- We wouldn't have come here if it wasn't necessary. You assholes broke our deal with the St. John's, and now you're going to have to give us your stuff!

The masked man said in an angry tone, pointing a gun at Ben's head, who had gone out to take out the garbage in the street below.

Beside him were three more men, all masked and wearing dark glasses.

Kenny and Lee were further forward, while Lilly was further back, in front of her father, right next to the RV.

- And why should we do tha?t!

Kenny asked, looking at the man in an irritated way, although he was worried about his family, who were further away.

- Because if not I'll fucking kill you all here! I'm being generous enough to just take your stuff!

The man shouted, pressing the barrel of his pistol to Ben's head, who shivered slightly and closed his eyes tightly.

- Whoa, hold on. I'm sure we can work something out.

Lee said, stepping forward and drawing the man's attention to himself.

- No goddamn deal! You will do exactly as I say and give me your things!

The man shouted.

- Use your head. And when your supplies run out? Why take all the supplies if you can use us?

Lee said, and the man took a few steps away from Ben, but still pointed his pistol at the boy's head.

-... I'm listening.

- You don't need to risk your lives in the city. We will do it, and we will give you part of what we get whenever we return. We don't have much at the moment, so we will have to go to the city, that's why we can't deliver that bag to you, not yet.

Lee said, lowering his arms slowly when he saw that the man had relaxed his body a little more, looking at his other companions.

-... Hm... okay, but I want seventy percent of what you get.

The man said, and Lee arched an eyebrow.

- That's a lot, half.

Lee said, and the man laughed mockingly.

- Hahaha, what a funny guy. Why only half?

- We have children here, exhausted mothers. I'm not saying this for the men, but for them.

Lee said, and the man ran his eyes over Clementine and Duck, who were standing behind Diana and Katjaa.

He seemed to think for a few moments, until he looked back at Lee.

- Okay, deal. I want to see the package tomorrow. If I come here and don't-

The man was interrupted by a gunshot, hitting him precisely in the middle of his forehead.

His body fell with a thud to the floor, startling the others.

At a glance, Lee could see Ed pointing a pistol in the man's direction. Questions popped into his head, such as how the fuck did Ed get that gun?

And how the fuck did he manage to get out of the room?

However, the situation was a bit... complicated for him to be distracted by these questions.

Turning quickly, Lee picks up his pistol and shoots two of the three men standing there, hitting the last one in the shoulder, who managed to jump over the barricade.

Soon after, more bandits came out of the forest, and the shooting began.

- Oh, fuck!

Kenny shouted angrily, turning and running behind the RV, catching Katjaa and Duck on the way.

Lee did the same, feeling a bullet graze his head, causing him to fall to the ground. However, he quickly recovers and takes cover behind the RV.

Looking around the corner of the vehicle, he sees some men enter, destroying part of the barricade.

- Lee!

Lilly shouted his name, throwing a rifle in his direction.

Lee caught the gun still in the air and started shooting at the men who started to enter. As soon as they saw that they were being shot at, they took cover behind the garbage cans and parts of the destroyed barricade that they had caused themselves.

Taking cover behind the RV again, Lee groans slightly in pain as he feels a bullet graze his arm.

He was having quite a few close calls.

Kneeling down, he leans to the side again and shoots one of the bandits who tried to run towards him, hitting him precisely in the head.

- I need help here!

He heard Carley shout, and turned around.

His eyes widened as he saw the shadows of the bandits dangerously close to the vehicle.

- The shotgun!

Lee shouted, throwing the rifle back at Lilly, at the same time as she threw his shotgun at him.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped out from behind the RV and shot the first bandit he saw, blowing his head off.

The splatter of blood and brains that splattered to the sides made the man next to him turn his head, both startled and in disgust.

Which made it easy for Lee to shoot him. A clear shot to the chest, destroying part of the man's raised arms and piercing his upper chest.

Glancing over, Lee saw Ed stab a man multiple times in the neck, before pulling Clementine's hand away and walking over to the RV.

Even though he wasn't looking directly at the man, Lee could tell he was staring at him.

Shaking his head in frustration, he fires one more shot at one of the bandits who tried to approach, and takes cover again.

- Kenny! We don't have much time!

Lee shouted, looking at the blood dripping from his arm. A grazing shot hurt more than he thought, although it wasn't that uncomfortable.

- I'm working on it! This fucking old junk!

Kenny shouted back, trying to start the vehicle once more.

- Dad!

Lee heard Lilly yell and turned to the woman, his eyes widening as he saw Larry fighting one of the bandits.

Which wouldn't be such a big problem since the old man was a wall of muscle, however, Lee noticed the blood dripping from his stomach, and him getting weaker by the moment.

Not only that, but Lilly was fighting a bandit who grabs her neck from behind, trying any way she can to get him off her.

Lee pointed his shotgun at the man Larry was fighting, and cursed when he saw that he had run out of ammo.

Rolling his eyes at his luck, he rushes toward Larry, slamming the stock of the shotgun into the bandit's head, and knocking him to the ground.

Lee picks up the pistol that was at Larry's feet and shoots the man, turning to Lilly and shooting the man who was grabbing her.

- Dad!

As soon as she broke free, she ran toward Larry. However, Lee stopped her from approaching and handed the pistol to the woman.

- I'll take care of him, keep them away from us!

Lee said, turning to Larry and trying to help him up. However, with all this situation, and a shot in the stomach, Larry's heart just couldn't take it.

Lilly realized this, and although she wanted very much to help her father, she knew that this moment was not the best of all times. And she was a little more relieved to see Lee pulling Larry into the RV.

Even if he was having a heart attack at that moment, maybe they could do something later.

- Okay, Lilly! Come on!

She heard Lee shout from inside the vehicle, and turned around.

As soon as she did, however, another shot was heard, from the many that echoed around the place.

The woman's eyes widened and a sharp pain spread through her abdomen as she felt the blood drain from her body.

Another shot echoed, and the pain only increased, right next to the spot that had been hit before.

Looking forward, she stared deep into the eyes of Ed, who had the pistol pointed in her direction, and a small smile on his lips.

- I'm sorry, Lilly... I planned to kill you later, but, well... you got too involved with Lee.

He said, almost in a whisper, getting into the RV shortly after.

The noise became muffled, and she felt her strength dwindling as the pain seemed to increase.

In the midst of it all, she could still hear Lee calling her, a certain desperation in his voice.

The woman fell to the ground, her vision began to blur, but she could see Lee running towards her, and crouching down beside her.

She felt him grab her around the waist and put one of her arms around his neck, and her eyes focused on something behind Lee.

A runner, attracted by the gunfire, was rapidly approaching the man.

Lee turned quickly when he heard the approaching footsteps, and out of pure reflex, he put his arms in front of his body, holding the creature that was trying violently to grab him, and knocking Lilly down in the process.

The woman moans slightly in pain, but she ignores it and looks at the scene ahead with some despair, watching Lee struggling against the runner, pushing him backwards with some difficulty.

Lilly tries to get up, but she feels her body being thrown to the floor by one of the zombies that had entered the motel.

Her arms stopped the corpse from biting her, but she couldn't stand it for long.

Muffled gunshots echoed through her ears, but she was too desperate to pay attention to what was going on around her.

Suddenly, the zombie falls over, motionless, and she can notice blood dripping from the hole in the corpse's head.

Looking to the side, she sees Lee pointing a pistol towards the zombie that was on her, just before Carley and Ben pull him into the RV, and the zombies, along with the runners, start banging on the door of the vehicle.

Her eyes grew heavier, and her strength ran out.

Everything went black, and she felt her consciousness leaving her.

(...)

- Damn it!

Kenny cursed angrily, looking in the rearview mirror at the runners chasing the RV, which despite being faster than them, didn't stop him from feeling a little anxious.

- Is everyone okay?

Carley asked, running his eyes over the people there, stopping for a moment at Diana, who was trying to help Larry.

- Lee, you're bleeding.

Ben said, and Lee walked over to the side mirror, noticing the wide cut on the side of his head.

The bullet had come dangerously close.

- At least I'm not dead.

He said, ripping off part of his shirt and wiping the blood from around it, as he walked to the next sink and began to wash his wound.

- Holy shit, I have a lot of questions, so I'll start as gently as I can! Ed, what the fuck is your problem?!

Kenny shouted angrily, and all eyes fell on the man sitting on the couch in front of them, arms crossed and a neutral face.

When he heard his name, however, he arched an eyebrow.

- What?

- How the fuck did you get that gun?! How the fuck did you get out of that fucking room?! And why the fuck did you fucking shoot it?!

Kenny yelled, trying to concentrate on the road, but really wanting to get up and punch the man a few times.

Ed didn't even seem to mind this, he was so neutral... in fact, there was even a tiny spark of amusement in his eyes, for those who paid close attention.

- Why are you angry? Those guys wanted to take our stuff.

- We were about to leave that fucking motel! Lee had a plan! All we had to do was follow the fucking plan! We weren't going to give them anything because we would have already left!

Kenny shouted in anger.

Understandable, his family could have died in that shootout, good thing Katjaa and Duck were okay.

- Oh, please... a deal with bandits? Do you really think they would follow a useless agreement?

He asked, looking at Clementine, who was sitting next to him with a somewhat frightened, confused, and shocked expression.

Lee dried his face and took a wet cloth, pressing it against his wound, and turning around.

His eyes first focused on Clementine, on the girl's various expressions.

This was a horrible situation for her, poor thing, of course she would be like that.

Sighing, he looked at Ed, who was staring at him. This was not a surprise to Lee, that man usually stared at him a lot, as if he had some kind of resentment or something.

Lee had noticed this for a long time, but had always kept quiet. He hadn't done anything until now.

- I should beat the living shit out of you right now.

Lee said, shaking his head slightly, and Ed arched an eyebrow, while smiling mockingly at Lee.

- Oh yeah, and why?

- Why? Look at him.

Lee said, pointing at Larry, who had stopped breathing some time ago, with a hole in his abdomen and blood staining his clothes.

- So what? The old man who tried to kill Duck, and said that my daughter was infected, is dead. Should I feel sad?

Ed said, crossing his arms and looking disdainfully at Larry's body.

- Lilly was shot... she must be being eaten right now... and you don't feel anything about it?

Lee asked, a cold tone, calm eyes that seemed to pierce deep into Ed's soul.

- It's a shame what happened to her ... but it could have happened to all of us if I hadn't acted.

he said, shrugging his shoulders.

Lee sighed regretfully and bowed his head, closing his eyes tightly.

He brought one of his hands up to his face, processing everything that had happened in the last few minutes. Two people were dead, and they had lost everything.

But the man in front of him just didn't seem to care.

Oh, that's right, because he really didn't care. And Lee knew that Ed had become that way.

It was his fault, he should have done something earlier. But he still had the naive thought that Ed would change.

Smiling humorlessly, Lee punched Ed in the face, sending the man to the ground, and he controlled himself very hard not to keep punching him.

Lee ignored the surprised and frightened eyes they sent in his direction, especially Clementine's, and taking a few steps forward, he stomps hard on Ed's chest, staring coldly into the eyes of the man at his feet.

- From now on... either you do exactly as you are told, or I abandon you in the forest myself. You can choose to leave unharmed, or with broken bones. Choose carefully.

He says, his raspy voice sending shivers through some of the people's bodies.

Still with his foot on Ed's chest, Lee leans his body forward, resting his arm on his knee.

- And if your actions cost anyone else their life, I will kill you myself. This is your last chance, Ed.

Lee said, taking his foot off the man and walking to the back of the RV, sitting down and leaning his body on the table.

He sighed wearily, putting his hand over his face... just as Lilly had said.

Slowly going crazy.