Javi observed the interior of the church as he walked towards the two people ahead of him. There was nothing special about the place, although clean and well kept, it was just a normal church.

The entrance doors to the church had closed, and Javi turned back, watching the guards who were quietly approaching him.

He felt uncomfortable, something was wrong.

He turned forward again and looked at the two people who were standing there watching them.

- Clint, Joan, this is Javi.

David said with a fake smile on his face, pointing to his brother next to him.

Javi waved to them both and walked a few steps closer, shaking Clint's hand, who was looking at him gently.

Javi could see the sincerity in the man's eyes, but that changed when he went to greet Joan.

The woman had cold eyes, despite the "warm" smile on her face, and Javi knew it was fake. She was looking at him intensely, as if she was hiding something.

Javi felt as if he had fallen into a trap, now he understood the bad feeling David said he felt.

- Nice to meet you, Javi. David has told us a lot about you.

Joan said, smiling at David and nodding. Clint pointed to the benches next to them, and they sat down, facing each other.

- Where are you from, Javi? I mean, where have you been? Things are not easy out there, I'm surprised you have survived this long. Especially with bandits and all kinds of people out there.

Clint asked, bowing his head as he spoke, and Javi noticed the strange glint in Joan's eyes when the man said that.

- Yes, it wasn't easy, but I managed to handle things. You know, I managed to deal with everyone who attacked us.

Javi replied, teasingly. Joan smiled slightly at that clear attempt, and looked at him amused.

- I don't doubt it, Javi. Outside, there are only the worst kind of people left.

Joan said, crossing her legs and crossing her fingers over her thigh, looking in a strange way at Javi, who didn't feel very comfortable with that look.

- And yet you decide to help? Why?

Javi asked, looking at Clint, who seemed much friendlier to talk to than the woman next to him.

- Because we have hope, Javi. That one day, the world can be as it was before. That's what this mark means.

Clint replied with a slight smile, as if he was proud of his words.

Javi felt slightly irritated by this, Clint seemed like a decent man, and he didn't even know what shit the people in his own community did, or what that mark really meant.

- Don't you think that someone might put all this hope at risk? Harm the community? People who just pretend to be part of something, pretend to be decent and take advantage of you, you never thought that could happen?

Javi asked, avoiding looking at Joan, but catching a glimpse of the small smile she gave. She was too calm, almost as if she already knew what he would try to do.

No matter how he saw it, it seemed that he had already lost without even starting.

- Of course, this is why this person is kept in a more remote area and given more isolated jobs. Besides having guards that watch over them all the time. Some have tried to rob us, to kill some of our people, but in the end things always worked out.

He said, leaning his body slightly forward and propping his elbow on his leg.

- What about you, Javi? I'm curious about you.

Joan asked, drawing the attention of the three men. Javi and David looked at her slightly tense, both with a bad feeling in their stomachs.

- What do you want to know about me?

Javi asked, forcing himself to look at Joan.

- We found David in a rather... complicated situation. We helped him and he proved to be a very decent man

Joan said with a cynical tone, looking strangely at David, who closed his eyes slightly and cursed mentally.

- So, are you as decent as he is? Or are you like the people who want to bring this place down?

She asked, with a manner of superiority that annoyed and worried Javi, who stared at the ground for a moment before returning to eye contact.

- It depends. If people treat me well, I'll be a pretty decent guy. But if they try to kill me, that's a different story.

He answered, with more sincerity than really needed to be said, but that didn't seem to matter in the end. No matter what he might say, he felt that Joan would react the same way.

- Hm, that makes sense. But you see, Javi... I have heard some very peculiar things about you.

The guards in the back pointed their guns at both Javi and David, who stood up, confused.

Clint also stood up, looking at Joan as confused as David himself.

- Joan? What does this mean?

Clint asked, alternating his gaze between Joan, David and Javi, trying to find something that made the least bit of sense to him.

- You killed some of our men, stole our supplies, and came here to kill more. We can't have someone like you among us.

Joan said in a mocking tone, finding the situation they were in amusing.

Clint acquired a confused expression, and looked at Joan and Javi repeatedly.

- Oh really? What about your people, Joan? They kidnapped a woman, shot a little girl. They blew the gates off a commune with a truck full of zombies and executed everyone who lived there... I guess if there's anyone dangerous here, it would be you, don't you think?

Javi said calmly, looking at Clint immediately afterwards, who looked even more confused than before.

- But... what... Joan... is that true?

He asked incredulously, taking a few steps away from Joan as he stared at her strangely.

Joan just looked at him with arched eyebrows for a while, and Clint remained quiet, slightly flustered.

Either he was afraid of Joan, which was extremely unlikely, or he was afraid of something else.

- Yes, you are right. Take them both and throw them "in that place", if they survive, kill them. Aren't you happy, David? You're going back to the place you were so curious about.

She said with a smile of superiority.

Javi looked at David, who had an angry expression on his face.

The guards approached them with guns drawn, and quickly, David turned around, pushing the first guard's arms away, while kicking him in the stomach, pushing him backwards on top of the second guard.

David turns around at the same time as he grabs the pistol at his waist and aims it toward Joan.

However, before he could squeeze the trigger, Clint pushed his hands to the side, causing David to accidentally shoot, hitting the ground, just inches from Joan's foot.

Javi advanced against Clint and kicked him in the stomach, making him bow slightly. David took advantage of the moment and punched Clint in the face, running towards his pistol on the ground soon after.

One of the guards tried to stop David, aiming at him with his rifle, but Javi was quicker and kicked the guard in the face, causing him to fall stunned back to the ground.

The second guard recovered quickly and aimed at Javi, who advanced on him and held the rifle tightly.

They were fighting over the gun, a fight of strength in which Javi was excelling.

He heard a door close behind him and turned his face slightly to the side, glancing at the door Joan had just stepped out of.

In one swift movement, he headbutts the guard, who is slightly stunned. Javi elbows him in the face, causing the man to drop his weapon, and finally kicks him in the stomach, aiming the rifle in his direction soon after.

The church doors open abruptly, and a few more guards appear, already aiming their weapons in his direction.

Javi's eyes widened and he jumped back, grabbing David's shirt in the process and throwing himself on the floor, using one of the wooden benches as cover.

- The back door! Give me the rifle!

David exclaimed, and Javi began to crawl toward the small hallway ahead, handing the rifle to David in the process.

David stood up a little and fired at the guards, hitting one of the four men standing there. The guards took cover and stopped advancing, giving David enough time to get up and run toward Javi, who was waiting for him with the door open.

However, Clint threw himself at David, kicking him in the stomach, followed by two punches to the face as he threw his rifle to the side.

David quickly recovers, ignoring the taste of blood in his mouth. He holds Clint's fist and counterattacked with a punch to the stomach.

- Go, Javi!

He shouted, feeling his neck being grabbed by Clint as the guards approached.

Javi cursed loudly and ran out the door, running as fast as he could from there.

(...)

Kenny was looking at the dark, deserted street ahead from the corner of the building he was hiding in. Behind him, Clementine and Javi crouched in front of a small window with bars that prevented their free passage.

- Tripp... Jesus...

Javi called out, watching the two men walk toward the window with surprised, and slightly relieved, looks on their faces.

- Holy shit Javi... and Clementine... we heard some guards talking, it sounds like the whole town is after you and your brother, but what the fuck happened?

Tripp asked in a loud whisper.

- A lot, David has been captured! We have to get out of here.

Javi said, looking at the bars blocking the window.

- Where is that other guy?

Javi asked, grabbing the bars as he looked back at Tripp.

- Some guards arrived, looks like it was time for him to be executed.

Tripp replied, pushing on the bars as Javi and Clementine pulled, removing the metal object a short time later.

- He said he would be fine, that he had a plan "B" in case this sort of thing happened. He sounded very confident.

Jesus said in a light tone, being the first to pass through the small window, and helping the others to pull Tripp out, who was very, very close to not getting stuck.

It would be a funny scene to watch.

- It's good to know you haven't abandoned us, Clementine.

Tripp said with a slight tone of irony as he looked somewhat suspiciously at Kenny, who was still watching the street.

Clementine grumbled softly and rolled her eyes.

- I told you to go around, get a better look at the perimeter. But no, you decided to go after Conrad.

she said, walking towards Kenny, who nodded at her.

Tripp stared at her for a while, sighing afterwards, recognizing that he should be a little calmer, he had been working on his temper for so long just for situations like this.

- And who is this?

he asked, controlling his tone of voice more. Kenny turned and looked at them.

- This is Kenny, he's part of my group.

Clementine said, talking with Javi about the route they should take to get to the apartment David mentioned.

- I'm Tripp.

He introduced himself, holding up his hand, which Kenny shook firmly and nodded to him.

- I'm Paul. But my friends call me Jesus.

He introduced himself, also shaking Kenny's hand, who raised an eyebrow.

- Jesus, huh? Well, we kind of need a miracle.

He said with an amused sigh, looking at Clementine, who was approaching them.

- Okay, there aren't many guards on the streets right now, if we stay low and quiet, we'll get there in no time.

Clementine said softly, walking back towards Javi. They looked at each other for a moment, then followed the girl.