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

18. Foresight

Sarah had found a secluded spot off the highway to hide the Brave while Clementine stowed their equipment. Looking through the windows, Clem could see trees on all but one side and breathed a sigh of relief, confident that their home had been safely tucked away and was out of sight now. But this fleeting sense of safety did not last as Clem looked at the stacks of bullets they had collected and realized they would not always be able to hide. The girl grabbed one of the boxes of handgun ammunition and sat down in front of the dining room table.

Clementine removed her pistol from its holster and ejected its magazine. Clem set the magazine next to the bullets, and then carefully pulled the gun's slide to confirm there was no bullet in the chamber. Seeing the gun was unloaded, Clem clicked its safety on and set the gun down, taking care to point the barrel away from her and Sarah, just in case.

Clem opened the box and slid the tray holding the cartridges out and onto the table. She was surprised to see so many bullets crammed into such a small space and checking the box she discovered apparently fifty rounds had been stuffed inside. Clem started feeding bullets into the magazine, managing to load fifteen into it before it was full. Including the two she loaded back at the gun store, that made seventeen. Clem loaded the magazine into the gun, pulled back on the slide, then slid the magazine back out and reached for another bullet.

"I thought you already loaded it," said Sarah as she sat down in front of Clem.

"The gun holds one bullet," explained Clem as she loaded a single bullet into the magazine. "So if you pull on it, that loads a bullet in the gun, and then this part can hold one more."

"I don't remember Byron telling us that."

"He didn't, I just sorta figured it out on my own." Clementine loaded the magazine into the gun, making for eighteen rounds total. "Next we need to figure out what kind of bullets that rifle uses." Sarah nodded at Clem and grabbed the rifle. She tried to set it on the tiny table, only to realize it wasn't going to fit. "Um, let's just figure it out on the floor."

The girls set the rifle on the ground and sat down in front of it. Clem carefully inspected it before ejecting its magazine while Sarah grabbed one of every type of rifle ammunition they had taken, laying them out on the floor to examine.

The rifle bullets were much longer than the pistol ones, and had sharper points on the end; there were also far less of them in a box. Clem removed a bullet from one of the boxes and tried to load it in the magazine, but it was too big. Clem pulled another bullet from a different box and tried to load it; too small. She pulled a third a bullet and it almost fit, but not quite. Taking from yet another box, Clem tried to push the bullet into the magazine without looking, only for it to slip right in.

"Huh." Looking closely, the bullet seemed like a snug fit, so Clem loaded the magazine into the rifle and cocked it.

"Was that the right kind?" asked Sarah.

"I think so." Clem cocked the rifle again and the bullet was ejected. She picked it up off the floor and examined the number stamped on the bottom. "Three-zero-eight. I guess that's what type of bullets it uses." Clem reached for the box with those numbers and ejected the rifle's magazine.

"Wait," said Sarah. "Can I load it?"

"You want to?" asked Clem.

"Well, if I'm going to use it, I probably should get used to loading it." Sarah collected the magazine and loaded a round into it. "I can't stop thinking about it either," she said as she loaded another round.

"About what?"

"About when that gun was pointed at Omid's..." Sarah paused as she looked at one of the rounds. "I... I was so scared when they tied up my hands and said they'd kill everyone in the RV if I ran away. I didn't think I could be more scared than right then. But then one of them grabbed Omid's hair and..." Clem watched as Sarah guided her trembling hand towards the magazine and struggled to load the bullet. "Do... do you really think someone would do that? Would... just shoot a little baby?"