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

16. Destination Destitution

Clementine clutched Omid tightly as she hurried up the stairs, both relieved and frightened to be allowed back in her own RV. Standing by the driver's seat was the green thief, a gun clutched their hand and their skull-shaped helmet practically mocking the girl.

"So, you two say you're on your own?" asked the green thief, making no effort to hide their skepticism. "Fucking prove it."

"How?" asked Clem.

"Drive the RV," ordered the green thief. "If it really is just the two of you, that means one of you can drive this thing."

"Okay." Sarah sat down in the driver's seat, released the parking brake, and shifted the vehicle into drive.

"Hey!" The green thief aimed their gun at Sarah.

"You said drive," retorted the older girl.

"I didn't think you'd actually do it. Get up!"

"That's not fair!" said Clem.

"Fair? Who gives a shit about fair!" retorted the green thief. "I mean you two were out here, what, watching movies or some shit?" The thief gestured to the stack of DVD's on the counter. "And you're gonna—"

"Just knock it off already," said the red thief.

"Really? You're seriously—"

"You said if one of them knew how to drive you'd be convinced," reminded the red thief before turning to Sarah. "First place we find with any food, and I mean any, and you're getting off, and then we're moving on."

"Oh... okay," spoke a dismayed Sarah.

"And since you know so much about driving, you can take us there," reasoned the green thief as they sat down in the passenger's seat across from Sarah, their gun resting in their lap in a way that it was still aimed at the older girl.

"Where do I go?" asked Sarah.

"Just head north," said the green thief.

"We came here from the north," said Clem. "We already got everything at the nearest place north of here."

"We've been going south," said Sarah.

"There ain't shit south of here," said the green thief. "We were on the highway for over two days getting here, and there wasn't shit."

"Let's go east, towards the coast."

"No!" said Clem and Sarah nearly in unison.

"Why not?" asked the red thief.

"Savannah is on the coast," said Clem.

"So?" asked the red thief.

"You don't want to go there," insisted Clem.

"There are bad places near Savannah," added a nervous Sarah. "And bad people."

"Fine, what about west?" Nobody said anything. "Well, west it is." Sarah pushed down on the gas pedal and the Brave lurched forward. Clementine watched as they left the mall parking lot and returned to the road.

"I think we can get on the highway down the road," said Sarah. "There's an intersection at the bottom of the hill. We could probably go west from there."

"Do it," ordered the green thief.

"You." Clem looked up to see the red thief was aiming their gun at her again. "Sit on the couch, slowly." Clem inched towards the sofa and sat down, then adjusted her grip on Omid so that he was resting on her lap, taking some of the strain off her arms. The boy had seemed to settle, but still look distressed. Clem watched as the red thief sat down at the dining table across from the couch, keeping their gun aimed at Clem as they did.