Most of the group slumped in exhaustion as they walked the freeway, many not used to the long distance trek. Lee, Kenny, Christa, and Sharon fared better than the rest, those who stayed cooped up in the inn required rests frequently, though both Omid and Travis refused to ask for breaks.

After half an hour of weaving through abandoned cars they stood under the first road sign, the current freeway wasn't listed, though they were able to find the direction needed to go. An off ramp following this road, then they hop over to the next freeway.

After two whole hours of walking Omid put too much weight on his leg, falling to his hands and knees with his nose two inches from the ground. Along with Omid's injury, Travis nearly fainted twice, and Clementine was too scared to pee in the woods. Kenny agreed to stop in a gas station, on the terms they stay only for a few minutes, and if Carley watches the group while the 'men' clear a gas station.

Sharon managed to convince Carley to let her circle the building, cherishing the alone time as well as securing the outside. Along the walk Kenny and Lee handled most of the walkers, she is fine letting them do the dirty work if they really wanted to though she couldn't help but feel they were holding her back again. They still try to coddle and protect her, they still argue over what to do- nothing has changed but the scenery.

Turning the corner the group beckoned her inside. Travis had already found a spot on the floor to lay down on, and Omid had propped his leg up on a shelf.

"Isn't the ground really dirty?" Duck asked, his nose in a sneer as Travis's greasy hair pressed against the stained tiles.

"Yeah, but it's comfy." Omid said. "I mean, not really, but it feels good to put my feet up. Hey babe, you should put your-"

"I'm fine, Omid."

Duck, with nothing better to do as the other adults asked him to go away, played with the sunglasses display.

"Sh-Sharon?" Travis reached toward the wall, ripping down some tacky t-shirt on display and wiped the sweat beading on his face. "Can you uh- help me out here?"

Stepping over Omid's body Sharon made her way to the sickly teen and knelt down to get closer to his face. "What can I do?"

"I don't know, I. . . fuck this hurts."

Sharon hovered her hands over his shoulder and waited permission to check the bandages, with a deep breath he pulled the collar over his arm.

"God, with all this walking. . . I feel dizzy and I swear if I ate breakfast this morning I would have thrown it up." He shut his eyes.

"Okay, just a quick look."

Peeling back the bandage revealed exactly what Sharon did not want to happen. The infection is worse. The whole area surrounding the two holes had become swollen and red, his body is trying to fight off the germs and is struggling, the blood loss isn't helping the situation.

"Okay, okay um-"

Christa turned the corner, covering her mouth as her eyes landed on the wound. "Jesus. . . that looks awful."

Quickly Sharon replaced the bandage so no one else could comment on how terrible of a doctor she is. With one hand on the back of his neck Sharon helped move his body to a different position with his legs closer to an empty shelf. Once he mirrored Omid's current position she let go.

"This will help you feel better from the blood loss, but I can't do anything about the infection or pain out here, I'm sorry."

"Is there any alcohol left?"

"Travis."

"Just because I'm seventeen doesn't mean I can't have a drink, who cares about laws anymore. . ."

"I do-"

"I don't. I'm a murderer anyways so it's not like it matters."

"Travis- I'm not going to give you alcohol because that could make your nausea worse. Your body can't handle processing beer while fighting off an infection."

"Maybe it'll kill me, then the next time you're on a speeding train you don't have to worry about leaving me behind, that was your plan all along, right? Take all the food left in Macon and take off without letting us know."

Sharon opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out.

He lifted a week hand and pointed to the bathroom door. "The girl's staring at you."

Without a word Sharon turned her head, seeing the door quickly shut before she could see Clementine spying on them.

"I do know her name, so don't ask me if I do." Travis crossed one arm. "Just go, I want to be alone."

She hesitated, reaching out a hand though he quickly swatted it away with the hand he crossed over his chest.

"GO."

Following his demand Sharon stood and turned to look at the bathroom door, Clementine widened her eyes and hid behind it again. With a deep breath she knocked lightly on the door.

"Hey Clem, can I come in?"

Clementine quickly opened the door. "Th-there was no toilet paper."

"Oh-" Sharon looked behind the girl, surprised to see a full roll on the holder. Slowly she entered the bathroom, causing Clementine to back away. "Clementine, are you feeling okay?"

She nodded quickly.

Once the door closed Sharon knelt to meet the little girl's eyes. "You can tell me if you think something is wrong. Is it your stomach? Does it hurt?"

"No, nothing hurts- well, my feet do but. . ." Clem grabbed her wrist tight. "I. . . um, don't tell Kenny or Lee."

Sharon tilted her head, waiting on the girl to continue.

"I really want to get to Savannah and I don't want to stop, but Omid and Travis are really hurt. Kenny won't let them take breaks, even when Omid fell over he didn't stop."

"So. . ." Sharon's brain took longer than she had hoped to piece together what she had been saying, usually she can read the little girl with ease but this room felt too blurry to focus on the small details. "You're making them take a break?"

Clementine nodded, unsure if Sharon's tone meant she should smile or frown.

"That's very thoughtful of you, and smart to come up with an excuse like that." Clementine smiled wide and with her smile brought detail to the scummy walls. "I won't tell them, it's our secret."

"Pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear." Sharon held out her pinky finger and the little girl gladly returned the gesture. "Is there anything you need while we're here? Anything I can do?"

Clem hummed and looked up in thought, taking a short breath when she remembered. "Did you talk to Lee about my walkie talkie?"

"Oh, um. . ." Sharon stood up. "I tried but he was busy."

"Can you try again?" She frowned. "He won't tell me why I can't have it."

"I'll try." She nodded, already grasping for the handle.

Clem said, 'thank you' though it went unheard as Sharon rushed out of the blurry room.

Lee was easy to find as he stood in a far corner with Carley and Kenny, the three talking under hushed voices to keep from echoing. When Sharon neared Kenny stopped, anger flashed over his face then replaced with worry.

"It's fine Kenny, I already told her." Lee said, taking a step closer to Carley to allow Sharon to join the small circle. "We just told him about the man on the radio."

Carley's eyebrows turned up as Sharon stood in direct sunlight. "What's wrong? You look pale."

The young woman ignored the concerned looked both Carley and Kenny gave her. "Lee, earlier I asked Clem about the walkie talkie."

"Earlier?" Lee's eyes widened. "When? What did she say?"

Sharon shut her mouth, not ready to talk about the 'train incident' yet. "Whoever is talking to her is making her lie to us, she wouldn't tell me about him or why she made me sing to him."

As Lee brought his hands to his head Kenny cocked an eyebrow. "She did what now?"

"I don't know why, she asked me to. . . sing into it?"

"And you did?"

"I thought it was broken-"

"Please." Carley interrupted. "Look, we need to sit her down and talk about this, he's manipulating her."

"Yeah, well what the fuck are we gonna do now?" Kenny gestured wildly with his arms, his voice almost too loud for comfort. "Some fucking pedophile is waiting for us, what if he's goin' after Duck too?"

"You said he's waiting for her in Savannah, right? If we go then we'll be sending the kids to his doorstep." Carley pressed her lips in a fine line.

"W-what else can we do?" Sharon said, before anyone else could say something negative about Savannah. "There is nothing South and East but mud and we can't just. . . go back."

Lee finally lowered his arms. "Yeah, it's not like we can get back on the train."

Carley narrowed her eyes at him.

"As pissed off as I am about that, the train was already runnin' outta gas." Kenny said. "We wouldn't have made it back past the horde."

"The only other place to go is South Carolina." Sharon said, realizing she had just suggested to skip over Lisa. "But- we have to pass through anyways so we may as well look for boats, right?"

Lee nodded. "We've come this far, can we really turn back now?"

"No, we can't." Christa appeared from behind Sharon, promptly wedging herself between the young woman and Kenny. "I don't know what the problem is now, but going back isn't an option. Omid and I have handled cities before, we can do this."

"She's right." Carley said, her voice louder now the topic is off of secret matters. "We're running low on food and we need medicine for the boys. Running from this place isn't an option."

Kenny rolled his eyes. "Alright fine. Let's get ready to move, I don't wanna waste anymore daylight talking about this." With his voice low he continued locking eyes with Lee. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Yeah, me too." Lee muttered, taking a breath to address all in the store. "You heard him, let's pack up everyone!"

Carley and Christa walked through the aisle together though Lee stayed put as Sharon stepped in front of him, waiting for the new woman to leave earshot. Once they were gone Lee focused his attention on her.

"She's been asking about the walkie." She whispered. "She wants it back."

"I'm not going to give it to her." Lee replied quickly.

"I'm not-" Sharon sputtered for a second, never wanting to suggest Clementine be exposed to the stranger more. "Lee, she wants to talk to him again. She-"

The two both took out their respective weapons at the sound of a crash, looking shocked as Duck now stomped on the sunglasses he had just scattered along the ground. Even Travis had pulled out a screwdriver no one knew he had.

"Jesus-" Kenny followed his suddenly destructive son down the aisle, stopping him from knocking down a postcard stand. "Duck, knock it off!"

"What does it matter?" Duck kicked at the stand instead, leaving a hole in the cheap fake wood. "Everything else is destroyed!"

"DUCK."

Standing in the center of the aisle the boy whispered, whatever was said clearly shocked Kenny, leaving him wide-eyed and still as his son jerked his arm free. With one heart clenching glare shot toward Sharon Duck stomped out the doors.

"That was. . ." Lee shook his head, his eyes still wide as he addressed Sharon. "Look, this isn't a conversation we can have on the side of the road. We don't have time right now."

It took a moment before Sharon could swallow the saliva, before her mouth felt ready for words. "Okay, it's your decision." She cleared her throat. "If you change your mind please let me know."

Without another word the two parted. Kenny brushed off Lee's attempt at comfort and picked up his belongings, promptly following after his son. Ben stood at the door, holding it open as the room cleared out, patiently waiting for Sharon.

With one last glimpse behind the counter, Sharon quickly bent over and swiped something almost out of eyesight, not able to read the label before stuffing the little box in her pocket.

"I don't think I've ever actually seen Duck mad." Ben said, walking by Sharon side as he talked. "I mean, he looked a little grumpy when Clem but that bug on his pillow, but that?"

Deeper in the city the group hardly faced walkers, occasionally they'd spot a group down the road they wanted to go down, meaning they'd often walk parallel to the river front. When they did face the few walkers- to keep things silent Lee used the monkey wrench he found back on the train and Sharon would use her crossbow, though only if Kenny would allow her to get close enough to kill one as she isn't as proficient as she'd like to be at using the weapon.

Though the walker encounters were fairly sparse, the group found themselves becoming twitchy as they traveled deeper in the city, the repeated markings on every boarded up door and the cars stripped for parts down to the shell added to the bad feelings. Every corner caused heads to snap and scuffing feet had been nearly prohibited.

Sharon mimicked the more paranoid of the group, turning her head around every corner and flinching at every noise, though she didn't fear walkers. Instead her eyes scanned over familiar street signs and landmarks, causing her more than once to fall behind the group in thought, catching up to the front only to repeat the cycle.

"I know this place." She whispered, having subconsciously surrounding herself around the slower of the group. "This next turn is going to be the church, then. . ." She looked to the postal numbers still nailed to the closest house, once there had been a cat that claimed the window sill as it's personal sun bathing spot, now replaced with a sheet of wood.

Ben, from nearer to the front of the group, looked back to see Sharon had drifted from his side and now lingered just in front of Travis.

Travis noticed this look. "Hey." Travis reached out his good arm, his fingers brushing lightly against Sharon's arm, he pulled away when she flinched. "Sorry, can you slow down a little?"

She obeyed, now walking side by side with him. He waited expectantly for her to ask what he needed, as she usually dotes on the feelings and well being of others. When she didn't ask he tried not to be offended.

With someone this close to her she shut her mouth, knowing that she had been whispering directions. If she allowed herself to continue Travis would surely ask questions. As the group rounded the corner she no longer needed to look at street signs, as predicted the church is on their left. She looked to the street sign anyways.

Travis squinted.

"How much farther to the riverfront?" Lee asked, apparently continuing a conversation. He looked to Kenny first, than to Sharon.

Close.

"Should be just a few more blocks up ahead."

As the conversation ahead continued Travis cleared his throat, Sharon could only stand a few second of eye contact.

"Two blocks down there." She said, nodding her head. "A left, then a right."

"What?"

"That. . . that's where Lisa's house is."

"Oh." Travis crossed one arm. "Then go tell Kenny."

"But what if he says no? What if the whole group stops and I have to decide to stay here or leave. . . "

"Are you really going to walk past her house without even trying?"

"I. . . I don't know."

"Seriously? You have the chance to see if she's been here and you're going to stay quiet, for what?"

"Travis, I can't-"

"Do you want me to ask? I'm not afraid to piss off Kenny, if that's your problem."

"No- I- I can't brea-"

All conversation and movement around the group stopped as the church bells beside them rang unexpectedly and loudly.

"What the hell. . ?" Omid muttered.

Christa shook her head, arms already crossed. "Maybe this city's not so dead after all."

Kenny turned to reassure the group, his eyes staying on his son. "No-one's ringing that bell, it's on a timer."

Lee checked his watch. "What kind of church bell goes off at twenty-past the hour?"

"I don't like this." Travis whispered. "We need t- wait guys look!"

Lee already had a hand pointed at the church bells. "Someone's up there!"

Ben looked to both sides of the building. "Are you sure? I don't see anything."

"Are you blind?" Travis scoffed. "Someone jumped from the bell tower, it wasn't a walker."

Before Sharon could question them, the sound of Clementine's walkie-talkie chirped, meaning someone was trying to contact them. The group looked around for the source.

A man's voice came from the speaker. "If I were you, I'd get out of the street, now." Strange to hear a voice like that coming from the little pink flower stickers.

Christa turned to fully face Lee, scowling at him. "I thought you said that thing didn't work!"

Lee brought the talkie up to his mouth, confused and tense. "Hello?" He spoke. No answer. "Hello, are you there?"

After a few short seconds, the group felt at unease. Clementine pulled at her fingers hard as she looked up at Lee.

"What the hell was that?" Omid asked. "Is someone fucking with us?"

"Dad?" Duck whispered. "Who was that? What's going on?"

"We don't have time to worry about that, everyone get a- oh shit!"

The entire group looked to face what Kenny was looking at. Walkers crawled out of every crevice and behind every wall, all attempts at avoiding the milky eyes of the undead rendered useless from the church bells, all attention on the group.

"Everybody, RUN!"

The group turned around, unhappy to see both ways covered with the undead.

Those who didn't already drew their weapons, for Sharon it was her screwdriver. She wasted no time leading the group down the road they were heading towards, not turning to see if anyone even followed her. If she didn't do this now she could miss Lisa's house.

Walkers tried to grab at her, with every obstacle she ducked or pushed them aside, saving killing them for when she really needed to.

When she reached halfway to the next crossroads she stopped in her tracks.

"BEN!"

Whipping her head around Sharon watched in shock as Ben ran past her, to a street clear of walkers- compared to where he just ran from. The sunlight glared off the shiny gun in his grip, the weapon he could be using to protect Clementine now useless in his hands.

Lee lifted his own gun, Carley being the more experienced at shooting walked and shot at the same time, the two taking out anything that threatened the little girl, Sharon prepared her own weapon.

"DAD!"

Directly behind her Duck dove into a stripped car, feet kicking at the crawling corpse that tried to swipe with it's single arm. Kenny struggled to gain control over his rifle as a walker grabbed on to the barrel. More and more dead surrounded the car.

Looking back at Clementine, Carley reached the girl and desperately tried to knock a walker away with the butt of her gun. Lee tried to fire, though with Carley so close he couldn't make the shot.

Kenny finally gained control of his weapon and killed the walker that attacked him, only to find more walkers blocking his way to his son.

Lee backed away from the crowd around him, losing sight of the girls ahead.

Sharon's heart beat through her ears, she couldn't hear anything aside her rapid heart beating.

Lee and Kenny desperately shot and killed the walkers around them, both of the walkers quickly closing in on the kids.

Clementine,

Or Duck?