"Is everything loaded into the back?" Rick asks the group as we all stand around the SUV. Rick decided that a group of us would go to the Walmart today to check it out. He wants to make sure that everything is still the way I left it two weeks ago. Also to make sure that everything is closed off and secure at the front of it. Glenn thought it would be a good idea to divide into groups to go and learn the way there in case something goes wrong. That way is the group staying to fight has to leave, they can make their way to the store and meet us there.

"I think so. Are you Michonne and Carl still going to King County after this?" I question. Rick said that when he left there at the beginning of all of this, that the police station was still pretty well stocked with guns and ammo. Thought it was worth checking out even though it has been over a year. Carl basically informed him that he was going as well and didn't give him much of a choice. Said that he wants to go to a baby store that was down the street from the station to get some stuff for the girls. With everything that was happening today, we were up before dawn to get started.

"Yeah, if everything is still there then it will have all the guns we will need. Not to mention the ammo we are almost out of."

"Well let's get going. Sun will be up soon and we got a lot to do in a short amount of time." Maggie says from beside me. On this first trip to the store its Rick, Maggie, Daryl, Michonne, Carl and Myself. Then when we get back Daryl is going to take Tyreese, Hershel, Glenn, Beth and Carol. Merle said he don't need to go because he swears up and down that he would be able to find it with no trouble.

Unfortunately though, Allen and Ben were gone shortly after I stormed off to my cell last night. Sasha, Tyreese and Rick at least tried to convince them to leave this morning when the sun was up but Allen was hell bent on getting out of here. Rick said that Ben didn't really want to go but he also didn't want to abandon his dad, which I completely understand. Sadly thought, his dad was more than likely going to get them both killed.

"Ok. Lacey I want you up from with me so you can tell me the way to go." I nod at Rick and everyone loads up in to the car while Daryl heads to his bike.

"He does know that he is basically ringing the dinner bell, right?" I ask Rick after he climbs into the drivers seat.

"I brought the same fact up when we were on the road before we found the prison, conversation didn't go so well." He chuckles starting the car. Glancing behind me at the prison through the back window, I cant help but feeling worried. It was the first time since I got here that I was leaving. Not only was I leaving safety but I was also leaving Lily. Even though we have a plan, a number of things could go wrong.

"Don't worry. She'll be fine." Maggie smiles placing a reassuring hand on my arm. I smile back and turn back to face forward.

"Ok, so you gotta take the eighty-five to seventy-four and make a left. After that its about a fifteen minute drive to fifty-four. There is also a Home Depot that is in front of the store, we can use the supplies that are there as well later. I cleared it before I cleared Walmart. Apparently not many people have a need to wood and gardening at the end of the world." I joke making the group laugh.

The roads were pretty much clear of cars and walkers. At the beginning everyone was told to head to Atlanta so the majority of the citizens must have packed up and headed there before things got too bad. All around us was nothing but abandoned stores, gas stations, homes, schools and more. There was once when I would enjoying taking in the sites of a new place but now…its just a reminder of what the world has become and everything we have lost.

"Hey Lacey. What is the thing you miss most about the old world?" Carl asks from his seat between Maggie and Michonne. I turn slightly in my seat and look at him.

"Hmmm, that's a tricky one. Do you mean people, food, hobby or something else?" I ask.

"How about food. If you could have anything right now, what would you want to eat?"

"That's even more difficult." I smile making everyone laugh. "But if I had to just pick one, I would have to pick…a medium rare steak, baby red potatoes, homemade mac n cheese and for dessert I'd want peach cobbler with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. I could eat that everyday for the rest of my life if I could." I laugh, my mouth slightly watering. "What about you? What was the one meal you could eat for the rest of your life?" I ask. He takes a minute to think before perking up at his answer.

"Pizza with everything except mushrooms and olives. With a can of coke and that cheesy crazy bread that Little Caesars makes."

"That sounds delicious." Maggie smiles. "I would have to say my dad's meatloaf. He made the best meatloaf. Always made it with mashed taters, fresh corn from our neighbor Tim who lived down the road, gravy and homemade biscuits. Didn't really do dessert on meatloaf nights, everyone was always too full to eat anymore." Everyone laughs.

"What about you Rick?" I ask looking at him.

"Steak, eggs, home fries, bacon and a big glass of chocolate milk." He smirks looking at me. The rest of us laugh and I cant help but imagine seeing him sitting down at a kitchen table with his plate full of food and a chocolate milk mustache.

"Dad drank more chocolate milk than I did. Mom was always buying gallons of it saying that he was gonna turn into the dang cow if he kept drinking it." Carl laughs. I watch as his face full of joy quickly turns into one of sadness. I reach back and grasp his hand in comfort. He looks up at me and subtly nods his head before turning to Michonne. He proceeds to ask her the same question and she responds with cereal.

"Out of all the foods out there, you would want to eat cereal for the rest of your life?" he asks confused and shocked.

"More specifically, Lucky Charms. Breakfast always tastes better later, but cereal was my go to every night for a midnight snack." I chuckle as Carl starts questioning her about different things and turn back in my seat. Seeing as we were just about there, I check my gun to make sure the clip is full and make sure my knife if in the sheath on my hip.

"Nervous?" I look over at Rick to see him looking down at the gun in my lap.

"Yes and no. Just want this to go as smoothly as possible. No walkers or trouble. Really hoping everything is still there. I mean, I secured the doors at the front really well with carts and others stuff but if people are desperate enough to get inside, I am sure they could have. Where there's a will, there's way." He nods his head as he looks out the windshield. He flicks the turn signal on to make the left turn and I laugh loudly. "Did you just turn on the turn signal?" I ask with a hint of amusement in my voice. I watch as he looks down at the flashing arrow, out the windshield then back down before his face reddens and chuckle to himself.

"Old habits die hard apparently. Didn't even realize I did it." I giggle for a second before I realize we were slowing down at coming to a stop next to Daryl. "What do you think?" Rick asks him after he rolls the window down.

"I have only seen a couple walkers, can we get in the back door you walked about?" Daryl asks looking around Rick and at me. I look around quickly examining the area.

"We should be able to. It's how I got in and out but I mean if I could do it that easily then so could others. We would have to be prepared." I reply. He nods looks at the front of the store.

"Let's head to the back, back into it so we can make a quick get away if we have to." Rick says. Daryl nods and starts his bike back up and leads the way around the large building. "Everyone be ready. Don't know what we will find inside." As we round the side of the building to the back, I direct Rick to the correct door.

"It's the one with the ramp walkway up to it. The handle is hard to get, one of the reasons why I used this door. Took a while to figure out how to get it correctly." I inform them as Rick turns the car and backs it up at the end of the ramp before shutting it off and pocketing the keys. Daryl parks next to us and grabs his crossbow before sweeping the area just to make sure there aren't any walkers or dangers.

"Lead the way." Rick says pulling his gun from its holster as the rest of the group falls in line. As we get to the door, I grasp the handle and press my thumb onto the latch before using my other hand as an added force and grabbing the handle to jerk up on the handle. Jerk it back a couple times, the door makes a loud screeching sound that makes everyone cringe as it opens up and bangs against the metal railing that is surrounding the ramp.

"Sorry bout that. Forgot to mention that part." I sigh grabbing the flashlight that Maggie was holding out to me before stepping into the dark building. As everyone steps in, Daryl closes the door behind him and we all look to the left and right. "There is storage in both directions. I used tables, chairs, desks and a few other large things to block the left side. Didn't want to have to worry about getting surrounded from both sides if something happened. Only had to worry about what was coming from that side. Pretty much cleared everything from that side as well. That's were most of the dry foods and stuff were." I inform them, pointing the light in each direction as I was talking. "And this is where I stayed for a couple weeks. There are two doors but the door further down that way is locked and barricaded by a pop machine on the outside. Its close enough to the wall that you cant see the doorway of it." Everyone nods and I turn to push the door open behind me slowly, in case anyone was in there. Raising my flashlight and gun, I sweep the light across the room as everyone files in behind me.

"Holy shit!" Carl exclaims from behind me.

"Carl!" Rick hisses.

"Sorry dad. But look at all this stuff!" he says excitedly.

Everything looks as it was when I first got pushed away from it by the herd. The only thing that is different is the air mattress that is deflated which I was expecting. To the right against the wall, I had shelves put together in rows that were full of stuff I had collected from the store. One section was hygiene items (shampoo, conditioner, soap, razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste, brushes, female products, and medicines). Another section consisted of things like paper plates, cutlery, toilet wipes, and other thins like that. There was also a section with blankets, pillows, sheets, curtains, camping stuff and more. Along the longest wall that connected the two sides were shelves for water and the food I had found while searching. Then on the right side, was my little bed area that I had set up. Air mattress, pillows, bedding and my table with the lantern on it.

"You gathered all of this stuff by yourself?" Rick asks turning to look at me.

"Well I had help from a shopping cart but yeah. Took a lot of trips and a shit ton of back pain but this isnt even half of what I found out there. Just grabbed a bunch of stuff." I replied looking at the others as they looked through all the stuff. "Hey Daryl, I don't know what kind of arrows your crossbow takes but there are a bunch of them over in that corner to the left." I inform the man pointing to the corner they were in. He nods and heads over to it.

"This room is big enough for everyone to stay in if we have to leave the prison." Michonne says walking over toward us.

"There is also a room right on the other side of this wall. Guess it was there training room or something. The managers office is just a little bit down the hallway. Its pretty small, but it can be made into a room for one or two people."

"We need to make sure the front of the store is still secure before we can even think about coming here." I nod my head as I agree with Maggie.

"Daryl, Maggie and Carl I want you to take the right side of the store. Michonne, Lacey and I will take the left. If anyone runs into trouble, whistle twice loudly then get back to the car."

"There is also a set of doors out in the garden area and back in auto. You wont be able to see outside because I spray painted the glass so the walkers couldn't see me walking around at night."

"The hell were you turning this place into, Fort Knox?" Daryl asks with a smirk. "Alright, lets get this done." We all nod and separate into our groups before heading off. As we make our way through the store, the only sound heard was the squeaking of our shoes on the floor.

"Is so strange how quiet it is." Michonne whispers.

"Trying being in it for two and a half weeks alone." I reply as we make it to the front where the double set of doors were.

Everything was still the same.

"How did you get the carts on top of each other like that?" Rick asks.

"Like I said, a lot of back pain." The three of us laugh before turning to check out the other two sets of doors in the garden and auto areas. "Is it weird that I am actually shocked that nothing had been touched? Not that I am unhappy about it, its just strange that nobody has come by here and even thought to look. Sad actually."

"I know what you mean." Michonne pats my arm comfortingly.

"Lets head to the front and meet with the others." Michonne and I nod our heads and follow behind him toward the front. "You weren't joking when you said there was till a lot left here." Rick whispers looking around with his flashlight as we walk between two registers to find the other three waiting near the bathrooms.

"Everything good on your side?" Maggie asks standing from the bench she had been sitting on.

"Yeah, everything is still locked up tight like she had it. Let's head back to the break room and grab a couple things that we can use the next couple of days."

"I am gonna head over to the baby section. The girls only got a couple diapers left and I wanna grab them each an outfit or two. They have been wearing the same clothes for the last two weeks or so." I inform the group.

"Ok. Meet us back there in ten minutes max." I nod at Rick and turn to make my way back there. I grab a shopping basket on my way from one of the registers. With my flashlight out in front of me, I scan it over the rows of diapers that are on the shelf looking for the correct size. As I scan the lower shelf of diapers, I bend down to see three or four boxes pushed all the way to the back against the wall.

"Damn it." I curse to myself. With a sigh, I get down onto my knees and reach in as far as I can to try to grab one of the boxes.

"Oh come on!" I growl as my fingertips just barely brush against the top edge of the box. Just as my fingers brush it again, I feel a sharp smack on my left butt cheek and instantly fly backwards at the sudden pain. Jerking out of the shelve and landing on my back, I glance over and see Rick leaning against one of the shelves trying to contain his laughter. "What the hell was that for?" I growl getting to my feet and rubbing my sore butt cheek. "Did you have to smack it that hard? Geez, pretty sure I have a hand print the size of fuckin Texas there." I whine trying to sooth the slight burning.

"Sorry, was a tad bit harder than intended. Plus, I could pass us the opportunity. It was just there." He replies chuckling.

"Asshole." I growl under my breath making him laugh out loud. I glare at him before angrily bending down to pick up the box I had some how managed to yank out when I jerked back. "You stand there and laugh like an idiot, I am going to go get the clothes." I thrust the box of diapers into his chest and walk toward the baby girl clothes. I honestly wasn't mad about it, just wanted him to think I was. I knew he meant it in a playful gesture but he wasn't getting away with it.

"Oh, now come on. Don't be like that. You know I didn't mean it to be so rough." I could practically hear the smirk in his voice. "Im sorry." I smirk as I continue to ignore him and look through the girl clothes that consist of pinks, purples, yellows and rainbows. As I pick up a pink onsie that had flower designs on it, I feel him wrap his arms around me and pull me into his chest. "I will rub it better if that would help." He whispers into my ear before planting a kiss on my cheek.

"Rick." I whisper firmly, letting him know he is crossing a line that we arent ready to cross yet.

"I know we arent crossing that line yet. I can't help how you make me feel. Seeing you bent over like that on your hands and knees. I will be thinking about that for weeks to come until we are ready to take things further." He growls kissing my neck.

"What makes you think I would want to take things further? I could just be trying to seduce you enough so you have no choice but to keep me forever because you will be so in love with me that you cant let me go." I lightly tease, turning in his arms to look at him.

"Not likely." He smirks lifting his hand to move a clump of hair that had come loose from my messy bun that is on the top of my head.

"Someone's cocky." I smirk pushing him away gently.

"You have no idea." He groans adjusting his pants.

"Come on, I have got what I needed. Time to go. Your little problem will have to wait." I smirk catching a quick peak down south to see the impressive bulge at the front of his pants.

"There aint nothing little about my problem woman. Get going before I decide to hold you hostage here and handle it." I laugh loudly before grabbing the little clothes I had chosen and make my way to join the others with Rick walking behind me, carrying the box of diapers in front of him. When we get to the back, the others are already outside waiting by the car and Daryl's bike.

"Ready to go?" I ask tossing the outfits into the back of the car.

"Yep, got some food and water for the next couple of days. If everything goes to plan, we can come back and get the rest." Maggie says leaning against the open door to the back seat. She glances over my shoulder to look at Rick and smirks. "What's wrong with Rick?" she asks. I turn to look over my shoulder at him and see him still holding the box of diapers in front of him while talking to Daryl.

"Think he is just really fond of the diapers for the girls." I reply.

"I'm sure that's what it is." I look back at her and see her smirking as she wiggles her eyebrows.

"I don't know what you are trying to suggest Maggie Greene." I smirk walking to the passenger side and climbing into my seat. All in all this trip went really smoothly. Lets hope it continues.

--

*So, not much excitement in this one. Let me know what you thought. i have been workin on other chapters, i have written up till chapter sixteen and still going. i want to write a couple chapters that take place between season three and four. kinda comin up blank on what should happen though. if you have any good ideas PM me and let me know. Also, i wanna thank NickaDixon45 and Gottaloveva for commenting! Also singlemompride, i am glad someone out there agrees with me. i have read a lot of stories that are like that and it would drive me crazy. anyway i am going to try to post the next chapter this weekend probably.*