The Fort
Clementine and Gabe see the bus is full of people and many of them are kids. They are already embarrassed since they are naked and who knows how long it will be to the fort.
A boy, probably around ten or eleven years old, with dirty blonde hair, dressed in black combat clothing, and barefoot. He is carrying a M-15 rifle in his hand, and with him is an army knife and a small and gun.
"Come on… pit stop is over," said the boy.
"Relax Chris… we are going to be here for a short time and then we will leave," said Jim.
They stayed there for fifteen minutes before moving on.
Clementine and Gabe are sitting in the back of the bus, embarrassed that they are naked around a lot of people and everyone in the bus couldn't help but turn their heads towards them and stare at them.
There is a 10-year-old blonde girl sitting one row in front of them. She turns to them and says… "Will my chest is going to get bigger and would it attract other boys like your boyfriend here?"
"PENNY! THAT'S VERY RUDE," said Penny's mother with a very stern tone. "I feel the need to apologize for that. You two are a cute couple by the way."
Clementine and Gabe are both annoyed and embarrassed that the other called them a cute couple.
"Driver… how long is it to the fort?" asks Clementine.
"It might be another 45 minutes," the driver answered.
It's too long for Clementine and Gabe since they are naked and everyone keeps turning their heads towards them and it wasn't hard for them to figure out why.
After 45 minutes, which seems like ten hours to Clementine and Gabe, they finally made it to the fort.
Their fort has two fortified walls that is twenty-five feet tall, surrounding whatever area they are protecting.
The first one is a strong steel fence that is fifteen feet tall with wooden or metal panels nailed to the wall. There are several watchtowers posted next to the fences with guards holding either assault rifles or sniper rifles.
Between the first and second walls are two rows of barbwire obstacles, after that is a deep trench, and then Clementine counts three modern artillery cannons and six heavy machine guns.
There are even two running army tanks guarding the fort.
She could see why nobody would dare to take on the fort and tough for walkers to take it over. She can even tell why Joan and her forces haven't and wouldn't take on the fort.
The second wall is twenty-five feet tall with a bunch of cars piled on top each other and it looks like they melted the cars on top of each other.
After the second wall, they are at their destination. Their destination is a small resting town with three motels, two gas stations, and a restaurant.
Jim leads them where they are able to get some new clean clothes. They basically grab a couple of new and fresh underwear.
Clementine has some shorts and a crop top shirt and a thin blue jacket.
Gabe has a short sleeve plaid shirt that lost a lot of its buttons so his bare chest is showing. He is able to find some good jeans… but they don't have any shoes that could fit him so he makes the decision to go barefoot.
Gabe's response to his is… "I don't think I need shoes."
Gabe takes a greyish white Georgetown University baseball cap that has a blue G on it.
"Hey… does this hat make me look smart?" Gabe jokes since Georgetown University is considered a top school.
Clementine first chuckles and then she smiles and shakes her head at Gabe's joke.
They check in to a room at one of the motels at the fort.
The motel reminds Clementine about the Georgia motel she sheltered back when all this began.
Clementine and Gabe can't wait for a hot shower since they claim to have hot and running water.
They take turns taking a clean and hot showers… something feels like heaven to them.
After some rest, they went to the old restaurant where they are still serving food. Today's menu is hot dogs and burgers.
Jim and Grace sit with them and they want to get to know them better.
"So how you were able to get electricity and running water out here," asks Clementine.
"There is a dam we were able to get running not too far from here. We were able to have it focus on this spot alone. Luckily we know someone who used to work at the dam as a senior supervisor and if you ask me… he still is," Jim answered. "I guess he is the only person who was able to keep his old job in all this".
"So how did you two end up naked?" asks Grace.
Both Clementine and Gabe are hesitant to answer.
"You got to forgive Grace… she has a bad habit of meddling people's love affairs… especially when it comes to kids," Jim cuts in.
"Sorry… it's not my business… but I am kind of taken aback that we find you two naked in that restroom and alone," said Grace.
"Actually… we came from the New Frontier and we were on our way to McCarroll Ranch because someone close to me was stolen from me and the last I heard he was taken there. We run into a lot of walkers on our way there so we hide out at a bar. The bar still had a lot of alcohol and we drank a lot of it… then we find ourselves inside a van without our clothes… we don't remember how we got there."
"You know you kids shouldn't be drinking," Grace stated.
"I know… we had a few days of water so we thought having those drinks would help us conserve our water... we thought wrong," Gabe answers.
After dinner, Gabe and Clementine went back to the room. Each room has a DVD/VCR player where they rented Star Wars: A New Hope.
Both are lying at their beds while watching the movie. Clementine has only her t shirt and underwear on. Gabe on the other hand is shirtless and wearing only his boxers.
Clementine turns her head towards Gabe and she just looks at him watching the movie.
"He looks so cute and gorgeous... his shirtless body," Clementine thinks to herself. Then she realizes that she thought of him as "cute" and admired his shirtless body.
"Clementine what are you thinking? You just thought of him as cute and gorgeous and then you stared as his shirtless body because he looks hot." Clementine now realizes she thinks Gabe as hot.
"Was Javi right about me? Do I have a crush on him? Or… is it more than a crush? Am I in love with him?" Clementine asks to herself.
She recalls that Gabe prevented her to test the helicopter rotor first and he went first in her place to test if it is stable enough… meaning he risked his life for her.
Then she smiles and slides out of bed.
Getting to the part of the Mos Eisley Cantina bar scene, to Gabe's surprise, Clementine crawls lies in his bed with him.
Moments later, Clementine grabs his arm near her, put it over her head, and then she places her head on his shoulders and places her warm soft hand on his chest. She could feel Gabe's body tense up very quickly, but then he relaxes not too soon after.
Even though the weather is getting a bit cold, Gabe feels so warm like if someone turns up the heater twenty levels.
"Geez Gabe… you got your crush lying with you in your bed. Isn't this you always wanted?" Gabe thinks to himself. He is scrambling in his mind on what to do next.
He then places his arm around Clementine, hoping it doesn't upset her.
"Are you alright?" asks Gabe.
"Yes… because I'm here with you," answered Clementine. Then she realizes the words just slipped out of her mouth.
She then holds Gabe a bit tighter and snuggled closer to him.
Now getting to the part where Obi-Wan Kenobi dies and Luke Skywalker and the others escape from the Death Star, Gabe can hear light snoring from Clementine. She is asleep on top of him.
Gabe turns off the TV with the remote and he falls to sleep.
In early in the morning, Gabe is the first to wake up and he finds Clementine has half of her body is lying on top of him. She has her head resting and sleeping on Gabe's bare chest.
Then she opens her eyes and then she turns to see his face.
"Good morning," Clementine smiled.
"Good morning," Gabe answers back.
Then she returns laying her head on top of his chest as she feels that in a long time she has the happiest moment in her life.
Clementine and Gabe later get out of bed and head for breakfast. They have bacon, eggs, hash browns, toasts, and orange juice… a meal that is like heaven to them.
Jim agreed to take them to the McCarroll Ranch since it is just six miles south from where they are.
Jim introduces them to one of their modified cars. Jim shows them they are taking one of the armored and modified eight seater SVUs.
"We modified all our cars we picked up. The plating of the cars is smooth so the demons can slide right off easy and the tires are modified too so the demons won't get stuck under the car easily." Plus they have hard metal in front of the car so walkers can explode upon impact and the windows are caged up except for the front window.
"Wow… you thought of everything" Clementine commented.
"Well after a few years of… everything… you find and figure ways to solve a demon problems that normally happens… like sometimes they get stuck under a car."
Clementine recalls back when the last time a walker got stuck under a car and then Carley getting shot by Lily.
Rhino and Chris are coming with them too.
"I am bringing a couple of help with us."
"Wait… you have a kid as one of your enforcers?" asks Clementine.
"Hey… don't underestimate me because I am a kid," Chris snaps. "I am not that much younger than you."
"He may be a kid… but he is a good fighter," Jim backs him up.
Clementine notices he is barefoot like yesterday.
"What happened to your shoes?" asks Clementine.
"He threw them away long time ago. Like you (Gabe), "fuck shoes"," Jim answered.
"Can we get going… my family is in Richmond and I think they must be worried about us… we must be away longer than they expected," Gabe demanded.
"I agree… Richmond and McCarroll Ranch are a few miles apart, so it should have been no more than a one day trip… it's been like… a couple of days now," Clementine agrees.
Both Clementine and Gabe consider since they somehow traveled from the bar to more than fifty miles to the van, it is likely to be more than a couple of days.
Another bus rolls in the fort, but both Clementine and Gabe didn't bother to pay attention to it. Jim has a map laid out on the car hood and they are more occupied on listening to Jim's plans on how they are getting to the ranch.
Then Clementine hears a familiar male voice behind her… "Clementine?"
Clementine turns to see who called her name…. "Kenny?"
