Clementine Alone Chapter 7, a walking dead fanfic

Clementine reached the top of the boulder and she looked through the binoculars. She could see a bridge and a small house next to each other. She looked around for another way to get to the ski lodge without using the bridge, but there was none. "Okay… looks like the only way to get across is through the bridge. There's also a small house next to it."

"Okay, we'll just have to be careful. We have no idea if that area is an ambush spot for bandits." Gil said. Clementine climbed down from the rock while breathing out a huff. "Been a long couple of days. I'll be glad when we get to that ski lodge. We can finally take a break."

The two children walked down the road while Clementine thought to herself. "A break…" Clementine said. "That's something I haven't thought of for a long time."

Gil sent the girl a worried stare. "When was the last time that you did relax?" Gil asked.

Clementine shrugged. "I think it might have been when Lee was still alive. I wouldn't really count my time with Roman and his group since I would sneak out with this one girl to keep my strength up." Clementine said.

"Becca?" Gil asked.

"Yeah… she was pretty strong for her age. I always wonder what happened to her after I left. I know that she probably resented me… still does if she's alive." Clementine said.

"Yeah… maybe so." Gil said. "I have to admit that you're probably the first kid I've met since the dead came. Not sure what happened to all of my friends back at home."

"Hopefully, they're okay. If they're anything like you, they may still be alive… as long as they have someone teaching them on how to survive." Clementine said.

"Yeah… speaking of which… I never really did thank you for helping me." Gil said with a smile.

"You helped me too. You got me out of a really dark place." Clementine said while returning the smile.

The two continued to walk down the dirt road which more than likely led to the bridge. The atmosphere around the two was comfortable. Neither were very tense. Clementine made sure to stay alert in the case that walkers or even worse people would attack them, but there was no movement. However, as the two neared the bridge, Clementine did catch a glimpse of two walkers at the bridge's entrance.

Clementine pulled out her hammer and she asked, "Do you see them?" She continued toward the walkers with Gil by her side. They were going at a slower pace and their bodies had become very tense.

"Yeah." Gil said. "How do you want to do this?"

Clementine looked around and saw that the two walkers appeared to be the only obstacle for the two. "There's only two of them. "Let's take them out but keep an eye out for any more."

"Got it." Gil said. "I can take the big one. I need the practice."

Clementine nodded and the two walked toward the two walkers. In one quick motion, Clementine swung the hammer's spike into the walker's skull. She looked over to Gil and saw him kick the other walker down. The walker growled upon hitting the ground before Gil stabbed it with his knife.

"Good job." Clementine said with a smile.

"Well, I had a good teacher." Gil said as he returned the smile.

Clementine looked back to the walker that she killed and tried to remove the hammer. "This thing is always getting stuck." Clementine muttered. She pulled the hammer away but it remained stuck in the walker's skull. After a few seconds of struggling to free her hammer, she pulled it out along with half of the walker's skull and brain matter. "Ew…" Clementine muttered as she looked down at her clothing which was covered in brain matter.

"You okay?" Gil asked.

"Yeah… it's just… these things seem to always surprise me by how disgusting they are." Clementine said.

"They're dead, Clem… Of course they're going to be disgusting." Gil said.

"Yeah, you got a point there." Clementine said. She looked up to the rest of the bridge and she said, "Ready to keep going."

"Always." Gil said. The two children walked across the bridge while they looked around for any more walkers. It didn't take long for them to spot some. There were four inactive walkers that rose up and started to limp toward them while another crawled since it was missing a leg. "Not good."

"It's okay… just be careful." Clementine said. She perked up when she heard growling and snarling from behind her. Clementine looked back and she muttered, "Oh crap…" Three more walkers were limping toward the children. They were trapped.

"Clem…" Gil said.

The girl went into action immediately. She went toward the five walkers that were approach her and Gil. She slammed her hammer into one of the walker's legs and kicked another walker in the knee. She could hear the knee break for both walkers. She jumped back from one of the walkers that was still able to stand. The creature had tried to bite her, but the girl was vigilant and agile enough to avoid the undead creature's chomp.

Clementine lost her balance and fell backwards onto her back as the crawler approached her. Clementine crawled away from the creature and rolled underneath an abandoned train cart. She reached the other side and stood upright. She huffed as she looked over to Gil to see one of the three walkers that he was fighting was on the ground dead, but he was still fighting the other two. Her vision of the boy was blocked when a walker got in front of her and tried to grab her. Clementine weaved from the walker and kicked it in the back of its knee. She didn't kick it hard enough to break the bone, but she did throw the walker off balance.

Clementine was frightened when she heard Gil yell out. She looked over to see a walker on top of him though that walker was dead; it had his knife in its skull. However, the last walker that the boy had to fight was on top of the walker that was on top of him. Clementine's eyes widened and she adjusted the grip on her hammer. She was holding onto the metal part. She took a few seconds to adjust her aim and she threw the hammer at the walker. It was a direct hit. A pure chance of luck that she was able to hit the creature and kill it with the hammer's spike, but now, she was unarmed and fighting against three crawlers and two limping walkers.

Clementine looked for another weapon that she could use and her eyes widened. She noticed a hatchet of some kind on the ground. However, it had a longer handle than any regular hatchet and it had a sharp spike extending in the opposite direction of the blade. She grabbed the weapon and slashed at one of the limping walkers. The weapon's blade was still rather sharp, and it cut through the walker's skull with a clean slash. She looked up at the remaining walkers and planted the hatchet into another walker's skull. She pulled the hatchet out without much struggling and she ran toward an opening that got her closer to the shack on the other side of the bridge. There were only three walkers left.

She gathered up her remaining strength and courage and ran toward them. She slashed at the limping walker's leg and forced it to the ground while kicking one of the crawler's arms in. Once again, she could hear the bone crack as she kicked in the walker's elbow. She turned to the other crawler and used the spike of the hatchet to kill it. She pulled the hatchet back out and slashed the back of the second walker's skull. The last walker approached her, but Clementine weaved away and stabbed the back of its leg with the spike. She pulled it out as the walker fell on all fours. Clementine approached it and she brought the hatchet up. The walker growled at her and tried to extend its arm toward her, but she was faster. She brought the hatchet down and beheaded the walker.

Clementine huffed from the intense fight while she heard footsteps coming toward her. "You okay?" Gil asked as he placed a soothing hand on her back. Clementine nodded and she stood upright.

"Yeah… I think…" The girl huffed.

"Sorry about that back there. I couldn't really do much." Gil said.

"Don't worry about it. Everything worked out." Clementine said. She looked to the hatchet in her hand and she said, "This thing really helped."

"That's a tomahawk." Gil said with wide eyes.

"A tomahawk? Wait, the same thing that some Native American tribes used?" Clementine asked.

"Yeah…" Gil said. "My uncle was in the army and he was given a tomahawk as a melee weapon along with a military-issued knife."

"Wow… I didn't think they continued making tomahawks." Clementine said.

"Well, they did… it just… they're more modern looking now… as you can tell." Gil said. Clementine nodded and she looked to the tomahawk. "You better hold onto that. A tomahawk could come in handy."

Clementine nodded, but she tensed up when she heard someone whistling a couple feet next to her. She turned around to see a man with a grey and black hooded sweatshirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of black shoes. He was armed with a hunting rifle, but he was holding it rather than aiming it. "Holy shit…" The man muttered. "I've never seen so many dead walkers before." He looked up to Clementine and Gil with a friendly smile and he said, "So, I'm guessing you two are the king and queen of walker slaying or something like that."

"Who are you?" Clementine asked with a glare.

"Easy kid… I'm not a bad guy. I noticed you guys from the shack and ran over to see who it was." The man explained with a calm voice. "I'm Matthew."

"I'm Gil." Gil said. He looked to Clementine who was a bit on edge by the man's presence. "It's alright… I think we can trust this guy."

"I don't want to take any chances." Clementine said. She sighed before she lowered her arm with the tomahawk. "…but I guess you can't be all that bad since you have a sense of humor."

"Exactly." The man said with a smile. "Of course, I've got nothing on a friend of mine up at the ski lodge. He's pretty hilarious."

"You have a group at the ski lodge?" Gil asked with a frown. Matthew nodded which made Gil sigh. "We were hoping to find somewhere to stay until winter had passed. We thought that ski lodge would be a good place to stay."

"Hey, I don't think my group will have any problems of letting you stay. I mean… you're just a couple of kids. You can stay at the ski lodge for as long as you want." Matthew said.

Clementine smiled at the man. He sounded sincere. His words weren't rushed, so he didn't have an alternative motive for them to go to the ski lodge. It was somewhat refreshing to talk to someone who didn't mean them harm. "Thank you. My name's Clementine." Clementine said.

Matthew's eyes widened and he said, "Wait a minute… Clementine?" He looked at her more closely; however, he kept his stare at the girl's head. He was looking at her hat. "A young girl wearing a blue and white hat with the letter, 'D' on it." Matthew remarked.

"Huh?" Gil asked. Clementine was also confused. It's like the man knew who she was in a way especially on how he reacted when she told him her name.

"Clementine… you… there are people up at the ski lodge that know you." Matthew said. Clementine's eyes widened and she jumped. "They… They thought you were dead this whole time…"

"Wait… who is it?" Clementine asked with a surprised but happy tone in her voice.

Matthew smiled and he said, "Christa and Omid."

Clementine's jaw dropped. She was sure that they had perished in Savannah along with Ben, Kenny, and Lee. She felt tears forming in her eyes. Her long lost friends were still alive. She had to go meet them. "I… I gotta go… I gotta get to them." Clementine said. She looked up to Matthew and said, "Thank you." She raced past him and left Gil completely behind.

"Wait Clem!" Gil exclaimed as he raced after her.

"Whoa, wait… hold on. I got some food in the shack…" Matthew said to the children but they weren't listening.

Clementine was going as fast as she could toward the mountain, while Gil trailed behind. However, it wasn't long until Clementine started to huff again. She was grabbed by the arm and forced to stop. She looked back to see Gil huffing and holding onto her by her arm. She looked to the boy with a questioning stare while they both tried to catch their breaths.

"Look… I know you're excited to see your friends again, but… let's just slow down… We literally have to climb a mountain to get to them." Gil said in between his huffs.

Clementine looked up the mountain and she noticed that she still had a long ways to go. She knew that her body was running on fumes. "Okay… I guess you're right." Clementine said. She looked back to Gil and saw him giving her a smile. His smile was infectious since it made her smile too. They trudged up the mountain for a while in silence. Clementine wanted to get up the mountain as fast as possible. It had been so long since she had seen Omid and Christa.

"So, who is this Omid and Christa? I know that they were a part of your old group, but that's all I really know." Gil said.

"Christa and Omid… they met us on a really bad day. That day, a boy who was a year older than me, died from getting bit by a walker. His mom, Katjaa, committed suicide." Clementine said with a frown. "However, they were welcomed additions to the group. Christa was pregnant when she joined us. I think she was in her fourth or fifth month. Then Omid… he was such a jokester. He swore a bit, but he was always funny to listen to." She smiled a bit as she thought of her long lost friends.

"They sound like good people. I can't wait to see them." Gil said.

"Yeah… I feel the same way." Clementine said.

It was in the afternoon when Clementine and Gil finally reached the ski lodge. Clementine wanted to run inside to greet her long lost friends, but her body was exhausted. The last several days of pushing herself to keep herself and Gil safe had left her running on fumes. "You okay?" Gil asked. "You look terrible… no offense… it's just that you don't look good."

"Yeah… I know." Clementine said. "I'm really beat."

They got onto the wooden deck and started to walk toward the entrance of the ski lodge. It was such a weird feeling for Clementine. She felt excited like a kid on Christmas day who was ready to unwrap all of her gifts, but at the same time, she was exhausted. She turned the corner to see a man in a red and grey sweatshirt sitting in a chair. He was armed, but he was also reading a book.

The man looked up to her as Gil walked next to her. "Ah… hello there." The man said as he stood up from the chair. "Lovely weather we're having. I couldn't help but come out here and enjoy it along with one of my favorite books." He frowned upon seeing how banged up Clementine was and how she was covered in dark red specks of blood. "Are you okay, little girl? You don't look too good."

Clementine nodded and she said, "Matthew sent us… Please, I need to see Christa and Omid. They're here, aren't they?"

The man smiled and he nodded his head. "Follow me." The man entered the ski lodge with Clementine stumbling in after him. Gil followed with a concerned look aimed at Clementine. She had used up so much of her strength, and it made him concern for her health.

Clementine could hear Christa's caring voice as she walked up the stairs from the front lobby along with baby sounds. "Yeah, that's it." Christa said.

Clementine reached the top of the stairs to see Christa and Omid watching a toddler. Both adults were on the ground and had their backs toward Clementine, Gil, and the man that they met outside. It appeared that the toddler was a girl, and it appeared that she had many characteristics that were shared by Christa and Omid. That had to be their baby.

"Christa, Omid." The man said. Both adults turned to the man; however, their eyes widened and their mouths dropped upon seeing Clementine. Everything was still and silent as the two adults looked to the child. The only thing that could be heard was the baby's babbling.

…To be continued.

A/N: Yeah… don't see this option much… I thought it would be good to have this happen. Also… gotta love the cliffhangers… man, this is too much fun.