A/N: I don't own anyone but my OC's…though I wished I owned the rest…*sighs*

I am terribly sorry about this late update! But I was totally slammed with writer's wall on this one

Alex woke up the next day greeted by the stifling humidity that invaded her tent like the plague. She quickly noticed Shane was missing and leapt from the cot and towards others. Daryl and T-Dog were burying the dead with Rick and Shane lending a hand. A short distance away the charred heap of Walkers had been reduced to ash and bone. Guilt trickled into her mind as she slowly hiked towards the camp.

"You guys need help?" She reached down for a shovel and hopped into one of the holes and began digging with the fluidity of a robot. Dirt sailed across the air joined the accumulating mound. Rock, earth, and grass sprinkled the surrounding ground but she didn't pay heed and continued falling deeper into the soil.

"Alex you feeling alright?" Rick jumped down forcing her to stop. Alex simply looked upward and rested her chin atop her hands as she leaned on the shovel.

"I'll manage I suppose," she looked upward to Shane and Daryl who were peering over the edge.

"Look, I heard about what happened. You don't have to go shut down on us."

"You have enough burdens to bare Rick without hurling my woes into the pot. Besides, after we finish here I'm heading to Atlanta."

"Alone? Alex you're not going out there…." Shane instantly protested but the sharp warning look from the set of dark angry rings of mocha made him pause.

"I'm going whether or not anyone else joins me. If you want to head to Fort Benning then go right ahead. But just to let you both know this area isn't safe any longer. Now that the Walkers have attacked it's only a matter of time before more appear."

"No," Rick shook his head and crossed his arms. "We won't let you do it. You are not going out there."

"You two are not my babysitters, not my guardians, and neither one of you are certainly not my father so in reality you have no say in the matter. The conventional rules went out the window the instant this shit hit. And besides, you two can't even agree on where to go next. What does that say to the group?"

"You're one crazy woman you know that?" Daryl suddenly spoke up. "You're going to go out there alone with those things running wild like feral hogs?"

"Well since the Dynamic Duo can't agree on where to go next, I've made my own decision. But if anyone wants go with me the offer stands. I leave after we bury the deceased."

Alex released the shovel watching Rick catch it as it tilted towards him. She hopped up planting her palms on the sturdy soil the hoisted her leg up and on the edge before rolling over and onto the surface. Alex refused to listen to some fucking lecture about her safety when it was the others they should worry about. She started towards the group and came upon Andrea cradling Amy's body in her arms. The older woman continued telling her sister how everything would be alright now and of the regrets that chained her heart all those years she wasn't there for her when she was growing up. Of how proud she was when Amy caught those fish. Of what was and what would never be.

The knife twisted deeper into her back…..

The burden bore deeper onto her shoulders…..

As Alex approached, Amy's body reanimated within Andrea's embrace.

"Shit," she felt the gun in her waistband but Andrea continued talking to Amy as she wheezed and coughed. The once youthful innocence had been void from her eyes as now cloudy rings of dull crimson dominated in its absence. Alex drew her gun training it on the back of Amy's skull. The others had heard the commotion and started to watch with silent affliction as the tragedy reached its mournful climax. Shane and Rick watched as Alex froze but never wavered in her aim. They had lost too many the night before and losing one more would unacceptable.

"I love you," Andrea sobbed and pressed the muzzle to Amy's temple and pulled the trigger. In a matter of seconds it was over. Amy was dead.

Alex replaced her weapon and rushed to Andrea's side.

"Andrea," she knelt down and placed a hand upon her shoulder.

"Leave me alone!" She turned on Alex but the smaller woman didn't budge.

"Can't do that," Alex slowly shook her head. "But let me help you."

Andrea pressed her sister's body against her and soothingly ran a hand up and down her back.

"I lost someone I cared about too last night. I know what it's like to see them slipping from you and how powerless you feel when you can't save them. But we can't let that emptiness win. Amy wouldn't want this for you."

Alex hesitated before continuing. "Look if it would help there's a place next to Austin we can put Amy so that way she won't be alone ever again. Would you like to do that?"

Andrea closed her eyes and rocked back and forth against the ground. Alex waited patiently until she looked up and nodded her head.

"Yes," she sniffled.

"Take your time," Alex smiled and hugged her. "When you're ready let me know."

"Thank you," Andrea whispered gratefully.

Alex gave Andrea a spare sheet for her to cover Amy in before lowering her into the ground. The mermaid necklace was clasped around her neck as it was Amy's birthday today. As Daryl and T-Dog started covering the white sheet, Alex uttered a final passage for their deceased:

What reside here in the cold dead earth are not the souls but merely the bodies of the fallen.

Their souls have sought passage and the embrace of Charon as he ferries them towards the Elysian Fields where pain and suffering are not welcomed.

There they shall be reunited with the souls of the ancestors and warriors of the past and where they will await with open arms to embrace us as well.

She turned and brushed past T-Dog and Daryl and towards her camp.

"Hey Alex," T-Dog caught up to her. "You can't be serious? Going out there alone?"

Alex sadly smiled at her new friend as he stood there. "There's something I have to do and it takes me to Atlanta."

"It's suicide back there! You didn't see what happened."

"T-Dog, I have seen things with my own eyes that if I was to tell you it would question your sanity and push you to the brink."

T-Dog wasn't sure what to make of her cryptic talk. What was she hiding? Why was she so hell bent on going back into the hot zone?

"Watch Shane and Rick for me? Those two are gonna need all the support they can get."

As Alex started to turn and walk towards her truck the sudden shouting over by the RV made her halt and spin around.

"Jim's been bitten!"

Jacqui had ripped Jim's shirt up to show the two rows of crescent moons that had been torn into his side. Suddenly Alex's plan hit a nasty road block.

"Damn it," she muttered and started towards the others.

PS - I created that little eulogy and stuck with Greek/Roman mythology references ;) For those of you who may not know this: Charon was the ferryman who took the souls of the dead to the underworld via the River Styx. The Elysian Fields are what the Romans considered their version of the afterlife. it was where the Roman soldiers hoped to be if they died in battle.