On the way to the office, Lee knelt down in front of the chair in which Sarah had vacated. "I'm going to check for keys to the pharmacy in the office. I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay, Lee." The little girl gave him a small smile.

Lee smiled back, then stood up to return to the office. Now that he knew the fate of his parents, this room felt all the more eerie.

He closed his eyes. "I can't. I can't think about them in here."

But then, he saw something near the bloody mattress. Picking it up, he saw that it was a photo of he and his family, all smiling and standing in front of the drug store. He tore up the half that held his family with a low sigh.

"Find anything?" someone asked, causing Lee to jump slightly.

Lee turned around. "It's a photo of the family who owned the place," he explained to Carley.

"I know who you are," Carley replied bluntly. "You're Lee Everett. You're a professor at Athens who killed a state senator who was sleeping with your wife. This is your parents' store; folks around town know the owners' son got himself a life sentence, but I'm a reporter for WABE in Atlanta. I paid attention to that trial. Maybe you're a murderer. But I don't really care. Frankly, that's a skill that might come in handy."

"Hmph," was Lee's only answer.

"Did you tell anyone out there who you were, or that you were tied to this place?" Carley inquired.  

"It's the end of the world," Lee replied. "So what?"

"If you don't think people will find any reason to turn on you, especially when the shit hits the fan, you're insane," responded Carley flatly.

Lee realized he had sounded quite rude, which certainly wasn't his intention. But since she had responded in a similar manner, he replied with a reluctant "whatever."

Carley softened a bit. "You seem like an okay guy, and the last thing we need is drama out there. You've got this little girl to take care of, and... look, don't make me wrong on this."

"I don't plan to," he said.

"Good. Because if this lasts longer than a few days and you're a detriment to the group, then we'd have a problem."

"I hear you."

"I'll just keep it to myself," Carley said.

"Thanks," Lee said warmly, trying to make up for the bad start.

Carley smiled at him. "Don't worry about it."

She turned and opened the door, but just as she was about to leave, she turned back to Lee.

"Oh... just so you know, Doug wants to talk to you. He doesn't want to leave his post."

"Thanks for the heads-up," Lee replied with a nod of acknowledgement.

"No problem," Carley said as she left the room.  

Lee was left to his own devices now, so he took this time to search for the keys. The desk drawers, the shelf that held the TV - which didn't work, thanks to Lee checking with the remote he'd found instead - and even under the mattress. But the keys weren't in this room.

Just in case they did, eventually, find them, Lee decided to move the desk. He grunted, as it was somewhat hard to do by himself, but he got it moved.

Everyone was still in the same spots they'd been in, Lee noticed when he left the office. Noticing Sarah sitting in the chair, crisscross style, he decided to check on her first.

"Hey there," he greeted.

"Hi," was Sarah's quiet reply. Her eyes flickered with obvious worry for her missing father.

"I'm sorry I...didn't check up on you much during the argument. Are you okay?"

"...I-I guess." Sarah glanced over at Larry, who was being kept company in the corner by Lilly. She seemed to be afraid of him. Lee noticed this, and turned around briefly.

"Don't worry. He won't hurt you, alright?"

Sarah merely nodded, looking down at her lap.

"Can I get you anything?" Lee asked softly.

For a few brief moments, Sarah was silent. Then, "Um, I'm kind of hungry."

"I'll see to that," Lee told her with a smile. He stood up. "Just relax for now, okay?"

Sarah nodded again. Lee noticed two energy bars on the shelf and grabbed them both. He made a mental note to give one to Sarah in a minute, and give the other one to Duck. Kenny and Katjaa would surely appreciate it.

Doug was standing by the door, as he had been earlier.

"Hey, Doug," Lee greeted.

"Oh, hey."

"You doin' alright? After..."

"Yeah. Thanks for sticking by me, Lee. That guy would've definitely killed me if it hadn't been for you."

Lee nodded once. "Carley said you wanted to talk to me?" he asked, getting straight to the point.  

"Oh," said Doug. "Well, yeah... I guess I just sort of wanted to say a proper thank you. You don't know me... but you saved me out there. And then again in here when Larry was... you know."

"You're welcome, Doug," responded Lee warmly.

"You don't see too many nice people these days," Doug mused. "You're a good guy, Lee."

"Appreciate it."

Lee turned to leave, but Doug called him back.

"Uh, Lee... did you find the keys?"

"No... what is it?"

Doug hesitated. "Let me show you."

He pulled open one of the doors, allowing the two men to quickly slip through into the small space behind the gate that Glenn had locked earlier. Lee closed the door behind him as he and Doug dropped to a crouch.

"So what is it?" Lee asked.

"Over there." Doug pointed towards a walker lying across the road. Lee saw that it was wearing a drugstore uniform, and his heart sank.

Doug was oblivious to Lee's feelings. "You think he might have the keys?"  

Lee took the now-torn photo of his family out of his pocket. His fears were once again confirmed when he noticed that the walker across the street was, in fact, his brother. But he tried to hide the look on his face from Doug.

"Maybe," he replied. "If I can get over there somehow, I can grab them and we can get the medicine."

"Sounds good," Doug answered.

It was quiet for several long moments. Walkers were now roaming all over the streets, looking for their next meal and totally unaware of the two men behind the gate.

"Did you guys try to go to that store and get weapons?" Lee whispered, referring to the store on the other side of the street.

"Yeah," Doug said. "That's what we'd been doing. Then they all just...came out."

"And they just..."

"Eat. And whatever they don't, comes back as one of them."

"God..." Lee trailed off. After a moment's pause, he continued. "Let's go back inside."

"Yeah, good idea," Doug agreed, and the two of them closed the door tightly.

The first thing Lee did was go back over to Sarah, holding out the energy bar he'd found. "It's not much, but here you go."

"Thanks!" Sarah exclaimed, but not too loudly. She accepted the food, giving Lee a grateful smile.  

"Mom!" cried Duck from across the room. "Why don't I have any food?

Lee and Sarah walked over to Kenny's family.

"Don't worry, Duck," said Lee, producing the second energy bar from his pocket. "There's one here for you too."

"Alright!" he cheered, happily accepting it.

"We appreciate that, Lee," said Kenny with a nod. Katjaa smiled gratefully.

"Hey, Lee..." came a voice behind them.

Lee turned around to find Glenn standing there.

"Glenn, right?"

"Yeah," he responded. "Anyway, I've been feeling pretty useless in here right now, so I went outside with Doug just now. He told me about the walker with the keys, and I thought I might try and get 'em. Just wanted to ask first, just in case you thought it was too risky."

Lee hesitated, trying to control his emotions.

"Uh, Glenn... you, uh, mind if... I take care of this one?"

Glenn seemed confused, but he agreed nonetheless.

"Oh and by the way, if you insist on doing it yourself, I sort of came up with an idea. The walkers are drawn by sound, so I figured the TVs in that store across the road would do the trick. I checked the other room but I couldn't find a remote anywhere... but if you were to find one you could try that out."

Lee nodded. "Thanks, Glenn. And by the way, there's nothing wrong with just resting for a while."

"Any time. And I know, I just like to feel like I'm doing something useful. Maybe I'll try and figure out an emergency escape plan in case the walkers find a way in."

"Good idea," Lee praised. "Can't be too careful."  

He suddenly remembered the remote he'd found in his father's office; maybe they could use that. However, he was very doubtful that it could connect to the TVs across the street, but it was worth a shot, right?

The remote was right where Lee had left it, but he saw something else, too: his father's cane. He picked it up and looked at it momentarily, chuckling at the memory of his dad whooping any shoplifters with it. That was only for a second or two, though. It was unfortunate that his family were nothing but memories now as well.

But the cane could be used as a potential weapon, or so he hoped. It was better to keep it.

Lee walked out of the office and approached Doug. "Let's go back outside. I might have something that can help us."

"Great, let's go," Doug replied, opening the door.

The walkers - including Lee's brother - were right where the two men had left them. Lee raised the cane, hoping beyond belief that it would help them without attracting any unnecessary attention.  

"So what's the plan, Lee?"

"That guy's got the keys," replied Lee, pointing out his undead brother.

"How can you be sure?" asked Doug.

Lee pulled out the Everett family photo from his pocket, showing it to Doug and indicating his brother. "That boy in the photo worked here. The keys being on him is as good a bet as we can make."

"Yeah, I agree," said Doug. "Did you see Glenn earlier? He seemed eager to get out here. Said something about going to search for a TV remote."

"Yeah," said Lee. "He came up with the idea of using it to turn on the TVs across the street. And I got a remote right here."

"Nice one, Lee. But wait... the glass. I'm not sure the walkers would be able to hear the TVs through it."

Lee thought for a moment, before gesturing towards a brick lying just on the other side of the gate.

"I think if we open the gate, I could probably throw that through the glass."

Doug smiled. "I have to admit, Lee, I'm impressed. You've got this all figured out."

"Wait," said Lee suddenly. "The padlock combo!"

"Don't worry. I know the combination. Glenn had trouble remembering it, but he's pretty sure he figured it out."

"That's great," said Lee.

"Oh yeah, I just remembered. Pass me the remote."

Lee obliged. "What are you doing there?"

"It's universal," responded Doug, tapping away at the controls. "I'll program it to work with those TVs. Let's just hope the power is still on."

Lee waited patiently as Doug finished.

"I memorized all the codes when I was in AV. Let's try." He pointed with the remote, sending all the TVs in the store across the road lighting up with static. "It worked! Now you just have to smash that window and you'll have your chance to get the keys."  

"Well fucking done, Doug!" Lee praised. He looked at the padlock, then turned back to the other man. "Work your magic."

Doug quietly got up and fumbled around for about a minute, until the two of them heard a familiar little click. Luckily, this didn't grab the attention of any of the walkers that were close to the store. Lee gave Doug a nod and, with good aim, threw the brick that was just outside of the gate at the window, the glass shattering everywhere. A loud alarm sounded, and this brought the walkers over to the TV store.

Lee walked across the street to where his brother lay, trapped by a street lamp. Sadly, he knelt down.

"Hey, bud," he greeted softly. "I don't know what happened to Mom and Dad, but I know if you were there, you would have died for them. So yeah, I'm gonna assume that's what happened."

"Did you find them yet?" Doug called impatiently.

"Give me a second!" Lee hissed back. Then, he closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, man, I'm sorry I wasn't here. But knowing you were...to take care of them. That helped."

After a brief pause, he brought the cane down onto his brother's head, smearing blood everywhere. However, one blow didn't kill him, because the walker reached out, making Lee jump back. It took five hits until he heard the skull crack, and with a sigh, he reached down to grab the keys, which he held up to Doug.

As if on cue, the walkers in front of the TV store began to dwindle and take notice of Lee, who ran away immediately. He and Doug slammed the doors of the pharmacy, failing to notice that they had forgotten to put the padlock back on.

"Man, that was close!" Doug exclaimed.

"But we did it," Lee pointed out. "That's all that matters."

Sarah was at his side immediately. "Are you okay, Lee?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," he half-lied, trying to give her a reassuring smile. He tried to hide the pain, but it wasn't working that well.

Lee walked over to where Lilly was still keeping Larry company. "I've got the keys."

"Great! God, you're amazing!" Lilly cried. "Let's get in there."  

Lee headed over to the pharmacy door, Lilly right behind him. He inserted the key into the door, pulling it open and striding quickly inside.

When suddenly the deafening blaring of an alarm was heard. Lee stopped and sighed, his body sagging in resignation.

"Ah, shit."

He and Lilly sprinted into the pharmacy.

Meanwhile, the alarm rang out into the silence of the streets of Macon. A walker leaning against a dumpster slowly rose to its feet and began to stagger towards the source of the noise. It continued on, past abandoned cars and stores, before finally rounding a corner and emerging into an enormous herd of fellow walkers. They surrounded the drugstore, groaning loudly and pounding against the hasty fortifications.

They were almost inside.