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The snow had started to melt off the roof, dripping down onto the porch. The ground was a sloppy mix of mud, melting snow, and water. It was officially spring. It was only a matter of time before that herd of walkers Candice had discovered frozen in the snow rose up and it was time to start packing. It was early in the morning and Georgette wanted to get into town by nightfall so they could take shelter there and then head out the next morning.

"So what's the plan?" asked Candice. Georgette spread the map of Wyoming out on the counter.

"We're in Glenrock," she said pointing to the little dot on the map where they were located. The main road that goes through the town leads off onto the main highway if we head east. If we follow that highway it turns south and goes all the way down to Cheyenne. Then we'll have to go further east and we'll be in Nebraska."

"Don't you think if we just cut through past the roads we'll move quicker?" asked Candice.

"Ya but without the road we'll have no clue where we're going, we need to stick to the main highways."

"And what about when we reach Nebraska?"

"We'll find a map for that state and continue on from there." said Georgette.

"Cheyenne's the capital of the state," said Candice nervously, "It'll be filled with walkers."

"We can try and go around it but we should go in and see what we can find, maybe they'll be other people. Who knows, with how long the worlds been in turmoil, somebody could of come in and cleaned the place out and barricaded it by now." Georgette rolled up the map and turned around to start getting their bags together.

"And how are we gonna find transportation?" asked Candice.

"Hopefully we can hot wire a car when we get into town," said Georgette, "Until then we're on foot." They emptied and layed out the two bags they had and got to work on sorting things out. They stuffed one bag with food and medication, the other with ammunition, their smaller handguns, the seeds they'd collected and anything else they had. The two bags were completely stuffed.

"Ready?" asked Georgette. Candice looked nervous.

"We're really doing this?" she said. Georgette didn't want to be rough with her about it anymore so she said

"I know we've grown up around here and chances are we're never gonna be able to come back, but just think of all the awesome new places we're gonna see and the people we're gonna meet." She felt like she was talking to a little kid. She handed Candice one of the bags and picked up the other. "Let's go," she said. They walked out the door for the last time. Although there was no need to, Georgette shut the door, leaving it unlocked. Maybe someone else would stumble upon the cabin and need a place to stay. The ground was mucky and with each step she sunk down. She was sure she remembered the way to the school. Once they got there they'd find the main road of the town. Georgette's boots made gross suction sounds as she walked. It wasn't long before they came across a walker. Georgette easily went up and stabbed it in the head.

"Piece of cake," she said, cleaning the blade of her knife. Candice looked up at her doubtfully. They continued on. The forest was quiet except for the occasional call of a crow. Georgette heard her sister let out a yell. Her foot had unexpectedly sunk down to above her ankle. She pulled hard and her foot wouldn't budge.

"Try to get your foot out of the boot," said Georgette.

"I can't," said Candice, struggling and pulling harder. Georgette heard a low hissing sound and turned to see a huge group of walkers approaching them. She got down on her knees and started to pull at Candice's boot as hard as she could. Candice pulled out her handgun and started shooting the walkers, taking them down one by one. Georgette felt the boot sliding out slowly and she finally pried it loose. As she stood up she felt a walker come down on top of her from behind. She could hear its teeth snapping at her from behind. Candice quickly stabbed it in the head and Georgette got up. They didn't take a moment to look back and ran, mud flying everywhere. They didn't stop until they could see the school through the trees. They looked back, the walkers were out of sight. The girls walked into the school parking lot which was now visible since the snow had melted.

"The main road can't be that far off," said Georgette. They followed the long driveway out onto the road. Across the street was a small church. This may be easier than Georgette thought. The road was wide enough to be a main road and when she looked further down the street she could see more buildings. "Come on," she said. The girls walked down the center of the street, keeping their eyes out for any walkers.

"We've never come down this way before," said Candice, "We'd always head east or north, the stores could have medicine left."

"We could also find some people here already," said Georgette.

"What then?" asked Candice.

"We'll have to wait and see," she said. When they came into the main part of the town it didn't appear to be inhabited. Each side of the street had clusters of charming brick buildings with little storefronts. The trees had given way to the wide open plains and the brown mountains met the sky in the distance. Candice spotted a pharmacy and said

"Let's go!" She ran up to the building and Georgette saw her peer inside. "It's clear," she said. Georgette joined her and the two busted the door open. To Georgette's shock the shelves were still stocked.

"We're gonna need more bags," she said laughing in happiness. Candice looked around and found a few cloth bags on display they could use. They didn't look at what the medicine was, they just shoved it all into the bag until it was full. Once they were done there wasn't a whole lot left. "That'll do," said Georgette. The bags were heavy and it probably would of been a better idea to find shelter before taking the medicine. When they got back outside Georgette looked around at the buildings. They definitely needed to stay on a second or third floor. One of the center buildings across the street looked to be the tallest.

"Come on," said Georgette. They crossed the street and Georgette looked inside. It seemed to be an old town hall. She tried the handle on the door before breaking the glass, and it opened. It was a wide open room with a big desk at the front. There weren't any other rooms to clear so they headed for a door at the back. Georgette found a staircase leading up when she opened it. They quietly went upstairs and found another open room. What made Georgette nervous was the room was set up with cubicles, making it a maze. "Shit," she said, "They could be anywhere in here."

"I'll take the right and you take the left," said Candice. Georgette moved slowly, looking inside each cubicle as she went. She thought they were in luck and there were no walkers lurking inside when she looked inside the last room and felt a pair of hands land heavily on her shoulders. She whipped around and shoved the body to the ground. It was a walker, hissing at her as it slowly got up off the floor. She quickly stabbed it in the head. She heard Candice call out

"Everything alright?"

"Ya, just one walker." They met back at the staircase.

"It's all clear where I checked," she said. There was another flight of stairs leading up to the third and final floor. Georgette was relieved to see it was just a small attic room with nothing but a few old boxes on the floor. Three windows let in sunlight, and although it had cobwebs and it was dusty it was better then staying out on the streets. They had finally made it to their first destination of many. Georgette put the bags down and said

"Well now that we've found this place I think we'd better try and hot wire a car so we can be out of here early tomorrow morning."

"What's the rush?" asked Candice.

"Wanna get on the road," she said, "The sooner we're on the road the closer we are to figuring out who we are."

They had found a nice Ford F-350 truck with a plow on the front in one of the parking lots behind the building.

"Oh ya this'll go through the walkers nicely," said Georgette laughing with a smirk. Georgette opened the door and looked around inside. They would have enough room to pack all of their stuff inside. She spotted something on the floor and couldn't believe her eyes. It was the keys to the truck. She tried to turn on the car. While the keys definitely fit the car wouldn't run and was out of gas. They spent the rest of the day siphoning it from other cars and filling up several tanks so they wouldn't break down on their trip to Cheyenne. She wasn't sure how long it would take but she wanted to be prepared.

"We'll fill it up in the morning, wouldn't want anyone else taking the truck," said Georgette. Candice stretched out her arms and said

"Who the hell else is around to steal it?" Georgette shrugged and said

"You never know, we're here."

Georgette watched Candice set up a fire in the center of the room. She unzipped her bag and looked through the new medication they had found. Then she remembered the pictures she had taken from the locker at the school. She pulled them out of an inside pocket in the bag. They were still the same, the blonde and black-haired girl standing and smiling. Probably dead, still lurking around somewhere.

"What's that?" asked Candice.

"Just some pictures I found," she said. Candice came and sat next to her.

"Where'd you get these?" she asked.

"From a locker in the school," she said, "I thought they were nice." Candice gave her a weird look.

"Why would you take pictures of people you don't even know?"

"I just think they're nice," she said defensively, "I think we should try and remember the people who passed on and the old way of life. I don't know this girl but it doesn't matter because these pictures are an insight on how the world used to operate." Candice shrugged and didn't say anything back. "Just think, our lives would of been like this girls if the world was still the way it was back then. We'd go to parties," she held out the pictures of the girls in dresses, "We'd go to school and have jobs."

"We probably wouldn't exist," said Candice, adding a log to the fire, "The world going to shit was probably the reason our parents met."

"What do you mean?" asked Georgette.

"You don't know who they were or what they were before all this. Their paths may of never crossed and we would of never been born. We're a direct result of the Apocalypse," said Candice. Georgette let out an odd laugh, she wasn't sure if it was funny or disturbing.

Daryl ran through the smoke, moving as fast as he could. He felt like he was suffocating. It was so bright it could of been daylight. Everything around him was engulfed in flames. The trees, the houses, everything they'd worked for. Living in the town was the first time in his life he'd felt completely safe. Not even in the prison had he felt this secure. The rug had been ripped out from underneath his feet. He couldn't be sure of anything ever again when it came to safety. He heard a loud cracking noise split the air. He looked up to see a large flaming tree falling. His life flashed before his eyes and he was frozen. As it lurched and came tumbling towards he lept out of its path just in time. The impact sent flaming bits of bark, wood and ash flying everywhere. He felt it burning and stinging his face as he picked himself up off the ground and continued to run. He had to get to the hospital up the road. That was the villages safe house. If there was ever an attack that was where they had decided they would go.

His legs felt like giving out as the acrid smoke clogged up his lungs. He thought of Beth sitting safely with Angela and the rest of the camp in the basement of the hospital waiting for him and the others who had stayed behind. He wasn't sure how many other people had lived. But the opposing army had been to strong and numerous for them to take. That mixed with the walkers was too much for them. He finally was out of the heavy smoke and deeper into the woods. He pushed any walker that crossed his path over, not having anytime to shot them. He started seeing trees that weren't engulfed in flames. He was gonna make it out.

Up ahead he saw something on the ground. It was definitely a person. Thinking it was one of the fallen men he slowed down and approached carefully in case it was a walker. He was surprised to see that it was a woman. He looked down and was horrified. It was Beth. Her beautiful blonde hair was deep red with blood, she was on her back. Her white nightgown was saturated with blood from a deep wound on her leg. She was as white as a ghost and her eyes were shut. His mind went blank for a moment, he felt numb. Then it all hit him and he let out a sob, dropping to his knees. He picked her up in his arms and held her close. He buried his face in her neck and let himself go and started sobbing. He could smell blood and when he ran his fingers through her hair he felt the deep laceration in her head. Her skin was so cold. She was gone. Forever. And where was Georgette and Candice? Had they wandered into the woods to go look for him? The thought of his lost daughter opened a new wound and fresh tears poured down his face. He had promised her he'd protect her and their daughters. He had failed. This was his fucking fault. Anger suddenly replaced the sadness. When they had escaped the prison years ago he'd promised her he'd protect her, when she was pregnant with Georgette he remembered wrapping his arms around her belly and telling her he wouldn't let anything go wrong. He had completely failed. The deep misery was like a knife in his chest, slowly being twisted. He thought of his girls, how he had been determined to be the ultimate father. He remembered Georgette's eager little eyes looking up at him he taught her how to use a handgun. He knew Beth hadn't approved of it but he wanted his daughter to be prepared for situations exactly like this. He had failed them too. Everything had gone wrong. He knew what he had to do. It wouldn't be long before Beth would come back. The wound on her head was not enough to cause brain damage. He reached for his handgun but suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he heard the clicking of a gun behind him.

"On your feet," said a rough voice. He didn't want to let go of Beth so he tried to get to his feet when he felt the man press the gun to his head. "Put the girl down." Painfully he let Beth go and gently lay her back onto the ground. He stood up his hands over his head. Out of the darkness more men appeared holding rifles up at him. "Hands behind your back!" said the man. He thought about trying to escape but he knew there was no way out. Even if he shot the man behind him the others surrounding him would fire. For a moment he considered letting it happen, Beth was gone, his girls were lost, what was left for him? But he slowly crossed his hands behind his back. He felt the man roughly put handcuffs on him. Suddenly he felt pain explode in his head. The man had hit him with the butt of the gun. The world faded away as he blacked out, falling over. The last thing he saw was Beth's face next to his on the ground. She looked peaceful almost as if she was just sleeping.