-sorry!" She stuttered, fiddling with her fingers and looking anywhere but at Clementine, as if she did something gravely disastrous and about to be punished for it. "I…I just thought…"

"Sarah…"

"I m-mean, I'm told that it helps a-and…"

"Sarah."

"… not that you know… I… I just…"

"Sarah!"

Clementine found herself looking up at the older girl, still beat red.

It honestly had been a while hadn't it? Spent so much time on the road, moving from one place to the other in silence, just doing what is necessary…

"Clementine?"

Its been too long, since I last been with a group… Been among other people, to look out for each other…

"Clementine?"

Sarah had said something about being 'best friends'… maybe it wouldn't be that extreme, but it would be a start. It would be nice.

Been too long since I had a… friend… or something close to one.

She found her lips moving. "Thank you." The words slipped out of her mouth before she even knew it.

"Oh…" A soft muffled whisper, sheepish. "But I didn't do much…"

Clementine shrugged.

You did enough.

Don't know if it is as good as the original, since I'm not really used to writing emotional/friendship stuff.

Might feel a little rushed too, since I wrote this while in the middle of my exam week. Going to come back later on after my tests to check for mistakes and stuff but in the meantime, if you spot any discrepancies, grammar mistakes, stuff like that or just want drop a review, the button to do so is right below.

In the meantime, goddamn it Telltale. And good job.