Morgan just stood there before Sarah and Clementine, a rifle in one hand, a pistol in the other, and that same look of disgust in his eyes that had so unnerved Clem earlier. She felt sick to her incredibly sore stomach, made all the worse there was nothing she could do. She couldn't fight him, she couldn't run, she couldn't even hold Sarah because her hands were still cuffed behind her back. The most Clem could manage was to inch over to her until their shoulders were touching, the only comfort she could offer Sarah, or herself.

"Honey, stay in the truck." Clem turned her head just in time to see Michelle exiting the garbage truck that had nearly ran Clem over. Arching her neck back to peer through the windshield, she could also see her own hat poking up past the dashboard and realized Cal was inside. She also figured he must be frightened as well judging from how much her hat was shaking in place.

"That was fucking stupid what you did with the truck," griped Morgan as Michelle approached him.

"You said you wanted me to scare them, so I did," said Michelle as Morgan handed her the pistol. "Besides, we already know the little one isn't going to cooperate, no big loss if I ran her over at this point."

"I ain't worried about her, you could have thrown an axle jumping the curb like that," lectured Morgan as Michelle tucked the pistol into the back of her pants.

"I figured one way or another we're leaving it behind, seeing as we've got a brand new RV to replace it with." Clem watched anxiously as Michelle removed her sword from its sheath. She eyed both girls on their knees, filling Clem with dread, then thrust her sword at Sarah, prompting her to yell out in fright. "Didn't I tell you?" said Michelle as she pointed her sword at a trembling Sarah. "Mexicans."

"Look at the nose, she's at least part nigger as well," added Morgan. "But either way, it's obvious they were both sent by the Lexington gang."

"What are you people talking about?" asked a baffled Sarah. "Why… why did you do this to Clem? What is wrong with you? What… what did we ever do to you?"

"Save us the bullshit, we know you're with the group that came out of Lexington," dictated Morgan.

"What's Lexington? I don't know what—wait!"

"Sarah!" Clem watched helplessly as Michelle positioned the tip of her sword right at Sarah's neck.

"You've seen what we did to your little friend," warned Michelle in a cold voice as Sarah could only shudder in fear. "Just tell us where your people are hiding; it'll be easier for both of you."

"She doesn't know anything!" insisted Clem. "I'm the one you want, just leave them alone!"

"Them?" Morgan spun around and looked at the Brave. "Shit, there's more inside!"

"No! It's—ahh!" Michelle grabbed Sarah by the collar and forced her to her feet.

"Don't try anything or she dies!" announced Michelle as she placed her blade right under Sarah's neck and forced her to face the RV, turning her into a human shield.

"Leave her alone!" begged a desperate Clem as she stood up. "She didn't do anything! Take me if—ahhh!" Clem felt herself being knocked to the pavement as Morgan struck her in the back with the rifle.

"Watch them closely Michelle, I'll check out the RV." Clem watched anxiously as Morgan raised the rifle and aimed at the Brave's door. "This is your only warning! Come out now or I'm coming in shooting!"

"It's just a baby!" yelled Clem as Morgan stormed up the Brave's steps. "There's only a baby in there! He—" Clem felt her stomach drop as she briefly heard Omid crying, and then was silenced by single gunshot.

"Nooooo! God no! Omid! Why? Why!" Clementine collapsed onto the pavement, crying so hard she could barely breathe. "I'm sorry…" she mumbled through her choked sobs. "I'm so sorry Omid… I'm…" Clem heard Omid crying again and pulled herself up just in time to see Morgan exiting the RV. He was holding the rifle in one hand and clutching Omid by the straps of his overalls in the other. Clem watched in terror as the boy dangled helplessly in Morgan's grip, crying his heart out.

"Kem-men!" he screamed. "Sah-rah!"

"Omid, don't—oww!" Clem felt Michelle pulling her hair as she tried moving closer to him.

"Morgan, are you okay?" asked Michelle as she kept one hand on Clem and the other on the sword under Sarah's throat.

"Yeah, the little spook just startled me; shot a damn door expecting someone taller." Clem watched as Morgan examined a crying Omid. He looked even more disgusted at Omid then he did at Sarah and Clem, as if he found Omid himself grotesque to behold, and seemed to hold him as far away from his face as possible.

"Jesus, you little sluts sure start young, don't ya?" Michelle told Sarah, who didn't respond, likely fearful of having her throat cut if she did.

"They're like rats, always having more kids they can't take care of," groused Morgan as he moved closer to the garbage truck.

"Dad?" spoke a quivering Cal as he stepped out of the truck. "What are you doing with that baby?"

"Kem-men!" he cried in desperation."Sah-rah!"

"Cal, you go back in the cab, sit down in the passenger's seat, and you just stay there until I tell you otherwise, understand?"

"But—"

"That's not how you say 'yes sir' Cal."

"Kem-men!"

"Yes… yes sir."

"Sah-rah!"

Cal climbed back into the truck while Morgan threw the rifle over his free shoulder. He reached into the garbage truck's cab and pushed on a long lever near the steering wheel. There was suddenly a loud mechanical squeaking and looking up, Clem saw there was a dumpster hanging from a couple of large metal arms attached to each side of the garbage truck. They were holding the dumpster over the back of the truck, but slowly started moving forward, gradually bringing it closer to the ground as Morgan carried Omid closer to the front of the truck.

"Kem-men! Sah-rah!"

"Just put him back in the RV!" begged Clementine. "We'll do anything!"

"He's just a baby!" screamed Sarah as the dumpster arrived on the pavement with a large metal thud. "We'll give you whatever you want, just don't hurt him!"

Morgan stopped and looked over at Clementine and Sarah for a second, the tossed Omid into the dumpster.

"No!"

"Omid!"

"Aaahhhhhhh!" Omid's agonizing screeching echoed from inside the dumpster, sending Clementine into a frenzy. She started pulling against her handcuffs with such force that the metal started tearing at the already raw skin on her wrists. She yanked her right hand straight up, causing her to yell out in pain as she felt the jagged metal slicing into her flesh.

"Stop it!" screamed Sarah as she wrestled against Michelle's grip. "We'll do whatever you say, just stop it!"

"What we want is for you to tell us where the Lexington gang went," ordered Morgan as he approached the cab of the truck.

"We don't know!" insisted Sarah.

"Wrong answer." Morgan pulled the same lever and the mechanical arms started lifting the dumpster up, prompting a blood-curdling shrieking from a hysterical Omid. Clem pulled against her cuffs so hard that it felt like she was about to rip her own hands off in the process. With another forceful jerk of her arm, she felt her right hand squeezing slightly upward into the cuff just as the pain became unbearable.

"We don't know who you're talking about!" screamed Sarah as the clanking metal arms carried the dumpster higher.

"The pack of savages who drove us out of our homes, sacked our farms, and killed everyone in sight! Any of those ring a bell?" ranted Morgan. "You thought you could just run off with everything and not expect us to fight back, or did you think you finished us all off back at Broken Bow?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" yelled Sarah.

"Well you better figure it out, because in a few seconds those arms are gonna dump that little rat into this truck, and that's when the mashers will do to him what it does to all the other garbage we throw in there!"

"Stop it!"

Clem took a deep breath and pulled as hard as she could, she felt her hand slide half-way up through the cuff before a shooting pain went right up her arm and through her whole body, causing her to collapse onto the ground in agony. She looked up in despair as the arms tilted the dumpster backwards. Gravity pulled the lids open as it pivoted downward and it would only be a matter of seconds before Omid came tumbling out, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"They're in Grand Island!"

Morgan pushed on the lever and the arms stopped moving. Clem watched in suspense as the dumpster shuddered briefly in place from the abrupt stop, still teetering at an almost forty-five-degree angle over the drop into the truck's massive garbage bin. Clem listened carefully for any signs of Omid, terrified he'd already fallen to his death and she had missed it, but then she heard something, a muffled crying sound, and it was coming from far above the truck.

"He's still alive!" realized Sarah.

"And if you want him to stay that way, you'd best listen closely," dictated Morgan. "You tell me everything you know about the Lexington gang, or—"

"We don't know anyone from Lexington, but…" Sarah swallowed hard as she looked away. "After our old home was attacked and we lost everyone, we came here and… we ran into a group of people in Grand Island."

"What's Grand Island?"

"It's just a town on Interstate Eighty, to the east of here. We thought it was abandoned and so we stayed the night… that's when they attacked us."

Clem looked over at Sarah in confusion. She was trying hard to hide it, but it was clear to Clem at least she lying, telling Morgan what he wanted to hear, anything to spare Omid.

"And these people who attacked you, they're from Lexington, aren't they?"

"I don't know, they didn't tell us where they came from," said Sarah as she looked Morgan. "They just barged into our RV while we were sleeping and… they didn't care that we're just kids."

"They don't even care about their own kind, typical." Clem watched as Michelle moved her sword away from Sarah's neck, probably so she could speak more easily. Tugging on her handcuffs again, she could feel the metal was slick now, probably from her own blood. Slowly, and very painfully, she tried pulling her right hand through the cuff, biting her tongue to prevent herself from calling out in pain as she did.

"If they attacked you, how did you get away?" asked a skeptical Morgan.

"We didn't, they said we had to prove ourselves, and so we had to go looking for food, to bring back to them. That's why we're out here, because they don't care about kids, unless we're useful to them."

Clem took a short breath, then tried jerking her hand out of the cuff. She pulled, then barely stopped herself from yelling out from the searing pain she felt, managing to let out only a tiny whimper that escaped Morgan and Michelle's notice as she laid on the pavement in anguish.

"So what, this was some kind of initiation?" asked a confused Morgan.

"That doesn't make sense," stated Michelle. "If you could actually get food on your own, what reason would you have for giving it to them if they already let you go? What could you possibly get out of their deal at this point?"

That question instilled dread in Clem that briefly made her forget about the throbbing pain in her right hand. Looking at Sarah, her eyes started welling up with tears as she looked down at the pavement.

"They… they… they have our parents," sobbed Sarah.

"Your parents?"

"They barged into our RV, pointed guns at their heads, then tied them up, right in front of us," cried Sarah. "That's why we're here, because if we don't find any food to bring back, they said they'd kill our mom and dad."

"That doesn't make any sense," dictated Michelle. "If they have your parents, why not send them to get food and keep you kids as collateral?"

"Because like I said, they don't care about kids unless they're useful," Sarah told Michelle directly, her every word drenched in bitterness. "They told us to our faces the only way they'd ever consider letting our family stay with them is if we proved we could be as useful as our mom and dad."

Clem took a couple of deep breaths and prepared to try to pull her right hand through the cuff again, only to discover it was already free. She moved it away from her left hand, shocked she felt no resistance from the cuffs anymore.

"My mom told them she'd never work for them, and that's when they said if we didn't they'd kill us all right then. My dad said he'd do what they want if they just left me and Clem and our little brother alone, but that wasn't good enough, they said our mom crossed a line and we had to prove we were worth keeping alive."

Clem slowly moved her trembling hand to the gun strapped to her ankle, doing her best not to make any sudden moves that would give her away.

"I think they knew your people were around here. They didn't tell us anyone was here, but they told us to go Kearney and start searching north, saying there 'might' be food left there, but also told us if we saw anyone we can't say where we've been, or they'd kill our mom and dad… they were probably hoping you'd kill us."

"Or that you two would kill some of us," concluded Michelle.

"Blood in, blood out; that's what they call it, right?" Clem wrapped her fingers around the gun as Morgan spoke. Her wrist ached as she tightened her grip on it, but it didn't burn half as hard as her desire to kill this man.

"But this means, you're not actually loyal to the Lexington gang, right?" asked Morgan.

"We just want out parents back, and our little brother to be safe, and we don't care what happens to anyone else, especially not to any of the assholes who sent us out here, knowing that we'd probably die," asserted Sarah, a sudden swell of authority in her voice. "We could help you kill them. They're expecting us back, and as long as we get our mom and dad back, we don't care what happens to those people… they deserve to die."

"Well then, that's something we can both agree on."

Clem drew the pistol and shot Michelle in the head, killing without her ever knowing it. Morgan tried to raise the rifle but Clem was faster, taking aim and pulling the trigger as fast as she could, putting bullet after bullet into his chest. Morgan stumbled backwards from each shot until he slammed into the side of the truck, leaving behind a series of bloody trails as he slid down the metal and collapsed onto the pavement.

Clem tried shooting him in the head, but the gun only clicked. Morgan, gargling in pain as he sat on the ground, tried raising the rifle when suddenly Sarah's hands wrapped around its barrel. Refusing to release the weapon, Sarah kicked Morgan in the head with such force it knocked him flat onto the ground. She moved past him and hurried into the truck's cab, provoking terrified screams from Cal. Sarah immediately grabbed the lever Morgan had used and pushed it forward, prompting the dumpster to start moving back down.

Sarah raced over to the front of the truck as the dumpster moved while Clem clambered over to Michelle's corpse. She pocketed the ankle pistol and quickly grabbed her other pistol tucked into Michelle's belt. She then raced over to where Morgan was laying, coughing blood in-between making weak wheezing noises like a dying animal. Clem raised her pistol to shoot him in the head, and he could only respond by clumsily raising his shaking hands out in front of his face in a futile attempt to defend himself.

Clem put her finger on the trigger and prepared to finish him off, but hesitated. The way he was looking at her now, one eye overflowing with desperation and the other bloodied from Sarah's kick, choking for breath through the blood in his lungs, Clem relished it. She recounted the numerous times he made her suffer today, and the overwhelming terror she felt every time he said he'd kill her, and Clem realized she didn't want to spare him those horrible feelings; she wanted him to suffer for as long as he had left.

"Omid!" Clem looked over and saw Sarah pulling Omid from the dumpster. "Omid! Say something!"

"Is he okay?" asked a terrified Clem, noting Omid wasn't crying anymore and was incredibly still.

"I… he's still breathing!" announced Sarah. "Omid, it's okay now, all right, can you hear me? It's—"

"Daddy!" Clem spun around and saw Cal kneeling before his dying father. "Dad, get up," begged Cal through his tears as he pulled on his father's arm. Approaching the pair, Clem noticed Morgan looking at her. He turned to Cal, or as much as he could while lying on his side, and opened his mouth.

"Cal…" he croaked in a weak voice, blood spilling out of his mouth as he spoke. "Fight…"

Cal spun around to find Clementine staring down at him. She watched as he slowly, clumsily removed the still sheathed tomahawk from his back. No sooner than he had the weapon out in front of him than had Clem snatched it from his grip. Throwing the tomahawk over her own shoulder, Clem stared at a cowering Cal as he turned back to his father.

"Dad, get up! Dad!"

Morgan opened his mouth to say something, but only let out a final gasp before becoming perfectly still. Clem watched as crying Cal leaned in closer to his father's corpse, still begging him to get up. As he moved his face closer to his father's, Clem found her hands acting on their own. She grabbed Cal by the collar, pulled him away, then took aim and shot Morgan in the head.

"Noooo!" screamed Cal at the top of his lungs.

"He was going to turn," warned Clem. "And then he would—"

"You killed my mom and dad, you… you… you nigger!"

Clem glared at Cal, then aimed her gun at his head. He became deathly quiet. She just stared angrily at the boy as tears streamed down his face, every bit of sympathy she had for him disappearing with the mere utterance of that word. As she watched him cower before her, Clem heard something dripping onto to the pavement. She looked down and discovered a large stain on Cal's shorts; he had pissed himself in fear of her.

"Clem, come on!"

Clem spotted Sarah rushing into the Brave. She turned back to Cal, then snatched her hat back off his head. He yelled out in fear, which made Clem feel sick to her stomach. She put her hat on, then knelt down to grab her radio and knife off of Morgan's belt. Putting both items back where they belonged, Clem raced towards the Brave and bounded up the stairs, relief washing over her as she finally stepped back into her home. Turning around to close the door, Clem saw Cal outside, still staring at her in sheer terror.

"I…" Clem sighed. "I'm sorry." Clem slammed the door shut and locked it behind her before Cal could respond. She could hear Sarah in the back and so hurried into the driver's seat herself. Reaching for the steering wheel she saw the blood dripping off her hand. She hastily reached down with her other hand and grabbed her knife. She tore off another strip of fabric from her already torn open shirt and hastily wrapped it around her right arm.

Her wrist ached as she took off the parking brake, but Clem ignored it and started the engine. As she shifted the Brave into drive, Clem spotted Cal one last time. He was just standing next to his father's corpse, staring at her with a vacant look on his face, like he had no idea what to do. Clem couldn't bear to look at him, so she turned away. She put her foot on the gas, and the sniveling child disappeared from sight as they returned to the open road.

Clem had no idea where they were going, and it was getting dark, and she didn't know how to switch the headlights on. Just as the sun was about to set, Clem started searching for somewhere to pull over. They were once again surrounded by empty fields, far from what little remnants of civilization were left. Up ahead was a small patch of trees on the right, and so Clem carefully turned them off the road.

Slowly, Clem drove the Brave across the grass until she lost sight of the road entirely through the trees, then she kept driving a bit longer just to be sure. After turning off the engine, Clem found herself instinctively heading to the door. She unlocked it and poked her head outside. She could barely see the road from where they were parked and didn't see anything coming, but hurried back inside and locked the door anyway.

She found herself checking the windows next, confirming there wasn't anything in sight from any of them, and then hurriedly drawing the curtains closed afterwards. Next, Clem started shutting off the lights, fearful that someone would see the lit windows even through the curtains if she didn't. Eventually, the only light left on was in the bedroom. Moving towards it, Clem cringed as she noticed the bullet hole in the bedroom door, then slid it open. Stepping inside, she saw Sarah leaning over Omid's crib, a tormented look on her face.

"Is he—"

"I think he's okay," answered Sarah, sounding exhausted.

"You think?" asked Clem, afraid of what Sarah would say next.

"He's been really quiet… he hasn't even been crying anymore," reported Sarah through her tears. "When I brought him in, he was just… still. I was so worried he'd stop breathing."

"Oh God, Omid…" Clem leaned over the crib and looked at the boy. He was curled up in his crib now, an expression of pain etched onto his tiny face and large bruises running all across one side of his body. "He… he just tossed him in there."

"I know," sniveled Sarah. "I just kept cradling him and after a while he opened his eyes, and… I think he knew it was okay when he saw me. He didn't say anything while he was awake, but I looked him over and I don't think anything's broken. It definitely hurt him when I touched him but, all his finger and toes look okay and he moved his arms and legs a little before he fell asleep so… I think he's okay… I hope he's okay."

"I'm so sorry," said Clem as she reached out to touch Omid. "I'm…" Clem saw the handcuffs still hanging from her left wrist.

"I'll go get the bolt cutters." As Sarah turned to leave, she stopped briefly as her eyes fell on Clem. "And our first-aid kit," she added. "Just wait for me in the bathroom."

"Okay." Sarah headed back up front while Clem retreated to the bathroom. She slipped off her jacket and ruined shirt, a task made harder by the handcuffs still stuck on her wrist. Tossing them aside, Clem found herself cringing as she suddenly noticed the soreness in her side again. A lot of pain she had managed to block out came rushing back as her adrenaline faded, and that was before Clem caught sight of herself in the mirror.

Her entire body was covered in bruises, blood, and dirt. There were long black marks from where Morgan's nightstick had struck her, an imprint of Michelle's shoe near her gunshot wound, and a bright red ring of rope burn around her neck. Reaching up to wipe the blood off her lips, Clem saw even more blood had soaked through the fabric on her wrist. Unwrapping her makeshift bandage, she discovered a large patch of skin on wrist had been shaved off by the cuffs and hung there like a half-peeled rhine off a fruit.

Reluctantly, Clem looked up at her own face, and hated what she saw. Her cheeks were swollen and red, with one mark being in the perfect shape of Morgan's hand, along with a few dark spots where she'd been hit even harder. Spitting out a bit of blood and phlegm into the sink, Clem noticed one of her teeth was missing now. Dried tears stained the spaces under her eyes and mucus was crusted around her nostrils from all her crying. And looking at her own nose, she suddenly found herself disgusted by the sight of it. She punched the mirror in frustration, then yelped out in pain as she clutched her hand.

"Are you okay?" asked Sarah as she hurried into the bathroom. "Are—oh God." Clem expected Sarah to look at her hand, either of them. Instead, she felt Sarah's fingers tracing the marks around her neck. "What… what did they do to you?"

"They tied a rope around me," mumbled Clem.

"What? Why?"

"They wanted to hang me."

"They… they were going to hang you?"

"They… they did…" sobbed Clem. "They only let me down when I said Omid's name because they thought he was someone else from some other group. That's why he kept asking about Lexington."

"Oh my God, Clem—"

"I… I'm so weak…" Clem collapsed to her knees and started crying.

"No no no, it's okay Clem, we're safe now, we're—"

"We're never safe, because I can't protect us… I never can."

"You just saved us all."

"No I didn't, we just got lucky," insisted Clem. "They were dumb and didn't search me, and I only barely got my hand out of those cuffs." Clem held her nearly skinned wrist up and Sarah instinctively started cleaning the blood off it. "And the only reason I could do that is because you were smarter and started tricking them and… you'd be better off with anyone other than me."

"That's not true and you know it," asserted Sarah as she wrapped a bandage around Clem's wrist.

"Sarah, if anything like this ever happens again… you have to leave me behind."

"No!" declared Sarah as she tied off the bandage.

"You have to, okay?" begged Clem. "We… you can't risk Omid for me."

"Omid needs both of us!"

"Promise me you'll leave me! Promise—"

"I need you!" Clem suddenly felt Sarah's arms encircle her as she was pulled in close. "I… I need you Clem. I… this is all my fault."

"No, Sarah—"

"It is…" wept Sarah she squeezed Clem harder. "I let you go out there even though you were hurt, and now you're hurt even worse, all because I was mad. I'm so sorry Clem."

"It's not your fault."

"And I should have brought Anthony's gun when I came to find you."

"Huh?"

"That pistol he used to have, it's still up in the cupboard. I could have stuffed it in my sock, like Patty used to do. I could have shot them, and then you wouldn't have had to cut up your wrist, and Omid never would have been thrown into a dumpster and… this is all my fault."

"Sarah, it's—"

"I'm useless!"

"No you're not!" yelled Clem as she threw her arms around Sarah, returning her embrace. "You're amazing and I love you and… please, let's just stop talking about it. I… I'm just glad it's over now."

"Yeah, me too." Clem cringed slightly from hugging Sarah so hard, but the comfort it provided was far greater than the pain it caused.

"I was so scared I'd never you again," professed Clem.

"Me too," said Sarah. "When that man called… I can't remember the last time I was that scared."

"There were so many times I thought was going to die today," wept Clem. "Even when they left me for you to find, I couldn't breathe and thought I was going to suffocate."

"I'm so sorry Clem," said Sarah. "I remember when those robbers tied me up and gagged me, back outside that mall. I felt like I couldn't breathe, and it was so bad I thought for certain going to suffocate for a while. I was so cared, no matter how many times they said they didn't want to hurt me."

"Those people never said that to me. In fact, they kept arguing over what was the best way to hurt me… or kill me."

"I'm… I'm so sorry."

"And all the horrible things he kept saying to me," spoke a bitter Clem. "He kept calling me a nigger, over and over again."

"He said I was part nigger too," recalled Sarah. "What does that mean?"

"It means we're less than a person, because our skin was darker than their's."

"What?"

"Devlin explained it to me once. He said some people see your skin and think that they know you."

"Know you?"

"Know that you're bad, and that you're a liar, and that you deserve to die, all just because you look different."

"Nigger means all that?"

"Yeah. I didn't really understand it either, but today... he just kept talking about me like he already knew everything about me, and nothing I said mattered. He... he just hated me, no matter what. Just like how he hated you, and... and Omid."

"I can't believe he did that," spoke Sarah in a hushed whisper. "Omid's just a baby and... what kind of horrible person does that to a little baby?"

"The worst kind."

"And that woman, she was just like him, wasn't she?" asked a bitter Sarah. "She called me a slut, which is one of the things Matt called me at Shaffer's."

"She was a horrible person too," confirmed Clem. "Worse than Matt."

"I asked Patty once what slut meant and she said it was someone who has lots of sex and doesn't care with who. I... how could she know something like that just from looking at me?"

"She didn't, she just was a horrible person who said horrible things."

"But why? Why would she say that? It doesn't make any sense."

"Neither does people coming back from the dead to eat you, but that happens too."

"Yeah, but everyone turns into a lurker now. Why would these people think this stuff about us but no one else? It's not like when people think we're stupid because we're kids, we've met plenty of people who think that. Why were these people different?"

"I don't know." Clem took a breath as she thought to herself. "Morgan, that man, he kept telling his son how I was a nigger over and over again, even though Cal didn't really understand it, and then Cal called me nigger after I shot his dad. I guess if you're told something enough times, maybe you start to believe it?"

"I guess so." Clem clung to Sarah as she took a deep breath. "I did want to ask you something about that little boy."

"What?"

"Those terrible people were his parents right? So… were they the only ones he had?"

"He… no, he mentioned others."

"Others?" asked a horrified Sarah.

"He talked about other people when they found me, and it sounds like they belonged to a group."

"A group? Where?"

"I don't know, they just kept saying something about a loop."

"I'll look at the towns nearby in the atlas, so we make sure we stay away from them."

"And look for a place called Lexington," added Clem.

"Do you want to try and find these people they were talking about?"

"No. They said they robbed their farms. I mean, they were both evil and stupid people and could be lying, but—"

"They could have been telling the truth about that one thing," concluded Sarah.

"Yeah, just because they're evil doesn't mean these other people are good, and—"

"You don't want to risk finding out; me neither," assured Sarah. "I'll find Lexington on the atlas so we can stay far away from it too."

"I did want to ask you," said Clem. "What's Grand Island?"

"It was the town near the intersection where we waited for the others for a couple of weeks," answered Sarah. "I just yelled it out, thinking it sounded important when really it's just another empty city in the middle of nowhere."

"Then you started talking about people sending us off to prove ourselves and how they tied up our parents right in front of us. That was really smart, just making that up out of nowhere."

"It wasn't hard, I just remembered how Valkaria wouldn't let us stay if they didn't think we were useful and how Shaffer's attacked us that night at Walter and Matthew's."

"Oh yeah…" What little comfort Clem clung to began to evaporate upon recalling those terrible memories. "What about the stuff you said about having a mom?"

"I just thought about Christa and what she'd say... I wish she were here right now." Sarah sighed, then finally released Clem. "Okay, let's get you taken care of."

Sarah took the bolt cutters and worked on removing the cuff from Clem's wrist. Ever since their battery-powered bolt cutters stopped working back in Tulsa, they've had to make do with a large pair of ordinary ones, which weren't all that easy to use for someone Sarah's size. After several failed attempts that managed to severely bend the cuffs in many places, there was finally a couple of loud snaps and Sarah managed to remove enough metal for Clem to slide her other hand free.

After that, Sarah gave Clem a painkiller and proceeded to treat her injuries. Sarah was thorough, cleaning any wound, bandaging any cut, and even examining Clem's teeth at her request. She was relieved to be told it was only a baby tooth that had been knocked out, and none of her other teeth appeared chipped or broken. After that, Clem cleaned herself off in the shower, trying to do her best to ignore all her bruises and avoid getting any of her new bandages wet. Coming out of the bathroom, she noticed Sarah taking a swig of water from a bottle. Turning around, she could see a pill bottle in Sarah's hand.

"Sorry," she said. "It's just—"

"It's fine," assured Clem. "In fact, can I have one of those? I think I'm gonna have trouble sleeping tonight."

"Sure, it'll help, a lot." Sarah tilted the bottle forward and a single pill rolled into Clem's hand. She looked at it, finding it odd that something so small can change how she feels so much, then swallowed it along with a gulp of water from the bottle Sarah handed her.

"If you need anything else, just tell me," said Sarah.

"Anything?" asked Clem.

"Anything, just name it."

"Could… could we sleep in the same bed again?" asked a nervous Clem. "At least for tonight? It makes me feel better when—"

"I'd like that."

Clem was surprised to hear that, but pleasantly so. Sarah headed into the bathroom to clean herself up while Clem got ready for bed. Looking at Omid again, the pain on his face had lessened, but only slightly. Leaning in close, she listened to the sound of him breathing, and breathed a little easier herself for hearing it. She was tempted to wake him, just to reassure herself he was in fact all right. Instead, she just leaned in as close as she could.

"I'm sorry Omid," whispered Clem. "I love you so much and I'm so sorry. I…"

Clem heard the door slide open and found Sarah standing behind her. "How do you feel?" she asked as she closed the door.

"Oh… okay… sorta?" shrugged Clem. "Even with the painkiller, everything still kind of hurts, and my head feels funny right now. Although, it doesn't feel bad, it's more like it feels..."

"Clear?"

"Um, yeah, I guess it does," said Clem as she realized all the miseries and torments of today suddenly felt much more distant than they should have. They hadn't left her mind, how could they, but they felt elusive now. Trying to remember what it was like having that rope tied around her neck, Clem had trouble visualizing it, until finally she gave up and found herself left with a kind of peaceful contentment as her mind became a blank haze. "It's weird, I'm just like not thinking about… anything, right now."

"Yeah, that's probably the Xanax you took."

"Is that why you take them? It makes it where you stop thinking for a while?"

"Mostly. Right now I still know there's a ton of things I need to be worried about but just… aren't, at least until it wears off."

Clem yawned. "I also feel really tired."

"Yeah, that's the other reason I take them, they just don't make me stop worrying, they make me sleepier too."

"Yeah, really sleepy," mumbled Clem as she crawled into bed, welcoming the comforting embrace of the covers she so wanted to be rid of just this morning. "It's almost like drinking whiskey, but I feel more relaxed. No wonder you take them."

"I probably shouldn't though, we don't have many left," said Sarah as she climbed into bed. "And you'll probably still feel it the next morning for a while too. A lot of the time, I don't even want to get out bed when I wake up, just because it feels so good just to lay there and sleep, but—"

"It feels good right now," said Clem as she adjusted her head on the soft pillow. "Let's just enjoy it until it wears off."

"Okay."

As Sarah slid into place next to Clem, their eyes met. They stared at each other through the darkness for a few seconds, then moved closer to one other. Clem felt Sarah's strong arms wrapping around body as she turned her head and kissed Sarah's cheek. Settling into that warm embrace, Clem felt Sarah's hand stroking her hair. Her gentle touch was almost enough to make Clem forget this entire terrible day. She was about to drift off to sleep, but suddenly she felt a soft kiss on her forehead.

"I really love you," professed a tearful Clementine, barely able to contain her voice to a mere whisper as she felt a sense of euphoria washing over her. "I… I love you so much Sarah."

"I love you too Clem."