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Chapter Text

The first few weeks of the outbreak...

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Atlanta, Georgia [Afternoon] [Sunny]

In a small 2 story apartment located in the heart of one of Georgia's finest cities is a small functional family of 3 Scots trying to adjust to their recent move to America. Little did they know, their move to America would prove to be their last. Moments before the global outbreak is announced on TV, the youngest of the family, Aaron, who is currently 9 years old, is in the living room playing video games and having a blast.

"Yes! TAKE THAT, Demon creature! You just got owned!" Aaron cheered as he beat one of the hardest bosses in his game with relative ease. 

Aaron's 15-year-old brother, Bryan, comes over to do what he does best. That would be annoying Aaron. He sits down with Aaron and keeps poking him. "STOP! Please! I'll tell Doc!" Aaron complains, trying to push his brother away. Bryan persists until suddenly, the TV switches channel from the currently active music channel over to the emergency broadcast channel. 

Emergency Broadcast Channel: "Attention everyone, this is your local emergency broadcast system now in effect. An unknown virus that causes humans to turn into undead variants of themselves that eat other humans has gone global and is rapidly spreading! Local police and military all urge you to stay indoors and lock all doors and windows until further information is announced. Possible evacuation protocols may be initiated if the containment of the virus fails within 3 days. In times like these, the president of the united states has personally said 'God help us'. 

Bryan and Aaron's jaws drop after hearing this announcement. Bryan changes from being a pest to coddling Aaron and making sure he's okay. He hugs his brother as he cries in fear.

"Wee man, are you alright? Shit... I hope Doc is okay." Bryan asks Aaron, also worrying about their stepfather, Doc, who isn't home yet.

Aaron continues to cry and shake in fear. Bryan keeps holding him. They sit for another 20 minutes not knowing what to do until eventually, Doc returns home and he is not messing around! The man is packing heat and looks like he's ready for a war. Doc rushes into the living room armed with multiple firearms in his pockets. 

Doc looks at his stepsons and sees Bryan coddling a scared Aaron and assumes they know about the outbreak. "Shit... I take it you saw the broadcast? How's he doing, Bryan?" [Doc]

"Not good. Wee man is scared shitless. I've been sitting with him for about 20 minutes." [Bryan]

"I'm so sorry... both of you. This is hard shit but we need to pack up ASAP and leave." Doc says, wanting to push them to leave as he knows it isn't safe to stay like the news claims.

"But the news says stay..." Bryan looks back at Doc in confusion. 

"Yeah, well that's a mistake. They ain't containing this. Just pack up the essentials and load them into my pickup outside. We're going." Doc counterargues and tells them what has to be done.

"Going where?" Bryan asks him.

"Anywhere but here, into the countryside maybe," Doc replies.

They all pack up their stuff. Aaron of course can't resist taking his Gameboy with him as he loves his games. Doc knows this and makes sure to pack all the batteries for him. Eventually, Aaron will have to give up his Gameboy when they need batteries for more essential equipment in the future but at least he gets to have fun for now. When fully packed, they load it all into Doc's pickup and they hit the road. A few hours after getting through multiple traffic jams, they are now on the highway leading out of Atlanta. On the way down the highway, a passing cop car on the other lane is seen crashing off of the side of the road after hitting one of the dead on the road. They ignore this but are forced to leave the highway anyway and head into a nearby residential area. They get stuck on the road because of a bunch of wrecked cars blocking it.

Clem's Neighbourhood, Georgia [Evening] [Sunny]

Doc and his stepsons step out of the car. Doc tries to find a solution to this problem. When investigating the cars that are blocking the road, 2 strangers appear and they look scared for a second.

"Holy shit! Don't hurt us, please!" One of them screams.

Doc turns to them and approaches them calmly. "Hey, relax. We're not one of those things," Doc tells them.

"Oh, thank god. Oh, damn... you have 2 kids with you." The man expresses his shock at the fact that kids still exist.

"You guys trying to move these cars too?" Doc asks them.

"Yeah." They both reply.

Doc orders his stepsons to stay close while he helps the 2 strangers move the cars. The strangers reveal themselves as Shawn Greene and Chet. About 10 minutes later, 2 more strangers show up in the neighbourhood. One of them is a little girl. The other is a middle-aged man with what looks to be a badly injured leg.

"Hey! You guys friendly? We could use a little help." The man shouts over to them.

Doc and the others all turn around and look at him. They see the little girl with him.

"Well, I'll be damned," Doc says, sounding surprised. 

"Yeah! We're cool. Say... if you could help us move these cars, we can take the lot of you to my dad's farm. It will be safe for you and your girl as well as you lot currently helping me." Shawn shouts back in response. 

Walkers begin showing up and this sends everyone into a panic. 

"Fuck! Those things are coming! MOVE YOUR ASSES! GET THESE CARS OUT OF THE WAY!" Doc yells at everyone.

Aaron and Bryan as well as the new girl all stand helplessly while Doc and the rest try to push the cars. They clear all the cars just in a nick of time.

"We're clear! Into the cars, now!" Doc yells at everyone.

"You 2, get in my ride!" Shawn tells the new people.

"The rest of you, stay close. I'll take you to my dad's farm." Shawn tells Doc and his family.

Shawn, Chet and the 2 new people all get into Shawn's pickup while Doc and his family follow behind in Doc's pickup. They make their way to Shawn's dad's farm.

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Ericson's Boarding School, West Virginia [Morning] [Sunny]

Meanwhile during the same week...

Chapter Text

The first week of the outbreak...

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Hershel's Farm [Night] [Clear]

The same night following the day that Doc and the gang left Clem's neighbourhood, the group finally arrives at Hershel's family farm. Doc and Shawn park outside the gates. Shawn gives Chet the wheel and Chet waves goodbye to the group and drives off. Doc and his family along with Shawn and the other 2 all approach the house. On the way up to the house, the unnamed people reveal themselves to Doc and the rest as Lee and Clementine.

Shawn's dad, Hershel, comes out of the house to greet Shawn and the rest.

"Oh thank god you're okay." Hershel hugs his son. 

"I was worried it would be bad here too" Shawn replies. 

"Not much going on here for the past few days. I also see you brought a couple of guests." Hershel focuses his attention on the new people.

"Yeah... they helped Chet and I escape a tight spot. Those three there are Doc, Aaron and Bryan. The other two are Lee and Clementine." [Shawn]

"I'm glad there are some friendly faces out there. Also, it looks like you hurt your leg pretty bad there." Hershel then points to Lee.

"Yeah... it's not doing so good." [Lee]

"Take a seat on the porch and I'll get you sorted out. Shawn, take the rest and show them to where they can sleep for tonight and then head inside. Your sister is waiting for you." [Hershel]

Hershel takes care of Lee's wound on the front porch while Shawn takes Doc's family and Clementine to the barn to sleep for the night. Lee joins them when his wound is taken care of and they crash for the night. Another family of 3 is also staying there. The group meets them the next morning.

[Morning] [Sunny]

They get to know Kenny's family. Aaron also gets to talk to Clem for a bit and they become friendly with each other... being the same age and all. 

The happiness is cut short when screaming is heard from the back fence. Shawn is trapped under the tractor when Duck accidentally runs him over. Walkers are all over the fence trying to get at Shawn. Doc and the gang all rush over to see what's going on.

"HELP! GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!" Shawn screams.

Duck screams when a walker grabs at him from the fence. Kenny and Lee both help Duck. Doc helps Shawn out but he isn't fast enough. The walkers come crashing through the fence and Shawn gets bitten. Doc manages to pull him away from his attacker to stop him from getting killed. Hershel then shows up to shoot the walkers and quickly drops the gun to check on his son who is currently bleeding on the ground with everyone just staring at him.

"SON! SON! Are you okay? Did they get you?" Hershel asks Shawn, holding onto him in a panic.

"Doc... saved... me. I got... bitten. PLEASE... HELP... ME!" Shawn struggles to breathe. He's bleeding out.

Hershel acknowledges Shawn's condition and nods at Doc.

"Help me get him inside! Aaron, Bryan, you can join us if you want. The rest of you, you have to leave. I'm sorry... but you gotta go." [Hershel]

Hershel and Doc both help Shawn inside to get immediate treatment. Since Lee and Kenny's people have to leave, Aaron hugs Clementine since they'll probably never see each other again.

"Goodbye, Clem. Good luck." [Aaron]

"You too." [Clem]

Lee and Kenny's people leave the farm. Doc's family stays... for now. When they head inside the house, Shawn is set on a table and they prepare to take his arm off that was bitten since there's no other way. There will be a lot of blood. Hershel's daughter Maggie helps them out. Shawn passes out after the operation but he lives... for now. When everything is cleaned up, Hershel and Maggie both have a talk with Doc's people in the living room. the rest of Hershel's people are upstairs and out of the way. Shawn is set in a locked room just to be safe.

"So I want to thank you for helping save my son, James. Is it okay if I call you James?" Hershel thanks Doc.

"No problem, man. And yes, I'm called James anyway. It's mainly my family who calls me Doc. So... what now?" Doc replies.

"I'll tell you what. We're honoured to invite you and your family to stay." [Hershel]

"Yeah. God knows you earned it. Saving part of the family means a lot to us and we value loyalty very much. We're usually not this open to strangers, especially in times like these but we can't help but make an exception. You got kids too so that just helps your case all the more." [Maggie]

"I never did catch your name, dear." [Doc]

"Maggie. My dad is Hershel. We'll show you to the rest in a bit. So... do you want to stay with us?" [Maggie]

Doc takes some time to think. He agrees that they'll stay.

"We'll stay." [Doc]

"Awesome. Glad to hear it. You should be able to sleep in the living room then. Go and grab your stuff from your car and park your car inside. Welcome to the family, guys." Maggie responds with a smile. She shakes everyone's hand, choosing to hug Bryan and Aaron to make them feel at home. Doc's family has officially moved in with the Greenes. 

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End Notes:

Since the game and tv universes are different and are being merged together (Mostly using the TV universe as base), Hershel's farm will use the tv universe layout. 

Chapter Text

The ride was a long silent drive to Atlanta. Violet didn't say anything. All she did the whole way there was look out the window. She had so many thoughts running through her head right now, such as her brother and mother, then her friends back at the school.

Violet turned to look at Ryan; she knew him being an old friend of her brother's, and both wanted to find him. "Don't worry Violet we'll find them," Ryan reassured her, but Violet remained quiet.

Ryan didn't say much, looking at the young girl, hoping everything was okay with her. Ryan only looked at the road before using a free hand; he grabbed a walkie-talkie. "Here, can you turn this on?" Ryan asked as he turned briefly to look at Violet.

Saying nothing, Violet took the radio and turned it on; she still didn't say anything wanting to stay silent. So for the next few moments, all the two heard was static. As the car reached the city, the two noticed the cars on the other side.

"Well, seems like something bad happened here," Ryan bluntly responded as the two heard the walkie-talkie come to life.

"Hell-Hell-Hello, can anyone hear this?"  The voice from the other side questioned Ryan, and Violet could tell that the voice belonged to a woman.

Stopping the car, Ryan grabbed the walkie-talkie; as he began working on it, he knew he needed to find out who this woman was and if she was friendly. 

"Hello!" Ryan quickly called out to the woman on the other end. "Who is this?"

"Shit, look, stay out of the city, it's full of the dead!"  the woman warned as Ryan didn't like it as he turned to look at Violet.

Ryan took a deep breath as he nodded and then looked at the city. "Okay, I have a kid with me so I'm not a threat, do you have a camp?" Ryan asked, hoping the woman would be kind and help them.

"Yes, we're off interstate 85,"  the woman told Ryan.

"Okay, thanks," Ryan answered as he turned the walkie-talkie off and looked at Violet; he couldn't tell what she was thinking, but he was still worried. "Look, William and your mum could be there."

Shrugging her shoulders, Violet continued to look at the city. "Shit, I hope so," she answered with a whisper, wanting to see her big brother and her mum, her dad, she didn't give a shit about, not after all the crap he pulled.

Ryan didn't answer since he could tell she wanted to find William; he hoped to find his friend. "We'll find them okay, and until then I will keep looking after you, just stick close to me alright."

Violet didn't answer, and Ryan knew that Violet had been like this since her grandmother killed herself. He wasn't sure how to respond to the situation with Violet, so taking a deep breath, Ryan looked at Violet. "There could be kids there for you to know or make friends with."

Once again, Violet didn't say much as the drive continued. Until the two noticed the camp after only a couple of minutes.

Atlanta Camp

"Okay, here we are," Ryan told Violet, smiling as he got out of his car. "Good thing I got my driver's license."

Violet said nothing; looking around the camp, she could see many people going about their day like nothing was going wrong. "How can they act like the dead aren't walking?" Violet questioned, but the young girl still looked around the camp.

As Violet looked around the camp, she already took note of a few things, such as the RV in which an older man was sitting, keeping a watch. Three mothers were watching their children as they had their heads in books. "Oh great, studying," Ryan only laughed hearing this from Violet and nudged her. 

"Look, go and talk to them make some friends," Ryan told her, knowing Violet couldn't stay away from everyone. 

Letting out a sigh, Violet looked at Ryan. "Can't we ask about my brother first?" 

Ryan thought about it and gave a smile to the blonde. "Sure, we just need to find the one in charge here," Ryan told her, and soon the pair noticed a man walking over to them, and Ryan was a little worried.

The two noticed the man reaching for his gun but kept his hand there. "Look, we're not a threat," Ryan told the man; his hands were raised, wanting to show he wasn't a danger.

"Who are you?" the man questioned the two newcomers to their camp. "Amy told me she warned about someone getting close to the city."

"I'm Ryan, and this is Violet. We're looking for her family and hoped they would be here," Ryan explained and turned to Violet. "Her brother is called William her mum's name is Dina?"

"Sorry, but we haven't had anyone come here by those names," The man told the two. "Look, you are both welcome to stay here, the name is Shane. Shane Walsh."

However, hearing the news that her brother and mother weren't here filled Violet with fear. So she walked away; so better to let Ryan and this Shane guy talk it over.

"Hi, my name is Carl, and this is Sophia, and over there is Eliza and her younger brother Louis," Carl told the blonde, hoping to get to know the girl.

Violet said nothing as she walked away, wanting to be all alone. Her eyes, however, did briefly look at the strawberry blonde-haired girl who looked up but looked away once an ugly fat man came over.

"Ed," The two women said, looking at him with frowns as Violet noticed the woman with short grey hair shrinks under his gaze.

"You two get I'm hungry, so get to work," Ed said, more like, ordered the two who left, as Violet glanced at the girl and noticed a bruise on her cheek.

Violet continued to look around the camp; she hoped that someone would know something about her family. More than anything, she hopes that they are okay. Sadly, no one knows about her family... not yet at least.

Before Violet settled in and let out all of her depression in private, she again glanced at the strawberry blonde girl who again, glanced back at her for a moment and even gave Violet a worried smile before Ed bothered her again, causing her to leave Violet's view. 

Chapter Text

Macon, Georgia

Kenny and Lee's group arrive in Macon just outside the store Lee's family owned. They're out of gas. Lee recognises the place but, of course, doesn't talk about it due to reasons. Kenny talks to someone who's crouched behind a car.

"Hey! You friendly? Truck's outta gas." He asks the man. The man turns around to Kenny in response. He was eating the guts of another dead person. It's now clear that Kenny was talking to a walker. The walker growls at Kenny, alerting the other walkers nearby.

"FUCK!" Kenny panics, scaring everyone else around him too. Walkers come out of their hidey holes and surround everyone.

"We're trapped!" Katja screams. A walker then knocks Duck over and tries to bite him. "WAH! HELP, PLEASE!" Duck screams for his life as the monster tries to sink it's teeth into Duck's skin.

Before Duck's skin is turned into tissue paper, a sudden bang happens and the walker on top of Duck is dead. Clean headshot. A brown-haired reporter girl accompanied by a few others comes out of the store to help Lee and the gang. The girl shoots at the other walkers as one of the guys, equipped with a baseball bat, comes out and bashes in the heads of a few of them.

"Get inside! Quickly!" The baseball bat guy orders them. The group follows his lead, and they run inside the store. The reporter girl covers them as they run in. The delivery boy looking guy locks the gate to keep more of the dead out.

Once inside, everything spirals into a panic with the rest of the store group as they start freaking out at the sight of Lee and Kenny's group. A military airforce bitch and her asshole dad both start yelling and causing a scene. 

"WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE PEOPLE?! Do you realise those gunshots will bring more of those THINGS HERE?!" The asshole guy yells at his people.

"Larry! Calm down! They're just people... just like us!" A familiar voice in Clementine's ears replies to Larry's outburst.

"You're not seeing the bigger picture, lady! When more people show up, more of those things come. Food runs out. Shit like that!" Larry tells the woman, keeping his angry tone.

"Woah! That's a hell of a thing to say! You're scaring the kids, Larry. These people have kids!" The dude with the baseball bat expresses his anger, getting in Larry's face.

"Those things out there don't care!" Larry keeps going on. Everyone is getting impatient with his nonsense. 

The group continues arguing with Larry until Clem is attacked when taking a pee. "AHHH!" Clem screams. "CLEMENTINE!" Lee rushes over to her but slips and bangs his head.

The baseball bat dude rushes over to Clementine and bashes the walker's head with his bat. He grabs Clem's hand and helps her up. Carley, the reporter, had her gun ready, but she luckily didn't pull the trigger since it would alert more walkers. 

"You alright?" The man asks Clem. She nods in appreciation. 

Larry goes on another rant when things calm down until he eventually collapses from a problem with his heart. His daughter Lilly tends to him.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Lee stands up and asks Lilly, trying to clear his head from when he fell. "It's his heart. Nitroglycerin pills. We've been trying to get into the pharmacy ever since we got here." She replies.

"I think I might know a way to get in there. We'll help you somehow." Lee confidently says. Carley looks at Lee suspiciously when he says that. She knows Lee is tied to this place. "Thank you so much," Lilly sighs in relief. 

Lee walks to the middle of the store to introduce himself and everyone else. 

"So I'm Lee. Let's all introduce ourselves, yes? We could be here for a while," Lee says. 

"I'm William. These guys with me are Doug, Carley, Lilly, Larry, Glenn and Sandra. What about you guys?" William introduces everyone to Lee's people in a formal manner. William is the man with the bat.

"Okay, so you already know I'm Lee. The family with me is Kenny, Katjaa and Duck. The little girl is Clementine. She's with me until we find her parents." Lee introduces his people. Sandra's ears ring when she hears the name, Clementine.

"Hold on..." She approaches Lee with hope. "Did you say Clementine? An 8-year-old girl? Wears a baseball cap?" She goes on now, having tears in her eyes.

Lee catches on. "Wait, are you the babysitter? The one Clem spoke about when I found her?" He questions her.

"Yeah. That's me. I'm sorry I couldn't come back sooner but those things trapped me. William saved my life." She puts her hands on her hips, smiling at the sight of Clem's happy face. 

Clem runs over to Sandra and hugs her. Lee smiles and is happy for Clem that her babysitter survived. 

"So... who's in charge here? Clearly, those 2 over there aren't in any condition to do anything right now." Lee points at Lilly and Larry. Lilly looks back with an angry face but says nothing regarding Lee's comment. 

William steps forward. "I guess... I guess I am." Lee shakes William's hand. "So... what's your deal, man? What's your plan in all of this?" Lee asks him.

William stares at Lee with his bat lifted over his shoulder currently. "If I'm gonna be honest, I plan on getting out of Georgia eventually. Looking for my little sister. She lives at a boarding school in West Virginia. Maybe it's not so bad there."

"Damn... that's far. I hope she's okay, dude." Glenn jumps into the conversation. "Thanks I hope Violet is okay. I've already lost my mum," William smiles at him but he could still feel the pain of losing his mother. "My prick of a father shoved her into some walkers."

The group settles in while Lee and William work on getting into the pharmacy. Glenn heads to the motel nearby to find some supplies. He gets into a jam, and William, along with Lee, are both sent to help him out. When they return later that night, they look sad about something. They watched a poor girl back at the motel kill herself. Anyway, feelings aside, Lee and William both peek outside to find the keys maybe. Luckily, Lee recognises one of the walkers out there as his brother. Lee of course, doesn't say this but does mention that he worked here and could have the keys. William agrees with Lee, and they risk it to get those keys which leaves the gate unlocked now. Time is running out. Lee, with Lilly's help, both head into the pharmacy to get Larry the pills. The alarm goes off, and the entire group are sent into a panic as walkers begin attacking the store, trying to get in. Glenn and Kenny get their vehicles ready to start getting people out of there. During the store attack, Doug is killed, and Carley gets injured. The group all falls back to the motel that Glenn, William, and Lee cleared out earlier. 

Motor Inn, Macon

The group works on settling into the motel area. Lee and William both work on setting up defenses on the walls while the others are still on edge about the whole thing at the store earlier and almost dying. It's probably like midnight by now. Glenn has a word with William and Lee about having to find his friends in Atlanta since things have gotten out of control there, according to his news radio. 

"You have to head to Atlanta?" Lee says. Glenn looks at him, feeling bad about having to leave. "Yeah. My friends could be in trouble in that city. I gotta take my chances man."

William looks upset hearing this. He gives Glenn one of his walkie-talkies. "Here, dude. Take this in case you need help or decide you want to come back."

Glenn takes the radio in appreciation. "Thanks. I hate having to bail on you guys. It seems like an okay setup here. I know things will get better soon." Glenn smiles at William and Lee, waving goodbye to them before driving off in his car. 

William turns to Lee. "So... what do you think?" He looks at Lee, not sure what to do next.

"I'm not sure. Maybe bunk down here for a few? Until the military rolls through." Lee suggests. William agrees with that plan. 

"Not the worst idea. If things don't get better though, you know I'll have to go eventually... to find my sister. I can't imagine the shit she's going through if it's bad where she is too. I worry for her, man. I really do." William starts sobbing lightly. He's concerned about his little sister. Lee comforts him, and William appreciates the compassion. 

"We'll do what we can until you do have to go. Maybe I can convince a few to join me and we could help you." Lee continues to support him. This puts a smile on his face.

"You're a good man, Lee. I'd love to do what I can for you someday too. You... that girl Clementine... she looks up to you... like a father. Keep at it, my guy." William puts his arm around Lee to hug him. Lee isn't one for hugs but he allows this one.

"At least she has Sandra," Lee said with a smile as he could see the two talking, William nodded but soon he noticed the lights all around them going out, leaving everyone in darkness.

With the group settling in and Glenn now heading for Atlanta, the future holds many possibilities. Find out in the next chapter!

Chapter Text

Another day had passed, and Violet still didn't get the answers she wanted. The eleven-year-old was sitting with other kids of the camp learning Math.

"Argh, I should have stayed back at the school than being stuck here learning this,"  Violet thought, looking at Lori looking at her son.

Violet had to wonder why she needed to keep learning schoolwork, and it seemed like the other kids didn't care. After all, her teachers all left seeing so much death from her old school, and she didn't want to stay here and learn old pointless school work.

"You okay?" a meek voice next to her asked as Violet turned to see the one speaking to her. Violet turned her head, now looking at the young strawberry blonde.

If Violet remembered, her name was Sophia Peletier, and since she came here, the girl hadn't spoken that much. It reminded her a little of Tenn back at the school.

Still, she didn't like her father; it reminded her too much of her father, who just got drunk all the time. Violet sighed, looking at Carl's mother. "Do we have to do this?" Violet asked as she frowned, looking at the books that Lori had given her. 

Lori only glanced at Violet and smiled. "Look, just because the dead are walking doesn't mean you shouldn't skip your lessons," Lori told Violet, who only stared back at the older woman. "I'm sure that your mother and brother will agree with me on this."

Violet didn't like this; seeing that this woman, Lori believed the world would go back to how it was, but she and Ryan had seen so much death on the road. "Yeah right like that will fucking happen,"  Violet thought, wanting to keep that thought to herself.

Looking at Ryan, he saw her brother's friend talking to Amy, the latter laughing at something. Violet could overhear the old prank that she had once pulled on her brother, making her smile. 

Hearing about her old pranks, she pulled on William; soon, Violet looked away, not wanting to show anyone she was crying. After all, she missed her brother since he didn't care if she liked girls; he accepted her for who she was.

Pushing the thoughts aside, Violet could hear something coming this way. The others in the camp were also looking, seeing a pizza car driving up to their camp.

Everyone only watched, wondering who this newcomer was. Shane went over to talk to the man who was Korren, and the two began talking.

After a while, Shane brought him over to the group and introduced him as Glenn. From what he had told everyone, he came from Macon to find his friends, only to find them all dead.

"Sorry to hear," Carol whispered, looking at Glenn, she had seen so much death, but she was happy to have more people in their camp.

Glenn nodded and felt thankful to hear the comforting words from the older woman. "Thanks, I was going to head back to Macon with this group I was with, but I didn't have much gas for the trip back. I hope Lee and William are doing okay."

Violet had overheard this and looked at Glenn, but she knew it could have been any old William. "I still need to find out," Violet told herself with a whisper and dumped the math book, and walked over to Glenn.

"What did he look like!" Violet cried out, wanting to know if this was her brother or not.

Glenn only looked at the blonde, and he had spoken to William enough before he left to know what his little sister looked like. However, Glenn was shocked to find that Violet was here of all places. From what William had told him, Violet was meant to be living at the Boarding School. 

"Are you Violet, the girl who was at Ericson's Boarding School for Troubled Youth?" Glenn asked, looking at the young girl, shocked she had come all this way.

"Is he okay?" Violet asked Glenn, and he noticed her speaking in a shaky voice that was also soft. "What about my mum? Was she with him?"

Glenn looked at her sadly; he had so many thoughts running through his head; how could he tell Violet that her mother was dead. "I'm sorry," Glenn said, telling Violet what had happened to her mother, thanks to their father.

"No," Violet began with tears and backed away from Glenn, hearing the fate of her now long-dead mother. She wasn't close to her mother since she had to work three jobs, but Violet knew she still loved her, and now her mother was dead.

Violet left wanting to be alone, and the kids all watched her as Glenn sighed, knowing William had no idea Violet was here with them. "Damn, poor kid." 

Violet only kept running until she found a tree not too far from the camp as she knew the old man Dale could still see her, all she wanted right now was to be left alone.

So the young girl sits on the ground under the tree, pulling her knees to her head. However, she had company as Violet could hear footsteps coming closer, yet Violet didn't bother looking up as she buried her head in her arms.

"Are you okay, Violet?" the shy voice asked as Violet looked up for a moment to see Sophia looking at her, but she didn't get a response. "I'm sorry about your mum," Sophia said, sitting next to the dirty blonde.

Violet didn't say anything, nor did she tell Sophia to leave her alone, as the tears formed in her eyes. "Will I lose my brother too?" Violet said with a whisper.

Sophia only looked at her and didn't know what to say. "I think he'll be okay that Glenn said he saved someone else," Sophia said, confused by why the dead were coming back to life. 

Carol only watched, happy her daughter was trying to help her new friend but could tell the poor girl would need time. 

Over the next few weeks, more people arrived at the camp, but Violet didn't care. The only thought she had was finding her brother, the last family she had left.

Chapter Text

Day 60 of the outbreak

Violet hadn't spoken much since finding out what happened to her mother, and it was her father who killed her. Everyone in the camp had seen the young girl had become more closed off than before, not talking to anyone; all she wanted was to be left alone.

"I hope Violet will be alright," Sophia said as she looked at her mother, speaking with a whisper in fear of what her father would do.

Carol smiled at her daughter as she looked at the poor girl feeling so sorry for her. "I know sweetheart, but she needs time," Carol told her daughter.

Jim checked the camp's man-made alarm made out of tin cans as Lori was busy brushing Carl's Hair.

"I'm checking your hair for ticks and fleas. It'll be quick," Lori told her son with a smile, but her eyes were looking at Violet, still worried for the poor girl.

"It hurts," Carl complained, but he looked at Violet. "Do you think Violet will be okay?" Carl questioned his mother as his eyes looked at the dirty blonde-haired girl.

"You think that's bad wait till you start shaving; it stinks. You will wish for your mom's haircuts," Shane said, cleaning his shotgun, but he was looking at Violet.

"Now if you take the haircut like a man I'll teach you how to catch frogs, alot of them," Shane said.

They suddenly hear a car alarm and Dale checks on his binoculars. He sees a red Mustang coming by. Glenn makes it to the camp, and everybody scolds him for making so much noise, he apologizes, and then they see a truck come by.

 Violet wondered what was going on seeing the team who went into the city coming back. She could hear Dale yelling at Glenn to turn off the car alarm.

"Dad!" Carl cried out as Violet looked up to see Carl running over to his dad, the one he talked to her and Sophia about so often.

Violet could see the tears forming in the sheriff's eyes and watched him hug his son while Lori watched on, shocked by seeing her so-called dead husband alive.

"Hey, Violet, you doing okay?" Ryan asked, still worried for his friend's little sister. 

Later that night, everyone was sitting around the campfire. Ryan could hear Rick telling them the story of how it took him so long to be here. 

However, Ryan and Sophia watched as Ed, Carols Dick of a husband, made a bigger fire. "Ed!" Ryan called out to him, knowing this would only bring walkers to the camp, which was the last thing they needed. "Come on, you know the rules. Keep the fire low, man."

Ed only turned his ugly head to look at Ryan. "Fuck you, it's cold, I'm cold!" he shot back, looking at Ryan with contempt.

Violet didn't say much, but she looked at Sophia, who was scared of what her father might do. Sophia was sticking close to her mother, with her eyes not looking anywhere else. 

"Cold, don't change the rules, Ed," Shane affirmed with a mutter. Now more members were awakening, complaining about the yelling with some groans from the noise and the light. "We gotta keep our fires as embers, so they don't see us from a distance."

"I said it's cold," Ed insisted, now with a more hostile voice. "Mind ya own business for once."

"Really wanna have this conversation?" Shane spoke as softly as possible, but he felt a fury developing inside him.

"Fine. Go on. Put it out." Ed finally gave the green light.

Shane was merciless. He wielded his thick boots and stomped on the fire multiple times, pulling sticks and twigs apart to put out the fire. After a few good kicks, the fire was just as small as the light of a glowworm.

"I thank you for the cooperation," Shane falsely thanked before turning his head to Sophia and Carol. "How are y'all this evening?"

"Fine," Carol spoke flatly like a robot. "Sorry about the fire."

"No, no, no. No apology needed," Shane disclosed with a fake smile. "Y'all have a good night now."

He turned around and departed, feeling a tingly feeling of doing something right. But he was still thinking about Rick and Lori, and he just hoped Lori wouldn't say anything to him.

Ryan soon sighed, knowing the news that Amy had told him about Merle. "Okay, we still have a problem," Ryan spoke to the group as he turned to look at Dale. 

Dale had to agree with Ryan as he also looked at the group. "Now about Daryl Dixon, you think he's going to be happy knowing his brother is handcuffed to a roof," Dale said, looking around the camp.

"I'll tell him I dropped the key," T-Dog declared as everyone looked at him, and they were also concerned.

"I handcuffed him," Rick said, but he could see the worried look that his wife had.

"Guys, it's not a competition, and not to sound racist, but I think that news is better told by a white guy," Glenn told everyone as a few nodded.

"We could lie," Amy said as Ryan looked at his girlfriend, holding her hand.

"Amy, I love you, but I don't think that would go over too well. Hell, what if Daryl finds out?" Ryan asked with a smile, but his thoughts turned to Merle, as Ryan knew he was a problem. 

Violet looked at everyone, with each one having a thoughtful look on their face, but Violet continued to look at Sophia, seeing she was still scared of Ed. 

"It's best, to tell the truth. We had to do it...T-dog almost got killed by that guy," Andrea expressed as the blonde woman looked at her little sister.

"He was an asshole," Violet expressed, shocking the group as she looked away. "I'm going to bed."

"She lost her mum and doesn't know if her brother is alive or not," Ryan expressed, looking at Shane. "We still need to go, Shane; she's still wanting to go."

"No, I hate to say it, and I will keep on saying it. Lee killed them. We all heard the news on what he did," Shane told the group, who went silent. 

"Lee seemed like a cool guy. Why would he," Glenn began, but he stopped when he looked at Shane and knew better than to keep asking questions.

"And that's what we tell Daryl?" Dale declared wanting to change the subject away from Ryan and Shane.

"I don't see any other way," Glenn said, hoping it would hit them all in the face. 

Everyone else remained silent, knowing tomorrow would only bring more problems. Ryan only rubbed his forehead as he looked where Violet had gone.

Everyone watched Violet climb a tree and look at the stars, and the adults in the camp were all worried for the poor girl. "So, what's her story?" Rick asked as Ryan turned to look at him.

"She left her school to try and find her brother, and mother," Ryan said, but he found it hard knowing how hard it was for William. Ryan could feel the loving touch of his girlfriend Amy holding his hand as she gave him a soft smile.

"Look, Violet will need to tell you why she was at the school. It's not my place, but she left. I was hoping to find my friend William and their mother."

The group watched as Rick had the growing feeling in his gut as Glenn spoke up for Ryan. "William told me that his father, a prick pushed their mother into a walker. William had to put her down," Glenn said, feeling bad for William as he hoped he was okay.

Ryan only sighed as he looked at Violet since he was one of the few she would still talk to in the camp. "I'm going to talk with her, then get some rest. We still have a long day tomorrow."

Chapter Text

The talk with Violet didn't go how Ryan wanted it to as he sighed. The poor young girl was becoming more closed off from everyone within the camp. Ryan wasn't sure what else to do for Violet, but he knew she needed time.

After trying to get through to Violet but not getting anything from her, Ryan decided to leave her alone. "How'd it go?" Amy asked with concern as she looked at the poor girl sitting on the tree.

Ryan sighed as Amy moved over to him as the two watched as Violet continued looking at the stars. "Honestly, I have no idea, and it's starting to worry me a little."

Amy rubbed his shoulders and smiled. "She'll get there she seems close to Sophia, maybe they can talk," Amy said with a smile as she soon kissed Ryan. "Like you said she needs time to heal."

Nothing else was said as Ryan watched Violet, but he could only hope to find some way to get her out of this depression.

The next morning arrived as Ryan noticed Sophia talking to her mum before she noticed all the kids going off to play. It made Ryan smile, knowing Sophia and the other kids were doing all they could do for Violet.

"I know this is hard," Carol said as she walked up to Ryan. "I know how you must feel wanting to go find your friend and her brother."

"Yeah, it sucks, but what can I do? I would feel like a shitty person leaving you all here," Ryan told Carol, giving the short-haired woman a smile.

Ryan noticed Rick walking over as it seemed he wanted to talk. "Ryan, right?" Rick asked as Ryan nodded. 

"Yeah, I am," Ryan said, wondering what Rick wanted to talk to him about, hoping it wasn't anything bad he had done.

"I know you want to leave, and I talked with Shane," Rick began, but Ryan decided to stop him.

"Yeah, I do. Violet wants to find her brother," Ryan began, but Macon will take a while to reach, and we need to keep the group safe. "But I won't leave, not yet, and if I do, we should all go have more people to watch our backs."

Rick nodded, thinking about what they would need to do and plan next since Ryan knew they shouldn't stay here.

They suddenly hear a couple of girls scream as Ryan and the others become worried. "Oh god, the kids," Ryan said not with a yell but a whisper as everyone started running to the screams.

Ryan, Shane, Rick, Jim, Glenn, Dale, and a few others run in the direction of the screaming. They see the kids running away from something. Carl goes to hug Lori Sophia runs to hug Carol.

"What's wrong?" Ryan asked, looking at Violet, who pointed at what had scared the other kids.

They soon head there and see a walker eating a deer with a few arrows in the walker. Rick, Jim, Ryan, Shane, Dale, and Morales were beating the walker down, then Dale chops its head off with an axe.

"That's our first one here," Dale told the others, who looked at everyone else.

Ryan nodded with a frown at the walker. "Yeah, your right, Dale. We need to check the kids and see if any were bitten."

"They're probably moving out of the city," Jim expressed, becoming worried over what this meant.

Suddenly everyone hears ruffles in the bushes; they ready their weapons when suddenly Daryl comes out of the woods.

"Son of a bitch, that was my deer. Look at it all gnawed on by this Filthy, disease-ridden, motherless, proxy bastard!" Daryl said while kicking the walker.

"Give it a rest, Daryl. It's not helping!" Ryan cried out, showing a disapproving frown.

"What do you know about it, Ryan? Why don't you shut your mouth," Daryl said to Ryan, only to kick the walker again.

"I've been tracking this deer for miles drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison, you think we can chop off the bitten part over here," Daryl said, pulling the arrows out of the deer.

Shane turned to look at the deer in which the walker was eating, and his face paled. "We can't risk that," Shane said, not knowing what could happen.

Ryan and the others all looked at Daryl as the hunter nodded. "It's a damn shame, I got a dozen squirrels, so it'll have to do," Daryl said as he scowled.

The walker's head suddenly started moving well, mainly his jaw.

"Oh god," Amy said, disgusted by seeing the walker snapping his jaws at the others. Amy only looked away from this and hugged her boyfriend close as she buried her head into his shoulder. 

"Come on, people, what the hell?" Daryl said, shooting the walker's head with an arrow. "Aim for the brain. You guys know nothing," Daryl said as everyone watched him walking back to camp, but Rick and Ryan looked at each other.

Daryl made his way back to camp as everyone looked at him while Violet kept a close eye on him.  "This isn't going to be good,"  Violet thought.

"Merle, Merle, get your ass out here got us some squirrel where you at!" Daryl was yelling for his older brother, but everyone within the camp knew the older Dixon wouldn't show up.

"Daryl, we need to talk to you," Shane said, now looking at Daryl as the younger Dixon dropped the food he had on the ground.

"About what?" Daryl asked, looking at Shane; his expression was hard to read, with no one knowing what Daryl could do.

Violet didn't want to see what would happen and moved to her tree, only to find Sophia sitting under the tree. Sophia took notice of Violet and smiled weakly. "Oh, sorry Violet I just wanted someplace to get away from my dad," Sophia began as soon looked away.

Violet slowly opened her mouth to say something but stopped since she was unsure what to say. So, she sighed and decided to sit next to the young girl. "It's okay," Violet said, pulling her knees to her chest. 

The two merely sat in silence even after hearing the fight that happened with Daryl. "Looks like they are going to save him," Sophia said in a soft whisper.

Violet nodded, watching the group gear up, she could hear something about them going back for the guns, but the rest she turned out. "Yeah, still think it's a mistake going back there for him."

Sophia only turned to look at Violet, shocked to hear her say this, but she knew she was still dealing with losing her mother. "I'm sure your brother is okay," Sophia said with a smile as she placed her hand on Violet's shoulder. "Glenn said he was helping people."

Violet laughed a little, knowing that sounded like her big brother. "I hope he's okay," Violet whispered as she watched Carol walking over. 

"Mum," Sophia asked, wondering what was going on, and she hoped she wouldn't have to go near her father. 

"Sophia, honey, I'm going with the others to the lake and wash up our clothes," Carol said as she looked at the two girls. "Do you mind if you stay close to Violet and Ryan?"

Sophia nodded as the two soon watched Carol leave, leaving the two young girls all alone. "I just want to go find my brother," Violet said, stopping as both went silent.

Sophia turned to look at Violet, and she wished she knew what to say. "Maybe he'll come and find you?"

"No, he thinks I'm still at my school," Violet added, but she didn't regret leaving her school, and she had a bad feeling Marlon would have got her killed. "That's what Ryan told me from Glenn."

The two didn't say anything else as time passed; Violet noticed Lori walking over. The dirty blonde knew what she wanted, making her scoff a little. "Come on, more stupid school work," Violet scowled as Sophia laughed.

Violet didn't say much, but she smiled, finding Sophia's laugh cute.  "Wait, what, did I just think that,"  Violet thought as she looked at the girl sitting beside her.

"We still need to learn," Sophia said with a smile. "I wanted to look after animals when I grew up," Sophia said as Violet looked at the girl. "What about you?"

Violet began to ponder what Sophia said; she had no idea what she wanted to do, but she knew it didn't matter anymore. "I have no idea."

"Come on, you two, time for maths," Lori said with a sweet smile.

"No thanks, I still need time alone," Violet said, climbing the tree to get away from learning. Once she reached the top, she could hear Lori sigh from below, making Violet smile. 

Soon Violet closed her eyes, enjoying the warm sun hitting her face. "Can I join you," a voice asked as Violet turned to look at Sophia, shocked to see her up here with her.

Violet only smiled as she nodded. "What about school work," Violet said with a scoff as she soon heard Sophia laugh a little more.

"I told Carl's mum that you're still in a bad place and need a friend," Sophia said with a sweet smile which Violet nodded, both looking at the city.

Chapter Text

About two months after the events of Macon, Georgia, in chapter 4...

The last few months since the lights went out at the motor inn have been hard. Food supply is running low and the group is now down to their last few rations. Over the months, a man called Mark was brought into the group. Just like Lilly, the man used to be in the military and he knows his shit. He isn't an asshole like Lilly or Larry though. He's different. More reasonable and likeable by everyone. Currently, Lee, Kenny and Mark are all out trying to hunt for more food for the group. In the meantime, William and Sandra are looking after Clementine and Duck. Lilly is on watch while Larry is working on the wall, being the same old grumpy bastard he is. The rest are currently relaxing. 

William sits down with Clem to see how she's doing. He looks at the drawing she is working on. He smiles. "Hey Clem, how you doing today?" He asks her. "I'm nearly done with my drawing, would you like to see it?" She responds with a gentle smile. William shakes his head at her. "Nah, it's okay. I'll let you finish it, then you can show me." He replies, encouraging the young girl to finish.

William before he walks away, can't help but notice that Clem isn't wearing her hat. Clem always wears her hat and this alarms him just a little bit. "Forgot to ask. Where's your hat? You usually wear it." He asks Clem as she realises too that her hat is missing. "Oh... I just remembered. I lost it a few days ago. Could you help me find it?" She says as she feels the hair on top of her hatless head. William smiles at her in response. "Sure. If I find it, I'll let you know." He replies with an assuring smile. Clem appreciates it. "Thank you." She answers him while smiling back. 

William stands up and leaves Clementine in peace. Not long later, she plays with a soccer ball. As she keeps kicking it at a bin, the peace at the motel lot is broken when Lee comes screaming out of the woods with his group along with 2 others that they brought with them, one of them with his leg cut off, passed out and being carried. "GET THE GATE OPEN! We have wounded!" Lee screams, begging for the gate to be opened immediately. William and Carley both rush over to their aid and let them inside. Panic happens when Lilly and Larry go nuts when they see that Lee and the gang brought 2 strangers back with them. They argue for a minute but are quickly ignored when Lee drags in the body of David Parker, the man whose leg got cut off out there. Along with him is one of the students he was with before the accident. His name is Ben Paul. David is dropped into the back of a pickup truck to be examined by Katjaa. Ben joins the group although Lilly and Larry don't look too happy about it. Clem drags him away to keep him distracted since the kid looks lost on what to do.

While Katjaa is trying to patch up David and Kenny is losing his patience over Lilly and Larry's bullshit, Lee gets given the food rations for today by Lilly. Lee has to give 4 pieces of food to over 10 hungry people. Faced with this difficult choice, Lee ultimately decides to feed Clem and Duck, doing what a real man does and feeding the kids. As for his last 2 pieces of food, he offers some of it to Carley who respectfully declines and gives it back to him, claiming that others could use it more than her. She won't forget that Lee is looking out for her though. Lee then decides to give the last 2 pieces of food to William and Sandra. Both of them greatly appreciate his kindness and loyalty. When everyone is now told there's no food left today, this sets off Larry, who is pissed about it.

"You're OUT? What happened to MY FOOD?" Larry complains, aiming his anger at Lee. Lee faces him.

"There's none left." Lee straight up tells him off. Larry gives Lee the stink eye.

"You keep treating people like this and your days here are numbered!" Larry threatens Lee. Lee doesn't care though. William even steps in to defend Lee. "You really have some nerve, old man. I'd look in the mirror if you know what's good for you." William tells Larry while getting in the old prick's face. Larry just stares at William and walks away. Kenny can be seen smirking in the background. He finds it funny that William made Larry back off. After everyone calms down, Lee checks on Larry and Mark on the wall. Not long later, Katja calls on the group regarding David's state. He didn't make it. After Kenny walks off in frustration, Lee and William talk to Katja.

"That man you took here... he was never going to survive," Katjaa explains to Lee. William listens in. "Well... at least he's not our problem anymore," Lee adds to that. "What about that kid? What's his name?" William asks him, referring to Ben. Before anything else can be discussed, David reanimates and attacks Katja. Lee jumps in to save her and William jumps in to assist him. After a short brawl with reanimated David, William traps him under his boot.

"KILL IT!" William shouts. Lee grabs Williams's bat and bashes David's brain in. Once the threat is dealt with, others who are freaked out by it, all gather around Lee and William. Larry looks pissed!

"WHY'D YOU BRING HIM HERE, ASSHOLE! YOU'RE GONNA GET US ALL KILLED!" Larry screams into Lee's face. Lilly calms him down and pulls him away from Lee. Kenny tears into Ben for not telling the group that David was 'Bitten'. He doesn't know that all causes of death bring you back. "Wait?! Y'all don't know?" Ben asks them, confused as to how they don't know after this many months.

"What are you talking about?" Kenny responds, sounding lost.

"It's not the bite that does it! You come back no matter how you die. If you don't destroy the brain, that's just what happens. It's gonna happen to all of us." Ben tells everyone going into detail about the virus that nobody knew how it worked. Everyone is left in shock after hearing Ben's words.

"God help us..." Lee mutters out loud.

"It makes sense now. Look at how quick that shit went around in the first few days. Suicides, accidents, murders. It was creating more of them..." Lilly says, giving her best assumption. 

The conversation is cut short when Carley is heard yelling at someone outside of the lot. "BACK OFF!" Carley screams at the two strangers outside, pointing her gun at them. The strangers put their hands up, dropping the gas they're carrying. After some explaining, the boys offer a trade. They explain that they have a dairy farm with lots of food. They can give the group food in exchange for some gas for their electric fence. After some debating, the group ultimately decided to agree on the deal. To make sure their claim is legit, Lee, Mark, Ben, William, and Carley all head out with the two strangers. Sandra looks worried for William and she hugs him before he leaves. Lee hugs Clementine.

Carley watched with a smirk as they walked away, as William looked at Lee and Carley. "What?" William asked the two, who continued smirking at the teen.

Chapter Text

As the day went on, Violet noticed how Jim was acting, digging holes, it started to make many around camp worried about why he was doing this, but Violet shrugged it off. 

"I hear Carl is catching frogs," Sophia said as Violet looked at Sophia and laughed since she didn't want to eat some frogs, but Violet knew food was still food. "I don't think I want to eat some frogs."

Sophia soon laughed, happy to have someone who knew what it was like to have a nasty father. Sophia was happy she made Violet smile after all the suffering Violet had gone through when learning about her mother.

The two sat alone for the rest of the day, with the only thing Violet noted was Jim going crazy and finding out what happened to his family; Violet wasn't sure how her brother took it. "I hope he is doing okay,"  that was the only thought she had for her brother. 

As night began to arrive, Violet stayed close to Sophia as she was with Carol and Ed; she could see how bad his face was. Violet didn't care. She heard what Ed did, something that Violet hated. It only reminded her of what her father did to her mother. 

"Why don't you come out with everyone Ed," Carol said halfheartedly to her husband.

"To hell, with all them people!" Ed grumbled out, looking away from the two.

Sophia stared at her dad's badly beaten face and, for a brief moment, then turned to leave. Ed quickly grabbed her arm. "Why don't you stay here and keep your daddy company for a while."

Carol grabbed onto Sophia, and Carol could see Sophia was getting scared, so Carol pulled her daughter away from him. "Ed, she wants to join in," Carol led Sophia out of the tent while Ed told them not to bother him for the rest of the night.

Amy rose to her feet and began to walk toward the RV, but her sister soon called out to her. "Where are you going?" Andrea asked, looking at her younger sister walk to the RV as Ryan followed her.

"I'm going to the bathroom; geez, trying to keep things private around here," Amy said with a smirk as she looked at her boyfriend. 

As Amy walked away, Ed heard some rustling outside his tent. Expecting it to be Carol, he told her to leave him alone. The person began to push against his tent entrance, and Ed angrily crawled over to the door. "I said leave me the hell alone!" Ed grumbled as he opened the tent, only to see a walker staring at him. Stuck in shock, the walker lunged at an unmoving Ed and tore into his neck as more walkers followed in.

Amy walked out of the RV and called out to the group. "Dale, do you have any more toilet paper?" Just then, a walker rounded the corner and latched onto Shannon's arms. Amy's eyes went wide with fear as she cried in utter fear until Ryan threw the walker off his girlfriend and stamped on the walker's head.

Everyone looked up in pure horror as Amy hugged Ryan as the two and everyone else noticed another walker. Ryan quickly smashed the walker's head into Dale's RV, but more walkers began to surround the camp.

Everyone quickly jumped out of their chairs and reached for their weapons. Lori and Carol protected their kids while Shane picked up his shotgun. "Lori, get him down!" Shane called out and began to fire at the walkers.

People soon began to panic as Sophia cried out in fear; one walker made its way to Sophia, who backed up to a tree as Carol cried out to her. "No, Sophia!" the poor woman cried as Violet noticed this, and the blonde frowned, thinking back to how nice Sophia was to her.

"No, I won't let him touch her," Violet thought, running over as she picked up a screwdriver and jumped on the walker, stabbing it in the head until Violet knew the walker was dead. Once Violet was sure that this shit head was dead, she looked at Sophia with concern in her green eyes. "Sophia, are you okay?"

Sophia nodded as the two girls noticed more walkers; both ran to Carol and the others as Shane fired his gun at them. "Sophia!" Carol cried, hugging her daughter, and soon brought Sophia into the hug, too happy that her daughter's friend had saved her. "Violet, thank you for saving her," Carol said with tears, worried she would have lost her daughter.

Violet closed her eyes, seeing more people getting attacked and killed, until she heard the sound of gunfire and noticed Glenn, Rick, T-dog, and Daryl all coming into the camp, killing off the walkers.

Rick ran over to Carl and Lori, pulling them into a hug. Jim wandered over to the rest of the group and quietly said. "I remember why I dug the holes now."

The next morning the survivors made sure to stab everyone in the head that was killed by the walkers last night. Glenn, T Dog, and Ryan threw the walkers into the fire. The people that were with them were getting a proper burial. 

Amy hugged her knees and thought how close she came to dying last night if it wasn't for her boyfriend. "Amy," Andrea said, looking at her sister, seeing Amy was still in shock. "Hey, please say something," 

"I could have died," Amy whispered as she looked at her boyfriend, and Andrea said nothing but hug her sister.

Everyone was gathering the bodies. Daryl and Morales were dragging one of their own to the fire. Something that Glenn and Ryan noticed and frowned at as Glenn soon walked over to Daryl. "Hey he wasn't a geek, our people go over there," Glenn said. Ryan was right there with him.

"He's right; we don't burn them. We bury them; that's the least we could do for them... Please," Ryan added as Morales nodded at this and walked away, but Daryl didn't stop looking at the two.

Glenn could see that Daryl wasn't bugging, and he remembered how William had helped him and all he did for the group back in Macon. "Put him in the row over there," Glenn said to Daryl, but he didn't flinch.

"WE DO WHAT YOU GUYS SAY!" Daryl yelled as he looked at Ryan and Glenn.

"SHUT UP, man!" Morales cried out since he could see where this was going, but he wanted to check on his family after what happened last night.

"YOU GUYS LEFT MY BROTHER FOR DEAD YOU GUYS HAD THIS COMING!" Daryl yelled.

"Enough, Daryl Merle was being a dick, so stop it now, people have died Daryl our people!" Ryan yelled back at Daryl face to face. "Let's put them in the ground, okay?"

Violet had heard the whole thing, but it didn't matter as she looked at Sophia and Carol; Violet pulled Sophia away once she saw Carol picking up a pickaxe and Carol repeatedly smashing her husband's head into paste while crying.

"I'm happy he died," Sophia whispered so only Violet could hear as the blonde looked at her, surprised to hear this. "He hurt my mum, he also hurt her and me," Sophia whispered. "He smacked me and even burnt my arm once with his smoking," Violet felt anger hearing what Ed had done to her new friend and watched Carol continue to use the pickaxe.

"Jim's bite!" Jacqui yelled as Violet was soon snapped out from her thoughts and looked at the others seeing the fresh bite on Jim.

Violet only looked at Jim as Sophia hugged her mother; Violet could hear Jim saying he was okay and telling them he felt fine. However, looking at him, Violet knew that with this bite, she doubted Jim would last long.

Chapter Text

The group was going to head to the CDC.

"Everybody listen up." Shane declared as he looked at the group, with everyone paying close attention. "Those of you with C.B.s we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B. Can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?"

No one said anything as Morales spoke up, walking forward. "We're, uh… We're… we're not going," Morales spoke up as the whole group looked at the family.

Ryen was the first to speak up, shocked and also worried to make sure of what he heard from Morales. "What, why? You know what it's like out here. Where will you go?" Ryan asked Morales with a raised eyebrow.

"We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people," Miranda told the group as she smiled at them. 

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back," Shane told the family, feeling worried about what might happen to them out there.

"We'll take the chance. I got to do what's best for my family," Morales spoke, looking at Shane.

Ryan only sighed, looking at the family, wishing they would stay with them since Ryan knew it would be safer for the family. "Okay, but please watch your backs okay."

"You sure?" Rick asked the man hoping Morales knew what he was doing.

Morales looked at his wife, and the two nodded as Ryan sighed and Violet frowned. The group knew there was nothing else to say, knowing the family had fully made up their minds on what they wanted to do. "We talked about it. We're sure." 

"Alright. Shane," Rick spoke while eyeing Shane.

Shane took a deep breath and nodded at the family. "Yeah, alright." 

The two soon went into the bag of weapons that Rick had brought with him and looked at Morales and his family. "357?" 

"Yeah." Rick handed Morales a gun, and Shane handed him ammo.

"The box is half full," Shane told him, hoping he would use it well.

"Thank you all… For everything," Miranda said with tears as Lori and Miranda hugged.

"Good luck, man," Shane said as Ryan nodded, shaking Morales's hand.

"Appreciate it, and Ryan, good luck I hope you can find Violet's brother and your froend," Morales spoke as he looked at Ryan. The older Teen smiled and gave a quick nod.

"Bye, Eliza," Sophia whispered.

"Yeah, bye Sophia, bye Violet," Eliza whispered as she hugged Sophia.

"Bye," Eliza whispered as the young girl looked at Violet. "I hope you can find your brother," she said with a smile, and while Violet said nothing, still thinking about her older brother, she gave Eliza a quick nod.

"Thank you." Miranda and Jacqui hugged. Eliza gave her doll to Sophia, who was crying.

Eliza had tears in her brown eyes looking at Sophia and Violet, knowing this was goodbye. Something Eliza hated, her brother felt the same as she could see her little brother saying goodbye to Carl. "Bye."

"Channel 40 if you change your minds. All right?" Rick expressed, looking at the family since he still felt worried. Hoping the family would be safe out there.

"Yeah," Carol took her daughter in her arms.

Morales, his wife Miranda, and their children went away as the four got into their car and started driving off in the distance.

"What makes you think our odds are any better? Come on. Let's go. Let's move out!" Shane called out to the group and went to their vehicles.

Ryan walked forward, seeing the blonde not moving from her spot, and he knew she was in deep thought. "Violet, come on, we're going!" Ryan called out to his friend's sister.

Violet walked over to Ryan, and she noticed Ryan smile at her as he let Violet join Carol and the others as he went to the RV. He mainly wanted to stay with Amy and keep an eye on Jim.

Sophia was upset seeing her friend Eliza leave with her family since she hoped within her heart that she would stay with the group. Turning her head, Sophia looked at Violet sitting next to her. "Do you think we'll ever see them again?" Sophia questioned the blonde next to her but didn't get an answer.

Not right away, since Violet wasn't sure, she hoped that Eliza and the rest of her family would be safe out there, but she had this nagging feeling in the back of her head that the chance was highly unlikely. "I don't know Sophia," Violet said as she looked at Carol and then Sophia. "How do you feel about your dad?"

Sophia didn't say anything as she looked at Violet. "I'm happy that he's gone and dead," Sophia whispered so her mother didn't hear her. 

Violet said nothing, hearing this as she noticed the car soon stopped, and Carol and the others all got out. "It's Jim," Ryan said, looking at the group. "He's run out of time."

Violet and Sophia didn't say anything as the two girls watched Shane and Rick carry Jim over to a nearby tree. "Hey," Jim breathed with a smile as he looked up at the tree. "Another damn tree," he said with a small laugh.

Ryan moved closer to Jim as Violet and the others watched the dying man as Amy began crying. "Jim, are you sure you want this?" Ryan questioned, looking at the poor man, but Ryan noticed the smile on Jim's face.

Jim smiled, looking at Ryan, and nodded. "No. It's good. The breeze feels nice," Jim told them with a smile, but it didn't help ease the worry the group felt looking at Jim.

Shane didn't say anything as he continued to look at Jim, knowing this was what he wanted. "Okay. All right then, Jim," Shane said before looking at the others walking over.

Jacqui slowly made her way over to Jim and Ryan, and Violet could see she wasn't happy with what was happening to Jim. "Just close your eyes, sweetie. Don't fight," Jacqui whispered before she kissed him on the cheek but soon left, unable to watch him die like this.

"I'm sorry this happened to you, man," Ryan spoke, looking at Jim, wishing he had done something to save him. "I wish I was a little faster, then this wouldn't be happening to you."

Once again, Jim looked at Ryan and smiled. "Don't be you saved Amy, and I'm okay with that, just make sure you stay safe," Jim whispered with his voice growing weaker, and everyone knew it.

Ryan soon stepped back as Rick walked over with a gun held tightly in his right hand and looked at Jim. "Jim, do you want this?" Rick questioned, holding the gun out for Jim.

"No. You'll need it. I'm okay. I'm okay," Jim told Rick with labored breath as he closed his eyes, trying to catch some air.

"Oh. Hey. Thanks for, uh, for fighting for us," Dale said, showing Jim a smile as he began walking away from Jim.

"Okay," The group departed after making goodbye signs to Jim, with Daryl being the last one to look at Jim and nodding at the dying man.

Everyone soon started driving away, but the kids all looked out the window and at Jim, who smiled at his friends before Violet noticed his head quickly went limp.

It was a scene straight out of a nightmare, Violet thought, looking at the dead bodies on the ground. The stench was atrocious as Violet covered her face trying to block the smell.

Shane was ushering everybody to stay moving forward and for everyone to stay together and stay quiet, though the buzzing of insects almost drowned his whispers out. The people without weapons stuck to the center while all those with weapons surrounded them.

"There's nobody here," T-Dog whispered, feeling on edge.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick reasoned.

"Rick's right," Ryan whispered, but he didn't like staying out here since he could see the sun setting.

"Walkers!" Daryl shouted as the others noticed three walkers heading to them. After he fired the bolt, he angrily turned on Rick. "You led us into a graveyard!"

"He made a call," Dale tried to ensure Daryl didn't cause any commotion.

"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl yelled, storming up to Rick.

"Just shut up. You hear me? Shut up. Shut up!" Shane said as he got in between the two and pushed Daryl back. "Rick, this is a dead-end," he said, rounding on his friend.

Sophia whimpered in fear and held Violet's hand, something that caused the blonde to blush, but Violet ignored it for now. "Don't worry, Sophia," Violet whispered.

"Where are we going to go?" Carol whined, seeing the look of fear that her daughter had, who was sticking closer to her mother and Violet.

"Do you hear me?" Shane continued, but his attention was all on Rick. "No blame."

"She's right," Lori cut in, looking at the two, but she also wanted to leave this place, seeing both her son and Sophia becoming frightened. "We can't be here, this close to the city after dark."

"Fort Benning, Rick, still an option," Shane tried, but Shane could tell it was becoming hard to get his friend to move.

"Hundred twenty five," Glenn said, looking at the two. "I checked the map."

Daryl loaded the rifle he was carrying as Lori said, "Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight, now."

"We'll think of something," Rick said.

"Come on. Let's go," Shane said, ushering everybody to move. "Alright, everybody back to the cars."

"The camera. It moved," Rick said suddenly.

"You imagined it," Dale said.

"No, it moved," he said.

"Rick, it's dead. It's an automated device. It's gears okay. Just winding down," Shane said. "Man, just listen to me. Look around this place. It's dead. It's dead, okay? You need to let it go, Rick."

Rick just fought against him and banged the shutters as Lori screamed, "Rick, there's no one here!"

"I know you're in there. I know you can hear me," Rick said up at the camera. "Please, we're desperate!" Rick pleaded his case, and Shane was rallying everybody to return to the cars. 

"Please help us. We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left." Lori ran back to him, urging him that no one was there. "We have nowhere else to go. If you don't let us in, you're killing us!" Rick banged on the shutters as Shane pulled Lori away and made a grab at Rick. "You're killing us! You're killing us! You're killing us!"

Everyone was in a flurry of motion. Ryan had Violet behind him but wanted to keep his friend's sister safe. "Violet, stay close," he said, looking at the blonde who said nothing but nodded.

Violet could see the fear on Sophia's face, and she wanted to make sure she was okay. "Sophia, please, I know you can be brave," Violet said, smiling, feeling her heart beat faster as she held Sophia's hand, but the blonde brushed it aside.

The kids were crying, and the other women weren't doing much better. Amy hugged her sister, aside from Rick and Shane, who were encircling the women and kids as best they could, with everyone being so anxious, all on high alert for walkers.

Shane was hauling Rick away from the shutters while the cacophony of noise that surrounded them brought. Just as he managed to get Rick back to the group and, looking resigned, a bright light engulfed them. The shutters to the door were soon opened, shocking them all into silence.

"Damn we need to get in!" Ryan yelled as the whole group nodded, seeing another walker.

A gun cocking behind them had everyone turning towards the sound with weapons raised. Standing next to a banister, a man had a military automatic AR-15 pointed at the group. One sweep with that thing, and they would all be dead or on their way before they could pull their triggers. He looked unassuming aside from the gun; average height, average build. He was wearing what looked to be sweats and a plain gray t-shirt. His hair was a disheveled blonde mess on top of his plain-featured face. It almost seemed as if he wasn't sure why he was even bothering with living.

"Anybody infected?" he asked.

"One of our group was," Rick replied, looking at the man. "He didn't make it."

Violet watched the man and Rick as they continued to talk, but it was all a blur to the blonde. She noticed Sophia was staying close to her, and Violet couldn't blame her as she looked at the man.

The man looked around at everyone. "You'll all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."

Rick nodded his head., "We can do that."

"You got stuff to bring in. You do it now. Once this door closes, it won't open again," the man said, pointing at the door and moving towards Rick.

After taking the blood tests and making her way to her room Violet didn't want to eat much food. So, for the next few hours, Violet sat alone in her room until she heard a knock on her door.

Violet noticed Sophia and Carol coming into the room with the latter bringing some food with her. "Here, I thought you might be hungry," Carol said with a smile as she looked at Violet. 

Sophia nodded, sitting next to Violet. "Yeah, Ryan wants to talk to Mr. Rick," Sophia told Violet with a sweet smile while holding the doll Eliza gave her. 

Violet looked at Sophia and did her best to smile at her friend. "Thanks, I just don't think my brother could be alive still," Violet said, thinking about her brother, worried about what could have happened to him.

Carol kept her eyes focused on Violet, seeing how worried the poor child was, and she knew what Glenn told her about her mother, which still hurt her. "Maybe he can't get here, but from what little Glenn has told us we know he loves you and might be heading to your old school."

 "Why don't we go there?" Sophia spoke up, looking at her friend and then at her mother. 

"It's all the way in West Virginia, and I don't think anyone would be left alive," Violet told Sophia as mother and daughter looked at the blonde. "All our teachers left us to die, and only our Nurse stayed with us."

Carol, after hearing this, frowns as she pulls Sophia closer, hearing how the teachers could do this. "I'm sorry to hear that, Violet," Carol said, seeing Violet was deeply upset.

The rest of the evening was spent with Sophia reading books, while Carol stayed with her daughter and Violet. Carol felt bad for the poor girl, but she had Sophia by her side. Soon the two girls drifted to sleep as Carol watched and smiled since she felt happy her daughter had a good friend.

The next morning arrived sooner than Violet would have liked, but the blonde wanted to stay in her room. Until Carol came into the room to tell Violet to join her as the doctor, Jenner wanted to show the whole group something. 

Violet nodded and got off her bed and followed Carol. "I hope it's something good," she whispered, but Carol still heard her and looked at her, worried for the poor child.

The doctor once again, Jenner, led them to the big room and called on the VI to call up a playback. Violet looked at what the doctor was showing them.

A computer-simulated person was shown with numerous panels showing different sides of a brain scan on the screen. After a small exchange with Carl, he had the computer go into enhanced internal view mode that allowed the group to see the synapses. 

"What are those lights?" Shane asked.

"It's a person's life, experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you. The thing that makes you unique and human," Jenner answered.

"You don't make sense ever?" Daryl asked.

"Electric impulses in the brain," Amy answered, holding onto her sister, fearing that this could have happened to her if Ryan didn't save her. 

"Yes," Jenner said, nodding and looking at the blonde, seeing the fear on her face. "They determine everything a person says from the moment of birth to the moment of death."

"Wait, death?" Rick backpedaled, turning to Jenner. "That's what this is, a vigil?"

"Yes," Jenner began looking at the computer screen. "Or rather the playback of the vigil."

"This person died?" Andrea asked, looking sad and confused as Amy hugged her sister. "Who?" Andrea questioned, looking at Jenner.

"Test subject 19," Jenner said sadly. "Someone who was bitten and infected and volunteered to have us record the process. VI, scan forward to the first event." As the computer complied, the playback raced until it reached a point where the brain activity was darkening.

"That doesn't look good," Ryan said as Violet nodded, knowing this is what happened to her mother.

Jenner didn't answer Ryan, but he continued looking at the screen. "It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, and then the major organs. Then death. Everything you ever were or will be, gone."

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked, looking at her mother, but knew this also happened to her friend's mother and Violet was worried for her brother. 

"Yes," Carol admitted sadly, as she pulled her daughter closer but could see how Violet reacted when hearing this. 

"Violet," Sophia said, looking at her friend, seeing Violet tense up hearing this, and her thoughts went to Jim and the pain he was in did her mother suffered.

Everyone stood for a moment taking in the information before Lori spoke up, answering the look Jenner gave Violet. "She lost her mother and now has no idea if her brother is alive or one of the dead."

"I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is," Jenner walked up to the young girl and offered before turning away. "Scan to the second event. The resurrection times vary wildly. We have reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute, seven seconds."

Lights began to form in the brain as they watched the screen, causing Lori to ask. "It restarts the brain?"  

Jenner looked at Lori with a worried expression. "No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving."

"But they're not alive?" Rick questioned as he remembered the one walker who lost the lower half of her body.

"The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part," Jenner expanded, looking at Rick and the others. "That doesn't come back. The you part. Just a shell. Driven by mindless instinct."

As he finished explaining, a flash shot on the screen followed by what appeared to be an object tunneling itself through the patient's head. "God," Carol cried out. "What was that?"

"He shot his patient in the head," Andrea said without emotion. "Didn't you?"

"VI, power down the main screen and the work stations," Jenner said and turned away.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asked, slightly irritated.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal," the man listed.

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui offered.

"There is that."

"Somebody must know something. Somebody. Somewhere," Andrea pressed.

"There are others, right?" Carol questioned. "Other facilities?"

"There may be some," Jenner offered. "People like me."

Rick stalked up he already didn't like this. "But you don't know? How can you not know?"

"Everything went down. Communications, directives. All of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month."

"So it's not just here," Andrea stated. "There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?"

Jenner didn't answer, and after a pregnant pause, it was clear he wasn't going to. The releases of breaths and looks of hopelessness on some of the survivors' faces said it all.

"Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk again," Daryl said,

"Dr. Jenner," Dale spoke up somewhat bitterly, "I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but. That clock. It's counting down. What happens at zero?"

"The basement generators, they run out of fuel," the man said quickly before clamming up.

"And then?" Rick asked, but the doctor simply kept walking. "VI. What happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur," came the automated response.

"It's not up to me," said Jenner. "Zone 5 is shutting itself down."

"Hey!" Daryl said, pulling away from Rick and storming after the man. 
"Hey, what the hell does that mean? Hey man I'm talking to you. What do you mean, shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"

"You'd be surprised," was his only answer.

The sound of footfalls had Lori bending over the railing and calling out to her husband. As Jenner and the group walked by where Rick and the others had exited, Rick asked, "Jenner, what's happening?"

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule," the man answered as the group walked into the big room. Jenner stopped and turned around, handing Daryl back the bottle, who yanked it away, and back to Andrea. "It was the French."

"What?" she asked, confused.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs until the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

"What happened?" Jacqui asked.

"The same thing that's happening here," Jenner said. "No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel! I mean, how stupid is that?" He turned around and walked towards the workstations.

Shane followed him up, "Let me tell you-"

"To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care," Rick said, turning to Lori. "Lori, grab our things, everybody get your stuff. We're getting out of here. NOW!"

Everyone started moving towards the lounge rooms as a loud alarm rang out. Everyone stopped in their tracks, only to see the screen counting down from 30 minutes. At the end of the countdown, decontamination would occur.

"Doc, what's goin' on here now?" Daryl yelled.

"Everybody, y'all heard Rick," Shane said. "Now, everybody! Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!"

That got feet moving again until Jenner locked the only entryway to the surface. "Did you just lock us in?" Glenn asked in shock. "He just locked us in!"

The look on Daryl's face as he realized what Jenner did quickly morphed into a rage as he moved as deftly as he could towards the doctor, "You son of a bitch!"

"Shane!" Rick shouted, pointing at Daryl.

"You locked us in here!" Daryl continued as he neared the man who was muttering at one of the workstations.

"No, stop! Don't," Glenn tried.

"You lyin'-" Daryl started as Shane reached him, saying a string of no. Daryl fought against him hard enough that T-Dog went over to help keep him away from the doctor. After struggling for a couple minutes, Daryl finally stopped trying to bash the doctor in with the bottle he'd gotten back.

"Hey, Jenner, open that door now," Rick said, walking up to Jenner sternly.

"There's no point," the man replied. "Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exists are sealed."

"Well open the damn things," Daryl growled out.

"That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you, once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that. It's better this way."

"What is?" Rick asked. "What happens in 28 minutes?"

When the doctor just turned back to the work station, Shane yelled the question at him again while pulling him away from it. "Come on," Jenner started before getting worked up. "You know what this place is?! We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! EVER!" he roared while rounding on Rick, Shane, and Daryl, while Violet looked horrified. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure, in a terrorist attack, for example, H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out," he said as he composed himself and sat back down.

"H.I.T.s?" Rick asked.

"VI, define."

"H.I.T.s – high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear!" the computer automated voice replied as many of the women broke down while the men were in shock. "The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5000 and 6000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

"No pain. An end to sorrow, grief, regret," Jenner explained. "Everything."

As the clock continued its countdown, Rick, Daryl, and a few others were by the door trying to get it to open. There was no way, though, and the whole process ended with Daryl throwing the liquor bottle at the door and yelling at Jenner, "Open the damn door now!"

Shane ran up with an ax yelling at them to get out of his way, but it didn't even make a dent when he swung it full force. T-Dog yelled to Daryl before tossing him an ax he easily caught. Both he and Shane began wailing at the door to no avail.

The doctor was being an ass in Tea's opinion when he said, "Should of just left well enough alone. It would've been so much easier."

"Easier for who?" Lori spat.

"All of you," Jenner tried to reason. "You know what's out there. A short, brutal life and an agonizing death. Your, your mother and your brother," he said, turning to Violet. "You know that he could be dead?" he asked as Violet said nothing.

"Hey you leave her the fuck alone!" Ryan yelled.

"You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that really what you want for your wife and kids?" he asked Rick.

"I don't want this," Rick said as Shane walked up out of breath, letting him know they couldn't do anything.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher," Jenner said.

"Well your head ain't!" Daryl yelled as he approached the man with the ax raised.

It took Rick, Dale, T-Dog, and Tea to get him to back down; as the others tried to wrestle the axe from him, she reasoned that Jenner was the only one who knew how to open the doors. 

Jenner didn't say anything going back to Rick's comment, as Jenner stood up and said something that shocked everyone. "You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."

The gasps of surprise and Lori's "What?" did not go unnoticed.

"What you really say that?" Shane asked. "After all your big talk?"

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick said.

"There is no hope," Jenner countered. "There never was."

"There's always hope," Rick started. "Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody, somewhere..."

"What part of 'everything's gone' do you not understand?" Andrea asked.

"Listen to your friend," Jenner said. "She gets it."

"This is what takes us out," Jenner said. "This is our extinction event."

"This isn't right," Carol choked out through her tears. "You can't just keep us here."

"One tiny moment. A millisecond. A tiny pain," he tried to reason.

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!"

"Wouldn't it be kinder. More compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?"

"I think you're lying," Rick said.

"What?"

"You're lying," he reiterated, "About no hope. If that were true you would have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. But you didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"

"It doesn't matter," Jenner said.

"It does matter!" Rick pushed. "It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?"

"Not because I wanted to," Jenner said, standing. "I made a promise to her. My wife," he said, pointing at the screen.

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asked.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no. She was dying," Jenner said as Daryl went back to swing the ax on the door. "It should have been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to no one. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place while I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just Edwin Jenner. She could have done something about this. Not me."

"Your wife didn't have a choice," Rick added. "You do. That's, that's all we want. A choice, and a chance."

"Let us keep trying as long as we can, you owe need to try," came Lori's weak and shaky voice.

Jenner sighed as he walked around Rick. "I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." He released the door.

"Come on!" Daryl shouted. "Come on! Let's go!" he continued to yell as everyone started running.

"Come on!" Shane yelled. Everyone started to head to the exit. They got to the main doors, and T-Dog banged at them while Ryan tried breaking the glass.

"Get them doors open!" Rick cried out.

"Come on!"
 
"It doesn't work!" Glenn said, trying to open the doors.

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" T-Dog said, going over to a panel on the wall. "Try it! Try it! Try it now!"

"Daryl!" Rick cried out, running over to a window. Daryl let go of Kira's hand to run over and hit the window; he threw an axe over to Rick before hitting the window with his axe.

"Come on! Come on!"

"Stay close, sweetheart." Carol said.

"Daryl, look out!" T-Dog came up with a chair and tried to break the window.

"Dog, get down! Get down!" Shane said, going over with a shotgun. He shot the window, but it did nothing. "Jesus."

"The glass won't break?" Sophia asked, looking at her mother and then at Violet as Violet took her friend's hand to reassure her.

"Rick, I have something that might help," Carol said, going over and reaching into her bag.

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's going to help right now," Shane said condescendingly, looking at Carol.

"That first night at camp," she continued, ignoring Shane as Rick looked at Carol. "When I did your laundry? I found this in your pocket."

Rick watched Carol seeing in her outstretched palm a single grenade, which left Violet and Ryan shocked. That would definitely break the window, but what would the damage be to the group? Whoever placed it would only have 6 seconds to get the hell out of dodge and cover, or they'd be covered in shrapnel and debris. Rick seemed to carefully think about it before telling everybody to get down.

Ryan and the others nodded and took cover as he looked at Rick using the grenade.

The group began running as everyone knew they had very little time left, but unfortunately, walkers decided to show up, which pissed Ryan off. "Oh, come on, does this shit never end with them!" Ryan said, shooting one walker in the head as Shane killed another one.

Violet watched Daryl cutting off one walker's head, but she looked back at the CDC as Ryan joined Carol and Sophia in the car. "Violet, hurry up and get in!"

Rick looked at his watch, knowing that there were only five seconds left. "Everyone, get down!" Rick cried out as they all ducked from the explosion that was mere seconds away.

Slowly fire seemed to appear throughout the building. Everyone dove down into their vehicles for cover as the CDC exploded into a fiery explosion. The rubble flew everywhere as the building collapsed into itself. Slowly everyone sat back up and watched as black smoke came out of the rubble. Dale slowly started the RV and turned it around as the others followed suit, leaving the burning CDC rubble in the distance.

"Now, where do we go?" Violet asked as Ryan looked at Violet, unsure what he should tell the blonde girl he was looking after.

Chapter Text

In the woods later after the events of the motel in chapter 8...

The strangers, also known as Andy and Danny took the lead as they lead the group through the forest to their farm. They had some conversations on the way there.

"So... my name is Andy and this is Danny. It was nice to come across you all." Andy said to the others while they continued walking. "No problem. Weird running into more faces in times like these. Not a lot of people around since the world went to hell." William replied in a friendly way to try and give the brothers a good impression.

"Aw hell. The world may be dying but we're not dead yet. There's still some hope but a lot of shit in the mix." Andy responded to William's comment, trying to give the group an optimistic and realistic view of the world. 

The rest of the group are asked about their group while the group asked Andy and Danny about the food. Once this conversation ended, Lee spoke to William in private while still keeping up with the others. 

"Hey, man. Just wanted to talk away from the others," William quietly said to Lee, slowing down so they can talk easier. "What's up?" Lee replied. He knew William had questions about the current encounter. "What's your thoughts on the brothers? Think we can trust em?" He asked Lee, hoping for an honest answer.

"If you want my opinion, then I'm not sure what to think. The group's in a tight spot and we could do with some food. It's a risk we gotta take." Lee answered honestly. William didn't like the risk they were taking but he understood the desperation and couldn't argue against the decision. "I get it. Desperation. We're all fucking hungry and it sucks. Just know I've always got your back, dude. You're like a brother to me and don't forget that." William replied with respect. They shook hands and hugged for a second, further sealing the deal on their friendship. 

"So how's it going with Carley?" William suddenly said out of nowhere, shifting the pressure on Lee in a non-harmful sensitive way. "Huh? Where'd that come from, man?" Lee replied with a small nerve in his tone. William knew that Lee and Carley took a liking to each other. "Listen, man, I know you like Carley. I'm not judging. Honestly, she sounds cool for you." He said to Lee, trying to tease him. Lee allowed it since he and William are good friends.

"Alright. I guess I do like her. She's the only one who understands me for who I am. Most people don't understand." Lee openly admitted his feelings, knowing he can trust William with this information. "Hey. I'm the same with Sandra, it's fine, my dude. You'll find the right time to tell her how you feel." William told Lee, trying to relate to his position. They talk more about love and what to do with it until they're eventually interrupted by the brothers when they ran into 2 random bandits who argued. 

Everyone laid low and waited out the bandit argument and once it was safe, they had finally made it to the dairy farm. Lee and Mark stayed there to check the place out to make sure it was safe. Carley, William and Ben were all tasked to head back to the motel to help with sending everyone to the farm. On the way back, William and Carley heard walkers by a nearby camp. They were agitated by something or someone. 

"William? Do you hear that?" Carley asked him, wondering if he heard it too. "Yeah. Walkers. Worked up about something." He replied, knowing what could be going on. "Or someone," Carley added. "We should check it out, William. Could be someone in danger."

"Shouldn't we be getting back, guys?" Ben interrupted. Carley shook her head at him. "Nah. If there's someone who could be in danger, we have to help them, Ben." She told him. William agreed. "Yeah. Carley's right. We don't leave another person behind. We help them if we can."

"Thank you," Carley said with a smile. The three of them slowly approached the camp in question.

Two walkers could be heard approaching a tent. "AGHH! Get away from me!" A young girl screamed from inside the tent. The walkers continued roaring at her as they tried to rip open her tent.

"Shit. You hear that? It's a girl. Sounds pretty young too. We gotta save her." William whispered, trying not to attract attention. Carley nodded. They both slowly sneaked up on the walkers and took them out. When they opened the girl's tent to see if she was okay, the girl panicked.

"Oh god! Don't hurt me!" She screamed, thinking they were bad people. "Woah. Relax, kid. We're not bandits or bad people. We're just here to help." William said to calm her down. "You don't look like those people." She replied calmly while holding onto a pillow in fear. "What people?" William asked her. "The men with masks and guns. They tried taking me but the monsters chased them away and some of them nearly got me too." She answered while still keeping her distance from William.

Carley peeked into the tent and the girl came out since she knew that they weren't a threat to her since the people who scared her were only men. She hugged Carley since she was scared and Carley accepted the girl's sign of friendship. 

"Thank god. All the men out here. They're scary. Sorry if I'm being weird." The girl said to Carley, feeling safe around her. "Hey. You okay? Are you alone out here? How old are you?" Carley asked her with some concern. The girl hesitated to answer but she trusted them. "When the monsters first started killing people a few months ago, my father took me across the water from Scotland and we travelled across a few states. We ended up here. A few hours ago, these bad people killed him and I tried hiding from them here." She explained to Carley. "Oh... I forgot to answer you. I'm Lauren and I'm 10."

"Well hey, Lauren. I'm Carley. This is Ben and William. We'll take you back to our group. There's other kids you can also talk to." Carley greeted her. William smiled while Ben just stood there.

"You know, Lee once told me about another Scottish kid he met back at a farm just before he met us in Macon. I don't know much about it but he did mention it." William mentioned. Lauren noticed what he said. "Oh. I think I know who that could be. Who was the boy with? Did he have a brother and a tall bald man?" She asked but sadly, William had no idea who she was talking about. "Sorry. Not got a clue, kid. You'd have to ask Lee. He's the one who knows em." William replied with a clueless tone. The girl was disappointed but she was willing to wait. 

"Okay. Thanks for saving me though. I'm going to trust you to keep me safe, yeah?" Lauren said, feeling great now. "We'll guard you with our lives. Just like the others. Let's get you somewhere safer." Carley happily said as she took the girl's hand and kept her close as they went back to the motel with William and Ben.

Back at the Motel...

Lilly was on watch. It was quiet and calm at the motel. You could hear the crickets, that's how quiet it was.

Clementine looked to be feeling lonely. Lilly noticed this. She knew that Clem was hoping Lee would soon return. She took a minute to leave her guard post to comfort the lonely sad girl.

"You okay, Clem? I know you're missing Lee." Lilly said as she sat down with Clem. "He should be back soon... I hope." 

"I know it sounds silly but I just like having him around." Clem softly replied while letting out her sadness to Lilly who was listening to her.

"I know the feeling," Lilly told Clem, trying to show her that she understands what Clem was feeling. "He's like a father to you. Don't get me wrong, my dad can be a mean person at times and he for sure has his differences with Lee but in the end, he's my dad and I don't know what I'd do if he wasn't here. I'm sure you feel the same with Lee as I do with my dad."

"I do." Clem said. 

"You're a smart kid. You'll grow up to be a strong adult too." Lilly praised Clem. "Just gotta stick it out and be strong when you have to be. Even if it's hard."

Clem smiled at Lilly's comment. Lilly was glad to have cheered up Clem. The moment between the two was cut short when William's group returned. The gates opened and Lilly left Clem to go and check on the others who had just come back. She wasn't happy when she saw another stranger but she didn't say anything since it was just a child. She looked at them in a way that asked them "Who is she?".

William saw Lilly's face and knew she was full of questions.

"Listen, Lilly." William began as Lilly just continued staring at him in silence. "She was alone in the woods and said that her dad was killed by some bad people."

The girl nodded to confirm what William said was true. Lilly sighed at this.

"Just get inside," Lilly muttered. "We'll talk about this later."

William's group came in and Lauren was greeted by the rest of the group. Before Lilly and the entire motel group agreed to head out and join Lee and Mark at the dairy, Lauren sat with Clem for a while and they drew pictures with Duck. When the group was ready to head out, Ben, William, and Carley were left behind to watch over the motel lot. Lauren stayed behind too since Carley swore to take care of the young girl with her life.

Later at the Dairy Farm...

Lilly and the gang all arrived as they saw Mark with an arrow lodged inside his shoulder. This caused Lilly and her group to freak out on arrival.

"Oh my god!" Lilly calmly exclaimed. "Are you okay?!"

"It's alright. It's okay. I got shot." Mark calmly said in pain. "I think... I can just pull it out."

"Oh no, honey," Brenda said. "You come with me and I'll get you sorted out."

Brenda took Mark inside the St John house to help him out.

"Goddammit! Carley said this place was safe." Larry complained. 

Lee approached Larry. "Come on, man. It was just a fluke. We got attacked by some fucking bandits when covering the outside."

"A fluke? The fuck, Lee?" Kenny said, not liking what he heard from Lee. 

"Let it go, Kenny. It's probably best we let the brothers explain themselves." Sandra interrupted.

"They gave us hassle before," Andy said. "We thought we could strike a deal with them but then they attacked. One thing for sure is that we will not put up with this shit."

"Food for protection," Danny added. "We gave 'em some and they did stop hassling us until just now."

"You know where these assholes are?" Kenny asked.

"We got sights on one of their camps," Danny replied. "When Lee's ready, he can join me in scouting them out and we'll all mount up for some revenge."

Danny walked away.

"This is some bullshit." Lilly moaned. "This place isn't safe."

"Not safe?!" Kenny jumped in. "This place is a helluva lot safer than that motor inn. I'm pretty sure our guns can handle a couple of punks with bows and arrows."

"He's right," Lee agreed. "Everyone just try to calm down and we'll figure this out, all right?"

"Cool. I'm feeling... pretty calm right now." Larry said. "I suggest getting to the bottom of this before I change my mind."

Lee rolled his eyes in response to that.

Everyone settled in and Andy showed Clem and Duck to a set of swings he repaired for them to play on. Lee then joined Andy and Danny at the front of the house and Lee went out scouting with Danny while Andy stayed behind to keep things in order at the farm.

At the Motel later that night...

It was storming outside and William's group were camping in the RV since it was cold outside. 

"Where the hell is everyone? They said they'd be back tonight." William asked while shivering. 

"No clue. I say we go out to look for them." Carley replied, suggesting the next move. "Something must have happened."

"To be honest, I think you're right." William agreed. "No one in the group has ever been this late back from a run before."

"I know what happened to them." Lauren suddenly muttered.

"What?!" Carley replied in shock. 

"Two men, right? They have a farm." Lauren continued. William, Ben, and Carley listened. "It's the place my father was killed. We thought they were nice. They gave us food, a place to stay. It was all lies. They fed us people. Then they tried to lock us up. My father fought hard but he wasn't strong enough. They cut him up, still alive. Right in front of me. I ran and hid in that camp you found me in. If those are the same people that your group went with, they're probably dead."

The jaws of Carley and William dropped and Ben almost threw up when hearing this.

"Fuck..." Carley quietly muttered under her breath while pacing around in disbelief. William was speechless as he just sat there in silence. 

"There might still be time. They always lock up their victims before they kill." Lauren also said.

"Then what the hell are waiting for?" William said in a rush. "Let's go find them before it's too late." 

William left and dragged Ben with him.

"They better fucking not have touched Sandra," William said as Carley could see he was worried.

"Stay close to me. I'm not losing you too." Carley said to Lauren, making sure to keep the girl safe.

They both went out into the storm and joined William and Ben in hunting for Lee's group.

At the Dairy Farm during a dark and stormy night...

Carley sneaked up to the farm with her group. They could hear screaming.

"Listen. I'll sneak around the back with Ben. See what you can find around this side. Good luck." William whispered as he sneaked away with Ben.

"Lauren? Do you know where they'd hold prisoners?" Carley asked her. 

"Yeah." She answered. "In that barn. I think they have a meat locker in there."

Carley nodded at her and proceeded to stealthily approach the barn. On the way up to it, while still hiding in the bushes, they saw Lee running outside in a panic. He had blood all over his face and jacket.

"Lee!" Carley loudly whispered over to Lee.

Lee noticed her.

"Carley. We need your help." Lee said while waving over to her. 

"Yeah, so we figured when you didn't come back," Carley told him. "What the hell happened here?"

"A lot of things," Lee replied with a regretful tone. "A few of us got killed."

"Shit..." Carley muttered in shock. "Who died?"

"Mark, Larry and..." Lee replied, hesitating to finish his sentence. "... and Sandra."

"Damn," Carley said. "Is Clem alright?"

Lee gave Carley a very non-reassuring look. "No. She's destroyed emotionally. She won't even talk to anyone."

"Shit..." Carley muttered as she realized that William wasn't going to like this news. 

"What?" Lee asked her since he was confused. 

"It's William." Carley reminded him. Now he understood. "Should we come in and help?"

"No. Stay out of sight and cover us." Lee told her "The others inside the barn are fine. It's just Kenny, Katjaa, and Duck that are missing. If we both storm the house, we'll cause a panic."

"Okay. I've got your back from here. Just give me a shout if you need me to take any shots." Carley said as she crept back into the bush with Lauren.

Lee crept up to the house to confront Brenda who had Katjaa held at gunpoint. That conflict resulted in Brenda's death at the hands of an undead legless Mark. As Lee came back outside with Katjaa, William spotted Andy with Duck and William got into a fight with Andy. Kenny tried to assist William but got sucker-punched in the face and knocked out by the butt of Andy's gun. Lee ran to William's aid but it was too late. Andy had pushed William into the electric fence and fried him. William was unable to move due to the high voltage exposure, thus causing Lee to have to take on Andy by himself. Carley assisted Lee and landed a shot on Andy's shoulder to give Lee the upper hand. Andy still overpowered Lee and Lilly aimed her gun at Andy but hesitantly refused to help Lee for some odd reason. Carley didn't like this and she saved Lee herself with another well-placed shot.

Lee finally overpowered Andy and threw him into the electric fence, defeating him. Andy slowly sat up after the fall.

"Is that all you got, Lee? You ain't shit!" Andy yelled.

"It's over!!!" Lee yelled back as everyone came out and watched. 

"As soon as Momma and Danny get out here, you're all fucked!" Andy said while coughing up blood. 

Lee began to walk away only for Andy to interrupt him.

"I'm talking to you, asshole!" Andy screamed. Lee continued to ignore him. Only then, did Andy realize that they were dead. "What the fuck did you do?!"

Lee continued to walk away.

"Don't you walk away from me, Lee!" Andy continued to goad him on but to no avail. "Get back here and finish this!"

William slowly sat up in pain. "Go fuck yourself, asshole."

William shot Andy in the head after saying that. Lee helped him stand up. They helped Kenny get up too.

The generators ran out of fuel and the fences turned off. The walkers began pouring in.

"They're getting in!" Clem pointed out.

"We're leaving anyway. Fuckers crossed the line. I take it Sandra didn't make it either?" William said while slowly limping since he was still fried. 

The others shook their heads. William acknowledged this. Lee helped William walk as the group all left the farm as it got overrun by walkers in the background.

By the end of this chapter, Mark, Larry and Sandra had all been killed. William was left in a very emotionally violent state while Clem and Lilly were traumatised. Carley and Lee were left in shock. Mark's legs were chopped off and fed to some people while Larry died from a heart attack in the meat locker. It will be soon revealed later from the group that Sandra was killed by Larry since he turned into a walker in the locker and went straight for her. It was Sandra's fault too since she stopped Lee and Kenny from bashing his brains in before he turned. Lilly didn't try to save Lee since Lee and Kenny were willing to put Larry down with no proof he was dead. (Even though they turned out to be right). 

Chapter Text

At the Motel Lot a while after the events of the Dairy Farm...

Things have been tense in the past few days since the incident and the entire group has been on edge since the bandits were on their case ever since the St Johns fell. Kenny and Lee are currently on a supply run to the drugstore to scrape what's left of it while the rest of the group has been constantly on high alert ever since they watched a recording on a tape recorder that warned them that the bandits are on them. Ben was on watch while William was still recovering from the high voltage when he was electrocuted at the farm. 

"William, are you okay? You look down," Carley asked him as she walked up to him to sit with him.

William looked back at her with a face that looked like he was done with everything. "I liked her, you know. Did I ever tell you that?" He calmly replied fighting back the tears. 

"Sandra?" Carley asked just to make sure.

"Yeah." He answered back. "Clem is messed up about it too. She basically lost another mother. That's what Sandra was to her."

"I just wish we were there to save them sooner," Carley said.

"I feel you on that." He told her. "Just goes to show that you can't fucking trust anyone in this messed up world now."

"Yeah." Carley sighed. "All we got is each other now. Speaking of... have you seen the state Lilly is in?"

William stood up as he acknowledged what Carley just said. "She's gonna snap. I could see it in her bones ever since we walked off that farm with her."

Carley stood up too. "Yes, she is. I'm worried too since it seems like Lee and Kenny will most likely be targeted since they're the ones Lilly has an issue with."

"What about the kid?" William added. "The new kid. Lauren."

"Nothing. We take care of her. Just like Lee takes care of Clem and Kenny takes care of Duck. Lauren is our responsibility now. She looks to us, William." Carley told him, making sure he understood his new responsibilities. William nodded.

They both looked over at the kids who were all drawing pictures together. It put a smile on their faces as they watched them have fun.

William then turned back to Carley to ask her something else.

"So Carley..." William said slowly. "What's your deal?"

Carley looked confused. "What?"

"With Lee that is," William added. This awoke something in Carley since she knew what he was on about now.

"Oh... you are not saying what I think you are, are you?" Carley suddenly said with a weird tone.

"Come on. Lee already told me his side of the deal. I wanna hear yours." William said, hoping Carley would open up about it.

"Fuck it. What have I to lose at this point?" Carley muttered. "He inspires me. The good things he does for everyone here. If you talk to him, he might open up to you about something only he and I know about. Just tell him that I told you to ask about it. I can't tell you since he trusted me to not say to anyone about it unless he's okay with it."

"Okay then..." William said in a slightly confused tone.

Lee and Kenny returned. Carley and William noticed. 

"Ah... speak of the devil," Carley commented as she approached the gate to greet Lee. Kenny walked up to William to show him the supplies they got.

"Hey, man. Lee and I got a lot of shit from downtown." Kenny said as he showed William the bag of supplies. William looked impressed. 

William looked at Lilly's room as he spoke. "You should probably show that stuff to Lilly. Maybe it will chill her out for once."

"I hope so. We went through stupid shit to get this stuff." Kenny replied as he walked up to Lilly's room, calling Lee to join him too. 

After a small argument with Lilly, Lee went in to speak to her alone and got offered a task to poke around the lot regarding a broken flashlight. Lilly thought there was a traitor in the group since some of her personal meds went missing. Lee agreed to snoop around for her. After speaking to Carley after being called to talk, Lee approached William to speak to him regarding the thing Carley just mentioned. Carley must have told Lee to tell William about it.

"Hey," Lee greeted William.

"Sup, man," William responded. He knew what Lee was about to speak to him about.

"I wanted to tell you something." Lee continued. William was listening. "On the first few days of all of this, I was actually heading to prison for murder."

William said nothing. Lee continued speaking. "A state senator was sleeping with my wife. When I found out, I went nuts and killed him. I just hope you don't look at me like a bad blood type of dude, that's why I thought you should know."

William gave Lee a reassuring smirk to assure him that everything was okay between them. "Listen, man. It's the apocalypse. At this point, who gives a shit what you did. Even then, it just makes you a sociopath. And I'd rather have a sociopath in my life than a psychopath. Whatever you did, you're still good in my books. You should probably tell Clem about this if you want her to trust you more."

"Already told her. She was okay with it." Lee replied. 

"Who else knows about this?" William asked him.

"I told Kenny. He understood. Besides him, only Carley and Larry knew about it before I told you and Clem. That's why Larry was up on my case all the time." Lee said.

"Makes sense. I could tell that guy had bad blood with you. I hate to say I'm glad he's gone but I'm glad he's gone." William said.

Lee started walking away to continue what he was doing. "Bye, man. I gotta take care of something." He said as he walked off.

William grinned at him.

A little while later, Lee could be seen walking back to Lilly's room looking angry and carrying a small bag of supplies. William didn't want to get in his way so he didn't react to it and instead decided to stay where he was. About a minute later, a group of masked men climbed over the wall and started yelling at the group and waving guns at them.

"YOU DON'T GET TO FUCK WITH US!" One of the men yelled at the group.

Everyone reacted to this immediately and put their hands up since they were held at gunpoint by multiple bandits. The bandits put everyone on their knees and in a line. Clem was scared shitless and almost wet herself. Lauren was calm since she's been in this position before multiple times during her adventures with her dad. Duck was scared but kept his cool for now. Ben was freaking out while the rest calmly obeyed the bandits' orders. 

"You assholes stole from us! We had a deal!" The same guy yelled. 

"Drew! Start putting your boot through these doors!" The same guy said again.

"Yeah!" Drew responded.

Lee came out of Lilly's room with his hands up. He slowly approached the bandits to get their attention. 

"Hold it, asshole." The bandit calmly threatened Lee. 

"Listen, we can keep the deal going." Lee tried to reason with them.

"Too late, shithead. We ain't giving second chances." The bandit aggressively responded. 

"We're sorry, man." Lee persisted. "It was a mixup. We'll make it worth your while."

"I'm listening..." The bandit acknowledged, choosing to cooperate for now. 

"We can split the supplies, spread them around," Lee suggested.

"Or we could just kill you and take them all!" He aggressively came back at him.

"And what about when you run out of supplies and you don't have us going out there collecting them for you?" Lee counterargued. 

The bandit lowered his gun. "Well... I suppose we outta hash out some terms then..."

"I don't like no hash." Some other bandit commented. This pissed off the main guy.

"Man, shut up before I---" The main guy started to say only to be shot in the head by Lilly mid-sentence. 

The bandits tried to flee back over the wall to call for their friends. Carley and Lee took out 2 of them but 1 of them managed to get over the wall and he whistled for his friends. The motel group fell back for cover as a large swarm of bandits came pouring into the motel lot and began shooting at the group. 

During the gunfight, many bandits were killed. Unfortunately for Kenny, some of the bandits flanked them and unable to do anything, Kenny got shot in the leg and managed to safely crawl away. His wife and son weren't so lucky. With Kenny injured, the bandits got the drop on them, and both Katjaa and Duck were killed. 

"NO!!!!!!!!!" An enraged Kenny screamed. 

Kenny stood up on his injured leg and went full berserk on the bandits and killed at least 7 of them in an enormous fit of uncontrollable rage. He even went to the length of unloading clips of ammo into their dead bodies. 

"KENNY! Get your ass over here! We need to get this RV running ASAP!" Lee yelled from behind the RV. Kenny wasn't listening. He was still doing his own thing.

"KENNY! RV! NOW! You want these kids to die too?!" Lee tried to convince him. "Hurry the fuck up!"

Kenny decided to listen and he joined Lee. He was far from happy.

"These fuckers deserve worse than death for what they did! Just hold them off and I'll get this shit going." Kenny angrily said as he went into the RV. 

"Lee! Walkers! Give me a hand!" Carley called for Lee. 

Lee helped Carely hold off the walkers while Kenny started up the RV.

"It's ready!" Kenny called out. "Get your asses in here! We're leaving!"

Lee looked over to Lilly as the rest started getting inside the RV.

"Lilly! Hurry up!" Lee told her.

"Shit..." Lilly said out loud to herself. 

"Lee! What's the hold-up?" Kenny said.

Lee looked at Lilly again as she was still shooting at walkers and bandits. "Last chance, Lilly! Get down here, now!" 

Lilly ran as fast as she could and got into the RV just in time for Kenny driving off with everyone. They hit the road, leaving Kenny's dead family, the walkers, and the bandits behind them.

Later that night on the road...

"We need to find out why this happened," Lilly said. "We just lost everything."

"Lilly, for once in your fucking life, please just shut the fuck up. You're not the only one who lost someone!" Kenny interrupted. "I just lost my fucking wife and kid to those sick bastards."

Lilly didn't like the way Kenny was acting. "Kenny, maybe if you actually listen to me for once, I could actually help you," Lilly calmly replied. "Lee and I were about to find out who was responsible for this just before they attacked."

"Uh-huh... what's there to go on?" Kenny asked her, deciding to listen to her for now.

Ben was scared but no one noticed. He was the one who was giving the bandits supplies. No one knows this yet.

"Lee found a bag of supplies outside the gate." Lilly began only to take a breath for a second. "Someone was giving them supplies and since they didn't get their last package, they attacked."

"A traitor in the group. The last fucking thing I need to hear today." Kenny moaned. "Go fucking figure."

The rest remained silent during this conversation. Lilly looked at Ben. She was suspicious of him. Carley didn't like the look Lilly gave Ben.

"So... Ben. Was it you?" Lilly confronted him. "The guy who just got here. Makes sense to me."

"I don't know what you're talking about! It wasn't me." Ben defended himself. Lilly could see his fear and knew he was lying. 

"Were you hoping for them to kill us off so you could join them?" Lilly continued interrogating him. 

"No! I wouldn't do that! You guys are like my family." Ben continued to defend himself.

"Lilly, please chill out. We don't have proof that it was him." Carley tried to defend Ben.

"Shut up, Carley," Lilly told her, only to look at Ben again. "This is about trust and I've never trusted you."

"Please stop! Listen. I'll just go. It wasn't me but I'll go." Ben said while still freaking out.

"That's good," Lilly responded while smirking at him in hatred, getting in his face. 

Carley was fed up with this. "Stop it! You're torturing him!"

Lilly brushed off Carley and sighed at her. 

"Lilly... maybe you should chill for a moment and we can discuss this in a civil matter." Lee butted in, trying to reason with Lilly. 

"Seriously, Lee?" Lilly complained. "You found the evidence. You can't go against me on this one."

"I'm not against you, Lilly. You're just not giving the kid a chance to tell his side of things." Lee told her.

Kenny hit a walker while driving.

"Shit, I hit something. I have to stop." Kenny told the group as he stopped the RV.

"Good. We can with this now then." Lilly said, referring to dealing with Ben.

"Lilly..." Lee sighed while Carley and William stood there getting fed up with this bullshit.

Everybody came outside except the kids. Lilly continued her aggressive behaviour with Ben. Kenny went to see what he hit.

"Motherfucker. We hit a walker. It'll take me a minute to get it out of the way. Keep an eye out would ya?" Kenny said to the group as he worked on moving the walker.

"So, Ben... we shouldn't just kick you out of the group. We should also see what everyone else thinks." Lilly said in front of everyone while staring into Ben's eyes coldly. 

"I... fuck..." Ben muttered out loud in a panic. 

"Ben!" Lee said to him. "Get yourself together, man. Instead of freaking out, just get yourself together. You're making yourself look worse."

"Pfft," Lilly muttered. "Might as well give a confession. He's clearly guilty. Look at him."

Ben took a deep breath for a second. "Fuck you, Lilly!" Ben suddenly yelled in her face. This outburst shocked the group and it angered Lilly.

Lilly stood there holding her breath. Lee saw this and went in front of Lilly to try and calm her down.

"Easy, Lilly. Just calm down. I know you're mad but we can't turn against each other now." Lee tried to reason. Lilly said nothing and just stared at Lee and Ben.

Kenny finally moved the walker out of the way. "Done! Now what the fuck is going on?" Kenny said. 

As everyone turned back to Lilly after looking at Kenny, Lilly had a gun drawn and aimed at Ben's forehead.

"Lilly, No!" Carley said as she tried to stop an enraged Lilly. She wasn't fast enough and Lilly blew a hole into Ben's brain. Everyone just stared at Lilly after this.

"Drop it!" Lee ordered Lilly as he pinned her up at the RV. Lilly obeyed him and dropped her gun while shaking.

"Lee... we couldn't trust him. I did us a favour. Please... you have to believe me!" Lilly pleaded. 

"Just why though? We didn't have solid proof. What if it turns out he was innocent?" Lee replied with reason.

Lilly looked at him with puppy dog eyes. "Lee... we both know... he couldn't be trusted. I know a liar when I see one. Come on. You and I found this shit out. I'm begging you. Please don't throw me under the bus here."

Carley and William looked at Lee and gave him a look that said "Yeah, no. This is up to you."

"Maybe she was right," Kenny said. "I had a weird feeling about that kid. Check him and see if he had anything on him at least. I won't lie though, I do a little uneasy being around Lilly after watching her murder someone like that."

Lee and William searched Ben's body. Lilly stood back since she was scared of being kicked out of the group. The kids looked through the window and saw what had happened. After searching William found a note on Ben.

"Got something," William told the group. The group came over to see what he had found. William read out the note. "Listen, kid. Get our shit to the same place as before. No fuckups this time or you'll regret it. You have until tomorrow evening."

This revelation put the group in more shock than they were when Lilly pulled the trigger. Carley couldn't believe it. She angrily walked back into the RV without saying a word.

"That's the kind of reaction I expected. She defended him without knowing. I'm just glad you could see that I was right." Lilly calmly told everyone. Kenny wasn't feeling good.

"Good fucking riddance. Shitbird got my family fucking killed," Kenny muttered as he started making his way back into the RV. "Everyone just get back in. We're out of here."

Everyone without saying a word, all went back into the RV and Kenny continued driving them to a destination unknown. Everyone sat down without saying anything. Lee sat with Lilly to talk to her.

Lilly looked at Lee with a bit of regret.

"Lee. I'm sorry I lashed out." Lilly calmly apologised. "Things have just been tense recently. With my dad and all. I know you and Kenny wanted to do what was best for the group. Even if I didn't see it that way."

"It's alright. We're all on the same side now. That's all that matters." Lee responded with some optimism. 

"Listen. I know everyone here knows about what you did before the walkers. I heard you talking to them about it." Lilly said.

"What? How do you know about this?" Lee questioned her. 

"My dad told me. Even if you killed someone, I just wish dad saw the good in you. You both had your differences and now he's gone. Just know, Lee. I'm on your side no matter what. You have my loyalty for having my back out there." Lilly told Lee. She now became very friendly and open with Lee. 

"Just wish you saw this earlier. I nearly died when you didn't shoot Andy." Lee reminded her. This made Lilly feel bad.

"I know. I feel like fucking shit for that. I was angry though. The heat of the moment, you know?" Lilly explained. Lee accepted her apology since he was a forgiving person.

"Also... I can see why Carley is so inspired by you. Can't blame her. Despite your past, you're a good man." Lilly complimented Lee. Lee appreciated this. 

"Thanks. You're a good person too, Lilly. We'll all get better at getting along now since we're all on the same page." Lee thanked her as he looked at the kids. 

"Hell yeah. Team Lee. Anyway... I should go and talk to the others and set things right with them. Thanks for being on my side Lee. It means a lot to me to have someone I can trust. Clementine thinks the world of you, you know." Lilly said with a smile as she walked away to sit and talk with the rest.

While Lilly took the time to talk to Carley and William, Lee joined Kenny in the front to talk.

"Hey, Kenny," Lee said, hoping Kenny wasn't still enraged. 

"Hey, man." Kenny calmly responded to Lee's surprise. "With all the sit that's happened, I ain't got the faintest fuckin' clue on what to do next."

"I spoke to Lilly," Lee said. "She's willing to start over and get along with us all."

"So I heard back there," Kenny admitted. "At least you got her to chill out. With her dad and my family gone, it's not easy for both of us. I'm still with you guys till the end. We gotta do what we can to avoid letting shit like this happen to us again. You got a girl to protect and we all have responsibility for both Clem and Lauren. You guys are the only family I have left and I'll do my damn well best to keep us all alive. It's what Duck and Kat would have wanted."

"We'll always be looking out for you too, man." Lee returned his feelings. 

"Like a brother," Kenny added. 

"Damn right." Lee smiled. Kenny smiled too at that response. 

Lee joined the rest and Lilly joined Kenny.

"How'd it go with Kenny?" Carley looked at Lee.

"He's alright for now," Lee told her.

Carley put her arm around Lee and focussed on him as they sat together with the kids and William now asleep. "We're all still here because of you."

"I can't take credit for everything," Lee said, also accepting Carley's advances. 

Carley smiled weirdly at him and chuckled slightly. "Bullshit. We're practically all in one piece thanks to your skills at peacemaking." She laughed. 

Lee laughed with her.

"You see, when I thought Ben was good, I almost snapped at Lilly." She admitted. "For all we know, I could have been the one taking that bullet when Lilly snapped. Then you talked her down after she did that to Ben. She looks up to you now. Kenny too. You're a leader, Lee. A natural." 

Lee didn't know what to say about Carley's compliments and stayed silent. Carley noticed this and laughed again.

"I know you're blushing." Carley teased him. "You're good at hiding it but don't think I don't know you."

Lee rolled his eyes and smirked for a second to confirm Carley's facts.

"Clem was almost crying when we told her about Ben." Carley suddenly changed the subject. Lee was listening.

"Lauren managed to calm her down. She's a tough kid that one. I guess losing a dad in the way she did will do that to a girl." Carley said as both she and Lee looked at the sleeping girls. "It's good to see that Clem has made a good friend. Lauren ain't scared of much and that's good for Clem since she can help toughen her up just like how you're trying to help her toughen up too."

"I guess," Lee said.

"Anyway, try to get some sleep, Lee. Could be a long day tomorrow." Carley yawned since she was tired. "Goodnight."

Carley kissed Lee on the cheek before closing her eyes to catch some sleep. Lee went to sleep too. Carley leaned her head over Lee's lap as she slept. Lilly saw them together and smiled at them as she went back to her seat to catch rest as well.

The next morning...

Kenny while driving, hit a blockage in the road. A giant derailed locomotive was blocking their path. Kenny sighed at the sight of this.

"Sigh... now we gotta deal with this..." Kenny quietly moaned to himself. 

Everyone got out of the RV and sat down outside while Kenny, Lee, and William investigated. 

"Train's blocking the way," Kenny said. "No way we're getting around it. Looks like we gotta move it. Here's hoping it's still functional."

"Alright. I'll be on watch for anything with Kenny." William said to Lee. "See if you can find something, Lee."

Lee nodded as they all split up to do their own things. 

Lee after some snooping around, pressed a button inside the cockpit that triggered the train brakes. The noise got Kenny's attention.

"God damn! This fucker still works?" Kenny said out loud with excitement.

"Seems that way, yeah," Lee replied. 

"Awesome. See if you find a way to get it moving. Maybe it could be going somewhere we need to go." Kenny told him. "Damn... this could be exactly what we need," Kenny commented. 

Kenny went to the others to give them the news. While Lee was gone, a new stranger named Chuck showed up and Kenny and Lilly didn't like it but they allowed him to stay since he was chill and mentioned he lived on the train. Another couple of minutes later, a car could be heard approaching. This made Lilly and Kenny freak out since they thought it could be the bandits following them.

When the car pulled up and the strangers got out, Lilly aimed her gun at them in retaliation. She was taking no chances. 

"That's close enough! Who the fuck are you people?! What do you want?!" Lilly yelled at them. 

Upon closer looking, there were 4 people that came out of that car. 1 adult and 3 kids. 2 of the kids were girls and 1 was a boy. The adult was a man. 

"Woah! Easy there, lady. We're not here to hurt you." The man tried to reason.

Lilly saw the kids and calmed down a bit.

"You have 3 kids?! Out here alone? How the fuck..." Lilly said in shock as she lowered her gun. Everyone else was just as shocked as Lilly.

"It's a long story." The man replied. "The boy is mine. The other 2 had people we all got split up from during an incident that happened. We travelled the wrong way and we heard the train."

He continued talking as Lilly kept listening. "I'm sorry we interrupted you folks. We can just go."

As the man was about to turn around and leave with his people, Lee stopped him since he recognised the man.

"Wait!" Lee shouted. The man looked at Lee when he said that. "Do I know you from somewhere?" Lee asked him.

The man didn't know anything. "I don't know. Maybe? I've met a good few people in my time. You'd have to name a place to ring any bells, my guy." The guy replied. 

"Hershel's Farm. Right?" Lee questioned him. This grabbed the attention of the man, his boy, and also Clementine. Clementine walked forward after hearing this to have a closer look. This caused the rest of the group to closely approach the 4 strangers too to see what was going on.

The man saw Clementine and now remembered Lee. "Ah!" The man said in surprise. "I remember you. You're Lee, right?"

"James," Lee said his name in response. 

"Fancy seeing you here, you fucker, haha! Are these your people? Clementine and Kenny we know of course." James said.

"Yeah. The kid is Lauren, the old dude is a guy we just met so it seems. The girls are Carley and Lilly while the other guy is William. We've been together since Macon. Shit's changed a lot since then. People have died. Stupid shit like that and we did have another good guy who had to leave for Atlanta on the first few days. Glenn." Lee told him. Glenn's name rang bells for James and his people.

"Glenn? Pizza delivery-looking kid? Yeah, he was with us before we got split up." James said, assuming it's the same guy Lee saw. "The farm was overrun and we split up into different cars."

"Hold on." One of the girls behind James said as she stepped forward. "You guys saw Glenn? When?" She asked them. They could tell she knew something.

William stood forward to answer her question.

"The first few days of everything. He was holed up with us at some drugstore. He had to leave for his friends in Atlanta and---" William told her only to stop when he had a closer look at the girl he was talking to. "Wait. Wait wait wait! You look and sound awfully familiar to someone I know." He suddenly said to her. "What's your name?" He asked her in slight desperation. 

"Uhm... Violet?" Violet nervously answered him. 

William's jaw dropped as he was lost for words. Violet realised what was going on as she looked back at him. Everyone else just watched in silence as they didn't know what to do or say.

William said nothing as the two lost siblings ran to each other and hugged each other happy to have found each other after so long. "I thought I'd never see you again..." William muttered out loud in great shock. 

As this moment went on, James' kid and Lauren locked eyes with each other. It seems as if they recognised each other too somehow. They were too distracted by William and Violet's moment to say anything yet.

To be continued soon...

Chapter Text

The group was silent everyone was waiting for Rick, and he needed to talk with a friend who helped him. Violet was sitting next to Sophia and Carl. The three didn't say too much as they sat silently, waiting for Rick as they all spotted him.

"Let's get moving," Rick spoke as the group nodded, with everyone getting into their vehicles before driving off to Fort Benning.

After some time, laughter emitted from the Grimes car as Rick smiled and looked at his family. "What's got you laughing?" Rick asked with a smile.

"We were just thinking about our trip to the Grand Canyon with Carl," Lori said with a smile as this caught Violet's attention.

Rick soon laughed as Carl looked confused at his parents. "I don't remember that."

Lori smiled as she looked at her son; she wished she could have taken her family back to the old times. "No, you wouldn't. You were just a baby. And besides, we never made it past Fort Worth."

Rick couldn't help but laugh, knowing Lori was correct. "No, you got sick. I never knew a baby could throw up so much." 

"Ick." Carl cried, making a disgusted face when hearing what he had done as a baby.

Lori also laughed, but she did look at Carl, knowing how it was back then. "Yeah, ick. The doctor in Texas said you'd live. Then we turned and drove home." 

Carl soon frowned at this hoping he could have gone there, but it seems that none of them could now. "That sucks," Carl finished, but he heard Sophia and Violet laughing a little about what happened to him.

Lori smiled, knowing Carl must feel bad now, but she pulled him closer, not wanting him to feel bad. "No, it was a good trip." 

"The best," Rick said to his wife and son, hoping this mess with the dead would end soon.

"Can we go see it? The Grand Canyon? I'd like to," Carl told his parents, hoping that they could go and see it, this time without fear of getting sick. 

Sophia could hear this from Carl and soo spoke up; it was somewhere she also wanted to go but never got the chance, thanks to her father. "I would too. Can we go?"

Rick smiled as he smiled at the young girl. "We'd never go without you or your mom. That's a promise."

"Can I join too, I've always wanted to go there," Violet spoke up as the others within the car all nodded.

"Sure you can Violet," Sophia spoke with a whisper, which caused everyone else to smile.

Sometime later, everyone left their vehicles after the RV had broken down. Dale was busy trying to get it to work again, but no luck but Violet shrugged it off, wanting to stretch her legs.

She did hear Shane telling them to look for anything that could be useful to them, but she knew it was best not to wander. Already seeing a dead body within a car as Carol and Lori pulled Carl and Sophia away from the sight. 

The two mothers looked at some clothes as Carol smiled. "Ed never let me wear nice things like this. We're going to need clothes," she said with sadness as Sophia looked at her mother, showing the same sadness.

"Hey, Carl? Always within my sight, okay?" Lori told her son, seeing he was starting to wander off, as she could remember what Jim had told her.

"Sophia, I want you and Violet to do the same," she said. Sophia nodded as Violet looked at Ryan, seeing he was with Rick.

"I don't like this, Rick," Ryan whispered, not hearing anything as Ryan turned to look at Dale standing on top of his RV, keeping watch. 

However, Dale's face soon turned pale, seeing something that brought fear to him, as Rick also spotted the same thing. "Rick, what's wrong?" Ryan asked as he watched Rick using his sniper to see an oncoming heard of walkers.

"Oh, Christ. Lori, get under the cars. Under the cars. Get down now," Rick whispered as Ryan soon spotted the herd.

Everyone moved to hide under the cars holding their breaths in fear as the walkers began moving closer. Sophia was with Violet under the car, and the older blonde held her hand and put her finger to her mouth. 

Sophia nodded, but she was still scared as she looked at her mother, who was crying, but no one made a sound hoping the herd would soon pass.

No one knew what happened since, for a while, it seemed that everything would work out, but the next thing anyone heard was Sophia crying in fear and running away as a walker had somehow spotted the young girl. 

Violet watched, seeing Sophia running off, and Violet quickly followed her; she didn't want her friend to get hurt. Unknown to the two, Rick had followed the two as Carol and Ryan were worried about seeing the three runoff. 

"Sophia!" Violet cried seeing the two walkers chasing Sophia, so without thinking, Violet began following her friend, worried something could happen to her.

Violet didn't know that Rick had started following close behind the two girls and found them as Violet kicked a single walker in the leg as she pulled Sophia away from the walker. 

"Shh, shh. Are you two alright? Are you both okay?" Rick asked, looking at the two girls with only Violet nodded as she looked at Sophia, still scared.

Sophia watched as the two walkers were slowly getting closer. "Shoot them!" Sophia cried out, grabbing Violet's hand as any sort of comfort.

"No, no. Those walkers on the road will hear it," Rick spoke, looking at the two as he could see Violet looking for the walkers chasing them as Rick talked to the two girls. "Then it wouldn't just be two walkers; it'd be hundreds." 

Violet couldn't help but frown when Rick said this as she began to wonder what they should do then. "Okay, what should we do?" Violet asked as she continued to frown at Rick, hoping he would give her an answer.

Rick began looking around, seeing a decent place the two girls could hide, and found a place for the two girls. "Alright, come on. Alright, just hold here. You two stay there. Wait. Come on. Sophia, you and Violet have to do exactly as I say. Hide in there. Squeeze in tight. I'll draw them away from you," Rick told the two girls as they both got into the ditch as the branches covered them.

"No, no, don't leave us!" Sophia cried as she looked at Rick, worried about what could happen to them if they were left alone out here.

"Listen, listen, listen, listen. They don't get winded. I do. I can only deal with them one at a time," Rick said, watching the two girls hoping they would be safe.

"I wouldn't be able to protect you. This is how we both survive. You understand? Okay? Go go go go. If I don't make it back, run back to the highway, back to the others straight the way we came. Keep the sun on your left shoulder. 

"Come on! You ugly son of a bitch. Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on!" Rick yelled at the two walkers before running off deeper into the woods.

Once Rick had left, Violet and Sophia looked at each other as Sophia soon held onto Violet's hand. Violet looked out from the hiding spot wanting to make sure no walkers were close, as the blonde looked at Sophia. "I think it's safe," Violet whispered before grabbing a broken branch. "I think I can use this as a weapon."

Sophia didn't say a lot, only holding Violet's hand, still scared by what happened as she looked at her friend while keeping her doll close. "I'm sorry you had to come out here with me," Sophia told Violet, who looked back at the girl.

Violet smiled, seeing how Sophia felt; she couldn't blame her friend for running. "Hey, it's okay, you were scared," Violet said with a smile, holding her friend's hand within her own.

Sophia didn't say anything as she looked at Violet, feeling upset as Sophia sniffed. "I'm not brave, not like you Violet," Sophia began as she looked away from Violet, who only looked at the upset girl. "Maybe my mum would be better off without me."

Violet stopped when she heard this, seeing how Sophia felt useless and that there wasn't anything she could do, and Violet didn't want her friend to feel this way. "Hey, don't think like that, Carl would miss you. I know your mum would miss you too," Violet spoke as she looked at Sophia. "I'd miss you too if something happened."

Hearing this from Violet left Sophia shocked, but this also left her smiling, but she didn't say anything. As the two young girls heard the sounds of growls coming from the distance. 

"Oh no... more walkers," Sophia whispered as she knew that was the only way back, and walkers had blocked their path back to the others. "Violet, what are we going to do?" Sophia asked.

Violet didn't know, but they couldn't stay here. "We need to run," Violet said, grabbing Sophia's hand as the two started running deeper into the woods.

The two only continued running, and the sky grew dark as both started to grow worried, but they had lost the walker chasing them. "Do you think we should head back?" Sophia asked Violet, but she felt tired and could see Violet felt the same.

"No, we need to find a safe place to sleep," Violet spoke as the two had been walking for who knows how long, but the two did find a house. "Stick behind me, okay, Sophia," Violet whispered as she opened the door and found it empty.

Violet did want to check and used her broken piece of wood to bang on the inside, hoping to see if this place was empty. And so, after a few moments passed by before Violet turned to look at Sophia with a smile. "I guess we can sleep here for the night," she said as Sophia nodded.

Once Sophia was in, Violet closed the door and blocked the door. The last thing she wanted was a walker getting in while they were sleeping. "come on, Sophia, let's get some sleep. I think we both need it."

Sophia nodded and had a smile on her face, the first she had since they got separated from their group. "We can think of it as a sleepover," Sophia said as Violet laughed and did a cute little snort. Hearing this only caused Sophia to laugh even more as she looked at her friend. 

"What?" Violet asked as she looked at Sophia, wondering what cheered her up, but Violet didn't care. She was just happy to see Sophia smile.

"You did a little snort when you started laughing. It was a little cute too," Sophia told Violet, who only looked away when her face turned red.

Violet huffed at this and crossed her arms over her chest. "No, I didn't. I don't do the whole cute thing," Violet said with a huff which eased Sophia even more as she could hear Sophia laugh.

"Then again she has cute little freckles on her face,"  Violet thought as she looked at Sophia, thankful that her face was already red.  "I think I have a crush on Sophia, but she won't ever like me that way."

They didn't say anything else as the two young girls drifted off to sleep, hoping they could find their group tomorrow.

Chapter Text

In the train yard after Violet and William's reunion...

Violet stood by her brother's side after taking in the whole moment of reuniting with him after a long time of not seeing him. James and the other 2 with him approached the group too since Violet was happy to join William.

"Why do you look like someone I've seen before?" The young boy said as he walked up to the young Lauren.

Lauren knew who he was.

"Because you have seen me before? We went to the same school before you moved to this country. You're Aaron. You used to be in my class." Lauren replied in a straight tone.

"Yeah... you're right. How'd you get here though?" He said in response. James looked at them both for a second.

"Long story. Dad and I travelled across the water when the monsters first started coming. I lost him not long ago to some very bad people. These kind people have taken care of me since." She told Aaron. He felt bad for her.

"Wow," James commented.

"I'm sorry about that," Aaron said.

"It happens. We can only move on. He would have wanted me to be tough so that's what I'm doing. Also, Clem just told me you both know each other?" Lauren said.

"Yeah. We do. She was with my group for a short amount of time at the start then she and Lee went their ways with Kenny." He answered her question. 

Lauren nodded. In response to meeting an old friend again, she shook Aaron's hand to which he accepted. She wasn't really in it for hugs yet since she's a little more hardened now.

After a few minutes of talking amongst the group, Lee and Kenny returned to let them know the train was functional and ready to go. Lee also mentioned their destination which was Savannah, the place where Clem's parents stayed before the apocalypse. Lee and many others already knew they were dead but they agreed to go there anyway. James didn't like the sound of this since he was told about the danger of cities back at the farm when Rick's group showed up. After debating about it, he reluctantly agreed to tag along, bringing Violet, Aaron and Sophia with him since they were under his care.

The train began moving and everyone hit the rails. Chuck came along too since the train was his home and he appreciated the friendly company. Not much happened on the train. Kenny was focused on the destination while the adults sat with the kids to keep them company. Lee also taught Clem how to shoot a gun and he cut her hair short after some advice given to him by Chuck. Violet found it pretty cool that Lee taught Clem how to shoot since previously, Violet's old group were very protective of the children and preferred sheltering them instead of toughening them. The only tough people Violet remembered from the old group were Daryl and Shane but you all know what happened to Shane. 

As the train continued barreling down the rails at speed, Lilly had another word with Lee in private outside on the side of the train. It was far from over for these two. After the whole Ben incident, Lilly couldn't stop thinking about Lee and how he could have just left her behind instead of keeping his faith in everyone.

"You're still thinking about earlier, aren't you?" Lee said to her as they leaned over the rail together.

Lilly looked back at him and nodded slowly. "Yeah. It's hard to get it out of my mind." She replied. "Every day from here on out, I'll always be thinking about how you could have saved yourselves the hassle just by telling me to leave."

"Come on, Lilly. It's over. We discussed this last night. You're one of us." Lee reminded her.

Lilly took a deep breath and took in the view as she thought about life. "Just imagine the state I'd be in if you did leave me." She quietly said. "It wouldn't be good. My father told me to always look out for myself. I realise how wrong he was. Your kindness helped me realise there was more to life than just yourself. You just have to be careful who you let into your life."

"I agree with that last statement, that's for sure," Lee commented. 

"Please," Lilly asked. "If at any point I step out of line, make sure you knock some sense into me. I don't want to be a loose cannon like my dad. I want to be like you, Lee. Level-headed and kind."

"Okay," Lee assured her.

Lilly suddenly hugged him. "Thank you. Without any of you, I'd probably be in some stupid fucking cult doing fucked up shit. Like those bandits. I don't even want to imagine what angry me would be doing."

"I never had the best childhood." She continued. "Larry always punished me harshly for the dumbest shit in the book. I left a light on, he'd flip. I could never remember to turn off that stupid fucking switch."

Lee continued listening as she kept going on. "One day, he had enough of my shit and he let the power get cut. Fucking asshole. At that point, I would have rathered him scream in my face and ground me for a month. But no... he had to think he's funny and let us live without electricity just to prove a fucking point."

Lee reached out to her and Lilly accepted his compassion. She still kept talking. Lee could feel the anger in Lilly's voice grow worse as she kept going on. "I'll tell you one thing. The way my dad treated me and often you guys, that shit isn't happening with these kids. We're giving them a proper childhood and we'll be teaching them what it takes to survive and how to stay human at the same time."

Lee nodded since he agreed with Lilly's thinking. 

A few hours later...

The train suddenly stopped after Kenny shouted "OH SHIT! Hold on everyone!"

Kenny and the group got out of the train and looked in front of them. It was a bridge with a giant tanker hanging off the edge of it that was blocking the train. This made Kenny furious since he was already having a bad day after yesterday. 

"FUCK FUCK FUCK FUUUUCK!!!!" Kenny screamed from the top of his lungs. 

Everyone else saw the same problem Kenny saw.

"We can just go through that. We have a train here." Chuck said, not realising that the tank possibly has gas or diesel in it.

Kenny looked at Chuck and sighed. "That tank, Charles. It's not full of milk. It's gas or diesel. Something that's gonna explode."

"He's right," James told Chuck.

"If we find a way to knock down the tanker, we should be able to continue," Carley said. "I think I saw a station back there. Lee and I could check it out."

"Good enough plan to me." Kenny agreed. "The rest of us, we should keep watch back here for anything trying to get the jump on us. We could be here for a while.

Everyone sat down near or on the train and kept watch while Clem, Lee, Lauren and Carley all went to the train station to look for something useful. Violet spent time with her brother as they were still reconnecting. After a short while, Lee's gang returned with a blowtorch after several gunshots were fired at the train station since a few walkers tried to get the jump on them.

Lee with William's help, climbed a ladder with the blowtorch to set it up for cutting down the tanker. Lee started trying to cut but the blowtorch wasn't working. There was a leak in the hose that Lee quickly patched up with some tape before trying again. He started cutting. 

"You're doing well, man! It's nearly loose." William praised Lee while standing behind him to make sure he didn't fall. 

The tank fell forward but still didn't come loose. It was no longer in reach of the blowtorch. William pulled Lee back to save him from falling.

"Jesus!" Lee shouted in a small panic. "Thanks. You saved my ass there." He thanked William.

"No sweat, dude. But now the tanker is out of reach." William responded. 

"How are we gonna cut it now?" Lee asked. William already had a solution for this.

"Grab onto me," Willaim told him as he took the blowtorch from Lee. "Hold me over the ledge and I'll cut it."

William knew Violet would freak out if she saw him doing this but it had to be done. Lee obliged and held him over the ledge so he could reach the rest of the tanker with the blowtorch. As he began cutting, a loud noise could be heard coming from the distance. This drew the attention of Lilly. She spotted it first. A large herd of walkers was coming their way.

"Oh no..." Lilly quietly freaked out as she saw the walkers. "Uhm, guys? You might want to cut that tanker down a bit faster!" She suddenly shouted up to Lee and William.

"What's going on?" William asked Lee since he couldn't see in front of himself since he was cutting.

Lee looked ahead and was shocked by the sight of the herd too. "Jesus... there must be thousands..." He calmly said in horror. 

William finished cutting. The tanker began falling down. "Lee! Pull me up! It's coming down!" William demanded. Lee obliged and pulled him back as the tanker dropped. The path was now clear. Kenny started the train and everyone hopped on.

Lee and William had to jump onto the train from above since the herd was coming and the train had to begin moving. William landed on the train just fine but Lee wasn't as lucky. When he jumped, he didn't land correctly and he fell off the train and injured his leg.

"SHIT!" Lee yelled as he fell. He tried limping to catch up with the train but he was too slow. 

"I'm coming, Lee! Hang on, man!" William shouted as he heroically jumped off the train to help his friend. This made Violet freak out as she didn't want to lose her brother again.

William grabbed Lee and hurried with him over his shoulder. They still weren't fast enough since Lee was heavy which slowed William down. Lilly also jumped out of the train and immediately helped William drag an injured Lee. Luckily, Lilly was military trained and not only was she strong, but she also was fast as well and it was enough to get all 3 of them on the train. After they all got back on the train, the rest made sure Lee was okay.

"Fucking hell, Lee," Lilly said in concern for her friend. "Are you okay?"

"Been through worse but thanks for helping me out," Lee replied in pain, thanking Lilly and William for the help.

"What about your leg?" Lilly asked.

"Fucked but still kicking." He said while looking at Clem to show her that he's fine so she doesn't freak out.

"Just take it easy." She told him as his leg was almost bleeding. "If you put more weight on that leg, you might open that wound."

Lilly helped Lee ease the pressure on his leg since she's trained for stuff like this. Carley assisted Lilly. It was amazing for Lee to see Carley and Lilly working well together for once. It made him proud of them.

As the train came closer to Savannah, Clem's radio went off and someone spoke to them on it while she was asleep. They tried asking him who he was and he didn't answer. This made everyone freak out. Lilly and Kenny had the right idea and they knew they were being stalked. They for sure knew about Clem's parent situation and used that to get info from Clem. The group isn't going to be happy when they find out what awaits them in Savannah. 

Chapter Text

Later that day after the events of the previous game universe chapter...

The group made their way into Savannah on foot, leaving the train behind. The tension was rising as everyone was on edge about the whole radio thing. Clem closely walked by Lee's side, hoping he'd give her the radio back. He of course wasn't going to do that. Lee was also still severely limping due to his leg injury from earlier. 

"Could I at least have it for a minute?" Clem begged. Lee still shaking his head to say no. Clem was upset and didn't say anything else as everyone kept walking through the city.

Violet and Sophia walked together, side by side, looking concerned about what they were getting themselves into. James walked with his stepson by his side as the rest of the adults took lead in the march through town. 

"How's your stomach?" Violet whispered to her friend, still worrying about that incident. 

Sophia smiled back at the blonde. "It's okay. Still hurts but I'm okay."

Violet was glad to hear this and she comforted her by putting her arm around her as they walked. During the walk, Lilly looked at Lee since she was concerned about his injury.

"Lee, you can't keep going like this. Your leg is not okay." Lilly warned him. Lee didn't care as their main priority was to get to river street. He shrugged her off.

"LEE!" She then raised her voice. "Listen to me! You need to rest."

Lee turned to her. "We get to river street first then we deal with it."

"Exactly. We all get on a fuckin' boat then we can deal with wounds when we're on the water." Kenny jumped into the conversation, agreeing with Lee. Lilly sighed at them since she knew that letting Lee continue with a wound was a bad idea. 

As the group continued to walk down the streets, the bell rang from a bell tower randomly. This made the group stop and it got their attention. 

"Hm. Maybe this city isn't so dead after all." William said. 

"No one's ringing those fucking bells." Kenny angrily jumped in. "It's automatic. On a timer."

Lee looked at his watch. "What kind of timer goes off a twenty past the hour?"

"Good point," William said, now feeling paranoid since he knew someone could be watching them. Maybe it was the man on the radio, he thought. 

Lee then saw someone moving at the top of the bell tower. "SOMEONE'S UP THERE!" He shouted. 

By the time the others looked, the mysterious figure was gone.

"I don't see anyone," Carley told him. "You sure you saw someone?"

"I know what I saw!" Lee persisted. 

Before anything else could be said, Chuck came out with something to say.

"Ask not for whom the bell tolls." Chuck randomly said while looking forward at something nobody else was paying attention to.

"What the hell are you yammering on about?" Kenny asked, feeling weirded out.

"It tolls for thee..." Chuck finished his sentence as the others looked to see what he was staring at. It was a large group of walkers blocking their path.

"Aw, fuck..." Kenny muttered out loud.

"EVERYBODY! RUN!" Lee yelled, causing everyone to flee in a panic.

During the panic, Lee managed to keep up with the others surprisingly. Aaron and Clem got cornered during the panic and freaked out.

"HELP! WE'RE TRAPPED!" They both screamed in fear.

"I'm coming, son!" James yelled as he ran over to try and help the kids. Chuck joined him to help. They managed to save the kids but they got cornered themselves. The kids rejoined the rest.

"Don't just stand there! Help them!" Aaron demanded. The others couldn't take the risk to help James and Chuck. 

"Just go! We'll be fine!" Chuck shouted as he was bashing in the brains of walkers with a shovel. James was helping him. 

The others with no other choice, obeyed Chuck and left him and James behind for now. Due to Lee's injury that got worse, the group had to duck into a mansion yard to evade the walkers. 

"Jesus!" Kenny exclaimed. "That was fucking close."

"Yeah, no kidding, man," William responded. 

"You opened your wound, Lee! You're bleeding." Carley told Lee, pointing at his leg since he busted it open when jumping the fence into the yard.

"It's gonna get infected if we don't find something to treat him soon," Lilly added. This didn't make Clem feel any better. Aaron was still freaking out since his stepdad was still out there with Chuck.

The group looked for a way into the house. They had to dig up a grave to find a dog collar with a door chip to unlock the door. Clem crawled in through the dog door to unlock the full door. Once they made their way inside, Lee sat down on a sofa in the living room to relax while the others secured the house to make sure it was safe. During the house search, Kenny and William found a dead kid upstairs in the attic. He starved to death since he was mostly only bones. Kenny put the boy out of his misery and he and William dragged him outside to bury him while the others tearfully watched in sadness. 

As William almost finished burying the kid and his dog, he saw a man outside the fence watching them. He then ran off as soon as William spotted him and this angered William who grabbed onto the fence. "HEY! You come back here and I'll FUCKING KILL YOU! You hear me?!" William yelled at the man as the others were confused. 

"What's wrong?" Lilly asked him.

"I saw a man. Outside the fence. Just standing there, watching us. Couldn't have been a walker. Took off so fuckin' fast when I spotted him."

"Could it have been the guy who rang the bells?" Carley asked.

"Maybe," William replied. "All I know is I don't like being stalked. This could be the guy on Clem's radio."

"ALL THE BETTER reason to get to river street and on a fucking boat where we CAN'T be followed." Kenny angrily added.

"To be fair, I agree with Kenny," Carley said. "I'll head out with him to scout it. You with me, Kenny?"

"Sure." Kenny agreed. "The rest of you, take good care of Lee and the house. We'll be back as soon as we can."

Kenny and Carley went out to river street. A little while later, they returned and they were not happy. They came back with another girl. Molly was her name. She was a scavenger they ran into near river street. 

"You guys are back!" William greeted them when they returned. "And who's this you brought with you?"

"Molly," Kenny responded in a slight huff. "We ran into her ass by river street and almost got in a fight over some dumb shit. We explained ourselves and she agreed to tag along with us."

"What about the boat?" He also asked him. Kenny looked upset.

"There's none left in Savannah." He answered, almost crying. "We're fucked!"

Lilly ran over to them. "Guys, Lee's condition is much worse. He can't take much more." She warned them.

"Is he bleeding?" Molly asked them.

"Yeah," Lilly said.

Molly walked over to him to check him out. Without saying anything, she ripped off part of her pants to use as a makeshift bandage. She patched up Lee to at least stop the bleeding. The others were grateful for Molly's support. 

"Don't you folks know anything about survival?" Molly questioned them, feeling concerned that they never thought about using clothing as bandage sheets. "Anyway... that'll stop his bleeding for now. You're gonna need to find him some medicine otherwise you'll lose him."

"Thank you." Carley thanked her.

"Don't mention it. Just trying to make sure we live to see another day... unlike Crawford..."

"Guys! Come and check this out!" Clem said as she came in with excitement. "I found something that's awesome!"

The others followed Clem outside. She opened the door to the shed to show them her findings. It was a boat in mint condition! Kenny's jaw dropped at the sight of this.

"Holy fuck... this was here the whole time?" Kenny exclaimed. 

"I know, right?" Clem laughed in joy.

"Good job, kiddo." Kenny praised her as he patted her on the head. 

"Thanks," Clem replied with a big smile, feeling proud of doing something good.

Kenny examined the boat while the others patiently waited for him inside the house. When he came back, he had some good news and bad news. The others could tell and just looked at him.

"So... you guys want the good news or the bad news?" Kenny said to everyone.

"Let's hear the good news first," William said.

"Good news is the boat is mostly in good condition. It just needs a battery and some gas."

"What's the bad news?" Lilly asked.

"That's the bad news. It needs a battery and gas and it's good to go."

"Where will we even find that stuff?" Carley wondered. 

Molly took a moment to think to herself. She knew the only place with that stuff was Crawford. It was suicide to even think about going there but there was no other option.

"Call me crazy but Crawford is the only place to have that stuff. It'll be locked up tight with many armed guards patrolling it. They don't take kindly to strangers, the weak and children. I don't see any other option though. If you want to save your friend and get this boat working, we'll have to break into there to get the car supplies for the boat and the meds for your friend." Molly explained. Everyone was worried about this but agreed it was the only chance they got.

"Okay... so how do we get in there?" William asked her.

"Well, I do know there's a sewer system that'll take you right under Crawford. I don't know the route well but that's our best shot. We head in there together undetected, grab everything from under their noses and get the fuck out before they even know we're there." Molly went on, explaining her master plan. It was crazy but the others didn't object to it. 

"That seems plausible. We have the numbers to defend ourselves so it's more than doable." Lilly said.

"Then it's a plan," Molly said, finalising her plan. The others nodded to agree they'll do it. "We should wait until midnight to do it. Under cover of darkness. Less chance of being spotted."

Everyone waited until night to head out. As a safety precaution, Lee was left upstairs in the bedroom so that he's more protected from walkers that manage to get into the house. The group all revised their plan outside in the yard before going.

"So, are we all good to go?" Kenny asked everyone. Everyone nodded. "Good. We keep it simple. We go in and out and we stick together. As for the kids, you have to stay behind us at all times. We'd leave you at the house but we can't just leave you with only Lee to protect you."

"I don't want to lie but... I'm scared that we'll get caught." Sophia spoke up. Violet noticed her fear and looked a little upset for her friend. 

Kenny kneeled in front of Sophia to talk to her. "Listen, kid. If you stay behind us, they'll have to get us first before you. We won't let them get you."

This calmed her down for now. Aaron was still worried for his stepdad since he's still out there. 

"What about my stepdad?" Aaron also spoke up. "He's still out there, in all of that."

"We'll find him somehow," Carley said, hoping to keep the boy calm.

"Alright. Follow me, everyone. I'll lead the way." Molly said as she left the yard to take lead. Everyone followed her. 

On the way out, Aaron looked worried about his stepdad. Sophia looked anxious and afraid. Violet could only think about Sophia right now and stayed close to her to comfort the girl. Clem didn't know what to think. She was only thinking of 1 thing. Lee. She was afraid that something might happen to him while they were out. Lilly and Carley were side by side like sisters, always having each other's backs. Kenny, Molly and William were too focused on the task at hand to be feeling any deep emotions.

Later, they finally made it to the sewer exit that leads into Crawford. 

"Alright. This is it." Molly said to everyone. She felt a little anxious since she had never expected to be pulling off a heist like this on her old community. 

"Same plan we went over earlier." Kenny reminded everyone. "Stick together, in and out fast. Kids stay behind us at all times. Let's fucking do this shit."

Molly lifted the lid open and took lead in the charge. Everyone climbed out and into the schoolyard after her.

"Looks clear so far," Molly whispered to everyone while sneaking forward. 

"I think I see one over there," William whispered, pointing out the guard in the distance. "I got this. Stay close."

William snuck over to the oblivious guard and pointed a gun at the back of his head. "Don't move or say a word, understand?" He threatened the guard. The guard didn't respond which confused William. "Hey... do you hear me or--- HOLY FUCK!" He began only to yell when the man turned around and appeared to be a walker instead of a guard. This reaction scared the rest of the group. William pulled out his hatchet and took out the walker. The rest all joined him.

"You alright, man?" Kenny asked him to make sure he was okay.

"What the hell is a walker doing in here?!" William exclaimed. The others wondered the same thing.

Before any other comments could be made, a giant group of walkers came out of their hiding spots and ambushed the group, causing them all to panic. 

"Shit..." Kenny quietly muttered.

"EVERYBODY! INSIDE! NOW!" William yelled.

The group all ran to the entrance but to their unfortunate luck, it was barricaded from inside! The walkers were getting closer and it looked grim for the group.

"It won't budge!" Molly let everyone know as she desperately tried to break open the door. 

"Something must be blocking it from inside," Carley suggested. The others agreed. "We might not be alone."

"Now what the FUCK do we do?! We're trapped!" Kenny screamed in frustration.

"Help me with the door, guys. We gotta get this thing open!" Molly told them as she kept on beating at the door with her body. Kenny, William and Lilly joined her while Carley tried to hold off the horde to protect everyone. The kids just stood there helplessly. 

"Keep... pushing!" Kenny muttered as the 4 of them kept pushing at the door.

Shots were fired to keep the horde at bay until Carley ran out of ammo. It was now that she was fucked. "SHIT! I'm out of ammo! They're getting close to us! Hurry up with that door!" Carley shouted in desperation while the kids sat by the wall in fear.

Carley couldn't hold them off and some of the walkers managed to grab her as the kids backed away in a panic. "SHIT! SOMEONE HELP! THEY GOT ME! I--- NO!!!!" Carley screamed as she was being mauled by 3 walkers. William ran to her aid and tried to help her. 

"GET THE FUCK OFF OF HER YOU BASTARDS!" William shouted at the walkers as he tried to fight them. It was too late and Carley was killed. William struggled to fight the walkers that had killed Carley and he got himself hurt during the fight. "AGH! Son of a bitch!" He shouted as a walker managed to hurt him. Violet couldn't take any more and she stood up to help her brother. She helped him successfully and he probably would have died without her help.

"Are you okay?!" Violet asked her brother while freaking out.

"Yeah... I'm good. Thanks for helping. Fucker got me though. Man, it fucking hurts so bad..." William replied while grunting in pain. He looked at his lower chest where he got hurt and it was badly cut open by a walker who managed to claw at him with its hands. Violet looked terrified when she saw his wound. It was nasty.

More walkers were still coming but before they got close, the front doors suddenly opened when someone from inside unbarricaded it to help the group. It was James who was still alive!

"Shit! It's you guys!" James said as he looked at them. "Get inside! NOW! These doors won't hold out for long."

As everyone ran in and James shut the doors behind them, Aaron was relieved to know his stepfather survived the encounter from earlier. William slowly limped his way through the hallway with the others as he held his hand on his chest wound since it hurt badly. The group took refuge in a classroom for now. James was ready to explain the situation to everyone. Aaron hugged him.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you but what are you guys doing here? The whole place is infested!" James said.

"We thought this place was loaded with supplies we could take. We didn't know it was overrun by the dead." Molly answered. 

"Shit happens. Don't it?" He replied. "Don't matter how well a community does. In the end, the dead always win."

Molly looked happy and emotionally damaged at the same time. She was glad Crawford had fallen but the hate for them still remained. 

"Well think about the bright side. Everyone in here used to be smart and have guns. Now they're dumb and they don't." Kenny pointed out, trying to keep everyone in a better mood. William angrily looked at Kenny.

"Bright side?!" He complained while still holding his wound. "What bright side? My chest is fucked and Carley is fucking dead!"

Kenny didn't respond as he didn't want to escalate the situation. 

"Listen. Just shut the fuck up! We gotta focus." Lilly spoke up to vent her frustration about all the arguing. 

Molly made her way over to the map in the classroom. "Right here." She said as she pointed at the map. "So there's a maintenance shed that will probably have gas. Over there, there's an auto shop. That's where the battery will probably be. Lastly, Nurse's station. If they would keep the meds anywhere, it would be in there."

"Alright," Kenny said. "So who's going where?"

"I'll head to the maintenance shed," James said, then looked at Kenny. "Kenny, you should come with me."

"Alright. Good enough for me." Kenny replied.

"I'm heading to the auto shop," Molly said.

"I'll come with you," Lilly said.

"Hold on a sec. Who's gonna get the meds?" James asked, realising there were no suitable adults available to go there.

"I can do it." William hesitantly said as he stepped forward.

"You sure?" Violet turned to her brother, expressing her concern. "You're hurt."

"I got this, Vi." He persisted while still grunting in pain. Violet wasn't convinced. 

"I won't let you go alone. I just won't. I nearly lost you out there. I won't risk that happening again." She told him, hoping he'd listen to her.

He finally agreed to let Violet assist him. "Okay... you can come. What about the other 3 kids? Are we just gonna leave them on their own?"

Sophia stepped forward after hearing this. "I'll make sure we're okay."

Violet was shocked when she heard this from Sophia. She could tell that her friend was trying to be more like herself. The shot to her chest and almost dying in the forest back at the highway must have changed her. Violet felt a level of pride she never thought she'd feel so soon for her friend. 

"What?! You're just kids though..." William expressed his concern. Sophia brushed him off though.

"Please just trust me. I want to help for once. I can do it." Sophia persisted. Violet stood by her side to back her up.

"She's got this, William. I trust her. Clem, Aaron? Do you trust her?" Violet spoke out. Aaron and Clem hesitantly nodded since they didn't have anything to say regarding this. They didn't seem to mind what went on.

Molly stepped forward. "I guess that's that. Come on, we all have duties. Don't open the door for anyone while we're out, kids. Also, kids. While you're there, see if you can get into that armoury. Might have to shoot our way out of here."

Molly and the adults all left to attend to their duties. Kenny and James went to the maintenance shed, Lilly and Molly went to the Auto Shop while William and Violet went to the Nurse's Station. Sophia, Aaron, and Clem all stayed behind in the classroom. The 3 kids all had a conversation while they waited for the next hour or so for the rest of the group to come back.

"Is that your first time?" Clem said to Sophia, referring to Sophia standing up to take responsibility.

"Yeah..." She replied with a shy tone. "It was always Violet who took all the responsibilities. She had my back, even when we got split up from our people. She cares a lot and I want to show her that I care too and want to be brave like her.

Aaron found Sophia's story admirable since he was with her for part of it and he still felt bad about the accident. "My stepdad still feels guilty about shooting you, Sophia."

"It wasn't his fault. It was an accident. My mom told me that the world can be full of accidents." Sophia replied with a forgiving smile. 

"I guess we wouldn't have met you if we didn't shoot you," Aaron said, making Sophia think about what he just said. 

"Wow," Sophia said in a bit of surprise while smirking. "That's a dark thought but you do make a point. In a way, I'm glad that what happened happened."

"You both never did tell me but how did you guys meet up?" Clem asked them both.

"Remember the farm, Clem?" Aaron reminded her.

"Yeah?"

"My stepdad and I went out hunting one day and when he lined up a good shot on this buck, he shot it but Sophia and her people were there at the time and the bullet went through it and hit Sophia in the chest and we had to put her on a bed and pull the bullet out of her chest. It hurt her... a lot. They stayed with us and then the farm was taken over by the monsters and we got split up from the rest of our group, landing us here."

"Yikes..." Clem expressed her shock. 

"Yeah..." Sophia responded while looking down at the floor in sadness. She could still feel the burn of the wound right now. It was a feeling that wouldn't go away for a while. 

Aaron changed the subject to talking about Violet. He looked at Sophia and genuinely was curious about their friendship.

"So what about Violet?" Aaron suddenly said, catching Sophia off guard. "I know you're both close. Just wondering what the story is there."

Sophia got nervous but was willing to share with Aaron her experience with Violet.

"She's the best person I could have. She came off as rough when we first met and I think talking to her made her open up to me. Don't get me wrong, I was so nervous and afraid to even talk to her since back then, she was intense and wanted only to find her brother. She was much braver than me too. She still is. I'm still afraid. What I'll never forget is she's always been there for me like a true friend. If I was scared, she'd comfort me. If she was angry, I'd cheer her up. Plus... she saved my life a few days ago. A big herd of monsters attacked us on a highway and one of them chased me into the forest. Violet and our friend Rick chased after me to save me. I won't forget that."

"I guess it's been a long journey for you both, huh?" Aaron commented.

"What I've noticed is she's always nervous around me despite being quite brave," Sophia told them. Clem already knew what this meant. Clem knew that Violet has taken a liking to Sophia. Aaron suspected this too.

"I think she might be into you." Clem nervously spoke up with a teasing smile. "It was the same with William and Sandra," she spoke sadly thinking about Sandra. This made Sophia nervous too.

"You think so? Would be cool if that is true." Sophia replied, trying to hide her nervousness. 

"I guess you'll have to find out." Clem giggled. Sophia only responded by slowly nodding. 

After some more chatting about their lives and talking about Violet and Sophia's friendship, Lilly, Kenny, and James all return. Molly is nowhere to be found right now. They barged into the room in a panic, Kenny carrying 2 cans of gas. This concerned the kids.

"What happened?" Sophia asked them since they ran in panicking.

"Walkers almost got us out there. The whole place is infested! Lilly luckily came to our rescue just in time." Kenny explained while sweating profusely. "Also Lilly? Do you have that battery?"

"Molly has it. She said she'd be back soon." Lilly told him, not liking that Molly wandered off. Kenny didn't like it either.

"She better," Kenny replied, hoping Molly wouldn't betray them. 

"Any luck with that door?" James asked the kids.

"No. Sorry. It's locked." Aaron said.

After some more waiting and some relaxing, the bells started ringing from the tower. Violet, William, Molly, and to everyone's surprise, Lauren showed up. Lauren unknown to everyone had been missing for the whole day. She silently went missing when on the train.

"We gotta go! NOW!" Molly yelled as she barged into the classroom with the others.

"Lauren? Where have you been all day?" James asked Lauren.

"Exploring. Didn't wanna worry you guys." She cheekily responded. Everyone didn't like that.

"Well, you could have gotten yourself killed!" James vented his frustration to her. "If you didn't know, your friend Carley got killed earlier."

"I know..." Lauren calmly responded to that, not seeming to be too fussed. "I saw her body outside."

"WHAT?! How can you not be upset about that?" James said to her, now feeling angry at the young girl for her ignorance. Lauren to most people's eyes felt really cold. She wasn't like this earlier. Something must have happened. 

"Focus first! Bicker later!" Lilly spoke up, trying to refocus them on the situation at hand.

Walkers started getting into the classroom. 

"SHIT! They're here!" Molly said out loud as she killed the walkers that got in. She held her body against the door to hold it shut. "Guys, find a way through that other door. NOW!"

The others started banging on the armoury door trying to get through it. "OPEN! DAMN YOU!" Kenny loudly muttered as he kept forcing his weight against the door to try and break it open. After a few minutes of trying, Kenny finally got through the door but it was too late. The walkers overpowered Molly and broke into the classroom. "SHIT! NO NO NO NO!!!" Molly screamed out as she was dragged down and mauled by several walkers. She had the battery and now it was gone since they couldn't go through the walkers to get it back. Seeing this, Kenny was pissed. The kids were terrified of watching Molly getting mauled. Lauren was unphased. The adults were shocked. 

"FUCK! She had the battery." Kenny said, enraged. "All of this was for NOTHING!"

Lilly grabbed Kenny's arm and tried to drag him with her. "We don't have time for this! It's either die for that battery or live without it. Take your pick!" Lilly warned him. Kenny took her warning and went with her. He was still pissed.

James grabbed a shotgun from a dead corpse and some ammo that was left.

"So much for the armoury..." James expressed his disappointment. 

"What's left of it..." Kenny commented on that as the group made their way downstairs through the tower. 

"This way." Lilly said as she lead the group downstairs to hopefully find a way out.

When they made their way downstairs, they opened a door, hoping it would be a way out. It wasn't a way out. It lead to a room with a lot of walkers to which Lilly immediately closed the door again. "SHIT! That door won't hold for long. Get upstairs! It's our only way out." Lilly said to the group as they obeyed her orders. 

James followed behind everyone else so he could hold off the walkers using the shotgun as everyone climbed to the top of the tower staircase. When he finally reached the top, everyone had already climbed out to escape except William who bravely waited behind for James. As James reached the top, a walker hanging from the giant bell swung towards him and grabbed him, causing him to fall over the edge and hang on for dear life. James was terrified of falling. 

"SHIT! HELP! I'M SLIPPING!" He yelled in desperation. William came to his aid and bashed the walker hanging from the bell with his baseball bat. The walker fell and James fell too but William grabbed his arm just in time but he struggled to pull up James due to still being in severe pain from his wound earlier.

"I got you, dude! Man... I'm struggling to pull you up though. It fucking hurts still..." William grunted as he desperately held onto James' arm to keep him from falling. The walkers were getting close to the top and time was running out.

"Listen, man. If you have to drop me to make sure you get out... just do it. Better 1 dead than both of us." James told William. Despite James' selfless act, William wasn't willing to let James die. He had a stepson with him and another stepson who he recently got split up from. 

"I'm not dropping you!" William almost cried when saying this.

"If you want to make it out, you have to." James persisted. William still wasn't listening. 

William had a temporary flashback to when he was told about Violet's departure from the family to move to Ericson's in West Virginia. It reminded him of loss. When he thought he'd never see her again after the apocalypse began. He wasn't ready to let James' stepsons feel that way too with James dying. After thinking about this, he had a sudden adrenaline surge in his body and he used this reserved strength to heroically pull up James, saving him from a horrible fate. James was left in silence after being saved. They escaped the tower, James helping William walk since his recent action had left him drained and he struggled to walk without hurting. By now, it was morning. They all returned to the house where Lee was still resting.

Everyone was so tense... about not being able to use the boat now. Most people sat down and rested while William went upstairs to give Lee some medicine to reduce his fever. 

"Thanks, man," Lee said in relief as he started feeling better. "Is Clem okay?"

"Don't sweat it, dude," William replied while still grunting from his pain. "Clem's okay. We lost a few people though... including Carley and the new girl we met yesterday."

"Damn..." Lee calmly responded in surprise. He was upset that Carley was gone but he still didn't let that get to him since Clem was his focus. "Also... you don't look so good."

William pulled up his top to show Lee his chest wound. Lee's jaw dropped at the sight of it.

"It hurts... a lot." He said in pain while holding onto his own chest. William was also feeling quite sick now so he knew something was up. He began coughing and Lee noticed it.

"That wound isn't a problem, right? You're getting really sick." Lee pointed out. William knew that Lee also knew something was wrong.

"We'll just have to see, won't we? Ain't no medicine gonna save me from this. I think I've kicked the bucket."

"What about Violet? What's she gonna think of this? Are you going to tell her?"

"Fuck no. We need everyone to be strong. I'm sure you'd understand that, Lee."

"I do. But at some point, William, you'll have to tell her, before it's too late."

William due to his pain and ever-growing sickness sat down with Lee and lied on his back to relax. He ended up passing out and waking up the next morning due to the sickness and his fatigue. When he got up, he was struggling to move but he managed to get up and walk around. By now, he was extremely sick and now had a fever. His face was pale and was not doing so good. He walked downstairs and found Lee frantically searching around since Clem had gone missing. The others were down there too, still fatigued after yesterday. When William showed up downstairs, the others looked extremely concerned for him when they saw his pale face and how sick he was. 

"Jesus, dude! Holy fuck are you alright?" Kenny said in extreme concern as he walked up to William in sympathy. 

"No..." William responded while coughing up blood and feeling very weak. 

"You weren't bitten so how did this happen to you?" Lilly asked him as she also walked up to him.

"Not the faintest fuckin' clue," William muttered as he continued coughing.

Lee interrupted the conversation when he came in with Clem's hat and her radio. She was missing and someone had kidnapped her.

"Clem's been taken." Lee suddenly blurted out loud as he walked in to show them the hat and radio. The adults were worried. 

"WHAT?!" Lilly responded in shock. "Who?"

"That fucker on the radio." Lee angrily replied. "All of you, stay here and take care of William, would ya? I'm gonna go around and see if I can find any leads. Be back in a few hours."

"Will you be alright on your own?" James asked in concern, obviously wanting to help him.

Lee nodded. "Yeah. I'm good. My leg is recovering quite well. Should be alright. Just take care of everyone here. Clem's my responsibility."

Everyone waited around for Lee to hopefully find a lead or even Clem herself. As the hours went on, William got even sicker. This finally got the attention of Violet who began to freak out since she knew her brother might die. She sat with him and started crying.

"Listen, girl. It's normal to be upset and we both know I might not make it. It sucks that we both just reunited and then this happens but I need you to be strong. For me. For your friends. These guys are just as much of your family as I am. I need you to remember that, Violet." William told her while trying not to cough blood all over her. This speech made Violet cry even more.

"I don't wanna lose you! Not again!" She cried out as Sophia sat with her too, feeling hurt for her best friend. 

"You still have people who care about you, Violet." William went on. "Think about where'd you'd be before meeting me if you didn't have Sophia."

This statement hit Violet hard and after hearing this, she pulled Sophia closer to her and snuggled onto her. Sophia, feeling upset for her friend, allowed the latter to hold onto her. Seeing Violet feel this broken, upset and weak, Sophia made it her goal to strengthen herself for Violet's sake. Even become stronger and braver than Violet if she had to. Today marked the beginning of a new era for Sophia. She wasn't going to be a little helpless shy girl anymore. She was going to be more like the adults in order for her to survive with her friends. A few minutes later, Lee returned, looking panicked and in a hurry. 

"Guys! Get ready! They're coming!" Lee yelled as he barged in through the back door. Everyone then stood up to improvise a defence plan. The walkers made it into the backyard and there were hundreds of them.

"Any leads on Clem." Kenny quickly asked him to which Lee responded. "No. Nothing. But there's a million walkers coming in and we gotta fuckin' go!"

The group all made their upstairs to take a stand except Sophia who refused to let herself get cornered. Seeing this, Violet rushed down in a panic. William joined her as he refused to leave Violet's side. 

"Sophia! What are you doing?!" Violet shouted at her in a bit of frustration. 

"Not getting myself killed! If we go up there, we're dead! Cornered. If you wanna do what's best for us, you'll come with me." Sophia boldly answered back. 

"Okay! Fine... you know a way out?" Violet replied hesitantly. 

Sophia looked at the kitchen and saw a window the walkers broke through that they could escape the house through. "Kitchen window. That's our way out. Will your brother be able to move?"

William nodded hesitantly. "I'll be fine. Let's just go!" He said.

The three of them escaped through the window, leaving the rest of the group upstairs on their own. The three of them had no destination. All they knew is they had to escape Savannah or they'd die. Meanwhile upstairs, Kenny and the rest took a stand at the end of the hallway.

"WHERE THE HELL IS SOPHIA, VIOLET AND WILLIAM?!" Kenny yelled as the walker groans came closer to the group.

"Not the right time, man! Worry about the walkers!" Lee told him as he pulled out his gun.

"FUCK!" Kenny yelled again. "Walkers must have got them. How many bullets you all got?"

Lilly: 3.

Lee: 5.

James: 4.

Aaron: 7.

Lauren: 2.

"You all know where to aim," Kenny said as he got ready to open fire on the walkers coming upstairs. 

They all kept firing until they ran out of ammo. Realising the walkers were still coming, they had no choice but to escape into the attic to be safe from them. This would, however, trap them upstairs. Meanwhile, Violet, Sophia and William were long gone, their only goal being to get as far out into the countryside as possible. Clem was still kidnapped and Lee's group's goal was to escape the attic safely and reach Clem to save her in time before her kidnapper did something to her. William's increasing danger of death was rising as his fever got worse. It was only a matter of time before his luck an out. Violet had better make her last words before he's a goner. Find out what happens in the next chapter's finale to Season 1 of the Trio of Madness remake. 

To be concluded next chapter...

Chapter Text

In the attic...

Lee and the gang have been sitting in the attic for a good hour or two trying to figure out how to escape and make it to Clem. After tooling about, Kenny managed to damage the wall that connects to the other house next door. Lee and Kenny were currently using their muscle to break through the corroded wall. 

"Aaron. I'm sorry I scared you all. It's just... the guy who kidnapped Clem... he tried to get me too when I was split up from you guys." Lauren whispered to Aaron as they sat down in the corner of the attic. "I told you all before that I've been through a lot of bad stuff and at this point... I don't want to care anymore. I'm sick of being scared and showing weakness. I want to be tough. Yes, losing Carley sucks as she took care of me but I'm just done caring."

Aaron was worried that his friend was losing her humanity. He spoke up to her to make his point. "If you act the way you do, you risk what makes you human. That's what my stepdad would say."

Lauren took a moment to think about what Aaron said. She knew he was right but she didn't want to change. "I know you're right but I just can't act like people used to before monsters came. It's not the same world anymore. We're either alive or we're not. There are no kids, elderly, women, men or whatever. We're seen as one of two things. We're either survivors or we're dead."

This speech upset Aaron and he decided to stop talking to Lauren since he didn't like how cold and hard she was becoming. Meanwhile, Lilly was talking to James.

"These guys tell you much about what we've been through?" Lilly asked James to which he shook his head. Lilly then went on about their past before James' group arrived. "So back before you guys showed up, we had more people and we survived at this motel in Macon. My dad was the biggest asshole there and I believed in everything he did and say. We learned to live with each other until these fucking cannibal shitheads showed up and manipulated us, eventually leading us onto their farm and into their trap. My dad died in their meat locker from a heart attack. I lost my shit and was about to explode. Once we defeated the farmers, we were still left dealing with these bandits that were harassing them. Of course, they now targeted us and someone in our group; a shitbird called Ben, he was helping them steal shit from us to keep himself safe. When we found out and stopped it, we got attacked and I shot the fucker later on the road since I suspected him. It's just... not been a good time for us, you know?"

James gave her a straight look in response and nodded. "I feel you. We haven't dealt with nasty people like that but walkers have been the downfall of my people. It was horrible near Atlanta. Fucking horrible. We lost our farm because of a helicopter that flew through Atlanta and went past us. It drew a massive herd and we got overrun. Now I'm here after losing track of the rest of my people after a split up."

"Wow. That's unlucky." Lilly said, showing how surprised she was by James' misfortune.

Lee's radio turned on again and Clem could be heard calling for help on it. "Lee? Lee! I'm at the place my parents always went and... oh no!---" Clem managed to say before being cut off by her kidnapper. Everyone was relieved to hear this news.

"Holy fuck..." Kenny muttered as he stopped hitting the wall for a second. "That must mean she's..."

"She's in the Marsh House. The hotel Clem's parents were staying in. He hasn't moved her." Lee interrupted to let them know.

"Yet..." Kenny added to Lee's comment. 

"Yeah. Yet..." Lilly also commented.

"So what are we waiting for then? Let's get through this fuckin' wall and find her before she does get moved." Kenny said ambitiously to everyone as he began battering the wall again. Lee rejoined him while Lilly sat and read a book while she waited. James and the kids were stuck sitting bored out of their minds while they waited. 

After another 10 minutes of exhausting energy, Lee managed to make it through the wall at last. "I'm through!" He shouted in relief as the others shared his feeling of relief too when they heard this. 

He looked through. It looked clear. "Looks clear. Should be safe." Lee told the rest as he climbed through first. The rest followed him.

As the group all made it into the other room, they saw a dead couple on the bed holding hands. The dude had a gun in his outer hand. They must have committed suicide together, wanting to stop any suffering of being in this world. Everyone looked at them in shock. It almost made Kenny cry as he was the only one in the group to have lost a lover recently since his wife died. After looking at them, Lee opened a door on the other side of the way they came in and it led to a balcony in which they could jump to a roof and stay high all the way to The Marsh House. 

"Here's the way out," Lee said as he pointed a the exit. "If we could jump to that roof, we can stay high all the way to The Marsh House."

"You're right," James said as he carefully looked at the metal balcony. He saw it shake a little bit. "We should probably send everyone across from lightest to heaviest, that way it doesn't break on the first jump since it does look pretty unstable."

"He's right," Lilly said.

Lauren stepped forward immediately and jumped over. Aaron went next and James had to help him chill out since he was afraid of heights. Lauren caught him and helped him up. With the kids now across, the adults are what made it scary. Lee agreed he'd go last since he has an injured leg and could use help in case he slips. Lilly went after Aaron, followed by Kenny after her. When Lee tried to jump, the balcony collapsed and he fell about 30 feet down, severely damaging the same leg he injured the other day. The others freaked out and were surprised to see that he survived the fall.

"HOLY FUCK!" Kenny yelled. "LEE! You alright, man?!"

"Does it FUCKING sound like I'm okay?! My leg might be broken! I can't move!" Lee shouted back up from below.

Lilly without saying a word, climbed down the nearby ladder to try and help Lee. Kenny didn't like that.

"Are you fucking crazy?!" Kenny shouted at Lilly as the latter ignored him. He just sighed after this.

Lilly tried helping Lee stand up but his leg was completely broken. "ARGHHHH!" He yelled in severe pain when he tried to walk. This drew the attention of a nearby horde. The others could only watch from above as the horde began making their way into the alley. When Lilly saw this, she grabbed Lee and carried him, using the latter to push the walkers out of the way so they could escape. From the view of the group on the roof, it looked like Lee and Lilly got caught in the horde. They assumed they died, Kenny being left in big disbelief. 

"This so so fucked..." Kenny quietly muttered. "With them gone, we lose our only link to finding Clem. FUCK!"

With Lee gone, Kenny and the rest were now on their own for finding Clem since Lee had the radio. James got the emotionally damaged Kenny back on his feet to keep moving. All that mattered now was to get to Clem before her captor moved her. As the remaining 4 people travelled from roof to roof, Kenny while being distracted by his emotions, accidentally tripped over himself and fell down an open roof hole and into a dark apartment building.

"Shit!" Kenny shouted while standing up unharmed and trying not to freak out.

"Can you get out?" James spoke down to him. The kids just watched as they could do nothing.

Kenny tried to jump to grab James' hand but couldn't reach him. James tried looking for another solution. He found a metal pipe and tried to use that to help Kenny up.

"Here!" James said as he held the pipe down the hole. "Grab this!"

Kenny grabbed onto the pipe but James lost grip while pulling Kenny up, causing Kenny to fall down, creating a loud noise.

"Shit!" Kenny yelled as he stood up again. Before he could think of another way out, walkers began approaching him from inside the building. There were a lot of them.

"Dammit!" James shouted. "They're in there! Find out a way out, man!"

Kenny tried hard but nothing was helping. Eventually, the walkers caught up to him and he disappeared. The only thing the remaining 3 could hear was a gunshot and some screaming. James assumed he didn't make it.

"So that's it?" Aaron said to his stepfather. "It's just us now?"

"Yup." He replied as he looked at Aaron and Lauren with care, not wanting to lose them next. "Just us now. Clem is relying on us and we have to be careful from here on out otherwise the same will happen to us that happened to the others."

The kids acknowledged James' warning and the three of them kept moving. They eventually came across a sign they had to cross to stay high. Just like the balcony from earlier, it looked very unstable. James didn't like this as he knew it was going to break and screw them over.

"Another cross." James calmly muttered in slight frustration. "I can already tell this thing's gonna break. I'm going first. At least if it breaks, I can still push on and save Clem."

Aaron didn't like that idea. Lauren wasn't too bothered as she simply didn't give a shit about anything.

"You're just gonna risk leaving us?! Aaron exclaimed in sadness. James saw how sad his stepson was but he knew this was the safest way to guarantee he can save Clem.

James didn't respond to Aaron. To avoid being convinced to not go, he crossed the sign before his stepson could continue complaining. As expected, just after crossing halfway, the sign broke and James quickly grabbed onto the edge of it to avoid falling.

"Find a way down, guys!" James shouted to them from across the sign. "Get out of town and meet by the train if you can. I'll try and meet you there with Clem if I find her."

Lauren nodded. Aaron reluctantly nodded. Lauren and Aaron made their off the roofs and out of town to wait by the train. James climbed down and with no other way to The Marsh House, he pushed through the walker horde on the streets until he made it to the hotel. He saw a car parked outside of it. He made his way inside and followed a trail that led him to the room Clem was kept in. When he entered, Clem wasn't there. He searched the room and saw 2 sub rooms connected to each other with a rope on the doors.

Upon investigating this, Clem's captor entered the room through the door James entered from and pointed a gun at James when he turned around.

"I got us adjoining rooms." The stranger calmly said to James who had his hands up.

James wasn't playing games and using his military experience, he quickly slid over to the stranger to disarm him before he could shoot. The two got into a fight which James came out on top on. Without hesitation, he shot the man in the head since many of James' friends died or got separated just trying to save Clem. 

"Clem? You here? Come out, it's safe." James called out.

Clem came out and hugged James.

"Thank god you're okay," James said to her while accepting her hug.

"Thank you," Clem responded while still shaking.

"You won't like this but... myself, Lauren and Aaron are the only ones left. I'll take you to regroup with the other 2 kids."

Clem began crying. "So Lee's gone?"

James looked back at Clem with a sad look. "Yeah. We lost everyone on the way over here. Lee had your hat so I think that's gone too."

Clem was even sadder. "My dad gave me that hat. I'll miss Lee... and my hat."

"I'm sure you do," James said. "Come on, we should go. I'll take you where it's safe."

Clem nodded and followed James. As they went to leave the room, a walker was at the door and both James and Clem panicked. James shielded Clem behind him. The walker ignored James and stared at Clem. james took advantage of this and quickly knocked over the walker and shot it. This left Clem surprised since the walker didn't attack James.

"it... didn't bite you," Clem muttered out loud while getting goosebumps. 

"I know... it must have..." James responded stopping what he was saying as he realised why the walker ignored him. It was because he was covered in their blood from when he powered through the horde earlier.

"You're covered in that gross stuff," Clem said to finish his sentence. 

"Bingo!" He said with confidence. "That's how we'll get out of Savannah."

James covered Clem in walker guts using the walker he had just killed. They then left The Marsh House and slowly roamed their way through the streets until they escaped Savannah. He and Clem finally regrouped with Lauren and Aaron by the train and they made their way to the countryside to continue their lives.

Meanwhile elsewhere outside of town, William, Violet and Sophia stopped by the forest when William passed out. He woke up a few minutes later, sitting against a tree. Violet sat with him, holding his hand with her two hands. Sophia stood by Violet's side, feeling upset about her friend's emotional pain.

"Vi... this is it for me." William struggled to say. "I can't move..."

"No!" Violet cried. "You can't die now! You can't!"

"I'm sorry," William said as he cried too. "I'm so proud of you for making it this far with me. You and Sophia, you're both brave. You're both survivors."

Violet continued crying uncontrollably. 

"Take my bat, Vi. Take care of it. It's yours now." William whispered while coughing up more blood. Violet leaned over and took his metal baseball bat. She also took his gun and gave it to Sophia who reluctantly took it.

"I love you, brother. I love you so much!!!" Violet cried out as William was slowly losing consciousness. 

"I love you too, Vi. Take care of yourself and your friend. Stay safe." William said back to her, finally passing away afterwards. Violet was left in a mountain of tears as Sophia could only stand there and comfort her friend.

"Do you want me to... you know..." Sophia hesitantly asked Violet, referring to putting William out of his misery before he turns. 

The young blonde looked back at Sophia and slowly nodded as she continued crying. She backed away from her dead brother and Sophia nervously walked up to him and put the gun to his head. After closing her eyes and looking away, she hesitantly pulled the trigger, putting an end to William's suffering. She looked back at Violet with a sad face. Violet ran into Sophia's arms and snotted all over her as Sophia comforted the devastated young blonde. 

"I'm here for you, Vi. I'll always be here for you. I'm so sorry about your brother." Sophia said to her while trying not to cry too.

"I know." She cried in response. "I couldn't ask for a better friend. So we're just... on our own now? Like what were we gonna do?"

"Seems that way." She calmly replied, hiding her fear from Violet as she was scared about what happens next. She just wanted to be strong for Violet right now while she was hurting. "It won't be easy for either of us but we'll do what it takes to live out here. No matter what happens, Vi, I'll always fight for you. Always. From here on out, we need to be strong. It's what Rick would tell us."

"I miss Rick," Violet said as she dried some of her own tears. "He saved our lives. We wouldn't have survived the highway incident if he wasn't with us. I just hope he and the others are okay."

"Me too," Sophia told her while shedding a small tear since she missed her mother. "Mom would be proud of me right now for being brave. To think we wouldn't have met the farmers if I didn't run off from the monsters and didn't get shot by James on accident. I think about that every day."

The two girls buried William using a shovel they found nearby at a small shed. Violet now had William's baseball bat while Sophia had his gun. The two girls made distance into the countryside, leaving Savannah and William behind them forever. They would now spend the next 2 years or so surviving on their own and staying on the move. The years were rough for the girls but they did whatever it took to stay alive, having each other's backs the entire way.

End of Season 1

To be continued next season...

Chapter Text

In Season 2, James lives in the forest with Clem, Aaron and Lauren. Sophia and Violet also live in the forest but they're alone. More info will be released when Season 2 comes out.