The sun rose over the still city, light sweeping over the buildings and chasing shadows away. Despite all the death within the city, the sun's rays reflected blindingly off the glass and brought all to life. The sun continued to brighten all it touched, reaching the countryside. Annie was sitting on the ground, arms resting on her knees. She couldn't help but watch the sunrise that morning, even though that wasn't why she was on the hill. No, the reason she was on the hill was working on their purpose. After a rough night of everyone sleeping in their cars and, in Annie's case, cramped in the RV with four other people, Rick found her and told her he was going to try to radio Morgan. There wasn't even if a question of whether or not she'd join him, he just knew. So there they were; her sitting and watching a new day dawn, and him fiddling with the radio until it finally turned on and a burst of static broke the serene calm.

"Morgan, I don't know if you're out there," Rick began, taking a knee beside Annie. "I don't know if you can hear me. Maybe you're listening right now, I hope so. I found others. My family, if you can believe it." The pair paused and listened, hoping for a response but there was only static. "My wife and son, they're alive. I wanted you to know that. Annie's fine, sitting right next to me as a matter of fact." Annie looked up at him and smiled softly. "There's something else you need to know. Atlanta isn't what we thought. It's not what they promised. The city is..." Rick took a deep breath and warned, "Do not enter the city. It belongs to the dead now." The pair waited for a response but nothing came. "We're camped a few miles northwest, up by a big abandoned rock quarry. You can see it on a map. I hope you come find us. But be careful. Last night, walkers came out of the woods. We lost people. Watch yourself. Morgan, take care of your boy. I'll try again tomorrow at dawn." Rick wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his wrist and held out the walkie. "You want to try?"

Hesitantly, she nodded and said, "Yeah. Yeah." Rick nodded and passed it to her. After explaining how it worked, she asked if he'd leave her alone. Rick objected at first but she assured him she'd be fine as she had her knife. And she had her trust pack back, which held a gun she kept for emergencies. Rick had kept his promise in retrieving it and the walkie, a good man and a man of his word. What were the odds?

"You're sure you'll be okay?" Annie nodded. He hesitated but wished her luck and headed down the hill back to camp. Annie watched him, the slump in his shoulders and the way his head was lowered. The way he passed the walkie off to her, so offhandedly, she knew he felt the same way she did. Both of them were convinced that the walkie was a waste of time, considering Morgan hadn't answered, but hoped it wasn't. Hope was all any of them had now.

"Morgan, it's Annie. I don't quite know what to say," she told him. "Rick told you about the walkers last night. It was...it was so surreal, Morgan. It was like the block whenever that car alarm went off at night. They're spreading, Morgan. I guess because they're running out of food in the city." Running a hand through her hair, she waited. Static, just more static. "Duane, you have to be my eyes now. Keep your old man safe for me." She waited a moment. Static. "If you guys can hear this, please, just be smart. Be safe. Hopefully, I'll see you soon." Annie paused, waiting for a response of any kind. Nothing. Sighing, she squeezed her eyes shut. She tried to stop the tears but they still ran down her face. Rising to her feet, she quickly wiped them and turned off the walkie, marching back to the camp in disappointment.

Walking through the camp, she passed the aftershock of the attack. Glenn and T-Dog were gathering wood and brush for a funeral pyre for the walkers. Jim was dragging walkers over to it where Daryl would shatter the walkers' skulls with a pickaxe. Glenn and T-Dog would then pick up the walker to swing and toss it onto the fire. When they were tossing walkers into the fire, they were dragging their people into a separate pile. Burial, Morales muttered. It seemed Glenn had nearly had a breakdown when Daryl tried to burn one of their people. Like a well-oiled machine, those four were. By the RV, Andrea was still hovering over and holding her dead sister. She hadn't moved all night wouldn't talk to anyone, as if she was oblivious to everyone and everything around her. Like she was a million miles away.

"Y'all can't be serious? Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girls a time bomb!" Daryl hissed, pointing to the catatonic Andrea and Amy's body.

"What do you suggest?" Rick asked.

Daryl stepped up to him and told him, "Take the shot. Clean in the brain from here! Hell, I could hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance!"

"No! Let her be," Annie spoke up, arms crossed. Looking over her shoulder at Andrea, she added, "She'll do it herself, but only when it happens. She can't do it before, because then it's like she's killing Amy." Annie turned back to stare at the others. "She can't kill her baby sister, so don't try and make her." Annie turned back to the others and stared hard at them. "She'll do it, but only when Amy is really gone. So just let her be." Rick and Shane shared a look and the former nodded at her. Daryl's eyes switched to all of them before giving them a fuck-you look and walked away, sickened by the decision.

Satisfied, Annie handed Rick the walkie and went over to the RV, ignored by Andrea as she stepped inside. It was perfectly fine by Andrea, who was still in shock; she didn't even notice. Outside, she could hear Daryl was going off about how the camp deserved the attack for what they did to Merle. Reap what you sow, she guessed was his reasoning. Rick had filled her in on what had happened. A man cutting off own hand? That was insane. She honestly wasn't sure if she was surprised, Merle was white trash piece of shit and he was clearly crazy enough to draw a city of walkers to everyone without a care. Cutting off his hand probably seemed like a walk in the park. Jacqui was suddenly yelling about how Jim had been bit and everyone was demanding to see it. Rushing out of the RV, Annie stood in the doorway and watched as everyone backed away from him. He kept muttering that he was okay. But he wasn't, he really wasn't.

--------------------

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girl's and be done with it," Daryl suggested, looking over his shoulder at Jim, who sat alone at the hump of the RV.

"That what you'd want if it were you?" Shane questioned sarcastically.

"Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it!"

"I hate to say it, I never thought I would," Dale began shakily, "but maybe Daryl's right."

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog," Rick reminded him objectively.

"I'm not suggesting—!"

"For Jesus Christ's sake! He's a man!" Rick snapped, "We start down that road, where do we draw the line?"

"Line's pretty clear! Zero tolerance to walkers, or them to be," Daryl argued.

"What if we can get him help?" Rick suggested hopefully. "I heard the CDC was working on a cure."

"We heard that, too," Shane agreed with a nod. "Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell."

Annie shook her head and reminded Rick with an obvious tone, "We also heard that Atlanta was a refugee camp. That it was safe, remember that?"

"What if the CDC is still up and running?" Shane scoffed and shook his head, telling him that was a stretch. "Why? If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn't they?"

"Even if there are any politicians left, trust me, they're not fighting to save civilization. They're three miles underground with Dr. Strangelove," Annie sneered.

"I think it's our best shot: shelter, protection—"

"Okay, okay, okay! You want those things; I do, too! Now, if they exist, they're at the Army base: Fort Benning." Lori shook her head and point out that, that was a hundred miles in the opposite direction. Shane didn't deny that. Instead, he told them, "But it is away from the hot zone. Now, listen, if that place is operational, it'd be heavily armed, we'd be safe there."

"The military was on the front lines of this thing," Rick argued. Daryl even chimed in that they were overrun. "The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance."

"For what, Rick?" Annie snapped in agitation. "You really think the CDC is trying to crack this disease or whatever it is? Like they've dealt with AIDS for over thirty years and never cracked that? Hell, they didn't even have a name for it the first few years!"

"So you want to go to Fort Benning?" he questioned, just as agitated and hands on his hips. "How does that help Jim?"

"It doesn't, that's the point!" she shouted at him. Taking a calming breath, she explained, "Ignoring the fact that if either one of these places were actually up and running, you'd hear radio chatter on your CB." Shane had to nod at her reasoning. "I'm sure as hell not gonna hope and pray on a cure that doesn't exist. It doesn't, Rick," she pressed, trying to get through to him. "It doesn't, and it never will."

"I can't just believe that," he told her, just as desperate to make her understand.

"Well, I do," she argued. Shaking her head, she reminded him, "You haven't seen what the bite does to someone. I have! There is nothing you can do for him but put him out of his misery. Trust me."

"Y'all go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do," Daryl announced and backed away, pickaxe firm in his hand. "Somebody needs to have some balls to take care of this thing!" he shouted, raising the axe to kill Jim.

Rick ran over, clicked his gun and held it to Daryl's head. Gritting his teeth and said, "We don't kill the living." Daryl looked over his shoulder at him as he lowered the axe.

"That's funny, coming from a man who just put a gun to my head."

"We may disagree on some things, but not on this," Shane said, blocking Daryl off from Jim, shotgun in hand. "You put it down. Go on." Pissed, Daryl slammed the pickaxe into the ground and stormed off.

Annie shook her head as Rick helped Jim up and lead him into the RV, telling him that he was taking him somewhere safe. Rick would learn sooner or later, same as she did. It would be a hard lesson, but he'd learn it. As the day went on, things got a little better and worse. Carol let out all her rage on her husband's corpse. Andrea put down Amy under everyone's careful gaze. Rick, Shane and Daryl ambled over, ready to kill Amy themselves if Andrea couldn't, but the others kept their distance and watched. When it was done, she delicately laid Amy's body down and walked off to be alone, still in a daze and tear stained.