Clementine scoured the area for anything worth taking. They had been checking everywhere on this part of the highway all morning, only to find nothing to eat. This small Greek restaurant seemed to be no exception. There were no telltale signs of walkers, such as dried blood to be seen. In fact, the area looked fairly tidy, as if people had been here before, but the thin layer of dust on all the tables suggested they abandoned it long ago.
With those factors to consider, Clementine took off her backpack and set it on the nearest table, reasoning she might as well save herself the strain of toting it around while she investigates another dead end. She checked behind the counter, in the kitchen, around the back. Nothing edible, or at least nothing she'd be willing to test was edible or not. But she did find something promising in the form of a walk-in freezer that was still padlocked.
Excited at the prospect of her expedition finally bearing some fruit, possibly literally, Clem rushed back to retrieve the bolt cutters stored in her bag and hauled the heavy tool back to the fridge. She reached out, moving the cutters towards the lock, but found she was just ever slightly too short to make contact. After letting out an annoyed groan, Clem grabbed a chair from the diner section and dragged it into the back. Now able to reach, Clem positioned the bolt cutters carefully and let them neatly cut the lock.
Clementine removed the busted lock, hopped back to the ground, hastily moved the chair out of the way and pulled the freezer open. A pair of cockroaches came skittering out before the door was even half way open, not a good sign. Stepping inside, Clementine found stacks of boxes stained with leaks from things that probably spoiled months, if not a year ago. Insects skittered about the shelves as she walked further into the freezer. The rows of rotted goods made Clem afraid to even remove her respirator. Just looking at the stacks of cardboard boxes marinated in the juices of whatever went bad inside them and the stacks of now rotten meats was nearly enough to make her gag.
The girl was ready to leave, but then she spotted some sacks stacked up in the corner that appeared undisturbed compared to rest of the stained and rotted goods. Taking a closer look, Clem saw could see rice through the clear plastic the bags were made out of. There were eight of them, four brown rice and four white rice, just waiting for her. Tugging on the nearest one, Clem was surprised by how much it weighed. Thinking it was a lot to haul back, Clem reached for the radio.
"Sarah?" said Clem. "Can you talk?"
"Yeah," answered Sarah. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I just wanted to ask you something."
"What?"
"Rice is supposed to stay good for a long time, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because I just found a lot of rice in this restaurant. Too much for me to carry in one trip."
"You did? That's great," spoke an excited Sarah. "I'll park the Brave right outside and come help you out."
Clementine started hauling the bags out one at a time while she waited for Sarah. She also double-checked the freezer for anything else she could take, but all she found made her glad she couldn't smell anything through the respirator. As she pulled the eighth and final bag out of the freezer and into the restaurant where she had left her backpack, she heard the familiar hum of a diesel engine approaching.
Looking up, she spotted someone approaching through the glass door. Her hand instinctively went right to the gun resting in the holster on her hip, even though she still hadn't found any more bullets for it. Watching the figure grow closer, Clem saw it was Sarah, who pushed the door open and stepped inside. Looking at her, Clem noticed something was missing.
"Where's your rifle?" asked Clem.
"Back in the Brave," answered Sarah.
"Why?" asked Clem.
"Well, it doesn't have any bullets."
"If someone saw you, they wouldn't know that," retorted Clem. "And… and maybe they'd think 'I shouldn't go near her…"
"I'm sorry, I'll bring it with me from now on."
"It's… it's okay," assured Clem as she regained her train of thought. "Just give me a hand with this." Sarah approached the nearest bag, but then recoiled in disgust. "What's wrong?"
"It smells awful," answered Sarah as she covered her nose.
"It does?" Clem pulled her respirator off, and immediately regretted it. "That's horrible," said Clementine as she hastily put the respirator back on. "I thought rice didn't go bad?"
"Me too," said Sarah. "Maybe there's something wrong with it?" Clem looked at the bags and noticed one was open. Looking carefully, she could see a few tiny beetles wriggling about inside the mess of pungent looking brown rice grains.
"Well, this one is no good." Clem hauled the bag into a corner.
"The brown rice looks weird," noted Sarah.
"What do you mean weird?" asked Clem.
"The color looks kinda off, and it looks sorta clumped together."
Clem sighed. "I guess we should check it first." She removed her bayonet from its makeshift sheath on her belt and made a small incision in the bag.
"Ugh," said Sarah as she covered her nose again. Clem didn't even need to smell it, just handling a clump of swollen and sticky grains she knew she didn't want to eat any of this.
"I guess rice does go bad." Clem sighed loudly to herself then sheathed her blade. "Let's go." Clem packed the bolt cutter back into her bag.
"Wait, we didn't check all the bags," said Sarah.
"What's the point?" asked a dismayed Clementine.
"This bag of white rice looks good." Clem turned around and examined the bag Sarah had pulled away from the others. It didn't look clumped together like the other bags, nor could she see any bugs moving around inside.
"I guess it can't hurt to check." Clem used her blade to make another small incision. "Do you smell anything?" Sarah shook her head at Clem. Removing her respirator, Clem didn't smell anything either. She took off her glove and grabbed a single grain of rice. It appeared normal, so she popped it into her mouth.
"Does it taste good?" asked Sarah.
"No," she answered. "But it doesn't taste bad either, it, just kinda tasted like rice I guess."
"Maybe it's only the brown rice that's bad?" Clem grabbed another brown rice bag while Sarah moved the white bag to the door. Poking a hole in it revealed a pungent odor, much like the last one. As did the final bag of brown rice.
"All the brown rice smells terrible." Clem pulled one of the white rice bags over. She didn't need to open it, it was already open, and she could see more beetles skittering around. But the next bag wasn't opened and it appeared fine. "But the white rice looks okay."
"Actually, I remember back when I lived at Shaffer's, we used to have both kinds of rice for a while," said Sarah. "But after Christmas, we started eating only white rice. I thought we had just run out, but, I guess brown rice doesn't last as long as white rice."
"I guess so. But why?" Sarah shrugged as Clem's question. "Well, at least we got three big bags of white rice. That's pretty good." Pulling the last bag of white rice over, Clem noticed there were strange black spots all throughout the rice in the bag. "Or… maybe two bags."
"What's wrong with that one?" asked Sarah.
"I'm not sure." Clem flipped the bag over and found an odd brown substance stuck to the bottom of the bag, along with a much bigger black spot near a minor puncture in the plastic. Thinking back, Clem remembered this last bag had been sitting in what looked like a dried puddle of something else that had gone bad.
"I think it's mold," suggested Sarah as she examined the black spots closely. "I guess, moisture got inside and mold started growing."
"Which means we shouldn't eat it, right?" Sarah nodded at Clem. "Well, two bags is good too, I guess." Clem hauled the contaminated rice over with the other bags. Her original bounty has been reduced to a mere quarter of what she had discovered because of spoilage, bugs, and apparently mere moisture.
The girls carefully moved the final two bags back outside, where the Brave was parked. Sarah removed her keys and unlocked the door, and working together the girls carried a bag upstairs.
"Did you find anything?" asked Clem as tried her best to hold up her end of the bag.
"Not a thing," sighed Sarah as she carefully set the bag down.
"Yeah, this whole area is clean. Whoever was here last didn't leave any food behind," said Clem as she stepped out to grab the other bag. "The only reason this rice was still here is because the freezer it was in was still locked."
"I was really hoping if we took a break from the backroads we might find another store or something people hadn't taken from," said Sarah as she knelt down to grab the bag. "But I guess by now, anyone else alive has already taken everything on the highway that doesn't have lurkers everywhere."
"Well, not everything, we did find these," said Clem as she picked up the bag.
"Yeah, the only thing left," dismissed Sarah as they set the bag on the floor. "I'm gonna go check on Omid real quick, can you put these up?"
"Sure." Clem took off her backpack and then stored her raincoat in the fridge. She then pulled open the closet door and carefully pulled the bags of rice inside. Looking at their reserves of canned and dried goods, Clementine felt good about their situation, but then she heard a sigh. Looking over her shoulder, Clem saw Sarah standing behind her.
"Is OJ okay?" asked Clem.
"He's fine," said Sarah in a glum voice.
"What's wrong?"
"I just wish we had more," said Sarah.
"Really? I think we're doing pretty good," said Clem. "We've got almost as much saved up as when we left."
"Which means we're just breaking even," reasoned Sarah as she headed up front. "After all the work we've done." Sarah sat down in the driver's seat.
"Sarah, I don't understand," said Clem as she sat down next to her friend. "We're doing pretty good right now."
"We've been doing 'pretty good' for weeks and weeks now," mumbled Sarah as she put the key in the ignition. "I… I guess I just figured we'd have found somewhere to settle by now." She started the engine. "At least for a while." Sarah took the parking brake off and moved the Brave forward. "But I guess we're not going to luck up like that again."
Clem could see how worried Sarah looked and tried to think of something to say that would cheer her up. "We'll probably find somewhere with a lot of stuff soon, then we can finally take a break."
"I doubt it," said Sarah. "You remember what that woman said? The only jackpots left are in places full of lurkers."
"Well maybe, but we're finding enough food people left behind."
"For now."
"And now that we can just get more diesel, we can go anywhere we want."
"As long as the generator keeps working and even then, only until the gas goes bad," said Sarah. "And that's assuming the Brave doesn't break down or something." Sarah looked over at Clem, noticing she was at a loss for words. "I'm… I'm sorry," said Sarah as she slowed the Brave to a stop. "I'll… I'll just shut up." Clem looked out the window at a couple of fast food places lining this section of the highway. "Should we check them out?"
Clem groaned at just the thought of searching them. "I think we should just move on already," said Clem. "We've tried two gas stations, one grocery store, and three country buffets around here, and they were all empty. That rice was the first thing we found all day. By the time we're done looking around here, we could already have gone somewhere else."
"Okay." Sarah pressed down on the gas.
"Where should we go next?" asked Clem as they started to pick up speed.
"I guess we keep going south so we could avoid the cold weather this winter," said Sarah. "We're probably halfway towards Florida by now. Once we get there, we could just stay away from the coast and keep looking for little towns away from the big roads."
"Basically the same thing we're doing now," realized Clem.
"Yeah, pretty much."
Clementine turned back to the window and watched the buildings pass by. She saw a mini-storage yard, a movie theater, and what she thought may have been an accountant's office, or something similar. All things that were useless now, the last of which Clem wasn't sure what the use of was before things changed. As they cruised down the highway, Clem spotted something else that caught her attention.
"Sarah, slow down."
Sarah slowed the Brave to a stop. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"I think we should check over there." Clem pointed out the window.
"A shopping mall?" asked Sarah. "That would have been the first place people would have looked for things."
"I want to check it out anyway."
"If you say so." Sarah did her best to maneuver through the parking lot and towards the mall. There were rotted corpses scattered about the area and a lot of the parked cars with open doors, all signs that living people had been staying here. The mall itself was a big brown building capped with a glass dome centered over the entrance. Nearing the front of the mall, the doors appeared relatively clear of walker corpses and debris, more signs that people were in the area.
"I really don't think we're going to find any food here Clem," said Sarah as she slowed the vehicle to a stop. "I mean, it's obvious there were already people here."
"Honk the horn," said Clem.
"What?"
"In case there's anyone inside, dead or alive. I don't want to go in if there is."
"Okay." Sarah briefly beeped the horn.
"No, longer. Make it a really long honk." Sarah bear down on the front of the steering wheel, making a long blaring honk. Letting go, the pair could hear the sound of Omid crying from the bedroom. "I'll go take care of him," said Clem as she stood up. "Just watch the doors, and yell if anything comes out."
Clem rushed back to the bedroom and scooped the crying infant out of his crib. "Easy, easy, everything's okay." Clem patted Omid on the back as she moved to the rear window. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but she didn't see anything but a quiet parking lot. Having settled Omid, Clem set the baby boy back in his crib. Looking at his big brown eyes, she could see he wasn't happy, even if he wasn't crying.
"Just be good for a little bit, I'll be right back." Clem moved back to the front where Sarah was eyeing the window. "Anything?"
"Nothing," answered Sarah. "Whoever was here is probably long gone by now."
"Probably, but go get your stuff, just in case." Clem collected her raincoat from the fridge.
"Wait, why?" asked Sarah as she shut off the engine.
"Because, you and I are going to check it out," said Clem as she checked her gun.
"But why? I mean if people were here, they probably already took everything."
"Not everything," said Clem as she put her backpack on.
"What do you think we'll find?"
Clem grabbed her respirator, but hesitated to put it on. Instead, she looked at Sarah and smiled. "Just trust me, okay?" The paired collected their gear and headed outside. Sarah locked the door to Brave then pocketed the keys. The girls surveyed their surroundings for any possible threats, but found none. The quiet was eerie, but otherwise there weren't any signs of current troubles, only past troubles.
The front doors had bullet holes and dried blood stains on them. Kneeling down, Clem collected a piece of metal sitting on the ground. She had hoped it was a bullet, but it was just an empty casing. There were a couple more lying on the pavement, but only a couple; nothing to suggest a full-fledged firefight had taken place.
Approaching the door, Clem drew her gun and motioned for Sarah to open it. Again, Clem wished she still had a bullet left, but she figured seeing a gun would be enough to halt someone if anyone came out, and if there were walkers she could just use her tomahawk since they wouldn't smell them with the raincoats on.
Sarah grabbed the door handles and looked to Clem, who nodded at the older girl. Sarah pulled the door open, and nothing came out. Clem nodded to Sarah again and the older girl removed a sports bottle from her belt. She removed the stuffing and started rattling it; still no response. Satisfied there was no immediate danger, the pair headed inside.
"Get your rifle out, just in case someone sees us," whispered Clem.
"Okay." Sarah removed her rifle from her back.
"And here, take the bayonet." Clem removed the blade from her sheath. "In case there are any walkers."
"Okay." As Sarah attached the blade to the end of her rifle, Clem surveyed the mall interior. The dome she thought she had seen was actually a skylight running down the length of the mall between the storefronts. There was nothing spectacular to behold, just a simple shopping plaza, dimly lit by the afternoon sun. Some faded bloodstains had marked parts of the floor, but there were no bodies or signs of recent conflict; likely all swept away long ago by whoever was here, or was still here.
"Let's start there." Clem gestured to a small pizza restaurant and the pair quickly honed in on it. The tables were empty, say a few loose trays lying around. Reaching the buffet line, Clem looked through the glass and found the food trays were practically spotless. "Turn on your light, let's check out the back."
Sarah switched on a lantern hanging from her belt and the two moved behind the counter. Moving out of range of the ambient light, the pair found themselves navigating a dark corridor leading up to a big metal door. Likely another freezer, Clem thought. She removed her gun from her holster and motioned for Sarah to open the door.
Pulling it open, the pair found no food inside, spoiled or otherwise. Instead, there was a mattress seated in the middle of the area. Stepping inside, Clem found some magazines stacked up by a bucket, and little else.
"Someone was staying here," said Sarah.
"Yeah." Clem knelt down and picked up the bucket. "I wonder what they wanted this for?"
"Probably a bathroom."
"Ew!" Clem dropped the bucket as she realized what it and the magazines were likely for.
"Clem, look at this."
Clem turned around and saw Sarah holding the lantern up. "What is it?" asked Clem.
"Whoever was here was counting the days." Sarah pointed at tally marks scratched onto the walls. Stepping back, Clem noticed they stretched from one side of the wall to the other. "Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-three tallies of five plus four marks," counted Sarah. "That's one-hundred and nineteen days, almost four months."
"That's about how long I stayed in Macon with Lee," said Clem.
"Macon?" asked Sarah.
"That was the first town we stayed in after things changed, where we almost ran out of food for a while."
"I was always afraid of running out of food at Shaffer's, but it never happened while I was there," said Sarah. "But here, even with a whole mall, and all the places in town, these people could only stay for four months before they ran out of food?"
"Maybe they had a lot of people?" suggested Clem. "Or maybe they left for some other reason. We didn't leave Macon because we ran out of food," said Clem as she left the room.
"Why then?" asked Sarah as she followed Clem back to the restaurant area.
"Bad people attacked us," recalled Clem in a somber voice. "And we had to leave because they were going to kill us."
"Why?" asked a horrified Sarah.
"I don't know, I think they just wanted to take all our stuff," said Clem. "And I guess it worked, since they probably did get whatever we had left once we were gone."
"I guess Shaffer's didn't run out of food because they were the bad people who attacked other people and stole their things." Sarah sighed and switched off her lantern. "Still, these people must have left a long time ago."
"Which means it's safe for us to bring OJ in."
"What?" asked Sarah. "Why would we do that?" Clem answered Sarah by pointing to the shop across from them. "A toy store?"
"I doubt they used up all the toys," said Clem.
"You want to take Omid to a toy store?" asked Sarah. "Why?"
"Why else? To have fun. I'm sick of looking for food all the time. Let's do something fun today."
"Well, it would be nice doing something special for Omid. He'd probably really like it."
"I'd really like it." Clem looked up at Sarah. "Wouldn't you like it?"
"I… I don't know, aren't I… too old to play with toys?" Clem just kept grinning at Sarah until the older girl started smiling back. "Oh, who cares, right?"
"Right!" said Clementine.