#and only one large paragraph break this time wooo

[sharonitwd]

Twice Shy, CHP: 27

Once Bitten

AO3 Link

I worked on this chapter nearly every week, paragraph at a time. Half hour lunch breaks don't provide enough time to write a whole lot in between bites.

When the door shut behind them the house was almost completely dark, aside from a few cracks and holes in the window coverings.

The two stumbled with Lee’s full weight on their shoulders. Kenny was the first to let go of him, quickly rummaging in his backpack for a flashlight. Sharon groaned under his full weight but didn’t complain, trying to lower him gently to the ground.

Once the room was lit Kenny scanned the kitchen they now resided in. Similar to the mansion, all the windows had been boarded up or covered with multiple sheets, including the small window on the door. He pointed the flashlight to the doorway leading further into the house, nervously staring through the darkness for any walkers awaiting them deeper inside. 

“That last one took my screwdriver.” Sharon sighed as she removed her flashlight and Lisa’s pocket knife from her bag.

“We’re clear for now, if Molly didn’t ring those bells we might not have made it.” Kenny said, reaching his hand out for Sharon's knife. “We need to check the other rooms.”

“What about Lee?”

Kenny squinted in the darkness at his friend, he didn’t want to shine the light on him in fear of how sickly he may look. "He's not going anywhere, we can’t help him if we have walkers on our back."

Sharon shoved her bag under Lee’s head for his comfort and stood. With Kenny taking the lead, she followed while holding her own flashlight steady, allowing him to take out any dangers safely with her being his reliable light source. 

The house had been scavenged like the mansion, anything of use was taken with hardly anything left behind. A few walkers were upstairs, more than they were comfortable with but Kenny was able to kill them one by one without any close calls.

Once they were in the kitchen again Kenny set his flashlight down and pulled Lee further away from the door, securing their exit while ensuring Lee's safety incase the dead decided to start banging on the doors. Sharon replaced the bag under Lee’s head and sat by his side.

“Shit.” Kenny sighed and grabbed his flashlight back from the ground and lowered the light at Lee, then at Sharon. When he noticed he had pointed it directly in her eyes he directed the light elsewhere only to bring it immediately back. "No." His eyes grew wide at the tear in her jacket, cloth fibers shooting out of the hole. "Not another one! Please don't tell me you're bit, too!"

Sharon looked to the fabric of her jacket, where even in the darkness she could see a definite hole. She had felt pressure on the arm earlier from being pulled down the other side of the fence, the disorientation and panic was too overwhelming to notice if she had been injured. Even now she doesn't feel any pain, though it was normal for her to block discomfort from her mind.

She wasted no time to be dramatic, unzipping the jacket and pulling the sleeve away from her left shoulder. Though the jacket had jagged rips and tears her shirt had almost been damage free, aside from the stains she hasn’t been able to wash out and the fresh decaying teeth marks that had been left behind. Just to double check, she pulled the neck of her shirt down to reveal her bruised shoulder, no scratch marks, no blood, no bite.

"Oh, thank god." Kenny let go of the breath he was holding, then he caught himself and returned the scowl to his face. "So, what are we going to do with Lee?"

Sharon looked away from the harsh bruises on her arm, her eyes landing on the bite mark on Lee's wrist. His injury had become inflamed since she last saw it. "There's nothing to do but wait for him to wake up."

"Are you sure? Will he turn?"

"Not yet." Sharon almost mentioned how Katjaa had lost consciousness a few times after she was bit, though she didn’t want to bring up sore wounds so soon. "He still has color."

They sat in silence, Kenny only shook his head as he stared at Lee, impatiently looking through his bag for something that might help.

"He'll wake up soon." Sharon tried to calm him down. "We just have to wait."

"We don't have a lot of time for that." Kenny stood abruptly and disappeared deeper in the house, his feet echoing loudly on the stairs.

She sighed, scooting over to sit by Lee and check his pulse from his non-bitten wrist. It took her a few moments to find it, the limited training Katjaa had provided her didn’t make her a professional. Once she found the beating artery she sighed again, this time in relief. His heart is beating rapidly, perhaps a bit too much, though it means he is still alive.

With nothing else Sharon can do, she took his hand and patiently waited for him to wake. Kenny, on the other hand, stomped on every step of the stairs and quickly found his way in to the kitchen.

"Are you going to help me with this?"

“Huh?" Sharon squinted in the light that he pointed at her, unsure of what he had in his hands. "Help you with what?"

In his grasp he displayed an old hacksaw from who-knows-where, covered in rust and dirt. "We can't sit around and wait while that bite is infecting him, we have to take it off."

"No!" Sharon stared and scrunched her nose. "We are NOT doing that! That's not okay!"

"Clementine is still out there, if we cut the bite off maybe it will save him!"

"We don't know that!"

"We need to try!"

"No." Sharon let go of Lee's hand and stood her ground. "Kenny, he's already sick. The infection is in his system."

"I've seen dogs who needed their legs amputated to stop infection from spreading, it could be like that!"

"He's not a dog!" She gestured down to him. "Even if that would work, we don't have any medical equipment.” 

“We have this!”

“That will give him tetanus." 

"He's probably had the boosters."

"The infection any other germs we can't protect him from would kill him faster!"

"Why am I even arguing with you?" He easily disregarded Sharon’s words. "I don’t need your permission."

"Kenny-"

Sharon stared in shock as he knelt down and placed the hacksaw on Lee's forearm, the sharp rusty metal connected with skin only a few inches above the bite wound. Kenny paused, the more he stared the more the action scared him. He replaced the saw closer to Lee’s elbow, then toward his wrist, unsure of the best place to cut while trying to convince himself to press harder. 

“Just like ripping a band-aid, just gotta do it, can’t think about it.” With a deep breath Kenny picked the spot he thought best, the metal once again pressing against Lee’s skin. “I’m sorry, man. I gotta do this.”

Then Lee tugged his arm away.

Kenny fell backwards with a yell, dropping the hacksaw behind him.

Sharon stepped between Kenny and Lee with one hand on reaching for her knife.

“What the hell, man?” Lee pulled his bitten arm away and held it protectively to his chest. “What are you doing?”

“Kenny was thinking if we amputate your arm. . . he’d stop the infection.” Sharon answered, stepping back to her original spot.

“This is about trying to SAVE him! At the very least buy him some time.” Kenny stood and dusted his pants. “It was the only thing I could think of.”

“I might also die in a pool of my own blood.”

“I’m not going to let you die, you hear me? I think we gotta take it off.” Kenny said. “You haven’t been bitten long, it’s away from your heart and your head. We take the arm and maybe we save your life.”

“The materials we have aren’t sterile and not good enough to do this safely.” Sharon said. “You’ll get tetanus from the rust and who knows what other kinds of infections. Not to mention the blood loss and how your body would respond to the trauma.”

“But the bite could be making his condition worse, like frostbite! We can’t let it spread anymore, we can’t lose any more people.” Sharon felt pity for him as his voice turned from stubborn to desperate. “We have to try something.”

“And what if he dies? What if we kill him?”

“Then you and I find Clementine, but right now- my opinion is we do this.” Kenny stopped his arguing and looked to Lee. “If there’s a chance it stops you from turning, we have to take it.”

“Well. . . the decision is up to you, Lee.” Sharon crossed her arms. “If you think it’s best, we’ll do it.”

"Oh, now you want to help?" Kenny scoffed.

Sharon shook her head, not replying.

With eyes on him Lee sighed and allowed himself to think only about what he wanted to do about his condition. 

He could feel a difference in his body; his heart seemed to be beating faster and harder than before, with the added stress of the current situation it felt like he had finished running a mile. His entire left arm throbbed and ached. He could feel a fever coming on and a weakness in his muscles that wasn’t there before.

He stared at the bite mark. Comparing to his healthy side, he could easily tell his entire arm was swollen. The wound itself looked angry, red around the edges, and tender to the touch. It wasn’t hard to see his dark skin is losing color. He lowered both of his arms and looked at his friends.

“No.” Lee closed his eyes and sighed. “I feel like I’ve got enough time; just keep an eye on me. When I get my hands on the bastard who’s got Clem, I’m going to be happy to have both.”

“Lee, you’ll die.”

“Yeah, but not here.”

“So, what do we do now then?” Kenny returned to being impatient. “We still don’t know where that fucker is keeping Clementine, Molly sounded the bells while you were out so our only lead is gone, we don’t even know how much time we got. What the hell is the next step?”

Lee stood and paced around the house while Kenny ranted, looking between the boards on the windows.

“Should we just continue the direction we were going?” Kenny said. “The house is surrounded so we’d need cover.”

“We need to go up.”

“Like, on the roof?” Sharon asked.

“If we get a good vantage point, maybe we’ll see something?” Lee shrugged. “The car, Molly, a sign. . .”

“Anything is better than nothing, I guess.” Sharon hummed. “How are we going to get up there?”

“What’s upstairs?”

“Not a whole lot.” Kenny shrugged, leading the way up. “Some dead walkers and junk, mostly. Stuff Crawford didn't give a shit about.”

At the top the three checked each window for anything that would help them gain access to the roof. After some brief searching Kenny called the two over to a bedroom.

“This window has the closest access to the roof, with some arm work someone could lift themselves up.”

“I’ll go.” Lee volunteered.

“Are you sure?” Kenny asked.

“What’s the worst that could happen, I get bitten again?”

“While that’s true, Lee-” Sharon took off her backpack. “I can go.”

“What, you don’t think I can do it?”

Sharon bit her tongue. “Well. . . Yeah, but-”

“She’s lighter and probably won’t fall through if this roof is shit.” Kenny said, unsurprisingly willing to let Sharon go through with the deadly stunt.

With nothing weighing her down she stuck her upper body through the window and sat on the sil, with some stretching she was able to grab onto the gutter.

“Use the roof itself to pull yourself up if you can, don’t put a lot of weight on the gutters.”

Sharon paused, looking around for something else to grab on to. “Why?”

“Even though you don’t weigh as much as Lee, the gutter isn’t supposed to hold a lot of weight, pull too hard and you’ll rip it off.”

Sharon nodded, testing her weight on the gutter by pulling herself up to a standing position, leaning precariously off the side of the house. 

The trees in the front yard protected her from the searching eyes of the walkers, she remained hidden from the streets as long as she’s on this window. Should she slip, or should Kenny feel vengeful and dislodge her feet, or if the gutter collapsed as he had mentioned- she could plummet. It would be a hard landing on the concrete driveway and attract the whole herd to her.

With a few deep breaths and attempting to grip the shingles more than the gutter- which proved harder than she thought- she went for it. She managed to quickly swing herself up far enough to rest her arms up top, the rest of her body dangling precariously.

She began to slowly and delicately pull herself up. At first she tried not to damage anything as she climbed, not wanting to destroy someone else’s property. 

When the sound of metal of the gutters groaning she quickly abandoned the notion to care for someone's old drainage spouts and hastily pulled herself up. 

As she placed one knee down on the shingles the gutter started to pull away, Sharon quickly pulled her last leg up and watched as the gutter pulled itself three feet away from the roof and stopped, teetering lightly in the wind. If it had continued the path downward the clattering on the concrete would have attracted and agitated all of the walkers.

Her legs felt like gelatin and she tried to ignore the pit in her stomach. Now safely away from that situation Sharon took the careful steep steps on to the peak, testing each foot before climbing the next step, unsure if the moss meant the roof is soft or slippery. 

Once at the highest point she scanned the horizon.

Seeing the city from this point of view felt eerie. With the scale shift the walkers seem so small yet an incredibly massive force. Even though she had blurry memories of blending in with the crowds of walkers, the thought of being in this one sent shivers through out her body. This would have to be the largest amount she had seen in one place.

The morning fog had cleared with the sunrise but it was replaced by the dust that was once settled on the streets, now kicked up in the air from the herd. Even through the dust she was able to see every street, each had a pack of walkers all walking toward the same direction: a church by the freeway onramp. 

The only clear sign she could see is a grim unfinished: “NO HELP” in white paint on the hospital roof. Even from this vantage point she couldn’t see any sign of where Clementine could be. For all they know she could have already been taken across the bridge before the bells rang, or they could have managed to escape through the crowd.

She didn’t want to think about the possibility that Clementine could be stuck in the middle of that.

With her hopes diminished and nothing else to look for, Sharon decided to head to the spot she climbed. Just before turning away she saw something in the distance, a bouncing speck of red on another roof trying to get her attention.

Molly, once her presence was known, quickly disappeared out of sight. Sharon waited with bated breath for the teen to reappear, anxious she could be in trouble.

When she didn’t return Sharon debated in her head whether to inform the men below her or continue to wait for Molly to pop back out. If the teen needed help Sharon could be delaying it by standing and waiting.

“HEY!”

Sharon whipped around, spotting Molly a block away on a balcony seemingly out of breath. Molly’s shouting continued, though over the growling walkers and the distance Sharon couldn’t hear any of it. Standing at the edge of the roof with ears cupped, she could only make out a few words.

“God damn it.” Molly huffed and rested her head on the railing, struggling to catch her breath to repeat herself. With a few more deep breaths Molly lifted her head and shouted again. “GET BACK TO THE HOUSE!”

“The house?” Sharon cleared her throat, nervous that the walkers on the streets no longer wandered toward the church and instead now looked at her. “TO THE MANSION?”

“JUST- god- JUST GO BACK!”

Sharon silently raised a thumb to show Molly she understood, watching in shock as the teen kicked open the nearest door to her and disappeared from the balcony. Following her lead Sharon returned to the spot she had climbed up and peered carefully over the edge.

Kenny peeked his head out the window waiting for Sharon to return, clearing his throat when they locked eyes. “What do you see up there? Who were you talking to?”

“I saw Molly.” Sharon said, eyes drifting to the ground below, a walker had started to wander around the house. “I’ll explain inside.”

“Alright.” He sighed and slipped inside.

Sharon hesitated for a moment, unsure of how exactly she should approach this. She began by laying on her stomach with her legs dangling precariously over the edge, it seemed to be the only way without entirely risking her life. She kicked her feet foreword hoping to reach the house, she could feel the siding of the house but not the window. 

She tried to shimmy down slowly, her stomach ached as she strained the bullet wound from not that long ago. Focusing on the danger of her situation and keeping her grip was enough to distract from the pain.

“Just a little farther.” Kenny called out. “You need to lower yourself down a bit more.”

Sharon did as she was told to, dangling blindly and trusting Kenny to guide her back down. As soon as her stomach passed the roof he grabbed her legs and guided her on to the sill. Once she was back at her starting position she maneuvered herself inside without assistance, fingers tightly gripping the rough shingles.

When she sat on the sill she took a deep breath, appreciating the fresh air before she had to go back inside the musty house.

“So, what the hell was that?” Lee asked. “Who were you talking to?”

“Molly, she’s across the block.” Sharon said as she finally tucked herself through the window and stood fully inside. “There’s something wrong, she wants us to get back to the house.”

“Why?”

“She didn’t say why.” Sharon shrugged, pulling her backpack on. “Just said to get back to the house.”

“How do we do that? There’s dead lining the streets.” Kenny handed Sharon her flashlight back and crossed his arms.

“With that shouting we can assume the walkers know where we’re at."

Kenny peeked out the window to confirm what Lee had said. “Yeah, we’re getting a few around the house but they ain’t tryin’ to tear it apart yet.”

Sharon looked around the bedroom. Earlier, when the two of them had searched the house for walkers they had found the place had already been ransacked, anything useful already gone. The larger furniture had been stripped bare leaving only the frame and mattress, the rooms were empty aside from trash.

Shining her flashlight in the closets she discovered it wasn’t picked completely clean, this closet still had hangers with some smaller shirts inside. Sharon closed the closet and quickly left the room.

“What are you looking for?” Lee called out, shrugging to Kenny when his question fell on deaf ears.

Kenny and Lee followed her deeper in the house, finding her in the master bedroom pulling out a large jacket from the closet.

“Oh no.” Lee groaned. “I suppose it’s our only option.”

“If we lure one inside we can cover these safely.” Sharon said, sifting through the jackets for another that would fit them.

Kenny pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Let’s just get this shit over with.”

  The trio noticed the trek back to the mansion didn’t take as long as it had leaving it. With the large crowd and the cover of the jackets they no longer needed to peer around every corner and take caution. 

After a few minutes of walking the density of walkers decreased the further distance they made from the bell tower. The walkers had become so sparse it had become safe to take off the blood covered jackets and abandon it in a few bushes, dealing with the occasional stray felt worth it to save their noses.

Even though it was safe to talk they were silent. They were supposed to have returned here with Clementine, but all they accomplished was a few close calls and wasted time. The mansion in plain view only reminded them that they failed their mission.

Clementine is still out there.

Lee didn’t hesitate to shoot the last walker that stood in his way, his frustration clear as he didn’t care about the noise or waste of a bullet. Simply put: he didn’t have time to deal with it.

Before they reached the steps Molly had burst through the front doors.

“Are you guys serious!?” She placed her hand on her hips like a mother scolding her children. “The geeks aren’t that far away! They could have heard that!” 

“Oh well.” Lee crossed his arms. 

Sharon looked behind Molly, surprised Duck hadn’t run out to greet them yet. “Hey, where’s everybody else?”

“I’ve been waiting here forever and no one’s here!”

“What?” Lee uncrossed his arms. “Where are they?”

“I don’t know.” Molly shrugged. “I got here about five minutes ago, I’ve looked all over the house.”

“Where the hell is my son?” Kenny sprinted inside and began shouting. “Duck? Duck!”

Lee, Sharon, and Molly quickly rushed inside to shut the doors, before Kenny’s loud shouting could alert any more walkers than they already had.

As the doors shut Kenny had already sprinted up the stairs, continuing to shout for his son.

The scowl on Molly’s face vanished as she gestured to the living room. “Their weapons are all on the coffee table, why would they just leave it here?”

Lee and Sharon locked wide eyes. Two pistols, two rifles, a socket wrench, and a screwdriver lay on the table; meaning their friends are all without protection from walkers or worse.

“Did you check the shed?” Sharon eyed the screwdriver on the table and took it protectively, replacing the one she had lost earlier. “Maybe they’re with the boat?”

“What?” Molly blinked. “No, I didn’t check the boat.”

Sharon’s shoulders dropped and Lee shook his head disapprovingly.

“Kenny-“ Lee tried to call out.

“I heard!” Kenny stomped down the steps. “They’re probably getting the boat ready for us!”

“Oh.” Molly moved aside as Kenny barreled around her. “Why would they move the boat?”

“That was the plan!” He called as he ripped open the back door. “Weren’t you paying attention?” 

Molly shrugged. “No, I wasn’t really listening to that part, to be honest.”

Sharon followed behind Kenny, rolling her eyes once her back faced Molly.

“I just hope they’re in there.” Lee hesitantly followed.

As Sharon rushed out the back door she gripped the screwdriver tighter. Kenny stood far from the shed doors, staring with mixed emotions on his face at the shed.

“What the fuck is this?” Kenny gestured to the door. “Did they do this?”

Sharon caught up and cocked her head at the rake slid in between the door handles. “Why would they lock it up like this?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know, it’s pretty fuckin’ stupid if they’re trying to stop someone from stealing it.”

Before either could ask or answer more questions the door started to rattle, as if someone is locked inside. 

Then a muffled voice called out. “Dad?”

“Duck?!”

Kenny ripped the rake out from the handles and swung both doors wide open, welcoming his son into his arms. 

“What the hell happened?” Kenny looked up with a clenched fist at the others locked in the shed, with the missing boat it was easy to see the shame and various mixed emotions plastered on their faces.

Omid and Christa were sitting against one of the walls, silently staring ahead. Ben was nervously pacing around where the boat once was, his stare fixated on the ground. Travis was laying on the ground with his feet propped on a toolbox, seemingly without a care in the world.

Lee rounded the corner, eyes wide when he saw them. “What happened?”

Omid stood from his spot on the wall, his voice deadpan. “Vernon, his entire crew, they took the boat.”

Kenny shook his head. “No fuckin’ way.”

Christa stood up alongside Omid. “They haven’t seen Clementine. They jumped us. They took the boat. They locked us in here.”

Kenny threw his hands in the air. “The INVALIDS?”

Sharon took a step away from the scene not feeling any strong emotions toward the missing boat, confident her invitation was still revoked at this point. She still worried about Clementine and where she could be at this point.

Omid sighed. “Their actions, uh, contradict your characterization, but, yeah, the invalids.”

“He’s right; they’re not invalids.” Christa stood by Omid’s side. “They’re just people. People who have been dealing with shitty situations even longer than we have.”

“I don’t give a fuck if they’re Make-A-Wish was a fuckin’ boat ride!” Kenny shouted, Duck slowly pulled himself away from his father. “When I find them, I’m gonna rip their throats out!”

“I can’t believe they did this to us.” Lee shook his head.

“How many people do they have, a whole cancer ward? Why the hell did you let them take the boat?”

Travis scoffed. “They were armed.”

“So were you!”

“We didn’t LET them lock us in here!” Travis shouted, his stare fixed on the ceiling. “They stormed the house, didn’t give us a chance to fight back.”

“Well, one of us did.” Omid looked at Ben. “Tried to, at least.”

“What do you mean?” Sharon asked, looking back and forth hoping for an answer. “Ben, what did you do?”

“I panicked.” Ben stepped closer into the light and looked to his left to show his black eye in the light.

“Ben!” Sharon neared and stared at the bruise. “Does it still hurt?”

“Nice shiner dude.” Molly commented with a smirk. “I’m impressed.”

Ben ignored Molly. “It’s sore but it’s not so bad now.”

“It’s sick, it really is!” Kenny paid no mind as Duck walked away and sat on the fountain by himself. “They use your goddamn sympathy for sick folks and then stab us right in the back!”

Christa was taken aback by his claims. “They didn’t ‘use’ shit- they did what anybody would’ve done. They’ve been living like ghosts forever and they were fed up. That’s it.”

Sharon watched Duck as he dragged his fingers through the scummy water. She wondered if Kenny would notice if she were to talk to his son, with his current frustration he might start screaming at her if he saw.

“He said they felt bad about it and didn't know anything about Clementine. He was sorry to hear about it.” Omid said.

“This is not happening.” Kenny paced with his hands on his head. “Everything is so fucked.”

Duck took a hand full of green muck and squashed it in his hands, watching as it oozed from between his fingers. Sharon grimaced and slowly walked toward him.

“Duck.” Sharon whispered. “That’s gross.”

Duck smiled. “I know, right?” His frown vanished and he rinsed the goo from his hands in the clearest spot of water.

“Where’s Clementine?” Christa asked, looking behind Lee, she took his silence and grim expression as a no. “Then she’s still out there.”

“So we get Clementine and then what?” Kenny gestured to the shed. “We lost the boat, what else are we going to do?”

“We get the fuck out of cities, I am DONE with cities.” Christa crossed her arms. “We find Clementine, we go out in the country, and make a go of it.” 

“Yeah.” Ben nodded. “That sounds like a good idea to me-.”

“Nobody asked you.” Kenny interrupted.

“You just did!”

“Don’t get fuckin’ smart with me, Ben.”

With the hostile tones from behind her Sharon rejoined the group.

“Chill.” Christa glared.

“What ever we're doing after this, this little shitbird ain't coming anywhere near us.” Kenny pointed at Ben, then shifted his glare to Sharon as she defended him.

"I gave supplies to the bandits too, I snuck out and took supplies from Lilly when Macon was dry. I'm just as guilty as he is."

"Then you ain't coming, for fuck sake- you got Katjaa KILLED!"

"She knew I was sneaking out!" Sharon's struggled to keep her voice steady. "She forgave me, so why can't you?"

"Why should I? I stuck out for you every day, yet you still wanted to leave. Fuck, I called you my daughter because Kat wanted me to and this is how you repay us? Stab us in the back?"

"I did it for the group! The only mistake I made was not telling you sooner!"

"The only mistake you made was not leaving when you had the chance."

“Alright!" Lee spoke, stepping between the two. "Let's keep it together. Nothing has changed.”

“‘Nothing has changed’?” Kenny repeated.

“I mean not immediately, we stay the course, don’t turn on eachother.”

“Yeah.” Ben followed Lee’s lead. “Chill out, Kenny.”

“Ben, I swear to god.” He grumbled back. “Where the hell do you get off?”

Travis sighed and finally stood up.

“I’m just saying we should ALL chill.” Ben backtracked. “Not just you.”

“Chill? Lee’s bitten and god know how long HE has left, Clementine is who the fuck knows where, and we’re robbed of the only hope we’ve had!”

“So?”

“So Lee should’ve dropped you and left Sharon in Crawford. We’ve got enough problems from you two.”

“KENNY.” Sharon clenched her fists, ready to step in to help.

“FUCK YOU, KENNY!” Ben abruptly shouted, everyone’s eyes went wide.

Travis and Molly locked eyes, returning an impressed smirk.

“I am so, so, SO sorry about Katjaa, I AM. I know we fucked up, but STOP pushing us around and STOP wishing I was dead."

Kenny squinted and took a breath.

“NO!” Ben stopped him before he could make another jab. “You know how they died, you’ve said GOODBYE. I never got to see my family, my parents, my little sister. . . do you get that?” His voice cracked. “Your family is gone, but at least you had them to lose.”

He took a breath, continuing as he saw Kenny was speechless.

“I never made it home. They could be alive, or dead, or walkers, or WORSE, and I DON’T KNOW. So give me a FUCKING break!”

In the silence, walkers growling filled their ears. 

Kenny struggled for words. “Ben. . . I’m-”

“Hey, we need to head inside!” Omid called out, rushing outside to the fence. “They’re close.”

Ben was the first to walk away, desperate to hide his red face. Kenny and Sharon locked eyes for a moment as everyone rushed around them.

“You're not the only one who's lost everything. I never lied to you about my family, the last time I heard from them was a text before my phone lost reception. It's not an excuse for what we did and you don't have to forgive us, but it is NOT acceptable to say stuff like that.”

  Duck stood by her side, avoiding looking at his father and taking Sharon’s hand to pull her away. She held her breath as Kenny watched, unsure if he’d yell at her for this. Instead they stayed silent as Duck led her inside.

“So.” Molly leant against the fireplace mantle and cleared her throat, unsure how to start after the scene in the backyard. “I found the guy who took the little girl.”

“What? Where is she?” Lee asked, taken aback by how nonchalant she is acting considering the situation. “Why isn’t she with you?”

“I don’t know where exactly, but she’s still here in Savannah.” She shrugged. “When I rang the bells the geeks blocked the creep from leaving. I jumped on his car and tried to get her out of there but with the crowd I had to get out.”

“You jumped on his car?” Omid’s eyes went wide. “Do you mean you got hit by it?”

“Are you hurt?” Christa continued.

“I’m fine, he didn’t hit me hard.” Molly quickly answered. “I know generally where he is.”

“Generally?” Kenny scoffed. “Do you know or not?”

“I know he didn’t leave town! I watched all the roads leading out of Savannah and I didn’t see anyone leave.”

“So where is he then?”

I don’t know! In the city!” Molly threw her arms up dramatically. “Don’t start yelling at me, too!”

“We need to calm down.” Sharon spoke up.

Kenny refused to comment.

“So, we know he’s still here but not exactly where, that’s still something.” Omid said, trying to stay optimistic.

“Then why send us back here?” Lee asked.

“The whole city is surrounded by walkers, I don’t know if it’s because Crawford isn’t killing them anymore or what. I could hardly make it back here myself.”

“That could be it.” Christa said. “Now that Crawford is all walkers too, they’re making the horde larger.”

Lee’s shoulders slumped. “And Clementine’s in the middle of it.”

“Well, let’s go get her then!” Kenny exclaimed. “Get some jackets made and start lookin’ for her.”

“Did you not hear what I said?” Molly scoffed. “The city is infested, we’re not getting anywhere close until the geeks get bored.” 

“Even with the jackets we’ve never gone through that many.” Sharon said, remembering how thick the dust was from the crowds in the streets. “Kenny, that’s too dangerous.”

“Uh, I think we need to worry about ourselves.” Travis called out from the windows, his eyes staring through the cracks. “We should’ve left when we had the chance.”

“The hell do you mean by that?” Kenny walked up to him, his glare vanished when the light of outside met his eyes.

“I mean that we have a shit ton of dead guys still coming our way.”

Duck slowly backed out of the room, walking toward the back door.

“You know, that shot I heard earlier probably led a good chunk of them here.” Molly pointed a glare at Lee before pressing her forehead against the windows to get a look. “The shouting didn’t help either.”

Sharon joined them. “What if we just stay silent? They probably don’t know where we are.”

Before anyone could respond, a loud crash echoed from the backyard.

“They know where we are.” Lee said.

“They knocked over the fence!” Duck shouted, running back into the living room. “There’s a whole bunch of them!”

“Of course, we can’t have anything go right.” Kenny groaned. “Everyone grab something, we might have to fight our way out of here.”

“I don’t think that’s going to work.” Lee said. “We’re already surrounded!”

“We still gotta’ fight!” Kenny unholstered his gun. “I ain’t gonna stand around!”

Christa leapt to action. "We can secure this place!" She collected her gun from the coffee table and handed Omid the other. 

Lee agreed. “Ben, Travis, grab the rifles and go upstairs. Start gathering furniture in the hallway, anything that will slow them down, we’re going to need a barricade.”

Ben and Travis did as they were told.

“You too, Duck.” Kenny commanded. 

“I can get a gun too?!” Duck exclaimed, bouncing on his heels.

“What? No! You can help by going upstairs!”

“No fair!” Duck whined. “Clementine showed me how to use one, I can do it!”

Kenny and Lee whipped their heads to look at Duck, gauging if he was serious or not.

Kenny sputtered a response. “Duck- I- We will talk about that later, right now you need to go upstairs so I don’t gotta worry about you!”

Duck crossed his arms and stomped up the stairs behind Travis and Ben.

Lee looked over the living room, Omid and Christa took to holding the front door shut while Kenny began to push the couch to use as a barricade. Both Sharon and Molly continued to stare out the window.

“You two, help the boys.”

“We’ll be trapped up there.” Molly took out her ice-pick, switching her gaze to and from the walkers and her weapon. “We really can’t get out of here?”

“No. We’ll defend with what we got, but we’re not making it out alive if we go out there.”

“C’mon, we need more than just Ben and I.” Travis called from the stairs. “We aren’t really the best for moving furniture right now.”

Molly reluctantly agreed. “I guess I’ll be the muscle between the cripple and the twig up there.” 

Sharon hesitated, reluctantly following behind Molly. Her eyes caught one last glimpse of the family portrait above the mantle, unsure if she’ll be seeing it again.

In the office Travis and Ben had knocked everything off the desk and tried pushing it, only managing to move it a few inches.

Duck joined them, trying to pull it.

“Duck, can you wait for us upstairs?” Sharon asked as Molly took Travis’s place behind the desk.

“But I wanna help!”

“You can help by getting out of the way!” Molly demanded. 

Duck moved aside, with Molly and Ben pushing they scooted it at a steady pace, Sharon hesitantly stood at Ben’s side and helped. Duck, with nothing else to do, rushed out and watched over the railing at Lee struggling to shut the front door.

Travis spoke once they got the desk in the right spot. “Push it on it’s side and use it to block the hallway!”

The three found it a lot easier to tip it over. The slam of the expensive hardwood against the floors shook the house, Sharon quickly stepped over it to join Duck’s side.

“There’s not much else we can use!” Sharon called down.

“What about the attic?” Kenny called back. “There’s furniture in there!”

Before Sharon could object, the doors finally cracked from the pressure.

"Get upstairs!" Lee ordered.

Omid and Christa were the first to run up the stairs. Christa turned midway up and aimed her gun, shooting the first walker that entered the doorway.

Kenny took Christa’s place on the stairs allowing her to retreat, stopping at the railing. “Omid, grab the rifles. We’ll hold down here as long as we can while they barricade the top floor.”

“You got it, babe.” Omid smiled, rushing as fast as his injured leg would let him.

“Sharon, help me move more furniture." Christa spoke, rushing over the desk barricade. "We need to use everything we can.”

“Duck, go wait upstairs.” Sharon said, physically pulling him from the railing. 

Duck didn’t pout this time, not wanting to help with this part.

Kenny, seeing Lee was handling himself and had a clear path to the stairs, started to climb.

Sharon waited to make sure both Duck and Omid made it over the desk before looking back down the stairs. “Oh my god.” Her hand flew to her mouth and tears pooled to her eyes as she saw the next walker in Lee’s path.

Her hair had been disheveled, dark blood covered her clothes, her skin pale, her head fell limp to her shoulders, and most noticeably her neck had been snapped at a ninety degree angle with a splintered bone protruding from the skin.

If there was anything to be thankful for, it was sending Duck away before he could see Carley.

“What’s the hold up, Lee? We need to-“ Kenny stopped at the top of the stairs and turned around, the words lost in his throat as he saw her. “Holy shit.”

Carley took a step toward Lee, struggling to keep her balance as she walked on broken legs.

All Sharon could think of is if she died painfully. She didn't land on her head, or she wouldn't be here. Did she die on impact? Did she have to wait for the end to come? Did any walkers get to her before she passed? Did her prayer go unanswered? 

A loud clattering behind them startled Sharon, upon turning around a familiar bookshelf had been tossed down the third floor stairs.

Back at the front doors, Kenny had leapt to action pulling Carley off of Lee. The movement of her neck made Sharon want to vomit.

With the sound of more clattering upstairs Sharon ran, she couldn’t breathe, she could hardly see past the tears.

“Sharon?” Omid looked up from hauling the bookshelf off the stairs. “What’s wrong?”

“What happened?” Christa peeked out of the master bedroom while dragging a nightstand behind her. “Where’s Kenny and Lee?”

“Is my dad okay?” Duck called out from the other side of the night stand.

Sharon couldn’t stop to speak, she couldn’t stay in one spot. Instead of answering Sharon rushed up the stairs.

Christa and Omid lowered their shoulders in relief as both men rounded the corner safely, but didn’t like the pale grim look on their faces. Duck was happy to see his dad alive.

Sharon could hear Kenny yelling at Duck to go upstairs, too focused on his voice to see a second mini bookshelf blocking the doorway.

“Watch out!” Molly moved it out of the way so Sharon could get around it. “We’re tossing the smaller stuff and getting the bigger stuff ready to move once everyone is up here, Thing-One and Thing-Two over here aren’t helping.”

“Did you forget I got shot three days ago?” Travis swept his hands over the desk to clear all the clutter off. “I can’t lift.”

Ben didn’t say anything as he held a stool in his hands, the smallest furniture piece in the room.

Molly rolled her eyes and began to push.

“Wait!” Sharon quickly pulled out a leather bound photo album, Lisa’s name was beautifully stamped on the front.

“Jesus, all of you are useless.” Molly nearly shoved the bookcase again, until Duck appeared behind it and squeezed through. With one kick Molly finally got rid of the bookcase.

Duck didn’t say anything, standing in the center of the room and watching the chaos unfold, the gunshots from down below echoing too loudly for anyone to talk.

With every surface Travis cleared, Sharon was behind him catching the fragile items. With every piece of furniture Ben and Molly moved, Sharon was squeezing her way in between to grab something sentimental before it got tossed down the stairs.

Soon Omid and Christa climbed up the pile, being pulled inside by Molly and Ben.

As Travis ripped a lamp from the wall, Sharon panicked. “Not that!” She quickly gripped the lamp and tried to pull it from his grasp.

“What are you doing?” Travis tugged it, his shoulder burning as he fought against her. “It’s just a lamp, who cares?”

“I care!” Sharon’s eyes stared at the photos that Lisa had long ago clipped on to the lamp shade, the random drawings they had doodled on the fabric, the carving on the wooden base from Lisa’s pocket knife. “It’s all I have!”

Travis weakly tried yanking again, pulling Sharon across the room. “I’m serious! Let go!”

“Travis, just let her have it.” Omid tried.

“Why?” Molly scoffed, returning her attention to the door.

The pins on the lamp let loose and small polaroids trailed behind them.

“You can find another one!”

“No I can’t!”

“Sharon!”

Kenny’s shout startled Sharon enough to let go of the lamp. Her shoulders hunched when she noticed all eyes aside were on her, aside from Travis and Molly who helped Kenny through the wreckage on the stairs.

“Hey, maybe you should sit down for a second.” Omid calmly guided her to the bed.

Sharon did as she was told, sitting on the foot of the bed in embarrassed silence

“Kenny!” Lee called from the stairs, grunting as a walker had grabbed hold of his foot.

“Shit!” Kenny reflexively reached for his gun. “I don’t have any ammo left!”

With a heavy thud and crashing down below, Travis had successfully thrown the lamp and knocked the walker away hard enough to free Lee from it’s grasp.

As Lee finally managed to make it through the clutter, Molly and Ben began tossing the boxes to fill the gaps. When the last box was thrown Kenny shoved the armoire in front of the door, just in case any walkers managed to crawl through the barricade.

With the danger now behind them everyone caught their breath, taking a moment to take in their situation.