A Shred of Hope (The Walking Dead) (The Final Season Retelling)

5. A Walk to Remember

"Violet, behind you!" Clementine yelled, spotting the walker. She dropped her newly found bag and charged towards the other girl.

Before Violet could turn around, the walker had reached for her shoulders. She blindly spun around, swinging her hatchet, losing her balance as she did so. As she hit the ground, she looked at the walker, her mind a blank.

Clementine thrust her knife through the walker's eye, immediately killing it. She looked at the approaching walkers, realising that they if they didn't get out of that spot that instant, they weren't going to make it.

"Get up!" she shouted at Violet, shaking the girl out of her stupor as she held out her hand. "We don't have time!"

Violet pulled herself to the present, taking Clementine's hand. They stood side by side, hunting for the way out.

"That way!" Clementine pointed towards an opening.

Violet nodded, burying her hatchet in another head.

They took off along their path, ducking under the arms of the dead as they evaded their grasp. They kept running through the now thinning horde, growls assaulting their ears. The sun had almost set, making everything twice as hard to manoeuvre through.

"There's the road!" Clementine exclaimed, out of breath.

As their feet hit the asphalt, she doubled over, catching her breath. Her chest hurt and her legs felt like jelly. She glanced around, noticing Violet throwing up. The walkers weren't close anymore, but some of them were still limping their way over to the two of them. She saw her car down the road, surrounded by the dead. Her heart sank when she couldn't spot AJ and Louis. "Fuck! Where are they?"

"Louis!" Violet called out, hoping he would hear it.

Clementine ran her eyes over her surroundings, looking for any sign of the two.

"The forest," Violet said suddenly, looking towards the trees on the other side of the road. "If they're not here, then that's where Louis will have gone with AJ."

"Are you sure?"

"That's the place he'd go."

Clementine got the feeling that Violet was trying to make herself believe the words. She weighed her options. She could either wait near the road to see if she could spot them, a choice that seemed highly unlikely to pan out well considering the dangers involved, or, she could place her faith in a stranger. She knew better than to take someone she didn't know at their word, but the current situation didn't leave her with much of a choice.

"Clementine, we don't have time. Are you coming with me?"

"Let's go," she finally replied, hoping it was the right decision.

Violet made her way into the trees, gripping her hatchet in one hand as Clementine followed her. The commotion of the horde seemed to move further away with every step. The moon had come up now, shining its silver light over the ground for them to see their way. The wind blew between the trees, the leaves a whispering audience.

"Hey, thanks for saving me back there, and..... I'm sorry you lost your bag," Violet said softly as they trudged along the trail.

Clementine nodded. She was plagued by worry about finding AJ, her mind a complete ruckus of thoughts. Losing the bag was incomparable to the feeling of being in the dark about AJ's safety.

"Louis probably took AJ to the forest house."

"Forest house?" Clementine inquired.

"It's where we stay. It's in the middle of the forest, so we call it that. If Louis couldn't find us, he'll return home and wait for us there."