Lee felt good and rested by the time he had awoken. It was currently 16:42, according to the time on his watch, which meant they would be arriving at the drug store within an hour if his memory served him correctly. He knew that there was a lot riding on these next couple of hours, so he took the time to replay what happened in the previous timeline.

The key major points were getting the keys to the pharmacy, the argument, rescuing Glenn, and the raid courtesy of the walkers. Lee figured he could probably prevent two of these, but the other two were inevitable one way or another. There was also the case of the Motor Inn and what he would have to do if they wanted to last longer than they did there.

The African-American just rubbed his temple as he stared out the window. He knew the entirety of Macon like the back of his hand and knew they were currently traveling down the 75 freeway, the same freeway he took whenever he went to Macon. They were on the right-hand lane, traveling past hundreds, if not thousands of vehicles that were all at a stand-still. They were lucky people were still obeying the law and kept the right-hand lane open.

It was about another ten minute drive to the drug store when Lee had noticed an old motel that was very familiar to him. It had a bright yellow sign in the shape of an arrow pointing in the direction of the motel and it had the words "Travelier Motel," etched on both sides. A lot of history was involved with this place and Lee should know, he was a history teacher after all. The first memory he had of this place was saving Glenn who hid himself in the ice machine, followed by the lady up in the room who was bitten and desired suicide. He wondered if giving the gun to her would have been the better option now that he looked back on it, but he didn't know what anything was at that point in time.

He spoke up, "Hey Kenny. I think we should stop by this motel, see if we could find any survivors, or at least some fuel." He followed by pointing to the upcoming sign.

The Floridian man nodded, "Good idea. We're running low on diesel anyway. We're making a pitstop." He turned and voiced to his family and Clementine.

Lee had a plan for all of this. It didn't look too bad right now at the motel and this would prevent Glenn from going on his own to get gas. Kenny pulled his blue pickup into the parking lot and parked it in one of the parking spaces close to the exit ramp. All five members occupying the truck got out and took a look around. He saw a number of vehicles here and knew that no one was around anymore to collect them, so that made them ripe for the pickings. Still though, it wouldn't hurt to check if anyone else is around here, preferably the one girl who fought him for the gun.

"I'm gonna go around and see if there are any survivors." He called out to Kenny. "Doubtful after this much time, but you never know."

"Sounds good." He replied.

Lee then turned to his sweet pea, "Want to come with me?" He offered.

Clementine grinned and nodded towards the man. They than began walking towards the first door.

Lee wanted to make conversation so he asked, "How ya doin Clementine?" As he put a hand on her shoulder.

"I still can't believe this is real." Her young voice speaking out. "I still can't believe you're alive. I always blamed myself for what happened to you."

"Oh honey. You shouldn't have. I never blamed you. Never once and I would never blame you. Understand?" He stopped and crouched down to her level.

She looked into his eyes and saw no malice or hate towards her, only love, like he had always shown. "Okay."

"Good. Good. Now let's check this room."

So they went around checking the dozen or so rooms on the first floor. The only thing they had managed to find was three walkers (luckily in all separate rooms), a couple rounds of ammo and the fire axe that Lee used quite frequently in the past-future. He knew he had his katana and it would come in handy (it already has if you count the three walkers he just killed), but it wasn't very durable and probably wouldn't be able to break anything. The axe on the other hand, absolutely would. All they had now was the upstairs.

He remembered the girl was at the far end, so he quickly checked the two rooms before it, which had absolutely nothing before knocking on the final door. He called out, "Hello in there, we're here to help!"

"You have to help us! Please!" Was all he heard before the door opened to reveal the same girl who took her own life on the very ground below them. He took a quick glance at her torso and noticed no bite mark visible. This was another part of his plan, to make sure this girl didn't commit suicide.

"Are you military? Have they cleared things up yet?!" She said in a frightened manner. Her eyes were quickly darting around and she looked frantic and a bit paranoid.

Lee used his hands to ease her. "Calm down. We're not military and we're not here to hurt you. We just wanted to see if anybody could've used some help." He gestured to Clementine when he said 'We.'

"Oh." Her shoulders and head dropped for a moment before looking back up. "Are you a doctor by any chance. My boyfriend is bitten in there. He's running a fever, he's very sick and I don't know if he's gonna make it."

Lee feigned surprise, "You said he was bitten? Oh boy, that means there isn't much time for him left. When a walker bites you, unless that limb is taken off immediately, you're gonna turn into one of them. The only to make sure he doesn't come back as one of those things, is if you destroy the brain. I'm sorry to break this to you."

Her eyes widened when she was told she'd have to destroy the brain to make sure he doesn't come back. "No. No, no, no, no, no. This can't be happening." She began breathing very quickly and began sweating and Lee could tell she was starting to hyperventilate.

He acted quick and put his hands on her shoulders. "Miss. Calm down. I know it's hard, but you have to stay calm."

"Listen to what he says. He knows what he's talking about." Lee heard Clementine speak and felt grateful for her.

It took another few seconds, but she began to calm down and take some deep breaths. "I'm sorry." She said. "Watching what those things can do, it's hell. Becoming one of those things is hell and I can't become one, I can't! It's not Christian." She paused as she looked at the older man, "If what you said is true, that means my boyfriend is gonna turn. I know this is a lot to ask, but...can you p-p-put him out of his misery? I couldn't do it."

Lee fully understood where she was coming from, "I understand. And I'll do it. Don't worry miss?"

"Irene." She answered.

"Name's Lee. This is Clementine."

Clementine waved and said hi to the woman. If he wasn't looking directly at Irene's face, he wouldn't have noticed the small smile that just appeared when Clem waved to her.

"Can I say goodbye to him?" Irene asked.

"Of course."

Irene then walked back into her motel room. She crouched down and whispered something into her boyfriend's ear before standing back up and walking back to Lee. She nodded, which gave Lee his cue to walk in and survey the damage.

Lee noticed that Irene's boyfriend was bit in the same exact area she had been bit when he first met her. On the right-side of the stomach. He sighed before pulling out his M1911 and pointed it at the man on the bed. He had put down people beforehand who were bitten, but it was never easy and he just learned that it wasn't going to get any easier. So he closed his eyes and squeezed the trigger.

A quick kill, but certainly not clean. It never was. He sighed as he saw blood starting to stain the sheets. It wasn't the normal color blood usually is, with black gunk mixing with the red blood cells.

"What's going on in there?" Lee heard Kenny call from outside the door. He ran in to see what happened and saw the aftermath. "Fuck." He cursed out.

Lee answered him. "This woman right here asked me to put him down. He was bitten. Just letting you know, when you die, the only way to prevent someone from becoming a walker is to destroy the brain. A walker bite guarantees you die if you don't cut off the limb immediately. This guy got bit in the stomach unfortunately."

Kenny's eyes widened at the new information. "Jesus. How can the world turn to hell so fast?" His head dropped a bit.

"Tell me about it." Lee voiced his opinion.

Nothing else was said as Lee gave Ryan a proper burial out in the forest. He found out her boyfriend was named Ryan. It was reminiscent of the time he buried that boy back at the mansion down in Savannah.

Irene and Clementine watched the whole thing with mixed feelings. Clementine felt said that this had to be done, but remembered all the other times she had to put someone down. It made it slightly less painful to watch, but it still touched a soft spot for her.

Irene on the other hand, looked like she was ready to breakdown. Though she felt eternally grateful for Lee. Someone she had just met did more for her than almost all of her friends and even some of her family. It was a terrible situation and she knew she wouldn't be able to do something like this for the one she loved, that's why she was grateful that Lee showed up when he did. Being one of those things terrified her and she couldn't witness someone so close to her, experience that fate.

After finishing the burial, Lee and the girls headed back to the motel to see what progress had been made.

Lee walked up to Kenny and asked, "Hey Ken. How much fuel did we scavenge?"

Kenny had a satisfied look on his face as he spoke, "Quite a lot actually. A couple tanks worth thanks to that RV over there." He finished as he pointed to the RV over at the end of the motel.

"Hey uh...do you mind if we stop somewhere in town?" Lee asked.

"Not at all. But where?"

Lee's shoulders dropped as he explained. "My family is somewhere in there. They have a drug store in town and I just wanted to check to see if they were alive...or not."

"If they're alive, we have to find them. Family is all too important. Just point us where we're heading Lee."

"Thanks." He finished with a grateful smile. He knew his family were dead by this point, but he needed to rally with his old group. And by God, he missed Carley.

He then turned to Irene and offered, "Want to come with us? There's no way you'll be able to survive out on your own. I think a group would do a lot of good for you."

She pondered for a moment, but gave in. "Yeah. I don't have anyone left now..." She paused as she thought about something for a moment. "But that doesn't mean I have to go out with them. I...I want to live on for my loved ones."

"Good Irene. Good." Lee complimented. "Well let's get going. I don't think we should stick around for too much longer."

Since there was a 6th person, Lee offered to ride in the bed of the truck. Clementine, of course wanted to sit with him in the back and enjoy some fresh air. The breeze was nice going down Peach Tree road. Lee would occasionally point out directions of where they needed to turn with Kenny obliging. On the way to the store, they had noticed a few walkers here and there, but all of them weren't even on the road.

Making one last turn, Lee noticed his parent's drugstore with the words "Everett Pharmacy Drugstore" etched on the side of the building. He knocked on the back window to let them know they were nearby. Kenny nodded and pulled his truck over to the side of the road, closer to the drug store this time.

The six of them got out of the truck and began looking around. Lee began walking towards his parents drug store and saw his brother once more. This brought back a flash of various memories him and his brother once shared. From celebrating birthday parties, to doing something stupid in the woods surrounding Macon.

While he was distracted, he heard, "Hey there! You friendly?! Could use some help!"

'Oh no. Kenny you idiot!' Were Lee's thoughts before the same sequence of events began playing out just like last time. He quickly took out his katana and with a heavy heart, ended his brother's misery and quickly grabbed the keys to the pharmacy.

"We're trapped!" Katjaa voiced her concerns. Right after that a walker that came seemingly out of nowhere tripped Duck down to the ground and was about to take a bite of him before a loud BANG came from behind the group.

Lee turned and saw an old face that he missed during his final days, Carley. She had her Glock pistol out just like last time, shooting the various walkers that we're slowly stamping their way over to the group. Another Korean man was also out there, a face Lee only vaguely remembered since didn't have too much interaction with him, Glenn. "RUN!" He shouted out.

The six of them began booking it to the inside of the drugstore, with Carley taking a few more potshots at the walkers before running inside herself. Glenn shut the gate behind them, before putting a padlock onto its hinges to make sure they couldn't get in. The walkers sure didn't appreciate that though as they banged along the gate in hopes of collecting their next meal.

Inside of the drug store, everyone who was outside was catching their breath after that whole fiasco before a woman in a brown tank-top spoke up, "We can't take risks like this."

"And we can't just let people die either." Shouted the same woman who protecting them from irreversible harm.

The former retaliated, "When I say that door stays shut no matter what, I fucking MEAN it! We don't know who these people are! They could be dangerous." She whispered that last part to Carley.

Lee didn't want this to happen, he was hoping to avoid it, but a mistake on his part had caused all of this to flare up once more. He needed to make peacekeeper quick. "Do you really think we're dangerous if we have kids with us?"

That's when the big guy with a big nose piped in, "I see ONE little girl."

That was when Irene decided to join in, "They saved me! Lee here did me a great service. He put down my boyfriend when he was bit so he wouldn't turn into one of those things! It's hell." She hung her head low once again.

"Irene is right. Lee helped her in a dark time. You call that dangerous old man?" Kenny was about ready to get in the face of whoever these big man was.

The old man glared at Kenny before something in the corner of his eye got his attention, "Holy Shit. Son of a bitch, one of them is Bitten!"

Lee shook his head, "No. He wasn't bitten."

"Hell he wasn't." He pointed a finger at Lee for emphasis. "We have to end this now." He started walking over to Duck and Katjaa.

Kenny was quicker and guarded them and getting in the face of the larger man, "Over my dead body."

"We'll dig one hole."

Katjaa raised her voice a bit, "NO! I'm cleaning him up there's no bite, he's fine!"

"Don't you fucking people get it!? We've already seen this happen! We let someone with a bite stay and-and we all end up bitten!"

"SHUT UP!"

Lee was getting sick of this, so he stood up for what he thought was right. "Look here old man! I'm all for trying to protect the group, but we aren't throwing anybody out, even if he IS bitten! And if you got a problem with that, then I have no problem kicking your ass! I have no doubt in my mind I'll have some back-up to help along!"

"That's what I'm thinking! Lay on a finger on my boy and we'll kick your ass all the way to the depths of hell!"

The old-timer seemed amused by that, "You're gonna whoop me? Ha, that's good. Little boy, before you Eat you mommy, you can watch your dad and his little homo-parade get their noses broken."

Carley tried to ease things up, "EVERYONE CHILL THE FUCK OUT!"

It didn't seem to work though, "Nobody is doing anything."

The old man turned to her, "Shut up Lilly!" He then turned to Carley, "And you, shut the fuck up. They will find us and they will get in here and none of this will fucking matter. But right now, we're about to be trapped in here with one of those things!"

Lee spoke up once again before anybody else could, "You turn when you get bit, we get it. But until a bite is visible, you have no power over what happens to that boy! This isn't your daughter here so don't act like you're the one who's in control!"

"Ha. Never would've happen to Lilly." He brushed off that comment real quick.

"It could happen to anybody. You think she's immune to whatever the hell this is?! Don't think so. So here's what's gonna happen, you're gonna sit down, you're gonna relax and you're gonna regret putting that boy in danger when you see he isn't bitten."

Lee KNEW Duck wasn't bitten, that's why he went so far to protect him. Him and Kenny had always been on good friends and when he saw how far Kenny would go to protect Clementine back in Wellington, he was going to stick by his side.

"Look, look! See, he's clean, not a scratch!" He heard Katjaa say with a heavy sigh of relief.

"Not a scratch huh? What do you think of that old man?" Kenny questioned the bigger man.

"It's Larry. And I'm sorry." The hostile tone was gone, but it certainly wasn't remorseful.

Lee stepped in once again. "Okay. That's done. Nobody needs to be at each other's throats anymore. And Larry..." He turned to the bigger man once again. "I'm sorry as well. Maybe I took it too far, but all life is precious. Until evidence was shown, I was giving him the benefit of the doubt. Can we all just start over?"

There was a reason for him apologizing to him. Lee didn't want Larry hating him as much as he did last time. He did try to save his life back in the meat locker after all, but he didn't agree with him on anything prior.

"I...ugh. Whatever." He turned and walked away to a corner near the pharmacy, with Lilly in tow. Looks like he didn't want anything to do with him right now.

Lee didn't want to be as much of an asshole as he was last time to Larry. He was selfish, rude, cursed people out for no reason, tried to send kids to their death...okay maybe Larry didn't have too many redeeming factors, but Lee was willing to see past all of that and find the good in him. He remembered his conversation with Lilly back at the dairy and kept in mind that he's just in a tough place, that the only thing he has left is Lilly. He still regrets leaving Lilly on the side of the road, but even his head wasn't on his shoulders at that time.

"Everyone else should get comfy and find anything useful, we could be in here a while." He heard Kenny voice to the group.

Glenn spoke up for only the second time that day, "I'm starting to think this drug store isn't a permanent solution."

Kenny replied back, "You're right, this ain't exactly Fort Knox."

Lee already knew what he had in mind, but still asked, "What do you have in mind?"

Glenn replied, "We need as much gas as possible so we can all get out of downtown Macon. Fast."

"We actually already got some gas from an old motel about 10 minutes from here. Travelier Motel or something like that." Lee responded.

The Korean seemed surprised, "You already checked there? That was what I was going to suggest, but if you picked it clean already, great."

"That's where they found me actually." Irene piped in.

More formalities were introduced between everybody and they all knew their names now. Lee's plan was working so far and he had managed to prevent Glenn from getting himself in some trouble, and the hassle of getting the keys to the pharmacy. He knew he couldn't prevent the argument with the given circumstances, but he was more ready for it this time around and handled it as rationally as he could with Larry.

Now he had two things that needed to get done, the walker in the bathroom and getting the pharmacy open. So he asked, "Did you guys check the bathroom by any chance?"

Lilly shook her head, "No, it's locked and we couldn't find the keys."

Lee internally rolled his eyes as he walked behind the counter and pretended to start looking for them. He gave it a good ten seconds or so before letting people know that he found them. He walked over to the locked door and knocked a few times to alert the walker.

He alerted the group. "Looks like there's one in there. I'll handle it." To prevent noise, he grabbed the katana off the sheath on his back and readied himself. He turned the knob and kicked the door open. A second later, an unidentified walker slowly trekked out of the bathroom before finding a giant blade stuck in its mouth, running up to its brain.

With clean precision, the walker was vanquished. "It's good to check rooms like these. Poor bastard probably went in here so no one would get hurt." He finished as he cleaned the blood off his katana before sheathing it once more.

"Nice kill." Kenny commented.

Lee nodded in thanks before announcing, "It's safe now by the way."

Larry wasn't hunched down in pain, the walkers couldn't get through the front door and everybody is alive so far. It seems things will work out the way Lee hopes.

Quick post-note here. So how are you guys liking the series so far? I shifted around the dialogue a bit, while also keeping true to what happened because again, the paradox effect isn't too heavy right now. And let me know about the scene with Irene (hehe, that rhymed), I got a few ideas for her. Was it too long, not enough? How should it have been changed up if you were writing it? I love seeing that stuff. Rate it, review it, favorite it, follow it, read it. DO IT ALL!

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-MidnightJD

9/16/18 Edit: Various Grammar Errors