"HOLD ON EVERYBODY!"

Travis struggled to keep balance with only one arm wrapped around the railing, the screeching of the frozen wheels against the tracks filling the air as his body threatened to fall over the edge and on to the tracks.

The hanging obstruction remained untouched and blocking their path down the tracks, the closer the train got the more frighteningly heavy it looked. It's a miracle that one semi-truck could still be holding the tanker only a few feet off the ground from the overpass, a miracle nobody appreciated.

Everyone filed out of the train to see the commotion, watching Kenny as his face turned bright red and he paced in front of the train.

Sharon appeared at Clementine's side in seconds and covered her ears, waiting to let her go until Kenny was done screaming curse words and obscenities at the tank. Duck seemed unphased by the screaming, staring blankly ahead.

"Maybe we could walk?" Ben suggested.

Kenny hung his head, his voice low. "That's fucking stupid, Ben."

Travis walked foreword, shrugging one shoulder. "Can't we just drain it and plow through?"

"That thing's not full of milk, kid. That's gas or diesel, something that's going to explode if we happen to make one spark." Kenny snapped. "It's another fucking thing that's going to take fucking HOURS to fix, god FUCKING-"

"Yo!"

Carley was the first to pull out a gun, eyes scanning for the source of the voice. Duck quickly placed himself behind Sharon, Clementine did the same with Lee.

"You keep screaming like that and you're going to get your face chewed off!"

Slowly all eyes looked up, wary of the figures that stood on the overpass. The two stood against the bright morning sky, nearly impossible to make out any details aside from their different height.

"Are you going to be trouble?" the woman asked. "Because we could've just kept walking."

"No, we're friendly!" Lee called back, looking back and forth to Carley and Kenny. "Put your guns down, we don't want to set them off."

"That's what everybody says." The woman spoke, her tone suggested she was smiling.

The two talked under whispers, then the shorter one called out again. "You guys got a problem with your train?"

"Yeah." Kenny called, crossing his arms. "You're standing right in front of it."

"Dude, it's a wreck." The shorter one looked over at the tanker, then back to the group below. "It's not so bad from up here. Send someone up here to have a look."

"I'll go, Carley come up and watch my back." Lee said, his voice hardly overpowering the ever-present train engine.

Lee only managed one step toward the service ladder before Kenny stopped him. "Anything goes sideways up there- we won't let them escape."

Once Lee and Carley started the ascent Clementine started fidgeting with her fingers. She took a slow step toward the ladder and gaged everyone reaction, taking another step when nobody said anything.

"Um." Clem faced the group. "I'm going to go up and. . ."

Sharon was the only one who listened to her, unintentionally squinting at the little girl. "You don't want to be far from Lee?"

Clementine nodded, taking another step back.

Although nice strangers are a rare occurrence, Sharon couldn't find the strength to debate with the little girl, the fatigue hit her like a bus. "Go on, just be careful on the ladder, okay?"

Clem sprinted away when she was granted permission and climbed the ladder in seconds, Sharon tried to watch close but found that her eyes started to cross, the world harder and harder to focus on. The lack of a racing heart and semi-clear mind meant that she is only tired, it's not another panic attack.

Sharon turned her attention to her hand, Duck had attached himself to her as he stared blankly ahead. This only made her wonder what Katjaa had told him back in the forest, usually he's only clingy towards his parents.

"Duck." Sharon pulled her hand free and knelt, meeting his empty gaze. "Do you want to go take a nap in the other cart?"

Duck slowly nodded, grabbing on to her arm again when she stood back up.

"Wait until we figure these people out, alright?" Kenny's voice trailed. "I want everybody ready, just incase. . ."

Sharon opened her mouth, closing it when Duck moved to stand behind her. Lee approached the group with two new people, along with Clem and Carley trailing behind them.

"Guys, this is Omid and Christa." Lee introduced, a relaxed demeanor about him.

The shorter one returned a wide goofy smile to the group. "We just wanted to say hi, and that your train is pretty cool."

The woman nodded. "But we're not looking for charity."

"We could help you guys though " Omid looked to Christa and shrugged, both shifting their weight from foot to foot. "So, yeah. . . Hi, again. . ."

Lee cleared his throat, ending the awkward introduction quick. "The plan is to cut that tanker down and be on our way."

"How are we going to do that?" Ben asked.

"We got a train working." Lee shrugged. "We'll figure it out."

"Duck and I are still pretty tired, so we're going to try to sleep a little in the boxcar." Sharon announced. "Wake us up if anything goes wrong."

"Of course." Carley nodded, speaking louder when addressing the group. "I'm assuming Lee has this handled. Christa I was hoping to talk to you for a minute, get to know you a little better, if you don't mind."

"I'd be fine with that." Christa smiled.

"And I'd like Ben and Travis to keep watch on top of the train." Carley continued.

Ben shrugged. "Nothing better to do."

Travis turned away. "I'm going to need help up, but sure."

"Well, let's do this before the train runs outta' gas." Kenny mumbled, looking to Omid. "Why don't I show you how this thing works, in case something happens."

"You can't turn it off?" Omid asked.

"Well if you guarantee that it will start back up, once you figure out how to turn it off, sure." Lee said.

"Oh." Omid shrugged and neared Kenny. "Sure, I'll go."

Kenny nodded, turning to lead Omid to the engine car. "Someone might want to have a look inside of the station back there, too."

The group turned away from each other.

Omid admired engine car and it's many outdoor compartments, peeking a glance at Sharon and Duck through the window as they laid down on the filthy mattress and watching as Travis scrambled to climb on top of the cart.

Both he and Christa saw the large bloodstain on his shoulder, though both decided to ask about it later.

"Well, the low fuel light is still off, so we should last for a while." Omid said, closing the compartment door and continuing to the next. "How long have you had this train for?"

Kenny shrugged. "I dunno,' a few hours, I think?"

Omid hummed and followed Kenny in to the conductors room, the older man taking a seat and pointing out certain levers and buttons, handing him a pamphlet at some point.

"I don't know what that does, so don't touch it." Kenny said, gesturing to a lever that has remained untouched.

Omid reached out like a child grasping at a new toy, only for Kenny to swat the hand away.

"I said don't touch it, jackass."

Omid backed away, keeping his mouth shut and listening closely, learning what levers to move and what buttons to press, along with how much a pain in the ass starting it was.

"We found that shitty little booklet on how to run this thing." Kenny muttered, leaning in his chair as Omid pulled the paper up close to his face. "I'm kinda scared to experiment with this, if it stops I don't think we can get it runnin' again."

Omid nodded. "I thought it was, like, impossible to start a train without teams of people, or something."

"Well we managed."

". . . So, you have what, seven people here?" Omid asked, looking up and down from the outdated diagram in the book.

"Well there's me and my- uh " Kenny bit his tongue and sighed. "There's me, my boy Duck, and my- uh… daughter?" The word felt wrong in his mouth, he remembered Katjaa's wish to take Sharon under his wing, but thinking of her that way didn't feel right.

"Kat, she's an adult, it's not like she's some kid-"

"Daughter?" Omid looked at Kenny from the top of his book. "Is that a question or-?"

Kenny sighed again. "Sharon and my son are the ones taking a nap in the back. You met Carley, Lee and that little girl he's takin' care of, Clementine. The two kids up on the roof are Ben and Travis, some high schoolers we found out wanderin' the woods."

"So eight?"

"Ten, if you and your missus are planning on sticking around, though once we get to Savannah I ain't planning on taking everybody with me, maybe Lee if he feels like coming."

"Savannah." Omid hummed. "Is that on the coast?"

"Yup, there's boats down there." Kenny crossed his arms, leaning further back in his chair. "I'm takin' my family back down to Florida, I'm done dealing with these fuckin' bandits, and cannibals, and scavengers."

"Well, who says those 'cannibals' can't float?"

"I'm not talkin' about walkers, I'm-"

Both men turned at the door clicking, then opening wide. Christa stood in the doorway and returned her boyfriends smile. "You learning the ropes?"

Omid nodded. "There are a lot of levers I can't wait to use."

"I said if something WERE to happen to me." Kenny cut in, looking away from Christa.

"Oh, well maybe we can drive in shifts?" Omid suggested.

Kenny muttered under his breath, Christa cleared her throat. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"No, mostly everything I need to know is in this book." Omid flashed her the booklet and smiled wide. "We're just talking."

"So everything's okay in here?"

"Yeah, hun." He nodded. "You girls and uh- Lee, doing okay out there?"

Christa hummed. "Lee was telling us about how he used to be a history teacher."

Kenny didn't think Omid's smile could get any bigger. "My kind of man."

Christa glanced to Kenny, thinking about saying something but then shaking her head. "Well, I should get back, I just wanted to make sure you were getting along."

"Right, love you."

Christa turned away. "I love you too, Omid."

She hesitated, staying just out of sight from the broken window to listen in on their conversation, hovering over the short ladder back to solid ground.

"So, Florida huh?"

Christa descended the stairs and walked back to Lee and Clem, both sat in the grass and nodded. They turned their head to face Christa as she neared.

"I'm going to go back up and see if there's anything in those cars above, get a better look at the wreck." Lee stood up. "I'll be back in a bit."

"You trust me alone with the girl, already?" Christa smirked.

He shrugged. "You don't look dangerous."

"That's dangerous thinking." Christa dropped her smile. "Do you always trust strangers as well as you trust us?"

"Well, I uh. . ." Lee locked eyes with Clem, both of their lower lips cringing. "We don't-"

"Relax, I'm back." Carley stepped out from the bushes, wiping her hands on her pants. "Just don't ask me to shake hands any time soon."

Clementine giggled, cutting it short as Lee left the girls alone and grabbed the ladder.

Christa sat down with the child and groaned, rubbing her sore ankles. "Omid and I have been on the road for a few weeks now, it'd be nice to make some distance on wheels- or tracks- for a change."

"Really?" Carley joined them on the grass, facing the tree line. "Where are you from?"

"San Francisco."

Clementine faced the older woman. "Isn't that really far away?"

"It is." Christa smiled. "Omid wanted the 'Great American road trip' about six months ago, it was going great until the dead started roaming around. What about you two? You from Georgia or just visiting?"

"Most of us are from Georgia. Me and those boys up on the train are from Atlanta, Lee is from Macon." Carley said. "Kenny and his son are from Florida, I don't know where Sharon or Clementine are from, though."

At the mention of her, Clementine pursed her lips, all she could think about is the numbers on her house. "Um, Athens?" She shrugged. "My babysitter was from Marietta, I think."

Christa stopped smiling at the mention of a babysitter. "Did your babysitter know Lee?"

Clem hesitated, then shook her head.

Carley picked the conversation back up. "Have you always been on the road?"

"Ever since this started." Christa massaged her other ankle. "We stopped in some cities a few times, took a week with this other group but. . . I don't like sticking with groups, seems to only cause more trouble."

"Ours was always a little dysfunctional, we survived by sticking together."

"Our groups always fell apart quick." Christa crossed her legs and sighed. "How did eight of you survive for this long together?"

"There were more of us. At our maximum we had, nine." She paused, thinking back to when they first met Ben and Travis. "No, twelve."

Christa hummed. "Your group have a lot of problems?"

Carley hesitated, not knowing where to begin. Her first thought was Larry and Lilly, though now that they are gone should she really talk about it? The bandits popped in to her head, the memories of both Lilly and Travis getting shot still fresh in her mind.

"That's not a good sign."

Carley shrugged. "We've had a lot of problem with bandits. Up until yesterday we were arguing every day about anything."

"That sounds about right." Christa shook her head, recalling her last experience. "It seemed every day was a new issue, right?"

Carley nodded, her eyes suddenly glued to the ladder.

"How did you get anything done?"

Clementine turned and smiled when Lee stepped off the ladder, with him looking at her Carley hid a smile. "Lee usually keeps the peace."

Clementine stood and greeted him, excitedly asking him questions too far from the women to hear. He looked down and showed off something attached to his belt, a new holster for his gun.

Christa looked to Carley, recognizing the look the younger woman had in her eyes as she watched Lee, she wasn't staring at the new holster. She may as well be an open book. "Lee, huh?"

Carley whipped her head around confused then deadpanned at the knowing smirk Christa had. She sputtered half-words as her face heated up, shutting her mouth when Lee approached, wide eyed as he smiled down at her.

"Me and the girl are going to go back up and see if there's anything in that station." Lee said, gesturing to Clementine and the building behind him and past the overpass. "We'll be back in a bit."

Christa stood and crossed her arms, her coy attitude gone in a second. "Just you and a little girl? Are you sure that's safe?"

Lee blinked, his eyes catching Clementine's poufy and tangled hair. "Well, I got a gun."

"Hold on." Carley stood up as well. "You're really going to go out there and risk her life, for what? An empty building?"

"I'm not risking her life, I'll keep her away from walkers, we'll be smart about this."

"And what if the dead comes up and grabs her hair, or what if you drop your gun?" Christa said. "What then?"

"Then I'll shoot the walkers." Clementine blurted out, even though the thought of holding the object she's never even touched before scared her, shooting it seemed unimaginable.

"You?" Christa repressed a smirk. "Do you know how?"

"No." Lee answered for her. "But, if she's willing, she can learn."

"A-are you sure about that Lee?" Carley asked.

"I don't see why not." Christa shrugged.

"I agree, but a little girl?" Carley gestured to little girl in question, her eyes not meeting the pouting face. "Isn't she a little young?"

"Just because I'm little doesn't mean I can't help." Clem crossed her arms, squinting as the women didn't even turn to face her. "I want to help."

Carley shook her head. "We're not back at the Inn, there's so much that could go wrong."

"You're right, We're not in the safety of the Inn anymore so we need as many able bodies to help out as possible." Lee cleared his throat loudly, gaining the women's attention. "We're not going to put her on the front lines, but I think everyone would be at ease if she knew how to protect herself."

"But-"

"Is that really what this is about?" Lee suddenly asked, his voice almost in a low whisper.

Christa placed her hands on her hips, squinting between the two as they stood silent. She doubted her 'lovebirds' theory as the look between Lee and Carley could possibly kill a man.

Carley hesitated, dropping her crossed arms and giving in. "Okay, you're right." She sighed. "Do you need me to come with?"

"I got this, you two sit tight and hustle over if you think something's wrong."

Carley still didn't like this, pursing her lips as the pair turned and walked away. All it would take is a dark corner or a little distraction for this to end in blood and death. She used the thought of Clementine's safety as a distraction from the terrible words she said to Lee last night, after killing Lilly she wasn't really thinking straight, doesn't mean he deserved to be treated like shit.

Clementine almost skipped alongside Lee to keep up pace, smiling widely as she left the group, this time she wasn't left behind. Next to her Lee furrowed his brows, re-thinking bringing the little girl with him.

It's a good idea to teach her to shoot, but is now really a good time? Sure, their little one-sided argument last night annoyed him and he maybe only agreed to take Clementine out because Carley didn't want him to, but is that a good enough excuse to risk Clem's safety?

Perhaps the building would muffle the sounds of the gun to stop unwanted attraction, but is that good enough? Would teaching her to shoot be enough? What-if's ran through his mind as he thought about Clementine handling a gun, Clementine alone with a walker, Clementine with someone else's fingers pulling at her hair.

Halfway to the building Lee noticed Clem had lost the spring in her step, instead her hand grasped onto her wrist and she avoided looking at him.

Lee looked straight ahead. "So, uh. How're you feeling?"

Clem sighed. "I-I know I said I wanted to learn but "

Lee waited patiently for her to continue, watching as she struggled to say the words on the tip of her tongue. "But?"

"But I'm scared." Clementine stopped, leaning against the wooden platform attached to the warehouse. "I've never held a gun before."

"Well, we can start now." Lee pulled the gun out from his holster, switching up the safety lock and presenting it to her in both hands. "There's nothing to be afraid of, it's just a thing. One of the first things Carley taught me, know where your finger is at all times."

"Why?"

"Because if you get scared or start shaking you could accidentally shoot when you don't want to." He let her take the weapon in her hands. "Don't point it anyone, unless you want to hurt somebody."

"Okay, okay. . ." Clem took it in her hands, unsure how to actually hold it. "It's heavy." She flinched as Lee suddenly moved her hand, aiming the gun away from him.

"You'll get stronger." He adjusted her stance, moving one foot in front of the other, lowering her shoulders, and unlocking her elbows. "When you aim you wanna look right down the top, down this little notch and then line it up-" He dragged his finger along the barrel and tapped the notch at the top. "-with this."

"Like this?" She asked, squinting as she slightly adjusted her hold.

"Just like that." He held out his hand. "Once we get inside we can focus on shooting, out here I don't wanna risk the noise."

Clementine slowly pulled her fingers away from the gun, dropping it in to his hand. "So, that's it?"

"Well, there's a few more things I gotta' teach you, but I think learning how to hold it is a good start."

Clementine smiled. "Okay, should we look inside now?"

Lee faced the building, frowning at the boarded up windows and overgrown weeds, his eyes drifting to the unanswered SOS sign painted on the roof. "Sure."

He started at the left side of the building, checking for any back exits or open windows, a way in or a way out. The boards that were nailed from the outside looked relatively new, so prying it off the windows isn't an option.

Rounding the corner he spotted Clementine rushing off, hand already wrapped around the door handle and twisting, she let go learning that it's locked.

"You should wait for me before trying to open doors." Lee said. "You never know what could be behind it." Clem apologized and grabbed her wrist again. Seeing her frown and do nervous gestures made him frown too. "It's alright, we'll get better at working together." He returned her smile and looked to the door, eyes catching the open window directly above it. "Now we just need a way in."

Clem followed Lee's eyes, nearing the door and squinting at it. "Maybe we could look in?"

"Yeah?" Lee hummed. "I can put you on my shoulders so you can peek inside."

"Sounds good." She nodded, a wide smile on her face.

The little girl's body swayed as Lee held on to her waist, lifting her up above him and planting her feet on his shoulders. She wiggled for a moment trying to gain her balance, she reached out and held on to the window sill, finding it hard to look down at Lee from beyond her dress.

"Um-"

"Don't worry, I won't look up."

"Okay." Clem pulled herself a little closer to the window, causing Lee to take a step forward and tighten his grip on her ankles. "I can see in, what do I do now?"

"Well- what do you see? Do you hear anything?"

"No, it's quiet." Clementine shrugged, eyeing the dusty boxes and silhouettes of dusty boxes. "Lots of crates and stuff, it's really dark."

"Maybe we can find the key or figure out a way to knock this door down."

Clem squinted, reaching her arm inside and reaching through the darkness.

"Kenny would probably have me pick the lock, which actually might work now that we have time-"

She stretched, her finger brushing over the lock. With one last swipe the lock clicked. "I think I opened it."

Lee stopped in his tracks his mouth still open. "For real?"

"I think so." Clem peeked inside, still unable to see the lock that she moved.

Lee stepped away from the door and lifted his hands, bracing Clementine and safely helping her down. Though instead of reaching for the handle like before she stepped back and let him do it. Lee twisted the knob and pushed, cracking the door open an inch. "Okay, stay behind me." He said, holding his gun up and ready to aim if any walkers show.

Clementine did as she was told, side stepping to stay behind him yet peering over his side. Lee took a deep breath and shoved the door, rapidly aiming the gun around the room to any large object that stood out, when nothing moved he lowered the gun and huffed.

"All clear, for now." He said, walking further inside.

All windows had been boarded up haphazardly, with gaps to look out yet not enough to light up the room. The wood itself obviously came from smashed up crates, the boards had rusted broken nails already sticking out and had random chunks missing out of it. With one hard tug a board fell to pieces.

"This wood is all rotted." Lee said, pulling at more boards along the windows closest to the door.

Clem looked to the ceiling and stood in the doorway, arm stretched to keep the door open. "Does that mean the building is going to fall?"

Lee smiled. "No sweet pea, the boards on the windows are rotted, the building looks safe."

"It's kinda dirty."

Lee chuckled but didn't comment, taking down one last board before looking over. "You can come in, it's safe."

"The door won't stay open." Clem took a few steps away and watched as it shut, the majority of the light disappeared slowly. She reached out and pulled it open again. "I don't like the dark."

"That's alright, that's smart." Lee said, walking alone the other wall and pulled down a board. "Let's fix that, I don't want that door to stay open while I'm teaching you how to shoot."

With the help of the monkey wrench Lee had grabbed off the train, he successfully pried off every old board from the inside of the building, letting in a significant amount of the morning light through.

"Okay, how's that?" Lee asked, laying the tool down on a crate while he caught his breath.

Clementine side stepped away from the door and both watched as it shut. The room still looked dark, though not dark enough for Clementine to rush back to the door.

"That's kinda better." Clem shrugged. "What do we do now?"

"Well, I got a good look around, aside from that locked closet over there; there's nothing on this side of those bars that we can use." Lee said, pulling on the locked door to the secured storage. "So, I'll teach you how to shoot now and figure out how to get to the other side of this gate in a bit, maybe see if there's something in the closet."

Lee scanned the floors, brushing away some of the wood that now littered the floor and picking up random bits of trash, bottles and partly-crushed cans would serve well as Clem's targets.

"Are you ready, sweet pea?" Lee asked, gesturing Clem to stand by him across from the targets he set up.

"I guess. . ." Clem dragged her feet, nervously grabbing the gun and quickly moving it away so it wouldn't point at Lee again. "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"There's a little switch on the side, right there." Lee pointed, watching as Clem turned the gun around and thumbed over the lock. "That's called the safety, when you're not using it you want it on incase you accidentally pull the trigger while handling it."

Clem switched it down, flinching at the subtle click it made, now knowing full well that it could fire if she wasn't careful. Her shoulders rose up as she moved her finger off the trigger, making careful movements as not to accidentally shoot or aim it at Lee again.

"Good, now aim at the can on the left." Lee instructed, fixing her shooting position and hovering his hands over her ears. "When aiming you wanna squeeze the trigger, steadily, okay? Don't give it a quick yank or pull."

"Steady." Clem whispered. "I can do that."

"Every Time. It'll be tough, but just remember to do that and you'll hit what you're aiming at."

"Okay." Clem did as she was told; aiming the gun, lining her target down the sights, holding her finger away from the trigger, and taking deep breaths. "I'm ready."

"Good, don't lock your elbows." Lee quickly adjusted her arms and covered her ears. "Squeeze the trigger smoothly and I'll cover your ears, nice and easy."

"Nice and-"

Just at the recoil Clementine nearly dropped the gun, her hands hurt and she didn't think her heart could beat any faster until now.

"You okay?" Lee pulled back.

"My hands hurt." Clem tried resting her hand on the barrel of the gun, yanking her hand away from the hot metal. "I don't like this."

"Try not to touch the barrel when you shoot, it could burn you." Lee slowly moved the gun away so it didn't aim directly at him. "Let's stick with it, okay?"

"Do I have to?"

"Yeah, you do." Lee twirled his finger around, prompting Clem to stop facing him and face her targets, as she aimed again he unlocked her elbows and covered her ears again. "Now this time, aim a little higher."

Clem did as she was told, this time she held onto the gun steady, no almost-dropping it this time.

"A little to the left."

Another shot, another miss, a noise. Just as Lee was about to speak she shot again, the bottle erupted in to tiny shards of brown glass and surrounded the floor.

"I got it!"

"Good shot, you're doing good." Lee praised. "Now, try the right one."

Clem lined up and shot, flinching when the bullet missed and hit the wall, a dull thud following it. "I squeezed too quick. . ."

"It's okay, you'll get the hang of it, you got this."

Clem took a deep breath and this time she patiently lined up the shot, making sure it's perfect and-

Another miss, another thud.

"Aim a little lower."

Another shot, a hit!

"Nice! Now, the last one, then we should stop."

"Okay." Clem nodded, waiting for Lee to finish unlocking her elbows before trying to aim again. Deep breath, squeeze the trigger. The can skittered off across the floor, disappearing from their sight. "I did it!"

"Yeah you did, good job!"

She turned to face him, a bright smile plastered on her face. "I squeezed the trigger, just like you said."

Lee beamed back, glad to see that her fear of the gun had gone with only three targets. "And you did good."

Her smiled faded quickly. "They're not walkers, though."

"Yeah, far from it. But you know how these things work now." Lee took the gun from her hands and turned the safety back on, carefully sliding it in to his holster and snapping the strap in place. "We'll graduate you to walker one day."

Clem turned and rattled the barred gate, masking a low noise coming from the supply closet. "Now we need to open that gate, right?"

Lee looked over to it, eyes scanning through the bars and darkness. The keys glinted in the sunlight and further in the back: a blowtorch. "Perfect, but how are we going to get inside?"

"There's a gap up there." Clementine pointed, necks craning to see the top. "We're lucky I'm so little."

Lee smiled, reaching out and hefting Clementine as high as he could lift her, letting go when she grabbed on to the top and crawled inside. He watched carefully though with a wide smile as she slid down the bars and landed on the other side, safe and sound.

As the two basked in pride, something thrashed and broke through the supply closet.

"What the fuck?" Lee whipped around, sizing up the two walkers that got up from the ground, bits of broken door falling from their clothes.

He squinted, reaching for his gun and tugging, looking down at the holster and trying again. He fumbled to get his hands around the strap, flicking it off and aiming.

The first walker had already gotten close, nearly swiping distance by the time Lee aimed the gun. He squeezed the trigger and found himself against the wall with a furious walker trying to bite at his neck, and the gun sliding across the ground.

"Lee!" The little girl watched in panic as Lee struggled to push the walker off of him, grunting loudly and yelling as it descended on him.

Clementine quickly picked the gun up from the ground, unsure of what she can do with it. Aiming down the sights had become harder, he hands couldn't stop shaking and only made worse when the sights happened to point at Lee. With a quick glance she saw that the safety is still on, she made no move to turn it off.

Finally Lee shoved the walker off of him, grabbing his wrench and swiping it up, making contact with the walkers jaw and sending it stumbling back.

Instead of going after it Lee turned to the second walker and swung for it's temple. The first hit made it stumble, it fell to the ground limp at the second hit.

As the third walker came recovered from it's first hit Lee swung, bringing it to the ground and killing it with one more smash.

"Okay, it's okay." Lee panted, eyeing his gun in Clementine's shaky hands. She didn't move. "We're okay, everything's fine-"

Lee's racing mind struggled to process what the movement was in the corner, a loudly gurgling walker emerged from the very back of the gated storage, heading straight for Clementine.

His mind caught up with his mouth and he shouted. "KEYS! NOW!"

Clem ran to the back wall and stood on her toes to reach the keys, the noise of it jingling only further provoked the walker.

Grasping for the keys, Lee shoved it in the lock and ripped the door open. Clementine grabbed on to Lee, letting go of the gun as he slipped it from her grip.

Switching off the safety and two rapid shots was all it took, the walker collapsed.

With the threat dead, Lee put the gun back in his holster and he finally caught his breath.

"That didn't go so good." Clem remarked.

"No, it did not go so good." Lee turned to the nervous little girl and rested a hand on her shoulder. "But we're okay. Everything's okay."

"Lee, are you in there?" Carley called out, opening the door and scanning the room.

"What's going on?" Christa said, walking inside after Carley. "We heard the two gunshots."

"We're fine." Lee said, still catching his breath.

"That didn't sound like practice." Carley crossed her arms, the two women eyeing the walkers littered on the ground.

"We handled it."

Christa rested a hand on her hip, eyes darting between Lee and Clem. She hummed and turned around. "I just hope you know what you're doing with her."

"We're alive, aren't we?"

"Yeah. . ." She sighed and walked out. "You are. . ."

When the door shut Carley looked to Clem first. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm a little shaky." Clem looked to the ground. "I'm not ready for a gun."

Carley shook her head. "This is your first time even holding a gun, you'll do better next time."

"That's right." Lee knelt to get eye level with Clementine. "We learned that everything we will ever do is dangerous. We will get better, smarter, and faster. Okay?"

Clem looked up. "Okay."

"And maybe, when we're not somewhere safe, we should just leave the safety off."

"So, did you find anything we could use?" Carley asked.

Lee stepped inside the gated storage and walked to the back, Carley followed through turned to the right to face the opposite wall, a few steps inside resting on a box sat a lantern.

"We found a blowtorch." He held it up to his chest, proudly presenting the item only to see Carley fiddling with the lantern. "That probably needs batteries, y'know."

"Lee. . ." Carley deadpanned, twisting a knob and producing light. "It's an oil lamp."

"Oh."

"What's next, are you going to call me small?"

The two smiled, not seeing the little girl in between them confused. Just last night they argued on the couch, argued below the overpass, and now they are just. . . joking? Flirting? Being friends again?

"Um, can we leave now?"