Young and Young at Heart (The Rewrite of The Walking Dead Game: S2) [TWDG/TWD]

6. Home Invasion

Clementine rocked back and forth on the ground, desperately trying to think of anything that could take her mind off her surroundings. She had already tried the door several times now. Pulling it, kicking it, banging on it, even ramming it with her shoulder. But it wouldn't budge. Clem had searched the shed probably a dozen times now for anything useful. But there was nothing. No windows, no tools, no signs of escape. Just four wooden walls and a roof.

She didn't know how long it had been since she was locked up. It's hard to keep track of time in an empty shed. Clem could see through the slits in the boards it was darker now, so it may have been at least a few hours. It was also raining now, something Clem could tell both from the sound and the water dripping in from the ceiling. She was grateful for that since it gave her something to drink, which helped slightly in curbing her hunger.

Unfortunately between the sun going down and it raining, it had gotten much cooler. Even more unfortunate, Clem discovered a drafty shed wasn't nearly as good at keeping out the cold as a well-built cabin. She had started shivering what felt like an hour ago and her teeth had recently started chattering, and it was getting colder still.

As bad as the cold was, Clementine's arm was still her biggest problem. The pain was worse than ever and the wound had started slowly bleeding through the bandage Omid had made. She was afraid to even look at the injury, worried she would see her whole arm just covered in blood at this point, or worse.

With nothing else to do, Clementine tried to go to sleep. She was pretty tired, maybe she could just wake up in the morning and things would be better. The girl curled up in one of the corners, pulled her knees up to her chest, shut her eyes and tried to force out the cold and the pain and the hunger from her mind, but it was too much. She couldn't even ignore the cold thanks to an oddly localized draft hitting the back of her head.

Clementine rolled over and studied the wall, hoping to find the source of the draft. The shed didn't have a floor, it was just built on top of the dirt, and there was a gap between a couple of the boards where the ground was uneven. Clementine edged in closer and looked through the gap. She could actually see the cabin through it, or at very least the bottom of it.

Clem pushed on the boards above the gap, but they didn't give. She sat up and started kicking them instead, hitting them over and over again until her foot hurt. It made no difference. Clem sighed. She tried to stick her hand through the gap, just hoping to get a little bit closer to home. She wanted nothing more than to get away from the cabin this morning, but now she'd give anything just to spend the night in her bed again.

Unable to fit, Clem pulled back her hand, now covered in dirt. She looked at the gap again, thinking if she was just a little bigger or stronger she could break those boards and get out, but she wasn't. Clem started wiping the dirt off her hand, further ruining her already ruined dress, and then it dawned on her. She couldn't move the boards, but she could move the dirt.

Clem dug her nails into the dirt around the gap. The ground was cold and hard, but she managed to pry a handful of soil loose. She tossed it in the corner and immediately reached for another handful. Again, again and again she dug out a scoop of the ground, widening the gap a little bit at a time. Her fingertips became very sore as she dug, having to use them to break the increasingly hard ground, but Clem refused to slow down.

Every handful let her see a little bit more of the outside. Clem tested the gap by sticking her arm through. She managed to get her whole shoulder past the opening, but there wasn't nearly enough room for her head, so she started widening the opening. Her hand was beginning to ache, but the sight of the cabin was enough for Clem to keep shoveling at a frantic pace.

Unable to wait any longer, Clem plunged her whole head through the opening. It was a very tight fit, and she had to close her eyes as her face brushed against the wet ground. But slowly she managed to force herself through the opening. Rain started falling on her head as half of her emerged on the other side of the wall. However, Clem had trouble pulling the rest of herself through the hole.