Although the two seemed to be getting along again, Clem watched as the two grown-ups quickly separated and again, started to bicker. She led a few feet ahead of them trying to avoid their petty argument, unfortunately their voices traveled.
Her shoulders relaxed when Christa, Omid, and Kenny met them under the overpass, waiting for the three to arrive.
"What you got there?" Kenny started, ending the two's bickering.
"There wasn't much in there but a lantern and this." Lee lifted the large cylinder to his chest, so everyone could get a good look. "A blowtorch."
Omid leaned forward and craned his neck to read the sideways letters on the side. "Ace- uh, alcat-"
"-It's... a blowtorch." Kenny flatly interrupted.
Lee lowered the torch back to his side. "I was thinking about using this to cut the tanker down."
Carley set the lantern on the ground and crossed her arms. "And as I was saying-"
Clem rolled her eyes.
"-That's dangerous. If there is gas in that, like Kenny said, then won't a spark catch a fume and blow the whole thing up?"
The adults who weren't apart of the bickering turned, eyes scanning the large tanker.
"Well, it looks sealed." Omid shrugged. "The grass below is still green, so I don't think it's been leaking."
Christa shook her head. "Those things are meant to be sealed tight, I've seen old truckers smoke next to their haul."
"Then those truckers had a death wish." Kenny said.
Carley took a step forward and looked at the tanker too. "Isn't it literally plastered all over the sides not to smoke next to it?"
"Yeah." Christa crossed her arms. "If he felt safe I think it should be fine... probably."
"Diesel fumes aren't flammable, so I think we're fine. Not to mention the haul doesn't have a scratch on it, miraculously." He turned his back to the group and walked to the train. "I'll head inside and get ready to haul ass when it drops."
"Well, that's good enough for me." Omid smiled. "How about I head up there with you?"
Lee nodded and turned to the women. "You two stay alert and watch our back, get ready to run in case this all goes sideways."
"Literally" Omid muttered.
"And what about me?" Clem spoke up, following Lee to the ladder.
"I want you to go and warn everyone inside the train about the plan. Start with Ben and Travis, then go to Sharon. We're not sure where this will fall, so we want to make sure everyone knows to keep their eyes peeled."
Clem, with something to do that isn't killing walker and not 'stay out of the way' she ran to the train before Lee could get in another word.
The small girl climbed the steep stairs on to the engine cart, standing on her toes to see the top of Ben's head, the two too far away to see properly.
"Ben!" Clementine called out, waving her arms in the air. "Travis?"
The two kept their backs to her, talking silently to one another.
Clem tried one more time before closing her mouth. Determined, Clem grabbed on to the railing, as she pulled herself up she placed a quick hand to the train wall to keep herself balanced. Carefully she turned, replacing her feet on the bars to face herself to Ben and Travis.
Since the two still didn't look her way Clem reached her arms to the very top of the cart, her fingers gripping on to the roof. With a grunt she tried pulling herself up and in a second her arms stopped pulling, dangling her a few feet from the ground. She waited a moment, looked down, then let herself drop to the floor.
She huffed and climbed the railing again, this time attempting to go for what little of a running start she could muster. Her palms made contact with the roof, her elbows locked into place, from here all she would need to do is lean forward and crawl up.
Ben turned at the sound of the metal roof bending, a similar noise that the roof makes when he accidentally steps outside of a support beam, a noise that will be loud for the two sleeping below.
"Oh, Clem!" Ben rushed over and whispered apologies as his feet pounded against the metal.
Clem struggled to bend her leg over the edge, she almost accomplished it by herself until she felt Ben lifting her up and safely placing her on the roof. When the teen let her go she crossed her arms.
"Hey there, uh..." Travis hesitated. "Clementine? What- uh, what are you doing?"
"Lee told me to come up here-"
"Oh." Travis said. "We don't need any help."
Clem dropped her arms and squinted at him. "Lee is going to cut the truck off the bridge, so I came up here to tell you that we're not sure where it will fall, so make sure you keep your eyes peeled."
"Oh..."
"So, watch out, okay?" Clem turned back around, unsure of how she's going to get down.
Travis returned to his spot at the other end of the cart while Ben helped Clem find a safe way down. As she landed sparks started to shoot out from the overpass, bouncing off the metal and falling to the ground below.
"Whoa." Travis stopped in his tracks. "Uh, isn't that really dangerous?"
"Yeah." Ben neared his friend. "If it falls on us then we're really screwed."
"Not just that, Kenny's the one who yelled at me saying there's gas in there. One spark could blow up the whole thing, right?"
"Oh, yeah, um- that sounds really bad."
"I mean, I guess it's fine. If Lee's up there doing that then he must be confident that this won't literally blow up in his face."
Ben hummed in response.
"Oh, by the way-" Travis elbowed Ben in the side. "-why in the hell did you tell Lee about the bandit deal?"
"OW- What?" Ben held his sore side and looked away from the sparks. "Wait, I thought you were mad that we-"
"I'm mad that you hid it from ME, I know we're not that close but, fuck Ben, sometimes it feels like I'm on my own out here."
"Oh..."
"Can we just keep the secrets to a minimum from now on? Between you and Sharon I feel like everyone's trying to avoid me." Travis crossed his good arm and continued walking to the end of the cart.
Ben opened his mouth to respond, instead whipping his head around at the sound of metal bending, thick metal being ripped and twisted. He'd heard the sound in TV shows and movies, though now that he heard it this close he realized how terrifying it really is.
For a moment everyone held their breath, watching as the sparks stopped falling. The tanker shifted and the truck rolled.
"Oh. . . oh fuck!"
Ben didn't look away. "No, it stopped, I think we're okay-"
"No. No, no, no, shit, shit-" Travis turned away and took a deep breath. "Walkers! There's a whole bunch of walkers!"
Travis ran past his friend, leaving him to take in the sight alone. A literal horde of bodies walking towards them, kicking up dust in their wake.
"Oh my god." Ben tripped over his own feet as he backed away, scrambling to his feet and stopping at the edge. "WE NEED TO GO!"
Carley and Christa, who previously stood just outside the train to watch the tankers movements ran up the steps. The tanker finally dropped to the ground, even with the train's vibrations everyone could feel the thud as the metric fuck-ton of fuel hit the ground. The metal scraped against the cement overpass, tearing a hole in the tank as it collapsed and taking out the ladder with it.
"Shit, how are they going to get down?" Carley covered her mouth, eyes watching the blowtorch fall from the overpass.
She didn't have time to think about it any further at a high ear-piercing scream from inside the cart. Christa ripped open the door and rushed inside, Sharon backed herself away from the flames that rose over the platform.
Carley rushed inside, reaching out as Sharon continued backing away, straight towards the open door parallel to the other. Ben, only realizing once Sharon's head fell back, that she nearly backed herself out of the train and straight in to the puddle of flames.
Sharon's left hand nearly touched the ground, Carley had a firm grip on the other hand with her body stopping Sharon's legs from continuing down.
Ben knelt down and quickly grabbed Sharon's shoulders, with one pull Sharon sat up and Clementine quickly pushed the door shut.
"Are you okay?" Duck sat in front of her, arms reeling at the sight of Sharon's left hand.
"I-I just woke up, I don't- I don't-"
"NO!"
With everyone else's attention on Sharon, no one had the mind to pull Christa in the cart, most didn't even know she left, most didn't know that Lee had pulled Omid inside.
"You piece of shit!" Omid yelled, "She-"
Omid shut his mouth the moment Christa leapt inside, both panting. "It's okay, honey." Christa took a deep breath. "We're okay."
"My leg is fucked."
Carley turned to the pile of bags in the corner. "Sharon, you have something in there, right?" She reached and pulled the bag over, fingers searching for the zipper. "I think I remember Katjaa saying-"
"NO." Sharon snatcher her bag from Carley, noticing the odd looks from everyone around her. "I-I mean, no, I got it."
"Are you sure?"
Sharon didn't answer her, closing the bag and opening the smaller pocket. Inside; a small roll of bandages, very little left of disinfectant, a few cloth napkins.
"Is that all you have?" Christa asked.
Sharon slowly nodded, looking the blood that already started to pool around Omid's leg, then to her pink arm.
"Shit, I'm guessing you don't have anything for burns."
She nodded again, zipping up the bag and bringing the supplies over to Omid. "Um..." She tried to remember his name, instead she held out the supplies in her palms. "Mind if I?"
"Okay, yeah, this is gonna suck." Omid hissed through his teeth as he tried to lift up his pant leg. "Ah, okay, nope, um... you don't happen to have pain killers?"
The painkillers were the first to give to the bandits.
"I'm sorry."
"That's what I thought." He looked around the room, eyes meeting both Duck and Clementine. "Kids? Why don't you go hang around in the other room?"
Duck tried to stay, though Clementine grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room, Lee followed behind. As both Sharon and Christa peeled the blood soaked jeans away from the wound Travis opened the door.
"Hey, Sharon are you-"
Travis got a clear view of Omid's leg. Some time during the fall and now his bone had broken, pierced his skin, and gone back inside. Dark red blood poured from it.
"I'll just... wait my turn." Travis turned on his heel and left.
Ben neared and paled, swallowing down the impending vomit and trying to imitate Sharon's stoic face. "Do you need my help?"
"No." Sharon hovered her hands over Omid's leg. "I'm going to use the rest of our disinfectant to see what the bone looks like, I'll try to be quick but if there's shard's I'll have to-"
"Y'know what?" Omid leaned back, covering his eyes with his sleeves. "Why don't you. . . not explain that to me."
Ben, after being dismissed and ignored so quickly turned and left the room, dragging his feet as he did so.
"Have you done this before?" Christa asked, pulling the belt from her jeans and wrapping it above the wound as a tourniquet.
"I'm trained in CPR." Sharon muttered. "Not... this..."
Nothing could have prepared her for this.
Omid tried to be optimistic and say something along the lines of, "at least you're trained in something," until Sharon put pressure on a tender spot.
Before she could start pouring Carley held out her hand. "Wait, Sharon, are you sure you can handle this?"
Sharon hesitated.
"With the thing with the fire-"
She poured the clear liquid out, staring at the visible bone helped muffle the pained yells from Omid. Her eyes scanned for anything that could help her in this situation. No shards as far as she could tell, the bone isn't straight, the bone is in all the way, she can see his bone.
Without any words Sharon unfolded the napkins and pressed two against the wound, wrapping the roll of bandages around to keep it in place. She wished they had something to stitch it up.
Somewhere along the process Carley had made a makeshift splint out of what the train cart had: Cardboard and wood. She held the pieces in place as Sharon continued wrapping the wound. With the last bit Sharon tried tying a knot, her hands too shaky to tie it properly.
Slowly Carley reached out, steadying Sharon's hands enough to complete the knot and be finished with Omid.
"Thank you." Christa rolled down her boyfriends pant leg, wiping the blood off on his knee. "You should probably see what that pale kid needed, he wasn't looking so well."
"Pale kid?" Sharon pulled her hands from Carley's. "You mean Travis? I don't know what else I can do, we're out of everything aside from band aids. The rations we have won't last us a week and all the medicine I have left are... gummy vitamins."
"Well, it if means anything, I'm sorry I used up the last of your supplies." Omid panted, his voice a little more hoarse than before. "You don't happen to have sunglasses in that bag do you?"
"Sunglasses?"
"My eyes hurt... a lot."
"Probably from cutting that metal with a blow torch." Christa said.
Sharon zipped up her bag again, placing it with the rest and pulling out a bottle of water.
Carley spoke up. "I don't know if it's the same, but I had an uncle that went blind from welding without a helmet."
Sharon examined her left arm, the sudden feeling of burning coming back. The blood on her hands squished between her fingers.
"Oh, so now you tell us that cutting metal with fire can blind me."
Travis stood close to the door, shivering even with Ben's added coat. He gripped the railing tight, his knuckles would be white if his hands weren't so weak.
He turned, relieved to see Sharon approaching him, a water bottle already being dumped over her hands. She didn't say anything as she did so, focusing on cleaning her hands and splashing water over her exposed red arm.
"Shit, what happened to your skin?" Travis tried to get a closer look, before he could take a step Sharon quickly rolled down the sleeve.
"It doesn't matter." She drank the last of the bottle and looked around, sighed, then let the rushing wind carry the plastic from her hands. "What about you? What's wrong?"
Travis wanted to cross his arms. "Lee and Kenny were talking about setting up a plan, in a little bit we're gonna have a group meeting in this room." He tilted his head to the storage cart. "But before that, I need you to look at my shoulder."
She nodded, waiting for him to start moving before rushing to take off his jackets. She didn't question why he was wearing two as his skin is cold to the touch, she set the jackets by her feet, working around his shirt again, pulling at his collar to expose both bandages.
"It hurts, it fucking burns." Travis muttered, watching in the corner of his eyes as Sharon pulled back the bandages. "It's not just that. I feel really weak, I keep shivering even though it's not that cold out, and since the train started moving again I'm suddenly dizzy."
The wounds stopped bleeding for the most part, what worried her is the skin surrounding it is slowly turning red. Very soon it will start to pus and then they will all know it's infected.
"So? Does it look bad?"
Sharon pressed the bandages back on and pulled the collar of his shirt back to where it belonged, remaining quiet until he got the jackets back on, she even zipped it up for him.
"I think it's infected."
"You think?"
"I'm not an expert at this, Travis." Sharon sighed, examining her hands for blood then rubbing her eyes when her hands looked clean. "We don't have any disinfectant left, but I can try cleaning it out with water, I'm out of bandages but we can see if anyone else has something."
"Great. That's just great." Travis pushed himself from the railing, looking to the engine room and waving his hand. "Before Lee gets here... just between us... are you planning on leaving again?"
Sharon hesitated.
"If you are, will you let me know before we get there? I don't think I can stay anymore, I've been playing nice because I don't want to get kicked out, but I really don't like kids."
"Wait, what?" Sharon dropped her hands from her eyes. "Why not?"
"Uh, because they're annoying? The little girl is okay, but the whole 'stop cursing thing' is getting on my nerves."
"Travis, she's a human being, call her by her name."
"I-I-"
Lee appeared behind them with Clementine, Duck, and Ben. "Everything alright out here?"
Travis looked to Sharon, dropping his crossed arm when he saw her back to him, already inside the storage cart. The rest of the group followed Travis inside and sat on the ground, forming a crude circle. Ben closed the door on his left and opened the one on his right, leaving a crack in both to let in sunlight.
"Is this an intervention?" Omid said, looking around for a reaction.
"I was thinking and decided that 'going to Savannah' isn't a well thought through plan." Lee said, pulling out a folded map from his pocket and laying it out for everyone to see. "Kenny said these tracks were on run all the way there. There's a train station we're heading towards." He pointed it out on the map and followed a line, stopping at their destination. "This one."
Sharon ignored where Lee pointed, instead she focused on a small rectangle right in the Historic District, Forsyth Park.
"Those stations usually have trains backed up, Kenny said we'll probably stop here around, uh- interstate five-sixteen." Ben pointed out the road and followed it all the way to Savannah. "Then we'll follow... I-Sixteen."
Just above the large park in a grid-like pattern stood many more parks, historical sights, memorials, pretty structures, anything that can gather a crowd and keep them around.
Lee nodded. "When we reach Savannah, there's no telling what it's like there. Kenny is dead-set on finding a boat so we'll be heading towards the river."
In between the grids, just a little closer to Madison Square.
Clem's eyes landed on the little square that read Marsh House. "Will we be able to look for my parents?"
Lisa's house, the whole block just a tiny rectangle on the map. She's there. She's so close.
"We'll see, Clem." Lee said.
"Is that really important right now?"
Ben squinted at him. "Travis."
"What?"
"If we can-" Christa spoke loudly, softening her tone when addressing Clementine. "We'll try."
Clem looked up, frowning at Sharon's un-moving stare. "And what about Sharon's friend?"
She looked away from the map, unaware of who said her name. "I'm sorry, what?"
Duck nodded quickly. "Yeah, if we can look for your parents we should look for her too."
"I don't know." Lee answered, unsure who he should be addressing this to. "Marsh House can be along the way but... we don't know where her friend lives."
Sharon stared at the little rectangle on the map again, reaching out and pressing her finger over it. "It's a twenty minute walk to the river."
"So…" Omid drawled on, estimating a forty minute walk from the edge of Savannah to the house. "Not… along the way."
Carley tried to say something though Christa stopped her. "I take it you all don't have a lot of experience out on the road?"
"We had a place." Carley said.
"Travis and I used to stay at our school, we were out in the woods for a few days but that didn't last long."
Lee nodded. "Most of us were staying at this Motor Inn since this whole thing started, the boys joined us later. Kenny and I used to go out on supply runs, but that's it."
"Right, a word of advice? You need a fallback plan." While no one disagreed, no one said anything back. "You need to ask yourself every what-if you can think of. What if you get separated? What if there are no working boats?"
Omid added in. "What if Savannah is overrun with walkers?"
"What if there's nothing left?" Ben mumbled.
"Alright, I get the point." Lee said, stopping everyone from adding more grim what-ifs.
Carley spoke up. "For starters, if Savannah doesn't work where will we go?"
"We're taking a risk by going straight in to a large city, if you want to take a page from our book? Get out of Savannah and avoid emlarge cities/em."
"Right, so which way is the quickest way out?" Lee said. "Back where we came from?"
"No, you saw that horde of them back there. We can't come back this way."
"I-Seventeen goes over the river, that will bring us to South Carolina." Sharon said, weakly pointing at the interstate and the direction of SC. "From there it's just forests, plains, and farm lands."
"That's good." Christa nodded.
Carley leaned forward. "We should agree on a place to meet up. Somewhere easy to find."
"How about one of these parks?" Omid pointed, his finger landing close to one of the many block sized parks.
"Alright, which one?" Lee asked.
"Should be one close the the on ramps, but close to the river too." Carley said. "I don't suppose there's a tourist guide on this map."
"I mean, we have Sharon, she's been there before." Travis said.
Sharon repressed a sigh. "Yeah, we spent a lot of time in these parks."
"It should be one with a lot of cover, as close to the onramp as possible." Christa added.
Sharon twisted the map to face her. She placed memories with landmarks, mentally crossing out the ones with large fountains, sparse trees, the cemetery for obvious reasons. The ones further from the river and the ones furthest from the on-ramp got crossed out. "The best place to go would be here."
Duck, the one closest to her slowly read out the name. "The Wright Square."
Lee smiled. "Good, so we got a better plan now. Anyone else got a question?"
"What time will we get there?" Christa asked.
Ben shrugged. "I think Kenny said early morning, he doesn't want to walk through the town in the dark."
"A big group of people in the middle of day? Yeah, that won't attract-"
"When are we gonna eat?" Duck interrupted.
"Kenny said should hand out some rations in a few hours, and then some in the morning." Ben said.
"A few hours?" Duck whined and stood up. "Aw, man…"
As Duck walked out of the cart Travis stretched, a hand pressed firm on his shoulder. "If we're done here, I'd like to rinse this stupid gunshot out."
"Gunshot?" Omid's eyes widened. "Holy shit, when you guys said you had to leave I didn't think it was that bad."
"Yeah. . ." Lee casted a short glare towards Ben, then to Sharon. The two looked away quickly. "We weren't prepared for it."
Travis returned the glare to Lee.
"Hey, Lee." Carley stood up. "Now that the train is moving again, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Lee hesitated, looking again to the younger of the group then slowly standing up, following Carley out the door and to the engine cart.
Travis scooted himself backwards, laying down on the mattress, closing his eyes and awkwardly trying to find a comfortable position. Clementine picked up her radio from her side and sat in the far corner of the cart, whispering quietly into the microphone.
Christa reached out and folded up the map, clearing her throat to get Sharon's attention. "If you don't mind me asking, how do you know these people? We haven't been able to talk."
"Oh, she's Kenny's kid." Omid answered for her.
"He told you that?" Sharon said.
"Yeah. What, is it a secret?"
"No, it's. . . complicated." Sharon absentmindedly reached for her pajama pants, balling it up in her lap. "I'm happy to help, but when we get to Savannah we might separate."
Travis opened his eyes.
"What makes you say that?" Christa crossed her arms. "Are we not welcome?"
"No, it's not that. It's my friend, if the group doesn't head that way, then I will."
"How do you know she's still there? A lot can happen in a few months."
"Because we said if we ever got separated, we would go there."
"How are you sure she's still alive?"
"Because I know."
"But-"
"I understand how crazy it sounds." Sharon took a deep breath. "If Omid told you he'd meet you in Kansas, would you go to Kansas?"
"No, she hates Kansas." Omid spoke up, a little louder than intended. "I would probably tell her to meet me in DC."
Christa didn't respond.
"Y'know, finish the road trip? Or maybe Parker's Run, that's a lot closer."
Christa couldn't help but smile. "Okay, I get it." She rolled her eyes. "But we are not meeting in DC. I'm not so thrilled about Tennessee either."
In the corner Clementine whispered one more word before standing up and setting her walkie talkie on the ground. Slowly she reached Sharon's side and tapped her on the shoulder.
Sharon turned, attempting to give the little girl the warmest smile she could muster, hiding her exhaustion. "How are you doing Clem?"
"I'm okay, but I was wondering. . ."
Sharon scooted her body around, staying seated with her legs crossed.
"Duck told me that you sang to him before. . ." Clem looked at the walkie talkie again, nervously pulling at her fingers.
Sharon looked to the girl, then to the radio. "You use that to. . . talk to your parents, right?" Clem nodded. "Do you want me to sing to you?"
"Yeah, um. . ."
"And you want your parents to hear too?" Clementine nodded again. "Don't be embarrassed Clem, if singing to your parents will make you feel better then of course I'll sing to them."
Clem smiled, reaching out her hand to the young woman. Sharon pretended that the little girl's strong pulls brought her to her feet. With the pajama pants still in her arms Sharon draped the legs around her neck like a scarf, eyes catching a glimpse of red skin.
Stay calm. Look at something else.
Sitting with her back to the corner, Clementine sat in her lap with the walkie talkie in her hands. Once comfortable Sharon took the radio and held the button down.
"Ground Control to Major Tom. Come in Major Tom."
"What's that?"
"It's an old David Bowie song, I used to sing it to my parents a lot. . . do you want me to sing that instead?"
"Sure."
The Marsh house had seen better days.
Ground Control to Major Tom
Before the outbreak the owners were planning to renovate the first floor rooms, redo the roof, and maybe slap on a fresh coat of paint on the outside if there was money left in the budget. Summer is when they get the bulk of their customers; families and couples looking to visit the many historical parks, get away from their home lives, shop up and down the strips, maybe go on a boat ride if the weather held up. The renovations would have to wait til next season.
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
Now that walkers roamed the streets the Marsh house looked bleak. Darkened bloodstains coated the ground, corpses littered around every corner, leaves and garbage stayed on the streets for days before a walker or harsh wind would blow it away, cracked windows became the norm. At least there's parking.
Ground Control to Major Tom
The inside had been cleared for the most part; the carpet reeked of rotted meat, old blood painted the walls, not a single light on, underneath the stench of blood was a hint of cigarette smoke, the occasional walker would somehow fumble a door open and find its way wandering the halls, other than that the building is safe.
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may god's love be with you
Down the hall from the entrance in conjoining rooms is where he sat, a fresh pack of cigarettes opened, the sunlight that peeked through the shades highlighted the smoke lingering around his room. The alarms would have been going off if he hadn't already disabled it.
This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
The radio sang to him and his wife, the bowling bag where her head rested had been opened so she could hear it too. The head gurgled, the best it could make with no lungs. Her teeth chomped at the hand that hovered above it, uncaring for the song.
The papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare
The man flicked his ashes to the carpet, finishing the cigarette to the filter and blowing the smoke at the rotting head. He dropped the butt in a brown bottle and stood, setting the radio gently on the chair.
This is major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
He twisted the volume knob up, walking away to the door that lead to the conjoined room. Through the wall he could hear the singing, in his mind he could hear it clear as day. This room smelled nicer, a thin layer of dust managed to coat every surface but it's comfortable, clean, safe.
And the stars look very different today
For here am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Trailing his fingers over the duvet the man set up the room. First, a tiny purple suitcase. Clementine had mentioned she likes purple more than pink now-a-days, everyone always assumes pink is her favorite because she is a little girl. Sharon used to say the same thing, though her favorite was blue, sky blue.
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do
Clothes that needed to be folded, clothes that would fit, clothes that are clean. Sharon would ask for pajamas, Adam never wanted to leave his jerseys behind, just like Elizabeth Clementine still likes dresses so she gets as many as she wants.
Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Then a gift on top. Elizabeth would want a stuffed bunny, Adam would want anything sports related, Sharon? She'd take anything as long as it meant well. For Clementine? A new hat, to replace the one her parents gave her, one that will get rid of her connection to anyone else but him. It couldn't be purple, too close to the one she has now. This one is yellow, a nice bright color, clean, a little too big for her but she'll grow in to it.
Tell my wife I love her very much,
She knows
And the last: A nice polaroid camera. He couldn't find a scrap book that hadn't been stepped on, but with this he could take a family picture to replace the one that had been stolen. One he will carry with him for as long as he lives. She can have the camera, he won't need it anymore, so that can be another gift.
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
After all the mistakes he's made this is it, this is his redemption.
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
He failed with Sharon.
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
He failed with Adam and Elizabeth.
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
He failed his wife.
Can you- Here am I floating round my tin can
Far above the moon
He won't fail Clementine.
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do