"Don't look, don't look." Daryl said to Carol.

Hope tried to get Carol to turn but Carol broke her hold and ran away. Hope let her go.

Hershel's younger daughter, Beth she thought it was, walked over to one of the walkers. Hope presumed it to be her mother. The girl knelt next to the body and was immediately grabbed. The group sprung into action. Shane pulled the girl from her mother while T-Dog and Glenn tried to hold her down. Andrea took a scythe that was leaning up against the barn and brought it down on the walker's head.

With the threat gone Hope went after Carol. Belatedly she realized that maybe Carol shouldn't be alone. Hope found Carol in the R.V. Quietly; she sat down across from Carol, silently letting her know she wasn't alone. Daryl came in a few minutes after.

And that's how the three of them stayed until Lori came to collect them for the service.

"They're ready," Lori said quietly.

Carol shook her head.

"Come on."

Carol looked down. "Why?"

"Cause that's your little girl," Daryl said.

Carol looked at him and shook her head. "That's not my little girl. That's some other, thing." She looked out of the window. "My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I thought…" Tears welled in her eyes. "She didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago."

Lori nodded and retreated from the camper. Daryl clenched his jaw and left the camper. Hope stayed behind; she didn't want to leave Carol alone.

After about a half an hour Carol turned to Hope. "I'm gonna go for a walk. I need some fresh air."

"Okay, do you want me to come with you?"

"No, I'll be all right on my own."

Hope hesitated.

"Really," Carol urged. "I need to be alone for a while."

"All right," Hope left the R.V. with a heavy heart. She saw Rick drive the truck to the main house. Curious, she walked towards him. "Hey!"

Rick nodded, "Hey."

"What are you doing?"

"Hershel's gone into town Glenn and I are going to get back. Beth is sick and she needs his help."

"What's wrong with her?"

Rick shrugged. "She's in some sort of state. Shock, probably. We need Hershel."

Hope nodded. "Can I come?"

Rick looked at her surprised. "You wanna come?"

"That's what I said. Something wrong?" The words came out sharper than she intended. Maybe she had been spending too much time with Daryl.

"No, it's just that you've never shown any interest before. Why now?"

Hope swallowed. "I can't stay here another minute or I'm going to lose my mind. Besides, it's just into town right?"

Rick rubbed the back of his head.

"I won't get in the way, I promise."

Rick breathed out. "All right, you gotta weapon?"

"I'll go get it." Hope ran back to the R.V. and got her gun from her pack. She checked to see if it was loaded and stuffed extra bullets in her pocket as a precaution. She ran back to the truck and got in the back seat.

Glenn turned around and looked at her. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm coming with you and before you ask, no, I'm not on my period."

Rick chuckled and started the car. "Let's go."

The drive into town was fairly quick. Hope spent most of it staring out of the window.

"Maggie said she loves me," Glenn blurted out. He had a habit of doing that.

Hope glanced at him.

Rick nodded.

"She doesn't mean it." Glenn scoffed. "I mean, she can't. She's upset and confused and-"

"I think she's smart enough to know what she's feeling."

"No," Glenn shook his head. "No."

Hope giggled. She rested her head on the window and tuned out the rest of their conversation. It seemed like Rick could handle the advice giving. Hope closed her eyes and let the gentle rocking of the truck lull her into a half conscious state.

The truck lurched to a stop and Hope opened her eyes.

"I know about Lori," Glenn said. "Her being pregnant, I got her the pills."

"I figured," Rick said as he put the truck in park. He got out of the truck, Hope and Glenn followed. He looked at Hope.

"I already knew." Hope took her gun out from her pants. "Glenn told me."

Rick glanced at Glenn out of the corner of his eyes. "How many others know?"

"Just Dale…and Maggie."

Rick shook his head.

"I'm sorry I kept it from you," Glenn continued.

'Don't be," Rick replied. "You did what you thought was right. It just so happens it wasn't."

Rick kicked in the door to the bar. Hershel sat at the bar nursing a drink.

"Hershel?" Rick asked.

"Who's with you?" Hershel responded.

"Glenn and Hope," Rick told him.

"Maggie sent him?"

"He volunteered."

"We both did," Hope cut in.

Rick nodded. "They're good like that."

Rick approached Hershel. "How many have you had?" He said referring to the opened bottle of alcohol resting on the bar's counter.

Hershel downed his glass. "Not enough."

"Let's finish this up back at home. Beth collapsed; she's in some sort of state. Must be in shock, I think you are too."

"Maggie's with her?"

"Yes, but Beth needs you."

"What could I do? She needs her mother or rather to mourn. Like she should have done weeks ago, I robbed her of that. I see that now." Hershel took a sip from his drink.

"You thought there was a cure. You can't blame yourself for holding out for hope."

"Hope? When I first saw you running across my field with your boy in your arms, I had little hope he would survive."

"But he did."

"He did," Hershel conceded.

"Even though we lost Otis, your man Shane made it back and we saved our boy. That was the miracle that proved to me that miracles do exist. Only it was a sham, a bait and switch. I was a fool Rick, and you people saw that. My daughters deserve better than that." Hershel finished off his drink and poured himself another one.

Hope had a feeling they were going to be there for a while. Rick, Hope, and Glenn gathered by the door.

"So what do we do, just wait for him to pass out?" Glenn asked.

"Just go. Just go!" Hershel yelled.

"I promised Maggie I'd bring you home safe."

Hershel laughed. "Like you promised that little girl?"

Rick tensed his jaw."So what's your plan? Finish that bottle? Drink yourself to death and leave your girls alone?"

Hershel stood up and walked towards Rick. "Stop telling me how to care for my family, my farm. You people are like a plague! I do the Christian thing, I give you shelter, and you destroy it all!"

"The world was already in bad shape when we met," Rick hissed.

"And you take no responsibility; you're supposed to be their leader!"

"Well I'm here now, aren't I?!"

"Yes." Hershel nodded. "Yes. Yes you are." He walked back to the bar and sat down.

Rick went after him. "Now come on, your girls need you now more than ever." Rick tried to grab him but Hershel shrugged him off.

"I didn't want to believe you. You told me there was no cure, that these people were dead, not sick. I chose not to believe that but when Shane shot Lou in the chest and she just kept coming, that's when I knew what an ass I'd been, that Annette had been dead long ago and I was feeding a rotten corpse! That's when I knew there was no hope and when that little girl came out of the barn, the look in your face, I knew you knew it too. Right? There is no hope. And you know it now, like I do. Don't you? There is no hope for any of us."

"You're wrong," Hope said softly. "There is always hope. There's always something to look forward to." Hope went behind the bar and leaned across the counter. "You have a family. People, who love you, people who care. There's your hope. That's what you cling on to." Hope swallowed. "I've been through hell and I've lost so much but I didn't have the luxury of giving up. And neither do you. We're still alive for a reason, Hershel. We owe it to the ones we've lost to stay that way."

Hershel bowed his head.

Rick ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I'm not doing this anymore, cleaning up after you. You know what the truth is? Nothing has changed. Death is death. It's always been there, whether it's from a heart attack, cancer or a walker what's the difference? You didn't think it was hopeless before did you? Now there are people back at home trying to hang on. They need us, even if it's just to give them a reason to go on, even if we don't believe it ourselves. You know what; this isn't about what we believe anymore. It's about them."

Hershel nodded. He finished his drink and stood up.

Two men came through the door. "Son of a bitch, they're alive." One of them said.

Hope slowly slid her gun under the counter. She learned awhile ago not to trust strangers, especially if they came in pairs.

The men sat down. Rick gave Hope, Glenn and Hershel a long look. The meaning was clear, they'd play nice—for now. Rick poured them a drink. The fat one sat at the bar and the skinnier one sat at a table.

"I'm Dave," said the skinnier one. "That scrawny looking douche bag over there is Tony."

"Eat me, Dave."

"Hey maybe someday I will."

Their banter would have been amusing had Hope not been so tense. She wanted to leave, now.

"We met on I-95 coming out of Philly," Dave continued. "Damn shit show that was." Dave sipped his drink.

"I'm Glenn," Glenn laughed. "It's nice to meet some new people."

"Rick Grimes." Rick handed Tony a drink.

"What about you pal, you having one?" Dave asked Hershel.

"I just quit."

"You have a unique sense of timing my friend." Dave smiled.

"His name is Hershel," Rick said. "He lost people today, a lot of them."

"I'm truly sorry to hear that." Dave raised his glass. "To better days and new friends and to our dead, may they be in a better place." Dave downed his shot. "What about you sweetheart, you quit too?"

Hope glanced at Rick then Dave. "I don't drink."

Dave pulled out his gun. "Not bad huh, I got it off a cop."

"I'm a cop." Rick said.

"This one was already dead." Dave smiled.

"You fellas are a long way from Philadelphia." Rick told him.

"Feels like we're a long way from anywhere."

"Well, what drove you south?"

"Well, I can tell you it wasn't the weather. I must've dropped thirty pounds in sweat alone down here." Dave wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"I wish," Tony joked.

"No first it was D.C," Dave said.

Hope looked up. Could Lawrence have been?

"We heard there might be some sort of refugee camp but the roads were so cramped we never even got close. We decided to get off the highways, into the sticks keep hauling ass."

"Every group we came across had a new rumor about a way out of this thing."

"One guy told us there was a coast guard sitting in the gulf sending ferries to the islands." Tony cut in.

"The latest was a rail yard in Montgomery running trains to the middle of the country, Kansas, Nebraska."

"Nebraska?" Glenn asked.

"Low population, lots of guns." Tony answered him.

"Ever been to Nebraska, kid? There's a reason they call them fly over states." Dave joked. "How about you guys?"

"Fort Benning eventually," Rick answered.

"I hate to piss in your cornflakes officer but we ran across a grunt that was stationed at Benning. He said the place was overrun by lamebrains." Dave said.

"Wait Fort Benning is gone? Are you for real?" Glenn asked.

"Sadly I am. Ugly truth is, there's no way out of this mess. Just keep going from one pipedream to the next, praying one of these mindless freaks doesn't grab a hold of you in your sleep."

"If you sleep," Tony cut in again.

"Yeah," Dave glanced around. "It doesn't look like you guys are hanging your hats here. You holed up somewhere else?"

"Not really." Rick answered.

"Those your cars out front?'

"Yeah" Glenn said. Hope pinched him under the counter. "Why?" He asked, looking at her.

"We're living in our cars. Those look kinda empty, clean. Where's all your gear?"

"We're with a larger group." Hershel told him. "Out scouting, thought we could use a drink."

"A drink Hershel, I thought you quit?" Dave smiled again. He glanced around. "Well we're thinking of setting up around here. Is it safe?"

"It can be, although I've killed a couple of walkers around here." Hope pinched Glenn harder.

"Walkers, that what you call them?"

Glenn chuckled, "Yeah."

"That's good. I like that. I like that better than lamebrains."

"More succinct," Tony added.

"Okay," Dave laughed. "Tony went to college."

"Two years."

"So what you guys set up on the outskirts or something? The new development?"

"The trailer park or something? A farm?" Tony asked as he got up.

Dave sang a line from the Old MacDonald song. Tony laughed.

"You got a farm?" Dave asked.

Tony unzipped his pants and started peeing in the corner. Hope almost gagged.

"Is it safe?" Tony asked.

"It's gotta be." Dave answered. "You got food? Water?"

"You got cooze? I ain't had a piece of ass in weeks." Tony asked.

"Listen pardon my friend, city kids they got no tact. No disrespect." Dave looked at Hope. "I apologize."

Hope's eyes narrowed. "It's all right."

"I didn't catch your name."

She looked at Rick. At his nod she said,"Hope, my name is Hope."

"Hope, I like it." Tony said while ogling her. She had a feeling he wasn't talking about her name.

"So listen Glenn-"

"We've said enough." Rick cut him off.

"Well, hang on a second. This farm it sounds pretty sweet. Don't it sound sweet Tony?"

"Yeah, real sweet," Tony said greasily.

"How about a little southern hospitality?" Dave asked. "We got some buddies back at camp who've been having a real hard time. I don't see why you can't make room for a few more; we can pool our resources, our man power."

"Look I'm sorry that's not an option."

Dave shrugged. "It doesn't sound like it'd be a problem."

"I'm sorry we can't." Hershel said.

"We can't take in anymore." Rick told him.

Dave chuckled. "You guys are something else."

"I thought-I thought we were friends. We got people we gotta look out for too."

"We don't know anything about you." Rick said.

"No, that's true. You don't know anything about us. You don't know what we've had to go through out there, things we've had to do. I bet you've had to do some of those same things yourself, am I right? Ain't nobody's hands clean in what's left of this world. We're all the same. So come on, let's take a nice friendly hayride to this farm and we'll get to know each other."

"That's not gonna happen." Rick told Dave.

"This is bullshit," Tony said.

"Calm down." Rick said to Tony.

"Don't tell me to calm down. Don't ever tell me to calm down! I'll shoot you three assholes in the head and take your damn farm and your girl!"

Dave jumped up and told Tony to relax. "Nobody is killing anybody or taking anything or anyone." Dave climbed over the bar. "Right Rick?"

Dave put his gun on the counter.

Hope gripped her tighter.

"We're just friends having a drink that's all." Dave said as he poured himself another drink. "You gotta understand we can't stay out there. You know what it's like."

"Yeah, I do." Rick sympathized. "But the farm is too crowded as is. I'm sorry you'll have to keep looking."

"Keep looking. Where do you suggest we do that?"

"I don't know." Rick shrugged. "I hear Nebraska's nice."

Dave laughed. "Nebraska, this guy." Dave reached for his gun but before he could Rick shot him in the head.

Rick turned around to shoot Tony only to find him dead already. Rick looked at Hope who stood behind the counter holding the smoking gun.