AN: So this chapter is a little long for me, but there were a lot of things that I wanted to cover so I hope you'll forgive me for that!

You're all awesome, and I mean that. Your comments make my day! I'm glad to see that so many of you are excited to see Alice back as well.

So here's another chapter for you. I hope you enjoy and please don't forget to let me know what you think!

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Carol didn't know what to think when Rick returned from the hunt, soaking wet and more than a little muddy, leading a woman that was equally soggy, significantly more filthy, and completely unknown to Carol.

"Who is that?" Carol asked quietly as Rick walked past her, leaving the woman standing awkwardly at the door and looking around at everyone.

Rick cleared his throat and glanced back over toward the woman.

"Uh…that's Alice," he said. "Daryl invited her to join us."

Carol could tell that Rick wasn't sure about having the woman there, and frankly neither was she. The group was strained enough at times without adding new people to it, but if the woman was on her own then Carol couldn't very well see turning her out.

Carol smiled at Rick.

"There's some kind of industrial sink in the back of the storage room back there. It has running water. It's a little cloudy, so I wouldn't drink it, but you can wash up some if you want," Carol said.

Rick nodded at her and started through the back doors toward the storage room of the truck stop. Carol had discovered the sink on accident and had been surprised that it worked since it appeared to be the only running water left in the truck stop.

Carol approached the woman who was standing awkwardly and dripping on the floor.

"I'm Carol," she said.

The woman jumped a little when she spoke and Carol assumed she'd been daydreaming or something.

"Alice," she said with a smile. "You can call me Al, though. Everybody else does…or did…"

Carol thought the woman seemed a little jumpy or a little wound up for some reason, but then again she didn't know anything about where they'd found her or what her story was. Carol didn't know if she had all the reason in the world to be jumpy.

"Nice place you got here," Alice said. "Cozy…love what you've done with it."

Alice glanced around, a forced smile on her face. Most everyone in the group was either napping or reading magazines and the majority of them probably hadn't even noticed that there was a newcomer in their midst. Probably just the same as they hadn't noticed all that much that Carol had been steady trying to wash their clothes in the sink in the back and get them hung up to dry as best as they could before morning so that everyone wasn't forced to wear filthy clothes.

"Rick's in the back," Carol said, "through those double doors. There's an industrial sink back there with some running water. Come with me and I'll get you some soap. You can wash up. I've probably got something you can wear."

Carol noticed the woman wasn't carrying anything, so she just decided to assume that for whatever reason she was without any kind of supplies.

Alice nodded at her and smiled.

"Thanks," she said. "I could probably use a bath. I was starting to feel like my clothes were growing to me."

Carol smiled. She knew that feeling all too well from some of their longer stretches on the road. That's why she wasn't missing this opportunity to squeeze in as much laundry as she possibly could.

Carol led the woman over to the corner she shared with Daryl and dug through the bag, hoping that what she offered Alice to wear would suit her, at least for the night. Alice accepted the clothes and the bar of soap, holding all of it far away from her body. Carol didn't realize at first what she was doing, and apparently she'd made a face because Alice shrugged at her a little.

"Hate to get the shit dirty before I even get it on, you know?" Alice said.

Carol nodded her understanding then and offered her one of the scratchy towels that travelled with them from place to place.

"Rick should be out in a minute and then you can step in," Carol said. "Just leave your dirty clothes and I'll get them. I'm doing laundry back there anyway."

"Yeah…thanks, Carol," Alice said.

Alice looked down and quickly stepped away from Carol and Daryl's blankets, moving more into the center of the room to drip and wait in peace. Carol took one last look at the filthy woman and stepped just outside the truck stop and under the covered space in front of the door, searching for Daryl's figure.

It didn't take her much more than minute to spot him. He was standing, in the rain, not far from the place she was, cleaning what was either squirrels or rabbits, but given the distance and the angle she couldn't tell which.

"Good hunt?" She called out to him.

"Not too damn bad," Daryl said. "It'll eat I reckon."

Carol was excited about the prospect of meat in the stew tonight. It almost made it seem like the same mixture they'd eaten for the last two meals would be a gourmet meal tonight if you were lucky enough to come up with a nugget of the meat.

"Daryl, where'd you get the woman?" Carol asked.

"What?" Daryl asked. He didn't straighten up, but he did turn to look at her and rainwater rushed into his face. He swiped at it with the back of his arm.

"The woman, Alice? Where did you get her?" Carol asked.

"Out there wonderin' 'round in the damn woods by herself," Daryl said. "Says she's a doctor but I don't know a damn thing else 'bout her 'cept she's somethin' of a smart ass. Hated ta just leave her, though, with them herds right behind us."

Carol couldn't believe that she'd actually gone most of the day without thinking of the herds. He was right, though. It would almost be a certain death sentence to leave anyone in the line of the herds.

"I was just curious," Carol said.

Daryl straightened up a few minutes later and then came toward her, carrying the meat.

"Ain't no damn feast, but it's better than the jack shit we been havin'," Daryl said.

"Looks just wonderful to me," Carol said. "It'll go great with the stew."

Daryl smiled at her. He passed through the door and she followed after him, watching him head toward the kitchen area of the little place. Carol directed him where to put the rabbits and then they both stood for a moment, not sure what to do.

Carol glanced around and saw Rick was settled down in one of the booths looking at something…some kind of book.

"I suppose Alice is in the back," Carol said. "There's running water back there. You could wash up. I've been back there washing clothes all day."

Daryl grunted a little.

"Reckon I'm just as satisfied takin' me a cake a' soap an' goin' out ta wash in the rain. Just as damn clean as some water outta what's bound ta be a rusty ass pipe," Daryl said.

Carol nodded at him.

Daryl was pretty well known for keeping his distance from the group for a good bit and he was good for going off on his own to bathe. He preferred the outdoors to being cramped inside any day. Carol watched him as he went and dug through the bags, coming up with some soap.

"What about dry clothes?" Carol asked.

Daryl bit at his thumb and Carol cringed a little. It didn't matter what activity they'd been doing or how dirty his hands were, when Daryl thought his hands instinctively went into his mouth, one way or the other. Daryl shrugged.

"I can put 'em under that shed thing out there," Daryl said. "Reckon they'll stay dry enough for my purposes. Ya don't look like ya got too damn wet out there."

Carol shook her head. She had been dry standing under there, so she doubted his clothes would end up soaked through. She wondered, though, how he intended to make the swap and put on the dry clothes without passing by the window, at least, completely nude.

For a fleeting moment Carol thought that she wouldn't mind standing by the window for that show, but she felt her cheeks burn hot and put the thought out of her mind. Daryl was her friend and there was nothing beyond that. Furthermore he was a very private man and probably wouldn't appreciate the idea that she was peeping at him, in plain sight of everyone else, out of the dirty windows of the truck stop.

"I…I should go and check on Alice," Carol said. "See about the laundry too. You can bring me your dirty clothes when you're done bathing."

Daryl nodded a little.

"Ya oughta get some damn body ta help ya with the clothes," Daryl said, keeping his voice somewhat low. "Ain't'cha damn job ta wash everybody's nasty ass drawers."

Carol touched him on the arm.

"I don't mind, Daryl," she said. "Besides, it gives me something to do besides just lay around."

"That was half the damn idea behind this here extra day, weren't it?" Daryl asked.

"It's fine, Daryl," Carol said. "Go get cleaned up and bring me your clothes."

Daryl shot her a look that she couldn't fully interpret and went back toward their area for a change of clothes. As he started out the door she turned and pushed her way into the storage area, keeping her eyes turned toward the floor in case their new arrival wasn't decent yet.

"Are you decent?" Carol asked.

She didn't like for anyone in the group to see her naked and she'd done pretty well at avoiding it. Her body was pretty riddled with scars thanks to Ed's handiwork of all those years and she didn't want anyone else seeing them. She didn't have a nice body either, and having seen most of the women that they'd travelled with naked from time to time, she was self-conscious about them being able to see her. They were all much nicer built than she was and their skin didn't look as old and damaged as hers did.

As a result, she thought it was best not to sneak up on the new woman. She didn't know how she might feel about her own nudity. The other women in the group had never hid theirs, but then again they had little reason to.

"Am I dressed?" Alice called back. "Pretty much…don't think I've ever been decent."

Carol smiled and rounded the corner of some shelves, coming in sight of the sink. The woman was pulling the shirt Carol had handed her over her head with her back to her. When she turned around, Carol was finally able to take her in a bit.

She probably had no reason to hide her nudity either. Carol was a little jealous that the woman filled out her clothes whereas they hung off of Carol in places…and they certainly weren't the right places. The woman was probably in her thirties, and though she wouldn't be considered by any to be some kind of beauty queen, she was cute and certainly nothing to turn one's nose up at.

Carol felt herself become just a little jealous of the woman…the same way she felt whenever she encountered a woman that was more attractive than she was, and since that was nearly every woman she came across, the feeling was an old hat to her.

"The clothes fit you well," Carol said, offering a half smile to the woman and immediately moving to the wet sink to start filling it with water for more laundry.

Alice looked at the clothes a moment and smiled, towel drying her hair with the threadbare towel that they'd been lugging around since Atlanta.

"I was surprised they made it," Alice said. "I figured your clothes wouldn't come close to fitting…but I may have stretched the pants a little trying to get them over my ass."

Carol shrugged. It wasn't like her clothes were of any kind of great quality anyway. Whenever they came up on places where there were clothes to be salvaged she tended to let the other women pick first. Ed had always been controlling of her clothes, and it wasn't like she could wear them well anyway. As long as it hid her body it was good enough for her.

"So you were alone out there?" Carol asked. She looked at Alice and noticed the woman had some scars that looked like they were caused by scratches or cuts on her arms and she had at least a couple on her cheeks. They were fairly fresh looking, though, and were more than likely the result of adventures had since whatever this was first started.

"As of late I was," Alice said. "Didn't start out that way. I started out with about fifteen people…they were all residents at the hospital I was working at in Atlanta. We got out the city…barely…and from there," she paused. Carol could tell that somewhere behind her eyes she was remembering her own escape from Atlanta and Carol wondered if it had looked anything like theirs. "Well," Alice said after a moment, "let's just say that you can have all the damn book smarts you want, but it doesn't make you ready to fight some pissed off zombies."

"How did you make it?" Carol asked. She hated the question as soon as she'd asked it. It was as though she were suggesting that this woman had no ability to make it on her own, which she clearly did. Really that hadn't been what Carol had meant at all, but she feared now that it came across that way and Alice might be offended.

"Truth?" Alice asked, raising her eyebrows at Carol.

Carol smiled and nodded.

"Ran like hell and all I can figure is God must have thought he owed me something," Alice said. "Every damn day I've made it has been one hell of a surprise to me."

Alice smiled and Carol couldn't help but mirror her smile. She knew that feeling. There were plenty of times when she wondered how she was still alive, especially when she considered all the people that they'd lost. She had Daryl to thank for a good bit of it, so she couldn't have imagined ever making it on her own.

"What's the story around here?" Alice asked, leaning back against the wall beside the sink.

Carol shrugged.

"Not too much to tell," Carol said. "We're on the move from about three herds that are following us…we imagine they're forming into one sort of super herd. We're hitting the road again first thing in the morning, so you better get some rest after dinner and head out."

Mentioning dinner reminded Carol that she should probably see about getting it on. They could eat early tonight and give those who wanted it the opportunity to get a little extra sleep before they rolled out. Realistically she wouldn't get much more washed out before it was time to call it a night and let what clothes were clean dry.

Daryl interrupted the conversation by coming through the door to the storage area wearing his clean clothes, his somewhat shaggy hair dripping water down the front of his shirt.

"Just toss them in here," Carol said, gesturing toward the sink. She stepped out of the way and Daryl tossed his clothes in as though he were playing basketball.

Carol noticed him cast a glance at Alice, but he didn't say anything to her. He nodded at Carol and turned around, leaving the storage area again.

Carol wondered if Daryl was attracted to the woman. She couldn't really blame him if he was. The woman might not be some storybook beauty, but she was cute enough to catch his attention. She had a nice body and the clothes she was wearing hugged it in all the right places.

Carol knew she had no claim to Daryl at all. He was a friend of hers and nothing more. He didn't look at her even as a woman, really. She suspected he looked at her more as a buddy or a pal. One of the guys. Still, she hated to think that some woman had come strolling up, lost in the woods, and had probably caught Daryl's attention. Carol didn't know if he'd ever been in a relationship before or not, but she could imagine that if he got into one it would mean a lot to him. He'd be the kind of man to throw himself into it probably…and when there was a woman in his life, there wouldn't be nearly the same amount of room for a buddy as there once had been.

"So how'd you guys all end up together?" Alice asked.

Carol shrugged.

"It's a long story," she said. "I've got to go and start dinner…I'm sure you're bound to hear everyone's stories as we go along."

Carol left the laundry soaking and went out front, not ignoring the fact that Alice followed her.

"You need some help or do we take turns or what?" Alice asked, looking around. "I suck at cooking, but I make a mean bowl of Ramen and I can open cans like a fucking pro."

Carol pushed a few of the cans in Alice's direction and started browning the squirrels in the pot while Alice cranked away at the top of the cans with the can opener that they carried with them everywhere. She'd looked around here, but it looked as though someone had already passed through here and taken most of the utensils.

"I usually do the cooking," Carol said. "Beth helps sometimes."

"For all these people?" Alice asked. "How'd you get so damn lucky?"

Carol snickered and accepted the cans that Alice was opening to dump into the pot.

"We all do what we can," Carol said. "Some people have more to offer than others. I can cook and do laundry."

Alice paused in turning the hand cranked opener for a moment.

"I'm sure you've got a lot more to offer than just your impressive ability to raise a truck stop full of overgrown children," Alice said. "But…I guess the group dynamic is what it is, huh?"

Carol nodded.

She thought, for just a moment, that she might like this woman. She seemed at least decently friendly and she was on her own. At least if Daryl was going to fall for someone, Carol might have a chance of somehow blending in as a friend of them both. Maybe they wouldn't be as apt to just forget about her as the situation would be if Daryl took an interest in someone less warming to other women.

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After everyone had eaten, Carol decided she wasn't bothering with dishes of any kind. She could leave that for the rats and whatever passerbys happened to run up on the place when they were gone and the herd had plowed through the area. She wasn't doing any extra cleaning that she didn't have to do.

Carol walked around, finding Daryl looking out one of the windows.

"Anything?" She asked.

Daryl jumped a little.

"Sorry," Carol said softly.

"S'alright," Daryl responded. "Can't see a damn thing but my own face if ya wanna know the truth of it."

Carol chuckled.

"Then why are you keeping watch?"

Daryl shrugged.

"Feel like I oughta keep an eye out…feels better ta be doin' somethin'," he said.

Carol nodded.

"You're going to get some sleep tonight, though, right?" Carol asked.

Daryl nodded a little.

"Yeah, in a bit," Daryl said.

Carol sighed.

"I'm going to finish the clothes that are soaking," she said. "Then I'm down for the night."

Daryl bit at his lip a little and nodded his head slightly, turning back to gaze out the window that offered him nothing more than his own refection coming back.

Carol eased through the storage area, one of the candles they'd found in her hand, and put it down on the shelf near the sink. She started scrubbing the clothes.

"Do you ever stop?" Alice asked, coming up behind her. Carol jumped a little at the unexpected sound.

"Not too often," she responded.

"Need help?" Alice asked.

Carol shook her head.

"You can keep me company if you don't want to sleep, though," Carol said.

Alice nodded a little and settled back into the space she'd occupied earlier.

"So I got that the brunette girl and the Asian guy are together," Alice said.

"Maggie and Glenn," Carol offered.

"Who's the pregnant chick with? Or did she pick that up along the road somewhere?" Alice asked.

Carol chuckled.

"She's Rick's wife…but things," Carol paused. She wasn't sure how much she wanted to share with the newcomer all at once. "Things are complicated sometimes."

"Haven't they always been?" Alice asked.

Carol nodded a little and started ringing out one of the garments from the sink to lay out to dry over the string she'd found and hung up to serve as clothesline for the night. She noticed that Alice fell in behind her, ringing something else out.

"You don't have to do that," Carol said. "Really, it's fine."

"Might be," Alice said, "but I'm not doing anything else so I figured it wasn't hurting anything if I helped. What's your story? You with anyone?"

Carol stopped a moment and then resumed her activity, tossing another dripping article over a piece of loosely hanging string.

"No," she said. "I'm single."

Alice nodded.

"Did you have somebody before this?" Alice asked, softer than before.

Carol nodded. She cleared her throat a little. She didn't like to remember Ed any more than her brain forced her too, but she knew that the new woman would have no way to know about the hell she'd lived day in and day out.

"I had a husband," Carol said. "He died after this whole thing happened."

"I'm sorry," Alice said.

"Don't be," Carol responded. She smiled at the woman. "Sometimes things like that are blessings."

Alice sucked her teeth and made a snapping motion.

"I got a little excited for a minute there," Alice said. "I thought you might be with the hillbilly guy…what's his name? The one who almost shot my ass with a crossbow?"

"Are you talking about Daryl?" Carol asked.

"That's it!" Alice said. "I saw you talking to him…thought you were with him…so when you said just now you were single I thought maybe you were…well…maybe you played for my team."

It took a second for it all to sink into Carol.

"You're gay?" Carol asked.

Alice raised her eyebrows.

"Is that a problem?" Alice asked.

Carol shook her head. She didn't care if the woman was a lesbian or not…at least not really…though it did change the way she thought a little bit about Daryl's potential interest in her.

"No, it's not a big deal," Carol said. "But no, I'm not a lesbian…just single."

"It's a shame," Alice said. "You're a beautiful woman. I'd have gone for it. But…you win some and you lose some, right?"

Carol was struck at the moment. Even though she had no interest in women whatsoever, it was funny to hear someone refer to her as beautiful. She couldn't remember the last time that anyone had said that, and whether or not Alice had only said it to be nice, Carol would be lying if she said it wasn't flattering.

"Hey…it's OK," Alice said. "Don't worry…you're not, you're not…I'm not some kind of predator. No need to lose your shit or anything."

Carol realized she'd been quiet too long and the woman had misinterpreted her silence. She shook her head quickly.

"No! It's not that. It's just…" Carol paused. She didn't want to tell the woman that her compliment had caught her off guard. That would sound too much like she was searching for some kind of sympathy, and that wasn't the case. "Never mind. It doesn't have anything to do with you," Carol finished.

Alice nodded a little.

"It's cool," she said. "I guess I'm going to turn in…there's a sweet ass corner booth out there that's got my name on it if no one's ass is parked there."

Carol watched as the woman left the storage area. She hung up the last of the clothes to dry and then decided to call it a night herself. She figured she'd take the woman one of their extra blankets, since she didn't have anything else, really…and it might smooth over any hurt if she'd caused offense. She'd try to get Daryl to come to sleep too. There was no telling where they'd be camping the next night and it might not be as cozy as the floor of a dirty truck stop on a back Georgia road.