"What the hell happened? Why are we stopping?" Lee asked, frustration leaking into his voice as he stepped out of the train.
Clementine and I followed him out. The moment we looked up, we understood why the train had screeched to a halt.
A massive gas-tanker truck hung off the bridge above us—its back end dangling, swaying slightly in the breeze, ready to drop straight onto the tracks. It blocked the entire path forward.
"Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!" Kenny shouted, gripping his hair as he stared at the tanker like it had personally ruined his life.
Clementine gasped softly beside me. She wasn't used to seeing Kenny this furious—not after everything he had already endured today.
"Maybe we can walk from here?" Ben offered timidly.
"That is a stupid fucking idea, Ben!" Kenny snapped.
Ben immediately shrank back, staring at the ground.
"Why don't we just push this thing out of the way?" Chuck suggested. "The train can handle it."
"It's not filled with milk or water," Kenny barked. "It's a goddamn gas tanker! If we hit it with the train, we'll all be cooked—served up like perfect dinner for the walkers!"
His face twisted with grief and rage.
"You need to hold yourself together," Chuck said firmly. "This is your crew."
Kenny stepped closer, eyes burning, but Chuck didn't budge.
"You're not in the right mindset right now," Chuck added calmly.
I silently agreed. Losing both his wife and son only hours ago—no one would be thinking straight.
Beside me, Clementine fidgeted nervously, her fingers twisting into her sleeves.
"Hey… deep breaths. Kenny's just having a moment. Lee's got this." I whispered. "It'll be okay."
She nodded, though the worry didn't leave her face.
Lee stepped in between the two men, giving me a quick grateful look before speaking.
"Look, we're all frustrated," Lee said firmly. "But fighting won't fix anything. We need to calm down and figure out a plan."
"Kenny, we don't have time to—"
"Calm down?" Kenny cut him off. "Look around, Lee! We're in the middle of fucking nowhere! Anything could kill us out here!"
Lee opened his mouth to respond, but—
"Yo! If you keep screaming like that, you're gonna get your face chewed off!"
The voice came from above.
All of us snapped our heads up.
A man and a woman stood on top of the bridge, peering down at us. The man had shouted.
Kenny instantly raised his gun toward them.
"Hey, hey! Put that thing down!" the man yelled. "We're just talking! We've got guns too if you want to make this a thing!"
Lee stepped in front of Kenny.
"Put it down," he said sharply. "If they wanted to attack us, they would've done it already. We don't need more death today."
Kenny breathed hard through his nose but finally lowered the gun.
"Are you guys gonna be trouble?" the woman asked coolly. "Because if you are, we'll just walk away."
"No," Lee replied quickly. "We're friendly. We've just had… a lot happen today. Everyone's on edge."
The woman studied him for several long seconds.
"That's what everybody says," she muttered.
"I know," Lee said, hands raised slightly. "But trust us—we're not bad people. We just need help."
The man nudged her.
"Come on. They look like they need it."
She didn't answer right away, still watching Lee with hard eyes.
Finally, she spoke.
"You've got a problem with your train. Of course you do. Well… it's not impossible. Someone needs to come up and take a look. Maybe we can figure out a way to move the truck."
Lee nodded and stepped forward to climb—until Kenny grabbed his arm.
"Be careful," Kenny muttered. "If anything goes sideways, we're not letting them walk."
Lee nodded once, then climbed the ladder.
"I'm coming up!" he called. "You better not be murderers or thieves!"
"Well," the woman replied, leaning over the edge, "you'll just have to find that out for yourself."
Clementine tugged on my sleeve.
"Max… do you think Lee will be okay? I'm worried."
"Don't worry," I said. "They look like good people."
"I hope so… I don't want anyone else to get hurt." Her voice trembled slightly.
I recognized the two strangers—Christa and Omid. They were good people in the original game… but this world was already different. I couldn't be sure.
Suddenly, Clementine grabbed the ladder and began climbing.
"Hey—what are you doing? Come back. It's not safe!" I hissed, but she kept going.
I had no choice but to follow her.
At the top, Lee spun around.
"What are you doing up here?" he scolded.
Then he noticed me behind her.
"And you too, Max?" He looked exhausted.
Clementine lowered her head like a scolded puppy.
The bridge around us was a mess of abandoned cars—crashed, burned-out, piled together in a twisted traffic jam stretching across the span. It felt like a frozen snapshot of panic, the moment the world ended.
"There are kids here?" Omid said, surprised. "Damn… been a long time since I've seen any kids. Shit. What are your names?"
"I'm Max Walker," I said.
Clementine swallowed. "C-Clementine."
Lee folded his arms. "Oh, so he gets to swear now? You're not gonna stop him?" he muttered at Clementine, who pretended not to hear.
Omid grinned at his girlfriend.
"See? Told you they weren't bad."
Christa ignored him and looked at Lee.
"You're not their dad, are you? Is he down there?"
"Is it that obvious?" Lee asked weakly.
"It is to me," she said plainly.
"I'm not their dad, and he's not down there," Lee explained. "I found Clementine on day one when this started. I was heading to the prison."
"That's cool," Omid said brightly. "Did you get any prison tattoos?"
Lee blinked. "No… I never got that far."
Christa's gaze shifted to me.
"What about the boy?"
"I found him in the woods. Lost and alone," Lee said. "Separated from his family. We're helping him find them."
Christa nodded slowly.
"And the guy who pointed the gun at us—he cool?"
Lee glanced down at Kenny.
"Kenny lost his wife and son a few hours ago. He's not in the best state of mind."
Christa's expression softened.
"Damn… that's rough. I'm sorry for what happened."
Omid leaned over the railing.
"But seriously—the train is awesome."
"The train's useless unless we move that tanker," Lee said.
"We'll help you," Christa replied.
Lee smiled, relieved. "We appreciate it."
"But if we see anything we don't like," Christa added sharply, "we're walking away."
"Fair enough," Lee said.
"So we can't just blow through it, right?" Omid asked.
Christa sighed at him, then looked back at us.
"If we can get this tanker down, we'll have more options."
Lee nodded. "Okay. We'll start with that."
Christa looked at Clementine and me.
"You two—head back down and watch your step. Let us adults figure this out. It's not safe up here."
She gave us a small, gentle smile.
We nodded and climbed down, leaving the three of them to talk through the plan.