THEY LEFT THE HIGHWAY.

The group left the blue truck behind, since it didn't fit many people. Vivian sat in Hershel's red truck, Liam in her lap. Carl sat in the middle, leaning against his mother who sat on the other side. Rick drove with T-Dog in the passenger seat.

The Greene family sat in the green Hyundai, plus Glenn and Carol. The older woman was going to ride on the back of Daryl's bike, but she knew he wanted to be alone.

"Damn." Rick sighed, glancing at the dashboard,

"What's wrong?" His wife asked from the back seat,

"We've been riding red for the past hour."

"Better make sure we don't get forgot." T-Dog commented,

Rick nodded and honked his horn, waking Liam up. He began to cry again and Vivian mentally cursed Rick.

Lori gave her an apologetic look as everyone filed out of their vehicles. Vivian stayed in the car, trying to quiet Liam down. She didn't want to attract any walkers.

"You out?" Daryl asked as Rick walked towards the group,

"Running on fumes." He replied,

"We can't stay here." Maggie stated, looking around in case any walkers stumbled across them,

"We can't all fit in one car." Glenn commented,

"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning." Rick told them,

"Spend the night here?" Vivian questioned as she approached the group as Liam calmed down,

"I'm freezing." Carl commented, pressed against his mother as Rick handed him his jacket,

"We'll build a fire, yeah?"

"You go out looking for firewood, stay close." Daryl ordered, "Only got so many arrows. How you doing on ammo?"

"Not enough." Rick answered,

"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out." Maggie commented,

'Watch your mouth." Hershel scolded his daughter, "Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick."

Vivian turned to their leader, bouncing Liam on her hip,

"All right, we'll set up a perimeter." Rick addressed the group, "In the morning, we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on."

"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas." Maggie offered,

"No, we stay together." Rick shot her down, "God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car."

"Rick..." Vivian hesitated, knowing he was at his breaking point, "...we're stranded now."

He turned and held eye contact with her, "I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other." He moved his gaze, "I wasn't sure... I really wasn't... but we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place."

Glenn stepped forward, "Rick, look around. Okay? There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something."

"There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other."

Vivian felt bad for the sheriff. His wife was pregnant, they lost multiple members of their group, important members, and now they were on the run.

"I know it's out there. We just have to find it." Rick insisted.

But Vivian was thinking he was trying to convince himself more than he was convincing them.

"Even if we do find a place and we think it's safe, we can never be sure. For how long?" Maggie asked, "Look what happened with the farm.We fooled ourselves into thinking that that was safe."

"We won't make that mistake again." Hershel told his daughter,

"We'll make camp tonight over there," Rick pointed a the stone structure that was right off the road, "Get on the road at the break of day."

Beth approached their leader, "What if walkers come through, or another group like Randall's?"

"You know I found Randall, right?" Daryl changed the subject, "He had turned, but he wasn't bit."

"How's that possible?" Beth asked, staring at Rick who was avoiding eye contact,

"Rick, what the hell happened?" Vivian asked the sheriff.

"Shane killed Randall." Daryl stated, answering for Rick, "Just like he always wanted to."

"And then the herd got him?" Lori asked,

"And Marcie?" Daryl questioned,

Rick glanced at his wife before staring down at his boots. Vivian could see the internal battle he was fighting.

"We're all infected."

Everyone was silent for a moment, trying to comprehend what Rick had just said. How were they all infected? Was it... airborne? And the virus needed something to trigger it inside their body?

"What?"

"At the CDC, Jenner told me." Rick explained, "Whatever it is, we all carry it."

Carol stepped forward, "And you never said anything?"

"Would it have made a difference?" Rick shot back at her,

"You knew this whole time?" Glenn asked him,

"How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy that mo-"

Vivian covered Liam's ears before Rick could finish his sentence.

"That is not your call." Glenn snapped at him, "Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone."

"Well, I thought it best that people didn't know." The sheriff replied,

Vivian watched as he walked away. She was proud of him. She told him he needed to make decisions for the group without them getting in the way. And he did that. He did what he thought was best for them.

Lori followed after her husband and Vivian sighed, "Let's set up camp, guys."

T-Dog and Daryl kept watch while Glenn and Maggie grabbed firewood. Vivian sat on the ground, trying to keep Liam warm while he sat between her legs, her jacket wrapped around him.

Lori came back, heartbreak covering her face as she sat by her son. It made Vivian wonder what Rick had told her.

"We're not safe with him..." Carol whispered to Daryl, but with no one else speaking, everyone could hear her, "Keeping something like that from us." She looked around to make sure the sheriff wasn't around to hear, "Why do you need him? He's just gonna pull you down."

Daryl shook his head, "Nah. Rick's done all right by me."

"You're his henchman and I'm a burden." Carol scowled, "You deserve better."

"What do you want?" The redneck asked her,

"A man of honor." She answered,

"Rick has honor." Daryl snapped at her,

Maggie glanced over at the two before speaking to Glenn, "I think we should take our chances."

"Don't be foolish." Her father told her, "There's no food, no fuel, no ammo."

Leaves were rustled in the distance, which caused everyone to freeze up. Vivian clutched Liam closer to her and reached for her knife while others stood,

"What was that?"

"Could be anythin'." Daryl answered, grabbing his crossbow, "Could be a raccoon, could be a possum."

"Walker." Glenn added, which didn't help ease anyone's mind.

"We need to leave. I mean what are we waiting for?" Carol asked them,

"Which way?" 

"It came from over there." Maggie answered, staring back over towards the road,

"Back from where we came." Beth added,

"The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark." Rick stated from the shadows, "We don't have the vehicles. No one's traveling on foot."

More branches breaking could be heard from the darkness, "Don't panic." Hershel insisted

"I'm not... I'm not sitting here, waiting for another herd to blow through." Maggie turned to Rick, "We need to move, now."

"No one is going anywhere." 

"Do something." Carol hissed,

"I am doing something!" Rick snapped, "I'm keeping this group together, alive. I've been doing that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this. I killed my best friend for you people, for christ's sake!" He growled out, causing everyone to think about what he said.

He killed Shane. His best friend.

Vivian looked around, at everyone's shocked faces. Carl's was the worst. He looked betrayed, horrified at his father.

But Lori's face was emotionless. She knew. For how long, Vivian didn't know. But it was clear she wasn't happy with her husband.

"You saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us." Rick listed, "He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He shot Marcie."

Daryl's jaw clenched. Everyone assumed it was walkers that killed Marcie. They weren't expecting her cause of death to come from one of their group members.

"He gave me no choice. He was my friend, but he came after me." Carl began to cry into his mother's shoulder, "Marcie got in his way, and he killed her. My hands are clean." He looked around at the group members who were avoiding making eye contact with them, "Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe... maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe... maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you... Why don't you go and find out yourself? Send me a postcard. Go on, there's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get." He paused, waiting to see if anyone would take up the offer, "No takers? Fine. But get one thing straight... you're staying. This isn't a democracy anymore." He told them before walking off again, going to take watch.

It was silent, except for the sound of the fire crackling and Carl crying. Vivian laid Liam down gently, making sure he was comfortable before following after Rick.

She found him leaning against the stone wall, his hands covering his face, "Hey."

He quickly stood up, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Come here to scold me?"

Vivian shook her head, "No. Just coming to say I'm proud of you."

Rick lowered his hand and stared at her, "What?"

"What you did... killing Shane... you did that for the good of the group. You didn't wait for a fair trial like you did with Randall, wanting to hear everyone's opinions and coming up with a solution that everyone agreed with. You made a decision you thought was best and stuck to it, telling the group to suck it up. That's what a leader does. That's what needed to happen."

Rick didn't say anything. Just leaned back against the wall again and looked up at the night sky.

"I'm sorry about Shane. You guys had been friends since before the world ended. It couldn't have been easy."

"There wasn't any other way." Rick whispered,

"I know. If you had let him go, there wouldn't be a guarantee that he wouldn't come back and kill more of us." She replied,

The sheriff stared at her, "Where was this with Randall?"

Vivian shrugged, "We didn't know how dangerous Randall was. Considering Shane snapped the kid's neck, we know who was more of a threat." She squeezed his arm, "I'm sorry about Marcie, too. That couldn't have been easy leaving her."

He nodded, "She was bleeding out. Knew she wasn't going to make it. She made the decision to create a distraction."

"The flare."

"I just... I hope it was quick for her. She didn't deserve to go out like that."