— ZOE DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO ACT when Nate wasn't at the camp, she didn't exactly have anyone to talk to, not when Glenn was off with Maggie, and her mom was too occupied with Shane. She didn't know what to do with herself. It made her wish she had gone with him, but she knew that her dad wouldn't have allowed that. Ever since Atlanta, the two had been inseparable, and Zoe hadn't exactly spoken to anyone else at the camp much other Nate, for some reason, she just felt the need to be near him all of the time, and she was sure that Nate felt the same way about her. Lori obviously wasn't happy that Rick had left the farm to go after Hershel, hell, neither was Shane, but Zoe knew that Hershel had opened his home for all of them, if she could have gone to look for him, she would have in a heart beat.

The Greene's didn't have to open their home to their group, they could have sent them away, and they didn't, which meant they were worth saving. Obviously, Zoe wouldn't actually say this to her mother, as, lately, it seemed like Lori didn't listen to anyone if they disagreed with her. With her mom and dad arguing most of the time, she didn't want to add to that and stress her mom out, as it wouldn't be good on the baby, so she simply went along with what Lori said, agreeing with her, even though she didn't. Rick knew what Zoe was doing, and he appreciated it greatly - he could never thank Zoe enough for everything she has done.

The only thing Zoe could do for the Greene family right now, was look after Beth, but even then, she didn't know what she could do for her, the only person that could help her, was Hershel, and he still wasn't back yet. "What're we gonna do?" Zoe asked her mom, as they stood in the hallway, watching over the bedroom that Beth and her family were in. They both knew that they had to do something, they couldn't just sit around and wait for the men to get back, that wasn't how this should work.

Lori was deep in thought, when she gave her daughter a look, "Will you look out for Carl for me?" She asked her, placing both of her hands on her daughters shoulders. Zoe wasn't stupid, she knew what this meant - she was going to go off without her, and with Lori in her current pregnancy state, there was no way that she was going to let her go alone.

"I'm not letting you go off on your own." She told her mom, watching as Lori gave her a look of confusion, not used to being told off by her own daughter. "Not with your current state. We'll go together and see what the hold up is, and we'll be in and out like no one even knew we were gone, okay?" Zoe asked, hoping to god that her mom would agree with her plan. Zoe knew for a fact that Shane wouldn't be happy with the two of them leaving the farm, or Dale for that matter.. But she didn't care, she would rather go with her mom, than let her go on her own and risk the baby.

For a few seconds, Lori stood debating wether or not her daughter was right, and in the end, she knew that Zoe was right. That, and she knew that the girl wasn't going to take no for an answer, after all, she is her daughter. "Fine." She sighed, knowing that she was going to have to go along with Zoe's plan. The girl smiled in victory, as Lori then asked Andrea to watch over Carl, before they both decided it would be a good idea to ask Darl if he wanted to go with them, after all, he was a better shot, and stronger. Zoe didn't mean to avoid Daryl since their time at the farm, as it was Nate's brother, she should be trying to get along with him just like he had been doing with Carl - but Daryl was someone who didn't want to be friends with anyone, he was someone who liked to be alone.

Nate used to be like that, until Zoe had managed to get him to open up, now he was someone who was thoroughly liked throughout the group. Especially her father, who trusted Nate like he did with Glenn, or Shane.. Maybe not so much Shane, lately, as he seemed to be going off of the deep end. It didn't take long to walk to his and Nate's camp on the outside of the farm, far away from the others, and he was sat, making his own arrows, on his own, clearly wanting no visitors. "Listen, Beth's in some kind of catatonic shock." Lori spoke, as she approached the older Dixon, not bothering to say hello, which Zoe sighed at. "We need Hershel." She said.

Knowing that Daryl wasn't going to care about that piece of information, Zoe was right when he didn't even look up at them when he spoke. "Yeah, so what?" He asked, sharpening his arrow.

Lori looked over at Zoe, hoping that she would be able to talk to him, due to her close relationship with his brother, but Zoe didn't know what to say. Daryl wasn't Nate, and neither was Merle. He didn't have the same mom as the two of them, and seemed to be the odd one out. Lori sighed in response to Zoe, crouching down in front of Daryl as her daughter stood back, observing, "So, I need you to run into town real quick." She told Daryl, causing Zoe to shake her head at her words. Daryl, of all people, hated when people told him what to do, and Lori was going exactly that. "And bring him and Rick back." She added, before Zoe coughed subtly, causing Lori to quickly add Nate's name. When he didn't reply, Lori sighed, "Daryl." She said.

"Your bitch went window shopping. You want him, fetch him yourself." Daryl snarled at the Grimes woman.

"What about your brother?" Lori dared to ask, causing Zoe to cringe, knowing that that is the last thing that she should be saying to him.

"Mom." She warned, placing a hand on her shoulder, as Daryl frowned at Zoe. It may not look like it, but Daryl didn't hate Zoe. It didn't take an expert to see that his brother truly cared about her, so he obviously didn't want anything to happen to her just because of that, but what he didn't appreciate, was her mother talking to him like he was stupid, and like he actually cared about Rick.. Not after searching for Sophia everyday just to find out that she was dead.

"My brother can handle his own." Daryl snapped at her, not liking that she even had the guts to talk about Nate to him. At least Zoe knew not to, and she of all people should know that Nate could handle himself, more than enough.

"What's the matter with you?" Lori asked him, ignoring her daughters pleads to stop provoking the man. "Why would you be so selfish?" She asked.

Zoe basically face palmed at her mothers choice of words, knowing that Daryl was far from it. She backed up as Daryl stood up in anger, staring her mom down. "Selfish?" He scoffed, "Listen to me, Olive Oyl, I was out there looking for that little girl every single day. I took a bullet and an arrow in the process. Don't you tell me about me getting my hands dirty." He argued, as Zoe stood in front of her mom to stop her from getting the main shouts of Daryl. "You want those two idiots? Have a nice ride. I'm done looking for people." He said, before sitting back down and going back to sharpening his arrow.

Lori gave her daughter a look as to say follow her, but Zoe held up her finger and silently told her that she'd meet her at the car, to which Lori hesitantly nodded, and walked off. When her mom was out of hearing range, Zoe sighed, looking down at Daryl. "I'm sorry about her." She said, knowing how Lori could be to people that weren't her family, "She's just worried about my dad, she doesn't mean to be like that." She added, as Daryl didn't even bother looking up at the young girl.

With another sigh, she turned around and began to walk off, not before Daryl spoke to her for the first time since coming over. "He can handle himself. He's a tough guy." He said, still not bothering to look up at the girl that his brother had no doubt, fallen in love with, even if he hadn't admitted it yet. "He would want you to stay here." He added, looking up at her in all seriousness, telling her what he believed his brother would want.

"I know." Zoe answered, "But.. I can't do that." She spoke quietly, feeling guilty that she had to go against Nate's wishes. And with that, she turned around and left Daryl to his own company once more..

Zoe watched as her mother drove down the road, kind of annoyed that she didn't get to drive herself. With the empty road ahead of them, she thought that it would have been the most perfect opportunity to learn, but Lori wouldn't have it. "I'm just saying.. This would have been a perfect opportunity to teach me how to drive." She spoke again, watching as her mom rolled her eyes, "What? I need to learn sometime." Zoe reasoned.

"Maybe another time, Zo. We need to focus on finding the others, I can't concentrate on teaching you, too." Lori answered, knowing that Zoe would probably be a terrible driver, much like herself. When Zoe sulked into her seat, Lori sighed, "I promise, when we get them back safely, I'll teach you how to drive, okay?" She asked her daughter, watching as she nodded, still annoyed that she couldn't drive today. "Would you pass me the map on the backseat, hun?" She asked, as she needed to know which road to take.

Zoe hummed in response, taking off her seatbelt in order to look in the backseat for the map that they had taken from the Grimes home, after a few seconds, she finally found it on the floor of the backseats, having fallen down due to the wind. "Found it." She grunted, reaching down below her mom's seat to grab the map.

"Where is it?" Lori asked, looking behind at her daughter, who was struggling against the seats to grab the map.

"Under your chair." Zoe grunted in response, before her fingers finally grasped at the paper, "Got it!" She revealed. Before she even had the chance to get back up and into the passenger seat, her whole body jolted and fell onto the floor in the back of the car, screeching as she did so. She couldn't exactly see what was happening, but the way her body jolted back into the back of the car, she guessed that her mom must have hit something, or someone. Zoe could hear her mom's panicked screams as she tried to control the car, but within seconds, the two were flung up into the air, the car flipping multiple times, causing the young Grimes girl to go flying, bashing into every side of the car in pain, feeling her stitches on her stomach stretch at every hit. "Mom!" She yelled.. Before everything went black.

——

Zoe slowly peeled her eyes open with what felt like weeks of sleep, her eyes practically glued together with the long amount of time they had been closed.. However, when she finally did open her eyes, it was dark, well past the time in which the two of them had left the farm, and the car was upside down, meaning that the crash had been bad. She was uncomfortable, unable to move her left leg, which seemed to be stuck in the roof of the car that had wedged down due to the crash, and she groaned in pain when she tried to pull it out - she didn't know how she was going to get out. She didn't want to pull anymore, scared that she might rip her skin open, it was bad enough that she could see blood seeping through her t-shirt, where her stitches were.
In an instant, her eyes widened once she realised that her mom was in the car. Her pregnant mom. "Mom!" She whispered, scared to make much noise in case any walkers heard the crash and were near, or any humans, which could be worse.. When Lori didn't make any noise, she grunted in annoyance, "Shit." She mumbled. She couldn't exactly move, so she couldn't see where her mom was, but maybe if she could reach over to the flashlight that was on the other side of the car, then maybe she could find her way around. The front lights were shining on the road ahead of them, at least giving her some sight, but other than that, it was completely dark..

"Okay." Zoe whispered, getting prepared to have to yank her leg out from under the roof, "You can do this, just one pull, and you're out. Simple." She told herself. Grabbing her left leg, she took a deep breath, before yanking, painful grunts leaving her mouth as she tried to do so, but as she was doing that, something else managed to overthrow her sounds.. Growls. She paused, holding her breath to stay as quiet as she could, before she heard something behind her, the walker, and it was close. Zoe turned her body around to the best of her ability and looked besides her, finally seeing what was making all of the noise, and when her eyes focused, she saw a walker, clawing on the half-broken window, which looked like it was going to give our at any moment now and shatter.

Frantically, she looked around at any objects she could use to kill the thing trying to eat her - stupidly, she hadn't had her gun in her belt like she usually did, instead, she had it in the glove compartment, and there was no way she was reaching over there, where she thought her mom was. After a few seconds of looking around, she luckily, saw her knife, lying a big further than her feet, meaning that she could reach it with effort, at least. So, with another deep breath to prepare herself, she reached. With an awkward move, she twisted her body in attempts to reach it, and no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't reach it.
Her breathing sped up once she realised that she couldn't reach the knife, and she tried to keep the tears at bay when she heard the window cave in, allowing the walker to push his face into the gap, gnawing it's jaw up and down in attempts to reach her flesh and bite on it.

"Pull yourself together, Zoe." She whispered to herself, trying to gain some confidence to keep her and her passed out mother alive, "You can do this." She mumbled. With another deep breath, she reached down again, using even more strength than last time, as the walker was closing in on her, its jaw near her face. She grunted, using that bit of extra strength to reach for the knife, and with a cry of relief, she finally grabbed it, allowing her to spring back to her original spot, where her body wasn't bent in a painful position. Just as she did so, the walker finally broke through the window, shattering the glass all over Zoe's face, causing her to screech at the sudden movement and noise, and she reached her arms up to push the walkers shoulders back..

As she pushed the walkers shoulders, his skin peeled off at the touch, revealing a revolting smell that made Zoe want to through up. She used all of the energy she had left to keep his jaw from snapping around her forearm, and she pushed harder, unluckily, the skin on the walker completely ripping off, slipping down to try and bite Zoe's arm. With a scream, she reached her over arm out, positioning it against the walkers throat, making sure not to push too hard in fear that it's skin was going to rip away again. She didn't know how she managed to gain all of this energy, but she guessed that it could be because of adrenaline of keeping her mother safe, and staying alive for Nate. She couldn't leave him. So, with that thought in mind, she used her free arm to grab the knife she dropped by the side of her, and yelled as she pushed the blade up into the brain of the walker, causing it to become limp, finally leaving her alone.

Her energy falling, the walkers body dropped besides her, it's eyes wide open and staring at Zoe in the eyes, causing her to sob at the fact that she had just killed her first walker.. Someone who used to be human.. She knew it wouldn't be her last, and that's the thing that scared her most.

She was alive.. For now.