The Mansion...

We did it... We're finally out of that God-forsaken place and we managed to get back to the mansion completely unscathed. Nobody even got hurt, well, only one person died. But she wasn't much of a survivor anyway. Ben seemingly turned out alright, considering that Kenny wanted me to drop him from the bell tower. He's been giving me the same eye-roll ever since he saw Ben and me climb down the ladder. Sorry, Kenny, I know he fucked up big time, but we can' start killing each other...not again.

When we got back to the house, I handed the battery in my backpack over to Kenny. Once we're settled and we get Omid the meds he needs, I'm gonna split up what Vernon's people need with the ones we'll need for the future.

"Christa?" Lee looks at the distraught woman with concern. "Everything okay?"

"Omid!" She rushes upstairs and the rest of us follow her. I tell Clementine to wait outside the bedroom, Molly keeps an eye on her and I silently thank her with a nod. Omid is on the bed inside the bedroom...and he's not moving. Christa ran over to him and held onto his hand, but he still didn't move.

"Hold on. Is he...dead?"

"Oh, shit..."

"I never should've left you," Christa began to sob...and my hand hovered over my pistol. "I'm so sorry."

"Christa get away from him!" Vernon exclaimed just before Omid leaned up in the bed, Lee and I rushed over to Christa and pulled her away. But when I see Omid's eyes...I sigh in relief when he smiles weakly at Christa

"Hey... Back already?"

Christa takes his hand again, giving it a gentle squeeze. "We got you medicine."

Omid sighs in relief as I get the duffel bag from Vernon. "Good, feel like I could use some," I grab a bottle of penicillin pills and hand it to Christa.

"He should take these every several hours, it should pass in a few days but Omid should feel right as rain after the first few pills."

Christa nods. "Thank you."

"You okay, kid?" Omid asked Ben looking distraught. "You look worse than I do."

"We almost didn't make it out of there because of this asshole," Kenny answered for all of us. "Shoulda left him behind when we had the chance." He gives me a side glance at that last sentence.

"Guys... What the hell happened out there?"

"Let someone else tell you, I got work to do." Kenny leaves the bedroom...Ben does as well.

"Okay, with a little luck, you should start feeling better pretty soon," Vernon finishes checking on Omid. "I'll stay here a few more hours to check on him. Let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks, doc," Omid leans his head back on the pillows.

"Yes, thank you so much. You too, Elijah."

I nod. "It was nothin'."

"Maybe now's a good time for the three of us to have a little talk," Vernon says to me and Lee. What? "In private." He leads me and Lee out in the hall, it's empty so no one will hear what he has to say to us...which I have no idea of what that could be.

"I'm sorry," Lee starts off. "about what happened to Brie..."

"Don't you two beat yourselves up over that, there's was nothing you could do," I mean, I personally don't feel too upset about it. But it's still awful. "You want to know the worst part?"

"What's that?" I ask.

"...I don't feel much. I mean, I don't feel enough. Shouldn't I be broken up over what happened to her? That's how I was when I lost my daughter, when I lost my friends in those first few weeks. But now, it's like I just take something like this in stride. Like this is what our world is now, and we'd better just get used to it."

"Because it is," I say crossing my arms. "I don't like it either, but this is what it's going to be like for a while."

"..."

"What did you want to talk to me and Elijah about?" Lee asked to break the rising tension.

"...I know you two care about Clementine, anyone can see that. And I know you want what's best for her. But this plan of yours, putting everyone on a boat, with no destination... Do you two really think that's her best chance of finding somewhere where can she be safe? Because I don't," Where is he going with this? "...So I wanna make you two an offer?"

"...What kind of an offer?"

"..." Don't say it, old man. "I'll take her off your hands," He said it... I can feel my anger already rising. "Take her back with me, to my people. We're well-supplied, well-hidden, and a lot of us have had kids of our own," Look where that got 'em. "And now Crawford's fallen, we got nothing left to fear from them. She'll be safe with us. Safer than she will be if she stays with you two, I promise you. That's what you want for her, isn't-"

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say any of this and give you the chance to walk away," Lee interrupts him.

"This will not go down the way you hope, Vernon," I add. "We're giving you the chance to back off, which I insist you do before we force you to."

"I know you two think you're doing what's best for her. And if you were her real family, we wouldn't be having this conversation. But you're not, you're just a man and kid who found her. And staying with you is not what's best for her. If no one else around here will tell you that, then I will."

"..."

"..."

It didn't even take a second for me and Lee to slam Vernon's sorry ass against the wall, Lee pinned down his left shoulder while I got his right. If he thinks he's gonna take Clementien away from us then he has another thing coming.

"That little girl's in our care," Lee stated, his eyes staring down into Vernon's. "The three of us have been through more together than you can imagine."

"And anyone, I mean anyone tries to take her away from us is gonna wind up dead! She is the only thing I have left of my old life, and I'll be damned if I have some old man come into our lives and tell us what's best, you understand me?!"

"...Take your hands off me," Vernon calmly and firmly demands us. Lee does so but my hand remains squeezing his shoulder.

"Elijah, stand down."

"..." I do as he says, Vernon says nothing as he leaves the two of us alone in the hallway. Who the fuck does he think he is?! I groan. I need to check on Clementine before we make any more plans. I noticed that she was in the study room...but that's not the only thing I noticed. "Molly?" I saw the girl at the edge of the stairs...and it looked like she was leaving.

"Oh, uh...hey."

I look back at Lee, nodding at him to go ahead without me and check on Clementine. When he gets into the study, I pay attention to Molly. "What are you doing?"

"I'm...about to head out," What? "I just...wanted to say thanks. For everything," She smiles at me. "It's been fun."

"What are you talking about? Kenny's working on the boat right now. I thought you were coming with us, you've earned it more than enough."

"Yeah...I've been thinking it over. It's not for me. Sounds like it'd be pretty crowded. And I never did like the water."

"But...I thought we made a pretty good team. You taught me quite a bit, I don't think I would've gotten out of there without you."

"I know, that's why I helped you. You're a tough guy, you'll be alright."

"...But-"

"Here," Molly stops me from talking by handing me...three packs of Polaroid color instant film, giving me at least forty-eight new instant photos. But...that's not all she gave me. Molly handed me a Polaroid Go Generation two instant camera. "I...I want you to have these."

"..." I couldn't even believe what I was holding in my hands. "Where did you get these?"

"My sister...she was kinda a photography nerd too before...all of this. I think she would want someone to put them to good use, and I wouldn't know what to do with them. She always took better pictures than I ever could."

"Molly..."

"Don't get all mushy on me now, brown eyes. You better promise me to get as many good pictures before you kick the bucket too."

"..." Why does my heart...feel like this? "...Yeah, I promise."

"That's what I like to hear. Molly turns to leave...but I stop her.

"Hold on..."

I take off my backpack and grab my camera, putting the new film and Hilda's old camera inside. I check and I see that my camera has one last instant photo to take...and I know exactly what I want to do. I stand beside her and hold the camera above us.

"Say cheese..."

CLICK!

The photo comes out in seconds, Molly's slightly shocked expression next to my dumb small smile makes me laugh. It's a pretty good photo if I do say so myself. I hold it in my hand...before I hand it over to Molly.

"Something to remember me by..."

"..."

She takes the instant photo from me, but what Molly does next not only shocks me...but it makes my heart flutter beyond words. She planted a small kiss on my left cheek, It felt like an eternity despite being only for a few seconds. When she backs away, she punches my shoulder.

"I'll see you around, brown eyes," Molly reaches the edge of the stairs and looks back at me. "And you be sure to take care of that little girl. You know she thinks the world of you and Lee."

I nod. "I will. Take care of yourself, Molly."

"You too."

And just like that...she's gone. I guess I should've seen this coming, but...it hurts a helluva lot more than I expected. Molly was a survivor, she could've taught me a whole lot more, even Clementine. But now... I groan as I try to shake off my rising frustration. I turn around and head into the study, I find Clementine sitting close to the window...and she looks sad. Lee is close but he waited for me so we can both talk to Clementine.

"Hey, Sweet Pea."

"Hey, Kiddo."

"...Kenny's working on the boat."

"Yeah."

"We know."

"What are we going to do?" Clementine turns around to face us. "After he fixes it? Where will we go?"

"I don't know. We'll figure it out. We always do."

"Yeah, Lee and I will be right with you every step of the way," I try to say with enthusiasm, but Clementine just looks away. "What's wrong, Clem?"

"Is Ben going to be okay? He doesn't seem the same...since he got back."

"..."

"Ben's a good kid," Lee answered the little one. "I think he's just feeling guilty...about some of the decisions he's made. He's gotten to feeling like he's a burden on the rest of us."

"...Before we leave tomorrow, will we have time to look for my parents?"

"..."

"...We'd like to Clem. But I don't think we'll have time. We really shouldn't stay here any longer. It's not safe."

"And..." I'm going to hate myself for saying this... "The three of us have seen what this city has become, Crawford especially. Maybe it's time...to accept the possibility..." God, what am I doing? "That...Diana and Ed...could be..." I can't bear to finish my sentence.

"..."

My heart began to break as I watched the little one look down into her lap and break into tears. Fuck...what did I just do? "I'm sorry, Clementine. I'm so sorry." I try to reach out to her...but she flinches away from me. "..."

I look to Lee, who doesn't even know what to do either. Fuck... "I'll stay here with her," He whispered to me.

"...Okay." I leave them in the study...only to punch a hole in a nearby wall. I feel a small trickle of blood going over my knuckles. Way to go, idiot...you just broke that little girl's heart.

Lee...

Having fallen asleep on the couch in the study room as he stayed with Clementine, Lee wakes up and yawns. "Clementine?" He looks around...seeing that both the little girl and her radio are gone. "...Clementine?"

Lee stands from the couch, leaves the study, and heads downstairs. He sees that...the living room is completely empty. Where the hell is everyone? Having only one last place to look for...anyone, Lee goes to the backyard.

"Clementine? Clementine!" Lee calls out for the little one, looking all around the backyard...until his eyes stop at what lies in front of the shed. "...Oh, God." Clementine's hat is on the ground, Lee walks over and picks it up.

ZZZTTT!

Radio static from the other side of the fence grabs his attention, Lee wastes no time and climbs over the fence...and he sees Clementine's walkie-talkie in the middle of the sidewalk, right next to a trash bin with a few pallets.

"...Clem?" Lee goes over to the radio and picks it up in his left hand, turning it off...

"RAAAH!"

"AGH!

A walker had lunged out from behind the trash bins towards Lee's arm, he moved back and stomped the walker's head to kill it. He puts the walkie-talkie on his belt and picks up Clementine's hat which had fallen to the ground after being attacked by the walker. There was a small splatter of blood on the hat...but that was the least of Lee's worries.

"...No," Lee looks down past his hand, past his palm...and down to the bite mark on his forearm. "no...no," Lee grabs it with his free hand in disbelief. "oh...no... Oh, fuck!"

"Lee?" He turned his head to the sound of Christa's voice calling out to him. "Lee? You out here?"

"Lee?" The others are leaving the backyard through the front gate, they eventually turn the corner and find Lee with his back to them. "There you are, man."

"Are you crazy? What are you doing out here? It ain't safe!"

"Lee where's Clementine?" Omid asked sounding a lot better. "She's not in her room."

"Vernon ain't in the house either!" Kenny added. "What the hell is going on?"

"I don't like this...not one bit."

Christa looked over Lee's shoulder, seeing Clementine's hat. "Whose blood is that?"

"...It's mine," Lee defiantly turned around...and showed his wrist to the rest of the group.

"...No."

"Oh, my God."

"No way. No, no fucking way!"

"This can't be happening..."

"There's no time to worry about me," said Lee, focusing on what's really important. "Clementine's gone."

"What?!"

"There's no chance she just wandered off on her own?"

"No," Lee shakes his head. "no way."

"...Vernon."

"The hell you talkin' about?"

"Vernon came to Lee and me last night and 'offered' to take her away from us, saying she's better off or some bullshit."

"Son of a bitch..." Kenny scowled. "I knew we couldn't trust that fucker!"

"Wherever she is," Lee goes on. "I have to find her."

"You mean we have to find her," Elijah corrected him and stood by his side. "I'm responsible for her just as much as you, I'm with you, Lee...especially now more than ever."

"What do you guys need from us?" asked Christa.

"Clem may not have much time. Elijah and I have a better chance of finding her if we all go together. Who's coming with us?"

"We're all responsible for Clementine," Christa started off. "And in your condition...you might not make it to her in time."

"Don't say that," Elijah sneered.

"I'm just saying, she needs our help. All of our help."

"Damn right," Omid adds. "We can't let you guys do this alone."

"So that's settled then," Christa smiled. "We'll look for Clementine together."

"Hell yeah," Omid grins. "What're we waiting for?"

"Thanks, you guys. Elijah and I appreciate it."

"...Kenny?" Elijah asked the man what his decision would be.

"...You two have always been there for me, always had my back when it mattered. What kind of man would I be if I wasn't there for you now? You two and Clementine are the only family I got left. I'm with you both to the end. Y'all can count on me."

"Thank you, Kenny." Elijah smiles.

"What about you, Ben?"

"Now hold on a minute," Kenny didn't like the sound of what Lee was suggesting. "you're not seriously thinking about bringing him with us, are you?"

"Deal with it, Kenny. The way I see it, Ben still has a chance to make things right, if he wants it."

"So, what's it gonna be, Ben?" Elijah asked.

"...I don't know," The kid looks down at his feet, not knowing what he should do. "Whatever you guys think is best."

"Clementine's one of the few good things left in this world," Lee states. "She stood up for you in Crawford when Kenny wanted you gone. Don't you think you owe it to her to stand up for her now?"

"...You're right. I owe her," Ben manages to look back up at Clementine's protectors. "I wanna do this for Clem. But I wanna do it for Kenny too. I gotta make it right with him. Somehow, I gotta make it right."

Lee and Elijah smile knowing that they have the support of the others to the end. "Okay, guys. We should go find Vernon. Let's head out."

"I remember how to get there," Elijah adds. "Come on."

"What about the boat?" Kenny makes a good point. "We're just gonna leave it here unguarded?"

"Yes," Elijah says, turning around to look back at him. "I'd rather worry about Clementine right now."

"And if someone was gonna take it, they'd have done it already," Christa added. "Besides, what choice do we have?"

"..." Kenny sighed. "Alright, let's just get a move on...fast."

With fire in their hearts, everyone follows Lee and Elijah. Every now and then, the young photographer would glance down at his mentor's arm...and reality hadn't really settled in yet.

Lee has been bitten...

Elijah...

Thankfully, it took no time at all to lead the others to Vernon's cancer hideout. We passed Chuck's rotting corpse, the others were just as shocked as we were, but there's no time for grief...not yet anyway. I still can't even believe it... Lee's been bit, he'll... No, I can't think like that...not now. Just hang on, Kiddo, we're coming.

"Here..." I'm the first through the hole where Lee and I first found this shelter. I notice that the shelves are empty but I say nothing about it for now. I take out my pistol and Lee does the same, we take each side of the door. "One...two...three!"

Lee and I bust the door open and aime our guns...finding the morgue completely empty. "Where the hell are they?"

"Looks like they got out of here in a hurry." Kenny inquired.

"Fuck..."

"Vernon, get out here!" Lee's shout echoes through the morgue as he holstered his pistol. "There doesn't have to be any trouble here, all we want is the girl! Giver her back and no one needs to get hurt!"

Speak for yourself, Lee. If I see any of those mother fuckers...I'm tying up loose ends.

Lee's calls are met with unsettling silence. Wherever they've gone, Vernon and his dogshit group of crippled fucks have been gone for a while. What the hell is wrong with me, lately? Lee leans on one of the beds with his head in his hand, I stand beside him and offer a hand on his shoulder. We stand like this for a minute...until we hear the faint sounds of growling and moaning. We all look up to the windows near the ceiling, I think that's where...

"...Jesus, Mary, and Joseph."

Walkers...too many to count through the windows, just how many are there out there? In fact, how are there that many? What brought them here? Could it have been...no, was it...? We all look back to the hole where we came into...and we hear more growling. Fuck me...

ZZZTTT!

"Lee? Elijah?"

The radio crackles from Lee's belt, he grabs it and holds it up to his head. "Clementine, are you alright?! Where are you?!"

"Vernon, you son of a bitch!"

"...Hello, Lee. Hello, Elijah."

That voice... Oh, cono!

"Motherfucker..."

"Who is this?!"

"It's not Vernon if that's what you're thinking."

"I don't give a shit who it is!" I chime in. "Where the fuck is Clementine?!"

"You should really watch your tone, son. Clementine's fine. But if I were you...I'd choose my next words very carefully..."

"..."

"..."

TO BE CONTINUED