The Delta 42

It’s cries were suddenly stopped by the big thing putting something in her mouth, almost automatically, it started suckling, opening it’s eyes, it looked at the thing, seeing something that looked a bit like the Cleany thingy. Tears were running down it’s cheeks, as the thing slowly picked it up, checking it over.

Lee winced at the soiled diaper, “Well, I guess that’s some of the reason you’re cranky, huh?”

Continuing to wail, it felt the thing remove its messed covering, it remembered the Cleany thingy calling it a ‘diapie’, before the thing cleaned it.

“Okay, Sweet Pea,” Said the new Cleaner, “let’s get you fed.”

Now slightly less upset, it felt the thing pick it up and carry it away.

Lee frowned at the three creatures lumbering around, before he noticed a hammer on the deck next to the door. Sighing, he looked at Clementine, “I’m gonna have to put you down for a moment, okay?”

Setting Clementine on the floor, getting a discontented whine from her, he picked up the hammer and walked towards the glass door, where three of the creatures were walking around. Pulling the door open, Lee gave a whistle, making one of the creatures come towards him, before he slammed the door on it’s head a few times, before its head cracked open and it stopped moving. He repeated the process with the other two, who must’ve been Clementine’s parents.

Sighing, Lee walked back over to Clementine, who had started whimpering, before he picked her up and walked into the house. After a few minutes, where Lee collected some supplies for Clementine, finding some baby food and formula, before Clementine started crying. Returning to the baby, who calmed down when he picked her up, Lee left the house and went into the street.

MD

After leaving the house, Lee had stumbled upon Shawn and Chet, after helping them get the road clear, Shawn had taken Lee and Clementine to his family’s farm, where they’d met Shawn’s father, Hershel, and Kenny and his family, who were similarly displaced. Hershel had given Lee some extra blankets, as well as a spare onesie, as a precaution against the baby getting sick, especially after Lee told him that Clementine. After carefully positioning himself so he didn’t accidentally roll onto the baby, Lee let himself go to sleep. He had a nightmare about his ex-wife, but after that he managed to get some restful sleep.

The following morning, he’d met Kenny, as well as his son, Duck, and his wife, Katjaa, then he’d helped around the farm, before he spent some time with the baby. There was screaming, and Lee had handed Clementine to Katjaa, before he ran towards the screaming, finding Shawn with his leg trapped under the tractor that had been behind him, while Duck was screaming his head off. Lee helped Kenny pull Duck free, before he turned to Shawn, only for the fence to collapse onto the young man, with the dead tearing him apart.

Hershel had ordered them to leave immediately after, thankfully, he didn’t ask for the stuff for the baby to be returned before they left.

“Bleffffpt.” Clementine blew spit bubbles up at Lee, just as Kenny’s truck came to a stop. Lee had just finished calming the baby down, after Duck laughed at her because her diaper made her look tiny. That got the boy a smack on the back of the head from Kenny and a scolding from Katjaa, Lee then explained that the baby was only a few weeks old, which got concerned looks from Katjaa and Kenny.

“Well,” Sighed Kenny, as Lee slid Clementine’s legs into the onesie, “this is as far as we're going.”

“Then it's far enough.” Said Lee, slipping Clementine’s arms in and buttoning the onesie up.

Everyone got out of the truck, with Lee carefully adjusting Clementine, who blowing spit bubbles, before kicking her legs and squealing. Glancing around, Lee stopped when he saw his family’s pharmacy.

“Look!” Said Duck, pointing at someone hunched over something by a car.

“Hey there!” Called Kenny, waving his arms to get their attention, “You friendly? Truck's run out of gas.”

The person looked up, showing the mutilated face of one of the dead, and the thing turning out to be another person.

“Fuck!” Yelled Kenny, as more dead appeared, surrounding them.

“We're trapped!” Cried Katjaa, as Duck let out a shrill scream, which set Clementine off.

One of the dead knocked Duck over as it tried to attack him, while Clementine screamed and wailed, attracting more of the dead, Lee was almost caught a few times by the reanimated, but he managed to escape before any got him.

A gunshot, followed by the dead that was trying to attack Duck collapsing on the boy and covering him in its blood, made them look to the pharmacy, where a woman with short brown hair, dressed in a shirt and skirt, was aiming and firing the corpses, while a man stood in the doorway of the Pharmacy.

“Run!” Yelled the man, as the woman fired at the dead, allowing them to retreat into the drugstore, with the man padlocking the metal gate keeping the dead away from them. As they stopped, Lee looked around and saw three more people, two men and a woman.

It was nice and not loud, then it was not nice and loud and it got scared and messed in it’s diapie, and now the Cleany was no clean it, and everything loud!

Lee glanced down at Clementine, who was now red in the face.

“We need to shut that thing up!” Snarled the old man that had been bellowing.

“It’s a baby,” Snapped the woman that saved them, “what do you think he’s trying to do?!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, you think those things outside give a fuck?!” Snarled the man, “We’re throwing it out!”

“What?!” The old man’s daughter looked at him, “Are you serious? We’re not killing a baby!”

“Are you leading this group or what?” Snarled the man, which got a dark look from the woman.

“Over my dead body.” Snapped Lee, as Clementine regurgitated her last meal.

Now it hungy! It last yummy goneded up! It now it hungy and messy and cleany no clean and no feedy to feed it!

While the group was arguing over the old man throwing a baby out to die, Katjaa had just finished cleaning Duck up, when she spotted a purple pacifier attached to a spring. Getting an idea, she took the item out of its packaging, and walked over to Lee, before sticking it in the infant’s mouth. Almost immediately, Clementine stopped wailing, and calmed down enough to fall asleep, which allowed her to miss the old man having a heart attack and collapsing to the floor.

Deciding to make use of the sudden quiet, Lee and Kenny took charge, while Katjaa took Clementine and cleaned and changed her, before finding a bottle of water and some formula for the baby, when she woke up.

Lee looked around the office, before the woman that saved him and his group, Carley, confronted him about his past. After clearing things up, Lee decided to take Carley and look for Glenn, the guy who held the door open for them, who’d gone to look for some gas. After getting back from a nearby motel, where they cleared out a load of Walkers, and witnessed a woman take her own life, with Glenn, Lee managed to find some keys on his brother’s moving corpse, which got them into the back room of the drug store, so they could get the medicine Larry, the guy who wanted to throw Clementine out to the Walkers, needed for his heart condition. Things were going well, before the burglar alarm went off, waking Clementine, who resumed her distraught, outraged screaming, spitting out her new pacifier every time Katjaa put it in her mouth. Lilly, Larry’s daughter, told Lee to go ‘calm’ the baby down, with Lee taking Clementine from Katjaa and heading out of the store, into a back alley with Clementine, where the noise was lesser.

Lee bounced Clementine, trying to shush her, as Glenn filled up his car and Kenny’s truck. Larry came staggering out, with Carley and Lilly close behind, the former clutching her purse and gun, saying that Doug, the other guy in the drugstore, was dead, while Katjaa and Duck came rushing out, with Kenny bringing up the rear.

Before Lee even knew what was going on, he was in the back of Kenny’s truck, feeding Clementine a bottle of formula, heading away from the drugstore.

MD

Glenn left pretty soon after they got to the Motel, and Larry told Lee that he knew what he was, and threatened to tell everyone, only for Lee to tell him to do so, since the old man was advocating for killing a baby, he hadn’t even met yet. They set themselves up in the different rooms, with Lee getting one with a crib for Clementine, who was in better spirits and napping with her pacifier firmly clenched between her gums.

Sighing, Lee decided to get some sleep, having a feeling that Clementine was going to act like an alarm clock in a few hours.

Lee was disappointed to find out that he was right.

MD

The first three months of the outbreak, Clementine would spend most of her time screaming her little lungs out, Katjaa had almost thrown a brick at Lee’s head when he said he was going to start giving the baby water. They still had some formula, so they didn’t have to worry about the baby starving.

The same couldn’t be said for the rest of them.

“Bllrb.”

Lilly looked down at the baby in her lap, Carley was on a supply run with Lee, and Kenny was out hunting with Mark, leaving Lilly, her Dad, Katjaa, and Duck alone with Clementine, who was swaddled in her blanket, while dumbly gumming on her fist. Lilly still remembered the disgust she felt when her Dad said they had to kill Clementine, which had triggered an argument where her Dad almost had a heart attack.

“Gehk-heek-heek.” Clementine imitated Carley’s laugh, although it more sounded like the baby was choking on something, or trying to throw up, it actually unnerved Lilly to an extent.

“That thing gives me the creeps.” Larry’s voice made Lilly look at him.

“Clementine?” Asked Lilly, not sure how to respond.

Instead of saying anything, Larry held up a doll that had seen better days, with massive clumps of fake hair and one eye missing, with the other eye pushed back into the head that it look like both eye sockets were empty. And that wasn’t even covering the clown costume it was in. Duck had found it in a dumpster and given it to Clementine.

Who’d taken one look at it, and burst into tears, screaming her lungs out after soiling herself.

“We’re back.” Carley’s voice made Lilly look over, and Clementine coo, “Anything happen?”

“Brrlb.” Clementine aimlessly waved her arms, prompting Carley to climb onto the RV and take the baby, who became more animated as she was taken back down to Lee.

“We cleared out the drugstore,” Said Lee, taking Clementine, “So we’re gonna be alright for a while, hopefully.”

“Yeah.” Said Lilly, just as Mark and Kenny arrived with a pair of teenagers, one of whom had been shot, “Oh, fucking great.”

MD

“You seriously think leaving a baby here alone is a good idea?” Baby’s eyes looked at Funny, as Ugly and Grumpy talk-ded with him.

“She’s not being left here alone,” Said Ugly, “Carley and Ben are going to be here with her.”

“Do either of them know how to care for a baby?” Said Funny, make Baby’s Mommy sigh.

“Yes, Kenny,” Said Mommy, as she shifted baby, “I know how to handle a baby.”

“Gooh.”

Everyone looked at Baby, who wriggled its armies free and tried to grab Mommy’s head hanging thingies, letting out a discontented whine, before starting to cry.

“We better get going.” Said Ugly, looking at the other growed-ups, “If we want to get there before nightfall.”

MD

Lee sighed as they walked back to the Motel with the supplies they’d found in the abandoned car they’d come across. Mark had been hit by an arrow while clearing the St John’s electric fence for them, after Carley and Ben had left to go back to the motel. The others arrived and Lee went out with Danny to search for the bandits, finding a camp with a single occupant, a crazy woman called Jolene, which led to a confrontation that caused Lee to shoot the woman.

After he and Danny got back to the dairy, Kenny alerted him to his concerns and Lee had managed to get a door open, revealing a blood covered room to him, before Andy collected him for dinner. Not seeing Mark, Lee went to look for the man, finding him in a hidden bathroom with his legs cut off. He ran down the stairs and revealed the source of the meat to the other, before the St Johns knocked him out and locked everyone, except Katjaa and Duck, in a meat locker.

Lee woke up to Larry banging on the door, while Kenny was trying to find a way out, and Lilly was throwing up in the corner. Lee joined Kenny in looking for a way out, only for Larry to have a heart attack, Lilly started giving him CPR, but he and Kenny had decided that they couldn’t risk it, and pulled Lilly away, before crushing Larry’s head with a salt lick. They were in the meat locker for a few more minutes, before Danny St John opened the door and said that one of them could leave. Lee and Kenny responded by jumping the man and, once getting his rifle off him, putting a hole on his forehead. They’d gotten everyone else out of the cannibal farm, killing Brenda and Andy St John in the process, before they stumbled across an abandoned car full of supplies.

“You’re back,” Carley’s voice made Lee look for Clementine, “I was about to head out and look for you.”

“Where’s Clem?” Asked Lee, just before there was a crashing sound, followed by the baby letting out shrieking cries.

“She was asleep.” Said Carley, sighing and looking into the Motel, before she checked the group, “Where’s Mark and Larry?”

“It’s a long story.” Sighed Lee, adjusting his grip on the supplies, “We’ll tell you once we’re inside.”

MD

Carley sighed as she adjusted Clementine in the makeshift sling they’d made for the baby, who was cooing up at her and waving her arms in an attempt to grab Carley’s hair. Lee and Kenny had just got back from a supply run, and Kenny was arguing with Lilly.

She’d talked to Lee about telling the others about his past, which he did with Kenny and his family, before he started investigating Lilly’s claims about someone stealing from them. Sighing, Carley gently bounced Clementine, making sure not to dislodge the bottle of formula that she’d taped to her front, getting a grumpy sound from the baby when she moved. Carley was so focused on Clementine that she didn’t notice the bandits from the woods coming in, until she was roughly grabbed and dragged to the rest of the group and forced to her knees.

Clementine, as soon as Carley had been grabbed, started screeching when her bottle was torn from her mouth, which fell to the ground. The leader of the bandits, after being confronted by Lee, had to yell in order to be heard. Lee distracted bandits long enough for Lilly to kill two of them, with Carley grabbing a dropped gun and killing two more, before it jammed and she had to retreat with a screaming baby.

The resulting battle was chaos, but they all managed to escape with their lives, even though they had to leave everything else behind.

MD

The Growed-ups was being noisy and scary, and Baby no like that, Baby want quiet! Baby want Mommy and Daddy to uppie it, and gived it huggies and kissies, but it no get noned! Mommy and Daddy hates its! Its alone! Baby felt Mommy put it in its crib, hum-hummying a noise thingy, and gived it its suck-suck. Slowly, Baby felleded to nap-nap.

MD

Lee sighed as he and Ben cut the coupling on the tanker. After Carley managed to get Clementine to sleep, Kenny hit a Walker and Lilly ordered everyone out of the RV, which led to Lilly shooting Carley in the face. They decided to leave Lilly behind, and Kenny told Lee that Duck had been bitten. After driving for a while, where Lee had a bizarre nightmare about an older Clementine turned into a Walker, they came across a train, and after they met a homeless guy living in it, they got it free of the other cars and set off for Savannah in it.

Lee spent most of the journey with Clementine, before Duck took a turn for the worse and they had to stop the train. Katjaa, after carrying Duck into the forest, took her own life, and Lee, after running in to check on the noise, ended up putting Duck down.

They started travelling again, only for the rails to be blocked by a tanker hanging down from a bridge. Lee had met a couple, Omid and Christa, when he went up to check on it. After introducing the two to the rest of his group, Lee went down to a nearby station and, after killing more than a few Walkers, managed to get a cage open and take a blowtorch. Ben had already been up on the bridge when Lee arrived. The cut was almost finished when they saw a horde of Walkers coming towards them.

Once it was finished, it fell and destroyed the ladder Lee and Ben used to get up onto the bridge, Kenny started the train, and Lee, upon seeing the destroyed ladder, ordered Ben to jump from the bridge to the trains roof. Lee didn’t wait for Ben to give him a nod or anything, before he jumped and landed on the roof of the boxcar. Looking back, Lee saw that Ben hadn’t moved, before he swung down into the boxcar, losing sight of the boy as he did.

MD

Baby woked up in a big thingy, Daddy was holdying it, and talk-talkying with Funny, letting its suck-suck fall, Baby cooed at Daddy, with him giving it a tickly. Baby no understand what Growed-ups was saying, but let itself make little cutey noiseys. Before Daddy rockyed it back to nap-nap.

MD

“Well, this isn’t creepy at all.” Said Omid, as Lee adjusted Clementine, who was bundled in her blanket with her bunny and pacifier.

“Hmm?” Clementine had started to become more vocal, which was something that they were still getting used to. The baby let her pacifier fall out of her mouth, “Ooh, hoo.”

“That’s interesting, Clem,” Said Lee, looking at the baby, “anything else?”

“Eh?” the three-month-old reached up for Lee’s nose. A bell tolling made them stop, as Clementine looked around.

The Baby knew she was not an ‘it’ her Daddy called her she, as well as a funny word that she couldn’t understand. They had been on that big loud thingy that scared her, and her Mommy wasn’t with them no mores. Then ugly and scratchy was gone, and Ucky and his mommy was gone too.

“Hmm.” Baby tried to get comfy, so Daddy could let her nap-nap, then there was a big noise. She whimpered, as it continued to be loud and mean. Then she messed and wetted herselfs.

Lee heard Clementine hiccup, before she sobbed, and broke out in high pitched, screeching wails. The Walkers, that had initially been summoned by the bell, started to converge on Lee. Hurriedly shoving the pacifier into Clementine’s mouth, Lee quickly moved her into his dominant hand, so he could get the ammo from his left pocket, then a Walker grabbed his arm and bit him. Lee struggled with the Walker, seeing Chuck get overwhelmed and torn apart, while Kenny vanished behind a herd after pulling a Walker off of Christa.

Christa saw the Walker biting Lee, then one bit him on the back of the neck. Thinking quickly, Christa ran over and took Clementine from him, as Lee succumbed to the weight of the dead.

“Run.” Said Christa, looking at Omid, “Omid, RUN!”

Wincing, Omid ran as fast as he could, as Christa broke into a run, keeping two fingers on Clementine’s pacifier to prevent the baby girl from spitting it out and summoning more Walkers.

Baby didn’t know why the mean lady took her from Daddy, she wanted Daddy! The rhythm of the lady running made Baby forget about her wet and messed diapie, and fall asleep.

MD

Christa looked down at the baby, Lee had found her alone in a treehouse after the world ended, she was young, far too young to be left alone, he’d found a picture of her and her parents when she’d been born, she was only a few weeks old. From what she’d heard, her parents were in the house, already dead and turned.

It was a miracle that she was still alive when she and Omid left Savannah with her, after Lee was bitten by one of the Walkers the baby had accidentally summoned while crying. Omid died shortly after, shot by some girl who’d tried to steal from them. That’d been two months ago. The five-month-old was starting to make sounds that seemed like words, but she was mostly quiet, content to suckle on her pacifier or gum on her bunny. Which is what the baby was doing now, covered only by a diaper and a ruined onesie, completely oblivious to the danger she was in.

Christa felt the Walker bite on her cheek give a throb.

“Shit, are you okay?” A young man’s voice reached Christa, making her look at him, “Fuck, you’re bit.”

“She needs someone to look after her.” Said Christa, hollowly, as the baby dropped her bunny and started crying.

The young man, frowned, before he walked around Christa and spotted the baby, “Shit, that’s a baby.”

“Please.” Pleaded Christa, “Help her.”

The young man looked conflicted, before nodding, taking the baby when Christa held her out.

“Her name’s Clementine.” Was the last thing Christa said, before she started to pass out.

“Lee?” Christa’s voice made Lee look towards the house, “Lee? You out here? Lee?”

Lee turned around, spotting Christa, Kenny, Omid, and Ben walking towards the fence.

“Are you crazy?” Asked Kenny, incredulous, “What are you doing out here? It ain't safe!”

“Lee, where's Clementine?” Asked Omid, as they hopped over the fence, “She's not in her room.”

“Vernon ain't in the house either!” Said Kenny, looking around, “What the hell is going on?”

“Whose blood is that?” Asked Christa, spotting the blood that had splattered onto his arm.

“It's a Walker's.” Answered Lee, casting a glare at the corpse, “Fucker tried to jump me from behind.”

“So,” Kenny looked around, “where's Clementine?”

“Clementine's gone.” Said Lee, looking at them, “I found her hat and her radio on the ground out here. That's all I found.”

“There's no chance she just wandered off on her own?” Asked Omid, frowning.

“No,” Lee shook his head, “no way.”

“Then who the hell took her?” Asked Kenny, casting a glare at Ben.

“I don't know.” Answered Lee, before remembering something, “Last night Vernon came to me and offered to take her with him. Said she'd be better off.”

“Son of a bitch.” Muttered Kenny, before looking at Lee, “I knew we couldn't trust that fucker.”

“Wherever she is,” Said Lee, deciding what he’d do, “I have to find her.”

“Okay.” Nodded Christa, planting her hands on her hips, “What do you need from us?”

The group discussed what they were going to do, before it was decided that Lee and Kenny would go to the morgue, and Omid, Christa, and Ben would remain behind with the boat.

I

Lee and his group arrived at the morgue, with all of them finding the room completely empty, with Lee wondering where they were, and Kenny remarking that they left in a hurry, before the radio crackling got their attention.

“Lee?” Clementine’s voice got their attention.

“Clementine, are you alright?!” Lee seized the radio from his waist, and spoke into it, “Where are you?! Vernon, you son of a bitch!”

“Hello, Lee.” Said a strange man’s voice, in place of Clementine’s.

“Who is this?!” Demanded Lee, snarling.

“It's not Vernon if that's what you're thinking, and you should really watch your tone.” Said the stranger, “Clementine's fine. But if I were you, I'd choose my next words very carefully.”

“You're fucking dead!” Snarled Lee, 2I don't know who you are, but I will kill you! Do you understand?!”

“I know you will. She knows you will. Say goodbye.” Said the stranger, coldly.

“Goodbye—” Clementine’s voice was cut off by the radio cutting out.

Sighing and looking around the morgue, Lee saw some Walkers passing by the window, before he grabbed a rib spreader and walked over to the elevator, “We need to get out of here.”

“No shit.” Said Kenny, as Lee pried the door open.

“Hopefully, we’re not going to run into any Walkers.” Commented Lee, before spotting a ladder, “Come on.”

Kenny watched Lee climb the ladder, before sighing and following after him. Eventually, they managed to reach the roof, where Lee used another ladder to cross across the gap between the hospital roof and a bell tower, and rang the bell, luring the horde away from the direction the house was in, allowing them to head away without any trouble from the dead.

I

It took them a while, but they came back to the house, finding Ben lying dead on the ground, and Omid and Christa locked inside the shed, Christa told them that Ben was killed by Vernon and his group, while they were stealing the boat, before they went inside the house, when they noticed that there were Walkers appearing in the street behind them.

They barricaded the doors, with them killing Walkers when they came in through the windows, before they retreated into the attic and look for a new way out of the house, which found when they found a rotting wood wall that they knocked down with a coat stand.

“Y’know,” Said Kenny, as Omid took over knocking down the wall, “it seems like the dead can’t see you, Lee.”

“How do you mean?” Asked Lee, frowning.

“It’s just that you’ve had a load of Walkers coming at you,” Said Kenny, frowning, “they all seem to ignore you.”

“Maybe I’m not to their taste.” Joked Lee, as Omid got the wall down.

They left the attic and went into a room in the building next door, with a couple of corpses on the bed. The group then made their way to the balcony, before jumping to the roof of the building across from them and travelling towards the Marsh House.

I

Lee scowled when the sign broke after Kenny had finished crossing it, before he looked at the street, silently groaning when he saw it was flooded with Walkers. Sighing, Lee looked at the others, “Fuck it. I'm going for it.”

“Going for it?” Demanded Kenny, “What does that mean?”

“It means I don’t have any choice,” Yelled Lee, “I have to push my way through the herd!”

“What the fuck?!” Asked Omid, looking at Lee.

“Let's meet out of town!” Yelled Lee, looking at the three of them, “By the train!”

“Are you nuts?!” Demanded Omid, getting a sigh from Lee.

“It's the only way!” Called Lee, as he started climbing down to the street, “Do you hear me?”

“Yeah,” Responded Kenny, “by the train!”

“Jesus...” Said Christa, “We'll be there!”

Upon reaching the street, Lee took a deep breath, and walked towards the herd, pulling a meat cleaver from his waistband to fight them off.

Only for the entire herd to completely ignore him, allowing him to walk through them and into the Marsh house. Half an hour later, Lee left he hotel with Clementine, and both went to meet up with the rest of their group.

I

“You should stop this, Clem.”

Lee’s voice made Clementine look across the fire at him, it’d been almost a year since they left Savannah, Christa had given birth to twins, OJ and CJ, Kenny had saved Omid from being killed by a bandit at a rest stop, and Lee had heard about a place called Wellington in the north, which was where they were heading now.

 “Stop what?” Asked Clementine, confused.

“Pretending that I’m alive.”

“I’m not.”

“You are, Clem,” Sighed Lee, sitting on the log across from her, “no one’s invisible to the Walkers. I wish we were we’d still have some of our friends.”

“Like Kenny and Chuck?” Asked Clementine, looking over at Omid and Christa’s sleeping forms, “A-and Omid?”

“Yeah,” Sighed Lee, looking over at them, “do you remember what I said?”

“Everything is dangerous.” Clementine looked at the ground.

“If you keep pretending that Walkers can’t see living people, you might forget that they can.” Said Lee, as Clementine pulled her knees to her chest, “It could get you, or someone with you, killed, and I don’t want to see you gone before your time.”

“B-but,” Clementine swallowed, “I got you killed, i-if I hadn’t—”

“You didn’t make me do anything.” Interrupted Lee, “And, if I was given the chance, I wouldn’t change anything.”

Clementine, swallowing thickly, “I-I’m sorry, Lee.”

“It’s almost morning, Clem,” Said Lee, gently, “you should get up.”

With that, Clementine opened her eyes.

“I was just about to wake you,” Said Christa, looking at the girl, “c’mon, I saw a store not far from here, if we’re lucky, we might find something decent to eat today.”

A

They’d waited a couple of days in the train, before they decided to leave. With Lee acting as Kenny’s eyes at the other end of the train and using the two radios they had to communicate, they’d decided to take the hulking vehicle back up towards Macon,. They went slower than they did last time, but they got back to the where the RV had been left sooner than they expected, but they were able to stop the train short of the crossing.

“We’re gonna have to keep our eyes out for another vehicle,” Said Kenny, as the approached the RV, “there’s about thirty mile left in the RV’s radiator.”

Lee stopped, “That… would’ve been useful to know before we went under the overpass.”

“I’ve only just remembered.” Said Kenny, defensively, “Besides… did you see that?”

“See what?” Asked Lee, looking at Kenny.

“Inside the RV.” Answered Kenny, looking at the empty guns they had, “Think we can bluff ‘em?”

“I,” Clementine’s voice was small, speaking for the first time since they left Savannah, “I think it’s Lilly.”

Lee frowned, before sighing, “I’ll go check it out, y’know, considering…” Lee waved his stump.

“Alright,” Sighed Kenny, “we’ll be right behind you, stumpy.”

Lee gave Kenny a flat look, before approaching the RV.

“Ugh, damn it.” Lilly’s back was to Lee, “Of course they’d’ve cleared it out.”

“Actually,” Lee’s voice made Lilly turn around and aim a gun at him, “we didn’t, they just wasn’t anything in here.”

Lilly looked Lee over, before focusing on the stump of his left arm, “What the hell happened to you?”

Lee looked at the remains of his arm, “I got bit.”

“And cutting it off worked?” Asked Lilly, getting a nod from Lee, “I guess Kenny took his family and left you behind.”

“No,” Said Lee, shaking his head, “we used a train and went down to Savannah, Duck… Duck was bit in the raid and Katjaa… she killed herself.”

“God.” Muttered Lilly, before looking Lee over, “Where’s Clementine?”

“She’s outside,” Answered Lee, sighing, “with Kenny.”

Lilly frowned, before tucking her gun away and giving Lee a stiff nod.

“It’s safe.” Called Lee, limping out of the RV, “She’s not looking to fight.”

“What the hell would we fight back with?” Asked Kenny, getting a sigh from Lee.

Lilly frowned, “You’re not armed?”

“We don’t have any bullets.” Said Lee, after a moment.

“Huh,” Lilly looked at the gun she’d found on the side of the road, “I guess that makes two of us.”

Lee stopped, before looking at Lilly. The pair stared at each other for a moment, before Lee sighed, and continued to walk off the RV.

A

“I still think this is a bad idea.” Said Lilly, as the RV came to a shuddering stop at the end of a dusty road, “You said that the guy here kicked you out.”

“Yeah, well, maybe he’ll let us stay the night,” Grumbled Kenny, “hell, maybe we’ll be able to sneak in and sleep in the barn and leave without them noticing us.”

“Yeah,” Scoffed Lilly, scowling, “like that’ll happen.”

After a moment, they realised they weren’t moving.

“Er, Kenny?” Lilly looked at the man, “You’re free to drive.”

“Ya think I’m doing?” Snapped Kenny, before sighing, “The radiator must’ve died.”

“Really?” Asked Lee, frowning, before he sighed, “Well, I guess we’re walking up the drive, then.”

“Let’s hope they don’t shoot at us.” Muttered Kenny, as they got out of the RV, making Lilly stop.

“What did you guys do?”

A

The farm was completely abandoned, the barn had been burned down, the house looked ransacked, and there were Walkers roaming around the house and destroyed barn.

“So… I guess we’re not staying here.” Said Lilly, as Lee frowned.

“I would suggest that he check the house,” Said Lee, glancing around, “but I don’t wanna risk getting bit, again.”

“I think I can see Shawn’s truck, over there,” Said Kenny, glancing at them, “Think I can reach it?”

“We’ll be right behind you.” Said Lilly, just as Kenny ran to the truck and jumped in before any of the Walkers could grab him, “Think the keys are in the truck or the house?”

“House.” Said Lee, just as the truck started, “Huh.”

A few minutes later, the four of them were in the truck and travelling towards Atlanta.

“Hopefully,” Said Lilly, after a period of silence, “we can find supplies in the city.”

“And if we can’t,” Said Lee, “we could drop by Clementine’s old house and rest there for a bit.”

“We could also check for warmer clothes.” Said Kenny, when Clementine didn’t say anything, “There might even been some food in the cupboards.”

Glanced down at Clementine, Lee paused when he saw the girl was asleep, before he sighed, “She’s asleep.”

“Huh,” Said Kenny, glancing at the girl, “this gotta be the longest she’s slept since Savannah.”

“We should get some sleep too,” Said Lilly, looking around them as the truck drove along the freeway, “Kenny, pull over, there’s a rest stop coming up where we can sleep.”

“I’m fine.” Dismissed Kenny, as he turned off the freeway, “I wouldn’t get much sleep anyway.”

Lilly glanced at Lee, before she sighed and got herself comfortable, before going to sleep, with Lee no far behind her.

A

“Hey, wake up.” Kenny shaking them made the rest of the group shift and look at him.

“Everyone alright?” Asked Lee, as Lilly looked out the windows.

“We got company.” Said Kenny, gesturing to a man in a sleeveless jacket walking towards them.

Behind the man, a group of nine people were watching them. Lee thought a couple of them look familiar, before he recognised Hershel, “Oh, shit.”

“Lee?” Lilly looked at him, before she frowned, “You recognise them?”

“That old guy?” Lee gestured to Hershel, “That’s the guy who owned the farm we took this truck from.”

“Great.” Muttered Lilly, as the man reached the truck.

“Can I help you?” Asked Kenny, after rolling down the window.

“The city’s flooded.” Said the man, making Kenny frown.

“With Walkers or water?” Asked Kenny, getting a frown from the man.

“Walkers.”

“Right,” Said Kenny, looking around, “I guess we’ll turn around and go someplace else.”

“You got food?” Asked the man, making the adults freeze.

“No,” Answered Lilly, looking at him, “We’re kind of scavenging, we got lucky when we stumbled across this truck.”

The man slowly nodding, as another man walked up, “We got some food, if you need it.”

The second man frowned at Lee, before he looked around the man and spotted a sleeping Clementine.

“That your daughter?” Asked the second man, gesturing at the girl.

“Might as well be.” Answered Lee, “Found her alone back when all this started.”

The second man nodded, before looking at the first, “Daryl, Hershel reckons he knows these guys.”

“Huh?” The first man, Daryl, looked at the man, “You mean like those ‘Living’ nuts?”

“No, said they got his son killed.” Answered the man.

“The Walker one?” Asked Daryl, frowning.

“Yeah.” Nodded the man, “He also said that what we do with them is up to us, but they’ve got a little girl, and we got some food spare, should they need it.”

Daryl glanced at them, before he walked back to his group, leaving them with the other man.

“I’m Rick,” Said the man, gesturing to himself, “you’ve already met Daryl, and you know Hershel, and his daughters.”

“We don’t actually,” Said Lee, after a moment, “Me, Clem, and Kenny only met Hershel, and Shawn.”

“I don’t know any of them.” Said Lilly, glancing at Lee, “Never met them.”

Rick nodded, before looking back at his group, “You don’t look like you got much, and we ain’t gonna let a little girl go hungry.”

“Thanks.” Said Lee, getting a nod from Rick, before the man started walking back to his group.

“We wanna risk it?” Asked Kenny, looking at them.

“We don’t have much choice.” Responded Lee, his arm giving a twinge.

“We could just leave.” Said Lilly, looking at Lee.

“And pass up a chance to eat?” Asked Lee, as Clementine woke up, “If Atlanta is flooded with Walkers, this is probably going to be the last meal we’re gonna have in a while.”

As if illustrating his point, Clementine’s stomach growled.

“Great.” Muttered Lilly, as Kenny got out of the truck, followed by Lee and Clementine. After a moment of sitting in the truck alone, Lilly got out a followed them, “This isn’t going to end well.”

A

Lee carefully balanced the food he’d been given on his leg, while Lilly and Kenny cradled theirs in their hands, and Clementine gave herself hiccups because she ate hers so quickly.

“What happened?” Asked Hershel, making Lee look at him, before he looked at his stump.

“I got bit.” Answered Lee, shifting his stump, “I didn’t think I was going to survive, still don’t, in fact.”

“What about his wife and kid?” Asked Hershel’s eldest daughter, Maggie, “Where’re they?”

“Yeah,” Nodded Glenn, “I was wondering the same thing about Larry and Carley.”

The three of them were silent, before Lee sighed, “About three months in, a few weeks ago, actually, we were still at that motel we were in when you left, we’d picked up another survivor.”

“Mark,” Supplied Kenny, “he had food, and other supplies.”

“Which we were running out of.” Interjected Lilly, glancing at Lee.

“And we had to go out hunting,” Continued Lee, “we weren’t very good at it, but we found some college kids, or high schoolers, I forget which, and their teacher in the woods. Their teacher, I can’t remember his name, he was caught in some modified bear trap that had the release latch removed.”

“How’d you get him out?” Asked Hershel, frowning.

“The only way we could,” Answered Lee, “we cut his leg off.”

“Jesus.” Muttered Maggie, looking sick.

“Yeah,” Agreed Lee, before continuing, “we brought them back to the motel with us, one of them fell behind, but the one that made it back with us, his name was Ben, and he told us that he and his group were attacked by some bandits, during which his teacher bled out. Heh, that was when we found out that we turn no matter how we die.”

“Yeah, we found out pretty recently too.” Said T-Dog, a man in Rick’s group.

“Well, a couple guys from a nearby dairy offered us some food they had,” Said Lee, sighing, “it was like the world hadn’t ended.”

“What was wrong with them?” Asked Lori, Rick’s pregnant wife.

“They were cannibals,” Said Lilly, “fed some of us Mark’s legs.”

“Yeah, knocked Lee out and locked most of us in a meat locker.” Said Kenny, gruffly.

“Yeesh,” Winced Glenn, “Larry couldn’t have taken that well.”

“He didn’t.” Confirmed Lilly, “He had a heart attack, and instead of trying to save him, they dropped a salt lick on his head.”

“Lilly, his heart had stopped, and he wasn’t breathing.” Said Lee, looking at her, “And even if he had survived, would he have made it out of the barn, past the St Johns, through the Walkers, and the walk back to the motel through bandit infested woods?”

“He’s got a point.” Said Daryl, crossing his arms, “I’m surprised that he lasted that long.”

“Well, we found a car full of supplies on the walk back,” Said Lee, looking at the group, “we were starving, and the supplies would’ve lasted us a while, and the car looked abandoned, so we took the supplies back to the motel.”

“I’m guessing that the car wasn’t actually abandoned.” Said Hershel, levelly.

“It wasn’t.” Confirmed Lee, sighing, “A week later, we were forced out of the motel by the gang in the woods, the college kid, Ben, he had been giving them supplies behind our back.”

“It was Ben?” Asked Lilly, looking murderous, “I—”

“Killed Carley for it.” Interrupted Lee, sounding tired, “Yeah, and we left you on the side of the road. We continued driving until we found a train, as well as an old homeless man, Chuck, we managed to get it to start and took it down to Savannah.”

“Yeah,” Sighed Kenny, “then Duck took a turn for the worse on the way.”

“Why?” Asked Carol, another woman in Rick’s group, “What happened to him?”

“He was bit while we were leaving the motel,” Said Lee, sighing, “we stopped the train, so we could… end his suffering, Kenny and Katjaa took Duck into the woods, and… Katjaa killed herself.”

“Lee had to stop Duck from…” Kenny cut himself off.

“We then got the train moving again,” Said Lee, “and we continued on to Atlanta, picking up a couple on the way, Omid and Christa.”

“Yeah, it was on the way down that we found out some creep had been talking to Clem on her radio.” Supplied Kenny, making Lilly frown.

“I thought that was one of you two,” Said Lilly, looking at them, “or Duck putting on some funny voice.”

Lee sighed, before looking at Rick’s group, “After we got to Savannah, we almost got mobbed by bunch of Walkers, Ben left Clementine to die, which caused Chuck to be killed. We found a house and hid from the Walkers in it, before Kenny and I went to look for a boat, and Clementine snuck out after us.”

“Fucking waste of time.” Muttered Kenny, scowling.

“We met a survivor, Molly, she told us that a community in Savannah had stripped everything from everywhere, then we got mobbed by Walkers, again.” Said Lee, “I got separated from them, slipped into the sewers and found some other survivors hiding in a morgue.”

“That’s ironic.” Chipped T-Dog, leaning back.

“Well, one thing led to another, and we decided to sneak into the community and get some stuff for a boat we found in the shed of the house we were hiding in,” Lee continued, feeling tired, “we got there and found the place had fallen and was full of Walkers.”

“Made getting the stuff easier.” Said Kenny, glancing at Lee.

“Yeah, then Walkers noticed us, and started to box us in,” Continued Lee, “which was when Ben decided to tell us the truth.”

“That’s poor timing.” Said Rick, frowning.

“It was.” Agreed Clementine, deciding to stop holding her breath, before she hiccupped.

“We got out of there,” Said Lee, darkly, “barely.”

“I fixed the boat up, then that guy Clem had been talking to took her, and Lee got bit.” Said Kenny, deciding to take over, “We lost Ben, and got separated from the rest of our group, getting Clem back. We then made our way back north and, well, here we are.”

“That’s… quite the tale.” Said Hershel, after a moment, before looking at Rick, “I don’t think they’ll be much trouble, and we could do with a few good hands.”

“They’d also be more mouths to feed.” Interjected Daryl, crossing his arms, “And we don’t know if any of that’s true.”

“It’s weird that you guys killed her Dad, and she’d still with you.” Agreed Maggie, looking at them, “You said that she was left behind after she killed someone.”

“Carley,” Supplied Lee, “her name was Carley, and it is a bit weird, but she was in the RV when we got back to it, none of us had any real weapons, so we decided to make a truce and keep moving.”

Maggie nodded slowly, before she looked at the others, “I believe them.”

“Sorry,” Lilly looked around them, “what’s going on?”

“Well, we were going to wait until morning before offering, but,” Rick glanced around, before looking at Lee, “we’re willing to let y’all come with us, wherever it is we’re going.”

“Really?” Asked Lee, looking around them, “Seriously?”

“You seem capable,” Said Rick, before nodding at Lee’s arm, “and you told us something that might save one of our lives down the road.”

Lee glanced at Kenny, then at Lilly, before his eyes settled on Clementine.

“We’d be happy to stay with you,” Said Lee, looking at Rick, “and it might take me a while, given my arm, but we’ll be working hard to help you with whatever you ask.”

Rick gave a half-smile, before he looked around, “It’s getting dark, we should be getting some sleep, we’re going to have a long journey tomorrow.”

There were some agreeing mutters, before the group walked back to the vehicles, with Lee leading Clementine, Kenny, and Lilly back to the truck. If they were going to stay with Rick’s group, they had to get some sleep so they could keep moving with them in the morning. Lee hoped that all their troubles were now behind them.

“Alive?” Asked Lori, as Rick took off after the child.

“Shit,” Muttered Glenn, before sighing, “c’mon, before either of them gets killed.”

The group watched Daryl, T-Dog, and Glenn ran after Rick, who’d followed the child to an abandoned car.

Rick ducked when the child, a little girl, evidently not having any bullets, threw her gun at him, swiftly followed by a rock, he heard Daryl and some of the others join him, with Daryl going around the side of the car, making the girl squeak, and scramble under the car.

“We ain’t gonna hurt you.” Said Rick, dropping to the ground and looking at the girl, who tried to throw another rock at him.

“Hey,” Glenn crouched down and looked at the girl, before freezing, “Clementine?”

“You know her?” Asked Rick, looking at Glenn.

“She was in that drugstore I got stuck in when the world ended,” Said Glenn, “you know, that one with that old man with a heart condition.”

“Huh?” T-Dog looked at Glenn, “When’d you mention that?”

“Just before we found Hershel’s farm.” Answered Glenn, frowning at T-Dog.

“You mean when Carl got shot.” Said Rick, just as the girl, having run out of rocks, threw one of her shoes at him.

“Maybe—” Glenn was cut off by Daryl reaching under the car and dragging the girl out by her ankles and holding her upside down, “we could do that.”

The group stared at the child, who looked close to tears.

“So…” T-Dog glanced around, “how’re we gonna handle this?”

T

Kenny stumbled out of the crowd of Walkers, it took him a moment to realise that he was still alive, before he came to a stop by a tree. Breathing heavily, Kenny looked around, he had been heading for the train, only to find himself in the middle of a field that was close to a group camped up on the hill.

Checking his gun, Kenny sighed when he saw it was empty.

So much for planning to put himself out of his misery.

Sighing, Kenny looked back at Savannah, hoping to either see Omid and Christa, or Lee and Clementine, or both parties, for that matter. Sighing, Kenny looked at the camp, maybe they had some food to spare.

Or a bullet.

Whichever one they were willing to give him.

T

It took them a while to get Clementine to calm down, but the girl seemed to latch onto Glenn. They also found out thar Hershel had met Clementine before, although they apparently parted on less-than-ideal terms.

“I last saw her when Shawn died,” Said Hershel, as Maggie and Beth frowned, “he was reinforcing our fence, and a guy’s son, I forget his name, he was on a tractor. I don’t know what happened, since I was talking to the guy who came in with her at the time, but I saw them pulling the boy to safety, while leaving my son to die.”

“I can’t say I’d do any different.” Said Daryl, gruffly.

“Me neither.” Agreed Rick, glancing at Carl, before looking at Clementine, “What happened to the group you were with?”

“T-they died.” Stuttered Clementine, “I’m all that’s left.”

Rick frowned, before he looked towards Savannah, and frowned, “Think that’s another person or a Walker?”

The group looked to where Rick was looking, spotting someone, or something, walking up the hill towards them.

“Son of a bitch.” Muttered Glenn, his eyes wide.

“What?” Asked Rick, looking at Glenn.

“Hey, Clem,” the girl looked up at Glenn, “look who it is.”

Clementine peeked around Daryl, before she froze, and bolted towards the person.

Kenny let out a grunt as something small barrelled into him. For a moment, he thought it was a Walker, only to catch sight of the baseball cap the culprit was wearing, “Clementine?”

“The hell?” Rick looked at Glenn.

“He was with her when we first met.” Said Glenn, getting a nod from Hershel.

“They met at my farm.” Said Hershel, looking at Rick, “The boy that was saved instead of my son, was his son.”

Rick frowned, “Where’s he now?”

“He got bit, a few days ago.” Said the man

“So, I guess you’re part of her old group.” Said Daryl, crossing his arms.

“Yeah,” Answered the man, “name’s Kenny.”

“Your wife get bit too?” Asked Hershel, quietly.

“No, Kat…” Kenny swallowed, “She killed herself.”

The group fell silent, before Kenny sighed, “Me and Clem’ll get outta your hair.”

“Stay.”

Everyone looked at Rick, “I ain’t gonna send anyone out to die, not if I can help.”

There was a tense silence, before Hershel sigh, “Come on, we should have some food to spare.”

“T-thank you.” Stuttered Kenny, before stumbling after Hershel.

T

They’d camped in the countryside for a few more days, before Rick decided that they should keep moving, since none of them wanted to freeze to death. They were packing the camp up, with Clementine being lumped in with Carl and left out of the packing process, when Maggie grabbed her rifle and aimed it at someone approaching them.

“Get back!” Yelled Maggie, getting everyone’s attention.

“Please,” Clementine recognised the man’s voice, “we’re looking for a little girl.”

“Why the hell’d we believe that?” Demanded Maggie, as the rest of the group gathered around them.

“Please,” A woman’s voice, “her name’s Clementine, she’s about this high, and she’s wearing a baseball cap.”

“Got the letter ‘D’ on it.” Added the woman, just as Kenny walked over, “Kenny?”

“You know these guys?” Asked Rick, looking at Kenny.

“Yeah, that couple we met recently, that Clem told you about, Omid and Christa?” Answered Kenny, “That’s them.”

There was a moment of tension, before Maggie, and with some of the others following her, lowered her gun.

“Kenny said you were pregnant.” Said Maggie, after a moment.

“I-I am.” Nodded Christa, as Clementine came into view, “Clementine.”

Before anyone could react, Christa and Omid rushed towards the girl, checking her over for any injuries.

Deciding to give the small group some space, Rick ordered everyone to go back to packing up, before he walked over to Hershel, murmuring about his plan to offer the small group to come with them.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Asked Hershel, quietly, “Clementine and Kenny are one thing, but a man and a pregnant woman? Are we going to have enough food to last us?”

“I don’t know.” Admitted Rick, sighing, “But, I ain’t gonna send a pregnant woman away to die, not with Lori being pregnant too, I’m trying to give them the same treatment I’d hope Lori would get.”

“Well,” Sighed Hershel, “it’s your call, Rick.”

Sighing, Rick looked at the group of four, before walking over to extend his offer to them.

T

“If we’re lucky, we might find some food in there.” Clementine looked at Daryl, it’d been three months since they’d joined Rick’s group and they’d been travelling through the winter with the hope that they wouldn’t freeze to death if they were moving.

Presently, they were stopped in Statesboro in the hope they’d find some supplies, mainly food, in the abandoned city. They were resting outside a house that was a couple streets away from a restaurant.

“In the restaurant?” Asked Clementine, frowning, “Isn’t that the first place anyone would look for food?”

“She’s got a point.” Said Maggie, as Kenny, who’d grown a beard, and Glenn left them to check the building out.

“Maybe there’ll be food in one of the houses.” Said Hershel, as Omid limped over.

“Hopefully,” Nodded Omid, “there’s a clothing store over there,” he pointed towards the end of the street, “and we found a ton of baby stuff in that house over there,” he pointed at a house, “but, other than that, we haven’t found much.”

“Well, if that house is open,” Said Maggie, looking towards Rick, “we could at least spend the night in there.”

“And it’s already been cleared of Walkers.” Said Beth, as Daryl frowned.

“It couldn’t hurt, not sleeping outside for once.” Said Lori, getting a nod from Rick.

“Alright, Daryl, can you tell the other two that we’re gonna be in the house?” Asked Rick, getting a nod from the other man, “Alright, let’s have a look inside.”

A few hours later, Daryl returned with Glenn and Kenny, who’d found some food, as well as a woman, who claimed to be a nurse, called Sarita.

T

Clementine frowned as she looked at the place Glenn had seen, it’d been almost eight months since Clementine, and her group, met Rick and his group.

“It’s a prison.” Said Clementine, looking up at Daryl.

“Yeah,” Nodded Daryl, looking at Rick, “probably the best place to be in the apocalypse.”

“Think it’s the same one Lee was going to?” Asked Omid, getting a slap from Christa.

“Maybe.” Shrugged Kenny, as Sarita came up behind him, “God, where’d we be now?”

“Not here, for a start.” Said Daryl, gruffly, “C’mon, we ain’t gonna get in if we just stand here and stare at it.”

Clementine looked at the others, before they followed after Daryl. Looking around her as she walked, Clementine felt all the trouble she’d experienced since the start of the apocalypse was finally over.

Confrontation - What if Lee’s Ex-Wife was at the Pharmacy? Prompt Issued by @terranovathemust on Tumblr

Split Second Decision - What if Clementine shot Nick? Prompt Submitted by Guest on FF .net

Stay - What if Clementine wasn’t kicked out of the New Frontier? Prompt Submitted by Darkwubs and Worker72 on AO3

Mafia - What if Lee was a Mobster instead of a Murderer? Prompt Submitted by BetterThanBrainiac on AO3

Shock - What if Clementine’s parents were at Ericson’s? Inspired by TheCrusaderKing/@thecrusadercomrade on AO3 TW: Mentions of past rape/non-con

Teachers - What if Lee managed to save David Parker from the bear trap? Prompt Submitted by CRed1988 on FF .net & Great1 on AO3

Dreadful Sorry - What if Clementine was Bit instead of Lee? - TW: Death of a child - Prompt Submitted by Guest on FFN A/N: Another Short one

Regression - What if AJ was taken with Violet? - TW: This story contains Implied/Reference past Rape/Non-Con and separate Mild torture and mental regression of a young child

Returning Home - What if Clementine returned to Richmond after finding AJ? Prompt Requested by @coralroadpierascal on Tumblr TW: Implied/Referenced Physical and Psychological Abuse

Broken Trust - What if Marlon traded Louis and Violet instead of the twins? TW: Mentions of implied/referenced torture and rape/non-con - Prompt Submitted by SophisticatedSo on AO3

Storm - What if Clementine found the school immediately after finding AJ?

Shawn - What if Shawn survived? Prompt Submitted by Spectacular Webhead 11 on FFN

Outpost - What if the Saviors took over Howe’s? Prompt Submitted by Unjr on AO3

Helen - What if Clementine hadn't killed AJ's nanny at the ranch? Prompt Submitted by SophisticatedSo on AO3

Between Two Choices - What if the Duck-pocalypse continued? Prompt Submitted by Mr_Giancarlo on AO3

My Darling - What if Clementine was a baby at the outbreak? Prompt Submitted by Legoryan4579 on AO3 A/N: The submitter has added the stipulation that Luke raise Clementine after finding her with Christa

Gun - What if Sarah killed Carver in the Cabin? Prompt Submitted by SaltyStar_28 on AO3

Delay - What if the Cabin group came back later? Prompt Submitted by SaltyStar_28 on AO3

Unbitten - What if Sarita wasn’t bitten? Prompt Submitted by Great1 on AO3

Mom and Dad - What if Gabe went with Clementine to get AJ? Prompt Submitted by DisneyWorks on Wattpad

Irene - What if Irene joined the Motel Group? Prompt Submitted by Great1 & SerWilfredDeath on AO3

No Turning Back - What if Shane and Andrea were part of the Motel group? Prompt Submitted by Mr_Giancarlo on AO3

For Whom the Bell Tolls - What if Arvo killed Clementine? Prompt Submitted by SerWilfredDeath on AO3 T/W: Death of a child A/N: Another short one

Wellington - What if Wellington hadn’t fallen? Prompt Submitted by SerWilfredDeath on AO3

Leland - What if Leland stayed? Prompt Submitted by SerWilfredDeath on AO3

Thief - What if Clementine was caught stealing from the Cabin? Prompt Submitted by Deez_Nuts4life on AO3

In Plain Sight - What if Sarah was an antagonist? Prompt Submitted by JoshuaForsythe3 on AO3

Ralph - What if Ralph was in the yard? Prompt Submitted by SerWilfredDeath on AO3

Chet - What if Chet joined the Motel Group? Prompt Submitted by SerWilfredDeath on AO3

Hope - What if Clementine had a baby? TW: Implied/Referenced Sexual Coercion and Child Abuse

West Georgia - What if Lee made it to the prison? Prompt Submitted by Guest on FFN

Young Childless Mother - What if Clementine joined the Saviors after leaving the New Frontier? Prompt Submitted Knightoftristans on AO3

Drunk - What if Clementine got drunk with Nick? Prompt Issued by @felifangs on Tumblr

Garcias - What if the Garcias were part of the Motel group? Prompt Submitted by DisneyWorks on Wattpad

Omid Jr - What if Omid & Christa had a son? Prompt Submitted by Mjlin on AO3

Little Wolf - What if Clementine found the Saviors instead of the Cabin group? Prompt Submitted by Unjr on AO3

Family - What if Randy’s family weren’t thieves? Prompt Submitted by SerWilfredDeath on AO3

Running - What if The Cabin Group were running from the Saviors? Prompt Submitted by Great1 on AO3

Delta - What if Clementine joined the Delta before Season 4? Prompt Submitted by Anonymous on Tumblr

Young at Heart - What if Lee found Sarah instead of Clementine?

Escape - What if Zachary and Jonas left with Michonne? Prompt Submitted by SerWilfredDeath on AO3

Guys - What if Vince & Wyatt replaced Ben? Prompt Submitted by SerWilfredDeath on AO3

Price - What if Clementine betrayed Javi instead of Eleanor? Prompt Submitted Soundwavefan113 on AO3

Group - What if a different group was in the cabin? Prompt Submitted by JoshuaForsythe3 on AO3

Jesus - What if Javi and Jesus were a couple? Prompt Submitted by The_Flash_Is_Cool on AO3

Luke - What if Luke didn’t die? Prompt Submitted by Mistalover420 on AO3

Prison - What if the Cabin group found the Prison? Prompt Submitted by KomataniDragneel on AO3 - A/N: Had to get real creative, so essentially still in the first year of the outbreak, Clem’s older, she got separated from Omid and Christa after month with them, Carver went power mad a lot earlier, Rebecca had AJ a lot earlier, and Clementine reunited with Kenny after about a week after she met the Cabin group.

Travelling - What if Rick’s group found Clementine? Prompt Submitted by Kidswow1 on AO3

Atlanta - What if Lee and Clementine joined Rick’s group? Prompt Submitted by Guest on FFN

P

“Finally got Judith to sleep.” Said Hershel, upon finding Carl and Beth loading some magazines on a staircase in C-Block.

“How’re we with formula?” Asked Carl, looking up from his work.

“We have enough to last us another month.” Answered Hershel, limping over to the pair.

Carl sighed, before giving a small nod, “I’ll take Carol for some more at the end of the week.”

“Your Dad and the other will be back by then.” Said Beth, leaning forwards and look at Carl.

“We don’t know that.” Responded Carl, looking at Beth, before turning to look at Hershel, “Right now, Judith is the only family I got.”

Hershel sighed, before giving Carl a small, sad nod. Then the sound of someone screaming drew their attention, with Beth asking, “What was that?”

“That was from inside.” Said Hershel, looking towards the sound.

“Was that Carol?” Asked Carl, quickly.

“She’s out keeping watch in the guard tower with Axel.” Said Hershel, looking at Carl.

“What if they came back in for something?” Asked Beth, worriedly, “What if they’re in trouble?”

“Let’s check the tower, see if they’re there.” Reasoned Hershel, as Beth looked at Carl.

“How could anyone else get in?” Asked Beth, looking between the boy and her father.

“The tombs are filled with Walkers,” Reminded Hershel, looking at Beth, “that wandered in from outside, someone else could have done the same thing.”

Upon hearing that, Carl grabbed the gun his father had left him, “I’m going.”

Hershel responded by raising one of his crutches and blocking Carl’s path, “I can’t let you go down there.”

“My father would go.” Shrugged Carl, getting a sigh and a nod from Hershel.

After Carl left for the tombs, Beth gave her father a flat look and sighed.

P

Creeping through the darkness with his gun and a torch, Carl listened for more screams, following the noises through the dark, part of him childishly wondered if they were ghosts. Then again, Ghosts didn’t have guns, or teeth. Eventually, Carl reached a door for a boiler room that was slightly ajar, with the screams coming from inside it. He was so focussed on the door, that he almost didn’t notice a Walker stumbling towards him. Quickly dispatching it, Carl rushed into the room, where he found a group of nine people fighting Walkers, with a girl around his age shooting the lumbering corpses in the head. For some reason, she was fat in the torso, but skinny in that arms and legs, then a baby started wailing, which was the sound they’d heard. It took Carl a moment, but he spotted the baby bundled under the girl’s shirt.

The girl aimed at a Walker, only for her gun to click. Scowling at the weapon, the girl hurled it at a Walker’s head, which did nothing. Carl took the opportunity to shoot the Walker in the head, announcing his presence to the survivors.

“Come on!” Yelled Carl, before leading them through the tombs and into C-block, where Hershel and Beth were waiting for him.

“Oh.” Said the girl with the baby stuffed down the front of her shirt, who had started crying again, “AJ, what’s… Oh.”

Judging from the stain forming on the girl’s shirt, Carl assumed the baby, AJ, had pooped on her.

P

A few hours later, Carl found himself watching the surviving members of the group he saved, the guy that had his neck torn open had been left in the tombs, while a sickly-looking woman was in and out of consciousness, and the fat man with glasses was cradling his arm.

“We ain’t gonna attack you, y’know.” Said guy who’d been waving a machete around.

“Not so fun when you’re on the other side of the did, is it?” Sassed the girl, getting a confused look from a couple.

The guy had the decency to look admonished, before Carl noticed that one of the men was walking around them, “What’s he doing?”

“Carlos is a doctor.” Said the machete guy, looking at Carl, “Bet you ain’t seen many of them.”

“The last one I met tried to blow us up.” Said Carl, getting a surprised look from the girl.

“What’s your name?” Asked the girl, who was balancing the baby, AJ, on her arm.

“Carl.” Answered Carl, getting a nod from the girl.

“I’m Clementine,” Said the girl, “he’s Luke,” she pointed at the guy who had the machete, “He’s Nick,” A guy in a trucker’s hat, who’d complained when his gun was taken away, “they’re Kenny and Sarita,” the man with a thick beard and an Indian woman, “Carlos,” she pointed at the man walking around, “she’s Sarah,” the girl with red glasses, “and they’re Alvin and Rebecca,” the sickly woman and the big man cradling his arm, “and this is their son, AJ.”

“Oh shit.” Muttered Carlos, making everyone look at them, before he said louder, “Alvin’s been bitten.”

“What?” Asked Nick, with Luke turning around and uncrossing his arms, “When?”

“Where?” Asked Kenny, frowning.

“Arm,” Answered Carlos, “but—”

Rebecca let out a growl, as her Walker got up and stumbled towards Nick, faster than anyone expected, Alvin had intercepted the Walker, who promptly tore his throat out.

There were two gunshots, and both Alvin and Rebecca fell to the floor. Turning around, the group stared at Carl, who had his gun out and aimed at where the couple’s heads had been. After a moment of silence, AJ started crying.

P

Hershel and his daughter came back with two more people, telling them that he’d met Kenny and Clementine at the start of the apocalypse, in addition to Carl telling them that Carlos was a doctor, Sarita told them that she’d been a nurse in Atlanta. After brief interrogations, Hershel had left some medical supplies with them, before the prison group left them alone.

Once there were alone, Luke looked at them, “There ain’t many of them.”

“So?” Asked Nick, as Carlos checked the fresh stitches on Clementine’s arm, the girl had sliced part of her arm open, while Sarita checked AJ over.

“Just thinking, y’know, in case we gotta take this place over.” Shrugged Luke, making everyone look at him.

“Are you serious?” Asked Nick, frowning, “You think an old man with one leg, two kids, and a middle-aged couple cleared this who place by themselves?”

Luke looked at Nick, “They locked us in a cage, you really think there’s more?”

“Carl said that his dad and some of the others were away.” Said Clementine, as AJ gurgled at her, “What?”

“Yeah, but they’re outside.” Said Luke, looking at them, “If we’re gonna fight off Carver—”

“We haven’t seen Carver for nearly seven months.” Said Clementine, looking at Luke, with the baby letting out a happy squeal.

“And—” Luke was cut off by Carl opening the door with four people, three men and a woman, rushing in, one of the me, a heavily built man in a beanie and a tank top, was carrying another woman over his shoulder.

“Oh, God! Donna?” Cried one of the men, as the guy in the tank top put the woman on the floor, “Is she dead?”

The group looked at the woman, who was blankly staring at the ceiling. Walking around them, Carl looked at her, before he sighed, pulled out his gun and said, “I'll take care of it.”

The guy in the tank top looked at him, alarmed, “Whoa! Whoa, kid. Wait a minute.”

“She doesn't have that long.” Protested Carl, as Carlos made his way over to them.

“Who the hell are you?” Asked the surviving woman, “How did you get in here? Who are you with?”

The woman looked around the room, as if she was only just noticing the others.

“We got here a few hours ago.” Said Carlos, as Kenny joined him, “We figured that this was just a quarantine area.”

“Look,” Carl’s voice got their attention, “we can help you.” He cocked his gun, “First things first.”

“No,” the man in the tank top stopped him, just as Carl aimed at the corpse’s head, “we take care of our own.”

“No, Tyreese!” Pleaded the man, after the man in the tank top, Tyreese, took a hammer from one of the bags they had.

“I gotta do it.” Said Tyreese, apologetically, “Look, just take Ben and lean against the wall. It'll be quick.”

The man looked distraught, before he pulled a bandana out and, after giving the corpse a kiss on the forehead, covered it’s face, he then went over to the remaining guy, Clementine assumed he was Ben, wrapping his arms around him, muttering, “It's okay, It's okay.”

The sound of a door closing and being locked made them look towards Carl, who was next to Beth, as he finished turning the key to lock them inside.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Demanded the surviving woman, rushing to the door.

“Kid, did you just lock us in here?” Asked Tyreese, looking shocked

“Open the door.” Demanded the woman closest to Carl.

“This room is secure,” Said Carl, clearly trying to keep his voice neutral, “you’ll be safe, you have food and water.”

“Open this door.” Ordered the woman, clearly reaching the end of her rope.

“I can’t.” Refused Carl, shaking his head.

“Oh, come on,” pleaded the woman, “man, we’re not animals, don’t do this.”

Carl turned, starting to walk away, with the woman spotting Hershel, making the woman yell, “Hey, you can’t just leave us in here, open this door!” She grabbed the door and shook it, “Open it, now!”

The shouting and the rattling of the door scared AJ, who hiccupped, before breaking out in wails, making Tyreese sigh and walk over to the woman, “Sasha!”

The woman, Sasha, stopped and looked at the man, who continued to talk, albeit in a softer tone, “Back away from the door, and let the man go.”

Sasha looked at him, with Carl standing next Beth, watching them. Tyreese gently led her away from the door.

“Look around you,” Continued Tyreese, “this is the best we’ve had it in weeks. His house.”

Tyreese looked towards the body, before glancing at Sasha, “We got other things to do.” He then looked at Carl, “We don’t want any trouble.”

With that, Tyreese walked back over to the body to put it down.

“Just because it’s ‘his house’, doesn’t mean we need to be locked up.” Said Luke, getting the attention of the group, “Name’s Luke.”

“Allen,” Said the man with the boy, looking at them, “this is my son, Ben, and she—” His voice cracked, “she was my wife, Donna.”

“Carlos,” Said Carlos, after a moment, before gesturing to Sarah, “Sarah, my daughter.”

“That’s Clem,” Said Nick, pointing at Clementine, “the baby’s name is AJ, and those two are Kenny and Sarita.”

“Never thought we’d see another baby.” Murmured Sasha, before looking around, “Where’s their mother?”

“Clem and AJ aren’t related.” Said Luke, before looking at the two corpses, “And AJ’s parents are dead.”

“Oh…” Sasha glanced at the bodies and bowed her head. The uneasy silence was broken when AJ looked at them and blew a raspberry, before laughing when Clementine adjusted him.

P

Clementine looked around, they were being given food, and Carlos and Sarita were helping with the injured, while Hershel was looking at the stitches Carlos had given Allen, “You can take those stitches out yourself in a week or so.”

“Thank you.” Muttered Allen, as he lowered his foot off of Hershel’s lap.

“Pretty nice having medical training.” Said Tyreese, looking from Hershel to Sarita and Carlos, “Guess you got real lucky when all this went down.”

“I was with my daughter for a few weeks at the start then we got tricked into joining a cult,” Said Carlos, looking at them, “We met Luke, and some others, there.”

“I met Kenny a few weeks before I met the rest of our group.” Said Sarita, as she finished checking a healing wound on Kenny’s arm, “Clementine’s known him longer than the rest of us.”

“Yeah, you were with someone else…” Hershel looked at them, “Where’s he?”

“Dead.” Said Kenny, after a moment, “He got bit, we cut his arm off, thinking it’d save him.”

“It didn’t.” Said Clementine, as AJ gave Clementine a whine, “He might’ve survived if we had a doctor.”

“Maybe,” Said Hershel, “but, it'll only get you so far.”

“You were bit?” Asked Tyreese, making Clementine look at Hershel.

Hershel nodded, just before Beth walked in with Judith, getting a squeal and claps from AJ, who’d wriggled out of his swaddling and started pulling on Clementine’s hat.

“How old is that baby?” Asked Sasha, getting up and slowly following after Beth.

“Barely a week.” Answered Hershel, before glanced at AJ, “AJ’s… six… seven months?”

“AJ was born in early December,” Said Sarah, looking up from the food Axel had given her, “and it’s now June, so he’s six months and two weeks.”

“To be honest, we never thought we'd see another baby, let alone two.” Said Sasha, looking at Judith, “Beautiful.”

“Thanks.” Said Beth, glancing at Sasha, who looked Beth over and frowned.

“How are you feeling?” Asked Sasha, making Beth look at her, confused.

After a moment, Beth’s face dropped as realised what Sasha meant, “She's not mine.”

“Where's the mother?” Asked Sasha, looking at Hershel.

At that Hershel and Carl bowed their heads, the lack of a response giving everyone a very clear answer.

“I'm sorry.” Apologised Sasha, looking around them.

“Man,” Sighed Tyreese, his voice heavy, “you people have been through the mill.”

“Haven't we all?” Asked Hershel, glancing at Kenny and Clementine, before he got up and started limping towards the door.

“It's only getting worse out there.” Said Tyreese, turning so that he was facing Hershel as he moved, “Dead are everywhere. And it's only making the living less like the living.”

“You're the only decent folks we've come across.” Added Sasha, when Hershel came to a stop next to the table.

“You've been out there all this time?” Asked Hershel, looking at them.

“Our neighbour Jerry, he was one of those survivalist nuts.” Said Tyreese, after a moment, “Everybody on the block thought he was crazy, always preparing for the end of the world.”

“Who knew?” Asked Hershel, sighing.

“Jerry knew.” Responded Tyreese, immediately, “He had a bunker under his shed in the backyard, Sasha and I stayed there until we ran out of supplies. Allen and Ben were the first two people we ran into when we finally crawled up out of that hole around Jacksonville. Used to be a bunch of us. 25 at one point.”

“Our camp was overrun six, seven weeks ago.” Said Sasha, quietly.

“And—” Continued Tyreese, before his voice stuttered, “and Donna, she, uh...”

The group glanced at Donna’s body, which had been place with Alvin and Rebecca’s.

“We'll see that she has a proper burial.” Said Hershel, before looking at Kenny, “Your people too.”

“I appreciate you taking care of us.” Said Tyreese, giving Hershel a thankful nod, “For a while, we didn't know who we were dealing with.”

“Neither did we.” Confessed Hershel, sighing, “We've had our problems with people.”

“We’ve had nothing but trouble.” Said Clementine, “Me and Kenny got trapped by cannibals with our first group, then there were bandits, some creep watching us, and a bunch of old people who stole a boat Kenny had fixed up… as well as someone in our group killing another…”

“And that ain’t even covering all the other deaths.” Sighed Kenny, glancing at Clementine, “Keep a good grip on him, Clem.”

“I am.” Said Clementine, crossly, before AJ tried to stick his hand up her nose, “AJ!”

“I must be the first brother in history to break into prison.” Joked Tyreese, after watching the exchange between the preteen and baby.

“Makes me the first white boy that didn't want to break out.” Said Axel, handing Tyreese a bowl of food, before leaving with Beth and Judith.

Watching them, Hershel sighed, “Tyreese, like I said, we have a much larger group.” He glanced at Kenny, “A close-knit group, I wouldn't get too comfortable here.”

“We wouldn't be a problem.” Said Tyreese, as Hershel started to leave.

“It's not up to me.” Sighed Hershel, before he continued out of the door.

“Then who?” Asked Tyreese, as Hershel, and the others, left, “Please, you can see what kind of people we are.”

They heard Carl lock the door, before he followed after Hershel, with Luke scoffing, “Yeah, and we can see what kind of people they are.”

Luke ignored the glares he got from his own group, instead focusing on Allen and Ben, noticing that they looked like they were agreeing with him.

P

A few hours later, Clementine was carrying AJ, while Tyreese and Allen carried Donna, Luke and Nick carried Alvin, and Kenny carried Rebecca.

“Where'd they say we could bury them?” Asked Tyreese, as AJ blew spit bubbles and patted Clementine’s face.

“Back of the field,” Grunted Sasha, as she adjusted her grip on Rebecca, “near the other graves.”

Tyreese grunted, before he started to lose his grip on Donna’s legs, “Hey, wait a minute.”

Allen continued to walk away, making Tyreese raise his voice, “Wait a minute, wait a minute, losing my grip here.”

“Come on,” Said Kenny, settling Rebecca’s body on the ground, “put ‘em down. Let’s rest for a sec.”

The group stopped and set the corpses on the ground, and Allen walked away from Donna, before he spotted Carol and Carl standing guard by the main gate.

“Golden opportunity.” Said Allen, after watching the pair for a moment.

“For what?” Asked Sasha, as everyone looked at Allen.

“Little kid and a woman.” Said Allen, pointing towards the pair.

“Ask them for a hand,” Said Ben, voicing what his father was thinking, “get a hold of those weapons.”

“What?” Asked Tyreese, looking at them.

“We do it quick,” Said Allen, looking for support, “they'll never know what hit them.”

“No.” Said Tyreese, getting in front of them, “Whoa, whoa.”

“We're out here to bury our dead.” Protested Sasha, gesturing to the three corpses.

“And we will,” said Allen, looking at her, “after.”

“Shut up.” Said Clementine and Sasha, at the same time.

“Look at this place.” Said Ben, getting a nod from Luke, “It's secure.”

“These are good people.” Said Tyreese, getting a scowl from Luke and an eyeroll from Allen.

“Yeah, like good people lock visitors up in a cage.” Scoffed Luke, crossing his arms.

“This will be easy,” Said Allen, nodding, “a little kid, a woman, a girl and a one-legged old man.”

“Don't forget about the convict.” Added Ben, looking like he had a foul taste in his mouth.

“You gonna smash the baby's head with a rock?” Asked Kenny, glaring at Allen.

“What is your problem?” Demanded Luke, levelling a glare at Kenny.

“How about a little common decency?” Asked Tyreese, “This isn't what we do.

“You're living in the past, Ty,” Said Allen, before looking at Sasha, “So are you. This is survival of the fittest, plain and simple.”

“Yeah,” Agreed Luke, “In here we live, out there we die.”

“And I am not waiting around for the rest of their group to roll in here and throw us out on our asses.” Finished Allen, getting a nod from Ben.

“Not a chance.” Said Ben, getting scowls from the others.

“How do you know that's gonna happen?” Demanded Tyreese, glaring at the three.

“Got some tools for you.”

Axel’s voice made them look toward the building, where Beth and Axel were walking from with a pair of shovels. Glancing at the others, Tyreese cut in front of Allen, while Kenny got in front of Luke.

“It's much appreciated.” Thanked Tyreese, taking one of the shovels.

“Yeah, we'll handle it from here.” Said Kenny, taking the other.

“You don't need no help with the bodies?” Asked Axel, looking at the three corpses.

“No,” Refused Tyreese, “we'll manage.”

“Let us know if you need anything else.” Said Beth, after giving them a funny look.

“Thank you.” Said Clementine, with AJ babbling at them as they left.

Once Beth and Axel were gone, they looked at Luke, Allen, and Ben, before grabbing the corpses and continuing on their way to the other graves.

P

A few hours after they buried their dead, they were all sitting in the common area, with Luke gravitating towards the two guys who wanted to take over the prison. Clementine didn’t understand it, it was like Luke was a different person, he would butt heads with Kenny, argue with Carlos, he even gave Nick the silent treatment when he suggested that they wait it out, he was glaring at everyone except his ‘co-conspirators’.

They were jerked out of their silence by the door opening, and the whole group of the prison survivors coming in, with Clementine spotting someone she recognised.

“Glenn?” The girl’s voice got Glenn’s attention, with him looking at her and Kenny.

“Clementine?”

“You know these guys?” Asked the leader of the group.

“Yeah, I met her and Kenny in Macon, back at the start.” Said Glenn, with a woman glaring at them.

“Me, Dad, and Beth met them too.” Said the woman, “They killed my brother.”

“Maggie.” Scolded Hershel, with no real heat.

“I'm Tyreese.” Introduced Tyreese, getting the leader’s attention.

“Sasha, Allen, Ben.” Introduce Hershel, pointing to each one, before he gesture of Clementine’s group, “The group with Kenny, and Clementine, are Nick, Luke, Carlos, Sarita, Sarah, and the baby’s name is AJ.”

AJ responded by blowing a raspberry and letting out a squeal, before babbling at Clementine.

“How'd you get in?” Asked the leader, looking at them.

“Fire damage to the administrative part of the prison.” Answered Tyreese, honestly, “Wall's down.”

“We came in that way too.” Said Clementine, before AJ started chewing her ear, “AJ.”

“That side's completely overrun with Walkers.” Said the leader, frowning at them, “How'd you get this far?”

“We didn't.” Said Tyreese, “We lost our friend Donna, and they lost the boy’s parents.”

AJ, deciding her was tired of Clementine’s ear, cooed and moved to the girl’s cheek.

“They were lost in the gyms.” Said Carl, making the leader’s eyes widen.

“You brought them here?” Snapped the leader, his head snapping to look at Carl.

“He had no choice.” Defended Hershel, making the leader calm down.

“I'm sorry about your friend.” Apologised the leader, bowing his head, “We know what that's like.”

“Hershel said you could use some extra hands,” Said Kenny, after a moment, “We're no stranger to hard work.”

“We'll go out and get our own food, stay out of your hair.” Added Tyreese, looking around them, “You got a problem with another group, we'll help with that, too. Anything to contribute.”

“No.” Said the leader, after a moment.

“Please. It's like ‘10 Little Indians’ out there.” Pleaded Sasha, looking at the leader, “It's just us now.”

“We have a baby.” Said Clementine, as AJ grabbed at her face.

“No.” Refused the leader, seemingly ignoring the woman.

“Let's talk about this.” Said Hershel, clearly surprised at the man’s behaviour, “We can't just keep—"

“We've been through this.” Interrupted the leader, “With Tomas, Andrew. Look what happened.”

“Axel and Oscar weren't like them.” Said Carol, looking disturbed.

“And where's Oscar now?” Yelled the leader, before he looked at them, “I can't be responsible.”

“Then why are you in charge?” Asked Clementine, glaring at the leader.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be.” Said Luke, giving the leader a dark look.

“You turn us out,” Said Tyreese, gently, “you are responsible.”

“Rick.” Hershel called the leader over, with the man walking over to him, and gently saying, “You've done so much for us. I appreciate that. We all do. We owe you our lives. We've done everything you asked without question. And I'm telling you, you're wrong on this. You've got to start giving people a chance.”

Rick looked like he was about to agree, before his eyes fixed on an empty space in the walkway above them. He started mumbling something, before he said “Why are you here? What do you want from me?”

“Dad?” Said Carl, sounding completely lost.

“Why are you—” Rick shouted, scaring AJ, “no, I can't help you. Get out!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Said Tyreese, as Rick pulled his gun out.

“Get—” Rick waved his gun, as AJ started wailing, “get out!”

“Hey, come on.” Said Kenny, stepping forwards.

“Whoa, it's all good.” Cried Tyreese, as Kenny stepped back to avoid getting hit in the face.

“What are you doing?” Yelled Sasha, as Rick continued to freak out.

“Hey, easy, Rick.” Said Maggie, trying to step in, “There's no need to—"

“You don't belong here!” Screamed Rick, making Maggie back off to avoid the gun, “Get out! Please!”

“Relax, brother. Relax.” Soothed Tyreese, in an attempt to calm Rick down.

“Get out!” Cried Rick, “Get out!”

“We'll leave, we're going, okay?” Said Tyreese, backing away from Rick and his group, “Ain't nobody got to get shot here, we're going.”

“What are you doing here?!” Screamed Rick, as both Tyreese’s and Clementine’s groups turned away.

“Okay, we're going.” Scoffed Luke, throwing a glare at Rick, “Asshole’s just like Carver.”

“Just go!” Said Glenn, ushering them out, “Go! Go!”

“Come on,” Said Tyreese, as Luke stormed past all of them, “come on.”

Once both groups were gone, and AJ wails faded into silence, Glenn and Hershel looked at Rick as if he was a stranger.

P

In the chaos of them leaving the prison, they’d gotten separated from Luke. They hadn’t even realised that Luke wasn’t with them until they came to a stop in the forest. They waited around for a couple of days, before they decided to move on. They made their way back up North, before they stumbled across a man named Aaron, who told them he was a scout for a community call Alexandria. After a discussion, they decided to go with him. They ended up settling in Alexandria, with a couple of them even calling it home.

L

After they’d pulled Kenny off Arvo, they’d gone inside the half-built and started a fire, with Jane locating the supplies Arvo told them about. Clementine had been left with AJ, since he seemed to like her the most, so Luke had gone outside to keep an eye out for Walkers. He’d heard Clementine help Kenny with the truck he was trying to fix, before she went back inside, with Luke following after her when Kenny managed to get the truck to start.

A few hours later, Luke was woken by Clementine yelling, followed by a gunshot. He was right behind Jane when they ran outside, spotting Bonnie, Mike, and Arvo running away from the truck, with Clementine unconscious on the ground, bleeding from a bullet wound on her shoulder.

L

Clementine woke up a few hours later, the remaining five of them had piled into the truck, with Luke keeping an eye on Clementine, Kenny was in the driver’s seat, and Jane in the front passenger seat, holding AJ.

“She's awake!” Said Luke, looking at Kenny, before turning his attention to Clementine, “Hey, Clem.”

“Clem!” Kenny looked at her with the rearview mirror, “Oh, thank God!”

“You passed out from the shock.” Said Jane, twisting around to look at Clementine.

“We've been worried as hell.” Said Kenny, glancing at the road.

“What happened?” Asked Clementine, looking around them.

“That piece of shit Ruskie shot you.” Scowled Kenny, glaring at the snow.

“We had to run the truck to keep you warm.” Said Jane, as Luke helped Clementine sit up.

“How do you feel?” Asked Luke, looking Clementine over.

“It hurts.” Winced Clementine, looking at Luke.

“We couldn't find the bullet, it must've gone clean through.” Said Luke, before glancing at his leg, “It'll burn a while, but you'll be fine.”

“Those sons of bitches.” Growled Kenny, “I mean, I expected it from the Russian, but Mike? I could tell they were workin' on somethin'.”

“I didn't think they'd go that far.” Said Luke, sighing.

“Yeah, well, who would steal our food and shoot a kid?” Scowled Kenny, “We never should've thrown in with trash like that in the first place.”

“I should have done something.” Said Clementine, looking down.

“They took off on foot.” Said Luke, putting a hand on Clementine’s shoulder.

“Didn't get this puppy,” Said Kenny, his remaining eye focusing on Clementine, “thanks to you.”

“Now that Clem's awake,” Said Jane, glancing at Luke, before looking at Kenny, “we should talk about where we're going.”

“We're headed north.” Said Kenny, stubbornly.

“What, to find ‘Wellington’?” Asked Jane, sceptically.

“You sure talk a lotta shit,” Said Kenny, scowling at Jane, “but you got a better plan?”

“We head south,” Responded Jane, glaring at Kenny, “back to Howe's.”

“Carver's camp?” Spluttered Kenny, glaring at Jane, “The fuck kinda plan is that?”

“I think Bonnie said there was more formula back there,” Said Jane, looking at Luke and Clementine, before aiming the last part at Kenny, “and we actually know where it is.”

“And it was overrun by a damn herd!” Snapped Kenny, looking at Jane.

“The walkers should be gone by now.” Countered Jane, glaring at Kenny.

“It's miles in the other direction!” Snarled Kenny, glaring at Jane.

Luke sighed as Kenny and Jane devolved into another argument, with Clementine chipping in where she could. Sighing, Luke decided to tune them out, he was vaguely aware of Jane bringing up Sarita and Kenny’s dead family, and Kenny calling Jane ‘nothing’. He was brought back into the present when Kenny yelled, “Jesus!” as he swerved the truck away from another vehicle, before coming to a stop. Looking out the window, Luke froze when he saw the road was blocked by a mass of cars, with AJ starting to cry.

“You okay?” Asked Kenny, looking at Jane.

“I'm fine.” Winced Jane, as she tried to get AJ to stop crying.

“How's AJ?” Continued Kenny, glancing at the baby.

“He's fine.” Responded Jane, as AJ stopped crying.

“You sure?” Pressed Kenny, focusing on the boy.

“Yes.” Was Jane’s tense reply.

“How ‘bout you two back there,” Said Kenny, looking at them with the mirror, “you alright?”

“Yeah...” Nodded Clementine.

“As alright as I’ll ever be.” Shrugged Luke, getting a sigh from Kenny.

“Kenny, I'm—” Started Jane, before Kenny held up a hand.

“Wait, hold on.” Said Kenny, frowning at the cars.

“Go around.” Said Jane, after glancing at the vehicles.

“One of 'em might have diesel.” Said Kenny, his frown deepening.

“We shouldn't stop here.” Said Luke, noting that they couldn’t see anything through the snow.

“We're runnin' on fumes. Got no choice.” Sighed Kenny, getting out of the truck, “When I holler it's okay, drive up closer.” Looking around him, he pointed towards a rest stop sign, “Anything happens, I'll try to meet you there. Alright?”

“If you're going, go now.” Said Jane, frowning.

“Kenny...” Said Clementine, as Kenny closed the door and walked away, allowing Luke to climb into the driver’s seat.

“That fucking asshole, God, I can't do this anymore.” Groaned Jane, as AJ started gurgling, “I'm serious, I tried, but I just can't.”

“You're both losing it.” Remarked Luke, dryly.

“Everyone's like that around him, you know that.” Protested Jane, before a thought occurred to her, “we could leave. Right now.”

“Are you serious?” Asked Luke, frowning.

“What about AJ?” Asked Clementine, looking upset.

“Look, I know you're close to him, but... Kenny would never let him go.” Said Jane, sighing, “This is our chance. Clem, don't you ever want to know what it's like to live your own life?”

Luke wasn’t sure he liked what Jane implied, before they heard gunshots in the distance, with Walkers coming out of the snow and approaching them.

“It's snowing!” Said Clementine, spotting the Walkers, “Why are they moving?!”

“They must not be cold enough yet, fuck.” Said Jane, as Luke started the truck, “Get us out of here!”

“I ain’t driven in snow before!” Countered Luke, before he slammed his foot onto the gas pedal, making the truck charge forwards, running over the Walkers in front of them, before one Walker appeared from the snow in front of them.

“Jesus!” Cried Luke, as the Walker crashed through the windshield, with Luke swerving the truck and driving into a sign.

“Fuck,” Swore Jane, getting out of the truck with AJ, “get out of there!”

“The door’s stuck!” Said Luke, as Clementine joined Jane outside the truck.

“Oh, shit!” Jane spotted some Walkers coming towards them, “Shit, there are more of them! Move!”

Clementine pulled her pistol out and shot the Walker stuck in the windshield, as it tried to grab Luke, allowing him to get out of the truck.

“Clem!” Cried Jane, pulling Clementine away from a Walker, “Luke, hurry! Get out! Hurry!”

“Jane!” Yelled Luke, as Jane pulled Clementine away from the truck, trying to escape the Walkers, “Jane, wait!”

Luke suddenly fell to the snow-covered ground, after a Walker grabbed his ankle. Unsheathing his machete, Luke chopped it’s head, before getting back up and looking around for Jane, Clementine, and AJ, only to see none of them in sight. Shivering, Luke started walking.

L

After trudging through the snow, for what seemed like hours, Luke finally arrived at the rest stop Kenny had pointed out, finding the older man already inside.

“Kenny.” Said Luke, before he could stop himself.

“You alright?” Asked Kenny, looking around, “Where’re Clem and AJ?”

“I didn’t see them get out of the truck.” Answered Luke, getting a dark look from Kenny.

“You abandoned them?!” Demanded Kenny, before rushing outside, he seemed to search for them, before he came stalking back, “You abandoned fucking children to die!”

Luke started backing away as Kenny stormed up to him, yelling, “How could you fucking kill them?!”

Luke dodged Kenny’s punch, drawing his machete as he did, “I didn't kill them! We don’t know if they’re dead, Kenny!”

“Bullshit!” Roared Kenny, his face darkening.

“Don’t do anything you’ll regret, Kenny.” Pleaded Luke, adjusting his grip on his machete.

“Shut up!” Yelled Kenny, backing away from Luke.

“Please, Kenny,” Luke hoped that Kenny would listen to him, as she sheathed his machete, “don't do anything they wouldn’t want.”

That was evidently the wrong thing to say, because Kenny charged at him and slammed him against the window.

“Get the fuck off!” Grunted Luke, clawing at Kenny’s face, inadvertently knocking his hat and bandage off, exposing the destroyed eye Carver had given the older man.

“Fuck you!” Snarled Kenny, his face darkening.

“Let... go!” Grunted Luke, before kneeing Kenny in the groin, following up with an elbow to the face, before he dropped onto Kenny’s chest and started punching him, “Asshole!”

“You're fuckin' dead!” Yelled Kenny, blocking the punches.

“Fuck you!” Snarled Luke, before Kenny pushed him off. Rolling so he was back on his feet, he saw Kenny running towards him, prompting Luke to draw his machete and slash Kenny across the stomach, “This is all your fucking fault!”

“Piece of shit!” Snarled Kenny, following Luke as he left the rest stop.

“Just go.” Gasped Luke, breathing heavily.

“I ain't goin' nowhere!” Snarled Kenny, glaring at Luke.

“Fine.” Scowled Luke, adjusting his grip on his machete, before slashing the weapon at Kenny, who avoided it and tackled him, sending them both through a sign and making Luke drop his machete.

“I'll fucking kill you!” Roared Kenny, reaching for the machete, making Luke grab his face and gouge the older man’s injured eye with his thumb.

“How's that fuckin' feel?!” Snarled Luke, applying more pressure to the wound, making Kenny scream, “You crazy fuck!”

“Get off!” Yelled Kenny, before he managed to wrench his head from Luke’s grip, and bit his thumb, making Luke let Kenny go.

“Fuckin' babykiller...” Swore Kenny, grabbing Luke’s machete and glaring at Luke.

“Goddamn it!” Luke looked at his thumb, groaning when he saw Kenny had broken the skin.

“I'll fuckin' kill you!” Snarled Kenny, trying to push Luke’s machete into his chest, with Luke grabbing the older man’s arms and trying to stop the blade from entering his chest.

“Kenny, don’t…” Pleaded Luke, trying to get him to stop.

“Just fuckin' die...” Growled Kenny, applying more pressure.

“Kenny… please…,” Begged Luke, as the machete blade was almost at his chest, “don’t…”

Clementine shivered as she adjusted her grip on AJ, while Jane dealt with any Walkers coming out of the snow, nervously gripping her gun, Clementine felt a wave of relief when she saw the rest stop that Kenny had pointed at when the truck had stopped. If they were lucky, Kenny and Luke were already there, waiting for them.

“That should be the last of them,” Said Jane, looking ahead of her and Clementine, “so, now we just… have to… What the fuck?!”

Clementine frowned, before squinting through the snow, freezing when she saw Kenny straddling Luke’s chest, trying to drive Luke’s machete into his chest.

“Ain't gonna let you...” Kenny strained, as the blade started to reach Luke’s chest, “Fuckin'...”

“Kenny…” Gasped Luke, his strength starting to fail him.

Clementine then remembered that she had a gun in her hand, and now forced to choose who to help, she started to freeze, before Luke groaned, and she acted on impulse.

There was a gunshot, and Kenny stiffened, before blood started to blossom on his side, and he collapsed off him, allowing Luke to scramble away from the man.

“Are you okay?” Clementine’s tear-filled voice reached him.

Looking towards her, he saw the girl crying and holding AJ, with Jane a few feet behind her.

“Yeah.” Luke gave a shaky nod, “Yeah, I think so...”

Once she’d gotten an answer from Luke, Clementine all but shoved AJ at Luke and rushed over to Kenny, dropping her gun and falling to her knees when she reached the dying man.

“Clem, you made the right choice.” Rasped Kenny, as the patch of blood grew, “I let you down. I let everyone down...”

“No, it's my fault.” Clementine tearfully argued, as AJ, sensing that he wasn’t with Clementine, started crying.

“No, no, you did what you had to.” Rasped Kenny, weakly shaking his head, “You don't ever have to apologise for that.” Kenny took in a rasping breath, “We almost made it. We were close, weren't we? I thought I wanted this, asked for it, so many times.” Kenny’s voice became small, “Now that it's happening, I'm scared. I'm afraid, Clem...”

“You're going to be okay, Kenny.” Said Clementine, taking Kenny’s hand.

“Don't lie,” Whispered Kenny, his voice sad, “you're better than that.”

Luke closed his eyes when he heard Kenny stop breathing, looking at Jane, the woman walked up to Clementine.

“C’mon,” Said Jane, grabbing Clementine’s shoulder, “we’re going to need to get AJ some formula, and it’s going to be a long walk to Howe’s.”

For a moment, Luke wasn’t sure that Clementine would move, but the girl nodded and got up, allowing Jane to lead her away from Kenny. With one last look at the man, Luke followed after Clementine and Jane.

L

It took them nine days, but the five of them got back to Howe’s. The parking lot was empty, save for the Walker corpses and the odd crow. Luke frowned, before glancing at Jane, “So, what d’ya think?”

“Can't see much from here.” Said Jane, levelly, before she started towards Howe’s, “Come on.”

They walked past the corpses, Clementine winced when she saw that part of Carlos’s brain had been devoured, but at least he wasn’t going to turn. She then looked for Troy’s remains, she saw the messy haired woman that Bonnie called Tavia, but Troy’s remains were missing, Clementine decided to assume that he was completely devoured by the Walkers. They ended up stumbling, or tripping in Luke’s case, upon Carver’s corpse, which was in remarkably good condition.

“I don't...” Jane swallowed, glancing at Clementine as Luke walked past them, “I don't know how you were able to watch that.”

“I'm glad I did.” Said Clementine, giving the corpse a glare.

“Here's the food.” Called Luke, from inside, with the pair and baby coming after him.

“Clem, there's formula.” Said Jane, pointing it out, “Bonnie was right.”

“Give AJ here,” Said Luke, looking at them, “See if the greenhouse is alright.”

Jane frowned, before she nodded, with Clementine handing Luke the baby and going up to the roof with Jane. Sighing, Luke looked down at AJ, who seemed to realise that Clementine wasn’t holding him, and looked up at Luke. Not even a second had passed before AJ started wailing. Swallowing, Luke tried to bounce AJ, which only made him cry harder. After one particularly forceful bounce, AJ threw up on Luke, before he crapped himself and his wails turned to screams.

A moment later Jane and Clementine came down from the roof, with Clementine taking AJ from Luke and the man following after Jane, with the couple walking up to the gate.

“Jane?” Asked Luke, quietly, “What’s wrong?”

Jane put her finger to her lips, before gesturing outside the fence, murmuring, “They don't look armed.”

“This your place?” Asked a man, looking at Luke and Jane.

“It's big.” Said a boy, looking at the building.

“Quiet.” Shushed a woman, gently grabbing his shoulder.

“Yeah.” Said Jane, putting a hand on her hip, “It is.”

“Really?” Asked the man, frowning.

“Yeah.” Answered Luke, frowning, “Why?”

“We need help.” Said the woman, quickly.

“My boy, he...” The man trailed off, before continuing, “he ain't doin' so good.”

“What's wrong with him?” Asked Jane, suspicious.

“Look, don't worry, he ain't... he ain't bit, just hungry.” Promised the man, sounding tired, “We been walkin' for weeks. Ran outta food a couple days back. You go kids? Where you guys been?”

“Why do you care?” Demanded Jane, scowling.

“Whoa, I didn't mean nothin' by it.” Defended the man, as Luke’s frown deepen.

“Everywhere.” Said Luke, crossing his arms, “All over.”

“You been up north?” Asked the man, making Luke and Jane glance at each other.

“Yeah.” Lied Luke, wondering what happened up north.

“Yeah, us too.” Sighed the man, looking at his family.

“Keep your eye on him.” Muttered Jane, before glancing at the door inside.

“This place needs a lotta work.” Said the man, looking around at Howe’s.

“Yeah?” Prodded Jane, frowning.

“We could help you.” Said the man, getting a sigh from Luke.

“There ain’t much food left...” Said Luke, looking apologetic.

“Please,” Begged the mother, looking at them imploringly, “We won't make it another night out here.”

“Look, I know you don't know us,” Said the man, looking at them, “and I know a lotta people out here say a lotta things. But I'm askin' you. As a father. Please don't turn us away.”

“I don't know,” Murmured Jane, leaning close to Luke, “they could be anybody. Do we really wanna go through this again?”

“Please,” Begged the mother, “We'll die out here.”

“Just give us a chance.” Pleaded the man, “Give us a chance to prove ourselves. You won't regret it, I promise you.”

“You have to let us in.” The woman sounded near tears.

“Come in.” Said Luke, making Jane look at him.

“Thank you.” Gasped the mother, looking between the two.

“Around the side.” Said Luke, getting a nod from the man.

The family walks around.

“You sure about this?” Hissed Jane, giving Luke a glare when the family walked around the side, “This place is a mess. And I don't know how long that food will last. It'll take a lot of work. And we don't know these people.”

“Maybe we can start something here, Jane.” Whispered Luke, glancing towards the door inside, “It's not much, but we'll make it better.”

Luke and Jane walked back inside, with Clementine giving them a questioning look, having calmed AJ down.

“What’s going on?” Asked Clementine, as AJ made disjointed noises.

“Just keep your eyes on 'em.” Said Jane, as she and Luke went up to the door.

“We'll be fine.” Dismissed Luke, rolling his eyes, before Jane opened the door for the family, with them coming in.

“Oh,” Said the man, spotting Clementine and AJ, “These your kids?”

“No.” Answered Clementine, flatly, “We’re in the same group, AJ’s parents died a couple weeks ago.”

The man winced, before the woman looked around the building, before she focused on Jane, “My name's Patricia.”

“Jane.” Responded Jane, frowning.

“Thank you, Jane.” Thanked Patricia, before she looked at the man.

“Don't mention it.” Said Jane, waiting for Luke to ask the man for his name.

“I’m Luke,” Said Luke, before gesturing to Clementine, “These two are Clementine and AJ.”

“Randy,” Answered the man, before gesturing to the boy, “this is our son Gill.”

“Thank you so much.” Said Patricia, hugging Jane.

“Of course.” Grunted Jane, before looking at the others.

“Cool hat.” Said Gill, after walking up to Clementine.

“Yeah,” Nodded Clementine, before looking at Luke, “thanks.”

Luke hoped that he wouldn’t regret letting them in, but either way, he had a community to build, and a group to lead into the future. They were going to start small, but they’d build, after all, everything started small.

J

Javi was woken by his phone ringing next to his bed, reaching out for it, he checked who was calling, frowning when he saw it was David. Sighing, he answered it, “Hey.”

“It's time. Get over here.” David didn’t bother with a ‘hello’ or ‘how are you’.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Asked Javi, frowning, “I mean, both he and Mama said they didn’t want to see me. Y’know, at all.”

“I know, it’s just…” Javi heard David sighed, “he’s asking for you, Javi. I know you’re not exactly close, but… please.”

“Alright.” Javi swallowed, before he reached for a pen and a piece of paper, I'll, uh... I'm gonna start packing up.”

“Now, Javi. You need to hurry.” Said David, “Look, I'm not giving you shit, okay? I'm just... You weren't here when Dad was sick, okay, I get it, but... you need to fuckin' be here when he goes.”

“I know, alright?” Snapped Javi, scrawling a note for Paul, “I'm just... I'm on my way.”

Hanging up, Javi grabbed a bag and stuffed some clothes in it, before running out of the apartment.

J

Javi’s car spluttered to a stop outside of the family home, where he saw David sitting on the steps with his head in his hands. A pit formed in his stomach; he was too late.

“D-David…?” Javi’s voice made David look up.

“He hasn’t passed yet,” Said David, before sighing, “Mama… found out I told you.”

“And…?” Javi swallowed, getting a sigh from David.

“She said you’re not to be anywhere near Dad when he dies.” Continued David, getting up, “Says you’d only cause him pain while he passes.”

“But… I…” Javi swallowed, not sure how to deal with his mother’s decision, “Can’t I—”

“No.” Said David, sighing again, “Hector’s already said that if you turned up, that he’d ‘remove’ you.”

Javi swallowed, not trusting his voice. Quickly composing himself, Javi took a deep breath, “R-right… I’m… I’m gonna move my car around the block… the… the freeways are completely blocked.”

David gave Javi a nod, before heading back into the house. He’d hoped that his Dad dying would make his mother look past her prejudices, unfortunately, he was wrong.

J

Javi often found himself wondering about Paul, did he make it out of Richmond? Was he looking for him? Did he still want to be with him? After the world ended, Kate had come to him, with Gabe and Mariana, and told him that after his Dad died, he got up, and tore a chunk out of Hector’s neck, before doing the same with his Mama’s cheek. David managed to stop him by getting his gun, before he told her to get the kids and to find Javi.

David had been gone when Javi finally managed to get his car to start and drive to the house, since he pushed it beyond its limits in the mad dash to get from Richmond to Baltimore. He, Kate, and the kids stayed for three months, before leaving.

He’d clung to the hope that Paul was still alive, despite the feelings he was developing for Kate. Part of him wished that he was just gay, instead of bi, then he wouldn’t have to deal with what he felt for Kate.

Javi then thought back to the past couple of days, he, Kate, and the kids, had come to a stop in a junk yard, hoping to find some gas, which they found. They also found some food, before a group of guys turned up outside, Javi barely had enough time to hide Kate and the kids before they came into the office they’d been in. He’d been knocked out and taken away from the junk yard in a truck, which was how he met Clementine, since she dropped a tree that totalled the truck, despite her trying to keep it intact.

Clementine took him to Prescott, where he met Tripp, Conrad, and Eleanor, there was an incident, and Clementine was told to leave in the morning. Javi snuck out of Prescott, after he told Eleanor his, rather pathetic, life story, taking Clementine with them to rescue Kate and the kids. It went well, at first, they found Mariana, and rescued Kate and Gabe, then, as they were leaving, Mariana had her head blown open by a bullet. There was a gun fight, where Kate was hit in the gut. He escaped with his family and Eleanor, while Clementine remained behind to hold them off.

Eleanor performed surgery on Kate almost as soon as they got back to Prescott, with Gabe and Javi helping her. Clementine came back and warned them about the junk yard group coming for them, which led to a shootout after one of people from the junk yard killed Conrad’s girlfriend, Francine. The fight was fairly short, considering that the junk yard group, Clementine called them the New Frontier, rammed the gates of Prescott open with a truck full of Walkers. Clementine, Tripp, Eleanor, Conrad, and his family were barely able to make it out alive, with Clementine suggesting that they try Richmond.

They were making steady progress, until they hit a roadblock. Javi managed to clear it, allowing Eleanor and Kate through, only for the rest of them to get ambushed by Walkers, which was why they were now standing on a roof, with some weirdo watching them from another building.

“Wait,” Gabe’s voice jerked Javi from his thoughts “was this all a trap?!”

“Keep your heads down.” Ordered Tripp, looking around them, “Guy could have a rifle. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd like to keep my skull intact.”

“Show yourself!” Yelled Javi, leaving his hiding spot, only to find the guy had gone, “What the hell? He's gone. Everyone stay here and keep behind cover. I'm gonna see what I can find out.”

“Be careful.” Said Clementine, as Javi climbed onto a nearby roof.

Frowning, Javi saw the guy move, prompting the man to hide behind a corner, before peaking out when he didn’t hear any gunfire. Deciding to risk it, he crossed a set of planks that made a makeshift bridge, and snuck up on the guy, who had his back to Javi.

“I'm gonna need you to turn around for me, slowly. Did you hear me?” Said Javi, walking up to the guy, before noticing that it wasn’t a guy at all, it was a scarecrow, or decoy, or something, “The hell?”

He heard someone cocking a gun behind him, before a familiar voice spoke behind him, “That thing's not a toy. Drop it, or you might hurt yourself.”

“Paul?” Javi lowered his gun and turned around.

Paul stared at Javi, his mouth falling open in shock, before he closed it, swallowed and looked around. Javi thought he looked upset, maybe even guilty.

“Don’t move.” Clementine’s voice made Javi look over at the bridge, where the girl was standing, aiming her gun at Paul.

“I'm not gonna shoot,” Said Paul, looking the girl over, “not unless you make me. I just want to talk. You got me? Just want to have a word.”

“So talk.” Said Clementine, her voice flat.

“Okay, then.” Said Paul, before looking at Javi, “You, the two guys there, the kids, the women in the car--I saw you split up. I overheard that little argument just now.” He glanced at Clementine, “Your friends over there aren't gonna shoot me, right? You folks have your shit together? If you're some kind of broken tribe, then let me know now. 'Cause I've had my fill of people that can't agree on anything.”

“They're good people.” Said Javi, looking at Clementine, “They've lost... a lot.”

“Sure, We all have.” Countered Paul, looking around.

“Recently.” Said Clementine, scowling.

“Ah, fresh wounds. That makes sense.” Muttered Paul, looking around, “You're going to Richmond. That tells me you've got something to do with what's going on down there. Question is, whose side are you on?”

“Side?” Questioned Javi, confused, “Paul, I don't know what you're talking about.”

Behind them, someone whistled, making Paul turn around and look for the source of the noise, when Cnrad tackled him and started to wrestle over the gun, with the man successfully wrestling the gun away from Paul. Once disarmed, the man looked around the group that had appeared, and slowly raised his hands.

“Well,” Said Tripp, looking around, “is he one of them?”

“Hey, man, what do you mean by ‘them’?” Asked Paul, confused, “Who's ‘them’?”

“You know what I'm talking about.” Scoffed Tripp, making Paul frown, “The ‘New Frontier’.”

“What?” Asked Paul, incredulous, “No, I'm not with those guys. You've got this backwards.”

“Javi, this guy is full of donkey shit.” Scowled Tripp, glaring at Paul.

“Do you want to let me talk?” Asked Paul, looking at Tripp.

“What's the point?” Scoffed Trip, his glare intensifying, “How can we trust anything you say?”

“He's not with those guys.” Said Javi, firmly.

“Says you.” Countered Conrad, looking at Javi, “How do we know for sure?”

“It's the truth.” Said Paul, as Conrad checked him for the brand.

“Nothin'.” Said Conrad, when he didn’t find it.

“Look, I'm telling you,” Said Paul, looking at them, “I'm on my way to Richmond, just like you. I lost touch with some good people there when the New Frontier took over.”

“What did you say?” Asked Clementine, stunned.

“The New Frontier,” Said Paul, looking at them and frowning, “They took over Richmond. Don't tell me you didn't know that?”

“Fuck...” Swore Gabe, grabbing his head.

“Oh, God, Eleanor and Kate.” Realised Tripp, looking at Javi, “They're headed right into the middle of those assholes!”

“At least now we got an excuse to go after those motherfuckers.” Scowled Conrad, looking around them.

“What are we gonna do?” Asked Gabe, starting to panic.

“Everyone,” Said Javi, looking around them, “just calm down!”

“Calm down?” Asked Tripp, incredulous, “Calm down?! How the hell do you want us to be calm about this?! They're gonna fucking kill 'em!”

“Not if we get to them first!” Countered Javi, before glancing at Paul.

“There's an old train tunnel that runs under the James river.” Said Paul, looking around them, “From what I hear, it should be a straight shot into Richmond.”

“A train tunnel?” Said Tripp, suspiciously.

“I could lead you guys there...” Said Paul, before looking around them, “But since Javi said you're good people and all, maybe you could lower those guns first?”

“Lower them, my ass.” Scoffed Conrad, “We're gonna tie you up and make sure your story checks out.”

“That's really not necessary.” Assured Paul, glancing around.

“I don't know.” Said Tripp, tightening his grip on the gun, “We just met this guy.”

“We all just met.” Countered Clementine, frowning at Tripp.

“Lower your guns.” Said Javi, looking at them expectantly.

“Javi, man,” Tripp looked at him and shook his head, “don't.”

“I know him, we’re pretty close.” Said Javi, looking at Tripp, “Do you trust me or not?”

Tripp and Conrad frowned, but did as Javi said, while Clementine tucked her gun into the back of her waistband.

“Thank you.” Said Paul, sounding relieved, “Ready? This way.”

He’d started to walk away, before Tripp called out to him, “Hey, what do we call you?”

“His name’s Paul,” Said Javi, looking at Tripp, “but, most people call him Jesus.”

Paul got the strange look again, but Javi didn’t pay it any mind, instead watching Paul walk away as he led them to the tunnel to Richmond.

J

They’d ran into a herd of Walkers inside the tunnel, with them using an abandoned train to escape them. Once they were in the clear, Javi jogged ahead of the others, keeping pace with Paul, “I can’t believe you’re alive, I mean, I hoped you were, but I was starting to lose hope.”

“I thought you were dead too.” Said Paul, not looking at Javi, “Look, Javi, there’s something—”

“Let go of her!” Gabe’s voice made them turn around, where they saw Conrad manhandling Clementine.

“Conrad, what the fuck are you doing?” Demanded Tripp, as Conrad’s face curled into a snarl.

“She’s one of them!” Announced Conrad, shoving Clementine forwards, “Show ‘em!”

Sighing, Clementine pushed a sleeve up, revealing the New Frontier’s mark.

“What the fuck?!” Javi glared at Clementine, “You’re one of them?!”

“No!” Refuted Clementine, “I was kicked out!”

“Common theme with you.” Muttered Tripp, crossing his arms and glaring.

“This could be a good thing.” Said Paul, looking around them, “If Clementine’s one of them, maybe we’ll have some leverage to get us inside Richmond.”

Frowning, Javi nodded, with them tying Clementine wrists together. They reached the end of the tunnel, with them finding Kate in the car that Eleanor had been driving being abandoned in the streets. Deciding to go up to the community’s gates, Javi demanded that they be let in, after several minutes, the guard’s superior appeared, revealing themselves to be David.

David, after getting over the shock of seeing his family again, ordered his people to take Javi and his group into the quarantine area, where they reunited with Eleanor, and Tripp quickly filling her in on what happened.

Javi felt Paul grab his arm and guide him away from the group.

“Paul?” Asked Javi, frowning, “Is something wrong?”

Paul looked down and sighed, “I thought you were dead, I’d come to terms with it, and… and I moved on.”

“W-what?” Javi blinked, not sure if he was actually hearing Paul correctly.

“I met a guy, his name’s Aaron,” Confessed Paul, “we… we got married a few months ago.”

Javi felt his throat get tight, before he coughed and nodded, “Okay, so… not a thing then.”

“Yeah.” Paul guiltily nodded.

“R-right, we gotta focus on getting out of here.” Said Javi, walking away from Paul.

They questioned Clementine on the New Frontier and how they were going to do things, a moment after they’d finished talking, David came and collected Javi, leaving them alone.

J

A few hours, and a disastrous meeting with the community’s council, later, Javi found himself and his group, minus Kate, Gabe, and Eleanor, were being escorted out of the gates.

“Oh, what the fuck?” Demanded Conrad, glaring at the guard, “We didn't do anything!”

“I might do something here in a minute...” Growled Tripp, as Ava ran out.

“David packed this.” Said Ava, shortly, throwing a duffel bag on the ground.

“He did?” Asked Javi, confused, “They said—"

“Start walking.” Ordered Ava, glaring at them.

“What about Eleanor?” Demanded Tripp, glaring back at Ava.

“Walk!” Yelled Ava, shoving Tripp back.

“Eat shit, answer my fucking question.” Argued Tripp, as Javi started holding him back, “Goddamn it, Javi! Let go of me!”

“This isn't gonna help Eleanor!” Javi tried to reason, “Don't make it worse for her!”

Tripp responded by shoving Javi away, and stalking up to Ava, who punched him in the face, sending him down to the ground.

“Do not fuck this up.” Snarled Ava, glaring at them, “There's a settlement a few miles west of here. Don't come back.”

Sighing as the New Frontier went back inside, Javi offered a hand to Tripp as the gate closed, only for the man to smack it away.

“‘Get with the program’, he says...” Muttered Tripp, as he got up and glared at Javi, “We trusted you. What the hell, man?”

“Ay, dios mío.” Muttered Javi, before returning the glare, “Do you ever shut up?”

There was a moment of silence, before they heard some Walkers growling in the distance.

“Occasionally...” Muttered Tripp, as Javi sighed.

“Let's just see what they gave us.” Said Javi, crouching down to look through the duffel.

There were some weapons, not enough for everyone, a map wrapped around a baseball bat, and a flashlight. Sighing, Javi and his group discussed their next move, with them following the map David had left them. Arming themselves, they located the North Star and set off.

They ran into some Walkers in the forest. They dealt with them, with Clementine saving Javi’s life. Clementine also opened up on why she was kicked out of the New Frontier, and why she didn’t trust David. Javi listened to her in silent shock, having trouble trying to reconcile David’s actions towards Clementine with the man he knew.

Eventually, they reached a warehouse, the destination on David’s map, before they were set upon by Walkers. All of them barely made it inside the warehouse, with there being a near miss with a couple of them having Walker’s in their path. David turned up not long after, with Clementine not wanting him to be let in, but was disarmed by Paul.

Some Walkers got in through the door David used, and they were forced to block the door, which in turn led to the discovery of supplies and equipment from Prescott. Paul then pointed out supplies from other communities, some of which had been destroyed.

Then some of David’s people turned up and, upon being confronted by them, Max and Badger chose to attack the group, while Lonnie chose to run away, with Clementine and Paul chasing after him. Javi ended up brawling with Badger in an office, a brawl that ended with Badger being shot in the gut, before having his skull smashed to bits by Javi. After subduing Max, they took him hostage and went outside, where they reunited with Paul and Clementine.

“Where's Lonnie?” Asked David, looking for the man.

“He gave us the slip.” Said Paul, looking at him, “High-tailed it back towards Richmond.”

“Son of a bitch.” Muttered David, before looking around, “If he warns Joan...”

“Wasn't there one more?” Asked Clementine, before spotting Javi’s viscera covered bat, “Oh...”

“What?” Scoffed David, giving Clementine a look, “It's good riddance...that son of a bitch killed Mariana.”

“Did that make you feel better?” Asked Paul, looking at Javi like he didn’t know him.

“I wouldn't shed any tears if I were you.” Advised David, getting a flat look from Paul.

“Maybe I'm shedding them for your brother.” Countered Paul, “Because the man I knew, he wouldn’t have done that.”

“You're damn right it did!” Said Javi, angrily, “Bastard deserved everything he got.”

“Be careful, Javi...” Warned Paul, sadly, “Act like a beast, you risk what makes you human. Don't become the thing you hate.”

“That man shot his niece! Right in front of him. I would've done the same, Javi.” Said Clementine, backing Javi up, before she looked at Paul, “Sometimes there's just no other way to make things right. My friend took a crowbar to someone once.”

“My people need to know about what we found here.” Said Paul, deciding not to respond to the girl.

“What about your missing friends?” Asked Javi, frowning.

“I'm surprised you care. Human life isn't exactly high on your list of priorities.” Said Paul, flatly, “Don't have time to keep looking. They'd want me to get home and warn them. So that's what I'm gonna do. Sooner the better.”

“You sure you'll be okay on your own?” Asked Javi, deciding to ignore the slight.

“To be honest, I think my odds are better than yours.” Said Paul, before he looked at them, “I won't forget about you. You have my word.”

Javi watched Paul leave, before deciding to focus on what Tripp said, he didn’t have time to be distracted, not with Kate and Gabe in danger.

J

The next time Javi saw Paul, David had just ran off with Gabe, while Clementine had gone after them, Javi had decided to help Kate save Richmond. Paul had some other people with him, Javi wondered in any of them were Aaron.

“Well, there's a happy sight.” Said Paul, as Javi looked at him, “Can you help us get the gate open?”

“Almost didn't recognize you.” Said Javi, looking at the people with him.

“Once I got in contact with my people, I headed right back.” Said Paul, nodding at Javi and Kate, “Had to make sure you folks were safe.”

“I think I'm getting the hang of this!” Said Kate, looking at Javi.

“We'll keep the muertos away.” Said Javi, shooting at the Walkers, “Just get me to the gate so I can open it up.”

Javi decided not to think about how he’d decided to give things with Kate a try, or the fact that she was aware that this was the Paul he told her and David about before the world ended.

“We're almost there!” Yelled Kate, as she bulldozed the Walkers, “Javi, get in the busket and I'll lift you to the top of the gate!”

“Busket?” Asked Javi, looking at her.

“The thing in the front!” Kate pointed at the bucket, “The ‘scooper’ thing. Whatever! Get in it!”

After getting grabbed by, and kicking away, a Walker, Javi climbed into the ‘busket’, before getting on the platform and opening the gate.

“Let's get inside and wrangle the walkers together!” Yelled a soldier, “If we get them in one group, we can lead them right out!”

The group moved through the streets of Richmond, with them gathering up the Walkers and leading them to the square, with Javi changing to the other setting on the gun, before he fired at the Walkers piling into the bucket, and his gun ran out, leading to him and Kate switching places. The actual blocking of the hole wasn’t as nerve wracking as the journey to the hole, although that was probably because Javi was in the driver’s seat.

“Jesus! Over here!” Yelled a soldier, as Javi and Kate got off the bulldozer.

“We need to round up these walkers!” Yelled another, riding past.

“Head 'em towards the gate!” Ordered the first soldier, rounding up Walkers with the others.

“Welcome back.” Said Javi, looking up at Paul.

“I thought we were coming back to...” Paul trailed off, before shaking his head, “Well, not to this. Just a little surprising. That's all.”

“Yeah, we've had some... difficulties.” Said Javi, after a moment.

“Certainly one way to put it.” Said Paul, as Kate grabbed Javi’s arm.

“Javi, look!” Kate pointed towards the way they’d come, “It's Clem!”

Javi froze when he saw Clementine with an injured Gabe, before rushing over to the children, leaving Paul staring after them.

J

Javi walked away from the church, leaving Conrad to his book, Ava had limped up to them when he and Kate got back from burying David, and she told them that she knew where AJ was, and was going to go with Clementine to get him. Sighing, Javi saw Paul riding towards him on a horse.

“Heading out?” Asked Javi, not feeling particularly upset when he saw his ex.

“Yes, indeed.” Nodded Paul, looking at Javi, “We came here to put an end to the raiding. Looks like that's been done. Glad we got it settled. Gotta move on.”

“We lost a lot.” Said Javi, remembering Mariana, Tripp, Francine, and David, “We may have helped fix things, but... there was a cost to it all.”

“There usually is, unfortunately.” Said Paul, looking down at Javi, “I was worried about you, Javi, about who you are inside now. You helped save these people, though. That goes a long way for me. Second chances are in short supply these days. That's what this place can be, if you let it. Trust me, though, life within walls is a hell of a lot different than life on the road. Don't take shortcuts like Joan. You gotta do the right thing. Always. Good days, and especially bad.”

“Absolutely.” Sighed Javi, looking around them, “The right thing. No matter what.”

“Good to hear!” Smiled Paul, “I read people pretty well. Little gift of mine. You're a capable guy, Javi. Change is in the air here. You can lead that change, and I think you should. For the better. God knows this town could use it.”

“You know what?” Said Javi, looking Paul in the eyes, “I'm gonna step up. Lead this place in the right direction.”

“There’s the Javi I knew.” Said Paul, “Then as far as I'm concerned, Richmond's in much better hands than it was.”

“Hey, uh, Jesus?” Gabe’s voice made the pair look at the boy.

“Hey, uh, Gabe.” Mimicked Paul, looking at him.

“Thanks for... you know... not letting me get killed.” Said Gabe, nervously, “And for coming back to help us.”

“Yeah, thanks for that, man.” Agreed Javi, nodding.

“And I really sorry you’re not my other Uncle.” Added Gabe, getting a sigh from Javi.

“Spoke too soon.” Muttered Javi, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“It’s fine, not every relationship works out,” Said Paul, before adding, “As for the saving you, pay it forward. Be vigilant. Trouble never stays too far away.”

Javi and Gabe waved as Paul left, before Gabe walked away to find Kate, leaving Javi to talk to Clementine. Sighing, Javi focused on the girl, he supposed that he should start his leadership of Richmond by helping Clementine get ready to reclaim her boy.