Clem and Sarah finished their meals and then Clem readied herself to go outside. Returning to the bedroom, Clementine pulled her curly hair back and shaped it into a bun with her hair tie, then placed her favorite baseball cap on her head. Next she collected her gun from its hiding place under the dresser drawer. She removed the gun's magazine to confirm it was still empty, then pulled back the slide to see there was still one bullet left in the chamber. Checking to make sure the safety was still on, Clem tucked the gun into the holster hanging on her belt.
Moving into the garage, Clem collected her old backpack from one of the shelves and packed some tin snips and a rope into it, along with a canteen. She slipped a compass in her pocket, tucked a knife into the sheath hanging on the other side of her belt, and collected a small sports bottle from the shelf. Checking it, the bottle was still stuffed with coins and a wad of cotton so it wouldn't rattle until Clem wanted it to. She clipped it to her belt, along with a handheld radio decorated with faded flower stickers.
She slipped on some gloves and a pair of ski goggles to protect her eyes, but elected to leave the mask behind for now. Moving away from the shelf, Clem spotted her raincoat hanging near the door, still coated with a thin layer of dried walker flesh. She donned the coat, hoping the smell was still strong enough to conceal her scent, then zipped up her pack and hoisted it onto her back. Lastly, the girl retrieved her tomahawk. For an adult it was probably meant to be used with one hand, but the girl gripped the purple handle tightly with both hands before hoisting it over her shoulder. Clem adjusted the tomahawk's homemade shoulder strap, then headed back into the living room.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Sarah as Clem headed for the front door. Looking at the older girl cradling the baby they were taking care of, Clem didn't even have to think about her answer.
"You said it yourself, we need food. And we've checked everywhere else around here. The only place I haven't really checked is the road that goes north of here. Maybe there's more houses there with something we could take, or even another store."
"I know, but… you're sure you don't want to take the Brave?"
"The Brave?"
"Oh, I mean the RV." Clem gave Sarah a look. "Well, it said Brave on the front, so, I thought it'd make a nice nickname."
Clem smiled. "It is a nice nickname. But I don't want to use it unless we have to. We don't have a lot of extra diesel for it, so I don't want to waste any going somewhere that might not have anything. Plus, it makes a lot of noise too."
"Well… maybe I could go instead and you…"
"Do you want to go?" Sarah didn't answer, but the shameful look on her face made it clear she didn't. "It's okay Sarah. I'll do it."
"It's just… I'm older than you. And I'm bigger. I… I should…"
"It's okay Sarah," insisted Clem, trying to calm her nervous friend. "You stay here and I'll go. I kinda like it."
"You… you like going out there?"
"Well, maybe not like it. But, it is kinda exciting sometimes, checking people's house for stuff we can use and seeing something new. It's sorta like exploring. And I definitely like that better than boiling water or doing the laundry."
"Still, I worry about you," confessed Sarah.
"And if you went I'd just worry about you," reasoned Clem. "Just keep your radio on and I'll call you around noon."
"Okay. But if something happens, just call, and I'll drive the Brave out to get you."
"I'll be fine." Sarah smiled slightly in response to Clem's assurance. "I'd hug you, but I've already got the raincoat on."
"It's fine, we'll hug when you get back."
"I love you Sarah," professed a grateful Clem.
"I love you too." Sarah pivoted so Omid could see Clem. "Omid, you want to tell Clementine you love her?"
"I love you OJ," said Clementine in a sweet voice as she approached the infant. "Do you love me? Can you say, love you?"
"Muh-muh," babbled Omid, who didn't seem to be paying attention.
"That's close enough," giggled Clementine. "I should be back around sundown. If it takes longer, I'll call you on the radio."
Clementine and Sarah smiled at each other one last time, then Clem stepped outside. Sarah immediately locked the door behind Clem, just as she had expected her to do. Clem marched across the front yard, which was closer to a field of weeds than a lawn now, and stepped onto the road. The familiar sound of her shoes hitting the asphalt and the warmth of the morning sun was all she needed to get into a steady stride.
Looking at the passing houses as she marched, Clementine remembered scouring them each and all. Most of their current supplies had come from a now empty supermarket just outside of town, but the homes in the area had contributed as well; both to their survival and their well-being in the form of books, games and other things Clem had scavenged to keep themselves and Omid entertained during their long stay here. What she did not find was any clues to what happened to the people who had stayed here before she arrived.
Few houses had cars in their driveways and garages. Many of them had clothes missing from the drawers and half emptied cupboards. It was if most everyone had just packed up and left one day. The why of it wasn't hard to imagine, the dead coming back being a good enough reason to do a great many things. The mystery was where did they go? Nothing Clem had ever seen or heard had suggested anywhere had been spared from the outbreak, but then again, almost everything she had seen and heard had been limited to a pretty small part of the world.
Stepping past the edge of town, Clementine looked at the towering trees that bordered the road. She enjoyed these parts of her expeditions, where it was nothing but her and nature. The quiet sounds of the wind whistling through the forest made it easy for her to forget about the rest of the world, if just for a short time.
The road itself had been worn by time long before the outbreak, with cracks and even small signs of plant life encroaching around the edges. The only thing of interest was the occasional abandoned car parked on or beside the road. They were few and far apart, and when Clementine reached one she hadn't seen before, she stopped to investigate.
It all felt routine to her. Once she knew it was safe, Clem searched the car from top to bottom for anything useful. Most of them didn't have anything, but occasionally Clem found flashlights in the glove boxes which she could strip for extra batteries. Rarely was there any food to take, and she was yet to find a car with any bullets in it, or anywhere else for that matter.
Moving along, Clem spotted a pickup truck planted against a tree just past the side of the road she hadn't seen before. She picked up the pace, eager to search the vehicle. The RV, or the Brave as Sarah had apparently christened it, had a gas generator for the appliances, which they never needed, but the engine actually ran on diesel, which they most definitely needed.
Clementine carefully opened the passenger door and spotted someone sitting in the driver's seat. Whenever they were dead or undead Clem didn't know, but she knew how to find out. She removed the sports bottle clipped to her belt and pulled a wad of cotton out of it, leaving only the coins she had placed in it.
Clementine started shaking the bottle and coins started banging against each other to create a horrible rattling sound. Much to Clementine's surprise, the corpse groaned to life and lunged towards the open door. Clem hastily stuffed the cotton back into the bottle, clipped it to her belt, then removed her tomahawk from her shoulder as the walker tumbled onto the pavement. She pulled the sheath off her weapon's head, unveiling the dual axe and knife ends of it as the walker tried to stand.
It appeared to be in poor shape, likely from the crash that killed whoever this person used to be. A swift swing of her tomahawk brought the axe end down on the walker's left ankle. The corpse tumbled onto its side and Clem flipped the tomahawk around in her hands. The walker pulled itself across the pavement with its arms, intent to crawl after Clem, and she was all to ready to plunge a blade into the pathetic's corpse's rotted skull.
Looking at the bloodied mess of a monster, Clem grimaced. She hadn't seen many walkers since they settled in this tiny town, and this was the first time she remembered seeing one this closely in a long while. That sickly rotten skin stretched over their mangled body still disturbed her, those sunken dead eyes looking in her direction still made her skin crawl, and the smell always made her sick.
That stench made Clem realize the walker had approached her after she had stopped making noise. Removing her raincoat, she saw the blood and gore she had smeared on it had mostly faded with time. For whatever reason, walkers couldn't smell people if they smelled liked walkers. Clem never understood why, but she knew it worked, and she wasn't about to question it now.
Using her tomahawk's axe head, Clem sliced open the walker's chest, exposing its long since useless organs. They were all filled with a strange blackened blood and coated in a rancid grease that Clem hated touching. Not wanting to risk encountering another walker with a rain coat that wouldn't fool them, Clem held her breath and smeared the garment with a fresh coat of the recently re-deceased.
Putting the coat back on was anything but pleasant as that smell would now follow Clem everywhere she went. Usually she'd wear a ski mask to help make it more manageable, but she hadn't seen the need for it lately, likely because she hadn't realized just how faded her raincoat's smell had become.
With that unpleasant task behind her, Clem finally could search the truck. Checking under the hood, which was already open thanks to the crash, Clementine was disappointed to see spark plugs, indicating a gas engine. Searching the rest of the truck produced nothing valuable, much to her disappointment, but not to her surprise. This truck was the first thing she had seen in almost an hour, and it was empty.
Returning to her original pace, Clementine found herself growing weary. She had really hoped to find more food on this trip, or anything really, but step after step seemed to bring her no closer to anything. The sun was high in the sky now, causing the gore on her raincoat to fester. The smell was already terrible, but the summer heat made it even worse.
Looking down the road, Clementine saw no end in sight, or any points of interest. She stopped briefly to get a sip of water from her backpack, then looked up at the sky. It wasn't quite noon yet, so she decided to walk a bit further before turning around.
Continuing down a lonesome road, Clem's mind turned to the immediate future. Sarah was right about their current stock of food not lasting very long, and this trip so far wasn't giving Clem much hope of finding more. She had always known the time to move on would come, but they had been in one spot so long she found the idea hard to picture; most of all she found it frightening. The girl had no shortage of bitter experiences in her short life to remind her of just how cruel people can be. If it were possible, Clem would rather just live alone with Sarah and Omid for the rest of their lives.
Another hour or so of walking, and Clem was ready to turn around. It was noon now, or close to it. There still weren't any signs of further civilization, at least not in walking distance. But before Clem turned back, she spotted something glinting in the distance. Another car likely, but seeing as she had come this far, it was worth investigating. Clementine hurried down the road, and sure enough, there was another car parked on the shoulder.
Again, Clementine deployed her noisemaker, but this time no dead came shuffling out of the vehicle. Searching it produced nothing of value, but looking beyond the car, Clem noticed a spot on the road ahead where the trees seemed to be thinning out. Clementine picked up the pace and before long she saw a building come into view.
Arriving near the edge of the structure, Clementine saw a very small parking lot bordering what looked like a tiny store of some kind. Clem noticed a couple of spots on the asphalt that might have been where gas pumps used to stand, but she couldn't be sure. It was a very old building sitting near a weathered crossroads.
Clementine stepped out into the intersection, taking a moment to look down each road. Every direction she looked, she just saw more country road being swallowed up by the seemingly endless forest that surrounded her. With nothing of interest in sight, Clementine investigated the building.
She was excited, but remained cautious. The girl first circled the structure slowly, looking for any signs of lingering dead that might be waiting for her, or worse, the living. There was nothing behind the building except a back door and pair of garbage cans, which were mostly empty except for a faint stench and few clumps of trash.
Circling around the side, Clem moved to the front door and carefully pulled it open. She didn't see anything inside, but she rattled her noisemaker to be safe. After a few moments of receiving no response, the young girl stepped inside. The building definitely appeared to be a store, but one that apparently had been looted long before. Most of the shelves were empty, and what was left was useless.
Clem's hopes were largely dashed, but she decided to scout the store anyway. She checked behind the counter, in the trash cans, the back area, and eventually the bathroom. There was nothing useful, except the bathroom itself, and then only briefly. Returning to the rest of store, Clem noticed her footprints in a layer of dust that had settled across the flooring. It dawned on her that nobody had set foot in this building in a long time.
After a long morning of walking, Clem felt like a break was in order. She took off her backpack and sat down on the ground, enjoying the shade being indoors provided. The girl took a long swig of water and caught her breath, then reached for her radio. She briefly looked at faded stickers on it before pressing the talk button.
"Sarah?" Clem waited for an answer, and was bothered when she didn't get one. "Sarah? Are you there?"
"I'm here," answered Sarah. "Sorry, I was putting Omid down for a nap."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything's fine," assured Sarah. "What about you? You sound nervous."
"I was just worried when you didn't answer, but I'm fine. It's good to hear your voice."
"It's good to hear yours," repeated Sarah. "How's the trip?"
"It's… fine."
"Did you find anything?"
"Well…" Clem looked around the store, devoid of anything but a few empty containers sitting on the shelves. "I'll tell you when I get back."
"Does that mean you're coming home?"
"Yeah, I'm done for the day. I'll see you back at the house this evening."
"I can't wait."
"Me either." Clem smiled to herself as she clipped her radio back to her belt. As she put her backpack on, Clem noticed the light changed suddenly. Turning her head, she spotted something moving past the window. Clem felt her stomach drop as she stumbled away from the window and into one of the shelves, knocking a couple of empty cans onto the floor. Terror gripped the small girl as whatever moved past the window returned, casting a shadow before Clem's feet.
Terrified, Clementine turned around and ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She sprinted across the store, rushed through the back area, and straight to the door. Clem pushed it open, but immediately it swung back, knocking the girl over. Clementine reached for the gun in her holster just as something stepped in front of the door. Silhouetted against the afternoon sun was a figure lifting something. Without even thinking, Clementine's finger found its way to the trigger and there was a shot.