"So it was just you and Beth after?" Carol asks from the back.

"Yeah," Daryl answers, his eyes fixed on the road.

"You save her?"

"She's tough. She saved herself," he says. After a pause, he adds, "We were out there for a while. We got cornered, she got out in front of me and I don't know, she was gone. I came out and a car's pullin' out with a white cross on the window."

"Just like that one?" she asks, pointing.

"Yep."

"Rick's gonna wonder where we went," I say, glancing back the way we came through the rear view mirror.

"Tank's runnin' low..." Daryl mutters.

"We can end this quick. Just run him off the road," Carol says.

"Nah, we're good for a bit."

"If they're holding her somewhere, we can get it out of the driver," she argues.

"Yeah, but if he don't talk, we're back to square one," he counters.

"Right now, we've got the advantage," I say.

"We'll see who they are. If they're a group, see what they can do," he says.

"And then we'll do what we've gotta do to get her back," I finish.

"They're heading north, I-85," Carol notices.

Something pricks in my mind, and I bite my lip. What was the I-85 leading to? My question is answered in a moment as the car heads into the barren wasteland of Atlanta.

My breath hitches in my throat and I grip the seat, my knuckles white. Daryl glances over at me, and I can almost sense him asking me if I'm ok.

I give a short nod and take a deep breath, watching the road again.

We keep driving, and I focus on the car ahead of us. I want nothing more than to tuck away all memories of my old home away in the back of my mind, although, now that we're here, that may prove difficult.

"What the hell's he waiting for?" Daryl asks as the car ahead of us stops.

Our ride slows, and we wait another moment. The car ahead of us shuts of, and the passenger side opens. A man climbs out, looking around.

"There's two of them," I say. "Someone's driving."

"Is that a cop?" Daryl squints his eyes, studying the form ahead of us.

Carol pulls her gun out, glancing between us.

"They might've seen us," she says simply.

We wait as the man walks away, down one of the side streets. We wait patiently, and something slams against my window.

I jump, but quickly recover upon seeing that it's only a walker. My fingers brush my knife handle, and I wish I could kill it.

The man returns to the car and climbs in. It starts up, and Daryl turns the key. The engine makes a pitiful whirring noise, but doesn't start.

"Aw, shit! Tank's tapped," he groans, running a hand through his hair.

"They'd have taken the bypass and they didn't. They must be holed up in the city somewhere," I comment, pointing to the different routes as I say it.

"We gotta move, find someplace to hole up till sunlight," he says.

"I know a place just a couple of blocks from here. We can make it," Carol says. She looks at me. "Unless your old apartment is closer..."

"No." I shake my head immediately. "Too close to the centre of the city."

"A'ight, lead the way," Daryl says as I roll down the window and kill the idiot at the window.

We leave the car and take off down the silent roads, Carol leading the way. Daryl stays by my side, and I look at the desolate buildings crumbling all around us. How many times had I taken the bus to these stores? How many times had I walked these streets among countless nameless strangers?

We reach the building Carol spoke of, only running into a few deadheads along the way. She points to the door, and Daryl starts hacking at it while we keep watch.

"There's more coming," I warn, referring to the walkers whose groans I can hear starting to fill the empty cold of the dark street.

"I almost got it," he grunts. The door pops open a moment later.

"Come on," Carol says urgently.

We walk through the halls, following in her light footsteps. We come across a fallen walker, and Daryl snags the keys from its belt.

"You used to work here or somethin'?" he asks as we enter another little room.

"Something," she answers.

I help her shove a desk across one of the doors, and Daryl puts his flashlight in his mouth so that he can hold his crossbow steady.

Carol unlocks the door and heads down one more dark hallway. The beam of light falls on bathrooms and curtains, and we get to a small room with a bunk bed in it. A book on treating survivors of child abuse sits on the one desk, and Daryl and I both see it before returning our attention to Carol.

"What's this place?" Daryl asks.

"It's temporary housing," she answers.

"You came here?" I ask softly.

"We didn't stay."

We fall into silence, and I pull off my leather jacket, hanging it over the chair. I'm wearing a black t-shirt underneath, a tattered thing that reads "Survivor" in big letters. I think it's supposed to be a band t-shirt, but I appreciate the irony in it.

Daryl shrugs off his vest, placing it with my jacket before pulling off his own, leaving him in just his sleeveless shirt.

"I'll take the top bunk. I think that one's more your style," Carol says after a moment.

Daryl and I nod, and I once again feel the fatigue that I felt back at the church. I had almost forgotten it in the rush of these last few hours.

"You should sleep. I'll take first watch," she says, heading towards the door.

"This is locked up pretty tight," he mentions as I settle onto the bed, kicking off my boots.

"I know."

"Then we're good," he presses.

"I'll keep first watch," she repeats. "I don't mind."

"Suit yourself."

He shrugs, settling onto the bed next to me. I yawn again, feeling my eyes growing heavy. Daryl pulls me closer to him, giving my forehead a kiss as I rest my head on his shoulder.

"Get some sleep angel," he whispers.

I smile and close my eyes, drifting off immediately.

Daryl's POV

Hope falls asleep instantly, and I lift her into my lap. She's been working so hard lately, hardly getting enough sleep. She smiles lightly, curling up tighter against my chest. Her warm breath tickles my neck, and I smile lightly.

"You said we get to start over," Carol says after a moment, turning to look at me from the window.

"Yeah."

"Did you?"

I tense, biting my lip. Part of me is really glad Hope is asleep, so she doesn't have to sit and listen to our memories of abuse. Sure, she'd understand, but she doesn't need that weight placed on her.

"I'm tryin'," I answer, my voice soft. She nods and looks back at the window. "Why don't you say what's really on your mind?"

"I don't think we get to save people anymore."

"Then why are you here?"

She pauses, turning and giving me a weak smile. "I'm trying."

She walks to the bed and sits next to me, avoiding Hope's feet. She glances quickly from her to me.

"When we were out by the car...what if we didn't show up?" I ask.

"I still don't know," she answers.

Hope makes a soft noise, and I lift her off my lap and lay her on the bed, tucking her beneath the soft pink blanket.

Something thumps outside, and we get up, leaving her to sleep. We grab our weapons and head down the hallway, turning around a separate corner. Two silhouettes stand behind closed glass doors; the full grown shape of a female walker, and a smaller form; a child.

Carol's shoulders droop slightly and she moves slowly towards the door.

"You don't have to," I say, stopping her. She reaches for the handle, but I put my hand on it first. "You don't."

"Fine," she mumbles after a moment, turning and heading back to the room.

I sigh, glancing back at the two walkers. That poor kid probably had enough pain in life already.

I follow Carol, and when I get back in she's on her bed already, staring up at the ceiling. I place my crossbow down, and she doesn't look at me.

I mumble a goodnight to her and climb into the bed, pulling Hope close to me, breathing in the scent of her hair as I tuck her head under my chin. The child walker, and children in general, stick in my mind.

As I look at my wife, I want nothing more than for a place where she can be safe and raise a family; a place that I could come home to everyday and she'd have supper cooking, and that little girl from my dream, Taylor, playing with the dog in the living room. I know we'd have a dog. Hope loves them.

I kiss her softly, and she snuggles closer to my chest as I slowly fall asleep.