Clementine smiled as Omid spun plastic shapes and pushed along colored beads built into one of the walls of his new playhouse. Between it, the abundance of toys the others brought back surveying the surrounding area yesterday, and the ones they had brought in from the Brave, the young tyke had a veritable fun house to enjoy in his new room. He had already spent all morning hurrying from one plaything to the other, barely willing to stop even for breakfast, and Clem hadn't missed a second of it.

"Clem, can you help me with this?"

Clem spun around and saw Sarah holding a headboard against a mostly assembled crib. She hurried over to her friend and grabbed hold of the piece.

"Just keep it there for a moment," instructed Sarah as she removed a screwdriver from her pocket. "This will only take a minute."

"This is a lot bigger than his old crib," noted Clem as Sarah screwed the headboard in place.

"I don't think his old crib was even a crib."

"It wasn't? What was it then?"

"I think it was a bassinet."

"A what?"

"A cradle."

"…a what?"

"You know, like a baby crib."

"I thought cribs were for babies?"

"Well some of them are for newborns," said Sarah as she tugged on the headboard. "I remember reading about that in one of our parenting books."

"And this one isn't?" asked Clem as she watched Sarah lean the new crib forward.

"No, the box on this one said it's for babies over a year old." Sarah set the finished crib upright; Omid's entire old crib could have fit inside of it.

"Hopefully he'll actually sleep in this one," said Clem.

"If he doesn't, don't forget it's your turn to stay with him tonight," said Sarah before taking a breath. "I'm more worried about him getting out of it though." Sarah moved over to where Omid was stacking wooden blocks and scooped up the toddler by his armpits.

"Ah-wah-duh-dee!" he protested as he was carried away.

"This will only take a minute." Sarah placed Omid in the crib and took a step back. Watching carefully, Clem noticed he seemed confused at first, then stepped forward to examine the bars. Omid stretched his short arms up as far as he could, but could only briefly touch the top of the crib with his fingertips. Listening to Omid grunt, Clem found herself disturbed by how distressing he found his new crib the longer he was trapped in it.

"Ow-sah!" he pleaded in desperation as he struggled in vain to even take hold of the top of the crib. "Sah-rah ow-sah!"

"It's okay," said Clem as she found her arms shooting forward without thinking. "I've got you." Clem hurriedly picked up Omid and set him on the floor, where he rushed back to his tower of blocks.

"Well I don't think he'll get out of that," said Sarah.

"Yeah, but is that really a good thing?" asked Clem.

"What? Yes."

"It's just… it's like we're putting him in a cage."

"It's… it's not all the time," reasoned Sarah. "And it's just so he doesn't wander off and hurt himself. He's got a lot more room here than in the Brave."

"I know all that," said Clem as she watched Omid carefully tried to add another block to his tower before knocking it over. "It's just, I remember when I lived in that cabin, and how much I hated it; how long will he spend in here before he wants to leave?"

"Right now, I'm not sure we're even going to stay here that long," said Sarah. "We've got to plow the field, plant seeds, and still—"

"Goddammit!" Swore Anthony from the hall before there was a loud clattering as something fell down the stairs.

"Get moved in," finished Sarah.

"I'll go help him." Clem headed for the door, taking a moment to step over the baby gate Sarah had set up.

"Son of a bitch," mumbled Anthony as he picked up a box off the steps while precariously holding two others and a large bag in his other arm.

"Can I help?" asked Clem.

"Grab something, anything." Clem took one of the boxes from under his arm and helped Anthony carry everything upstairs. Peeking in the box, she saw it had small electric lanterns it.

"Thanks," said Clem as she carried the box towards the master bedroom. "We've been staying in the Brave so long we forgot what it's like not to have working lights. Last night, Sarah spent like five minutes just trying to find a flashlight when Omid started crying."

"Well there's a shitload of flashlights, candles, and lighters here, along with some of the other stuff you guys wanted," said Anthony as he followed Clem. "Surprised you're all keen on staying here in the big house together."

"It's nice in this house," said Clem as she headed into the bedroom. "Except for how dark it gets at night, but now that we got this stuff it should be okay." Anthony set the boxes down on the floor while Clem set her box on the king-sized bed in the middle of the room.

"Wouldn't have minded a home of my own," said Anthony. "But that Devlin guy already claimed the guest house."

"There's a room on the first floor that's empty," said Clem as she removed a lantern from her box. "If we got another bed, you could stay there."

"Ehh, I'm not big on roommates, and besides, I think Patty mentioned something about not liking the idea of me living with all the 'kids'," griped Anthony. "Also, she and Sin both want at least one person sleeping in the vehicles at night in case we have to make a quick get away, and I'm the only one sleeping in my camper."

"I know, Sarah doesn't even want us taking too much stuff out of the Brave right now," said Clem as she placed an electric lantern on the night stand next to the baby monitor. "I was going to bring in our photo album, and she told me to leave it. When I asked her why, she said if something went wrong and we had to leave in a hurry, we might not have time to grab before we get to the Brave."

"And here I was thinking she just didn't want us unpacking until after we knew this farm isn't a bust," said Anthony as he headed for the door. "I've got to get back outside before Devlin comes in and hounds me about helping him dig the holes for the damn fence posts."

Clem took her time distributing candles, flashlights, and lighters across the various rooms, finding something oddly nostalgic about living in a house again. Even though it was only their second day, she was always growing fond of the idea of settling in and living together under a single roof not connected to a set of tires. This place felt like a bigger and better version of their home in Spokeston, and with a larger family of friends to share it with.

Even the empty walls and shelves had felt like an invitation to Clem for her and the others to stake their claim on this place. Heading back upstairs, she watched as Omid crawled across the blanket they had spread out and pictured replacing it with actual carpet, then she thought about what kind of carpet he'd like most. Then she looked at the walls and thought about what kind of fun things they could paint on them for Omid, or themselves.

Before she could dream about interior decorating anymore, Sarah picked up Omid and carried him downstairs. She was going to watch him in the yard while preparing their seeds for planting, one of many tasks that needed doing today. Not one to stand by while others worked, Clem headed out to get started herself. It was still early in the morning, the sun was still hidden behind the trees surrounding the farm, the air was cool and crisp, and Clem was ready for the first day of the rest of her new life.

Moving past the short wooden fence, she spotted a couple of long metal poles come flying out of the back one of the semi-trailers parked just across from the house. Approaching it, she could see Devlin hopping out to collect the pair of poles. He carried them over to a break in the wooden fence where Anthony was digging a hole with a tool that looked like a couple of shovels attached with a hinge.

Leaving the two men to work on their new fence for the house, Clem ducked between the boards of the fence surrounding the unplowed field just past the driveway. Looking down at the ground as she walked, it was hard for Clem to envision turning this patch of dirt into enough food for eight people, but she was more than willing to try. As she neared the barn, Clem could hear loud voices echoing from inside.

"I'm telling you, the fuel lines are still clogged," said Sin as he shook the grime off his gloves.

"And I'm telling you we've blown them out twice now, and cleaned out the carburetor," said Patty while standing over a big green tractor with an open hood.

Looking around the barn, Clem thought it was strangely empty, even compared to the house. The barns she had searched before usually had a tool or two left behind on the wall or at least a few pieces of scrap wood in the dirt; this one was virtually spotless except for the tractor and the contraption parked behind it. Taking a closer look, Clem saw the device hitched to the tractor looked two large rows of sharp gears ready to mash up whatever they were dragged over.

"It's got to be the solenoid," concluded Patty as she knelt down to get a better look at the tractor's engine.

"If it was the solenoid it wouldn't click when you turned the key," argued Sin.

"A defective solenoid can still click while not doing shit, trust me."

"Like how I trusted you when you said this wouldn't be hard to start."

"Hey, who's the mechanic here?"

"Who's the one with a master's degree in engineering?"

"Yeah, but how many tractors have you fixed?"

"How many have you?"

"That's… that's not the point. I—"

"What's that Clem?" Clem was startled by Jet's loud announcement as he suddenly appeared next to her from seemingly nowhere. "Sure, I'll give you a hand."

"I didn't say—"

"I'll be with Clem, just call me on the radio if you two need any help." Before Clem could say another word, Jet grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the barn. "They have been arguing like that for like twenty minutes now," griped Jet as he led Clem away from the barn. "It's the starter, no it's the spark plugs, no it's the diesel. Ugh, I don't even know why they asked me to help when they just spend all their time arguing."

"Does this mean the tractor doesn't work?"

Jet stopped suddenly. "I… I don't know," he said as if he had just thought about that.

"Sarah told me we need that to plow the field."

"They haven't even looked at the plow yet," reported Jet. "They've been too busy trying to just get the tractor to work."

"If they don't fix it, then what?"

"I… I don't know, but I know I can't fix a tractor, so there's not much I can do."

"Me neither," realized Clem as she looked out over the empty field, a sense of helplessness gripping her chest as she did.

"Well, I guess you and I could plant those little saplings I've been keeping in the Sunseeker," suggested Jet. "I wanted to do that yesterday, but we were so busy finding stuff for the house and unpacking things from the trailers that I didn't get a chance. We could do that, at least until they actually need us for something."

"That sounds better than doing nothing." Clem followed Jet back towards the driveway where the pair squeezed past the Brave and Anthony's truck to get to the Sunseeker. Following Jet inside, Clem found herself face to face with three not all that small plants in pots standing in her way.

"These are saplings?" Walking up to nearest one, Clem was surprised to see it was nearly a head taller than her.

"Well yeah, if they were fully grown trees we could climb them," said Jet as he knelt down to grab the pot. "Devlin said the woman who used to run Tulsa's community garden had been raising dozens of saplings for over a year before they were attacked. These three were the only ones who survived after everything was left out during the winter. There was a fourth one I thought I could help too… but it was already dead."

Clem felt a tinge of sadness upon hearing that, which was then replaced with an unbearable strain in her arms as she worked with Jet to carry the first sapling out of the RV. It was heavy and awkward, yet delicate enough that dropping it would likely kill it. Luckily, they managed to carry it out of the RV without incident, and after retrieving the creeper board from the Brave, the pair were able to move it along with considerably less effort.

Jet had already picked out a spot between the house and the front gate nestled between the trees surrounding the property. The gravel road leading between them bordered a smaller field across from the fenced one. After wheeling the tree to center of the area, the pair sprinted back and grabbed a couple of shovels from the trailer. Breaking through the hard dirt was a challenge for Clem, and it didn't look much easier for Jet. It wasn't long before her arms started hurting as she did her best to widen the hole, but she gritted her teeth and kept shoveling until finally, she heard Jet said that was enough.

Jet was meticulous in their removing the sapling from its pot, unfurling the ball of roots that had formed, then lowering it into the hole with the uttermost of care. Clem had to assist with every step, holding the tree firmly in place while Jet pulled the pot off, then keeping it from falling over as he tugged at the roots. After planting the tree, Jet said they needed to pack the dirt tightly to get rid of the empty space between the roots, and so they grabbed their shovels again.

"So, did Sarah tell you all this stuff?" asked Clem as she dropped some dirt into the hole.

"She actually made a whole binder for fruit trees," said Jet as he patted the ground with his shovel. "I was reading it yesterday evening. The next thing we'll need is water and some stakes."

"Stakes?"

"To tie the trunk too, so if the wind picks up it won't snap," explained Jet. "There should be some on the trailer with our building supplies. I didn't see them when we got the shovels, but—"

"I'll get them," said Clem. "And the water."

Clem hurried back to the trailer, where she found Anthony standing.

"I'm just saying, we put them fifteen apart, that's like fifty percent less holes we gotta dig," he said.

"And I said ten feet apart is as far as the posts can be and the fence be worth a damn," said Devlin as he passed a bag of cement down to Anthony. "Trust me, I spent a lot of time setting up the fence around Tulsa's M.O.B."

"Yeah, and we're not in Tulsa anymore," groaned Anthony as she set the bag of cement on the ground. "We really need a professional fence out here in the sticks?"

"It doesn't matter where we are," said Clem suddenly. "A herd of walkers could come from anywhere, or even another group of people."

"And a fence will stop them?" asked Anthony.

"Long enough for us to think of something hopefully," answered Clem.

"All the more reason to do it right," said Devlin before turning to Clem. "What's up?"

"I need some stakes to make sure the apple trees don't break in the wind," said Clem. "And a watering can."

"Right, just give me a minute to find them." Clem watched as Devlin dug through the trailer, creating a large racket as he did. He pushed rolls of chain link aside, tossed out the occasional fence post, and even passed a couple of barrels down to Anthony. Wandering deeper into the trailer, Clem heard more things banging about before Devlin returned carrying a watering can in one hand and a bundle of thin metal stakes in the other. He handed them both down to Clem, then removed a coil of rope from his shoulder and a hammer from his pocket that he also passed down.

"Figure you'd need these as well for the stakes," said Devlin as he hopped out of the trailer. "Come on Anthony, we got cement to mix."

"Don't remind me," grumbled Anthony as he grabbed the bag and started following Devlin. Clem stuffed the hammer and rope into the watering can and quickly delivered them to Jet along with the stakes. Then she took the now empty watering can and hurried back to the field. Crossing in front of the barn, she could hear a distant mechanical churning and some swearing echoing from inside.

After filling the watering can at the large pond on the edge of the field, Clem started rushing back to Jet as fast as she could, which wasn't very fast while carrying water. She had barely made it a few steps before the strain in her already sore arms nearly ground her to a halt. Carrying a single can of so far made Clem wish they still had running water even more than she already did, or at least whatever irrigation system Sin was planning to build. Finally delivering the water to Jet, Clem elected to sit and rest in the grass for a minute while he finished up with the stakes.

"What was it like?" asked Clem as Jet started wrapping a rope around the stakes and the tree trunk.

"What like?" asked Jet as he pulled the slack out of the rope.

"Tulsa's community garden. I never got a chance to see it before we left."

"Oh, it was mostly just an empty park with some tomato cages and other things left over, but nothing edible," said Jet with a shrug. "There were a bunch of big pots filled with dirt under this gazebo. This tree and the other saplings were near the edge, so maybe they got enough rain and sun to stay alive, but besides them, everything else was dead. If Devlin hadn't told me it was a garden before, I never would have believed it."

Watching Jet struggle to tie off the rope, Clem stood up and took the loose ends from the boy. Tying a firm knot and then taking a step back, Clem stopped to admire their handy work. The fledgling little tree didn't look like much, but seeing it standing tall in the soil did give Clem a sense of accomplishment.

"All right, let's get the next one," said Jet.

"Next one?" repeated Clem.

"Yeah, we got three of them, remember?"

"Oh yeah…"

The pair dragged the creeper board back to the Sunseeker so they could bring the second tree over and start the entire chore over again. They didn't need to retrieve any additional tools but it took longer anyway as they struggled to dig another hole. Sometime around planting the second tree, Clem could hear a loud engine coming from the barn. Returning to retrieve the last tree, the pair caught eye of Patty slowly riding across the field on the tractor. They both stopped for a moment, watching the plow churn up the earth and leaving neat rows of dirt in its wake; it made it look so easy.

Working together, it probably took the pair over a half-hour before they finished the final hole, and the process of planting the last tree happened almost in slow-motion due to how tired and hungry they both were. Packed, watered and staked, Clem was ready for a break, only for Jet to reveal that he wanted to spread some mulch around the trees. Clem let out a long groan, then helped Jet to carry a bag back over to the newly planted trees.

Helping Jet to carefully arrange the mulch around the trees, Clem was finding herself feeling less accomplished and more eager to rest for a while. Still, she didn't complain, and before too long they had three little trees neatly tucked into their new home where they'd hopefully take root. Heading back to the farmhouse, the pair passed a series of tall fence posts now anchored in place around the driveway and the front of the building.

"Wow, this new fence is going to be tall," realized Clem as she looked up at one of the posts.

"I can't wait to see it finished," said Jet.

"I'm more concerned with our crops." Clem and Jet turned around to see Sin leaning against the wooden fence bordering the field, seemingly observing their handy work. Looking out on the field herself, Clem was surprised to see how much different it looked now, with neat mounds of dirt running across where they're used to just be flat earth. "At least we won't have to till it by hand, at least not this year anyway."

"So the tractor works?" asked Clem.

"It's fine," said Sin in a sharp tone before facing Jet. "How are the trees?"

"I think they're going to be okay, and I'll be sure to check them every day to make sure there's nothing wrong with them."

"In the meantime, I could use your help," said Sin. "There's not enough time today to rig up gutters on the barn, but the house and the guest house already have some. With some minor tweaking, we can at least set up a few barrels today for the next time it rains."

"Got it." Jet went with Sin back to the house while Anthony emerged from his camper. His hands were coated in a gray powder, and the front of his shirt and jeans were stained the same color. He briefly tried brushing himself off, only to give up after a few seconds of no success.

"What happened to you?" asked Clem as she approached the young man.

"Cement, a lot of it," he said as he gestured to the row of posts running along the driveway. "And we still got two sides left. What happened to you?" Anthony gestured to the dirt covering Clem's hands and clothes.

"Trees, three of them," she answered. "Luckily, we don't have any more."

"Well, I hope you're not too tired because I need your help bringing in the catch of the day."

"Why me?" asked Clem.

"Devlin's tied up helping Sarah with her seeds or whatever, and Patty volunteered to the get the rest of the food ready for lunch, so that leaves you. It's just as well, you're the best one at skinning fish, after me of course."

Clem collected her filleting tools and a cooler from the Brave while Anthony grabbed a couple of rods and his tackle box. Walking along the gravel trail leading south, Clem briefly thought back to the day she went fishing with Omid. The dead trees' bare branches obscured her view of the sky as she marched forward to collect fish, and again it was unusually quiet. Unlike that day, the pair reached the edge of the forest almost immediately, and instead of a pitiful stream waiting for them there was a lake.

Even this small inlet bordering the edge of the farm was pretty big, and it was only a fraction of the entire lake. The water was dark and still, a slight breeze was causing ripples across the surface, and the trees created a natural shroud that blocked out the rest of the world. If it were a little warmer, Clem might be tempted to go for a swim. Eyeing the shore, she saw thin ropes tied to trees that led into the lake and beneath the water.

"All right, let's see if these new fangled traps are worth a damn." Anthony set his equipment down and moved towards the nearest rope. He knelt down and started pulling on the line. "Well we definitely caught something; this thing is a lot heavier than when I threw it in the lake this morning." Clem watched as a long cylindrical cage made out of a mesh material came tumbling onto the shore. Looking inside, Clem could see a couple of decent size fish thrashing about along with several smaller ones.

"Wow," said Clem as opened the cooler.

"Yeah, really," said Anthony as he carried the cage over to Clem. "The other traps looks like this one and we won't even need to go fishing today."

Clementine held the cooler steady while Anthony grabbed one of the bigger fish. He tossed it into the cooler, then the other one. He then dragged the trap over to the water and dumped the numerous smaller fish back into the lake.

"You don't want to keep those too?" asked Clem.

"I got plenty of bait right now, and trying to gut and skin fish as small as them would be a major pain in the ass for very little meat," said Anthony as he set the now empty cage on the ground. "Better to let them go so they can either fatten up or get eaten by something bigger we can catch later."

Emptying the other three traps, the pair ended up with a dozen sizable fish in total. Looking at them thrash around inside the cooler, Clem noted they were a little smaller than the ones they'd get by fishing with a rod and reel, but they had so many it more than made up the difference.

"God damn, them fuckers in Gulf Port were holding out on me," said Anthony as he set the last cage on the ground.

"They were?" asked Clem.

"They looted all the fish traps in the area, told me and others we'd get more with just a rod and reel anyway… lying sacks of shit," griped Anthony. "Well hopefully they all get mercury poisoning and died. Speaking of which, how much did the old man say we could eat a week?"

"He said he looked it up and twelve ounces a week should be safe; less for me since I'm smaller," recited Clem.

"That's less than a pound, and per week?" Clem nodded as Anthony looked at the empty fish cage sitting on the dirt. "God damn it, if not for this mercury bullshit, we could just eat fish every day, and for every meal. Instead, we're stuck growing a bunch of picky ass shit that won't grow in the wild no more and I probably got brain damage or some other horrible shit from those weeks where I had nothing but fish to eat."

"Well, Sin said fish around here probably have the least amount of mercury," reassured Clem. "He said tuna had the most, and you could never catch those here. And we're just eating it only once a week to be safe, we probably could eat more and be okay. And Sin also said since you didn't eat fish for a couple of months, you should be better now."

"Unless the mercury screwed up something permanently, I remember him saying that too," said Anthony with a concerned look on the face. "And that if something is wrong with me, there's no hospital I can go to anymore…"

Clem tried to think of something "You know, if there was anything wrong with you, we'd help you."

"Well, at least we're not dying of hunger here," shrugged Anthony before picking up his fishing rods. Clementine followed Anthony back to the farm, struggling to carry a now very heavy cooler with both hands. Arriving back at the house, Patty directed the pair towards the backyard. Devlin had offloaded a couple of propane grills they had taken from Tulsa, which Sin had hooked up. Clem also found most of her prominent cooking tools from the Brave had been set out on a long picnic table in the middle of the yard.

Anthony started killing, gutting and cleaning the fish while Clem went with Patty to retrieve ingredients for lunch. Watching the woman slide open the door for the massive semi-trailer that contained their primary source of food, Clem was still in awe of the towering wall of canned, dried, and jarred goods tightly stacked nearly as high as the container's ceiling. After doing her best to pick through whatever should reach, Clem helped Patty carry back everything they'd need to make a big meal.

Returning to the yard, Clem helped Anthony by skinning the fish while he worked on gutting the remaining ones. Clem wasn't used to cooking on the grill, let alone trying to manage two at once, but with some care, she eventually managed to get every piece of fish onto them. Seasoning that much meat at once took some adjusting, and Clem found herself constantly fiddling with the knobs as she tried to figure out the particular combination that would make the grills match the heat of the burner she used in the Brave.

Eventually, the slices of fish turned a familiar golden brown and Clem started piling them onto plates Sarah had brought out. Placing them on the big picnic table, Clem noticed Patty had set out big bowls of peas, pears, and corn. There was also jugs of freshly mixed sweet tea just waiting for them. Clem hurried to the bathroom to wash her hands as fast as she could, then came running back.

Everyone was already seated at the tables by the time Clem got back, including Omid in his high chair that had been moved outside. Sitting down herself, Clem wasted no time in piling more than a little bit of everything onto her plate and then dug in. With such a variety of things to eat, including freshly caught fish, all while sitting out in the open in the warm midday sun with family and friends, Clem almost forgot she was living in a broken world. If only the canned goods were as fresh as the fish, then the illusion would have been complete.

Looking around, Clem saw that everyone was as hungry as she was. They were all not at all quietly scarfing down anything they could get their hands on with hardly a second to catch their breath between bites. Omid's normally insatiable hunger actually looked tame in comparison with the others. Eating through the bulk of her own meal, Clem eventually felt a full stomach signaling her to stop, much to her disappointment. Seeing a collective weary look on everyone's but Omid's faces as they finished their meals, Clem felt compelled to say something.

"So," she said as she tried to think of a way to start a conversation. "What was wrong with the tractor?" Sin groaned after hearing that and Patty took a deep breath.

"It was a kill switch," she said in a meek voice.

"Tractors have kill switches?" asked Jet.

"This one did," grumbled Sin. "It's a safety mechanism to prevent it from running when no one is on it."

"Turns out one of us just sitting on the tractor when we tried to start it would have saved us a few hours of guessing," spoke an embarrassed Patty. "You think we would have tried that by accident even."

"Nice to know we got you two to count on for all our mechanical needs," spoke Anthony, sounding more tired than sarcastic.

"Cut 'em some slack," urged Devlin as he leaned back in his seat. "None of us have ever been farmers before."

"I have," reminded Sin, sounding annoyed. The conversation seemingly died right after that as everyone but Omid suddenly became very quiet.

"Mah! Mah!" he urged as he tried reaching for a bowl.

"Here you go." Sarah scooped some pears into a spoon and then fed it to Omid, much to his approval. "Sin, you can watch him while we get started on the planting, right?"

"I've got a lot of prep work I need to do for our rainwater collectors," said Sin. "But if I do it indoors, I could keep an eye on him while I work."

"Good, that means Jet and Clem can help me and Patty with the planting," said Sarah. "We need to get seeds in the ground as soon as possible."

"Shouldn't we wait until after Granddad finishes the irrigation system?" asked Jet.

"It will probably take us over a week to dig a trench from the lake to the field, and even longer to set up mechanisms to control the flow of water, assuming the terrain will even let us make a functional trench. I can't make water flow uphill without pressurizing it, which is something we can't do," explained Sin. "Even building the rainwater collectors will probably take a few days."

"And it's not going to rain all the time, especially when we get into the summer," added Sarah. "We should probably just get used to watering crops the hard way. It's what we'll have to do if we never get an irrigation system working."

A tense hush fell over the table, Omid's mumblings for more food the only noise anyone could hear over the silence. Sarah scraped whatever little she could out of the bottom of the bowl and fed the boy before turning back to the rest of the group.

"We should get back to work." Just like that, the meal had ended and everyone sat up. Sin took Omid into the house, along with numerous barrels, tools, hoses, and plastic fittings all delivered care of Devlin and Anthony. The pair then returned to digging holes and filling them with fence posts and cement while Patty grabbed hold of a wheelbarrow parked behind the house. Pushing it behind Sarah as they were led back to the field, Clem could see the wheelbarrow was full of buckets filled with seeds.

"So what are we growing?" asked Clem as she studied the different seeds.

"Today we're just going to be planting onions, lettuce, and carrots," explained Sarah as she opened a gate for Patty. "Jet, can you go and fill these up with water?"

"Sure." Jet took a pair of watering cans out the wheelbarrow and started hurrying towards the distant pond while Patty did her best to maneuver over the mounds of dirt as she moved towards the closest corner of the field.

"What about after that?" Clem asked Sarah as Patty set the wheelbarrow down and took a deep breath.

"Well, after a lot of reading, I tried to pick the best stuff that should be easy to grow," said Sarah as she started examining the buckets carefully. "After the onions, lettuce, and carrots, we're going to plant green beans, corn, wheat, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, and pumpkins."

"Pumpkins?" repeated Patty as she stretched her back. "Can we even eat those?"

"Winter squash ones we can. The book I read said they're not like the hard ones people use for Jack-o'-lanterns, these we can use for soup and the seeds we can cook and eat too."

"What about strawberries?" asked Clem as she eyed a bucket of long, thin seeds. "I thought you mentioned them while we were looking for the farm."

"They take a year before they start growing berries," said Sarah without looking up from the wheelbarrow.

"Really?"

"Sort of, they do grow fruit sooner, but it's usually really small and doesn't taste good. One book I read said it's better to cut off the flowers in the first year so it'll grow bigger and better fruit next year," said Sarah as she removed a binder from under her arm and started flipping through the pages. "I found these walk-in tunnel things made out of plastic for gardening at one of the stores in Tulsa. After he finishes the fence, Devlin said he'd help me set them up."

"Plastic tunnels?" said Patty. "What are those for?"

"You're going to make a greenhouse," realized Clementine. "Like Dr. Bostwick did."

"It's not going to be anywhere as big as hers, or as good…" admitted Sarah in a meek voice. "But yeah, strawberries can grow fruit for several years, so if I can grow them in a greenhouse, we can keep getting fruit from them even in the winter. Well, maybe next winter if I do everything right. I'm also going to set up some other stuff like onions and carrots in there just so we can collect seeds from them later, again, if I do everything right."

Briefly eyeing the binder Sarah was flipping through, Clem could see large tables of handwritten information spanning both pages, with a criss-crossing mess of arrows drawn in pencil pointing to various numbers whose purpose she couldn't even begin to guess. Sarah closed her binder with a quiet little sigh just as Jet came back, struggling to carry a couple of now full watering cans.

"Okay, Clem, you take these onion seeds." Sarah set her binder in the wheelbarrow and removed a bucket of what Clem thought looked like small, tan sunflower seeds. "Patty, you take the carrot seeds; Jet does lettuce," said Sarah as she handed a bucket to Patty next. "I'll water the dirt and plant whatever we need to keep a good pace when I'm not planting the chives."

"Chives?" said Clem. "You didn't mention those before."

"Wait, isn't chive just a spice?" asked Jet in between breaths as he set the watering cans down. "Do we really need to be growing them too?"

"Chives keep aphids away and help carrots grow and taste better," explained Sarah as she passed Jet a bucket of seeds.

"For real?" asked Patty as she looked at her own bucket. "They help these grow?"

"That's what one of the books said."

"If they get rid of bugs we should plant them everywhere," concluded Jet.

"When chives flower they spread seeds everywhere," explained Sarah as she knelt down to examine the dirt. "I'll try to cut off the flowers before that happens so we have seeds for next year. But if I miss any they'd probably pop up all over the field, and we'd have to pull them up like weeds since they would just take away space and water from stuff that gives up more food. But since they're good for carrots we can plant a few near them, and aphids don't like onions either, so that will help."

"Well we should just plant onions then," concluded Jet. "We want more of them and then we'd get even less aphids."

"We'll be eating the onions, so they won't always be here, but we can just leave the chive out here all season," said Sarah as she removed something that looked like an oversized thermometer from her pocket. "Also, onions hurt the growth of green beans, so we can't plant them everywhere."

"Man, plants are picky," concluded Patty.

"I know." Sarah used her fingers to dig a small hole, then buried the odd thermometer device up to its digital display.

"What are you doing now?" asked Clem as she watched Sarah fiddle with a couple of buttons on the display.

"I'm testing the soil's PH levels."

"What's PH?"

"It's—"

"Potential of hydrogen," said Jet suddenly. "It means how many hydrogen ions are in something." Everyone stared at Jet, as if they expected further explanation. "It just shows if something is acidic or not."

"All I know is the soil needs to be around a certain number for plants to be healthy," admitted Sarah as she looked at her tester.

"And?" asked Patty.

"And… I think this will be good enough, if the tester is right." Sarah put the device away and removed some rulers from the wheelbarrow. "Here, I cut these so you'd know how far you need to plant seeds apart without constantly looking at the numbers, just set them on the dirt next to the last few seeds you planted and it'll tell you where to put seeds next."

"Man, you've really got all this planned out," realized Patty as she examined the comically short ruler she was handed.

"Wait, onions need to be this close together?" asked Clem as she looked at her ruler, all four inches of it. "How come Jet's is so much longer?"

"Onions and carrots are root crops, they grow straight down and don't take up much space. Lettuce grows out, along with its roots, which take up more space. Hopefully they'll take up enough space between the onions and carrots that weeds won't grow near them."

"I'll trade you," offered Jet as he offered Clem his bucket.

"It's not that, it's just… this is going to take all day."

"Yeah, that's why were only doing three crops today," said Sarah. "We'll probably need all day tomorrow to do the three sisters."

"Sisters?" asked Jet.

"Oh hell, are we gonna have to read our crops Macbeth every night or some other insane crap?" asked Patty.

"No, three sisters is something the Indians did," said Sarah as she grabbed a watering can. "They'd plant corn, beans, and winter squash together. Corn is tall so beans can grow up it, beans add nitrogen to the soil that corn needs, and squash, which will be our pumpkins, cover the ground with their leaves, which makes it harder for weeds to grow, keeps moisture in the soil, and the prickly hairs on their vines keep certain pests away."

"So… the plants work together," concluded Clem.

"Some plants do, others don't," said Sarah.

"Shame there's no Osage left," lamented Jet. "I bet they could tell us which ones work with which."

"But you know which ones now because you read all about them, right?" asked Clem. "I bet you know which plants get rid of those stupid caterpillars who ate most of our tomatoes in Spokeston."

"Those are tomato hornworms," stated Sarah as she started watering the mounds of dirt near them.

"Worms that eat only tomatoes, wonderful," mumbled Patty.

"There's lots of stuff like that," said Sarah. "Like beetles that only eat pumpkins; there's a flower you can plant that keeps them away, but not for hornworms."

"So how do we get rid of them?" asked Jet.

"Find them and kill them," shrugged Sarah as she set the watering can down. "Also, I read you can spray tomatoes with soapy water and then throw cayenne pepper on them, that keeps them away."

"Uh, we'd have to wash and season every single tomato?" asked Patty as she looked out at the very long rows of dirt running across the field.

"Yeah, I think that tip was more for gardens than farms," said Sarah. "Oh, and you remember that one caterpillar with all those gross white eggs on it?"

"Ugh, I hated touching it, even with gloves on," said Clem.

"Don't touch it if you see one this year, any of you," instructed Sarah.

"Why, are they dangerous?" asked Jet.

"Yes, but not to us, to other caterpillars. Those eggs were actually cocoons for these special wasps that lay their eggs right inside caterpillars. When they hatch, they kill the caterpillars, then go fly off and find more caterpillars to lay eggs in."

"So instead of caterpillars we'd just have to worry about a swarm of killer wasps?" mused a sarcastic Patty.

"These wasps are super tiny and can't hurt people, but they kill lots of bugs that like to eat crops," explained Sarah, sounding frustrated as she did.

"So, if we just left that one I found alone… it would have killed all the other caterpillars, and we wouldn't have lost so many tomatoes?"

Sarah looked at Clem for a second, then turned away. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry, I was just—"

"I should have known," Sarah blurted out.

"You couldn't have known that—"

"Yes I could." Sarah turned to Clem suddenly, starting the younger girl. "I had those encyclopedias and all those books, and I should have known that pests would have been a problem and… and… I screwed up."

"Jesus, cut yourself some slack Sarah," urged a sympathetic Patty. "None of us know jack shit about farming."

"Even Granddad told me he doesn't remember much from when he used to do it, other than he hated it," added Jet.

"And studying up on what kills what bug during a fucking apocalypse wasn't high up on any of our to-do lists," said Patty.

"And we know now," reasoned Clem.

"I still don't know what to do about birds," confessed Sarah. "None of them books I read mentioned any plants or things we can use to get rid of them, and they eat everything, even the seeds. I… I guess we can build a scarecrow, but I don't know how well that would really work."

"We'll figure it out." Clem placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder, but it didn't seem to reassure her. Instead, Sarah looked up at the sky and sighed.

"We need to get to work," she said. "It's noon and we haven't even started yet."

There was no shortage of work to be done, as Clem became more painfully aware of with each passing minute under the afternoon sun. Every time she looked up from sowing a handful of onion seeds, the field suddenly seemed to get a little longer. When asking Sarah why they were using so many seeds in each spot, she explained that some of the seeds probably aren't going to grow, and since they're two years old, she wasn't even sure any of them would grow.

Hearing that along with Sarah's constant micromanagement of their every action made the task feel even more arduous than it already was. The only minor breaks in the tedium were runs to get more water a couple of cans at a time and pushing the wheelbarrow forward, both things Sarah handled so the others could keep working. She was also extremely aware of the others progress, not hesitating to go ahead of them and plant some of their seeds so none of them would ever fall behind the others, eliminating any down time aside from the occasional water break.

Clementine's mind couldn't help but wander, constantly reminding her of literally everything else she could be doing right now instead. Playing a game, reading a book, spending time with Omid, sleeping, cooking, doing inventory, even doing a scavenging run all would have been better than constantly kneeling down, placing her ruler in the dirt, tossing a handful of seeds onto the ground, and repeating the entire series of actions for what felt like an eternity.

After a couple of hours, reaching the end of the field felt like something that would never actually happen. Clem could clearly see it long before they would ever arrive at it. Literally inching towards the end of this mind-numbing chore only a few short steps at a time while they baked in the hot sun felt like a form of torture. The last ten feet felt like they happened in slow motion and Clem's every attempt to speed things up just seemed to slow her down more as she nearly dropped things in her rush. Finally reaching the end of the field, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief; only for Sarah to inform them they needed to plant seeds going back the other way now for the next three rows.

This revelation was immediately met with a lot of resistance and more than a hint of resentment from everyone involved. But after looking out at how much of the field remained bare and her watch confirming they still had a few hours of daylight, Clem reluctantly agreed to complete at least one more set of rows before nightfall. Jet and Patty didn't look happy, and Clem nor Sarah was really all that thrilled about this either, but a weary sense of duty compelled the entire group to keep working without further discussion.

Briefly breaking for a mid-afternoon snack, Sarah retrieved the portable CD player from the Brave. Strangely, just a bit of familiar music did seem to help the task go faster; at least now Clem could listen to some songs instead of just plant seeds, which she could nearly do without thinking by this point. Planting seeds wasn't exactly hard, even with Sarah's various instructions; the difficulty came from having to do it so many times.

Night fell before they reached the other end of the field, but they weren't far away so the group continued to work in the dark. Sarah grabbed a few lanterns from the house while Clem struggled to remain standing. Her feet hurt from being on them so long and even her back ached a little from having to bend over so many times. Looking into her bucket, Clem was shocked to see it was nearly empty now, with her having to scrape the bottom with her dirt-stained fingernails just to get enough seeds to finish.

Nearing the fence, the music, which by now had burned itself into Clem's mind from having been repeated so many times, died. Shortly after, Sarah confirmed it was only the batteries, not the player itself, that was dead; Clem couldn't bring herself to care right now. Finally finishing the second set of rows was an accomplishment celebrated with everyone tossing their now mostly empty buckets into the wheelbarrow with all the excitement of someone clumsily throwing an empty can aside.

The four shuffled back towards the house in what would have been utter silence if not for their occasional weak moan. If Clem hadn't been so exhausted, she might have noted they looked and sounded like walkers right now, but really all she could think about was getting out of her dirty clothes and into her big soft bed. Patty broke from the group to retire to the Brave while the others walked past the metal fenceless posts and into the house.

An excitable Omid desperate for attention rushed up to meet Clem and Sarah, while a less excitable Sin followed behind him. Briefly glancing at the older man, Clem noted he looked tired too, but didn't look half as tired as she felt. She listened in disinterest as he explained how he had alternated between babysitting Omid and working on the rainwater collectors, which at the moment appeared to be a dozen barrels, long black hoses, and pieces of PVC piping sprawled across an otherwise empty living room.

Clem just let it all fly past her after she agreed to stay with Omid while Sarah took a bath. Eating a late dinner, feeding Omid, listening to Sin lay out what they would do tomorrow all just felt like a dream to her. Not the fun or exciting kind, but the odd ones about mundane things where you couldn't be sure if you were actually doing something or were just dreaming about it. Even eating some of their cherished freeze-dried ice cream didn't taste as sweet as she remembered it usually being.

Eventually, Sarah returned and agreed to help Omid get to sleep while Clem got changed. Heading for the bathroom, Clem was annoyed to find it was locked. She briefly considered heading back out to the Brave and using its shower. But the thought of going outside, into the Brave, bathing, coming back to the house, and heading back up the stairs, felt like more work than Clem's legs and arms were willing to commit to right now. Instead, she just slid down the wall and sat on the floor for a while.

Clem wasn't sure how long she just sat there, she was too tired to even check her watch. Eventually, Clem heard the lock on the door click and Jet stepped out. Looking up at the boy, the pair exchanged a mutual look of exhaustion, then parted ways without a word. Jet headed into his room while Clem headed into the bathroom. She sloppily brushed her teeth before undressing and climbing into the bathtub. Clem could barely muster the strength to lift a bucket of water over her head, and washing away the dirt was difficult when there was so much of it.

After rinsing out her hair, Clem hastily dried herself off and got dressed. It was pitch black now, and hearing quiet from Omid's room convinced her to leave it that way. Navigating by bits of moonlight streaking in through the windows, Clem slowly crept into their new bedroom. She could make out the outline of Sarah lying under the covers, likely asleep. Clem tossed off her shirt and nearly tripped stumbling out of her pants before collapsing onto the bed. Crawling under the covers, she discovered Sarah's warm body beside her while the bed enveloped her in its gentle embrace. Her head finding its way onto a soft pillow, Clem could feel her conscious self drifting away as quickly as a single leaf caught in a strong wind.

"Sah-rah!" called Omid's voice from the baby monitor. "Kem-men!"

"Your turn…" mumbled Sarah through her pillow.

Clementine took a deep breath, then grabbed the lantern resting on the night stand.