Sarah parked the van just outside the gates of Prescott, exiting the vehicle shortly thereafter.

Clementine stepped out of the passenger door, raising her hands and walking toward the gate as Javi stepped out of the van with Mari in his arms.

- We have an injured girl! She needs help!

Clementine shouted to the guards at the gate, watching as one of them hurried down the platform and heard his muffled footsteps as he descended the stairs.

A few moments later, the gates were opened, and some guards came out pointing guns in her direction as they approached.

- What happened?

one of the guards asked, watching Javi approach with the girl in his arms, with a certain amount of blood staining both the man's and the girl's clothes.

- She's been shot! Please!

Javi said worriedly, looking at the girl's twisted face in pain.

The guard nodded to Javi, and he walked as fast as he could toward the gates.

Clementine and Sarah looked at each other, and nodded in silence. They could leave now since their part of the deal was already fulfilled, but they decided to follow Javi.

Maybe they felt sympathy towards the man, it was something extremely rare for someone to still have family members alive, let alone as many people as Javi had.

Either he was lucky, or very good at protecting those he cared about.

They went through the gates and saw Javi put Mari on a stretcher just in front of the hospital wing, where Eleanor crouched down right next to the girl and began to examine her wound.

Clementine saw Tripp walking towards her with a confused look directed at Javi.

- What happened? I thought you would be long gone by now.

He asked, giving Clementine a quick glance before turning back to Javi, more specifically, to the bloodied girl.

- She was shot. We found the guy being kidnapped by one of those marked people, we agreed to help get him back to his family. A woman was kidnapped, those people tried to take both of them as well. The girl was shot in the process.

Clementine explained, walking towards Javi with slow steps, not wanting to get too close.

- Is she going to be okay?

she heard the man ask, and Clementine leaned against the wall ahead of her, crossing her arms as she watched the scene in front for a moment.

- She lost a some blood, but all things considered, she'll be fine. I just need to remove the bullet and close the wound.

Eleanor said, taking some objects from inside a first aid kit.

Clementine heard the relieved sighs, both from Javi and the boy whose name she had forgotten.

"Lucky" - She thought as she looked at Javi's back.

- It's kind of weird, you know, looking at a complete family again... well, almost complete.

Sarah said beside her, and Clementine looked at her slightly curious. She understood what the girl meant by that, they were surprised enough that Duck still had Kenny and the other way around. Now to have the whole family still alive, in a world like that, was really impressive.

- Yeah, I hear you.

Clementine said as she looked again at the girl, who was now groaning loudly in pain as she felt the clamp pierce her shoulder and catch the bullet lodged inside, while Javi and the boy held her by the side.

- It's kind of nice to see this again... not the girl screaming in pain, but a more familiar relationship you know.

Sarah said again, somewhat nostalgically, and Clementine felt that the girl had not been talking to her, but to herself.

She didn't know that Sarah felt so needy, she didn't show it. But Clementine was not surprised, she herself hid her feelings very well, especially the loneliness that practically dwelled in her chest.

After a while, both men stood up with relieved expressions. Javi turned and walked towards the two girls.

- She's going to be fine, thanks to you two. Thank you.

He thanked them, alternating his gaze between them.

Clementine moved slightly away from the wall and uncrossed her arms, giving a quick glance to the girl in front of her, who had her shoulder bandaged by Eleanor.

- No need to thank us. The van was yours anyway.

Clementine said, looking again at Javi, who shook his head.

- No, I mean it. Thank you very much. We didn't have anything we could use to get the bullet out, no medicine or food. It could have been much worse.

He insisted, looking sympathetically at the two girls with a small friendly smile on his lips.

It was nice to be thanked for something once in a while, and not to be cursed at like they were used to.

- They got Kate...

The voice of the boy next to Javi caught the attention of the three of them, who looked at him with heavy eyes.

- I know, Gabe.

Javi said, turning to the boy and placing his hand gently on his shoulder.

- What are they going to do to her, Javi? I-I've always been so rude to her.

The boy said slightly desperate and with a tone of anguish in his voice, regret. He was restless and his hands began to shake slightly.

Both girls knew well how he was feeling at that moment.

- Hey, Kate will be fine! You know her, she's the toughest woman we know!

Javi said, in a futile attempt to calm the boy down. Clementine wasn't sure if the woman would be killed or not. The man had said that they had laws in Richmond, so maybe she would go to jail for a while. A punishment for stealing should not be so heavy, right?

The problem was that there was no way of knowing whether she would be taken to Richmond, which apparently was a decent place, or to the arena, which was somewhere else she didn't know where.

- What if she's not going to be okay?! I mean, you saw the way I treated her last night, one of the last things I said to her was that she's not my mother!

The boy exclaimed again, becoming a little more desperate as the words came quivering out of his mouth.

Javi held him by the shoulders and forced the boy to look deep into his eyes.

- Gabe! Kate can take care of herself, she'll manage. She knows you didn't mean to say those things and she loves you! Getting all worried and desperate isn't going to help. Calm down, all we can do now is wait for Mari to recover and hope that Kate will be fine. As soon as possible, we'll go after her.

Javi explained, and this time his words seemed to have had some effect on the boy.

Gabe dried his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt and calmed down a little, but he was still restless and trembling.

Javi sighed at Gabe's state, he himself was not so different from him, it was obvious that he was as worried as the boy.

Tripp's footsteps caught their attention, who looked away as they watched the man approach.

- I'm sorry about your girl. I'm Tripp.

He said, raising his hand to Javi, who shook it.

- Javier, you can call me Javi. This is Gabe. I'm sorry that we've come into your community in this way, and thank you for helping.

He thanked him, putting his hand behind his head as he sighed heavily after he finished speaking.

- You're welcome, man. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't let you guys in. It's really a shame what happened to your girl.

He said heavily, turning slightly towards Mari, who had one hand on her forehead and was breathing calmly with her eyes closed.

- Yeah... I don't understand why she was hurt... we didn't do anything special when we found those guys.

Javi said, also looking at Mari with regret on his face, but relieved that the girl was okay.

- The marked people, right? We were also attacked by them some time ago, we lost some people. No reason. It pissed me off. But we can' t just go out and hunt these sons of bitches down.

Tripp said sympathetically, crossing his arms in front of his chest while looking at Javi.

- Were you guys attacked too? What's wrong with these people? When we met them, we just wanted some gasoline, we found some stuff, food... we didn't eat anything, we didn't take anything, but they thought we were robbing them and threw me tied up in a fucking truck.

Javi said with a slight tone of anger in his voice.

Clementine was even surprised that he was so calm in a situation like that. She knew that if she were in his place, she would be pissed.

And in a way, she even sympathized with his anger; she herself was angry about what happened to Javi.

Maybe it was because his story was somewhat similar to that of someone she knows.

He was unjustly attacked by some crazy people, almost killed by them, and a person he cared about had been kidnapped and taken to a dangerous place.

Was this a sick joke of fate?

- I don't know what they want man, honestly, I think they are just crazy. It's a good thing you found them.

Tripp said, turning to the two girls behind him.

- Things could have been a little different for you.

He said, turning to Javi again as he put his hands on his waist.

- So, what do you plan to do? You can stay here if you want. You know, until your girl feels better, or as much as you want.

Tripp offered, and Javi looked at him with a certain twinkle in his eye, grateful, and even a little happy.

He had been on the road a long time, perhaps? From the looks of it, it seemed that way.

- Thanks, I... I really appreciate it... but I have to go after Kate. I can't just leave her.

Javi said, staring at the ground and trying to stop his mind from thinking the worst.

- I understand, man. I really do. Well, the offer still stands, for when you find her. You guys can come back as soon as you want.

Tripp said, shaking Javi's hand as he nodded to him, who returned the nod.

- I really appreciate it ... do you have any idea where they might have taken her?

He asked, putting his hands on his waist as he looked at Tripp hopefully.

- Richmond.

Sarah's voice attracted the attention of the three men, who looked at her with arched eyebrows.

- It is possible that they went to Richmond...at least, from what we heard. Clem and I were heading there when we found you Javi, that' why we asked for the van. They also kidnapped some of our people.

Sarah explained, crossing her arms and looking at the men ahead.

- Richmond? Those guys? Are you sure?

Tripp asked, looking at Sarah curiously.

- Yes, why?

- Richmond is a huge community, it has its own laws, the people are decent and follow some strict rules. They grow their own food, they make their own ammo, they have electricity. Everyone here in Prescott has heard of it.

He explained, looking at some guards ahead of him who began to act strangely.

- We heard that too. And it seems that they really are from Richmond, but we also heard about another place, something about an "arena". Entertainment for crazies. They get some people to throw them in to fight for their lives while an audience watches. At least, from what I understand.

Clementine said, watching Javi and Gabe's worried expressions.

-... Holy shit, these guys are worse than I thought.

Tripp said with a sigh, looking at some lights visible through the gaps in the gates ahead.

Like the headlights of some vehicle.

He looked at a guard who was walking towards him.

- I have to take care of something, we''ll talk later.

He said vaguely, walking towards the guard.

- Javi, if this is true then we have to go after Kate as soon as possible.

Gabe said, putting his hand on Javi's arm, making him look at him.

- I know, Gabe. And we will. No way we're leaving Kate in that place.

He said, and looked suggestively at the two girls, as if making a silent request.

- Well, we have the same goal here, anyway. And honestly, I'll take any help, especially if the community is as big as they say it is.

Clementine said, looking at Sarah, who took the van key from her pocket and handed it to Javi.

They talked about a few more things, until Clementine's golden eyes glanced at the movement ahead, and her gaze focused on some men pointing their guns at something outside the gates.