Hey everybody! Thanks for the reviews for last chapter, I'm really happy with the amount I got! It was really close at the end, with only a one vote difference between Rebecca living or dying, and the result was...well, you'll have to find out in the chapter! At the end of this chapter, there WILL be a choice, but not one that will decide the life or death of a character; this choice is a lot milder. Anyway, if you enjoy the chapter, please review and tell me along with your vote!

...

Voting Results

Hit Walker With Plank Of Wood: Five Votes.

Shoot Walker: Four Votes.

...

Character Statuses:

Cabin Group: Luke, Nick, Carlos, Sarah, Pete, Rebecca, Alvin.

Ski Lodge Group: Kenny, Sarita, Walter, Matthew.

Other: Carver, Brook, Zayne.

Journey To Wellington: 50%

Clementine's Insanity: 33%

...

As the walker set its eyes firmly on Rebecca and Clementine's breath rapidly increased in speed, she desperately tried to focus. The life of her friend and her baby was on the line! Closing her eyes for a moment to gain her bearings before being throwing back into the world of the undead, she glanced at her gun. All she had to do was aim it, stop her fingers from quivering, and fire. It would kill it right there! She steadied her gun, pointing it towards the ever approaching walker. Rebecca screamed in absolute agony, which simply fuelled the walker to move even faster than before. The sounds of gunshots and walkers coming from below mixed together to form a mangled noise of the apocalypse.

[Hit Walker With Plank Of Wood]

[Shoot Walker]

Clementine's eyes widened and she realised with a choking gasp of air that her gun was completely void of any bullets. Glancing to the left at the beckoning plank of wood, she slung her pistol to the ground and ran for it. Her clammy hands found a strong grasp on it and she lifted it up, at the time feeling no disadvantage from the weight as the exhilaration of the situation was making her a lot stronger for the time being. The walker grabbed Rebecca's shoulder and yanked her backwards. Surprised, the woman completely forgot about her childbirth for a moment as she stared into the empty, dull eyes of what used to be a human being. Clementine ran as fast as she could, her shoes making clunking noises against the wood. She reached the walker and lifted up the plank before bringing it down hard against its head. Dazed, the walker let go of Rebecca and slowly turned around to face Clementine. She stared back at it bravely, refusing to let anything happen to Rebecca or her child.

The walker, with its attention now on Clementine, snapped its yellow, spit-ridden jaws at the little girl as it limped closer. She backed away before proceeding to once again hit the walker in the shoulder, but it had absolutely zero effect and the walker continued coming. Before she had a chance to run away she found herself backed up against the wooden fence that acted as a railing. Her and the walker were face to face. As the wooden plank slipped out of her grasp, she realised that this was the first time in years that she had felt truly terrified. Her eyes shimmered as the walker opened its mouth, its horrid breath attacking her face like acid. This was it. She thought about Lee, her parents, about her old group, her current group, the baby...

And then a shockingly loud gunshot and the splatter of blood on her face broke her out of her trance. She stared in shock at thenow headless walker as its body crumpled to the ground. Clementine relaxed her body, but she couldn't calm down. She noticed how Carlos was staring directly at her, his pistol aimed at her face, a scared expression on his face. He slowly lowered the gun. Clementine realised three walker corpses were surrounding the doctor. Unable to talk at the time, Clementine gave Carlos a jittery nod of the head before Rebecca's screams stole the attention of both of them.

The two ran to Rebecca's side. Clementine found Rebecca's hand and held it close to her, realising that it was boiling hot. The gunshots coming from downstairs had began to slack, but they were still quiet prominent. The groan of walkers was still in the air. Clementine just hoped that everybody was okay; Kenny, Luke and Alvin who were defending the warehouse, and Sarita, Sarah, Brook and Zayne who were waiting outside. Carlos was speaking to Rebecca, not stopping for a moment, as if he was trying to distract her of what she was doing.

"You're almost there, Rebecca! Just push!" He spoke loudly, and Rebecca screamed louder than ever before as Clementine felt her hand tensing considerably. Carlos and Clementine both glanced at each other for a split second, and they both saw in each other's eyes that fear and uncertainty were taking over their minds. Would Rebecca make it through the childbirth?

...

Downstairs, the attack was starting to die down. What seemed like a sea of walker corpses littered the floor of the warehouse, and all three of the men defending their group were panting heavily. Hope began to seep into their minds as the final walker was shot and fell to the floor, a final groan emanating from its decomposed mouth before falling silent forever. Luke, Kenny and Alvin didn't move for a moment, not feeling that they could, before they relaxed. They put their guns away and glanced at each other, relieved that they were all okay. Suddenly remembering about Sarita and the others, Kenny ran to the back door of the warehouse and practically broke it down to see the four of them staring back at him, with Sarita pointing a gun at his chest. When she noticed it was him she threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly as a single tear fell onto his green jacket.

"I...I heard so many gunshots...and the yells! I'm sure I heard you at some point...I thought you were being ripped apart by those horrible-" Sarita's voice died down completely as the emotion of sadness took over and she wept into his clothes. Kenny listened to her words before gently moving her off him and looking into her eyes with a smile.

"There's no need to worry, hon. I'm fine, and so are everybody else." Kenny replied and Sarita also smiled. He looked at the three others and gave them a nod. "Glad to see you're all fine too."

"Oh, no, no need to worry about us." Brook said sarcastically, but then proceeded it with a smile. "Anyway, can we go back inside now? We're freezing to death out here!"

As the four walked back inside and Kenny closed the door, they all heard Rebecca screaming. Alvin gave them a glance of fear before running up the stairs, followed by the five others. Sarah and Zayne tried their hardest to ignore the many bodies lying on the floor. Alvin's heart was pounding as fast as a drum being constantly hit upon as he leapt up the stairs two at a time, occasionally three. What was happening? Was Rebecca okay? He desperately tried to think positive as he approached the top. His stomach lurched. He felt sick.

And then, as his frightened eyes observed the second floor, the wooden deck, they widened and tears formed. His exhausted wife was lying on the floor, panting heavily, sweat dripping down her forehead like a waterfall, and next to her...in Carlos' arms...was his child. The newborn baby was crying in despair, not used to the sudden noise and burst of light, but thankfully he was alive and healthy. Alvin made his way over to the small congregated group; first he walked, but before he knew it he was running to greet his wife and baby.

Tears fell down his face as he hugged his wife, ecstatic to see her seemingly okay after going through a very painful event. He remained like this for a moment before he backed off and looked at his child. The baby boy slowly opened his eyes and gazed at Alvin in bewilderment, his humongous green eyes taking up almost half of his entire face. Alvin wiped his eyes before hugging the child. Everybody else; Clementine, Carlos, Kenny, Sarita, Luke, Sarah, Brook and Zayne...all of them watched in pure joy. They thought it was truly wonderful how, even though they were in the middle of the apocalypse, they could still feel happy. They had helped bring a new life to the world.

"Hey...my name's Alvin. I'm your new daddy. And see that lady there? She's...she's your mother, and we're both gonna protect you with our lives. We're never gonna let you out of our sight, no we won't." Alvin said tearfully, rubbing his nose gingerly against the baby's, before gently handing it back to Rebecca.

"Luke, can you please go get some towels? The baby will be cold soon if we don't get him warm." Carlos instructed with a strong tone of authority, turning to look at Luke. The latter complied, immediately running back down the rickety old stairs to find the soft towels they had brought with them. Clementine walked closer to Rebecca.

"It really looks like you and Alvin." spoke the young girl quietly. The joy-filled middle-aged woman turned tiredly to look at Clementine, a soft smile forming on her dry lips.

"Clem, this baby would not be here if it wasn't for you, and neither would I. I'm so, so thankful that you had the courage and care to risk your own life to rescue us...other people wouldn't be so generous as to do that for someone else. You're really something special, you know that?" replied Rebecca. Clementine smiled in return, thinking about how tragic it would be if she had made the wrong choice and killed Rebecca.

Luke returned with the towels; they were light green in colour, like the bottom of the seabed. Carlos took them off the man, thanking him silently, and wrapped the baby carefully around until he was firmly secured and warm within the cozy confines of threaded material. After he was finished he stood up, looking down at the blood on his hands and proceeding to put them behind his back, then looking at the group surrounding him.

"Rebecca is very tired after giving birth. Therefore, we must stay here for a day or so while we wait for her to recover. We can't keep going right now; Rebecca won't be able to handle it at this point in time." the Spanish doctor explained to everybody. Kenny shifted around uncomfortably, but didn't dare to speak up in worry that he would affect the baby in some way.

"What's the name of the baby going to be!?" Sarah yelled in excitement, breaking the silence that had risen after Carlos' previous statement. Rebecca and Alvin looked at each other and chuckled slightly, before looking at the others with a smile, their eyes shining with joy.

"Alvin Junior."

"That's a very beautiful name, Rebecca. He's a very handsome boy." Sarita crouched down in front of the baby and stared at it in amazement, marvelling at how cute he was. She tickled the baby's cheek and he squealed, lifting up his tiny legs and giggling. Sarita clasped her hands together happily.

As Rebecca watched, her eyes slowly started closing. She snapped them open again, trying desperately to avoid the feeling of fatigue that was surrounding her, wanting to stay with her baby. She was worried that if she fell asleep, she would never wake up again. Never see her baby's adorable face ever again. But her eyelids were as heavy as dumbells to her, and she couldn't help drifting away into unconsciousness. She breathed softly as she slept.

Alvin gently kissed his wife's forehead then picked up the baby, holding it close to him as he approached the others who were in a conversation. Sarah was standing next to Carlos, her body stuck directly next to him almost like glue. Brook had her arm around Zayne as she eyed everybody while they talked. Sarita and Clementine stood to the left and right of Kenny respectively.

"So, what are we going to do now?" asked Zayne, looking around at the towering faces above him. Luke folded his arms and nodded towards Carlos.

"We're gonna be staying put for as long as it takes until Rebecca's well enough to keep travelling. I'm not risking her or the baby out in that cold." Luke said logically. Kenny, once again, was visibly disgusted at this proposition but still refused to speak up about the matter. Sarah's stomach started grumbling and she clutched it.

"I'm really hungry..." she said quietly, almost in a whimpering tone. Sarita smiled at her warmly.

"I'll get a fire started. We should all eat at the same time." Sarita said and made to go downstairs, but Luke placed his hand on her shoulder, halting her progress.

"That's alright, Sarita. I'll do it."

"I'll help ya."

Clementine looked at Kenny, slightly surprised and suspicious at how quickly he responded. Kenny looked down at the young girl and shrugged, seemingly uncaring. Sarita's eyes creased slightly, showing that she was also confused. After the serious arguments the two had been having, Kenny would usually be the last person who would want to aid Luke in doing anything.

"The kid'll probably make a mess of it. I need to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't." he justified, but Clementine wasn't convinced. She was smarter than that. She folded her arms, adjusting her hat slightly and watched as Luke and Kenny walked down the stairs, their footsteps very prominent until they reached the bottom of the staircase.

"Isn't it amazing how the baby made it through completely unscathed, Clementine? It's almost like a miracle." Sarita suddenly said, breaking Clementine's attention on the two departed men. Sarita looked at the baby, who was now sleeping in Alvin's arms, occasionally wiggling around and snorting in a resemblance to a snore. "I...I've never been able to have children of my own and likely never will...so having the chance to meet AJ makes me...so happy."

Clementine noticed Sarita was starting to tear up, and wondered if the tears were happy or sad, or possibly both. The latter wiped them away and smiled as she continued to watch the sleeping baby.

"Yeah, my old friend I met in the apocalypse...she was pregnant, just like Rebecca. But it didn't go as well for her as it did for Rebecca..." Clementine trailed off, a hint of sadness clear in her tone as she explained her story. Sarita looked at her, shocked, then smiled slightly.

"This is why we have to enjoy this moment, Clementine. All of us, right now, are safe, warm and healthy. This won't last forever. It won't be long before we'll have to go outside, into the world of the unknown, and keep travelling towards a place that we don't even know is real. I want to stay optimistic, but there's a very strong chance that some of us could die out there. That's why we have to make the most of this for what it is, right?" Sarita said, and her words hit Clementine like a speeding train. She was right.

She thought back to when she was alone after Christa's disappearance; cold, wet and scared. She had no idea if she was going to make it through another day. She didn't even know why she was trying anymore. For all she knew, the rest of the human population was dead and she was the only survivor. She was at her absolute lowest. But here, in this old, run-down shack of a warehouse, she was feeling the happiest she had ever felt in months. And that was because she was surrounded by people she loved and cared about.

She thought back to every situation in which a member of her group could have died; Kenny, Sarah, Luke, Brook, Carlos, Alvin, Sarita, Rebecca and the baby...but they were all alive and well. She thought about where she would be at the current point in time if all of those people had died, and she felt a sting of fear flash through her body like a thunderous lightning bolt. Where would she be? If the deaths of her group members happened, the only member of her group other than her who would still alive was Zayne. Would they be able to make it? She hated to think about it that way.

After thinking about all this in the process of just a few seconds, she nodded at Sarita, agreeing with her influential words. Noticing the others were all involved in their own conversations; Carlos with Alvin while Sarah clutched his hand and Brook with Zayne, she decided to relax for a while and try to calm down after the insane events of the night. Her heart was still pulsing quickly as she walked to a corner of the wooden decking and practically collapsed to the ground. She moved her hat down over her eyes to block out the light slightly and relaxed her muscles, taking a deep breath.

The noises around her all merged into one, almost like the ingredients of a cake after being whisked; the footsteps, the talking, the buzzing of the torches, the crackling of the fire downstairs...when a sudden yell woke her back up. She looked around, disoriented, realising that nobody else had noticed it except Alvin, who looked at her in confusion. Clementine stood up, walking over to him, the fear of uncertainty making her stomach knot.

"Clem, did you hear that? Sounded like it was coming from downstairs." Alvin said to her as he rocked the stirring baby softly after the noise had disrupted his sleep. The baby opened his eyes for a moment before immediately closing afterwards; luckily Alvin's rocking had worked.

"It could be Kenny and Luke." replied Clementine nervously, and Alvin rolled his eyes in annoyance. He looked towards the end of the wooden decking, as if he were trying to look over and watch the two men from above.

"I'm getting seriously sick of their bickering, Clem. Now that the baby's here, this can't keep up. I would go down, but I don't want to wake the baby up. Could you go see? Just...stop them from yelling at each other, please." Alvin asked, and Clementine complied with a nod. She turned, sighing slightly at having to deal with two argumentative grown men, and walked down the stairs slowly.

As she got closer to the bottom, she noticed that the heavily damaged, dented metal shutter was slightly open to allow the dark grey smoke created from the fire to escape the warehouse. Clementine's eyes were attracted to the bright orange flame that had recently been created in the centre of the metal area, crackling quietly. The curtains of fire were dancing around within each other, moving back and forth as if they were listening to a tune and engulfing the smaller flames with greater waves of burning heat. And standing around the fire, clutching ceramic bowls, were Kenny and Luke.

They were clearly in a spat, as they were glaring ferociously at each other with eyes that could pierce diamond. Clementine stood in the darkness, choosing to wait for a while to see what they were arguing about before they intervened. Luke's hands were shaking slightly, making the bowls rattle.

"Do you realise how close we are to Wellington? We can't stop now! We have to keep on pushin'; just a little further, and we'll make it! So get off your high horse and listen to somebody else!" Kenny growled in frustration, his body not moving in the slightest. Luke listened, his grimace growing with every angrily said word. "This warehouse is freezin'! Even with this pathetic fire we'll all freeze to death before the mornin'! And do you realise how low our food supplies are gettin'? We can't afford to stop movin'!"

"That's not true, Kenny, and you KNOW that! Rebecca is WEAK. She gave birth only today! How can you expect us to just get up and keep going!? This warehouse is perfectly fine, and it's a safe haven for a newborn baby! We're not BUDGING until Rebecca is well enough to travel, which may not be for a few days!" Luke yelled in return. "How do we even know Wellington exists!? It's probably just some stupid rumour made up by some misguided survivors who just wanted life to go back to normal! If anything, we should stay here permanently!"

"We are NOT staying here." Kenny growled the middle word through gritted teeth, getting seriously sick of, in his opinion, Luke's insolent, childish attitude. Luke moved closer to him, his face directly in front of the other's, staring into his eyes.

"Yes...we...are." Luke said calmly. Kenny's face turned bright red as anger fuelled his entire body. Thinking irrationally, Kenny yelled in fury and threw the bowls down at the ground, shattering them on impact. Luke backed off and Clementine jumped slightly in surprise at Kenny's sudden outburst. Pieces of what used to be bowls lay scattered on the ground near the fire and Kenny stared at them, taking deep breaths through his nose. Neither of them said a single other word to each other.

Clementine decided to show herself and walked towards Kenny and Luke. Loud footsteps emanated from the wooden stairs and it wasn't long before Alvin emerged, joining Clementine in standing next to her. He didn't have the baby anymore. He looked furious.

"What's going on down here!? Don't you realise Bec is exhausted!? She's trying to sleep! Can't you two settle your goddamn differences for one second and grow up!? Man, Clem is more of an adult than both of you combined!" Alvin muttered to them. Despite his quiet talking, his tone of anger was coming through strong. He sighed in annoyance and turned around, going back upstairs without another word.

Kenny started picking up the pieces of the broken bowls, grunting to himself. As he collected them, Luke stared down at him, watching as he cleaned up the mess that he had made.

"We're staying for a few days." he said. "And that's that."

He trailed after Alvin, going upstairs to retrieve some tins of tomato soup that they were keeping in Brook's backpack. As his footsteps faded away, Kenny growled in anger and burst into action, slinging a broken piece of the bowl directly at the wall. The piece flew through the air, slicing through it like a knife, before striking the wall and immediately breaking down further into smaller pieces which covered another area of the floor. Clementine watched this, then looked at Kenny in disgust.

"What was that for!? You're acting like a kid!" chastised Clementine, glaring at the older man. He didn't reply, instead staring at the area of the wall he had thrown the broken piece at. He sighed, closing his eyes and squinting them, trying to calm down.

"What's his deal, Clem? Why can't he just listen to me!? He always has to do what he wants; he doesn't care about what anyone else thinks!" Kenny ranted to the young girl who listened, unimpressed.

"I thought you two weren't going to fight anymore."

"So did I."

It was silent for a moment as Kenny continued clearing up the pieces. Clementine crouched down to help him, using her hands to create a cleaning method similar to that of a dustpan and brush. She would put one hand on the groud, on its side, while she brushed pieces of broken bowl against her palm. Then, she would use both of her hands to pick up the pieces.

"I'm sorry, Clem, it's just...agh...Luke's just too arrogant to have a decent conversation with. I feel that I was making some good points, but he was just brushin' them aside like they were nothin'! He always thinks he's right!"

As Clementine listened, she realised that Kenny was basically explaining his own ignorant views on things when he had his eyes set on something important to him. She chose not to bring it up, however.

"I know your views are different, Kenny, and you both think different things, but you'll have to start making it work before you get us all killed because of your arguments!" Clementine said. She looked at Kenny, waiting for a response. He didn't reply, but seemed very thoughtful about her words. She noticed Luke was coming back downstairs and decided to leave. As she passed him, she noticed he was holding three tins of tomato soup. The splashing sound of the liquid against the thin tin walls both pleased and disgusted Clementine as she ascended the stairs.

The first thing she noticed as she reached the top was that Rebecca was awake once more. She was lovingly tickling her baby's plump cheek and smiling when it tried to move away, a smile growing on its tiny face. Alvin and Carlos were deep in conversation, likely about the constant tension between Kenny and Luke, and so were Brook and Zayne. Sarah was leaning against the wooden railing, trying to stop thinking about food by occupying her mind with her favourite book. Her eyes scanned the words on the pages as if she was a secret spy decoding a message.

Clementine quietly walked across the decking, approaching the end where Rebecca was sitting quietly with her newborn child. She slowly sat down, crossing her legs and watching the baby. Rebecca turned to face her and Clementine realised that her face was deathly pale. She remembered what happened last time to Rebecca, and dearly hoped that the past event wouldn't repeat itself.

"Would...you like to hold him, Clem?" she asked kindly. Clementine was slightly shocked. She nodded and tried to remember what Rebecca taught her about holding babies last time as she rocked AJ back and forth, smiling down at him. Rebecca seemed surprised at her sudden skills.

"Wow, Clem, you just keep on shocking me with all the things you can do." Rebecca said, chuckling slightly but that abruptly stopped when she went into a coughing fit, covering her mouth so the baby wouldn't catch anything. Once she stopped, she sighed despondently. "I heard Kenny and Luke fighting. I wish...I wish they would just act like adults. The group would definitely be in a better mood if it wasn't for their constant bickering...it's so exhausting."

"I understand. I think the whole group is tired of it to be honest. They just can't seem to find one thing they can agree on." Clementine nodded. After a few more moments, she gave the baby back to Rebecca. She snuggled it close to her, enjoying the peace she had with her baby.

Soon, the soup was done and Kenny and Luke took it upstairs for everyone. As each person took a small bowl and breathed in the relaxing aroma that the soup created, enjoying the heat against their skin, they all found themselves in complete tranquility. Kenny, as he gave a bowl to Clementine, told her that Luke and himself had resolved their dispute for now and he had agreed to stay in the warehouse for a few days. However, if he felt they were staying for too long, he would put his foot down once again. Clementine complied, deciding that they would deal with that bridge when they came to it.

They all started hungrily eating the soup, and sighed in relief as their cravings of hunger started being resolved. The moans of desperation their stomachs created were gone for now, and they all enjoyed their warm meal of soup. The only sounds in the entire warehouse were those of metal spoons clinking against bowls and the soup being hungrily swallowed.

"Hey...I just realised!" Brook mentioned after swallowing a mouthful of the broth. "We should give AJ a middle name!"

"That's actually a really great idea!" Alvin agreed, turning to Rebecca for clarification, who nodded happily. He turned to the group. "What does everybody think?"

Upon hearing this, many thoughts of names began entering Clementine's mind, swirling around. She was thinking of so many, but the baby could only have one. This name would stick with the baby throughout its entire life. It had to be good. As she continued to think, she eventually found herself focusing on four names. But which one should she pick for Alvin Junior?

[Lee]

[Rebecca]

[Clementine]

[Carlos]

...

Thank you for reading! I worked really hard to get this chapter finished in one day, and I'm absolutely exhausted. Please review on the chapter as well as giving your vote, as I'd really like to see what you all think! So, what should the baby's middle name be? You all decide! This choice will last throughout the rest of the story, so choose wisely, and I'll see you next time!