The voices around her were distressed and muffled, she could only make out a few syllables before everything faded again. Opening her eyes only lasted a few blurry moments before her lids forcibly shut against her will.

Carley knew not to panic as she gained consciousness, the voices were familiar and she was laying on something mildly comfortable, she assumes they're still in the mansion.

"She only just told me." Sharon said, her voice suddenly clear. "We were on our way to tell you."

"So she had all this time and waited until now?" Christa argued. "The kids are missing, we have two people sick, Lee and Kenny aren't here, what if she turns?"

"That's not going to happen."

"What do you mean? You know what happens to someone whose bit." Christa stopped, hesitating to continue. "Lee told me about your mom."

The room fell silent, Sharon's brief moment of confusion was replaced with a heart clenching greif.

"Christa." Ben broke the silence. "Katjaa isn't her mom."

Sharon spoke monotonously. "I know she won't turn because this is the first time she's lost consciousness, not because I'm in denial."

Ben tried to stop her from continuing. "Sharon-"

"You don't just die, you get weaker and weaker until you can't move anymore." Her voice gained volume with every other word. "The bite kills you, when she- when her heart has stopped beating then I'll know she'll turn, but right now she isn't dead."

"And how do you know she's not dead right now?"

"Her skin still has color and she's breathing!"

"I've seen people die right after getting bit, why is this different?"

"I don't know about the people you've seen but this bite is small."

"A bite is a bite, does it matter how big it is?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

"We need to stop arguing." Ben stood in between the two. "The walkers outside could hear us."

The two women turned away from each other, not wishing to listen to him yet knowing they should. Christa sighed as she now stared at her unfinished work of counting their supplies. Sharon's eyes wandered over Carley, double checking that, yes, she is still breathing.

When she looked to Carley's face she immediately knelt down to her side. "She's awake."

Now that she could no longer pretend to be unconscious, Carley slowly sat up. "How long was I out?"

"Only a few minutes." Sharon said, her voice gentle now. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything?"

"I'm a little thirsty but. . . what were you saying about the kids? Where are Clementine and Duck?"

Ben and Christa tensed.

"We think they left to find Kenny and Lee." Christa said. "We checked everywhere for them."

"Shit." Carley ran a hand through her hair, looking back to Sharon. "And you've told them about the bite?"

"Right, the bite." Christa crossed her arms. "You shouldn't have hid that from us, you could have killed everybody here!"

"Christa-"

"You could turn at any moment!"

"I already told you she won't!"

"How long were you going to wait to tell us?"

"We were going to tell you before you lost the kids!"

"That's not fair." Ben spoke quietly, hoping Sharon and Christa would too. "We don't need to yell-"

"You watched one person turn, it could be different from person to person!"

Sharon stood, knocking the coffee table back in her haste. "Katjaa wasn't the only person I watched turn!"

"That's enough!" Carley shouted, shocking even herself as this was the first time her outburst had stopped an argument. "All this is accomplishing is walkers at the door. We need to work together not tear eachother apart, Sharon you should know how arguing like this only made things worse back at the inn."

Sharon's lips pressed into a thin line, wondering when she had become the argumentative type.

"Fine." Christa took a deep breath. "You're right, we need to figure out what we need to do for the kids, the more we argue the further away they get."

Ben nodded, hopeful that the conversation would finally go somewhere, though as he waited for ideas none came, the room went back to silence.

Carley broke the minute of silence. "I'll go."

This isn't what Ben was hoping for. "What?"

"I'm already bit, what else can happen?" She set her hand on the arm rest, slowly rising.

"Wait, take it slow." Sharon supported Carley's back and free arm, the movement all too familiar. "I'll go with you."

"No." Carley stepped away from her, proving that she can stand on her own. "I have more experience being out there than you."

For all she knows.

"And what if you get hurt? What if you need help?"

"If I'm going to. . ." The words died in her mouth. "I don't want to drag anyone down with me."

Christa and Carley walked to the windows and peeked through the boards, it wasn't until she saw their mouths moving did she realize there was no sound. Ben took a few steps closer to Sharon yet his feet made no noise on the hardwood.

She can do something, she can stop this from turning to disaster and they won't let her. The kids may be in danger, they could need help at this moment yet here they are not allowing her to help.

She can follow Carley, she can't tell her to go back if she doesn't know she's there. Christa won't leave Omid behind, Sharon could convince Ben to stay with Travis, she would be sneaking out but this time in the daylight.

"We can try opening that shed in the back and have you go through there." Christa said, her voice oddly calm. "Or you can try squeezing through the fence."

With voices coming back, she realized Ben had been whispering something to her, rambling mostly.

"I don't think I'd fit through the fence, the kids probably could." The women turned away from the window.

"We can get through the shed easy." Sharon said once they had fully turned around. "The doors are a bit sticky but it should be unlocked."

The group beelined shed, Sharon was the first to pull on the doors, Ben grabbed hold of one handle and helped. The doors were always hard to open, with the overgrowth and lack of use it had become a workout.

"I was thinking-" Ben grunted as he pulled. "Carley, you should take a jacket."

"It's not that cold outside, is it?" Christa asked.

"No, I mean one with-"

"Hey."

The sudden voice caused Ben and Sharon to flinch reactively, pulling both doors open. On the other side of the fence Kenny stood with arms crossed along with Clementine, Duck, and a teenage girl. With their appearance the group lost focus on the shed and missed the sight of the boat inside.

"What the hell are ya'll doing?" Kenny said through his teeth, keeping his voice low while getting the point across that he is pissed. "Why the hell did you let the kids walk out by themselves?"

"No one let them leave." Carley says. "I was going to go looking for them."

Kenny urged Clementine and Duck to walk through the fence, and as they did Sharon pulled both into a desperate hug, when she pulled away she left a hand on each of their arms. "Do you realize how dangerous that was?"

Both kids looked away.

"What if you got attacked? What if-" She caught her tongue, almost mentioning the stranger on the radio. A conversation for later. "You should have talked to us."

Kenny heaved, struggling to pull himself over the fence. "Look, we can- fuck!" Kenny tumbled on top of the short hedges. "We need to discuss this inside."

The teenager easily lifted herself up and over, landing on both feet and rubbing in her smooth moves with a smug look.

Christa put her hand on her hip. "And who is this?"

"I'm the one who saved this old dude from croaking in the street." Molly's smug grin stayed while she surveyed the rest of the group, her smile slowly fading as her eyes met the boat.

Carley tried to eye the girl yet her thoughts wandered. "And where's Lee?"

Kenny cleared his throat and brushed away the leafs from the shrub. "Like I said, we need to go inside first."

"Why isn't he with you?"

"I know now's not the best time." Molly interrupted. "But why did you go out looking for boats if one's right here?"

All heads turned and shoulders dropped as she said this.

"Are you kidding me?" Kenny whipped his head to look to Sharon, his face quickly softening from the barred teeth. "I-I- well this would have saved us a shitton of time if we knew this was here."

Without wasting his time Kenny rushed over to the boat, first checking under it, then hopping inside.

"I. . . " Sharon's fingers weave through her hair. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking, I forgot-"

"Hey, it's fine." Carley grabbed her shoulder, the gesture being unnoticed.

"All y'all go inside." Kenny said, his voice muffled from inside the boat. "I'm gonna give this a once over, this will only take a minute."

"I'll stay out here in case he needs help." Ben says, looking to Sharon for a response.

"I should be checking old sheds more often." Molly said, eyes wandering from the boat to the tools lining the walls. "Nice to know Crawford can miss supplies as big as this."

"Crawford?" Christa squinted. "Is that a person or a place?"

Kenny cleared his throat loudly. "Like I said, there's a lot we need to talk about."

With that last warning Carley took initiative and led the women and children inside, once both kids stepped through the threshold Christa stopped them.

"Kids." She rested both hands firmly on her hips. "Until Kenny gets back inside you'll stay in the living room. You're not leaving our sights."

"What if I need to pee?"

Before Christa could comment, Sharon spoke up. "There's a bathroom there." She pointed to one of the doors on each side of the fireplace, Duck wasted no time walking in and shutting the door behind him.

Christa silently returned to rationing the supplies, pencil hovering over the notebook in thought, only able to write a few labels down before getting lost. Molly took a minute to look over everything they had on the dining table, scrunching her face for a moment then turning away to rifle through the cupboards.

As Clementine sat down on the couch, Carley and Sharon both tried to hold their questions, not wishing to stress out the little girl any further.

"Clementine." Carley's voice shook, she tried to stand straight to appear stable. "Where's Lee? Why isn't he with you?"

Clementine's eyes didn't leave the ground, the only movement that showed she's listening was the light shrug.

"Oh god." Sharon let all her weight fall to the armchair, suddenly unable to stand. "If I would have said something about the boat in the shed, I didn't even think it-"

"He's fine, I'm sure." Carley tried convincing herself, trying to calmly support her weight on Sharon's chair. "He's smart, he got us out of the drugstore, he can get through. . . whatever he's going through."

"But if I had just said something about the boat he wouldn't have had to leave."

"You had other things on your mind-"

That's just it. She had other things on her mind and she cost them Lee, she cost them Carley, she could have cost them the kids if Kenny hadn't found them. She couldn't stop thinking about Lisa, she could have killed everyone in this group looking for a boat when one was right under their noses.

"-It's not your fault-"

Then whose is it? Kenny knew they had a deadline in this town, if he didn't act on a plan they would be doing nothing, waiting for Sharon to remember the boat that possibly had already been taken, waiting to starve.

Duck walked out of the bathroom, wiping his hands on his already filthy pants.

"It's everyone's fault for thinking as soon as the geeks started eating people that every boat owner wouldn't have already taken it out."

"This was our only choice." Christa snapped.

Before Molly could say something else snarky the door swung open, Sharon shot up from her seat, if her throat wasn't constricting she would have barraged him with questions.

Kenny took the painfully long few seconds the wait for Ben to enter and close the door behind them. "Alright, there's good and bad news, take your pick."

"Bad news." Carley said quickly.

"Bad news is she's not taking us anywhere the shape she's in right now, gas tank is empty and the battery's dead. If what Molly's told me is true-"

"It is."

He bit his tongue. "The shitheads at Crawford has picked all of Savannah clean."

Sharon's eyebrows scrunched together. "Wait, Crawford? Like, Crawford square?"

"Yeah, that one." Molly says, obvious disgust on her face. "They also claimed the road from the elementary school to the water."

"Okay, and what about Lee?" Carley asked, eager to move the conversation along.

Kenny hesitated, trying to think of the best way to word this. "We lost him in an alley. He escaped through a sewer grate but we couldn't stay for long and find out if he's okay."

"No." Carley's breathing became quicker paced. "No, no, shit!"

"Carley, breathe." Sharon said, despite that she had been holding her breath.

"But there's good news, he's-"

"There's more bad news." Carley stopped him.

Sharon stayed silent as Carley started to unzip her jacket, looking to Kenny for his reaction.

Kenny's hands flew to his mouth. "No."

Carefully Carley lifted the fabric that clung to the bite, it hadn't bled heavily, only enough to sting as she uncovered it. With the stained shirt out of the way they could see the angry red skin and dark red marks where a walker's jagged teeth had scraped it.

"Gnarly." Molly whispered.

Christa frowned at the comment. "I'm sorry about yelling at you earlier, it can't be easy."

"There was a lot going on." Carley carefully set the shirt back over the wound.

Kenny dropped his hands. "When did-"

"This morning." Carley shrugged. "I meant to tell you all earlier but I. . ."

"The fuckin' bells." Kenny shook his head. "See what your bell ringing has cost us?"

"I'm sorry, alright!" Molly looked away, her arms crossed tight like a scolded child. "I didn't think anyone smart would be wandering around Savannah with Crawford around the corner, or dumb enough to stick around the dinner bell."

Christa's eyes went wide, finally directing her anger to Molly. "You were the one doing that?"

"Yeah, I was luring the geeks away from good spots to scavenge from." Molly finally turned back, eyes glued to the ground. "I didn't mean for your friend to get bit."

With Lee gone as the group's peacekeeper, Carley took the role. "That's alright. That's smart, actually."

"Can we get some good news?" Ben said, unable to look away from the blood stain on Carley's shirt until she put her jacket back on.

He nodded. "Well, uh. . . last we saw Lee wasn't hurt, for all we know he's on his way back, now."

"Hopefully he gets back here soon."

For the first time since revealing the bite Sharon looked to Carley, eyes widening. This entire time she had watched Carley slowly decline, after only a moment of distraction she had finally realized how sickly her friend truly looked. Eyes glazed over, swaying in the spot, mouth parted to take deeper breaths, pale clammy skin, the grip on her zipper faded with her jacket half zipped up.

As if a reflex Sharon's hands grabbed on to Carley's waist to steady her, then with light pressure she gently directed the sicker woman to sit on the armchair.

Kenny's hands twitched. "What's going on?"

"'m fine." Carley mumbled. "Just, keep going, good news."

"Is there any other good news?" Sharon said, asking the room in general, uncaring for who spoke or what was said.

"W-well, uh- the boat is perfectly fine aside from those two things." He said, Sharon still couldn't breathe. "I was thinkin' to look around the sheds in the neighborhood, if a boat was left behind who knows what else is out there. A gallon of gas, spare battery, someone's stockpile of canned food and ammunition."

"You're leaving again?" Duck asked, standing close to his father.

Kenny had almost forgotten the children were still in the room. "I won't go far, and this time you two are not allowed to leave the house, do you understand?"

"I-"

"I mean it, unless an adult is with you, you ain't even allowed to go outside."

Duck slowly nods his head.

"I'll only be gone a while, and I'm not going alone." He looked up, taking a second to scan the room. "Sharon, you wanna come with me?"

She almost didn't respond, looking up at the suddenly silence in the room to see most were looking at her.

When Kenny would leave on supply runs she had to ask to go, never once did he suggest for her to join them. For him to offer her to go was almost too good to pass up, except that they're no longer at the inn, she's no longer trying to leave and find Lisa, because they're at her house.

Lisa isn't here, Carley is. Carley is dying, she needs support, she needs her friend.

"I would, but. . ." Sharon's hand wanders to Carley's as if magnetized, she couldn't tell which had initiated the hand holding. "I want to stay with Carley while. . ."

"I understand." Kenny spoke up, not letting her continue after trailing off. "How about you?"

Ben flinched, looking away from Sharon.

"Yeah, I'll go."

"Alright, I need you to watch my back and make sure nothing sneaks up on us, so be ready." Kenny rested his hands on his hips. "Carley, get some rest, you deserve it. Christa, did you ever finish counting the food?"

She shook her head. "We got most of it sorted, I can give you some before you leave."

"Good, I think we all need some lunch, I trust you to sort that out, too."

"And I'll-" Molly butt in. "-look around the house for anything Crawford might have missed. They always miss something after boarding up these places, just have to find it."

"Yeah, you do that." Kenny rolled his eyes, not entirely interested in what she does. "Everybody good with the plan?"

Carley shook her head. "How long do we wait for Lee?"

"We wait until we can't anymore, that hasn't changed." Kenny turned to the table of their supplies, glancing at Christa as she divided up his portion. "He wouldn't want us to wait and starve to death-"

Sharon's lack of breath steadily turned to heavy breathing, the thought of suffering the same fate Fivel did felt strangely right, it's what she deserved.

If she had left the inn sooner he would have been saved, but instead she is going to die just as he did.

So many things she could have done differently.

Carley, noticing the sudden shift in the room, faked a cough that quickly turned to a real one. "I-I'm actually feeling really light headed, Sharon, help me upstairs?"

No emotion came to Sharon's face as she moved to help Carley up, her grip on the sick woman soft as if she were handling glass. The group, aside from Molly and Clem, watched as they made their way to the stairs, Carley made eye contact with Kenny one last time before they ascended.

Sharon dug through the armoire, pulling out the red blouse Lisa had worn in the family portrait downstairs, explaining it quietly to Carley and holding it up to her body to model it. The blouse felt strange as she pressed it to her body, never before did Lisa's tighter shirts fit Sharon, now that she held it close it felt as if she could wear it and feel confident.

Carley opened her eyes to see, adjusting the pillow under her back so she could sit up a little straighter.

"I thought you showed me that one already."

"Oh." Sharon put the shirt back, her fingers lingering over the shirt to feel the smooth fabric. "I thought you fell asleep again, so I. . ."

"It's okay, I'm sorry. I can't stay awake."

"Don't say sorry, when Katjaa-" A heavy tear fell down the left side of Sharon's face, she wiped it away before facing Carley again. "When I was taking care of her on the train she'd do this; fall asleep between every other sentence."

The room fell silent again, Sharon stepped over to the other side of the room, looking for a nick-knack to distract the both of them with.

"Does that mean I'm close?"

"No." She lied. "You haven't started coughing blood yet. You're also laying in a very comfy bed, I can't blame you."

Carley smiled. "Thank you, Sharon, for staying with me. I wish I told you sooner."

She wished she payed attention sooner.

"Sit with me." Carley patted the bed and scooted over to give Sharon room, she didn't need to move as the bed could fit two people comfortably already.

Sharon obliged, taking a moment to get comfortable, though she picked up a small nick-knack from the bedside table to fiddle with, a small plastic toy from childhood that became a decoration when puberty hit.

"How are you feeling?" Sharon asked.

Carley shrugged. "Warm, the bite stings a little but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I can feel my heartbeat through it."

Kat had said the same.

"I think the worst part. . ." Carley bit her tongue, squinting as the wetness in her eyes became blinding.

Sharon waited patiently for her to continue, offering her hand to hold but Carley didn't take it.

"Sorry, I'm just. . ." She took a shaky breath. "I'm trying really hard not to cry right now."

Sharon nodded, leaving her hand where it lay. "I think you have every right to."

Just as the tears began it stopped with the thumping and creaking from the stairs, someone is coming up.

Both took a quick second to compose themselves, sharing a moment where they both had to wipe their cheeks.

"Kenny?" Sharon called, pushing herself from the bed to open the door until it clicked.

She was so overwhelmed with emotion she didn't care how weird it was that she was hugging Lee. She didn't kill him. He's alive. He can say goodbye.

She pulled away, backing away to apologize.

"Thanks for the warm welcome." Lee smiled. "Have you seen-"

His smile dropped. Carley had stood from the bed, eyes never leaving Lee.

The room fell to silence again, mixed emotions all around.

Sharon backed away. "I'll leave you two to talk."

She waited for a response, neither of them noticed she had said anything. Slowly she slipped behind Lee, wishing that Carley would ask her to stay.

As she got to the bottom of the stairs she was surprised to hear more noises around the house.

Molly left Fivel's room, walking to the study without sparing her a glance. There were pained noises coming from the master bedroom and talking between Christa and someone with a gravelly voice. When she neared the stairs she heard Kenny talking with Duck in hushed tones. Ben was talking to Clementine about his little sister.

The house had so much life in it, even though it was about to lose one, maybe three if Travis and Omid don't live through their infections.

Going to the office she watched as Molly pulled open the last drawer in the desk.

"Oh, hey." Molly only looked up to her for a second before rooting around the desk. "Travis told me you knew someone who lived here, happen to know if they stashed any food around?"

Sharon blinked, the sudden change in tone taking her aback. "Um." Suddenly she couldn't remember anything. "I don't know, did you check above the cabinets in the kitchen?"

"Yeah, got a candy bar." Molly pulled out a bottle of antacids from the desk and shrugged, greedily shoving it in her bag. "The kid's bedroom had a roll of crackers hidden in the toy bin."

Sharon didn't know what to say, the urge to hide upstairs became too great.

"Oh, Travis said he wanted to talk to you." Molly walked around the desk and brushed past Sharon, turning around the corner to look at the stairs to Lisa's room, shook her head, then returned to the bottom floor.

That was weird.

Sharon shook off the awkward situation and subconsciously walking towards Fivel's room, where Travis rested.

She knocked lightly, pressing her head close to hear a response. Slowly she clicked it open, unhappy to see Travis had an arm over his eyes, he didn't look worse, though he didn't look better.

She quickly examined him without touching, his skin is still pale and clammy, his breathing still shallow, his lips tinged blue.

She flinched when his lips started moving. "I can actually feel you staring."

"Sorry." She turned away, eyes scanning for something that could help. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit." He sighed, now that he was conscious his head swayed. "Dizzy."

She dug her nails in her palm, punishing herself for not taking better care of him. He has severe blood loss and she ignored him whenever she had the opportunity.

Quickly she swiped a few books from the shelf. "I'm going to move your legs." She piled the books on the bed and covered it in a few jackets, then lifted Travis' legs on top. It was the best she could do in a child's bedroom with no one else to help.

"What time is it?" Travis asked, squinting at the window beside the bed. "Day or night?"

"Closer to night, the sun is starting to go down."

"God, I can't even keep my eyes open."

"Are you drinking water?"

"Y'know, I didn't ask you to come here to be my doctor."

Sharon froze, not knowing what she can do to make him feel better.

He paused, his eyes moved behind his lids. "There's something I want you to do for me."

"What is it?"

"I need you to watch over Ben."

"Travis, I-"

"Shut up."

Sharon shut her mouth, her lips pressed firmly in a line.

"I don't care if I make some miracle recovery after this, I want to know that you'll be there for Ben if I die. He's an idiot and he's weak, I know he won't survive on his own out there."

"So. . . you want me to teach him how to survive?"

"Yeah, he'll probably get you killed but I still want you to try, he. . . he's good, not an asshole like me."

"Travis, how do you think I'll be able to help him? I'm a wreck." With that last word her vision went blurry, she tried desperately not to cry.

"You snuck out every night without anyone but me and Ben knowing, and every day you brought back enough supplies to keep the bandits off our back a little longer." He opened his eyes, only for his vision to go cross. "Just try to keep him alive, for me."

She nodded, only able to reassure him with a hum when he turned his head her direction.

Travis sighed, weakly bringing his hands up to rub his eyes. "A long time ago- shit that may have been just last week- I told Lilly that Ben had a crush on you."

"You did?" Sharon was taken aback, the wetness in her eyes spilled only because she had lost focus on trying not to cry. "Why?"

"That was before I knew about the deal with the Save-Lots assholes." He stopped rubbing and tried prying his eyes open. "It made sense at the time, y'know? He'd always freak out whenever you were partnered with him to do something, talk about you every night."

Thinking back, Sharon pursed her lips.

Giving up on trying to see he rested his arms again, one hand firmly grasping his wounded shoulder. "Now I know it's because of the supplies you'd sneak out, he'd panic about how much you had left in your bag without letting everyone else know. He'd stay up thinking about it, he'd never tell me exactly what he was thinking about but he'd mention you."

It did make sense. Ben always went out of his way to make sure she was alright, she figured it was because she was putting herself in danger for him, but that didn't explain why he always volunteered to partner with her at every chance he had, why he made sure to wake her up every morning and would hand deliver her meals.

"Kinda wish you guys told me sooner. You always got shit done, we could have left and gotten here weeks ago, avoided that bullshit with Lilly- oh shit, Lilly." Travis no longer had a problem opening his eyes. "She was right. That whole time we all thought she was insane but she was right."

Sharon didn't know what else to think, what she could possibly say.

"Shit, we got her killed."

"Not we." Sharon mumbled. "None of that was your fault."

"I killed her dad." Travis crossed his arm. "She fucking hated everyone after that."

"But you didn't sneak out the supplies."

"Yeah, that's true." He nodded, opening his mouth to say more until the door opened. "What?"

Quickly Sharon wiped her cheeks, turning only to see who was at the door. Christa opened the door wide, behind her stood an unfamiliar older man curiously looking inside. Sharon avoided eye contact with both of them, instead looking back to Travis in hopes that they couldn't tell she was crying.

"Good afternoon, I'm Vernon, your friend Lee brought me here." The man walked around Christa to stand in the room, after taking one look at Travis he turned back to her. "Let Omid rest awhile, I'll be down in a minute."

Christa nodded her head and closed the door behind her.

"She told me your name's Travis." Vernon said, stepping around Sharon to stand by Travis' side.

"Yeah, are you a doctor?"

"I am, would you like your friend here to leave the room?"

"No, please." Travis tried to move the jacket off his shoulder. "I want her to stay."

"Don't strain yourself, now." Vernon rested his hands on Travis' hands, getting him to stop moving. He looks over his shoulder for a moment to make eye contact with Sharon. "Can I get your name?"

"Sharon, I've been taking care of Travis."

"Tell me what happened here and I'll examine the wound."

With Sharon's help the two take off Travis' jacket, and per his instruction they left his shirt on. The makeshift bandages were almost too easy to take off, the act of pulling it from the wound made Travis breathe in hard through his teeth.

"Travis got shot yester- uh…" How long ago was it? "Two days ago, I think? I didn't have a lot to clean it with but water, the bandages are old and we don't have anything to replace it with."

As Vernon poked around the wound Travis' pained noises slowly get weaker, even as the doctor moved his shoulder around to test mobility he hardly made a sound.

"Any medical conditions I should know about?"

"He hasn't told me if he does."

"When did the bleeding stop?"

"Some time yesterday."

Travis finally rested his eyes.

"Has he urinated at all?"

"Um. . . not that I know of?"

"Uh-huh." Vernon's tone didn't make Sharon feel better. "Now, when you fixed it up; were you focused on removing the bullet or fixing the damage the bullet had done?"

"But. . . It went through."

"That's not what I'm asking. Were you focused on finding it? Removing shards?"

She stayed quiet.

"I'm not gonna give you a whole lecture but maybe this will help someone in the future when you wanna play doctor: focus on repairing the damage first. It doesn't matter if there's still bullets left in them when they bleed out."

Bleed out like Travis is going to.

"Alright, you got his legs raised, that's good for blood flow, which he is severely lacking. He's not gonna die of blood loss, though the infection will only get worse unless you get sterile bandages and antibiotics."

Sharon couldn't say anything.

"There's not much I can do here that you haven't done already." He turns to her, his cold stare only making her feel worse. "You did the best you could."

"Nice to know I'm not getting everyone killed." She quickly said, the only comment she seems able to make being self-deprecating ones.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, you're only one woman, you can't be responsible for everything." Vernon takes his time to stand up straight, no longer hovering over Travis' sleeping body. "He's going to need more rest, cover him up with a blanket and let's head downstairs."

Sharon did as she told, easily finding a spare blanket to lay over him so they wouldn't have to move him under the covers he laid on. Vernon waited patiently for her at the door, silently letting her know that she should leave the room.

As they descended the stairs Kenny announced, "I let Carley and Lee know that we need to have an. . . adult conversation about what comes next." To the group already in the living room.

"Does that mean I have to leave?" Duck whined, scooching away to the far side of the loveseat to look at his father directly.

"When they get down here you and Clementine are going to go to the office, and you won't come out until we say so."

Duck whined further, Clem stayed silent.

Christa looked over to the group from the dining room, zipping up Sharon's bag when she saw her, and then closing the distance.

"Here." Christa said, holding out the bag for Sharon to take. "I stayed out of your personal things, but you should really think about throwing some of it out."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean your bag is heavy, it's only going to weigh you down." Christa crossed her arms. "You don't have to throw all of it away, but it will help if you lighten the load."

Sharon didn't say anything else, instead she sat next to Ben on the couch with her bag in her lap. Before Christa could return to the supplies on the table Carley and Lee descended the stairs sharing grim expressions.

Vernon furrowed his brows at the pale woman. "Just how many people are injured in your group?"

Carley shared the look. "Who is this?"

"He's a doctor, saved me down in the sewers." Lee said, then looking to Vernon. "And just the three, though there's not much you can do for her."

"Why is that?"

"Because I'm bit." The grim expression returned with a small glimmer of hope as she continued. "Unless there is something."

Vernon frowned and shook his head. "No, there's not. I'm sorry to hear about that."

Kenny cleared his throat. "We all need to have a conversation. Kids-" Duck, who was rambling to Clementine about some comic, shut his mouth. "Go upstairs."

Duck and Clem stand and leave the room, both unhappy for varying reasons. As they passed Vernon sat in the empty armchair.

"Lee, you weren't here so I'll fill you in." Kenny continued. "We found a boat in that shed in the backyard."

"Yeah, Carley mentioned that." Lee said, though it was good news he couldn't bear a smile. "Can it run?"

"The boat isn't taking us anywhere the shape she's in right now. Gas tanks' empty and the battery's dead. I checked the nearby sheds in the area to see if I could find anything that would help, came up empty handed."

"I already knew that wasn't going to work." Molly said, looking away from the window. "Crawford took everything they could find and brought it inside their walls, it's a miracle they didn't find the boat."

Lee sighed. "So we're screwed."

"Not necessarily. She still floats, aside from those two things she's good to go."

"If we do get it running, we'll starve out on the water without any fishing gear." Sharon said, making it hard for Kenny to be optimistic. "Even with rationing, we don't have a lot of food left."

"How much do we have?" Lee asked.

"Up to a few days between all of us, a week if we're careful." Christa answered. "Not to mention Omid and Travis can't be moved."

"Since we got here Omid's gotten worse, Travis is stable but not for long." Sharon added.

"Sounds like Crawford is the one place that has everything we need." Lee said. "Maybe we should try there."

"Now hold on a minute."

"Surely we have to try." Christa takes a step closer, standing in between where Ben and Kenny sat. "If there are people left in this city who are still alive who still have supplies, what harm can it do to ask?"

"Trust me, you don't know these people. I do." Vernon said. "You showing up with two wounded men? Might as well put a noose around their neck. They don't exactly welcome children with open arms, either."

"What the hell kind of a place are we talking about here?"

"The worst kind." Molly said. "But I don't see what other choice we have."

"And just how exactly do you all figure we do this?" Kenny asked. "Because from what I heard, that place ain't exactly friendly to outsiders either."

"That's putting it mildly." Molly mumbled.

"There's got to be some way we can sneak in there undetected." Lee suggested.

Vernon hummed, a brief silence fell over the room. "There might actually be a way. I know a gal that can tell you the sewer system that runs beneath Crawford like the back of her hand, went to the school where they keep their supplies, too."

Sharon turned to face Lee. "Do you still have the map?"

Lee nodded, patting his pockets until he found it, stepping further in the room to display it on the table.

"Do you happen to have a pen?" Vernon asked, looking back to Lee.

Christa turned, grabbing her pencil from the dining room table, he hesitates as he looks over the map. Sharon easily pointed where they are for him.

"This is their perimeter." Vernon takes his time outlining their walls on the map, along with a circle around Lisa's house. "We come up right underneath them, take them by surprise, grab what we need, and get out before they even knew what hit them."

"That's actually not the worst idea I've ever heard." Molly shrugged. "I mean it's close, but I don't know… maybe it could work."

"I've thought about it before, just never had the people to do it." Vernon smiled. "But I think if we all work together, we could pull it off."

"What do you and your friend want in return for all this help you're giving us?" Kenny asked.

Vernon easily brushed off the hostility Kenny had in his voice. "Crawford doesn't just have what you need for your boat, they're also well-stocked with medical supplies. Medicine that my people could use, just as yours could, and they got enough food to last your trip out on the water."

"So, it's decided then?" Kenny looked to each face of the group, gauging their reactions. "We're going to Crawford?"

"Anyone have a problem with this plan?" Lee asked. "Because we're gonna need every one of us to pull this off."

"Man, I don't know…" Ben mumbled.

"I don't know about you, kid, but I'd rather take a chance on doing something than just sitting around here waiting to star-" Kenny catches himself, quickly glancing to Sharon. "Uh- waiting with our thumbs up our asses."

Ben grimaced.

"They have what Travis needs, don't you want to do something about it?"

"And what if this all goes to shit?" Carley said, breaking her silence. "What if we get there and someone gets caught?"

"This sounds really dangerous." Sharon pulled her bag closer to her body. "If we all go, there's no guarantee we'll all come back."

"That boat out there's an answered prayer, we just gotta push a little bit farther. Are y'all in or out?"

"They're right. On the off chance something goes wrong," Vernon said, gesturing to the nervous few on his right. "Where are you going to meet up? What's your plan?"

"We have a place we thought about, the Wright Square?" Lee leans forward. "Here I think."

"No, here." Sharon took the pencil and marked the park with a star.

"Good choice, far from Crawford and close to the on-ramp." Vernon nodded. "We should go tonight, under cover of dark. I'll go let my people know, give you all a chance to decide who's going and prepare. I'll be back before late."

"Be careful" Christa says.

"That's how I'm still alive."