Beth

"Whereee arreee theyyyy?"

My body shakes and my eyes are wide, I slap a hand over my mouth to keep quiet. More whispers float above us.

"We're almost thereeeee."

"Stayyyy. Find themmm. Don'ttt lettt themmm get awayyyy."

The herd passes us but Aaron and I stay glued to where we are. Too terrified to move. Eventually I will myself to sit up. I glance around and keep my ears open to make sure nothing or no one is around. Aaron sits up too. I hear a twig snap. I gasp and look in the direction of the noise.

"Beth…" Aaron says cautiously.

"Yeah?" My gaze meets his.

His face is kind and his eyes are understanding. "It's gonna be okay." He hesitates before he adds. "I heard them too."

I nod even though I'm unsure as to why he said that. Maybe he's just trying to let me know I'm not crazy. Or maybe he's checking to see if he's not crazy. Whatever the reason, it's good to know I'm not hearing things. I don't allow my mind to wander. We gotta move. "Stay low and follow me."

It doesn't take me long at all to locate the tracks of the herd. I follow them until I see them split off into two different directions.

"Some went that way." I point to our left.

Aaron confirms my suspicions. "That's the way to Alexandria."

I point to our right. "The rest went this way. They're probably circling around to find us."

"What do we do?" Aaron asks.

"I don't know." I shrug and wonder aloud. "If they can speak, who knows what else they can do?"

Daryl

We pull up on a bunch of cars blocking the road. "Shit dick." Abraham huffs.

There ain't no way around them unless we go on foot. Ain't no way that's happenin'. It's clear this pile up was intentional. Wonder when the wolves coulda pulled this off? With no way through, we take a detour.

We have to backtrack five miles to get on another road that'll take us home. When we get three miles out, we hit another blockade. Instead of cars, this time it's walkers. They're strung together by their intestines, three rows deep. Eight total lined up side by side in each row. It reminds me of those paper cut outs my art teacher showed us in school. She folded some paper made a few cuts and then unfolded her creation to reveal people holdin' hands. Cept, now, the walkers in front of us ain't holding hands. Their arms have been cut off, the only thing connecting them is their insides all knotted together. The walkers on the end are held in place by ropes and chains to the nearby trees.

Abe stops the truck and we all just stare ahead at the walkers for a minute. "Bitch nuts."

He turns to us. "I say we make like Moses and part the literal dead sea." Glenn, Sasha and I look at each other and come to the silent conclusion that it probably is our best option. We nod to each other and then to him. He smiles wide. "Let's dance."

We get outta the car and pull our knives. Abraham takes the left, I take the right and Sasha and Glenn take the middle. We dispense of the first eight walkers easily. The next row is a lil more rowdy than the first and try to get at us. The sounds of groans and blades and grunts fill my ears as we finish clearing the obstacle. Some walkers stumble outta the woods toward us. They ain't close 'nough to be a problem but Abraham goes to take care of em anyway.

Glenn yells after him. "Just leave them."

Abe hollers back. "Loose ends make my ass itch."

I roll my eyes and get back in the truck with Sasha. A few minutes later, Abe is back in the driver's side smilin' like a deranged idiot. More than annoyed, Sasha digs at him. "You ready now? Can we go?"

Abraham's smile remains. "I was born ready darlin'." His foot hits the gas and the truck bounces as he runs over all the walkers we cleared. I take note that the sun is low in the sky. It's late afternoon. We should be back to Alexandria before nightfall. I close my eyes and say a quick prayer to the man upstairs that we ain't too late.

Beth

Part of me wants to stay out here and look for Daryl and Glenn and the others. It's why we're out here to begin with. They may need our help. Maybe they came across these new walkers. Maybe they came across a group. They should have been back by now.

But… things have changed. The tower fell which means a piece of the wall is down too. The herd is now inside Alexandria. Most of them aren't capable enough to handle themselves. They can't protect each other. Not like Daryl, Glenn, Sasha, Abraham and Nicholas can. Plus Maggie's there. Alone. Pregnant. She doesn't need to be fighting off walkers if she can help it. Plus the stress of it all probably isn't good for her or the baby. We gotta get home and help. Maybe after we find a car and lead the walkers away, we can look for Daryl, Glenn and the others… if they aren't back yet. I gotta have faith. Now more than ever.

We all got jobs to do. Daddy's voice reminds me gently in the back of my mind. There's no time for fear or worry. Right now, my job is to find a car.

Aaron finally speaks. "We could go back to that neighborhood to find a car but if l'm being honest, I want to be as far as possible from those walkers looking for us."

"I don't think we should go back. Do you think there are other chances to find cars between here and Alexandria?" I ask hopefully.

He nods. "There should be. We still have a ways to go and from what I can remember that wasn't the only residential area around here."

"Okay then. Let's keep moving towards home." I stand and start walking the way the other walkers went. Aaron follows but glances over his shoulder every couple of steps. It takes us about 20 minutes to find more houses, but unfortunately all the cars are gone. We check every house, every garage but there is nothing. The street we're searching leads to the main road. Aaron and I both agree that we might have more luck finding a car off the main road than just wandering in the woods from neighborhood to neighborhood. The last house has a scooter in the garage but we decide against taking it. The Vespa doesn't have a lot of gas in the tank and from what I can remember about the mode of transportation, the gas tank is tiny. If we took it, we wouldn't get far.

We walk on the side of the road so we can take cover in the treeline if we need to. According to Aaron, this road leads home. The sun is getting low in the sky and I can only hope we make it before dark. As we climb the small incline of the hill before us, my stomach growls. Aaron smiles and hands me a granola bar which I gladly accept. I eat half and hand him the other half, insisting he eat some too. Reluctantly, he agrees. He smiles at me but I can see the exhaustion all over his features. I am sure I don't look any better. I haven't been sleeping well without Daryl. I remember my reflection in the mirror this morning. Dark circles under my eyes and hair looking dull. I looked ten years older. I feel ten years older too. My whole body hurts. My legs and feet ache with each step. I sigh in relief as we reach the top of the hill, only to have my heart plummet at the sight in front of me.

No wonder we couldn't find any cars, they are all here.

A barricade of cars block the road about a quarter mile from us. No vehicle can pass it unless it's a motorcycle or something. Aaron and I exchange worried glances to each other. Who did this? Deep down I know the answer to that question already. The Wolves. Why did they do this? Are they trying to keep the herd in? Or are they trying to keep our people who went on the mission out? How are we gonna lead the herd away now?

"We could try moving the cars?" Aaron suggests quietly.

I study the scene before me. Some of the cars look like they are in rough shape, but it is doable. It's gonna take a while to move all the cars. It's worth a try. Once the road is clear, we can take one or two to Alexandria to help lead the herd away. It's not like we got any better options. "Let's do it."

There are 10 cars blocking the road. Aaron and I both climb into two different cars, deciding to divide and conquer to speed things along. I am surprised to find the keys still in the ignition. "The keys are still in this one!" I shout to him happily.

"This one too!" Aaron hollers back.

I turn the key and the engine cranks but doesn't turn over. I try again. Same thing. I try one more time but it still won't turn over. I climb out of the car and walk to the car in front of mine to Aaron. The engine is sputtering in his car but doesn't start either. I watch him turn the key again with no success.

"Lemme guess. Your car won't start either." I say dryly.

He nods and gets out of the vehicle. "Let's try a few more."

I can tell he's trying to be optimistic but he and I both know they probably won't start either. We try two more and get the same results. Aaron pops the hood of one of the cars and studies the parts in front of him. "Do you know what you're looking for?"

His eyebrows are furrowed in concentration. "Vaguely."

I watch him intently. I don't know anything about cars aside from how to change a tire and hot wiring. Aaron's eyes finally hone in on something. "There. See that?" He points to a box along the side that has some numbers on it and what looks like buttons. I nod. "It's missing the fuel pump fuse." He pauses looking at me. "It makes the car not start. Keeps the fuel from getting to the engine. I bet they took them all out." He turns to the next car beside us. "Here. Pop the hood to this one." I do as he says and sure enough no fuse.

We check under all the hoods to be sure and they all are missing their fuel pump fuses. There's no way to move the cars without them. "Looks like we're gonna be hoofing it."