Eight Months Later...Clementine...
Eight months have passed now, it was a slightly bright fall afternoon and a nine-year-old girl was looking up at an old oak tree, listening to all the ducks fly south for the winter. She thinks to herself, remembering all she has learned in the past months on the road.
"How long do you think he's gonna take?" The girl looks back over to a man holding a rifle squatting down next to a pregnant woman, they are both looking at a rest stop area.
"As long as he needs, he knows what he's doing, Omid."
"I know, but still..."
"You really need to relax, dude," A woman with bright bonded hair tied into a ponytail speaks up, pushing herself off from the tree."He's done this about, what, a hundred times now? And do you see me worried? I've done much worse than this."
"This is a gas station in the middle of nowhere South Carolina, you've scoured through an abandoned city," The pregnant lady pointed out. "This is child's play compared to that."
"Can you guys be quiet?" The little girl speaks her mind, causing the grown-ups to look down at her. "Please? Just...believe in him, I do."
"...I got it," The man found a way to ease the rising tension, he lowered his rifle and smiled. "We're gonna name our kid 'Omid'. What do you think?"
The pregnant lady looks at the man with a dumbfounded face. "Omid, you can't be serious."
"I am!"
"We are not doing that!"
"Why not?"
"Because!"
"Hey, do you guys mind if you keep your voices down!" The blonde woman whispers to the couple.
BANG!
The group's eyes dart to the rest area, the men's bathroom door slams open and a young man appears there holding a pistol in his hands. He holsters his weapon and adjusts the black beanie on his head before bringing his free hand to his mouth and whistling to the others.
"Come on!" He shouts.
"See?" The blonde woman smirks and starts walking toward the rest area, the little girl and couple soon follow afterward and the man speaks again.
"Come on, Christa. What's wrong with 'Omid'?"
"We're not calling our baby Omid," She responds. "One of you is enough. Clementine, Molly," She turns to them. "a little help here?"
"Yeah, you can leave me out of this," Molly says in a scoff.
"Omid the II."
"No."
"Omid...Junior."
"No!"
"You have to admit, it has a ring to it."
"Yeah, the ring of an egotistical maniac."
"What if it's a girl?" The little one named Clementine raises a good question for the couple.
"Then we name her 'Christa'."
"Oh, lord..." Molly sighed.
"But I'm Christa. I don't want to call her 'Christa', that's just confusing."
"So name her Genevieve, I don't care."
"How can you not care?"
"And what exactly are you two arguing about this time?" The young man waiting by the bathrooms crosses his arms and smirks at the couple.
"Just Omid not taking things seriously about our future kid."
"I am taking this seriously," Omid retorts. "Especially little Omid's future."
"Keep talking like that and you'll be sleeping in the rain tonight. Remember that time in Barstow?"
Omid nods proudly. "Vegas weekend." Christa gives Omid a knowing smirk before opening the door to the men's bathroom, causing the other two grown-ups to sigh and roll their eyes since they know that look Christa just gave Omid. Imod looks down at Clementine knowing that it's best to keep her distracted. "Why don't you, uh...get cleaned up in the girl's room, Clem?"
"I hope the sink works in there," The little one says as she reaches the door of the girl's bathroom.
"Sorry, Kiddo," The young man sighed. "They're a no-go. So just get yourself cleaned up, and make sure to keep track of your stuff. Omid and Christa will be right next door...just be sure to knock first." Omid looks off to the side, feeling slightly embarrassed about Elijah's advice to the little girl.
"What will you do, Elijah?"
"I'm gonna check the gas station across the street with Molly, see if we can scrounge up some food for us. We won't be long."
"Okay," Clementine nods. "Just be careful."
"I'm supposed to tell you that," Elijah smirks.
"Don't worry, Clem," Molly reassures the little girl and pokes Elijah with her elbow. "I'll keep him out of trouble for you."
"Thank you."
"We'll be back soon, Kiddo."
"Okay," Elijah and Molly leave for the gas station across the street and Clementine heads into the girl's bathroom. "Hello?" I know he already checked, but Elijah and Molly always told me double-checking doesn't hurt. With her gun in hand, Clementine goes up to one of the stalls, opens it, and finds a broken toilet behind the first door.
"Oh, gross."
Clementine grimaced before she closed the door and went to the next one. Behind bathroom stall number two was a still intact toilet with a bloodied stuffed animal on the floor. Clementine sighs at the toy, closes the door, and moves on to the last one. She finds only a toilet and sighs in relief as she closes the door.
"Good, no one's here. Guess it's safe to get cleaned up."
Clementine inspects herself in the mirror, finding her face smudged with dirt. She sighs at the sight of herself before setting her backpack and pistol down on top of the sink, the little girl takes out her water bottle and rag to clean off her face. Once she's cleaned up herself, she smiles at her reflection.
"Better," While trying to reach for her backpack, Clementine accidentally knocks her water bottle onto the floor and it rolls under the third stall. "Oh, shit." Leaving her stuff, Clementine opens the third bathroom stall and picks up her bottle from the floor, her nose scrunching up at the sight of the much that's gotten on it. "Ew..."
CLICK!
Clementine hears the bathroom door open, making her turn around and look at the mirror to see who it is...her eyes widen when she sees a teenage girl sneaking into the bathroom. Oh, no! Clementine closes the door quietly and stands on top of the toilet so her feet can't be seen. I can't signal for the others, that girl will hear me. I could hurt her, but... Clementine looked through the small crack of the door, the teenage girl had found Clementine's backpack...and her gun. Crap...
THUMP!
The toilet seat underneath Clementine's feet slips, causing the little girl to lose her footing and gasp lightly. Oh, no... Soon enough, her fear of being spotted came to fruition. The teenager could be seen through the crack of the bathroom stall, she pointed Clementine's own gun at her.
"I see you."
"..." Like Elijah said, calm down the situation if I can.
"Get outta there, you're not foolin' me."
"...Leave me alone."
"Don't think I will."
"Why not?"
"Are you stupid or somethin'?" The girl opens the door and still keeps the pistol aimed at Clementine. "Get out here!"
"..."
Seeing that she has no other options, Clementine does what the girl says and gets out of the stall. When she's out, Clementine raises her hands and shows that she's no longer a threat while the teenager searches her backpack.
"You got anything on you?" The girl keeps the gun pointed at her. "Come on, let's see. I ain't gonna ask again."
"You don't have to do this," Clementine says, trying to de-escalate the situation before it gets out of hand. "You can just walk away and no one has to get hurt."
"You? Hurt me?" The girl mocked. "And who's the one that got your gun?"
"..."
"I'm serious!" The girl scowls with her finger on the trigger. "What else you got?"
"That's all there is."
"Don't lie to me, I'll pop you!" The girl shakes the pistol in her hands. "I'm not screwin' around!"
"Just walk away before you die!"
"...Whatever," The teenager doesn't take the little girl's warning seriously, instead she eyes what the little one wore on top of her head. "Gimme that hat."
"No!"
"Where'd you get it?"
"..."
"I asked you a question!"
"That's none of your business!"
"...Just give it to me!" Clementine stayed silent at the teenager's demand, making the girl scoff and roll her eyes as she continued searching the little girl's backpack. "Junk, junk, junk. Look at all this junk! Shit, shit, and more shit! Why you ain't got nothin' good? Not like the last people I got, that all kinds of good shit. You ain't got nothin' good."
As the girl ranted on, Clementine heard the bathroom door open and soon Omid appeared. His eyes widen when he sees the girl aiming her pistol at Clementine. Omid! They share a glance, and Omid silently mouths the words, 'Keep her talking' to Clementine, she nods and looks back at the girl.
"What's your name?"
"The hell's that matter?"
"...My brother taught me to remember the names of people I meet."
"And where's he? Bet he's rotting somewhere in a ditch and that's why you're alone," The teenager mocked before pulling out an instant photo from Clementine's backpack. The little girl knew exactly which photo she was holding, it was an old group photo where she, Elijah, Sandra, and Lee were huddled together at the motor inn and smiling at the camera. "This your family? What bozos."
CLICK!
BANG!
Elijah...
CLICK!
"You still have film in that thing?" I put my camera back in my backpack and hold the photo in my hand, something about an abandoned gas station has an eerie peacefulness.
"Enough to keep taking a photo every week for the next few months. I just hope we find some more soon but I doubt the local gas stations had instant photos for sale when walkers weren't roaming around."
"True," Molly chuckles at my joke. "Still, you never know what we'll find out here. Remember when we found that Hostess truck just off the highway?"
I laugh at the reminder of that day. "The look on your face when the truck just poured out a fuck-ton of Snowballs."
"Of all fucking things..."
"Hey, at least we found a few boxes of Twinkies," I try to cheer her up.
"How many do we have left, anyway?"
I think for a moment about the last time I counted our food. "We have one last box if I remember correctly."
"Nice," Molly punches my shoulder and looks at the abandoned gas station. "Let's see if we can find some more."
"What I wouldn't do for a Dr. Pepper right about now..."
"You realize that if we did find some it'd be completely flat, right?"
"So?" I shrug. "I'd rather have a flat and warm Dr. Pepper than a cold Dr. Pepper Zero any day."
"...Okay, you're not wrong." We share a laugh for a moment before Molly readies herself with her trusty climbing pick, Hilda. She looks at me with a knowing smirk. "You ready for this?"
I respond by taking out my own trusty weapon, I still don't know how I managed to keep it in shape all this time. It's sharpened enough to tear through flesh like it was nothing and it fits like a glove in my hand. I look into my reflection against the stainless steel, and my grip against the ergonomic ash handle gets stronger, reminding me of the strength he gave me to keep going in this world.
"You ready, Lee?"
Molly places a comforting hand on my shoulder, smiling at me. "That's still a helluva name for that sickle of yours."
"I know," I nod. "Let's go."
We head inside and it's just what I expected, nothing but mostly empty shelves and the faint smell of...rotten flesh. Molly looks at me and nods, knowing what to do. I whistle into the store and wait a few moments, the faint sound of a walker can be groaning but is nowhere to be seen. We head inside, Molly watches my back as I head behind the counter. I hear something banging against the door to the back room, most likely a walker.
"You know the drill," Molly tells me. "I'll lure it, you kill it."
"Got it," I nod before I take my place at the door, Molly goes to the opposite end of the store. "You ready?"
"Ready," She nods and I open the door, hiding behind it so the Walker doesn't see me coming. "Over here, Geek! Come and get me!"
"RAAAUUUGH!" The Walker growled, shuffling its feet and clawing away at the air as it grew closer to the blonde girl. Remembering what she taught me, I kicked the walker behind the knee, causing it to fall to the floor. While it's down, I bring the blade of my sickle down into the back of the Walker's skull. I sighed in relief now that it was dead at my feet.
"This Geek wasn't some store clerk," Molly inspects the body, searching its clothing and pockets. "This poor bastard's been here for a while."
"I'll check the back," I leave Molly to keep checking the Walker's corpse and head into the back room, finding an empty mattress...along with the foul smell of what died in here. "Poor guy, how long has he been here?"
I checked some of the nearby shelves and found a few cans of food and even a few protein bars. Even more interesting was a note taped in front of all the food. I take a closer look and it reads, 'Didn't have the guts to take myself out. If I didn't eat you, feel free to take what you like, ain't got much use for it no more.' I look back down at the empty mattress, feeling pity forming at the bottom of my stomach.
Poor guy was bitten and alone...
"Find anything in there?" Molly called from the store and soon popped her head through the door.
"Just the guy's food, there's enough to keep us going for a lot longer than with what we already have."
"Nice find, Brown Eyes," Molly smirks at me and punches my shoulder. She gets to work and stores the food in her backpack, smiling the entire time. "You lose something over here?" Molly catches me staring at her and smirks, making my face burn slightly.
"...Your hair's gotten pretty long," I do my best to try and change the subject, but Molly just scoffs at my lousy attempt.
"Yeah. I've been meaning to chop some of it off for a while, just keep getting sidetracked."
"...It kinda fits you, I'm not gonna lie."
"Why?" Molly looks at me as she slings her bag back over her shoulders. "gotta hair pulling kink I don't know about?"
"What?" I'm caught completely off guard, of all things Molly would say... "Where did that even-"
"Dude, you think I don't see you checking me out every now and then?" ...Well, shit. "I gotta say, I don't think I've seen a guy so infatuated with my ass before-"
"Okay, okay!" I groan, pinching the bridge of my nose...and I rethink every single time my eyes have ever darted in Molly's direction. "I got the picture, no need to explain it in full detail."
Molly laughs at my misfortune, a little too long for my heart to handle. "Oh, man! You look like a damn tomato right now!"
"Stop talking!"
Her bellowing laughing comes to a stop after a minute, leaving her in tears from her fit. "Seriously, I don't care. I've had to deal with...you know, a lot worse."
I immediately get a bad taste in my mouth at the reminder of what she had to go through back in Crawford, all just to keep her sister alive... "You okay?" I ask, noticing the slight discomfort in Molly's eyes.
"Yeah," She nods. "Just gad that I'm far away from that damn place, and that fucker is dead."
"Yeah," I chuckle. "He's just a splatter on the sidewalk, in fact," I lift my foot up over my knee, leaning down and speaking to it. "Hey, cowboy, you didn't mind me stompin' your ugly head in, did ya?" Molly giggles at my mockery of a dead man and I continue on, bringing my hand over my ear knowing full well that no response would come from my boot. "Sorry, what was that? What? Oh, you don't mind? Oh, because you're a dead man and the only sentient part of you left is a little bit of brain and the gristle at the end of my boot? Well, thank you very much, cowboy!"
The both of us share a laugh, making me feel a little better now that Molly isn't focused on laughing at me. "You're fuckin' crazy. Anyways, I get it. People just get that way, I mean, look at Omid and Christa back in the guy's bathroom."
I laugh. "Yeah, I guess."
"How long do you think it'll take them this time?"
"I'd wager my last Twinkie ten minutes."
Molly scoffs. "I think you're giving Omid a little too much credit." Her insult makes me snort, even more when she pulls my beanie over my eyes.
"Think we should cut them short?" I readjust my beanie back on my head. "We shouldn't stick around here for too long."
"Maybe, but let them have their fun," Molly shrugged. "Speaking of cutting short," She brings her ponytail around her shoulder, looking up at me with her beautiful blue eyes. "Think you could give me a trim? It's about time it gets done."
"Sure," I nod and smile as I take my sickle to the empty mattress, wiping the walker blood away with a sheet. Once my weapon is cleaned, I stand in front of Molly, holding her ponytail in one hand, and my sickle in the other. "Hold still now," In one swift motion, I cut her ponytail from her head, and the blonde locks remaining on her head fell naturally, cutely cupping her face. I drop the excess hair to the floor, but my free hand remains behind her head, gently running my fingers through her golden hair.
"You're staring again, Brown Eyes," Molly doesn't pull away from my touch, rather she seems...satisfied with it.
"...That really such a bad thing?" I didn't even realize it until now, but Molly's button nose was slightly brushing against mine. I could feel her warm breath leave her nostrils, warming my face even more. Should I go for it? I mean...she's not pulling away, maybe-
BANG!
The sound of a gunshot brings me back to reality, filling my body with worry. "Oh, shit!" That came back from the bathrooms! Molly and I race out of the gas station and run across the street, I take out my pistol and Molly has her pick at the ready. I see Christa storming out of the guy's bathroom with Omid's rifle in her hands.
"What the hell was that?!" I ignore her question and burst down the door of the girl's bathroom, my pistol aiming inside.
"Clem! What...happened?" My gun lowers slightly when I look down and see...Omid, he's on the floor, bleeding from his chest...and gasping for air. "...Omid."
"I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to!" I look to the side, seeing a teenage girl holding...Clementine's gun. The girl immediately drops it and raises her hands above her head when she meets my gaze. "I-" Molly is on the girl in two seconds, pinning her against the wall by the throat. it won't be enough to kill her, but that girl's not going anywhere.
"Omid!" Christa kneels down to him and drops the rifle, picking up her lover in her arms as her tears start to fall. "Oh, God...Omid...Omid!" I kneel down next to him and rip open his shirt...and I lightly gasp at where he was shot. "Do something, Elijah!"
"...I can't," I admit with a defeated sigh. "He was shot directly in the heart, he doesn't have long now," The grip on my pistol gets tighter by the second...I know what I'll have to do soon.
"Eli...jah..." Omid gasped for air, his mouth pouring with blood. "Keep...them safe...please..."
"Omid! Don't say that!" Christa denied the true reality of what was happening. "You're gonna be fine!"
"...I love you, Christa," Omid weakly smiled. "Make sure...little Omid...knew about his...dad..." He takes in one last breath...and silence follows after. He was dead.
"...God dammit," I stand back up...slowly turning back to the one who was responsible for my friend's death.
"Let go of me, bitch!"
"Not happening, you little shit!"
"...Let her go," I say, Molly looks back at me like I'm crazy. I nod, silently telling her that I'll handle this girl. She releases the girl and he coughs, I tower over her after holstering my pistol. I look over at Clementine, she's crying and shaking at the sight of our dead friend. "You okay?" She nods. "...What did she say to you?" I gesture my head to the teenager.
"...She...She said that she's taken from people before..."
"..." I stare directly into the girl's eyes, making her own widen with fear. "I see."
"W-Wait, I can-" I don't even let her finish her sentence and grab her by the head, slamming it against the wall.
And again...
And again...
And again...
Until the only thing left of her face was a broken nose, busted teeth, black eyes, and a bleeding forehead. I drop the girl to the floor, she cries as she desperately tries to breathe. I then take out my pistol and aim it down at her head.
"Cover y'all's ears."
BANG!
I look over to Omid, walk over to him, and my gun shakes in my hand. But I can't stop, I can't let him turn. I look down at Christa, silently asking her for her permission. She reluctantly nods...and I aim my pistol down at my dead friend, finally allowing one tear to fall down my cheek.
Sorry, Brother...
BANG!
My ears ring from the gunfire, and the sound of Clementine crying into Molly's arms soon overpowers the high-pitched sound. I look around, seeing that everyone is sharing the same amount of grief. I am too, but someone has to remain strong for all of us.
"...Starting now, I'm initiating a new rule."
"What are you talking about?"
"...No more loose ends."