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

83. Nothing to Fear

Clementine instinctively dove for cover behind the nearest pew and pulled her gun. She flinched as she listened to the rapid series of small explosions. It sounded like some kind of machine gun. After about ten seconds of nonstop fire, the shots stopped.

Clem peeked out from cover, looking for any sign of the attacker. She didn't hear anything, other than Omid Jr crying loudly. She couldn't see anyone, but there seemed to be a charred black spot on the floor just ahead.

"Is anyone hit?" called an anxious Christa.

"I'm... I'm okay," stuttered a terrified Sarah.

"Stay down!" warned Nick. "There might be more." Clem ignored Nick's warning and inched towards the black spot on the floor.

"Clementine!" called Christa. "Get back here!" Kneeling down, she looked at the black spot. There were shredded pieces of red paper scattered around a burn mark on the floor.

"Clementine!" Clem looked over her shoulder to find Sarah trying to pull her by the arm. "Come on!"

"It's okay," assured Clem. "It wasn't a gun."

"What?" asked Nick as he stood up. "Then what was it?"

"I think it was firecrackers."

"Firecrackers?" repeated Christa as she tried to stop Omid Jr from crying.

"Where the hell did they come from?" asked Nick as he moved to Sarah and Clem.

"Why firecrackers?" Sarah's question was answered by a chorus of uneven moans and the sound of shuffling footsteps. Clementine turned on the lantern hanging from her belt, and discovered a plethora of walkers lurching towards them.

"Oh shit..." mumbled Nick.

"I... I thought the front door was locked," stuttered Sarah.

"It was!" announced Clem.

"Well we ain't using the front door." Nick spun around and moved past the fire pit to the metal door that Clem examined earlier. He tried to turn the knob, but it wouldn't move. "The fuck? Why's this locked!" Nick rammed the door with his shoulder, but nothing happened.

"We're trapped!" realized a horrified Sarah. "They trapped us!"

"It's okay," insisted Clem. "We can just walk past them if we're quiet." Clementine's suggestion was undermined by Omid Jr's crying.

"That's a big if," noted an alarmed Nick. "Can you get him to stop?"

"I'm trying," answered Christa as she cradled her son in a desperate attempt to calm him.

"Then I guess I'll keep trying the door." Nick took his crowbar and jammed it into the side of the door, trying to force it into a seam.

"We... we'll slow them down," announced Clementine.

"We will?" asked a confused Sarah.

"We gotta try!" Sarah looked over at Christa as she tried to placate the still screeching baby, then turned back to Clementine.

"I... I'll try." Sarah drew the machete from her back while Clementine pocketed her tomahawk's sheath. Clementine moved down the aisle, Sarah reluctantly following after her. The pair stopped as they reached the nearest walker, staggering towards the sound of a crying baby.

"Remember, just focus on the leg," whispered Clementine as Sarah tightened her grip on the machete. "He can't smell you, so he doesn't even know you're here."

Clem inched out of the way as the older girl arched the machete back. Sarah swung for the walker's ankle, slicing into its rotted tendons. It fell onto its side and Clem immediately drove the tomahawk's spike into its skull. The walker made one minor convulsion, then lay dead.