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

62. Fair Share

Clementine found herself shivering as she stuck her knife into the fish's belly. The girl grimaced as she listened to noise of the blade slicing through its flesh. Her gloves were already soaking wet from the previous fish she had carved up, and she felt her fingertips going numb as she worked on their latest catch. She hurriedly cut out the organs, sliced off the head and tail, then tried to steady her hands long enough to cut the skin from the meat.

"Why the hell am I stuck out here at the crack of dawn catching breakfast for everyone?" grumbled Anthony as he adjusted his grip on his fishing rod.

"Because you're the best at it," reminded Clem as she skinned the fish a few careful gestures at a time. "And I'm here too."

"Yeah, and I hope you're paying attention," mumbled the young man.

"I am. Fishing doesn't look hard, there's just a lot of waiting."

"Especially when you're having to catch fish for six people."

"We only need one more," said Clem as she removed the skin and scales from one side of the carcass. "It shouldn't be much longer."

"Maybe for you. Once I'm done with this I'm stuck with Patty all day as we try to teach that old man how to get past the dead," griped Anthony. "And from the sound of things, then I'll probably be stuck teaching him and his grandson how to fish next. I still don't know why you three insisted on bringing them along."

"Because we don't just leave people behind," said Clem as she flipped the fish over.

"Oh no? We turned tail and drove the hell away from Houston the second we heard it was loaded with thousands of people," reminded Anthony. "And that's because more people just means more problems; I know it and you know it."

"Not always," said Clem as she started skinning the other side of their catch. "We know how to fish because of you. And you know how to get past walkers because of us. And Patty can fix things. And—"

"And what exactly can these new people do?" asked Anthony as he reeled in his line. "I doubt we'll find any more refineries the old man can work at and I'm willing to bet his grandson doesn't quite have your killer instincts."

"So what?" challenged Clem as she cleaved the meat from the bone. "Even if they couldn't do anything at all we should still help then."

"You really think that?" asked Anthony as he cast out his line.

"Yes. If I didn't, I wouldn't be taking care of OJ."

"What if you had another baby?" said Anthony. "You think just the four of us could take care of two babies and keep ourselves alive?"

"There's six of us now," insisted Clem as she dropped the freshly cut fish into their cooler. "Plus OJ."

"That remains to be seen. And seriously, just having the one baby is a big enough hassle. I mean you might be able to keep him locked up in that RV for now, but eventually he's going to get tall enough to open the door, and he won't understand why he should stay inside."

"We won't let that happen," declared Clem.

"Maybe, but if we keep just picking up every person we find, you and Sarah might not have the time to watch the kid every second of every day," reasoned Anthony as he started reeling in his line. "I mean, what happens if we did wind up with another baby somehow, or somebody who is seriously sick or hurt? Are we gonna take care of them too?"

"Yes!" stated Clem. "I don't care how many times you say it, but we're not just going to leave people behind."

"Except for everyone back in Houston," reminded Anthony. "That is, unless you want to go back and try your luck at helping them?"