"Clementine!" I heard Sarah. My eyes snapped open and I felt my heart beat in my chest. My head turned to the slightly older girl.
"Sarah! You should have seen it! it was horrible! There wa-" I started, but Sarah quickly placed her hands over my mouth. I looked around and realized that it was dark and everyone else was still asleep. I took a deep breath in and out to calm myself down. Once my pulse returned to normal Sarah removed her hand from their position on my face. She wiped her palms on her jeans.
"Be quiet!" She warned, "I saw you thrashing around and I thought I should wake you up!"
"Thanks," I said. I shook my head in an attempt to get the remaining thoughts out of my system. Sadly it failed. Images of the stranger still clung to the edges of my brain. I tired to comfort myself my reminding my head that the walkie talkie was dead and it couldn't hurt me anymore.
"What was it about?" Sarah asked curiously.
"Nothing," I smiled to show her I was fine. Carlos would probably kill me if I told his daughter about this kind of stuff. Carlos doesn't seem to like me. It's that or it's he doesn't like me around his daughter. I personally, think that He should at least teach her how to shoot a gun, but it's none of my business I suppose, "It was nothing, I'm fine," I spoke again.
"Was it about the them?" She asked. Carlos told Sarah that the walkers were only sick people, but she knew that wasn't true. She didn't understand what they did or what they were. She just knew that they were bad and that she needed to stay away from them. She 's taking a liking to calling walkers, 'Them,'.
"No, it wasn't about them," I was honest with her, "It's fine. Just forget it." There was an awkward pause that lingered in the air for a small moment. Sarah shifted uncomfortably and rubbed her arm.
"Was it about a person?" She hesitantly asked and I could hear sadness pierce her voice. My eyes widened slightly, "Sometimes I dream about my mom,' She softly muttered.
"What happened to her?" I asked. I already knew the answer, the same thing that happens to everyone else, I guess.
"I'm not sure," she played with her hair, "Mom was hurt and I heard a scary sound go off. Dad just said that she was gone and she went to a better place."
My head wandered as I thought of the possibilities that could have happened to Sarahs mom. My head immediately ran to a walker bite, but isn't it also possible that she could have been shot and they wouldn't have been able to fix it? The 'scary sound' would have been a gunshot. Maybe it was the gunshot to make sure she didn't turn. it could also have been a gunshot fired by somebody else. The only thing that could be known for sure is that it was the gunshot that ended her life.
I don't understand why people we don't even know wants to hurt us. The walkers are mindless and possibly unaware of what they're doing, but the people who shot Mark while at the dairy, why did they do that? We didn't do anything to them. Mark and Lee were just taking walkers off the fence, they weren't doing anything wrong. So why did they try to kill Mark. Lilly hurt someone too, but that was because she was hurt. But that doesn't make it okay, does it? She was sad because of her dad died, and angry because she thought someone was stealing from us. Did bandits go through stuff like that too? But it still isn't an excuse, is it?
"I'm sorry," I apologized after I realized I've been silent for awhile.
"Thanks," She said with visible sadness in her voice. I wonder if she understands what happened, "I miss her."
"I miss people too," Sarah nodded in understanding. We sat and talked for a bit. We got to know eachother and we talked about bit's and pieces of the past. She expressed to me her hope that some day everything will be better so that she and her dad can live in a house like they use to. She missed stupid things, like going to the dentist and shopping with her mom. I miss those thing too. She was funny, she didn't try to be, she was funny with the way she reacted to things. her eyelids began to drop down and soon she was asleep.
"Nick!" I gabbed him trying to wake him up. He stirred and I giggled, he wouldn't want to miss this. It's been hours since that talk I had with Sarah. The sun was up and the air was warm. I couldn't sleep so I decided to have a little fun instead, "Nick!" I said a bit more sharply, but still in amusement.
"What?" He asked.
"Watch!" I commanded. He sighed, but thankfully obeyed my order, "Okay," I started and laughed a bit, "When I say so, wake Luke up!"
"Why?" He rubbed his eyes.
"Just watch! It will be fun! I promise!" He looked at me oddly considering I was in a bouncier mood today. He hovered over Luke, ready to shake him at my command. Remembering what I did to Duck a couple months ago I giggled again as I placed a little spider on Luke's pillow. I looked over and Nick, who now had an approving smile, as he shook Luke awake franticly.
"Luke! Wake up!" He quietly yelled at him. Luke's eyes fluttered open quickly and saw the spider (Who must have looked bigger than it actually was from his view point.) Luke shot straight up after seeing the little creature of the soft pillow.
"SHIT!" He yelled. A few more people woke up and now had their heads turned this way, "FUCK IT'S A GOD DAMN SPIDER!"
"Swear," I smiled sweetly at Luke. He took a moment to calm down before he cast his eyes at me.
"Don't do that Clem!" He tried to sound angry, but he obviously wasn't.
"Luke HATES spiders," Nick gave me a high five, "I may just carry you the rest of the way for that!" I smiled at the praise he gave me. I remember when I did the same thing to Duck back at the motor in. Duck jumped up in surprise, which he hated, and started to freak out. I called his a crybaby, then days later he died. I almost started feeling sad again, but I heard Luke chuckle.
"Well, good to see she still does kid stuff," he stretched.
I looked at the ground and considered my next steps carefully. I tried to think of the best strategy. Ever so gently, I picked my foot up and slowly shifted it in front of me. Placing it back down, I balanced most of my weight on that foot and lifted my leg to join that same position. I took a deep breath in and happy to see that everything happened according to plan.
"Clem, what are you doing?" I head Carlos, but I didn't shift my attention from the ground. What I'm doing is much too important, "Clementine!" He demanded a bit more sternly.
"Hmm?" I asked with out answering.
"You really should learn how to talk!" Carlos isn't a very patient person. He may not be use to being told what to do, or maybe he's use to younger people obeying him. Possibly because Sarah always does what she is told without hesitation, "What are you doing?!" He demanded again. Either feeling stubborn or lazy, I felt that I didn't need to answer to Carlos while he's being mean to me. Carlos isn't my dad or my guardian. With Lee gone I now have to start deciding things for myself, "Nick!" Carlos called in frustration. HE rubbed his temple, "Tell the girl to catch up!"
Still not lifting my head from the ground I took another step. I don't know how Carlos didn't realize what I was doing. It was quite obvious, "Clem?" I heard Nick. I listened and I could tell something was different. He sounded worried, or maybe a bit concerned. I looked at him and smiled to show I was okay. He smiled back, "What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to stay clean," I explained. Earlier it had started to rain and now the ground was just caked in mud. I've never been a fan of mud. I always tried to avoid it at all cost. Sometimes my parents would let me sleep in my treehouse in the soil underneath the ladder was just to muddy for my liking. Mud is just so gross! It's wet and sticky and when it dries it gets crumbly! It's just... disgusting!
"Oh," Nick nodded, "Well, you're walking kinda slow." He casually remarked. I looked behind him and saw that the rest of the people a bit away from the rest of us.
"I'm not getting muddy!" I boldly said. I said it as if it were an honest to god fact. Nick shrugged before he swooped me of my feet.
"Okay," He responded.
"What are you doing?!" I said feeling a bit odd at the fact he did something like that.
"I told you I'd carry you for getting at Luke," Luke overheard and threw us a glare.