My whole face scrunched up tightly as I released a yawn of epic proportions. It'd certainly been a long morning of hiking, with only a couple of five minute pit stops in between so that one of us could relieve themselves while the other stood watch. Thankfully, for me at least, this wasn't anything new. Almost a year and a half of marching through wooded terrain like this had given my legs some pretty good strength training, and while I'd occasionally feel the ache after a solid day's worth of walking, usually the pain would only be temporary.

Clementine didn't seem to be so lucky. The girl was following steadily in behind, but the farther we travelled, the greater the distance between us would grow, and the more I'd have to wait for her to catch up. She hardly ever complained, naturally, but I could tell she was struggling. Her eyes were constantly screwed into slits as she winced when she moved around too much, but whenever she caught me looking over my shoulder towards her, she'd immediately tense up and act as if nothing was wrong.

On any normal given day, I wouldn't have cared. Wouldn't have batted so much as an eyelid. But if sneaking out during my teenage years and making up excuses to my parents had taught me one thing, it was that when somebody was faking it, you knew that something was up.

And I'd be damned if there wasn't anything wrong right now.

Placing my hands in my coat pockets, I waited for a few seconds for the girl to reach my side before bringing it up. "It's gonna get infected," I mentioned quietly, not going into some sort of parental freak out mode, but not overly indifferent, either.

"Hmm?" she inquired, scratching at an itch on the side of her face. "What'd you say?"

"That burn on your neck. It's only gonna get worse if you don't – "

"I… don't know what you're talking about."

I frowned at the back of her ball cap-adorning head as we pressed on, passing an old gas station that had been boxed in to keep the walkers from breaking through the glass. Clementine was being dodgy as shit. I mean… really, she kind of had been from the start, and maybe it was still a little too early to call each other's bluff, but I wasn't wrong about this. I knew that much.

"Uh huh," I sarcastically replied, watching as she suddenly found a road sign much more interesting than me. "Can't really pull a fast one over me, Clementine. Either that's a burn, or it's one of the nastiest-looking hickeys I've ever seen."

"A… hickey? What's – "

"Doesn't matter. Point is," I interrupted, not sure whether I was mentally or physically capable of explaining what that was to her, "covering it up like that? See? What you're doing right there?" I pointed out as she started speed walking in front of me. I couldn't help but roll my eyes as she made a point of getting at least two steps ahead of me, but with how short she was, Clem wasn't making it very far. "That's childish. You're only gonna hurt yourself. There's no point in letting it get worse."

A scowl sprouted on her face as she muttered irritably under her breath. "Yeah, because you were such a good patient back there…"

Ouch. That "childish" remark must've rubbed her the wrong way.

Gulping, I stiffened up a little bit as the moss covering certain sections of the pavement became increasingly noticeable. Ech… she kind of had me on that one. I'll admit, I couldn't really sit still when she came back and started helping me dress my wounds a couple of days ago, but what was I supposed to do? Sit there with my hands folded together and wait with a massive grin from ear to ear while she put her fingers into an open cut? Ha! Yeah right. Clem was lucky that I managed to hold still long enough to keep from swinging my arms around. Now that wouldn't have been pretty.

"W-well…" I stumbled, burying my hands deep into my pockets as I noticed the beginning of some kind of old track completely covered by an overgrown sheet of grass. "To be fair… I think your bedside manner might need some work there, too. "Jane, sit still! Jane, shut up! Quit being such a baby, Jane!" Any of that ringing a bell?"

"I don't sound like that!"

"I dunno – give it a few years and it might be a pretty good match," I bugged her, widening my eyes a little when I felt a tiny, pre-teen fist lightly punching me in the arm. Clementine, clearly regretting this as she instantly pulled her hand back, darted her gaze to the dirt as the air became awkward around us. Gah! I'm such an idiot sometimes… I shouldn't have let it get that far. I let myself forget about where we were going, about what we were even doing walking around, looking like a couple of hobos like this in the first place.

It was such a little thing, so insignificant. Just a little jousting match between… well, a couple of survivors, I guessed, but I hadn't really been thinking anything of it. Clementine, despite her usual unwillingness to chat it up every now and again to lighten the mood, had a way of communicating without really having to do so all the time.

I think her pensiveness was starting to grow on me a little bit, like a fungus. Or maybe… maybe it was Clementine that was starting to grow on me.

"…yeah. So," I continued, trying to brush it under the rug as I glanced down at her again. "C'mon then. Just… lemme have a look. You helped me back there, so…"

"There's nothing to see," she insisted, leaning her head away from my hand as I tried to reach over towards her collar. "Quit it! Why don't you just leave me alone?!"

"I won't touch anything, honest! But you can't go walking around with that all day! What if you get sick from it, or worse – what if somebody sees us and thinks you're bit?"

"Just stop it! There's nothing there! Please… just…"

"Then prove it to me," I challenged, folding my arms and standing in front of her to try and block the path. When she glared at me, I simply shrugged my shoulders and pointed at her collarbone. "If it's not such a big deal, then you've got nothing to hide. Go on. I'm not gonna move unless you show me."

I was kind of worried that she'd just stomp around me and completely ignore my empty threat, and she looked as though she wanted to say more as she gritted her teeth, but to my surprise, Clementine closed her eyes and shook her head. I didn't make a move or do anything other than bite my lip as she eventually let her guard down. Grabbing the collar of her long-sleeved purple shirt, Clem yanked it away as I winced. The burn, if you could even call it that, was bigger than I had realized. The bottom portion was hidden by the rest of her clothing, but the thing was already starting to scab on the outside, with most of the inflamed skin looking extremely sensitive as a massive "H" was taking shape. But just as quickly as I had seen it, so too had it disappeared as she quickly covered herself up again.

"There," she bit back, wiping a little at her eyes. "Happy now?"

No witty comebacks. No snarky responses to make up for my lack of comforting techniques. I couldn't have said anything, not that I really wanted to as she turned away from me. Reluctantly, I trekked behind and rubbed my eyes tiredly, not having a clue where to go from here.

It was a branding, there was no mistaking it anymore. There wouldn't have been a firm shape in there if it wasn't. And it wasn't as though I could compliment her for any awesome, underage prison tats, either, not with how painful that looked. And with a mark like that, there was only one thing I could think of.

Someone did that to her.


I dropped an empty, used water bottle back onto the ground as I sighed irritably. Empty-handed, again. I didn't know whether it was karma for what I said earlier or just sheer bad luck, but this was the second makeshift campsite we had come across today, and we had nothing to show for it thus far. Not even a scrap of food had been left over.

Whoever settled here had obviously left in a hurry, what with all of the sleeping bags thrown aside in some mad dash to get to their truck, which had both of its doors wide open when we arrived. None of the lights were on inside though, and the key was nowhere to be seen, meaning at least another few miles of trudging it out on foot. Clementine was digging through the little carriage-looking thing hitched to the back of the vehicle, and although it was mostly just full of old newspapers and magazines, it seemed to keep her occupied for the time being.

Good thing, too. I was getting a little queasy from all the sideways frowns I was getting.

"Not again…" I murmured, feeling a little frustrated with the lack of supplies after how well my last run had been. "If this keeps up, we'll have to drink from the dirt puddles. I… don't suppose you've got a sprinkler in your back pocket there, do ya?"

Nothing. Not even a head shake. Either she was way too engrossed in that magazine, looking to be something about movies from what I can tell off the cover, or she was just ignoring me altogether. Regardless, it did nothing to help lighten the mood as I shut the door and leaned against the side of the truck bed.

"Ooookay then…" I trailed off, leaning my head over to try and get a glimpse of what she was doing reading old magazines that weren't even relevant anymore. Newspapers were flying out from underneath the tarp in the wind, with one of them catching Clem's leg as I watched her struggle to get it off.

"Mmgh…" she mumbled as another couple flew towards her in the breeze, with one of them catching her in the face as she tried to peel away the classified section. "Umm… Jane?" came her muffled voice as I chuckled and slid some of the papers off.

Pulling it back and checking out the contents for a second, I pursed my lips and nodded my head. "Local man gets stuck in the sewer," I remarked, scrunching it up into a ball and chucking it back onto the tarp. "I didn't really peg you for the… you know, reading type."

"It's not like we've got a TV around here," Clem shrugged as she put the magazine back where she found it.

"Ain't that the truth," I agreed, making sure to sling our bag over my shoulder just right so that nothing would fall out. It was getting alarmingly lighter as each day passed by, but I was reasonably confident that with enough rationing, we could stretch this out for a few more days if we needed to. Reasonably. "Gotta admit though, I think I was more of a movie gal than watching anything on the tube."

"Oh?"

"Yup. Nothing like a good sci-fi or gangster flick to get you in the mood," I explained as I checked over the gas meter and huffed. Empty, just as I figured. Wouldn't have really mattered all that much with no key, but I was kind of hoping we could maybe siphon some of it for later. "There were only a handful of Star Trek ones I could watch before getting confused, but I could watch those mystery films all day long. Indiana Jones used to kick the shit out of all the other old-school ones I used to have back then."

"What's that?" she asked, and I had to keep my mouth from gaping wide open as I turned to the girl with a shocked expression.

"Seriously? You never watched Indie back then? What kind of depraved childhood did you have?" I smirked as she tilted her head to the side in a confused daze. "Not really surprised, though. It was, err… kind of before your time. Heh, I remember this one day, Jaime and I watched an entire – "

Freezing up, I stopped myself and clenched my jaw tightly; trying to blow it off by coughing into my sleeve. Trying to do so was making my stomach injury act up again, but at that moment I didn't really care. All I wanted was to…

"Who's… Jaime?" she creased her brow, perplexed as to why I had cut myself off so abruptly. But I couldn't say it, not to her, not to anyone. I couldn't dig up the past, couldn't face up to what I had done.

I don't care anymore, Jane.

Bullshit! Quit being such a whiny little bitch already! Get up! Mom and Dad wouldn't have wanted you to just sit around and –

They're dead. We are too. Why bother fighting it anymore? I'm just… tired. Leave me alone, already.

That's not happening! God damn it, Jaime, can't you just listen to me for once?!

Go away. I'm not… not moving.

I'm NOT leaving you to die like this! Fucking… just…

"…we need to keep moving before the sun goes down," I stated, mentally kicking myself as I choked on the last bit of the sentence. It was impossible to avoid her questioning looks, but I turned away anyways and started heading towards those old train tracks I had seen earlier. With a little luck, we might've been able to find something we could scavenge out of. Based on our track record today, however, that chance was looking pretty slim. "C'mon, then. Let's hit the road. I'm… getting kind of sick of these campsites, anyways."

I wasn't a fan of how she lingered by the truck bed, her arms folded across her chest as she eyed me carefully up and down before sighing and pushing herself off. She was giving me the stink eye at least a dozen times a day ever since our little… misunderstanding, when I came back from scouting that day, and as much as I probably deserved it, the constant glares were kind of getting on my nerves.

"Problem?" I challenged as she brushed by me and hopped over a small, metallic fence and landed clumsily on the other side.

Dusting the dirt off of her jeans, Clementine shrugged her shoulders and spotted the tracks I had seen earlier. "You'd just think it's stupid," she replied as we continued to walk side by side.

"What is?" I prodded as the tracks started to become more and more visible. If there was some kind of issue between us, I didn't want to have to keep guessing as to what it was every time we went anywhere.

Tilting her head back and closing her eyes, I saw a pained expression filter across the child's face as she shook her head once again. "Do you remember when… when you asked me if I had any friends out looking for me?" she questioned as we passed alongside a road crossing along some of the old railway tracks. "Well… that's kinda true, at least."

"Kind of?"

"I'm the one supposed to be looking for them. Not the other way around."

So this must've been the thing she'd been worrying about the entire time, and why she's been looking so squeamish ever since we teamed up a few days ago. Made sense, I supposed. Being a young kid and everything, finding her group members probably would've been the first thing that came to her mind.

It's not necessarily a great idea, though. I should know. Things like that… they just never end on a happy note.

"We umm, got separated a while back," she told me, fiddling with the hem of her sweatshirt as I raised an eyebrow in her direction. She was lying straight through her teeth, but I made no comment on it. If she wanted to have her own reasons, then by all means, she could. Secrets were probably one of the few things nobody could take away from us. "There were a bunch of us, almost ten, I think. We were spending a couple of days at this ski lodge up in the mountains, and… w-walkers came over."

"Was it part of that herd we saw before?"

"…no, I just… I got caught up in that," she explained, making it painfully obvious that there was more to this than she was letting on. Upon noticing my questioning stare, she continued to share her story as we noticed the tracks splitting off into two separate paths. "Left or right?" she wondered aloud as I placed one hand on my hip. Hmm… branching out to the right might've lead us to the next town over, but I knew for a fact that staying on the left would at least keep us close to the main road if we were to get lost. Choosing to pick the more reliable option, I shrugged the strap of our bag across my shoulders as we continued our backpacking trek down the left railway track.

"We all ran in different directions. It… it was just crazy. One second we're eating these peaches and beans, and the next…" she continued as I took every word she said with a grain of salt. "The place was powered up by these giant windmill thingies, and I guess the noise must've drawn them to us. There were too many to deal with, and we didn't have enough bullets to put them all down, so we just decided to go. I got split up from them and… yeah."

Bending down to tie up the lace on my boot, I felt Clementine hovering over my left shoulder as I stretched out the kinks in my back. "Hmm… with a place like that, I'm surprised you wouldn't try to just lead them somewhere else. You don't get too many places with electricity these days," I remarked as she rubbed her arm in discomfort. "But if you were looking for your friends," I suggested with a hint of doubt, "then why did I find you in Howe's? Were you sightseeing or something?"

Seeming to pick up on the fact that I was onto her little game, Clementine gulped nervously as we started to see a fairly decent-sized object in the distance, stranded on the track as I shielded my eyes from the sun. It was difficult to make out exactly what it was from here, but thanks to the cloud cover, I could at least see that it had somehow been toppled over onto its side.

"…it… was a big store. I just figured somebody might've found it, too. Besides," she pointed out with a small frown, "you said it already, right? There aren't a lot of supplies anymore. I thought it might've been a good place to start looking."

"…so you're telling me that you were in there, carving that walker through the stomach and looking like you'd just seen a ghost, because you were scouting? That's what you're going with?"

"That's what happened. So, yeah."

"Really?"

"Yep," she insisted hastily as I rolled my eyes when she couldn't see me. Normally, I wouldn't really give a damn about her straight-up lying to my face. That was her business, and if it helped her sleep at night, then all the power to her.

But there were more holes in her story than a fucking slice of Swiss cheese. First off, if she got chased off by the dead, then why the hell was she sporting a freshly-made branding? Unless the walkers suddenly learned how to start using tools, or her friends were just giant douchebags, then I'm pretty sure somebody else was responsible for it. Secondly, the girl had no supplies on hand when I spotted her in that trash room. None. Zero. Zilch. And judging by the way she was going at it, I'm pretty sure that grabbing bullets, weapons and other bare essentials was going to be the very last thing on her mind.

I took out my knife as we got closer and closer to the object at hand, thinking about the last strike against her shitty narrative. Those people I had seen when I first arrived… they were definitely here beforehand, and from what I could tell, there was definitely a larger group living under Howe's roof before those walkers closed in on them, too. The chances of Clementine sneaking into the building without anyone coming across her, through a damn herd no less, were staggeringly low. Sure, she could elude me pretty darn well if she wanted to, but with the mental and physical state she was in, I'd just as soon picture her paralyzed with fear on the ground as to making any stealthy entrances.

"Huh," I said simply as we pushed our way forward. That thing we had seen earlier turned out to be some kind of old boxcar, with the wheels and axels all rusted to shit as it was laid out flat on its side. The side door still seemed to be intact, but prying that thing open would take a lot more muscle than just me. "Well, I've gotta admit. This is a new one," I commented as Clementine walked up beside me. "Ever been on a train before, Clem?"

A pained look travelled across her face for a brief moment, as if recalling a past that she'd soon rather forget. "…one time."

"Got one up on me, then. C'mon, give me a hand with this thing."

Doing as requested, she shuffled over beside me as I pressed one hand against the door handle, but I stopped myself as I heard a familiar growl coming from the other side of the boxcar.

"Ah, shit," I groaned lightly, as sure enough, a walker had been trapped underneath the massive weight as the entire lower half of its body had been trampled on. Somebody had likely thought it'd be a funny joke to cut off the walker's arms as they laid motionless beside the beast's thrashing jaw, but all it came out as was twisted and messed up. I was actually feeling a little bit sorry for this guy, but one swift strike to its rotting brain kept it from snapping its teeth at me any longer.

Clementine looked a little perturbed by the whole thing as I frowned in her direction. Dammit… I was so used to her being able to handle herself with all of the survival tactics and everything that I forgot about how this shit might still be affecting her. I wasn't exactly immune to this type of thing yet, either.

"Look… I'm sure he died before… before this," I pointed back towards the corpse, "happened to him."

"You don't really believe that."

"Better than thinking about it too much," I replied as she reluctantly nodded her head. "Trust me. It's a lot easier to make up positive things in your head than to constantly remind yourself that there are dead guys walking around. Just… try not to think of them as people, okay?"

I hated seeing this kid down in the dumps like this, I could admit that much now. Watching her constantly depressed face somehow grow even sadder whenever crappy things like this turned up was a difficult thing to watch. She was tough, but everybody had their limits. Survivor or not, Clementine was a human being just like the rest of us.

And due to the hardships we'd faced over the past little while of travelling together, I thought the least I could do would be to pass down some of my knowledge down to her. I wasn't exactly the best at doing all of that nurturing crap, but I could at least give her a few pointers.

"Lemme see that hatchet of yours real quick," I said suddenly, confusing her as Clem reluctantly handed it over. Planting a firm grip on the handle, I lodged the sharp edge into the sliding latch on the boxcar door and beckoned for her to come over. "Might as well see what goodies we've got in here, huh? Alright, on my go…" I grunted, flinching a little as I felt her shoulder brush up against my arm. On the count of three, we pulled as hard as we could; managing to only open the door a smidge as we stopped to catch our breath. "Where's a damn tow truck when you need one…" I huffed, eliciting a tiny chuckle from my little compatriot as I grinned and started pulling it again. This thing was heavy as hell.

By the time we got the door halfway open, we had found the culprit. A woman was hanging by her neck from a belt that was tied to the side door; a suicide attempt likely from her not wanting to starve to death in a locked, lopsided boxcar as I gritted my teeth. Both of the girl's legs had snapped in two, with parts of her shins and the top of one of her kneecaps piercing through her rotted skin as her body dangled in a circle. The woman must've been in here for quite some time, since the walker she had transformed into barely made so much as a growl as we opened the door. The smell was almost unbearable, but the few half-opened boxes down below might've had some pretty useful stuff inside.

"Remember – they're dead, we're not. Let's try to keep it that way," I wearily reminded her even though I was having trouble looking at the sight myself. I wedged out the hatchet and was about to swing downwards, when once again Clementine volunteered to do the deed herself.

The first swing managed to slice the girl's ear clean off. And then another swing. And another. And another. By the time she had finally managed to hit the girl's brain, her sweatshirt had dark red spots covering the front of it, and the walker didn't resemble anything close to what it had looked like before.

"It's alright. It's done," I told her as she shuddered and wiped the side of her mouth with her arm. I couldn't help but be a little worried at how long it took for her to kill that thing, though, at least for her own safety. "Y'know, that hatchet seems to get stuck pretty easily. It's… well, you just can't afford to let that happen, you know?" I ended on a softer note, not wanting to scare the daylights out of the girl even more today by suggesting she could be killed at any time.

"Well… what would work, then?" she inquired as I scanned the surrounding areas.

"I've got a few ideas," I said as I, unfortunately, burdened myself with the task of hauling the corpse off of the belt and out into the dimming sunshine. Wiping my hands on the grass, I peeked into the caboose to check it over once more, and nodded my head. "Might as well stick around here for the night. Any more walking and I think you'll try to bury me into the pavement."

Seeming to agree with that, Clementine reluctantly climbed into the side of the door; gagging at the horrible smell coming from every nook and cranny, but I could tell that she knew it was necessary. I was silently grateful that I didn't have to keep prodding her into doing what had to be done to survive. For the most part, she just went along with it without complaint. Certainly made things a lot easier on my part.

"Just sit tight. I'll be back in a few. Anyone else tries to come in here, then… umm… hide, I guess," I told her sheepishly, wondering just how many times she had to do that sort of thing over the past couple of years.


"You're not seriously asking me this right now, are you?"

"Why not? I never went, and I just thought that… well… "

"Clem," I chuckled, striking the end of my newly-carved spear with the side of my hunting knife, "I don't think I've been to college since… oh geez, what was it? Seven years ago? Eight? I can barely remember what I had for breakfast yesterday morning, let alone what I did as a freshman."

"Huh?"

"It's what they called the new people who got in, the guys who just started going," I clarified with a smirk, stretching out my legs as I stared up at the night sky. As crappy of a sleeping area as it was, the view was pretty decent, and the company was… something. "Anyway, I only went for one year anyways, so I don't know how much help I'm gonna be."

Sitting up and crossing her legs as she played with the string of a yo-yo she had found buried in one of the boxes, Clementine arched her neck. "Why just one year?" she asked as I sighed deeply. Ugh… recalling those younger years was never a pleasant experience, especially with the way that it ended with my parents.

Mom and Dad knew I could be a real piece of work, what with the "bad-ass" stuff that my small circle of high school friends used to make me do in order to try and fit in. But honestly, I had the same opinion of them. I tried on several occasions after my abrupt exit from the dear, old family home to come to terms and bridge the gap between us, but apparently even Washington, D.C. wouldn't cut it as a suitable distance from my house. Late night calls with Jaime usually ended in me choking up and having to hang up the phone far too soon, or it would conclude with a bubbling sister begging me to come home through the speaker.

I thought I had wanted that lifestyle. The idea of living on my own after putting up with the bullshit at home seemed like a dream come true, and at first it totally was. I learned skills that I had no clue I even possessed, and although even to this day my cooking usually ends up far too dry for my taste buds to handle, the fact that I could do that myself gave me this feeling of independence that I never wanted to let go.

Only when Jaime would call or visit me every few months or so would I realize that I was far more alone than I really cared to be.

"I, uh… dropped out after first year."

"Dropped… out? Like…?"

"Let's just say that Georgetown U no longer had need of my services."

"Oh," she said simply, looking as though she wanted to change the subject somewhat. However, her curious mind continued to test my own knowledge as she pried deeper into a past that I had mostly chosen not to remember. "What were you studying there, then?"

I had to think back on that one, scouring through the memories of a different time; simpler in some ways, but even more complicated in others. Once I finally figured it out, I chuckled in spite of myself. "You're gonna think this is so dumb…" I forewarned, almost feeling as though I was being judged by the girl as she patiently waited for my answer. "It was… well, a visual arts program. You know, drawing and painting, shit like that."

I was waiting for it – the laughing, the teasing about how stupid I was for even considering to try and pursue that as a degree. Almost everyone I talked to said I was wasting my time back then, that I should've been going for some business program or some other snooze-fest classes so that I could actually end up with a job at the end of it. If I had managed to stay home instead of getting kicked out onto the street, then that's likely where I would've ended up, too. But fuck 'em. I didn't care what they were telling me. None of that shit was who I was, or what I wanted to be. Even Jaime told me that I should've at least tried to go for a few computer classes or something on the side, just so I could polish up the old résumé and show any future bosses what a "respectable, hard-working sack of shit" I could be.

"That's… that's really cool, actually."

Needless to say, I wasn't expecting anything like that as I darted my head back towards the little survivor in the corner of our shared boxcar.

"What? You mean… really?"

"Mhmm," she nodded her head, a ghost of a smile plastered on her lips as I widened my eyes. "I used to spend whole days up in a treehouse back home just making pictures. TV shows, animals, friends… family… Just stupid kid stuff," she trailed off, the tone becoming a little somber as I focused on sharpening the wooden stick to a sharper point. The thing was essentially a giant stick sharpened to look more like a pencil, but without any bullets or a gun to our name, having a makeshift weapon in a pinch would be a big help. "What did you used to make?"

"Me? Well…" I stalled, feeling a flush of humility coming over me as I called back to my creative days. It was such a short period of my life, snuffed out early on after losing the financial support for going to class, but I could still recall some of my old designs hanging up on the walls of my one-bedroom apartment in downtown D.C. "I was kinda big into the modern stuff. You know… cities, nature, buildings, that kind of thing… Hey, don't give me that look! It wasn't all boring!" I exclaimed as Clem snickered quietly to herself. "I used to do a lot of sci-fi things, too. But… I think my favourites were probably the comic books I used to help make."

Perking up a little at that, Clementine took a bite out of some of her rations for the evening as I started trying to jab the thin air with the wooden spear; another finished one sitting idly beside me on the floor of our compact shelter. "I had this buddy of mine back in college. Real nerdy kind of guy, but we lived in the same apartment building, so it made sense to hang out a little bit," I elaborated, placing the second spear down and feeling slightly proud of myself for making something that might've ended up saving our lives. "Anyway, we had some class on creative media or some shit, I don't remember. Prof was up his own ass about almost everything he ever talked about, but he gave us this project where we got to make a little comic strip about anything we wanted."

"What was yours about?" she asked quietly, seeming to have calmed down considerably since this afternoon.

"We called her Captain Moonshine. Heh, I still can't believe I remember that part…" I mused, lost in my own little world of super heroes and no outside responsibilities. I used to stay up for hours each night trying to come up with better and more life-like designs for her, never being fully satisfied with it even after the deadline for the assignment approached. "She was supposed to be like some kind of super hero, using the power of her fists to beat criminals into submission. And every time she'd get one arrested, ol' Cap would take a swig of moonshine from her belt."

"That just sounds… gross."

"Heh. Yeah. Yeah it probably was," I smiled, the first genuine smile I had given Clementine ever since this whole mess began. "Thing is, though, she secretly wasn't a super hero at all," I explained wryly. "It was all an act. Her super-powered fists? She jacked a pair of brass knuckles from her grandpa's basement after his street fighting days. She was really just a raging alcoholic, making up this game in her mind of bringing in the bad guys for the cops, even though the police were constantly looking to bring her back to the drunk tank."

That got her going, as I could hear a series of snorts coming from the girl in the corner, likely covered up by her hand on her mouth. I couldn't see her tiny frame in the inky blackness of the boxcar, but I could tell that even among all of this death and craziness, that she was smiling, too. If only temporary, I had to admit – that might've been the nicest sound I had heard all day.

Hmph. Turns out Clem had a sense of humour after all.

"Hey," I whispered softly, taking out a tensor band left over from a half-removed first aid kit we had found in one of the boxes as I tried to feel my way around. Accidentally tapping onto the brim of her hat as she no doubt scowled at me, I could just barely make out her face as presented the object in my head. "So… I know you weren't feeling too hot about me doing this earlier, but…" I sighed, waiting for an argument that surprisingly didn't appear this time around. "Do you mind if… well, if I try to…?"

I could hear her shallow breathing as the crickets chirped at us from outside, but after a while she grunted and lowered the collar of her shirt to hang just off the side of her shoulder. Taking that as the only acceptance I'll likely get, I nodded and tried my best to at least wrap it around the sore area. It was difficult to see if I was aiming the thing properly in the dark, with almost no light source whatsoever besides the stars and the moon, still covered by a thin layer of clouds as they floated across the night sky.

"Mmf!"

"Ah shit, sorry, Clem… Should only be a little bit longer, though. Try to suck it up."

"Easy for you to say," she mentioned hoarsely, whimpering every time I had to apply pressure to the burn. "You kept swearing every time I had to pour that water on your stomach…"

Snorting at that, I went to wrap the bandage under her arm for another round of layering. "Yeah? I didn't really notice all too much."

"You said fu… the f word… like ten times that day."

"That's all, hmm? Guess I'm getting sloppy, then," I grinned, trying to find the pin that had come attached to the tensor band so that I could tie up my masterpiece. Honestly, it probably looked like a complete mess, but as long as it covered up the wound and held together long enough for it to heal, then I was satisfied.

As she watched me finish up, eyeing my handiwork carefully as I tried to be as gentle yet firm as I possibly could, I could just barely make out her biting her lip. "So… I was just thinking… maybe tomorrow we could start looking for them?" she suggested, not needing to go into specifics as I knew exactly what it was she was asking me to do. "It's just, well… I stopped for a while when we left the hardware store, and I really need to find them again. You'll help me though, right?"

Managing to find the metallic clip as it reflected the dim light from above, I fastened it securely onto the tensor bandage and lifted the collar of Clem's shirt back up to the usual level. With my work done, I stood up and grabbed onto one of the spears I had meticulously crafted like some cavewoman out in the wilderness.

"Jane?" she called out my name again. "Did you hear me?"

"I'm gonna take first watch. Who knows what might try to sneak up on us out here," I told her without missing a beat, snatching up some of the vegetables as I took a bite out of a celery stick. "Just get some rest – let that burn heal up, and don't try to itch at the bandage or anything. I'm not resetting it again."

Climbing up to the top of the flipped boxcar as I slid the door open some more, I almost made it all the way outside before a scathing tone reached my ears.

"I can't believe you right now!"

"…Clem, you know that'd be a waste of time."

"Just because you want to be alone for the rest of your life doesn't mean I have to!" she exclaimed, stunning me a little bit as she rose to her feet. "My friends are probably out there right now wondering where the heck I went, and I'm not gonna stay here and – "

"Would you keep it down, already? Geez, we're already almost out in the open as it is!" I retorted, spinning around after I wrenched the door open with some force. "If your crew's really out there somewhere, then running around like a couple of chickens with our heads cut off would be a stupid idea. And somehow I doubt any of you came out here with a tracking signal for each other."

Leering at me, the girl folded her arms across her chest and shook her head in disgust. Clem was fuming. "I knew you wouldn't care… Figures. The only time I bring them up, and you tell me to forget about them and leave my friends behind!"

"Hey! I never said that at all!"

"That's what you meant! Don't try to tell me you didn't!"

Stifling my pride back down my throat and keeping my cool, or at least trying to, I leaned against the door and tried not to look her in the eye. Okay… so maybe heading out and looking for a bunch of people I didn't know wasn't exactly high on my list of priorities, but could she really blame me? After what happened with that group I had seen out in the woods and what became of them, I really wasn't too keen on the idea of staying in this state any longer than I had to.

That was it. That was how I'd do it. If I was ever going to be able to convince her that this was a bad idea, then coming clean about what happened was the only option.

Taking a deep breath, I switched gears and decided just to go for it. After all, what was the worst that could happen? "Even if we were to go look for your friends, we'd be putting ourselves at risk. That's not a smart way to live, Clementine. You don't…–" I stopped myself, recalling that day as if I were reliving a nightmare. "Look, Clem," I turned towards her, "I never told you this because I didn't want to frighten you or anything, but there are fucking psychopaths out here. I watched a guy hold a group of hostages together and murder one of them without even batting an eyelid. If we stay out here, we might be the next ones on the chopping block."

Stubbornly shaking her head, Clementine refused to accept my answer. "People are crazy everywhere! It doesn't matter where you go!"

"Finding your friends is a shot in the dark! Literally! Do you even have a clue where you'd start looking?" I questioned as she closed her eyes and a tiny sniffle came from her side of the corner. She had stopped listening to my excuses almost the moment I started talking.

Having seen that there was almost no way I was going to turn around and change my mind, Clementine slowly shuffled backwards until she backed up into the compartment wall, sliding down the scuffed-up surface as she brought her knees up to her chest. I winced as she let out a shaky gasp of air, looking defeated as she lightly brushed a loose brand of hair out of her face.

Knowing that I could either climb outside and leave it at that or try to find a way to reach some common ground, I took a step down from the frigid night air and landed with a thud; the impact leaving a soft echo in our metal box of the evening.

"Hey… Clem," I tried, wondering if she was thinking about all the nasty little insults she could come up with to tell me how horrible of a person I was.

Instead of doing any of that, however, she studied my pitying look with distaste as she whimpered once and doggedly wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. This wasn't looking too good for dear, old Jane. More likely it'd be dear, old departed Jane in a few minutes, by the sounds of it.

"You owe me," came her quiet announcement, her gaze finding mine as I felt myself glued to the floor of the boxcar.

"What?"

"You left me out there alone to die," she accused, her voice containing a seething rage that only a girl of her stature could produce, "and then I saved your life. Twice, if you count that injury you got. You owe me for this. Unless you just plan on leaving me again…"

I didn't know what to say. I was floored out of my damn mind that she would use something like that against me, all in some sorry-ass attempt to get me on board with this ridiculous plan of hers. For some reason I felt as though I was being betrayed – as though I had put my trust out on the line for a girl that I barely even knew, and that this was how my faith was rewarded. We were two different people, and I knew that. My whole "go-it-alone" attitude clashed with her "your-friends-are-important" one, but I didn't think she would hold this out against me. I didn't even know the kid was even capable of keeping a grudge like that.

I let my arm fall lazily down to my side as I pursed my lips. "A-are you… are you blackmailing me?" I demanded, my suspicions confirmed when she didn't even try to respond. "So… what then? Was this whole trip just a big sham? Just a way for you to get even with me when you needed it?!"

Her stern gaze seemed to falter at that, but right then I didn't care. I just needed to get out of there as soon as I could. Suddenly it was seeming a little stuffier than usual. "Jane… no, wait…"

"Forget it," I cut her off, snatching the spear I had dropped and huffing out in frustration. "Better get up bright and early then. I'd hate to avoid the disappointment when we find their bodies in the bottom of the fucking river."

Climbing out through the top, I left just enough room open for her to barely see out of before climbing down and sitting beside the corpse of the hanged walker we had taken out earlier. All the while, I tried to tune out the soft whimpers coming out from the boxcar as I rubbed my face tiredly in my hand.

What a fucking day.


Things had gone quiet over the next couple of hours. Real quiet. I'd hear the wind howling as it blew over the abandoned farmers' fields across the tracks, along with the occasional hoot of an owl, but at that point even the crickets had stopped tuning out their little hymns. I hadn't seen any walkers all night which I had counted my blessings for, but they were always around. And all of this alone time to think was probably doing more harm than good.

Goddamnit… She was right, in a way. Clem didn't say it out loud, but she didn't even have to. I was being a selfish prick, in more ways than one. Expecting her to just stop caring about the people she was with altogether at the drop of a hat was unreasonable, but I couldn't bring myself to climb back inside and give her an apology.

The both of us just needed our space. Probably. Yeah.

She must've passed out sometime during the night, since I could hear her laboured breathing every now and again whenever I listened hard enough. The soft hum had lulled myself pretty close to sleep as well, but whenever my head was about to fall forward, I'd immediately shake myself awake once again. Night watch was horrible if you hadn't gotten much shut-eye recently. Don't get me wrong, I was used to going day-to-day with three to four hour powernaps instead of going into a hibernation of sorts, but one of the beauties of having another person around was that I didn't have to constantly keep a weapon hugged to my chest as I did so. It made things a little easier that way. Too bad everything else just got a shit-load more complicated.

I would've killed for a smoke right there. Hacking darts as a young adult was, for better or worse, something that could help me relax when figuring shit out for myself was no longer a feasible option. To amuse myself for the time being, I had plucked out a straw I found across the train tracks and pretended to smoke it every now and again; blowing out into the cool night as my breath appeared in front of me.

The fact that I could see it at all was starting to get a little alarming. Chilly days and freezing nights? Fall was ending, and soon enough, the icy grip of winter would come. And I had no intention of waiting out the next few months buried under a thick blanket of snow.

What perfect timing to head out and look for people who might as well be dead. If they were as unfortunate as the ones I had seen back at Parker's Run, then they'd probably end up wishing they were dead. Fuckers like Bill always gave me nightmares.

Stretching my arms up to the sky and shuffling over to give my back a much-needed break, I contemplated on just chugging it out and letting Clem sleep for a few more hours, when I started to spot a light in the distance. It was faint, but with the way that it was moving around on the ground before it, I knew right then and there that it was a person. Two of them, in fact, as I spotted the silhouettes of both a woman and a man walking along the same train tracks that Clementine and I had walked down earlier.

And that could only mean…

"Shit, shit, shit!" I hissed, scrambling to find the wooden spear and slide open the door to the boxcar. Clambering inside, I stumbled in to find Clementine waking up from all the commotion.

"Mmmf… Jane? What's…?"

"Shh," I hushed her, forcing the spear into her hand and practically shoving her to the very far wall of the room before sitting right up against her. "…keep it down, alright? We're not alone…"

I'd already taken out my knife before coming down here, but as I heard the hushed voices of the two strangers as they approached our hiding place, I cursed my luck as I spotted the other spear just sitting idly next to our rucksack.

"Can't believe we're out here doing this shit," came the first voice, a deep, reserved tone that definitely belonged to the guy I had spotted earlier. "You know we're basically handing ourselves over to these guys now, right? I can't be the only one seeing the bigger picture here!"

"C'mon Mike, you know that ain't true."

Clementine seemed to widen her eyes at that, but muffled indignantly as I placed my hand over her mouth to keep her from blowing our cover. Honestly, I don't think the kid even knew the meaning of the word. Subtlety was something she really needed to start working on.

"I just don't understand why you keep defending him…" came Mike's weary reply as I used my left foot to try and move the spear out of sight somewhat. The bag was gonna be a bit of a challenge, but somehow I managed to get the strap to wrap around my ankle as I tilted my head towards the opening of the boxcar. The two of them were literally right outside, with their flashlight flailing around in search of whatever it was they were looking for.

"It ain't about defendin' anyone! You know that," she lightly scolded, her voice sounding more exhausted than angry as I felt somebody lean against the metal frame. "Look… he didn't have a choice, but we did. If they'd just waited it out a couple more weeks, then…"

"You really think it would've made a difference if they were out of the pen? Besides, Bill never would've let that kid go…" Mike sighed as I stopped myself for a second. Bill? As in… No, it couldn't have been. Would've been way too much of a coincidence, that the person they're talking about was the exact same nutjob I found out in the woods. Besides, even if it was, none of that would've mattered to me. All the more reason to avoid these people, if it were. "You saw that damn look in his eye… Jesus. All that time cooped up in his office must've rattled his brain around."

"Maybe… Then again… oh, nevermind," the other one replied solemnly, and I had to practically shove my fist in Clem's mouth to keep her from speaking at all. I honestly didn't know why she was fighting with me on this so much, but I wasn't about to allow us to be at the mercy of two people who may or may not have had fully loaded weapons at their disposal.

When the flashlight turned away for a second, and the two of them focused on the dead walker I had left outside, I used the chance to try and scoop both of the items over towards us; knocking over one of the boxes in the process as I cringed and pressed myself as well as Clementine even farther into the wall.

"What was that?"

"Hmm? What's up?"

Every breath I took sounded a thousand times louder in my ears as I kept holding onto the girl beside me. Jesus fucking Christ. Despite being pressed up against the wall as far as we could go, and me feeling the edge of some plastic thing sticking out of our rucksack as a slow whirring sound came to life inside of it, I had never felt so out in the open. We were essentially defenseless, camped out in a metal bucket with no way out other than the entrance guarded by two heavily-armed survivors. If we somehow got out of this mess alive, I was boozing myself up at the first bar we came across – dead guys inside be damned.

"Could've sworn I heard a noise just now…" Mike whispered, his shadow reflecting off the interior as he shone his flashlight into the boxcar. "Hey Bonnie, did you check this out, yet?"

I heard some shuffling as Clementine's cheek brushed up against my jacket, and I held as still as humanly possible when Bonnie stuck her head in through the doorway.

"I'm thinkin' yer just gettin' jumpy again. It happens," she chuckled lightly, patting Mike on the arm as a sliver of the light source caught my boot. I snaked my leg back uncomfortably before anyone could see me, though. "C'mon, now. Ain't nothin' in here but junk, anyways. Paranoia's been gettin' to everyone lately."

Clementine's heart was racing against my stomach as the flashlight left the boxcar, but that didn't stop me from staying right where I was as they continued to chat right outside. Fucking leave already!

"There's a pretty good reason for that, if you ask me," went Mike's tired reply. "…seriously though, Bonnie… We could just go. Right now, no questions asked."

"You can't be serious right now!"

"I'm dead serious! How is this even a discussion? This guy's fucking crazy! Who knows what he'll do next!"

"I don't think I need to remind ya of our friends back there, Mike. We can't just up n' abandon 'em, not while they're all still there!" she pointed out as Clementine thrashed under my grip. I was getting seriously confused with everything going on, though, and the more that I listened to them, the more I wanted to give my head a shake. "Look, once we've found a new place, n' things have settled down a twitch, then… we'll talk about it s'more, okay? Can you give me that much?"

I heard a soft chuckle rumbling from deep within Mike's sternum as he sighed. "You sure it doesn't have to do with old Casanova back there, hmm?"

"Mike, please… that's not – "

"Right, right. Yeah. Sorry, too soon?"

"Too soon."

I'm surprised that Clementine didn't suffocate underneath me with the way I practically had to smother her, but after waiting for about ten more minutes or so, trying to ignore the kicks to the shin she would give me every time she tried to escape, I finally rolled off after making sure that neither of those two were in sight.

Breathing deeply as I climbed outside, shutting my eyes and leaning against the boxcar, I revelled in the cool breeze coming through my shortened hair as Clementine practically stomped her way past me.

"God damn, that was close…" I murmured, adjusting the strap of the rucksack as I noticed her walking down the same path Mike and Bonnie just took. "Hey, get back here! Clem!" I hollered, jogging up to her and snatching onto her wrist. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Following them! Or at least I would've been if you hadn't gotten in the way!"

"Okay, just calm down for a second here, alright? What are you even talking about?"

"Bonnie and Mike! I knew them!" she steamed, trying to break free from my grasp as I eventually just let her go.

Tentatively, I placed my hands on my hips and arched a brow in her direction. "So… those two were your friends, then?" I asked, noting the way she hesitated before nodding her head vigorously. "Okay then," I doubtfully started, "wanna tell me why they were talking about some crusty, old asshole as if he was the end of the world? Your story's not really holding up, Clem."

"…I don't have time for this, Jane."

"Bullshit! And even if that were true, you trying to go off in there like a damn hyena wouldn't have made things better!" I mentioned, watching her anger plummet to the ground. "Walkers? Bandits? If you gave away our position just now, we would've been dead meat! That's no way to find your friends."

Clementine's shoulders sagged, murmuring to herself as she unconsciously reached for the spot of her shirt where the bandage was. Playing the bad cop wasn't going to win her over. After all, what self-aspiring pre-teen wants to get lectured by anyone about anything at all? I'd become invested into this now, delving into much more drama and mystery than I had ever wanted or was comfortable with.

But I wouldn't leave. Not this time, not when she clearly needed somebody the most. And even if I wasn't going to be her number one pick for that role, I figured that I'd have to do for the time being.

After all, apparently I "owed her", remember?

"…if I'm gonna help you find your buddies, then I can't be in the dark on this, Clem. Not anymore," I told her, bending down to her height level as she stared right through me. "Just… start over again. What aren't you telling me, and why do I get the feeling that this is somehow more than just a herd of walkers?"

Whatever it was that was going through that girl's mind, I could tell she was hurting really badly. Every time I even brought it up, there was this distraught look in her eyes, and her whole body would clench up into a ball. But when she refused to spill the beans to me, whether out of fear or something else I wasn't sure of, I dipped my head downwards and stood up straight.

"If they were heading that way… I think Charlotte's pretty close by. I'd imagine we'd be able to catch up to them there. Sound good?" I suggested, offering up her spear as she shakily grasped it in her hands. "Alright, then. Let's get going. Don't want anyone else to come and sneak up on – "

Bzzt! Bzzzt-Bzzzt!

The both of us searched all around, checking the fields for any signs that somebody had been following us other than the two we had just encountered a few moments ago. Back to back, Clem and I frowned deeply as we held our weapons out in front of us; armed and at the ready.

Nothing was out there, though. Not even a walker for as far as the eye could see. Mike and Bonnie had disappeared out of sight, and no other survivors were within hitting distance.

"…Who's on this line? I can hear you loud and clear, you know? So you might as well come clean."

"Where's it coming from?" Clementine whispered as I frantically threw off the rucksack, realizing exactly what the problem was as I dove my hands through the remaining contents. "Jane? What's going on?!"

"…well I'll be damned," crackled the voice as a hoarse laugh came on through the other side. "Clementine, is that you, sweetheart? It certainly has been a while. Now, don't you think about hanging up on me just yet. We wouldn't want Nicky here to become even more crippled than he already is…"

Dropping to her knees without even caring about the jagged rocks below that surrounded the train tracks, Clem watched helplessly as I pulled out one of the damn radios I had taken from Howe's back then. That noise in the boxcar must've been one of us accidentally switching it on when we were hiding the bag away.

Shit!

"Clock is ticking there, hun. And you might want to play along – I don't think Nick's going to be much use with another bullet in his leg," he cruelly suggested as I finally plucked the stupid thing out and went to flip open the battery casing for it. That is, until a loud scream from the other end of the line came pounding through the speaker.

"BILL! STOP IT! HE'S HAD ENOUGH!"

SMACK!

"I'll be the one to say when he's finished there, Luke. Now… where's Bryan?"

"His name is AJ you fucking son of a bitch!"

"Pretty sure the custody battle is over, Bec. Alvin's not exactly in a position to protest, either. Troy, keep your gun aimed at Kenneth over there. I don't want any of these ingrates wandering off again," Bill warned in a gravelly tone, and my skin crawled as I recalled the intimidation tactics he had used before. If there was ever any doubt as to who he was before, it was all but erased, now.

I took one look at Clementine's outstretched hand, a look of desperation and sheer terror in her eyes as I shook my head.

"Don't even think about it, Clem."

"We don't have a choice…" she whispered, the both of us trying to keep our voices down so that he couldn't hear what we were saying. And if either of us turned it off… "G-give it to me. Please… it… it's my fault they're with him. With Carver. I have to do this…"

"He'll kill you!"

"And they'll die if I don't say anything! I can't… I c-can't let anyone else die because of me…"

My blood was running cold as I clutched the stupid hunk of plastic in my hand, hearing nothing but static for a while until "Bill" or whatever fucking name he was going by spoke up once again; humming the theme song to the Jeopardy game as if he was taunting the both of us.

"I'm giving you to the count of three," he said, the cries for help in the background making it seem like his threat was the real deal. "Clementine, if you don't give me an answer by then, we'll have to make things more difficult."

"DON'T YOU FUCKING HURT HER! HEAR ME, ASSHOLE?!"

"Oh I do, Ken. Loud and clear. But honestly, how fucking dense do you have to be?" he mocked as Clementine covered her ears and gritted her teeth in anguish. "I thought you'd have learned after Sarita that crossing me was just a stupid idea. Guess it's going to take some more… seasoning with you."

"Jane… Pl-please…"

"Final warning! What's it gonna be, Clementine?! Talk to me right now and rejoin the community," Carver barked as a knot formed in my stomach, "or I'll do to Kenny here… what you did to me."