Episode 3: A Long Road Ahead Part 3

Alexander's POV

What Is Taking Lee So Freaking Long?! It's The Afternoon Now and Kenny Was Already in the Train Making Sure When The Locomotive Came on, He Would Drive...

"Tired Alex" Ben Asked Me as He Patted the Space Next to Me, I Gave a Side Smile and Sat Down Next To Him

"It's Been Crazy But, I'm Kind Of Glad It Happened, If The Walkers Didn't Invade, Lee Didn't Stumble Upon Us, We Run Into Kenny, Kat and Duck And Eventually Lilly, Carley, Larry, Glenn and the others, I Never Would Have Met You I Guess" I Explained

"Me Too, I Guess..." Ben Started to Look Glum Again..

"Okay What's Up With You?" I Asked As I Faced Him. He Sighed

"It's Just I've Been, Depressed Lately..." Ben Answered

"You Always Look Depress, Even More After You Started Dating Me, Is it Me? Am I Doing Something Wrong?" I Asked Getting Up But Ben Pulled Me Back Down

"No Way, I Really Like You, Believe Me I Am Happy I'm With You But I Still Think About Travis, Mr. Parker, Carley and Lilly...The Bandits and the Walkers..." Ben Answered.

"I Know It's Hard Now, But You Have Me, Lee and Clementine" I Reassured as Ben Kissed My Cheek.

"You Always Know How to Make Me Feel Better" Ben Said. To Waste Some Time, We Goofed Around A Little...

"Lovely Couple Aren't Ya'll" We Heard a Voice Say As a Man Who Looked and Was Covered In Coal Or Dirt and Had Grey Dirty hair...

"Who Are You?" Kat Asked

"I'm Chuck, But Charles If You Fancy Me" Chuck Answered.

"I'm Kat, This Is Duck...And Clementine, Alex and Ben, Kenny is in the Train Somewhere" Kat Introduced

"Nice To Hear, Here I've Saved Candy But It Looks Like You People Might Need it" Chuck Handed Clementine, Me and Ben a Box of Candy. I Took a Piece Out and Popped it in my Mouth

"Thanks" I Thanked. Chuck Nodded at Me as He Walked To the Train, Probably Going to talk to Kenny

"He Seems Nice" Ben Said

"He Is" Clementine Said Back...

Chuck Eventually Came Back But Was Now Holding A Guitar

"Good Man Up There" Chuck Complimented Kenny as Chuck Sat Down, Strumming His Guitar. I Smiled As I Swayed to the Melody of the Guitar, Music Always Soothed Me...

"I Haven't Heard Music In A While Since..." I Trailed as I Kept Swaying "It'd Always Keep Me Through Life..."

"Well I'm Glad to Be Your Entertainer" Chuck Teased as He Kept Strumming..

We Chatted For Awhile And Started to Like His Company, He Seemed to Be Struggling More Than Us, So Sad...Can't Believe He Lives In This Train. He Eventually Walked Back to his Train Car

"Sweet Candy" Ben Gushed as He Kept Chewing Some..I Rolled My Eyes at Him

"I Really Hope He's Okay, He's a Good Boy" I Said Sympathetically As Duck Coughed Some More..

"Thank You For Your Concern Alex..." Kat Thanked.

Chuck Eventually Came Back With Lee Behind...

"You Met Chuck" Clementine Said as She Greeted Lee

"Yeah...I Did" Lee Answered as They Looked at Chuck

"It's So Nice to meet someone Normal For A Change" Kat Said

"He Gave Us Candy, Ben Too!" Clementine Said. Lee Looked Over at Ben Who Slowly Chewed His Piece

"What's Your Game, Man?" Lee Asked Chuck

"Keepin' Alive" Chuck Answered

"That's Not Bad" Lee Said

"I Like it" Chuck Smiled

"Sure Did. Man Shares my love of the Road" Chuck Answered as He Sat Down

"That's For Certain"

I Watched as Duck Coughed up Some More..Poor Boy...

"I'm Awfully Sorry Your Son's Not Feeling Good" Chuck Said Showing His Concern

"I Appreciate Your Concern" Kat Thanked

'Well, With a Little TLC I'm Sure He'll Be Fit as a Fiddle in no time" Chuck Reassured "And I Can Offer Ya'll Whatever I got although It Ain't Much"

"Thank You...We'd Like to do the Same"

"Why Don't We Hold off on..." Kenny Spoke Up

"Stay With Us, We'd Like the Company" Kat Said as She Sadly Looked Down at Her Son and Everything Turned Quiet Back again

"Hey Chuck" Lee Walked Up to Chuck

"Howdy" Chuck Answered"

"Where Are You From?" Lee Asked

"Georgia Boy. You Saw Where I Live" Chuck Answered.

"Why Are You Alone?"

"Why Not? Seem to be doin' all right" Chuck Answered

"Fine Then"

"I'm Sorry I Do Like Being Around You all, Actually. It's Nice"

"You Caught Us on a Bad Day"

"Eh, You Still got a Couple of Kids and this one's got a good spirit" Chuck said as He Looked Over at Clementine and Smiled Who Looked Away "And The Other Girl, Seems to have a lot on her Plate With Her Boyfriend Over There...That's some Kind of Something"

"Yeah, She Seems to Really Like Him, And Him In Return, I'm Just Wondering Should I Trust Him With Her Life?" I Heard Lee Ask

"Well Their Both Just Kids, They Still Need Supervision, Once In Awhile But Their Almost Adults, They'll Get On Their Feet Alone, Eventually..." Chuck Answered. I Nodded

"Well Talk To You Later"

"Hope So" Chuck Finished as Lee Walked Over to Kenny

"We Don't got Much Left, So Just Gather Whatever You Have" Kenny Said to Us "Let's Go" We All Eventually Stood Up and Walked Over to a Car as Clementine Held My Held

"Want a Ride?" Kenny Asked Chuck

"Well It Sounds Like Your Taking My Home"

"That's a Yes Then" Kenny Answered

"Haven't Found anything better for keeping the creepy-crawlies out than that Boxcar" Chuck Said As He Hopped In

"Duck's Sick" Clementine Sadly Said To Lee

"Get on the Train Clementine" Kenny said Giving an Angry Look as Clementine Hopped In With Me Behind Her

I Felt The Train Move, But I Didn't Feel Happy Yet, Duck Was Sick And I Knew What Was Gonna Happen to Him...

Train Ride...

Everything Was Total Silent as I Watched as We Drove By a Walker That Was Looking Our Way, To Amuse Myself I took My Tongue Out at Him, But Frowned as I Glanced at Duck, I Really Felt Bad for Kat, No Wondering What this Could Do to Her If She Lost Duck..Or Kenny...

"Gotta Be Hard On Ya, Eh? Three Adults taking care of Four Kids?" Chuck Said "No Disrespect Son"Chuck Looked Down at Ben Who Gave Him a Look, I Rubbed His Back For Comfort As I Saw Hom Getting Angry...

"It's Okay Ben, He Called Me a Kid Too And I'm 17, Too" I Reassured. Ben Smiled and Wrapped His Arm Around Me and Gave Me a Kiss on the Cheek as Clementine Smiled at Us Before Frowning Back at Kat and Duck

"There Were More Of Us" Lee Answered. I Frowned Thinking About the Others...

"Dead Get 'em?"

"No"

"Ah Livin' got 'em"

"Lee! I Need You Right Now!" Kat Called As Duck Coughed Out Blood. Oh My God..I Put My Head Down Not Looking at Him, It Was too Disgusting and Sad to Watch..

"He's Out Of Time We Need to Stop this Train" Kat Said

"Okay"

"Please." I Watched as Lee Walked Out the Boxcar and Into Another...

I Scooted Over to Clementine and Comforted Her, She Really Needed a Friend Right Now...

Lee's POV

"Your Gonna Listen" I Urged Kenny

"Or What?" Kenny Asked Standing Up, Facing Me

"Calm Down..."

"How the Fuck Do You 'Calm Down' after a Day Like today?" Kenny Asked

"By Talking to Your Friend" I Answered. Kenny Sat back down "You think your the Reason Duck Was Bitten? Like you Had this Coming or Something? Stop thinking About yourself, man, You Feel Guilty; Like You Killed Any Chance of a Miracle for Duck when your ran away from Shawn Greene. Well There's No Room For that Shit. This Isn't about you. it's about a woman back there who needs her husband and a boy who needs his Dad" I Watched Kenny as He Gave a Soft Look Before Thankfully, Stopping the Train...

Alexander's POV...

I Felt the rain Stop as Katjaa Hopped off the Boxcar as We Watched Duck Lying Restlessly There, As He Was Getting Sicker and Sicker and Sicker...

"Ken It's...I Think It's Time" Katjaa Revealed Sadly to Kenny

"The Boy's Been Bit in case You Haven't figured it out" Kenny Said to Us

"I Already Know...Sorry.." I Answered

"Take as long as you need" Lee Spoke

"There Ain't No Time Left to Take" Kenny Said Back "What are we gonna do?"

"We Can't Allow Him to Become one of those things" Kat Answered

"What if he doesn't?"

"Kenny, I Love you Very Much. I Love our Son More than Life itself" Kat Said. I Looked Down as I Listened "I Need you to hear me, What Are you saying, He May Not Turn, Is Foolish"

"But-"

"No"

"There's...Come on Kat!"

"You think of one, Let me Know"

"Isn't there some sort of pill or something we can just give him?" Kenny Asked Hopelessly as Kat Looked Down

"Stop It"

"He Can just drift off to Sleep, Right Hon? I Mean, Jesus this is our Son!" Kenny Explained

"I KNOW But We Know it's...here. Or Nothing" Kat said pointing to her Mind as Kenny Shook His Head

"Well..Fuck...Just Who then? You Want Me to?" Kenny Asked

"You Don't Have to"

"I'll Do It"

"No! You Don't Have to"

"Katjaa Fuck! Fuck! I Can...I Can Do this!" Kenny Said

"No You Can't, I Love you Kenny But this is beyond you"

"I'll Do It" Lee Suggested

"No This Should Be a Parent" Kat Denied

"No Parent Should have to do something like this" Lee Reasoned

"Lee's Right, Kat We Can Say Our Goodbyes and...let that be" Kenny Agreed

"I Don't Know. Lee You'd Be Doing this Family a Great Service" Kat Thanked "Why Don't We Take Him out into the Forest. So Clementine and Alex Don't have to See"

"Yeah.."

"Give us a Moment to say goodbye" Kat Said

"Of Course" I Wiped My Tear Away from my Left Cheek as It Strolled Down, Wow..Today was a Really Rough and Depressing Day..

I Watched as Kat Picked Up Duck and Walked Into the Forest...I Looked At Duck as They Walked Into the Forest...Too Much Memories Came Into Mind So I Quickly Laid in the Boxcar, Crying and Sobbing to Myself as I Thought Of Duck and How Great of a Boy He Was...

"What's Happening?" Clementine Asked Lee

"Duck is Dying" Lee Answered

"I Know. What Are You Doing?"

"I'm Putting Him out of His Misery" Lee Answered

"Oh..."

"Yeah"

"Look Clem Things Will-" I Heard a Gunshot...

"What The-"

"NOOO!" I Heard Kenny Yell

"Ben Take Clementine into the Train" Lee Ordered "Go It'll Be Fine" Lee Finished as He Ran Into the Woods...

Lee's POV...

I Ran As Fast I Can As I Stopped to Wide My Eyes In Shock to See Kat's Corpse on the Ground, As She's Been Shot in the Head...

"KAT!KAT!KATJAA!" Kenny Yelled. I Looked over at a Pale Duck Sitting By a Tree "Why, Kat? Honey Oh Fucking God..." I Watched as Kenny Cried Over Kat's Body..."You Said You'd get though it Kat, God Damn It! You Said You Could Do It!" I Closed My Eyes Before Reopening them

"We Still Have to Deal With Duck" I Spoke. I Watched as Kenny Closed Kat's Eyes...I Watched in Remorse as We Stood Over Duck..

"What Do We Do?" Kenny Asked Holding the Gun

"Give Me the Gun, Ken. I'll Do It" I Suggested Before He Handed it to Me. I Held the Gun And Aimed it At Duck's Head, Not Before Giving him One Last Solemnly Look...BANG! I Pulled the Trigger...I Looked Over at Kenny who Cried as He Looked at His Son...Before Walking Away

Damn...

On The Tracks..

Alexander's POV

Depressing as this All Was, Three People Were Killed Today, Adding One Who Ran Off, Leaving...Just Seeing Our Member Getting Smaller...It Made Me Worry, Was I Next? Was I Gonna Get Shot in the Head Like Carley and Kat? Or Get Bitten Like Duck? All Of This was Too Much For Me...Even Worse Ben is Practically Avoiding Me Right Now...

I Was in the Boxcar, In The Corner Crying My Eyes Out, Every Person I Liked Or Bonded With Keeps Leaving Me, I'm Scared of What Might Happen to Clementine, Lee, Ben and Kenny...Speaking of Ben, I Quickly Got Up and Wiped My Tears Away and Went Looking For Him...

"What Is Up With You!?" I Asked as I Found Him, Leaning on a Railing. Ben Looked up at Me and Sighed

"If I Tell You, You'd Hate Me, Or Never Talk to Me Or Worse Break Up With Me" Ben Answered Shaking His Head Depressingly

"What Is it You Possible Have In Your Mind That I Don't Know About, I'm Your Girlfriend For Christ's Sake!" I Exclaimed

"You Really Wanna Know?" I Nodded

"Of Course If It's Bothering You That Much" Ben Sighed and Stood Up Facing Me, I Crossed My Arms Waiting

"'Member When Those Bastards Raided Our Motel?" I Nodded "Well, Remember When Lilly Was Questioning Me and Carley? Well Carley Didn't Do It..."

"Of Course She Didn't" I Said Back Confused On Where He Was Going With This...

"Lilly Was Right, I Did Steal Medicine And Give it to those Bandits.." My Eyes Widen In Shock, I Shook My Head Not Believing He Was Telling Me This, Tears Started Forming Again as I Held In My Anger, He Caused Carley's...And Duck and Kat's...And Lilly's...All I Wanted to Do Was Slap Him "Please You Have to FORGIVE Me! I Did it to Protect the Group-" I Listened to my Instincts and Slapped Him

"You Ruined This Group! You Stood There When Lilly Was Accusing You When it was You The Whole Time, How Could You!" I Asked In Disbelief

"What Was I Supposed to Say? They Were Gonna Kicked Me Out!" Ben Reasoned Still Feeling His Cheek

"YOU COULD'VE TOLD THE TRUTH! WE COULD'VE UNDERSTAND HELL! LEE COULD'VE UNDERSTAND! HE EVEN SAID IT!" I Shouted as I Pushed Him

"Alex I'm So and Truly Sorry! Please Forgive Me, Please Don't Break Up With Me!" Ben Pleaded as He Began Panicking...

"Don't Ever Talk To Me, LOOK at Me or Even THINK About Me Ever Gain Because You and Me are...DONE!" I Exclaimed Before Running Back Inside the Boxcar to See Lee and Clementine Who Was Holding a Gun, I Looked at Clementine In Disbelief

"Clementine Are You Holding a Gun?" I Asked in Shock, Clementine Nodded. Lee Looked at Me Worriedly

"Alex, Are You Okay? You Seem to Be Crying, Is it about Kat and Duck Look I Kn-"

"Why Don't You Talk To Ben, My EX-Boyfriend? He Seems to have a lot to Say..." I Exclaimed Madly.

"What?" Lee Said as He Walked Out.

"What's Wrong Alex?" Clementine asked Me as I Laid Down on Chuck's Mattress

"It's Just Me and Ben Drama, Listen I'm Kind Of Tired, I Guess, Let Me Sleep for Awhile Okay?" I Asked as I Laid My Head Down

"Okay..."

Minutes Later...

"OH SHIT! HOLD ON EVERYBODY!" I Heard Kenny Yell As I Fluttered Open My Eyes. I Moved a Little as Kenny Stopped the Train.

I Hopped off the Boxcar As The Others Did the Same and We all Looked Up at Something that was Blocking Our Way...A Big Gasoline Truck, Two Actually, Stuck On A Bridge In Front of Us...

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! FUUUUUCCCCKKKK!" Kenny Exclaimed as I Covered Clementine's Ears

"Maybe We Can Walk?" Ben Suggested and I Rolled My Eyes Annoying at Him

"That's Fucking Stupid, Ben" Kenny Answered

"Really Stupid..." I Muttered Bitterly, Ben Looked at Me With Sorrow

"I'm Just Sayin'..." I Looked Away from Him

"Hmmm, I Dunno; I Ain't Got Much Experience with ya'll's Fortitude but we Could Probably Deal With That. We Got a Goddamn Train" Chuck Said.

"That Thing's Not Full Of Milk, Charles That's Gas Or Diesel Something That's Going to Explode" Kenny Said

"You Gotta get a hold of yourself. This a Crew here.." Chuck Said. I Watched as The Two Became Face-To-Face

"This Ain't Shit"

"This-"

"Yo, Keep Screaming like that Your Gonna get your Face Chewed Off" We Heard From Up The Bridge. We All Looked Up to See Two People Standing Up There, One Was a Man and The other Was A Woman With Black Hair The Same as The Man...

"Are You Guys Gonna Be Trouble? Because We Could've just kept Walking" The Woman Asked

"No Were Friendly" Lee Spoke Out "Put Your Hands Down Ken"

"That's What Everybody Says" The Woman Answered Back

"We Know"

"Let's Give these Guys A Break" I Heard the Man Reason

"We'll See"

"You Guys Got a Problem With Your Train?" The Man Asked

"Your Standing Right In Front of it" Kenny Answered

"Dude, It's a Wreck It's Not so Bad from Up Here" The Man Said "Send Your Buddy Up to Have a Look"

"If Anything Goes Sideways Up There, We Won't let them Escape" Kenny Said. I Watched as Lee Went to the Ladder

"If I Come Up There, You Guys Better Not Be Murderer or Thieves" Lee Warned

"I Guess You'll Have to Find Out" The Woman Said Back Before Lee Started Climbing

"Look, Alex I Seriously Need to Talk to You" Ben Pleaded For Me

"Look, Today is Certainly Not The Day, I Told You, I'm Not Talking to you, Just Leave Me Alone!" I Pleaded Walking Away From Him

"But-"

"Just Leave Her Be, Son She's Been Having a Stressful Day, Give Her Some Time"Chuck Reasoned For Ben

"Yeah We've All had a Stressful Day..." Kenny Trailed. Ben Sighed and Shook His Head in Shame

I turned to See Lee and Clementine Climb Back Down With the Man and Woman

"Guys, This Is Omid and Christa" Lee Introduced The Two. We All Just Looked at the Two

"Not Big On Welcomes..." Omid Said Awkwardly

"Like I Said, We Could Use Some Good People" Lee Said

"We Just Wanted to Say Hi and Say your Train Is Pretty Cool" Omid Said. I Side Smiled at Him, Thinking He was a Cool Guy

"But Were Not Looking For Charity" Christa Spoke Up

"We Could Help You Guys Though, Maybe...Hi Uh Again" Omid said Awkwardly

"The Plan is to Cut that Tanker Down and Be on Our Way" Lee Explained

"Seems Like Plan Enough To Me" Kenny Agreed

"You Want to Start in on that Tanker?" Omid Asked Lee

"I'll get to know the Girls for a Minute, If You Don't Mind" Christa Suggested

"And Why Don't I Show You How this Thing Works, in case something happens" Kenny Suggested to Omid

"Really Ken?"

"It's Probably for the Best." Kenny Said Still in his His Depressed Mode "Someone Might Wanna have a look inside that station back there, too"

"Sounds Great. Let's Do This Thing" Omid Said In an Optimistic Tone

"Why Don't We Sit Over Here" Christa Said Escorting Us to a Spot on the Ground "So Tell Me About Yourself"

"Well I'm Alex And Your Probably Know this is Clementine, We Were Friends Way Before This Thing Started, Met Lee and Started to Survive With Others on Our Way But...It Didn't Work Out, I Guess" I Explained Sadly. Christa Gave me a Sympathetic look

"Wow You Must Have Been through Some Rough Days" Christa Asked

"You Have No Idea..." I Said.

"So How Are Ya'll During Your Struggle?" Christa Asked

"It Was Okay I Guess, Lot's Of Losses, Betrayal, Lot of things happened" I Answered

"I Learned to Use a Gun" Clementine Spoke Up

"You Were?!" Christa Asked

"Yeah, Lee Taught Me" Clementine Answered

"Of Course He Did..."

"So What's The Story Between You and Omid?" I Asked

"Nothing Much, On a Road Trip Until We Got Attacked and Survived From There" Christa Answered

"Must Be Tough?"

"You Bet"

I Watched as Lee Walked Up to Us "Hey Girls, How Ya Doing Alex?" I Sighed and Shrugged. Lee Gave me a Look Before Making a Conversation With Christa, I Ignored Them as I Started Thinking About Ben...

"So Who's That Guy You've Been Gawking At?" Christa Asked Me Taking Me Out of My Thoughts. I Shook My Head And Looked At Ben

"It's Just, This Guy I've Just Started Dating For Half a Day, His Name is Ben, Ben, Ben Paul" I Answered

"Ooh Romance..." Christa Smirked

"But We Broke Up When I Found Out Some...Things About Him and Felt Like I Couldn't Trust Him, So I Ended it With Him But Part of Me Feels Bad About Breaking Up With Him, Wanting to Get Back Together With Him But The Other's Like Get Over Him, He Stole From Us" I Confessed

"Well You Know What They Always Say, Follow Your Heart" Christa Confided. I Nodded

"I Guess, But Right Now I'm Having a Bad Day..." I Looked Down

"Don't Think Anyone Else Isn't Suffering Too, Were All Having a Bad Day..."

"Alex Lee's Going Over to the Station Wanna Come?" Clementine Asked. I Shook My Head "Okay See ya When We Come Back" Clementine Then Came Running After Lee

Me and Christa Chatted For Awhile Until She Went Inside the Station...

"Alex" I Heard Ben

"Ben..."

"Look I Know But Hear Me Out, Okay? I Really, Really, Really Like You, I Do. I Only Did those Things Because they Said they Had My Other Friends, It Was Way Before We Began Dating, Of Course And I Still Felt Vulnerable, Un Welcomed In the Group, So I Started Handing them Our Supplies But Everything Soon Changed When They Lied About Knowing Where My Friends Were, They Threatened to Kill Me, You and The Rest Of Us If I Stopped Giving them What They Needed, I Never Ment to Hurt You In Anyway, If I Could Go Back In Time, I Would, And Asked You Out Sooner and Never Made a Deal With Them Bastards, All I'm Saying Is, Your My Only Hope and I'm Trying to Make Myself Around Here, Just Please Think About it Okay? Please..." Ben Explained Before Walking Off as I Watched Him, Thinking About the Words He Said...

"Back" Christa Greeted as She Sat Next To Me and Clementine Eventually Behind

"Great" I Said Before I Looked Up to See The Gasoline Truck Move A Little

"God Your a Real Son of A Bitch Aren't Ya?" I Heard Omid Complain

"Shut Up and Start Cutting"

"Guys!...They're Something Coming!" Ben Called Out on the Train

"WHAT THE WHAT!"

"WE GOTTA GO!" Ben Shouted Running

"Fuck! Omid! Cut! Cut!" Lee Ordered as I Took Clementine and We Ran Inside the Boxcar

"Kenny Go!" Lee Yelled Out as Kenny Started the Train

Lee's POV

I Ran to the Other Side of the Bridge

"We Gotta Jump!"

"What No Way!" I Sighed and Pushed Omid As He Fell of Landing on the Ground As I Jumped Successfully on the Roof and Into the Boxcar, As The Two Ran By, I Picked Up Omid First...

"No! Her Not Me!" Omid Exclaimed "CHRISTA NO!" Christa Was Now Out of View "You Piece of Shit! She's A Woman! Don't You Know-"

I Watched as Christa Ran Back Up and Into the Boxcar

"Baby. It's Okay, Honey I'm Okay" Christa Reassured as She Breathed Out

I Got Up and Looked out the Boxcar to see The Walkers Still Waking After Us but They Were Too Far to Catch Us

"That...Was A LOT of them" Omid said as Clementine and Alex Walked In.

"Are You Hurt...?" Clementine Asked

"No, We're Okay" I Answered

"Speak For Yourself, My Leg is Fucked!" Omid Exclaimed

"We're Fine Clementine Were Fine..." Christa Reassured

Back on the Tracks...

Alexander's POV

"Hey Lee-" I Walked into the Main Car But Stopped When I Saw Kenny and Lee Holding Clementine's Talkie...Uh Oh

"Alex, Please Don't Tell Me You've Been Talking to this Person..." Lee Asked. I Gave a Nervous Smile

"I Might Have Said a FEW Words to Him..." I Answered Nervously Looking at the Look on Kenny and Lee's Face

"ALEX!"