"Clementine? Ya there?"

Clementine skidded to a sudden stop and hastily surveyed the road for danger. Seeing nothing, she carefully set the sack she was carrying on the asphalt and grabbed her radio. "Yeah... I'm here."

"Are… are you okay?" asked Patty. "You sound outta breath." Clementine pulled her respirator down and took in a couple of breaths of cold air. "Are you in trouble? I can be there in just a—"

"I'm fine," insisted Clem in as calm a voice as she could manage. "I was just…" Clem bit her lip as she racked her mind for an excuse. "I was just… going to the bathroom."

"Oh… oh shit—I mean… my bad," said Patty.

"It's fine," assured Clem as she opened her sack to examine its contents.

"I was just calling to let you know Sarah said she's going to wrap up her time with Omid soon if you wanted to start heading back."

"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Do you need a hand toting the telescope back?" asked Patty. "I know it's a pain lugging that thing back and forth from the overpass."

"I can handle it. In fact…" Clem sighed as she realized she would need more time. "I'm gonna stay out a little longer, just to be extra sure nothing's coming this morning."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'll call you if anything happens." Clem clipped her radio back to her belt, hefted the sack over her shoulder, and started running as quickly as she could. The bag wasn't heavy but it was fairly big for someone Clem's size, which made it awkward to carry. And with at least a half-mile left to walk, the girl started to wonder if this had even been a good idea.

Clem kept a vigilant eye open as she moved further down the highway, even though she wasn't expecting anything. The roads were mostly clear say for the occasional stray car, and the group's initial investigation had revealed most of the buildings in the surrounding area had been picked clean of food.

With no recent signs of living people and there being nothing anyone would want here, Clem felt that they had chosen a reasonably safe place to rest for a week. But safety was a relative thing nowadays and could change at anytime, so the trio had been taking turns watching for trouble from an overpass so the other two could spend a morning outside with Omid.

Adjusting her grip on the sack, Clem felt her eyes drifting towards the sides of the road. Even though they were still in Florida, it didn't really feel like it anymore. The palm trees had disappeared and had been replaced with elms and pines. And although she still felt it was warm for December, it was notably cooler now than when they were near Orlando. Just ahead was the only thing that Clem found vaguely reminiscent of Florida; a single palm plant so short it looked more like a bush than a tree.

Just past the plant was a sign that Clem found herself pondering every time she laid eyes on it. 'Welcome to Historic DeFuniak Springs: Home of the Historic Chautauqua.' She figured Defuniak Springs was probably the name of the town they were in, but what made it or whatever Chautauqua historic she had no idea, and she probably never would as they only stopped here to break from their usual scavenging routines for at least a few days.

Looking ahead, Clem could see the overpass on the horizon now, which was just a small highway running over a different small highway going the other way. Right after starting her watch this morning, she had quickly scanned the four roads with the telescope before hurrying north. Clem felt bad about leaving her post like she had, but she had deemed it a necessary risk to get the bounty she was now carrying.

After a lot more walking, Clem scaled the shallow grassy hill that led to the top of the overpass and hopped over the safety rail. Sitting in the middle of the road, glinting in the morning sun, was a familiar red telescope waiting for its owner. Clem used it to check all four directions the highways spread out in and found nothing but wide open interstates everywhere she looked. Satisfied there was nothing terrible on the horizon, at least right now, Clem folded up the telescope's legs.

Hefting the telescope with one arm while carrying a sack in the other was even more difficult than Clem was expecting, and just getting down the hill with both items intact proved tiring. But she soldiered on, knowing she didn't have far to go. The billboard for the Best Western motel made it easy for Clem to find her way home, and the trees surrounding the actual building provided cover from possible prying eyes.

Reaching the edge of the motel's parking lot, Clem set the telescope down and looked for somewhere to stash her sack. The motel was just a series of small rooms stacked on top of an another series of rooms all stretched out in front of a paved lot. Clem headed for the closest door, only to find it locked.

She knew some of the rooms were open from when they cleared out the motel earlier; unfortunately, she didn't remember which ones those were and spent several minutes trying over a dozen doors before finally finding one that wasn't locked. Stashing the bag out of sight, the girl felt almost giddy, and upon closing the door she had to resist the urge to throw it back open and just take the bag now instead of waiting for the ideal moment.

Collecting the telescope, the girl hurried further down the parking lot. She made her way past the motel's office and was relieved to see the Brave was still parked in the same place it was this morning. The only thing that had changed since she left was the laundry line now running from the Brave's ladder to the edge of the motel, wet clothes drying in the morning sun. Clem lifted her hand to knock on the Brave's door, only for it to swing open.

"There you are," said Patty. "I was just about to call you again."

"Yeah, sorry," said Clem as she handed the telescope to Patty. "I just wanted to be sure nothing was coming this morning."

"You didn't see anything did ya?" asked a concerned Patty.

"No, I just had a feeling, but I guess I was wrong," said Clem as she stepped inside and took off her backpack and tomahawk.

"I would say being paranoia isn't good for your health," commented Patty as she helped Clem out of her raincoat. "But nowadays it probably is."

"Yeah, maybe…" said Clem as she took off her respirator and gloves. "Where's Sarah and OJ?"

"In the bathroom. She's trying to give the little man a bath."

"Hold still," echoed Sarah's voice from down the hall. "You're going to get soap in your eye."

"I'll go help her out," said Clem as she removed her gun from its holster. "Can you put this up for me?"

"Sure." Clementine handed her pistol to Patty and then headed into the bathroom. Sitting on the ground was Sarah and in the shower was a naked little boy desperately trying to escape from her.

"Ah-gah-bah! Ah-gah-bah!" pleaded Omid as he tried to push past Sarah.

"Need a hand?" offered Clem as she knelt down beside Sarah.

"Definitely," said the older girl as she tried to hold Omid in place. "If you could just use that bucket to rinse out his hair it would be a huge help."

Clem spotted a small plastic bucket in the back of the shower and grabbed it. "Hold still OJ," said Clem in a sweet voice as the boy looked at her. "It'll be over in a second."

"Muh-men." Clem carefully held Omid's hand while raising the bucket with the other. Sarah gently tilted Omid's head back a little and Clem poured the water onto the toddler, rinsing out the soap suds lingering in his thick curly hair.

"So how was your morning?" asked Clem.

"It was fine," said Sarah as she grabbed a washcloth sitting on the ground. "Patty and I took Omid to the pond across from the hotel and let him play in the mud while we did the laundry."

"Is that why you needed a bath?" Clem asked in a playful voice. "Did you get all dirty?"

"He couldn't get enough of it," said Sarah as she started drying Omid's hair with the washcloth. "I thought he'd really like seeing a pond and maybe even want to play in the water, but he only wanted to play with the mud."

"That's because you like being a dirty baby, don't you?" teased Clem.

"Ah-brah-duh," said Omid with a smile as Sarah dried him off.

"That's why you spent all yesterday morning rolling around in the grass, because you don't want to be clean," said Clem.

"Muh-bah-brah-duh," babbled Omid in a happy voice.

"And you had fun, didn't you?" asked Clem.

"Fub-duh," giggled Omid.

"He was laughing the whole time. He'd probably still be rolling around in the mud right now if we hadn't made him stop," said Sarah. "Patty cooked grits when we got back. There should be some left for you on the stove."

"That's sounds great." Clem left Sarah to dress Omid and headed right for the kitchen. Sure enough, there was a pot on the stove and simmering inside was a white goop. Clem grabbed a bowl and hastily spooned the substance into it. After scraping the pot clean, the girl immediately sampled a mouthful of grits. They were still warm but had almost no flavor, being little more than something to swallow than an actual meal.

"Only as good as what you put in them."

Clem looked over her shoulder to find Patty behind her. "Huh?"

"Grits," said the woman. "They're only as good as whatever you put in them; that's what the chef I used to find propane for would tell me."

Clem looked down at her bowl. "So what did you put in them?"

"Nothing."

"Oh… that explains why they taste like nothing then."

Patty slid a pepper and salt shaker towards Clem. "The right amount tends to be different for everyone, so best let them decide; something else that chef told me."

"Can you put other stuff in them?" asked Clem as she took the spices.

"Butter is great with grits," said Patty. "But we can't get that anymore."

"Anything else?" asked Clem as she sat down at the dinner table.

"I just put butter and salt in mine," said Patty. "Well, just salt now."

"What about cinnamon?" suggested Clem.

"In grits?"

"Why not?"

"Because grits aren't sweet."

"Not when you put salt in them they're not." Clem headed back to the kitchen and grabbed the cinnamon. She sprinkled a generous amount of the spice into her bowl and started stirring. Sitting down to eat, Clem noticed Patty was watching her with great curiosity, as if the girl was about to perform a magic trick. Clem smirked and tried a spoonful of grits.

"So… how is it?"

"Good," said Clem.

"Really?"

"Try it."

Patty stood there for a moment, appearing stunned by the suggestion, then went to grab a spoon. Clem watched the woman's face carefully as she sampled the substance.

"Huh, not bad, sorta like oatmeal, except…"

"Not as sweet," said Clem as she dipped her spoon into the bowl. "It could use something else though, but I'm not sure what," she said as she took another bite. "Maybe a little chocolate."

"Something else we can't get anymore," said Patty.

"Actually, we've found chocolate mix that you just stir into water before."

"And it still tasted good?" asked Patty.

"Yeah," said Clem. "If we found some more, I bet we could mix it into grits and make chocolate grits." Clem noticed Patty was staring off into space while rubbing her chin. "Patty?"

"I wonder if instant coffee is still good then…"

"Sah-dah," mumbled Omid as Sarah carried him out of the bathroom.

"Hey OJ," greeted Clem in a sweet voice. "You want some grits?"

"Mah-bah." The toddler stretched out his hand towards the bowl as Sarah took a step backwards.

"He just had a bath," reminded Sarah. "Let's see if we can go a minute without him getting messy again."

"Oh come on, I'll be careful," insisted Clem as she raised her spoon. "He's probably hungry after his bath, aren't you?"

"Mah-bah," said Omid with a smile as he eyed the spoon in Clem's hand.

"Open wide." Omid opened his mouth and Clem carefully fed the boy. "Doesn't that taste good?"

"Muh-bluh… dah," mumbled Omid through a mouth full of grits.

"As long as we're on the topic of food, I was thinking you and I could check out the town north of here a little more thoroughly today," said Patty. "We've been here a few days now and it's been pretty quiet. If we find some food we overlooked on our way in we might able to stay for a while."

"That sounds good."

"And once we get back, I thought we could play cards again. Maybe work on your poker face a little more?" suggested Patty with a sly smile. "You keep at it and I might not always know what you're thinking."

"You don't always know what I'm thinking," insisted Clem.

"Just most of the time," said Patty

"But not all the time." The girl held back the urge to smile too widely, confident she could keep her secret from the woman.

Clementine finished her breakfast, said her goodbyes to Sarah and Omid, and joined Patty on her motorcycle. The bike struggled to start, something that had become routine for the pair, and then they were on their way. Clem had grown to love riding on Patty's motorcycle. The sudden burst of speed and the wind blowing past her face was a rush she always enjoyed and one that never seemed to last nearly long enough.

Finding somewhere out of sight to park, the pair headed into town on foot and began investigating. Their search proved disappointing but predictable: Houses with pantries picked clean, gas stations with empty shelves, and no recent signs of living people. Clem wasn't expecting anything else, but Patty seemed disappointed by their lack of success.

After the first couple of empty houses, the pair decided to move a few blocks deeper into town before searching for more food. When those houses didn't have so much as a crumb left, they moved several blocks north to try again. And when they found nothing then they just kept walking, desperately clinging to the hope of finding anything that looked remotely promising. After a while, Clem found herself studying the nearby houses more out of curiosity than as possible sources of supplies.

There were small homes with long verandas neatly fenced in by white wooden pillars. Exotic looking palm trees adorned small lawns bordering the sidewalk, giving the neighborhood a more distinctly Florida feel. And the total absence of garages from the houses and the short distance between them made the entire area very cozy. If not for the overgrown grass in the yards and the weeds snaking their way up through the cracks in the concrete, this would be a picturesque place to live, and that was before what Clem spotted next.

"Is… is that a beach?" she asked.

"What? We're not even near the ocean right now," said Patty.

"I can see water, a lot of it." Clem pointed past the end of the road. "And look at that white stuff near the edge, I think that's sand."

"Um… yeah, that does look like a beach."

"Let's check it out."

As the pair moved forward, Clem could see there wasn't a beach but a paved concrete path that, from a distance, looked like sand surrounding the water. And getting past the trees, she could see the water was just a modestly sized lake, but one with an unusually straight shoreline. Slowly turning her head, Clem saw this lake was an almost perfect circle tucked away behind trees on all sides.

"Wow…" Pulling off her respirator, Clem could smell the fresh air and feel its cool touch on her face. The tall grass gently swayed in the breeze, creating a soft rustling sound while rays of golden sunlight beamed in through the openings in the surrounding trees, giving the area a heavenly glow. And the lake was such a striking shade of blue that Clementine felt a sudden desire to swim despite the cold weather. "We should stay here."

"I think staying near the interstate is a better idea," said Patty. "Something goes wrong and we just get on the highway and don't look back. Trying to get the RV in here would be a pain and getting it out in a hurry would be a lot harder. Plus, all the trees here would make it hard to keep a lookout for trouble. Back at the motel, we could keep an eye on most of the area from the overpass."

"Yeah, that's true," conceded Clementine. "But maybe we could bring Sarah and Omid here tomorrow."

"Actually, I was thinking we should get back on the road tomorrow," said Patty. "I doubt there's any food here, and the longer we rest the longer we're just eating through our supplies."

"We got a lot back in that town that was hit by a storm," reminded Clem.

"And now we've got a week's less with nothing to replace it with," said Patty as she removed her binoculars. "We don't know when we'll find our next meal, so we shouldn't wait until we're hungry to go looking for it."

"I know all that, I was just hoping we could stay a little longer," said Clem. "Omid really likes going outside."

"He can go outside anywhere," said Patty as she scanned the other side of the lake with her binoculars. "Imagine how much more he'd like playing on an actual beach next to the ocean."

"He'd probably love that," realized Clem.

"No doubt, and having an ocean on one side would mean less places people could sneak up on us from," said Patty as she stored her binoculars. "Sarah really liked the idea when I pitched it to her."

"Sarah wants to leave already too?"

"She thought getting back on the road and heading for Mobile already was a good idea. She said it's only about a hundred and fifty miles away and even if it's a mess we can always look for food in the surrounding areas."

"That… that makes sense," admitted Clem. "I guess unless we find some food here we should just leave already."

"Speaking of which, check that out." The woman pointed to a couple of white buildings on the other side of the lake near a small pier. They looked too big to be houses and the awning over the left one's front door suggested they had been open to the public in the past. "That looks worth checking out. You up for a stroll around a lake?"

"Sure." Clementine started moving along the lake, following the path towards the buildings while enjoying a casual pace as she took in her surroundings. Thinking about the other houses nearby, Clem felt sad that such a beautiful place to live was nothing but another ghost town now, but that just made her more determined to enjoy every moment in this little paradise.

"Jerky?"

Clem looked over to see Patty was offering her a half-gone pack of beef jerky. "I'm good."

"Suit yourself." Patty took a bite out of the dried meat. "I used to not even like jerky, but now… well I still really don't like it, especially when it's over a year old, but it's better than a lot of our alternatives."

"I know how you feel," said Clem. "I still don't really like tomato soup, but it's a lot better than white hominy or canned squash."

"I hear that," said Patty as she took another bite from her jerky. "Do you think we were too hasty when we ditched that last town? I mean, we left behind a lot of food just in those houses near the playground. Who knows what else was out there?"

"That's why we left, because we didn't know what else was out there," warned Clem. "And we all agreed it was better to leave than try to find what killed that woman."

"I know, I know. But I keep thinking, maybe there was an explanation for her that wasn't horrifying."

"Like what?"

"Well, when things first went crazy, people didn't just assume zombies were roaming around; maybe some cop put those cuffs on her thinking she was just crazy."

"If she had been a walker from the beginning her skin would have been a lot more rotten," reminded Clem. "But it wasn't, which means she hadn't been dead that long."

"Right… forgot about that. Okay, how bout this? People come back as a walker no matter how they die right? So maybe that woman got really sick and they put handcuffs on her in case she died and came back as a walker?"

"Why'd she have a rope around her neck?"

"Maybe to keep her from wandering off if she became a walker? Like a leash or something?"

"Why not just handcuff her to something so she couldn't wander off. They could have just cuffed her to radiator… or something."

"Well… maybe they wanted her to be able to move around in case she didn't die? Like, the cuffs keep her from using her hands and the leash from wandering off if she dies, but it still gives her enough rope to move around while she's still alive."

"Why was she naked?"

"Um… well… maybe she had hypothermia?" suggested Patty. "Yeah, it's winter after all, and we've had a few really cold days over the last few weeks. She could have fallen in a lake, nearly drowned, and the people who found her had to get rid of wet clothes, but then realized she might die, so they put the cuffs on her to keep her from grabbing anything, but also made a leash out of a rope so she could move around if she woke up."

"How'd she lose her jaw?" asked Clem.

"Well… um… I… don't know." Patty sighed. "I guess I really just don't want to think about the obvious conclusions."

"Me too," said Clem.

"After everything you've told me about what you've seen, I'm afraid to even ask what you think happened to that woman, so I won't."

"Thanks…" said Clem in a quiet voice.

"This living on the road thing is really getting to me," confessed Patty. "Miami sucked, and so did Valkaria, but I usually knew what to expect when I lived at those places. Out here, it always feels like I'm just waiting on something horrible to find us."

"Sometimes it does find you," spoke Clem in a hushed whisper.

"I'm really hoping we find some good news in Mobile," said Patty.

"Do you think things will be different there?" asked Clem, curious to the woman's answer.

"I don't know. I hope so but I kind of doubt it. Truth be told, I kind of doubt we'll find anything in New Orleans either," admitted Patty.

"But you still want to go there?"

"I heard too many people talk about it for too long to not wonder what's there. And it's not like we got any better ideas at the moment," said Patty. "Plus, it's a big country, there's gotta be somewhere out there where things aren't so bad."

"Nick talked about that the night Omid was born," said Clem. "We all talked about where we wanted to go. Sarah wanted to go to Kansas, Nick wanted to go to Wyoming, and Christa wanted to go home to California."

"Kansas, Wyoming, and then California; that's an odd road trip," said Patty. "What about you? Where did you want to go?"

"Florida."

"Really? What for?"

"I was sick of being cold all the time and just wanted to go somewhere warm."

"They don't call it the Sunshine State for nothing. Warm weather is the one thing Florida has plenty of," said Patty. "Or at least Southern Florida; we're only in the panhandle and I'm hating this drop in the temperature."

Clementine smirked to herself upon hearing that comment, thinking she had chosen wisely. Looking ahead, she could see they were almost at the buildings now. The pair stepped off the path and waded through the grass up to the buildings. The building on the right was just a large white block with a couple of really tall and narrow windows on the second story. There wasn't even a door to be found on this side. The building on the left had windows on both stories and a door with an awning over it.

Examining the structure, Clem couldn't find any signs, words, or symbols that would tell her what this place was for. Above the door, there were a series of windows that matched the windows on the first floor. Inching up to the nearest opening, Clem tried to peek inside only to find herself staring at a couple of two-by-fours. Checking the other windows, Clem saw that they were all boarded up from the inside. Taking a step back, she could see the windows on the second floor were also blocked off.

"I think someone barricaded this door," said Patty as she approached Clem. "The knob turns but the door won't open."

"That means people have been here," said Clem.

"Or are still here." Patty removed the shotgun from her back and gripped it tightly. "Stay alert, and behind me."

"I will." Clementine drew her gun and followed Patty as she moved beside the building. The ground sloped upwards as they moved and as they neared the top a knocking sound could be heard.

"Get down," whispered Patty as she clung to the side of the building. Listening carefully, Clem could hear the knocking had no rhythm and sounded like it was being made by more than one source, almost like clothes banging around in a dryer. Patty briefly poked her head past the edge of the building and then darted back into cover.

"What did you see?" whispered Clem.

"Nothing," said Patty. "I think it's coming from the building next to this one, but I can't see the front of it from this angle. Maybe we should just head back."

"Without finding out what it is?"

"We're leaving tomorrow anyway, and it's not like we found anything here worth coming back here for."

"Probably because whoever was here last put anything worth having in these buildings they boarded up," argued Clem.

"And they might still be here, all the more reason to leave."

"It sounds like walkers," noted Clem as she listened to the distant out of sync pounding. "And there might be food in there. Do you want to leave that behind just because of some walkers?"

Clem watched as Patty's eyes briefly eyed the edge of the building before shifting back to Clem. "Let's backtrack a bit, then we'll come up onto the road and scope out the area with binoculars from a safe distance."

"Sounds good."

The pair headed back the way they came for a few hundred feet and then slowly maneuvered through the trees and onto the road. As they reached the edge of the street, a bright red train car came into view.

"What the hell is that?" Patty stepped forward and Clem followed right behind her. On the other side of the road was a single passenger car mounted in what appeared to be a very small park. It was bright red with yellow rails and the letters 'L & N' painted on the side in white. "So… is this train car a tourist attraction or something?"

"I don't know," shrugged Clem. "But I bet I could see everything from on top of it."

"All right." Patty glanced to her right and saw the pair of buildings from before were a block away. "Let's get up there, look around, and get out of here."

Clementine raced over to the train car and grabbed hold of the ladder. She hurried up it as fast as she could move her legs and climbed onto the roof. Turning around, Clem saw Patty was right behind her. The woman stepped off the ladder and immediately drew her shotgun. She stood up and slowly rotated in place, anxiety building in her eyes as she searched for danger.

"All right, check out that building," whispered Patty. "I'll keep an eye out for anything else we need to be worried about."

"Got it." Clem grabbed her binoculars and moved over to the edge of the car. Examining the two buildings from this side, Clem could see the one with the boarded up windows had the words 'Educational Center' plastered above its door, but it didn't look like a school. The other building had an ornate front decorated with stone steps leading up to white columns that obscured Clem's view of the front door. Between the buildings was a stone sign with words carved on it. "I think that place is a church."

"Any idea what's causing the noise though?"

Clem moved over to the leftmost edge of the car to get a better angle and raised her binoculars. "It's walkers. They're pounding on the front door."

"For real?"

"Yeah, there's about… six of them. We could—"

"Let's get out of here," said Patty as she headed for the ladder.

"It's only six, we could—"

"You said they're pounding on a door. There's only two reasons they'd do that: Because they heard something, or they smelled something, and I didn't hear anything."

"So they smelled something, what's the big…" Clem went silent as she realized what Patty was saying. "There's someone in there."

"Exactly, and that's our cue to leave."

"Wait!" Clem rushed over to Patty as she climbed onto the ladder. "We can't just leave them."

"Why not?" asked Patty. "That building looks sturdy, they'll be okay without us—especially without us."

"What if they won't?" Clem grabbed hold of Patty's jacket as she tried to climb down. "What if they're trapped in there and they're going to die if we don't do something?"

"What if they're nutjobs who'll thank us by killing us, or worse?"

"What if they're not?"

"What if they are?"

"What if I had just left you behind?" The woman went wide-eyed upon hearing that. "I don't want anyone else to die just because I'm scared, and you shouldn't either."

"Dammit…" Patty groaned. "Fine. But if we see any, and I mean any bad signs about whoever these people are, and we're leaving. Deal?"

"Deal."