Episode 1: The Fallen Rise- Closing The Day

Hey guys, longest chapter I've ever written, so take a seat, grab a snack or a drink and enjoy.

"This day just keeps getting better and better..." Dusty sighed as he headed towards the truck.

And Kenny and Clementine looked up at the top of the telephone pole... there was the duffel bag, slung up there far above their reach...

"Can we climb it?" Clementine suggested as they all approached the cherry picker truck.

Kenny responded. "Naw, look see the bars on the sides of the pole, they use them to climb up but they're rusted out. Can't do it on your own..."

Dusty tried the truck's cab and opened the driver's door only to find out it was locked. "Yeah... we're going need to use this cherry picker to reach the bag. Probably how they got it up there in the first place."

"To use the truck, we need the keys, where they at soldier boy?" Kenny asked as crossed his arms again. "You don't got them?"

"...I don't understand." Dusty jogged around to the other side of the truck and attempted to open the other door, it was locked too. "Why's it so tough to do this?"

"Something went wrong." Clementine piped up to the both of them. "It doesn't make sense what happened here."

"She's right." Kenny agreed. "Think we can we try to hotwire this thing? Dusty right? You know anything about that?"

"What? No. Why would you even think that?" He inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh... uh, because you're... you know what, never mind." Kenny didn't want to get caught by another urban for another stereotype.

Dusty furrowed his eyebrows and examined the truck again. "We need to find those damn keys, maybe their inside the cab? Someone locked them in?"

"Clem, go ahead and look around for anything we can use." Kenny told Clementine. "I'm gonna try and figure this out with soldier boy, keep a lookout too."

"I'll try Kenny." The twelve year old nodded.

"Thanks sweetie, you find anything come and tell us." The one-eyed man affirmed her as he joined Dustin in this problem of a truck. "Don't go smashing the window, might still have an alarm."

Clementine turned around and scanned the back parking lot for clues. The only thing is there was barely anything out here at all. Just a nasty-smelling dumpster and a bloody pile of walkers.

(0) Look at Dumpster.

"Seems pretty crappy..." She shrugged.

Then the only thing left to check out was that pile of three dead walkers. She causally stepped towards it, and when she got close enough...

*groah...*

Oh, well Clem soon learned that it was instead two dead walkers on top of a weakened live one. It growled and snarled at the young girl when it spotted her, but it was pinned beneath the bodies of two of its own. Clem could see that the live one's neck was shredded, so he must of bled out and fallen. Yet somehow this former survivor was able to kill both of these two walkers while they were still on top of him.

"Sorry..." Clem murmured to it as she pulled out her knife and stabbed the live walker in the head, silencing it.

It was then that Clementine realized that the bottom walker was much fresher than the other two. It looked like he died today. The twelve year old then checked and then stabbed both skulls of the other lurkers, just to be sure. She then clasped her hands on the top walker and rolled it off the pile. She did the same for the second one, and she was met with the fresh dead meat she had just put out of its misery.

"There's a walkie-talkie in his hand." Clem noted as she picked it up and pocketed it, remembering that Dusty said that Xavier's guy radioed him about the drop. This man must have worked for him, most likely the guy who had placed the drop bag where it was. She crouched down to search the body.

(0) Check Left Pocket.

Clementine stuck her hand awkwardly down the indicated pocket to start her looting. She felt something and she pulled it out, only to find that it was a small wallet-sized picture of a beautiful lady...

Clem sighed and she respectfully placed the photo back where it was.

(0) Check Right Pocket.

She dug her hand here, and her fingers were quickly met with a cold metal and the jingle-jangle of what she needed. "Got'em." She smirked.

She stood back up on her two feet and proudly walked back to Dusty and Kenny who were still at a lost for starting up the truck without making too much noise. It was Kenny who noticed her first. "Well? You find anything Clem?"

Clem shrugged jokingly. "Nothing much, just these." She revealed the bundle of silver and golden keys to the both of them.

"You little devil..." Kenny smirked with pride.

"Whoa." Dusty took the keys from the little girl, and he was already climbing up to the basket. "I think you saved the day Clem, great work."

"Thanks." Clementine nodded as she peered up at the duffel bag at the top of the telephone pole, it sure looked a whole lot closer now. "Dusty, do you know how to work this thing?"

"Yeah, I mean... how hard can it be?" Dusty argued as he got into the basket and examined the controls. "Okay... right. Ignition's here..."

"Oh Jesus..." Kenny sighed. "We might be here all day Clem." He then addressed Dustin. "Hey, you want me to do it?"

"No no, I got it. I got this." Dusty assured them as he found the right key and the crane sprang to life. The hydraulics sounded like they were maintained and slowly but surely, Dustin adjusted and relatively rose up pretty quickly in height, getting closer and closer to the bag. "Almost got it..."

*CCRRREEEAAKKK!*

"Stop! Stop it!" Kenny hollered up at him. "Don't push it, that damn crane might give!"

"What? No, I'm close..." Dusty stretched out his arm, he was only a foot or two away from touching the bag. He just had to move the basket forward. "I can get it..."

Clementine then noticed a pool of dark fluid dripping out of the bottom of the truck. The leak then got more and more frequent, and bigger quantities began to spill out. "Kenny!"

Kenny snapped his attention from above to below and then he exclaimed. "She's leaking hydraulic!"

*CRREEEAAAKKKK!* *Thump!* *Tssssss*

Without the precious liquid to keep the the crane and basket raised, Dusty was going to come back down even after all this progress that they had made. But that was when he did something neither Kenny or Clementine expected him to do: he leaped out of the freaking basket! And Dusty was able to grab with both hands and hang onto the cross-arm piece of wood where the duffel bag was slung over too. His feet were dangling, but he held on. Clementine yelled up at him. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Kenny followed that up with. "Are you outta your damn mind?!"

"I got it! Just... here!"

With most of his effort, Dusty was able to get his fingers underneath the strap, and he tossed the duffel bag down below which slammed onto the ground with a thud. Now all they had to do was to get Dusty down, but the thing was, it was about a forty foot drop for him. Kenny warned him. "All you got is pavement underneath ya, don't let go, or you'll break both your damn legs!" He then turned to Clem. "We need something to cushion that idiot's fall."

Clementine quickly looked around and spotted probably the best option for them. "How about that? Push the dumpster underneath him."

"Good enough." Kenny agreed as he and Clementine nearly sprinted to the dumpster and got on either side of it.

On really old wheels, it was difficult to get the thing moving. It wasn't empty from what they could tell which was good for what they had in mind. Clem pushed, as did Kenny, and they guided the giant smelly bin until it was directly underneath Dustin, ready as a landing pad. Kenny flipped open the lid and the three-year-old garbage wafted horribly into the air, causing Clementine to hold her nose. "Oh god!"

Kenny's face scrunched up too. "Go on soldier boy!" He called up to him. "Help is here."

"Just let go, Dusty!" Clementine stated as she took a peak inside the dumpster. She nearly gagged, but she knew there was enough foul garbage to break his fall. "Come on!"

"You think I'm just gonna jump in-!" Dusty had lost his grip, and he fell like a sack of potatoes until he crashed right into large putrid dumpster. "Ow..."

Kenny offered his hand to a sprawled out Dusty to get him back out. "Did I mention you're a reckless fuckin' moron? I know ya for ten fuckin' minutes and you almost get yourself killed, again?"

"Hey it worked," Clem defended him. "Dusty got the bag down."

"And nothing's broken..." Dusty took Kenny's hand, and with his help he was able to hop out and get back on solid ground. "Yep, pretty sure nothing's broken."

"Goddamn, you stink!" Kenny pushed him away as Dustin lifted an arm to smell himself. "You'll need all the fuckin' water in Lake Michigan to wash that shit away."

"Gee, thanks Kenny." Dusty scowled as Clementine went over to the now accessible duffel bag and picked it up.

She carried it over to the two men and she propped it on the flat step to climb into the basket, so that they could easily examine it. "Wonder what's in it?"

"Yeah, I'm wondering that too." Kenny crossed his arms. "Open it up Clem. See what's what."

Dusty objected. "No, we ain't suppose to look inside. Xavier told me to just get it and bring it back to him. That's all, so no peeking guys."

"What?" Kenny raised his eyebrow at him. " 'Just get it and bring it back to him'? You of all people should want to know what's inside. After all that effort, you ain't the least bit suspicious about this, soldier boy?"

"I'm just followin' orders Kenny." Dustin spat back. "If it was important, I'm sure he would've told me."

"Yeah... I'm sure he would've..."

"We almost died trying to get this, can we just take a peek Dusty?" Clementine asked.

He shook his head at that. "Clem, we can't have that on us. Now let's just get back to Wellington, get some dinner, and call it a day."

"Do you even think for yourself?" Kenny questioned him. "If Xavier ordered ya to jump off a bridge would you do it? 'Cause I wouldn't be surprised."

[OPEN BAG]

[DON'T LOOK]

Clementine decided to take matters into her own hands, and she unzipped the whole duffel bag, much to Dustin's surprise. "Clementine! What are you doing?"

"She's doin' what she wants. Deal with it." Kenny answered for her as they all peered inside. "Holy shit..."

The contents inside were plastic bags filled with bottles of antibiotics, small syringes filled with clear liquid, and other medicine: enough to treat fifty or so people for a while...

"I've never seen that much medicine in one place..." Dusty was internally glad that he risked his life for all this. How many lives he may have saved. "Zip it back up Clem."

"Why did Xavier go to all this trouble?" Clementine inquired from the both of them as she zipped it back up. "It's like he was keeping it a secret."

"Yeah it does." Kenny nodded. "I knew I smelled bullshit the second I heard about this."

"I'll carry it." Dustin stated as he took the bag and slung it over his shoulder. "I'll have a word or two with the man, and we'll discuss this later."

"Fine."

"Let's get it out of here."

"AHHHHHH!"

"What the hell was that?!" Dusty exclaimed as he spun around, looking for the source of the scream.

Kenny was the one who narrowed in and deduced where it came from. "That was a girl's voice! Came from over there!" He pointed across the street towards a shabby rundown Laundromat.

"We should go check it out." Clementine suggested knowing that wasn't exactly the smartest idea but... "Maybe we can still save her!"

(?) They both noticed your optimism.

"Yeah, yeah. We gotta try." Dustin agreed as he armed his rifle again while Kenny and Clem took out their pistols.

"We gotta hurry then." Kenny affirmed as they went off.

The three of them ran towards the location to which they heard the screaming woman, about twenty seconds of sprinting across the road and hopping over the curb, they made it to the front entrance of the Laundromat.

"I'll keep watch out here," Dusty told them. "You two go and check if she's still alive in there."

"Fine. Let's go Clem." Kenny stated as he and Clementine stepped inside yet another dark structure.

But Clem and Kenny found themselves with their jaws dropped at the sight they were seeing. "Oh my god..."

"NO! NO! PLEASE! GAHHH-! EGLHhh..." They heard her... but they didn't see her.

They had found themselves in the middle of a makeshift massacred camp: washing machines and old dryers stained with blood, and there were many dead bodies lying all over the floor. From the back room to where they were standing, it was piled up with gore and yards of intestines were already strewn out to litter one another. This scene they smelled, it was ghastly and reeked of death; "Fuckin' hell..." Kenny and Clem saw a distinct fresh trail of blood leading around the back room of the Laundromat...

Kenny held up his fingers to his lips in a shushing motion and signaled Clementine to follow him with his gun raised. The two survivors cautiously tiptoed and made their way across the horrible real-life nightmare. What they found though, was not just the damsel in distress...

It was another young man covered in blood; he was kneeling over the woman they could assume was the one screaming. "You... you can't be... I need..."

Clementine took the courage to speak up and address the only survivor. "Hey! Get away from her or she's going to turn!" She noted that the woman was disemboweled as well with no blow to the head.

Kenny ordered him. "Get your ass up, now!"

The man who complied had turned around revealing himself to be just a kid, a teenage boy of above average height and build. He had dark colored eyes and short, black hair. He wore a standard white collared shirt, blue jeans as well and sneakers. He had his shirt partly unbuttoned and un-tucked with his sleeves rolled up. He also has a silver chain looped on to his pants. He was just only a boy... a big one at that, but maybe he was around seventeen or eighteen. "...Why? Why am..."

Dustin suddenly came onto the scene in a panic. "Guys, we got walkers coming!" He then glanced at the young man then the woman dead on the ground. "Clementine, come on, convince him to come with us and let's go!"

"Dammit! We have to shoot our way out!" Kenny and Dusty raised their guns and prepared to do so.

Clem realized that the teen was the only one left alive here so she ran to him and nudged him. "I'm sorry about your friend but you have to come with us! You'll live!"

(?) He will remember that.

The boy looked at her and gave a firm nod before looking back at the now dead girl in a somber expression, so he got up and ran with Clem without another word as Dusty and Kenny provided their cover, the four of them continued to run and shoot, ran out of the bloody Laundromat, passed Paula's Market, and found safety from the lurkers in the nearby woods...

The four of them made it out of the forest and Dusty spotted the cooking fire in the sky over the hill. "Suppertime, we've been gone longer than I thought..." And their trek back to the Wall was almost finished.

"What do we do with that kid? Think they're gonna let him in just like that?" Kenny said in a tone of exasperation. "This whole damn day was too fucked up for its own good."

"We got the job done, that's what matters, and we saved someone's life." Dusty evaluated their efforts. "Ain't got to be so damn sore about it."

While Dusty and Kenny were still bickering about the events that had just transpired, Clementine looked over at the young man who never said a word since they rescued him. Not even a thanks or a hello. Perhaps Clem should start? "Hi... I'm Clementine. What's your name?"

Maybe it was the shock that kept him quiet, what horrors had he witnessed his friend suffer? But after he spared a glance at the twelve year old, he revealed his name.

"John, John Hazen."

"Huh?" He had barely whispered it.

"My name is Hazen."

"Oh... nice to meet you, John Hazen." Clem offered a smile to comfort him but it didn't seem to have any effect.

"...She was my big sister." Again she could barely hear him, but she still listened.

Clementine attempted to console him. "I'm sorry you lost her... John."

"Just Hazen is good..." It was a moment or two before John responded. "The truth is... I don't even know how to feel about it. It all seems like a fog... like didn't know where I was... just lost."

Dusty chimed in, looking back at the two of them. "Just take all the time you need kid, Wellington ain't exactly famed for turning away kids. Our leader will make sure of it."

"It'll be okay once we get back inside and eat some food. It's been a long day." Clementine added.

"A long day of bullshit if you ask me..." Kenny sighed as the four of them slowed to a stop before the Wall. "Edith! Open the damn doors already!"

"I hear you Kenny," Edith walked up to her regular post above the entrance yet again. "No need for shouting." She then noticed the extra company. "Who's that? You pick up an extra guest?"

"It would've been inhumane to leave the kid where we found him. One more extra mouth to feed can't hurt Edith, if he does his share of work, right?" Dusty defended.

"We've crossed this line before Dusty and we've had to turn away a lot of folks." Edith stated after speaking an order into her radio. "...Luckily, today isn't one of those days. Come on in, you all must be awfully hungry."

"You could say that again." Clem smiled as the protection of the Wall opened up for them and they walked back through. As soon as they were on the safe side now, the container doors closed right behind them, and Xavier, Maree, and AJ in her arms were waiting for them.

"You're back." Maree grinned at the sight of them. "You had us all worried."

Kenny was the first on her to take Alvin Junior back from her. "Hey little buddy, how you doing?"

"He was a real gentleman, Kenny." Maree joked as she informed him. "He already had his nap so get him some food and a change. He should go right back to sleep."

"Thank you." Kenny nodded as Maree gave a soft glance to Dustin and Clementine before she dismissed herself back to her tent.

"Well your a man of your word, I'll give you that dear Dustin." Xavier approached the former janitor and relinquished him of medicine bag. "An excellent end if I may say so." He sniffed him and he scrunched up his nose. "Been rolling around with the skunks?"

"It's a long story..." Dusty peered over with a disgruntled Kenny and a worried Clementine. "Think we can talk?"

"Actually, I have another matter I need to attend to, excuse me." He waved them all of as he departed as well. "Ciao, my friends."

Another abrupt farewell by Xavier, he didn't even seem to notice Hazen at all, oh well...

"Clementine," Kenny got her attention before anyone else could say anything. "Meet me and AJ by our tent, we need to talk, in private..."

"Okay Kenny... see you in a bit." Clementine responded as Kenny walked off with AJ.

"So what do you think?" Dusty got her attention again. "You think after a day like today, you want to work together again? A boring guy like me?" He chuckled making fun of himself. "I'll understand if you want to change things up a bit, get some shifts with Kenny maybe?"

"You're okay Dusty, but would you mind if I worked with Kenny instead?" Clementine kindly asked.

"No, no of course not. Kenny's your friend and I get it. ...But damn that guy really knows how to talk down on ya..." Dusty retorted.

"He's like that with everyone. Don't worry." Clem replied as she turned to Hazen, who looked like a third wheel on this conversation.

"Hey kid." Dusty included the quiet young man in. "Maybe tomorrow they'll start you with me. Let's get you set up with a tent, alright?"

Hazen acknowledged him. "Yeah, thank you Dusty." He then turned to the twelve-year-old who had woken him up from his recent shock. "Thank you, Clementine."

"You're welcome." Clem nodded as she walked off to attend to her own business, getting dinner. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." She waved them off.

Clementine made a beeline to one of the soup kitchens that served as a cafeteria in an outside picnic area near their field of tents. There was a good amount of people already eating, so Clem was about to get her meal when she was stopped by a deep voice. "Clementine."

The twelve-year-old turned to see Vaughn walking towards her with an open can in his hands. "Vaughn, how was your day?"

"Not so marvelous I'm afraid, little one." The old Haitian sighed as he handed her his can of meat-stuffed ravioli. "Here, this one's on me..."

"Thank you." Clem hungrily accepted this delicacy, much better than beans or chili. "How was your day?"

"My day? Child, it has been a long one, but seeing you here after a day of contributing to the community, makes my heart feel glad and buoyant." Vaughn smiled as he patted the girl on the shoulder. "I hope it wasn't too stressful for you, no?"

"Actually, I have some questions to ask you." Clementine spoke up to him. "Do you have the time?" She knew he was a busy guy, heck he was the leader of Wellington, she was happy that this gentle man found the time to check in with her.

"I only have a second to spar Clementine, then I must get going. What is it, dear?" He waited for her single question.

[Ask about Xavier]

[Ask about Wayne]

[Ask about Himself]

"When Dusty and me went out today, Xavier told us to pick up a bag instead of looking for supplies. It was full of medicine and pills, I don't really understand it at all. Neither did Dusty." Clementine explained to Vaughn. "Did you know about it?"

Vaughn was racking his brain for a response, but he was drawing a blank for the little girl. "Clementine, are you sure that's what happened?"

"Yes."

(?) Vaughn will remember that.

"Hmmm... Okay then. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. It is very odd that he would do such a thing. So, I'm going to call him into my quarters and we are going to have a talk. I'm sure it's nothing too serious..." Vaughn turned heel and made his way to do so. "Enjoy your meal, little one."

Soon Vaughn was quickly out of her field of vision as she surveyed the tables around her to find Kenny and AJ, she couldn't spot them anywhere. She could only see... "Oh no..."

Helga and Wayne had zeroed in on her and they were heading right towards her. The latter carrying a small cardboard box and the former stomping right next to him. "Hey! Clementine right?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Clem just wanted to be left alone so that she could finally eat but that wasn't happening yet.

"I told you she would be clueless." Helga spat at her as brother and sister stood in front of her. "You have fun going outside the wall with dust mite? And I heard you brought back Patchy the Pirate and a new guy. ...Looks like you'd rather travel in packs instead of toughing it out on your own." She must have referred to Kenny and Hazen.

"What do you guys want? I'm really hungry." Clementine retorted as Wayne lowered the box which had an extra knife and pistol already in there.

"You forgot to turn in your weapons from work. Give'em back and we'll let you eat." Wayne told Clem as he motioned towards the box he had. "Put'em in here."

[RETURN WEAPONS]

[HIDE WEAPONS (Lie)]

"If you make this hard on us, we have the right to search and seizure." Helga smugly crossed her arms at her. "I dare you to give me an excuse."

"Here, take them." Clem placed her pistol, knife, and even the stun gun she found back in the police station. "That's all I have, now can I please eat?"

"When did you get the taser?" Helga questioned but quickly condemned her. "She must have stolen it, she probably has a full set of sticky fingers."

"I picked it up before you almost choked Michael to death... I could have used it." Clementine boldly stated to the two of them. "But I didn't."

"Oh now you're trying to act like badass? Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night, but I can smell bullshit a mile away." Helga meanly challenged her.

(?) Wayne noted your compliance.

"That's enough Helga." Wayne quieted her once more and sent her off. "Go on and get us some food, just lemme talk to Clementine alone. Now!"

She scoffed at him but she listened and walked past Clementine, but not without pushing her aside. "Outta my way..." And she kept walking to get them some food. "Whatever, piece of..." And then she got into inaudible mumbling.

Wayne made sure she was out of earshot before he stated to the twelve year old. "Helga can be a real bitch sometimes... but that's just the way she is, how she deals with it. ...This is what this world made her. It's just... we've been through a lot together, experienced unspeakable shit. Stuff you'd never understand at your age... You chose to take dust mite's side, I didn't like that. But I know you could have used more than words back in the police station. I'm just saying, we ain't all bad kid, sort of a shitty start though..."

"What are you saying? That I should just forget what happened today with you guys?" Clementine argued.

"Sometimes people get carried away..." Wayne offered this to mull over. "What do you do when that happens? When you see someone overstep their boundaries, do you stop them? Help them? Or end them? Everybody makes mistakes. You and me, it's been hard on all of us."

"Then say you're sorry, and make Helga apologize too." Clementine declared as she began chowing down on ravioli, she couldn't wait any longer.

"She'll say she's sorry when she's good and ready." Wayne was about to leave and join his sister. "Oh, and for what it's worth... thanks for not electrocuting me."

Clementine remained silent as she finished her meal and made her way towards Kenny's tent, it wasn't too far so maybe... then she spotted a familiar boy staring and sitting in front of a tree as he stabbed at the ground with his knife. Clementine approached him and made her presence known to Michael. The teen lifted his head, his dark matted fringe covering his eyes as he stared distantly at her. He then proceeded to stab at the ground.

"Hi, Michael." Clementine greeted with a small awkward wave.

"Hey."

"What are you doing?" She asked, wondering if he was distressed in some way.

"Waiting... just nothing now I guess, it's been a real fucked up day for me." He replied. "What are you doing?"

"Checking on you." Clem thought that was pretty obvious.

"Why would you do that?"

"Well..." She reasoned. "Because you look upset... you're stabbing dirt..."

"I'm not upset. Why does everyone think I'm upset? No needs to worry about me. Jesus Christ, I don't hear the end of it from Edith."

Clementine sat down in front of him and crossed her legs "Something must be wrong. You're really acting... out of sorts."

Michael grunted and stabbed his knife into the ground, and then he released the handle once it was firmly in place. He then reached for his pocket and tossed a piece of paper to her. "Read it. You might as well."

Clementine unfolded the paper and read it aloud.

"Vaughn. I can't stay here. There's something I need to do. So I'm leaving. And I don't think I'll be able to come back. But I can't take Michael with me. It's just not possible. I'm not a good father, I never was, and he doesn't need me anyway. He may be young but he's strong. He can take care of himself. Could you just do me a favor? Keep an eye on him for me. And when the time comes, break it to him gently that I'm not coming back.

Thanks for everything.

Lucas"

Clementine finished reading the note and stared at a dejected Michael "Well, would you look at that? I've been lied to. Lies, lies, fucking lies. My dad told me then he would come back in a couple of months time. That was fucking ages ago. So I get suspicious, and I had a look around in Vaughn's desk and I found that."

"I'm sorry, Michael." Clementine apologized.

"It's fine though. I don't care. So there's no use crying over it. If we wants to run off and abandon me again just like he did when I was little, when the world wasn't like this, then that's his decision."

"Do you want talk about it?"

"Aren't I already?" Michael paused for a moment. "...When I was a baby he walked out on my mom. And then when the world turns to hell, of all the people we run into, my mom and me run into him. When my mom died..." His voice trailed off as he gave a pained expression "He was the only one I had. The only family I had left. And now he abandons me all over again." He growled angrily, pulling the knife out of the ground and in a blind rage, he threw it at the tree and it stuck.

"Nice hit. You're good at knife throwing." Clementine commented.

Michael snorted a laugh "Thanks."

"...So what are you going to do?" Clem inquired seeing as this boy may still be in a dark place.

"I might get into a lot of trouble if Vaughn finds out this letter is missing." Michael stood up as did Clementine as he went to pull his knife back out. "If you could sneak in and maybe put it back, I'd appreciate it."

Clem crossed her arms in dismay. "Why me? I'm tired Michael, I just want to see my friends and then go to sleep." She looked at the horizon to see that it was almost sunset.

"It'll only take a minute if you're quick, and Vaughn won't be expecting you. Please Clem, I'll make it up to you." Michael smirked. "Anything you want, like maybe get back at Helga?"

"Fine." Little had she known, she took hold of this letter once before almost a year ago. "I'll do it."

"And if you get caught, just blame me. I don't want you getting into trouble, not over this. So... yeah, I gotta go do something else..." Michael drew this favor to a close as he released his knife from the tree. He looked at the blade in his hands and decided. "You know what? Here, borrow this as collateral, that way if you get caught you can keep it or something... I think that's how these things work."

"Sure..." Clementine narrowed her tired eyes at him with much exhaustion as she accepted his knife and pocketed it. She just had to get this done then meet with Kenny and AJ. "I'll do my best."

"Okay thanks again, Clem." Michael then turned and stormed off.

The two of them parted ways for now as Clementine made her way back to the large tent where Vaughn and Maree hopefully didn't reside at the moment. If he was still talking to Xavier things might prove to be more difficult. How was she going to sneak this note back in for Michael, she did not know, but if she got caught it wouldn't be the end of the world either.

The circus tent came into view, but oddly enough there was no one around, might be easier to do this than she thought-!

"AHHHH!"

"MAREE! GAHHH!"

"Oh my god!" Clementine exclaimed as she ran into a full-on sprint towards the circus tent. Those screams were definitely owned by Maree followed by Vaughn. What could possibly make them scream in terror like that? Clem didn't want to know, but she was sure to find out. As she pulled back the flaps of the tent and witnessed what was inside, her worst fears were confirmed and time seemed to slow down, each second feeling like an eternity...

Walkers... on opposite sides of the tent, one attacking each of them by surprise. How the hell lurkers got inside the Wellington, Clementine had no clue. All they could do was struggle and hold their snapping jaws back, but they needed help, they needed it fast, both of them... but who first?

On her right, Vaughn was on his back trying to hold up the clawing corpse from digging into his stomach. Vaughn was strong but he was pinned and gravity was working against him here. He was the kind supportive leader of Wellington and Clementine had a chance to save him, what would happen among the power struggle if he had died?

But on the other hand to her left, Maree was in just as much trouble. Up against the empty crib, she was trying to kick away the walker and grab her knife, but her reach fell way short. Maree had the medical experience, and she always took care of AJ. Clem also promised Dusty to look out for her, but at the cost of her father's life?

Clementine had to chose who to run to... who to save first... the decision was at hand.

Vaughn the father? Or Maree the daughter?

A/N- Clementine who has no gun, only a knife to make a major decision determines the fates of two characters, and you the readers and reviewers may decide who lives and who dies. Tell me who you would save via review and await the conclusion of Episode 1: The Fallen Rise.