Clementine stiffened. She had hoped that these people wouldn't enter the building, but now that they had, a confrontation seemed inevitable. She decided to stay hidden in the storeroom until it was absolutely necessary for AJ and her to show themselves.

She glanced at him. He looked back at her, hand on his gun, ready to pull it out at a moment's notice.

"Yeah, way too close," she heard a male voice.

"I told you, we should've stuck to the path we decided with Marlon. Why the fuck did you have to run off?" the female asked, irritation clear in her voice.

"Because it didn't look promising. Besides, if we'd gotten that car outside, it would've made things a hell of a lot easier, don't you think?"

"For fuck's sake, Louis. When will you grow up? We could've gotten killed!"

"Chill out, Vi. We're still alive, aren't we?" the male called Louis said.

"Yeah. Barely," the female scoffed, who Clementine assumed to be Vi. "Don't ever try that again."

"Alright, I promise. I won't do that again," Louis apologised.

There was silence for a few seconds as Clementine heard footsteps move across the room.

"There's still quite a few of them out there," Vi said. "Don't think we can get out right now."

"Let's wait here for a while. They'll thin out soon," Louis proposed. "Hopefully," he added.

"Doesn't look like we have a choice anyway. It'll get dark soon enough though." There was another silence. "Wait, whose bags are those?" Another silence. "And there's a dead walker there."

Clementine's heart skipped a beat. They'd completely forgotten about their bags on the bench and the walker corpse. They didn't have much time before they were discovered.

She looked at AJ as she pulled out her gun. "Don't come out until I tell you to," she whispered. She quickly opened the door, pointing the gun at the intruders as she stepped into the waiting room.

"What the fuck?" Vi said, shocked to see a gun pointed at them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't shoot! We're not here to hurt you!" Louis raised his hands in front of him defensively.

Clementine didn't respond, keeping the gun trained on them. She wasn't about to take chances with people she didn't know. Both of them looked near about her age and carried backpacks. Vi had blonde hair, ending slightly above her shoulders. She wore a denim sleeveless jacket with a black full sleeves t-shirt under her light green t-shirt and grey jeans that looked as if she had fallen one too many times. Her boots were caked with mud. She held a bloody hatchet in one hand.

Louis, on the other hand, wore an olive-green t-shirt and a brown trench coat. His jeans, too, were torn in several places. His brown boots were neatly tucked under the ends of his jeans. His dark brown hair was styled into dreads, nearly the same length as his friend. He held, what looked like, a long wooden rod with nails embedded into it.

"Listen, we'd leave if we could, but there's just too many of them outside," Louis continued.

Clementine had heard the walkers outside, and judging from their conversation, it was possible that they had entered the building to escape from the walkers. Still, she wasn't going to trust them without them taking the first step.

"Put down your weapons first," she instructed.

Louis knelt, putting down his weapon and stood up. "There you go."

"You too," Clementine told Vi.

The girl grit her teeth before thinking better of it. She placed her hatchet down on the floor. "Fine. Better?"

"Much better," Clementine replied. She slowly made her way to the window, gun still pointed at them. She looked out the window and saw the walkers. There were quite a few of them roaming around near the property. "That's a whole lot of them," Clementine observed. She recalled seeing walkers in the distance, but she hadn't realised there were so many of them.

"That is," Louis agreed. "We were out there and almost got caught in it, so we ran here,"

"They saw you come in here?"

"Doubt it. They would've been at the door by now, otherwise."

Clementine nodded. "How many of you?"

"Just the two of us," he replied. "Look, will you please lower that gun? We're not harming you."

Clementine stared at them, debating what to do. She decided to trust her instincts. "Don't make me regret this." She slowly lowered the gun, not taking her eyes off of them.

"Thank you," Louis said, relieved. "I'm Louis."

Violet said nothing, instead, picking up her hatchet and walking to the wall to lean against it.

"That's Violet. She...just doesn't like strangers much," Louis introduced her.

"No fucking shit," Violet commented from the back.

"I'm Clementine."

"No way. Like 'Oh My Darling, Clementine'?" Louis asked.

"Really, Louis?" Violet asked.

Clementine was surprised by Louis' behaviour. She hadn't met anyone like him in the apocalypse. It was as if he'd already forgotten that he was held at gunpoint by her a few moments ago.

"What? I like that song. It's got a nice-"

"So, you're here alone?" Violet asked, cutting him off. "Cause I'd like more people to pop out and point a gun in my face." The sarcasm glinted in her voice.

"There's two of us," Clementine replied, softly whistling as she tucked her gun into her waistband.

They heard footsteps before AJ appeared at the door.

"Holy shit, that's a kid," Louis said, surprised. "Hey, little dude," he said to AJ.

"This is AJ," Clementine said.

"Who are they?" AJ asked Clementine.

"I'm Louis and that's Violet," Louis introduced themselves again.

AJ looked at them, his eyes falling on Louis' weapon. "What's that?" he asked.

"That?" Louis pointed at the wooden rod. "That is Chairles. A chair leg, in crude words, but I prefer a name. A beauty, isn't it?" He picked it up.

"Why does it have nails?" Clementine asked.

Louis grinned. "Why not give them pain when you whack them?"

"Walkers don't feel pain," AJ said.

"But you feel better don't you? It's very useful for walkers that get too close."

AJ stared at it, trying to figure out how he felt about it. "I like it," he decided.

"See? He likes it," Louis told Violet proudly.

"Whatever sails your boat, Louis," she said, folding her hands.

"Can I see it?" AJ asked.

"Sure. Here," Louis said, holding out Chairles.

AJ took it from him and inspected it.

"Watch for the nails," Clementine warned. "They could be rusted."

AJ nodded. "It's cool," he said.

"I'm glad you like it," Louis said. He turned to Clementine. "So, where's your group?"

"It's just the two of us. We don't have a group," Clementine replied.

"Really? You take care of him all by yourself?"

"We look after each other," she said, looking at AJ. "Difficult to believe?"

Louis thoughts reflected back a few minutes ago where she had them both at gunpoint. "Not really. I mean, I definitely wouldn't mess with you."

"Good, cause I'd win," Clementine said. She saw Violet crack a tiny smile out of the corner of her eyes.

"Hey, if anything, I'm still surprised I'm alive. Everyone thinks I'll be the first to go."

"Louis? If you're done wasting time, maybe we can figure out how to get out of here now that there are more of us?" Violet interjected.

Louis sighed, knowing fully well that Violet was right. "What do you say to a momentary alliance?" he asked Clementine.

Clementine thought about the walkers outside. It was getting late as it is and they had to get out before they were completely stuck. Normally, she'd have thought it was better for her and AJ to leave alone, but it was also true that if the four of them helped each other, their chances of making it out alive were much better. She didn't see the harm in joining forces for the time being. "Okay," she decided. "We can help each other."

"Alright then, let's figure out how we're going to do that," Violet said. "We need to leave right now. It's getting dark and none of us will survive if those fuckheads break down the door."

"I say we walk out there and bash their brains in. With the four of us, we could get out of here easily," Louis suggested.

"I don't think we can fight it out. There are way too many of them out there. And again, the sun will set soon. A fight with walkers in the dark isn't viable," Violet shot him down.

Clementine looked around for anything they could use. Her eyes fell upon the corpse and she knew what they were going to do.

"Walker guts," she said suddenly. "That's what how we're going to walk through them."

Confused faces stared back at her.

"You mean, we put their guts on ourselves? No fucking way," Louis said, disgusted.

"Does that even work?" Violet asked apprehensively, observing the dead walker.

"Yep. They can't smell you through that. You still have to walk slowly though. But it's very efficient to walk through big hordes," Clementine replied.

"You've done it before?" Louis asked.

"More times than I can count," she replied. She'd used the disguise plenty of times in situations that would otherwise have turned her into a flesh-craving, ugly version of herself. "It works well."

"Walking between walkers? Disgusting, but pretty badass, I'll give you that." Louis looked at AJ. "What about AJ?" he asked.

"What about him?" Clementine asked.

"Is he going to be able to do it?"

"I can," AJ replied confidently.

"He's done it a couple of times when we had to walk through them," Clementine told her.

Louis nodded, slightly surprised at that.

Clementine pulled out her knife and opened up the walker, chest to stomach. Pocketing the knife, she scooped out the guts. A strong decaying smell invaded their nostrils.

"Fuck, that stinks," Louis swore, covering his nose with his hand. "I think I'm gonna puke."

Clementine applied the blood to AJ's clothes, completely covering him. She put some on his face.

"It smells really bad, Clem," he complained.

"I know. But this is the only way right now. You know I never make you do this if we can avoid it."

Violet saw how Clementine applied the blood and proceeded to cover herself. She felt repulsed by the smell but she knew it was their only shot. She soon realised that she couldn't reach her back. She looked at Clementine, who was just finishing slathering her jeans red. She shook her head and chose to ask Louis for help.

"Louis, get that blood on you. And do my back too," she told him.

Clementine saw Louis still trying to dip his hands into the walker's chest. "I'll do it for you," she told Violet.

Violet gave her a surprised look before nodding and turning around. Clementine rubbed some blood onto her back.

Louis had partly gotten over the stench and was applying the blood, albeit with a disgusted look.

"You haven't done your back, Louis," Violet said.

"Do that for me?" he asked.

Finally, after they were all covered, they took a long look at each other.

"We look like freaks," Louis observed.

"More than the dead guys out there?" Violet asked.

"Okay, maybe not that much," he admitted. "Washing this is going to be a pain in the ass. Looks like that bath is inevitable." He raised his eyebrow comically at Violet.

"Focus, Louis. The bath isn't important right now," Violet urged.

They pulled on their bags, when suddenly, Clementine remembered the bag of food she'd found in the storeroom. She returned to the room and retrieved the bag, carrying it in her hand.

"That's a lot of bags to carry." Louis observed.

Clementine shrugged. "Life on the road, I guess."

He chuckled. "Well, what are we waiting for?" he asked, swinging Chairles about.

"A few things you should remember. Don't attack unless it's absolutely necessary," Clementine said. "They can't smell you. And don't try moving too fast. Just move like them."

"So, walk stupidly. Got it," Louis said.

"We'll head for the road. After that, you're on your own."

"Okay. What's the plan if we get separated?" he asked.

"Don't panic. Just walk slowly to the road," Clementine replied.

"Got it."

Clementine knelt down in front of AJ. "You remember how to blend in?" she asked him.

He nodded.

"Good. Don't panic. They won't hurt you if you follow what I said, okay?"

"I've done it before, Clem. You don't have to worry," he said.

"I will always worry about you, kiddo," she said. She got up and walked to the door, the others following her. She placed her hand on the door handle, looking at them. "Ready?" she asked.

The three of them nodded, Louis and Violet armed with their weapons in case they needed to use them.

Clementine opened the door and pulled out her knife. "Stay close," she said, stepping outside.

The sounds of walker growls filled the air. The sun was going down now, casting an orange light over the chaos. It was just barely enough for them to see the walkers. There were too many of them to try and fight through. It would have been futile, at the least, to rely solely on weapons.

They walked in a single file, covered in walker guts, slowly making their way through the horde. Clementine weaved them in and out of the path of the walkers, AJ close behind her, followed by Violet and Louis. None of them spoke. Violet and Louis' hearts were beating rapidly, never having in the midst of such a large monstrosity.

The horde was becoming much denser now and Clementine found it difficult to make sure that everyone was following her. She reached for AJ's hand, clasping it firmly. She saw an opening where the herd was thinning out and started walking towards there. The walkers seemed to be making a beeline for them, just narrowly avoiding them as if they were playing a game.

As she made towards the road, she felt AJ's hand slip through hers. She turned around but couldn't spot him. All she could see was walkers in every direction. A chill ran down her spine, as she frantically looked around. The walkers shuffled around her, mindlessly. She felt a stab of fear and her heart started pounding faster. She desperately tried to fight the fear, lest she lost her wits.

Then she saw it. A glimpse of her blonde acquaintance moving through the walkers.

She quickly pushed through the dead, completely forgetting to move slowly to blend in. All she could think about was getting to AJ. She followed the blue jacket as far as she could, before it disappeared again. She stood on her toes, craning her neck as she tried to look over the walker heads in the direction in which she saw Violet last.

"Clementine!" she heard Louis yell from her right. "This way!"

She made her way to them, finding Louis and Violet engaged in holding off the dead, AJ standing between them.

"Run!" Violet yelled, spotting Clementine. "There's too many of them!"

She saw Violet slice a walker's head with her hatchet, allowing Louis to take AJ's hand and start running towards the road. Their eyes met, before Violet swung her hatchet, opening a walker's skull.

She didn't see the one coming at her from the back.

Author's Note: There was no way I was leaving these characters out of the retelling. They're really good characters that I'd like to explore further. Reviews, follows and favourites are appreciated :D