Gracie looked back, watching the sun pass its noon position. Days were going by too fast anymore, time was too hard to keep track of. She looked down at her little friend, who was still teary eyed.

"Sophia,"

Gracie looked over her shoulder, for any walkers, then lowered herself to the young girl's level. Balancing on her toes, Gracie brushes some hair out of the girl's eyes.

"I understand how hard it is to lose a parent."

"You do?'' Sophia asked, voice full of tears.

"Yeah, I was your age when I lost my mom too. But, I promise I won't let anything happen to you." Gracie pulled out her father's Beretta, from its holster. She showed Sophia the loaded chamber, she didn't dare tell her that was the last of the bullets. She wasn't sure how far her rusty axe would carry them.

Putting the gun away, she gave the child a minute to pull herself together. Holding hands, they moved on to their destination, the only gas station they haven't checked in a mile radius of their little camp. They were putting all their eggs into this basket. Gracie let Sophia hold onto their small gas container as they walked passed by a car, in a line like any other time. It was empty, and the lid to the gas tank was up with a hose hanging out of it. That can't be good. Gracie thought to herself.

Everything seemed hopeless, after taking the hose from the first car's tank, Gracie tried every car she passed, as a just in case, but, she got nowhere. She just kept moving on, the only thing stopping her was a random gunshot that sounded too close for comfort. She looked around for oncoming walkers, anymore gunshots and they could be screwed. The child looked up at the adult.

"Are we in danger?"

The adult looked ahead, she hated lying to Sophia, and she already had to do it so many times. The truth is they were always in danger, but, a little girl didn't have to know that.

"No, sweetie, we'll be fine."

Gracie tightened her hold on her axe's handle, in case she needed to acted fast. Together, they moved on again.

Finally getting to the front of the lot, stood the huge "No Gas" sign. Gracie couldn't help but, get closer. Maybe her eyes were playing tricks from the lack of sleep. When she was close enough to touch the words, they didn't change. Gracie had to swallow the news, it was causing tears in her eyes. She knew they just had to move on. Her heart was broken so much, she didn't even notice the person she bumped into as she turned around. The undead smell that hung onto the other person triggered her hand to pull up the axe, ready to strike. This only forced the other person to react with his gun, aiming for her head. They stood in one place for what seemed like hours.

"Are you bit?'' She asked, forcing herself to look at him, not the gun.

He looked up and down his body, like he didn't even know.

"No, I reckon." He scanned her face, looking down to the child holding onto her hand. He placed his gun back into its holster, as she moved the rusty axe back to her side.

"I'm Gracie," she said, reaching her hand out to shake his. She noticed he had a little trouble doing so, but, they shook hands.

"Rick, Rick Grimes."

"I'm Sophia." The little girl finally spoke up, a little shocked.

Rick smiled at her, "That's a pretty name. Is she your mom?"

Sophia looked up at Gracie, then, back at Rick. "No, my mom's dead."

Gracie pulled Rick aside, so Sophia didn't hear what she had to say, but, the child was still close in case something came looking for dinner. "I must ask something of you," she started.

"Kinda bold, isn't it?"

"I'm not one to step on toes, Rick, but, if you haven't notice, it's the end. All we got is our fellow man, I would like to hope I could get a little help."

He said nothing, letting her state her case.

"My last camp was just taken over by this undead fuckers, like, this morning. I have nowhere to take this little girl tonight. I just need to find a safe place for her, you wouldn't have to worry about me. Please," Gracie's voice was heavy with her own begging. "Take her back with you and your people."

Rick looked over at Sophia, who was looking down. Then, he looked at Gracie, who seemed to age as she waited for him to speak.

"I can't even help myself. I have no one, It's just me. But, you can come with me, I know a place where we can get more bullets and guns. That's the most I can do for you and her."

Gracie smiled, "Oh thank you." She grabbed Sophia's hand, who still had a hold of the gas container.

"When you're ready, lead the way, Rick."

The sun had just started to fizzle out, leaving little light to run with certainty. Rick quickly shut the door to the Sheriff's headquarters, locking it up tight behind them. Rick looked at the two girls, while one was much more bloody from fighting, the other was more dirty. They still held hands.

"How many bullets do you have?''

Gracie checked, sighing. "Two."

"This place should be safe, it doesn't look like people have been in here for awhile." He said, having a note of sadness in his voice. "I'll go turn the backup generator on, it'll make it easier for us to clean ourselves up."

"Thanks," Gracie said, running her fingers through Sophia's dirty blonde hair.

It took a little time, but, at last, only half of the lights came on. Soon, a older looking rick came back up from the basement and the generator. Gracie covered Sophia's young ears, to let Rick speak freely. He looked like he needed it. She waited for him to find his words.

"There weren't any walkers down there, just some dead bodies. It looks like they just took their service revolvers and..." He looked at her, but, she got the point.

"I'm sorry. I hope no one you loved was down there."

"No, I'm lucky like that, I guess."

Gracie smiled, a small smile. "I think we should put down the blinds on the windows, I fear the walkers might get drawn by the light." She was hoping to help change his mindset.

He went to the window, watching as a few number of walkers wonder helplessly in the dark. It was almost sad. They always looked like they couldn't find what they were looking for. Gracie joined him, after shutting the blinds on her side, and felt his same sadness. They both looked at each other, as Rick finally closed off the world to them.

Rick showed the girls to the headquarters' medium sized locker room, which was unisex, and close to the holding cells. They looked around, impressed with how clean and big it was. It was a sight for sore eyes. He showed them inside the showering area, it was clean, and had dividers on the wall. Giving each area with a shower head some sort of privacy to them.

"It's not great, but, it's all we've got." Rick said.

"Oh no," Gracie smiled. "It's great. Thank you."

"Ladies first?" he asked.

"How kind," Gracie replied, grateful. "But, I'm going to let her," She placed her hand on Sophia's head. "Go first. I'll think she needs it more than I."

Rick nodded, in agreement, as Gracie took Sophia in to the showering area.

Both adults blocked the opening, as the water of a single shower head ran. Both faced the door, with not nearly enough bullets between them, in case a walker decided to join them.

"How did you and Sophia come to travel together?" Rick asked, hating the quite between them.

"I found her. She was hiding in my camp, the one that got over ran with walkers, She was crying so loud. It wasn't hard to find her, she kept going on and on about her mother. I felt so bad for her, I just let her take my tent, as I stayed on watch." She looked at Rick, her face growing sad. "The next morning, Sophia saw her mother in the pile of walkers I had yet to buried. It broke her heart, and, that broke my heart. So, I just told her to come with me."

Rick studied her, feeling the story really made Gracie sad. He placed his hand on to her shoulder. "At least she was lucky enough to find someone like you, I can only hope if the same thing happened to my son, someone like you would take him in."

"You have a son? What's his name?''

"Carl."

"Do you know where he is?"

"With his mother, I hope." He sounded sad by the thought.

"I'm sure he is, Rick." Gracie said, hearing the water turning off. She rushed to get the little girl's clothes, laying on a bench, and held them out, behind her back.

"Where will you go tomorrow?'' Rick asked, "Do you have a plan?''

Gracie thought for a little bit, her eyes grew a little more sad. "I Don't know."

"Come with me, you two seem like good people, and if we find my wife and son, we can start are own camp. I don't think this bullshit is going to lighten up any time soon."

Gracie smiled, "Thank you, I'll take you up on your offer."She asked if Rick wanted to go ahead of her, but, he said no.

After a night of little sleep, and taking turns on walker watch, the three survivors make their way back to the lobby of the Sheriff's headquarters. Rick excused himself for a minute, as Gracie peeked outside a window, noticing the purple sky, and the walkers who wonder under it. Their numbers seemed to grow from yesterday.

"They just seem to pop up, don't they?'' Rick spoke, coming back from another room. He made her jump out of her skin. "Sorry," Gracie noticed the big bug of guns.

"Is that what you went to get?'' She asked, over her shock.

"Yeah, figured we'd needed it."

Gracie Looked out the window again, "Smart man."

"Oh," Rick spoke up, after a few minutes of quite. "Here, this is for you. If ever we get departed, it could come in handy." He handed her a walkie talkie, full of fresh batteries.

"Thanks." She said, taking the thing out of his hand. She placed it in to her pants' pocket. "I'm ready to go, are you?"

"As much as I'll ever be. We should use the back way to leave, it has some of the station's cars back there. It will be easier to leave, and we'll make it back to the city quicker."

Gracie stared at him, like he was crazy. They couldn't go to the city, the rumor was it belonged to the walkers now. When she told Rick, he frowned.

"I don't care. It can't be that bad, I've heard the army's got it taken care of. It's my family, Gracie, I have to at least try."

She thought about it, for a minute, looking down at Sophia. She was still sleepy-eyed, but, looked up. Her innocent eyes made all the pain before just go away. This world needed innocent more than ever, it seemed. So, Gracie understood.

"Count us in."

Rick was happy he wouldn't have to do it alone. He was also happy they wouldn't have to say goodbye. The ladies followed Rick out to the back of the headquarters, taking a quick look at the few walkers outside the chain linked fence. Some even had the same official uniform that Rick was wearing, which made this new world seem ever more real. No one was safe, not really anymore.

"Do you know how to drive?" rick asked, also looking at the chain linked fence.

"Yes, I also can drive a tractor." Gracie said, checking the back seat of the car before letting Sophia in.

"I'll keep that in mind." He handed her the keys, as he went to the fence.

He didn't have to speak of his plan, Gracie knew someone had to unlock the gate door for them to get out. She just didn't think it was going to be Rick. Gracie started the car, noticing it had a full tank of gas in it. Rick soon quickly got in, sounding out of breath. Gracie drove off, hitting a few walkers with the bumper. The next few hours were filled with quite hope. Hope that when the car finally runs out of gas, it's close to a working gas station or something just as good. The longer they drove, the fewer walkers they saw. Finally, they slowly came to a stop.

The sun was bright, and it wasn't too hot yet. Also, their wasn't a walker in sight, for now. Gracie grabbed Sophia's hand as Rick picked up the bag of guns. Abandoning the car, they headed to the closest house. The women waited as rick looked inside the windows of a white house, noticing the shaking of his head.

"No one in there will be able to help us." Rick said, coming back to them.

"How bad is it in there?"

"No one in that house is alive," Rick looked down at Sophia, lowering his voice. "They killed themselves."

"Well, who can blame them?'' Gracie said, petting Sophia's hair to comfort her.

"They've got horses, we could take them."

"I don't think we have a choice."

They walked to the back of the house, noticing the horses were eating the last of their food supply. Gracie looked at Rick. "Have you ever rode a horse?"

"Of course," He looked back at her, smiling. "Why do you ask?"

Gracie laughed, as she helped Sophia on to the horse they will be sharing. "You don't look like a rider."

"Ouch."

Both adults climbed on to their horses, leaving the white house behind. At a normal speed, the survivors rode in to town. It was a dirtier, more foul smelling nightmare than they remembered. The sight was almost heartbreaking, to say the least. Everyone kept quite as they rode passed feeding walkers. With Rick leading, Gracie followed suit when she saw Rick placed his hand on to his gun. The sudden stop at a blockade was a surprise. If things were under control by the army, why was a blockade needed now? Turning around to go down another street brought everyone's nerves on end. Facing a large group of the undead was breath taking.

"Oh fuck." Gracie said, getting her horse to back up quickly. The noise from the walkers made it hard to think.

With Rick right behind her, they made their way to the middle of the street. Encircled by the undead, the horses were the first to go. The force of the feeding knocked the riders off, giving them a head start.

"The tank!" Rick cried over the sound of their eating. "We can get in to the tank and wait it out!"

Gracie, holding on to Sophia for dear life, followed Rick as he lead them to the tank. Unfortunately, a small group of walkers that were done eating horse, cut her off from Rick. Noticing an alley way, and a young man watching it all, Gracie pulled out her father's gun from the holster. Unloading a bullet for each walker that grew close as she and Sophia ran.

Finally getting to the young man, who looked to be Gracie's age, felt like a miracle. The walkers might normally move slow, but, now it seemed like they were just as fast as humans were. Still with a head start, the young man spoke.

"Quickly, go up this fire escape. We can wait it out up there."

"Take her first," Gracie handed Sophia to the young man. "I'll be up."

Gracie quickly loaded her gun, firing at the closest zombies, to help create a distraction so Sophia could get up safely. When she was out of bullets, she quickly climbed up to join the young man and Sophia.

"Thank you." She said, hugging the little girl.

"Sure, what the hell were you and your friend doing? As you can now see, this place isn't safe anymore."

Speaking of her friend reminded her of him. "You have to help him to."

The young man looked around the area, most of the walkers were still trying to get them, but, some were starting to leave to eat more horse or look for another, much more easier human.

"He's in the tank," Gracie spoke up before the young man could ask his question. She handed him her walkie talkie.

"He's got one too. His name is Rick, Rick Grimes."

He hit the call button, with no answer. Pushing it again, a rough and airless voice answered. "Gracie?''