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

25. Souvenirs and Memories

Clementine watched as Sarah drew her machete and pulled the door to the gift shop open. The older girl paused to rap the weapon against the door frame a few times to lure out any possible undead creeping around. After receiving no response, the pair was confident that there probably weren't any walkers shopping for NASA memorabilia and it was safe to go inside.

The gift shop was pretty much exactly what could be expected. There were racks of t-shirts, mugs, and posters all bearing NASA's insignia and various mission logos. Moving to the center of the store, the trio found themselves before a large statue seated in front of a set of stairs leading to an upper level overlooking the ground floor.

"I'll go check to make sure there's nothing upstairs," said Sarah as she clutched her machete tightly.

"Be careful, you don't have your raincoat on," warned Clem.

"I will." Sarah carefully ascended the stairs while Clem examined her surroundings. The statue parked in the middle of the shop featured a woman, a man, and a small child all wearing spacesuits. The man was kneeling down with his hand on the child's shoulder while the woman looked up at something unknown. Clem was about to take a closer look when she heard Sarah yell.

"Clem!" The older girl came racing down the stairs. "You gotta see this!"

"What?" asked an anxious Clem as she reached for her gun.

"Try this." Sarah thrust a package into Clem's hands.

"Freeze-dried ice cream?" Clem read off the packing, which featured a picture of a space shuttle taking off.

"Try it." At Sarah's prompting, Clem dug her fingers into the packet and retrieved a small white fragment that looked more like a chunk of drywall than ice cream.

"Are you—"

"Trust me, just eat it."

Clem shrugged and popped the alleged piece of ice cream into her mouth. Bitting into it, Clem grimaced as her teeth crunched what felt like a chunk of styrofoam. She was tempted to spit it out, but then something happened.

"Oh my God..." As she chewed the piece, the odd texture gave way to something that felt creamy instead. "This... this is actually ice cream."

"I know!" Sarah didn't hesitate to grab a pink piece from the package as Clem savored the sweet vanilla taste that had erupted in her mouth. If it were just cold instead of room temperature, it'd be a perfect match for ice cream, but that minor caveat didn't deter Clem's enjoyment of the treat one bit.

Finishing the piece, Clem didn't hesitate to grab a chocolate piece next, and after those first couple of crunches, the girl briefly found herself in heaven. "I can't believe how good this is," raved Clem as she closed her eyes and delighted in a long forgotten flavor. "That stuff is over a year old?"

"It has to be." Sarah took the package from Clem. "On the back it says they remove all the water, that's how they freeze dry it, and that makes it last forever."

"Forever?" asked Clem.

"Or close enough," said Sarah as she popped another chunk of vanilla ice cream into her mouth. "There's a whole shelf of it up there."

"Wow. We'll have to make sure we get it all when we come back with our bags."

Sarah turned to a nearby shelf and grabbed a backpack hanging off of it. "I'm gonna get it right now," she beamed. "Here." Sarah handed the ice cream back to Clem. "Break off a tiny piece and let Omid try it. I'll be right back." Sarah hurried upstairs while Clem knelt down in front of Omid's stroller.

"You ready for something really good?"

"Ab-dah-luh," answered Omid.

"You're gonna love this. Ice cream is like one of the best things ever, even when it's freeze-dried." Clem removed a chunk of strawberry ice cream and broke off as small a piece as she could. "Open wide." Clem held the piece in front of Omid's face for a moment before he opened his mouth. "In we go."