A/N: Alright… jokes over. I wanted to mess with you guys a little bit. Anyway, some of you may have caught a couple of hints. For instance, 'The end' should have been in all caps. Plus my trademark, 'Q out!' was missing at the end. Anyway… on with the story
Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. All rights reserved to their respective owners.
Gil and Clementine ran through the forest until they finally stopped to catch their breath. They were relieved to know that they were away from the community, but they had a big problem. They were out in the middle of nowhere with limited supplies and little light. "Okay… happen to have any ideas?" Gil asked.
"Yeah… I think so…" Clementine said as she walked up to a sign. The sign read that Parker's Run was a couple of miles from where they were at. "Parker's Run is a Civil War site. Almost every Civil War site has a gift shop nearby which will provide plenty of shelter for us. We can live out of the gift shop for the next couple of days so we can come up with another plan and try to find Christa, Omid, and the others."
"How do you know all of this?" Gil asked.
"My guardian liked anything that was from the Civil War." Clementine said with a bit of a frown forming on her face.
"Lee…" Gil said. Clementine shuttered from the name and nodded her head. "Omid talked about him… He sounded like a good man. I wish I could have met him."
"Yeah…" Clementine said. "Come on… we got a long night ahead of us." She walked forward with Gil following behind. Gil wanted to talk to her about Lee, but he knew that they weren't safe in the forest. There were too many dark corners where a dormant walker could be. They would have to stay as quiet as possible to get out of the forest. However, it became apparent very soon that stealth wouldn't work either. The forest was filled with walkers, and they easily picked up on the children's human scent.
Clementine and Gil started to walk faster and faster as more and more walkers kept stumbling out of the forest. This wasn't working. By the sounds of it, there were more walkers up ahead. They were being surrounded. "This isn't working." Gil said.
"Quick… follow me." Clementine said and she ran for an opening that was slowly closing because of the walkers. Gil ran after her and the two escaped the crowd of walkers. Clementine looked back to see that Gil was still able to keep up. However, she also saw that the walkers were still behind them. They hadn't decayed enough to where the two children could lose them. Clementine looked ahead and she was surprised to see a fence. "Come on. We're going to take shelter over here." Clementine said. She ran out into the opening where a fortified fence stood. She looked around for an opening and eventually found one.
"Hurry Clem…" Gil said as the walkers stumbled out of the forest.
Clementine slipped through the hole in the fence. She looked back to Gil and she said, "Gil, I'm right here. There's an opening."
Gil looked to Clementine and the opening, and he slipped through it as well. Clementine and Gil backed away from the opening as the walkers tried to get inside. They only had a few minutes to move; the fence wouldn't hold forever. They ran further into a trailer park, but to their dismay, they could see several walkers inside. Clementine pulled out her tomahawk and slammed it into an approaching walker's skull while Gil weaved away from another approaching walker's grip. He stabbed the walker in the knee which forced it to the ground. Clementine retrieved her tomahawk and killed the walker that Gil stabbed. She pulled the tomahawk out and looked to Gil. "You okay?" Clementine asked.
"Yeah… I'm alright… We need a plan… we can't fight all of them." Gil said as he and the girl backed away from more approaching corpses.
Clementine looked around the trailer park as the morning sun started to rise. She looked over to see that one of the trailers was near the fence. If they could get inside the trailer, they could find a way to get to the roof and jump down into the surrounding forest. "That trailer over there… that's where we need to go." Clementine said as she extended her arm out and pointed to the trailer.
"The one that's next to the fence?" Gil asked.
"Yeah." Clementine said. "Come on." The trailer appeared to be accessible through another trailer since there was a wall of furniture blocking their path to the trailer. Clementine and Gil ran inside the trailer that was used as part of the wall, but they were cut off by a walker. Clementine slashed at the walker's leg with her tomahawk and Gil stabbed the walker in the head to finish it off. They ripped their weapons from the walker's body and continued out of the trailer that they were in.
Once outside, the two children ran up to the door of the trailer and opened it. It looked like it was abandoned despite being in the middle of a herd of walkers. They ran inside the trailer without any further delay. Clementine slammed the door shut before she ran over and helped Gil move a shelf in front of the door.
Both children huffed to catch their breath again. They had been running from and fighting off the dead for the last several minutes. They were exhausted, but they knew that they needed to come up with a new strategy. The trailer wouldn't hold forever. Plus, they still had to worry about Carver looking for them.
"Well… I'm out of ideas." Gil said.
Clementine stood upright and took normal huffs. "We need to find a way to get onto the roof. From there we can jump over to the fence." Clementine said.
"Okay… we'll look around." Gil said. He walked off to one of the rooms while Clementine backed away from the door. She could hear the moans of the walkers getting louder. She and Gil didn't have much time. They needed to find a way to get onto the roof and quickly. She ran from the door and hoped that she and Gil could get on top of the roof.
Clementine and Gil ran into the last room within the trailer as the thuds from outside intensified. Plus, the trailer started to groan. The walkers were going to tear the trailer apart. Clementine looked around until Gil said, "I found a desk."
Clementine looked over to see him in front of a desk; it was almost the same size as the desk that she used in school. "Good… now we need roof access." Clementine said. She looked to the ceiling, and to her surprise, she found a skylight. "Perfect… finally." Clementine said. She ran over and helped Gil place the desk underneath the skylight. "I'll get up on the roof and help you up." Clementine said to Gil.
"Got it." Gil said with a nod. He got onto the desk and cupped his hands. Clementine followed and placed one of her feet into his cupped hands. He huffed as he stood up and helped the girl to the skylight. Clementine pushed the screen door back and struggled to get onto the roof. Most of her strength came from her legs, and she couldn't use them to bring her up to the skylight. However, she did feel Gil's hands underneath her feet; it was enough to help her get on top of the trailer. She turned around and offered her hand out to Gil. There was a loud crash within the trailer as Gil jumped up to grab Clementine's hand, but he missed. His height was working against him.
"Come on… hurry!" Clementine said as she tried to extend her hand more downward. Gil grunted as he jumped up again. However, they only touched hands; they weren't able to grab each other's hands.
"Clem… I don't think this is going to work." Gil said as he looked back to the door.
"Yes, it will! You have to trust me!" Clementine said. "One more time." Gil sighed and he looked up. Clementine reached as far down as she could. With one last jump, Gil sprung up and grabbed onto Clementine's hand. "I got you." Clementine said as she pulled Gil up to the roof. There was a loud crash in the room below them as Clementine finally brought Gil up to the roof. She looked down into the room and saw several walkers stumbling inside. It was a close call, but they had made it out.
"Come on… We need to get off this trailer before it collapses." Gil said as he offered his hand out to help Clementine up. Clementine smiled and she grabbed his hand. He helped her to her feet, and they looked over to the fence.
They jumped down from the roof of the trailer and onto the metal wire fence. It was better to gradually climb down from the fence to the ground to avoid getting hurt. Once they reached the ground, Clementine and Gil walked further into the forest to find the trail to Parker's Run.
It didn't take long for either to find the road that would lead them to Parker's Run. Both children were exhausted. They had gone a whole night without sleep. It was something that Clementine hadn't done for a while and her body was reacting badly to it. Gil, on the other hand, rarely had to stay up a whole night, so he wasn't doing well either.
"We need to find some place and get some sleep… I feel like I'm going to faint any minute now." Gil said.
"I know…" Clementine said. "… but we have to find some place safe." They kept dragging their exhausted bodies further and further until they could see a stone monument in the distance. "Finally… that's Parker's Run." Clementine said with a tired smile.
They walked over to the monument and immediately went to the tourist information. Clementine would have to come back to observe the monument later, but now, shelter was more important. "Okay…" Clementine said as she looked over the map. "According to the map, there's an observation deck near the river; it has the gift shop. Come on… we're almost there." She walked away from the map and headed toward a maze-like structure; it was also part of the monument. Gil walked alongside her.
"Thanks for getting me out of that trailer…" Gil said. "You never gave up on me… even when I did."
"I wasn't going to let you die in there… besides… I would have joined you if it didn't work out." Clementine said.
"What? No… you shouldn't do that." Gil said with a surprised but tired expression on his face.
"I'm not going to let you die alone… especially… especially when I love you…" Clementine said. Her cheeks started to flush a little.
"Wait… Clem…" Gil said.
Clementine stopped and took Gil's hands. "Gil… you're one of the best people in my life right now." Clementine said with a smile. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you… no matter how short it is. I love you. You did so much for me without expecting anything in return."
"I did that because you saved my life… and I have to admit… you do look pretty…" Gil said with a blush.
"See… it's not that hard to admit it." Clementine said before she kissed the boy's cheek. His blush became redder as Clementine backed away. "Anyway… let's um… keep going. The observation deck isn't far from here. We both need some rest."
"Right… yeah." Gil said and he joined the girl.
The observation deck was finally in sight. Gil and Clementine continued to walk toward it. It was one of the longest walks that either had experienced. Both were running on fumes. They climbed up the stairs and reached the top of the observation deck. However, the shutter door that led to the gift shop was locked with a pad lock.
"Okay… I… I have some lock-picking experience." Clementine said as she took her boot off and took a pocket knife from it. She took out the nail file and tried to unlock the pad lock.
"You had a pocket knife strapped inside your boot this whole time?" Gil asked with a questioning stare.
"Yup." Clementine said. "Don't worry. It doesn't hurt having it in my boot." She continued to try to pick the lock while Gil stood by and looked around the area. There were no walkers coming towards the observation deck. He turned his attention to a gate and another set of stairs. He walked over to make sure that the gate wouldn't open so easily. It was unlock, but it was also sturdy.
Clementine fiddled with the lock a little more before it clicked and opened. "Bingo…" Clementine said before a yawn escaped her lips. She picked up the lock and went to the shutter door that she and Gil used to the get onto the observation deck. Clementine pulled the door down with the help of her tomahawk; the weapon helped extend her reach so she pull it down. Once the shutter door was down, she pulled out the lock and placed it on the door; however, she didn't lock it.
"What are you doing that for?" Gil asked.
"This is so we only have to worry about one entrance and exit that people will use to attack us. The only way someone will get up here is through the gate over there." Clementine said as she gestured to the gate that Gil had checked.
"What if we're attacked? We'll only have one way to escape." Gil said.
Clementine shook her head and she said, "We have two ways to escape. I didn't lock that door; I just put the lock on so that if someone tries attack us by using that stairway, they won't be able to open the door."
"Clever… but I think it's time for us to sleep." Gil said with a yawn escaping his lips.
"Agreed." Clementine said. Gil walked over and opened the shutter door to the gift shop. He opened it enough to where he and Clementine could walk inside. The gift shop was barren. It didn't even look like a gift shop anymore. They entered the deserted gift shop, and Gil closed the door enough to where there was still a crack to the outside.
For the first time in days, the children could relax in a room. They were away from the elements and dangerous survivors. Clementine walked over and laid down on the floor. She was joined by Gil. Clementine remembered when they were on their own that one of them would have to take watch, but they couldn't take turns in keeping watch now. Both were too exhausted to do that. In fact, in a matter of seconds upon laying down, both children were asleep.
24 Hours Later
Clementine sat upright and yawned. She felt like it had been hours since she fell asleep. She looked over to the shutter door and she was surprised to see that there was still daylight outside. Gil got up next and he said, "Wow… I feel better."
"Gil… there's still daylight out there." Clementine said.
Gil looked over to the shutter door and his eyes widened. "Man… Is… Is it possible that we slept a whole twenty-four hours? I don't feel tired anymore… I think…?"
"That might be the case." Clementine said.
"Wow… that's not healthy." Gil said. "Talk about sleeping your life away."
"Well… we kind of needed it. We went without sleep for a long time." Clementine said.
"True…" Gil said. He got up and stretched. "Well… let's have breakfast." He walked over to the shutter door and opened it up.
"You read my mind." Clementine said and she got up. She stretched a little before she followed Gil. She did remember everything that was mentioned yesterday. It wasn't just tiredness that made her confess her love for the boy. She really meant it. She loved him so much.
…To be continued.