Clem yells to Lee, "I see Luke and Kenny! I'm gonna go help them!"

His wrench finds itself in a walker's cranium as he processes what she says. He opens his mouth to refuse, but sighs and instead says, "..Fine! Be careful!"

She dashes towards the duo, leaving the capable fighters behind to fight their own battle. When she gets close enough, she sees Luke decapitate a walker's head with his machete before slicing another one in the eye, while Kenny shoots a few getting close until he runs outta ammo. "Fuck!"

"Kenny! We gotta run now!" Luke shouts, the heat and grotesque scent of the living dead closing in.

Bang, bang!

Clementine shoots two walkers dead from behind, bringing the number down in total to six. Half of them continue to limp towards the duo, and the other half towards Clementine. She takes out three of them before running out of ammo. Kenny rushes towards the last walker about to attack her and kicks it down to the ground, then hits it in the face with the butt of his rifle.

"You okay?"

She nods. "Yeah. No more ammo though."

Luke splits a few more heads, until at last the three meet in the middle, all of the walkers dead before them.

"How's everyone else?" The farm boy questions, breathing heavily with blood all over his face and shirt.

"They're okay, no one's hurt as far as I know." Clem shakily responds, her entire body fidgeting from how many shots she had to take. The three look over to the other horde. "We should help them too."

As the three begin to run towards Lee's group of fighters, they stop when they see a large number of walkers around them suddenly pop and fall to the ground, followed by the sound of machine gun fire. Luke holds Clementine's shoulder, stopping her from pursuing.

"What the hell?" Kenny growls, aiming through his rifle to get a better look.

"That son of a bitch found us.." Luke mutters,

"Carver.." Clem whispers. "What's the plan?"

Luke takes a few steps back. "Come with me, now. We have to start running."

"No. I got a better idea." Kenny turns around and starts scanning the surrounding area.

"A better i- Kenny! You don't know who the fuck you're messing with, okay? We need to go, now! Let's get the others and run!"

"This is my home, Luke. Clementine's done running, and I ain't letting anyone take away this lodge from us. We're staying here and defending her, and in the process we're gonna kill that son of a bitch Carver."

Speaking of which, Lee, Matthew, Ben, Christa and Carlos turn around after the machine gun fire ceases to see three men and a dog walking forward. Carver had Sam on a leash and smirked when he saw the group, specifically locking eyes with Carlos. The other men, Justin and Troy, aimed their assault rifles at the group, who all froze immediately.

"It's… him." Was all Carlos could mutter out. Inside of the lodge, the group heard the noise and was now looking out the window, panicking over Carver's return. Sarah watched her dad while Duck desperately tried to look for his.

Carver stops a few inches away from Carlos. "Where are the others? Rebecca, I mean." The doctor spits in his face, glaring daggers at him. Everyone stares, shocked. Carlos breathes in, wipes the saliva off of his cheek and speaks. "Nice to see you too." His fist meets Carlos's cheek, stunning him as he groans in pain, holding his now bruised face.

"Dad!" Sarah yells from inside the lodge, immediately sprinting outside to save him. Alvin, Pete, Nick, Sarita, Duck and Walter watched her go.

"Sarah, wait!" Alvin calls, but is ignored. Walter followers her out the door, though for a different reason.

"We gotta hide, now." Pete orders.

"What about Sarah?" Duck asks.

"We ain't stopping her. Her dad's all she's got. It's too late anyways." Nick replies.

"And her?" Points Alvin at Bonnie, who understands what's happening outside but can't hear them.

"She'll squeal if she knows where we're hiding." Rebecca whispers back.

"If Bill's gonna have leverage over us.. Okay, hide, now." Alvin orders, walking into the kitchen. Rebecca watches him cautiously before Nick nudges her to continue forward and get into cover. The soon to be father finds some tape and comes back to Bonnie, even angrier than before.

She tries to talk to him as he unleashes her from her spot, a firm grip on her arms. "Alvin.. You can still be okay. You need to run, now, get out of here and hurry. You may not be able to take care of Becca, but I promise we will! I don't want you to die!"

"It's always about what you people want. Well I want to be with my family. I'm sorry about this, Bonnie. You forced this upon yourself." He applies the tape to her mouth and eyes, silencing and blinding her, then guides her upstairs with the others, her hands still restrained.

Outside, Sarah runs up to her dad and embraces him, burying her face in his chest. Carlos holds her tightly, but he knows now that Carver knows where the rest are.

"G-gentleman.." Walter stops in front of Matthew, protecting his partner with his arms spread wide. "W-we don't have to hurt anyone anymore, o-okay? We're not going to hurt you, we're peaceful people. We just want to be left alone." Sam growls and barks at him and does so for several seconds until Bill yanks his chain back.

"Shut up! Sorry. He's still not too friendly when he meets strangers." Bill smirks devilishly. Sam obediently sits.

"Where are Carley, Chuck and Molly?" Lee demands, his own voice grizzly. Christa and him both stare into his black eyes. He raises a brow, spotting his nub arm and Christa's gun right away. He swats the firearm onto the floor and stomps it, then looks back up at them.

"And who are you, exactly? I don't remember you. I remember your friend here, but… Oh. You must be the boyfriend. Carley told me about you." Lee's eyes widened. "Heh, lotta mistrust around our groups, huh? Don't worry. You can trust me. It's Pete's group you oughta worry about abandoning you." He takes out his walkie talkie and clicks the side button. "Shawn, bring the prisoners."

"...Alright. But, Bill-" click. That voice sounded vaguely familiar to Lee, but that didn't matter now. What mattered was that they were here, alive. He anticipated their arrival whilst the attackers guns remained on them.

"All of you, in the lodge. I'm getting them back, whether you wanna be helpful or not." The group slowly and hesitantly begins moving, except for Lee and Christa.

"We'll wait here for our group, thanks." Christa objects spitefully. The two stand their ground. Carver stares at Lee seemingly aimlessly. The two just keep watching each other's eyes, fists tightened and mouths frowned, until Carver's frown turns into a grin.

"You got it too, then?" Lee looks confused at the question.

"Lee!" Carley calls, being held up with the help of Shawn, who's used as a crutch, whilst Troy keeps his gun on Molly and Chuck in front of her, both of which are handcuffed. Lee and Christa turn at the sound of her voice. "I-I'm sorry, we got caught and... I thought I lost you." Lee gives a corner lip smile, but there's no time to celebrate.

"I thought I lost you too." Lee responds sadly. He then notices Shawn and thinks he looks really familiar. Shawn sees it too, but..

"Bill, what's the plan here?" Chuck asks. Christa looks disgusted.

"Why are you calling him that?"

Carver glares at Christa. "Because some old dogs can learn new tricks. No more pussyfooting, you have your people, let's move in. We need to have a chat." To the left of Chuck, Molly stands with a piece of tape over her lip. She's trying to yell and shout, but to no avail. Lee gives her a sympathetic look before him and the group of now reunited survivors are pushed into the lodge.

Luke, Clem and Kenny find themselves in a gazebo outside of the lodge, towards the back. They have a good view of a few windows from here, but can't hear much. The hidden survivors aren't visible from here and the trio has no idea where they are. Kenny reloads his gun as Clem watches anxiously from the railing and Luke uses the group binoculars to get a better view.

"Luke, what do you see?" Kenny beckons.

"I can't see the others, b-but I did see Alvin take Bonnie upstairs, gagged up. They should be okay. Oh- wait!" The door to the lodge opens. "Matthew, Walter, Carlos and Sarah are coming in, and.. Johnny and Justin are with 'em."

"Who?" Kenny aggressively asks.

"Bill's men. They got assault rifles. We need to rethink this plan, Kenny."

"Nonsense. A rifle is more than enough to get the job done, what else do we need?" Luke peers out of the binoculars to argue with the stubborn man.

"A strategy that isn't just wait till someone gets shot to shoot people! We need to get outta here and go back to Howe's to plan a breakout when the group gets there!"

"Again? You wanna break your friends out again? That's fucking stupid. We're ending this now." Kenny looks back into his rifle's scope, though it's nowhere near as good as the binoculars.

"Luke, where's Lee?" Clem asks.

"He's coming in now, and.. Oh shit. Carley, Chuck, Molly, they're here! Bill's here too, with that dog y'all mentioned. Shawn and.. Troy. They got four guys with machine guns, all aimed at Clem, Lee, Carlos, Ben, Sarah, Walter- we can't attack, they'll kill everyone." Luke panically replies. Kenny ignores him. Clem is just relieved to hear her friends are actually alive.

"I'm reloaded. I see him." He lines up the shot only for Luke to grab the weapon and point it away. "Hey!"

"No, Kenny, please listen to me! Even if you make the shot, the others are bound to get hurt! Think about Sarita!" Kenny flinches at the name and grits his teeth,

"She'll be much worse off if we don't do nothing. Right, Clem?"

She looks between the two, suddenly put on the spot.

"Clem knows this is stupid!" Luke barks back.

"She's smarter than you, boy. She's been in a situation like this before, she knows that you gotta make a tough shot to escape a bad situation." Clem cringed, memories of the way she killed Fred back in the Marsh House flooding back. She took a deep breath in before adding her own opinion.

Choices (Clementine)

A: Luke, we need to take the shot

B: Kenny, we shouldn't shoot yet

C: We should surrender, we can't win

D: We should run

Relationships (Clem)

Lee: 8/10 (He was reluctant to let you go, but is happy he did so)

Carley: 10/10

Christa: 8/10 (She thinks you made the right choice)

Molly: 8/10

Chuck: 10/10

Kenny: 10/10 (He's proud of you for helping him and Luke)

Duck: 10/10 (He just hopes you're okay)

Ben: 9/10 (He's fine with you helping Luke and Kenny)

Walter: 7/10

Matthew: 8/10 (He's happy to have you sit with him and his group, and now he's happy that you protected him and Walter outside)

Sarita: 8/10 (She's glad you sat with her earlier)

Luke: 8/10 (He's happy you came to help him and Kenny)

Pete: 10/10

Nick: 9/10

Carlos: 9/10 (He thinks it was a smart idea to split up)

Sarah: 9/10

Alvin: 8/10

Rebecca: 7/10

Carver: 0/10

Bonnie: 4/10

Johnny: 4/10

Shawn: 4/10 (You don't know who he is from here)

Troy: 4/10

Justin: 4/10

Sam: 5/10 (You seriously don't know what happened to him..)


Carver takes his pistol out and holds it up to the captives, motioning for them to get down. They do so on their knees. "Alright, frisk them. I don't want any unexpected attacks."

Shawn recognizes Lee fully now. "Holy crap, you're that guy from two years ago who saved me, Lee! Your arm, you.. You got bit?"

"Shawn Greene..? What happened to you?" His voice was filled with disgust. Shawn hangs his head and begins searching Lee's pockets. He finds the radio, an empty gun and a wrench and puts them in his bag, sans the radio which he just hands to Bill. He realizes what this means and gets close to Lee.

"So you have history. Very sweet. Now where's Bonnie?" He questions impatiently.

"I don't know. But we have her." Lee growls back. Carver steps back and calls out to one of his minions.

"Justin, look for Bonnie and the others. Now."

"Yes sir." The ex convict walks away, scanning the dark. Johnny keeps his gun on him as he frisks the others with Shawn.

"Carley, while we search these fine people, tell them about our deal. Maybe that'll help our other friends come out of hiding." The woman stands up and frowns, lamenting the idea of having to do this.

"Deal? What's he talking about?" Lee questions, suspicious. She breathes in.

"Please, just hear me out. This is the best choice for all of us. I want all of you, everyone here, to surrender now. I'm just as much a prisoner as the rest of you, but I realize that the only way we're getting out of this alive, all of us, is if we just give in. I tried fighting, I did. But it's not going to work. Rebecca, Alvin, Luke, Pete, Clementine.. I know you can hear me. I'm sorry all of this has to happen, but.. We have no other choice."

Rebecca gasps, a hand on her mouth.

They end up finding several empty or close to empty guns, some ammo, nothing of much importance.. Until Shawn searches Matthew, who is jittery and sweaty, reasonably enough. As he digs into his pocket, he spots something alarming on his wrist: a bite mark, red and inflamed. Walt looks in Matthew's eyes as he's searched, finding solace in his presence.

"Bill.. we have a problem." That solace is destroyed by those words.

Matthew starts tearing up, his voice breaking. "I'm sorry."

"W-what?"

"What's the problem, Shawn?" Carver asks.

"This man.. He's been bitten." Everyone looks at Matthew. He begins sobbing.

"When? How?" Walter asks, his entire world slowing down.

"O-outside, I- I was bitten outside just now and I-I'm so sorry, baby, I.. I was gonna tell you but then they-"

Bang!

Matthew's lifeless corpse falls to the ground, tears and brain spraying the floor.

"NO! Matthew!" Walter sobs, leaning over his partner's corpse with his arms clutching him for dear life. "M-Matthew, no, please wake up, honey, PLEASE don't leave me!"

"Matthew!" Ben yelps, almost standing up before being aimed at by Bill. Sarita and Duck's crying was muffled by Sam's loud barking.

"You fucking bastard! You're a monster!" Christa screams. Sarita hyperventilates as Carlos holds her close.

"Don't look at him, sweetie." Carlos hushes.

"I just saved a weak man from twenty four hours of prolonging the inevitable. The rest of you should join me in that act by coming down here and surrendering!" Carver yells, looking around the second floor. "Shawn, look around. I can handle this."

"Yes, sir.." Shawn hesitantly agrees, in truth just wanting to get away from the sobbing, panicked people he had on the ground.

Choices (Lee)

A: Disagree to the deal

B: Agree to the deal

C: Attack Carver

Relationships

Clementine: 8/10

Carley: 10/10 (This truce of hers and Carver's rubs you the wrong way..)

Christa: 8/10 (She seems to want you to refuse. She hasn't said a word to the group about giving in)

Molly: 10/10 (She missed you, and hopes you refuse)

Chuck: 10/10 (He genuinely thinks its a better idea to accept the deal)

Kenny: 9/10 (He's got you covered, though you don't know that)

Ben: 9/10 (He hopes you agree. He just wants this to be over)

Duck: 10/10 (He hopes you refuse, he doesn't want to give up)

Walter: 3/10 (You and your group being here has led to his soul mate being shot dead. He hates you)

Sarita: 4/10 (You and your group have ruined her home)

Luke: 8/10

Pete: 9/10 (He wants you to refuse. He can't let his group get hurt again)

Nick: 8/10 (He isn't sure what you should do. He trusts you to make the right call)

Carlos: 8/10 (He wants you to do whatever is best for the group, more specifically for the children)

Sarah: 5/10 (You helped save her dad. She just wants to go home.)

Alvin: 10/10 (He wants you to refuse, badly)

Rebecca: 8/10 (See Alvin's reason)

Bonnie: 3/10 (She wants you to accept and get this over with so no one else has to die)

Carver: 0/10 (You haven't fooled him at all. He likes your fury, but needs you to help Carley in order to get what he wants.

Johnny: 4/10

Shawn: 6/10 (You're disgusted with him now. After all you've done for him. He seems to feel regretful)

Troy: 4/10

Justin: 4/10

Sam: 4/10