Episode Two

Chapter Four: Cry For Help

Previously on The Walking Dead: After being forced out of their camp by a herd of walkers and defusing the situation with Donald and his bite by cutting off his leg, the group encounter Chad at the Shop-And-Drive. There, Clementine picks up some fresh batteries and Lilly finds a map. Meanwhile, after losing Paul to the walkers, Molly, Todd and Ryan must carry on moving through The Marsh House before they catch up to them.

Todd had marched ahead of Molly and Ryan now, who were still climbing the flight of stairs below him. Ryan had his arm over Molly, who was still in shock after their recent encounter with the walkers and losing Paul. They hadn't said a word to each other since then, but Todd was sure he had heard Ryan whisper to Molly as they made their way up the stairwell. He was getting paranoid, suspecting that Ryan was whispering about him. He tried to ignore his feelings of jealousy, and enjoy the good luck the three of them were finally starting to have. The stairwell had been clear for the last couple of floors, meaning they hadn't had to cut across any hallways and risk running into walkers. However, this hadn't stopped Todd from sighing loudly every time he saw Ryan hold Molly close. Finally, Molly and Ryan left Todd's mind when he realised the stairs didn't go any further. He had reached the end of the stairwell. Above the door ahead of him hung a green fire exit light that still shone bright filling Todd with a feeling he never thought he'd feel again: hope.

Her and Ryan had fallen far behind Todd now, who had marched ahead and had maybe even made it to the roof already. Molly wouldn't have blamed him if Todd had decided to leave them both behind; they had done the same to Paul. The two didn't say a word about Paul, but every couple of minutes Ryan would whisper to her the same question: "Are you okay?" But the only answer he'd gotten had been an uncertain and unconvincing nod. Ryan was holding Molly close to him, but her hands were in her pockets. She thought Ryan was sweet, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything that might hurt Todd or seem disrespectful to Paul. She was starting to realise why she didn't travel with groups; people could never get along. She had considered staying with Lee and his group, and maybe even taking their boat out with them, but she saw what happened when they tried to be civil; they tore themselves apart instead. She remembered how the old man Kenny had almost murdered the cute kid with the blonde hair, Ben was it? That was when she realised: travelling in groups never works out. She was wondering what might have happened to Lee and his group when her and Ryan finally caught up to Todd. He was stood in front of the large metal door that looked as though it hadn't moved for centuries. They had found their exit.

The door soared open after a swift but powerful kick from Ryan. The kick almost forced the door off its hinges, but Todd was still able to close it behind them as he, Ryan and Molly stepped out onto the roof of The Marsh House. Save for a few rusty pipes that showed their ugly and grim heads as they poked out of the roof, the ground beneath their feet was mostly flat. Ryan was quick to take a seat on the ground, his arms and legs spread out as though he was ready to fall asleep, but he remained sat up. Molly looked around the roof cautiously, expecting a walker to jump out at them at any moment. Hilda was still stuffed into her backpack, but her itchy finger looked ready to grasp for it at any second. The sounds of a beeping and a click then gained Todd's attention. At first, he wasn't sure what it was and looked around him for a clue. Then he remembered the walkie-talkie they had found in one of the rooms that Molly had trusted him with. What they had heard on the other side hadn't been good, and they hadn't heard from the girl since, but now it sounded like someone was trying to reach out to them.

"Hello?" A hopeful voice said through crackles of static. Todd could already tell it belonged to the same little girl. He held the radio to his mouth and pressed the red button to reply immediately.

"We're here! Can you hear me? Who is this?" He asked all at once, unsure which question would be answered first. Molly and Ryan had obviously heard him speaking to the girl and had circled around him to hear her response.

"I'm Clementine," She replied, answering his third question. "Who is this?"

"I'm Todd. Todd Phillips," He answered back happily. "It's nice to meet you Clementine."

Clementine held the walkie-talkie close as she listened to the man's words. She was sat on the sofa in the RV with Omid and Christa beside her opposite Tom, Lilly and Coach. Johnny and Alex remained in the driver's cabin, and Alice sat beside her husband at the back of the RV. Donald laid down as Alice changed his bandages. Clementine felt as though everyone's focus was on her, and that she would have to choose her next words very carefully. Before she could reply however, she heard rumblings from the other side of the radio. She could hear a woman's voice now, questioning Todd. "Did you say Clementine?" She heard a voice ask. "Clementine? Is that you?" The woman asked after snatching the radio from Todd.

"Um…" Clementine struggled to reply. She looked around her for an answer, but no one was sure what to say. Before she knew it, Christa had snatched the walkie-talkie out of Clem's hands.

"Who is this?" Christa demanded.

Molly recognised her voice immediately. "Christa? Is that you? Is Clementine with you?"

"Molly.." Was all Christa could manage, struggling to believe pure coincidence had brought them back together. "Yeah, it's me. Clementine's here."

Clementine grabbed the radio again, and held it to her mouth. "Molly!" She exclaimed. "Where are you? Are you okay?" She asked all at once.

"I'm still in Savannah, and no, we're pretty far from okay." Molly confessed, looking around her. From the cold, tired and mopey looks on their faces, it looked like Ryan and Todd were both in agreement. "We need help, Clem."

Alice rubbed her husband's sweaty forehead as she listened to Clementine's conversation with the stranger on the radio. It sounded like Clementine knew her, but that didn't stop Alice from feeling uneasy. Her and her husband had only just managed to make it out of Savannah alive, the last thing either of them wanted was more trouble. Donald had been slipping in and out of sleep since Tom had cut off his leg. Even though what Tom had done had saved her husband's life, Alice still found herself resenting Tom for it. Now, she was hearing the group talk about turning the RV around, heading back to Savannah, and finding Clementine's friends. This, Alice would not stand for.

"We're at The Marsh House in Savannah," Molly explained to Clem over the walkie-talkie, her breath steaming in the cold night air. "Paul's dead, and the walkers have us trapped on the roof," she concluded, assuming Clementine knew what to do with all of this information. She looked around her, at Ryan and Todd, both of whom were just as anxious to get a reply as she was, pointing their ears to the radio.

"They're at The Marsh House," Molly heard Clementine tell someone in her group. Molly wondered if she was still travelling with Lee, Kenny and Ben as well as Christa and Omid.

"Do you know where that is?" Somebody, it sounded like Christa, asked Clem. Molly hoped that someone in their group knew, as Molly wouldn't know how to direct them to it. The four of them had stumbled across the house almost accidentally.

"Yeah, I do!" Clementine said with confidence, making Molly smile. Upon hearing Clem's response, Ryan held Molly tight and rubbed her shoulder warmly, glad to hear some good news for once. He was so excited, he even leaned in and kissed Molly's cheek, which made her smile even more.

"Does anyone have a map?" Molly heard Christa ask the group. Each of them replied with a "nope" and the occasional "sorry". Molly didn't recognize any of the voices, but then someone else spoke up.

"I have one," Lilly said, though Molly did not recognize her.

Things were sounding more and more hopeful by the second. Molly trusted that at least one of the people travelling with Clem was a capable fighter, otherwise they wouldn't have survived for so long.

Clementine must have taken her finger off the radio's trigger, as she didn't get back to Molly. A few minutes later, she tried calling out to Clementine through the walkie-talkie, but she got no reply. Molly insisted that she must have left it somewhere and forgotten about it, or maybe the batteries had died, but when they reached an hour later, Molly wasn't so sure. All she hoped was that Clementine was okay.

"I have one", Lilly pulled a map out her trousers and unfolded it as she got on her feet. She was about to hand it to Christa when somebody snatched it out of her hands. Beside her, Tom stood, towering above her. He chewed his cheeks as he looked coldly at Lilly.

"Now hold on just one fuckin' minute ," He spat at the group in a high-pitched and humorous tone. "Are we seriously considering heading into Savannah?"

"Tom, those people will die out there!" Christa insisted. She thought carefully about her wording in front of Clementine, but she realised that Clementine had probably seen more death than anyone in that RV.

"Who the fuck cares?" Tom cried out blatantly. "People die every day! They die, but we move on! It's how this world works!" He insisted. Christa could see he was clearly thinking about his wife and daughter.

"Molly's my friend!" Clementine finally spoke up, surprising even herself. "We don't leave friends behind!"

Tom sighed. Although he agreed with Clementine, he didn't know these people, and leaving them to die wouldn't have fazed him in the slightest. "Sorry, kid. But I've had enough of new people," Tom concluded. And then, without batting an eye lid, Tom stretched the map out with both hands and tore the sheet of paper in half.

Tom sat back down casually, as though nothing had just happened. The rest of the group were silent, unsure what had come over him. Tom was never the most pleasant man to live with, but this was something else. Something wasn't right.

"What the fuck did you just do!?" Omid cried out, breaking the silence.

"You watch your mouth you little shit," Tom told him.

"What is going on out here?" Alex asked as he stumbled out of the driver's cabin. He tried to balance himself as the RV rocked him from side to side. Alex and Johnny had missed the entire conversation, so the group understood his confusion, but that didn't stop Tom from continuing to act so hostile.

"These idiots are considering turning back because some bitch with a radio called for help," Tom replied. Surprisingly, although Alex still had countless questions, his response had mostly summed up the last few minutes.

"Who called you? Who needs help?" Alex asked curiously.

"A girl called Molly," Christa answered. "We met her in Savannah." She didn't go on, however, it was a long story after all.

"And there was a boy with him," Clementine went on. "There might have been others too. His name was Todd…"

"Todd?" Alex repeated the name back to Clementine, just to make sure. For some reason, it had gotten his undivided attention. "Todd who?"

"He told me his last name," Clementine said, trying to remember. "It was Todd…. Todd… PHILLIPS! Todd Phillips!" She said happily, proud of herself for remembering.

Alex looked stunned. "We have to turn around," he said. This gained everyone's attention, but Tom replied with nothing more than a sigh.

"What are you yammering on about now?" Tom said. He was laid back in his seat, looking ready to fall asleep.

"I know Todd! We went to College together, but we split up when Savannah was evacuated," Alex explained. "If he's in Savannah, and he's in trouble, we have to help him!"

"And why is that?" Tom asked, not seeing a point to Alex's anecdote.

"What do you mean?" Alex questioned Tom, he didn't feel as though he had to say anything more than what he just said. "We can't just let him and the others die out there!"

"You didn't seem so concerned about my daughter when you and your boyfriend poisoned her," he said calmly. That was when he sat back up, staring at Alex with threatening eyes. And just like that, the entire RV was silent again.

"So it's true," Tom said as he stood back up putting himself to-toe-with Alex. "I had my suspicions, but I didn't really think you two would ever sink that low."

"Tom, I swear to God-" Alex tried to cut in.

"Don't swear to God, son! He can't help you now!" Tom screamed at Alex, spitting all over the boy's face as he backed away from Tom. "SWEAR TO ME!" He threw his right fist at Alex with all of his might and sent him straight to the floor.

"ALEX!" Johnny shouted to him from the driver's seat. He slammed down the brakes, but kept turning to see what was happening behind him.

"Tom, I swear to you," Alex said through bloody teeth, "She wasn't supposed to die." Alex took a pause, his eyes circling around the room. He had not choice but to tell the complete and honest truth. "You were," he finally admitted, deciding honesty was the best policy.

Johnny saw Tom open the door of the RV, even though it hadn't fully come to a stop yet. That didn't stop Tom from picking up Alex by the back of his collar, grasping the back of his trousers with his other hand, and hurling Alex out of the RV.

The RV couldn't have been doing much more than 5 miles per hour when Alex was thrown, but the fall still hurt like hell. His face hit the ground, and his mouth filled with blood and dirt immediately. He tried to push himself up. With all of the strength he had left, Alex pushed against the ground, but he only collapsed a few seconds later, and relived the fall all over again. He spat blood out of his mouth – he was sure he spat out a couple of teeth at the same time that Tom had knocked loose. He rolled onto his back, and just for a minute, took a second to admire the night sky. For a moment, there was peace, and then he heard Johnny cry out.

"ALEX!" Johnny screamed as Tom marched out of the RV. Johnny tried to chase after him, but Lilly was blocking the doorway, letting Tom do his work. Work she felt needed to be done.

Alex was still smiling at the stars when Tom got on his knees and sat on top of him. For a moment, Tom just stared at Alex, waiting for him to say something. But Alex was silent, and when Tom's fist came hammering down as the first raindrops started to fall that night, he did not scream. The crackling of the storm covered the sounds of bones breaking. And even when Tom raised his fist again, Alex refused to scream.

Next time on The Walking Dead: Things spiral out of control when Tom confronts Johnny and Alex about the circumstances of his daughter's death. Johnny is forced to face the consequences of his actions, and the other members of the group must decide whose side they are on. How will they react to Tom's outburst? Will Tom cross the line? Find out in the next chapter of The Walking Dead...