Long Road Ahead

"Long Road Ahead" is the third episode of Season 1 of The Walking Dead.

Plot Synopsis
A couple weeks 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 Episode 1.) 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-Lot 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 Episode 1) 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 Episode 1, 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 Episode 1, 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 horde 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 which differs depending on choices. 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. Kenny and Lee are shocked and ponder what to do as the train pulls in to 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.

Did you shoot the girl?
 * Shot the girl  - 60%
 * Did not shoot her - 40%

Did you abandon Lilly ?
 * Abandoned Lilly  - 45%
 * Let her back on the RV - 55%

How did you get Kenny  to stop the train?
 * Fought him - 55%
 * Talked him down - 45%

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

Who did you help first?
 * Helped Omid first - 40%
 * Helped Christa first - 60%

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-Lot Bandits.

Deaths

 * Beatrice
 * Unnamed Bandit 1
 * Linda
 * Gary (Determinant)
 * Drew (Determinant)
 * Jake (Assumed)
 * Bart (Assumed)
 * Carley (If saved in Episode 1)
 * Doug (If saved in Episode 1)
 * Katjaa
 * Duck
 * Numerous unnamed Save-Lot Bandits.

Trivia

 * First appearance of Charles.
 * First appearance of Christa.
 * First appearance of Omid.
 * First appearance of the Stranger. (Voice Only)
 * First (and last) appearance of Beatrice.
 * First (and last) appearance of Gary.
 * First (and last) appearance of Linda.
 * First (and last) appearance of Drew.
 * Last appearance of Carley. (If saved in Episode 1)
 * Last appearance of Doug. (If saved in Episode 1)
 * Last appearance of Katjaa.
 * Last appearance of Duck.
 * Last appearance of Lilly.
 * This episode is retitled "One Further Away" in Deutsch, and "The Long Road Ahead" in Spanish.
 * The herd of walkers near the end of this episode, is the first appearance of The Herd in the Video Game.
 * If Lee pushes the blowtorch at the edge of the bridge to the ground of the oil tanker where its spilling gas it can catch on fire but doesn't have much effect. For instance, a few walkers from the horde go through the fire but don't catch on fire.
 * Furthermore, when the spilling gas from the tanker catches fire it doesn't seem to explode as soon it catches fire. Its unknown if two of these things are glitches or an technical oversight, or not.
 * The same can be said about the fact that the blowtorch itself is a pressurized tank, and it did not explode.
 * The drawing in Clementine's bag differs depending on the relationship you have with Clementine and what you tell her earlier in the episode.
 * Failure to choose whether to leave Lilly behind or not will result in Kenny making the final decision of leaving her.
 * If you save Carley in Episode 1, she will show that she has an interest in Lee by kissing him on the cheek.
 * During the raid on the camp when Lilly shoots one of the bandits, Carley will shoot both bandits but she will run out of bullets and if you saved Doug he will shoot just one bandit and Lee will have to shoot the final two.
 * When Katjaa asks Lee if he was fond of Carley, he can openly admit it, lie to her, or avoid the subject.
 * When dealing with the dead body in the train's control room, you can approach him with either your gun or one of the three tools you use to dislodge the train carriage.
 * To the left of the train is a car with a walker inside of it; killing the walker will give you some animal crackers which can be given to Duck.
 * If Doug is saved, it is not possible for Lee to tell the others about his past.
 * If Carley is saved in Episode 1, 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.
 * In the previous episode, Ben's hood was white while in this episode and onward, it is red.
 * 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 twice after having told him to stop it, 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. Episode 2, Starved For Help has more "named" character deaths, but adding the deaths of the multiple Save-Lot Bandits means that "Long Road Ahead" has the most human deaths.

Goofs/Errors

 * In Episode 1, 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.
 * After dealing with the three walkers in the freight-station, as Lee walks back to train with Clementine, he has his pistol in his hand, but he's also seen with a second one in his pants. (This was later fixed.)
 * 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.
 * Throughout the entire trip seen on the train, it seems to be going only in just a straight line.
 * When the group escapes the Motor Inn in the RV, it is dusk. However, in the next cutscene, it suddenly becomes nighttime.
 * After jumping off the bridge, when Christa says "Run" to Omid, he appears to be smiling.
 * The sign in the window of the abandoned station, "Trespassers" is misspelled as "Tresspassers".
 * After when either Carley or Doug get shot by Lilly, both face different directions. However, in the DLC episode "400 Days", 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.

Glitches

 * After meeting Chuck, Duck can become invisible, making it look like Katjaa's not holding anything.
 * If you leave Duck to reanimate, he will still be shown to have a gunshot wound in his head and blood on the tree during the last overhead shot of Duck and Katjaa.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.