In the dark of night, Clementine hid beside the road, concealing herself in the ense overgrowth of the forest surrounding the road. Stray locks of hair fell over her face, causing her to huff in annoyance and reach up, tucking them beneath her hat.
Kenny would kill her if he found out about what she was doing.
Beside Clementine stood an unsteady tree- one push and it would topple over onto the road. A few crows cawed in the distance and fluttered out of the canopy of green and brown leaves, vanishing into the midnight blue sky. Clementine shivered, gripping the shotgun in her hands tightly.
She needed to get away from this place. Had to.
A steady hum began to sound in the distance, and when Clementine looked up, she saw a pair of white headlights bolting down the road.
Perfect. I hope this is a New Frontier truck...
She had to wait for it to get closer. As it did, she could see that it was an eighteen wheeler. Behind it was a black metal crate with boards crudely attached to the sides.
The truck was quickly approaching. Clementine stood up and pushed on the trunk of the tree, sending it toppling onto the road with a loud creak. The truck swerved hard and ran off the road into a ditch on the other side of the road. Clementine internally slapped herself- of course it would do that.
Clementine sank back into the overgrowth, watching the scene in front of her unfold. A man with bindings on his hands opened his door and fell out, landing on his side. The man was wearing a white baseball jersey with blue numbers on the back, as well as a blue long-sleeved shirt beneath the jersey. He was also wearing gray-blue pants and black shoes. His hair was dark brown, as were his eyes.
In front of the man, a pistol had fallen; he grabbed it and scrambled to his feet, running around to the other side of the truck. That's when Clementine saw it; another man running into the forest.
"HEY!" The man in the jersey man bellowed. The man in the distance- who sported a sleeveless black leather jacket, as well as a black shirt- froze and spun around, holding his hands up in surrender. Slowly, the jersey man lowered his gun, and the other man fled.
Well... It's now or never.
Clementine stood up and crept out of the overgrowth and onto the road. The man ahead of her looked down, cursing under his breath. Once Clementine was behind her, she pumped the shotgun once, getting a bullet ready to be fired- just in case. The man froze and let out a defeated sigh.
"Yeah. Alright." He said, dropping his pistol.
"That's good. Just keep looking forward." Clementine spoke. She stepped forward, swiping the pistol off of the ground and pocketing it.
"Look, I'm having a bud fucking day here, okay?"
Clementine rose an eyebrow at him. "Well... That's obvious." She replied. "Now don't do anything stupid, 'cause i'm not as nice as you. I won't hesitate." She said, her voice dark and serious. She lowered the shotgun and turned, walking around the truck.
"You're a kid..." The man breathed in disbelief. "Woah- wait, did you do that? With the tree?" Javier asked. Clementine ignored his question, climbing into the truck and inspecting it. Her heart sank when she saw almost nothing of value, save for an apple that'd tumbled to the opposite side of Clementine. She carefully climbed in deeper and picked the apple up, inspecting it.
It seems okay to eat.
Clementine slipped out of the truck. "I was trying to stop the truck. Tree fell slower than I thought it would." Clementine took a bite of the apple and lazily cocked her gun. "Put your hands up."
"Look, i'm the victim here." The man said as Clementine approached him, searching his pockets.
"This is payment. For saving you." Clementine shot back. "Close your eyes and count to-"
"Wait, just... I need help." The man said, turning to Clementine. "My family, they're trapped in a junkyard with some bad dudes."
Clementine narrowed her eyes. "I know where that is... What's in it for me?" She asked, a suspicious look on her face.
"You want a car? We have a van." The man offered. Clementine hummed in satisfaction.
"I'll take you to the junkyard if you let me have your van."
"Deal." The man said immediately.
"Alright. After you," Clementine said. The man turned and began walking down the road. Clementine followed, her expression cold.
"The name's Javier, by the way..." The man said. Clementine looked up at him, silent for a moment, before replying.
"Clementine."
"Well, nice to meet you, Clementine." He said, looking forward. This took Clementine off guard- was Javier insane? She'd pointed a gun at him and threatened him!
"If you say so..." Clementine said awkwardly, looking away.
After walking in silence for a while, Clementine bristled when she saw a herd of walkers ahead of her, shuffling across the road.
"The herd..." Javier breathed. Clementine cursed quietly.
"This way," She said, ducking into the forest. Javier followed suit.
"That's the herd of muertos that my family and I were running from."
Clementine scoffed. "Muertos..." She repeated, testing the word out. The word felt foreign to her.
"What do you call em'?" Javier asked.
"Walkers."
"What do you call the ones that run?"
"They're all fucking walkers, okay?" Clementine snapped. "Sorry, i'm just... Not used to being around many people."
Javier scoffed. "Yeah, it shows."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Clementine asked defensively.
"It means you could sure use a dust-up on those people skills." Javier shot back. The groans became louder, and in the distance, Clementine noticed lights. It suddenly occurred to her that they were by Prescott.
"Look, we're gonna have to wait it out. There's a settlement just up ahead that we can use."
She shook her head, letting out an agitated sigh. She pulled her knife out and cut Javier's bindings. "Don't make me regret this..." She grumbled. She pulled out Javier's pistol and handed it to him.
Javier, in turn, hummed in satisfaction at this. "Alright, follow me." Clementine said, standing up. She made a mad dash towards the lights, Javier following.
They broke through the trees, and as they ran, Clementine shot some of the walkers down. "Keep going, they'll open up!" She called out to Javier. Her eyes locked on the red metal gates ahead of her, with walls crafted from scrap metal surrounding it. They ran up to the gates and pounded on them. "Open up!"
"I can't risk it until you clear a path. There's too many of em'!" A blonde bearded man- Tripp, if Clementine remembered correctly- called down to them. Clementine and Javier both turned to the crowd of walkers around them. Clementine didn't hesitate; she took aim, shooting down as many walkers as she could. When she ran out of ammo on her shotgun, she drew her own pistol, loaded it, and took aim.
When her finger pressed the trigger, the gun clicked and made a popping sound, but the bullet didn't fire. Panic flared up inside of Clementine.
"Fuck! These bullets won't fire!" She exclaimed, looking at her gun with wide eyes. A walker lunged for her and Clementine let out a strangled yelp, barely keeping the walker from sinking its rotting teeth into her.
Javier turned to her, shooting the walker. Clementine took the chance to throw the walker down and stomp on its head.
"There's still too many!" The man above them said. Clementine's heart sank. She was out of ammo, didn't know how much Javier had, and there was still a considerable amount of walkers.
For a moment, Clementine began to wonder what it was like to be eaten by walkers- torn apart, until she was no longer recognizable...
"YEEEEE HAH!" A voice bellowed in the distance. Clementine perked up, looking in the direction of the voice. To her surprise, most of the walkers' attention had been pulled away from Clementine and Javier to someone in the distance. Clementine heard bellowing gunshots and roaring laughter in the distance.
"C'mon, Shade, they're droppin' like flies!" A high-pitched voice cried out.
Javier looked at Clementine with a confused look, but Clementine honestly had no answer for what was going on right now.
"What the-? Oh, you've gotta be fuckin' kidding me!" Tripp exclaimed. A few moments later, the gates burst open beside Javier. "Move your asses!"
They didn't need to be told twice; The pair hurried inside, and behind them, two people- each riding their own horse- zoomed inside as well. Tripp slammed the gates shut and turned to the horse riders, who were both giggling and snickering.
"God dangit, one of these days those gates are gonna close and you'll both be on the other side!" Tripp snapped. The girl on top of a black horse pulled on her reigns, turning her horse to look at Tripp.
"Bold of you to assume a few gates can stop me." She said gleefully. "Les' go!" She said, cracking the reigns on her horse. The horse zoomed into town, neighing loudly. Clementine stared after her, a shocked look on her face.
Tripp pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose, letting out a long sigh. The other woman- Francine- spoke up.
"When that day comes, I promise... I'll eat you first." She said with a smirk, turning and walking deeper into Prescott.
"I'm sorry about that." Tripp said, turning to Javier. "The name's Tripp."
"I'm Javier," He said, shaking hands with Tripp. Tripp turned to Clementine, frowning a bit.
"Your old man's lookin' for you." He said. Clementine let out a groan and rolled her eyes.
"Tell him i'm not here."
"Sorry Clem, no can do. I'm gonna let him know you're here." Tripp said. He turned, walking away into Prescott. Clementine's heart sank, but nevertheless, the turned, walking into Prescott.
Javier lagged behind, however.
Clementine paused, looking back at him. "Javi?"
"My family..." He said, looking down. The worried look on his face made Clementine's heart sink involuntarily.
"Look, if you've lasted this long, then i'm sure, that- y'know, they'll know what to do." Clementine said.
Javier inhaled sharply, nodding and straightening up. "Old man, huh? Is your dad here?"
"No, not my dad... More like 'guardian'. Now come on, I gotta see a guy about some bullets." Clementine said, turning and walking into a dome-shaped building. Javier followed her without a word.
When she was inside, Clementine scanned the area- to the right were some wooden stairs that led to the next floor. There were also a few wooden tables scattered around, and on the floor and walls were different colored mats and sheets of metal. Straight ahead was the booth where Conrad served drinks. Francine sat on the outside, playing a game of cards with Conrad, while a girl sat next to them, leaning back against the bar with her elbows propped on the countertop.
The girl was very pale in complexion, and she had long red hair, as well as deep, dusty blue eyes. She wore an oversized midnight blue hoodie, blue-gray jeans, and light gray shoes. She had one leg crossed over the other, and when Clementine and Javier entered, it appeared as though she was examining them closely.
For a moment, Clementine wondered if the girl was crazy. Just a few moments before, she'd riding on the back of a horse, hollering at the top of her lungs; now, anyone who looked at her wouldn't even guess that she was capable of such a thing.
Clementine looked away from the girl and to her left, feeling anger boil up inside of her. Inside of a little 'hut' built crudely from a sheet of metal propped on a wooden pole, a man named Eli sat, snoring. Eli had made a fatal mistake; he'd given Clementine a box full of duds.
"Hey, I gotta take care of something." Clementine said.
"Woah, wait, you're just gonna leave me hanging?" Javier asked. "What about me? What am I supposed to do?"
"I don't know, why don't you... make some friends?" Clementine suggested, a smirk on her face before she turned and walked around to Eli's hut.