The last twenty-four hours had been excruciating for Clementine. Her body had been racked with pain, even after the painkillers Sarah had given her, and all she could do is lie in bed and think. Think about everything they had lost. Think about Patty and Jet's fate. Think about Sin's death. Think about her own possible death every minute of every hour she lay helpless in bed.

The only other thing Clem could do was listen. Listen to Sarah's frantic footsteps, Omid's occasional cries for food or attention, and maybe the occasional muffled word or two from Devlin or Anthony. Clem kept hoping if she listened long enough she'd hear a vehicle approaching followed by familiar voices calling her name as footsteps raced forward to meet her.

She'd have gone over the image of Jet and Patty fleeing in her mind hundreds of times. Patty's entire right arm was covered in blood, but she was still moving and Jet wasn't hurt at all. There had been plenty of time for them to get out through a window and get to Sunseeker while Sin and then Clem were shooting at their attackers. They weren't even willing to shoot Jet when he dove on top of Patty, and he didn't have a gun like Clem did. She kept expecting them to pull up any minute now; they never came.

As the sunlight began to fade, Clem was forced to consider the possibility that their attackers were still looking for them. Things couldn't have gone more wrong and any hesitation they had for killing them was surely gone by now; the bullet that had pierced Clem's side had made that all too clear. With the sun setting, Clem was terrified these people would return, come in the middle of the night, and just shoot them in their sleep, just as Fan had threatened.

Sarah eventually came into the bedroom and reluctantly told Clem she would have to tie her wrist to the dresser, just in case she didn't survive the night. Just hearing those words made Clem nervous, and feeling her hand be bound, even somewhat loosely, made her sick. But she didn't say a work while Sarah did it because even now she was far more afraid of what would happen if she did die in the night and came back as a walker.

The fear ate at Clem as she laid there in the pitch darkness. She was dead-tired and desperately wanted to rest for a while, but couldn't. Every little ache and pain she felt as she awkwardly squirmed in place terrified her and made her wonder if she was dying. It was so bad Clem eventually started weeping into her pillow. She tried to swallow as much as of her sadness as she could, making only pained little cries in hopes of not waking up Sarah in the other room; she had.

Sarah checking in on her had been one of the few comforts for Clem across this incredibly long day. Sarah had brought Clem meals and even fed her, then always stopped to ask how Clem was feeling and if there was anything she needed. Even now, only half-awake, Sarah was nothing but concerned for Clem, and after hearing how she couldn't sleep, fetched one of the pills Patty had given her after the tornado. Clem doubted it would help, but took it anyway.

Sarah then untied Clem then promised to stay with her until she fell asleep. They talked for a time, Clem asking Sarah how Omid was doing as she had rarely gotten to see him today. She said he's mostly doing good, being blissfully unaware of the implications of what happened. However, he could tell Clementine was hurt, and the few times Clem had seen Omid today, she could tell he was worrying about her.

Sarah went on to talk about how she had time to make a grave marker for Sin. She had taken a few boards from an old fence and painstakingly carved out 'Here lies Sin' onto it while she was waiting for the others. She lamented she couldn't remember his full name from when he introduced himself, and felt those three words weren't nearly enough. She carved another board to read 'Grandfather', then another to say 'Father', then 'Friend', and finally nailed a board that read 'Hero' at the base of the tree he was buried under.

As Sarah spoke, Clem felt her already weak muscles become completely limp as her eyelids grew heavy. The drug was taking its course now and Clem felt her racing mind finally began to quiet. But a single terrifying thought reentered her head as she shut her eyes; this could be her last night alive. Clem felt panic crawling through her veins as she thought about calling out for Sarah, but ultimately succumbed to her fatigue as everything went dark.

Clem didn't dream, everything was just black, and in truth, she probably preferred that. It was more peaceful that way than having to think anymore, just drifting in the soothing darkness of a deep and dreamless sleep. Eventually, she opened her eyes and saw it was a new morning now, and then immediately closed them, not wanting to look at the light again so soon. Clem didn't know how long she lay there, but once she finally tried to move she realized her wrist had been shackled to the dresser.

Clem sighed as she moved to untie herself, her side aching horribly as she did so. Clem could reach the knot but her fingers couldn't pinch it tightly enough to undo it. It frustrated her to no end and the harder she tried to untie herself the more it hurt her side. A twist too hard caused a shooting pain to run up her side, causing Clem to yell out loud.

"Clem!" Sarah rushed into the room almost at the same time Clem had yelled. "Just hold still, I'll get you loose." Clem leaned back in defeat as Sarah hurriedly untied her.

"How did you know I was up?" asked Clem, thinking she didn't make that much noise.

"I heard you yell on the baby monitor."

"Baby monitor?" Clem looked over and spotted Omid's baby monitor sitting on the same dresser she was tied to, and was surprised she hadn't noticed it sooner.

"If you ever need anything just say so," said Sarah.

"That'll be all the time then," mumbled Clem in a weak voice. "I can't do anything anymore,"

"You're hurt. You just need to rest. Just stay there and I'll get you some breakfast."

"Wait."

"What?"

"I…" Clem felt her cheeks blush. "I need to pee really bad."

"Oh." Sarah seemed surprised by that, but only briefly. Without warning, Sarah scooped Clem into her arms. Clem grimaced as she felt her side ache again, then grabbed onto Sarah for stability. Being carried out the door, Clem saw Omid's old crib parked next to the unfolded couch; he and Sarah's new lodgings apparently. Clem couldn't help noticing Omid barely fit in his old crib anymore. Before Clem could get a better look, she was carried into the bathroom.

"All right, I'll be right outside the door," said Sarah as she gently sat Clem on the toilet. "If you need me for anything, just yell."

"Okay, thanks Sarah."

Sarah hurried outside and closed the door behind her, leaving Clem alone to do her business. She tried to pull her underwear down but the mere act of reaching caused her great pain in her side. Clem struggled again and again to undress herself, but couldn't manage to over the agonizing pain it caused. She was afraid she was about to pee herself while sitting on a toilet, then opened her mouth to speak.

"Sarah!" she called. "I… I need help."

Sarah burst into the bathroom and immediately placed herself beside Clem. "What's wrong?"

"I… It hurts when I…" Clem stopped short of saying anything and just kind of looked downward.

"Oh…" Sarah looked awkwardly at Clem for a moment. "All right, just hold still." Clem couldn't help feeling humiliated as Sarah undressed her. Looking at her friend's face, Clem did take some small comfort in Sarah averting her eyes. "Okay. I'll just wait outside and—"

"Can… can you stay?" begged Clem. "I… I just feel better, when you're close."

"Sure." Sarah sat down next to the toilet and looked away. Clem limply stretched out to take Sarah's hand, but couldn't reach her. She was about to pull her arm back when Sarah suddenly took her hand without looking, as if she had just sensed Clem's desire. Feeling Sarah's hand on her own, her fingers gently caressing her skin, finally helped Clem to relax ever so slightly, which helped her to do something else.

"This… this is so embarrassing," mumbled Clem.

"You just had to pee," insisted Sarah as she continued to stroke Clem's hand. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"It's not that it's… I'm helpless now," cried Clem.

"You're hurt. You'll get better."

"I'm going to die."

"You're not going to die!"

"I am," sobbed Clem. "Just like Sin."

"No!" Clem was startled as Sarah darted in front of her. "I won't let that happen, okay?"

"You can't promise that."

"I'm gonna try!" Tears started rolling down Sarah's cheeks as Clem felt even worse than she already did. She stretched out her hand and started rubbing Sarah's back.

"I'm sorry. I—"

"It's okay," said Sarah as she wiped her eyes before holding Clem's hand again. "You're the one who's hurting."

"I just thought I'd feel better today, at least a little, but I feel even worse."

"You lost a lot of blood," reminded Sarah. "You probably need more time to get well."

"I hope so," said Clem as she turned to flush.

"Don't." Sarah grasped Clem's hand suddenly.

"Why?"

"I… I need to see if there's blood… in your pee."

"What?" asked a confused Clem. "Why?"

"If there is… it's bad."

Clem was too afraid to ask why it would be bad. Instead, she leaned to the side and let Sarah investigate, too frightened to look herself.

"Well?" asked a nervous Clem.

"It's fine." Clem felt relieved as Sarah flushed the toilet.

"So I'm okay?"

"For now."

Clem's relief was cut short upon hearing that. Sarah dressed her and picked her up again. Carrying her outside, Clem spotted Devlin and Anthony at the front of the Brave, arguing.

"You said it yourself, they could already be in Tulsa," insisted Anthony. "We should just head there ourselves."

"I also said they could still be at the farm," reminded Devlin. "We might be their only hope."

"Or they could be dead already." That was the last thing Clem heard as Sarah carried her back into the bedroom.

"Okay, I'll get you another painkiller and—"

"What are they talking about?" asked Clem as Sarah pulled a blanket over her. "Are they going back to the farm?"

"Devlin wants to at least scout the area nearby, see if he can find any signs of Jet or Patty… or the people who attacked us," said Sarah with a sigh. "He also said—"

"That we could use some of that stuff from the farm." Clem looked up to see Devlin standing in the door. He entered the room and looked over at Sarah. "How she's doing?"

"She's really weak," reported Sarah.

"And it really hurts," added Clem.

"Painkiller," said Sarah as she stood up suddenly. "I'll get it."

Sarah rushed out of the room while Devlin knelt down to look at Clem directly. Peering into the man's dark eyes, she could tell the sight of her in bed unsettled Devlin.

"I just wanted to check in on you, see how you were holding up," confessed Devlin, sounding uncharacteristically shaken. "With everything that's happened, I realized I didn't even stop to see if you were okay yesterday."

"I'm not," blurted out Clem. "It hurts, and I'm scared."

"I bet."

Sarah hurried back into the room. "Here you go." Sarah offered Clem a pill. She put it in her mouth and then Sarah held a bottle up to her lips so she could drink. "I'll just leave these on the dresser. If it really starts to hurt just take one, okay?"

"How many do we have left?"

"Um, probably at least a few dozen," said Sarah as she looked into the bottle. "Devlin, could you watch her a second? Omid just woke up and—"

"I got it."

Sarah set the water and pills on the dresser and then hurried out of the room while Devlin looked at Clem. At first she thought he was pitying her, but after studying his face she realized he may have actually been scared.

"Are you really going back to the farm?" asked Clem.

"Maybe," mumbled Devlin, sounding unsure. "Like I keep telling Anthony, we're gonna be careful and not rush into anything. Figure we'll start just by driving around the surrounding area, look for signs of the people who attacked us. Maybe spot the vehicles they came in or at least some tire tracks, figure out at least what direction they came from."

"You should take our guns," insisted Clem. "They'll—"

"Sarah already got them for us. I got the machine gun and Anthony's got her rifle, and we both got a pistol each." Clem suddenly noticed the pouch for spare magazines on Devlin's belt that Patty had taken from Titusville. "Those people took us by surprise before, but not this time."

"You're gonna try to fight them?"

"Not if we can avoid it, I don't want to risk leaving you and Sarah and Omid all alone, but we need to be ready for the worst this time, especially if we go back to the farm."

"How are you going to do that?"

"I figure we can walk in through the forest from the north, climb up one of the trees and scout things out from a distance. They'd never see us coming."

"You sure of that?" asked a nervous Clem.

"How often were you watching the woods?"

"Never… maybe we should have… maybe they are now."

"Even if they are those trees give Anthony and me a lot of cover. Hell, that's probably how they came in. Just walked in through the woods and right up to our front doors. Hopefully they'll be gone now and we can look for clues to what happened to Jet and Patty."

"And if those people are still there?" asked Clem.

"We'll turn around and head right back," promised Devlin. "I doubt they're not gonna come back to claim the farm, but if they had to leave for the duration, like to get the rest of their group as reinforcements, that gives me and Anthony a window to get back our semi-trailer full of food. There's a lot left in Tulsa but it's not infinite, we could really use that trailer."

"What if you get there and you see those people are there, but so are Patty and Jet?"

Devlin sighed. "I don't know how to answer that."

"You're gonna just leave them."

"I didn't say that," retorted Devlin. "I just can't tell you what I'd do in that situation…"

"I'm sorry."

"I want to save them too," assured Devlin in a quiet voice. "I feel bad enough that letting Pedro go is what caused all this."

"I can't believe he just died anyway. Everything we talked about, and it didn't even matter."

"Yeah, it's like momma always said; man plans and God laughs."

"God laughs?"

"It just means, no matter how carefully we plan something out, it could go wrong anyways. Although we could have probably stood to do more planning. We should have run drills after we let Pedro go, remind ourselves of our backup plan. Anthony nearly forgot to meet us here and it's possible Jet and Patty just went straight to Tulsa."

"What if they didn't? Do… do you really think we'll ever see them again?"

"You never know." Clem turned away from Devlin, feeling no hope of ever seeing her other friends again. "Once, me and one other, named Williams, were scouting downriver just outside the city limits when we ran into a whole pack of infected people.

"This was not long after we had settled in Tulsa and were still getting a handle on things, so we started hurrying back to the boat. Along the way we hopped a fence, and Williams landed her jump wrong and twisted her ankle. I started carrying her, but it was a long way back to the boat, and those damn infected never get tired."

"What did you do?" asked Clem as she looked up at Devlin.

"I kept stopping so she could shoot them as they got close. It worked for a while but eventually we realized there were more of them than we had bullets. I wasn't halfway back to the boat when I stumbled, nearly dropping Williams on her head in the process. It was clear I wasn't going to be able to carry her back and keep ahead of the infected too."

"Did you leave her?"

"No, at least not at first. I figured if we couldn't outrun them then I'd just have to kill them all. I had my knife and my nightstick, and by now we knew you had to aim for the head. I figured I could outlast them."

"But you couldn't?"

"They just kept coming. In retrospect, I think we had accidentally ran into a shelter or something where people gathered because our trip had been pretty uneventful until we cracked open the wrong door. The ones we had been killing must have been the fastest because after fighting them off for a while, I saw a whole god damn crowd marching up to meet us."

"So you did leave her, because you had to," concluded a dismayed Clem.

"She told me to, saying she could handle herself, and I still wouldn't leave her. So Williams pointed her gun at me and said she'd kill me if I didn't go… I hated myself for running, and I could hear her screaming as I ran back to the boat."

"I'm sorry Devlin."

"We came back the next day armed and ready. We cut down plenty of infected, but we couldn't find Williams, not alive or amongst the infected we killed. We looked everywhere and kept calling her name, both over the radio and out loud. Nothing."

"Did you ever see her again?"

"Nope…" Clem felt herself growing even more miserable upon hearing that. "Until she came walking back into Tulsa nearly a month later."

"What? How?"

"Yeah, I think that was my exact words when I saw her," said Devlin with a smile. "And I still remember Gina looking at me and smiling before saying 'I told you I could handle myself."

"Wait, Gina? That old lady who stayed with you in Tulsa?" Devlin nodded. "You said this was someone named Williams."

"Yeah, Gina Williams," said Devlin with a smirk. "Thought I'd keep you in suspense for a little while."

"I don't like suspense," said Clem.

"I know, I don't either," assured Devlin as he gently patted Clem's hand. "I just wanted you to know that sometimes people do beat the odds. I still like to think even now, I'll find her and the others again someday. Maybe I'll even think of something clever to say by then."

"Wait, you said you heard her screaming," said Clem. "And how come you didn't find her when you went back for her? And why didn't she call you on the radio? And—"

"It's a bit of long story, one Gina was happy to tell us. If you're still interested I can tell you when you get back."

"You're gonna be careful right?" asked a nervous Clem as she was forced to think about what could be waiting out there for them. "I want you to find Patty and Jet, but—"

"I'll be careful, believe me," assured Devlin in a stern voice. "All that time alone in Tulsa and working on the farm dulled my senses a little, but yesterday woke them right back up. In those early months of trying to keep order in Tulsa we had to be on our guard non-stop. Probably the only reason Gina survived was she was already figuring what to do before she told me to leave."

Clem watched as Devlin stood up, his posture noticeably changing as he did. "I'll be keeping my eyes and ears wide open for the worst and I'll remind Anthony to do the same. We'll be keeping Sarah up to date over the radio. You just rest now, that's what Gina had to do to get well enough to get back to us."

"She didn't get shot." Clem grew anxious upon hearing that out loud. "Do… do you know anyone who got better from that?"

"Not personally." Clem suddenly found it a little harder to breathe. "But... I'd be hard-pressed to name many adults tougher than you are."

"I don't feel tough right now," admitted a trembling Clem.

"I know you don't," spoke a sympathetic Devlin. "Neither did Gina in those weeks she spent sleeping in strangers' beds because she could barely walk. When we asked her why it took her month to make it back, she looked away and said it was because she couldn't wait a month, and messed up her ankle even worse trying to get back sooner.

"Nobody's strong all the time, so just focus on resting now, let us worry about everything else, okay?"

"I… I'll try," said Clem as Sarah and Omid came into the room.

"Anthony is waiting for you," informed Sarah in a meek voice.

"I'm going," said Devlin. "Lock the door and keep watch from the windows. If you see anything other than us coming, just go."

"What if it's the Sunseeker?" asked Sarah.

"You go," repeated Devlin. "For all you know, the people who attacked us took it and went out looking for the rest of us in it. If it's Patty and Jet, they'll know to head towards Tulsa, if not, best not wait around to find out who's in there."

"Oh… okay," conceded Sarah.

"If we come back and you're not here, we'll head onto Tulsa ourselves. After that we'll figure out our next move."

"Good luck," said Clem as Devlin left the room.

"You too." Hearing Devlin step out of the Brave, Clem slowly stood up on the bed, grimacing as she did so.

"Clem, don't." Clem ignored Sarah and went to the window. She watched as Devlin met with Anthony. He had Sarah's rifle and Devlin had the machine gun like he said. They said something to each other, then climbed into Anthony's truck. Clem watched as they drove off down the road, then just kept watching, unsure of what she was waiting for.

"Clem, lie down," urged Sarah. "You're gonna make it worse."

Clem noticed the small hole in the plastic covering the window, then felt a terrible pain in her stomach. Clem lay down on the bed, feeling even more tired then she did a minute ago.

"I think I need another painkiller," said Clem as she turned towards the dresser.

"What? No, not this soon."

"But my stomach hurts."

"Just wait a little longer for the one you took to start working," said Sarah. "Taking too many painkillers is dangerous."

"How dangerous?"

"Like, they could kill you if you took a whole bunch."

Clem felt herself shaking upon hearing that. "Maybe… maybe I shouldn't take them at all then."

"No, it's safe if you take one every now and then, but taking more than one could make you sick, and taking a bunch could kill you. So only take one when the pain is really bothering you, okay?"

"Okay."

"Hum-bee." Clem looked over to see Omid holding a spoon out towards her.

"You're hungry?" asked Clem.

"Actually, I think he's worried that you are," said Sarah as she climbed onto the bed, an open can in her hands. "He kept saying your name and hungry over and over again."

"Kem-men hum-bee." Clem watched as Omid stuck the spoon into the can and clumsily fished out some corn.

"I'm sorry your stomach hurts, but you really need to eat something. You won't get better if you don't." With Sarah's help, Omid guided the spoon forward. Looking down at the corn, Clem wasn't really hungry, but opened her mouth anyway. Omid giggled in delight as Clem chewed her food, the hurried back to the can.

"Thank you," said Clem in a weak voice.

"Are you okay?" asked Sarah. "Is there anything bothering you other than your stomach?"

"No... well…"

"Just tell me, it's okay," assured Sarah.

"I was just thinking… this corn is nowhere near as good as the corn we grew."

"I know," sighed Sarah as Omid delivered another spoonful into Clem's mouth. "Canned stuff just doesn't taste that good anymore. It's… just not the same."

Chewing on the wet morsels, Clem couldn't help noticing they were devoid of any flavor beyond salty. She already wasn't hungry, but the longer she chewed on those bits of corn the harder it became to swallow them.

"I talked with Devlin for a while, about maybe just going back to the farm if those people are gone, but he said it'd be too dangerous to stay there anymore, and Anthony didn't want to go at all… I don't blame him."

"It's so not fair," mumbled Clem before looking over to see Omid holding out more corn. She really didn't want to eat it anymore, but leaned forward and took it anyway.

"Devlin said if we get the food trailer back, maybe we could also pick everything that had grown in the field so far and get my plants from the greenhouse so we can at least have some seeds for next year. But it's way too risky to live there anymore."

Clem hadn't even finished chewing her last spoonful of corn before Omid was offering her another one.

"Devlin also said we probably shouldn't stay in Tulsa that long," continued Sarah. "It's not that far from the farm and the people who attacked might go there looking for us at some point. We'll probably have to find somewhere further to move to, somewhere we can start a new farm next year. That means we'll have to find another place close to water and hidden from sight, and we'll have to build everything all over again, if we even can. Without Sin, I don't know if we can—"

Clem started crying into her hands, inadvertently knocking the spoon out of Omid's grip and spilling bits of corn across the bed. "I'm sorry," said Sarah as she hurriedly wrapped an arm around Clem. "I'll shut up, please don't cry."

"Kem-men." Omid's distressed cry made Clem pause, she looked up to find the boy staring at her with sad eyes. He waddled over to her and wrapped his arms as much around her as much as she could. "Lub yoo," he said, sounding like he was going to cry himself.

"I know," said Clem as she wrapped an arm around Omid and Sarah each. "I love you too."

"You know what, hang on a second." Sarah hurried out of the room and returned carrying a glass jar with a dark red substance in it.

"Is that the jam you made?" asked Clem as Sarah unscrewed the lid. "We should save it for—"

"For what? A party?" asked Sarah with a shrug as she picked up the spoon. "I think you could use a treat more now than ever." Just smelling the jam was enough to quiet Clem's objection. Sarah leaned forward to fed Clem, and Clem just snatched the spoon out of her hand. That sweet and sticky concoction was intoxicating, and Clem swirled it about her mouth with her tongue for as long as she could before swallowing it. Tasting something she wanted more of again, Clem lurched forward and quickly took another spoonful of jam from the jar.

"You just eat as much you want," said Sarah in a warm voice as she gently stroked Clem's hair. "And if you need anything else you just tell me."

"Ah-wah-bree," demanded Omid as inched towards the jar. Clem smirked at him, then happily fed the boy some jam. Sitting there, Clem found herself enjoying just listening to the sound of Omid happily smacking his lips together.

"Sarah, you there?" Clem's blood ran cold as she heard Devlin's voice over the radio.

"Was is it?" answered a nervous Sarah.

"We've finished making a wide-sweep. Nothing to report yet," said Devlin as Sarah stood up and walked out of the room. "We found an out of sight place to park. Now—" Was the last thing Clem could hear Devlin say as Sarah carried the radio out of earshot.

"More." Clem looked down to see Omid reaching for the jam jar and quickly took it before he could get it. "Mah!"

"No Omid, we should save some for later," said Clem as she screwed the lid back on. "And save some for Devlin and Anthony… and Patty and Jet." Clem looked up as Sarah returned, a weary look on her face.

"You done?" she asked as she noticed the closed jar.

"Yeah," said Clem.

"No!" protested Omid as Sarah took the jar back. "More!"

"You already had breakfast." There was apprehension in Sarah's voice that bothered Clem as she pocketed the jam.

"Is… is everything okay?" asked Clem, nervous to the answer. "What did Devlin say?"

"He said we should maintain radio silence for a while. I'm pretty sure they're going to check out the farm, and didn't want to say so in case anyone was listening in on us with their own radio." The possibility of someone spying on them over the radio terrified Clem.

"Is… is that painkiller working?" asked Sarah as she scooped up a pouting Omid.

"I think so. My side doesn't hurt so much right now and my stomach feels a little better."

"Good." Sarah took a breath as she adjusted her grip on Omid. "I… I need to change your bandages."

"Okay."

"And… I'll probably have to give you stitches."

"Oh…"

"Ree-ree," demanded Omid.

"I'll go put on some music and give him some toys to keep him distracted, and then I'll come back and take care of you."

"Oh... okay."

Clem briefly meet eyes with Sarah, seeing a look of reluctance behind her glasses before turning away and heading out of the bedroom. Clem waited nervously as she heard familiar music sound from the next room. The last time she had stitches was after a dog had bitten her. Turning and looking at the scar on her arm made her cringe, and waiting for Sarah to come back was nerve-wracking.

When Sarah did return, she stopped block the door behind her with a chair, then laid out bandages, alcohol, and a box of scary needles on the dresser. Clementine closed her eyes as she rolled onto her uninjured side, and flinched as she felt Sarah slowly peeling off the bandages from her wound. Sarah cautioned her to just hold still, and Clem did, fearful of what would happen if she moved.

The painkiller worked but only dulled the pain, not kill it. Clem felt every horrible stab made into her side, usually followed by hasty apologizes from Sarah as the sensation of metal and thread being yanked through her tender flesh sent chills up her spine. The pain wasn't the worst part, that was listening to Sarah's nervous mumbling. She wouldn't say it out loud, but Clem could tell Sarah wasn't sure confident in what she was doing.

Thinking back, Clem couldn't stop herself from remembering Sarah saying she had never sewn up a wound before Patty's leg. Patty was okay after that, but this was a lot worse than a single gash. Or at least Clem assumed it was; she was too afraid to open her eyes and look at the wound. Biting her lip and trying to stifle the cries of pain, Clem suddenly heard a voice at the door.

"Sah-rah!" yelled Omid. "Kem-men!"

"You… you should go check on him. He—"

"I can't stop with the wound half open," asserted Sarah, her voice trembling as she spoke. "I'll have to finish then get him."

Omid's cries just got louder as Sarah worked, with the painful stabs coming more quickly now. Over and over again Omid yelled their names, a little louder and more desperate each time. Eventually, Clem could heard a soft pounding on the door. It didn't make much noise, but those tiny fists knocking against the wood was deafening to Clem. Finally, the pounding stopped and Clem could hear a louder crying instead, which just broke her heart as she was forced to lay there helplessly and listen to Omid suffer.

"Okay, done!" Clem opened her eyes and watched as Sarah rushed over and threw open the door. "It's okay, we're right here," she said as she picked up the squealing toddler. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." As Sarah tried to calm Omid, Clem turned her head just enough to catch sight of her own wound. She got a glimpse of a couple of ugly stitches running over a section of mangled red and purple skin. Clem hastily turned away and forced her eyes closed until Sarah returned.

"I think he's okay," said Sarah as she sat down on the bed. "He just got upset when he couldn't get to us."

"I'm sorry," said Clem as she felt Sarah bandaging her side.

"Don't apologize, it's not your fault you're hurt."

"I'm just sorry you have to do all this," professed Clem. "I wish I could help."

"It's okay Clem." Sarah helped Clem sit up and Clem opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the overwhelming concern in Sarah's eyes. The second thing she saw was the tidy bandage that was now covering Clem's wound. "How do you feel?" asked Sarah as she gently stroked Clem's cheek.

"A little better," admitted Clem as she found herself tendering grasping Sarah's hand.

"Kem-men," cried Omid as he climbed onto the bed.

"I'm right here," insisted Clem. "I'm okay." Clem turned to Sarah suddenly. "I… I am, right?"

"I think so. It didn't look any worse today, and now that it's sewed up it should start healing. It'll just take a while."

"Which means you'll have to keep taking of me." Clem looked over at Omid. "And him, at the same time."

"I don't mind, and it's not like I won't have any help. Anthony and…" The sound of a loud engine rapidly approaching caused Sarah to freeze mid-sentence. She went racing out of the bedroom while Clem clamored back over to the nearest window as tires squealed just outside. Clem watched as Anthony's truck came skidding to a stop next to the Brave. The first thing her eyes were drawn too was the long line of bullet holes running across the length of the truck; she didn't remember those being there yesterday.

"What happened?" Clem could hear Sarah ask as she ran over to Anthony as he stepped out of the truck.

"It was a god damn ambush, they were ready for us!" Clem felt a ball of dread growing in the pit of sore stomach as she noticed a bloody piece of cloth wrapped around Anthony's left arm. "I was just about to call you when they started shooting. I dropped the damn radio and started running and just barely got back to the truck before—"

"Where's Devlin?"

Clem felt her chest tighten as she watched Anthony look down at his feet. "Devlin's dead; they shot him right in front of me."

"No…" Clem felt whatever little strength she had drain right out of her body. She collapsed onto to the bed and started crying onto the sheets. Those two words; Devlin's dead, kept echoing in her mind no matter how loud she cried. How could he be gone just like that? Why was this happening? When was it going to end?

"Clementine!" Clem looked up to see a trembling Sarah standing over her. "Anthony—"

"I heard," sobbed Clem. "Devlin's dead."

"Yeah…" Clem watched as Sarah wiped her eyes before swallowing hard. "We're going back to Tulsa. Anthony says they might have followed him so we have to leave right now. Maybe… maybe Jet and Patty are already there. I asked if Anthony saw anything, like the Sunseeker at the farm but it sounds like they didn't even get close so… maybe they're waiting for us there."

"Maybe…" repeated a dismayed Clem. She started to cry again when she heard Omid sniveling right next to her. "I'm sorry," said Clem as she hugged him. "It's okay," she lied. "It's all right."

"Sarah!" Clem heard Anthony call.

"I'm coming." Sarah turned to Clem. "Just stay here, I'll drive us back to Tulsa."

Before Clem could answer, Sarah was already out the door. Omid was still whimpering as the loud roar of the Brave's engine started. Clem cradled him in her arms, feeling as helpless as he probably did right now. "Do… do you still want me to read you a story? Ree-ree?" Omid perked upon hearing that. He stopped crying and looked at Clem expectedly. "I'll go get your favorite book and read it for you. Ree-ree?"

"Ree-ree!" cheered an excited Omid.

Clem groaned as she stood up and went to the cabinet above the bed where they kept Omid's books, or at least they used to. As Clem dug through the various items stuffed in the cabinet, she suddenly remembered they moved all of Omid's books into the farmhouse, which they had now abandoned. She dug through the other cupboards and the dresser drawers, finding other things she didn't need and some of Patty's clothes.

"Ree-ree?" asked Omid, sounding upset.

"I'm… I'm sorry but…" Clem spotted a blue book covered in golden stars and planets surrounding a decorative sun etched into the middle of the cover lying on the far dresser. "I… I'll read you… the story of your parents," said Clem as she flipped through the pages of Sarah's diary. "Your parents were some of the bravest smartest, nicest, funniest people I ever met." Clem just turned to a blank page and pretended to read.

"This happened when you were even littler, so little you were tiny, and living in your mommy's tummy." Clem poked Omid's belly, producing a giggle from the boy. "I first met your parents on the worst… one of the worst… I met your mommy and daddy on a very, very bad day, and they made it a lot better."

Clem regaled Omid with the tale of his parents as best as she could, talking as much about them as she could while trying to avoid mentioning anything too frightening, forcing herself to say his daddy had to go away but still loved him. She was pretty sure Omid didn't understand most of the words she was saying, but she made sure to keep using the words mommy and daddy, hoping Omid would remember them. She had just about reached the end of the story, finding it hard to recall Christa's final painful moments as Omid stared at her expectedly.

"Your mommy…" Clem swallowed hard. "She gave us this RV, and as much advice as she could, and… she gave us you." Omid seemed to be confused as Clem pointed at him. Clem looked down at the blank pages of the diary and set it aside. Instead, she headed over the dresser and picked up their photo album. There was a thin layer of dust on the cover that Clem brushed away before opening it.

"This was your mommy." Clem opened the album to Sarah's pencil sketch of Christa and set it in front of Omid. Omid crawled over to the open album and looked at the drawing. "That's mommy. Can you say mommy? Mom-me."

"Mommy," said Omid as he placed his hand on the drawing.

"And this is your daddy," said Clem as she gestured to her crude crayon drawing of Omid Sr. "Say daddy. Dad—"

"Daddy."

Clem smiled upon hearing that. "Good," she said before looking down at the drawings. "Your mommy loved you very much. Both her and your daddy did, even though you were in your mommy's tummy then. They can't be here with you, but they did everything they could so you could live a good life and—"

Clem tensed up as she heard the squeak of the Brave's tires. She crawled back to the window and saw they were parked in abandoned Tulsa shopping center. Clem found herself instinctively scanning for threats. She didn't see anything of concern yet, but couldn't help feeling danger was just out sight with every old car and store window she studied. Turning her head, she found herself staring the Sam's Club and found the sight of it still standing to be oddly comforting.

"Clem," said Sarah as she headed into the bedroom.

"We're here," noted Clem. "Did you see the Sunseeker or—"

"No, it looks the same as when we left," said Sarah with a sigh. "Anthony and are I going to check in the Sam's Club, make sure it's still okay." Sarah set a familiar radio with peeling flower stickers on the bed. "I'll have the other one, the only other one now that Anthony has lost his. I changed channels on them both in case someone was listening in before."

"That's smart."

"It was Devlin's idea…" Sarah choked back a sob. "After nobody called yesterday, he said we should change them in case the people who attacked us found one of our radios and figured out what channel we use. Anthony told me just now we should change them again in case they already figured out which channel we switched to. If… if something happens—"

"Don't say that," begged a desperate Clem. "I… I can't—"

"Just keep it on, and lock the door if you can," suggested a hasty Sarah. "I'll be right back." Clem watched as Sarah removed a gun from her holster and marched out of the bedroom before Clem could object. She shuffled out after her, leaving the bedroom in time to see Sarah heading outside. Clem watched through the windshield as Sarah and Anthony, armor with guns and armored in raincoats marched right up to the Sam's Club main entrance and, after a brief peek past the door, disappeared inside.

Clem forced her tired legs to stumble forward and lock the door, then flopped onto the pulled out couch. Seemingly everything she did now was exhausting and made her next action harder than the last. As she lay on the couch, she felt herself growing even weaker than she felt a minute ago. And forced to lay there with her thoughts, the news of Devlin's death started floating to top of her head and she had to resist the urge to cry all over again.

"El-muh." Clem looked up to see a worn stuffed elephant staring her in the face. "Tah-bah el-muh Kem-men."

"Patty must have brought this with her when you stayed with her the other night." Clem smiled as she picked up the tiny tusked toy. "I still remember the day I got this for you," said Clem as she stroked Elma's chewed up ears. "There was just this big pile of stuffed animals stacked up in someone's house and I knew I wanted to get you one and just picked this. Later, I remembered your daddy once said he was going to get me an elephant, and maybe that's why I picked it."

Clem looked over at Omid and saw him smiling now. "You're such a good boy. You're only one year old and you're already trying to take care of me. Your mommy and daddy would be so proud of you. I… I'm so proud of you Omid. I—"

There was rumbling sound at the door. Clem watched as Sarah came marching in. She tossed her keys aside and the tossed away her raincoat in an equally frustrated fashion before collapsing into the driver's seat. Clem sat up and watched as Sarah wept into her hands.

"What's wrong?" Sarah looked up, then collapsed back into her hands. "Sarah, tell—"

"It's all gone…"

"What? What's all—"

"Everything!" Sarah's sudden outburst startled Clem and sent Omid crying as he wandered away towards the bedroom. "Everything, everything in the Sam's Club was gone. The food, water, even the radio and guides Jet left behind, it's completely empty now."

"What?" asked Clem in disbelief. "That… that's impossible. I was here just a couple of weeks ago with… with Devlin. Everything was—"

"I know, Anthony said the same exact thing… he couldn't believe it either." Sarah sniveled as she wiped her eyes. "Some… someone must have come and just... taken it all."

"Who?" asked Clem in dread.

"I… I don't know, but, they picked the store clean." Those words sent a chill down Clem's spine. "We didn't look for long because we were afraid they could still be around, but even the tires by the front door were gone. It… it was like all those empty buildings we found after we left Shaffer's. It—"

There was a bang at a door and Anthony came charging in. "Sarah, what are you're waiting for, we gotta get outta here!"

"I know, just give me a minute!" snapped Sarah.

"We're leaving?" asked Clem. "But, wait, what about Patty and Jet? They could still be here somewhere and—"

"And we could run into whoever stole what was left in there if wait around much longer," reminded Anthony, his every word racked with panic. "We already agreed we couldn't stay here long lest those fuckers who attacked the farm figure out we were going to the biggest city in the state. Hell, they could be the ones who took everything. Maybe—"

"I know all that!" barked Sarah. "But we can't just leave without looking for Patty and Jet and—"

"The only reason we came back here was because it has food, which it doesn't now," stated Anthony. "If Jet and Patty came here, they would have left too when they saw there was nothing left but the chance of running into whoever stole our food. You heard that woman, she mentioned someone, what was his name—Octavius? That's not a name you pick if you want to make friends; that's a name for someone who wants others to know they're not to be fucked with. Does that sound someone you want to risk running into?"

"Of course not, but… what if we beat Patty and Jet here," said Sarah. "We gotta leave them a message or—"

"The code," stated Clem as she forced herself to sit up. "If they come here, they'll definitely check the Sam's Club. We'll leave the word Ceres on the main door and underline the second E, that's where the N is in Owens. They'll see it and know we went north."

"Right, to Interstate Eighty," realized Sarah. "That's where we talked about going if we ever had to move again. We can leave messages behind on the road signs too so they can find us."

"That's not a good idea," stated Anthony. "If the people following us figure out the code then—"

"How could they possibly figure it out?" asked an annoyed Clem.

"Who knows, they may have taken Jet prisoner, asked him all about the rest of us and he told them the code."

"Jet wouldn't do that," dictated Clem.

"You don't know what he would do. For all we know, they threatened to kill Patty right in front of him if he didn't talk. When they killed Devlin, I swear, they knew we were coming, like someone told them what we'd probably do… they could be on their way here right now. We gotta leave."

"You're right," said Sarah. "But we should still leave the code, in case Patty and Jet are out there."

"Sarah, we—"

"If you don't I—"

"I'll take care of it," insisted Anthony. "Ceres and underline the second E, right?" Clem nodded at him. "All right, I'll leave that on the door, then we're getting out of here." Anthony headed outside while Sarah approached Clem.

"Do you need help going back to the bedroom?" asked Sarah.

"I… yeah." Sarah carefully picked up Clem and carried her back to the bed, where Omid was crying softly. She then picked him up and placed him next to Clem, who proceeded to stroke his back until he settled down.

"What… what are we going to now?" pondered Clem out loud.

"Well, we still got plenty of food stored up, so we should be okay for a while," spoke Sarah, as if she was trying to convince herself. "We'll starting head north to Interstate Eighty like we planned and find a good place to wait. If Patty and Jet are alive, they'll be heading that way to… if they remember the plan. God I hope they're okay."

"Me too," said Clem in a whisper as she gently stroked Omid's hair. "What then?"

"Huh?"

"After we're done waiting, or Patty and Jet find us, what do we do then?"

"Then… I don't know."