Observing the surrounding area, Clementine walks slowly through the scene, occasionally kicking some of the bodies lying on the ground, making sure that they were indeed dead. She holds her pocket knife firmly in her hand, prepared in case a hand grabs her leg.

Bending down next to the body of a man, she observes the bullet wounds for a few moments, before checking his pockets for anything. Nothing.

Sighing, she continues on her way, glancing at Pete and Nick checking the other bodies, despite the clear discomfort of the young man who occasionally complains to Pete.

Her eyes then focus on a spot further ahead, beside yet another body. Her steps quicken and the girl feels her heart beat faster as she notices her backpack.

As she kneels down, she observes the fallen man beside her, still alive.

"...You are one of the men who attacked us...the man and the woman who were with me. What happened to them?" She asked in a low, cold voice, looking somewhat menacingly at the man.

He had gunshot wounds all over his chest and legs, plus blood staining his face. No chance he would survive.

The man then began to cough, and slowly reached out his arm towards her backpack.

"... Please..." The girl stared at where he was pointing, her water bottle.

She took the bottle and placed it in front of him, but out of his reach.

"I'll give you some if you tell me what happened to them." She said, watching the man's eyes widen a little more as he coughed and tried futilely to grab the bottle.

"Cough... cough, please..." He began to breathe harder, rolling his body weakly. Clementine sighed and put the water bottle back in her backpack.

He would die anyway, and even if it sounded cold, it would only be a waste to give him some of her water.

Although it was a rather sad situation.

Looking at him for a few more moments, she sighs again and opens her backpack. He had already closed his eyes and was coughing up blood. The pain visible in his weak expression every time he coughed.

All Clementine could do now was to put him out of his misery. She takes her hunting knife from inside her backpack, and with one swift, strong movement, using both hands, she smashes her blade into the man's head, right at his temple.

The girl groans slightly from the effort she made to pull the knife back. Human skulls were quite resistant, especially the front part, even in some long dead bodies.

Personally, she didn't want to do that. Those wounds, those bodies, the blood, everything was still fresh, which meant that whoever did that could still be around.

A startled scream from Pete gets her attention, and the girl turns to where he was, hearing Nick call out to him with a concerned tone.

"I'm okay!" Pete shouted, shooting a fallen walker in the head on the ground who had grabbed him.

Clementine clenched her eyes slightly as she looked in his direction. Even from a distance, it was possible to see his arms trembling, his frightened expression with a certain refinement of desperation. It was then that she saw the wound on his ankle.

Her eyes immediately widened, and she looked him right in the eye, realizing the fear behind it.

"I just... got off my balance! Fuck... goddammit!" He growled, looking down, lost.

"Shit! Lurkers!" Nick shouted, and another shot echoed through the place. Clementine turned to him and saw him firing at some walkers coming from the forest, or even who were hiding behind some rocks around.

"Damn it! I'm out of ammo!" Pete shouted after firing a few more times, using the handle of his rifle to hit the heads of the nearest walkers.

"I still have some left, get over here!" Nick yelled, kicking a walker away and shooting him in the head soon after.

"Son of a bitch...fuck! You two get over here!" Pete yelled, pushing a walker who had thrown himself toward him away and walking away at a wide but staggering pace.

"Will you listen to me one time? Just once?! I have ammo!" Nick shouted back, firing once more.

Clementine found herself between the two, alternating her gaze in the direction each was facing and being forced to make a choice.

Snapping her tongue, she rushes over to Pete as she sees him being grabbed by a walker and knocked to the ground. As soon as she got close, she stabbed her blade into the side of the corpse's skull and pushed the body off Pete, helping him up.

Pete looked at her for a few moments, until he heard Nick's scream as he shook off a walker who had grabbed him from behind.

"Nick! Get out of there!" Pete yelled as he saw that the young man was slowly being surrounded.

Nick stared at him for a few moments, then looked around with analytical eyes, until he turned and ran toward the forest while still shooting, drawing a large portion of the walkers toward him.

"We have to go." Clementine said as she saw a few more walkers coming up beside her, and Pete turned around after staring at her for a few moments, starting to run along the riverbank until they entered the dense forest.

They didn't know exactly how long they ran, but it was long enough to avoid most of the walkers until they found an abandoned van in the forest, which now served as a refuge for the two survivors.

A few walkers around saw the two get into the van and kept throwing themselves against the door in an attempt to catch them, but it was only a matter of time before those corpses forgot about the two and drove away.

Clementine sighed in relief as she sat down, and watched Pete not far from her. He looked worried and downcast.

Her gaze then fell on the bite on his leg. It was deep and bleeding quite a bit. It was not similar to the bite that dog Sam gave her, it was even more grotesque as one could see the walker's clear attempt to try to rip a chunk out of Pete.

"What are you looking at?" Pete asked after a while, bringing the girl out of her thoughts. "Staring isn't very polite. You can tell me."

"What are you going to do?"

"About what? About that death sentence of mine? Hah, what do I have to do?" He asked with a certain irony and even a hint of mockery in his voice, resting his head against the cold metal of the vehicle.

"I don't know. Maybe we can cut off your leg." She said, looking around for something. There was a clamp on the shelf beside her, but there was nothing she could use to make a tourniquet. At least, it wasn't visible.

"So I can bleed like a pig for slaughter? Hah, good idea. What would you do? Carry me there?" he asked, and the girl arched an eyebrow at the way he was acting, as if he had already accepted that he was dead.

Well, in a way, she could understand.

"I can understand you thinking that way. If it doesn't work, it will only make it worse for you." She said with a certain regret, squeezing her arm somewhat tightly and looking down.

Pete stared at her for a while, until he sighed slightly and looked away.

"You sound like you've seen a similar situation before."

"Because I have."

They were silent for a while, until Clementine stood up and started rummaging through the interior of the van. There were a few boxes there that might have something useful inside.

"But don't you want to try? I mean, I remember hearing you say it worked for a cousin somewhere." She said as she opened a box, arching her eyebrow at seeing cigarettes in there.

"...Honestly, I think I'm more afraid of sawing my leg off than this bite itself." He said in a hoarse voice, looking at the box she was checking. "What's in there? Anything we can use?"

She picked up a pack of cigarettes and swung it around in her hand.

"Give me one of those." The girl arched an eyebrow.

"Are you serious?"

"What about it? I'm already fucked anyway." He said, and the girl sighed.

Handing him the cigarette, she walked over to her backpack and picked up her lighter, lighting it for Pete, who after the first drag started coughing.

"Argh, Jesus. The taste is as bad as the smell."

He said, and the girl put her lighter away in her pocket. "Now what?"

He took another puff, staring into nothingness. "We wait."

He said, and the girl stared at him for a while, hopeful that he would decide to do something else. Even if he really was going to die, he could at least try to get back to the cabin. Nick and the others had the right to know about it, and it would be nice for them to at least see him before he...

She sighed, sitting down a few steps away from him and hugging her own knees with her hunting knife firmly in her hand. Her back was resting on the cold metal of the van and she bowed her head. A busy morning that was. Contributing to her accumulated physical fatigue.

And Pete's situation contributed to her mental fatigue, as memories of a similar situation returned to her mind each time she looked at him. She was alone with a bitten man.

The resemblance may have been slight, but it was enough to awaken a wave of memories.

Time passed quickly. The girl didn't even notice when she had fallen asleep, she was too tired from sleepless nights and days and days of walking.

She opened her eyes and focused them on Pete, who was coughing in front of her with such intensity that his whole body was reacting to his strong coughs.

Just in case, Clementine stood up with her knife firmly in her hand, watching for any unusual movement from Pete.

"Pete?" She called out to him, and he coughed harder, forcing his body to stand up.

There was blood on the floor, and blood dripped from his mouth along with saliva. Pete wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket, and took a few deep breaths.

"Fuck...I feel like ten pounds of shit inside a five pound sack." He said in a hoarse, raspy voice, coughing a few more times and spitting a small amount of blood on the floor.

"Jesus."

"I've been thinking, and I don't wanna die." He said amid a cough mixed with a laugh. "Fuck...I never thought I'd be the kind of asshole who would say that. But, there you go. I'm scared, Clementine. Jesus, I'm scared." He said, and the girl sighed, feeling bad for the old man.

It is in times of crisis that you get to know the true face of a man, and there, she saw a good-hearted man who was just trying to survive in fear of his inevitable death. She could sympathize with that, open up to him, even if it wasn't much.

"...I'll spare you the sweet talk. I think it's normal to be afraid of dying. Nobody wants to die, that's just the way people are." Pete let out a nasal laugh, lowering his head slightly.

"Well, thanks for at least trying to comfort me. But, gee, I can't believe I'm leaving like this. And... I don't know, I feel a little weird being scared after all I've been through. I always thought I would leave with a determined expression on my face, not... like this." He coughed a few more times, leaning his body slightly forward.

"Damn... but I guess... it's really normal to be afraid. I don't know if there was anyone in the same situation who didn't get like that." Pete said, and Clementine lowered her head.

"...The man who took care of me. He got bit, too, because of me." She began, and Pete looked at her with a gleam of curiosity and attention amidst his frightened eyes. "Some things happened, I was kidnapped. By the time he found me, he was pretty pale."

She said with her eyes focused on the ground, letting for the first time in a long time, she let herself be carried away by the memories of that day and trying to control the lump in her throat. She didn't want to cry at that moment, not in that situation.

"When the time came, he asked me to leave him. He seemed so sure of what he was doing, so determined... at one point, when he saved me, he said he wasn't afraid to die because he knew I would survive. I think it kind of helped, you know? And... maybe it helps you not to be so afraid, I guess." She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, swallowing that urge to cry and looking at Pete.

The man stared at her with a different gleam in his eye. There was still fear, but there was understanding in the middle, even a little comfort. He looked at her intently and didn't blink for quite a while, until he looked away and gave a nasal laugh.

"...It really makes me comfortable to know that Nick won't be alone. That even though he may act immature at times, he manages to be responsible, even understandable. I wanted to see him one last time, but... Hm... what's the name of this guy who took care of you?"

"Lee." She replied with a small satisfied smile as she saw that she was of some help, despite how little.

"Is he your father?" He asked, though he was already suspicious of the answer.

"No, he...he found me when it all started."

"Well, I think that Lee did a good job. I respect what he did. I wish I had known him." He coughed a few more times, just before he stood up and looked out the window of the rear doors of the car.

"What are you doing?" The girl asked.

"It's been almost a day since we've been here. They won't find us. And I know I'm not getting out of this. You're going to have to move." He said, turning slightly toward her and looking at her with slightly wistful, but determined eyes.

"Are you serious?"

"Come on...look at me. I can't run, no matter what you think. But I can be a good distraction." He said, opening the doors slightly.

Clementine hurried over and grabbed her backpack, just before she approached Pete.

"...If this is really what you want...I thank you, Pete, for all you've done for me." She said with a genuine tone, placing a hand gently on the man's shoulder.

Pete stared into her eyes for a few moments, until he smiled with a little satisfaction and nodded slightly at her.

"No problem. I couldn't just ignore your situation. You're a good girl, Clementine. It's nice to know that the world hasn't managed to corrupt some people." He said, turning around again and opening the doors fully.

"Go." She nodded to him once more, and soon, she jumped out of the van and started running down the same path she used to get there, dodging some walkers who wandered around.

Again, the girl didn't know how long it had been since she got out of the van, but the sun was already illuminating the forest. A little less than half an hour, perhaps, she was exhausted and sweaty.

Soon, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the cabin not far from where she was standing and stopped running, catching her breath a little before walking towards the cabin at a quick pace.

As soon as she passed the back door, her eyes immediately fell on Carlos, who was already standing up with a worried look on his face.

"Clementine! Are you okay?! Where have you been?! Wait, Luke isn't with you?"" He asked somewhat nervously, moving a few steps closer to the girl.

"Where's Alvin?!" Rebecca asked, just as nervous and worried as Carlos, just behind the man.

"Pete got bit. Walkers in the river." She answered quickly, taking a few deep breaths and wiping the sweat from her face.

"Where were you? Where exactly were you?!" Rebecca asked.

"Down by the stream." She replied, ignoring the woman's stiff tone.

"We have to go!" Rebecca said, turning to Carlos.

"Whoa, wait a minute-"

"My husband is outside, Carlos! Get the guns, we're wasting time!" She exclaimed.

Carlos stared at her for a while, until he sighed in defeat and hurried out of the kitchen.

"Luke and Alvin came out looking for you. I told them not to go." Rebecca said with a slightly whining tone, and the girl rolled her eyes.

"You told them not to look for Pete?" She asked in clear teasing. One that clearly worked, by the woman's expression.

"What?"

"I don't understand why you don't like me, but that's fine. But not caring about a member of your own group is low even for me." Clementine said, her voice in a tone more of weariness than really irritation. She wasn't in the mood to listen to Rebecca's complaints, even though she understood that she was pregnant and all.

She had experienced something similar when Christa was pregnant.

Before the woman could respond, however, Carlos appeared with two rifles and handed her one.

"Clementine, can you...can you please take care of Sarah? She's upstairs, just distract her while we're gone. Don't say anything, she gets... nervous." Carlos asked, and Clementine looked at him strangely for a few moments, until she remembered what he had told her last night about her daughter being... different.

"Okay, I'll do what I can. I promise." She replied, and Carlos seemed to relax a little, looking at her appreciatively.

"Okay, thanks. There are some clothes for you in the bathroom. It's at the end of the upstairs corridor." He said, leaving the cabin and closing the door soon after.

Clementine sighed and bowed her head. They were good people, and although she didn't trust them completely, she was willing to try.

This group, despite the problems she noticed, seemed nice. Maybe Omid and Christa could get together, if she ever met them again.

Turning, she walked across the room and up the stairs to the bathroom, whose door was already open.

Her eyes soon stopped on the clothes on the toilet, clothes that she assumed were Carlos' daughter's.

There was a basin of water in the bathtub.

Putting her backpack in the corner of the bathroom, she removed her bloodstained clothes and walked to the tub, feeling her body shiver at the contact of the cold water against her skin.

Despite the cold, she had to admit it was a nice change from the icy river waters she had been bathing in lately. Plus it was definitely safer, being protected by four walls and a ceiling, which allowed her to relax a bit.

After cleaning herself up, she walks over to her clothes, pausing for a few moments to observe her reflection. It had been a while since she had last looked at herself with that level of detail. It wasn't often that she found a clean mirror.

She admired her face for a few moments. It was older. But it was still extremely similar to that little girl who had killed so many people years ago.

She loved to see that she was getting older.

She hated to see that she was still the same.

Sighing, the girl puts on the clothes Carlos left for her and looks at her body. A short-sleeved white blouse covered by a purple cold-weather sweater. Regular jeans and regular shoes, a little baggy perhaps.

As she crouches down to get her things, she puts her hunting knife on her waist and her cap on her head, just before she sees the photo of Lee still inside her backpack.

Picking up the photo, she stares at it for some time, minutes maybe, until she sighs and puts the photo under her cap.

Getting up, she picks up her backpack and walks towards the door where she thought Carlos' daughter was, and as she opens it she faces the apparently slightly older girl who stares at her in a mixture of surprise and fright.

The girl wore glasses, was tall, taller than Clementine, at least. She had older expressions, although she still had childlike features. She didn't appear to be that much older than Clementine.

"Ahm... hello?" Clementine greeted her, waving her hand lightly.

"... Hello... who are you?" The girl asked, her curiosity taking over her fear.

"My name is Clementine. And you are Sarah, right? Your father asked me to... ahm... come check on you."

"And where is he? I heard him say something in a hurry." The girl asked, and soon, Clementine understood a little more about what Carlos was saying.

The curious expression, the childish eyes, the slightly sloppy demeanor. She was like an innocent child.

"He... ahm... went to help Pete and Nick fish." She made up an excuse, regretting it soon after. No one would believe that.

"And why would he need to help Pete and Nick fish? Why take everyone?" Sarah asked in genuine confusion.

"Nick got hurt slipping and they needed Carlos to take a look at him. Alvin and Luke went because they needed to protect Carlos while he took care of Nick. And Rebecca didn't want to leave Alvin alone." She said quickly, surprised to see the girl relax.

"Oh, good, then." It worked!

"How old are you?" Sarah asked after a while looking analytically at Clementine, who was a little uncomfortable by the intensity with which Sarah was looking at her.

She could see a bit of animation in the older girl.

"I... I don't know exactly. I think about eleven, twelve. Somewhere around."

"Really? You don't know how old you are?"

"Well, I haven't really had a chance to worry about my age. How about you?"

"Fourteen...we're friends." Clementine's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"What?"

"Right? We can be best friends! I haven't seen a girl my age in a long time! I mean, there's Rebecca but... she's old."

"Ahm... Sarah, although I appreciate it, we can't be friends. We just met." Clementine said. Although she liked the group, she didn't have much knowledge about them to really call them friends.

For now, they had a friendly relationship, at least.

"But we can get to know each other better, right? Are you going to stay with us?"

"Well... for now, yes."

"Then we can be friends!" The girl said somewhat cheerfully, and Clementine arched an eyebrow.

You could tell the girl was kind of... spoiled. Even though she was fourteen, she still acted like a little girl. Not that she had a problem with the girl, she had literally just met her and it was refreshing to see a level of purity after seeing the world corrupted, but... it could be annoying, not to mention that the girl could cause trouble by being that way.

She knew well because she had once been that way too.

And if Sarah continued to be like that, she would die. Or worse, someone around her would die.

"...What are you reading?" Clementine asked after noticing some magazines on the girl's bed.

"I'm reading some comic books. There's not much to read here. Not something I'm interested in anyway." She replied, picking up one of her comics and handing it to Clementine.

She knew about superheroes, but if she were to consider everything, she would say she knew only the basics.

"Ahm, cool." She handed the comic back.

"Want to see something even cooler?" Sarah asked, turning around, reaching down and grabbing something from under her bed.

"I found it a while ago. But I didn't find any bullets." Sarah said, turning around with a pistol in hand.

Clementine's eyes widened slightly at the sight of the gun in the girl's hand. Thoughts raced through her mind and questions surrounded her. Sarah didn't seem to be the discreet type, so how did she get that thing?

And what's worse, she was holding it like a toy. It was a good thing that she couldn't find bullets for.

"Do you know how to use it?" Sarah asked, pointing the gun at the wall.

"Ahm...I think you'd better talk to your father about it. Even though it's unloaded, a gun is not a toy." She said, and Sarah sighed lightly.

"I can't. He would be angry. And no one ever tells me anything even when I ask." She said, analyzing the gun in her hands. "I thought it would be heavier. I always see adults using a gun and saying how important they are, but I've never been taught. Maybe I can practice outside."

Sara walked over to her window and observed a few surrounding locations. Clementine sighed and walked over to her. She didn't know if letting the girl practice with a gun was a good idea. Especially if Carlos found out.

But on the one hand, it could be a step towards her maturing. Like it or not, she had to learn to shoot, sooner or later.

"Hey, Luke's back." Sarah said, pulling Clementine out of her thoughts and walking to her bedroom door.

Clementine looked out the window, narrowing her eyes slightly as she saw a shadow walking outside.

Turning, she left Sarah's room and walked down the stairs, arching an eyebrow as she saw Sarah hiding behind a wall downstairs.

"That's not Luke." The girl said as Clementine approached, and Clementine looked toward the door, noting the man's silhouette.

"Hello?" A rough, somewhat deep voice, quite different from Luke's voice. Clementine slightly widened her eyes and looked around. She didn't have a gun, and she doubted that Carlos would leave any around for Sarah's sake.

But damn that the girl couldn't find any bullets.

"Clem, I think I know him! He can't see me!" Sarah said in a desperate whisper, and Clementine was lost for a few moments.

"Hide." She said quickly as she heard the man call for someone once again, and didn't wait for a response from Sarah as she started walking slowly towards the door with the intention of locking it.

The closer she got, the bad feeling in her chest increased, her heart was beating harder and her restless eyes alternated between the dark silhouette of the man and the door lock. She had a bad feeling about it.

She stepped closer and almost smiled when she touched the lock, but to her dismay, the man simply opened the door with some force, and all she could do was step back to avoid being hit.

Startled golden eyes stared deep into the analytical brown eyes of the man in front of her. Seconds that seemed like hours passed, and the man cracked a friendly smile and softened his expressions.

" Hey." The sound of his gruff voice brought Clementine back to reality, and soon, she put on her best tough expression she could and, just in case, put her hand on the side of the door ready to close it.

"Who are you?" she asked, hiding the nervousness in her voice and sounding as natural as possible.

"Actually, I'm your neighbor." The man said, and Clementine arched an eyebrow.

"Neighbor?"

"Exactly. My family and I are settled downriver. Actually, I'm kind of surprised we haven't bumped into each other before." The man said, and Clementine's eyes sparkled for a few moments as she realized the lie.

"Have you been there long?" She asked, clenching her eyes slightly.

"Yes. Quite a while, actually. Like I said, I'm surprised we didn't bump into each other sooner." Clementine ducked her head slightly. No chance.

"What's your name?" The man asked, snapping Clementine out of her thoughts and making the girl face him again.

"Carley. And yours?"

"Well, nice to meet you, Carley. I'm George." The man said, extending his hand. Clementine stared at it for a few moments, until she leaned her body slightly forward and shook it.

"I'm sorry to bother you this morning, you know. But I assure you it won't last more than a few minutes. May I come in?" Clementine stared him up and down, focusing her eyes for a few moments on the gun at his waist.

"We can talk out here if the subject will be quick." The girl said, noticing him practically forcing his way into the cabin.

"Hehe, don't worry, I won't do you any harm. I just want to talk, and out here in this cold, I don't think it's appropriate." He said, again trying to force his way into the cabin, but being stopped by Clementine.

If he wants to push her aside and enter the place, he can. She has nothing to defend herself with, and she doubted the man would leave if she asked.

A sigh escaped her lips as she realized he was staring at her strangely.

"Weapons out here." She said after a while, looking him in the eye again and noticing the curiosity on his face. "Would you let a stranger into your house armed?"

"... I understand. But it would be stupid to be unarmed." George said, crossing his arms and looking at her a little more seriously. Clementine did the same, crossing her arms and returning the serious look.

"It would be stupid for me to let my guard down around you. If you don't do anything, I won't. This is my house, I decide whether you come in or not." She said with firmness in her voice, getting into what seemed like a war of stares between her and George.

There was a strange glint in his dark eyes, something in which Clementine couldn't really identify, but there was a refinement of something she had seen before. He was dangerous, that was for sure, but there was something else.

Almost an amusement, a satisfied gleam in his eyes, perhaps.

"Hah, smart girl. Fair enough. Considering your group could have shot me by now." He said, taking the holster from his waistband, as well as his knife, and placing both of his weapons beside the door.

Clementine looked at it with serious eyes, but slightly confused and even wary. No stranger would be unarmed without a card up his sleeve... or if he wasn't confident that nothing would happen.

He must have another weapon... Anything, she still had her knife. It wasn't much, but it was something.

"Is this good enough?" He asked, putting his hands up as he approached.

"...Okay." She barely finished saying and he walked into the cabin. The girl stared at his back for a few moments before sighing and walking over to him, noting the way in which he surveyed the place.

"This is a very large cabin. It can certainly hold a lot of folks here. It's a nice place. Is there anyone here?" he asked, looking at some frames on the wall.

"My father and my group."

"Yeah, what's his name?"

"Ed."

"Strong name, I like him already. How many people?"

"Counting me, five."

"Quite a few people. Is your father the leader?"

"So to speak."

"Where is he?" he began to look around, running his eyes all the way across the room to the base of the stairs.

"Hunting, and some of our people are checking some fish traps. "The girl replied, feeling her body tremble as he turned to her again.

"Well, I'll cut to the chase. I'm looking for my people. Seven of them to be exact. They've been gone for a while, and, well, I'm worried that they've gotten lost." He said, focusing his eyes on a shirt lying on the couch in front of him for a few moments.

"Couple of farm boys and an old man. Spanish guy and his daughter. Quiet girl, a bit taller than you. A big black guy. This big. And pretty little pregnant lady."

"That's a lot of people to lose. What were they doing?" Clementine asked, crossing her arms slightly.

Things were starting to make sense. Maybe that guy was that Carver guy everyone had mentioned before. The same person who left those bodies in the river, maybe.

But why were they avoiding him? And why was he looking for them?

"We were moving. A herd of those things showed up and we were separated. I've been looking for them for a while now." He replied, and the girl instinctively arched an eyebrow.

" Moving out? Didn't you say you've been in your camp for quite a while now?" She asked without even realizing it, and when she did, she mentally berated herself for making it obvious that she didn't believe him.

George, or whatever his name was, narrowed his eyes slightly and looked very unfriendly for a few moments, causing the girl to swallow dryly and scratch the back of her head.

"And I also said that they've been lost for quite a while too. That's why I'm worried." George said, looking around once more before entering the kitchen.

Just as in the living room, his eyes ran around the place analytically, and Clementine, before following him, looked up the stairs, noticing Sarah walking silently up the stairs, probably going to her room.

"Those folks of yours eat a lot. Looks like a tornado came through here." He said as he looked at the sink, leaning on the counter and turning to her.

"Yeah, well, I should be doing the dishes now." Clementine said, hoping that Carlos and the others would arrive soon.

"Are you just passing through or have you been here for a while?" He asked.

"We're passing through, but we've been here for at least a week."

"Does it have something to do with those bandages on your arm?"

"Well, that too, but we were already planning to spend some time somewhere."

"Hm...at least a week, huh? That explains why we didn't bump into each other before. Are you sure you haven't seen my people?"

"No, just bodies, as usual. I also can't tell if the bodies we saw are of the people you're looking for." She replied, watching as he turned away from the counter and walked back to the room. With no choices, she followed him.

"This place is really great. Kind of cozy. I'm barely here and I don't even want to leave." He mentioned, stopping right next to the couch.

"I knew a guy who always wore shirts like that. Doctor. A smug son of a bitch. But a smart man."

"What's his name?"

"Carlos."

"...What happened to him?"

"Let's just say we didn't agree on a lot of things. I miss him."

They were silent for some time, with George watching the chessboard with a certain analytical eye.

"Well, well, white is in trouble. Three moves away from checkmate."

"Do you know how to play that?"

"I won't say I'm a chess expert, but few things guarantee entertainment these days." As soon as he finished saying, a thud, not very loud but audible enough, caught the attention of both of them, who immediately ran their eyes to the door upstairs.

"You said there was no one here." George said, staring at Clementine. The girl tried very hard not to let her frustration and nervousness show.

"And no one is here. The upstairs window is open." She quickly made up an excuse, but it didn't seem to have convinced the man.

With narrowed eyes, he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a pistol.

I knew it.

"You had another gun!?" She exclaimed as she watched him walk up the stairs.

George opened the door and pointed the gun across the room, running his eyes around the place and checking the corners behind the door and the closet ahead.

Clementine swallowed dryly as she saw Sarah crawling deeper from under the bed.

"I told you no one was here" She said with her arms crossed and a slightly bored expression, watching George walk around the room.

"Looks like it...although, the window is closed." He said, putting his gun back in his jacket.

"I must have been mistaken. The cabin was abandoned when we arrived, you know? These things happen." She said. "And if I remember correctly, I told you to leave your weapons outside."

"And I said it would be stupid to go in unarmed. I hope you understand. I didn't mean to be rude." He said, leaving the room and walking to the stairs.

But before he could go down them, he turned and looked at Clementine once more, staring deep into her eyes.

His soft expression and friendly smile were gone, replaced by a stiff, unfriendly face. And although it startled Clementine, she forced herself to stay with a similar expression, causing George to let out a nasal laugh.

"...You really haven't seen my people, have you?" he asked, his voice coarser and more threatening than before.

"If I had, I would have told you by now."

"Is that so? Somehow, I doubt it."

"I don't care. I don't like strangers in my house."

He clenched his eyes, and Clementine snorted as she put her hands on her waist.

"...I think so. Well, I'll be leaving now, I've bothered you enough," he said, turning and starting down the stairs. Clementine almost sighed in relief.

"I'd say you had me convinced if it wasn't for the girl hiding under the bed."

Oh, Shoot!

Clementine widened her eyes and walked to the top of the stairs, facing the man who just smiled in her direction.

"You have a very good day now." He said, and after a few moments, Clementine heard the door closing. Soon after that, the footsteps of him walking away after picking up the weapons he had left on the floor.

Clementine sighed and put her hand to her head, hearing Sarah's footsteps just behind her.

"He's gone." She said, walking over to the bedroom window.

"What if he comes back?" Sarah asked, and Clementine was silent. She didn't know either.


Clementine sighed once more as she looked at the chessboard in front of her. It had been a while since the cabin group had left and she was already getting impatient.

Deep down, she was grateful Sarah had kept quiet since that man had left.

Clementine even thought about asking more about that guy, but from the girl's condition, it didn't look like she would get many answers.

"We have to look for them." Clementine said, getting up from the couch and walking to the kitchen.

As soon as she arrived, however, she ran into Nick, who opened the back door and was taking his first step inside the cabin.

"Clementine!" Nick exclaimed in surprise, walking to the side and letting Carlos walk over to Sarah, who hugged him.

Clementine focused her eyes on Luke, who was approaching her.

"They told me about Pete. You know where he is, right? Come on, we have to find him." He said, and before she could respond, Sarah spoke up.

"A man was here." She said, drawing everyone's attention in her direction.

"What?" Carlos exclaimed.

"What did she say?"

"Someone came to the cabin. Clementine talked to him." She said, and Rebecca turned to the girl.

"And you just opened the door for him?!" She almost screamed, looking on in a mixture of anger and despair.

"Calm down, Rebecca." Luke tried, but it didn't do much good.

"I am calm! You calm down!" She shouted back.

"I didn't open the door for him, he just walked in! Not to mention he had a gun, I barely had my knife. What was I supposed to do?" Clementine defended herself.

"Did he say his name?" Carlos asked, genuine nervousness on his face.

"Maybe it wasn't him." Rebecca said, her tone a little lower, but still exalted.

"George. But he seemed to know you guys pretty well. Sarah said she might know him." Clementine said, running her eyes between them.

"Honey... tell us what he looked like. Did you see him? Or, what did he sound like?" Carlos asked, alternating his gaze between the two girls.

"He had a well-groomed beard, short hair, his voice was rough, and he was wearing a jacket, jeans. He had a revolver in his holster." Clementine responded quickly as she saw Sarah's condition, she seemed to get nervous easily.

Charles stared at her for a while and sighed, scratching his beard with some trepidation.

"He talked about you, Dad." Sarah said. "You're not going to hurt anyone, are you?"

"Of course not, Sarah. Your father is one of the nicest men I know, okay? And that's why he's not going to do something crazy, or... not nice, right?" Luke said.

"You know these are bad people, sweetie. They will do or say anything to hurt us." Charles said, placing his hand gently on Sarah's shoulder.

"So, what do you think? Did it look like he'll be back?" Luke asked Clementine.

"Definitely. He...he seemed to know it was you guys here."

"Because you probably told him." Rebecca said venomously, crossing her arms and glaring at Clementine.

"Rebecca, please, not now." Luke tried.

"I didn't say anything. Carlos' shirt on the living room couch, the sink full of dishes with bowls still hot, the women's accessories all over the table. I think that's enough to tell you that you have a large group here, don't you think? And the way he described you guys, he seems to know you pretty well." She replied, without the venom in her voice, but with a slight bitter tone to Rebecca, who remained silent.

Sarah stared at Clementine strangely, until she turned to Carlos.

"He saw me." She said, drawing everyone's incredulous stares in her direction and making Clementine sigh.

"What?! He saw you?!" Charles almost shouted, ignoring Luke who was trying to calm him down.

"Clementine was distracting him while I went upstairs to hide, it didn't look like he was going upstairs. I slammed the door and he heard. He saw me hiding from under the bed. I'm sorry." Sarah explained quickly, cringing as she watched Carlos become even more agitated and took a few deep breaths.

"Carlos!" Luke grunted.

"What?!"

"You need to calm down, okay? You're scaring your daughter." Luke said, and Carlos lowered his gaze, clenching his fists tightly and gritting his teeth.

"Unbelievable!" He growled, sighing in exhaustion soon after. "He was scouting. We were lucky we didn't bump into him. Clementine must have surprised him."

He said after a while, putting his hand on Sarah's shoulder again and looking down at the floor in defeat.

"He'll be back with the rest. We don't have much time." Carlos said, watching the others approach.

"Right. Everyone, grab your stuff. We're leaving." Luke said, following Alvin with his eyes as he walked out of the kitchen in quick, hard strides.

"What does he want with you guys? You two don't seem to be on the best of terms." Clementine asked Luke, who just sighed.

"Because we're not. Clem, I don't know what he told you, but William Carver is a dangerous man. He is the camp leader not far from here and he is very smart. We were lucky to get away." Carlos said, standing just in front of Clementine with his arms crossed.

"Look, I'm sorry I got you involved, but now that he's seen you, you'll be safer with us." He said amidst a sigh and leaving the kitchen soon after.

"We have to find Pete." Nick said, speaking up for the first time since they had arrived.

"We'll pick him up on the way, Nick. Clementine, you know where he was, right?" Luke asked and Clementine nodded in response.

"Okay, let's get our stuff. We're hitting the road."


Hours passed, and they found themselves walking along a deserted dirt road. Clementine was walking a little ahead, a few steps behind Luke, not wanting them to see her somewhat thoughtful expression and a certain sadness in her eyes.

Of course, Omid and Christa had not left her mind since she had met that group. She had hoped that, since they were on their way out, she would be able to meet them at some point along the way. Although, the sad reality was that the chances of that happening were almost nil.

Clementine sighed. The possibility that they might have met up with Carver also existed, and from what Luke and the others said, he was an extremely dangerous manipulative nutcase.

What if they were both alive and on Carver's side?

Thoughts like that wouldn't leave her mind.

"Now, you said it was just up ahead?" Luke asked, snapping the girl out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, just a little more walking." She replied, her voice a little hoarse and her tone a little wistful, but to her happiness, Luke didn't seem to notice.

"Hey, Clem." Rebecca's voice caught her attention, and her golden eyes stared at the woman who started walking beside her.

"I'm sorry if I gave you any shit back there. I'm just a little on edge." Clementine arched an eyebrow, and soon, looked away. "I still don't like what you did, sneaking around and taking advantage of my husband. But I know you were in a difficult situation."

"It's okay. You're not the first one to treat me like this, and I doubt you'll be the last. Nothing I can't handle. Now, why is Carver after you?"

"After me?" She asked in surprise, and the girl arched an eyebrow again. "Oh, you mean us. It's a long story. He has a hard time letting go." The woman replied.

"I know you did what you could back there. I don't know if I could have done the same. You see, neither of us could have done it alone. Sometimes it's hard to know how dependent I am on everyone. I'm not used to that. I'm not comfortable with it." Rebecca was saying, and Clementine barely paid attention to her words, her eyes running around the familiar area around her.

Ignoring what the woman was saying, Clementine walked into the forest, and soon, the characteristic van appeared in her line of sight.

"There. We were hiding in that van." She said, running her eyes around the vehicle. There were bodies lying on the ground, which made her somewhat curious. Pete was in no condition to kill all those walkers. Especially not alone.

He didn't even have a gun.

Nick was the first to run towards the van and wasted no time in opening the doors, only to sigh in frustration when he saw that there was no one there. "He's not here."

"That was the last place I saw him...we didn't kill those walkers." Clementine said, looking at the bullet hole in the head of one of the bodies.

There was a trail of blood leading from the side of the van to a large rock further ahead. Luke noticed it too, and he was already walking toward the rock, following the trail of blood.

Swallowing dryly, Clementine follows him, and her eyes fall on Pete's body on the ground. A sigh of regret escapes her lips as she sees his guts scattered on the ground and in the hands of some dead walkers around.

His head was turned to the side and there was a bullet hole in his forehead.

"Oh, no... Oh, God..." Nick's voice beside her caught her attention, and she looked at the young man who was staring at Pete's body already with tears in his eyes.

Luke comforted him, and both she and Carlos moved closer to the body.

"He's been shot." Carlos said between his teeth, running his eyes around.

"He didn't have a gun." Clementine said, also looking around.

"We need to go." Carlos said, looking at Pete's body for a few more moments before he started walking away from there.

Luke tried to cheer Nick up, tried to pull him away from the body, but despite his attempts, Nick stood there for a few more minutes, until he followed the group with a downcast expression and his head down.

After these minutes, he walked in stride toward Clementine, who was walking beside Luke.

"What happened? Tell me what happened." He asked, his voice embittered and he was clearly trying not to cry.

"...He was bitten in the river. At first he was desperate, but... he seemed to calm down when he heard that you would be all right. He said that no matter what anyone else said, he knew you were a good man. He wanted to see you one last time." She said, watching Nick's pained expression for a few moments.

"... Fuck..." That was all he could say in a shaky voice, a tear already running down his cheek as he slowed his speed and walked behind the group.

"I'm worried about that boy. Keep an eye on him for me, will you?" Luke asked after a few moments. "You... are you sure you still want to come with us? I know we got off to a rough start. And I can't promise it won't get harder from here on out. But we all know you now. We may not be perfect, but, we take care of each other."

"... I'm kind of forced to go with you now." She said, scratching her neck as she noticed his gaze on her. "I mean, not that it's a totally bad thing. You guys have proven to be nice, so far at least. Besides, I don't have anywhere else to go." She replied.

"Well... welcome to the group." He said, smiling at her for a few moments, before focusing his eyes on the road.