SARAH

"You ok? Are you sure?" Sarah asked urgently.

"It's the fifth time, Sarah" said Nicki as she was set on the steps of the RV.

"I know, I'm sorry" she said trying to calm herself "I'm just sorry you had to see that"

Nicki shrugged her shoulders.

"He deserved it" Sarah frowned.

"Don't you think Shane went a little too far?" she asked, but Nicki just looked up at her.

"He is a douchebag who hits his wife" her sister said simply "It could have ended worst for me" Sarah kneeled in front of Nicki looking at her with wide eyes. Ed was a bad person, that was for sure, but Shane wasn't.

"Shane should have just stopped him, but he nearly killed him" Sarah said "If he managed what would have been the difference between him and Ed?"

"Shane would keep protecting us, while Ed would not hurt anyone else"

Sarah was scared from her sister reaction. She was talking about a man losing his life like it was nothing. Ed of course wasn't a good person, but death wasn't the solution. They could have just tried to take Carol and Sophia away from him, so that he wouldn't hurt them again.

"Why don't... don't you go see if Lori needs anything" Sarah said quietly as Nicki nodded her head getting up to go towards the woman.

"Are you ok, Sarah?" asked Dale as she climbed up to sit next to him on top of the RV "You seem shaken up".

Sarah set with her legs hanging at the edge of the RV and left out a frustrated breath.

"Nicolette worries me sometimes" Dale chuckled at her words before keep looking around with his binoculars.

"How so?"

"I feel like she is closing off" she said "Even from me"

If they would have been in a different kind of situation it would have been easier. The worst argument they would have ended up would have been about a boy that she would have started dating, but Sarah wouldn't approve. Or maybe school problems. Not talking about men dying.

"She is a teenager"

"I know" Sarah said nodding her head "And maybe I worry too much but... how will she become if the world is truly ended. What she will become?"

How could Sarah be helpful if she was the first one to not know how to live in this world? What kind of role model could she be?

"You are not alone, Sarah" he said sweetly "We'll help you to figure it out"

Sarah smiled to herself at those words. She was starting to think that they would have never make it back in San Francisco, so knowing that those people really cared about her and Nicolette made her feel much better.

"Thank you, Dale" she said starting to look around. Watching the camp below her. She saw Lori, Carl and Nicki sat down talking to each other, Morales was talking to Shane a few meters for them while his wife was talking with other women as they were hanging clothes to let them dry. Carol was with Jacqui putting away the cans from lunch, while Andrea and Amy were on a boat in the middle of the lake fishing.

"Sarah" she heard Dale say with a strange tone "Could you stay here to keep watch?"

"Sure, it's everything ok?" she asked as she took the binoculars in her hands.

"I won't be long, don't worry" the way he said it though made her worry even more, but she just nodded her head. As he started to walk into the woods, she tried to keep her gaze on him, but once he disappeared, Sarah put the binoculars over her eyes to try and spot Dale. It took her some time to finally see him again and what she saw made her frown; Dale on the hill not far from the camp, talking with Jim who was digging with a shovel.

"What is he doing?" Sarah muttered to herself.

She felt uneasy since then, even when Amy and Andrea appeared with more than a dozen of fishes in their hands under the amazed gaze of the group.

"Will you look at that? Hey, check it out" exclaimed Morales happily as everyone started to clap their hands "Ladies, because of you my children will eat tonight"

"Thank Dale" said Andrea "It's his canoe and gear" then she high-fived with Jacqui.

But Sarah got distracted by their conversation as she spotted Dale coming back. She put down the binoculars before climbing down the RV ladder.

"Dale" she said running towards him who seemed shaken up.

"Hey, Dale. When's the last time you oiled those line reels?" asked Andrea "They are a disgrace"

But the man ignored her question looking back towards where Jim was.

"I don't want to alarm anyone, but we may have a bit of a problem" he said inevitably worrying everyone.

"What problem?" asked Shane getting closer.

"It's about Jim" Dale said.

"What is he doing?" asked Sarah.

Dale didn't even seem sure of what to say, like he wouldn't believe what he had seen.

"He is... digging" he said "I went to talk to him, but he didn't stop. Not even for a drink"

They all looked at each other with worry, that was a strange behavior, even because Jim was usually a quiet and calm man. What had gotten into him?

They all soon started to walk towards where Jim was digging and when they arrived Sarah was shocked to see how many holes in the ground he had created.

"What's this?" Sarah heard Nicki whisper as she looked at the ground.

"Jim, why don't you hold up, all right?" Shane tried, but Jim didn't even look in his direction. The cop put his hands on his hips taking a breath before try again.

"Jim, just give me a second here, please"

"What do you want?" Jim spatted stopping his actions.

"We're all just a little concerned, man. That's all" Shane explained "Dale says you've been
out here for hours"

"So?" asked Jim aggressively.

"So why are you digging?" answered Shane trying to keep the discussion as peaceful as possible "Are you heading to China, Jim?"

"What does it matter? I'm not hurting anyone" said Jim looking around like they were all crazy for worry before returning to his digging.

"We just don't want for you to pass out" Sarah said cautiously with a small smile.

"It's 100° today. You can't keep this up" Dale soon backed her up, but the man didn't stop his actions.

"Sure I can. Watch me." he even said and Sarah noticed Nicki shook her head next to her.

"Jim, they're not gonna say it so I will" said Lori stepping closer to Jim "You're scaring people. You're scaring my son, Carol's daughter and Sarah's sister"

Jim stopped for a moment but just to take a frustrated breath.

"They got nothing to be scared of" he said "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?"

Sarah and Lori looked at each other before the girl tried again.

"A little break could help you" Sarah said.

"Some food maybe" Shane said nodding his head "I'll tell you what, maybe in a little bit
I'll come out here and help you myself" Jim kept ignoring him. Sarah could help but feeling uneasy, what had gotten to him all of a sudden?

"Jim, just tell me what it's about" Shane kept say "Why don't you just go ahead and give me that shovel?"

"Or what?" Jim spatted making Shane frown.

"There is no or what. I'm asking you. I'm coming to you and I'm asking you, please" answered Shane "I don't want to have to take it from you"

"And if I don't, then what?" Jim asked with a challenging tone "Then you're gonna
beat my face in like Ed Peletier, aren't you?" Sarah heard Nicki scoffed next to her as Amy and Andrea looked at each other.

"Y'all seen his face, huh? What's left of it. See, now that's what happens when someone crosses you" Jim exclaimed.

"That was different, Jim" Amy said stepping up "You weren't there. Ed was out of control. He was hurting his wife"

"That is their marriage. That is not his!" Jim exclaimed aggressively.

"So, let's just let him beat her because it's not our business"

"Nicolette!" Sarah said as her sister was looking at the man annoyed with her arms crossed. Sarah looked over to Carol who was now hugging her daughter close to her.

"But he is not judge and jury" Jim answered back "Who voted you king boss, huh?" Nicki shook her head looking away as Sarah passed a hand through her own brown hair.

"Jim, I'm not here to argue with you, all right?" said Shane getting closer to Jim "Just give me the shovel, okay?"

When Jim yanked back the shovel, Shane tried once again to get closer, but Jim tried to hit him with it, making them all gasp. Luckily Shane had been able to avoid the impact and launch himself over Jim, immobilizing him on the ground. He had been able to cuffed Jim's hands behind his back.

"Jim, nobody's gonna hurt you. Okey?" said Shane as Jim started to cry.

"That's a lie. That's the biggest lie there is" Jim said sobbing "I told that to my wife
and my two boys. I said it 100 times. It didn't matter. They came out of nowhere.
There were dozens of 'em. Just pulled 'em right out of my hands" Sarah could feel her eyes fill up with tears as she and Nicki got closer.
"You know, the only reason I got away was 'cause the dead were too busy eating my family"

"I can't" said Sarah before walking away from the scene.

It was all too much. This, all of this could not be real. It was a nightmare; it must have been. It couldn't be any other way. I must have been that.

She looked around as she was walking towards her tent. They were in a camp, in an open field, for how long could they keep living like this? They couldn't keep that up for much longer. Where would they go? How?

They had been lucky enough to not encounter any other walker, but what if they were truly leaving the city. What then?

Will she really had to watch someone die so that she could survive? Was that person Nicki? Could Nicki really die?

"Sarah" she heard Lori's distant voice "Honey, you alright?"

Only in that moment Sarah realized she was crying.

"How will we manage?" she asked sobbing "How am I supposed to protect her? I... Lori, I don't want to watch her die"

Lori hugged her close caressing her hair.

"You won't watch anyone die. You hear me?" she said strongly "It's going to be alright. We are together. It's going to be fine" she could feel Lori's fear too, but she appreciated that hug so much.

Sarah had followed Lori advise and went in her tent for the rest of the afternoon, trying to calm down and get some sleep. From between a nap and the other she heard Nicki getting inside the tent and lying next to her, hugging her from the back. Sarah felt other tears form in her eyes, for the first time she had realized how precarious was all of that, even in that camp of theirs, as much as their lives.

She woke up again a few hours later and when she noticed that Nicki was not next to her, she got up in a second.

"Nicki" she called once she was outside and she took a breath as she saw her with Shane arranging the fire for the night.

"You up" said Nicki looking towards her making Shane do the same.

"You must have been hungry" he said "It's almost dinner time"

"And this time we are eating for real!" exclaimed happily Morales walking by them with a giant smile.

"You feeling better, sweety?" asked Lori putting and hand on Sarah's shoulders.

"Yeah..." she answered nodding her head "Thank you" then she turned around "How's Jim?"

"He is fine too" Lori assured "It must have been the heat"

"Probably" Sarah said with a small smile, before starting to help arranging the dinner. She decided to go next to Amy, Jacqui and Carol that were cooking the fish. She was happy to see Carol with them, she had even noticed Sophia sitting next to Nicki and Carl looking at Shane lighting up the fire.

"Glenn and the others are not back yet?" Sarah asked looking around trying to spot any sign of them. Suddenly she heard Amy snort and sharing a look with Jacqui and Carol.

"What is it?"

"It was strange that you hadn't asked it yet" Amy said with a strange smirk.

"I'm not following" said Sarah with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, come on, sweety" said Jacqui smirking too "We've all seen you two" that just made Sarah frown more.

"You and Glenn always together, worrying about each other" said Amy.

"We all noticed" said Carol.

Sarah looked at each one of them finally getting what they were talking about.

"Me and Glenn?" she asked with wide eyes before start laughing making them now be the one confused.

"Oh no" Sarah said "He is great and I like him, but I don't like, like him. And that goes for him too"

"You are messing with us" said Amy with a frown.

"No, I swear" Sarah said still chuckling "He is very cute, but there is nothing going on between us, just a beautiful friendship"

"But you are always together" said Jacqui.

"That doesn't mean anything" answered Sarah turning one of the fishes "A boy and a girl can become best friends without a second end"

Jacqui chuckled.

"We are at the end of the word" she said "Who knows?"

"I know" Sarah said "I like what I have with Glenn"

Glenn was truly a special guy, very smart, funny and pretty, but they didn't share that kind of bond and it really made her laugh that the whole camp thought that. She couldn't wait to see him to say that to him. Now she understood why they all smirked when they hugged or had dinner sat next to each other.

At dinner, Sarah was very happy to see Jim with them. They all set next to the fire, enjoying the taste of the fish. Sarah swore she had never eaten something more delicious. Even if she had similar thoughts when they were eating canned beans for days and then Daryl turned up with squirrels.

Surviving was difficult.

"Amy will teach me to fish" Sarah heard Carl said.

"Yeah, be careful not to fall out from the boat" Nicki said taking another bite of her food.

"Hey!" he exclaimed making both Nicki and Sophia laugh.

"I've missed this" Sarah heard Shane say.

Food could really do miracles. Turning an awful day in a peaceful evening.

"I've got to ask you, man. It's been driving me crazy" said Morales earning the attention from all the group.

"What?" asked Dale surprised.

"That watch" Morales explanation only made him get more confused.

"What's wrong with my watch?" the man asked looking at his wrist.

"I see you every day, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass" everyone started to nod their head. In fact, now that he was pointing this out, Dale always did that, always.

"I've wondered this myself" said Jacqui with a big smile.

"I'm missing the point" Dale said even more confused.

"Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end" said Jacqui "At least hit a speed bump for a good long while" everyone chuckled.

"But there's you every day winding that stupid watch" Morales said again making Dale smile go wider.

"Time... it's important to keep track, isn't it?" Dale said looking at each one of them, but Sarah heard Nicki huff.

"When you got something to do, sure"

"The days at least" said Dale then "Don't you think, Andrea? Back me up here" they all looked to Andrea and when Sarah had met her gaze mouthing a 'Why', Andrea just shook her head making Sarah chuckle.

"I like... I like what a father said to son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations" said after a moment of silence Dale "He said, 'I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it."

It was good and relaxing hearing Dale talk and that Sarah was sure was a shared feeling between all of them, even if when times became too serious there was Amy to light up the mood.

"You are so weird" she said making all of them laugh, even Dale.

"It's not me. It's Faulkner. William Faulkner" explained Dale looking at each one of them "Maybe my bad paraphrasing"

"Nonsense" said Sarah smiling at Dale "You're our poet, no one could paraphrase better than you"

"Now, I know you are messing with me" Dale said making her laugh.

"Where are you going?" asked Andrea as she noticed Amy standing up.

"I have to pee" Amy said with wide eyes "Jeez, you try to be discreet around here" they all laughed as she started to walk towards the RV.

"I'm so full" Sarah said. She had forgot the sensation. Then she looked down at the fish who was still to be eaten.

"Maybe we should save them for Glenn and the others" Sarah suggested.

"Or..." said Morales "Andrea and Amy could go fishing again"

Andrea was chuckling when a piercing scream made them turn.

Sarah felt herself freeze when she saw a walker biting Amy's arms. As she turned, she noticed more walkers walking out of the woods. They were all around, growling as they got closer.

"Nicolette!" she exclaimed yanking her sister by the arm to pull her closer.

Everyone was screaming and running away from the fire. Sarah saw two walkers biting a woman who was on the ground screaming in pain as they tore the flash from her neck letting the blood spill. Exactly like had happened that day in the alley at that poor man.

"Sarah!" Nicki exclaimed pushing her suddenly making her move from her spot.

"Nicki!" she yelled as some walkers get between them. She felt her eyes water when she didn't see her sister anymore, but a walker started to walk towards her, Sarah took a breath trying not to panic. She had to make it only then she would have found Nicki.

"Follow me! To the RV" Sarah heard Shane say, but she was to focused on try to get away from walkers and not get bit. As she was running, she saw few people getting eaten alive and trying to stay focused and not stop. She could hear screams and noises of shooting, she turned to see two walkers getting closer and closer.

"Oh, god!" she exclaimed when turning another had appeared in front of her. With all her strength she pushed in with a scream, making it fall on the ground.

I'm not going to die here!

She needed to find something to defend herself. Something. Anything.

Sarah felt a rotten hand grab her when she found a glass bottle, trying to be as fast as she could she broke it and turned to hit the walker on its head when he was about to bit her arm. She screamed and screamed as she kept hitting it in the head, feeling it blood on her face. The walker got limp falling to the ground and she couldn't help but feeling her legs gave in making her fall on her knees. As she looked up, she saw another walker just few feet from her. She was scared and tired, she didn't want to die, but she couldn't feel her body anymore. It was about to reach it when an arrow got straight to its head making go limp.

An arrow...

After a moment she felt someone pulling her up on her feet.

"Can ya stand?" he asked making her look up.

"Daryl...?" she muttered as he shot another arrow at a walker behind her.

"Stay behind me" he said pushing her behind him. She gripped his green shirt with one of her hands as tears fell down her eyes. She had to stay focused, she could not be a burden to Daryl. She was shaking and crying but she warned him every time she noticed a walker get too close. Sarah followed his every move until she heard someone call her.

"Sarah!"

"Glenn?" she said as he hugged her still shaking form.

"You ok?" he asked "You bit?" but Sarah shacked her head.

"I don't know where Nicolette is" she said sobbing.

"She's there" Daryl said pointing towards the RV. Sarah turned to see Rick hugging Carl and Lori, next to her there was Carol who was hugging her daughter and behind her there was Dale keeping close a girl.

"Nicolette!"

"Sarah!" Nicki exclaimed running towards her direction. As they hugged each other they fall on the ground. Sarah was crying and she felt Nicki sobbing too.

"Oh, god, I thought... Oh, god!" Sarah said squeezing her sister tighter.

"I'm fine" she said before breaking the hug. Nicki looked down widening her eyes.

"What's this blood?" only at her question Sarah noticed that her palm was slashed open. It wasn't a scratch and it wasn't a bite, it must have been from the bottle she had used to kill that one walker.

"I'm fine" Sarah said trying to reassure her sister "It's nothing" suddenly she felt something lightly gazing her shoulder, she wasn't even sure that it was real, but after a moment a red rag had been throw landing next to her. Sarah looked up to see Daryl move his eyes from her to the surroundings.

"Thank you" said Nicki taking her sister hand and starting to wrap the rag around her bloody hand.

"Are you hurt?" Sarah asked as she turned to her sister whose eyes were focusing on what she was doing.

"No" she answered "Shane yanked me back. I've been with him, Lori and Carl all the time" some more tears left Sarah eyes finally realizing that her sister was really safe.

"Amy!" Andrea's scream made her turn and as she saw the woman trying to wake up her sister other tears fell down her eyes.

They were died, a lot of them. It had all happened in an instant. So many deaths all around them, even Amy. Sweet, funny Amy. She didn't deserve it, none of the deserved it. What were they supposed to do now?