Hope wiped the sweat from her brow. She swatted at a mosquito biting her arm. She looked down at the small red bump and frowned. She needed to get her hands on more bug spray, these bugs were eating her alive. Her frown deepened at the thought.

"Oomph," Glenn grunted as Hope bumped into him. He looked at her over his shoulder.

Sorry, she mouthed. Looking ahead, she saw Daryl carefully approaching a tent. Knife in hand, he slowly peeked inside. He looked back at Rick and shrugged.

Rick motioned to Carol, "Call out softly, if she's in there yours should be the first voice she hears."

"Sophia," Carol called out. "Sweety, are you in there? Sophia, it's mommy. Sophia, we're all here baby. It's mommy."

There was no response. Rick and Shane walked over to Daryl. Slowly Daryl unzipped the tent. They looked inside. Daryl covered his mouth and coughed. There was a faint smell of death wafted slowly from the tent.

Daryl went inside.

"Daryl…Daryl," Carol called out to him.

He reappeared a moment later. "Ain't her."

Carol let out the breath she'd been holding.

Andrea stepped forward. "What's in there?"

"Some guy did what Jenner said. Opted out," Daryl looked at Hope. "Ain't that what he called it?"

Hope looked away. She started when the sound of church bells echoed through the forest. Everyone looked around wildly for the source of the noise. Rick motioned to the right and took off running. The group followed.

Rick slowed trying to pin point the location of the bells.

"What direction?" Shane asked.

"I think that way, I'm pretty sure." Rick responded pointing forward.

"Damn it's hard to tell out here." Shane hopped onto a log.

"If we can hear them, then maybe Sophia does too." Carol piped up.

"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others," Glenn replied.

Andrea pushed past Hope, "Or signaling that they found her."

"She could be ringing them herself. Come on," Rick broke into a run once again.

Hope struggled to keep up with the others as they ran through the forest. Her backpack bounced painfully against spine. When they reached the end of the forest they paused. There was a church, surrounded by a cemetery.

"That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells," Shane told Rick.

Rick ran towards the church. Hope groaned as she started running again.

Rick trotted up the stairs to the front doors of the church. Daryl moved to the right side of the door and Rick moved to the left. Shane covered the middle. On the count of three Rick and Daryl opened the doors. Inside there were three walkers sitting in the pews. One of them seemed to be wearing a wedding dress. Lori handed rick a knife and Glenn gave Daryl his axe. Shane pulled out a big knife. The three men quietly advanced into the church. Rick killed the one on the left, Daryl the bride and Shane the one in the middle. Hope flinched when their weapons made impact.

Hope inched her way inside.

"Sophia!" Rick yelled,his voice reverberated around the empty church.

"I'm telling you it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick. No steeple." Shane said to Rick.

Rick's reply was cut off as the bells sounded again. The group ran outside. On the side of the church was a speaker connected to a timer. Glenn ripped the wires out of the timer.

"Timer, it's on timer." Daryl huffed.

"I'm gonna go back in for a bit." Carol said, her voice breaking slightly.

Slowly the group dispersed. Hope made her way to a tree a few feet away from the entrance of the church. Sitting behind it out of view she rested her head against the cool bark. Closing her eyes, her racing heart slowed gradually to a steady thump. A headache settled in between her eyes as the adrenaline left her body.

"Are you really leaving?"

"Don't you think that's best for all of us?" Hope shifted as she heard Shane respond to Lori's question.

"I think it is. What made you decide?"

"I got to back away. I'm just trying to be the good guy Lori, even if you don't see it. None of this was intended, I hope you know that." Shane sighed. "Don't matter as long as I said it."

"You're just gonna disappear? You're not even gonna tell Rick?" Lori asked angrily.

"Stop. That's on you. Tell whatever you want or tell him nothing at all. You're his wife."

"And Carl? We dragged him into this."

"I love Carl."

"He thinks you hate him."

"I'm trying to put some distance. I'm trying to make this easier. This isn't easy for any of us. Least of all me, I'm the one who loses-"

There was short pause before Hope heard the shuffling of feet. Peeking from around the tree she saw Lori walking away. Shane stood on the same spot with his head hanging. Hope watched Andrea come from around the side of the church. She and Shane shared a long look before Shane walked away. Andrea trotted after him. Curious, Hope followed them.

"I'm coming with you." Andrea said, struggling to keep pace with Shane. Hope trailed behind them a few yards.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"I'm not stupid and I'm certainly not deaf. Look, I don't know the story-"

"There is no story."

"Fine, I don't care. Don't confuse me with someone who does," Andrea grabbed Shane's arm and turned him to face her. Hope ducked behind a large headstone. "Look, all I want is to get out of here. As far away as I can, like you."

"We gonna sail off into the sunset together. We gonna hold hands?" Shane scoffed.

"I'm not asking you to go steady Shane. I'm asking you for a ride. A chance to start over, somewhere else. You observe this group lately? I have. I see two people who don't belong. We're the odd men out. Between the two of us we make a great third wheel."

Hope frowned at that. Shane was Rick's right hand. Andrea got along pretty well with everyone. Maybe not that much as of late but that pretty understandable considering all that had happened. She didn't think either of them were really third wheels.

"So what? Say we do. Say we just run off. What's that gonna do for me? That's just an extra ass I've got to cover."

"The chance to do something for someone else, a door that swings both ways? Put a gun in my hand and I'll cover your ass too." The group began to file out of the church. Andrea leaned towards Shane. "Think it over."

Rick and Shane walked a few feet away to talk. Everyone gathered at the base of the tree Hope had been sitting near earlier.

"What are you doing?"

Hope looked up at Carl. Behind him the group was staring at her.

"I-I thought I dropped something."

Carl raised an eyebrow. Shane stared at Hope. Hope ducked her head and went to stand near Daryl.

"What the hell was that about?" Glenn whispered.

Hope shook her head. "Not now. Later."

Glenn quirked a brow at her, Hope shrugged.

"Y'all gotta follow the creek bed back. Daryl you're in charge. Me and Rick are gonna hang back, search this area another hour." Shane addressed the group.

Daryl crossed his arms over his chest. "You're splitting us up? You sure?"

Shane nodded. "Yeah, we'll catch up to you."

"I wanna stay too," Carl said. "I'm her friend."

Rick sighed and nodded. Carl beamed.

Lori put her hand on his shoulder. "Just be careful okay."

"I will."

Lori hugged Carl. "When did you start growing up."

Rick walked to Lori and kissed her. "I'll be along soon enough."

Andrea looked at Shane.

Rick pulled out his gun, he handed it to Lori. "Here, take this."

Lori shook her head. "I'm not leaving you out here unarmed."

"Here, I've got a spare." Daryl handed his gun to Lori.

Andrea scoffed.

Hope frowned at her as the group walked away.

"So this is it, the whole plan?" Carol asked as she sat down on a log. The group stopped for a rest.

Daryl adjusted his crossbow. "I guess the plan is to whittle us down to smaller and smaller groups."

"Carrying knives and tiny sticks."

Hope rolled her eyes at Andrea's statement. A gun wasn't much use if you didn't know how to use it.

Andrea looked at Lori. "I see you have a gun."

"Want it?" Lori took the gun from the waistband of her pants and handed it to Andrea handle first. "I'm sick of the looks you're giving me."

Andrea took the gun. She looked mildly surprised at Lori's tone.

"All of you." Lori sat on the log and took a sip of water. She looked at Carol. "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through and I would do anything to stop it. But you have got to stop blaming Rick. It's in your face every time you look at him. And when Sophia ran, he didn't hesitate did he? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have done that—made the hard decisions that he had to make—or that they could have done it any differently. Anybody?" No one said a word. Lori put her water bottle back into her pack. "Y'all look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect. If you want to do this without him, then go right ahead. Nobody's stopping you."

Andrea gave Lori her gun back. "We should keep moving."

The group continued their way back to the highway. The forest was quiet except for the sound of twigs and leaves crunching under their feet.

"You okay?"

Hope looked at Glenn and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. You?"

"I'm good. Listen I've been meaning to ask you-"

A loud pop echoed through the woods.

"What was that?" Glenn squeaked.

Hope swallowed. "It sounded like…gunshot?"

For what seemed like the tenth time since they heard the shot Lori turned around.

"You're still worrying about it?" Andrea asked.

Lori looked at her. "That was a gunshot."

"We all heard it." Daryl said.

"Why one, why just one gunshot?" Lori thought out loud.

Daryl shrugged. "Maybe they took down a walker."

"Please don't patronize me; you know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker. Or Shane, they'd do it quietly."

"Shouldn't have they caught up with up us by now?" Carol asked.

"There's nothing we could do about it anyway, we'd be running around these woods chasing echoes."

"So what do we do?" Lori asked him.

"Same as we've been. Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway."

"I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the RV," Andrea reassured her.

Lori nodded and continued walking.

Andrea walked up to Carol, "I'm sorry for you're going through. I know how you feel."

The group stopped once again.

"I suppose you do. Thank you." Carol began to tear up. "The thought of her out here by herself, it's the not knowing that's killing me. I just keep hoping and praying that she doesn't wind up like Amy."

Hope winced.

Carol realizing what she said took Andrea's hands. "Oh God, that's the worst thing I ever said."

Andrea shook her head. "We're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth."

Daryl shook his head and walked towards the two women. "I'll tell you what it's worth, not a damn thing. It's a waste of time, all this hoping and praying," he caught Carol's eyes. "We're gonna locate that little girl and she gonna be just fine. Am I the only one zen around here? Good Lord." He walked away.

Hope caught up to him. Smirking she looked at him and shook her head.

Daryl looked at her from the corner of his eye. "What?"

Hope giggled. "Zen?"

Daryl rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

Hope sighed. She was exhausted; she hadn't slept much at all since escaping the CDC. Now that her body was mostly healed she was starting to dream. Well, they were more like nightmares; horrible, twisted, dreams that left her in a cold sweat. Hiking around in the woods all day in the unbearable Georgia heat had left her dead on her feet…so to speak. Daryl slowed to a stop and Hope was thankful for the reprieve.

"We're gonna lose the light before too long. I think we should call it." Daryl said.

"Let's head back," Lori replied.

"We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" Carol asked.

Lori nodded. "Yeah, we'll find her."

Daryl whistled and started to go back the other way. The group followed.

Hope wasn't sure how much more she could take. Her legs felt like jelly and her head was starting to spin.

"How much farther?" Hope was thankful Lori asked. Right now her mouth felt like it was full of cotton.

"Not much." Daryl replied, "About a hundred yards, as the crow flies."

"Too bad were not crows," Andrea griped.

Hope inwardly groaned. She was running on fumes, suddenly a hundred yards seemed like an impossible distance. But she would make it—she had to—it wasn't like anyone was going to carry her back.

"You okay?" Glenn whispered to her.

Hope nodded, which was an awful idea because it made her head spin even more. She had to pull her own weight. It was enough that Daryl basically kept her alive these past weeks. She had to prove—if only to herself—that she could survive on her own. That first night after she'd escaped, Hope promised herself she would never be in that position again. She would be strong and learn how to survive. She couldn't do that if she depended on Daryl to help her with everything.

Hope jumped when she heard a scream. She looked around and saw that Andrea was missing. The group ran back to find her.

"Andrea!" Lori yelled.

Just as the group got to Andrea, a woman on a horse hit the walker that had been attacking her on the head with a baseball bat.

The woman stopped the horse. "Lori? Lori Grimes?"

"I'm Lori."

"Rick sent me, you gotta come now."

"What?"

"There's been an accident. Carl's been shot. He's still alive but you gotta come now. Rick needs you. Just come!"

Lori dropped her back pack.

"Woah, woah, woah," Daryl protested. "We don't know this girl! You can't get on that horse!"

"Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl? Backtrack to Fairview road, two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. The name's Greene." A second later Lori and the woman were riding off into the forest leaving everyone confused about what the hell just happened.

Hope heard a groan to her right and looked to see the walker sit up.

"Shut up!" Daryl fired an arrow straight into the walker's skull as he stomped away.

"Glenn can you get that arrow? We don't need to waste ammo." Hope said breathily. She was suddenly feeling very lightheaded. Perhaps running hadn't been such a good idea. "Can we rest a minute? I don't feel so good."

"Hope! Hope!" Glenn yelled.

Why was he yelling at her? When did the world start spinning? Oh no, not again. Hope saw Daryl run towards her before the darkness closed in.