Clementine tensed up as she heard another loud rumble off in the distance. It had been the third time this afternoon and she still found it unsettling. Dim clouds canvassed the entire sky, but it still looked too early to rain, but the sounds of thunder far off in the distance suggested that would change soon. It was a little warmer today, but not much, and the constant bursts of cool wind kept causing the girl to shiver as she tried to keep watch from on top of the Brave.
The overpass they were parked on kept them out of reach of most walkers, and the thunder in the distance seemed to be drawing what few there were left further away. Using the telescope to scan the nearby area, she saw a few walkers moving south through the heart of yet another small and abandoned town off the interstate. Other walkers, possibly too rotted to hear far off noises anymore, remained in place, simply waiting for a victim.
The dead had been growing more common as they had moved west across the region, yet food and supplies were as scarce as ever. Even though they were few and far, Clem couldn't help feeling nervous at just the sight of the walkers below her, and found herself worrying about the ones she couldn't see. Even with her raincoat on, the presence of the dead was unnerving for the girl, a constant reminder that death was always only a single mistake away.
"Patty? Anthony?" said Sarah into her radio. "Are you two okay?"
Clem looked over at the older girl, who was sitting next to her on top of the RV, her atlas spread out on her lap.
"We're fine Sarah," assured Patty over the radio. "We just arrived. The map may say this is an airport, but really it's just a single runway. I have my doubts you could land one plane here, let alone five."
"Really?" asked a disappointed Sarah. "Dammit…" Sarah crossed out a town on her atlas. Peeking down at the map, Clem herself felt discouraged by the series of black marks that spanned the entire state of Louisiana.
"I don't know why we're still bothering with these tiny podunk towns," said Anthony. "As if salvation is gonna be in bumfuck Louisiana."
"Actually this town is in Texas," informed Sarah as she started flipping through the pages of her atlas. "We crossed the border when we crossed that river a few miles before we got here, we're in Orange, Texas."
"God, I really hope the answer to my prayers isn't in Texas," said Patty. "That's the kind of thing that would give me an existential crisis."
"Well if it is, it's not here in goddamn 'Orange' Texas and its shitty one runway airport," grumbled Anthony. "What kind of idiot names a town Orange? And then what kind of idiots waste time thinking they'll find jack shit in a town called Orange? We should just go to Houston already, that's the next big town west of here."
"It's because it's the next big town we're checking the stuff along the way," said Sarah. "We might find out something about Houston if we check these towns around it first."
"We just went into New Orleans, and that worked out." Clem cringed upon hearing that. Looking at Sarah, she seemed bothered by that comment as well. An awkward silence lingered for few seconds before they heard a voice on the radio again.
"And besides," Patty said. "Houston is a lot bigger than New Orleans."
"How big could it be?" asked Anthony.
"New Orleans has—or had—about three-hundred thousand people in it according to to the atlas," informed Sarah. "There were over two million in Houston."
Another few seconds of silence followed. "Okay, that's pretty big," admitted Anthony.
"It's bigger than anywhere any of us have been since shit fell apart," said Patty. "Even Miami only had about a fifth as many people as Houston, and shit wasn't exactly great there either. And it's over twice the size of Jacksonville, Florida, which the girls told me was so tore up they couldn't even get into it."
"How many people did you say used to live in Savannah?" Clem whispered to Sarah.
"I think the atlas said a little over a hundred-thousand?" Hearing that made Clem cringe as she realized Houston could be equivalent to twenty Savannahs. That thought alone made Clementine feel sick, and another even louder rumble in the distance just made her feel even worse.
"Jesus that sounded close," reported Patty over the radio. "Even closer than the last one."
"I want to know where the hell the lightning that's making those noises is," said Anthony. "You think we'd be able to see it by now."
"Well we're not waiting for it," announced Patty. "You two hang tight, we'll be back in a few minutes, and then all four of us can drive out to somewhere secluded to wait out the rain that's coming."
"Got it. We'll be waiting for you." Clem folded up their telescope while Sarah used the ladder to climb back down to the road. This was the third airport they had checked today, and they were still no closer to a solution. Moving to the edge of the RV, Clem noticed Sarah looked discouraged as she took the telescope Clem passed down to her. "Are you okay?"
"I guess," said the older girl as she adjusted her grip on the telescope. "It's just, it's been almost a week now and we still haven't found anything, and before long we'll have to check another big city—the biggest city we've seen yet—and it just feels like…"
"I know," consoled Clem. "It feels like we'll never find anything."
"Or if we do, it won't be good," sighed Sarah. "I should get back inside and make sure Omid doesn't need anything."
"Maybe tomorrow will be better." Clem's words of encouragement seemed to do nothing to lift Sarah's spirits as she shuffled away. Finding no comfort out in the cold, Clem climbed down herself. She was going to head into the Brave when she heard something off in the distance. It wasn't thunder or anything that loud this time, but it was still distinct. Turning out to look over town, Clem could tell what direction the noise was coming from but not what it was. It sounded almost like a bee buzzing around, but too loud and distant.
After listening closely for a few seconds, Clementine realized it was an engine she was hearing. Her first thought was she was hearing Anthony's truck in the distance. It seemed too soon for that, but Patty had said that the airport wasn't far and they'd be right back. But as the noise of a running engine drew closer with every passing second, Clem realized it didn't sound like a truck at all. Panic begin to creep into the girl's thoughts as she felt her feet moving backwards without even thinking. A thunderous cracking erupted across the area and the girl spun around and tried to flee.
"Whoa, Clem," said Sarah as Clem ran head first into her friend. "What's wrong?"
"Do you hear that?" asked Clem.
"The thunder, yeah I—"
"Not that, I heard an engine before that," said Clem.
"I didn't hear any…" Sarah suddenly became very quiet. The older girl's eyes widened and she moved past Clem to the edge of the overpass. The engine noise was back and louder than ever now. Looking out on the road below them, Clem felt a chill shoot up her spine as something burst into view.
"That's… that's not Anthony's truck…" Clem watched in stunned silence as a silver luxury car came into view on the road south of the overpass. It was barreling towards them incredibly fast and Clem felt as if she couldn't look away. At the rate it was going, it would zoom right under the overpass they were standing on in seconds. The girl felt a twisted tinge of relief as the car swerved suddenly to avoid hitting a walker that had stumbled in front of it. The vehicle skidded across the road, it brakes screeching loudly as it tried to correct its course, then jumped the curb and violently slammed into a utility pole.
"Oh God!" exclaimed Sarah as the pair continued to watch the car with great interest. It had crashed about three blocks from the overpass the girls were standing on and was now making churning noises as whoever was in it was clearly trying to start it again. Clem used this opportunity to grab her binoculars while the car was stationary and quickly found it in her sights.
Seeing it better, she noticed the car's paint was stained with odd black marks that looked like burns, and the front windshield was covered in some kind of gray soot. The driver's side door suddenly burst open, only to hastily slam closed again as a walker tried to lunge at whoever was inside. Putting her binoculars down, Clem saw more walkers were stumbling towards the car, throwing their rotten bodies against the vehicle and pounding on the windshield with their arms.
"They're going to kill whoever's in there." Clem looked over to see a wide-eyed Sarah staring back at her. "We gotta do something!"
"Right." Clem pulled her gun from its holster. She couldn't possibly hit the walkers from this distance with it, so she aimed it into the sky instead. She pulled the trigger twice for a couple of quick shots and waited for the walkers to start moving, but they didn't. Only a lone one near the overpass turned around, the rest of the corpses kept closing in on the lone car to join the ones that were already pounding on it. Even from the overpass, Clem could hear the annoying racket of walkers banging on metal and it occurred to the girl that they couldn't hear the gunshots over the noise they were making.
"We need to get closer," said Sarah, having reached the same conclusion.
"I don't know, if—"
"Clementine! We can't just let them die."
"Right," said Clem, already feeling ashamed for her hesitation. "Let's go." The pair hurried back into the Brave; Sarah wasted no time starting the vehicle while Clem hurried towards the closet
"Be careful," warned Clem. "If you see a lot of walkers, like in Titusville, you—"
"I'll get us out of here," promised Sarah as she shifted the Brave into drive. "But there's not that many right now."
"Not that we can see…"
Clementine pulled the closet door open and looked at the machine gun, rifle, and automatic rifle stacked against the corner. Thinking it would make the loudest and most noise of the three, Clem grabbed the automatic rifle. The girl hurried over to the cupboards and retrieved the gun's magazine along with the belt clip that held spare magazines for her pistol. Just as she equipped them, she felt the Brave slow to a stop and heard a loud blaring sound. Turning her head, Clem could see Sarah was leaning on the steering wheel to sound the horn.
"Some of them are heading towards us," reported Sarah. "But not all of them, we—"
"We'll just need to kill them all, because whoever is in that car won't have a raincoat like us," concluded Clem as she threw the rifle over her shoulder, which felt awkward on her back. "They already know we're here, so I might as well just shoot them. If I climb on top of the Brave, they won't be able to reach me and I can just take my time."
"And if more show up I can just drive us away," concluded Sarah.
"Just give me a warning when you do so I can grab onto something first," said Clem as she headed towards the door.
"Hang on, I'll pull us over to a spot further away so you've got more time to get to the ladder on the back."
Clem kept her eyes glued to the door as she heard the Brave's motor start. The breaks squeaking, the engine roaring, every little noise sounded louder than ever, tying the girl's stomach into knots as she felt herself moving with the RV. Part of Clem was telling herself that gunning down walkers on an open street for the benefit of a stranger was a stupid risk, but the rest of her was thinking about all the times she had nearly been eaten alive only to be spared that fate by someone who cared more about others than themselves.
"Okay, go!" Clem already had her hand on the doorknob when Sarah said go. She threw open the door with one hand and pulled her pistol in the other. Just outside was a parking lot leading up to a quaint brick office building advertising tax returns in the windows. Leaning out to make sure there were no walkers just out of sight, Clem leapt outside and slammed the door shut behind her. The girl then raced as fast as she could and rounded the back of the Brave in mere seconds.
Now behind the vehicle, Clem spotted some walkers clumsily chasing after the Brave from the direction of the overpass. Still well out of arm's reach, Clem took aim and put down the nearest corpse with a single well-placed shot to the head. The girl then turned and hurried up the ladder, not wanting to be on the street when the other walkers closed the gap. Scaling the ladder, Clem briefly stopped and looked through the back window. She could see Omid standing in his crib, looking around in confusion. The girl felt a sharp pang of guilt for not being there to comfort him, but then forced herself to keep climbing.
Reaching the top of the Brave, Clem immediately turned around to find another walker had nearly closed the distance from the overpass. A bullet to the head however made sure it would never complete that unremarkable journey. Checking the left side of the vehicle, Clem found another walker already pounding on the RV. Shooting straight down from the roof made its head an easy target and the corpse was dispatched with ease.
"Clem," spoke Sarah. "There's—"
"I'm on it." Clem headed straight to the front of the RV next and found two more walkers banging against the vehicle's grill. Clem made a couple of loud bangs herself, silencing the meddlesome cadavers for good.
"There's still a lot of them attacking the car," said Sarah, clearly worried. "I think they've broken one of its windows."
Clem saw the silver car in the distance, still stuck to the utility pole. There were at least five walkers still beating on it, one of which was trying to force itself head first through a large break on the driver's side window. Clem nearly jumped as she heard the Brave's horn again, it sounding much louder outside than it did in.
The girl watched as a couple of the walkers abandoned the car, but not all of them, and certainly not the one still trying to climb in through the broken window. She holstered her pistol and removed the rifle from her back. Clem located a switch and flicked it from 'SAFE' to 'AUTO'. The girl knelt down and braced the rifle against her shoulder, preparing herself to strike. Clem initially took aim at one the walkers attacking the car, but then realized the shots might go through the windshield and hit whoever was inside, so she aimed to the right of the walker instead, hoping the gun was louder than the Brave's horn.
Clem pulled the trigger and immediately felt a series of sudden painful kicks against her shoulder and stinging blows against her right hand. She tried letting go of the trigger as the rifle bucked upwards and out of her grip but it was too late. The gun slipped from her hands, tumbled over the side of the Brave, and plummeted onto the pavement below.
"Clem?" called Sarah. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she assured, barely able to hear her friend's voice over the horrible ringing in her ears. "I just dropped the rifle."
"It worked though, look."
Clem saw the last few walkers, including the one at the car's window, had finally abandoned the vehicle and were heading towards the Brave, which Sarah was honking the horn for again to keep their attention. Looking down, she saw a couple had already reached their RV and were pounding against the windshield. Clem pulled her pistol and quickly put them down, then remained vigilant as more walkers started lurching towards their position.
The walkers were scattered and kept reaching the RV only a few at a time, much to Clem's relief. She shot the closest walkers on one side, then would check another side and repeat the process there, then kept moving until she checked every side, then would start over. It became fairly monotonous before long, with every check revealing a couple more walkers closing the distance that needed to be shot before changing sides to find the same thing all over again. After eliminating a couple more walkers near the back, Clem's gun clicked when tried to kill the last one behind the RV.
The girl quickly ejected the empty magazine and stuffed it in her pocket. Trying to remove a spare from her belt proved more difficult than she thought, having to fumble with the clip that secured them for a few seconds, then wasting a few more seconds finally finding her grip on the magazine before quickly slamming it into her gun. She cycled the pistol then shot the remaining walker, only to return to the front to find four more that needed killing.
"I'm going to pull forward," warned Sarah as Clem shot the last walker directly in front of the RV. "Their bodies are starting to stack up and it's going to be harder to drive away if we wait."
"Do it." Clem holstered her gun and laid down so she could grip the edge of the Brave as it slowly lurched forward. There were a couple of sickening pops as they moved, but then the familiar squeak of the brakes sounded and Clem stood up. Immediately the girl spotted a couple more walkers she was obliged to deliver free bullets to, and then she found herself repeating her routine from a few seconds ago. This trend continued for a few minutes longer until Clem finally killed what appeared to be the last of the walkers in the immediate area.
Sarah pulled the vehicle forward again over a few bodies, then parked again, putting the Brave a mere block away from the silver car still clinging to the base of a utility pole. Not seeing any walkers nearby, Clem removed her binoculars and surveyed her surroundings for any stragglers in the distance, but found none.
It was eerily quiet now, and the only thing of interest in sight was the silver car. Looking closely, Clem discovered the windows were all tinted, making it impossible to see through the glass from this side. She could also see the vehicle's windshield was cracked and smeared with bits of rotten flesh left from walkers who had literally broken their arms against it. The window on the driver's side of the vehicle had been partially broken open, but enough of the glass remained to block Clementine's view.
"Clem? Do you see any more lurkers?"
"No," reported Clem as she did one final check of the area.
"Okay, so, what do we do now?" asked Sarah.
"I… I'm not sure." Clem moved the binoculars up to her face to study the broken vehicle a little more, then made her decision. "I'm going to check out the car."
"Are you sure?" asked Sarah. "You killed the lurkers, and—"
"More might come," concluded Clem. "And whoever is inside would get eaten because they don't know how to get past them, which would mean we did all this for nothing."
"Well, yeah," concluded Sarah. "But…"
"I thought you wanted to help."
"I do, but… I don't want you to get hurt either." Clem could hear Sarah sigh over the radio. "Let me just check on Omid, then I'll get my rifle and come with you."
"Okay."
Clem clipped her radio back to her belt but hesitated to draw her pistol. Now that the danger had passed, the girl had become all too aware of how incredibly sore her hands had become. She couldn't ever remember firing that many shots in such a short period of time and found herself wishing she wouldn't have to shoot anymore today, but knew there was a good chance she would.
Reluctantly, Clementine ignored the pain in her hand and removed her gun from its holster. She noticed it felt lighter than usual, then realized it was probably nearly out of bullets again. Clem swapped the magazine out for the last spare she had, hoping she wouldn't actually need to use it. Moving down the ladder, Clem spotted the automatic rifle she dropped earlier was just sitting on the road about ten feet behind where the RV was parked now.
After confirming the rifle still had bullets left, Clem located the safety. She moved the switch from 'AUTO' to the 'SEMI' setting in the middle, hoping that would make it only shoot one bullet at a time. Thinking it would be more intimidating than her pistol, Clem kept the rifle in her hands as she headed for the Brave's door.
Sarah emerged from the Brave shortly after, a rifle now gripped in her own hands. She closed the door, locked it, and then placed the keys in her pocket. The pair looked at each other for a moment, then started moving towards the car. Clem kept a watchful eye out for walkers. They had made a lot of noise, and the dead move slowly, so more could be on their way this very moment. But she couldn't focus for long on what may be out there as they closed in on the car that was right in front of them.
The girls kept their rifles gripped in their hands, but kept the barrels aimed at the ground, not wanting to appear threatening to whoever they were rescuing. Clem felt herself growing tenser as they moved in closer to the car. She could still hear a ringing sound leftover from all the gunfire pounding against her eardrums a minute ago, and with every step it seemed to be getting louder somehow. Just this horrible ringing getting louder and louder until it was all the girl could hear anymore.
"Stay back!" The words punctured the ringing like a shot itself, bringing a trembling Clem to an immediate halt as her finger seem to instinctively seek out her gun's trigger. "Who are you with?" Hearing the voice again sounded almost as harsh as hearing it the first time, but this time Clem could detect a hint of fear in what was clearly a man's voice. "Marines? Army? Navy?" Listening to him speak, Clem noticed the man had what sounded like a mix of two different accents, neither of which she recognized. "Well? Who… who are you people?"
"I'm Sarah," the older girl finally yelled back, clearly nervous herself. "She's Clementine. You looked like you needed help."
"You're… you're just children." Something in the way the man said children irritated Clementine, as if he was relieved now because he thought they could never be any threat to him.
"We just killed all the walkers attacking you," stated Clementine with as much authority as she could. "We told you who we are; who are you?"
"Why do you want to know?" asked the man. "What do you want?"
"We just want to help. Are you hurt?" Clem found herself inching forward as Sarah spoke. "You didn't get bitten by a lurker just now did you?" By moving towards her right, Clem found herself gradually getting a better view through the opening in the busted window on the driver's side of the car. "Because if you did, that's really—"
"That's close enough!" Clem froze again as she could clearly see the top of someone's head briefly moving in the opening. "I didn't ask for your help, just leave me alone!" The fear in the man's voice was more noticeable now than before, and Clem suddenly realized she had raised her rifle without thinking about it. "Please, I'm begging you, just leave… leave me alone." Hearing someone begging for mercy was a completely alien experience for Clem; it made her feel sick.
"We're not going to hurt you," promised Clem as she lowered her rifle. Finding the pain in her hands growing the longer she carried this heavy weapon, Clem switched the safety back on and threw the rifle over her shoulder. "You're not going to hurt us, are you?"
"Why would I do that?" asked the man, sounding genuinely confused.
"I don't know," said Clem. "We don't know even know who you are."
"Maybe you could come out and talk to us?" suggested Sarah as she surveyed the area. "There aren't any lurkers in the area."
"All right," said the man, still clearly afraid. "Please don't shoot."
"We won't."
Clem felt her hand moving to her pistol as she saw the car door slowly creak open, but resisted the urge to draw it. She felt nervous as she saw someone move past the door, only for her apprehension to evaporate upon finally seeing who they were speaking to. The man was older than they would have thought, his hair gray and his frightened face creased by wrinkles. He wore a blue jacket covered in soot and the glasses on his eyes highlighted his scared dark eyes as he raised his gloved hands over his head.
"You can put your hands down," assured Clem in an apologetic tone.
"Does… does that work?" The man pointed at the RV.
"Why do you want to know?" asked Clem, making no effort to conceal her suspicion.
"We need to get out of here," insisted the man in a desperate voice. "We need to leave, right…" The man stopped suddenly as he looked to his right. Following his line of sight, Clementine saw a familiar old red truck with a camper attached to its bed barreling towards them. It skidded to a sudden stop and out came its occupants in a flash.
"Don't move!" ordered Patty as she raised her shotgun, prompting the man to raise his hands again.
"Well well, whatta we got here?" asked Anthony with a certain eagerness as he brandished his baseball bat.
"Patty, Anthony, stop!" ordered Sarah.
"Are you—"
"We're okay," assured Clem. "We were just helping…" Clem turned to the man as she realized she didn't even know his name.
"Sin."
"What?" asked Patty.
"My name is Sin," said the man a little louder, sounding annoyed at having to repeat himself.
"For real?" asked Anthony with a chuckle.
"Yes, for real," said Sin in a derisive tone. "If you people are willing to help me, then we should leave, right away."
"Why?" asked Patty.
"It's not safe here. If your vehicles work, we should head east until—"
"East?" asked Sarah.
"We've been heading west because there's nothing left east," said Clem.
"Only death awaits you if you go west," spoke Sin in an ominous tone.
"Why?" asked Patty.
"Just trust me, we—"
"Trust you?" repeated Anthony. "We just met you, and you're literally named Sin." A loud rumble suddenly erupted in the distance.
"Shit, the rain's coming," said Patty. "We—"
"That isn't thunder!" exclaimed Sin, appearing more anxious now than he did a moment ago.
"Then what is it?" asked Anthony.
A noticeably annoyed Sin spun around in place, looking for something, then gestured to a water tower just a short walk away from where his car had crashed. "There," he said. "Go up there, and you can see what it is."
"Is this a joke?" asked Anthony. "We go up there and you—"
"I'll go myself." Sin slammed the door to his car shut, then stood there oddly quiet for a moment before turning around. "If one of you stays here and watch my car, I'll go up that tower and show you why none of us want to go west."
"Protect your car? Are—"
"Shut up Anthony," ordered Patty as she approached Clem and Sarah. "What do you two think?"
"He sounded really scared when he came out of his car," informed Clem.
"And he crashed it because he was driving really fast," added Sarah. "Like he was trying to get away from something."
"And you two came down here to rescue him?" asked Patty.
"Yeah, pretty much," said Sarah.
"We really didn't want to leave someone to die," said Clem.
"All right, well if you guys already did the hard stuff, I guess the least I can do is go for a walk… or climb I guess with this guy, see what he's talking about." Patty turned away from the girls and approached Sin. "All right, I'll go with you, but we need to do this quick."
"I don't want to stay here any longer than necessary," assured Sin as he looked at his car again. "And you'll make sure nothing gets to my… car?"
"You're really worried about your damn car," noted Anthony. "You—"
"We'll make sure," promised Clementine.
"All right then." Sin looked at Patty. "Come, let's hurry." Patty threw her shotgun over her shoulder and started running towards the water tower while Clem moved in closer to the car.
"Well like hell if I'm staying here with my thumbs up my ass," groaned Anthony. "You two can watch a car, I want to see what's so damn important we have to take a trip up a fucking water tower just to see it."
Before Clem could say anything, Anthony took off running towards the water tower, which Sin and Patty were already climbing. The young girl briefly looked around, suspicious of more walkers, but she didn't find any. She looked over at the water tower again to find Anthony had just reached the ladder. Looking at Sin's car momentarily just caused the girl to look over at the water tower again and wish she was over there instead.
"You want to check it out too." Clem looked at Sarah, who had clearly already devised the girl's intents. "Just do me a favor and take my camera, that way I can see… whatever it is you see up there."
"Okay."
Sarah gave Clem the keys to the Brave. "And check on Omid real quick while you're at it."
"Sure thing." The girl hurried back into the RV as fast as she could. She unloaded and stored the rifle before sprinting into the bedroom.
"Kem-men," greeted Omid with a smile.
"Hey there OJ," said Clem as she moved to the dresser to collect Sarah's camera. "You doing okay? All that noise isn't bothering you is it?"
"Dah-bah-dee-dah," said Omid, sounding less enthusiastic now.
"You're such a brave boy, we just need you to stay put a little bit longer, okay?" Clem checked the counter on the back of the device that indicated how many pictures it had left. "I'll be right back."
"Kem-men!" pleaded Omid as she headed for the door.
"I know OJ, but…" Clem remembered the camera in her hands, then got an idea. She held it out as far as she could and pressed the button. A bright flash caused her to briefly see spots, then the camera ejected a photo. "Here, why don't you hang onto this?" said Clem as she offered the boy the picture. "That way I can be here with you while I'm out there too."
The toddler seemed reluctant to take the photo at first, but then the image of Clementine slowly begin to fade in and the picture immediately became fascinating for Omid's young mind. As the boy awed at the photo now in his hands, Clem quietly headed out of the room, then hurried back out the door. She locked the Brave, then rushed back to Sarah.
"Be careful," said Sarah as she took the keys back.
"You too." Clem hurried towards the water tower, equally curious and nervous about what there was to find. She looped the camera's strap around her neck, then started climbing as fast as she could. Her hands were still sore, but not so much they were slowing her down. This didn't appear to be particularly tall for a water tower, but then even a short water tower was pretty long climb. Half way up, Clem made the mistake of looking down, and felt her stomach drop as she briefly pictured herself falling the fifty feet back to the ground.
The girl forced herself to face forward and stare at the metal rungs in front of her. It took a few moments to muster the nerve to resume climbing, but Clem continued her ascent, moving more slowly as she gripped the ladder as tightly as she could. The wind picked up as she continued her climb, with a strong gust sending another shiver down her spine while also pushing with just enough force that it felt like it was trying to shove Clementine off the ladder.
The girl soldiered on, ignoring the cold, the wind, and the pain in her hands as she climbed even higher. She could hear the others talking now, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Realizing she must be nearing the top, Clem hurried and shortly afterwards found herself emerging onto a small walkway that ran around the water reservoir, along with a handrail that Clementine was grateful for. Following the sound of the other's voices, she found herself close enough to hear their conversation now.
"Jesus Christ…" awed Patty.
"Let me see dammit," said Anthony. "I didn't bring my binoculars."
"You see now why we need to leave?" asked Sin.
"Why?" Everyone looked at Clem in response to her question as she inched in behind the group, who had all gathered near the handrail just a few feet away from the ladder.
"If you're here does that mean there's only one of you left protecting my car?" asked Sin in an irritated voice.
"Hey man, I don't think you have to worry about anyone stealing it; it's a wreck after all," mocked Anthony.
"That's not…" Sin eyed Anthony with contempt.
"Clem, look at this," said Patty as she waved the girl to come closer to the rail. "Out there, where the sky is the darkest, you see that?"
"See what?" asked Clem as she removed her binoculars from her belt.
"The darkest clouds over there aren't clouds." Clem followed the blackest clouds she could find on the horizon. They did look unusually dark, even for rain clouds, and scanning them carefully, Clem noticed something unusual.
"You see it, don't you?" asked Patty. "It's not clouds, it's—"
"Smoke," Clem realized as she followed the dark trail connecting the clouds to somewhere out of sight past the horizon. "But… there's so much of it."
"Sin was telling us it's—"
"A refinery," he announced. "Up in flames."
"Refinery? But…" An earth-shattering rumbling filled the air and Clem watched in shock as a pillar of fire erupted on the horizon. It shot right out of the ground and arched upwards like a massive flaming limb clothed in black smoke reaching into the darkened sky.
"Okay, I saw that one, even without binoculars," said Anthony, sounding uncharacteristically unsettled. "Jesus Christ, I thought that didn't sound like thunder earlier."
"Holy shit…" spoke Patty in a quiet voice.
"It's just going to get worse," warned Sin in an anxious voice. "They won't be able to contain the fire, it'll just keep spreading until every distillery and tank is burning, sending literally tons of chemicals and heavy metals into to the atmosphere, which will eventually come back to the ground in the form of acid rain, and that's assuming the the weather isn't right for it to turn into a literal firestorm."
"What the hell do you mean by firestorm?" asked a frightened Patty.
"Wait, back up, who the hell is they?" asked Anthony.
"Why is it on fire?" asked Clem. "What happened?"
"Please, if we could just go somewhere—anywhere away from here, I'll tell you whatever you want," pleaded Sin. "But we must leave."
"Yeah I… I think that's a good idea," spoke Patty with a stutter. "Come on everybody." She and Sin headed for the ladder while Anthony took a step forward for a better look.
"God damn…" he said in awe as he watched the plumes of smoke on the horizon. "That is one hell of a fire." The young man watched the distant flames for a few moments longer, then headed for the ladder, leaving Clem alone now.
Not wanting to stay much longer herself, the girl grabbed the camera hanging around her neck and raised it to take a picture of the disaster unfolding in front of her. Stopping to place the photo and camera in her backpack, Clem couldn't help but take one last look at the horror in the distance. Staring directly into the smoldering flames rising over the horizon, the girl could swear she could feel the heat coming off of them.
After putting her backpack on, Clem hurried towards the ladder, eager to return to the ground. Going down was much easier than coming up, and before she knew it she had arrived back on the grass where everyone was waiting on her. Patty merely tilted her head in the direction of the road and everyone started walking.
"I can try getting your car started," offered Patty as they headed away from the water tower. "But if I can't fix the problem in a few minutes you're just gonna have to ditch it and ride with us."
"It'd be better just to forget the car and leave with you right now," insisted Sin. "We shouldn't stay out here any longer than we need to be."
"Well if you feel that way, then why the hell did you ask us to guard the damn car in the first place?" asked an annoyed Anthony.
"It's not the car itself that I was worried about," said Sin as they crossed back into the street.
"What then?" asked Clem. "Is there something inside?"
"Um… not something."
Patty's words prompted Clem to look away from Sin. Just ahead of them she could see Sarah sitting on the curb next to Sin's car, along with a dark-haired boy. He was about the same height as Sarah, was carrying a bag in his arms, and had a forlorn look on his thin face. Turning to the others, he immediately looked at Sin.
"I'm… I'm sorry," said the boy in a pitiful tone as he looked away. "I… I just really had to go to the bathroom."
"It's okay," Sarah told Sin. "I let him use ours."
Sin turned to the others, his face an odd mix of irritation and exhaustion. "This is my grandson, Jet."