- Hey guys.

Brody greeted her as soon as she saw Aasim and Louis walking towards the school, and as soon as she called out, they turned and looked at her.

- Ahm, hey girls.

Louis greeted, walking towards them.

- What happened with the trap?

Violet asked, looking at a rope that had been cut further ahead, just beside a tree.

- That's what we wanted to know, someone is sabotaging our traps. We found this page from a Bible next to one of them.

Aasim said, taking a page from his pocket and showing it to them. Clementine arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

From their reactions, this was not supposed to happen.

- Monster.

AJ's voice caught their attention, and they looked to where he was pointing. Further ahead, a zombie was trapped upside down in one of the traps.

- What? We didn't kill that one. We wouldn't leave him stuck in our trap.

Violet said, walking towards the zombie and pulling him out of the trap, looking at the rusty metal pipe that pierced his skull.

- Most of our rabbit traps are broken, or empty. We didn't get anything.

Aasim said, handing the "bible" cigarette to Clementine, who looked at it with some interest, although it didn't seem to be a big deal.

- Is someone robbing us?

Brody asked, a little nervous.

- Well, at least we won't starve to death.

Louis said, putting a hand on his waist as he put his "Chairles" on his back, looking somewhat neutrally at the ground.

- But still. Someone disarmed the traps, stole the rabbits you caught. I would be worried enough to check the surroundings. Leave more people on guard.

Clementine said, tossing the cigarette aside and looking at the group.

- Fuck, that's ... fuck ... fuck!

Clementine looked at Brody with an arched eyebrow. The girl was starting to hyperventilate, and that was a rather strong reaction for just some bandit.

Sure, their lives might be at risk, as well as all the food they found, but hyperventilating without at least more information about what happened was a bit... odd.

- Any idea who it is?

Clementine asked, looking at Brody, who seemed to get a little more nervous.

Brody didn't answer, she didn't even seem to hear her, and if she did, she didn't want to answer.

"I'll take that as a yes..." Clementine thought, looking around.

Violet looked at her for a few moments, before walking toward her.

- We'll be fine. You're just having a panic attack.

Violet said, standing beside the girl and looking at Louis, who did the same.

- How long has it been since you've had contact with anyone else?

Clementine asked softly to Aasim, who was standing next to her. The boy looked at her curiously for a while before turning his gaze to Brody.

- About a year ago, I think. Marlon said he saw someone looking for food, and helped. After that, we never found anyone else.

He answered after a while, and that was enough for her.

"A year, about the same period that the two sisters died... is Brody involved?" Clementine thought, looking neutrally at the girl, who was speaking something nervously to Violet, before turning and walking towards the school.

- I still think someone should stay here and check the surroundings. Whoever this person is, surely knows where the traps are, in other words, knows the terrain.

Clementine said, watching Brody go through the school gate.

- We'll have to check this with Marlon.

Louis said, turning to her.

- You can talk about this later, I'll check the surroundings. The chances of this person coming back are high, so maybe he, or she, or they are still around.

Clementine said, checking the ammo in her pistol before turning toward the forest, starting to walk toward the rabbit traps.

- Whoa, wait. You can't just leave like this without Marlon's permission. And why do you think you should go?

Aasim asked, looking at her with incredulity on his face, causing Clementine to sigh softly.

- One, I haven't decided yet whether or not to stay with you, so Marlon is not my leader yet. Two, I have one gun, Marlon has the second, and AJ has the third. Three, I've dealt with similar situations hundreds of times, so I think I have more experience than you in dealing with these kinds of people, right?

She said, putting one hand on her waist and looking boredly at him, who remained quiet.

Seeing that there was no answer, she turned and walked towards the forest, with AJ at her side, leaving the two boys standing in the same place without knowing what to say.

- Aasim?

Louis called after a while, getting over his "initial shock".

- Yes?

- I think I'm in love...

Louis said with a distant expression, staring at the path Clementine had followed.

Aasim made a strange expression and looked at Louis, just before sighing and turning around, walking towards the school.

(...)

- But why not?

AJ asked with a disgusted expression, crossing his arms.

- Because it could be dangerous, AJ. You know how it is whenever we deal with other people.

Clementine replied, putting both hands on her waist and looking at AJ seriously.

The boy sighed and bowed his head in defeat, grumbling softly.

- But I also have a gun, so at some point or another I'll have to go with you.

He insisted, and Clementine sighed slightly, kneeling down to the boy's height.

- When that time comes, I'll tell you. But for now, remember what I said?

she asked, placing a hand gently on AJ's chin and lifting his head to look at her.

- You deal with people, and I can deal with monsters... if I need to.

He replied with a low tone, and Clementine smiled slightly, even though the boy was clearly displeased.

The girl stood up and looked around, and then her eyes focused on a tree farther away, more specifically, on one of its branches.

It was not such a dense forest, and that tree was a little further away from the others. It probably had a good field of view from up there.

- You know what? I'll let you cover me.

She said, nodding her head to the side and walking towards the tree, with AJ right behind her with a confused look on his face.

- You'll be my eyes. If you see any walker, whistle the way I taught you. If you see someone coming up behind me, yell... but only if they are far away from you.

She said, crouching down and waiting for AJ to climb on her shoulders, and then she stood up, and looked at the boy climbing up to the branch.

Low enough for him to jump to her, too high for anyone to catch him.

- What if he's close?

Aj asked, taking the revolver from his belt and checking how much ammo he still had.

-Only shoot if necessary, if he's pointing a gun at me and I don't notice. But only if it's absolutely necessary, understand?

She said in a serious tone and AJ nodded in agreement.

Clementine sighed slightly and turned around, walking towards the destroyed rabbit traps.

They were in the direction of the abandoned train station, maybe whoever did this came from there... but there was a chance that he came from somewhere else, turned around and disarmed the traps.

From the map Marlon gave her, there was no abandoned building that the person could use as shelter on that path, the only building nearby was that hut where they kept the spears.

So, the person who did that was in a makeshift camp in the forest... or, he was using the train station for shelter.

There was no big camp nearby, not that she knew of, and the kids at school had said that no one had been through there for a long time, if there really was a community nearby, they would have found it by now.

Anyway, that was going to take a while.

She looked back, nodding to AJ before following the path, walking at a slow, silent pace through the forest.

Clementine walked for a while through the bushes and small abandoned dirt paths, and definitely had more than one person in the vicinity. Many walkers lay dead on the ground, the little blood that oozed from their skulls was still fresh, and the bodies were scattered over a large area of the forest a few miles from the school. The zombies were lying very close to each other, so a small group of people must have taken care of them, if it had been just one, they would have been more scattered, and it might not have killed them all.

Staying there would be dumb, Clementine looked around one last time before turning to leave, and walking back to AJ.

She had been there longer than she thought, and hadn't found out much, but any information would help.

The girl walked back with cautious steps, looking around all the time.

Some muffled voices echoed through the trees, and Clementine crouched down behind some bushes nearby.

She leaned her body up a little, and watched as three people walked in the opposite direction further ahead. They were too far away for her to see their faces, and all she saw was their clothes, and the weapons they carried.

"Rifles, pistol and shotguns, huh? Heavy weaponry to be from a wandering group, even more so if they have ammo... surely they are from some community... but far from here? Do they have gas for a car?... My car..." The girl thought, slowly walking away from there, still crouching.

As soon as the people were out of her field of vision, she turned and walked with quick steps towards AJ, who was waiting for her with a worried expression, but as soon as he saw her, he relaxed a little more.

- Is everything alright?

He asked, sitting up on the branch and letting himself fall into Clementine's arms, who grabbed him tightly and set him down.

- Yes, I'm fine. Did someone come through here?

she asked, taking AJ's hand and walking quickly back to the school, looking back all the time.

- No one, not even monsters. Did you see anyone?

The boy asked, looking confused at Clementine in all the haste.

- Yes, I saw.

She answered vaguely, looking up at the treetops and grimacing because the afternoon was coming to an end, they had only a few more hours of sunlight.

It was strange when some days went by so fast, and others took forever.

They arrived at the school after a few minutes of walking, where Tenn opened the gates and greeted AJ lightly.

- Clem, you took your time, we were getting worried.

Louis said, looking at her with a relieved expression.

Clementine walked over to the small group, where Marlon was staring at her with a certain glint in his eye... maybe because she didn't give a damn about his orders, but, he would get used to it. For his sake.

- What were you thinking? Going out on your own!

Brody said nervously, a little more uneasy than before.

- I saw three people a few miles away.

She said, watching their surprised expressions analytically.

Marlon seemed to tense up, Brody became even more restless, as if she was terrified of something.

The others, on the other hand, were just surprised.

- They have guns, rifles, I saw a shotgun with one of them. There are no communities around here, right? That means they came from far away, but why would they steal food from some children in the middle of the forest, if they have the resources for such trips?

Clementine asked, looking at Marlon with a "confused" expression, despite all the distrust she felt.

- Did you get to see their faces? Where exactly did you see them?

Violet asked, looking somewhat worriedly at Brody's condition.

- They were too far away for me to see their faces. It was in the forest a few yards from the train station.

She answered, alternating her gaze between Brody and Marlon.

- Did someone follow you?!

Brody asked nervously, walking towards Clementine and looking at her with restless eyes.

- No. They didn't even see me, to tell you the truth.

She answered, arching an eyebrow at the girl's state.

- How can you be so sure?! What the fuck?! What if they come after us?! What if there are more of them?!

She said angrily, changing her tone of voice and looking at Clementine with a mixture of anger and panic.

"She knows them..." Clementine thought, completely ignoring her way of acting.

- Whoa, Brody, calm down.

Louis said, but the girl just ignored him.

- If they are the same people who destroyed the traps, then they already know where we there are more of them, then we need to fortify the place, get more people on guard, cover the blind spots in the school.

If there are more of them, then we need to fortify the place, get more people on guard, cover the blind spots in the school.

Clementine said calmly, putting a hand on her waist and looking at Brody with an unchanged face.

- That's your fucking plan?! You don't fucking know what people are capable of out there!

Brody said, approaching Clementine as she ran her trembling hands over her face.

- Oh really? Think again, Brody.

Clementine said in a cold tone, and the girl stared at her for a moment, slightly sorry for having said that.

- I just, I can't... I won't... not again... not fucking again!

She began to mumble a few things as she looked toward the gates.

Clementine didn't need any more proof than that, she just needed to know more about what, or who, she was dealing with.

- Brody, calm down! They might not even be the ones who disarmed our traps, they might be just passing through, or whatever. Nobody passes through here, if Aasim and I hadn't found Clem and AJ, they wouldn't even be here, for example. It has happened before. You are overreacting.

Marlon said, and Brody looked at him incredulously.

- You're not serious! You know that...

- Let's go somewhere else and talk about this, more calmly.

Marlon tried to say, putting his hand on Brody's shoulder, but the girl pushed him back strongly, causing him to fall to the ground.

She walked towards Clementine with an irritated expression.

- If something happens...

She tried, pointing her finger at her face, but Clementine slapped her hand away sharply and moved closer to the girl, looking her coldly in the eyes, staring deep into her frightened gaze.

- What are you going to do about it?

she asked in a cold tone, causing Brody to look at her startled, and then to turn and walk away from her at a quick pace.

Marlon stood up and looked at Clementine, sighing in a tired way.

- Clem, I know I asked for help... and you helped, you did well to see who we are dealing with, but... fuck!

Marlon said, putting his fingers around his nose and sighing, closing his eyes tightly.

- Look, I understand why the safe zone exists, the name is self-explanatory, but sometimes we have to take the risk. It's better to know what you're dealing with and be prepared, than to underestimate the situation.

She said, putting her hands on her waist and looking at Marlon with an arched eyebrow.

- Yes, I know... it's just not easy trying to get things under control.

He said, looking at Clementine for a few moments, before turning and walking behind Brody.

"And in the end, I didn't know shit" Clementine thought, rolling her eyes internally and sighing.

She turned and walked towards the table in front of her, where a few people were sitting, probably waiting for dinner.

AJ looked at her and gave her room to sit down.

- Don't worry about Brody, Clem. She's just nervous.

Louis said, looking at Omar further ahead.

- Ever since Sophie and Minnie died, she gets that way about everything that happens past the safe zone.

Violet said, resting her head on her hand as she looked at the table.

- As long as she doesn't threaten me, I don't care how she treats me.

She said, leaning her arms on the table.

- Yeah... she probably didn't mean to go that far... and, well, I guess you already taught her not to do that.

Louis said half-jokingly, and Clementine just shrugged.

- Threats are for two things out there. One, to scare the crap out of whoever you captured, or the last survivor of some group you killed. Two, to kill you. The people out there don't wait for you to finish making your threat, they put a bullet in your head, and that's it.

She said, looking at Tenn and AJ, who were chatting amiably.

- And here I thought things were bad enough.

Louis said in a distant tone, watching Omar wave at them.

- Well, I'm going to get my food, and clean up. Talk to you tomorrow.

Violet said, getting up and walking towards Omar.

- Yeah... I'm coming too.

Louis followed soon after.

Clementine looked at them both with a raised eyebrow, shrugging her shoulders shortly afterwards and going to get her food, returning to her seat at the table afterwards.

- Don't worry about them, they're just sad.

Tenn said, drawing her attention. Clementine looked at him for a moment, she hadn't talked to him until now.

- Why?

she asked.

- My sisters died around this time last year. I think it's starting to get to people.

He said in a low tone, looking at Clementine for a few moments before concentrating on his drawing.

- Doesn't it get to you?

she asked, seeing the calmness behind the boy's words.

-Not really. Dying is not scary. It's sad, but not scary.

he answered.

- Turning into a walker is much worse... or being separated from the person you love and not being able to see them again.

She said with a faraway look, not even realizing that she had said too much.

Tenn looked at her a bit confused, but didn't ask anything. He realized that this was a rather delicate subject.

- I try not to focus on the fact that they are gone. I like to draw where they would be now.

The boy said, showing her a drawing.

Five people lined up, with a house in the back, and a tree house. AJ stood up at the table and looked at the drawing with some interest, and a surprised smile on his face.

Clementine focused on the drawing for a moment... the house in the drawing looked like her own house.

- I don't think death scares me because I know there is something waiting for me on the other side.

Clementine stared at him for a while.

For her, after death, everything was over, nothing more would happen, you simply ceased to exist, and that was that.

She had heard about heaven and hell, about paradise, or the afterlife, but honestly, she didn't believe in it.

How could anyone go to paradise if they had to do the worst of atrocities to survive? There were no more good people, that was bullshit.

- Maybe so, maybe not. I guess it's good to believe in something.

She said, still looking at the drawing.

- Who are those two?

she asked, pointing to the two people in the corner of the drawing.

- The zombies that killed them.

He said, and the girl looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

- You want them there too?

- Yes, they were people before they turned into walker. Whatever this place is, everyone has a chance to be a person again.

He said with a dreamy smile, and Clementine stared at him for a moment. He was a good kid, but this was just a kid's dream, there was no such place.

Death had taken over everything.

- What if they were killed by people?

she asked, looking curiously at Tenn's reaction.

The boy stopped drawing and looked at her surprised, and uncertain.

-I would still want them there. People weren't always bad, they just went through bad things, like all of us.

He said, smiling, satisfied with his own answer.

Clementine looked down at the table, wouldn't want to be in the same place as the man who kidnapped her, or Carver, or the people who killed her friends.

She would kill them if she saw them again, even though she knew they were dead.

- If it makes you sleep well at night...

Clementine said, finishing eating and getting up, walking towards the building soon after.

AJ looked at Tenn for a while longer before saying goodnight, walking towards Clementine soon after.