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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 1 year

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400 Days is simultaneously brilliant and disappointing

I’m currently working on another essay about S2 that’s taking me longer than I expected... which I should have expected but y’know, I’m me. I have no idea when it’ll be finished, but I figured that in the meantime I could write about something that came up while working: 400 Days.

400 Days is the stand-alone DLC episode that was released July 2, 2013, and tells the stories of Vince, Bonnie, Wyatt, Russell, and Shel in the same Georgia area that S1 takes place. While the story doesn’t feature Lee or Clementine, it acts as a bridge between S1 and S2.

I’ve talked about it in the past, even doing a T5F on the Top 5 Missed Opportunities in 400 Days. My past opinions can be summarized in an ask I answered for anon: “Wasted potential. I remember enjoying it when it first came out before s2 released, and the reason I enjoyed it was because I thought it’d be way more important for s2′s story than it ended up being. Bonnie was the only character that mattered while the others made brief, useless cameos if they chose to go with Tavia. Like… it could’ve been so good and it fell flat on its face.”

While not entirely inaccurate to how I feel now, I do believe I wasn’t giving 400 Days a proper chance.

A major thing I’m noticing as I revisit many of my past posts from when TWDG consumed my life is that nitpicking and overanalyzing for the sake of pumping out content on this blog is the big contributor to why I experienced extreme burnout for the series to the point where I started actively disliking it at one point. While I did genuinely enjoy the creating the content, and obviously still do, there’s a lot I take issue with now.

Looking back on everything, I’m starting to see things differently and appreciate aspects that I previously despised. That level of nitpicking I did was mostly negative and infected a lot of my judgment when it came to games I loved. I knew certain points in the series were disappointing, therefore I should showcase everything wrong with them, and anything positive I have to say comes with a footnote of, “it’s good, but I think this would’ve made it better,” as if nothing was ever good enough. While I’m not ruling out discussions of “what could’ve been,” I want to appreciate what we were given.

Case in point: 400 Days. I adore it.

I replayed this dlc not only because it somewhat ties into what my larger essay is about, but also I started playing the Mass Effect games and I’m having a mini-crisis about lowkey hating ME1 more and more as I play... dropping it to play 400 Days and write this sounded sooooo more appealing.

Uh, there’s a freebie update on what I’ve been up to. I’m desperately trying to make ME1 work and then it made me drive the damn Mako and I’m upset about that.....

Anyway-

400 Days is brilliant.

I didn’t expect to have as much fun playing this as I did.

400 Days is a quick yet compelling experience right from the beginning, and if I’m completely honest, I haven’t had this much fun playing a TWDG episode for a long time. While I adore TFS, I have a lot more history with that game that changes the overall experience, but this? The whole thing was a blast! Sure, it’s not quite a masterpiece, but it’s way better than I remember. It deserves more credit than I initially gave it and I’m here to rectify that.

Personally, I love mini-stories that all tie together in the end to create one big story. I'm always going to love the idea, and when it’s executed well, it’s brilliant. Because it’s a single episode that tells five mini-stories, it’s easier to pack in so much detail and make things coherent. While we don’t have as much time with our protagonists, we still get a clear picture of who they are and how they’re handling the apocalypse, how they ended up where they are now, and how they handle each dilemma thrown their way.

These stories take place at different times of the outbreak, starting before the outbreak and going all the way to 400 days in where all the characters are together and discovered by Tavia. Three of the five stories center around this gas station/diner called Gil’s Pitstop, with the other two being in that area, but all five have elements that weave them together beautifully. A character may show up in one story alive, then show up in the next as a walker, and it’s all dependent on the order you play and the choices you make.

Each story has a “moral dilemma,” usually a major choice you have to make that affects whether or not a character will agree to go with Tavia, the only exception to this being Bonnie.

And honestly? All of them are great. They fit in so well with the world of TWD. I’d say that Shel’s story has not only one, but two of the best moral dilemmas, whereas Wyatt’s dilemma is the weakest given it’s decided by a game of rock, paper, scissors.

I can’t get into the meat of why I think this DLC episode is great without going through each story, so-

Vince: Day 2

Chronologically, Vince’s story takes place first in the timeline, giving us a peak into his life before the outbreak where we see him in a dark room pointing a gun at someone who is pleading for their life.

“Damn it, I told you! I already told you it wasn't me, man! Man, come on, I told you like...like twenty times... I don't even...I don't even KNOW your brother!”

Vince then shoots him and flees. You get to decide how he’ll try to ditch the gun, but no matter what, he’ll always get caught and we see him on the prison bus, convicted of murder.

Right away, this tells us so much about Vince yet leaves us wanting more. What happened to Vince’s brother that made him murder a man? We never actually get to know, all Vince says about it is that "I helped my little brother,” which could mean a number of things.

So Vince is the kind of man willing to take things that far for family, or those he loves, even if he ends up with a prison sentence. His moral compass is already twisting and turning in a different way compared to the others.

Similar to Lee, he was convicted of murder before the apocalypse, but Vince seems to feel less remorse or guilt for it than Lee does. Lee killed a man in a fight after he caught him with his wife, a heat of the moment thing... but we don’t actually witness it happen. We get to see Vince shoot someone and later claim it was to help his brother out. I find this comparison interesting since this small chapter never tries to set up a, “This is the beginning of Vince’s redemption arc,” like it does for Lee. It more so leans into the fact that yeah, Vince and the other prisoners are here for a reason and right now, redemption isn’t on the table.

Lee feels bad for what he did and who it hurt. Vince feels bad that he got caught but doesn’t feel bad about helping his brother. The only thing bringing them together is that pre-apocalypse, they accepted that this was their life now only to have a curve ball thrown at them and they find themselves free again.

Well, first they have to gain their freedom by getting outta those cuffs, I suppose.

The set up for this story is that Vince is on a prison bus that’s stuck in traffic. You can actually see Gil’s Pitstop through the windows, too. It’s hot as hell outside, and two other prisoners, Jerry and Marcus, up at the front keep arguing while Vince is stuck between Justin and Danny.

Justin is here after years of stealing money from people with “a really good pyramid scheme,” then lied about it on the stand, and Danny is a convicted rapist. The three of them have good chemistry with their banter, it’s enjoyable to watch. You learn more of why they’re here and how they view their guilt, and have the opportunity to tell them the truth about Vince or lie. In doing so will affect how they view you, either you boast about killing a man and become Tough Guy Vince, or lie and say you didn’t do it only to be labeled a coward.

It’s a pretty good time considering the circumstances, but that’s due to how well written and performed this banter is... until Jerry and Marcus become hostile, and one of them chokes the other out.

But don’t worry, Officer Dipshit [his name is Clyde] is here to help! He starts by yelling at them to stop and then just shooting Marcus in the head before panicking and threatening Vince, Danny, and Justin with the shotgun.

Honestly, I think Justin says it best: “THIS is what happens when you give guns to ASSHOLES.”

It’s super intense, and you know what’s going to happen the moment this incompetent cop refuses to get in between the fight and break it up properly, choosing to instead point his shotgun at them and yell. But Officer Dipshit gets his comeuppance when Jerry, who was choked to death, becomes a walker and attacks him. Then all hell breaks loose as the other officer [Bennett] flees, leaving you and the other two chained together with a walker that wants to eat your face.

Vince manages to get Officer Dipshit’s gun and shoot the walker, but the noise only brings more of them onto the bus where they begin trying to get through the gate.

Now the moral dilemma- Vince has the shotgun. The only way you can escape is to shoot off one of the cuffs, but in doing so will shoot off someone’s foot and they’ll need to be left behind. Whose cuff do you shoot? Danny or Justin’s?

By the way, I love that this whole scene was set up with Danny yanking on the chains that bind you all together as foreshadowing for the solution to this new problem, it’s great.

But here’s the thing about this dilemma... the end percentages still baffle me after all this time. According to The Definitive Edition, 70% of players shot Justin, and 30% of players shot Danny, and I just have to ask why that is?

Because to me, shooting Danny feels like the obvious choice and is what I did.

Justin is more about keeping his head down. He’s willing to lie if it benefits him. He says that he doesn’t feel bad for his victims, claiming that they knew what they were getting into and he still carried them for years. He’s pretty upfront with his guilt, he never denies it. Hell, he even shrugs and confesses that he lied on the stand, fake crying to try and get a lesser sentence. He’ll joke around, even if he’s mostly annoyed by Danny’s bullshit. Given that he was involved with a scheme that allowed him to make off with millions, he’s also incredibly intelligent. Plus, he’s voiced by the same guy who voiced Ben in s1. I wouldn’t say he’s annoying or anything, he just comes off as more self-serving.

Danny, on the other hand, is the more charismatic of the two. He’s the one cracking the jokes and yanking on the chains, but he’s also the one who wants to help break up the fight between the other prisoners and stands up to the cop as he’s threatening all of you to shut up. This shows a lot of courage and willingness to intervene when he sees something wrong. He claims he’s innocent, insisting that he’s a morally good man and was falsely accused. Oh, and he misses his girlfriend. He’s a real bro, y’know?

Here’s the thing: yeah, Danny’s a “bro,” but he’s also a convicted rapist.

Justin: I wasn't stealing from guys like that. Anyway, better than stealing his virginity.

Danny: Hey, how many times I gotta tell you?

Justin: Here we go.

Danny: Seriously! I was falsely accused!

Justin: How old was she? Fifteen?

Danny: Damn it, it ain't like that.

Justin: You're tellin' me there wasn't a star witness waiting around in your white van? I'm shocked.

Vince: You WERE convicted, Danny. Gotta admit that much.

Danny: Aw, come on, Vince. That don't mean I did it.

“It ain’t like that.” Then what’s it like, Danny?

Because when Justin tells him that he “probably ruined that poor girl’s life, you piece of shit,” all Danny has to say is, “Big talk from White Collar over there. How many lives you ruin, kid?”

As if Danny’s logic is that Justin ruined more lives where he only ruined one, so Justin’s the worse criminal here so let’s shift to him... and I dunno about you, but that makes me feel real icky inside.

I have a feeling it’s because Danny is more of a “bro” and he actively stands up to Officer Dipshit that more people went with him. Or they just weren’t paying attention to what he was convicted of, or they believed him when he said he was falsely accused. Personally, I have a hard time believing him based on his dialogue when you point the gun at him multiple times during the final decision:

Danny: Come on, you know I'm a good guy, man!

Danny: Okay, I know I'm a fuck-up, but Jesus!

Danny: Come on! I did some bad shit, but I'm a good guy, Vince...

And he says that last one AFTER Justin says, “You're gonna do me and not this rapist fuck?”

Also if you DO save him over Justin, he dies later off screen and Russell will make a comment about how it’s a good thing he did before Shel and Becca joined the group... if anyone can spot a creep/pervert, it’s Russell!

Vince: Guys, look...if I learned one thing from Danny, it's that we have to stick together and protect ourselves!

Russell: What?! That guy was an asshole! You should be happy he got killed before Shel and Becca joined us.

Becca: Why?

Russell: Don't worry about it.

Justin is upfront that he’s a criminal and I believe him, I believe he’s a self-serving liar... but Danny doth protest too much, me thinks, y’know? Between the two, I'm gonna take my chances with Justin over Danny. I don’t care that Justin’s a liar and eventually ditches Vince, Vince doesn’t seem to heartbroken about it anyway.

By the way, shooting Danny is the way to get Vince to go with Tavia so make note of that if you’re trying to get everyone to go with her and appear in S2. Actually, it’s interesting that Vince is less trusting of strangers if you go with Danny over Justin, as if he got burned by that choice in the end, hmm?

Anyway, that was my spiel about Danny vs Justin, and I would be interested to know what y’all picked. I’ve read a lot of discussions about this choice and I know I’m not the only one who feels this way about the percentages. I’ve read a lot of responses to why people picked who they picked, all very interesting.

Back on track, this is a solid chunk of the story. I enjoy the dilemma presented here. You’re chained to these two guys and if you don’t shoot one of their ankles off, then all three of you are going to die. What gets me about this is it’s not like the Doug vs Carley choice. Doug and Carley were both in trouble but you only had enough time to save one of them. You weren’t actively shooting them.

Here? You have to pull the trigger more than once. You have to pick one, shoot their ankle off, and then leave them there in order to escape. It’s super fucked and going off the way Vince hesitates and looks back at the one you shot, I’d say it’s something that’s gonna sit with him for the rest of his life.

The pacing of this episode is great, it’s intense, the escalation in hostility between the two other prisoners only for it to end in blood is well executed, and overall the set up is damn good.

Wyatt: Day 41

Dude. Wyatt’s story. I love Wyatt’s story. Of all five stories, it’s the one that made me laugh the most. It’s absolutely hilarious despite taking place in a very tense and panicked situation.

Wyatt in on the run with his companion, Eddie. They’re driving away after an encounter with group of guys that ended in Eddie shooting one of them, and now they’re being chased and shot at by someone in a truck.

Eddie: God, this is so fucked!

Wyatt: Why the hell did you shoot that guy, man? What the hell WAS that?

Eddie: I didn't mean to do it! It just happened, okay? Where the fuck were you with a warning?

Wyatt: Me? You're putting that on me now? I didn't see the guy, either! I was too worried those dudes were going to pull guns on us or--

Intense right off the bat, a complete panic as you’re trying to shoot at the truck chasing you while Wyatt and Eddie argue about what happened. Eventually the truck swerves off the road and you seem to be in the clear.

From what I gather, Wyatt and Eddie had a run in with Nate, the guy from Russell’s story, an unknown man who Eddie shot and killed in the encounter, and possibly some others given how Wyatt says he was worried about the “dudes” [plural] but he didn’t see the guy Eddie shot. Given that Nate’s alone in Russell’s story and the lone one chasing them down, it’s likely he’s the only survivor from that side. It’s unknown if Wyatt and Eddie were in a bigger group or not, so I’m going to assume it was just the two of them.

Wyatt: Did you mean to pull the trigger?

Eddie: I don't know. I was so keyed up... I just... damn it. Look, Wyatt. All I know is those guys had me all... jacked up like I was on speed or something. I was just on edge, you know? Then I was, like, watching that guy's brains come out the back of his head. I'm sorry, man. I...

The core of why Wyatt’s story is possibly my favorite is the electric chemistry between him and Eddie. The dialogue, the voice acting, it’s all just dripping with personality and you feel like you’re watching two friends who’ve known each other for a long time, just *chef kiss*

Eddie: See? It's fine. Road's straight as my dick.... You think we're in the clear?

Wyatt: Don’t talk about your dick.

Eddie: ...... Why not?

[or alternatively, if Wyatt says nothing, Eddie will just : “... Are you still thinking about my dick?” sksks it’s so stupid, I can’t help but love it.]

They talk like typical stoners, which they indeed are because Eddie’s got some “sticky” in the glovebox and wants it after they believe they’re in the clear. Y’know, the perfect time for some weed. Kate Garcia would greatly approve.

So they’re driving along and we get more context for what happened, more great banter... and then they hit someone.

The dilemma in this chapter is the fact that they hit someone and they don’t think it’s a walker, it’s a person. Even though they’re on the run from Nate and it’s foggy as hell outside, Eddie insists that they help whoever was hit.

I believe Eddie is such a fan favorite not just because he’s funny or a charming character, but because of his compassion. In this moment you feel his frustration and guilt in having hit someone. He isn’t about to perform a hit and run even in this new apocalyptic world even though it would be easier to just assume it’s a walker and keep driving.

Eddie: What if that was you, man?! After all the shit that's happened in the past couple months? Where's your compassion, motherfucker?

Eddie: If that guy back there is alive, we HAVE to help him, Wyatt. There ain't a lot of live dudes left these days.

Eddie showed a lot of shock and guilt over shooting a guy before, but now he’s sure he’s hit an innocent person and he refuses to leave them. His humanity does him credit and that’s why he’s one of my favorite characters in this DLC.

But then comes the choice: One of you has to go find this person you hit, and one of you has to stay in the car. Who should do what?

The end stats for this are 50/50, and it’s decided either by you refusing to go out yourself, or agreeing to a game of rock, paper, scissors.

No, really, that’s how they decide who gets to go out there, best two outta three. That’s why I say this is one of the weaker portrayals of the dilemma, you don’t necessarily get to decide what Wyatt’s going to do, therefore shaping his personality and morals... it’s all up to luck.

Though you can outright refuse, and Eddie will go out anyway so that’s one way to shape Wyatt if you’re playing him as less compassionate, or more cautious, or even as a coward. While there is an option for Wyatt to volunteer, you still have to rock, paper, scissors for it which I’m kinda meh on. Personally, I think if you’re brave enough to volunteer, you should be able to double down with Eddie and make the choice yourself rather than leaving it up to fate decided by a couple hand gestures.

My advice to anyone playing this is try to lose the game. If Wyatt loses the game, he will go out there with a gun to find the person you hit, otherwise Eddie will go and Wyatt will be left in the car. Wyatt remaining in the car is the weaker option, far less exciting and results in you being attacked by Nate and forced to leave Eddie behind. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad by any means and getting to see that it’s Nate is neat when going into Russell’s story, but I think Wyatt being left behind is more impactful because it opens up a new dilemma.

I managed to lose the game by picking scissors every time. I find that Eddie tends to pick mostly rock, at least every time I’ve played before I’ve beaten him with paper, but rock beats scissors sooo pick scissors.

Wyatt takes the gun and goes out into the fog to find the guy, who is revealed to be Bennett, the cop who fled the prison bus in Vince’s story. Wyatt tries talking to him, but Bennett is too injured and out of it to respond. Wyatt starts to help him, but because nothing is ever smooth sailing... walkers begin to groan and you realize that they’re coming through the fog.

The reason I think this path’s better is because now you have a new choice to make: Do you try to help Bennett, or do you abandon him?

Wyatt wasn’t the one driving, and he’s out here due to a lost game of rock, paper, scissors... but is he willing to leave this man out here to be eaten to save himself, or is he going to try and do his best to help the man at the risk of getting them both killed.

I chose to try and save Bennett, which meant I had to to drag him back to the car while stopping to shoot walkers... and the noise only brings more of them and uh oh, Eddie’s screaming for Wyatt to hurry up because he’s being attacked! If Eddie remains in the car, Nate attacks him and no matter how fast you go, Wyatt never makes it in time... Eddie drives off without Wyatt, who is now left in a misty forest with more walkers on the way, and Nate.

It’s rough, but more compelling, in my opinion.

The highlight of this story is Wyatt and Eddie’s relationship, and there’s something about them getting separated that just stings, y’know? I found myself dreading getting out of the car not because of the dangers held within the fog, but because I knew Wyatt and Eddie would be separated after this only to never be reunited.

Well, we assume they never reunite and that... the best way I can describe this is I feel like Sarah from Labyrinth, just throwing myself onto my bed and beating my fists against the wall and exclaiming, “IT’S NOT FAIR!!” at everyone... because it’s not fair that Wyatt and Eddie get separated and it makes me emotional, I’m not happy about it.

But that also proves how effective Wyatt’s story is. Wyatt by himself also has the vibe of your sarcastic stoner friend who’s into indie bands and video games, but that’s part of his charm.

Overall, a damn good story and execution.

Russell: Day 184

I have a lot of feelings about Russell.

As far as the playable protagonists go, I can say with confidence that he’s my favorite. I love them all, but Russell sticks out to me by how much younger he seems to be, his interesting backstory, and by his jaded behavior.

His story starts with him walking down a long yet familiar road. He has his backpack and a map, and tells us he’s trying to get to his grandmother’s house. However, as he’s walking along, the truck from Wyatt’s story is coming up the road and Russell’s gotta decide if he should hide or stand his ground.

If you hide, you’ll quickly remember why you know this road. Russell will hide down next to a corpse, but not just any corpse- the body of either Carley or Doug, depending on who you saved in S1. A neat inclusion, if not a little sad... and annoying because then I’m forced to remember Lilly shooting Carley outta spite and me leaving her ass on the road... wasn’t S1 so fun??

Anyway, Nate pulls up and talks to Russell no matter what, and you have no choice but to hitch a ride with him. You can try and refuse, and Nate’ll drive away... only for a dozen walkers to appear out of thin air and surround you so Nate will come back for you... I see you, Telltale, I see through your nonsense.

The rest of Russell’s story has him and Nate... bonding? I don’t even want to call it that, but they talk as they drive, we get more insight into Russell’s last group that left him with some trauma.

Russell: There was seven of us. I didn't have any family there or nothing; they were all at my Gram's down in Statesboro. There was a dad who had a daughter 'bout my age. One guy said he used to be a cop, but nobody really believed him; then a teacher and his wife. Leader was this guy, Steve.

Nate: Go back to the daughter.

Russell: Steve was a bad dude, but everybody was with him, you know? He said seven was the magic number, so we didn't add nobody to the group. If we found survivors, it was the same every time. He...he...

Nate: Let it out, Paco.

Russell: Just... "We gonna kill these folks and take their stuff or what?" And then bang, they'd be dead. Anyway... I couldn't handle that. After weeks of it, I packed my shit up and figured I can make for Gran's alone and try to find my family. I slipped outta there. I couldn't live like that.

Super interesting, and I wanted to learn more about this group but Nate ruins it by continuing to be a creep.

By the way, Nate? Crusty. Stinky. He is repulsive and I hate him... but he’s also the best antagonist in this DLC, go figure. I’m pretty sure the writers had a lot of fun making him as slimy as possible. He’s dangerous and a huge creep, he makes my guts feel icky, I just-

Russell: Why you gotta be like that?

Nate: Like what?

Russell: Always talking about women like that.

Nate: WOMEN? Ha, okay. Let me see if I can answer your question. Because...because the hunger a man's got for a woman is all we got left now. No laws, no jobs, ain't nothin' that make us men. But they ain't eaten all the women yet.

Nate, you’re gross and I hate you.

Unfortunately, Russell is stuck with this man for the time being until the two end up at Gil’s Pitstop only to be shot at by someone inside. Together, they avoid being shot and break in to find an older man is responsible for shooting at them, and his wife is injured, bleeding out in the booth beside him.

The man, Walt, yells at them to get out and accuses Nate of coming back to finish them off. Alarming, to say the least, but Nate casually denies the accusations that he’s been here before and calls Walt crazy.

Given this is Nate we’re talking about and he’s been in this area awhile, I’m inclined to believe that he was here at one point and could’ve attacked the couple, possibly with his group that Wyatt and Eddie encountered.

But here’s where things get interesting, and where Russell’s story becomes more unique when it comes to the dilemma. You’ve got this older couple here, one of them injured, and the other shot at you. They’re accusing your crusty companion of coming back to finish them off, and said crusty man decides to manipulate you by echoing the story from earlier:

Nate: What do you say, Russ? Should we just kill these folks and take all their stuff?

Super fucked up, and it has an immediate effect on Russell. Nate gives him the crazy eyes and casually points the gun at Russell... so what do you do? Do you comply, or do you stand up to Nate?

Unfortunately, no matter what you do, Nate will always kill the old couple. If you comply with Nate, whether by saying nothing out of shock or hesitantly agreeing, you witness the murders and Nate gloating about how all their stuff is there’s now. Then you get an eerie line from Nate as he looks back at Russell with a smile:

Nate: Relax. You're my boy, Russell. Things are going to be a-okay.

All while Russell stands there in absolute horror and shock, probably reliving the trauma he escaped from his previous group and realizing he’s now stuck in it again.

This ending to the story is awful... not awful as in it’s written poorly. No, no, quite the opposite. It’s awful because of what it does to Russell. By complying, Russell is now stuck with this man who “kept you around,” according to the little choice notification in the corner. Who killed with no compassion, no guilt, and is gleefully admiring the “rewards” he got for doing it. Russell just stood there while two innocent people were murdered and he does nothing to stop it. He looks at Nate and sees Steve, a man he earlier described as a bad person, but everyone was with him, everyone complied. Russell couldn’t take it anymore and he had to leave, only to find himself at the mercy of another Steve and that’s tragic.

Luckily, Russell manages to get away somehow given he’s with the rest of the group in the epilogue, though we never find out how.

As for the alternative, Russell can stand up to Nate and call him out in one of my favorite moments:

Russell: Are you serious?

Nate: Maybe. Why not?

Russell: That's fucked up! There are real fucking monsters out there!

Nate: No shit.

Russell: And you're just going to joke about the shit I seen? Fuck you, Nate!

Nate: I saved your ass!

Russell: You didn't do shit.

Nate: Easy, Russ.

Russell: I ain't hurtin' no one. And don't you hurt these people either.

Nate: COME ON! Can we still be friends?

Russell: No.

Russell leaves Nate behind, and as he’s walking outside, he hears two gunshots from inside. At first, the player’s probably thinking how Russell should’ve done more to help the couple, but what could he do? Nate had the gun, and wrestling it from him would’ve gotten Russell killed. It’s fucked, but there was nothing he could do with Nate holding as much power as he did. Russell had no choice but to stand up to him in hopes of convincing him to leave the couple alone, and then leave.

Unfortunately, Nate isn’t easily swayed. Russell’s lucky he got away when he did.

Russell standing up to Nate, avoiding the road he’s desperately tried not to walk again, is compelling as hell. By walking away, he’s saying that no, that’s not who he will become. He won’t be Steve, he won’t be Nate, he won’t be a man who causes hurt and death in order to reap the “rewards.”

In the end, Russell is more bitter, wary to trust and I don’t blame him. This moral dilemma is so powerful because it’s a choice between remaining strong, brave enough to look at what you could become and say, “no,” and giving in, becoming the thing you feared and ran from.

Not to mention Russell’s story all started because he left to go find his grandmother, to reunite with his family. If Russell were to reunite with her, would he be proud of how he got there? Or would be feel like yet another monster who hurt others to get there?

All in all, so damn good.

Fuck Nate, though. Hope he choked.

Bonnie: Day 220

Bonnie, everyone’s favorite.... CJ wrote sarcastically, knowing full well that a lot of people don’t actually like her.

It’s a shame that S2 has tainted Bonnie’s character for a lot of people, but this post isn’t about S2 so I’m going to focus solely on what we see of her in this story.

What we get is a woman struggling with addiction, clinging to a life preserver the best she can in a world where the dead walk but people are more dangerous, a preserver that can be ripped out of her hands depending on your choices. Bonnie is recovering from a drug problem when we meet her out in the rain with a man named, Leland, and the two are playing a cute little game of “would you rather.”

She has a deep southern drawl, and easily teases Leland even without player input.

Leland: You've been a lot more fun lately. Feelin' better?

Bonnie: I guess I am.

Leland: Well, you sure do look better. Though you gotta admit, anything is an improvement. That came out wrong... what I mean is... I mean... You were... you were, uh... you know.

Bonnie: Take a hike, big ears.

Leland: I resemble that remark.

Bonnie: You resemble a satellite.

Leland: Ya know, you weren't so damn sassy before. Guess that's a good sign. I mean it, though. After we found ya, you were still so hooked on that stuff. I never thought you'd make it. You ain't outta the woods yet, I know, but you've come a long way, Bonnie. I'm proud of you.

At first, you pick up on a little romantic tension between the two and think, “Oh, I see~” There’s some definite chemistry there. Leland even goes as far as to caress her cheek and say her name softly.

Then Dee shows up, and you realize rather quickly that she’s Leland’s wife, and then you go, “Oh... I see.”

Dee sees it, too, and calls the two of them out on their flirting.

Dee: I got you a present.

Leland: Aw, you shouldn't have! What did you find?

Dee: I'll tell ya later. I don't mean to interrupt your "chat" with your "girlfriend", but we gotta get movin'.

So that’s not great.

But it appears that Dee found a bag and avoids saying where she got it. Leland keeps pushing on about the bag, and this causes a fight to break out with Dee getting more defensive until she tells then to run. Turns out, Dee stole the bag from a nearby group that is now hunting them down, so the three of them have to get out of there.

Bonnie falls behind, and ends up shot. Leland calls out to her, but we see Dee holding him back before disappearing, leaving Bonnie on her own. This segment is super good, she falls down a hill and a zombified Clyde- you remember Clyde? Officer Dipshit? Yeah, he shows up as a walker here to attack Bonnie if you don’t kill him in Russell’s story. After killing the walker, Bonnie’s forced to navigate a corn maze while avoiding the flashlights of the group chasing her. It’s a well done scene, and the moment Bonnie makes it out is just heart breaking.

She’s wounded, all alone, and she’s slipping all over in the mud, desperate to take cover behind a tractor. Plus her little, “Mama watch over me,” gets me, y’know?

The dialogue that follows is raw. Eerie. Just-

Bonnie: Dee, oh, God, Dee... I'm so sorry, oh, God...

Dee: Wh... why? You... Why? Do... d-- do I look... How bad is it? Bonnie?

Bonnie: It was dark, it's so dark, I couldn't see you! I didn't know it was you! How was I supposed to know it was you?!

Dee: There was no... I thought I...saw you... You did this...? You... killed me. You killed me... I sh-- should never have... tr-- trusted you... just... just a junkie... Leland, she... she did this to me...

Bonnie: I... God, I'm so sorry, so... I can't... Oh, God, God...

Dee: I knew you'd fuck up again... take him...

Bonnie: I... I... no, God, I'm sorry. I need him; I need you both...

Dee: You... bitch... I knew you wanted him... didn't think you had the stones... Goddamn you...

-and then Dee dies. Dee repeatedly calling Bonnie a junkie and a fuck up is painful. Bonnie’s clearly in distress, apologizing and trying to comfort Dee as she’s dying, and all Dee can do is call her a fucking junkie while damning her, telling her they should’ve never trusted her. I cannot imagine the toll that takes on Bonnie going forward.

Now the dilemma here isn’t that Bonnie killed her. You have no choice on whether or not to hit her with the piece of rebar. If you don’t, Dee will kill Bonnie and you get a nice ol’ YOU ARE DEAD. You have to hit Dee, Dee will always die, it’s more up to you how Bonnie reacts and handles it.

The dilemma here is Leland finds them and is horrified that Dee is dead. He then asks Bonnie what happened. Do you tell him the truth or do you lie?

This is rough, to say the least. Because it was an accident. You had no choice, you didn’t know it was Dee and now you have to decide if being honest is the best choice in this moment. Are you willing to take responsibility for something you did even if it hurts you, or hurts Leland? Or are you going to lie to the grieving husband of the woman you killed to save your own ass?

And remember, that group is still chasing you down, it’s only a matter of time before they find you so whatever you do, you have to do it fast or else that group is going to kill you.

Fun fact, according to the stats, 75% of people lied to Leland, and 25% of people told him the truth. Which I find fascinating yet unsurprising that players wouldn’t tell the truth in order to cover their asses.

To be fair, a new player might think that telling the truth could cause Leland to lash out and you’ll get hurt, and that takes priority over doing the “morally good thing” of being honest. Or they don’t want to admit they did a bad thing. Players never like doing that unless it was on purpose.

Not only that, but if Leland knows that truth and you can convince him to leave with you, the fact that Bonnie killed her [accident or no] will always hang heavy in the air. If Leland doesn’t know the truth, then y’know- ignorance is bliss and Bonnie won’t have to face the repercussions from him... she’ll just have to deal with her guilt and trauma internally.

You also have to remember that Bonnie is a recovering addict. Leland and Dee were her life preservers that kept her afloat this whole time. She just accidentally killed half of her support, and now she’s staring at the other half and has to judge if she’s willing to risk losing him, as well. If both Dee and Leland are gone, Bonnie is alone, and that could be far worse than anything else for her.

For me, this dilemma is fairly similar to Russell’s- who are you shaping Bonnie to be with this choice? Can Bonnie live with herself if she lies?

If you lie, it’s easy to convince him to come along with you, but you can still do so if you tell the truth, which is what I did. It all depends on your approach and if you can convince him that it was a genuine accident on Bonnie’s part. Which it was so again, not hard. If you can’t convince him, he’ll stay by Dee’s side while Bonnie runs away and you’ll hear a gunshot.

If Leland leaves with Bonnie, they don’t stay together since he’s not with the group in the epilogue. As far as I can tell, we never find out what happened to him, Bonnie never says.

Bonnie’s story is solid, super enjoyable, I love it. Again, you might be noticing a pattern but every story so far has been excellent, not a single bad one in the bunch.

And that doesn’t change with Shel’s story.

Shel: Days 236 & 259

Shel’s story is the final event on the timeline, and while I said that Wyatt’s story made me laugh the most and Russell’s my favorite protagonist, Shel’s story is my favorite overall. It’s not funny like Wyatt’s, and I wouldn’t even say Shel is as compelling as Russell, but it more than makes up for that with the story it tells.

It’s funny to think back on this because had you asked me years ago about Shel’s story, I probably would’ve told you it’s my least favorite and that Shel and Becca weren’t great. Again, another example of me not giving them a proper chance.

This time around I was surprisingly invested in Shel as a character. She’s a lot more... how do I put this? Softer? She’s softer than the other playable protagonists in the way she acts, speaking, and views the situation. She has a little sister to look after in this world, a young, impressionable girl that Shel sees getting colder and colder with every terrible thing she sees. It’s understandable that Shel wants to protect Becca, or even shelter her from the reality of their situation.

I liked Becca a lot, too. She wasn’t annoying like I remembered her being. Her behavior is understandable when you pay attention. She’s young, she doesn’t fully understand the weight of the things she may do, and she’s easily influenced, which becomes scary later on.

Shel’s story takes place in Gil’s Pitstop where she and Becca are staying with a group of familiar faces. Yep, the cancer patients from S1 are back. Turns out Vernon was more of a bastard than we initially thought as we learn he planned to steal the boat from the moment we found it... and given that he’s no longer with the group, I’d say that didn’t work out for him in the end.

Aside from them, we have Stephanie and Roman. These two are key to this story, both having ideas about how Becca should be raised, and Roman becomes a more antagonistic character in the end.

This story is about Shel’s conflicted feelings about the world and what it’s doing to her and Becca. They have to keep inventory of guns and supplies and hey, remember how Dee stole that bag? Surprise, Shel’s group were the ones chasing you down when you were playing as Bonnie, and they make comments depending on if Leland stayed with Bonnie or was caught.

Shel meets Roman outside where we see “guard dogs,” which are just walkers they’d tied up to keep people away. Depending on if you stayed with Nate or stood up to him, you may encounter Walt as a walker, or Bennett. They’re feeding the walkers when Roman makes a comment about how Becca wouldn’t mind doing this, and that Shel can’t keep sheltering her, something Shel struggles with.

Shel also discovered the old woman walker is eating a puppy and the affect on her is instant, nearly bringing her to tears. Which is completely understandable. When I say that Shel is softer, it’s because of a moment like this where she sees something that’s sad and she doesn’t just shrug it off. She feels it deeply, and that’s further proven when she goes back inside only for Becca to scare her as a little prank.

Shel lashes out at her, and I love their conversation once she’s calmed down.

Shel: It's the walkers...I guess they got ahold of a puppy.

Becca: A puppy?

Shel: Yeah. I guess it just...it got to me, ya know. It was so little. You don't think about babies anymore, but... After a while, you just kind of accept...this is it.

Becca: Yeah. I guess you kinda forget.

Shel: Right? But then...you know...there it is. You see it and you want to protect it... And now it's gone.

Becca: That sucks.

I feel like this is obvious, but Shel seeing a dead puppy being eaten by walkers probably brought Becca to mind. While Becca isn’t a baby, she is still a kid, and we know how TWDG works. Children and teens aren’t safe from death in this series. In S1 we dealt with Duck’s tragic death, and we found the walker child in the attic. S1 is all about Lee doing everything in his power to not let that happen to Clementine, and it cost him his life.

Becca could die just as easily as that puppy. All it takes is one moment, no matter how hard Shel tries to protect or shelter her, and she’s gone.

Also, this whole “you don’t think about babies anymore” is clever, given what happens in S2 with Rebecca and AJ, I wonder if that was intentional or not.

But the moment is interrupted when Stephanie barges in to bring us our first major moral dilemma.

A man was caught trying to steal supplies from the group. He’s beaten up, and Roman claims he was already like that, and all he did was tie him up and put a blindfold on. The man doesn’t speak English. He isn’t bit, and he didn’t hurt anyone. This is the second break in the group’s had. The group is arguing among themselves when Roman gives us the dilemma:

Roman: Look, we all know what we're talking about here, so let's stop dancing around it. We either let this guy go and take our chances...or we kill him.

This is... fucked? How else do you describe it? This man can’t defend himself since he doesn’t speak English, no one can understand him, he can’t stay with the group but letting him go is risky. What do you do?

There isn’t a right answer to this, even when you know both outcomes.

On one hand, you let him go. You can’t just execute a man, that would be wrong, so you send him away and maybe he won’t come back. You’ll be in the clear and you’ll feel like you did the right thing.

Shel: He's not even armed! We can't just kill him! This isn't in self-defense.

Becca: Isn't it, though? If it means he can't come back to hurt us?

Shel: That isn't the same thing.

Joyce: But last time...

Shel: Joyce, that was a long time ago. If we kill this man, then we are giving up a part of ourselves that we can NEVER get back! I'm not ready to let that go.

But that doesn’t happen. The man does come back and he brings his group, we’re attacked, and Boyd dies in the fight. Roman becomes obsessed with securing the place by any means necessary.

On the other hand, you kill him. You make the choice as a collective group to execute a man and you get to live with that.

Shel: We can't take the risk. We kill him.

Stephanie: There's gotta be another way...

Shel: Tell me. What if he comes back? With weapons, or...or a gang? Is it worth losing any one of us?

Stephanie: Jesus. There really is no other choice, is there?

Roman: We can't keep him here and we can't let him go. If there's even a chance of him coming back or telling folks who might try to hurt us, we can't risk it. I won't ask you to watch, but if we do this, we're all in it together. If this ever happens again, it's gonna be one of you pulling that trigger.

And in doing so, the group’s morale plummets, and Roman still becomes obsessed with securing the place by any means.

But you also have to consider what this will do to Becca. Shel just had to face a hard reality when she saw that dead puppy, and now she’s left as the swing vote that decides a man’s fate. That’s a lot for any person and there are so many factors at play here.

No matter your choice, there’s a time skip and we see Shel and Becca in an RV playing Go Fish. Becca admits that she’s been sneaking out, something that’s horrifying to hear when you realize what Roman would do to her if he ever found that out, or if Becca was spotted and led someone back that wanted to hurt them.

Speaking of Roman, he comes knocking on the door to ask Shel to come talk to him about something important. It’s not long before you learn what happened: Stephanie stole supplies and tried to escape.

Roman: We caught her trying to escape.

Shel: Maybe she wasn't. Maybe she just wanted to get outside these walls for a while. Ever since the...incident, you've made this place feel...I dunno...oppressive.

Roman: We've made it safe. And she was definitely trying to escape; she had most of our ammo and medicine with her. She screwed us, Shel. All of us. And now were' in that position again where we can't keep her here and we can't let her go. You do know why I'm telling you this, right?

Roman’s telling Shel this because he wants her to shoot Stephanie, and she can’t say no.

As if this wasn’t enough of a gut punch, Shel goes back to the RV and tells Becca what’s going on.

Y’know that feeling you got when you heard AJ say he liked killing Lilly for the first time in TFS? I got a similar feeling when Becca said this:

Becca: Oh, my god. The hell did she do that for?!

Shel: Roman says we have to-

Becca: Kill her? Yeah! Why would she do this to us?!

Shel: She's just scared. She made a mistake.

Becca: Well, that'll be her last mistake!

Shel: Becca! Stephanie is your friend!

Becca: WAS my friend.

Shel’s fear that this world is changing Becca isn’t misplaced, and now she’s forced to face that reality head on once again.

Also, I’m pretty sure this is the moment that causes people to dislike Becca or think she’s annoying, but again, given what she’s been through no matter what choice you made, her reaction makes sense. If you let him go, she saw her group attacked and Boyd killed, and that showed her that it was a mistake to let that guy go. If you killed him, then she watched her older sister decide the fate of a man and then watched him be executed.

A lot of the TWDG fandom tend to intensely dislike child characters for the mere fact that they’re not Clementine, and ironically, they end up behaving in ways that make them more annoying than any child character they dislike. So I wouldn’t take their word for it when they say Becca’s a bad character. Play the story, pay attention, and make the judgement yourself.

As for the second moral dilemma in this story, Shel can either take her gun and shoot Stephanie, or she can take the RV keys and drive away. Do you agree to kill Stephanie or run away?

For me, this is an easier decision than the first one. I grabbed those keys and we got the hell outta there.

But for this choice, Shel can either give in and allow this to be who they are now in order to protect Becca, or she can prove that there are other ways, that they don’t have to stay under Roman’s thumb and kill whoever he tells them to. There’s no saving Stephanie at this point, you have no choice in that, but you do have a choice in how Shel raises Becca from now on.

Oh, and if you’re looking to get everyone to go with Tavia, you have to drive away. If you shoot Stephanie, then she and Becca will refuse to go with Tavia.

Shel’s episode is my favorite, and the perfect way to end the main story if you’re playing in chronological order. She’s another great character who I didn’t expect to make me feel the way she did.

Epilogue: Day 400

Once all five stories are finished, we’re introduced to Tavia. She’s a scout looking for survivors to bring back to her community. She talks with someone over the radio about finding all the photos and a note near Gil’s Pitstop that gives the group’s location.

Turns out that Vince, Wyatt, Russell, Bonnie, Shel and Becca all found each other and are surviving together in their campsite. Tavia approaches the group and it’s up to us to convince as many of them as we can to come with her.

For Vince, you have to shoot Danny, and with Shel you have to escape. Bonnie will agree to go no matter what. Wyatt and Russell can be convinced to join regardless of your choices. The best option is to tell them that you find people from everywhere, and Wyatt will agree to go in hopes of finding Eddie while Russell wants to find his family.

Most of the dialogue is determined by your choices, as well.

Once you have your group, the DLC ends with the group burning the photos and note, before asking Tavia how she knows if this will work out.

Honestly? Great ending, great execution of consequences brought on by your choices.

The 400 Days DLC is fantastic. It’s brilliant. I love it to pieces, and I highly encourage anyone reading this to replay it.

Don’t play S1 first, and don’t plan on jumping into S2. Play the DLC by itself, let it be a story contained to an hour of your time. That’s what I did, and I had so much fun! These characters and their stories are wonderful, the writing is phenomenal, I love it!

But... Now that I’ve spent all this time praising this DLC, calling it brilliant and encouraging everyone to revisit it... it all comes with an asterisk* attached:

*As a single experience, 400 Days is brilliant and I love it.... but when played together with S1 and S2.......

400 Days is disappointing.

That’s the glaring issue here.

I can praise this DLC all I want, and I did. That doesn’t negate the big picture, or the big problem fans tend to have with it.

400 Days acts as a bridge between the two seasons but let’s be real, the only story that actually matters here is Bonnie’s. She will always leave with Tavia no matter what, and she plays a major role in the group’s capture and eventual escape. The others make brief, meaningless cameos that only exist to make the player go-

-every time one of them shows up. We never hear from them, or about them, again after that.... so what was the point?

What was the point of 400 Days in the grand scheme of things?

400 Days becomes worse when you get your hopes up that it’s just a teaser, a little taste, of what’s to come in S2. You think these writers took the opportunity to introduce you to these important characters, tell you their backstories, so that they could be incorporated into S2′s plot as major characters.

But no, only Bonnie.

And even Bonnie’s character becomes muddled by ep5 depending on how you tried to help Luke.

The thing is, 400 Days isn’t terrible because of this. Obviously. It’s disappointing, but why it’s disappointing and the way people claim it could’ve been fixed is... well...

It’s not simple. It’s so easy to just be like, “400 Days is bad because our choices didn’t matter! It’s pointless! Why didn’t they do something else?? I know exactly how this could be fixed!”

I know what everyone always says whenever 400 Days is brought up: “The 400 Days cast should’ve been the cabin group.”

Great idea in theory, or headcanon/AU.

In execution, it would’ve been too complicated and I think we all know that, but a fandom’s hubris knows no limit when it comes to them believing they know better than the developers.

Not to say we can’t criticize issues with the writing, but it helps to at least be understanding of how things actually work, i.e. video games are hard to make and long posts on tumblr “fixing” video games are fun to read but wouldn’t actually work in practice because that’s not how video games work so maybe stop insulting the developers while acting like you know better about a field you don’t even work in.

Trust me, I know. Don’t think I’m not one of those people, I’m literally here writing you a long post on tumblr. I’m not innocent here. Have you read any of my Violet posts? You don’t think there was a long period of time where I thought *I* knew better?? I wish I could say you’re right but you’re not, I’m just as bad. I’ve said some unkind things about certain developers that I look back on and just face palm as I slowly sink back in my chair shamefully. I still agree with my criticisms but not the way I said them, and I’m trying to not be like that anymore.

All that to say it would be too complicated for the 400 Days cast to be the cabin group due to the different combinations of characters who can stay or go with Tavia. What happens to players who had only Bonnie go with Tavia? Or had all but one go? The only solution would be to have a set ending for 400 Days, removing the consequences of choice and having a more linear ending.

Y’know this would’ve gotten them the “my choices never actually matter >:[” criticism which I believe is a fair criticism of games that make these big claims about choice and consequence only to give you the illusion of it. But, there needs to be some common understanding of what can realistically be implemented in a game like that. You can’t expect them to have a thousand different outcomes and have it be a smooth, functioning game, especially when you take into account the release dates and the things going on behind the scenes at Telltale and how that affects development. These studios have deadlines, they have higher ups working them overtime so they can push as much product out as possible, they have a budget that’s never enough, and frankly, shit just happens sometimes.

I’m not saying that we can’t be disappointed. I’m disappointed that I’ll never get to know if Wyatt and Eddie reunited, or what happened to Russell. I have no idea if Shel and Becca are still alive, and I don’t know where Vince is. I don’t even know what happened to Bonnie after S2.

When thrown into the entire series, 400 Days is disappointing due to the high expectations it brings for S2, but I argue that it isn’t as terrible as people claim it is.

I literally just spent several paragraphs explaining why it’s brilliant and why you should go replay it by itself, I think it’s far from terrible and deserves praise for its characters and the moral dilemmas it presents. Don’t think about S2 while you’re playing it, that’s not the point. The point is to experience it for what it is, a series of stories set in the zombie apocalypse that all lie together in the end.

I would love to hear more thoughts about this, whether it be about the characters or what choices you made and why. Even if you disagree and think 400 Days is trash, tell me why, I’m interested to know.

In conclusion: 400 Days good. In other news: Happy New Year

As I’m writing this, it’s New Year’s Eve and I’ve got a little over an hour before midnight, sooo here’s a happy new year to everyone. I hope you’re all doing well, staying safe and healthy the best you can.

As I said at the start of this, I have another essay I’m working on related to S2.... it’s taking forever because there’s a lot to cover, it’s about some polarizing characters and choices, and I have no idea when I’ll be finished. If it takes even longer than I’d like, I’ll probably put it down and work on a smaller post in the meantime. Maybe something about the Michonne mini-series or a character analysis.

I guess my new thing is disappearing for weeks at a time only to pop in whenever there’s news about the Clementine comic or to throw down a long ass essay about something no one asked for hahaha. I can live with that, I think. I will be around for the rest of the weekend, though, so any asks about 400 Days will get answered, I’d love to hear from y’all.

Uhhh any other news... Oh, @pi-creates and I are making a new Dragon Age server on discord that we’re gonna open up soon for anyone interested in that. Right now it’s mostly just discussions about the games and lamenting about the apostates who broke our hearts... well, Pi’s lamenting, I’m mostly just spewing bitter salt about the sewer rat bastard that is my apostate boyfriend >:[ We’ll post a link once it’s ready to go, though I dunno when that’ll be. We’re pretty proud of the set up, and I made a bunch of DA emojis. It’ll be a fun time.

Think that’s everything. I wish y’all a happy, healthy new year!

#twdg #twdg 400 days #twdg vince #twdg wyatt #twdg eddie #twdg russell #twdg bonnie #twdg shel #twdg becca #twdg clementine #twdg lee #long post

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thecrusadercomrade · 3 months

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What-Ifs of Telltale's the Walking Dead Chapter 14: What If the 400 Days Characters Joined Lee's Group?

Summary: When more characters find their way to the motor inn in this alternate timeline, the St. Johns quickly realize they may have bitten off more than they can chew...

Read on AO3!

Read from the beginning!

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saintfourr · 1 year

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What if... The 400 day group replaced the cabin group (my version).

Vince

Father of the group, he who makes the tough decisions. He takes the place of Luke/Pete.

He's kind of skeptical when Clementine appears bitten until it is confirmed that it was a dog.

He usually jokes about being arrested but tells Clementine not to worry.

At the end of the chapter, you are between Wyatt and Vince but neither of them die.

Unlike Kenny, he doesn't say that Clementine is guilty of something without having done anything. He knows how much she must have blamed herself for putting Lee through all that when she disappeared.

Unfortunately because everyone goes against Clem, she is put in the shed for the night.

In the final fight it's him against Kenny. You can choose to kill Kenny or Shel kills Kenny.

Clementine can say goodbye to Kenny affectionately, harshly, or not at all.

It's not your fault, kid. You just wanted to find your parents.

Wyatt

He takes the big brother's place, Nick's place.

He is understanding with Clementine and understands how she feels about losing her best friend.

He's very protective of the group and Clementine, he's already lost Eddie and he doesn't want to lose any more people.

Sometimes he lets out a few curse words and apologizes if anyone complains.

He didn't want to let Clementine stay with them at first.

Unlike Nick, he didn't shoot the bridge guy. So there wasn't as much drama in the ski hut.

He accompanies Clementine to help Becca and Vince.

You lost your friend, so did I. I know how it hurts, I'm sorry about that.

Shel

Mother of the group, Carlos' place but more intelligent and more maternal.

She knows the difference between a zombie bite and a dog bite. So she can tell that it was actually a dog bite and that a zombie wouldn't take a bite that big.

She is more accepting of Clementine.

She is shocked to learn that her old group betrayed Clem's group and apologizes for them. But she explains that the group fell apart.

She takes Jane's place in a way but she's more emotionally good than Jane. She isn't that tough and is willing to take care of Clem and Becca.

She tries to be a motherly figure to Clem.

Everything will be fine Clem, we'll help you find Christa.

Becca

Sarah with more guts and willpower.

Teach Clem to play the guitar.

There was no way she wanted to let Clementine into the cabin because of the bite.

She says some bad words and scary things sometimes and doesn't care.

Clementine's romantic interest in future seasons.

She is trapped with Vince inside the trailer however, she is not the reason for calling zombies. What caught the horde's attention was an alarm.

Clem controls the things she says, like censorship. So she doesn't get hurt by Carver's hands.

Rebel chaotic sister energy.

Carver is just a piece of shit, huh?

Russel

Same with Becca, he didn't want her to go in there.

It took him a while to trust her, he closed himself off after what happened with Nate.

Clementine's future romantic interest as well.

He enjoys listening to Clementine's stories of what she's been through.

He helps steal the radio with Clementine.

He wants to find a trailer, because of Clem's history, he thinks it might be a good vehicle for traveling.

He likes to talk about his family, especially his grandmother.

He manages to relate to Clem and the Stranger, he also thought Nate was trustworthy or something.

He found it quite awkward to tell Clem that he had laid down next to Carley/Doug's body.

He hands Clementine the medicine when she shows up at the cabin with an injured arm. Even though he was against her, he felt sorry for her arm.

I will never forgive him for what he did.

Bonnie

This time she doesn't pull the bitch card and betray the group.

Guilty about killing Dee and Leland leaving.

Rebecca's place, however she is more welcoming with Clem but she was still worried.

She has a motherly and sisterly energy, a kind of aunt to Clementine.

She shoots Arvo when he shoots Clementine.

I really don't know what to say about her, she already appears halfway through the game.

#twdg vince #twdg wyatt #twdg shel #twdg becca #twdg russell #twdg bonnie #twdg #the walking dead game #the walking dead

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the-delta-42 · 1 year

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Reunions

Clementine gripped AJ’s hand as the pair approached New Richmond’s gates. They’d spent the past couple of months walking from Ericson’s to New Richmond. She tried not to scowl, after stopping Marlon from bashing Brody’s head in, she’d opted to back Marlon up. Not for the first time, Clementine found herself wishing that AJ had shot Marlon in the back of the head instead of the ear.

A bullet impacted Clementine’s ankle, forcing her onto one knee.

“Clyde, you fucking idiot!” Someone shouted, before the gates opened.

“Holy shit, are you okay?” Asked a woman, Clementine glared at her.

“Yeah, I’m fan-fucking-tastic, Kate,” Snapped Clem, her hands gripping her blood-soaked foot, “it’s not like I need my foot anyway.”

Kate stared down at her, before whispering “Clementine?”

Clem sucked air in through her teeth and started to stand, only for her wounded leg to buckle under her weight, “MOTHERFUCK-”

AJ tried to catch her as she fell, but ended up trapped under his guardian, “Clem, you’re heavy.”

Clementine grunted, as Kate pulled her to her feet and hook her arm around her shoulders.

“Sorry about Clyde, he’s new.” Apologised Kate, as she helped Clementine into the settlement.

“Really, I couldn’t tell.” Grunted Clem, trying not to focus on her foot.

“Kate, we heard a gunshot, is everything-Clementine?!” Gasped Javi, with Gabe just behind him.

“Hi, guys.” Groaned Clem, “Your guard fucking shot me.”

Clementine tried not to wince as Lingard examined her foot, Eleanor was checking over AJ, smiling whenever he giggled. Kate and Javier were watching from some seats up against the wall.

“So, how bad is it?” Asked Clementine, making Lingard look up at her.

“Well, you’re not going to lose it, and if definitely isn’t going to kill you.” Lingard informed her.

“That’s a relief,” Sighed Clementine, “just imagine surviving for nearly ten years, just to be killed by a bullet to the foot.”

“You are going to have to be in a cast for a while, though.” Said Lingard, dropping a couple of pain killers into Clementine’s hand, “These should help.”

“Yay.” Muttered Clementine, sarcastically.

“The cast will be on for six-to-eight weeks,” Lingard told her, “Although, knowing your modus operandi, it may as well take an entire year.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Demanded Clementine, indignant.

“You need to get plenty of rest, to make the healing process work as effectively and as quickly possible.” Continued Lingard, ignoring Clementine.

“You look adorable when you pout.” Teased Kate, getting a glare from Clementine.

“I’m not pouting.”

“Aw, your chin crinkles.”

“I will bite you.”

“And your cheeks go all puffy-SON OF A BITCH!” Kate withdrew her hand, which now had a bite mark on her thumb, “You bit me!”

“In her defence,” Said Javi, “Clem did say she’d bite you.”

Kate threw a glare in Javi’s direction, before looking at her thumb.

“It doesn’t look that bad.” Said Gabe, as Clementine hobbled around on her crutches, “It could be a lot worse.”

“Like how?” Scowled Clementine, carefully sliding into a chair.

“You could’ve been bitten or had it amputated.” Gabe suggested, getting a sigh from Clementine.

“You must be fun at parties.” Muttered Clementine, she found she’d been doing that a lot lately.

“Not really, I don’t get invited.” Shrugged Gabe, getting a funny look from Clementine.

“I know you’re saying that because it doesn’t really bother you,” Said Clem, after a moment, “but, that really fucking sad.”

Gabe froze, before frowning, “Thank you?”

Clementine then let out a low chuckle, before leaning back and staring at the ceiling. Gabe frowned and leaned closer to her, “Wait, are you high?”

“Nooo.”

Gabe sighed, instead opting to sit down and wait for Clementine to either fall asleep or come down from her high. He was leaning towards the former more than the latter.

“Gabe.” Whispered Clementine, “Gabe. Gabey. Gabe. Gaaabe. Gabriel.”

Gabe sighed sharply through his nose, “What is it, Clem?”

“I love you.”

Gabe’s face went red, “O-okay.”

“You’re like the best friend I can’t live without.”

“Okay, Clementine.”

“But it’s a secret.”

Gabe frowned, before looking at Clementine, her hat was lopsided, and she looked like she was about to fall asleep.

“Can I have a hug?” Asked Clementine, quietly.

Gabe jumped, he’d been staring at Clementine and had forgotten the rest of the world existed.

“O-okay, sure.” Stuttered Gabe, getting up and awkwardly hugging Clementine.

She let out a small, happy sigh, before drifting off to sleep.

Gabe looked around the farm, one of the newish arrivals, a redhead called Sophie, was showing AJ the various animals. He’d just left Clementine with Lingard and didn’t have anything to do for at least half-an-hour.

“Everything okay, Gabe?” Asked Sophie, making Gabe jump.

“Don’t fucking do that!” Gasped Gabe, as Sophie cracked up at his reaction.

“Swear.”

Gabe spotted AJ and sighed, at least his search was over.

“Hey, bud,” Said Gabe, crouching down to AJ’s level, “Clem’s having her foot looked at.”

“But they looked at it yesterday.” Said AJ, confused.

“They want to see if they need to do anything else.” Explained Gabe, as Sophie walked over to one of the cows with a smirk.

“Like what?”

“They want to make sure none of her bones are broken or in the wrong place.” Called Sophie, carefully setting up a bucket, “I had a friend who almost shot their foot off. God knows where he is now.”

Louis sneezed, accidentally slamming his head into a tree.

“You okay?” Asked Marlon, getting a glare in return.

Marlon had stepped down as leader, Violet had been all for throwing him and Brody out, but she’d been outvoted. Violet and Louis had taken over, while Violet was more than a little upset that they threw Clementine and AJ out, but not the two that had actually betrayed them. Louis was beginning to wonder if they made the right call.

“I’m sure if his highness had anything wrong with him, you’d be the first to know.” Snapped Aasim, dropping the firewood near them.

“I just sneezed.”

“Sure, the wonders of having a clear conscience.” Muttered Aasim, stalking away.

“What’s his problem?” Asked Marlon, Brody stopping next to him.

“We found that coat AJ was wearing before he and Clem left.” Said Brody, swallowing, “A walker had it.”

Louis froze, if a Walker got AJ, then one got Clem. He’d voted for them dying.

“That doesn’t mean they’re dead.” Argued Marlon, making Louis snap.

“No, but you probably hope they are.”

Louis left the two in stunned silence, he passed Violet as he went.

“You voted for it.” Said Violet, before climbing up the watchtower.

Louis flinched.

R *Three months later*

Clementine sighed as she rolled her ankle around. Gabe stood a couple feet away, holding onto her crutches.

“Gabe, really, I’m going to be fine.” Said Clementine, putting her foot on the floor.

“Sorry, I worry.” Apologised Gabe, stepping closer to Clementine.

Clementine smiled, before standing on her toes and giving Gabe a quick peck.

“Seriously, I’m going to be fine.” She murmured leaning against her boyfriend. Gabe had asked her out a week after she and AJ had arrived at, or in Clementine’s case returned to, New Richmond.

“We should probably go find AJ.” Muttered Gabe, making Clementine sigh.

“I was wondering why the goofball was so quiet.”

The pair exited Clem’s home, stepping onto a busy street. They joined hands and made their way towards the farming areas of New Richmond. AJ had taken to the animals, and wanted to be around them as much as possible, Clementine didn’t find an issue with it, unless it was a dog. They started to get closer to the area, before they heard gunshots. The two paused, glancing at each other, before sprinting towards the source of the noise.

Clementine skidded to a halt, staring at the hole in the wall and the walkers getting in. Sophie had taken a few walkers out with a sawn-off shotgun. Clementine quickly unholstered the colt python Javi had given her and took down three walkers Sophie hadn’t spotted, before using her knife to take out a few more walkers.

“Soph, where’s AJ?” Demanded Clementine, as soon as she got close enough.

“I sent him to get help.” Answered Sophie, as Clementine took down three more walkers. She reloaded her gun and promptly emptied it into six more walkers.

“Great.” Muttered Clementine, before a hand grasped her ankle.

Clementine fell to the ground, her gun landing a few feet from her. She kicked the walker’s hand, trying to get free.

“Clem, don’t move!”

Clementine screamed as her foot burst into a fire of pain.

“Oh, fuck!” Screamed Sophie, before discharging the shotgun at the walker’s head, doing more damage to Clementine’s foot as she did.

“Fuck!” Screamed Clementine, using her good foot to kick the walker back, the monster taking a chunk of her leg with it.

Gunshots rang out, taking down the walkers, as Javi arrived with Kate and other members of the community.

“Gabe, pass me the axe.” Ordered Sophie, taking the laces from a boot and tying it tightly around Clementine’s leg.

“What axe?” Asked Gabe, pulling a knife from a walker’s skull.

Sophie turned and pointed at a fire axe lying on the ground next to the stool. Gabe grabbed the weapon and handed it to Sophie, who turned and placed her hand on Clementine’s shoulder, “Clem, I’m so, so sorry.”

With that, she raised the axe above her head and swung it down.

Gabe stared at the stump where Clementine’s leg used to be. She’d fallen unconscious shortly after Sophie had taken off her leg, the remains of her mangled boot were with one of the R&D guys, Javi had asked them to make Clem a new leg.

“How the hell was that hole made?” Javi asked, looking around the rest of the council members.

“The Delta are losing the war, I wouldn’t be surprised if they resorted to under-hand tactics.” Said Conrad, as Kate shifted.

“But there weren’t any members of the Delta in with the walkers.”

“It could be a smattering of Whisperers,” Suggested Christa, “there are still small groups of them, causing chaos wherever they can.”

“That still doesn’t answer how it was made.” Said Vince, “The only group that has that sort of firepower is the Delta, I know that we’ve caught some of their soldiers roaming around the forests.”

“Children aren’t soldiers.” Said Lingard, frowning.

“Who’s and what’s aside,” Interrupted Mike, “We lost half-a-dozen cattle and at least three pigs. We may have to start rationing supplies, until we replace them.”

Javi was silent, before looking at Lingard, “How’s Clem holding up?”

“Aside from almost bleeding to death, she’s fine physically,” Answered Lingard, “Mentally and emotionally, I’m afraid, will have to wait until she wakes up.”

Javi sighed, before looking around, “Do we have the materials needed to fix the hole?”

“I’ve already got a couple of teams working on it.” Answered Mike, leaning back, “We’ve got some of the school kids helping out.”

“Speaking of,” Said Christa, “Some of the teachers have got the test results. I hate to say it, but we need to start teaching them how to protect themselves at a younger age.”

“What do you mean?” Asked Kate, frowning at Christa.

“The only one who passed the tests was AJ, we might not like Clementine teaching him how to shoot someone, but it might be the best thing to do in today's world.” Answered Christa, “They’re suggesting that Clementine teaches a couple days a week.”

“I’ll see if I can spare any guards to help with that.” Said Vince, getting a grimace from Kate.

“Anyone but Clyde, I hope.”

“We don’t even know where he’s fucked off to.”

Clementine groaned, before slowly opening her eyes. A man with long brown hair and a glorious beard stood at the end of the bed.

“…Jesus?”

The man smiled, getting a groan from Clementine.

“What are you doing, Paul?” Asked Clementine, looking up at him.

“Javi asked me to watch you, he said Gabe needs to sleep.” Said Paul, as Clementine groaned and went to turn over, “I take it, that you know about your leg.”

“I can still feel my foot.”

“That’s normal.”

The pair were interrupted by Eleanor entering the room, “Clementine, you’re awake.”

Clementine groaned.

“Mr Monroe, if you could please leave my patient alone with me.”

“No, please, don’t leave me with her.” Pleaded Clementine, as Paul left the hospital room.

Paul made his way towards the gate, he’d say goodbye to his friends here before returning to the Kingdom.

Eleanor looked down at Clementine, “How are you feeling?”

“Confused, mostly.” Answered Clementine, “It’s weird, I can still feel my foot.”

“That’s normal,” Said Eleanor, gently, “we can come up with a treatment plan to help you cope with your phantom limb.”

Clementine stared at the remains of her leg, “I was bit.”

“Sophie managed to amputate your leg before the infection could spread.” Explained Eleanor, “We managed to cauterize it and stop the bleeding before you lost too much blood.”

Clementine shakily nodded, “O-okay, c-can I have a moment alone. Please.”

Eleanor solemnly nodded, before leaving the room. Clementine swallowed thickly and let the tears fall.

“I feel ridiculous.” Muttered Clementine, fiddling with her dress, as Gabe kept her steady and held her crutches for her.

“I think you look great.” Said Gabe, getting a glare from Clementine, “Honestly, I really do.”

Clementine turned her attention to the church, watching Kate and Javí laugh about something. After a few years of dating, almost three years since Javí became the leader of the New Frontier, he and Kate had finally gotten married.

“I think Kate’s going to throw the bouquet.” Muttered Gabe, as Kate turned her back to the guests.

“Yippee.” Drawled Clementine, before spotting something in her peripheral and shooting her hand out to catch it before it hit her in the face.

Everyone stared at Clementine and Gabriel, while the pair just stared at the bouquet in Clementine’s hand.

“Holy shit.” Said Clementine, staring at the flowers, “Wait, is that a cob of corn?”

R *Ten years later*

Louis scowled as he swatted at the bugs. Their entire group had to leave the school, after Minnie turned up and warned them about someone called Lilly. Violet still hadn’t forgiven Marlon about selling the twins and then getting Clementine and AJ killed.

“The New Frontier is our best chance at getting away from Lilly.” Said Minnie, ducking under a branch.

“So, are we nearly there yet?” Asked Willy, getting a shush from Mitch.

“That’s a good question.” Said a man’s voice.

The entire group turned and faced the direction the voice came from. A man dressed in clothes that looked like had walker guts on them, held a rifle loosely in his arms, the only piece of clothing that didn’t have walker guts on it was his orange beanie, which looked out of place on him.

“Where is there?” Asked the man, as another man joined him.

“We’re looking for the New Frontier.” Said Minnie, raising her hands above her head.

The man frowned at her, before looking at his friend.

“Why are you looking for them?” Asked the man’s friend, eying them suspiciously.

“Protection, we’re running from the Delta.” Said Minnie, as the man in the orange hat looked at his friend.

“James, double back, make sure there isn’t a herd following them.”

The man’s friend, James, nodded and pulling a walker mask over his face, “See you in a few.”

The man nodded, before turning back to the group. Marlon stared at the bag the man had, it had supplies, not much, but enough to last them to the New Frontier.

“Right, he’ll-” The man was cut off by Marlon shooting him in the head.

“Whoa!”

“What the fuck?!”

“Marlon,” Gasped Louis, “what have you done?”

“We need these supplies,” Justified Marlon, grabbing the man’s bag and grabbing the weapons he had on him, “more than he did, anyway.”

Marlon held a knife the man had out towards Louis. He stared at it, before shoving past Marlon. Tenn reluctantly took the knife, while Brody took the pistol he had. Minnie stared at the corpse, Lilly had kept tabs on all New Frontier members, especially one that were close to someone called ‘Clementine’. She swallowed, glancing at Marlon’s back, before following the rest of the group.

Kate handed Lee and Carly off to Javí and AJ. Eleanor had Sophie turf everyone out of the room, going as far to stop Lingard from using the toilet in the process. Clementine, for her part, only looked vaguely annoyed. She had sweat gathering on her brow and she had her eyes closed while she carefully controlled her breathing.

“Have you been able to get a hold of Gabe?” Asked Kate, as Javí frowned at the walkie talkie in his hand.

“No, but James has just told me that he’s had to divert a large group of walkers.” Answered Javí, “He said that he and Gabe ran into a group of survivors looking for the New Frontier.”

“Have you told everyone else?” Asked Kate, before mentally slapping herself, of course he hadn’t, he’s only just found out.

“I’m going to,” Said Javí, jerking his head, “AJ had guard duty with Arthur, I’ll take the twins to the council meeting.”

“You’re going to dump them on Christa again, aren’t you?”

Javí remained silent, before awkwardly clearing his throat and ushering AJ out of the room. Kate stared after him, before groaning.

Clementine exhaled shakily, before hobbling toward a chair. She stumbled when another contraction hit and was caught by Sophie before she hit the floor.

“Fuuuuuck.” Wheezed Clementine, as Kate joined Sophie and helped carry Clementine to a bed.

AJ scowled at the road leading out of New Richmond. He’d been stuck on watch for the past several hours. The sixteen-year-old rocked back and forth on his feet, Arthur glanced at him, “Just a couple more hours, kid.”

“They should be back by now.” Said AJ, before a branch moving caught his attention.

Squinting, AJ focused on the area, unslinging his rife from his shoulder. Arthur followed AJ gaze, before unholstering his rifle as well.

A woman that looked a lot like Sophie stepped out, followed by a blond man with a messy mullet.

“Marvin?” Asked AJ, confused.

Arthur aimed his rifle at the woman’s feet, firing a warning shot.

A group of people slowly appeared behind them.

“That’s far enough!” Yelled Arthur, alerting both the group and the other guards along the wall.

“Are you the New Frontier?” Asked the blond man, his hands raised.

“Depends.” Answered Arthur, as AJ made his way down to the gate and followed Mike out. AJ aimed at the group, joining the rest of the team in disarming the new arrivals.

“We’re not here to fight.” Said the woman, “I’m here to defect, they’re here to join.”

“Sophie?” Asked Gill, frowning at the woman, “What happened to your hair?”

The woman stared at Gill, before Becca swatted his arm, “That’s not Sophie, you idiot, she’d helping Eleanor.”

“S-Sophie’s alive?”

They turned their attention back to the group, AJ recognised Louis and Violet, the latter missing an eye, before his eyes raked across the rest of the Ericson’s group. His eyes settled on Tenn, before zeroing in on the hilt of a knife.

Without a word, AJ advanced on Tenn and roughly grabbed the knife. He examined it, no one moving.

“Where did you get this?!” Demanded AJ, glaring at the group.

“We found it on a corpse.” Said Marvin, quickly.

They were saved from further interrogation by a car’s engine. AJ looked over at a rusty dodge challenger, the car stopping just before the group. James got out and solemnly looked at AJ.

“Gabe’s dead.”

Clementine screamed as she pushed, she vaguely heard Eleanor say something about the baby’s head. Sophie winced as she felt her hand crack, Kate had left to answer the door after someone knocked on it.

“Okay, Clem,” Said Eleanor, “You’re almost there.”

Clementine pushed on Eleanor’s command, before a shriek pierced the air. Clementine gasped, as Eleanor quickly cleaned and wrapped the baby up in a towel.

“It’s a girl.” Said Eleanor, carefully handing the baby over to her mother.

Clementine stared tiredly at her daughter, still squalling and using what little strength she had to wave her tiny fists.

“She’s beautiful.” Breathed Clementine, cradling her, “Hi, Mari.”

Mariana still wailed, when Kate re-entered the room. She nervously jerked her head to Sophie and Eleanor, both leaving the mother and new-born alone.

“Gabe’s dead.” Whispered Kate, looking between the two women, “A new group arrived earlier, they said they found Gabe dead.”

“Okay, shit,” Swore Sophie, “What do we tell Clem?”

“That’s not all of it.” Said Kate, “According to James, they were the group he and Gabe ran into earlier. When he left Gabe was very much alive.”

“Fuck.” Whispered Sophie, as AJ walked up to them.

“One of them looks just like you.” Said AJ, making them jump, “She was surprised to hear you were alive apparently.”

Sophie’s eyes widened, before she took off for the gate.

The three watched after her, before looking at each other, “We still need to tell Clem.” Said Kate.

“I’ll do it.” AJ volunteered, “She’s less likely to lose it with me.”

They opened the door, finding Clementine awkwardly waddling around and cooing at Mariana.

“Hey, Clem.” Said AJ, walking towards her, “Is that Mari?”

“Yeah,” Smiled Clementine, bouncing her gently, “just wait until your father gets home, he’s going to love you to pieces.”

AJ felt his heart freeze, suddenly regretting volunteering to tell Clem the bad news.

“Um, C-Clem, I-I have some bad news.” Stuttered AJ, making Clementine look at him.

“AJ?” Asked Clementine, carefully adjusting Mariana, “Goofball, what’s wrong?”

“J-James ran into some new survivors, today.” Stuttered AJ, “He w-was with Gabe a-and he had to divert some walkers.”

“Okay,” Said Clementine, dread slowly building in her gut, “what happened?”

“S-sometime after leaving Gabe with this group, s-someone,” AJ swallowed, “I-I’m s-sorry, C-Clem, b-but G-Gabe’s, Gabe’s, he’s…”

Clementine froze, figuring out what AJ was trying to tell her. Without thinking, Clementine wrapped an arm around AJ and pulled him close to her.

Outside, Kate and Eleanor flinched when they head Clem wail.

“So, after leaving him, alone, you heard a gunshot, doubled back and looted his corpse?” Asked Christa, disbelievingly, looking down at Marlon.

Sophie had arrived shortly after AJ left and, after seeing the group, suggested that they all be separated.

“T-that’s right.” Said Marlon, looking up at her.

“Marlon just shot him?!” Demanded Sophie, glaring down at Minerva.

“Yes.”

“What, did you suggest it to him, or did he just up and do it himself?”

“Why would you ask that?”

“It’s what you did.” Snapped Sophie, jerking her scarf to the side, presenting a pale scar to Minerva, “I was lucky your aim was off.”

“Fuck, Soph, I-I’m sorry.” Gasped Minerva, reach out to Sophie.

“Stay where you are!” Ordered Sophie, drawing a gun on Minerva, “Now, answer my question, did you tell Marlon to kill Gabe?!”

“No.” Minerva shook her head, “I-I was going to tell him who we were, w-when Marlon shot him.”

“You remind me of a friend of mine.” Said Jesus, leaning back in his chair.

Louis frowned, leaning forwards, “Who?”

“He’s the leader of a community, not too far from here, called the Kingdom,” Answered Jesus, “his name’s Ezekiel.”

“My dad was called that.” Muttered Louis, “He was rich as fuck, but chose to work in a fucking zoo.”

Jesus froze, before frowning, “What was his last name?”

“Sutton.”

Jesus fell back in his chair.

Tenn nervously looked up at the brunette, according to the one called Becca, this was Shel.

“W-we didn’t know Marlon was going to shoot him.” Stuttered Tenn, as Shel sat down across from him.

“Did Marlon say why he shot Gabe?” Asked Shel, resting her elbows on the table.

“H-he said we needed the supplies he had.”

There was a brief knock on the door, before Javí poked his head in and gestured for Shel to step out of the room. The group of adults looked around each other.

“According to Marlon,” Said Christa, running her hand down her face, “They left Gabe, heard a gunshot and doubled back, then they looted his corpse.”

“Minerva said Marlon shot him, without provocation, just to take his supplies.” Said Sophie, looking around.

“Tenn said the same thing.”

“As did Louis.”

“Violet said as much,” Sighed Javí, pinching the bridge of his nose, “what the fuck are we going to tell Clem?”

“You can start,” Came a sharp and cold voice, “by telling me which one of those bastards killed my husband.”

Clementine stood in front of them, Mariana sleeping in a sling across her chest.

“Clem, you should be resting.” Said Javí, walking towards her.

“How can I rest, when Gabe’s murderer is here?!” Demanded Clementine, glaring up at Javí.

“Please, fuck,” Groaned Javí, “sleep for tonight, it’s too late to do anything, I’ll try and answer that question in the morning.”

Clementine glared a Javí, before turning on her heel and stalking out of the hallway.

“I’m assuming that Lee and Carly are with Kate.” Said Christa, frowning at the thought of Clementine telling them why their father wasn’t coming back.

Clementine woke up to Mariana whimpering, while the twins was sleeping across a sleeping AJ. She smiled, before catching sight of a picture of her and Gabe on their wedding day. A small bump was slightly visible under the bouquet she was carrying, Javí jokingly called it a shotgun wedding. Her throat grew tight, she still hadn’t told the twins that their father was dead.

Mariana whimpered a little louder, while attempting to gnaw through Clementine’s shirt.

“Alright.” Muttered Clementine, freeing one of her breasts to feed the baby. Mariana greedily suckled, leaving Clementine to her thoughts. She didn’t know who the new arrivals were, only that one, or some, of them had murdered Gabe for some meagre supplies. Mariana stopped feeding and started to whine, prompting Clementine to sit up and gently pat Mariana’s back until she let out a burp. Within seconds, the baby was back asleep. Both Lee and Carley had taken after her side of the family, Lee with her eyes and her grandfather’s hair and Carley with her hair and her grandmother’s nose.

“Mommy?” Asked Lee, quietly.

“Yes, sweetie?” Whispered Clementine, adjusting Mariana.

“When’s Daddy going to come home?”

Clementine froze, swallowing thickly, “I-I don’t know.”

“I miss him.” Said Lee, falling back asleep.

“Me too.” Murmured Clementine, feeling her eyes burn.

Clementine once thought that having her leg amputated was the worst pain she could feel, that was replaced by childbirth and now, the feeling of losing her spouse. Clementine silently cried, carefully cradling Mariana.

Clementine froze mid-step at the sight of Louis. He hadn’t spotted her, allowing her to drop Lee and Carley off at their school. She strode up to Louis, who still had his back to her.

“Who was it?”

Louis jumped, spinning on his heel. He stared down at Clementine, he thought she was pretty before, but now he thought she was beautiful, his eyes raked over her figure, before settling on Mariana, “You have a kid?”

“Who. Was. It?” Hissed Clementine, glaring up at Louis, she’d admit he was attractive, but she there for one thing.

“Who was what?” Asked Louis, nervously scratching the back of his head.

“Which one of you killed Gabe?” Snapped Clementine, tempted to pull her gun on him.

“Oh…”

“Oh?”

Louis started to back track, only increasing Clementine’s ire.

“One of your group kills Gabe and all you can say is oh?!” Snarled Clementine, stalking closer to Louis.

“Clem!” Yelled Javí, quickly sliding between her and Louis, “Please, let us handle this.”

“What?” Scoffed Clementine, “So you can give them a slap on the wrist and welcome them in?!”

“No, so you don’t do something you regret.”

Clementine glared at Javí, before turning on her heel and stalking away. Louis coughed awkwardly.

“Uh, thanks.” Said Louis, getting a sigh from Javí.

“She has a point,” Admitted Javí, looking at Louis, “Marlon did kill Gabe, unprovoked, and there are consequences that need to be addressed. I don’t know what you or your group have been through, but killing a married man, my nephew, isn’t something that can be easily forgiven. If it comes to it, Marlon may have to leave.”

Louis swallowed, as Javí walked away from him. It was bad enough that Marlon killed someone for less than a day’s worth of supplies but being told that Gabe had a family waiting for him, by a member of said family, was heart breaking.

“Hey,” Called Mitch, getting Louis to look at him, “we’re gonna be showed around.”

“Great.” Muttered Louis, joining the rest of their group.

“Right, I’m only going to say things once, so don’t bother asking any questions.” Said Sophie, shortly, “Marlon’s not going to be here long, and I don’t care what the rest of you do.”

“What do you mean Marlon’s not going to be here long?” Demanded Mitch, getting a growl from Sophie.

“He murdered a member of this community, for a stupid fucking reason,” Started Sophie, “I don’t care what you guys have been through, but we’re now trying to keep Marlon safe from Gabe’s wife, who is not known to forgive anyone.”

“W-what might she do?” Asked Marlon, making Sophie stop.

“Normally, she’d demand you leave. Now, if you’re lucky, she’ll shoot you.” Said Sophie, turning to look at them, “You want to know the horrible part? When you were busy murdering Gabe, she was giving birth.”

Louis swallowed, already beginning to connect the dots. The kid from the day before was walking up to Sophie, glaring at the group in front of her.

“AJ, I can hear you glaring.” Sighed Sophie, turning to face him, “What’s wrong?”

“One of the gates was left open last night.” Said AJ, the Ericson’s group staring at him, “Nothing major happened, but a walker was caught in one of the traps.”

“AJ?” Asked Violet, staring at him.

“Hi.”

“I-is Clem here?”

“Yeah, but she’s not in the best of moods.” Warned AJ, looking over the group, “So, which one was it?”

“AJ.” Warned Sophie, getting a grumble from him, “Has the walker been dealt with?”

“Yeah, Russel’s showed the kids how to take one out.” Shrugged AJ, “Oh, Kate also told me, to tell you, that visitors from Alexandria, the Kingdom and the Commonwealth were going to be arriving tomorrow. She mentioned someone called Noel or Noah. She also said you weren’t to sneak off with your boyfriend.”

Sophie glared at AJ, before taking a swipe at him. He dodged and shot off, away from the group.

“Well, we’re fucked.” Stated Mitch, “If he’s here and Clementine’s here, we’re going to have to leave, or they’ll put a bullet in our heads.”

“What?” Asked Sophie, raising an eyebrow at Mitch.

“About ten years ago, Clem and AJ came to the school,” Explained Violet, “things happened, and she found out that Marlon and Brody had sold you and Minnie to the raiders. They tried to make it seem like Clem was one of the raiders, but Brody broke and fessed up. Then AJ shot at Marlon and took the top of his ear off. The following day we all had a vote and all but three of us voted to throw Clem and AJ out.”

“I take it you were in the ‘keep’ camp.” Said Sophie, glancing at Violet.

“Along with Tenn and Aasim.”

Sophie looked over the group, before focusing on Marlon, “You just keep fucking up, don’t you?”

Marlon tried not to fidget, seeing as he was only a couple of feet away from Clementine. Louis was sat at a table with Tenn, practically making moon eyes at Clementine. Mitch looked disgusted at something. He felt someone brush past him, before seeing Violet and Minnie sit down either side of Clementine.

“Hey.” Greeted Violet, getting a hum from Clementine.

“I take it you’re not much of a talker.” Said Minnie, awkwardly.

“No, she’s just gotten to sleep and she’s a very light sleeper.”

Violet and Minnie both craned their necks and stared at the small bundle with a pacifier gently suckled in its mouth.

“Holy shit.” Sword Violet, getting a quiet snort from Clementine, before the penny dropped, “You were Gabe’s wife…”

“Until one of your group killed him.”

Violet didn’t hide her wince, before nervously glancing over at Marlon, “What are you going to do to the culprit?”

“Why, is it you?” Clementine raised an eyebrow, “I think it’ll depend on who it was. I have my suspicions, but Javí wants to see what use you can all be, before making any big decisions.”

Violet swallowed, sharing a quick nervous glance with Minnie, before leaning back slightly. She glanced down and froze, “What the fuck happened to your leg?”

Clementine winced, speaking quietly, “I got bit about three months after getting back here, Sophie actually saved my life.”

Violet openly gaped at the prosthetic, before Minnie leaned close, “What’s it feel like?”

“What?” Asked Clementine, bewildered.

“You know, missing a leg?” Elaborated Minnie, “Can you still feel your toes?”

“Yeah, and it’s a bitch.”

“Cool.”

“Not cool.” Corrected Clementine, carefully standing up, “I’ve got to go pick someone up, it’s been nice talking to you.”

Marlon watched Clementine stand, he couldn’t see or hear what Clementine, Violet and Minnie were talking about, but he hoped it wasn’t about Gabe. He watched as she carefully adjusted the bag she was carrying and left the bar. Louis looked unbelievably lost when Clementine walked out, it was almost funny.

“She’s filled out.” Said Mitch, frowning, “Do you think they do boob and ass jobs here?”

“Why, Brody too flat for you?” Snapped Violet walking over to them, “She’s ‘filled out’ because she’s had a child.”

“That’s rich coming from a board.”

“At least I don’t cry during sex.”

“At least I’ve had sex.”

“When? Those three milliseconds don’t count!”

“Coming from someone who can’t count!”

“Bitch!”

“Cunt!”

“And… Kiss!”

Violet and Mitch looked over at the source of the voice, a woman with black hair and an empty smirk took a picture of them, “There, another for the memorial wall.”

It took Violet a moment to recognise the woman as Becca, one of the guards that escorted them into the settlement.

“Oh, that was great.” Laughed Becca, wiping an eye, before becoming serious, “But if you keep that up, you’ll find yourself on the outside of the fence.”

“Why?” Demanded Mitch, getting a scowl from Becca.

“Because,” She started slowly, “if you keep fighting, you’ll be considered a danger to the community.”

Becca turned and started to walk off, before looking back at them, “And keep away from the kids, we don’t want them to know what murder is.”

Clementine frowned at the Ericson’s survivors, Sophie and AJ were next to her.

“Okay,” Said Clementine, deciding to get the task over with, “I’m going to assume you all know what a basic supply run entails, we’ve got a couple of contacts that’ll leave ammunition lying around, we actually found an RPG on one trip, but it’s our job to go collect them.”

She slowly looked over them, “While we’re out there, you do as you’re told. If Me, Sophie or AJ tell you to do something, you do it, if we tell you to stop doing something, you do it, and, I can’t believe I have to say this, if you see a grenade with the fucking pin missing, you don’t pick it up.”

Clementine started to lead them out of the gate, before Mitch spoke, “Why do we have to listen to you?”

“Because if any of you return without us, the guys on the wall might take pot shots at you.” Snarked Sophie, punching Mitch’s shoulder and walking past him.

Marlon kept glancing around, as if he was looking for someone. Brody kept glancing at AJ and Sophie, while Violet jogged ahead and fell into step with Clementine.

“So, how’ve the past ten years been?” Asked Violet, a dark look passing over Minerva’s face.

“Difficult to say, Javí came up with these supply runs to get me out of Richmond while other communities were visiting.” Shrugged Clementine, before wincing, “I kinda punched, what I thought was, a fat guy who was being an asshole.”

“What do you mean ‘what you thought was’?” Asked Minerva, making Clementine look back at her.

“Turns out it was a pregnant woman, but she was still an asshole,” Said Clementine, “It didn’t help that the following year, I punched the leader of the Saviours.”

“You punched Negan?!” Gaped Minerva, getting a chuckle from Sophie.

“She nearly knocked him flat,” Laughed Sophie, “she was pregnant with the twins at the time and didn’t like his attitude.”

“I broke my hand, but he seemed more impressed than angry.” Clementine remembered, “Of course, Javí stepped in and made sure no one did anything that would fuck things up.”

Sophie spotted Marlon looking around, before frowning, “What are you looking for?”

Clementine stopped and looked back at Marlon, who seemed to be surprised that Sophie spoke to him, “What’s going on?”

“Marlon’s looking around us, as if he’s looking for someone.” Answered Sophie, glaring at Marlon, “What are you looking for, Marlon?”

“N-nothing.” Denied Marlon, glancing around the group.

Clementine opened her mouth, before she heard a snap. The familiar sound of walkers groaning reached her. She bit back a groan and turned to face the walkers. Quickly spotting they were out numbered, Clementine looked at Sophie, “We’re going back.”

Sophie nodded, before drawing her axe, “Okay, no one fall behind, because we’ll not be stopping.”

Clementine stabbed a couple of the walkers that were close to the rear of the group, before following them. Clementine spotted something orange in her peripheral and stopped. A walker was leaning over a corpse, that had a familiar orange hat on. Quickly stabbing the walker in head, she kicked the corpse off it’s meal and felt her breath catch in her throat. Gabe hadn’t been dead a week and he’d already been found by walkers. Part of her knew this wasn’t something that could be avoided, another, irrational, part of her felt angry. She sighed through her nose, before carefully removing Gabe’s hat from his remains. She looked around and quietly made note of the location, before heading back to Richmond.

“Where’s Clem?” Asked Kate, looking over the group.

“She fell behind.” Said Marlon, nervously looking at the gate.

“Oh, great,” Muttered Kate, “just what we need.”

“It can’t be that bad.” Said Mitch, getting a round of glares, “What? We were all thinking it.”

“When you said that,” Asked Sophie, frowning, “what did you mean?”

“Well, she’s survived on her own before, so we shouldn’t have to worry.”

Everyone stared at Mitch, as one of the guards noticed someone approaching the gates.

“What?” Asked Mitch, “I can be nice. I’ve been nice to Marlon since he shot that Gabe guy.”

“He what?!”

Everyone turned and looked at Clementine, walker blood and guts covering her clothes, an orange beanie stuffed into her pocket and a look of complete, utter, rage on her face.

“Marlon did what?” Snarled Clementine, glaring at the group.

“Clem…” Sighed Kate, moving to get between Marlon and Clementine.

“Don’t! Don’t try and say he was scared, that he regrets it,” Snarled Clementine, glaring at Kate, “You knew. You knew who the person responsible for killing Gabe was. You knew and didn’t say anything!”

“Clementine, please,” Begged Kate, quietly, “we didn’t want to stress you.”

“You, you didn’t want to stress me?!” Snapped Clementine, “You think not telling me hasn’t made me stressed?! You’re not the one who had to tell your children why their father wasn’t coming home! You’re not the one who had-” Clementine’s voice broke. She swallowed, before glaring at Marlon. She stalked over to him and roughly grabbed his arm.

“W-what are you doing?!” Demanded Marlon, as Clementine shoved him out the gate. When he went to re-enter, Clementine drew her gun on him.

“Why?”

“W-what?”

“Why did you shoot my husband?”

“I-I panicked, I didn-”

“THAT’S NOT AN EXCUSE!” Shrieked Clementine, the gun trembling slightly.

“I-I know, I-I-I’m sorry.” Marlon’s voice broke, “I’m so, so, sorry.”

Clementine glared at him and pulled the trigger. Marlon flinched, before the bullet hit a walker behind him. Clementine wordlessly stepped to the side and jerked her head, silently telling Marlon to get back through the gate. Clementine went to follow, before a walker grabbed her prosthetic, removing the limb and tripping Clementine. The walker tried to tear the fake limb apart, only to get a knife to the head. Louis pulled Clementine’s knife out from the Walker’s head and helped Clementine to her feet. He wordlessly grabbed the prosthetic, helping Clementine through the gate.

“Everything okay?” Asked Javí, making everyone look at him.

“Almost.” Said Clementine, before pointing her gun at Marlon’s foot and shooting him.

“AGH, WHAT THE FUCK?!” Screamed Marlon, falling to the ground.

“That was for shooting Gabe.”

Marlon rolled his foot, he’d just spent the last three months in a boot after Clementine had shot the tip of his big toe off. Javí and Kate had managed to prevent Clementine from shooting him further, although Marlon didn’t count that as a mercy. He’d been given a trial and, while he wasn’t exiled, he’d been placed in a detention area, under the watch of James, the man they met when they ran into Gabe. Marlon had been on light duty, but he’d found that most criminals in New Richmond were placed in guard posts and as workers in the farming areas.

Other than those duties, unless they’d done something truly horrifying, the guards were free to do as they pleased. Marlon had been told that, since he’d eventually admitted to it, he was given a lighter sentence. Although, Marlon had heard about another group called the Delta kicking up a fight and Javí had asked for volunteers to help deal with them.

Clementine had tried to volunteer, only for Javí to remind her that Gabe was dead. Marlon winced slightly, stepping out into the light, before heading down to Javí’s office to volunteer.

Mitch stifled a groan, he and Brody were watching over the younger children of the community, Clementine had dropped Lee and Carley off and had handed Mariana to Brody, saying something about making bullets.

Mariana stared up at Brody, blowing spit bubbles as the woman quietly fretted over how she was holding the baby. Mitch quietly wrapped an arm around Brody and pulled her against him. She automatically nestled her head into his neck.

“Do you think we’ll ever have something like this?” Asked Brody, quietly.

Mitch looked down at her, “I hope so. I mean, if Clementine, of all people, can have it, I don’t see why we can’t.”

Brody sighed, curling Mariana close to her chest.

Minerva and Violet helped Sophie tending to the animals. Sophie snickered as Minerva pulled her hand away from Thunder, a particularly foul tempered horse. Violet smirked, carefully pouring water into a trough.

“You know, we had a smattering of Whispers blow down that wall over there,” Said Sophie, pointing to a section of the wall that had obvious patch work on it, “That entire section came down, we had a small herd of walkers storm in. Clementine and Gabe came down here looking for AJ. I guess they heard me shooting them. As soon as they got here, Clem and Gabe must’ve taken out at least twenty of them. Then a Walker grabbed Clem’s leg. Her boot protected her from being bit, until I fired a shotgun into her leg.”

Minerva and Violet looked at Sophie, “The walker used the damage I caused and bit Clem, took a massive chunk out of her leg. Gabe and I performed a crude amputation. Clem said I shouldn’t worry about her, but, seeing that Gabe’s now dead and she has three children. I sometimes wonder if I made the right call.”

“If you hadn’t, she’d be dead.” Violet pointed out, frowning.

“Maybe,” Shrugged Sophie, looking up from the cow she was milking, “I sometimes wonder how things would’ve panned out, if things were different.”

“If ifs and ands were pots and pans, there’d be not work for tinkers.” Dismissed Violet, as Minerva frowned.

“You mean if my aim hadn’t been off? If Clementine had ran into Lilly?” Asked Minerva, sitting down next to her sister, “Lilly and Clementine know each other, Lilly took an interest in the New Frontier after finding out Clementine was among them.”

“What, you think Clem’s ex-Delta?” Asked Sophie, looking at Minerva.

“No, I mean from before, before Lilly and Delta.” Answered Minerva, “like, first days before.”

The three girls sat in silence, quietly contemplating the implications with Lilly and Clementine.

Meanwhile, Clementine picked up a colt 45, cocked it and fired one of the bullets in it.

“Batch 21 seems to be working.” Said Clementine, looking at Becca, “How’re the rifles?”

“They all seem to be working so far.” Answered Becca, before looking at Clementine, “You and Louis have gotten pretty close.”

“He’s just a friend.” Dismissed Clementine, taking a bullet from batch 22.

“Yeah, a friend I saw you making out with.” Snarked Becca, discharging the rifle, “I still think you need to talk to someone about your drinking problem.”

“What makes you think I haven’t?” Asked Clementine, firing the colt, “God, it’s times like this that make me wish Sarah or Duck were still around.”

Becca looked down, “I know I was horrible to her, but I actually thought she was going to survive longer. But, hearing about how she died, and how Jane chose to abandon her… I sometimes can’t sleep, because every time I close my eyes, I see Sarah, or Rebecca, or Luke, all torn to pieces.”

“You were a kid,” Said Clementine, looking at Becca, “you still thought popularity and ‘coolness’ still matter. You were at an age where you thought you didn’t have worry about the war.”

“Yeah, a war that no matter what we do,” Huffed Becca, “we’re going to lose. One of the dead falls, another one takes it’s place, one of us falls, we join the other side. What made you so different?”

“Huh?”

“When we first met, you we sure of yourself, you fought walkers like they were nothing, you did what even some of us couldn’t. Not to mention that you raised a child during the apocalypse and taught him how to survive. Some people sink in half the situations you’ve been in, but you always manage to fly.”

“Don’t think I didn’t have off days.” Retorted Clementine, “I’ve my fair share of sinking moments.”

Becca laughed, making eye contact with Clementine, “Do you think everything will go back to the way it was?”

“No, and I think it’s better that way.”

Clementine frowned at the group of volunteers, some had minor injuries. Not all of them came back, but they were clearly pleased that they were able to capture someone. She squinted her eye, thinking the woman looked familiar. It wasn’t until she got closer, that Clementine recognised her.

“Lilly?”

Clementine’s chest hurt. Her throat was raw, and her eyes were burning. AJ stood a few feet back, holding onto Lee and Mari. How did it come to this? Her little girl, her baby.

“Clem,” Said Kate, crouching next to her, “Clem, we need to go.”

“No.”

“Clem, come on.”

“No. No, I’m not leaving her.”

“Clementine!” Snapped Kate, “We don’t have a choice! She’s dead!”

Clementine shakily looked down, Carley stared back up at her, her throat slit open. Clementine spotted small, almost indistinguishable movement in her throat.

“No, Kate,” Said Clementine, desperately, moving Carley closer to Kate, “Look, look she’s still breathing.”

“She’s turning, Clem.” Sighed Kate, pushing Carley away from her and Clementine.

“No. No!” Sobbed Clementine, as a pair of arms wrapped around her and pulled her away, “No! Get off me!”

Carley groaned, before sluggishly getting to her feet. Clementine stared at her, the walker snarled and started towards Kate, before a bullet hit her in the forehead. Carley’s corpse fell to the ground, with Clementine staring at it, the arms holding her let go and her legs buckled under her. Clementine sat on the ground, staring at her daughter’s corpse and, her memory revisiting the events leading up to this.

“Lilly?”

Lilly looked over and froze upon spotting Clementine.

“Clem, you know her?” Asked Conrad, looking at Clementine.

“Yeah, she led a group I was in at the start,” Responded Clementine, “I thought she was dead.”

“Thought or hoped?” Sneered Lilly, getting a glare from Clementine.

“Hoped. They should’ve put a bullet in your head after what you did.”

“I was protecting the group.”

“You murdered Carley because she wasn’t scared of you.”

“She betrayed us!”

“You betrayed us! You let your racist cunt of a father have free reign, despite him being a liability!” Snapped Clementine, making Lilly go red with rage.

“Shut up!”

“You harassed Ben because he didn’t fit your oh so precious view of the group!” Clementine advanced towards Lilly, “You tried to make Lee your personal attack dog, you hoarded supplies you said you didn’t want to take, and tried to out a secret Lee had kept because you fucked up!”

Lilly glared up at Clementine, with Clementine matching the glare with equal force.

“Okay,” Said Conrad, getting between the two women, “Clem, I think Kate said she needed your help with something.”

Clementine gave Lilly one last glare, before turning and walking towards the school. She passed Louis and Marlon, with the former changing course and falling into step with her.

“Hey, Clem,” Said Louis, rubbing the back of his neck, “I, uh, I wanted to apologise for, uh, you know, um, after l-last week…”

Clementine raised an eyebrow at him, “You don’t need to apologise, we were both drunk.”

“Still, it, er, it wasn’t appropriate.” Mumbled Louis, as Clementine sighed through her nose.

“It’s fine, I could use a hand, if you’re free.” Said Clementine, looking at him, “Conrad said Kate needed me for something, but I think he just wanted to get me away from Lilly.”

“Lilly?” Asked Louis, “You know the bitch that led those raiders that took the twins?”

“Calling her a bitch is both too kind and an insult to every bitch in the world.” Snorted Clementine, stopping, “She led a group I was in when all this started. For a while, she was kind and gentle. She actually taught me how to read properly. She, she was like a mother or a really cool aunt. Then her dad died, and was put down to stop him from turning, and she just, fuck, I don’t know, she changed.”

“How so?” Asked Louis, softly.

“She was guarded before, suspicious of new people, one alright with everyone in our group. But then she was paranoid, she accused everyone around her of putting the group in danger. She hoarded supplies we found,” Clementine sighed, “Then we lost everything, and she just…lost it. She started screaming about someone betraying the group and accusing everyone around her. We had to stop, then Lilly killed Carley.”

“The same Carley that you named your kid after?”

“Yeah, she was cool.” Smirked Clementine, “She was a reporter with an amazing aim.”

“Did, did she help take care of you?” Asked Louis, quietly.

“Yeah,” Murmured Clementine, a soft snort escaping her lips, “I used to pretend that Lee and Carley were my parents, and we were on some massive adventure.”

Clementine’s face lost all traces of humour and nostalgia, “Then people started dying. First was Mark, a guy who joined our group because he had food, he had his legs cut off and fed to most of us. Thankfully, Lee prevented me from eating. He died from blood loss, I think. Then Larry died, he had a heart attack and his heart stopped. I didn’t understand it at the time, but Lee and another guy, Kenny, they put him down before he could turn. That’s when Lilly started to lose it.”

“Larry was her dad?” Asked Louis.

“Yeah, he was an old racist asshole that acted worse that a child,” Said Clementine, looking down, “When we first met him, he tried to get Duck killed because he thought he was bit.”

“But he wasn’t.”

“But he wasn’t,” Confirmed Clementine, “The cannibals were either killed or left for dead. We came across an abandoned car on the way back to the motel, the place we were staying. Lilly said she didn’t want to take the supplies, but as soon as we got back, she horded the stuff. That left Lee and Kenny to go on supply runs. More often than not, they’d almost die.”

“And you think she planned that?”

“I know she planned it,” growled Clementine, “every time they came back, she’d have this look of anger or disappointment in her eyes, everyone noticed it, but didn’t say anything because they all thought it had something to do with her dad dying.”

“Well,” Drawled Louis, throwing a playful smirk at Clementine, “can’t say they were wrong.”

“Ha ha.” Muttered Clementine, punching Louis’s arm, “Very funny. But another member of the group, Ben, he was gullible,” she snorted, “I remember I managed to trick him into standing on his head for an hour everyday because I told him it’d make him less hungry.”

“How long did it last for?”

“A couple of weeks, I think, he only found out because a guy on a train saw him doing it.” Clementine suddenly became sullen, “But, some bandits, they tricked him into thinking they had one of his friends hostage and had him give them supplies. He took them from Lilly’s personal stash, which made her paranoid. Then, Lee found drugs outside of the motel, the bandits attacked, we escaped in an RV, we had to stop, and things came to a head and Lilly shot Carley in the face. Lilly was left behind. We didn’t have time to bury Carley, we were forced to leave her at the side of the road, like a fucking animal.”

Clementine didn’t notice her hands were shaking, until Louis placed his over them. She blinked, trying to get rid of the burning feeling in her eyes.

“B-but, shortly after that, everything kinda went to shit.” Finished Clementine, hastily freeing one of her hands and wiping her eyes.

“Want to talk about it?” Asked Louis, hiding the hope from his voice.

“Not now.” Responded Clementine, “We should probably get going, in case Kate actually needs us.”

Louis nodded and followed after Clementine.

Carley found herself staring up at a woman with messy brown hair. She quietly put a piece of fruit into her mouth, chewing it as she watched the woman. She didn’t look very nice, she looked like she was pulling a face at everyone around her. Kate hadn’t noticed she’d wandered off, or if she had she hadn’t found her yet. No one had noticed her, so what was the harm?

Kate was frantically looking around, while still trying to watch the rest of the children. Carley had vanished on her, and she couldn’t find the bag Clementine gave her for the children, meaning Carley took it wherever she vanished too.

“Okay, cavalry has arrived, what’s wrong?” Asked Clementine, coming through the door with Louis in tow.

“Carley’s wandered off again.” Said Kate, getting a groan from Clementine.

“I take it Connie’s gone for a hike?”

“Probably.” Affirmed Kate, before freezing at one of the children with some glue, “No, Martin, don’t put that in your mouth!”

Louis grabbed Martin’s wrist gently and carefully pried the glue from his hands, “I can keep an eye on these guys if you want to look for Carley.”

Kate found herself nodded, while Clementine smiled at Louis, before heading out the door.

“She took her coat with her, as well as the bag.” Said Kate, walking in step with Clementine, “Any ideas where she could’ve gone?”

“At a guess,” Said Clementine, frowning, “she might try to find Gabe. She didn’t take his death very well.”

Kate winced, Carley had been close with Gabe, often trying to follow him whenever he went outside the community. The radio on Clementine’s waist suddenly buzzed, before Conrad spoke.

“We’ve got a problem. That Lilly person just escaped, and she’s taken a kid with her.”

Clementine and Kate shared a brief, horrified look, before they both took off running towards the gates. Clementine silently prayed that nothing happened.

Lilly looked down at the little girl in front of her, it’d been easy to trick her into showing her a way out. Lilly supposed this was how Lee took Clementine. She briefly considered taking the girl, but she’d only slow her down. She needed to get back to the ship as quickly as possible.

“Through here.” Said the girl, leading Lilly towards the gates.

“Thanks.” Muttered Lilly, quickly forcing the gate open, “Come on, I’ll take you to your daddy.”

“Okay.” Said the little girl, grabbing Lilly’s hand.

Lilly didn’t say anything, quietly leading her towards that half-eaten corpse of the man Clementine was close to.

Clementine rounded a corner, skidding to a halt as soon as she reached the interrogation rooms, just old shops that didn’t have anything in them. Kate came up behind her, breathing deeply as she looked around. The two women looked around, Clementine frowned, “Where is everyone?”

Kate froze, before looking around, “Good question, there should be at least one guard here at all times.”

Clementine’s eye narrowed, slowly approaching the corner, a familiar groaning putting her guard up. She unholstered her gun, Clementine whistled, making the walker appear from around the corner, allowing her to fire a single shot into it’s head.

“How the fuck did that get in?” Demanded Clementine, as Louis, followed by Marlon, Mitch, Sophie and Javí.

“We’ve got walkers roaming around the gates,” Said Javí, looking around, “Where the fuck is Clyde?”

Clementine glanced down at the walker, noticing it’s face had been chewed off. She frowned, before crouching down next to it. She carefully poked it’s head out of the way. A silver chain and a tattoo told her who it was.

“Found him.” Said Clementine, looking up, “Looks like a walker got to him.”

“Doesn’t explain how a walker got in.” Said Javí, frowning, “It also doesn’t tell us where Lilly is or where the child came from.”

“It’s Carley.” Said Conrad, getting everyone’s attention, “Saw Lilly carrying her off, would’ve taken her out, but I didn’t have a clear shot.”

“Where would she take her?” Asked Kate, making Clementine freeze.

“There’s nothing out there, I mean, aside from plants, animals and walkers.”

“She’s taking her to Gabe.”

Everyone looked at Clementine, who was still looking at Clyde’s corpse. “Lilly’s taking Carley to Gabe.”

“Why?” Asked Mitch, “Why would she do that?”

“You have a little girl, a child,” Said Kate, “who’s lost one of her parents and will do anything to have them back. What’s the one thing you ask for in exchange for taking her to them?”

“A way out.” Muttered Javí, looking around, “Everyone grab a weapon, we’re going after them.

“CARLEY!”

The little girl stopped, suddenly grinning, “Mommy!”

Lilly froze, before looking a head of her, she needed to get out of here, fast. She grabbed Carley’s arm and started pulling her towards where the corpse was, “Come on, you want to see your daddy, don’t you?”

“But Mommy will want to see him too!” Carley struggled, making Lilly pick her up, “Put me down!”

“Carley!” Yelled Clementine, bursting through the trees. She froze at the sight of Lilly holding her squirming daughter, “Let her go.”

Lilly didn’t say anything, only glaring at Clementine.

“Please,” Pleaded Clementine, “please, don’t hurt her, just let her go.”

“What was it, you said earlier?” Asked Lilly, quietly pulling a knife from her back pocket, “About our first group?”

“Don’t, please.” Begged Clementine, as the rest of the group caught up with her, along with AJ and her two other children.

“You called my dad a ‘racist cunt’ and said I ‘murdered Carley’?” Sneered Lilly, glaring down at Clementine.

“L-Lilly, please,” Clementine’s voice broke, “I-I’m sorry, do what you like to me, j-just don’t hurt her.”

Lilly smirked at Clementine, before taking her knife and pressing it against Carley’s throat, “But this is so much better.”

She then violently dragged the knife over Carley’s throat, slicing it open. Blood spurted from the wound, Lilly dropped Carley and ran, while Clementine rushed to her daughter. She quickly covered the cut with her hands, trying to flutily stop the flow of blood. Carley stared up at Clementine, everything was going dark.

“M-mom…” Gurgled Carley, slowly falling silent.

“No. No, no, no, no.” Sobbed Clementine, shaking Carley, “No, Carley, baby, please. No.”

Louis held onto a sobbing Clementine, helping her into Richmond. Conrad looked at them, his gaze freezing on Javí, who was carrying Carley, wrapped up in Louis’s coat. He waved his hand, signalling for them to open the gate.

“We’ve got a nice little cell prepared…for…oh…oh no.” Becca trailed off, staring at Clementine and looking towards Javí.

Kate opened her mouth, before closing it. She couldn’t think of anything to say.

AJ led Louis towards Clementine’s home, shoving the door open and stepping to the side, allowing Louis to guide Clementine inside. As gently as he could, Louis guided Clementine towards the sofa, carefully sitting her down. Lee jumped down from AJ’s arms and toddled over to Clementine.

“Mommy?” Said Lee, looking up at his mother, “When’s Carley going to wake up?”

Clementine looked down at Lee, before grabbing him and pulling him against her chest. She sobbed into his hair, wrapping her arms around him protectively. Louis looked at AJ, who adjusted Mariana in his arms, both shared a look, as Clementine wailed.

AJ swallowed, nervously looking up at the shelf, all the pictures with Gabe were face down. No doubt, all the pictures of Carley will join them.

Louis leaned forwards, his elbows resting against his knees. He ran a hand down his face, he’d been with Clementine and her remaining family for the past several hours. Clementine had eventually cried herself to sleep, she’d tried to keep Lee with her, only her exhaustion won out in the end.

He sighed, looking around, the streetlamp shone down at him. It was hard to think that this morning, Carley, a little girl, was murdered. Louis sighed again, little over three months ago Clementine had lost her husband, and now she’d lost one of her daughters.

Violet dropped down next to him, “They’ve put Carley’s picture up in the church. Kate’s asked if we could see if Clem’s ready to hold Carley’s funeral.”

“I don’t know.” Said Louis, quietly, “When she found out Marlon killed Gabe, she was upset, but not like this. Now she seems, fuck I don’t know, it’s like she’s broken.”

“I remember a saying my grandmother had,” Said Violet, after a moment, “A wife who has lost a husband is a widow, a husband who has lost a wife is a widower, a child who has lost their parents is an orphan. There is no word for a parent who have lost their child. That’s how painful their loss is.”

“I was going to say no parent should have to bury their child,” Said Sophie, making Violet and Louis jump, “but, that works too.”

“We seriously need to put a bell on you.” Deadpanned Violet, getting a soft snort from Louis.

Louis quietly watched as Carley was carefully lowered into her grave. Clementine had his hand in a vice-like grip, Mariana was slung across her chest, Lee was on her other side, with AJ standing behind him. Louis tried his best to silently comfort her, she hadn’t been able to give Carley a eulogy, every time she looked at the makeshift coffin she broke down. If Clementine wasn’t crying, she was watching Lee and Mariana like a hawk, always close at hand so they couldn’t wander off.

She’d wanted to do the same with AJ, but he’d always find a way to escape her sight. Clementine didn’t like it, but didn’t say anything, probably because she knew AJ wouldn’t listen. Louis gently squeezed Clementine’s hand, getting a weak squeeze in return. He watched as Clementine let go of his hand and shakily took a handful of dirt, before dropping it onto the coffin. Lee took a tiny amount and threw it in, slowly followed by the rest of the family. AJ picked Lee up, as Kate offered to watch Mari, while Clementine remained by the grave.

Javí led everyone bar Clementine and Louis inside, Marlon closing the doors of the former youth centre on the old church’s grounds, giving the pair some privacy.

“Delta’s been acting up lately.” Said Mike, quietly, “Bonnie saw some scouts in the woods, dealt with them before they could do any harm though.”

“I hate to say it,” Said Christa, glancing at the doors, “but, I don’t think anyone’s safe until all of them are gone, I’m not suggesting we follow any examples set by Negan or the Whisperers, but it might be best if we…”

“Wipe them out?” Asked Javí, looking at the woman, “That seems a little extreme.”

“At this rate,” Said Mike, “it’s more a matter of survival, they have no problems killing children or using children as soldiers. A single strike, we liberate any children or people who don’t want to be there, and we leave the rest for the walkers.”

“That’s a very open ended plan.” Said Sophie, folding her arms, “Besides, we don’t even know if they have a camp.”

Javí, Mike and Christa shared an uneasy look.

“They have a camp, and you know where it is?” Said Sophie, in disbelief.

“Clementine came across it a couple weeks ago, that’s where Lilly came from.” Said Mike, sighing, “Now the funerals out of the way, we may have to find something to distract Clementine.”

After a moment, Christa looked at the group, “There’s a couple of fields that were soaked with gas, we think it was Delta sabotaging out equipment, but Clem could head the clean up, there’s an electric fence surrounding it, so any walkers or unwanted guests wouldn’t be able to surprise them.”

“It’s better than nothing.” Sighed Javí, heading towards the doors, “Best go see if she’s ready to come inside.”

Jesus looked down at Carley’s grave, Rick and Ezekiel were speaking with Javí, while Carl and Enid got to know the Ericson’s group.

“Ain’t that the little girl that kicked Carl?” Asked Daryl, making Jesus jump.

“I keep forgetting how quiet you are.” Muttered Jesus, before nodding, “Yeah, apparently someone called Lilly kidnapped her and sliced her throat open.”

“She died three months after her pa.” Noted Daryl, glancing around, “Her mother’s still alive, right?”

“Yeah, so are her siblings.” Confirmed Jesus, “I don’t know where Clementine is, but AJ is talking with Judith and Enid’s watching Lee and Mari.”

“Clem’s out on clean up.” Said Mike, walking over to them, “Delta sabotaged one of out fuellers, it’s leaking and has made a field a death trap.”

Jesus frowned, spotting Aaron looking at something from the top of the wall, “Isn’t that camp close to that site?”

“Yeah, but hopefully-” Mike was cut off by Conrad.

“Shit!” Yelled Conrad, “The tanker’s just gone up!”

“Fuck.” Swore Javí, before looking around, “Everyone grab a weapon and come with me, Louis, go get Eleanor and Ruby, we might need them. Meet up with us by the lake.”

Louis nodded, before running towards the hospital area of the community.

The visitors all shared a look, before following Javí.

Clementine tried not to grimace at the smell, the gas hadn’t evaporated, instead it mixed with the water in the ground.

“I’m glad Bonnie and Kate aren’t with us.” Said Jason, grimacing at the mixture got into his shoes, “One stray light and bam! No more us.”

“I think some of us are still trying not to throw up.” Grumbled Marlene, her face green.

Clementine cursed as her prosthetic got stuck, “Go on a head, I’ll catch you up.”

Jason and Marlene shared a look, before continuing on through the field. Clementine looked behind her, she was a foot away from the gate, so she could use that to free herself. Gripping the wooden structure with both hands, Clementine hauled herself out of the field. As she was checking herself over, she felt a gun pressed against the back of her neck.

“Fuck.”

“Hello, Clementine.” Sneered Lilly, looking down at her, “It’s so nice to see you again.”

There were two gunshots from across the field, Clementine glanced and spotted Jason and Marlene collapse to the petrol sodden ground, dead.

“You’re going to pay for that.” Growled Clementine, turning and glaring at Lilly.

“What, you mean like Carley paid?” Mocked Lilly, giving Clementine a little pout.

Clementine seethed, before glancing at the tankers, “You moved your camp.”

“Couldn’t have you finding us again.” Said Lilly, making Clementine smirk.

Clementine suddenly gripped Lilly’s hand and twisted it over itself, a satisfying crack to her that she’d rendered the hand useless, before she drew her knife and slammed it into Lilly’s other wrist. Lilly stared at the unnaturally twisted remains of one hand and the stump of the other, Clementine head butted her and activated the electric fence.

“Boss!” Yelled a man, running up along the perimeter. Clementine recognised him as Abel, quickly bracing herself, she shoved Abel as hard as she could, knocking him onto the electric fence.

Lilly watched in horror as Abel screamed, Clementine covered her nose and mouth, not wanting to catch the smell of burning flesh. Glancing towards the field, Clementine spotted the rest of the Delta camp trudging through the muck towards her. Without thinking, Clementine pulled her lighter from her pocket, lit it and threw it into the field. The subsequent reaction of the petrol, diesel and water made quite the explosion. Clementine felt her hat get blown off her head.

Lilly stared at the explosion, allowing Clementine to look around. She spotted and salt lick on the ground and slowly made her way over to it. Lilly turned and looked at Clementine, trying to scramble away from her.

“Clementine, please,” Begged Lilly, as Clementine picked up the salt lick, “I, I don’t want to die!”

“Neither did Carley.” Growled Clementine, hefting the block above her head.

Clementine placed her foot on Lilly’s chest, before bringing the salt lick down on the older woman’s head, destroying her skull.

Clementine breathed heavily, before looking around, she knew the sound alone would draw walkers and the smoke would draw anything that saw it. After locating her hat, Clementine decided to return to Richmond. She needed a drink.

Javí almost ploughed Clementine over, coming to an abrupt halt along with the rest of the volunteers.

“Everything okay?” Asked Clementine, sweat covering her face.

“There was an explosion.” Said Javí, making Clementine close her eyes.

“Right, yeah,” Muttered Clementine, “turns out Delta moved their camp there, flooded the group with the fuel to keep people away, I guess. Jason and Marlene are dead, the Delta camp’s been destroyed, Lilly and Abel are also dead and I need a drink.”

Javí stared at Clementine, before looking behind her. Clementine followed his gaze and frowned, before looking back at him, “Can you see kids in there?”

Javí nodded, prompting Clementine to pivot around and attempt to pull the door open, “I think it’s locked.”

“You hit your head, didn’t you?” Asked Kate, as Javí pushed the door open.

“Probably.”

Javí gently coaxed the children out, before Louis, Ruby and Eleanor caught up with them.

“Oh, thank god.” Said Louis, embracing Clementine.

“I’m fine,” Clementine told him, “But we’re still fucked for fuel.”

“Swear.” Said a little voice, behind her.

Clementine turned and looked at a little girl with dark red hair.

“What?”

“You used a swear word.”

“Oh, okay, I’m sorry…what’s your name?”

“Melanie.”

“Right,” Said Clementine, “I’m sorry for swearing Melanie.”

“Okay. Is the bad lady gone?”

“You mean Lilly?”

Melanie nodded, “Yeah, she’s gone. She, uh, had a bit of an accident.”

“Okay.”

Clementine and Louis wordlessly watched as Eleanor gently guided Melanie back to the gaggle of children they’d found.

“I’m glad the expansion was built.” Said Mike, looking over the children, as they were slowly guided back towards New Richmond.

“And, we’re…riding a pony, riding a pony, riding a pony and jump!” Louis bounced Mariana in his arms, “Riding a pony, riding a pony, riding a pony and stop!”

Mari giggled, as Lee scribbled on a piece of paper, AJ was on the other side of the room, showing some of the newer students how to load a gun.

“Sometimes, the bullet won’t fire, so,” AJ pulled catch back, ejecting the bullet, “we clear the chamber and hope the next one isn’t like the last.”

AJ then pun the gun down on the table, “Don’t point it at anyone you’re not willing to harm, the last thing anyone wants is an accident.”

Clementine fiddled with a pocket watch, it was supposed to be an anniversary gift to Gabe, now, she didn’t know what to do with it.

“What’s that?” Asked Melanie, getting Clementine’s attention.

“It’s a watch, it helps us know what time it is.” Answered Clementine, as Louis and Mari wandered over.

“Oh, is that one of those wind-ups watched?” Asked Louis, looking down at it.

Clementine shifted to the side, allowing Melanie to climb up and for Louis to sit down. It’d been six months since the gas explosion, seven since Carley was killed and ten since Gabe died. Clementine found herself wondering where the time had gone, she was vaguely aware of Lee wandering over to AJ and then pulling him over to join the group of four.

“See, the big hand, that’s the minute hand.” Explained Clementine, pointing at it, “Now, that thin one, the one that’s moving? That’s the second hand, it counts as the second’s pass. The short, and stubby hand, that counts the hours. There are sixty seconds to a minute and sixty minutes to the hour, so the big hand is just past the four and the little hand is on the two. Can you tell me what the time is?”

Melanie counted the little marks between the three and the four, looking down at watch, “It’s twenty-two past two!”

“Well done!” Congratulated Clementine, spotting a frown on Lee’s face, “What wrong, sweetie?”

“I heard Uncle Javí say, yesterday, that the time was 1743,” Said Lee, confused, “but there’s only twelve numbers.”

“That’s because there are twenty-four hours in a day, little dude,” Said Louis, leaning around to see Lee, “after midday, the numbers then add onto twelve, making five forty-three seventeen forty-three.”

“Oh.” Said Lee, looking back down at the watch.

Becca leaned against the wall, hold a polaroid camera. She looked over the group of six, she carefully lined up the camera and took a picture. After shaking the picture, she grabbed a pen and scribbled something at the bottom.

Becca looked at them once more, before putting Sarah in her pocket and leading the children and the student out, leaving the family alone with each other.

#the walking dead game #the walking dead #twdg clementine #twdg aj #javier garcia #kate garcia #gabriel garcia #twdg vince #twdg shel #twdg louis #twdg violet #twdg minnie #clementine #twgd bonnie #twdg characters #delta writes #twdg reunions au

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d1ldo-d3aler · 2 years

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#twdg s1 #twdg #twd #400 days in #twdg 400 days in #twdg vince

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mynameisave · 1 year

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Grab

"Okay, Russ. Just grab my hand." - Vince

"I'm scared! What if you drop me?!" - Russell

"You're a little too light for that, buddy." - Vince

"You know what?" - Russell

"What are—" - Vince

Russell falls out of the tree.

"Russell! What the fuck, bro?!" - Vince

#the walking dead game #twdg 400 days #twdg russell #twdg vince #400 days #mynameisave

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ziracona · 2 years

Note

I’m never saw the ending as pro government( if anything they made huge blunders, revealing the whole thing in front of the guy that was being used instead of separating the two and revealing it privating and offering the used guy a plea deal inchange or thinking of using a tranquilizer dart to knock out the guy when he naturally flips out over the reveal.) it was probably a accidental oversight. If anything it’s “ Anger and Revenge can lead to tragedy since it clouds your mind.

I think it’s more that you’re thinking of this from the wrong angle. Neither I nor anon meant ‘pro govt’ in the sense of ‘the government is competent and perfect’— we meant pro government in the sense that the ending absolutely proposes siding with Vincent and straight up killing Leo, after everything he has done for Vince, and everything he’s been through, is a viable option on par with Leo killing Vince. It isn’t. They aren’t ethically comparable endings by any stretch of the imagination. And expecting anyone, even a decent % of players, to side with Vince, means proposing it’s a fair option. Even in Leo’s end, Leo clearly feels bad about Vince, and you get a long sequence fo Vince’s funeral, honoring him complete with uniform and 21 gun solute. It’s somber, like you’ve lost something. If the game is about revenge blinding you, it sides with someone, and it at least carries a note of pity, not regret, towards the character in Vince’s shoes.

And this /is/ absolutely something video game developers consider and test in groups. It’s not an oversight and you’re not ‘meant’ to side with Leo en mass. The creator has said so and that there’s no third end to make it upsetting around the bond and what both characters have to lose, and that last choice, which puts them on equal footing, which they are not. Objectively, Leo is the party in the right. Not that he’s perfect, but Vince is absolutely terrible, and Leo is sympathetic. They push the idea somehow because he’s following the law, this makes Vince, if not necessarily objectively right, certainly on the board as potentially correct. That’s a gross philosophy, and he’s not. And like I said, it’s not an oversight—game companies consider this. The goal going in is to have a 50-50 skew. It’s very similar to the end of TWDG S2 as far as sequences go. You don’t build an end sequence like that except for the express purpose of a hard choice, and the act alone of making siding with Leo a hard choice, is pro law and partially at minimum legitimizes every horrible thing Vince did. It pushes the ideology that the law is right on its own, regardless of the circumstances, and should be considered when deciding what’s right, to an extent that is, by definition, pro-law and pro-government.

TLDR: I’m not saying they make the government look competent, I’m saying they push the idea the government is just. And just arbitrarily. Which they do. Even in situations it’s objectively not.

#ask #a way out spoilers #a way out #anonymous

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snellyfish · 3 years

Photo

I’ve been dragged back into TWDG hell thanks to Lance, I’ve been replaying and streaming it to friends and we’re just about to finish season 1!! but my brain is SUPER fixated on when we inevitably get to 400 Days so here’s some mindless doodling for that because I am a simple man 😭😭 It is SO obvious who my favorite characters are it’s embarrassing LMA O

Me and my bestfriend at the time brainwormed super hard on the potential dynamic of bad influence uncle Nate to a little brat Becca and it has LITERALLY never escaped my mind, even after 6-7 years, I even got someone to do a modelswap for it at one point and I CRIED

ALSO Into The Fray was my SHIT, probably the only fanfic I actually kept up with,,,and as someone who religiously roleplayed Becca back in the day, it really fed me and the like two other Vince roleplayers in the world...so many brotps for little Becca.

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clemster · 2 years

Note

Fave character from each seasons and least fave character from each season (this includes dlcs)

- SEASON ONE FAVE -

clem

- SEASON ONE FOE -

larry

- SEASON TWO FAVE -

clem

- SEASON TWO FOE -

carlos

- SEASON THREE FAVE -

… clem

- SEASON THREE FOE -

david

- SEASON FOUR FAVE -

…………. clem

- SEASON FOUR FOE -

abel

- 400 DAYS FAVE -

vince

- 400 DAYS FOE -

becca

- MICHONNE FAVE -

pete

- MICHONNE FOE -

randal (i think that’s his name? either that or rascal 🤡🤡)

#clemster asks #twdg #the walking dead game #twdg clementine #twdg larry #twdg carlos #twdg david #twdg abel #twdg vince #twdg becca #twdg pete #twdg randal

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dalekofchaos · 1 year

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Walking Dead Tales

If there is a new TWDG season, it should be this.

It's an anthology season that ties in pretty much all the loose ends of the story. Episode about Molly, episode about Christa, about Kenny(if you chose Wellington or left Kenny behind) episode about Jane(if you left her behind after shooting Kenny) episode about the remaining 400 days characters, episode about Mike, Arvo and Bonnie, episode about Javier and his family, episode about either Lilly or James depending on the choices you made and one final episode about Clem AJ and the Ericson school kids just living their live in school.(yeah fuck you, the comic is not canon) It's a nice way to finish up the last loose ends and a sweet send off to clem and the others. Not perfect but it's what i would like instead of a full season that continues the story after the final season.

#TWDG #Telltale's The Walking Dead #Clementine #TWDG Clementine #TWDG Christa #TWDG Kenny #TWDG Jane #TWDG Vince #TWDG Becca #TWDG Wyatt #TWDG Shel #TWDG Russell #Javier Garcia #Kate Garcia #Gabriel Garcia #TWDG AJ

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ericsonclan · 2 years

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Take My Hand

Summary: Mari and Tenn finish Christmas shopping and Mari tries to work up the nerve to ask a very important question.

Word Count: 1772

Read on AO3:

“Is this is the last of your Christmas shopping?”

Tenn’s question shook Mariana out of her thoughts and she turned to look over at her boyfriend. He had insisted on carrying their bags of gifts and both of his arms were layered with bags of all sizes and colors. Mariana nodded. “Yep, that baseball card was the last thing on my list,” She was glad she’d been able to track it down and snag it before the signed card sold to someone else; Uncle Javi would love it. Now that their tasks were done though there was nothing left to distract her from the true object of her thoughts: the ring burning a hole in her pocket.

“Hopefully we can fit everything in the trunk on the way up tomorrow,” Tenn adjusted one of the bags on his right arm. “Guess we’ll replace the space we save giving out presents with the ones we receive,” They were staying with both of their families over the holidays which meant driving out to West Virginia to see Tenn’s family then back to their regular stomping grounds to spend New Year’s with Mari’s uncles, brother and sister in law.

“You hoping for anything in particular for Christmas?” Mari had asked Tenn this question a dozen times already, but she needed to distract herself to keep up the nerve to see this plan through.

Tenn shrugged. “Not really. I already have everything I need. I mean, art supplies are always a safe bet but I know that’s not what you want to hear,”

“I’ll just have to keep getting creative with the sort of art supplies I buy so you never know what to expect,” Mari grinned up at her boyfriend. “I’ll have to keep some tricks up my sleeve though for graduation gift surprises. A few months from now you’ll be a full-fledged graduate!”

“Just an undergraduate,” Tenn replied, but the quiet smile on his lips betrayed his excitement.

“That’s a huge step, babe. There’s tons of people that don’t even get that far. And who knows if grad school’s even in the cards – you don’t have to figure that out yet,” Mariana hurried over her last words, not wanting to dwell on the subject. If Tenn decided he did want to pursue grad school, that could complicate things. He could have to move away, and Mari didn’t like the thought of that at all. She didn’t want to shift gears to a long-distance relationship after years of being together but the thought of moving with him also terrified her. There was a big enough shift coming with the question she was about to pop; they didn’t need any more challenges.

“You’re right. Besides, I’ve been thinking it would be nice to work out in the real world for a while. That way I’ll no longer be the struggling student whose girlfriend needs to foot all the bills,”

“We do just fine as is,” Mariana replied, her arm slipping round Tenn’s as they walked toward the car. “Wait till you make your big splash in the art world – then it’ll be my turn to be arm candy,”

They dropped their gift bags off in the car, tucking them safely away in the trunk before locking up and heading toward the Ladybird Café, their favorite spot for a bite to eat. As they made their way out of the parking garage snow began to fall, providing a fresh slate in contrast to the brown sludge on the bottom of their boots.

Mariana inadvertently shivered and Tenn paused, looking concerned. “You alright?”

“Just realized I forgot my scarf back at home. No big, it’s not far to-” She froze as she felt a warmth encircle her.

Tenn had taken off his red knit scarf. He tucked in snugly in place before pressing a kiss to his girlfriend’s cheek. “Better?”

“Much,” They continued to walk along hand in hand with the scarf and the blush on Mariana’s cheeks keeping her more than warm enough. She was so lucky to have met Tenn. Now that she had him she wanted to keep him forever, even if that meant asking the big question no matter how terrified it made her.

Ladybird Café was fairly busy today with all the holiday shoppers, but most took their orders to go, rushing in from the cold outdoors only to rush back out once their steaming drinks and warm, buttery treats were handed over. There were still a few tables open. Mari was grateful. It would have been awkward for the staff if they’d had to explain to waiting customers why the table by the window with the street-view must remain reserved.

As the pair of lovebirds walked through the door, the owner of Ladybird Café came over to greet them with a warm smile. Bonnie looked a bit more frazzled than usual but her demeanor also held the glow of Christmas cheer. “Hey there, you two. What’ll it be? The usual?”

“Yep, thanks, Bonnie,” Mariana replied, giving her a subtle nod to let her know that the plan was on. Pausing to let Tenn help her take off her coat, she circled the table and helped him with his. Scooting as close together as the table between them would allow, the two held hands as they watched the snow outside continue to fall.

“Hopefully the snow won’t get too heavy,” Tenn commented, his eyes drifting from the world outside to his love’s face. “It’s perfect like this, almost magical,”

“You’ve always been a sucker for winter,” Mari smiled fondly at her boyfriend. It was always so charming whenever Tenn became lost in the beauty of something.

“There’s just something so peaceful about winter. The world gets to rest and heal from whatever went on in the last year and the earth is covered in a soft, perfect layer of snow: a fresh start,” Tenn’s gaze travelled over to Mari. “Your favorite season is spring though, right?”

Mariana nodded. “Yep. Everything’s so fresh and new, you can smell the change in the air like something big is about to happen. Then something does and there’s color everywhere and plants blooming and birds singing and…” Mariana drifted off, sidetracked by her own thoughts. Her thumb rubbed absentmindedly against the side of the ring box, anxious for the next step of the plan to be put into place.

“Mari? Everything OK?”

“Yes! Perfect! Is that our drinks I see?” Mariana waved over at Vince who was moseying over with their drinks: a chai latte for Tenn and a caramel mocha for Mari. He set them down before the couple with a wink. “You crazy kids enjoy,” With that he was off, but Mariana could tell where he was headed: over to the back corner of the café by the kitchen doors where several members of the staff had being loitering about for a suspicious amount of time, all watching the scene unfold with the subtlety of children, giggling and chatting amongst themselves as they eyed the pair.

Tenn barely glanced at his drink as he took it in his hands, smiling at his girlfriend. “To the beginning of our Christmas break,” With that he raised the cup to his lips, causing Mariana to cry out in fright.

“Wait, don’t drink that!”

Tenn froze, looking over in confusion. “Why?”

“Uhhhh…” She needed him to see the latte art on top of his drink and the special words it held. “Your drink- it looked like it had a hair in it!”

“Really?” Tenn lowered the drink, searching for the stray hair only for his eyes to widen in surprise as he saw the words inside the foam: Marry Me? Looking up, he found that Mariana had stumbled down onto one knee on the floor and was rummaging in her pocket wildly.

“C’mon, c’mon…” Mari cursed herself for wearing skinny jeans today. After a handful of seconds that felt like a lifetime, she wrested the box free and held it out open so that the warm café lights could dance upon the simple gold ring. Heart racing, Mariana tumbled right into her speech, voice wavering. “Tenn, we’ve been dating a couple years now and I know you want to wait, wait till you’re graduated and have a job and can provide for me and all that shit but I don’t care! I just want to be with you forever and it felt right to do this at your favorite time of year in our favorite place so I could let you know how much I love you and how happy you’d make me if…” Swallowing roughly, Mariana forced herself to muster the courage to say those final terrifying words. “If you’ll be my husband. Marry me, Tenn?”

Each second that passed felt like a torment. Mariana’s eyes were locked on the floor, afraid to look up and see an answer she feared in Tenn’s eyes. But finally the silence broke.

“Yes,”

Mariana’s eyes shot up to see Tenn’s own brown eyes sparkling with tears of joy. “Really?”

“Yes, of course! I want to marry you, Mari, more than anything!” Tenn reached out a hand to help her up but given the fact she was holding the ring box Mariana awkwardly withdrew her hand to put it away then thrust it back out to put the ring on Tenn’s finger first only to find her boyfriend – no, fiancée, had joined her in kneeling on the ground and was pulling her into his arms in a gentle hug.

Mariana felt tears prick her eyes as she melted into Tenn’s embrace. He had said yes. They were getting married. Turning her head, she meant to whisper something in Tenn’s ear only to find his head had turned towards her too; their lips found each other in a slow, tender kiss. It was only after they finally pulled apart that Mariana heard the cheering behind them.

The staff came forward to congratulate them, Bonnie at the forefront. She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue, beaming brightly at the pair. “I’m so happy for you two! Congratulations on your engagement!” Grabbing Mariana’s hand, she helped her to her feet while Vince helped Tenn then the whole staff went around sharing hugs and congratulations with the happy couple.

As Mariana found herself lost in the crowd of well-wishers, her eyes caught Tenn’s and they shared a knowing smile that made her heart ache with joy. That was her future husband over there. They’d stick together through thick and thin. And the moment he’d said yes he’d given her the greatest Christmas gift of all.

#twdg #twdg tenn #twdg mariana #twdg bonnie #twdg vince #twdg tenniana #twdg christmas #fanfic #ericson's diner au #ericsonclanchristmaschallenge

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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 3 years

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Top 5 Missed Opportunities in 400 Days

Hey, remember when TWDG Season One ended and we were a group of emotional messes? Remember when Season Two was announced and we were gonna get a DLC to bridge S1 and S2 together and we were extra excited for everything to come? Because I do.

To be fair, I truly did enjoy 400 Days when it first came out years ago, and it’s not like I hate it now or anything... I just can’t help but look at it and see wasted potential on every level-- the characters and their development, the stories, the impact our choices made for the future...

The concept of 400 Days-- a collection of stories that follow different protagonists and the situations they find themselves in within the zombie apocalypse that eventually connect to one another-- is a great one. I love the idea of mini-episodes that are all connected, and one choice you made in one episode affects the next episode you play... so what happened? Why does it fall flat now when we look back on it?

Well, a major reason for me is the fact that all four seasons of the main game are complete. When 400 Days came out, we didn’t have S2, so we didn’t know what our choices meant. That lead to us theorizing about what would happen if we got everyone to go with Tavia, or what would happen if no one but Bonnie went. Why was Bonnie the only one who agrees no matter what? What could that mean?

And we have those answers now, and it’s a let down... especially when it could’ve been so much better. That’s what I wanna talk about today. I wanna talk about what I think are the biggest missed opportunities in 400 Days.

5. Giving Shel and her dumb sister actual personalities

Of all the stories you can play in 400 Days, Shel’s episode is probably the worst due to the fact that she and her dumb sister lack any memorable qualities or personalities.... which is such a shame because this story also has one of the more interesting moral dilemma’s.

In this story, you play as Shel who is surviving in the diner/gas station with a group that consists of some of the cancer patients from S1. Remember them? They were with Vernon and helped him steal out boat? Yeah, they got away and apparently Vernon died and the group feel apart over the damn boat, but you don’t get much more than that.

Shel has this dumb sister who I can’t be bothered to remember her name because she’s that bland. Her sister is basically Shel’s personality. Take away her sister, and you’re left with nothing.

They’re going for the “Oh man, I don’t know what this world is doing to my dumb sister, it’s changing her, I don’t want her to have to do things like murder, I want her to have a normal childhood,” but that falls flat when they don’t give me a reason to care about them in the first place.

Like I said, the moral dilemma for this one IS interesting-- They catch someone who tried to steal from them. The man is injured pretty bad, and he can’t speak English, so there is no way for them to communicate with him. Roman, the dude who acts as the leader of our group, says that they can’t keep him here but they can’t send him back out there... and that means killing him.

So what do you do? Do you risk it by giving this man a second chance, give him some food and send him on his way and hope he doesn’t come back and do more harm? Or do you kill this man so that there is no risk in him coming back to do harm?

And you as Shel are the swing vote. That’s not an easy choice to make, plus you gotta think about how that choice is gonna affect your dumb sister?

Except it doesn’t really matter.... at all. No matter what you do, Roman still cracks down and wants to murder another member of the group who tries to escape, Shel’s dumb sister is still a brat who talks big but never does anything, and Shel is still a stale piece of white bread.

If they wanted us to care, then give Shel something other than her sister. Maybe they could’ve had her be someone who doesn’t really have a backbone, she tries to avoid conflict and is intimidated by Roman, she doesn’t speak up even when she should, and then her dumb sister could be the opposite-- Loud, take charge, wants to get more involved with protecting the group, isn’t afraid to stand up to Roman which causes him to take her under his wing and wanna turn her into a murder baby... which Shel definitely doesn’t want so what could she do to keep her dumb sister away from him?

If they wanted to tell the story of a woman worried her sister is going to grow up cold and ruthless because of the world around her, then tell that story. Show us that story, show us what happens when you agree to kill the man and now her dumb sister genuinely believes that murder is an easy solution to their problems, so when it comes to the woman who escaped, the dumb sister volunteers to kill her and Roman lets her... and you as Shel gotta decide if you wanna fight that by running away or just let it happen.

I dunno man, but Shel’s story is my least favorite of the bunch because I have no reason to care about either of them, and that’s a waste.

4. Nate’s a shithead so they should’ve used him more

Well, hello again, Nate... we meet once more here on T5F.

So yeah, I’ve talked about this crazy bastard on a previous list about characters no one likes, so you’re probably wondering why I’m saying that he should’ve been around more.

That’s the thing, I hate Nate. He’s gross, he’s brutal, and he’s uncomfortable with those crazy eyes of his... but he would’ve made for a fun antagonist in more of 400 Days, as well as in S2.

Depending on what episode you play first, Nate can either first appear in Wyatt’s story, or Russell’s. In Wyatt’s story, Nate is chasing down him and Eddie after Eddie accidentally killed a guy who was with Nate, and Nate here is chasing them down for some revenge. He eventually finds them, and who ever is left in the car as no choice but to flee, leaving the other behind.

Nate plays a more active part in Russell’s story, picking him off the highway and chatting with him on the way to the diner/gas station, and y’know how Shel has no personality? Well, I think I know where all the personality went because Nate’s got quite a bit of it. He’s one of the more memorable parts of 400 Days for a reason. He has a weird charisma about him, but then he starts talkin’ gross and almost gets Russell’s face eaten off by a walker and you get the idea that this man isn’t quite right, y’know?

Then we make it to the diner/gas station where they get shot at, and Nate insists on finishing this... as in, let’s go in and shoot whoever is shooting us. They sneak in, and the old man there says Nate is back to finish the job... which isn’t great. Nate acts like he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but then suggests they kill the old couple using a line from the story Russell told her.... y’know, the story that’s kinda triggering for Russell.

At this point, Russell can either tell Nate off and leave, or he can stay where Nate will kill the couple right in front of him and claim that Russell is his boy and it is not great.

We know that either way, Russell gets away from Nate. We never see him again so he could be dead, turned, or alive. All I can think about is the fact that they created the beginnings of a compelling antagonist who could’ve bled over into S2 at Howe’s or even afterward. Like if we showed up at Howe’s and were locked up, only to find Nate locked up with us. Or maybe instead of Arvo, Nate could’ve been the one who stumbled upon Clementine and Jane and was overpowered and threatened by them... only for him to stalk them and confront them about what happened.

Either way, there was a missed opportunity to do more with Nate.

3. Focusing on the wrong things within Bonnie’s story

Alright, everyone’s favorite: Bonnie.

Bonnie is the only character in 400 Days who actually matters in terms of S2... and even then, her story doesn’t matter too much...which is dumb.

For me, Bonnie’s story is such a waste... like okay, right from the start they establish that Bonnie is a recovering addict, and I’m intrigued. The idea of an addict surviving in the apocalypse while trying to kick the stuff is interesting as hell.... but the story kinda just glosses over it unless Dee is insulting Bonnie by calling her a junkie.

No, the story we got was Bonnie breaking up a marriage. Great.

There’s this dude Leland who has a wife, Dee, but he and Bonnie are getting awfully snug with one another... so that’s real nice. Dee eventually finds them giving each other the look and breaks it up in a passive aggressive way before revealing she found a bag of supplies. This happens to be a bag that she “found” at the diner/gas station where Shel’s group is currently staying.

An argument breaks out between Leland and Dee with Bonnie in the middle and it’s not compelling at all. You can just sit there and do nothing and it doesn’t matter, they continue to fight until Shel’s group spots them and they gotta run.

Bonnie ends up shot and falls behind, and we do get a cool scene where she has to make her way through this cornfield without getting caught. I do like that bit, it’s fun.

But then she gets away, grabs a weapon, and hits someone walking up on her... that someone happened to be Dee. Whoops. Dee calls her a junkie, saying she killed her, and then dies.

Now comes the big choice: Do you tell Leland the truth or lie to cover your ass?

While this is an interesting choice on paper, it doesn’t matter. Leland isn’t with Bonnie in the end no matter what, and Bonnie will always agree to go with Tavia.

Personally, I wanted the fact that she was a recovering addict to be more front and center. Throw Leland and Dee away, have Bonnie travelling on her own. Have her going through withdrawals, show us her struggle of still being hooked on drugs while surviving in the zombie apocalypse... have her stumble across Shel’s group and from a distance, she sees they have medical supplies. She’s so desperate that she sneaks in at night and steals as much as she can, but gets caught.

We could still have her running away through the cornfield with the drugs, she can still get shot and everything... but maybe she’s so desperate for them that she ends up killing one of Shel’s group members, and she sees just what she’s willing to do in order to get these drugs, and you can make a choice of abandoning the drugs and quitting, or taking the drugs and running away... and it could actually affect Bonnie in the ending and into S2.

Plus, her killing one of Shel’s group would help add to the debate in her episode, y’know?

I just... I wanted that story... not what we got.

2. The past is more interesting than the present

This goes hand in hand with #3, but applies to almost everyone else.

All of these characters that we get to play as have more interesting backstories that I was more compelled by than what they’re actually going through in their stories.

The first time we meet Vince, he straight up murders a dude who is pleading for his life, saying he doesn’t even know Vince’s brother. Like... okay, what the hell happened here? What happened to Vince’s brother that made her commit murder like that?

How about Wyatt and Eddie? They’re running from Nate after Eddie killed the guy he was with. They’re panicking, Eddie is covered in the dude’s blood, Wyatt doesn’t know if Eddie meant to shoot or not. You can tell they’re known each other a long time, too. They’re a couple of stoners who got themselves into hot water.

Oh and Russell? His story is interesting as hell! He was in a group where the main guy kept going on about how seven if the perfect number for a group, ya can’t break seven, and this group eventually started killing so they could steal, so Russell got away and is now on his way to find his grandmother’s place.

Once again... Bonnie is a recovering drug addict in the apocalypse.

The only one without an interesting backstory is Shel... which I guess is fitting. The boring character doesn’t even get a fun backstory, she just exists.

It’s not a good sign when I’m more interested in the past, y’know? Vince’s I can give a bit of a pass to because he killed that guy before the apocalypse broke out, and his dilemma takes place right at the start, and it’s done pretty well.

Everyone else though? I already explained Bonnie’s, but what about Russell and his seven group? We could’ve gotten that story of a group that starts out good, the guys gives his philosophy on the dumber seven, Russell meets that one girl... but then things start to grow dark when the group starts to become desperate enough to murder and steal, the guy keeps going on about the number seven so they can’t invite anyone in, and they can’t let anyone go... so Russell has to sneak away or something.

Wyatt and Eddie? Show ‘em there when Nate and his buddy show up. Give us the tension of “are these guys chill or are they planning something?” when Eddie gets into a fight with the other dude and ends up shooting him, Nate gets pissed, and they gotta flee. Wyatt doesn’t know if Eddie shot him intentionally or not, it’s a whole, thing and they can still hit the cop and do that whole thing, too.

I just... I think problem is the stories were a bit too compact and short, not giving the characters a chance to develop or the stories enough compel to them.

1. It doesn’t matter who goes to Howe’s or not and that’s dumb

Sigh..... so yeah, obviously this is #1.

My biggest problem with 400 Days is that is doesn’t affect much. Even Bonnie’s story doesn’t affect what she does in S2.

As for the rest, if you only got Bonnie at Howe’s, then the rest and their fate’s are unknown. But if you do manage to get everyone to go with Tavia, they are at Howe’s... the problem is, they show up in small cameos that literally do nothing.

Ya got Wyatt who walks past Clementine like “Dude you better hurry, Bill doesn’t like to wait” like.... what, am I just supposed to get excited and point at him like “oooohhh I know him! I know him! That Wyatt! Hehehehe!” because I didn’t do that...

Or Vince randomly showing up to catch Tavia smoking, or Shel and her dumb sister making a comment about Sarah, it’s just dumb.

And then Howe’s falls and their fates are left unknown anyway.... so it didn’t matter.

I’ll just say what most of us were thinking.... Why weren’t they the cabin group? No, seriously, why weren’t the 400 Day’s crew the cabin group? Because it was too hard given the fact that there are so many combos? That’s fair, but if that’s the case, then what was the point of 400 Days?

Did they just want to tell a bunch of smaller stories within this world but never actually planned on using them outside of fun cameos in S2, with the exception of Bonnie? That probably is the case... and I think my disappointment in 400 Days does stem from being in the fandom at the time and getting hyped to see what they would do with these characters, only for it to be this.

Not only that, but then I started to think about how they could’ve done with game but with the actual cabin group from S2. Luke, Nick, Pete could’ve had their own story dealing with Nick’s mom getting bit after they took in a bite victim.

Rebecca and Alvin could’ve had a story about their marriage kinda falling apart despite them trying hard, and this could help make her affair with Carver make more sense.

Carlos and Sarah could have a story that explains Carlos’ over protectiveness and as well as explore Sarah as a character.

Hell, give Mike a story.

Give JANE a story about her and Jaime so that her appearing outta no where isn’t jarring, and develops her and the reasons she treats survival the way she does.

There was so much they could’ve done with this idea... and to be honest, if we ever get another game in this series, I would love it in this style but expanded into a season where each episode follows a different character and tells a different story, but in the end they all end up connecting. There is SO MUCH you can do with that!

But alas..... 400 Days for me is full of missed opportunities and I wish it wasn’t.

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Honorable Mentions

-Eddie only appeared in Wyatt’s episode and then disappeared until his death in S4.... Eddie’s great, should’ve been around more. -Would’ve been nice if the cancer group from S1 was expanded on, give more context to what the hell happened to Vernon and the boat, y’know? -a bit more development for Tavia would’ve been nice, as well... she just kinda shows up at the end and recruits who she can.

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So what are your thoughts on 400 Days? Do you agree with these missed opportunities, or have any to add? Lemme know, it’s always fun to chat.

Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D

Next week’s T5F Top 5 Reasons Gabe’s Pretty Great, Y’all Are Just Mean

#twdg t5f #twdg 400 days #twdg vince #twdg wyatt #twdg shel #twdg russell #twdg bonnie #twdg nate #next weeks t5f inspired by reddit

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