"Son of a bitch, they're alive." The skinny man spoke, taking a few steps forward. I retreated back to Rick and Glenn, watching the men warily as Rick drew his sidearm. "We're just here for a quick drink!" They threw their hands up in surrender, both of them taking a seat. Rick grabbed a bottle, moving to the table where the skinny one sat. "I'm Dave." He introduced himself. "And the douche over there is Tony."

"Eat me, Dave." Tony chuckled, arms crossed over his chest where he sat. Dave laughed, pointing at him.

"Maybe one day I will." Rick set a glass on the table, pouring it slowly. He watched the two men suspiciously, turning to look at me. I noticed my bow down on the far end of the bar, where I'd left it, and I cursed myself. "We met on 1-95, coming out of philly. Damn shit show that was."

"I'm Glenn, it's nice to meet some new people." Glenn introduced himself smiling. The men smiled at us warmly and I relaxed some, standing next to the table that Tony sat at.

"Rick Grimes." I watched the two men as they're gaze turned to me.

"I'm Beau. Beau Abner." I introduced myself hesitantly. The men looked at Hershel and Dave pointed at him.

"How bout you pal, have a name?" he asked.

"His name's Hershel, he lost people today. A lot of them." Rick stepped in. Dave paused, looking ashamed.

"I'm truly Sorry to hear that." He apologized. I was completely calm now, the two men seemed nice enough. Dave had a very sympathetic demeanor and he smiled at me. If this were an actually night out on the town I may have flirted with him. But this was the apocalypse and my heart was somewhere else. "To better days and new friends." He raised his glass and Rick handed me a shot. I took it graciously, holding it out for the toast. "And to our Dead, may the be on a better place."

We all took our shots at the same time. I grimaced, frowning at the harsh bourbon Rick had just poured for all of us. Dave hesitated, reaching behind him and pulling out a piece. I took a deep breath, staring at it.

"Not bad huh?" he gestured to the gun. Rick eyed him carefully as he studied it in his lap. "I got it off a cop."

"I'm a cop." Rick replied, not taking his eyes off of the man in front of him.

"This one was already dead." Dave reassured him. He laughed, sitting back in his chair and Rick relaxed again.

"You fellows are a long way from Philadelphia." Rick spoke up suddenly, trying to change the subject.

"It feels like we're a long way from anywhere." Dave spoke up laughing. I looked at the man next to me and he smiled, giving me a small wink. I rolled my eyes, shaking my head.

"Well what drove you south?" Rick asked earnestly.

"Well I can tell you it wasn't the weather. I must have dropped 30 pounds in sweat alone down here."

"You get used to it." I commented dryly, garnering another smile from the man.

"First it was DC, I heard there might be some kind of refugee camp, but the roads were so jammed we never even got close." Dave continued. Tony nodded in his seat pensively. "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 chimed in.

"The latest was a rail yard in Montgomery running trains to the middle of the country." Dave started again. Iw atched them sadly, realizing how much they must have been through to make it from D.C to Georgia. "To Kansas, Nebraska."

"Nebraska?" I asked, seemingly random state.

"Low population, lots of guns." Tony replied cheekily. I laughed, stretching my back. I caught Dave looking at me from eth corner of my eye but thought nothing of it.

"Ever been to Nebraska? There's a reason they call them flyover states." Dave joked. Dave and Tony shared a look. "How about you guys?"

"Fort Benning eventually."

"hate to piss in your cornflakes officer but uhm, we run across a grunt that was stationed at Fort Benning. He said the place was over run by lame brains." I frowned at the thought, taking in his colorful word for walker. Rick seemed to wilt at the news.

"Are you for real?" Glenn asked from where he stood at the bar.

"Sadly I am." Dave nodded sympathetically. "The truth is, there is no way out of this mess. Just keep going from one pipe dream to the next, praying one of these mindless freaks doesn't grab a hold of you while you sleep."

"If you sleep." Tony suggested.

"Yeah it doesn't look like you guys are hanging your hats here. You holed up somewhere else?" For some reason Dave's question struck a chord with me. He was prying, something I didn't like at all. I sat straighter in my chair, clearing my throat, waiting for Rick to answer. Rick looked at the man, throwing me a sideways glance, he felt it too.

"Not really." He answered dismissively.

"Those your cars out front?" Dave asked, pointing to the door.

"Yeah." Glenn spoke up eagerly. I looked at him, silencing him.

"Why, you need a ride?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation light hearted. Dave shrugged.

"We're living in ours. Those look kinda empty and clean." I definitely didn't like where this was going. "Where's all your gear?"

"We're with a larger group." Hershel said. I refrained a groan. Rick and I both looked at Hershel, eyes wide. "Out scouting, thought we could use a drink."

"Well we were thinking of setting up around here. Is it safe?" Dave asked, again his question reaching close to home.

"It can be." Glenn replied. "Although I've killed a coupled of walkers around here."

"Walkers? That what you call them?"

"Yeah." Glenn laughed at our terminology. Dave chuckled as well, shaking his head.

"That's good." He sighed, scratching the back of his neck. "I like that better than lamebrains."

"More succinct." Tony spoke again. I raised my eyebrow at his choice of vocabulary. Dave laughed at me, pointing to his friend.

"Tony went to college, two years." I nodded at him.

"Graduated, certified nurse." I raised my hand. Dave smiled at me and the bar went silent. We all looked at each other amid the silence.

"So what? You guys set up on the out skirts or something?" Dave asked again. I was already on edge from his questions before, and this didn't help to ease my suspicions. "That new development?"

"Trailer park or something?" Tony asked standing up. "A farm?" He crossed to me slowly, walking past me. I watched him from the corners of my eyes nervously. I did not like this at all. Rick didn't answer and Dave spoke again.

"You got a farm?" Dave asked. I heard the sound of water dripping and I turned. Tony was pissing in the middle of the bar floor. I looked away quickly, shutting my eyes.

"Is it safe?" He asked as he pissed.

"Its gotta be. You got food, water?"

"You got cooze?" Tony asked, finishing up his business. "I aint had a piece of ass in weeks!" Tony asked. He looked to me from around the wall where he stood and I grimaced.

"Listen, pardon my friend. City kids, they got no tact." Dave apologized, shaking his head at Tony's sudden outburst. I made to stand but Dave place his hand on mine. "No disrespect meant." He said genuinely. I watched him for a moment, sitting back down, moving my hand to my lap. "So listen, Glenn-"

"We've said enough." Rick interrupted him.

"Well hang on a second, this farm sounds pretty sweet. Don't it sound sweet Tony?" Dave said, not to be silenced. I glanced up at Rick and he shot me a warning look, willing me to move to them. I didn't want to get up, afraid of a sudden movement, so I stayed where I was.

"Yeah, real sweet." Tony agreed, returning to the group.

"How about a little southern hospitality?" Dave asked rick and Hershel. His eyes drifted to me and he smiled, a sickening grin. "From all of you." He winked at me and I stood, attempting to return to Rick and the others.

A tight hand grabbed my wrist, pulling me back down into my chair. Tony placed two strong hands on my shoulders, holding me in place. I squirmed, but his grip only grew tighter as he forced his weight on me. I was panicking and I looked over at Rick. He watched the pair with wide, wary eyes.

"We got some buddies back at camp. Been having a real hard time. I don't see why you can't make room for a few more." Dave asked nicely. Rick's eyes returned to him.

"Look I'm sorry that's not an option." Tony squeezed harder on my shoulders, putting pressure and weight on my clavicle. I whimpered in pain, afraid that he was going to break something, and I bit my lip.

"Doesn't sound like it would be a problem. Does it, Beau?" Dave turned to me and I glared it him. He smiled, but I didn't return it.

"Go to hell." I spat. Tony jostled me violently, his grip moving closer and closer to my neck. I held my chin high. Shaking my head at Rick. He couldn't cave, not on this. We now knew these men were dangerous.

"You guys are something else." Dave said as he watched me defy them. I looked over to him and he backhanded me. Tony lifted me from my chair, an arm around my waist and a big hand at my neck. "I though we were friends."

Rick stood, reaching for his gun. Tony's grip tightened on my neck.

"If we're friends let the girl go and we can talk about this." Rick suggested, pulling his hand away from his pistol.

"We are talking about this. Sometimes things have to be done in order for diplomacy to happen." Tony squeezed me tighter and I yelped. Rick was on edge and he took a step forward. "You don't know what we've had to go through out there, the things we've had to do." Dave was still calm and he spoke quietly, despite the rising tension in the room. "I bet you've had to do some of those same things yourself, am I right?" Rick watched him quietly, not saying another word. Tony began to back up to the door, me still in tow and I struggled against him as best I could.

"NO! LET ME GO!" he shook me again, this time causing my ears to ring.

"Aint nobody's hand clean in what's left of this world. We're all the same." Dave paused, his tone grave. He smiled, gesturing to me and Tony. "So come on, lets take a nice friendly hayride to this farm and we'll get to know each other."

"That's not gonna happen."

"Are you serious? I'll shoot all you fuckers right now!" Tony yelled.

"Whoa whoa whoa. Nobody's shooting anybody." Dave said walking over to the bar top. "Right Rick? Nobody is shooting anyone." He climbed over it and I stiffened. Tony brought his arm that was around my waist down to his side, while Dave reached for the piece he held, placing it gently on the bar top. "We're just friends having a drink, that's all. Now, where' s the good stuff huh?" the two shared a heated look and Rick reached for his pistol. I saw my opening and I took it.

I rammed my elbow up into Tony's nose, causing him to lose focus. Quickly I brought my foot down on top of his, hard, and he released me. While he grabbed for his nose I brought my knee up into his groin. I jumped to the side, landing hard on the wood floor. I brought my hand to my throat, rubbing where Tony held me, sore from his choke hold. I ducked, hearing the sound of gunfire, but when I emerged there was a large red stain on the mirror behind the bar.

Rick had blown Dave's head off and now he turned on Tony. Before he could brandish his shotgun, Rick raised his piece, shooting him once in the shoulder and once in the abdomen. Rick walked up to him quickly, holding his gun in front of him, putting two slugs in Tony's brain.

I stared wide-eyed at Tony's body as Glenn helped me to my feet. Rick looked at me, his eyes still hardened, inspecting me up and down.

"Are you alright?" He asked me. I frowned, my hand still grasping my neck and nodded.

"I'll be fine, I'll be fine." I repeated reassuringly.

"Good." We should leave. Any walkers nearby would have heard that." We all nodded in agreement and Rick led us to the door. I picked up my compound bow on the way out, taking one look back before grabbing Dave's hand gun off the bar top, just for good measure.