Chapter Text
Ben stiffened as another Walker thumped against the shudders covering the way out of the abandoned store. His grip tightened around Clementine slumped against his side. The poor girl had cried herself to sleep not twenty minutes ago. Her small hand was curled in his, squeezing his fingers every couple of seconds. Ben forced himself to relax back against the wall as he pointedly kept his eyesight on the ground. His stomach twisted in knots at the thought of what laid ahead of him. Who laid ahead of him.
He still couldn’t believe Lee was gone.
The man’s final words still rang in his head. Ben, I need to you t-to take care of Clementine...Get-get her out o-of the city...Find Omid and Christa.
Ben looked towards the entrance as the banging quieted down some. They had to leave soon if they stood any chance of getting out of the city. He hesitated at the thought of waking Clem, she looked exhausted. He was exhausted. It took a long time for Ben to finally get moving. He gently moved Clem off his side and laid her down on the ground before he pulled himself to his feet. She shifted slightly and curled onto her side.
‘Maybe there’s a back door,’ Ben thought. He made his way towards the office, quickly moving around the dead guard. The room was small with only a desk, computer, a large storage shelf, and two doors. Peeking through the dirty window in the far door, he could just make out what looked like a storage room. Ben could barely make out overturned boxes and spared display cases. He tried the doorknob, finding it locked, before moving to the second door. It looked to be a possible backdoor with what looked like the remnants of an exit sign that had fallen off. Unsurprisingly, the door was also locked. ‘The keys must be around here somewhere.’
Ben dug through the desk draws and the surrounding area. Hesitantly Ben turned towards the Guard, spotting the key ring on his belt. He was partially laying on them so Ben would have to move him to get to them.
“Of course that’s where they’d be,” Ben grumbled.
Ben slowly inched himself towards the corpse, watching him for the slightest movement. He knew realistically he was dead, Ben had bashed his head in with a baseball bat, but he couldn’t help but expect him to suddenly lunge at him. Ben nudged the Walker over with his foot before leaning down to quickly snatch the key ring. Luckily there were only three keys so it didn’t take long for him to find the right one.
Ben had to take a couple of minutes to calm his anxiety before slowly pushing the door open and peeking out into the alleyway. It was eerily quiet outside with the distant sounds of the undead in the streets. Ben ducked back inside and closed the door. He walked back into the main room and over to Clementine. Kneeling down next to her, he reached out to gently shake her shoulder.
“Clem, wake up,” Ben said. Clem mumbled something that Ben couldn’t catch before blinking her eyes open.
“Ben?” Clem sat up and rubbed her eyes before looking up at the teen. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying making Ben’s heartache. He tried to offer her a comforting smile, though it didn’t reach his eyes. Clementine reached up to adjust her hat on her head (a coping mechanism Ben had learned) as she looked around the shop. Her eyes drifted towards the far corner where Lee was. Her eyes started welling up again. Ben quickly moved to block her gaze.
“Clem, we need to get going,” Ben said, catching her attention. He tried to not let his anxiety bleed into his voice, not wanting to scare her. “Christa and Omid are probably looking us. We can get out through the back.”
Clementine didn’t respond. Ben sighed before offering his hand to her and pulling her to feet once she took it. He guided her back to the office, stopping to grab the baseball bat from where it laid by the desk. He swallowed thickly at the sight of blood and still clinging to the wood. Both Clem and Ben took one last look to Lee, an air of finality coming over them.
“Goodbye, Lee,” Clementine whispered. She tightened her hold on Ben’s hand as she turned away.
Ben stayed silent as Clementine wiped her eyes on her sleeves. He felt horrible for rushing her but he gently pulled her towards the back door and out into the empty alleyway. Ben looked around the corner of the alley's entrance, checking the surrounding street. There was a small group of Walkers off in the distance, slowly ambling towards their end of the street. They were far enough away that Clem and Ben could possibly go unnoticed if they were quiet.
Clementine peaked around Ben and out into the street. Across the way was another alleyway with a chain link fence at the far end they could hop. Ben knew Lee wanted them to stay up high and off the streets, but he didn’t trust himself to keep Clem safe on the rooftops. Ben couldn’t tell if it was his hand trembling or her’s. Either way, he tightened his hold on her hand as he prepared to make a run for it. “Stay close to me,” Ben whispered. The Walkers were slowly growing closer so if they were going to go they had to go now.
Ben took a deep breath and counted to three before running to the adjacent alley. Ben only slowed down enough to kneel down to give Clementine a boost to get over the fence. Clem looked unsure as she looked over to down at the ground. The fence looked to be about 8 feet tall. For Ben, it wouldn’t be much of a problem to jump down, but for Clem, it was a rather high hight. Ben quickly climbed up and swung his legs over the other side so he a sitting next to her.
He reached out a give her arm a comforting squeeze; “It’s ok. I’ll catch you.”
Ben climbed down a foot before jumping down the rest of the way. After gaining his balance, he looked up to Clem offering her a smile as he held out his arms. Sounds of Walkers were growing steadily louder and Ben spared a quick glance to the entrance to see some Walkers stumbling towards them. Clem noticed them too. The Walkers starting shaking the fence, making Clem tighten her grip.
“Clementine!” Ben cried. He shoved his bat through the fence in an attempt to Knock back a Walker. It only succeeded in making the fence shack more. Ben’s anxiety was rising quickly. “Shit. C-Clem, you have to-to jump down.”
Ben threw down his bat to raise his arms as Clem leapt off the top of the fence. Clem landed in his arms, wrapping her arms tightly around the teen’s neck. Ben held on to her just as tight. They stayed like that for a long time before the sounds of the undead brought them back to reality. Ben placed Clementine on the ground, keeping his arm around her shoulders.
The Walkers still tried to get to them, pushing their fingers through the chain links in hunger. The sun was starting to set over the city and the light was starting to fade quickly into long shadows. It was going to be harder to get out of the city in the dark. They still had no idea where Christa and Omid were. Ben slid down the brick wall and pulled his knees up to his chest. It was getting harder to breathe as he dug his fingers into his scalp.
“Ben?”
He shakingly looked up at Clem. She reached her hand out to him, stopping just before he touched his shoulder. Her eyes were filled with terror as he shot from him to the alley opening and back to him. It only helped to make him feel worse. Ben forced himself to climb to his feet. His legs felt like they were going to give out on him at any moment. He took a moment to try and calm his heart rate before speaking.
“I...I-I’m ok. Let-let’s keep m-moving.”
Clementine looked unconvinced but said nothing as she reached up to slip her hand into his, squeezing it tight. It took another minute before Ben could get his legs to move. They had maybe twenty minutes of light left before they would be running around blindly. He held tight to Clem’s hand as he grabbed his bat off the ground as led her out of the alley into the street. They were past the hoard now, a few stragglers could be seen in the far distance. Clementine tugged on Ben’s hand, gaining the teen's attention to before pointing to the other end of the road.
“The bridge.” Ben brightened up. “We get across that and we’ll be in the countryside!”
“Christa and Omid could be out there already!” Clem said, smiling up at Ben.
He returned it easily. “We shouldn’t keep them waiting then.”
The jovial air that had come over the duo was broken by the sight of a group of Walkers blocking the bridge. There was only five of them ambling around. Ben tightened his grip on his bat. There’s no way he’d be able to kill them with just a bat. Neither he or Clem had any bullets left, their only gun in Clementine’s bag, and he wasn’t about to risk her life to smash each of the Walker's brains.
'We’ll have to make a run for it.' Ben thought, his heart rate speeding up. Out loud he said; “Clem, when I say ‘run’, run.”
Clementine looked up at him startled. Ben knelt down in front of her, offering her want he hoped was a comforting smile; “I promise I’ll be right behind you. I’m gonna knock the Walkers out of the way with my bat, and we’re going to run across the bridge.”
Clem hesitated before nodding. Ben rose to his feet before letting go of Clementine’s hand. He gripped the handle of the bat tightly in both hands as he stepped forward. He tried his best to keep his breathing calm as he rose his weapon up high. A Walkers turned its head towards him just as he wrung. The bat collided with the Walker with a loud crack. Ben’s shoulders ached from the force of the collision, causing him to let out a hiss of pain.
“Run!” He shouted.
A flash of red shooting past him was Ben’s cue to start running. He took off down the bridge behind Clementine, quickly catching up to her. They wove between abandoned cars and other obstacles in their way, neither daring to slow down even for a second.
~*~
The moon has begun its ascent by the time Ben and Clementine reached the end of the other end of the bridge into the countryside. Both were breathing hard when they finally came to a stop. Ben took a few shaky steps forwards before toppling over into a patch of grass. He laid there on his back for a long time just staring up at the darkening sky and trying catching his breath. Clementine came to sit down next to him, reaching up to fix her hat that had almost fallen off during their escape across the bridge.
“So...now what do we do?” Clementine asked after a long moment.
Ben pushed himself up into a sitting position. “We should look for Christa and Omid. They must be worried about us.”
“Before we do,” Clem paused, playing with a bill of her hat. “What, what happened to Kenny? You and…and...Lee” She rubbed her palm into her watering eyes. “only mentioned looking for Omid and Christa. But not Kenny.”
Ben looked down at his lap, wrapping his arms around his abdomen. He took a deep breath before speaking; “He, um, Christa had fallen through the floor and Kenny jump down to help her up.” He stopped, trying to find the right words.
“There had been Walkers and...and couldn’t reach him-” He cut himself off when his voice cracked.
Clem was silent as she presses into Ben’s side, the teen did not hesitate to wrap his arms around her. He leaned down to rest his cheek against the top of her head. Soft cries filled the air as the events of the day finally caught up to them. Ben looked towards the dark silhouette of Savannah as tears fell down his face. He thought of all the friends he had lost, who they had lost in that damned city. His hold of Clem tightened.
‘Ben, I need to you t-to take care of Clementine.’ The thought ran through Ben’s head.
He would. No matter what he was going to care of Clem. He wasn’t going to run away again.