Thanks for the help, gaara king of the sand.

I hope everyone is staying safe through the chaos going on, and continues to stay safe.

Please enjoy the chapter.


The next few minutes were followed by a tense silence.

"What's going on? What the hell was that?" Becca asked again as she stepped into Clementine's room.

"Another reason to get the hell out of here." Christa said.

The raid sirens began to loudly blare moments later. Clementine flinched as the twins began crying and AJ whimpered.

When the sirens wailed, almost immediately it was followed by the distant sound of gunfire.

"Sarah, get away from the window." Kenny ordered from the other room.

"W-What's happening?" Sarah stammered, shaking a bit.

"What the fuck is going on?" Becca inquired.

Suddenly the sound of gunfire filled the air and more explosions shook the ground.

"We need to get out of here." Christa said.

"No really?" Becca scoffed. Christa was not amused by her sarcasm.

The three adults quickly got the babies out of their cribs and ushered all the children into the living room.

"What do we do now?" Sarita asked.

"Find a way out." Christa replied.

"What about Danielle and Gill. We need to make sure they're okay." Clementine said.

The sounds outside were frightening. Clementine wondered if people were dying out their right now. She had hoped it was just a drill, but those gunshots confirmed that they were really being attacked…

Kenny slammed the windows of the living room shut. Then he and Christa went around the house making sure each window and door was secure.

The twins and AJ were crying from all the noise. Clementine felt sick to her stomach. She was already weak and dizzy from her fever, why did this have to happen now.

The danger of the situation alarmed them.

"I'll go find them. The rest of you stay here." Kenny said.

"I'll go with you. I'll watch your back." Christa said. "The rest of you pack up and be ready to move."

"We're gonna need more supplies than what we have now." Sarita said. "How will we get more supplies? The whole town's been rationing…"

"Edith should know where they keep supplies." Christa said.

"If you get caught, they'll kill you." Sarita said nervously.

"We just have to not get caught then." Kenny replied.

The sound outside grew louder, and Clementine caught Christa's arm in fear, "Let me come with you."

"You have to stay here, Clem." Christa placed a hand over her forehead. "And you need your medicine. Your fever's spiked."

"I don't care about that. I need to make sure my friends are okay." Clementine said.

Christa ignored her and went to grab the medicine before returning to the girl. "Take this. It should drop your fever."

Clementine obliged, taking the medicine before trying to stand from the couch. "I'm going with you. I need to make sure everyone's okay…"

"No, Clem, stay here where it's safe." Christa said.

"I don't want to…" Clementine complained.

"You have to, darlin'. You can't come with us." Kenny said.

"But we can't just stay here and do nothing." Clementine said.

"Yes, you can. You stay here where it's safe." Christa said.

"It's not safe here." Clementine argued.

"This is what that survival school was for! So, we know what to do in a situation like this. We can help." Becca said.

"No." Kenny shook his head. "You stay here and keep an eye on the little ones. We'll be right back."

Not allowing room for any further argument, Kenny and Christa grabbed their weapons and went charging out.

Clementine felt her heart drop as Becca glared at the door.

"This is complete bullshit. What are we supposed to do, we can't just sit around while all of this shit goes on; We gotta do something!" Becca said

"We're going to." Sarita said. "I need you girls to pack up as much supplies as you can carry."

"Got it." Becca agreed. She wanted to do more but this was a start.

Clementine and Becca started pack, Sarah seemed frightened and hung in the living room with the babies.

Fearful as she was, Sarita kept herself busy by preparing AJ a snack, to keep the whimpering toddler calm, while the kids packed up supplies.


Soldiers fired at the gateway, reacting out of instinct and fear, rather than hope to hit someone.

Bodies and debris covered the streets.

Everywhere people ran, screams of children and adults alike echoed through town. All around them people were fighting, some with guns, some with knives or with fists.

Tear gas burnt their eyes, forcing them to water. Walkers were invading the town, killing people who hadn't been gunned down by these raiders.

Armored vehicles blasted at one another.

Things were frenetic and chaotic. Non-combatant civils were simply trying not to die. Christa noticed the same kids that had once picked on her girl were sobbing uncontrollably, practically pissing themselves and throwing up.

Children were being used as mule to bring gear and ammo to guards. Some were awkwardly carrying guns, shooting at the intruders with barely any control of their fire. Kenny and Christa felt sick. They were glad they hadn't brought the kids outside.

Any normal person would have been upset about killing kids. Children were valuable. But these intruders gave no thought about who they were shooting.

They wanted to help, but they knew they'd be no match. Watching how these people gunned down children without a care made Christa want to vomit herself.

"We need to get the hell out of here." Christa said. "We grab whatever we can, get back to the kids, and get the fuck out."

Kenny didn't have the time to answer before people were firing in their direction, forcing them to take cover.

They were going to have to fight back or die trying.


The group was tense and silent as rioters continued to ransack the town. There was more sounds of gunfire and explosions.

Sarah had crawled under the table for safety and was shaking.

"Come out from there. You being a scaredy-cat isn't helping us." Becca said.

It had been a while since Kenny and Christa left. They packed a bunch of stuff and grabbed a large wagon from the backyard to put the babies in. Clementine made sure to grab Aleena's portable oxygen tank and her own medicine and her stuffed bear. They were now taking cover in the living room. They waited as long as possible, but patience was running out.

After several more explosions, the glass windows from the bedroom blew in. Suddenly they heard banging against the front door. They all flinched.

"Open up! We know you're in there!" An unfamiliar voice exclaimed.

Sarita panics. "We need to get out of here."

More banging came against the door. It was harsh, they were clearly trying to break the door down.

"We have to get out the back door." Sarita said to the children.

They quickly put the twins and AJ into the wagon as cries filled the room.

"Come on, Clem." Sarita helped the child up, grabbing the girl's crutches and putting them on her. Sarita then knelt to Clementine's level. "Look at me. I need you to run as fast as you can."

"Y-Yeah. I will…" Clementine said.

"Good. Get to the back door. All of you." Sarita said.

"Wait, you're coming too! We can't just leave you. Come with us!" Clementine argued.

"I'll catch up. Run as fast as you can and don't look back." Sarita ordered.

Clementine froze, "Bu-But…"

Tears streamed down Sarah's face as she trembled.

Suddenly one of the windows broke and some kind of smoke bomb was thrown inside, obstructing their view.

"Please go… It would kill me if anything happened to you." Sarita said. "I'll be right behind you. Run."

And they did. She lied to save them.

She said don't look back, but Clementine did. She looked back just as the door broke and someone climbed through the window. Not but a few seconds later, did a gunshot rang out. Clementine knew Sarita was gone… No, dead…

Taking a deep breath with pinpricks of fear running down Clementine's spine, they ran as far as possible from the house.


Gunshots echoed outside, they could hear windows breaking and people screaming.

The kids are all terrified, especially Sarah. Their ears were ringing from all the chaos going on around them. The babies are screaming and crying.

"We have to find Kenny and Christa!" Clementine said.

Wellington was a huge town; they could be anywhere.

"They… They said they were going to find Gill and Danielle. We should check their houses." Clementine said.

Becca simply nodded in response.

Wellington was littered with corpses. Some were in their homes, many in the streets.

The smell of gunpowder tickled her nose. She worried that inhaling all this would harm her babies, especially Aleena. Clementine heard bullets sound past her, one grazing her cheek, she quickly smacks into the wall of a nearby house to get behind cover. The others quickly follow suit, Becca trying to shush the crying babies. Clementine spent a moment, trying to pinpoint exactly where the shots were coming from.

When Clementine felt the coast was clear, she urged her friends to continue onward.

They noticed broken glass, scrambling bodies, and punctured flesh. They were forced to step over the mangled bodies of some of their own classmates.

The explosions drowned out the sharp noise of gunfire.

Someone fired shots in their direction, but the bullets whizzed past them. Fortunately, whoever was shooting at them had bad aim.

The girls were shocked by the horror of the situation. Fire devoured the town like a hungry serpent, spreading from building to building, while residents scrambled to find some sort of protection from the attack, only to be gunned down the minute they stepped outside.

"We're gonna die..." Becca mumbled to herself.

Clementine hoped she was wrong.

The scene was horrific to watch, people writhing on the ground, or running around pleading for help, only to be permanently silenced by a bullet.

They were powerless to do anything but watch and flee. They rush towards Gill's house to find the boy outside in a panic.

"Are you okay? Where's Patricia?" Clementine asked the boy.

"She's at the hospital! I gotta find her!" Gill exclaimed.

"We need to check on Dani!" Clementine said.

Gill looked around frantically. "I gotta find my mom! She's at the hospital! I can't leave her alone through all this!"

"We'll go with you!" Clementine seized his arm. "Just-"

"No! I can't wait!" Gill shoves her back and without another word runs off.

"Gill!" Clementine frowns and tries to go after him only to be stopped by Becca.

"No, let's go find Danielle. Gill will be fine!" Becca said.

"You don't know that. He's my friend. I can't let him go alone." Clementine argued.

"We don't have a choice. Unless you wanna get shot, we gotta keep moving." Becca said. "If he wants to dig his own grave, let him…"

Clementine was hurt but kept quiet. She just hoped Gill would be okay.

They did their best to keep behind cover and out of view. It was hard to keep themselves unnoticed with three babies crying in a wagon. They were more than relieved when they finally made it to Edith's house.

Becca rushed forward without hesitation and banged on the door.

"Oh shit, they're here! Danielle, stay back!" Edith's voice was heard from inside.

"Edith, Danielle, it's us! Let us in!" Becca called.

Edith opens the door and aims her gun. But lowers it upon seeing them. "Are you guys okay? Where's Christa, Kenny, and Sarita?"

"Christa and Kenny said they were coming to find you. I don't know where they are..." Clementine said.

"Get inside, hurry." Edith quickly rushed the children inside.

Danielle immediately rushed over to Clementine and hugged her friend. "Are you okay?"

"I… I'm fine…" Clementine returned the hug, she could feel her friend trembling, she was sure she was too.

"S-Sarita's dead..." Sarah suddenly stammered.

"Wh-What?" Edith asked, eyes wide in horror and shock.

"They shot her..." Becca said.

"Oh my god..." Edith frowned.

"Who the hell are these guys? Why are they attacking us?" Becca asked.

"It's one of the groups we sent away-they're back. And now they're armed. This is bad, guys. There's a lot of them. Too many of them. I don't like the looks of it." Edith explained.

"How bad is "bad"?" Clementine asked as she and Danielle broke their hug.

""Pack your stuff and be ready to run" bad." Edith replied.

"What do they want from us?" Clementine questioned.

"More than we can give... And now they're angry. They got a lot of cars and they're seriously pissed off. This is...gonna get ugly, I know it." Edith said.

"It's already really ugly out there… It's awful…" Becca said.

"Shit…" Edith mumbled.

"What do we do?" Danielle asked.

"We need to get out of here..." Edith said. "There's a little building by the hospital where we can get supplies. We can get medicine for Aleena there too…"

Clementine nodded. "Take us there."


Things were taking much longer than they would've hoped. Kenny and Christa had been forced to kill a couple of their assailants. When the shootings stopped in the area they were in and they hesitantly emerged from their cover, gun smoking from their recent discharge.

They watched the taillights of vehicles disappear around a bend.

"Alright, we're clear. Let's move." Kenny said.

Christa nodded.

The two made sure to stay low as they maneuvered their way through the town

As they walked through, they were able to see more of the damage. Dead bodies littered the ground around the main gate and more covered the streets of the town. Screams could still be heard from further away.

Smoke filled their lungs and stung their eyes. But they knew they needed to move.

"We- We need to get the kids and get out of here." Christa coughed.

"We should split up." Kenny said.

"I don't think that's a good idea. We should stick together, watch each other's backs." Christa said.

"It'll be faster this way. You check out Edith's place. I'll check out Patricia's. We'll meet back at the house and then get the fuck out of here." Kenny said.

Christa tried to protest but Kenny was already taking off.

"Damn it..." Christa huffed.


Edith had led the children out carefully; they stayed quiet and cautious to avoid being spotted. "This way… On my mark, run…"

They waited for Edith's sign, as the woman made sure the area was clear.

"Move, hurry." Edith ordered in a whisper.

They ran to the small brick building. The door at the front entrance had been destroyed. Clementine's legs felt rubbery and weak, her body was moving entirely on its own. She did her best to keep up, she could run with her crutches, but it sure as hell left her exhausted.

As they got inside the building, they quickly grabbed a couple bags full of supplies.

"We don't have much time. Hurry." Edith said.

The children nodded and continue grabbing what they could.

"Check in there." They suddenly heard a voice order. "Kill anyone you see, take their weapons. Take whatever they have on them."

Edith quickly flicked her flashlight off and immediately signaled for them to take cover. Clementine did so, doing her best to keep the babies from crying. The raiders entered the room in pairs, fanning out into the darkened building.

Clementine pressed her back against the wall by the door, from her position she could see several guards firing outside.

As the raiders past them they immediately made a run for it. As they got out of the building, Clementine looked to the hospital wondering if Gill and Patricia were okay. The girl slowed her pace as the others continued towards the gate, gaze on the hospital. When suddenly a loud noise erupted through the air.

The blast knocked Clementine flat and punched the wind from her lungs. She looked to the now blazing building, ears still ringing and still fighting for breath. She stared dully without comprehension at the building for a moment than her eyes grew wide and she screamed.

"Got 'em!" Someone exclaimed. He sounded far away.

All the medicine and supplies gone. Gill and Patricia... Gone...

Clementine screamed, heart pounding in her chest. "My friend's in there! My friend's in there!"

"Get up!" Edith quickly urged as she pulled the child to her feet. "We gotta move. Let's go. Let's go." Edith grabs her and pulls her away.

Once Clementine is walking on her own, Edith takes hold of the wagon that the babies are in and starts running.

They manage to get outside of Wellington as the other residents are gunned down.

"Just-head for-for the woods!" Edith called.

They do as she says.

Gasps of shock come from the girls as Edith was shot in the back once. The woman went down, legs buckling. Then another shot hitting her in the back of the head.

Becca rushed over and grabbed the wagon.

"Edith! Edith!" Danielle rushes over to her guardian shaking her. Sarah is glued in place shaking.

"Nooo!" Clementine exclaims. She quickly checks on the babies who are covered in blood. "Oh, god-you're okay, you're okay, you're okay!"

"We need to move! Danielle, she's gone! We gotta keep going." Becca said, pulling the wagon forward.

"B-But… But-" Danielle stammered, only to feel Becca grab hold on her arm and tug her.

"Come on!" Becca ordered again.

"We can't leave Kenny and Christa!" Clementine protested.

"If you don't want to die, run! We have to keep going!" Becca snaps.

"I see someone! Near the trees! Fuckin' shoot 'em!" They suddenly heard a voice exclaim.

"Move!" Becca said.

They started running towards the woods, leaving behind the town that they once saw as a safe haven.


Kenny did his best to avoid drawing attention. He would kill anyone who fired in his direction. As he headed towards Patricia's house, he would take cover behind trees, or buildings. He was nearly to Patricia's house when he suddenly noticed a familiar figure on the ground. A young boy. Making sure his path was clear, Kenny rushed to the child.

"Fuck, are you okay?" Kenny asked.

The little boy looked up, clutching to his side. "W-Where's my mom?"

"I... I don't know, kid... Look, just stay with me, okay?" Kenny said, putting pressure on the wound. "Just stay with me."

Christa had smelled the gaseous odor of death before, but nothing like this. The sight was a painful one to look at.

The smoke rising from many fires still burning in various parts of the town. Bodies littered the streets; some were burnt to a crisp or smoldering. Blood was splattered onto buildings and the ground.

It was awful.

When Christa had arrived at Edith's house, she was surprised to find the woman and Danielle were both gone. She noticed the place was wreck, it looked as if people had come through, probably searching for more victims.

Christa hoped they got out safely. She had to meet Kenny, Sarita, and the kids back at the house. They would leave this place and never look back.


The town had been in panic. There had been so much going on the only thing anyone could think about was getting to safety.

Clementine fought the urge to call to Christa, not wanting to attract attention.

They needed to find shelter and soon.

"Clem?" Danielle called to her friend. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just worried about Christa and Kenny… I'm wondering if they made it…" Clementine said.

Danielle lowered her head wondering the same. She looked around before looking back to Clementine. "Come on. We need to find shelter."

"Yeah... I just hope they're okay." Clementine said.

"Me too." Danielle said. They continued to walk through the forest.

"Any ideas on where we should go?" Clementine asked.

"Hmm... Not really..." Danielle said.

"Me either..." Clementine sighed. "We're going to get tired eventually. I hope we find someplace soon."

"Same here." Danielle said, taking her friends hand. "We can take a break when we get tired. We'll look out for each other."

Clementine gave a nod. "Yeah, we will."


Kenny continue putting pressure on Gill's wound. This little boy was Clementine's friend, there was no way he would let the kid die, but if they stayed put, they would probably end up getting shot.

"Fuck, kid... we gotta move." Kenny scooped the boy up in his arms and began running.

Gunshots rang out behind him on the way in, and he could hear some of the rounds whistling past.

He didn't stop. Keeping a steady pace, he ran towards their house, hoping Christa or Sarita would be able to help the boy.


Kenny and Christa both managed to make it to the house almost at the same time.

Christa was surprised to see Kenny carrying Gill who seemed to have passed out. "What happened?"

"He's been shot. Can you take a look?" Kenny asked.

"Not out here." Christa said. "Get inside, come on."

Kenny nodded. They were both unnerved as they noticed the front door was broken along with some of the windows.

The two walked inside to see the house was in horrible condition. Kenny's eyes widened and he nearly lost grip on the young boy in his arms. He quickly laid Gill on the couch before rushing to Sarita's unmoving form.

"OH GOD! Sarita!" Kenny cried.

"Oh my God…" Christa mumbled. "I… I'm so sorry, Kenny."

Kenny ignored her as he cradled Sarita in his arms apologizing over and over again for leaving her.

"I… I'll let you have a moment." Christa said, understanding too well what he was going through right now.

Kenny didn't say a word, he just continued clutching to Sarita.

Christa frowned and left the room. "Girls, we're back! Where are you?" Christa called.

No response.

"Girls?" Christa quickly went to look around the house. There was no sign of the kids. "Girls?! Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck…"

Christa rushed back into the living room, heart full of dread. "The kids are gone!"

"What do you mean gone?!" Kenny inquired.

"They're gone! As in not here!" Christa replied.

"Fuck… Fuck! This shit can't be happening…" Kenny shook his head vigorously.

Gill groaned from the couch and Christa walked over to assert the boy's injury.

"They took the supplies… So… hopefully, they're safe…" Christa said.

"Everyone I love… Everyone I care about- I just break everything I touch…" Kenny mumbled, head low in sorrow.

"Kenny, snap out of it. We need to get a move on. We need to see if we can find the kids." Christa said.

"They could be dead by now, Christa! We failed them!" Kenny said. "We failed all of them…"

"I've been separated and reunited with Clem before. Those kids are tough. I'm sure they're fine." Christa said. She really hoped so. She felt she was more trying to convince herself that they were okay than trying to convince Kenny.

Kenny didn't respond, he just turned his attention back to Sarita. "Sarita... God, wherever you are... Please forgive me... I can't be alone again..."

Christa sighed and looked to Gill, checking his gunshot wound. "I'm gonna see if we have any supplies left. Stay with the boy."

Kenny still didn't respond.

Christa got up and went to look around for supplies.

The bombing and gunshots finally ceased. The only sounds left were the crashes of falling buildings and the roar of still burning fires.

Before long Christa returned with a little bit of disinfectant and some bandages. "It's not much, but this will have to do." She went over to Gill and began to treat the unconscious boy's wound. Gill hissed in pain as she disinfected his wound, before bandaging it. "It's not as bad as it could be…The bullet went straight through and as far as I can tell, didn't hit anything vital." Christa noted. "He's passed out though. Hopefully he pulls through."

"We're all fucked anyway…" Kenny said. "Just do what you can… I don't wanna watch another kid die…"

"I've done all I can for him… We need to get out of here now." Christa said. "Those guys could still be here, and if we don't want to get shot or burnt to death we need to move."

"What's the point?" Kenny muttered.

"Kenny don't do this. We can't just give up. Sarita would want you to keep going." Christa said.

"You don't know about what Sarita would want! Sarita's DEAD, and it's all our fault!" Kenny suddenly snapped.

"We did all we could. You can't blame yourself." Christa replied.

"She's dead because I left her. We left her." Kenny said. "She's gone. And so are the kids."

"We'll find them. We have to." Christa said. "Edith and Patricia, we haven't found them. Maybe they're with the kids."

"Patricia would never leave Gill… She's probably… She's probably gone too." Kenny said.

"Regardless, we need to move. The only thing we'll accomplish is getting ourselves killed here." Christa said.

Kenny kept quiet.

"Kenny, listen to me, you said you don't want to see another kid die… If that's true, then help me get this boy to safety." Christa practically pleaded.

That seemed to do the trick. Kenny gently laid Sarita down, releasing his grip on her hand. "I love you, hon… I'll always love you…" Slowly he stood, walked over to Gill and scooped the boy up. Then without facing Christa spoke, "Let's go."


Her head was foggy, ears ringing. She could feel hands on her, dragging her from the hospital's bunker. She and a couple of the nurses and patients had rushed down there to hide. The explosion still did a lot of damage, killing some, knocking others unconscious.

Patricia couldn't focus, her only clear thought was, "Where was Gill?" Before she faded into darkness.


Kenny adjusted Gill in his grip as Christa gathered what supplies she could find throughout the house. She had noticed Aleena's breathing machine was gone, along with Promise, and the medicine that she constantly had to argue with Clementine to get her to take. That had to be a sign that those kids were alive. At least she hoped so.

With all the supplies she could find gathered, the two headed outside. They made sure to keep quiet as they headed towards the gate.

They needed to get as far away from the town as possible.

The worse of the attack seemed to be over. No more shots were being fired in their direction; their attackers must have retreated.

Christa tried not to look at the deceased people on the ground as they pushed forward. However, upon exiting the gate, one body caught their attention. It was Edith. "No… No, no, no…" Christa's heart dropped.

"Fuck!" Kenny exclaimed. "Fuck! They- They're not with her. She's dead too, so the kids-"

"That doesn't mean the kids are dead." Christa said. "We have to keep looking, Kenny… We have to find them."

It just couldn't end like this. They didn't even know if the kids were alive. They needed to keep looking.


Everything happened too fast. The residents were caught by surprise when the attack started.

Despite some people trying to fight back, it didn't go well. Any survivors were forced to flee the town. And unfortunately, there weren't many survivors.

Surviving nurses and doctors, led other injured survivors from the town, there was less than twenty of them, they had gathered into a loading truck and driven as far away from town. They did what they could to tend to the wounds of the injured. It was a tough job with their limited supplies and some people had died dropping the number of survivors to even less.

Patricia, who had suffered from a head injury during the explosion found herself drifting in and out of consciousness. "I... have to find my son..." She mumbled, before passing out again.


The children didn't know how long they had been walking. It felt like hours were stretching to spite them. With aching feet, they trudged on in silence. No sign of Kenny or Christa. No sign of Patricia or Gill. No sign of anyone else from town.

They had been walking so long they didn't even know if they were going in circles.

Clementine felt her stomach churn each time she thought about the massacre that had just wiped out the entire town that had once been Wellington. A town where they were supposed to be safe…

This just proved to Clementine that there was no such thing as a safe place. The young girl adjusted her cap absentmindedly then glanced to the wagon Becca was pulling. AJ and the twins were fast asleep in the wagon. Clementine looked to her friends, Danielle was holding Flopsie close while rubbing sleep out of her eyes, while Sarah was looking around nervously, jumping at almost every little sound. Becca's eyes were glued forward as she continued walking fearlessly in front of them, the teen hadn't said a word in a long time- no one had.

Clementine looked up to the darkening sky and finally decided to break the silence among them. "We need to stop." She declared.

"Like hell we do." Becca protested in a snippy tone.

Sarah and Danielle both seemed torn on what to do and thus remained quiet.

"It's getting late. We're all exhausted, and there's no way I want to keep marching in the wood in the middle of the night." Clementine said. "We should just stop and rest up. We can keep going in the morning."

"We can't just stop in the middle of nowhere, dumb-dumb." Becca replied.

"I'm not dumb." Clementine said.

"Then quit acting like it." Becca responded.

"I am not! Why don't you quit acting so mean?" Clementine inquired. "It's getting dark. We won't be able to see anything soon. It's dangerous to keep moving."

"What the hell do you know? You're just a stupid little kid." Becca snapped.

"We're not going to find anything this way. Just calm down and listen to me." Clementine said.

"Don't tell me to fucking calm down. I have every right to be annoyed. I'm stuck here, in the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of babies. Three literal babies, and then you three, who are practically babies yourselves." Becca hissed. "I have a better chance of surviving on my own, than staying with you three. If anything were to happen- if we get attacked out here, we're dead."

"No, we're not. Nothing's going to happen." Clementine said. "We made it out of that town, we're still alive and we'll stay alive if we're smart and we stick together."

"Bullshit. We barely made it out of there." Becca retorted. "We could've died. We almost did."

"Maybe… Maybe we should keep our voices down…" Danielle spoke in a small voice. "And I don't think that stopping for a little while is a bad thing… We could all use some rest."

Sarah kept quiet, fidgeting a bit.

Becca shot the younger girls of the group looks before crossing her arms.

"Besides, Clem's right. If it gets too dark, we won't be able to see where we're going…" Danielle added.

"If you want to leave, be my guest. I won't stop you. If you want to test your hand at survival alone, go ahead. But we all have a better chance if we stick together and watch each other's backs. You know that." Clementine said. "I care about you, Becca. You're my friend. But I'm also a mother, and I have to put my kids first. I'm not going any further tonight. We don't know what's out there and I won't put them at risk."

Becca glared at the young girl but huffed. "Fine, if you want to stop, we'll stop."

"Good…" Clementine sighed in relief.

"But staying put is a risk too." Becca released her grip on the wagon. "Don't say I didn't warn you."


The ground was cold and hard. No one slept well that night.

In between them trying to get some sleep, AJ or one of the twins would wake up and cry, leaving Clementine to have to tend to them. She also had to make sure Aleena's oxygen machine was working correctly, and make sure her daughter didn't stop breathing. She was exhausted. More so than the others.

At the crack of dawn, the twins were both wide awake and cooing.

Clementine slowly sat up to check on her babbling infants. "Would it hurt you two that much to let mommy get some sleep?"

The twins simply cooed in response.

"I'll take that as a yes." Clementine said. "Alright... I guess we're the only three up. So what do you wanna do?" Clementine asked, she knew she wouldn't get a verbal response, but she always talked to the twins regardless.

Picking the twins up out of the wagon, she sat them down but propped them against it. "Let's play a game... How about this," Clementine hid her face in her hands and then uncovered it. "Peek-a-boo!"

Crystal squealed in delighted at this. Aleena however simply smiled.

Clementine repeated this a few times gaining a similar reaction from a happy Crystal, however Aleena's smile fell, and she whimpered a bit as Clementine covered her face.

Clementine took that as her que to stop. "Aww, baby... Mommy didn't go anywhere, I'm right here." She picked her whimpering daughter up rocking her a bit. "Maybe we should just leave that game to Crystal and me, I know you're not a huge fan of that game."

It was interesting to Clementine that AJ and the twins had such unique interest. AJ loved shadow puppets, funny faces, and coloring. Crystal and Aleena, while still too young to do much, had their own individual likes as well. Crystal loved peek-a-boo while Aleena adored bright colors and noises.

"I think you'll both like this though." With Aleena calm, Clementine pulled out a rattle and shook it for the two girls.

The twins perked up at the noise. They both seemed entranced by the rattle. Crystal reached for the object and Clementine allowed the baby to grab it. "You two like that noise?"

"I don't, it's annoying." Becca suddenly groaned.

Clementine looked over to her. "Sorry... I didn't mean to wake you..."

"Sure, you didn't." Becca scoffed.

"I didn't… They just wanted to play." Clementine said.

"It's too early. All three of you should go back to sleep." Becca said.

"It's not that easy to get them back to sleep. Besides I thought you wanted to get a move on first thing in the morning." Clementine replied.

"I did. But not now. Give me at least another hour." Becca groaned. "I slept awful."

"Okay then... we'll be quieter." Clementine said.

"Good." Becca mumbled.

"Alright, girls. How about some breakfast?" Clementine put the rattle away and picked Crystal up so she could nurse both of her baby girls.

The girl noted how lightweight and small her twins still were, even for their adjusted age. Despite being five and a half months- adjusted- they could still fit into zero-three-month size clothing.

Clementine fed her two daughters, gently stroking their hair as she did so.

Before long AJ seemed to stir awake.

"Hey there, Goofball." Clementine greeted the toddler. "You hungry?"

AJ babbled in response.

"Okay, Let's get you out of that wagon." Clementine said, placing the twins down, so she could help AJ out the wagon. "Now, let's see what we have for you to eat, Alvie." Clementine checked her bag finding some apple sauce. "How about this, buddy?"

AJ smiled in response.

"Alright, apple sauce it is." Clementine opened the container, grabbing a spoon and started feeding him.

The twins seemed curious and tried to reach towards the food.

"You two wanna try this?" Clementine asked the girls. "Alright…" She scooped a tiny bit of and offered it to Crystal first. The baby promptly spit it out after Clementine spooned the apple sauce into her mouth. "Not a fan, huh Crys?" Clementine chuckled and allowed Aleena to taste. However, Aleena turned her head away at the mere smell. "Okay, I guess that's a no-go for you too, Leena." She smiled as she recalled something, "You two never did like apples, wouldn't even let me eat them when I was pregnant with you."

The twins simply babbled in response.

"It's all yours, AJ." Clementine continued feeding AJ until the little container was empty.

It wasn't long before the others started to wake up.

Breakfast was a half of an energy bar, and a couple of crackers. It wasn't nearly enough to fill them up, but Becca told them they had to save the supplies.

After they had finished eating, Clementine changed the babies' diapers, before placing them back into the wagon.

"We should get moving…" Becca said.

They nodded.

Becca once again took hold of the wagon, pulling it along.

When the twins started whimpering a bit, Clementine offered them the rattle again. "Can you two share this?"

Aleena grabbed at the toy, keeping it to herself, causing her twin to cry a bit.

"Leena, share with Crystal…" Clementine said.

Aleena just cooed, shaking the rattle happily.

Clementine sighed, searching for a couple other toys she offered one to AJ and to Crystal.

Aleena's attention was caught by the other toys and she reached for Crystal's toy.

"Play with your rattle, Leena. You like your rattle." Clementine spoke to her daughter.

"Why do you talk to them like they can understand you?" Becca asked.

"Because they can. Christa said so." Clementine answered.

"Christa said a lot of things. I doubt they understand a word you're saying." Becca stated.

Clementine looked to Aleena who was once again shaking the rattle, "You sure about that?"

Becca just rolled her eyes.


"Kenny, I made some soup." Christa spoke to the quiet man. "You didn't eat anything last night."

Kenny didn't bother responding.

"I know you got a lot on your mind, but you have to eat something." Christa said.

"What's the point…?" Kenny grumbled. "I ain't hungry. Don't think I'll ever be hungry again."

"The point is you can't starve yourself. You want to find the kids, don't you?" Christa asked.

"Of course, I do, but maybe they're better off without me. It's not like I can protect them." Kenny responded bitterly.

"Kenny, knock it off." Christa pleaded. "You can't keep this up. We just have to keep looking for them…"

"Sure…" Kenny muttered.

Christa could tell from his behavior that the man had no hope of finding them.


"Would you knock it off already?" Becca groaned.

Sarah had been complaining and it was starting to annoy the other teen.

"But my feet really hurt…" Sarah said.

"Well, deal with it. You don't hear Clementine or Danielle crying. And Clem's the one on the crutches." Becca pointed out.

"Can't we just take a short break?" Sarah asked.

"I guess that wouldn't hurt." Clementine said.

"We can't take a break every time someone's feet hurt, or the twins need a diaper change. We need to keep going." Becca said.

"If my kids need a diaper change, I'm going to change them. I don't want them getting a rash." Clementine stated.

"That's all fine and dandy, but it's really slowing us down." Becca said. "So just shut up and come on."

The group continued walking, before suddenly they heard snarls from the woods.

"Shit, we gotta run!" Becca said. "Hurry!"

They picked up the pace without protest.


They were all shaken up by the events that just occurred. Clementine found herself struggling to keep her legs from giving out throughout their run from the walkers. Having finally lost them, she was relieved. Feeling disheveled they continued their walk, searching for some kind of shelter.

They walked the entire day and were exhausted. Sarah complained once again that her feet ached only to be told to "shut up" by Becca.

They would only stop briefly when one of the babies needed a changing or a feeding. They would wait while Clementine tended to the babies, while Becca grumbled about how they needed to keep moving.

Clementine was starting to get irritated with Becca's constant nagging. She did her best to respond to Becca's crude statements with equanimity, but that only would make Becca angrier.

So, Clementine opted to ignore the older girl.

They walked for what seemed like hours before finding a cottage.

They debated on moving on or checking the place out. They stood in silence a few meters away from the cottage. The windows to the front of the place had been barricaded, and upon checking the back, it seemed the same had been done.

"Someone's been here..." Clementine mumbled, taking in the condition of the place.

"Well, let's see if they're still here." Becca said.

There wasn't a sound around them. The silence however, unnerved more than calmed them.

"I could probably pick the lock, if I had a nail or something..." Becca looked to Danielle and spoke, "Danielle, do you have any hair pins?"

"Umm..." Danielle took a moment to check her pockets. "Yeah..."

"Give them here." Becca said, two of them.

Danielle obliged, handing two bobby pins over. "They might be too flimsy."

"It's worth a try." Becca said. Becca took the hair pins and proceeded to pick the lock.

They waited a few moments, wondering if it would work.

Clementine held her breath as the door clicked. She wouldn't be surprised if the whole place was full of walkers.

Becca slowly pushed the door open, stepping inside first, Clementine and Danielle were close by, with Sarah taking up the rear, pulling the wagon along with her. The smell wasn't as bad as they expected it to be. The house opened into a living room, with a dainty kitchen attached to one side. It was a mess.

They waited while Becca stood in the doorway scanning what she could see.

Clementine's body was taut as they went through the room. Her heart was slamming in her chest as she scanned the rooms for any sign that they weren't alone.

They were all on high alert.

The cottage they found was a poor place of refuge. It was small and old. Bullet holes decorated the walls, along with some blood. Furniture was overturned, some destroyed. The old tired house was very dark and dingy and the furnishings that remained in decent shape were shabby and worn.

It wasn't exactly super secure either, but for them, it was better than nothing.

Making sure the kitchen and living room were clear, they locked the front and back door, to prevent anyone from sneaking up on them.

"Let's check the rest of this place." Becca said. "Sarah, you're with me. Clem and Dani, you're together."

"What about the babies?" Clementine asked.

"They'll be fine. Safer in here at least." Becca said. "The doors are locked, no one can come in."

Clementine hesitated but nodded. "Mommy will be right back." She said to her girl. "Be good, AJ…" The girl the placed Promise beside the wagon, "Look out for them, Promise."

Becca shook her head at that but said nothing.

They then split up to check the bedroom, Sarah and Becca check one, as Clementine and Danielle checked another.

The bedrooms were probably worst. People had torn holes in walls, probably looking for hidden supplies. The master bedroom was clear for the most part. Sarah checked under the bed before carefully peeking into the closet. The closet was packed with old clothing, and thankfully clear of any bodies.

Becca meanwhile checked the attached bathroom, eyes going wide when she noticed a body in the bathtub, a bloodied knife on the side of the tub was clearly the cause of death, judging by the cuts on the woman's arms- but a bullet hole was through the head, meaning someone must've already shot it.

Becca left the bathroom and noticed Sarah staring at the bedroom door. The door was bloodied and was barely hanging from the hinges.

"Sarah?" Becca called.

Sarah jumped and turned to face the other teen. "Y-Yes?"

"We're all clear in here?" Becca asked.

Sarah quickly nodded.

"Alright… We got a body in the bathroom. Help me drag it out." Becca said.

Sarah felt sick at the mere thought. "Can… Can you ask Danielle? Or Clementine?"

Becca shot her a look of annoyance. "Don't be a baby. Just help me."

Sarah frowned but followed the other teen into the bathroom. She nearly gagged from the smell around them.

Sarah felt her heart clench at the sight. "D-Did she…?"

"From the looks of it, she killed herself… but someone already put her down." Becca said.

Sarah frowned; Becca talked about it as if this woman had been some animal…

"You grab it's arms, I'll get the legs. On three." Becca said.

Sarah wasn't ready at all.

"One, two, three."

The two girls picked the corpse up and started to haul it out of the bathroom.

"W-What do we do with it?" Sarah asked.

"We're gonna toss it outside." Becca simply replied.


Clementine frowned as she noticed what clearly used to be a young child's room. Maybe a preschool aged kid, judging by the drawings on the floor.

She noticed the blanket on the bed was stained with dry blood along with some blood splatter on the wall nearest to the bed. However, there was no sign of the body.

"What do you think happened to the kid?" Clementine asked.

"I… I don't know… It's sad to think about…" Danielle said.

"Yeah… It is…" Clementine agreed.

"…I just hope whatever happened, doesn't happen to us." Danielle mumbled.

Clementine didn't respond to that.

The two girls continued checking the room, before checking the hallway bathroom. All clear.

They headed back to the living room, where Sarah and Becca had just managed to drag the corpse to.

"We're gonna toss her outside." Becca informed. "Did you two find anything?"

"The room was clear. There wasn't anyone in there." Danielle said.

"Alright…" Becca said. "You two stay put… Keep an eye on the babies." She unlocked the door before she and Sarah continued to move the body.

The two tossed the body into the woods before heading back to the cottage. On the way back to two noticed a small makeshift grave marker with the name "Judy" carved into it.

"Oh man…" Becca mumbled. "Fuck…"

"Who… Who do you think Judy was?" Sarah asked.

"Honestly, it's probably best if we don't know." Becca replied.

Sarah just frowned as she walked back to the cottage. She was sick of all the death.


Two hours had passed since they had arrived at the cottage.

They locked all the windows and doors to be safe. They were surprised that they only found one body in the house, but after disposing of the corpse, they decided to clean the place up a bit.

It took two hours to for them to clean the kitchen and living room to the best of their ability. Now with that work done- at least for the moment- they settled down on the couch. Like everything else in the cottage, the couch was worn and ripped, but it wasn't exactly uncomfortable.

They managed to scrounge up some canned soup for dinner.

And Clementine focused on nursing the twins and feeding AJ. "Come on, goofball. Eat up."

AJ's response was not what she expected it to be. AJ turned his head away.

"Alvie, you gotta eat. Come on." Clementine said, trying again to spoon some soup into his mouth.

AJ whimpered in response turning away again.

"Here comes the airplane." Clementine held the spoon and made it soar slowly like a plane towards AJ's mouth.

AJ once again turned his head away.

Clementine sighed in defeat. "Why won't you eat, goofball?"

"Maybe he's not hungry." Sarah said.

"Well he still has to eat something." Clementine replied.

"Why don't you just make him a bottle or something?" Becca suggested.

"I guess that's our best bet." Clementine said. "You want a bottle, AJ?"

AJ babbled a bit in response.

Sarita and Christa had been teaching him infant sign language and Clementine noticed AJ sign "milk".

Clementine checked her bag for the formula. There was only one can. "Do we have more formula?"

"I grabbed this one, it's almost empty though..." Sarah said.

"Shit..." Clementine said.

"What?" Becca asked.

"This isn't gonna last long." Clementine said with a sigh.

"Well, when it runs out you can give him something else." Becca shrugged.

"Like what?" Clementine questioned.

"You'll figure something out." Becca simply said.

Clementine furrowed her brows at that but started making AJ's bottle before handing it to the boy. She was relieved when AJ began drinking it.

Clementine picked up the twins to rock them to sleep, having already fed them. She had already put Aleena's mask on, despite the baby crying when she did so. When both her daughters were asleep, she swaddled them, and she placed them in the wagon.

"We…. saw a grave outside…" Sarah suddenly spoke. "It said Judy on it… I wonder what happened to her…"

Clementine and Danielle exchanged looks.

"There's a kid's room… The bed had blood on it, like someone had been shot. Judy might have been that kid…" Danielle said.

"Damn… I guess that explains why that woman gave up…. Maybe that was her mother…" Becca said.

They tried to put together a story in their heads of what happened.

"Kid must've turned, the mom had to put the kid down, and… she couldn't go on herself after that." Becca continued.

"That's awful… I can't imagine going through that…" Clementine said.

"It happens too much now…" Danielle said.

"I'll never let that happen to my kids…." Clementine said.

"But the woman was shot… So, someone must've came through here." Becca said. "Probably scavengers… It doesn't look like anyone's been here for a long time."

"I hate scavengers…." Sarah said.

"We shouldn't get too comfortable. We still have a lot of work to do." Becca said.


After dinner they started to take inventory of whatever supplies they had. Clementine was holding AJ in her lap; the boy was nearly asleep.

"How long should we stay here?" Danielle wondered.

"I don't know. This place is pretty hidden away. I doubt many raiders come through here. If we barricade it, we won't have to leave for a while." Becca answered.

"You don't think we should move on at some point?" Clementine asked.

"And go where, Clementine?" Becca snorted.

"I... I don't know... Maybe we could find another town." Clementine suggested.

Becca rose a brow at that. "Are you stupid? There's no point in finding another town, it'll just get overran again."

"Wh-What about Kenny and Christa? Should we look for them?" Clementine asked.

"They're dead, Clem. They're dead." Becca sighed.

"You don't know that." Clementine argued. "We shouldn't just make assumptions."

"Oh, yeah? Then why didn't we find them? Why haven't they found us?" Becca asked. "There's no way they got out of that town."

"They're tough... They're not dead." Clementine said.

"Being tough doesn't make you invincible. At some point everyone's luck has to run out. And if we go back out there, it could be our turn to die." Becca said.

"I... I just don't think we should jump to conclusions." Clementine replied.

"You're an idiot. And I'm not gonna argue with you." Becca said. "I'm going to bed."


"Mom?!" The boy shot up right. Gill yelped as fresh pain seized his torso.

Everything was a blur for a moment.

"Take it easy. You were shot..." Christa spoke, urging the boy to lay back down.

Gill did so, frowning as memories flooded through him. "...Where's Clem? I... I wanted to apologize."

"...Apologize for what?" Christa asked.

"For pushing her..." Gill muttered, looking remorseful.

"Pushing? You pushed my girl?" Christa inquired.

"I... didn't mean to. I just wanted to find my mom... I wasn't even thinking..." Gill admitted a bit sheepishly. "Where is she? I need to say sorry."

"She's... She's not here..." Christa finally said.

"Wh-What?"

"She's not here, Gill. She's…gone." Christa frowned. It was hard for her to say that her girl was gone.

"Is… Is she dead?" Gill asked.

"…I don't know…" Christa said honestly. No point in lying to the boy.

"What about Danielle? And Sarah, and Becca, where are they?" Gill asked.

Christa just shook her head, "We couldn't find them…"

"Oh gosh…." Gill frowned. "I… don't feel so good…"

"Try to get some rest kid." Christa said.

"I don't know if I can…" Gill mumbled. "Do… Do you think my mom's dead too…?"

Christa paused for a moment.

Gill spoke again before she could. "You don't have to answer… I'm sure you don't know…"

"I'm sorry, kid…" Christa said.

"Me too…" Gill muttered.


Clementine jerked awake, sweating despite the cold of the room.

She sat up, head aching. Just a nightmare.

Her heartbeat tamed itself.

"Clem, are you okay? You were crying in your sleep." Danielle said.

Clementine didn't get to answer before Becca spoke.

"Ugh, it reeks in here." Becca said, covering her nose.

"I... I think I had an accident…." Clementine admitted in a small, barely audible voice.

"You think? Wait, you pissed yourself?" Becca asked. "Gross."

"It was an accident. I didn't do it on purpose." Clementine frowned, feeling embarrassed. She just wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

"Doesn't make it any less gross." Becca said. "I guess I'll call you bedwetter from now on."

"That's not nice. She said it was an accident." Sarah said. "There's some fresh clothes in the closet, Clem."

"I have clothes. Clementine took some baby wipes and went into one of the bedrooms to wipe herself down and change.

Once the girl returned to the room, Becca immediately asked, "Do you usually wet the bed?"

Clementine felt her cheeks redden as she lowered her gaze, feeling ashamed. "No... It only happens after a really bad dream."

"So, it's happened multiple times. You really are a bedwetter?" Becca said.

Clementine frowned she wished Christa was here. The woman always helped her after a nightmare, and she didn't judge her for having accidents. "I'm not a bedwetter."

"Yes, you are." Becca said.

"Becca stop it." Sarah said.

"What, I'm not saying anything that's not true. If she pisses herself, she's a bedwetter." Becca said.

"Don't listen to her Clem. She's being a bully." Danielle went over to her teary-eyed friend and hugged her.

Clementine didn't return the embrace. She felt dirty. Danielle shouldn't be hugging her.

"Whatever." Becca shrugged. "Let's just go back to sleep."

Danielle broke the hug and laid down beside Clementine.

"Are you sure you wanna sleep near me? I might have another accident." Clementine whispered.

"You won't. And if you do, it's called an accident for a reason. I'll know you didn't do it on purpose." Danielle said.

Clementine felt a tear leak from her eye at her friend's kindness. "Thanks Dani..."


"Do you know how to feed them?" Clementine asked her friends the next morning, gesturing towards the babies.

"Uh, that's your job, Fruity Pebbles." Becca replied.

Clementine knitted her brows at the name, "Fruity Pebbles?"

"That's what kids back at the school nicknamed you." Becca said.

Clementine frowned at that. Those kids had nicknamed her numerous things. "I don't want to talk about them. Anyway, we should all know how to feed them. Just in case I couldn't do it. If anything happened and I wasn't around."

"Well, I don't." Becca shrugged.

"If you paid attention, you would. AJ's supposed to have three cups of milk a day. Unfortunately, we don't have any whole milk, so we'll have to make do with toddler formula. It has the vitamins he needs in it. He can also eat finger foods now. He should ideally have three meals and two snacks, but we'll do the best we can with what we got." Clementine said.

"Okay..." Danielle said. "What about the twins?"

"They're still only nursing for now. Christa and I wanted to start them on baby food next month. But I might give it an early go and see what they think." Clementine said.

"So, no formula for the twins." Danielle nodded.

"I don't give them formula because Crystal's allergic to it. I'll make sure to keep their bottles full though." Clementine explained.

"Alright. So... that being said. We'll leave the baby feeding to you." Becca said.

"Of course..." Clementine rolled her eyes.

"On that note, since our meeting is adjourned, I'm gonna head out for a bit." Becca said as she stood.

"Where are you going?" Clementine asked.

"To take a look around the area. We should get familiar with our surroundings." Becca said.

"I can come too." Danielle said, standing as well. "You shouldn't go alone. Will you be okay here, Clem?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine." Clementine said. "Sarah's here with me."

"Okay." Danielle said.

"You two just be careful." Clementine said.

"We will." Danielle reassured her friend.

"This place is awesome. There's a river not far from here. So, we can wash up and fish. We'll never run out of water." Becca said.

"I really like it here. Even if it's kind of small." Sarah said.

"We're lucky we found this. This place could be a long-term solution for us. We should stay." Becca said.

"Hold on, what about Christa and Kenny?" Clementine asked.

"What about them? If they're alive they have a better chance of finding us than we have of finding them. We found this place for a reason. We can't just give that up." Becca said.

"It looks like the cabin Clem and I were at. I mean, it reminds me of it." Sarah said.

"The cabin?" Clementine asked.

"Yeah, we were there with my dad, and Luke, Nick, Pete, Rebecca and Alvin..." Sarah said. "Don't you remember?"

Clementine was silent for a few moments. She was starting to recall details of the cabin. She remembered being locked in the shed, breaking out and stealing supplies to fix her arm. She remembered Rebecca and Carlos threatening her. She remembered fishing with Nick and Pete only to be attacked by walkers. And lastly, she remembered meeting William Carver... The man who forced them to flee from the cabin, only to follow them and keep the captive. The man who abused and broke her to satisfy his own sick desires. The man who claimed she belonged to him and called her his "queen". She felt disgusted when she thought of him.

"Clem?" Sarah asked. "You remember, right?"

"...Yeah... I remember..." Clementine muttered. She wished she didn't have to.


"You're awake." Christa said as she noticed the boy's eyes flutter open. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah. I'm starving..." Gill said, slowly sitting up.

"I bet." Christa said. "How are you feeling?"

"It still hurts..." Gill said, touching the wound lightly. "But better than yesterday."

"That's good. It's gonna hurt for a while, but you're healing." Christa said.

"Yeah... I... I miss my mom..." Gill suddenly muttered. "My mom was the only family I had left... I can't believe she's gone."

"I know how you feel, kid..." Christa said.

"How long was I out?" Gill asked.

"A few hours." Christa answered as she scooped up some soup and offered it to the boy.

"Hours?"

Christa nodded. "You probably really needed the rest."

Gill agreed. He glanced over to Kenny who was sitting alone away from the fire. "Is he going to be okay."

"He's lost a lot of people. This is all really hard on him." Christa explained to the boy. "He's grieving."

"It's hard on everyone." Gill said. "I feel bad for everyone who died..."

"...At least they don't have to suffer anymore." Christa said.

"What happened was horrible... I never wanna see anything like that again." Gill said.

"Hopefully you never will." Christa replied.


"Patricia, you can't be serious." One of the survivors, Frank said.

"I'm dead serious, Frank. My son has to be out there somewhere." Patricia said.

"We put together a search team and had them go through town, we didn't find anyone." Frank said.

"He could've been hiding. He wouldn't just be out in the open. He would have taken cover. Wellington was a big camp." Patricia said. "I gotta look and see if he's there."

"You can't just go back on your own." Frank said.

"I have to find my boy. That's the only thing that's important to me." Patricia said.

"You're not fully healed yet." Frank frowned.

"Gill, is my only concern right now. I'll rest when I know he's safe... I need to see for myself." Patricia said.

"So what's your plan?" Frank asked.

"I don't know… I just… I'm gonna go find my boy." Patricia said.


Dinner that night was beef stew. Clementine tried getting AJ to eat a little, but he seemed disinterested. The girl ended up making him a bottle and giving him some crackers which he munched on. Clementine was concerned that he wasn't eating properly. At his age he should be eating more solid foods, his diet was already not the best for a growing toddler, but she knew she had to make do with what they had.

She sighed as she handed him his sippy cup, and he began drinking from it.

Clementine made sure to feed the twins before sitting them down to play. Once AJ had finished drinking, she offered him a few toys as well, but the boy wasn't in a playful mood. "What's wrong, Goofball?" Clementine asked. "Don't you want to play. Or maybe, do you want to color?"

Clementine offered him a crayon and some paper. AJ accepted the crayon and made a few scribbles on the paper, but he wasn't enthusiastic about it as usual. "Want me to guess what you're drawing?"

AJ looked to her and nodded.

"Yes? Can you say yes?" Clementine said.

AJ just babbled in response.

"Okay, I guess you're not ready to talk yet. That's okay…" Clementine said. "Let's see…. Are you drawing a doggy?"

AJ smiled and made some gibberish noises.

"It is a doggy?" Clementine smiled back. "That's a great doggy, Goofball."

"Muh… Muh, ma, ma, ma…"

Clementine's eyes widened at the noise and she looked to see Aleena babbling. Clementine beamed and looked to her daughter. "Are you trying to say "mama"?"

Aleena gave her a toothless smile reaching to her. Clementine scooped the baby up in her arms. "Can you say mama, Crystal?"

Crystal gave her a curious look, her focus shifting from the toy she had been putting in her mouth.

"Say mama, can you say mama?" Clementine asked again.

Aleena's babbling continued, simple sounds that Clementine couldn't understand.

Clementine urged the twins some more. "Say mama, girls. Say mama."

"Muh!" Crystal finally said. "Ma!"

Clementine felt her heart warm. A smile crossed her lips. "Mama loves you, girls." She then looked to AJ who was looking back at her. "I love you too, Goofball."


Getting the twins to sleep was so much harder than Clementine remembered it being before. Clementine would make sure Aleena had her oxygen machine on, then rock her infants to sleep, but the two were restless, and every time she laid one of the girls down the other would want to pop up.

Clementine was exhausted herself when she finally got them to fall asleep. "Alright, AJ, time to go night-night."

Clementine motioned for AJ, who had been playing with a couple blocks, to come over. The toddler stood and made his way to her.

Clementine hadn't expected the responsibility of caring for all three kids to fall on her alone. But apparently it had. The others didn't know what to do and would just leave the baby care to her.

Which meant, Clementine was losing more sleep than ever before. She loved caring for the kids, but it didn't mean it was an easy job.

Every now and then the others would hold one of the babies or offer to feed one of them so Clementine could eat or use the restroom, but diaper changes and bedtime routines all fell on Clementine.

"Alright, Goofball, wanna hear a story?" Clementine asked, allowing the boy to sit in her lap. She looked through the pile of books they had gathered from the house, she had separated the little children's books. She grabbed one of the board books and proceeded to read it to AJ, changing her voice for different characters. "…The end. Alright. Eyes closed, buddy. It's sleepy time."

AJ followed her directions, closing his eyes. And before long he was out like a light.

"Goodnight, Goofball." Clementine whispered, kissing his forehead before laying him down.

"They're so cute." Sarah spoke up.

"Yeah, they can be… I'm glad the adults didn't make you have an abortion with the twins..."

"...Abortion?" Clementine repeated. The word felt familiar, but she couldn't recall what it meant.

"Yeah, the adults kept talking about it." Becca said

"What's an abortion?" Danielle asked.

"Basically, when a woman gets pregnant sometimes, she decides she doesn't want to have the baby and a doctor can perform a procedure that makes her not pregnant anymore." Becca said.

"What does the doctor do to the baby? Does the procedure hurt the baby?" Danielle asked.

"Well… the baby dies." Becca answered.

Danielle frowned at that. "Oh..."

Clementine flinched as memories flooded back to her. She recalled the continuous suggestions for her to have an abortion from her former group members. She remembered Jane taking her to the deck and trying to push her. She remembered the pills...

She felt nauseous suddenly.

"I remember them talking about trying to give you a coat-hanger abortion at some point. I think Bonnie suggested that to Carlos, but he said it was too dangerous." Becca said.

"What? What's a coat-hanger abortion? How would they even… do that?" Clementine asked.

"They would put a coat-hanger in your vagina and use it to abort the fetus." Becca told the younger girl.

Danielle and Sarah cringed, and Clementine gagged at the thought.

"How do you know this?" Clementine asked.

"The adults mentioned it, and I put two and two together." Becca said.

"Clem, are you okay?" Danielle asked, sending her friend a concerned look.

"I… I'm fine… We should get some rest." Clementine said. Though she wasn't fine. She felt ill.

"Okay…" Danielle said, still worried for Clementine.

"Try not to wet the bed tonight." Becca muttered.

Clementine sighed but didn't bother responding.


"You're still recovering from your injuries. Are you sure you can't just take it easy for a while?" Frank asked.

"I can't. Not if my boy's still out there." Patricia said.

"We don't want to lose you, Patricia. You should stay with us." Another former Wellington resident spoke, Deb.

"We're going to start over, let everyone recover here, and maybe try to find a farm or something, rebuild what we can there." An older woman said, Nancy.

"That… That would be amazing, but I can't rest until I know my son is safe." Patricia said.

"You have medical skills we could use. To help all these people." Frank said. "We need you…"

"And I'll come back to help. But my boy comes first." Patricia said.

"I guess there's no stopping you." Frank sighed.

"No… There's not." Patricia said.

"Wait, you can take one of the vans. You have a better chance of finding him if you're in a vehicle, instead of walking." Frank said.

"Are you sure?" Patricia asked.

"Certain." Frank nodded.

"I really appreciate the offer, but I can't just take the van… You guys might need it." Patricia said.

"Well in any case, just… Stay safe. And come back to us." Frank said.

"I will." Patricia replied.


"I'm thinking of going to the river tonight to try and catch some fish." Becca told Clementine.

"That sounds good to me." Clementine said.

"Sarah and Danielle, you two come help me." Becca said. "Will you be good here, Clem?"

"Uh... Yeah. I guess so." Clementine said. "The river's not far, right?"

"Not at all." Becca said.

"Then I'll be fine." Clementine replied.

"Are you sure? We shouldn't leave you by yourself." Danielle said.

"She said she'll be fine, Dani. Quit worrying." Becca said.

"I'll be okay… Just hurry back, please. And be careful." Clementine said.

"Okay. We'll be back before dark." Becca said.

Clementine nodded. "Please be lucky…"


"Let me take a look at that wound." Christa said as she took out the disinfected and some fresh bandages.

Gill sighed and allowed her to check his wound.

"I'm gonna clean it, okay." Christa said, removing his bandages to clean the wound.

"…Okay…" Gill said.

As Christa started to disinfect the wound he flinched, "Try to stay still."

"It burns…" Gill said. "How long will it take to stop hurting."

"Well, you only got shot a few days ago, so it's probably gonna hurt for a while. It'll take a few weeks to completely heal." Christa said. "Luckily, it didn't hit anything major."

"That's good." Gill said.

"…You know, my girl got shot before…" Christa suddenly said as she started rebandaging the wound.

"Clementine got shot?" Gill asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Believe it or not, she was pregnant at the time." Christa said.

"Wow… I guess there's not much she hasn't been through…" Gill said. The bravado the girl had never failed to impress him. "Clementine's the toughest person I know."

"Yeah. She's the toughest person I know too." Christa said. "That kid's one of a kind."

"She really is." Gill said with a small smile.

"…You like her, don't you?" Christa asked with a small smile of her own.

"Wh-What?" Gill sputtered. "I- I don't… Well maybe a little… But it doesn't matter. She doesn't like me…"

"How do you know?" Christa asked him.

Gill frowned and said, "Because she liked that Terrell guy… I never trusted him."

Christa finished bandaging his wound and then spoke. "Terrell manipulated her feelings. She didn't like him."

"She sure talked like she did." Gill said.

"She liked the attention." Christa said honestly. "We probably didn't give her enough of that…"

"I tried to give her attention…" Gill mumbled.

"I think Clem might have just been confused. And that's why she wanted to try to get the attention from an older guy…" Christa said.

"Oh…" Gill said. "I just… hope she's okay…"

"I hope so too, kid…" Christa sighed.


Clementine had been waiting for a while, anxiously she held onto Promise while the twins napped, and AJ toddled around the room. When she heard the door rattle, she jumped, "AJ, come here."

AJ followed her instruction, coming over.

Clementine held the toddler protectively, aiming her gun to the door.

The door soon opened to reveal her friends, Clementine sighed and lowered the weapon. "You're back! I was worried."

"Figured you were. You always worry too much." Becca said. "I'm glad you didn't shoot us though."

"We caught a bunch of fish, Clem." Sarah said.

"That's great. We're going to eat good tonight." Clementine beamed.

A while passed as they began cooking the fish. By the time it had finished cooking the twins were awake, Clementine fed the two girls before allowing them to play.

"Do you think AJ will like this?" Sarah asked.

"I don't know. AJ's never had fish before. This will be his first time eating it." Clementine said.

Becca served everyone their food and Clementine offered AJ a little bit.

AJ tasted it and Clementine asked, "What do you think, Goofball?"

AJ smiled, pointing to the fish, indicating that he wanted more.

"You want some more? Okay." Clementine went to give him another piece.

Suddenly she glanced to Becca and her eyes widened. "Becca, what are you doing?"

"Relax, Clem. She just wanted a taste." Becca said.

"They're too young for that, Becca! Stop!" Clementine exclaimed.

"I only gave her a small piece. And you can't make Crystal be left out. It's not fair if Aleena had a taste but she didn't." Becca said as if it was no big deal.

"They don't even have teeth, Becca. You can't just give them random food without my permission!" Clementine said.

"Relax, I know how to look after my Goddaughters. It's fine." Becca replied in a nonchalant manner.

"No. It's not fine. You can't just give my babies stuff." Clementine said.

Crystal reached tiny hands to Becca who said. "See, she wants a try too." Becca placed a tiny piece of fish in the infant's mouth.

"Becca! Stop! I said don't give them that!" Clementine snapped.

"A small piece isn't going to hurt them! Don't get your panties in a bunch." Becca scoffed. "I won't give them anymore."

Clementine went over to check her twins' mouths but both babies had already eaten the tiny pieces of fish.

"They wanted a try, so I gave them a try. Not a big deal." Becca said.

"Babies want everything. That doesn't mean you have to give it to them." Clementine huffed then went back to eating and feeding AJ, seeing as though her babies were okay.

"You said you were gonna start them on solid foods soon." Becca said.

"Soon. Not now. And I meant baby food. They don't even have teeth Becca, they could've choked." Clementine said.

"I didn't give them a big enough piece to choke. It was literally a pinch of fish." Becca argued, "Calm down."

"Just... don't do it again." Clementine said.

"Fine." Becca said.

Meanwhile Crystal kept sticking her tongue out and moments later the baby started coughing and wheezing. She was having difficulty breathing.

Clementine looked over to her daughters.

Aleena was cooing and biting at her hand, but Crystal was coughing. Clementine went over to Crystal picking the baby up. "Hey, are you okay, Crys?" Her baby seemed to be choking on air. Gasping and wheezing. "Crystal?" Clementine tried to pat the baby's back, but it didn't help.

Clementine quickly looked around grabbing her daughter's bottle and tried to get her to sip it. Crystal refused, choking and gasping more. Her baby couldn't breathe, and Clementine noticed how her face seemed to be a bit swollen and red, the infant was breaking out into hives. "Oh my God!"

"What wrong?" Sarah asked.

"What is it, Clem?" Danielle asked.

"She's- She's having an allergic reaction!" Clementine asked.

"Are you sure?" Becca asked, dread immediately hitting her.

"My friend from school, he was allergic to peanuts! I've seen it before!" Clementine said, making sure to keep her baby upright so she could breathe.

"Fuck, what do we do?" Becca asked, she felt guilty. She knew this was her fault.

"We need an epipen!" Clementine said.

"Maybe Edith packed one in the medicine bag." Danielle said. "I'll check."

Clementine held Crystal close, keeping her head upright so her baby could breath. She waited anxiously while Danielle searched through their medical equipment.

Aleena seemed to pick up on the fact that her sister wasn't okay and had begun crying.

Sarah tried to comfort the baby as AJ also started whimpering.

"Found it!" Danielle rushed over to Clementine and handed her the epipen.

"H-How do I used this?" Clementine inquired.

"Umm...Put it in her thigh." Sarah said.

"Her thigh?" Clementine asked.

Sarah nodded. "I can do it. My dad always said you give needles to babies in their thighs."

Sarah came over and took the epipen. Clementine quickly adjusted Crystal's outfit so that Sarah had access to Crystal's thigh. Sarah held Crystal's leg in place with her free hand, then placed the orange tip of the epipen to the side of the child's thigh and pressed until you feel and hear a click. She waited a few seconds before pulling away. Crystal began wailing and Clementine rocked the baby.

"It's okay. I got you. Mommy's got you." Clementine said.


"Becca?"

The older girl didn't respond. She had gone into the master bedroom and had been sitting silently all alone after the incident with Crystal.

"Becca, she's okay..." Clementine said. "She's just sleeping now."

"I could've killed her..." Becca frowned.

"She's okay… It scared us all, but she's okay." Clementine said.

"I'm a shitty Godmother…" Becca muttered.

"Don't say that… You didn't mean to hurt her…" Clementine said.

Clementine approached the older girl, giving her a hug. Becca tensed, feeling tears threaten to spill. She never cried.

"…I'm so, so sorry, Clem. I didn't know." Becca said.

"I know... I didn't either..." Clementine said.


Two days later they were starting to settle into a schedule. They would rotate turns on who took watch, they had meals at certain times of the day. They would take turns washing themselves. Clementine made sure AJ and the twins were tended to.

It was quiet as they sat in the living room. Sarah was reading a book. Danielle was playing with Flopsie, while Becca and Clementine took inventory of their supplies.

Clementine's gaze flickered toward her twins who were gurgling in the basket. Then she looked to AJ who was quietly staring at the door. AJ, who was normally a happy toddler was quieter and more subdued. He appeared withdrawn, not wanting to play or engage with anyone. He seemed overall sadden.

"Hey, Goofball, are you okay?" Clementine asked.

AJ didn't even look to her.

Clementine frowned. "I'm worried about AJ… He hasn't been eating much lately and he seems… sad."

"Maybe he's just not hungry." Becca said.

"No… I don't think it's that. I…I think he's depressed." Clementine said.

"He's a baby. Babies can't get depressed." Becca claimed.

"That's not true." Clementine said. "Christa said babies can feel a lot of different emotions."

"All babies do is eat, sleep, and poop. They have nothing to be depressed about." Becca said.

Clementine shook her head. She knew something wasn't right with AJ. He wasn't eating well. He would drink milk from his baby bottle and eat maybe a spoonful or two of food, but he refused to eat much beyond that. They were going to run out of formula in a few days, they couldn't just let him live off that.

"She said they react to other people's emotions too. Like, they can sense how people around them are feeling." Clementine said.

"Wouldn't he be crying if he was sad?" Becca said.

"I said I think he's depressed, not sad." Clementine did her best to elucidate. "Just because babies have limited ways to express their feelings doesn't mean they don't feel anything. They don't have to be crying to be sad. I really think he's depressed."

"Why would he be depressed, Clem? He's a baby?" Becca asked, still not convinced.

"I don't know. A lot happened these past few days. So, I wouldn't be surprised if he was depressed. Maybe he's missing Kenny and Christa." Clementine said. "Maybe we should think about going to find them."

"We're not going anywhere. We're staying here." Becca said.

"We can't stay here forever. We'll have to go eventually." Clementine said.

"We have everything we need here! How come you always have to complain?" Becca huffed, suddenly becoming agitated.

"I'm not complaining. I'm worried. We should at least try to find them…" Clementine said.

"Kenny and Christa are gone! They're not going to find us! So stop talking about them!" Becca snapped.

"Becca-"

Becca didn't allow her to get another word out, "Everyone is gone! Everyone we care about is gone and they're never coming back! Now quit being such an idiot."

"B-Becca," Clementine called again.

"Leave me alone, Clem." Becca said. "I need some air…"


"We should get a move on. We can't stay here forever." Christa spoke up, drawing Gill's attention.

"Where are we gonna go?" Gill asked, as he stood with some help from Christa.

"To hopefully find Clementine and the others…" Christa answered.

"What if we don't…?" Gill asked.

"We can only hope we do." Christa said.

"Okay…" Gill stood, looking over to Kenny. "He hasn't said anything in days…"

"I know… He's broken right now…" Christa frowned walking over to the man. "Kenny, come on. It's time to get moving."

Kenny kept quiet but slowly stood.

"Let's go…" Christa said.


Becca sat outside on the steps, head in her hands.

Clementine frowned as she stepped outside and approached the older girl. "Becca?"

"Shut up. I need to think." Becca's bluntly said.

Clementine wasn't shocked by her harsh tone. "I just wanted to check on you. Are you okay?"

"No, Clem! No, I'm not okay." Becca snapped, glaring at her. "Every single town I go to with you and Sarah, gets destroyed. I called you bad luck before, but I'm really starting to think it's true now."

Clementine was hurt by those words. "W-Why are you saying this?"

"Because we're going to die here." Becca said. "We're just prolonging the inevitable. We're gonna run out of supplies eventually."

"We can figure things out. We're not going to die." Clementine said.

"Just leave me alone, Clem. I want to be alone." Becca replied.

"…Okay…"

Becca stayed quiet until Clementine spoke again.

"Keep being like this… Keep being bitter and mean, we'll see where that gets you." Clementine said.

"You fucking brat." Becca shot the girl a look. "Get the hell out of my face."

"Gladly." Clementine turned and headed back into the house.


Patricia had spent an entire day and a half searching through the woods for her boy, with no luck. Exhausted, she returned back to that camp, she was ready to accept the offer for the van, which she had initially refused.

She just hoped and prayed that Gill was safe and alive. That she would find him and be able to be with her son once more.

"Any luck?" Frank asked.

"None…" Patricia frowned. "I looked around the woods, but I couldn't find him."

"What's your plan now?" Frank questioned.

"I'm… gonna go back to Wellington, See if he's there." Patricia said.

"We told you we check that place. There were no other survivors." Frank replied.

"My boy has to be alive. He has to be…" Patricia said. "I'm gonna check…And… And-"

"And if he's not there? Then what?" Frank said.

"Then I'll keep looking until I find him." Patricia said.

"Patricia…." Frank hesitated and then said, "Maybe you need to accept the reality…."

"The reality of what?" Patricia asked.

"The reality of the fact that your boy might not be alive…" Frank sighed.

"He has to be alive. I know he is. My boy is smart." Patricia said, feeling offended by his words. "He's out there somewhere, I just have to find out where."

"Well, you should at least rest up… No point of going out there exhausted." Frank said.

"You're right. I'll head out first thing tomorrow." Patricia said. "…Does your offer still stand for that van."

Frank nodded, "It's not going nowhere, unless you want it."

"Please…"

"Be my guest." Frank said.

"Thank you." Patricia said.


There was a growing tension between Clementine and Becca, that both Sarah and Danielle noticed.

Becca had in her mind that she was in charge, she saw herself as the leader and every time Clementine bucked against her orders, it clearly pissed her off.

She would respond to Clementine with such acrimony that it made them all uncomfortable.

Her anger for Clementine would often manifests itself through harsh words.

Danielle had realized long ago that Becca could be a very moody and petulant person, but she seemed to revel in picking on Clementine.

The back and forth between the two girls made Sarah and Danielle feel uneasy.

Danielle hated how brusque and impatient Becca could be, especially towards Clementine.

The tension between the two girls only seemed to increase as the days passed.

"Why are you sucking your thumb all the time? You're sucking your thumb the same time as your babies. Are you ever gonna stop?" Becca said.

"Why does it matter to you? It's not like it's hurting anyone." Clementine mumbled.

"Shouldn't it embarrass you? You suck your thumb all of the time." Becca said. "And you're a mother, why are you sucking you thumb?"

"Just leave me alone. I can do whatever I want." Clementine said.

"Alright, you brat. I don't care." Becca shrugged.

Clementine narrowed her eyes at the girl. "If you don't care, don't bring it up. Just leave me alone from now on."

"Alright, I'll leave you be, Betsy Wetsy." Becca said.

Danielle spoke up before Clementine could, "That's not funny, Becca. Seriously, leave her alone."

"It's not funny. It's true! She has all this damn mouth, but she can't hold her damn bladder and she sucks her thumb like a baby." Becca said.

"You don't understand! I suck my thumb because it makes me feel better, so stop teasing me!" Clementine snapped. "Leave me alone!"

"Whatever, all I know is you're a thumb-sucker and a bedwetter!" Becca teased.

Clementine did her best to ignore those words, but they hurt. Keeping her thumb in her mouth Clementine clutched tightly to Promise, trying her best to calm herself down. She had to keep telling herself not to cry, that would just be one more thing Becca would tease her about.


Patricia slowly drove past the remains of the gates the used to protect Wellington. Her heart sunk as she parked the vehicle, knowing it would be hard to get past the bodies on the street.

The fires had stopped burning, but the buildings were

She began walking through the town, with hopes of finding her little boy. As she walked through the town, she took in the aftermath of the attack. It was a horrible sight- one she could hardly bear to look at. Building were destroyed, dry blood covered the town.

Patricia frowned, she just had to focus on finding Gill.

She just had the feeling he was alive. She knew he had to be, and she wouldn't give up until she found him.


"Do... you think this is Wellington…?" Russell asked as they stood in front of the ruined remains of a town.

"I don't know…" Luke said.

"Did you seriously drag us to a destroyed town?" Russell huffed.

"Wasn't this place supposed to be safe? It doesn't look very safe to me..." Wyatt said.

"It looks like something horrible happened here." Vince said.

"Look, I don't know what happened, but we… should still check it out… Clem might have been here… Or someone could know where she's at." Luke said.

"What if she's still here? Just not alive..." Bonnie mumbled.

"She's not dead. Now stop talking like that." Luke retorted. "That kid is fine."

"Luke, we can't be for sure." Bonnie said.

"If you don't want to help me, don't. I'll look for them myself." Luke replied before walking past the remains of the gate.

Wyatt groaned as Russell shook his head.

"This guy is gonna get us all killed…" Wyatt muttered.


"Do you think we can take a break soon? My feet are starting to hurt…" Gill spoke up.

"Sure. I should clean your wound anyway." Christa said.

"Again?" Gill groaned. "It really stings when you do that."

"Well it's either that or an infection. And I think we'd all rather not let you get an infection." Christa said.

"Yeah, okay…" Gill gave in.

"We're never gonna find them…" Kenny suddenly grumbled, rubbing his good eye.

Gill was surprised, he hadn't heard the bearded man speak for days.

"You don't know that, Kenny. We gotta stay positive." Christa said to the man.

"Like being positive ever did shit for anyone." Kenny huffed than walked away to sit down.

"Ignore him… He's just upset right now…" Christa said to Gill.

"I know… He's been upset for a long time…" Gill said.

"He lost Sarita… He's mourning right now…" Christa explained to the boy.

"I lost my mom too… It doesn't mean he has to be so… angry…" Gill said. "It's a little scary."

"People have different ways of coping with things, kid." Christa told him.

"Yeah, mom always told me that." Gill said with a nod.

"Here, let's clean that wound." Christa said.

"Okay." Gill agreed.


"This place is huge. If we're gonna find anything maybe, we should split up." Bonnie suggested.

"Are you sure that's smart?" Vince asked. "Shouldn't we stick together?"

"I think it's the best option. It doesn't look like anyone's here." Bonnie said. "Well, at least no one who's alive. As long as we don't go far, we'll be okay."

"That's fine with me. We can split up. We'll just meet back here." Luke said.

Vince sighed. "Alright, no one go too far. We meet back here in ten minutes, got it."

The others nodded in agreement.

They walked toward different directions, searching destroyed remains of buildings for any sign of their former group members.

As Luke entered one of the houses and began looking around, he suddenly felt the cold steel of a gun pressed to the back of his head.

He inwardly cursed to himself for not hearing anyone approaching behind him.

"Don't move." A woman's voice spoke.

"I don't want any trouble." Luke said.

"Neither do I…" The woman replied.

Luke scoffed. "That's funny coming from the woman with a gun to my head."

"I'm sure you'd do the same thing if it were the other way around." The woman said, "Put your hands up, and turn to face me slowly. Don't do anything stupid."

Luke did as she said, slowly turning to face her, not making any sudden movements. The last thing he wanted was a bullet in his head.

She kept the gun on him and patted him down for weapons.

"What do you want? You wanna rob me?" Luke asked. "It's not worth it, Miss. I ain't got shit on me."

The woman raised the gun, shutting him up. "I'm looking for my son."

Luke was surprised by that. "Your son?"

"A thirteen-year-old boy… Have you seen him?" She asked.

"I… I haven't seen anyone around here but you." Luke admitted.

"Damn it…" The woman huffed.

"I'm... a parent too..." Luke said. "I'm looking for my kids as well..."

"You have kids?" The woman asked.

"Two little girls. Twins." He wondered if he should say their names but decided against it. If this woman, by any small chance, knew Clementine, she would know the twins as Clementine's kids. Learning that he was their father would only give her a reason to put a bullet in him, and he knew he wouldn't be able to explain the situation before she did.

Her eyes softened and she lowered her gun.

"We were hoping to find them here..." Luke said.

"We...?"

"I have a group with me..." Luke answered.

"Well... You might as well, keep looking... This place was attacked a few days ago. A lot of folks died." The woman told him.

"Oh God..." Luke muttered.

"I hope your girls weren't among them..." The woman said. "I hope you find them."

Luke felt lost for words, his heart clenching at the thought. As the woman turned to walk away, he called to her. "Wait,"

The woman halted her movement.

"Maybe... Maybe you could stick with us. I'm sure my girls are still out there. Maybe you could help us find them, and we could help you find your boy." Luke suggested.

"As much as I appreciate the offer, I'd rather not group up with strangers." The woman said. "I hope you understand."

Luke couldn't blame her considering that her town was just attacked.

"Good luck finding your daughters." The woman said.

"T-Thanks... Good luck finding your boy."

"Thank you." Luke said.


Luke headed to the meet up spot not too long after the woman had left. He was upset that he hadn't found anyone from their former group, he hoped they were still alive.

"Luke, did you find anything?" Vince asked as he spotted the young man.

"I… met someone." Luke admitted.

"What?" Russell asked.

"What do you mean you met someone?" Wyatt questioned.

"There was a woman here…" Luke said. "She… She snuck up on me and-"

"And you just let her go?" Russell inquired.

"She wasn't looking for trouble. She's searching for her son." Luke said.

"For all you know she could be with the people who did this..." Russell said.

"I think she thought the same about me." Luke said.

"You told her how many of us were here?" Russell asked sounding worried.

"No, just that I had a group..." Luke answered.

"Fuck, you can't go around blabbing to every stranger you meet!" Wyatt said.

"Wyatt, calm down." Vince said.

"I'm not gonna calm down, he's gonna get us killed." Wyatt said.

"She had the opportunity to shoot me. But she didn't." Luke replied. "And I didn't tell her anything important. I just told her we were looking for my daughters."

"You're too trusting, Luke. Too fucking trusting. You're gonna get yourself and the rest of us killed." Wyatt huffed.

Luke didn't bother responding.

"Come on. We need to get the fuck out of here before they come back thinking they need to pick off any survivors." Wyatt said.

The group left the town in silence.


Patricia frowned as she got in the van. Gill wasn't there and she had no clue where else to look. He could be anywhere.

She was surprised by that strangers offer to join him, but she couldn't trust him. Especially after what happened recently. He could be one of the the people who attacked the town in the first place.

And as much as she hoped for him to find his daughters, if his words were true, her only focus was on finding Gill. She wasn't ready to give up yet.

She needed to find her boy. He needed her. And she needed him.


"We're out of formula." Clementine's voice sound urgent and worried.

"What?" Becca asked, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. She was curious on why the girl had woken them up early the next morning.

"We're out of formula. And I told you AJ hasn't been eating much of anything else. We need to do something." Clementine said.

"Nurse him or something." Becca replied in a straight-forward tone.

"Wh-What?" Clementine stammered.

"What's wrong with nursing him? He's a baby. That's how babies eat." Becca said.

"No... It's not that..." Clementine's face reddened a bit.

"Then what?" Becca asked.

"He's not my...son." Clementine said.

"So? His mother's dead." Becca said.

"Becca!" Sarah gasped.

"It's true... Rebecca's gone, and if Clem doesn't want AJ to starve, she'll feed him." Becca said.

"Of course I don't want him to starve!" Clementine said.

"Then nurse him." Becca said.

Clementine paused for a moment.

"Rebecca looked after you in the pen. You should feel some kind of obligation to keep her son alive. No one else can feed him, but you." Becca said.

"I love AJ. I would never let him die." Clementine said.

"Prove it." Becca said.

Clementine paused for a minute before looking to Danielle, "Can you... get me the breast pump?"

Danielle nodded and went to check the bag for the pump.

"You're gonna make him wait, just feed him like you do the girls." Becca said.

"...Fine." Clementine said, but still seemed hesitant.

"There's nothing weird about it, Clem. People donate milk all the time." Sarah spoke up. "And if you want to pump, I'm sure AJ can wait."

"I…"

"Here, Crystal still has a full bottle." Danielle said, handing her Crystal bottle. "You can just refill it later…"

"Thank you, Dani." Clementine said.

"Of course." Danielle said, sensing how awkward her friend felt about the situation and knowing that Becca only made things worse.

"Here, Goofball." Clementine offered the boy the bottle, which AJ accepted. Clementine was still worried about the boy. She wondered if his mood change was due to him missing Kenny and Sarita…


AJ quickly grew an attachment to Clementine. He would cry whenever the girl wasn't in the same room with him. Or if anyone else held him and he wasn't in a happy mood.

Clementine knew that breastfeeding created a strong bond between a caretaker and a child, she wondered if that cause her and AJ's bond to suddenly change. She had always loved being with him, but now she felt strong maternal feelings towards him. More so then before. Now his cries, just like her little girls, had begun to give her anxiety. And being away from him or the twins for too long, made her nervous. She and AJ both developed a separation anxiety when it came to one another.

She would protect those kids with her life.

However, sometimes, much like today, she felt like she needed a break. "I'm so tired. I feel like I'm the only one who looks after the babies."

"Well two of them are yours so it's kind of your job." Becca asked. "Actually, it's completely your job. We have roles here, Clem. Your role is stay at home mom. Meaning you watch the children, clean, and complain."

Clementine couldn't tell if the older girl was joking or not. "That's not all I'm good for. I can help."

"Really? You haven't been much help as of recent. Maybe when you get rid of those crutches you can help." Becca said.

Clementine didn't get the chance to respond before Danielle snapped, "You need to stop hurting Clem!"

"How am I hurting her? I never put my hands on her." Becca said.

"I mean hurting her feelings." Danielle said.

"Dani, it's okay." Clementine said.

"No, it's not okay. It's not right for her to treat you this way." Danielle shook her head.

"It was a joke. It's not my fault she's too sensitive." Becca scoffed. "Does anyone have a sense of humor around here?"

"Well it wasn't a very funny joke. Clem's been doing a lot of work. Things have been tough on all of us. And the bullying is just making it harder for her. So, I'm asking you to please stop. Stop teasing her. Stop hurting her feelings. And stop making my friend cry. Because last time I checked all we have left is each other. We're in this together. And it hurts me to see Clem hurt." Danielle said.

"Fine... I'll take it easy with the jokes and teasing." Becca said.

"Do you really mean that?" Clementine asked.

"Yeah, Clem. I really mean it." Becca replied.

"Thank you." Clementine said, she really appreciated Danielle for standing up for her. She just hoped Becca kept her word.


"We need food other than soup or fish… and we need more water. Otherwise we're going to starve to death." Clementine said.

"Complaining again, I see." Becca groaned.

"I'm the one nursing these babies. I need food to be able to produce milk." Clementine said. "Feeding three babies isn't easy."

"Calm your ass down, kid. Danielle and I will go hunting." Becca said.

Danielle looked to the older girl. "We will?"

"Yeah. You know how to shoot. You've been out there before, so I need you to come to watch my back." Becca said.

Danielle nodded.

"Clem, you and Sarah stay here and try not to destroy the place before we get back." Becca said.

Clementine rolled her eyes at that. "No promises." She sarcastically said.

"We'll head out first thing tomorrow." Becca said.


When the next day came Becca and Danielle headed out to hunt as Promise.

Sarah was flipping through a book once again, while Clementine played with the babies. Clementine would tickle and coo at the children to elicit their cute response. She smiled, she felt so at ease whenever she was with them.

AJ was seated on the floor scribbling happily.

"Hey. Whatcha drawing there, goofball?" Clementine asked the little boy. "Can I see? You know I'm no good at this game, but I'll try to guess what it is. Just give me a second... I'll figure it out."

AJ smiled at her; Clementine knew he loved playing the guessing game.

"It's a doggie. Right?" Clementine asked.

AJ shakes his head.

"Hmm, Is it...a picture of you?"

AJ shakes his head again and points at Clementine.

"It's me?" Clementine questioned with a small giggle.

AJ nodded, babbling as he continues to point at her.

"It looks just like me." Clementine said. "Can you say "Clem", AJ? Give it a try. "Clem"."

AJ just giggles and goes back to drawing.

"Not much of a talker, are you, goofball? Don't worry about it. You'll talk when you're ready." Clementine said.

Suddenly a noise came from outside, causing them to flinch.

"What was that?" Sarah asked.

"I… I don't know…" Clementine said. "Stay quiet." The young girl went to peer through one of the windows. It was hard to see out there, but she knew she could hear people outside the house. People who weren't Becca or Danielle.

"Oh shit. Sarah, we gotta hide." Clementine ordered. She quickly loaded the kids and the wagon and went to one of the bedrooms. Sarah followed her, hiding in the closet.

Clementine quickly shut the door. She looked to the kids, "Listen to mommy, guys. It's time to play the quiet game, okay?" She put a finger to her mouth telling them to shush.

The twins cooed while AJ mimicked her actions bringing a hand to his mouth.

A few moments passed before knocks were heard against the front door. Clementine could feel her heart pounding as the knocks grew loud and eventually progressed into bangs.

Sarah held back screams of fear, as she could hear someone trying to force their way into the cottage.

Clementine tried to think of a plan. Those people had them cornered. They could only sit in the bedroom and hope they wouldn't come in. If they did…then they would have to fight back.

It wasn't long before the heard another loud bang, before the front door gave away.

They could hear people enter the house and a voice order them to "Look around". The strangers began searching through the house, eventually coming to the room they were in.

Clementine aimed her gun at the door, the knob rattled. The person on the other side must have realized it was locked as a few moments later he kicked the door in. Clementine raised her gun as an unknown man stepped into view.

"What do we have here? A bunch of little kittens who lost their mommy." The man said.

"Back off." Clementine ordered.

"Or what?" The man chuckled. "You won't shoot me little girl."

"I will… Just turn around and walk away…" Clementine hissed.

The man however took a step towards her. "You won't shoot me, honey."

His words made her flinch. And his imagine seemed to change before her eyes. He was suddenly the same man who abused her. Shoot me, honey! Shoot me!

"N-No!"

"See. I told you, you couldn't do it." The man chuckled.

Clementine trembled a bit as the man continued to approach her.

"Now just put the the gun-"

Clementine pulled the trigger before he could get another word out. Blood splattered on her as the man fell to the ground. The babies started cry.

"What the fuck was that?" A voice said from the other room.

Two other men rushed into the room. Guns aimed at Clementine.

"Drop the gun, kid." One of the men ordered.

Clementine had no choice but to oblige.

"Shit, did you do this? Did you kill our man?" The second man asked.

Clementine gave a tiny nod.

"Is anyone else here with you or is it just you and those babies? Where's your mommy and daddy?" The first man asked.

Clementine didn't respond, trembling a bit.

"Answer me, brat! Quit playing the mute act!" The first man snapped.

Clementine couldn't speak, voice caught in her throat.

Sarah was shaking, nervous for her friend's safety. She cracked the closet door and could see these men had the small child surrounded. She had to do something to help. After a moment of hesitation, Sarah jumped out of the closet, using her gun to shoot at one of the men, shakily. The bullet missed hitting the wall.

The men glared at her and one of them walked towards her, with their attention on Sarah, Clementine quickly grabbed one of their guns and shot the two men, "Sarah, run!"

Sarah obliged without hesitation, Clementine grabbed the wagon, she knew she would have a hard time keeping up. The two girls rushed into the living room and Clementine looked to the back door. "Sarah, go get help!"

"You have to come with me!" Sarah said.

"I'll try to keep up, but I won't be able to run that fast. If I fall behind, just keep running." Dropping her crutches, she started running, pulling the wagon along with her. Her legs screamed in pain, but she did her best to ignore it. She started falling behind, but Sarah kept running as she had told her to. Clementine didn't get far before she was surrounded by a few more men. Panic hit her, were they going to kill her and her babies?

Sarah had managed to get out of the house and into the woods only for a third man to start chasing after her.

The girl ducked behind trees and into bushes to avoid him. Eventually he lost sight of her and Sarah waited until she could no longer hear his voice before running again. She needed to find Becca and Danielle, she needed to get help.


The men forced the young girl back into the cottage and proceeded to ask her for any supplies she had.

"I'll give you everything we got…Just…. Just d-don't hurt me... Please... Don't hurt me..." Clementine said.

"Don't be scared, little kitten. We just wanna play." One of the men said.

"Leave her alone." The familiar voice almost caused Clementine to whip around. But she knew better than to turn her back to an attacker. Clementine wondered how Terrell had found her.

"What?" One of the men asked.

"You can't be serious, man." A second man said.

"I said, leave her alone." Terrell spoke.

"This is bullshit. You know-"

Terrell cut the man off with a gunshot.

"What the fuck man?!" The second man exclaimed.

Another gunshot, Clementine flinched. The babies were crying, she wanted to comfort them but felt frozen.

"Hey, we can talk this out... Don't do this... I have a family." The third man pleaded. "Pl-Please."

A third gunshot.

Terrell turned to the trembling little girl and asked, "Are you okay?"

"T-Terrell?" Clementine stammered. "How'd you find me?"

"Lucky chance..." Terrell answered.

"We-We're you with those guys?" Clementine asked. "Were you with those naughty people?"

"Of course not, I heard the noise and figured someone was in trouble." Terrell claimed.

"They... talked like they knew you." Clementine said.

"I had no idea who they were..." Terrell said.

Clementine didn't completely believe his words. "...I need to find my friends. I need to make sure they're okay..."

"We'll do that... But we need to get out of here. Just in case there's more "naughty" people out there..." Terrell said.

Clementine nodded, shaking a bit. "I'm scared."

"Don't be, I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." Terrell said. "Look at me, I need you to grab your stuff, then take the kids, and go wait outside, okay?"

"O-Okay..." Clementine agreed. She quickly grabbed what supplies she could carry, specifically anything AJ and the twins needed. She then grabbed Promise, tucking him into her backpack, before taking hold of the wagon. She headed outside, curious on what Terrell was doing.


Terrell waited until the young girl was outside of the cottage. He then proceeded to walk, pouring a bottle of gasoline throughout the house. He lit a match. Before walking out the front door.

"Let's go, kiddo." Terrell said.

"What happened? What did you do?" Clementine asked.

"I had to take care of the bodies." Terrell simply said.

Clementine glanced to the cottage and her hazel eyes grew wide. "Is that smoke?"

"It's just coming from the backyard. Come on, kid. Let's move." Terrell said, leading her away from the cottage.

Clementine followed him, still feeling worried. She needed to find her friends.


Sarah tore aimlessly through the trees, searching in panic for Danielle and Becca. She didn't know how long she had been running, all she knew was that she needed to find help.

She checked the river first, but they weren't there. Anxious and unsure of what to do she continued searching the area. Tears blurred her vision and she tried to blink them away, when suddenly she bumped into someone. The teen fell back, glasses falling from her face.

"Ow." Becca uttered with a groan.

Sarah whimpered as Danielle knelt down to pick the glasses up.

"Sarah, what are you doing out here?" Danielle asked, handing the girl her glasses.

"And why are you so damn clumsy?" Becca scoffed.

"Y-You didn't hear the gunshots?" Sarah asked through tears.

"Gunshots? What are you talking about?" Becca asked.

"P-People came to the cottage! Th-They- They attacked us!" Sarah cried.

"Attacked?" Becca gasped.

"Wh-What?!" Danielle gasped. "Wait- Where's Clementine? And the babies?"

"She told me to keep running- I didn't want to but I did." Sarah said.

"Are you crazy?! You left her to die!" Becca snapped.

Sarah felt more tears fall from her eyes. "I was trying to find help."

"Fuck! We gotta make sure she's okay." Becca pulled Sarah to her feet. "Come on!"

The three girls began sprinting back towards the cottage, the were worried it would be too late by time they arrived.

As they got closer to the cottage, they could see smoke through the trees.

Danielle's eyes widened. "Oh no… Is that smoke coming from the cottage?"

As they neared the building their worst wishes were confirmed.

They couldn't believe their eyes. The cottage was engulfed in flames. Sarah was sobbing uncontrollably with terror etched into her face.

Danielle found herself whimpering as well. "We have to help her!" She yelled frantically. "We have to help Clementine and the babies!"

"There's nothing we can do!" Becca said. Becca knew it only took minutes for thick black smoke to fill a house and for fire to spread through it. By now Clementine, AJ, and the twins were most likely trapped in there, or dead.

They could hear a cracking roar as walls collapsed.

"Wh-What?!" Danielle snapped. "We- We have to help her!"

"We can't go in there! We'll die." Becca stated. "If... If they're in there... they gone... They're gone, Dani."

"No- No! We have to do something! We have to try and h-help them! We have to!" Danielle tried to run towards the house, ignoring the flames, but Becca held her back.

"Don't be stupid! You're just gonna get yourself killed!" Becca said.

"They can't be gone! They can't be!" Danielle tried to struggle out of Becca's grip, but her attempts to free herself were in vain. Eventually the young girl's legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground, sobbing. Becca loosened her grip feeling tears in her own eyes. She felt regret wash over her as she thought of how she had treated little Clementine over the past few days.

"Oh god..." She felt like she could throw up, tears spilt from Becca's eyes.

The three girls remained there for a while, crying over the loss of friend and the babies.


"I lost them- they ran off." The man stopped. "Holy shit, you brought one of those brats here?"

"What's going on, T?" Clementine asked fearfully "You said you didn't know those guys."

"I hate to break it to you kid, but your friends are gone. The noise brought the dead, and the gobbled all your little friends up." The man said.

Clementine flinched at that.

"I don't know them, Clem." Terrell said in a calm manner.

"What the hell are you talking about?" The man questioned Terrell.

"I'll give you five seconds to run away, before I pull the trigger." Terrell said, keeping the calm tone.

Clementine cold feel her blood run cold from how calm his voice was.

"What-?" The man looked genuinely shocked.

"Five..."

"What the hell are you doing?" The man asked.

"Four..."

"This is bullshit! Knock it off!" The man snapped.

"Three."

"Fuck this shit, you're fucking crazy." Panicked, he turned to run away.

"Two."

The man started running towards the woods.

"One."

Terrell pulled trigger, then with a blank face said. "I guess he didn't run fast enough."

Clementine whimpered a bit.

"Hey, it's okay… You're safe now." Terrell reassured her.

"What's going on, T? Who were those guys? Why did they attack us?" Clementine said.

Terrell didn't answer her.

Clementine glared at him, though she was scared. "Come on, tell me what's going on. You said you would help me find my friends..."

"I said I would protect you... I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, Clem, but he's right. Your friends are gone. If the raiders didn't get them, walkers will. And if we go looking for them, we're dead too... You don't want to die, do you? Not when you got these three to protect. You don't want to get your little ones killed, right?"

Clementine shook her head, whimpering a bit. She could feel tears in her eyes.

Terrell pulled the whimpering child into a hug and allowed her to sob in his arms. "It's okay. It's okay... I'll keep you safe... Just stick with me. I'll keep you safe."


Kenny, Christa, and Gill had been walking for a while, searching through the woods with hopes of finding the other children. Gill was fidgeting with an object in his hand.

"Oh shit..." Kenny suddenly spoke.

"What?" Christa asked.

The bearded man who had be quiet the entire walk spoke again.

"Get down." Kenny ordered.

Christa and Gill obliged. Kenny crouched down and they followed his lead, peeking from behind trees and bushes.

"What's going on?" Gill asked quietly.

"Shh..." Christa ordered.

They noticed a vehicle soon pull to a stop.

Gill could feel his heart pounding. They stayed behind cover, Kenny drawing his gun as a figure stepped out of the vehicle.


"I can't believe you left her..." Becca muttered.

Sarah just sniffled a bit not responding.

"You left her?! How could you leave her? And now she's gone! That blood is on your hands!" Becca yelled at the girl.

"It's not Sarah's fault." Danielle defended.

"And how the hell is it not?" Becca inquired.

"She didn't know that was going to happen… None of us knew." Danielle said.

"That doesn't change the fact that Clementine and the kids are gone now. And we have no supplies of anything. Four little kids just died in a fire, three of them being babies and… and it all could've been prevented." Becca said.

"Can we please stop talking about this…" Sarah pleaded.

"Why? Is the guilt too much for you?" Becca scoffed, "Do you need someone to coddle you some more?"

"Stop fighting. Please." Danielle said with a frown. She just wanted to mourn their loss in silence.

"I do feel bad. I feel guilty, of course. I know it's my fault." Sarah said. "I was scared. Clementine told me to run and I did. I know I should've stayed with her, but I was so scared…"

"Exactly you're a damn coward." Becca said.

"But I'm not the only one who feels guilty! You're the one who was always being mean to her, Becca. You didn't care that she was a little kid, or that she thought of you as a friend. You just kept picking on her." Sarah said.

"You don't know shit!" Becca snapped. "I wasn't picking on her! I was-"

"You were bullying her! You know it's true!" Sarah said.

"I- I wasn't bullying her! You don't understand! She was…" Becca trailed off.

"She was what?" Sarah asked.

"She was a brat!" Becca exclaimed.

"Clementine wasn't a brat." Danielle cut in. "She was defending herself."

"She got my sister killed and… and I… I just couldn't forgive her for that. Every single place I went with her got destroyed. If she never showed up at Howe's none of this would've happened." Becca said.

"She didn't get anyone killed. Stop blaming her for everything!" Sarah said.

"Can we just stop fighting? This isn't what Clementine would've wanted." Danielle said.

"Yeah, well, Clementine is gone now… We need to keep moving." Becca replied.

Between their arguing the girls didn't noticed a car vehicle approaching.

However, Danielle quickly reached for her gun as the vehicle pulled up beside them. The window rolled down and a voice from inside spoke, "Sarah? Becca?"

"L-Luke?" Sarah stammered while Becca stood in absolute shock.