You're Too Young To Be So Broken

"Open Up A Little..."

"Well, if you ask me that seems a bit lonely."

Clem rolled her eyes, getting slightly annoyed, "Good thing I didn't ask you then."

Mariana caught the snappy attitude from Clem, but it didn't phase her a bit. She kept smiling, this time more of a sympathetic one. "I think you're a liar." Her words were pretty straight forward, not in the intent to be rude, but merely the opposite actually. No matter how much Clem tried to hide it, she could see the small moments where Clem would crack a smile before she forced it away with a shake of her head.

"And what makes you think that exactly?"

Mariana looked up at her, still smiling her award winning grin. "Because no one ever really wants to be alone. They just get tired of being hurt." The visible flinch from Clem pretty much solidified her point, so she continued. "I don't know your story and you don't have to tell me any part of it, but I can tell it's a tough one if you're this closed off."

Clem got lost scratching at the spot behind Cocoa's ears, though she was still paying attention to Mariana. She still wore a frown on her face, yet her annoyance was slowly dwindling down into sadness.

"Open up a little, may do you some good."

Easier said than done.

🕊 🕊 🕊

The long walk was finally coming to an end, it seemed, Prescott was in the near future. The herd had gotten more out of control and a few stragglers they were used to coming across soon became way too overbearing.

Needless to say the girls booked it toward the safety of the gates seeing the walls close as they got closer. A nice warm bed and a semi warm meal was within arms reach and they had almost made it, but the doors had closed by the time they got there.

Clementine beat on the gates with her fists while a scared Mariana looked up at them with fear in her eyes. She didn't have a gun and she damn sure wasn't as skilled as Clementine was in taking down walkers head on.

"Yeah what she said!" Mari screamed up at the one's operating the gate.

Tripp, the leader that Clem knew oh so well yelled down to them, his face as serious as ever. "I ain't opening nothing till you clear them fuckers out, can't risk it!"

She didn't catch much of what he said if anything but she knew for sure it was pure and utter bullshit. Both her and Mariana turned to face the walkers, Clem pulled her pistol cocking it back with ease while the other girl gripped her knife.

Cocoa had since tucked herself deep within Clem's bag just as she always did when the herd became a bit too scary for her liking. It's okay, I'll keep you safe.

She knew Mariana was going to have to get close and the girl had already taken a stab at her first Walker. Clem fired at another one, its jaw breaking loose before it fell to the ground. Then another, noticing it was getting way too close to Mariana to be considered comfortable.

She went to fire again, one Walker moving at a much quicker pace than the others heading straight toward her. The gun jammed, the bullet refusing to blow like the others. Anger boiled up in the girl as she realized exactly what the problem was. She pulled her knife from her sheath tucking the gun away just as quick as she grabbed the knife.

She went straight for the bastard's leg kicking it in the knee causing the walker to fall. Once down she delivered a quick stab to the head ignoring the spurt of blood getting on her face. She was enraged, pissed off beyond measure.

She noticed Mariana off to the side struggling with one as it knocked her balance off. She fell to the ground, a lone rock connecting to the side of the girl's head cutting it open a bit. She winced, the intense sting enough for the walker to get an edge over her. Wasting no time at all she went straight for it climbing over the back of the undead corpse before sending the knife straight through its eye. Blood fell onto Mariana's face, she couldn't help but gag at the smell.