Garth pulled the dapple grey mare into the trailer, patting her neck as she went in. Closing the gate to allow Wally to lead the chestnut yearling in, the werewolf watched as Father Gabriel climbed into the back seat of the Tacoma with Rosita. While Wally walked out, he caught the eyes of the archer and his sword swinging friend, both giving him an annoyed look. Turning to Garth, he grimaced, "Do you want to switch rides with me?" The tall wolf chuckled, and shook his head as he strolled to the front cab.

"Really? Garth, come on man."

Meg topped off the gasoline to her truck, handing the gas can to Sasha as she stepped back. Abraham eyed her down as he hauled Tara into the bed of her truck, Carol and Sasha settling down with him, and Eugene sitting in the cab of the Silverado. Shuck distracted her as he barked from the front seat, already prepared for the almost 17 hour drive to Lebanon. Looking at her little caravan, she checked her pistols in her chest holster and clasped her hands together. "Alright everybody, we're reasonably filled with canned peaches and beans at -!" She looked down at her watch."- 6:13 am yet we still won't make it to Lebanon until after dark." Everyone turned as she continued to speak, "we'll be stopping in Blairsville to check in on a few of our partners-in-survival in two hours so you guys can get out and stretch then."

Watching her crew, she nodded. "Awesome, everybody filled up?"

The drivers and navigators of each truck bobbed their heads. "Everyone got their water and snackies?"

Nods all around. "Everyone yoked up and ready to murder some croats, dusters and roamers at a minutes notice."

"Hell yeah."

"Ready to defend against jackass who think they can fight against, some of the best damn hunters in the business!"

"Fuck yeah!"

"Alrighty then, let's get a move on."

Rick's group looked at their overenthusiastic chauffeurs, each feeling a bubble of anxiety form in their chests. These people didn't seem very fazed at the way their leader spoke about killing walkers, or croats, dusters, and roamers, as they called the dead. This was going to be a long trip.

~oOo~

They were about five hours into their epic journey to Lebanon, on their way to Chattanooga, Tennessee for another stretch break. Charlie was almost completely turned around in the Tacoma, handing Glenn her iPad through the small back window.

"I can't believe you still have this, I never thought I would miss looking at a touch screen, let alone miss holding one. How is this even still working?" He shuffled through the photo album as Maggie and Rosita leaned in to get a better view. Charlie beamed, "Well the bunker never lost power when the world went dark. We have our own electricity off the grid, along with running water. Before we moved in, it had been dormant for over fifty years, half way through chess and coffee when whoever lived there before had to book it."

"Wow," Maggie sighed. She leaned her head against Glenn as she smiled. "I can't wait till we get there, a warm shower and a meal would be great right now." Daryl huffed, biting into his energy bar with gusto. Glenn looked up, handing him the device so he and Michonne could study the pictures. Scrolling his finger across the screen, the next picture showed a man. His hair was almost pitch black and his eyes were an intense blue. He sat at a large wooden table, accompanied by a blonde teenage girl, her hair was cut short while she flipped the bird to the camera. Daryl huffed in amusement as Michonne scrolled on. Next was half the body of a man sticking out from under the chassis of a beautiful black impala, an australian shepherd lying next to him, chewing on what looked to be a kong toy. Continuing on, a young woman and teenage boy filled the screen, both standing in a large kitchen, and between them on the counter, a big pie. Michonne leaned in zooming in on their faces and chuckled, taking the iPad from him. "When was this taken? They don't look very worried that the world has gone crazy." Handing it back to Daryl, who passed it to Rosita to show Charlie.

Wally turned back for a second, catching a glimpse of the picture, "Yeah, that's Lizzie and Ben, Dean's girl and son. Wasn't that on Dean's birthday? I think we had gone to a food raid in Wichita. The local food bank had been left relatively unraided, so Lizzie thought that she should make him some pie for a small celebration."

An unusually comfortable silence settled between the eight of them, as Rosita handed the tablet to Father Gabriel., who continued to look through the album. Daryl and Michonne began digging into their bag of energy bars courtesy of Jody, handing out bars to the other passengers in the bed.

~oOo~

"So, have you killed anyone?"

Meg kept her eyes on the road, not even snorting or acknowledging the large ginger in the back of her truck as she continued to drive. It was 3:42 pm, November 1, 2014. As they were 30 minutes west of St. Louis on their way to Kansas City, then Lawrence where they would stay for the night.

Tara shook her head at Abraham as he chuckled and leaned back, closing his eyes and taking in the Sun. The four of the Survivors in the bed of the Silverado didn't talk much, every so often asking for the bag of power bars or to refill their water bottles. As they passed another small group of roamers, Eugene looked back into the bed, asking, "She does not seem to enjoy this drive, do you think it has to do with us?"

Carol looked down at him, shrugging slightly. "Most likely, she doesn't seem like the most patient person. A bit sadistic." She turned to Sasha who was looking out at the open field they were passing, the once green field now a golden patch of land. Her brow furrowed as she responded, "When we were clearing the road before St. Louis, she seemed to enjoy killing the walkers, or the Croat that came at Carl."

"And another thing, that walker. It ran out and screamed at us, actually ran." Tara waved her hands in the air. Everyone turned to her, "What the hell!?"

"Actually, it is Hell." Eugene jumped and looked at Meg, her face was completely passive, like she hadn't said a thing. Everyone in the bed looking into the cab, the big black dog sitting up and looking at the survivors. Eugene attempted to move to the other side of the cab as the large dark brown eyes watched him, as if it was staring into his soul. Abraham huffed a laugh, "Hell, really? That's your explanation for a walker runnin' at you? You people are more insane then I thought."

Meg finally looked at him through the rearview mirror, a smirk playing at her lips, a brow quirked upwards in amusement. Her smile grew when she adjusted herself to look back at the mullet hair man, his normally passive face now covered with fear. Oh how she couldn't wait to see their faces when they got to Lebanon.

~oOo~

Garth turned the music down, upon noticing that young Judith was asleep. Smiling at Rick, he turned back to watch the lead truck, opening the tab to a new can of mandarin oranges. Despite his undying need for raw meat, he could still enjoy the taste of fruit. To an extent at least. Sticking his plastic fork into the can, he began to eat before speaking in latin to the former sheriff.

"Do you think Dean will be alright that we're bringing in more people?"

Jody looked at the werewolf, "you know that we need as much help as possible. Trying to get the angels back into Heaven and get the virus under control, he'll appreciate the extra assistance."

"I understand that, but you know what tomorrow is, he won't be in a very good mood."

"He hasn't been in a good mood since this apocalypse started, since Sa-"

Jody cut herself off, her throat going dry at the sudden thought of the young man she once called her family. Garth stopped eating and watched his partner, her eyes becoming glassy as she gripped the steering wheel tighter. He reached over and gave her arm a squeeze.

"Hey, we're all still grieving, especially Dean, and with the anniversary tomorrow. He's gonna need us, all of us."

Rick watched the two hunters, confusion set in his features as they talked in a different language privately. Whatever they were talking about ended abruptly when Jody stopped talking. Garth reached over to comfort the woman, and for a few seconds they sat in silence. Rick turned his gaze to the window of the car, feeling as if he was intruding on a important moment between the two. He silently kept his eyes to the outside, the dark landscape soothing him as he eventually turned to his son and daughter. Carl was leaning against his window, his head tucked against his chest. The hat he wore, looking as if it was about to fall off his head. Judith on the other hand, was curled tightly against his son, the blanket Garth had retrieved from a Goodwill covering both of them.

As he continued to watch them, he was startled by the sound of a walkie talkie going off. Looking up, he saw Garth reach for it.

"Roger Lead, this is trailer car, over."

"Roger Lead, this is Rear car, over."

"Roger Trailer and Rear car, we'll be pulling into the Lawrence safe house in about five minutes. I've already called a few minutes ago, be prepared to take the animals in and set our guests up with a place to sleep for the night. We'll leave in the morning at around 10. I want our guests to get a full night's sleep before meeting Dean-O. Understand?"

"Copy Lead, five minutes to safe house."

"Copy Lead, take animal's inside and set up guests."

"Good, over and out."

Rick gave a quiet sigh as he relaxed slightly in his seat. After an over 13 hour drive, he was more then ready for a good night's rest.