Hey guys! So sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, I've had my final exams that basically determine how I spend the next few years of my life so I had to limit the distractions. I hope this one's good enough for you all, and thank you once again to the lovely rreviewers who share such kind words of this story. Your encouragement and appreciation honestly makes me feel so much better about my writing and I can't thank you enough. Anyway, enough of my words, let's get back to the chapter- Enjoy!
We washed up on some land, and I heaved Travis up from the water. He sat clutching onto his left eye still, coughing up water, but pointed to Clem so I would check her first.
"Clementine?" I asked, shaking the girl's shoulders slightly. "C'mon, wake up."
She coughed violently, choking on water.
"Thank God you're okay," I said, hugging her.
As she stood, Clem still attempted to remove the water remaining in her chest but assured me she was fine, so I quickly moved back to our other friend.
"Trav? I need you to move your hand so I can see whether the cut is deep."
He did as I asked slowly and I was relieved to notice that the cut wasn't bad enough to affect his eyesight.
"You should be fine," I told him. "It's gonna scar, though. Can you open your eye?"
Travis did and blinked with it a few times.
"Thank God I can still see you," he mumbled, a small smile on his mouth.
I giggled and punched his arm playfully. "You had me worried then. Come on, let's get out of this place."
"We should find Christa," Clem stated, straightening up.
I bit my lip and didn't answer, going to the broken staircase that led up onto higher ground instead. The collapsed steps meant we would have to climb up. I jumped and grabbed onto the edge, pulling myself up over the side and then reaching back down for Clementine. Travis jumped up next, and we went up the stairs that were still there.
"Ew."
There was a dead walker with a post stuck through its face, lying there. "Let's keep on walking."
"Looks like a trail here," Travis said. "Might be our way back to the path we were trying to take."
We followed the route, eyes focusing on the trees surrounding us to see whether we were going to be attacked again. The last thing I wanted was a surprise, and I could never risk the lives of Travis and Clementine.
"Please no walkers," I whispered to myself. "No weapons. Please no walkers."
There was a rustling sound.
"What was that?" Clem whispered.
"Keep quiet."
We walked quietly, treading lightly on the ground to avoid making any sound. Birds startled us again, flying out of the plants.
"Flying rats," I snapped, though I immediately felt more relaxed that it wasn't something we had to fight.
When there was another rustling sound, I became more intrigued. We walked around a plant slowly, and then my heart could have melted.
A brownish gold dog with a blue collar was sniffing the plants, scrounging for whatever food it could find. It turned, growling at us, but I didn't even think of what I was doing.
"Hey, boy," I spoke in a comforting tone. "It's okay. What are you doing out here alone?"
The dog tilted its head at me, listening to my voice in curiosity. I held my hand out slowly and carefully for it to make sure I was safe.
"Be careful, Marce," Travis warned.
The dog sniffed my hand before moving his head under it, letting me pet it.
"Good boy. What's your name?" I asked, moving my other hand to its collar, seeing the name 'Sam'.
I withdrew my hand slightly, a frown settling on my face as I looked away.
"What's wrong?" Clem inquired, her tone full of concern.
"His name is Sam. Kind of like my old dog."
"Sammi," Travis confirmed in understanding. "I'm sorry."
Sam turned, looking past us, then trotted over to some different plants. He wagged his tail and glanced back at us.
"What's he doing?" Clementine wondered.
The dog took off running and barking into the trees.
"Let's follow," I said. "He might find food or more people."
We followed the dog to a wrecked minivan, with its windows shattered and rust plating the sides of the vehicle.
"Looks pretty run over, but you never know," Clem said hopefully. Her stomach rumbling made me, Sam and Travis turn to look at her. "Let's look around for some food."
"Don't go too far," I told her.
Clem nodded and moved away, Travis looking the other direction. I went to the van and peeked into the boxes inside, finding a photograph of a family and the dog that made me sigh. I put it back down.
I wandered over to a frisbee on the floor and picked it up, a smile playing on my mouth.
"Hey, Sam, wanna play?"
The dog ran over and barked happily.
"Okay, go fetch!" I threw the frisbee through the air and the dog chased it, catching it while it flew.
He brought it back quickly, dropping it on the floor in front of me.
"Again?" I smiled. I picked it up and threw it again, a bright smile on my face.
Travis and Clementine were watching me, both smiling at what was happening.
"I vote we keep this dog," I giggled when it came back with the frisbee again.
"If he makes you this happy then I second that decision," Travis smiled.
"I miss dogs."
"Me too," Clem said.
Sam barked suddenly, running away again. I followed immediately, investigating what the dog had discovered. Around the side of a tree, a walker was tied up with yellow rope, a red knife sticking from his arm.
"Good boy," I praised the dog, petting its head again so he stopped barking. "He even knows when these guys are around."
The walker turned its head slowly, looking at us.
"Gross."
"He must have tried to cut the bitten arm off," Travis pointed out.
"But that never works," Clem said sadly. "Ever."
I put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. I knew Lee was on her mind a lot. She missed him so much.
"Think he tied himself up?" She asked. "Or did someone force him to do this."
I shrugged.
"Let's get the knife and leave this guy," Travis said, picking up a thick branch beside him. "Look away."
I turned and so did Clementine, leaving us to our imagination while we could hear him breaking the skull and killing the walker.
Travis waved the red knife in his hands. "Let's find some food."
"Wanna throw the frisbee?" I asked Clementine.
She nodded and picked it up, then swung it out of her hands for Sam to follow. Except it went over a rock and out of the dog's interest.
"Darn."
"It was still a good throw," I smiled. "It's a shame we can't play this in a big field rather than out here."
"Yeah," she replied. "I'm gonna go check that bin."
I watched the girl walk away, sighing at how she couldn't even enjoy a game of frisbee at a young age anymore.
"Oh my God, thank you, " I heard her say. She turned around and held the item for Travis and I to see. "Look, a can!"
We sat down nearby and Travis gave Clem the knife to cut open the lid.
"Please don't be bad," she said before cutting into it.
"Yes!" I beamed when we saw the can of beans was still in good condition. "What a relief."
Clem ate a handful of beans first, then passed the can to me. I did the same, moving it on to Travis then.
"We should feed Sam," I suggested. "Poor guy is probably starved too."
Travis nodded and told the dog to sit, which it obediently did.
Travis scooped some of the beans in his hand and went to lay them out on the floor, when suddenly the dog pounced at his hand and took it in his mouth.
Travis fell to the floor, yelling while he tried to push the dog off.
I stumbled as I flew up from my seat and tried to push the dog, shouting for it to stop its attack.
With all of his force, Travis kicked at the dog , sending it out of sight. I looked over to where it landed, my mouth falling when I heard its cries that rang so familiar in my ears.
"What did I do?" He panicked.
Saying nothing, I walked over quickly, my mind clogged with memories. I couldn't control my movements, couldn't hold myself back. I found the dog with spikes sticking through its legs. My eyes filled with tears.
"I'm so sorry," I whispered, petting the dog calmly. "You didn't mean to do it. I'm sorry."
I stayed by the dog's side for a few seconds after putting it out of its misery. Sammi and Sam were both quite similar. I wished I could have kept this dog around, it would have made me feel a little bit happier. After taking a deep breath, I walked back to Clem and Travis.
"He got bitten pretty badly," Clementine told me.
I crouched down beside Travis who held his arm. There was a huge, deep bite on his arm that I didn't want to touch since it looked so painful.
"I didn't mean to hurt the dog," he apologised.
"It's not your fault," I said, shaking my head. "He would have starved out here anyway or got eaten by walkers. Let's get this arm covered and keep moving, it's no use sticking around here any longer."
"Yeah," he agreed.
"Guys," Clem gasped. I followed her line of sight, noticing the walkers flood near us.
"Could this day get any fuckin' worse?!" I roared.
Clementine passed me the knife and I told her to run like we had agreed, so she darted away out of the camp. I helped Travis up quickly, being careful to avoid his arm and gave the knife to him. I ran back to the walker from earlier, picking up the large branch to kill walkers with again. I hit a few over the head knocking them to the ground while Travis stabbed one.
"Let's go," I instructed, moving away out of the camp and leaving walkers behind.
We walked until we reached a large rock, when suddenly my eyes fell upon something else.
"Travis, look."
There were walkers lying on the ground, looking recently killed by arrows and another one was lacking a head.
"Clementine?!" I called out, panic filling every vein in my body.
"Clem!" Travis shouted after me.
There was no sign of her.
"I can't lose her Travis. We have to find her," I rushed, jogging another way.
I stopped, put my hands around my mouth, and yelled once more in desperation. "CLEMENTINE!"