Long Road Ahead

"Long Road Ahead", retitled "Episode 3", is the third episode of Telltale Games' The Walking Dead: Season One.

Summary
''Tensions have run high since the devastating encounter with the cannibalistic dairy farmers. Now running low on the supplies they ravaged from the station wagon, can the group find more ways to survive?''

Plot
A week after the events of "Starved For Help", the survivors continue to use the Travelier Motel for shelter, now that they have obtained more supplies from the back of an abandoned car. Lee and Kenny procure the last of the supplies from the town of Macon. While Lee is having a second go at climbing up a ladder, he hears a girl screaming whom he thought was a walker at first. The girl ends up bitten before they could help her and Lee wants to put her out of her misery. Kenny then tries to convince Lee to let her live, buying them time. If Lee chooses to give her a pity death, Lee will have less time to get supplies but if Lee chooses to let her live, Beatrice will buy them more time to get enough or all of the supplies. Depending on how many items Lee has gotten, (from little to full supplies) Lilly will be angered because of the shortage of supplies, or relieved by the good amounts of medicine. Lee is attacked just as they are escaping the drugstore, and depending on his relationship with Kenny, Kenny will either help him fight off the walkers or attempt to leave Lee.

Once again Kenny brings up his wish to leave the Motor Inn now that he has gotten the RV working, leading to another bitter argument between him and Lilly. She brings up her contention that someone is stealing from the group's medicine supply, and mentions that her trust in the others is wearing thin. Lee decides to look into the matter of the pilfering, aided by Duck. During this time, the player has the option to tell all the survivors about Lee's past after a conversation with Carley (if she is saved in "A New Day"). His investigation leads him to a ventilation shaft outside the motel, inside which a bag with the missing drugs is found.

While Lee reports back to Lilly, the motel is attacked by the Save-Lots Bandits. The situation quickly escalates and turns into a frantic firefight between the bandits and survivors. A large group of Walkers is attracted by the noise, and the survivors, realizing that the motel is lost, manage to escape in the RV. It is revealed that the bandits attacked because they "didn't get their meds," implying that the bag Lee took from the shaft was a delivery made by a member of the group. Lilly accuses Ben (and Carley if she was saved in "A New Day") of being traitor(s) and making a deal with the bandits for supplies. The argument escalates throughout the RV ride and reaches its peak when Kenny is dealing with a Walker that is stuck under the RV. If Carley survived "A New Day", she argues with a paranoid Lilly and supports Ben's statement of innocence. Lee tries to keep the peace, but Lilly shoots Carley in the head in a fit of rage. If Doug survives "A New Day", Lilly tries to shoot Ben, but Doug pulls him out of the way and he is killed. Either way, Lee makes the choice to leave Lilly on the road or take her in the RV.

On the RV, Katjaa and Kenny reveal to Lee that Duck was bitten during the bandits' raid. The group, now visibly depressed, travels all the way till morning until they are forced to stop due to an abandoned and partially derailed train blocking the road. While searching the train, Lee finds a tiny camp set up for what seems to be one person in the one undamaged boxcar. Lee also finds a bottle of water and some animal crackers for the sick Duck. In the locomotive the group finds that the train's engine is still running and are slightly elated, thinking they'll have amazing transportation if they can start it. If Lee chose to bring Lilly, she will steal the RV when everyone is outside, and drive away. After Lee detaches the train from its damaged cars and starts the engine after finding a list of instructions, the group is surprised by Charles, a homeless man who has been living in the train. He instantly befriends the group and decides to join them as they board the train. Katjaa attempts to get Kenny to listen about Duck, but Kenny is in denial and angrily forces the group to board and shut up about Duck. The group leaves on the train. Shortly after, Duck is near death and spitting up blood. Katjaa knows there is no time left and tells Lee to get Kenny to stop the train. Lee tries to talk sense into Kenny and either convinces him to stop the train or enrages him. In the ensuing fight Lee chooses to either let Kenny hit him or defend himself. Kenny stops the train no matter what decisions are made during the conversation. During an emotionally distressing scene, Lee helps decide who should shoot Duck: Katjaa, Kenny or himself. Whatever is said, Katjaa carries Duck into the forest, with or without Kenny, and a gunshot is heard. The group and the player assumes Katjaa shoots Duck; however, she has shot herself. (If Kenny follows Katjaa into the forest, you will hear his cry of distress.) Duck is still barely alive and the player decides whether the emotionally broken Kenny or Lee should shoot Duck. Alternatively the player can choose to leave Duck to reanimate.

The remaining group - Lee, Clementine, Kenny, Ben and Chuck - continue on the train. Ben reveals to Lee that he was the traitor, and explains that he was giving the bandits drugs in exchange for the life of a classmate they claimed to be holding hostage; Lee can then choose to be understanding or threatening, and tells Ben that he should probably refrain from telling others. Chuck advises Lee to teach Clementine how to shoot, implying that he has seen the death of another girl her age who was unprepared for the dangers the walkers present. Lee takes his advice and starts to teach Clementine to shoot, cuts her hair shorter, and starts to talk about a plan when they eventually reach Savannah.

Shortly after, the train is brought to a stop as the track is blocked by a petroleum tank truck, hanging from a damaged bridge up above. As the survivors briefly argue over what to do now, they are met by Omid and Christa, two survivors from San Francisco who had been on a road trip at the start of the outbreak. Omid is excited and happy to meet other living people, especially a kid, but Christa is cautious and skeptical, believing that moving in large groups causes problems. Lee convinces them to meet the group and help them get rid of the hanging tanker. He can also tell them about one of the group to further gain trust (that they just met Charles, that Kenny lost his wife and son, or that they shouldn't trust Ben with anything).

While Omid and Christa talk with the group, Lee decides to scout out the nearby freight-station for tools to remove the tanker, and lets Clementine tag along. Luck has it that they find a blowtorch, but unfortunately they also come across three walkers occupying the station, and they barely avoid getting bitten, though they work together well enough to kill them. Christa hears the noise from the fight, comes in and scolds Lee for putting Clementine in danger. Lee can either scold her back or be honest with her.

Back on the bridge, Lee starts cutting the coupling to the tanker with the blowtorch, but runs into complications as it slides out of his reach. Instead, he opts to dangle Omid over the gap to finish the job, much to the latter's discomfort.

Ben spots a massive zombie herd heading toward the group, and they must leave, as Omid finally cuts the coupling. The truck damages the ladder leading to the bridge and Omid and Lee cannot get down. Lee may or may not kick the lit blowtorch onto the spilling gas, (depending on the player's choice) making a small barrier of fire to buy time. They move to the other side and jump onto the train, with Omid having a bad landing and falling off, badly injuring his leg. Lee gets on the train and Christa gets off to help Omid. Lee now helps either Omid or Christa to get on the train, and both panic at the prospect of the other getting left behind, but both manage to get on the train regardless. Later in the day, Lee is driving the train, with Clementine sleeping next to him. He notices a drawing Clementine drew. Kenny comes in, appearing a bit more stable, and talks with Lee on what to do when they reach Savannah, when Clementine's walkie-talkie, which she had always said was broken, comes on. A man's voice is heard, telling Clementine that he's happy she's coming to Savannah, and that he has her parents, Ed and Diana. The voice then instructs Clementine to find him whether Lee approves or not. Kenny and Lee, who both believed the walkie-talkie was broken, are stunned and wonder who it coud be as the train pulls into Savannah.

In-Game Decisions
This list shows some of the choices made by players that were tracked by the game.


 * For the complete in-game stats, see Video Game Statistics.

Sweet, Merciful Death: Did you shoot the girl?
 * Shot the girl - 41%
 * Did not shoot her - 59%

Left Behind: Did you abandon Lilly?
 * Abandoned Lilly - 46%
 * Let her back on the RV - 54%

Standoff: How did you get Kenny to stop the train?
 * Fought him - 54%
 * Talked him down - 46%

A Heavy Burden: Who took care of Duck?
 * Shot him yourself - 81%
 * Had Kenny shoot him - 19%

A Helping Hand: Who did you help first?
 * Helped Omid first - 60%
 * Helped Christa first - 40%

Credits

 * Lee Everett
 * Clementine
 * Kenny
 * Katjaa
 * Kenny Jr.
 * Lilly
 * Carley (Determinant)
 * Doug (Determinant)
 * Ben Paul
 * Charles
 * Christa
 * Omid
 * Gary
 * Linda
 * Drew
 * Beatrice
 * Stranger (Voice Only)
 * Numerous unnamed Save-Lots Bandits.

Deaths

 * Beatrice
 * Save-Lots Bandit 1
 * Linda
 * Gary (Determinant)
 * Drew (Determinant)
 * Jake (Assumed)
 * Bart (Assumed)
 * Carley (If saved in "A New Day")
 * Doug (If saved in "A New Day")
 * Katjaa
 * Kenny Jr.
 * Numerous unnamed Save-Lots Bandits.

Impacts
This list shows the narrative consequences effected by choices from previous episodes of Season 1.


 * Depending if you save Carley or Doug, the dialogues will change with Lee and the others, the relationships too.
 * Depending on whether or not you gave Irene the gun in "A New Day", part of the deck on the second floor balcony of the motor inn will be destroyed.
 * If you took the supplies from the car in the woods, Clementine will wear the hoodie for the rest of the season. If you don't, she will wear her skirt as always.
 * Lilly will hate both Lee and Kenny if you helped kill Larry, or just Kenny if you tried to save Larry.
 * Kenny will be nice or hostile towards Lee depending if you saved Duck, sided with him, tried to save or helped kill Larry.
 * During the argument with Kenny and Lilly, if the player chooses "We got plenty of food", Kenny will say how Lee "didn't wanna take it", if you choose not to steal it.
 * Depending upon what Lee decided to do about Larry in the meat locker, if Lee stays silent when being asked about leaving, Kenny will say different words.
 * Depending on who Lee tried to save on Hershel's farm in the first episode, Kenny will either tell Lee it was both of their faults or rebuke Lee for not understanding his position.

Trivia

 * First appearance of Charles.
 * First appearance of Omid.
 * First appearance of Christa.
 * First appearance of the Stranger. (Voice Only)
 * First (and last) appearance of Beatrice.
 * Last appearance of Save-Lots Bandit Leader.
 * First (and last) appearance of Gary.
 * First (and last) appearance of Linda.
 * First (and last) appearance of Drew.
 * Last appearance of Carley. (Alive) (If saved in "A New Day")
 * Last appearance of Doug. (Alive) (If saved in "A New Day")
 * Last appearance of Katjaa. (In Reality)
 * Last appearance of Kenny Jr. (In Reality)
 * Last appearance of Lilly. (Unknown)
 * Last appearance of the Save-Lots Bandit leader.
 * This episode is titled "Ein weiter Weg" (literally 'A Long Way') in German, and "The Long Road Ahead" in Spanish.
 * During the promo for this episode, there is a scene with Omid (with his leg wounded) and Christa fighting against walkers. That never happened in the episode and it's not mentioned.
 * Failure to choose whether to leave Lilly behind or not will result in Kenny making the final decision of leaving her.
 * Failure to choose whether to help Omid or Christa will result in both making it on the train themselves, though Christa will scold you for not helping.
 * If you save Carley in "A New Day", she will show that she has an interest in Lee by kissing him on the cheek.
 * If Doug is saved, it is not possible for Lee to tell the others about his past.
 * If Carley is saved in "A New Day", she will cover one side of the RV when shooting the walkers, but if Doug is saved, Lee must cover both sides on his own (however, Doug will alert Lee as to which side bandits and zombies will be approaching from, and the time needed to prep the RV is shorter.)
 * When stalling the bandits, you have the opportunity to talk to them twice; choosing to stay silent during any one of these opportunities will result in Lee's death.
 * If you choose to shoot Duck and wait long enough to do so, Duck will stop breathing, indicating that he has died.
 * This is the first episode with a first-person shooting gameplay.
 * Failure to shoot the walker attacking Katjaa and Duck during the motel escape will result in Kenny shooting it with his handgun.
 * There is an Easter Egg, dubbed "Duck-pocalypse", which can be seen when trying to get Kenny to stop the train. If Lee remains silent in some circumstances after striking Kenny in conversation, Kenny will throw him out of the cabin. Lee then goes back to the car, but Duck has turned into a walker and killed everyone. Lee is horrified as Duck walks slowly towards him and pounces him off the train.
 * When deciding whether or not to shoot Beatrice, it is possible for the player to shoot the walkers farther away from her. However, if Lee shoots more than one, Kenny will force him to stop and leave Beatrice as bait.
 * "Long Road Ahead" has the most human deaths out of all the episodes of Season 1. "Starved For Help" has more "named" character deaths, but adding the deaths of the multiple Save-Lots Bandits means that "Long Road Ahead" has the most human deaths.
 * The title of this episode refers to Lee's group having to become mobile, their home having been overrun.
 * If the player chooses the "It could be worse" option while arguing with Lilly and Kenny at the motel, Lee will ask when the last time someone got bit was in order to show how relatively well they've been doing. Ben will then call out from the RV about the St. Johns, prompting a surprising amount of backlash from the other group members.
 * The game greatly simplifies the start up process for a train engine. This process is so difficult that most trains are kept running at all times until the train is needed for repairs, or until it is decommissioned entirely.
 * When obtaining the pencil from the RV, a bottle of Banang can be seen in one of the cupholders. This is an Easter Egg referencing Sam & Max, an earlier game by Telltale Games.
 * Chuck will say "You've got to be careful about newcomers, I say" when Lee introduces Omid and Christa, despite he himself being a relative newcomer to the group as well. (Determinant)

Goofs/Errors

 * In "A New Day", the abandoned truck trailer is seen without a ladder, yet in this episode, the trailer possesses a ladder which is implied by Kenny to have been used on numerous other scavenger trips. This is probably a developer oversight.
 * Lee's rifle keeps disappearing and reappearing when he and Kenny are in Macon.
 * The rifle Lee carries in Macon is a Winchester Model 70, but after he and Kenny get back at the Motor Inn and hands it to Lilly, it changes to a Browning Automatic Rifle Safari when she puts it down.
 * During the scene in the RV immediately following the escape from the motel, the mood of the general population is still frantic, evidenced by Kenny's desperate checking of Katjaa. This takes place at night, though, and the motel attack was several hours earlier, not a few minutes earlier.
 * If you don't pick up the water from the box car at all, when the train begins to move, if you look closely you can see the water bottle in the distance floating in the air.
 * If the player leaves Duck to reanimate, there still appears to be a bullet hole in his head in the final overhead scene of him and Katjaa.
 * After jumping off the bridge, when Christa says "Run" to Omid, he appears to be smiling.
 * In the sign in the window of the abandoned station, "Trespassers" is misspelled as "Tresspassers", though this may have been intentional.
 * After when either Carley or Doug get shot by Lilly, both face different directions. However, in the "400 Days" DLC, both Doug and Carley's corpse's have noticeably been moved, both facing in the direction where the RV came from. Also, the walker parted in two by Kenny, is no longer present. Also, there was an abandoned car in the background, also missed in the DLC.
 * If you share your past secret with just Lilly, and when she tells Kenny at the RV scene, Kenny acts as if Lee told him the secret already. The same thing happens if Lee tells Katjaa and not Kenny.
 * During the flashback to Lee's argument with Larry at the motel during "A New Day", Katjaa, Kenny, and their truck are missing from the scene.
 * The walker Lee killed by tipping over the fridge is not there in the shot of Kenny shooting walkers.
 * When Ben starts to confess to Lee on the train, his hand clips through his hair.
 * If Lee says that they should do whatever is best for the kids, Katjaa is seen standing behind Kenny. In the next shot, she is walking towards Lilly's room with Doug/Carley.
 * Larry is credited in this episode, despite the fact that he does not appear.

Glitches

 * A glitch can occur after Lilly kicks everyone out of her room, where both music and game volume cuts. The same thing happens if Lee goes back into her room and tells her that he is following up on stolen supplies.
 * If you ask Ben about the broken flashlight, you can still control Lee during the conversation. This will make Ben look to the direction you are moving.
 * After meeting Chuck, Duck can become invisible, making it look like Katjaa's not holding anything.
 * A glitch will sometimes occur after Lee detaches the train from its damaged cars and meets Chuck. If Lee talks to Chuck while he is playing his guitar, Lee and Chuck will talk normally, but the screen covers Chuck's upper half, and only his lower half can be seen. Even though Chuck was sitting down, he is standing still during the glitch and his guitar seems to pass through his legs. After the conversation, when Lee talks to Kenny in the driver's cabin, Lee says that he can't get the train unstuck, even though he had already done it previously. Lee will then have to go back to the back of the train once again, only to see that it has already been detached. Lee heads back in the cabin where he met Chuck, where he will be suprised by Chuck and have the same conversation once again. Also, during the conversation, Chuck is glitched just like before; having only his lower half seen, standing still, and having his guitar pass through his legs.
 * While waiting for Duck to stop breathing, his head initially falls forward as he has died. However, it will glitch back up into its former position a second after.
 * Sometimes when Lee is repairing the train in the front compartment, the cursor may glitch and become unable to reach the last button on one of the dashboards. Making it impossible to progress to further into the episode.
 * If Lee kills the walker with the car door without looking at the animal crackers box, then chooses to do so, the walker's legs will phase back over it as if it were still kicking.
 * Subsequently, if Lee exits the car area without picking up the animal crackers, if Lee returns, the door will be closed with the walker dead inside. Lee will be unable to open the door, but can still reach in and grab the animal crackers somehow.
 * A rare glitch may sometimes occur when Lee exits the train's front compartment. After Lee exits through the door the camera will fall below the floor's texture, making it impossible for the player to move around the episode and halting further progress.
 * Another rare glitch occurs after Lee first talks with Chuck at the front of the train and gets instructions to better prepare Clementine.  Going through the train cabin towards the box car results in the cursor disappearing.  Lee can still walk around near Ben, but no interaction with the box car or Ben is possible.  Reloading the scene fixes the issue.
 * When you have to cut Clementine's hair, teach her to shoot and then work out a plan, a glitch will sometimes occur when you stand up to go give Chuck the whiskey (if you do this after cutting her hair and teaching her to shoot) it will just show you the back of the train while driving, and the only way to solve this is to restart to the nearest chapter, in which Lee will be asking Chuck why he told Clementine she was going to die.
 * At the abandoned station, just before prepping the door open a glitch occurs in which a monkey wrench is seemingly placed at the door, however the door will be closed and if you examine the monkey wrench, Lee and Clementime will say the lines which are said if the door is prepped open.
 * Sometimes, Lee will cut Clementine's hair and teach her how to shoot at the same time, with the camera shifting to the teaching her how to shoot angle while Lee is cutting her hair, and vice versa. The dialogue will be jumbled together and Lee's mouth doesn't move. If the player waits too long or if there is not enough leeway, the dialogue options will merge into one button pressing, resulting in both options of each conversation to be played. Also, while teaching her how to shoot, her aims are off focus, so you might need to rely on luck to accurately line up the shot.

Deleted Sequences

 * Lee had to save each individual, as the group was scattered all over the Motor Inn rather than saving Doug/Carley and Ben, then save Clementine, Katjaa and Duck from the vicious bandit attack. Before the release of "Starved For Help", Mark was supposed to still be alive but left behind during the escape.
 * Jolene was going to make a return via flashback, but was scrapped for unknown reasons. Her lines are in audio clips. Interestingly enough, there are screams and cries of her begging for help, possibly rape (as she implies in the camcorder "[You] rapist mon-!" in the final version).
 * Ben was supposed to tell about his family on the train, but it was scrapped for this episode and added in "No Time Left". (Determinant)
 * According to unused audio clips, there was an option to kill Duck in a way other than shooting him.

Achievements/Trophies

 * For all obtainable achievements and trophies, see Achievements.

Reception
This episode had the highest average ratings out of any episode in a the first season, mainly due to its dynamic settings and drastic plot changes. This episode in particular challenged many players' sense of morality, supplying multiple layers of emotionality to "Long Road Ahead."