Ledge [Lee Everett]

Apart from being completely desolate of activity, the dorm rooms they were travelling through seemed relatively untouched. Lee's eyes fanned over to the man in front of him as they walked. He thought about why Joel decided to change his mind all those months ago. But it really wasn't something that needed to be talked about. In Lee's mind, the reason was obvious enough. When it came to being stubborn in his ways, Joel was comparable to a mule. But it was good to see him finally softening up around everyone, as much as he'd probably try to hide it.

"Been quiet so far, but the generator is a good sign. What do you think?" Lee spoke up, wondering if Joel had the same thoughts running through his head.

Kentucky [Joel]

Joel had little to comment on the situation as a whole. He figured Lee wanted to talk to him about something; it wasn't like finding a generator cable was all that difficult. He supposed he was starting to ease up a little on his intensity; all that hatred and hurt and been tucked away... or rather, laid out in plain view. He chewed on his gums, hands flowing along the wall of the dorm rooms.

He could have been in one of these. Had Sarah not come up... but little nostalgia was brought to him by these living quarters. "Could be a good sign. Figured we would have seen someone by now... but maybe they're all just congested in one area."

Joel's head cocked to the side as they passed by the individual dorms. Some of the doors slightly ajar, as if there were hasty evacuations in the beginning. Little time to escape back then. Little time to escape now, too... had the Fireflies been forced to run? By something out there...

"Lee, I'm gonna check the dorms to see if there's any sign of the Fireflies. I'm sure we would have seen one by now if they were in these dorms, but it can't hurt to check." In truth, he was looking for any kind of weapons they may have left behind. But some tinge of hope had struck him, some hope that the Fireflies were still here. He opened the door to the nearest dorm, stepping into the former bedroom. A girl's, from the looks of it.

Ledge [Lee Everett]

"Alright... hell, maybe they got something useful stashed around here." The former history teacher agreed, his eyes fanning towards one of the vacant rooms. If he was lucky, maybe he could score something for the generator outside... some fuel or a cable perhaps. "I'll take the other rooms near the end of the hallway, meet up with you soon." And with that, Lee quickly waved off the man before heading his own way, disappearing into one of the quarters.

Shadowman [Narrator]

The vibe of the rebel group was very well present, a firefly pendulum hung from the doorknob, clanking against the wood as Joel opened the door to the room. Evidently, the place seemed to be untouched, although messy nonetheless. Suitcases and old clothes were sprawled out across the floor, almost as if someone had been in a hurry to pack their things for a late airport trip. The layout was pretty basic, a bed… a bathroom and a mini lounge area.

Unfortunately for the man, his searches came up almost empty. Only managing to scrounge up a preserved candy bar from one of the drawers.

However, just as it seemed that there was nothing more to see. An odd sight gleamed off the desk in the lounge area, things that were stuck on some type of homemade bulletin. Various papers, documents and whatnot could be seen on there. All Firefly related... bearing names and members of top FEDRA officials yet to be taken down, as well as various wanted posters of who were presumably dangerous targets of the government. If FEDRA were after people, then the Fireflies definitely wanted to know who, seemings as though whoever was living here had been bothered to take them down and store them.

Many of the wanted posters displayed scum and degenerates from the Quarantine zones, people that were on the run for doing the worst kinds of things. However, after some shuffling of papers… one familiar face stood out to Joel.

Kentucky [Joel]

What the... what the hell? Joel's inner voice boomed as he laid down the rest of the papers. His hands felt near feeble as he pulled the drooping piece before him. Murder. Resisting arrest. Joel bit his tongue furtively. Had Lee been? No... there was no doubt that Lee had been hiding this. Why wouldn't he? He was seen as so mentor-like, so pure, so goddamn altruistic. But it wasn't like Lee hadn't lied before. And it wasn't like Joel hadn't killed people before, but this implied something worse.

Joel had only ever killed people who he thought deserved it, or out of necessity for his and Tommy's survival. What had Lee done to earn the ire of FEDRA? And why hadn't it gone through his head to tell them he was a wanted criminal ?! Joel had been mostly upfront with his crimes... mostly. Silent yeses were the best he had mostly done, but they understood that he was dangerous. And at least Joel hadn't gotten caught in the damn act by FEDRA.

He sighed, resting his knuckles onto the desk. The man was there for just a few moments before he dragged the paper off the table and opened the door. Joel shoved himself down the hallway, slowly creaking doors open in a search for Lee, before finally he found what he was searching for, creeping through a dorm in possible fear of infected.

Joel's left eye twitched ever so slightly, ever so noticeably as he lifted the paper and offered it to Lee. A demanding, biting breath shot from his mouth. "Lee. We need to talk."

Ledge [Lee Everett]

The surroundings of these dorms stunk of the Fireflies and were littered with signs no doubt. Still, it looked like this probably wasn't an area they were using all too much. Given that no one was even in sight. Maybe it was a safety hazard, tougher times always called for tougher measures. Tightening up the safe zones and pulling back wasn't entirely unheard of. The government had done it a lot throughout the first few years.

All that Lee managed to come up with were some old rags, more evidently some kind of old note that looked to be written by some college kid. It read that a lot of the young folks here tried to band together, hold out and put up some kind of fight… but their food situation was getting dire. And that's where Lee stopped reading… the man didn't really have the time… or willpower to finish it. He already knew what the end result was for all these kids here in the first days. Nothing good at all.

Eventually he trudged onwards back into the hallway. Might be worth getting a look from here…

A nearby window offered a view back out to the other side of the fence, the side the generator was on. He hunched down, cupping his hands around the sides of his eyes as he perused the area. He could see it, the cordline that was running on the ground from the other side of the gate, he just had to follow it. However, before he could get a good enough look, footsteps interrupted his train of thought. His head shot in the direction of the noise, not surprised to see Joel heading his way, finished with whatever he was doing.

"Hey, I think I got us a lead here. We just gotta-" Before the man could even finish his sentence, Joel stormed straight up to him, holding a piece of paper out that had Lee all but confused… only for a few seconds.

It was like being hit with a fucking freight train, seeing everything you loathed about yourself staring right back at you. His relaxed features soon dropped into that of dread as he took the paper from Joel's hand, staring down at it for longer than he would've liked to. Well, shit.

Lee wasn't ready to hear the whole spiel from Joel. The question begged how the hell he managed to get his hands on this. Which was why, without a moment's notice, he let the wanted poster fall to the floor, tossing it aside. Back where it was supposed to be, along with all the other mistakes he made a lifetime ago.

"We don't have time for this crap now. Save it for when we get to the Fireflies." He spoke dismissively, his eyes fixed on the door at the end of the hallway as he attempted to move past Joel.

Kentucky [Joel]

Joel squinted, tossing a hand up carefully to stop Lee, but was brushed aside by the man. "Lee, goddammit." He took off after him, following steadily and quickly. "You plan on telling Clementine?" He bit. He would have tolerated the poster had Lee just told him the truth. But Lee couldn't even face him; the bastard had to do this, hadn't he? "I don't give a shit what you did Lee, but she deserves to know. Been with you for this long, longer, hasn't she?" His mind drifted back to the time that Lee told him about Clementine's parents; he still hadn't let her know.

She deserved to know. Joel narrowed his eyes. He would never lie to Ellie, he would never lie to Sarah... unless... no, he wouldn't dare. Whatever Lee was afraid of, whatever he was running from, it was over here. It was over now.

Ledge [Lee Everett]

Lee managed to make it to the end of the hallway as he was essentially tailgated by Joel, who refused to drop the subject. It only served to irritate the man more.

" She deserves to know, been with you for this long, longer, hasn't she? "

He placed his hand on the doorknob, as if ready to open the door to where the generator was. It'd gotten to him, those words, as much as Lee hated to admit it. Retreading this point of his life with Joel of all people was hardly on the agenda... but that wasn't what bothered him. It was frustration due to the fact that the stubborn man might have actually been speaking sense. He could feel the man's eyes on the back of his head, probably judging him at this very moment. Nonetheless, the mention of Clementine was just about enough for the guilt to almost send him over the edge. He finally let go of the doorknob, swivelling around to face Joel, a scowl on his face as he crossed his arms.

"She's already got enough shit on her plate. We all do. I don't see how telling her something from a lifetime ago is gonna help anything."

Kentucky [Joel]

Joel kept his arms at his side, squinting angrily as Lee brushed his concerns away. He felt bad for a minute; hypocritical, even. He had killed so many, he had done so much wrong, yet here he was playing moral compass for Lee. A man who was better than him in every regard.

"And what happens when she finds your wanted poster?! What's she gonna think?" He threw at Lee, frowning considerably now. As he did that, his nerves calmed for but a moment. The waves of anger subsided, a heavy sigh and breath releasing from Joel's chest.

"Look, Lee... just tell me what happened. What... what did you do?"

Ledge [Lee Everett]

It wasn't until now that it started to dawn on him, the ramifications of his actions… his misdeeds. It took several years of covering it up and trying to forget, but only several minutes for the secret to give way and crumble under his feet, and now, he was right back to square one… again. Joel was right, if the Fireflies had photos of him around here, how long would it take for Clementine to stumble up on it? Simply hoping that she wouldn't wasn't a viable option and hopelessly naive to think at this point.

Lee fell silent after Joel's question, his gaze drifting away from the other man as he tried to formulate some kind of response, or excuse. He had nothing, Joel was right in every regard here… it was over. And after a slight moment passed, he again met Joel's gaze.

"I was on my way to the firing squad for killing a guy in a fight." There, he had said it aloud. It was worrisome, how casual it sounded coming out of his mouth, regardless of all the sleepless nights the memory gave him. "It was back when I was living in the Quarantine zone…"

"Came home one day to find someone else in my house… he and my wife were…" The man trailed off, again crossing his arms as he looked away, not able to muster up the courage to recount that part of the memory.

"I saw red... and, Christ. It was an accident, Joel." That was what Lee wanted to believe, after suppressing the memory for so many years, but truth be told even he couldn't remember if he really meant it or not anymore, only that he regretted it soon after.

"Only reason why I'm still here is because the Fireflies had the bright idea to launch an attack on the zone the day I was being led out… managed to get away in the crossfire. Just a damn stroke of luck…"

Kentucky [Joel]

Joel frowned. This wasn't what he had planned on dealing with today... but, here it was. Ask a question, get an answer.

"Jesus." Was all that Joel could say, looking down from the man. It was an accident. How many people had Joel killed, intentionally? He wasn't here to judge Lee, but that was all he could say. "That is... lucky." He mumbled, scratching at his chin in thought. He supposed it didn't matter to him; but it would matter to Clementine. "I ain't here to judge you. But you gotta tell her at some point. She can't keep going, not knowing the truth." He hoped that Lee understood that his murder wasn't the only thing that Joel was referring to.

He could understand Lee. His wife in an affair. An accidental murder. Hell, Joel would have killed someone had he seen a man with his wife. And how many times had Joel seen red? No, he understood Lee there. But the lying? It was too much.

Ledge [Lee Everett]

"I know, I know." Lee finally sighed out in admittance. Joel's persistence seemingly had a way of getting through to him, and in a way, it was perhaps even reassuring that Joel still wasn't about to hold his past against him. If the same could be said for Clementine… there was no way of knowing until he told her the truth, it was the right thing to do. Joel wasn't wrong there, as much as Lee wanted him to be, he knew what he had to do soon.

"I guess… trying to avoid it is just gonna make things worse. Isn't it?" He shook his head at himself, feeling ashamed and quite frankly embarrassed at how much he tried to dodge the topic earlier. The question still begged, had he already waited too long to tell Clementine? Was it too late?

"You're right, I'll find the time to tell her soon. I gotta." He looked back towards the other man, speaking more confidently this time as he exchanged a nod with him before turning his attention to the nearby door. After a brief moment of silence, he contemplated thanking the man for the advice, but ultimately fell short on the right words before moving onwards. "We should really get a move on and fix this thing, before the girls start getting impatient."