Thanks to gaarakingofthesand for the help.


"Molly, where are we going?" Clementine's voice asked.

They had been walking so long, and the little ten-year-old was starting to feel tired.

"I'm not sure yet… Somewhere safe." Molly said. "We'll figure something out, kid."

"Okay…" Clementine said.

"Are you holding up okay?" Molly asked the child.

"Yeah. I'm just a little bit tired." Clementine said honestly.

"I know you are, Clem… We'll make a stop soon." Molly said.

"Okay. We've just been walking for so long…" Clementine muttered.

"Well, you know we can't stay in one place for too long. Hopefully we'll be able to find a safe place soon."

"Yeah… I hope we do…" Clementine said with a sigh. "I'm sorry we always have to stop because of me…"

"Hey, it's not a big deal. You are still growing, and we have been walking for a long time." Molly replied. "I think we could both use a break."

"Soon?" Clementine asked.

"We'll see. Just bear with me, Clem. I'm doing the best I can." Molly said. "It's not easy for me either."

Clementine frowned. "I… I know. I'm sorry. I just-"

Molly held up a hand to stop the young girl.

Clementine looked confused until her ears caught the sound of gunshots.

"Damn it…" Molly muttered. "Clem, stay close."

The little girl gave a nod.

The two peeked through the trees to see a man surrounded by geeks.

Clementine gasped. "We have to help him."

Molly started to protest, "Clem-"

Clementine interrupted her. "Please! Molly, we can't just leave him…"

Molly let out a sigh. She knew if she walked away Clementine would never let her live it down. "Alright… Alright. But you make sure to stay close to me. Don't leave my side, got it."

Clementine nodded. "Okay. I'll stay close, I promise."

"Good." Molly said.

Slowly the two started to head in the direction of the gunshots.

Molly pulled Hilda out while Clementine armed herself with a pocket knife.

Molly immediately started taking out the geeks.

Clementine kept a grip on her knife just in case the geeks got close. She killed a couple of the undead that tried to attack her.

Eventually, the geeks were all dead.

Molly took a moment to catch her breath before looking to Clementine to make sure she was okay.

The child was fine. She just appeared to be a bit frightened by all the zombies.

Molly looked to the stranger whose eyes were wide. "Are you okay?" Molly asked the man.

The man gave no response.

"You're hurt!" Clementine exclaimed, pointing to the man's bloodied pants leg.

Molly looked to the wound, furrowing her brows. "Are you bit?"

"No…" The man said. "This happened earlier."

"How?" Molly asked, "If you don't mind me asking."

"Leaving town, climbing a fence." Was the man's vague response.

"There's a town nearby?" Molly asked, looking surprised.

"Yeah. I'm never going back there. Fuck that place…" The man said.

"Why not?" Clementine asked.

"Because I'm not. That place is fucked." The man said.

"Is it bad?" Clementine asked.

The man just frowned in response.

Molly raised a brow, but didn't ask him to explain further. "I can probably treat your wound, if you want." She offered.

"I'd appreciate it." The man said.

Molly gave a nod and went to grab the supply bag which she had placed down when killing the zombies.

"Does your leg hurt much?" Clementine asked, inching her way toward the stranger.

"No… Not much…" The man said.

"That's good. Molly will make you all better. She always helps me when I get hurt." Clementine said.

The man stayed silent for a moment before sighing. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Clementine asked, a confused look on her face.

"For this." The man grabbed the child's hair, and turned her around.

Clementine let out a pained yelp, she began trembling as the man pressed a gun to her head.

Molly was searching through the supply bag, when she suddenly heard Clementine's cry. Without hesitation, she scooped the bag up and ran towards the area when she had left Clementine.

The woman immediately noticed the man had a gun pressed to her girl's head. "Let her go!"

"Not happening. Give me all your supplies." The man said.

"Let my girl go." Molly demanded.

"Supplies first!" The man snapped.

Molly glared at him before tossing the supply bag. "Now let her go."

The man roughly shoved the child forward.

Clementine stumbled before quickly regaining her balance. She ran towards Molly, hugging the woman.

The man was gathering what bit of supplies had fallen out of the bag when Molly had tossed it.

Clementine was just calming down, when she noticed her guardian take hold of her gun. The ten-year-old's eyes widened as Molly aimed the gun.

"No!" The child shoved Molly's arm, just as the woman had pulled the trigger.

The man looked up, startled. He quickly grabbed what supplies he could and then ran off, like a scared rabbit.

"Damn…" Molly grumbled. She lowered her gun and turned to the little child beside her. "Clementine, what the hell did you do that for?"

Clementine crossed her arms, a frown on her lips. "You were going to shoot him!"

"Of course, I was!" Molly said.

"I don't want you to kill anyone…" Clementine said.

"That man held a gun to your head. He stole supplies from us. Supplies we need! Don't defend him!" Molly said.

"I… I don't like seeing people die…" The child said, eyes filling with tears.

Molly sighed, "I know. I know, Clem. Sometimes we don't have a choice though."

The child didn't give a response. She was tired of seeing people die. It was making her feel sad. She choked back a sob.

"Don't cry…" Molly said, pulling the child into a hug.

Those words only encouraged tears to drop. Molly comforted the child until she calmed down.

Once the girl's tears had stopped, Molly took the young girl's hand. "Come on. Let's get moving."

"Okay…" The girl didn't bother asking where. She didn't care at the moment. She was too tired to care.


A while passed before they finally stopped.

Molly recalled how the stranger from before had mentioned a town. He had spoken about the place as if it was dangerous, but considering he had held a gun to a child's head and had stolen from them, after they saved his life, there was no telling if he was actually kicked out of that place for a similar offense or if he had left on his own because it truly was bad there.

Molly wondered if the town was worth checking out or not.

Molly glanced down to the silent child at her side. Clementine was half asleep, leaning comfortably against her.

"You okay?" Molly asked the girl.

"Yeah…" The girl mumbled with a small yawn.

Molly continued to debate on if going to this town was a good idea or not. She had promised Clementine no more groups, but if there was a chance to get Clementine to a safe place, she needed to take it.

Molly felt the young child snuggled closer to her.

The woman made up her mind. Come morning, they were going to that town.


The trip took less than half a day. When they arrived at the town they were surprised, the town was the biggest they had seen in a while. The many buildings were in good condition.

The town looked untouched, normal… Maybe that was what made the place seem so eerie. It was so ordinary, which ironically made it bizarre. Especially in a world where everything had gone to shit.

Around the town was a large fence, a couple people stood guard among the wall by the gate.

As Clementine and Molly approached the gate they were immediately checked for weapons.

The guards explained that in order to enter the town they would have to surrender their weapons. Molly was hesitant, she didn't want to give up their sources of protection, but eventually she gave in and she and Clementine handed their weapons over.

All except for Hilda, which Molly refused to give up.

"Ma'am, that too." A guard held his hand out to take the weapon.

"Not happening." Molly shook her head. "Hilda stays with me."

"But anything that can be used as a weapon must be confiscated and-"

"She's a gift, okay? She's a gift from someone really close to me that passed away. Please, let me keep her." That wasn't true, but the men seemed to buy her lie.

"Alright then. Just make sure to put it away... We don't allow civilians to carry weapons. There's no need for it here."

"I will." Molly said.

"Good." The guard said.

With the inspection complete, the second guard spoke. "Come, you should meet our mayor. He should know of your arrival."

"Alright." Molly said, taking Clementine's hand.

Walking through the town, Molly and Clementine saw many things that reminded them of before, from market placed to a man who looked "homeless" sitting on the ground.

Molly couldn't help but wonder what kind of town this was.

"I'm sure you and your girl will like it here." The guard leading her spoke, as if reading her mind. Or maybe he had noticed her expression.

"I take it we're not your first newbies?" Molly asked him.

"No… We've had quite a few in the past few months." The guard explained. "Most of the people, were members of this town from before. Our town does welcome new residents though, but you must be cleared with the mayor first."

"Okay." Molly said. She looked around, noticing a couple children kicking a ball around. "This is a nice place. And that fence must be pretty good defense for the geeks. Ever have any problems here?"

"Other than a rowdy citizen once in a while, not much." The guard said.

"What about the geeks, have any ever gotten in?" Molly asked.

"The what?" The guard asked looking confused.

"You know, the dead… or whatever you call them." Molly said.

"I apologized, ma'am, I don't have any idea what you're talking about." The guard said.

"You're kidding, right? Those things outside. The rotting corpses that go around eating people." Molly said.

The guard looked to the woman as if she had grown two heads.

"You seriously don't know what I'm talking about?" Molly questioned.

"No ma'am. Sorry…" The guard said.

Molly was surprised to hear that. The walkers had been around for over a year. There was no way this man knew nothing about them.

She didn't press the issue further.

The man led her to a house before stopping. "Here we are." He gave a knock at the door.

After a while a tall middle-aged man opened the door.

"Sir, we've got new arrivals." The guard said.

"I see." The mayor extended his hand to Molly. "How do you do, Miss? It's a pleasure to meet you."

Molly shook his hand. "Likewise."

"Well, come on inside. We can talk." The mayor said, ushering them inside.

"Allow me to introduce myself." The mayor said. "My name is Ernest Ross. I'm the mayor of this town."

"I'm Molly." Molly introduced herself as well. "This is Clementine."

Clementine gave a shy wave, but said nothing.

Molly noted the child seemed nervous as she sat there, her eyes darting between the furnishings of the house and out the window.

"Nice to meet you both." The man said again. "Why don't you have a seat." He motioned towards a comfortable looking couch.

The two took a seat on the couch as the man sat in an arm chair across from them

"So… Where are you to coming from?" Mayor Ross asked.

"We've done a lot of traveling… Just searching for a safe place…" Molly said.

"Aren't we all…" Mayor Ross said. "If you were to ask me, I would definitely say this place is safe. Safer than any other place around."

"You know about the geeks though, right?"

"The dead?" The man asked. "Of course, I do…"

"The guard who brought us here didn't seem to know about them." Molly said.

"I'm not surprised. Most of the people who lived here before, don't know much about the outbreak. Many of them haven't left the town since." Mayor Ross explained. "Any newcomers, we have them make an oath not to tell the townsfolk about the things they've witnessed or experienced out there."

"Wait… So not even the guards know about the geeks?" Molly asked.

"Some of them do." Mayor Ross said. "The young man who brought you here is one of our newer guards. Please excuse his inability to answer any questions you may have had."

"You mean to tell me, you haven't had any problem with the geeks getting into this place?" Molly questioned.

"Not inside. We've had a few stranglers nearby, but it's never been a big issue." Mayor Ross said.

"How come the people don't know about the geeks?" Clementine suddenly asked.

"Well… They know very little about them. Everyone knew that the outbreak was happening when this started, the main assumption here is our town is quarantined so no one can leave. Obviously, they believe the government is dealing with the "sick people"…" Mayor Ross said.

"In other words, you're lying to these people." Molly said.

"I'm doing what I must to ensure the safety of these people. When people are scared, they react badly, and that causes bad things to happen. If I have to lie to people to keep this place from falling apart then that's what I'll do." Mayor Ross replied.

Molly frowned at that. "And you want us to do the same?"

"I want you to give me your word that you won't talk about the "geeks" or whatever you can them." Mayor Ross said.

Molly sighed. "And if I don't?"

"I'll have to ask you both to leave. I don't want to do that, but I can't take the risk of you tarnishing this town's safety." The Mayor said.

Molly fell silent for a moment.

Clementine looked to her guardian, wondering what her response would be.

"Can I ask you something first?" Molly asked.

Mayor Ross gave a nod. "Of course."

"Have people ever… wanted to leave." Molly asked, remembering that man who had stolen their supplies.

"Well… Anyone is allowed to go as they please, getting back in however isn't as easy as it is to get out. We take risk everyday, and in taking those risk, we have to be well guarded…" Mayor Ross said.

"Okay…" Molly said after a while.

"Now… your answer?" Mayor Ross asked.

"If I agree, we can stay here." Molly asked.

"That's correct. I'll inform you of our town's procedures once I have your word." Mayor Ross told her.

Molly thought for a moment, on what to say. Eventually she sighed, "Alright… I won't say a thing to your people."

"I need your girl's promise too." The man said.

"I promise not to say anything too…" Clementine said.

"Good… Going back on your word may result in a… consequence." Mayor Ross said.

"We understand." Molly said.

"Thank you…" Mayor Ross said with a smile of satisfaction. "Well, Molly, Clementine, welcome to our town."

"We appreciate it…" Molly said.

"Like any other town, we have our rules. The same laws, and rules that would apply to life before the dead started walking, those laws also apply here." Mayor Ross said. "Breaking those laws can end in major punishment…"

Molly said nothing, she just nodded her understanding.

"We give each resident a starter home, as well as a week's worth of supplies to live off, from there you'll have to find a job to supply for yourself."

"And… How would I go about getting a job?"

"You'll have to interview for it like everyone else." The mayor simply said.

Molly raised a brow. "Interview?"

"That's right." The man replied.

She scoffed. "Should I bring my resume too?"

"That would certainly help." Mayor Ross responded with a straight face.

Molly sent him a look, wondering if he was being serious.

"I'm just joking." The man said. "I'm sure you find a job in no time."

"What about me?" Clementine asked.

"You'll be attending school with the other kids, little missy. An education is important afterall." The man said.

"Do I have to?" Clementine asked looking to Molly.

"Yeah, Clem. Don't worry. You'll probably enjoy it." Molly said.

"Okay…" The child muttered.

"That's about it." The mayor said. "Any questions?"

"Not at the moment." Molly said.

"Well, if you have any feel free to let me know." Mayor Ross said. "I'll have one of the guards take you to your temporary home."

"Okay then…" Molly said.


The temporary home was nothing like Molly had expected. The place was filthy and nothing more than a small shack, but it was still better than nothing.

As soon as they opened the door, they were met with darkness, dust and cobwebs.

Clementine ended up walking right into one, and the child immediately freaked out.

Now Molly was getting the remains of the web off the girl. "Alright… I think I got it all."

"Thanks… That was so gross." Clementine said.

"It's just a cobweb, Clem." Molly said with a slight chuckle.

"But it was on me…" Clementine frowned. "It's gross."

"At least it wasn't a spider." Molly said.

The girl's eyes widened and she shook her head, "Please don't talk about spiders… There might be some in here…"

"Okay, okay." Molly said, still amused.

The two of them took a seat on the mattress that lay on the ground.

"You okay?" Molly asked the child. "You've been really quiet today..."

"I don't know if I like it here." Clementine said honestly.

Molly sighed. "It's the best we got kid."

"I thought you said no more groups…" Clementine frowned.

"Well, this isn't exactly a group…" Molly said. "It's a town… A strange town, but a town nonetheless."

"I thought that we weren't going to be around people anymore…" Clementine said.

"Look, Clem… We can't just avoid people forever. Sometimes we got to take a chance…"

"We've taken a lot of chances…" Clementine said.

"I know, Clementine." Molly said. "But that's what life is about, taking chances."

Clementine sighed. "Can we get some rest now?"

"Sure, kid…" Molly said.

They laid on the single mattress that was on the floor.

"Look, I promise everything will work out…" Molly said to the child.

"You can't promise that." Clementine said.

"Okay… you're right. I can't. But I can say if something goes wrong, we'll leave immediately."

"Are you sure?" Clementine asked.

"Of course." Molly said. "Try not to worry too much… If everything goes well, we might be able to stay here."

"Maybe…" Clementine said.

"I know it's not the greatest, but beggars can't be chooser." Molly said.

"What does that mean?" Clementine asked.

"You got to do with what you get." Molly explained.

"Oh… Okay…" Clementine said.

"Try to get some rest, kid."

"Okay, Molly." Clementine said, closing her eyes.


Clementine never thought she would feel the anxiousness of going to a new school again. Days had passed and she still felt uncomfortable in the town. Even more so, now that she found herself in a room full of children she didn't know.

She had begged Molly not to make her go, but the woman told her, if they were going to stay at the town they would have to adapt to the town rules.

So… here she was. Being introduce to the class by the teacher.

The kids were kind enough. The teacher was okay. It was just like a regular school.

It made her miss her old life…


When Mayor Ross had told Molly they she would have to interview for jobs, the woman had hoped he was joking. Job hunting was hard enough before the apocalypse, but now she had no choice but to find a job to support her and Clementine.

She wondered how to go about getting an interview in the first place. She decided she would pay Mayor Ross a visit to ask him.

As she walked, she was suddenly drawn from her musing by a yell.

She wasted no time in rushing towards the source.

What she saw made her stomach drop.

The young guard from yesterday, was outside the gate, his arm in the strong hold of one of the geeks.

Molly rushed forward and used Hilda to kill the creature. She then looked to the shaken up young man. "You alright?"

"It… It bit me… It bit me…" The young guard stammered.

"Oh shit…" Came another voice.

Molly looked to the older guard who had ran over.

"It bit me!" The young guard exclaimed.

"It… It's okay… We'll get you to the doctor… She'll know what to do." The older guard wrapped his arms around the younger guard's shoulders. "I'll take it from here ma'am."

Molly watched with concern as the two walked away.


Days had passed and they still felt uncomfortable in the town.

Sometimes at school it felt hard to breathe. Clementine had decided she didn't like the school. It wasn't like her old school…

She missed her old teacher, her old friends, her old life…

Her teacher Mrs. Moore was nice to everyone, even the bullies in class. She never yelled. She never made Clementine go out to recess if she didn't want to. She'd let the child stay in the classroom and draw while she worked on grading or read her book.

Her new teacher… She wasn't very nice. She wasn't exactly mean either. She just made Clementine confused. On the first day of class, she told Clementine to tell them about herself. So, the girl did, going into detail. And her new teacher, Miss. Joni quickly turned red face, telling her that was enough.

The next day she forced Clementine into a time out for talking about the geeks. Clementine was confused as to why the people pretended the geeks weren't real.

She was confused about a lot of things. She didn't understand the warm for in the cafeteria at school. She didn't understand why everyone once again paid for things using money… It was so much to take in.

Having a dinner which consisted of canned food was a norm for Clementine and Molly. Clementine couldn't help but feel like an outcast in a place where everything was so normal.

"You okay?" Molly asked, noticing the child appeared lost in her thoughts.

"Yeah…" Clementine said. Molly had told her to bear with her, so that's what Clementine would do.


Molly hadn't expected the guard, who she now knew as Cordell, to tell her the Mayor wanted a word with her immediately after dropping Clementine off to school.

She was even more surprised by what the Mayor had to say. "I heard about your extraordinary skills… How you took out all those creatures on your own…"

"It wasn't a big deal." Molly said.

"But it was. You'd make a good guard." The Mayor said.

"Really?" Molly asked.

"Yeah. We could use a replacement anyway." The Mayor shrugged.

"What happened to the guy that got bit?" Molly questioned.

"We… took care of him. Don't worry." The Mayor said.

"You killed him?" Molly said.

"I prefer to say, "eased his suffering"." Mayor Ross said.

Molly was a bit disturbed by how calm the Mayor was.

"So how would you like the job? It pays well…"

Molly was quiet for a moment before saying, "I'll take it."

"Wonderful. I'm sure you'll do a great job."


Guard duty was a simple enough task. Each of the guards were allowed to carry a gun, although Molly avoided using it. Gunshots always brought more dead.

The job made her good money, quick enough for her and Clementine to move out of that little shack and into some place more comfortable.

She had taken the day shift, so her hours would be over by the time Clementine got out of school. So usually she found herself standing guard with Cordell, who was actually good company. The older man wasn't blind about the geeks. He was well aware of what was going on in the world.

Things were going well so far. Clementine had even made a couple friends at school. Yet, Molly couldn't help but be concerned.

"That's the fourteen one in only an hour. We don't usually have so many come around, at least not in one day." Cordell muttered.

Molly furrowed her brows, "This isn't good. There might be a herd nearby."

"We'll have to tell Ross about this." Cordell said. "He'll have a plan."

"Are you sure?" Molly inquired. "Because if that plan is to sweep everything under the rug and pretend it's not happening, that's not going to work."

"Look, I don't always agree with the way Ross runs things either, but it's been working this long." Cordell said.

"Doesn't mean things will stay the same forever. If a herd gets in here, it could ruin everything." Molly said.

"I know. But we have to trust that Ross knows what he's doing. He has the people's best interest in mind." Cordell said.

"Well, for everyone's sake, let's hope there isn't a herd of geeks on the way." Molly sighed.

Cordell gave a nod in agreement.

"Sir, with all due respect, Molly and I have real concerns. The count for those things is going up by the day." Cordell said.

"And?" Mayor Ross said, looking uninterested in what was being said.

"And we're worried there might be a herd on the way…" Molly said.

"We'll deal with it when it comes." Mayor Ross replied.

"What?" Molly said.

"There's no point in getting everyone riled up. That's dangerous." Mayor Ross stated.

"No. What's dangerous is the fact that you're lying to these people." Molly replied.

"Come again?" Mayor Ross raised a brow.

"These people deserve to know the truth. What you're doing is worse than you think." Molly said.

"You both made a promise not to say a word. I expect you to keep that promise." Mayor Ross said.

"We can't just lie to these people." Molly said.

Mayor Ross sent her a glare. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave my office, both of you."

Cordell frowned. "But sir-"

The mayor cut him off. "NOW!"


No one would listen.

They were convinced that everything was fine. That the town was a safe haven. Molly knew better.

Each time she tried to speak to mayor Ross he only seemed to get angry and block her out.

The people of the town refused to listen to a word she said.

The only ones aware of the problem approaching seemed to be the guard and most of them were ignoring it. It didn't make any sense.

Molly didn't know how much more of this she could take. Each passing day only seemed to make her more anxious. And the fact that everyone wanted to pretend everything was great made her feel like she was going crazy.

Molly couldn't shake the feeling that something bad going to happen.

Clementine didn't miss how anxious her guardian seemed, but when she asked the woman what was wrong, Molly only told her not to worry about it.

However, when she woke up in the middle of the night and found Molly packing, she knew something was wrong.

"Molly, what's going on?" Clementine asked.

"Nothing Clem. Go back to sleep." Molly said.

"Did something happen?" The child asked.

Molly didn't respond.

Clementine frowned. "Molly?"

Molly sighed. "I just… I have a bad feeling…"

"Why?" Clementine asked. "I thought it was safe here…"

"I… I don't know… I just do." Molly answered.

"…So… Are we leaving?"

"I'm not sure yet…" Molly replied honestly.

"Oh…" Clementine said.

"I'll let you know…. Just… Just get back to sleep." Molly told her.

Clementine hesitated, but nodded. "Okay..."


The next day, extra guards were required to be on duty. The geek count was higher than yesterday…

Molly didn't like the look of things.

Molly decided their days here were done. It was time to move on. "We're leaving, Clem…"

"Now?" Clementine asked.

"Now." Molly nodded.

"But what about my friends. Can't I say goodbye first?" Clementine asked.

"No time." Molly said. "We got to move now."

The child frowned. "But it's night time… Did something happen?"

Molly sighed, "Just come on."

"Okay…" Clementine said.

With what supplies they had, the two left the house.

As they approached the gates they were stopped by none other than Cordell. "Where are you going?"

"We can't stay here. It's not safe." Molly said.

"I'm sorry, Molly. Ross said no one is allowed to enter or exit the town. Not until the dead pass." Cordell told her.

"The dead aren't going to pass. You know that." Molly said as she noticed the geeks lingering around the outside of the gate. Molly didn't understand why it was like talking to a brick wall with these people. "We're leaving."

"I can't let you do that." Cordell said. "This isn't up for discussion."

Molly shook her head. "You can't stop us. We're leaving."

"You're not." Cordell replied, taking hold of his gun.

"Watch out!" Clementine exclaimed as the man aimed a gun at her guardian.

Molly glared at him. Charging forward, she grabbed the gun. The two struggled over the weapon causing it to go off.

The sound of gunfire made Clementine's ears ring, but it also drew the attention of the nearby geeks.

They started banging against the gate and the response from the guards was to start firing more gunshots.

"Stop shooting, you idiots!" Molly said.

They weren't listening. They continued firing, until they began running out of ammunition.

With each shot that was fired, more geeks were attracted from the woods.

Panic started to set in for the guards.

"We need the Mayor!" One of the guards exclaimed. "He'll know what to do!"

The shots drew the attention of the towns people, who began to come outside.

As more and more of the hungry corpses stumbled towards the town the people started screaming in fear, which only made more noise, and attracted more geeks.

One of the guards had run off to get the Mayor.

Molly scanned around for an exit. She needed a way out, and the entrance was out of the question.

"Molly, what do we do?" Clementine asked.

Molly didn't response. She was still trying to figure that out.

"He won't come out!" The guard exclaimed, rushing back. "I can't get him to come out."

Molly wasn't too surprised to hear that. Mayor Ross was nothing but a coward. She felt the sudden urge to confront him.

"Come on." Molly took Clementine's hand and ran towards the Mayor's house.

She tried the door, which was unlocked. She entered the house and motioned for Clementine to take a seat on the couch.

The child did so.

"Wait here." Molly said.

Clementine gave a nod.

Molly walked through the house, searching for the Mayor. She walked around, calling the Mayor's name. She eventually found a room with a locked door. "Mayor Ross, open up! It's Molly!"

The Mayor gave no response.

Molly huffed and searched for something to pick the lock with. Pulling out a pocket knife, she shoved the knife into the key hole. Moments later she managed to get the door open.

She was surprised at what she saw. "What the hell are you doing?"

The man was on his knees, holding a gun to his head. He gave no response.

"I… I can't… I tried to keep these people safe… but I can't. This place is done…" Mayor Ross said.

"You don't know that." Molly argued.

"I do… I know it and so do you." Mayor Ross replied.

"You can't just leave those people out there. They're relying on you." Molly said.

"Do you hear that?" Mayor Ross gesture out the window to the screams and zombie groans.

"Of course, I do." Molly replied.

"How many do you think are out there?" Mayor Ross asked.

"It's hard to tell. I'm not going to try to get a head count." Molly replied.

Mayor Ross shook his head. "There's nothing I can do. If you want to help them, you do it."

"Fine..." Molly scoffed, yanking the gun from the Mayor's hand. "You're pathetic."

She knew she couldn't save everyone, but maybe she could do something.

She left the room, and headed back to Clementine.


Cordell's eyes were wide as they corpses. His gun clicked, indicating it was empty.

The fence was shaking now, as the zombies pushed against it.

He felt beads of sweat roll down his face as he shakily tried to reload his gun.

The creatures kept coming, there was no way they could handle all of them.

Suddenly, the army of zombies broke through the gate as more were fighting to get over the fence.

"Shit…" Cordell said, eyes wide with horror.


Molly quickly returned to the room and ushered for Clementine to get up.

"It sounds bad out there…" Clementine said, looking worried as she stood up.

"I know… Come on, we need to get moving." Molly said.

"Wait..." Clementine said. "I found something."

"What?" Molly asked.

"A bigger gun..." Clementine said. She jumped to her feet and went to grab the weapon off the table.

Molly was surprised to see the rifle. "That could be useful." She said, taking the gun. She checked the weapon for ammo, finding it was full.

She offered Clementine the handgun which she had taken from the Mayor.

Clementine hesitantly took it.

"Let's go. Stay close." Molly said.

Clementine gave a nod.

Molly took the child's hand and started out of the building. They could hear screams from the people. It was a massacre out there.

Molly used Hilda to take out as many of the geeks as she could. "Damn it…" Molly muttered. She grabbed Clementine's arm. "We got to go! Now!"

"But what about these people?" Clementine asked.

"We can't do anything for them." Molly said.

"We have to help them!" Clementine motioned to the townspeople.

Molly frowned at that. There wasn't much she could really do. Her hands were pretty tied at this point.

"Molly-" Clementine started, but was cut off.

"We can't, Clem…" Molly said.

"But…"

Molly stopped her again. "There's nothing we can do. We have to get out of here or we're going to die."

"She's right." Came a voice that made Molly flinch. Cordell.

"What the hell do you want?" Molly demanded.

"The same thing you do. To survive. You were right… The way to survive is getting out of here. I've tried to get the others to come, but they're convinced they can fight this out…" Cordell said.

"Shouldn't you be helping them fight?" Molly asked.

"No way we can handle of those thing…" Cordell said.

Molly shook her head in response. These people didn't truly care about anyone but themselves…

"We need to go…" Cordell said.

"Fine… Whatever." Molly said. "We got to go."

Men, women, and children were huddled together against the fence. A few of the guards we shooting and fighting the geeks with whatever weapons they had, but it was a losing battle. There were far too many zombies.

Molly noticed some of the towns people were trying to climb over the fence in a frenzy. People scattered in all different directions.

"We got to do something!" Clementine pleaded.

Molly sighed. "Alright..." She looked to Cordell, "Watch Clem."

"What are you going to do?" Cordell asked.

"I'm going to try to get rid of as many of those geeks as I can." Molly said.

"Okay..." Cordell said.

"Be careful, Molly." Clementine said.

"I will." Molly said to Clementine before looking to Cordell and saying, "Keep my girl safe."

Cordell nodded.

Molly took a deep breath and began climbing up to the roof.

Once she was on top of the roof, she took aim of the rifle and started firing shots at the zombies who had wandered closest to the women and children.

Cordell called at her that it wasn't worth it, but Molly's mind was too focused on killing the geeks to at least give these people a fighting chance.

The people were screaming bloody murder as the stared their nightmare in the face.

Molly remained focused despite the screams.

"Molly, we can't save them all. It's them or us at this point." Cordell said.

Molly felt her heart clench as she realized he was right. She slowly made her way down from the roof.

Clementine frowned as Molly tugged her along.

"So how do we get out of here?" Molly asked.

"There's a back entrance. We can get out through there." Cordell said.

Molly nodded. "Let's move."

The remaining towns people were locking themselves in their homes, believing they would be safe from the zombies.

Their screams of help made Molly feel useless. She followed Cordell to the back exit, the wooden gate was boarded shut.

"Break through that gate." Molly said. "I'll hold the geeks off."

Cordell started kicking against the gate trying to get it open.

Molly ran forward, attacking any nearby geeks.

Almost half the town was overrun by the dead.

Several moments passed before Cordell managed to get the wood off the gate. He opened the gate but before Molly could get to it, he started to close it.

"What the hell?" Molly snapped.

"You'll slow them down for me…" Cordell simply said. "Sorry."

With that, he ran off.

Molly glared at his back. "Asshole." She couldn't believe he tried using them as bait.

Molly kicked the gate open and grabbed Clementine's hand.

The child looked back at the geeks stumbling through the town. She hoped the remaining people would be okay, but she knew that was unlikely.

The girl held back tears as she and Molly broke into a run. She felt bad for the people, for the friends she made… They didn't deserve what Clementine knew was going to happen. She only hoped they would be able to fight to survive.

She couldn't help but wonder what her parents would think, what Lee would think. They would have stayed to help. Clementine only wished she could do the same...

Clutching tightly to her guardian's hand, Clementine kept running, refusing to look back.