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

22. Slumber Party

"So, guys can kiss other guys?" asked Sarah as she opened the checkers box.

"I guess so," shrugged Clementine.

"Does that mean girls can kiss other girls?" pondered Sarah as she laid out the checkers board.

"I don't know. I guess," assumed Clem.

"Does that mean we can kiss?" asked Sarah as she collected the various handmade chess pieces.

"Uhh... do you want to kiss?" asked Clem, unsure what to think of that question.

"No, I'm just thinking out loud." Sarah started placing the pieces on the board.

"About kissing?"

"My dad says I'm at an age where I'll think about kissing and boys and things like that, and that this is the time in my life when I go from being a girl to being a woman."

"How?" wondered Clem, genuinely interested.

"I don't know. I really don't feel any different from a few years ago. Well, except for this one thing."

"What thing?" Sarah tensed up. Looking at her, Clem noticed she looked a little embarrassed. "Is it something bad?"

"It's definitely not good," said Sarah in an uncomfortable voice.

"What is it?"

"Um... I'll tell you about it when you get older."

"If I ever get any older."

"Clementine," exclaimed a concerned Sarah. "Why do you say things like that?"

"I don't know. It just feels like I'm going to be little forever, and I'm sick of it."

"You're only going to be little for a little while. You should enjoy it. Once you grow up you'll never be little again."

"Kinda hard to enjoy being little anymore, now that everything's changed."

"I guess that's true," conceded Sarah. "I... I never saw one that close before."

"You mean the walker?" asked Clem.

"Yeah. They're... they really are... dead," surmised a nervous Sarah. "But they keep moving. How is that possible?"

"I have no idea," answered Clem.

"Why do they want to hurt people?"

"I don't know."

"Where did they come from?"

"I don't know that either."

"And they're just everywhere now?"

"Yeah, they are," answered Clem in a weak voice.

"Have you seen a lot of them before?"

"Thousands..." Clementine looked at Sarah and saw she was becoming frightened. "Let's not talk about walkers."

"Yeah... that's a good idea. Let's just have fun tonight." Sarah turned to the checkerboard covered in crudely made chess pieces. "You can go first."

"Umm..." Clem looked down at the slips of paper with words like 'pawn' and 'bishop' written on them in utter bewilderment. "Actually, I don't really know how to play. My dad was going to teach me, but..."

"Well, I could teach you," suggested Sarah. "The pawns can only move forward." Sarah gestured to the front row of pieces, which were entirely pawns. "You can move them one space forward per turn. Except if it's the first time they've moved, then they go ahead two spaces. Now you can only move them forward in a straight line, but they can only take other pieces diagonally."