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

58. Only Temporary

Clementine couldn't stop staring at Sarah, still outraged over what she did. She betrayed everyone, and was rewarded for it. Being freed of the pen, given more to eat, while having to do less than before. But the thing that angered Clementine most was the radio attached to Sarah's waistband. One look at the stickers on it, and Clem knew it was hers.

Cookie had been going on about iron skillets and how you only have to occasionally season them with vegetable oil, and why that's a good thing since they can't get butter anymore. Clementine really couldn't care less what he was saying. None if it seemed to matter. As if she would ever get a chance to use anything he was supposedly teaching her.

"Cookie?" called Gertrude's voice over the radio. "Is this the right channel?"

"Yeah girl, what's up?" answered Cookie.

"I wanted to give you a heads up. Bill said one of my hens has gone too long without laying and well, I'm gonna have to butcher her," reported Gertrude. "Just wanted to make sure you got everything you need to cook chicken tomorrow before I do."

"Yeah, I'll be looking forward to it," assured Cookie. "We still got a lot of rice, so I could do grilled chicken and rice if Bill signs off on it. Maybe Lauren has some extra vegetables we could use."

"Good luck prying them away from her," chuckled Gertrude. "I'll have the bird ready for you tomorrow after lunch, and we'll all be eating chicken for dinner." Cookie clipped his radio back to his belt. Turning back to Clem and Sarah, he couldn't help noticing the utter contempt on Clem's face and the unrelenting misery on Sarah's. "Umm, you girls want to know why people call me Cookie?"

"Cause you're a cook?" guessed an uninterested Clem.

"No actually, it's an old childhood nickname of mine," explained Cookie. "Cookie was apparently the first word I ever said, and according to my parents it was the only word I knew for a long time. So with me saying cookie all the time, they just started saying it back to me and it kinda stuck.

"My name is William and I was a delivery man before the outbreak. But I went camping with my pa a lot, got used to cooking with just a skillet over an open flame, and I remembered a lot of things my ma taught me around the kitchen and when I told Gene, he thought I could be the cook, and since there's already someone else named William here, I figured, Cookie will work." Looking back at Clem and Sarah, Cookie saw absolutely no change in either girl's face.

"Um, well..." Cookie rubbed the back of his head. "You know, let me get one of my grills. I think you might find that a bit more interesting." Cookie left the girls at the table while he headed back into his shack. Sarah looked up at a still angry Clementine, then looked away.

"Cluh... Clementine?" asked Sarah, too ashamed to look the younger girl in the eyes. "Have... have you seen my dad? Is he—"

"Whatta you care?" snapped Clem.

"Wuh... what?" asked a confused Sarah.

"Do you care about what happened to me today?"

"Of course I do."

"Then why did you tell!" Sarah flinched as Clementine raised her voice. "You ruined everything!"

"I... I..."

"Matt's trying to kill me! He probably would have this morning if I didn't stop him! But because I did, I had to carry tons of wood I could barely lift because they'll starve me if I don't! And they'll probably make me do it again tomorrow while you're getting fat on chicken!"

Sarah started shrieking hysterically. Clementine watched in shock as tears started pouring out of the older girl's eyes as she screamed in agony, as if she was suddenly dying. It was unlike any other time Clem had seen Sarah cry, she was yelling so much that it sounded like she was suffocating.