False Hope

The next morning, Rick stood in front of the group, who were gathered in the living room. Daryl and Guillermo were missing from the group.

Rick looked everyone over, clapping to grab their attention.

"Morning everyone! Today's the fun part. We're going to split into groups and search all these houses, or as many as we can. We're looking for canned goods and supplies, first aid kits, and more importantly; making sure this place is secure and there aren't any house guests hiding inside like there were with this one. Keep your guns out, and be ready to fire, this is going to be dangerous so keep your eyes open and stay alert. Also, keep in mind that we'll be spreading out into these houses after we secure them, so look them over, if you see one you like, keep it in mind. Looks like there's going to be more than enough to go around."

"Where's Daryl?" T-Dog spoke up.

"He went to sleep in the RV last night, he hasn't come back yet so I guess he slept in."

"Daryl doesn't sleep in. You sure he's okay?"

"Guillermo slept out there too. I'm going to go grab some stuff, get them up. Everyone else feel free to go ahead." Rick wasn't concerned, out of all of them Daryl worked the hardest, he was always hunting and searching around, even when he didn't have to. He took more watch shifts than anybody. "Carl, you want to help me get stuff from the RV?"

"Sure! I want a granola bar anyway. Toby, do you want to come to?"

Toby, who was hidden behind the others, pushed her way passed them to approach Carl. She didn't say anything but followed the two out.

Rick instructed the others to pick their own groups. He glanced at Tyreese briefly, almost waiting for him to say he couldn't help, he and Sasha would be leaving. But he didn't, he paired up with T-Dog.

"This place is so cool!" Carl said on the walk to the RV, which was still parked outside the gate. Carl turned to Toby, who was following a few feet behind him. "Are you excited?"

Toby shrugged before glancing at the houses behind her.

"Do you want to search with me again? We make sure they're safe and search for supplies?"

She turned back to look at him and then nodded. Carl continued to smile, following his father who was doing the same. Rick put his arm around Carl as they walked.

"Dad? Could me and Toby clear a house?"

"Of course, you helped last night, didn't you?"

"No, I mean, alone. Just us."

Rick continued to smile, looking down at his son. "You know, I think that's a great idea. As long as you both are comfortable, and you promise to behave responsibly and you're careful. You've been doing a great job since you first started helping us with this, I trust you two will back each other up well."

Carl could barely contain his excitement. Toby was surprised Rick agreed, she briefly wondered what Lori would think of it. That thought was gone though as she eyed Rick arm around Carl, they were happy walking side by side. It bothered her.

She wondered about her dad, where he was, what he was doing, which she would every once in a while before trying to think of anything but him. It was almost impossible to push away the thought of her father every time she thought of him.

This time was different. When the thought of her father slipped in, she thought of how he'd never done something like that. He'd never put her arm around her, smiling like Rick was with Carl. But then, her father was pushed out quickly by someone that did. Shane.

Mental pictures, memories clouded her mind. Shane had put her arm around her, walking with her peacefully. She recalled how much it put her off, how much it confused her before she began to enjoy the physical contact. It felt like so long ago that just his usual pat on the shoulder was so intimate to her, she'd jump and back away. But after she got used to it, Toby looked forward to that small gesture of reassurance. It was a silent way of saying, 'I'm here, everything's good'.

That reassurance, along with any physical contact she would allow, died with Shane. The first time someone touched her since he died, was when Carl hugged her at the storage units.

Just as they passed the gates, Toby stopped walking, she didn't want to look at them any longer, she didn't need that reminder. She had stopped just outside the gates, seeing the black iron bars, she reached out, touching the cold metal.

"Hey," Daryl said. Stopping in front of Rick, Guillermo was beside him.

"Slept in?" Rick asked.

"Won't happen again."

"It's fine. You're allowed a few hours rest, you know that right?"

Daryl only grunted, "ya searchin' yet?"

"Yeah everyone's splitting off. Just going to grab an extra gun for Tyreese, some ammo if anyone needs it. And a few of those spare bags we got, keep whatever we find together."

"Thought the guy didn't want a gun?"

"He doesn't, but I would feel better if he had one."

Toby didn't hear a response from Daryl, but saw him walking way from Rick with Guillermo beside him. They both passed her, Daryl giving her a brief glance but didn't say anything.

After watching them go, Toby walked alongside the fence, outside of the estates, brushing her fingers along the bars as she went. Toby stopped herself when she saw a flat surface, it looked like some sort of board, leaning against the fence. A blanket of white snow covered it perfectly, making it look like a large, blank sheet of paper.

The flat surface was almost as tall as Toby, it reminded her of an easel. Toby poked her index finger into the snow, dragging it along the surface. She made a few designs absentmindedly, continuing this for a few moments while waiting for Carl.

Toby stopped, lowering her hand as she stared at what she created. There some swirles, zig zaggy lines, triangles, nothing of importance, but that wasn't what she was eyeing. It was the very last thing she drew, she hadn't even thought of what she was doing when she did.

She had drawn the number 22. Toby pressed her lips together, becoming angry, her hand lifted to her chest and her fingers brushed against her shirt, feeling the small bump of metal, the pendant that was hidden underneath the clothing.

Making a sound similar to that of a growl, she reached out abruptly and wiped the number away. The snow fell off as she did this, but it wasn't enough for her, she continued to wipe the snow off the board so aggressively she was practically throwing the snow.

She pulled her hand away when all of her drawings were gone. There was still plenty of snow, but everything she'd drawn was gone. Toby narrowed her eyes at the blank patches she'd created getting rid of the snow. There were blank lines, symbols underneath. Curious, she began to ripe the rest of the snow off, not as aggressively as before.

She realised, when she was done, they were letters, someone had painted words on the board. Toby asked herself why someone would do it, what they wrote. The symbols could easily be read by someone else, but they meant nothing to her.

"Hey," Carl greeted, approaching her from behind. "I got you one."

Toby turned around, taking the granola bar from him.

"What're you doing?" Carl began to peek around her. He'd already opened his own bar, and was taking a bite of it.

"What's it say?" Toby asked. She didn't want to ask, she hated talking, it took so much emotional energy. She hated wasting that energy.

Carl stepped around her, his eyes scanning the board. Toby watched him, waiting for his answer as she witnessed his expression turning to that of horror. Carl swallowed and dropped the rest of his snack.

Carl back away from the sign, not even looking at Toby. "DAD! DAD!" He screamed as loud as he could.

He started running away from the sign. Toby watched him, bewildered, having no idea what just happened. Carl ran toward the RV, Rick had hopped out quickly, hearing Carl and running toward him.

"What?!" He yelled back. "What?! What happened?!" Rick met Carl halfway, he grabbed his shoulders and check him over. They were stopped yelling and started talking normally, Toby was too far to hear, so she only watched in confusion. The short conversation ended with Carl pointing at her.

Rick glanced over before rushing into her direction, Carl followed. Rick stopped several feet away from Toby, not needing to get closer. She followed his eyes, which weren't looking at her, but the sign.

Rick cursed loudly before yelling, "Go to the RV, NOW!" Rick took off, running as fast as he could.

"Come on," Carl told her.

She shook her head,"why?"

"It says there's Walkers in there," he told her frantically.

Toby mulled it over in her head, switching glances between the RV and the open gates, finally, her eyes stopped at the gates and she began running after Rick.

"Where are you going?!" Carl yelled after her.

Rick had a head start on her, and was far ahead. After crossing under the archway she saw him ahead, he was yelling out to the others. And far beyond him, something was going on. It was by another house, in front of an open garage. It made Toby stop and watch with wide eyes, she pulled her Glock out from under her shirt. A few Walkers were by some of the group, she saw two staggering out, but one was on the ground on top of someone.

"Oh, shit!" Someone called. Lori was close to the altercation, it took Toby a moment to realise it was T-Dog who was pinned down. Lori had her gun pointed, she was only a few feet away, the shot would be easy for her if T-Dog held the Walker's head from from his own.

Toby started running again, holding the gun with both hands,

"Don't shoot!" Rick yelled urgently. "Nobody fire your guns! Tyreese, hammer!"

But Tyreese was already using his hammer on another Walker a few feet away from T-Dog, the thing was too close to him to ignore.

"Lori, don't! Whatever you do, don't-" Rick was cut off by the sound of Lori's gun going off.

The Walker collapsed and T-Dog shoved it off of him. Sasha took out the last Walker with her shovel.

Rick had just reached them seconds after, "We have to get out of here, now!"

Toby had just reached the driveway of the house they stayed in that night. With one last glance she could see Rick was explaining to them what they found quickly, but he'd stopped yelling so she hadn't heard much else.

Seeing that they were all fine, Toby decided she had time and ran into the house. She went upstairs to the room she stayed in for the night, finding her bag quickly she grabbed it and put her arms through both straps. As she was about to leave she saw Carl's backpack, it was on the floor beside the small desk that was in the room. She grabbed his bag and stopped again, seeing the book he'd found the night before, she grabbed that too, shoving it into his bag before leaving.

Descending down the stair she almost ran straight into Carl.

"Why did you come back?! We have to go!"

Toby held out his bag. Carl grabbed it, muttering a thanks and turned around, both of them rushed the rest of the way down and to the door. Carl, being in front of Toby, got to the door first, he yanked it open quickly and they both gasped.

In front of the house, along the lawn were several Walkers. Daryl was there, fighting one off, he pushed it away and shot it with his crossbow. His head turned, seeing the kids at the door.

"CLOSETHEDOOR! CLOSETHEDOOR!"

Daryl's scream was so hysterical all his words blended in a panic. Carl had slammed the door right away.

"What do we do?" He turned to Toby, his expression horrified. Toby reached passed him, locking the door.

"We can't lock it! What if he tries to come in?!"

"He ain't." She said simply, it was obvious to her, with the amount of Walkers in front of the house, he would not make it to them. Even if he tried, it was safer for them to lock it. It wouldn't completely block the Walkers from the house, but could delay their entry.

"The back door was boarded up," Carl said. Making it clear it occurred to him to go there, but it wouldn't be possible.

It seemed that before the owners of the house either died or left, they'd blocked one entrance to the house, and some of the windows. Toby wondered if they thought one entrance was enough, or they simply didn't get the chance to block the front.

"Kitchen window?" Toby suggested, not remembering if that one was left alone. Carl didn't answer, he just started running, Toby followed.

In the kitchen, Carl climbed the counted, leaning over the sink to try and pull the window up. After a few pushes, grunting in effort. He inspected the bottom of the window carefully.

He looked at her, concern flooding his expression, "it's nailed shut."

Toby ran to check another window, then inspected the boards on the back door, which was in the kitchen. She tugged on a few, wondering if getting passed the wooden boards was possible for them.

It wasn't.

Both children jumped, hearing a commotion from the front of the house, there were plenty of banging and other sounds they couldn't decipher. For a moment Toby hoped she'd hear Daryl's voice calling out to them, telling them to let him in.

He didn't.

Nobody was going to.

Because they were supposed to go straight to the RV.

Toby pressed her lips together, angry at her stupidity. She'd been so sure she could've ran out in time. She had no idea why Carl followed her, and that fueled her anger. He was more stupid then she was, following her to his death. She was now responsible for him. It'd be easier if it was only her, she would defend herself easily, she didn't always care what happened to her. Toby was able to easily say she'd put herself in that position, she was fine with that. But it wasn't just her, it was also Carl.

Suddenly, they both heard cracking; the sound of wood splintering. Then a creak and BANG, followed by snarls.

Toby's eyes went wide, she grabbed Carl's hand and started running, "they're in the house!"

They both ran toward the front door, seeing the dozen Walker's that put so much pressure on the front door they'd forced it to break open. Just as the Walkers spotted them, they turned to run up the stairs.

"Toby!" Carl yelled. There was no particular reason, he was just so panicked he hoped she'd respond with something. A solution, or an idea of one. She led them up the stairs and into the bedroom they'd stayed in. Carl shut the door behind them.

"What now?" Carl had tears falling from his eyes.

Toby didn't notice, she wasn't looking at him, she was looking everywhere but him. Trying to find some kind of solution in that room. Her eyes fell on the window, running over to it, she quickly checked if it had also been nailed down. The window was untouched, she pushed it up with ease.

With her bag on her back and gun still in her hand, she swung her leg out the window. Outside of the window was a partial roof only a few feet down.

She looked down, wondering about the distance from the roof to the ground. She swallowed nervously at the amount of Walkers outside.

"Got yer gun?" Toby asked him, not looking away from the dead outside.

"Yeah."

"Safety off?"

In response, she'd heard a quiet click.

"Wh-wh-what are you doing?"

"Ya wanna stay in here?" She asked him, swinging her other leg out the wind and jumping down the roof. She slid a little on the shingles, not prepared for the smooth surface.

Toby watched as Carl followed her art, he was very slow and it bothered her. He didn't like going out the window, to her, he looked more scared then he did before. Once he was out, she closed the window.

"I see them!" Carl said, pointing. Toby followed his eyes, the RV was in front of the open gate, a few Walkers around it, but not too many, most were below the roof. Toby watched as some of the Walkers continued to make their way toward the vehicle. She saw Daryl's bike, but not him. He could be hiding in the RV with the others, she thought.

"Do they see us? HEY!"

Toby smacked Carl's arm, then pointed to the window. The Walkers hadn't figured out exactly where they were yet, she didn't want Carl to agitate them further.

Then the RV honked twice. The two looked at each other curiously, wonder why they'd make the excess noise. Then the RV began moving, speeding up through the gate, hitting and pushing Walkers out of it's way.

Toby's eyes widened, glancing down from the roof, she understood. "Gotta jump."

"What?!" The blood drained from Carl's face. He shook his head frantically, more tears pooling in his eyes,

"On the RV."

"No!"

Toby watched him, angry all over again. Did he not see they didn't have a choice? "It ain't far."

"It's a freaking roof!"

"Stop yelling at me!" Toby seethed in frustration, she hated the panicked yelling that spewed from his mouth. She knew it was all her fault but she didn't need it thrown in her face anymore. She wasn't lying or trying to falsely reassure him, it really wasn't that far. Heights never bothered Toby, jumping was never a problem, she liked stuff like that. She had jumped from the RV to the ground plenty of times, that was just about the same height they had to jump from now. This was the reason why it took her longer to understand, he was afraid of jumping, of being on the roof.

She wanted to yell back at him again, to scream how stupid he was for following her.

Instead, she took a deep breath, "it ain't far, not even ten feet. Just gotta do it right."

Carl was looking down, The RV had just slammed into several Walkers below them.

Someone was screaming at them out the window, telling them to jump. But Toby didn't bother checking who it was.

More sound came from behind them, the bedroom door had broken open, they were only just behind the window now.

Carl hadn't budged, he just stared down.

"Carl." Toby said in a firm voice, not yelling but still catching his attention. "If ya don't jump. I'm gunna push ya."

He swallowed nervously, staring back at her, searching for any hint she was joking, or just trying to scare him. It wasn't either. There was no doubt in Carl's mind Toby meant every word.

"Okay, okay."

Toby stood beside him, taking a deep breath, even she was worried. Mostly because of the Walkers surrounding the RV.

She felt Carl's hand wrap around her own. Her body tensed at the warm, clammy contact. She thought about pulling away, but only squeezed his hand back.

"Arms in, bend your knees. Just jump and don't fight it, ya get scared ya'll flail and break somethin'."

He looked at her, horrified.

"So don't do that."

He nodded slowly. They both heard a cracking from behind them, they knew the glass from the window was breaking.

"Okay," Carl said again.

And just as the RV honked again, they jumped, not letting go of each other as they went down.

They both landed on their feet, a bit harsher than intended before falling forward.

Toby quickly pushed herself up to crawl and grab onto one of the bars that was used for tying luggage down.

"Grab it!" She yelled at Carl.

He made a pained expression but did as she said, holding onto the bars together, the RV started moving again. As soon as the RV lurched into motion they grabbed at each other, trying to keep themselves from sliding around the roof.

They were so concentrated on holding on, they had no idea how much time passed before they finally stopped.

Carl climbed down the ladder first, and Lori practically tackled him. She hugged him asked what happened, if he was okay. Carl complained his foot hurt a bit but he was fine.

"It was kinda fun, actually."

Toby wanted to smack his arm again when he said that.

Toby waited for Lori to start yelling at her, that she almost got them both killed. That all of it was her fault.

Lori let go of Carl, looking Toby over before hugging her too.

"You scared us, don't ever do that again!"

Toby didn't push her away, she only hoped she'd let go soon. Once Lori did, Toby stepped back. Lori continued to talk, lecturing the both of them, but not really yelling at them. Even Rick stepped in to say his piece. Toby barely listened, she only stared at Lori, wondering why she wasn't in more trouble. When Rick started talking, Toby rolled her eyes and walked away.

"Rick said you were gone in the RV. What the fuck happened?" Daryl stepped in front of her before she could go in the RV.

Toby said nothing.

"You're a fuckin' dumbass." He told her, narrowing his eyes. He was so sick of crap like that, he didn't even care for her explanation. He just wanted her to know how angry he was about it, how stupid she was. He didn't expect an answer.

"I know."

Daryl's eyes widened. Pressing his lips together, he forced his face to relax, not wanting to give off any emotion. "S'long as you know . . ."

Daryl started to turn away, he saw no need to scold her or yell at her. She almost died because of her mistake, he just hoped she had figured it out on her own. But he wanted to know something.

"Why'd ya go back in there anyway?" He still sounded annoyed, but wasn't completely pissed off. Well he was, he was just trying to act as nonchalant as he could to prove that the kid wasn't his problem.

He watched as Toby's hand reached up to one of the straps of her backpack.

He rolled his eyes and turned away, "hope it was fuckin' worth it."

Daryl turned his head to look at Rick, who was staring in the direction of the estates, the Walkers leaving the gates. Daryl felt his stomach turn over as he realised it had started snowing again. Hoping for the best had done nothing for them, this place had been just as dead as any other.