AN: Okay, so here's the next part for this. Occasionally, I find some good songs that I think would fit well with the overall theme of the Walking Dead – whether it be the show or the game. So, my favourite people, the song I've found is called "Blood on my Name" by… I think it's the Wright Brothers or something, I'm not sure. Either way, give a listen if you're interested – it's got that southern vibe to it and it sounds really cool!

"I ALREADY TOLD YOU NO! NOW GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM THE GATE!" I hear Lilly yell out, frightening AJ a little bit as he squirms in my arms. Glancing down at the baby boy, I frown as his eyes grow increasingly terrified. If people keep this up, then AJ's going to have trauma for quite a while.

"DROP THAT! DON'T! DON'T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" she bellows as I lean back and sigh. Another day, another person turned away. It was a unanimous decision a while back that we wouldn't take in any strangers to Howe's, and so far the results have been less than spectacular. We've had to turn away two families, an older couple and three others who were just on their own. Lilly's much better at doing that sort of thing than I am, and so is Jane, so I've been fortunate enough to just look after AJ while it happens.

I'm out in the pen right now; with nothing really to do and not much to say. It's been three days since that whole… incident with the bonfire… and I haven't really spoken much to either of my companions. When asked about what happened to my jacket, I simply tell them that I ripped it by accident when they had their little drunken episode. I sent the charred remains of it flying in the air; glaring at the ashes and muttering "good riddance" before either of them could tell what had actually happened.

My little tirade went unnoticed, thankfully, since the two of them were both passed out at the time. But I can't stop thinking about it… how bitter and hateful I let myself become. I'll never forget that feeling of desperation as I watched everything I held dear bun in front of my eyes; how broken I felt when I picked myself up off the ground and snuggled with AJ, who was my one source of comfort left in this cruel, dark world. No matter what happens, this boy needs to live. I can't give him the life he'll want – not with both of his parents dead and with him living in the apocalypse.

But I'll be damned if I don't give him the tools he needs to survive out here. That's the most important thing that I can do for him – keep him safe and protected, no matter what.

As the sound of a rifle goes off, my heart races for just a moment until I hear the yelling start up again.

"What the fuck was that?! I was handling it just fine on my own!" Lilly hisses violently.

"Like hell you were," Jane replies snarkily, "That bastard was gonna pull a gun on you! The least you can do is show some gratitude for a fucking change!"

Rubbing my temples tiredly, I groan as the arguing once again has started up between the two of them. Of course, neither person remembers the drunken fight that they had before, which is a good thing since I'm pretty sure that it'd get really dangerous really quickly. But the constant fighting is getting us nowhere, and I'm not going to get into the middle of it this time.

No, they can sort their problems out themselves this time. I'm not babysitting them anymore.

"I can't believe the nerve of that…" Lilly stops reluctantly as she notices Alvie and I sitting calmly on one of the wooden bed frames out in the pen; kicking a wall in frustration instead. "How do you put up with her?!"

"The same way I do with you," I bite back, not showing any emotion as I look out the gated fence. "I ignore you when you get all pissy."

"Ha ha, you're so hilarious," Lilly rolls her eyes, deciding to reinforce the fence as I place AJ down in his little box.

"I wasn't really joking," I comment, grabbing a box of nails and handing some over to her. "You two are acting like a bunch of babies… no offence, AJ."

"You know how she pushes my –"

"I don't want to hear it, Lilly," I interrupt, stopping her as I hold the board in place. "If you two don't start getting along, then this whole thing's gonna fall apart. And I'm not letting either of you two put AJ's life at risk because of it – I'm telling you that now."

"Then what do you suggest I do, advice guru?" Lilly asks as she hammers in one of the nails and wincing as she hits her thumb.

"Stay out of each other's way when you can," I tell her honestly, already contradicting myself when I said that I wouldn't get involved. "Or sit down and chat it out – tell her what you don't like about how things are done, and try to reach a compromise. If that doesn't work, then… I don't know. Try sucking it up or something – it's just the way it's got to be."

"My dad used to tell me the same thing," she remarks a little sadly, but quickly shaking off any emotion as she asks for another nail. "He used to push me all the time; said it was for my own good, that no daughter of his was going to be a whiny princess. He taught me how to shoot a gun around the same age as you… I was always afraid of the damn thing."

"And now you're a marksman."

"I'm not that good, Clem," she admits, and I'm about to retort when she stops me. "But… I'm starting to feel better around here. I think you're about the whole reason why, so… thanks. I know that I can be a bitch sometimes, but – "

"Stop it," I shake my head, not wanting to hear Lilly beat herself up again. "We're lucky to have you around – I'd be dead if you hadn't done what you did in the church."

Smiling a little bit, Lilly shrugs it off as nothing before continuing to work.

"…but you do need to try harder with Jane."

"Why does this feel like the motor-inn all over again?"

…..

"Is all of this really necessary?" Jane complains, folding her arms across her chest as I make her sit in one of the office chairs.

"Yep," I reply simply; sitting in the big chair as Lilly shows up in the doorway. "The only way we can make this work is if we lay down some ground rules, and hopefully start you two on getting along with each other. AJ can't take any more of your guys' fighting, and frankly neither can I."

"He's a baby! He can't say anything!" Lilly retorts, shooting Jane a glare as I point to the empty seat beside her. This is my house now, fools!

"Take a seat, and then we'll start."

"Are you the big boss now or something?" Jane jokes, chuckling as I rest my hands behind my head. "All you need is a cigar and you'd fit the role perfectly!"

"I'm here to make you an offer you can't refuse," I try joining in on the fun, sporting a fake Italian accent from some movie that I can't remember the name of. Was it… the Grandmother or something? Whatever, it's not important. "Jane, we'll start with you. You tell me some of your problems, and I'll write them down on this piece of paper."

"Umm, not to kill the moment or anything," Lilly interrupts, raising a hand pensively, "but shouldn't someone be on watch? I mean, what if someone tries to break in?"

"We'll be fine – don't try to weasel your way out of this, Lilly!" I cut in, picking up the pen and beginning to put my limited writing skills to the test. Grade one doesn't exactly qualify me as a professional writer. "Now… what's your problem, Jane?"

Smirking to let her know that I'm just teasing, Jane rolls her eyes and turns away from Lilly; huffing out a sigh as she shakes her head.

"This is so fucking dumb," she says bitterly, "it feels like I'm in a god-damn couples' therapy session! What makes you think that I'll ever get Queen Bitch over here to work with me?"

"Well, you certainly won't with that attitude…" I murmur, but Lilly is already getting ready to go off on another tangent.

"Queen Bitch, eh? Now that's creative. Did you think of that one all by yourself, or did you need Clem here to come up with it for you since your brain's so small?" she taunts, wearing a smirk that's enough to drive even the most neutral party insane.

"GUYS!" I interrupt, slamming my tiny fist onto the table in order to get their attention. When that works (surprisingly enough), I click the pen open again and beckon for Jane to proceed. "This is serious, you two. Can you please just try not to rip each other's heads off over the next few minutes? Or at least pretend that you like each other? We need to start acting like we actually care."

"That's the point though! She doesn't care!" Jane barks, giving me a weird look when I start writing the stuff she says. "Lilly couldn't give half a rat's ass about this place, or us! I've tried talking to her peacefully, but all she does is… is…"

"Bitch?" I conclude, not liking to use that derogatory word at all.

"Exactly!" Jane exclaims, lifting her hands up to emphasize her point. All it really does is piss Lilly off more. "We've both seen her snooping around the store, checking over our supplies when we've told her not to several times. And… it's driving me crazy just thinking about it! I can't shake the feeling that she's just gonna take off with our load!"

"You're talking as if I'm not even here," Lilly remarks, frowning as she gazes at the floor.

"How about we let you talk now?" I suggest, making a separate section for Lilly's opinions on Jane. "What issues do you need to sort out?"

When she doesn't move her head even an inch, I sigh tiredly and rub the bridge of my nose. I don't want this to take very long, since it's my turn tonight to make dinner for everyone.

"Come on, Lilly," I encourage, "get the truth off your chest. It'll help you out… I think."

"You really want to know what I think?" she asks suddenly, gazing hard at me as she too folds her arms. Her body language gives off the impression of going to war or something – not a good sign. "Jane, you're constantly on my ass about everything that fucking moves! You haven't trusted me since I got here, and whenever I try to help out you always give me a hard time about it. And… you fucking snore too much!"

"You're so full of shit!" Jane tries to argue back, but snorts as she tries her best to be angry. Once she starts giggling, then it turns into a frenzy of chuckles. "You… ha ha! You never save me the last piece of dessert at dinner time!"

"Oh god…" Lilly wheezes, trying to wipe away the tears from laughing so hard. "And Clem… you're too bossy! And I know for a fact that you sneak one of those candy bars with you before bed almost every night."

"Hey, this is supposed to be about you two! Not me!" I giggle, chucking the pen uselessly and giving up on this whole paper thing. Maybe all we needed to see eye to eye was a little bit of time to just have fun for a change. Life gets boring when you're so serious all the time.

I have to admit, this is helping me feel a lot better since that whole fire pit incident three nights ago.

"Alright, well how about we come up with some solutions?" I suggest after having calmed down a little bit. The situation seems a lot less tense than it did before. "So Jane… how about you try and not bug Lilly as much about how she does her work? She hasn't done anything for us to hold against her, so can you please try to cut her some slack?"

"…Fine," she sighs, leaning back in the chair with her eyes tilted upwards to avoid Lilly's gaze. "Doesn't mean I'll like it, though."

"You don't have to," I remark before turning to Lilly. "And Lilly? Can you try to not scout out the rations so much? I know that you like to keep track of stuff like this, but we can handle it just fine. You don't need to worry."

"Actually, we do," Lilly insinuates, turning in her chair to speak directly to Jane. "And if you won't say something about it, then I will. What better time than at a group meeting?"

"Lilly, please don't…" I beg, widening my eyes as Jane glances my way.

"What's she on about?" she asks suspiciously, eyeing me wearily as she demands an explanation.

Sighing irritably, I glare at Lilly while holding my hat with both of my hands. This was supposed to wait until the food situation actually started becoming a problem, not right now! This isn't going to fly well with Jane, I can tell.

"Half of all that food you guys have got here? It's going rotten," she explains briskly. "That's all the resources we have left, and this place is dry. Clem and I barely made it out of that shanty town alive, and that was just all so that we could empty a fucking vending machine. Those things don't grow out of the ground, you know!"

"What are you saying then?" Jane asks, narrowing her gaze as she stares intently at Lilly.

"We leave – I don't wanna push our luck here," Lilly replies flatly, not seeing any other choices. "This place isn't going to last forever – nothing ever does, not anymore. It happened at the motor-inn, and it's gonna happen here. Whether it's bandits or walkers… who cares? Either way, three people and a baby aren't going to be able to defend a big-ass place like this for much longer. What's the point of staying?"

"There's a shit-ton of reasons for staying!" Jane argues, the intensity in their voices picking up again. Well, it was nice while it lasted. "We've got more than enough protection from the elements, plus we have our guns if things go south. Even if some of the food goes bad, then so what? I've checked the rations, and they should be able to last us for years at least!"

"Yeah, if your idea of one cracker per day is your definition of satisfying…" Lilly bites back sarcastically.

"Yeah? And I'm guessing that the greenhouse upstairs counts for nothing then, right?" Jane spits, pointing upwards with her index finger. "We just got this place a little while ago, and now you want to just pack up and leave? This is the best area we've got – there's nothing else out there besides fucking trees and hills! Are you both in on this?"

Feeling that the question is directed at me, I feel scrutinized under the stares of both Lilly and Jane. Whatever I decide now could very well be the factor of whether we're leaving or not. Why does it always come down to the wire like this?

"I…"

My answer is interrupted as the three of us hear the distant sounds of… groaning. Instantly widening our eyes, the three of us drop our conversation as we sprint over to a window and look outwards towards the parking lot.

Great… that's just awesome. The herd is back in full force – and here I was thinking that it had truly run off for good.

"Jesus Christ…" Lilly mumbles, rubbing a hand through her hair in disbelief as she looks at the oncoming traffic. "There's gotta be hundreds of them out there…"

"If we stay quiet, then they probably won't come near us," Jane advises, glaring as they stumble their way forward like a massive tidal wave. "They don't know we're here, so as long as we keep a low profile, we should be safe. The fences are secure, so they should be able to hold them off. And if it comes down to it, then we've got our guns and can make a stand right here."

"Are you out of your fucking mind?!" Lilly angrily hisses, gesturing to the herd in dramatic fashion. "We can't take them all on ourselves! We need to leave right now – forget about your damn pride and just listen to me for a fucking change, Jane! This place is gonna fall at any moment!"

"We've been through this before, dumbass! And that was with people shooting at us from the roof! Right Clem?" Jane asks, but I'm too preoccupied to give her much of a response. "Look, just keep your fucking head down and you'll be fine. This'll pass, and we won't have to go anywhere."

"…Which one of you was supposed to watch AJ?" I ask quietly, widening my eyes as the both of them look at each other in shock. Before either side can start pointing fingers, I gasp and put a hand over my mouth. "You two left him downstairs?! He's gonna get eaten alive!"

"They're… they're trying to break in…" Lilly murmurs as all three of us start hearing little Alvie's cries. "Fuck! He's gonna bring them right on top of us!"

"Downstairs – hurry!" Jane orders as we book it out of the office and take two steps at a time down the stairs.

If anything happens to Alvin Junior, there'll be hell to pay.

…by all three of us, most likely.