The Light at the End of a Tunnel

FIGHT THE DEAD, FEAR THE LIVING

Pairings:

Maybe Rick/Michonne

Carl/Clementine

Disclaimer: Robert Kirkman and AMC own the Walking Dead and its characters, not me.

Author: Oh, Look who started another story! Yeah and trust me, this one I'll finish. Sorry for short chapter too, just wanted to see how I play this out...

UPDATE 8/7/17: ALTERNATE VERSION OF THIS STORY IS AVAILABLE ON WATTPAD. Follow me MRSHYGUY45 TO CHECK IT OUT. user/MRSHYGUY45

Chapter 1: Lost Little Girl

How long has she been on her own for? A few weeks, maybe even more? All of her friends and family are gone; her parents, her guardian Lee, Christa, Omid, Duck, Kenny, everyone. The last she heard from her parents was when she was eight, but now she's left her with her babysitter and never came back. They're dead. Then she met a man, a man who would protect her from no matter what, a man who taught her how to survive, how to shoot a gun…

Lee was his name, and she'll never forget it.

They've been through a lot; getting kicked out of a farm, escaping cannibals, riding away on trains, breaking into buildings, even shooting their own kind. Just mentioning his name brings Clementine to tears, remembering all the things he's done to save her. She'll never forget his face, his smile, his advice.

But now he's gone. She had to shoot him after he saved her from The Marsh House when a man kidnapped her. He was bit, and there's no point denying it. Soon after that, she was looked after by Omid and Christa, who was with them after the train ride to Savannah. They're really nice, in Clementine's opinion.

She sighed, shutting her eyes, trying to get the images of their dead bodies out of her head. Their camp was attacked and Clem ran, not even bothering to look back at their helpless cries of pain and agony. She heard the raiders demanding for their things, that's when Christa told Clementine to run.

"Clementine! RUN!" Christa screamed over at the bushes where the eleven year old girl hid. Clementine's eyes widened before sprinting away from their camp, clutching her backpack to her chest and hearing guns fire and bodies drop to the floor.

The young girl looked down at the photo she had of Lee, letting a single tear drop onto the photo before slipping it back into her backpack. She stood up from the log she sat on and walked over to the woods, hoping for any abandoned camps, or friendly people.

Clutching her pistol, she brushed past the branches and corpses before falling flat on her face. She lifted her head from the ground and heard the familiar snarl of a blood-thirsty walker behind her. She let out a yelp before aiming her pistol at the creature, but the walker fell on top of her, knocking the gun out of her hands.

"NO!" She screamed, managing to hold the walker back with what little strength she had left. "Get off of me!" The walker inched its way closer to the girl, its teeth ready to sink into her neck. "LEE!" She couldn't help but yell out, fearing the worst.

Then the walker fell silent and fell lifeless on top of her. She scrambled out from underneath the biter and looked up at the man who saved her. He was a tall man with a torn-up uniform and a crossbow in his hands. "W-Who are you?" Clem managed to ask as the man grabbed the crossbow from the walker's skull.

The man didn't reply, but only reloaded his crossbow, staring down at her. Clem quickly crawled over to get her gun and aimed it at the man, who seemed surprised at the moment. "Who are you?!" She demanded, her voice louder then before.

The man raised his hands in defense and knelt down to the girl's level, who still held the pistol with shaky hands. She couldn't trust anybody, especially after the Marsh House. "Why don't you put the gun down so we can talk?" His voice was calm as he said this.

The young girl shook her head rapidly. There's no chance she was trusting some stranger out in the woods. She can't trust anyone now. "No! I don't trust you!"

"Well what's your name at least?" The man asked rather quickly, his eyes softening.

"…C-Clementine." She replied, her voice filled with caution and fear. She cursed under her breath, not thinking twice about who this man was. After all, he could be a raider, a cannibal, or even a rapist! The last time she told a stranger her name, she ended up being kidnapped!

The man gave her a small smile. "That's a nice name ya got there, Clementine." She lowered her gun a little bit. "It's nice to meet you. Please, I'm not a bad guy here. If I were, I would've killed you by now." He then let out a small chuckle, making Clementine scowl at him.

Not a nice way to joke at a little girl…

Noticing her scowl, the man coughed before frowning. "Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be playing like that." Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something move in the bushes behind him, followed by a low growl she knew all too familiar of. The man was too busy talking to hear the walker coming up from behind him. "…Just come with me and…"

BANG!

He turned around as the walker dropped dead next to him. His eyes averted to the smoking barrel from Clementine's gun before letting out a small whistle. "Nice aim you got there, little miss. Saved my life." She nodded at the man, who smiled at her again.

"What's your name?" She asked after the short silence that fell between the two.

"Oh, sorry. Name's Daryl." He replied before standing back up. "Now, please, come with me. You can be safe, we have people about your age there." His tone sounded like as if he were pleading.

She hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, okay. I'll go." Daryl sighed before running through the woods with Clementine closely following.

'I hope this guy is telling the truth about that place.' She thought to herself, still running through the forest with Daryl. 'I really want to see kids my age again.'

"Not too much far ahead." Daryl pointed, stopping for a quick breath. Clementine stopped as well, panting when all the walker growls died down. "We'll hop on my motorcycle and I'll take us back to the prison."

"A prison?" Clem asked in confusion, raising an eyebrow. "Is it a big prison or..?"

"Huge." Daryl stated. "We've got food, water, supplies, everything to survive. You'll make some friends too, guarantee it." Yeah, she wished she still had friends. Most of her friends were gone and dead. Duck was bitten, Ben was killed, Lee was killed, and Kenny's gone. Her school friends were either dead or gone as well.

Why is this stuff happening to her?! All of her family and friends left her at the age of 8!

Daryl must've noticed the look on her face and frowned. "Don't worry, I lost a few friends of my own. My Dad, my brother, Merle. Man, what a tough son of a bitch he was."

"Swear…" Clem warned him, cutting him off with narrowed eyes.

The young Dixon brother seemed surprised at her remark. "Oh, right, sorry." Wow, this little girl seemed to act like a mature woman! Well, in a world like this, you can do whatever the fuck you want, basically. "My bike should be up that road."

Clementine raised an eyebrow as she looked up at the youngest Dixon brother. "Like a motorcycle?"

Daryl chuckled and nodded. "Yep, like that. Couldn't leave it too far, I was afraid someone'll jack it. That is, until there's an arrow in their skull." His chuckle grew louder, but Clementine wasn't laughing along. She gave him a look before looking straight ahead.

There was a motorcycle parked on the road. It was black and Clementine found herself gaping at it. It's been so long since she saw one!

"Hop on." Daryl gestured at the little girl, smiling as he approached the bike.

Clementine blinked a few times before nodding. She wrapped her arms around Daryl's waist and he started the engine, startling Clem from the sudden loudness. Then they rode off with Clem looking back at the herd that emerged from the woods they were in. She couldn't help but stare at them, watching their clueless and dead looks they gave them.

"Don't worry, sweetpea." Lee's voice echoed in her head. "You'll be safe again. I promise."

Author: not a good way to start this story off, in my opinion. I didn't get Daryl's, who's my favorite WD character, character right Either. But hey, hope you liked it.

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