Carley was shooting toward the men as she ran toward her group.
Kenny and Crista covered her, giving her the time she needed to take cover outside the house.
- What the fuck?! How the fuck did they find us?!
Kenny shouted, reloading his pistol and looking at Duck, making sure his boy was okay.
- They must have followed us! I don't fucking know! They're all over town, they must have seen us!
Molly shouted back, poking her pickaxe through the head of one of the men flanking them.
- We've been in the same house for three days now, they've definitely seen us before!
Ben shouted desperately, crouching down beside Molly.
Omid ducked just in time to dodge a bullet that would have hit his head, he gave a shocked yell and stepped away in despair, shooting straight at the men.
They ran down the street, dodging bullets and shooting at both humans and walkers.
They turned a corner, only to be surprised by a few more men with guns pointed in their direction.
Kenny was the first to shoot, killing two men before they shot back, hitting his leg, causing him to fall to the ground.
Crista and Omid took cover, dodging the bullets. Carley grabbed Duck and ran to a store ahead, shooting the few walkers inside.
Ben was the most desperate of them, his shoulder was bleeding, his leg was throbbing, he was shot in two places and felt like he was going to die at any moment.
Before he could run or take cover, he felt a strong grip on his neck and his body hit the ground.
Omid saw the boy being pinned down by a man, and more men approaching from the street they came from.
- Guys! WE HAVE TO GO!
he shouted, shooting at the men coming up behind them.
Kenny heard him, and his eyes immediately went to Duck, standing next to Carley.
The men were approaching fast, and Carley was fighting two " bandits", much bigger than she was.
Kenny raised his gun and shot the men, giving Carley just enough time to break free and run, holding Duck's hand.
Kenny tried to run too, but felt a sharp pain in his head and his gun was thrown from his hand.
He felt a strong grip on his neck and his body went towards the ground.
- Son of a bitch! I should kill all of you right now!
One of the men said angrily, kicking Kenny in the stomach, while other of his friends beat Omid and Ben, and hung Crista, who was struggling violently.
- YOU and YOU, go after the woman and the boy!
He pointed at two of his companions, who ran off immediately afterwards.
- Did any of you see where that blonde girl went? I don't give a fuck who, just look for her!
He shouted, hitting Kenny hard in the head with his gun, knocking him out.
Carley was running as fast as she could through the streets of Savannah, noting the large number of walkers that were attracted by the shooting a moment ago.
She didn't know where she was going, she just ran, wanting to get as far away from those people as she could.
She heard Duck's faint gasp, but didn't slow down, even more so because she saw two men chasing her.
They were far away, but they were faster than she was. Carley had to think of a way to lose them as soon as possible.
Her eyes focused on the road ahead, at the end of the road the forest began, the fence was broken so she had free access into the maze of trees.
With luck, she wouldn't run into any zombies to slow her down, and maybe the men would give up looking for her.
As she entered the forest, she quickly checked her surroundings, making sure there were no zombies around, and running in a random direction when she was sure they were alone.
She kept running for some time, tired and panting, Duck looked as if he would fall at any moment.
A noise not far from them startled Carley, who stopped running and pointed her gun toward the source of the noise.
A blond wig appeared among the leaves, until a girl, also tired, bumped into the two of them.
- Molly.
She said relieved, lowering the gun and feeling her body relax a little more.
- It seems that we were the only ones who managed to escape.
Molly said tiredly, approaching Carley and looking around the forest.
- Well, lucky we found each other then.
Carley tucked the gun into her waistband, temporarily forgetting that they were being followed.
- We can't stay here, there's a cabin not far from here, let's say it's my "safe zone", better than sleeping in town.
They started to walk, but a gunshot echoed through the forest, and both girls felt their bodies lock up.
- Fucking bitches, making us run all the way here! On the ground!
The men approached with shotguns pointed at their heads.
All three slowly knelt down, hands up, while one of the men reached over and grabbed their weapons, tossing them into some random corner, out of their reach.
- Now, don't try anything, if I hear even one word out of your fucking mouth, I' ll blow your brains out.
He said loudly, irritated, aiming the shotgun dangerously close to Carley's head, who avoided eye contact.
A shot cut through the air, echoing through the trees of the forest. The man's body fell back with a dry thud.
The other man despaired and aimed his rifle at the women, but one arm grabbed his head and slit his throat with a machete.
He widened his eyes and brought his hands to his throat, trying futilely to stop the bleeding.
The knife easily pierced the man's skull, and the women could breathe a sigh of relief.
- Carley...
Lee's tired voice echoed through the woman's mind, and she looked at him as if she had seen a ghost.
She stood up and ran toward him, hugging Lee tightly and sinking her head into his neck.
- Oh my God Lee, you're alive... I thought that... after what Kenny did... God, it's so good to see you!
They separated, and Carley looked at him relieved, happy, and an involuntary smile broke out on her lips. The woman didn't even know the right words to say, or if she needed to say anything at all. She looked at all that blood in Lee's clothes, but she didn't kow if she should ask him about it, and she didn't know if she wanted to know.
But still, it worried her.
- Yeah, I'm alive, hurt, but alive.
Lee's brown eyes focused on Duck, who was approaching dull, hesitant, and even with a slightly guilty look on his face.
- It's okay Duck, it wasn't your fault, you don't have to feel guilty.
He comforted the boy, watching as Duck stopped beside him.
- I know but, I'm sorry. Dad he... I can't make up an excuse for him, but he's not a bad man. But what he did...
The boy couldn't find the right words to say either, and he looked down with a gloomy look on his face.
Lee bent down to the boy's height and put his hand gently on Duck's shoulder.
- I know, Duck, I know, and if it's any consolation, I have forgiven your father, I really have. - Lee said
The boy lifted his head and looked him in the eye, happy that Lee had forgiven him, but still with that bad feeling in his chest.
- I know that your father is not a bad man, but you also have to understand that what he did, I won't forget. Not for me, but for Clementine.
The boy, though startled by the man's tone and saddened by what he felt, understood why he felt that way. He couldn't blame Lee for resenting his father, not after that, and deep down, he would find it strange if Lee was still willing to forget what his father did.
- Where is Clementine?
Carley caught Lee's attention, and he stood up, letting out a heavy sigh.
- Some son of a bitch kidnapped her, they came to Savannah. Whoever it is has a lot of people, I came here to get her back.
He said in a hoarse voice, pissed off just thinking about it. Lee bent over the body of the man he had killed and picked up his shotgun.
-what? But why?
Her tone was incredulous, stunned by what she heard.
- I don't know, and I don't care, as soon as I find him I'm going to put a bullet in his head.
He said with a slight irritated tone, searching the body of the other man he had killed.
- You are?
He asked, looking at Molly with a confused expression, getting up and putting some shotgun shells in his pocket.
- Molly, thanks for killing those two idiots.
She thanked him, extending her hand to Lee, who shook it gently.
- Wait, maybe the same people who attacked us were the ones who kidnapped Clementine.
Lee looked at her, confused.
- Why were you attacked?
He asked, and began to look around, checking for other people.
-Ben? Kenny?
- They... I don't know, maybe they were captured, maybe they were killed, all I know is that a large group of people attacked us, they had several weapons, well fed, it's a large community.
She explained, walking to the place where the man had thrown her guns and taking her pistol, putting it in her hip.
- These two didn't kill us, they tried to capture us, maybe they did the same with your friends.
Molly said, taking her pickaxe and putting it in the side of her backpack.
- How big is this community?
he asked, looking at Molly.
- Pretty big, dozens, maybe hundreds of people, they have plenty of supplies, vehicles, firepower.
- Have you ever been inside?
- Before the dead came back to life, yes, it is in a college, next to a church.
She explained, standing next to Carley and looking back at Lee.
-... Can we see it through the forest?
he asked.
- If we go around the city, yes, but the city is quite big, it may take a while to get to a place with a good view.
He explained, and she had a somewhat amused look on her face, as if she had already figured out Lee's plan and didn't believe what he was thinking.
- Whoa, wait a minute Lee, you're not planning on going into that place alone are you? You heard Molly, there could be hundreds of people in there.
Carley looked at him like he was crazy, putting her hand on her waist and saying in a scolding tone.
-Who said I'm going alone? I'll use "their" help.
He gave a slight smile and pointed to two walkers approaching them, earning a confused look from Carley, and a wide smile from Molly, who could already visualize the madness that Lee was thinking
- The college is next to a church, right? Crawford will have hundreds of people dead soon.
- You're crazy. - Molly said, laughing in a strange way
- I know. Can you tell me the way to the college?
- No, Lee you are not thinking this through.
Carley said, drawing Lee's attention to herself.
- Do you even know how you're going to get in without being seen?
- That's why I want to check out the college through the woods. I'm desperate Carley, I know, you have no idea how much I want to run in there and shoot everything that moves, but I'm not stupid, I'm not going to do anything rash.
He said, trying to comfort her, but his voice came out deeper than he wanted, every second that passed without Clementine by his side made him more and more angry.
And the pain he was feeling from his injuries wasn't helping him.
- I can take you there.
Molly said, and Lee looked at her surprised.
- We don't even know each other, why would you do that?
He asked, a little suspicious.
- Well, that asshole with the cap, Kenny, saved my life earlier, and Crawford has had me in his sights for a while. If I get a chance to fuck with that community, fuck it, I'm in, I'll take it and get some of the supplies they have, maybe even a car.
She said, ignoring Lee's suspicious look and crossing her arms.
Lee sighed, thinking of the various plans that were going through his head.
"It would be nice to have a map."
He thought, and his eyes focused on Duck standing next to Carley. He couldn't take Duck with him, but he couldn't leave him alone.
- Duck, did your father teach you to shoot?
He walked over and crouched down to the boy's height.
- No, not yet.
Lee sighed slightly and took the pistol in his waist, handing it to Duck and getting up, looking at the kid who seemed quite scared of the gun in his hands.
- You need to learn how to protect yourself.
-A few hours later-
- Is there another entrance to the place?
Lee asked, crouching behind a bush while looking at the college a few meters away.
- This is the easiest entrance, the wall had broken down some time ago, but they have fixed it, not a very sturdy job if you ask me, but it keeps the walkers out.
Molly answered, standing behind the tree next to Lee.
- What about the sewers?
He looked at her, walking slowly backwards, hidden by the darkness of the night.
-... It might be possible, I don't use the sewers much, once or twice at most.
- Do you really want to do this with only three people?
Carley asked, still hesitant about Lee's idea, deep down she was more afraid of losing him again than anything else.
- It is possible.
He said simply, moving a little further away from where they were standing, going deeper into the forest.
- The plan is pretty simple, the guards around, and a few men who go out looking for supplies have radios with them, I take one of these radios and hand it to Carley, who will monitor the movement inside the college from afar, when it is safe, Molly and I will sneak into the campus, I will remove the small barricade they made on the broken wall and Molly will ring the bell.
He explained on the way back to the makeshift camp they had made, where Duck was waiting with a pistol in his hand and Lee's machete lying beside him.
- Then I'll go in the back way, if Molly is right, and they have been using the second floor rooms as bedrooms, then I'll have some time to look for Clementine. If things get ugly and we can't get back through the sewer, we cover ourselves with walker guts and get out through the hole in the wall.
He finished explaining, taking his machete and putting it around his waist, sitting down a few steps away from Duck, who just watched them quietly.
- That's... Actually not that bad, i mean, it's still pretty bad but, i've heard worse plans. - Molly said, crossing her arms.
- What about the others?
Carley asked, and Lee rolled his eyes internally, his priority was Clementine.
He would do anything to help the others, but only if Clementine were safe, if he was in a difficult situation, or one that prevented him from helping them, he would take Clementine and leave that place without hesitation.
But, despite everything, if he could, he would come back for them.
He hadn't completely lost his humanity yet.
Lee- As soon as i find Clementine, and stick my machete in the head of the bastard who kidnapped her, i'll try to find the others.
He said, his eyes focused on the fire in front of him, thinking of the various ways to kill the man who kidnapped his litle girl.
