"Lilly?!" There was no mistaking that it was Lilly running from the herd. Her long brown hair was caked in mud and her clothes were covered in filth.
"Please, help me!" Lilly ran up to the truck and stuck her hand up, desperate to be rescued.
"How do I know you're not bitten?" Carley said as she looked at the herd, it was massive, miles long and miles wide, there were thousands of them.
"I promise I'm not, If I am you can toss me out, but please pull me up, I'm begging you!" Carley got on her stomach and stuck her hand down.
Lilly grabbed Carley's hand and climbed up on to the truck. "Thank you so much, I'm so sorry for what I did to you earlier, If I have to spend the rest of my life making it right I will." Lilly put her arms around Carley and began to cry.
"Were they all just chasing you?" Carley said as the herd reached the barricade.
"I don't think so, I just know that all the Walkers are going in a certain direction, look." Carley looked as the Walkers walked right past the barricade.
"That's really weird." Carley said as Lilly walked onto the edge of the truck and jumped onto the bins.
As Carley got back into the diner, Lee was staring at Lilly in complete shock.
"What are you doing here, Lilly? Gonna kill me? You'll need some bullets first." Lilly looked at the ground in shame.
"Lee, I'm the one who should be angry at her, she tried to kill me, not you. I've forgiven her and you should do the same, I couldn't let her get ripped apart by that herd." Carley put her arm around Lilly and pulled her close to comfort her.
"I'm sorry, alright. I was wrong and I regret doing what I did every day, please don't send me out there to die." Lee let out a sigh and sat in a booth.
"Fine, you can stay, I owe it to Larry to let you in." Lee remembered pulling Lilly back, he regretted doing that to Lilly every day. If he'd have just stood up to Kenny, maybe Lilly wouldn't have gone through all that unnecessary suffering.
"Thank you, Lee. I forgive you for what you did to him, at least he didn't have to suffer. I don't know how I'd get him his pills after the pharmacy ran out. Silver linings, I suppose. " Lilly wiped away her tears and sat down across from Lee.
"Lilly, I'm not trying to be cruel, but you look like shit." Lilly nodded and put her head on the table.
"I'll wash in a minute." Lilly was drained of all energy, she'd been running for miles.
"I'm going to check on Clem, you stay here in case something happens." Lee stood up and walked into the RV.
As he knocked on the door, Lee wondered how to tell Clementine that Lilly was back after what had happened.
Shel opened the door with a scared look on her face. "Lee, what the hell is that noise?!" Shel was scared of his answer.
"Walkers, there are thousands of them going along the highway, we just rescued someone from the herd." Shel's eyes widened and she went pale.
"Are we safe? Are they trying to get in?" Lee shook his head.
"No, that's the weirdest thing. They're not trying to get into the barricade. If they did, they would have gotten in by now. They're obviously drawn to something. I have no idea what it is, though." Shel sat down on the couch, shaking with fear.
"I need a minute, Lee. Clementine's got something to show everyone." Clementine waved and held her notepad up in the air.
"Lee, look what me, Shel and Becca did!" Lee took the notepad in his hand and was shocked.
It was a calendar, Clementine, Becca and Shel had managed to figure out what the date was. The twenty-ninth of August and the next day was circled as Clementine's birthday.
"It's your birthday tommorow, Sweet Pea? I'll try and throw something together for you." Clementine smiled and hugged Lee tightly.
"Thank you, Lee. What's wrong? You look upset." Lee sighed and got down on one knee.
"There's a herd outside, don't worry we're safe, but we had to rescue someone." Clementine looked at him in confusion.
"Who was it, Lee?" Lee knew there was no way to sugar-coat it so he blurted it out.
"It's Lilly, she was running from the Walkers. We had to save her or she would have died. We have to be good people or we're no better than the Walkers. Do you understand, Clementine?" Clementine nodded and sat on the table.
"Can you please tell her not to talk to me? I still don't like her." Lee shook his head.
"No, we have to be around each other, communication is the best thing for resolving conflict. She's not in charge, me and Carley are." Clementine groaned and looked away.
"Can I at least not talk to her until I know she's nicer than before?" Lee smiled at that.
"Sure thing, Clem, thank you so much for the Calendar, you three." Clementine and Becca smiled at that as Lee walked out of the RV.
"How are they?" Carley was sat on top of the counter, her short legs swinging back and forth between the seats.
"Great, Shel's freaking out about the herd, but the three of them made a calendar, it's the twenty-ninth of August and tomorrow is Clementine's ninth birthday. I don't know what we're going to do for her." Carley hopped off the counter and grabbed the sheet of paper.
"Oh my god, we know the date. That's amazing! It's nice knowing what the date is again, I'm glad we let them in. I know what we can get for Clementine's birthday. I found a pack of coloured chalk, completely new, never been used. She can have that." Lee took the pack from Carley's hand and pocketed it.
"Thank you, Carley. At least she'll have something for her birthday." Lee kissed Carley and sat down next to Roman.
"You two okay?" Stephanie didn't move from her spot and Roman sighed.
"She's done this before, when she's really scared she just shuts down. She can handle small groups of Walkers, but not herds like this. Please give the two of us some space." Lee mouthed the word sorry and walked away.
Lilly walked up to Lee, he could tell she wanted something.
"Lee, I need some water to wash. Please can you tell me where I the water bottles are?" Lee led her into the RV and opened the fridge.
"It doesn't work, but the shade keeps the water cool, at least it's not warm." Lee passed her a bottle and she walked outside.
"I'm going to wash out behind the diner, so don't go there." Lee nodded and walked back into the RV.
Lilly grabbed her muddy blue backpack and walked out of the kitchen. She began to strip her muddy clothes off and washed herself with a damp cloth. Taking her hairbrush out of her pack she brushed the mud out of her hair and it fell to the ground. Lilly took the remaining water and poured it into her hair.
She dressed herself in her change of clothes, a black long sleeve shirt with olive green cargo pants. It wasn't glamourous, but it was practical. Cleaning herself made her feel better about the situation. As Lilly walked back into the diner, she saw Clementine walking out of the RV.
Lilly felt so ashamed about what she did. "Clementine probably hates me, she'd be right to feel that way, I tried to kill an innocent woman just because she upset me." Lilly sat on the kitchen floor with her knees to her chest and began to sob quietly.
All of Lilly's grief, rage and exhaustion smacked her across the face. She'd been holding it together for so long and suddenly it hit her all at once like a freight train.
"Lilly?" It was Clementine, she peeked through the door and saw Lilly on the floor crying.
"You hate me, don't you?" Clementine sat on the floor across from her.
"No, I don't. You did a bad thing, so did Lee and I like him. Are you sad about Larry? I miss my mom and dad, too. I know how it feels to not have your parents." Lilly wiped her tears on her sleeve and looked at Clementine.
"You don't know how much it means for me to hear you say that? I get it if you're not happy with me for nearly killing Carley." Clementine scooched herself up next to Lilly and hugged her.
"It's alright to sit down and cry, I'll be here with you if you like." Lilly smiled and hugged Clementine back.
"You kept it." Clementine looked at her, confused about what she meant. "The hair ties, you kept them. Your hair is shorter too, who cut it?" Clementine looked at her, a proud expression on her face.
"Carley did, she knows how to cut hair, she did it all the time in College." Lilly smiled at that.
"Maybe Carley could cut mine, a Walker nearly grabbed my hair before I got here." Lilly grabbed her hair and held it in her hand. "Plus my ends are pretty dead, a new look would be nice." Clementine smiled and pulled her up off the floor.
"Let's go ask her, c'mon." Clementine dragged her through the kitchen doors, everybody in the diner was fine. Nobody was angry at Lilly, she felt welcomed and it made her feel the best she'd ever felt since the beginning of the outbreak.