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

77. The Kindness of Strangers

Clementine opened her eyes, and found nothing but darkness. She felt something wet lying on her head, and something else binding her hands behind her back. She tried to stand, only to discover her ankles were tied together. The girl tried yelling next, but there was something covering her mouth.

Clementine started thrashing about, desperate to pull free from her restraints. She tried screaming as loud as she could but whatever was gagging her was too tight to make much noise. And no matter how hard she pulled she couldn't separate her hands or feet. Clem struggled with every bit of strength she had, but it was hopeless. All she managed to do was knock off whatever was lying on her forehead.

Clementine rolled onto her side and started bawling as much as she could with a gag covering her mouth, tears pouring down her face and onto the floor. Terror gripped the helpless nine-year-old as horrible thoughts entered her mind about the horrible things whoever tied her up was going to do to her.

Then those horrible thoughts turned to Sarah and whatever horrible things the man who found her did. He said he shouldn't have let her live, so Clem figured that could only mean Sarah was dead, and wouldn't be if she had just been strong enough to pull the trigger, which just made Clem cry harder.

Sobbing to herself in the darkness, Clementine found herself thinking, why? Why is it after everything she had done, this is where she ends up. A small light illuminated the area but Clem couldn't bear to look. She forced her eyes shut, too afraid to face whatever terrible thing fate had in store for her next.

"Clementine?" Opening her eyes, Clementine saw a very familiar woman holding a lantern while sitting with her back against the wall.

"Restuh!" yelled Clem through her gag.

"Oh thank God!" exclaimed a relieved Christa. "Thank God you're awake." Clem started thrashing against her restraints again. "Just calm down Clem. Just—" Christa groaned and clutched her stomach. "Clem, I can't really get up right now, but if you roll over to me, I can untie you." Clementine rocked back and forth a few times, then rolled over to Christa.

"Okay, just hold it right there," instructed Christa as she leaned in close to Clementine. "Just give me a minute." Clem felt a tug on her gag, then it went slack and fell off. Clem took some deep breaths, then started coughing. "I'm so sorry about this sweetie," said Christa as she undid Clementine's hands. "I'm so sorry." Her hands free, Clem immediately reached for her feet. She untied the rope binding her ankles, then immediately spun around and tried to hug Christa.

"Ahh! Easy Clem." Clem backed away from Christa. Looking at the woman, she was breathing hard and had Sarah's jacket draped over her legs.

"What's wrong?" asked Clem.

"I went into labor—" Christa groaned in pain for a moment. "On the way here."

"Labor? What—"

"It means the baby is coming."

"Now?" asked a shocked Clem.

"Eventually," groaned Christa. "God knows I've been stuck here long enough."

"Here?" asked Clem. "Where are we?"

"Clem—"

"Wait, where's Sarah?" asked a panicked Clem.

"She's—"

"What are—"

"Clementine!" Clem looked to Christa. "Calm down. Sarah's okay. Just—" Christa groaned again. "Just relax. One question at a time."

"Okay." Clem took a couple of quick breaths. "Where are we?"

"We're in the basement of Saint Christopher's."