The drugstore had been quiet for a while now. Larry was still unstable, forcing Lilly to keep her focus on him at all times. Clementine kept  to herself and was checked on by Lee every now and then,. Duck was doing much better as Kenny and Katjaa continuously offered their comfort and Doug continued to keep watch. The drugstore had become so peaceful that the opening of the office door succeeded in startling a few of them. Their alarm vanished as Jack, Andre and Glenn re-entered the safe haven.

"Everyone alright?" Kenny greeted all three of them. It didn't took him long the grim looks on all of their faces, "Did something happened out there?"

"Yeah. We had some close calls but we're okay." Jack gave him an assuring nod.

"Are you sure?" Lee asked in worry, "You don't look like everything is okay."

"Yeah." Jack nodded, "I'm sure."

"I've got a few cans of gas for our vehicles in the boot of my car." Glenn said in a low hollow tone.

Kenny smiled, "Good to hear it."

"How are things back here?" Andre wanted to know.

Kenny pointed towards Larry, "Quiet. Our 'friend' is still in and out over there. He won't survive anymore stress."

"I see. The next order of business is getting those pills for that Larry guy." Andre stated as Kenny in agreement and went to join his family Glenn stopped close to the door to the bathroom and leaned against a shelf, keeping to himself and keeping the fire-axe close to him. Jack walked past Kenny and his family, staring at the ground and keeping to himself and Kenny and Katjaa took notice of the way he was acting right now

"Jack. Is there something bothering you?" Katjaa asked him in concern, making Jack stop dead in his tracks and look at her and her family. A few quiet moments went by before Jack finally took a deep breath and spoke while setting his eyes on Duck.

"I'm sorry, but I don't really want to talk about it in front of the kid." The blond haired man told them, letting the two parents know it wasn't anything pretty if he couldn't say it in front of a kid.

Kenny looked at him questioningly, "Was it really so bad?

"Yeah. It was." Jack nodded in confirmation, letting out a sigh as Kenny and Katjaa exchanged glances wtih each other, seeming to understand it would be for the best not to push the conversation further and decided to talk about something else isntead. It was when Kenny decided to change the subject of the conversation and tried to bring up something else to Jack.

"Listen." Kenny began to say to him with a grateful smile slowly beginning to smile at him gratefully, "We really appreciate the way you stood up for me and my family when the old guy tried to kick our son out of the place."

Jack nodded at him, "It was no problem. The guy really pushed us and Lee showed just how far we got pushed by him."

"You don't have to tell me; I was ready to tear the man's head off." Kenny agreed with him with his smile growing a bit, "Either way. We, Kat and I, appreciate your support."

Katjaa smiled at him gratefully, "Thank you, Jack."

Jack silently nodded at them, showing them it was no problem and shifted his gaze to Duck, "How's Duck doing?"

"He's okay, it was just a shock." Katjaa gave him an answer.

"We're lucky as hell nobody got nabbed on the way in here." Kenny added.

Jack nodded in agreement, "No kidding. There was much more of them than in the neighbourhood where I met Andre and Lee."

"Does Andre know anything about our current situation?" Katjaa asked Jack once he brought up Andre to them, "Does he know anything about what's going on right now, considering he's a cop and all?"

Jack shook his head, "Aside from him knowing how to fight off against those things, I don't think he knows more than any of us. We even tried to get into contact with some of his fellow police officers on our way to Macon but none of them answered it."

Katjaa sighed, "I see."

Kenny crossed his arms, "Whatever it is. I hope it will end soon."

"You and me both." Jack nodded in agreement, continuing his conversation with the family as Lee walked over to Glenn, taking care of his own stuff.

"Hey, Glenn." He called out for Glenn upon stopping in front of him.

"Yeah?" Glenn asked in the same hollow tone as before.

"Would you mind if I borrowed your axe?" Lee pointed at the fire axe Glenn brought with himself from the supply run, "I think I'm going to need it to get the keys to the pharmancy."

"Sure." Glenn nodded, "Take it."

Lee looked at Glenn with a grateful look on his face as he took the fire axe from him and walked over to Doug, "How are you doing?"

"Good." Doug replied, "Want to take a look outside again?"

"Yeah." Lee nodded in confirmation.

Andre walked over to them, "Are you going outside by any chance?"

"Yes. We are." Doug confirmed it to them, "Want to take a look with us?"

Andre nodded in confirmation, "I wouldn't mind that."

"Alright. Just make sure to keep quiet when we'll be outside." Doug told him.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't dream of making any noise out there." Andre replied as Doug turned away from him and Lee and opened the door, before stepping out of the drugstore. He was followed by Lee and Andre. Doug crouched down and Andre quickly followed his example and crouched down as well while Lee remained in the crouching position. The police officer shook his head to himself in disgust, seeing all the walkers loitering, "What are we doing here?"

Doug pointed towards something in the distance and Andre looked in the direction of it and saw a walker trapped under a fallen pylon, "We manage to identify this man as a worker of the drugstore. We suspect he might have

"I see." Andre said in understanding, looking up at Lee with a suspicious look on his face. Something Lee had failed to take notice of due to him focusing on the trapped walker, "Do we have any way of reaching him?"

"You, Jack and Glenn just provided me a way of reaching him." Lee replied as he mmediately put his plan in action. He raised the fire axe and it into the gate lock. The gate lock was broken which allowed him to unlock the gate. Andre raised his brow at his action as Lee crouched down next to Doug, "Found the combo."

"Awesome." Doug smiled as Andre smiled to himself, knowing it must have been something Lee and Doug must have talked about while he was out with Jack and Glenn, "Now to distract those things, carefully."

Andre looked around himself took notice of a brick laying nearby, "This brick would work."

"You've read my mind." Lee nodded in agreement as he reached towards the brick he had noticed earlier and threw it towards the window with excellent aim. The glass was broken, allowing the volume from the static to flow louder than before. After a few seconds, every walker on the street began to gather around the store.

"Be careful." Doug warned as Lee got himself into a standing position, ready to head out and get the keys from his the trapped walker.

"Keep an eye out, will ya?" Lee replied as he stepped towards the trapped walker.

"We will." Andre replied, keeping his eyes slightly narrowed to Lee as he kept his suspicious regarding the trapped walker in his mind as Lee walked over to the trapped walker and knelt down in front of him. The walker growled and reached towards him, trying to grab him but was unable to do so, because of the pylon it was trapped underneath. Andre and Doug watched everything from where they were, seeing how Lee was searching for the keys and how it was taking him a while.

Doug leaned out a bit to get Lee's attention after a moment, growing worried for him due to the amount of time it was taking him to find th keys, "Did you find them yet?!"

"Give me a second!" Lee turned and snapped back.

He slowly stood up and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before raising the exae behind him. The trapped walker continued to struggle despite the weight of the pole while Lee prepared himself to finish off the walker. He closed his eyes and brought the axe down hard into the walker's neck. Doug cringed at the view of as Andre shook his head at the view of it. Lee jumped a second later as the trapped walker tried to grab him again.

"Fuck!" Lee swore as he jumped back. He clenched his teeth and slammed the axe down at his brother again, and again and again. In the end, brought the axe down on his brother's head, killing him. After staring at his brother's unmoving body for a few seconds, he knelt down and began looking for the keys, "Ugh...God." He reached into his brother's shirt pocket where he found the keys, "There we go."

He stood up and turned around to look at Doug and Andre, showing them the keys. Andre gave him a nod of his head while Doug smiled and was about to give him a thumbs up when he noticed some of the walkers losing their interest in the TV's and bringing their attention back to the street. Andre had noticed this himself a second later and his eyes widened in alarm.

"Behind you!' Andre shouted to Lee, not trying to keep himself quiet as he knew the walkers had already taken notice of them.

"Run!" Doug shouted. Lee quickly ran back into the drugstore and was quickly followed inside by Andre. Doug was the last one from the three to make his way inside. He quickly closed the gate before following Lee and Andre into the building, He slammed the door close and began holding it just in case if the walkers will try to get inside, "Man, that was close."

"But we did it, that's all that matters." Lee replied as he shifted his gaze between Andre and Doug, "Now that we have the keys, I'll go talk with Lilly."

Andre nodded at him, "Alright."

Lee wasted no time as he turned away from Andre and Doug and made his way to Lilly and Larry, "I've got the keys."

"Great. You're amazing." Lilly smiled, "Let's get in there."

Not wasting any time, Lee and Lilly made their way into the office together. Continuing not to waste their time, Lee quickly used the keys he had gotten outside to unlock the door to the pharmancy, leaving the doors open for both of them. Both of them walked into the pharmancy and a loud alarm sounded just a second after they entered it. Lee felt his heart sink, knowing that the blaring alarm would attract every walker several blocks away.

"Oh, no." Lilly shook her head at the sound of the alarm, having frozen in horror with Lee.

"Ah, shit." Lee cursed himself internally for forgetting about the alarm.

"We gotta hurry!" Lilly stated as she ran past Lee as they both began to search for the medication as quickly as they could, knowing how short they were on time right now due to the alarm . When they grabbed all the medication they needed, they went back into the drugstore and saw everyone on their feet, scared for their life by the panic of the drugstores alarm.

"Duck c'mon baby it's time to go." Katjaa said to her son as Carley reloaded her pistol.

"I'm gonna get the truck pulled up 'round back!" Kenny declared.

"I'll go with you." Andre said, holding his pistol in ready, "I need to get my cruiser."

"Do it fast, I've got to get my dad out of here!" Lilly told both of them, leading her dad into the office.

"We don't plan on dilly-dallying!" Kenny retorted, "Honey, take Duck into the office and barricade the living hell outta the door behind me. Glenn when you hear me honking in the alley, start getting people out of here!"

"You got it." Glenn quickly voiced his understanding of the order.

"Doug, Carley, Jack, and Lee, you make sure our defenses stay up till then!" Kenny said, "And Lee, I better take that axe in case we run into any of them on the way to the truck! I don't want Andre to use too many bullets on those things!"

"Hey you go!" Lee said, tossing the fire axe to Kenny who caught it without any problem before suddenly the sound of a gate opening made itself known.

"That door's not locked anymore!" Doug announced nervously.

"Shit, you five get on it, I'll be back as fast as I can!" Kenny shouted and left through the office with Veronica and Andre.

"Stay away from the windows." Lee told Clementine, beginning to make his way to the front door to the drugstore as Jack, Glenn, Doug and Carley began holding the door to prevent the walkers from entering the building.

Soon enough, Katjaa could be heard calling out for Glenn's help from the office. Glenn immediately replied to her calling and went off to help her as Lee took his place and now aided in bracing the door. Clementine walked over to the struggling group against the door. More walkers pilled against the door, making keeping the door shut even harder for the group of five.

"Hey, Lee. If we don't make it through this, you should know that... I think you're a great guy." Doug felt like he should give Lee a a probable farewell just in case if the walkers will break through the door.

"God dammit, don't talk like that!" Jack shouted.

Lee nodded in agreement, "We will make it through this!"

"Doug, if we don't make it through this, you should know..." Carley was interrupted when the door was slightly opened by the undead. She, Doug, Jack and Lee wasted no time and quickly closed it again.

"I should know what?" Doug asked.

"Huh?" Carley had forgotten almost instantly.

"You said I should know..." Doug was cut off as the shelf next to him was knocked down, allowing the walkers to enter the drugstore.

"Shit!" Carley cursed as she took her weight off the door and pulled out her pistol, shooting down a few nearby walkers, "On it!"

She moved away from the door to get a better aim at the walkers entering the drugstore as Lee, Doug, and Jack continued to keep the door shut. All three of them felt how the weight of the door started to overhelm them the longer they tried to keep the walkers from entering the drugstore.

"Clementine!" Lee called out for Clementine, "Can you look for something to stick in between the handles? Something real strong, okay?!"

"O-Okay!" Clementine replied before running off to the other side of the store to find something the group holding the door could use to block the door. The undead partially opened the door but thankfully Lee, Doug, and Jack managed to close it again.

"Clementine, did you find anything?" Lee shouted as soon as he closed the door with Doug and Jack.

"Nothing! Oh, wait!" Clementine shouted, going into the office as more walkers pounded on a boarded window. The boards had been hastily nailed on, making them weak against the walker's assualt.

"That window is screwed!" Doug immediately took notice of this.

"GO!" Lee ordered as Doug hesitated for a second, knowing he would be leaving only Lee and Jack to hold the door.

"We'll handle this." Jack added, trying to reassure Doug that he and Lee will be fine.

Doug nodded at him, still slightly hesitant about leaving him and Lee with the job of holding the door and left to hold the walkers off the window. As soon as he left left to hold them off at the window as the door once again swung halfway open. Lee and Jack did everything in their power to close it again, their muscles putting a good fight against the undead as they did so before finally managing to close it again. It was when Clementine arrived with a cane in her hands.

"I found something!" She shouted as Lee immediately took the cane and shoved it between the handles. He and Jack stepped away from the door as it had been secured. They exchanged relieved glances with each other, both of them relieved they managed to hold lond enough for Clementine to find the cane.

"AAHH! GET OFF, GET OFF!" Unfortunely their relief was short lived as Doug had been grabbed through the gaps in the boards, and in a matter of seconds, the boards would give away.

"I'm out!" Carley shouted at the same time as Doug. She ran out of the bullets in her pistol and a walker grabbed her by her ankle, preventing her from reaching her purse and taking out the ammo. It was only a matter of seconds before she would ger overwhelmed. Lee looked between them, knowing he had to act fast if he wanted to save both of them.

"Help Doug!" He screamed to Jack a second later, having decided how he should act in this situation, "I'll help Carley."

"On it!" Jack shouted as he immediately reacted to Lee's order and hurried to help Doug. He grabbed him by his shoulders and pulled him away from the walkers, freeing him from the undead's grasp.

"Oh, man. Thanks." Doug expressed his gratitude to Jack as soon as he was pulled away from the walker as he looked at him with a mixture of relief and gratitude on his face. Lee quickly ran over to Carley's purse and pulled out a full clip before tossing it to Carley. Wasting no time, Carley reloaded her pistol and killed the walker holding her ankle and the walker walking towards her.

It was when Kenny bursted through the door to the office, having arrived back at the drugstore, "Let's go!"

Carley quickly moved towards the door as Doug and Jack followed close behind. Larry held the door open as Lee and Clementine were the last members of the group in the drugstore. Before Clementine could reach the door, a walker grabbed her by her ankle, causing her to fall to the floor. Lee's reaction was instant. He stomped the walker's head a few times, freeing Clementine from it's grasp. Clementine quickly got herself back on her feet and pushed herself into run as soon as Lee saved her, squeezing past Larry. Lee was about make his way past the old man, but Larry put his hand on his chest to prevent him from leaving.

"You're not coming with us you son of a BITCH!" The old man shouted with a scowl on his face as he punched Lee straight in the face, sending him to the floor.

"No!" Clementine shouted.

Lee's vision was blurry when he landed on the floor, hearing how the sound of crawling was getting closer and closer. Just as the walker was inches away from him and was about to sink it's teeth in his neck, Kenny came out of the office and killed the walker next to Lee with the fire axe.

"I'm not letting anyone getting eaten today!" Kenny shouted, reaching his hand out towards Lee, "Especially a good friend."

Lee took Kenny's hand, allowing him to bring him back on his feet. Kenny left through the office as Lee took one last glance at the walker infested drugstore before closing the door.

----

Despite losing the drugstore to the walkers, everyone from the group had made it out okay. The group had arrived at the motor inn where Andre, Jack and Glenn had encountered a bitten woman and parked their vehicles in the parking lot of the motor inn. There weren't any walkers in the area so the only things the group had to do was to secure the area was to gather the bodies in one place

Lilly compiled them in the center of the lot. Among them was the corpse of the girl who had ended her life, bringing back terrible thoughts for Glenn, Andre and Jack. Kenny checked in on his family while Jack and Andre stayed close to each other, having a conversation next to Andre's cruiser until Andre walked away from Jack for a second to discuss something with Lilly. Clementine leaned against an abandoned RV while Duck talked nonstop with her. Carley and Doug were busy salvaging anything they could find around the inn while Glenn listened to the radio of his pizza car to see if things were any better in the city.

Lee stood away from the rest of his group, having just shifted his gaze to the area on his left as he heard gunfire and screams coming from the said direction. He stared in the direction of all this noise for a few seconds, before deciding it would be for the best to check how everyone were doing right now and not to bother himself with whatever was going on outside the motor inn. He had seen enough today and wanted to take a rest from everything. Even if it would be a short break.

"Hey, Glenn." He said, approaching the Asian man who was the closest. Glenn held out his hand signaling Lee to wait. He listened closely as the news report continued.

"...With uncountable severe emergencies in all counti es, Georgia cities and their current level of disaster are as follows: Atlanta, stage nine catastrophe..." The voice from the radio in Glenn's car echoed through Lee's ears.

"I think I need to go." The Asian man said after Atlanta was mentioned. Lilly overheard their conversation and began making her way to them.

"To Atlanta?" Lee asked.

"Yeah." Glenn nodded, "I got friends there, and I just can't stay here knowing that they could be trapped in that city."

"It sounds like nobody knows what's happening there. When we left a few days ago it could've gone either way." Lee stated.

"I gotta take my chances." Glenn replied as Lee noticed Lilly walking over to them, with the intention of intervening with Glenn's decision, but knowing that it shouldn't be anyone's choice but his, he waved her off. Although, she was a bit hesitant about it, Lilly decided to leave Lee to it.

He brought his attention back to Glenn and smiled at him, giving him his blessing to leave, "Find your friends and be safe."

"Thanks, Lee, that means a lot." Glenn looked at Lee with a grateful look on his face, "I don't mean to abandon you all, but this seems like an okay setup, and I'm sure things will be back to normal around here in no time."

Lee nodded at him, "Let's hope."

"One more thing." Glenn said, "Keep the axe. You'll need it more than I do."

Lee nodded at him gratefully, "Thanks, Glenn."

"You guys be safe." Glenn said his farewell to Lee.

"We'll try." Lee nodded at Glenn , offering him his own farewell, asGlenn opened the door to the driver's seat of his car and the last thing he did before climbing into his vehicle was sending an angered look in Jack's way. He got himself into the car and drove off down the road. After watching Glenn drive away from the motor inn, Lee walked over to Kenny and Katjaa, "Hey, Ken."

Kenny turned away from what he was doing to Lee, "Close call back there."

"Thanks for picking me up." Lee extended his hand towards Kenny for a handshake.

"No problem." Kenny replied, shaking hands with Lee, "We have to take care of each other."

"Yeah, we do." Lee nodded as Kenny turned away from him and walked over to his wife. After watching Kenny walk away from him, he walked over to Doug and Carley who were checking some boxes together, "Hey guys, how are you all doing?"

"I'm doing fine, I'm glad we all made it out." Carley smiled at him.

"Yeah." Doug nodded, "Who knows what would have happen if Lee and Jack weren't there to drag us to safety."

"I don't know and I don't want to know to be honest." Carley replied.

"So, you two are doing well then?" Lee asked.

"Yeah. We're fine." Doug nodded. He shifted his gaze from Lee to Carley and asked, "Uhm, Carley could you show me how to fire a gun when we'll find more guns? I would like to know how to defend myself with one if things won't calm down in the next few days."

"Sure." Carley smiled at him, "I'm gonna make a sharpshooter out of you."

"I'll, uh, leave you two to it then." Lee said as he turned away from them and walked off, leaving the two with their own business. He set his eyes on Jack a second later, seeing him standing close to Andre's cruiser and decided to check on him next. He made his way to him a second later, "Hey, Jack."

Jack glanced at him and nodded, "Hey."

"How are doing?" Lee wanted to know.

"I'm well. Or at least as well as you can be with stuff like this happening around you." Jack gave him an honest answer while rubbing the back of his head, "Just thinking about home and all. I hope the situation back in Louisiana isn't as bad as it is here.. The same goes for my cousins in Pennsylvania."

Lee looked at him with a look of a sad understanding on his face, "Don't worry. I'm certain your family and friends back home are fine."

"I hope so." Jack voiced his hopes for it, letting out a sigh, "I wish I could head home right now. but it is probably too dangerous to be on the road right now."

"Probably." Lee nodded in agreement. He didn't suggest Jack leaving the motor inn, like Glenn did as Jack unlike Glenn would have to drive through a few states in order to reach his destination and it would certainly be more dangerous than reaching a city positioned in Georgia. Like Glenn planned.

Jack nodded back at him and shifted his gaze to Clementine, "What about her? How is she doing?"

Lee followed Jack's gaze and gazed at Clementine as he gave him his answer, "She's a strong girl, but is still a child and is dealing with all of this around her. I'll do what I can in order to keep her safe until we'll find her parents."

Jack nodded in understanding and shifted his gaze to Lee a second later as he told him, "Listen. If you will ever need any help regarding her, you can ask me. I wouldn't really call myself experience with kids as I grew up with everyone being older than me but I'll do what I can."

"Thanks." Lee smiled at him gratefully as Andre walked over to them. He and Jack set their eyes on the dark skinned police officer as he looked at him questioningly, "Hey, Andre. What is it?"

"Can I speak in Jack for a second?" Andre replied, gesturing towards Jack.

"Sure. I was about to leave to check on the others myself." Lee replied as he pushed himself into walk away from them while shooting Jack a quick look, "I'll talk to you later, Jack."

"Yeah." Jack nodded at Lee as he watched Lee walk away from him and Andre until he was out of the hearing range. After making sure Lee was not going to overhear whatever Andre wanted to talk with him about, he turned towards the police officer and told him, "He seems alright, despite being a you know."

"He really does. Maybe it was right of us to not to confront him about it staright away." Andre said in agreement with him, "I'll keep my eyes on him for now. We can't be too sure about him just after a day of knowing him."

"Alright." Jack said in understanding and looked at Andre questioningly, "Is there anything else you want to talk about?"

Andre nodded in confirmation as he held his pistol out to Jack, "Yes. I want you to have this."

"What?" Jack looked at hin in suprise, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Andre nodded, "You're going to need a gun for yourself. Don't worry about me. I still have my shotgun in my cruiser."

Jack smiled gratefully at Andre, taking the pistol from him, "Thanks."

"No problem." Andre smiled back, "You know what, Jack? At first, I had considered going to Atlanta, but right now after everything that happened, I think I will stay with you guys."

"Thanks, Andre. I'm glad to hear that." Jack nodded at him, his smile not leaving his face. If he was honest with himself, he had considered going to Atlanta himself after hearing a possible safe zone there, but ultimately backed away from it after finding a safe place in the this motel. Andre nodded back at him. It was when Both Jack and Andre turned their attention away from each other towards the sky as what sounded like helicopter rotors became audible.

"I hope that's the sound of us winning this thing." Kenny stated, smirking as he walked over to join them.

"Me too." Lilly agreed as she and Lee walked over to join them as well.

"You can say that again." Jack agreed with both of them, "This shit has to end."

"This motor inn's pretty damn defendable. We block off the entrances with some cars and keep someone on watch, we could stay here until the military rolls through." Kenny stated as the five of them walked to the entrance of the motel, onto the sidewalk.

"Plus, if we will run out of food or medication, we could just head back to Macon to gather more supplies. We could go hunting in the forest too." Andre added.

"I actually agree with that plan." Lilly stated.

Lee nodded in agreement, "Me too."

"Me three." Jack agreed with them.

"We've got beds, we've got water, and most importantly, we've got light. There are worse places to call home." Kenny stated.

"Yeah. You're right. You know, guys, I think it's going to be okay." Lilly said.

The five of them stood at the edge of the lot happy to have a plan going. Just when things seemed their brightest, the street lights from down the road began to flicker off. The noise of fading electricity sounded as the lights of the balcony were next, followed by the bright yellow motor inn sign, engulfing the entire area in complete darkness...

-----

Here we go with the first episode. The next chapter will probably serve as a filler between episode 1 and episode 2 and will show the characters were doing before during the three month timeskip.