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

13. The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

Clementine was the first to awaken. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she sat up. AJ slept next to her. Louis had gone to sleep with his head rested on the bed. He probably slept off during his watch. The sun was up, meaning that that it was time they all got to work.

Slipping out of bed, she recalled the escape from the day before. The bedroom door was still closed, and the inside of the house was quiet. It was safe to assume that the walkers had not been able to break down the door.

She ventured out of the bedroom and cautiously made her way over to the front door. The sofa still sat there, protecting them from an intrusion. Peeking out of the window, she came face to face with a walker.

Startled, she jumped back, causing it to start growling and clawing at the window. There were still a few of them out there. The door didn't appear to be a good option to use anymore.

On returning to the room, she found Louis awake. "Morning. The front door is still filled with walkers," she told him.

"Okay, that's a lot of information to process within the first few seconds of waking up," he replied, stifling a yawning.

"Sorry. I just want to get out of here and back to the cabin."

"Yeah, me too. I'm done with a lifetime's supply of walker scares."

Clementine woke AJ up. "The window might be our way out," she told Louis, pulling the curtains aside slightly. The window faced the side of the property. The fence in front was too tall to simply jump over. If they could reach the backyard, that could still provide an escape route.

"What's going on?" AJ asked sleepily, noticing her staring out the window.

"We're getting out through here. Help me clear everything up."

They bagged their items and stood in front of the window. Clementine unlatched the lock, swinging the window open towards the outside with a little creak. She poked her head out. There was a walker on the road, but other than that, it seemed safe to jump out.

She climbed out onto the grass and waited for Louis and AJ to follow her. Going to the front did not seem like a good idea. Heading towards the backyard of the house, she found a little playground. A tyre hung from a tree, swaying with the breeze. A broken slide lay sideways on the unkempt grass, with a sandbox to its side as well as a seesaw.

"What is all this?" AJ asked. "Are they... walker traps?"

"What? No, this is a playground," Louis said, with a hint of sorrow in his voice.

"This is where parents used to bring their children to play," Clementine said.

"So, everyone got to come here?" AJ asked.

"Well, this one probably belonged to the family living in this house. But there were other ones for everyone to come and play."

"What is that tyre one?"

"You sit in it and someone pushes the tyre. It's fun seeing who can go higher. You can try it, if you want."

"Maybe some other day," AJ said, not entirely convinced of the concept. "The walkers can get you if you sit playing here. Why would anyone make this?"

"It wasn't built for a time that had walkers," Louis said. "It was meant for children to play in the day."

"I bet it was nice without walkers."

Clementine sighed. "It was. But that doesn't mean we still can't have fun," she told him, glancing at Louis.

They slipped through a gap in the fence, landing in the backyard of another house. The house appeared slightly different than the ones they'd seen before. It had two storeys and a back entrance as well. A few trees were sprinkled throughout the back.