Lee Everett limped through the neighborhood, trying to search for any kind of help before more of those...things showed up. He'd tried one house, but no one was home, and there had been no contact on the walkie-talkie he had found in one of the drawers. No point in taking it.

But God, did his leg hurt. A sharp pain would shoot through it every so often, and Lee could never help but to grunt. He decided to try one more time.

"Hello? Anybody?"

But there was still nothing. It wasn't long before Lee reached the neighborhood's exit without any luck.

Lee set out, determined to find somebody, anybody. He limped steadily down the empty road, endless rows of trees seeming to trap him on the path.

He stopped abruptly when he heard a noise off somewhere to his right.

"Hello?" Lee called out hesitantly.

No answer came to him until a low, growling sound reached his ears.

The undergrowth rustled beside him and his eyes widened in horror as a walking corpse emerged from the treeline, shambling slowly towards him. Its growling grew louder and it reached out a decomposing hand to try and grab him, its teeth gnashing in efforts to tear into his flesh. In two seconds it would be on him.

With the state of his injured leg, Lee couldn't exactly run. So that meant he had to find something to bash this thing with, and quickly.

He looked around fervently to find anything he could use, and lo and behold, his eyes traveled onto a large tree branch, just big enough for him to still be able to carry. As quickly as possible, Lee limped over to the branch and reached down to grab it, only for his leg to give out and cause him to fall.

Now the branch was just out of his reach. Whatever this monster was, it was getting closer and closer. Lee reached out and moved as best he could to get the branch. Once that was done, he was able to swing it at the dead thing's head just before it could go for his neck.

The beast was down long enough for Lee to be able to stand up, and at this time he took the liberty of bashing its skull in five times. A large pool of blood came forming from behind its head. Lee placed his hands to his knees, panting.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to rest for long, because the sound of even more growling filled the air.

"Give me a break," muttered Lee, breathing heavily.

A symphony of groans reached his ears, and a large horde of creatures flocked towards him. Lee lashed out with the branch at the nearest corpse, and to his horror, it penetrated straight through the monster's chest, lodging in firmly.

Lee remembered the first corpse, and gritted his teeth. He planted his foot against the creature and ripped the branch free. This time, he went for the head, delivering a powerful blow that sent the corpse sprawling onto the ground.

Looking up, he saw that a huge group had begun to congregate around him.

"Oh, shit!" exclaimed Lee. As the swarm converged on him, he turned and fled into the woods, limping heavily.

One of them reached out and fell forward in an attempt to grab him, but Lee was able to move out of the way just in time despite his bad leg. What the hell was going on here? Where did all of these things even come from? There was no telling.

At least not now.

Lee limped as quickly as possible, having to take a few passing walkers out in the process. The smell made him feel sick; it was worse than anything he'd ever smelled in his life. Clearly a lot had happened while he was still in that police car.

Eventually, Lee made it to a clear path of the woods, luckily unscathed. He took this time to finally pant, knowing that there was nothing around. Though, he knew that could easily change in a second. He limited his rest time and made his way to the path, hoping that there was somebody, anybody that wasn't dead or one of them, that could help him, or at least tell him what the fuck was going on.

The sound of gunshots made Lee nearly jump out of his skin. This got the attention of any walkers that were in sight, because they began to make their way over to the source of the noise, which was coming from the opposite direction of Lee. The growls were beginning to dwindle as they moved away.

Lee breathed a sigh of relief. For now, he was safe.

But where to go now? There was a lot he didn't know, but he knew one thing: it would be too dangerous to just stand here and let more walkers come across him.

Lee decided to press on in the same direction, away from the area of the gunshots where the horde had been drawn to.

His slow, lopsided gait prevented him from getting anywhere fast, so it took a long time of limping before he finally emerged from the trees.

Lee had absolutely no idea where he was, but something in the distance caught his eye. A solitary house was perched on the crest of a small hill nearby, almost completely obscured by the surroundings.

After a moment of hesitation, Lee proceeded towards the building, deciding that it was a better idea than getting increasingly more lost in the woods.

A few minutes later, he was knocking lightly on the front door.

"Hello? Anybody in there?" he called out softly.

No response greeted him, so he tried the handle, only to find that the door was locked. Unfazed, Lee crossed to the nearby window, which was slightly open. He pried the window all the way open, and after some careful maneuvering he was inside.

"Safe at last," he sighed, relieved.

But then he heard a noise from upstairs.

Just to be on the safe side, Lee took his branch back out, just in case it wasn't safe after all.

"Hello?" he decided to call out again. "I'm not one of them. I just need some help."

Going up the stairs was hell with his bad leg, and it took him nearly a full minute to reach the top. The hallway was eerily dark, and empty, but that didn't mean that Lee was necessarily alone in the house.

He reached the door in which the noise was coming from, at the end of the hallway. But the noise sounded like...crying? Those things didn't cry. There had to be a person in here.

After a few moments of listening with his ear at the door, Lee gently knocked. "Hello? Are you okay in there? I'm not here to hurt you."

There was a small gasp, and the crying stopped abruptly.

"Do you need help?" asked Lee.

There was no response.

"Okay...I'm coming in now. Don't worry, you're safe."

Lee pushed the door open, revealing a small bedroom. He stepped inside hesitantly, wincing as his leg twinged painfully. There was a bed against the wall and a wardrobe in the corner, but apart from that the room appeared to be empty. Lee placed the branch on the floor. He wouldn't want to appear threatening if the room's mysterious occupant revealed themselves, after all.

"I promise I'm not going to do anything to you," he said. "I need help. Real bad. But you sound like you need help too. Come out, and we can talk, okay?"

There was a tense, heavy silence.

Then a soft creaking sound as the wardrobe door gradually eased open.

Lee turned around to see a teenage girl stepping out of the hiding place. She had relatively short black hair, and a pair of rose-colored glasses that matched her red-rimmed eyes.

"Hi there," said Lee comfortingly. "My name's Lee."

"I...I'm Sarah."

"Hi, Sarah. Are you...okay?"

"...No," she responded, sniffling loudly. "I can't find my dad."

Lee looked at this girl in concern for a moment. "You can't? Do you remember where you saw him last?" he inquired, kneeling to her level. His tone remained gentle.

"I...w-we were in the woods," Sarah answered in a mousy voice, still gasping out a few breaths. "Daddy said we had to leave home because i-it wasn't safe. Then the car broke down, and we had to walk. B-But then some of the m-monsters came, and there were so many of them, a-and...and..."

She had to pause due to difficulty breathing. God, she was so worried.

"It's okay," Lee told her softly. "Take your time. You can tell me."

His tone seemed to take some affect on Sarah, because her breathing soon became regular enough for her to finish.

"Dad told me to run. And I did, a-and then I heard him running, too. I-I thought he was behind me, but when I turned around, he wasn't..." Her face fell, and she seemed to be panicking from the way she was breathing. "I...I've been hiding in here for hours and-"

"Hey, hey, it's alright, it's okay." Lee reached out to touch her shoulder, but she flinched. "I'll help you find your dad."

Sarah's face brightened, turning into a hopeful smile.

"Really?" she asked.

"I promise," replied Lee warmly.

He hated to see such an innocent young girl thrust into this horrifying world, and however slim the chances of actually locating her father, he'd take it.

"Where are your family?" Sarah asked quietly.

Lee was silent for a few moments.

"I'm all alone, Sarah," he responded.

"Oh..."

Her face fell again and it warmed Lee's heart to see that this girl felt genuine sympathy for him.

"Don't worry about me," said Lee, changing the subject.

He retrieved his branch from the ground and held the door open for Sarah, who hesitated.

"Don't worry, you're safe with me," he promised. "I won't let any of those things hurt you."

Sarah still looked anxious, but she slowly left the room and walked down the stairs with Lee.

"Are we going to go out and look for my dad now?" she wondered, sounding very nervous about the idea.

"Soon," said Lee. "I just need to get some rest first."

Sarah's face fell, but when that happened, she finally noticed the injury on Lee's leg, and her look turned to one of concern.

"What happened?" she inquired.

"I was in a car accident," Lee answered, hoping that the questions would go no further. "It was pretty recent."

"That looks like it hurts," Sarah said. Then she brightened, if only slightly. "When we find my dad, he can help you! He's a doctor!"

"Really?" That got a smile from Lee. "Sounds like a good man, then."

"Yeah, he is!"

After a couple of minutes, Lee was ready. He looked down at Sarah, frowning just a bit.

"We should go now, before it gets dark. Are you ready?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready."