The next morning on the farm found both Hershel's and Rick's group collecting firewood as Daryl and I rode up on Merle's motorcycle and the rest of the group following in the RV and car.


"Fever's gone down." Hershel told Rick and Lori as Carl began to stir for the first time since the surgery.

"Baby?" Lori called to him quickly moving to sit on the bed.

"Carl?" Rick said as his sun began to open hie eyes. Carl looked at both of them for a moment.

"Sophia? Is she okay?" he asked them.

"Fine." Rick lied. "She's fine."

"Rest. We'll be right here, okay?"Lori assured him.

"Okay." Carl whispered before going back to sleep. Rick sat back down on the chair next to the bed as T-Dog walked in.

"They're here." he told them. Rick, Lori, T-Dog and Patricia went outside and we all stood in silence for a moment.

"How is he?" Dale asked them.

"He'll pull through, thanks to Hershel and his people." Lori said looking back at our hosts.

"And Shane." Rick added looking at his oldest friend. "We'd have lost Carl if not for him." Dale and Carol were the first to hug the grateful parents.

"Thank God." Carol breathed out as she hugged Lori. "We were so worried."

"How'd it happen?" Dale asked.

"Hunting accident. That's all... Just a stupid accident." Rick told us.

"Of all the things in the world as it is now, that's the last thing I would think." I said smiling. "At least we didn't lose anyone."

"Well, that's not true." Hershel told us and I looked at him confused.


The youngest of Hershel's group, Beth, laid a rock on the grave before moving back to her place in the semicircle we all formed.

"Blessed be God, father of our lord Jesus Christ." Beth's boyfriend grabbed another rock from the wheelbarrow and added it to the grave. "Praise be to him for the gift of our brother Otis, for his span of years, for his abundance of character; Otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in Grace." Hershel said before turning to Shane. "Shane, will you speak for Otis?"

"I'm not good at it. I'm sorry." Shane told him.

"You were the last one with him. You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning." Patricia cried.

"Okay. We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up. "We've got to save the boy." See, that's what he said." Shane told us. "He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead. "Run," he said. He said, "I'll take the rear. I'll cover you." And when I looked back..." Shane paused before staring at Patricia. Dale thought about something before looking confused. Shane limped forward and grabbed a rock from the wheelbarrow. "If not for Otis, I'd have never made it out alive. And that goes for Carl too. It was Otis. He saved us both. If any death ever had meaning, it was his." Shane then added his rock to the grave.


"How long have your group members been lost?" Hershel asked as Maggie came our way. Daryl, Shane, Andrea, Rick, Hershel and I were all gathered around the hood of a truck to make a plan to find Sophia and my dad.

"This'll be day three." Rick told him.

"County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations." Maggie said opening the map so we could all look at it, placing rocks on the corners so it would stay open.

"This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized." Rick said looking over the map. "We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams."

"Not you. Not today." Hershel told him. "You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out. And your ankle... Push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody."

"Guess it's just us." Daryl said looking at me.

"Well, we make a good team." I told him before looking at the map.

"I'm gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there." Daryl told us.

"I'll hit up the woods again See if I can get even the clue of a trail." I said.

"I can still be useful. I'll drive up to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back." Shane told us.

"All right, tomorrow then. We'll start doing this right." Rick told us.

"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives." Shane told Rick. "They need the gun training we've been promising them.

"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property." Hershel told us. "We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp."

"All due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here..." Shane stared saying but Rick cut him off.

"Look, we're guests here. This is your property and we will respect that." Rick pulled out his pistol and put it on the map. I did the same and, after a while, so did Shane. "First things first: Set camp, find Sophia and Jack."

"I hate to be the one to ask, but somebody's got to. What happens if we find them and they're bit?" Shane asked and I took a deep breath. No one wanted to think that. "I think we should all be clear on how we handle that."

"You do what has to be done." Rick told him.

"And her mother or his kids? What do you tell them?" Maggie asked him.

"The truth." Andrea told her.

"I'll gather and secure all the weapons." Shane said as Maggie looked to her father who shook his head at her. "Make sure no one's carrying till we're at a practice range off site. I do request one rifleman on lookout. Dale's got experience."

"It can't just be Dale." I said looking at Hershel. "We'll have to rotate the lookout. Just those who know who to use a gun."

"Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun." Hershel thought for a moment before nodding. "Thank you." With that said Daryl and Shane left back to the camp being set up behind us.

"That stuff you brought, got more antibiotics, bandages, anything like that?" Maggie asked us. Rick motioned to me.

"Just what you've seen." I told her as Andrea followed the boys.

"We're running short already. I should make a run into town." Maggie told her dad.

"Not the place Shane went?" Rick asked concerned.

"No, there's a pharmacy just a mile down the road. I've done it before." Maggie assured him.

"See our man there in the baseball cap?" Rick told them pointing to Glenn. "That's Glenn, our go-to-town expert. I'd ask him along just to be cautious." Hershel looked at Maggie and motioned her to leave with his head.

"I'll help set up. Rest." I said smiling at Rick before going to James.


Shane was limping out of the RV with the bag of guns when he bumped into Lori. They stared at each other for a moment before he broke the silence.

"I hear he uh... he woke up." Shane said.

"Yeah. He's in and out, but yeah. He'll be all right." Lori told him happily and he sighed, grateful.

"That's good." he told her. They passed each other before he turned back to her. "Did you mean it?"

"What?" she asked him confused. A lot had happened in the course of the day since they'd last spoken.

"You said stay." he reminded her. "Did you mean it? Look, if you didn't just say so. But do it now. I need to know."

"I meant it." she told him.

"All right then." he said before turning and going on with his job as she finished what she was doing.


Maggie made her way to Glenn and James as they helped with camp.

"I hear you're fast on your feet and know how to get in and out." he just stared at her for a moment before looking at her confused. "Got a pharmacy run. You in?"

"Uh..." Glenn was about to answer her when Dale walked up.

"Miss, what's the water situation here?" Dale asked.

"Got five wells on our land. House draws directly from number one. Number-two well is right over there. We use it for the cattle but it's just as pure. Take what you need. There's a cart and containers in the generator shed behind the house." Maggie told him, pointing where everything was. "I'll go saddle your horse then." she told Glenn before walking away.

"Horse?" Glenn asked Dale and James.

"Looks like they do things cowboy style here." James said before going back to work.


Shane laid the bag on a picnic table as Andrea walked up to him.

"Give up our guns?" she asked him skeptically.

"You heard Rick. We're guests here." Shane sighed taking off his police hat.

"And you're okay with it?" Andrea asked him.

"I don't recall being asked. Now lay down your weapon." Shane told her opening the bag.

"You may like rolling over, I don't." she told him.

"Look, I have to strip and clean them anyway. You still want to learn?" he asked her. "Go on." She pulled out her gun and placed it on the table. "All right. Sit down. Unload your weapon." she began to unload her weapon with the barrel pointed at him. "Hey hey. Check the chamber. Pull it back." she did. "Push that lever out. It'll slide off." she smiled when it did as he said. "You're halfway there."


I was nearly done with my tent when I noticed Daryl moving towards the barn.

"You heading out?" I asked walking up to him.

"Might as well since no one else is." he told me and I nodded.

"Do me a favor?" I asked and he nodded. "Be careful."

"Yeah." he said and I watched him walk off before going back to camp.

"Daryl." Rick called to the hunter causing him to stop once more. "You okay on your own?"

"I'm better on my own. I'll be back before dark." Daryl told him continuing his walk to the barn.

"Hey." Rick called to him causing Daryl to stop. "We got a base. We can get this search properly organized now."

"You got a point or are we just chatting?" Daryl asked moving towards him.

"My point is it lets you off the hook. You don't owe us anything." Rick pointed out. This didn't even cause Daryl to think about his current actions.

"My other plans fell through." Daryl told him walking away from the sheriff as Hershel came down the porch looking at the camp being set up.

"We could give you more space." Rick told him. "Set up over by the barn."

"No, no need for that. Better you stay close to the house." Hershel said staring at the barn before turning to Rick once more. "I don't say this easily, Rick. We don't normally take in strangers. I can't have your people thinking this is permanent. Once you find this girl and your boy's fit for travel, I expect you'll move on. We need to be clear on that." Hershel told him before walking away. Rick looked down at his feet before following.


Glenn looked through the binoculars at Maggie as she moved towards him on a horse holding the reigns of another.

"Hello, farmer's daughter." Glenn said quietly.

"You know how creepy that is, right?" James asked him following his gaze.

"End of the world." Glenn reminded him as Lori joined them. She stood in front of the binoculars making Glenn jump when he saw her and James laugh at him.

"Hi. Here's your list." she told him handing him the list of wanted/needed things for the group. "James, I think your sister was looking for you." he nodded before going to join her. "Um, there's one other item. I wrote it down separately. It's personal. If we could be real discreet about that, okay?"

"Sure." he told her opening the paper with it on there.

"Thank you." she told him before walking away.

"Uh, what is it?" he asked her after reading it.

"Kind of missing the point of the whole discreet thing, Glenn." she told him smiling.

"Oh, right. Um... I just need to know where to find it." he told her quietly.

"Try the feminine hygiene section." she told him.

"Oh. Enough said." he said folding it up again. "Consider it done." with that said, Lori walked back to where she was needed.


Dale and T-Dog were moving towards the spout for well number 2 with a wheelbarrow holding all the water cans that needed filling.

"I'm not weak and I'm not a coward." T-Dog told Dale.

"I never said you were." Dale reminded him.

"No, what I said on the highway... I don't know what that was, where it came from. That wasn't me. If it's okay, I'd rather you never told anybody about that stuff I said." T-Dog requested as he pumped the water.

"What stuff?" Dale asked him. "I couldn't get a word out of you all day." T-Dog smiled gratefully as he continued to pump the water out.

"Say, man, you think there's a snowball's chance we'll actually find that little girl and Jack?" T-Dog asked him.

"For the first time in my life I'm betting on the snowball." Dale told him looking around. he could hear something under all of T-Dog's chatter but couldn't see anything.

"Yeah. Me too. Do whatever we have to. I don't care if I have to comb the woods like Rambo or fetch a pail of water. Everyone kicks in, does their part. Am I right?" T-Dog asked him. "Do your part, don't complain." he used the ladle to get a spoonful of water before bringing it to his mouth. "That's what I always..." Dale quickly knocked the water out of his hand. T-Dog looked at him confused.

"I wouldn't drink that if I were you." Dale told him and T-Dog looked to the well, knowing why Dale hit it from his hand now.


Glenn, Lori, Maggie, James, Andrea, and Shane were all led by T-Dog to the well. They looked down to see the swelled up Walker hissing and growling at them.

"Looks like we've got us a swimmer." Dale said once they could all see down the well with the flashlight they'd brought.

"How long you think it has been down there?" Glenn asked.

"Long enough to grow gills." Andrea told him.

"We can't leave it in there. God knows what it's doing to the water." Lori said.

"We got to get it out." Shane told them.

"Easy. Put a bullet in its head." T-Dog told them.

"I'll get a rope." James said offering help.

"Whoa whoa, guys. No." Maggie ordered.

"Why not? It's a good plan." Glenn told her.

"It's a stupid plan." Andrea corrected. "If that thing hasn't contaminated the water yet, blowing its brains out will finish the job."

"She's right. Can't risk it." Shane told them.

"So it has to come out alive?" T-Dog asked.

"So to speak. How do we do that?" Glenn asked.


"The interstate where you broke down is here." Hershel told Rick looking over the map once more. "There's your creek. My farm is here. We're looking out that way, south-southeast."

"We missed this branch of the creek entirely. If they went that direction, they'd be miles from where we looked." Rick said looking over the map and planning how to find her in his head.

"Rick, take a moment. Come look." Hershel ordered. Rick stood and went next to Hershel. They were staring out at the woods and mountains that covered this part of their state. "That's something, isn't it? It's good to pause for an occasional reminder."

"Of what?" Rick asked him.

"Whatever comes to mind." Hershel told him. "For me it's often God. No thoughts on that?"

"Last time I asked God for a favor and stopped to admire a view my son got shot." Rick told him, reminding him, angrily, why they crossed paths to begin with. "I try not to mix it up with the almighty anymore. Best we stay out of each other's way."

"Lori told me your story... How you were shot, the coma. Yet you came out of it somehow. You did not feel God's hand in yours?" Hershel asked him making Rick chuckle.

"At that moment? No, I did not." Rick told him.

"In all the chaos you found your wife and boy and a young girl found her father and brother. Then your boy was shot and he survived. That tells you nothing?" Hershel asked him.

"It tells me God's got a strange sense of humor." Rick said before going back to the map.


The Well Team lowered a ham and a rope to try and pull the Swimmer out of the well, but it just stared at it before continuing to move around in the water.

"He's not going for it." Dale told them holding the ham.

"Maybe 'cause a canned ham don't kick and scream when you try to eat it." T-Dog offered.

"He's right. There's a reason the dead didn't come back to life and start raiding our cupboards." Lori mentioned.

"We need live bait." Andrea said looking instantly to Glenn. He and Maggie looked up to see them all looking at him.


"Have I mentioned that I really like your new haircut?" Glenn asked Shane nervously as the former officer tied the rope around his waist. "You have a nice shaped head."

"Don't worry about it, bud." Shane told him handing him the other part of the rope to put around the Walker. "We're gonna get you out of here in one piece."

"Living piece. That living part is important." Glenn reminded him before exhaling a nervous breath. Everyone lined up on the rope to lower Glenn down the well. "Nice and slow, please."

"We got you." Andrea tried reassuring him.

"Oh, you people are crazy." Maggie told them.

"You want to get it out of your well or not?" Shane asked her.

"Give us an eye there, Maggie." Dale ordered and Maggie moved to the side of the well. Glenn looked back at her and she shook her head at him before he lowered himself down to the Walker still hissing and growling in the very confined space.

"Doing okay?" she asked him.

"Yup, doing great." he called up to her. "Living the dream." He lowered the rope to grab the Walker as the group slowly lowered him down.

"Little lower. Little more." Maggie told them over the Walker's snarling. Suddenly, the water pump busted causing Glenn to go down much faster than any of them wanted. They could hear Glenn scream at the sudden closeness to the hungry monster as they tried going for the pump before it broke off entirely.

"Get it! Get it! Grab it! Grab it!" they were all screaming at once: Glenn because he was getting closer to the Walker and the others to grab the pump. The pump broke from its original home and T-Dog quickly grabbed it.

"Get me out of here!" Glenn screamed up at them. They all pulled on the pump to try and get him up before grabbing the rope and pulling.

"Get it off. Get off. Get off! Get me out!" It was a much slower process than any of them wanted it to be. "Oh my God. Oh my God. Guys, get me out! Come on, you guys. Get me out! Oh God. Oh God. Oh my God! Get me out of here!" They back away from the well enough to get a good grip on the rope and pull him up.

"Pull! Pull! Pull! Pull! Pull! Let's go, pull." I heard the screaming and went to go see what was happening before hearing Glenn screaming in the well.

"Get me out. Get me out."

"Come on. Come on."

"Glenn! Pull him up! Pull him up! Pull him up!" I quickly grabbed the rope and helped pull him up.

"Get me out of here!" he shouted as he pulled himself up by the metal bar across the top of the well.

"Pull him up. Pull him up." Shane and I grabbed him and pulled him away from the well.

"Are you okay?" Lori immediately asked kneeling in front of him and looking him over. Glenn lifted himself onto in hands and knees and panted.

"Back to the drawing board." Dale said.

"Says you." Glenn told him handing him the rope. Dale pulled on it and we all looked down the well to see it on the Walker.


Daryl wandered through the woods until he came across another farm house. He removed his bow from his back and loaded an arrow before slowly going inside. He went from room to room in the quiet house but saw nothing. He glanced up the stairs and moved to the kitchen. He started for a back area before noticing a can of fish sitting in the trash. He picked it up and poured out the access liquid before noticing the partially open door. He slowly moved towards it before shoving it open. It was a pantry with a small sleeping area at the bottom. He walked outside and looked around. Nothing.

"Sophia! Jack!" he called for them. He looked around the house before calling for the missing pair again. He then noticed two flowers.


Back at the well, the group was trying to pull the Walker out of the water. We even had a horse that Lori and Maggie were controlling. T-Dog was telling us how much further we had to get him out of the well.

"Come on, guys, pull." T-Dog told everyone.

"Come on, y'all. Pull now!" Shane encouraged.

"Almost there. Come on, pull, guys."

"Come on. Pull! Come on, y'all. Together. Almost there." Shane told us.

"Come on, pull. Keep it coming. Come on, pull. Watch out, dawg. Nice and easy. Just a little more." T-Dog told us before jumping away from a wandering hand and the smell of the snarling Walker. "Come on, almost there. You got to pull it, man." We kept pulling but it wasn't moving. "It's stuck!"

"Come on. Come on, pull!" We all strained against the rope trying to pull the damn thing out.

"Pull!" Andrea told us. The Walker's lower half ripped off where the rope was. It's legs and lots of Walker blood and guts found its way back into the well with the top half of the creature still trying to get us.

"We should seal off this well." Dale told us.

"Yeah, might be a good idea." Shane agreed.

"So what do we do about..." Andrea started asking but T-Dog beat her to it. He took a pipe and bashed its head in making Maggie turn away in disgust.

"Good thing we didn't do anything stupid like shoot it." T-Dog said before dropping the pipe and walking away.

"Well, that answers that question." I said before walking away.


Shane, James, Andrea, and Carol were at the car where they'd left a message, food and water for Sophia and Jack. James stood a little ways away from the group keeping watch as Shane and Andrea stood behind Carol who stared at her daughters name on the windshield. Andrea moved up to her and placed a hand on her back.

"We'll come again tomorrow." Andrea told her. "You know there's always the chance..."

"I don't... I really don't need to hear it anymore, Andrea." Carol told her. "Save the thoughts and prayers. I'm sure his kids are tired of hearing it too." Andrea nodded before walking the opposite direction of James to keep watch.

"You never know, Carol." Shane told her but she just held up her hand to try and make him stop. He just moved his gun to his side and moved to Andrea.


"We can hang targets along that fence line there." Shane said as the four of them moved towards the fence.

"That rise'll give a natural backstop." James said.

"It's a good idea." Shane said.

"Thanks."

"So how long before I can carry?" Andrea asked Shane making him chuckle.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." he told her.

"I'm not in a very patient frame of mind these days, Shane." Andrea warned him. "You might have notice that."

"No shit." James commented under his breath earning him a scathing look from Carol. She'd gotten to taking care of him as a mother would. Neither he nor Jackie said anything about it and let her do it. He was still a teen and listening to your older sister is different from listening to a parent figure.

"Look, I ain't worried about you offing yourself, even though you got old Dale pissing his pants lately." Shane chuckled at her look. "Yeah, I noticed that too."

"Everyone noticed that." James piped up.

"He did come within a minute or so of being blown to hell because of me, to be fair." Andrea noted.

"Look, I see you have the desire for gun work and desire will take you a long way. But something you need to know, so file this carefully." Shane told her.

"I'm listening." she told him.

"Paper targets is one thing. Easy to hit what ain't moving. But taking down an assailant, one that's trying to kill you, it's different. They say in that kind of situation things slow down. That's crap. They speed up. Adrenalin, ha. It'll cripple you if you let it. You need to use your instinct. You got to rule it out. Because somebody is going to die and you'd better hope that you're the one who's making that decision." Shane told her.

"How? I mean, how do you do that?" Andrea asked him.

"Turn off a switch. The switch. The one that makes you scared or angry, sympathetic, whatever. You don't think. You just... you act. 'Cause odds are somebody else is counting on you. That's your partner. That's your friend. There ain't nothing easy about taking a man's life no matter how little value it may have. But when you get it done, you have to forget it." He told her before looking up and chuckling. "I guess I haven't quite got that last part down yet."

"But you're getting there?" she asked.

"I hope so." Shane told her. "It's a good spot. It'll do."


Maggie and Glenn made their way down the road on their horses in silence. Finally, the silence got to Glenn.

"You know, normally this is the kind of thing I'd do on my own. Solo." he chuckled. "It's sort of my thing, you know? I'm a loner." he still got nothing out of her. "You all right?"

"I'm fine." she told him.

"I saw the look on your face back at the well. Never seen one killed up close before?" he asked her and she didn't answer. "Guess it's kind of a shock. You know, being out on the road, we've seen a lot. Guess we've gotten a little numb to it."

"Whoa." Maggie told the horse. "I guess so." she said. They dismounted before they went to the pharmacy. In the window was a sign: "Take what you need and God bless". They walked inside before she turned to him. "I'll go see what antibiotics are left. What else is on the list?"

"Uh..." he pulled out the list and handed her the list Lori had given him excluding her personal request. "Why don't you get started?"

"What about you?" she asked him.

"I'm gonna look around, see what's worth grabbing. Just some general stuff." he told her. He grabbed a carrying basket and looked around. He went for the feminine hygiene shelf and grabbed some stuff while looking for what Lori wanted. He grabbed a box of tampons, shook it, then put it back down. Baby shampoo. He finally found what she wanted and he stared at it wide eyed.

"What do you got?" Maggie asked from behind him.

"Uh... um..." he quickly added what Lori asked for in his back before grabbing a random box and standing, turning to her. "Nothing. Just, like I said, general stuff." he looked down into his hands with her.

"Condoms?" she asked him. He gasped and was thinking of a way to explain what was in his hands. "You got a girlfriend I don't know about?"

"Me? No. No." he denied.

"Then you're a pretty confident guy." she told him.

"No." he said dropping the box. No no no. I-I-I wasn't... - I would never..."

"Something wrong with me?" she asked him.

"No. No, I..." he chuckled nervously. "I would never have sex... Uh, I'm... I'm lost." he told her.

"I'll have sex with you." she told him and he paused for a moment.

"Really?" he asked her and she looked down. "Why?"

"You're asking questions?" she asked him.

"Okay, I can't help wondering." he told her.

"It's not like our options are vast these days." she told him dropping the saddle bag she was holding and placing her hat on the shelf next to them. She took off his hat and placed on the shelf he'd been looking at. She kissed him lightly which he returned only seconds before she broke it. "And you're not the only one that's lonely." She took off her loose shirt revealing her white bra before unhooking that and dropping it on the ground.

"Wow." he quickly dis-guarded his shirt and moved closer to her to share another kiss.


Rick and Hershel had just returned from their little talk. Rick and Hershel looked towards where they'd set up camp and Rick decided to make his move with Hershel.

"You need to reconsider." Rick told him staring at the camp.

"I beg your pardon?" Hershel asked him.

"Asking us to leave." Rick reminded him. "You need to reconsider. If you saw how it is out there you wouldn't ask. You're a man of belief. If you believe anything, believe that."

"You're putting me on the spot." Hershel told him.

"Well, I mean to." Rick confessed. "Those people look to me for answers. I wish they didn't, but they do. But I'm not asking for them or myself. I'm asking for my boy. After the price your friend Otis paid, the least you can do is give it some thought."

"You're a plainspoken man." Hershel said.

"I'm a father." Rick corrected. "He's the one thing I don't want to fail." Rick sat on the steps of the porch. "I feel like I do every day. I lied to him this morning. It wasn't a big lie, but it was enough."

"My father didn't bother with comforting lies. He used his fist. He was a loveless, violent drunk and no good to anybody. He drove me from home when I was 15. Didn't lay eyes on this place again for many years. I was not at his deathbed, Rick. I would not grant him that and to this day do not regret it. Some men do not earn the love of their sons." Hershel told him before sitting down next to him. "I don't see you having that problem."

"Will you consider my request?" Rick asked him.

"There are aspects to this, things that I can't and won't discuss." Rick nodded his understanding. "But if you and your people respect my rules, no promises, but I will consider it. You have my word." Hershel told him.

"You have mine."


Rick made his way to Lori and Carl.

"Hey." he greeted when he entered the room. "I'll sit with him." Rick said sitting in the chair next to the bed.

"He was awake earlier when you were gone. He asked for you." Lori told him and he nodded. Lori bent down and kissed Carl's head before. Rick watched her leave before turning his head to watch Carl sleep.


Maggie and Glenn were riding back, Glenn with the biggest grin on his face. They'd ridden back in silence all the way to the farm before Glenn started saying something.

"I..."

"Don't spoil it." she told him. He lost his grin before it came back full force.

"So it was good." he said.

"It was a one-time thing." she told him. Now the grin was gone with no sign of coming back. Glenn tied up the horses as Maggie made her way to the house, her dad meeting her half way.

"Everything go okay?" he asked her.

"Fine. Nothing happened." Maggie told him going inside as Lori made her way to Glenn.

"Did you find it?" she asked him. He pulled off his backpack before handing it to her. She quickly grabbed it and stuck it in the back of her pants. He said nothing as he passed her going back to camp.


When Daryl came back to camp, the first place he went was to the RV knowing Carol would be inside. He looked around, almost confused about where he was.

"I cleaned up." Carol told him when he joined her in the back as she sewed up a shirt for James. "Wanted it to be nice for them."

"For a second I thought I was in the wrong place." he told her. He placed one of the flowers he'd seen in a beer bottle before going into the RV and he placed the vase in front of her.

"A flower?" she asked him.

"It's a Cherokee Rose." he told her. "The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the trail of tears the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation. A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow right where the mothers' tears fell. I'm not fool enough to think there's any flowers blooming for my brother. But I believe this one bloomed for your little girl." she laughed gratefully with tears in her eyes making him smile. "She's gonna really like it in here."


I was wandering around the camp, setting up for leaving once the sun rose. James was out with Shane setting up for the gun practice for the rest of the group. I didn't even look up with I heard the tent unzip and open.

"Hey, I thought it'd take longer to set up than that." I said believing James was behind me.

"I said I'd be back by dark." I turned to see Daryl behind me and shook my head.

"Sorry. I thought you were James." I told him standing. "He's helping Shane set up for gun practice."

"'Bout time these people learned to be useful." he said.

"And here I thought cooking our food and doing our laundry was useful." I said sarcastically.

"Uh... here." he said handing me a beer bottle with a flower in it. I smiled and took a good look at the flower.

"A Cherokee Rose?" I asked.

"I found it and another at a farm house where I found a sleeping area in a pantry." he told me. "Someone Sophia's size might have been there."

"Could be a good sign then." I said, smelling the rose.

"I didn't see a sign of your old man. But if he's a tracker like you say, he could have hidden their tracks." he said trying to comfort me.

"Thank you."


That night, Rick was still sitting with Carl when he started to stir.

"Hey, dad." Carl said once he saw his Rick.

"Hey." Rick greeted before sitting up and clearing his throat. "Carl, I told you something earlier today about Sophia..."

"I know. Mom told me." Carl told him making Rick smile.

"Here I was getting ready to confess." Rick told him. "I didn't mean to lie. I just didn't want to worry you. It's a stupid excuse but it's all I got."

"It's okay." Carl told him. "Do you think we'll find her?"

"I know we will. Well..." Rick sighed before opting for the truth. "I don't know. But I truly believe it."

"You look tired." Carl noted.

"I am tired." Rick chuckled.

"Hey, I'm like you now. We've both been shot. Isn't that weird?" Carl asked him.

"Yeah, I think your mother would rather hear we got the same eyes. So let's keep that between us." Rick told him. "Since you're in the club now, you get to wear the hat. Didn't you know?" Carl smiled at him and sat up as Rick placed the hat on his head. "We'll pad the rim tomorrow so it sits better."

"Won't you miss it?" Carl asked him.

"Maybe you'll let me borrow it from time to time." Rick suggested.

"We can share it." Carl told him adjusting the hat.

"Okay. Sleep now." Rick told him as he puled up the covers.

"Okay. I love you, dad."

"I love you." Carl leaned back making the hat go over his eyes as he drifted back to sleep. Rick pulled out his sheriff's badge and stared at it for a moment. He stood and placed it on the dresser as well as his officer's badge. He stared at them as Lori made her way to the room silently, watching him. He took off his shirt and folded it up. He placed it in the dresser and put the two badges on top of it as he remembered what I'd told him.

"... stop introducing yourself as a police officer, you'll make people think they law still exists in a lawless world."

He looked up and saw Lori in the mirror. She walked in and looked at Carl before standing behind Rick and helped him take off his gray undershirt. she dropped the shirt on the dresser and hesitantly reached for the scar that nearly took him from her before wrapping her arms around his chest.

"Are you putting them away?" she asked him. He just stared at her in the mirror before closing the drawer. He placed his hands over hers as she kissed up his neck. Not trying to seduce him, just trying to be a comfort. "Stay with him a while longer. I'll wait up." He released her and looked down at the dresser before looking up and watching her leave. She left the house and went towards camp. Before she went into her tent, she pulled out a knife and made her way past the tents and RV where Dale, Andrea, and Carol were all sitting and talking. He found a secluded spot still within sight of the camp and pulled out the package Glenn had gotten for her. She pulled a pregnancy test out of the bag and started undoing her belt and pulling down her pants. She peed on the stick and waited. She looked at the stick after a few minutes and saw the pink plus. She laid her hands in head and began to sob.