Things in camp were tense, something had gone wrong at the lake with Ed, Carol and Shane which all the adults seemed to somehow all have talked about and yet were clearly and pointedly not talking about it, especially around the kids. Her mom had told her not to worry about it which would have been much easier done if Sophia hadn't been obviously worried and scared and as a result clinging to Cassie when her mom was busy. As much as the adults tried to avoid talking about it when they saw the kids were nearby they certainly didn't hold back making little comments they believed she wouldn't understand, and they said a lot more when they didn't realise Cassie was there. Small comments about Ed having it coming, about how they didn't see it coming and how Shane didn't seem like that kind of guy, that you never really know someone. It wasn't difficult to get a general understanding of what happened at the lake; Ed was being Ed and Shane had clearly had enough and snapped. Cassie was more surprised it hadn't happened sooner.

The fact that no one wanted to talk about it in front of the kids yet everybody wanted to talk about it meant that the adults were all keeping away and leaving them to their own devices. Bored, Cassie had tried at one point to force herself into Amy and Andrea's fishing trip but they wouldn't let her because the boat was small and they thought she'd get bored quickly and want to go back, so she was stuck once again wandering the camp, trying to look busy so she wasn't put to work.

She had panicked a little at first when Rick took Daryl and Glenn into Atlanta, feeling like everyone she actually liked was leaving but she could recognise she was being a bit dramatic now, she still had Amy, Dale, her mom and even Sophia here. She was just worried; the adults pretend that going into Atlanta is just a supply trip and not a big deal and maybe that works for Sophia and Carl but she had seen those things, she'd seen what they do to people and there were thousands of them in Atlanta, every time they went they were risking their lives.

Sophia came and found her not long after, her mom being busy with chores around camp. Cassie had been sat near the center of the camp, not worried about anyone bothering her when they didn't't want her near so they could gossip about what happened.

Sophia joined her in a comfortable, companionable silence but with a frown on her face and her eyes downcast. Cassie took her hand in hers and squeezed, letting her know she was here, she was not alone. Not long after Sophia had joined her, Amy and Andrea walked past with a bunch of fish dangling between them.

There was a small spattering of applause and bright smiles everywhere through camp, everyone was relieved to finally have an alternative to canned food or squirrel. Sophia turned back to beam at her, properly smiling for the first time that day so when Cassie saw Dale approaching over Sophia's shoulder with a grim look on his face she wished he would just turn around and walk back the way he came. He didn't, of course, Andrea called out something to him that he took no notice of, " I-uh, I don't want to alarm anyone, but… we may have a bit of a problem." He turned to point behind him, Cassie squirted to see what he pointed to and saw what looked like a man in the distance, on top of a hill, continuously digging and digging away.

"What's he doing?" Shane asked, confused.

"I'm not sure but he's been up there hours without stopping, he's in danger of passing out from heatstroke or exhaustion at this point." Dale shook his head, exasperated.

"Alright, best go see what the hell he's getting up to." Shane muttered, gruffly.

The other's all moved to follow him and he turned back to give them a look of confusion.

"We want to know what's going on, why would he be digging holes Shane? It's concerning and not okay, we're coming to talk to him too." Lori demanded.

Shane let out a frustrated sigh, "Alright, fine, do what you want."

Cassie's mom pulled her up and along with everyone as they strode off together. Carl and Sophia's mom had done the same with them, not wanting to leave the kids behind without anyone there when they left camp.

They all trudged up the hill together, moving as a huge pack and making an absurd amount of noise considering a walker was in these woods so close to camp the other day and now they wouldn't be able to hear a walker over the noise until it was right on top of them.

Cassie clung to her moms leg as they went, peering into the dense woods around them, on high alert. It was a relief when the trees became sparser and sparser until they were out in the open again, inclining up the hill to where Jim was shovelling.

As she struggled up the hill, annoyed at how her lack of height seemed to constantly be hindering her in some way, she caught a glimpse of Sophia in front of her. She had her head down, her body tense and fist clutching the bottom of her moms shirt tightly. What had happened with Ed must have really shook her, whether that's because part of her loves him despite everything or because the incident has left them in a state of limbo, not knowing how Ed is going to react once he has had time to stew on it, Cassie wasn't sure. Shane might think he has Ed cowered but the second his attention wavers it'll be Carol and Sophia that Ed takes it out on.

Cassie feels guilty that a part of her hopes that before that ever happens something will happen to Ed… like what happened to Cassie's father. It might make Sophia sad for a while but it would be better for her in the end, Cassie hadn't truly realised how much fearing her father had affected her everyday life and thoughts until she didn't have to deal with it anymore. She was no longer conscious of her every move, second thinking everything she said even though she would rarely speak anyway so as not to draw any more attention to herself; no longer living under his threat was unspeakably freeing in a way she couldn't possibly explain.

As the hill finally levelled out it became all too clear what Jim was doing up here, the clearing was littered with holes, each just big enough for a body to fit. Her mom clutched Cassie tighter to her side, pulling her slightly behind her as though she was afraid Jim would rush them with the spade or something. Shane moved forward, pulling away from the rest of the group who stayed huddled together closely. He paused, hesitating for a moment while watching Jim continue digging without even acknowledging the group or Shane, "Hey Jim? Why don't you hold up alright, just give me a second here… please?"

"What d'you want?" Jim answered tensely, clenching his jaw and pulling away from where he was digging to stare Shane down.

"I'm just a little concerned man, that's all." Shane tried to sooth him, speaking in a low calm voice to avoid spooking him.

"Del said you've been out here for hours." Morales interjected, still standing back with the rest of the group.

"So?"

"So why you digging?" Shane asked bluntly, "What, you heading to China?" he laughed awkwardly.

"What's it matter, I'm not hurtin' anyone." Jim went back to digging with a sour look.

"Yeah except maybe yourself, it's a hundred degrees today, you can't keep this up." Dale spoke up, sounding worried.

"Sure I can! Watch me!" Jim responded aggressively.

Lori nudged Carl over closer to where Cassie was so they were standing shoulder to shoulder before moving forward herself, "Jim, they're not going to say it so I will; you're scaring people, you're scaring my son, and Carol and Jenny's daughters."

"They got nothing to be scared of. I mean what the hell people, I'm out here by myself, why don't you all just go and leave me the hell alone?"

"We think that you need to take a break, okay." Shane moved forward even more, clearly telling and not asking now. "Why don't you go get yourself in the shade, get some food, maybe, I tell you what maybe in a little bit I'll come out here and help you myself. Jim… just tell me what it's about."

Shane reached forward, exasperated with Jim's unresponsiveness, "Alright why don't you just go ahead and give me that shovel."

"Or what." Jim confronted him, stabbing the shovel into the ground and glaring at Shane.

"There is no or what." Shane held his hands out to the side, palms out like Jim was a spooked horse, "I'm asking you; I'm coming to you and I'm asking you please, I don't wanna have to take it from you."

"And if I don't, then what? Then you're gonna beat my face in like Ed Peletier aren't ya? Y'all seen his face huh?! What's left of it!"

Cassie found it hard to believe anyone felt any sympathy for Ed, why shouldn't Shane have done what he did? Better Ed than Carol.

"See now that's what happens when someone crosses you." Ed leaned in closer to glare at Shane.

Shane muttered something too low for Cassie to catch when Amy yelled out, "You weren't there! Ed was out of control, he was hurting his wife."

"That is their marriage, it is not his!" He yelled back, aggressively pointing at Shane. "He is not judge and jury. Who voted you king boss huh?"

Whatever was said next was white noise to Cassie whose ears were ringing, she felt as though she could hear her blood rushing through her veins, could feel it like that was what was spreading this fiery rage through her body. How dare he act like what Ed does to his family is anything other than horrific, and absolutely every-bodies business. Would it be their business if Ed killed Carol and Sophia? When was it suddenly other people's concern? Did people have to die before we decided it's now acceptable to stop or punish their abuser? Why couldn't they be saved before that? Is this how people had thought of Cassie and her mom? Were there people who wished they could do something like Cassie wished she could for Sophia? Or were most like Jim who thought it wasn't their marriage, wasn't their family and therefore was none of their business?

Couldn't they see, there were no more judges or juries or even systems to help people like Carol and Sophia anymore, all they had were the people here now which mean't if they were getting hurt, and right under everyones noses, then it came back on all of them. They were allowing it to happen.

Cassie's breath was coming in pants now and her fists were clenched tight at her sides, she was so occupied in her own thoughts and feelings that she didn't notice a thing going on around her until Jim started violently swinging his shovel around and Cassie's mom quickly pulled her back, startling her from her thoughts.

Some in the group screamed and Lori backed up quickly, pulling Carl back towards her and using her body and one of her arms to push the whole group back, further away from Jim and Shane.

Once Shane got Jim on the ground the fight left him quick, he began babbling about safety being a lie, that he'd told the same thing to his family, "..they came outta no where, there were dozens of em', just pulled em' right outta my hand. You know the only reason I got away were because the dead were too busy eating my family."

There was silence in the wake of Jim's last haunting confession. No one knew how to process the information, least of all Cassie who could see the scene play out behind her eyelids, it was a mix of the story Jim had told and what happened to Cassie in the woods but instead of it being her father and Marie being torn apart in front of her, now it was a faceless women and two little boys calling for their Dad.

"Cassie." Her mom's quiet, soothing voice brought her back again.

Opening her eyes, Cassie realised everybody else had already started back towards camp following Shane pulling Jim at the front. Cassie and her mom finally followed after everyone, Cassie noticing that Carl kept glancing back at her from where he and his mom were ahead, looking concerned.

Once they all got back to the camp and Shane had tied Jim to a tree for everyones safety the reality of so many of their group still being out there in the heart of a city full of those monsters settled back over everybody once more, causing the group to quiet as they went about finishing whatever task they had been in the process of doing when they had left, now with a morose sense of doom.

The kids all stood there for a moment, looking unsure and lost for what they should do which was clearly a mistake as Carol caught the looks and became a bustle of activity, pulling out workbooks for them to do and urging them into sitting them down with pencils to get some schooling done.

The kids all groaned as Carol set up the supplies, the last thing they wanted to do after what just happened was think about maths, Cassie may have been more into school than most kids but even she had her limits and exceptions.

They all worked on their schoolwork with their moms hovering over their shoulders, teaching them and giving help where needed. Cassie wasn't sure how long they had been going for, what with the lack of clocks around camp, when Jim's voice called out to them from the tree Shane had roped him to. Perhaps their moms should have set up their little study session a bit further from the man who lost his mind and freaked out on everyone.

"Sorry if I scared your boy, and your little girls." They all looked up from their work, Cassie just throwing him a quick glance before continuing the maths problem she was stuck on, not wanted to make eye contact with Jim.

"You had sunstroke, nobody's blaming you." Lori answered him, kindly.

"Not scared now, are you?" He asked, clearly addressing the kids this time.

Cassie kept her eyes down and on her maths problem not wanting to engage at all but surprisingly it was Sophia who answered him with a simple, "No Sir."

The short respectful answer reeked of habit to Cassie. Knowing Ed would likely be angry if she didn't answer when he spoke to Sophia but was just as likely to get angry if the answer was what he deemed disrespectful. It was safer to be short and as respectful as possible. Cassie wished Sophia didn't have to be so aware and fearful of what she was saying and how she said it, wished she herself didn't understand why Sophia was that way.

They tried going back to their work when there was a lengthy pause but then Jim continued again this time directed at Carl she noticed with another quick glance, "Your Moms right, sun just cooked my head is all."

None of this was particularly comforting to Cassie, who didn't believe for a second that Jim's total freak out had anything to do with the sun being too hot. There were dead people walking around and tearing people apart, people like Cassie's father, like Jim's wife and children, but sure, let's pretend the sun is what's driving people crazy.

"Jim, do you know why you were digging? Can you say?" Dale sounded concerned, but more than that seemed wary of the answer he was seeking.

Everyone was looking now, even Cassie couldn't resist lifting her head and staring towards Jim, waiting to hear his explanation.

"I had a reason. Don't remember… Something I dreamt last night." Jim was staring blankly ahead as he spoke until then, when his gaze cleared and he stared straight at Carl, the look on his face unnerving, "Your dad was in it. You were too. You were worried about him. Can't remember the rest. You worried about your dad?"

Insecurity flickered across Carls face, "They're not back yet."

"We don't need to talk about that." Lori cut in, rubbing carls back in comfort.

"Your dad's a police officer, son." Jim carried on, eyes still on Carl, "He helps people. "Probably just came across some folks needing help, that's all. That man, he is tough as nails. I don't know him well but… I could see it in him. Am I right?" He ended, asking for conformation from Shane.

"Oh yeah." Shane agreed.

Jim looked back to Carl, "There ain't nothing gonna stop him from getting back here to you and your mom, I promise you that."

Jim's little speech had perked Carl up, even Lori was smiling slightly. Cassie couldn't help but feel lighter as well, as much as a crazy man's reassurances can make a person feel better. She knew Rick was tough, he'd woken from a coma to find out that the world had ended and then fought his way to Atlanta, back to his family. The rest of the group were no slouches either, Daryl was a hunter, he knew how to survive and Glen was quick and smart, he had been into the city and back a dozen times already with not even a scratch or single incident. She didn't know much about T-Dog but he was a big man, seemed smart and he was with a good group, they'd all be okay.

"All right. Who wants to help me clean some fish, huh?" Shane called out to the kids, breaking any remaining tension.

"Sweet! Come on Cassie, Sophia!" Carl jumped up first, scattering his work book ad supplies in his haste to leave.

While the act of gutting a fish didn't sound appealing o Cassie it beat carrying on with school work on her own for even longer, even Cassie wasn't that school obsessed. Besides, maybe learning how to clean fish was a life skill that might end up being a much more important thing to learn than maths in this new world they found themselves in.

"Stay with Carol." Lori reminded Carl as he pulled Cassie along when she started lagging behind while she was looking at her mom who nodded at her with a smile to let her know it was okay she went too.

Gutting a fish was messy, and Cassie had thought it would disgust her but it was strangely… well not fun but satisfying, to be getting her hands dirty, to be actually doing something, something important. These were the kinds of things she needed to learn now, cleaning animals, survival knowledge, hunting, how to avoid walkers.

Lori and Sophia were clearly the most disgusted by the act, Lori hiding it better than Sophia who couldn't stop her nose from scrunching or keep herself from gagging, barely helping and poking at the fish more than actually doing anything to it. Lori was at least actually following Shane's instructions and doing what she was supposed to but she couldn't look less happy about it, every now and then pulling faces and looking away to take deep breaths.

It was Cassie and Carl who dug their hands in with gusto and listened to each instruction intently, wanting to learn and do it right.

Afterwards, they all washed their hands off in water before venturing back into camp. Cassie inspected her hands as the trekked back, she had scrubbed her hands well but there was still some blood stuck underneath her nails.

Once they entered camp the group split, each going their separate ways. Cassie followed her mom back to their tent, settling in beside her in the tent when her mom patted the spot next to her.

"I feel like we haven't really had a proper talk in a while, Cass."

Cassie leant against her mom, nuzzling into her as she put her arm around Cassie, hugging her close until her moms familiar scent calmed and relaxed her.

"Not much has been happening, or maybe it's that too much is happening?" Cassie gathered her thoughts for a moment, "Before… we talked about how our days went before but today I cleaned a fish today, did some maths, watched a man go crazy and you know all of that already. We could talk about how Jim went crazy? Or how the group in Atlanta were supposed to be back by now and everyone is worried they're dead but don't want to say it and who knows what could happen tomorrow if they don't come back. Will more of us go after them? Do we just carry on like they were never here? Move on, go somewhere else? We're missing more than half our strongest people and almost all the camps guns… you know, excluding the one you have that no one knows about, and any others people in camp might be hiding. So… what should we talk about first?"

Her mom looked at her for a moment, she face serious, "I want you to be able to talk to me about anything… everything. If you want to talk about Jim or the people in Atlanta or Walkers, hell if you want to talk about your dad then we will, but if you are worrying about serious things then I'd like it if you could talk to me about them. I love you Cass, I want to help you with everything and I know that's not always possible but if I can help you even just by listening or offering comfort then that's the least I'll do for you."

Cassie looked back at her mom, their eyes locked but she didn't know where to start, if she even wanted to talk about anything really despite the long list of things she had just blurted out in a fit of frustration. The mundane day to day nothings didn't warrant talking about and the serious, life altering topics felt like too much, as though talking about them properly would make them more real, make it worse. Truly, Cassie didn't see how talking about any of it would help anyway. Would acknowledging that the death of Jim's family had driven him crazy stop him from going crazy? Would talking about how scared everyone was that the group in Atlanta weren't coming back make them any more or even less likely to return? Make her feel any better about it? They could discuss what might happen if the group in Atlanta do never return but ultimately knew that Shane was the defacto leader of camp, and they would do whatever he thought they should do. How they had no guns, unless anyone other than Cassie's mom was hiding some?

Cassie didn't want to talk about any of it, couldn't comprehend thinking about it in any more detail than simply acknowledging the existence of those thoughts she has had. Cassie didn't have any answers and as much as her mom wanted to help, she said it herself, it's not always possible and Cassie knew her mom wouldn't have any answers to her questions or worries either. A listening ear just wasn't good enough right now, she needed real answers and solutions, otherwise it would just be acknowledging that the world has ended and every breath they take is a breath closer to a violent and brutal end. Talking about it wouldn't make it any more or less real than it already is, she knew that, but not talking about it was easier, the she wouldn't have to think about it, would've have to acknowledge that they were doomed.

Cassie's mom was starting to look concerned, she had been staring into her eyes a while, lost in her tremulous thoughts, "I learned to clean fish today. It was a bit gross but mostly fascinating and a good thing to know, I think."

For a moment, her mom looked sad. It was brief, so quick Cassie could have convinced herself she imagined it. She didn't. But then her mom was smiling at her, "Maybe Andrea and Amy could teach you to actually fish one of these days. If you know how to clean a fish then you should really know how to actually fish, otherwise it'll end up being a useless lesson; Can't clean many fishes if you don't know how to catch them first."

"Maybe they'll take me out tomorrow? I'll ask."

"Sounds good." Her mom squeezed her shoulder then released her and stood, "Alright, smells like they're preparing dinner, lets go get a seat around the fire and eat."