AN: Geez, I'm surprised at how many of you seem to be reading this… do you all secretly enjoy reading about Kenny going through emotional hell? ;) Haha, you sneaky little bums! This final chapter's going to be a bit of a doozy – some of the events are going to shift more than in the game. You'll see soon enough – I didn't want to follow the storyline word for word in this, you know? So without further ado, here's the final (yes, FINAL) chapter.

Well, ain't this just the prettiest picture of a perfectly fantastic fuck up that you ever did see?

It's bad enough that this little guy's mother just died not even an hour ago, meaning that he'll never have even been old enough to know what she was really like, but now we're sitting on the side of the road in only god knows where with god knows how many supplies and some Russian asshole who distinctly reminds me of Ben for some strange reason. Maybe it's the way that they both seemed to have somehow screwed up everything they have ever touched, but this Commie prick and his dog shit little group apparently had the bright idea to attack us for supplies; killing themselves and crippling our group in the process. And for what purpose other than some petty fucking revenge scheme?! At least with Ben, you knew right away that he was just some clueless, frightened little shit who just wanted to not get eaten alive – he was completely clueless in every stupid action he ever took.

But Arvo? This robot-legged prick? No, he knew exactly what he was doing when he and his posse showed up, and he should've paid the price right after the firefight ended. If it wasn't for the red-haired Mother Theresa over there and the rest of these pacifist clowns, then we'd already be rid of the pest and could just focus on moving up north; up to Wellington where we belong.

Shivering as a chilly winter wind comes in from the farmer's field a ways off, I bring the little bundle of joy closer to my chest as he huddles together in his pine green blanket. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the concept… having an actual newborn to take care of in this day and age. I honest to god didn't think it was possible after Duck… God damn it…

…but now, after just taking a few solid looks at this baby cuddled up all nice and snuggly in my arms, I'm slowly starting to think that maybe miracles like these actually can happen, even during the worst of times. Maybe… maybe this is a sign of things to come; a calling that I have to answer and fight towards. Rebecca and Alvin… neither of them might be here anymore, so I'm going to have to grasp onto the reins and start up my parental instincts once again.

Ha, and I thought for sure that my diaper-duties were long behind me!

"Easy there, fella," I soothe, lightly rocking him up and down as his red, rosy cheeks start to worry me a tad. We've gotta get to some shelter, and quickly. Where's that church that Clem had spotted for us earlier? "We're… I'm gonna keep you safe here, little guy. That's a promise I intend to keep – it's you and me against the world now… Alvin Junior…"

Satisfied with the name, and thinking that this would at the very least do his parents' memories some much-deserved justice, I watch as his bright little eyes explore every inch of his surroundings. Duck was largely the same way at that age, and if my experience with kids has taught me anything, this is only going to increase as AJ here gets older. Give it a few years, and he'll probably be wanting to run around everywhere he damn well pleases; searching for clues in his imaginary games and dragging Clementine around like a dog on a leash as she'll have no choice but to comply.

Speaking of which… I think that I've got some pretty heavy-duty apologizing to do. The sooner the better, in fact.

I can't take back what happened, and try as I might the damage has already been permanently etched onto her young, otherwise pristine face. Christ, that kid's gone through so much… I don't rightly think that I can even call her a child anymore, not with all the things she's seen and experienced firsthand. I know that I'm not anywhere close to being a suitable parent for her, and I sure as hell ain't the same as Lee was back then, but I can't help but sometimes feel those same instincts when it comes to her.

So if that's the case, then why have I been hesitating so much to act? Letting Carver brutalise her to that insane degree, lashing out at her back at Parker's Run when, in hindsight, really wasn't her fault. Not entirely, anyways.

Hmph… maybe I need to have a second chance not just from Duck, but fucking Clem too…

"Argh!" Luke suddenly gasps out from his spot on the log; grimacing and hissing in pain after Bonnie puts too much pressure on his wounded leg. I'll give Mr. Pretty Boy over there one thing at least – he's tougher than he looks, travelling with a bullet hole fresh in his thigh and all.

"Sorry, sorry 'bout that…" Bonnie apologizes as she loosens up the tension and briefly glances over at Mike with a worried expression. I'm starting to wonder if any of them have ever tended to a wound before. "But you've gotta stop shiftin' around like that, or things are only gonna get worse for ya. I can't patch you up unless you stay perfectly still."

Briefly stealing a quick glance towards me, Luke tries to ease up his tense shoulders as he leans back and buries his head in his hands. Something tells me that his leadership days, at least for the time being, are pretty much finished at this point. The man can barely walk, let alone be fit enough to stay out in front and take charge. Squealing like a little school girl whenever he shimmies around too much isn't exactly helping to inspire the masses here.

So yeah, I retract my former statement about his apparent toughness.

"Yeah… yeah, I get it. Just hurts like you won't even believe right now," he remarks as Mike walks over to check in on our Russian trashcan who's tied up securely to a coniferous tree nearby. He'd better not be giving that punk any of our supplies! He's a god-damn piece of shit, and he deserves to be treated like one!

Forcing myself to ignore those two for fear of doing anything with little Alvie in my possession, I turn to look on over to Clem and the runaway that she apparently calls a friend. Now that right there is just a huge problem waiting to happen – Jane's almost as untrustworthy as Arvo, and that's saying something since I pretty much have my doubts about everyone in the group. Did Jane really think that nobody would question why she came back, or why she's hanging around Clementine so much? Well tough shit, girlie! I don't exactly know the details, but I know that you're filling that girl's head with all the crazy, loner bullshit that you seem to abide by on a daily basis!

As far as I'm concerned, Jane, you should've just stayed gone… I don't trust you, and likely never will.

Noticing said person holding up some bandages, a small cloth and a bottle of peroxide, I shake my head and tsk in annoyance. Damn woman's gonna screw that shit up, I know it! I bet she's never had to use that in her entire life, let alone on an eleven year old!

"Kenny…" Bonnie trails off warningly as I stomp my way over towards the duo; careful not to upset AJ as I come to a stop behind a crouched Jane.

Waiting for her to turn her head around, since Clem's obviously not too inclined to be talking to me right now, I narrow my brow as Jane looks towards me.

"Gimme the bottle."

"Umm… I think I've got it. Thanks," Jane brushes me off, but I'm not taking no for an answer as I grasp onto her shoulder tightly.

"It wasn't a question," I inform her with an icy tone. "Just let me do it – I don't want you messin' her up even further, and this is my responsibility. Not yours. So I'm gonna tell you one last time," I continue, holding my ground as she stands up to her full height, "give. Me. The bottle."

With Clementine really not having an opinion on the matter, since one way or another she likely just wants her eye to get tidied up, Jane rolls her eyes as she heavily sighs and practically shoves the medical equipment into my outstretched hand.

"Asshole…" she mumbles, but I tune her out as I offer the baby over to Clementine to hold onto. Without a word, she accepts the bundle as he coos in her mother-like grasp. The girl's a natural at this, through and through.

"So… can I…?" I trail off, asking for permission as she continues to cradle AJ. Taking that as a silent acceptance, I carefully remove her hat – still stained with somebody's blood – and place it down beside her. It's weird that I never see Clem without this dirty, old thing, even though the same could probably be said about me as well.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly unwrap the bandage secured around her head as I try to keep my composure. Just as I feared, the injury is far too extensive for repair. There's dried blood and puss all along the swollen sections of Clem's eye, and I highly doubt that she could force her eyelid to open even if she wanted to. What kind of a monster would be capable of inflicting this kind of treatment?

…or maybe the better question is, what kind of monster would allow this shit to happen when they were standing right there? I'm pretty much just as guilty as Carver was…

"It's ugly, isn't it?" Clementine mumbles, noting my hesitance as I'm caught staring in regret. By the tone of her voice, it almost sounds as though she's feeling self-conscious about it; something that I definitely didn't expect.

At least she's talking to me now, however shitty the circumstances might be.

"Come on, darlin'. You know that ain't true," I encourage, unscrewing the lid as I pour a decent amount of peroxide onto the cloth. "If anything, I think it makes you look like even more of a badass."

"Kenny, I'm half blind…"

Unintentionally making me feel more guilty about the whole sordid affair, I bite my tongue and focus on the task at hand – cleaning out the wound before it gets infected. I ain't no doctor, so I don't rightly know how long this bleeding is going to last for, but I know for damn sure how sensitive a person's eye can be, especially when it's injured like this. This medicine stings enough on open wounds as it is, so I can't even imagine how painful this is going to be.

Noticing me eyeing her and the cloth numerous times, Clementine clears her throat as she garners my full attention. "It's now or never, Kenny," she remarks, scrunching up her face as if she's preparing for the impact. "There's no need to avoid it – this is gonna hurt like hell. I've been through this before…"

"What?!"

"Just lay it on me… please, can we just get this stupid thing over with?" she dodges my question, practically begging me as I sorrowfully comply. This girl's got bigger stones than anyone that I know, kids and adults included. Clem's pretty much making me look like a complete wuss in comparison, and even though I'm pretty concerned knowing that she's had to use this substance herself once before, I know deep down that this shit's gotta get done.

Holding the cloth up to the swollen area, Clementine instantly reels back and whimpers as the medicine works its magic. This has gotta sting like a bitch, but without another warning I hold her shoulder gently with one hand and continue to disinfect and treat the wound with the other. The rest of the group must've heard all the commotion going on over here, since Mike's hollering at me if everything's alright, but I just continue to wipe. This fucking eye is all my fault, and I just need to keep wiping away my mistakes.

Wipe away all the wrongs… wipe away all my regret; my doubts, failures and miseries. I won't fuck up like this again.

"KENNY!" Mike interrupts my thought process as he roughly yanks me back by the collar and I fall backwards into the snow. "Jesus, man! She told you to stop like six times! It's fucking clean, man!"

Snapping out of my daze, my gaze turns to absolute horror and terror as I see Clementine laying on her back; getting looked at by Jane as Bonnie hovers nearby. Even Luke has hobbled over on his own to check on the girl, and that's when I realize that I had just gone too far.

Fuck.

"Oh my god… I'm… I'm so sorry, Clem! I-I didn't mean…" I stumble over my own words once again; glaring sharply at Arvo as he spits on the ground and mutters something in his native language. But I'm far too distracted at the moment to pay him any attention – did I just make things worse? Am I being a god damn hypocrite here?

Picking a wailing AJ up from the ground, Bonnie scans the area for walkers and sighs in relief when there are none to be found. "Come on y'all. We'd better get out of this cold while the sun's still up," she advises as I break my way through and bend down towards Clementine; worry etched into my very being as she sits up on her own free will.

Shaking the snow off of her jacket, she ignores any offers of assistance as she re-wraps the bandage around her head with haste. Feeling completely useless and powerless to do anything, I stifle what's left of my pride and sheepishly hand Clem back her ball cap; issuing out quick, successive apologies as the rest of the group start trekking down a ways.

"Kenny stop…" she shakes her head, wearing a smile of all things as she chuckles lightly through the pain. "It's… it's fine. I'm okay, and… thank you…"

Only feeling a temporary amount of relief, but a whirlwind of gratitude, I place my hands in my coat pockets and hang a little bit near the back; wondering exactly what it is that's going through that girl's mind.

Why the hell is she so quick to forgive?

"Don't come over here!"

I don't think that things could look any more bleak than they are right now. Of course the Ruskie just had to try and take off right after we managed to find that church, and of course our group just had to try and follow the bastard all the way over to an unfrozen section of river to try and catch him. Bonnie and Mike both got separated from us trying to outrun a large pack of walkers, since apparently that town across the river was chalk-full of the undead. Who knows where the Russian shithead may have taken off to now?

There was no way of us knowing until it was far too late, but now we have an even bigger problem: Jane's about to go down to a watery grave, with nobody around to keep her from doing so. If she lets go of the rock that she's clutching onto for dear life, then it's game over.

And as much as it might irritate me having her loitering around, in the end I know that the four of us remaining are going to need each other.

"Fuck… just hang on, Jane!" Luke hollers out; trying to judge whether or not it'd be a good idea for him to try and swim out to her. With a wrecked leg like what he's got at the moment, there won't be any chance for him at all. There's no need to have two untimely deaths. "I can make it! You just have to trust me! It's gonna be alright!"

"Urgh… god damn it!" she belts out, getting incredibly startled as Jane struggles to keep a firm grip on the slippery rocks. Water incessantly crashes into her body as she coughs some of the liquid out and practically freezes in its cold embrace.

At this rate, the hypothermia might claim her as fast as the river ever will.

"Kenny, we have to do something!" Clementine remarks worriedly; still clutching onto little AJ as I try to look for a fallen stick or something that could potentially bring her to shore. Upon finding no such luck, I clench a fist in annoyance. None of this should be happening right now! We had a huge chance to make it into the church, but it all got shot to hell when we least expected it to!

"Luke, stay on that shoreline and don't let go, understand?" I tell him as I quickly come up with the only plan that I can think of. As he nods and clutches one hand onto the edge of a tree stump nearby, I clutch onto his other hand as I start to wade out into the freezing cold river. Sometimes in order to get the best results, you have to take the biggest risks. When I get about halfway in, I extend my arm as far as it can go to try and grasp onto Jane's hand. "Damn it, woman! You've gotta reach out!"

With water quickly splashing against her face and her eyes slowly drooping downwards, I quickly realize that she's starting to breathe the stuff in; meaning that in a few moments she's inevitably going to die. Unless she can somehow magically develop gills and swim like a fish, then Jane's going to become just another statistic.

That is, until Clementine quickly jumps into the river right past me and clutches onto another stone.

"Jesus Christ, get back here, Clem!" I shout over the roaring currents, but the kid's as stubborn as a damn mule. Shaking her head, Clementine clutches onto my left hand as I practically pull my arm out of its socket. Too bad I can't just become Inspector Gadget or some shit to just extend my arm out thirty feet in length, but this is going to have to do for now.

"Gotta… reach!" Clementine pushes harder as she finally brushes her fingertips against Jane's shoulder. When all hope seems lost, Jane groggily realizes that somebody's actually made it on over to her side and lazily grasps onto Clementine; coughing and spluttering as the eleven year old desperately turns her head back towards us. "Okay, we've got her! Reel us in!"

Shuffling my legs to the right, I muster up all of my strength as Luke and I try to keep moving against the current. With all of our clothes completely soaked, the four of us crash onto dry (relatively) land as Jane's body convulses with incessant shakes.

Not even thinking about it, I instantly place two hands over her chest as I press downwards in a rhythmic pattern. One, two, three… one, two, three…

"Come on, shit…" I mutter, performing CPR as I blow air into her mouth; startling Luke and Clem at my persistence with keeping the woman alive. Fuck it if she's a friend or not! You can't hesitate when it comes to saving a life – that's one of the first lessons you get taught when you're out on the open seas!

After about five more presses, the miracle finally occurs as Jane coughs violently and spurts up the water from her lungs; landing in a gross fashion on the side of her face as I step back.

Feeling a pat on the back from Luke as Clementine hurriedly hugs my sternum and goes to tend to Jane, I nod over at the woman as she looks on in appreciation.

Maybe there's a chance for all of us after all.

"Give it a rest, man – I'm sorry, but they're gone," I tell Luke as he longingly glances out the window; peering his eyes through the winter storm that's started to gather outside. Thank god that we managed to get back to the church in time. "There ain't no use in worryin' 'bout the things you can't control. Just give it a rest, Luke."

Patting the seat beside her, Clementine smiles lightly when Luke finally relents and joins the rest of us around the fire. We've got ventilation from the smoke through an opening up above the chapel, but like always, we've kept the flames pretty low to avoid attracting too much attention. Even in the middle of all that snow, you never know whether or not somebody could try and scope you out and take your stuff while you're not looking.

Jane seems… tired, from what I can tell. Then again, we all do really, but she seems significantly more exhausted after that whole river incident.

Clearly she's not quite as agile as she'd like to believe, since I know for a fact that she fell flat on her face trying to jump across those stones in the river. But don't tell her that I said that, okay?

"So… the name's AJ now, is it?" Luke breaks his concern, trying to focus on something a little more light-hearted for a change while we actually have the chance. Watching as Clementine rocks him gently to sleep, the man smirks as he rests his arm over his healthy leg. "You know, out of all the names there were, Alvin Junior didn't even come to mind at all. Weird, isn't it?"

"Well, what did you want to call him then?" Clem teases, poking him in the ribs as he winces slightly.

Scratching his chin in thought, Luke lists a few names off his fingers as the rest of us roll our eyes. "Well, let's see… there's David, Joey, Franklin, Jim…"

"You really think he looks like a Jim?" Jane asks with a chuckle as he shrugs his shoulders; their previous awkwardness around each other temporarily forgotten. However, I definitely haven't forgotten about their little… ahem, "love-making session" back at Parker's Run – that got buried in my mind and rightly pissed me off, but I can kind of understand it. I was twenty something at one point too, you know.

"Haha, alright, maybe not Jim. But definitely a Franklin!"

Blowing a raspberry, I warm up my hands against the flames and rub them together to get more comfortable. "Well, I think you're a little late there, bub. The naming ceremony finished a while ago," I shrug, getting an amusing idea as I glance over to Jane and Luke. "Clem, why don't you get these two amateurs a turn?"

Smirking at Jane's widened eyes and nervous expression, Clementine knows exactly who to hand the boy off to first.

"Clem, no. I-I don't even know what to do here! He's gonna puke!" Jane insists as she's instructed on how to properly hold the child. At first, she seems to be getting the hang of it – awkwardly so, but I guess it's the thought that counts for her first try.

"The two of you are gonna have to learn how to be parents at some point or another… not that I'm implying anything…" I add as Luke blushes furiously and Jane focuses on anything interesting that she can find on the floor. "And you might wanna do it fast," I tell them as I straighten my back out, "especially by the time that we get to Wellington."

All three of them immediately snap their faces up to me as I say that last part, with none of them even noticing that AJ has indeed puked all over Jane's brown jacket. Sigh… I probably should've expected this reaction.

"You can't be serious…"

"I'm completely serious!" I bark back at Jane, knowing it in my gut that there's a community up north somewhere. I may not have any proof other than word of mouth, but I've gotta hold onto that hope. "We sure as shit can't stay holed up here forever! How long is that formula for AJ gonna last, huh? Maybe a few weeks at the most? There ain't no supplies 'round here – north is our best bet. We'll leave at first light."

"Listen man, we can't just go out there on a whim! Who knows if there actually is something up north, let alone if it actually is in Michigan or not?" Luke reasons as I shake my head in disapproval. "Look, we can just take a couple of days to get our bearings, and then come up with a plan that works. I don't want us to get caught out on the road with no set destination, so for the meantime we can just stay and rest up."

Scoffing, I find that sentiment completely ironic with what had just happened with the last great plan he created using the same logic. "The last time we waited around in a crap hole like this, we had just ended up losing – "

"Don't pin Rebecca's death on me, alright?! It wasn't anyone's fault! Don't start pointing fucking fingers now!"

"GUYS!" Clementine hisses, having not to yell since AJ's still barely on the brink of sleep. With a steely glance towards the three of us, she manages to silence the crowd. "Can we just… sleep on it, maybe? There's no point in worrying about this right now – we just lost people today, and almost lost another," she remarks sadly, looking at Jane before turning back to me. "Please? It's… it's been a long day."

Feeling whatever annoyance and frustration at their persistence start to fizzle away, I close my eyes and silently nod before mentioning that I'm going to check the upstairs portion of the church. It's dusty and dark, but I can at least tell where I'm going by the low embers that are starting to die down.

Moving a small table out of the stairwell and noticing the long-dead walker leaned up against a the wall upstairs, a bullet in his brain having killed him prior to us arriving, I lean up against a pillar and glance out over the village. A big portion of the place is buried in snow, which really isn't my forte now that I think about it. Being from Florida will do that to a guy.

But at the same time, I can't help but marvel at the beauty of this place. It all looks so serene buried in the glistening snow, almost reminding me of those trips to the mall that I used to take Duck along during Christmas season. He'd sit on some fat, old man's lap and would never be able to tell the difference, despite constantly trying to pluck at the guy's fake beard and put it on his own face. Kat used to take pictures of him while I'd just smile, laugh and shake my head. What a character my boy used to be…

It just makes remembering the fact that he was such a good kid that much more difficult to swallow.

"…wanna be alone?" Clementine suddenly asks as I shake my head.

"No," I reply solemnly, sitting down over the edge as the two of us let our legs dangle in the air. "This… this time, I think I could use some good company like you."

We're all family, Dad! Every one of us! I remember Duck telling me one night back at the motor-inn when I had explained my unease with our new group members.

Family? Son, we barely know these people at all, I had whispered to him as Katjaa lightly slept on the bed close to us. Lee had been on watch on top of the RV if I can recall correctly, but Lilly would likely be taking over in a few hours. Why are you so quick to trust them all?

Well… we're all here together, aren't we? That means we have to be like a team! he had explained brightly, stifling back a yawn as I realized that it was getting pretty late. Although his words were that of an innocent child's, there was some underlying wisdom coating his message even if he himself didn't realize it.

I guess that same wisdom would apply in this scenario, too. Good on you, son… I can't tell you how proud I was of you that day and every other wonderful time that we were together.

I only wish it could've been longer.

"…we're gonna keep the group together," I mention with a heavy heart as Clementine's head lifts up in hope. "Wherever we go, we go together."

"You mean it?"

"Yeah," I nod affirmatively, even though this might go against my inner desires. Sometimes you need to put you're the group's priorities over that of your own. "We have to do whatever's best for AJ, and if that means heading somewhere south… then we'll do what we can."

Feeling her clutch onto my hand as I let out a small smile, I start to glow with slight warmth knowing that this right here, whether it's ideal or not, is the family that I've been dealt with. We're not perfect by any means, as nobody really is these days or beforehand, but we at least look out for one another.

And that's something that none of this can take away.

"Thanks, Kenny."

Hoping that this could potentially start the recovery process on the long road to forgiveness with this very special young girl, I sigh in content as she brushes up against me.

"No," I remark, giving her shoulder a squeeze as we look out at the winter wonderland, "thank you, Clem."