Salvation Lost

by SoonTheApocalypse

The drugstore group have managed to find themselves a relatively safe haven, at the motel outside of Peachtree City. But what will happen when an even greater opportunity, one which could even secure their long-term survival, presents itself? Will they be able to take it, or will they allow it to slip through their fingers? A cross-country battle for survival is about to begin...

10. The Remnants, Part 4

Soon: Here we go again. Time for me to deliver yet another part of "The Remnants" for you guys, I think. I apologise for taking so long, but I'm just not able to find much time for anything right now, so I'm more or less having to force myself to re-type this whenever I get a few minutes to spare. Hopefully that won't affect the quality of the writing in any tangible way... :/

In any case, I notice that we only received six reviews for the last chapter, which is unfortunately a slight drop on the seven reviews that we'd achieved for the previous three parts of the story. Not exactly what I was hoping for. Having said that, the story has still received quite a lot of new reviews (for the older parts) between the last update and now - albeit, mainly from a single person - so I don't suppose that I can really complain too heavily, can I?

For those of you who did review the last part, however, I can only thank you for your continued support of the story. Were it not for you guys, I probably wouldn't have gotten these parts re-typed as quickly as I have done, so this one's all on you. ^_^

And speaking of those reviews - let's get to responding to them all, shall we?

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Reply to santiagoponcini20: Hello again! Thanks for stopping by.

"And to respond you: People in every counrty does that, only that the lazy and agressive people are more olbvious and pessimistic XD" - I don't doubt it, my friend. There are some bad eggs nestled in every country's basket, I would imagine. Don't worry about it. ;)

"AWESOME CHAPTER" - ... THANKS, MAN! I REALLY APPRECIATE IT! Hey, Lilly! Do the puppy-dog eyes for this guy, would ya? As a kind of special service to him for supportin' the story, y'know?

Lilly: No. I'm not doing that.

Soon: Aw, come on. Please~?

Lilly: Not even if you paid me to.

Soon: Ah, man... :/

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Reply to Sean the Artic Fox: I'll hand this one over to Larry, then...

Larry: Because it's the only way for people to get anywhere in the world! And now I've got a question for you. Why the hell are you such a sniveling little pansy, huh?! Can you answer me that one, ya little punk? Well? Can ya?

Soon: Oh, boy... Now we've got Larry starting fights with the readers to contend with.

Larry: I didn't start this! He did!

Soon: ...Mm-hmm. Either way, it's interesting that you should choose to ask that question now, Sean, since the part below ... might go some way to giving you some answers on that very topic. ;)

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Reply to smeake: Hi there!

"Good chapter man, can't wait for the action next chapter." - Heh. Hey, I said that there would be action in the "coming parts", I didn't say anything about next part, specifically. Just don't want you getting your hopes up for some kinda mass brawl in the part below, is all. :P

"I could definitely see you being a Uncle to Clementine besides I think Duck loves Clem tehe."

Kenny: Say what? ... Is this true, Duck? Have you maybe got a 'lil crush on Clementine?

Duck: Ergh! No way! Girls are icky!

Kenny: Hehehe! You say that now, but you may not see it that way in a few years time, son. After all, I was the exact same way when I was yer age. I dunno, smeake. I reckon that we'd best monitor the situation, don't ya think? Let me know if anything changes in my boy's love life, won't ya? Hehe!

Duck: Ew, gross!

"And I would do anything for my friends to make sure that everything is going well with them besides I think I really only have one real friend her name is Amber & she loves the Walking Dead TV show, if me & her were in a zombie apocalypse scenario I know she would have my back & I would have her's & I would do anything to protect her & she would do the same for me"

Kenny: Glad to hear it, pal. It's always good to have someone to watch yer back during tough times like these. You hold onto that friend o' yers, ya hear me? We all need to cherish our friends for as long as we can, 'cause friendship doesn't always last forever.

"In regards to the military by grandfather was in the Army & my Uncle was in the Air Force my Uncle used that experience in the Air Force to become district manager for Tigercat Industries he is right now in South America. My uncle is in his early to mid 40's so he would be a great help to the group with his tactical strategies if he was thrown into a zombie apocalypse scenario."

Larry: ...Wait a minute, so you're telling me that your Uncle went and resigned from his post when he was only in his forties? God, that makes me so angry! What I wouldn't give to spend a few more years in service to my country! As far as I'm concerned, there's no greater honour! Some patriot your Uncle must be, to abandon his post and swan off to fuckin' South America first chance he got!

Lilly: Dad, come on. Don't be like that. He just said that his Grandfather was in the army, too, so there's obviously quite a strong military presence in the family, just like there is in ours. And, I mean, mid-40s isn't that bad of a time to retire, really, for someone in our line of work.

Larry: Pah! What the hell is he doin' living South America, anyway? Is the US no longer good enough for him or somethin'?

Lilly: Well, personally, I say good luck to him. It sounds to me like he's served his country well, and now he's entitled to spend the rest of his life doing whatever it is that he enjoys most.

Larry: Hmph. Only sissies and cowards pull outta the force early. At least in my book.

Lilly: Where is your Uncle now, anyway? Brazil, maybe? I hope that he's not involved in deforestation at all. Because that name, "Tigercat Industries", sounds a little familiar to me...

Larry: What? Don't tell me that you're turning into a damn hippy now, Lilly?

Lilly: ...Well, I don't really agree with how much we're ruining the forests down there, but ... *sighs* ... I suppose that we've currently got bigger problems to be worrying about, haven't we?

Larry: Too right we have! An' you can tell your bleedin' Uncle that from me!

Lilly: Dad, please...

"she mentioned someone named Carol cutting their arm off in Season 5" - Hmm. Well, I may have only watched the season once (in several fragmented sessions, no less), but I can definitely tell you that Carol still has both of her arms well and truly in tact. Maybe you just misunderstood what your friend was saying? Or perhaps she simply got the names mixed up?

"If she was bitten by a walker It would be hard for me to do because she is my best friend & I would never want to hurt her, (like I think it was for Kenny in episode 5 of the game if it was only Lee & Kenny in the morgue) but I would do it as fast as I could so she could live I would give up my life to protect her & I know she would do the same for me if I was in the walker bite situation. She's the only real friend I've got left & to see her die would kill me on the inside." - Geez, I honestly don't know what I'd do in that situation. I can't even really imagine what my feelings would be if that happened to me and a close friend/relative of mine. I mean, I'm not particularly good when it comes to blood and gore, so ... I probably wouldn't be able to go through with it (and would no doubt fail horribly if I tried). Funnily enough, I do have an obscenely high tolerance to pain, however. So, I'd probably be better suited to getting my own arm chopped off, rather than helping to chop someone else's off instead. As morbid as that may sound, it would possibly be easier for me to cope with than the alternative. :/

And hey, I'm sure that you've got more friends that you can count on than just Amber. And if not, well ... you'll probably find them eventually. Everyone tends to meet two or three people during their lives (at some stage or another) who end up becoming like family to them. At least in my experience. ;)

Thanks for reviewing again, man.

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Reply to ZombieGuy96: Ooh, you jumped in pretty early this time, didn't ya? Normally when I do this, you're somewhere towards the back of the queue. Not this time, though, that's for sure. :D

"Lilly and Kajtaa's run to get some supplies" - *tuts* ... Well, you clearly weren't paying attention. It was a run to find something to contain and control the campfire, not an actual run for supplies. There's a clear distinction between the two, you see? :P

"1) Larry (with his temper) probably did something when Lilly when she was a child that scared her to the core and continues to make her frightened of him. Seeing how she is now and the fact she is able to deal with military men on a daily basis (not to mention how well she handles herself in front of the group) as an grown woman she is able to deal with the large majority of people without getting scared of them. Whereas this childhood incident she has with her father is an underlying issue and she is probably still terrified of him but looks after him as she feels obliged too. She still loves her father, and he still loves her, however due to his temper and these issue/s in Lilly's childhood she probably hasn't spoken to him about it creating this complex relationship between them." - Hmm... Well, that's certainly an interesting theory, isn't it? I won't say how hot or cold you are right now, since I don't want to spoil the suspense for later on (when you'll be able to find out just how right or wrong you were on this), but ... let me just tell you that this was pretty damn good for a first guess. Not bad. Not bad at all. ;)

Unfortunately, that whole backstory (and the many intricacies of their relationship) is going to take a long time to fully unravel, so it's something that we're going to be delving deeper into gradually, over time, as opposed to having all of the answers thrown in your face all at once. As such, it's probably going to take an equally long time for your theory to be either validated or discredited. Kinda crappy, isn't it? But such is the nature for a story of this length... :(

Still, since you've labelled this theory as number "1", I'd honestly love to know what you had in mind for number "2" (and possibly beyond), before you seemingly scrapped the idea altogether. ;P

Thanks for reviewing, as always.

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Reply to Paradoxilla: AGH! STOP CHANGING YOUR DAMN USERNAME SO MUCH! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KEEP TRACK IF YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT USERNAME EVERY FIVE SECONDS?! ... I mean, er ... Hi. How are you today, my fine sir? ^_^;

"This will be great, no doubt" - And you knew this from reading the Introduction chapter alone? It could have all been an elaborate bluff on my part, for all you knew. ;P

"Of course CLEMENTINE gets the bed because..who can resist those eyes?" - Oh, are you talking about the ... *glances both ways before whispering it* ... puppy-dog eyes? Because if so, then - I dunno, man. I reckon that Lilly could give her a run for her money. Clementine may have youth on her side, but Lilly has years of experience. That's got to count for something, right?

"Scientists could search the farthest depths of the universe for multiple millennia and never find something cold enough to heal that burn." - Ouch. Those sound like some pretty severe burns right there.

Carley: Oh, please. It wasn't that bad. I've received worse insults from my editor on a daily basis. So, trust me, Lilly's comments were nothing special. I was over it within minutes. Besides, I know that she's only picking a fight with me because she's bitter that she isn't able to hold down a stable relationship of her own. Maybe if she didn't act so stuck-up all the time, then she'd actually get some joy in that department. I bet all the boys take one look at that scowl of hers and run a mile, anyway. Ha! Now how's that for a "burn"? You see? I can do it, too, if I want to. I've just been holding back to save on all the upset and drama. ;)

Soon: ...All I can say is - thank fuck that Lilly wasn't around to hear that.

Carley: Aw, that's a pity. That woman could do with someone taking her down a few pegs, in my opinion...

"Honestly I do feel for Larry to the smallest degree. He's in an apocalypse with heart problems and all he wants to do is protect his daughter. True he's an asshole, but if you were stuck in the apocalypse with a murderer, you would be a bit peeved." - As I've already said to one of the reviewers above you, this is also oddly relevant for the upcoming part. Stay tuned...

"and CarDoug (1) making everyone sick. (1): is that the ship name?" - Er ... I'm not too sure, to be honest. I don't really do the whole "shipping" thing, you see, as you may have noticed if you've read my responses to any of the reviews from earlier parts. I think that I once saw someone refer to it as "Darley" (which sounds pretty damn cute, I'll admit), but that's about the extent of it, really. Honestly, it's such an uncommon pairing that I actually have no idea what people like to call it.

It's rather strange that two of the only characters in the entire game to have expressed a canon desire to be together (as opposed to the many optional or one-sided declarations of affection) are also practically non-existent in terms of the "shipping" scene, isn't it? I suppose that it's a combination of factors, really...

A.) The fact that the game kind of pits Carley & Doug against one another (in a life and death scenario, no less) shortly after we meet them both, which causes many Doug fans to dislike the far more popular choice, Carley, and vice versa. And...

B.) That silly little pseudo-romance between Lee & Carley which they inserted into Episode 3 at the last minute, which kind of shoved Doug into the background as far as romantic interests for Carley are concerned.

However, I actually believe that Carley and Doug would have one of the best (if not THE best) couples in the entire game series, had they both managed to survive the drugstore together, since they both just complement each other's character flaws so perfectly. And this is something which I'll be taking a look at (over time) in this story.

Alas, everyone will always act like Lee & Carley are the one-true romantic pairing of TWDG, even though their long-term potential was actually a lot more limited than most people are willing to admit. Carley decided to settle for Lee because she could no longer have Doug. I mean, it's hardly the world's greatest ever love story now, is it? :/

"I like how LiLee isn't the biggest thing in this story" - Hey now - who said that it's going to be a thing in this story at all, hmm? I mean, sure, things may appear to be heading in that direction at the moment, but ... that doesn't necessarily mean that anything will come of it, you know? Read my response to ZombieGuy96's reviews back on Part 1 of The Remnants (assuming for a moment that you haven't already) if you'd like to know my thoughts on the matter in greater detail.

In any case, one of my favourite aspects about Lilly's character is that she's boarderline "unshippable" ... in a post-apocalyptic setting, anyway. I don't think that I've seen Lilly featured in a single romance-oriented story that didn't have her acting at least slightly or, if not, then horrendously out-of-character in order to reach that point of romantic intent, and that's because such a thing is not really on Lilly's radar by the time the apocalypse has fully kicked into gear. It's just not something that she's at all interested in getting into.

True, there are ways of writing her into a romance which can work (and Lee is obviously far and away the best candidate for a potential suitor), but you need to meet certain criteria in order to achieve this, whilst still keeping both her and Lee completely in-character, and ... suffice to say, these criteria are not very easily met in a post-apocalyptic setting.

It would also be suffice to say that neither Lee nor Lilly will be portrayed drastically out-of-character during this story (for romance, or for any other reason), so ... I dunno. We'll have to see how it goes, I guess.

All in all, it's probably best that you don't head into this story thinking that it's going to be a Lee x Lilly romantic romp, because you may be left feeling slightly disappointed if those are your expectations. I'm a big believer in keeping things as grounded and realistic as possible, you see, and Lilly and Lee as a couple (while an intriguing idea on paper) is extremely difficult to put into practice during an actual story.

So, yeah, you can look forward to me exploring the pre-existing chemistry between Lee and Lilly's characters in greater detail during the coming chapters, but ... a full blown romance? Pfft! Steady on now. Let's take this one step at a time, shall we? And then we'll see where it gets us... ;)

"Bit of a relaxing chapter (not for Lee or Kenny though ;D)" - Don't forget about poor Carley & Doug, too. Lilly certainly gave those two a good workout, didn't she?

"and got to see the survivors deal with crap they have to. Burning bodies, moving cars, (avoiding zombie joggers), you know, the usual stuff!" - Yeah, you've gotta watch out for those damn zombie joggers. They're a nightmare!

"Also perfect timing: just as I started on the paragraph about Lilly, Carley and Doug burning bodies, Ellie Goulding's song "Burn" came on. Perfect" - I don't usually like using the word "epic" too much, as I feel that it's a phrase which is rather overused these days, but ... on this occasion? I think it's fully justified. That sounded pretty damn epic. XD

"Message to Lilly: Keep your eyes on Larry, he's gonna kill Lee soon enough" - Over to you, Lilly...

Lilly: What the hell are you even talking about? My dad's not gonna- ... *reads the rest*

"and then who will you get together with?"

Lilly: ...Wait, what?

"Also note: I f*ckin love the skits" - What, all of 'em? ... Woohoo! 24 out of 24! A perfect score! New Achievement Unlocked! ... *Achievement has been added to Soon's inventory*

And you can't take it back now, either. You've committed to the compliment, now stand by your comments with pride! ... Oh, and thanks for the butt-load of reviews, too. That was pretty cool.

Welcome aboard the ship, matey. We've just set sail for Lala Land! Have fun on the journey there, won't you? :D

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Reply to Prettyprincess45: 'Sup?

"I haven't actually read the first chapter yet, but I can tell it's going to be great." - Not another one! You kids and your pre-emptive praise these days. XD

"To be honest, I like slow burn stories they take their time to get to the point. I know it sounds weird, but I just don't like stories where the action is rushed in the first few chapters and makes the rest of the story a boring drag. *Yawn*" - ...Ah. Well. That's a pity, since one of my other big TWDG stories (which I'll probably start re-typing quite soon) follows pretty much the exact pattern which you're describing here, in that it starts out quite chaotic, and then hits a bit of a lull for a while afterwards.

So, I don't expect that you'll be reading that fic then, will you? ;P

"Okay, I envy you. Your writing is just amazing!" - Well, thank you, I suppose. Although, I feel that your envy is misplaced, especially since you apparently developed these feelings after reading Part 1 of The First Night (which I'd probably consider to be one of the weaker parts of the story so far). I'm actually not that great of a writer, all things considered. True, I probably do have my fair share of enviable talents, but ... uh ... I wouldn't really consider writing to be one of them.

Having said all that, if you truly believe that my work is as "amazing" as you claim, then by all means feel free to keep a close eye on my future updates, if you'd like. Maybe you could learn something from me that way? After all, envy is a rather pointless emotion, when all is said and done. If someone is better than you at something, then simply strive to improve and try to reach their level. Simple, really. And on the off chance that you aren't able to better them (some people are simply born to be ridiculously talented in certain fields, I've found), then it's best not to fret, because it's highly likely that you're actually better at something than they are, too. It's just a case of finding out what that is.

Take me for example - now, I like to think that I'm a pretty multi-talented guy, and yet I'm incapable of even riding a bicycle. Can you ride a bike? Because, if so, then I think we might have just found something that I can envy you for. :)

"You are great at writing dialogue. It all flows so well" - Thank you. I do consider that to be a strong point of my writing, yes. If you can find someone around here better at crafting believable dialogue than I am, then I'd probably call you a liar ... and then ask to meet this individual ... before promptly challenging them to some kind of duel, I would imagine... I dunno, I haven't worked out the specifics yet, alright?!

:P

"And OMG! Doug and Carley are both alive! I couldn't be more happy, that's something you just don't find in stories! Thanks so much for doing that, you have no idea how hyped that makes me..." - Hehe. Oh, the irony. I have to wonder if you truly realised what that would mean for the actual plot, back when you first posted this review. Because I can only assume that you didn't... Xo

"Alright, now those skits though. You are pretty darn hilarious!" - *takes a bow* ... I'm glad that you think so. If you enjoyed the Skits for Part 1 of The First Night, then I'd have been curious to hear your reaction to some of the Skits in later parts, as I'm far more proud of some of them than I am of the original three.

"Great job on this chapter, can't wait to read on and leave you reviews! ;)" - Famous last words, perhaps? Hehe. I can only imagine your horror after reading Part 2 of The First Night and beyond. This story is about as far removed from the realms of "CarLee" fluff as it is possible to go, after all.

Still, I do appreciate you leaving these two reviews (even if they turn out to be your last contribution to the story), and would be more than happy to hear from you again in the future. It'd be nice to have someone around who has Carley's best interests at heart, y'know? Because I'm pretty sure that most of this lot are unapologetic Lilly-lovers at heart. Haha!

Lilly: "Prettyprincess"? What kind of username is that? What are we, in grade school again or something?

Carley: Jealous much?

Lilly: *scoffs* ... Yeah. That's definitely what it is... *strolls away, chuckling to herself*

Carley: God, she's a bitch sometimes... Personally, I think it's great that you've checked this story out, and I'd love to see you come back again some time. Maybe you can give me someone else to talk to around here, other than Lilly. Ugh. Anyway... Thanks for dropping by. ;)

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Reply to Nemesis Anonymous: Hi, Nemy! Can I call you Nemy? ... Well, tough, 'cause you're Nemy in my eyes from now on. That's what I used to say when I was younger, whenever Nemesis would turn up in Resident Evil 3. So, it's sort of a little in-joke, y'see? :3

"The interaction between Lilly and her father Larry in this chapter was well done: I like how it portrays very well their complex father/daughter relationship between the two; the fact that Lilly cares a lot about her father and wants to keep him safe, just like Larry cares about his daughter and wants to keep her safe (And knowing the fact that these two are extremely stubborn when it comes for these type of things, it creates conflict...)." - ... Mmm. There's a bit more to it than just that, though. Details to come in future chapters.

"Plus, I find it adorable when Lilly goes to Lee and immediately starts a conversation with him in a "bright and cheerful way" at the end of the chapter" - Well, that was actually a rare mistake in characterisation on my part (yes, even I sometimes make them when it comes to a character as complex as Lilly is), but ... we don't talk about that ... unless you'd quite like me to elaborate further on the matter, of course? If not, then I'll just add it to the growing list of things that I could criticise about my own work.

Such is what happens when you try and rush out new content without properly checking it all through first - you start making basic errors like this one. ;(

"P.S.: skit number 23 made me laugh out loud! (no seriously, the "puppy-dog eye" thing was hilarious)." - Yippee! It was certainly fun for me to write, I can tell you that. Most of them are though, in fairness.

"Plus, in response to Lilly: Oh come on! It's simply adorable! Even Larry would agree! (Um... I think... eh... Larry, please back me up for this one...)." - Uh oh. Do you even realise what you're getting yourself into with this one? 'Cause you can count me out, sister!

Lilly: You guys had better knock it off. Right now. I don't wanna have to hear this shit, alright?

Soon: I would just like to point out that Nemesis Anonymous is acting completely of her own volition here, and that I am not connected to her comments in any way.

Lilly: I said button it!

Soon: T_T

Lilly: Good. Now, I want both of you to go and sit in the corner and think about what you've done. Here, wear your cap, and give one to your little friend over there, too... *hands Soon a pair of Dunce Caps*

Soon: *sighs* ... See? Now look what you've done, Nemy - you've put both of us in the dog house. Enjoy your hat... *Dunce Cap has been added to Nemesis Anonymous' inventory*

Larry: What the hell is going on over here, then?

Lilly: Oh, dad, there you are. Read what this girl's put about us in the comments section...

*he reads the review*

Larry: ...Cute? Cute? You listen to me, girl, an' listen well - Lilly and I are both soldiers, born and raised. The word "cute" no longer even exists in our vocabulary. Isn't that right, punkin?

Lilly: *nods fervently*

Larry: Besides, if you wanna talk to me about "cute", then you should'a seen Lilly when she was younger. Now there was the most adorable little cupcake that you ever would'a laid your eyes-

Lilly: Dad, cut it out!

Larry: ...Why? What's the problem, precious?

Lilly: You're - You're embarrassing me, that's what...

Larry: *tuts*

Soon: ...Uh-huh. My lips are sealed. Thanks for dropping yet another review, Nemy. You rock! And keep that hat safe! They're a limited edition, from what I've heard!

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Reply to TheDarkestMind: Hey! Another newcomer, eh? Welcome to the party! :D

"I don't mind that the story might be a slow burner. So long as the plot is engaging and so are the characters. Plus it would be nice to see what goes on in the group during their months of survival." - Well, there's certainly going to be a lot of that going on. When I called this story a slow burner, I wasn't kidding. There will sometimes be entire parts (or sometimes even entire chapters) that go by when you're left thinking to yourself - "...Did anything actually happen throughout all of that?" - because I'll often be spending quite a bit of time exploring the various characters' personalities, as well as looking at what it takes for them to survive their daily trials when they're all nearing the edge of their collective endurance. This story certainly isn't for the impatient sort, but it should prove to be extremely rewarding for those readers who possess enough maturity to appreciate exactly what goes into crafting a massive story like this one. Rest assured, though, that when the action does eventually get underway, then it will be more than worth the wait. I just like to take my time when building these things up, is all.

Although, if you'd like to have a sneak peek of the kind of things that you can expect from me when everything does eventually kick off, then feel free to go and check out my other story on here, "A Perilous Choice", which is a rather eventful short-story with a similar writing style to this one. :)

"What really sold me to your story was when you mentioned the cross-country trek. I am a huge fan of apocalyptic stories that involves traveling throughout the states. You could be in Georgia and end up in Colorado. New obstacles, new characters, new plot development, new everything!" - Yep. That's more or less the core plot of this story in a nutshell, right there. It's going to take a fair few chapters before the journey really gets going (like I said before, "slow burner" an' all that), but our little band of survivors are certainly going to do their fair share of travelling over the course of this story. I tend to do that in most of my longer running stories though, in fairness. True, the characters may occasionally stop and stay in one place for a prolonged period of time (there will be one particular location where the characters will be spending a fair portion of the middle story arc, for instance), but the journey will never truly reach an end until the story itself does ... and, who knows? Maybe even then it'll be on-going... ;)

"I look forward to reading your story!" - And I'll look forward to potentially hearing from you again in the future!

Lee: Assuming that they even stick around that long. You might'a just scared 'em off with all'a that rambling you did just now...

Soon: Geez, come on, Lee! Always the pessimist, aren't ya? They'll be back ... uh ... hopefully, anyway. ^_^;

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Soon: ...It has come to my attention that there was a whole lotta "Caul" going on up in that response section. Man, you guys really made those two do some overtime today, didn't ya? Anyway, at least that's all over with now, so let's get on with the actual chapter itself!

First things first, I should warn you right now that this upcoming part (plus its assorted add-ons) is the longest of the story to date, so ... be prepared for a lengthy read this time, won't you?

This chapter will once again feature all nine of the active characters (for the fifth time in succession, no less), with the two most focal characters being Larry and ... Clementine! Yeah, I wonder how many of you saw that coming. Probably not that many of you, right? Hehe!

The theme of this chapter will bonding. I should also point out that the latter section of this part will be featuring a lot of Larry Caul, so ... needless to say, expect some foul language, as well some pretty offensive view points to crop up at times. And with that being said, let us now begin! I hope you all enjoy this part, as I worked pretty damn hard to get it all typed up for you guys...

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Chapter 2: The Remnants (continued)

A gentle summer breeze blows through the city of Macon, everything quiet and eerie, but for the distant screams and panicked yells of some unknown victims of the dead. A ghost town, pure and simple - abandoned to rest in complete ruin, with cars now mounting the pavement, and bodies now littering the road. Here and there, stray corpses of the former residents continue to prowl the streets and back allies, their vacant expressions peering around for any man, woman or creature who may have been foolish enough to cross their path.

A tattered newspaper sits in the centre of the street, clearly discarded by its previous owner, with its damaged pages now fluttering idly in the wind. The date on top of the paper reads "July 21st, 2003". A strange jumble of headlines jump out from the print as the pages roll on by…

"MYSTERIOUS NEW PLAGUE CONTINUES TO SWEEP THE NATION"

"SYMPTOMS SAID TO INCLUDE EXTREMELY VIOLENT, CANNIBALISTIC BEHAVIOUR"

"REPORTS SUGGEST THAT EVEN PLACES AS FAR AFIELD AS CHINA & INDIA HAVE BEEN HIT"

"LOS ANGELES THE FIRST CITY TO FALL TO THE NEW PANDEMIC"

"FIVE QUICK & EASY STEPS TO KEEP YOU AND YOUR FAMILY SAFE DURING THE OUTBREAK"

"SCIENTISTS LEFT BAFFLED AS PRELIMINARY TESTS REVEAL INFECTED PARTIES TO BE ALREADY CLINICALLY DECEASED"

"THE BITE IS TO BLAME - CLAIMS ONE EXCLUSIVE EYEWITNESS TO THE SLAUGHTER"

The sole of a shoe suddenly plants itself down upon the paper, thus preventing the pages within from divulging anymore of their horrifying secrets.

This shoe belongs to Lee Everett; a man with no personal vendetta against the paper in question, his eyes merely raised to scan his surroundings carefully, completely unaware of what currently lay beneath his feet. He proceeds forward with caution - his vital senses seemingly elevated in his anticipation and dread - and a number of other pairs of feet then follow his either over or around the paper, their different footwear ranging anywhere from sandals to work boots.

"Looks like the coast is clear", muttered Lee quietly, though perhaps more in scepticism than relief.

"For now", breathed Lilly shortly, her suspicious eyes still darting from left to right within their sockets.

"…Yeah", Lee agreed, his expression tense. "For now."

"Well, I suggest that we quit dilly dallyin' around here, then", uttered Kenny, a degree of impatience now creeping into his tone. He appeared to be somewhat irritated by the constant doom-mongering of his fellow survivors, his gaze now passing reproachfully between the pair of them. Kenny wasn't one to be discouraged easily, it would seem.

"Right… Sorry", mumbled Lee, slightly abashed, as he turned around to face his now-congregated companions. "Well, at least we've made it into the city in one piece. So, what's the plan now…?"

"There's a convenience store just a couple of blocks over from us. That should have everything that we need in the way of critical supplies", said Lilly composedly, once again pulling the folded-up map from out of the back pocket of her jeans. "And there's a pretty good hardware store further on down the road here somewhere, too - "Riverside Ace Hardware", it's called…"

She looked slightly concerned as she pondered the still-folded map for a moment, and then released a weary sigh before adding frankly, "To be honest, it's bigger than I would have ideally wanted, but … it's as good as we're going to get without venturing even further into the city than we already are. And, hey, at least there are a few different convenience stores in the area. I mean, it's something, right…?"

A telling silence followed Lilly's words, as the assembled survivors all contemplated the daunting the tasks that lay ahead of them. It was hard to tell which of the two locations would be the more dangerous - the cramped and enclosed spaces of the small convenience store, or the endless maze of tool-based aisles which they were bound to encounter in the much larger hardware store.

It was Carley who managed to successfully sever herself from her own thoughts and pluck up the courage to speak first.

"So, how do we go about doing this, exactly?" she asked dispassionately, directing the question towards the group at large with a rather grave expression on her face, as though asking if there were any among their number who would willingly volunteer to wrestle a bear.

"Well, I say that we split ourselves into two groups and each tackle one location", Kenny piped up swiftly, never one to pass up the opportunity of stamping his own authority onto proceedings. "It'll be much faster if we get it done all at once."

Lee and Lilly both nodded their consent to this idea, though with varying degrees of trepidation on their faces. Carley, however, gave no indication of her feelings towards this plan, and merely settled for looking slightly queasy instead. Only Doug spoke up in response to Kenny's rather risky strategy…

"Wait", he muttered worriedly, his voice quaking a little in his hesitancy. "Is it really such a good idea for us to be splitting up? I mean, it'll be safer if we all stay in a big group, right…?"

Heads all turned towards Kenny, as he placed his hands on his hips and said, "Look, I don't like it much, either, okay? But I don't see that we've really got much choice in the matter, Doug. The longer we stay here, the more danger that we'll all be in, so we've gotta try an' prioritise speed over safety here, y'know? Besides, I trust that everyone here is more than capable of gettin' the job done properly."

He swivelled around to face the others before continuing. "We've still got jus' the two weapons right now, so I suggest that we each take one apiece and be on our way as quickly as possible."

Lee nodded once again, his grip on the fire axe tightening slightly as he did so. Apparently, he was finding Kenny's ideas to be a little more agreeable on this occasion. "Sounds fair. It'll be easier for us to stay hidden if we travel in smaller groups, anyway. If we're careful enough, and manage do this quietly, then we may not even need these weapons at all."

Or so he hoped, at least...

"Awright, good", said Kenny appreciatively, seemingly buoyed by the fact that his plan had faced no further objections. "Then Carley an' me'll make the run to the convenience store an' take the gun. You three-", he indicated towards Lee and the others. "-can head off towards the hardware store with the axe. Deal?"

He looked around at them all expectantly.

Lee had no real problem with this plan himself, and so took to glancing around at his fellows instead.

He noticed that Lilly appeared to be quite disconcerted by this decision, having apparently been caught between two minds. On the one hand, this plan would allow her to be free of Carley's company for a few hours, which was good; while on the other hand, it also meant that her team would be the ones left without the gun, which wasn't quite as much of an appealing prospect for her.

Lee could practically see the furious battle taking place behind her eyeballs, and he found himself struck by a sudden desire to laugh out loud - a desire which he quickly stifled, of course. Now was not the time to be making any loud noises, after all. There were bigger things currently in play here.

To save himself the hassle of watching the rest of Lilly's silent struggle play out, Lee found himself glancing over towards Carley instead, and immediately saw that Lilly was not the only one who seemed to be unhappy with Kenny's decision.

Carley herself was feeling extremely isolated right now. She was already dreading this little venture, of course - they all were - but she had certainly not anticipated this rather unwelcome turn of events. Although she couldn't say that she really had anything in particular against Kenny - in fact, she quite liked him, all things considered - it was also true to say that she would have much rather traded places with Lilly in a heartbeat. If she had been given a choice of where to go and who she had wanted to accompany her, then she probably would have chosen to go with Doug & Lee to the wide-open spaces of the hardware store, and yet … the exact opposite seemed to have now happened instead.

Now was the time for her to speak up. Perhaps she could still alter the arrangements a little if she acted quickly, and spoke with good logic.

"Hold on. Wouldn't it make more sense for the gun to go to the hardware store? I mean, a gun is far better suited to a wide-open place like that, don't you think? And that axe could be pretty useful to have in an enclosed environment like the convenience store, too."

Lee saw Lilly's eyes narrow suddenly into a familiar scowl, all of her doubts now seemingly forgotten. Ironically, Carley's own hesitancy seemed to have made Lilly's mind up for her.

"Kenny's right", she stated simply, regarding Carley with a cold, judgemental stare. "All three of us-", she cast the thumb of her right hand first in Lee's, and then in Doug's direction. "-know the layout of this town better than you two do", she glanced between Kenny and Carley at this point. "Which means that we're also better suited for heading deeper into the city than you are."

Lilly seemed to dwell on something for a moment, and then added smugly, "Of course, if you'd like to give us the gun instead, then I'd be more than happy with that arrangement. Otherwise, just quit your whining and get on with it, Carley", she concluded rather rudely. "This doesn't always have to be about you, you know?"

The look which Carley gave Lilly here was rather bitter indeed, her face screwed up to become something ugly. She might have been about to open her mouth and launch a retort of her own, but was thankfully forestalled by Kenny, in any case, who had spotted the danger coming from a mile away.

"Okay then, it's settled", he said firmly, thus bringing an end to Carley and Lilly's heated exchange, before it escalated into another argument. "We'll split into those two teams and meet back here when we're done."

The assembled survivors all nodded their heads, or else gave some other, more grudging gesture of consent. Lilly strode forwards and pulled yet another piece of folded paper from within her pocket.

"Here, take it", she said shortly, offering up the crinkled sheet to Kenny, who accepted it with an air of curiosity. "That's a list that me and Katjaa drew up last night of all the supplies that we're likely to need over the coming days and weeks", she explained. "The highlighted items are there to indicate the things that we're in most desperate need of right now", she continued clearly, pointing out one such item on the list to Kenny and Carley, who was now reluctantly peeking over Kenny's shoulder to get a look at the sheet of paper. "Everything else on the list is secondary. Got it?"

Kenny surveyed the list for a moment, his eyes travelling rapidly down the paper as he took in the various items which Lilly had jotted down, but then his face split into a smirk as he glanced up at her and quipped, "You women an' yer damn lists."

Lilly had dismissed him with an impatient huff before he had even finished talking. "Look, don't even start, alright?" she said flatly, clearly not in the mood for Kenny's jokes at the moment.

Lee had walked over now, too, clasping hands briefly with Kenny, before saying swiftly, "Stay safe out there, man."

Kenny smiled at him in return. "You, too. An' we'll see ya'll soon enough."

And with that, they split - Kenny heading off down a side-street to the left, while Lee and Lilly set off down the road in front of them instead. Lee paused for long enough to notice that Doug and Carley had continued to linger, however, with the pair of them now apparently sharing some manner of silent, meaningful exchange. Doug looked just as apprehensive about this forced separation as Carley did, in truth.

Without warning, they both then hurried forwards and embraced one another tightly, which was the cue for Lee to avert his eyes from the scene. He didn't really want to intrude, after all. He noticed Lilly roll her eyes beside him as she glanced back at them both, which succeeded in drawing forth a smile from the man. She wasn't really one for sentimentality, this woman. Not at a time like this, anyway.

When another few moments passed by without any sign of the newly-formed couple breaking apart, Kenny cleared his throat pointedly. "C'mon, you guys. Sometime t'day would be nice", he said with a chortle.

Finally, they split apart, though Lee could see that Doug was still clutching both of Carley's arms as he said, "I'll see you soon", his tone now slightly uneven as he sought to fight back his emotions. "I promise."

"Yeah", sniffed Carley gratefully, sounding suddenly like she had a rather severe head-cold. "I know you will. Now get outta here, ya big dope."

The pair of them continued to peer soppily at one another for a further few seconds, until they were yet again interrupted by an irritated huff, which sounded out from somewhere behind Doug. Lilly's patience was apparently wearing thin now.

Their fingers lightly brushed as they made to move away from each other - Carley's left onto Doug's right - and then they both turned on the spot, heading off in their separate directions at last. Kenny smiled and gave a good-natured shake of his head, as a slightly tearful Carley walked determinedly past him, while Doug had now made his way over to Lee and Lilly, with renewed courage on his face.

"About damn time", grumbled Lilly under her breath. "I was starting to worry that I might actually die of old age before they finally broke it up."

Then she turned and stalked off down the street ahead of them both, her expression rather mean and moody. Lee couldn't help but chuckle a little as he walked after her.

New love. Nothing much was going to be able to get in the way of that, Lee knew. Not even Lilly Caul's temper…

---

Meanwhile, Larry Caul had just reached up and ran his hairy forearm over the length of his brow, determinedly wiping away the little pools of sweat which had been covertly forming there. He was still hard at work, busy shifting the boxes - which Lilly and that Belgian woman, Katjaa, had sorted through the previous night - into the room where they had all agreed to store their most vital supplies from now on.

He was also in an exceptionally bad mood right now, even by his own high standards. He still couldn't believe that Lilly would do that to him. Humiliate him like that - make him look like some kind of sickly old man. And in front of the whole accursed group, no less.

But Larry wasn't an invalid. He should be out there with them. He knew that, even if no one else did. Sure, he had a slightly dodgy ticker every now and again, but … well, that's what the damn pills were for, surely? He was already taking those blasted things on a regular basis now. So, what was the problem? What more did Lilly really expect of him? To sit around here like some useless lump, while his own daughter was out there right this second, no doubt putting herself at risk for this bunch of hopeless amateurs?

Doomed fools, the whole lot of them. Only he and Lilly seemed to fully appreciate the current circumstances, and what it meant for the group going forwards. Only they had the guile and know-how to get through this thing alive. Only they truly understood what had to be done now.

Lilly was too soft, though. She always had been, in truth. She'd actually taken pity on these idiots. She'd now taken it upon herself to see them all safely through this, he could see it on her face. And by allowing her compassion to get the best of her like that, she was risking losing sight of what was really important here - survival.

She probably should have known better by now, and yet she had still come to care for these wretched people, all the same, in much the same way as she was always pointlessly fussing over his health. All this damn mollycoddling of hers was going to drive him mad one of these days. Although, he supposed that she took after her mother, in that regard…

A sudden wave of sadness swept over him, as was always the case when his thoughts came to rest upon his late wife. And this happened a lot. Each and every day, in fact. He had tried his best to push it to the back of his mind - or else to tell himself that she wouldn't have wanted his only lasting memory of her to be a burden, but … it was difficult, sometimes. Especially since Lilly would take after her mother so much on occasion, so much so that she was almost the spitting image of her at times…

Larry was disturbed from his gloomy musings quite suddenly, as something small and frail collided with the side of his hip, completely unannounced. He spun around grouchily to see what it was that had struck him, and found that the young boy, "Duck" - a ridiculous name for a child, in Larry's opinion - had ran headlong into him, and was now sitting on the ground beside his feet, looking quite dazed and confused, having seemingly been knocked flat on his arse by the impact that he'd made against Larry's considerable bulk.

Once the boy had taken a moment to get his bearings, he glanced up in Larry's direction with those rather vacant eyes of his. Larry immediately saw a flicker of fear cross the boy's face, once he'd realised who had obstructed him, but Larry didn't really give much of a damn if he startled the boy or not. The little brat should be afraid of him. Fear and respect tended to go hand-in-hand, Larry had always found, and he would rather that people live in fear of him than take him for a mug - or someone that you could simply walk all over whenever you pleased.

"Oh", said Duck in the smallest of voices. "S-Sorry, sir."

He then set about pushing himself up off the floor as gently and carefully as he could, as though frightened that Larry might actually attack him if he moved too quickly or suddenly.

Larry merely grunted at the boy's apology, not particularly caring whether he was sorry or not. The little twit should have watched where he was going in the first place. Well, maybe he'd actually think twice about haring around like a lunatic from now on.

When Duck received no response from Larry - other than his customary bad-tempered leer, that is - he seemed to decide that it was in his best interests to put some distance between them, and gradually began to back away from him. Larry simply watched him go, tight-lipped and glowering. Then the boy finally turned and made his getaway at last, though Larry noticed that he kept glancing nervously back over his shoulder every now and then, as though he were afraid of being followed.

Larry snorted.

Serves him right, he thought savagely. If that little display was enough to scare him, then the boy should probably consider himself fortunate that Larry hadn't decided to really let loose on him, which is something that had certainly crossed his mind at the time. And if he ever caught the boy behaving that recklessly around him again, then he damn-well would give the little snot a piece of his mind, too. If kids had behaved like that back in his day, then they'd have received a good few lashings from the cane or belt … and that's if they were lucky.

But the world was becoming a different place these days, as Larry knew all too well. There just wasn't any discipline anymore - no structure or sense of hierarchy for today's kids to abide by. And for a world without discipline, it was only really a matter of time before everything fell apart.

It always came back to the parents, when all was said and done. And with this in mind, he could certainly see why that boy had turned out to be such a little tearaway. After all, the boy's parents didn't exactly strike him as disciplinarians.

A moron and an enabler. That's who that kid had for parents. Talk about a disaster waiting to happen…

Speak of the devil, here she was now - dumping yet another box beside him with that infuriatingly tender smile of hers. The woman was clearly of the opinion that Larry was now her friend and ally, after that little chat they had shared the other night.

But she couldn't have been more wrong.

Larry didn't have any friends - not among this sorry lot, anyway - and nor did he really need them. As far as he was concerned, it was just him and Lilly. That was it. They were the only people who truly mattered here. And when this all went to shit, as was bound to happen sooner or later, then Larry had already set himself on making sure that he and Lilly made it out of this in one piece … even if he had to condemn all of these others to death in the process.

That was just the way it had to be, unfortunately. It was simply the way the world worked. Sometimes you had to be willing to do the unpleasant things in life if you wanted to live to see another day.

Katjaa then turned and strolled away from him, still calmly smiling away to herself, like this was all just some picnic in the park for her or something. "Watch where you're going now, Ducky. You'll hurt yourself if you're not careful." He heard her chortle lovingly to her son, who was now back to playing his insipid games again, having seemingly forgotten about his earlier run-in with Larry altogether.

"Okay, mom!" the boy called back happily, before continuing on with his performance. "Come on, men!" he cried out suddenly, putting on his best attempt at the voice of a gruff, adult man. "We've got the aliens on the run now!"

And with that, he was off again - issuing out copious amounts of "pew, pew"ing noises as he raced along, presumably trying to impersonate gunfire.

Larry simply shook his head in response to this, his expression one of grim disapproval. Honestly, that boy struck him as being a little simple on occasion. He certainly wasn't normal. That much was obvious to anyone. It didn't exactly improve Larry's disposition towards the boy, either. He had no time for some kind of problem child, especially with everything else that was going on right now. Thank god that Lilly had turned out OK, was his only prevailing thought in that moment…

It was only then that he suddenly became aware of a pair of eyes watching him closely from somewhere nearby. He glanced suspiciously to his left again in order to investigate, and found that the other child, Clementine, was now standing just a short distance away from him, and was peering up at his face curiously, looking politely puzzled, as though she were merely examining some kind of bizarre artwork at a museum, and was now attempting to deduce what the painting was actually supposed to depict. But then she noticed him looking at her and immediately froze up, looking flustered and uncertain. Unlike the other one, however, this one didn't seem ready to retreat to a safe distance just yet. She clearly wanted something from him.

Just great, Larry thought sullenly. Yet another twitchy little brat without any sense of decency or manners for him to contend with. Why couldn't they all just leave him be, for fuck's sake? But still she wasn't leaving.

It was no good. He'd have to talk to her, and actually tell her to leave him alone.

"…Whaddya want, kid?" he murmured distastefully, after a few further moments of silence, hoping to convey the fact that he wasn't really in the mood for idle chatter with a child right now.

"U-Um…" she began nervously, clearly intimidated by his size and presence. "M-Mr. Larry? Uh … Sir? I was wondering if I could maybe ask you something… If - If that's okay?"

Larry peered down at her curiously for a moment, his interest piqued. It was all very delicately done, he had to admit. He couldn't really remember the last time he'd been called "Mr. Larry" … if ever. Whatever this girl wanted from him, she seemed determined to see this through to the bitter end, and thus was clearly worried about offending him and getting told off too quickly. And yet, he could tell that she was also scared of him, too.

She was a gutsy little thing, he had to give her that. It must have taken courage for her to approach him so brazenly like this, and Larry could respect that in a child. It showed character, especially in someone of her tender age.

Honestly, he'd been intent on sending her packing at the first opportunity, but … he wasn't entirely sure that he even had it in him anymore. For all of his bluster and posturing, Larry wasn't really in the business of frightening little girls for sport. And this one looked so small and fragile that he'd probably blow the skin clean off of her, were he to start yelling at her now.

He heaved a slightly irritable sigh, having now realised what this meant - he'd simply have to hear her out, wouldn't he?

"…Well, go on, then", he muttered impatiently, after taking a second to mull this all over. "Get on with it! What are ya waiting for, huh? A national decree or somethin'?"

Clementine flinched quite badly at this, and then flushed a deep shade of red. Apparently, she had been unaware that she didn't require his permission in order to speak.

"U-Um", she began again, cradling her own arms and shuffling her feet nervously. "Well, I … I just wanted to know, um … Why - Why did you punch Lee back at the drugstore? Uh … Sir?"

Larry felt his eyes widen slightly in shock. Whatever it was that he had expected her to say, he certainly hadn't been expecting that. What a ballsy little madam this girl was.

As he looked down at the girl, he noticed that she was now watching his face closely for some kind of giveaway or slight indication of the truth. Despite her obvious fear, Larry could clearly see now that this was no ordinary child. No. She had something about her, this one…

It took him a moment before he even began to contemplate his response to this question, but the answer quickly became clear to him the second that he did.

"…Hmph. Never you mind", he murmured in hushed tones, seemingly not eager for them to be overheard at this point. "That isn't something to be discussed with the likes of you, anyway. It's grown-up stuff. You wouldn't understand, even if I did tell you."

Yes. Fobbing her off was definitely the correct way to play this one. Hopefully she'd get discouraged and simply forget about it all for the time being…

Unfortunately, young Clementine didn't seem to be at all deterred by such tactics, however. Instead, she appeared to consider him intently for a moment, and then said boldly, "…Is it because of that man he killed?"

Larry felt his eyes damn-near pop out of his head this time, his mouth now falling open in shock. She knew? But how? Why? That wasn't really a subject fit for the ears of children, after all…

Not wanting to look the fool in front of a child, Larry quickly attempted to regain his faltering composure. He licked his lips to buy himself thinking time, and then tried his best to sound aloof as he grumbled, "Oh. So, he told you about that, did he?"

He saw the girl's face fall out of the corner of his eye, and she looked deeply uncomfortable as she muttered, "…Well, no. Not really. When I asked him about it the other day, he just said that it was … complicated", whilst staring shyly at her own knees. "B-But", she pressed on hurriedly. "I think that the person he killed was a bad man, so…" But her voice then tailed away in her hesitancy.

Larry snorted derisively at this, though his expression was sour.

Yes, of course he'd told her something like that. Of course he'd evaded the actual question, and given the girl some kind of cock-and-bull sob story to make himself out to be the tragic hero, rather than the repressive maniac that he actually was.

But Larry could see what the man was really doing. He'd seen it all before - many times, in fact - during the war in Nam. Men who were willing to use the innocence of children as a smokescreen to disguise the true nature of their hideous deeds. Men who were willing to use this self-same innocence as a shield to deflect suspicion from themselves.

And this was no different. Larry was sure of it.

That murderous bastard was no doubt using this child to reflect positively upon himself, and therefore prevent people from realising how dangerous he really was. Larry doubted that the man genuinely cared for the girl in any way. He was obviously just pretending to do so - playing the role of the selfless guardian to an orphaned young girl, in order to garner support and sympathy from his fellows, and thus disguise his true nature from them all.

And the worst part of it all was that … it was actually working.

So far, the covert criminal known as Lee Everett had cut a distinctly popular figure among their little band of make-shift survivors. Practically everyone was fond of him … aside from Larry himself, of course, who obviously knew better.

Katjaa and that hair-brained son of hers both seemed to be quite taken with him, and that mook with the moustache, Kenny, was already as thick as thieves with the man. Larry had seen the two of them at it - laughing and joking together all the time, and staging secret discussions with one another noon and night. Christ knows what they were both talking about. Probably planning ways to get back at him, since they were both too weak and cowardly to ever face him head-on.

Yes, it was safe to say that Everett had already well and truly weaselled his way into that family's good books, and so the man was extremely likely to find Kenny at his back if anything were to go down within the group from here on out.

Not only that, but those ditzy lovebirds, Carley and Doug, both seemed to be in full support of Lee as well. And the girl before him was, of course, completely besotted with the man at this point … though as for why that may have been the case, Larry couldn't quite comprehend.

Yes, Lee certainly knew how to weave a web of lies and forge himself new alliances. He was clever. And his cunning just made him that much more of a threat. Mindless thugs Larry knew how to deal with, but as for this kind of maniac? Well, this was an entirely different ball-game altogether.

As if that wasn't already bad enough, even Lilly now seemed to have been taken in by the man's sly masquerade.

She liked him. He could see it in her eyes when she looked at him. Lilly didn't look at just any man like that. No, that was a look which she only reserved for those special few. She no doubt believed that she had hid her feelings well until now, but Larry had learned to read his daughter over the years. He was one of the few who still could, in fact. And all of the signs - from her body language, to the warmth of her smile when she looked at him - had so far indicated that this was a man who Lilly was quite keen to "get to know" on a more personal basis.

He shouldn't have been that surprised by it, really. She'd always had a habit of dating bad men, his daughter - men who were completely undeserving of her time and affections. The last man she'd gotten serious with had upped sticks and taken off to the other side of the country, as soon as the opportunity had presented itself, completely abandoning Lilly in the process. Larry had never liked that smug fucker, despite his daughter's constant protestations that he was "smart", and "funny", and "made her happy". Well, surprise, surprise - it had all ended in tears, just as Larry had known it would.

And he didn't even want to be reminded of the last bozo she had brought before him. The less said about him, the better. What an impudent little cock-sucker that man had been. Thankfully, Lilly had broken it off with that scumbag shortly afterwards, as Larry wasn't sure that he could have tolerated being in the prick's company for another second … at least, not without physically maiming him in some way.

All it seemed to take was a half-decent mind, plus a passable set of muscles, for his daughter to get all googly-eyed. It didn't seem to take much to spark her interest, judging by the standard of the lightweight dickheads that she'd asked him to meet so far in her adult life.

But this one was completely different. This wasn't just a harmless crush on some sorry sap. This man was dangerous. And as such, he couldn't really afford to let Lilly go anywhere near him, and yet … here she was, out gallivanting around town with him right this second, no doubt. Lord knows what they were getting up to. Larry preferred not to dwell on it, as it just caused his blood to boil with anger, and the pit of his stomach to curdle with dread. What was that bastard going to do to his little girl?

Normally, he wouldn't have been worried about such matters, since Lilly was more than capable of handling herself against the likes of him, but … that was when she had her guard up. Right now, she wasn't in any way alert to the extreme danger that she was in whilst sharing that man's company, which made her far more vulnerable than usual, as it meant that she wouldn't see his attack coming.

It was enough to keep Larry awake at night, in truth, worrying himself into poor health over what was to be done about the situation.

He'd considered just throwing caution to the wind and telling Lilly the truth, of course. He'd considered telling all of them the truth, in fact. But the one thing which was preventing Larry from doing so was the thought of … what would happen afterwards? What would happen when he finally spilled the beans, and let them all know what that sick bastard was truly capable of?

And how would the man himself react to it all? Would he finally drop his façade at last and reveal his true nature? Could he possibly become violent? And what then? What if he managed to get a hold of that airhead's gun whilst he was enraged? What if he sought to harm Lilly, in an attempt to get some form of petty revenge against Larry?

These were the thoughts which kept coming back to Larry, every time that he contemplated showing everyone what that man really is: a monster. A dangerous animal that had been let out of its cage. And now he was free to roam amidst the flock; a wolf in sheep's clothing, poised to strike when the moment was ripe.

No. The best thing for him to do was to keep quiet for now, in order to ensure that Everett remained on a short leash. As long as Larry kept his distance and kept a close eye on him, it seemed unlikely that he would do anything too drastic for the time being. Larry often found that the easiest way to control people was through fear, and right now he had Everett running scared. All he had to do was make sure that it stayed that way for as long as possible. If he could preserve the status quo for long enough, then perhaps both he and Lilly would be able to make it through this unscathed.

"Are - Are you a bad man, too?"

This rather bold question brought Larry back down to Earth with a bump. He once again glanced down at the girl by his side, having momentarily forgotten that she was even there.

"I mean", she added hesitantly. "You did try to kill Lee, so…"

Once again, Larry didn't answer her immediately, settling instead on scratching the coarse hairs on the tip of his chin for a moment. She certainly was a brave little thing, this one.

Of course she would see him as the "bad guy". That was only natural. Truth be told, Larry was well accustomed to being seen as the villain of the piece. It was an accusation which he was perfectly familiar with already. Very few people seemed to ever truly understand his way of thinking, but Larry himself knew what was up, and that was all that really mattered to him. He was just a guy who understood the true nature of the world, having seen first-hand what its horrors can do to people in times of strife and war. He understood that when shit truly hit the fan, as it had right now, then you needed to be willing to do the ugly things in order to survive. In order to protect those you care about from harm, sometimes you had to hurt others in the process.

That was just the way things worked. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't nice. But it was just something that had to happen sometimes. Mankind's biggest enemy had always been man himself, after all.

Larry didn't make the rules. He just wanted to make sure that he and his loved ones stayed in the game for as long as possible. And he couldn't give two shits who decided to get in the way of that goal; be them man, woman or child - whoever they were, they were all completely expendable … just so long as he could keep Lilly safe.

No. Larry wasn't the bad guy. He was just doing what he had to. Although … he realised that explaining such a concept to a child would be near enough impossible, no matter her smarts. Instead, he decided to test her. The girl intrigued him slightly, he had to admit. It had been a long time since he'd met a child with such daring. Why not take the time to teach her a thing or two? It wasn't like he really had anything else to do, after all…

"…Well, what do you think?" he prompted cryptically, his tone now more curious than anything. "Do I seem like a "bad guy" to you?"

He supposed that he already knew what the girl's answer would be. After all, a child as gutsy as this one wasn't likely to hold back on account of his feelings…

"Hmm…" mused Clementine for a moment, gazing Larry up and down with that same puzzled look on her face, as though he were a particularly difficult mathematical equation or something. "I dunno", was apparently her brilliant conclusion. "I don't think so. I mean … you love your daughter, right?"

"…That's right", said Larry earnestly, now turning to lean against the old RV for support, whilst folding his arms. "I do."

"And you only want to protect her … right?"

Larry gently nodded his head at the girl, his steely eyes never once leaving her face.

"So, is that why you hit Lee? Because you were worried that he might ... hurt her?"

This one was a little too sharp for her own good, it seemed. Why couldn't she be as dense as that other kid was?

Well, there was no backing out of this now. This was an adult conversation they were having, so Larry knew that he may as well give it to her straight.

"…That man's dangerous, kid", he murmured after a moment's pause, his voice now resembling a low, rumbling growl. "He's a danger to all of us. I wasn't lying to you the other night - I was doing you a favour. Trust me, you'd have been much better off if we'd just left that guy to rot back at the drugstore."

"But ... why?"

"Because he's a murderer, okay?!" Larry hissed fiercely, struggling to keep his voice down now, as his patience at the girl's ignorance began to evaporate. "I wasn't about to let someone like that prance around with my daughter! Who's to say he wouldn't kill again, hmm? He's done it before!"

"But, if you killed Lee, wouldn't that have made you a murderer, too?"

Larry opened his mouth to launch another angry retort at the girl, but found himself momentarily lost for words. Was he really being beaten in an argument? By a child?

"That - The - The circumstances completely different!" he managed to stammer out, looking visibly flustered by it all now. "He killed someone because it's in his nature, but I was only doing what had to be done! I was just disposing of a dangerous criminal, and that's all."

"But what if he's not dangerous? What if he just made a mistake?"

"A MISTA-?!" Larry began incredulously, but found himself far too flabbergasted to even get the words out.

"My mom always says that you shouldn't judge someone before you get to know them. What if he's not dangerous, and you killed him anyway? Wouldn't that make you the dangerous one?"

The girl's cool rationale certainly wasn't doing much for Larry's rising temper. After all, he wasn't about to stand here and let himself be lectured by a freaking toddler. However, as he opened his mouth with the intention of once again spouting something spiteful and mean, he found that the words got caught in his throat, as he continued to glare down at the child's innocent expression.

He couldn't yell at her. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. And in any case, Lilly would go ballistic at him if she found out that he'd allowed his blood pressure get too high again. Instead, he released a weary sigh and slumped back against the RV in defeat.

He considered the girl for a few more seconds, before muttering dubiously, "…An' what makes you so sure that he's such a good guy, hmm? Have you got any proof? Well? Have you?"

"Well…" Clementine began uncertainly. "He's been nice enough so far, hasn't he? He's been really nice to me. In fact, he's been nice to pretty much everybody…"

Larry had to show an enormous amount of restraint just then, in order to prevent himself from scoffing in the girl's face. She really was naive, wasn't she? Despite all of her apparent smarts, that Everett prick had still managed to wrap her up in his little web of lies. Larry would have said that it was understandable, for someone of her age, to fall into such a trap, but … unfortunately, everyone else seemed to have fallen for it, too … even his own beloved daughter.

That bastard had them all exactly where he wanted them - dancing to his tune, like puppets on a string. Well, he wasn't about to have his way with Lilly. Not on Larry's watch. The others? Well, he couldn't care less what happened to them, really. But Lilly had to be protected … no matter the cost.

"Are you going to try and kill Lee again?" he heard the girl's voice ask solemnly from somewhere close by.

He looked down to find her peering up at him with those big, round eyes of hers - eyes which Larry found difficult to stare at head-on, as it tended to cause a kind of nausea to stir up within the pit of his stomach; rather like the feeling that he would often experience whenever he looked at puppies, or kittens, or flowers - things of that ilk. It was a deeply uncomfortable feeling for the man.

"…I dunno", Larry grumbled quietly, unintentionally echoing the girl's earlier answer. "I haven't really decided yet", he added rather nastily.

"Well, maybe we should just keep an eye on him for now, then", Clementine advised him wisely. "To make sure that he doesn't get up to no good."

Larry snorted yet again. The cheek of this girl was unbelievable ... although, that wasn't an entirely unpleasant personality trait for a young girl to have. At least in Larry's opinion. He'd grown used to it, over the years. Not that he'd really had much choice in the matter, of course…

"Hmph", he grunted affably, the girl's innate charm clearly starting to win him over now. "That's the plan, yeah."

Without warning, she then thrust her right arm out towards him, resolutely offering him her hand.

"…What the hell's this supposed to be?" queried Larry confusedly, nodding at the outstretched palm, as though she were gifting him a dead skunk or something.

"Handshake", squeaked Clementine succinctly. "My dad says that when you make a pact with somebody, then you should always seal the deal with a handshake."

"...And what might this "deal" entail, exactly?" Larry asked cautiously, clearly fearing that this was some form of trick.

"That you won't hurt Lee anymore, unless he does something that's bad", the girl recited boldly.

Larry took a moment to ponder these terms, reaching up to absent-mindedly scratch his chin again as he did so. Finally, he gave the girl his answer. "Fine. But if he does step out of line at any point, then I get to put him out of his misery for good. Agreed?"

Now it was Clementine's turn to do some thinking - her right foot idly tracing a pattern over the dusty floor as she considered the terms of their agreement. Then she looked up into face of the expectant giant and said, "Okay. That sounds fair, I guess. So… Do we have a deal?"

Her hand was still outstretched, waiting patiently to receive him. He sent his own right hand out to meet hers, but immediately found that his own enormous paw was far too large for her tiny digits, and so he compromised by simply locking his index and middle fingers around her hand instead.

They shook twice, and then Clementine nodded her head firmly, as though to say that the matter was now settled.

"Your friend Lee better be on his best behaviour from now on, then", said Larry airily as they broke apart. "Otherwise I'll come lookin' for 'im. You understand me?"

Clementine stared at him for a moment. "You know what?" she muttered after a thoughtful pause. "If he does do something bad, then I'll beat 'im up for you. Okay?"

Larry felt his lips curve into a reluctant smile at this. God, it felt like forever since he'd last smiled like that. Truth be told, it was all he could do not to roar with laughter, such was the girl's daring. "I'll hold you to that, ya little Rugrat", he warned her genially.

The girl seemed to bristle slightly at the insult, but then playfully returned the smile which Larry was now offering her. She really was a funny little thing, this one. She reminded him a bit of Lilly, when she was that age. Shy and polite, but also brave beyond her scrawny size, and highly inquisitive by nature. Whenever Lilly had been intent on getting something from him, she'd never stopped badgering him until he'd heeded her request … and this girl was much the same, from the look of things. She just wouldn't take "no" for an answer.

"Clementine, honey!" called Katjaa's voice from somewhere out of sight. "Could you come here, please? I need your help for a second!"

"'Kay!" Clem replied cheerfully, turning towards the direction where the voice had originated from. Then she turned back to Larry and said, "Sorry. I gotta go now. Don't forget your promise, okay?"

Larry nodded his consent, still smiling warmly at the girl as she moved away from him. "See ya around, squirt."

"Bye!" she called back to him, briefly waving her right hand in farewell, as she hurried off to find Katjaa.

Larry's smile faded slightly as he watched her go, his fond reminiscence of days gone by slowly fading away into memory again, to be replaced by the torment of the here and now. And one thing suddenly occurred to him in that moment…

Lilly wasn't the only one who needed protecting from that madman. That girl could well require his help, too. And if Lee Everett were to harm a single hair on either one of their heads, then Larry was going to make him wish that his mother had never birthed him into this sorry excuse for a world.

That much was a promise. And Larry Caul was a man who kept his promises.

---

Soon: And so the end of yet another part has come at last. Did you all enjoy that? You did, didn't you? It's okay to admit it. ;P

Now for some more analysis...

This is going to be a pretty mammoth analysis section this time, so buckle up. It'll be well worth the time that it'll take to read it, though, trust me.

Soonian Analysis: Well, first things first, before we get into the real meat contained within the part above, let's first note another point of relevance that was rather stealthily inserted into this chapter - the starting date of the apocalypse in TWDG.

Now, we actually have a canon date for when the outbreak first began in the game, which is a fact that not many authors on here seem to recognise. I see so many people referencing modern day culture in their stories, having presumably mistaken the starting date of the apocalypse to be from the time of the game's release (so 2012-2015, in other words). However, Robert Kirkman confirmed long ago that the comic book apocalypse began the same year that the comic series was first publicised, way back in 2003. And since the game was originally supposed to be canon to the comic book universe (although, this no longer appears to be the case, going by recent comments from Telltale's developers), this means that the apocalypse from TWDG was also set in that same year. Plus, we actually get some (vague) confirmation of this in-game, too, since the map that Lee picks up on the train-wreck in Episode 3 is dated 2003-2005, once again proving the above point. This of course means that we can actually date some characters' year of birth. For instance...

Clementine would have been born in 1994, since we know that she turned 9 during the year of 2003.

Lee Everett would have been born in either 1965 or 1966, depending on whether he was turning 37 or 38 during the year of the outbreak.

And Lilly Caul (assuming for a moment that we go by facts borrowed from her comic book variation) would have been born somewhere in the region of 1973-1975, since comic book Lilly (who was originally intended to be the same character as the Lilly from the game) was said to have been around 30 years old during the prison raid in the comic books, which would have placed her roughly at the age of 28/29 during her time with the group at the motor inn.

Not only that, but thanks to certain developments in Crawford during Episode 4, we can even trace the exact date that the outbreak first began. You see, one of the tapes that Lee picks up in Crawford is dated October 10th, which gives us a concrete starting point. Vernon then comments on this date being "the day after the first one we watched", so that also gives us a date of October 9th for the first of the three tapes. Then Dr. Logan actually states during this initial recording that it has now been "82 days since the outbreak" and, by following the calendar backwards 82 days from October 9th, that leaves us with a date of...

July 20th, 2003

That is the date that the outbreak of TWDG first began. And as you saw in the chapter above, the newspaper articles I detailed were printed for July 21st, the day after everything first went down.

So, if you're reading this and are currently in the process of writing a story of your own (or are thinking about doing so, at least), then try and keep this information in mind, won't you? TWDG is set back in 2003, so try to base your work around that time period, if you can. ;)

Moving on to the actual character content of this chapter... (Yeah, we ain't done yet, people!)

It's worth pointing out that the positive interaction between Clementine & Larry in the part above isn't something which I've just pulled out of thin air. Because it's perhaps a rather little known fact that Larry and Clementine actually seemed to have had a relatively positive relationship with one another during the game's canon storyline.

The first evidence of this positivity comes at the tail-end of episode 1, of course, where Larry will blackmail Lee into ensuring that he not only stays away from his daughter, Lilly, but also that he doesn't hurt "that little girl" who had been travelling with him until that point. This is the first indication that Larry cares about someone other than Lilly within the group, since he had singled out Clementine for special mention.

The next piece of evidence comes during the dinner scene at the St. John's dairy farm in Episode 2. Now, Clementine was clearly not too fond of Larry after first meeting him in the drugstore, as she will respond to Lee (when asked if she likes everyone in the group so far) by saying that she does, before going on to then amend that statement by adding - "Well, maybe not the sick guy" (referring to Larry, of course). However, these initial feelings then seem to have been well and truly altered over the course of the three month timeskip that followed.

You see, as some of you may have noticed, Clementine and Larry were actually sitting next to each other at the St. Johns' dinner table. Now, it's fair to say that Larry elected to sit next to Brenda (hehe, I wonder why?), and Danny would obviously have chosen to sit next to his mother as well, but ... even if we assume that every other place was already filled when Clementine went to sit down, she still had the option of sitting anywhere that she liked along the far-side of the table. She could have sat in the very middle, or she could have even sat at the end next to Kenny (before Lilly walked in and claimed the seat for herself) ... but she chose to sit next to Larry instead. You also see Clementine worriedly glance at Larry (very briefly) when the confrontation with the St. Johns kicks off during dinner, as though silently asking him what she should do (though Larry merely gives her a rather stunned look in response, clearly still reeling from the shock of discovering the St. Johns' true natures). What's more, try and catch a glimpse of Larry's face when Andy first grabs Clementine by the hair, next time that you play through the game for yourself (you'll have to be quick, though, as it's only for a split second) - he looks absolutely furious, whereas until that point his overriding facial expressions had portrayed mere shock and disgust at what was happening.

So, Clementine elected to sit next to Larry (the man who had once tried to kill her beloved guardian before her very eyes), and Larry then reacts aggressively when Clementine falls victim to Andy St. John. This is yet more evidence that the pair of them were much closer than most people realised.

And then of course we have Larry's brutal demise during the now-infamous meat locker scene to consider, where Clementine becomes more visibly distressed than we had seen from her during any prior point in the game (and for quite a long time afterwards, too). Now, you might just say that this was more from the sheer shock and horror of seeing a man's head get crushed by a fifty-pound block of salt right in front of her, but take note of how distressed and upset she appears, even before the actual head-crushing incident takes place (while Lilly is still desperately trying to resuscitate him). Clementine becomes distressed as soon as Larry hits the floor, and continues to look both concerned and upset throughout the following sequence of dialogue exchanges. This shows us that it wasn't just the tension and trauma of the event affecting her - she actually cared about what happened to Larry, and genuinely wanted him to survive his heart attack. She even says as much herself if you remain silent when given the chance to comfort her after the event...

Clementine: "I didn't want Larry to die..."

And after his inevitable death at the hands of Kenny, she is immediately reduced to tears, whether she actually witnessed the incident or not.

Interestingly, the only other deaths in the entire game which reduce Clementine to tears are Lee's death, and deaths of her parents (or rather, her discovering their still-active corpses), which are two events that kind of roll into one, anyway. Therefore, it's clear to see that, by the time of his death in Episode 2, Clementine actually quite liked Larry, despite his persisting vendetta against her guardian, Lee.

What's that? You're still not convinced that Larry actually cared about Clementine? Well, take a look at this line from the unused audio that was cut from the game...

Larry: "You're not even gonna ask Clementine, then? She's a big girl now! Aren't you, hon?"

Now, this line was originally supposed to occur when the group were voting on whether or not to send Lee and the others to scout out the St. Johns' dairy farm. Telltale originally planned to give Lee the option of turning down Clementine's chance to vote (as they eventually did later on, during the "Ben vote" in Episode 4, of course), and if the player had decided to select this option, then the quote above was set to be Larry's automatic response to Lee's decision. And there are two things from this quote which are particularly pertinent when discussing Larry & Clementine's unusual relationship...

1. That Larry actually defends Clementine's freedom of speech (from Lee, no less), showing that he respects her intelligence enough to value her input, even at the tender age of 8 (at the time). And...

2. That he calls her "hon", which is the kind of affectionate nickname that he usually only reserves for his beloved daughter, Lilly.

So, when looking at this one quote, it immediately becomes clear that Larry was just as fond of Clementine as she was of him. Now, granted, the option of turning Clementine down during this vote was eventually scrapped (Lee automatically asks for her opinion in the existing version), but that doesn't change the fact that Larry's potential response here is still perfectly valid for his character.

Put simply, if Larry was given the option of saving two people (and only two people) in the group at any point, then he would choose to save Lilly & Clementine. There is absolutely zero doubt in my mind about that, as the old brute seemed to genuinely care for Clem in a way that he didn't with many of the other members of the group (most of whom he would have gladly seen dead without experiencing much remorse). And as such, this seemingly positive relationship of theirs is something that I'll be exploring in more detail throughout this story.

And that finally concludes the analysis section for this chapter. Phew... That was the longest one yet (by some distance), I think. Moving on to the Skits, well ... screw it! I've done three of 'em again (and probably have three planned for next part as well), so for now I'm just going to continue posting three until I eventually run out of ideas, which ... may take a while. Ah, well. I don't see you guys complaining about them just yet. Either you can read 'em and love 'em, or not read 'em at all, I guess. :P

Have fun.

---

Skit 25 (A Quite Spectacular Face)

Clementine & Duck: *both staring avidly at Larry*

Larry: "What the-? … What d'you kids want, huh? I'm busy here!"

Clementine: "Your face…"

Duck: "It's just, like…"

Clementine & Duck: "Whoa~!"

Larry: "...Wait, what d'you mean by that? What the hell's wrong with my face?"

Duck: "Well… Your nose… It's just, like…"

Clementine & Duck: "Whoa~!"

Larry: "What are you-?"

Clementine: "And your chin is just, like…"

Clementine & Duck: "Whoa~!"

Larry: "Alright, that's enough now. Cut it out. The both of ya!"

Clementine: "And your grumpy face is just, like…"

Clementine & Duck: "Whoa~!"

Larry: "I said CUT IT OUT, ya little twerps!"

Katjaa: *sighs* … "What seems to be the problem here…? Are you kids pestering Larry again?"

Clementine: "No. We were just admiring his facial features. Weren't we, Duck?"

Duck: "Yeah! I mean, just look at his forehead… It's just, like…"

Clementine & Duck: "Whoa~!"

Katjaa: *turns to stare at Larry for a moment* … "Hmm. He does have a rather fascinating face, doesn't he?"

Larry: "…What the hell is this - "Pick on Larry Day" - or somethin'?"

Lilly: "Try not to let it get to you, dad. They're only teasing you."

Larry: *he folds his arms grumpily* … "Hmph!"

Lilly: "Have you taken your face medicine today?" :)

Larry: ?!

Lilly: "…H-Heart! I meant heart medicine!"

Larry: "Ah, screw this! I don't have to listen to this shit!" *storms off*

Lilly: "Wait! Dad, come back! It was just a slip of the tongue! I didn't mean anything by it…"

Larry: "No! Fuck off! All'a ya!"

Lilly: "Oh, dear. Now we've hurt his feelings…" :(

---

Skit 26 (Bear Wrestling)

Carley: "Okay, guys. Who's going to be wrestling this bear, then? ...Any volunteers?"

Lilly: "For fuck's sake, I'll do it. I'm the most highly-skilled individual here, which means that I'm also the person best-suited for the job."

*a large grizzly bear meanders towards the group*

Lilly: "…Oh. That's, uh … that's a pretty big bear, huh?"

Carley: "So, what was that you were saying before, Lilly?

Lilly: "I said, uh … one of you guys should probably take the bear on. You know - to prove your worth. You, uh ... You up for it, Kenny?"

Kenny: "W-Well, I would, but, uh … I've got this dodgy knee right now an'-" *grimaces and clutches his knee* "-Argh! It's really painful, so…"

Lilly: "…Lee? H-How about you?"

Lee: "Oh, there is no way in hell that you're gettin' me to wrestle a damn be-"

Lilly: *puppy-dog eyes*

Lee: … *sighs* … "Alright, fine. Come on, Yogi - let's dance!"

*flexes his shoulders and resolutely approaches the bear*

Kenny: "Woohoo~! Go, Lee! You go an' put that bear in his place, pal!"

Doug: "Wait. Is it really such a good idea for us to allow Lee to take on a fully-grown grizzly bear all by himself?"

Lee: "OW, MY ARM! IT TORE MY FUCKIN' ARM OFF!"

Lilly: "…I'm - I'm sure he'll be fine."

---

Skit 27 (Larry Logic)

Larry: "I'm not about to sit around here and let a fuckin' murderer waltz around the place! I simply refuse to allow someone that dangerous to live under the same roof as my daughter!"

Soon: "So, your solution to the problem is … more murder?"

Larry: "You're damn right it is! People who are willing to slaughter their fellow man so easily aren't to be trusted, so you'd best believe that I'll do whatever it takes to rid this group of his kind. Even if I have to kill 'im myself!"

*walks away*

Clementine: "…That's silly. He's silly."

Soon: "Yes, Clem… Yes, he is."

---

Soon: And so this part has now passed. Let us all share a moment's silence, if you will, for Part 4 of The Remnants...

Anyway, I once again apologise if the quality of this one seemed rushed at all. I'm really having to force it at the moment, because I just don't have the time or energy to really sit down and work on this story properly. If truth be told, I'm now slightly regretting even starting work on this story again in the first place, but ... I know that those of you who are following me on here (or, some of you, at least) are still quite eager to see where this all goes, so ... I don't really like to disappoint. ^_^;

Be sure to keep leaving me reviews if you want this story to continue, won't you? Reviews are the fuel that feed the fire, after all, and I unfortunately require that fire in order to write anything of note right now.

Thanks again to those of you who are still taking an active part in this story. And I'll see you all next time. ;)