Three Orphan Pilgrimage (The Alternative to TWDG's Final Season) [Walking Dead]

29. Contact

It was warmer today than it was yesterday, which Clem normally would be grateful for, but good weather couldn't make up for what she was seeing. After an evening of pursuing the boat she had spotted to no success, a restless night wondering if she even wanted to find it, and an entire morning heading south through miles of ghost towns, Clementine was now in view of what was undeniably a sign of living people.

Using the telescope, she could see this rural interstate running alongside the river led right up to a crude barrier constructed out of cars lined up on an intersection. It stretched across both lanes of the highway, past the shoulders, and even to the shore where the land met the river. Focusing on the median, Clem could see beyond the barrier there was a truck that was taller than the others with a chair resting on top of it, and seated in that chair was a person.

She couldn't make out their face at this distance, but their skin wasn't sickly or pale, so they probably weren't dead or a walker. Trying to focus the telescope, Clem watched as the person in the chair turned their head in her direction. Terrified she had been spotted, Clem grabbed the telescope and bolted for the side of the road, hurrying towards where the Brave was tucked aside behind a few trees. She didn't even have to knock on the door, it sprung open as soon as she approached it and the girl darted inside.

"Are you okay?" asked a nervous Sarah as she hastily relocked the door.

"I saw someone," announced a frightened Clem as she set the telescope down.

"Who?"

"I don't know, just someone. They're at that big wall of cars in a chair, like they're guarding it."

"That boat you saw must have gone this way," concluded a trembling Sarah. "There's no way they'd have a wall and someone guarding it unless there's something to guard on the other side."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Also..." Clem bit her lip.

"Also what?"

"I... I think whoever was out there may have seen me."

Sarah's eyes went wide with terror. "Oh God. We... we should just go, right now," she stuttered as she hurried into the driver's seat. "Before they come over here—before they find us."

"Wait," said Clem as she rushed to the Sarah's side. "We came this way because we were hoping to find someone who could help us fix the Brave's tire."

"Someone, not a whole town of people," retorted a shaking Sarah. "They... they have a wall and... and... they're going to be like Shaffer's; they'll put us in a cage and beat us and starve us. And Omid... oh God, what will they do to him?" Sarah let go of the steering wheel and started crying into her hands.

"No one is going to hurt you or Omid," asserted Clem in a confident voice.

"You don't know that," sobbed Sarah.

"Yes I do, because you and him aren't going near this place until I know it's safe for us," said Clem. "I'll go down there alone and—"

"No!" Sarah suddenly threw her arms around Clem and pulled her close. "I don't want anything to happen to you either."

"I... I know you don't," spoke Clem as she returned Sarah's hug. "But you remember what you said? When we met that woman? We need help."

"No—no we don't," denied Sarah as she tightened her grip on Clem. "I was wrong."

"No you weren't. If we can't even change a tire we definitely can't fix the Brave if something worse happens, and we need more food—"

"We'll figure it out on our own, just like you said," cried Sarah as she held onto Clem.