An oddly peaceful silence filled the room as the group each took a weapon and stood near the basement door, ready for anything. No one knew what to think as they anticipated the battle that that was ahead. Each bullet that fired above them only raised more and more questions. Lily's raiders was one thing, but now they had even stronger opponents, without the advantage of a bomb. The Ericson survivors had one thing though, one thing they would have to use if they wanted to survive. Home field advantage.

Johnson walked up the steps to the basement door, before turning around to see everyone looking up to him. They were waiting on his go. This was something that was unknown to him. Being a medic in the United States Army then a soldier for Sanchez's army, he was used to taking orders. It was something that was just normal to him. No one ever looked to him for what call to make, until now. He quickly realized that they needed a plan, or he would be the reason many young boys and girls ended up dead.

"Alright guys…. Before we go up there, I need everyone to be on the same page. When we get up there, we stick together. We move in groups, and overwhelm the opposition. They already have enough on their plates from the sound of it, so we need to finish the job."

Johnson pointed to the four other soldiers who accompanied him in the rescue mission, starting with a short brown skinned girl with long black hair. "That's Jones." Then he moved his finger over to an elderly man with a thick graying beard. "That's Lyon." Next, he went to a dark skinned male with a buzz cut and a scar resembling a cross along the middle of his nose. "That's um, also Jones. But you can just call him scar I guess." Lastly he pointed his finger to a heavyset man with a large pointed nose and ears that pointed completely outward. "And lastly, that's Ricci. Those are your only allies. Anyone else in uniform, shoot on site, because they'll do the same as soon as they see you. Understood?"

Clementine nodded, speaking for her group. She didn't much like the idea of following the man who got her imprisoned in the first place, but she let it go knowing that it was the only way for her and the others to make it out in one piece. There was one thing that she still wasn't sure about, though. "What about Louis?"

"Don't worry, he'll be safe down here. Safer than up there at least. And if things go according to plan, you can greet him when he wakes up by having the school back under your control." Ricci consoled in a thick italian accent as he walked towards Johnson at the basement door, ready to fight. Although his looks almost made him look like a goofy cartoon character, he was in fact very deadly and effective, shown through many years of combat experience.

Clementine still didn't feel completely convinced that Louis would be safe. She had an idea though, one that would kill two birds with one stone. "Aj, come here."

Aj walked over to Clementine. "Yeah Clem?"

"I have an important job for you ok? I need you to stay down here and keep Louis safe." She grabbed a pistol that was in the duffle bag and handed it to him. "If anyone comes down here, you shoot them. Got it?"

Aj shook his head angrily. "No way Clem, i'm staying with you! We work better as a team, remember?"

"I'm sorry, but my choice is final. I need you to stay down here and watch Louis, it's more important. Someone has to watch him." After the events that unfolded during the attack on Lily's raiders, Clementine swore that she would never put Aj in that kind of danger again. Not just because she wanted to keep him safe, but because she was scared of what he would become. The emotionless look in Aj's eyes as he shot Lily over and over still haunted her to this day. He was growing up far too fast, and if he ended up in the middle of a firefight once again in such a short span of time, Clementine was afraid that he would turn into a monster. No matter what, she wouldn't let that happen.

Aj still looked very angry. The stubborn boy still wanted to go out and fight with his friends, and keep Clementine safe. He also made a promise of his own that same day, that he would protect Clementine now that she was at a disadvantage fending for herself with one leg.

Clementine smiled and brought her mouth to Aj's ear. "Don't tell anyone, but I only want you to do this because you're the only one here that I trust enough to protect Louis. Now can you do this for me, please?" Clementine whispered.

Aj's face quickly lit up as he heard this. At the end of the day, even after all he went through, Aj was still a kid. And as most kids do, it made him feel happy when he was looked at as helpful. "Ok Clem, i'll do it. Just promise me you'll tell me if you get in trouble, ok?"

"Ok Aj, I promise." Clementine responded.

"Any other questions or concerns before we do this?" Johnson asked. No one responded. His heart started speeding up as he turned around to face the outside. It was time now, no more delaying the inevitable. "Let's go then. Everyone stay close."

Johnson ascended up the stairs and tightly gripped his rifle. As much as he tried to seem confident going into the battle, he never took a human life before. Walkers sure, but never a human one. Even throughout his time in the military, he chose to not fire his rifle once. It was just something he could not bring himself to do. But now it seemed to him that he had no choice, being that he was leading about a dozen people into battle. It simply wasn't the time to be a pacifist anymore.

The first thing to meet Johnson's eyes as he walked through the basement door was the barrel of a rifle. A large shadow figure masked by the shadows stood in front of the soldier, with eyes shining through the darkness, leering down at him. Almost instantly, Johnson knew who it was.

"Looks like Ramirez was right. You are a fucking traitor." The shadow figure claimed in a deep South American accent, revealing that it was who Johnson feared. Sanchez was alive, and he made it back to the basement.

Johnson was at a loss for words. He only hoped that whoever was behind him had a clear shot to Sanchez's head. If they didn't, he would be dead in a matter of seconds. "I-..."

The ear splitting bang of a rifle sounded off inches away from Johnson's right ear, deafening him. He stumbled forward and dropped to his knees as loud ringing surged through his head. Multiple shots rang out right next to him, only sounding like whistles to his deafened ears. He looked up to see his fellow comrade Ricci running full speed from behind him.

"get down…" Johnson faintly heard as his hearing slowly came back to him. Ricci wrapped his arms around Johnson's waist before colliding his body into him, successfully tackling him to the ground. Ricci quickly got off of the much smaller Johnson, trying not to hurt him.

Johnson's hearing finally returned to him as he quickly scanned his surroundings to assess the situation. Sanchez was gone. Nowhere to be found.

"What the fuck just happened?" Johnson asked as he shot his face over to Ricci, who was taking cover behind an overturned table, firing off rounds towards the school.

"I hit that son of a bitch Johnson, but I only grazed him. I think he ran back into the school." Ricci yelled as he continued raining fire towards the school windows. He quickly shielded himself back behind the table as shots rang back towards his direction from the school windows, nearly hitting him.

Even though their attack started in the worst possible way, Johnson knew that they had to push forward while the fighting from inside the school continued. Shots were still ringing out from every window of the old boarding school, but it was only a matter of time that it would stop. If whoever was fighting proceeded, they would either run out of ammo, or they would all end up dead in at most ten more minutes.

"We have to keep moving, now! Move from cover to cover and get inside the school while we have the advantage! Move!" Johnson ordered as he charged toward the school, running completely on the adrenaline pumping through his body. He aimed his rifle into the window closest to the school entrance, and let off two precise shots. Both of them were clean hits, straight to the head of a soldier who was letting off shots towards him. It was Johnson's first kill, let alone his first time even firing a gun at a man, and to his surprise, he felt absolutely nothing. The only thoughts going through his mind in the moment were telling him to keep going, no matter what. He didn't even look back to see if anyone was following him.

Johnson quickly made it to the boarding schools doors and ran inside. The noise of gunfire heightened dramatically as he entered the building.

He quickly turned to his left.

No one.

He quickly turned to his right.

"Johnson, what hap-"

The figure directly to Johnson's right was gunned down mid sentence from bullets that fired directly behind him again. His ears already adapted to the deafening noise of gunfire as it was nothing compared to the blaring shots he heard only moments ago. He turned around to see Javier, who was right behind Johnson the entire way.

The two exchanged nods and continued onwards. They both knew there was no time for talking, only acting. Javier's main driving force keeping him side to side with Johnson was Gabe. All he could think about was making sure he would make it back to The New Frontier safely, and that meant killing anyone who stood in his way.

The rest of the group shortly entered the school after them, with Clementine lagging behind. The man of the Jones siblings, or scar, stopped and turned around to Clementine. He respected her bravery for fighting on crutches, but it was only putting her in extreme danger moving so slowly.

"I applaud your commitment, but you're far too slow for battle." Scar bent his knees slightly and pointed towards his back. "I can carry you. Just cover me."

Clementine hesitated, but quickly dropped her crutches as she climbed onto the man's back and wrapped her arms around the man's shoulders with her pistol in one hand. She wasn't going to object, it was obviously the smarter decision. She could worry about her crutches later.

Jones swiftly caught up to the rest of the group inside the school, with Clementine hoisted onto his back, acting as his third eye. He followed as the group pushed down into the heart of the gunfire, checking every corner for any surprises.

A figure bursted out of the many bedroom doors around Scar and Clementine as they walked down the living quarters halfway. He aimed his rifle at the two, but not quick enough for Clementine who emptied two bullets into the man, one in the chest and the second one in the head to finish the job, dropping him instantly upon impact.

The two then continued to push forward, checking every door for any more stray soldiers. It seemed most of them were fighting in the piano room, which was right down the hall. Without any hesitation, they were going into the eye of the storm.

Johnson slowly crouched low to the ground as he stared into the piano room. What he saw was complete chaos. Shots were coming from both his left and his right, from anywhere he looked. No one knew who was the friend and who was a foe, and it resulted in complete mayhem. Soldiers were killing people next to them, and most were standing out in the open shooting, sitting ducks to the crossfire. It was only a matter of time before everyone in the room ended up dead.

Javier stopped as he analyzed the situation as well, turning to Johnson. "We can't go in there it's fucking suicide."

"You're right." Johnson agreed as he turned around. The chances of them making through that alive were slim to none. Not to mention it was clear that would kill each other, Johnson and company didn't need to interfere.

Scar looked up, hearing faint yelling coming from above him, along with gunfire. Even through the heavy gunfire, he recognized the voice. "Sanchez. He's up there." He stated as he walked up the stairs then towards the headmaster's office, where yelling seemed to be coming from. As he got closer, him and Clementine started to pick up what was being said.

"You…. fucking psycho!" Yelled Sanchez, recognizable by the thick spanish accent. Clementine could hear the fear in his voice.

" I'm no psycho boss, i'm just accomplishing my duty I was brought to this earth to fulfill. To go out in a blaze of glory." A weak raspy voice yelled through the gunfire. It was pretty easy to identify who the voice was coming from. It was Ramirez.

"Go ahead and kill me." Ramirez added. "It won't change a damn thing. You'll still die. You can't stop me now." Something was different about Ramirez. His true nature was on full display now, he was finally in a situation where he felt could be truly at peace. His voice calmy spoke through the seemingly endless madness that was in full effect below him. It clearly sounded like he was pleased with the chaos that he caused.

Two shots fired from inside the headmaster's office as Ramirez yelled, followed by a loud thud.

"If you're so happy with what you caused, you can burn here then." Sanchez yelled as he ran towards the exit of the office, opening the door to be greeted by Scar and Clementine, both aiming their guns at his head.

Sanchez didn't back down, and aimed his rifle to the head of Scar, creating a standoff.

"Alright, calm down now. Take it easy Jones. Don't do anything crazy." Sanchez said, trying to defuse the situation.

"What were you talking to Ramirez about?" Scar interrogated. He wasn't going to back down, with Clementine he had the upper hand, and he knew Sanchez was aware of that as well.

"Well, simply put, you have a lot bigger things to worry about then killing me. That Crazy bastard rigged all of our explosives in that office to blow. We got maybe five minutes tops to get out of here before this whole place is a fucking wasteland. Now are you gonna let me go or what? As much as I like a good old fashioned standoff, i'm afraid I don't have time for games. So shoot me, or move."

Scar focused his aim in between Sanchez's eyes, and lightly pressed his finger on the trigger of the rifle. He almost forced himself to pull the trigger, but just couldn't bring himself to go through with the kill. Sanchez was once his brother in arms, and always had his back for years dating back before zombies were nothing but fictional characters. He lowered his weapon slowly.

"Clementine, don't shoot him. Let him go. He's not your enemy." Scar pleaded to the girl on his back, who still had her sights fixed on Sanchez.

Clementine contemplated pulling the trigger as well, but stopped herself last second. For some reason, even though this man was the reason they were all in this situation in the first place, she didn't feel right pulling the trigger. She remembered how he was on their side in the basement, and she respected him for defending Louis, even if she came into the battle with the intent to take him out.

"Drop your weapon, and we'll let you go." She ordered as she kept her gun raised.

Sanchez complied and dropped his gun slowly. All that mattered to him was getting out in one piece. True to his word, Scar moved away from the office door, allowing Sanchez to exit. He did so immediately, running past the rest of the group who were listening from the top of the stairs, and bolting to the exit.

Johnson approached Scar and Clementine in a hurry. "We have to get the fuck out of here too! What are you guys waiting for?"

Clementine ignored the man, looking into the office as she noticed that Ramirez was still alive. He was laying on the ground laughing silently to himself, with a bullet in each knee cap locking him to the floor.

"Scar, bring me over there." Clementine quietly ordered as she locked her eyes onto Ramirez who had his eyes closed, his laughing rapidly getting louder and louder.

Scar listened and walked towards Ramirez, as Johnson watched with the rest of the group from the door.

Ramirez opened his eyes and smiled, upon seeing Clementine. "Look who it is….. I should've killed you a long time ago shouldn't I have?" He laughed to himself. "No matter, we're all sharing the same graves today." He pointed over to a large mess of explosives, which were all wired to blow at any minute. "Tik, tik tik…. Do you feel it? That's the feeling of death consuming you. Embrace it, running away from it will only make you die a coward." Ramirez reached his hand out to the girl. "I can see it in your eyes, you're just like me, deep down… Join me Clem. Join me in the afterlife. We can do great things together, I feel it."

Clementine aimed her pistol directly to Ramirez's head. "I'm nothing like you. You're a monster…. I should just let you die here. But I have to be sure you're dead." She squeezed the trigger, then again, and again, emptying the rest of her clip into his skull. "Burn in hell."

Johnson walked over and looked down to the remains of the fallen beast. "Well, I can't say i'll miss the filthy animal. But we have to get out of here now, come on!" Johnson ran down the stairs and back outside as the rest of the group followed, trying to avoid any conflict.

The group made it outside, and started running to the exit of the courtyard.

"Wait!" Clementine yelled. "We have to get Aj and Louis." Her heart started racing as her mind shifted back into her motherly instincts.

Scar turned to his sister."Sasha, come with me. I need your help carrying the boy."

Sasha nodded, and turned to Johnson. "We'll go get them, the rest of you leave. We'll meet you outside."

"Alright." Johnson was completely confident that the Jones twins could get the job done and make it out alive. They always did. No matter what the challenge, he knew better than to doubt the two of them. "See you on the other side."

With that Johnson ran towards the exit, followed by everyone else except Clementine, Sasha, and Scar who ran to the basement doors and descended down the stairs immediately, wasting no time.

"Who is it?" Aj called out as he noticed multiple figures descending to the basement. He quickly raised his weapon, ready to shoot.

Clementine felt a wave of relief run through her body as she heard Aj's voice from below. "It's me Aj." She responded.

"Clem!"Aj ran towards the figures in the dark, noticing that Clementine was talking from on one of the figures' backs. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine. But we have to get out of here, now!"

"But why-"

"There's no time Aj, we have to go! Follow us ok?"

Aj was confused, but he knew that if something had Clementine shaken up, then it was serious. "o-ok."

Sasha picked up the still unconscious Louis and slung the slender boy around her shoulder with ease, then immediately ran up the stairs with him. Scar stopped and picked up Aj with one arm, now carrying two people as he ran up the stairs and followed his sister towards the exit.

Shots continued to light up the windows of the school, as bullets barely missed Sasha and Jones while they neared the front gate. As soon as they made it to the front gate, a loud beeping noise blared back from the school.

It took all but half a second for Clementine to figure out what the noise was.

"RUN, IT'S ABOUT TO-"

Clementine's warning was cut off by the powerful wave of the explosion, sending Sasha and Scar straight to the ground.