Lee crouched down just behind some bushes, observing what all the screaming was about.

Further ahead, a man was on the ground, with blood pouring out of his stomach, creating a small pool of blood just below where he was kneeling.

A woman was hugging a little girl tightly in her arms, covering the little girl's eyes as she tried to get away from three armed men who were walking towards the man.

- You shouldn't have stolen from us.

one of the men said.

Lee watched the men carefully, they were in decent clothes, compared to today's standards. They looked quite healthy, all of them had pistols in their hands.

No sign of a knife, one of them only had an iron bar on his back.

- What did you think would happen, huh? Steal our food, take two of us with you.

Another man said, this one had short brown hair, was not very tall, and had a scruffy beard. He crouched down right in front of the wounded man, pulling his head up hard, forcing him to look at him.

- They... they are not... anyone's property... they don't want to be around people like you anymore.

The wounded man replied, receiving a punch in the face just after he finished speaking.

Lee looked around, making a mental map, thinking about the best way to approach them.

There were three of them, unaware of his presence. They had no heavy weaponry and were focused on humiliating an injured man.

It would not be difficult, if he was careful.

The shot would surely attract zombies to that place, so he had little time. In a normal situation, he would just wait for the dead to arrive, and use them to his advantage, however, the lives of a child and a woman, not too old, were at risk there.

He was practically obligated to act fast in that situation, he didn't want to leave them even more at risk than they already were.

Walking slowly to the side, Lee focused his eye on the men. Two of them were only a few steps behind the man saying something to the guy on the ground.

Lee slowly approached from behind, he would need to be agile as he didn't have two hands to easily carry out his plan. He always tried to save as much ammo as he could, he would try to eliminate one of them with his knife, hopefully two.

Ammo was getting harder and harder to find, every bullet counted.

But he was already used to dealing with situations like these, having one arm less made his life more difficult, but he didn't need it that much. He could manage, even when he was like that, and that was good enough.

The woman then looked at Lee, watching him with wide eyes. He looked back at her, putting his index finger over his mouth, signaling her to be quiet.

The woman was clearly confused, but did as she was signaled.

Lee stood up, and in one swift movement, he plunged his knife into the neck of one of the men.

The man next to him noticed and tried to turn away, but Lee kicked him in the leg, bringing him to his knees.

Quickly, Lee grabbed the pistol from the hand of the man he had stabbed, and fired twice, once at the man next to him, and once at the last guy.

Two clean shots in each head.

He watched the bodies of the men lying on the ground with a certain disdain. His eye then fell on the man struggling to get up, groaning softly in pain.

Lee walked toward him and crouched down, ripping off part of the man's blouse and pressing on the wound site, looking at the wound on his stomach, momentarily ignoring the surprised and incredulous look on the woman's face.

As well as the girl's confused, frightened, and curious look.

-You, take some bandages and gauze I have in my backpack, it's in the small pocket.

Lee said authoritatively, looking quickly at the woman ahead of him.

She was confused for a moment, and a snap echoed through her mind.

She stood up and did as Lee asked.

He took the objects that the woman had extended toward him, made a pile of bandages, and placed them over the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

-You've lost a lot of blood, and I didn't see any place where the bullet came out, which means it's still inside you.

Lee said, staring into the suffering eyes of the man below him.

-Fuck... that's great...

The man said between his teeth, perhaps out of pain, or anger.

Maybe, even both, mixed with a bit of irony.

- The external bleeding is not the problem, you are bleeding internally, your stomach was probably pierced, the bullet could have shattered as it entered and damaged other organs. I am not a doctor, nor do I have the necessary supplies to help you, partner. I'm sorry.

Lee said, changing the bandages after they had become soaked with blood. The man was getting paler and paler, and looked weaker by the second.

He had lost a lot of blood, there was nothing Lee could do in that situation.

-No... don't worry... thank you.

The man thanked him, coughing violently after saying those words.

He spat a certain amount of blood over his chest, breathing with some difficulty.

Lee's gaze fell on the little girl a few steps beside him.

She had both arms behind her back, and was looking at Lee curiously.

He thought it strange, she was not affected by seeing three dead bodies around her, much less seeing a man dying right in front of her. She just stood there, looking at Lee intensely, completely ignoring the man on his deathbed.

-I don't know who you are... and I know well... I know well that this request is rather... absurd in this day and age.

The man's weak voice drew Lee's attention back to him.

- But... take... take them away from here... to the north... other of our friends have gone there... a place called Wellington... the further away from those men... the better.

Lee stared at him intensely, thinking about the man's words.

He was not in the mood to play bodyguard to two strangers, but he would not forgive himself if he left a little girl and a clearly affected woman to die.

- What?

The woman asked, somewhat uncertainly, looking suspiciously at Lee.

He didn't blame her, although if he really wanted to hurt her, he would have done it long ago.

In fact, he wouldn't even have bothered to try to help, if that had been the case.

-I was going there anyway.

Lee answered after a few moments of silence, ignoring the woman's incredulity, watching the man's pained but relieved expression.

- Pete, we don't even know this guy.

The woman said, and only now, looking more closely, could Lee see that she was somewhat young.

Maybe too young to be the mother of that little girl. Or maybe not, appearances can be deceiving.

- Well... he helped us... and spent precious supplies... on me, trying to save me... bandages are hard to find these days... if he wanted to hurt us, he would have done it already.

He answered, and Lee could see that he had spent a great deal of energy to say those few words.

- Brenda... remember what I said... you are smart... but you can't avoid this forever.

She crouched down slightly beside Lee. Her dark hair gently touched his face. The woman's light green eyes looked sadly at the man. But she didn't answer him.

- Look... you are going to die, and we have to get out of here as soon as possible... do you want me to take care of this?

Lee asked, taking the knife and raising it slightly, making the man's tired and weak eyes stare at the bloody blade for a while.

-That would be great... I already said what I had to.

He answered faintly, putting his head on the ground and closing his eyes, just accepting his fate.

Lee didn't hesitate, in one quick swift movement, he stabbed his knife into the man's temple, killing him quickly.

Lee removed his blade from the man's skull and stood up, wiping the blood that soiled his knife on his clothes.

He turned and looked at the two girls, somewhat unsure of what to do.

- This place will be infested with zombies soon, we have to go.

He said after a while, walking towards the bodies of the men and picking up his weapons, putting them in his backpack.

He looked quickly at the two, who took their respective backpacks. They were somewhat different from each other.

The older one looked at him with a mixture of distrust and gratitude, with a slight hint of curiosity in her gaze. She looked serious, but Lee didn't blame her, she had probably been through a lot, with those few visible scars on her small body as proof.

The younger one, on the other hand, was an unknown. She looked at him with curiosity, even a hint of admiration and excitement, as if she was happy to see him, or something like that. There was something strange about her, an air, somewhat uncomfortable to Lee.

She seemed a bit gloomy, despite her "pure", harmless appearance.

She was wearing a thin white blouse, with some pink details. A pair of light jeans and sneakers.

The girl, like the other, had straight black hair that fell to just below her neck, her greenish-brown eyes staring steadily into Lee's one eye.

He sighed and looked up at the sky. It was still afternoon, with a few hours of light, but it was already good to look for a place to spend the night, hopefully far from there.

- Do you have any weapons?

he asked, turning to the two again, alternating his gaze between them.

They both shook their heads negatively.

- They wouldn't let me have a gun before, and only Pete had one, well, now it's with you in your backpack.

Brenda replied, crossing her arms in front of her chest and saying with a strange intonation.

They had been walking for some time, with Lee taking the lead. He hoped to reach some place safe enough to spend the night, or even a good enough place to set up a small camp. There weren't many zombies in the forest, at least not that he knew of.

The few that were supposed to be there were probably attracted by all the noise at the airport.

- What is your name?

Lee had his thoughts interrupted when he heard a childish voice next to him. He turned his head, and looked curiously at the little girl who was staring intensely at him, walking right beside him.

- Lee. And yours?

He answered, smiling friendly to the girl, who kept her face unchanged.

- Alice. That's Brenda over there.

She answered, pointing to the girl following behind, too suspicious of Lee to approach, but at the same time smart enough not to move too far away.

- Those are beautiful names.

He said, looking away from the girl and observing the surrounding trees, making sure there were no zombies around.

- Are you alone? Where is your group?

She asked again, curious, without taking her eyes off Lee.

- I... we got separated... we had a little accident.

He answered, rather vaguely. The whole accident at the airport had happened a few hours ago, on the same day, it was a bit delicate to touch on that subject, even more so when he had lost a valuable friend, and the other friend was missing.

But, Lee was positive that Kenny was alive, he could tell that firmly in his voice.

-Aren't you afraid? You know, of being alone here against the monsters?

she asked after a few moments of silence, causing Lee to look at her with a small smile.

- There's no reason for me to be afraid of the dead, honey, they're dumb, and we're smart, we're smarter than all of them. They are easy to deal with.

Lee replied, looking at the girl who had a strange glint in her eyes.

Lee looked forward, picking up his knife as he spotted a cabin up ahead, where a dirt road led to the road a few miles away.

- Stay behind me.

He said, walking slowly towards the cabin.

His eye fell on a rock a few steps ahead of him. He put his knife back in his belt and picked up the stone.

In one precise motion, he hurled the stone toward the cabin, hearing the sound of the door being hit by the rock.

He stood still for a while, trying to hear the footsteps of a zombie, or any other noise.

But, he heard nothing.

He straightened his posture and picked up his knife again, nodding for the girls to follow him.

Lee stared into the flames that danced softly in front of him, his one arm straightening the embers of the fire, making the fire a little higher, but low enough not to attract attention.

He glanced quickly to the side, focusing his eyes on the empty bean cans that were a few steps away.

Lee sighed slightly as he looked into the darkness of the forest, letting himself be momentarily consumed by the intense blackness, feeling that strange sensation spread through his stomach.

It was almost as if the darkness was staring back at him.

- What are you looking at?

Alice asked, looking at Lee curiously. She was only a few steps away from him, and Brenda was leaning on a tree further back, staring at the ground.

- I... nothing, it's nothing.

He answered half-heartedly, putting the wood back on the fire.

-How old are you?

she asked, seeming determined to hold a conversation with him.

- 37... or 38, I don't even know anymore. How old are you?

He was thoughtful for a while; in fact, he didn't even know how old he was, at least not exactly.

- I turned 11 last month.

She answered, almost humming.

-Do you have kids? Family?

She asked, and Lee's eyes widened in surprise, feeling his body lock up at the question.

-I... ahm, where are your parents? In the camp you were in?

he asked, changing the subject. It wasn't as if he couldn't talk about his family, it was that his current situation was somewhat... complicated.

His blood family was dead, and those he considered family were missing.

- No, they died some time ago.

She answered, but strange enough, there was no sadness in her voice, nothing at all, actually. She was neutral about it.

Lee found it strange at first, but he couldn't really blame her, the world has changed different people in different ways.

- I'm sorry to hear that.

He said with a sigh, lifting his head and looking up at the few visible stars in the sky.

-You didn't answer my question.

She said, and Lee smiled slightly.

"Deja-vu," he thought, remembering the similar questions Clementine had asked him when they were in his parents' pharmacy shortly after they met.

- I... don't have a family, not anymore. But I have someone I consider my daughter.

He replied, perhaps he had a soft spot for children, especially children who reminded him of Clementine. He wouldn't answer that way to just anyone.

Brenda, hearing his answer, looked at him, curious.

- Where is she?

Alice asked, swinging her feet slightly as she supported her body with her arms.

- We... got separated due to an incident. I've been looking for her ever since.

He answered, sighing slightly as he remembered the night he asked her to leave him.

- How do you know she is alive?

Brenda asked, which made Lee slightly surprised to realize that she was paying attention to the conversation.

- Because I am alive. And I taught her how to take care of herself.

He answered softly, looking quickly at Brenda and giving a sad smile.

-Did the incident have something to do with your arm? Or your eye?

Brenda asked again, and Lee was surprised, she was a smart girl, apparently.

- ... In a way, yes. I was stabbed in the eye by a son of a ... by an idiot.

He said, interrupting his speech when he realized that he was going to swear in front of a child.

If Clementine were there, she would surely scold him.

- What about the arm?

Alice asked, looking curiously at Lee's arm.

- I was bitten. I cut it off before it was too late.

He answered, observing the surprised looks on both girls' faces.

- You cut it off?! By yourself?!

Brenda asked, almost in disbelief.

- Yes. I wasn't in a situation where I could call for help. I just looked at my arm, then at my machete, and made a decision.

He answered, vividly remembering the pain he felt when he did that.

- It must have hurt like fuck. I don't know how you did it.

Brenda said, ignoring the strange look on Lee's face as he heard her curse.

- I had to.

He said vaguely, not wanting to relive the pain he had felt before.

- Did you teach her to kill?

Alice asked, and Lee looked at her.

If it had been before, he would have looked at her with wide eyes, but hardly anything made him incredulous these days.

And hearing a little girl ask something like that was nothing new.

-Yes, both zombies and people. That's why I know she's alive, even if it seems impossible to happen.

He answered after some time in silence, looking at some fixed point ahead.

-Where did you learn to kill?

Alice asked again, looking at Lee with the same intensity she had looked at him before.

He was thoughtful for a while, perhaps wondering if he should answer the girl or not.

-Honestly, I don't know. I guess I'm just... good at it.

He answered truthfully.

It took some time for him to get used to this idea, for him to accept that he was like that, for him to accept that he was good at killing.

It had become natural to him, even though his mind hated him for it, killing was easy for him.

Of course, if it was necessary.

-How can one be "good" at killing?

Brenda asked, and Lee had a slight idea of what she looked like.

Judging by the look she had given the weapons when Lee had taken them out of the backpack, and the tone she had used, it was remarkable that she had never shot before.

Or even killed anyone.

- I would like to answer that question, but I don't know. I don't like it, I don't like having the ease of killing, but I have it, and I can only accept it.

He answered, glancing quickly at the pistol at his waist.

Brenda was silent for a while, thoughtfully, and sighed after a few minutes.

- You are different from the men in the camp. They thought they were the tough guys, "who kills the most," that sort of thing. Maybe they thought it made them more intimidating, and in a way it does, but not because they are dangerous, but because they won't hesitate to kill you just to show the others how "tough" they are.

Brenda said, getting up and walking towards the cabin, looking at Lee with a strange glint in her eye.

- But you... you scare me.

she said sincerely. Lee looked at her with an arched eyebrow.

- Why is that?

He asked.

- Because you make it obvious that you are dangerous just by looking, you don't have to shout to the four corners of the world that you are capable of killing. And that makes you a lot more intimidating than the others. Anyone is intimidated just by looking at you, and you have this natural air around you, the air of a dangerous man, of a killer. There's something more to it, but I can't explain it. It's ... strange.

She answered, staring into Lee's eye, before turning and walking back to the cabin.

- And fascinating at the same time.

She said, before walking through the door, leaving Lee stuck in his own thoughts for a while, having those words repeating themselves over and over in his mind.

"...Have I changed that much?"- He asked himself, being startled by his own change.