Hey guys. Finally got this one done. (life and procrastination, yet again) Hope this isn't too short for anyone's liking. See you at the bottom of the page!

Almost There

"Uh oh- Hang on Clem!"

Jeff grabbed the emergency brake and braced himself for a possible impact. However, the locomotive stopped just in time to avoid a noisy collision. After a few seconds, he dared to look up.

"That was close," he said.

"Way too close," Clementine replied.

They gathered their belongings and slowly exited the cab to survey the scene before them: freight cars scattered everywhere in front of them.

"So this is where your group found the locomotive and boxcar at," Jeff said.

"Yeah," Clementine replied.

"What a mess," Jeff said. "Must've happened during the first days of the apocalypse."

Clementine nodded as they climbed down and approached an old RV.

"Wonder if it still works," Jeff said.

"I can't remember if it had a lot of gas left in it, when we found the train," Clementine replied.

"Only one way to find out," Jeff said with a smile.

With that, Jeff climbed into the driver's seat and made many attempts to start the RV, only to get silence. With a sigh, he climbed back out.

"Should've seen that coming," he said.

"I don't think there was much gas left when we stopped here," Clementine replied. "If any was left after we took the train, someone got it out of the tank."

"Guess we shouldn't have expected to get so lucky twice," Jeff said. "Looks like we're walking."

He then began to walk the direction the RV had been driven from.

"Wait," Clementine said.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

Clementine didn't respond, but instead ran back to the locomotive, climbed back into the cab, then came back down with the shovel in her hand.

"There's at least one more member of our group along the way to bury," She said.

Jeff nodded in approval, as they resumed their journey.

Jeff and Clementine had been walking for a few hours when they spotted another corpse on the side of the road. As they approached, Clementine recognized the clothing and sighed.

"Carley," she said, in a somber tone.

Several moments of somber silence followed, as Clementine let the few memories of the woman come back to her.

"How important was she to your group?" Jeff finally asked, breaking the silence.

"She was one of the ones who helped Lee, Kenny, Katjaa, Duck and I get to safety when we were nearly surrounded by walkers," Clementine replied. "If not for her, Lee, Kenny, Duck, Katjaa, and I would've been dead, when Kenny's truck ran out of gas outside where she and the others were hiding. She was also so kind to almost everyone… except for Larry."

"Why not Larry?" Jeff asked.

"He was a total jerk," she replied. "Hated Lee with a passion because he knew of his past as a killer. I knew Lee didn't do it because he was a bad person, and anyone else he told his story to understood… the only one who didn't was Larry."

Jeff thought about what he had heard.

"How could a group stay together with a man like him?" he asked.

"The same way we held together when Lily was determined to stay at the motel," Clementine replied. "We just dealt with it. When he died in that mess at the St John's dairy farm, it made Lilly worse. After escaping the madness that Duck was bitten in, we had to stop the RV so Kenny could clear a walker he'd hit. Lilly ordered us all out, then began accusing Carley of being the one to work with the bandits. Eventually, she had enough and shot Carley in her head… Lee made the decision to leave her behind for it."

"Sounds like Lilly deserved it," Jeff said. "Killing a woman who did nothing to hurt the group is just… wrong."

"Lilly did deserve it," Clementine replied. "I may have been too young to recognize it then… but I now know she brought being left behind on herself by killing Carley."

Without another word, Jeff handed Clementine the shovel and watched as his friend dug the final hole. Once that was done, he helped her carefully put what was left of Carley in the hole, then let her cover the remains. Once their work was completed, they continued walking for a short distance before setting up camp for the night.

The next morning, Jeff was the first to wake up. After a yawn and stretch, he sat up and looked around. At first, he saw nothing. However, a second sweep of the area brought a folded piece of paper weighed down by a rock to his attention. Cautiously, he reached out and removed it from under the rock and opened it. He read it, his face changing from curiosity to worry and shock… all within a matter of seconds.

"Clem! Wake up!" he said, as she shook his friend awake.

"What's going on?" she asked, when she finally woke up.

Jeff responded by handing her the note. Clementine's face changed in the same way: curiosity, worry, shock.

She dropped the note, which had the following:

Clementine,

You may not remember me, but I remember you. I remember being abandoned by the group you had been a part of with me for months. I remember that group shunning me when I was doing what I thought was right. I understand everyone from that group is now dead, save for you. Since you never spoke up to defend me, that makes you the last one to receive my revenge. It ends where it all began.

Lilly

Yeah, I doubt anyone is surprised to see Lilly is the villain here. Truth be told, I had her as the villain before The Final Season came out, so no I didn't copy TellTale's idea. This was supposed to be completed before Episode 1 of TFS ever came out, but... you know that didn't happen. One showdown coming up! Until chapter 12, take care!