Squeezing the handle of the knife in her hand, Clementine watches with attentive eyes as Kenny enters the room ahead with a knife as well.

As the man walked in, she and Duck walked behind him, covering his back and running their eyes around for anything.

The place was dusty and dirty and few to almost no bloodstains. If indeed they were bloodstains at all. Other than that, that little farmhouse was untouched.

The TV was dusty on an old table in the corner of the room, the couch was already torn, the place smelled musty.

It didn't look like anyone had died there. Or that anyone had even stepped foot in that place in all those years.

That is, if there was something useful there, most likely no one had picked it up yet. Although, they weren't too hopeful about finding food, since farms like that didn't have many canned goods.

After a while, Kenny knocks once more on the wall of the place and stands still, silent to hear anything that was in there.

However, after some time without hearing anything, he straightens his posture and seems to relax a bit more despite Clementine still being aware of his surroundings.

Turning to the two children, Kenny signals that he will check the upstairs waving and the two of them check the kitchen and the only bedroom there.

They nodded and did as he had signaled.

The kitchen was the same as the living room, just a few chairs out of place and some open cabinets.

It was as if the family that lived there had left when it all began and simply never came back.

Clementine watched Duck walk down the small hallway next to the kitchen towards the bedroom that was there.

She walked into the kitchen and began rummaging through the cupboards. Plates, cutlery, everything was still in its place.

There was the remains of some rotten fruit on the next table. What was in the refrigerator had long since spoiled.

There was not much food in the place. Maybe that was why the family had left, to do the shopping.

"The upstairs is clean. But I found an old shotgun with some bullets in it." Kenny said, coming down the stairs with said gun in his hands.

The shotgun was dusty and really looked quite old. But, you never know, maybe it still worked.

"All clear here too." Duck said, approaching them and putting his pistol away in his waistband.

"I couldn't find any food. How much do we have left?" Clementine asked.

"Ah, enough for a few days. What I found back at Carver's camp was not much, but... well, it'll be enough." Kenny said, sighing slightly as he walked toward the door.

"So, what do we do?" Duck asked, following Kenny just a few steps behind.

"It's getting dark. We'll stay here for the night. Tomorrow we can check out that fishing spot down the mountain." Kenny said.

"Fishing spot? How do you know there's one nearby?" Duck asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Oh, right. I saw it upstairs. There was a notebook written for a guy named 'Dan' to pick up some stuff at this fishing spot. It doesn't seem to be too far from here." Kenny explained, looking around the small farm for a few moments, before crouching down and putting his backpack on the ground.

"Let's build a small fire. Maybe we can get something hot to eat for a change."

The hours passed and the night left the trio shrouded in an air of melancholy. Not just the melancholy that had always been present in the nights since the dead came back to life.

But the melancholy of mourning for several people. Less than a week and they had lost far more than they could think possible to lose in such a short time.

With each death, the closer they came to the edge. Clementine especially.

She saw many good people die and felt that it was getting harder and harder to be herself after that.

She was doing what was right... doing what had to be done. But it seemed that fate itself was against her, not just the world of the dead.

"...Did I ever tell you the story about when I caught a great white shark?" Kenny's low voice brought her out of her thoughts, and Clementine blinked a few times as she looked at the man.

Kenny just stared at the small fire ahead, an expression of pain on his face, but a distant, nostalgic look.

"...No." Clementine replied, hugging her own legs and resting her head on her knees.

She needed a distraction. Anything, even if only for a few minutes. And even Duck seemed interested to hear the story that he had probably heard several times before.

"Oh, I caught one... a beautiful animal. I was following my course, you know? In the middle of the ocean when we threw the net. We waited for a while. I was always amazed at what a sight that is. The feeling of being in that vast blue expanse, feeling that breeze and sweating like a pig in that sun." Kenny laughed humorlessly, putting some wood on the fire. His voice was choked with nostalgia and longing.

It seemed like he hadn't remembered his fishing days in quite some time.

"Then something pulled the net. Something very strong to the point of making the boat tilt. It wasn't a very big boat, but to be able to do that, it had to be a huge animal. At first we thought it was a whale. These things happen sometimes." Kenny sighed lightly, resting his arms on his legs.

"That's when we pulled the net out of the water and saw that huge, wonderful animal. Oh boy, it was almost the same size as the boat and it was struggling fiercely, making the whole boat move." He raised his head and looked up at the sky, letting himself be swallowed up in the vastness of his memories by the gateway to his mind that was the dark night sky.

Clementine continued to stare at him, trying to feel herself there with him. Trying to imagine a younger Kenny on a fishing boat with a shark ahead.

She remembered what a great white shark looked like, she had seen enough of it in videos, cartoons, in her school, etc. But she couldn't remember other species.

But still, that imagination of hers, even if probably different from reality and a bit childish by Kenny's expressions and the shark she imagined, was a good change from that ugly world surrounded by death they lived in.

A good way to forget those deaths... even if only for a few moments.

"I just stood there, looking at that shark. I had seen one before, of course, but fishing one is completely different. The sight of that shark ripping through the net with force being illuminated by the sunlight with the vast blue of both the sky and the ocean just behind was magnificent. One of the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen." Kenny said, his voice laden with different sensations.

He might not show it well. Many might look at him and think he was just affected by Sarita's death.

But Kenny was grieving for the death of others.

He grieved for the death of Lee, Matthew, Walter, Sarita, Jane, Bonnie, Rebecca, Carlos... even if he didn't know them for very long.

Even if they disagreed about some things.

They went through bad situations together, and proved themselves to be good people. Losing people like that, in a world like that, although expected, was also devastating.

Many good people had already died.

And he feared that those who were left had lasted all that time because they had given up their humanity.

People like Carver, maybe.

People without feelings. Who took advantage of others, like the St John's long ago.

To think that people like Luke, like Lee, were becoming fewer and fewer, scared Kenny as much as it did Duck and Clementine.

For it meant that sooner or later, to stay alive, they would have to become just like these people who had abandoned what made them themselves.

"... I love you guys." Clementine said with her eyes closed, part of her face hidden by her knees.

Words that simply came out of her mouth to those two men in front of her that she had never said to anyone but her parents.

Although, she wished she had said them at other times. She wished she had said the same to Lee before he died.

But now she had the opportunity to say it to Kenny and Duck, and that already made her happy.

It made her even lighter.

Opening her eyes, she cracked a warm smile as she saw the two men looking at her with tenderness and surprise. It wasn't the heat from the small fire that warmed those bodies that had practically forgotten the night.

"We love you too, Clem." Duck said tenderly, that being the sweetest way she had ever seen the boy since she had met him.

The three of them stood with silly smiles for the rest of the night, despite the situation, despite the loss, the chill they felt was forgotten.

For the first time in a long time, they slept well that night, in dusty beds with the smell of mold engulfing them. With the pain of grief in their chests and the uncertainty and worries of tomorrow.

Clementine felt a little lighter. A little further from her edge, even a little more cheerful.

Morning came, and the trio walked down the mountain toward the fishing spot. They could already see the river from afar.

Ahead, a barn of sorts, a few meters away from the house.

They did not plan to search the barn. It was highly unlikely that there was anything worthwhile in there. So they just walked past it, looking at the place with some curiosity, since they were walking in the opposite direction from the one they had used to get there.

"That barn is pretty big." Duck said, alternating his gaze between the two buildings. "It's as big as the house, maybe even bigger." The boy said.

"I wonder how many horses those people-"

Duck was interrupted when a body fell from the opening in the upstairs of the barn, followed by several other bodies.

Kenny immediately pulled Duck back and the trio moved away from the falling bodies.

Not only them, but from the rear of the barn, walkers also appeared, attracted by the low noises, but loud enough for them to hear.

It was then that the grunts of the place were heard by the trio, and they realized that there was a horde inside that barn.

The front of the place was intact, and the doors seemed locked. So they soon imagined that, like the house, no one had been in there in quite some time, and that there was nothing there worth looking at.

But, they didn't see the back of the place, and from the amount of bodies walking towards them, it was obvious that the back of the barn was destroyed.

"Well, fuck that fishing spot! Let's go!" Kenny said, turning around and starting to run toward the woods.

It was all good. Even though they were a horde, the walkers were slow. In that cold then, all they needed to do was stay ahead of the horde and walk fast. Nothing more than that.

Simple enough.

But, as Clementine had thought the night before, it seemed that fate itself was against her.

After they ran for some time, only a few minutes, the trio was forced to stop running and they widened their eyes.

Walkers were easy to deal with. They were slow, dumb, clumsy. With caution, even a child could kill them. Although this was no reason to be careless around one, although easy to kill, they were still dangerous and deadly.

A horde, while obviously extremely more dangerous, was also relatively easy to deal with. Not many walkers could walk at a speed that resembled running. Just stay away, be faster, and especially stay in an open place, and you'd be fine.

Or simply climb somewhere high since walkers don't know how to climb.

But... the situation was completely different with a bear.

The animal ahead was walking calmly, going on its way, but, to their despair, it stopped when it saw them there.

Kenny moved his hand slowly to his waist and reached for his gun.

"Move slowly... very slowly." Kenny said softly, hoping that the bear had already gotten its breakfast that day.

Although he suspected that the animal was heading to the river for precisely that purpose.

Clementine and Duck were breathing heavily but moving slowly away. Although, the three of them there were extremely worried not only about that bear.

But about the horde behind them. And although the horde was still far away, at that pace it would catch up with them.

Kenny was quickly thinking of a way out of that situation, but before he could do anything, the bear advanced towards them.

"Run!" Kenny yelled, shooting a few times towards the bear and hitting it in some areas of its body, but not slowing the animal down.

And no shot hit its brain, although it did hit the side of its muzzle.

The bear seemed to get irritated and Kenny gritted his teeth, turning and running in the direction the two children went.

He knew that running wouldn't do much good; bears were fast, despite their size.

And many times stronger.

It was then that an idea crossed his mind.

"The walkers! We can use them! Keep running!" Kenny shouted, shooting toward the bear as he ran toward the horde, drawing the animal's attention to himself, making sure it would not follow Clementine, nor Duck.

The bear was approaching quickly, and Kenny grunted loudly as he accelerated his speed and mentally hoped to soon reach at least one of the corpses of that horde.

A chill ran down his spine, and in desperation, he jumped to the side and ran between two trees. The bear stopped running when he saw that the space was too tight for him to pass, causing Kenny to move a little away, but continue to chase him quickly.

Kenny almost celebrates when he manages to reach the first few corpses of that horde, and as he shoots the nearby walkers, he punches one of them in the face, stunning him, and positions himself behind the walker.

The bear moved forward, and as soon as the animal got close enough, Kenny pushed the walker toward him.

The bear opened its mouth and stood up on its hind legs, biting the walker's shoulder and knocking him to the ground, giving Kenny time to turn and run as he let the horde get closer.

Some walkers even tried to bite the bear, but the animal shook off their cold hands and, realizing the smell of those bodies, turned and ran again towards Kenny.

"Dad!" Duck shouted, and Kenny ran toward him, moving away from the horde and down the mountain.

The boy was shooting at the bear that was chasing Kenny, hitting the animal in the paw and causing it to slow down.

At least, a little, since all that fat was protecting the bear's vital organs.

"Come on!" Kenny shouted, and Duck ran back.

A short time later, they stopped running when they saw that they were at the edge of the side of the mountain, where a very steep descent stopped at the river that flowed below.

The two men ran along the edge while Clementine shot at the walkers who were drawn all around the surrounding area.

"Damn! There's too many of them!" Duck said, shooting at the walkers that Clementine couldn't see.

That's when the world went into slow motion for Kenny when he saw the bear approaching. The size of that animal and the sound of its breathing caused chills to run through the man's body.

The horde was literally right behind and had walkers on all sides.

Duck was grabbed by the arm by a corpse, and Kenny saw when the bear focused its eyes on the boy.

Acting quickly, Kenny shoots the head of the hiker who grabbed Duck and hugged the boy with his right arm while pointing the shotgun he had found the day before, and shoots the bear.

The animal stood up and tried to attack them, Kenny's eyes widened and he gritted his teeth as he fired one more shot and then hugged Duck in an attempt to protect him.

However, it was these two shotgun shots that caused the bear's attack to lose momentum, the animal to lose balance, and fall on top of the two men.

The bear's paw hit Kenny in the face and blood spurted from his new wound. And both he and Duck groaned as they felt their bodies fall to the ground and roll down the mountain.

Clementine was wide-eyed and the noise around her had become muffled.

Her eyes followed the three bodies that rolled down the mountain until they fell into the river, where they were carried away by the current.

All three were motionless.

Blood stained the water around Kenny.

Tears ran quickly down the girl's eyes. Her body acted alone, running down the side of the mountain without taking her eyes off the two bodies.

They couldn't be dead...

They couldn't...


Lee observed the girl in front of him with an analytical and expectant look. Luke was right next to her with Aj in his arms and watched the scene ahead with a certain curiosity.

Sarah took another deep breath and raised her arms toward the walker's head that was being targeted in front of her. A horrifying scene, and it was even more horrifying to see Lee decapitate a random walker who passed by on the way.

But that even Luke admitted it was necessary, Sarah needed to learn to take care of herself.

And learn not to fear the walkers, as well as get used to all that gore.

"Don't lock your elbows." Lee said, lightly pulling one of the girl's arms back and a little lower.

"Control your breathing. If you have to, even hold your breath, it will help keep the gun steady." Lee instructed, and Sarah did as he had said.

The girl pulled the trigger and a shot echoed through the forest. The walker's head fell to the ground with a hole in the top of his forehead.

Lee couldn't help a small smile from being born on his lips, and Luke smiled wide as he walked towards the girl, who blinked a few times trying to comprehend that she had hit her target.

"Nice shot." Lee complimented, looking at the girl's incredulous expression.

"I hit it?!" She asked dumbly.

"Yes. You got it right on target. Congratulations." Luke said excitedly, and Sarah smiled slightly as she lowered her gun.

"I hit it..." She muttered to herself, watching the walker's head lying on the ground.

"Yes, you did. And it didn't took that many tries. But remember, a moving target is harder to hit. Luke and I will take care of the walkers, you will only shoot if any of them come near you. Don't despair, and you'll be fine." Lee instructed, being watched intently by the girl.

"...Okay." She nodded.

"Good. Later, we'll teach you to handle walkers with just a knife, a machete, basically any blade." Lee said, the slight trembling of the girl's body not going unnoticed.

"You don't have to be afraid of them, Sarah. I mean, don't let fear overwhelm you... you don't want what happened before to happen again, do you?" Luke said, seeming to have noticed the girl's fear as well.

"I don't want to, it's just... they're scary. And they're very dangerous, I'm not strong like you two." Sarah said.

"Oh come on, don't think like that. Look, Lee doesn't have an arm, and he deals with them on a daily basis." Luke said, turning to Lee soon after. "No offense, man."

"Relax, it's all good. And he's right. If you think that way, that's when you'll be afraid of them." Lee said, moving a few steps away after seeing a walker approaching from his side. "See, to kill a walker, all you have to do is hit the head, right?" Lee asked, picking up his machete and approaching the walker over the watchful gaze of the two.

"No matter the method, no matter what you use, you just have to hit the head. Here's a tip, hit the knee." Lee said, hitting the walker's knee, and soon after, killing him.

"Oh... gee, I kind of needed a tip like that too." Luke said.

"Easy and saves ammo, plus it's quiet." Lee said, wiping the blood on his blade on the walker's clothes and putting the machete back in its sheath.

"Come on, this place will be packed with walkers soon." Lee said, picking up his backpack and placing it on his back.

The other two did the same, and soon they were on their way.

"... My hands are tingling... how can you do this?" Sarah asked.

"You get used to it. After a while, your body does it almost automatically." Luke said, rocking Aj lightly in his arms as he walked.

"Heh, this little boy seems to like you quite a bit." Luke said, and Lee looked at Aj, who had his little arms outstretched toward him. "Do you want to hold him? I mean, I know you only have one arm, but you wouldn't have gotten him out of that town if you couldn't."

Luke said, and Lee was thoughtful for a few moments.

It's not as if he viewed Luke as a threat, or that the man would try to kill him the moment he picked up Aj. But it was that he felt uncomfortable not being able to use the one arm he had so close to strangers.

Well, practically strangers.

Although, both Luke and Sarah were good people.

After some more time trapped in his thoughts, Lee sighed and took the boy from Luke's arms, cradling him as best he could on his forearm.

Aj and Lee stared at each other for some time, the boy with that immense curiosity, and Lee with a certain warm feeling in his chest, causing a small smile to spring to his lips.

"Hm, gee... he really seems to like you." Luke said, and Lee had to agree.

Lee then, raises his gaze to the road ahead, and shortly after, to the river that ran alongside, until he focused his eyes on the mountain ahead.