It’s been a while since a game really left me emotionally tired. I’ve played a number of the Telltale episodic adventures, and there’s been some highs and lows, but ‘The Walking Dead’ seasons have been utterly epic.
Like ‘Heavy Rain’, I doubt it’s something I’ll play twice. It’s the kind of game where your story is your story, and how other people played it is their story. Playing it again, would be like trying to cheat the game to play out the way that you want it to instead of really getting into the role play.
At the end of each chapter, the game gives a run down of some of the major choices you made and gives you a percentage stat of how many other players did the same. In some cases it’s strange that you only get the five to see, as during the adventure it feels like you make plenty more, and some of those that don’t get shown really do affect how the story plays out later.
This article will be a huge spoiler as I go through the game describing the decisions I made and why. So really, this is for those who have already been through their own journey and are curious about what others may have done. As I played, I had not read any walkthroughs or spoilers, so I had no idea what my choices would mean. After playing I checked some guides and now knowing the consequences I may have made different moves in some places, but as mentioned before, this was my story, and part of that is living with the mistakes. I’ve replaced ‘I’s and ‘me’s with the name of the playable character.
Enjoy!
Episode 1: A New Day
Lee Everett is on his way to prison in the back of a police car, being driven by a chatty officer. It’s clear that Lee did what he was arrested for, but he feels that he did the right thing.
The driver hits a walker, the car crashes, and Lee is able to free himself. He’s introduced to the walking dead when he finds the corpse of the officer. He manages to put down the walker, but notices that he’s being watched by a small girl in the distance.
Confused, and surrounded by the dead, he runs for safety and manages to find a suburban home. As he looks around, he listens to the answer machine messages, hearing the deaths of two people as they are calling home to their daughter Clementine. Clementine reveals through use of a walkie talkie that she is hiding in the treehouse, having watched Lee and decided that he can be trusted.
After another close encounter with a walker, Lee and Clementine decide to leave. Clementine wants to find her parents, clearly not having listened to the answer machine. Lee at this point doesn’t have the heart to tell her the truth.
Outside they meet a couple of guys trying to get their car through a roadblock; Shawn and Chet. They befriend them, and help them escape as a group of walkers approach. Shawn takes them to his family farm where they meet his father Hershel Greene. Hershel offers them room to sleep, so Lee is honest about the situation saying that he was on his way to prison before he found Clem, although not disclosing exactly what for.
Lee and Clem settle in the barn, where they notice a strong smell of manure.
Another family is staying on the farm too, Kenny, Katjaa, and Ken Jr better known as Duck. Lee befriends them and gets on well with Kenny, offering to help him mend his truck while Clem stays with Katjaa. Duck meanwhile offers help to Shawn who is reinforcing the fences. Lee finds time to offer him help too, and talks more with Hershel, trying to be as open and honest as possible.
Disaster strikes when walkers approach the weak point in the fence that Shawn and Duck are working on.
Somehow Shawn has been trapped underneath a tractor with walkers clawing at him, while Duck is in the seat also in danger of being grabbed.
Lee feels a need to act fast. His friend Shawn, and his friends young son Duck are both in danger. Instinct kicks in with the classic “women and children first” type of thinking. Shawn is trapped, and has most of a fence between him and the walkers. It looks like he has more time to spare. Lee dives for Duck, attempting to hit away the walker holding him. Kenny jumps in too desperate to save his son. Duck is safely pulled away, but before anyone can do anything to help, the walkers break through the fence and lay into Shawn.
Hershel is understandably distraught. He’s also angry that not one person attempted to help his son, especially after the hospitality he had offered them. Lee wanted to say he hoped to help them both, but could only say that he was worried about Duck before Hershel cut him off.
Hershel demanded that everyone leave his farm. They were no longer welcome.
Kenny welcomes Lee and Clem in his truck and they set off together. At Macon, the truck runs out of fuel. More walkers attack and they are rescued by an asian man and a woman, who lead them into a drug store. The drug store happens to be the one once owned by Lee’s family.
Inside an older man (Larry) is arguing with another woman (Lilly) who seems to be the group leader. As Lee tries to calm him, Larry notices that Duck is wounded. He assumed that he has been bitten by a walker and needs to be dealt with. Lee stands by Kenny and tries to reason with Larry. When that doesn’t seem to be working he threatens that the old man would have to go through him first.
Somehow a walker had got inside and was after Clem. Lee tries to help her, but Carley, the woman who had helped them before outside, shoots it for them. The gunshot seems to attract more walkers outside, but they are unable to get in. This angers Larry further, who tries to start another argument, but falls to the ground suffering from heart pain. Lilly explains that he has heart problems and that he needs the nitroglycerin pills in the pharmacy. Lee suggests that they find a way into the pharmacy through the office and begins trying to find a way in. He checks on Kenny and his family, and Clem before going towards the pharmacy. Around the store he finds a few energy bars on the shelves. He gives one to Clem, one to Duck, and one to Larry.
Lee goes into the office and Clem follows him in. A pool of blood suggests to him that his parents must have died there. He finds an old family photo and tears his image off of it, worried that if the others find out who he is, it might cause more problems.
Carley enters and tells him that she knows already. She agrees to keep his secret as long as he doesn’t cause any trouble. As Lee and Clem clear the way to the pharmacy door, Clem asks Lee what Carley meant about him killing someone. Lee reassures her that his victim was a bad man.
Lee speaks to the last member of the group, a man named Doug, who is watching for trouble at the door. He tells Lee that they can look outside as there’s a security gate keeping them safe. They do so, and Lee spots his brother trapped under a fallen post, in the form of a walker. He realises that he must have a key to the pharmacy. There is a large number of other walkers around and the gate is locked with a padlock that nobody has the code to, so Lee needs to find a way to get past these obstacles.
Glenn, the asian man, had gone on a supply run, and called in that he was in trouble, so Lee and Carley offered to go help him. After not being able to get into the pharmacy, Lee felt that maybe something Glenn had found might help. They find Glenn, who is ok, but he tells them that a woman is trapped inside a motel room unable to escape the walkers at her door. They decide to help her, quietly dispatching the walkers and approach the door.
She comes out and tells them they should leave her. She has been bitten and knows that she will turn soon. When she notices Carley’s gun, she asks to borrow it, to end everything sooner. Carley isn’t keen on the idea, but Lee convinces her that it’s the kindest thing to do. He waits with the woman so that he can retrieve the weapon while Glenn and Carley wait for him.
Back at the drugstore, Carley is attempting to repair a radio. Lee notices that it’s a simple case of batteries being missing. He says he’ll give her some if he comes across any. He finds one on a shelf, but it’s not enough. She reveals to him that she quite fancies Doug.
Having gained an axe from his trip to rescue Glenn, Lee is able to break the lock on the security gate. He distracts the walkers by having Doug activate nearby TVs and dashes over to his brother. After a sad goodbye, Lee axes his brother, takes the key and dashes back inside. The drugstore is now less secure because of the busted lock.
Lee tells Lilly that he has the keys, so they go to the pharmacy to search for the pills. Lee clearly forgot about the store’s security system, and as they enter alarms ring out. The noise attracts the crowd of walkers. Lilly searches for pills while Kenny gets people moving. Lee, Carley, and Doug attempt to hold back the walkers.
They hold the door until some walkers bust in through a window, at which point Carley and Doug move to fight them off, while Lee keeps the door shut alone. By the time Clem passes him his father’s cane to bar the door, Carley and Doug are both in trouble. Carley has walkers tugging at her legs and seems to be out of bullets. Doug is being grabbed by walkers but has some barricade between him and them. Lee needs to act fast. He figures that if he can get bullets to Carley, then maybe she can help Doug. He passes her the ammo, but it’s too late… Doug has been pulled out by the walkers.
As they make their escape, Larry blocks Lee’s path and knocks him out, essentially leaving him for dead. Luckily Kenny comes to his rescue.
The group go to the motel that Glenn had found earlier and decide it will make a good place to stay. Glenn though tells Lee that he has to leave the group and find some friends he has lost. Carley asks Lee why he chose to save her instead of Doug. He says that he wanted to save them both, and he was sure that Doug had feelings for her too.
Larry calls Lee over. Lee, decidely not a fan of Larry’s, asks what he wants. Larry tells Lee that he knows who he is and that he should stay away from his daughter or he would tell everybody. He warns Lee that if anything happens to Lilly or Clementine, he’d kill him.
Lilly thanks Lee for getting into the pharmacy. Despite the shaky start to their relationship, it seemed that Lee and Lilly at least could carry on with mutual respect.
Starved For Help
Three months later the group has fortified the motel and settled in quite well, though supplies are running low and the power is gone.
Lee and a new addition called Mark are out hunting in the woods. Kenny is out too, but not with them. They hear a scream and think it’s him.
They find three people, one man with his leg stuck in a bear trap, and two teen boys. They beg for help, and Lee agrees that they can’t be left. Kenny catches up to them. The screams have attracted walkers, which means they have very little time to solve the situation. Lee desperately tries to pry open the trap with his axe and cut the chain. With no release on the trap and time running short, Lee takes the only remaining course of action that could save the man’s life. He hacks the foot off and drags him to safety. One of the boys isn’t as lucky and gets taken by a walker when he strays too far from the group. The rest return to the motel.
On their return, Larry complains about the extra mouths to feed. Lilly too is unimpressed, which sparks an argument with Kenny. Lee sees both sides of the argument and attempts to stay neutral, but Kenny is disappointed at him for sitting on the fence. Lilly gives Lee the day’s rations, four pieces of food, for ten hungry mouths, and tells him to sort it out as she has had enough of the ingratitude for her efforts.
Lilly takes watch, while the kids sit with Carley, and the surviving teen Ben. Kenny sits alone with his thoughts. Katjaa tends to the wounded man David. Larry and Mark continue repairs on the fence.
Lee asks Carley’s advice about the food situation. She says she doesn’t mind going without, and reminds him that this is a chance to gain favour with people who are in two minds about him. He speaks to Kenny who offers him a seat in his RV if he decides to head off with his family, but Lee insists the group is better off together.
Lee gives the two packs of cheese and crackers to the children Duck and Clem, who mentions that she has lost the hat her father gave her. He speaks to the men fixing the wall, who ask to borrow his axe. He lets Mark take it, still not particularly trusting of Larry. But he does give Larry some beef jerky, and lets Mark take the half apple.
Katjaa sadly tells the group that David didn’t make it and has died. David reanimates as a walker and grabs her. Lee rescues her and puts him down. An argument almost starts about letting someone who was bit inside the motel, but Ben explains that everyone is infected and it doesn’t matter how you die.
Two more survivors, brothers named Andrew and Danny St John, arrive asking to trade for gas. They say they’re from a dairy farm and will trade food. Lee offers to go with Carley, Mark, and Ben to check the farm out and arrange the deal.
On the way they hide from some bandits on the road.
At the dairy farm they meet the brother’s mother, Brenda. She welcomes them and gives them a basket of biscuits. When Brenda says their cow isn’t well, Mark tells her that they have a veterinarian in the group, and that everyone is extremely hungry. Brenda makes the offer that they bring the whole group over to the farm for dinner. They agree, so Carley and Ben head back to get the others.
Andrew asks Mark and Lee for help to check the electric fence perimeter that surrounds the farm for walkers, but let’s them have a look around first. Mark and Lee begin to think this farm might be a better place to live than the motel, but wisely decide to check it out for potential dangers before committing to anything. Lee notices a broken swing, and thinking that the kids would love it, he repairs it. He notices one or two other causes for concern, but nothing major. He is curious however about why Andrew won’t let him go near the barn.
Ready to scout the perimeter, Mark and Lee walk along the fence removing the dead from the wire. Andrew had helpfully switched it off while they did so. When they find a couple of posts that are knocked down Mark and Lee hop over the fence to set the posts back up. At that moment, the fence turns on, leaving the two men outside of the farm. A moment later Mark is struck in the shoulder by an arrow. Bandits have arrived and they narrowly escape further harm.
When they get back, they find that the rest of the group have arrived too. News of bandits immediately puts them off staying. Andrew explains that they had a trade deal with the bandits, but the bandits had broken it. Mark is taken into the house to tend his wounds, while everyone else waits outside.
Lee and Danny decide to find out where the bandits are based to see if they can come up with a plan to get rid of them. They find a small camp, with only one tent, a bunch of empty boxes, and a camcorder with no batteries. Inside the tent, Lee is shocked to find Clem’s lost hat. He emerges from the tent to find he is at gunpoint when the camp’s owner returns. The woman seems crazed, but he tries to reason with her, hoping to discover how she got the hat. He seems to be beginning to get through to her, when Danny opens fire and shoots her dead.
When they return to the farm, Danny acts as though nothing happened. Lee quietly informs his group of what happened. Lilly and Kenny seem to be arguing again. Kenny is suspicious of the farmers, but Lilly wants to just get back to the motel as soon as possible and not cause trouble.
Inside the barn, Kenny tells Lee that he thinks there’s something hidden behind a locked door. Lee having his own suspicion already, added to the bandit attack, and Danny’s behaviour at the camp, has him agreeing with Kenny.
Lee says he will try to get a look inside the door if he can get the lock off with the tool he found. Andrew notices them near the door and asks them to stay away from it. Instead, Lee distracts Andrew by sabotaging the fence power generator, giving him a reason to leave the barn. At that point, the dinner bell rings, and everyone goes to the house. Kenny tells Lee he will make an excuse for him while he stays behind to check the locked door.
Lee gets the door open and finds what looks like a slaughter house. Andrew finds him and tells him it’s where they kill animals for food. Lee decides not to argue and follows him to the house.
Andrew explains the barricaded hallway to him by saying that a walker once got into the house. Lee asks to use the bathroom before the meal and is left alone. Curious and suspicious, Lee sneaks upstairs. He finds blood stains on the floor and an unusually placed power cable. He discovers a hidden room, where to his horror Mark lays on the floor missing both of his legs. It’s made clear that the big dinner is Mark.
Lee rushes downstairs and blurts out “It’s people!”. To which no one bats an eye, and several including Clementine take their first bites.
After clearing up what he meant, the St John’s unapologetically admit it and the meal becomes a standoff. There’s a distraction when Mark crawls down the stairs revealing the terrible truth, and Danny knocks Lee out.
He wakes to find he is trapped in the meat locker in the barn with Clem, Kenny, Lilly, and Larry, who is angrily banging against the door. He begins figuring out a way to escape, ignoring Larry, almost used to his rage at this point, and feeling that the noise might cover up anything he might do. He notices an air conditioner, which he reasons should have a vent leading out behind it.
Larry’s heart gives way again and he collapses. Lilly rushes to help him. He seems worse than he did at the drugstore, but Lee trusts that Lilly can help him. Kenny, on the other hand, is convinced that Larry is as good as dead and they have to stop him turning. Lee tries to help Larry by performing CPR, counting the pumps to his chest.
One… two…three… Kenny drops a salt lick block on Larry’s head, crushing him to death in an instant… four…?
Up until now Lee had stood by Kenny, and this single moment changed all that. But in the current moment, Lee still needed to get them out of the room. They remove the air conditioning unit, and Clem squeezes through the small gap to open the door from the outside and let them free. Kenny dashes out intending on finding his family, and Lee follows.
Lee grabs a scythe and attempts to sneak up on Danny, who is guarding the barn. A fight starts between the two, and as it gets heated, Lilly knocks Danny into a bear trap identical to the one they had found David in before.
Lee has Danny at his mercy, a pitchfork in his hand, primed for the kill. Danny insists that Lee keep him alive, because meat is better when it has only been recently slaughtered. Lee, decided that the world would be much safer without the likes of the St Johns and thrusts the pitchfork into him. Clem and Lilly witness the murder.
Outside the barn, Carley and Ben are hidden in the bushes. Lee tells them to sneak around the back of the house, while he goes through the front.
Lee makes his way to the house, where Brenda is holding Katjaa hostage ready to kill. Lee slowly approaches, trying to reason with her, asking what her husband would think of her now. He notices that at the top of the stairs Mark is turned and is reaching out for his own human meal. With every step Lee takes towards Brenda, Brenda unknowingly takes one back towards Mark. Mark eventually grabs her, which gives Katjaa the chance to break free.
Back outside, Andrew has Duck hostage. Carley takes a shot and skims his ear, enough to make him let go of the boy. Lee rushes in and another fight begins. As Andrew almost has Lee against the deadly electric fence, Lilly comes to his rescue shooting the farmer and knocking him down. In part rage, and part desperation to stop him, Lee throws a few more punches into Andrew’s face.
As Lee walks away from the beaten man, Andrew gets to his knees and starts taunting him for not finishing the job. For a moment Lee considers killing him, but decides against it. Enough blood has been spilt, the man has lost his family, and he is no longer a threat to them.
As the group leave, the farm is overrun by walkers, and it’s assumed that Andrew doesn’t escape.
Clementine asks Lee about what happened, and he reassures her that he did what he had to do because they were bad, dangerous people.
On the way back to the motel, they discover an abandoned car full of much needed supplies. It feels like a miracle. Clementine, Ben, and Lilly argue that they have to leave it because it’s not theirs. The decision falls to Lee, who says they need it. There is no sign of the owner, and for all they know they could be long dead. It seemed a no brainer to take it when they knew they desperately needed it.
Carley finds some batteries and gives them to Lee to use in the camcorder, joking that he’ll never let her live down the radio at the drugstore. The video shows the woman from the camp spying on Clementine at the motel, saying that she needs a mother, and that she’ll be safe as long as the bandits keep getting food from the dairy farm.
Long Road Ahead
A week later, Kenny and Lee have returned to Macon to see if they can get any more supplies.
They are met with a difficult decision. A crowd of walkers are closing in but have been distracted by a screaming girl, meaning that Lee and Kenny have gone unnoticed for the moment. The girl is bitten quite quickly, but stays alive, fighting off the dead as best she can. Lee wants to soot her and put her out of her misery, but Kenny warns him that she is essentially saving their lives by being there. If they leave, it will buy them time to get supplies and get back to the motel safely. Lee keeps her in his sighs for a few moments, torn about the decision. Very nearly pulling the trigger on her, he realises that not only will mercy killing her lose them time, but the sound of the gunshot will draw them to him immediately. Although it goes against his heart, he decides the wisest option is to leave her be.
With the sound of screams ringing out, Lee and Kenny all but clear out the supplies from the store they raid before the walkers begin piling in. They narrowly escape and get back to the motel.
Lilly is pleased with the amount of stuff they managed to get, but it’s not long before she is arguing with Kenny again. She insists that they have made a decent home at the motel, while Kenny is keen to tfind somewhere better in his RV. Lee tries to stay neutral, not sure where they would go, but also aware that supplies had pretty much run dry for the motel.
Lilly confides in Lee that he is the only one she trusts now, and that she thinks someone is stealing from the supplies. Lee initially can’t believe that any of the group would do something like that, but agrees to investigate for her. Duck was listening in and offers to be Lee’s detective sidekick. Lee agrees, seeing no harm in letting Duck treat it like a game, as long as he didn’t say anything to anybody.
Carley asks for a private word with Lee, and advises him to open up to people about his past. She feels that in the small group honesty is important, but he should also be wary of who he can trust. They flirt a little and Lee agrees.
Lee checks on Clem who is drawing with chalk, and asks around the camp to see if anyone knows anything. As he does, he also reveals to everyone in the group his past; Clem of course, Kenny and Katjaa because of he friendship they had shared so far, Lilly because she had trusted him, and Ben so that he might feel that he was welcome in the group. The only person Lee didn’t tell was Duck, who he thought might be too young to understand.
Lee finds a mysterious chalk marking around a corner. He asks Clem if anyone had borrowed any from her, and she told him that they had not. Duck found some more chalk marks at the gate, so Lee decided to check outside the perimeter. In a grating, he found some of the missing supplies.
As Lee reports back to Lilly with what he found, bandits attack the motel. A gunfight begins and the noise attracts walkers. It seems that the bandits were expecting to pick up the supplies and were attacking because they didn’t get them. The group feel that the motel is lost and must escape in the RV. Kenny is tempted to leave Lilly behind.
Everyone manages to get onto the vehicle and Kenny speeds them away. In relative safety an argument breaks out as Lilly tries to get to the bottom of who stole the supplies and caused this mess. Lilly accuses Ben, the group outsider and when Carley defends him, Lilly jumps to the conclusion that both of them must have been working together. The argument remains heated until Kenny hits a walker. They stop the RV and get out so Kenny can remove the body stuck under the wheel. As Kenny tries to pry it out, Lilly accuses Ben and Carley once more, this time drawing her gun. Lee tries to calm things down, while Kenny tells them to wait until he is done before deciding anything. Lee doesn’t make any accusations but urges Ben to tell if he knows anything.
Lilly makes her decision and kills Carley, shooting her in the head.
Lee is tempted to leave Lilly at the side of the road, but can’t bring himself to abandon her for walker bait. He decides to let her back on the RV, at least temporarily, while he cools his head and comes to a decision on how to deal with what she did. He doesn’t want her in the group any more, but he’s can’t have that on his conscience.
Everyone boards the RV, Ben keeping Lilly at gunpoint. Lee has to explain to Clem that there was no time for a burial.
Enough on his plate already, Kenny and Katjaa reveal something else to Lee in private. Duck was bitten during the motel attack. Lee’s mind flies back to how Kenny took no convincing to bash Larry’s brain in when there was a risk of his death, but now it’s his son who will be turning he wants to look for medicine or a way to fix the problem. Lee handles the news gently, not wanting to cause any more of a stir at this point.
After some time on the road travelling, the RV is forced to stop when they come to a train blocking the road. Everyone gets off the RV, leaving Lilly alone inside it. Lee and Ben offer to search the train while Katjaa tends to Duck.
Lee finds a makeshift camp inside the rear boxcar, where it seems someone had been recently living. He finds a map showing the route the train was taking. As it happens it was headed to Savannah, precisely where they were hoping to go. He takes a bottle of water and animal crackers that he finds for Duck. In the driver’s carriage, Lee finds that the engine is still working, and they just need to figure out how to start it up.
Lee goes to check on Lilly in the RV, but she confronts him, saying that she wants to leave and that Kenny had foolishly left the keys in the ignition. She offers to take him too, but Lee does not want to split up the group. She throws him out and speeds off alone.
The train now their only option for travel, they work on getting it started. Lee finds instructions to power up the engine, but still has to find a way to detach the usable boxcar from the upturned ones behind it. He uses a monkey wrench stored on the train to get it done, and as he re-enters the boxcar to make his way to the driver’s cabin, he is met by a stranger, a man named Chuck, who was the one who had been living there.
He asks if Lee had taken any of his things, and Lee admits to having the map. Chuck is not bothered. He agrees to accompany the group on their journey.
They set off, and as the journey gets going, Duck seems to take a turn for the worse. Kenny having taken the role of driver needs to be fetched, so Lee goes to get him.
Kenny seems to be in denial, still grasping onto the idea that Duck can be helped, or simply not wanting to face the inevitable. Lee tries to talk to him, telling him his son needs him, but Kenny’s temper rises. He becomes threatening and seems keen to fight. Lee, knowing that beating Kenny up isn’t going to help Duck, stays calm and tries to talk sense into him. He helps him understand that he is not to blame for Shawn’s death back on the farm. Kenny stops the train and the time comes for them to deal with Duck.
There is a highly emotional argument between Katjaa and Kenny about who should be the one to stop him from turning. At first Lee suggests that Kenny should do it, thinking it might give him a sense of closure somehow, but Katjaa insists that it’s her duty as mother. Lee doesn’t push it any further and instead opts to comfort Kenny by the train, as she takes Duck a little way into the forest.
After a few moments a gunshot is heard. Lee and Kenny go to bring Katjaa back, assuming she must be in bad shape. They find that she hadn’t done what she went to do, but had shot herself instead. Duck lays barely alive by a tree.
Kenny is distraught. Lee knows that Duck still needs to be seen to, and although he previously felt Kenny should have done it, at this point he can’t see him being able to face it. Lee offers to kill Duck instead. After a few breaths, Lee pulls the trigger knowing that no matter how horrible it feels, it’s the only right thing to do.
The remaining survivors board the train again. Kenny takes the driver’s seat but is insistent that he doesn’t want to speak to anyone.
Lee talks to Chuck, who advises him that Clem is unlikely to survive if the group continue as they have been. She needs survival skills of her own. For a start, she needs to learn how to shoot, she needs a plan of action, and she needs her hair cut short to make it less easy to grab. Lee takes his advice on board.
He shows Clem how to fire his pistol, telling her that it’s best to take a breath before firing. He also cuts her hair as best he can.
Chuck shares a drink with Lee and tells him to invite anyone else up for a swig if they want to. Kenny is the first choice of course. Lee approaches Ben to ask if he would like to join Chuck, but he refuses the offer. As Lee walks away, Ben stops him and admits it was him who made the deal with the bandits. Lee had suspected that this was the case, but now being sure, he advises Ben to keep it quiet. The group is fractured enough.
Lee speaks to Clem about a plan. She is still keen to search for her parents, and knows where they would most likely have been. Lee agrees, unable to tell her the truth, but hoping the opportunity arises later. Though Kenny was certain that finding a boat and getting off the mainland was the best course of action, Lee wasn’t sure, but also had no better ideas.
The train comes to a halt when the passage is blocked by an oil tanker hanging from a bridge above the track. The group meets two more survivors Omid and Christa. Christa seems wary of the group, which makes Lee wary of her, but Omid seems friendly. Lee tells them that the group is ok, but Kenny has recently lost his family.
While searching for a way to detach the tanker from the truck, Lee and Clem run into three walkers. They handle the situation reasonably well, but may have done better to have searched the room before going in the way that they did. Christa scolds Lee for putting Clem in danger, and Lee admits that he is only doing the best he can hoping to keep her safe.
As Lee and Omid use a blowtorch to cut away the tanker, they spot a walker herd approaching the train. Time is short, and the group on the ground hurry aboard and start it moving, while Lee and Omid are left to jump for it. Oil spills from the tanker so Lee kicks the blowtorch onto it creating a wall of flames and slowing the walkers down. Omid is not keen on the idea of jumping, but Lee insists. Feeling that time is running out, Lee jumps and tells Omid to follow. Omid panics, jumps, and lands badly, falling from the back of the train and injuring his leg. Christa jumps off the train and rushes to help him.
Omid hobbles to catch up with Christa running behind. Lee looks at Omid who is making a good pace despite his leg, and seems out of reach, so he grabs Christa who looks to be falling behind the moving train. She tells him off again, this time for not helping Omid, but they are still able to pull him to safety.
Later, as Clementine sleeps a man’s voice is heard on her walkie talkie, telling her that he’s happy she’s coming to Savannah, and that he has her parents. The voice then instructs Clementine to find him whether Lee approves or not. Kenny and Lee, who both believed the walkie-talkie was broken, are stunned.
Episode 4: Around Every Corner
Four hours later, the train finally reaches the Atlantic city of Savannah. The next day, they walk through the town with Lee keeping Clem’s walkie-talkie in case any more transmissions from the unnamed man come through. Christa asks to stop for a while so that Omid can rest. Kenny wants to press on. Lee thinks finding a safe place to stop for a short while would be best. A church bell begins to ring. Lee notices that it can’t be automatic as the time is 20 past the hour. He sees a figure running across a roof when the unknown man speaks through the walkie-talkie warning the group to move out of the street.
A large group of walkers approaches the group. They are forced to fight back. As Lee rescues Kenny from a close call, Clementine and Ben are cornered. Lee calls out to Ben to help Clem, but in fear he abandons her. Lee opens fire on the walkers around her, but Chuck comes to the rescue with his shovel. Clementine catches up with Lee and the others, but Chuck is left to fight off the other walkers on his own accord. Lee continues shooting to try and open a gap for the old man to reach them. Chuck yells to him to move on without him and that he will meet up with them later.
The group runs off without Chuck, Lee feeling as though they may have left him to die. They manage to find a place to hide in the backyard of a mansion that has been fortified. The back door is locked tight. Omid comments that the pet door is probably electronically locked, and responds to the electronic signal that comes from the animal’s collar. Lee finds a small grave next to a doghouse and digs it up, revealing a decomposing dog. He takes the collar with messy results.
Lee uses the collar to open the dog door, but is unable to see or reach anything through it. Ben asks if he can give it a try, but before Lee can answer, Clementine quickly rushes in and unlocks it from inside. Lee tells Clem not to do things like that without asking him first.
Once inside, Christa starts to scold Lee again for not telling them about Clementine’s walkie-talkie works and the man on the other end of it. Kenny wonders if the one on the radio rang the bells and drew the walkers toward them but questions it saying it makes no sense to lure someone into a trap and then warn them about it. Kenny and Ben decide to search the second floor of the house and have Lee search the first floor for any dangers. The house is picked clean, save for two bottles of whiskey, and a large bag of dog food.
Kenny calls Lee up to the attic where he has found a walker boy. Feeling that this situation is too close to the situation with Duck, Lee offers to kill the boy. Opting to save his bullets, and avoid noise, he uses his wrench to bash him, which in the action, feels even more cruel.
Lee silently carries the body outside and buries him with his dog. Clementine watches sadly. Lee suddenly sees that someone is watching him from behind the fence, but they dart away before he can get a good look at them.
Kenny wants to find a boat so Lee agrees to go with him. Clementine asks to come, but Lee tells her she’ll needs to stay safe in the mansion.
When they reach the river the only boat left is half sunken. Kenny tries to salvage it, while Lee looks around some more. Lee tries to use a telescope to scout the distance, but finds it needs money to work. As he looks for somewhere he might find loose change, he sees a wall constructed of walkers and dead bodies, warning people to come no further. He also sees a number of odd markings on doorways that seem to be some kind of code.
After Lee finds a quarter in an old newspaper dispenser, he makes use of the telescope. He finds no boats, but spots someone climbing down a building and heading their way.
He and Kenny hide as the figure approaches and they agree to get the jump on them and find out if they were the person contacting Clem. Kenny covers the side, while Lee sneaks up behind the stranger. The stranger goes into a news stall, and as Lee peeks over the counter ready to take them by surprise, he finds that they have tricked him and got behind him. They fight, but Lee having been caught off guard, is knocked to the ground. The stranger holds up an ice axe ready to strike when she is stopped by a shout from Clementine.
The stranger backs down. Lee is caught in a mixed feeling of anger that Clem had endangered herself and come out alone, and gratitude that her appearance had saved his skin.
The stranger removes their hood and mask, revealing herself to be a woman named Molly. Kenny sneaks up on her prepared to shoot her in the back of the head. Lee warns him to stop, but Molly trips Kenny, knocking away his gun which discharges on contact with the ground. Lee exclaims that Kenny is with his group, and Molly stops her attack.
Molly thought that they are from Crawford: the town behind the walker wall and explains that Crawford is where a group of dangerous people live. There are very strict and ruthless rules in Crawford, including no children, no elderly, nor anyone with any disabling medical condition. She also tells them that she was the one ringing bells, as it distracts walkers and allows her to clear streets so she can explore safely. The conversation is interrupted when the undead approach after hearing the gunshot, preventing the group from going back the way they came.
Trying to figure out how to handle the situation, Lee and Kenny turn to see Molly making her way up a fire escape within a nearby alleyway. Initially planning on leaving them behind, she changes her mind, not feeling comfortable leaving a child to die. She pulls Kenny and Clementine up to safety, but Kenny loses his grip on Lee while trying to help him. Lee falls back into the alley as the walkers close in on him. With moments to spare, Lee escapes down a man-hole, into a sewer using Molly’s pick to pry the cover free.
Lee is forced to avoid more walkers in the sewer, and finds that Chuck had met his fate trying to do the same. Making his way through the passages, Lee finds a hidden entry into a morgue where he is met by a group of survivors. They assume Lee is from Crawford, and therefore dangerous. Their leader Vernon holds him at gunpoint, while Lee tries to calmly explain his situation. Vernon gradually seems to come round to Lee being safe, while a woman called Brie is less convinced. Lee is eventually able to gently disarm Vernon, so they can speak without the tension.
Vernon explains that he is a doctor and they are the last of a cancer survivor’s support group who would regularly meet up. They found the morgue to hide in when the leader from Crawford began murdering their people, not caring that they were no longer at risk. Lee asks is he can help him get back to the mansion and his group. Vernon offers to escort him, and Lee hopes that he might be of help to Omid too.
They get to the mansion without event and Vernon begins seeing to Omid’s leg. Lee notices that Clem is missing. He asks around the house and no one seems to know where she is. Growing more panicked, and not helped by an intoxicated Kenny, he rushes about looking for her. Lee eventually finds Clem in the shed outside in the backyard, along with a boat that had been locked up their the entire time.
Looking like good news for the group for a change, after inspection they find that the boat needs a new battery and gas. Molly advises that Crawford is the only place that could possibly have them. Kenny takes Lee aside and warns him that there is another problem. Assuming everyone makes it back from Crawford alive, the boat is not big enough to carry them all. Someone will have to be left behind.
The group decides to sneak in under the cover of night, along with Vernon and Brie who hope to gain medical supplies for their own group.
Clementine asks to come with the group sneaking into Crawford. Molly and Vernon are not fond of the idea. Lee wonders if she might follow them again anyway, and also whether she should come after all by way of proving he has faith in her. He decides against it though, and tells her that it is important that she stays behind and looks after Omid. Showing his faith in her, and feeling that she may need it, he gives her a pistol.
When they arrive in Crawford, the group quickly realises that the place is infested by walkers. Lee feels that this is a good thing, walkers being easier to deal with than armed guards. They retreat to the elementary school where supplies are kept. Ben however still feels concerned about their security.
The group finds the “control room”, and a door labelled “Armory”. Ben sets to work on the Armory door, Kenny and Brie go to get gas, Christa and Vernon go to the nurses station to collect medication, leaving Lee and Molly to go find a battery for the boat. Molly rushes off ahead. Lee notices a guide to the codes around town, showing that it was the Crawford people on scout missions. Ben tells him that he still wants to tell Kenny the truth, but Lee reminds him not to.
Lee heads outside to find Molly and as he tries to open the jammed door to the auto shop area, a walker in medical scrubs falls from the roof, followed by Molly who hacks at the walker seeming to have a personal grudge against this particular person.
After finding a battery from a car in a workshop, and another close escape from a group of walkers, Lee and Molly make their way across the roofs to the school.
Molly says she needs to “run an errand”, and takes the battery with her ensuring Lee and the group will not leave on the boat without her. Lee chooses to trust her, then continues down the hall back towards the classroom to see if everyone else had made it back yet. As he passes the main entrance, Kenny and Brie rush in, attempting to escape a group of walkers following them. Lee manages to insert their hatchet into the door handles, barring the door and preventing the walkers from pouring in.
After helping Kenny and Brie, they find that Vernon and Christa are still not back from the nurse’s office with the medicine. Lee speaks to Brie, who is more open with him and seemingly apologetic about how she acted before, while Kenny helps Ben.
Lee goes to the nurse’s office to check on Christa and Vernon, only to find a group of walkers banging on the door. After shooting all of them, Lee makes his way inside to find Christa and Vernon ready to fire. The two lower their guns once they realize it’s him, and the three begin to search for a way to open the safe where the medical supplies are being kept.
Lee finds a tape and a camcorder in the room, containing footage of a pregnant woman named Anna Correa and a Dr. Logan discussing what to do about her pregnancy. He seems to be insisting that she have an abortion, because of Crawford’s rules, despite not entirely agreeing with the idea. Lee recognises the Doctor as the same walker that Molly savagely attacked, and heads out to the alley to find him, to see if he has the code for the medicine cabinet. After stomping his head in, he finds a second tape and a combination to his locker. Lee opens up the locker and finds a third tape, before returning to the nurse’s office.
They watch the second tape which conveniently shows Logan opening the safe, allowing them to copy the combination and access the supplies. It also shows Anna attack Logan and make a run for it in order to save her unborn baby. The video makes Christa cry, but she doesn’t explain why.
Christa and Vernon leave with the supplies, while Lee decides to see if anything important is on the third tape. It shows Molly after having sex with Dr. Logan in return for insulin to treat her sister’s diabetes. Logan tells her that this deal would be the last time, because Crawford’s leader Oberson had started checking the inventory and was suspicious.
As he walks back through the hallway, Lee is surprised by Molly jumping through a hole in the ceiling. He tells her that he knows she was from Crawford, and that she didn’t have to keep it from him. She reveals that she had gone to retrieve a photo of her sister, who had been killed when Logan stopped her supply of insulin and her symptoms started to surface.
After she returns the battery, they begin to head back to the classroom, but Ben jumps out with a hatchet. Lee realises it was the hatchet he had used to bar the door from walkers, and is forced to fight as the undead begin marching in. Molly deftly kills a number of them, but is grabbed by one. Trying to keep her distance, she struggles with the walker, and Lee aims to shoot him off of her. In her attempts to stay away from the walker’s jaws, Molly spins and moves around a lot, making the shot extremely difficult for Lee. He lines up his target, the walker’s head, and as he pulls the trigger, Molly tugs the undead man again and jumps into the path of the bullet. It seems to hit her arm, and knock her clear of the walker. She runs off, away from the group, in the only safe direction. Lee and Ben are forced to get back to the group without her.
Inside the classroom, Brie holds the door shut, while Kenny forces the armory door. Ben decides to come clean about his deal with the bandits, while Lee tries to tell him now is not the time. Kenny becomes furious and lunges for Ben, only to be held back by Vernon and Lee. Kenny suggests a vote on whether they should leave Ben out of the group, fuelled by anger and his knowledge that they needed to lose bodies for the boat. Lee insists that he can’t make this decision right now and they should figure it out after they escape.
As they argue, walkers burst in and Brie is devoured. Lee orders everyone to run into the bell tower, dragging a horrified Vernon with them.
Unable to close the busted armory door, the group run down the stairs, only to find the room to be infested with walkers. Kenny hands Lee a shotgun and the group retreat back up the stairs. At the top of the tower the group begins to pile out the window.
When everyone except Ben and Lee had got out, the bell rang, cause by a walker hanging from it. The walker grabs hold of Ben, at which point Lee shoots it off of him. Ben falls but Lee catches his hand. Ben begs Lee to let him drop, feeling as though his mistakes were putting people in danger, and that he was to blame for the deaths of Katjaa and Duck. Lee ignores his pleas and pulls him up. He does believe Ben to be a liability, but he doesn’t think that’s worth a death sentence.
Back at the mansion, they discover that Clementine had successfully protected Omid from a walker attack by shooting it in the head.
Vernon treats Omid, then takes Lee into the hallway for a private word. He tells Lee he thinks he is a good man but tells him that he thinks Clem will not be safe with his group. He offers to take Clementine with him back to the Crawford Sewer group. Lee asks if he can think about it, and Vernon leaves it with him. It seems like a good idea, the morgue is a safe secure place, full of supplies, and with a decent group of people including a doctor. On the face of it, it seems much better than being forever on the run with this group that Lee doesn’t entirely trust. He wonders if Vernon’s invitation extends to him too.
Lee then goes into the study, where Clementine watches Kenny through the window as he works on the boat. She begins to ask Lee if they’ll have time to look for her parents before they leave on the boat. Lee takes the opportunity. He tells her that if her parents were in town, they would have been in Crawford, so it’s probably time that they stop looking. She cries herself to sleep, and it’s not long before he’s asleep too. Lee wakes up to find Clementine is nowhere to be seen.
He goes out into the back yard and finds her hat. He sees the walkie-talkie on the ground next to a garbage can outside the yard. He carefully approaches and decides to check the bin first. A walker jumps out and he kills it. Despite his caution and care, he was bitten on the wrist. Such a stupid, little, mistake, and now he knows his time is running out.
The group, consisting of Christa, Omid, Kenny, and Ben come out and ask Lee what he is doing. Lee hides his bite, being unsure of how they will react to it, and tells them that Clem is missing.
They believe that Vernon and his group must have taken her, and Lee says they have to go after her. He needs them more than he ever has right now and asks for their help.
Christa begins by saying that she and Omid can’t help. She’s just not sure that she can trust Lee. Lee tells her that he understands, although inside he doesn’t know what she’s talking about, and thinks she’s being selfish.
He turns to Kenny, expecting the family man, and his old travelling buddy to be right there with him. However, Kenny’s response is wishy washy, saying that although Lee was there for his family at the beginning, since then he hasn’t always had his back, and there’s no way he can know if he would have it now. Lee considers reasoning with him, suggesting that Clem is like family to him, and he’d do the same for Duck, but at this point his memory floods with all the arguments Kenny has been having, every time it’s been Kenny making life hard for someone else, all the times Kenny hasn’t respected Lee’s decisions, and of course the time he dropped a salt lick on Larry. It’s incredibly satisfying to drop the diplomatic role for a moment and simply say “Fuck you, Kenny!”.
Finally, Ben offers to come, but shows fear, saying that it’s up to Lee. Lee thinks that Ben is a liability, more likely to get in the way than to be helpful, and believes that Ben might be at risk of being abandoned by the others if they decide to leave. He’s also not sure what use he would be if the bite made Lee turn. He decides they’d both be better off if Ben stayed with the group.
Lee heads to the sewer hideout, only to find it completely abandoned. At the window, he sees the horde of walkers shuffling in the streets. Suddenly, the walkie-talkie activates and Clementine’s voice is heard calling for Lee. The mystery man speaks next, saying he is keeping Clementine safe, and confirms that he isn’t Vernon. He says it’s not a kidnap, it’s a rescue, and that Lee should choose his next words wisely. Lee asks what he wants from him.
Episode 5: No Time Left
Lee realises that he needs to find Clem and that she must be at the hotel where her parents stayed. He can’t get out the way he came as walkers have filled the sewer. As he attempts to open an elevator. Lee passes out from his infection. When he wakes he considers doing something about the infection. He wonders if cutting off his arm would save the rest of his body, or at the very least slow the infection down and buy himself more time to save Clem. The idea is not appealing, but he reasons that if he doesn’t do it, he is a dead man anyway. This way at least, he might have a chance to survive. Having no one there to help him, he’s forced to saw it off by himself.
Now missing a limb, he climbs the elevator shaft of the hospital, and arrives on the roof. He sees the streets crowded with thousands of walkers. However, Lee narrowly manages to reach a bell tower next to the roof and using Molly’s strategy, ringing it, he draws the hordes towards the tower, thinning the streets and allowing himself a chance to escape back to the manor.
Lee finds that the group had been ambushed and locked in the shed by Vernon’s group, who then stole the boat. Thankful for the rescue, the group continues to search for Clementine. Noticeably missing an arm, Lee finally admits to everyone that he was bitten. Christa exclaims that if she had known she would have gone with him, though Lee feels it’s a bit little too late.
Kenny becomes frustrated with Ben once again. After angrily stating that he should have been left to die in Crawford, an enraged Ben fires back at Kenny. The teen exclaims that he is sorry for what he has caused, but also says that Kenny was lucky that he was able to say goodbye to his family, while Ben never had the chance to even know what happened to his own. Kenny is taken aback by this and seems to actually take it on board.
The herd catches invades the manor. The group fight back, but the numbers force them to retreat into the attic, where they can find no other exit. Kenny fears Lee’s bite and him turning. They argue, and Lee notices a stone bust which he is tempted to club Kenny with. As he reaches for it, Kenny grabs it first and lobs it the wall instead. The wall breaks and they discover that it is weak and decaying. It wouldn’t take too much to break through and escape into the house next door. They end up in a sealed room where a couple committed a double-suicide, locking their room off from the walkers infesting the house.
Lee finds a balcony where it is possible to cross to the next roof, and the group follows. Ben is the last to try, and as he does, the balcony collapses under his weight, causing him to fall into the alley below. Lee can see that he is still alive, and to his surprise Kenny is the first to rush to help him. Lee follows him down the ladder.
They discover that Ben is impaled on a railing, and their attempts to ease him off cause him to shriek in pain. The noise attracts of course walkers. Kenny tells Lee to get back on the roof and find Clem, and to let him deal with this. Lee warns him that it’s suicide, but Kenny insists. Seeing the walkers closing in and knowing that there’s no time to argue, Lee mounts the ladder, expecting Kenny to follow shortly after. But Kenny closes the gate behind him. As walkers close in on him, Kenny uses his last bullet to give Ben a quick death. As Lee climbs the ladder, he can’t see what happens to Kenny, who despite everything, seems to have redeemed himself.
Lee, Christa, and Omid finally reach the waterfront just across from the Marsh House. With the group so small now, Christa warns Lee that he is going to have to keep them safe for Clem’s sake. If Lee dies, they are all she has left. Lee kind of agrees, but feels that Christa may only be saying it as a way of saving herself rather than being primarily concerned about Clem. Either way she’s right. This young couple are the closest thing Clem has to a family.
To move on to the hotel, they are forced to climb over a large Maccabe Imports sign to get to the next rooftop, as walkers crowd the street below. Lee decides to go first and almost makes the journey when the sign collapses, separating him from the other two. Lee tells Christa and Omid to go on and meet him later by the train, and seeing them as his only remaining option, to take care of Clementine when he is gone.
All but giving up on himself, deciding that he has already been bitten and it’s too late for him, Lee descends into the streets and fights his way through walkers armed with a meat cleaver. After killing several and being splattered in their blood, Lee’s scent begins to match that of the walkers, and many ignore him.
He arrives in the Marsh House and searches until he finds one with a bedroom and closet door roped together. He walks in curiously, only to have The Stranger appear behind him with a pistol drawn. Though Clementine calls out, the Stranger aims the gun at Lee, forcing him to be quiet and place his possessions on the table. The Stranger sits down with Lee and has a discussion with him, asking him if he has ever hurt anyone. The Stranger reveals that the station wagon they had looted after leaving St John’s farm belonged to him and his family. After losing the supplies, the man’s wife and daughter left him, and he found them a dead day later.
Using his own walkie-talkie, he had been monitoring Lee and his group, and talking to Clem to find out more. He asks him how he could save a pretty girl and let a young man die, and how he could kill a man with a pitchfork in cold blood as an 8 year old watched. He begins to talk to his wife’s zombified severed head, which he keeps in a bag, and while distracted, Clem sneaks out of her room. Lee gestures to her to grab a heavy bottle, which she uses to whack the man over the head just as he says that Clementine “wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Lee fights the man, and they both struggle to grab the Stranger’s gun. Lee manages to pin him to a wall and using all the strength in his one arm chokes him to death. Lee takes the gun and shoots the man in the head immediately, not sure if he’s finishing him off, or simply stopping him from turning, not that it matters either way.
As Lee and Clementine leave a walker appears at the door. However it sniffs Lee and ignores him, going instead for Clementine, though Lee stops it. Realising that the walker was confused by his scent, he cuts it open and rubs it onto Clementine in order to mask her scent as well. He reassures her that this will keep her safe.
To begin with, the plan works and they manage to pass a number of walkers outside. Clementine sees her parents walking the streets zombified. Lee tries to calm her, but passes out again.
He wakes in a jewellery store where Clementine had dragged Lee to safety. Lee feels like his time is up and all he can do is send Clem on her way. He hobbles over to a radiator near the exit and instructs Clem on what to do. A security guard walker is stuck on a seat, with a gun and the shop keys on his belt. Clem would need those, so Lee advises her to use some handcuffs to get his arms out of the way so that she can grab the items. He then tells her to get the gun first. As she reaches for the items, the walker breaks it’s arms from the cuffs and goes after her. Lee helps her kill it and she is free to take the gun and keys.
Clem tells him that she doesn’t want him to turn, but she does not think she can bring herself to kill him. Lee tells her to save the bullet, find Omid and Christa, and keep her hair short. As she leaves, Lee passes out again and dies.
400 Days
Wyatt’s Story – Day 41
Good friends Wyatt and Eddie are driving away from some dangerous mess that they have caused, with enemies in pursuit. It seems that their camp was raided by a group, and Eddie killed a man, and now the raiders are after them.
Wyatt takes Eddie’s gun and shoots at the truck chasing them, managing to break their headlight. The truck pulls off the road and Wyatt and Eddie speed away.
After a while their car hits a man and Eddie stops the car. They wonder if the person they hit was alive or a walker. Eddie doesn’t want to leave until they’re sure. If they hit a living person they should help them. Wyatt doesn’t think it’s a good idea to leave the car, but Eddie is insistent. They agree that one should stay in the vehicle and one should go look, so that if anything happens they’re ready to escape. Eddie suggests a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who goes. First round they both draw rock. Second round Wyatt wins with scissors. Third round Wyatt wins with rock. Two out of three means Eddie has to check the man.
Wyatt watches carefully as Eddie walks slowly into the fog. He wants to keep his eye on him and be ready for any sign of trouble. Eddie remembers that he still has the car keys and throws them to Wyatt. The keys drop to the floor, and Wyatt has to fumble about trying to find them. When he finally gets back into his seat, he’s attacked by the man from the truck. They fight, and Wyatt’s only escape from being shot in the head is to drive away, leaving Eddie to an unknown fate.
Vince’s Story – Day 2
Vince aims a gun at someone and shoots him. He makes a run for it when he hears police approaching and in an attempt to ditch the evidence, he lobs the gun onto a nearby rooftop. Nonetheless, the gun is found and Vince is arrested.
On a prison bus Vince is in the middle of two other felons. One named Danny is being irritating by tugging on the chains that bind them all together and to the bus. One named Justin is getting justifiably annoyed. Vince breaks up the argument and they conversation becomes a bit more civil.
They talk about what they did to end up on the bus. Vince says he was helping his brother. Danny is revealed to have been convicted of a rape, but insists that he is innocent despite being found guilty. Justin explains that he was making big money robbing from Wall Street types. The three of them agreed “Fuck Wall Street”.
At the front of the bus two other inmates start to argue. One attempts to strangle the other, causing a prison guard to come out to stop the fight. He threatens them with a shotgun, and in a panic shoots the attacker in the head.
Vince is quite outraged at the incompetence of the guard, but his attempts to tell him off are interrupted when they see walkers on the road chasing people down and trying to eat them. The strangled prisoner reanimates and tries to come for them. He kills the prison guard, while the driver panics and runs for his life, leaving the three prisoners trapped in the bus with the walker.
Vince gets the shotgun from the officer and kills the prisoner turned walker. The gunshot noise attracted the crowds of zombies outside and some start clambering aboard the driver’s cabin. The security gate keeps them at bay, but it’s only a matter of time before they break through. The three prisoners are short on time if they wish to escape.
Vince tries to break their chains and the brackets holding them in place, but they’re too solid to damage. Danny suggests shooting off one of their leg shackles, to which Justin says that would also mean destroying their foot. Vinnie has a tough choice to make about who he will shoot to save himself and at least one other. Shooting someone’s foot off in this situation could mean their death.
Agonizing moments pass as Vinnie weighs his decision. All he knows about these two is what came out in the conversation earlier. Danny was convicted of rape, but insists that he’s innocent. Justin was honest about being guilty, but Vinnie doesn’t think the crime was all that bad. Justin also said that he lied in court to get himself a shorter sentence, so although he was honest now, he is only honest when it suits him. Vinnie then remembers how irritating Danny’s chain pulling game was. Would an innocent person be likely to rile up fellow inmates for fun like that? Then, finally, as this leg shooting thing was his idea in the first place, and time was running very short, it seemed that the one to shoot would be the irritating, probable rapist, rather than the conman.
Vinnie takes the shot, and has to leave Danny to the walkers. There was no time for him and Justin to drag him out.
Shel’s Story – Day 236
Shel is part of a group that consists of some members of Vernon’s cancer survivor group. They are listening to Shel’s younger sister Becca playing the guitar. After she finishes, Becca asks if they could make this a weekly thing, and Shel encourages her saying they need something to lighten the mood, perhaps letting others display their talents too. Roman, the leader of the group, says music will always be welcome, mentioning cheerily how he used to be part of a band. Then the group returns to their duties. Becca offers to check the ammo while Shel and Stephanie check food and other supplies. Shel taking the role of protective sister, tells Becca she’d prefer it if she would stay away from the weapons.
Shel goes out the back to do checks around the gas station. She passes the walkers they have chained up as guards ‘watch dogs’ and is horrified to find one eating a puppy.
When she comes back inside, Becca jumps out at her, growling like a walker. Shel snaps at her, but apologises, saying it’s just because she saw something disturbing.
Stephanie rushes in and tells them to follow her, saying something happened outside. Shel and Becca head outside to see the group surrounding a young man on his knees, with his hands tied and blindfolded. The man was caught trying to take food and medicine from the group, but when they question him they find he cannot speak English.
After some discussion, the group decides the man cannot stay as he would only drain their resources, and that they must either let him go, or kill him. Stephanie and Boyd vote to release him, and Clive and Joyce vote to kill him, leaving the swing vote to Shel.
Shel sees the vulnerable man on his knees and although he was stealing from them, and this world often demanded harsh punishments, she felt that the time had long passed for violence. If he had been caught in the act, and fought back, perhaps then shooting him would have been all right. But now he was at their mercy and it would just be killing in cold blood. She voted to let him go, hoping he’d appreciate their mercy and humanity.
Three weeks later (Day 259), Shel and Becca are playing cards in an RV, talking about what had happened. After letting the man go, he had returned with friends and attacked resulting in Boyd’s death. Shel had hoped it would have played out differently, but still felt that her decision at the time was the right, human thing to do. Becca mentions how she misses being able to play guitar as Roman had stopped letting the group make their own decisions. Becca accidentally mentions that she slipped out of the camp after Roman locked it down, which Shel is not happy about.
Roman then knocks on the door. He comes in and says he needs to talk to Shel privately. Shel asks him to give her a minute. In that minute Shel assures Becca she will let her know what it’s about.
Shel heads outside, and walks towards where Roman is standing. She sees Joyce on the way and asks her what’s going on. Joyce tells her that Stephanie was trying to escape the camp with supplies.
Shel approaches Roman and can hear Stephanie trapped inside a makeshift prison – the back of a lorry. She asks if this is really necessary. Roman explains the situation again and that since the screw up with the other thief, he had to be tougher about the rules now. Stephanie had been stealing from the group and would have to die. He told Shel that she would have to do it.
Shel walks back to the RV, where she keeps her gun. She sorrowfully explains the situation to Becca, very opposed to the idea and wanting to figure out another option. Becca thinks killing Stephanie is the right thing to do. Shel opens the drawer where she keeps her gun and sees the keys to the RV. She suggests escaping, leaving this oppressive environment and making a go of it on their own. Becca wants to stay with the group, saying they are safer.
Shel disagrees. She can’t see that they’re safer with a leader she doesn’t trust, who won’t be reasoned with. She can’t face the idea of shooting her friend instead of solving the problem. She hates what this camp is turning Becca into. She grabs the keys and starts the engine. They speed away leaving Roman and the rest behind.
Bonnie’s Story – Day 220
Bonnie’s is casually chatting with Leland, who has her choose between the hypothetical situation of having lobster hands or a snake for a tongue. She asks if the snake has it’s own mind or if she can control it before agreeing to lobster claws. Leland tells her that she has come a long way since he and Dee found her while she was on drugs. Bonnie thanks him.
Dee, Leland’s wife, shows up and immediately questions them on what it is they’re talking about. After telling her they’re just playing a game, Bonnie will notice a bag that Dee found while she was away. Both Bonnie and Leland ask her where she got the bag, thinking that she stole it from somewhere, but Dee avoids answering the question. Dee accuses Leland of always taking Bonnie’s side and calls her his “girlfriend”. Bonnie tries to stay neutral but insists that there is nothing romantic between her and Leland.
The argument is cut short when Dee spots people approaching and tells the two to run. While trying to escape, Bonnie is shot in the shoulder, and Dee prevents Leland from running back to help her. Bonnie gets up and tries to run after the pair, but loses her footing and slides down a hill onto the road. She runs into a nearby corn field, calling for Leland and Dee, with the group who shot her right behind her. Bonnie narrowly escapes being caught by the people with flashlights and hides behind a tractor for safety. However, she hears someone approaching her, so she grabs a bar from the ground and strikes the unknown assailant in the head.
Bonnie discovers that the person she hit was Dee and, in a state of panic, tries to apologise to her, saying it was an accident. Dee dies, calling her a junkie. Leland arrives, and breaks down after seeing Dee dead. He asks what happened. Bonnie thinks about trying to convince him that the people chasing them did it, but simply says ‘What’s done is done’, hoping to urge him to escape while they may still be in danger. He gets angry at her, so Bonnie makes a run for it alone, leaving her friend behind to grieve.
Russell’s Story – Day 184
Russell is walking alone down a road when he sees a truck coming towards him. He decides to hide, not sure about who he can trust and hoping to avoid any kind of confrontation. Unfortunately, the place Russell dives into is right next to a dead female.
The truck driver had already seen him, and tells him to stop playing with his girlfriend. He invites him to ride along. Russell is wary of the stranger, who introduces himself as Nate, but he seems friendly enough, so he agrees tentatively.
Nate offers Russell a drink, and he takes a swig. They talk, and it although Nate seems harmless, he is quite lewd and only wants to talk about attractive women. Russell would rather talk about his old friends as people, not sex objects.
A female walker attempts to grab Russell through the truck window, and Nate refuses to help until Russell gives him a rating of how attractive she would have been when alive. Russell in a panic rates her a ten, and Nate shakes the walker off the vehicle laughing.They pull up at a truck stop where Nate suggests they get supplies. Someone in the store opens fire on them as Russell approaches the gas pumps. Nate tells Russell to make a run back to the truck and he will cover him. Russell agrees, but as he runs, he notices that Nate doesn’t help him. Russell is annoyed, but they agree that they have to sneak around the back. They will take turns covering each other as they make runs. Russell tells Nate to go first, not trusting him to actually protect him.Nate runs, while Russell provides cover fire, and this time Nate returns the favour. Russell then makes his run to the back of the store, but trips. Nate rescues him.
Inside the cafe Russell sneaks up on the shooter and discovers that he is just an old man trying to protect his injured wife. The man thought that Nate was the one who hurt his wife and that he had come to finish the job and take all of his food. Nate suggests that he should just kill them and take their food for shooting at them.
At this Russell decides that he has had enough of Nate, his unpredictable ways, his untrustworthiness, and lack of mercy, and so he leaves. As he walks away, Nate kills the couple. Russell knows he has made the right choice to leave, thinking he could have been in Nate’s sights at any point, but regrets not doing more to help the elderly couple.
Epilogue – Day 400
Tavia takes the last of the five photos from the bulletin board. She plans to make contact with them, and the voice on her radio tells her their community only wants good people.
That night, Tavia drives up to the campsite. The voice on the radio wishes her luck, and tells her not to force anyone into anything if they don’t want to be a part of it. As she approaches the campsite, Bonnie spots her and calls for Vince who quickly runs up and holds Tavia at gunpoint. Tavia explains that she’s a scout for a community located north of the camp. Wyatt asks how she found them, and Tavia says she found their note.
She offers them the opportunity to come with her and join the community, where they have food, water, and shelter for everyone. She assures them that it’s a safe place. Between them, the group make their own personal decisions to go with her or stay away.
