I single-handedly delayed the process of leaving Atlanta by a day, and for what? Nothing, as far as I could tell. My dad was still missing, and we were leaving for the C.D.C. in less than an hour. That night was probably the worst. I had ever experienced; I didn't sleep, the murky thoughts preventing me from getting the rest I desperately needed.

The looks I got the next morning were just as unbearable. When anybody came near me, I kept my eyes down and continued packing up my things. I couldn't speak to them, not now—not when they were making me leave the one thing I had left in this world. Glenn had tried asking about the house, whether anything had changed. All I could do was ignore him. He was partly responsible for me being here, and I couldn't take out the anger I was feeling on him. Glenn was too nice for me to be mean.

The truth was I didn't know these people, and they certainly didn't know me. And yet here I was, packing my things to travel halfway across the state with these strangers because the prospect of being alone was scarier than travelling with them.

I packed my things away quickly, tucking the tent and blanket away in the hidden storage units of the caravan. Anything else I kept in my yellow bag, like my water bottle, book and clothes. Random stuff. Everyone else had filled the cars to the brim, which would not be good for fuel consumption, but I knew there were no other alternatives.

Across the camp, Daryl had lowered the tailgate of his 1973 pickup. I assumed he was bringing the bike, so I went to help him. It would be heavy for him to lift alone, not that he would ever admit that.

I stopped him as he pushed the bike closer to the truck. Seeing the bike again reminded me of Merle. "Need any help?"

He didn't answer but nodded down the bike and squatted to get his hand under the body. I grabbed the handles, lifting the front up and into the truck's bed. Daryl pushed the back wheel up and rolled the bike forward with his other hand. He used the kickstand to keep the bike standing up and slammed the tailgate closed.

"Hand me that rope," Daryl pointed over the bike to some black webbing on the ground behind me. I nodded, grabbing the fabric and throwing one end over to Daryl. I assumed he was securing the bike, so I kept a hold of the other end while he worked. Seeing him packing his things was strange to me when he once seemed so devoted to finding Merle.

"I didn't realise you'd want to come to the C.D.C.," I spoke my thoughts aloud.

"For now," Daryl shrugged. "Ain't like I got much else to do."

I nodded absently.

Something Daryl said two days prior was still gnawing at the back of my mind, something I had wanted to ask about. He said that Merle should have stayed where he was, that they came right back for him. I wondered if I should have stayed and waited for my dad.

Daryl would probably be the only person that would give a straight answer if I asked. He knew the importance of family, and now I was being taken from mine. Daryl tightened the rope so it would hold the bike in place. Daryl dealt with that quickly and walked around to where I was standing, taking the webbing from me.

Just get it over with, I told myself.

"Can I ask you something?" The only reason I knew Daryl heard me was by the way he grunted, a dismissive tone that basically meant do whatever you want."I just . . . I don't know. Need an opinion, I guess? You're the only one who might get it."

Daryl made a frustrated noise and yanked on the strap, tightening the rope. "What is it?"

I asked, knowing that beating around the bush any longer would only annoy him. "You said Merle should've waited for you. Should I have waited?"

"For what?" He rolled his eyes.

"My dad," I clarified. Daryl stopped what he was doing when the rope was tight enough and stood up, staring at me for a moment as he thought about what I was asking. The squinted look he was giving was enough to give me anxiety. "He wouldn't just leave me! He was coming back. Should I have waited for him?"

"Nah," Daryl shook his head and walked around me. "Shit's different."

"How?"

Daryl shrugged. "Jus' is."

I wanted a better answer, but I knew how Daryl was. That was the best I would get, so there was no point in pushing for anything else. I understood that the situations were different between Merle and me, but maybe if I could wait a little longer, my dad would be there.

Or not.

I could just be waiting there forever, and maybe that's why Merle left. Perhaps he thought that no one was coming back for him, so he took off. My dad would stop at nothing to find me again, but maybe it had come to the point where he was no longer around to keep looking.

That's what made the situations different because, at the end of the day, Merle knew Daryl was alive, and he would come to find him. But with me? There was no way of knowing if my dad was still alive, and if I had stayed in the house, I would be alone. Completely alone. Even more so than I was now.

Daryl had his things packed in a few minutes, and I helped with it. I think he just accepted that I would help and let me do it.

"I think they're gettin' ready to leave," Daryl told me before nodding his head to the side. "C'mon."

He started walking over to join them, and I followed him. We stood around for a little while, waiting for someone to step up and tell us what was going on.

Shane finally took a step forward. "Everybody listen up. Those of you with CBs, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a CB, can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?"

Morales stepped forwards, and his head hung a little. "We're not going."

Miranda spoke after him. "We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people."

"You go on your own; you won't have anyone to watch your back," Shane stated.

"We'll take the chance," Morales said. "I gotta do what's best for my family."

"You sure?" Rick asked.

Morales nodded. "We talked about it. We're sure."

Rick and Shane turned to each other before nodding. Shane turned around, dug through his duffle bag, and handed them to Rick. Rick walked towards Morales, holding out a gun and an ammunition box.

"The box is half full," Shane said.

I heard Daryl scoff beside me, and I glanced over at him. He had turned around, muttering something under his breath.

"Thank you all . . ." Miranda said. "For everything."

She turned to hug Lori, who accepted and patted her on the back.

I heard the kids crying and looked over to see Sophia hugging Eliza. She handed Sophia her doll when they broke from the hug. Louis turned from his own hug with Carl and ran over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I hugged Louis back and Eliza when she ran over and copied her brother's actions.

"Bye," she told me before turning and walking to her mother.

"Bye, Ace," Louis followed his sister.

Rick, next to me, shook Morales's hand. "Channel 40 if you change your mind. All right?"

Morales nodded. "Yeah."

Morales and his family went to their car, gathering their last few things before leaving.

"What makes you think our odds are any better?" Shane asked quietly, looking at Rick. Before he could answer, Shane turned to the rest of the group. "Come on. Let's go. Let's move out."

I didn't like being in earshot of Shane's comment to Rick. I hadn't listened to any of the debates that Shane or Rick had about the next move, but I didn't realise that Shane was so unsure. It almost seemed like they weren't getting on recently, which confused me. As far as I was aware, they were best friends and police partners before the apocalypse. All they've done since Rick joined the group was butted heads.

Before anyone could step towards their vehicles, Jacqui clambered out of the motorhome. "Y'all, it's Jim . . . It's bad. I don't think he will make it the whole journey."

I felt bad for Jim, that there was nothing I could do to help. I pushed it to the back of my mind as the grownups talked to each other quietly. Rick entered the caravan to tell Jim that we would be leaving soon. While Rick was talking with Jim, all of the parents told their kids to go and wait in the cars. I could see Carl and Sophia talking in the back of Carol's Cherokee.

I looked to Daryl, who had just leaned back on the bonnet of his truck and was waiting to go. He was the only person I wanted to speak to right now. He was being dragged on this journey like me because we had no other choice. The only other option was to leave and be alone.

"Do you think there's still people?" I asked. "At the C.D.C., I mean."

Daryl shrugged. "Maybe. It's better than goin' all the way to Fort-fucking-Benning."

I frowned. "Is it that much further?"

Daryl stared at me for a moment, but it was a genuine question. I didn't know how far either of them was from the camp; I didn't know where they were on a map. My American geography was something to be desired.

Instead of berating me or something, he just said. "Somethin' like 15 times further. More if all the highways are piled up with cars. That's what most of the roads are like now."

"Oh," was all I could say.

Daryl straightened up when Rick left the caravan. Everyone watched and waited for Rick to say what was happening with Jim.

"He wants to be left here," Rick spoke, getting straight to the point. "He doesn't think he will make the whole trip."

"He said that?" Morales asked. "That he wants to stay here?"

Rick nodded. "It's what he says he wants."

"And he's lucid?" Carol was the next person to ask.

"He seems to be," Rick placed his hands on his belt. "I would say yes."

Dale took a step forward. "When I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood," I didn't remember Dale saying any of this, but it probably happened when they first found out Jim was bitten. "I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer."

Shane shook his head, scratching the back of his neck. "We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I'm not sure I could live with that."

Lori took a step forward.

"It's not your call," she then looked between Rick and Shane, "either one of you."

Shane nodded, rubbing the back of his head. "Let's bring him out then."

Rick and Shane both entered the caravan to bring Jim out. They each had one of his arms over their shoulder as they walked him out of the motorhome, and he looked almost dead. His eyes were practically closed, and he was very pale and sweating.

"Easy now, watch your step," Rick uttered as they helped him walk out of the motorhome.

Jim groaned as they rested him against the nearest tree. Everyone stood around but a bit further back than Shane or Rick.

"Hey, another damn tree," Jim chuckled.

Shane rubbed his hand over his face, kneeling in front of Jim. "Hey, you know it doesn't need to be this."

"No, it's good. The breeze feels nice."

Shane nodded, still unconvinced. "Okay. All right."

He stood up and moved away.

I couldn't say anything to him. Not without bursting into tears, knowing what would happen next. The fact that I delayed the trip to the C.D.C was the first thing that crossed my mind, and if there were people there working on a cure, they might be able to help Jim. But there was no guarantee of there actually being any cure. Or any people.

I followed Shane quickly down the hill.

As I walked, I heard Jacqui behind me. "Just close your eyes, sweetie. Don't fight."

I grabbed my yellow bag from the ground next to Daryl's truck and headed for the RV. Dumping my bag on the table, I sat down in the booth and waited for everyone to get in the cars and leave.

It was a few minutes before anyone left; I guessed they wanted the kids to say goodbye. Glenn came inside a few moments after me, sitting down in the passenger seat at the front of the RV. Jacqui was next, and she walked straight past me and into the bedroom, trying to hold back her tears before she passed.

Dale was the last person, coming in once everyone was in their vehicles and waiting to leave. "Is everyone ready?"

Nobody answered.

I took one last look down at the quarry before the cars ahead of Dale started moving, and he could follow behind them. Morales' car beeped as he turned down a different road as we made it to the exit junction.

We had barely been travelling for thirty minutes when the first thing went wrong. A loud bang came from the engine, which jerked the caravan. A hissing noise followed before a cloud of vapour rose in front of the windshield as we slowly crawled to a stop. The sudden change in speed made me look up from the book and towards the front of the vehicle.

"What happened?" Glenn asked hurriedly.

"That damn hose again," Dale exited the RV.

I stood up, moving to the door.

Rick passed me, giving me a small smile as he met with Dale at the front of the RV. "Problem, Dale?"

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose," Dale said. "I said I needed the one from the cube van."

I stepped out of the RV, walking to the front of the vehicle. Dale wafted his hat at the grill, blowing away the stream of steam that drifted from the engine.

Rick pressed his lips into a thin line. "Can you jerry-rig it?"

"That's all it's been so far," Dale complained. "It's more duct tape than hose."

Shane, who was looking down the road, spoke up. "I see something up ahead. A gas station if we're lucky," There was a moment of silence, but eventually, Shane spoke up. "Hey, Rick, you want to hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead, see what I can bring back."

"Yeah, I'll come along too, and I'll back you up," T-Dog nodded.

"Y'all keep your eyes open now," Shane ordered. "We'll be right back."

Before, I would have offered my help to fix the RV, but there was nothing I could really do without another hose, and Dale would be able to fix that himself. Instead, I turned back to the caravan.

I thought about getting my iPod out to listen to music or my book to read. As I started digging around in my bag, the stairs to the motorhome creaked as someone stepped inside. I looked up and saw Rick standing in front of me.

"Hey."

I looked at him for a moment, wondering whether he came in here for something or wanted to talk to me. "Hi."

His intentions became apparent when he sat down opposite me in the booth. I pulled my back from the middle of the table and plonked it down in the seat next to me.

"I don't know if you saw," he started, his voice even and soft, "but I left your dad a message on the car."

I didn't see that.

I had guessed that he meant the red Dodge Charger that had been left broken and dismantled in the middle of the camp. I saw him early that morning writing something, but I never got the chance to look at it before I started helping Daryl. After that, I just forgot to see what it said.

"I was writing one for the person I was telling everyone about, Morgan, and I thought that your dad should know that you were with us and safe."

The fact that Rick would do that for me made my heart melt. It was so sweet that I didn't even realise that my eyes were watering. Rick had been the one that was so adamant that I check the house, which proved to me how much he actually cared about what I was going through.

That was hard to see in some other people. If Shane cared, he never really showed it. Shane is very oriented around keeping the people in the group safe, and those are only the people who are physically there at that time. With the way he had acted over the past couple of days, I didn't see him caring about my dad that much.

"Thank you."

Rick glanced at the table, his expression gentle. "When I woke up from the coma and went back home, I knew Lori and Carl were alive because all of our pictures were gone. They took everything. And I knew that I would stop at nothing to find them. I know that your dad will do the same thing too."

I was starting to feel better, but I still had tears in my eyes that I had to wipe away. Rick had been through the same thing. He had to find his family like I did, and he was lucky enough to safely return to Lori and Carl. It was like he understood more personally because he didn't know if he would get back to his child.

I could only imagine what my dad was feeling.

"I realise you probably don't want to be here right now," I wiped a tear away as he spoke. "I get that. I just want you to know that you can come to me if you need anything, anything at all. You've done so much for my family, and I can never repay that. The least I can do for your family now is doing what I can to keep you safe."

I nodded. "Thank you, Rick."

Rick sat with me in silence until the car returned from the petrol station. When the engine's rumble grew closer to camp, he stood up to greet T-Dog and Shane. They had some more tape for Dale so he could quickly patch up the motorhome, and within a few minutes, we were back on the road.

To pass the time of the ride, I decided to read more of His Dark Materials. The world was encapsulating. It was a nicer reality than the one we were experiencing right now. The possibility of talking to animals, or dæmons as they were called in the book, took my mind off what could happen in our world.

The length of the drive seemed unreasonable to me, growing up in Britain, meaning that the longest we usually drove on holidays was two hours there and two hours back. When I moved to America, how long people spent driving was utterly different.

Obviously, the long journey wasn't only dull for me.

"Where is it?" Glenn questioned, leaning back in his seat.

Dale glanced down at the map on the dashboard. "We should be getting close. Not far now."

I leaned my head in my hand and stared out the window. The further we drove into the city, the more damaged the buildings came. It was how if pictured when I heard that Atlanta had been bombed, but it was more destruction than I had ever imagined.

The caravan slowed when we reached a junction blocked by cars, and Dale was careful when navigating through the obstacles. I kept my eyes on some of the trees that blocked the view of anything beyond when something in the background caught my eye. I leaned in closer, squinting to see what it was, until. . .

BANG!

A hand slammed down against the window, leaving a bloody print at the same level as my face. I let out a yelp, pushing myself away from the table and falling back onto the ground. I felt a hand on my upper arm but didn't take my eyes off the window.

"Are we sure we're going the right way?" Glenn asked. He was kneeling on the ground next to me, checking if I was okay. "I thought it was supposed to be safer here."

"That's what Rick said," Jacqui stated, an annoyed yet sad tone in her voice.

I frowned.

Anger rose in my chest, which outweighed the fear. I wanted to shout at her. Nobody knew where it was safe anymore, and clearly, the campsite wasn't, so we had to leave. If it were safe, I would have stayed in the house back in the town and waited for my dad. But even I knew that I wouldn't make it alone, not with the dead things at least.

Glenn helped me to my feet, and I took my eyes off the window, and I moved to the front of the motorhome. The front wasn't much different; I had more views of the bodies lying in the streets.

Then I saw it.

My mouth fell open at the site of the building in front of me. It was in shambles. There was smoke rising from the cracks in the rubble. The entire city behind was in ruins like it was bombed or something.

I looked back at the nearest building.

"Is that the—?" I couldn't even finish my question before I noticed a sign on the side of the broken road.

CENTRE FOR DISEASE CONTROL.

The C.D.C.

"Oh my God," Jacqui gasped.

Glenn was next to speak, his voice horrified. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Dale answered.

The cars pulled to a stop in front of the motorhome, and people stepped out of the vehicles. Dale put the caravan in neutral and switched the ignition off. He opened the door to join the grown-ups congregating outside.

Jacqui followed behind him, wiping at the corner of her eyes before she left the motorhome.

Glenn said. "I'm going to see what's going on."

I nodded, and when Glenn stood up to leave the vehicle, I sat down where he was sitting. The group gathered around Carol's car, which Rick was using for the time being.

Some of them looked pissed off, which I partly understood. All the travelling to get to a building that had been blown up. But there was no way that Rick could have possibly known that the C.D.C. was gone, just like we didn't know if the military base in Fort Benning was still standing.

They argued back and forth for a little while. The window next to me was open, and I could hear what they were saying as they were just in front of the caravan.

"We don't have the fuel," Shane sent a glare in Rick's direction.

I shifted over to the driver seat of the motorhome and looked down at the fuel gauge. It seemed like an older model, so the reading would still show even if the engine had been switched off. It read just below half, which wouldn't be enough to get to Fort Benning if it was as far as Daryl said. Motorhomes aren't fuel-efficient, with the less than streamlined shape of the vehicle, meaning that the camper would just eat diesel.

"We have friends in Atlanta," Rick stated, his hands resting on his belt.

"Who?" Lori asked.

"Guillermo and his people."

"The ones that kidnapped Glenn?" Shane asked, eyebrows raised.

Kidnapped Glenn?

I certainly missed a lot around camp when they were cleaning the bodies, but this was not what I was expecting when I heard about the people in Atlanta. They must have ended up okay because Glenn was unharmed, and Daryl only had a few bruises. I didn't understand where he even got bruised until now.

"We gave him some of the guns; it ended on good terms," Rick explained. "They'd let us stay, at least for a little while. It'll give us enough time to gather some more supplies."

Carol pressed her lips into a thin line. "So we can follow another fantasy?"

Again, this made me mad, but I couldn't say anything now.

"We don't have another option right now," Shane rubbed the back of his neck. "We can't stay out here. Especially not at night."

I frowned when I saw movement behind the group. My eyes widened when I saw a walker shambling out between the cars. But it wasn't just one. I couldn't count them before I pushed myself to my feet and ran to the caravan's door.

I shouted to the group: "WALKERS!"

Their heads snapped to where I pointed, and they all backed away quickly. Shane pulled out his shotgun and started barking orders to the rest of the group.

"Everyone get in the cars!" He yelled. "Follow the Cherokee to the nursing home!"

They all dashed back to their vehicles. Dale rushed past me, starting up the engine. Glenn and Jacqui ran into the caravan, closing the door behind them. I could see the rest out of the front window. Shane only had to shoot one of them in the head before everyone was in the cars. He ran back to his own car, parked behind the caravan.

The Cherokee started moving, and Dale followed behind it as it made a U-turn and drove away from the oncoming walkers.

The nursing home was hidden behind what looked like a line of abandoned warehouses. The walls were plastered with graffiti, some bubble letters of curses or symbols. One of the first things I noticed was when I hopped out of the motorhome.

"What makes you think they'll take us in?" Andrea asked, walking around the vehicle to join the rest of the group.

"With all the guns we gave 'em, they'll probably throw us a party," Daryl said sarcastically before turning to Rick. "Good call, for once."

Rick ignored his comment, leading everyone past a broken wall and through some broken windows. He jumped through first, followed by Daryl, Shane and T-Dog. I waited for a few more people to jump through, and as I reached the window, Rick held his hand out to me.

"Careful," he said, and I grabbed his hand. "Watch the glass."

I jumped down and released Rick's hand before following the group through the broken-down buildings. Glancing around at all the rubble, a frown made its way onto my face. "Was it always like this?"

"Yeah," Daryl said.

My eyebrows raised, and I stared at him, somewhat hopeful. Daryl didn't even look back over his shoulder and certainly didn't put any effort into explaining what he meant. Rick gave a nod as he walked past me.

"They're staying in the nursing home behind these buildings," he patted my shoulder and led me towards an opening between two construction site walls. "This way."

When we turned the corner, my eyes widened at the sight of walkers eating the corpses of who I assumed to be Guillermo's people. I stopped a little behind Rick. Glenn moved past me, a gun in his hands.

Everyone just stared until one of the walkers noticed us standing there. Rick muttered something to himself, taking a step forward and pulling out his gun. The moment he took a shot, some of the others joined him to take out the rest of the walkers.

It took seconds to kill all the walkers. When they were all gone, Rick looked back at the group. "Okay, it's this way. Come on! Let's go!"

He jogged further into the abandoned buildings, his gun still wielded in his hand. Everyone ran after him as he made his way to the nursing home. There were a set of double doors at the front of the building already open. In the first hallway, I saw some more bodies.

"Keep your voices down. Let's go," Shane whispered.

I frowned and kept my eyes on the ground, not wanting to look at the blood or bodies anymore, but I wasn't the only one who was getting upset. Sophia started crying behind me at the sight of the dead bodies, and Carol tried to quieten her down with shushes.

"Put a sock in it!" Daryl whispered harshly.

"You leave her alone," Carol retorted in a quiet voice.

"Either shut her up, or I will!"

"Back the hell off, I mean now!" Lori snapped. When Daryl had stopped yelling, she turned to look at Rick. "Are we staying or going?"

Rick shook his head. "We don't have the fuel."

"We hunker down for the night," Shane agreed. "Rick, you, me and Daryl will sweep the building; make sure we're alone. The rest of you barricade those doors."

Andrea and T-Dog ran off to one of the rooms, pulling out a stretcher. I followed Glenn into another room to grab one of the two chairs. I waited for them to put the stretcher in front of the door before piling a chair on top of the stretcher. Glenn did the same as me.

Everyone went out to grab more things to add to the barricade. We waited by the door for the other group to finish the barricade when it was completed.

"Get down!" T-Dog whispered.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me to kneel on the ground. I looked around, and everyone else was kneeling behind the door before I heard the quiet sound of groaning outside. I closed my eyes, letting out a deep breath and hoping that the walker didn't hear us.

It hung around for a few seconds before the groaning finally stopped. T-Dog peaked up and over the door, ensuring the walker was gone before he stood up.

"Quick," T-Dog stood up. "This way."

There was this big room at the back of the nursing home, where we waited for Rick, Shame and Daryl to join the group. The room was littered with dead bodies, and I had to wait nearer to an empty corner. This was all becoming too much.

Rick finally returned, looking between the group. "Upstairs is our best bet; we've cleared out a few rooms and can barricade the others if we have to. We'll be alright."

Carol glared at him. "Do you mean it this time? Or are you lying like all the times before?"

"That's unfair," Lori scolded, "and no help at all."

"What the hell happened?" Glenn questioned, looking around the room.

I glanced over but still could barely look at the dead people.

"What do you think?" Andrea asked sarcastically. "They got overrun."

Daryl scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Got something to say?" Andrea questioned.

"Yeah," he snapped. "Try observant."

She rolled her eyes. "Observant? That's a big word from a guy like you. Three whole syllables."

"Walkers didn't do this. Geeks didn't show up until all this went down. Someone attacked this place, killed all these people, and took whatever they wanted. They're all shot in the head, execution-style. You're worried about geeks? I'd be more scared about whoever came and did all this."

"They ransacked the kitchen; all we could find was one can," Rick kneeled down to hand it to Glenn. Glenn reached in his bag, pulling out a tin opener. He started working on opening the can.

Daryl glanced over at him. "So, we came back for cough drops and . . . garbanzo beans?"

"Is there any water?" Sophia asked.

Shane nodded, reaching into his bag.

"Here," he stood up, walking over to where Sophia was sitting and handing the bottle to her. "Don't drink too much; that's gotta go around for everyone."

"What else you got in there?" Andrea asked.

Shane reached into his bag, pulling out a few packets of crisps. He held one up to show everyone and shook it in his hand. "Salty snacks, courtesy of that gas station on the way to the C.D.C. Thought I'd be eating them in the C.D.C., I didn't realise it would be dinner."

He threw the packet across the room, and it landed in Glenn's lap. Shane reached in his bag before pulling out more packs, throwing one each to the small groups across the room. He slid one across the floor, which skidded to me, hitting the side of my converse trainer.

I grabbed it, placing it on the ground next to me. With everything that happened today, I could barely even think about eating.

"Got this too. . ." Shane reached into his bag and pulled out a bottle of wine. "Also bought from the gas station."

"Are you going to share?" Daryl questioned.

"With everything you've done for the group, I'm going to go ahead and be nice to you from now on," Shane nodded, handing the bottle to Daryl.

Daryl held the bottle for a second. "I do think I earned the first swallow."

"Go easy on that," Lori ordered. "Let's not forget where we are."

"Yes, ma'am," Daryl answered but continued opening the wine bottle as though she'd said nothing. Daryl muttered a low booyah when the cork finally popped out of the bottle, and everyone chuckled.

Dale walked around the room, handing out all the paper plates of beans that Glenn had separated. Lori, sitting across the room from me, stood up next to Rick.

"What's next?" She asked quietly, "We need to decide."

Shane shrugged his shoulders before saying: "Fort Benning, Rick."

Rick nodded.

"Fort Benning," Lori agreed.

Rick exhaled, his eyes closing for a second. "I should have listened to you, Shane. Would have saved us a lot of grief if I had."

"Who would do all this?" Glenn asked from the ground. He seemed highly disturbed, and I wasn't sure why until he continued speaking. "Come in here and murder everybody, even all the old people. How sick is that?"

"Is this something we need to be discussing right now?" Lori questioned, glaring at Glenn.

"Let's all try to get some sleep, yeah?" Shane questioned.

Shane tapped Glenn's leg with his foot and nodded to the door.

Jacqui stood up abruptly. "I think I'm going to stay in the other room tonight."

She walked to the door before anyone could stop her and turned to walk down the hallway.

After finally choking down the rest of my beans, I placed the paper plate on the shelf next to me. I dragged the yellow bag across the floor to use as a pillow. I found it difficult to fall asleep with everyone else in the room, but with how tired I felt, everything finally faded to black.

Some of the new chapters may be coming slower because I keep getting more ideas to add as I reread them and they are also getting a little longer, so I thank you all for the patients you will probably have to show.

Please leave comments, I love reading them, and I hope you enjoyed!