Salvation. The Walking Dead: Season Five.

Our Last Days - Part Four.

*

The earth seemed to accelerate rapidly beneath Clementines boots, rooted to the Goodwill floor on which she stood as her chances of survival reduced greatly with each passing second she took to create an escape route.

And this was damn near impossible when doing so meant leaving her loved ones to fight off the oncoming walkers blocking both exits. She found training her mind to stay on task incredibly difficult as her head would involuntarily snap back to check on their safety.

They were all outnumbered at least four to one. And that was just the walkers that had dragged their way from inside the centre strip after Violets scent.

She had her Hatchet armed and ready for battle, her new black skin tight jacket zipped up completely and snap fastened at the collar resting underneath her chin. Her jaw was clenched as she swung her first blow, slicing right through the head of a walker at the mouth.

In the same instant she turned her attention to AJ, who had been crouched down over the broken china, to pick up a lethal piece to defend himself with. He swung the makeshift dagger upwards in his closed palm blindly at Clementines warning of a walkers attempt to snatch him.

It slit cleanly across its stomach, the perished guts spilling onto its feet, causing it to slip over almost comically. This gave Violet opportunity to fatally maim the walker, driving her hatchet into the brain, its aimless flailing ceased immediately.

The fleeting space it gave them both allowed Clementine to tear her eyes away back onto the job at hand.

Scanning the ceiling told her it was too high to get to without anything on the ground to provide the reach they would need. And the numbers of walkers flooding through the entrance made the potential of bum-rushing them a grave prospect.

Another unsurmountable bout of fear breached Clementines conviction to get them free of their hellish predicament, and she focused again on the carnage that had been happening at her back.

The group were losing ground, being edged backwards towards the other set of baying walkers against the class. The one that had almost bit Louis still lay half through the parted door, grasping at the legs that would soon be within reach if they allowed themselves to be marched backwards much more.

In an attempt to thwart this Sophie and Louis had taken to using the few remaining standing clothes racks to ram into the first wall of walkers in their pathway, bowling them over and trapping them beneath the frames.

This gave Clementine an idea. It was completely half baked but with no time to waste she scoured what she had to hand in front of her before spotting the only thing likely to do what she desired.

She jumped over the cash desk and wrapped her arms around the register, starting to heave it off its perch. It was heavy duty and she knew the weight would mean she'd have to use all the strength she had to send it where she wanted.

She closed her eyes tight and pulled some more, her grip around the robust machine digging into her ribs the closer it got to slipping off the edge. And then it did. It all happened in a single moment, it had to. If she had given the register any gravity it would have pulled her to the floor with it.

Instead Clementine drew the power she needed from deep in her gut, the sheer tensing in each of those muscles forced an audible roar from her throat as she swung the register in one complete motion at the drywall inside the Goodwill, crashing into it with force.

It didn't completely break through and into the store on the other side before it smashed onto the floor but it did make a big enough hole for Clementine to work with.