TWD - killin' time between episodes

the zombie flanders

(I started writing this about a week after 2-04 came out.... figured it would be awhile before the 5th episode, so just played around with ideas based off the ep 4 ending.... since we didn't know the outcome of the shootout with the Russians, I decided to keep our group of characters alive and in the picture.... just finished playing 2-05, so figured I'd toss this part out for fun)

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A frigid northern wind cut across the landscape and kicked up the top layer of powdery snow. A swirling mix of snow and ice particles hung in the air and pelted any object that attempted to stand in the way. Tree branches creaked and groaned as they swayed back and forth; and bumped against the branches of its neighbor. The sound of the howling wind and the creaking trees were occasionally interrupted by a sharp snapping noise as the more brittle branches gave way under the weight of the snow and the pressure of the wind, cracking off and landing with a muffled thud as they disappeared into the snow drifts below. The faint crunch of footsteps broke up the monotony of sounds as a figure slowly emerged from the swirling snow; head bowed to try and keep the icy pellets from hitting the exposed skin of their face. Another tall figure emerged from the gloom, about fifteen paces behind the first; as they followed in the footsteps already made and tried to beat down the snow more to make a better path through the drifts. He paused and glanced backwards at the string of companions following in the small trench, and then looked down at the small figure directly behind him. She cocked her head to look up, and then winced as a gust of wind yanked the hood off her head. Clem tugged her hood back into place and looked back up at Mike.

"I'm fine, keep going." She muttered, as she read his expression and anticipated his question before he could even ask. Mike smirked and nodded, as he looked back again at the rest of the group to make sure they hadn't lost anyone; and then turned again to continue on their northern path. He squinted as he looked at what appeared to be a small structure just to the east, but he couldn't be sure as the swirling snow made it hard to tell if there was really something there or if it was just his imagination. He shrugged and let out a frustrated sigh as he bowed his head again and trudged ahead.

"Hey!" A voice called out from behind. Mike turned his head and slowed a bit, but kept moving forward. "Hey! Mike!" Bonnie shouted. Mike looked back to see her waving her arms at him. As she got his attention, she started to point off to the east. She closed the gap between them and huddled with him and Clem. "It ain't gettin' no better out here. We gotta find some shelter." She said. She motioned towards the structure to the east. "What about that?" She said. He glanced to the east and then shrugged.

"Wasn't sure if I was just seein' things with all this snow." He muttered. He looked behind Bonnie at the two figures trudging towards them, as Bonnie craned her neck to look past him at the lone figure still moving to the north.

"Hey!" She shouted. Mike winced as her voice pierced through the air and then chuckled as he twisted a finger in his ear in a mocking motion. "Kenny! Stop!" Bonnie yelled. Kenny paused and turned to look back at the others. He stood motionless for a moment, let out a sigh, and then trudged back towards them. Icicles clung to his beard and moustache. He shifted his gaze from Mike to Bonnie to Clem.

"Ain't no time to be standing around." Kenny grumbled. "Let's keep movin'..."

"It's gonna get dark soon. We need some shelter… now." Bonnie said as she cut him off. Kenny frowned and gave her a look of disbelief.

"Dark? It's hardly past midday." He shot back. He glanced up at the dull gray sky as if he could see the sun to tell exactly where it was and how much longer they would have before it dipped below the horizon.

"Probably later than you think." Mike said. He motioned towards the structure to the east. "Let's check that out. We don't know how long it'll be until we run into something else... and it ain’t gonna get any warmer out here once it is dark." He added. Kenny let out a small grumble. He looked down at Clem and stared at her for a moment as if to ask her opinion without saying anything. Clem squinted as the snow continued to swirl in her face and just nodded her agreement with Mike and Bonnie. Kenny slowly nodded and then turned to head towards the structure. Mike looked back at the others and motioned to the east, and then followed behind Kenny to beat down the snow and make a small trench.

Clem and Bonnie rubbed the dirt and snow off the window to make a small, circular clear patch and then leaned forward to try and peer inside; as Kenny jiggled the front doorknob, only to find it locked. "See anything?" He asked as he glanced over at them. They both shrugged and shook their heads.

"Nothin' movin' that I can see." Bonnie replied. Kenny looked back at Mike as he stepped off the front porch to look up at the house. It was a large, two story farmhouse; with a long porch that extended the entire length of the front and wrapped around both sides. Small patches of green paint dotted the siding to give an idea of what it might have looked like in a former life, but the years of neglect had left it much worse for wear. Mike glanced up at the windows of the second floor to look for any signs of movement; but didn't see anything. He looked back at Kenny and shook his head. Kenny turned back towards the door; leaned back and gave it a swift, hard kick. The doorframe cracked and gave way, and the door swung wide open and smacked against the side wall. Kenny paused in the doorway and listened for a moment before taking a tentative step inside. He took in a couple deep breaths of the stale, musty air.

"At least it doesn’t smell like the dead."” He muttered to himself. The floor creaked as he took a couple more steps inside. "Hello? Don't shoot." He called out. "Just lookin' for a place for the night." He added. He tugged his gun from the back of his pants and slowly stepped inside. Clem followed behind him with her own gun in hand. He looked back at her as she entered. "Low on ammo, so let's not shoot unless we gotta." He muttered. They both stood still for a moment to listen for any sound, but only heard the whistle of the wind as it whipped around the house and through the open door. Bonnie stepped inside to look around the foyer. Directly ahead was a staircase that hugged the right wall. It went up a dozen steps to a small landing and then made a left turn to rise another handful of steps to the second floor. To the right was a large, arched doorway that led into a sitting room. A large, brick fireplace dominated the far wall of the room. Two red fabric couches flanked the fireplace, facing each other; and a long, wooden coffee table sat between them. A pair of colorful, but dusty quilts were draped across the back of each couch; and a handful of green pillows were strewn on the cushions. Clem slowly crept into the room and looked over the contents. She tucked her gun into the back of her pants and pulled one of the quilts off the couch. A cloud of dust filled the air as she gave it a rough shake. She turned away and coughed as she waved a hand back and forth in front of her to shoo away the dust. Kenny glanced into the room and looked over at her. She coughed again and then smiled.

"All clear in here." She said.

"Take a look around in here, Clem, and see if there’s anything useful.” Kenny said. He turned to Bonnie. “""Let's check the rest and make sure it's empty." He said. She nodded and followed him to the back of the house. Clem pulled the second quilt off the other couch and gave it a similar rough shake to clear the dust off it. She glanced towards the foyer as she coughed and waved away the dust to see Christa step into the doorway. Clem smiled and motioned at the couches.

"They're a little dusty, but it's better than being outside." She said. Christa closed her eyes and nodded as a small smile crept across her face. She slowly tugged the zipper down on her parka to reveal a small bulge wrapped tightly against her chest. She carefully unwrapped the bundle and glanced down at Rebecca's baby as he slept soundly against her. Clem craned her neck to look at him, and then tugged at Christa's coat. "Sit." She said as Christa looked down at her. Christa carefully sat down in the corner of the couch and let out a long, content sigh. Mike paused in the doorway, and then looked back towards the stairs to the second floor.

"I'm gonna check out the upstairs." He said. "And maybe we can find something to burn in that fireplace to get a little heat in here." He added, as he turned to head up the steps. Luke trudged up the front steps as he brought up the rear and stepped inside. He pushed the door shut, but it blew open again as the latch had been torn away from the frame. He shook his head as he glanced around the foyer, grabbed a small table and pushed it up against the door as he closed it again. He turned back around as Mike whistled at him and motioned for him to come upstairs to help him search the house.

Clem sat down next to Christa and cocked her head to the side as she looked at the baby. "How's he doing?" she asked.

"Ok, all things considered." She replied. "Gonna be hungry soon, so we'll have to melt some of that water, 'cause I'm sure everything we have is frozen solid right now." They both jumped as a loud crashing noise echoed from upstairs. The baby shook and then started to cry as he was jolted from his slumber. Christa gently patted him to try and settle him down as Clem got up and scurried into the foyer. Kenny and Bonnie emerged from the back and looked towards the second floor.

"What the hell is goin' on up there?" Kenny called out as another series of crashes sounded. Luke emerged from the hallway with an armload of busted wooden furniture. He looked down at Kenny, Bonnie and Clem to see them staring back at him in a defensive stance.

"Figured no one was gonna mind if we tore some of this up for firewood." He said as he came down the steps, and then dumped the wood in front of the fireplace.

The soft, orange glow of the flames illuminated the room and cast dancing shadows on the walls and ceiling as the fire started to catch. Mike crouched next to the brick hearth and poked at the pile of wood to encourage it to burn. Clem placed a few bottles of frozen water on the hearth near the fire to draw off the heat and melt the ice. Kenny dropped onto the couch opposite Christa and let out a heavy sigh as he closed his eyes.

"Really thought we woulda made it to Wellington by now." Kenny quietly muttered. Luke let out a quiet snort and shook his head.

"Maybe if we didn't abandon the truck and try to walk there, we..." He muttered under his breath. Kenny shot him a glare to cut him off.

"We didn't abandon anything." Kenny shot back. "I tried to fix it, but it had been livin' on borrowed time for miles. We're lucky it got us as far as it did." He snapped. Bonnie shook her head as Kenny and Luke stared each other down. "I didn't see you steppin' up to play mechanic." Kenny barked at him.

"Guys... c'mon... no sense arguing about it. Besides, I doubt that truck would've made it through this snow anyway." Bonnie said. Kenny continued to stare at Luke until Luke finally turned away and retreated to a chair near the side wall. Clem picked up a bottle of water as the ice had melted away and slowly poured some into a smaller bottle. She scooped in a little powdered baby formula, screwed on the nipple and gently shook it to mix it up. She handed it to Christa and watched as Christa nudged it into the baby's mouth.

"How much of that do we have left?" Kenny asked. Clem picked up the can of powdered formula and frowned.

"Maybe another seven or eight bottle's worth." She replied.

"Did you find anything in the kitchen?" Christa asked. Bonnie shook her head and sighed.

"Naw, it was picked clean. Nothing but dust in every drawer and cabinet." Bonnie replied. The fireplace cracked and sparked as Mike tossed in another handful of wood.

"Don't got much food left for us neither." Mike said.

"Which just means we're headin' out first thing in the mornin'." Kenny said. "So let's all get some rest tonight. I don't think we need to worry about anything sneaking up on us in these conditions."

“First thing? Maybe we need to rest up here for a few days at least." Luke replied. Kenny rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“You got problems with your hearing?"” Kenny said in a sarcastic tone. “There ain't’t no food here.""

"Yeah, but we still got some with us."” Luke said.

"Not much… and we'l’ll need that to get us the rest of the way. Don't’t need to be sitting here eating the rest of our stock and then have nothing when we're’r out there."” Kenny shot back.

“Kenny’s right.” Clem said. “We have to go first thing.” Luke let out a snort and shook his head.

"Course you’d agree with him… you always do.” He quipped.

"How much further do you think it is?" Christa asked as she pulled the empty bottle from the baby's mouth, gently placed him on her shoulder and softly patted his back. Kenny shrugged and shook his head.

"Dunno... but it's gotta be close." He replied.

"If it even exists." Luke quietly muttered. Kenny glared at him and took a breath to snap back at him but held his tongue and just let out a frustrated sigh. He looked at Mike and wagged his head towards the foyer.

"Come on, lets drag down some of those mattresses. All of us might as well stay close to the fire to keep warm tonight."”" He muttered. Mike nodded and followed Kenny out of the room and up the steps.

The room was still dark, save for the orange glow from the embers in the fireplace, when Clem’s eyelids fluttered and slowly opened. She lay still for a moment and just stared at the glowing embers. She turned her head slightly as a faint tapping noise caught her attention. She looked around the room to see everyone else still sound asleep. She crawled out from under the blanket and quietly shuffled into the foyer to listen. The soft tapping continued. Clem stood motionless for a moment to try and determine the location of the sound. The stairs creaked as she slowly crept up the steps and down the second floor hallway. The tapping noise grew louder as she approached the bedroom doorway to her left. She nudged the door open to peek inside. The room was mostly empty, except for the shards of wood that remained after Mike and Luke destroyed everything for firewood. Clem scanned around the room and then jumped slightly as she looked at the window. Perched outside on the windowsill was a large owl. He stared back at her with his large yellow eyes. His mottled feathers gave him an almost tiger like appearance. Clem slowly shuffled closer to the window as the owl continued to tap on the panes of glass with his beak. She stood silently and just stared back at him as if hypnotized by the sound and movement. Her eyes remained fixed on the owl as a soft creaking noise sounded from the stairwell.

"What are you doing up here?” Mike whispered. Clem gasped and jumped. She whipped around to see him take a step back and hold his hands up in front of him. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle ya."” He said. Clem let out a quick sigh and shook her head.

"Its ok. I just heard something.” She replied. She motioned towards the window. "It was just that owl pecking at the window." Mike looked past her to the window, but only saw darkness outside.

"Where? Did you get him?" Mike asked. Clem went to the window and looked around, but the owl was nowhere to be seen.

"Guess he flew off"” She muttered.

"Dang. Woulda been good eating."” Mike muttered. He nudged her back towards the hallway. "Come on, might be a long day tomorrow, so lets get a little more shut-eye."

the zombie flanders

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The sun slowly began to climb into a crystal clear, azure blue sky as the thick layer of gray clouds finally moved on. The blazing sun and blue skies gave an initial appearance of a warm, spring day… as long as you only looked up; but the biting cold wind and the blindingly white blanket of snow quickly dispelled that. Kenny slowly marched through the snow at the head of their column, cutting a trail north where they all hoped to find Wellington. Luke’s words from the night before, questioning whether Wellington even existed, still rung in Kenny’s ears. While he didn’t want to admit it, even he was beginning to question whether or not they were just chasing a pipe dream; but the further they went, the more he became unwilling to abandon their goal. He shifted his path slightly to go between two large drifts of snow. He glanced back at Mike and motioned at them. “Watch the cars.” He muttered. Mike paused a moment and gave him a confused look. He looked around at the large lumps of snow that stretched ahead of them and then realized they were heading through a long string of abandoned vehicles that had been covered by the blanket of snow. He reached out and brushed the snow off the window and peered inside.

“Maybe we should stop and search some of ‘em.” He said. Kenny shook his head and continued to move forward.

“Probably nothin’ worthwhile in there… keep movin’.” Kenny replied. He started to take another step forward, but stopped as he heard the baby begin to cry. He glanced back at Christa as she closed the gap between them.

“He’s hungry. Let’s stop for a minute.” She said. Kenny sighed and nodded as he leaned up against one of the cars.

“Ok, take five everyone.” He said. He looked around at all the snow covered vehicles and then back at the group. “While we’re here, take a look in some of these and see if there’s anything useful… just don’t go too far.” Christa tugged out a small bottle of formula she had already mixed up, and kept close to her body to use her own heat to keep it from freezing. She nudged it into the baby’s mouth to get him to eat. Mike and Bonnie shuffled ahead, sweeping the snow off the windows and pausing briefly to look inside. Luke moved towards a second line of abandoned vehicles to search those. Kenny glanced over at Clem as she held her hands up to a window and peeked inside. “Hey, Clem…” He said. She glanced over at him to see him motioning for her to come over. “C’mere a minute.” Clem shuffled over to stand next to him. Kenny stared down at her and then let out a deep sigh. “Look… I… I know this ain’t worth much, and I know I shoulda done it awhile ago…” He said. He paused briefly as he bowed his head and let out another sigh. “I just wanna apologize for what I said to you…” Clem watched as an expression of pain and regret came over his face. “…back when… when Sarita…”

“You don’t need to apologize… we both said things that…” Clem began to reply, but Kenny waved his hand and shook his head to stop her.

“No, I do. You were right… we’ve all lost people we cared about… we've all seen and done things we wish we didn't... and no matter how upset or frustrated I get, that don’t excuse what I said. We all agreed to that plan, and I can’t put the blame on you when everything went to hell…” He said. He paused again and stared down at her. “You just happened to be the one who was there when it all came out… so for what it’s worth… I’m sorry.” Clem looked up at him with a bittersweet smile on her face. She reached out, took his hand and gave it a squeeze.

“I’m sorry, too.” She replied. Kenny smiled and nodded, as he pulled her to him and gave her a gentle hug. He stepped back and looked down at her again.

“Now, ya know… I can’t promise I won’t say some stupid shit again sometime in the future.” He said with a chuckle.

“Swear.” Clem said with a smirk. Kenny chuckled. They both flinched as they heard Bonnie let out a short yelp. Kenny’s head whipped around to look ahead at her and Mike.

“Y’all ok?” He called out. He and Clem headed towards them. Clem glanced over to see Luke emerge from behind a large truck and head in the same direction. Bonnie nodded as she looked back at them.

“Yeah, it’s nothing… they just startled me is all.” She replied.

“Just some popsicles.” Mike muttered as he motioned off to the side of the road.

“Some what?” Kenny asked. He glanced over to see a dozen figures standing completely still along the side of the road. As he got closer, he realized they were walkers that had frozen in place as the winter temperatures had plummeted. “Well, looks like we were right about the cold freezin’ them in place.” He said. Luke stepped up next to Mike and Bonnie and looked over at the frozen walkers.

“Kinda reminds me of those cave things… what are they? Um… stalactites?” He muttered. Clem glanced up at him.

“Stalagmites.” She replied. Luke looked down at her with a confused expression.

“Ain't that what I said?" He asked. Clem shook her head. "What’s the difference?” He asked.

“Stalactites go from the top down. Stalagmites go from the ground up.” She said. Kenny chuckled at the commentary and shook his head.

“Think I’ll stick with popsicles.” Kenny muttered. Mike took a few cautious steps towards the closest walker to get a better look. He reached out and gave it a short poke on the shoulder to see if it would react, but it remained in the same fixed position. He pushed the walker harder and watched as it fell forward. It fell into another walker, which also began to fall, bumping into another like a stack of dominoes. Mike chuckled as he watched half the group of frozen walkers tumble down and disappear into the snow, as if they were planning to make snow angels. Christa walked up to see what was going on, as she had finished feeding the baby. Mike glanced back at her and chuckled.

“That was kinda fun. Want me to stand ‘em back up so we can do it again?” He said with a smirk. Bonnie rolled her eyes and gave him a shove.

“C’mon, let’s get movin’.” She said. She looked up at the sky to see the sun already past its mid-point and beginning a slow descent towards the horizon. “Time’s a wastin’ and we still need to find a place for the night if we don’t get to Wellington.” Kenny nodded in agreement and took the lead again. Everyone else fell into place as the single file train continued north. As the afternoon progressed into the early evening, the temperatures slowly began to drop even more and the wind speed increased. Kenny bowed his head as the swirling bits of ice and snow began to sting his face. He glanced up periodically to make sure he was heading in the right direction, and then looked back down again to shield himself from the wind. He did a double take as he looked up at the road ahead of him to see a number of buildings just off in the distance. As they got closer, more buildings appeared behind the first ones; and it appeared they were coming up to a small town. Kenny quickened his pace and rushed by a snow covered sign as he was focused on the nearest building. He stopped as he got to the parking lot of a small gas station. An old, heavily weathered sign hung from the awning over the pumps and swung back and forth in the wind. The faded message of “No Gas” was barely legible. Kenny looked at the smashed out windows and doors of the building itself and could tell from where he was that the entire building had been thoroughly looted. Mike paused at the snow covered sign and looked up at it. He reached up and swept his hand back and forth to clear the snow off, and then took a step back to read it.

“Wellington – pop: 4250”

Kenny retreated back to the sign to look at it as the rest of the group gathered around. He looked up at it and then scanned around at the nearby buildings, all of which appeared to not only be abandoned, but already broken into and looted.

“No… it… it can’t be…” Kenny mumbled as he began to frantically look around at all the buildings, hoping that he was just missing something. "Fuck this can't be it... there's gotta be..." Kenny began to mutter to himself. Luke closed his eyes and started to laugh quietly in disbelief. Kenny whipped around and glared at him. “Don’t you fucking say it!” He barked. Luke opened his eyes and glared back.

“What? That this was a waste of time? I don’t…”

“I said don’t…”

“…need to say anything cause it’s pretty damned obvious…”

“…fucking say it!” Kenny barked again.

“…that those stories about Wellington were bullshit.” Luke shot back. Kenny’s jaw clenched and he lunged at Luke. They grabbed each other and fell into the snow as they wrestled back and forth; grunting and cursing at each other. Mike leaned down to try and get between them and break things up.

“C’mon! Cut it out!” Mike yelled at them.

“This ain’t helpin’.” Bonnie said. “We still need to find a place for the night, so let’s start lookin’ at some of these places and see if any are worthwhile.” Christa backed away from the ruckus and leaned against the Wellington sign, and gently patted the bulge in the front of her parka. She glanced over at Clem as she began to walk away from the group and into town.

“Where are you going?” Christa asked, but Clem kept her gaze fixed on something and continued to walk. “Clementine.” Christa called out. Clem stopped and looked back at her briefly and then back towards town. She pointed off in the distance.

“What’s that?” Clem asked. Christa looked at a thin pillar of dark smoke that seemed to rise up from a distant spot in town and drift eastward in the wind. She looked back at the others and watched as Mike still struggled to separate Kenny and Luke.

“When you boys are done playing…” Christa said with a heavy tone of sarcasm. Kenny and Luke stopped fighting with each other and glanced over at her. Mike and Bonnie took a few steps towards her and looked at the pillar of smoke as Christa pointed towards it. Mike went back to help Kenny and Luke to their feet and then returned back to where Christa, Clem and Bonnie stood. Kenny rubbed his eye and stared off at the smoke.

“That’s gotta be it.” He muttered. “Let’s go.” Kenny headed into town with the rest of the group following close behind. As they snaked through the streets, they glanced back and forth at the various houses and businesses they passed. Every single one had a similar appearance of already being thoroughly looted. The last rays of sunlight began to fade away as the sun started to slip below the horizon. Kenny emerged from a side street and turned the corner, and then froze as he looked a few blocks ahead to see a large wall that stretched across the road. In the middle were two tall metal doors, approximately twenty feet high, which met to form a V shape. The wall itself was about the same height as the doors, and consisted of a mix of wood, brick, cinder blocks and old tires. It stretched out from the metal doors in both directions and appeared to run for at least a half dozen blocks. Ten feet in front of the wall was a series of X shaped barricades, each with sharpened tips to impale anything that happened to stumble into them. Kenny wagged his head at the group and cautiously approached the main doors. They got within twenty feet of the doors when a voice called out from the top of the wall.

“That’s close enough!” A man shouted. Kenny and his group froze and looked up to see the silhouettes of three figures on top of the wall, each pointing a rifle in their direction. “What do you want?”

“Is this Wellington?” Kenny asked.

“Who’s askin’?” The man yelled back. Kenny hesitated a moment as he didn’t think it would do much good to just give his name.

“Just a bunch of weary travelers… we heard rumors about a safe zone in Wellington and hoped they were actually true.” Kenny replied. One of the other figures leaned over and seemed to whisper something to the man doing the talking.

“You got any weapons?” The man asked.

“Of course… ya don’t live long in this world if you don’t have some kind of weapon.” Kenny replied.

“Lemme see ‘em.” Kenny hesitated again and glanced around at the rest of the group. They all looked back and shrugged as if they had any other options at this point. They all slowly tugged out their guns and held them out to the side. “Got knives or the like, too?” The man asked.

“Yep… ammo only lasts so long.” Kenny responded. The man leaned over and seemed to discuss something with the other person. They went back and forth for a minute, and then two of the three figures disappeared, leaving just the lone man atop the wall.

“Ok, here’s how this goes down. We’re gonna open those doors. Inside there’s another set of doors that are gonna stay closed. Once you get in, you’re gonna surrender your weapons…”

“Wait… hang on a sec… surren…” Kenny began to say.

“That’s right, you’re gonna surrender your weapons and proceed into the building to your right. Inside you’ll find tables… chairs… beds… we’ll provide you with food and water…”

“And if we don’t give up our weapons?” Kenny asked as he squinted up at the man. The man paused and stared down at them.

“Then you can turn around and take your chances out there.” He replied. He paused a moment and let that image sink in. After a lengthy journey through a frozen wasteland, the idea of heading back into it with virtually no supplies didn’t sit well with any of them. “Or you can do as we ask, and find shelter here. The choice is yours.”

“Gimme a sec.” Kenny replied. He turned around to face the rest of his group. “Whaddya think?” He asked.

“What other choice to we have?” Christa replied. “We’re down to nothing with our own supplies…”

“And I’d guess this group already stripped this whole town clean, if they’ve been here that long.” Mike added.

“We came all this way for this place. Can’t turn back now that we’re right here.” Luke said. Kenny looked over at him and nodded. He glanced down at Clem.

“Well, Clementine… do we give up our guns?” He asked. Clem stared back at him and nodded.

“Do we really have a choice?” She replied.

"We could take our chance out here." Kenny replied. Clem pursed her lips and squinted at him to let him know she thought that was a bad idea. He let out a small snort and nodded; and then turned back around to look up at the man on the wall "Ok. You got yourself a deal." The metal doors squealed as they slowly swung open and revealed a smaller set of metal doors about five feet behind the wall. In front of the doors stood two armed men with their guns aimed at Kenny and the group outside. A third man emerged from the side and motioned for everyone to come towards him.

"Keep your hands where I can see 'em and come in one at a time." He said. Kenny put his arms out to his sides and slowly walked up to the man. He paused directly in front of him and waited. The man stared at Kenny for a moment as if he was sizing him up, and then pointed towards a bank of lockers that sat against the side of a small warehouse. "Put your weapons in there, and then step inside that door." He said as he pointed at a gray metal door next to the lockers. Kenny hesitated as he glanced back at the rest of the group. He let out a frustrated sigh as he trudged to the lockers and places his gun inside. He reached under his coat and pulled out a hunting knife and dropped it inside as well. He took a couple steps towards the door but stopped as the man called out. "Is that all of them?" He said. Kenny paused and held his arms out to his sides.

"You wanna frisk me or something?" Kenny quipped back. The man frowned and stared at him for a moment, and then nodded towards the door. Kenny turned towards the warehouse as one of the other men pulled open the door. As Kenny stepped inside, the first man motioned for the next in the group to approach him and repeat the same process. Mike nudged Christa to go next so she could get out of the cold. She paused in front of the man briefly and then turned to head to the locker. She placed a gun and small knife inside and then turned to the door.
"What do you have under that coat?" The man asked.

"A baby." Christa replied. The man chuckled.

"Funny... what do you really have?" He asked. Christa shook her head and slowly unzipped her parka. The man stepped up in front of her and looked at the small bundle wrapped against her body. Christa began to unwrap the bundle slightly to expose the top of the baby's head. The man's eyes widened as he looked down at the small head and heard the baby start to whimper. "Son of a bitch. You weren't kidding." He muttered. He waved a hand to tell her to step inside, and then turned back to the rest of the group.

the zombie flanders

(got sidetracked with RL stuff... if anyone's reading, still a bunch more that I had done prior to ep5):

===

Bonnie, Christa, Clem and Luke sat around a small fire pit in the middle of the room and warmed themselves as the flames danced over the logs. Kenny slowly paced around the perimeter of the building, looking at the walls, ceiling and doors for a possible weakness. He glanced over at Mike, who was stretched out on one of the bunks that lined the side of the eastern wall. "Hey, you wanna help me look around this place." Kenny muttered. Mike remained on his back and just turned his head to look in Kenny's direction.

"Man, I'm just glad we got a roof over our head and a fire to keep things somewhat warm." Mike said. "Just relax and let's see how this plays out." Kenny shook his head and then looked over at the rest of the group gathered around the fire.

"Clem, c'mere a minute." Kenny said. Clem got up and shuffled over to him. "Have a look around and see if there's anything useful in here... anything to help us get outta here." Clem frowned as she looked around. A long row of crude bunk beds lined one wall, providing one bed for everyone with a few slots to spare. Near the north wall was a long table, flanked by two equally long benches. The walls of the warehouse were a mix of concrete and steel, and the only doors were on the western wall, where they initially entered; and a similar gray metal door on the northern wall.

"Then what?" Clem asked. Kenny gave her a confused look. "Say we find a way out... then what?" She asked.

"Then we get our stuff and take 'em by surprise." Kenny said. Luke stood up and walked over to them.

"We got no idea what's out there. We don't know how many people are here, or what kinda weapons they have, or the layout of this place, or anything. At best we surprise one or two of 'em, and then the rest end up killing us... or worse... kicking us out in the middle of the night with no food, water or weapons." Luke said.

"Doesn't this remind anyone else of a place we were all at before? Doesn't it bother anyone else that we fought so hard to get away from that, only to end up in the same spot again?" Kenny said.

"We can't go back out there." Christa said. "We're down to the last of the formula. This baby won't survive a day out there if we don't get more."

"And that's another thing..." Kenny said. "That guy said they'd provide us food and water, but we've been in here for god knows how long and we ain't seen..." He stopped short as the door on the north wall swung open. They all turned to look as an armed man stepped inside and scanned over the group. Behind him emerged another man carrying a large pot, followed by a woman carrying a large box. She smiled at everyone and then walked over to the table to put the box down. She began to pull out small bowls and spoons and dispersed them around the table. The man with the pot walked behind her and began to ladle out a stew like mixture into each bowl.

"Thought you might be hungry, so we made you a little something to eat." The woman said. Bonnie stood up and walked over to the table. The woman smiled and held out a hand. "Hi, I'm Marissa." She said as she shook Bonnie's hand. Marissa Marinescu appeared to be in her mid 20s. She stood about 5'6" tall, with short black hair and deep brown eyes. Her pale complexion was broken up slightly by the rosy patches on her cheeks and nose from the cold winter air. Bonnie gave her a quick handshake and a crooked smile as she glanced at the bowls on the table and then at Marissa.

"I'm Bonnie. It's nice to meet you." She replied. Marissa nodded.

"Yeah, it's always nice to meet new people."

"This how you treat all the new people you meet?" Kenny asked. Marissa glanced over at him but the man with the rifle took a step towards him and responded first.

"Yeah, it is. We don't know nothing about you. We have to look out for our people first. Once we get to know you and make sure you aren't a threat, we'll start to integrate you into our community." He said in a slightly angry tone.

"And if we want our weapons back?" Kenny snapped back at him.

"Then we can escort you back outside the walls and your weapons will be waiting for you out there." The man snapped back. Marissa stepped over to get between them and gently nudged the man back towards the door

"Take it easy. You of all people should know the first night is always the hardest." She said in a calming tone. He continued to stare at Kenny with an angry glare. Marissa reached up and gently tugged his chin until he looked at her and his gaze softened to a more relaxed look. She smirked at him and gave him a pat on the chest, and then nudged him towards the door again.

"So are you running things around here?" Luke asked Marissa. She turned around to look at him with a slightly surprised expression.

"Me?" She asked, and then giggled quietly. "Oh, no, it's not me. There's a council that makes the decisions... three people so there's not one single person controlling everything. I'm sure they will stop in tomorrow to introduce themselves and meet everyone." Marissa said. Clem stared up at her with a wary expression. Marissa smiled and leaned down at her. "What's your name?" She asked. Clem continued to stare at her, but didn't respond. Luke looked down at her and gave her a nudge.

"Clementine." She quietly replied.

"That's a beautiful name. Very nice to meet you. You know, we have a few other kids about your age here. I'm sure they'll be happy to meet you as well." Marissa said. Luke motioned around the room at the rest of the group.

"I’m Luke… that's Kenny... and over there on the bunk is Mike... and by the fire is Christa." He said. Marissa walked over to Christa and leaned down to look at the baby.

"I can't remember the last time I saw a baby." Marissa said. She started to reach out tentatively to touch him, but then pulled back. "Oh, I also brought some baby formula... in the box over there." She said as she motioned towards the table. "We grabbed everything and anything we could during our supply runs, but never had much use for it; so there's plenty here." Christa gave her a small smile and nodded. "Well, I'll let you all eat while it's still hot. Get a good night's sleep. It's secure here, so there's nothing to worry about." She said. She waved and then left the room. The door shut and the sound a deadbolt being thrown into place sounded. Everyone slowly walked over to the table and glanced at the contents of the bowl. It had a brownish liquid with small chunks of potatoes and some type of meat. Clem leaned towards the bowl and sniffed at it.

"Wonder what kinda meat this is?" Mike asked as he scooped up a small chunk on his spoon and looked at it.

"Maybe it's raccoon." Clem said. She looked at him with a serious expression. He squinted and stared back at her as Bonnie started to laugh. Mike smirked and shook his head as he began to chuckle.

"Raccoon?" Luke asked. "Seriously?" He picked up a piece on his spoon and slowly turned it to let it plop back into the bowl.

"Then I'm gonna eat the shit outta this stew." Mike said with a smirk as he looked first at Bonnie and then back to Clem. They both laughed and took a small bite.

"No, seriously... is this raccoon?" Luke asked. Mike shook his head and laughed again.

"Shut up and eat." He muttered.

the zombie flanders

===

Clem sat in a chair by the fire pit and stared wide eyed at the glowing embers as the flames slowly consumed the wood and small orange bits tumbled to the bottom. Her head turned slightly as she heard the northern door squeak and it slowly swung open, but her eyes remained fixated on the fire as if she were hypnotized by it. She finally turned her head to look at the doorway. Her eyes grew wider as she watched a man stroll inside. She gasped and jumped out of her chair, staring in disbelief. “L-L-Lee?” She stammered. She stared up at him as he looked down and smiled at her.

“Hi sweet pea.” Lee said.

“B-b-b-but… you’re... you’re… d-d-dead…” She said. Lee nodded as he crouched down in front of her. Clem tentatively reached out to touch him. She pulled back quickly as her fingers touched his arm and stared at him. She jumped into his arms and gave him a long hug. She pulled back and squinted at him with a more skeptical expression on her face. “This isn’t real, is it? I’m just dreaming.” She said. Lee chuckled and nodded.

“Just ‘cause you’re dreaming doesn’t make it any less real, does it?” He said. “It’s good to see you’ve made it this far. I told you that you were strong.” Clem frowned and shook her head.

“Sometimes I wish I hadn’t.” She replied. “So many people have died… and a lot of them because of me.”

“Clem, that’s not true. You can’t blame yourself for…”

“But it is true.” She protested. “Chuck died because of me… Omid… Pete… Sarah…”

“You can’t save everyone, Clem…”

“You.” She said as she held back tears. “If it wasn’t for me being so stupid, you wouldn’t have gotten bit.” Lee shook his head.

“You don’t know that. You can’t change the past, Clem. All you can do is try to make the right choices and learn from them.” Lee said.

“How do I know what the right choice is?” She asked. Lee remained quiet for a moment.

“You don’t. Sometimes you just have to choose and live with the outcome.” He replied.

“What if my choice doesn’t matter? What if they die anyway?” Clem asked.

“Sometimes that happens… sometimes there’s nothing you can do to prevent it.” Lee said. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t doubt your choices, Clem. Just keep trying to do what you think is best and you’ll be ok. I’m very proud of you.” He said with a smile.

Clem's body shook and her eyes popped open wide as a noise woke her from her dream. She stared wide eyed at the bottom of the bunk above her for a moment, then bolted to a seated position as she momentarily forgot where she was. She looked at the fire pit to see Luke squatting next to it, poking at the wood with a long stick as he tried to get the flames to catch. Kenny sat in a chair near the fire, with the baby in his lap. Bonnie and Mike sat at the long table, quietly chatting with each other. Clem glanced over at a nearby bunk to see Christa curled up on her side, still sleeping soundly. Clem stretched her arms above her head and groaned softly as she shook the sleepy cobwebs from her head. She got up and shuffled over to a chair by the fire. Kenny glanced over at her and then turned slightly and leaned down towards the baby.

"Looks like your big sister finally got up." He whispered. Clem smirked at the comment and stared at them both. Everyone flinched as the sound of the deadbolt echoed in the room and the north door opened. The same rifle toting man entered first, followed by Marissa, carrying another small box of bowls and spoons. She placed the box on the table and smiled at everyone.

"I hope you all slept well." She said. Another man entered the room with a large pot. He placed it in the middle of the table and then looked around at everyone. He was a tall man, standing just over 6'3" tall, with short brown hair, speckled with gray; and a similarly brown and gray speckled beard. Marissa motioned towards him. "This is one of our council members, Harrison Fowler. Our other two council members should be along shortly. I’ll see you later." She said as she turned and exited the room.

"I hope none of you have anything against oatmeal, 'cause the breakfast choices are a little slim sometimes." Harrison said with a quiet chuckle. Christa slowly pulled herself from her bunk and shuffled over to the fire pit. She took the baby from Kenny as he got up and walked over to Harrison. "You must be... Kenny?" Harrison said. Kenny took a step back as he was caught by surprise. Harrison laughed quietly. "Marissa filled me in on names." He said as he held out a hand. Kenny shook his hand and looked him up and down.

"Well, you know all our names in that case. So what else do you need to know before we can be let out of here?" Kenny asked. Harrison nodded and walked back towards the table.

"How 'bout you all have a little breakfast and we can sit and chat while you eat?" He said. Everyone slowly shuffled to the table and sat around it. Harrison sat at the end near the door and quietly watched everyone for a moment. Bonnie began to spoon out oatmeal into the bowls and passed them around. Clem scrunched her nose as she looked into the bowl and poked at it with her spoon. Harrison chuckled as he watched her. "Yeah, not exactly my favorite either, but it's definitely better than going hungry." He said. He looked back over his shoulder as another man entered. He was about half a foot shorter than Harrison, with a similar brown and gray speckled hair, but minus the beard. Harrison motioned at him and then looked back at everyone around the table. "Everyone, this is another council member, Grayson Hopkins." He said. Grayson nodded at everyone and held his hands up in front of him.

"Please, stay seated and enjoy breakfast." Grayson said, as he took a seat on the opposite end of the table from Harrison.

"I was just about to chat with our guests." Harrison said. Grayson nodded and made a small bow of his head to tell him to continue.

"So what is it you want to know?" Bonnie asked.

"Well... I guess I can just jump right into the most important question we ask any newcomers." Harrison said. He paused a moment and looked around at everyone. "And this is for each one of you to answer individually... since the world fell apart, have you ever killed a person?" He asked. He paused another moment. "And by that, I don't mean putting down the dead... if the answer is yes, the follow up questions would be, how many? and finally, why?" He looked around the table to see if anyone volunteered to be first. Mike looked over at him and shook his head.

"No, I haven't." Mike replied. Harrison stared at him for a moment as if to see if he could tell if Mike was telling the truth or not. He nodded and looked at Bonnie to move down the row. Bonnie let out a small sigh and nodded.

"Yes..." She whispered. "It... it was an accident. It was pretty early on after everything happened. I was with two people who helped me... but another group of people were chasing us... shooting at us.... it was really chaotic. I got separated from my friends and tried to hide, but I heard someone coming. I found a metal bar to use as a weapon and crouched down as I heard footsteps approaching. I knew if I hesitated, they could kill me, so I jumped out and swung with all my strength and hit them in the head. When I pointed a light at them, I saw it was one of my friends." Bonnie closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. She let out a deep sigh and continued. "I can still see her face. I didn't mean for it to happen... but that was the only time I ever did something like that." She said. Harrison frowned and nodded slowly as he listened. He shifted his gaze to Luke.

"Nope. I've put down walkers, but a living person? I'm not sure I could do that." He replied.

"Definitely not an easy thing to do." Harrison said. "And something that does stick with you if you do." He looked over at Christa. She sat quietly for a moment as a tear started to trickle down her cheek.

"Yes... my boyfriend and I came across a rest stop while we were scavenging..." Christa began. Clem tensed up slightly as Christa was apparently going to leave her part out of the story. "...another woman snuck up on us... she... she surprised him and shot him while I was in another room. When I heard the gunshot, I rushed to see what had happened and saw him lying on the floor. I... I didn't even hesitate. I shot her in the chest." Christa said. She closed her eyes and let out a small sigh. "and I left her like that."

“You didn’t shoot her in the head afterwards?” Harrison asked. Christa slowly shook her head.

“No. I just left her.” Christa replied. Harrison shifted his gaze to Clem briefly and then moved on.

"I think we can skip you." He said with a smile. He did a double take as Clem slowly shook her head.

"When everything began, I was alone... and this man found me. He took care of me... looked out for me... taught me how to protect myself... how to survive. His name was Lee and I wouldn't be alive right now if it weren't for him. He risked his life so many times to protect me, and it's because of me that he got bit by a walker..." Clem said. She stared blankly at the bowl in front of her as she continued. "...and even though he knew he was going to die, he still risked his life to save me one last time. I... I... I shot him… in the head... to keep him from becoming one of them. I couldn't let that happen." She quietly said. Harrison and Grayson both stared at her for a moment and let the silence fill the room. Kenny reached over and gently patted Clem on the back. He was about to speak but Clem began again. "There was one other..." She quietly muttered. Kenny looked at her with a confused expression. "A man... tricked me into thinking he had my parents... they had gone to Savannah on a trip just before everything happened, but they never came back. He said they were ok and I should come be with them... but he was lying. He only wanted to punish the group I was with because he blamed us for all the bad things that happened to him. Lee came to rescue me, but the man surprised him and held a gun on him. I was able to sneak out of the room he held me in and hit him with a bottle. Lee struggled with him, but by that time, Lee was getting weak from the walker bite. The man pushed Lee down and was about to hurt him, but I shot the man instead." She said.

“So you saved your friend?” Grayson said. Clem glanced over at him and slowly nodded. Kenny let out a sigh.

“I guess that just leaves me.” He said. “It’s two for me as well… first time I was trapped in a room with a few others from my group. We were being held there by these crazy bastards… they were eating people and were going to keep us for food as well. One of the people trapped in there with us had a heart attack… just up and died right there. Well, we all knew by then what happens… that it didn’t take a bite… that no matter how you die, you turn. I didn’t have a choice… if I didn’t do what I did, he would have come back and killed us all.” Kenny said. Clem sat quietly with her head bowed as the images and sounds of Kenny dropping the salt lick on Larry’s head filled her mind. “The second was more recent. We were being held prisoner by another crazy bastard… now that I’m saying all this, it seems like the world is full of people like that anymore… this one was a sadistic son of a bitch…” Kenny paused and pointed to his eye patch. “He’s the one that did this to me… but in the end I killed him as we were escaping, so he couldn’t hurt anyone else ever again.” Kenny said. Everyone sat quietly and let the stories of the past sink in.

“Well, we appreciate all of you for being so honest with us.” Harrison said. “And I’m sure you all learned something about your friends that you probably didn’t know before. It can be a little unsettling to hear those things about others, but at the same time, it’s also a little reassuring to know that you aren’t the only one who has had to do things to survive.” He said. He glanced around the room and back at the north door. “I guess Gray and I will have to fill in our other council member later, since she seems to be running late for…” He stopped short as a hooded figure strolled into the room. “Ah, here she is now.” The woman pushed her hood back and turned to look at the new arrivals. She had long dark hair, pulled back into a tight braid and tucked into the back of her shirt. Clem gasped as she stared up at her. Kenny did a double take as he turned to look.

“You gotta be fuckin’ kiddin’ me.” He quietly muttered under his breath.

“Everyone, let me introduce you to…” Harrison continued to say.

“Lilly?” Clem said. Harrison jumped slightly as she said Lilly’s name before he could. He shifted his gaze from Lilly to Clem to everyone else at the table and then back to Lilly.

“You… know them?” Harrison asked her. Lilly stared wide eyed at Clem for a moment, and then looked at Kenny. She squinted slightly as she looked at him, and then looked around at the others at the table.

“Just two.” Lilly replied. An awkward silence filled the room as she stood there quietly for a moment. She shook herself from her daze and looked around again. “I’m sorry I was late. I had a few things to tend to first.” She said. Harrison and Grayson both got up from the table and stepped towards the door.

“Well, if you want to stay and catch up, by all means.” Harrison said. “We have to get back to work anyway.” He said.

“And we have some things we need to discuss as well.” Grayson added. Lilly stepped back towards the door as well.

“No, there will be time to catch up later… have to make sure things keep running smoothly around here, you know.” She said. She gave a crooked smile and a quick wave to the group before retreating back out the door with Harrison and Grayson. The door swung shut and the sound of the deadbolt echoed in the room.

“What was that all about?” Luke asked.

“She didn’t exactly seem thrilled to see you.” Bonnie added.

“and you don’t exactly seem thrilled to see her either.” Mike said. Kenny snorted and shook his head.

“Lemme tell ya something about that one… she’s a murderer.” He said. Everyone stared back at him with a skeptical look.

“C’mon, you just heard everyone here… almost all of us have done…” Bonnie started to say, but Kenny shook his head and put up a hand.

“No, you don’t get it. That person you killed... you said you thought it was someone else who was going to hurt you… and the ones I killed… I was protecting others… but that one… she outright shot one of our own in cold blood.” Kenny said.

“Are you sure it wasn’t just an accident?” Mike asked. Kenny let out a sarcastic laugh.

“Naw, I was right there. I saw it. Hell, Clem was right there, too and saw the same thing.” Kenny said. “Right, Clem?” He asked as he looked over at her. Clem frowned as the image of Doug being shot in the head replayed in her mind.

“I’m not sure she meant to… we’ve all made…” Clem quietly said.

“Of course she meant to… she did it. That’s why we left her on the side of the road.” Kenny said.

“Wait… you just abandoned her?” Luke asked. He rolled his eyes as Kenny nodded in response. “Great… just great. So we finally get to this safe haven, and now we’re gonna get kicked out because someone in charge probably has a grudge against you.” Luke got up from the table and began to pace around the room. Christa held up a hand to try and calm everyone.

“Let’s not get paranoid or worked up for no reason. All those things happened a long time ago. People change, so maybe she isn’t holding a grudge, and maybe you shouldn’t either.” Christa said. “Let’s just see how things go before we start to panic.”

the zombie flanders

===

Clem sat quietly on the ground and slowly drew shapes and patterns on the floor with a small stick. She poked the end of the stick into the gray ashes in the fire pit, and then continued to drag it around to expand her drawing. Her head turned towards the door as it began to open. Marissa walked in and smiled as she looked around at the group. She looked over at Clem and took a few steps towards her. “Clementine? Would you please come with me.” She said. Kenny jumped up from his bunk and walked towards her.

“Wait wait, where are you taking her?” He asked.

“Just going to show her around a little.” Marissa replied.

“Maybe you can show the rest of us around, too?” Kenny said. Marissa shook her head.

“I can’t until they say it’s ok.” She said.

“But they said it’s ok for just Clem?” Luke asked. Marissa nodded.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for her to be going by herself.” Kenny said.

“She won’t be. She’ll be with me.” Marissa said with a smile.

“That’s not what I mean.” Kenny quipped back. Clem slowly got up and warily looked at Marissa. She turned to look at Kenny.

“I’ll be ok.” Clem said. Marissa smiled at her and motioned towards the door. Clem slowly walked through. Marissa followed her out and shut the door behind her. Clem jumped as the man with the rifle stepped over and locked the door again. He frowned and squinted at Clem as she looked up at him. Marissa chuckled quietly.

“Don’t let Owen scare you. He tries to act mean, but he’s really just a big softy.” Marissa said as she shoved him back. “Follow me.” She said as she headed down a small hallway. She paused at another door and tugged it open. They both stepped back as a burst of cold air rushed in. “Still a bit chilly outside, but the wind isn’t so bad inside the walls.” Marissa said. Clem squinted as her eyes adjusted to the blindingly white glare from the snow. She took in a deep breath of the crisp, cold air as she stepped outside, and then let out a long exhale, watching as her breath made a slight fog in front of her. As her eyes adjusted, she looked around at the buildings. While the original town of Wellington was much larger in scale, the current settlement was just a walled off section of the existing structures, covering a half dozen blocks in every direction. It was a mix of old storefronts and warehouses on the main street running through the center of town; with small houses filling most of the outer sections. Marissa guided Clem down the middle of the street and pointed to some of the buildings as they passed. “They say that used to be a really popular restaurant back in the day.” She said as she motioned at the building with the “Smokehouse” sign on it. “Not much business today, but the rooms they had for curing and smoking meats sure have come in handy.” She said. Clem just looked but didn’t say anything. She stopped walking and just paused to listen as she thought she heard the sound of giggling coming from nearby. She looked up ahead to see three kids playing in the snow. One boy was busy rolling a large ball to try and make a snowman; while two small girls were giggling away as they lay on their backs and swept their arms and legs back and forth to make snow angels.

“Those are the kids I mentioned before.” Marissa said. “The one making the snowman is Lowell. The other two are Madelyn and Lindsay. Maybe later you can join them, if you want.” She said. Marissa pointed towards a large building in the middle of the town square and guided Clem towards it. Clem looked up at the “Wellington Town Hall” sign as Marissa opened the door and they stepped inside. Clem looked around and did a double take as she saw Lilly sitting on a couch off to the side. Marissa held out a hand and motioned towards her. “Lilly wanted to talk to you in private, if that’s ok.” She said. Clem slowly walked over and took a seat on the end of the couch. “I’ll just be outside when you’re done.” Marissa said to Lilly. Lilly nodded and waited for her to exit. Lilly turned to Clem and smiled slightly.

“It is good to see you again, Clementine. I wasn’t sure it was really you at first when I saw you.” Lilly said.

“Good to see you, too. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.” Clem replied. “How did you end up here?”

“After I was… left…” Lilly began. She paused as she tried to carefully choose her words. “…I tried to stick to the road, and just went the same direction as the RV. I don’t know how long I walked, but when I saw it parked in the middle of the road, I figured maybe you just stopped for some reason and everyone was still there… but then I found it empty.”

“There was a train blocking the road... we got it to run and left on that instead.” Clem said.

“Smart. A lot easier to get through walkers with something like that.” Lilly replied. “Anyway… I found the keys in the RV and started it up… not sure how long I drove, but I just went as far as it would take me. I met up with some other people who told me about the rumors they heard of a place in the north that was safe… or at least safer than being out in the open like we were. So we made that our destination and headed this way. Only a couple of us made it here, but it was worth it. This really is a good place as long as you have good people to keep it going.” Lilly said. Clem sat quietly and stared down at her lap. Lilly watched her for a moment and debated whether or not to ask what was on her mind. She let out a small sigh. “What happened to everyone else?” Clem glanced up at her with a slightly pained look in her eyes.

“What happens to everyone, I guess…” She replied. She paused briefly. Lilly was about to say something else, but Clem continued. “Duck was bitten at the motel when we were trying to get away from the bandits and walkers…” Lilly gasped softly at the news. “We took him on the train with us, but he got bad really fast… Katjaa took him into the woods to… to keep him from turning… but… but she shot herself instead.”

“Oh my god.” Lilly gasped.

“I guess she just couldn’t take it… losing her son… Lee had to shoot Duck… it was really hard on Kenny after that. We made it to Savannah on the train… but things weren’t any better there.” Clem said.

“I heard about what you had to do… I’m so sorry. Lee was a good man.” Lilly said. She reached out and gently patted Clem’s arm.

“I had to.” Clem quietly replied. “and Ben… Lee said they had to leave him behind… to save the rest of the group.” Lilly closed her eyes as the confrontation with Ben in the RV replayed in her head.

“I was so sure that it was him… I mean… it wasn’t me, or you, or Lee… and as much as I disagreed with Kenny, I couldn’t see him or his family betraying us…” She said as she kept her eyes closed. She shook her head as she thought about Doug. “I didn’t mean for it to happen, you know. I didn’t mean to shoot Doug. Everything just got so fucked up, I didn’t know who I could trust anymore. It was like I wasn’t even in control of my own body… it just… happened…”

“You were right.” Clem said. Lilly opened her eyes and stared at Clem. “It was Ben. He admitted it to Lee.” Lilly’s jaw clenched slightly, but she closed her eyes and tried to relax. She let out a slow exhale.

“Well, what’s done is done. The only thing we need to worry about now is making sure this place is safe and secure. So, be honest with me, do you trust everyone in your group?” Lilly asked. Clem nodded.

“Every group has their problems, but I don’t think any of them would do anything to hurt others intentionally.” Clem said. “So how much longer will we have to stay in that one room?”

“Not long. I’ll talk with the others and see what I can do.” Lilly replied. She got up and walked to the front door with Clem. Clem turned and gave Lilly a long hug. Lilly gently patted her on the back, and then opened the door and stepped out. Marissa sat on a bench by the sidewalk. She glanced back as the door opened.

“All finished?” She asked. Lilly nodded and nudged Clem forward.

“Yep, we’re good. I have to get back to work. Can you make sure she gets back ok?” Lilly said.

“No problem.” Marissa said. Clem shuffled down the steps and walked along side Marissa as they headed back to the warehouse. As they walked along in silence, Marissa kept glancing down at her. “You ok?” She asked to break the silence. Clem just shrugged in response. “Can I ask what you and Lilly talked about?” She asked. Clem continued to walk along without saying anything. Marissa pushed the door open to let Clem step back inside the warehouse and then followed right behind. Clem stopped as she saw Owen standing next to the locked door, but Marissa gave her a gentle nudge. Clem stepped towards the door as Owen tugged it open. "I'll talk to you later, ok?" Marissa said. Clem shrugged slightly but didn't respond as she walked inside and Owen closed the door behind her.

the zombie flanders

===

A low murmur of voices filled the room as a number of the Wellington residents wandered into the school cafeteria to get a bite for lunch. While everyone in the town had a home to call their own, the council decided to keep the food supply in a central location so they could maintain an accurate inventory, as well as control exactly how much was given out so no one could say someone else got more than they did. Two weeks had passed since the new arrivals had shown up at the front gates. After a few days of supervised tours of the settlement, the council agreed to bring them into the fold. Luke and Marissa sat at a small table in the corner finishing up their lunch. Marissa directed his attention around the room as she pointed out who was who. She nodded towards a table where two men had sat down.

"The one with the gray hair... that's Declan McGee." She said. "He was some sort of engineer in his former life, I think. He was the one who put together the two wind turbines, as well as all the solar panels."

"So we have him to thank for the electricity?" Luke asked. Marissa nodded.

"Yep. I know it's nothing like what we were all used to before, but it's better than nothing at all." She said. She motioned at the bald man seated across from Declan. "And that's Max Fitzgerald. He's sort of an apprentice to Declan... trying to learn everything he can about all that engineering stuff so we don't lose it... just in case something happens, ya know." She pointed to the nearby table with three kids. "The two dark haired ones are the Bishop kids... Lowell and Lindsay. I think he's fifteen and she's thirteen, if I'm not mistaken... considering what everyone has gone through and lost, they've been very fortunate. Both their parents are here as well. Not many people can say their entire family made it this far." She said. "Oh, and the little blonde girl with them is Madelyn Saunders. I think she's eight or nine. One of our scouting groups found her hiding out in an apartment complex. Not sure what happened to her family, but it's not too hard to guess. She hasn't exactly been eager to talk about it... can't blame her for that." She said, and then paused briefly. "The Bishops sort of adopted her since she got here." Luke glanced over at the entrance as Clem walked in and looked around the room. He waved at her to get her attention.

"Hey Clem. Got a spot over here for ya." He said. Clem waved back and then slowly shuffled along to grab a plate of food. She snaked between the tables towards the back. The three kids all stared at her as she walked by and continued to look over at her as she sat down with Luke and Marissa. Clem glanced over at them briefly, and then turned her gaze to her own plate.

"So how are you today, Clementine?" Marissa asked. Clem just shrugged and frowned slightly in response. Luke glanced around the room and then looked over at Clem.

"No one else with you today?" He asked. Clem shook her head.

"No. I think Kenny and Mike were helping with the wall. I thought I heard them talking about trying to expand it or something." Clem said.

"Harrison has been talking about trying to expand the walls for awhile. They were waiting until winter set in before really getting into it, since it would be easier and safer to have people outside the walls doing the work." Marissa replied.

"Sounds like a big project." Luke muttered. He picked up his empty plate as he pushed away from the table to stand up. "Well, I better get back to it. I'll catch ya later, ok?" He said. Clem looked at him with a slightly panicked expression as he was leaving her alone with Marissa. He patted her on the head and turned towards the exit. Marissa looked over at Clem and was about to say something, but she paused and turned her head slightly as Lowell began to talk in a louder than normal voice, obviously trying to make sure he was overheard.

"...and then Lindsay and mom and dad and me were surrounded by, like, thirty biters... and me and my dad just started bashin' em and stabbin' em in the head. I musta killed like twenty of 'em myself... and another time, we had made a camp in the woods... and some guy snuck up on us and caught my dad by surprise... he was gonna rob us or kill us or somethin', but I shot him in the head and killed him first..."

Marissa glanced over at Clem and just watched as she stared down at her plate. She leaned in a little closer to her and whispered. "You know what I think?" Marissa asked. Clem looked up at her. "I think he's full of shit, 'cause if he really had to do those things, he wouldn't be bragging about it. Not the kind of things you want to re-live." She said. Clem frowned and let out a small sigh as she slowly nodded. Marissa sat quietly for a moment and let Clem eat while Lowell continued to brag about the things he had done. She tried to think of something to talk about, since Clem always seemed uncomfortable around her and never said anything, no matter what she said or asked.

"I don't think I've ever told you much about myself, have I?" Marissa asked. Clem shook her head but didn't look up. "Well, before everything happened, I was still in school... studying to be a lawyer." She said. She paused a moment and chuckled quietly. "Sort of a waste of time looking back at it now. Once the dead started to get back up and try to eat the living, my first thought was to try and get back home to my family... but I didn't get very far before it was painfully obvious I wasn't going to get there. Flying wasn't an option... roads were at a standstill... and there wasn't any way I was going to walk to Seattle. So my next thought was to try and get to my aunt Elena. She lives..." Marissa paused again and let out a small sigh. "...I guess lived is a better word... anyway... she lived near St Louis. I used to spend summers there hanging out with my two cousins, Radu and Ana. My aunt Elena was a doctor and research scientist, so I figured if anyone might have a chance at figuring out what this thing was and how to stop it, it would be her... and since St Louis was a lot closer, relatively speaking, I thought I might have a shot at making it. Obviously, I didn't get very far." Marissa said. She let out another small sigh. "I don't even know what happened to them... whether they're alive or dead... that's the really frustrating part. It would be easier if I knew one way or another..." She trailed off and sat quietly. Clem continued to stare at her plate. Marissa stared at her for a moment. "I realize you don't trust me, and I don't expect you to this soon. Trust is something that needs to be earned, not given away... but... did I do something to make you mad at me?" Marissa asked. Clem glanced up at her.

"No, it's not that..." Clem quietly replied.

"Then what is it?" Marissa asked. Clem let out a deep sigh.

"It's just... you... you remind me of a couple people I used to know..." Clem said as she looked away.

"Oh... I'm... I'm sorry. Did they... die?" Marissa asked.

“I don’t know.” Clem replied. Marissa looked at her with a puzzled expression. “They were both strong, independent women who knew how to take care of themselves… they helped me and the other people I was with for a little while… I liked them.” Clem said. “But they both abandoned me.”

“Abandoned? How?” Marissa asked.

“They both just left. One left without even saying goodbye… the other… she said… she said she had seen people get killed before and she didn’t want to be around when… when it happened to me… I don’t know that I want to let myself get close to anyone like that again.” Clem said. She stared down at her plate and nudged the last few crumbs around with her finger. Marissa reached over and put a hand on her arm.

“Look at me.” She said. Clem looked into her eyes. “I’m not like them. I know nothing I say can change what's already happened, but I promise you this… if you stay here with us, I will never abandon you. Ok?” Clem stared at her for a moment, and then slowly nodded.

the zombie flanders

===

Mike and Kenny walked down the middle of the street towards the center of town as they headed back home after a long day of working on the wall expansion project. The small work crew managed to clear snow and debris from a section two blocks long to map out the path; and started to harvest building materials from the surrounding area.

“That’s gonna be one long assed project, if they want the wall to be as high as the current one.” Mike muttered as he stretched his arms back and forth to work out some of the soreness. Kenny chuckled.

“Yeah, but not like there’s much else to do ‘round here.” He replied. Mike glanced over at a nearby building as the door swung open. He waved to Bonnie and Clem as they emerged.

“Howdy ladies.” Mike said. “Keeping busy in there? If you’re bored you can always come out and play with building the new wall.” Bonnie smirked and shook her head.

“We wouldn’t want to steal any of that fun from you.” She said. “We’ve just been helping out in the armory… taking inventory… cleaning guns… sharpening knives and such.”

“Sounds warmer than the wall.” Mike replied. As they approached the town square, Kenny glanced over at a small group gathered outside the town hall. He paused a moment and then motioned for the others to follow him. As they got closer, they could see Harrison, Lilly, Grayson, Marissa and a few others standing by the front doors. Harrison looked at the approaching group and waved at them to come over.

“Greetings. How are things going? Settling in well?” Harrison asked. Kenny nodded.

“Yeah, gotta hand it to y’all, pretty nice setup here. We were just out working on the expansion most of the day… slowly by surely.” Kenny replied.

“Good, good… why don’t you come in with us?” Harrison said as he tugged open the front door. “We were just about to discuss something and could probably use some extra hands.” Bonnie took a couple steps back as the others walked towards the door.

“Oh, I was actually going to head back and see if Christa needed help with the baby, if that’s ok.” She said. Harrison nodded and waved goodbye as the others disappeared into the town hall building. Everyone shuffled into the main lobby and gathered around the tall receptionist’s desk. Lilly pulled out a map of the general area and spread it out on the desk. Wellington was circled in black, while a handful of nearby towns were circled in red with an X mark through that.

“I just finished the inventory check on our food supply, and it’s getting a little low for my comfort.” Lilly began.

“What do you mean ‘low’?” Kenny asked. “I thought this place was well stocked?” Lilly squinted at him as he interrupted her already. Grayson put his hands up to try and keep things from getting out of hand already.

“We are well stocked, but with more new arrivals showing up the other day, it will put an extra burden on what we do have. It’s always a good idea to plan sufficiently far ahead. You don’t want to suddenly discover you’re out of food in the middle of winter.” He said.

“Maybe we stop takin’ in people if we’re stretched for supplies.” Kenny muttered. Lilly let out a sarcastic snort.

“Would you have wanted us to turn you away when you showed up?” She quipped back.

“Now, now… Let’s stay focused here.” Grayson said to cut them both off. He looked at Kenny. “The whole point of this place is to bring good people together so we can rebuild. There’s plenty out there for the taking. We just have to go get it. Once we get through winter and into spring, we can start growing our own food, so we don’t have to rely on the canned and dry goods as much.” He said. He nodded at Lilly for her to continue. She let out a small sigh and then looked back to the map.

“Sorry… ok, the spots marked in red are the towns we’ve already picked clean. If and when we need more supplies for construction, those would be prime spots to harvest material, but for food, we’ll have to push further out.” She said. She dragged her finger around and pointed at a spot to the west. “I’d suggest we look to Norwalk first, rather than get too close to the Cleveland or Akron suburbs in the east.”

“With the cold temps, aren’t all the walkers basically frozen in place?” Mike asked. “Even if we went closer to a large city, shouldn’t be much of a threat, right?”

“It’s possible, but inside buildings might not be below freezing.” Lilly replied. “They might still be mobile, so if we still have other options, we should probably avoid the risk.” Harrison looked at Kenny and Mike.

“We were going to gather everyone together and ask for some volunteers to go on the run, but since you were already here, and we already had Marissa, Rodney and Tumu agreeing to go, we thought we’d just see if you would be interested as well to round out the group?” He asked them. “If not, that’s quite alright. I know that work on the wall expansion can take a lot out of you.” Kenny and Mike glanced at each other, shrugged and both nodded.

“Yeah, count us in.” Kenny replied.

“Me too.” Clem said. Grayson smiled at her and shook his head.

“Might be a little too dangerous for a little girl. I’m sure there’s plenty of other things to…” Grayson started to say, but Kenny laughed.

“This little girl…” Kenny said with a slightly sarcastic tone “…has seen and done more than most adults since the shit hit the fan. I’d trust her with my life.” He said as he looked down at her and gave her a pat on the head.

“Ok then… as long as you’re comfortable with it.” Grayson replied.

“If she gets to go, then I’m going, too.” Lowell said. His dad gave him a pat on the shoulder and nodded.

“Never hurts to have extra eyes along.” Rodney replied.

“Ok, it’s settled then. You can head out in the morning.” Lilly said. The three council members, Rodney and Lowell all exited the building. Marissa motioned towards Tumu and then looked at Kenny.

“I don’t think you’ve met Tumu yet, have you?” She said. She looked back at Tumu. “This is Kenny, Mike and Clementine.” Tumu held out a hand and smiled.

“Hi, Tumu Sullivan… pleasure.” He said. He was about the same height as Mike, with short raven black hair and brown eyes.

“So what does Tumu mean?” Kenny asked. Tumu gave him a puzzled look.

“Mean?” He asked.

“Yeah, don’t all Indian names mean something? Like 'great warrior' or 'soaring eagle'?” Kenny said. Tumu frowned at him.

“I’ve never been to India.” He replied with a tone of annoyance.

“I think he means nativ…” Marissa started to say, but Tumu cut her off.

“I know what he means.” He said as he glanced over at her. He looked back at Kenny with another annoyed expression. “So you think I roam the plains hunting buffalo? Live in a teepee? Scalp my enemies?” Tumu asked. Kenny took a step back and started to stammer to try and retract what he said.

“N-n-naw, I just figured you were Indi... I mean, native American, so…”

“I worked in finance. I owned a nice house in the suburbs…. Drove a Mercedes. C’mon, this is the twenty first century. I'm not some savage living in the wild.” Tumu said as he glared at him.

“I-I-I’m sorry man, I just…” Kenny stammered. Tumu smirked and started to laugh.

“I’m just fuckin’ with ya.” Tumu said. “Well, not about the job and car and stuff. My name means ‘deer thinking of eating wild onions’.” He said. Kenny gave him a confused look.

“Really?” Mike asked. Tumu nodded.

“Don’t ask me, I didn’t pick it. My mother named me. I just looked up the meaning when I was a kid. Didn’t make any sense to me either. How did someone know what that deer was thinking?” He said with a chuckle.

"How 'bout we all meet back here first thing tomorrow?" Marissa said, as she motioned for everyone to head to the exit.

the zombie flanders

===

Two pickup trucks slowly rolled to a stop as they reached the outskirts of Norwalk. While it was only about twenty miles from Wellington, the poor road conditions made for a much longer trip than it would have normally been. Kenny glanced around at the nearby houses as Mike pulled up next to the other truck. He rolled down his window and leaned out towards Marissa as she rolled her window down.

“Start here with the houses, or do we look for some sort of store?” He asked. Marissa looked around at the others, and then scanned over the houses. Most appeared to be intact, and didn’t have broken out windows or doors standing wide open.

“I guess these are as good as any. The stores were probably the first places to get looted, so we might have better luck here.” She replied. They shut off the engines and stepped out to survey the neighborhood.

“Might be quicker if we split up a bit and hit a couple at a time.” Kenny said. Marissa frowned and shook her head.

“Let’s stick together for now and make sure we don’t run into any trouble. If we find these places clear, then we can spread out a little.” She said. Kenny quietly grumbled to himself as Marissa looked around and pointed at the closest two story house. “Let’s start there.” She said. They cautiously walked up the front steps, looking at the windows for any movement inside. Rodney looked at the front door, and then around at everyone else.

“Do we knock?” He asked. Tumu chuckled as he stepped up and gave the door a hard kick. The frame splintered and the door swung wide open. “Guess not.” Rodney muttered. He took a step back as the smell of rotting flesh wafted out. “Something’s ripe in there.” He said. They slowly shuffled one at a time into the foyer to look around. To the left and right were two similar arched doorways. The left led into a large dining room, which was dominated by a long, oval shaped table surrounded by eight wooden chairs. Along the far wall was an antique cabinet, filled with various glassware and china. On the adjacent wall was another entrance with a single swinging door. To the right was a room similar in size to the one on the left. Two small couches sat on the left side of the room, one facing the other, with a low table between them. An assortment of smaller tables dotted the right side of the room; with a mix of dust covered picture frames and knick knacks were scattered on top. On the floor in the middle of the room was a small pile of debris, directly under a hole in the ceiling above. Kenny nudged Clem to the left, as Rodney and Lowell moved into the room on the right. Mike, Tumu and Marissa continued straight ahead through the foyer and into the back of the house.
Clem tugged out the drawers on the cabinet and looked over the silverware and napkins, all neatly tucked into place. She pushed them back in and squatted down to open the lower doors. Kenny looked over her shoulder at the assorted bottles of vodka, gin, bourbon and scotch that filled the cabinet. He briefly reached for one of the bottles, but pulled back and shook his head.

“Bit too early for that.” He muttered. Kenny scanned over the upper shelves, but didn’t find anything edible. He gave the swinging door a light push to see if there was any resistance on the other side. It moved with ease and slowly swung back into the dining room. He grabbed the edge of the door and pulled it back towards him to look inside. “Looks like the kitchen.” He said to Clem. He slowly walked inside with Clem following close behind. Kenny jumped back and got into a defensive stance as he caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye. He let out a small sigh of relief as he looked and realized it was just Marissa, who had entered the kitchen from the other side. He turned his head to listen as a creaking noise came from above. Marissa looked over at him as she tugged open more cabinets.

“They’re just checking out the upstairs.” She said. “Everything is empty down here so far.” She pointed at a set of doors on the far wall. “Maybe in there?” Kenny pulled open the doors to reveal a small pantry. Most of the shelves were bare, save for a partial bag of rice and a couple cans with no labels. Clem took one of the cans and looked at it to see if there was any indication what was inside. She shrugged as she shook it next to her ear, but didn’t get any sound.

“Could be anything.” Clem said. Kenny grabbed the other can and the bag of rice and put it on the counter.

“Might as well take everything.” He said.

“Oh shit!” Rodney shouted from the front room. Kenny, Clem and Marissa jumped at the shout, which was followed by a loud crash. Clem darted from the kitchen and back to the front of the house. She stopped in the doorway as she looked at the scene. A walker had emerged from the doorway on the far wall. Rodney backed away from it, but his leg had fallen through a weak spot in the floor. He grasped onto the walker’s arms to keep it from clawing at him; and struggled to hold it at arm’s length to prevent it from biting him. Rodney looked back at Lowell, who was standing with his back against the wall, staring wide eyed at the scene but seemingly paralyzed with fear. Rodney looked at the gun which had slipped from his grasp and slid out of his reach. “Lowell, get the gun!” He yelled out. Lowell remained in place and didn’t move. Another walker emerged in the doorway and staggered into the room. It let out a guttural snarl and staggered towards Lowell. Marissa gasped as she came around the corner. She grasped for Clem to pull her back, but Clem had already ran into the room. The second walker collapsed to the floor as Clem landed a swift kick to the side of its knee. She let out a small grunt as she jabbed her ice-pick into the back of its skull. Clem whipped around to look at Rodney. The walker’s snapping jaws hovered mere inches above his neck. She took a step towards him, but jumped back as a gunshot rang out and the side of the walker’s head exploded in a spray of black and red goo. Clem looked over to see Kenny slowly lowering his smoking gun. Kenny tugged the walker off Rodney, and helped him free his leg from the hole in the floor.

“You alright?” Kenny asked. Rodney let out a deep sigh of relief as he checked himself over.

“Y-y-yeah… I think so.” He stammered. Clem glanced over at Lowell as he slowly came out of his dazed state. She frowned at him and squinted slightly.

“Twenty by yourself, huh?” She muttered in an almost inaudible tone.

They spent the rest of the morning and afternoon going from house to house. While they did a quick search of all the rooms, just to make sure there weren’t any unexpected surprises lurking in the shadows, their main focus was on the kitchens for food and bathroom cabinets for medical supplies. Unfortunately, they came out empty handed from most of them as they were completely empty of any useful items. Marissa leaned against the side of the truck and looked at what they managed to find. She frowned as there were only a dozen small cans of various fruits, vegetables or unknown contents, and a handful of bags of rice and dried pasta. She looked at the horizon and watched as the sun sank lower and lower. Mike walked up and tossed in another can.

“Ain’t much, is it?” He muttered. The rest of the group slowly gathered around. Marissa frowned at their lack of success.

“Seems like a waste to just go back with this.” She said.

“We could always stay the night and get back to it first thing.” Tumu replied.

“Wouldn’t they worry if we didn’t come back today?” Mike asked. Tumu shrugged and shook his head.

“Nah, we’ve had supply runs that took a few days before. Besides, the further we have to go out, and the bigger the area to search, the longer it’ll take to cover it.” He replied. He looked back at the house they had just finished searching. “That one was pretty nice inside… no lurkers… no rotting stench. We could just hole up there for the night. Then we could search some more spots before it gets dark, too.” He said. Marissa glanced around at the others.

“Any objections?” She asked. They looked at each other and all slowly shook their heads. “Ok, let’s make sure the house is secure, and we’ll want to keep a shift on watch as well, just in case.”

Clem lay quietly on the couch, curled up under a blanket, and stared at the fireplace as the flames danced across the shards of wood. Her eyes shifted back and forth over the others as they slept, and watched as their covers methodically moved up and down with each breath in and out. She looked over at Lowell as he twitched and groaned softly. He shifted around and settled back into a deep sleep. Clem frowned as she replayed in her head the earlier events of him as he froze up when he was needed most. She had a brief thought that it might have been better to just let the walker get him. The thought quickly passed as she suddenly saw Sarah and felt the pangs of guilt for leaving her behind. The sound of Sarah’s screams still echoed in her ears. Clem closed her eyes to try and block out the images of the walkers tearing into her. She slowly opened her eyes again and focused back on the fire. Her eyes slowly scanned around the room again as she had trouble falling asleep. She looked towards the front window and saw a figure outside. She did a double take of the window and jumped to a seated position. A large owl sat on the railing just outside the window and stared in at her. She stared back for a moment, and then got up and shuffled into the foyer. She quietly opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch. The owl’s head turned to look at her as she stepped out. They stared at each other for a moment, until a soft crunching noise sounded from the side of the house behind Clem. She looked back to see Tumu emerge. He flinched as he saw her on the porch, and then chuckled when he realized who was there.

“What are you doing out here?” He asked.

“I couldn’t sleep.” She replied. “And I saw that owl…” She started to say as she turned back to the railing, but the owl was gone. “…um… he was there a second ago.” She said. “He kinda looked like the one I saw a few weeks ago.” Tumu looked over at the railing, and then walked around to the front of the house to look up at the sky. He shrugged and stepped up on the porch to take a seat next to Clem.

“You know what they say about owls…” He muttered. Clem gave him a puzzled glance as she waited for him to continue. He remained quiet for a moment until he looked at her and realized she was waiting for more. “No? Oh… well… a lot of native cultures believe that the owl is a messenger of death, and it means someone you know is going to die.” He said. Clem’s eyes widened and she let out a tiny gasp. Tumu smirked and gave her a pat on the back. “Don’t worry… just myth and legend that stuff… I like to think of it another way. Owls tend to be most active at night. When they are hunting, they can find even the smallest of prey in the darkest of nights. So if they keep appearing to you, perhaps it means the owl is your spirit guide. Perhaps they are telling you that you are like them.” He said. Clem’s brow furrowed as she looked at him.

“Like them? I… I don’t understand.” She quietly said.

“Just like they can navigate through the darkness, perhaps they are telling you that you can do the same. Perhaps you are meant to be a guide through the darkness in which we are all currently lost.” He said.

“A guide for who?”

“For everyone.” Tumu replied. Clem frowned and shook her head.

“But I’m small… who would follow me?” She muttered.

“Even the smallest creatures can do tremendous things. You might doubt yourself now, but someday you’ll realize what you can accomplish.” He replied. Clem shook her head.

“N-n-no… not me. I don’t believe I could ever be like that.” She said.

“Someday you will.” Tumu said. He gave her a small nudge and nodded towards the door. “Now you better go get some sleep. Tomorrow will be here before you know it.” He said. Clem smiled slightly and stood up. She leaned down to give him a small hug, and then disappeared back inside.

the zombie flanders

===

Mike stood on the front porch and watched as the sun slowly climbed above the tree line on the eastern horizon. The last shadows of the night quickly vanished, and the silence disappeared along with them as the rest of the group began to stir inside. They slowly shuffled out to join him outside and continue with their search. Kenny did a quick scan of the group, and then did another. "Where's... what's his name..." He muttered.

"Tumu? He was out here earlier... not sure where he wandered off to." Mike replied. Kenny grumbled as he walked down the front steps and began to look around the area. He walked around to the back of the house and squinted as he saw a figure off in the distance.

"There he is." Kenny muttered. He followed the tracks leading from the house towards the figure and continued to grumble to himself as he trudged along. As he got closer, he could see Tumu standing near a group of trees, looking down at the snow around him. "Hey..." Kenny called out. Tumu glanced back at him. "Everyone's ready to get started. What are you doing out here?"He asked. Tumu pointed to tracks in the snow.

"Figured we might be able to bring back a deer or two." Tumu replied. Kenny looked down and frowned.

"You sure that's from a deer?" He asked. "Coulda been made awhile ago. How do you know it's still nearby?" Tumu squatted down and poked at the snow. He pointed to a small pile of brown nuggets near the base of a tree.

"See that?" Tumu said. "Pick one up." Kenny looked at him like he was crazy. "Go ahead." Kenny rolled his eyes and reached over to pick up a small piece. "Is it warm or cold?" He asked.

"Feels cold." Kenny replied.

"Soft, or has it frozen solid?" Tumu asked. Kenny gave it a squeeze.

"Still a little soft." He replied.

"Sniff it, what does it smell like?" Tumu asked. Kenny gave it a sniff and pulled his head back from it.

"Smells like shit." Kenny said. Tumu chuckled.

"So what does all that tell you?"

"That something was here and took a dump awhile ago, but not so long that the turds could freeze? What did it tell you when you picked it up and smelled it?" Kenny asked.

"Oh, I don't know, I didn't touch it." Tumu replied. Kenny looked at him with a confused expression.

"So how do you know this is from a deer?" Kenny asked.

"Because I saw it standing over there on the ridge." Tumu said as he pointed off to the west. Kenny craned his neck to look at the deer standing about a hundred yards away. "I just wanted to see if I could get you to play with that pile of shit." He said with a laugh. Kenny grumbled and threw the turd at him. Tumu continued to laugh as it bounced off his shoulder. Kenny reached down to grab some snow and clean off his hands. Tumu looked behind him as the rest of the group walked up to see what was going on.

"What's going on?" Marissa asked.

"Nothiing." Kenny quickly replied. Tumu chuckled and motioned to the ridge.

"Deer over there... figured that would be a nice little prize to bring back with whatever else we find." Tumu said. Marissa took a few steps towards the trees and glanced at the deer standing on the ridge. It scratched and rooted at the snow to expose the grass beneath and began to nibble at it. Marissa pulled her rifle off her shoulder and looked back at Tumu.

"May I?" She asked. He shrugged and waved a hand at her to tell her to take the shot. Marissa slowly crept to the top of the ridge. She paused as she stared across at the deer which stood on another ridge about a hundred yards away. Between them was nothing but a perfectly flat field of pure white snow. Marissa slowly lifted her rifle and took in a deep breath. She slowly exhaled and then took in another slow, deep breath as she took aim. The deer continued to nibble at the tuft of grass it had uncovered. A shot rang out as Marissa fired. The deer jerked and collapsed to the ground. She looked back at the group as she smiled. "Pretty good shot, huh?" She said.

"Not bad." Mike replied. Marissa smiled and then turned to trudge across the field towards her deer. Tumu glanced down at Kenny as he continued to pick up snow and scrub his hands. He chuckled again and then looked at Mike and wagged his head towards the other ridge.

"C'mon, she won't be able to haul that by herself." He said. Tumu and Mike carefully walked down the ridge to the field and started to follow Marissa, who was already thirty yards ahead. Clem shuffled up to the top of the ridge and watched as the three of them slowly walked across. The soft sound of footsteps crunching through snow was suddenly interrupted by a sharp cracking noise. Marissa froze and looked down at her feet. She turned quickly to look at the others for a split second, and then vanished as the ice beneath her gave way. Tumu and Mike stopped in their tracks as they realized they were walking across a frozen lake. Clem gasped as she watched Marissa disappear. She darted down the hill and quickly ran towards the spot where Marissa fell through.

"Clementine! Stop!" Kenny shouted, but she continued to run. "Stop her!" Kenny yelled at Tumu and Mike. They glanced back to see Clem running in their direction. They both reached down to try and grab her, but she dodged around them and continued towards the hole. She slowed as she got close, as she didn't want to fall through as well, or cause the ice to break beneath her. A muffled pounding noise rose up from beneath her feet. Clem squatted down and began to sweep the snow away from the ice. She saw Marissa looking back at her, frantically beating on the ice to try and break it. Clem pointed towards the opening to tell her where the hole was at, hoping that Marissa could get back out the same way she fell in. Marissa swam in the direction Clem indicated and thrust a hand up through the hole. She let out a loud gasp as her head popped back up through the ice, and she clung to the side as she tried to catch her breath. Clem looked back at the others to see if anyone else was trying to come out to help, but they all remained in the same position. Tumu pointed to her left.

"Use her rifle." He yelled to Clem. "She dropped it right there." Clem felt around in the snow until her hand hit something. She grasped the barrel of the rifle and pushed the stock towards Marissa. Clem lay flat on the ice and stretched out as much as she could, so she didn't get too close to the hole. Marissa strained as she reached for the rifle. Her fingers clawed at the stock but she couldn't get a grip.

"C-c-closer." Marissa stammered. Clem carefully crawled a little closer to the hole and nudged the rifle closer. Marissa took a deep breath and lunged up from the hole. Her fingers frantically groped for the rifle. She gritted her teeth as her hands locked onto the end of the stock and held herself in place. Clem grasped tight to the barrel and started to tug, as Marissa slowly pulled herself out of the lake. She let out a deep sigh of relief as she emerged onto the ice.

"Stay like that." Tumu called out. "Don't stand. Crawl back a bit until you get away from the weak spot." Clem slowly turned and began to crawl back towards the group. She looked back to make sure Marissa was following her before continuing towards the ridge. Tumu glanced back at Rodney and pointed towards the house. "Go get a fire started." Rodney nodded and ran back up the hill with Lowell following close behind. As they got closer, Clem watched for Tumu to give her a sign that it was ok to stand up. Clem carefully got to her feet and waited for Marissa to get to her. She helped Marissa to her feet and then put an arm around her to help her the rest of the way. Tumu and Mike backed up to the shoreline and waited for Clem and Marissa to reach them. Marissa's body shook with each step as her clothes began to ice over in the sub freezing temperature. Tumu pulled off his parka, and then grabbed Marissa and yanked off her coat. He started to tug off her shirt, but she stopped him and gave him a glare.

"W-w-what are y-y-ou doing?" She stammered. He slapped her hand away and tugged at her shirt again.

"Stop it. You need to get these off now. Don't be so modest." He snapped at her. He looked at Mike, Clem and Kenny and nodded towards the house. "Head up, we'll be there in a sec." He said. The three of them slowly trudged back up the hill. Kenny glanced down at Clem and frowned.

"That was reckless. You could have gone through just like her." He said. Clem looked down and let out a frustrated sigh. She slowed her pace and let Kenny put some distance between them as he continued up the hill. Mike stopped to let Clem catch up to him. She looked up at him as he put a hand on her shoulder.

"You did good. You saved her." Mike said. Clem smiled slightly and nodded. Mike gave her a pat on the back and nudged her to continue to the house.

A small fire cracked in the fireplace as the front door swung open. Tumu emerged with Marissa in his arms. His parka was wrapped around her, and her wet clothes and coat were draped over his shoulders. He carried her to the fireplace and put her down by the hearth. Clem brought over a couple blankets and wrapped them around Marissa.

"Thank you." Marissa quietly said. She shifted around under the blanket and then pushed an arm out with Tumu's parka in her hand. "and thank you, too." She said. He took the parka and tossed it on the couch, and then hung up her wet clothes near the fireplace to let them dry. He stood in front of Marissa and gave her a glare.

"Stay put, understand?” He said. Marissa nodded. “You gonna be ok if the rest of us get back to searching the area?" He asked. Marissa nodded again. Her lower lip quivered and her entire body continued to shiver.

"I'll b-b-be f-f-fine." She replied. Tumu put his parka back on and stepped back towards the front door. Kenny looked at Clem as she walked towards the door with the rest of the group.

"Clem, how 'bout you stay here and keep an eye on her. Make sure that fire stays nice and warm, ya know?" He said. Clem frowned at first and stared up at him, but finally nodded. He patted her on the head and then headed out with the rest of the group. Clem turned to look at Marissa, to see her staring back.

"Y-y-you didnt h-h-have to s-s-stay." Marissa said. Clem tugged off her coat and put it on the couch.

"It's not a big deal." She replied. She looked at Marissa's hair and watched as the ice crystals began to melt from the heat. Clem went into the kitchen and rummaged through the cabinets. She pulled out a couple of old towels and returned to the front room. She gently wrapped a towel around Marissa's head and began to soak up the water. Marissa closed her eyes and began to chuckle softly. Her body began to settle down as the fire knocked away the chill.

"I guess it's a good thing I cut my hair, 'cause it would have taken days for it to dry the way it used to be." She said. Clem smiled.
"Yeah, my hair used to be a little longer, too. But Lee cut it for me to make it safer; so I wouldn't get grabbed by it." Clem replied.
"How long was it?" Marissa asked. Clem continued to rub the towel over her hair to dry it.

"Not quite shoulder length... but there was a lot of it, so it was easy to grab." Clem replied. She removed the towel and placed it on the hearth to dry. Marissa smiled and looked over at her.

"You probably wouldn't believe it, but mine used to go all the way to the middle of my back." She said. Clem gave her a slight look of disbelief. Her eyes shifted to look from Marissa's head down her back, and then back to her eyes. "Really. It was that long." She said. She reached up and ran her fingers through her short hair. "I do miss it. I know it's silly, but it just made me feel prettier. But like you said, it wasn't safe. I had walkers grab me by my hair a few times when everything first happened. If I had been alone, I probably wouldn't be here today. Thankfully there were others with me to help. It was one of the guys in our group that first cut my hair. He just grabbed it and yanked my head back; and then hacked it off with his knife... he held the long section and shook it in my face and yelled at me." Marissa said. "How many times do you gotta get grabbed by this? It's gonna get you killed." Marissa said in a mocking tone. She let out a small sigh and shrugged. "I know he was right, but he could have delivered the message better. Thankfully, there was someone in Wellington with a little experience cutting hair, so he fixed it up so it didn't look so bad. I know it's sort of a petty thing... worrying about what I look like and such... but it's not an easy thing to get past, no matter how bad things get. I guess a small part of me still holds out hope that things will go back to normal someday." Marissa said. Clem frowned and stared at the flames in the fireplace.

"I'm not sure I remember what that is anymore. I don't know if I could make it in that world now." Clem quietly replied. Marissa frowned at Clementine's comment. She reached out and tugged at her hand to get her to sit. Clem leaned up against Marissa and let out a deep sigh.

"We can't forget who we used to be or how things were. We have to hold onto all those things that make us human... that make us civilized. Otherwise, we just deteriorate into a survival of the fittest, and we're no better than a bunch of wild animals... and that's not a world I want to live in." Marissa said.

"We might not have a choice. That might be the world we're left with." Clem replied.

"We always have a choice, Clementine. We just have to be strong enough to make the right one, even when it's the hardest choice to make." Marissa said. Clem sat quietly and stared at the fire as Marissa's words sunk in. She reached out to grab another piece of wood and tossed it into the fire. It crackled and sparked as it knocked the embers around. They sat quietly and just stared at the fire for awhile. Marissa closed her eyes and smiled. "I hope they went to get that deer. It would be a shame to let it go to waste." She quietly muttered. Clem turned her head and looked at Marissa, and then quietly laughed.

the zombie flanders

(this is the last section completed prior to the release of episode 5):

===

Lilly stood on the catwalk and leaned against the top of the outer wall. She stared out across the western horizon and watched as the sun slowly sank lower and lower towards the tree line. She remained silent and just listened, hoping to hear the sound of an engine that might indicate their scavenging group was coming back; but the only sounds were the wind whistling through open doors and windows of nearby buildings, and the sound of footsteps from the guards on watch. She heard footsteps approaching her position, but kept her eyes fixed on the horizon.

“There you are.” Grayson said as he walked up to her. Lilly glanced over at him. “Been looking for you. Whatcha doing up here?” He asked. Lilly shrugged and looked back towards the west.

“It’s been five days. Something must have gone wrong.” She muttered. Grayson frowned as he looked to the west, and then back at her.

“You know those kind of runs take time. They’ll be fine. Marissa and Tumu know how to handle things.” He replied. Lilly let out a small snort.

“It’s not them that concern me.” She replied. Grayson looked at her with a puzzled expression at first.

“Then who…” He began, but paused as a light went off in his head. “…oh, so it’s about Kenny?” He asked. Lilly nodded. “If you had concerns about him, why didn’t you say something when we were organizing the group? Or even when we were discussing bringing them into the community?” Lilly sighed and shrugged.

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m just being paranoid for no reason. I mean… it’s been a long time, and so much has changed.” She replied.

“May I ask what happened? I assume there was some friction or conflict previously that’s the cause of your concerns now?” Grayson asked. Lilly remained silent as she gathered her thoughts.

“We were in the same group when everything first started. Kenny and I were always butting heads about who was in charge and making decisions for the group. He had his opinions and I had mine, and they rarely led to the same choices.” She said.

“Well… you, me and Harrison don’t always agree with each other either, but we still manage to settle on a compromise.” Grayson said. Lilly shook her head.

“There was no such thing as compromise with him… at least not back then. Maybe he’s changed. I guess I can’t claim complete innocence either, since I didn’t want to compromise then either.” She said. Grayson remained silent for a moment and just watched as Lilly’s hands and jaw began to clench slightly. She closed her eyes and let out a long, slow breath to try and relax.

“Seems like there’s more to it than just disagreements on how to run the group.” Grayson said, and then waited to see if she would volunteer more information. Lilly kept her eyes closed and slowly nodded.

“When his group first showed up… and you asked them our usual questions…” Lilly began. She paused and closed her eyes for a moment. “The man he mentioned… the one who had the heart attack...” Lilly paused again and let out a sigh. “…that was my father.” Grayson’s eyes widened slightly.

“Why didn’t you say something before?” He asked.

“I didn’t want to let my own bias cloud the decision. Besides, even if I voted against letting them in, it would have been two against one… and how could I condemn their entire group for his actions?” She asked.

“You know how things work here. It’s an individual basis for allowing people inside. Just because they show up in a group doesn’t mean we have to accept them all. If they choose to stick together and leave because we refuse one person, that’s their choice.” He replied. “May I ask… if it’s not too difficult a question… your father… was he really dead?”

“No.” Lilly replied. She frowned and bowed her head. “I mean… I don’t know… I was going to attempt to resuscitate him, but I didn’t get a chance to really try.”

“If he would have turned and come back, could the rest of you have escaped, or would he have been able to kill everyone else in the room?” Grayson asked. Lilly remained silent for a moment as she struggled to see things from the other side.

“I’m not sure… I guess it’s possible he would have taken us all out.” She quietly replied. “But to not even give him a chance? To not even try to revive him?”

“It’s always hardest to make that kind of decision when it’s about those closest to us. We’ll do anything and try for as long as possible to try and keep them around. That might have been acceptable in the old world, but now… unfortunately we don’t have that luxury. When they can turn and come back, sometimes within a matter of minutes, that’s a threat we can’t take lightly. We have to act and accept the consequences.” Grayson said.

“If it was Chloe, would you just accept someone doing that right in front of you?” Lilly asked. Grayson paused and let the image sink in.

“Probably not… but isn’t that the point? I would struggle to do harm to my wife, or even witness someone else doing it; even if she might be dead. I know it’s not easy. We’ve seen plenty of people who have had to deal with that, and how it changes them. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky to be in this place. We’ve had the protection of these walls for so long, a lot of us forget sometimes about what’s on the outside. We have to remember that most of the people who show up at our gates have probably been out there dealing with unimaginable things while we’ve had our relative safety. We need to keep that in mind when evaluating whether to bring them in or not.” He replied. “Speaking of… Harrison and I were going to discuss the new group in the holding area, and wanted to see if you were available to go over the list and vote on bringing them into the fold.” Lilly turned to look out at the horizon one last time and watch as the last sliver of the sun finally vanished.

“Yeah, let’s go. Not like I can do much just standing here.” She replied.

the zombie flanders

===

Kenny sat at a long table in the cafeteria and stared at the meager offerings on his plate. He slowly nudged a bean around in a circle with his fork. Their scavenging group spent almost a week searching around Norwalk for any supplies they could find. While they were able to find a small amount, they also had to use some of that to survive as they remained there for days. They returned with a few dozen various cans, just over two dozen bags of assorted dried pastas and rice, and two deer. It wasn’t nearly the amount that Lilly was hoping to see when the trucks returned. In an attempt to ensure the food supply didn’t grow uncomfortably thin, she convinced Harrison and Grayson to agree to a more strict rationing system until more could be located. Kenny glanced down at Clem and watched as she slowly dragged her spoon across her plate to get every last drop. He nudged his plate closer to her. She glanced at it, and then looked up at him.

“You need to eat, too.” Clem said. Kenny smirked and nudged it towards her more.

“Go ahead. I ain’t all that hungry.” He replied. Clem frowned and just stared at him. Luke sat across from them and watched as neither one of them made a move for the plate. He reached over towards it.

“If neither one of you want it…” He said. Kenny smacked his hand and pulled the plate away.

“I’m offering it to Clem.” Kenny snapped. Luke pulled his hand back and glared back at Kenny.

“Just sayin’… if neither one of you are gonna eat it, someone might as well.” Luke muttered. Clem looked down at Kenny’s plate and let out a sigh. She scraped half of it onto her own and handed it back.

“Eat.” She said. Kenny smirked again. He scraped the remaining contents onto his fork and stuck it in his mouth. The doors to the cafeteria swung open and a handful of people walked inside. Kenny glanced over at them as they paused to look around. He waved at them to come over after they got their food. Luke, Clem and Christa looked at them and then looked at Kenny with a puzzled expression.

“Who’s that?” Christa asked.

“Some of the new people who showed up after us. They just got released from jail.” Kenny said.

“It wasn’t a jail.” Christa said. “Honestly, if our places were reversed, we probably would have done the same with a new group of people looking to join our community.”

“Maybe…” Kenny grumbled. He looked up at a tall man with short, dirty blonde hair approached the table. “Hey, want you to meet some of my group.” Kenny said. He motioned around the table. “That’s Luke, Christa, Clementine and the little guy there is A.J.” He looked back at his group. “Everyone, this is Duncan.” Kenny said. Duncan put his plate down and nodded.

“Pleasure to meet you all.” He said. He sat down and looked at his plate. “Is this really it?” He muttered. Kenny let out a snort.

“Yeah, ain’t much to go on, is it?” Kenny replied.

“With all the rumors of this great safe zone, I thought it would be better stocked.” Duncan said.

“Better than being out there right now.” Christa said. Duncan chuckled slightly and shrugged.

“I don’t know, I think I could scavenge up more than this for a meal out there.” He said with a smirk. He glanced over at the baby as he gripped onto the bottle Christa held and sucked on it. “I might have to develop a taste for that stuff, ‘cause it looks like a feast compared to what’s on my plate.” Duncan shook his head and chuckled. “Sorry, don’t mean to bitch and moan. Doesn’t make for a great first impression.” He said. He motioned over at the other four people who came in with him. “The woman with the red hair… that’s Carmen. The man right behind her, that’s Eli. The next guy with the goatee, that’s Connor… and that last woman, that’s Arabella.” He waved at Carmen as she looked over. “Got another seven people roaming around somewhere. I guess they better get in here soon, or there might not be anything left for them to eat.” He muttered. Carmen paused as she reached the table and glanced around at everyone. She smiled and took a seat as Duncan introduced the others.

“Nice to meet…” She started to say, but stopped short as Eli walked up and smacked his plate down.

“You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me. That’s all?” Eli grumbled.

“Hey! There are kids here.” Duncan said. Eli frowned and looked at A.J. and Clem. He shook his head as he dropped into a seat.

“I’m sure they’ve heard worse than that by now.” Eli muttered. Connor and Arabella slowly shuffled to the table and took the last two spots near the end. They both stared at their plates and chuckled to themselves before looking around the table as Duncan went through the introductions again. He watched their expressions as they looked at their plates again.

"Yeah, yeah, we've all said it already... just eat it." He grumbled to them.

"They gave us more than this when we were stuck in that one room." Connor muttered.

"Same here. But some people around here seem to be a little paranoid about running out of food, even if there's still a good stock left." Kenny said.

"Was she always like that?" Christa asked. "I assume you're talking about Lilly." Kenny nodded.

"Yeah, she was a real hard-ass about food. There were plenty of times that half the group went without eating because she was so strict with the rationing."

"So you were with her before? If she was that bad, why have her controlling things?" Duncan asked.

"Wasn't by choice. I fought every chance I got to do things different. It wasn't easy convincing others in the group... most of 'em didn't want to rock the boat. Heck, if she had her way, the group would probably still be scraping by at that rundown motel." Kenny said.

"Yet here you are again, under her thumb." Duncan said with a slight smirk. He held up his hands as Kenny glared at him. "Easy, just pointing out the irony."

"Yeah, well if I had known before we got here, and if it was just about me, I would have kept on going..." Kenny said. He looked over at A.J. and then at Clem. "...but there were more important things to worry about than just myself; so I'll just have to deal with it."

"Maybe we just need a change in leadership around here." Eli said.

"Do they vote on who gets on the council or something?" Carmen asked. Eli chuckled at the question.

"Not sure. I don't think anyone has said if there's a limit on how long someone is on the council, or how they were chosen." Luke replied. Eli shook his head.

"Naw, I'm not talking about that kinda change." Eli muttered.

"You want to try some kind of coup?" Christa asked with a tone of disbelief. "You can't be serious? All of us basically just got here? You really think you can push aside their council, take over and expect the rest of the people to follow you?" She asked. Duncan glanced around the room to see if anyone else was listening. He leaned in slightly and looked over at Christa.

"If it's one thing I've learned after all this time, it's that most people are just sheep. It doesn't matter who the shepherd is, as long as they have one. Eventually they'll get used to it, especially if you give them reasons to follow you over someone else. All you really need is enough lieutenants to help you maintain order." Duncan said.

"And if those in control have more lieutenants? It makes it a little difficult to take control." Luke said.

"So you take some of them out..." Eli said.

"You mean kill them?" Luke said with a tone of disbelief. Eli started to nod, but Duncan shook his head.

"No, no... It’s not something you just jump into right away. From the looks of it, the current council is doing a good job driving up the level of discontent without any outside help. All you have to do is bide your time and let that fester. Listen to the grumbling and learn who might be more inclined to switch sides when the time comes." Duncan said. Christa shook her head as she pushed back from the table.

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear any of this. Despite the current rationing, we've got it pretty good here. I don't plan on stirring up trouble and risk getting kicked out, or worse." She said. She picked up the baby and headed for the exit.

"Gotta say, I have to agree with her." Luke said. "I know I wasn't too crazy about trying to find this place, but now that we're here, I can't see starting a fight. It's bad enough these days we have to worry about getting attacked from the outside by walkers or other people. We don't need to get paranoid about someone inside stabbing us in the back."

"Even the best leaders lose their touch. That's not a knock against what they've accomplished here; but change is inevitable. When that time comes, I always find that it's better to be the one calling the shots so you control your own destiny, rather than just drift along and hope for the best." Duncan said. Kenny glanced over towards the door as he caught a glimpse of someone walking towards them.

"Hey there, Marissa." He said. "What's up?" Marissa walked up to the table and glanced around at the group.

"Getting to know the new arrivals?" She asked with a smile. Everyone nodded as they glanced at each other. "Good, always helps to settle in when you get to know others in the community. I was just talking with the council, and they wanted to get another scavenging group together. This time they were looking to hit the areas to the east, maybe closer to Cleveland."

"Yeah, count us in." Kenny said as he gave Clem a pat on the back.

"We'd be happy to help, too." Duncan said as he nodded towards Eli. Marissa nodded and looked around the table.

"Mike not around?" She asked.

"Think he was feeling a little under the weather. I'd say he'd sit this one out." Kenny replied. He nodded across the table. "I'm sure Luke would be willing to join in this time." Luke shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm game." Luke replied.

"Great!" Marissa said. "I'll let the others know and we'll plan out exactly where we want to hit and head out first thing." Marissa smiled as she turned and headed for the exit. Eli turned his head to watch her walk away. Duncan waited for the entrance door to swing shut before turning back to the table.

"So what about her?" He asked. The others just stared back at him. "Does she have any potential to switch sides, or is she too entrenched in the existing leadership?"

"I can't see her betraying the current group." Kenny muttered.

"How 'bout we just focus on the scavenging task, and see how everything else plays out?" Luke replied. "Like you said, we don't want to rush into anything and do something stupid." He said, hoping to derail the topic of leadership change. Duncan chuckled and nodded.

"You're right. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Maybe we hit it big with the scavenging and everything works out for the best." Duncan said.