Thanks for all of the awesome feedback, guys! I'm loving the support for this thing; it's been amazing reading all of your comments on this!

Rebloxic: That's true! They do that exact same thing with the TV show (if you watch it) and it actually happened right at the mid-season finale this year! And yeah, Riley's death was tough – especially knowing beforehand that Ellie survives regardless in the game.

VictoriaSW: Lmao I bet those kids were freaking out XD And Jilly's coming up in a bit, now worries.

EmilyRose727: Thanks :D Yeah, I think Clem's starting to reach her breaking point pretty soon, what with everything going on. And damn… you better have Nick or somebody kick the absolute shit out of Carver in your story – he's an even worse person than he was in the game!

Clemmyclue19: Oh boy… the one thing that I think of when hearing Dead Space is the eye poking machine, and what happens if you mess up – I still couldn't believe what was happening when I saw that at first! Unfortunately I don't know enough about the franchise to make a crossover for them, but that's a cool idea!

Guest: I'd probably explode from excitement if that were to happen, so they wouldn't be able to contact me XD Thank you so much!

Galen: Under normal circumstances I'd agree, but it'd be kind of a bad time to learn how to shoot a gun when she's trying not to get killed. She'd rather just get out of there alive – plus the gun training's gonna come with the rest of the space center anyway. Thanks for reviewing!

Spiderclone: You should definitely check it out – there are quite a few differences b/w the games so I've had to make some stuff up, but they actually mesh together pretty well.

Here's the next chapter!

Jane's POV

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!" Lilly chirps, causing me to groan and beg for five more minutes of peaceful slumber. She's not having any of it though, as she sits on my stomach and starts to bounce up and down in a very annoying fashion. "Come on, hurry up. The next thing I'm gonna do is drag you out by your legs and toss you over my shoulder firefighter style – we both know you don't want that."

Rubbing the gunk out of my eyes, I'm enraptured by Lilly's beautiful face smirking back at me. All at once, the frustration of having to wake up so damn early largely dissipates as I gaze into her brown doe eyes. I could get used to waking up and seeing her dazzling face every day.

Of course, I'm still being my grumpy old self when it comes to getting up early.

"You know, as much as I love you, Lilly," I yawn, sitting up in the bed and scratching my head, "you can be pretty damn annoying sometimes."

"You're not so bad yourself," she replies, giving me a quick peck on the cheek before turning to leave.

Before she can do so, however, I grab her by the neck and send her lips crashing down on top of mine; wanting to get all of this out of the way before we leave this morning. We might not get another chance to do so for a couple of days or so – even though the world ended and a lot of the old ways have been forgotten, I'm pretty sure that the group wouldn't appreciate having to witness public displays of affection on a big level.

Of course, Lorna seems to disregard that rule all the time, so what do I know?

"You done yet?" Lilly asks with a goofy grin as she raises an eyebrow.

"Just about," I tell her, planting one more kiss before letting her go. "Alright, you're free. I'll get up in two seconds… or five minutes, depending if I'm in the mood or not."

Hopping off the bed and swinging her bag over her shoulder, Lilly covers her torn ear up again before calling back to me.

"Well, if you don't move your ass, they'll probably leave the both of us behind."

"Two seconds it is then."

Lilly waits for me outside the tent as I hop out of bed and start scrounging all of my stuff together, though it's really not much. There's a couple of guns in there, Jaime's old nail file, some old Taco Bell coupons that obviously don't do me any good now, along with a few wash cloths and a bag of nuts and dried-up berries. I've been eating like a squirrel for the past couple of days or so, but I've got to say it's not too bad. It's a hell of a lot better than eating canned stuff all the time.

Making sure that I haven't forgotten anything, I nod and head out through the flap to find Lilly impatiently waiting on a rock nearby.

"You know, I think I might actually miss this place," I comment, looking at the sun rising over the horizon in the distance. Looks as though it's gonna be a nice day.

Scoffing, Lilly shakes her head as we start to walk down the path – looking a lot more rugged and full of holes after recent events.

"For real?" she asks me, unable to believe her ears. "Hmph… I've wanted to ditch this place ever since we got here."

"Well, it's no secret how you felt," I comment, earning a nudge from the older woman. It's hard to believe that Lilly's nearly ten years older than me, and why she'd want to go out with me due to the big age difference. In her eyes, she could probably see me as just a kid! "I don't know… Aside from us letting those walkers in and getting attacked, this place held up pretty well. The people were assholes, but Dallas meant something, you know? For us…"

"Aww, don't get all sappy on me now!" Lilly jokes, but deep down I know she feels it too. She just doesn't like to admit it, that's all. "Looks like Derek's about to address the troops. We'd better hustle, let's move."

"I thought you were dropping the whole military thing?"

"I guess that it never really left," she shrugs, and we stop our conversation as we hurry on over to the little group meeting that's going on over here.

Bryce isn't tied up this time around, but his face is badly bruised and his nose is definitely broken. There are a few cuts around his chin and several dark circles underneath his eyes – the guy looks as though he's been utterly defeated.

Not wanting to get involved with this, I just turn my attention to Derek… and Lorna… as he begins his game plan.

"Alright, we're all here. I'll cut to the chase – in case it wasn't blatantly obvious, we can't stay here any longer," he explains, gesturing to a steaming corpse on the ground next to him. I'm more than a little surprised at how nonchalantly he's talking about this, but I keep my opinions to myself. "But thanks to our little associate over here, we may have some place to go to after all – so that's where we're headed. If it's a dud over in downtown Houston, then we'll regroup outside the city and think about where we can try next. Most of Dallas and Austin are overrun with the dead so we can't try there."

"What if this is some kind of trap?" Lilly asks, not sold on Bryce being true to his word. I'm not really sure what to make of him. "Do we have some kind of backup plan in case things get hairy?"

Glancing towards one another, Lorna shrugs her shoulders as Derek sighs and puts his hands in his pockets.

"If it comes to that, then we'll be ready for it. We're smart – I'm sure that a little improvising wouldn't hurt."

"That's exactly how people get hurt! The less prepared we are, the more likely that somebody's gonna die!" Lilly tries to argue, but her words are falling on deaf ears it seems. Seeing how her opinion's not going to be heard (at least not with Lorna glaring at the two of us something fierce), Lilly angrily keeps to herself as the rest of the plan starts to move forward.

Turning behind him, Derek drags a bag through the dirt as he unzips it and pulls out one of the grenade launchers used to attack us in the first place. He lifts it up and holds it in his arms for everyone to see.

"This thing'll knock down any wall that they might have; be it steel, stone, wood, or whatever. We've witnessed it firsthand," he acknowledges, the light bouncing off of its rough surface. "One hit from this bad boy and you'll be knocked on your ass. We could cause total destruction and mayhem for anyone who would be stupid enough to try and come after us… we're leaving it here."

"Derek, you can't be serious…" Lorna disagrees, snatching the big thing out of his grasp as she places it on the ground. I jump a little at how carelessly she tosses it; thinking that the gun could fire at any given moment. "You saw how much they could do with these launchers! Think about it – who'd be able to stop us if we kept firing grenades at them?"

"That's precisely why they're staying here, Lor," Derek replies, making me think that he might not be such a bad guy after all. It all depends on perspective. "People who don't learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them – we want to take the place over, Lorna, not blow it up. Besides, nobody needs that much firepower. It attracts too much attention and isn't that useful for what we're going for."

"This right here? This is the mistake," Lorna says, but relenting as the leader goes back to addressing the little crowd of people that we have here.

"The bastards blew up our bus, but there are still a few trucks left for us to use. So, we're gonna split you off into teams of four," he says, motioning to Lilly and I first. "Jane and Lilly, you're going with Bryce and Tommy over here. Take the truck you recovered and have Bryce give you directions. We'll all follow in behind."

Looking over, Lilly and I notice a sturdy-built, kind but tough-looking man with long, brown hair walking over towards us with Bryce in tow. He looks almost as if he was built specifically to live in the apocalypse, but his eyes tell differently. Tommy seems like the hopeful type – that's not always the best way to go.

"How will we be able to talk to each other?" I ask, placing my hands on my hips. "Rolling down the windows and shouting the entire time doesn't seem like such a great idea."

"Ahh, now that we've actually got covered! Just gimme a minute or two while I grab them," Derek remarks, scurrying into the mostly-destroyed armory as the rest of us wait outside.

Lorna doesn't seem too impressed with us, but I'm not really worried about her spilling the beans on our little activities any longer. What are they gonna do? Kill us and risk getting themselves into trouble? Whether she likes it or not, Lorna's got to realize that this group needs us. Lilly and I have more than proven ourselves around here.

Well, at least I think we have. Derek hasn't really mentioned any of that "respect" stuff in a while now.

"Alright, these are some radios we can use. Henry pilfered them off of a nearby police station a while back," he comments, still looking rather saddened over the loss of an old friend. "Stick to channel three – that seems to be the only one that works . Also, don't go using it too much, got it? Emergencies or points of interest only – these things aren't exactly built to last these days. I don't want to hear any idle chatter going on, since we don't know how much juice these have left. Any questions?"

Bryce slowly raises his hand, which really surprises everyone, so Derek nods and folds his arms together.

"Sure thing, buddy. Let's see what this asshole wants to say. Go ahead, we're all ears."

The guy looks even more exhausted and emotionally drained than when Lilly and I first saw him – probably having to do with the fact that everyone he was with before is now dead. His eyes are red-rimmed as he clears his throat, probably thinking that he's way too old for this kind of shit.

"…can you promise me that you'll let me go after this is done?" he asks, seemingly a reasonable request to me. Aside from hiding the guns in the car and being part of a group that slaughtered a bunch of our people (which he didn't partake in), he's been pretty truthful for the most part. "If… if not… then just shoot me now and get it over with. I've got no intention of sticking around after I get you to Houston."

"That's if you don't lead us into a pit instead, you old fuck!" one of the men criticize, throwing insults his way as he shoves him on the shoulder.

"Simmer down, Joseph," Derek orders calmly. "No need for the elder abuse."

"It's no better than he deserves!" shouts another, their accents coming in strong as a wave of resentment is spewed out towards the old man. "I'll sleep a lot better knowing that this fucker's dead with the rest of his pals!"

"No, I guarantee you won't. But I'd bet you might after getting to this place in Houston. So don't step out of line again," he warns, before turning his attention back towards Bryce. "If this place is legit, and we no longer require your services, then fine, we'll let you go. But listen here… you'd better hope that this place isn't bullshit, my friend. Because we're not going to be too happy if we find out that you've been leading us on this whole time, get that?"

After the crowd starts to disperse and head into their respected vehicles, Derek motions for me to watch him like a hawk, while Lorna sits in the front seat beside him… scheming. I can see it on her pretty, little face – Lorna's up to something, I just know it this time.

"So… who's driving?" Lilly asks, offering the keys to anyone who's willing. With Tommy keeping a watchful eye on Bryce, and Lilly not looking as though she's up for driving right now, I snatch the keys and start the ignition.

"Get us to Houston, and I'll show you where it is… if I can remember it correctly…" Bryce says flatly, sitting himself in the back seat and keeping his eyes glued to the floor. Once everyone's settled in the car, I rev the engine and start driving off; checking to make sure that the other two vehicles are following us.

The last thing that I notice before leaving is Henry's head – still propped up on a pole as dried blood sticks to the wooden surface. You'd have to be pretty crazy to want to live here after seeing that.

Off to Houston we go.

…

Meanwhile… Clem's POV…

Gasping for air, I glance around the room with widened eyes and sweat droplets forming on my forehead; trying to look for the walkers that invaded my dreams. It's a pretty crappy situation when your nightmares and your reality practically become one and the same with things trying to kill you in both.

"Don't be afraid of him honey," Lee soothes, sitting in a chair nearby as I look over at him… or rather, my image of him. "You're smart, he isn't. You're smarter than all of them."

"Yeah… yeah, I know," I breathe out, fresh tears sprinkling in my eyes as I close them tightly. "Damn it… why can't you just leave me alone…"

"Who do you keep talking to?" a new voice appears, and I curse under my breath after my gaze lands upon Ellie. I had completely forgotten that I wasn't alone, but at least Riley's still able to get some sleep. "You do that a lot."

Knowing fully well that the six year old won't understand what I'm dealing with here – whatever this is – I sigh heavily and try my best to put this into words.

"It, uh… helps me forget," I half-lie, sitting up to face her properly. "I've just lost a lot of people, and it hurts to think about them. So I try getting them out of my head… if that makes sense."

"Mom told me once that if you try really hard to forget something, it just makes it harder," she explains, acting wise beyond her years as I offer a small smirk. "Like, uh… if I say don't think about pink elephants, what are you think of?"

"Pink elephants," I chuckle quietly, having not realized that until now. "I guess you learn something new every day."

I'm really glad that we're sort of able to talk like this now instead of just as two complete strangers. Yesterday I was starting to get worried that I may have scared the both of them off, but thankfully it seems that Ellie's starting to warm up to me. I was the same way at her age – wanting to be friends with every person I met, and not understanding why people wouldn't always want to be my friend.

It's a lot different now – it has to be. These days, if I don't know you, you're hostile and need to be given the cold shoulder until I get accustomed to you.

Although I'm not entirely sold on these two just yet, it's still a miracle that after a day they've already started to grow on me.

It'd really help though if I didn't keep hearing Rebecca's scolding tone, and picturing AJ sitting nearby whenever I look at the girls' faces. He'd have had his first birthday by now.

"Did you guys think about what I said yesterday? About what you're going to do?" I ask, needing to know since I'll probably be heading out shortly. Ellie sticks her finger in her mouth cutely, seemingly unsure of herself and looking as though she doesn't know if this is the right call or not.

That's what I've really noticed most about this girl, and what really intrigues me – there's a sense of self-doubt, nervousness and hesitation within her that's kind of holding her back. And yet yesterday, when I was faced with certain death at the hands of that walker, there she was with the switchblade I gave her; stepping up and saving my ass.

Riley shares a lot of the same qualities with a little bit more confidence – she's pretty remarkable for her age, that's for sure. You could practically say that she's Ellie's bodyguard with her protective instincts, but she's got a soft side, too. Without Riley around, I'm sure that Ellie would be lost.

"…yeah, we wanna go with you," she tells me quietly, twirling her hair around her finger self-consciously.

"Alright, cool. Sounds like a plan," I nod, standing up and stretching out my back. I grab the bag with all of the weapons inside of it, sling it over my shoulder carefully and start heading out the door. "Get her up, okay? I'm gonna go scout the situation, but you two have to be ready to move when I tell you."

Nodding vigorously, Ellie starts nudging her friend as I slip out; hoping not only that they'll be accepted into the fold, but also that Bo doesn't rip my head off for being gone so long.

James, Debbie and the rest of those assholes better not lay a finger on them, or so help me I'll gun them down before they can blink an eye…

…

"Mind explaining why you wanted to give me a heart attack?" Bo asks as we head into the cafeteria, trying my best to ignore the curious stares of the people surrounding me. "Where the hell did you go? I thought for sure that you'd left and weren't coming back!"

"I almost did…" I comment bitterly, causing Bo to sigh as I glare up at him. He may be at least a foot taller than me, but I can still intimidate with the best of them.

"Clem, we've been over this…"

"That's not something you can just brush off like it's nothing, Bo!" I hiss, having half a mind to blurt out this place's deadly secret to everyone in this room. "Anyway, this is Ellie and Riley – they're gonna be staying with us for as long as they want to."

As Bo glances at the two young girls behind me, I raise an eyebrow and practically dare him to try and question this. I've got him on the ropes here, not just with the experiment thing but also the fact that I know his little secrets as well. Call it blackmail if you want, but who gives a crap? I have no intention of sending them out on their own again; not after all that just happened.

"Just try and say it," I tell him warningly, still not really on good terms with the man as I throw him a challenging glance. "Try and tell me they can't stay here. I've seen this place, Bo – we've got more than enough room."

"Alright, bossy pants. Don't let this leadership thing go to your head," he advises, chuckling as I let down my guard for a little bit. "Speaking of which, are you ready to do this?"

"Can't it wait a little bit? I wanted to show these two around!"

"It has to be now, Clem. We can't put it off any longer," he shakes his head, a small frown forming on his lips. "One of the kids got nabbed by a walker last night… He was sneaking out late and went beyond the walls. We heard some screams but couldn't make it in time – the thing had ripped the kid's throat out…"

"Jesus…" I whisper, now feeling slightly ashamed of myself. If we had done this yesterday, then maybe that kid would've understood how dangerous it can be if you're not careful – perhaps he could've gone out with a gun in his hand.

Realizing that Bo's got a point, I nod and hand him my stash of guns – rifles, pistols and all. There aren't enough here to cover everyone at the space center, but it's good enough to keep everyone safe at least. Bo seems pretty impressed at my haul, but my attention's more focused on Ellie and Riley. What are they supposed to do while I'm helping with the instruction?

Unfortunately reading my mind, Debbie walks in and strolls over to look at the newcomers. As usual, in her bitchy kind of way, she scrutinizes the two of them; probably waiting for them to slit somebody's neck or blow something up.

Upon seeing that they're no threat, Debbie relaxes a little bit and steps forward.

"I'll take them and show them the grounds for a little bit," she says, more so to Bo than to me.

Oh hell no!

"That's not a good idea," I chip in, firmly disagreeing as Debbie looks over at me. "I think they'll be… safer… if they come with me."

Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Debbie tells Bo to take the kids and wait out in the hallway for a second before gesturing for us to sit down. At first I feel like just telling her to go to hell and that I want nothing to do with her lying, bitchy face, but that's not going to do me any good. All it'll create are more problems for me to work out. So reluctantly I agree, doing as she bid and taking a seat that's far away from any of the other patrons.

"What do you want?" I ask icily, not bothering to hide my anger as she sits across from me. "Are you here to tell me that I'm next in line to get my head cut open?"

"James and I talked it over… we can see why you'd act the way you did," she explains, referring to me threatening her boyfriend with a gun. He had it coming. "I know you probably don't trust us after seeing all of that, and you're probably even less excited about bringing a couple of kids in here knowing about all that."

"That's putting it lightly," I scoff, sitting back in the chair as she continues.

"You might not get it right now, being a kid and all," she tells me, making my blood boil as she does. The nerve of this woman! "But what we're doing in there is gonna save millions, if not more in the future. You can't have progress without sacrifice, and this is no exception."

"You don't get to decide who lives and who dies! That's not your call!" I argue, clenching my fists as Debbie hushes me to keep my voice down.

Debbie's getting kind of irritated with me, I can tell, but for the most part she's managed to keep her cool. Sure, maybe I can kind of see where she's coming from, wanting to go back to the way that things were before – I mean, who wouldn't in their right mind? But the way that they're going at it, at least in my mind, is totally wrong.

"Listen to her," Carver remarks, suddenly appearing right beside Debbie. The woman looks confused as I seemingly stare at nothing, but I quickly shake it off and pretend that I can't see his smug face staring back at me. "You know that she's right, Clementine. Deep down, you know that there's no other way. How can humanity keep going without this?"

"I… I feel sick…" I blurt out, suddenly overcome with mixed emotions as Debbie looks on with concern.

"Oh, well did you need like a wash cloth or something?" she asks, turning her body to go fetch one. Instantly I shake my head, but I take off my signature hat and rub my hands through my dark, curly locks. My whole world is spinning out of control – this is bad. "Maybe you should tell Bo that you're not well enough to go through with the gun training."

"Y-you knew?" I stutter, shaking off my nausea as she nods. "…it doesn't matter. I need to do this – these people need to… be safe…"

Looking as though she's about to say something, Debbie decides against it as she closes her mouth and folds her hands together. She can definitely tell that something's going on with me, but she must think that I'd chew her out and bite her head off if she said anything about it.

And you know what the scary thing is? She'd probably be right.

"Hopefully you'll understand some day," she simply remarks, watching as I stand up to leave. I just need to find Bo and the girls, and hopefully that'll be enough to clear my head for a little while. "And… I'm sorry, Clementine. Really – I mean it. Hopefully you can find it within yourself to believe that."

I barely register her words before hurriedly rushing out into the hallway to find the three of them waiting along the wall opposite from each other; leaving Debbie alone in the cafeteria.

"How'd it go?" Bo asks, just getting a head shake from me as he decides to leave that topic alone. No use in scarring Ellie and Riley. "So, you ready to help me out? Most of 'em are down on the lower level waiting for us – I set up a little firing range we can use. You know, garbage cans and whatnot."

"Okay… yeah," I nod, trying (and failing) to hold myself together as I lean against the wall for support. I tell Bo to get walking downstairs before he starts growing grey hair, to which he just playfully punches me on the shoulder and does as I've suggested. "I'll be down in a bit…"

I watch until Bo disappears through the doorway by punching in a code; leaving it open for us to follow as Riley starts trailing after him. Ellie starts to jog ahead as well, but she stops and turns around with confusion when I don't immediately follow suit.

"I'm alright – no worries…" I lie again, now seeing Luke and Nick trying to pull me forward. I am so not alright. "You go on ahead, Ellie. I'll catch up."

Not looking too convinced, Ellie hesitantly does as I've said and runs up beside Riley; no doubt talking about why I'm acting so strangely as they turn the corner and head down the stairs.

Trust me, you two – it's definitely not just me trying to forget. It's becoming flat-out impossible with all of these dead people playing tricks on my mind.

"Elephants…" I whisper to myself, closing my eyes before venturing down the hallway at a snail's pace. "Pink… elephants…"