Nothing ever changes around here, does it? No matter what the problems presented to us, no matter the reason that we may have gotten to this point in the first place, the outcome is always the same.

Duck, Katjaa… the two most important people in my life – my amazing, loving, caring wife… and my rambunctious, life-filled, darlin' boy… both taken away in an instant. Both marked for death the second that we got on that train. I was so stubborn that I couldn't see what was going on right in front of me. I refused to believe what was happening.

I'm not afraid to admit that the wounds they left behind never fully healed. When they were ripped away from my life in such a violent way, a part of my very soul went with them. My soul, my sanity, and my will to live. I ain't no quitter, so don't go mistaking me at all… but there've been many a time where I had thought about it. It would've been so easy for me to bring the gun to my temple, take one last breath and then finally be at a long-lasting peace.

But somebody found me at one of my darkest moments; helped spring me back to my feet and gave me a reason to fight again. Sarita was the spark that I needed to reignite my light and convinced me that when one door closes, another one opens. Maybe things weren't completely fucked with the world, not if there were still angels like her sent to roam among the broken people like me. She may not have been a replacement family, as nobody could fit within the open space in the puzzle that Kat and Duck left behind, but it certainly helped. It was like I could try and ignore the constant shredding in my heart; to ease the ache and numb the pain.

For a long while, it actually worked. I left that restaurant with a new companion in tow, talked about anything except for my family, and made our way up north with little incident. Wellington was our primary destination, as it still should be, but with the ski lodge looking like such a welcoming, peaceful and safe place that was practically beckoning us to hold up in, our short-term plans had changed. Walter and Matthew seemed a little too nice to just let us into their home so openly, in my honest opinion, but I wasn't one to ever look a gift horse in the mouth. And then when Clementine showed up at our doorstep some few weeks later, I thought that we could really make this all work. Clem, Sarita, Walter, Matt and I would all head up to Wellington when we were good and ready to leave the lodge behind, and it'd be nothing but golden shores and rays of sunshine from there on out.

…now I sort of wish that Clem and the turds she calls friends had never showed up at all. Maybe then they'd all still be alive.

Oh, I can put the blame on Carver all day long, and in large part I do. But when you really delve down deep, how did all o' this shit start? That fucking group that first showed up! That's when all of our problems started happenin'! They single-handedly got every one of the last friends that I had killed!

And Sarita… a hatchet to the forehead was the last thing that I had seen of her. The final light in my life had been snuffed out when her arm was chopped off and she had nearly gotten devoured by walkers.

And the person who killed her…

"…Kenny?"

"…get. Out."

Hearing the flap of the tent slowly open, I know that the kid is stepping inside as I hear the light pitter-patter of her feet carefully trudging closer towards me, but I don't want to hear any of it. No more bullshit excuses, no more apologies, no more anything. Can't these fuckers leave me alone for ONE GOD DAMN DAY?!

"I… I just wanted to check on you," she mentions weakly, her words ragged and tired, "make sure… you were okay…"

Curling my hands into tight fists, I feel like ripping my hair out and screaming to the heavens above. Am I okay, she asks! Ha, funny joke there, Clementine! Real clever, especially since you're the one who single-handedly caused all of this fucked-up bullshit in the first place!

"Save your breath… I don't want to hear any of it right now," I growl lowly, rubbing my eyes as angry tears start to prickle out as I furiously refuse to let her see me down like this. "I don't need a pity-party over here, Clementine! Sarita is dead, and you're waltzing around out there, chattin' it up with the group as if there's nothing wrong! Who the hell are you right now?!"

"She… she got bit, Kenny! If I hadn't done something – "

"Then she'd still be right here with me, and we could've done something away from the fucking herd!" I snap, still not in the mood to turn around and face her right now. I just need to vent out my anger before I implode and completely lose my mind, and Clementine just happens to be within my line of fire. If it was anyone else, I probably would've drawn my gun and threatened to shoot them in the head. "If you had just done nothing at all, that would've been a god damn improvement! No, instead you just have to meddle in this shit, and just make it about ten times worse! And you'll get away with it 'cause you're just some stupid fucking kid who doesn't know what the hell she's doing!" I fume, breathing heavily as all I hear is silence behind me. Has she left? No, I doubt it, unless she actually had enough of me trash-talking her and just left me to my own misery.

As I finally start to calm down again, and remember who it is exactly that I'm talking to right now, I sigh deeply and prepare to issue out an apology…

"You're such a fucking asshole."

Snapping my eyes wide open as I register the words within my head, I feel my teeth clench tightly as the rage slowly seeps back into place. It's weird though – I've heard that kind of thing so many times in my life that normally I don't even consider it swearing, but with Clementine to say it of all people? It hurts, and not just because once upon a time I knew that she had a zero tolerance policy for that kind of thing.

Hearing it from her with such animosity means that she really means it this time, and I can't help but be completely baffled as she continues on her mini rant. Seems that I'm not the only one who needs to get some things off their chest.

"You haven't changed one bit – I thought that maybe there was a chance for us to start over at the ski lodge, and that you might've turned over a new leaf, but I was wrong!" she yells at me; stinging as I prepare to stand up and leave the tent. I don't need this shit – I can't even look at her right now without getting pissed off! "None of us could do anything there, and you… you didn't even give me a chance to explain things! I tried to save her life, Kenny! She was going to die if I hadn't tried to cut off her hand – that's the only thing that works, and if we had waited then she would've died anyway!"

Standing to my feet, I close my eyes tightly as bump into her shoulder as I start to brush past the kid. I don't give a damn if this ruins our friendship – it's not as if we were actually friends to begin with! She's just a snot-nosed brat who thinks she's better than everyone else!

She doesn't give two salt licks about anyone else's feelings or what they might be going through, and she doesn't even have the decency to leave somebody alone when they're grieving! What the fuck was Lee throwing into her head all that time?!

"…what would Duck be thinking if he saw you right now?"

Feeling whatever sense of restraint that I may have had just completely dissipate upon hearing my son's name, I turn on a dime as I grab Clem by the scruff of her jacket and pin her to the floor, raise my fist and the air and…

Her face says more than enough as a few tears run freely down my face – I fucked up hugely. With that disgusting, bloody bandage covering over her permanently damaged eye, it's almost like looking in a mirror. This could've – no, should've – been me, but instead I let that raging psychopath beat her half to hell.

And I'm about to do the exact same thing; looking like the very same monster that did this to the girl in the first place. I should be so fucking ashamed right now.

Immediately letting the fabric of her ugly ski jacket slip through my clenched fingers, I take a step back as she smacks my hand away and picks herself up off the floor; dusting the dirt off her jeans and picking her hat up from off the floor. Feeling sick to my stomach, I try to spring together whatever words I can to try and correct this mistake.

But all that comes out is mumbled garbage that in no way makes up for what's transpired.

"Cl-Clem, I…"

"You never learn, do you?" she glares sharply at me, putting her hands in her pockets as she begrudgingly motions outside. "Rebecca's having the baby soon… If you don't come, they'll both die. Nobody else knows what to do," Clem mentions emotionlessly as she opens up the flap of the tent. Giving me one last loathing glance of hurt and betrayal, the young charge shakes her head and itches around her damaged eye before leaving me to my thoughts inside my own mental and physical prison.

Knowing that I've truly gone and fucked everything up even more than things were before, I take another two minutes or so before following suit; getting a couple of pissed off and annoyed looks from Jane, Luke and Mike as Clementine silently goes to sit over by Sarah while Bonnie allows Rebecca to rest an arm around her shoulders.

"…gimme a second," I tell Bonnie before she can even ask, trying to wrack my brain for what needs to be done while trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. Patching things up with the only girl left who really gave a damn will take some work, especially after that whole spectacle in the tent, but this has got to come first. "We're gonna need a warm place to have the kid, which ain't here. So here's what we need to look for…"

AN: I don't know if those guest reviews were all the same person, but apparently there's quite a popular demand to keep this going for a little bit longer, so this was just adding onto it. I think I'll end up doing one more chapter if that's cool with you guys, but that's it lol. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed, or consequently want to hurt me for that whole scenario :P Either way, thanks for reading!