#him in his little trailer with the windows open and wind chimes chiming and plants hanging everywhere charging his crystals on the

[rigginsstreet]

billy moving out and becoming a crystal girlie hippie nature witch is real to ME

[hellfiremunsonn]

She Acts Like Summer And Walks Like Rain. Eddie Munson x Reader.

She Acts Like Summer And Walks Like Rain.

I do not allow my writing to be republished anywhere other than my own blog without my consent

Summary: Honestly no real summary just some good old Eddie fluff.

AN: The title is based off the song “Drops Of Jupiter” by Train. Listen >> HERE

(This fic has no smut. Younger audiences are able to read this without any explicit content. but I will still be marking and labeling my writing as 18+)

18 + IF YOU ARE NOT 18 OR OLDER DO NOT READ OR INTERACT WITH MY WRITING. IT IS NOT INTENDED FOR MINORS. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MEDIA YOU CONSUME.

Word count: 2587

Warnings: mentions of smoking cigarettes, use of drugs ie: smoking weeds, does kissing need a warning? fem reader, just so much fluff.

When I woke up I could feel the fabric from my blankets and clothing around me as it stuck to my skin. The humid heat of Hawkins pouring through every inch of my small trailer. My hair clung to my forehead and the back of my neck, curling at the ends. I groaned rolling over, my bed squeaking with my movements. I aggressively kicked off the blanket on top of me and rid myself of the pair of sweatpants I had fallen asleep in, which were now slightly damp with sweat. I really needed to invest in a better fan than the small pink one that sat on my desk. It whirred lifelessly back and forth doing basically nothing. Groaning again I decided to finally sit up, interlocking my fingers together and stretching my arms above my head.

Knowing I didn't work today I decided to get up slowly, gradually making my way to each window, opening them all, letting in the small breeze. Opening my front door, I stepped onto the small porch, and placed one of my potted plants in front of it to keep it from closing. Glancing up at the early morning sky, not a single speck of blue could be seen and I could already smell the rain in the air. I closed my eyes for a moment. Just taking some deep breaths and enjoying the quietness, how only the breeze through the trees could be heard, and the small rainbow wind chime in the windowsill of Max Mayfield house.

Opening my eyes letting them adjust to that odd grey light from the sky, I noticed Eddie Munson from across the street walking out onto his own porch. His curly hair sat atop his head in a messy bun. An unlit cigarette dangling from his lips, a cup of coffee in one hand and a book in the other. Sitting down on the small patio couch leaning back into the blue cushions he sighed, leaning forward only to light his smoke. He was always so handsome, without even trying, but he never believed it, no matter who said it to him. When I was in high school with him I had such a big crush on him, but gave up on it knowing we were just too different people... I was a bubble gum pink, cherry flavoured chapstick, pretty in pink kind of girl, and he was well just the absolute opposite. Now talking to him is a rare occurrence, mainly just passing 'hi how are you's'

Tilting my head to the side, leaning against the metal doorframe of my home I watched him shamelessly. His black pajama pants hung low on his hips, his pale skin almost glowing. The black tattoos on his chest prominent in contrast. He was such a kind strange creature, that no one really gave the time of day. Frustrating really, sure he was a bit loud and kinda seemed like he might be a little crazy, and he definitely was, but he was genuine, and smart, and sweet, and- As if he could hear my thoughts from across the street he glanced up, making eye contact with me. I blushed but didn't hide it, thankful for the distance between us knowing he couldn't see the crimson colour rise to my cheeks. He gave me a nod and raised his coffee cup up to me as a wave. I gave him a slight wave back and hesitated before returning to the inside of the trailer.

Taking a deep breath I sighed and shook my head. God get yourself together! A second blush coming to my cheeks as I realized I was only in the oversized t-shirt I fell asleep in. It came down to mid thigh, and a pair of black boy shorts that would not have been seen under the length of the shirt. Eddie Munson just saw me basically half naked, great, that's fine, it's fine. A small laugh bubbled in my chest and I headed to my small kitchen to make a coffee. "It's a slow day remember?" I said out loud to myself. "Take your time, breathe, relax" I grabbed my favourite pink mug and filled it with instant coffee and sugar, waiting for my electric kettle to boil.

Deciding to change out of my sweat dampened clothes, I rummaged through my closet to find something that wouldn't make me too hot in this humidity. Finally settling on a pink thin strapped dress that flowed down to about my ankles I smiled with contempt. This would definitely do for now. My bare feet padded against the fake linoleum floor as I walked back into my kitchen to poor my coffee. Even if it was one hundred degrees I would still always have a hot coffee after waking up.

Grabbing my hot cup I decided to copy Eddie on this gloomy day. I shuffled through the books on my small shelf and grabbed my copy of 'The Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring' I had been meaning to read for a while now. Tossing my pack of smokes on top of the book in one hand I got up and dragged one of my whicker chairs onto my porch draping a blanket over it and tucked my feet up under me as I sat with my book in my lap. Quiet music drifted through the breeze and I nodded my head along to the tune while still reading, taking a grateful sip of my coffee. Glancing up briefly, Eddie was now sitting with his head leaned back into the couch. I couldn't tell if his eyes were closed, or if he was just looking up at the sky but either way my breath still hitched when I saw the slow bob of his Adams apple as he swallowed.

After that I found it difficult to focus on my book, every few minutes raising my eyes to look at Eddie. His position didn't change much, his legs shifted every so often, his knee bouncing up and down, his brows furrowed in concentration as he read the words on the pages of his book. Sighing I looked back down at the pages in front of me, the same words I had read multiple times already unable to properly absorb them. Almost letting my thoughts of Eddie distract me once more, before I could look up at him, drops of rain splattered across the pages in front of me. I frowned and looked up at the sky which had gotten significantly darker. Reluctantly standing up to gather my things I chucked my blanket inside of my trailer, it landing in the middle of my living room floor. I then grabbed my chair, placing it back inside where it belonged. I wanted to stay outside but I didn't have a roof over my porch.

Just as I was about to step back inside I heard loud footsteps behind me. I turned to see Eddie jogging over to me. "Hey!" He said a little out of breath.

"Hey Munson" I said smiling, leaning against the doorframe.

He stared at me for a moment before clearing his throat. "I um, saw you were reading, and wanted to know if you wanted to come sit on my porch, cause you don't have a roof on yours, and I assumed you were enjoying yourself out here but I totally understand if you-"

"I would actually love that" I said a little too quickly. I bit my lip blushing and rushed back inside to grab my blanket and book. I followed behind him to his covered porch, the rain already starting to pitter against it loudly. My heart was hammering in my chest, and I felt like one of those cartoons where a big heart shaped balloon pushes out of their chest. He gestured for my to sit down on the small couch first and so I did. Tucking my feet up under me again I made sure to squish myself right against the armrest as much as I could in fear of taking up too much space. Knowing I wasn't actually going to be able to focus on my book, I still opened to the right page and pretended to read intently, watching Eddie in my peripheral.

"Smoke?" He asked extending his hand towards me with an unlit joint. "I don't know if you still smoke, I remember you did in high school" He said blushing.

"You remember me from school?" I said shocked.

"Well yeah you were kind of hard to miss" He chuckled lightly. "You were basically dressed in all pink everyday, you looked like that pink fairy chick from The Wizard of Oz"

I laughed, letting my head fall into my hands. "God I really did look like that didn't I?" I turned my head towards him, my cheek squished up against my hand as I leaned into it. "I still really like the colour pink" I admitted as if he didn't all ready know.

"Oh really? I couldn't tell" He said smirking, giving me a small up and down.

"Oh fuck off" I said pushing one of his shoulders.

He brought the joint to his lips and lit the end. Inhaling deeply and just before blowing out the smoke he handed it to me. Taking it in my hands I pulled it to my lips and took a grateful inhale, probably a little too much considering it had been a while since the last time I smoked, but I knew I would be okay. It only burned a little and I stifled a cough in the crook of my elbow. My eyes watered and I reached over to his unfinished cup of coffee, and even though it was probably cold I took a large swig. Frowning I swallowed and coughed again. "How much sugar did you put in that!" I said raising an eye brow.

"Too much, s'why the cup is still full" He said while bits of smoke came out slightly as he laughed.

I made a 'bleck' noise and stuck out my tongue.

"Would you like some water?"

"Yeth pleeze" I said with my tongue still out.

He handed the joint back to me as he rushed inside. I leaned back into the couch, pulling my knees up to my chest, my dress sliding down my thighs, I stared up at the metal roof of his porch. The rain dropping loudly against it I almost didn't notice when he returned until I heard the cup hit the small glass table in front of us. Blowing out more smoke I passed the almost finished joint back to him and leaned forward to grab the mug of water in front of me. "Thank you" I said quietly.

We sat together in a moment of silence, just enjoying the sound of the rain. It was so blissful. My limbs started to feel a bit tingly and I knew the high was finally setting in and I sighed in relief. Eddie turned to me. "You good?" He asked.

I smiled and licked my lips, feeling my mouth start to get dry. "So good" I giggled through heavy lidded eyes. "I am very high" I stated. "It's been a while"

"Yeah I can tell" he said still smiling at me. There was another moment of silence before I giggled again turning my body towards him.

"I used to realllllly, like you Eddie Munson" I leaned the side of my head against the cushion of the couch.

"Used to?" he questioned smiling. "What changed?" He asked tilting his head to the side. His fingers tapping on the top of my bare feet.

I sighed, noticing the way he glanced at my chest as it rose and fell with my inhale. "Nothing, I'd still jump your bones" I scoffed. "C'mon you knew I liked you" I didn't think he would have known but I was too high to care.

"I had a feeling" he shrugged. "You stare at me a lot"

I leaned back up and gasped. "I do not!" feeling the heat of embarrassment rise to my cheeks.

"Yes you do! You're always standing in your kitchen or your door trying to act like you're looking everywhere but towards me. You're not as sneaky as you think" He teased.

Before I could respond the heavy rain somehow got heavier. Pouring down rapidly you could barely see my trailer across the street. I gasped sitting up abruptly and grabbing onto Eddies hand. "Eddie!" I yelled.

"What?" he said searching my face for an answer. I got up and pulled at his arm, reaching my free hand out so I could hold both of his hands and pulled at them until he stood up. "What are you doing?"

"We have to dance!" I squealed.

I pulled him out with me into the middle of our dirt street, both of us soaking wet within seconds. I laughed loudly, tilting my head back closing my eyes. Still smiling as I felt the rain roll down my hot skin. I laughed finally looking forward and up at Eddie, smiling lazily. "Pretty, pretty, Munson" I said letting go of his hands, standing on my tippy toes to reach the top of his head. Slowly and carefully I untangled his hair from the old hair tie he had wrapped around it, freeing his long curls from it. They went flat with the rain almost instantly but I didn't care. Sliding the hair tie onto my wrist I wiped his bangs away from his forehead. His warm hands wrapped around my waist and he pulled me into him so we were chest to chest. I let my hands that rested on the tops of his shoulders slide down his naked torso, tracing his tattoos, and watching rain drops race down his chest and into the small happy trail. I hummed in content.

"You think I'm pretty huh?" he said tilting his head to the side watching me.

"Very much so" I sighed. Pushing back from him slowly I began dancing, not so gracefully. Laughing loudly at my dance moves Eddie clutched at his chest, almost hunched over at this point. "Stop laughing at me and dance!" I yelled. He joined me slightly, bobbing around me to whatever movements my body made up. It was a lot of jumping and pointing my fingers in the air, but fun nonetheless. I swayed my hips slowly from side to side, clutching the fabric of my dress against my thigh giving my feet more freedom to move without being restricted to the fabric. The wet dirt and rocks under my feet hurt but it didn't stop me from twirling around, giggling and struggling to breathe as I continued. I only stopped when I felt eddies warm hands wrapped around my waist again.

"Hi" He said loudly so I could hear him over the loud roaring of the rain. One hand reaching up to cup my face, moving a strand of hair that clung to my cheek.

"Can I kiss you Eddie Munson?"

"Only if you stop saying my full name" he said leaning down slightly, our noses barely touching.

"I can try" I smiled and stood up onto my toes to kiss him, my arms wrapping around his neck. The kiss was warm. Almost as warm as the weather outside, it felt like the way the colour yellow made you feel, or when your stomach hurts from laughing too much, the way your heart squeezes when you sing to your favourite song, or when you're standing in the rain, kissing someone you didn't realize you might actually just love.

[threeorphanpilgrimage]

Chapter 76 - Mobility

Clementine wished she had a better source of light than just her lantern lying on the ground, but did her best to evaluate her choices. The red one-piece swimsuit was stylish enough, but it covered so much Clem was worried she'd barely feel the water while wearing it. The pink two-piece looked better except for the top that appeared ill-fitting on Clem. Holding it up in front of the mirror again, Clem wondered if it was even necessary for her to wear the top part.

"Hey!" Clem nearly jumped out of her skin as she dropped the swimsuits and spun around. She could see someone silhouetted against the store's glass doors and realized it was Anthony. "You still in here?"

"Yeah!" called Clem.

"Me and Devlin are done tying our load to the trailer and want to get out of Tulsa already," said Anthony. "You done clothes shopping or whatever?"

"Yeah, I'll be right out." Clem watched Anthony disappear past the front doors, then turned back to the swimsuits. She took one last look at the two-piece suit, then picked up the one-piece. She stuffed the swimsuit and her lantern into her backpack and hurried outside.

Returning to Tulsa had been a tense trip. Stopping at the Citadel to see if anyone was in the shopping center and then listening to Devlin call the radio over and over again left Clementine fearful of what they would do if anyone ever answered. No one did, nor were there any signs people had visited the shopping center, but listening to her footsteps echo across the asphalt as she headed for the semi-truck, Clem still couldn't shake the feeling of someone being out there, just waiting to find them.

"We finally done?" Clem heard Anthony ask as she approached the semi-truck. She watched as Devlin tugged on one of the straps tying the dozens of barrels to the flatbed trailer, then turned to Anthony, who was looking at a clipboard.

"You tell me," said Devlin.

"Well, we got all the barrels and stuff Sin needed for another rainwater collector, along with fire extinguishers, new grills, more propane, wind chimes, those little key box things for our vehicles…" Anthony trailed off as he looked up from his list. "I think that's everything."

"Clem, you get everything you wanted?" asked Devlin.

"I'd hope so, she had enough time to try on a new wardrobe while we're working."

Clem shot Anthony an annoyed look before turning back to Devlin. "I got everything I wanted."

"Two damn weeks we spent packing, and we still needed to come back here for more stuff," grumbled Anthony as he tossed the clipboard into the truck.

"At least this time we just had to tie stuff to the back of a flatbed and not play Jenga with those damn box trailers," said Devlin as looked over all the goods tied to the flatbed. "It's a shame we didn't find anyone waiting here."

"I hear ya."

Devlin and Clem looked at Anthony. "Really?" asked Devlin in disbelief.

"Yeah really, be nice to have an extra hand to do all this damn farm work," griped Anthony. "I was glad when you said you'd need me in Tulsa today because it gives me a break from working in the dirt this morning."

"Me too," added Clem.

"Speaking of the farm, I think it's time we pick-up our scarecrow." Devlin headed up to the door of the semi-truck. "Clem, you ride with Anthony. The trailer makes the semi pretty unwieldily, so if this goes wrong, you'd have a better chance of getting away in his truck instead of this one."

"But…" Devlin climbed into the semi and closed the door, leaving Clem alone with Anthony.

"Well come on," said Anthony as he headed for his own truck. "Unless you want to stay here, which I thought we all agreed we didn't."

Clem followed after Anthony and climbed into the seat next to him. He started his truck and followed Devlin's semi as it awkwardly maneuvered through the parking lot and back onto the nearest road while Clem inched as far away from Anthony as she could before looking out the window. Seeing the abandoned homes and stores of Tulsa again was a depressing sight. They had been living on the farm for so long now Clem had grown accustomed to their small plot of land full of living people and growing plants. Once again laying eyes on this vast yet dead city was distressing, seeing all the emptiness and being forced to think about how many must have died all over again just made Clem even more eager to return home.

"So what'd I do this time?" Clem looked over at Anthony, who was casually leaned back in his seat as he drove.

"What do you mean?" asked Clem, feigning ignorance.

"You didn't want to ride with me on the way down, didn't want to just now, and I've noticed you've been avoiding me more than usual," listed Anthony, not sounding all the concerned. "Is this just gonna be the norm for us or did I forget your birthday or something?"

"My birthday is at the end of August," reminded Clem.

"And I didn't miss Sarah's, that's in two weeks."

"It… it is," realized Clem as she counted the days and realized the middle of May wasn't far off.

"So, what then?" Clem crossed her arms. "If you want to give me the silent treatment, that's fine by me, but Sarah can't say I didn't try."

Clem sighed. "Why did you want to go swimming with her a couple of weeks ago?"

"Wait, that's why you're mad at me?" asked Anthony as he looked over, appearing genuinely surprised. "Because I didn't see jack. If Sarah hadn't said you were there—"

"It's not that," insisted Clem. "Why did you want to go swimming with Sarah?"

"Um, because it sounded like a nice break after sweating my ass off in both a field and a greenhouse all damn day."

"So why not go swimming alone?"

"I told Sarah you'd get jealous," mumbled Anthony as he turned back to the road.

"I'm not jealous," insisted a defensive Clem. "I just want to know why you wanted to go swimming with her, and not alone or with anyone else?"

"Why do you think I wanted to go?" Clem racked her brain for an answer, but she couldn't think of one that didn't sound like a baseless accusation. "Go ahead, tell me all about the horrible scheme was I concocting."

"I don't think you had a scheme it's just…"

"Just what?" asked Anthony.

"Just… there was a boy named Mick who pretended to be friend's with Sarah, then told her she had to kiss him, and he wouldn't take no for an answer," recalled Clem. "I don't want anyone to hurt her like that again."

"It ever occur to you I actually want to be friends with the one person who doesn't treat me like a damn leper?" asked Anthony. "I swear, y'all pile onto me outta habit just because it makes you feel superior."

"That's not true," insisted Clem.

"Isn't it? Everyone looked at me like I'm a monster for shooting that deer, but y'all ate it."

"Sarah didn't."

"Yeah, and she's the one person who thanked me for saving you and Patty back in New Orleans." Clem opened her mouth to refute Anthony, but she couldn't think of anything. "It any wonder she's the one I want to spend more time with?"

Clem couldn't think of a retort to that either. Instead, she just turned away and let Anthony concentrate on his driving. She didn't like Anthony saying she was jealous, but Clem did wish she had more time to be with Sarah. They both were working so much now they almost never got to spend any time together having fun anymore. Even when they go to bed, they're both usually too tired to stay up and talk like they used to before starting the farm.

"Speaking of dirty work, I think this is our stop." Sitting up, Clem saw someone standing in the middle of an intersection off in the distance. It didn't take long for Clem to recognize it as a walker, the first they had seen since returning to Tulsa, or since arriving at Ceres Acres she realized. It was just standing there, shifting slightly in place like it was ready to fall over at any moment.

"Surprised it took us so long to find one," said Anthony as he shifted the truck into park.

"We killed a lot of them when we came to Tulsa," reminded Clem.

"Yeah, but just around the shopping center after we cleared a path to it," said Anthony as he opened his door. "Never thought the day would come when we had to go looking for one of these fuckers."

Clem hurried out of Anthony's truck and towards his camper where they both quickly threw on their raincoats. Clem found the smell much worse than she remembered, and couldn't slip on her respirator quick enough. With her gun already in its holster, Clem grabbed her tomahawk and hurried over to where Devlin was already standing outside his truck.

"All right, let's do this slowly and carefully," said Devlin as he slipped on an extra thick pair of gloves.

"Yeah, it's not like we've killed a thousand of these fuckers before," said Anthony.

"All the more reason not to screw up and get ourselves killed now," asserted Devlin as he handed Anthony a pair of similar gloves. "And none of us has ever had to muzzle one of these things before."

"What should I do?" asked Clem.

"Climb up top and keep watch for us," said Devlin as he unloaded then reloaded his rifle. "There's almost never just one infected by itself, but if we're quick and quiet, we might be able to nab this one before any others come wandering out."

"Got it," nodded Clem.

"And here, take this." Devlin handed Clem a single grenade, which she carefully clipped to her belt. "If a flood of these things start marching out then the noise from that can draw them away. You remember what I told you about these right?"

"As long as I hold the handle down, it won't blow up," recited Clem.

"That's right, you could stick something heavy on the handle and just leave it if you were careful," explained Devlin. "So if you need to use this, take your time and make sure you choose your target carefully."

"Got it." Clem climbed up the front of the semi's grill while Devlin and Anthony started rushing across the road. Reaching the roof of the truck, Clem whipped out her binoculars and scanned the area. No signs of more walkers, but this part of Tulsa was unfamiliar to her and every house lining the sides of the road could be brimming with the dead. Looking down at the road, Clem watched as Anthony and Devlin rushed up to the unsuspecting walker and simultaneously attacked both its ankles with bats.

Clem did another quick search of the area, fearful she would see the dead or even the living rushing towards their position at any minute. Nothing came, and before she knew it, Anthony and Devlin were dragging the walker back towards the truck by it twisted legs at it swung its arms around in a fruitless attempt to grab hold of its attackers.

"You see anything Clem?" called Devlin as he let go of the walker.

"Nothing," she reported.

"Good, come on down," instructed Devlin. "If we need to kill this thing in a hurry, then it might fall on you to be the one who pulls the trigger."

"Be right there." Climbing down and landing on the asphalt, Clem got her first good look at the walker. Whoever they used to be, they were kind of short and fairly skinny. Beyond that, it was hard to tell much if anything about them. The putrid skin on their face had been eroded to the point it looked like little more than a skull covered in peeling flesh, and its clothes were tattered and stained long beyond recognition as anything other than merely resembling a shirt and pants. Clem almost felt sorry for it as it lay there on its back, swatting at the air.

"All right, let's deal with the hands first," said Devlin in a whisper as he handed Anthony a machete. "Remember, just get the hands, we still want to leave the rest of the arms for it to swat at crows. And Clem, be ready with your pistol if this goes wrong."

"I will." Clem drew her gun and moved around the thrashing corpse, positioning herself a few feet away from its head where she'd have a clean shot. She watched as Devlin grabbed one of the walker's arms and forced it flat against the pavement in a series of quick motions. Right after that Anthony swung the machete and sliced the hand clean off.

Devlin let go the walker just as it managed to flip over, swinging at the air with its other hand to snag whatever it could. Clem felt her finger instinctively go for the trigger but Devlin easily grabbed the second arm and Anthony sliced off its hand as well with little effort. Anthony placed a foot on the walker's back to keep it from trying to crawl away while Devlin grabbed something from the semi.

"All right, here comes the fun part," mumbled Devlin in a grim tone as he adjusted his grip on the catcher's helmet. "Clem—"

"I'll be ready if something happens," she assured as she tightened the grip on her gun.

"Here we go." Devlin took a breath, then pushed the helmet forward. He managed to slip it on the walker's head with a single quick motion, then he pushed on the back of the helmet to force the walker to face the pavement. Clem watched as Devlin grabbed some straps on the back of the helmet, tightening them as much as he could.

"All right, that takes care of the muzzle," said Devlin as he gave the helmet's strap one final tug.

"Now let's tape up the stumps," reminded Anthony. "I remember when we cleared our way to the shopping center, Sin said something about if the bites are what kill you, then it might be something in the bones itself. The last thing we need to is to be watering tomatoes one day and our scarecrow manages to scratch us with a chunk of bone sticking out of its arm."

"Don't have to tell me." Devlin positioned one of his knees on the walker's back while grabbing both arms. The walker continued to twitch its head as much as it could while Anthony wrapped its severed arms in thick plastic and duct tape. Watching the corpse chomping its teeth, Clem took some relief in that the catcher's mask did form a barrier between the walker's mouth and anything it wanted to bite, but listening to that sickening groaning and hissing filled her with dread just the same.

Anthony was able to tape the walker's severed arms without incident, replacing its hands with a couple of thick wads of plastic. It was almost comical watching the walker swing its arms now, unable to grab anything even if it did manage to make contact with them. Around the time Anthony was holding the walker down so Devlin could secure a collar around its neck, Clem felt herself growing uneasy for a different reason.

"This feels wrong," she blurted out.

"Hey, you guys are the always the ones who tell me these aren't people anymore," reminded Anthony as he held the mutilated walker in place.

"I know, but…"

"It's still pretty morbid to use someone's body as a scarecrow, especially when that body isn't quite dead yet," concluded Devlin as he tightened the collar with a swift tug. "I don't like it either, but Sarah says she's just about at the end of her rope with crows in our field."

"Tell me about it," griped Anthony as he stood up. "There's more of them every fucking morning."

"It's like Sarah said, our farm is the only food in the area, and they know we can't watch it all the time," said Clem.

"No, but our new friend here can," said Anthony as he knelt down. "Isn't that right buster?"

"Clem, get the door to Anthony's camper," instructed Devlin as he grabbed the walker from under its armpits.

"Got it." Clem rushed over to Anthony's camper and pulled the door open. The floor inside was already lined with plastic they set out earlier and Clem waited as Anthony and Devlin dragged the walker to its new cell. The pair tossed the snarling corpse inside and Clem slammed the door shut.

"I sure hope this is a good idea," said Devlin as he listened to the walker thrashing about inside.

"Hey man, even fish won't go near these things," said Anthony

"Nothing does," noted Clem.

"Let's hope that includes crows," said Devlin as he pulled off his gloves.

Clem was happy to once again leave Tulsa behind. She thought she would have enjoyed a break from tending crops, but being back in the desolate ruins of civilization just replaced tiresome work with an unrelenting fear of the unknown that cast a shadow over everything they did, one she was eager to escape. Looking over at Devlin as he drove, she could tell he was anxious to return as well, and could only imagine how much worse it must have been for him when he had come to Tulsa alone back in April.

Clem perked up as she spotted a familiar forest in the distance. It was an excruciatingly slow commute home as Devlin had to maneuver the truck and its trailer down a winding path through the woods. Clem never realized just how long this road was until just now and started to wonder if they were ever actually going to get home. Finally, the truck broke through the trees and the farmhouse came into view. They drove past the trio of small apple trees planted beside the road and came to a stop as they found Sarah, Patty, and Omid all standing just outside the fence.

"I didn't know Sarah knew how to ride a bike," said Devlin as he watched Sarah try to turn.

"She doesn't," said Clem as Sarah and the bike fell onto their side. "I'll go help her up." Clem undid her seat belt and hurried out of the truck. She rushed over to Sarah as she was picking herself up off the ground.

"You okay?" asked Clem.

"Yeah," she said with a sigh. "I'm just never going to get this."

"Ah-gee! Ah-gee!" Clem heard Omid yell between bursts of laughter.

"I think he wants to see you fall over again," translated Patty as she led the boy closer to the pair.

"I'm sure he'll get to see that soon." Clem took one look at a disappointed Sarah and removed her backpack. "Are those—"

"Training wheels," said Clem.

"I probably should have just brought a pair of these with us when we left Tulsa," said Patty as she took the tiny wheels from Clem. "Never occurred to me you didn't know how to ride a bike either Sarah."

"I just never really wanted a bike so I never learned how," said Sarah with a shrug as she wheeled the bike back towards the gate. "I'm still not sure I want to learn how."

"You will," assured Clem as she pulled the gate open so Anthony could drive inside. "Then we can go riding together."

"To-tether," repeated Omid as Patty held his hand while Anthony's truck drove by.

"Sure, right after we go swimming again," said Sarah with another sigh as she placed the bike back on the Brave's rack. "We barely had time to do this before you guys got back; we barely have time for anything anymore."

"I know." As Clem shut the gate, she watched as Devlin turned the truck to park it besides the fence. Looking at everything loaded on the trailer pass her by forced Clem to contemplate how long it would take to offload it.

"So, nobody was waiting for you in Tulsa?" asked Patty.

"No," said Clem as she headed towards the Brave. "I don't think anyone has been there since we left."

"Did you guys get everything on the list?"

"Yep," said Clem as she opened a compartment on the Brave.

"Everything?" repeated Sarah, sounding concerned.

"Yeah, we got… we got one." Clem placed the grenade into Patty's box for them, then looked over at Anthony's camper.

"And… you three were all okay, right?" asked Sarah, sounding guilty.

"We're fine Sarah, we were careful."

"All right, I'll take Omid inside while Devlin and Anthony put our… scarecrow, in place," said Patty as she picked up the toddler.

"Clem, can you go get Jet and Sin?" asked Sarah. "They're at the lake working on Sin's irrigation trench, or I think it's a channel now."

"Sarah and I made something special for lunch while you guys were gone," said Patty with a smile. "And we don't want anyone to miss it."

"What'd you make?"

"The sooner you bring back Sin and Jet, the sooner you'll find out."

"Fide out!" giggled Omid.

A promise of a surprise for lunch was enough to get Clem moving. She quickly stored her gun and other gear in the Brave, then took off towards the lake. Hurrying past the backhoe parked beside the barn, she found herself following the trail of the recently buried pipe right towards the edge of the lake. There Jet was standing near the shore while Sin tossed a lasso out onto the water. He managed to wrangle a small log floating in the water, then he and Jet started pulling it in.

"What are you two doing?" asked Clem.

"Cleaning up the driftwood before we open our new channel," informed Sin in-between heaves.

"Granddad said he doesn't want it blocking the flow of water," informed Jet as they pulled the log closer to shore. Looking down, Clem noticed there were actually several pieces of wood piled up on the shore, like someone was trying to start a fire and didn't realize wet wood wouldn't burn.

"I got a swimsuit. I could just go into the lake and get the wood for us," informed Clem.

"Granddad insisted on showing off his lasso skills," mumbled Jet as they pulled the wood in.

"I wanted to stay in practice," corrected Sin as he untied the knot. "And I offered to let you practice as well."

"I told you, throwing ropes is something you're good at, not me," said Jet as he picked up the wood.

"You'd get better if you practiced." Clem noticed Jet grimacing at Sin's words as he tossed the wood onto the pile.

"Well, I just came to tell you lunch is ready," informed Clem.

"We'll be there as soon as we're done with this," said Jet as he turned around. "We won't be long."

"Can I help?" asked Clem.

"Not unless you want to learn how to throw a lasso," suggested Sin as he coiled his rope around his arm.

"I wouldn't mind."

Sin gave Clem an approving look, then turned to Jet. "Why don't you head back? Clem and I can finish up."

"You sure?" asked Jet.

"Yes, I don't see any pieces past these last two, so we'll be right behind you." Jet hurried away while Sin turned to Clem. "Do you know how to tie a lasso?" he asked while holding out the rope.

"Um, yeah, OJ's mom showed me how," said Clem as she examined the knot. "Once, Sarah and I got trapped on this warehouse, and I had to make a lasso so we could grab one of the walker's arms below because we needed something to make us smell like them."

"It sounds like you already know how to use one then," realized Sin.

"Well, I can make a lasso, but we didn't throw it, we just lowered it down and pulled on it when something grabbed it," explained Clem.

"Well, throwing a lasso isn't all the complicated," explained Sin as he handed Clem the rope. "Just put your index finger right here, below the knot, and pinch it a little with your thumb, that way you don't pull out the slack spinning it around."

"Okay," said Clem as she adjusted her grip.

"Now, you just want to twirl it with your wrist, then toss it at that bigger log over there." Sin took a step back and Clem lifted the rope above her head. She twirled it as hard as she could before letting go, causing the lasso to immediately splash into the water directly in front of her.

"Go a little slower this time," instructed Sin as Clem pulled the rope in. "It's much more important to maintain a steady rhythm as you twirl it than to do it quickly."

"Okay." Clem twirled the rope a little slower this time, keeping it spinning above her head until she found her rhythm. Once she felt like she had her timing down, Clem tossed the lasso as hard as she could. This time the rope sailed half way to the log before hitting the water.

"That was better, but you shouldn't force your throw like that."

"What do you mean?" asked Clem as she pulled the rope in.

"It's not like throwing a ball," explained Sin. "You want to just let go as you swing it forward."

"Like a frisbee?" asked Clem as she started twirling the rope.

"In a sense, it's more about the timing than how hard you throw it," said Sin. "Keep your eye on the target and just let the lasso go as you swing it forward."

Clem did as instructed, keeping her eyes fixed on the log floating out in the lake while she twirled the rope over her head in a big circle. Focusing on a single broken branch jutting out from the side of the wood, Clem felt the lasso move with her arm and let go of it as her hand shot forward. It sailed through the air and the loop threaded itself on the busted branch.

"I did it!"

"Good, now give the line a hard pull to tighten the lasso." Clem tugged on the line and snagged the branch. Pulling on the log, Clem felt the line grow lighter as Sin started helping.

"You'd make a good cowgirl," complimented Sin.

"I think being a farmer is enough," assured Clem as she pulled the log onto the shore.

"My luuk-saow, daughter, wanted to be a cowgirl, at least until she spent a week on a farm one summer. I still remember when she came home and asked me what I do at my job, and specifically did I have to get up at dawn every day to do it; I told her I didn't." Sin took a breath as he pulled the log in. "And yet she got involved with humanitarian work, and ended up doing something far harder and more dangerous than farm work. She could have done anything, and all she wanted to do was help people."

"She sounds like a really good person," said Clem as they rolled the log towards the pile of wood.

"Better than me…"

Clem looked up to see Sin's expression had soured slightly, like he was trying to hide being upset. He took the rope in hand and Clem watched as he quickly twirled and tossed it to wrangle the last piece of driftwood in sight. As he pulled it in, Clem noticed the small ditch leading water from the lake into a what looked like a concrete box buried in the dirt near the shore.

Clem knew Sin and Devlin had been putting the finishing touches on the irrigation channel, but hadn't seen it for herself yet. Examining it, she saw the water flowed through the ditch and into the concrete section through a piece of mesh covered by a big piece of cloth. Clem realized it was probably a filter like they used when collecting water to boil. The other end of the concrete reservoir was blocked by a metal slab covering the entrance to the pipe that had been buried underground.

"Do you want to do the honors?"

Clem looked over her shoulder at Sin. "What do I do?"

"All you need to do is pull open the gate," said Sin as he gestured to a crude handle welded to the top of the metal slab. "Then we'll have water running from the lake and into our pond."

Clem moved over to the gate and wrapped her fingers around its handle. Pulling out the slab was harder than she thought. It wasn't particularly heavy, but the force of the water pushing against it made moving it difficult. Clem's arms strained as water started flowing into the pipe, but she gave the gate a final pull and fell over backwards as she removed the slab from the channel.

Sitting up, Clem could see water rushing in from the lake and into the now open pipe. Moving in close, she could also hear the echo of the water running through the buried plumbing. As she was observing their new channel, Clem suddenly realized she was still holding the metal slab that had served as a gate. Noticing Sin was looking at her, she offered it to him.

"Sorry," she said as she handed it over. "I think I broke it."

"Not at all." Clem watched as Sin knelt down and slid the metal slab over the top of the reservoir, actually inserting it into groves running along the top of the concrete.

"You made the gate the same size to work as a cover," realized Clem.

"I thought it would be less likely for someone to lose it if the gate still served a purpose even when the channel is open," said Sin as he slid the slab into place, completely covering the reservoir.

"That's really smart," complimented Clem.

"It's nothing particularly complex, but since the one piece and serve both purposes, it saved Devlin the trouble of having to cut more than two pieces of metal," said Sin as he stood up. "Speaking of which, we should open the outtake by the pond and make sure there aren't any clogs in the line."

The pair marched back to the farm, arriving at a similar concrete reservoir built next to their half-drained pond. Sin removed the gate and water immediately came rushing out. Listening to the steady flow and watching it pour into their pond, refilling their field's water supply, Clem felt an odd satisfaction in their success. Even if she hadn't done much herself to build the irrigation channel, she couldn't help feeling proud in their creation anyway. And looking at Sin, she could only imagine how much more proud he felt as he tried to hide the smile on his face.

As they were walking back to the house, Clem couldn't help noticing their new scarecrow sitting in the field. Against her better judgement, Clem headed towards it for a closer look. The walker detected her presence and crawled towards her, snarling loudly. The very short chain anchoring it to the post planted in the dirt kept it from moving more than a foot towards her, and the catcher's mask would have kept it from biting her anyway, and it had no hands left to grab her, yet, she still found its presence disturbing.

"Devlin poured cement when he put that post in the ground," assured Sin, unable to completely conceal the concern in his voice.

"I know. Sarah was annoyed we had to move some of our plants to make room." Clem stood there quietly as she listened to the walker snarl, eternally clueless to its own imprisonment.

"We can always just shoot him later if this doesn't work," reminded Sin.

"Let's just go have lunch already."

The pair returned the yard where the others were already gathered. Devlin had set-up an umbrella he took from Tulsa over the picnic table. In addition to giving them a break from the sun, it also set the perfect mood for Sarah and Patty to reveal their surprise; a freshly tossed salad made from their very own crops. Sarah explained it was still too early for them to be harvesting things regularly but thought everyone would appreciate a literal taste of what was to come as Patty set out a couple of big bowls. They were both overflowing with lettuce, and glistening like gems amongst the greens were freshly sliced tomatoes and cucumbers.

There was practically a traffic jam of hands as everyone couldn't wait to sample the salad, and they all were stuffing their faces before Patty revealed she had managed to dig out some choice salad dressings from the food trailer. Clem didn't even like salad that much before the outbreak, but now she couldn't get enough of it. The refreshingly cool cucumber slices, the juicy pieces of tomato, even the crisp leafs of lettuce had a wonderful flavor she didn't dare delude with any dressing.

Omid however was much more particular about what he ate. He liked the tomatoes, but didn't care for the lettuce. The cucumbers he couldn't get enough of, and Clem found herself wishing she could keep more slices of the juicy goodness for herself as she fed him piece after piece. Sarah also discovered he liked one of the salad dressings and was able to get him to eat a few big pieces of lettuce by drenching them in it first.

Sadly the meal seemed to end almost right after it began, and everyone breathed a collective sigh as they returned to work. Sarah headed for the greenhouse while Devlin and Sin offloaded the trailer. Jet spent time putting away all the smaller things they had brought back from Tulsa, including hanging up their new fire extinguishers. Patty and Anthony were stuck watering the crops this afternoon while Clem was supposed to watch Omid, something that had become less of a chore and more of a break when compared to everything else.

Clem happily read to Omid in his room, played with toys, made faces for him, and tried to teach him new words. She had spent a lot of time talking to Omid in the past, but it was a little strange having him talk back. A lot of it was still baby talk, but every day Clem could understand a few more words he was saying, and Omid seemed like he could understand her more, leaving Clem to wonder what she would say when they could both fully understand each other.

That wasn't today though, as it took Clem a while to realize Omid was saying 'pay' over and over again because he wanted to play with paints. She hadn't actually gotten to see him finger paint before so it was exciting for Clem to watch Omid try to draw something, at least for a few minutes. After making some brown smudges across a few sheets of paper by mixing all the colors together, Omid was determined to smear paint everywhere he could.

Clementine was aware of this possibility from Patty describing her time watching Omid before, but she wasn't nearly as ready for it as she had thought she would be. Omid was fast and relentless in his pursuit to touch things with his paint-covered hands, laughing as he left handprints on everything he came in contact with. This included Clem when she eventually grabbed him, and she had to endure being painted herself long enough to bring Omid to the bathroom. She rinsed him off in the tub, then while letting him soak in the bath, managed to sneak off long enough to clean up most of the paint he had smeared across his room.

Dressing Omid in clean clothes and setting him in his crib, Clem went to the bathroom to clean herself up only to realize she had used up all the water on washing Omid. There was no running water in the house, so they had to keep a few buckets handy for bathes as well as flushing the toilet. Not having any left for either now, Clem grabbed the empty buckets and headed outside to fetch a couple of pails of water.

At first she tried the barrels attached to the house's gutters, but they were both empty. It hadn't rained much recently which meant the pond would be the nearest source of water. Walking across the sun-bleached field, feeling the heat of summer on her face, Clem had wished they had run water right to the house but was still grateful Sin's channel at least meant she didn't have to walk to the lake.

Carrying the filled buckets back to the house was a literal pain in Clem's arms. Walking across the field, wishing it was a shorter walk, Clem could hear their new scarecrow growling loudly just off the distance. Initially, she thought maybe it was reacting to her, but she seemed too far away for it to notice. Inching closer, Clem could see someone standing in front of the walker, seemingly stretching their hand out towards it.

"Jet?" asked Clem. "What are—"

The person spun around and Clem found herself staring down the barrel of a gun. Forcing herself to look upward, Clem saw herself staring into the trembling eyes of a scared young man. It wasn't Jet, but he wasn't much taller than him, and had dark hair like him except messier. His clothes were very dirty, like his face, and if not for the gun in his hand, Clem would assume a strong breeze could knock him over. The pain from holding onto the water was getting worse with every second, but Clem endured it out of fear of startling the intruder by dropping the buckets. She watched helplessly as he looked over his shoulder at the growling walker trying to escape its restraints.

"You never saw me, okay?" pleaded the young man in a desperate voice, the pistol trembling in his hand as he inched away from the walker. "All right, I'm… I'm just gonna go and—" Clem saw Patty coming up behind the young man, and he saw it too when he noticed Clem's eyes moving. The intruder spun around just in time to be struck by Patty's watering can. There was a single bang and Clem watched as both the gun and Patty went crumpling onto the dirt while the intruder went running across the field.

"Patty!" yelled Clem as she dropped the buckets and rushed to the woman's side. "Are you okay! Are—"

"I'm okay," she insisted through clenched teeth. "Go warn the others!"

Clem found the gun lying on the ground and scooped it off the dirt as she took off running after the intruder. She cleared the field and emerged in front of the fence surrounding the house just as she heard a second gunshot. Clem watched as the trembling intruder stood in front of Jet, who lowered his gun to aim at Patty's attacker.

"Don't… don't move," ordered Jet, unable to hide the fear in his voice.

"What's going on?" Clem heard Devlin yell as he and Sin came running across the driveway. "Somebody—who the hell is that?" asked Devlin.

"Jet, are you okay?" said Sin asked as he inched towards his grandson, taking great care to avoid stepping any closer to the intruder, who seemed petrified where he stood.

"I heard a shot so I grabbed the gun in the house and ran out here and…" Jet hastily rambled before trailing off. "I shot into the air and they stopped."

"Who are you?" asked Devlin as he approached the intruder.

"He fucking shot me, that's who." Clem looked over her shoulder to see Patty limping forward with Anthony's help.

"Holy shit you weren't kidding," spoke a stunned Anthony. "There is someone here."

"There could be others still," reasoned Devlin as he approached Jet. He gestured to the boy, who gladly passed the pistol over to him. "Everyone get inside the fence, that includes you." Devlin aimed the gun at the intruder's feet, who was still trembling in place. Slowly everyone filed into the yard, keeping their distance from the outsider as if he were contagious. As Clem crossed past the fence she spun around and immediately locked it. The gates all had padlocks, but she had never used one until now.

"Clem!" Turning around, Clem saw a frightened Sarah rushing up to meet her. "Are you okay? Who… who's that?"

"I don't know," answered Clem.

"Jet, go lock the other gate; Anthony, grab a rifle and a ladder so you can get up on the roof to keep a lookout," ordered Devlin. "Sin, clear off the table and help Patty onto it; Sarah, grab our first aid-supplies."

"Why, did—oh God!" As Sin helped Patty to lie down on the table, Clem noticed the bloody gash on her pants. The cut ran across Patty's left thigh and was dripping blood as Sin pressed his hands against it. Without another word, Sarah took off running towards the Brave along with Anthony while Jet hurried to the other gate at the end of the driveway.

"All right," said Devlin as he took a couple of steps towards the intruder. "Who are you and why are you here?"

"Please, just let me go," he pleaded. "I'm sorry, just let me go and you'll never see me again."

"You're sorry? You fucking shot me!" barked Patty as Sin struggled to keep pressure on her leg.

"I'm sorry!" blurted out the intruder, their voice thick with guilt. "It was an accident, I swear!"

"Were you accidentally aiming at Clem?"

"What?" asked Jet as he hurried back to the center of the yard. "What happened?" Before he could get an answer, Sarah and Anthony returned from the Brave. There was a tense silence as Sarah looked over at Clem, clearly worried. Clem tilted her head towards Patty, which was enough of a signal to send Sarah hurrying while Anthony ran over to the shed to grab a ladder.

"I… I think it's just a graze," announced Sarah as she cut through Patty's pant leg with a pair of scissors.

"You sure about that?" asked Patty through her teeth, more fear seeping into her voice with every word she spoke. "It… it really fucking hurts."

Clem could see the injury more clearly now. It didn't look deep but there was a lot of blood dripping down her leg even with Sin trying to stop it.

"Can you still walk on that leg?" asked Sarah.

"She was walking when I found her," informed Anthony as he set up the ladder.

"Yeah, it just really fucking hurts," added a nervous Patty.

"But you could still move it, right?" Patty nodded in response. "Okay, I think you're okay, but…"

"But what?"

"I think we should stitch up the gash," announced Sarah.

"Do you know how to do that?" asked Patty.

"I've read about it…" Patty just stared at Sarah, clearly frightened. "And I used to sew up holes in our clothes when I lived in Spokeston with Clem."

"Have any of you ever done anything like this before?" Patty looked at the others only to find expressions that made it clear they didn't. Clem could barely stand to have her arm sewn up once. She didn't even want to think about stitching up someone else's wound. Even when Patty turned to Sin, the man could only sheepishly look at Sarah in response. "Jesus," mumbled Patty as she lied back on the table.

"Here, just take this," said Sarah as she offered Patty a pill. "It's a painkiller. We'll wait a few minutes for it to work and then… I'll try to sew up the cut."

Patty swallowed the pill while Sin took some bandages from Sarah and applied them to the wound. As Sarah opened a box full of small, curved needles, Clem turned back towards the intruder, who was just staring down at his feet as anxiety gripped his grimy face.

"Anthony," called Devlin as Anthony took up a position on the roof. "Can you see anything from up there?"

"Nothing so far," he announced as he carefully spun in place. "I don't see anything or anyone, other than Buster."

"Buster?"

"The dead guy chained up in the middle of the field."

"Other than him?"

"Nothing," said Anthony.

"Keep us posted," said Devlin as he turned towards Clementine. "Real quick, what happened."

"I was bringing water back to the house, then I heard the walker making some noises. I thought Jet was looking at it, but when I said his name, he spun around and I saw that it was... him, not Jet," explained Clem as she pointed at the intruder. "He pointed a gun at me, and told me to pretend I never saw him."

"That's when I spotted them," added Patty with a groan. "Saw him aiming his gun at Clem and tried to knock it out of his hand with my watering can, but he spun around and shot me."

"I… I didn't mean to shoot," insisted the intruder in a shaken voice. "When you hit my arm I accidentally pulled the trigger."

"My ass you did!" growled Patty. "You saw Clem looking at me and spun around ready to shoot."

"I thought it was another biter, I almost shot the chained up one when I first saw it," pleaded the intruder.

"Clem," said Devlin. "You were there, what do you think?"

"He did look scared the whole time," said Clem.

"And he had a gun," added Patty. "That's a dangerous combination."

"Keep my gun, I don't care," insisted the intruder. "It's out of bullets anyway."

Clem removed the pistol's magazine; it was empty. Likewise, cycling the gun also produced nothing. "He's telling the truth," informed Clem.

"About the gun," added Anthony from the roof. "He's gotta backpack. There could be another gun in it, or worse."

"There's not," insisted intruder.

"Then you don't mind us looking through it real quick." Devlin's suggestion was met with a look of apprehension from the intruder. "Okay, I'm gonna have to insist now."

The intruder hastily tossed off their backpack and threw it at Devlin's feet in frustration. Jet took a step towards the bag only to be stopped by Devlin. "Let me," he insisted before offering the gun back to the boy. "Just in case it's booby-trapped."

"You'd think he'd booby-trap his own backpack?" asked Clem.

"Probably not, but I saw people do stranger things while trying to get into Tulsa." Jet aimed the gun at the intruder while Devlin very gently slid the backpack away from the rest of the group. He carefully unzipped the top of it and peered inside. "Ah hell…"

"What?" Clem hurried over just as Devlin held up the opened backpack.

"That's—"

"Our tomatoes!" yelled Sarah as she hurried over to look into the pack. "And there's cucumbers in here too. These weren't even ripe yet, you've wasted them!"

"You're a thief," accused Sin.

"I'm sorry!" repeated the intruder, sounding on the verge of tears now. "I've been on the road for days now and haven't found anything to eat. I was starving, and I saw this field, and I… I couldn't help it." Looking at the skinny, trembling young man, Clem had no trouble believing he was hungry.

"And you thought those crops just grew themselves in neat little rows?" asked Anthony from the roof. "You really didn't think anyone lived here?"

"I thought whoever was here probably wouldn't give me anything, and might even kill me just for asking," stated the intruder.

"We wouldn't have done that," insisted Clem.

"Which one? Not feed me or not kill me?"

"Both!" snapped Patty.

"Patty, stop," urged Sarah as she hurried back to the woman. "I should start putting those stitches in now, so hold still because… I've never done this before."

"Please stop reminding me." Patty took a deep breath and leaned back while Clem emptied the pack of their property. In doing so, she located a few other items: a lighter, a worn looking Swiss army knife, a pair of small binoculars, an empty canteen, and a pair of padlocks.

"What are these for?" asked Clem as she held up the locks.

"Locking stuff behind me whenever I go to sleep," answered the intruder.

"Does that mean you're alone?" asked Anthony.

"Yes," answered the intruder almost immediately. "Again, I'm sorry for everything, I was just stopping to get some water out of the lake when I noticed this pipe thing."

"Pipe?" said Clem.

"The irrigation channel," realized Sin.

"I could see where the dirt had been moved and followed that here. As soon as I saw that field, I just couldn't believe it," professed the intruder. "I should have been brave enough to just come up to your house, but I wasn't and—"

"Fuck!" Clem spun around in time to see Patty gritting her teeth as Sarah pulled a piece of thread through her thigh.

"Please, just let me go," begged the intruder. "You obviously won't help me after what I did, so I should just go."

"How do we know you're not going to just come back and steal from us later?" asked Sin.

"Because I don't want you people to kill me," stated the intruder. "I know that's what you're thinking about right now."

There was a tense silence as Clem looked at the others and found them all looking at each other for some kind of answer none of them had. Even Patty was looking aside in-between grunting from Sarah sewing up her leg.

"I see something." Everyone looked up at Anthony as he aimed his rifle. "There's… there's something by the lake."

"That's just my bike," announced the intruder.

"Anthony?"

"It looks like it's made out of metal, it could be a bike," reported Anthony as he lowered the rifle. "We should check it out."

"It's just a bike," insisted the intruder.

"Anthony, get down here; you and I will check it out." Anthony started climbing down while Devlin approached Patty. "How is she?"

"The stitches are done… I just hope I did them right," said Sarah as she wrapped Patty's leg with a bandage.

"It still hurts," mumbled Patty in a weak voice. "I… I don't think those painkillers work."

"They don't get rid of all the pain," informed a sympathetic Clem.

"Is… is she all right?" Patty glared at the intruder, who looked away in shame.

"I'm not a doctor," admitted Sarah. "But I think Patty will be okay."

"We can't just let this person go," Sin told Devlin. "Not after he almost killed Patty."

"For real," added Patty.

"What should we do?" challenged Jet. "Kill him?"

"Seems like we should do more than just let him go after he tried to steal from us and shot me," groused Patty as she climbed off the table. "Didn't you say something about putting people to work when they broke the rules in Tulsa?"

"We sure could use some help around here," said Anthony as he climbed off the ladder. "Seems like watering our crops is the least he could do after stealing some of them."

"We had a lot more people in Tulsa than we do here, and we mostly kept prisoners confined to buildings we had locked down," said Devlin. "Just the seven of us trying to keep track of him in a wide open space like this isn't a good idea for a lot of reasons."

"I agree," said Sin. "As much as I'd like him to repay the damage he did, it's not practical; he'd run away the first chance he gets, and there will be plenty of chances working in that field."

"Well… maybe he can repay us in another way," reasoned Patty. "If we can just make him regret what he did, make him feel a little of the pain he made me feel, then—"

"No," dictated Clem in a stern voice.

"Clem—"

"She said no," said Sarah in an even harsher tone.

"Why?" challenged Sin. "Punishing him's a better alternative to killing him."

"We're gonna punish him for being hungry and making a mistake?" asked Jet.

"A mistake that nearly killed me," said Patty. "This isn't like Valkaria, we caught this guy red-handed and—"

"I don't care," retorted Clem. "We're not doing anything like that to him."

"Like what?" Jet's question caused Clem to turn away from him. She looked to Sarah instead, who simply put a reassuring arm around her.

"Let's just focus on the now," reasoned Devlin before gesturing to Anthony. "Lock the gate until we get back. After we get a good look at his bike, we'll make a decision then."

Devlin and Anthony unlocked the gate and hurried towards the lake while Sin retrieved the machine gun from the Sunseeker so they'd have another weapon to guard their prisoner. Nobody said anything while they were waiting, even though it felt like they all wanted to. Patty was clearly still angry and looked like she was beating back the urge to yell at their captive. Sin's eyes made it clear he regarded the intruder with nothing but suspicion. Sarah and Jet looked nervous and unsure, which is how Clem felt right now.

The intruder himself was strangely quiet as he sat down on the grass, his filthy clothes hanging off his slender frame. He was obviously still nervous, but his face had shifted slightly. There was look of buried guilt biting at the corners of his eyes and a kind of anxious anticipation settling on his face the longer he sat there; he almost looked like Sarah when she was upset.

"Yo." Clem looked over and was surprised see Devlin and Anthony approaching the fence. She wasn't sure if they had returned very quickly or she had briefly lost track of time, but she hurried over to the gate and opened the lock, letting them back in. "Anything else happen while we were gone?"

"No," said Clem. "It was… quiet."

"What did you find?" asked Patty.

"Not much, it was just a bike," said Devlin.

"Like I told you," said the intruder.

"There were a few things on it; a helmet, sleeping bag, camping tent, an electric lantern, a couple of pots."

"Sauce pans," corrected Anthony.

"And this," said Devlin as he held up a worn notebook.

"That's just my journal," insisted the intruder.

"Everything is written in some kind of code," explained Devlin as he handed the book to Clem.

"I do that so no one can read it but me," insisted the intruder. "You're not the only ones worried about people finding you."

Clem cracked the book open and looked inside. They were numbers in the top corners of each page while the rest of the text was an odd series of what appeared to be unfinished squares and triangles with occasional dots in the middle. Clem could see a few numbers mixed in with the strange text, but the rest of it was unreadable to her.

"I understand you're just trying to be careful," said the intruder as Clem flipped through the pages. "That's why I pulled my gun when I saw that biter in your field. Again I'm… I'm so sorry I shot you," he said as he looked at Patty. "And I'm sorry for stealing, I was just so hungry."

"You really don't have anyone?" asked Jet.

"No," said the intruder. "You look like decent people, and I understand you don't want me here after what I did, so if you just let me go, then—"

"I've seen this before," announced Clem as she studied the text.

"You have?" asked Devlin.

"Yeah." Clem closed the book and handed it back to Devlin. "I'll be right back." Clem rushed out of the yard and towards the Brave. She hurried through the vehicle and retrieved their photo album. Flipping through the pages, she stopped on one page and carefully removed a photo from it. Returning to the others, she could see everyone gathered around the picnic table now, carefully studying the pages of the intruder's journal.

"It's definitely some kind of cipher," concluded Jet.

"Any chance you could figure out what it says?" asked Patty.

"If these are just substitutions for letters, I could probably brute force it just by guessing enough."

"Hold off on that," insisted Devlin. "I don't want us going through someone's journal unless they give us a good reason to first."

"What about this?" Clementine showed everyone the photo of the graffiti she had taken a picture of when she visited Pawhuska. She hadn't been sure at first, but seeing the photo placed by the journal, it was clear the symbols were a match for each other.

"Holy shit," said Patty as she looked at the photo. "I remember this, it was outside Pawhuska when we went looking for the backhoe."

"That was back in March," said Sin as he looked at the photo. "This was there then?"

"Yes," said Clem.

"It's a marking system," concluded Jet as he studied the photo. "Kind of like we were discussing."

"That means… no way this guy is alone," realized Anthony.

"He's a scout," concluded Clem as she looked through the journal again, realizing it was actually a log of some kind.

"A scout for who?" Sarah's question prompted Devlin to leap to his feet.

"You told us you were alone," said Devlin as he approached the intruder, who sat there in the grass, a defiant look on his face. "Who are you with?" The intruder didn't answer. "Have you ever heard of the Osage? Is that who you're with?" No answer. "What about Oklahoma City? Does that mean anything to you?" The intruder remained silent.

"We're gonna have to kill him," concluded Anthony.

"What? No!" objected Sarah.

"He's a damn spy or something," said Anthony.

"A scout isn't the same thing as a spy," argued Jet.

"And the evidence points to him better the latter," asserted Sin. "Since when do scouts write in code?"

"We've talked about doing the exact same thing!" yelled Jet.

"Not in code!"

"Yes we did, you even said we needed a better code!" argued Jet. "And now you're saying we should kill him for doing the same thing?"

"How about we kill him because he's just sitting there quietly now, like he knows we can see through his lies?" Patty's words caused everyone to look at the intruder, who was indeed just sitting on the dirt, staring down at the grass. "You said we looked like decent people a minute ago; if you really believed that then you wouldn't mind explaining this stuff to us."

"We know there's bad groups of people out there, we've all had run-ins with them by now," said Devlin in a calm voice as he knelt down to look the intruder in the eyes. "Believe us, we're not one of them, we just want to know we're gonna be safe here if we let you go."

The intruder still refused to answer Devlin.

"We can't let him go," asserted Sin.

"We can't just kill him either," argued Jet.

"We're not killing anyone," insisted Sarah.

"Then what?" asked Patty. "I don't see a lot of options."

"We lock him up," Devlin's proclamation shook everyone, including the intruder, whose defiant facade cracked slightly upon hearing that.

"What's the point of that?" asked Anthony.

"The point is it gives us time to figure out a better option," said Devlin as he stood up.

"Where are we going to keep him?" asked Sin.

"The storm shelter," suggested Anthony.

"It can't be locked from the outside," reminded Sin.

"The shed then, we can lock it from the outside," asserted Devlin as he approached Jet. The boy seemed hesitant to hand Devlin the pistol, but did so anyway. "Unless you feel like telling us something," said Devlin as he approached the intruder, casually branding the gun in one hand.

The intruder looked up, fearful of Devlin, then started back down at the grass. He stood up and started moving forward towards the shed, and Clem followed just behind them, with all the others following just behind her. Devlin pulled open the door to shed, revealing the small collection of tools piled up inside.

"Anthony, watch him for a second while I clear it out," said Devlin as he entered the shed. "The last thing we need is to come open the shed and he stabs us with something sharp."

Watching Devlin meticulously collect every last thing the intruder could use for a weapon while he looked on in terror at his new cell made Clem fell sick as memories of being locked in a shed herself came flooding back. And despite her guilt, the first thing she thought to do was look at the ground to see if the intruder could dig under the wall. Clem was relieved to see there was a concrete foundation, but looking at the intruder himself, she could see he was focusing on the bloodstain on the pavement.

"That's from a deer," Clem whispered to the intruder. "We're not gonna hurt you, really." Clem's tone betrayed her words, as she couldn't say for sure what the others would inevitably decide on. Devlin finished cleaning out their spare fishing rods, leaving four wooden walls and a cold, blood-stained concrete floor.

"All right, go on." The intruder hesitated before moving, his knees shaking as he walked forward, desperately trying to keep his balance as he stepped past the threshold.

"Look, maybe you don't want to talk to us because you're afraid we'll do something to your people, and you're worried you'll say the wrong thing. If that's it, just take the night to think about what you do or don't trust us with," explained Devlin as the intruder turned around. "We'll be doing the same." The intruder didn't answer Devlin and just stared down at the floor again, his look of defiance now replaced with a pitiful look of hopelessness. Watching Devlin close the door and lock the shed, Clem had to resist the urge to throw-up.

"This is stupid," said Sin in a hushed voice as they all walked away from the shed. "Keeping him here is dangerous, for all of us."

"What are we supposed to do?" asked an annoyed Jet. "Just kill him right now?"

"Not right now, and we sure as hell shouldn't be talking about killing him to his damn face," said Devlin as he turned to Anthony and Patty. "That was real stupid of you two."

"Are you serious?" asked Patty as she crossed her arms. "You're worried about scaring the person who shot me?"

"I'm worried about him being scared enough to try something desperate the next time we open that shed," informed Devlin in a biting tone. "If someone thinks they're gonna die, there's no telling what they'll do."

"So it's better to pretend like we're not gonna kill someone so they won't see it coming when we do?" asked Anthony in a way that Clem couldn't be sure was sarcastic or not.

"In a sense; yes," stated Devlin bluntly. "And for now, we're not killing anyone."

"What if his people come looking for him while we have him captive?" suggested Sin. "Then what?"

"What if they come and we've killed him?" retorted Devlin. "I know I'd look more harshly on that then holding someone prisoner."

"If we killed him we could deny him ever being here," reasoned Sin.

"Granddad!" scolded Jet.

"I don't know how else you think this will end," shrugged Sin. "Even if he starts talking to us tomorrow, would any of us believe him?"

"It depends on what he says," argued Sarah. "I don't know how all of you can act like you already know him when we don't even know who he is."

"He nearly killed me, so I don't feel like giving him the benefit of the doubt right now," retorted Patty. "And I doubt Clementine does either, right Clem?"

"Huh?" said Clem as she looked away from the shed.

"I was just saying, you don't trust this person, right?"

"I… I don't know," said Clem as she turned back to the shed. "But… we should give him a blanket, that way he won't get too cold tonight."

"Are you fucking serious?" asked Anthony in disbelief. "He steals from us, shoots Patty, and you want to treat him like a guest?"

"I don't want him to spend all night freezing in a crappy shed," retorted Clem in a harsh tone. "There's no windows on it, he'll need a light too. And he's probably still hungry so—"

"Now we're giving him food?" asked Anthony.

"If you won't I will!" declared Clem as she marched towards the shed.

"I'll get him some basic necessities," assured Devlin as he intercepted Clem. "His bike already had a bedroll and a lantern on it, he can have those. Anthony, go bring his bike back."

"We—"

"If his people come looking for him, then seeing that bike might be a dead giveaway he's nearby, and if he followed the irrigation channel right to us so could they," explained Devlin. "Best keep him and the bike here for the time being."

Anthony made a face, then headed out of the gate.

"We're not giving him food though," declared Sin.

"You don't get to make that decision," stated Jet.

"Then who does?" challenged Sin.

"We all do," insisted Sarah. "And I think we should give him something to eat."

"Me too," said Clem.

"And I make three," added Jet.

"Well Sin, Anthony, and me make three no's," counted Patty. "That leaves Devlin."

"Devlin, you want to give him food, right?" asked Sarah.

"I—"

"If we give him food and then he gets away, he'll return to his people and tell him we have enough to hand out even to people we take prisoner," interjected Sin. "What do you think they would do with this information?"

"If his people are just looking for an easy score, then the field he already saw is reason enough to attack us," argued Devlin. "Giving him an extra meal on top of that probably won't change anything if he's just out looking for targets, but if he's with decent people then it might just help convince them not to judge us too harshly for holding him for a while. He might also feel more like talking on a full stomach. Besides, we got plenty of cans of stuff, we can—"

"Not a can," interrupted Sarah. "Let's just give him the tomatoes and cucumbers he already took. There probably too small to get good seeds out of so we might as well let him have them. This way he might think we only have the farm to live off of, and won't think we have a bunch of canned stuff stored up too."

Clem was surprised by that suggestion. Not because she disagreed with it, but just because Sarah was the one making it.

"Any other suggestions?" asked Devlin.

"We should put those key holders on our vehicles, today, and make sure we all know where to look if we have to get into one," insisted Sin. "And we should repark our vehicles so they're facing out towards the gate. If anyone comes for him, we might have to leave in a hurry."

"I'll try to decipher the journal," volunteered a reluctant Jet. "Maybe it'll tell us more about him."

"Anything else?" asked Devlin.

"Yeah, let's move Buster to in front of the shed and take his helmet off."

"Patty," groaned Clem.

"Oh don't look at me like that," she said. "It's easy to be forgiving when I can walk off what he did, but what if he had shot me in the chest, or hell, what if you had been carrying Omid and he shot—"

"Omid!" exclaimed Clem. "I forgot all about him!" Clem bolted into the house with the furious pace of Sarah's footsteps following right behind her. They both arrived at the door to Omid's room at the same time, and they both saw the boy curled up in the corner of his crib, crying softly.

"Oh Omid," said Clem as she reached down to grab him. "I'm so—"

"Nooo!" yelled Omid as he flailed free of Clem's grip.

"He's mad at us," concluded a guilt-ridden Sarah.

"Of course he is," sighed Clem. "I just left him in his crib all alone when I went out to get water." Clem picked up Omid, which provoked more flailing and angry crying. "I'll try to calm him down," said Clem as she patted Omid's back as he cried.

"I'll get him some ice-cream from the Brave, that usually helps." Sarah ran out of the room while Clem carried the still bawling Omid over to the window.

"Come on now, it's okay, I'm here now," insisted Clem as she patted Omid on the back. "It's okay. It's oh…" Clem watched as Anthony rolled the intruder's bike into the yard. "It'll be okay," said Clem as she watched Devlin collect the bedroll and lantern in one hand while clutching a gun in the other as he approached the shed.

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