"We don't know what it means," insisted Sarah.

"Sarah, it's clear what it means." Clementine stared up in disbelief at the faded billboard looming over this lonely stretch of highway, the only sign of civilization in either direction for miles.

WILL TRADE FOR
FOOD, AMMO, INFO
GO NORTH ON I-25
PAST CHEYENNE

Clem briefly thought back to when they left Valkaria and how Patty had left a very different message on a billboard outside their city, along with the warning they left on the water tower outside of Port Arthur. Could it be possible she had been here and left this message? It was even in red paint like the others she made, and the handwriting looked familiar, but then so does probably most writing done with an aerosol can.

"It's faded," asserted Sarah as she took her hand off the steering wheel and gestured towards the billboard. "Whoever wrote that is probably dead by now."

"It's not nearly as faded as whatever used to be on the billboard," noted Clem as she felt her chest tightening. "In fact, it looks fresher than anything I saw outside of Denver yesterday."

"It's a trap." Sarah snapped her head around and a chill shot up Clem's spine as she saw the terror bulging in Sarah's eyes. "Why else would anyone put up something like this?"

"Because they need to trade?" answered a reluctant Clem.

"Enough they'd leave directions on how to find them?" challenged Sarah. "We'd never do that."

"We did, back in Tulsa," reminded Clem. "Telling people to stay somewhere we could see them from far away."

"Yeah, and what'd they do? They stole everything!" Sarah's shouting nearly caused Clem to jump out of her seat. She was staring intensely at Clem, almost glaring, then she collapsed into her own hands and started crying.

"Sarah," said Clem as she leaned in close. "It'll—"

"Don't tell me it'll be okay!" dictated Sarah as she looked up suddenly at Clem, her face a tormented mess of anger, fear, sadness, and confusion.

"Oh… okay…" stuttered Clem as she was forced to stare into Sarah's terror struck eyes. "But… this is what we've been looking for. We—"

"No!" Sarah leapt out of the driver's seat.

"Sarah, wait." Clem followed Sarah as she rushed over to the table and started frantically flipping through their road atlas. "What are you doing?"

"Seeing where Cheyenne is," said Sarah as she stopped on one page. "It's… it's north of us, just past the border in Wyoming… right on interstate eighty."

"We should have stayed on eighty instead of going to Denver," realized Clem as she shook her head.

"It was a big city," argued Sarah. "I figured there had to be someone left alive there."

"If there was I didn't see any signs of them," reminded Clem. "Just lots of walkers, old ones, barely able to stand up anymore."

"I figured we'd at least find some food there," mumbled Sarah as she rubbed her head.

"The parts I checked had been cleared out."

"There could have been something left in the center of town. You said you didn't make it that far."

"Because there was no getting to it, even with the coat on," asserted Clem. "If we had the others with us we may have been able to carve a path through the walkers, but on our own…" Clem looked down at the atlas. She spotted a small dot labeled 'Cheyenne', one of only a few on the otherwise blank canvass that was Wyoming. Clem forced herself to march back to the front and sit down in the driver's seat.

"What are you doing?" asked Sarah as Clem grabbed the steering wheel.

"I said I'd find someone and—"

"No!" Sarah pulled Clem's hand off the wheel, nearing yanking her out of the seat in the process.

"Sarah, this is the only sign from anyone we've seen since…" Clem swallowed hard and felt phantom pains ache all across her body for a brief moment. "It's our only choice."

Clem could feel Sarah's nails digging into her skin. She was terrified, even more than usual, and every second looking into Sarah's tormented face as she struggled to breathe was torture for Clem.

"Let's just… go north, and see what, if anything, there is," suggested Clem in as calm a voice as she could muster. "If… if we see anything that looks bad, we'll turn around and drive away. Okay?"

Sarah's grip was becoming painful now, enough that Clem couldn't quite mask a slight groan as she eyed her arm. Sarah must have noticed because almost immediately after Clem felt her arm being released.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I—"

"It's okay," assured Clem as she gripped Sarah's hand. "It's okay." Clem gave Sarah a reassuring squeeze, but Sarah could only stare at the mark her fingernails left on Clem's skin.

"Get our guns," instructed Sarah suddenly in an uncharacteristically cold voice. "I'll fill up the Brave's gas tank with whatever extra fuel we have left while you're doing that; wherever we're going I want to be ready to leave in a hurry."

"Me too."

Sarah switched off the engine and headed outside while Clem retrieved their weapons. They had the rifle, the one Clem took from Cruz's scout; she couldn't look at it without thinking of that girl's face. Next was her old pistol, the one that belonged to Lee before her; Clem had lost count of how many people had been killed by it. Then the pink ankle gun and finally Anthony's old revolver.

Popping open the chambers, Clem saw it only had two bullets left. She still remembered Patty griping about having to give up half of the remaining bullets in her gun since they never found more ammo that fit these revolvers. Patty's actual gun they'd never found, leading Clem to nurse a faint hope she may have had it on her the day they lost the farm and even used it to escape. Just as she set the gun on the table, Sarah appeared from nowhere and snatched it up.

Clem watched as Sarah herself confirmed the gun was loaded, then rotated the chambers so a loaded one would be in front of the barrel. Sarah put her foot on the table and inserted the pistol into her sock. Looking over at Clem, no words were needed; Clem dutifully strapped the ankle holster to her shin, then placed her regular pistol in its holster while Sarah grabbed the rifle.

The pair took their seats at the front and Sarah turned the key. There was a familiar churning sound but the engine started up not long after that. The first thing they did after leaving their resting spot by the lake was give the Brave a much-needed tune-up. Or Sarah did, Clem did little beyond carry things and occasionally get confused by Sarah's requests. The Brave usually didn't stall when starting it now, usually.

Looking out the window, Clem thought the rural outskirts surrounding Colorado and Wyoming's borders weren't much different from the wide-open emptiness of the majority of Nebraska and Kansas she had seen. But occasionally, she could just barely spot some sloping hills on the western horizon, the foot of the Rocky Mountains according to Sarah. They had nearly left the plains of the Midwest behind, leading Clem to ponder on what awaited them next, assuming they survived long enough to even find it.

Sarah drove slowly, her bloodshot eyes wide open and constantly darting about in search of threats. She hadn't been sleeping well these last few days, despite taking sleeping pills. Last night, Clem awoke to find Sarah sitting alone in the living room, crying to herself. She had wanted to go to her when she saw that, comfort her, but hadn't. Clem reasoned Sarah wanted to be alone in that moment, or maybe Clem herself couldn't bear to emotional toll in that moment.

As soon as a few short buildings sprouted up on the horizon the Brave immediately slowed to a crawl. Clem felt her hand move towards her gun without even thinking about it while Sarah started breathing harder. As the road began to inch upwards, the pair found themselves rolling to a slow stop in front of a sign hanging over a small overpass. Scrawled on it was the same message as before, this time with an arrow pointing the way forward.

The Brave began inching forward again, but instead of following the arrow it started turning to the right.

"What are you doing?" asked Clem.

"I just want to check something real quick." The Brave coasted down the off-ramp and Clem found herself staring at a different sign. It bore the same message as the last two, just with an arrow pointing to the on-ramp.

"I was hoping we'd see Ceres on this," admitted Sarah. "This is interstate eighty, but I guess the others didn't make it here."

"We don't know that."

"Clem…"

"We don't. We barely remembered to stay on eighty, or to use Ceres as a code. For all we know, Patty and Jet left this, or even Devlin, and they just forgot about using the code. It even looks like the messages we saw outside Tulsa."

"Yeah, it… it does. It likes those signs that said go to the Citadel."

Clem blinked has she heard some hope seeping into Sarah's voice. She had just said that to make her feel better but looking at the sign, she realized it was actually possible. This was the same road they all agreed to go west on, and it had been Devlin and Patty's idea to travel on it. As Sarah pulled them back onto the on-ramp, Clem found herself almost eager to find out who left this message; almost.

As they rolled slowly north into Cheyenne, Clem found her eyes scanning every single thing as it came into view. It was nothing she hadn't already seen a million times. Parking lots full of forsaken cars, old buildings with the windows and doors busted wide open, lawns turned into wild fields; all too familiar yet nerve-racking at the same time. No matter how many times they crept past an abandoned suburbia Clem could never shake the feeling a pack of walkers was just waiting to rush out to meet them, or worse.

Her eyes drifted upwards as they passed another sign hanging over the road. The names of the roads the exits led to had been written over with a simple message: WILL TRADE, GO NORTH. It had been written on every sign hanging over the road they were on and just seemed to be getting louder in Clem's head every time she read it.

Who were these people and why would they take a risk leaving these signs for others to find? Were they desperate, literally starving and had no choice but to expose themselves to the risk? Could there be an actual town of people left in the world, like Valkaria, or better yet, not like Valkaria? Or was it like Sarah said, a trap, and they were driving right into it. While her head was racked with questions, Clem's stomach started tying itself into a knot as she looked up at the latest sign.

NORTH 20 MILES - OVERPASS
CHECKED EVERY DAY NOON
COME ALONE OR DON'T COME

Clem swallowed hard as she kept re-reading the words 'COME ALONE'. She was about to get up when she felt the Brave suddenly pull to the left.

"What are you doing?" asked Clem.

"It's a trap, just like I said it was," said Sarah as spun the steering wheel to the left and the entire Brave with it. "We're leaving."

"We can't!" said Clem as she grabbed the wheel.

"Let go Clem!"

"We don't know it's a trap."

"Why else would they ask people to come alone?"

"Because they don't want to get caught in a trap themselves," argued Clem. "Think about it, we wouldn't want a whole group of people coming to us, but we'd meet with a single person."

"You mean like we did with Pedro? No, the only people who would still do that after all this time would be the ones who kill the person they met afterwards. We almost did that… maybe we'd still have our farm if we did."

"That was different, he found us," reminded Clem. "The message we left for others was all the way back in Tulsa, far from home just to be safe. These people are probably doing the same thing."

"Or it leads right into an ambush."

"We don't know that."

"Sure we do."

"We don't!"

"It's not worth the risk!"

"We don't have a choice!" yelled Clem as she jumped to her feet. "We have nothing left to eat! We found nothing on the way here! And you're still…"

Sarah buried her head in her hands suddenly, trying to hold back her tears, and immediately all of Clem's anger evaporated.

"I know. I'm scared too," whispered Clem as she came up behind Sarah and placed her hands on her shoulders. "We… we have to do this. It's our only hope."

"Yeah… it is," confessed a tearful Sarah. Clem moved in to hug Sarah but she stood up suddenly. "All right, I'll get ready."

"What? No, I'm going," dictated Clem.

"No, you're not," refuted Sarah in a stern voice.

"Give me one good reason."

"You're still hurt."

"Barely."

"You've risked yourself enough times."

"Which means I'm better prepared."

"I'm bigger, stronger, and faster than you."

"I'm going Sarah, that's—"

"No!" Sarah grabbed Clem and pulled her in close, more grappling her than hugging her. "I won't let you this time!"

"One of us has to."

"And it'll be me!"

"Sarah…"

"Give me one good reason; I'll already gave you several."

"Yeah, and they were all good reasons for you to be the one to stay."

"What?" asked a baffled Sarah.

"If this doesn't work and… one of us doesn't come back."

"Stop it!"

"Then it'll be up to you to take care of Omid."

"Don't say that!" said Sarah as she tightened her grip on Clem.

"And like you just said; you're bigger, stronger, and faster, which means you can protect him better than me."

"Not without you…"

"If you stay, that means Omid has a better chance of surviving if this goes wrong."

"Stop talking like that!"

"You're also smarter," added Clem as she felt Sarah's grip on her tightening. "The day after we left the lake, you spent all day fixing stuff on the Brave and I… I didn't do anything."

"You do plenty!"

"But I can't do the stuff needed to keep the Brave running, I don't know as much about taking care of babies as you, and—"

"You're expendable," croaked Sarah through her tears. "Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

Clem took a deep breath. "I am."

"That's bullshit and you know it."

"Maybe," shrugged Clem as much as she could while in Sarah's grasp. "But if only one us can be there for Omid, I'd feel a lot better knowing it was you."

"Clem…" Clem could hear Sarah crying, which just made her cry. She didn't want to go either, but one of them had to, and Clem forced herself to conclude it should be her, for Sarah and Omid's sake. Although, it wasn't doing Sarah any good right now as Clem felt hot tears fall onto her head. "There's gotta be another way," mumbled Sarah.

"Like what?" asked Clem.

"We… we… we'll go together," proclaimed Sarah. "That way—"

"They won't show up if we don't come alone," reminded Clem. "And if they would have helped us that would mean we chased away our only hope."

"If they really wanted to help people, would they really stay away just because there's two people instead of one?"

"Would we approach two people we don't know right now?"

Clem waited for an answer, and the only one she got was a sigh from Sarah.

"I should get going… it's probably not too long until noon."

"I… I'll get your stuff," conceded Sarah. "Why… why don't you go check on Omid?"

"Sure."

Sarah finally released Clem and after an awkward pause, she moved to the closet while Clem headed for the bedroom. There she found Omid, sitting in his crib with an apprehensive look on his face. It had become a familiar sight for her, and one she didn't like growing used to. She never thought she'd miss Omid's constant escape attempts of trying to find ways out of the RV, but seeing him day after day content to remain in his cramped old crib was heart-breaking; at least he was awake for once.

"Hey there Omid," said Clem as she knelt down. "How you doing?" Omid didn't respond, he just sat there, limply clutching his stuffed elephant in one hand and a rattle in the other. "You want to play?" Clem grasped the rattle and Omid offered no resistance to her taking it. She held it in front of his face and shook it vigorously, but there was no response. "Guess not," said Clem as she tossed the rattle aside. "I don't suppose you're hungry or—"

Omid immediately looked up at Clem when she said the word hungry. It actually surprised her, although pleasantly so. Ever since he stopped speaking they were afraid of what else could be wrong with him they couldn't see. Sarah even speculated it was possible Omid stopped talking because what had happened deafened him. Clearly that wasn't the case, and Clem thanked God for the small miracle as she picked up Omid.

"Come on, I'll get you something good to eat," she said, struggling a little to lift Omid. Despite the lack of food, he was still growing anyway. Setting him down in front of the closet, Clem slid open the door. The shelves were bare except for a jar of olives and a single can whose label had long since gone missing. Prior to following these signs, they were looking for a body of water for Clem to fish in for the day.

She picked up the mystery can, wondering if it was even worth opening. She looked over her shoulder at Omid and found him looking expectedly up at her. She was about to grab the can opener, then spotted the box on the floor. Kneeling down, she saw that they were down to their final three packs of freeze-dried ice cream, along with a half-eaten jar of jam. Clem looked at the mystery can, then set it down.

"Who wants some ice cream?"

Omid smiled in response to this, which was all the confirmation Clem needed. Clem sat down on the carpet, grabbed one of the three remaining bags, and tore it open with her teeth. She looked at the dried chunks of white, brown and pink sugary goodness and smiled. It was the only thing they had discovered that never seemed to get worse with age. Clem broke off a piece of chocolate ice cream and held it out for eager Omid.

"Clem? What are you doing?" Clem looked over to see Sarah staring down at her. "We don't have many of those left and—"

"We should save them for a party we're never gonna have?" asked Clem with a shrug. "I think this is as good as a time to have some ice cream as any."

Sarah stared at Clem for a second, then sat down beside her. "Give me a piece of strawberry."

The three sat in a circle, exchanging smiles and funny noises signaling their overwhelming approval of this meal. One thing Omid's trauma hadn't changed was his love of ice cream. Every piece they held out, no matter how small, never failed to produce a huge smile from the boy. Clem and Sarah were delighted to take turns feeding Omid, waiting until he entirely finished a piece before offering him another one, savoring that sweet smile of his they so rarely got to see anymore.

After eating almost the entire bag, Sarah grabbed the jam next, offering everyone a spoonful to give their meal a bit variety. It was a single spoonful but it was every bit as heavenly as Clementine remembered, and Omid concurred with a various licking of his lips after his spoonful. Sarah herself looked like she was in heaven when she tasted her jam, just leaving the spoon in her mouth while she savored it.

Lastly, Sarah cracked open the mystery can, discovering it to be filled with a variety of fruit. Time had reduced most of it to little more than sugary mush, but it was still a better treat than they had come to expect lately. The cherries were just firm enough to give you a juicy little explosion of flavor when you bit into them and it was one thing in the can Omid enjoyed eating, so naturally they gave almost all of the cherries to him; it was worth it just to see him so happy.

It wasn't the best meal they had, but it was a good one even if was mostly a selection of different sweet things. If nothing else, Clem was content to just have a little more time where they're all happy together; it like so many other things was in short supply lately. Rolling up the over half-eaten pack of ice cream to return to the closet, Clem spotted an empty plastic bag sitting in the box.

"What are you doing?" asked Sarah as Clem removed a piece of vanilla ice cream from the pack.

"If they do want to trade, this would probably be worth a lot." Clem snapped off a tiny fragment of ice cream.

"Why such a tiny piece?" asked Sarah as Clem placed the fragment in the empty bag. "They wouldn't trade much for that."

"I don't want them to know how much ice cream we have left, otherwise they might try to rip us off. But if I just take a little piece, they won't know how much we have left and I can still give them a taste."

Sarah chuckled. "A taste." She looked at Clem, then turned away. "Sorry, I shouldn't be laughing, it's—"

"It's fine," insisted Clem as she stood up. "It's good to see you smile." Clem couldn't resist brushing her hand against Sarah's cheek, provoking another smaller smile from her. "We haven't had much to smile about lately."

"Yeah, we haven't," said Sarah with a weak laugh as she cradled Clem's hand. "Hard to believe now there was even a time we did have plenty to smile over."

"I… I love you Sarah," professed Clem.

"I love you too Clem." Sarah pulled Clem in close and kissed the top of her head. Clem kissed Sarah's cheek in response, barely resisting the urge to plant her lips on Sarah's.

"I love you," repeated Clem as she wrapped her arms around Sarah. "I love… I'm… I…" Clem suddenly felt something clinging to her leg. She looked down and saw Omid hugging her.

"Ah, look at him." Sarah broke away from Clem and scooped up Omid. "You want to hug Clem too?" Sarah held out Omid, who eagerly stretched out his arms.

"I love you Omid." Clem leaned in and put an arm around him while Omid awkwardly but affectionately squeezed Clem's head. "You want to tell me you love me before I leave? Huh? Lub you?" Clem waited for an answer, but didn't get one. Letting go of Omid and taking a step back, Clem could see he was still smiling at her. "I love you too," smiled Clem. "Both of you."

"We know," said Sarah, returning Clem's smile. "I'll go put him in his crib; I left all your stuff on the table."

Sarah took Omid away while Clem went to inspect her equipment. Backpack, tomahawk, mask, radio, binoculars, gloves, canteen; all her usual gear. She slipped the ice-cream into a pouch on the backpack then picked it up. Clem discovered there was also a small book lying under the pack. The words 'DON'T PANIC' had been written on it in silver marker.

"You okay?" asked Sarah as she came up behind Clem. "I didn't forget anything, did I?"

"No, but what's this?" asked Clem as she picked up the book.

"It's one of the guides Jet made," said Sarah as Clem flipped the book over, revealing the words 'OUTBREAK SURVIVAL GUIDE' written on the front cover.

"Oh yeah, I forgot I kept one of these," said Clem.

"I found it when I was digging through all our books, looked through it thinking maybe Jet had put something in there about pregnancy… nothing."

"Why are you giving it to me though?"

"The sign said they'll trade for info. This has more information about what happened after the lurkers came then anything else we've seen in the world. If they really do want info, especially on how to deal with the lurkers, then they'll trade for that, maybe even for information on how to fix… my problem." Sarah took a breath. "I figured it was better than wearing your coat to meet them. People always seem to think the worse when they see us wearing clothes covered in blood."

"And I hate wearing it too, especially when it's this hot," added Clem as she slipped the book into her pack. "Walkers really aren't a problem this far out from town anyway." Clem threw the bag over her shoulder. "I should go already. If we wait any longer I'll miss them and we'll have to do this all over again tomorrow."

"Since you have to go alone it's probably better to take the bike, but I'll follow behind in the Brave in case things go wrong."

"Sarah…"

"I know, they said come alone, but I can at least be nearby," dictated Sarah. "I'll use the Brave's odometer to get within a couple of miles of where they want to meet you. It's not exactly close but it means I can get there a lot faster if they try anything."

"Sarah, if something goes wrong—"

"I'll be right there."

"Sarah, if anything goes wrong, I don't want you to come after me."

"What!"

"Last time—"

"I saved you!"

"No, you got caught too, and then we got lucky when I managed to get my hand free, and even then Omid…" Clem bit her lip. "You can't take that chance again, can't put him at risk, put yourself at risk, even for me."

"No, I… I can't just abandon you if something happens."

"Promise me if I don't come back you won't come after me."

"No no no, that's not fair! You… you can't—I won't do that!"

"Please, Sarah," begged a trembling Clem. "Everything that happened that day, it was all horrible, but the worse part was watching that man toss Omid into that dumpster, like he was nothing," sobbed Clem. "Please, just promise you'll take care of Omid, and yourself, that's what I want. It's the whole reason I'm doing this, so you two will be okay, and if you get yourselves killed trying to save me, then it's all for nothing."

Clem looked up at Sarah. She could practically see the conflict brewing behind those big brown eyes as they stared into her. If she had been looking Sarah in the eyes a second ago, Clem don't think she could have asked what she just asked of her.

"God damnit Clem," croaked Sarah as she turned away. "Fine, but stop talking like there's no chance of you coming back, okay? I'm only making that promise if you promise me you'll do everything you can to get back to us, okay? Promise me that?"

"I promise," assured Clem. "I don't want to die either Sarah, I just want to know that if something happens you'll take care of Omid for both of us."

"All… all right," Sarah sighed. "Let's go."

Sarah drove them north and the pair sat in silence as they moved ever closer to the possible rendezvous. They didn't even need the Brave's odometer as every sign they passed had an updated mile count painted over it. Clem felt that familiar ball of dread settling in her stomach, the one she always had when they met new people. It never got any easier and Clem found herself praying this would be the last time; she was sick of people.

Before long, the pair reached an overpass but not the one they needed to find. They knew because the sign under it said '4 MILES, COME ALONE'. Recognizing this as a final warning, Clem elected to get out here. She put on her gear, bid Sarah another tearful goodbye while beating back the urge to confess her love to her, then parted ways and grabbed her bike from the rack on the back of the RV.

Rolling the bike alongside the Brave, Clem found herself gravitating towards the compartment nearest the door. Pulling it open, she found a small green ammo box, and opening that, Clem found two grenades nestled inside. Even when Patty was around, they rarely discussed what they'd use these for, but they always agreed they were too valuable to leave behind. Clem carefully placed one in her backpack, reasoning if these people wanted to trade it might fetch a high price, and if they didn't then it might be her best chance to escape.

After a long and sweltering ride through Wyoming's countryside, Clem finally spotted the overpass she was looking for. It was no different from the other pitiful little overpasses they had passed except the small orange sign posted under the bridge simply read 'HERE' with an arrow pointing up to the overpass where Clem could see what looked like a flagpole sticking up into the air.

She froze and started looking around, terrified she was already being watched. She didn't see anything, and she didn't hear anything, and there was nothing but empty expanse in every direction. That should have put her at ease, but all it did was make her think she'd be a sitting duck if this was an ambush.

Getting off the bike and climbing up the hill, Clem discovered it was an actual flagpole sitting in the middle of the raised section of road. Tracing it downwards with her eyes, she found it crudely anchored to the pavement with a pile of misshapen cement. Looking at the shoddy construction work, Clem found what little hope she had left of finding safe haven disappear. Written on the ground in front of it in big red letters was a message.

RAISE FLAG
WAIT HERE
NO SUDDEN MOVES!

Lying at the base of the flagpole was a large and tattered blue flag. Clem stopped to scan the horizon again, having a better view from on top of the overpass. She saw three towers not far in the distance, probably leftover from before the outbreak; were they watching her from there? The only other thing of interest was the overpass itself led to a single road that disappeared into the western horizon; if they came by vehicle it'd probably be from that direction.

Looking up at the sky, it was either noon, close to it, or just past. Clem reached down to grab the flagpole's rope but hesitated from actually raising it. Just gripping it sent a strange pain shooting through her veins as the memories of that horrible day came flooding back into her mind. It washed over like a great wave, drenching her in a terror so great her hands started shaking, but it wasn't quite enough to stop Clem from pulling on that rope.

The flag was heavy, a lot heavier than she expected, and that strange pain in her veins quickly morphed into a throbbing one concentrated in just her wrist. While her muscles ached against the weight of that flag, a horrible image began to take shape in Clem's mind, and as the strain became too much to bear the image suddenly came into focus; herself hanging from the other end of that rope by her neck.

Clem hastily tied the rope to the flagpole and stumbled backwards, gasping for oxygen as she yanked her mask off. Trembling on the pavement, Clem was barely able to summon the will to look up. Thankfully all that was up there was a flag wafting in the air at half-mast. It was an utterly massive blue flag, bigger than Clem herself, and in the middle was a silhouette of a buffalo. Wiping away the sweat pouring down her face, Clem could only wonder what the meaning of the flag itself was. She was hoping it'd provide a clue to who left it, instead it just left her even more confused.

Sitting there, waiting in the mid-day sun, sweating away as she awaited an uncertain fate, Clem found herself wishing she was back home in Georgia. She remembered the summer they moved into their new house and the pool that came with it. She spent all summer break out there learning how to swim with her dad's help, and just before school started she had gotten good enough that she could swim all afternoon on her own, and often did; that was the last summer before the walkers came.

The heat was getting to Clementine. Sarah mentioned they were in July a few days ago but even without that information it was obviously the middle of summer. Even without the coat and the mask the heat was suffocating and reaching for her canteen, Clem discovered it was already nearly empty. Looking down at her almost non-existent shadow, it was definitely noon now but who knows if the people who left this flag were punctual, or if they were coming at all.

Clem was about to lie down under the flagpole, the closest thing to shade there was on-top of the overpass, when she saw something moving on the horizon; a massive lone figure looming in the distance. Clementine instinctively ducked down behind the concrete wall bordering the overpass while reaching for her binoculars. There was definitely something moving out there, but not from either of the roads as she expected, it was on a hill far from the overpass.

Lifting her binoculars, Clem found the hill in question but struggled to find the figure on it. Lowering them, she could see where they were a moment ago but couldn't find them now, leaving her to wonder if she had just been seeing things again, another mirage created by the heat. Raising the binoculars and looking at the hill once again, Clem was terrified that she would suddenly see someone looking back at her, but what she found was far stranger.

It was a bear, a great big black beast just casually strolling across a hill. Clem almost didn't believe her eyes but she kept watching in shock as it moved across the terrain seemingly without a care in the world. Examining it more closely, Clem spotted something else, a tiny bear cub clinging to its parent's back. She had to stop herself from laughing as the cub bobbed back and forth as it's mom or dad walked across the grass.

She didn't really know what to think of this, other than smile at seeing something was still alive out here. Clem didn't what emotions bears felt, and even if she did she probably couldn't accurately gauge them from this far, but she liked to think they were happy, if just so something was. But then the bear raised its head suddenly, as if it sensed danger, then disappeared into the horizon, leaving Clem alone with the terrible feeling she wouldn't be much longer.

She could hear it now, a motor off in the distance. She quickly slid her mask back on and turned around. It didn't take long to spot the approaching vehicle. It was coming from the western road as she predicted, and it was moving fast. Panic gripped Clementine's chest as she felt a sudden overwhelming urge to run back to her bike and make a break for it. The only thing they kept her in place was Sarah; Clem promised to help her and couldn't bear to flee in the face of the only chance she had to do that.

Instead, Clem forced herself to stand her ground as some kind of small box truck came barreling towards her. Her legs were shaking now as she could see the vehicle more clearly, this black mass of metal that seemed to absorb the very light that shined on it. Clem felt sick to her stomach and suddenly there was a soreness creeping all across her body as the horrible roar of the engine began deafening, like a snarling beast announcing its murderous intent.

The truck charged up the ramp and right towards where Clem was standing. Paralyzed by fear, Clem could only watch in terror as the brakes make a horrible screeching sound as the vehicle swerved to a sudden stop. Before she knew it, someone in body armor was aiming a gun at her head while hiding behind their truck's door for cover.

"Don't move!" their voice was muffled by the helmet she was wearing. "You hear me, don't move!"

"I won't," answered Clem, summoning whatever courage she could.

"You come alone?" it was a woman speaking to her.

"Yes."

"Because of the sign or because you are alone?" her voice sounded so familiar. "Well? Which is it?"

Clem dwelled on that question briefly before answering. "The sign." Clem reasoned it was better to tell the truth, if only because this person would hesitate to kill her if she knew there were others who'd come looking for her.

"So does that mean you want to trade?"

Clem just realized the woman wasn't much taller than her. As she was staring at the gun in her hands, she noticed it looked just like the machine gun Devlin took with him the day he left.

"Patty?" uttered Clem in desperation.

The woman only stared at Clem, her face hidden behind her helmet's tinted visor. "Your name is Patty?"

Clem's heart sank as she heard that. "No…" Clem groaned as she felt her own hot breath in her face. "Is it okay if I take off my mask? It's really hot out here."

"Slowly," instructed the woman without lowering gun.

Clem very carefully removed her mask, then wiped her face while taking a deep breath of the slightly cooler air.

"You're a child," noted the woman.

"Yeah," said Clem with a shrug.

"And you're not alone?" asked the woman, clearly suspicious.

"No," said Clem.

"You're people just chose to send a child out to meet with us?"

Clem was hesitant to admit her 'people' was just another girl a few years older than her and a baby.

"I was the most expendable." Clem wished she could see this person's face right now, get some idea of what they were thinking, but couldn't. And now, waiting impatiently for their answer, Clem wished she hadn't taken off her mask and gave away what she was thinking.

"That was a more honest answer than I was expecting," Clem breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that.

"Does that mean we can trade?" asked Clem.

"Not out here," dictated the woman. "Take off your backpack and then lay down on the pavement, slowly."

"Why?"

"So I can search you," dictated the women. "Then you get in the paddy wagon, then I take you back to our place, and then we can discuss trading."

"What… what if I say no?" asked a nervous Clem.

"Then I'm leaving," announced the woman without hesitation. "Either we do this my way or I'm going home, and you won't see me again."

Clem found it harder to breathe as a familiar despair crept up her back and sent out a shiver through her very nerves.

"Are you armed?"

"Yes," admitted as Clem she took off her backpack.

"Then you understand why it needs to be this way." The woman never lowered her gun, not even for a second as Clem tossed her backpack aside and dropped to her knees. It wasn't until she was lying flat on the hot asphalt did Clem hear the woman's footsteps rapidly approach her, followed by the barrel of a gun being pressed against the back of her head; Clem only wished she didn't know what that felt like.

She remained still and quiet as the woman's hand frisked her body. It moved quickly but it was thorough, seeking out every obvious hiding place for a weapon. Her pistol, her knife, her radio, everything on her was hastily removed. Clem cringed as she felt the woman's hand move to her ankle next and take away her other gun.

"You're pretty heavily armed for someone who's expendable," commented the woman.

"I made a promise I'd do everything I could to get back," wept Clem.

"I'm sure." Clem relaxed a little as she felt the gun pulled away from her head, then she heard a very distinct metallic clicking sound. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the woman holding a gun in one hand, and a pair of handcuffs in the other.

"I said no sudden moves!" ordered the woman as she grasped the gun with both hands.

"Why do you have handcuffs?" asked Clem as she stared at the metal bonds dangling from the woman's fingers.

"There for you."

Those words hit Clem like a brick to the stomach. "You didn't say anything about that."

"Part of coming along with me," stated the woman. "Have to be sure you're not gonna try something the second we get back."

"Please," begged Clem. "You already took all my weapons, what could—"

"Either you're coming with me in cuffs or I'm leaving," dictated the woman.

"You'd still let me leave?"

"I haven't kept alive this long without picking my fights carefully," said the woman. "Also haven't kept alive by standing around in the open waiting to be ambushed, so I need an answer now; you gonna cooperate or not?"

"I…" Sarah's face flashed into Clem's mind. "Just hurry."

"I intend to."

Clem felt physically ill as she those steel cuffs snapped shut around her hands, the metal practically searing her injured wrist as she felt the pain in it return with a sudden intensity she hadn't felt since the last time she was in cuffs; it was almost enough to make her scream. Her legs quivered as she was forced to a stand and Clem gasped as something was placed over her eyes; she was being blindfolded.

"Are… are you gonna gag me too?" asked a terrified Clem.

"No need," said the woman. "The wagon would muffle any noise you would make."

That didn't make Clem feel any better. The woman pulled Clem forward by the collar of her shirt and she had no choice but to follow along. Her legs were shaking so badly now that Clem was terrified she'd collapse and she wanted nothing more right now than to yell out for mercy. She had to stop herself from begging out loud for the woman not to kill her, if only because she was more afraid of what would happen if her captor knew just how frightened she truly was.

Clem felt her leg bang into something metal which was immediately followed by her being pulled backwards. Clem then heard something swing open on a pair of rusty hinges and immediately after a pair of hands picked her up from under the armpits. She was tossed forward onto the cold metal of the truck's interior and before she could even sit up the echo of slammed doors rang out in her eardrums.

And like that, once again Clementine was a prisoner. The darkness, the rumble of engine through the metal, the sensation of helplessness all washed over her, and it was all too painfully familiar. It was like sitting in the belly of a monster, just waiting to be digested. And as terrified as Clem was, more than anything she felt tired; she never expected this to end any other way.