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

42. Fully Loaded

Clementine watched as Omid crawled out of her grasp. The boy climbed off the bed and immediately honed in on a ball resting in the corner.

"I... I'm gonna go check the manual about turning on the pilot lights." Clem looked over at Sarah, who seemed as unnerved about Patty's story as she was, and then nodded at the older girl.

"I'll go check on Patty," volunteered Clem as Sarah left the bedroom. Clem stood up, but paused as she heard Omid laughing. She watched as the boy bent over to pick up his ball and felt a sudden urge to hold him. Clem knelt down, wrapped her arms around the boy and kissed the top of his head.

"I love you," whispered Clem. "Love you."

"Muh-boo," babbled Omid before throwing his ball across the room again. Clem left Omid to play and headed out of the bedroom. She passed Sarah, who was studying the RV's manual intently, then stepped outside. There Clem saw Patty fiddling with the propane tank sitting on the garbage can.

"Did it work?" asked Clem as she approached the woman.

"Yeah, we already got a couple of gallons," said Patty as she twisted the valve on the tank. "I could probably speed things up by holding it upside down until your tank was mostly full." Patty moved away from the tank and approached the RV. "But you said you two never used the propane before, right?"

"Yeah, we've never had propane for as long as we've had the RV," said Clem.

"I was thinking we should test it first." Patty unscrewed the hose attached to the Brave's built-in propane tank. "Make sure we're not doing all this for nothing." Patty screwed the cap back onto the propane tank's valve, then turned a knob. "Ready for warm water and hot food?"

"Definitely!" Clementine enthusiastically bounded back into the RV with Patty trailing right behind her.

"Did it work?" asked Sarah as she looked up from the manual.

"I just opened the gas line," informed Patty as she stepped inside.

"Great. We need to turn on the water pump now." Sarah sprung up from her seat and ran over to a small panel of lights mounted above the oven and pressed one of the three switches running across the bottom. "Clem, go to the bathroom and turn on the hot water in the shower."

"Okay." Clem raced into the bathroom, slid open the shower door, and turned the knob for hot water. Nothing happened at first, but then Clem heard a creaking sound and water started spraying from the shower head, prompting her to jump backwards. Clem rolled up her sleeve and stuck her hand in the running water.

"It's not hot," announced Clem.

"Turn it off," called Sarah from the living room. Clem carefully reached inside and turned the water off, then bolted out of the bathroom.

"Now what?" asked Clem.

"I just press this button, and that should turn on the water heater's pilot light," explained Sarah as she pressed another button. "The manual says if this light goes off after a few seconds, that means the pilot light works." Sarah pointed to a small orange light on the panel. Clem watched it intently, waiting anxiously for it to change, feeling that this tiny orange blip was even mocking her impatience, only for it to disappear in a flash.

"Did it work?" asked Patty.

"I guess—" Clem raced back into the bathroom before Sarah could finish speaking. She turned on the hot water in the shower again and stepped back. Holding out her hand, Clem was disappointed to find the water was still room temperature.

"Did it work?" Clem looked over her shoulder to find Sarah behind her; her disappointed look told the older girl everything she needed to know. "I... I guess the water heater doesn't work."