Omid kept making cooing noises as Clementine carried him into the mall, excited to be in the girl's arms again. Clem waited patiently outside the toy store as Sarah checked inside to make sure it was safe. Confirming it was, the pair set their raincoats, weapons and equipment on the counter and browsed the aisles still stacked with plentiful toys, unopened games, colorful figures, and stuffed animals. Turning to Sarah, Clem watched the older girl pick a toy robot off the shelf and examine it.

"Do you like that?" asked Clem.

Sarah shrugged. "I don't know. Sorta?" The older girl sighed and put the robot back.

"If you like it take it," urged Clem.

"I… don't really want it," realized Sarah.

"Then why'd you pick it up?"

"It looked like something I would like, but I guess don't anymore?" spoke Sarah, sounding confused by her own words. "Does that make any sense?"

"Actually, it does." Clem looked out at the packages of plastic goods sitting on the shelves and no matter how colorful or eye-catching they were, she didn't feel any urge to take any of them. "I don't know why, but this just doesn't feel as fun as I thought it would be."

"Yeah, it's like, I know I should want to play with this stuff, but I just don't anymore," said Sarah. "I think I'd… actually rather read something instead."

"Or maybe just play chess," suggested Clem.

"So, what do you want to do then? Do you want to leave?"

"I… I don't know," realized Clem. "Maybe…"

Omid started fidgeting in Clem's arms. Looking down, she saw the baby boy's bright brown eyes had lit up upon seeing a large bin full of inflated plastic balls. He stretched his chubby arms out towards the multi-colored display, practically squealing with delight. Hearing that chased away the clouds looming in Clem's mind and a smile came to her face.

"I think Omid knows what he wants to do," said Sarah.

"Yeah." Clementine carried Omid to the display, where he immediately stuck his hands through the gaps in the elastic lines that held the balls in place and tried grasping one of them. Watching him trying to grab the nearest one, his chubby fingers struggling to a establish grip, Clem couldn't help giggling.

Clementine helped free the ball from the pen, letting Omid take it in hand. He seemed to delight in shaking it a couple of times, then tossed it onto the ground, laughing as he did so. Clem set Omid on the floor, who crawled over to the ball in a hurry. He grabbed the ball again, sat up, then tossed it down the aisle, laughing at it as he did so.

"We should get a few of those and take them back to the front of the store, where there's more light," said Sarah as she collected a few balls from the pen.

"Right," said Clem as she collected Omid. They returned to the entrance where they could see more easily. Sarah set the balls down, and Clem set Omid down. He immediately crawled to nearest one, smiling and babbling as he did so. Clem watched as he tried to collect all the balls in his stubby arms, only for a small orange one to roll out of his grip and into Clem's feet.

Clementine gently nudged the ball forward with her foot, rolling it back towards Omid, who seem transfixed by the bright orange moving piece of plastic. He dropped the other balls he was holding and took hold of the orange one. He picked it up and tossed it towards Clem's feet again, who kicked it back, prompting an excited laugh from the bouncing baby boy.

"You like that," said Clem in a sweet voice. "Don't you?"

"Puh-bah!" babbled an overjoyed Omid as he tossed the ball back towards Clementine. The girl sat down so she could see Omid's face more clearly. Watching the boy sport a big and nearly toothless grin while giggling hysterically as she rolled the ball back to him touched Clem's heart in a way she didn't fully understand, but was entirely grateful for feeling.

"He's… he's so beautiful," spoke Sarah as she sat down beside Clem, the emotion in her voice telling Clem that this feeling was likely washing over Sarah as well.

"He really is." Clementine found Sarah's hand squeezing her own as they played with their boy, happily bouncing and rolling balls back to him every time he threw them in their direction. Playing with Omid, Clem found her doubts from before evaporating with each roll of the ball. Suddenly, a giddy sensation struck Clem like a bolt of lighting and she rushed over to Omid, scooping the infant into her arms.

"Up you go!" Clementine quickly lifted Omid into the air, prompting him to squeal in delight.

"Let me try." Clem carefully handed Omid to Sarah. The older girl moved Omid closer to the ground, then quickly pulled him into the air. Another chorus of excited squeals followed as Sarah held Omid high in the air, the older girl laughing in joy herself.

"I want to try it like that." Sarah handed Omid back to Clem, who copied Sarah's movement. She held Omid as close to the ground as she could while still standing. "You ready?" she said as she looked into Omid's big brown eyes, noting the anticipation in them. "Here we go!" Clem lifted Omid as high as she could, holding him directly over her head. She looked up and saw Omid looking down directly at her. She looked up and saw Omid looking down at her, giggling and laughing uncontrollably, which just made Clem want to giggle and laugh too.

"We should get a cart or something," realized Sarah. "So we can take stuff back to the Brave."

"Definitely," said Clem as she continued to look up at Omid.

"Can you watch him while I look for something?"

"Definitely," repeated Clem as she continued to stare at the little giggling person she held in her arms. Sarah moved deeper into the store while Clem held Omid close to her face.

"I love you," professed Clementine to the smiling baby boy. "Do you love me?"

"Muh muh!" answered an overjoyed Omid.

"I wish your mom was here too," said Clem in a softer voice. "And your dad."

"Muh muh," repeated Omid with no less enthusiasm.

"But me and Sarah will always take care of you," assured Clem. "And we both love you."

"Muh muh."

Clem smiled at Omid. "Say, love you," she prodded with a smirk.

"Muh muh?"

"Love. You."

"Muh boo."

Clem smiled. "I love you too." She pulled her boy in close and kissed him on the forehead, his dark curly hair tickling Clem's nose as she did.

"I couldn't find any carts." Clementine turned her head to see Sarah approaching, pulling a pair of wagons behind her. "But we could probably carry a lot with these." Sarah sat down next to Clem. "And check out what else I found."

Sarah removed a tall plastic bottle from the wagon and unscrewed the lid. Inside was a clear liquid, which Sarah dipped a plastic wand in. She pulled the wand out of the liquid, revealing a pair of small loops on the end, which she moved towards her mouth. Sarah blew on the wand and shimmering soap bubbles started flying through the air. Omid started laughing excitedly, flailing his little arms at the bubbles while Clem stretched out her hand and caught one.

"I used to love playing with bubbles," spoke Clem as she looked at her reflection in the shimmering soap. "Back when I was… eight." The bubble popped suddenly. "It's only been like a year and a half since things changed, but it feels like it was forever ago."

"Yeah, I know…" Sarah took a breath and then blew some more bubbles, amusing Omid to no end. "I used to like to play video games. I had a ton of them," mused Sarah as she stirred the bubble wand in the bottle. "When my dad and I left home, I remember there was one I was still trying to finish. Those first few days we were at Shaffer's, I was actually upset because I still wanted to play it."

"What game was it?"

Sarah stopped stirring the wand. "I… I don't remember." Sarah blew some more bubbles for Omid to swat at while seemingly lost in thought herself.

"Sarah?" said Clem.

"I'd been playing it for weeks," recalled Sarah. "More than a month in fact, and I thought I was close to beating it, but then something happened and everything changed, and I just really wanted to know what happened next."

"I'm sorry," said Clem.

"Everyone was gone, and she was stuck on this little island, and then the only person left… died, and then she was alone."

"Who was?"

"I… I don't remember," spoke Sarah. "I just remember it driving me crazy when I started living at Shaffer's. But now… I can't even remember the game's name." Sarah sighed. "After the power went out, my dad started bringing me books so I'd have something to do. I didn't like reading much then, but after a while I got used to it, and I just forgot about games."

"I forgot how much I used to like playing with toys," realized Clem. "Anytime I got a new toy, my dad would always play with it with me. It was so much fun, playing with my dad…"

Sarah saw the sadness hanging on Clem's face. The older girl set her hand on top of the younger's hand. The younger girl responded by leaning in close and resting her head on the older girl's shoulder.

"I still miss him," confessed Clem, trying to stifle her sadness. "And my mom."

"I'm sorry Clementine." Sarah moved her arm around Clem and gently rubbed the girl's shoulder. Clem clung close to Sarah for a moment, but then she heard Omid babbling something.

"Buh. Buh." Omid reached for the bottle of bubble solution resting in Sarah's hand. Clem smirked a little at the boy, seeing he was eager for more bubbles. Sarah moved to pick up the wand, but Clem grabbed it first. She quickly held the wand in front of her lips and blew another cluster of bubbles through the air, which caused Omid to squeal with joy.

"You know," said Sarah. "I also got some toys for us too."

"You did?"

"Yeah, I was thinking, maybe the problem is we don't want to play with just toys anymore, we want to play with each other, and we should get toys to do that."

"Like what?" Sarah smiled at Clem. She screwed the cap back on the bubble solution, then collected something from one of the wagons.

"I thought these might be fun." Sarah revealed a pair of toy guns loaded with foam darts. Clem took the play pistol, finding it odd how light it felt in her hand. "I also found a timer. I figured we could, you know, like draw or something, like they do in movies."

Clementine tightened her grip on the gun. "I'm gonna win," she boasted with a smile.

"Maybe." Sarah smirked back, then reached for a plastic toy clock sitting in the wagon. She wounded the back of it a few times, then set it on the ground, where Omid immediately started pawing at it. Sarah took a few steps back and faced Clem, the toy pistol clenched in her hand.

"We draw when the clock goes off," dictated Sarah.

"Got it." Clementine let her gun rest by her side, eyeing the older girl standing across from, noting the smug smile on her face. Tightening her grip on her pistol, Clem suddenly felt her heart beating a little faster. Looking at Sarah, seeing the gun in her hand, hearing the seconds tick away on the timer, the younger girl found herself growing anxious.

Each tick made her more and more nervous, and she was gripping her pistol so tightly now that her hand was throbbing. The clock went off, Clementine snapped the gun up, took aim at Sarah's head, pulled the trigger, and a deafening gunshot rang out.

"Sarah!" Clem tossed the gun aside as the older girl's head seemed to twist from the gunshot. "Oh God! I'm sorry!" babbled Clem as she rushed to Sarah. "I'm so sorry!"

"For what?" Clem watched as Sarah turned back towards her, evidently unarmed.

"You… you're okay?" Clem placed her hand on Sarah's cheeks and turned the older girl's head, looking for any sign of injury. "It… it missed."

"What? No. The dart bounced off my head," spoke a confused Sarah.

"You… you sure you're okay?" babbled Clem as she kept looking for a wound.

"I didn't hurt, it just made me flinch," said Sarah. "I mean, what did you think was going to happen?" Clem released Sarah and turned back to the gun she had tossed aside. She spotted the blue and orange piece of plastic molded into the loose shape of a pistol lying on the ground.

"I… I…" Clem suddenly found it hard to breathe. "Somebody is here!"

"What?"

"That gunshot! It must have come from someone else! We have to—"

"Wait, what gunshot?" asked Sarah.

"Just a minute it ago!" exclaimed Clem. "Didn't you hear it?"

"Umm… no."

"Right after the clock went off," said Clem. "You had to have heard it."

"I just heard the clock ring, then you shot me with a dart and I heard you scream my name," recounted Sarah. "There wasn't a gunshot."

"There… there wasn't? I… I swear… I could hear it."

"I didn't hear anything." Clem found herself suddenly lost. She could have sworn she heard a gunshot when she pulled the trigger, but it didn't make sense that Sarah didn't hear it as well. "Clementine, you're shaking." Clem looked down at her hands; she hadn't even noticed they were trembling until now. She tried to stop them from shaking, gripping them together, but they didn't stop until Sarah gripped them.

"Clem, what's wrong?" Clem looked at Sarah's big brown eyes, made bigger by her red-rimmed glasses. The older girl's look of overwhelming concern managed to slightly ease Clem's nerves and instead of answering Sarah, Clem elected to just wrap her arms around the older girl and hold her tightly.

"I… I'm sorry Sarah," said Clem as she squeezed the older girl for comfort.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," assured Sarah as she embraced Clem. "Just talk to me. What's wrong?"

"I… I'm not sure," admitted Clem. "I… I guess I got confused."

"You did?"

"Yeah, I… I don't know. For a second there, I forgot it was just a toy, and I could swear it was a real gun, and when I pulled the trigger…" Clem tightened her grip on Sarah. "I… I thought I shot you."

"I'm fine Clem." Sarah removed Clem's hat and started gently stroking the back of her head. "Everything's okay."

"I guess I'm used to guns… just being guns now."

"I'm sorry, I never should have suggested it."

"You didn't know. I… I didn't know." Clem heard a soft whimpering sound. Pulling away from Sarah, she spotted Omid, who appeared on the verge of crying.

"It's okay," assured Clem as she moved towards Omid. "I'm okay." Clem picked Omid up off the ground. "Everything's fine now." Clem forced a smile onto her face, which seemed to settle Omid. "Here, you want your ball back?" Clem handed a ball to Omid, which made him smile a little. He happily tossed it away, and setting the boy down, he immediately started crawling after it.

"I guess we can just leave these behind." Sarah tossed her toy gun aside, then handed Clem her hat back.

"Did you get anything else?" asked Clem as she put her hat back on.

"Some board games. I figured you might like something to play with me other than chess."

"I like playing chess with you. I almost beat you last time."

"I wouldn't say almost," corrected Sarah.

"But I got a lot closer," reasoned Clem as she checked the wagons.

"Yeah, but I figured you could use a break from it every now and then."

"What's this?" Clem grabbed something long and gray from the wagon.

"Foam sword. I thought maybe we could sword fight with them." Clem gripped the toy weapon in her hands. "But if you don't want to, I—" Clem swung at Sarah, playfully hitting her shoulder with the soft floppy blade, prompting Omid to giggle.

"Let's do it." Sarah grinned and went to retrieve the other sword. As she bent over, a wicked idea crept into Clementine's head. She swung her sword and slapped the fake blade across the seat of Sarah's pants.

"Hey!" spoke a startled Sarah as she snapped back to a stand. "What'd you do that for?"

"Because it was funny," teased Clem.

"No it wasn't," said Sarah as Omid giggled loudly.

"OJ thought it was funny," noted Clementine. "And we're supposed to be fighting. So—" Sarah swung at Clem, who narrowly managed to parry the blow as gracefully as she could with a weapon made out of foam padding.

"I'm gonna get you for that," boasted Sarah in a playful voice as she inched closer, her sword gripped tightly in her hands.

"No you're not." Clem swung for Sarah's head but the older girl parried the hit with enough force to knock Clem's sword aside. Sarah slashed at Clem, who stumbled backwards to avoid the hit, prompting more excited laughter from Omid. Sarah took a step forward and swung at Clem, who blocked the hit, but was knocked off balance by the force of the blow.

Sarah pressed her attack, nearly striking Clem as the younger girl leapt aside to avoid getting hit. Sarah swung again before Clem could regain her composure. The younger girl managed to block the attack with her own sword, but the force of the attack was enough to knock Clem over. Sarah slashed downward at the younger girl, who managed to roll out of the way before the end of the foam blade could hit her.

Clementine stood up and hastily took a few steps back. She watched anxiously as Sarah inched closer while Omid clumsily clapped his hands at their play fighting. "I'm gonna get you," promised Sarah as she tightened her grip on her sword. "I'm bigger than you."

"Being big isn't everything," retorted Clem. "You know that."

"Yeah, but right now it's a big help." Clem didn't have a response to that. Sarah was indeed stronger and faster than Clem, making it difficult to block Sarah's attacks. And her longer arms meant Sarah could attack from a greater distance than Clem. The older girl struck again, nearly knocking Clem off balance as the younger girl blocked the blow and backed up several steps into the wall.

"You've got nowhere to run." Sarah struck again but instead of trying to block the attack Clem darted forward in a flash, bringing herself so close to Sarah that their faces were nearly touching. Before the older girl could react, Clem swung her sword at Sarah's head. Clem was too close for Sarah to try to block the blow and the foam blade flopped across the side of Sarah's head.

"I got you!" boasted a triumphant Clementine.

"My glasses!" Turning back to Clem, the younger girl could see Sarah's glasses were missing now.

"Oops."

"Help me find them." Clem tossed the sword aside and started scanning the area for Sarah's missing glasses. Looking down a nearby aisle, Clem spotted a familiar pair of red-rimmed spectacles lying on the ground. She rushed over and scooped them up.

"You found them," said Sarah as she came up behind Clem. "Great."

"Umm… not that great." Clem turned around, revealing the lenses were both badly cracked.

"Oh no." Sarah hurriedly put the glasses on, then let out a long sigh. Even through the web of cracks, Clementine could see the crushing disappointment in Sarah's eyes.

"I'm so sorry Sarah," said Clem. "I didn't mean to break them. I—"

"It's my fault," mumbled a glum Sarah. "I should have known to take them off first. I'm so stupid."

"Well, you can see without them, right?" asked Clem.

"I can see okay, but I won't be able to read without them, unless it's really big print. And I'm not sure if I could drive too well without them either."

"Well, maybe we can find you new ones?"

"Where?" asked Sarah as she examined her broken glasses.

"Maybe somewhere in the mall?"

Sarah's eyes widened upon hearing that. "Oh yeah."