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

60. Lone Star State

"How's my big brave boy?" Lifting Omid out of his crib, Clementine discovered big was hardly an exaggeration anymore. "Did all those loud noises scare you?"

"Ah-mah-duh-buh, Kem-men," babbled the toddler, sounding distressed.

"It's okay," assured the girl as she cradled the boy in her arms, gently stroking his head through his curly dark hair. "Don't worry, we're far away from those loud noises now."

"Doh-bree-kem-men," said Omid, sounding no more reassured.

"I know, I know, but we have to talk to these people we found," said Clem as she set Omid back in the crib. "It'll just be for a little while, and then I'll be right back."

"Doh-bree-kem-men," repeated the boy as he looked up at the girl with his sad brown eyes.

"I know but... here," said Clem as she found the photo she had given Omid earlier lying in the crib. "This way, I can watch you when I'm not here." Clem grabbed some scotch tape from the cupboard and used it to stick the photo to the top of Omid's crib, making sure the image faced the boy. "Is that better?"

Omid looked at the photo, then looked at Clem, then back at the photo. He seemed less upset now, but still not content.

"Don't worry, if anything is wrong, we'll be right there." Clem switched on the baby monitor in Omid's crib, then took one last look at the boy. There was an almost quiet sense of resignation on his face as Clem backed out of the bedroom, as if he was expecting her to go. She always hated leaving Omid alone but there were other things that needed her attention right now, like the old man and his grandson staring at her from their couch.

"So... there's a baby in there?" asked Sin, as if he didn't believe what he was saying.

"Yeah," shrugged Clem as she headed for the fridge.

"Whose baby is it?" asked Sin.

"His parents are dead," informed Clem in a sad voice as she opened the fridge. "So we're taking care of him now."

"Isn't that hard?" Clem looked over to see Jet staring at her expectedly.

"Yeah," she said, surprised to hear the boy ask her that. "It's pretty hard."

"How old is he?" asked Jet.

"About ten and half months," said Clem as she removed her raincoat from the fridge.

"And you've been taking care of him this whole time?" asked Jet.

"Yeah, me and Sarah," said Clem as she slipped her raincoat on.

"Why do you wear that?" asked Sin.

"They keep us safe from walkers," said Clem.

"Walkers?"

"The dead people who keep walking," said Clem as she pulled her raincoat down.

"How?" asked Sin.

"It's covered in stuff from their bodies, so we smell like them," informed Clem. "If we smell like them, they don't smell us, and they don't hurt us as long as we're quiet."

"Really?" asked Jet in surprise.

"That doesn't make sense," said Sin. "How do those things even have a sense of smell?"

"Trust me man, it works," said Patty as she slowed the RV to a stop. "Just one of many things we can talk about in a minute." Clem looked out the windshield to see they were pulling into a rest stop. Passing them on the right were small wooden gazebos with concrete benches underneath, while on the left was a bunch of flags on poles Clem mostly didn't recognize. Just past the flags was a massive sculpture in the shape of a star. It was twice as tall as the Brave and hollow, like a giant cookie cutter.