A/N: Ah. Hello, hello everyone. Here we are. I can't believe I took 8 months to post this chapter as I've had it written for... 8 months, but I couldn't really capture the *curls hand into fist* I was going for to post it. (Plus I'm selfish and hate goodbyes lol). But I'm back! Still can't believe I spent 25 chapters on this fic. I originally planned for 15, but you know, you get carried away sometimes.

And so here we are, folks. I'm glad you guys stuck it out with me, even if I lost a ton of you on my hiatus! What's most important is that you guys were here and (hopefully) enjoyed reading The Journalist. Alerts and favs were plenty and views remained consistent as I updated, so I know you guys are out there and I appreciate every single one of you!

Shout out to my boy, Chuck and my girl Chelsea! To Chuck, I definitely appreciated the lengthy, in-depth discussions we had about the TWDG-verse and your honest feedback and to Chelsea, the raw emotion that I earned from you. Been a while since I heard from you guys, so I hope you're all doing all right!

Without further ado, the last chapter of The Journalist.

Chapter 25

Crimes of Passion

He sat bent forward, cradling his head in his hands, sweating and breathing heavily. His jaw quivered as he repeated, "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," as if it were both a soothing mantra and a verbal expression of how quickly everything went south.

Lilly hovered over him, standing and holding onto a dresser for balance—literal balance, anyways. Her face was passive, expressionless but the tension that radiated from her disturbed Carley enough to bring her to an uneasy frown. Lilly glared daggers at Ben, who unassumingly kept his eyes glued to the floor, his fingers digging into his scalp.

Finally, the teenager took a deep breath and looked up. His flushed face panicked and no amount of desire to keep calm could mask the

"I'm sorry," he said to Lilly.

"Everything's fine, Ben," Carley reassured.

"Everything's not fine," Lilly asserted. "We need to figure out how this happened. We just lost everything."

Carley glanced at Lee, where he stood near the RV door, hanging onto the cabinet and the sink counter, his expression concerned and uncertain.

"Well, we're lucky as shit to have this RV," Kenny said.

"And nobody died," Carley added.

"Kat's head is split open!" he protested.

"I'm fine!" Katjaa said.

Lilly ground her teeth. "Somebody in here cause this," she asserted. "And I'll be damned if we don't get to the bottom of it!"

"Settle down back there!" Kenny yelled. "The bandits have had our number for weeks!"

"This is different." Lilly's voice dropped to a disturbingly menacing low and she peered out from a heavy brow as she spoke. "Somebody was working with them. Whoever it was was slipping them our meds. They didn't get their last package, so they attacked!"

"Calm down back there!" Kenny yelled. "That's nuts. You got proof of any of that?"

"Lee found a bag of supplies hidden outside the wall."

"It's true," he admitted.

"So, Carley," Lilly said, and she turned toward her. Carley scowled and knew, with a resentment she could not sway, that Lilly had already made up her mind.

"Is there something you want to say?" Lilly asked her.

Carley scowled. How dare her. "Please," she replied.

"'Please?' Is that your excuse of a defense? We have to get it out of you then."

"Back off."

"You're in no position to make demands."

"No position? I'm in no position? Whoa, whoa, you're just pointing fingers," Carley argued.

"I didn't just come up with this. I've had my suspicions."

"Probably not the best time, Lilly," Kenny interrupted.

"If not now, when? Look at what just happened," Lilly seethed.

"Why her?" Lee asked. "This seems like a stab in the dark, Lilly."

Lilly pursed her lips as she leaned forward toward Carley, squinting as if trying to read her. Carley's frown deepened.

"She's always so eager to see what supplies we found," Lilly said. "She never talks about her family. She could be related to those bastards for all we know!"

"Whoa, my family's not a bunch of meth-riddled forest people!" Carley exclaimed. "They're fucking Lutheran!"

"You're not saying it wasn't you."

"It wasn't me!"

"Carley's trustworthy," Lee said. "She's not a traitor, Lilly."

"Thank you, Lee," Carley exhaled.

"She can fight her own battles… unless there's something going on here that implicates you both," Lilly accused.

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Like, look, maybe we should, uh, vote or something like that," Ben stammered.

"Vote?" Lilly rolled her eyes. "What?"

"Just look, Carley's a stand-up gal and maybe this is all just a mistake—"

"We need to look at the facts," Carley pressed. "Let's calm down, we'll eat, and we'll deal with it."

"Yeah, let's do that," Ben agreed.

"Let's just let it go," Lee said, his hand still pressed against the dresser for balance. "People make mistakes, and yeah, this is a fucking doozy, but it's not worth it, Lilly."

"Then what do we not forgive?" Lilly urged. "Honestly, tell me! Kenny can kill my dad; Carley can steal from us? Where's the line?"

"Lilly, stop waving the finger at everybody," Lee quickly said. "We know something's going on and we can get to the bottom of it if we keep our heads."

"I know what we found. Someone was stealing!"

"Nobody was stealing anything!" Ben pleaded.

"And nobody's denying it was a bag of our meds out there," Carley added.

"Was it both of you?" Lilly suggested.

"What?" Ben exclaimed.

"I've seen you two together," Lilly said, leaning over Ben as he hunched backwards, his arms, folded over his chest, pressed inwards as Lilly hovered over him. "Was it both of you?"

"Look, just let me out," Ben said. "I didn't do it, but I don't like this! I don't like where it's headed."

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn't have anything to do with it."

"Lilly, lay off of him," Carley said.

Ben swallowed. "…I—"

Everyone lurched forward—"Shit!" Kenny shouted—and Carley extended her hand out to catch Ben as he nearly rocked off the seat while she dug her heels into the ground to keep from fall off. Lee and Lilly each grabbed onto the dresser in front of them—and Clementine, ah, the poor girl, sat at the back of the RV—clutching the dinner table, her face momentarily panicked.

"What's going on up there?!" Lilly yelled.

"I hit something," Kenny answered with a groan. "We gotta stop."

Carley didn't miss Lilly's sneer. "All right, well, we can deal with this now, then," she said.

The RV slowed to a crawl and Kenny guided it to the side of the road. Poorly lubricated brake pads screeched to grinding halt, its pitch irritating enough for Carley to swallow instinctively, as if a gun had just fired and she needed to change the pressure in her ears.

"Kenny," Lee asked. "Is it safe?"

"Should be," he said. "Fuck if I know for sure. If it's not fog then it's dark."

"Everybody out," Lilly demanded.

"Lilly…" Lee growled as she moved past him.

"Out."

Carley huffed out a breath as she followed Lee off the RV, Ben behind her, his arms still crossed anxiously over his chest. She glanced around their perimeter as Lilly crouched and peaked under the RV. As far as 'safe' went, there wasn't much in the way of pit stops on this ceaseless two-way road, and she was sure some b-rated horror movies and campfire ghost stories were bred in these woods and in this fog. She glanced up, the stars numerous above her in the navy sky when just minutes ago she recalled it a painter's paradise, sunset fading the brushing the baby blue with lights pinks and purple before eventually fading into red… a light red, then an amber red, it's glow warm and reassuring despite the cold they felt fighting at and for the motel, losing the motel.

Who cares how the sky looked anyways? It was beautiful, picturesque—she marveled at it every night on watch. But for the sun having just set, it was unusually dark. Blue so dark it was black replaced where the moon ought to have been.

Lee gently nudged her and she looked down, glancing over her shoulder, where he stood.

"You didn't do it?" Lee breathed.

"How could you even ask me that?" she replied between grit teeth.

"I won't be mad. I trust you."

"Then trust me when I say I didn't do it," she whispered back.

"Okay, all right. Car, I trust you."

She felt his hand on the small of her back.

Lilly stood up and Lee immediately turned away as she told Kenny a walker was trapped underneath the vehicle. She approached Lee, Ben, and Carley, her scowl just as vindictive but even more spooky without the harsh RV lighting.

"You know what," Lilly said, looking straight at Ben, "we shouldn't just kick you out. We should hear what everybody thinks."

"I think you should chill out," Ben pleaded.

"That's a great way of dealing with losing our home, our supplies, everything we had in order to live! Let's all just chill out, hang around." Lilly turned pensively toward one of the trees and cocked her head sideways, her gaze shooting directly to Carley threateningly.

"I'm not gonna take this," Carley said. "You can push Ben around, but you can't push me around. Frankly, I won't stand for either! Not if you're going to treat us like criminals without any evidence!"

"I'm really sorry you feel that way," Lilly said without an ounce of genuine apology in her tone. "I'm starting to think maybe it was both of you."

"No!" Ben protested.

Kenny groaned and Carley glanced over her shoulder to see him on the down on his knees, reaching under the hood of the car. "This dumb… fuck… walker."

"You okay over there?" Lee asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Son of a bitch."

"Ben," Lilly seethed. "You have no other options."

"Leave him alone," Carley yelled.

"You can tell me it was Carley and then everything will be right as rain."

"There's no way it was Carley," Lee said. "It was somebody else. It could've even been someone sneaking into our camp."

"That's ridiculous," Lilly said. "That's what you think?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Fine then. Kenny?"

"I don't know!" He continued to reach under the RV. "Fuck, just—stop—would ya?!"

"Well, your vote counts for you and Katjaa."

"We don't need all these votes!" Ben screamed. "What do I have to do for you to trust me? I'll do anything! I'll—I'll do watches for months!"

"The hell you will."

"I'll get more food! More medicine! Anything!"

"You think any of that is good now!"

"Just let me stay!" he begged. "Please! God, please!"

"You're pathetic. Look at you."

"Stop panicking!" Lee yelled. "Seriously Ben, you need to stop and just take a breath."

"Do we need any more evidence than this?!" Lilly declared.

"Fuck evidence!" Carley shouted. "Stop treating him like this!"

"Shut up, Carley! Agh, I've heard enough out of you! Kenny, what's it gonna be?"

"Just give me a damn minute!"

"Ben, you've have until that walker is dealt with to tell me it was her and not you!"

"Stop this! You're torturing him!" Carley pressed.

Ben—"No!"

Lilly—"Ben!"

Carley—"Stop!"

"This is about trust and I've never trusted you!" Lilly screamed at Ben. "All of this bullshit with these bandits started when you got here!"

"No! It wasn't—I didn't—they murdered my friends too! Why would I want to help them?!"

"Tell her," Lee finally spoke. "Just do it, Ben."

"Lee, Jesus¸ who are you right now?!" Carley shouted, turning to him.

"Tell her what?!" Ben pleaded. "She'll kick me out of the group!"

"We won't. We'll understand," Lee said gently.

"Tell me. Now."

A putrid stretching sound came from over by Kenny and the RV as wrenched the walker out from underneath the vehicle. "There!" he announced, dragging it by the arm to their side of the road. "I got 'im."

"Please," Ben said. "Let's just get back in the RV."

"That's not happening," Lilly stressed.

Carley bit down on her jaw. "You think you're some tough bitch, don't you?" she shot. "Like nothing can hurt you. But you're just a scared little girl. Get the fuck over it. Take a page from Lee's book and try helping somebody for once."

A sickening crack broke through the short silence that was left by Carley's attack. They all turned and saw Kenny lift his bloodied boot from the crushed, gory skull of the walker he pulled from the RV. He walked towards them, satisfied one problem was dealt with, his right boot squishing and leaving a bloodied trail as he approach.

"Now," Kenny said, "what the fuck's the problem?"

Carley turned back to face Lilly, ready for some kind of rebuttal, for her to plea her case and convince Kenny either she or Ben had committed the unspeakable horror that left them in their latest quagmire. It was almost funny that Lilly was finally trying to appeal to Kenny, that she couldn't even convince Lee and that she'd alienated herself so far from everyone else in the group to successfully entertain the survivor idea of voting someone off the group, leaving them for the wilderness as if a conflict between man and nature was any less convoluted than the conflicts within their group.

Carley turned, prepared, frustrated, and dreading Lilly's severe, unyielding and dogmatic arguments. Beneath all that tough skin Lilly liked to flaunt, there was nothing there. There was weakness, insecurity, and a need to control others because she couldn't control herself. And God, did Carley blame Lilly for dealing with all that? Newsflash, it was the end of the world! Everyone dealt with that. Everyone had their problems, had their inner demons, worried about the future and fantasized about the past. They were all different people emerging from different backstories, but Christ, that was no excuse to be a complete despot.

Carley turned, and with Kenny arriving, a new and hopefully levelheaded addition to their poor excuse of congress, she felt relieved. That maybe all of them—if Ben could calm down for a bit, of course—could allay Lilly's fears. Kenny was argumentative, yes, but he wasn't heartless. Add Lee—and thank God for Lee, to keep the peace, to consider all the options in the grandest scheme of things, to be everyone's go-to guy, the epitome of redemption and rising up from what could have been the lowest of lows—and they could be all right. This was just a bump in the road, just like all the others they had. They could just move forward. Deal with it later, but move forward for now.

Carley turned, and was suddenly struck back.

Vindictive anger shattered and she felt unexplainably numb. The ground rushed toward her, the black sky swelled from the edges of her vision, sweeping over her sight and leaving her in complete darkness as she collapsed, head crashing hard to the cold, dirt ground. Her ears were ringing—that loud, shrill ringing that wasn't the squeal of brake pads but her body's reaction to the deafening thunder of gunfire. Really close gunfire. It rang so loud. She couldn't swallow, couldn't make it go away.

She couldn't move. No part of her could move. Her muscles weren't tense, but they weren't relaxed. There was no control. Her chest felt tight. She heard a blur of voices. Then a ragged, labored struggle… a struggle to breathe. Breathe.

The black parted only just a little bit. Everything was fuzzy, blurred. Nothing concrete. Colors and shapes just fading into each other.

She tried to breathe. She could almost hear Lee telling her to breathe. To breathe with him.

The colors and shapes she thought she saw; the voices, the noise she thought she heard, of arguing, of shouting; of the RV spurring to life; of the smell of lingering gunpowder and diesel fumes; of texture of the coarse dirt beneath her… faded. It was all fading. What grounded her, what kept her going, what kept her moving forward, proof of life… it was all fading.

Breathe.

She couldn't breathe.

She felt so numb. So cold.

She couldn't feel anything.

And then, there was nothing.

A/N: Once again, everyone, thank you so much for reading! If you have any questions/comments/etc etc, feel free to hit me up with either the reviews or the PM (for all you guests out there, the PM would be a fantastic option if you've got questions that require answering, haha). Love you all and it's been quite the ride on my end. Hope you enjoyed as well!