The next morning Sarah woke to lips gently kissing her forehead. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw Rick squatting down by the bed, fully dressed and ready for the day, gun belt slung around his waist.

"Morning, sweet girl," he whispered, his blue eyes glittering in the soft morning light from the crack in the window drapes.

"Morning, officer," she joked, yawning. He laughed quietly and kissed her on the lips. She smiled, stretching her arms over her head.

Rick gestured next to her in bed. "She keep you up last night? I heard her crying when I was making my rounds and Lisa told me she was pretty scared," he whispered as he reached across her to lightly stroke Liv's face. Her daughter lay next to her, bunny in her arms and tucked under her chin. She looked peaceful.

"Yeah, she had a nightmare," she frowned, sighing. She sat up, propping herself up on her elbows. "Mom take Noah to the RV?" she asked him, looking over at the other bed.

"Yeah, about an hour ago. What were her nightmares about?" He sat on the edge of the bed, facing Sarah, placing his arm across her legs to rest his hand on the bed.

"Walkers…what else? She woke up crying, so we sat up and cuddled on the couch for a while until she calmed down. She was really upset. I'm surprised she went back to sleep at all," she whispered, gently rubbing Olivia's hair, "poor thing was all worked up."

"I'm sorry," he whispered, placing his hand on Sarah's knee and looking into her eyes. "I wish I could do something."

She looked down at her lap. "It's just our new reality," she shrugged, dropping her voice further "and I have this awful feeling it's going to get worse long before it gets better."

"Hey," he whispered, lightly grabbing her chin and lifting her face, "we are strong and we will survive. We don't even know how bad it really is outside of Atlanta - we could make it to Ft Benning and find everything is okay. Surely the military has a hold on things."

Sarah swallowed the lump in her throat. "I love your optimism," she reached up to stroke the side of his face. "You're right. Sorry I'm being so negative. It's not like me."

He smiled. "You're one of the most optimistic people I know, despite all you've been through. But you know you're allowed to have your moments…you're not perfect…even though I think you're pretty damn close." She shook her head, grinning as he laughed lightly. "See? That smile...those hot dimples…I swear, you're perfect." She laughed. He leaned in to lightly kiss her lips.

She rested her forehead against his. "You're a hot mess, officer."

He smiled and kissed her again. "So I've been told." She kissed him again. "Well, listen…Glenn, T-Dog and I are going to see what we can find around the hotel. Why don't you and Liv go join the others in the RV? Daryl and Christy are hanging out with Noah - your mom is fixing breakfast. Daryl's been teaching him about hunting and surviving off the land - I've never seen Noah so excited about anything before."

She smiled. "Who knew he'd be so interested in hunting?"

"I certainly never saw it coming," he replied. He smiled as he stood up and leaned down to kiss the top of her head. "I'll walk y'all out."

After waking Liv and changing and gathering their belongings, they arrived at the RV. Sarah waved to Dale and John and ignored Shane, all three keeping watch on top. Rick nodded to them as he opened the door, placing his hand on Sarah's lower back as she walked up the stairs in front of him.

"I'll see y'all in a bit," he said. She leaned down and kissed him softly.

"Be careful."

He nodded and gave her a mock salute. "Yes, ma'am." She smiled, her heart fluttering as she watched him walk away.

Daryl and Noah sat on the couch talking, Christy was at the table with Lori, Lisa, and Carl, eating cereal with boxed almond milk they'd scavenged, and Carol and Andrea were making oatmeal on the small stove.

"Morning, Nana!" Liv said, running to her and jumping to sit on her lap.

"Morning, baby girl," she said, hugging her tightly. Sarah smiled at her mom and turned to Noah, who jumped up and threw his arms around her waist.

"Mom, Mr. Daryl is so cool! He knows everything about hunting and tracking and animals and the woods - it's incredible!" She laughed at her son's enthusiasm and smiled at Daryl, stroking her sons hair. "He even wants to take me with him hunting one time!"

"You can go whenever he wants to take you, but you have to listen to him at all times."

"I will - I super pinky swear!" Noah replied, hopping from one foot to the other in his excitement. Sarah saw Christy smile at Daryl as she took a spoonful of cereal, and both Andrea and Carol looked on with smiles on their faces. Daryl looked uncomfortable with all the attention. She almost felt bad for him.

"Great, honey. I love you," she said, hugging Noah tightly to her side. "Grab some breakfast, okay?"

"You got it! Hey, Mr. Daryl? One more thing. Can I ride in the truck with you and Christy when we leave?" They both looked up at Sarah as Noah asked.

She smiled and nodded. "Sure, buddy, ya can ride with us," Daryl replied. Noah high-fived him.

''Thanks," she whispered to Daryl. He nodded, his cheeks flushing slightly as he looked down at his lap.

"Yeah, no problem," he said gruffly.

She sat down and ate a small bowl of oatmeal Carol gave her. After she was finished, she looked out of the window to see that Rick and the scout team returned empty handed and noticed Rick looked worried.

"What's wrong?" Sarah asked him as she joined him outside with Daryl and Christy.

"We're low on water and food. I was hoping to find something here to tide us over, but there's nothing. All we have left to drink is a gallon of water and a few gatorades. We thought about trying to fill up some containers with tap water here, but I don't wanna risk it without having a fire to boil it, just in case." Sarah put her hand on his back and rubbed it reassuringly.

"We can try an' fin' somethin' on the way," Daryl piped up. "We have enough for the kids to eat for the day. I can fin' s'more meat in the woods."

"Yeah, and we will find supplies somewhere," Glenn spoke up. "There's bound to be a few gas stations or grocery stores along the way. We should have enough gas to last us a while."

Rick nodded. "Thanks guys. Let's get moving here soon." Everyone nodded. Glenn and TDog climbed the stairs to the RV as Daryl and Christy went to his pickup to finish loading their stuff.

Sarah put her arms around Rick's waist, pulling him to her. He sighed and put his arms around her shoulders, resting his chin on top of her head, her head on his chest.

"Everything will be fine," she whispered.

"I know. Thanks sweet girl." She pulled her head back and looked up at him. He gently kissed her lips and her heart skipped a beat. "How'd I get so lucky?" he whispered against her mouth.

"I don't know," she joked, kissing him again, "but damn, I'm glad you did." He laughed and kissed her again.

"Let me go rally the troops, get a move on. Wait right here," he said, kissing the tip of her nose. She grinned as he moved away from her, his hands lingering on her shoulders, giving them a gentle squeeze before he walked into the RV.

Sarah looked up and saw Shane watching her. She rolled her eyes and leaned against the RV to wait, out of sight of Shane, trying not to care what he thought about her and Rick, but she couldn't help the little feeling of dread from rising in her chest.

"Okay," Rick said as everyone minus Carol, Lisa, and the kids met outside, "we have about an hour or so trip ahead of us, putting us there about 1:00 or so. Let's stick close to each other like we have been. Use the radio if you need to stop for some reason." Everyone agreed. "Let's head to Ft Benning," he said, grabbing Sarah's hand and squeezing.

Twenty minutes later, the CB radio crackled to life. "Rick," John said, "looks like we may have a problem up ahead."

Rick let go of Sarah's leg and grabbed the radio. "What's the problem?"

"There's a pretty extensive traffic snarl. Lots of cars." Sarah glanced over her shoulder at Lori and Lisa, who were entertaining Olivia and Carl with a game of "What If?"

"Can we get through?" Rick asked, worry in his voice.

"We can try," he replied. "Glenn is using the binoculars to try and look ahead."

"Lead the way," Rick replied.

As they continued along the path, they saw what John was talking about. Numerous wrecked and abandoned cars as far as the eye could see - vans, trucks, cars, SUVs - all sitting empty, littered the highway. Sarah's stomach knotted up, her bad feeling returning full-force.

"What happened here?" Rick whispered out loud.

She shook her head. "Nothing good," she replied.

Just then, they heard a loud pop and whir sound and the RV behind them started smoking from the hood.

"We have a problem," came Shane's voice over the radio.

Rick rolled his eyes and lifted the radio to his mouth. "Yeah, I see that," he replied, sighing. "Let's stop for a minute."

Their caravan came to halt. "Stay here," Rick said to Lisa and Olivia. He gestured to Sarah, Carl, and Lori to follow him. Sarah turned and looked at Olivia and Lisa and smiled at them reassuringly.

"We'll be right back," she said and tried to reassure her daughter with a smile.

They met the others at the front of the RV. TDog and Andrea were already climbing on top of the RV to keep watch. Noah stood between Daryl and Christy. Sarah gestured to him and he came and stood in front of her. She put her arms around him, resting her hands on his chest and arms across his shoudlers.

"I told you this RV was on its last leg, didn't I tell you? The radiator hose is shot. I've repaired it so many times, it's more duct tape than anything," Dale was saying. "Now it's dead in the water!"

"Can you fix it?" Shane asked, frustrated. Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Well I don't know," Dale replied. "It's not like I can go to an auto parts store and buy…" he trailed off as he looked around. "Or I could take one from the truck over there."

Rick clapped him on the shoulder. "Good thinking, Dale."

"Ya know," Daryl spoke up, "we can prolly fin' a lotta stuff here. Food, gas, ammunition…" Everyone started nodding.

"I don't know how I feel about that," Lori spoke up. "This place is like a graveyard." Part of Sarah agreed, the other part thinking about all the stuff they could find for the kids.

"Well, it's not like people will be coming back for it," Shane sneered.

"No need to be an ass about it," Sarah spoke up, glaring at him.

He turned to her. "You just shu- "

"Enough," Rick cut him off, glaring at him as he stepped in front of Sarah protectively. "Let's split up and start looking. Find whatever we can use. Food, water, whatever. I will help keep watch. Be careful, don't go too far from the group." Rick stared Shane down as he walked away in a huff.

The rest of the group split up to look for supplies. Glenn took the screw driver from Dale and went to work on taking the radiator hose off of the truck while Dale climbed on top of the RV to keep watch.

"Sorry," Sarah murmured to Rick. He pulled her in for a quick hug, placing a kiss on her temple.

"Hey, don't worry about it. He's just being Shane."

"Yeah I know…its unfortunate." He smiled at her. "Noah and I will start checking cars over here," she said. He grabbed her arm lightly as she went to leave. She looked back at him.

"Please be careful," he gave her a look that made her heart hammer in her chest.

"Yes sir, officer," she replied.

He grinned. "I'll go move Lisa and Liv to the RV so they're safe."

She nodded. "Thanks, Rick." He waved as walked to the SUV. She and Noah made their way over to the nearest car and started looking through it.

"What happened to the owners of these cars?" he asked after a few minutes.

"I'm not sure, Noahbear. Maybe they ran to safety somewhere or a bus or military convoy picked them up and took them to Ft Benning. Can't be sure." He looked sad and she pulled him in for a hug. "Hey, it's okay, bud. I love that you're concerned about people. You have the biggest heart and I love you for it."

"Love you, too," he replied. She stroked his cheek.

"Hey, Noah," Daryl called to him. "Come look what I foun' over here." Noah looked up at her for permission.

Sarah nodded to him. "Go on." She smiled, attempting to calm his nerves and he smiled back before running off to join Daryl.

She looked through a few more cars, finding medications, a cooler of water bottles, a box of food and snacks, and some women's clothing she thought might fit Carol, Lori, and herself. As she searched the last car, two hands grabbed her roughly from behind and she turned to see Shane pulling her out of the front seat.

"What the hell, Shane?" she growled angrily. He put his fingers to his mouth and pointed. She looked down the road and saw hundreds of walkers making their way toward them.

"Holy shit," she whispered, panic taking over. "The kids!" Her heart started racing and she heard a whoosh in her ears.

"They're safe," he said as he pushed her down to the road. "Get under the car," he ordered.

She shook her head. "I have to find the kids and Mom and Rick!"

"Come on, woman!" He shoved her down and forced her under the car, her knees and elbows getting scraped.

"Ouch!" she whispered. He crawled under he car behind her, putting his arm around her waist and pulling her back to his front.

"Don't touch me!" she whispered.

"Shhh…I have to! It's the only way we fit to stay hidden." She opened her mouth to argue. "Olivia is on the RV with Lisa."

"Where's Rick?" she whispered. Shane let out a quiet scoff and Sarah bit her tongue so as not to respond. He pointed to a car a few feet away and she saw Rick under the RV with Glenn. Rick looked at her, his blue eyes showing his concern for them. Her eyes filled with tears as she heard the groans from the walkers coming closer. She pushed herself into Shane in an attempt to make herself smaller.

Rick held her gaze and mouthed the words "It's okay. Stay calm sweet girl."

She nodded. "Where's Noah?" she mouthed back.

"Daryl has him," he mouthed, pointing in the direction of where they were hiding.

She nodded. Shane pulled her closer as they saw the dragging feet of the first walkers reach them. Rick held her gaze through the field of walkers, willing her to keep calm and knowing how uncomfortable she was with being so close to Shane with all the danger around them. It felt like an eternity as the horde of walkers passed by, a few stragglers toward the end.

Both Rick and Shane started looking around a few minutes later to see if they were clear to move. A few more minutes passed by as the two men silently communicated. Rick nodded and Shane started to move.

They heard a scream.

"Noah!" Sarah yelled, scrambling from her position under the car, scraping her knees and elbows in the process. Her body ran cold with sheer panic. Rick and Shane shot out from under the cars. Rick pushed past Shane as he took off running between cars. "Rick!" she screamed. "Please get him!"

"Noah!" she yelled as she ran after Rick. Two walkers were chasing her son into the woods. "Noah!" she screamed again. Rick took off into the woods after them. Lisa, Dale, and Olivia came running off the RV in a panic, Olivia screaming and crying for her mom and brother. The rest of the group joined met up with them. Sarah went to jump over the guard rail to run after them, but Daryl grabbed her around the waist.

Shane picked Olivia up, but she was screaming for Sarah and Rick.

"Put me down!" she yelled, pulling at his arms, desperate to chase after her son. "Where were you? You were supposed to be watching him!" she yelled at him. "Let me go!"

"Ya stay here," he said gruffly into her ear. "I'll go. I'll find 'em." Daryl set her down and her legs gave out. She felt arms go around her waist and stop her from hitting the ground. She sobbed and tears sprang to her eyes.

Through her tears, she looked up and saw John holding on to her tightly. Lori threw her arms around them both. Christy grabbed Olivia from Shane as he took off running after Daryl. She watched as Daryl and then Shane disappeared into the woods after Noah and Rick.

She fell apart.