Lee and Carley moved through Savannah's corpse-choked streets like shadows, darting between abandoned cars and crumbling storefronts. Every intersection held new dangers - walkers shambling in aimless circles, their moans echoing off the pastel-colored facades. A well-thrown pebble sent a small group lurching toward a shattered boutique window, buying them precious seconds to advance.
"This is taking too long," Lee muttered, watching the undead crowd around the distraction like flies on rotten meat. His fingers drummed against his thigh. "We need to move faster."
Carley wiped sweat from her brow. "Got any bright ideas? Because playing fetch with zombies isn't exactly—"
Lee's gaze snapped upward, tracing the fire escapes and wrought-iron balconies that laddered the buildings. His eyes locked onto an external staircase clinging to a nearby apartment complex like a metal vine. "We go up," he said, already moving.
Carley's boots skidded on the pavement as she grabbed his arm. "You want to tightrope across rooftops? That's your brilliant plan?"
"Fewer teeth up there," Lee countered, already testing the staircase's stability.
"Yeah, and a lot more gravity!" But when Lee didn't budge, she exhaled sharply. "Fine. But if I die, I'm haunting your ass."
The rusted metal groaned under their weight as they ascended. At the top platform, Lee balanced on the railing, his injured shoulder protesting as he reached for the roof's edge. Muscles straining, he hauled himself up in one fluid motion, then immediately turned to extend a hand down to Carley.
For a terrifying second, her boot slipped on the railing - then Lee's grip closed around her forearm like a vice, pulling her to safety with a grunt. They lay side by side on the sun-warmed shingles, catching their breath as seagulls cried overhead.
Lee braced his hands on his knees, catching his breath between words. "So... does this count as our first date?"
Carley's laughter mingled with her panting. "Oh absolutely. Nothing says romance like hunting down a creep." She wiped sweat from her brow. "Though I'd prefer dinner and a movie next time."
As they moved toward the next rooftop, Lee hesitated. "You didn't have to come. This isn't your fight."
Carley's expression hardened. "It became mine the second that bastard went after Clem." Her boots scraped against the gravel rooftop. "Men who hurt kids? They forfeit their right to breathe."
Lee vaulted the narrow gap between buildings with ease. "That's... specific." He turned to watch her landing. "Sounds like you've met one before."
Carley's landing wasn't as graceful. She grimaced, not just from the impact. "My first big story at WABE." Her voice grew distant. "Thomas Richards. Chopped his wife's head off, then played the grieving widower." Her fingers curled into fists. "They found other bodies - women, teenagers - all missing their heads. Never could pin those on him though."
The memory contorted Carley's expression. "Saw him in court every day. Smiling. Like it was all some game." Her eyes locked onto Lee's. "That's when I learned monsters wear human faces. They look like neighbors. Teachers. Clerks. Janitors."
"Hey now," Lee chuckled awkwardly, rubbing his neck. "I was a teacher." When Carley's gaze lingered too long, he sighed. "You've got that look. Just ask."
She cleared the next rooftop gap before speaking. "Don't take this wrong," she said, landing with a grunt, "but that night with the senator... was it really an accident?"
Lee's landing came harder than expected. He wiped sweat from his brow, though the afternoon wasn't hot. "I was supposed to be grading papers." His voice grew distant. "But something... something made me go home early."
The collar of his shirt suddenly felt too tight. "Found them on the couch. Naked. Laughing." His fists clenched unconsciously. "Next thing I knew, I was kneeling in blood. His blood. My wife screaming. Five minutes. That's all it took."
His hands trembled now, the memory visceral. "She kept pulling at me, begging me to stop. But I just... couldn't. Or wouldn't." A bitter laugh escaped him. "Funny thing? I don't even remember throwing the first punch."
Carley's fingers tightened around his. "The news said you didn't even try to defend yourself in court. Just... accepted it." Her thumb brushed his knuckles. "Do you regret it?"
Lee stared at their joined hands, then met her gaze. "Every damn day." His voice was gravel. "Because that man? That's not me. Or... it's not who I choose to be. Not for Clem. Not for you."
A muscle in his jaw twitched. "But at the farm..." He swallowed hard, the memory of Danny's skull cracking under his boot flashing behind his eyes. "When I put those men down? Part of me felt..." His fingers flexed unconsciously. "Right. Like scratching an itch you've ignored for years."
The admission hung between them, ugly and raw. Lee's next words came out barely above a whisper: "That scares the hell out of me."
"Good." Carley's hand lingered on his cheek, her smirk softening into something warmer. "That fear? Means you're still human." She stepped back, her boots crunching on rooftop gravel. "The day killing stops bothering us? That's when all hope is lost."
She turned toward their destination, tossing a wry smile over her shoulder. "So... back to murdering a creep?"
Lee huffed a surprised laugh, shaking his head as he fell into step beside her. "Says the woman who just gave a speech about morality."
"Hypocrisy keeps me interesting," she shot back, nudging his good shoulder with hers.
The rooftop journey had deepened thier bond, each step carrying them past nightmares painted across Savannah's corpse-strewn streets. Below, the dead feasted on the last living things - dogs still leashed to their collars, small figures crawling with broken limbs. The city had become a graveyard that refused to stay buried.
When they finally reached the building's edge, the Marsh House loomed across the street, its once-elegant sign now hanging crookedly. But Carley's breath caught in her throat as she looked down.
"My God..." Carley's voice trembled as her wide eyes looked down into the street that writhed like a living thing - a tidal wave of rotting flesh packed so tightly the walkers crushed against each other, their blood-caked jaws snapping at empty air. The stench rose even to the rooftops, a putrid miasma of death. "I've never seen so many of them. There must be over a hundred—no way we're reaching the hotel, Lee."
Carley turned to see Lee watching her with an expression that made her blood run cold.
"There is one way..."
A sharp whistle cut through the air. At the street's edge, a walker's head snapped up with unnatural speed, its milky eyes searching. A wet, guttural moan bubbled from its throat as it lurched toward the sound—only to be yanked around the corner by an axe hooked under its jaw.
The blade came down in a savage arc, splitting the creature's skull like rotten fruit. Brains and black blood oozed onto the pavement.
"You can't be serious," Carley hissed, watching Lee plant his boot on the corpse. "We'd need to clear half the block before—"
Her words died as Lee drove his axe into the walker's abdomen with a sickening squelch. Rancid entrails spilled onto the street like overcooked noodles.
"If we wear enough of this," Lee said, peeling back strips of decaying flesh as he opened it's stomach up, "we can walk right through them." Even as he spoke, his hands trembled slightly—not from disgust, but fear.
"Are you serious?" Carley demanded. But as Lee smeared himself with the walker's innards, she got her answer. "Great..."
Lee spun her around and smeared her with blood from head to toe. She shuddered, her face twisted in disgust.
Once they were both drenched, they crept around the corner. "Stay close and quiet," Lee whispered, gripping her hand as he led the way, his body shielding hers.
Walkers lurched around them, snarling like beasts, milky eyes scanning the air. Lee froze as one shuffled inches from his face—so close he could see the ruptured veins in its eyes. He edged past as it wandered off, then turned to see Carley's horrified stare before they pressed on.
Lee's heart hammered against his ribs as they pushed through the horde. Then it hit him—he'd have to come back. Clementine's parents were somewhere in this rotting swarm, and he'd have to face them with her. The thought twisted his gut, but it had to be done.
It couldn't have been more than five minutes, but the suffocating dread stretched it into hours. When they finally reached the hotel steps, they exhaled in unison, as if they'd forgotten to breathe the entire time.
"I can't believe that actually worked." Carley sagged against the pillar, staring at the horde just yards away. Part of her still refused to accept they'd simply walked through it.
"Now," Lee gasped, pressing a hand to his pounding chest, "that bastard's waiting for us. Time for phase two." He dragged a sleeve across his sweat-slicked brow. "Listen close—this is how we're going to play this."
He laid out the plan in quick, sharp sentences. Carley's jaw tightened, fingers twitching toward her pistol, but she gave a stiff nod. "Let's do this." Her exhale shuddered through clenched teeth.
Lee hefted his axe, turning one last glance toward the horde over their shoulders.
Then he swung.
SHATTER!
The axe cleaved through the door as glass exploded inward, cascading like shrapnel across the lobby floor. Behind them, a hundred rotting heads snapped toward the sound.
---
Behind the door of Room 214 lay a drab, gray space stripped of color or warmth. Only two cushioned chairs faced each other in the emptiness. In one sat The Stranger, his hands cradling an unzipped black bag as he peered inside.
"I wonder what he'll look like, this Lee." His voice was calm, addressing the bag—or rather, what lurked within. "Will he look like a monster? I think he will."
A smile crept across his face. "Not like me. No, I'm no monster. And Clementine shouldn't be raised by one. She belongs with me—with us. Then we'll be a happy family."
He tilted the bag slightly. Light from the window glinted off the reanimated walker's head inside, its teeth gnashing mindlessly at him. The Stranger only smiled. "We'll take good care of her. Raise her right. Won't we Tess?"
Pulling a yellow walkie from his pocket, he sighed at its silence. "She's just a child. I can't blame her—she doesn't understand what's best." The head snapped toward him, jaws clacking in the hollow quiet of the room.
Shatter!
"Seems he's done keeping me waiting," the Stranger murmured, rising from his chair. He dragged a fresh corpse from the bathroom - its skin still pink, save for the milky film over its eyes. With careful precision, he arranged the body in the chair, positioning it to face the door.
Pressing himself against the wall beside the entrance, he raised his pistol, finger resting lightly on the trigger. The faintest shuffle of footsteps echoed down the hallway, growing closer... closer...
"Here he comes..."
Suddenly an arrow flew through the open door. It struck with surgical precision, burying itself in the decoy's forehead with a wet thunk. But the Stranger's confidence changed to confusion as he spotted the wristwatch strapped to the arrow's shaft - its digital face now blinking rapidly, emitting a high-pitched beep-beep-beep that filled the room.
His tactical assessment was cut short by movement at the doorway. A shadowed figure stepped through, he acted on impulse.
BANG!
The Stranger's smirk faded as the body collapsed, revealing grayish skin and a blood-streaked chin. Not Lee. A walker.
His blood turned to ice as more rotting figures poured through the doorway, their hollow eyes locking onto him instantly. "Fuck!" He spun toward the bedroom, hand outstretched—
THWACK! An arrow pierced his palm, pinning it to the doorframe. His scream was cut short as a walker slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. His free hand fired wildly, dropping one creature before two more descended.
Agony exploded through his arm as teeth tore into flesh. Through the haze of pain, he became dimly aware of a shadow looming over him. The figure stood motionless, watching as the dead feasted.
The Stranger's fading vision registered the glint of a crossbow being raised. His lips formed a final, silent curse before darkness took him.