Carol had been finalizing plans on how to escape for two days now. She had endured two more beatings, for the entertainment of others and there wasn't a part of her that wasn't hurting or bruised, but she knew they needed to act or they would never leave here alive. Joan and Carol were going to have the weapons as they had the most experience with them. Carol had told the others she would try to get them out too, but she hadn't made any promises knowing she couldn't keep it. Some had appreciated the chance, the more broken ones didn't care.

Today was the day. They were going to wait for Mandy and overpower her. Joan and Carol both had guns with tow extra clips and Carol had her knife. They stood on either side of the door waiting. When Mandy walked into the room she was wearing the same smirk she always did. Carol couldn't wait to wipe it off her face. When she opened the cage door and stepped in Carol and Joan rushed forward. After a struggle Joan had Mandy from behind with her arm wrenched behind her back and a gun at her temple, "Please give me a reason," Joan threatened.

Carol was outside the cage, when the door to the room opened. A man walked in his eyes going huge at the sight. He opened his mouth to shout, but Carol was faster as her knife went in his throat. As he dropped she pulled it out, she stated to slam it into his temple, but decided at the last second to let him change. With a gun in one hand and a knife in the other she turned to the women, "Ready?" at their nods Carol motioned Joan to go out first.

All the noise in the building stopped when Joan walked out the door with her prisoner. Carol saw John jump up, she aimed her gun. They were standing off, "You want her alive?" Joan asked John. He didn't say anything, but Carol knew a look of fear when she saw it. Suddenly John smirked, "You're outnumbered," he sounded cocky, but Carol knew he was worried. Everyone jumped as the sound of a gunshot echoed off the walls. The bullet ricocheted off a wall near them.

Carol was able to quickly locate the shooter and fired a shot in his direction, hitting him in the shoulder. Then all hell broke lose and everyone was shooting. The plan was down the drain. Joan threw Mandy in John's direction and started shooting. When they felt it was safe enough Carol and Jean started leading the women toward the exit. The sound was deafening and Carol's battered body was protesting every movement.

It seemed to take hours for them to finally make it to the door. Once they were outside they had only one option and that was to run. Carol stayed near Joan and they ran and ran until finally they just couldn't anymore.

They finally collapsed in a dense underbrush in a clearing of trees. They both lay on the ground on their backs trying to catch their breaths. Joan let out a laugh, "I can't believe we're out." Carol looked over to see the large smile on her face and couldn't help but match it.

Forcing herself to set up Carol let out a sigh, "We have to keep moving. We're too exposed here." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the tell-tale growl and shuffle could be heard close by. Joan jumped up quickly, fear clearly etched on her face. She pointed her gun toward the noise. Carol hopped up quickly putting her hand on the gun and lowering it, "Don't waste ammo." When the loan walker finally stumbled out of the woods, Carol quickly took it down.

"I... I'm sorry it's been a while since I've dealt with them," Joan said staring at the downed walker. Carol looked at the walker then at Joan, "It's fine, just don't freeze, that's the worst thing you can do. Don't use your gun unless completely necessary. You'll just draw more." When Joan nodded in agreement Carol continued, "I'm not too sure where we are, but we need shelter."

Joan looked around and she shrugged, "I'm not sure, all woods look the same to me." They started walking. They walked silently each lost in their own thoughts. Until Joan broke the silence, "Do you think any of the others got out?"

"I saw some of them running the other direction. They aren't armed so I don't know."

"Do you think we should have given them a gun?" Joan asked guiltily.

Carol shrugged, "They said they couldn't use it. Honestly these days their chances of surviving are just as good as ours. You just have to want it."

They lapsed back into silence walking side by side. They walked a couple of hours before the trees opened up onto a road. It was a small one lane backwoods road, but there was 3 abandoned cars within a few feet of each other. They weren't surprised to find the cars out of gas and already pillaged, but they found a rusty tire iron that Carol gave to Joan. They chose the biggest SUV as their shelter for the night. Carol stretched out on the bench seat in the front while Joan took the backseat. They were both asleep almost instantly.

The sun coming through the window woke Carol. She moved slowly her body sore and stiff. Reaching over the seat she shook Joan who jerked awake instantly, "We need to get moving. We should try to figure out where we are," she paused and Joan took the opportunity to ask, "Do you have somewhere to go?"

"Yes it's a community behind walls," Carol told her more about Alexandria and laughed when Joan hastily got out of the SUV encouraging Carol to hurry. Her enthusiasm was contagious and Carol found herself smiling as they set about figuring out where they were. After a couple of hours Carol had a better idea of how to get home.

Carol hadn't thought about it before, but they had obviously had a vehicle when they took her from the woods. The distance she assumed they were from Alexandria proved it. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before, "We need to get off the road."

They moved quickly through the woods sharing small talk. Soon hunger and thirst slowed them down. Just before dark they found a small stream and were able to drink their fill. After a quick conversation, they decided it was a better idea to keep moving through the night, instead of making themselves sitting ducks by camping.

It was well into the next morning that they stumbled upon an old shack. It had most likely been used by some hunter. It wasn't protected from the elements by its damaged roof, but no walkers would be able to stumble in. They decided to sleep in shifts, Joan would get three hours then Carol.

Carol was attuned to every sound outside the metal walls. After a bit her mind started to wander. She thought about the other women who had escaped with them and wondered if they were still alive. She thought about Alexandria and her bed. She mostly thought about Daryl. She missed him. He had changed so much and opened up so much lately. She missed their nightly visits. The easy conversations they shared. Her mind inevitably moved to the kiss they shared before he left. She couldn't keep the smile off her face. She had been shocked, but so relieved when he had initiated it. She luxuriated in the thought of his mouth until it was time to rouse Joan.

As soon as Carol got her sleep they set out again. They were both weak with hunger. They were moving the slowest they had been the whole time, "We need food," Joan mumbled, shuffling along slowly. Coming to a stop and making a quick decision, Carol pulled out her gun, "We need to go hunting. Keep an eye out."

Three hours and four bullets later they had three squirrels. Joan had announced she was a "fire starting queen," and while Joan moved around collecting supplies Carol sat down and started skinning their meal. When Carol finished she looked up to see flames coming from a pile of tinder. It only took a few minutes for the flames to grow. She got it only big enough to slightly cook the meat to help it go down a little easier.

They ate quickly and in companionable silence. When they were as full as they could get with the little meat a squirrel offered, they put out the fire and set off again. From Carols estimate they had at least two more days of walking and that was without any major accidents.

With food in her belly Carol was actually able to enjoy the warmth of the sun and the blueness of the sky. She could almost pretend that it was before the change and she was just out for a simple stroll. As soon as the thought entered her mind she heard the growls and shuffling.

She jumped when Joan yelled out and turned in time to see Joan stab the tire iron into the face of a large walker. There was three more walkers heading in their direction. Carol pulled her knife and rushed to take out the nearest walker. She took out one right after the first, but misjudged the distance and was knocked to the ground crying out as her leg bent unnaturally. She struggled with it until she felt a spray of walker matter and it went limp against her.

The woods were quite again except for their heavy breathing and grunts as they worked to move the walker off of Carol. Once Carol was free she straightened out her leg, her knee protesting the movement. Trying not to grimace she stood slowly with the help of Joan. Joan supported her until she got her balance, "Can you walk?" Carol could hear the worry in her voice.

Putting weight onto the knee caused Carol to stumble, a grimace on her face, "I have to," she said, her voice strained. After several tries Carol managed to start walking. She was limping, barely able to bare weight. Anytime she put even a little weight on the knee an intense pain would radiate through her whole leg.

They were now moving at half the speed as before. Joan was staying close and anytime Carol would stumble she would be there to help. It was well into the night when their luck changed. They found a random abandoned car on the side of a dirt road they had been walking on. It didn't run but would do for shelter until the morning. They didn't bother going through the stuff in the backseat that was high enough to block the rear window, instead agreeing to do it tomorrow.


Daryl had been keeping busy to keep his mind off of Carol. Anytime he had a lull in activity his mind would be filled with every possible scenario that could have happened to her. Nobody really talked about it, just going about their everyday business. They didn't mention anything when he had quietly moved into her room. He simply wanted to be near her anyway possible.

He had tried to go hunt for her but Rick had convinced him they had searched every possible clue and found nothing. He just felt lost.

"Rick, I need something to do," Daryl found Rick handing out duties for the day. Without look up Rick said, "The construction crew needs an extra man today," with a nod Daryl was out the door.

The hours of manual labor made the day go by quickly. As they were finishing up he saw something flickering in the woods off to the left. The sun was reflecting off of something. When he started moving in that direction it quickly disappeared. He quickly finished cleaning up and then headed immediately to look for Rick.

He found him talking to Deanna in the house. Without waiting to be acknowledged he blurted, "We're being watched," Rick and Deanna's heads both jerked in his direction, "What?" they spoke in unison.

"I saw a reflection in the woods and when I started walking toward it, it disappeared," Daryl explained. "I figure it was binoculars."

Rick and Deanna shared a look, "What do we do?" Deanna asked Rick.

Daryl was the one to answer, "I'll go out and check it out. Aaron can come with me." After only a little more convincing Daryl was off to tell Aaron the plan. A few hours later they were off under the cover of darkness. They decided to go without vehicles since the strangers seemed to be close. They walked about half a mile before they heard voices. Daryl had his crossbow raised and jumped swinging toward the voice when someone shouted a warning. Several shouts followed along with movement and the slamming of car doors as they jumped in a vehicle and drove off. Daryl ran into the clearing, but they were already gone. He sighed in defeat.