Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. All rights reserved to their respective owners.
Months Later
Clementine walked through the forest. The crisp air moved around her. For once, it was pleasant. It wasn't scorching hot or freezing cold. However, she knew that the further she moved up north, the colder the winters would become, but she would adjust. "Hey, come on. It'll only be a matter of time till Shel and the others notice that we're missing." A young girl said. She wore a white long sleeve shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of brown boots. Her hair was dark brown and reached her shoulders.
Clementine was different since the incident with the scavenger. She had gotten taller, and she had received a couple of scars. Each scar told a story of how close she had come to dying by the hands of another human. She wore a purple and white stripped long sleeve shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of blue shoes.
"Right." Clementine said and she joined alongside the teenager.
"Man, I can't stand it anymore. It feels like Shel is suffocating me." The girl complained.
"She cares about you Becca. She just doesn't want to see you get hurt." Clementine said.
"I guess so. It just gets old after a while." Becca said.
Clementine didn't really respond after that. She wished that she had some family again or someone who could look after her like how Shel looked after Becca. She looked down the path that they were walking and looked around to the changing leaves. "Winter's coming." Clementine said.
"Yeah, it's going to suck this year." Becca said.
"I used to like it." Clementine said. "Snowmen, hot chocolate, Christmas decorations, Christmas… it made winter such a blast."
"Yeah, problem is that those things are gone." Becca said. "Now we're left with a miserable and cold three months."
"Must you always be so positive?" Clementine said in sarcastic tone.
"Shut up." Becca said with a smirk.
Clementine smiled back to the teenager. She wouldn't want to admit it, but Clementine did find Becca to be fun to hang out with. It was nice to have someone close to her age. The two kept walking down the path and were surprised to see a vehicle on the path. It was surrounded by a couple of walkers.
"That's odd." Becca whispered. "That wasn't there last time I walked down through here. Come on. We can take these guys." She smirked and pulled out a handgun. Clementine's eyes widened in horror upon seeing the weapon. She had no idea that Becca was armed.
"What do you think you're doing?" Clementine whispered. "A gun should be your last resort."
"What? Why?" Becca asked as she scowled at Clementine.
"You'll only draw more walkers from using it. Let's just take them down. There's only two of them." Clementine said.
Becca growled to herself and she said, "Fine, but if I get bit, it's your fault."
Clementine nodded and she pulled out her knife. She approached the first walker with Becca following close behind her. Clementine got closer and closer to the walker as the creature stared in the opposite direction. Its sickening growl emanated from its decaying mouth. Finally, Clementine was close enough to the walker and she kicked the back of its leg. The walker fell to the ground with a pained growl, and Clementine walked around its body to deliver a stab to the back of its head.
"Sick." Becca said. The other walker snapped its head in their direction, and it went around the car. "Oh shit." Becca muttered.
Clementine went into action and evaded the walker's grab. She stabbed the walker's leg which made the creature fall to the ground. With the walker on the ground, Clementine drew her secondary knife and stabbed the back of the second walker's skull. She huffed before she looked over to Becca's shocked face.
"How many knives do you have?" Becca asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Three…." Clementine huffed. "And that's all I'm willing to tell you." She walked up to the walker and withdrew her two knives. She wiped the blood off of them and turned to the vehicle.
"I guess we should look inside." Clementine said as she turned back to the car. She and Becca looked inside to see if there were any more walkers, but there were none in sight. Clementine opened the door and noticed a map on the dashboard. She took the map and opened it up as Becca rummaged through the backseats.
Clementine looked through the map and noticed a tail that was marked on the map. It led the way through North and South Carolina. She turned the map over and the directions continued with explanations of how to get through Virginia and West Virginia. The final destination was called Wellington. Clementine continued to examine the map, and by the looks of it, Wellington was somewhere in Ohio.
"Oh f*** this!" Becca exclaimed from the backseat. She stumbled up to where Clementine was and she continued, "I couldn't find shit. The car doesn't have anything."
Clementine was too entranced by the map to notice or even listen to Becca. She was busy analyzing and studying the map's content. She wondered what was at Wellington.
"Yo, Earth to Clementine." Becca said as she waved her hand in front of Clementine's face.
Clementine was brought back to reality and she shook her head. "Sorry." Clementine said as she looked over to Becca. "What is it?"
"Are you okay? I haven't seen you space out like that since you showed up at the gas station." Becca said.
"I'm fine." Clementine said as she looked back to the map.
"So, are you going to tell me what you found?" Becca asked.
Clementine pondered on telling her recent friend of the maps content. Part of her wanted to say nothing and head up to Wellington alone, but she didn't want her friendship with Becca to be destroyed over a stupid piece of paper. She didn't even know what was at Wellington. "It's a map with directions to go to Wellington." Clementine said.
"Wellington? Where's that at?" Becca asked.
"According to this, it's up in Ohio. It's close to Michigan." Clementine said.
"Shit… that would be a long walk." Becca said. "So, what's all the way up there?"
"That's what I'm wondering." Clementine said as she looked to the map. A few seconds ticked by as Clementine looked through the map. Meanwhile, Becca tapped her finger on the armrest. She was becoming impatient. "Hmm… all it does is give directions to Wellington. It doesn't really say why Wellington is so important. My guess would be that it's a safe zone."
"Yeah, no shit." Becca snapped. "Come on, I need details."
"I can't find anything on here, Becca. Like I said, the only thing on here is directions." Clementine said.
Becca grumbled to herself and said, "This is stupid. Why would these f****** idiots not put down why they're going to Wellington?"
Clementine shrugged before she looked back to the road. "Maybe we can-" However, she stopped herself when she saw a couple of walkers coming out of the woods. "Crap… Becca, we gotta go." Clementine said as she got out of the car.
"Shit… right behind you." Becca said.
The two girl raced back for the secret hole that they used to get away from the gas station.
They continued to run despite the fact that the walkers were no longer in sight. Clementine knew better than to slow down and allow the undead pursuers to even catch up. She wasn't alive at this point because of making senseless mistakes like that, so she ran. The two approached the hole in the fence and huffed. "Okay… well… that sucked." Becca huffed. The two regained their composure after a minute or two, and Clementine went through the hole in the fence.
Her eyes widened when she saw the leader of the group, Roman, and Becca's older sister, Shel, glaring at her. She and Becca were caught. "Hey Clem, what's the hold up?" Becca asked.
Clementine continued to crawl through the hole and got up. "We're caught, Becca." Clementine said.
"You're shitting me." Becca whispered.
"I'm afraid not." Roman said as he approached Clementine. "You two girls are in serious trouble. You both know better than to go outside."
"Becca, get back behind the fence, now." Shel said in a scolding tone.
Becca did as she was told, but she was not very happy. She wiggled her way through the hole and looked up to Shel. "I'm thirteen, not a f****** baby!" Becca snapped.
"Becca, we're only concerned about your safety." Roman said. He turned to Clementine and said, "Look, I understand that you went through a lot while you were out there, but you have to stay in here. It's for your own safety."
Safety?" Clementine asked. "The best way to ensure our safety is by teaching us what it takes to survive. Roman, I have complete respect for what you're trying to do, but it won't work. This place will fall one day, and when that happens, we have to be ready."
"She isn't wrong, you know?" An older man said. The four turned to see Boyd approaching them. Clementine learned that Boyd was part of the group that took the boat after spending a couple of days with Roman's group. "As much as I hate to admit it, these are trying times, and there are at least a hundred ways to die out there. None of them are pleasant either. These kids have to be ready for what lies ahead."
Clementine sent an appreciative smile to Boyd. She was thankful that at least one person agreed on her idea.
Roman sighed before he turned to the two girls. "Alright, I know when I'm beat. So, are you both alright? Did either of you get hurt?"
"I'm fine." Becca muttered before she stormed off.
"Becca, wait…" Shel said with a pleading tone in her voice.
Clementine turned to Roman asked, "Do you happen to know what Wellington is?"
Roman hummed and thought to himself. "Wellington… Wellington. I've heard that name before." Roman said. He looked back to Clementine and said, "Where'd you hear of that?"
"I found a map leading to it." Clementine said as she presented the map to Roman.
Roman took the map and looked it over for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, Clementine watched him. She kept an eye on his movements and his facial expressions. She didn't know how he would react to the map.
"Hmm… I see. Now, I remember. Wellington was a city before the apocalypse, but it has since been turned into a massive safe zone." Roman said as he folded up the map. "Thank you, Clementine." He started to walk away much to Clementine's shock.
"Wait." Clementine said as she ran after Roman. Roman stopped and turned to the approaching child. "We should try to head up there." Clementine said.
"Are you insane?" Roman asked with a surprised stare. "A trip that long could take us a good couple of years. It will take longer if there's a herd of walkers or bandits along the way which is likely to be the case."
"Well, if it's a safe zone, it could be worth all the trouble." Boyd said.
"No, it can't." Roman said. "It's too dangerous to travel north. Besides, things are working here."
"For now, but what happens when this place falls?" Clementine asked.
"Then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Roman said and he walked away from the two.
Clementine crossed her arms over chest with an angry scowl forming on her face. Roman was so stubborn at times, and it made her furious. She wasn't going to let the gas station be the motor inn all over again.
"Don't worry. I'll talk to him about it tomorrow. Between you girls sneaking out and all this talk about Wellington, he's starting to get a little stressed." Boyd said. He looked down to Clementine with a smile and said, "Come on, supper's almost ready."
Clementine nodded and followed Boyd. Clementine stayed rather quiet as she and Boyd approached Red's Diner. She could hear Becca practicing with her guitar and she could feel Joyce's hateful glare on top of her. Either way, it didn't matter anymore. Clementine was leaving tonight and she would head toward Wellington.
Night
Clementine opened her eyes and she looked around in the room. It was a basic set-up for her. There was a cot on the floor with her backpack next to it. She turned herself around on the cot and noticed that Joyce and Clive were asleep in their own cots; however, to her surprise, Boyd was missing. He must have been on watch. Clementine got up and placed her valuables in her backpack, then she went to the door. She opened the door and slipped through, so that neither the older woman nor the older man would wake.
Clementine crept down the stairs and grabbed a couple of cans of food and several bottles of water. She turned to the exit and snuck out through the back door. She walked past the walkers which were used as guard dogs and went toward Roman's room in the gas station. She could hear Roman's loud snoring as she approached the building. She crouched down to the ground and made a silent approach inside. First, she had to grab some medicine and supplies. She knew where Roman kept the medicine. It was in the back room which used to be the employee's break room. She crept that way first and grabbed a needle, some string, some gauze, some medical wrap, a bottle of disinfectant, a couple containers of over-the-counter medicine, and a couple of containers of prescription medicine.
There was only one thing left that she had to grab. She had to grab the directions to get to Wellington. She crept up the stairs and went for Roman's room. The man's snoring was getting louder and louder. She took a deep breath in and a deep breath out. She hoped that Roman wouldn't wake and think that she was an intruder. She could get killed if she wasn't careful.
Clementine opened the door and she looked around the room. It didn't take her long to spot a piece of paper on the desk. She crept towards it with her eyes glued to the floor. She wanted to avoid tripping over anything on the floor. She maneuvered her way across the room and grabbed the paper on the table. It was the directions. Clementine smiled and headed back to the door. Again she was careful on where she tread and she closed the door.
Clementine exited the building and stood upright. Now, it was a straight shot to the outside. It was good for her to leave. It seemed that she always got someone killed, and even though she and Joyce didn't get along, she still didn't want to see anyone die.
"So, this is it, then." Boyd's voice came from behind her. Clementine jumped before she turned to the older man.
Upon realizing that it was just Boyd, she sighed and said, "Yeah… I have to do this. I know you're going to try to stop me."
Boyd scoffed and said, "Try is right. Not like I could stop you."
Clementine pondered on his words and she also pondered on the fact that he was out of bed because he knew that she was leaving. "How did you know that I was planning to leave?" Clementine asked.
"I may be old, but these eyes still pick up on things. I could tell that you were more quiet than usual at dinner, and your eyes were darting all over the place." Boyd said.
Clementine felt like kicking herself for giving away obvious clues; however, her thoughts were interrupted by Boyd speaking again. "Either way, I know better than to stop you. I just wanted to see you off." Boyd said.
Clementine smiled and said, "Thanks Boyd."
Boyd smiled back and said, "Be careful out there."
Clementine nodded before she went up to the older man. She hugged him for a couple of seconds before she darted off. She ran for the opening in the fence and crawled through it again, but this time, she wouldn't come back. She pulled out her knife and the map, and she began her long trek to Wellington.
…To be continued.