For the first time since losing his family, Jim actually dreamt rather than slept through nightmares. He saw to no surprise that Andrea was advancing towards him through a golden patch of light and for some reason she didn't seem quite—human. She wasn't a walker, but she exhibited a grander yet gentler sense of a kind-hearted being. As she stood within two feet of him she extended her hand as if to lay it above his heart but instead her fingers sank right through his skin and he could feel their warmth actually touching his heart, the very organ that pumped blood through his system. The act scared him, however, and he had half a mind to ask her to draw back, but the reassuring smile she gave him left the words unspoken on his lips.

"Don't forget to use this," she said as she withdrew her hand and pointed to spot it had just left. In seconds she dissolved into a shining substance that left the air feeling empty and cold.

Then the dream shifted.

Andrea had her arms around Carl, running with him down the trail with walkers in hot pursuit. Her image flickered so that it was hard to focus on her and then she morphed into Tara who was bearing Mark with the same walkers chasing them. His family stayed for perhaps ten seconds and then they melted back into Andrea and Carl. The switch made Jim's eyes water and he had to look away for just one moment, but in that moment, he heard the screaming, the agony, all over again, only this time in addition to his family's cries, he heard three more, though he couldn't distinguish gender.

He started to run but went nowhere as the horrifying sight of walkers closing in on his loved ones became just a faint image at the end of a tunnel vision view. His bat was in hand and he swung with it at nothing, hoping to cut through the black darkness to no avail. The claustrophobic nothingness pressed in on him, suffocating him on his own fears and anxieties. He threw his arms up over his face, waiting for the worst to come and then he fell…

He hit his cheek on the bedside table's corner and then flumped down on the floor between the two beds. Above him he heard Dale sit up in alarm.

"Jim, what the hell happened to you?"

"Don't remember," Jim groaned, touching two fingers to his face where they came away spotted with blood. Deciding that now was as good of a time as any to start the day, he stood up and realizing that he had no clean clothes, put his cleanest pair back on as he checked the sun's position outside. In point of fact the sun wasn't even up yet, but that had never mattered before and it certainly didn't matter now. He felt cheated that he had actually been having a decent dream only to have it interrupted by the overpowering nightmare which had been one of his worst yet. As he stretched his arms over his head, he suddenly heard a gargle in his stomach and stood there looking like a complete idiot halfway through a stretch as he contemplated whether or not he should go fumbling around in the pantry for food because he actually felt hungry.

Now when was the last time he had felt that sensation? Too long ago to recall, that was for sure. But now as he listened to the sounds of protest coming from his stomach he remembered what it felt like to be properly hungry. He had been so caught up in his own self-loathing and despair that he had neglected to care for his body, ignoring the signs that he was beginning to decay, but now he felt like he was working properly and wanted to give himself something to enjoy. His life had been one endless nightmare around the clock and the almost happy feeling enveloping him right now told him that could spare a little something for himself besides pain. Since being diagnosed with depression four years ago he had had little to distract himself from his misery and the apocalypse had only heightened these feelings but somehow he was now feeling younger as if the four years of hurt and blatant unresponsiveness had not existed. Disregarding his nightmare, he felt refreshed, almost new as his spirits rose to a peak that they had not been at for an extremely long time. Not much could spoil this morning.

Except…

"Amy?"

Jim spotted Andrea coming towards him, calling out her sister's name, though not looking quite as panicked as she was likely to be in a few moments when Jim told her that he hadn't seen Amy on this side of camp. She read the expression on his face and swore so loudly that Jim made a shushing noise, glancing at the window through which Dale was still sleeping.

"I can't find her," said Andrea, glowering. "I will kill her when I do, you can believe me. Where would she have gone? Where could she go?"

"To get Glenn," Jim proposed halfheartedly, though only afterwards did he realize that that was a very plausible proposition and together he and Andrea took a quick count of the vehicles parked to the left of the Winnebago. They had had five to start with before the Buick broke down which meant they should have had four, but there were three.

Jim felt the happiness leaking out of him as if someone had popped a hole in him and now he felt it seeping out, decompressing until he was just back to his normal indifferent and depressed self except now he had added scared shitless to his list. Amy had gone back for Glenn's body and if Andrea didn't kill her first, he was certainly going to take a whack at it for her stupidity.

Andrea whooshed past him and he only just caught her by the wrist to stop her.

"Wait," he told her.

"Wait?" she repeated shrilly. "For what? For Shane to tell me that Amy's as good as gone and that I'd only be killing myself by going after her? For Ed Peltier to volunteer to go after her with me? No one's going to go get her or offer to because she chose to leave; she didn't accidentally get stuck out there. She isn't worth a damn to anyone in this camp enough for them to want to go get her so that means that I have to. Now let go of me."

"Dale'll go," said Jim. "I'll go, just wait."

Andrea blinked. "Y-you'll go? But she's not your family."

Jim shrugged. "She's yours, so she's mine." He hadn't meant for the words to come out in the way that they had, but he had to accept them for how they sounded because he couldn't take them back. He waited for Andrea to say something, to react, but instead and to his horror she burst into tears and flung her arms around his neck, hugging him fiercely. Stiffening out, Jim patted her head a few times and waited for her to let go. When she finally did he told her to wait while he woke Dale up, but by the time the three of them were ready to go, Shane and the Dixons were standing outside, watching them curiously.

"Now just where are y'all off to this early?" asked Shane

"Amy's gone," said Dale. "She went back for Glenn and she took the Pontiac."

Shane paused, perhaps waiting for one of them to yell "Kidding!" but when no one did he threw his hands up and cursed, "Son of a bitch! You people—you—aargh!"

"Didn't no one see her leave or try'n stop her?" asked Merle, looking up at the guard seat, but when he and the others saw its vacancy they consulted the watch duty schedule. Ed had been assigned the shift after Daryl.

"Oh, hell, no. No, that's it, that is enough," said Shane dangerously. "I'mma kill him! Ed! Ed, you bastard, get your ass out here!"

The camp came alive with activity from Shane's shouts and Ed poked his head out of his tent. When he saw Shane marching towards him his face turned pale and he swore, trying to back away, but he got caught in the flap and Shane seized him by his pajama shirt, dragging him out bodily and throwing him to the ground where he struck him twice.

"Amy's gone, you asshole! She left on your watch and now she's gone so you're gonna get dressed and help go get her or I'll carve your liver open with a potato peeler right here'n now!"

"I ain't going nowhere. I just got back and I ain't riskin' my ass to go out and find some whiny little bitch who wanted a body to bury."

"Yes, you are," Shane spat. "She risked her life to come back and tell us where you were, otherwise you wouldda been left in that storage closet until your body started to eat its own fat and muscle, so you'd better get up now or I won't hesitate to drag you behind the Ram Wagon all the way back to AutoZone!"

"No, I don't want him going if he's only going to bitch and whine about it," said Andrea.

"He's going!" yelled Shane. "Now get up!" He kicked out at Ed's ribs and the huskier man staggered to his feet, looking defeated.

"Alright, alright, I'm going!"

They had to wait but two minutes for him to be ready and then Jim, Andrea, Dale, Shane, and Ed piled into the Ram Wagon with Dale at the wheel and Shane in the passenger seat. Instructions had been left that Lori and Daryl were to share responsibilities and that Merle would be the backup. Jim didn't like taking so much of their manpower out of camp, but if they wanted to get to Amy in time and also have the ability to clear the way for her as quickly as possible then they were going to need everyone who could be spared. Andrea was wringing her hands in her seat, resting her forehead against the window as if the scenery outside couldn't pass by soon enough. Her feet drummed restlessly on the floor and Jim could see that Ed in the seat in front of them was about to say something and so he kicked the seat, shooting Ed a look of warning that he had better keep his mouth shut. They hit a large bump and Andrea's hand fond Jim's, grasping it tightly for comfort. He didn't pull away but he didn't squeeze back or give her any sort of confirmation, though she didn't seem to mind.

"It's one thing if she got there, but she can't haul that Asian kid outta the closet and back to the Pontiac," said Ed pessimistically. "Plus, she's gotta break the door down and she didn't bring nothing with her to defend herself. What a stupid-,"

Jim jabbed his fist forward and struck Ed across the back of the head so that it jerked forward and hit the seat in front of him. When Ed turned around, Jim saw blood running down from both nostrils and was surprised to see that he had actually broken the bigger man's nose. Ed looked murderous but Jim calmly rested his hand on his bat and so there was nothing his opponent could do but continue to sit there and look ugly.

"We're not going in all stealth like this time," said Shane as they took to the main road. "Dale's gonna wait in the car and then we haul ass in there, grab her, and get the hell out. No lollygaggin', no wasting time y'all, hear me? We're not there for Glenn's body or supplies or to take out our anger on walkers. Whoever sees Amy first, grab her and make a run for it. Ed's gonna help me guard our backs while Andrea and Jim run in first. Is everyone clear on the plan?"

Everyone knew that Shane was only speaking to Ed, but since the latter was too preoccupied with stopping his nose bleed, he didn't answer. Out the window they saw downtown Atlanta rising up in an early morning haze. Even after a month of no operating vehicles, machines, or really anything that emitted pollution, there was still a good amount of it in the air.

"She'd better be alright," said Andrea breathlessly.

Jim didn't know how to respond to tell her that he wished the same thing, but he tightened his fingers around hers very slightly so that he could convey the message and as she felt his grip, she squeezed even tighter.