"Omid?" Clementine could more clearly hear him crying as she sat up. She leapt out of bed and rushed outside to see Omid tugging on Sarah's blankets.
"Sah-rah!" he cried as he tried waking her.
"Sarah!" Clem rushed over to her friend and knelt down by the bed. "Are you okay?"
"I… I'm fine, just let me sleep," mumbled Sarah without opening her eyes.
"Hum-bee!"
Sarah sat up suddenly after hearing that and discovered Omid looking up expectedly at her.
"Just give me a minute Omid," said Sarah as she grabbed her watch. "It's only…" Sarah put her glasses on and suddenly her sleepy eyes shot open in surprise. "Oh… I guess I overslept."
"Hum-bee!" repeated Omid before breaking into tears.
"I'm sorry," mumbled a guilt-ridden Sarah as she struggled to free herself of her sheets. "I'll—"
"I'll take care of him," insisted Clem as she knelt down. "You want some breakfast Omid? You hungry?"
"Hum-bee," sniveled Omid as Clementine picked him up. While Sarah got dressed, Clem hurried over to the closet. Slipping inside to find some breakfast, Clem couldn't help noticing their shelves were half empty now. Eyeing what they had left, there wasn't much fruit so she grabbed a can of beans. She opened it up and got a spoon, but no amount of coaxing could convince Omid to eat any, not even a single bite.
Sensing another fit coming, Clem relented and eventually collected one of their few remaining cans of peaches. After moving the beans far away, Clem calmed Omid long enough to feed him a spoonful of sticky fruit, after which he couldn't get enough to eat. Clem had hoped to slip herself a bite, but she couldn't even get the spoon close to her mouth without Omid loudly protesting. Eventually, she surrendered the entire can to him without so much as a taste for herself.
As Clem scrapped the last of the syrup out of the can for Omid, she noticed Sarah coming out of the bathroom. "Are you okay?" asked Clem as Sarah wiped her lips and started rubbing her head. "Sarah?"
"Huh," she said.
"I was just asking if you're feeling okay?"
"Yeah I'm… I'm just wore out from going out everyday and never finding anything. There's not even any lurkers out there, which is good but… it means there's also nothing to find." Sarah looked at the opened beans sitting on the table and hurried over to them, immediately digging into them with the spoon Clem had left in the can.
"I didn't think you liked beans that much."
"I don't," said Sarah between bites. "I'm just really hungry."
Clem left Sarah to eat while taking Omid into the bathroom to clean him up. After changing him, Clem headed back outside and was surprised to see Sarah had opened a second can of beans and was eating them now. Feeling her stomach growl herself, Clem headed to the close and tried to find something she liked that Omid didn't so as not to deplete what few foods they had left for him.
After their late breakfast, Sarah moved to the driver's seat and started the RV, preparing to move them further west. They had nowhere to go really and both girls still clung to the faint hope the others weren't far behind them, so Sarah never drove them far. But they needed food more and more with each passing day, and so they always stopped at the first town they found on the interstate so Sarah could go scavenging.
It was nerve-racking for Clem, waiting for Sarah to return each day. Even with their radios, Clem was terrified anytime she heard the static of an incoming call that would be the time Sarah would say something happened; something terrible. So far that hadn't happened, and Clem was relieved when Sarah would come back each evening, but it was always empty-handed. After about a week of searching, she had found a case of colas and a few loose jars of things they didn't want to eat like olives or relish, and even those were rare.
"Mine." Clem looked over as she heard a rattling sound and saw Omid shaking a pill bottle.
"Omid, no!"
"Mine!" he repeated more loudly as Clem tried to take the pills from him.
"Come on, you don't want that," insisted Clem. "You… you want." Clem found Omid's rattle lying on the ground near his crib. "Here you go, don't you want this instead? It's way better."
Clem shook the toy in front of him, but Omid just turned away and kept shaking the pill bottle. "Okay, fine, I'll just keep your rattle then." Clem turned her back on Omid then started shaking the rattle loudly, laughing loudly as she did. She could see Omid out of the corner of her eye, trying to sneak up on her. Clem deliberately held the rattle loosely and waited for Omid to pounce.
"Mine!" Omid snatched the rattle and dropped the bottle on the ground, which Clem immediately scooped up. She was about to pocket the pills when she noticed they felt kind of light. She unscrewed the cap and saw there was probably only a dozen or so pills left, maybe less. Checking the label, Clem saw it was their bottle of Xanax, and realized it must have been sitting next to Sarah's bed for Omid to reach it.
"All right, this is probably as good a place to search as any," mumbled Sarah as she applied the parking brake. "Not that it matters really…"
Clem looked out the window to see they had stopped on an overpass. A road sign in front of the RV said 'Kearney' and Clem felt a familiar sense of dread creeping into her stomach. Ever since the attack, Clem had become intimately reacquainted with a great many anxieties that were only distant concerns while they lived on a farm. The dead, the living, and the unknown hazards in between all just clawing at her mind every second they weren't in motion.
"Ugh, even after all this time these things still stink." Clem looked over to watch Sarah removing a gore-stained raincoat from the fridge. "Could you put Omid down for a nap?" asked Sarah, looking like she was going to gag for a moment before tossing the raincoat onto the counter.
"Sure, come on Omid." Clem picked up the boy and placed him in his crib. "Ready Omid?" said Clem as she grabbed the edge of the crib.
"Go!"
Clem dragged the crib across the carpet, prompting Omid to squeal in joy as he was carted into the bedroom.
"Go, go!"
"I think that's enough," said Clem as she rubbed her side. She eyed the painkillers sitting on her dresser, but then grabbed a rubber ball off the floor instead. "Who wants to play catch?"
"Ball!" he yelled as he climbed out of his crib.
Clem brandished the toy in front of the boy, much to his excitement, then tossed it across the room. Omid went chasing after the ball every Clem threw it, and after it every he threw it himself. It made Clem smile to see Omid bounce around the room along with the ball, laughing all the way. Eventually, after a lot of fetching, Clem saw Omid yawning, prompting her to tuck him into his crib. As he struggled to keep his eyes open, Clem started reading to him.
Sarah had brought back a few more books recently and Clem read him a copy of Madeline. About around the time she said 'That's all there is, there isn't anymore', he was fast asleep. Setting the book aside, Clem knelt down to pull Omid's blanket over him, then kissed his forehead. "Love you."
Clem left Omid to sleep and headed back to the front. There she discovered laid out on the counter was a machete, backpack, canteen, radio, compass, can of beans, and two guns; one Clem's old pistol and one the pink ankle gun. As Clem moved to examine the selection of equipment, Sarah came into the RV and quickly tossed off her raincoat and respirator, then took a deep breath.
"Is there anything out there?" asked a nervous Clem.
Sarah looked over, as if she was surprised to see Clem. "Nothing," spoke a weary Sarah as she set her rifle aside. "At least nothing I can see." Sarah rubbed her head as she set her binoculars on the counter. She picked up a pistol, then took a deep breath before removing its magazine.
"Are you feeling okay?" asked Clem as Sarah checked to make sure the magazine was fully loaded.
"I'm fine," insisted Sarah as she picked up the other pistol. "Why do you keep asking?"
"I'm just worried about you." Clem took the pill bottle out of her pocket and placed it on the counter. "Have you been taking these?"
"Why do you have this?" asked Sarah as she picked up the bottle. "Do you need some?"
"Omid was playing with it."
"What? He didn't—"
"He didn't get it open."
"Oh, that's good…" Sarah pocketed the pills before resting her head in her hands.
"What's wrong?" repeated Clem. "Why—"
"They help me sleep, okay?" answered an irritated Sarah. "Is there something wrong with that?"
"It's just you told me, it might be hard to get more of them," reminded Clem in a meek voice.
"Yeah, I know that because I've been looking for more of them every day when I go out looking for food, and I never find either," groused Sarah as she turned her attention back to her equipment. "There's no point in saving them for later when we need them now. That'd be like if you stopped taking your painkillers."
"Actually, I have stopped taking them."
"What?" asked a stunned a Sarah. "Does that mean your side doesn't hurt anymore?"
"No, but when you told me you couldn't get more I started only taking two pills a day, then a few days after that only one, and I didn't take one yesterday or today," Clem rubbed her side after she said that. "It still kinda hurts, but I figured we should save them if one of us get hurt really bad."
"Oh…" Sarah looked at Clem in surprise for a second, then turned away in shame.
"Tell me what's wrong," pleaded Clem.
"What's wrong is I've never really done this before," confessed Sarah.
"We used to do it all the time."
"No, you used to do it all the time," retorted Sarah, frustration creeping into her voice. "I almost never went out to get food."
"It's not so bad," encouraged Clem. "After a while, I got used to—"
"I'm not you!" barked Sarah. "I'm not brave like you are, I'm always just afraid of everything and I don't know what to do but I have to keep going out there and it just gets harder every single day."
"I'm sorry Sarah. Would—"
"And I've gotta try to fix the Brave all by myself. It needs oil, diesel, the tires need inflating, and there's probably a bunch of other stuff I've forgotten that no one can help me with."
"Well, maybe I could—"
"I spend all day worrying about everything and now you're looking at me like I did something wrong for using the only thing that lets me sleep at night."
"I don't think you did something wrong, I'm just—"
"I'm so sick of having to take care of everything by myself," rambled Sarah. "Taking care of the food, taking care of the Brave…"
"I know, but—"
"Taking care of you."
Clem found herself shocked by the bitterness in Sarah's voice. She stood there in stunned silence for a second, then scowled and grabbed her pistol.
"What are you doing?" asked a confused Sarah.
"Going out to look for food."
"What? No, you can't—"
"Why not?" asked Clem as she loaded the gun. "I did it before and my side doesn't hurt that much anymore."
"No, Clem, that's—"
"You think I'm not sick of this too?" retorted Clem as she grabbed her holster off the counter. "I've been stuck in here for like a month now, and I'm really sick of it."
"I know you are, but—"
"Sick of these walls, sick of the smell, sick of the stupid sink and shower never working right."
"Clem, I'm sorry, please—"
"And now I think I'm of sick of you too."
Clem watched as Sarah recoiled in shock, then scowled as she slid the other gun closer. "Fine, you go, there's nothing out there anyway. There's nothing anywhere anymore."
"Not that you could find," said Clem as she strapped the ankle holster to her calf. "I'll find something."
"You won't."
"Watch me." Clem hastily donned the gear, hiding her discomfort as she slipped the backpack on. After digging her tomahawk out of the closet, Clem headed for the door. She stopped briefly to look over her shoulder and saw Sarah sitting on her bed, her back turned to her. Clem marched out of the Brave and slammed the door shut behind her.
Stepping outside for the first time in longer than she cared to remember, Clem felt herself overwhelmed. The blinding sun in her eyes, the fresh air nipping at her skin, even the smell of the pavement felt alien to Clem. After her eyes adjusted to her light, she saw spread out before was another small town off the interstate like so many other she had seen before. Gas stations, fast-food restaurants, and small motels as far as the eye could see, and each and every one of them made Clem nervous.
She turned around, briefly thinking about returning to the Brave, but the thought of seeing Sarah's face again caused Clem to start marching forward. She found her instincts kicking in and she started scanning the sides of the road for possible threats without thinking, a familiar trepidation settling into as she moved. She didn't make it far before she saw a building with the word 'Cuisine' written on the front of it next to the motel closest to the overpass.
Clem took a deep breath and started moving towards the restaurant. Reaching the door, she nearly stepped inside before stopping herself. Clem took a step back, then removed her tomahawk from her shoulder. She banged it loudly on the door frame and then hastily backed away. The tomahawk felt heavy in her hands as she removed its sheath, and only got heavier as she waited for a walker to come lurching out of the darkness.
Nothing came, and eventually Clem became more afraid of remaining outside than of whatever could be waiting inside. She used a doorstop to wedge the exit open then hurried in. After confirming there were no threats in the immediate area, Clem found herself falling back into a well-rehearsed routine. She hadn't searched for food in a long time, but her hands and feet moved practically on their own as she cracked open every cabinet, overturned every trash can, and peeked under every counter, only to find absolutely nothing.
Heading back outside empty-handed, Clem stopped and looked out at all the other buildings. Her feet ached just from looking at the road and her backpack felt heavier for just thinking about continuing, and all for what would probably be nothing. There hadn't been so much as a crumb left in the restaurant, and Clem had seen this enough times to know that it was an almost certainty the rest of the immediate area was likewise picked clean. With no hope of success, she shuffled back towards the Brave, ready to admit defeat.
Nearing the door, Clem noticed her bike glinting in the noon sun. She moved around to the back of the Brave and eyed the red cycle just resting in its rack. Clem briefly looked over at the door, then grabbed the bike with both hands. Her side ached as she set it on the ground, but she quickly slipped off her pack and tossed it into the basket along with her tomahawk, shedding a literal weight from her shoulders. Clem pulled her respirator off, took in a long breath of crisp air, mounted her bike, and started pedaling.
The brisk wind blowing through her hair and the burst of speed was invigorating, and suddenly the rest of the world didn't feel so big and scary as buildings flew past her on both sides of the road. Clem found herself pedaling faster, feeling more free with every ounce of speed she could muster. Ramping up to a fierce pace, Clem briefly felt all her worries and concerns being left behind as she blissfully flew forward, like a bird soaring high above the rest of the world. But then her legs started to cramp and she had to slow down.
Returning to a steady pace, Clem suddenly felt overwhelmed by just how green and alive everything appeared to be. The grass between roads, the trees bordering parking lots, even sprouts forcing their way up through the cracks in the asphalt, all slowly overtaking the decaying ruins of the human race. Riding past a neighborhood, Clem noted she could barely see the houses past the overgrown hedges and wondered how long it'd be before they'd disappeared entirely into the landscape.
"Clem?" Clem skidded to a stop and grabbed her radio. "Are you there? Where are you going?"
"I'm looking for food," she answered. "What else?"
"On a bike?"
"Why not? It's faster than walking, I can go further, and I've got the basket to carry stuff."
"That's dangerous, going further from the interstate," said Sarah. "Just come back and I'll go looking for food. Okay?"
"Why? So you can not find anything like usual?" scoffed Clem.
"That's not my fault," retorted Sarah. "There's nothing to find."
"Because you're not going far enough," reasoned Clem. "There's not gonna be anything on a big highway that everyone's been on already."
"This is ridiculous," insisted Sarah. "Please, just come back already."
"We need to start finding food again, and if you're not going to find it I will."
"Fine, don't believe me!" retorted Sarah. "Spend all day out there if you want, you won't find anything."
"I will!"
"Will what? Stay out all day or find food?"
"Both!"
Clem tossed the radio into the basket and started pedaling again. With her initial dread having faded, she found herself relieved to be outdoors. She hadn't realized how much she missed being out in the sun and the fresh air until she was forced to spend weeks inside the Brave. She also never thought she'd miss farm work, but as hard as tending crops were Clem could at least see her progress grow a little each day; scavenging was always a gamble, and one whose odds were getting worse every day.
Stopping on the edge of town to search for food again, Clem was disappointed to find nothing but empty cupboards and a cleared out gas station. With the sun still high in the sky, she kept pedaling and after a while found an even smaller rural town to the north past a shallow stream. It appeared even more desolate than the last town, with vines crawling up the sides of long-abandoned homes and yards having grown into small fields.
Searching the area near the road, Clem couldn't find a grocery store, or even any restaurants. There was a single old gas station with two pumps and nothing of use inside. She tossed a few of the houses but again came up empty. After digging through four homes, Clem found a single bottle of tequila under a sink that was nearly empty. With no urgent need to press on, Clem sat down on the floor and downed the tiny bit of tequila swirling about in the bottom of the bottle.
It was a very bitter taste, almost like swallowing fire, and then the flame just settled in her stomach for a while, nearly making her sick. The beans she had packed for lunch didn't help either, leaving Clem to believe she would have felt better skipping this particular meal. She wasn't sure if she still hadn't adjusted back to canned food or if they were becoming staler with time, but she rarely enjoyed her meals anymore and Clem had to force herself to finish the last spoonful of greasy beans.
Tossing the empty can aside, Clem wiped her lips and headed back outside. She felt tipsy from the tequila as she mounted her bike and couldn't help noticing her radio nestled inside the basket. She briefly thought of calling Sarah and telling her she was coming back, but it was still early in the afternoon and those old beans churning in her belly forced her back onto her bike. There had to be something left further out, something hopefully that didn't make her stomach crawl so much.
Clem's head felt light as she pedaled and there was a kind of comforting warmth in the space between her ears now. As the sun ducked behind some clouds and the air grew cooler, she felt content to just keep riding for as long as she could. Following the road through the wide open spaces was strangely relaxing for her, as if by leaving behind what was civilization she could leave behind all her own troubles as well. Then she remembered the farm and frowned as she realized trouble seemed to find her no matter where she went.
After a long and uneventful ride, Clem nearly shot past the first major intersection she had seen for miles. Skidding to a stop to investigate a four-way, Clem discovered there wasn't even so much as a village here. Just a single pair of railroad tracks, a dirt lot full of abandoned cars, and an open warehouse that looked dedicated to farming equipment. Clem didn't even see the point in searching them and just turned her bike around. It was getting late and she had a lot of road to cover to get back home.
Pedaling back the way she came, Clem didn't get far before she noticed something. Looking out at the field bordering the road she was on, Clem noticed there were some stalks taller than the rest of the grass. There weren't many of them, but there were just enough that they stood out from their surroundings. Diverting onto the dirt road that ran beside the field for a closer look, Clem spotted something golden glistening in the afternoon sun. There was corn growing here; not much, just a few stalks bordering the road, but it was definitely corn.
Clem froze for a moment, then started looking around. She could see a house much further down the road, but there was a lot of distance between it and the corn. She didn't see anyone or anything else around, so she rode in closer to examine the stalks. They didn't look as healthy or the big as the ones they had grown, and there weren't quite as many pieces of corn on them, but they still looked far more appetizing than anything she had seen since abandoning their farm.
Clem looked over her shoulders, then after seeing nothing turned back to the corn. She noticed they appeared a little shriveled, as if they hadn't been getting enough water. She wondered if these were the remnants of a farm that had been abandoned, which led Clem to wonder what had become of their own crops. Did their attackers take the time to harvest them, or did they just leave most of them to wither in the sun?
Clem weighed which outcome sounded worse to her, and concluded as awful as it had been to be robbed like she had, it would be even more pointless if all their hard work literally just rotted away back into the earth, having fed no one at all. She then remembered just how much Omid loved eating corn, and reached to grab an ear when something burst through the stalks at her. She was struck hard across the face and then everything went black.