"I think the monsters got her..."

bxbysxtter

"Nothing," Kyle answered. It was almost a lie. He wanted food and water and a chance to bathe and maybe a real bed. But that’s what everyone wanted, so instead he just replied, "I don’t want anything from you. We just- crossed paths here. Coincidence."

Kyle’s hand remained on his rifle. He wouldn’t put it past this stranger to shoot him while she kept him talking. Probably thought being a girl- with a little girl in tow, no less- would make people put their guard down or try and help her or- something like that. But Kyle wasn’t gonna fall for any of that.

"I'm not going to shoot you, so you can put your hands off the fucking rifle. You're scaring my girl, douche-bag."

She felt Clementine tense up behind her, obviously terrified. He must have thought they were bate for him. That another group would come in and kill him. She would understand, but she had to remain firm for the girl.

Starving and exhausted, Kyle was more frustrated than scared. Of course he would stumble across another person his first time getting back on the open road. He knew he should have stayed in the woods.

"You shoot, I shoot back, and I’m not the best shot. Kid could get hit. So- just calm down, alright?" There was more pleading than threatening in his voice as he looked back at her across the distance.

She stopped and slowly lowered the gun. She couldn't afford for Clementine to get hit. No, she promised Ed and Diana that she would keep their daughter safe. Still, she was suspicious of this stranger.

 Desperation could turn into ruthless anger in a second and Sandra had learned that the hard way. She looked at the little girl still cowering behind her and sighed.

"What do you think?" She asked Clementine, hoping the nine year old would have advice.

The girl squints at the stranger before staring back up at her babysitter. "He doesn't look bad," she begins. "I don't think he wants to hurt us."

The young woman exhales and puts her hands on her hips, trying hard to not care. Secretly, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the man as he looked almost worse than her.

His stomach had been killing him, and initially it’d been a relief that Sandra had brought him something. “Wait, no,” he muttered, “That’s the kids’ bucket.” 

They made their sand-castles in it. Er…dirt-castles. Gravel-castles. Whatever.

Still, he was in a bit of a rush, and he got up and went to his window (in the motor inn), and puked outside onto the grass in the woods.

He groaned a bit and shook his head, “N-no, I don’t think so,” he mumbled. He hadn’t had much to eat to begin with, and there wasn’t much in him to throw up but water  to begin with. “I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.” That was when he’d started feeling sick. 

He’d never been lucky when it came to the end of the world. 

"I'll be fine, Mark," She insisted. Sandra had been exposed to so many germs with children and school she was almost immune. Even if she did get it she could manage and could pass it off as sensitivity to smells. Sandra was on Lilly's good side and could probably get extra water and medicine for it.

"We need to keep you hydrated until this thing passes, but with the low water supply already I don't think Lilly will be eager to pass out bottles automatically."

She peeked out the window to see Lilly sitting on the RV, her gun gripped tightly in her hands as the older woman stared into the woods. Tensions had been high between her and Kenny and they all were starting to worry for her sanity . Still, Sandra had remained neutral in the argument to the dismay of Kenny for Clementine's sake.