"Where should I put this?" asked Sarah as she toted a pair of small bolt cutters towards the front of the gas station.
"Just set them next to everything else." Clem watched the older girl drop the bolt cutters by the stash of goods they had scavenged from the adjacent auto shop. They had found dozens of red and yellow gas cans, funnels, a plastic siphon, several containers of fuel stabilizer, a crowbar, and most recently the bolt cutters. It was nearly noon now, but Clem felt confident they had everything they needed now.
"So, now what?" asked Sarah as she removed her raincoat, placing it near Clem's coat and tomahawk, which she had set near the front of the gas station.
"Well, I guess we need to get this off." Clem knelt down to examine the small round metal cover sitting on the pavement. There was a series of small openings running around the lid where Clem could stick her fingers. She tried pulling on the lid, but nothing happened.
"Worth a try." Sarah handed a crowbar to Clem, who threaded the tip of the tool into one of the openings.
"Okay, we gotta do this together." Sarah took hold of the crowbar with Clem. "On three, push as hard as you can."
"Got it."
"One, two, three!" The pair piled every bit of strength they could muster onto the long end of the crowbar and immediately found themselves hitting the pavement.
"Ow!" Clem sat up and saw the lid had popped clean off. "Okay, that was easy." Clem scooted over to the now open hole and looked inside. There was a large pipe sticking up capped with a metal lid that was held in place with a padlock.
"When you looked through the gas station, did you find any keys?"
"No, and I checked everywhere because the bathroom was locked."
"Okay, we'll just have to break the lock." Clem took the crowbar and threaded it through the opening between the lid and the end of the lock's loop. "Just like before." Sarah gripped the end of the crowbar with Clem and nodded. "One, two, three!" The girls threw the weight against the lock with the crowbar's help, but nothing happened. They might as well be trying to move a whole building for all the good their straining and grunting was doing.
"Okay stop," said Clementine, gasping for breath. "I… I guess if it was that easy to break a lock… people wouldn't use locks." Clementine set the crowbar aside.
"Well, Cruz did say to get bolt cutters." Sarah grabbed the tool and sat down near the hole. "So these should work." Sarah positioned the cutter's blades right on the lock's loop and tried to cut the lock off. Clem watched her friend strain to make any progress, then quickly joined her and started applying her own strength, but it didn't help.
"Wait, stop." Sarah let go and Clem wrapped both hands around one of the cutter's handles. "You grab the other one, and we'll try to push them together." Sarah nodded and grabbed the other handle with both hands. "One, two, three!" Again, the girls strained against the immovable handles until their arms felt like they were going to snap, but the lock would not break.
"I don't get it," said Clem between breaths. "She said use bolt cutters."
"Well, she also said heavy duty bolt cutters." Sarah removed the tool from the lock, frowning at the sight of the measly scratch they had left upon it. "I guess these aren't strong enough."
"Were there any bigger ones in the store?" asked Clem.
"No, this was the biggest one I saw."
Clem sighed. "Well, maybe we can break it with something else." Clem retrieved their hammer from the Brave's storage bin.
"Clem, I don't think—" Clementine start banging on the lock as hard as she could. It made for a nice metal clang, but it didn't seem to hurt the lock at all. She flipped the hammer around and gripped the lock's loop, trying to pry the lock out as if it was just a nail that needed removing. But it wasn't just a nail. She might as well been trying to pull up the pavement itself for all the good she was doing. Clem gritted her teeth and tried to yank the hammer harder, but the tool slipped from her grip and the girl fell over backwards onto the hard ground.
"Ow! Dammit!"
"Clem, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just…" Clem sighed as Sarah helped her stand up. "It's just so annoying."
"Yeah. I guess if it were easy everyone would be doing it." Sarah took a breath. "So, what should we try next?"
"Umm…" Clem looked around, trying to think of something. "There's… there's gotta be something we can use in that store," reasoned Clem.
"I brought everything you asked me to."
"I know, but maybe there's something else." Clem collected her raincoat and tomahawk. "I'm going to go check again. You check around for the keys again, I'll be right back."
"Okay." Clem darted across the lot and headed to the store front for the combination garage and auto shop. The inside was a wreck, like most everywhere she visited. Whole aisles of goods scattered across the floor, old footprints caked onto the ground from where people had walked through what looked like spilled oil, and just more signs of panic and chaos that she had seen all too often since they left home.
Clem started searching through what was left. There were tons of bottles of various fluids; brake, wiper, hydraulic. Clem wondered to herself if those were important and if they should take those too. But then she thought if they don't get any diesel it wouldn't matter. There were more tools, mostly small ones that they already had, or they required batteries they couldn't recharge.
Clem noticed a rack with bolt cutters just like the one Sarah had taken. She looked for bigger ones, but there appeared to be none. Beyond that were more things for cars; spark plugs, filters, and a lot of things Clem didn't recognize. Again, she couldn't help thinking they might need these, only to remember if the Brave couldn't go anywhere they would all be useless.
Circling through the back of the store, Clementine found more of the same. Parts she didn't know if she needed, bottles of chemicals she didn't understand, and tools that wouldn't help her. On her way back to the front, she spotted some bungee cords hanging on a rack. She took one and gave the cord a tug, mostly out of boredom. Looking at the small hooks on the cord, Clem briefly thought about attaching it to lock and just pulling it off. But it'd never work; she and Sarah weren't strong enough, nor was the cord probably.
"Wait…" Clem tossed the bungee cord aside and backtracked to an aisle she passed through earlier. Hanging on a rack marked 'lift chains', Clem saw a bundle of metal links capped with large hooks on each end. She grabbed the heaviest, strongest looking one she could find and hurried back to the gas station as fast as she could, dragging the weighty chains behind her.
"What are those?" asked Sarah as Clem moved the chains to the hole.
"It's how we're getting in there." Clem wasted no time clipping one end of the chain to the padlock.
"But how?"
"We're going to just yank this stupid thing off," said Clementine as she grabbed the other end of the chain.
"We're not strong enough to do that."
"No, but it is."
"It?"
"The Brave." Clementine pointed at the massive RV parked in front of the pumps. It so loomed over the girls, it blocked out the sun and appeared ready to pull the whole gas station if it had to.
"Back up the Brave and I'll attach it to the lock," explained Clem as she held up the other hook. "Then you drive forward and we'll rip it right out of the ground." Sarah looked at the chain, then smirked. The older girl wasted no time backing the Brave up, and after a bit of searching Clem located a spot to attach the chain. Eager to see the fruits of her labor, Clem hurried to the door.
"Okay, just drive forward until it breaks," ordered Clem.
"Aren't you coming?" asked Sarah.
"No, I'll stay out here and watch. You've got your radio right?" Sarah nodded. "Okay, I'll call you if something goes wrong." Clem closed the door and stepped away from the RV. She positioned herself behind the vehicle so she could see the chain clearly. Despite what she told Sarah, Clementine was more interested in seeing this lock break, all though she still stood way back in case something happened.
Confident she was a safe distance, Clem grabbed her radio. "Sarah, go." Watching the Brave lurch forward, Clementine felt her stomach tying itself into a knot as the chain was pulled taut. Her chest tightened to the point where she could barely breathe as the sound of metal straining filled the air. Looking up at the massive mobile home inch further away, a terrible thought crept into Clementine's mind; the chain might break before the lock does. As if someone had read her mind, a loud snapping sound rang out and the Brave suddenly edged forward several feet.
"Sarah stop!" The Brave skidded to a quick halt and Clementine clipped her radio back to her belt. She ran towards the back bumper and found the chain was still hitched to the bumper. She traced it towards the hole until she saw the results of their latest attempt. The lock didn't break, but neither did the chain. The entire lid the lock was attached to had been ripped off the tank. Both the lock itself and the chain however were completely unharmed.
"Wow." Clem looked over her shoulder to find Sarah. "That's a really good lock."
"Yeah, it is." Clem eyed the hole in the pavement. "But it doesn't matter now." She scurried over to the hole to claim her prize. With the lid ripped off, Clem could see right down into the tank, which was pitch black.
"Is there even any diesel in there?" asked Sarah as she peered into the darkness.
"I… I don't know, I can't see anything."
"It… it smells like gasoline, not diesel," noted Sarah.
"No… no it doesn't," insisted an uncertain Clem.
"You don't think so?"
"It… let's just get some out first and then—"
"It's unleaded premium gasoline," spoke Sarah in a disappointed voice.
"You don't know that. It—" Sarah reached into the hole and pulled out a long laminated piece of paper wrapped around the bottom of the pipe. Clem looked at it and sighed.
"Unleaded premium gasoline," Clem read out loud, barely able to say the words over her disappointment.
"Yeah…" Sarah stuck the sign back into the hole. "Really wish we had seen that before."
"Yeah, me too." Clementine sighed and looked at the next nearest cover. "Come on, let's find the right one." The girls retrieved the crowbar and pried another lid off, this time without falling over in the process. They located the regular and plus gas tanks before finally finding one labeled diesel. Much to both girls' surprise, the diesel tank had no lock on it.
"Well, at least we don't have to do that again," reasoned Sarah.
"Yeah…" Clementine just thought if they had found this tank before, they wouldn't have had to do it all. They removed the tank lid and peered deep down into the tank, seeing nothing but darkness.
"So… is there diesel down there?" asked Sarah.
"There's got to be," Clem told herself.
"I don't smell anything."
"Well, diesel doesn't have fumes like gas. You know that."
"I'll go get a flashlight and—"
"No, wait." Impatient to know if their highly sought after prize was even down there, Clem scooped up a loose piece of gravel and tossed into the tank. Silence followed, then a distant splash that echoed throughout the tank. For a brief moment, it was the most beautiful noise Clementine had ever heard.
"It's down there," said Sarah, barely able to hold back her excitement.
"Yeah, yeah it is!" said Clementine, who made no effort to hide her enthusiasm. "Get the siphon and one of the gas cans." Sarah grabbed the items in a flash and set them beside the tank. She hurriedly unscrewed the top of the gas can while Clementine lowered the siphon into the tank. It was a simple contraption, composed of a couple of clear pieces of tubing and a small plastic bulge in the middle which you squeeze to pump the air. Sarah placed one end in the gas tank and Clem grabbed the plastic bulge.
"Ready?" asked Clem.
"Ready!" answered Sarah. Clementine started squeezing the red piece of plastic, drawing air into the line. Both girls watched the clear tubing eagerly for that all important fossil fuel to come rushing into their possession. And they kept watching for several minutes.
"I don't get it," said Clementine as she let go of the siphon. "Why isn't it working?"
"Maybe we put it in backwards?" Sarah pulled her end of the siphon out of the gas can. "Try it again." Clementine squeezed the bulge. "I can feel air being pushed out of the tube, so it works and we put it in right."
"What are we doing wrong?" Clem pulled the siphon out of the gas tank. Looking at it, she saw nothing wrong with it. In fact, it didn't even look dirty. "It's… it's not long enough," realized Clem.
"What?"
"The siphon, it doesn't have any diesel on it. It must not be reaching it because it's not long enough."
"Well, how long does it need to be?" Alarmed by Sarah's question, Clem lowered the siphon back into the tank, and kept lowering it until there was almost nothing for her to hold onto. She then pulled it back out and reexamined the tube. Sticking to the very end of the siphon was a tiny smidge of diesel, but only on the very end.
"There… there must be tons of it. Like, literally tons," realized Sarah. "And so the tank must be huge, but I guess this one isn't full, so—"
"It's so far we can't even use the siphon," concluded Clem. "I had to put all of it in to even reach the diesel. It can't reach the gas can like that, and the pump part is in the middle." Clem tossed the siphon aside, realizing it was useless for what they wanted.
"Now what?" asked Sarah.
"I… I don't know," spoke an irritated Clem. "Do we still have some rope left?"
"Yeah, I remember packing it."
"Well, maybe we can tie a cup or something to it and then lower it down. Sorta like getting water out of a well."
"We wouldn't get much that way."
"We're not getting any right now." Sarah retrieved their rope from storage while Clem collected a small cup from the kitchen. She tied the rope tightly around the cup and Sarah lowered it into the hole. After reaching the end of the line, Sarah pulled the cup up to see how much diesel they had acquired.
"Nothing?" said Clem as she looked inside the empty cup. "How did you get nothing?"
"I… I don't know," stuttered Sarah as she examined the cup. "It's greasy on the bottom and around the side. It probably just floated on top of the diesel."
"Well… do it again, and this time swish it around or something so it can get some diesel," ordered Clem as Sarah dropped the cup back into the hole. The older girl tugged on the rope a bit, trying her best to move the cup, but the narrow hole made it hard.
"I… I think I got some," said Sarah.
"How can you tell?" asked Clem.
"It feels heavier now."
"Then pull it up, quick." Sarah hastily reeled the rope in. As the cup came into view, the girls watched in disbelief as it bumped into the edge of the pipe and tipped over.
"No!" Clem watched as Sarah pulled the empty cup in. The inside was coated with a thick oily substance, confirming it used to have something in it. "You spilled it!"
"It was an accident," retorted Sarah.
"You should have been more careful."
Sarah scowled at Clem. "Well why don't you do it then?" suggested Sarah as she thrust the rope towards Clem. "If you're so careful."
"I will." Clem took the rope from Sarah and dropped the cup back into the tank. She spent a good minute jerking the rope in different directions, determined to fill the cup as much as possible. Tugging on the rope, Clem could feel the weight and knew it was full this time. Very slowly she pulled the rope up. As the cup moved into view, Clem took great care to hoist the cup out of the hole. Sarah gripped it once it was free of the gap and Clem peered inside.
"That's… that's it?" The cup wasn't even half full. "It felt like so much more pulling it up." Sarah didn't say anything. Instead, she very carefully moved the cup to the open fuel can and poured its contents inside. Peering into the fuel can, Clem saw the small amount she had worked so hard to retrieve wasn't even enough to cover the bottom of the container.
"So, do you—"
"What's the point?" asked a forlorn Clementine. "We'd have to do that a thousand more times just to fill one stupid can." Clementine sighed. "I can't believe it's right there and we can't get to it."
"If we could only, I don't know, suck it out or something." Sarah's words prompted Clem to reexamine the siphon she had tossed aside. She scooped it up and started feeding it back into the tank. "Clem, what—"
"I'll just suck the diesel out myself, like a big straw." Clem lay down near the edge of the tank.
"Clem, that's not a good idea."
"Just be ready with the gas can, for when I get some." Sarah looked skeptical, but grabbed the gas can anyway. "Okay, be ready for it." Clem put the end of the hose in her mouth and took as deep a breath as possible. A faint but horrid taste accompanied the air passing down her throat, but no actual diesel. Clem quickly looked up to breathe out, then took another even deeper breath. Her chest hurt and her head felt light as she kept trying to breathe even deeper. Clem looked up to breathe out again, and the siphon slipped out of her grip.
"No!" Clem stuck her arm into the tank, but she couldn't find the siphon, or anything. Everything she wanted was out of her grasp.
"It's okay Clem," assured Sarah. "We can just go get another—"
"What's the point?" said Clem. "It wasn't working anyway."
"Well, do you want to try the cup again?"
"No," answered Clem.
"Then what do you want to do?" Clem didn't answer Sarah. She simply crossed her arms and looked away. "So… does this mean we should just wait for Corporal Cruz to come back tomorrow?" Clem didn't say anything, but Sarah could hear her anyway. "Are… are you crying?"
"No," denied Clem as she tried to choke back her tears. The small girl kept trying to force her sadness deep down inside of her, only for it to keep bobbing back to the surface. As the disappointment and failure felt heavier in Clem's mind with each passing second, Sarah suddenly grew closer. Clem felt her friend's hands resting on her shoulders, and turning her head she saw Sarah's big brown eyes looking into her sad golden ones.
Sarah didn't say anything; she didn't have to. Clem uncrossed her arms and wrapped them around the older girl, her face snuggly nestled on Sarah's shoulders as sad little cries occasionally forced their way out of the girl. Sarah stroked Clem's back gently as she embraced her tightly.
"It's okay," spoke Sarah in a calming voice. "I think that woman, Cruz, meant it when she said people would treat us all right. We'll be okay. You don't have to be scared."
"It's not that," wept Clementine.
"What then?"
"It's…" Clem choked back her feelings. "I just thought we'd do better."
"Better at what?"
"You know, being on our own," said Clem. "All that time we spent in that house, I thought we were doing pretty good, like we could take care of ourselves."
"Well, we did, this is just—"
"It's just what everyone else has to do," finished Clem. "But we didn't for a while, because we got really lucky, and that was the only reason we were okay."
"Clem…"
"It's true," insisted Clem. "She was right."
"Huh? Who?"
"Cruz. She was right. We're just children."
"Well…" Sarah thought carefully, trying to think of anything that would raise Clem's spirits. "It's… it's still early in the afternoon. We still got time to think of something."
"Like what?" asked Clem.
"Umm…"
"If we just need didn't diesel. There're cars everywhere with gas."
"But the gas won't last as long as the diesel, you know that."
"What good is the diesel lasting longer if we can't get any more of it?" asked Clem. "At least if we used gas, we could do something right now."
"Actually, maybe there is something we can use the gas for."
"You can't put gas in a diesel engine, you know that." Sarah let go of Clem and started walking towards the Brave.
"Sarah, what are—"
"In the store, there were pumps you could hook a hose into." Sarah gravitated towards one of the Brave's storage compartments.
"Those pumps need electricity," spoke a forlorn Clem.
"We have electricity." Sarah pulled open one of the compartment doors, revealing a large green metal box-shaped machine sitting inside.
"That's—"
"The generator," finished Sarah.
"You always said it wasn't worth the effort to mess with," said Clem.
"For stuff like the fridge and the microwave it's not, but it also powers the electrical outlets inside," said Sarah. "If we can get it working, we can plug one of those pumps into the Brave, then suck out all the diesel we need."
"And you know how it works?" asked Clem.
"There was a manual for it with all the Brave's manuals I read," said Sarah as she motioned for Clem to grab the end of the generator. "I'm pretty sure if we can just get some gas, I can get it to start."
"Gas should be easy."
"First we need to get it out of this compartment." Clem gripped one end of the generator and nodded to Sarah. Together the pair lifted the generator, but Clem could only just barely manage to hold onto it long enough to set it on the ground. Catching her breath, she found herself grateful she didn't drop it just now.
"Come on, we got to move it to the other side of the Brave," said Sarah.
"What, why?" asked Clem.
"Because, that's where the cord that connects to the generator is."
"If it's over there, why is the generator on this side?" asked Clem.
"I don't know Clem, I didn't build the Brave." Clem sighed loudly, then gripped the generator. Very slowly the two managed to tote the bulky machine around the back of the vehicle and set it down near one of the tires.
"You… were… right," said Clementine between deep breaths.
"About… what?" asked an almost as tired Sarah.
"About… this… not… being worth it." Clem wiped the sweat from her brow while Sarah unlocked the a small compartment on the side of the Brave. Opening it, Clementine saw there was a big black oddly shaped plug inside. Watching Sarah pull it out of the compartment, Clem noticed it was hooked to a cable wrapped around a reel mounted inside.
"How long is this cable?" asked Clem.
"I… don't know."
"Do you think it's long enough to reach the other side of the RV?" Sarah looked at the cord, then sighed. "Well, I guess next time we'll know better." Sarah plugged the cord into the generator.
"Okay, I'm going to get the pump and a few other things from the place next door. Do you think you can get some gas from the truck?" Sarah pointed to the pickup truck parked near one of the pumps.
"Yeah, that'll be easy," assured Clem.
"Okay. I'll see you in a minute." Sarah donned her raincoat and bounded towards the auto shop. Clementine collected their hammer and bucket, drew her knife and headed right for the truck. She wedged herself underneath the vehicle and planted the tip of her knife on the gas tank. Clem moved the hammer back as far as she could, which wasn't far because of how cramped it was under the truck, then struck the knife as hard as she could.
The knife's tip scratched the gas tank, but didn't puncture it. Clem pulled back the hammer again, frustrated there was almost no room to do so, and struck the knife again. Still no luck. Frustrated, Clementine started banging on the knife's hilt repeatedly, only to miss a swing and accidentally knock it away.
"Dammit." Clem tried to grab the knife but it bounced away and out from under the truck. Clem groaned and pulled herself out from under the vehicle. She picked up the wayward weapon and examined it. It was bent up and the tip had become very dull with how much she had used it. Clem loathed to try to use it again, but then she realized she didn't have to.
Clementine darted into the Brave. She sheathed her knife and retrieved the bayonet Cruz had sharpened. Just looking at the fine blade, Clem felt like she could cut through anything. She was about to head back outside when she heard something from the bedroom.
"OJ?" She could hear the baby crying from the living room. Clem put the bayonet back and rushed into the bedroom.
"Muh muh. Muh muh," sobbed Omid as Clem pulled him out of his crib.
"It's okay, I'm here now," assured Clementine as she tried rocking him. "What's wrong? You're not hungry are you? I just fed you before we tried getting the gas."
"Muh muh," said Omid again, sounding less sad this time.
"Your tooth isn't bothering you again, is it? Do you need to be changed?" Clem sniffed the air around Omid. No offending odors she could detect. "What's wrong?"
"Muh muh." Clem looked right at Omid. He smiled, which made her smile, then he laughed, which made her laugh.
"You missed me and Sarah, didn't you?" assumed Clem.
"Muh muh," repeated Omid, which sounded like yes to Clem.
"Oh, don't worry. We're right here. And we're gonna get a ton of diesel, and then we'll use that to find a ton of food, and then we can spend all day with you, like we used to before we moved." Clementine carefully set Omid back in his crib seated near the bed. "You just play with your toys and we'll be right back." Clementine headed for the door.
"Muh muh," she heard him say as she closed the door. Clem couldn't help thinking that last one sounded like 'don't leave', but she reasoned the sooner they got the diesel, the sooner they could spend time with Omid. Clem grabbed the bayonet and hurried right back to the truck's gas tank.
She planted the bayonet on the gas tank, its point sharp enough to embed itself in the plastic with minimal force. Clem swung the hammer and the bayonet cut clean into the tank. Clem moved her bucket over, then pulled on the blade. It came clean out and a steady stream of gas started filling the bucket. Clem looked at the bayonet and decided to add whetstones to her list of things to scavenge.
"Clem." Clementine scooted out from under the truck and saw Sarah approaching. She was carrying a small electric pump in one hand, a container of oil in the other, a black rubber hose was wrapped around one shoulder, and an extension cord around the other. "Grab something." Clementine carefully pocketed the bayonet and took the pump and oil.
"Did you get the gas?" asked Sarah as she set the hose and cord down.
"Yeah."
"Good. Take the pump, use the extension cord to plug it into the Brave, then hook up the hose and drop it in the gas tank, not the diesel tank."
"What?"
"We might need a lot of gas to pump all the diesel out, so let's get a couple of cans of gas for the generator first, then we'll use that to get all the diesel we can carry."
"Got it!" Clem collected everything and scurried around to the other side of the Brave. She set the pump down by the gas tank and quickly unrolled the extension cord. She had no problem plugging the pump in, but she encountered a small problem with the hose.
Looking at the pump, there were two spots to plug hoses in. With just one the gas would just squirt out the back and not into the gas can. Clem figured she should run back to the auto shop and grab another hose, but then she remembered the bayonet. She traced a length of about three feet with the hose, then sliced it into two pieces of hose, each with their own end. Clem screwed the shorter hose piece in and fed it into a gas can, then attached the longer piece before dropping it into the first gas tank they opened.
"The pump's all ready," announced Clem as she ran back to Sarah.
"Okay, I changed the oil and put the gas in," said Sarah as she examined the generator. "Now I just gotta prime it."
"Prime it?"
"Yeah, it needs to be primed since we've never used it. Hopefully it'll start after that."
"Hopefully?" repeated Clem.
"Well… we've never used it before. I mean, this should be everything, but there could be something wrong with it I don't know about."
"Well, go ahead and do it so we can find out." Clementine watched anxiously as Sarah fiddled with some switches on the generator before holding down a big round button. The generator started making a steady clicking noise. Clementine felt her heart in her throat as she listened to that rhythmic click. She kept hoping that click would change into a loud roar any second, but it didn't. The clicks stopped suddenly and a deep despair started washing over Clem as the generator became silent.
"It doesn't work," realized a dismayed Clem.
"No, it worked!" announced an excited Sarah. "It's primed!" Sarah pointed to a small red light that was on.
"But, why didn't it start?"
"There's a switch I have to hit on the dashboard to start it now." Sarah grabbed Clem's hand. "Come on!" Sarah led Clem back to the front of the Brave in a flash. "I'll start the generator, you go wait by the pump and turn it on when you hear the generator start." Sarah hurried into the Brave while Clem rushed over to the pump.
She quickly located the power switch and turned back to the Brave. Seconds felt like minutes as she stared at the side of the vehicle, desperate for any sign that the generator was working. Suddenly there was a low whirring sound. Clem could barely stand the tension as that whirring started speeding up before erupting into the roaring sound of a running generator.
Clementine flipped the pump's power switch, but nothing seemed to happen. She flipped it twice more, but still nothing. The girl let out a long, sad sigh, feeling cheated when she was so close to success. She stood up, ready to tell Sarah something went wrong, when the power switch suddenly lit up. That bright red light drew Clem back to the pump like a moth to a flame and this time when she flipped it the pump started happily humming in response.
"Is… is it working?" Clem looked over to find Sarah rushing to her side. The younger girl didn't know how to answer that question. The pump seemed to be working, but looking at the gas can nothing was coming out. "It… it probably takes a minute. It's a long hose after all." Clem kept watching the gas can, practically hypnotized by the sight of it. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard a sputter.
"Is that…" Gas started flowing into the container and Clem suddenly felt like dancing for joy.
"It's working?" asked Sarah in disbelief.
"It's working!" parroted an overjoyed Clem.
"It's working!" The girls started jumping in place before wrapping their arms around each other in a big excited hug, laughing for joy. Not even the stench of the gasoline could detract from their victory.
"You're a genius Sarah!"
"I… I just followed the instructions."
"Yeah, and you're a genius."
"Maybe a little," said a bashful Sarah. "But it was your idea. So you're a genius too."
Clem smirked. "I think I'm okay with that."