Chapter Text
Lee Everett was going to die. One minute, he’d had the stranger up against the wall, squeezing the life out of the man who had stolen Clementine away from him; the next, the odds had flipped against him, and he was on the ground. The stranger was above him now, the vein in his forehead bulging as he choked Lee, all while Clementine watched.
It wasn’t fair. They were supposed to be on the boat Kenny loved so much, sailing far away from this hellhole that had taken so much from them. But of course, at the end of the world, nothing is fair. The cancer patients had taken the boat and left them to die, and this monster had stolen his little girl from him, and the search to find her had resulted in the separation and certain death of his group.
But Lee wasn’t going down without a fight.
He thrashed against the hold of the stranger, desperately trying to break free and gain the upper hand. He couldn’t breathe, and his vision was darkening, but still, he fought back.
“Son of a bitch!” He could barely hear the stranger over the roaring of blood in his head. “Just go away… Die!”
Blam!
The stranger’s body slumped against Lee as the gunshot echoed throughout the room. Lee pushed the body off of him and carefully stood up, turning around to face the little girl he had risked it all for.
Clementine dropped the gun at her feet as Lee approached her, her eyes as wide as saucers. “I... I... I...” Her voice was quivering, which was to be expected. She’d killed a man. Lee knew from experience that killing was an act that weighed on even the toughest among them; he could hardly imagine the impact it would have on a little girl.
Carefully and slowly, he kneeled in front of Clementine and took her into his arms. “It's okay.” She was shaking like a leaf against him. “It's okay.”
“I…” She began. Lee let go of her, signalling her that it was okay to speak. She looked him up and down, taking in the blood that covered his clothes. “You look horrible.”
“That's what he said.”
Clementine stiffened slightly at the mention of the now-dead man. “Let's just get somewhere safe.” She paused, then added, “You don't smell good.”
“Yeah, I know.” He’d barely noticed it in the rush to get to her. Ideally, he would’ve taken some time to quickly clean himself up, but they could not afford such a luxury. They had to get out of here. “Clementine, we don't have much time.”
“Okay.” She looked down, suddenly ashamed. “I'm sorry, Lee. I'm sorry.”
“Shh...it's okay, sweetie.” He soothed her as he stood up. “We need to get you somewhere safe and then we have to talk, okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Everything's okay now. We need to figure out how to get out of Savannah as fast as we can.”
Lee bent down to pick up the pistol, quickly taking it before he turned around to examine the body behind him. The beast that had stolen Clementine was dead, and alone in a puddle of his own blood. Serves him right. Clementine began to shake again, and Lee’s eyes softened.
“Hey…” She looked up at him. “You weren't afraid.”
“I was.”
“You didn't act like it.”
“I know.” She glanced back at the stranger and back at Lee. “I am now.”
“It's okay. Which way out?” As much as he wanted to comfort Clementine, to make sure she was alright after what was bound to have been the worst experience of her young life, they had to get out of there first.
“Through there.” Clementine pointed to a door with a plush armchair shoved up against it. He carefully moved it and turned the door handle, only to be met face to face with a walker. Strangely, its eyes seemed to stare past him, instead fixated on Clementine. Before it could stagger any closer to her, Lee knocked it to the ground and shot it straight in the head. He tried to shoot it again, but he was only met with a faint click when he pulled the trigger.
Out of ammo.
“It... it didn't bite you.”
“Yeah... I know, it... must've…” He looked down at his clothes.
“You're covered in all that gross stuff.”
“I had to get through a bunch of them to get here.” Those things were stupid, but they didn’t attack each other. He’d known for a while that there had to be something that the dead could pick up on to tell apart friend from food. This must be it.“That's how we'll get out of Savannah.”
He walked over to the table where the stranger had forced him to dump his things and grabbed hold of his cleaver. It was a bit dull after all the use, but it would do. “They smell horrible, which means you have to, too.”
Clementine grimaced. “Yuck. Okay.”
“Ugh.” He crossed back to where the walker was lying. “You might want to pinch your nose.”
“Oh, no…” Clementine turned away as he cut open the body, her face scrunched up in disgust. Lee gently turned him to her as he scooped out a handful of the walker’s guts and nodded at her. She nodded back, signaling she was okay, and he began to smear them onto her.
“Ew…” She managed to get out between whimpers. They were cold and slimy against her skin and were definitely going to leave a stain on her white dress.
“We'll get you cleaned up as soon as we can.”
“Not soon enough. Are you done?”
“A little more. I want to be sure.” Lee turned her around, covering her back in more of the rancid
Goo. “Just a little more…”
“So... gross…”
After what felt like decades, he finally finished and stood up. Clementine looked utterly pitiful. “There, that should do it.”
“I hope so.”
“And you're missing something.” Racing back to the counter, he rumaged through the things until he spotted what he was looking for: a blue and white hat with the letter ‘D’ embroidered on the front. He held it out to her, and she quickly took it.
“I thought it was gone.” Clementine put the hat on her head. It wasn’t as clean as it had been when she had last seen it— she could spot the blood on it easily— but it was hers. A reminder of better times.
“I thought you were gone.”
“Thank you.” For the first time since he had gotten her back, she smiled up at him, and he wished the moment would go on forever.
Later, he would tell her how much it meant to have her back, but right now, he had to focus on keeping her safe if he ever wanted to see that smile again.
Lee crouched to her level. “Stay right next to me and walk very slowly. Don't look around and don't panic.”
“Mm-hmm.”
He got up, gently taking her hand, “I'll keep you safe.”
It was a promise he fully intended to keep
They crept through the hall, down the stairs, and onto the street. Thankfully, they didn’t run into any of those… things… on their way there, but that blessing was short-lived. The street was crawling with them, groaning and staggering across the cobblestone like a busy intersection full of lost, drunk tourists. Lee could feel Clementine shiver next to him.
“I need you to be brave, Sweet pea.” He whispered, hoping the sounds of the walking dead would drown out his voice to them.
“I know.” Clementine’s voice was soft and quivering. “But it’s hard. There are so many of them.”
“You can do it. I know you can. Hold onto me and don’t let go, no matter what.” Faintly, Lee could feel her tightening her grip on his hand.
“You ready?”
Clementine nodded, and they stepped into the herd. None of the walkers seemed to notice that there was anything different about the two of them, and Lee took that as a sign to keep moving forward.
“Try not to bump into any of them. Don’t let them touch you either.”
Clementine shrank into his side as one of them thrust its hands in her direction.
“It’s alright, just keep moving.”
Suddenly, Clementine froze, her gaze set on two roamers that stood out from the rest: a man and a woman. Even in their decayed state, Lee could recognize the curly hair of the woman and the now blank eyes of the man. He’d seen them before, long ago. Back when the nightmare had just begun.
“My parents…” Clementine stammered.
“Clem, don’t look!” Lee whisper-shouted far louder than was probably safe in a crowd full of zombies. “I’m sorry. There’s no time, you have to keep going.”
“I know.” Clementine gave her parents one last look and turned to Lee, glancing up at him through teary eyes before burying her face in his side. There was a long road ahead, but with Lee by her side, she knew she could make it.