Clementine made another hasty decision for her bickering group. She turned to Christa and looked her dead in the eye. "Go! Hide, now!" If she weren't whispering, she'd be yelling.

"What, all of us?" Christa demanded.

"No, just you and Sarah. I have an idea."

"What the hell- you are not the leader of this group." She sternly spoke, barely taking the girl's words seriously.

"The leader of this group ain't here. You're tense, Christa, go hide. We'll deal with this." Chuck stepped close to Christa, their noses inches away from each other. She huffed in his face, sprinting upstairs. Chuck used this noise that the stranger outside must have heard to his advantage, appearing as if he were in a rush to get to the door.

"Hello?" The gravelly voice of the man outside called, his face now visible in the window. He watched as Chuck panted for air, grabbing the doorknob with Clementine right behind him.

"Ah… Ah.. H-hi! Apologies for the wait.. W-what can I do for ya?" Chuck's acting face came on, his breath purposely ragged.

"Oh, no please, I apologize. I didn't know you folks were busy." The man with silver hair gave a creepy smile. Chuck tried his hardest to give a genuine smile back. Clem looked like any innocent, scared girl would.

"Papa.. Who is this?" She hugged herself, her bottom lip quivering.

"Er, I'm not sure. What's your name?" Chuck questioned. The man pressed his hands against his hips and breathed.

"Well, most people know me as Carver. But if you must know, my first name is Bill. Nice to meet you two." He reached out for a handshake, an offer that Chuck hesitantly accepted.

"Oh.. I'm Clementine." She sheepishly replied.

"Like the fruit, huh? Cute name." His smile seemed earnest, yet creepy at the same time.

"It sure is. Her mama, Carley gave it to her. I'm Chuck, her grandpa." He stepped forward, trying to block off any entrance that the older male could get. He noticed another shadow outside, an odd shaped shadow.

"Really? You don't look older than thirty-six." Carver leaned against the door, scanning Chuck with his eyes.

"Yeah, I wish.." Charles peaks out the door, raising his brow. "Is.. Is someone else out there?"

"Oh, yeah, just a dog. Found him in the woods a day ago, the poor guy was starving." Carver stepped away, revealing a golden mutt with it's ribs practically poking out.

"Sam?" Clem whispered to herself. Her suspicions were answered when said dog made his second appearance. Almost immediately, he recognized Chuck. He was now tied by a leash in Carver's pocket, a faint red stain on his mouth.

"Yeah, Sam. I didn't name him, so don't ask me. Poor guy was starving out in the woods all by his lonesome. One Slim Jim was all it took to get him fat and happy though."

"Right.." Clem replied. Chuck stepped forward despite the persistent blockade of Chuck and Clem. He gave them another signature creepy smile before placing his hands on his hips. "So.. Why are you here?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked. I'm actually looking for a group of mine, dunno if you've seen them. Actually, you mind if I come in? It's getting cold out and I'm afraid this guy here will get ticks or something." Without even hearing their response, he passed through them, the loyal dog following with a neutral expression on his face. Clem and Chuck looked at each other nervously. In the living room behind the couch, Christa covered Sarah's mouth, her breathing raising in volume.

"Actually we uh do-"

"Nice place, kinda cozy." He cut them off, clearly knowing they suspected him. "Anyways, my group. They're somewhat big: an older man with white hair, shorter than yours," He gestured towards Chuck. "Couple of farm boys with facial hair, a spanish doctor and his daughter. A big black guy and a pretty, pregnant lady. See any of them?"

"That's a lot of folks to lose."

"Tell me about it. This whole thing is a pain in the neck." He sighs, walking around the foyer some more. Christa takes hold of her pistol in her back pocket while Chuck places a hand against his own gun. Clem tries to copy her 'papa' but soon realizes she doesn't have it on her. "I assume you haven't seen them then?" The two gave a shake of their heads. Carver shrugged, walking into the kitchen.

"Hey, wait-"

"Just passing through or you've been here a while?" As he walked into the kitchen, Clem and Chuck followed, with the latter grabbing his gun to hold out of caution alone. "If I were you guys, I'd stay here forever. There are too many nuts heading north in search of 'Shangri-la.' Just hope you're smart about all this." His back was turned when the sound of growling came from Sam. Carver turned around, finally noticing the gun in the homeless man's hand. He barely seemed fazed, walking up to Chuck without hesitation. He gave the man a sly smirk before smacking the weapon out of his hand.

Nervously, he spoke up. "Carver.. I know that name. I know who you are. Y-you best leave, lest you want what happened to your group to happen to you." Clementine froze up, knowing that whatever she did would either result in a nasty bite from Sam, who was currently cornering her, or a painful injury from the old, powerful and cunning Bill.

"..What? Heh. Yeah, right. You and this one have the stones to kill a teenager and a pregnant lady. I'd pay to see it if money meant something anymore." The smell of a digested apple hit Chuck's nose repulsively, his eyes turning to his gun underneath Carver's boot. The mustachioed villain caught a glimpse of a flannel laying on the couch in the living room and put two and two together. He grabbed Chuck by the wrist and walked him over to the living room. Sarah couldn't stop her erratic breathing or whimpering, leaving Christa defenseless as she held her mouth shut. Luckily, Sam was loud enough to overshadow the noise.

"You're gonna tell me you killed a father and daughter when you couldn't even shoot me before I noticed you? No. Your heart's too solid." He shook his head, grabbing Carlos' relatively clean shirt. Next to the shirt, on the floor, was a picture of Sarah. It must have fallen out of her pocket when she was scurrying to hide. Carver smiled a victory smirk and showed the picture to Chuck with pride. "You killed this girl here? This picture wasn't taken by you or that little girl?"

"Stay away from him." Clem barked. Sam growled more ferociously at her raised voice. The threatening intruder stared at Clem, right in her eyes. Though they were eight feet away from each other, he could see the anger in her eyes. He liked it.

"Or what?"

BANG. A gunshot rang out from the sofa targeted at Carver. It barely missed him, causing him to tackle Chuck behind another couch. "Christa, no! Stop!" the male of the group ordered. Christa hid behind the couch once again with a quivering Sarah.

Panting heavily, Carver muttered a reply with a gun against Chuck's temple. "So.. You're not so stupid. You have friends. Maybe you did take out my group.. Or maybe you didn't. Either way, I ain't sticking around. You could be useful with your guts. I won't kill you." He breathed out harshly, pulling Chuck out of the couch and down the hall with him. "Sam! Be a good boy and come out." The violent, hungry mammal ran between Clem's legs, her legs faltering so she'd trip. Chuck tried to fight his capture, but was ultimately knocked out the second the door closed with a whip of a pistol against his skull. Christa immediately popped up and threw the door open, but by the time she had done that, Carver was already in a van hidden in the woods, with Chuck's unconscious body in the back seat and Sam in the passenger. Christa attempted to shoot out his tires, but her bullets just barely made contact with the headlight instead; He sped off.

Without any words to describe the awful situation they had gotten themselves in, the group of three shared glances of sheer defeat. "W-why did you shoot?!" Clem yelled.

"I thought I had him! Don't question me when you didn't even have your gun on you!" Christa shoved the girl in the shoulder roughly, glaring down at her. "Besides, you were the one who suggested I hide out!"

"You would have made a rash decision. I know where you are right now and it's not helping-"

"You don't know shit, Clementine. Chuck is gone and it's your fault!" There was a silence as the two stared away from each other, into the distance that Chuck was driven out from. Neither really thought it was anyone's fault, but deep down Christa knew it was her own.

"W-what are we going to do..?" Sarah beckoned, shaking violently. Clem tended to her as Christa went back inside.

The search party of Luke, Carley and Carlos recovered Pete before long. His legless body was a sight that no one could fully grasp, similarly to how the group treated Lee when he was amputated. Pete was carried back to the cabin by Carlos while Luke and Carley searched for Nick. Upon finding the fishing shed near the river and killing the walkers surrounding it, they discovered it was locked. Luke knocked on the double doors.

"Uh, Nick? Molly? You two in here?"

"Ugh…" A groan came from at least one party inside of the shed. The two survivors outside looked at each other, a look of worry that their friends didn't make it on their faces. Denial filled their heads though, neither willing to accept that.

"We're coming in through the windows! Hang tight and don't shoot!" Carley yelled, using the butt of her glock to bash out the window. Through it, a repulsive smell hit their nostrils: Piss and alcohol.

"Ugh.. Hey, there they are!" Luke pointed to the two, who were snuggled up half naked. A.. Striking sight, and quite the odd one too. It was almost enough to make Luke laugh if he wasn't so worried. Instead, he rolled his eyes after noticing the vomit on the floor. "Goddamnit, Nick."

The ex reporter said, scanning the two drunken idiots. "I'm not sure how to react to this if I'm being honest."

"You're telling me. Come on, let's get 'em out." Carley shoved herself slowly through the now open window, hopping to the floor with Luke following close by. After pulling their pants back up, the two were shaken awake. "Nick. Come on man, get your stupid ass up."

A few minutes later and both drunks got up, groaning from a powerful hangover. "W-what.. Happened? And why does my head hurt like hell?" Molly spoke first, rubbing her temples. Nick recoiled away from her, colliding his elbows with the wall. He held them in pain.

"Ow! Ugh.. Please tell me you don't remember last night."

"Oh I wish I had.." She awkwardly scratches the back of her messy locks, examining the mess they had made, from the vomit to the corner of broken glass and urine. She damn near gagged herself. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Carley replied. Luke helped Nick to his bears, holding him by the shoulder to keep him from tripping.

"How's Pete? D-did Clementine and him get out okay?" Nick demanded to know. Despite his drunken stupor and recent attitude, he needed to know about his uncle.

Luke nodded. "Pete and Clem are fine, for the most part, okay?.. Pete got bit and we uh.. Clem took his leg off. Saved his life." Although the southern man seemed horrified he was relieved. He sighed a heavy sigh, then hugged Luke fully, pushing his face against his chest. They lingered for a moment before they parted.

"Okay.. Okay. Let's get back to the cabin." No more words were exchanged, especially between Molly and Nick. by the time they got back to the cabin, there was no time for drama.

"A man was here." The words from Sarah after Lee and Clementine reunited hit everyone in the house like a bomb. Well, everyone but Pete, who was resting in the upstairs bedroom.

"What?!" Carlos beckoned.

"Who?" Rebecca questioned. Sarah began to shake, unable to answer anything else. Carver was at her side in seconds.

"Christa, what happened?" Lee asked, knowing now that this was the reason Chuck was gone.

"H-he took Chuck. I tried to stop him but I.. I-"

"You let him take Chuck?! You have a fucking gun and you couldn't stop him?!"

"Molly, please.."

"I tried! I missed, but I tried. This is why I wanted to leave before that Carver asshole could come and ruin everything we've been building up!"

Luke tried to speak for the cabin group. "Wait, hold on-"

But no way was Rebecca not gonna chime in. "It was Carver?.. And you just let him in?!" Her voice was raised so loudly that she overshadowed any other voice. Everyone went quiet. Clem hesitantly piped up.

"W-we were trying to trick him into thinking no one is here, but he figured it out. I-I'm sorry!"

"Then you should have just hid." Carlos sighed, rubbing his head in shame. "How do you know it was him?"

"Chuck told him he knew who he was. He didn't decline it." Clem answered.

"We have to go find him." Molly stood up, grabbing Hilda from the table Clementine sat at.

Nick shook his head. "Forget it, it's a death sentence." Molly death glared at him.

"He is my best friend, hillbilly. We're finding him, with or without you."

Alvin sighed. "We can't do that. If he finds us, he'll do anything to get info on Bec."

"Alvin's right. No matter what, we, as a group, can't help you." Luke softly agreed, remorse in his tone.

"Then we just won't need your help." The blonde snapped back.

"He.. he found your shirt, dad. You're not gonna hurt him again, are you?"

Before Carlos could open his mouth, a familiar voice spoke as he wheeled himself into the kitchen: Pete was now awake, and in a wheelchair from the shed they were planning on using for Rebecca in case of emergency travel. "Carlos won't do a thing to anyone. He's just about the nicest man I know, Sarah. He won't do anything bad."

"P-Pete.." Nick mumbled, already stumbling towards his uncle.

"Come here, son." The uncle and nephew hugged before Pete rolled out of his way.

"You.. Sure you don't need to rest more?"

Pete smirked and shook his head. "Thanks to you, I'm fine, darling. Don't worry."

"Not bad, old man." Lee praised with a smile.

"I'm not that old yet. Now, about Chuck: going to Carver's camp to find him is a suicide mission for us, and I'm not too sure you have many options. If you desire, you can come with us when we leave this place. We'll leave in the morning and make our way to that ski lodge we've been eyeing for a while now."

"And what if we care about Chuck?" Molly bitterly questioned.

"If you really think you can save him, by all means go out on a witch hunt and find him. Look, I know how you feel, but William Carver is a dangerous man. I wouldn't poke him or his friends with a forty foot pole. But.. If you do decide to go find him, we won't follow you and we can't allow you to know anything else in case you're cornered. Decide it as a group while we start packing." Pete explained. The cabin group began dispersing to begin packing as their leader instructed.

"Will do. Thanks." Carley replied modestly, walking over to the backyard. "Guys?" The group of Lee, Clementine, Christa and Molly followed behind Carley.

The backyard door shut as the group of five began discussing what to do. "As our leader, I feel you should hear the opinions of your group first."

"Fair enough. I want to hear what you guys think."

Molly put her foot behind her against the railing. "Then I'll be blunt and say fuck these people. I vote we find Chuck before he gets hurt."

"You're gonna get everyone killed with that attitude." Christa muttered, facing away.

"Christa.. Hear her out." Carley placed a hand on Christa's shoulder that was easily shrugged off.

"I'm fast, stealthy, strong and we have numbers. If we're able to find this place and formulate a strategy, we can save him, easy. We did it with Crawford." Molly explained.

"Crawford was against brainless walkers without attention spans or agency. These are armed guards, possibly multiple guard dogs and the man who was able to hold down three members of our group. I vote we leave this hellhole and go our separate ways. We aren't sticking around for this Carver bullshit, and we ain't trusting these people a second longer. They're liabilities. We're heading north."

"Just because Omid died doesn't mean everyone else is worthless." Molly spat. Christa gave a death glare that could probably genuinely kill.

"Don't."

"Guys! Stop. I vote to go with this group and see what happens. Maybe even split up into two groups: One that follows the cabin group and another that wants to save Chuck. Obviously we'd be split up indefinitely, but maybe we can leak some information your way and you can find us."

"I need all of you in order to save Chuck, not just one other person!"

"Then get your one night stand in there to help you." Christa growled. Molly tried to ignore her.

Lee threw in his two cents. "I agree with Carley. It would suck to see some people go, but if that's their choice, then we have to deal with it. I'm sorry, guys, but I'm thinking about what's best for Clementine and for our food situation."

"Thank you, Lee."

"Of course he's kissing your ass! He's your boyfriend, why wouldn't he kiss your ass?" Christa rolled her eyes harder than what was thought possible.

"Because Lee is the objective leader of this group. Lee has brought us this far. Lee kept us alive for much longer than any of us would have been alone. He has his own brain, we're just thinking rationally here." Lee smiled as Carley complimented him. It was what usually kept him going, aside from Clem.

"Then I'm not staying." Molly doubled down.

"Like I said, it's your call." Carley shrugged.

"Good, cause that's my vote."

Clem felt a sense of deja vu as she spoke, "Wait! Don't I get a vote?"

"Of course, I'm sorry, Clem. Go on."

Choices:

A: We should split up, one group saving Chuck and one with the cabin group.

B: We should stay together with the cabin group.

C: We should save Chuck.

D: We should leave the cabin group and Chuck.

Relationships:

Lee: 10/10

Carley: 10/10

Chuck: 10/10 (He believes you did everything you could do when trying to save him.)

Molly: 7/10 (Isn't sure yet if you could have saved Chuck, but nonetheless is angry about his capture.)

Christa: 8/10 (Blames you for Chuck's capture for now, but deep down knows it was no one's fault.

Luke: 8/10 (For saving Pete)

Pete: 10/10 (Got him home to his nephew. He owes you his life.)

Nick: 8/10 (Saved his uncle.)

Carlos: 7/10

Sarah: 9/10

Alvin: 6/10

Rebecca: 5/10 (Feels bad about your situation.)

Carver: 2/10 (He kidnaped Chuck and nearly injured you, and yet he holds a moniker of respect for you.)

((So.. I'm back! Did you miss me? I can't promise I won't go on hiatuses in the future, but I can promise that this one is officially over! And, to ensure I stick to my word, I've created the Walking Dead But Your Choices Actually Matter Discord server! I'm not the best at this whole moderator stuff, so this place is mainly here to have fun, talk about the fic and to build a stronger community. It's linked right here: /tkjeM6w3

Thank you for being patient! QOTC: Luke vs Kenny or Jane vs Kenny? Which feels more earned?))