Clementine was awake a few hours later, feeling alert. She opened her eyes only to be greeted by darkness. Had she really slept all day? She was shocked as she looked up at the sky to see the silver moon.
It was quiet. Not like the peaceful quiet she felt a few hours ago. No. There was something strange about this silence.
She couldn't hear a sound, not even from the animals.
She rose onto her knees, from the tree, looking around. She felt like a rabbit being stalked by a predator.
She could hear the sound of her own heart beat in her ears. Something wasn't right.
The atmosphere didn't feel threatening, only strange. Like she was suddenly intruding. She no longer felt comfortable.
She took a moment to drink in her surroundings. She knew the paranoia was probably her fear of the darkness, and being alone. She couldn't sense in danger in the area, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.
She felt a pang in her chest, which soon turned into full-scale worry. She started thinking nervous about never making it out of the woods. Tears came to her eyes, she thought of being trapped in such a scary place forever.
After a while of letting herself cry, she wiped tears away. The child forced herself to her feet. She took a moment to stretch out her sore muscles. She hoped that she'd be able to find a bed or something more comfortable to sleep on than the ground, but she knew that was a low chance.
She began to slowly make her way forward. Glancing up at the sky, she felt her heart drop. Clouds had moved to cover the moon and the woods became a lot darker than before. Clementine swallowed. Now how was she supposed to find her way? If she just kept walking, not able to see where she was going, she could get hurt. Or worse, she could stumble right into a walker. She shuddered at the possibility.
As she looked up at the grey clouds, she was sure it was going to rain.
She needed to find some real shelter, sleeping under a tree wasn't going to cut it.
Hopefully she could find some place to go before it started pouring.
She swore she hiked for about five miles before she suddenly heard something that sound like thunder.
She flinched. She always hated storms. Just the thought of them scared her. And right then, it started pouring. It was raining, but it wasn't too bad.
The girl continued to walk until it started hailing. She made an attempt to take shelter under a tree until the hail stopped. However, that attempt was unsuccessful and she decided move on.
The trail was now becoming a muddy mess. She did her best to dodge the muck and keep her balance at the same time.
It had rained for a while, the child was practically soaked, but that did nothing to stop her from proceeding on. She started to feel as if she was only going to end up even more lost then before. Finding an area where the trees seemed to curve over, she decided to rest there, at least until the rain let up.
However, the rain hadn't stopped, but eventually dawn came around and Clementine decided it was light enough that she could start moving again.
She walked and walked, feeling a sharp pain as her legs screamed at her to stop. She was still getting wet by the rain, but she was determined to make it out of the forsaken woods.
Several moments later she spotting what looked like a log made cabin. It was small, about the size of a mere shack. It was right in the clearing of the trees. Her eyes squinted, wondering if what she saw was real, she inched forward. She kept on her guard as she approached it, listening out for anyone that could be inside.
She made sure to remain as quiet as possible.
She wandered around the shack, looking at it hesitantly. She wanted to wait before going in. She needed to make sure it was okay. She didn't know what would happen if she just strolled into the place without making sure it was clear.
Looking around, she could see the windows were boarded up. Which clearly meant somebody had been there at some point in time. However, the place seemed pretty abandon right now.
Pulling her gun out, she made her way slowly onto the porch. She could feel the creaking of each stair and for a moment, thought the rotting things would give out and she would fall she made it onto the porch she approached the door. She observed it, noticing the wood looked slightly rotted as well and the door was missing the handle.
It didn't take much force to open the door. In fact, with just the smallest push, it swung open.
She glanced behind her before stepping inside. She looked around the dark room.
She cracked the door, deciding it would be best not to close it completely as she wouldn't want to get trapped.
"Hello?" She called out.
She waited a moment but got no response. After a while she thought it would be best to take a look around.
She began exploring around the house, keeping her gun securely in her hands as a source of comfort.
She made sure to clear every room, looking in each cabinet, and place wasn't to large so it didn't' take let out a relieved sigh as she approached the final unchecked room.
With her blood running cold, she opened the door. It was empty. She let out a breath.
Upon further examination, she noticed a cot in the room a well folded blanket placed on it. As well as a backpack that went she looked at it, appeared to be full.
The sight of a full backpack, made Clementine feel a bit unnerved. If that was full it meant someone had to have been in the area. In the house.
Her eyes widened at the realization. What if that someone was a bad person?
She looked to the window, it was still storming pretty bad out there. Nobody in the right mind would want to get caught in that storm.
She wondered if whoever was living in this shack had went outside. Maybe they managed to get lost in the woods, if so they'd be coming back soon.
She shouldn't be here, but there was no way she planned on going back outside anytime soon. She had to make a decision.
After a while of thinking she decided that she was going to stay there.
She had a gun, if any bad people tried to hurt her she would just k-kill them. She could do it.
She turned her eyes down to see the backpack. She wanted to know what was inside, but it wasn't hers. She shouldn't touch what didn't belong to her.
The child chewed her bottom lip for a minute, contemplating on what her she should do. It was finders' keepers, right? That's how it was on the playground.
Clementine had never had that way of thinking, but the other kids did. She remembered being called stupid by some of the older kids at the neighborhood park after she found a wallet containing a hundred dollars and returned it to the rightful owners.
Her kind heart couldn't have even imagined the idea of keeping someone else belongings. She returned it without second thought. She remembers the glares she got from the older children as the old woman handed her a twenty-dollar bill, while thanking her for her honesty.
Any other seven-year-old would have probably spent it right away on candy and toys. However, Clementine had chosen to save it. It had gone straight into her piggy bank.
Her parents later praised her for doing "the right thing", and she never felt happier.
Clementine knew that things were different now. There was no right or wrong anymore. Only live or die. You had to take what you had to take to survive.
Still, the child couldn't help her hesitation. Blame on her upbringing, she definitely had a hard time doing anything she thought was bad.
She decided just a peek wouldn't hurt. As long as she didn't break anything, right?
She gave a try at lifting the bag, groaning as she felt how heavy it was. Now she was even more curious to know what was inside.
She carefully unzipped the bag and looked inside. There was a flashlight, she took the objects and her hands, switching it on. She was a bit surprised it worked. She placed it down beside her. She had no intentions on stealing it, but it could be useful when night came, seeing as though there weren't any lights and the place would be pitch black dark.
She looked back into the backpack finding a set of matches. She looked at the matches thoughtfully. She wasn't supposed to play with matches, but what if she needed them for making fire since she didn't know any other way? She decided that if the owner of the backpack didn't return it would be okay for her to take it.
She dug back into the backpack. Feeling cold metal, something sharp. She stayed extra careful as she pulled the object out for examination. Just as she had thought it was a knife, looking to be well sharpened.
There were also a few cans in the bag as well along with some other little foods like oatmeal, and granola bars.
Clementine felt her mouth water at the sight of the food. Her hunger was once again awoken as she thought of opening one of the cans of soup and eating it cold. She didn't care, at some point she had, but now food was food.
She looked around again before taking one of the cans, she hoped whoever owned this stuff wouldn't mind. She'd be sure to tell them that she took a can. Surely that would understand, she was starving.
She hated it out there, she never wanted to go into the woods again once this was over.
She looked in the bag for something that she could use to open the can, not finding anything her eyes fell to the knife. Maybe that would work. Her parents never let her use knives, they said they were dangerous. Then again, they probably wouldn't approve of her using a gun either before all this. Clementine herself wouldn't have even thought about wanting to touch a gun, they seemed so scary, but now she needed it to protect had to have a gun to keep safe from the monsters and the mean people who wanted to hurt her.
She used the knife to open the can with some difficulty. After the can was opened, she wasted no time in eating the soup. It was cold and the taste wasn't the best, but it was better than nothing and it did hurt soothed the ache in her stomach a lot better than chewing on that grass did.
Clementine, having nothing better to do opted to take a nap. She hoped that she wouldn't have any bad dreams. She slept with her gun beside her just in case the person who owned the backpack was bad. She really hoped they weren't.
She drifted off, but her sleep was not as pleasant as it had been the day before. She would wake up every hour or so, drenched in sweat.
After a few times of this she gave up on trying to sleep. She wandered around the house, looking for anything that she might have missed. At this point she had to have been there for a while, a couple of hours she was sure, but the bag owner hadn't returned yet.
She gazed outside the window to see that it was still raining, hard. She wondered if they had gotten stuck in that storm. That would be bad.
She tore her gaze away from the window and continued to explore the little cabin. She wasn't finding anything her second time around and was starting to think that the place must have been cleared out.
Time was flying fast, Clementine tried to keep a listen out for the bag owner, but the hadn't returned and before long, night had fallen. Clementine had used one of the matches to light a spare candle she found sitting on a close desk. The light that illuminated the room was both pretty and a bit creepy because of all the shadows. She thought that making shadow puppets would keep her from being scared. It of course worked.
She sleepily rubbed her eyes. She was fighting sleep. She wanted to make sure that she could inform the person that she had eaten from one of their cans.
Staying up proved to be quite difficult for the child, considering she hadn't gotten much sleep the past few days and she was used to being put to bed before ten every night. On the weekends she'd beg her parent to stay up late and surprisingly they'd agree, probably because they knew she wouldn't make it past nine-o-clock.
Clementine watched out the window. She was glad she couldn't hear any thunder. She hated stormy nights. She'd always crawl into bed with her parents, crying about the loud and scary noises.
The sound of the rain was calming as it was no longer as harsh as it had been when it had first started. Her mother had once told her that the rain was the angels' tears. She wondered if they were crying happy or sad tears.
She thought of lullabies her mom would sing to her during the storms or the stories her daddy would tell her, all to distract her from her fear of the loud noises.
She was never nervous about the rain, in fact she liked it. Whenever it rained, her parents would make it family time. Clementine loved it, since her parents were often gone. At work or some business trip.
She was far from neglected, she was well taken care of, and honestly it was pretty fun hanging out with Sandra, but she treasured time with her mom and dad.
Being an only child, she had no one to play with at home so she had become pretty much a loner. Yes, she would play with other children, but she didn't always like going outside. Nature wasn't her thing, and besides that she wasn't even old enough to cross the street on her own without permission.
She remembered one time when she had been left alone, Sandra was running late and her dad had to leave for work, her mom having already left.
Clementine begged him to take her with him, but her dad had to her it was against the rules for him to do that, she could get hurt.
The child then broke into tears and her dad had spent ten minutes comforting her, which in turn made him late for work. Upon being told that, Clementine felt guilty and let him go, sadly assuring him that she would be a good girl and take keep an eye on that "Tricky hamster" as her dad liked to call him.
Her dad gave her a pat on the head and then he was out of the door. As soon as the door shut Clementine found her heart beating a million miles a minute. She was scared to death. Her lips quivered and she wanted to cry.
Other children would probably use the chance to watch cartoons or get into some sort of trouble around the house, but Clementine wasn't other kids.
She was a nervous wreck. She had gotten so used to not being alone that she needed to have someone there with her. She counted on it.
As soon as Sandra showed up she threw herself into her babysitter's arms. Sandra just chuckled and asked if Clementine had missed her that much.
Hard to believe the kid who feared being alone actually ended up being alone. It was ironic. Clementine had to deal with it though, she couldn't have someone there for her anymore. She had to get used to taking care of herself. Grownups did it, so she could do it too.
She recognized that feeling she had at that time now. She hadn't known what it was then, but she knew exactly what it was now.
It was a feeling of abandonment and helplessness. She knew that feeling all too well. As she felt it day after day.
Thinking about that was enough to bring on a small headache. She brought tiny hands to her temples, trying to rub it away.
She wasn't going to think anymore. It only helps to make her depressed. Instead she chooses to listen to the sound of the rain.
As she absently listened to the raindrops against the window, she felt her eyes start to droop.
She didn't want to fall asleep. She tried to tell her herself to just stay awake for a little longer. She was becoming tried from trying to stay awake and she eventually dozed off into sleep.
Clementine woke bright and early the next morning. She was still laid on the cot, she could still hear the sound of rain coming from outside. She pulled herself up with a yawn, the girl hadn't realized she had fallen asleep. She couldn't recall but she had dreamed of, if she even had a dream, but she was happy she was still safe and not out in that weather.
She looked around the room, but everything was still the way it had been before. She listened for any noise, but she could hear nothing, but the sound of her breathing, meaning whoever owned the bag hadn't come back. Either they got stuck in that storm or worse.
She couldn't see them moving on and leaving all their supplies. There had to have been a reason why they hadn't returned. Seeing as though most of the food was uneaten and there had been a few empty cans scattered downstairs, she was under the assumption that someone had just recently been living in the cabin. Which also meant Savannah may not have been as deserted as they had thought.
She felt her stomach growl and the child realized that she hadn't eaten since yesterday morning. She looked over to the backpack. Once again she hoped that whoever owned the bag was nice. She could pay them back. Her father had taken her fishing once, of course he had a fishing rod, but maybe it would be easier for her to just catch them in her hands. She decided that if she had to she could navigate her way back to the little river and try to catch some fish, hopefully she'd be more successful.
As she munched on the granola bar she tried to think of a plan. Where would she go after this? What would she do? Was staying here an option? If so, for how long would she stay. There were so many questions that ran through her head. Decisions a nine-year-old, shouldn't have to make.
The next day the girl had an unexplainable stomach-ache. She had no appetite as a result of the stomach pain.
She briefly wondered if she had consumed something bad or poisoned, but brushed off the idea as the food seemed fresh and it hadn't bothered her at the time she was eating it.
She held a hand over her stomach trying to ignore the pain. She clenched her eyes shut and tried to wait for it to pass.
It took a while, and by a while, it was at the very least an hour.
But after that Clementine was feeling a lot better. She still didn't have an appetite, but she was no long feeling that tummy-ache.
After the random stomach ache, Clementine had been feeling good, she was safe from the outside world and from the looks of it the bag owner wasn't returning. That was fine by her, she rather not take the chance of running into a possible bad guy.
Things were going fine, but two days later the child awoken with a runny nose, a sore throat and terrible body aches. As she tried to get up, her head swam and she felt as if she would faint. Her limbs seem to be made out of lead.
She whimpered in pain. She was in great discomforted and too tired to even move. She wanted nothing more than to be held by her parents. To be taken care of, protected, told everything would be okay.
She knew she was running a fever, as she couldn't stop the chills in her body. She never felt so sick in her entire life.
Had she caught a cold from staying in the rain? Or was it the flu?
Her parents would take her to the doctor to get a flu shot every year.
She'd cry and complain, "I don't want a needle!"
And they would gently explain that she needed it because it would, "Keep her from getting sick."
She would hold her daddy's hand as she felt the prick of the needle in her skin.
Then they would treat her with a toy or something sweet for being so brave.
Clementine gave a tiny smile at the thought. She missed her parents so much.
The next day she wasn't doing any better. In fact, she felt worse. She had stayed settled down for some much-needed rest. Her entire body was hurting and she couldn't stop herself from coughing.
Her coughing had gotten so bad she could barely breathe. She wondered in horror if she was dying. She wasn't ready yet. She didn't want to die. Not now.
As she calmed from her coughing fit and regained her breathing, she thought, maybe there was some medicine around. She was in desperate need for some.
She was sure she was suffering from the flu as she had never experienced a cold this bad before. At least not that she could remember of.
She forced herself onto her feet, her legs were barely strong enough to support her shaky form, but somehow, she manages to stumble into the kitchen. Nothing.
From there she managed to make her way to the bathroom. Right in time too, for as soon as she reached the door she felt an overwhelming urge to vomit. She rushed to the toilet and threw up. Once she was done she stumbled to the sink. She used her shaky hands to open the medicine cabinet, letting out a gasp as her head started to spin. That light-headed, fainting feeling was back. She grasped onto the faucet to steady herself.
She was feeling woozy, she felt like she was stuck on a roller coaster ride. Tears started to fall out of fear, but nobody heard her cries because she was alone.
Trying her best to fight dizziness so she could check the cabinet for medicine. Before she knew it, she felt her legs give away. The girl collapsed to the floor. And soon everything went dark.