AN: Okay, so I was just gonna make this five chapters, but I'm gonna end up doing one more. This has become one of my favourites to do, and the feedback you guys have been sending is absolutely amazing. If you have any suggestions, feel free to send them my way. Just please don't tell me to kill Lilly and leave her body in a ditch somewhere – I know how some of you feel about her lol.

I should've figured this town was too good to be true, as the walkers slowly start popping out of the brush and stumble their way towards us. With Lilly still having her arm wrapped around my shoulder and in no position to be firing a gun, I grunt and try to stay out of their reach. There aren't too many of these things, but they're always a nuisance and they're always dangerous. You can't ever be too safe when dealing with a walker.

"They're gaining…" Lilly mentions through bated breaths. Sweat's starting to form upon her forehead, and she looks as though she's going to pass out any minute. If she does, then we're both done. I can't take on all of those things at once, while also trying to prevent them from eating her.

"We can hide in that shack," I say to her, pointing to a small, wooden building that's eerily reminiscent of the shed that I was stuffed into back then. Now all of the cabin group members are dead… but enough of that. I need to focus. Getting upset about my friends right now isn't going to help matters.

We've gotten some distance on the walkers as I pretty much toss Lilly off my shoulder. She falls with a thump onto the ground and groans out painfully, with me mumbling an apology as I quickly open the creaky door. Cobwebs get into my face as I enter, meaning that this place (just like the rest of this gods-forsaken town) hasn't been opened in a long time.

"Can you still walk?" I ask her urgently, worry settling in as some walkers start to get too close for my liking.

Lilly crawls into the room painfully as I slam the door behind us; cringing as their shambling limbs try to break through. Thankfully this shack has a door bar that I just slide into place, and I collapse against the door while being careful not to get any splinters.

My chest lowers and rises as my breathing starts to settle down, closing my eyes for the brief moment of rest that I can afford. Lilly's still shot, so I need to get to work on her quickly – like Lee had told me long ago, getting an infection would be a big deal now.

Paging Dr. Clementine!

"Was all that… worth it…" Lilly huffs out, lying on her back and staring at the ceiling; trying her best not to move around too much.

"We got the formula, and – "

"I mean," she interrupts, looking at me in pain, "with Bonnie and them… Are you satisfied now?"

"…I didn't mean for anyone to die," I shake my head; letting out a shaky sigh as I unzip my backpack. "Lift your shirt up – let's get the fun part out of the way first."

"They seemed like assholes to me," Lilly comments, doing as instructed but frowning as I come over towards her. "Why didn't you just do as I said? You put your life at risk, Clem."

"You'd be dead if I listened to you," I reply calmly, shrugging my shoulders as I yank the bullet out as quickly as I can. She screams in agony, but once the job's done she tries to calm herself down. She's lucky that the bullet wasn't deeper. "Now… this is gonna suck."

"Can't… be any worse… than that…" she breathes heavily, rubbing her eyes to prevent any potential tears from coming out. Wouldn't want to ruin her tough-girl rep in front of me, right?

"You saved my life," I acknowledge with a nod; dumping some of the peroxide onto the cloth and then closing the bottle back up. "Back in the church, when Arvo was about to shoot me. You saved me."

"Hmph…"

"Can't you just take a compliment for once in your life?" I sigh in annoyance, frowning as she stares at the floor. "Geez! You're as stubborn as a mule!"

"Where do you think I got that trait from…" Lilly remarks absentmindedly, leaving me with not a whole lot to say. Larry may have been a giant asshole (and I mean GIANT), but he was still her father. And to see him die that brutally… no wonder Lilly went nuts.

"Let's get this done," I say simply, wincing as she squirms under the cloth. I remember Carlos mentioning that the stinging sensation is just the medicine doing its work, but you'd think they'd have created a less painful one. Once I finish cleaning up the blood a little bit, I wrap a few bandages around it to prevent anything else from happening. "There, that's the best I can do for now. When we get back you'll have to stitch yourself up."

"I get the feeling that you've done this sort of shit before," she comments, sitting up slightly and looking visibly annoyed as we both hear the walkers still trying to break in. "And… thanks, Clem."

"Yeah…" I respond dully, sitting against a crate facing her as I lean one knee up while resting the other leg on the floor. "I wonder if Mike made it out of there."

"You shot him up pretty good," Lilly responds, not dodging the cold, hard facts. "Who knows? He's not your problem anymore."

"I just wish it didn't have to go that way," I admit with a shrug; suddenly feeling like some kind of monster. "But when I saw them in that church… I couldn't hold it in. I was just so angry, and all I wanted to do was… hurt them! The same way they hurt Jane, Kenny and I. But killing Bonnie… I didn't have to do that."

"Sometimes you don't have a choice," she tells me casually, though not looking me in the eyes as she says it. Lilly's here in the room with me, but it seems as though her mind is off somewhere else. Or maybe I'm just imagining it. "Sometimes you have to make the hardest choice of them all – sometimes killing is the thing that keeps you alive."

"Is that what you've been telling yourself for the past two years? That it's all just okay?" I ask, not with disdain as I might have before, but just genuine curiosity.

Not saying anything for a moment, Lilly absentmindedly fiddles with the bottom of her jacket. Her coldness is still present and very much visible, but I can tell that two years on her own has changed her. She's a lot more reserved, and she's not quite as prone to huge outbreaks of emotion as I remember she'd have at the motor-inn.

She's still pissed a lot of the time, but the flame's not nearly as big inside of her. She's been burned out a little bit, and I can't help but feel a little bit sad. Some of her personality has died in her time away from us.

"You were right about Ben," I admit, knowing that she'd lift her head up at that. "He was the one giving the bandits those supplies."

"I know," she says simply, surprising me.

"Really? You weren't just – "

"Acting paranoid? No, not that time," she says with a slight smirk, making me even more fascinated by this person. Lilly Caul is a strange woman, indeed. "I could tell by his scared, little face – he fucked up, and he damn well knew it."

"And Carley?"

"Not this again…" Lilly sighs, running a hand over her tired face. "She was just so hell-bent on defending him – I thought they must've been screwing us together. We had a good set-up there, Clem. It wasn't the best, but it kept us safe. If that cowardly fuck had just told one of us about the bandits, then none of that would've happened. Well, probably."

"Duck got bitten during the attack," I explain sadly, reminded of my old friend. "Kenny and Katjaa took him into the woods to say their goodbyes, but Katjaa couldn't handle it. She killed herself right in front of Kenny, and Lee was forced to shoot Duck. He was never the same after that…"

Closing her eyes, Lilly makes no further comment on Kenny; as if just hearing his name sparks painful memories and feelings of hatred. Everyone at the motor-inn knew how much the two of them despised each other, and I always used to feel bad that Lee was stuck in the middle of it.

"I miss Lee," I suddenly blurt out solemnly, frowning as I pull out the picture of him. "I took this from the pharmacy when he wasn't looking, and it never felt right to throw it away."

"He was something alright," Lilly nods wistfully, probably wishing that she hadn't been on his ass as much as she was.

"I owe everything to Lee," I quietly comment; closing my eyes as I huff out a sigh, "and how do I repay him? By getting him and almost everyone else killed."

"Don't start that shit," Lilly warns, giving me a stern look. "The more you beat yourself up over the past, the harder it is to keep on going. Trust me; I've been there before…"

There she goes again: isolating herself. Lilly keeps on thinking that she's the example of what not to do, and then she pushes those closest to her away from her. And then the cycle starts over again. No wonder she's so lonely all the time.

"Were you really by yourself for that whole time?" I ask curiously, wanting to know a little bit more about her… you know, other than the fact that she can be a stone-hearted killer at one point and a caring, focused person the next.

Nodding slowly, Lilly simply explains that she drove back to the motor-inn, stayed there for a couple of nights and then went up to Warner Robbins.

"Once the RV tanked, I pretty much just walked up north. I made my way over to Tennessee, but it was probably worse there than in Georgia," she shakes her head, not going into too much detail. "Ran into a couple of groups in Nashville, but ultimately I just decided to pack up and leave. Let's just call it a conflict of interests and leave it at that."

"You fought with them, then."

"Leave it at that," Lilly repeats, stretching out her back without causing too much strain on her wound. "I found some car on the side of the road that had about half a tank of gas left, so I came east to North Carolina and never looked back. I've been here ever since."

After a few seconds of silence, I rub my tired eyes and yawn softly, indicating that I'm more than ready for a solid sleep.

"I guess we're staying here for the time being," I comment, using my bag as a pillow while I rest my head against it. "Jane's gonna be pissed."

"To hell with what Jane thinks," Lilly says simply, closing her eyes and resting her head uncomfortably against a box. She doesn't seem to mind though – I bet she's had to do that on more than one occasion.

Chuckling to myself slightly, I look over to see that Lilly has opened up one eye to look at me. It seems that I have half her attention, anyways.

"You two need to start getting along," I encourage her, folding my arms across my chest. "If we're all gonna be living together, then we need to learn how to work together. We don't want a repeat of what happened last time."

"You still want me around?" Lilly asks, sounding genuinely surprised.

"Well, I haven't kicked you out yet, have I?" I shrug, earning an eye roll from the older lady. "It's funny how things work out, isn't it? I used to be terrified of you, and now we're the only ones left of the motor-inn group."

"I wasn't that scary, was I?"

"Don't you remember how mad you got when I accidentally smashed through the glass window with the soccer ball?" I inquire, smirking as she nods her head.

"Fine," she relents, sighing as she recalls that memory, "but to be fair, I think I must've asked you to stop at least a dozen times by that point."

"I was eight! And you told me to F off!"

"I'm pretty sure my exact words were "stop shooting the fucking soccer ball"," she corrects, yawning before closing her eyes once again. "Now keep it down, would ya? We don't want the walkers to burst in."

I hadn't really noticed, but the walkers must have stopped trying to break in a while ago. There's no more banging on the door, but I still don't want to take any chances by heading out at night. We'll just wait until the morning, head back to Howe's and pray that Jane doesn't beat me up for making her worry about me.

And besides, with our luck, the walkers are probably just waiting outside right now as we speak.

As the hours roll by, my sleep is interrupted as Lilly starts tossing and turning in the night; her body shivering from the cold and undoubtedly the nightmare she's having. I groggily open one eye, slightly annoyed that she woke me up, but that annoyance is immediately forgotten as I notice just how much trauma she seems under.

Lilly's muttering unintelligible sentences, but I've got a feeling that it has to do with Larry. She always had a soft spot for the old blowhard, which is understandable I suppose. But even so, it's difficult watching her squirm in fright like that.

As quietly as I can, I scoot over to her side and carefully maneuver myself against her; fully expecting her to wake up and shove me away. When she doesn't, and she actually calms down a little bit, I sigh in relief and rest my head against her shoulder. Lilly even feels cold, but that's alright. Deep down, I can tell that she cares about us; about me.

And just like Jane, I know how to get through to her.

…

We headed out at first light the next morning, and true to what I had believed there were some walkers waiting for us outside. They were a lot fewer in number this time around, and were fairly easy to take down, but almost all of my bullets are gone in my pistol.

"Use this," Lilly orders as we make our way through the forest some two hours later.

"That thing kicks like you won't believe!"

"Not if you're stable with it," Lilly simply replies, handing me the weapon as I sling it over my back. This thing is damn heavy! How the hell does she carry it around all day?

We crossed the frozen river a while back, and I saw those same breaks in the ice that we fell into back when Arvo was showing us the way to the house. I felt pangs of sadness as I remembered Luke desperately telling me to go back, but what other choice did I have? I wasn't going to risk losing him because I was too scared to walk over and save him!

"Oh shit…" I mumble, bringing me back to my thoughts and leaving me feeling incredibly guilty. Lilly's confused, as to her this would be just another walker, but it means more to me.

Randy, the same father that I had turned away… is eating his wife and son. His glasses are destroyed; smashed to bits on the ground beside him, and the rest of the family is dead alongside him. They must have gotten attacked by walkers after we forced them to leave, and then turned soon afterwards. This is sick and wrong… and it's partly my fault.

I'm partly responsible for their deaths, so it's my job to finish them off.

"I'm sorry…" I murmur, aiming the rifle at Randy's head as he notices me approach. As he walks over towards me, I fire the weapon and end his undead life as the kick sends me flying to the ground. Picking myself up, I watch as Lilly begins looting the bodies.

"They don't look that old," she remarks, pulling out a pistol along with some rounds and extra food rations that they had on them. "Do you think they might've been at a camp around here somewhere?"

"No idea," I lie, knowing full well that they were seeking shelter with us. Glancing over at Gil makes me sick to my stomach the most, as he was the least dangerous one out of them all. But still… we couldn't take any chances with strangers. "Let's just get back to Howe's…"

Still clutching onto her stomach, Lilly scrounges up the remaining useful supplies and stuffs them into my backpack before following me. I really don't feel well now, and it's all thanks to my conscience telling me that I was responsible for their deaths.

"Didn't Jane mention having alcohol somewhere?" Lilly inquires, ducking her head under a tree branch as we push onwards. We're not far from the hardware store any longer.

"Yeah, why?"

"I think we all could sure as hell use some…" she trails off slowly, placing her hands in her jacket pockets as we make our way back onto the main road.

Yeah, we definitely all could use some drinks. Some more than others.