AN: Sorry if the first part seems really creepy! I actually kind of had trouble writing it… Don't worry, it's nothing too bad. It's just the dialogue is a bit off-setting, but it's not like you guys haven't played the game already right? You know how creepy the stranger is!

"H-Hello?" Clementine whispered into the walkie-talkie, creeping around one of the dark hallways of the Marsh House. The strange man never actually told her which room her parents were in, or where he himself was for that matter. How on earth was she supposed to find them?

Something about this place just gave her the willies. Maybe it was the fact that there weren't any windows in the halls so it was practically pitch black in here, or maybe it was the whole emptiness of the place. Shouldn't there have been other people here too – maybe looking for their families? Her parents couldn't be the only ones who made it!

Oh boy, Clem really wished she had brought some sort of flashlight with her. Not that the batteries would last very long, but still it would've been nice to have. Most of the rooms on this floor were locked, and the unlocked ones that she'd checked out so far were either completely empty or had a dead person sprawled out on the bed.

So gross.

She was just about to try her luck with the next door handle when her walkie-talkie came to life with a voice.

"I'm right here, sweetie. Just down the hall. I'm waving my hand, can you see me?"

Sure enough, there was a guy at the end, but Clementine felt slightly disturbed. The man had short brown hair, a dark orange sweater with khaki pants, and his arm was slowly waving back and forth as if he could wait all day long. What terrified her the most though was the man's face. He had hollowed out cheeks, and his eyes were sunk-in and piercing.

"Umm…"

"Don't be afraid. Come on inside."

In the back of her mind, something was telling Clementine to just turn tail and run. This guy just screamed dangerous, and she knew that Lee would've…

Oh no.

Lee and the rest of them just completely slipped her mind as soon as she saw the Marsh House. All she could think about was getting there and seeing her parents again. Then she could introduce them to Lee and everything would turn out okay! As long as they stuck together, they'd be fine! Right?

She knew that Lee would probably be disappointed that she ran off without telling him, and she hated getting in trouble. But if it was his family stuck in there, Clem was sure that he would've done the same thing!

So she had to just be brave, go inside and see her mom and dad. Oh man, wait until they heard what she'd been through! She had to go through the drug store, the motor-inn, the dairy, getting separated from everyone else, getting here… Clem was sure they'd be so impressed that she'd get a raise in her allowance for sure!

You know, if she actually had an allowance anymore. Maybe she'd settle for a chocolate bar or something instead.

Clementine slowly approached the last room: number 297. Peering inside, she was immediately confused. It was just him sitting on the bed with his hands in his lap!

"Where are my parents? I thought you said they were here…"

"They are," the man replied, gesturing to the spare room across from him, "Just go inside and see for yourself. Just… try to keep the noise down, honey. They're sleeping and we wouldn't want to wake them up."

Adrenaline and excitement were pumping through the girl's veins, but like he said, she had to be quiet. But how could she be?! She hadn't seen them in forever!

But… wait. This didn't make sense. It all came back to her now. Why wouldn't her mom talk to her over the walkie-talkie, or her dad tell her that they were fine and alive?

Slowly walking forward, Clementine reached her hand up to turn the door handle, but stopped just before and put her hand back down. Tears burned her eyes and her hands formed into two tiny fists. The strange man cocked his head to the side and raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"Don't you want to see them?"

Giving him a sideways glance, Clementine scowled and glared as menacing as a nine year old could.

"I'm not stupid…" she muttered.

Sighing heavily, the guy ran his hand through his hair and grazed his other hand over a pistol that he kept near his pocket. "I know, Clementine. But I had to…"

"You lied to me!" she snapped, now fully turned around. "You said you had my parents, but they aren't around! Why would you do this?! I should've listened to Lee instead of you!"

"LEE IS THE CAUSE OF ALL THIS!" he raged, pulling out the gun and pointing it straight at the young girl's forehead. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but this is the only way. That man you were with took my life away from me… and now I'm gonna do the same to him. Please, just make this easy on yourself and open the door."

Knowing that she'd have no chance of getting out if she tried to run, Clementine shook violently and reluctantly did as he asked. The room (if you could even call it that) merely had a window and a ledge that you could sit on to look outside. It was really small and smelled musty inside, and Clem almost gagged as she stepped in. She heard the door being closed behind her, and what she could only guess was a chair being placed in front.

She was officially trapped, and there was nothing she could do about it.

How could this have gone so wrong? One minute she was with the rest of the group looking for a safe place to spend the night, and the next she was stuck in a damn hotel room with a crazy guy.

Swear, thought Clementine with an uneasy feeling. Sorry, Clem.

Seeing that there was nothing else to do, she sat up on the ledge and looked outside, hoping by some miracle that she'd be able to see Lee strolling in to deal with the stranger outside.

NO! No, she suddenly realized that she really didn't want him to try and rescue her, since didn't the crazy guy say that this was all his fault? Did that mean that he was going to hurt Lee? No, she wouldn't let that happen. Not for her stupid mistake.

Instead of seeing any human activity wandering around, Clementine could see a whole herd of walkers strolling around. Scratch that – it seemed as if there were thousands just going about their business out there! That was strange, when they got here there were hardly any walkers around. Something must have brought them in. Maybe it was those bells they kept on ringing.

About an hour had passed and Clementine was feeling extremely anxious. She'd been thinking about everything that could go wrong for way too long, and right now she really just wanted to draw something. That usually helped take her mind off of the bad things in life.

Her ears perked up as the sound of shuffling and quiet whispers caught her ear. Clem leaned her ear to the door and tried opening the handle, yelling out Lee's name so that he'd know that this guy was completely nuts. Well, if that was actually Lee outside anyway.

"Quiet… sweetie."

Oh no, what was she going to do? That guy was going to hurt Lee!

It was kind of hard to hear what they were saying, but she could make out some of it. Something about… a station wagon? Was that like a car or something? And… the dairy? What did that have to do with anything?

"Carley, don't!"

Wait a minute, why was she here? Did everyone come looking for her? Was she going to get into trouble –

BAM! BAM!

"NOOOO!"

Oh my god… oh my god… thought Clementine, covering her mouth and trying her best not to scream.

"I'm gonna hurt you so bad…" she could hear him say – so wicked and evil that even the nine year old girl wanted to kill him. This had gone on long enough.

With all of her strength, she ran forward and tried to bash open the door. It didn't budge, but in the ensuing struggle outside she doubted that either of them noticed what she was doing. She tried again and again, each time moving the chair a little bit forward until finally it collapsed. Her shoulder was hurting like crazy, and she had to hold it with her hand to keep it from throbbing too much, but there was no time to lose. The stranger was straddling overtop of Lee and had him in a chokehold, seething with anger and hate.

Quickly noticing a fallen pistol on the floor near the hallway, Clementine ran over to it and picked it up, her hands shaking as she aimed…

"I'm gonna finish what I should've done at that fucking hospital! You're dead, you hear me?! De-"

The stranger's head immediately went straight back and he collapsed, leaving Lee in a coughing fit as he struggled to catch his breath. Meanwhile, Clementine stood there with the gun still shaking in her hands, but with one less bullet in the chamber.

Rolling over onto his stomach, Lee regained his composure and stood himself upright. Clementine couldn't help but blame herself for everything that happened, and as she ran into Lee's arms she apologized over and over again.

"Shh… it's okay, it's okay," Lee soothed, rubbing her back and trying to calm her down. But nothing could get rid of these guilty thoughts circling around in her mind.

"Where's Carley? I thought I heard you say she was here?"

Realization struck as the two of them quickly made their way to the doorway, hoping for any sort of miracle that she'd be alright.

Unfortunately, miracles are very hard to come by these days.

They found her clutching her chest where the man's bullet had gone through, and the scene did not look good. She was gasping for air and coughing up blood, and the colour of her skin was starting to fade. There wasn't going to be much time left.

"I never was… much good at… following directions," she gasped out, referring to how Lee had told her to wait outside in case things got too out of hand. But as soon as the stranger saw her in the doorway, he immediately fired and sent her to the ground.

"Heh, reporters gotta follow their own rules, right? Or else they won't get any of the good stories," Lee joked, but inside his heart was breaking.

"Listen, I never got to tell you this… but…" she tried, but her breathing stopped and her arms went limp over her chest. Clem let Lee bend down to cradle the ex-reporter in his arms as one last means of saying goodbye, feeling her own heart break and her stomach turn to knots. Would none of this had happened if she had just waited for the rest of them?

Several minutes passed before Lee took one last look at Carley, put a soft kiss on her forehead and shut her eyelids closed. Isn't unrequited love such a bitch sometimes?

"There's no time for a burial…" he mused, taking the pistol that Clementine was holding and firing the last shot it had into Carley's skull.

"She… she would've come back…" Clem mentioned, getting a nod from Lee as he wiped his eyes.

"Let's get out of here, sweet pea. We'll try to find the others."

"Umm… that might be a problem."

Going back to the window and seeing what she was on about, Lee cursed their misfortune. What else could go wrong?

"We're gonna have to be extra careful out there, Clementine," Lee instructed, placing a hand on her shoulder as they started their walk back to the main floor of the hotel. "Just stay close to me; I'll keep you safe. We're still a team, right?"

"Right," she agreed, locking pinkies with the older man as he chuckled slightly. Clem always knew how to brighten the mood.

If only they'd get the chance to do that more…