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

100. The Undiscovered Country

Clementine looked on in disbelief. They had followed Highway Forty as Simon had said and all they ever found was nothingness broken up by occasional ghost towns with nothing left to salvage. But after a long week of pedaling across the empty roads of rural Colorado, every day their stomachs growling louder while their meager supply of food dwindled down to nothing, they had finally found a sign: 'Vernal - 33'.

"We should find a place to stay the night," reasoned Sarah as she walked up behind Clem. "Then first thing tomorrow morning—"

"No, we need to make it today," dictated Clem as she turned around to examine Omid. He just sat there in the basket of Clem's bike, a quiet look of perpetual sadness lurking under his half-shut eyes.

"I'm exhausted," argued Sarah. "And—"

"How much food do we have left?" asked Clem as she turned to Sarah suddenly. "Well?"

Sarah sighed. "Maybe enough for half a meal?"

"And the last river we saw was yesterday," said Clem. "So there's nowhere to fish either."

"Maybe... maybe we'll find something in town if we—"

"You saw it yourself on our way in. We checked two restaurants and a gas station, they were all picked clean," reminded Clem in a harsh tone.

"But... look at the sky."

"I have been," said Clem as she looked up at the blanket of gray clouds looming on the western horizon. "If we stay here and get snowed in, it could be days before the roads are useable again, maybe weeks even," she argued. "We won't last that long without any food, so—"

"Okay," conceded Sarah. "But can we stop to eat what we have left first? I'm starving."

Clem didn't want to stop, she didn't want to risk wasting time. But Sarah was hungry, and so was Omid, and so was Clem herself. "Okay," she said. "It'll lighten our load."

Just past the road sign was a playground, complete with a couple of benches under a small awning. The pair moved their bikes out of the road and offloaded their backpacks onto a table. Clem looked around as she went back to her bike, giving her surroundings a cursory glance. If there was some threat lurking about, she couldn't see it right now.

Peeling back Omid's scarf, Clem was distraught to see the quiet misery lurking on his face. Picking him up, she couldn't help thinking even in her tired arms he felt a little lighter than usual. Carrying him over to the table, Clem watched as Sarah removed a can from her backpack, their last can; roast beef. Clem doubted it would be anywhere as good as the label made it look, but she unpacked her can opener anyway.

Clem opened the roast beef while Sarah fished out their little tin of chafing fuel; they didn't have the time, energy or materials to start a proper fire. Sarah lit the chafing fuel's wick while Clem finished opening the can; it looked like it was full of mud. Sniffing it, the odor wasn't pleasant but it didn't smell rotten either. Clem slowly emptied everything into her pan then set it on the makeshift grill Sarah had set-up over the chaffing fuel.

They had little to do now but wait until their food was warm. Clem looked over at Sarah, who just gave Clem a look of quiet exhaustion. All they had done was pedal, gather water, occasionally fish if they were fortunate to get the chance, then sleep when they were too tired to do anything else. That had been their day, every day, for a week now. They had nowhere left to go but forward and the two barely talked to each other anymore; there was nothing to say.

Clem held onto hope Simon would join them the first night they stopped to sleep. They never saw nor heard any sign of him, despite waiting an entire day for him to catch up. However, they had seen no sign of the Vaquero either. While waiting for Simon, they also listened carefully, terrified the sound of a diesel engine would come rolling into earshot any second; it never happened. Neither Clem or Sarah wanted to risk going backwards, so they kept moving west as Simon told them.