They'd estimated that the weather would start getting warm again in the next two weeks, but it rather did the opposite. It was far too cold for them to practise their fighting in the square, where David had originally suggested. Instead they agreed to move indoors, spacing out inside an abandoned gym. 

Lee felt himself fall to the floor again before it registered within his mind. He groaned as he leaned forward, feeling every soreness in his back and fighting the urge to go right back down again.

"Lee. I need to speak to you," David's voice distanced.

Getting to his feet again, Lee nodded. "Sure." The two of them walked out of the way of the rest of the others.

For a few seconds, David didn't say anything. He just stared at Lee with a hardened expression, standing completely still. "You've got to stop."

"Excuse me?"

"Look at you. You're wearing yourself down. You show up to these sessions and it's like you haven't slept. Do you even know what you're doing half the time?"

"That's an exaggeration," Lee frowned.

"I'm not far off from the truth, though. Am I? Tell me I'm wrong." He waited for the silence he knew was coming. "I say these things because I've seen what you can do. You're not your usual self," David explained. "And I know why."

"Everybody knows why. I know why. Listen, I really am trying my best here," Lee said in defence. "You're right. I know that. But I can't sleep . I can't do anything like I used to because I'm so god-damn worried all the time." He only noticed how loud he was speaking upon hearing the echoes around the room. To his surprise, David put a hand on his shoulder.

"Lee. I understand." The two of them left the room and began to stroll around the square. "At the beginning, when this all broke out, I was separated from my family. I was the exact same. Honestly, I haven't had a plan for most of my life, but I still got by. Back then? I didn't have a fucking clue what to do with myself. But do you know what I did?"

"What?"

"I reminded myself of my priorities. The only thing I could do was survive. So that's what I did. The way I saw it, I could be reckless and focus on looking for something that might not be there, or I could focus on living. Because then you're allowed to take risks." David stopped, breathing in. "Once you know what the hell you're waking up every-day for, as soon as you know how much you have around you to lose, that's when you can start being reckless," he explained.

Lee watched him, unsure of what words he should use to follow. "So-"

"So I'm telling you this because you need to hear it, not because you want to." They both stopped, standing still. "You need to face the facts."

Mentally he felt assurance and embarrassment all at once. He had doubted Ava when she suggested David may have the heart to compliment Lee, but noticed those doubts destabilise during their current discussion. Now he felt utterly stupid. How could he have assumed David was turning over a new leaf? Here he was practically telling Lee to up and forget about Clementine! To accept her death and simply move on was perhaps the most insulting thing he’d done since his attempt to banish her.

"I am not giving up on Clementine," Lee firmed.

David had noticed the flame in his eyes and sighed, doubling down on his words in an attempt to extinguish his fury. "And I'm not telling you to. What I am saying is that you need to start being smarter. No more solo searches, no more midnight dwelling on something you can't change. I hope you do find her, and I really mean it. But you cannot throw away the life you've worked so fucking hard for when you've lasted this long. You owe that to yourself, Lee. You owe it to New Richmond, and don't forget — you owe it to that little boy, too."

Lee stirred. For once, he himself had been the quick one to react whereas David appeared oddly calm. Again he felt foolish. "You're right. With her gone, I'm all he has."

"That's not true. But you're the most important person in his life right now." David looked fierce, as though he had more to say, but nodded to show he'd finished speaking. He began to walk away.

"Thanks," Lee called after him.

It was another month of waiting until they would make the full transition into the city of Richmond. Back and forth negotiations and stock carrying meant that excitement soon fizzled into impatience. The lower ranks chattered amongst themselves, with comments made left and right of the slow progress. As they continued, it was as though there was a ticking time bomb above Lee’s head, counting down seconds - precious seconds - that were gone to waste every one not spent on finding Clementine.

He went searching for her, both alone and in groups organised with the others, but it always wound up with the same result: nothing. It was as if she had just vanished into thin air, without a trace.

On moving day itself, he was the first one awake, outside his tent before even the sun was. He watched as the others made their rounds, waking up individually.

“You’re up early, even for you,” David said as he noticed him, exiting out of his tent.

“Same reason as yesterday.”

“I figured as much.” He finished tying his boots and brought himself up. “You were out looking again in the night?”

“Only for a little while,” Lee answered with guilt gnawing away at him.

David was silent for a second. “We gotta get moving soon. If, if , Clementine does come back, she’ll know where to find us at Richmond. She knows the way, what to look for.” He paused again and then looked at him. “Does that help?”

Lee gave him a nod and picked up his bag, walking over to the armoury tent. “Yeah, thanks. I’ll look out for her while we walk over.”

“Good. Now you know what to do, be ready to leave at mid-day,” instructed David, walking off again.

…

Having heard so much about Richmond and its previous leaders, Lee's head was muddled with expectations of what the place would be alongside the feeling of knowing nothing about it at all. The former leaders, Joaquim and Bridget, were as kind as he had assumed, though they were somewhat meek, too. Bridget had retired to the headquarters building along with David and Joan for discussing further negotiations, leaving Joaquim to guide the rest of the New Frontier around the internal city streets.

"Our infirmary's thankfully still in a good condition," Joaquim commented, gazing up at a complex but well-built hospital. He spun to address the group. "Thanks to your community, our stock is even better than ever. I'll show you the inside, as it may be difficult to navigate if you don't know the place well," he chuckled. The crowd followed, with Clint jogging to the front to discuss details.

Lee watched him absent-mindedly. Then his thoughts itched, how could a council elect members Lee favoured like Lingard and Clint be the same to elect the inimical David and Joan? They were all so different from each-other, so disagreeable by nature, yet strangely solid. He wondered back to vague memories, the vision clouded somewhat by the passage of time, and the struggle between Lilly and Kenny. The pair were so similar to the council but vastly dissimilar in even more ways. It wasn't like this with those two, they weren't so organised as the New Frontier, much like how the corporates would function in the pre-walker days. But they weren't so incompatible. Despite their disagreements, he remembered how they both had the same interests in mind. He compared that to the council of the New Frontier - or New Richmond, it was now - how there was an underlying tension. He couldn't place his finger on it, for it didn't click into place no matter how much he studied them. Something wasn't right. But ever since Clementine disappeared, anxiety was the only feeling to accompany him.

"Paul," Lee hushed, pulling the doctor aside. "This place is pretty impressive."

"It is," he agreed. "I've never seen such a commune in years." Lingard smiled, looking along the corridors and their decorations so telling of the environment: the battered but readable posters, the chairs seemingly speckled with dust on every crevice, the signs that once flashed colours neon and bright. It was a sight timeless and still stuck in time all at once. "Truth be told, I thought I wouldn't see a hospital again in my lifetime."

Lee nodded. "It's a step up from the medical tent, that's for sure."

Lingard chuckled, letting the conversation dissolve as the group turned the corner. Besides the explanations and pointing directions from Joaquim, it was all but the noises of feet along the tiled floors. For the first time in a while, such a silence was comforting instead of nauseating. There was almost the feeling of a vacuum, that they were the only people in the world and the rest outside the city walls were on pause for a moment.

…

They'd split up the group some more, with Clint showing half of the members around the square and the other half led into an office building.

"Now, here, we think we could transform this space into an armoury," Joaquim said. He looked at Ava. "You're David's second-in-command, right?"

"Yeah. Even though he's not here I'm sure he'd agree to place things here. No complaints from me, either," she assured.

He went on, trailing off as he circled the room, "Good. Well, Joan has brought in a few boxes already but..."

Various members started unpacking boxes full of ammunition and lifting them onto tables. Lee did the same, grabbing one with his right arm and shifting it onto his side.

"Here, let me help," Ava offered, grabbing the other side and heaving the heavy box until it fell onto the table with a thud.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. A shame about your arm," she said.

He shrugged. "It's been long since I lost it. I've had plenty of time without it."

A look of awkwardness poked through her expression, but she smiled.

"To be honest, I'm used to it. Sometimes I even forget what it was like to have both arms."

"In that regard, I'm lucky." She seemed more eased. "It's impressive how well you handle yourself without it. You're a hell of a fighter, Lee. Even David thinks so," she said casually, poking around into the box.

He raised an eyebrow at her, trying to imagine David giving him such a compliment. It sounded a foreign enough concept from Ava’s lips alone, never mind the stoic soldier. He brushed it off. "Yeah, well. Another arm would just get in the way..." The ammunition spread out on the table, and he peered inside. "I thought there would've been another box?"

Ava squinted at the contents. "Not sure. Maybe it got taken to another building? Makes sense to spread these out." She looked up at him. "Got your eye on any of them yet?"

"Eh, I guess. But I'm not gonna complain if I don't get first pick, as long as it does the job it's fine with me."

"You're nicer than me, then," she smirked, heading over to a shiny rifle perched on another desk. "This one's mine for sure. You might wanna check the box of melee; I'm good with my own knife but there's a hatchet inside there that I thought you might like."

"Thanks." He waited until the other soldiers had finished their selections before rummaging inside the box. "I don't see it in here."

She frowned. "No? Oh! Check the other box, it was the one with the label on the front."

"There is no other box."

Her look of confusion deepened. "That's weird. Here," she said, taking out her knife, "Take this instead."

"But it's yours," he hesitated.

"And now it belongs to you." Ava departed with a small smile, leaving behind Lee feeling oddly pleased. Despite their focus on unity, it was unlike anyone in The New Frontier to actually demonstrate generosity. He cradled the solid reality of the knife in his hand whilst in his head he cradled a newly formed perception of Ava: a co-worker, technically, but potentially a friend, too.

A Second Chance. Chapter 1.

You hear a strange, muffled voice cutting through the haze of your waking consciousness.

"Clem...?"

It's a little boy's voice. You recognise that it's Aj's. Your eyes open, you feel disoriented and you can feel pulses of pain through your left leg.

"Clem... please don't become a monster."

Your vision becomes a little clearer. You see Aj's worried, yet excited face looking at you.

"My little goofball." You manage to whisper.

With a sudden burst of energy, Aj scurries away. Moments pass in a blur until his voice pierces the silence.

"It's Clem! Come quick!"

You slip back out of consciousness again.

The morning light filters through your boarded up window as you wake. Feeling stronger, you find yourself on a familiar bed. You're back at Ericson's. Though you are duct-taped to the bed, and remember you've been in this situation before. You think back to how Marlon had you duct-taped in case you turned. Weak, you struggle to get out of the tape and try to scream for help, but you find your throat's dry and sore.

A few moments later, Violet enters your room.

"Clem, you're okay!" She exclaims, relief flooding her voice.

As she releases you from the tape, she puts her head down and says softly.

"We thought you were... were..."

"I know, but what happened?" You ask, with a croaky voice.

Violet explains the nightmare that Aj had to experience. In order to save you from turning, Aj had to find a clean axe in James' barn, use your lighter and flint, and some hay for a fire. Aj had chopped off your leg, cauterized the wound, then brought you back to Ericson's by cutting open a walker and smearing its guts over both of you. Ruby bandaged you up, and no one was sure if you would've made it.

"My little goofball. I'm so proud of him." You say, with a soft smile on your face and a heart full of pride.

Violet says she'll be back in a minute.

A few minutes later, Violet returns with a pair of worn-down crutches she had found, and a glass of water.

"Sorry, they're not the best crutches, it's all that we had here."

You smile, showing her that you appreciate it.

Violet leaves once again, leaving you to recuperate yourself. A short while later, she returns again and asks if your feeling well enough to walk. You nod your head.

With Violets' support, you navigate your way outside. The fresh air fills your lungs and you take a deep inhale. Eventually, you make it to the grass. Violet and you sit on a table, and you ask.

"Where is everyone else?"

Violet explains that they're out, apart from Willy, who is on lookout.

"How long was I out for?"

Violet explains that it's been almost a week.

You two speak and make up for the lost time. Your conversation is interrupted when Aj walks through the gate and runs up to you.

"Clem! You're not a monster!" Aj exclaims with excitement and relief, throwing his arms around you tightly.

"No, no I'm not, my little goofball." You reply affectionately.

Aj then goes on about how he hates being called a goofball and that he's too big for it.

"No, Aj, you're not too big for it. You'll always be my little goofball." You reply with a chuckle, as he lets go.

Aj is clearly annoyed but keeps quiet about it. He hands you your hat that you thought you had lost. He explains he found it going down the river while he was fishing. Rosie had to help him grab it because it was going too fast for him. You say thank you and give him another hug.

Violet navigates you back to your room. You both sit down on your bed. She admits to you, saying it's her fault that you got bit.
You ask why she feels that way, but she stays silent, her head turns to look away from you. She gets up, as she's walking out, she softly says.

"I'm sorry..."

The door shuts.

You feel exhausted, and as you lay your head down on your pillow you find yourself falling asleep.

You are awoken by AJ and Violet, it's time for dinner. Violet helps guide you with your crutches outside to the tables. Once you sit down, you start to feel weird, no one's speaking. You ignore it and just eat, you're hungry and want to go back to your room.

Once you notice Violet is done eating, you mutter to her,

"Can you take me back to my room please?"

She nods her head, and Aj goes with you as well. When you get back to your room, Violet leaves, and Aj helps you get into bed.

Aj wakes you up. By the temperature, and light coming in through your window, you'd guess its around midday. He hands you a cup of coffee he had made. You take a big sip and let out a big exhale.

"Thank you, Aj." You say with a warming smile on your face.

"Clem... I want to talk to you about my emotions." he says softly and with uncertainty.

You look at him with understanding eyes.

"I don't know if I did the right thing back at the bridge, with Minerva and Tenn. I feel angry and upset, I also feel angry with myself. But it feels different than with Lilly or Marlon, I didn't feel angry with myself when I killed them."

Your heart aches for him, thinking back to how you felt when you had to shoot Lee.

"Clem?"

"Aj, I told you that you make the hard calls. I would've done the same. I know Tenn was your second first real friend, but it was either Tenn died, or Tenn and Violet both die. I'm proud of you for doing it. I know it wasn't easy. But you need to let that anger go, you did the right thing."

Aj goes silent for a moment, his emotions swirling beneath the surface.

"...I thought talking to you would make me feel better; it didn't help that much."

Without hesitation, you open your arms to give him a hug, you wish there was more that you could do. As he hugs you back you can feel that he's holding back tears.

"It's okay to cry, Aj."

...

Under his breath, Aj whispers "I love you."

"I love you too, I'm here for you." You reply with a firm yet empathetic tone.

Aj lets go and leaves the room with his head down. His burden feeling lighter knowing he has support.

The weight of the conversation you had with Aj hangs heavy in the air as you finish your coffee. Violet breaks the silence by slipping into your room.

"Mind if I join you?" She says, her voice soft, her gaze fixed on the floor.

"Yeah, what's up?" You respond, sensing something's on her mind.

Violet takes a seat next to you on your bed, her eyes searching yours for reassurance, her posture tense.

"I know that there's something between us, and I wanted to talk to you about it." She admits, her voice wavering.

You both fall into a momentary silence, you nod your head, silently signalling for her to continue.

Violet glances up at you briefly before lowering her head again.

"I just want to clear up what had been happening before... you got bit. About what happened when we were looking at the stars." She confesses, her tone hesitant.

Your heart skips a beat as you meet her gaze, the weight of unspoken emotions hang heavy in the air. You turn to look at her and she looks back at you.

"What do you want to say? You can keep going" You encourage her gently.

Violets gaze flickers, uncertainty clouding her expression. She turns away again, dropping her head.

"I just... want to know if you still feel it too- if you still like me in that way." She murmurs, her voice barely above a whisper.

You cant help but let out a soft giggle, the tension breaking as you do.

"Of course, Violet. Was it not obvious?" You tease, a playful grin forming on your lips. Her expression softens, a smile breaking through.

"With everything going on in the world, it might not be the right time to talk about this- but it might never be." She acknowledges, her tone serious again. "It's nice to have it out in the open, I'm really happy you're here, Clem. It makes this world a little bit more bearable."

You lean your head against Violet's shoulder, silently conveying your agreement.

Counting the days latterly was next to impossible, but if they were to guess, it was about a month later when the ‘New Richmond’ plan was put into motion.

“Max, I want you to go with Ida and Lonnie when Clint makes his rounds with the residents. Keep an eye on everyone and make sure there’s no fighting,” David ordered, walking down the line that he had formed.

He approached further, giving out more directions. “Right now all of the soldiers will stick by me, we’ll be meeting up with the ones in Richmond when we get there to join our forces…” he went on. His pacing landed him next to Clementine, skipping over her with his eyes and moving along the line.

“Should someone go with Lingard to help carry the medicines?” one of the ranking soldiers asked him.

“Yes. Ava will go.”

She looked confused, but nodded regardless.

“I thought Ava was going with the rest of the soldiers?” Lee asked.

David looked over at him. “I trust Ava to handle it carefully and efficiently. We’ll need another pair of hands to help carry the supplies back and forth.”

“I’ll do it.” Clementine stepped out of her place in the line, starting forward.

He looked annoyed at her interruption. “No.”

“Why not? You want help, don’t you?”

“Exactly, so you’re not going. I don’t trust you around those supplies, not after what happened,” he explained pointedly.

Ava looked at her, watching her expression. “I can keep an eye on her if she goes with me. Clem will help us.”

“My orders are final, Ava.”

Clementine's grateful eyes shifted from Ava back to David, a look of frustration taking over. “Well, what am I supposed to do? I can't just do nothing."

“If you waited for me to finish, you would know.” He turned to address the entire line. “The rest of you will be staying here and guarding our residence. Lee, watch over AJ. Badger will be helping Ava,” he firmed. “And since you want to do something so badly, you can deliver one of our radios to Joan that we’ll be using. That won’t be so hard, will it? Your boy will be there when you come back, and after that, keep out of the way.”

She fought back a strong urge to spit at him. “Fine.”

“Good. Let’s get moving, up and early for tomorrow, I want you all to remember that,” David shouted.

…

As instructed, Lee sat around the camp with AJ opposite him. He hadn’t heard back from the others in a while, and a few hours had passed from their departure. During the time, he attempted to teach AJ some more works and encourage him to speak. So far, all he received was silence, a reflection of the entire operation as far as he knew.

“What’ll be happening now?” he asked one of the other members, Fern.

She looked over from her post and shrugged. “Negotiations, I guess. Showing them around. Richmond’s a big city, you know.“

“Yeah,” he said, and turned his attention back to the toddler. “How about ‘Lee’, can you say that one?”

It was a few minutes later when a member from the Communications branch arrived on top of a horse. Lee couldn’t place what his name was, but he vaguely recognised him. “I’m here on orders from Joan. She hasn’t received her radio and has been unable to contact the others. Who was sent to give her it?” the man asked, lifting himself off of the saddle and jumping onto the mudded ground.

“Her name is Clementine, she’s one of the younger members. Where is she?” Lee asked, standing up suddenly and pulling AJ closer to his chest.

“We don’t know,” shrugged the man. “I’ve used my own radio to contact others in our area and there’s been no sign of any members from the Security branch, or any others at all.”

Lee was quietened while he processed this news. “You’re saying she’s missing?” His eyes narrowed as he spoke with caution, fearing even the discussion of the topic.

“I am. I must pass this information onto Clint and David so we can work around the communication issues, but keep an eye out if she returns,” he said, before riding off again. The tracks left behind a cloud of dust, swooping over the camp in a haze of beige.

“Clem,” AJ spoke, looking up at Lee with worry.

Lee sunk onto the floor again. “That’s right. She’ll be okay, I know it.”

…

“I knew this would fucking happen. How hard is it…” David’s voice sounded in the distance, ranting to Ava and Lingard. It was far into the frosted evening and he had only just arrived back. He marched through the camp with a hurry.

“It could’ve gotten stuck on the way there,” Ava suggested, picking up her pace to keep up with him.

Max walked past them. “Or she ran off.”

“Lee!” David called, walking over to him. “Where the hell is Clementine? Why hasn’t she shown up with Joan?”

“I don’t know,” he responded. “When I saw her heading off, she only said goodbye. Nothing else. I’m as confused as you.” He stood up, swaying with an uncertainty to stay in his place or start searching around the area.

“This is what I was talking about. Clementine is resourceful, she’s smart, too smart. I don’t like it.”

“What do you mean by that?” Lee looked down at him.

“I mean that she ran off. I was wrong to trust her with this in the first place, even if it was something so simple. I said from the start she couldn’t be trusted, and look at what happened. She ran away-“

“No she didn't. She’d never do that, David! Even if she did leave, why would she go without me, without AJ? Put your bias aside for once and think about it, damn it.“

David cleared his throat. “You think I don’t know that? It’s just as likely she’s biding her time. Right? Tell me that’s not true. She’s a loose canon, Lee, a sneak, and I know you don’t want to admit that because you’ve known her for so long, but-"

“But what? Don’t talk about her like that. And I can tell you this: we weren’t planning anything. If I wanted to leave I’d walk out now, trust me on that. She could be in danger now, and all you care about is proving yourself right.” He scoffed. “Get a hold of yourself! I’m going to look for her, and I won’t stop until I find her,” Lee said, pushing past him. He asked Ava to take AJ back over to the medical tent and walked off toward the edge of the camp.

“You think what you want to. Me, I’ll wait to see what else goes missing. Then I’ll know,” David called after him.

He didn’t stop, still circling the area slowly. For the whole night he continued that way, carefully searching around. Still, there was no sign of Clementine, only the occasional groaning walker roaming the area. Lee sighed and took out his knife, approaching from behind with silence. In the back of its leg he struck before stabbing its head with ease - such an action didn't even require much effort anymore, as though it were as ordinary as shovelling snow. Even the walkers themselves looked familiar to him, ones he could've sworn he'd come across before. So he paid no mind, swooping and slicing until the coast was clear again: he almost wished it wasn't.

With a regretful heart he went to sleep in his tent, a tent that belonged to a place he wasn’t sure he was welcome.

It was yet another midnight, and as usual the sky was as black as the hours were long. Still, the darkness was interrupted with the illumination of a campfire that warmed the surrounding tents, as well as the members who sat around it.

As he usually did, David was droning on about a speech directed at the others. Lee watched him through heavy eyelids, a shared trait of the other tired group members who dealt with the burden of a watch-shift. He’d normally ignore his lurking grogginess in favour of the relief that at least Clementine and AJ would be getting their sleep, but the back of his mind itched with the reminder of the infant's newly-brought-on sickness.

“I don’t know what I should do,” Clementine had confessed to him earlier in the day. Her voice was shaky and she looked to him desperately, seeking any chance of him having a solution.

Lee felt sorrowful for them both, as well as helpless; the restraints from the arduous New Frontier bounded him firmly, something he detested. The community's tight-knit allegiance proved well at protecting them all, though maybe at certain times it was all too much. Perhaps those restraints were too tight for one to move freely. After he had protected the girl for so many years, and AJ alongside her for more recent ones, helplessness was a feeling he’d grown to resent for how often he felt it. It reminded him of the man that kidnapped Clem, of Carver's tyrannical rule, of all the other bastards who have tried to come in-between them. He couldn’t allow such a sensation anymore.

“Listen, Clem...” he had said, bending down and placing his right arm - now his only fully usable one after cutting off his left what felt like millennia ago - on her shoulder. “There’s a bottle of vancomycin in the medical tent-"

“-The one they use for your arm?”

“Yes, that’s the one. Use it, it helps with the infections. AJ needs it.”

She had nodded at him, but chewed her bottom lip worriedly. “There won’t be a lot left for you.”

He smiled. “I’ve lasted a lot longer without it before, haven’t I? I can deal with a little fever up and down this old thing every now and again. It’s him who needs it, sweet pea,” he reassured.

“Okay.”

That was what they agreed upon earlier. It was risky - and they knew it. But they were determined to help nurse AJ back to health however they could, especially as everyone else had simply given up on trying. David had protested a few times before, reminding them of their low-stock and the unlikeliness of AJ to be saved, but Lee disagreed. Something had to be done.

He worried for Clementine, how right now she would be sneaking towards the tent and trying not to be caught, but he couldn’t show any sign of apprehension, especially not in front of David. He had to keep his cool, to be innocent, to appear like nothing was wrong at all.

“Lee, are you listening to this?” David’s voice snapped.

“Yeah, sorry-” Lee said. He had to make an excuse. “I was just thinking about our plan for Richmond.”

That eased David, bringing him back to his speech and focus. “I’m arranging things with Joan already, we have the basics of our plan but we still have to develop our strategy before we can even think about putting it into action. That'll take us at least a few months. Now…”

Lee relaxed into his seat, his tension easing. But he still had no way of knowing what was going on - whether Clementine had managed to even make it far enough. Or worse, if she’d been caught already. It was already known to the both of them, back when Ava first met the trio and invited them to come, that the group didn’t take well to ‘thieves’, how acting without approval was their equivalent of someone spitting in their faces. It was another thing Lee disapproved of, but they were safer together that way. No matter the outcome, he was prepared to take the blame. As long as she and AJ would be safe, protected by the group if he couldn’t do it for them... that was all he wanted.

Everyone’s ears perked up at once with the noise of a child crying. Only, it wasn’t coming from a sleeping tent, but the medical one. Lee knew instantly that nothing good could come from the situation, a sense of dread bubbling with a slow stir.

David rushed over towards the noise, frowning at the sight. “What the hell is this?”

The others collectively joined him, with Lee pushing past them all to reach the front. He sneaked a glance at David’s face, already twisting with anger.

At his side appeared Clementine, clutching her boy closely in her arms and looking at Lee worriedly. He looked back at her with knowing, then back to David, already ranting at Dr. Lingard.

“What’s going on, Clem?” Ava asked, staring almost through her guilty expression.

Before either could respond, David had returned his attention once more to the girl. “What the fuck were you thinking? You were told-“

“David, man, please-“ Lee started.

“No, Lee! Keep watch of your god-damn girl, okay? She knows the rules and so do you! There’s no fucking excuse here, this was your responsibility,” he scolded, pointing a finger at him.

The wails had begun again, softened by how AJ had been buried in Clementine’s shoulder. “I couldn’t give up on him, not when everyone else did. Not when we knew we could do something about it,” she defended, angry tears spilling.

“We? You knew about this?” His glare snapped to Lee, waiting impatiently for his response.

“I told her to do it, David. Think about the boy here! We can’t just stop trying.”

“Bullshit. Don’t you know what this has done to us? The medicine we use on these people, on you, is gone for nothing more than a gamble. An act of selfishness! And that’ll cost someone’s life down the line, maybe even yours now.”

“I warned her,” Lingard stepped in, his voice sounding recognisably spaced away from reality.

“And neither of you listened to him? To me? We’re your superiors, and-“

Ava walked closer, looking with concern. “David, come on. She was just trying to help the kid.” Lee looked at her thankfully, but seemingly she didn’t notice it.

“So have we! We helped and helped, and it’s not enough for them. We’re repaid with stealing! With selfishness.” His eyes narrowed on Clementine further. “Well that’s not how we do things. You’re done here.”

Both herself and Lee stared at him with disbelief. It was over. Their worst doubts, their worries and fears had some truth.

David had noticed their vacant stares empty of acceptance and went on to defend his choice, “You broke our rules, you violated our trust. There’s no place for you in the New Frontier.” He raised his chin and looked down on them.

Clementine clutched onto AJ tighter and felt her heart rise in her chest with fury. “You’re fucking assholes!”

“This isn’t necessary! You don’t have to do this,” Lee said, walking closer to him. He could feel that shock building into anger, into frustration. It was all too quick of a judgement to make. David was a rash man, he knew that even when he first met him, but this was unfair.

“She brought this on herself, Lee. I do need to do this. If I don’t, where do we draw the line?”

He stared at him, a realisation creeping in. The fact that he was singling only her out irked him, itched him even. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying she’s out of here.” He turned to her again. “Get your shit, and get out.”

She shook her head at him. “Fine. We don’t need this place anyway, you know. We’ve survived before on our own and we can do it again.” She went to walk away, with Lee following, only for him to be stopped by a hand outstretched.

“No,” David said. “AJ stays with us.”

“What?” they both asked, mouths agape. Clementine looked back and forth from Ava to Lee with desperation, suddenly uncertain of what to say or do.

“That's not happening. Nobody is leaving, then,” Lee firmed.

"That's not your choice to make, Lee. And right now, I'd be quiet, especially considering your place in all of this." David stepped closer towards him. "I'm letting you stay here. I know you're not so innocent, helping out your girl here, but for the most part you've been good to us. Something that I can't say for this one." He looked to Clementine with disapproval, to which she glared back at him. "You're a good man, Lee. And I know you'll take care of AJ here. I was a father too. I can tell. Respect it, even. But I can change my mind, you know. Even if not, you've still got to make up for breaching our trust like this."

The words were supposed to be comforting, but they had all the opposite effect.

"Then respect this. Clementine is not leaving here, and that's that. You don't know what we've been through, but I need you to picture it. For nearly a decade I've looked after this girl, and for almost half of it we've looked after AJ, too. You said you had a daughter, didn't you? Maybe I don't have kids myself like you do, but she's the closest thing in this world I've ever gotten, and I'd be damned if you try to separate us over a bottle of antibiotics." David opened up his mouth to speak, but closed it just as quickly when he saw Lee stare him down. "I've been through it before, long ago with a group I knew when it all first started. The paranoia, the distrust... it doesn't do anyone any good. It just leads to us all turning on each-other. That can't be what you want." He stopped for a moment, gaze unbreaking and unblinking. "Let her stay, give her another chance. She wasn't doing it to hurt you, was she? But this will hurt her. It'll hurt the entire group, even. Be fair, David. If not, I'll go with her, and there won't be anything you can do about that. All of us or none of us."

His address had silenced the watchful crowd. They all looked at the two men engaged in a bilateral glare, waiting for one to react, for a penultimate decision to be made.

"Fine.” He gave Clementine a direct look that signalled warning. “You can stay. One last chance. Don’t waste it, be smart.”

She stepped forward, still holding AJ, ready to return back to her tent. David walked closer, causing her to back up. “But I mean it. One more fuck-up, one more thing that makes me doubt my trust in you, and you’re out of here. For real this time. Hear that?” He flicked a hand near her ear, both tauntingly and assertive.

Clementine stared at him, biting her tongue from saying something in response. She nodded instead.

“Good,” he finished, walking off. The rest of the group followed behind him, every so-often turning back to give the pair a glance that weighed with judgement.

Ava made her way back over to the fire, stopping near Clementine. “You need to be careful in here,” she said lowly to her. She brought her gaze to Lee as she walked away. “Both of you.”

It was just the three of them now. AJ was silent in the arms of Clementine, thankfully asleep and breathing normally. “I can’t believe he was going to do that,” she hissed.

“I know, Clem.” He looked at her regretfully. “I’m sorry you got caught like that. We took a risk, and I don’t regret it if it means AJ will get better-“

“Me neither.”

He smiled. “Good. But we should be extra careful from now on…I don’t think David trusts us anymore.”

Clementine looked away in annoyance. “Neither do I. Not after what he did.”

He lay a hand on her shoulder before telling her to go to sleep with AJ. He then walked over to his own tent, basking in the silence of the evening that had promptly taken over after the situation resolved itself. It wasn’t fully over yet, he knew that for sure, expecting a similar tension in the air when he awoke the next day. The day after that. And the day after that, too.

Fan-fiction Summary: Lee Everett and Clementine don't fully trust The New Frontier, and they especially don't trust David García. In their already complicated world of apocalypse, things begin to spiral out of control. AJ gets sick, Clementine suddenly disappears, communities combine and leaders become suspicious. When old faces reappear in New Richmond, Lee finds himself watching people he once knew divide into sides: there's liars on both and he isn't sure who to trust.

surprise! i know the last thing everybody expected me to do is to start (another - oops, sorry ITRITB fans. it’s currently on hiatus as the last chapter i wrote got rewritten and then i hit writers block AGAIN) a new fan-fiction, but i’ve actually been sitting on this one for a while. like over a year.

if you remember the Trust contest, this was supposed to be a one-shot to enter for that and never actually ended up happening. but why? well because this ‘one-shot’ spiralled into my biggest work yet and it’s still nowhere near done. right now i’m 10 chapters in and a total of 12.5k words written. after letting this sit as a draft for months, i thought i’d finally come back to this and try to continue it. i wasn’t going to post it until i had it done, but i thought by doing so would motivate me a bit more to finish it instead of taking too long and eventually giving myself another year or something. so, im going to be posting the first chapter today! i’ve posted the first three on ao3 as well if you prefer to read it there, but ill only be posting one today because i know the database is a bit different so ill just clutter up the feed by posting three at once.

this is unlike IRITB in that this isn’t a choose your own adventure, its just regular prose.

for a bit more information on the fic: it’s a season 3 ‘what-if’ based on Lee being in the New Frontier with Clementine. there’s a big theme of trust throughout this work (obviously as it was meant to be a trust contest entry) focusing most centrally on the unlikely friendship between Lee and David, but there’ll also be plenty of Lee & some other NF members, too. also. lots of drama. like a lot.

so i hope you enjoy what’s to come!

Hi there!

For this months contest, the only participants from the last one, u/SkeletonLord5600 and me, will be your judges.

After a bit of brainstorming, we have a settled on a theme.

If you choose to submit a story, it has to follow the theme of: >! Decay !<

Who or what >! decays !< is of course up to you. Someone's body, mind or morality, a group or even the world and its infrastructure... Whatever you can come up with.

I'm sure you can get even better ideas than we did when discussing this theme. We'd be really interested to see them.

Here are the rules.

-You can only submit one entry

-The entry must be TWDG related

-Its narrative must utilize this months theme

-It must be a one shot

-It must be linked to the comments of this post

-Prequels to existing stories are allowed as long as they are loosely connected

-The deadline is set at April 28th at midnight CET, so about a month time for you. Have fun!

Alright, ladies and gentlemen,

I know all two of you have been waiting impatiently for the results. Alas, there can only be one winner, and here I am to deliver the outcome I thought was the most fitting with the help of u/NazbazOG.

Without further ado, THE WINNER IS u/Kiesmaier

I suspect Skel expected this outcome, but showing our good faith makes it necessary to go over the "why".

2nd: u/SkeletonLord56000 with The walking despair: Trial 3 Score: 8/20

Nazbaz's review:

Bro, is this among us? First we have typewriters making tunes and now we got among us! Not to discredit, I actually do like concepts of among us. As in I literally loved the Columbo series.

So clearly Omid's death was accidental... the power box just happened to fall on him there. How sad.

Ok so there is 1 killer among us.

Okay, finished reading. I don't see the problem here, just a game of among us, no? They'll respawn especially if they're gamers.

Jokes aside, that donkey monokuma not sure how you got that name but he is one sick evil mfer huh. I wonder if Shen will talk about their motives and why he is doing this in the first place. Or is he doing this for the sake of it, like Clem in human flesh she goes yum yum.

But the act and the thing clearly is evil nonetheless. If I understood correctly, once someone dies they don't return, be it impostor kill or execution style. The game's the game I guess. I can't say I liked the pacing into it. As in we start straight away and I don't know even know exactly what's going on, I just can tell it's among us themed. All this third floor main floor first floor bro I don't know the setting at all it's a bit confusing. But it's clear that the crewmates are destined to take the Ls as they will not escape. Well, unless they get away with it. I would, I'm a great impostor. Ask Canis.

4/10

My review:

Now, being actually familiar with the Dangaronpa series and using my god-given gift to read the pre-fic notes (picture me glaring at my sidekick right now), I can tell what kind of crossover this is. Unfortunately, the rush you were to upload this entry shows in the breakneck pace of the narrative, to a damaging degree. Beyond Lee recalling everything that went down before the events of the story and Monokuma explaining the rules to people who already know it (which is already immersion breaking enough), we're not given much to invest ourselves into Monokuma's game. For readers uninitiated with the Dangaronpa series, it is particularly confusing, as shown with Nazbaz. Even for me, it was rather difficult given the lack of focus on the setting, which is especially disserving you considering the core of the conflict resolution is heavily reliant on investigating locations we didn't experience. So the twist into Eleanor being the culprit after all didn't land as much as you may have intended. At least, she's consistent in being a traitor.

With all that in mind, I will have to hand you a 4/10.

Now, it's time to talk about the man of the hour, Kiesmaier and his story Do you trust me?

Nazbaz's review:

Brother out here tryna tell me mills' typing is creating some tune and that. bro's not serious.

Also, is Mills out here writing a fic of his own? Honestly wouldn't have minded a third entry.

"My boss, no, he is my boss! no, he is our boss!" Who is that boss? Clearly them man take pride in having that guy as their boss. He better not be the villain here, he clearly is awesome.

I gotta say I really like the concept going on here and I'm hoping we go to the direction of meeting the Ericson's. Who knows? But, you finally got me interested! So, this Mills and Jones donnies are from the Delta, who are from Lilly's side. Mills seems to be one with brains clearly, anticipating that the ship is done and all that. Next up name ain't even gonna try saying it's name but it has an f in it I think.

I'm presuming that Lilly survived in this story, as in clem told AJnot to shoot. i think both routes could be interesting, as in Lilly dying could grow hunger for some revenge. but perhaps you'd find that to sway away from evil being the main focus to which, if I'm honest, it isn't really a focus at all so far. Something gotta happen soon bro! but I understand this is just building up to it. hope it lands, unlike this plane. Actually it was a ship nvm.

"We could use someone like that. Someone who realises that the enemies destruction is worth far more than some of your own lives." Yeah that's crazyyyyy now that is a touch of evil! (Also!! That was some GREAT foreshadowing!! Because he ends up doing that, doesn’t he? Rip my man Jones.)

"Right now I don't have time to search for some terrorist colony in the woods." Is it only in an apocalypse where self defence is considered terrorism? C'mon, Mills, I thought you were awesome and all that. You're disappointing me right now for real. You're making 0nes look decent. Actually 0nes isn't a boss to begin with. nvm, Mills, do your ting homie.

Okay, real quick, I love these types of stories. In fact I made one myself a whole fanfic series. War and that, peace negotiation, been there done that. I'm liking this!

Nahhhh screw Mills bruh. This guy is disgusting, unhonourable, bastard for real. Dirty and all that. And now bro is lying!? Nah this guy is doing a solo ting and that. Okay, wow. Nah Mills has got my hatred, the most unawesome boss I've ever seen. So my man actually got away with that?! I'd actually have loved for this story had actually continued instead of stopping here. See what happens with it. Perhaps the damage is catastrophic but we gotta see Mills lose in the end man! I already know of the time constraint you had with this entry, 25 days really isn't much I suppose or however long this contest was. but yo! we move.

Oh, and one more thing, a problem I have with this entry, whilst I must praise the magnitude of the evil act Mills has committed, I kinda wish there was more than one period of evil in this story. 7/10

Damn, bro wasn't kidding when he said he's a Columbo fan. He even hit the "Oh, and one more thing" catchphrase. Okay, my turn.

My review:

To be honest, part of me kind of wish you did not just go ahead and tell us it's a Delta VS Richmond conflict and instead let us discover it organically through the story, since you established it early enough within the narrative anyway. The other few nitpicks I'll have is that Jones feels a bit undercooked compared to Mills and perhaps the story had a slower pacing than it needed at times. But honestly? The highlight of the story is indeed Mills, after all. However slow the pacing may have been, I think it paid off for the most part through the foreshadowings. Beneath his demeanor as a calm and quirky old bomber, laid a conniving warmonger whose every word and move was clearly planned and calculated way before the story even happened. Jones being a weak character in comparison, yet had no small amount of confidence at the start, helps sell just how out of his depth he really was even before the twist.

And then, there's the final act itself. Sacrificing his underling, killing his hostage, killing the leader of his enemies and manipulating the other leader of the Delta into following his plan to start an all-out war, all in a single move. I caught myself thinking "that bastard", and that's how you know you've cooked well for an Evil story.

That gives you a total of 14/20, which is more than enough to earn your THIRD victory. You're kinda winning a bit too often, but hey, gotta give credit where it's due.

Thank you two for participating, and thanks to u/NazbazOG for participating. It's been short, but sweet. Hopefully we'll get to do it again.

And it's over! Our latest writing contest is finally over... and what do we have to show for it? A whooping total of two contestants in the forms of u/Skeletonlord5600 and u/Kiesmaier. Well, that's just enough for an actual contest to happen. Take your bets on who'll knock out the other for the Evil flair.

Stay tuned for further news!

Here's my entry. I'll say as much. It's about the Delta investigating the events of S4. It also assumes that the Delta is in war with Javis Richmond. So needless to say that I took a lot of freedom when writing this, OCs included. (I'm also sorry that the characters just jump from location to location, there wasn't time to include all of the travel.)

Mills sat at his desk, his eyes wandering between the keys of his typewriter and the paper inserted in it. Letter for letter, word for word came together. He exclusively typed with his two index fingers, but since they were perfectly coordinated, the dynamic pressing of buttons almost had a musical tune to it. Especially with the melodic sound the typewriter gave off each time a row ended.

Meanwhile outside, Jones stepped towards the door. He thought what the reason behind being called to the commanders office could be. The Man oozed ulterior motives. And of course, his goon Mason guarded the door.

"Where are you going Jones?" The ever-envious man yelled. He tried to build himself up infront of Jones, despite lacking the height to do so. Mason had always been that way, probably out of discontent over his position. Who would like to guard the commanders door and probably clean his boots?

"My presence is desired by your boss personally, thanks." Jones answered, trying to push past him. 

"Our boss." Mason corrected angrily, shoving him back. He then forced a smile upon his face and crossed arms. "For whatever business your presence is 'desired' - it will be your last dance Jones. So enjoy it." He mocked.

Jones rolled his eyes. "You should worry less about my safety, and more about the fact that Mills calls me when he has a problem to solve, while you collect dust in the hallway."

Mason laughed - again, forced- . "Really Jones? Obviously, some people are expendable, while others aren't."

"In my world they call it reliable." 

Finally Mason stepped aside. "Whatever Jones, I warned you. See you in hell." 

"Imbecile." Jones muttered. 

Mills music was interrupted by a polite, yet determined knock on the door.
"Come in.", he said, only as loud as he had to while continueing his work. 
It was Jones who stepped in, Mills nodded pleased without even looking at the soldier. He was the only visitor he had been expecting.

"I was told you wanted to see me." The tall man stated. He took a look around the office. A large map on the right, with detailed descriptions of their ongoing war. Mills had prepared and drawn it himself. All kinds of settlements were marked on it.
Several papers pinned to the wall on the left. Some with text, which probably came out of the typewriter Mills adored. Others with drawings that looked a lot like blueprints.
And in the middle of it all, Mills himself at his desk. A man that looked so average, it was hard to believe he was supposed to command people. Jones could hardly imagine him in combat.
'Fucking bomb planter.' he thought.

"You were told the truth." Mills answered. His typing began getting slower, but it still irritated Jones.

"With all due respect Sir, I don't have time for games." Jones began and cleared his throat. "I'll be needed elsewhere, so please, tell me what you have to."

*Ping* the typewriter gave off.

Mills looked up with a friendly expression on his face.
"Sit down.", he instructed, gesturing towards the chair infront of his desk. Reluctantly, Jones followed the suggestion. His body rocked impatiently in the seat while Mills pulled the sheet out of the typewriter.

"Don't be so impatient Jones. I'm not here to waste anyones time. I can relieve you in fact, you'll not be needed elsewhere any time soon."

Jones shook his head. "Now what's that supposed to mean? Does Cotter know of this?"

Mills read through the paper first and took his time to respond. The mention of Cotter made it hard to hide his displeasure. He might be called the commander of troops at the Delta, but Cotter still outranked him. He did not get the liberties he wanted concerning their strategies, and blamed her for the stagnating war. For a long time now, he's been wishing to serve as sole leader for a place they'd take over in the war. A place where he could finally be his own boss. Even if it was still tied to the Delta in some way.
As he planted his signature at the bottom of the paper, he finally responded to Jones. But with a question of his own. 

"Tell me Jones, what do you know about the Fitzgerald?" 

Jones was startled for a moment as he had expected something different, but answered sincerely shortly after.
"Fitzgerald? Well, our ship isn't it? A mobile base for soldiers and an asset to our missions. Last time I heard, it was sent out to aquire more manpower."

Mills nodded. "Heard from it lately?"

"No Sir."

"Has Cotter heard from it lately?"

"I don't think so."

Mills leaned forward. "See Jones, neither have I. But since I authorised a crew to take the ship, in order to increase our numbers, it's in my best interest to find find out what the status is. That's why I want to invite you on a mission that'll enlighten us about what happened."

He blew the ink on the paper dry before folding it and putting it in an envelope. Jones watched his movements, interested in what kind of letter would be so important to interrupt this conversation once again. 

"We'll have to be realistic.", Mills continued while writing something on the outside of the envelope. "This is not a regular check-up where I can inspect the advancements we made somewhere. With their return so long overdue, I anticipate a failure. I suppose this will be a damage-containment more than anything."

The letter went into the left pocket of his coat. Jones seemed to have his full attention for the first time since he entered the room. Mills folded his hands and looked at him.

"You might have known the crew Jones. I knew them well. I had much faith in them, especially Lilly. I admired her sense of duty, and the way she disciplined her subordinates. A commander must be feared, I'd do good to learn from her in that regard. She was supposed to become my deputy, not that idiot Mason. But it was too much faith I fear. If they are gone, and with them the reinforcements they were so supposed to aquire for us, the consequences will sway the war. We'll have to seek alternative options."

Jones nodded once and listened closely while the commander spoke before responding.

"I wouldn't say I knew them. Definitely not as well as you atleast. But from what I could make out, they're not important anymore are they? If you've had no signs of life from them, and more or less expect them to be gone, what is it you're hoping to find?"

Mills smiled. "Answers Jones. I'm always looking for clarity. I can't work with all these probabilities."

"So where will we be going?"

"Follow me." Mills said and stood up. He walked towards the map on the wall, Jones followed. He watched as Mills pointed at a place that was far away from them, as well as from their conflict with the other communities, primarily Richmond.

"They were supposed to dock there. They told me they could recruit nearby. Can't say that I doubted that. A year or so before, they came back with two girls. Raw talent, but capable. Only saw them briefly, they spent a lot of time with Lilly herself."

Jones looked at the map and where Mills had pointed at. It appeared to be a lifeless area.

"There aren't any settlements recorded around there. Where do you think they got their recruits from?"

"I don't know, haven't been there myself. They just ensured me that they had an agreement to get us more young soldiers with lots of potential.", Mills said. He looked thoughtful. "Whoever they were visiting, I suspect them to be behind the crews disappearance. On whatever terms their agreement was set, seems like they didn't want to spare anymore people. Although I would have expected Delta soldiers to be able to deal with such a situation. The Lilly I knew would never shy away from using force to get what she wants."

Jones stepped forward a little. "Don't you think our real enemies are behind it? Richmond should have the resources to sabotage a mission like that, but some unknown community? I don'tbknow..." Jones replied.

Mills shook his head. "It might seem logical at first glance, but I highly doubt that. This mission was out of Richmonds reach, they couldn't have known about it." He stepped away from the map. "But we shouldn't jump to conclusions before we find what became of our people. Even if I'm already very interested to see who defied some of my most trusted soldiers while also staying under my radar until now."

Mills picked up a backpack and moved towards the exit of the room. Jones hurried to follow him.

"So are we going right now?"

"As planned. I have gathered enough supplies for a while, but we'll scavenge something on the way too." He turned around to Jones. "And to answer your question from before, yes, your girlfriend is informed. Cotter actually approved of you going. She said, there would atleast be one capable person on this mission then."

He opened the door and they stepped out the room.
"Good luck, gentlemen!" Mason yelled. His malicious smile was directed at Jones. Mills turned to him. "Wipe the smirk off your face. You're supposed to replace me for as long as I'm gone, so I expect sincerity." He got the letter from earlier out of his pocket. "And first, get this on its way. Treat it with care, and see to it that everyone does."

"Where is it supposed to go?" Mason asked.

"You can read I trust?" Mills responded. He had already turned away and grabbed Jones by the arm. "Let's go."
-------------------------
"When will we be there?" Jones asked while putting another load of brushwood into the fire. Sparks flew and the flames quickly grew, lighting up the profile of his companion who had sat down on a rock infront of their campfire, opposite of Jones. Mills stared into the warm flames that nourished from the cracking wood underneath, while their dinner sizzled above on a wooden pike. A rabbit that Jones had managed to bag. He had also been the one building up their small temporary camps and fires for the whole journey. Mills was busy navigating during day, often seemed unresponsive and lost in thoughts. But in the face of fire, he usually became more talkative. 

"A question hard to answer, if you can't know what awaits you. I can promise that we'll reach the location where they were docked tomorrow, I just can't say what we'll find there. Maybe we'll see the ship abandoned, maybe the ship is gone but we find remains of them." Mills answered. He began poking in the fire with a stick to turn around one of the logs at the bottom. Sparks flew again.

"What if they're not there?" Jones asked.

"Then we'll have to assume they went under. Accident or not, if the mission went according to plan, they would have returned long ago."

Jones nodded. He removed the pike from the fire and placed the rabbit on a log, where he cut it in several pieces. With his long knife. Mills waved off when he got offered one.

"Oh no, keep it. You've earned it." he smiled.

Jones wouldn't ask him twice, he was hungry and could eat atleast three of these things if he had the chance. "How is this war going Mills?" He asked mid-chew. "I've always meant to ask in private."

Mills stayed silent for a moment and kept staring into the flames when he answered. "It's hardly going in our favour. Of course this isn't a war that'll fill the pages of history books in a few decades. All sides are not losing a lot of people, atleast not anymore, because they realized they simply don't have enough to spare. Now, Cotter has gotten really careful. Some soldiers could say that they owe her their lifes since less and less of them actually engage in fights against our enemies."

He looked at Jones through the flames. His expression looked determined. "But this strategy just extends this whole conflict. We won't be able to keep it up much longer. We'll need to either surrender, or actually fight back. And if it was for me, we'd have taken the latter approach long ago. That's also why I sent out the Fitzgerald to get me more soldiers. I was hoping I could convince Cotter to start a full-blown attack on Richmond."

Jones finished chewing this time before continueing the conversation. Mills waited patiently. He regarded a radio in his hands that he had gotten out of the backpack.

"I know Mary can be stubborn. But she's just trying to the right thing. I don't think it's helpful that the two most powerful people constantly disagree. You think there's no hope for us?" Jones asked.

Mills smiled. "Oh, I'm very hopeful. I have considered my objective. My approach. Reviewed it, remastered it. And I'm certain I can get it done. You'll see soon enough." He answered, toying with the radio in his hands.

Jones was puzzled by this answer, and finished his meal rather than asking further questions. He wiped his hands on his jacket and yawned.

"You can go sleep if you want." Mills said. "I'll keep watch. The view into the fire always inspires me."

It was another offer Jones couldn't refuse.
----------------
"What the hell happened here?" Jones yelled. They had reached their destination. A bay with an unusual amount of walkers roaming it, despite no visible imminent danger or other noise pollution around. What probably attracted them were the waves, waves that also lashed against the remains of their once proud ship. There it laid in a tilt in the shallow water, unsalvageable and destroyed. Even from far away, it was noticeable that the damage couldn't be the result of a simple accident. 

Mills squint his eyes. "We'll need to get closer." He said as he drew his knife. The first walker already approached. It tried to strike him with its right arm, but Mills backed up and dodged the attack. He kicked its shin, and then stabbed the back of its head as soon as it hit the ground. "Only shoot when it's necessary.", he instructed Jones as he pulled the knife out of the skull under strain, "We don't need more of them around."

Jones understood. Killing walkers only in combat was a tedious task, but nothing he hadn't done before. He took his knife from its sheath. He was proud of this weapon, neither a sword or a Katana, but no regular knife either. It was longer than that, perfect for a fight in which you can't allow the opponent to be near you.
He hit his first walker effortlessly in the eye with a clean stab, pulled the knife back and slashed at the next one. While he was occupied, he felt something grabbing after him. Instinctively, he launched his elbow at it and sent a walker to the ground, where Mills took care of it.
He was finally able to kill the one in front of him, by stabbing the back of its leg first. That made it immobile for a second, enough time to stab its rotten skull.

This went on for a while. He noticed how Mills used his mobility to quickly dodge attacks and strike from different angles, while he profited from his strength and took on multiple walkers at once, without moving as much.
Together they were able to free the immediate area of any danger.

"Good job." Mills commended before turning his attention to the actual reason of them coming here.
They now stood at the beach, where the waves slowly sweeped the land and then hissed back to where they came from. The ship, or rather what remained of it, was infront of them. Because of the proximity to the beach, it was not fully under water, but the damage the now turned over Fitzgerald had taken was obvious.

"It looks like there was a fire onboard." Jones stated. The rusty metal indeed looked charred.
Mills walked around to regard the wreck from all sides. He shook his head in disbelief.
"A lot of metal shattered. There must have been an explosion. A huge one."

"A rival bomb engineer huh?", Jones couldn't help but smirk. "Have you finally met your match?"

Mills firmly shook his head.
"This is messy work, the result of a huge bomb. I have no idea how they managed plant it without the knowledge of our crew, usually you'd need a device that's able to hide in plain sight to succeed with such a plan."

He smiled briefly. "I've been working on a small but lethal bomb that'll be equally surprising to our enemies. It's my finest work yet, can't compare it to the abomination that sunk this ship."

"I'm sure it'll blow their mind." Jones said.

"Yours as well. Especially."

They stayed for a while to regard the wreck further.
"Seems like nobody of us survived." Mills uttered. "If the explosion didn't get them, then the walkers must have. Since nobody returned."

"Judging by the damage it did, this explosion must have attracted walkers from miles away." Jones noticed.

Mills nodded. "And whoever set this bomb up was not picky about who gets caught in the explosion. They must have prioritised destroying the ship over getting their own people out alive. That's the problem with bombs. The greater they get, the more unprecise they become."

After a few seconds of silence, he added. "We could use someone like that. Someone who realises that the enemies destruction is worth far more than some of your own lifes."

"What if there weren't any of their own on board?" Jones objected.

"Our crew wouldn't be gathered on the ship if they hadn't met their target. They must have been prepared to return." Mills answered.

"Well, seems like none of them made it. But whoever is responsible for this must still be out there. Will we be going after them?" Jones asked.

Mills waved off. "Right now I don't have time to search for some terrorist colony in the woods. And judging by this mess, we'd need to start another war to make them join us. Seems like Lilly greatly underestimated whoever she was dealing with. I won't make that mistake."

"Then what is the plan? You got the answers you wanted." Jones began, his voice sounding frustrated. "But how is this helping us? We were just able to confirm the worst scenario we could have anticipated."

Mills laughed. "Do you think I just played with myself while everyone was waiting for the ship to return? I evaluated my options, and now we're to be expected in Richmond, in talks over a ceasefire. I was just hoping to find something here that could aid our position in the negotiations. But it seems like I'll have to bluff. I'm sure my letter will have arrived in Richmond long before we do."

Jones understood now why Mills had treated the letter on the day they had departed with such care. But he still had lots of other questions.
"How the hell did you even get a letter into Richmond?"

Mills chuckled smugly.
"Oh please, a war without communication could be called slaughter right away."

Jones was perplexed, he kept his eyes on the boat. "Does Cotter know of this? Or is it one of your solos again?" He asked this, although he knew the answer.
Mills stepped away from him.
"What do you think?" He said. "Come on. We can deal with whoever caused this mess when we secured a deal in Richmond."
-----------------
"How do you expect the negotiations to go Mills?" Jones asked. Their arrival in Richmond had been anything but tumultous. After they had declared who they were at the gate, Mills with his arms raised and his tongue subdued by the presence of the guards, they had been taken to this room. No accusations and defamations yet, that was probably reserved for their talk to the higher-ups later.

"They must have been glad to have gotten my message. Nobody likes to be in war, that's why they let us in and that's why they'll hear us out. Of course they'll also try to force self-righteous claims of fault through, and they'll do their best to intimidate us. But they know they need us alive to not instantly break the peace we intend to build." Mills answered while placing his knife on a table, next to their other weapons. They had been ordered to be unarmed when the guard would arrive in a few minutes to check them for bites. Reluctantly, Jones had let go of his beloved knife.

"I don't like being in the enemies walls." He said. "Promise to not anger them, alright? Because as much as you think you can calculate their actions, you must know how irrational a war is."

The door opened before Mills could make any promises, conveniently for him.
"I trust you don't have any more weapons on you?" A guard with a grey hat asked.

"None, other than these hands." Mills said punching some air.

"Funny." The guard mocked. "Any bites?"

"We're here to bring peace, not the plague." Mills responded.

"I'd rather not take any chances. With folks like you. Must look grim on the battlefield, if you have to crawl into here begging for peace."

Mills endured this remark, just like the following check-up for bites.

"Alright, follow me." The guard said after checking the clothes of both men for bites. "I'll take you to Javi."

"I must say, I was surprised to receive your offer." Javi said.
He sat at a table a, several armed men standing behind him, keeping a close watch on Mills and Jones in their seats.

"Pleasantly surprised I hope?" Mills enquired smiling.

Javi returned the smile. "In a way, yes. It tells me we have succeeded in weakening you. Your community must suffer a lot if you're willing to put yourself to so much risk to end a war you started."

Mills laughed and turned to Jones. "Bingo!" He yelled. "I knew it would go like this. But I don't think the 'suffering' is that one-sided. Just like the cause of this conflict. Isn't that why you allowed us in? Why you treat us so carefully?"

"Is it? What's stopping me from killing you right now?" Javi responded.

Mills smile faded. "The wrath of the troops that obey me. Troops that might not be here right now, because the times called for negotiation, but that would stop at nothing to avenge our deaths. I trust that you're smarter than to unleash that trouble upon yourself, when the obvious solution is right there infront of you."
Mills pointed at his letter that laid on the table infront of Javi.

"Good thing you mention it." Javi said. "We've thoroughly read your letter. Several times. It mentions certain conditions on which our peace is supposed to manifest. Quite bold of you, coming into this negotiation with conditions, don't you think?"

"Why would we need a negotiation if there weren't conditions? Which, to relieve you, are always meant to go both ways. For example, your troops will retreat from their positions that threaten our community. In return, we'll do the same." Mills answered. "However, what are negotiations without guarantees? It would be tremendous if we reached an agreement, but I need to come back with solid results to justify my absence during these challenging times. This is where my friend comes in."
He gave Jones a pat on the back.

Javi looked just as skeptical as Jones did himself. "How so?" Richmonds leader asked.

"He will stay here." Mills let his words fill the room for a moment.

"The hell are you saying?" Jones asked.

Mills continued undeterred "He will watch over our agreement. Stay close by your side, Javi. He will watch if you actually order your men to retreat, or if you secretly try to break our agreement. Everyday he will be closely by your side, literally. If everything is fulfilled, he will leave unharmed. If I don't hear from him daily -he held the radio up- I'll have to assume you harmed him. Which would break the agreement. It will be my most trusted aid, unarmed, as well as our agreement in your hands."

"I see now why you brought me with you, you fuck." Jones said.

Mills continued to ignore him. "Of course this will go both ways again. Choose someone that will watch my back. They'll be my guest."

"What's the incentive for us to agree?" Javi asked.

"If a regulated peace isn't enough incentive, I'm sure I'll tempt you with this. I guess you'd sooner or later have addressed reparations anyway. I know this conflict left its traces for you, and I agree we should help out with resources to rebuild Richmond. But I can't authorise that before I know you stay true to your word. If my man returns and everything is in order, I'll return personally to speak about reparations. Food, building material, even horses. You name it."

Javi regarded him for a moment. "Is that your way of admitting to your guilt?"

"Who's without guilt in a war?" Mills replied. "This is no confession, it is my offer."

"And we'll consider your offer. If you could wait outside. Max?" Javi replied and gestured his guard.

"We await your response." Mills said and stood up. The same guard from before followed them outside.

"What the hell Mills? You can't just leave me here with our most wicked enemies!" Jones yelled outraged.

"Seems like you picked the wrong team." Max remarked smirking.

"It's not like I'm leaving you to die. You should realize the great service you would do the Delta. I trusted you Jones. Trusted you enough to bring you on this journey. Now, do you trust me enough to fulfill this task?"

Jones turned to Max. "The question is rather, can I trust you and your leader, isn't it?"

"I owe Javi my life, he is as sincere as they come." He looked at Mills. "Not like this scheming prick anyway."

Mills ignored him and got out his radio. "You can report any breach of our agreement with this. Always keep it with you when you're around him. Although I doubt it's in his interest to break the contract. I trust that I can count on you? I'll watch your knife and Cotter for the time you're gone."

Jones grabbed the radio. "Fine."

A few minutes later, Javi called them back inside.
"Despite my brothers doubts, I have chosen to accept your offer. I believe there's enough room in this empty world for our homes to coexist. Don't make me regret this. Regarding my troops. They won't retreat before you return the favour, as soon as you're back in command. However, I'll see to it that you can travel safely."

Mills looked pleased. "A wise decision, I'm glad you learned from your past and chose not to gamble with the lifes of your people." He leaned back in his seat. "You know, I have always pictured myself leading this place alone in course of our expansion. But maybe we can do that together some day, when our peace is manifested further."

"Just so you know, any breach from your side and your man is dead in Richmond, I'll see to that." Max told Mills. They were on their way to the Delta. Javi had chosen Max as the one supervising the agreement on Richmonds behalf. Unlike Jones, he was armed while they took the massive detour around the currently still active warzone. Mills insisted to avoid the route that could see them meet other soldiers, despite Javis guarantees and lead them on the same way he had taken to get there with Jones. 

"You know what's funny?" Mills began. "How you've distrusted me from the start...?"

"Mhm?" Max made.

"And how you were right the whole time?" Mills said and drew his gun in a movement so fast, Max couldn't react.

"You fuck." He said. "I knew you were full of lies the second I saw you open your mouth."

Mills gestured with his gun. "Turn around." Max obeyed.

"I'll love to see your men ambushed when they're on their way back home, thinking they've beaten us." Mills said triumphantly. Max slowly went for his gun. Mills noticed. And fired.

Cotter was surprised when Mills rushed through her door without knocking. She would have expected him to have the courtesy to knock, but she was mainly surprised that he returned at all.

"I thought you had suffered the same terrible fate as your prodigy, Mills. Who lost our flagship along with some of our most dependable soldiers. Not your first false assessment, giving her all these resources." She said.

"I nearly did, and I'm sure you would have mourned my death. As soon as you were done celebrating." Mills replied. "And after the discovery we made there, you won't call the loss of the Fitzgerald a false assessment."

"Speak up then."

"Richmond was behind it. We found the ship destroyed. Not only did they sabotage the mission and murder our crew, they also ambushed me and Jones after we got there. Seems like they were just waiting for someone to investigate their act."

Cotter got restless. "Where is Jones?"

Mills looked to the ground. "He's the reason I'm alive. He stopped them from harming me, but it cost him his life. I'm sorry I couldn't save him, but I had to run. I had to make his sacrifice worth it."

"They murdered Jones? Fuck." Cotter said, visibly distrought.

"I was atleast able to save his knife." Mills said and placed it on her desk. "I thought you'd want it. It was a complete coincidence he borrowed it to me before."

"He was always looking out for other people." Cotter sniffled. "But he was so capable, I would have bet my life it would be him coming through this door, not you."

"I think you agree that all of this calls for an immediate reaction from us. While we shouldn'tact prematurely, I have a feeling that they think they've won. If we fake a retreat now, they'll not see an attack coming.The real good news is, they stole my prototype bomb. A fully functional radio."

Cotter shook her head in tears. "How is that good?"

"Because the trigger to that bomb lays on my desk. Ready to go. It can be the signal for our troops to take Richmond. I saw their leader take it, he's that baseball player isn't he?"

"So you mean to tell me that you have a kill switch on Richmonds leader?"

"I suppose."
Mills touched her shoulder. "I know this is hard for you, but I trust I have your support on this? We can't have Jones death unpunished. We'll start the attack as soon as they deem themselves safe."

Mills was on his way to reclaim the seat in his office. He actually met Mason midway.

"Did all go according to plan boss?"

"Richmond will need a new leader soon."

Quick reminder: Time? You don't have much of it left. And I'm sitting here a bit concerned cause you know, there's not a single entry in sight either. So if you want to get a W... better get a move on, slowpokes.

​

The Virginian countryside is characterised by its rolling hills, lush greenery, and vast open spaces adorned with trees. Along with the flat landscape, there were abandoned buildings without any use.

Then, all of a sudden, on the dirt path of a road, an old, rusted shell of a car came racing down, kicking up dust and dispersing it in all directions.

In the driver's seat, there was a young girl who appeared to be around fourteen or fifteen years old. She wore dusty, tattered clothes and a blue and white baseball hat that partially concealed her dark walnut-coloured hair and eyes.

Sitting in the passenger seat at the back was a calm four-year-old child dressed in worn clothing, looking out the window of the moving car.

It had been a few cold and bleak weeks since the attack on the McCarroll ranch, which had been turned into a fortress. Now, they were on the road, searching for a new place to call home. However, they have had no luck so far. Every time they found a place to settle, something beyond their control would happen, and they would have to leave. This was the case with their last home, Wellington, which sheltered them for only two years. Before being overtaken by raiders and slaughtering nearly everyone who lived there. Despite this, they managed to escape uninjured and had to find a new place to stay.

“Whatcha looking at Goofball?”

The boy, who was affectionately called AJ, said this to the girl. “Outside, Clem; nothing much.” as well.

“What do you see?” questioned Clementine. “Trees, any animals, how about any places we can search? How about we search this place just coming up? You can help me search it if you want.”

“Yeah, OK.”

The abandoned house that Clementine had mentioned entered their line of sight, its decrepit state suggesting it had been forsaken for who knows how long. Lush ivy clung tightly to the weathered walls, further emphasising the sense of abandonment. While sturdy wooden planks sealed off sunlight to the house, effectively making it feel even more abandoned**.**

Clementine pulled the car into the dusty, desolate driveway before turning off the engine. As she looked at AJ through the rearview mirror, she couldn't help but steal glances at him. Suddenly, she caught his eye and looked away quickly, but not before a small, faint smile escaped her lips. She thought to herself how incredibly fortunate she was to have been allowed to look after AJ, given what had happened to the world as they knew it.

It was a humbling experience. She knew that she had to play a significant role in giving someone else a chance to survive in a world gone mad. The thought of AJ's life forever changed because her decision filled her with a sense of purpose and fulfilment that she had never experienced before.

She knew that this was one of the most meaningful things she would ever do in her life.

"Before we go in, AJ, we need to go over a few things. OK?"

"OK," he nodded.

"What is the first rule of survival?"

"Never...never...never go, uh, alone."

"Well done; now what is the second?"

"You always aim for the head when dealing with monsters."

"Correct. What is the third one?”

“If you have a gun, make you, uh, save the last bullet for yourself.”

“Now, I need your honest answer when I ask this, OK?”

"Yeah, OK, Clem."

"What do we do if..." she stopped deliberately, knowing the answer to the question she was asking him—the hypothetical question with a clear answer—the question of where the answer could be avoided if they were careful. "What do we do if I get bit?"

"No," said AJ, crossing his arms in defiance, "we are not talking about that!"

"We are, AJ; it could happen, and I want you to be ready."

"Fine. You want me to kill you if you get bit; I don't, Clem."

"I know you can prevent that, AJ. Let's go and search this house." Clementine handed AJ a petite blade as he rose from the passenger seat, and swiftly grasped hold of it, all before they got out of the car, closing the door behind them. AJ then raced eagerly to the front door of the imposing door and tried it, as Clementine took her time grabbing a crowbar from the boot of the car and then to the door. There, she used the crowbar to force the door open. Once inside, Clementine knelt to match AJ’s height to say to him:

“AJ, I want you to stay close to me. As we don't know what's in this house, I don’t want to put you in danger, even though I know you are careful. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Good,” replied Clementine, standing up and pointing to an open doorway. “Let's search that room over there first.” The first room had an enormous kitchen and a dining room. It gave off an impression of being like a tornado had gone through it, causing it to seem anything but harmonious. The walls likewise gave off the impression of being covered with green and charcoal mould. Furthermore, in the room were upside-down chairs, broken curtains close to the broken windows, and parts of once-glistering tiles, plates, and bowls that were currently broken with residue and grime scattered across the room. Moreover, every one of the drawers and cupboards gave the impression of already being searched by previous survivors.

Despite their best efforts, Clementine and AJ’s search was fruitless, so Clementine suggested they try a different room.

The next room that AJ and Clementine searched was the living room. It seemed to tell the same story as before; nevertheless, it was AJ who managed to find a few things. Such as a few ragged comic books, some old family pictures, and some tattered newspapers. But nothing useful in terms of survival.

With this, they advanced upstairs, with AJ leading the way and then waiting for Clementine at the top. Then into a room past the stairs, which AJ opened with Clementine by his side after giving him the go-ahead to open it. It was demonstrated to be the master bedroom, and just like the rest of the rooms, it was deserted and tired-looking. However, they were able to locate a small number of food jars concealed behind a loose floorboard, which, while not sufficient, was still something.

"It looks like we will be eating tonight, AJ.” Clementine’s face creased into a smile with her eyes glittering, finally finding something useful.

In the final room, Clementine, with AJ by her side, tried the door, revealing it to be locked and thus needed at this time, opened it with the crowbar. The room revealed itself to be a child's room. With toys and books scattered across the room, it made Clementine recall a similar moment when she was younger, when she was coincidentally searching an abandoned house for supplies.

However, unlike last time, there wasn't a walker that needed to be taken care of before it was too close for comfort. Due to this, AJ was keeping himself entertained by looking at the room while Clementine searched the room.

"Have you found anything, AJ?"

"Unh-uh, Clem."

"Keep looking; see if there's anything we can use."

Clementine then proceeded to move to an outdated toy chest in the middle of the room, next to a pair of sleeping bags, and used the crowbar to open it.

It contained a few cans of beans and this small toy of a broccoli figurine wearing a humorous white jumpsuit with purple sunglasses.

“A toy for AJ,” she thought to herself as she put everything into the bedraggled backpack without AJ noticing, then put it on. “Come on then, let’s go back to the car; I doubt we’ll find anything else.”

So she closed the door as AJ followed behind her, down the stairs, out the door, and back into the car. Once again, AJ dashed back to the car, with Clementine following behind him. Afterwards, she pulled away from the house and went back to the barren road, where she proceeded to drive.

“Clem,” AJ said, his voice indicating that he was now bored looking outside. “I’m bored.”

“I know, kiddo, but it’s time for you to meet someone special.”

“Who?” His voice peaked with interest, his pupils dilating to the size of oranges, and he began clapping frantically. “Who? Who?”

Clementine reached into the bedraggled backpack at her feet and pulled out the broccoli figurine she found earlier, using her hand to make it appear like it was moving. “Hey there, it’s your new friend, Disco Broccoli. What is yours?”

“Clem, this is silly; pieces of food can’t talk.”

“This isn’t Clementine,” answered Clementine in the same childlike manner. “This is Disco Broccoli, and I want to know your name.”

“Alvin Junior.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, AJ. I want to know all about my new best friend.”

“Well, OK,” answered AJ, as he and Disco Broccoli (Clementine’s voice in disguise) talked for hours until it was nearing sunset.

The fading light of the day brought a sense of tranquillity and stillness to the world around me. The once bustling city now seemed to slow down, as if it were taking a moment to pause and admire the beauty of the evening sky. The soft orange hues of the setting sun cast a warm glow over the rooftops, bathing everything in a golden light.

"Look at all those stars, AJ,” Clementine said in her normal voice as they got out of the car and proceeded to start lighting a fire to cook a can of beans for them to eat for their supper. “As Kenny once said, 'Look for the brightest star in the night, and that’s the place where people we lost go’."

"Oh, they're pretty, Clem," responded AJ.

"They are, AJ, they are."

They gazed at the night sky until a shooting star streaked across the horizon, prompting Clementine to say something shortly afterwards.

"Come on, AJ, let's go to sleep," she said as AJ climbed onto the passenger seat before getting into the car herself and closing the door. There she gave him a small, momentary smile before turning off the car light, ready to go to sleep.

So I'm doing fanfiction but in a different AU. Basically, Marlons plans to trade Clementine succeeded, but some of the other kids get in the way and end up abducted too. What I'm trying to figure out is if A.j. should be included in the story, soo. Should he exist?

Ben's POV

Ben gripped the walkie-talkie Carly had given him tightly as they made their way toward the silo. The journey could have been smoother, as they narrowly avoided getting caught a few times.

"Honestly, if I'm honest with myself, it was mostly Travis that got us out of these close calls. He was always more cool-headed than me. I could never do what Travis did," Ben thought to himself. Luckily, Carly hadn't radioed in, which was to be expected since they weren't quite there yet. It would be a few minutes before they reached the base of the silo.

Travis lifted his hand, signaling for them to stop. "Do you see any guards, Ben? It's been a while since we saw some," Travis asked, looking around the surroundings.

To Ben, it seemed like there was nothing but a barren field stretching for yards in all directions. "No, there are no guards right now," Ben replied, unsure if his analysis of the surroundings was accurate. However, all that mattered was that it brought a sense of relief to Travis. In this situation, that was all Ben could ask for.

They stopped behind a tractor that was near the silo. "I think we should hide behind this tractor. It could probably give us good cover in case people see us in the distance, as well as a good vantage point to see Carly and Doug," Ben suggested.

"That sounds like a plan," Travis agreed, asking his best friend for advice. Ben wasn't sure if it was a good plan, but it was better than nothing, and that was all they had for now.

"Yeah, I think that'll be good enough," Ben reassured Travis.

"Thanks, Ben. I really needed that," Travis said, going behind the tractor. With binoculars around his neck, he quickly grabbed them and looked into the distance, searching for Carly and Doug.

"Do you see them? Are you there?" Ben asked, growing impatient and worried.

"I see them. They're in the position right next to the barn, like they said they would be. But..." Travis started grimacing, causing Ben to worry.

"Those two are confronting someone. It doesn't look like they're being hostile, but it looks like they're just talking," Travis said, unsure if Carly and Doug would be okay.

"Oh s***, what should we do?" Ben asked.

"It doesn't look like they're in too much danger, so I think we'll observe for now. Carly and Doug are tough; they can deal with this. We just need to have faith in them," Travis rationalized, providing some reassurance to Ben, at least for the time being

Carly POV

Carly and Doug were slowly walking through a corner field toward the barn, which was suspiciously guarded. Carly hadn't seen Saint John or any of her group members, and worry crept over her as she wondered what could have happened to them. All these people looked like the ones who had attacked the Motor Inn and the dairy, potentially killing everyone. Carly thought of the worst-case scenario.

Carly abruptly stopped in her tracks, prompting Doug to notice and express concern for her well-being. "Are you okay, Carly?" Doug asked, worried for his lover. All of Carly's negative emotions momentarily dissipated. "No, I'm okay now that you're here," Carly reassured him, making Doug blush.

"We're not too far. I can see the roof and some of the walls from the corner field," Carly said. They quickened their pace a little, but still took it slow. Walking was becoming more difficult in the rain, and Doug didn't look great either. However, without the group, they would likely be dead. Carly didn't want to leave anyone behind for selfish reasons.

As they approached the electric fence with its illuminated light, Doug informed Carly that it was on. They made sure to stay clear of it, keeping about a foot away. "It seems like we're in position. I wonder if Ben and Travis got to the silo," Doug asked. Carly admitted she didn't know either but suggested they give them a few minutes. They would know when they arrived because one of them would get bored or anxious and contact them on the radio.

"Seems like a good plan for now," Doug agreed. Just then, they heard rustling behind them. Both immediately grabbed their guns, with Doug holding onto his crossbow. They aimed at the rustling corn plants, ready to shoot, but then they saw a little girl emerge.

"We're supposed to signal them. Didn't want to shoot you kids," Carly said, lowering her gun. "Jesus, kid, you scared us. Are you okay? There's a lot of blood on you. Are you bleeding?" Doug bombarded her with questions. Emily, the little girl, put a finger to Doug's lips, shushing him.

"Shush, you idiot. Can't you see the guards behind you? They may not hear us because of the storm, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't yell out where we are. They're not deaf, in case that's what you're thinking," Emily said emotionlessly, wiping some blood from her finger onto Doug's lips. Doug, confused, immediately wiped it away, unsure of its origin.

Carly analyzed the situation, deciding not to point her gun at the seemingly non-threatening child. "I guess introductions are in order," Emily said sarcastically, her voice devoid of emotion. "My name is Emily St. John. My family are cannibals, and they work for an evil monster vampire guy. Crazy s***I know, but that isn't the point right now. Your group is trapped in that barn. They're not dead. I just..."

"I don't think so, but who knows how long that will be. So, I'm going to need your help to get in there because I don't think I can do it on my own, honestly," Emily explained the situation. Carly processed this information and decided to focus on getting her group out for now. On the other hand, Doug seemed to be struggling to process the supernatural aspects of Emily's revelation.

Carly snapped her fingers in front of Doug's face to bring his attention back to the task at hand. It took a few snaps, but she got him to focus. "Let's deal with the whole supernatural stuff later, Doug. Right now, we should figure out how to get our group out of here," Carly said, determined. This determination also fueled Doug's resolve.

"It's good that you guys are having a moment, but can we get these people out of here?" Emily said, growing impatient. Carly agreed and decided to signal Travis and Ben for help.

"We have to signal Travis and Ben; we're going to need their help," Carly thought aloud. Doug had an idea, but Carly was hesitant as it could put them at risk. However, realizing it might be their only option, she pressed the walkie-talkie button.

"Ben, are you there?" Carly called through the walkie-talkie. After a few seconds, Ben responded, relieved to see them safe through the binoculars. Carly asked about their well-being, and Ben mentioned a few close calls but assured they were fine.

"Okay, Ben, I need you and Travis to create a distraction. We just need 10 minutes to get our people out of here," Carly requested, serious and stern.

"How do you want us to create a distraction?" Travis asked through the walkie-talkie. Carly replied, "I don't know, figure it out. All we need is 10 minutes." Travis and Ben agreed to do their best to create a distraction, determined to repay Carly's group for taking them in.

The walkie-talkie went quiet, and Carly put it back on her belt. Doug asked about their next course of action. Carly replied, "All we can do is wait. Once the distraction happens, we'll have to move quickly. Be ready, it could happen at any moment."

Both Emily and Doug nodded in understanding. Carly wasn't entirely sure about Emily, but she seemed trustworthy, despite her unnerving lack of emotion. Carly vaguely remembered a rare condition where emotions were stripped away, but the name eluded her. She pushed the thought aside, focusing on the imminent task at hand.

Carly pushed the thought of the stranger girl's mental state aside, recognizing the importance of focusing on getting the group out of there. She also hoped that Ben and Travis would be able to deliver their end of the plan and get out of there alive. That's all she could ask for at this point.

Travis's POV

Travis handed the radio back to Ben, muttering to himself that he wasn't quite sure how they were going to pull this off. However, if Carly trusted anyone to do it, they were the best candidates. Travis hyped himself up, saying, "Hey, I'm Travis. I think I might have an idea of how we can make a distraction, and hopefully, it will be long enough to give them time to help."

Travis, intrigued, gave Ben his full attention. "Go for it. We need all the ideas we can get," Travis said, eager to hear his friend's plan. "You see all this grass, right? If we can find a way to burn it, that could give us quite an extraction. It probably won't be good for us in the long run, though. That's the only bad thing I can see," Ben suggested.

Travis was surprised; he hadn't even thought about burning the dry grass surrounding them. Ben explained that if they could burn it from a longer range, like using a Molotov cocktail or something similar, it could work as a distraction. Travis agreed, "It's a good idea. Do you have something that can make a spark or a flame, like a lighter?"

Ben, apologetic, admitted, "Sorry, Travis, but I don't. I used to, but we left it back at the camp before it got, you know, raided."

Travis decided to check his own pockets, hoping to find something among the items he had pocketed from the bandits. Unfortunately, he found nothing. "Well, that's great. I guess we'll have to do it manually," Travis said. He grabbed the shotgun from his back, realizing he had found a good shotgun holster while searching the bandits' bodies. Travis thought he could put the holster to good use.

He found a nearby rock on the ground and started bashing the bottom of the gun onto it. The shotgun holster turned out to be metallic, so Travis hoped to create a spark by slamming the gun on the rock. They knew they would have to run quickly afterward, but Travis was willing to take any risk. There was a part of him that wondered if the group members trapped at the dairy would do the same for them, but he pushed that thought aside.

Travis struck the rock multiple times, with the first few hits showing no results. On the fifth strike, sparks finally appeared. In a flash, fire exploded onto the dead grass, quickly spreading. It almost burnt Travis, but Ben grabbed him out of the way, gun in hand. They ran, realizing that this time, it was a run of victory, not of terror. They had been running for their lives the entire week, but this time, it was different.

Emily's POV

Emily, Doug, and Carly waited for the distraction to happen. It took around 30 minutes before they heard a big boom and saw smoke in the air. Emily could smell the smoke and muttered to herself, "Must be a serious fire." Carly urged, "They did it. We need to go now."

Emily didn't need to be told twice. She immediately ran towards the fence, effortlessly jumping over it. Upon landing, she executed a somersault. Carly and Doug were surprised by her agility, not expecting a child, especially of her size, to clear a fence with such ease. Carly attempted to jump over like Emily but nearly got hit by the electric fence. Eventually, she and Doug both made it over. The three of them took cover behind a wall, figuring out their next move.

Emily overheard a conversation between Danny and the guards. "Don't worry, you go and deal with it. I'll stay and keep the prisoners secure in their imprisonment," Danny said. The guards didn't bat an eye and left to put out the fire. Emily suggested avoiding the front entrance and finding a window a few feet away.

"We'll come out through the front entrance, and that's when you know to come and meet us," Emily ordered, much to Carly's annoyance. However, they had no choice, and Doug knelt, hoisting Emily through the window. Once inside, Emily saw the gruesome scene, shook her head in dismay, and searched for a locked door.

The door was secured with a padlock, likely with a combination known only to her brother. Emily grabbed a hammer from her bag and, with all her might, struck the lock. It took about 10 strikes, but she managed to break it. Opening the door, she found an old man on the ground, appearing lifeless. The others in the room looked pleased. As they noticed Emily, she cracked a smile. The mission was a success; now they needed to get out of there.

Lee POV

(Flashback)

When Lee kicked the door open, in an instant, the walkers started pouring out of the door. Lee turned to Mark, but it looked like he didn't hear his warning because Mark was grossed out by the smell that must have hit him.

"Come on, Mark! We can't waste time, we need to go!" Lee yelled, quickly running. The urgency prompted Mark to do the same. Lee started cutting through walkers, not caring if he got bit or not at that moment. Luckily, he didn't get bit, and they could get through. They started running down the hallway, unsure of where they were going. Still, the only thing they wanted was to go away from those walkers who were probably following them.

"So, Mark, do you know where the closest exit is?" Lee asked as they turned a corner while running. "Well, if we take another left and then go to the right, and then we keep going that way for a while, we'll eventually get to an exit. I'm pretty sure that's the fastest way there, as far as I can recall," Mark said.

They took a left, then a right, and kept going. As they were running, Mark initiated some small talk. "Hey, Lee, what were you before all of this?" he asked, trying to get to know Lee a bit more.

Lee didn't know how to start. "Well, I was a history professor at the University of Georgia and then got into some hot water, got into a fight which didn't end well, and I got arrested. But it was only for a small charge," Lee half-lied. Before Mark could say anything about that, they noticed a door with a sign saying "exit."

"We're almost there, we just need to push a little harder," Lee encouraged. They were able to open the door to the exit, but basically, they fell because there were stairs. Lee quickly collected himself, and the haziness went away, but Mark was still trying to shake off the haziness.

Lee decided to pick him up, and Mark, still a bit disoriented, held out his hand. Lee grabbed it, smiling. "I can't believe we made it out of there. I surely thought we would be dead," Mark said, relieved.

"Well, we might not be out of the woods yet. Check me for any bites. We did ram through that walker, so I need to know," Lee said, a hint of fear in his voice. "And after you check me, I'll check you," Lee added.

Mark understood, quickly checking Lee from head to toe. Lee, nervous but not feeling any bites, said, "It's always good to check."

Mark smiled at Lee. "You don't have any bites, my friend. None that I can see. I'm pretty sure we're not going to do a cavity search," Mark joked. "Haha, very funny, Mark. Let me go and check you," Lee said, amused by the ex-military man's joke.

He searched Mark, but he was clear, no bites, none that Lee could see, I guess they'll know if one of us gets sick," Lee thought to himself. "You're all clear, Mark. No bites, none that I can see," Lee said, honestly.

Mark took a sigh of relief. "You weren't kidding about the smell," Mark said, disgusted just thinking about it. "Yeah, we got through a situation like that, and all you can say is 'the smell'? Man, you have balls of steel, man," Lee joked.

Lee and Mark started walking towards the rendezvous point that Kenny and Lily agreed on.

Naruto's POV

Naruto was in awe of Lee's speech. He didn't think that Lee felt that way, well, he kind of did, but it was a faint spark. Naruto didn't have a bad feeling, and his intuition was never wrong. It was proven right when Larry held his chest, said, "Oh God," and then fell to the ground, lifeless and not breathing. Naruto panicked, not sure what to do. He looked around, but everyone's reaction was shock.

"Dad!" Lily yelled, running over towards him, and checking on him. Naruto couldn't believe it. One moment Larry was on his feet, the next, he fell to the ground, not breathing. He couldn't let anyone die here. He wouldn't live with himself if he didn't try to help. But what could he do? He didn't know any medical techniques that could restart a heart.

As Naruto tried to remember something from his past, Clementine saw Larry in clear distress, and she was worried. Mark was also concerned, as were the others.

"No, Dad, come on, Dad! Oh God, he stopped breathing! I think he had a heart attack!" Lily said in distress. She immediately started doing CPR.

"S***Is he dead?" Kenny asked, concerned.

"He's not dead! Somebody help me!" Lily called out in desperation. "F***, if he's dead," Kenny said, shaking his head, thinking about doing something reckless.

"He's not dead!" Lily yelled at Kenny. "You know what has to happen, Mark and Lee. Think about it, guys. You heard what that vampire dude said. People come back from their graves. That doesn't mean they're just bitten. That means they actually come back when they're dead. At least that's how I interpreted it," Kenny explained his view on the situation.

Lee and Mark had expressions of uncertainty on their faces. They looked like they didn't know what to do. Mark turned to Lee. "Whatever choice you make, Lee, I'll back you. After saving me during the base, I can trust you as a friend. So I'll do what you do, my friend," Mark said loyally, making Lee smile.

"Thank you, Mark. To be honest with you, I don't know what to do," Lee said honestly.

"Hey, you two, listen here. You two can do your bromance later. We need to deal with this now," Kenny urged, trying to refocus Lee and Mark.

"Enough, all of you! What are you guys even saying?" Lily yelled at all the men.

"Lily, I'm sorry. I really am. In a few minutes, we're going to be trapped in this meat locker with a 6'4, 300 lb seriously pissed-off dead guy," Kenny said.

"F*** you! We can bring him back, Lee, Mark, help me here!" Lily yelled desperately. "We can mourn him later, but right now, we have to keep him from coming back," Kenny said, fear evident in her voice. "God damn it, Kenny! He's not dead!" Lily yelled at him, angry.

(Mindscape)

Naruto found himself in a shockingly familiar place— Iruka sensei's classroom. It was as if he never left that classroom eight years ago. However, somehow, it felt different. Naruto couldn't quite place it, but something about it felt off. Naruto did notice the door open to the classroom.

"It's Doxie. Fancy seeing you again," Doxie said, smiling with a mischievous grin.

"Why am I here, and why are you here?" Naruto questioned, confused about the entire situation. Doxie just shrugged.

"Well, I saw what happened. You being captured by that vampire—was it? That dude was too dangerous for you right now, remember?" Doxie explained.

"Just unlocked your chakra," Doxie said, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "So, are you trying to prepare me for the battle that will come with that man by helping me remember the jutsus that I had before Sasuke and I clashed during the Valley of the End?" Naruto asked, sensing that this was what she was getting at.

"Well then, I'm surprised you're way sharper than I give you credit for. Maybe this will be easy. You already know what I want to do, so let's get started, unless you have any more questions," Doxie answered, impressed.

"Yeah, I have one question. What do you know about ninjas? Aren't you just a giant nine-tailed fox spirit?" Naruto asked, curious.

"Well, I guess you weren't as sharp as I thought you were. If you paid attention to your history class, you would know the Biju have lived for thousands of years, and I have witnessed many shinobi over my thousand-year lifespan. I existed during the time when humans were first given chakra, so of course, I am not equipped for your shinobi techniques," Doxie said sarcastically.

"Okay, fair point. Let's just get this done," Naruto said, getting fed up with the red-haired vixen.

"One more thing, you'll have to call me Doxy-sensei," Doxie said, grinning. Naruto sighed, "All right, Doxy-sensei. What are we going to do first?" Naruto asked.

She walked right in front of him. "For your first jutsu, we're going to start with the basics. That means the three basic jutsu forms. We'll start with the Transformation Jutsu," Doxy explained.

"Okay, do you want me to transform into you?" Naruto answered.

"Bravo, Captain Obvious," Doxie said sarcastically. Naruto frowned, muttering to himself, "Man, I'm going to hate myself when we get to the end of this."

"Yeah, you are. Now do it," Doxie ordered. What was interesting to Naruto, as well as Doxy, was that he could do it by muscle memory. He went through the Dog, Boar, and Ram hand seals without a hitch, and he transformed into a perfect copy of Doxie.

"All right, we got humans down. Now let's see if you can transform into animals," Doxie said. The entire academy room started growing huge, and then Doxy appeared as the giant nine-tailed fox that she was. "Now try to transform into me, the same height, with as much detail as my human version," Doxie said, her voice more profound and monstrous. In response, Naruto did the same hand seals again and transformed, having everything the same—height, color, tails, and as much detail as the last transformation. Doxy smiled, and she went back into her human form, prompting Naruto to return to his normal form.

"So, what now?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"We're not quite done with the Transformation Jutsu," Doxy said. "When I say you can do the transformation jutsu perfectly, what I mean is you have to not only transform into living things but also objects. Have you ever transformed into a perfect plant or into a perfect object, and had the same weight and density?" Doxy questioned.

"Wait, you can do that?" Naruto asked, amazed.

"Of course, you can! Have you never even had the thought that you could transform into different objects or plants?" Doxie said, bewildered by his apparent lack of imagination.

"Well, no, actually. It never occurred to me, 'cause I thought it would never be possible," Naruto answered.

"That's the attitude of a failure. You must think everything is possible with chakra. How are you going to create a jutsu to save that Larry person if you can't even master the basics?" Doxie said, lecturing him. Naruto gritted his teeth, scrunched up his fists, and admitted, "You're right. How could I be so dense?"

"So, well then, what are we waiting for? Go on, transform into a perfectly lifelike plant. The reason why this is harder is because you can't think of it as just a trick," Doxie instructed.

"Disguise isn't enough anymore. You need to actually think about its function as a plant. You must think about how tall it is, how much sunlight photosynthesis it gets, how many branches it has. You need to completely visualize it as well as make it tangible," Doxy explained.

"All right," Naruto said, determined. It took Naruto several tries, but he was able to transform into a perfect plant.

Even harder to transform into an object. To know how many attempts it took him, it was challenging, as time was so different in his mindscape. But eventually, he succeeded.

"Do you get the principles of the Transformation Jutsu?" Doxy asked, trying to see if Naruto learned something.

"Yeah, I think so. I learned that I should put way more thought into how I mold jutsu and create them, how they will be," Naruto replied.

Doxy smiled. "You finally got one of the basic concepts down. Now, let's move on to the second one." Without any warning, she threw a kunai straight at him. Like with the Transformation Jutsu, his body immediately knew what to do. Weaving a Tiger, Boar, Ox, Dog, and Snake, he completed the hand seals. It looked like she hit him to the naked eye, but she smiled when she was proven wrong. Naruto had switched places with a chair that was in the room.

"Nice reaction time," Doxy praised, impressed with her container's reaction time. A normal speed like that would have killed a normal shinobi, but she guessed her container wasn't like any ordinary shinobi. "It seems like you're pretty good at the Substitution Jutsu. Doxie said, wondering if she should move on.

Naruto gave a thumbs-up and smiled. "Anything you throw at me, I'll be able to use this jutsu to dodge it all," Naruto said confidently. That answer settled her internal battle. Naruto had mastered this jutsu, too. But just to be sure, she took ten kunai and, for who knows how long, she kept throwing kunai at him, and he kept using the Substitution Jutsu every time without fail.

"Good job. You passed this jutsu by a landslide," Doxy complimented. Naruto just smiled and coughed.

"All right, for the final basic jutsu, show me your Clone Jutsu." Naruto was nervous to do this because this was always the jutsu he failed at the academy three times in a row. He took a deep breath and made the hand signs Tiger, Boar, Ox, and Dog. The clone that came out was pretty decent. It wasn't the best Clone Jutsu she had ever seen, but it was decent. It didn't even take him a lot of attempts to get the jutsu perfect.

"Now you have mastered the normal Clone Jutsu. Maybe this will help you remember your original Shadow Clone Jutsu," Naruto smiled when he heard that. "I have never forgotten that jutsu."

Emily's POV

Emily was pushed into her room and locked in. She hit her fists on the ground in frustration. She still couldn't believe her family, as well as herself, were eating humans. They were f****** cannibals. She couldn't wrap her head around it.

"Come down, Emily. Think rationally," she told herself. Despite what she told herself, she got up and hit the wall. With blinding anger, she kept pounding the wall over and over, not even caring if her knuckles were bleeding, until she broke through the wall. Before she could hit somewhere else, she didn't know what stopped her. A soft glint caught her attention, and she looked through the hole she punched through.

Silver light streamed through the hole, taking her out of her raging trance. She did notice her hand was bleeding, and it hurt like hell. She did notice that glint again. She looked in her dresser for the flashlight she always kept in one of her drawers. She checked the first one, and luckily, it was there. It was a pink flashlight, different from the color she picked. It was more of her mother's choice. She preferred black or maybe white, but she worked with what she had. There was no time to be stingy. She clicked on the flashlight and looked through the hole.

She saw a weird-looking box. It was wooden, maybe oak. She didn't quite know what it was made of, but she knew for sure it was covered in iron. The top intrigued her—a circle with a star inside of it. She had seen that sort of symbol before. She thought it was called a pentagram. She saw it in some TV show she watched once. She couldn't remember what it was called, but they used it to trap demons. This intrigued her even more. She lifted the box. It was pretty light considering what it was made out of. She didn't put it on her dresser. She had to toss her lamp to the side to leave room for it. When she looked at it more clearly, with the moonlight helping her see better, she could see some words on it.

On the top, below the pentagram, it read, "Made by St. John. Philip." She had never heard of that family member before. Emily and her dad looked at their family lineage a lot when she was little, and she had never remembered a name like Philip. If she was intrigued before, she was even more intrigued now. She saw there was a lock on it, making her frown. She didn't want to figure out how to open a lock. She checked if there was a code on the bottom, which luckily there was. The code was 1900. When she put those numbers together, it was a year—maybe when the box was made. It made sense to her now. The family tree that she and her father looked at only went to 1940, so was this an earlier descendant of the St. John family? That seemed likely, Emily thought to herself.

She put the number combination into the lock, and it opened. She put the lock to the side, opened the box, and saw four things inside. She grabbed the first thing on top, which was a paper. She unfolded it, and it read:

"If you find this, my daughter, then that must mean I have left this world, leaving you and your brothers and your mother behind. And I must mean what I have feared came to pass, and the family is in what they used to be. It truly saddens me that you'll have to find out this way. I was going to tell you when you were 18, but in case I don't, this note will tell you everything, as well as the notebook that's inside of this box that you might have on your side.

Let me start from the beginning, my daughter. The St. Johns were given the name not just by coincidence. We were the descendants of John, one of the..."

"Apostles of Jesus, so our family says, but I do decline to believe them. Our family was tasked by Jesus himself to exterminate God's unfaithful children. When I say 'unfaithful children,' I mean humans that stray from the godly path, which most humans have done. But there are some humans that stray off the path and then find a whole other path even more monstrous than the original, elder path. Our family was tasked to slay these monsters, and God gave us tools to do it. I really did not want you to get involved in this business, not because you're a girl, but because you are my daughter. And as a parent, that would be the last thing I would ever want you to do as a profession. Most of our family died from this profession. There are not all of us left. Luckily, Philip, as well as my elder family members—this was before I was born—Philip sealed all these monsters in a seal. If ever that seal would break, I would have to be called to go and slay these beasts, which is why I'm writing this letter to you. This is a hard thing to ask, being a parent and all, but I need you to slay these beasts because if you don't, all of humanity will fall. And all of the goodness that God brings to this world will be snuffed out, and Lucifer would win, as I'm told. If I'm not here to teach you, that notebook inside the box would be a good teacher for you. As well as there's a cross inside the notebook that you would use. The cross and the book will go into way more details than I can do in this note. Only you, as well as another Saint John, can read that book. No other human can do it, just us. It will just look like gibberish to them, so keep that in mind. It isn't impossible to teach people how to use our techniques. It will be very difficult, though. The last thing I want to say: I love you, Emily, and I hope you find peace. Stay nice, stay my little girl. Never change. I love you so much. Nothing but love. And please don't die because our family has died enough doing this profession. You could always not take this profession. I would be fine with that. Whatever you choose, I'll be happy. From Dad."

After Emily read that note, she was tearing up near the end.

"Daddy," she said to herself. She then looked through the box again and saw the notebook. She quickly skimmed through it; it seemed pretty complicated, but that didn't stop her. She would figure it out eventually. She then grabbed the cross with Jesus being crucified on it and put it around her neck. The last thing in the box was a picture of her father and her, and it made her ball her eyes out, crying. After collecting herself, she immediately realized what being a Saint John means—it means putting others before your own needs. She remembered that group might have been stashed in that meat locker, probably in the barn. She can't let them die, not if she's a Saint John and has to face the vampire. It means she'll have to kill him. She's going to need some help, so she should probably go and save those people and get them some weapons too.

"Naruto, you're alive. I hope you're okay," Emily said to herself. She quickly checked her closet and saw a backpack, a bright green one big enough to hold a few small guns and weapons. She put it on her back and grabbed her father's jacket that he gave her before he died. It fits snugly like it was always meant to. She quickly went to the window; it was raining outside, but she didn't care. She opened the window, and luckily, the roof would be able to hold her weight.

"Don't worry, Naruto. I'm going to help you and everyone else that is with you," Emily said, determined.

Carly POV

They had been walking for hours. Originally, they were running, but then they got tired, so they had to walk. But that didn't stop the tenseness that was around all of them. For all they knew, there could be bandits ambushing them at any moment.

After the attack at the Motor Inn, everyone was on their guard 110%. But as they approached a hill overlooking the St. John Dairy, to their surprise and horror, they saw many vehicles around the fields of the dairy, as well as many people walking around in the distance. They looked like specks. They could tell that they were people, not animals because they were moving so organized, and there were so many of them, not grouped like a herd.

"Doug, hun, did you bring the binoculars, as I said?" Carly asked Doug. Her boyfriend put down his backpack and started looking through it. He grabbed black binoculars.

"Are these the ones you wanted me to bring?" Doug asked.

"Yes, thank you, hun. This will be a big help," Carly said, giving Doug a quick peck on the lips, making Ben and Travis just uncomfortable. It was in a bad way, more of an awkward way. Of course, they're not going to say anything. It wasn't the time for it. Carly used the binoculars to get a closer look at what they were facing.

Dealing with the situation at the dairy, Carly observed many men patrolling the outer perimeter of the fence, which should be electrified. This meant they shouldn't attempt to go over the fence unless they wanted to get electrocuted. They also couldn't walk in without risking getting shot or facing worse consequences. Carly needed to figure out a way through the defenses where there were no human guards or find a vulnerable spot.

With her binoculars, she identified two potential routes. There weren't many guards near the outer fence, especially in the nearly barren area. On the other hand, near the silo where Lee and Mark got shot at, there weren't many guards either. Carly thought for a moment about their next move until she was interrupted by Ben, who was getting nervous and scared.

"Maybe we should go, guys, or at least think of a better plan than just walking in," Ben suggested. "People could be down there, who knows what's happening to them. Get a hold, Ben," Carly said, siding with him. "Don't worry, I have a plan for us to not get spotted easily and to cover more ground. Let's split up into two teams. Doug and I to our right, Ben and Travis, you guys go to the silo where that tractor is," she pointed to show the location.

"Do you guys understand?" Both Ben and Travis nodded in understanding. "When will we know when all of us are in position? What's the signal?" Travis asked, concerned about that aspect.

Carly walked over to Travis and handed him the binoculars. "You'll know when we're in a position when you see us using our knees. Understand? Doug and I will be pretty obvious in your direction, probably."

Travis seemed reassured and smiled at Carly. "Me and Ben, we understand. We'll do it as quickly as we can."

"Good. And one more thing for communication," Carly then went into Doug's bag and grabbed two objects. She threw one of them at Ben, who fumbled with it but managed to keep it in his hands. It was a radio. Carly had the other radio.

"This is how we'll communicate when we're in position," Carly said, smirking. "Now what are we waiting for? Let's get our people out of here." Carly ordered, uncertain about the trials that lay ahead, but she knew she would be ready for them, as she always had been.

Naruto's POV

Naruto immediately opened his eyes, now aware of the situation and realizing he had a jutsu that could save Larry. But before he could do anything, a heated argument broke out. Lily insisted that they could still save Larry, and Lee expressed his reluctance to kill Larry until he knew for sure that Larry would come back after having a complete speech. Kenny disagreed.

"He could relapse, Lily. You gotta think about this," Kenny argued. Naruto couldn't believe his ears. He needed to take action before Kenny did something drastic. Naruto walked over to Larry, getting down on his knees.

"Look, Kenny. Back at the drugstore, everyone thought Duck was bitten. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe we should do the same now. Larry might not relapse. It's different," Lee reasoned, not wanting to kill Larry just yet.

"That was different, Duck wasn't bitten. Come on, we know this dude isn't going to make it. So, I'm thinking, maybe if we destroy the head, you know, the brain, it will probably kill him for good," Kenny planned out, looking over toward a bunch of salt licks in the left corner of the meat locker.

"And then turn the mark in, Lee. Come on, you guys, you can't be on the fence on this one. You have to have my back," Kenny urged. Everyone turned when they heard an electric jolt.

"What the hell?" Kenny said, turning towards Larry, now a corpse. Naruto did another flurry of hand signs, placing his hand on where Larry's heart would be, giving another electric jolt. Lily then started using CPR, giving chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth.

"Come on, Larry, you can't be rid of the world of the living just yet. I won't allow it!" Naruto yelled. Everyone in the entire meat locker was shocked as Naruto improvised a makeshift defibrillator. There was a glimmer of hope, and Kenny, not saying anything else, went towards Larry, wanting to help.

"Is there anything I can do?" Lee asked, determined to save Larry.

"You can take over chest compressions, Lily. You do mouth-to-mouth once he's done with chest compressions. Mark, you make sure Kenny doesn't get any ideas," Naruto directed, looking over towards the family man. Mark immediately got in front of Kenny protectively. This made Kenny back down; he wasn't going to do anything anyway. This would provide more assurance than needed.

It seemed like a thousand years that they were working, but it was most likely three minutes. That's when Larry took his first gasp, and he was breathing, though weakly. It would be a while before he regained consciousness, but he was alive. They were able to get his heart working in time. Lee, Lily, and Naruto—all smiled in relief.

That's when the door to the meat locker opened.

Emily's POV

When Emily opened the window, she immediately started getting soaked because it was storming really bad outside, thunder crackling every minute. Despite how wet and cold she felt, she still had to complete the task that she told herself she would do—help Naruto and the people he holds dear. It's the least that she can do to atone for what her family has done.

She climbed out of the window. At first, the roof felt slippery. She was trying to get her balance, but she succeeded, and she lowered herself feet first. The muscles in her arms burned from lowering herself down. When she landed on the hardwood floor of the patio, it made a creak sound, which made her. Grimacing in worry, Emily reminded herself to keep her cool. She stayed low enough that no one could see her through the windows. She heard footsteps coming around the corner, so she quickly moved to the opposite corner. One more turn, and she would be at the back of the property. Emily encouraged herself, staying vigilant.

As she made her way, she became curious upon hearing muffled voices inside the house. Deciding to take a look, she peered through the kitchen window and saw her mother, the woman with the man in the cap, and his younger child, all being held at gunpoint. Anger welled up in her at the injustice of using these innocent people as leverage.

She noticed some sharp knives in the kitchen that could be used as weapons. Emily considered keeping them for herself or maybe giving them to others who might need them. Playing out her next moves in her mind, she decided to grab the weapons for Naruto's people.

Emily then lowered herself to the ground in a crouched position and moved toward the next corner. Hearing a noise, she saw the cellar next to the stairs, which would be considered the backyard. Though rusted and not in good condition since her father's death, it wasn't locked. She lifted the latch, opened the door, and quickly went inside, closing the door behind her.

In the pitch-black darkness, she fumbled through her backpack and found the flashlight. As she activated it, she heard a groaning sound that made her jump in surprise and fear. Slowly walking down the stairs, she couldn't see much until she pointed the flashlight to her right, revealing a construction bench where her father kept his tools. It seemed barren, and she needed a closer look.

Suddenly, she heard another groan, resembling someone in pain or an animal. Turning in the opposite direction, she saw something horrifying—her father, now one of those creatures. Trembling and tearing up, she dropped to her knees in front of him. She forgot about her initial mission for a moment, but then she snapped out of it.

"I'm sorry. It should have been me, not you," Emily said. Her father responded with animalistic growls, attempting to lunge toward her but being stopped by the shackles around his hands, feet, and neck. Unable to bear her father's suffering, Emily decided to walk over to the tool bench.

Seeing a screwdriver on the tool bench, Emily grabbed it, trembling with the knowledge of what she had to do. She walked over to her father, reflecting on both the good and bad times they shared. She pledged to eradicate every monster to spare others from fear. With a deep breath, she backed up the screwdriver to gain leverage and plunged it through the side of her father's skull, aiming to preserve his face. The first attempt seemed ineffective, and with a heavier swing on the second try, she finally ended his suffering.

Feeling disgusted and sickened, Emily resisted the urge to throw up. Focusing on pressing issues, she spotted a wrench on the tool bench, which she added to her bag. She left the blood-stained screwdriver behind her pants.

As she started cleaning up, she heard the cellar doors opening. Reacting quickly, she turned off the flashlight, gripped her screwdriver, and felt anger welling up. Two men entered, discussing the paranoia of one, who claimed to hear something. Emily, accustomed to the darkness, prepared to attack.

She swiftly plunged the screwdriver into one man, causing him to gurgle in pain. The other man panicked, asking what happened. Emily, fueled by rage, stabbed the first man in the kneecap, making him kneel, and then repeatedly stabbed him anywhere she could. When she snapped back to her senses and turned on her flashlight, horror washed over her. The blood on her hands intensified her shock, and she couldn't hold back the overwhelming nausea. She vomited on the ground, completely overwhelmed by what she had done.

Emily, devoid of emotions, focused on her singular objective: helping Naruto's group escape. She began searching for weapons and found a couple of combat knives and a military-grade gun. She also packed a bow and arrow and the wrench from the tool bench. These five weapons would suffice for the task at hand.

In her emotionless tone, she contemplated her next move, strategizing how to reach the group undetected. The basement seemed like a viable route, and she pondered cutting through the house to navigate her way up. Ready with her screwdriver, Emily steeled herself for the possibility of facing more brutality than before.

​

On March 6th (which is today), I'll be stepping down as head admin of this subreddit, r/TWDGFanFic. u/NazbazOG, as the next in line on the mod list, will become the head admin. As some of you might already know, over the last year my attention has diverted over towards The Walking Dead Wiki, where I am now an Administrator. With me being less active here, I feel as if I shouldn't hold on to this role, hence my reason for stepping down. It has been a truly wonderful experience and I appreciate every single one of you who've talked to me, participated in the contests, or just simply shared your creations here. I thank you folks and wish you all the best for the future here with Naz and u/Super-Shenron in charge. (Just wanna clarify that I'm not leaving subreddit or anything, I'll still be around from time to time, perhaps one day "As Blood Dries - Remastered" will make a return!) And with that, I'll be singing off as Head Mod, cya folks! - Zee Everett

What is your opinion on the If only they knew, Unravel and Stained Fanifics.

I read them years ago and it literally was the most difficult reading I ever did (even needing to skip some chapters) for reasons obvious to everyone that has read it. In my opinion it is way to graphic but the story is one of the best that I have ever read. It actually reminded me of the Berserk Manga but in my opinion even more gut punching.

And I was wondering what you thought of this piece if you read it.

ATTENTION: If you have not read any of these, they include graphic depictions of very heavy abuse.

Links: If only they knew https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11021244/34/If-Only-They-Knew

Unravel: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/12105105/1/Unravel

Stained: https://m.fanfiction.net/r/13096956/

You; AJ, agree that Clem is right, and attempt to convince the group to leave

‘Clem is right, her injuries don’t allow her time to wait and herd is massive, we need to leave here before it gets overrun,’

A. Ruby - Clem needs us right now B. Omar - It’s safer if we leave now C. Aasim - We are stronger together D. ……

You turn to Aasim, “We’re stronger as a group, we need to stick together, leaving is the best option and we need to do so as a group.”

“You’re right we are better together, that’s why I’m not leaving without Violet.” He replies,

The others agree with him, it’s clear they are sticking with Violet, and will follow what she does,

———

You head towards the dorms of the school and go into yours and Clems room, it looks empty, She’s furiously packing her bag on her bed.

She looks up and spots you, “Hey goofball….” She says softly before her slime fades into a distant look,

A- you’re spilling out of control Clem B- you’re acting paranoid C- The others won’t leave without Violet D- How are you feeling

“How you feeling Clem?”

“Frustrated, mad.”

“You taught me it’s okay to be mad,”

“It is okay, but decisions have to be made, tough decisions, Violet needs to let go if we want to survive.”

“Violet again?” AJ groans,

Clem looks at AJ, “I love Violet but I need her on my side or we are going to have to make a tough decision.”

“I’m not leaving without everyone, people said they want to stick together so we can’t leave without Violet. But I’m with you, I can help.”

“If you say so.”. She goes back to packing her bag and clearing the dorms for supplies.

You need to convince Violet to leave the school or the others will stay with her.

She’s in her office, sitting in silence looking at the old school portrait, recognising all the people she’s lost since the outbreak happened,

You knock on the door and enter slowly,

She looks up frustrated at being interrupted but quickly calms down as she notices it’s AJ,

“Hi Violet,”

“Oh, hey AJ.” She says looking down at the portrait again, “We’ve lost so much, you think would get easier but it doesn’t. Just gets more lonely.”

A- Louis and Willys death has impacted everyone. B- they would want us to keep fighting. C- You’ve done a lot for this place. D- You need to let go.

“You’ve done a lot for this place Violet, a lot for the people, gone and living.”

“Not enough,”

“Not yet, there’s only one more thing you can do for this place.”

She looks up at AJ.

A- Know when to give up, this place will be lost. B- Help the people living in it, even if that means leaving. C- Keep the legacy going. D- Don’t let it fall.

“Help the people living in it, even if that means leaving what we built.” AJ says sternly, “Clem needs your help,” (She looks away) “You two are on bad terms, you blame yourselves for what happened to Louis and Willy but she needs you to hear her.”

She sighs and walks to the window, “Maybe your right, part of me just wants to hide out here until it’s my time AJ, there’s only four of us left that where left stranded at this school AJ, everyone died fighting for this place and you think we should just leave there sacrifice, then what was it all for?”

AJ looks stunned at her response,

“I’ll talk to Clem soon AJ and make my decision.”

—————-

A few hours pass and Clem and Violet have a heated discussion hidden for the group,

Aasim and Ruby are eating dinner together, they have grown even closer since starting there relationship and keep each others spirts up,

Omar is more lonely of late, after nearly losing everyone at the school he doesn’t have much people to rely on anymore.

AJ can decide to talk to either Aasim and Ruby or Omar,

AJ decides to talk to Omar,

“Hey Omar,”

“Hey AJ man, how you doing,”

“I’m good.. I think, but I’m worried,”

“What about.”

“That people aren’t going to make the right decision.”

“Sometimes there’s not a right decision.” He replies,

“This place is not going to last, you should come with us, what ever happens.”

“I’ll think about it.”

———- Clementine and Violet walk out together into the courtyard towards the fire and call everyone to come round.

“Soo, as you know, there is a split in opinion, to stay or go.”

“What do you thinks best Vi,” Aasim asks,

“I’m not sure what I want is best, but it feels right, I want to stay at the school. I don’t want to leave everyone behind, all that we lost fighting for this place.”

The others look shocked but nod at her statement,

Clementine doesn’t look pleased. “And I’m the opposite, I need to look out for myself, if we get trapped here you guys have a chance of getting away I don’t. Finding civilisation can help us too, we’ve survived too long on our own, we need to grow or it’s just going to get harder.”

The others take in what she says,

“I understand Clem, I hear you,” Violet says, “That’s why we going to vote. To stay or go, I vote stay.”

“I vote Go.” Clem says,

“I vote Go,” AJ says quickly after,

“I vote stay.” Both Aasim and Ruby say

Clem looks out to Omar, “What do you think.”

“I don’t want to stay but I’m not leaving without the others.”

Clem looks devastated at the decision of the group, but accepts it. “That’s your decision then.”

The group separates and goes back to bed for the night.

AJ falls asleep as Clem is still awake in there room, after a few hours; around 3am Clem wakes up AJ,

“Hey goofball, it’s time to go, you’re with me right.”

A- Leave with Clem without the others.

B- Stay with the others and let Clem leave.

View Poll

Ben's POV

Ben gripped the walkie-talkie Carly had given him tightly as they made their way toward the silo. The journey could have been smoother, as they narrowly avoided getting caught a few times.

"Honestly, if I'm honest with myself, it was mostly Travis that got us out of these close calls. He was always more cool-headed than me. I could never do what Travis did," Ben thought to himself. Luckily, Carly hadn't radioed in, which was to be expected since they weren't quite there yet. It would be a few minutes before they reached the base of the silo.

Travis lifted his hand, signaling for them to stop. "Do you see any guards, Ben? It's been a while since we saw some," Travis asked, looking around the surroundings.

To Ben, it seemed like there was nothing but a barren field stretching for yards in all directions. "No, there are no guards right now," Ben replied, unsure if his analysis of the surroundings was accurate. However, all that mattered was that it brought a sense of relief to Travis. In this situation, that was all Ben could ask for.

They stopped behind a tractor that was near the silo. "I think we should hide behind this tractor. It could probably give us good cover in case people see us in the distance, as well as a good vantage point to see Carly and Doug," Ben suggested.

"That sounds like a plan," Travis agreed, asking his best friend for advice. Ben wasn't sure if it was a good plan, but it was better than nothing, and that was all they had for now.

"Yeah, I think that'll be good enough," Ben reassured Travis.

"Thanks, Ben. I really needed that," Travis said, going behind the tractor. With binoculars around his neck, he quickly grabbed them and looked into the distance, searching for Carly and Doug.

"Do you see them? Are you there?" Ben asked, growing impatient and worried.

"I see them. They're in the position right next to the barn, like they said they would be. But..." Travis started grimacing, causing Ben to worry.

"Those two are confronting someone. It doesn't look like they're being hostile, but it looks like they're just talking," Travis said, unsure if Carly and Doug would be okay.

"Oh s***, what should we do?" Ben asked.

"It doesn't look like they're in too much danger, so I think we'll observe for now. Carly and Doug are tough; they can deal with this. We just need to have faith in them," Travis rationalized, providing some reassurance to Ben, at least for the time being

Carly POV

Carly and Doug were slowly walking through a corner field toward the barn, which was suspiciously guarded. Carly hadn't seen Saint John or any of her group members, and worry crept over her as she wondered what could have happened to them. All these people looked like the ones who had attacked the Motor Inn and the dairy, potentially killing everyone. Carly thought of the worst-case scenario.

Carly abruptly stopped in her tracks, prompting Doug to notice and express concern for her well-being. "Are you okay, Carly?" Doug asked, worried for his lover. All of Carly's negative emotions momentarily dissipated. "No, I'm okay now that you're here," Carly reassured him, making Doug blush.

"We're not too far. I can see the roof and some of the walls from the corner field," Carly said. They quickened their pace a little, but still took it slow. Walking was becoming more difficult in the rain, and Doug didn't look great either. However, without the group, they would likely be dead. Carly didn't want to leave anyone behind for selfish reasons.

As they approached the electric fence with its illuminated light, Doug informed Carly that it was on. They made sure to stay clear of it, keeping about a foot away. "It seems like we're in position. I wonder if Ben and Travis got to the silo," Doug asked. Carly admitted she didn't know either but suggested they give them a few minutes. They would know when they arrived because one of them would get bored or anxious and contact them on the radio.

"Seems like a good plan for now," Doug agreed. Just then, they heard rustling behind them. Both immediately grabbed their guns, with Doug holding onto his crossbow. They aimed at the rustling corn plants, ready to shoot, but then they saw a little girl emerge.

"We're supposed to signal them. Didn't want to shoot you kids," Carly said, lowering her gun. "Jesus, kid, you scared us. Are you okay? There's a lot of blood on you. Are you bleeding?" Doug bombarded her with questions. Emily, the little girl, put a finger to Doug's lips, shushing him.

"Shush, you idiot. Can't you see the guards behind you? They may not hear us because of the storm, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't yell out where we are. They're not deaf, in case that's what you're thinking," Emily said emotionlessly, wiping some blood from her finger onto Doug's lips. Doug, confused, immediately wiped it away, unsure of its origin.

Carly analyzed the situation, deciding not to point her gun at the seemingly non-threatening child. "I guess introductions are in order," Emily said sarcastically, her voice devoid of emotion. "My name is Emily St. John. My family are cannibals, and they work for an evil monster vampire guy. Crazy s***I know, but that isn't the point right now. Your group is trapped in that barn. They're not dead. I just..."

"I don't think so, but who knows how long that will be. So, I'm going to need your help to get in there because I don't think I can do it on my own, honestly," Emily explained the situation. Carly processed this information and decided to focus on getting her group out for now. On the other hand, Doug seemed to be struggling to process the supernatural aspects of Emily's revelation.

Carly snapped her fingers in front of Doug's face to bring his attention back to the task at hand. It took a few snaps, but she got him to focus. "Let's deal with the whole supernatural stuff later, Doug. Right now, we should figure out how to get our group out of here," Carly said, determined. This determination also fueled Doug's resolve.

"It's good that you guys are having a moment, but can we get these people out of here?" Emily said, growing impatient. Carly agreed and decided to signal Travis and Ben for help.

"We have to signal Travis and Ben; we're going to need their help," Carly thought aloud. Doug had an idea, but Carly was hesitant as it could put them at risk. However, realizing it might be their only option, she pressed the walkie-talkie button.

"Ben, are you there?" Carly called through the walkie-talkie. After a few seconds, Ben responded, relieved to see them safe through the binoculars. Carly asked about their well-being, and Ben mentioned a few close calls but assured they were fine.

"Okay, Ben, I need you and Travis to create a distraction. We just need 10 minutes to get our people out of here," Carly requested, serious and stern.

"How do you want us to create a distraction?" Travis asked through the walkie-talkie. Carly replied, "I don't know, figure it out. All we need is 10 minutes." Travis and Ben agreed to do their best to create a distraction, determined to repay Carly's group for taking them in.

The walkie-talkie went quiet, and Carly put it back on her belt. Doug asked about their next course of action. Carly replied, "All we can do is wait. Once the distraction happens, we'll have to move quickly. Be ready, it could happen at any moment."

Both Emily and Doug nodded in understanding. Carly wasn't entirely sure about Emily, but she seemed trustworthy, despite her unnerving lack of emotion. Carly vaguely remembered a rare condition where emotions were stripped away, but the name eluded her. She pushed the thought aside, focusing on the imminent task at hand.

Carly pushed the thought of the stranger girl's mental state aside, recognizing the importance of focusing on getting the group out of there. She also hoped that Ben and Travis would be able to deliver their end of the plan and get out of there alive. That's all she could ask for at this point.

Travis's POV

Travis handed the radio back to Ben, muttering to himself that he wasn't quite sure how they were going to pull this off. However, if Carly trusted anyone to do it, they were the best candidates. Travis hyped himself up, saying, "Hey, I'm Travis. I think I might have an idea of how we can make a distraction, and hopefully, it will be long enough to give them time to help."

Travis, intrigued, gave Ben his full attention. "Go for it. We need all the ideas we can get," Travis said, eager to hear his friend's plan. "You see all this grass, right? If we can find a way to burn it, that could give us quite an extraction. It probably won't be good for us in the long run, though. That's the only bad thing I can see," Ben suggested.

Travis was surprised; he hadn't even thought about burning the dry grass surrounding them. Ben explained that if they could burn it from a longer range, like using a Molotov cocktail or something similar, it could work as a distraction. Travis agreed, "It's a good idea. Do you have something that can make a spark or a flame, like a lighter?"

Ben, apologetic, admitted, "Sorry, Travis, but I don't. I used to, but we left it back at the camp before it got, you know, raided."

Travis decided to check his own pockets, hoping to find something among the items he had pocketed from the bandits. Unfortunately, he found nothing. "Well, that's great. I guess we'll have to do it manually," Travis said. He grabbed the shotgun from his back, realizing he had found a good shotgun holster while searching the bandits' bodies. Travis thought he could put the holster to good use.

He found a nearby rock on the ground and started bashing the bottom of the gun onto it. The shotgun holster turned out to be metallic, so Travis hoped to create a spark by slamming the gun on the rock. They knew they would have to run quickly afterward, but Travis was willing to take any risk. There was a part of him that wondered if the group members trapped at the dairy would do the same for them, but he pushed that thought aside.

Travis struck the rock multiple times, with the first few hits showing no results. On the fifth strike, sparks finally appeared. In a flash, fire exploded onto the dead grass, quickly spreading. It almost burnt Travis, but Ben grabbed him out of the way, gun in hand. They ran, realizing that this time, it was a run of victory, not of terror. They had been running for their lives the entire week, but this time, it was different.

Emily's POV

Emily, Doug, and Carly waited for the distraction to happen. It took around 30 minutes before they heard a big boom and saw smoke in the air. Emily could smell the smoke and muttered to herself, "Must be a serious fire." Carly urged, "They did it. We need to go now."

Emily didn't need to be told twice. She immediately ran towards the fence, effortlessly jumping over it. Upon landing, she executed a somersault. Carly and Doug were surprised by her agility, not expecting a child, especially of her size, to clear a fence with such ease. Carly attempted to jump over like Emily but nearly got hit by the electric fence. Eventually, she and Doug both made it over. The three of them took cover behind a wall, figuring out their next move.

Emily overheard a conversation between Danny and the guards. "Don't worry, you go and deal with it. I'll stay and keep the prisoners secure in their imprisonment," Danny said. The guards didn't bat an eye and left to put out the fire. Emily suggested avoiding the front entrance and finding a window a few feet away.

"We'll come out through the front entrance, and that's when you know to come and meet us," Emily ordered, much to Carly's annoyance. However, they had no choice, and Doug knelt, hoisting Emily through the window. Once inside, Emily saw the gruesome scene, shook her head in dismay, and searched for a locked door.

The door was secured with a padlock, likely with a combination known only to her brother. Emily grabbed a hammer from her bag and, with all her might, struck the lock. It took about 10 strikes, but she managed to break it. Opening the door, she found an old man on the ground, appearing lifeless. The others in the room looked pleased. As they noticed Emily, she cracked a smile. The mission was a success; now they needed to get out of there.

Lee POV

(Flashback)

When Lee kicked the door open, in an instant, the walkers started pouring out of the door. Lee turned to Mark, but it looked like he didn't hear his warning because Mark was grossed out by the smell that must have hit him.

"Come on, Mark! We can't waste time, we need to go!" Lee yelled, quickly running. The urgency prompted Mark to do the same. Lee started cutting through walkers, not caring if he got bit or not at that moment. Luckily, he didn't get bit, and they could get through. They started running down the hallway, unsure of where they were going. Still, the only thing they wanted was to go away from those walkers who were probably following them.

"So, Mark, do you know where the closest exit is?" Lee asked as they turned a corner while running. "Well, if we take another left and then go to the right, and then we keep going that way for a while, we'll eventually get to an exit. I'm pretty sure that's the fastest way there, as far as I can recall," Mark said.

They took a left, then a right, and kept going. As they were running, Mark initiated some small talk. "Hey, Lee, what were you before all of this?" he asked, trying to get to know Lee a bit more.

Lee didn't know how to start. "Well, I was a history professor at the University of Georgia and then got into some hot water, got into a fight which didn't end well, and I got arrested. But it was only for a small charge," Lee half-lied. Before Mark could say anything about that, they noticed a door with a sign saying "exit."

"We're almost there, we just need to push a little harder," Lee encouraged. They were able to open the door to the exit, but basically, they fell because there were stairs. Lee quickly collected himself, and the haziness went away, but Mark was still trying to shake off the haziness.

Lee decided to pick him up, and Mark, still a bit disoriented, held out his hand. Lee grabbed it, smiling. "I can't believe we made it out of there. I surely thought we would be dead," Mark said, relieved.

"Well, we might not be out of the woods yet. Check me for any bites. We did ram through that walker, so I need to know," Lee said, a hint of fear in his voice. "And after you check me, I'll check you," Lee added.

Mark understood, quickly checking Lee from head to toe. Lee, nervous but not feeling any bites, said, "It's always good to check."

Mark smiled at Lee. "You don't have any bites, my friend. None that I can see. I'm pretty sure we're not going to do a cavity search," Mark joked. "Haha, very funny, Mark. Let me go and check you," Lee said, amused by the ex-military man's joke.

He searched Mark, but he was clear, no bites, none that Lee could see, I guess they'll know if one of us gets sick," Lee thought to himself. "You're all clear, Mark. No bites, none that I can see," Lee said, honestly.

Mark took a sigh of relief. "You weren't kidding about the smell," Mark said, disgusted just thinking about it. "Yeah, we got through a situation like that, and all you can say is 'the smell'? Man, you have balls of steel, man," Lee joked.

Lee and Mark started walking towards the rendezvous point that Kenny and Lily agreed on.

Naruto's POV

Naruto was in awe of Lee's speech. He didn't think that Lee felt that way, well, he kind of did, but it was a faint spark. Naruto didn't have a bad feeling, and his intuition was never wrong. It was proven right when Larry held his chest, said, "Oh God," and then fell to the ground, lifeless and not breathing. Naruto panicked, not sure what to do. He looked around, but everyone's reaction was shock.

"Dad!" Lily yelled, running over towards him, and checking on him. Naruto couldn't believe it. One moment Larry was on his feet, the next, he fell to the ground, not breathing. He couldn't let anyone die here. He wouldn't live with himself if he didn't try to help. But what could he do? He didn't know any medical techniques that could restart a heart.

As Naruto tried to remember something from his past, Clementine saw Larry in clear distress, and she was worried. Mark was also concerned, as were the others.

"No, Dad, come on, Dad! Oh God, he stopped breathing! I think he had a heart attack!" Lily said in distress. She immediately started doing CPR.

"S***Is he dead?" Kenny asked, concerned.

"He's not dead! Somebody help me!" Lily called out in desperation. "F***, if he's dead," Kenny said, shaking his head, thinking about doing something reckless.

"He's not dead!" Lily yelled at Kenny. "You know what has to happen, Mark and Lee. Think about it, guys. You heard what that vampire dude said. People come back from their graves. That doesn't mean they're just bitten. That means they actually come back when they're dead. At least that's how I interpreted it," Kenny explained his view on the situation.

Lee and Mark had expressions of uncertainty on their faces. They looked like they didn't know what to do. Mark turned to Lee. "Whatever choice you make, Lee, I'll back you. After saving me during the base, I can trust you as a friend. So I'll do what you do, my friend," Mark said loyally, making Lee smile.

"Thank you, Mark. To be honest with you, I don't know what to do," Lee said honestly.

"Hey, you two, listen here. You two can do your bromance later. We need to deal with this now," Kenny urged, trying to refocus Lee and Mark.

"Enough, all of you! What are you guys even saying?" Lily yelled at all the men.

"Lily, I'm sorry. I really am. In a few minutes, we're going to be trapped in this meat locker with a 6'4, 300 lb seriously pissed-off dead guy," Kenny said.

"F*** you! We can bring him back, Lee, Mark, help me here!" Lily yelled desperately. "We can mourn him later, but right now, we have to keep him from coming back," Kenny said, fear evident in her voice. "God damn it, Kenny! He's not dead!" Lily yelled at him, angry.

(Mindscape)

Naruto found himself in a shockingly familiar place— Iruka sensei's classroom. It was as if he never left that classroom eight years ago. However, somehow, it felt different. Naruto couldn't quite place it, but something about it felt off. Naruto did notice the door open to the classroom.

"It's Doxie. Fancy seeing you again," Doxie said, smiling with a mischievous grin.

"Why am I here, and why are you here?" Naruto questioned, confused about the entire situation. Doxie just shrugged.

"Well, I saw what happened. You being captured by that vampire—was it? That dude was too dangerous for you right now, remember?" Doxie explained.

"Just unlocked your chakra," Doxie said, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "So, are you trying to prepare me for the battle that will come with that man by helping me remember the jutsus that I had before Sasuke and I clashed during the Valley of the End?" Naruto asked, sensing that this was what she was getting at.

"Well then, I'm surprised you're way sharper than I give you credit for. Maybe this will be easy. You already know what I want to do, so let's get started, unless you have any more questions," Doxie answered, impressed.

"Yeah, I have one question. What do you know about ninjas? Aren't you just a giant nine-tailed fox spirit?" Naruto asked, curious.

"Well, I guess you weren't as sharp as I thought you were. If you paid attention to your history class, you would know the Biju have lived for thousands of years, and I have witnessed many shinobi over my thousand-year lifespan. I existed during the time when humans were first given chakra, so of course, I am not equipped for your shinobi techniques," Doxie said sarcastically.

"Okay, fair point. Let's just get this done," Naruto said, getting fed up with the red-haired vixen.

"One more thing, you'll have to call me Doxy-sensei," Doxie said, grinning. Naruto sighed, "All right, Doxy-sensei. What are we going to do first?" Naruto asked.

She walked right in front of him. "For your first jutsu, we're going to start with the basics. That means the three basic jutsu forms. We'll start with the Transformation Jutsu," Doxy explained.

"Okay, do you want me to transform into you?" Naruto answered.

"Bravo, Captain Obvious," Doxie said sarcastically. Naruto frowned, muttering to himself, "Man, I'm going to hate myself when we get to the end of this."

"Yeah, you are. Now do it," Doxie ordered. What was interesting to Naruto, as well as Doxy, was that he could do it by muscle memory. He went through the Dog, Boar, and Ram hand seals without a hitch, and he transformed into a perfect copy of Doxie.

"All right, we got humans down. Now let's see if you can transform into animals," Doxie said. The entire academy room started growing huge, and then Doxy appeared as the giant nine-tailed fox that she was. "Now try to transform into me, the same height, with as much detail as my human version," Doxie said, her voice more profound and monstrous. In response, Naruto did the same hand seals again and transformed, having everything the same—height, color, tails, and as much detail as the last transformation. Doxy smiled, and she went back into her human form, prompting Naruto to return to his normal form.

"So, what now?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"We're not quite done with the Transformation Jutsu," Doxy said. "When I say you can do the transformation jutsu perfectly, what I mean is you have to not only transform into living things but also objects. Have you ever transformed into a perfect plant or into a perfect object, and had the same weight and density?" Doxy questioned.

"Wait, you can do that?" Naruto asked, amazed.

"Of course, you can! Have you never even had the thought that you could transform into different objects or plants?" Doxie said, bewildered by his apparent lack of imagination.

"Well, no, actually. It never occurred to me, 'cause I thought it would never be possible," Naruto answered.

"That's the attitude of a failure. You must think everything is possible with chakra. How are you going to create a jutsu to save that Larry person if you can't even master the basics?" Doxie said, lecturing him. Naruto gritted his teeth, scrunched up his fists, and admitted, "You're right. How could I be so dense?"

"So, well then, what are we waiting for? Go on, transform into a perfectly lifelike plant. The reason why this is harder is because you can't think of it as just a trick," Doxie instructed.

"Disguise isn't enough anymore. You need to actually think about its function as a plant. You must think about how tall it is, how much sunlight photosynthesis it gets, how many branches it has. You need to completely visualize it as well as make it tangible," Doxy explained.

"All right," Naruto said, determined. It took Naruto several tries, but he was able to transform into a perfect plant.

Even harder to transform into an object. To know how many attempts it took him, it was challenging, as time was so different in his mindscape. But eventually, he succeeded.

"Do you get the principles of the Transformation Jutsu?" Doxy asked, trying to see if Naruto learned something.

"Yeah, I think so. I learned that I should put way more thought into how I mold jutsu and create them, how they will be," Naruto replied.

Doxy smiled. "You finally got one of the basic concepts down. Now, let's move on to the second one." Without any warning, she threw a kunai straight at him. Like with the Transformation Jutsu, his body immediately knew what to do. Weaving a Tiger, Boar, Ox, Dog, and Snake, he completed the hand seals. It looked like she hit him to the naked eye, but she smiled when she was proven wrong. Naruto had switched places with a chair that was in the room.

"Nice reaction time," Doxy praised, impressed with her container's reaction time. A normal speed like that would have killed a normal shinobi, but she guessed her container wasn't like any ordinary shinobi. "It seems like you're pretty good at the Substitution Jutsu. Doxie said, wondering if she should move on.

Naruto gave a thumbs-up and smiled. "Anything you throw at me, I'll be able to use this jutsu to dodge it all," Naruto said confidently. That answer settled her internal battle. Naruto had mastered this jutsu, too. But just to be sure, she took ten kunai and, for who knows how long, she kept throwing kunai at him, and he kept using the Substitution Jutsu every time without fail.

"Good job. You passed this jutsu by a landslide," Doxy complimented. Naruto just smiled and coughed.

"All right, for the final basic jutsu, show me your Clone Jutsu." Naruto was nervous to do this because this was always the jutsu he failed at the academy three times in a row. He took a deep breath and made the hand signs Tiger, Boar, Ox, and Dog. The clone that came out was pretty decent. It wasn't the best Clone Jutsu she had ever seen, but it was decent. It didn't even take him a lot of attempts to get the jutsu perfect.

"Now you have mastered the normal Clone Jutsu. Maybe this will help you remember your original Shadow Clone Jutsu," Naruto smiled when he heard that. "I have never forgotten that jutsu."

Emily's POV

Emily was pushed into her room and locked in. She hit her fists on the ground in frustration. She still couldn't believe her family, as well as herself, were eating humans. They were f****** cannibals. She couldn't wrap her head around it.

"Come down, Emily. Think rationally," she told herself. Despite what she told herself, she got up and hit the wall. With blinding anger, she kept pounding the wall over and over, not even caring if her knuckles were bleeding, until she broke through the wall. Before she could hit somewhere else, she didn't know what stopped her. A soft glint caught her attention, and she looked through the hole she punched through.

Silver light streamed through the hole, taking her out of her raging trance. She did notice her hand was bleeding, and it hurt like hell. She did notice that glint again. She looked in her dresser for the flashlight she always kept in one of her drawers. She checked the first one, and luckily, it was there. It was a pink flashlight, different from the color she picked. It was more of her mother's choice. She preferred black or maybe white, but she worked with what she had. There was no time to be stingy. She clicked on the flashlight and looked through the hole.

She saw a weird-looking box. It was wooden, maybe oak. She didn't quite know what it was made of, but she knew for sure it was covered in iron. The top intrigued her—a circle with a star inside of it. She had seen that sort of symbol before. She thought it was called a pentagram. She saw it in some TV show she watched once. She couldn't remember what it was called, but they used it to trap demons. This intrigued her even more. She lifted the box. It was pretty light considering what it was made out of. She didn't put it on her dresser. She had to toss her lamp to the side to leave room for it. When she looked at it more clearly, with the moonlight helping her see better, she could see some words on it.

On the top, below the pentagram, it read, "Made by St. John. Philip." She had never heard of that family member before. Emily and her dad looked at their family lineage a lot when she was little, and she had never remembered a name like Philip. If she was intrigued before, she was even more intrigued now. She saw there was a lock on it, making her frown. She didn't want to figure out how to open a lock. She checked if there was a code on the bottom, which luckily there was. The code was 1900. When she put those numbers together, it was a year—maybe when the box was made. It made sense to her now. The family tree that she and her father looked at only went to 1940, so was this an earlier descendant of the St. John family? That seemed likely, Emily thought to herself.

She put the number combination into the lock, and it opened. She put the lock to the side, opened the box, and saw four things inside. She grabbed the first thing on top, which was a paper. She unfolded it, and it read:

"If you find this, my daughter, then that must mean I have left this world, leaving you and your brothers and your mother behind. And I must mean what I have feared came to pass, and the family is in what they used to be. It truly saddens me that you'll have to find out this way. I was going to tell you when you were 18, but in case I don't, this note will tell you everything, as well as the notebook that's inside of this box that you might have on your side.

Let me start from the beginning, my daughter. The St. Johns were given the name not just by coincidence. We were the descendants of John, one of the..."

"Apostles of Jesus, so our family says, but I do decline to believe them. Our family was tasked by Jesus himself to exterminate God's unfaithful children. When I say 'unfaithful children,' I mean humans that stray from the godly path, which most humans have done. But there are some humans that stray off the path and then find a whole other path even more monstrous than the original, elder path. Our family was tasked to slay these monsters, and God gave us tools to do it. I really did not want you to get involved in this business, not because you're a girl, but because you are my daughter. And as a parent, that would be the last thing I would ever want you to do as a profession. Most of our family died from this profession. There are not all of us left. Luckily, Philip, as well as my elder family members—this was before I was born—Philip sealed all these monsters in a seal. If ever that seal would break, I would have to be called to go and slay these beasts, which is why I'm writing this letter to you. This is a hard thing to ask, being a parent and all, but I need you to slay these beasts because if you don't, all of humanity will fall. And all of the goodness that God brings to this world will be snuffed out, and Lucifer would win, as I'm told. If I'm not here to teach you, that notebook inside the box would be a good teacher for you. As well as there's a cross inside the notebook that you would use. The cross and the book will go into way more details than I can do in this note. Only you, as well as another Saint John, can read that book. No other human can do it, just us. It will just look like gibberish to them, so keep that in mind. It isn't impossible to teach people how to use our techniques. It will be very difficult, though. The last thing I want to say: I love you, Emily, and I hope you find peace. Stay nice, stay my little girl. Never change. I love you so much. Nothing but love. And please don't die because our family has died enough doing this profession. You could always not take this profession. I would be fine with that. Whatever you choose, I'll be happy. From Dad."

After Emily read that note, she was tearing up near the end.

"Daddy," she said to herself. She then looked through the box again and saw the notebook. She quickly skimmed through it; it seemed pretty complicated, but that didn't stop her. She would figure it out eventually. She then grabbed the cross with Jesus being crucified on it and put it around her neck. The last thing in the box was a picture of her father and her, and it made her ball her eyes out, crying. After collecting herself, she immediately realized what being a Saint John means—it means putting others before your own needs. She remembered that group might have been stashed in that meat locker, probably in the barn. She can't let them die, not if she's a Saint John and has to face the vampire. It means she'll have to kill him. She's going to need some help, so she should probably go and save those people and get them some weapons too.

"Naruto, you're alive. I hope you're okay," Emily said to herself. She quickly checked her closet and saw a backpack, a bright green one big enough to hold a few small guns and weapons. She put it on her back and grabbed her father's jacket that he gave her before he died. It fits snugly like it was always meant to. She quickly went to the window; it was raining outside, but she didn't care. She opened the window, and luckily, the roof would be able to hold her weight.

"Don't worry, Naruto. I'm going to help you and everyone else that is with you," Emily said, determined.

Carly POV

They had been walking for hours. Originally, they were running, but then they got tired, so they had to walk. But that didn't stop the tenseness that was around all of them. For all they knew, there could be bandits ambushing them at any moment.

After the attack at the Motor Inn, everyone was on their guard 110%. But as they approached a hill overlooking the St. John Dairy, to their surprise and horror, they saw many vehicles around the fields of the dairy, as well as many people walking around in the distance. They looked like specks. They could tell that they were people, not animals because they were moving so organized, and there were so many of them, not grouped like a herd.

"Doug, hun, did you bring the binoculars, as I said?" Carly asked Doug. Her boyfriend put down his backpack and started looking through it. He grabbed black binoculars.

"Are these the ones you wanted me to bring?" Doug asked.

"Yes, thank you, hun. This will be a big help," Carly said, giving Doug a quick peck on the lips, making Ben and Travis just uncomfortable. It was in a bad way, more of an awkward way. Of course, they're not going to say anything. It wasn't the time for it. Carly used the binoculars to get a closer look at what they were facing.

Dealing with the situation at the dairy, Carly observed many men patrolling the outer perimeter of the fence, which should be electrified. This meant they shouldn't attempt to go over the fence unless they wanted to get electrocuted. They also couldn't walk in without risking getting shot or facing worse consequences. Carly needed to figure out a way through the defenses where there were no human guards or find a vulnerable spot.

With her binoculars, she identified two potential routes. There weren't many guards near the outer fence, especially in the nearly barren area. On the other hand, near the silo where Lee and Mark got shot at, there weren't many guards either. Carly thought for a moment about their next move until she was interrupted by Ben, who was getting nervous and scared.

"Maybe we should go, guys, or at least think of a better plan than just walking in," Ben suggested. "People could be down there, who knows what's happening to them. Get a hold, Ben," Carly said, siding with him. "Don't worry, I have a plan for us to not get spotted easily and to cover more ground. Let's split up into two teams. Doug and I to our right, Ben and Travis, you guys go to the silo where that tractor is," she pointed to show the location.

"Do you guys understand?" Both Ben and Travis nodded in understanding. "When will we know when all of us are in position? What's the signal?" Travis asked, concerned about that aspect.

Carly walked over to Travis and handed him the binoculars. "You'll know when we're in a position when you see us using our knees. Understand? Doug and I will be pretty obvious in your direction, probably."

Travis seemed reassured and smiled at Carly. "Me and Ben, we understand. We'll do it as quickly as we can."

"Good. And one more thing for communication," Carly then went into Doug's bag and grabbed two objects. She threw one of them at Ben, who fumbled with it but managed to keep it in his hands. It was a radio. Carly had the other radio.

"This is how we'll communicate when we're in position," Carly said, smirking. "Now what are we waiting for? Let's get our people out of here." Carly ordered, uncertain about the trials that lay ahead, but she knew she would be ready for them, as she always had been.

Naruto's POV

Naruto immediately opened his eyes, now aware of the situation and realizing he had a jutsu that could save Larry. But before he could do anything, a heated argument broke out. Lily insisted that they could still save Larry, and Lee expressed his reluctance to kill Larry until he knew for sure that Larry would come back after having a complete speech. Kenny disagreed.

"He could relapse, Lily. You gotta think about this," Kenny argued. Naruto couldn't believe his ears. He needed to take action before Kenny did something drastic. Naruto walked over to Larry, getting down on his knees.

"Look, Kenny. Back at the drugstore, everyone thought Duck was bitten. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe we should do the same now. Larry might not relapse. It's different," Lee reasoned, not wanting to kill Larry just yet.

"That was different, Duck wasn't bitten. Come on, we know this dude isn't going to make it. So, I'm thinking, maybe if we destroy the head, you know, the brain, it will probably kill him for good," Kenny planned out, looking over toward a bunch of salt licks in the left corner of the meat locker.

"And then turn the mark in, Lee. Come on, you guys, you can't be on the fence on this one. You have to have my back," Kenny urged. Everyone turned when they heard an electric jolt.

"What the hell?" Kenny said, turning towards Larry, now a corpse. Naruto did another flurry of hand signs, placing his hand on where Larry's heart would be, giving another electric jolt. Lily then started using CPR, giving chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth.

"Come on, Larry, you can't be rid of the world of the living just yet. I won't allow it!" Naruto yelled. Everyone in the entire meat locker was shocked as Naruto improvised a makeshift defibrillator. There was a glimmer of hope, and Kenny, not saying anything else, went towards Larry, wanting to help.

"Is there anything I can do?" Lee asked, determined to save Larry.

"You can take over chest compressions, Lily. You do mouth-to-mouth once he's done with chest compressions. Mark, you make sure Kenny doesn't get any ideas," Naruto directed, looking over towards the family man. Mark immediately got in front of Kenny protectively. This made Kenny back down; he wasn't going to do anything anyway. This would provide more assurance than needed.

It seemed like a thousand years that they were working, but it was most likely three minutes. That's when Larry took his first gasp, and he was breathing, though weakly. It would be a while before he regained consciousness, but he was alive. They were able to get his heart working in time. Lee, Lily, and Naruto—all smiled in relief.

That's when the door to the meat locker opened.

Emily's POV

When Emily opened the window, she immediately started getting soaked because it was storming really bad outside, thunder crackling every minute. Despite how wet and cold she felt, she still had to complete the task that she told herself she would do—help Naruto and the people he holds dear. It's the least that she can do to atone for what her family has done.

She climbed out of the window. At first, the roof felt slippery. She was trying to get her balance, but she succeeded, and she lowered herself feet first. The muscles in her arms burned from lowering herself down. When she landed on the hardwood floor of the patio, it made a creak sound, which made her. Grimacing in worry, Emily reminded herself to keep her cool. She stayed low enough that no one could see her through the windows. She heard footsteps coming around the corner, so she quickly moved to the opposite corner. One more turn, and she would be at the back of the property. Emily encouraged herself, staying vigilant.

As she made her way, she became curious upon hearing muffled voices inside the house. Deciding to take a look, she peered through the kitchen window and saw her mother, the woman with the man in the cap, and his younger child, all being held at gunpoint. Anger welled up in her at the injustice of using these innocent people as leverage.

She noticed some sharp knives in the kitchen that could be used as weapons. Emily considered keeping them for herself or maybe giving them to others who might need them. Playing out her next moves in her mind, she decided to grab the weapons for Naruto's people.

Emily then lowered herself to the ground in a crouched position and moved toward the next corner. Hearing a noise, she saw the cellar next to the stairs, which would be considered the backyard. Though rusted and not in good condition since her father's death, it wasn't locked. She lifted the latch, opened the door, and quickly went inside, closing the door behind her.

In the pitch-black darkness, she fumbled through her backpack and found the flashlight. As she activated it, she heard a groaning sound that made her jump in surprise and fear. Slowly walking down the stairs, she couldn't see much until she pointed the flashlight to her right, revealing a construction bench where her father kept his tools. It seemed barren, and she needed a closer look.

Suddenly, she heard another groan, resembling someone in pain or an animal. Turning in the opposite direction, she saw something horrifying—her father, now one of those creatures. Trembling and tearing up, she dropped to her knees in front of him. She forgot about her initial mission for a moment, but then she snapped out of it.

"I'm sorry. It should have been me, not you," Emily said. Her father responded with animalistic growls, attempting to lunge toward her but being stopped by the shackles around his hands, feet, and neck. Unable to bear her father's suffering, Emily decided to walk over to the tool bench.

Seeing a screwdriver on the tool bench, Emily grabbed it, trembling with the knowledge of what she had to do. She walked over to her father, reflecting on both the good and bad times they shared. She pledged to eradicate every monster to spare others from fear. With a deep breath, she backed up the screwdriver to gain leverage and plunged it through the side of her father's skull, aiming to preserve his face. The first attempt seemed ineffective, and with a heavier swing on the second try, she finally ended his suffering.

Feeling disgusted and sickened, Emily resisted the urge to throw up. Focusing on pressing issues, she spotted a wrench on the tool bench, which she added to her bag. She left the blood-stained screwdriver behind her pants.

As she started cleaning up, she heard the cellar doors opening. Reacting quickly, she turned off the flashlight, gripped her screwdriver, and felt anger welling up. Two men entered, discussing the paranoia of one, who claimed to hear something. Emily, accustomed to the darkness, prepared to attack.

She swiftly plunged the screwdriver into one man, causing him to gurgle in pain. The other man panicked, asking what happened. Emily, fueled by rage, stabbed the first man in the kneecap, making him kneel, and then repeatedly stabbed him anywhere she could. When she snapped back to her senses and turned on her flashlight, horror washed over her. The blood on her hands intensified her shock, and she couldn't hold back the overwhelming nausea. She vomited on the ground, completely overwhelmed by what she had done.

Emily, devoid of emotions, focused on her singular objective: helping Naruto's group escape. She began searching for weapons and found a couple of combat knives and a military-grade gun. She also packed a bow and arrow and the wrench from the tool bench. These five weapons would suffice for the task at hand.

In her emotionless tone, she contemplated her next move, strategizing how to reach the group undetected. The basement seemed like a viable route, and she pondered cutting through the house to navigate her way up. Ready with her screwdriver, Emily steeled herself for the possibility of facing more brutality than before.

​

Alright, ladies and gentlemen.

It's been a while since I've last been the main host. And by a while, I mean about half a year ago. Damn.

But here I am, finally back in charge! And just like last time, I'm not alone. Why don't you take a stab at guessing who it is?

“You guys might wonder, ‘aren’t you retired?’ To which the answer is simple, I have to help host this March”. Yo that’s a pun in a pun

In case you haven't guessed it yet by his unique sense of humor, my co-host here is u/NazbazOG. Previously retired as a judge, he has decided to come back and grant me the honor of borrowing me his experience in judging your future rushed masterpieces. And I know these works will be good (read as: "they'd better be good" 😡), because I believe you will enjoy playing around with that theme.

Indeed, I expect all of you to play around with the idea of evil. I wanted to go for a similar theme a while ago with Canisventus until we settled for Truce. And recently, a conversation with u/LokiSmokey reawakened my interest in quite a few questions:

Is there such a thing as a evil human being or simply evil actions? Does that label keep one grounded about morality? Or is it an hypocritical way to distance ourselves from our corruptible human nature? What does being evil mean in a world where the lines between good and bad may become unclear? Are people only bad because they're pushed by circumstances? Or were they always bad and only needed an excuse to set the world on fire? Is it always possible to ever come back from one's vile nature, no matter how heinous?

This is an interesting theme to work with, because the possibilities are countless. The main conflict could be about Good VS Evil or the Evil within (whether it's about conquering it or letting it consume oneself) among other things. The evildoer, who can range from a particularly ruthless "anti-hero" to a pure professional puppy punter, doesn't even have to be the protagonist. But one thing for sure, the story must contain at least ONE evil act and regardless of the period it's place at, should serve as the backbone of the story. In addition, here are a few other rules:

• You can ONLY submit one entry.

• The entry MUST be TWDG related.

• Its narrative MUST utilize this month’s theme.

• It MUST be a one-shot.

• It MUST be linked in the comments of this post.

• Prequels to existing stories are allowed as long as they are loosely connected.

• The deadline is set at March, 26 12:00 AM CET, which leaves you just a bit under 25 days to come up with your idea of evil.

• Last but not least, have fun (Mandatory)

Good luck!

Lee's POV

Lee heard many voices as he was coming through the front door of St. John's house. He noticed the big bookshelf. Then he saw Lily coming out of the bathroom, probably washing her hands. She looked at him with a curious look that Lee couldn't figure out the meaning of.

"Sorry about the mess over there," he said, gesturing towards the bookshelf blocking something. "A walker got in from there. Don't worry; that was a while ago, and nothing like that has happened since," Andy explained.

As Andy walked past Lee, Lee noticed he had a gun behind his pants, which didn't help ease his nerves at all.

Then, he hit someone by accident. He wasn't looking where he was going, but he saw it was Emily, their little sister.

"Sorry about that," Lee apologized.

"No, it was my fault. Don't worry about it," Emily said, smiling. She did walk towards the dining room, where everyone seemed excited for dinner. Mark and Duck, especially.

"Everybody sit down, and I'll go and get dinner in a minute. Oh, this is such a delight," Brenda said happily.

"I could eat a horse," Kenny said, excited for dinner. Lee couldn't blame him; they hadn't eaten in days. Of course, he wasn't sure what they were feeding them, which made him more afraid for Clementine as well as everyone. He did notice Clementine was sitting right next to Naruto, which lessened his fears that she would be alone with these people. But then he realized Naruto too could handle protecting her as well as the rest of the group members. He must trust in them; he can't do everything himself, but he can do a lot himself. That's when he noticed a sticky note on his chest. He quickly grabbed it so nobody would know. Luckily, nobody noticed. He quickly read it, "Something's upstairs." That's it. That's pretty vague, Lee thought to himself. Did Lee have his suspicions? Well, now he has more of an idea of what St. Johns are than ever before, and this just gives him the incentive to check out what was upstairs and finally get to the bottom of this and what exactly they are hiding. Lee does know something for sure: he won't like what it is, that's for sure. He snapped out of his thoughts by Brenda.

"Would you be a sweetheart and go and wash your hands before dinner? You've been mucking out in the dirt all day. If it's no trouble," Brenda asked, kind as ever.

"That seems reasonable to me. I'll be back," Lee said, turning to Naruto and Clementine for one more time. He then left to go and wash his hands because, to be honest with himself, his hands were pretty dirty, so he'd do that first.

Naruto's POV

Naruto didn't know why, but he was nervous right now. It was like he couldn't shake off this feeling that everything would go wrong very quickly. That's why he scooted closer to Clementine. He hadn't been around and hadn't interacted with her too much, but he did care about her a lot, as well as everyone else in this group. He would do anything for these guys, even if they don't do it for him; he would still do it for them.

He saw Emily walking in, and he thought this was intentional. She sat right next to him, and it looked like she was nervous. She was shaking, and in her eyes, there was worry, anticipating something. This made Naruto even tenser than before; something bad was coming.

"Here are the dinners, everyone," Brenda, her name is, started laying them out. They didn't look too bad, but then that's when Naruto smelled a terrible odor. He didn't know where it was coming from, but it made him want to gag. He pressed his nose with a napkin to muffle the smell. It wasn't a terrible smell; it was a smell like danger, and he wanted to get away from it. None of these smells made any sense to him. That's when Naruto knew that Emily was even more distressed when she looked at the meal like she knew something that everyone else didn't. He also knew something that no one else did. It looked like nobody else could smell the terrible odor, not even Emily, but he did.

Naruto thought, "Think, think, you stupid," chastising himself. "It smells so bad; this doesn't make any sense." He was then snapped out of his thoughts when he heard somebody coming down the stairs fast. That's when he saw Lee, and he also noticed Clementine starting to eat that stuff.

Lee POV

(3 minutes ago)

After a few minutes of looking around upstairs, Lee figured out there was a room behind the bookcase. He pushed it aside, and it took him a minute. He hoped nobody would come up here as he was doing this because the bookcase was making a lot of noise. Luckily, nobody did, or he would be screwed.

Behind the bookcase was a door. Lee felt scared and anxious. He asked himself what could be behind this door. Were the dairy farmers using all these medical supplies for something sinister? He found a bear trap in the forest, and what did that entire room in the barn mean? So many things, but there was one piece of the puzzle he didn't have or he would receive. Maybe if he opened the door, but what if he was wrong? He would have been blaming these people for no reason. He'd feel pretty terrible about himself if he did that. For a moment, he took his hand away from the door in contemplation. But with all his resolve, he opened the door, and he was horrified by what he saw.

He saw an entire human being chopped up. It looked like a man. He didn't know who this man was, but this must have been a terrible fate. His head was in the middle of the sink, and Lee was horrified. That's when it clicked in Lee's head—the bear trap. That meant they must have captured people. That's why they altered the release.

After discovering the gruesome scene behind the door, Lee realized that those people who went missing must have been captured for more sinister purposes. They were not just looking for gas; they were using the area as their hunting grounds. The deranged woman he encountered in the woods probably intended to reveal this before she was killed to keep everything hidden. The skins of the humans in the back of the barn weren't to prevent the kitchen from getting messy; it was to hide their horrifying secret.

Before he could finish processing this revelation, Brenda called out to him, "Lee, did you fall in there? Dinner's ready. If you don't mind, we're going to eat without you."

Lee's heart dropped, and he immediately thought of Clementine. Without hesitation, he bolted into action, rushing down the stairs as fast as he could. He couldn't let Clementine or anyone else eat that disgusting stuff; it wouldn't be right. Just in time, he reached them, and before Clementine could eat any of the food, he yelled, "Clementine, no!"

Everyone was surprised, and Clementine, along with Naruto and the others, stopped. Lee had been successful; Clementine didn't eat any of the food. Larry sarcastically asked if Lee had found something, and Lily expressed concern, but Lee knew it was a lie.

"Sit your ass down, Lee. This lady has made you a meal. Have some decency, for Pete's sake," Larry said angrily.

"Come on, Mr. Larry, maybe Lee has a good reason for stopping us," Naruto suggested, not knowing what to do in this situation.

"Yeah, Lee, what's gotten into you?" Lily asked, concerned and cautious. Brenda urged him to sit down, but Lee could see through the kindness on her face.

"It didn't have to be this way," Danny said honestly, looking outside. Lee followed his gaze and saw lights blinking in unison. Everyone else noticed the lights and the confusion and fear in the room grew. Kenny voiced his confusion, wondering if more people were surrounding the dairy. The synchronized blinking lights looked like a group of about 20 people, which was terrifying to Lee.

"You guys are eating human meat," Lee found himself saying, not sure why he said it. Perhaps he hoped to alert the group that they were consuming human flesh and needed to stop. Everyone was taken aback, except for Naruto and Saint Johns, especially Emily, who looked even more distressed. "So, it is true," she whispered.

to herself. "Come again, dear," Brenda said in her motherly voice.

"So you guys do eat human meat? That means that man was right. We are cannibals. Holy s***," Emily said, in absolute disbelief and disgust, mostly disbelief. Her loving brothers and loving mother—she didn't blame them at all. She didn't know this was happening.

"That's crazy," Lily said, shocked. "What the hell," Kenny added, also shocked.

"Settle down now," Brenda said, trying to shut down the conversation. "You're scaring the kids, Lee," Kenny said, sounding scared himself, especially with those lights blinking outside. "What in the hell is wrong with you?" Lily said, sounding scared and in disbelief at what Lee was saying. Well, he didn't blame her. If he hadn't seen what was in that room, he wouldn't believe it either. But they needed to know, so he kept pushing further, trying to convince them. He had to keep his cool, despite his fear and frustration with Larry. This was a dangerous situation, and he must keep his cool no matter what if they were to help themselves stay alive. "They're picking us off to trade as meat, maybe to those bandits. Remember, Mark?" Lee then turned to Mark, who was just staying silent, still unable to believe what Lee was saying. He did believe it, though; he was just in shock. When Lee talked to him, that snapped him out of it. "Remember when I got attacked by those bandits? They're probably going to trade us as meat," Lee said, making Mark horrified. He believed what Lee was saying, and that was a start.

"You're out of your skull," Larry said, not believing that anything Lee said was true. It was making Lee frustrated, but he kept his cool, taking two deep breaths.

"There's a man literally upstairs chopped to pieces. You can go up there and check. I don't care!" Lee yelled, not as calm as he thought he would be, but it did what he needed it to do. He started getting through to everyone, and they all looked horrified, tense, and scared.

"Brenda, tell me if we're not eating human flesh or not," he said, wanting to hear it from her. With everybody watching her, she just sighed. "It's true," Brenda said simply. Everything would have turned out good with you folks," Danny said, still looking at the blinking lights, which they now knew were getting closer, making everyone even more scared.

Andy argued, "He was going to die anyway, that man you found upstairs. We have to think about living."

"Settle down, honey. Growing up in rural Georgia, you're taught not to waste. It's how I was raised, and that's how I raised my boys, as well as my daughter. But she was a slow study, though," Brenda said to herself, adding, "Figures." She sighed. "Now you just have monsters roaming around that do nothing but eat people. We think we can use that meat for better use."

When Brenda said this, it was like he was on cue. The doorbell rang, and it was a more ominous one, making everyone jump. They had time for the brothers to pull out their guns.

"The door's unlocked. You can come in!" Andy yelled as the door opened. That's when five people with fully loaded rifles came through the door, aiming their guns at the group. One of the men signaled to leave, and he had to put his hands up. "Holy s***," he said, surprised but also terrified.

"Do what your friend says, man," a man with black sunglasses said, which everyone did, other than the St. Johns, who just got up with the people. "What the f*** is this?" Kenny said, clearly angry but scared.

"You wonder what this is," a man said behind the four men, which made Mark's eyes widen when he heard that voice. "No, you can't be. Oh s***, it's you, isn't it? Isn't it, Jackson?" Mark yelled, making the rest of the group surprised.

A man came out of these four men. He had brown hair and a good beard, trimmed every day to make sure it was perfect. His eyes were red, not bloodshot red, just a crimson red iris that made Lee shudder. And that wasn't the most terrifying thing about his eyes; they were slit like an animal's as if all of them were his prey. When he came closer to the light, his skin was as pale as snow, unnatural. His hands had nails sharpened like he'd thrown them out and then sharpened them; they looked razor-sharp. He then smiled when he saw Mark. That's when everyone knew his teeth were sharp, straight, and serrated. Two of his canines were longer than the others; it was unnatural. They didn't think a person like this could even exist. There was something about him that made them all scared—scared more than they had ever been in their entire lives. They felt like they wanted to run, but they couldn't. They were just paralyzed with fear. They could probably see the same fear in all of them.

"Mark, it's been a long time. I thought you would die in that freezer," Jackson said, his voice disgusting. It was just silent; nobody could say a word.

"Jackson, why? Why are you doing this, man? What happened to you?" Mark asked his old friend. Jackson just smiled, a disgusting smile.

"Why? Because I'm hungry, of course. I love eating human flesh; it's the tastiest thing in the market, especially for little girls and boys. They're the most juicy," he looked over towards Clementine and Duck, especially preteens. "And they're gross, too sweaty for my taste, but I'll still let my boys eat it," gesturing to Emily and Naruto.

Andy had a problem with that immediately. "Hey, we had a deal. You could have the rest, but you're not having my sister, okay, man?" Andy said.

Jackson just smiled. "Yep, you're right. I guess it's just the boys. You'll just get him," he said. When Lee saw Naruto's face, he was disgusted, but he couldn't do anything because there were so many people who were armed and pointing at his friends. Honestly, if he would have done something, it wasn't for that fact.

"Damn you, Jackson. I'm not letting you kill these people or even eat them. You're disgusting, man. Have you always been this—what happened? Tell me why," Mark said, angry as well as confused, confronting his friend.

"It was never like this; exactly what happened to him, I guess you're going to die and be eaten anyway. I guess I could tell you, well, you know, those little, what do you call those things, the Dead? Will you call these things again? We called them walkers," Naruto said, looking at Jackson without any fear.

"Oh yes, walkers. Well, they're not the only things that returned. You see, during the Victorian times in the Gothic era, we vampires - well, I may be the only vampire to my knowledge, but there are others. Walking corpses have existed before this point, but they haven't happened on a world scale. There was a person named Garfield and his family, sworn to hunt us all down. He did, he killed a lot of us, but you can't kill all of us. There are so many of us that he had to seal us away, along with other magical monsters. So, you see, March 12th was when an energy disturbance served the seal, and it broke, releasing the dead, as well as other magical creatures like myself. I was originally a vampire. I got turned into one three days before the outbreak. Of course, the reason why I pushed you in the freezer was because of this fact, Mark.

But now, I have no other words. I'll now rip you to shreds and then rip your remains and then consume your flesh," his mouth started watering as he was thinking this. Everyone was shocked. Vampires exist. We couldn't believe it. He thought they were only stories.

"You guys must think I'm just telling a story, I'm just lying," he started laughing. "You guys are all wrong. Why do you think crosses exist? It's to ward off creatures like myself. But you guys don't have a cross, do you? Or any blessing from God. You're going to die here, but I won't make it fast. I'll slowly make sure you're conscious when we cut you into parts to the last slice of your human flesh." The bloodlust was getting so bad; that most people were starting to hurl. Lily, Katjaa, Clementine, Duck, as well as Emily, were all terrified. Naruto was also terrified, but he didn't show it. Lee, honest with himself, was terrified as well. He didn't see any way for them to get out of this. How he saw it, they're all dead.

"But we can't give up. If I have to die protecting the Clan, as well as everyone else, then so be it." Before he could get up, Kenny had the same idea. He merely got up and tried to run towards Jackson with a knife, attempting to stab him, but Jackson effortlessly hit him with the back of his hand, just bitch-slapped him to the ground, knocking him out. Such a gross thing to do, blood butts, I guess.

"Consume it so it is what it is. He really thought he could beat me. He really did," Kenny looked out cold, not dead. That made, at least, a relief. Now he was unsure if he should even try as Luke. Kenny tried, and he got himself knocked out, but then Andy came over towards Clem and grabbed her, which ticked Lee off immensely. He couldn't control himself. We just gave this primal roar; he didn't care if he would die here. Nobody touches his girl. But Danny made sure to let me know that he was not in control by shoving a gun near his neck as he was trying to lunge at the older St. John brother. This amused Jackson a lot because he started laughing. Human emotions, they're such finicky things. I love seeing them; it's how imperfect they are. I'm not even sure why God even gave you guys these emotions. They have only done you guys no good, Jackson said, pondering to himself.

We had no choice but to sit down, but he was angry. It also made Naruto angry, but he knew he couldn't do anything, not with everyone at risk. He just sighs, but sadly we can't restrain you guys all, or we don't have enough people or enough vehicles to get you guys all in there without escaping. So, Andy, Jackson turned to the oldest St. John who was holding Clementine, "Do you have any place to put the adults as well as some of the children?" Jackson asked.

"Actually, yeah. We can put them in the meat locker. But can I make one request?" Andy asked. Jackson thought about it very well, "What is your request?" Jackson said.

"Well, our cow is sick, or she's pregnant. If we want this deal to work proficiently, we need Maybell to be in top-fit shape, as well as her baby could be used to make more biscuits and bread that we could give other groups so you guys can get more food. So, we would like the blonde lady right there, as well as her son as leverage, so she'll work on her, you know, for incentive. You see where I'm coming from, right, man?" Andy proposed.

"You're showing some reasonable points. I guess that's why we leave you guys alive and not other groups. Very well, we will allow you to have the woman as well as the boy to stay out of the meat locker, but we'll make sure two of my men are with them at all times," Jackson said, quickly ordering two of his men to do the task that he said.

"No, it's going to be harder to get you guys in there without killing you guys, so I guess we'll knock you out. It will be hard to get you guys there because I'm pretty sure you're all pretty heavy, other than the children, of course. They'll be pretty light, but it's a price to pay. You guys know the drill, boys," Jackson ordered. All four men started knocking out everyone one by one. Lee was one of the first to get knocked out. The last thing he saw was Clementine as well as Naruto being knocked out. Clementine, no. Everything went black, and Lee went unconscious, not knowing what the fate of his group would be.

Naruto's POV

Naruto heard voices yelling; he thought one of them was Larry. He got up from the floor, shaking his head. The haziness went away, and he could hear now.

"Open this goddamn door!" Larry yelled, pounding on the door of the meat locker, not letting up anytime soon. Then, he saw Clementine. She walked over to him.

"Are you okay?" she said, scared.

"I'm all right. Where's Lee?" Naruto said, looking around. He then saw a man knocked out. "Yep, that's Lee. It's going to wake him up," Naruto said to himself.

He walked over to Lee, trying to push him awake, but he wouldn't wake up. So he decided to slap him awake, giving him a good hard smack, and he immediately jolted awake.

"What the f***?" Lee yelled, clearly surprised. Naruto then heard Larry say, "You can't keep us in here!" Larry yelled, still slamming on the door. "Open up! I will tear you f****** apart!" Larry yelled.

"Well, you stop that pounding. We've got to find another way out of here," Kenny said, frustrated. Naruto noticed Lily throwing up in the corner, which was honestly pretty gross. But given what they had consumed, he didn't blame them, not at all. When Naruto thought about it, he could have done more to prevent this. He was a damn ninja, after all. He could only blame himself, but they're in this situation.

"You sick f****** bastards!" Larry kept yelling, which was starting to get on everyone's nerves.

"Open the door, goddamn it!" Larry kept yelling. Naruto could give him one good point – he was persistent, that's for sure. But nausea shook his disagreements with how Larry was handling the situation. He focused on Lee, who was having a hard time coming to, even with that slap.

Clementine then noticed what Naruto was doing, and she saw Lee waking up. "Lee!" she yelled, running towards him. It made Lee smile despite the situation they were in; he must keep his spirits up somehow. "This is a good thing. Stop, Dad, it's not helping," Lily tried to get her dad to calm down, fearing that he might have another heart attack like at the drugstore.

"If it was a person, they tried to make us eat a person," Clementine said, clearly disturbed by what they tried to make her eat. This made Naruto angry. Eating human flesh was just disgusting – the worst thing. Not even the worst rogue ninjas would ever do that. There are certain things that ninjas, as well as people, don't cross, and when you cross that point, you're gone. There's no redemption for you, at least he didn't think so. No, Naruto thought, nothing like that. Even if they eat human flesh, they could still redeem themselves. Or can they? Naruto can't have this morality; he needs to stick to the situation. They need to get out of here, so he snaps back to reality.

"But you didn't do it," Lee said, still waking up.

"No," she simply said. "The rest of us did."

Larry turned towards Lee. "Goddamn it, if you didn't drag your feet, maybe we wouldn't be in this situation!" Larry yelled, clearly upset, and his dislike for Lee had only heightened. So, technically off, but he sort of thought more rationally. The first thing he thought: they needed to get out of there. This is what Naruto thought he was thinking, as he can't read him right now, but he's pretty sure that's what he's thinking.

"Come on, Dad, not the time right now," Lily said, still dry-heaving.

"Are you okay, Naruto? Clementine, they didn't hurt you, right?" Lee said, worried.

"Well, I'm not sure if they heard Clem, but I didn't. I got knocked out, just like you did. I think you did see it too if that's the last thing I saw – you watching me get knocked out," to explain his side of what happened.

"No, they didn't. I was pretty much the only one who didn't get knocked out, so I was just waiting for everyone to wake up," Clementine explained. Naruto felt terrible; she had to wait all by herself just for them to wake up. Poor girl.

One thing that worried him was Emily. He didn't know why he was so concerned about her. She might have been his enemy, but he had a feeling that she didn't even know this was going to happen. She might be a victim as much as we are. "I must have hope that she is a good person and not like her family, Lee. Those psychos have my family as well as a f****** vampire. After we get out of here, we're going to f****** talk about that s***," Kenny said, panicked and in disbelief.

"I know, man. A damn vampire," that's when he remembered. "Oh s***, where's Mark?" Naruto started, seeing Lee look around. Then they noticed Mark was under a crate. "Okay, I wonder how he got under there," Lee told himself, "and why didn't anybody wake him up?" We asked. Kenny then noticed Mark under that crate. "Holy s***, I did not notice him," Lee goes and tries.

To lift the crate off of Mark, Naruto decided to help him. With both of them helping, they were able to lift the crate from him. They didn't wake up Mark.

"Mark, wake up, man. We will need your help on this," Lee told Mark. Mark immediately jolted. "What happened?" he said, Paisley Jumpman. "We had to figure out how to get out of here. We're in a damn meat locker," Lee told Mark.

Mark immediately got focused and nearly got up. "So then, what should we do? Should we look around to see our best course of action or s***, man, I don't know what to do. I'm too shocked that my friend turned out like that. I was not expecting that," Mark said, still shocked by the revelation that his best friend, no mind you, was a vampire.

"Let's just focus on trying to get out of here, and after we get out of the dairy, we'll then talk about this. Trust me, we will," Lee tried to make Mark focus, and he succeeded. Mark was refocused and started looking for a way to get out of there.

Meanwhile, Naruto saw Larry slowing down and starting to take more gasping breaths. He knew this couldn't be good, so he needed to tell him to stop and calm down. Unless that's how it will go in his mind, not sure how it will go in real life or just need to see. He walked over towards Mr. Larry.

"Please, you want to attract their attention even more, Naruto tried to reason. Larry paused for a second, figuring out how to get a way out of there.

"Let me do my thing, Naruto, please," Naruto didn't know how to respond to that. That's when Lee walked over.

"Please, Larry, don't stress out your heart as you have been doing. You need to calm down and think," Lee reasoned or tried to. They decided to talk to Larry now; when will he get a better chance? It might be a terrible time, but Lee honestly doesn't care right now. He just wants to get this off of his chest.

"I guess your girlfriend wasn't all she was cracked up to be," Lee said, not trying to be subtle about how much he disliked him. Naruto didn't know how to react to this conversation; he just decided to let Lee work it out.

"What in the hell is your problem?" Larry asked, menacingly. "You are a prick. Back at the Motor Inn, even after I saved your f****** life, you went out of your way to be a ****** to me tonight," Larry said, recounting all the events of the day. Naruto saw them differently. Larry was just angry; he wasn't thinking clearly. He wasn't recalling actual events; he was just saying how he felt, not facts. Bernard just stayed quiet, seeing how Lee would handle the situation.

"You must really hate me, did you?" Larry asked, truly convinced that Lee hated him. "But guess what? You're stuck with me. I'm planning on living longer than you will. And when you turn, I'll be the one to put the ax in your head," Larry said, truly expressing how he feels.

Lee just sighed. "I'm not your enemy, Larry. I never was. I want to hash out our differences. Why you hate me, I can never understand, or you won't let me understand. But we can't be fighting right now. You see the situation we're in. We can't both be fighting this. We need to work together. I need your help on this, so can we please put aside all of our differences just to get out of here alive? Can we please do that because I have given you no reason to hate me? All those things you said, they're not true, are they? And you know that deep inside. So, please, help us get out of here. But don't just bang on the door. Actually, help us search for a way out of here. If there's any way that you can help us, please, because I don't think I can do this on my own. I need everybody's help. I could never do stuff on my own. I could do a lot."

"On my own, but not everything. What do you say, man?" Lee's speech captivated everyone in the meat locker, even Naruto, who was shocked. Larry's expression changed. He looked like he was going to say something, but then he started clutching his chest.

"God, you," then fell to the ground, having a heart attack. Snore was shocked. "F***Larry!" Naruto quickly checked his pulse; he had no pulse. "Can't let Mr. Larry die. I just can't. All those times, it just won't be right. You do something, come to mind. There must be some Jutsu that I can use. I can help get his heart started. I need to think."

Mark's POV

(Flashback)

This story started nearly 24 years ago. I was around 10 years old or something like that; it's really hard to remember now. I didn't always live down in Georgia; I used to live in Brooklyn, New York and was mostly raised on the streets. I can tell you, this time is not one I would like to think of fondly, let's put it that way.

A boy was slammed against the brick wall; his head and back stayed against it, but the boy didn't show his pain. He just spat in one of his attackers' faces. They were in an alleyway, like all alleys in Brooklyn.

"Well, well, look what we have here. We have a little soldier boy over here," the man said, acting childish. "You guys disgust me. Randall, get out of here so I can go on with the rest of my day, or you won't like what I do to you," Mark threatened.

Randall just smirked and laughed. "Really? Is this dude serious, Jeffrey? He said he'll kick my ass. Isn't that the funniest joke you've ever heard, Randall?" Laughing, he didn't take Mark seriously, which only made Mark angrier. But there was nothing he could do; these guys were bigger, and he was outnumbered. Mark was screwed.

He then immediately switched to being serious and grabbed a switchblade from his pocket. "So you're going to give us the money you owe us, and I'll think about not killing you right here," Randall demanded.

Mark eventually gave in, about to give them their money, until Randall was punched in the face, releasing Mark to the ground. He was able to get his footing. "What the f***? Oh, it's you. What are you doing here, and how dare you lay your hands on me? You know what happens to people who do." He gestured to his switchblade at the unknown figure that Mark couldn't see yet.

"Not yet, Randall. Let me tell you something. Every time you deal with me, it doesn't end well for you. So tell yourself, do you want to face me now, knowing what I did last time? Because it wasn't pretty," the man said. It didn't even sound like a man's voice; it sounded like a boy, sort of like his age. Mark shivered in fear, and Randall and his goons were unsure what to do.

"Well, fine. You can have him. He probably didn't have anything anyway. Let's go, boys," Randall said, and the group of thugs ran out of the alley, leaving just Mark and the unknown man. Mark wasn't sure what this man would do, but he braced himself for the worst. When nothing came at him, he saw a hand. The figure was right in front of him, but he just gave a handout to help him up, which confused Mark, but he accepted the help. The man helped Mark up to his feet; he wasn't injured, just scuffed up. This was an odd occurrence, though; Mark doesn't usually get out of these situations unscathed. Sometimes he came back to his parents' house near death, and then the true hell would happen. Luckily, those days were behind him now, but Mark didn't focus on that. He wanted to know who this man was, or if he was even a man at all.

To his surprise, when he got a good look at him, he was like his age. He was slightly taller than him, but he was about 10 years old. However, he looked way more adult-ish; that was how Mark could only put it. He looked like he had a man's face but a boy's body. Great, strange. "Thank you for helping me out, man. You really didn't have to," Mark said gratefully. The boy just smiled. "Don't worry about it. I hated those thugs anyway," the boy said, smirking to himself about something.

Then Mark didn't even want to know. "What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?" Mark said, curious. "No, don't worry. My name is Jackson Palmer. What's your name, boy?" Jackson said, smiling at Mark. "My name is Mark. I don't have a last name, so it's just Mark," Mark said. His last name just gave him too many bad memories that he would rather never remember as long as he lives.

"Well, it's nice to be meeting you, Mark. I guess I'll be going," Jackson said. Before Mark could say anything else, he was already leaving the alleyway. Mark didn't know why, but he felt he needed to follow him. He needed to know where he was going because he had nothing else left in Brooklyn. Both his parents were dead, and most of his family was killed, as far as he knew. So, he decided to join Jackson, and that's when things got crazy.

For 7 years, Jackson and I were wandering, not having much of a plan for our lives. We were taking it one day at a time, getting food and the essentials. The winters were cold as hell, and the summers were hot, maybe not as hot as the Sahara Desert, but pretty damn close. Eventually, we got recruited into the Air Force and started boot camp, which was an interesting time for me and Jackson. We did everything we were told without complaints.

When we got shipped to Georgia to Robins Air Force Base, Jackson and I were excited to finally learn how to fly planes, helicopters, and maybe even jets when we went to air school. Well, that's when the craziest stuff happened. We always tried to outdo each other in any flying machine we learned, whether it was planes, helicopters, or especially jets. The jets were the only things we raced in for like 3 years. When we finished school, we were shipped to Iran to start some bombing campaigns. That was a terrible time; we barely survived a few encounters with the enemy, but we made it out okay. The war ended a year later, luckily.

Over the years, Jackson and I started drifting apart because we had two different lives. I was more focused on work while he was more focused on things outside of work. So, we hadn't talked for a while. It wasn't until 3 months ago that he contacted me after so long. He told me to come down to the base. I needed clarification, so I asked him why. He said he could only tell me that something big is happening and it might change the entire world or some crazy shit like that. Well, it's not so crazy now, but at the time, it was, at least to me. Despite that, I left my apartment and went towards the base.

I exited my car and met Jackson near the base's entrance. He looked different, more reserved and smiling, but not in a happy way – more in a sinister way. I asked him why he wanted me here, and he just said, "I'll explain. Just follow me. Where I'm taking you will answer all your questions. And by the way. I hadn't contacted him for years, but I still trusted him. We walked over to the cafeteria, which was weird, but I just shrugged it off.

We went into the kitchen, and immediately, I knew something was up. Jackson was paler than usual and more sluggish in how he was walking. "Jackson, I think I should—" I was cut off by him. He said, "Nonsense, we're already here," and gestured to a freezer. Not understanding where he was getting at, I scratched my head. "You got me out of my bed over here just for a f****** freezer?" I said, understandably angry.

"Listen, Mark, it has been fun with you, and I think of you as my greatest friend. But I can't have you stop me, not with what I'm going to do," he said sinisterly. I was taken aback. I didn't know what he meant by that, but I certainly didn't like it. "What do you mean by that, Jackson? What are you going to do?" I yelled at him.

"Like I said, I need to take you out of the picture. But I don't want to go through the trouble to kill you, so I'm just going to put you in this freezer and have you be killed that way," he explained. I wasn't sure why he was telling me this, and even now, it's strange to me. Looking back, I pleaded with him, "Jackson, please don't do this. Think about what you're doing here. If you try to put me in that freezer, I won't allow you to do that. I will fight you. Do you really want to go through the effort to do that? Because I can tell you, it won't be that easy to just shove me in there. You will have to fight me."

I tried to dissuade him in any way I could, but he wouldn't have it. We eventually fought each other, and despite all my best efforts, he was strangely stronger than me. He was always stronger than me, but he was weirdly stronger than usual. Everything I tried to do, he would just repel away, and none of my attacks did anything to him. That scared me the most. I eventually got shoved into the freezer, but before he closed the door, he said one last thing: "I can't let you interfere with this new world order that I will create. This world will end, and a new one will begin – one greater than the last one."

He did close the door, but luckily, the base engineer director had left an air tank in there for some reason. I can't remember when he did it or even why he did it. There was just an air tank in there, and I knew it would be a matter of time before I would suffocate in there. I'd either freeze to death or suffocate to death, so I used the air tank, and here I am. That's when you found me.

Lee POV

Mark, I'm so sorry that happened to you," Lee said, feeling bad about Mark's situation.

"The thing I need now isn't pity, so I would really suggest you don't pity my situation. I'm more to blame for my situation and for my friend's actions," Mark said, looking down on himself.

Lee got up from the floor and extended his hand in front of Mark. "How about you come with me? My group would like to have someone like you, and if you ask, we don't leave friends behind. I'm not the type of person who would do that," he said with conviction in his voice.

Mark smiled and grabbed Lee's hand. "Okay, that actually sounds good. I'd like to meet this group that you have. But first, we have to get out of here. How long was I in there?" Mark asked.

Lee knew it had been three months since everything started, but Mark must have been in there recently. He couldn't have been there for like three months; that's impossible. His air would have run out before then, so it had to be nearly a week ago or something.

"It's been 3 months since the outbreak happened, and maybe some dating inconsistencies, but other than that, it's been 3 months," Lee explained.

"Oh s***, it's been 3 months. Quickly tell me, what day was it when the outbreak happened?" Mark said, getting freaked out.

The last time I could recall it was March 12th. Why do you ask?" Mark's face faltered like he had a huge revelation, and he sat down.

"I was in that freezer for 3 months. Holy s***, how... how am I even alive?" Mark said in disbelief.

Lee didn't blame him; he could barely believe it himself. This man survived in a cold-ass freezer with just an air tank that would last him a week. How... how is that even possible? Lee was puzzled like it was a miracle or something. It just disagreed with all the logic of his adult life. This was like a fairy tale or a grand adventure or something like that. Mark was still soaking it in, still couldn't believe that he survived such a situation. But they knew he had to get back to the group. Lee looked at his watch, and it was past the set time when they all said they would be back. Yet Kenny and Lily were probably back waiting for him, so he should probably get going.

"Mark, we should go. My group's probably waiting for me, so we need to go. I'm not sure how long my makeshift lock thing is going to hold," Lee said, trying to get Mark to come with him, which he didn't need much convincing, as Mark was immediately out of the kitchen before Lee knew it. He then quickly followed Mark.

"Do you know how to get out of here or a faster way?" Lee asked.

"Yeah, sure, I do. It's the front door," Mark said, making Lee's face falter.

"Well, if we can't use that, that's the thing I barricaded. It was the entrance to the lunchroom, so we can't use that unless we want to go and try to hack our way through," Lee said. Lee then remembered Mark should probably have a weapon if they were going to try to get out of there, so he grabbed his Glock 19.

"Hey," Lee said, offering the weapon to Mark.

"Mark, here's my hand. You're probably way better with this than I am, you know, because you're military trained," Lee said, holding out the Glock 19. Mark gladly took the firearm and cocked it.

"Okay, thanks. But what are you going to use?" Mark asked, worried about Lee not having a weapon.

"Don't worry; I have a weapon." Lee then grabbed his fire axe from under his bag, the one he got from the Motor Inn three months back when they were helping a woman get out of a motel room. In unfortunate circumstances, they realized that the fire axe could be a nice weapon, and with his receipt, he was able to swing it effortlessly.

"Well, that is a cool axe. I really do hope you didn't steal it," Mark said, cautious.

"Maybe when the world goes back to the way it is, I'll give it back to the fire department. But I kind of don't want to, but that's probably what I'll do," Lee said, honestly.

Mark smiled. "I have a good feeling about you, Lee. You're a good man. I have no doubt that your group will be as nice as you are," Mark said, having his hopes up.

Lee smiled at the compliments, but they should focus on getting this door unblocked. Hopefully, they can maybe fight their way out. "So, I see that's our only option at this point," Lee said.

Lee walked over to the front door where he emerged, and he was pretty sure that there were a bunch of walkers behind it. But with Mark with them now, he feels way more confident about getting out of here.

Mark and Lee are on each side of the two doors. "Okay, on three, I will pull up this rod, and we'll open the door. Hopefully, we can push through. There are two things I want you to know before we do this, Mark," Lee told him.

"All right, what are these things I should know?" Mark said.

"They'll have a really putrid smell. It might stun you for a moment, but don't think about it. Just shoot your way through, even if the smell is tough. And for the other thing, make sure you don't get bit. As we're getting through, if you get bit, it's over. You'll become one of them, which is worse than death," the last thing that Lee told Mark made him shiver. Lee and William blamed them. The description they gave them seemed like Mark didn't like these things as much as he did.

"Alright, on three. One, two, three, go!" and then they opened the doors.

(End of flashback)

Ben POV

"Are you okay, Ben?" Mr. Parker said, his kind smile ever-present. He was one of Ben's favorite teachers, not just because he was the band teacher, which was a part of it, but not the main reason. Mr. Parker was always supportive of all the students, no matter how bad they were or how nasty a student was to him. He could always find the good in them. That's what Ben wanted to be as a person, but he thought he could never be that person, someone who could find good in someone else. He tried over and over, but he could never do it.

"I'm okay, Mr. Parker. Just thinking about something," Ben lied.

"Is it about the bear trap in Incident?" Mr. Parker said grimly.

"No, it's not about that, but I am sorry. If I just wasn't so clumsy or knew the surroundings, you wouldn't have had to push me out of the way, and you wouldn't have gotten hurt," Ben couldn't say more. He was choking up, and tears started rolling down his face.

"I hope, Ben, you're still a boy. You shouldn't be going through this. You should be trying to find girls or have exams. You shouldn't have to deal with this shit," Mr. Parker said, disappointed at the world for allowing this situation to take place.

That's when Travis came over with some drinks that he got from the sink in Carly and Doug's room. They didn't have assigned rooms yet. "It's been crying again. What is it now, throw up, Ben?" Travis asked hoarsely.

"Travis, I wish you would show more empathy to your classmate. Think about people's feelings before your own," Mr. Parker lectured.

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry, Ben. It's just been a hard day for me too," Travis admitted.

Mr. Parker smiled, then looked out towards the forest they were in just a couple of hours ago. But then he started looking distressed, quickly shielding Ben. Ben didn't know what was happening. One moment they were on the ground, and blood was everywhere. At first, he thought it was his blood, but it wasn't. It was Mr. Parker's. Then they noticed gunshots, and Ben put two and two together.

"Ben, you may get scared, but I will be okay. Don't—" he died. He didn't even get to finish his final words. Ben saw his dead face right in front of him, as well as the blood. His mind couldn't handle it. The last thing he saw were the bandits that raided their camp. Not long after, in just 10 hours, Ben only felt one thing—unconsciousness.

Carly POV

Carly woke up; her boyfriend, Doug, wrapped his whole body around her. It was warm and comfortable, both of their naked bodies pressing against each other. There was just a sort of shiver that she felt to not wake up Doug. Stealthily, she got out of his clutches. She did look at the analog clock that was amazing to her—the power was still on. It was almost their time right now; probably, Lee and the group were having a pretty nice feast, or whatever they wanted to call it, Carly thought to herself.

She put on her clothes. At this point, Doug knew that she was gone, and he got up too to put on his clothes. "How are you feeling, Car?" Doug asked, concerned for her well-being. That made Carly smile. "No, hun, I'm fine," she simply said, getting her white button-up shirt on. She then grabbed her pink jacket; and sat down with her fully clothed boyfriend. Ever since she met Doug, he was nothing but wonderful to her—kind, caring, as well as brave when he needed to be. This might just be hormones working up. She always felt safe with him.

"Car, I am the luckiest man in the world to have met you, my love," Doug said, smiling. That made Carly blush. "You know I'm more than just your girlfriend, right? I'm a pretty crack shot, so remember, don't make me too angry; I might shoot you in your sleep," Carly jokingly said. Doug just nodded.

Carly walked over to the window; the curtains were closed, which made Carly embarrassed. What if those boys and the teacher were looking at them while they were having sex? Carly thought to herself, getting stressed out. But then she felt a hand on her shoulder, and all the anxiety just went away like the tides do on the beach. She heard some banging noises coming from outside, and that made Carly notice what was happening outside. She did notice people shooting outside of the Motor Inn; no, they weren't just outside; they were pushing through the gates.

Carly immediately shifted into so-called leader mode. "Doug, grab the gun," Carly said, running towards her side of the bed where her dresser was, and she grabbed from the drawer a Glock 19 with some ammo to spare. She gave it to Doug, who came out with the Marlin rifle. Thanks to Lily giving everyone drills on good guns and gunsmanship, Doug could use a rifle decently well, not as well as her or Lee, but he could probably get the job done.

She heard Doug taking shots through the window that got shot. "Doug, we're going to move in; we're going to get out of this room, find better cover," Carly explained. Through peripheral vision, she could see Doug nodding. Carly got in front of the door; she quickly opened it, and both of them headed out.

Travis POV

"Shit, what do I do?" Travis thought to himself as gunfire bombarded the truck he was behind. Travis decided to get a look at where he could go, so he looked to his right and saw Mr. Parker as well as Ben. They looked dead, making Travis tear up. He may be the only survivor from his original camp group. Houston forced him to duck back behind the truck because if he didn't, he would have been dead, just like his teacher and his best friend.

When the gunfire died down, he decided to take a chance, and he ran towards the RV.

The biggest cover that he could find, for now, you numb skulls! Get that kid!" He heard that, and it just made him run faster. He then heard gunshots, but luckily, he didn't get hit. He's now in the safety of the RV. He didn't notice the girl named Carly and her boyfriend named Doug coming out of the room. They quickly saw him, and as Doug took potshots at the people, Carly could get to him.

"What in the hell happened?" Carly said, clearly distressed by the situation they are now in.

"I don't know. One moment, Mr. Parker, Ben, and I were having some drinks. Now, this moment, we're just getting shot at," Travis explained.

"That doesn't make much sense, Carly," Doug said. "Stay back, kid. Let me see what we're working with here."

That's when Doug came over, taking a chance like Travis did. Unlike Travis, Doug got hit in the shoulder. Luckily, it was just a shoulder shot, but then he fell on his ass next to the RV.

"Doug, are you okay? Holy s***," Carly said, fear in her voice.

"I'll be fine. Luckily, they just got my shoulder, but it hurts like a b**** though. I won't be able to wield a rifle now," Doug said, grimacing at his injury.

"What can I do to help?" Travis found himself saying.

"Well, kid, how good are you with a rifle?" Doug asked, jokingly. "I'm actually a pretty good shot. My dad was in Special Forces, so he took me and my mother to the gun range a lot when I was a kid—well, I'm still a kid, but it's not the point," Travis corrected himself.

"I'll be damned. I guess we'll have to take a risk," Doug said, handing Travis the rifle.

"I'll try my hardest," Travis said with determination.

"This is good and all, but I can't gun all these guys down by myself," Carly said, taking out some of the bandits from her side.

Travis immediately sprung into action, trying to remember how to wield a rifle. Right before he knew it, he took down two bandits with straight headshots.

"Two of us are down!" he heard one of the bandits say. From what he could see, there were initially 10 bandits, but now, with two down, there were six to go. Travis felt confident they could do this. He quickly took cover when a bandit with a black bandana wielding a shotgun shot at Travis. He got out of the way, thinking, "Just wait until they're reloading, and then take that shot."

Travis quickly went out of cover, aimed at the bandana-wearing bandit, and shot him in the neck. Then he heard another gunshot; it must have been Carly taking down one. Travis rationalized to himself, but then he started seeing walkers getting into the equation, which made him even more scared. They did help kill some of the bandits, but they'd kill any of them, bandit or not.

"Fall back! Fall back!" one of the bandits said, probably their leader, and just like that, the bandits were gone—just walkers. Luckily, it was easier to kill walkers than actual living people, so they were able to kill the walkers pretty quickly.

After the battle, Travis immediately checked Mr. Parker and Ben to see if they were dead. Sadly, Mr. Parker was dead, but luckily, he was killed by a headshot when he was being gunned down. On the bright side, Ben was okay; he had just passed out unconscious. So, Doug took his best friend into his room. They laid him down on the bed to be more comfortable; he was covered in blood—so much blood. Travis didn't know how to feel. He killed three people today without batting an eye. Was he a monster?

Doug put his hand on Travis's shoulder—the hand that got shot, which was all bandaged up. "What's on your mind, kid?" Doug asked. Travis didn't know how to answer that. He just walked over and started looting the bandits, and Doug did the same. Out of all the five bodies they killed, as well as Mr. Parker's body, he and Doug put his body on the back of the truck so they could bury him.

Later, once the group returned, they gathered the items they found while dealing with the bandits. They acquired a few new weapons, including crossbow hunting rifles, a shotgun, bows, and arrows, as well as Glock 19 pistols. Additionally, they secured some food rations and water. Making sure to find a suitable place to store these weapons, they designated one of the unused rooms as an armory.

After that, they began waiting for the rest of the group to return. Travis and Ben successfully solidified themselves as members of the group, at least in Carly and Doug's eyes.

Lee POV

With beads of white sweat dotting his forehead, it was a tough time figuring out how to get that lock off. Lee believed he had figured out a way to do it. After orchestrating shenanigans to divert Andy away from the barn, he then had to figure out how to disassemble it. Luckily, Lee found a multi-tool when he was looking around. While outside, he witnessed a cute scene between Larry and Brenda. However, he had a weird encounter with Danny that gave him the creeps even more than the other two.

Unfortunately, he had to do this all by himself because dinner was happening right now, and he'd have to take the fall for this one. Lee grabbed the multi-tool and flipped it towards the screwdriver section, starting to unscrew the screws that attached the lock to the door. He managed to take it off and grabbed the handle. For a moment, he felt anxiety, asking himself if he even wanted to know. Despite all of his anxiety and fear, he pulled open the doors. He was horrified; he saw blood everywhere in that room. There were saws with blood on them and a tub, for whatever reason. At least suspicions were valid now; everything just clicked. He didn't know what they were doing in there, but it couldn't be good.

He jumped when he heard Andy's voice right behind him. "Boy, didn't you hear the bell? It's dinner time," Andy said, smiling as if anything in that room didn't faze him at all.

"What the hell is in that room?" Lee asked, angry at what he had seen—or trying to act angry.

"Look, we have food here. Me and Danny still have to do a lot of hunting to keep everyone fed. When we catch something in the woods, we skin it and dress it back there," Andy pointed to the room behind Lee. "Mama doesn't like us to make a mess, as well as Emily's innocence being at risk if she sees that gross stuff. So, you see, there's nothing to worry about—just precautions," Andy said, trying to explain himself.

When Andy mentioned hunting, something clicked in Lee's mind. As he was walking out, he started remembering the bear trap, the scene where it was slashed, and altered. Luckily, Naruto was able to get David out there. Why would they not need to release it? It didn't make sense unless they didn't want them to run away. He didn't notice the bright light in the distance; there was just one that he could see, but that gave him a bad feeling, a really bad feeling. But he began to walk towards the house, now more hesitant to eat dinner than ever before.

Emily's POV

(1 hour ago)

Emily ensured that every step she took was as quiet as possible until she found herself upstairs. Her room was to the left, but it seemed Danny hadn't gone there; he had entered the spare room to the right. She walked quietly to the spare room, and nearby was a closet they used for random stuff. She had no reason to check it, but curiosity got the better of her. Upon opening the closet, she discovered an unusual abundance of medical supplies. A faint light beamed through a wire hole. She hesitated but decided to look inside and was horrified by what she saw.

Her brother Danny was sawing off a leg from a person—she couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. "This is going to be a nice feast. I can't wait to package this up, and that meal she's cooking up, that's going to be a good one. I'm wondering if those bandits have the same nutritional value as those people. It's a shame we'll have to share it with them, but that's just life," Danny mumbled to himself as he continued to see off another body part.

Emily covered her mouth, feeling the need to throw up. She quickly ran downstairs, not caring about making noise. She shut the bathroom door and vomited into the toilet. After finishing, she sat and got up from her knees, walking over to the mirror. She looked at herself, thinking about Naruto. If he was nice, maybe those people were too. Even if they weren't, she couldn't let them share the same fate as the person being cut in that room. It wouldn't be right. She needed to warn them somehow without raising suspicion.

"I think I have an idea," Emily said to herself, remembering she had sticky notes upstairs. She could write a note to one of the people, giving them a vague warning. Hopefully, their curiosity would lead them to check it out. One thing was for sure: Emily's view of her brothers and her mother had changed. They were not the people she once knew, not since her father died. He had warned her about the emotional distress that would turn them into monsters, but she believed they could come back—at least, she hoped so.

Ben POV

Ben's vision was hazy; he could make out a fan or was that a light? He couldn't tell; he was so disoriented. He heard muffled voices, and he thought he could make out, "Ben, are you okay? Oh man, I was worried sick that you might have never woken up." Ben tried to respond, but his head hurt too much, and he started seeing flashes of Mr. Parker and him dying to protect him. That was when his mind snapped out of haziness, and he was more conscious and aware of where he was. He could hear completely now. Travis was right by his side of the bed, and he saw Doug and Carly behind Travis.

"You okay, kid? Do you feel like you can discuss?" Doug said, worried for Ben's health.

"Now I feel okay, at least I think so. I just can't believe he would have protected me." Ben couldn't say more; he just started tearing up. "Why did it have to be me? Why did Mr. Parker have to die so I could live?" Ben asked, to no one in particular, maybe himself.

"What are you talking about, then?" Travis asked. He didn't know what happened during the shootout; he just saw Mr. Parker and Ben being gunned down by the bandits. "I couldn't quite remember it in detail, but the last thing I remember was Mr. Parker was on my stomach. It looked like he was taking the bullets for me, and he didn't even get to finish his last words, which stuck with me. It's the only thing I could think about when I was unconscious—just those words and the idea that he never got to finish them. He had something to say, but they would never be heard, at least not finished. He could have saved himself; he could have let me get gunned down, but he didn't," Ben sadly ranted.

Travis and Doug didn't know what to say. They just looked down to the ground, contemplating what Ben had said. After a moment of silence, Carly spoke again.

"Let me tell you something. I've seen many cases during my time as a reporter. I've seen even more situations than yours, and they all ask the same question you have asked. All of them come to different conclusions—some worse than others, and some better than others. You just need to find that answer in your own way. I can't quite tell you what you should do or how to answer that question, but what I can do is help guide you to that question and help you answer it," Carly said with kindness in her voice. She also held out her hand towards him.

Ben didn't say anything for a minute; he was contemplating Carly's words. Eventually, he grabbed her hand and smiled. "Thank you, Carly. That really means a lot. I'm not sure why Mr. Parker protected me; he could easily have protected himself, but he didn't. I guess that's always been his nature. I guess I'll never know for sure; I can only find my own conclusion, and I will someday. But not now. I'm ready to help do anything I can to help the group. So what should we do?" Ben said.

Carly smiled, but to his question, she didn't quite know what to do now. The group hadn't been there for like 5 hours, and she was starting to get worried about them. Maybe they just slept over at the dairy, but she didn't know for sure. They didn't have any long-range communication from there, so the only rational course of action she could think of was going to check.

After thinking about her next action, she turned to Doug. "How's your shoulder doing?" Carly asked, concerned about her boyfriend's health.

Doug just smiled, "I'm fine. It just stinks, but it's a wound. What are you going to do about it? Why do you ask?" Doug said, reassuring his girlfriend.

She was also wondering where she was going with this. "Ben, Travis, are you two good to travel?" Carly asked.

"Yeah, I'm good to travel, but I'm not sure about Ben, though," Travis said, concerned about Ben.

"Don't worry; I feel good. I can travel. Don't worry about me," Ben said, standing up, and he had a determined look on his face.

Carly smiled, "Alright, guess we're going to check on our group in case anything went wrong there. We'll need some answers."

"Firepower, if you know what I mean," Carly said, beckoning the others to follow her down to the room where they made a makeshift armory. "I hope you guys know how to shoot these things. Well, I do know Doug and Travis can shoot them pretty well."

Carly then turned to Ben, "Can you wield the gun and shoot it?" she asked.

"I can try, but I don't think I'll be as good as Travis, though," Ben said, scratching his head awkwardly.

Carly just sighed, "Well, I guess it'll be good enough for now." She handed Ben a Glock 19. "This is a pistol. You point it and shoot it. When you see a walker, you shoot it in the head. Body parts won't matter. If it's a person, shoot them in the head or the body; it will get the job done. Preferably the head, because they might come back as a walker. So, you got all that, Ben?" Carly explained.

Being unsure of himself, Ben gave a hesitant nod. "Good," Carly simply said. "Also, if you don't have a gun holster, tuck that gun in the back of your pants. The person you're trying to kill won't see you draw it that easily. If you're quick enough, you can take them down before they even drop theirs," Carly quickly added. She didn't turn to Travis and Doug, who both had their firearms. Travis had the shotgun, the same one the bandit with the bandana had. It was a pretty good shotgun—quick reload, nice aim. The dude was a bandit, but he knew his guns. Doug grabbed a crossbow they got from one of the bandits. Honestly, it's easier to wield than a rifle.

Everybody armed, Ben felt confident for once in his life, with everyone else appearing confident as well, at least that's what he could read from their faces. Ben stared at the moon as they were leaving the motor inn and thought to himself, "What am I getting myself into?" Having some doubts but mostly touch confidence.

​

Hello again everyone! I apologise for my tardiness as I know I said this would be out yesterday, feel free to tell me off.

Thank you to u/Exotic_____Butters02, u/Canisventus, u/Super-Shenron and u/Kiesmaier for being our entrants :D You made this month's contest incredibly awesome with all of your highly entertaining and unique stories that brought some welcome flair to the sub. I have the honour of reading all your lovely stories and giving my thoughts on them, too, so without further ado, let's get into that.

BTW, I'm going to be explaining what the reveal is in each story, so if you wouldn't like spoilers for our entries, please read this post at your own risk.

Coming in at fourth place we have: >!Friends to the End by u/Exotic___Butters02!<

Reveal: The reveal of this story is that, after being separated pre-apocalypse as childhood friends, Louis and Clementine re-meet again and discover they're alive. This reveal is the main focus of the story so exploring Louis and Clem's dynamic worked very well. My only problem with this is that the entire thing is two scenes, one of Louis & Clem as kids and then the next is them meeting again: unfortunately I feel like this really weakened the impact of this reveal as we had little time to see how these characters felt without being together, as well as the reveal feeling quite expected. Again, the reveal in of itself is by no means bad, I just think it could've been stronger had this been longer.

What Went Well: This was a very pleasant read, being super wholesome and a welcome depiction of if Louis & Clem were friends. The descriptions and writing of this story are very well done as well, I thought it had a lovely flow to it and overall I enjoyed this one.

Even Better If: If this story was longer, I think it would've placed much more highly. Like I mentioned in the reveal segment, I think more elaboration would've made it stronger. We have a very pleasant and cute scene of Clem and Louis as kids, which is a great establishment of their friendship, however in this very same scene we learn Louis is moving away. After this scene we cut to the present. I would recommend at least three scenes of child C&L: one 100% happy one of them to show their friendship, then one where Louis learns he's moving away and has to tell Clem, and then one at the beginning of the apocalypse where they are separated but still miss each other: this is so we really feel the strength of their bond and we're rooting for them to reunite. Anyway, once we're in the present the story continues as episode 1 of season 4, as we see Clem meet Tenn and Marlon, then Willy in the courtyard shouts for walkers, then Clementine meets Ruby and then we meet Louis. I've done this as well, so I understand the want to do this, but writing the events of the story the same as they occur in the episode could be cut out, or tweaked slightly just to keep us engaged while retaining this realism. Again, I've done this as well by keeping so close to the script to a fault, and even now I try to keep my stories as in-canon as possible just because I prefer to write that way. The thing is, this is very challenging to do as you can sometimes stick too close to the story in a way that feels monotonous. The reader has most likely seen these scenes many times, so if you were to change it slightly or majorly or even cut elements out, it would be a way to interest them and keep them guessing of where the story might go. Finally, we end on Clem and Louis' reunion, which was lovely and sweet. I don't have anything to suggest for their reunion because you did this very well. I'd maybe extend it if you felt you wanted to, but I think ending on this note worked very well.

I want to re-iterate, I did really enjoy this story and it's by-no-means bad, so I'm sorry for giving you a lot of detailed feedback that might suggest I didn't enjoy it. It was very wholesome and I love wholesome stories, they're something I think are quite underrated in the TWDG fanfic scene and would like to see a lot more of, but I think it could've been even stronger if it were just a few scenes longer.

SCORE: 7/10

Truthfully, I was very undecided of where to put the fourth and the third place spot, because they could've gone either way, but I settled on this order as ultimately, I feel third place utilised the 'reveal' aspect a bit stronger.

As for third place, it's: >!Helpless Things by u/Kiesmaier!<

Reveal: There's a couple of reveals here. We've got our reveal of Jane arriving at Wellington, of her revealing the fate she gave her child after abandoning Clem, the reveal of her being bitten, and to some extent I'd even call the ending a reveal where Clem decides not to grant her wishes yet Copper gives her the option to. I thought these all worked very well for the story and it felt natural upon reading this one. I liked how these reveals came out via dialogue as the character dynamics and interactions felt strong through exploring their reactions to these events.

What Went Well: The characterisation of these OCs was very good and overall the setting (S2 Wellington) was refreshing: despite only having a couple of characters I felt you provided a much-needed livening to the Wellington community, it feels so much more alive by having these alternating character perspectives and relationships. I think you have a real knack for writing dialogue, it's very realistic. I thoroughly enjoyed how the discussion about children and their use at the beginning comes around full circle when they debate the morality of Jane's choice.

Even Better If: Sorry for a nit-pick, 'cause I've tried to limit myself on giving any critiques like these this month as it takes forever to write, but this story would be easier to read with some more paragraph spacing, as to not have it look like a large wall of text. I didn't have issues reading it or anything, but it just looks a lot better if you have some gaps in-between paragraphs. Anyway, as for more general critiques. I liked this story, but I think the ending was a slight bit weaker than the rest as the pacing of it felt quick. The reveal of Jane's bite and asking to be put down and Clem saying no and her leaving with Copper and then him giving her a gun is all done very quickly, with little breathing room of these events: I kind of felt like the story was wanting to wrap itself up at this point and so everything became happening at once (I'm very guilty of this in my own stories though). Also I think some more interaction between Copper & Jane would've been interesting before that final scene. I thought the story was more about Clem & Jane yet it ends with Copper & Jane's interaction - this wasn't a bad thing by any means, but I think it could've had some more interactions to 'justify' why we ended with these two characters.

Overall this was an interesting story and I enjoyed all of the characters.

SCORE: 7.5/10

And now for the two you've all been waiting for...

In second place we have: >!u/Canisventus with The Children of the Night!<

Reveal: I'd say there's two big reveals here: our first is at the beginning to set the story in motion, being that Arvo has returned! Right off the bat I'm interested, Arvo is rarely used especially outside of a season 2 fic, so I was engaged by this story pretty much straight away. I also like how you've started off with a reveal - it's exciting for the audience as we aren't waiting for something to be revealed and that makes any future reveals even more unexpected. Speaking of future reveals, the second major one is that Arvo is a vampire. Now this caught me off guard. That's a GOOD thing, because it was very memorable and I was totally hooked. HOWEVER I also felt it was a bit disorienting as, in my opinion, the story prior to this reveal is pretty ordinary. I don't say that in a way that means its boring, what I mean by that is that it's quite realistic and there's not much to suggest otherwise. So I felt the vampire reveal was quite sudden and a tad confusing, which took me a little out of the story.

What Went Well: This was a highly entertaining read, and I like all of the turns it takes. Even the ending was very unexpected and I love the sinister way it finishes. The detail of Rosie not liking Arvo was an excellent hint at his inner motives, and the full circle moment with Clementine having a similar interaction was great. The dynamic between Clementine, AJ and Arvo was very entertaining, I enjoy how you wrote them all to have opposing viewpoints whilst keeping it understandable of them keeping together - that's not easy to do and yet you did it very well. On my first read I didn't understand why Clem trusted Arvo, but on a re-read I actually changed my mind on this as you portrayed her inner conflict of trusting him or not quite well. I'm very into the Gothic theme of this story, I love things like this.

Even Better If: As I mentioned in the reveal segment, I thought the vampire twist was a bit abrupt: actually, when I was reading, I thought you were hinting towards werewolves because of the 'children of the night' line Arvo says. It's not that you didn't foreshadow Arvo was untrustworthy, because I think those all worked fine and on my second read I liked spotting those, but I feel that the vampire-ness specifially wasn't foreshadowed, and I feel I was duped a little because of the wolf mentions. I think either to avoid this you could lean more into those wolf parts instead of vampires, or I would cut out the wolf interaction & foreshadow the vampire element a bit more: maybe describe Arvo's pointy teeth or pale skin in a way that could hint to vampire elements. Maybe this bit is just me, but I don't understand why Lee showed up? Obviously I know why for Clementine because he's so significant, but I didn't think Lee had anything to do with this story so I was a bit lost.

Overall I had a lot of fun reading this and I look forward to reading more from you!

SCORE: 8/10

Finally, that means for our winner: >!u/Super-Shenron with Who I Really Am!<

Reveal: The reveal of this story is that a stranger appears at Ericson and is trying to turn AJ against the others: why? Because the stranger is Carver! On my first read, I definitely didn't expect it to be Carver and I was actually surprised. I don't think that these stories need to be a shocking twist in order to pull off the 'reveal', but it's always a bonus. When I did my second read I noticed some descriptions of the stranger pre-reveal that were some pretty good hints as to his identity, like his voice and moustache. Pretty neat to read it in hindsight. That's just the main reveal of the story and I really like how this reveal is basically the backbone of the story, tying the plot together and motivating our characters: it strengthens the significance of it greatly. But there's also quite a lot of other mini-reveals as well, like the reveal of AJ killing Carver and so on. I felt they were all executed very nicely.

What Went Well: The format of this as a journal was very creative especially as you added several images like AJ's drawing and the blood splattering (which was a fab way of literally showing what happened instead of telling, nice wordless storytelling here) that made it stand out even more. The tone of this was very consistent and I can't really think of anything that felt out of place. We're in AJ's first person here due to his journal, so I think capturing his voice is key here: something that you did extremely well. The crossed out spelling mistakes very much added to the realism of his age as well as just the way his thoughts are expressed. I was very intrigued by this story and where it was going for the whole way through.

Even Better If: At the end AJ says goodbye to Tenn, speaking to him directly (obviously Tenn isn't alive here but he's being addressed still), though I think this moment would've been stronger if this moment of direct address was included in other portions or even merely hinted at. Tenn is mentioned at a point, but it isn't in a direct address like AJ does at the end, so I found myself confused as to why AJ was doing this. That's pretty much the only critique I can think of to be honest..

Overall this was an excellent read and was done very well, it honestly felt like a member of the Telltale staff wrote this.

SCORE: 9.5/10

And that's the rankings!

Thanks again to all of you for entering this months contest. These stories were all super well-written, very interesting and all consistent in quality: we didn't have a bad one in the bunch. You should all be proud of yourselves. I'm looking forward to the next month. :P