The following morning it was just as cold as the night before, the only exception being the sunlight pouring in through the hole in the ceiling. Daryl,Carl and I were heading to a town we found on a map a couple months ago today. When I woke up, most of the group was still sleeping... Dale was wheezing terribly across the room, And I hated so much to watch him suffer like this...I just cant wait to find medical supplies to help him. Maggie and Glenn were snuggled inside a small sleeping bag, and even across the room I could see them shivering. 

I slipped out of my sleeping bag and into my boots quickly. I assembled my weapons and took a few sips of the boiled snow we kept in the center of the room. I saw Carl, Daryl and Rick were standing outside looking over a map that was spread over the hood of the blue truck. I checked Dale's temperature and heart rate which was rapid, before heading outside into the cold...well colder.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I asked Daryl as I leaned against the truck next to him and Rick. "Looked tired" He said, and turned his attention back to Rick. "Ok so the town is about ten miles out, its not small, but not too big if something went wrong.....the plan is for you to scout out somewhere for us to live for a while, too many walkers and you get the hell out" Rick told us, showing us positions on the map. The town was called mayfield, and I had never been there, even working in Georgia for years.

Rick took Carl off to the side to discuss something with him and say goodbye privately, Leaving Daryl and I to ourselves. "You think this is a good idea?" I asked quietly, rolling up the map and tossing it in the backseat of the car we were taking. "Anything is better than this dump, besides old man doesn't have much in him" Daryl said. He was right, Dale wouldn't last much longer with this virus he has...I could only hope there were medical supplies and medicine in this town. 

We stocked up on what ammo we could, all of us now having silencers on our guns for safety reasons. Daryl and I had plenty of arrows, and a couple knifes each. Carl was still wearing his father's sheriff hat, and said buy to his father before climbing in the backseat of the car. Rick nodded to both of us before relieving Beth on watch duty. Daryl got in the drivers seat, while I climbed in the passenger side and quietly closed the door....

The three of us rode in silence for about fifteen minutes before we arrived on the outskirts of this town. It had a brick sign on the left side of the road that was covered in snow. Thankfully the roads weren't covered or icy, as the snow was starting to melt from the morning sun. I didn't see any walkers, or even any footprints for that matter that would indicate any other life form had been here recently. Daryl parked the car facing towards the entrance of town and shut off the engine. "Carl, stay close ok?" I said before we got out of the car, Carl nodded and stepped outside with his gun at the ready. I didn't necessarily have to worry about Carl being in trouble, it was him wandering off and me never finding him that was the problem...Carl had a tendency to run off on his own from time to time.

"Looks clear so far" I whispered to Daryl, who was walking slowly beside me, his crossbow aimed ahead of him. He nodded and nodded to the left towards a drug store that was ahead of us, I nodded and the three of us jogged across the street of the deserted town. I peeked in through the window and saw there was nobody inside, so we made our way in....

This place was untouched, all supplies still intact, it was as if the Apocalypse never happened....it was a gold mine. I showed Daryl what medical supplies to grab while I made my way to the back where the medicine was kept. Carl just kind of did his own thing and started grabbing protein bars and candy, but not before downing a bag of M&M's. I chuckled as he was actually being a boy of his age for a few moments. 

The store was silent as the three of us grabbed all the supplies we could fit in our bags, I still had plenty of room after grabbing bottles of antibiotics, pain killers and cold medicines. There was a small grocery store up the street and I was hoping I could grab food to fit in there as well. "Everyone good?" I asked, as I waited at the front for the pair of them to finish. "Yup!" Carl said happily through a mouth full of chocolate. I laughed and ruffled his hair while waiting for Daryl...

By the time we got outside the sun was the highest in the sky, and it felt warmer than it normally did. Of course our shack was hidden by the shade, so sunlight rarely made it's way inside. "Where to now?" I asked. "lets do a quick sweep, make sure a herd of walkers isn't nearby" Daryl said, before quickly downing a protein bar from the drug store. I nodded and the three of us started to walk the perimeter...

We walked for what felt like hours before we made it back to the same position outside of the drugstore. It appeared to be around three in the afternoon by now, the sun setting on the opposite side of town. We desperately needed to find a place in this town where we could fortify the group, even though we only found a couple of rogue walkers, it didn't mean this place was completely safe after dark.

"What about there?" Carl said pointing down a street to our right. I squinted and looked to where he pointed. It was a hotel...about three floors, with the entrances to the rooms appearing to be in the inside. As we walked closer, I could see that there was only one entrance to the inside, with only two windows on the bottom floor. This place could work...it would provide shelter from the rest of these cold winter days...There might still be non-perishable in the kitchen...we could easily block off entrances and fire stairways, and the upper rooms would be untouchable and were  easy to keep watch on the balcony's.

"Nice job kiddo!" I said smiling, tapping his sheriff's hat as I passed him to get a better look at the hotel. "Careful Ems" Daryl said catching up to me. I smiled at the nickname he had come up with for me. "Think its safe?" Carl asked eagerly, I could tell he was excited to have found this place, and if it was secure it would be amazing. "Only one way to find out" Daryl said and pushed the door open slowly....

The inside of the hotel had a few walkers inside but nothing we couldn't handle...They all appeared to be hotel workers and we took them out instantly, I grabbed the keys that dangled off of the man we killed behind the counter..we would need those. It wasn't very light inside the lobby, but the light coming in through the windows gave us enough to see. The hotel wasn't huge, we could easily sweep the place before dark but we need to get that done quickly.

"Lets split up and each take a floor" I said, looking for other sets of keys behind the counter. I lucked out and found two extra sets of keys. "Sure that's such a good idea?" Daryl said reluctantly taking a set of keys from my fingers. I nodded "We don't have much time left, I doubt theres a herd of walkers hiding in any of the rooms...sweep each room quickly, barricade the stairway and meet back here in the lobby" I said putting an arrow in my bow."Ill take the top floor, Carl you take the second...Daryl you see anything down here just holler and I'll come running" I said handing Carl his keys. He shrugged before taking off running up the staircase to the second floor.

"Yes Ma'am" Daryl said chuckling before heading down the hallway towards the rooms on the first floor. the staircase was dark, I pulled my flashlight out and checked around quickly before jogging up the three flights of stairs. I gently pushed open the door to the third floor and saw one random walker standing ahead of the hallway. I quickly shot it down with my bow and collected my arrow, placing it back in my bow. There were only about ten rooms on each floor, so it wasn't overwhelmingly huge.

The first room I stepped into was completely empty, the room didn't look like anyone had been here in a while, and i almost jumped for joy when I saw the room had a mini bar, complete with candy, nuts, dried  fruit and other snacks. the refrigerator obviously didn't work without power, but there were energy drinks, bottles of water, sports drinks and cans of sodas....things that would be fine without power. I grabbed the water, sports drinks and several packages of candy and tossed them in my bag with the medicine. I opened the curtains to the balcony and allowed light into the room and looking down on the town it was just as empty as before.

The next five rooms I checked were exactly the same...beds were made, fully stocked refrigerators and  nothing that could kill me inside. I stepped inside the room labeled 3G and was immediately hit with the scent of death when I stepped inside. Three walkers were inside growling, a dead chewed up corpse was lying on top of the blood stained sheets. It was a nasty sight...blood on the walls, pools of it on the floor. The walkers must have smelled my scent and turned groaning in my direction. I quickly took down the closest one with my bow. I must have misjudged the distance of the second one because it was closer than I thought and soon had me pinned to the ground. 

I groaned and tried to roll it off of me, but it was a big one...I pulled my knees up and kept them against the walkers stomach, allowing me to reach into my boot to grab a knife. I yanked it out and pludged it into the walkers eye socket. It fell dead on top of me "Fuck your heavy" I said groaning as I shoved it off of me, a lot of its blood pouring onto my jacket. The third walker started running for me, I just stepped to the side and clothes lined it with the side of my arm, I stomped its skull in numerous times before stopping. It groaned once more "Shut up" I growled at it and shoved my heel through its head, its brains pouring out in the process. We would have to clean up these bodies when we brought the group here, although the room 3G was virtually unusable now.

There were no more walkers on the third floor and I was thankful for that, all the other rooms untouched just like the first six. It took me about an hour to finish my floor and headed down to the lobby. Daryl was already there, munching on a bag of chips. "That was quick" I said chuckling, snatching the chip out of his hand that he was about to eat and stuck it in my own, enjoying the saltiness of a luxury I hadn't had in a while. "No walkers down here" He said mumbling while eating another hand full. I grabbed one of my own before sitting beside him on the couch. "Wheres Carl?" I asked trying to find the short boy we brought with us. 

"Pissing" He said laughing. I laughed when I saw the twelve year old urinating on a bush outside the building. "He said there were only two walkers on the second floor" Daryl said, shoving the rest of the chip crumbs in his mouth and tossing the bag to the side. He stood up and slipped his crossbow on his shoulder just as Carl walked back inside the building. "Lets go tell them the good news!" Carl exclaimed, Daryl and i both laughed at his exuberance....

By the time we got back to the shack it was nearly nightfall, oddly enough no one was on watch when we pulled up. And the truck and the Hyundai were both missing. "That's weird" Daryl mumbled. "Where is everyone?" Carl asked. "I don't know, stay close" I said pulling Carl to my side as we followed Daryl to the shack. But none of us could have anticipate the scene the scene we were about to walk into.....