NORA'S FINGERS FIDDLED WITH THE HANDLE ON HER KNIFE THAT SAT ON HER HIP.

A small group of them walked to the town, only a twenty minute walk from the church. Rick stayed right behind Gabriel, his gun at the ready in case the priest tried anything.

Sasha, Michonne, Bob, and Nora followed behind, keeping their eyes out for people, dead or alive.

The town was completely run down. Grass was growing through the cracks in the asphalt, and windows on brick buildings were boarded up. Random items littered the ground, like clothes and garden chairs.

It was like a huge panic went down before everyone died off.

"Hey." Bob walked next to Rick, "When you said they don't get to live, you weren't wrong." Rick glanced back at Nora, wondering where this conversation was going, "We push ourselves and let things go. Then we let some more go and some more. And pretty soon, there's things we can't get back. Things we couldn't hold on to even if we tried. Washington's gonna happen, Rick."

"I haven't decided if we're going." Rick stated,

'Yeah, I know, and that's cool." Bob responded, "But you've seen Abraham in action. He's gonna get there and Eugene's gonna cure all this and you're gonna find yourself in a place where it's like how it used to be. And if you've let too much go along the way, that's not gonna work. 'Cause you gonna be back in the real world."

"This is the real world, Bob." He told the man,

"Naw. This is a nightmare, and nightmares end."

Nora stared at the back of Bob's head, thinking about what he said. She had no hope that the end was near, that Washington was gonna solve their problems.

The world was over. This nightmare was going to be never-ending, it's just the way it is now. They were never going to go back to the way it was. She wasn't going to have her job back, her house, her car.

It was all gone.

And her mind, Bob was delusional. She knew he was trying to be positive, but it was coming across as crazy.

"I'm sorry. I'm calling it." Bob smiled, "Washington's gonna happen. You're gonna say yes. Already too much momentum. You can't fight city hall. Maybe that's just one of those parts of not letting go."

It only took another five minutes until they reached a white building, "We're here." Gabriel stated, "This was the food bank. It served the whole county. All the cans at my church were gonna end up here." He explained,

Nora stared at the sign 'Food Bank & Thrift Store'. In her mind, they could find more than just food there. Maybe stuff for Judith and Carl, too.

Rick went in first, followed by Michonne, Nora, and Bob, followed by Sasha. They all kept their weapons raised, prepared for anything.

It was quiet. And as they followed Rick into a large room, Nora had doubts they could find much of anything. The place looked raided.

But then there was the smell. It was absolutely rancid. Nora used the neckline of her shirt to cover her nose, which in no way helped with the smell of what she assumed was rotting garbage that had been left in the Georgia heat.

They came to a stop above a large hole in the floor. Nora noticed multiple holes in the ceiling, which must've been a leak and rotted the wooden floor below them to the point of falling through.

The basement was flooded, with waters reaching waist level. Shelves full of jarred and canned food sat on them, just wasting away.

The only thing that kept them from their goal were the walkers wandering within the water, with no way out.

And when a few of them noticed the group, reaching up for them, shivers ran down Nora's back.

They didn't even resemble humans anymore.

"If a sewer could puke, this is what it'd smell like." Bob frowned,

"The water's been coming down that hole for a while." Michonne commented, "Slimed this place up good."

Nora looked over at Rick, "We can use the shelves to block them."

His gaze met hers and he nodded, "Yeah, that's it." She was glad he trusted her judgement, "There's our way. Down those shelves."

They all got prepared, knowing this could go really well or really badly.

"Hey." Rick started at Gabriel, who was standing on the other side of the hole, "I said you're coming with us."

Nora wrinkled her nose as she climbed down the shelves, her clothes getting soaked and clinging to her skin. The five of them, while Gabriel stood behind them, dragged the shelves together to keep the walkers from getting to them,

They all used their knives, waiting for the rotters to come to them.

Gabriel began to panic, and scrambled out of the shelves and towards the stairs. They broke easily under his weight, which caused him to press himself up agains the wall,

"We have to get Gabriel." Rick stated,

"What happened?"

"I don't know." Their leader glanced around at all of them, "All right, we'll push down the shelves on the ones in front of us. We'll fight through and I'll grab him." The four of them nodded, "Go!"

They pushed the shelf over, pinning the walkers under the water. Rick went towards Gabriel while the remaining four took out any rotter that reached for them,

It had gotten quiet, all of the walkers now put down, and the only thing left to deal with was getting out of the rancid water and getting the food back to the church.

"You good?" Rick asked, turning to Nora,

She nodded, opening her mouth to speak before Sasha broke the silence, screaming out Bob's name.

He jumped out of the water, a rotter attached to him. Sasha and Michonne ran over to help, using a box to bash the walker's head in after Bob pushed it against a pole.

Sasha turned to him, "You okay? Bob, you okay?"

He nodded, "I'm fine now."

They created a line. Nora and Michonne stood on the ground floor, grabbing whatever the others handed to them. They found carts in the other room, using them to stack the food and pile it up as much as the could.

Once done, Nora went to change out of her now ruined clothes. She had been wearing them for weeks, but after soaking them in the walker infested water, she knew it was time to get something new and less blood soaked,

She found a pair of jeans that fit her perfectly and grabbed a random t-shirt from a hanger before finding a closet to change in. Once she slipped her boots back on, she rejoined the group and noticed that Michonne had done the same thing she had.

Rick's eyes observed her form for a moment before he spoke, "Ready?"

With that, the group pushed the carts through the streets, back towards the church. She noticed Gabriel speaking to Rick, but was too busy pushing the heavy cart to focus on what they were saying,

When they got back, Rosita and Abraham were working on the bus while the others were inside. Harley came out to help bring the food inside, along with some of the others. Rick went to speak with Carl, who was around the side of the church.

The two girls began grabbing bowls and preparing a sort of feast for the group. Nora wanted to catch up with her, to see how she was feeling.

They were really finding their place with this group. Before, they were always waiting of the ball to drop, for when those around them began to die again.

But here, despite them being separated, they found each other again.

They were like family now.

The sun began to set and they lit candles. It set a nice mood for Harley. Everyone had smiles on their faces, and their stomachs were full.

She sat next to Daryl, the two silently eating. The redhead gave him a smile, leaning her head against his shoulder. He rested his forehead against hers, his own way of giving her affection despite being in a room full of people.

Abraham stood, "I'd like to propose a toast." Nora sat across from Harley and began to sign for her, "I look around this room... and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title." He raised his wine glass, "To the survivors."

Others followed suit, "Survivors! Cheers!"

"Survivors." Abraham glanced around at all of them, "Is that all you want to be? Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat? 'Cause you can do that. I mean, you got the strength. You got the skill. Thing is, for you people, for what you can do, that's just surrender. Now, we get Eugene to Washington and he will make the dead die and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip. Eugene, what's in DC?"

Everyone turned to look at the strange man, "Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude. That means food, fuel, refuge. Restart."

Nora desperately wanted to call bullshit.

"However this plays out, however long it takes for the reset button to kick in, you can be safe there." Abraham continued, "Safer than you've been since this whole thing started. Come with us." He stared at Rick, "Save the world for that little one. Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there... who don't got nothing left to do except survive."

The room was silent before Judith let out a little coo, which broke the tension,

"What was that?" Rick smiled and stroked his daughter's hair, "I think she knows what I'm about to say. She's in. If she's in, I'm in." He turned and his gaze met Nora's,

"We're in."