Nine days. It had been nine days since she lost her entire group. Nine days after she killed Sarah and Carlos. It was hard, being out there alone especially as a child. The goal wasn't difficult to figure out, it was how she was going to achieve it that was hard.

She figured it out fairly quickly, she decided to go back to the cabin... the perfect solution. Remembering was the hardest part of the journey, she had to decide on which route to take and she had to make sure that it was the right one. She could've been walking in the complete opposite direction and she wouldn't even know it.

Being alone was... haunting. The first night was the hardest, she couldn't force herself to sleep. She didn't find shelter that night instead she found herself lost in the woods with only a little bit of lighting from the moon. The child was too afraid to sleep, she didn't have a weapon. All she had was a large branch and that was it. Anything could snuck up on her, she jumped at every sound, flinched at every "movement"... she stayed up through the night, it was too dangerous to sleep.

After it felt like a lost cause, the little girl finally made it back to the shack by the lake. Where everything began to fall apart. She took in a few moments to survey the scenery, everything felt so different when it was silent. No Kenny or Sarita working on the truck, no Mike or Carlos or Sarah, it was just her. Just one little girl. She saw Buricko's corpse, his mutilated face. She didn't think anything of it... .

She continued, walking over to the left side of the shack and over to the woods where she left Bonnie. It didn't take long for her to look, her corpse was only a few feet away from the clearing. She almost gagged at the sight of the maggots crawling around on the corpse, feasting on the rotting flesh, the exposed stomach and ribs.

She saw the rusty tool still stuck in the woman's head. She was going to leave it there since there were maggots already all over the body but she needed a weapon so she was forced to take it anyway. Once she retrieved the tool, she proceeded into the shack, it wasn't the best place but she preferred that over sleeping outside. The next morning, she awoke to a familiar face.

Sarah.

She was happy to see her again. The feeling was mutual between both of them but unfortunately, Sarah's body was still coated in blood and bullet wounds much to Clem's disgust. The bullet hole on her friend's head was the worst, the girl was forced to look at it the whole time.

Sarah had brought up the subject of her father. She was sad about it, Clementine didn't hold it against her. She understood, she told Sarah she was sorry for what she did to him. The teen started to tear up and Clementine engulfed her into a hug; Sarah understood why Clementine did it... she didn't hold it against her.

After they finished their conversation, Clementine decided to continue and strangely but also gratefully; Sarah chose to tag along with her.

When they both left the shack, they walked over to the frozen lake. Fortunately, it was completely void of walkers which provided some relief to the girls. As Clementine stepped onto the ice, the thought of Luke falling under and drowning flashed pass her mind.

She wondered what would've happened if he had actually survived, what would've happened? Would he have benefited to the group? Would he have left her behind? She doubted it. Luke was practically a saint in this world, he wouldn't have left her behind even if he was mad at her... like Mike did.

The girls made it pass the lake without any complications aside from the fact that Clem had gotten a little heated as she remembered the event that took place there. Bonnie had gotten Luke killed, he would still be alive if it weren't for her.

They both traveled through the woods for a while, that's all the world consisted of. Nothing but woods, forest and... whatever.

Later that night, the two stumbled upon the power transformer and they took shelter. Clem had made a fire and the two sat by, having a friendly chat...

the next morning, Sarah was gone.

Clementine made her way through the woods except it was only her. One bright side, she came across an abandoned tent that was set up in the woods. It was torn, ripped but fortunately it had a black switchable covered under the wrappings of the tent.

The next couple of days were the most stressful. The uptake in walker activity had vastly increased. It felt like she was constantly dodging herds, left to right around every corner.

A horrifying occurrence came later that night. When she took shelter in a small abandoned shack, she swore she could hear the walkers...

talking.

She tried to brush it off as merely an hallucination but it was kind of hard to ignore the only "real" thing that was keeping her company... she wanted Sarah to come back.

A few days later, she had finally made it out of the snow. The child was tired of seeing white everywhere but most of all, she was tired of falling asleep in meat lockers. Going to sleep every night freezing to death, it was amazing that she didn't catch a cold.

She passed the memorial. She didn't stay too long there, it was the birthplace of Rebecca's baby... what was so special about it? Suppose, it was when everybody began to grow suspicious of her and started talking behind her back. It was tragic to think that just two weeks ago they all met up at the memorial and now everyone was either dead or missing. Mostly dead. It was safe to presume that Sarita must've died in the blizzard somehow. Maybe she was taken out by a walker? Kenny may have been killed by Carlos. The man had shown up without him and by the tattered clothes, it was obvious that they had gotten into a confrontation prior beforehand.

Clementine stumbled through the woods, coming at a clearing. Once she made it out, she gasped upon the sight of where it all started. Carver's makeshift empire...

Howe's.

She sighed, walking forward. Most of the parking lot was filled with dead walkers, all of them had bullet holes in their head. Tavia's henchmen did their best... too bad it wasn't enough.

As usual, everything was quiet. Most of her days were like that, nothing but quiet. It was peaceful yet daunting at the same time.

When the child approached the shutter doors, she saw what was left of Troy and just a few feet away was Carver's mangled corpse with a hole on the side of his temple. Filthy worthless dogs.

Actually no! Worthless would mean that you served no purpose. At least worthlessness didn't come with torment. Carver and Troy were anything but worthless! They tormented her, bullied her and destroyed her! Carver and Troy were nothing but parasites that plagued the Earth.

She glanced at the shutter door and walked over to it. She tried opening it but it was locked shut... then someone must be home.

Clementine wasn't looking for a fight, she wouldn't win anyway not with just a blade. The child walked around the corner, continuing along the barricaded stores to her left. She was nearing the end when she came across the iron bars...

the pen. Or more accurately, her prison.

As she finally reached them, she stopped and stared in awe at the woman who was inside them. She looked to be hauling a bunch of supply bags.

"Jane?" Clem called out.

The woman stopped, dropping her bags and turned around. Her breath hitched at the sight of the little girl and she frowned. "Clementine?"

The child stayed silent, she thought she would never see this woman again after she left that deck.

The older woman cautiously approached the kid, standing on the other side of the bars. Clem noticed that she had her hand behind her as if she was ready to pull out something. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"...Just passing through." Clem replied.

Jane had an expecting look on her face as she scanned around. "What happened to your crew?"

The child paused for a moment, keeping her eye locked onto Jane's. "They died."

"Did you kill them?"

The child's eye widened. "What?"

"Did you. Kill them?" She slowly repeated.

Both of their eyes were locked onto eachother. Jane awaiting Clementine's answer. "No." The child answered.

Silence fell upon them and Jane sighed through her nose. "Where are you going next?"

"Home."

The woman slowly nodded. "Well... you better get going." And with that, she began backing away from the bars, still keeping her eye on the menacing child standing on the other side.

Clementine stood there for a moment before she finally continued and all that was left was the cabin.

Over the course of two days, Clementine had passed through the ski lodge and the bridge. As she came across those two structures, relief flooded her veins instantly... she was getting closer to her destination. Where she'll finally be home. If her memory served her well, it would take a couple more days to get back to the cabin. There wasn't a need to rush, she could take as much time as she could and not worry about getting caught by Carver or anyone.

That night, she came across a convenience store in a little park and decided to take shelter there. She was extremely fortunate, there was still some food on the shelves that she could eat. Some of them were expired and some were about to expire. There wasn't a large selection but there was still enough to eat.

As she was about to go to bed, behind the counter. She found a bag in the store that she was using as a pillow she could sleep on. She jumped when she saw Sarah come around the corner. "Sarah! Where were you!? What are you doing here!?" Clem whispered with a scowl.

"S-sorry! I-I didn't mean to scare you!" Sarah stuttered.

"Yeah well I thought you were a walker!"

"I-I'm sorry."

Clementine paused and shook her head. She sighed. "Where were you? Why did you leave me?"

"S-sorry... I-I just... I-I had something to do."

The child frowned. "What exactly could you be doing? You're dead." Sarah visibly flinched at the word and her head hanged. Clementine felt her anger disintegrate immediately. "Sorry."

"No, i-it's okay. I shouldn't have left you alone."

Clementine layed back down onto the bag, facing upward and Sarah took a seat beside her. "I-isn't that uncomfortable?"

"Yeah but there isn't anything else to sleep on."

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Hey! You're almost back at the cabin!" She excitedly whispered.

Clem smiled up at her friend. "Yeah, about time too."

"We can finally sleep in the beds! You won't have to sleep on the floor anymore!"

The younger girl let out a relieving sigh. "I can't wait. I miss that cabin."

"Yeah, me too."

After a few minutes of chatting with her friend, Clementine felt her eye flutter and she yawned before she went to lay on her side; facing Sarah. "I'm gonna... go to bed soon. I'm getting a bit tired."

Sarah paused for a moment. "Don't worry, I'll be here when you wake up."

Clementine then looked at her friend, a stern but gentle expression. "Promise?"

"Pinkie promise." Her friend held out her pinkie to which she happily locked with. A few minutes afterward, her eye fluttered close and she drifted off to sleep.

Clementine woke up the next morning, finding Sarah laying on the floor beside her. She pulled herself up into a seating position, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

Her friend was "sleeping" soundly,

she kept her promise. Clem was thankful for that, she hated sleeping out there alone especially when she was forced to sleep outside when there were no shacks or buildings to take shelter in.

Once the two of them were ready, they continued their search for the cabin. It was pretty quiet, an occasional walker every now and then that Clementine would take care of but other than that, it was smooth sailing.

The two talked as they trailed through the woods and a few hours go by. Clementine and Sarah were approaching a small hill, beginning to come out of the forest. "Clem? I think... we're here." Sarah said, walking beside her.

She threw a frown in her direction then picked up her pace and soon enough, she left the forest and there it was. The cabin. She glanced back and saw Sarah catching up to her. "We're finally home."

They both slowly walked around the it, soaking in the sweet but tragic nostalgia. Clem met the corner and saw the front porch where she met the cabin survivors. She sighed, memories flashing through her mind.

That felt like such a long time ago when in reality it may have been a month ago. In this world, a month felt like years. Clementine then approached the front door and opened it.

She stepped in, looking over the room, the walls. It led into the living room where the couches were, Carlos's old button up shirt still laying on the armrest of one of them. Sarah approached it, her fingers glazing over the shirt.

"I'm sorry Sarah." Clem muttered.

"I know." She breathlessly replied.

The little girl walked over and gently patted her on the back. She was truly sorry for what she did to Carlos. She didn't want to do it but he left her no choice, at least he'll be able to reunite with her in the next life.

She surveyed the cabin, looking everything over. She was finally home. After a month of pain and anguish, she finally made it back home where everything was perfect. The afternoon sun shined through the window, coating the lounge in an orange glare. As she stood there with Sarah, the little girl realized everything was going to be okay. They're home, maybe the others will come visit sometime. Who knows? Only time will tell but for now...

everything is fine. Everything is perfect.