BETSY LAY ON top of the RV, listening to music on the walkman her uncle, Daryl, had found on a walker. She was supposed to be watching for walkers while Dale used the bathroom, but ended up staring up at the clouds slowly inching by. They almost reminded her of her own life. Slowly inching by.

"I thought I told you to keep watch," Dale said, climbing up the ladder to the top of the RV. His voice was kind as always. Betsy sat up and looked at Dale.

"Yeah, but it's so boring!" She exclaimed, taking the headphones off her ears. "When's Morales coming back from Atlanta? He said he'd teach me how to speak Spanish. Liar."

"Now, I'm sure they'll all be back soon," he said, sitting down in the lawn chair he'd set up there. "Aren't you excited to see your dad? He'll be back too."

"Is anyone excited to see my dad?" Betsy said, raising an eyebrow. "He'll be like 'Oh Betty, why don't you go get your daddy a beer?' Even though he knows full well we don't have any fucking beer. I hate when he calls me Betty."

"Hey, language." Dale shook his head.

Betsy was ready to give a snarky reply when she was cut off by some kind of alarm sounded, echoing throughout the hills. She quickly recognised it as a car alarm.

"Here, give me the binoculars!" Dale exclaimed and Betsy took them off of her neck. She watched as Shane ran up to the side of the RV.

"Talk to me, Dale!" He shouted up.

"I can't tell yet," Dale said.

Betsy hurried down from the RV rooftop and began to run towards the road where the car alarm was coming from, but a boy, about a year older than Betsy, Georgie Peletier, held her back.

"Let me go!" Betsy screamed, kicking her legs as Georgie picked her up to prevent her from running into the road.

"You're gonna get hurt!" Georgie exclaimed.

"Is it them?" A girl, Amy, asked worriedly. "Are they back?"

The red car, still beeping loudly, pulled up and stopped a couple feet away from Betsy and Georgie.

"Lemme go, lemme go, let me go!" Betsy screamed again before kicking Georgie in the shin.

"Ow! Hey!" Georgie exclaimed, letting Betsy go. A proud look on her face, Betsy ran up to the car, Georgie following close behind, trying to make sure the younger girl didn't get hurt.

"Georgie, get back here!" Georgie's mom, Carol, yelled at him.

Glenn stepped out of the car, only to be met by Besty practically tackling him to the ground.

"Holy crap, turn that damn thing off!" Dale yelled at Glenn.

"I don't know how!" Glenn yelled back. He stood up, Betsy still clinging onto him, while Amy bombarded him with questions about her sister, Andrea. "She's okay, she's okay! Everybody's okay!"

"Where is everybody?" Georgie asked.

"They're coming."

"Are you crazy, driving this wailing bastard up here?" Shane asked Glenn as he turned off the alarm. "Are you trying to draw every walker for miles?"

"I think we're okay," Dale said, looking around.

"You call being stupid okay?"

"Well that alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source." Shane looked at Dale, a disapproving look on his face. "I'm not arguing. I'm just sayin'. It wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?"

"Sorry," Glenn said. "Got a cool car."

"Where is everybody?" Georgie asked again.

"Yeah! Where's my dad? And Dally?" Only a second after Betsy spoke, a moving truck pulled up behind the red car.

Betsy's older cousin, Dally, was the first to emerge from the truck, an unenthusiastic expression plastered on his face, although it wasn't exactly a rare one for him.

"Here ya go," he said, tossing a small box to Besty, and walking past her before she could even inspect it a little more.

She carefully opened it up to reveal a compact case containing a length of magnetic tape that ran between two small reels. "What's this?" She questioned, catching up to Dally.

"Jeez, kid. You don't know what a cassette tape is? You got that whole walkman Dad got ya."

"Well I never opened it," Betsy said defensively.

"Uh-huh." Dally rolled his eyes and entered the tent he shared with Merle, Betsy and Daryl. "I can show ya how to put it in later," his muffled voice came from inside the tent. "And also, your dad ain't' comin' back."

"What?"

"I'm sleepin', fuck off." He replied, providing no more answers. Betsy rushed off back to the truck, desperately trying to figure out what her cousin meant.

"Hey!" Betsy shouted. A man dressed in a sheriff's outfit, who was hugging Carl, Georgie, and Lori, looked up at Betsy. "Where's my dad?"

"Well, who's your dad?" The man asked, standing up, Carl in his arms.

"The only person missing, numbnut!" Betsy exclaimed. "Who even are you?"

"My name is Rick Grimes," the man, Rick, said, setting Carl down. "'You Merle's daughter? Betsy, right? Dally mentioned you."

"Yeah, where is he?" Betsy asked again, placing her hands on her hips.

"I'm sorry, we had to leave him." Rick placed a hand on Betsy's shoulder.

Betsy was silent for a moment, taking in the information. "Oh." Her father was gone. She wouldn't ever see him again. Two conflicting emotions filled her stomach– celebration, and fear. What would she do without him? "He ain't comin' back?"

"I'm sorry," Rick said again, not exactly answering Betsy's question.

Betsy simply nodded her head a bit and headed to her tent where Dally was sleeping. She sat on her sleeping bag for a second before reaching into her pillow case and pulling out a picture of her, Dally, Daryl, and her dad standing in front of a lake after they'd just gone fishing. It was one of the only times that Merle did something fatherly with her.

"I know how it feels," Dally said from the other side of the tent. Betsy turned to look at the older boy only to see he wasn't even facing her. "Don't let anyone treat ya different 'cause of it, 'kay?"

"Okay."

❂  ❂  ❂

     BETSY, AFTER SPENDING the past few hours in her tent, finally came out to sit by the fire. She made her way over to Dally, who was sitting next to Glenn and the Grimes family.

"What're y'all gonna to do 'bout my dad?" Dally asked the group as Betsy sat down next to him. "He's gonna be mad about Merle."

"I'll tell him. I dropped the key, it's on me," T-Dog said, staring into the fire.

"I cuffed him. That makes it mine." Rick replied.

"Guys, it's not a competition," Glenn said. "I don't mean to bring race into this, it might sound better coming from a white guy."

"What about Dally?" Betsy asked.

"What about me?" Dally replied, looking at Betsy.

"You're Daryl's son. He won't get mad at you," she said.

"Oh, hell no."

"Why not?"

"I just don't want to."

"But why?"

"Just leave it, Betsy," Dally said and got up, heading back to their tent.

After a moment of silence Amy spoke up. "We could lie," she said.

"Or tell the truth." Andrea replied. "Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed." She looked at Lori. "Your husband did what was necessary. And if Merle got left behind, it's nobody's fault, but Merle's."

"That's what we tell Daryl?" Dale raised an eyebrow.

"My uncle's gonna be mad no matter what we tell him when he gets back from his hunt." Betsy mumbled.

"I was scared, and I ran," T-Dog said. "I'm not ashamed of it."

"We were all scared. We all ran. What's your point?" Andrea asked.

"I stopped long enough to chain that door," T-Dog said. "Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it. It's not enough to break through that. Not that chain. Not that padlock. My point– Dixon's alive. He's still up there handcuffed to that roof. That's on us."

"He- he's alive?" Betsy asked slowly. 

She didn't know whether or not to be relieved that her dad might still be alive.