Here we go, the next installment of the story. It took a while for this to come out, I know, but I wanted to brain storm a bit on how I wanted the last two episodes to be and how it would end. As it stands, this is the only fanfic I have that's close to being complete. Please enjoy, readers!

Chapter 24: Episode 4: Parkour And Church Bells

Despite going to sleep much later than I usually would, with the addition of having to take second watch, I still somehow found myself waking up early in the morning; I'm up at sunrise most of the time. But, today I found myself getting up only a little bit past my normal sleep schedule, or at least what had been normal for the past three or four mouths.

Had it really been that long?

Honestly, Its hard to keep track.

Back at home, my real home, the days I had off from school or didn't have to go to my part time job let me get way more sleep time. Which for me meant waking up at noon; here, I didn't have that luxury. I had forced myself to start waking up with the sun, and going to sleep sometime after it set.

The time that I spent sleeping in, no matter how much I wanted to, could be used for other, more important things; such as hunting, building up the barricade at the Motor Inn, or teaching Clementine to survive.

Funny thing was that I didn't get my internal clock set like this by myself. I had Lilly to thank for that. A few days after we setup camp at the Inn, Ms. Hardass herself chewed me out about sleeping in so late saying, "the time you spend sleeping can be used to help the group, you can't afford to be lazy, not anymore," and, "if something happens and we need everyone, we need you alert and focused, not drowsy and half awake."

And so, one month into the apocalypse, my sleeping pattern was completely changed. I'll admit, it was annoying at first, but after a while I got used to it. Out of the many things Lilly did for me, bitching for me to wake up every morning until I literally started doing so on my own was one of the things I was grateful she had done. Now, I only needed about five or six hours of sleep and I was good to go; only down side was that if I sleep past that time, I get sleepy and unfocused for about a half hour after I wake up.

As much as I missed my long hours of sleep, I didn't need it. I don't think I ever needed it. Lilly said I was being lazy, and looking back on it now, she was right.

The only one who was awake at this hour was Kenny, he was on watch now, as always. Leaving the Inn didn't change his schedule, and it didn't change mine, either. I still had time to teach Clementine a few new things before we headed off into the city, and I was going to make every minute of this morning count before we left.

I got up, careful not to wake up Carley and the other kids, and woke up Clem. The sunlight was streaming through the high windows of the building, giving me a better chance to look around than I had last night. The wooden crates could be used for a workout, however, the large metal shipping containers were the perfect height for me to start teaching Clementine a few of the basics of free-running; the wall run and how to tuck and roll when jumping from a certain height.

What made it better was that the metal containers weren't all just one size; some were bigger and some were smaller, and the way that the station workers had them arranged made it so that jumping from one to the other was easy.

I told this to my charge. As we sat and ate an early breakfast consisting of granola bars, a shared pack of M&Ms and water, I told her what I would be teaching her, along with explaining the fundamentals before I demonstrated them for her.

"So, anyone can do parker," Clem asked.

"Its pronounced Parkour, Clem. Though, I like the term free-running better," I said. "And, yes, pretty much anyone with a good pair of legs can do it. It takes lots of practice to get really good, but even someone who barely works out can do most of the basic moves after a few weeks of training."

"But, running up a wall sounds hard to do."

"I'll admit, it kinda intimidating at first," I said. I ate the last of the granola bar I had left and popped the different colored candies into my mouth after. "Free-running is a whole lot of fun, though. Once you get down the basics and master 'em, you can turn the entire world into your playground; climbing trees, buildings, hopping across roofs and over fences."

"Really," Clementine asked, sounding a bit skeptical, "you can do all those things?"

"And more," I answered, smiling. "But, there are two very important key factors that you must have, even to get good at the basics, and I've been teaching them to you this whole time."

"And what's that?"

"Balance and quick thinking," I said. "All those times I've been making up all those scenarios we talked about, the problem solving. Sure, they were fun little games, but they were games that taught lessons; what to do what cornered by walkers, what to do when approached by people you don't know, how to get away when you need to," I paused. "Tell me, Clem, do you know what sexually assault is?" I wasn't one to bring up touchy topics, but I felt I had to at the moment, for Clem's sake.

"Its when someone touches you in a bad way, right," Clementine sat there silent for a moment. "That's what my Mom said."

I nodded. "Your mom's right, that is what it is. But, it goes a bit further than that. Did your parents give you the talk before all this started?"

"The talk," Clementine asked, confused. She ate her last bit of M&Ms, then sipped her water.

I sighed and smacked my lips. "I'll take that as a no." Don't know why I even expected her parents would have, as young as Clem is. I thought. Just because Grandpa told me at eight, doesn't mean all parents do. This was gonna be awkward, however, the way that things were now and her being mature for her age, I felt now was a better time than any to tell her about the facts of life. "Alright, before we actually start your parkour lessons, I'm going to give you the, um, four-one-one on life, alright?"

"...Okay." Clem blinked at me, "why do you sound like you don't want to?"

"Because I really don't, honestly," I said, scratching my head. "But, how I feel doesn't matter. This is about you and your education, so lets start from the beginning: do you know what sex is?" God, how did Grandpa give me the talk so casually. Grandpa, that was someone I hadn't thought about in a while; I'm sure he'd be doing way better than me.

"I heard the word before; my Mom said she'd tell me about it when I'm older," Clementine said.

"How long ago was this," I asked.

The little girl gave a sad expression. "Before my parents went to Savanna. I asked Sandra once too, but she said my parents would tell me, so I stopped asking about it."

"Sandra was probably as nervous about telling you as I am," I said. "Sex is a ...natural and normal thing in life, its just not considered appropriate to talk about in public in most cases. Its gonna sound weird and kinda gross, because lord knows I felt grossed out when I was told about it."

"Why is it gross," Clem asked. "You said it was normal."

"Yeah, well, we'll see if you think that after I'm done explaining it," I said. I cleared my throat, and did my best to go into some type of teacher mode. "Now, usually when people start this off, they say a man and a woman have to love each other; that's, uh, not entirely true. You see everyone has these chemicals called hormones in us, and when two people feel an attraction for each other, things start to get a little ...weird."

As our Sex Ed class continued, my nervousness slowly began to dissolve bit by bit as the different sexual facts were checked off; how babies were made, all the ways someone could catch different STDs and how to protect against them and even how sexual assault could go much further than what Clementine had thought was just 'bad touching'; to be honest, Clem took the whole lesson better than I thought she would. She was kinda grossed out at some parts, mostly with how babies were born. I expected as much, but she asked questions and I gave her the answers to the best of my ability, even the ones I really didn't want to answer.

In this type of world, where laws and morals get tossed out the window faster than you can blink, Clem had to know about the dangers that came with living in it, and I mean all of the dangers.

Still, who would've thought I'd be the giving a kid this kind of talk, ever, at my age.

XxxxX

A half hour or so after our chat on the facts of life and whatnot, we got right into training, starting with our usual warmup exercises which consisted of stretches, both yoga and normal, pushups, sit-ups, jumping-jaxs, and light cardio jogging (though, in here we pretty much jogged around the entire building, doing our best not to be too noisy, especially with the baby still sleeping).

We did warmups for about four-five minutes; by the time some of the others began waking up, I was keeping Clementine balanced, holding her upside down by her ankles as she continued her last set of handstand pushups. I didn't really see the point in changing into our workout clothes, so we wore jeans and tucked our shirts in. I took off my leather jacket, of course.

"-Six, seven, eight ...nine ...twenty."

I let Clem down gently to the floor and softly clapped my hands. "Nice, you got to twenty way faster this time."

The little girl rolled over and sat up, leaning back on her hands. "It was easy," she said.

"Oh, I can tell," I said, grinning. "We might have to increase the number. How does three sets of ten sound?"

Clementine's face fell, the second the words left my mouth. "Seriously, three sets?"

"You were the one who said it was easy," I said, playfully.

Clementine let out a groan and laid back on the ground. "Next time, I'm not saying anything."

"Come on, don't be like that, kiddo." I walked over to her and smiled, "you should let me know when things get easy, or when its too hard. That's how I've been able to teach you as much as I have so far. Besides, if I thought you couldn't handle it, I wouldn't have brought it up."

"But, three sets is a lot."

"Yeah," I agreed. "But, that's the same thing you said when I raised it to two sets, and now its easy, right?"

"Yes."

"Then, we just keep working at it, the more you push yourself, the easier things get. Remember when we first started, you were struggling to do just one set of ten handstand pushups. Now look at yourself and think back to how you were before," I knelled down. "Here's a trick I learned from my English teacher. He said 'whenever you reach a point where you feel something is too difficult for you, think back to where you started and compare that to what you can do now', and he was right. You wanna know how I know he was right?" Clementine sat back up and gave a nod. "You hurt my leg a little while ago, could you do that when I found you in your tree house?"

"N-no."

"And that right there is what I call progress, Clem. Because you sure as hell can now," I took her by the shoulders and lifted her to her feet as I stood. "Still think three sets is too much?"

Clementine smiled meekly. "No, I guess not."

"That's what I like to hear," I said, patting her on the head. "We don't have to worry about that today, though. Its time for your first parkour lesson, you ready?"

"Yes."

"Alright," I clapped my hands together. "Lets get started."

"Isn't it a bit too early for the noise, you two," Carley spoke from behind us.

I turned to her, a smile spreading across my lips. "Good morning to you too, Car'," I said. "You sleep alright?"

"I actually did, surprisingly," Carley answered. The ex-reporter was sitting on the sleeping bag, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with one hand, while the other scratched at some of the worse bedhead I'd ever seen. She yawned and zipped open her jacket. "Its kinda warm this morning."

"Why do you think I took off the leather," I said. Zombies or no zombies, the weather would act weird, regardless. It was close to mid-autumn, maybe early November or late October; if you didn't know any better, you'd assume it was spring from how it felt inside the building. But, that could change later in the day. I had to admit one thing, though, "at least its not cold today."

"Amen to that," Carley said. She pulled a comb from her jacket pocket and began to straighten out the tangles in her brown hair. It looked harder then you'd think. "What about you, Clem; sleep okay," she winced slightly as she combed at a tangle.

Clementine smiled. "Yes, I slept okay," she answered. "I ...I had a good dream last night."

"Really, what was it about," Carley asked.

"Um," the eight-year-old got quiet for a moment. "It was about my parents; they got me a bike on my birthday last year and let me ride it around the neighborhood by myself."

"It sounds like you had a lot of fun," I said. "You're lucky, I didn't get to ride around my neighborhood on my own until I was like eleven, and even then, my Mom still kept a close eye on me."

"Mom only let me because my Dad talked to her," Clementine said. "He said I was a big girl and that I should do more things on my own. He even let me go to the store once by myself."

"See, I knew your dad was cool," I said, leaning over and nudging her with my elbow. "I mean, he did get you that cool baseball hat, ...you alright, Clem?"

Clementine nodded. "Uh-huh, I'm okay," she said, giving a small smile. "I'm just glad we're going to look for my parents today, and when we find them, you and Dad can be friends."

"I'm sure we will get along, Clem."

I felt a small peg in my heart. She was so positive about today, and that was a good thing. I just hope it isn't in vain; this world fucks over everyone, but for once, I was hoping that Clementine got some kind of happiness in the midst of all this death. Carley sent me a sad look. It only lasted a moment, then she put her focus back on the little girl in my care and smile again.

"So, what's Taylor teaching you today, Clementine," the ex-reporter asked.

"How to run up walls and stuff," Clementine answered.

"Sounds like fun," Carley said.

I smiled. "That's because it is fun," I said. Though, it sounded more like a statement, than an opinion. "You can always join in if you want."

Carley ran the comb through her hair one last time, and put the hair tool back in her pocket. "I think I'll pass," she said. "Besides, you can't do what you two do one an empty stomach," she stood up and stretched, her eyes closed for a brief moment, arms over her head. "I'll watch."

"Suit yourself," I said, playfully. I then turned my attention to the, now, nine-year-old. "Looks like we're having the fun all to ourselves. You ready?" Clementine smiled and gave a nod. "Good, lets go over to that wall right there. The brick will help so we don't slip."

Once we were at the wall, I explained how to do it again, only this time I also showed her. I jogged at the wall, ran up to steps, and hopped up and back. I did this a few more times, then turned to her. "Alright, now you try."

"Are you sure I'm not going to run into the wall," Clementine asked, shyly.

I chuckled. "You won't if you place your foot on the wall before you reach it."

"O-okay."

Clementine back up. I stepped off to the side and watched her closely for whatever mistakes I'd have to fix. Clem took a deep breath, bouncing on her toes a bit, then ran at the wall; it was at a very fast pace, but it was still faster than I thought she should be going for her first go.

She did as I said and placed her foot on the wall first, however, rather than pushing against the wall at an angle, she pushed at it, sending herself stumbling back. She frowned and looked at me.

"Just try again, Clem. It was your first try, it happens."

She sighed, trying the wall run a few more times; Clem probably didn't notice, but her second try was a lot closer to what I did than her third. After the forth try, she stopped. "Can we do something else," she asked. "This is hard."

"No, we're going to keep at it. Come here, watch me," I turned to the wall and place my foot on it. "The first thing you need to work on is foot placement, just remember what I told you, take it slow; you're moving up the wall, not through it." I took a few steps back, then jogged at the wall and placed my foot on it at an angle, and and ran up the wall two steps and hopped off. Clementine stood and watched, but I felt she would have a better time grasping it, if we did it together.

"Come on, kiddo. Just like me," I backed up from the wall again, waving her over. Once we were side by side, I nodded to her. "On my count. One, two, three," I jogged at the wall at Clem's speed. "Remember, place your foot first and push on the wall, not too much, though."

We placed our foot on the wall and pushed; Clem's placement was still off, forcing her back some. But it was better than her last four tries. "Much better, Clementine, you almost had it," I said. It wasn't exactly true; she did need the encouragement. "Want to try it again."

Clementine smiled slightly. "Yes. I think I see how to do it now."

"Alright."

We backed up again, and on my count, we went at the wall, again. Our parkour practice continued for most of the morning, and in between taking short water breaks and talking to the others when they woke up, time flew by and before we knew it, we were already preparing to head out to into the city.

XxxxX

Savanna was as one would expect, a complete ghost town; different vehicles were scattered along the streets and sidewalk, stripped down to nothing but a metal carcass, and the wind had a soft, ominous whistle to it. We had yet to run into any walkers, even though we were walking down a pretty big street out in the open, instead of taking back roads and alleyways, like I had originally planned.

I was expecting to see at least a few by now. Not to say that not having a run in with any of the undead was a bad thing, but it left me on edge, waiting for something to jump from behind the remains of a car. So much so, that I kept my hand on the hilt of my sword for almost every moment of the trek through the dead city.

"This place is hella creepy," Andy muttered. He and the other two kids were walking close to Carley and I, right in front of us. "Did we really have to come here?"

"My Dad said we're gonna find a boat, remember," Duck said. "We won't have to worry about anything on the water."

"And Taylor is going to help me find my parents. They're still alive somewhere, I know they are," Clementine added. She then turned to me. "Right, Taylor?"

I couldn't really answer the question the way I wanted. I mean, I could have spoke my mind and been real with her about what I really thought. However, I didn't want to hurt Clem's feelings. "I really hope they are, Clem. All we can do for now is look." The little girl gave a nod, and went back to talking with the other two.

At my words, Carley turned to me and leaned in, whispering. "Tay', I know you care about Clementine. I do, too. But, the chances of finding her parents alive in this city if they haven't left months ago-."

"Are slim, at best," I muttered, cutting her off. "I'm well aware of that. We're just going to check where her parents were staying and the surrounding area."

"And if you don't find them, then what? You can't go checking the entire city, its too dangerous," Carley said. "The walkers are one thing, but we don't know what people could still be around."

She was absolutely right. My memory of the plot may have been getting worse as time went on, but I still remembered a good amount of the final episodes; Molly, Crawford, how Lee died, and how I would end up if I didn't try my hardest to keep that important piece of info on my mind.

"We'll just have to make sure we don't announce ourselves," I said. "As long as we don't draw attention, we can move through the city, and be gone if it comes down to that; even if we find a big enough boat for all of us," which we won't. "I'm sure we'll figure something out."

As we walked, little whimpering sounds began to come from little Christian. Christa gently patted her son on the back, calmly shushing him.

"Is something wrong with him," Clementine asked the mother.

Christa shook her head. "No, he's probably just hungry." She said, softly, Before she turned her attention to the man leading out group and asked. "Kenny, how much farther until we reach the water?"

The ex-fisherman glanced back at her. "Should be just a few more blocks up ahead. Do you need to stop?"

"No, Christian's just starting to get a little grouchy," she said. "And he probably needs his diaper changed."

"Are you sure we shouldn't just change him, now," Omid said. "You know how he gets when he needs to be changed. The last thing we want is for him to start crying."

"Well, when you find somewhere I can put him down and change him, let me know." Christa said. Omid sighed, and stayed quiet.

For the first time in a while, Ben spoke. "We could try finding a house. They all look pretty abandoned."

"Abandoned, and could be crawling with God knows how many walkers," I said. "I'd rather not take the risk." I didn't know why, but hearing Ben speak put me at ease, somewhat. He had been so quiet since he woke up, and probably felt guilty as all hell; and I felt he should feel that way. His actions put all of us in danger.

On the other hand, I wasn't going to hold a grudge against him. Ben was thinking about the group when he made that deal with the bandits, and if I wanted to be perfectly honest with myself, I had no idea what I would've done if the bandits had brought everyone they had at us full force had he not made the deal. I doubt my little acting would've done much. I thought. Ben's choice brought us time, if anything. Time to teach Clem a lot more than I thought I'd be able to. I can't act like it didn't. Even if Larry was the one to end up dying.

No, I didn't hold a grudge against Ben, and I wanted him to know that. I walked closer to the ex-high school student. "Hey, Ben, how are you feeling," I asked, quietly.

The teenager glanced over at me, running his hand over his swollen right cheek. "B-better, I think. My face still aches, and it hurts when I talk too much."

"The way Lilly beat on you, I'm not surprised," I said. "Listen, about the bandits-."

"I-I'm really sorry," he said. "Really, I am."

"I know you are. I just want you to know that I don't hate you, alright," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Ben blinked at me, looking surprised. "What you did was stupid, immature and your an idiot for not telling us; you got Larry killed, that blood is gonna be on you your hands." Ben frowned and looked down. "But, I'm forgiving you. You made a mistake, a pretty big, shitty one. If we're going to survive this, though, we need to work together. You can't keep secrets that effect the entire group and think everything's gonna be fine and dandy, you understand?" Ben slowly nodded. "Everyone here wants to be able to depend on you, Ben, and rather you like it or not, there's going to come a day when you'll have to step up and take charge. But you can't do shit like that," I gave him a hard stare. "If you put us in danger like that, again; make deals with people like those bandits and hide it from us, you're gone, got it."

"Y-yeah. I get it."

"I hope so, for your sake."

We were close to the next intersection, right near a large, old church, when the bells in the church bell tower started to ring overhead. Everyone stopped, and I moved closer to the kids, unsheathing my katana.

"Maybe this city isn't so dead, after all," Christa said, trying to keep her son quiet. The baby was close to crying, having been spooked by the sudden loud noise.

"No ones ringing that bell, its automatic. Probably on a timer," Kenny said.

"Doesn't matter what did it," I said. "We have to move. Those bells are going to bring walkers from all over the city here." I looked up at the church roof, and spotted the shadow of a hooded figure disappear from the bell tower. Thanks a lot, Molly.

"There's someone up there!" Carley took out her handgun, starring up at the bell tower.

"I don't see anything," Andy looked up, squinting his eyes. "How'd they even get up there. A ladder?"

For fucks sake! I groaned. Why are they asking stupid question at a time like this. "We have to move, people. Like now, before we get swarmed by walkers."

"Ask not for whom the bell tolls." I turned to the old hobo, who was starring down the street, and followed his gaze. Goddamn it. "It tolls for thee."

At that moment, about half a dozen walkers came shambling around the corner of the street we just passed, and lots more where following right behind them, coming from the other streets all around us.

"Oh, fuck. Everyone, follow me!"

Kenny took out his gun and started running down the street. Carley fired on a few walkers in the larger horde, and Chuck and Omid were near Kenny, killing whatever stepped out in front of us, the older man using his shovel and Omid using a gun. Carley was protecting Christa and the baby. I stayed near the kids, stabbing and decapitating any walker that got too close, feeling grateful at the fact that they were so spread apart making them easier to take care of.

"Katjaa!"

I was thrusting my blade through a walker's eye, when I heard Kenny yell and Katjaa suddenly cry out. Kicking the rotting corpse away, I spun around and saw the older woman struggling on the ground, trying to hold back a walker's face away from her by the neck; Kenny wasn't close enough to stop it, and he couldn't take a shot for fear of hitting Katjaa instead.

As for me, I was close enough to save her, but the walkers were too close and the kids were right next to me. Clem had her knife out, but she was obviously panicking too much to do what I taught her; besides, with the number of walkers around us, her knife wouldn't do much, not to mention Andy and Duck didn't have a weapon at all.

"Mom!" Duck yelled, and he tried to run past me.

I reached out and grabbed him. "Don't even think about it! Stay next to me!"

"B-but, my Mom-!"

"I can see that, Duck!" I used one hand to hold him by the shoulder, and thrust my sword into a walkers mouth with the other. Damn it! We can't stay here! I thought. I draw back my sword and swung it right, cutting the head off a walker that got to close; Katjaa was still struggling, and I was starting to lose my cool.

Time seemed to slow down; if I ran with the kids next to me, one of them could get grabbed, and leaving them here wasn't an option, if I didn't move, though, Katjaa would be killed.

What should I do? What should I do! I let go of Duck and turned right, both hands on the hilt of my weapon, and slashed hard and swift at an upward angle, taking off the corner part of a walker's head, then turned my sword sideways, thrusting it into the forehead of another walker.

I was about to reach back and pull out my handgun, to lessen the number of undead in front of me quickly so I could rush to help Katjaa, the additional noise be damned. But, luck seemed to be on her side today.

"Get your wife and get the hell out of here!" Chuck yelled, swinging at a walker with his shovel. "I'll catch up with ya!"

Kenny didn't have to be told twice. As he ran for his wife, he shot the walker holding her down and pulled the woman to her feet. "Let's go, people! Move your asses!" Omid was next to Carley now, helping her protect Christa and the crying toddler, and Ben was running in the same direction Kenny was.

As I cut down a few of the walkers to my left, I shouted at the kids to run and we took off. We dodged through a small opening in the horde, with me taking out any walkers trying to take a bite out of me or the kids, until we were out of the thin of the herd with the others.

"River Street's right up ahead!"

"That's not the only thing," Ben said in fear, pointing. Walkers were turning around the next corner, dozens more than the small herd behind us.

"Shit! Can we get a fuckin' break here," Kenny shouted.

"Wait, where's Chuck?" Christa asked.

I turned towards the horde behind us, and saw him in the middle of it, fighting through walkers. I wanted to go back and help him. I didn't want him to died like I knew he would, but with the rapidly increasing number of walkers coming at us from both sides, there was no way I could reach him and get back out a second time.

"He's in trouble," Omid said. "We have to do something."

"There's nothing we can do," I said, sadly. "We have kids and a baby with us. We need to get outta here!"

"I'll be fine!" The old hobo yelled from inside the horde. "Just go!"

So, that's what we did, we ran. We as fast as we could, and left Chuck behind to his fate. You can't save everyone. There was nothing you could do for him. No matter how many times I told myself that, though, the feeling of regret stayed. "Fuck my life," I muttered to myself.

And that's it for now, remember to review and let me know what you think!

Peace~!