The motorhome left the site of the warehouse, and temporarily left their trucks full of supplies behind.
It did not take long for them to pass through Townsend and instead of taking the interstate. They took the long route through the backroads since these kinds of roads did not suffer from a gridlock that paralyzed most interstate roads during the initial chaos.
Though it is still not necessarily safe since the woodlands on that road are a good place to set up an ambush and also a dangerous place where a large number can hide in, but with the open road, the chance of surviving is at least higher when fleeing on a car and even possible on foot.
While Michael is calmly driving, Clementine at the back had become worried and started praying for the safety of Lee and their friends.
"Are you praying? Are you a Christian?" Rosita, who is sitting opposite of her, was surprised to see her actions. It was because she had already witnessed a lot of people who had lost hope, and descended into despair after they tossed away their faith. So seeing someone so young like her still praying, made her smile.
It took a moment, but Clementine did not immediately respond to her. "I am. A very close friend of mine once told us that as long as there's tomorrow, there is always hope. Though we might have lost a lot of friends along the way, didn't our faith in Him eventually lead us to meet you all?"
Rosita softly snorted with a smile on her face. "You still believe even after you saw what your parents had become?"
Clementine smiled at her because even she can not properly explain the situation of her faith.
"I..I'm not sure. I only learned of Him from Kenny and Lee. So, I don't know much about Him except that he's our God and that everyone that dies here goes to a place called Paradise. Where everyone will be happy." Clementine softly explained with what she only understood about Him, and at the end of her words, her smile grew brightly.
"I guess." Rosita smiled while thinking inside. 'How innocent. I..I was just like her back in the day. I don't even remember when I stopped believing in Him. Listening to her though, it makes me wonder if He's still here watching us.'
Passing through the small harbor they saw on the way here.
"I wonder if they're still alive? I hope nothing happened to them."
Andrea was just calmly watching the road when she suddenly had a bad feeling and became worried.
"That's why we're driving over to them to make sure they're still alive and were just stuck due to circumstances along the way." Michael didn't comfort her since he's not sure if Lee would still be alive once they meet up with them.
'Since he wasn't supposed to live this long. His chances of being alive are dangerously low.' he thought inside.
"I'm just worried. We don't know how things would turn out once you're out here and can't you be a little bit more optimistic? I still have high hopes for them." She chided him and threw him a glare.
Michael shook his head and snorted. "Come on. Look at us, I'm freakishly strong, but even I'm helpless when faced with a huge herd. I even had troubles facing a mutant walker. I doubt Lee and the others would still be alive when they face one."
"They should be fine. I doubt mutated walkers are as common as clouds in the sky, and only an idiot would recklessly charge through a herd when they encounter one. Maybe they are just stuck somewhere around here like you said." Andrea tried to sound positive, but she can't hide the anxiety on her face.
Michael smiled slightly and said. "I think you just want them to join your team since your supply team has the least members on it."
"Not ours, Glenn's team is the least since they only have three people including him." Andrea disagreed.
"You can't include them. They are more of a scouting party than supply runners."
Andrea just shook her head and refused to say anything after. The two proceeded to drive in silence while the former warily watched their surroundings.
Meanwhile, on Lee's side.
At first, the group was moving at the same pace, but as the distance to their destination shortened. One of them eventually started lagging behind, and then it finally happened.
Swoosh!
A shadowy figure suddenly darted out of the woods and swiftly charged towards the figure lagging behind the group.
Lagging behind a couple of meters from Lee and the rest, Carley smiled sinisterly before she suddenly leapt to the side while turning her body behind her and aiming her gun towards the shadowy figure that's airborne and had already crossed half the distance from her. Its sharp claws stretch towards her.
"Crap!" She grew startled by what she saw, but this did not make her falter as she still pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
All three bullets landed squarely at the monster's head and before it even landed on the previous spot of Carley, it already died. Compared to the recent mutated walker that Michael faced, this one that Carley killed is as fragile as the one that Michael killed from that well back in the farm.
"Carley! Are you okay?"
"I think I'm alright."
Lee and the rest quickly came running to Carley when they heard the gunshots going off behind them and became terrified at the familiar figure lying dead before them.
"Damn, did you purposely lag behind to bait this monster to attack you?"
Lying on the ground, Carley smirked and grabbed Otis' hand who quickly helped her up.
She chuckled, but obviously frightened looking at her trembling hands. "Yeah, I wasn't fond of a threat lurking around us. I just did not expect it was this monster though, or else I wouldn't have pulled something as stupid as earlier."
"Are you insane? You should have told us if you were planning to do something like this." Lee was so angry that he raised his voice at her.
Carley did not make any excuses and just apologized. "Sorry."
She knew he was just afraid, afraid that they would lose her to the walking dead, like the ones before them.
"Come on, let's continue on the road. She said she's fine, Lee" Crista lightly slapped Lee on his shoulder and started walking ahead of them. Omid quickly followed after her.
Lee sighed and smiled at her with relief on his face. "Let's go. We need leave this place fast before any more of those monsters get here."
Lee and Carley resumed walking and were just three meters behind the couple ahead of them.
"..."
"I gotta admit though. Those were some pretty good shots that you managed to take down something like that alone. Though I think you were still pretty lucky that you came out of that situation unscathed." Lee eventually praised her after a short silence between them.
Carley chuckled and was feeling incredibly proud inside. "Well, I guess those countless times I kept practicing are finally paying off. That kind of monster is actually not that dangerous as long as you manage to shoot its head multiple times."
"Hey now, don't get cocky. You were just lucky that you managed to land all the shots on its head. You think you're Simo Hayha or something?" Lee softly berated her.
"Even then, I think I'm the first one in the world who killed a Swooper alone." she boasts.
Eventually, Lee and the rest slowly disappeared over the hill road, leaving behind a testament of Carley's greatest kill shot as of now.