Clementine's POV. Twenty five miles from the community.

Today was the day, for what, I wasn't sure yet. All Calico told me was that Kace was 'sick', and therefore couldn't go on this mission. I was glad to accept. Sure it could be dangerous, but as far as I was concerned, this was nothing more than a simple meeting between two leaders. Luckily, Calico allowed me to bring Louis with me along with five other soldiers, making me feel even more confident that this would go smoothly. All eight of us rode in a four door pickup truck - Calico, Louis, me and two other soldiers in the cab, while two sat in the bed as they hung onto the sides to keep themselves from sliding around too much.

"Hey." Jerimiah, one of the soldiers who had personally encountered the group we were going to meet said. "What's even the plan?"

Calico grumbled something to himself quietly before saying, "I'm gonna drop you seven off a few miles from the building that myself and the leader of this so called 'Chain gang' can meet. He told Jerimiah that I had to come alone, but I don't trust that one bit, so I need the rest of ya wait outside the building and keep an ear out for anything dangerous. If push comes to shove, we fight."

I felt Louis shift in his seat next to me upon hearing this. "Uh... Do we even have any idea why they wanna meet?" He asked, pulling the collar of his shirt.

Calico took a few moments and took a deep breath through his nose. "N-No we don't."

"Oh... Alright. Well maybe it's for a good reason?"

"Unlikely. Just... Just be prepared for the worst."

"I don't know if I like this attitude, Calico." Jermiah commented from the back seat. He was a younger guy, dark skin and long hair that he tied back into a pony tail.

"I don't wanna lie to anyone of ya." Calico replied. "I'm trying to be as realistic as possible. Things may go bad, but they may not, we just have to wait and see." The truck slowed to a stop on the side of the narrow road surrounded by trees. "This is it. Go through the woods and walk two miles along the road. Stay hidden. You should come up on a fenced in garbage dump. That's where they wanted to meet."

I bit my lip and rubbed the back of my neck. "This... This doesn't sound like a good idea at all."

Calico smiled for a split moment, then went back to a frown. "If they're willing to ambush my men and ask me for a meeting even though they know how powerful our community is, then I don't wanna risk pissing them off."

"Fair enough... We'll see you there, Calico." I shut the creaking truck door and gave the man a nod.

Calico put the truck back into drive and began to drive down the road once again, leaving me and Louis to lead the four other soldiers to the garbage dump.

"Not exactly a glamorous place to set up a meeting, is it?" Louis remarked as we began to trek into the woods.

"Yeah..." One of the other guards Doug said. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Let's just.. focus." I urged.

"It's just been a while since we've been on a mission outside the walls without Kace."

I shook my head as I looked on into the thick brush. "Kace isn't here." I mumbled. Usually I would have some very choice words in regards to the boy, but right now I just couldn't help but feel bad for him. Perhaps I overreacted before? The leaves and grass were wet with yesterdays rain, making this whole venture that much more uncomfortable. It was going to be a two miles...

Kace's POV, ?

I sat across from Kenzie, a hot cup of boiled water in between my hands. I felt content, happy. But for some reason I didn't see the same emotion on my partners face. She seemed tense. "What's wrong?" I asked.

She looked up, a smile quickly curving her lips. I knew it was fake. "Nothing!" She exclaimed. "What do you wanna do today?"

I glanced over to the cardboard box where we kept all of our food and noticed it to be nearly full, as well as the plastic jug where we kept our water. "Hmm... We're good on supplies. Maybe for now we should just explore the rest of the neighborhood, you know? Clear out some of the infected that might have found their way here."

Kenzie bit her lip nervously and hummed. "Uhm... We can't."

"What? Why not?"

"Kace." She sighed in disappointment, a sigh that kind of struck my heart. "You know none of this is real. It's just your mind playing tricks on you."

I tapped my fingers on the table and nodded, dipping my head downwards. "Yeah I know... I just don't want to leave here again. Especially after..."

"Kace. What happened to me sucks, I get that. But you can't just seclude yourself in your own head. You have people that need you. Tatum needs you, Lyla needs you, the whole community needs you."

"I... can't leave. Not yet."

Kenzie scratched the back of her head impatiently and pursed her lips. "I love you, Kace. And I always will. But..."

I looked up, feeling a small knot in my chest when I saw her face go red as she fought back her emotions. "But what?" I asked.

She shook her head, content to leave the conversation hanging there much to my dismay. "N-Nothing... Let's go play a board game or something for now." She quickly stood and left the dining room and walked towards the back room. I took a moment to gather my thoughts before eventually following, feeling torn as I did so.

Clemetine's POV, The Garbage Dump, 3:30 pm.

Louis, the soldiers, and I, all sat beneath some bushes on a small hill just outside the fence of the dump. Calico was within the perimeter of the fences sitting inconspicuously atop an old torn up couch littered with stains and holes. He kept turning around to make sure we were still present and hadn't wandered off, as if we would even do that anyway. After nearly an hour of shivering and waiting, three pickup trucks pulled into the garbage dump and parked in a line about ten feet from Calico, who promptly stood. From where we were sitting, we couldn't hear any of the words being spoken, however Calico's body language was calm, almost inviting.

There was three men in each truck, totaling to nine, which unfortunately outnumbered us. No matter though, we had the element of surprise. After a few minutes of conversing, Calico's movements became stiffer and more animated than before. Something was wrong, the discussion must have taken a turn for the worse.

"Get ready." I instructed, preparing to strike. Before I could though, Calico spun around hastily and glared towards us. He yelled something, but I couldn't tell what. He waved his arms around like a mad man before taking in a deep breath and shouting as loud as he could in hopes that we would hear him. Very faintly, I heard the echo ripple through the trees. "Run!"

As I turned towards my friends, I felt something cold and metal press against the back of my neck and heard a strangers voice say, "Don't move." From my peripherals, I saw that Louis, along with the other soldiers, were all frozen out of fear, no doubt they were also now being held at gun point. I looked on towards the Garbage dumb and saw the strangers binding Calico's hands behind his back.

Suddenly, a dark bag was thrown over my head, blocking out all sunlight from view. The last thing I saw was the green of the trees around me, and Louis glaring at me with a sad, crestfallen face.