A/N: So, I think this is the quickest I've ever updated before! I managed to write this entire chapter in less than a day, which is a huge deal for me because I'm like the slowest writer ever. If writing fanfiction all day isn't ideal for a Saturday, then I don't know what is. Usually I need at least another day to sleep on it before publishing too, but I'm feeling really proud of this one for some reason!
10. Tell me it's only a dream
"Clementine!" Sarah screams at the top of her lungs, fear gripping onto her heart and tightening around it so much until if feels like she can no longer breathe.
She races to the edge, collapsing onto her knees and peering down at the ground with worried eyes. She can't see her, or hear her. She can't hear anything except for her own heartrate pounding in her ears.
There are wooden boards blocking her view as part of the continued construction down below, more wooden and metal framework in the alley between the two buildings. There's so much in the way that she can hardly even see the pavement.
Sarah sprints towards the ladder at the end of the roof and hurriedly climbs down it. It feels like she might just fall the rest of the way from how violently her limbs are shaking. When she finally reaches the bottom, the first thing she hears is a distant strangled cry.
"Oh my god," Sarah gasps under her breath, relieved and afraid all at the same time. Her voice quivers so much that the sound hardly escapes her lips.
The next thing she sees is Clementine, and she's rushing towards her and leaning down next to the sobbing girl as fast as her muscles will allow. The noises she's making is absolutely horrifying to Sarah, gasping for air and groaning in pain as if she can't breathe.
When Sarah sees the blood, she wants to faint just from the sight of it.
Her leg is clearly broken, and the distorted bone has completely pierced through the skin, leaving a huge portion of flesh exposed to the air. Thick blood continuously trickles out of the wound, practically painting everything else red.
The framework above had braced her fall, but her leg must have collided with something on the way down, the impact so strong that it forced the bone out of the skin.
"Oh my god, oh my god. No, no, no, no, no, no…" Sarah repeats to herself, over and over again, as if it will somehow make everything better. It takes all her energy to stop the tears from falling just from the agonizing sight.
On her back, Clementine props herself onto her elbows as if she's trying to get up, but she whimpers in pain and the sound almost makes Sarah's heart jump out of her throat.
"No, you're—you're gonna be okay. You're okay, Clem, just—" her fingertips touch Clementine's leg, but the girl screams in protest, weeping.
When Sarah yanks her hand back, it's coated in blood. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to—I—I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen," she cries, and the tears are pouring out of her eyes so fast now that she fears she might drown in them.
If Sarah hadn't frozen up back on the bridge, Clementine never would have had to push her out of the way. She'd taken one look at the ground below her, even when she was specifically told not to, but once she did, she couldn't look away.
Then the wood had begun to creak and she'd been too afraid to move, fearing that if she did, she would only make it worse. She could have jumped. If she had just a sliver of bravery like Clementine did, she could have jumped the rest of the way and no one would have had to save her. None of this had to happen.
Her first thought is to find something to use as a bandage, but then there's a ferocious snarl from somewhere behind her, and Sarah's head whips around towards the end of the alley she had come from.
A walker begins to limp towards them, and Sarah rises to a stand out of panic. It isn't until then that she realizes how much noise Clementine is making as well as herself, and how many of the dead had been roaming around outside just minutes before.
"Fuck!" Clementine shouts at length from behind her, whining with her eyes squeezed shut.
Lost at what to do, Sarah looks to her again, then back at the walker. There are more of them now, stumbling around the corner and following the source of the noise.
Sarah's breath quickens, and she scrambles to pull out her gun from the back of her jeans. She aims at the nearest walker and fires. It's head snapping back, it collapses to the ground instantly. She fires at another, missing completely from how terrified she is. Entirely loathing herself, she ignores the feeling and pulls the trigger again, this time earning a headshot.
The heartbreaking sounds of Clementine crying on the ground behind her makes her want to just forget about the walkers and tend to the girl instead. But she forces herself to ignore it for now, no matter how much it hurts to do so.
It only seems like more of the dead are piling into the alley the more she shoots, and she notices how close they've managed to get so quickly. She won't be able to kill them all if more of them just keep coming from the sound of the gunshots. They have to get out of here, now.
Sarah shoots at one last walker, first striking it in the torso, then again in the forehead. More groans and snarls begin to reach her ears from the other direction, walkers gradually making their way in from the other end of the alley as well.
She peers down at Clementine once more. There's already more blood than before, so much that she can hardly even tell anymore what was underneath it, and ever more pooling underneath her.
With no where left for them to go, Sarah is just about ready to start screaming herself until she spots a metal door on the side of one of the buildings a short way down from them. Frantically tucking her gun away, she turns and bends down again to reach for Clementine.
"Okay, come on, come on, get up." Trying to ignore the nauseating sight of her leg, she helps her to a sitting position and pulls her up by the arms. Sarah can tell that the younger girl is practically begging her to stop, and she realizes that the action is only hurting her more. But with the sounds of the walkers getting louder in her ears, she forces herself to continue no matter how terrible she feels doing it. "Come on, you're gonna be okay. You have to get up," she pleads.
With strained effort, she manages to pull her up enough so that Clementine can put an arm around her shoulders. With practically all her weight leaning against Sarah, she struggles to hold the girl upright.
Sarah starts to walk, but Clementine moans and stumbles next to her after applying the slightest bit of pressure on her one leg. Her weak knees give in and cause her to collapse. Sarah catches her just before she hits the ground, securely wrapping an arm around her waist. "I got you. Don't worry, I got you," she comforts in a soft voice, nearly breathless.
Scooping the other arm underneath her legs, Sarah manages to haul Clementine into her arms who whimpers in response. The fact that she's stopped screaming now and is instead hardly keeping her eyes open worries Sarah to no end. Repeatedly, she tells herself they just have to make it a little longer until they get some place safe.
When they reach the door, Sarah awkwardly tries and fails to push it open while still carrying Clementine. The walkers are closing in on them by the second. Briefly, she gently lowers the girl so she's leaning against her again, now able to push the heavy metal door open with her one free hand. The action alone exhausts her.
They've entered the side door of what appears to be some sort of pub, with various tables and stools throughout the small building, and a wide bar at the front with rows of shimmering wine glasses hanging upside down from the ceiling.
With one last glance down the infested alley, Sarah shuts the door behind them just before the walkers begin to pound on the other side of the door. They're suddenly enclosed in darkness, and the groans outside have become muffled.
As soon as they enter through the doorway of the bar, Sarah feels Clementine slipping out of her arms as she leans up against her.
Desperately, she clutches onto the girl, trying with all her strength to keep her balanced on her one good leg. "No! No, no, no, no, no…" she mutters, her volume rising with every word, but Clementine's weight only brings her down further until Sarah can't hold her up anymore.
Clementine heavily collapses to the floor with a thud, bringing Sarah down to the ground with her.
"No—get up, get up! Please don't do this to me," begs Sarah frantically, rolling her over onto her back. "Clem? Clem, hey! Stay with me!"
She doesn't respond. When Sarah grips either side of her face, lolling the girl's head to the side to fully face her, Clementine's eyelids have already fallen closed.
"Come on, I can't—I can't do this without you… you have to tell me what to do!" Sarah finds herself sobbing so hard she can hardly see through the tears, and she hadn't even realized she'd started screaming too. "Clem… please just wake up!"
Still, there's nothing. No matter how loud Sarah yells, or begs her to come back, or shakes her shoulders again and again, she doesn't move.
"I don't know what to do… I don't know what to do…" She weeps and weeps until there's nothing left, and for the first time in her life, Clementine isn't there to dry her tears.
Sarah sits on the ground of a tiny and dark room, consisting of nothing but a few lockers and a small wooden desk with nothing on its surface. Her knees are pulled up to her chest, her head hanging low and her arms resting limply across her knees.
Clementine lies unconscious on the floor next to her, her chest slowly rising and falling and not making a sound.
Sarah had bandaged up her leg as best as she could with her own plaid flannel, now only wearing the white tank top she'd had underneath. It was all she could find, and probably wasn't the best thing to use, but at least it had stopped the bleeding. It was also difficult to wrap around the bone, but she'd left it in place for fear of making the wound worse.
She'd lost so much blood during the time it took for Sarah to get them to safety. She'd listened for Clementine's heartbeat, beyond relieved upon hearing the soft thumping of the girl's heart. Even after discovering she was alive, she'd cried and cried until all her energy was completely drained from her and she couldn't manage another tear.
After briefly exploring the bar they're trapped in, she'd broken into the room at the back and dragged a passed-out Clementine in there with her. It was better than remaining out in the open right by the door the walkers were banging on, and Sarah felt somewhat safer in this room instead.
She must have been sitting here for hours, just waiting and waiting for Clementine to wake up with nothing but her horrid thoughts to comfort her. And after all this time of sitting in silence, she still doesn't feel any less devastated than before.
All she can think about is the fact that on the brink of losing the one person she loves, she'd never been so scared in her entire life.
The room is completely quiet as Sarah begins to fidget with her own fingers out of boredom. Sarah could never see the walkers on the other side of the door, but she knew they'd given up on trying to get in a long time ago, and that just reminds her of how long they've been stuck in here for.
After bandaging up her leg, Sarah had finished with a heap more blood on her than before. It coats her hands and trails down her arms, nestling underneath her dirty fingernails and drying up until it irritates her skin.
Sarah never imagined she would ever be covered in Clementine's blood.
But as she sits there trying and failing to rub it all off, her eyes catch sight of Clementine next to her again and she sighs softly to herself.
Even though the girl is right alongside her, Sarah misses her more than ever, and she wonders how that could be. She shifts so that she's sitting cross-legged, leaning forward to brush the hair away from Clementine's face.
She thinks about everything that happened. She thinks about their drunken night before, and how much fun they had together, and how it had all gone so wrong so quickly. They've lost their house. With the place overrun, there's no telling whether they'll ever be able to go back there. They've lost almost everything they worked so hard to get, and nearly lost each other in the process too.
But above all, she thinks about kissing her. It's almost ridiculous – the fact that she's still thinking about that, despite everything else she could be thinking about instead. And even though she knows Clementine doesn't remember, a part of her wishes they could relive that moment all over again, just so she didn't have to think about what's happening right now.
She swallows nervously, taking a shallow breath. "Clem?" Her voice is weak from not using it for so long.
Clementine remains motionless, nothing but silence serving as a response.
Sarah looks away again in despair, and has to blink back the tears just from not hearing her voice. "I… I know you probably can't hear me right now. And… this is probably never going to matter…"
She feels stupid for even talking, but she's so desperate for some form of reassurance – for something to come out from the other side, that she finds more comfort in pretending she's awake instead of sitting in silence and not hearing anything at all. Then after a moment, she thinks that maybe she is awake, and… maybe she's just too tired to say anything.
Sarah sighs heavily again, unsure of what it is she even wants to say. "This is all my fault," she drops her head into her hands. If Clementine were awake, Sarah would already hear her voice telling her that it isn't her fault. After a few moments, she composes herself and raises her head again, momentarily closing her eyes.
She reaches for Clementine's palm, clutching onto her fingers with both hands. "But I promise you, I am going to make this better. I don't know how, but… but I will. It's all gonna be okay… you'll see." Whether she's trying to convince Clementine or herself, she doesn't know. She stares at the other girl with a pained expression.
She looks beautiful even when unconscious, with her lips dry and her skin beyond pale. And if it weren't for the bandaged leg and stains of blood, it may even look like she's only sleeping.
"I almost lost you once," continues Sarah with determination, recalling the moment she'd traded a stranger's life for her friend's own. "I'm not gonna lose you again."
With that promise, Sarah raises Clementine's limp palm to her lips, and clutches onto her hand with so much desire, it's as if she's afraid she might just lose it.
