Candice was the first to wake up that morning. She found Odilia next to her and Georgette splayed out across the arm chair, both completely passed out. She got up and went outside. It was sunny, probably around 11:00 judging by the sun's position in the sky. They needed to get going. She went back inside and started to pack their things into bags. The next person to wake up was Odilia. She sat up off the couch, rubbing her eyes.

"What are you doin'?"

"Packing up, we should leave soon if we want to get far." Odilia stood up and came over to her. "Shouldn't you be hung over?"

"Nah, Never get hungover." She stretched and said "Better get packin' my stuff then." Candice was surprised Odilia was up and functioning so well. When Georgette woke up ten minutes later she let out a painful groan and said

"I feel like absolute shit." Candice looked over at her. She looked pale and tired.

"Well you look it too." She saw her packing and said

"Are we leaving soon?"

"Ya."

"Fuck," she said, "My head's killing me."

"You can ride behind me on the ATV if you want," said Odilia, "It'll be much better on your head then riding a horse." Candice watched Odilia reach inside a bag and pull out a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it on the table. It was a big map of the country.

"Wow," said Candice, "Does this have all major roadways?"

"Ya," said Odilia, "I say we should reach Saint Josephs by nightfall."

"Where's that?" Odilia pointed out a spot that was halfway between where they currently were and Kansas City.

"It's a small city but was pretty clear when I went through it. Kansas City is completely overrun, we should definitely branch of from Saint Joe's and go east horizontally so we can completely miss the city. We'll reach the main roadway that'll take us east into Illinois." Candice saw Odilia's logic and said

"Sounds good." She didn't even wanna ask about what happened when they reached St. Louis. They had to take it once city at a time. Odilia folded up the map again and stuck it in her bag.

They left Georgette inside and went out to get the horses ready. While Candice strapped some of the bags on their backs, Odilia went and got the ATV. The roar of it made her jump. It was load, load enough to draw a herd of walkers which worried her. If they were moving it wouldn't be such a big deal but at night when they stopped they'd have to be careful. Odilia drove up on it and parked it next to the horses, who to Candice's relief, seemed unbothered by it.

"Does that go fast?"

"It can reach up to seventy," said Odilia, "but I'll make sure the horses can keep up."

Candice loaded more bags onto Georgette's horse so there would be space free on the back of the four wheeler for her to sit. Once everything had been cleared of the underground room they were ready to go. Georgette stumbled outside, shielding her face from the sun.

"I'm never drinking again," she said, getting onto the back of the ATV. Candice mounted the horse and stayed behind Odilia as they left the driveway. She tightly held onto the horse's reins and had it run alongside her. They were on the open road again. She thought about Georgia and the size of the state. Where were they going to look first? She knew from Angela's stories that where they had been living wasn't near the coast but more inland towards Atlanta.

Daryl sat in his room in the dark. He had blown out the candles and decided to withdraw into himself for awhile. The dark concrete walls provided the perfect environment. He opened up the drawer on his nightstand and stuck his hand into the back and felt the soft cloth under his fingers. He grabbed onto it and pulled it out. He examined the object, his long hair falling over his face. The little boot was the same as it had been all those years ago. It was a deep purple with a zipper up the side. He clutched it in his hand and put his fist to his forehead, tightening his grip on the boot. He closed his eyes and thought of his daughters. He didn't need a picture to remember their faces. Maybe, just maybe Georgette remembered him, wherever she was. There was no way Candice could possibly remember him. She had been around five months old when they were all separated. Now she'd be seventeen. It was almost spring, Georgette would be turning twenty-one. What did they look like? Did Georgette in fact look like him as Beth had predicted?

Daryl sat on the couch, his head in his hands. He watched his one-year-old daughter. She was sitting by his feet on the plush dinosaur blanket he'd found on a run last week. She had a pile of stuffed animals next to her and was currently chewing on a rattle as she drove a small toy car around, all of which he'd also brought her back from runs. Beth had told him to slow down on the toys, that they shouldn't spoil her to badly. That didn't make any sense to him as they didn't have to pay for anything. He had a lazy smile on his face and felt absolutely exhausted but he was the happiest he'd ever been in his entire life. He couldn't believe that he was sitting there on a nice couch, feeling completely safe with his own child playing at his feet. Even before the walkers took over he never imagine he'd have a kid. Not in a million years. Of course fatherhood had taken some time to get used too. He didn't acquire diaper changing skills overnight but he had been completely comfortable for several months now. He never thought that in the middle of the apocalypse he'd find true happiness. It seemed like just yesterday that Georgette was a tiny infant. She removed the rattle from her mouth and held the car up to him and said

"Dada," He took the small car from her tiny chubby hand. She turned her attention to the dolls sitting behind her. she started to dig through them. Daryl knew what she was looking for. He slowly sunk down from the couch and onto the floor so he sat next to her. He saw the blue horse doll she was looking for at the back of the pile and pulled it out for her. She smiled at him and took it, rubbing it close to her face. It was her favorite. She crawled over to him and got up into his lap, still clutching onto her doll. He picked her up and held her so she was on the same level as his face. She was perfect in every way. Her skin was soft and a fair color. She had the prettiest green eyes, a perfect little nose and curly brown hair that matched his in shade. He could hear Merle laughing at him in the back of his head, he knew exactly what'd he'd say to him. He'd say that Daryl was trying to play house and had gone soft, letting his daughter and wife walk all over him. But behind the tough exterior Merle would have been happy for him and loved his niece. He wished he was there to see how far he'd come.

Georgette's tiny hands on his face brought him out of his thoughts. She was laughing and rubbing the stubble that ran along his cheeks and jaw, fascinated by the rough texture. He heard the door open and looked over to see Beth walking in. He stood up, picking up Georgette in his arms. She smiled at them and came over and kissed him.

"How was your day?"

"It was good," said Beth, "It's fun to go on runs with the other woman but I definitely like staying here more. I'll leave that to you." Beth had spent the past several months shut in with Georgette and she had wanted to try and go out of the village for a bit just to get some fresh air. "I did get you these." She handed him a pack of cigarettes. "You better get on kicking that habit, the stores in the area are running out." She had been trying to get him to slow down on the cigarettes since Georgette had been born. He had been making an effort at it and had cut down each day. "How was she?"

"She was great." She bent down to look at Georgette and said

"Were you a good girl for daddy?" Georgette just smiled and giggled at her, shoving one of her fists in her mouth. Beth played with her daughter's soft curls and said "I'm telling you she looks like you. How do you not see it?"

"I think she looks like you," he said, "Just with brown hair 'n green eyes." She rolled her eyes and said

"Well we'll just have to wait and see won't we?" He laughed, not wanting to think of his daughter growing up. It was too soon for that kind of talk. "I'm gonna start dinner," she said, standing back up straight. "Keep her occupied for a bit longer." She gave him another soft kiss that lingered a bit longer than before. He felt her dig her nails into the back of his neck, her eyes full of lust. Just one look from her like that made his pants tighten and his heart speed up. Despite their busy schedules and keeping up with Georgette they still found time. She definitely kept him feeling young. He'd wait for her to put Georgette to sleep at night and they'd jump on each other. With a wink she said, "Later."

All the shit they'd been through to get to this point was worth it. If he knew this had been at the end of the tunnel it would of been a whole lot easier.

The three girls had stopped to take a break and give the horses some time to rest. Things were starting to look a lot more green and hilly. They lay out on a soft patch of grass as the horses drank from a pond nearby. Georgette who may or may not of been asleep, lay completely flat, her arm over her eyes, trying to block out the sun. Odilia and Candice were sitting up and talking. Candice said

"Do you think there's a big sanctuary anywhere?"

"Whadya mean?"

"I mean like a huge safe zone where society has gone back to the way things were? In Cheyenne they were pretty well fortified and seemed to be running perfect but they didn't have resources like they did when things were normal."

"Vince never liked us to talk much about that kinda stuff, he thought it was dangerous to the community, thought people would start runnin' off to find a new, safer place."

"This Vince sounds more and more like a dictator every time you talk about him."

"He was," she said, "Now that I take a step back and look at it. We weren't exactly free to do whatever we pleased. We had curfews, assigned jobs we had to complete everyday 'n strict laws about what we could talk about. He got away with it cause of how he talked. He knew how to convince people to do stuff and get them to follow him. He was also pretty good lookin' and had lots of charm."

"And that Beau kid was his son?"

"Nah," said Odilia, "He was more like his apprentice. I don't know much about who his family was, just knew he had a mom, didn't know her. Vince did treat him like a son, but I know they're not biological. My ma told me that, and they look nothin' alike."

"Well he sounds like a monster."

When the girls reached Saint Joseph's Georgette was feeling well enough to sit up and look around without squinting. She could still feel the ache at the back of her head. She got close to Odilia so she could hear her and said

"Are you sure this town is clear?"

"Ya," said Odilia, "I ain't goin' into the main part of the city anyway, just on the outskirts." Georgette sat back and rested on the bags strapped down behind her. "We can stay in the house I was in on the way here, I left some firewood behind there that we can use." As they drove down a suburban street, Georgette saw only a few walkers moving around on the sidewalks. They came towards them but were too slow to be any real threat as they sped past. They went down one road that was much less tightly packed with houses. It was a dead end street. At the end was a yellow, two-floored house. The garage that had been attached to the house had collapsed but the rest of it looked fairly stable. "That's the place." They rode around to the back of the house. The yard was overgrown and the old rotting deck looked like it was being eaten by grass and vines. Odilia killed the engine and then hopped off. Georgette swung her legs to one side so she was sitting. Candice rode up next to them and slid down off her horse.

"I am ready for a long nap," she said, stretching the cramps out of her legs. They took all of their bags off the horses and left them outside to graze while they went inside. The house looked pretty good. Of course the paint was peeling and the floors had started rotting but compared to the usual conditions of houses they found it was pretty good. Candice sat down on the couch while Odilia opened up a small closet door and took out some firewood. She said

"We're gonna need to go out and hunt for food."

"Do you have any ammunition?"

"No," said Odilia, "I use traps."

"How do you make them?" Georgette knew she and Candice needed to learn how to hunt without guns.

"It's pretty easy," she said, "I'll show you." They left Candice to keep an eye on things at the house and went off into the woods. Once they were far enough from their house Odilia dropped her backpack on the ground and unzipped it. "This is the perfect place." Two trees stood narrowly together and behind them was a bunch of thick brush. She pulled out a bunch of metal wire. She shaped it into a circle and tied it into a noose.

"Whatcha gotta do is tie this to a tree or bush and have the noose part held up by some sticks. She did what she had explained to her and then said "Once the snare is propped up high enough you gotta take another wire and do this." She took an apple out of her bag and stuck the wire through it. Then she wrapped each end of that wire around two tree branches so the apple was held up in front of the noose. "The deer will walk into the trap," she said, "Then noose will get caught around its neck and they won't be able to escape. They won't be able to get the apple from the other side because the bush is too thick for them to walk through."

"That's smart." Odilia shrugged and said

"Everyone had to learn how to hunt like that back in the town. You've never hunted with a spear or traps?" Georgette shoke her head and said

"We always had ammunition to use. When Angela, the woman who took care of us, brought us to Wyoming she spent a week raiding tons of places and got a huge amount of ammunition and other supplies. We weren't even close to running out, but unfortunately, all we had with us was the two boxes we had in our bag when we had to flee. Now we only have about ten bullets left. Saving them for when we absolutely need them."

"Vince kept guns just in case but we never used them. He wanted to save his ammunition too, for when it counted. He wanted everyone to be educated, and trained in fightin' and huntin' from the time they were seven. Like the Spartans, that's the example he always used."

"Spartans?"

"Ya you don't know them?" Odilia sounded surprised, "Did you ever learn history?"

"American history," said Georgette, "I actually have a book back in one of my bags. Haven't had time to read it much on the road though."

"Sparta was an ancient city-state in Greece. It had an outstandin' military. From birth till the time they were grown adults men were conditioned to be the world's greatest fighters. The women were also strong and spent a lot of time exercisin'." Georgette was shocked at how well Odilia knew her history. She thought she was the only one interested in the past. "That's how Vince wanted the town to be. Strong from the roots 'n unbeatable." Georgette saw the fear in Odilia's eyes. "If we go back to get my mom we're gonna need a good amount of people with us to attack, or be really sneaky and get her out without anyone noticin'. But I keep thinkin' of all the other people there that need help. Maybe instead of just my mom we could try 'n save everyone." Georgette shrugged. It was a long way away, realistically, who knew if they would even reach Louisiana.

Thanks MaddyMarie1212, DarylDixon'sLover, K. Lynn Perks, Caitiann, hearts-without-chains, Eliza and all the guests for commenting :) I posted some pictures of what Georgette looked like as a baby since the flashback features her as a one year old. Sorry for the wait on this one, my computer broke and I've been using my brother's laptop. Hopefully mine will be fixed soon.