Hope lay on her side staring blankly at the wall. The events of last night playing in her mind over and over. She could hear the others outside; moving bodies, smashing heads to prevent more walkers from rising. The men had searched the perimeter for more walkers or any other survivors. After that they began cleaning out the camp. A small voice in her head told her that she should be out there with them, helping. But she couldn't move; hadn't moved since she ran into the RV the night before. All night she lay there awake too numb to do anything else.

"A walker bit Jim!" Hope sat up. She walked over to the window. T-Dog had Jim in a headlock. Daryl lifted up his shirt. Sure enough there was an angry, red bite mark on Jim's abdomen. Hope closed her eyes. Not again. She didn't want to watch another person die. She put her back to the window; head resting on her knees. It was like she was stuck in some awful nightmare. She wanted to wake up. She wanted out.

Hope flinched as a gunshot rang out through camp. She peeked out of the window and saw Andrea lay her gun down. Amy had finally turned. Hope lay back down again. She closed her eyes. Maybe when she woke up this nightmare would be over.

Hope didn't bother to go to the funeral for those who had fallen. She didn't know half the people that died and those she did…she didn't need to see them buried to say goodbye. A few hours ago Rick had brought Jim into the RV. Hope had given up her perch at the window so he could lay there. After that she left the RV. She had no interest in seeing a man die a slow, painful death.

It had been decided that they would go to the CDC in the hopes that maybe there was some help to be found there. The remaining survivors had been to pack up their things. Hope helped where she could; it wasn't like she had any belongings to pack herself.

When it came time to leave, the group was gathered around the vehicles. Hope was in the RV putting some water on her face before they left. Morales told everyone that he and his family were going to Birmingham. They had family there and wanted to be with them. Hope didn't blame them. Family was something to be cherished, especially now. She wondered if she had any family. Were they alive? Did they know she was alive? Did they care? Not for the first time, Hope wondered what kind of person she had been before all of this.

"Who are you?" She asked the woman staring back at her in the mirror. There was no answer. Maybe there never would be.

Hope faced a dilemma. Everyone had paired off in their own cars. She stood in the middle of camp trying to figure out who she was driving with.

"Hey!" She turned around. Daryl nodded at her, "You coming or what?" Hope nodded. She slid into the passenger seat of his pick-up truck. Daryl slammed the driver's side door as he got behind the wheel.

"Thank you," Hope said quietly.

Daryl looked over at her as he began to pull out of their campsite. "What for?"

Hope looked out of the window. "Everything."

Daryl sniffed. "Whatever," he glanced at her again. "Look I just did it because it was the right thing to do. Don't get any ideas or anything."

Hope looked at him, she smiled to herself. "I won't."

Daryl chewed on his thumb nail. He muttered something about women to himself. They drove on in silence.

The caravan had stopped when the RV's radiator hose broke. Jim -in a moment of lucidity- had asked Rick to leave him by the side of the road. Everyone gathered around him and one by one paid their respects.

Hope couldn't look Jim in the eye. She didn't feel right just leaving him there to die.

"Hope," Jim croaked. He smiled weakly. "It's all right. I'll be fine." They both knew it was a lie. "I wish I could have gotten to know you better. You seem nice."

A lump was forming in her throat. "I'm sorry," she choked out. "I'm sorry this happened to you."

Jim nodded. "I know," he coughed. "Don't give up. Not like I did."

A tear fell onto her cheek. "I won't."

A few hours later they reached the CDC. Hope looked at the sky. It would be dark soon.

"You ready for this?" Daryl took the key out of the ignition.

"No." Hope opened the car door.

"Stay close." Daryl aimed his crossbow.

Everyone exited their vehicles. They crowded together. Warily they began to walk towards the main entrance.

Dead bodies littered the street. The stench was overwhelming. Hope watched the corpses warily; waiting for one of them to reach out and grab her. The military had put up a defensive barrier at the entrance. A tank sat on the empty street. Sandbags were piled on either side of a security booth.

As they approached the main entrance they saw that metal shutters covered the doors. Shane pounded on them. No answer. Hope's heart dropped. This was just another dead end.

"Walker!" Daryl yelled. He shot it with his crossbow. More were beginning to walk towards the group. They were about thirty feet away and getting closer by the second. Everyone began to panic. Shane began herding the group back to the cars.

"The camera… it moved." Rick pointed at a security camera over the door.

He walked towards it ignoring the pleas around him for them to leave. Rick looked at the camera. He pleaded with it. Hope wasn't sure what to do. She was terrified; the memory of Jim and Amy still fresh in her mind.

"You're killing us!" Rick yelled at the camera. Shane pushed Rick away from the door back towards the cars. "You're killing us!"

Suddenly, the doors opened bathing the survivors in a bright white light.

Hope sat quietly at the table nibbling on her dinner. The rest of the group chattered and laughed, overjoyed at another chance at life.

When the doors had opened Hope didn't know what to expect. She'd been so frozen with fear at first; she couldn't get her legs to move. Daryl had practically dragged her inside. Dr. Jenner had made everyone get a blood test. Hope didn't mind; what was a little blood after everything she'd been through.

A loud laugh tore her from her thoughts. She smiled at Carl's disgusted face. She didn't favor wine herself; if her full glass was anything to go by.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dr. Jenner. He sat quietly a few feet away from her, lost in thought. She wondered what he was thinking about. Whatever it was, she could see it weighed heavily on his mind.

Rick tapped his glass. He stood, "Seems to me like we haven't properly thanked our host." He lifted his glass and everyone else followed.

"He is more than just our host," said T-Dog.

Daryl held up his wine bottle, "Booyah!"

Dr. Jenner raised his glass and nodded. He didn't seem entirely comfortable with the group's praise.

"Hey Doc," Shane spoke over the chorus of voices. Everyone quieted. "You wanna tell us what the hell happened here?"

Rick gave Shane a pointed look, "We don't need to do this now."

Shane focused on his wine glass. He took a sip. "We came here for answers didn't we?"

Jenner cleared his throat. "Well, when things got bad a lot of people just left. They went off to be with their families." He took a breath, "And when things got worse, a lot of people bolted."

Shane chuckled in disbelief. "Everyone? They just ran."

Jenner looked at Shane, "No. Some people couldn't face walking out of the door." He paused. "They…opted out."

Hope rubbed her arms against the sudden chill. She sipped from her glass of water. Opted out, it sounded so simple; like checking a box on a survey.

Glenn sighed at Shane. "Dude, you are such a buzz kill."

Hope smiled faintly.

Dr. Jenner led them down a hallway. He explained that most of the facility was powered down. The offices in zone five were the only places to sleep as housing had been powered down as well. Everyone had been delighted to hear that the hot water was working.

Hope chose a room at random. She sat on the sofa, waiting until everyone else finished showering. The bruises were still healing. It was bad enough she couldn't hide the ones on her arms. And the scars…she couldn't even look at them yet. Besides, being naked around anyone wasn't particularly appealing.

Looking around she sighed. She wasn't sure if she was ever going to get to sleep. Not with pictures of Jim and Amy constantly popping up behind her eyelids.

Sometime later Hope stood up. The others should have been done by now. She passed by the rec room on her way to the showers. She furrowed her brow as she got closer. The door to the rec room was closed. She heard a scream on the other side.

"Sha-," Hope flinched. It sounded like Lori's voice. Was that Shane in there with her?

The door opened. She stumbled back. Shane looked at her in surprise. Hope saw scratches on the side of his neck. He followed her gaze. Behind him she saw Lori, standing by one of the game machines. She looked shaken. Hope stepped back. She knew that look. She'd been staring at it in the mirror since she got into camp. What had Shane done?

Shane smiled at her. He stepped closer, invading her personal space. "I thought you were sleeping."

She squared her shoulders, lifting her chin up in defiance. "I'm not." She looked at Lori, "Rick's looking for you." It was a lie, but Shane didn't know that.

At the mention of Rick's name, Shane flinched. He mumbled a goodnight and brushed past her. She met Lori's eyes. "Are you okay?"

Lori wiped at her face and nodded. "Yes. I'm fine."

Hope gave her a small nod. She turned to leave.

"Hope," Lori called out.

Hope turned around.

"Thank you."

Hope ducked her head. She hurried down the hall, content to hide in her room all night.

There was a pounding in her head. A steady beat she felt in her bones. Groaning she rolled onto her side. Clutching her head she felt something warm and slippery on her fingers. Opening her eyes she saw her fingers were stained red. Blood. Gingerly she probed her temple hissing when she came in contact with the wound. Looking around she saw that she was in a hospital room. Was it her hospital room? Where were the doctors? Looking down at herself she found her answer. She was a doctor. If the white lab coat and badge were anything to go by. She unclipped the badge from her breast pocket. Hope Lawson, MD. Washington Hospital Center. Her brow furrowed. She didn't remember being a doctor. In fact, she realized in a panic, she couldn't remember anything.

Hope reached for the hospital bed. Grabbing the handle she hoisted herself up. The room spun; she closed her eyes, fighting a wave of nausea.

"Hope." She turned around. A walker was walking towards her. Blood stained his police officer's uniform. His stomach had three bullet holes in it. His eyes were cold and dead. He looked like a walker but he shouldn't be talking, walkers couldn't talk.

"Hope."

Hope scrambled backwards. How did he know her name? Her back hit the wall. He kept advancing.

"Hope!" She covered her ears. The pounding in her head was back. Louder and louder, she could feel it in her bones. She closed her eyes. Hands gripped her. She did the only thing she could think of, she screamed.

"Hope! Wake up dammit! Hope!"

Pain blossomed on her cheek. She blinked open her eyes. Daryl's face hovered above her.

"Did you see him?"

"See who?" Daryl looked around.

"The walker, he was right there," Hope pointed at the wall. "Did you see him?" Hope gripped Daryl's shirt.

Daryl furrowed his brow. "What walker?" He pulled her hands from his shirt. "How much did you have to drink last night?"

Disoriented she looked around. She wasn't in the hospital room anymore. Where had the man gone? Hope sat up. She touched her cheek. "Did you hit me?"

Daryl sat back on his haunches. He shrugged, "How else was I supposed to wake you up? You were screaming so loud I thought I would go deaf."

She rubbed the sore spot. She already had a collection of bruises. What was one more? "Did I wake anyone?"

"Nah, they're all in mess hall eating breakfast." He plucked at some imaginary lint on his pants. "That's why I was here. I was checking if you wanted breakfast."

Hope's stomach churned at the thought of food but she nodded anyway. After the dream she had, she didn't want to be alone.

Daryl stood up. "All right, let's go." He reached out a hand to help her up. She stared at it for a minute. Hesitantly she took it. He pulled her up from the floor.

He sniffed. "You might wanna take a shower first, you stink."

Hope smiled wryly. "Speak for yourself Dixon."

"Thank you," Hope smiled politely at T-Dog as he served her some eggs. She chuckled quietly at Glenn. He was hunched over his plate, moaning into his breakfast. Jacqui rubbed his back soothingly. "Don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again."

She'd taken Daryl's advice and had showered before coming down to breakfast. She felt a little better but not much. She couldn't seem to shake the feeling of dread that had settled in the pit of her stomach.

Rick called out a greeting to Shane as he walked in. "You feel as bad as I do?"

"Worse," Shane grunted. He washed his hands.

Hope's eyes flew to Lori. Lori kept her eyes down; focused on her food. She stopped eating.

"What the hell happened to your neck?" T-Dog asked Shane.

"Not sure, must've done it in my sleep."

Rick looked at Shane. "Never seen you do that before."

Shane sat down. "Neither have I," he gave Lori a meaningful look. "It's not like me at all."

Hope's eyes narrowed.

"Morning," Dr. Jenner said as he walked towards the table.

Dale turned around. "Doctor I don't mean to bombard you with questions first thing in the morning…"

"But you will anyway."

Andrea turned around. "We didn't come here for the eggs."