"What do you want from me?" Lee pleaded for answers to the man on the talkie. "Whatever it is, I'll do it and you can let her go."

"I want you to never hurt anybody again. This isn't a kidnapping, Lee."

"Then what is it?"

"A rescue."

Lee lowered the talkie and clipped it back to his jeans without another word. I wasn't sure if the others could tell, but I saw the fright and anger in his eyes, as well as sadness for the idea of losing Clementine. I walked to the man and placed my hand on his arm.

"Clem will be okay," I stated.

"Don't worry, pal. We'll get her back," Kenny reassured Lee.

I hoped he was right.

"How's that feeling?" Christa asked, regarding the bite.

Lee shrugged.

There was growling behind us and then walkers appeared. Kenny and Travis quickly got the door shut, making sure the walkers couldn't reach us. Everything was happening so quickly. That was the thing about the apocalypse- it could be incredibly boring a lot of the time, but the next minute you would be fighting for your life.

"Lee, we need to find a way out of here," I said.

He agreed and we went to look around quickly, leaving Christa and Omid to help defend the door.

I ran up to the back of the room, finding another door immediately. "Lee!"

He walked over to where I was and smiled. "I found this. We could try it to pry the elevator door open."

"Great."

I stepped back while he got to work, using the rib spreader to open the doors as best he could. He groaned in pain.

"Are you okay?" I checked.

He didn't reply, just turned around, swayed and collapsed.

"Help!" I shouted to the others.

Travis was the first one over, knife in his hand and staring at Lee on the floor.

"What happened?"

"Fuck, is he alive?" Kenny asked.

"Shit."

"He fainted, we need to do something!" I begged.

"Marce, there's nothing we can do," Kenny told me.

I thought about it for a second, brain rushing with possibilities until I found one.

"There's something we could try, though," I sighed. "Help me move him."


"Okay. This has to be done," Kenny listened to my suggestion and agreed on it. I felt bad for if it went wrong. "Sorry, pal. I gotta do it."

"Don't kill me!" Lee gasped, waking up on the table in fear.

I shrieked in fright. "Fuck!"

"Stop! He's awake," Christa told Kenny.

"He's still bitten!"

"So?!" Christa challenged.

"This is about trying to save him! At the very least, buy him some time."

"By chopping his arm off?" Omid muttered.

Lee looked at us in confusion.

"Marceline had an idea to try and help you," Travis explained. "She thought that if we chop your arm off, the infection won't spread. Or it'll be delayed. I think it'll work."

"We don't have to do it if you don't want to," I reassured the man.

"Fuck it," Lee said. "Cut it off."

"Seriously?" Christa asked, shocked.

"Yeah."

Lee set his arm on the side ready to be cut off.

Kenny looked unsettled. "It was easier when I thought he was out."

Travis groaned out loud, grabbed the weapon and placed it on Lee's arm ready to cut it. I thought back to when Travis was squeamish and threw up at the sight of my gunshot wound. We'd all been forced to change and adapt.

"Stay still."

"Be quick," Lee pleaded.

Travis cut into his arm with a quick motion.

Lee cried out in pain, screaming until he blacked out. I turned away, not wanting to watch as the man lost his arm.


"Lee?" I whispered. "Guys, he's awake."

Lee blinked, sitting up and looking at where his arm used to be.

"Holy hell, we thought maybe we lost you. You been out a while, man," Kenny told him.

"It hurts so bad," Lee confessed. "But maybe now I've got more time."

"Hopefully," I smiled. "Come on, we need to get out of here and find Clem."

Lee nodded and we all headed to the elevator which was now open. I followed behind Christa as we climbed up the ladder, while Lee went last as to not get any blood on anybody, still taking cautions incase he hadn't gained any time.

We eventually reached the roof and I took a deep breath of fresh air.

"Remember when Savannah was empty?" Kenny asked us as we looked out over the city from the hospital roof.

"Those Crawford bastards did one thing right, I guess," Christa responded.

"I've never seen so many walkers in the street," Travis noted.

"They didn't follow us here, did they?" Omid thought.

"It sure seems like it."

"Can we get back to the matter at hand, here?" I enquired. "We need to figure out how to cross town. We'll also have to make sure Lee is managing as we go."

They nodded.

"I have an idea," Travis smiled. "We need to ring the bell and get the walkers here. Then we can cross town, hopefully easier."

"There's a ladder," Omid pointed to it, and Lee carried it to the tower.

"Okay, I'll go," I volunteered and moved forward to get to the ladder, until an arm stopped me.

"It should be the guy who's got the least to lose," Lee stated. "What's the worst that could happen, I get bitten again?"

"Don't talk like that," I said, staring at him.

Lee made an apologetic face, though it just made me feel more guilty considering he was the one who's life was at risk, not me.

Lee made his way across the ladder dangerously. I bit my lip for the whole time, nervous. The ladder shook and Lee ran, diving up onto the tower before the steps plummeted into the street and crushed a walker.

"Holy shit, man!" Omid gasped.

"Are you okay?" Christa shouted to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine!"

My heart rate increased with worry and then Lee rang the bell in the tower. I looked down over the building edge and saw the walkers begin to stir in the roads.

"They're moving!"

"Tons of them. Jesus," Omid's eyes went huge.

"How are you getting back over here?" Travis asked.

"I think I have to jump! There's no way back!"

"You can make it!" Kenny motivated. "It ain't that far."

He did. Lee ran, threw himself across the gap between the buildings and pulled himself up the wall.

"Good goddamn leap, pal!"

I grinned at the man, amazed he'd managed to make the jump.

"We should head back at get Ben," Travis said. "We could use all the help we can get now."

"I ain't bringin' him with us!" Kenny snapped.

"Can we save the arguments?" I returned. "We need to find Clementine, and that means we check the house again and get Ben. Come on."

The group shared glances before we all made our way back to the house.


"Come on... please..." a voice begged inside the shed.

A shovel was slotted through the handles.

"Ben?" I knocked on the door, pulling the shovel out of the handle and opening it.

Ben stood near the door of the shed. The empty shed. The shed that was lacking a boat that should have been protected by Ben.

"What are you doing?!" Kenny yelled.

"Don't get mad... the boat's gone," Ben alerted us like we were blind.

"No shit it's gone!" Kenny's anger became more evident.

"Relax. Ben, what happened?" Christa calmed.

"They were waiting for me in here."

"Who?!" I gasped.

"Vernon. His whole crew!"

"Was Clementine with them?" Lee demanded quickly.

"No. He seemed pissed you guys lost her and... well, they took it. They're gone."

"Ben, you are worthless!" Kenny yelled.

"Kenny," I warned.

Ben blocked out the comment and instead looked at Lee. "What happened to your arm?"

"We cut it off!" Kenny wouldn't let himself be ignored. "Ben, I could just kill you right now!"

"Kenny, stop it!" I ordered. "It wasn't his fault."

"I can't believe you didn't even put up a fight."

"You don't know what Ben did here," I defended.

Omid disappeared to open the gate.

"This is not happening. Everything is so fucked," Kenny sighed.

"Clementine is still out there," Christa stated.

"So we get Clementine, and then what?"

"We get the fuck out of this city," Travis decided.

"I am done with cities," Christa agreed.

"Me too."

"We could go to the countryside," I suggested. "Lots of open space and probably lacking walkers."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea to me," Ben nodded his head.

"Nobody asked you," Kenny shot.

"You just did!" Ben snapped.

"Don't get fucking smart with me, Ben," Kenny warned. "Do you remember when we had a boat? A boat!"

"Get over it!"

"Will you guys keep your voices down?" I hissed.

"We can do this in the yard," Christa told the group as Omid opened the door on the other side. We walked through into the safety of the house and closed the door to keep walkers away.

"Where the hell do you get off?" Kenny prodded Ben.

"I'm just saying we should all chill," Ben replied, sounding scared. "Not just you."

"Chill?!" Kenny repeated.

"Kenny," I warned again.

"This isn't my fault," Ben looked angry again.

"I can't point to one thing that's happened that isn't somehow your fault!" Kenny accused him.

"Please stop," I almost begged. Arguing and accusations were the least thing we needed.

The two males stared at each other in silence for a few seconds.

"Lee should have left you in Crawford."

"Fuck you, Kenny!" Ben suddenly roared, making me stumble back in shock and everyone else turn their heads in surprise at the boy's outburst.

"Whoa, Ben," Lee gasped.

Christa reached a hand in front of Lee. "No, let him."

"I am so, so, so sorry about Katjaa and Duck, I am. And I know I fucked up, but stop pushing me around and stop wishing I was dead!"

Kenny went to open his mouth.

"No! You know how they died. You've said goodbye. I never got to see my family, my parents, my little sister. You get that? Your family is gone, but at least you had them to lose. I never made it home. They could be alive or dead or walkers or worse, and I don't know! So give me a fucking break!"

"Aw, Ben, I'm-"

"Walkers!" Travis alerted.

"Oh, shit, here they come!"

"In the house!"

We rushed inside, Lee closing the door behind us.

"They shouldn't be able to get in the backyard, right?" Kenny checked. There was a crash outside. "Maybe not."

"We need to barricade the door or something," I rushed.

Lee agreed and began distributing orders to everybody while I attempted to move some furniture with Travis to block the back door.

"Front door!" Lee suddenly yelled.

There were walkers. A lot of them.

Everybody ran and blocked it, Travis too. Lee fell to the floor. A walker had his leg. My heart raced, panic filling my veins and making me feel like I was going to pass out.

"Quick!"

I looked at the kitchen, spotting the butcher's knife and swiping it before running to the rescue.

I chopped the arms of the walkers at the door without any thoughts and the others slammed it shut, providing a barrier. Lee had managed to break free too.

Travis stared at me wide eyed as I held the knife tight in my hands looking manic.

"Now what?" He asked nobody in particular.

"We should go upstairs, try find some way out of this house. It's not going to last much longer," I decided.

As soon as I finished speaking, a window smashed through and walkers poured into the house.

"Get upstairs!" Lee commanded.

Everyone did as instructed, and I went to follow, passing the knife to Lee. I spotted my backpack and swiped it up quickly before racing up the stairs and joining the others.

"Everyone get to the end of the hallway," Christa said while Lee joined Kenny in pushing furniture in front of the stairs.

"What do we do now?!" Ben asked.

"This'll slow 'em down," Kenny replied. "We get to the end of the hallway and take a fucking stand."

"We're going to be trapped if we stay crammed into this hall!" Travis shouted.

The walkers appeared and everybody with guns fired them until the bullets were out. My hands shook despite my attempts to stay composed. The truth was that I was utterly terrified. We were trapped and out of places to go. We were going to die and Clementine would be left with the kidnapper. I hoped she would escape if we died. I hoped she wouldn't see us as walkers.

"Fuck!" I gasped, realising how helpless we were.

There was a noise behind me and I turned to see Lee pull down a ladder from the ceiling. "Go!"

We raced up the ladder and into the attic I had forgotten existed, narrowly missing the walkers that crossed into the hallway and reached for us. The door slammed shut, separating the monsters from the living.


So we're nearing the ending of the story soon. Please don't forget to review if you can, because I love hearing what you guys think of the chapters, characters and what is going to happen next. Have a nice week, I'll see you on Saturday for the next update!