We walked for months. I felt like we were just moving for the sake of not staying in the same place for too long, but I did want to get to a safe place for Christa to have her baby.
By the time July arrived, the whole group expected to have a new person with them. We walked through the woods toward a clearing that Omid had set his eyes upon, since he noticed a building there.
Christa and Omid walked ahead and crouched down behind some plants to watch the building for any signs of the living... or the undead. Travis and I aimed our guns at the building too, though covered Christa and Omid from different sides so we could be prepared for anything. Clementine made sure to stay back, since I wanted to keep her kill-count low.
Christa and Omid were having a conversation of their own while my eyes scanned over the brown, neglected bathroom building. Deciding the coast was clear, I waved my hand to signal to the others that it was safe.
The group rejoined one another as we walked closer to the bathroom.
"Come on, Christa, what's wrong with 'Omid'?" My friend asked, and I presumed that I had missed the start of the conversation.
"We're not calling our baby 'Omid'. One of you is enough," Christa joked in response to the man before turning to Travis, Clem and I walking behind them. "Guys, a little help here?"
"Omid the second," the man continued thinking out loud.
Travis laughed. "Catchy."
"No," Christa responded sternly, though had a bright smile on her face.
"You two should decide," Clementine told the couple.
"Either way I'm winning the vote," Omid chuckled. "Travis agrees with me."
"My vote counts for two," Christa returned.
"What if it's a girl?" I wondered. "I'm not sure 'Omid the second' is a good name for a girl."
"We'll call her Christa," the woman joked.
"One of you is enough," Omid mimicked, a small grin on his face.
Clementine stopped and glanced around at the building while Omid and Christa continued their baby-name dispute. I paused my walking to keep an eye on the little girl as she moved away to pick up an empty can, giving it a suspicious look.
"Whatcha found, Clem?" I asked, approaching her.
The young girl placed the can back down and shrugged.
"Why don't you, uh, get cleaned up in the girl's room?" Omid suggested, looking in our direction.
"I hope the sink works in there," Clementine commented.
"Me too," I smiled. "C'mon."
I raised an eyebrow at Omid as Clementine and I went away into the girl's bathroom. Travis decided he'd wait outside to make sure we were safe.
The emptiness of the bathroom was haunting. I'd seen horrible public toilets before, but this building was the definition of gross.
"Hello?" Clementine called out, her voice echoing in the quietness of the room.
She looked up at me for a second to check the coast was clear.
"Sounds like nobody's here," I confirmed. "We should check the stalls, just to be safe."
Clementine took out her gun and held it up, moving away to the end stall on the left while I went to the end stall on the right. We pushed the doors open at the same time, both with our weapons ready to shoot. There was nothing but creaky doors and slimy floors.
The middle stall we checked together. I mimed a countdown from three and the child pushed the door open, again finding no people or walkers.
I pulled a face of disgust at the gross toilet and closed the door back over.
"Well, no one else is in here," I declared.
"Guess it's safe to get cleaned up," she agreed.
I moved to the sink and tried the water, rolling my eyes when nothing happened. "What a surprise."
Clem smiled slightly and took a bottle of water from her backpack along with a napkin. She passed it to me and I tipped some of the water into the napkin to avoid wasting it all. I gave her the bottle back and she placed it beside the bag while I took the dirt from my face. She wiped her own face next while I checked I'd got all of the blood and dirt from mine in the mirror.
A small noise startled me, but I realised quickly that Clementine had just knocked the bottle of water from beside her bag, making it roll into one of the stalls.
"Oh, shoot," she whispered.
"Where did it go?" I asked.
Clementine moved over to one stall while I went into the one beside it in search of the bottle.
"Did you find it?"
"Ew."
That gave me the answer I was looking for. I giggled slightly and went to walk out of the stall until I heard the door to the bathroom move. I looked into the mirror and caught the reflection of a person I didn't identify, and in a swift motion I moved the door shut and stayed in the stall, praying Clementine would do the same.
Slow footsteps occupied the silence, stopping near the stall. I heard the clicking of a gun and cursed to myself, realising Clem had left her things at the sink.
"I see you," a female voice said.
I had my gun held up in an instant at the door, but I realised the person was not addressing me. They were talking to Clementine.
"Get out of there," the woman spoke. "Hey, you're not fooling me."
"Who are you?" Clementine carefully asked.
"None of your business," she shot back.
I bit my lip in anger at how this lady could talk to a child in such a horrible way. I took a step forward and placed my hand on the door, ready to open it and shoot the woman if she was dangerous.
"Are you gonna hurt me?"
"Only if you're stupid!"
The door of Clementine's stall opened.
"Get out here."
It was my chance to shoot and defend Clem. I needed to make sure there was no chance the little girl would be harmed, so I peeked around the door slightly to see her walking out. She glanced at my stall, a look of sheer worry on her face.
"You got anything on you?"
I opened the door slowly, seeing the woman look into Clem's backpack.
"C'mon, let's see."
I aimed my gun at the woman's head and Clem knew what to do.
"Back the fuck away from that bag."
The woman with the gun froze.
"I ain't gonna shoot," she assured me as the gun pressed against her head.
"I won't hesitate. Get the fuck out of here," I ordered.
She still didn't move. Clementine moved out of the line of potential fire and into the stall. I didn't want her to witness if I had to shoot the girl.
"I'll leave," the woman said.
"Great. Put the gun back where you found it, then."
The woman moved slightly so her hand wasn't in the backpack anymore, though Clem's gun was still pointing out to the side.
I caught another reflection in the mirror, seeing Travis walk in to the bathroom with his own gun.
"Put the gun down," I repeated.
The woman went to place the gun beside the backpack until she also saw Travis walk in. In what could have been a panic, she fired the gun in an unknown direction and two more bullets followed hers.
The woman's body slumped to the floor, blood dripping from her head.
My eyes darted from the woman to Travis, who stood with a look of shock on his face.
"Trav?" I checked.
"I'm fine," he rushed.
"Clem? Come out," I commanded.
The little girl moved out of the stall and her eyes fell upon the body. She covered her mouth in surprise and I grabbed her backpack, also swiping up the gun from the hands of the dead woman. I put an arm around Clem's shoulders and guided her out of the bathroom quickly, not wanting to her to look at the scene longer than necessary.
As the three of us got outside, Omid and Christa came out of the men's bathrooms and stared at us in fright.
"What happened!?" Christa panicked.
"Calm down," I said, passing the backpack to Clementine. "A girl tried to steal from Clem. She got scared and went to shoot one of us, but we shot her first."
Travis, Omid and Christa seemed to exchange a look of concern with one another briefly, but I chose to ignore it.
"Let's make tracks, that shot will have rung out. No doubt the walkers are on their way already," I instructed, setting back off to the route we'd been following earlier.
Our small group left the scene at speed, determined to reach somewhere that we could stay for Christa to deliver her baby safely.
Thank you to the old readers who have returned for the sequel! Your support means the world.