"Beth?" Tilly repeated. She shook her head as thoughts of the conversation she'd had with Daryl and Maggie flooded her brain. Beth wasn't an uncommon name, and there was no way Maggie's sister had made it that far north on her own.

"Something wrong?" Beth asked as she saw Tilly's face harden.

"No," Tilly shook her head, "no, everything's fine. I'm just tired. We need to get going, find somewhere to rest for a while."

The girls continued north as they searched for shelter. They followed the highway but kept behind the treeline in case the men came back.

"What happened with those guys?" Tilly asked as they walked.

"I was traded to them," Beth answered, anger in her voice. "They're like some kind of mafia. The other communities here give them supplies in exchange for their safety."

"They protect the other groups? That doesn't sound terrible."

Beth shook her head. "They don't so much protect them as agree not to kill all of them. One of the groups wasn't able to come up with enough, so they sent scouts south to find something worth giving. They found me and another girl, Claire."

"Oh god, Beth," Tilly gasped. "Did they-"

"No," she cut her off, "they didn't rape us, if that's what you're going to ask. They're sick people, but that seems to be their only rule. We were held as wives, which is just a nice way of saying slaves."

"How'd you get out?" Tilly pried.

"Claire," she said sadly. "She's the only reason I made it. She distracted the guards long enough for me to steal a van and ram it through the fence. There's no telling what they did to her after I left." Tears welled up in Beth's eyes as she continued her story. "I figured the biters coming in through the fence would keep them busy long enough for me to put some distance between us, and it did, but I ran out of gas just a few miles out. I had to ditch the car, which is probably how they knew which way I went."

"Well, you're headed in the opposite direction now, so hopefully that'll throw them off," Tilly said, attempting to comfort the girl. "There are some houses up ahead. We'll clear one and stay there for the night."

They chose a small green house as their temporary home. Two rocking chairs sat on the white-painted porch and ivy climbed up the lattice underneath the windows. If not for the peeling paint and overgrown grass it would have been quite picturesque.

Tilly went inside to sweep the rooms as Beth kept watch on the porch. To her relief, there were no walkers, or people, to be found inside.

"It's clear," she said quietly, signaling Beth to come inside.

The women made quick work of moving furniture in front of the doors and closing all of the blinds. After that they split up to search the home for supplies.

Beth took the kitchen, and as she opened the cabinets she was elated to find they weren't nearly bare. She pulled out several cans of soup, a bag of pretzels and some dried fruit and set them on the table.

Tilly managed to find a bottle of rubbing alcohol in the bathroom and two winter coats in the master bedroom. Her thin jacket wasn't doing much to keep out the chilled air, so she was grateful to find something heavier. She removed her tattered jacket and tossed it across the room before pulling on a black down puffer. She saved the other one, a thick, dark purple wool coat, for Beth.

"Thought you might need this," she said as she entered the kitchen and handed the coat to Beth.

She smiled as she slipped her arms in and buttoned it up. "It's great," she smiled. "Thanks. I found all of this." She gestured to the small feast spread across the table.

"Seems it's our lucky day," Tilly laughed as they each took a seat.

"Tell me about the group you were with," Tilly said as she dipped a spoon into her can of vegetable soup.

Beth swallowed her mouthful of pretzels before answering. "I don't even know if any of them are alive anymore," she explained. "We were attacked before I was separated. I watched this maniac chop-" She hesitated, afraid of saying it out loud. "He, uh, he killed my daddy, right in front of us."

Tilly's eyes grew wide at the familiar story. "Hershel?" she choked out. Tears welled in her eyes as she hoped against hope she was right.

"How do you-"

"Beth Greene?" Tilly whispered. "It's you, isn't it?"

Beth was speechless. "Were you with them?" she asked.

Tilly nodded. "I was. I was hunting with Daryl when I got lost."

"Oh, my god," Beth cried, nearly diving over the table to wrap Tilly in a hug. "Are they ok? Maggie? Glenn?"

"They're fine," Tilly smiled as she returned the embrace. "They all found each other. They're heading toward DC now."

Beth pulled back from Tilly and began bombarding her with a million questions about the happenings after the prison. She filled Beth in on who was still with the group. She told her about Terminus, Father Gabriel, and Abraham's group.

"Daryl searched for you," Tilly added. "He feels so guilty for losing you, but I'm sure you already knew he'd look for you."

"Of course," Beth replied. "I knew he would, I was just afraid he'd get hurt doing it. He nearly died looking for Sophia at the farm. I'm glad he's alright."

"They're going to be so happy to see you," Tilly smiled.

"What makes you so sure we'll be able to find them?" Beth asked, her face turning solemn. "It's a big city. We don't even know where to look."

"I found you, and I wasn't even trying," Tilly said with a wink.

No sooner had those words left Tilly's mouth than the roar of a vehicle came from outside. She ran to the window and peeked through the blinds. Sitting only a little down the road was the same black truck she had seen on the highway.

"Motherfucker," Tilly whispered. "It's them."

Beth joined her at the window in time to see the two men climbing out of the truck. They could just make out their muffled voices.

"We'll just do a quick sweep of these houses," the leader ordered. "You take that one, and I'll start over here."

A chill ran through Tilly as he pointed in the direction of their house.

"Go," she whispered to Beth. "Get everything you can and go out the back. Run to the woods."

Beth nodded and they began shoving their belongings and the remaining food into their packs.

Their hearts skipped a beat when they heard the door knob turning. Tilly grabbed Beth's arm and drug her toward the back door. They moved the desk they had barricaded it with as quietly as they could manage, but it seemed the man already knew they were there.

"It's alright, Bethy!" He called cheerfully as he banged his fist on the door. "I just wanna have a little chat. I'm sure that was all just a big misunderstanding, right? Open the door and we'll take you back in, no questions asked."

They both knew he was lying. Beth pulled the back door open and began to sprint as fast as she could toward the treeline. Tilly shut the door behind her, hoping he wouldn't immediately figure out the direction they'd headed, and ran after her.

When she caught up to Beth she grabbed her arm, begging her to pick up her pace. There was no time for them to rest. She knew the man would probably figure out where they went soon, so she wanted to put as much distance between them as possible.

"We have to find a car," Tilly panted as they finally stopped to catch their breath. "We can't be out here on foot when it gets dark, but we can't afford to stop and make camp anywhere yet."

They both took a minute to drink a bit of their meager water supply before continuing their hike. Soon, the edge of the woods came into sight and Beth pointed ahead of them as they stepped out into the open.

"If we can get to the top of that hill we should be able to scope out the area," she suggested.

Tilly nodded in agreement and though she was hesitant to walk out in the open it really did seem like their best option. The sun was beginning to sink low in the sky, so she knew they needed to move quickly.

They sprinted to the top and turned their backs to each other, each of them scouring the opposite direction. The area was rural, but ahead of her Tilly could make out what appeared to be a subdivision a few miles away.

"Over there," Tilly announced, Beth turning to see what she was pointing at. "There's bound to be at least one car we can use in that neighborhood."

Beth shook her head. "Place is crawling with walkers, I can see them moving from here."

"We don't have much of a choice," Tilly said, patting Beth on the shoulder. "I'd rather deal with walkers than people, anyway. At least we know what to expect from them."

They made their way down the hill and ran in the direction of the neighborhood. They didn't have time to waste walking anymore. As confident as she was in her ability to handle the geeks, Tilly didn't want to risk having to do it in the dark.

Eventually, the cluster of houses came into sight and Tilly's heart sank as she evaluated the scene. There were more corpses than she'd bargained for, at least three dozen, wandering the streets.

"Why are there so many?" she wondered aloud. "Usually in neighborhoods like this you only run into a few, mostly trapped inside their homes."

"We're close to the city," Beth reasoned. "I'm sure most of them are just wandering through."

"You have your gun, right?" Tilly asked, and Beth responded by pulling it out of the back of her jeans. "Good. I'm going to make a run for that green car. I need you to cover me. Don't shoot unless you have to."

The small compact car was the closest to them and if she could get it started Tilly knew it would be the easiest on gas.

"What if there aren't keys in it?" Beth whispered.

A smile crossed Tilly's face. "That's not an issue. If it has gas in it, I'll get it started." Surprisingly, it wasn't her electrician background that had instilled her with the ability to hotwire a car, but good ole Joseph.

"What are we doing out here, Joe?" Tilly asked as she evaluated the decrepit houses that surrounded them. "Your mom would kill us if she knew we were in this part of town."

Joseph laughed. "Well, she doesn't. You ready to learn something new?"

The mischievous look in his dark brown eyes was unnerving, but at the same time it excited her. She had always admired Joseph's spontaneous nature. Though it had gotten both of them into trouble plenty of times he sure knew how to keep things from being boring.

"I guess so," she sighed.

He swept his head back and forth, making sure no one was watching, before tugging at the handle of a nearby car.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, dude," Tilly held up her hands and stepped back a bit. "I'm not looking to become a felon before I graduate."

"It's fine, Tills," he reassured her as the door creaked open. "We're not taking this piece of shit, I just need to borrow it for a second. Come here."

She joined him at the driver's door and watched as he laid down to look under the dash. He popped a panel off from below the wheel and pulled out a cluster of wires. She watched intensely, fascinated by his work.

He explained the steps to her as he worked and a moment later the car came roaring to life. He got to his feet and wiped his hands together, pride washing over his face.

Tilly shook her head and chuckled. "That's pretty cool and all, but why exactly do I need to know this?"

"In case you ever need to steal a car."

Tilly took a deep breath and looked once more over her shoulder at Beth who nodded silently and held her pistol in front of her. As quietly as she could Tilly ran toward the green car, praying to go unnoticed until she could get it started.

Unfortunately, she wasn't quite so lucky. Two nearby geeks turned and began to lumber toward her as she reached the door. She pulled her knife from her belt and dispatched them as silently as she could manage. The thud of their bodies hitting the pavement was enough to draw the attention of a few geeks, but they were far enough away that she didn't have to worry about them for the moment.

"Come on, come on, come on," Beth chanted quietly as she stared at the redhead. She saw the walkers headed in her direction and hoped she would get it started quickly enough that she wouldn't need to shoot.

Tilly yanked on the door handle and thankfully it was unlocked. It swung open quickly, nearly knocking her backward, but she regained her balance and dove under the dash. She willed herself to calm down and focus on the steps Joseph had taught her.

Her hands groped around the hard plastic until she found the panel and pulled it away. She quickly sat up to check the position of the oncoming walkers, who were then only about twenty feet away, before getting to work with the wires.

She jumped as the engine came to life, but relief rushed through her. She stood just in time to be face-to-face with a short female walker, and she punched her in her rotted cheek before sticking her knife cleanly into the side of her head.

She turned toward Beth and waved for her to join her as she continued to fight off the small herd.

"They've seen us!" she called as Beth reached the street. "Just get in!"

Beth shoved a corpse out of her way, not bothering to stop and kill it, before opening the passenger door and getting inside.

When she finally had a clear path, Tilly joined her.

"Half a tank," she smiled, looking at the display panel. "That'll do." Then she floored it, running over the legs of the walker Beth had knocked down as they rolled out of the town and headed north.

The sunset painted the sky to their left as they reached the main road, and for a moment they felt like they could breathe.

"Tomorrow," Tilly said resolutely as they passed another sign signaling their approach to DC, "tomorrow, we'll find them."