ML54: It's time. This is, I hope, going to be a good chapter.

Rick: You've posted four chapters in, like, three days.

Lori: This is his fifth.

ML54: I know I'm doing this a bit quickly, I just found alot to write about. I think it's come to the end of the season soon though.

Kenny: Well, before that, ML54 doesn't own the Walking Dead.

Rescue

The others heard the scream and, about five minutes after, managed to find their way to the alley way. "This is definitely where I heard it." Glen said to the others, leading them down the alley way. The others looked around every corner.

"Right. So after we find Katjaa, Clementine and Duck, we need to get out of the city." Kenny had ordered the rest. "I ain't staying in this city with that lunatic."

"For once, I agree with Kenny." Lily mentioned, nodding her head. "We'll just have to find another city."

Lee, who was travelling next to Glen, turned round the corner and let out. "Oh no..."

"What is it?" Rick had said, him and Kenny pushing to the front.

"KATJAA!" Kenny cried, looking to his wife. She had still been bleeding, but a walker was seen eating from her stomach. Well, it was before Kenny had shot it in the head. "NO!" Kenny fell to his knees beside her crying.

The others stood in the entry way, unsure what to do. Well, until Shane came forward and picked up a shell casing.

"This wasn't a walker's doing." He told the group, kneeling next to the grieving husband. "She was shot."

"In the head?" Doc asked, looking to the bullet hole in Katjaa's skull. Shane shook his head.

"No. This one..." He said, pulling the bullet out from Katjaa's stomach. "...went into the abdomen. Whoever shot her in the head, put her out of her misery."

"Kenny..." Lee said, kneeling next to his friend. Lily had kneeled on his other side. "...we'll find who did this..."

"She's missing her gun." Lily said, catching the other's attention. "She must of handed it to someone."

"If I know her..." Kenny let out a sob before continuing. "If I know her like I think I do, she would've given it Duck..."

"So maybe Duck's with Clementine." Carl suggested, looking down both sides of the alley, ready to alert the others of threats.

"I don't think so. I only saw Clementine with Katjaa." Lori told her son, looking to Kenny with sympathy.

"I saw the shadow man follow them on the roof." Sophia mentioned, causing the other to look to her. "Well, mom was carrying me so I saw him jumping around."

"So..." Lee started in anger. "The way I see it, this man killed Katjaa and kidnapped Clementine!"

"You're very observant, Lee." They all heard from Rally's pocket. They turned and saw that the radio that Rally had adjusted had caught this man's signal. "Yes, I have Clementine. I'll give her a better life."

Lee snatched the radio from the the man in anger. "Listen you sick murderer! If you think I'm letting you get away with taking the kids you've got another thing coming!"

"You're one to talk about murder, Lee...Remember Larry and Doug." Lee felt his anger rise at those comments, as did Lily with the mention of her dad. "You left Doug to die, opting to save Carly instead. And you didn't even try to save Larry..."

"I was going to try and save Doug and Carly! And Larry had a heart attack and we didn't have any of his pills!" Lee argued. The voice tutted at him.

"You don't deal with these situations very well, do you." The voice sighed. "Well, if you want her back, come to the Marsh House Hotel...But beware the walkers. If you're not here by sundown, we'll be leaving."

"PLEASE HELP ME LEE!" They heard Clementine cry from the radio before it fell silent. Kenny stood, glaring at the radio before nodding.

"That son of a bitch will pay!"

"Guys." Everyone looked at Carl. "We're still missing Duck..."

"I have a feeling that Duck might've been the one to finish it." Shane said, indicating towards Katjaa. "He's probably been following the man too."

"So we find this asshole. We find Duck and Clementine!" Rally declared, turning with Lee and Kenny taking the lead and following them out.


Duck crouched in the alley way leading to the Marsh House Hotel. He had been near a radio in an old, abandoned house that had one when it came to life. He couldn't believe his luck.

He looked out and cursed under his breath. The hotel was surrounded by walkers. "That shit head must have attracted them over here! How am I supposed to get past this?!"

He watched as walker passed walker, moaning and groaning. "I wonder how they know who's walker and who's not...I don't think they're smart enough to just know...and some of them look very similar to how we'd normally look."

He sniffed through his nose, still trying to clear the thoughts of his recently killed mother, then almost gagged. It smelled horrible out there. "WAIT! SMELL! They can smell someone who's not dead cause they don't smell as bad!" Duck looked back to the walker he killed a few minutes prior as an idea formed.

"Steel yourself. This is for mom and Clementine." He assured himself as he used his bladed arm and sawed the thing's stomach open. He wretched as he used his proper hand to scoop it's guts and gunk out.

It was when he smeared some of it on his shirt that he finally threw up.

The bile rose and fired out of his gullet, the acid burning his throat. The smell was SO horrid. He could sit there and be sick all day, if he had the chance. But he had a mission. It was time that, in his words, secret agent Duck made his move.

He had his bladed arm out, but kept his gun tucked away. He knew he'll need it.

He walked out the alley way, flies following him as he did so. Duck looked at the way most walked and decided to limp as well, to look more convincing. He wandered straight into the mass of walkers...

...and they ignored him.

"It's working! Keep calm, ignore them. Only kill when necessary." A women walker had stood in front of him and hissed in his face. Duck kept calm and prepared his blade before it moved along.

"Was it...trying to talk to me?" He thought, looking for the said walker, but it had left. He continued his awkward stepping, bumping into an overweight walker who had hissed at him, before moving along.

"MADE IT!" He cheered, quickly entering the building. He then took to walking normally, pulling his gun out.

He spotted a blood trail and felt his blood run cold. "Is that Clementine's blood?" He couldn't help but ask, before shaking his head and walking up the stairs.

He decided to follow the blood, since it was fresh. Luckily there wasn't a lot of it, not enough for someone to die.

Finally he came to a door. Where a little blood was smeared on the door handle. Duck entered the room, pointing his gun in all directions around the room. Noting it was clear, he tucked his gun back in his trousers, noticing the bed sheets that tied a wardrobe with a bedroom.

There was crying coming from the wardrobe. A familiar crying.

Clementine.

"Cl-"

"SHH!" A voice sounded from behind him. He turned to see the man from before, pointing a gun at him. He then motioned to the dresser in the corner. "Put your stuff there." Duck, sane enough to know that resisting would be pointless, walked over slowly and untaped his blade, putting it down.

"That's all I have..." Duck said, having hidden Katjaa's gun in his trousers, at his hip covered by his shirt as well.

"You travel light...I don't believe you." He said, putting the barrel on the back of his head. "You think I'm stupid kid. I see it. In your right pocket." Duck let a sigh of relief in his head, having remembered getting something.


Flashback

Duck had entered a jewellery store, trying to avoid a heard of about twenty walkers. He then quickly shot the dead security guard that was there, before he could reveal his position.

While Duck was waiting, his eyes were drawn to an electric calendar that still had batteries left. It stated that the date was October 2nd. Clementine's birthday was tomorrow.

Duck, deciding to take the initiative, looked over the jewellery. It would be something to make her birthday enjoyable at least.

Then he found something. A simple locket. He smiled to himself. He wasn't sure whether Clementine was a jewellery kind of girl but it looked nice enough and wasn't as...bling...as the other stuff here.

So he opened the cabinet, relieved that the alarm system wasn't powered, and took it putting it into his pocket.


He let a smile grace his lips at the distraction the locket caused and fetched it out, putting it on the dresser.


The others were on the roof, opposite to the hotel, trying to find their way across that didn't involve walking through the walkers. That was when Lee saw them.

"Guys! He's got Duck!" The others looked to where he was pointing to see the man pointing a gun at Duck laying down a walkie talkie.

"I know you're listening Lee. Sending another child here. Despicable."

"He didn't send me here. I came on my terms." They heard Duck, venomously say to the stranger. They looked through the window to see Duck glare, defiantly at the man opposite. Kenny felt a bit of pride bubble up. His son survived all those walkers and was standing up to this man all by himself.

"We don' have a long ranged weapon." Daryl cursed, looking at everyone's weapons. All pistols and his crossbow. "Tha' window's closed. The crossbow can' break though it."

"We have to find a way over!" Kenny cried out, panicking for his son.

"You move from that spot, your son dies..." The man said, waving to them from his seat. "You may as well let him live long enough to hear my story."


Back in the hotel, Duck had glanced and locked eyes with his father who was trying his best not to cry. Duck felt his resolve thicken. How dare this man threaten his dad like this!

"What gives you the right to rip our family apart?" He seethed to the man opposite who, in response, smacked Duck in the face with the weapon.

"DUCK!" His dad called through the radio. The man opposite glared at the boy, who looked back up spitting a bit of blood out of his mouth.

"Now I hope you'll take my threats seriously..." Then glared back. "I'm only here to help Clementine. Not you, you brat."

"Yeah, sure, right. Your going to take such good care of a kid after you kill one." He spat out to the man in hatred. The man opposite sighed.

"Let's just try to keep this civil. Do you know who I am?"

"The bastard that killed my mom." He replied, not really wanting to be civil at all.

"Let's just say you don't." The man replied, losing a lot of patience with the kid.

"Duck! Is that you?!" Duck was about to respond, before the man rose his gun and put his finger to his lips.

"Don't worry sweetie, everything will be fine." That's when Duck saw a scabbing blood smear running from his right nostril to his lip.

"Looks like Clementine knocked you one good." Duck smirked. At least he knew that Clementine was safe. The man put the barrel to his head, the pair glaring at each other.

"You have a gun pointed at your head! You should be fearing for your life right now!" Duck actually started to laugh at the man.

"Please. I had a cannibal kidnap me and shoot my dad! I had to walk through a mass of walkers! I was alone when we split up with about eight walkers following me! I had my ARM cut off! I've had my share of scares and believe me, YOU AREN'T ONE OF THEM!" He snarled to the man. The man, roughly, pushed him down in his chair, keeping the gun pointed at him and sitting back down.


"Yikes." Carl let out from beside Sophia, their gazes fixed on the scene in front of them. "Duck's had a hell of a few weeks."

"Days more like." Carly joined in from beside them. "That all happened in five days. I was amazed he was still his happy-go-lucky self after the dairy incident. Now I think he's become a tough son-of -a-bitch."

"Yeah...But Clementine..." Lee said, not looking away from the pair. "Is in there with him and Duck. I don't know what's going to unfold."

"But we got to be ready to give that guy the chase when he makes his runner." Shane had whispered to the others, nodding to the fire exit. "Me, Rick, Lee, Kenny and Daryl will move in and you guys go down after and cover the rest of the exits."


"Now..." The man stated, trying to calm down once again. "I guess you can call me Campman."

"Real name?" Duck asked, obviously not believing the man.

"Not really necessary." He replied to the question. "But I think you'll remember a station wagon. It had a lot of food, water, batteries a lot of stuff. You see, that stuff belonged to me."

"You shouldn't have left it unattended." Duck replied, without missing a beat. "It was out there, ready for the taking. At least leave a sign saying do not take."

"Like you'd pay attention to that. I'd just like to ask why your group took it." He nodded back to the wardrobe. "Clementine's welcome to it, but she's wearing my daughter's jumper."

"It was in the middle of the forest. Abandoned. Even if we didn't take it, the bandits would have." Duck glared at him further. "We left a little as per Lee and Clementine's request. So why are you so hell bent on taking revenge on him?"

"He's not been taking care of her! He brought her to a place filled with cannibals!" Duck clenched the arms of the armchair in fustration.

"There was no way we would have known they were trying to EAT us! We thought that was reserved for walkers!" Campman continued anyway.

"You brought her into the middle of this city!"

"If you were listening before you sounded the dinner bell, you'd have known that we were going to take her back to the train!"

"With you! Two other kids! And three moms!" He snarled. "Like you'd have taken care of her!"

Duck held out his stump, laying his hand over his concealed gun. "I sacrificed my hand to protect her! You have NO right saying we'd let ANYTHING hurt her!"

"You, personally, weren't exactly good to her!" Duck glared at him as he continued. "I heard how she used to talk about you being mean to her! Babbling on about something she didn't care about! Talking about a cartoon while she was crying over her walkie talkie! I bet you don't know anything about her!"

"I know enough to know that she doesn't want to be with you!" He could hear Clementine crying even more and his rage just increased.

"My family was killed because of your group! Your dad who stole our supplies! Tess and Elizabeth were bitten! Adam lost when hunting! It's all your fault!"

"Your a grieving man who can't take responsibility for his actions and is looking to pin it on someone else!"

"Like YOU haven't! What about Shawn?!" Duck's eyes softened as he thought about Shawn. The nice guy who let him play on the tractor. But then, Shawn got killed.

"I know that's my fault...I know I didn't say anything...But I didn't look to blame anyone else... Hershel blamed my dad when he should have blamed me! I'm not YOU!" Campman, deciding he has had enough, pulled the trigger...

But he was pushed aside, so the bullet missed.

Clementine stood there, panting a little. Duck pulled out his concealed weapon and stamped on the hand Campman had his gun in. "Yeah, rule one of the apocalypse. Double. Check. Everything." With that, Duck shot the man in the head.


The group on the roof sighed in relief. "Thank you God!" Kenny said, clamping his hands together. "Thank you SO much!"

Lee smiled at the little girl in the room with Duck. "Way to go Clementine."

"C'mon, let's go get them." Shane had said, about to leave before Rick stopped him.

"Hold on. We can still call them. Maybe they can make their way over here. Duck managed to walk through that." Rick said, indicating to the large amount of walkers littering the streets. "But maybe we can thin them out."

"Agreed." Lily said, looking to the building next to the one there on, looking at the alarm system. "Rally? Think you can get that working?"

"Are walkers ugly?" He replied, smirking, heading up there. "It'll be ready to go ASAP."


Clementine, knowing that the stranger isn't going to turn, turned to Duck who had ripped his gunk covered shirt off. "OH GOD! That thing STUNK!" He vented, holding his nose.

Suddenly, Clementine hugged him, crying into his neck. Him, not really used to getting hugged, just hugged back awkwardly. "Th-thank y-you... I...I-I'm sorry a-about wha..."

"Shh..." Duck replied, rubbing her back soothingly. "It's okay. Your okay. Let's just get to the others."

"Hey love-birds!" The pair jumped away from each other in embarrassment, hearing Carl's voice over the walkie talkie. "You guys need to get ready. There's a fire escape ladder on the right side of our building, in the alley way. Rally's going to cause a distraction and you guys run over here."

Duck gave a thumbs up out the window, strapping his knife back on and, discretely, put the locket back in his pocket. Clementine voiced her understanding through the walkie talkie, deciding to take it with her.

Duck quickly, but reluctantly, put his gunky shirt back on. "You ready Clem?" She nodded, clutching the bat she was taken with, walkie in her hoodie pocket.

"Ready." Duck nodded opening the door.

Standing in the doorway, a walker stood hissing. Clementine gasped as Duck stared at it and it stared back.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then Duck threw his blade into it's chin and it fell limp. "It didn't attack you." Clementine mentioned, noting it's unusual behaviour. "Why?"

"Because I stink." He replied, smiling. "I kind of got here by smearing walker guts over myself before leaving." Clementine stood there for a second, imagining that, before running to the window.


Everyone on the opposite building was wondering what the problem was before Clementine threw up. "Eww." Sophia whined, watching the stomach contents hit an elderly walker in the head. Daryl laughed.

"Ha ha! Nice sho'!" He then smirked at Carl, pointing to a walker crawling on the ground. "Bet you three bullets I can spi' on tha' one!" He smirked back.

"No way! You're on!"

"No you're not!" Carol intervened. "Don't spit on them!" Daryl rolled his eyes.

"Oh sure, we can smash their brains in and shoo' 'em in the face. But spitting is just pure evil."


"You done?" Duck asked, motioning to the door. "We need to go." Clementine nodded, following Duck out the door.

Soon they found themselves in the lobby with the walkers wandering the streets. That's when Clementine saw them limp in the lobby...

...her parents.

The two walkers wandered in, having just randomly wanted to enter. The women had a distinctive athro and the man was slightly over weight. Clementine cried out when she saw them, attracting the pair that way.

Duck saw them and made the connection, quickly putting his mom's gun in her hands. She looked up at him, tears starting to poor down her face. "I'm sorry Clem...But it's better this way..."

"I-I don't want...I-I'm scared..." Duck nodded, wiping her tears away much like he did just last night.

"I know. I was scared when I had to finish mom off. And when I took the bite for you. But, like me, you have to do this. You can't be afraid." Clementine nodded, looking to the weapon in confusion. "Just point it and pulled the trigger. Try to keep the bars on the top level and don't extend your arms all the way. There's only two bullets left, so try to get to good hits. Or it's going to have to be the messy way." He explained, glancing at her bat.

She nodded and stood in front of her parents. The two saw her and hissed, limping towards her in hunger before Clementine rose the gun.

The silenced weapon let off the first round into her father's head, wedging into his brain, finally letting him rest. Just as quickly, Clementine turned it to her mom and repeated the process.

Her parents fell down, put down for good as Clementine grieved. She knelt down next to her kin, sobbing lightly. She knew her parents were dead when Lee told her, but now she doesn't have the comfort of Lee's possible error.

Duck put a hand on her shoulder, looking at her with sympathy. "Don't worry Clem. They resting in peace now." She nodded, mutely, getting up. Duck looked out, seeing the walkers wander over to the building next to the one the rest of the group were. "We need to go..."

Clementine kissed his cheek, causing him to stop in stunned silence. "Thank you for everything Duck." She said, interlocking her fingers with his, holding his hand. "Let's go." Duck grinned, the two leaving the building. To her new life. Her new family. Lee, Carly, Lily, Rick, Shane...and Duck.

Well, Duck was a complicated one. She didn't really see him as family. But way more than that. She just needed to work out what. "Oh well." She thought to herself as Duck let her get onto the ladder first, him being the one armed guy will have a bit of trouble.

"I have plenty of time to work it out..."


ML54: I think it'd be justified to spit on a walker. I can't see the problem. Just a bit of fun.

Carol: It's unhygenic!

Daryl: They rip out your stomachs and eat them raw. You think that's hygenic?

Carol:...point taken.

Sophia: ML54 would like reviews, but please don't flame him.