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It was nearly impossible not to fall in love with nine year-old Clementine, the girl that protagonist Lee found hiding out in her treehouse in season one of Telltale Games' The Walking Dead. No matter much affection the player might feel towards her, however, the multiple versions of The Walking Dead across various media have taught us one very painful lesson: the zombie apocalypse has no sympathy for little children.

The latest trailer for season two of The Walking Dead opens with a lesson from the first season, delivered by wise hobo Chuck. Despite the natural impulse to protect Clementine's innocence, sheltering her too much without giving her the tools to survive may well have proved deadly, and so she was taught how to shoot and had her hair cut short in order to prevent it being grabbed in a zombie attack.

It's just as well that she was handed these survival skills, since The Walking Dead's second season places the player firmly in Clementine's shoes (and hat). Reuniting with a couple of friendly faces from the show's first season, as well as meeting up with some potentially not-so-friendly new survivors, Clementine is thrown right back into the world of the undead in episode 1, "All That Remains."

Clementine in 'The Walking Dead' season 2

Telltale Games has confirmed that decisions made during season one and the DLC episode "400 Days" will affect how the story of season two takes shape, so keep your save files safe. For those who haven't yet played through the first season of the episodic game series, we highly recommend doing so; it didn't win over 90 Game of the Year awards for no reason.

Since the only dialogue used is from the last season, there's not much to be gleaned about the plot of The Walking Dead's second season, aside from the fact that Omid and Christa both made it out of Savannah alive, but it does look like the living will be just as much of a threat as the dead; poor Clementine is seen grappling with a living human whilst also under attack from a zombie. When it rains, it pours.

Here's to a whole new season of excruciating decisions and horrifying consequences.

The Walking Dead season two will be available from the Xbox Live Arcade on December 18th, 2013 and on PC/Mac from December 17th. The PS3 release date is still unconfirmed.