Bo's POV
Wandering down the empty hallways of the Houston Space Centre makes me ponder the actual meaning of our meager existence. We barely get by out here – every single day being a struggle to live and actually make something of ourselves. Sure, the walkers may have largely dissipated from our surrounding area, with the occasional pack roaming in from the countryside or one of the other major cities in Texas, but the threat always remains.
Just because you think the danger has passed doesn't mean that an even bigger one isn't waiting for you on the horizon. Hell, just think back to that girl Ellie was with years back… Riley. One slip-up and she had been killed by some asshole trying to break into this place.
Sometimes I wonder if we humans have become even worse than the walkers.
It certainly wouldn't be too far of a stretch to make that kind of claim. People can be brutal and merciless, sacrificing all sense of morals and cutting all personal ties just to get a leg up on the competition. Roamers may be hungry for flesh, but that's all they know – they can be avoided and tracked down. People can change their minds on the fly without any warning.
People can disappoint you, and do horrible things to each other that you'd never even see coming. People can murder others of their own kind. Until I see a walker start to try and eat one of the other countless dead roamers out there, maybe I can retract my statement.
Until then, I will likely be severely disappointed in what we've done to survive.
Sure, James and I aren't saints, and anybody could see that. We've messed up before, had our fair share of mistakes that we try our best not to regret, but all of it was for a far greater cause. By destroying lives, we've been trying at the same time to save lives.
But some, and I won't start pointing fingers until I can at least try and get a confession, have just been taking lives away to suit their own needs. I'm not sure if James really buys what I've been telling him about Clementine's activities, but surely he can at least see that some things just aren't adding up. We had the entire facility locked down on the night of Zayne's death, and there was absolutely no way that a walker could've possibly gotten inside while remaining undetected. The bite mark wasn't even cold when we saw the body, and wasn't anywhere close to being as vicious and bloody and brutal as it should've been.
Besides, where was this supposed walker hiding out anyways? Nobody found any evidence of there being one – we had all just taken Clementine's account without any questions asked. Nobody would've expected that the "leader" would be capable of something like this.
And one way or another, I'm going to find out why. No more stalling, no more avoiding the cold, hard facts. I want answers.
"Aww shit…" I swear quietly, not having noticed where I was walking and accidentally stepped on the portrait of the space centre's founder. I never figured out the name, but he seemed to be a pretty important figure back in the day, and I'd have to thank him for helping establish such a well-protected settlement. It's a lot better than wandering about across the state.
Feeling as though it's a little disrespectful for me to leave the picture to be further trampled upon, I place the dinner (more like slop) that I had made for Scott on a table as I try lifting the thing with one hand. It's a total pain in the ass, but somehow I manage to get just enough leverage underneath it that I can slide it upright and lean the old frame up against the wall.
There, now it looks more like a shrine.
A dull yet throbbing pain resides in my chest as I try to cough out whatever bug it is that I've been having lately. It almost feels like there's a boulder lodged into my lungs at certain points, which is a bit nerve-wracking to think about, but at the start I was sure that it was nothing my body couldn't overcome with a little TLC. Obviously, if these recent spasms are any indication, that's not the case.
I hadn't said anything about it to anyone, but the pain has been getting progressively worse over the past several weeks. Honestly, I didn't want anyone to start worrying about my welfare, having always been a man who prided myself on my independent nature. I had been more capable than most around here in the beginning, and actually felt a little bit of enjoyment in knowing that I was able to help people in need.
That all changed once the arm was chopped, I suppose. Nothing's the same anymore… people take one look at me and see nothing more than a cripple, with nothing to contribute to the group other than fill up space. They might not say it to my face, but I know. God knows I do.
Coughing into my sleeve again, I try to muscle out the last stretch over to Scott's room – or, according to him, his holding cell. Just a few more steps to go.
"Scott? You decent?" I knock three times, coughing to the side again as a muffled reply just barely squeaks through the cold, metallic frame of the door. Taking that as acceptance, I shoulder my way inside a moment later and slightly cringe at the musty smell in here. Whether it's from dirty clothes or leftover food I'm not one hundred percent sure, but clearly this place hasn't been cleaned for a while. "Hey… just wanted to know if you were hungry. James ain't the best cook, but he tried, I guess. That's something."
Not even bothering to shrug his shoulders at that, Scott emotionlessly stares at the blank wall in front of him; completely devoid of any cognitive function other than breathing. I poke him in the shoulder a little to make sure that he hasn't completely lost it, but I can sort of see why he would – this whole room is depressing. His whole predicament with Luna and Jake certainly hasn't helped his case either.
Quietly encouraging him to pick up the spoon, I gently nudge the bowl of oatmeal (tasteless, mind you) towards his lap. "Come on, Scott. Eat something. Get something into your stomach," I advise, knowing firsthand just how important it is to get your meals while they're still available to you. That incident at the mall had left scars in more ways than just a severed hand.
"…are you here to kill me?"
Frowning, I lean up against the door as I shake my head and struggle to keep my breathing problem under wraps. "Of course not," I tell him, even though I was debating it earlier with James. Killing under our roof isn't tolerated no matter what, but this could be a special circumstance if looked at under a microscope. "Hell, if I was going to do something, I think I'd use a loaded gun. Poisoning your oatmeal seems a bit cowardly, don't you think?"
Not finding the joke nearly as funny as I do, Scott lowers his gaze to his lap as he clutches a pillow in between his hands; squeezing tightly and then letting go seconds later in a continuous manner.
Alright, not the time for laughs, Bo. Focus – he's in a lot of pain right now.
"I know that I wasn't there and can't properly judge for myself, but thinking back on it now… you probably did the right thing," I sigh as my breath becomes more and more laborious with each passing minute, something that Scott starts to notice. Shit. "Luna was… cough-cough! Blech! …she… she had to have been… the most…"
"Bo," Scott interrupts me, no doubt out of concern for my welfare, "look at your sleeve… I think you need help."
Curiosity getting the better of me, I glance down and twist my arm a little to see that something indeed may be wrong with me. The red stains on my white and grey flannel shirt are a dead giveaway.
It's just a hunch, but I'm pretty sure that coughing up blood is a bad thing.
"Well, damn," I mutter, wiping a thin layer of saliva off of my face, "I was just planning on taking a special someone out to dinner in this, too. Fancy that, huh?"
"Let me come with you, we'll go get James and – "
"You're staying right where you are," I tell him, not giving Scott the chance to rebuttal as I shake my head and block his path. "Just… don't worry about me, alright? I'll go find him myself and… and get this all sorted out. I'm sure it'll be nothing."
Looking terribly unconvinced, Scott tilts his head to the side in concern as he folds his arms together. Either he looks terribly worried about me, or he's simply disappointed at the prospect of having to stay locked in his room for any more time than what he already has to. The guy could at least open the curtains if he wanted to, Jesus…
"If you say so…"
"I do," I nod to him, repeating myself as I try reassuring the boy that I'll be fine. He's got a good heart in him, and I know that he cares enough to do the right thing when it calls for it… but my health is my own concern. Not his, not anybody else in this giant metal box that we call home other than the one guy I know that could potentially help me.
Closing the door tightly shut behind me, I wheeze once more as I try to clear whatever ailment I may have out of my system. Hopefully the news isn't as bad as it feels right now.
Jane's POV
"Keep looking! We can't lose the trail, or she's fucked!" Racheal hollers from a ways down the road, looking for any sign of where she could've gone off to. Way to sound optimistic there… Really sparking some team motivation.
But is she entirely wrong? The girl dashed off like a whirlwind as soon as she spotted Joshua without giving any thought to telling us, and it hadn't taken long for the two of them to escape our sights. Once they started to run past the remaining walkers out in the soccer fields over here, they basically vanished into thin air. There's too much carnage around to move fast enough or to even see properly – not with the bodies having been stacked on top of each other for cremation.
Getting slightly agitated, seeing's how we probably should've been heading back to the vehicles at Hunter's Retreat by now, I elicit a low growl from the back of my throat as I simply shove a walker to the side and keep moving forward; not even bothering to put a knife to the back of its head this time. How did the day come where dead men and women walking around were the least of our worries?
"Lilly, just leave him! We don't have the time!" I groan, watching as she ignores my request and makes sure that Ellie's standing behind her. With one swift kick to its head, Lilly takes her fire axe and chops straight into its brain. The beast squirts out dark blood matter like a popped jelly donut.
Dislodging her weapon, Lilly barely breaks a sweat before turning around to check on Ellie. Grr… doesn't she realize that we have more important things to worry about right now than killing walkers?! "One less to worry about," she remarks, looking confused as I shoot her a small glare. "What?"
"Didn't you hear me? Kaz is missing, and you wasting your energy isn't gonna help! Why can't you just listen to me?"
"I don't think this is the best time, Jane…" she mutters, brushing past me as Ellie timidly follows behind. She's never enjoyed it when Lilly and I fight like this, but it's not as if our bickering is anything new. We've been doing it for years – she should just be thankful that we're not trying to kill each other anymore!
…damn, it sounds pretty brutal when I say it like that…
"Lilly, wait…" I say, sounding more and more like a hypocrite as I try to make it up to her a little back. However, I feel slightly discouraged when she doesn't even turn her head back to face me.
Instead, she ends the life of yet another undead being before kicking the severed head down the pathway; annoyed as the trail has gone cold.
"Shit…" she murmurs, placing her hands on her hips and trying to figure out exactly where we are right now.
Kazuki's POV
After all that he's done… all the threats, all the lies, all the hurt and manipulation… this is it. I'm finally going to get this asshole once and for all. This is personal, yes, but it's also not just about me. This is for everyone that this guy has screwed over and tormented over the years.
One way or another, Joshua is going to die tonight.
I'm not sure if he realizes that I'm right on his ass, since it seems like he doesn't really plan on stopping for anything. The man's on the run – not from the law, but from the justice that he knows will be served to him if somebody from his camp catches him. He mutilated his leader, and left his ship without a captain to guide it to shore. Whatever shred of loyalty and humanity he may have had has been totally shredded to bits, and he has chosen the coward's way out: running for his ever-loving life, and crippling those that remain by taking the remaining food and supplies from his former survivors. He's turned into a literal form of the Grinch, except I don't think he can bounce back from this. Not without being completely exterminated.
And despite all his planning and plotting, the guy has made a mistake. A very dire and grave mistake, indeed.
For you see, he didn't happen to notice that there was a hole in the bottom of his bag of goodies – big enough to allow a flare gun to fall right through, along with a few other dried goods.
This isn't going to be quick and painless, which at this point in the ball game is something I'm not too worried about. I don't need to be the bigger person, I just need to kill him.
Let's see if I can roast this chicken alive.
My footprints have been tracking in the dirt and mud behind me, so hopefully I'll be able to find my way back after this is all over. Sure, I need to make certain that Joshua can never hurt anyone ever again, but a big part of me just wants to turn around and head back home. That's what we were planning on, wasn't it? That we would all go home as a family together? Jane and Clem must've secured the cars at some point, so I would imagine so.
But seeing my target still out in front of me gives me more of a resolve to end this than to turn a blind eye. Huffing and puffing as the weight of his stolen supplies starts to weigh him down, Joshua trips slightly as we come into a clearing; revealing a small, wooden shack that would almost look out of place if not for the weathered sign still implanted on the front.
Jenny's Convenience is what it reads, although the letters have largely been faded to the point of it almost being unrecognizable. It's a really small building with on a few windows, a busted door and some creaky, broken front steps.
Taking my chances as he chooses to retreat there, looking rather relieved as he sees it for himself, I pull out an actual pistol that I had on me for emergencies, take aim… and sigh as the fool gets trapped at the foot of the stairs. In his haste, he failed to realize how unsteady and brittle the wood had become and mangled up his leg as he fell straight through.
Clenching his teeth and almost whimpering as he struggles to move out of his captivity, I silently start to walk out from amongst the trees – a gun in each hand as I can feel a vein pulsing from behind my eyepatch.
Standing perfectly still for a moment, I lower the flare gun to the ground as I whistle for the bastard to turn around.
"Hello, Joshua…"
As soon as he hears my voice, the maniac smirks and chuckles before leaning his head back and shaking his head. "So… you followed me all the way out into the sticks, is that it? Should've figured as much," he mentions, turning to face me just as I cock the slot of my gun back. "You and I were always destined to – "
Instantly cut off as a bullet goes zipping through the air, Joshua howls in intense pain as my shot rips through his arm and tears a part of his tricep clean off. Blood coats down his arm as he keels over and calls me brutal names over and over again.
"ARRRGHHH! YOU ONE-EYED FUCK! YOU FUCKING WHORE!" he swears as I put a finger to my lips.
"Shh…" I tell him, dropping the pistol to the ground as I swap it for the orange flare gun. "It's my turn to speak now."
Clem's POV
"Kaz?!" I shout out loud, cupping my hands around my mouth to form a makeshift loudspeaker as my voice echoes throughout the air. I haven't seen anyone that I know out here yet, choosing to avoid the men and women who were staying here altogether for right now. I'm still not exactly sure if everyone's chilled out around here just yet, so why take the chance, right?
Feeling a little squeamish as an undead hand moves out underneath a pile of corpses, with the fingers still twitching and lashing out in search of some prey to chow down on, I hop over it and set my sights on the soccer net; still lodged in place even after years of neglect. The once white goal posts have slowly started to rust, since there hasn't been anyone around to keep up the maintenance on it. It's kind of sad, really, seeing a soccer field in such disrepair and ruin. Despite not really liking the sport as a child, and really only playing because my parents enrolled me, I actually kind of miss it a little bit.
Still clutching the deflated ball in my armpit, I bring it up to my hands as I squint my eyes and try to make out a shape just beyond the field – or should I say three shapes, since Kelly, Marcus and Katie are all up ahead doing a search of their own.
Follow them, sweet pea. They'll probably have a better lay of the land than you will right now, Lee advises me as I simply accept the fact that I'm likely never getting rid of this affliction. When he mentioned a long time ago how we'd always be together no matter where we ended up, I didn't exactly picture that it'd be like this.
"No kidding…" I mumble, finding the strength back in my legs as I carry myself forward. Upon noticing my arrival, Kelly and Katie wave me over as Marcus takes a knee in thought. "I heard about Kazuki," I explain, failing to hide the slight worry in my voice as Kelly lightly places her hand upon my shoulder. "Did you guys see where she went? Alden told me you all split up to look for her. Is she alright?"
"One question at a time, there," Katie tells me with a smirk, pointing her thumb over to Marcus as he rubs his hands over something in the dirt. "Mr. Archaeologist over here thinks he's found some kind of clue – Kaz ran like the wind when she spotted the dude, but he thinks we might be on the right track. Ain't that right, Corn-Flakes?"
Rolling his eyes at the nickname and knowing fully well that she's making fun of his hair, Marcus beckons for us to come closer as he points out something in the mud. "Tracks are leading this way," he mentions as we look out in front of us. "See? The leaves are all trampled on and pointing to the left. If they're as fresh as I think they are, then that's probably where she'll be."
"How can you be sure? What if they belong to a walker?" Kelly genuinely asks as Marcus shakes his head.
"They'd be a lot more staggered and dragged onwards – these tracks look human to me. Definitely is our girl."
Going with his lead, since it's really the only one that we've had thus far, the four of us hope over a chain-link fence as I nearly cut myself on one of the sharper edges. Cursing silently as a part of my jacket is torn off and left to hang against the wind on top of the fence, I ignore it and keep on heading forwards with the rest of our separated group.
Wanting to keep the tone a bit lighter, even though deep inside she's still hurting over the loss of Elliot, Kelly cracks a faint smile as she slows down so that I can catch up. Curse my stubby legs! "You know, after this whole mess is sorted out with," she mentions, causing me to look up at her for a brief moment, "I think we all deserve a nice, long vacation. Let's go to an island or something… how about Cuba or the Dominican? Somewhere nice and warm!"
Chuckling as she gets in on the action, Katie keeps starts to lag behind Marcus as he starts to get a bit of a distance on us. "We live in Houston, you do realize that, don't you? It's warm almost all year round!"
"I've never been there before…" I trail off as I think about all of the things that I never got to do since all of this began. Perhaps one day, when things have calmed down a little bit, then we'll all be able to visit one of those places.
I'd gladly give up leadership of the Fireflies if peace could actually be restored around here.
"You'd probably love it, Clem. Warm, sandy beaches, crystal blue ocean water, margaritas as far as the eye can see…" Kelly laughs brightly. "Although, I'm pretty sure you'd love the last part even more if you were at the drinking age. We had awesome weather when I went back then. Why, just the other day I was thinking about it, you know? If it weren't for all of this, and I had actually known the guy beforehand, I may have… actually invited Elliot to come with me…"
Squeezing her hand in support as I toss the soccer ball away, Kelly sighs before smiling sadly. "He would've loved to go with you, too – I know it," I tell her as the woman tries to keep it all together. We need everyone to be on red alert and at the top of their game in order to keep each other safe, no matter how much we might be hurting.
We're gonna have time to mourn our losses later… I need to believe that Kelly can bounce back from this.
"Yeah…" she nods, feeling a few stray tears leak down her cheeks as she quickly wipes away the evidence. "Thanks, Clem."
Noticing the sob story that we're producing back here, Katie bites her tongue and stares straight ahead again, not realizing that I had just seen her do so. Sometimes I have to wonder about her… hasn't she ever had somebody that she truly cared about in her life before? I'd like to think so, but she always either talks to us in a snarky way, or just acts like she doesn't really give a crap at all.
And what's worse is that she, on numerous occasions I might add, has tried to drag me down to the same mentality at times. Trying to get me to help steal Luna's helicopter, bringing me aside and mentioning how I shouldn't be so trusting of Jane and Lilly, trying to show me how to get leverage over certain people in the group by holding guilt trips over their heads… what's her ultimate goal, here?
It almost seems as though she wants me to become more like Tracy than anyone else.
Stopping for a second as we reach a creek, I nearly bump into Katie as Marcus darts his head left and right.
"Where'd they go, Marcus?" Katie insists, not bothering to hide her annoyance as we stop in the middle of nowhere. "You said that you knew where the tracks were leading. I thought you were trained for this sort of thing! Weren't you a cop?"
"Never got out of college, smartass…" he snaps back, biting his lip as he tries to search for any clues to their whereabouts. "But umm… uhh… Just gimme a minute here, alright? I'll find something, just help me look…"
It's only a few moments later that we turn our gazes to the sky, watching as a bright flare pops up in the distance.
Kazuki's POV
Incapacitated, there is almost nothing that Joshua can do as I slowly take a few steps forward. Come what may, either walkers or my friends, neither of that matters. I'll take either one, since I'm just about to finish this man off and hurt him the same way that he used to hurt me. All those long nights spent getting beaten back at Tracy's camp years ago, and then more recently when he threatened to kill me if I didn't cooperate – I never thought that I would be able to control my own wellbeing. My fate was always in the hands of somebody else, whether I had a say in it or not.
And now look at this punk. Sniveling on the ground like a rat in a trap. I wonder what he's thinking about right now in that sick, twisted brain of his. Is he sorry for the cruel punishments that he dished out? Is he repentant about the dozens of lives he neglected or destroyed in order to try and get ahead? Does he even care about any of these things?
No, I sincerely doubt it. And there's not a damn thing he can do to shake that belief from me.
"Do you honestly think anyone's coming out here to save you?" he hisses, nearly choking on his own words as he tries to keep himself from bleeding out. "How did you not get this through your thick fucking skull? Those people don't give a shit about you… we're in the same boat, you and I. We… we've both been neglected…"
"You tortured me for fun."
"And look where you are now, huh? Way better off than the spineless, little princess that you were before…" he croaks, chuckling madly while he does so. "If it wasn't for those sessions, you wouldn't even be here right now! You grew up and saw what you'd have to become to live out in a world like this! You survived because of me!"
Finding it disturbing how he can actually firmly believe in what he's saying, I stagger and lose myself for just a second as Joshua picks up on the hesitation almost instantly.
Holding out his uninjured arm as blood trickles onto the wooden staircase, he simultaneously tries to talk me down while also trying to break out of his prison. "You won't kill me, Kazuki… I know you better than you know yourself. I made you who you are today…" he tries to drill into my head, but my revenge won't be stopped here. "I'll go – somewhere far away, Kaz, I promise! You'll never see me again… and none of you will have to worry about me coming back."
The flare gun, still having a couple of shots left in it, shakes in my grasp as I contemplate his words. The fucker is lying, I know he is! He's never been honest with me in his entire life!
"Just let me… let me go… I need to find her… I need to look for Anne…"
No way… even after all this time, it's still been about finding her…
"You've wanted her dead all these years," I accuse, knowing that I hit the nail right on the head as he lowers his eyes. "It's always been about her, hasn't it? The same girl you grew up with… and all you've ever wanted to do is track her down…"
"Yes," he openly admits, revealing his deep, dark secret to me after nearly four years of knowing him. "I couldn't let it go, alright? She… she was the love of my life… and she fucked me over, so… so badly… That's why I take it out on people – I've fucked up before, I know that! But… but you don't understand… Nobody understands!"
Having heard the details of this "Anne" girl before in a passing conversation a while back, I can't help but picture the girl in my head. From what I've heard, the depiction is scarily similar to me – one eye missing from some asshole with a knife.
More specifically, this asshole.
"…I'm not letting you leave."
"C-come on, Kazuki… this is all I've ever wanted! Once I find her I can just… stop this! All of this shit! I can change!"
"I don't believe you," I shake my head, glancing down at the flare gun to make sure that it's fully loaded. Joshua's face whitens considerably as I see him gulp in nervousness. "I used to trust you, remember? When I first got to your place. You even showed me around and introduced me to people… but then I started to see the monster that you really were," I point out, glowering at him as I face my demons. "I'm not running away this time. I'm not going to let you hurt anyone else."
Seeing him break down like this and practically plead for his life after watching him eliminate countless others is truly pathetic, but this is for all of them. So much for his tough guy reputation.
"PLEASE!" he begs with me, looking incredibly nervous as I raise the flare gun up in front of me; ignoring the other cries from some of my peers as Clementine starts running out towards me.
Pulling the trigger, I watch as Joshua lays there helplessly. The shot is a direct hit at the dry wood of the shack, quickly igniting into flames as he squirms and tries to get out of the way of the burning mess.
"I'm not afraid of you anymore."
His terrified screams mix with the sound of crackling wood as his clothes start to catch on fire; quickly incinerating his hair as his skin starts to boil and the rest of his body gets engulfed in flame. I feel ashamed for doing this to a person… but this man can no longer even be considered as a human being. He lost that title a long time ago.
Without even a shred of resistance, I let myself fall to the floor as Clementine roughly tackles me from the side, pulling out a gun and shooting the burning, flayed man right in the head; ending his suffering and preventing him from turning into a walker.
"Help me get her back to the trucks – keep a gun trained on her at all times," Clementine mentions, although I'm sure she's only doing this for my own good. That whole scene probably just made me look as messed up as he was. "…Let's just get out of here…"
Bo's POV
"Can I take this thing off now?" I complain, having sat up on a doctor's bench for a good chunk of the afternoon. Despite appreciating that he'd take the time to do all of this, and the fact that I was positively surprised that he could actually operate a CT scan with some of the power being back online, it doesn't change the fact that I've had to wear a heavy cover over my chest for the past hour or so.
Picture it as a giant baby bib, and you might get the idea of how ridiculous this looks on me.
"Not until I've finished taking notes," he mentions, jotting down a few more signs as I open my mouth widely. Sticking a popsicle stick on the roof of my tongue, he takes a swab of my DNA supposedly and places it into a plastic bag to study later. What the hell would I do without this man, seriously…
Hearing a ding from the monitor over on his right, James swivels in his chair as he stretches out his back and slides over towards the screen. I honestly can't remember the last time that I had a medical examination like this, simply because I was generally a pretty healthy guy growing up. I played football in high school (though generally I was on the bench from my lack of athletic talent), worked out when I could, and typically ate pretty healthy except for the weekends if there was a party or something to go to.
So why, then, have I been feeling so shitty lately? Why did it have to kick in around this time?
"…how long have you been smoking for, Bo?"
Puzzled as to why he would ask such a thing, my stomach slowly churns a little bit as I shrug my shoulders. "Ehh… probably nine or ten years now, I'd say. Not nearly as much anymore since they're so hard to come by, obviously," I admit, forgetting about that one detail because cigarettes have just been a part of my life. I never really questioned anything about it before. "Why do you ask?"
Staring at my face for a little while, looking as though he almost wants to keep something a secret, James stays silent as he studies the monitor behind his glasses. My friend looks deeply saddened as I, against the doctor's orders, hop off the examination table and walk over to the screen.
My heart drops to the pit of my stomach as I see a white blob hanging off in the darker section of my lungs. It can't be…
"That's an anomaly; an inflammation of some of the bronchi," he sighs deeply, spewing out his medical mumbo-jumbo as I grow internally frightened of the days to come. "It's also more commonly known as – "
"Cancer…" I conclude, felling James hold onto my hand as I struggle to deal with the news. "I have lung cancer…"
AN: Holy shit, guys… this is my most reviewed story on this account, whether it be legitimate or not :) This is so huge, and I appreciate every single one of you for making this happen. You guys are my biggest inspiration to keep this story going, as you always have something kind or constructive to add to it.
Which is also why I'm debating on splitting this story into two parts when the time comes for it. You'll know when the first part of Madness is done, as not only will I tell you, but hopefully you guys will also be able to figure it out without even being told. How would you guys feel about something like that, though? I wouldn't be adding it into a new story, but simply re-titling this as Madness Parts 1 and 2. How about, when the time comes that this story is starting to conclude, I ask you guys again and see how people are feeling then?
So thank you so much, all of you, for making this achievement happen. You're all amazing, and I truly appreciate it.
Ok, I don't know if the majority of the guest reviews were all the same person or not lol, since there were quite a lot that looked similar, but I'll try to answer some of your questions and comments.
Thinking over it some more, I honestly don't think that Randy and his family are going to be a threat to Clem, Jane and AJ. After all, not only do he and Patricia have a son of their own, but they simply don't strike me as the kind of people who would trick them, try to kill those who gave them shelter and/or leave them with nothing. Honestly, if anything, maybe even Jane or Kenny themselves would be able to do something like that at this point, seeing's how they really had no family ties left, but Patricia? No, and I think Telltale showing the gun in Randy's pocket was just to try and scare people. He'd be stupid NOT to be carrying one on him, especially if Jane and Clem turned out to be bandits or something.
And yes, people, they're making a DLC for the Walking Dead, and you'll likely be getting more info on that in the coming days (I think it's only like four or five days away now, come to think of it). Will it involve the three endings? I'm not entirely sure, because that would kind of exclude the people that didn't choose a particular ending. Let's say you picked the Jane ending, and you get a load on what happens in the meantime for the buildup towards season 3… but then what? It wouldn't make sense for you to have a DLC for an ending you never picked, because it won't affect your choice once the new season comes around. I'm thinking they're going to be introducing new characters, but that's just speculation from me. Nobody really knows for sure just yet, so be sure to look out for the announcement!
And no, I'm pretty sure the Lilly from the game isn't the same one from the TV show – possibly the comic book, but even then I'm not entirely certain. A friend of mine on here tried to explain it to me, but my head can be pretty thick sometimes so I'll need to look at his message about it again XD It would be pretty cool though, don't ya think? Lilly being the one to kill the Governor and everything :D
That's all for now, folks! If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the reviews! I'm usually pretty decent at getting back to people, so… yeah. Thanks for reading!