Inside the forest.
Even with all the pain his body is suffering from, Shane continued moving deep into the forest while clutching his bloodied shoulder. His face pale and his body drenched from sweat that's been mixed with his own blood while tightly holding onto a handgun from his injured shoulder.
"F*ck."
Frustrated and tired, Shane cursed under his breath. His chest felt tight from the lack of air due to the constant running from his pursuers and at this point, he just wanted to lie down and get some rest.
While Shane is having a hard time escaping from the dogs of The Governor.
A couple of hours earlier.
In another corner of Georgia, Michael and the others are still patiently waiting for Lee to return.
Michael looked at his watch and told the others. "Ten minutes left. If he's still not here by then, we'll leave."
Clementine, who is sitting beside Andrea inside the motorhome, flinched when she heard him.
'Lee, please come back soon.' She closed her eyes, pleading for his return.
Michael saw what she was doing and lightly snorted with a soft expression on his face.
Click!
The door to the motorhome opened and Rosita appeared behind it.
"I know resources are important. But is it really wise to add another truck when we already have two of them and this motorhome for the journey back?" Rosita complained to Michael while walking up the steps.
Rosita slightly creased her brows, then a glance at Clementine then back to him. She'd long figured out who's probably gonna drive it. "You'd trust him with those supplies?"
Michael lowered the heat on the ramen he's cooking and responded. "Nope, though I think he might be a great guy and all, but that does not mean I'd put my trust in him just because my guts said so. That's why I'll have him drive the truck with the machines on it. That is if he makes it back."
"Hmm…so that he won't be able to run away with it huh. I doubt he can even unload that large generator inside." Rosita scoffed and finally felt satisfied.
Soon after, the four people shared the three packs of ramen among themselves and by the time they were done, it was already way past the agreed time for Lee to return.
"It's already 2:17, but Lee's not here yet. It seems we'll have to abandon one or two of those trucks. Do we continue to wait or should we start preparing to leave?" Rosita said to Michael, while Clementine who's sitting on the sofa behind them is already on the verge of tears.
"We've already gone past 2pm waiting, can't we wait until three? Come on, we have a kid here. I don't think she'll be keen on staying with us if we abandon her guardian. Let's at least show some consideration, yeah?" Andrea felt that Clementine probably wanted to plead to Michael to wait a little more, but was scared to say anything. So she pleaded to him on her behalf.
Michael did not immediately answer her but wondered about something. 'She's really quiet and timid. Wasn't she supposed to be more direct? Did something happen on the way here before they met us?'
"Michael?"
Just when Michael was on the verge of recalling something, Andrea's voice snapped him out of it.
"You okay?" Andrea looked at Michael with worry while Rosita felt curious about what he was thinking so deeply.
"Oh..yeah. Let's wait until 3pm then. If Lee is still not here, then we'll go without them. Sorry kid." Michael answered while heading towards the cabin and placed his hand on top of Clementine's head while apologizing.
'Right~ she found out that her parents had already turned at this point. Must be why her personality had shifted into this timid personality.'
Andrea followed after Michael and quietly asked him. "Why don't we just go look for them since the place he's heading to is not far from here?"
Michael just shook his head at her suggestion. "No, I gave him options, so he should take responsibility for his decisions."
He grabbed her hand and softly pulled her over to him and had her sit on his lap. "Just because we're able to help, doesn't mean we should. We still have responsibilities to our people and a lot of them are relying on us. It's not our problem anymore that he chose to go back to his friends. We were already kind enough when we offered to take them with us. His friends are not our responsibility. He wants his friends to join us? Then he better earn it for them."
'Since he should be dead at this point, I'm actually curious if Lee can survive on his own with Clementine far from him.' Michael thought. He was curious since both were almost always together and the only time that they got separated in the game, Lee got bitten by a walker while searching for her. Michael did not want to go look for them since he wanted to confirm something he had always been suspicious of.
'Live Lee.' Michael thought in hope.
Meanwhile, a familiar cargo truck is travelling through the route back to Townsend.
In the small cargo truck that Michael gave him, Lee was peacefully driving the truck when it suddenly made the sound 'put-put-BANG' and jerked forward.
Clang! Clank!
"Whoa!"
"What happened?"
"I don't know."
The people inside became surprised as their bodies jerked forward due to inertia while the things stored at the back slid to the front while producing clanking noises as the things bumped onto each other.
"Christa, stay here. Carley, join Omid at the back and keep an eye out. I'm gonna check what's wrong." Lee instructed while getting down from the truck. Carley followed after him and grabbed the pistol on the dashboard on the way out.
"Need a hand?" Omid asks from the back of the truck while Carley is seen climbing up from the side.
Lee shook his head and popped the hood up. "No need. Just..keep an eye out yeah? We don't know what's lurking around these woods."
Omid chuckled and brightly responded. "Alright, just holler if you need me."
While Lee is checking what was wrong with the truck, Omid goes over to Carley and starts chatting with her.
"Hey, what do you actually think about the people that Lee met? They don't really sound reliable when they just had Lee return by himself. What if they're actually holding the kid hostage and they've forced him to bring us to them and do heinous things to us after?" he asked softly and with worry in his tone.
Carley glanced at him before quickly returning her attention to their surroundings. "We'll know when we get there. Besides, I don't think there's anything valuable on us that they'd go this far just to get us there."
"What about our organs? Maybe it's the one they want?"
Carley just shook her head and ignored him and thought. 'Though I doubt that's what they have in mind, it never hurts to be prepared just in case they really have ill intentions towards us.'
While their small group is stranded in the middle of the road, a pair of eyes is quietly watching them from somewhere in the woods.