Amid The Ruins

"Amid The Ruins", retitled "Episode 9", is the fourth episode of Telltale Games' The Walking Dead: Season Two.

It was released on July 22, 2014 for PC/Mac via Steam, PlayStation Network and PlayStation Vita, on July 23rd for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network Europe, and on July 24th for iOS.

Plot Synopsis
The opening scenes of the episode differ depending on how you saved Sarita at the end of In Harm's Way:

If you hacked Sarita's arm off: the episode starts with Sarita screaming in pain. Staggering, she asks Clementine why she cut her hand off, before the walkers surround and attack her. Hearing her screams, Kenny comes to her aid, alongside Mike. He is able to kill all of the walkers, but Sarita collapses and is already dying of blood loss. Kenny becomes angry at Clementine, blaming her for what happened to Sarita, and tells her to stay away from both of them. Clementine will then have to choose to either axe Sarita to end her suffering, or persuade Kenny to leave. If the latter is chosen, Kenny still refuses to leave, and Clementine can choose to axe Sarita or do nothing. Doing nothing will result in Kenny leaving Sarita to reanimate. Kenny is still angry at Clementine and blames her even more with increased hostility. Mike grabs Kenny, and the two run off, leaving Clementine behind to escape on her own.

If you killed the walker that attacked Sarita: Sarita will panic at the sight of her infected arm. Kenny and Mike arrive to assist, and the three escape the herd together, though Clementine is left behind to escape on her own.

This next part is non-determinant and happens whether or not you cut Sarita's arm off. Clementine gets left behind and manages to fend off some walkers by herself. Luke and Nick (if the latter was saved in the events of A House Divided) run away from the herd and try to catch up with Sarah. If Nick is alive, he is shot at the back of his shoulder by the members of Carver's group, though it is unknown whether the shot was intended or it was accidental like it was for Carlos. Regardless, both Luke and Nick escape into the forest after Sarah.

Clementine kills more walkers as she searches for her group, applying more walker guts on her in the process. Clementine can shout for Kenny, Luke or keep quiet, but someone grabs her from behind, startling her. However, she is relieved when she sees that it is Rebecca. Rebecca is glad that she found Clementine and tells her that Luke was with her but was separated from him. The two then decide to look for a way out. Clementine sees an opening far ahead, and they both attempt to run forth to escape, only to be surrounded once more and retreat back to where they were. Clementine bumps into Jane, and both are relieved to see each other. She tells them to stay calm and walk slowly, but Rebecca begins panicking, and runs to a tree and hides behind it, pleading Jane for her help. Jane suggests they spread out in order to avoid getting caught and Clementine can say she agrees with Jane, or stay with Rebecca's side. In both choices, Jane returns to where she left Clementine and Rebecca, and devises a plan to help them to get through the herd. Jane then asks Clementine to get a walker's attention so that she could use it as a 'cow-catcher'. Clementine successfully draws the attention of the nearby walker, and Jane sneaks up behind it and removes its jaw, thus preventing it from biting them. Jane uses the walker as a camouflage and pushes through the herd, with Rebecca and Clementine walking behind her. The three manage to successfully escape the herd into the forest.

Later, the three are seen walking through the forest towards Parker's Run, but Rebecca begins to lag behind, Clementine asks Rebecca how she is doing. She notes that her pregnancy is increasingly draining her energy, and Clementine is visually concerned about Rebecca's well being. Rebecca thanks Jane for saving them back at Howe's Hardware, but Jane also allows Clementine to receive some of the credit. Jane persists to keep them moving forward, but allows Rebecca to rest for a minute when she asks. A conversation about Rebecca's baby ensues, and when Jane asks about what she will do with the baby, Rebecca takes offense, even though Jane apologizes. The group have a short argument, with Jane revealing that she once had a sister, later known to be Jaime, and the argument ends ultimately with Jane storming off ahead with the other two following towards Parker's Run.

Jane, Rebecca, and Clementine reach Parker's Run and are delighted to find Bonnie and Mike waiting for them. They discuss the fact that Nick, Luke and Sarah have yet to arrive at the meeting place, and that Kenny is sitting nearby seemingly broken. Mike states that Kenny flipped out when he attempted to talk to him, and so Mike and Bonnie suggest for Clementine to talk to Kenny and see if he is okay.

If Sarita was left behind at the herd, Kenny is heard talking about her and asking for her forgiveness as Clementine approaches. Clementine tries to talk with him, but he becomes hostile towards her, stating that just because she is a little girl, it doesn't mean people won't care if she kills someone. He becomes increasingly angry and hostile, and this forces Clementine to back out and leave him alone. If Sarita escaped the herd with Kenny, Kenny will be seen comforting her, and is angry towards Clementine. He tells her to leave them both alone, which she does. She returns to the others and continues to discuss their plan of action, with Mike being skeptical about bringing a baby into this world without food or water. Clementine suggests they should go find Luke, Sarah and Nick (if he was still alive), to which Rebecca agrees. As a result, Jane volunteers to search for them, asking Clementine to go along with her. Rebecca thanks Jane for this decision, and the two head out into the forest.

While walking, Jane says how she is not sure they will be able to find Sarah or the others, but Clementine can choose to disagree. Either way, Jane will mention that Clementine has to be smart, otherwise she would not be able to make it this far. The two discuss whether or not being in a group is the best option, and if surviving alone is the more pragmatic solution, ending with Jane giving Clementine some advice about her group, claiming that it is "cracking" and won't last for much longer with only "broken decisions". Jane then reveals more of her previous life with her sister, Jaime, recalling the memories of having a little sister and annually visiting an amusement park in Virginia during the Summer.

Momentarily, Jane spots an area ahead, and the two come across the Sunshine Mobile Home Park where two fresh walkers lay dead on the ground. Jane teaches Clementine to make sure the walkers are dead, and that only fresh walkers contain useful loot. They search the walkers and discover bullets and a nail file. Further ahead, when they flip a walker corpse, Clementine discovers Sarah's glasses on the ground underneath the walker, meaning that Sarah had once been here. Clementine can call out for Sarah's name, or discuss what to do with Jane, but before they decide what to do, Sarah's screams are heard from within the trailer park, as well as Luke's voice.

Together, they discover a hole in the fence allowing entry into the trailer park, and they discover that a zombified Nick (if he was still alive) is caught in the fence. Jane requests that Clementine should be the one to end him. Saddened, Clementine does so momentarily afterwards with three hatchet blows to Nick's head. Jane gives Clementine more advice not to hesitate if she has to do this to other members of her group, and she also gives her a more agile weapon - a scratch awl. After entering the trailer park, they discover two walkers close by. Clementine kills one of them, and Jane attacks the other, while also demonstrating a new tactic to Clementine; to kick the walkers in the knees and then stab them in the back of the head. They press onward and discover two more walkers blocking view of a trailer where Sarah and Luke are hiding. As they advance towards these walkers, Clementine gets caught by a seemingly dead walker that jumps on her. Clementine manages to kills this walker as Jane takes care of one of the other walkers. Clementine finishes off the last walker, using the tactic that Jane just taught her, to which Jane will be pleasantly surprised and merit her use of the tactic.

Ahead, they find the trailer park where Sarah and Luke are hiding, but discover that the trailer is surrounded by walkers attracted by Sarah's screams. The two decide they need to find a way to lure the walkers away, and Clementine decides to use the horn of a nearby car to do so. Together, they drag a walker corpse to the vehicle and leave it on top of the steering wheel, creating the monotonous horn sound which manages to successfully attract the walkers away from the trailer. Jane and Clementine quickly enter another trailer to the side in order to get around to Sarah and Luke's trailer. However, there are two walkers which they must dispose of first, which they do so with ease. The two manage to reach the outside of Sarah and Luke's trailer, but discover the door locked. It turns out that the walker that was left on the steering wheel had fallen off, resulting in the horn being silenced and the walkers beginning to return to the trailer in which Sarah is screaming. Running out of time, Clementine attempts to open the door while Jane defends her from the walkers. Clementine eventually manages to break open the door by kicking it down, and once inside, the two immediately pull over furniture to block the door from walkers.

Once inside, Luke comes out to find them, and Clementine can reveal Nick's death to Luke (if he was still alive) to which he is horrified and saddened. Luke then explains that Sarah had run to this trailer park for shelter and hasn't moved since. Clementine rushes over to find Sarah huddled in the corner of a room in shock, presumably over her father's death. Clementine attempts to talk to her in order to get her to move, but time begins to run out as the trailer is surrounded by walkers. Luke notes that the only exit is now a skylight. Walkers begin to break the main door down, and Jane rushes to help block it, asking for Luke's help in doing so. After failing to get Sarah to move, Clementine will go help Jane and Luke, looking for something they could climb on top on to reach the skylight. It turns out that the furniture they used to block the door is the only item they can use to do so, and together they quickly move it over to where the skylight is, with Jane killing the attacking walkers that have entered the trailer. Luke is the first to exit the skylight, and it is then up to Clementine to convince Sarah to leave or to let her stay. If she convinces her to leave, Clementine will ultimately have to slap Sarah in order to get her to move through the skylight, but if she leaves Sarah, the latter will start screaming for Clementine and become engulfed by walkers as Clementine and Jane exit through the skylight. Depending on Clementine's choice, all four, or only three of the survivors can return to Parker's Run.

On returning, they discover that Rebecca is in increasing pain from her pregnancy, and that Kenny is residing within a nearby tent. They are greeted by Rebecca, Mike and Bonnie. Rebecca is either glad or saddened of Sarah's fate, and is saddened when she learns of Nick's fate (if he was saved by Walter. Luke brings Rebecca for a walk, and Bonnie asks Clementine if anyone in the group has experience with a baby's birth. Clementine decides to talk with Kenny and asks for his help with Rebecca's pregnancy as Kenny is the only person that has had experience with a birth in the past. Kenny, although resentful at first, agrees to help. The group decides to look for supplies and shelter nearby, and Jane goes towards the local observation deck and gift shop, while Bonnie and Mike head towards a nearby museum. Clementine will ultimately go with Jane to the observation deck.

Upon reaching the deck, Clementine will find Jane sitting on a bench, and the two will discuss the situation more whilst walking to the observation deck. At the top, they discover an ideal safe location for Rebecca to give birth, however, it is locked under a padlock and will take some time to open. Without warning, Clementine spots a stranger approaching the observation deck from afar, and this forces the two to hide. The man climbs to the top and attempts to stuff a bag into a garbage bin, but Clementine startles him by talking to him. The man reacts with hostility and points his gun at her, saying he will not hesitate to shoot her. As Clementine begins talking to him, Jane sneaks up behind him and disarms him, forcing him to drop his bag. The man reveals his name to be Arvo, and Clementine discovers the bag to be filled with medical supplies. Clementine can choose either to keep the supplies for themselves, or give them back to Arvo. Either option will result in Jane threatening Arvo to never come to this area again, before sending him away. Jane returns to breaking the padlock while Clementine returns to Parker's Run.

She discovers that Rebecca is in great pain, and can offer her the medicine she acquired (If she chose to steal it from Arvo) to ease her pain, to which she is grateful. Kenny will question the fact that Bonnie and Mike still aren't back from the museum, and he suggests that Clementine should go and check up on them, to which she agrees. If Sarah was saved from the trailer park, Clementine can talk to her, and Sarah will claim that she is waiting for Carlos to come back, making Clementine appear visibly worried about Sarah. After the conversation, Clementine will continue towards the museum.

On arrival, she finds Bonnie and Mike squabbling due to finding no supplies yet, but welcome Clementine to join in their search. Clementine manages to discover a Civil War Confederate coat that could be used as a blanket. She also later discovers two water barrels in a locked room. Bonnie and Mike join her, as she manages to open the window gate partially, allowing herself to squeeze through into the other room to unlock the door. To her shock, Clementine gets stuck half-way through, but suddenly a walker rises up from the locked room and grabs Clementine. Mike begins to kick down the door as Bonnie attempts to pull Clementine out. If Clementine refuses to squeeze through, Bonnie will reach in the window gate in an attempt to unlock the door, and she gets grabbed by the walker instead, which will result in her getting her head hit, leaving a bruise around her eye. Mike manages to successfully kick down the door and knocks down the walker which Clementine then finishes off. Mike grabs the water barrels, and as they head outside, Bonnie notices a raccoon. The trio suggest capturing it and eating it later. After trying to capture it, the raccoon heads outside where it is revealed to have a family, and Clementine can either show that she is content or disappointed that it managed to escape. The three then head back to Parker's Run with the water barrels and coat.

As they return, Rebecca begins screaming in pain, attracting a herd of walkers nearby. The group quickly try to move Rebecca to the safer observation deck that Jane was working on earlier. Kenny and Mike (if Clementine asks Mike to help) will fend off the approaching walkers as the others get Rebecca away. Upon arriving at the observation deck, Clementine discovers that Luke and Jane had just finished having an affair, and Luke becomes shocked when Clementine arrives. Kenny instantly snaps and becomes hostile towards Luke as it was Luke's job to be on the lookout for walkers. Regardless, the walkers begin to climb the observation deck, and the group prepare for it. Kenny stays with Rebecca and deals with her birth, while the others secure the gate to ensure the walkers are unable to enter the deck. However, the gate begins to break, and Luke asks for Clementine to find something they can use to block the gate. She decides to use a nearby cannon to secure the gate, and Luke helps her wheel it over, but to their horror, the increased weight of the cannon causes a portion of the deck to collapse underneath them, causing both Sarah and Jane to topple over, as well as several walkers. Luke manages to clasp Jane's arm, but Sarah is trapped on the ground underneath piles of rubble and is unable to escape. Clementine can either help Jane up, or ask Jane to rescue Sarah. If the latter or silence is chosen, Jane will drop down and attempt to lift the rubble off of Sarah. However, a plank from the damaged deck falls and dazes Jane, causing her to stumble away, and by the time she regains consciousness, the walkers are already devouring Sarah. Alternatively, if Clementine chose to pull Jane up, then Sarah will be devoured regardless. Jane manages to get herself back onto the top of the deck as Clementine watches in sorrow at the death of Sarah.

Rebecca continues screaming from giving birth as Jane apologizes for the death, but she quickly notices that the walkers are using the collapsed deck to climb up towards them. Clementine or Luke will quickly decide that they need to collapse the rest of the deck, to which Clementine discovers that she could collapse it if she cut the remaining cable with her hatchet. Mike boosts her up in order to reach the cable, and Clementine manages to dislodge the mechanisms after three swipes, causing the remainder of the deck to collapse and crush the walker herd. The group quickly scurry and return to Rebecca, only to discover the lifeless baby in Kenny's arms. However, as the child seems lost, it begins to cough and breathe, and so the group retire for the night within the observation deck.

Later that night, Clementine talks with Rebecca about her baby, and offers Clementine to hold him, to which she can accept or decline. Kenny will then arrive and offer to look after the child for the night in order to allow Rebecca to get some rest. They will then decide the next plan of action, with Kenny suggesting that they head out northwards in the morning, but Luke disagrees, claiming that Rebecca is in no state to travel and that they should leave after a couple of days. Clementine can decide which options is to be taken, before she heads out onto the remaining small portion of deck to find Jane escaping. The two have a final conversation, with Jane giving Clementine some useful advice about survival, as well as offering the nail file to Clementine which she can accept or decline. Jane then takes off, as Luke comes to ask Clementine how she is doing. Luke breaks out in anger as he discovers that Jane had fled without saying goodbye, and Kenny arrives to continue arguing with Luke as the night ends.

When the group decide to leave, they head northwards as the location becomes coated in snowfall. Rebecca becomes visibly weak and collapses, halting their travel as she rests on a car tire. As Kenny and Luke persist arguing over the decision to leave earlier or later, the man that Clementine and Jane attacked earlier arrives, along with three other Russian people that hold Clementine's group at gunpoint. The man, Arvo, will ask where Jane is, and when Clementine tells him that she had left, Arvo believes it to be a trap, causing both groups to become hostile and aim guns towards one another. Clementine begins to hear the sounds of a walker, and turns in a horrified glance to find that Rebecca had died and zombified in mere minutes, still holding the baby in her arm. Clementine can either decide to shoot her, or call out for help to which Kenny will then shoot her. Either option will result in the groups being startled and the episode ending with several gunshots being fired.

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


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

Pragmatism: Left Sarah at the trailer park? Compassion: Robbed Arvo? Selflessness: Crawled through ticket booth? Nurturing: Held the baby? Survivalism: Shot Rebecca?
 * Saved Sarah - 52.3%
 * Left Sarah - 47.7%
 * Did Steal - 52.6%
 * Didn't Steal - 47.4%
 * Crawled Through - 57.9%
 * Didn't crawl through - 42.1%
 * Held the baby - 56.7%
 * Didn't hold the baby - 43.3%
 * Got help - 57.3%
 * Shot Rebecca - 42.7%

Credits

 * Clementine
 * Kenny
 * Luke
 * Nick (Determinant)
 * Rebecca
 * Bonnie
 * Sarah
 * Sarita
 * Mike
 * Jane
 * Tavia
 * Hank (Determinant)
 * Lowell
 * Tyler
 * Vera
 * Tisha
 * Arvo
 * Rebecca's Son
 * Maud
 * Buricko
 * Vitali

Deaths

 * Sarita
 * Nick (If saved in "A House Divided")
 * Sarah
 * Rebecca
 * Jaime (Confirmed fate)

Impacts
This list will show the narrative consequences affected by choices from previous episodes of Season 1 and 2.

Season 1

 * While talking to Kenny at the tent, Clementine can say she had to shoot Lee or she lost her parents depending if you shot Lee or left him.
 * If Lee makes Kenny shoot Duck, and Clementine says "Kenny's been through this before" she will say how Kenny took care of Duck.
 * If Clementine shoots Lee Everett in "No Time Left," when Jane and Clementine encounter Nick's reanimated corpse (Determinant), Clementine will say to Jane she has done this before.

Season 2

 * Nick will appear in this episode if he was saved in "A House Divided."
 * Hank will appear in this episode if Alvin was killed in "A House Divided."
 * Clementine will have a scratch on her cheek if you tried to help Kenny when Carver was beating him in "In Harm's Way".
 * If you did not help Kenny or Carlos, Sarita will have this scratch instead.
 * The episode will start differently depending on whether Clementine cut off Sarita's arm or killed the walker at the end of "In Harm's Way. If you cut off her arm, she will say Clem's name and the hatchet cutting off her hand will be heard and her scream in horror. Instead, if you didn't do that, in off she will say Clem's name and will be heard the zombie being chop and Sarita crying.
 * Depending if you stayed to watch Kenny kill Carver or left with Sarita, and If you say "You're wrong, he's protecting us", while talking to Luke about Kenny's mental health, Luke will have different lines about how you watched him kill Carver or what he did to him was wrong.
 * While talking to Rebecca about Alvin, and you say "everything he did was for you and the baby", Clementine will mention that Alvin stayed in Carver's office to kill Hank or he gave himself to Carver depending if you saved him or not.
 * If you saved Sarah from the trailer, and you talk to her later, when she asks you why you didn't leave her, and you choose "Because we're friends", if you decided to be her friend in "All That Remains", she will either say "I could never be that good of a friend" or "No. We're not".
 * Also when Clementine begins to talk to Sarah in the mobile home, she will either say "Hi" or say nothing depending if you decide to be her friend or not.
 * If you went to get juice box and bandages from Alvin in "All That Remains", Clementine will mention that if she tells Rebecca that Alvin was a good man.

Trivia

 * Last appearance of Sarita.
 * Last appearance of Nick. (If saved in "A House Divided")
 * Last appearance of Sarah.
 * Last appearance of Rebecca.
 * Last appearance of Jane. (Presumed)
 * Last appearance of Tavia.
 * Last appearance of Hank. (If Survived in "In Harm's Way")
 * Last appearance of Lowell.
 * Last appearance of Tyler.
 * Last appearance of Vera.
 * Last appearance of Tisha.
 * First appearance of Arvo.
 * First appearance of Rebecca's Son.
 * First appearance of Buricko.
 * First appearance of Vitali.
 * First appearance of Maud.
 * First mention of Jaime.
 * The title of this episode refers the group being in the middle of the ruins after the events in, "In Harm's Way".
 * This is the first episode with variant title screens. The thumbnail will look different depending on which platform you play on and which part of the world you live in.
 * This is the first episode in the series to feature two different death possibilities for a character in the same episode, the case is Sarah. You could save her, thus saving her life, only to be killed much later on in the episode, and in the same way.
 * This is the first episode in the series that is set in winter.
 * This is the first episode where no new characters were killed.
 * The song that plays during the end credits is "The Salty Seas" by Devics.
 * If Nick appears in this episode, he has a very short participation and doesn't even talk. Even his voice actor, Brian Bremer is not listed in the ending credits.

Goofs/Errors

 * If Clementine chose to help Kenny in "In Harm's Way", the cut on her cheek is seen in this episode. However, after she goes with Jane to look for the others (when Jane talks to her in the woods), her cut is gone. When arriving at the Sunshine Mobile Home Park to deal with the walkers surrounding Luke and Sarah, her cut reappears as she and Jane make it into the trailer.
 * If Sarah was saved at the trailer park, but abandoned when trapped under the rubble, her game model will reset, causing her to stand up. If the player attempts to stomp on the ramp in order to prevent the walkers to reach the deck, she can be seen turned around, as if she was not trapped at all. This glitch is later fixed, when the rest of the deck collapses, where she can be seen dead over the rubble.
 * When Maud shows up, she has two guns in both hands, but right in the next scene she only has the one aiming at the group.
 * When everyone aims at each other, you can see Bonnie already aiming at Maud and Arvo, but in the next scene she aims again.
 * There are a few glitches with dialogue when subtitles are on. For instance, when talking to Rebecca when you come back from the trailer park, as Clementine walks over to Rebecca and Kenny, the subtitle will display "Hey Clem, Glad you made it back safe", but Rebecca only says "Hey Clem". It then re-appears when Rebecca says "Glad you made it back safe", but without the subtitle glitch.
 * Also when Clementine is about to cut the support plate of the deck, she says "I'm going as fast as I can" but the subtitle says "I'm going as fast I can".
 * There is a strange but minor model glitch that only happens for a few frames, during the argument between Kenny and Luke about watching the baby because Rebecca is weak and seems as if she is able to hold the baby, at one point she is missing from the frame and her model will be glitched standing up with the baby floating, suddenly her model will glitch back onto the tire into it's normal animated state. It is hard to notice but visible once you see it.
 * A possibly very rare minor model glitch may also happen during the scene where a piece of wood falls on Jane's head while she tries to rescue Sarah and during the argument between Kenny and Luke after Jane leaves. This will cause one of Luke's eyes to appear almost completely black.
 * If you save Sarah from the trailer park, she gets caught under the rubble before her death, you can see that when she calls for her dad her mouth does not move.

Achievements/Trophies

 * For all obtainable achievements and trophies, see Achievements.

Reception
The critics were polarized with this episode; many like IGN gave it low scores, IGN concluded their review with a score of 6 out of 10, as well as Polygon, who gave the same exact score for the episode, noting that this episode is a step back for the season and the series. IGN highlighted that penultimate episodes tended to be a problem for Telltale, as they felt similarly about "The Wolf Among Us", another Telltale Game. Critics were harsh concerning the number of mandatory deaths, Nick, Sarita and Sarah in particular, saying it felt like Telltale was just killing characters off to make the player feel down.

However, GamerTell gave the episode an A+. praising the writers for, "...making every decision almost completely “grey”. Right and wrong get so blurred here that I felt like everything I did was wrong, and just hopefully the decision I made was less wrong than the other options.".