The Walking Dead: Clementine and a dog named Sam
Chapter 5: the journey to the north
Greetings everyone. For taking so long to update chapter 3, I brought this next chapter out earlier than it should have been. I hope all of you liked it, and will stick around to read the rest of the story.
The following the morning, the cabin survivors had gathered their things together and were now making their way up north, wanting to get as far away as possible before Carver would find them, and this time, with company. They were quite low on supplies on ammo, but they had to make it last for as long as possible.
While they were walking, Clementine, who was walking almost ahead of the group with Sam beside her, turned her attention around when she saw Rebecca had caught up to her. She sure hoped Rebecca wasn't going to criticize her about Carver because Clementine was not in the mood.
"Hey, Clem. Sorry if I have you some shit back there." Rebecca apologized, finally showing a friendly face to the younger girl for the first time. "I'm just a little on edge. It's just tough time right now with the pregnancy and all. You and Alvin and probably relate."
"It's okay." Clementine assured her.
"If it's not you I'm yelling' at lately, it's Alvin, and then I'm in real trouble." Rebecca explained, showing a smile across her face for the first time.
"I can handle it." Clementine reassured, turning her head to the side so they made eye-contact. "I'm not a little kid."
"I felt the same way when I was your age." Rebecca agreed, remembering what it was like to be young before the dead had risen and the world was once peaceful. "My dad was always giving me shit, and I always thought he didn't know a damn thing..."
She trailed off as she showed some gratitude for Clementine's help earlier. "I know you did your best back there. You know, none of us would make it on our own. Sometimes it's hard knowing just how dependent I am one everyone. I'm not used to that. I'm not comfortable with that. I'm supposed to be a mom soon. Guess I need to work on my patience. Alvin and I still don't know what to call her. Or him, if that man gets his wish god help me. Any ideas, Clem?"
Clementine thought about a couple of names for Rebecca to decide on what to call her baby. She smiled, thinking of two perfect names that they could name their baby. "If it's a boy, how about Lee? And if it's a girl, how about Carley?"
Rebecca had to admit she liked those options that the young girl had given her. Maybe that's just what she was going to call her baby, if Alvin agreed that is. "I like those names. Thanks Clem."
Clementine nodded slightly in response before she picked up the pace a little to keep up to Luke's speed level. Carlos and Sarah were ahead to lead the way, Luke was just behind them, and everyone else were behind Clementine.
Clementine was about to ask Luke a question but someone else had already spoken up. She turned around to see Pete and Nick, who were both carrying rifles together, and by the looks of it, their relationship had improved since last time.
"Hey, Clem...I just wanted to say...Thanks for saving me back at the stream." Pete thanked, raising a smile across his face, showing his gratitude for being allowed a second chance on this Earth. "If it weren't for you and your dog, I might-a been a goner."
"It's okay." Clementine assured, happy that she finally saved a life rather than it being the other way around when Lee or the others had to save her. She turned her attention back towards Luke, who had asked her a question.
"You sure you and your dog still wanna come with us?" Luke inquired, wanting to make sure she was comfortable going with them to...Wherever they were going. "I mean, we have got off on a good start, and you did save Pete's life."
It took Clementine a matter of seconds to answer, and she reminded him that her friend was out there somewhere. "I have to look for Christa."
"Where was she heading?" Luke inquired.
"Me and her were heading north." Clementine answered, but was confused to why that mattered where they were going in the past.
"So are we." Luke smiled, assuring her that staying with them for now was going to be her best option. "Look, you're going to have a better chance of finding her with us than your own."
He paused for a moment and pulled out a map that he had with him to check where they were going and how far it was going to be before they reached their destination. "I figure we got about four or five days to reach those mountains. Now, if they're tracking us, we should be able to lose them up there."
"Five days?" Rebecca repeated, worried that she might not be able to make it up there in time due to her pregnancy.
"It's going to be okay, Bec." Alvin assured her, knowing how paranoid his wife would be nowadays.
"We have to keep moving now." Carlos spoke up, joining in on the conversation after he had been silent for a while. "It's our only choice."
Five days later
Five days had passed since the cabin group had left their home in fear of Carver returning to get them, and they did not stop at all other than to sleep and rest for around five-minutes each time. They made it to a nearby river and decided to rest for a few minutes until it was safe to keep moving.
Clementine was on duty for checking the area. She laid herself down against a rock on her stomach, while looking through a pair of binoculars. She carefully scanned the area, looking out for anyone or anything.
"See anything?" Luke inquired, but did not get an answer straight away.
"She better see something." Alvin hoped, concerned for his wife since she was beginning to look quite tired due her growing physical weakness from carrying her baby. "We've been walking for a damn week."
"We need to find shelter." Carlos replied, him too concerned for his daughter as the weather was beginning to get quite cold.
Clementine moved her binoculars towards the right to see some-sort of life that looked like it would carry people to the top of that mountain on the other side of the river. "There's a lift or something."
"Chair lift?" Luke asked, looking towards his map to check if they were in the right area. "Must be that ski resort."
Clementine took her binoculars from over eyes for a moment as she thought back to before all this began. She wanted to get skiing, but her parents always promised her that they could go when she grew up. It was like a dream of hers. "I've never been skiing."
"Bec and I went once." Alvin replied, shifting himself towards his wife, who was sitting down on a nearby boulder to rest.
"It wasn't pretty." Rebecca admitted, recalling a little accident of theirs that happened when they went skiing."
Clementine shifted her eyes back into her binoculars to investigate what else looked useful. She looked a couple of feet up from the chair lift to see a big-looking house near a windmill. It looked like a good place to stay for the night, that's if someone else did not beat them to it. "There's a building on the mountain."
"Here, eat this, Bec." Alvin said, handing his wife his last bit of food for her to keep up her strength.
"Alvin, I'm fine." Rebecca reassured him, not wanting to make the others feel bad.
"What does it look like?" Luke asked Clementine, him being the only one that heard her.
"It's big." Clementine shrugged, unsure what to describe exactly since it was quite far away despite the fact she had binoculars.
Luke turned around to face Alvin and Rebecca for a moment, and they were not sure what to do or not. He faced Clementine again, and he had to admit a big house is what they need right now. "That sounds like a good place to spend the night."
Clementine saw enough of the area where they big house was and decided to look somewhere else. She moved her binoculars over to the far left where the bridge that was going to take them on the other side was, and at the end of it, was a small station house. "There's a little house by the bridge."
"How big is it?" Carlos inquired.
"It's pretty small." Clementine admitted, turning even more to the left to investigate the bridge nearby. "There's the bridge."
"And does it look passable?" Luke inquired, suspecting the bridge may be their only way across, and trying to going all the way around would take too long.
"I think so." Clementine answered, seeing the bridge looked deserted for now and did not look damaged that much.
"Good." Luke smiled, folding his map away and placing it back into his pocket while Clementine moved from her spying position.
"We have to cross that bridge." Carlos said, eager to get moving as he still suspected Carver was tracking them, and the more they stuck around, they worse. "Let's go."
"Hold on, now." Luke replied, not wanting to rush into things so quickly. "We can't all spring across that thing, okay? If we get spotted out there, we're going to be trapped."
"Going around that lake will take too long." Carlos countered, pointing two of his fingers towards Luke for a moment from his right hand.
"Right, but..." Luke tried to explain his plan to the doctor as he placed his left hand her his pocket. "Look, we've got no idea who's out there. Okay, I'm going to sneak across and make sure it's clear before we bring the whole group over."
"You think splitting up the group is a good idea?" Carlos inquired, somewhat disagreeing with his plan to go out there on his own.
Clementine merely stood next to him with a slight smile on her face and her arms crossed together. Obviously, she seemed to agree with his plan.
"I never said it was a GOOD idea." Luke replied, smiling across his face. "But it's better than risking everyone at once."
"What's your plan?" Alvin inquired, seeming to agree with his plan.
Luke began to explain his plan to the others, keeping it was short as possible and in simple terms. "Clem and I can scoot across low and slow and make sure nobody's waiting for us on the other side."
"We'll have a tough time covering you from back here." Alvin reminded, hoping it would not change their minds.
"Well, we'll just turn back if it gets hairy." Luke replied.
Everyone agreed to this plan of his-all except for Carlos, who was concerned for Clementine's well-being. At first, she was just a complete stranger, but now he was beginning to treat her as a member of their group. He crossed his arms together as he looked towards Clementine with a concerned expression. "Clementine should stay here. She's...
"She's what?" Luke inquired, him too crossing his arms together.
"She's just a little girl, Luke." Carlos reminded him.
"She's a valuable little girl." Luke countered, knowing Clementine was one in a million and was different to any other little girl. "I mean, hell, if she survived days on her own in a tree house, survive for almost three-years in this world, I'm sure she's fit to cross a bridge."
"I can do it." Clementine assured Carlos.
"See? No problem." Luke replied, reassuring them that it was going to be okay. "It's going to be fine. Okay? We'll signal you guys in ten minutes. Just watch for a light at the far side."
Clementine knelt down to Sam, who was sat down near the others. He giggled slightly as he licked her face, now treating her as his new owner. "I'm going to need you to stay here, boy. Okay? I won't be gone that long."
"We can help out." Pete replied, him and his nephew standing up from where they were sitting, wanting to make themselves useful.
"Nah, we can do this, guys." Luke replied, declining their offer to help out. "Just stay here. If we're not back in around twenty-minute, then you can help out."
Pete nodded in agreement as he sat back down against a rock, clutching his rifle tightly in his hands. He kept constantly looking towards Nick, making sure he would do anything stupid like take a shot.
"I don't like this." Carlos said, still disagreeing with this plan of is.
"Yeah, well, when's the last time you liked anything, Carlos?" Luke asked as he turned around and began making his way down the path that would lead him and Clementine to the bridge.
"If something happens, I'll cover you." Nick assured them, but got a slight nod from his uncle in disagreement as he knew Nick was a poor shooter sometimes.
Luke did not accept his offer and merely beckoned for Clementine to come with him. "Come on."
After leaving the rest of the group, the duo Luke and Clementine was walking together, heading out to investigate the bridge. While they were walking, Luke started up a conversation between them both. "Hey, uh, sorry about that. I just could really use your eyes, and right now I don't really trust anyone else to help me with this. They're just still on edge after Carver thing."
"It's been five days." Clementine reminded him, puzzled to why Carver and his men would be following them for so long. "Why would Carver still be following us?"
Luke took a moment before answering her question. He knew something that the others didn't, and as much as he should not really speak about it, he trusted Clementine to keep it a secret. "What's the most important thing in this world? What does everyone want? Even the gangs. What do you think? They're all after?"
Clementine thought about this question of his. The most important thing in the world? What could it be? Shelter? No, not everyone used shelter. Food? Food was quite important nowadays, but it was not cared about.
Finally, Clementine realized there was one option left she could think of, and unfortunately, it was not the answer she hoped for. "Family."
"It's a tough world out there with people you can trust." Luke replied, looking somewhat fearful of what he just said. "Anyways, you can ask Rebecca, okay? I'm not going to get in the middle of it. We've all made mistakes. Done things that we regret. It's not my place to talk about someone else's past, you know?"
Clementine was shocked by this as she now knew the truth to why Carver was after them. The baby Rebecca was carrying was his, or so it seemed so at least. Alvin did not seem to know, and if he was, it may devastate him. "Seems like we're already in the middle of it."
"Tell me about it." Luke agreed.
The two continued walking for a few more seconds until they finally saw the entrance to the bridge in their sights. However, they both froze n their steps as they sight of two walkers were standing by the bridge.
"Hmmm." Luke hummed, trying to figure out what to do next. "We can't shoot them. Too much noise. But they're only two."
"Let's take them." Clementine replied, but at the same time, puzzled to why he was worried that there were only two walkers, and one of them was sitting down against a rock.
"I like your style." Luke admitted before he and Clementine slowly made their way to a nearby boulder and crouched down behind it for cover. "I'll take the big one. You get shorty. You got a weapon? Wish we could use guns. We should be okay. I think."
"I grabbed a hammer from that shed before we left." Clementine replied, looking towards the smaller walker resting against another boulder. "Got it. I'll take the small one."
"Good. Let's do it." he said, preparing to sneak up on them.
The two pulled out their melee weapons that were a machete for Luke, and a hammer for Clementine. They slowly sneaked up to their targets until they were in range, and then, in the quick of a flash, they both simultaneously hit the walkers.
Luke easily decapitated the big walker, but was for Clementine; she too killed her target, but was now struggling to retrieve her weapon. She pulled as hard as she could, desperately trying to pull the hammer out from his head.
"Go ahead." Luke encouraged her, placing his machete back into his holster strapped to his back. "Give it a good pull, it should come free."
"I know. It's not the first time I killed one of these." Clementine replied, clutching the hammer tighter in her grip as she began to move it side to side until it was finally free from the walker's skull.
Luke smiled as he rose up his left hand and patted her on the back, but a little too hard that almost knocked her down due to her being only a little girl. "Nice work, kid."
"Ow." Clementine groaned, rubbing her left hand up and down against her right arm for a moment.
Luke's smile dropped for a moment as he thought she hated him for patting her a little too hard, but instead, she grinned in response. He raised a grin on his face before they both turned around and began to make their way down the bridge.
Luke and Clementine carefully made their way down the bridge, sticking to the left on the metal path. The wooden tracks looked a little unstable, so they stuck to the path just to be safe. As they got around halfway down the bridge, they saw some-sort of handcar on the track, and by it was two walkers.
One of the stood up, but the other one began crawling, and both of them snarled and growled as they made their way towards the duo, obviously eager from a bite to eat. As Luke tried to plan what they were going to do, Clementine turned around and saw yet another walker coming towards them. They were trapped.
"Shit." Luke swore, looking back and forth at the three walkers before he pulled out his machete from his holster, preparing to defend himself. He began moving towards the walker who was coming at them from behind, thinking if he killed that one first, than at least they could run away.
Clementine raised her hammer as she looked back towards the two walkers, and the one who was crawling was now walking instead, and this made him twice as dangerous.
As Luke moved towards the single walker, he suddenly felt gravity had pulled him down more than it should, and he fell through the wooden tracks. The walker who he was going to kill ended up falling down with him.
"Luke!" Clementine panicked as she ran towards the way they came. She quickly laid herself down, and was somewhat relived to see he was alive.
The walker had fallen onto a flat support beam under the bridge with part of a broken sharp pole impaled through his shoulder, but as for Luke, he placed his arms around a round metal girder behind him, and placed his legs around another round metal girder in front of him to keep himself up. "Clem! I'm okay, I just...I'm stuck!"
Clementine had to help him as she could see the walker was trying to grab him, and at any moment, he might break free and be able to grab him. She reached out her left hand, but found she could not reach him. "I can't reach."
"It's okay. Clem, look, we'll figure something out." Luke assured her, trying to keep his feet away from the walker, but if he did, he might slip and fall. He looked up to see the other two walkers were moving in on her. "Behind you!"
"Oh, shit..." Clementine swore, quickly jumping up with her hammer raised as the closest walker moving in her own. She whacked him in his right leg to bring him down to her level before aiming for his head.
Due to her panicking, she ended up impaling the hammer into the side of his face. She struggled to retrieve he weapon as the other walker was not far away. She finally got her weapon back, taking part of the walkers jaw with her in the process.
Clementine almost fell back but managed to keep her balance at the edge of the bridge. With nowhere to go and two walkers closing in on her, she grabbed onto a bridge support beam and slid herself across it, hanging on for dear life.
She lost her hammer, but the good thing was the walker she tried to attack had ended up falling off from the bridge, plummeting towards the water. She panicked as she pulled herself up towards the V-shaped support beams, only to be ambushed be the remaining walker.
Clementine cried out in fear as she fell down a little, grasping on for dear life. She was unaware that Luke was able to see her legs dangling below, and now he feared she was going to fall. Pulling herself up more, Clementine was able to shimmy across and pull herself up to the V-shaped support beam.
The walker saw her climb up and attempted to grab her, but Clementine was faster and moved out of the way, causing the walker to fall half-way through the support beam in the process. It did not take long for the walker to get free, and now Clementine had to find a weapon, fast!
She looked near the wooden tracks and saw two valuable weapons that could help her: Luke's machete and a pipe. The machete would not be able to cut through the walker's head if Clementine tried to use it with her strength, so her only other option was the pipe.
Clementine clutched the pipe as tight as she could and whacked it into the walker's head, but it merely knocked it back instead. Whacking the pipe in the walker again, she impaled the pipe through its mouth, finally killing it this time.
She took a couple of breaths before the sounds of panic erupted through the air. Now that it was clear again, she ran back towards the broken tracks and jumped down onto her stomach so she could finally assist him.
She whacked the pipe against the injured walkers a couple of times, being careful not to drop it. She whacked him again, finally finishing him off. Clementine then handed the pipe to Luke, not sure what use it was going to be now.
Luke, who was beginning to lose his grip, raised his right hand accepted the pipe and placed it across the two sections of the girders. He used the pipe as a foothold so he can stand, and was able to grab onto the railroad structure before it slipped out from his foot. "Ummmph."
He finally got up to safety, and ducked down slightly, taking a few breaths after he just escaped from the near death experience while Clementine merely rubbed her right hand against her neck, expecting a thank you soon. He recovered after a moment and thanked Clementine for her assistance. "Thanks Clem."
Clementine smiled slightly in response while nodding as in a way of saying, "You're welcome".
"Let's keep going." Luke ordered, picking up his machete and placing it back into his holster.
The duo moved past the handcar, and continued their journey over to the other side of the bridge. However, as they were walking, Luke had spotted something in the distance, and placed his right arm out slightly to keep Clementine from moving past him.
The two watched in in shock for a moment as they could see someone moving towards them, and it was certainly no walker. And by the looks of it, he was armed. The two could only hope he was merely a survivor just like them, and no bandit, or even worse, not one of Carver's men.
Chapter 5 is written and published, ladies and gentleman. Let us hope the cabin group can escape Carver and find somewhere safe to hold up.