Opening the door slowly, Lee observes the situation around them. There didn't seem to be any infected around, but one never knows. He leaned his body forward and opened the door a little wider to get a better view of his surroundings. The forest was silent, and he didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.

He no longer doubted at all about these infected, who knows what kind of creatures were out there.

"Looks like it's all clear." Lee said aloud, although he said it more to himself than to the others. Closing the door again, he turns to Clementine, still sitting in that box.

"Are you okay?" He asked. The girl looked better. The pain no longer seemed to bother her, and she didn't complain about anything at any point in those hours they were there.

"I'm fine." She replied, getting up.

Lee nodded and approached the backpack leaning against the wall, feeling Ben's gaze on him.

"So, shall we get going? Do you remember the way back to the gas station?" The boy asked, watching Lee crouch in front of the backpack.

"Not exactly. I know which way we came from the watch tower. We'll have to use that to base it on." Lee replied, getting up shortly thereafter and walking over to Clementine with hatchet in hand.

Ben and the girl alternated their gazes between Lee and the hatchet in his hand, confused, and wanting or not, a little frightened. However, they were somewhat surprised to see Lee hand the hatchet to her.

"The way to the gas station may be more dangerous than we are aware. And depending on the situation, Ben and I will not be able to protect you. You don't have the knife, right? Well, I hope you won't have to use it, but we'd better be careful." Lee explained, and after a few moments of looking at the hatchet with some uncertainty, Clementine nods and takes the weapon.

"You and I are going to have to make do with what we have, Ben. We'll walk slowly and if we see any infected we'll try to get by unnoticed. Don't make too much noise and stay close." Lee said, picking up the branch he found earlier and alternating his gaze between the two.

"Okay, fine, but... are we going to go up to the watch tower?" Ben asked, somewhat hesitant about that idea.

"There is a dirt road that leads up to the tower. That trail also leads to the road we were on. It's our only clue and the only way we won't get lost in this forest." Lee explained, sighing slightly.

He didn't like that idea either, but what other option did they have? In his desperation to get away from the infected, he didn't pay as much attention to the path as he should have, and he'd rather not risk getting lost.

"Oh man... geez... ok. I'm ready." Ben said, holding his table leg somewhat tightly.

Lee nodded at him and then looked at Clementine in a silent question, and after a brief confirmation from the girl, he walked to the door.

He opened the door without making much noise, checking his surroundings once more before leaving. Clementine and Ben came out soon after, with Ben placing the backpack on his back before nodding to Lee, indicating that they could go.

Lee took the lead, Clementine walked right behind him, and Ben followed last. They followed the same path they had used to get there, and it didn't take long before they reached the bodies of the infected they had killed earlier.

The bodies were still in the same place, the only difference being two infected feeding on the corpses.

Lee ducked slightly and walked over to a nearby tree, hiding and looking at the other two behind him.

"You with me, Ben?" He asked softly, pointing to the table leg the boy was holding.

"...Can't we try to avoid them?" Ben asked, fear present in his voice and expression, although his comment had some basis. Avoiding unnecessary risks.

"I'd rather not have the chance of infected behind us. And they have their backs to us, distracted. We can kill them, but I need you on my side." Lee replied, and Ben sighed lightly.

"Right... I'm right behind you."

"Good. I'll take the one on the left, you take the one on the right. Clem, you stay here. I don't see any other infected besides those two." Lee said, receiving a nod of confirmation from both of them, and soon, he and Ben had begun to sneak up behind the infected.

As soon as they were ready, Lee gave the signal, and he and Ben hit the infected in the head at the same time, smashing their skulls with vicious, heavy blows as soon as they were on the ground.

Lee straightened his posture and nodded for Clementine to approach, just before he focused his eyes on Ben, who stared at the bodies on the ground with a somewhat... guilty look.

"Ahm, are you okay, kid?" Lee asked, and Ben shook his head.

"Yeah, yeah... it's just... like you said, they're alive. And... I-I don't know, man. It just feels wrong." Ben said, and Lee looked at him sympathetically, before focusing his eyes on the bodies at their feet.

"Well, I understand you. But look what they were eating." Lee pointed at the bodies with devoured stomachs. It was possible to see internal organs, torn guts, and bits of flesh all over the ground.

A scene to disturb anyone, and Clementine couldn't help but close her eyes and turn her face in the other direction with a disgusted expression. Even Ben seemed to have trouble looking at that.

"If the situation were different, I'd say it's good for you to think that way, kid. But... I don't think these... people, are themselves. Like it or not, even if they're alive, that's the way it has to be. Just remember what they will do to you if they catch you." Lee said, walking away from the bodies as he spoke so they wouldn't have to look at that scene any longer than necessary.

"I know... I know. I just... I need more time to get used to it, that's all." Ben said, and Lee gave the matter closure right there.

Honestly, deep down he was a little jealous that the boy was uncomfortable with it, even though he knew it was best to shut himself off from those feelings.

"You don't feel bothered?" The question came from Clementine, which was a bit of a surprise.

Lee turned and looked at her. There was no judgment in her words or her gaze, just curiosity.

"No. I mentioned that I was stuck in a hotel for a while. In order to get out of there I... had to kill quite a number of these infected. I eventually got used to it." Lee said, looking around again and making sure he hadn't lost the way.

"Well, all things considered, I don't know if that's a bad thing." Ben said, watching Lee start walking.

"It is, Ben. No one should get used to something like that. Like it or not, the feeling of smashing the head of these infected is the same as smashing the head of a normal person. The only difference is how you feel after doing it." Lee said, with his back to them, hiding his somewhat broken expression from his fucked up life.

And despite that, Ben sort of didn't need to look at him to get an idea of how he was looking at that moment.

Without saying another word, they simply concentrated on walking through the forest, following Lee, hoping that they wouldn't run into any other infected, or that no other infected would run into them.

After some walking, they finally reached the watch tower.

They hid behind trees close to each other and observed the situation ahead. There were a few infected around, some simply wandering around while others seemed to be devouring the bodies of the dead infected. The state of the place was even worse than Lee remembered, and he grimaced a little when he saw that some of the infected who had been hit by the tower were still alive, with the lower part of their bodies completely crushed, but still alive and struggling.

Just bizarre.

"Jesus... was it that bad?" Ben asked no one in particular, and Lee, bothered by that sight, just nodded.

"We'd better go. I don't want to run the risk of them finding us." He said, starting to walk in the direction the dirt road led.

Clementine followed right behind, and Ben went last, again, still not really able to take his eyes off that.

"I hope the others are okay." The boy said, again, to no one in specific, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Duck was hit in the arm by the acid." Clementine said, receiving a startled look from Ben, but which she didn't see because she had her back to him.

"What?! Is he..."

"He's fine... well, fine, as far as possible. The acid hit his arm, but luckily it wasn't much, so despite the damage, he won't lose it." Lee said, without turning to him. "I hope." He said, softly this time, more to himself than to the others.

They followed the dirt path for a while, each one avoiding making noise and paying attention to anything that moved in the forest. Luckily, most of the way was quiet, but of course, nothing was that easy.

At one point, Lee suddenly stopped, startling the two behind him. His eyes were fixed on a point ahead and he looked somewhat frightened.

Ben and Clementine arched an eyebrow and tensed up. The boy took a few steps forward and looked where Lee was looking, and soon, he too had a similar reaction.

"Ah shit! Hide!" Lee said low, but somewhat worried, and the three of them stepped off the dirt road and hid in the forest.

Ahead, that woman from before, if they could call that creature a woman. She was walking very slowly, with her head down and a little sluggish. Anyone who saw it would say that the thing was dying by the way it was moving.

Hm, if only.

The three of them watched the belly of that... thing move in a bizarre way. It's almost as if that blob of flesh has a life of its own, and it was hard to look at it without wanting to vomit.

Honestly, Lee was surprised that he didn't have a nightmare about it. Well, yet.

"Ah shit... is it the same one as before?" Ben asked, startled, and this time, Lee couldn't blame the boy.

"...Yeah. That thing has the gunshot wounds, see?" Lee replied, not focusing his gaze solely on the creature, but rather, beginning to run his eyes around his surroundings, almost as if he were looking for something.

"Damn... we've got to go around." Ben said, unable to take his eyes off that thing.

"Yes, but we have to be even more careful. There are definitely infected people nearby." Lee said, drawing both of their attention to himself.

"How do you know?" Clementine asked, trying to sound tough, but her eyes gave away that she was scared.

"That damn thing never walks alone. After she spits once, it takes a while before she spits again. Then she becomes vulnerable. That's why she screams when attacked, the infected she attracts serve to protect her until she can spit again. In other words, she needs the infected, so she must not move without them around." Lee said, moving very slowly to a tree next to them.

Clementine and Ben stared at him for a while, slightly surprised that he noticed this, and wondering inwardly if he really was right.

"... How can you be so sure?" Ben asked, moving behind him.

"Well, I don't know. It just makes sense, doesn't it? Come on, be careful." Lee replied, walking still crouching among the trees, occasionally glancing toward the creature, but always running his eyes in search of some other infected.

And just as he had said, other infected were nearby. A considerable number, compared to the trio.

"Let's go in single file. I'll take care of those in front of us, you two keep an eye on our sides. If any of them spot us, we have to kill them fast or run before that thing spits on us or screams again. Got it?" Lee said, glaring at them, just before he started moving toward the infected ahead after confirmation.

Grabbing the pocket knife he found in the backpack, Lee sneaked up behind the infected in front of him, who wandered aimlessly with its back turned to him.

As soon as he approached, Lee plunged the knife into the back of the infected's head, grunting softly at the force he had to make. Despite hitting the infected in a sensitive area, it was still a living being, and the skull was still quite hard.

Lee followed the body of the infected to the ground, avoiding looking at the state of what had once been a woman. Of all the ways he had killed infected people, he was still not very used to stabbing them. It was as if he could feel the knife pierce their brains and the blood trickle down the side of his hand. A rather uncomfortable feeling.

Shaking his head in an attempt to push those sensations away, he continues on his way, focusing his eyes on the next infected in front of him. They could try to get around this infected, but the chance of them being spotted was very high.

Just like the previous infected, Lee sneaked up from behind, grabbed the infected by the neck and stabbed it in the back of the head, following the body to the ground to avoid noise.

"Look out!" Clementine's low but alert voice made every hair on his body shiver, and he focused his eyes to his side, where an infected had just emerged from behind a tree and focused its red eyes on him.

The infected opened its mouth, its expression became angry in a split second, but Lee acted quickly, perhaps because of the surge of adrenaline that ran through his body at being spotted, he didn't know, he was just thankful that he managed to get close to the infected before it could alert the others and killed it by stabbing the pocket knife into the side of its skull, again following the body to the ground.

A sigh of relief came from his lips, and he turned to Clementine, nodding to her and whispering a "good job".

After that, they continued on their way, where Lee killed one or two more infected along the way, until they got far enough that they could get up and walk at a higher speed, relieved that they had not alerted any infected.

"Oh, thank goodness. That could have ended pretty badly." Ben said in a sigh.

"Don't be relieved yet. We have to find the gas station now." Lee said, looking in the direction of the dirt road, a few hundred yards away, but close enough to locate, at least.

"I know, I know." Ben replied, and Lee looked at him for a few moments as he walked.

"How old are you, kid?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm nineteen."

"Nineteen? Boy, you're pretty young. What about you, girl?"

"Eleven. I'll be twelve in two months."

"Jesus. I'd say I'm sorry for what you guys are going through, but that wouldn't change anything. Still, it just makes me feel bad." Lee said, holding back from asking any more questions.

Considering the situation they were in, it was somewhat obvious that they no longer had family, or if they did, they didn't really want to talk about it. And just the thought that this little girl was going through it all alone made his heart ache a little.

All the more reason for him to take them to their group, at least they knew the people there.

After a while of walking, both Lee and Ben sighed a little more relieved to finally see the road. And to their happiness, no infected in sight.

"I never thought I'd be happy to see an empty road." Ben said, now a little more excited even. "So where to?"

"That direction." Lee said, wasting no time and starting walking.

"How do you know?" Ben asked.

"The sign over there." Clementine was the one who answered, pointing to the sign ahead that indicated the gas station some walking time from there, and in response, Ben scratched the back of his head for not noticing a sign that was in full view.

"What do we do when we get to the gas station?" Clementine asked, and Lee found the girl's manner a bit curious. She was talking to them more than he saw her talking to Duck. Maybe to distract her mind from the situation, who knows. Or maybe it was because Duck could barely sit still due to his extroverted way.

"We'll see the most likely places they went. But depending on the situation, maybe we can stay there for a while and wait for them. Well, hope they show up, at least. It's up to you." Lee replied.

"Really?"

"You guys know the people in your group. You've been with them the longest. I feel like that's your choice." Lee replied, and they were silent for a while.

The walk was uneventful, and it wasn't long before they saw the wrecked van near the gas station.

Lee warned them to be ready, just in case, maybe there were infected people there.

As they approached, they couldn't help but look at the van.

"...Are you guys really sure Duck is going to be okay? I mean, look at the state of the van." Ben asked, and in response, Lee sighed. He didn't have a concrete answer for that. Acid as corrosive as that, on the skin of a little boy... the damage that just a small amount could do to human flesh was almost unimaginable.

"... Honestly, I don't want to think about it too much." Lee said, focusing his gaze on the gas station and approaching with careful steps.

"Right. Ben, you stay out here, I'll check the inside. You keep an eye out. And I don't even need to tell you to stay close to him, Clementine." Lee said, getting a nod from both of them before he entered the gas station.

The first thing he saw was some fallen shelves, shards of glass all over the floor. The place was messy, that was for sure, however, it looked clean. At least, no bloodstains or bodies lying around.

He took the opportunity to look around for anything useful, food or anything else they could use.

Following his own advice, he searched everywhere, from the fallen shelves in full view to even the back of the dirty toilet seats. In the end he didn't find much, just an old machete, a little rusty but still useful, some batteries still in their packaging, and a single crushed but still edible protein bar... he hoped.

After knowing that he wouldn't find anything else around there, he left the gas station and approached Ben and Clementine, who were staring at the mural with the local map.

"Here, Ben. It's not in the best of states, but it's more useful than the table leg." Lee said, handing the machete to the boy, who looked at the blade a little strangely for a few moments.

"Ahm... isn't it better that you keep this? Since you're the one taking the lead and all."

"Nah, I have the pocketknife. It's not much, but it's enough for me to take care of myself for now." Lee said, and the boy took the machete. In return, Lee took the table leg. It was better than the branch, at least.

"Okay, what do we have around here?" Lee asked, looking at the map after putting the items he found inside the backpack.

" We're here. Near the place we hid before there's a park, that explains why all those infected." Ben said, pointing to the location on the map. "Down the road where we came from there is a restaurant. It looks small, and it's considerably distant."

"After that place, a church. I don't think they would go there. Maybe they don't even know there's a church in the area, and it's even further away." Lee muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"What if they're still in the woods?" Clementine asked. "If they have gone off in the opposite direction from us, then they're still out there. Or, maybe, on that dirt road. And there's nothing there." The girl said, pointing to the spot on the map.

"Well, I certainly hope that's not the case. But if it is... well, let's not think about that for now." Lee said, crossing his arms. "We didn't even have time to loot that restaurant next door, right? The restaurant and the store might have some useful stuff." Lee said, pointing to the mentioned buildings a few hundred meters away from there.

"Hopefully we'll find some food." Ben said.

As they looked at the map, a noise, similar to a growl, caught the attention of the trio, who turned around suddenly.

"Oooh... shit..." Lee muttered as he moved very slowly. His eyes were wide and he didn't even notice when he held his breath.

Ben and Clementine were practically paralyzed in place, in a similar situation to Lee.

In front of them, a wolf. But unfortunately, not just any wolf.

This wolf was large, almost the size of a tiger. The animal was salivating, its eyes were red, bits of flesh and fur were missing from the entire length of its abnormally elongated and even deformed body.

An infected wolf... fuck, that virus could infect animals too?!

"... Get into the gas station... real slow..." Lee spoke softly, moving towards the door as slowly as he could. "Ben, give me the machete... stay behind me." He said, and the boy did, shaking and breathing heavily.

The infected wolf followed the three with rabid eyes, slowly approaching in a predatory manner, and growling louder and more hostile. Until the animal's eyes focused on Clementine, simply because she was the smallest prey there.

In other words, an easy meal.

The wolf attacked, fast and fierce, the girl screamed in fear, Ben pulled her by the shoulders in reflex, accidentally touching the girl's wound in the process, at the same time as Lee advanced with the machete.

Lee struck the blade into the animal's snout as hard as he could, managing to stop the attack and causing the animal to struggle fiercely.

"Go!" Lee shouted, pulling out the machete he had stuck in the wolf's snout and stabbing the animal again, before he turned and ran towards the van himself.

The wolf growled and chased after Lee, the difference in speed being clear. If ordinary wolves were already many times faster than humans, that wolf was even faster.

The wolf leaped, aiming for the center of Lee's back. However, luck, fate, bad luck, whatever, Lee tripped, and accidentally dodged the animal's attack, which struck the front of the wrecked van with its head.

Lee quickly got up and jumped onto the roof of the van. He suspected that this would not exactly make him safe, but, it was already some advantage, he hoped.

Well, it turned out that he was wrong, and the wolf leaped towards him again. A great leap, and Lee, in reflex, could only put the machete in front of his body for protection, and grunted as he felt himself being thrown backwards.

The wolf was viciously biting at the blade of the machete, flailing and scrambling fiercely, and Lee was having trouble keeping up. That animal was extremely strong, and it was not at all easy to try not to get bitten while trying to avoid those claws.

Throwing his body to the side, Lee fell to the ground on top of the infected wolf, feeling the blade sink into the animal's mouth, but not being enough to kill the wolf.

And unfortunately, he was forced to get up as the wolf began to attack him with its claws. However, the moment the wolf tried to get up, Lee stuck his machete into the side of the animal's body, beginning to stab the wolf as viciously as the animal itself was attacking him before.

But to his dismay, like the infected humans, that creature simply seemed to feel no pain, and soon, in one swift motion, it tried to bite Lee's arm, who jumped back and leaped over the van.

The wolf, of course, followed him, and by the time the animal landed on the ground on the other side of the vehicle, Lee had gotten into the van and closed the door.

Which, of course, was not enough to make the animal give up, and soon, the wolf broke the window by jumping towards him and trying to bite him again.

Lee screamed and punched the animal in the snout, which did nothing but irritate the wolf even more. The man quickly moved to the other door, stepping over the acid corroded seats and opening the passenger door just as the wolf entered the vehicle and advanced toward him.

Getting out of the van, Lee closed the door with everything he had, hitting the side of the wolf's head. Widening his eyes slightly at the situation, he begins to hit the door several times on the animal's head, trying not to give the wolf any chance to react.

This did some damage, of course, but not enough to kill the animal, and soon, the wolf threw itself forward again, causing the door to hit the side of its body.

Seeing that the animal was stuck for a few moments when the door hit it, Lee stabs the machete again into the creature's head, stabbing the wolf several times until the animal managed to free itself.

Although still ferocious, Lee could see that the wolf was getting weaker, slower. It had taken too much damage. He just had to keep going.

Jumping over the van again, he turned and waited for the wolf to follow him. The moment the animal did, he stabbed the wolf in the snout and climbed down in front of the rear doors of the van, using the machete still stuck in the animal's snout to pull the wolf down and throw it to the ground.

Lee got into the van again, closing the rear doors just as the wolf got up and jumped toward him.

After the animal hit the rear doors of the vehicle with its head, the wolf began to throw itself viciously against the doors, causing the metal to mangle each time it hit it.

Meanwhile, Lee put his hand on one of the doorknobs and counted the seconds between the wolf's attacks, and as soon as the opportunity presented itself, he opened the doors at the exact moment the animal threw itself toward the van, causing the animal to miss the doors and enter the vehicle with all its might, becoming disoriented for a few moments.

These moments were long enough for Lee to stab the machete in the side of the animal's head and throw his body against the wolf, causing the animal to lie on the ground.

Acting quickly, Lee kneels on the side of the wolf's body and stabs the machete once more into the animal's head, stabbing the infected wolf viciously, until the animal is motionless and its head is barely attached to its body, saved only by a few pieces of exposed flesh and bone that the machete could not cut through.

Gasping and trembling, Lee stared at the animal for some time, wanting to make sure that the wolf would not move, afraid that the moment he turned his back, the animal would attack and kill him.

But after a few minutes of the animal remaining motionless, Lee could breathe a sigh of relief, although he was still shaking and scared as hell.

What the fuck was that?! How the fuck could a wolf become like that?!

Not only that, but if animals could also get infected, then what if a bear came in contact with that virus? Fuck! There could be even worse things than that blind infected man in Atlanta, or that woman who spit acid.

He didn't even want to imagine... what if the group had run into one of those creatures?

It took Lee a while to process that... it was only then that he remembered that wolves walked in packs, and the fear of having a pack of infected wolves prowling the area spread through his chest.

Decapitating the wolf, just in case, Lee gets out of the van and walks with wobbly legs toward the gas station.

"Ben! Clementine! You can come out now." He called out to them, propping himself on his knees from barely being able to stand.

Holy shit!

FUCK!

The door to the gas station opened, and the two of them hurried out of there, almost running toward Lee.

"Holy shit, man! Are you okay?" Ben asked in genuine concern. Maybe because of his fear of being alone in that situation, but whatever.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine..." Lee said, trying to calm his body and his thoughts.

Meanwhile, Clementine walked to the back of the van, and her eyes stared at the dead body of the wolf.

A short time later, Lee and Ben joined her, and the trio could hardly believe their eyes when they saw that creature. The musculature of that wolf was almost twice as big as that of a normal wolf.

"... What the fuck... what the fuck man! Does that thing affect animals too?!" Ben asked to no one in specific, just in desperation, frightened by that fact, by what he had just witnessed.

"That's what it looks like... this is worse than we imagined." Lee said, looking toward the forest again. If there were any other wolves like that nearby, then they were screwed.

But that didn't seem to be the case... well, maybe, infected wolves weren't like normal wolves... who knows, maybe that thing didn't walk in packs... damn, he was trying to be positive, cause, boy, were they fucked!

"I mean... shit, this could be even worse than people, man! They're bad enough and... and..." Ben began to despair, and Lee just put a hand on the boy's shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. Of all the things they could do, losing their minds was out of the question.

"Breathe, Ben... calm down..." Lee said, watching the boy close his eyes and take several deep breaths.

"...You killed it..." Clementine murmured, low, but loud enough for the two of them to hear, and they looked toward the girl.

She had her back to them, still looking at the wolf's body, almost as if in a trance.

"... Yes... I killed it..." Lee said, but honestly, he was just trying to convince himself of what he had done, because until that moment, he could hardly believe it.

"How did you do it?" Clementine asked, turning to him, and in response, Lee shook his head.

"I don't know... I just did it... the only thing that could guarantee me some protection, just enough for me to be able to react, was the van... so I used it the best way I could." He said, sighing slightly. "And, well, the machete helped."

Clementine continued to stare at him for a while, until she lowered her gaze toward the blade Lee was holding, still stained with blood.

"I told you you'd better use it. You saved our lives, man. No chance I could have killed that thing." Ben said, and Lee just looked at him, not really able to make a response.

He didn't know how to react to a situation like that.

"...Come on... we'd better get out of here as soon as possible... We have to think about finding a place to spend the night if necessary." Lee said, walking towards the mural in front of the gas station.

"Let's take this map. It might help us. I'm not coming back to this gas station for anything in the world." He said, picking up and folding the map.

"I'm with you on this one." Ben said, looking around as Lee put the map away in the backpack.

He looked at Clementine once more, in a silent question if she was all right. The girl nodded, though her hand was on her shoulder, which had bled again when Ben had pulled her back earlier. Not that it was the boy's fault.

The girl, for her part, did not look away from him, even when he started to walk away. This was the third time he had saved her. Not only that, but he saved Ben, too.

That she would not forget... they would not forget.