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

26. Helpless

Clementine opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by darkness, unable to move. She wasn't sure what happened, but listening closely Clem could hear an engine running and the ground seemed to be shaking under her, leading the girl to believe she was in the back of the truck she saw earlier.

Sitting up, Clementine discovered her hands were tightly bound behind her back. Her wrists ached from the ties, her stomach was incredibly sore from the kick, and her whole head hurt, especially her nose, which she had trouble breathing through. Trying to stand up, a major bump shook the truck, sending Clem painfully face first into the hard floor. Clementine sobbed to herself, trying to endure the pain.

"Clementine?" called a familiar voice.

"Christa?"

"Clementine!"

"Christa!" Clem looked around in desperation, but the entire area was pitch black. "Where are you?"

"Just follow my voice." Clementine started moving towards Christa's voice on her knees. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," admitted a terrified Clementine as she tried to locate Christa in the darkness. "I think so."

"Just come to me sweetie." Clem could hear Christa dead ahead. She kept moving along on her knees until one of them banged into something. Clem fell forward, but only slightly, her head landing on something fairly soft.

"Clem, is that you?"

"Yeah. It's me," confirmed Clem, relieved to hear Christa so close, even if she couldn't see her.

"Try to get behind me sweetie." Clem tried inching around where she thought Christa was, feeling along with her knees as she moved. "See if you can reach my hands with yours." Clem started feeling around with her fingertips, touching what she was fairly sure was Christa's thigh.

"You can't untie those," spoke a despondent Carlos from the other side of the truck. "They're plastic zip ties. You have to cut them off."

"I'm not trying to get them off," answered a desperate Christa.

"Then what am I doing?" Clementine suddenly felt Christa's hands, which quickly grasped her own.

"I just want you to know I'm right here sweetie." Clementine breathed a little easier upon feeling the warmth from Christa's touch, and even felt a small bit of comfort from Christa wrapping her fingers around the girl's small hands. Clementine responded in kind by grasping Christa's hands as firmly as she could.

"I'm right here Clem," assured Christa as calmly as she could.

"I'm glad you are," confessed Clementine.