I woke up alone. That was nothing new. Daryl had a habit of sneaking out and leaving me sleeping. It didn't bother me. It was sweet that he wanted me to have sleep.

I groaned and stretched. I didn't want to get up. My stomach was in knots over heading to the CDC today. I knew that more than likely something was going to go wrong.

I reached in my bag and grabbed some clothes to get dressed. After I opened the hatch and crawled out reluctantly. Everyone was loading up the last of their stuff to leave. Daryl was talking to the men of the group. I assumed it was about plans for traveling, hopefully safely.

"You all set to go?" Jacquie asked as she came up behind me.

"Yeah." I closed the hatch. "I'm all set."

She smiled at me and continued making her way to camp. I didn't have anything else to do so I followed behind.

I looked over at the group of men. They looked tense. Daryl looked pissed. I was assuming that it had something to do with Jim since he kept looking at the RV. I didn't want Jim to be killed while he was still human, but I did understand the threat he posed.

The male group disbanded and made their way over to the rest of us.

"Okay everyone it's time to move out." Shane began. "For those of you with CB's keep it on channel 40. If there is any problem and you don't or can't use your CB then hit the horn one time. That will stop the caravan."

He looked at us in question to see if we all understood.

"We're not going." Morales told us as he put his arm around his wife.

Some of us gasped in surprise.

"We have family in Birmingham." She added.

"If you do this you are unprotected. That means no one to watch your back." Shane interjected.

"I need to do what's best for my family." Morales replied.

Rick nodded to Shane. They had a short mumbled conversation. He then handed Morales a gun and some ammo.

Everyone said their goodbyes. The kids had all become fast friends so they were crying and hugging. The rest of us hugged them and gave them our best wishes.

"Alright let's move out!" Shane hollered and with that we all disbanded to our own vehicles.

"I'm gonna put my bike in the back of the truck and Glenn is gonna drive it." Daryl informed me as we made our way to my car.

"Okay." I smiled. "You want to drive?" I pulled out my keys and held them up to him.

He grabbed them quickly from my hand. I laughed and went to move his stuff to the back while he put his bike up.

"This is such a girl car." Daryl commented in frustration as he adjusted the seat and mirrors.

"Well that makes sense since I'm a girl." I laughed watching him.

He groaned and rolled his eyes as we started off down the road. We drove in silence without any music. That was fine with me. We needed to hear if anything went on. If anyone honked and we missed it then that might have consequences.

Suddenly there was a honk and we all stopped.

"I'll see what's up." Daryl told me as he got out.

A few other people got out as well. I waited impatiently for Daryl to come back. I was hoping that whatever was going on wasn't too bad, but I knew that we wouldn't have stopped for something trivial either.

After a few minutes I saw Jim being carried out of the RV and set gently under a big tree. I had to know what was going on so I got out of the car and made my way over to the small group.

Jim was hurting bad. You could see the pain all over his face. He looked like he had been to hell and back.

I wasn't too shocked when people started telling him goodbye. He had decided that this is where he wanted to be when he died. My heart ached for him. If I ever got bit I would not want to suffer like that. I wouldn't want to come back as a Geek either.

Tears formed in my eyes as it was my turn to tell Jim goodbye. He smiled at me.

"Don't be sad kid."

The tears flowed down my cheaks. He was dying and he was smiling at me.

"I'm sorry Jim." I sniffed.

"You're a good kid Anna." He winced in pain as he looked up at Daryl. "You make sure you keep her safe."

Daryl nodded wordlessly at him.

I hugged Jim as gently as I possibly could, told him goodbye, and made my way back to the HHR. I couldn't be there anymore. I had said goodbye and I didn't think that I could have stayed around to witness anyone else.

I was sitting in the car with my knees pulled up tightly to my chest when Daryl came back. He sat down and sighed.

"Ya ok?" he asked looking at me.

No I wasn't ok. It was hard knowing that we were leaving a man on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere just waiting to die. Of course I didn't want Daryl worrying about me so I nodded simply to him and looked out the window.

I was off in my own world so I hadn't realized how much time had passed, but we were stopping down the road from a large building, the CDC. The only problem was there were bodies everywhere. I couldn't see any Walkers, but that didn't mean anything.

"Oh my God." I gasped as I looked at the field of rotting corpses.

"Ya got somethin to cover yer mouth, and nose with?" Daryl asked as he crinkled his nose as the sight.

I nodded and grabbed my winter stocking cap out of the glove compartment in front of me.

Daryl nodded. "When we get out I want you to stay with me. If I run, you run. If I stop, you stop."

I nodded at him nervously.

"Most of all be quiet."

"I will." I answered meekly.

We watched the others for a moment. We needed a sign that it was time to go. Slowly Rick made his way out into the open. He made a signal for all of us to follow him. Slowly and silently we all made our way behind him.

The smell was overwhelming. It was like every dead body in the world lay rotting in front of us. I almost threw up. I did as Daryl instructed and didn't move from his side.

Slowly we made our way to the front door of the CDC. All of our hearts fell as we tried to get in only to find the doors locked. We stayed on guard for Walkers as Rick knocked on the door. The sound did not go unnoticed by the local walkers. They swarmed on us instantly. Rick banged harder when he noticed the camera by the door follow his movements. Getting no response made him mad. He angrily pleaded with anyone on the inside to let us in.

Those of us with weapons took down what Walkers we could.

"Let's just go!" Shane yelled taking down a Walker.

We all turned to go. We needed to make our way back to the vehicles before we were too surrounded to make it.

Suddenly the doors to the CDC opened and a bright light spilled out of the building.

A/N: Not sure how I feel about this chapter. Oh well, on to the next one! Keep reading, and REVIEW my dear readers!