A week or so later, I woke up in my tent to hushed voices outside. The heat was already unbearable. The shadows from the people outside cast over my tent, giving a small amount of shade. I rubbed my eyes sleepily and slowly slipped out of my sleeping bag, inching closer to the tent door to hear better.

"Yer serious?" I heard Daryl's gruff voice say.

"Well, I mean…. she said she wanted to go." Glenn's voice stammered back.

"And get herself killed?!" Daryl shot back angrily.

"You've hunted with her for awhile now. You know she's tough." Glenn defended me.

A smile broke across my curiosity stricken face. Thank you, Glenn. I thought to myself.

"That's different." Daryl said.

"What's going on, guys?" Taylor's voice came.

"Daryl thinks I shouldn't take River with me on the run today." Glenn said. "I was coming over here to wake her up and he stopped me."

"Why?" Taylor asked curiously.

Thank you also, Taylor.

"Cause she could get herself killed, that's why." Daryl spat at him. "Yer her bruther and yer okay with this?"

"Well, honestly, no. But River can handle her own. And if you think she shouldn't go, you tell her. I won't. She'd beat me and Glenn up for even suggesting it. We tried to leave her out of karate lessons when we were kids. She convinced our mom to let her take 'em just so she could kick our asses. And she did." Taylor said. "So, you wanna tell her not to go, that she'd get herself killed, be my guest. But I hope you can run fast, man. Cause you'll get an arrow in your ass. I'm leavin'… I don't wanna be anywhere around when someone tells her that shit."

Well, well. I could count on my lovely brother sometimes.

"He's right, Daryl." Glenn said, confidence in his voice now that my brother had spoken up. "If you can convince her not to go. Have at it."

I heard footsteps as two of the shadows disappeared. I quickly got back into my sleeping bag and pretended to be asleep.

I heard the tent unzip as I tried as best I could not to peek and see who was coming in.

Just a moment later, I got my answer.

"Hey, River." Daryl's voice came.

Ha, this was going to be an interesting day. I thought to myself.

"Yeah?" I said in a mock sleepy voice.

I sat up and saw him enter my tent, laying his crossbow down beside him.

"I, uh….." He said as he sat down next to my sleeping bag.

I gave him his time as I slowly sat up. I ran my fingers through my hair and began to braid it to one side as I waited.

"I just…" He tried again.

"Well, c'mon, Daryl." I said slyly. "Nothin' is that important you can't say to me."

"I don't…" He sighed. "I don't think you should go on that run today with Glenn."

I raised my eyebrows curiously at him. "And why is that, Dixon?"

His eyes widened slightly. He hadn't been expecting this question, I'm sure.

"I just… think it's too dangerous." He explained, looking down at his shoes.

"Oh. Well, then. I guess I'll just stay here then." I said.

"Really?" He asked, looking back up at me.

"Uh, no." I laughed.

"Why not?" He shot back.

"Cause, I want to help." I said, grabbing my clothes from my backpack.

"Ya help plenty." He said sternly. "Ya hunt and skin with me, ya help Carl with homework and shit, ya cook with Carol, ya always runnin' around helping Maggie with shit she's doin'…"

"Well, I want to help this way too." I told him. "And the fact you just categorized two of the things I help with as shit doesn't help your case."

"Yer impossible, woman." He huffed, getting up to leave.

"Well, Dixon. This is how I see it. There's one of three reasons you don't want me to go. A. You think Glenn can't take care of me. B. You think I can't take care of myself. C. You like me and don't want me to put myself in danger somewhere you're not. So, which is it?" I said.

He stopped suddenly by the doorway and sighed. "All of 'em." He said, barely above a whisper.

And with that, he left.

I sat there, dumfounded, for a moment. I couldn't seem to process what had just happened. I was sure it was because he thought of me as weak. I had just thrown the last option in there to mess with him. I always joked around with him since he'd finally started somewhat talking to me while we went on hunts. Maybe he was developing a sense of humor and joking back with me? Oh, now that was funny. I thought. Daryl with a sense of humor.

I quickly got on my clothes - a pair of jean shorts and a white t-shirt - grabbed my gear and ducked out of my tent into the sunshine. I squinted my eyes as I looked around at all the group members. Dale and Andrea were over by the caravan, T-Dog sat on top of it on watch, Lori and Carol were by the trees near by hanging clothes on a make shift line, Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Taylor were by the cars discussing something. I didn't see anyone else.

With a sigh, I decided to walk over to my brother whether Daryl was there or not.

"Hey, Riv." He exclaimed. "You look like shit."

"Get the mirror out from in front of your face, dork." I smiled at him. "Almost ready, Glenn?"

Glenn looked nervously over at Daryl before he spoke. "Yeah."

"'M headin' out." Daryl said as he stalked off.

I watched him as he walked across the yard towards the stables.

"He talked to ya, huh?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah." I said without looking over at him.

"Well, he doesn't have an arrow in his ass or a black eye. That's a shocker." He laughed.

"Shut up or you're about to have an arrow in your ass." I threatened. "I'll be right back, Glenn."

Glenn nodded before I took off across the yard after the crossbow wielding man.

I walked into the stables, realizing I wasn't quite sure why I had followed him over here. As I entered, I saw him putting a saddle on one of the horses.

"What do ya want, Red?" He said impatiently.

I jumped slightly since he hadn't even looked over. I didn't even think he knew I was there. I slowly walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder. He flinched, just enough for me to notice, but I said nothing about it.

"Come back safe." I said.

He looked over at me. "Yeah, sure thing, girly. You too."

I gave him a small smile before turning around to leave.

"Hey." He called, right when I was almost out of the stables.

"Yeah?" I said, stopping in my tracks and turning to face him.

"Tell China Man I said to be very careful out there today." He said.

I furrowed my eyebrows in curiosity. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"He'll know." He grunted, looking away from me. "Jus' tell him."

"Will do, Dixon." I said, walking away.

I said my hellos and good mornings to various group members as I made my way back over to Glenn.

"Ready?" I said.

He looked up from the trunk of my Impala and smiled. "Yeah, we're all set. I got the map."

"Cool." I nodded. "Let's ride."

I walked around the car to find Rick standing by the driver door with my brother. He placed his hand on my shoulder and smiled.

"Be safe." He said, pulling me into a hug.

"Will do." I said, hugging him back.

He pulled away, patted my shoulder once more and walked away.

"Don't get shot, sis." Taylor said, walking up to me.

"I'll do my best." I laughed.

I slid into the driver seat, Taylor shutting the door for me. Glenn was already seated and situated in the passenger seat, sifting through the cassette collection in the glove box.

"See ya, man." Taylor told him.

Glenn nodded in return as the engine roared to life.

A few minutes later, we were on the main road and on our way. Glenn had pulled out his map and was mulling it over. He'd popped in Deep Purple, to my surprise.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked.

"Head south. We're gonna hit a few stores in the town nearby. I got them planned out. Just follow my lead." He said without looking up from the map.

"Whoa, Rhee." I laughed. "Look at you."

"What?" He asked, looking over at me.

"You're…. more confident now." I said, smiling at him.

He just smiled. "Yeah."

"I'm so glad I found ya, Rhee." I told him.

"Me too, Riv." He told me. "I never thought I'd see ya again."

"Over there." Glenn said a short while later, pointing towards the small pharmacy on the left.

I parked the car in an alley way just up from the store and turned off the engine. I grabbed my bow and quiver from the back seat and glanced over at Glenn.

He tore a piece of paper in half and handed me a part of it. "Here's half the list. When we get in, I'll go to the right, you go to the left." He said, pulling his knife out. "We'll meet up in the back to scout for meds."

"Got it." I nodded. "Oh, by the way, Daryl said be very careful out here today. Said you'd know what he meant."

His eyes widened. "Why the hell would you tell me this before we get out of the car?"

I laughed and shook my head, opening the door. "Lead the way, Rhee."

I got my arrow ready and followed Glenn as he sprinted across the street towards the small pharmacy. I looked up at the dirty sign above the door: Hartman's Pharmacy. In the window was a hand written sign. Take what you need. God Bless. The place looked practically untouched. Glenn nodded to me as he slowly opened the door, darting his hand in to silence the bell on the inside.

I followed him in and raised my bow in anticipation. We slipped down the main aisle, turning to check down each individual aisle on our side. By the time we reached the pharmacy counter, I turned to my left to see a walker coming towards me. Letting my arrow fly, I caught it right in the middle of it's forehead and watched it crumble.

"Okay." Glenn said. "We'll scan behind the pharmacy counter when we're done in the front. They can't get over it if there is any."

I nodded and walked back towards the front of the store to start sorting through my list.

I smoothed out the crumpled paper to see Glenn's familiar slanted handwriting.

Soap (bar and body wash)
Bandages
Neosporin
Needle and thread
Girl items (ick!)

I laughed softly to myself as I saw the small (ick!) scribbled on the paper.

I stared at the shelves. I found a good amount of soap, both bar and body wash. Along with shampoo. Shoving as much into my bag as possible, I moved along to the next aisle.

I grabbed all the boxes of Tylenol and other over the counter medicines as possible, before reaching the bandages. I grabbed all the bandages, Neosporin, iodine, alcohol, peroxide and any other supply we might even consider needing. This store had essentially been untouched. There were way too many bandages, even gauges, left for this to have been raided yet. Either that or whoever did wasn't intelligent enough to scavenge properly.

And on the next aisle, I got my answer. Almost all the food items were gone, save for chocolate syrup. Someone wasn't smart, I thought to myself.

I grabbed what little food was left and moved on. On the wall just before the last aisle, I found numerous travel sized sewing kits. Perfect, I thought, grabbing them all up and shoving them in my backpack.

As I rounded the last aisle, I found Glenn bent down looking curiously at a box. As I neared, he practically jumped out of his skin.

"Oh, hey. I, uh…." He stammered, dropping the box.

I bent down and picked it up, my eyes widening in shock.

"Condoms, Rhee?" I said. "Oh! You and Maggie…"

"No, I… uh…" He tried to defend himself.

"Oh, c'mon, dude." I laughed. "It's the end of the world, I'm pretty sure you can safely brag to one of your besties about getting laid."

He laughed, his cheeks red as a tomato. "Okay, yeah. When we went on that run the other day…"

My mouth dropped open as I raised my hand in the air for a high five. "Look at you, Tiger!"

He laughed. "So, uh…. This is all we need up here?" He asked.

"Just grabbing the icky girly stuff, then we'll be on our way." I winked.

After I'd grabbed all the feminine supplies that were left, we looked back at the pharmacy from over the counter.

"You'd think if there were any they'd have come up when they heard us." Glenn said, looking around.

I nodded before I jumped up on the counter, followed by Glenn. As we landed on the other side, I jerked my head to the left letting him know I'd go that way.

When I saw the aisle was clear, I started sifting through the medicines, grabbing anything we might need from antibiotics to allergic reaction treatments. I grabbed some of the insulin and needles too, just in case.

"Whoa, Glenn." I whispered. "They were practically untouched. Kinda weird…"

"Yeah." He said as he appeared beside me.

"Look." I said, pointing to the shelf I was grabbing medicine from. "All this pain medication…only food was gone from my side of the search. Someone wasn't a smart scavenger."

"Their loss, our gain." He shrugged. "Let's go."

I stuffed the last of the medication in my bag and turned to follow Glenn down the aisle. Halfway down a box fell from the top of his overflowing backpack.

"Dropped something, Rhee." I said, bending to pick it up.

"No, River…" He said, turning around. "Oh shit, behind you!"

I didn't have a chance to fully turn around before the walker grabbed my shirt, pulling me down as I heard a loud rip. The wind knocked out of me, I tried with everything to keep it's snapping jaws away from my face. I tried desperately to catch my breath and reach for my knife. Just as my fingers touched the handle, blood splattered all over me and I felt the full weight of the finally dead walker flop on top of me.

Glenn grabbed the walker and tossed it off of me. I coughed and sputtered, wiping the blood out of my face as he helped me sit up.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah." I said.

Looking down I saw the walker had ripped the front of my shirt down past my bra. Without looking at him, I glanced over at the box he had dropped and suddenly felt rage boil up inside of me.

Morning after pills.

I snatched the box and shrugged his grip off of me as I jumped to my feet.

"Who is this for?!" I shouted, shaking the box in front of his face.

"I, uh…." He stammered.

"Answer me, Rhee!" I yelled. "I almost died for morning after pills. Tell me!"

"Lori." He said sheepishly.

The shock was surely written all over my face. I grabbed his back pack from his shoulders and ripped it open to find five more boxes inside.

"River, I…." He started.

"Don't, Glenn." I said, shoving the boxes into a bag that laid littering the pharmacy floor. "She got what she needs."

As we jumped the counter, we heard a shout and a gunshot from outside.

"We gotta get out of here." Glenn said urgently. "Forget the other stores."

As we exited the small pharmacy, we saw five walkers coming down the road.

"Let's go." I hissed as I began to sprint across the street towards the car.

I jumped in the driver seat, chucking my back pack and bow and arrows in the back, but keeping a firm grip on the bag of goods I'd almost died for. I turned the key as the engine roared to life and skidded out of the alleyway back towards the farm.

"Don't River." Glenn pleaded as I threw the car into park a little too forcefully as we reach the farm.

"Shut up, Rhee." I said as I jumped out of the driver seat and scouted the area quickly, looking for the woman I wanted.

As I spotted her, I took off over to her, Glenn hot on my tail. I ignored his pleading. All I saw was red. He knew me well enough to know that his pleas were not going to be answered. But yet he continued to call after me. I saw her go into her tent just before I approached.

I pushed open the flap in the doorway and rushed inside. The brunettes eyes widened as I stormed in. "Hey, River. Can I help you? Oh, my God, what…"

"Yeah, you can fuckin' help me." I shouted, dumping the contents of the bag onto the table she sat at. "You can fuckin' get what you need your damn self from now own. If you wanna kill your damn love child with Deputy Dumbo, you don't ask my friend to get the murder weapon. You got me? I ALMOST DIED FOR THOSE. You put BOTH of us at risk for YOUR STUPID MISTAKE. You so much as ask Glenn for a glass of water and I'll end your ass, you got me?!"

She sat shocked, mouth agape, unable to speak. I stormed out of the tent to see Glenn standing there, eyes wide.

Taylor was just behind him. "Hey… whoa! Your covered in blood and your shirt. Riv? You okay?"

"Don't touch me, Tay." I said, shoving his hand away as I stalked off towards my tent.

That evening at supper, I sat separately from the group. I was still fuming over the days events. Daryl still hadn't returned from his search for Sophia. I felt a knot of worry in the pit of my stomach form as I sat staring at the woods absentmindedly.

A hand on my shoulder brought me suddenly from my thoughts.

The hand led to Maggie, who sat down on the ground next to me, a small smile on her face.

"You okay?" She asked. "Glenn told me what happened today. He's pretty tore up."

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, sighing. "Just still pissed. I can't believe she'd be so selfish. I'm not mad at Glenn, I know he was just being Glenn, trying to help everyone. But she could've got us killed."

"I completely agree." Maggie said. "I would've went off on her too."

"I should go apologize to Glenn." I said.

"Maybe. I know he was pretty shook up. He's kinda scared of you when you're mad." She laughed.

I chuckled. "For good reason, too. Thanks Maggie."

"No problem." She said, hugging me. "Now tell me what else is bothering you."

"How do you know when something is bothering me?" I asked. "You're good."

She smiled. "It's written all over your face."

I sighed. "Well, if you must know, Daryl isn't back yet. He tried to get me to not go on the run with Glenn today. When he was leaving, I told him there was only three reasons he could have to not wanting me to go. Glenn couldn't take care of me, I couldn't take care of myself or that he liked me." I said, glancing over at the girl beside me. "He said all of them and just left."

Her eyes widened. "You serious?"

"Yeah." I said. "What does that mean?"

"You have an admirer!" She exclaimed.

"Shhh!" I hissed, looking around to see if anyone heard her. "No, way."

"Yes way!" She said. "Why else would he say all of them?"

"I dunno…" I shrugged. "Because he thinks me and Glenn can't take care of ourselves and he likes me as a friend. That constitutes as 'all of 'em', right?"

She laughed. "Yeah, okay. That's why he stares at you from across the yard, asks people where you are when you're not around…"

"What?" I almost yelped.

She simply nodded, a small sly smile on her pretty face.

"How do you-"

"I have my sources." She said.

"Alright, well, if your source is Taylor, he's lying." I said, standing up. "On that note, I'm going to my tent. Night, Maggie."

"Night, Riv." She said brightly.

I gave Carol my empty plate and thanked her for supper before I headed across the way towards my tent. My mind was going a mile an hour and all I wanted to do was read or sleep to forget the thoughts.

I entered my tent and flipped on the camping lantern. I sat down on my sleeping bag and unlaced my boots, tossing them to the corner of the tent. I grabbed my backpack and dug around.

Finally, my hands found what I was searching for. My copy of Perks of Being A Wallflower and a bottle of tequila.

I sighed in relief and smiled at the two objects. I unscrewed the cap of the bottle and took a long swig, savoring the burning as it went down my throat.

Before I could get the first page done of my book, my tent unzipped hastily as Glenn flung himself inside in a panic.

"What's -"

He cut me off. "I know you're mad at me, but I have to talk to you, River." He said out of breath.

"I'm not mad. I'm really sorry I went off on you." I said.

But his response wasn't what I was expecting.

"The barn is full of walkers." He said plainly.

My eyebrows raised and I could feel the shock all over my face.

"Come again?" I said, putting down the book and picking up the bottle.

"The barn is full of walkers." He repeated.

I opened the bottle and took two gulps before handing it to Glenn who took it from me happily.

"How'd you find out?" I asked.

I watched as he swallowed a big gulp, making a face as it went down his throat. He coughed before he answered. "Maggie."

"Maggie?!" I hissed, taking the bottle back. I frowned a little. I had told Maggie tons of things I would only tell a good friend, and yet she had kept this secret from me?

"Yeah." He nodded. "We passed a note at supper. Told her to meet me in the hay loft so we could….. You know…. And well, she tried to stop me before I got there but she was too late. She didn't read the note till after she talked to you."

"Oh. This is bad." I sighed. I shook my head as I took another swig. "Have you told anyone else?"

"No." He said. "Quit hogging the bottle."

He jerked the bottle from my hands and sighed. My eyes widened. Glenn had never been a drinker. He was normally our designated driver.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"We gotta tell them." He sighed. "We can't keep something like this from them."

I nodded in full agreement. "But you promised Maggie you wouldn't, didn't you?"

He gave me a crooked smile. "Yeah."

"Want me to tell 'em so you don't break your promise?" I said, taking the bottle and another swig.

"Would you?" He asked, slightly slurred.

Just then the tent door flew open again. "Is there liquor?" Taylor said, sniffing.

"My God, you could've been a drug dog." I said, shaking my head.

"What's goin' on, guys?" Taylor said merrily, taking the bottle from my hands.

I glanced at Glenn before I answered. "The barn is full of walkers."

Taylor choked and spit out part of his shot. "Do what?!"

The next morning, I woke up with a blinding headache. I rolled over, seeing Taylor and Glenn still passed out in my tent. I sat up, accidentally knocking over the empty tequila bottle over.

"Damn." I whispered. "My last bottle…."

I frowned and reached for my bag blindly. I placed it in my lap and unzipped it, pulling out my bottle of Aleve. I grabbed my water bottle and swallowed the pills.

"Guys." I said, shaking Taylor.

"Hmmm." He grunted.

"Wake up." I said. "I've got some Aleve and shit."

"Ohhhh mmmyyyy Goooooddddddddddd." Taylor groaned. "Give me the whole damn bottle."

"That was what got us in this mess." I laughed.

"Don't laugh!" He hissed.

"Shut up, you two!" Glenn groaned.

"What a beautiful day, guys." I chuckled.

I laced up my boots, grabbed my clothes and gear and walked out of the tent. The sun seemed extra bright today as I let out another groan.

"Son of a bitch." I hissed. I dug in my backpack and found the pair of sunglasses.

I glanced around, searching for someone in particular. When I didn't see him nor his crossbow, I felt a lump in my throat form.

I marched over to the house and up the stairs, not passing anyone on my way. I was unsure how today was going to go down with the news we were about to have to drop, so I wasn't quite ready to talk to anyone yet.

As I opened the door, I practically ran into Beth.

"Oh, hey." I said, startled.

"Morning." She beamed.

"Um, do you mind if I borrow a bedroom or bathroom to get ready in?" I asked. "Taylor and Glenn are passed out in my tent."

She raised her eyebrows curiously. "Yeah, you can use the room you were in."

"Thanks." I nodded.

I walked by her without another word and up the hallway. I darted into the room as quick as a wink in hopes I didn't run into anyone else.

I shut the door behind me and sighed. I made my way into the bathroom and shed my clothes. I looked in the mirror and saw the familiar dirty face I had become accustom too.

"Hey." Beth's voice came, startling me.

"Yeah?" I said, holding my hand over my heart.

"I'm laying a towel out here for ya." She said sweetly. "You can take a shower if you'd like."

"Thanks, Beth." I said. "I'd love that."

I heard the bedroom door close behind her. I peeked out the bathroom to see if the coast was clear and stepped out far enough to grab the towel off the bedside table and dart back in.

I felt giddy as I turned on the faucet and the warm water began to flow. I jumped in and tried to let the water take away my stress.

After I was showered and ready, I walked out of the farm house. I saw most of the group together under the shade of the trees, eating breakfast. I sighed, knowing this was when I had to do it.

I walked over, grabbed a plate from Carol with a thanks, and sat down next to Taylor and Glenn who both had their heads in their hands.

"Eat, guys." I said. "You know hangover eggs help."

"They aren't your hangover eggs. They're just eggs." Taylor groaned. "And hangover eggs are a shot in the dark. Either they keep you from puking or everything comes out at once."

"Eggs are eggs. Whether I made 'em or not. Stop being a pansy." I said, shoving a forkful into my mouth.

"When are you gonna…." Glenn said, trailing off.

"In just a minute." I said. "Everyone is here."

He nodded and put his head back in his hands. I sighed and squared my shoulders, readying myself for what chaos was to come. I stood up and cleared my throat.

"Um, guys. If I could talk to y'all for a sec…" I said nervously. "I hate to spoil your breakfast but uh…." I rubbed my hand over my forehead, unsure of how to put it.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked over to see Glenn standing beside me, a wary smile on his face.

"The barn is full of walkers." He said.