Clementine felt her chest tightening as she tried to decide what to do next, knowing full well her next move may be her last. Panic gripped the girl as she stared down the barrel of a revolver being held mere inches from her face. Forcing her eyes upwards to see her attacker, Clem saw a tall and thin young man with messy dark hair and a shabby beard. His eyes appeared bloodshot, yet he looked oddly calm somehow.

"You alone?" he spoke, not sounding particularly concerned. Clem's eyes drifted back towards his gun. It was unnerving how still he was holding it, as if he wasn't the least bit afraid. But staring directly at the revolver, Clem could see the chambers were all empty, except for the one behind the barrel, which she couldn't see.

"Hey, I asked you a question." Clem felt like throwing up as she heard a loud click, made even louder by how close she was to the gun, but she managed to keep her focus despite her panic. The man cocking the revolver moved the chambers, revealing the hidden one was empty too, and even if it wasn't, he just cycled an empty chamber into the barrel. "Now, are you alone?"

"I'm not," Clem finally answered. "I have friends outside, and they have guns."

"What's that noise? They gotta car running out there?" asked the man.

"It's our generator." Clem kept watching the man's face for signs of what he was thinking, but he remained eerily unexpressive.

"What are you using a generator for?"

"To get diesel." Clem noticed the man's eyes moving aside briefly when he heard the word diesel. "We can get some for you too."

"What are you getting diesel for? A truck?" asked the man, ignoring Clem's offer. The girl hesitated to answer, reasoning a working RV would be seen as quite a find for a possible thief. "Hey, I'm talking to you," said the man. "Next time I'm not going to ask you again, I'm just going to shoot you. Now—" The distant hum of the generator went silent, which caused the man to turn his head. His face still appeared calm, but his sudden movement was the first sign of concern Clem had seen from him.

"My friend is going to come in here to find me now," said Clem as the man turned back to her in a hurry. "And she has a shotgun."

"She?" repeated the man. "Who's she? Your sister?"

Clem found it odd he seemed more interested Patty's relation to her than the fact Patty was armed. "She's probably in the store right now, looking for me," said Clem, choosing to ignore his question. "If you just let me go, I won't tell her I saw you. We were going to leave as soon as we got the diesel anyway."

"Stay right there." The man started inching backwards, keeping his gun aimed right at Clem's head with every step. As he moved further away from her, Clem thoughts drifted towards her own gun. Her raincoat had likely concealed it from her attacker's notice, and the further the man moved away the less likely he could try to take it from her, but she didn't know how he would react to seeing a gun. If she drew it she might have to kill this person too depending on what he did.

The man finally backed up enough to be standing by the door. Clem watched anxiously as he turned towards the exit. Carefully, he took one hand off his revolver and quietly cracked the door, and that's when Clem drew her gun. She pulled the pistol from her holster in a flash and clicked off the safety just as the man turned back towards her.

"Hey!" he yelled as he put both hands back on his revolver. "I'll—"

"Your gun isn't loaded," informed Clem as she took aim at the man's chest. "Mine is."

"Says you," retorted the man, still aiming his gun at Clem. "For all I know—"

A deafening bang echoed through the empty store room after Clem pulled the trigger, her warning shot sailing past the man and striking the back wall. Clem hastily aimed at the man again just in time to watch him pull the trigger on his own gun. Clem felt a chill shoot up her spine as she heard a loud click, followed by several more clicks as the man kept pulling the trigger. The gun was empty liked she had noticed, but the man kept pointing it at her long after it refused to fire.

"My friend will have heard the shot," informed Clem, trying her hardest to hide the nervousness in her voice. "Just put your gun down."

"Or what?" challenged the man, not a trace of fear in his voice.

"Or I'll kill you," threatened Clem as she adjusted her aim to target the man's head.

"Will you?" mocked the man as he finally lowered his gun. "Because I don't think you will."

The man stepped forward and Clem's finger began to squeeze the trigger, and then the door burst open. It smacked the man in the face with enough force to knock him over and a familiar face came barging into the room.

"Don't move!" Patty aimed her shotgun at the man lying on the floor as he struggled to regain his composure. The woman kicked the revolver he dropped aside, which slid right into Clem's feet. The girl quickly grabbed the gun and popped out the chambers.

"His gun isn't loaded," confirmed Clem.

"Yeah, I'm no threat to you people," assured the man as he sat up.

"He was aiming it at me," corrected Clem as she pocketed the revolver and approached Patty. "And he wouldn't put it down even after I told him it wasn't loaded."

"Not keen on putting guns away when someone else is pointing a gun at me," said the man as he tried to stand up.

"You pointed a gun at me first," retorted Clem.

"And I'm pointing a gun at you right now," barked Patty as she jabbed the barrel of her shotgun into the man's forehead. "Get on the floor, face down, and put your hands behind your back."

"Now, I—"

"On the fucking floor!" Clem nearly jumped upon hearing Patty bark at the man. She hadn't heard the woman yell that loud since Mobile. The man just looked at the shotgun pointed at his face for a moment, then turned around and laid down flat on the floor, crossing his hands behind his back. "Clem, use my scarf to tie him up," ordered Patty as she planted the end of her shotgun on the back of the man's head. "You move while she's doing that, and you lose your head."

"My second favorite body part," quipped the man.

Clem moved in close and reached up towards Patty's neck. "You okay? I heard a shot," whispered the woman, sounding more than a little concerned.

"I did that, it was a warning shot," Clem whispered back as she removed the red scarf. "I'm all right."

"Just tie him up, then we'll pack up and get out of here," whispered Patty as Clem took the scarf. Looking down at the man's hands, his fingers filthy and the tips coated with dried blood, Clem hesitated to move closer to him. Slowly she knelt down, then began wrapping the scarf around the man's wrists.

"Maybe we could start over," suggested the man as Clem started binding his hands. "My name's Anthony, and—"

"Keep quiet," ordered Patty.

Clementine pulled the scarf tight into a knot, then quickly tied the ends into a second knot, pulling as hard as she could to make it secure. "Ah—I'm guessing you've done this before."

"Keep quiet or we'll gag you next," threatened Patty as she knelt down beside the man. Clem watched as she reached into the man's pockets, pulling out a pair of keys from one and a small switchblade from another. She then started patting down his pant legs.

"You know," said Anthony. "Under very different circumstances, I'd probably be enjoying this."

"Stop talking." Patty grabbed Anthony's collar and forced him to a stand. "And start walking." The woman jabbed her shotgun into the man's back, and he began to move. Clem clutched her own gun tightly as they slowly exited the gas station, fearful there were more people in the area. Stepping back outside, Clem spotted Sarah standing by the door to the Brave, a rifle clutched in her hands.

"Who… who is that?" stuttered Sarah.

"Anthony," introduced the man in a calm voice as he looked at Sarah.

"He's some asshole who pointed a gun at Clem," announced Patty. "And that's far enough, get down on your knees and stay there." Anthony did as he told, kneeling down halfway between the building and the RV. Patty slowly backed away from the Anthony, keeping her shotgun pointed at him the entire time. Clem did likewise, aiming her pistol at the man. She found it disturbing how calm he looked, appearing very much at ease despite the circumstances.

"What's going on?" whispered Sarah as the pair moved into earshot.

"I'll pack up our stuff, then we're leaving," said Patty. "Sarah, just stay here and keep your gun aimed at him. And be ready to leave in a hurry in case he has friends."

"Oh… okay," spoke a nervous Sarah.

"Clem, go up top and keep a look out for anyone coming," whispered Patty. "It should only take me a few minutes to get everything back in the trailer."

"Got it." Clem hurried back to the Brave's ladder while Patty rushed over to the open diesel tank. Climbing on top of the RV, Clem immediately pulled out her binoculars and started searching for signs of trouble, but found only more emptiness in every direction.

"You girls managed to get into the fuel tank." Clem put her binoculars away and looked down at Anthony. He was watching Patty as she removed the hoses attached to their water pump. "I don't suppose you'd spare some diesel for me before you go?"

"You need diesel?" asked Sarah.

"Don't talk to him," ordered Patty as she hastily rolled up the hoses.

"Why not?" challenged Sarah. "What's wrong with just talking?"

"I'm all for talking," said Anthony. "Not like I can do much else."

"Shut up," ordered Patty as she dumped the hoses into the trailer. "Sarah, just keep away from him."

"I am, I just want to talk him," insisted Sarah. "He's the first person we've met since… you."

"So it's just the three of you?" Anthony turned to Patty, who was moving towards him quickly. "What are you, their babysitter or something?" Patty kicked Anthony in the chest, knocking the man onto his back with a painful thud.

"Patty!"

"I told you not to talk to him!" yelled Patty. "Now if some psycho friends find him, he can tell them all about the RV guarded only by two kids and a woman."

"I… I didn't mean to…" mumbled a nervous Sarah. "But… we don't know he's a bad person. We should—"

"He's got buckets full of blood and body parts in there," announced Clem as she moved over to the edge of the RV so she could hear better.

"What?" asked a surprised Patty.

"In the room he was hiding in," said Clem as she sat down on the edge of the RV. "Along with a lot of weird knives."

"You sick fuck," said Patty as she turned back to Anthony.

"It's just chum," said Anthony.

"Chum?"

"Fish guts," he clarified. "It's what you get when you… gut fish."

"A likely story," said Patty as she aimed her shotgun at the man as he struggled to sit up.

"Go and check," insisted Anthony, a hint of nervousness creeping into his voice. "She clearly didn't check the other two buckets, ones got the bones in it and the other the meat."

"I didn't see a fishing rod or anything else in that room," noted Clem. "Just the buckets and those knives."

"You didn't see a bed in there either because I wasn't living in the damn store room," retorted Anthony. "I found out the hard way gutting fish where you live makes your place smell like dead fish."

"Where do you live?" asked Clem.

"I've got a camper hitched to a truck, it's parked behind the gas station," explained Anthony. "Been kind of stuck here since I could never get into the fuel tank. But seeing as you—"

"I think we've heard enough from you," insisted Patty.

"We should check it out." Patty turned around and looked up at Clem. "You watch him and I'll go—"

"No, I'll check it out. You two keep a close eye on him, and call me on the radio if you see anything," said Patty as she approached Anthony. "I'm guessing these open your camper?" she asked as she held out the keys she took.

"They sure as shit aren't the keys to the fuel tank." Patty only stared at Anthony in response. "Yes those are the damn keys, there's also a side door in the gas station, opposite of the storeroom, puts you a few steps away from where I'm parked."

"Anything else I need to know about?" quizzed Patty. "You got any friends waiting for me back there?"

"Not unless you consider dirty laundry friends," answered Anthony. "I know I don't."

"I'll be quick, don't go near him while I'm gone," Patty told Clem and Sarah. "If something goes wrong, just go and don't look back."

"Patty…"

Patty hurried into the gas station without another word, leaving the girls alone with the man. Clem watched Anthony as he struggled to sit up while his hands were tied. She quickly looked down both sides of the road, making sure nothing was coming, then turned back in time to watch Anthony get back on his knees. Part of her did feel bad for tying him up; it gave her a horrible feeling of helplessness when it was done to her. But mostly Clem was still afraid of what this person was capable of if he wasn't tied up.

"She always this friendly or is it just me?" Clem didn't answer Anthony's question, and looking down at Sarah, she didn't seem any more willing to talk to him either. "Look, I can see you two are a lot more reasonable than your friend. How bout you persuade her to let me go? In exchange, I'll give you my catch of the day. You two ever have fresh fish before?"

"Yes," said Sarah in a meek voice.

"And we're not letting you go," added Clementine.

"So how's this going to end? You just gonna kill me, is that it?"

"Not if we don't have to," said Clem.

"And who decides that? Your red-headed friend?"

"We all do," asserted Clem.

"And we don't want to kill you," added a nervous Sarah.

"You keep saying we, but from where I'm standing—or kneeling I guess, it looks like the oldest one is calling all the shots."

"It's not like that," insisted Clem. "Patty doesn't tell us what to do, we all work together."

"Well then, how about you work together and convince her to let me go?" reasoned Anthony. "She just said she doesn't want to kill me, and you didn't shoot me when you had the chance, so if this is a democracy that's two votes for not killing me versus one."

Clem didn't know how to answer Anthony, so she chose not to. Looking down at Sarah, the older girl appeared conflicted, but remained silent as well.

"And you'll get some fresh fish as well," reminded Anthony. "Great for any meal… unless you have it for every meal."

"You've only been eating fish?" asked Sarah.

"All I can find," said Anthony. "Haven't seen any animals around here, all probably hibernating for the winter, and I'm pretty sure no one is planning on making a delivery to this place ever again."

"What about those green beans?" asked Clem. "Why weren't you eating them?"

"Green beans?" asked Anthony.

"We found a few cans of green beans in the store," reminded Clem. "How come you didn't eat them?"

"Oh, those, well…"

"It looks like he was telling the truth," announced Patty as she stepped out of the gas station, a pair of buckets in one hand and a plastic tool case in the other. "Our 'friend' here is apparently a fisherman. There's a fishing rod and some other stuff strewed across his train wreck of a camper, plus I found these in the storeroom." Even from on top of the RV, Clem could see one of the buckets was filled with small fish bones, the other a few neatly cut chunks of meat. "And I'm guessing this is the weird knives you saw."

Clem hopped off the top of the RV, then collected the tool case Patty was holding. Opening it, Clem found the same blades she saw from before, but closing the case, she could see a label this time that read 'Fish Filleting Kit', along with a short list that included items such as a 'boning knife'. "Yeah, these were the knives I saw."

"The camper he's got is big enough to hold more than one person. I didn't see any obvious signs someone else was living in there, or anything he could use against us. No other guns or bullets, just tools, but I didn't exactly toss the thing either," reported Patty.

"By all means, go ahead," suggested Anthony. "You be hard pressed to make it a bigger mess than it is right now."

"Next time we stop somewhere, we should probably check the whole building from the outside before we go in," concluded Patty.

"Yeah," agreed Clem. "That would have been smart."

"Well then, can I assume we've cleared up this misunderstanding?" asked Anthony. "Because if so, I'd like—"

"What about you pointing a gun at her?" asked Patty as she gestured to Clementine. "Was that a misunderstanding?"

"It wasn't even loaded," reminded Anthony. "I was just gutting a few fish when I heard people roaming around outside in the shop. I assumed it wasn't a friendly visit, so I took action." Anthony eyed Patty's shotgun. "I mean, it doesn't exactly look like I was wrong about the unfriendly part."

"You thought she didn't look friendly?" asked Patty as she pointed at Clementine.

"Some stranger in a bloody raincoat, yeah, that isn't what comes to mind when I think of friendly," said Anthony. "Seeing as she had a gun herself, I don't think I was far off the mark here."

"Whatever," grumbled Patty as she rolled her eyes. "Let's just get everything on the trailer and then—"

"What about the trap?" asked Clem as she eyed Anthony carefully.

"Trap?" he repeated.

"You said you were only eating fish, but you had four unopened cans of green beans in the store," reminded Clem. "They were left right next to a couple of walkers trapped under shelves."

"Right, those. Well—"

"And there was tons of broken glass in front of the cans," recalled Clem. "If someone just tried to take the cans, they'd probably step on the glass and the walkers would hear them, and bite them."

"Motherfucker…" spoke Patty in a quiet yet hostile voice.

"You… you two didn't get bit, did you?" asked a worried Sarah.

"No," said Clem.

"But we could have been. If we hadn't heard them moaning before we went in, we never would have known they were there." Patty aimed her shotgun at Anthony again. "They would have sunk their teeth right into our ankles if we hadn't spotted them first."

"Oh come on, you're talking crazy," insisted Anthony. "Setting a trap with a couple of those living corpses? That's insane."

"So is gutting fish in a room next to a couple of walkers," said Clem. "They'd smell the blood."

"Yeah, that sounds crazier than setting a trap with a walker to me."

Anthony sighed. "All right… the truth is that was a trap, but not for you people."

"Who then?"

"For some very bad people I hope I never see again, but had to be ready for if they showed up," spoke Anthony in a hushed voice. "You already got my gun, so you know I don't have any bullets left, and my truck is more or less out of gas, so I'd have nowhere to go but the woods if they came here. Turning a couple of those things into living bear traps baited with a couple of cans of beans was the best defense I could manage, and hell, apparently it didn't work, you people saw right through it."

"And you were never worried about someone else wandering into your trap?" asked Patty.

"I didn't think the people I'm hiding from would ever burn the gas to come this far out into the middle of nowhere, let alone anyone else," said Anthony. "Really, all things considered, you should be glad you found me and not them."

"And why's that?" asked Patty.

"If they caught eye of a beautiful woman like you, there's no telling what they'd do," said Anthony. "Probably kill each other just over who gets to go first."

"You fucking piece of—"

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger, literally," pleaded Anthony. "Like I said, these are some very bad people. Truth be told, they'd probably look at the two of them the same way they'd look at you." Clementine suddenly felt nervous upon hearing that. Looking over at Sarah, she was clearly scared, but most telling, so was Patty now.

"Worst part of it is, you'd never seeing it coming. I know me and the people I was with didn't," reported Anthony in a somber voice.

"I thought you said were alone?" asked Patty.

"I am now, what's left of the people I knew you already found in the gas station," said Anthony.

"People… you mean the walkers in the gas station?" realized Clem.

"Wait, those were people you knew?" asked Patty.

"Was. One of them got shot up bad trying to get away, turned and killed the other one as he was trying to patch him up," recalled Anthony. "We'd been through a lot, so I didn't quite have it in me to kill them, figured busting their legs would at least stop them from killing someone else.

"But once I got stranded out here with nothing but an empty gun to protect myself, I had to get creative. Morbid as it may have been turning them into death traps, I figured it'd be poetic if a few of those bastards were done in by a couple of the people they had gunned down. I guess that was wishful thinking on my part, that those sons of bitches would get what was coming to them."

An eerie silence followed Anthony's tale. Looking at Patty and Sarah, they both appeared at as much a loss of words as Clementine was.

"Look, it's clear we've both had some nasty runs in with people we'd rather not of, let's not turn this into another one when we don't have to."

Clem looked over at Patty, who sighed. "We'll untie you as soon as we're done, all right?" offered the woman.

"Well that would be greatly appreciated," said Anthony. "But I was thinking it might be better if we help each other out."

"Help each other?" asked Sarah.

"Well, I've been trying to get diesel for a few weeks now," said Anthony. "It looks like you three have got that down."

"Yeah, and how exactly are you going to help us?" asked Patty.

"Well, I'm guessing from your little friend's reaction to my chum bucket, none of you are fisherman by trade, so that sounds like one thing I can pitch in with," said Anthony. "And if you got spare bullets, I could go hunting. I spent a couple of summers working part time in a butcher shop. If we bag a deer, I could turn it into enough venison to feed the four of us for a week, easily."

"What about these bad people you mentioned?" asked Clem. "Do you know where they are?"

"I haven't exactly been keeping in touch with them, but I can sure as shit can tell you where I wouldn't want to go back to," said Anthony.

"Where?" asked Patty.

"Where what?"

"Where do we want to avoid?" asked Patty.

"Well, you help me out, and I'll tell you."

"These people, who you said would look at children as pieces of meat as much as they would me, are out there somewhere, and you won't tell us where they are unless we help you first?" asked a skeptical Patty. "I'm not sure you're the kind of person we'd want to help."

"Patty," said a concerned Sarah.

"Hey, you're the ones who got me tied up here, ready to put a bullet in me if you don't like what you hear," said Anthony. "I'm thinking if I tell you that, you've got one less reason not to kill me."

"We wouldn't do that," assured Sarah.

"Because we're not making any deal," added Patty.

"We're not?" asked Clem.

"You do want to make a deal?" asked Patty.

"I don't know," said Clem.

"I think we should," added Sarah.

"Well I think we shouldn't," retorted Patty.

"Does that mean I get to decide?" asked Clem.

"No."

Clem scowled. "Why not? Because you're older you're the only one who gets to decide?"

"No, of course not, it's…" Patty noticed Anthony was watching them with great interest. "Maybe we should be having this discussion inside?" Patty looked at Clem and Sarah, and the trio turned to the door.

"I guess I'll just wait here," said Anthony as the trio moved back into the Brave. Patty closed the door as soon as they were inside and immediately moved to the nearest window.

"We picked the wrong goddamn gas station to stop at," she mumbled as she removed her backpack and raincoat.

"Why don't you want to help him?" Sarah asked as she unloaded her rifle.

"Because, I don't trust him," said Patty as flicked her shotgun's safety on. "He pulled a gun on Clem, set up some weird trap that could have killed us, and now he's haggling with us instead of offering to help us."

"You didn't offer to help at first," reminded Clem she took off her gear. "You haggled with us just to change a tire."

"Okay, but that was ages ago, and—"

"And… you almost killed me when you threw a grenade at that house I was in."

"I didn't know you were in there! Jesus, I'm so sorry, I—"

"Patty! I'm not blaming you," assured Clem. "I'm just saying, things we weren't that good when we first met you, that's all."

"I… I'm sorry," said Patty as she sat down, guilt hanging on her face.

Clem moved over to the woman and placed her hand on top of Patty's. "I didn't trust you when I first met you either, but now I'm really glad you're here."

"Yeah… and I'm glad to be here." Patty smiled at Clem, then looked over at Sarah. "And I never aimed a gun at either of you. I'm not sure how much we can trust anyone who aims a gun at a kid. I mean, would you really be cool keeping around someone who pointed a gun at you Clem?"

"Well… it wouldn't be the first time."

"Real… really?"

"Nick pointed a gun at me when we first met, and then he lowered it, and then I pointed a gun at him…" Clem sighed. "And he died saving OJ's life, after helping us a bunch of times."

"All right, but that was an exception," said Patty. "How often are you friends with someone who pointed a gun at you?"

"Actually, Byron was nice to me, even though he pointed a gun at me once," noted Sarah. "And… we're friends, even though I pointed a gun at you when you first came into the RV."

Patty sighed. "Jesus, it sounds so fucked up when you spell it out like that." Patty removed her cigarettes from her pocket, only to sigh again. "Sorry, this is just really starting to stress me out," said Patty as she put the cigarettes away. "I mean, I can't be the only one. Sarah, aren't you worried this guy could be lying to us?"

"Of course I am," said Sarah. "But if he's not lying, that means we just left someone out in the cold who needed help, and we left behind the fish he could have caught for us, and… we might run into these bad people he mentioned and not even know it."

"That's the next thing that's bothering me, these nameless bad people that sound too good to be true," said Patty.

"Too good to be true?" repeated Clem.

"Well not too good—I mean... it seemed really convenient he mentioned them when he did," explained Patty. "Clem pointed out he set up a trap to kill people and suddenly there're some horrible people out there he was afraid of."

"You don't think there're horrible people out there?" asked a skeptical Clem.

"We both know there are," said Patty. "I just find it suspicious he only brought it up when he did, and that it's exactly the kind of thing he knew would scare all of us.

"Hey beautiful, I know a group of rapists who'd love to get their hands on you and the two girls you're with.' I know shit's bad out there, but still, I'm having a hard time believing there's a whole group of people out there who just immediately turn every girl they find into a sex slave."

Clem and Sarah exchanged concerned glasses.

"Wait… don't tell me—"

"We… we knew someone once… who…"

"I… I'm going to go check on Omid," insisted Sarah as she hurried off, seemingly shaking as she did.

"Oh my God…" Clem looked at Patty, a little surprised to see the woman appeared ready to cry. "Don't tell me that—"

"No, we've never been somewhere that bad," assured Clem. "But we knew someone once, and he told us about a place where they kidnapped little boys and forced them to get things from places full of walkers, and would kill them if they ever tried to run away."

"Jesus Christ…"

"And then he said, they did something different to the girls they found. He said they would scream, but they wouldn't die…" recalled Clem. "I don't think he knew what it was, but it sounded like… rape."

"You… you're sure this person wasn't lying to you?" asked Patty.

"We're sure," said Clem.

"Jesus, where was this? Maybe it's the same people this guy mentioned."

"This was near Savannah, in Georgia, near South Carolina," explained Clem.

"So, probably not the same people, which means…" Patty reached for her cigarettes again. "Which means this might be some sick post-apocalyptic trend. Maybe that explains that poor woman we saw who had nothing but a fucking rope around her neck," Clem watched as the woman placed a cigarette in her mouth then removed her lighter. She didn't actually use it, merely flipped it opened and closed a few times. "Every time I talk to you two, I find out about something else horrible you've seen."

"I'm sorry," said Clem.

"Don't be sorry, it's just… God, you're like the two smartest, nicest kids I've ever meet in my entire life, and yet it sounds like no one cares," said Patty. "And that shouldn't even matter, shit going south shouldn't mean people stop caring about kids, no matter what they're like."

"Most people don't care about kids, or anyone," reported a saddened Clem.

"I guess I'm not one to talk, seeing as I just sent Charlotte and her boy away…" Clem moved in close to Patty as she lowered her head in shame.

"That's not the same Patty," assured Clem as she put a hand on the woman's shoulder. "You tried to help them when no else did."

"And then I stopped, and there was literally no one," mumbled Patty.

"Well, maybe we could help this person." Patty looked up at Clem, clearly still unconvinced.

"I guess that means you've already made up your mind," said Patty.

"No, I'm still thinking about it. But have you made up your mind?"

"Yes, I think we should just leave this guy and put as many miles between him and us as we can today," said Patty. "We untie him, give back his stuff, toss him his gun on the way out, maybe even leave him a can of diesel, then go. We're not robbing him, we're not leaving him any poorer than we found him. Live and let live; just like we all agreed to."

"We also agreed to help people if we could," reminded Clem.

"Yeah, I know, but…"

"But?"

"I'd feel a lot better if it wasn't him."

"You don't even know him."

"I think I do." Patty flipped her lighter open and close real quick. "He doesn't look any older than me, and the way he's been talking to us, like there's nothing to worry about, because I'm a woman and because you and Sarah are girls."

"You don't know that," said Clem.

"You think he would have been so calm and chatty if it had been a couple of big men with guns talking to him?" asked Patty.

"I… I don't know," admitted Clem as she tried to envision the possibility.

"I do, I saw this all the time in Miami," said Patty. "Most of those soldiers weren't any older than me, yet they always talked down to me like I'm idiot because I was a short woman, and they knew they could push me around."

"Anthony isn't a soldier," said Clem. "At least, I don't think."

"It doesn't matter, they weren't the only ones," said Patty. "There were plenty other young guys in Miami who did the same thing to me… and worse."

"Worse?" asked Clem.

Patty took a breath. "These bad people he was talking about, or the ones you heard about, that's not the only way a man could rape a woman." Clem was startled to hear Patty say that. She wanted to ask the woman what happened, but hesitated, afraid doing so would cause her more pain.

"A friend… someone I thought was a friend, got really hostile with me once," spoke Patty, as if she had read Clem's mind. "I had known him for a long time, from before things changed. Funny guy, quick thinker, I thought I could always depend on him."

"What happened?"

"First time we decided to break curfew to go look for food outside the city, we got stuck up in an attic out in the suburbs, with some walkers in the house below."

"That's bad."

"Not as bad as you think," said Patty. "We had plenty to eat and drink from everything we had scavenged, and there weren't that many of them in the house, we had just been worn out from running around all night carrying so much on our backs. It wasn't even a bad attic; someone had fixed it up to be a pretty nice room with a bed and everything. It was a good place to spend the night.

"But, this guy, who I thought was my friend, who I had known for years, suddenly started going on about how this might be our last night alive, and how he had loved me for years, and that we should spend our last night together 'loving' each other, and…" Clem watched as Patty finally lit her cigarette and quickly took a drag off it.

"Did he—"

"It didn't go that far," said Patty as she exhaled. "But God was I afraid it was going to. I had never seen him that angry before, and I was terrified of what he was going to do next, all because I said I wasn't in love with him."

"In love?" asked Clem. "What does that mean?"

"In love means…" Patty scratched her head. "Well, let me explain it like this. You can love a lot of people, but you could only be in love with one person."

"They're the person you love most," concluded Clem.

"Maybe, but it's not that simple," said Patty as she looked for something to use as an ashtray. "If you're in love with someone, it means you want to do things with them that you don't want to do with anyone else."

"Like sex?" asked Clem.

"Usually, but it's not just that, it's…" Patty stood up and headed for the sink. "Look, it's complicated, but if you're in love with someone, the last thing you want to hear them say is they're not in love with you. Once that happened, we weren't friends anymore." Patty put out her cigarette in the sink.

"Why not?" asked Clem. "If you love someone, shouldn't you care about them even if they don't love you back?"

"He didn't care about me after I told him I wasn't in love with him, so that's at least one case where the answer was no," said Patty.

"But why?"

"Being in love can really screw with a person's head, I don't expect you to understand."

"I don't," said Clem.

"Well, just forget that part, the point is, that was someone I knew pretty well, and things ended badly with him. And even then, it was a lot better than what happened with a lot of other guys in Miami I didn't know as well," said Patty as she moved to the window.

"Call me prejudice or sexist or whatever, but mixing a young man with raging hormones with a bunch of young women is just a recipe for trouble. And that's before you throw the end of the world on top of things, and even then, that's all assuming this guy is telling us the truth, and wasn't part of these 'bad people' he's warning us about, who sound worse than anything yet. If it were up to me, we'd just keep moving without him."

"I… I think understand," said Clem. "But…"

"But it's not up to me." Patty sighed and then sat down on the couch. "You know how I feel, and I'm pretty sure we both know how Sarah feels about this, so that just leaves you; if you want to take a chance on this guy, I will too."

Clem went over to the window and looked outside at Anthony. He was still sitting on the pavement in the cold, and combination of irritation and weariness hanging off his dirty face. His clothes were filthy and torn, his arms incredibly skinny, his skin very pale; he almost looked like a skeleton from this distance. "I think we should help him."

"You're sure?" asked Patty.

"You said it yourself, people are an endangered species," reminded Clem as she looked at the woman. "If we don't do anything, people will go extinct."

"Sometimes, I wish you weren't so smart," said Patty with a sigh. "Or at least you didn't remember everything I told you so well."

"It's not just that. We don't how long it'll be until we find somewhere safe to live, or what we'll find on the way; we might need his help," said Clem. "Plus, things got better after you started helping us. If he helps too, maybe they'll be even better."

"And if he doesn't, it could be bad for all of us," reminded Patty.

"I know that," said Clementine in a somber voice. "But I don't think it's right not to help him unless we know he's bad."

"Yeah, I know. If you thought otherwise, I'd be dead right now." Patty took a breath, then stood up. "But let's be smart about this."

"How?"

"Well, I'll go check his truck and camper again, make sure he's not hiding any nasty surprises on us," said Patty. "Only after that, we untie him. We'll help him get diesel today; he'll help get us some fish tomorrow. We do all our meetings outside. The RV is off-limits to him and the camper will be off-limits to us after I check it again. We ever see him do something we don't like, we leave him behind. That sound fair?"

"Definitely," said Clem.

"And I'm thinking we shouldn't tell him about Omid, at least not yet," said Patty. "If this guy is bad news, he might use a baby to get to all of us."

"You really think he'd do that?" asked Clem.

"You just told me about people who turned kids into slaves," reminded Patty in a grim tone. "We probably can't be too careful."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"And I think we should hang on to his gun," suggested Patty. "Not risk him pulling it on someone else, or him finding some bullets for it. That okay with you?"

"I guess so, but what if he isn't okay with it?"

"Then we're not helping him. If he really needs diesel so bad, he'll go along with it, if not, it probably means he has other plans." Clem thought on Patty's logic for a moment, the removed Anthony's gun from her pocket. It was a small snub nose revolver, not much bigger than her own hand, yet it felt like it weighed more and more as she stared at it. "You want to give him his gun back?"

"Well… no," said Clem as she set the gun on the table. "Not yet anyway."

"Yet?"

"If he asks… tell him we'll give him his gun back once we know we can trust him."

"I don't like making promises like that," admitted Patty.

"You said we're not robbing him," reminded Clem. "At least this way, he knows we're not trying to take his gun away."

"All right. Since we're the ones who say if we trust him or not, we can keep it as long as we need to," reasoned Patty. "Anything else you can think of?"

"No, not right now," said Clem.

"All right, I'll go check his vehicles again and tell him our conditions; you go tell Sarah what's happening." Patty stood up and grabbed her shotgun. "I'd lock the door behind me, just in case he tries something while I'm out there."

"Okay."

Patty took a breath, then turned for the door. "See you in a minute."

"See ya." Clementine watched Patty step outside, the closed and locked the door. The girl stood there for a moment, wondering if they were doing the right thing, then headed into the bedroom.

"Who's my favorite wittle boy?" teased Sarah as she tickled the Omid's stomach.

"Ah-mah," giggled Omid.

"That's right, you are," said Sarah.

"Hey," said Clem as she moved in close beside Sarah. "Are you okay? You've been in here awhile."

"Well, Omid needed changing, and I… I don't know, I guess just thinking about people again, and worrying about them hurting us, or… us having to hurt them or…" Clem could see the anxiety gripping Sarah and quickly placed her hands on the older girl's shoulders.

"It's okay," assured Clem. "I… I know how you feel."

"So… what are we going to do?" asked Sarah.

"We're going to help him," said Clem. "Patty said as long as he doesn't do anything wrong, we'll work together."

"And if he does do something wrong?" asked Sarah.

"We leave him behind," said Clem. "And Patty said we shouldn't tell Anthony about OJ. Just to be safe."

"Okay, I won't," said Sarah in a quiet voice.

"What's wrong?" asked Clem. "I thought you wanted to help him."

"It's just… I really hope he doesn't do anything bad," admitted Sarah, fear gripping her voice.

"Yeah… me too," said Clem.

"It really bothers me he pointed a gun at you," said Sarah. "You wouldn't hurt anyone if you didn't have to, so why would he do that?"

"Maybe… maybe he was just scared… because he didn't know who I was." Clem found herself tensing up as she said that and her mind begin to drift as she dwelled on her own words. She was so distracted, she didn't even notice Sarah was hugging her until she felt the older girl's arms around her.

"I'm really glad you and Patty are okay," whispered Sarah.

"Yeah, me too," said Clem as she hugged Sarah back.

"Why don't you play with Omid while I put your gear up?" said Sarah as she released Clementine. "He missed you."

"Kem-men," said the boy as he looked up at Clem.

"That's sound good." Clem smiled at Sarah, who smiled back, then left her alone with Omid. "Hey OJ. Sarah said you missed me. Is that true?"

"El-muh, kem-men," said the boy.

"Elma? Oh, that's right." Clem hurried out of the bedroom and went right for her backpack. Buried below a couple of cans of green beans was the stuffed animal in question, which Clem grabbed in a flash. "Elma helped keep me safe today." Announced Clem as she returned to the bedroom. "She did a good job."

"El-muh," said the boy as he took his toy back. Watching Omid squeezing the stuffed animal so closely to his body, Clem felt a sudden urge herself to hold him. She picked the boy up and clutched him as close to her chest as she could. "I love you OJ."

"Muh-boo," said Omid.

"I love you so—" Clem was startled by a sudden bang from outside. At first she thought it was a gunshot, but looking out the nearest window, she saw a rusty red truck pulling an even rustier camper approaching the gas pumps. Watching Patty motion for the truck to pull forward, Clem realized the noise she heard must have been the truck's engine starting. The engine went silent a few seconds later and Clementine watched as Anthony leapt out of the truck's cab.

"Pah-dah?" asked Omid as he looked out at this new person.

"I don't know," admitted Clem as she studied Anthony carefully. "I really don't know."