"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" Dr. Edwards asked her one last time, convinced that if he kept repeating the question, she'd change her mind. "It's safer in here, than it is out there. You'd be an asset to us."

Beth rolled her eyes while she put the few supplies the people of Grady had given her into a backpack. In her opinion, anywhere was better than here. She'd been stuck behind these hospital walls for months, healing from the shot that should've killed her. It was time for her to move on, time to find her family. Edwards knew that.

"Thanks for the offer, but no." She replied, turning and putting her arms through the straps of her pack, "-I gotta go." Dr. Edwards nodded his head in defeat.

"Well, if you say so…none of us will stop you. Not anymore." He hands her another bag that he'd brought with him when he came to say goodbye. Beth gave him a quizzical look as she took the bag. "Some extra weapons, and a couple of maps...to help you find your people." For the first time in what felt like ages, Beth gave the man a small, but genuine smile.

"Thank you, those will definitely come in handy." She says as she opens the bag to peer inside and take a quick inventory of the contents. Two hunting knives, a handgun with a holster, a rifle, a fire axe, and enough bullets to last her a while, if she's sparing. The maps are tucked along the inside edge of the bag, and she counts three of those. Beth is genuinely pleased, and she can't remember the last time she felt that way. She glanced back up when she heard Dr. Edwards talking again.

"Unfortunately, we can't spare a car, but one of the officers will drive you out of the city a few miles, wherever you want to be dropped." Beth nods her understanding, and sets the bag full of weapons on the hospital bed beside her, pulling out the stack of maps and choosing one that she knows will have the place she wants.

Unfolding the paper, her eyes search the roads and highway lines, before she finds what she's looking for. Putting her index finger on the spot, she shows Edwards where she wants to go. His eyebrows raise in surprise.

"You sure? That's where you want to go?" She gives him a firm nod.

"Yes. I have to." Edwards releases a sigh, not bothering to try and understand Beth's choice of location.

"Alright, I'll tell Officer Shepherd. She'll be the one taking you." Beth watched him leave the room, then turned back to the map laid out in front of her. Maybe she was crazy for choosing where she did, but she had to start somewhere.

She may as well start back at the beginning.

"Turn right here." Beth said to Shepherd, pointing at the old dirt road with the mailbox sitting on the side. The faded name on the side of it made her heart hurt, but she pushed it away.

"Any particular reason you wanted to be dropped here?" Beth just shrugged, not having an answer for the woman.

"Gotta start somewhere…" She says, before unbuckling her seatbelt, "-stop here. I can walk the rest." Shepherd eases onto the brake, pulling the car off to the side of the dirt road.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it ain't that far." She climbs out of the car, and opened the backdoor to grab her bags. Shutting the door, she walks around to the driver's side window and Shepherd rolls it down. "Thanks for the ride. Safe travels."

"You too, be careful out here. And for what it's worth, I hope you find who you're looking for." Beth offers a weak smile. She was hoping the same. Stepping away from the car, she offers one final wave before turning and starting the short trek up the dirt path, glancing back when she hears the car turning around and driving away. Taking a deep breath, she walks for about five minutes, before the trees thin out and she can see the old white house on the hill.

Her family's home didn't look too terrible from the outside, despite the dead bodies rotting in the grass. A few walkers were ambling about in the old fields that ran along the dirt road, but they hadn't noticed her, so she left them be. She could see where the barn used to sit, nothing left but charred wood and memories. The RV was gone, which meant people had been through here. She stopped walking and tossed the weapon bag down, opening it up and digging out one of the knives and the axe. She stuck the knife inside of her boot, zipped up the bag and threw it over her shoulder, wielding the axe in her grip.

Better to be cautious than dead.

Beth continued her walk up the small incline towards the front door, which was wide open. As she climbed the old set of steps, a female walker on the porch noticed her and started towards her, arms reaching out and snarling. She swung the axe at its head, imbedding it into the walker's skull, and it fell. Yanking hard, the axe pulled free, and Beth shook the small bits of flesh and bone off the blade, before continuing through the front door. She made a low whistle, waiting a few moments and listening closely for any sounds, from the living or the dead, but she only heard a thump from the upstairs, and she could tell it came from a bedroom.

Deciding to investigate the noise first, she quietly made her way up the stairs, axe in front of her, ready to swing. Once she reached the top of the stairs, she let out another whistle and listened. The thump happened again, and she glanced down the hall at a door leading to one of the bedrooms. Maggie's old room. She walked to the door and knocked on it, and she could hear the growls from the other side, before the thumping started. How a walker got locked inside, she didn't know, nor did she care to find out. First things first; dispose of the walker, then search the house.

Beth twisted the knob slowly and pushed the door open a few inches, and almost instantly a rotting arm shot out through the crack, trying to grab her. Holding onto the door, she opened it enough for the walker to stick its head out, then she pulled it shut so it was trapped between the door and the frame. She made quick work of smashing the axe into the dead man's head, watching as it collapsed onto the ground inside the room. Instead of walking inside the room though, she pulled the door shut and left the room alone. This was already hard enough, being here surrounded by the ghost of her memory.

Heading back down the stairs, she went into the kitchen to raid the pantry, hoping it wasn't totally empty. Her mama had died before canning season, so Beth knew there wouldn't be lines of jars full of food in the cellar. Opening the cabinet doors around her, she found two cans of lima beans, a jar of peaches, and a jar of pickles. Well…beggars can't be choosers. Food is food. She put all of the food in her backpack, before glancing out the window, noticing the sun was going down.

"Might as well stay here for the night." She said to the empty space around her. It was probably for the best, her head was starting to hurt. Thankfully, Dr. Edwards had given her a full bottle of painkillers, telling her to take one when the pain became too much. Beth had a feeling this one was going to get bad, so she made quick work of locking up her family's house. Heading upstairs again, she barricaded the staircase with an old table that always sat in the hallway, the top covered in pictures and knickknacks. And with as much willpower as she could muster, she made her way into her old bedroom.

When she crossed the threshold, Beth felt a million different emotions hit her. Her childhood bedroom looked as if it had hardly been touched, and she wasn't sure if that was good or bad. At least if it had been wrecked, it'd be easier to stay detached. But all that was missing was some clothes from her closet. She didn't think she could stay here for more than one night, it was just too painful. Looking out the window above her old desk, she could tell the sun was below the trees, and decided to barricade herself in the room while she still had some light. Closing the door, she locked it first, then slowly but surely pushed her tall dresser in front of it.

"That should do it." She spoke softly to herself, tossing all her bags on the bed and digging out one of the cans of lima beans. She cracked it open before sitting on the bed and leaning back against the headboard, watching out her window as the sunlight slowly faded away into night.

She would leave in the morning. And she would put the pain of these memories away.

"Delta."

Beth's body was shaken awake, and she pulled a knife from her side and held it at the throat of whoever woke her. When she was able to see clearly, she realized it was a man from her group. Amos, he called himself. Whether it was his actual name, Beth didn't quite care.

"What?" She hissed at him, knife still poised to attack. Despite her high ranking, the shit Alpha let her people do to each other made her constantly on edge, no matter how long she's been with them.

"Two of the scouts found somebody from that community," Amos said, his voice a bit loud for her liking, "-apparently he tried to follow us. They captured him and are waiting for your orders."

Beth's heart leapt into her throat. He tried to follow us. Who was 'he'?

She prayed it wasn't Daryl.