"Andrea?" Connie murmured as she approached her friend. "Would you mind if I sat with you for a while?" Andrea nodded faintly, not once taking her eyes from her sister. The two sat in silence for a few minutes, until the shallow, wheezy breaths broke the silence.

Andrea brought her ear close to her sisters mouth, and her eyes widened briefly when she realized that the breaths were coming from Amy.

Connie sat with Andrea as Amy's body began to twitch, and she closed her eyes in mild panic when the dead girls eyes fluttered open. Connie stared at the milky residue covering Amy's pupils, and pursed her lips to keep from grimacing.

"Amy?" Andrea murmured quietly, bringing a hand up to cup the girls cheek. "Amy, I'm sorry." Amy lifted a hand and touched Andrea's hair. "For never being there. I always thought there'd be more time."

Connie watched as Amy sat up with the help of her sister, the groans a walker would make rising up her throat. She felt tears well up in her eyes, and looked away so Andrea could do what was needed.

When the gunshot echoed out through the empty silence, she chewed on her lower lip and turned to face her friend. "You'll make it, I promise you," she murmured, giving Andrea's shoulder a tight squeeze. "I'll help you."

She could feel everyone's eyes on them, having caught their attention when Andrea was forced to shoot Amy, but she didn't care. Her friend needed her, and other people were the least of her worries.

🧠🏹🦠

"I still think it's a mistake, not burning these bodies," Connie heard Daryl say as they climbed out of his truck, the bed full of their friend corpses. Everyone was walking up the hill behind them, ready to attend the large funeral for people who had lost their lives in the attack. "It's what we said we'd do, right? Burn them all, wasn't that the idea?"

Connie smiled faintly when she said Holly come up the hill, walking between Carl and Sophia, the older two each holding one of her hands.

"At first," Shane nodded as he continued to dig. Holly ran up and climbed into her mothers arms.

"The Chinaman gets all emotional, says it's not the thing to do, so we just follow along?" Connie grimaced, moving to stand with Carol. "These people need to know who the hell's in charge here, what the rules are."

"There are no rules," Rick answered immediately as he dug the tip of his shovel into the ground.

"Well that's a problem," Lori cut in, her voice hoarse. "We haven't had one minute to hold onto anything of our old selves. We need time to mourn, and we need to bury our dead. It's what people do."

Connie felt a lump form in her throat at the womans words. She had left Dustin there, all alone on the front lawn of their small home to die.

They didn't even get to go back for him after.

"Why didn't we bury daddy, Momma?" Holly asked her softly.

Connie ignored the look of horror that twisted at Lori's face and knelt down to her daughters height. "Because the monsters got to him first," she explained, pressing a kiss to Holly's cheek. "There wasn't anything we could do." The funeral was hard to watch. Connie watched as body after body was buried in their graves, all the people that she'd known and talked to, just gone.

But when Andrea had to pull Amy's body into the grave, tears began to fall. Dale had tried to help her, but Andrea kept insisting that she was fine and didn't need any help. He helped anyways, and Connie tucked Holly's face into the crook of he neck so she wouldn't have to see it.

Dale helped her climb out, and Connie stepped forwards, pulled Andrea in for a tight and comforting hug, then carried Holly back to Daryl's truck.

🧠🏹🦠

"Go with Constance and Holly while I have a talk with your Mom, alright?" Connie heard Rick say as the two climbed out of the truck. She offered the man a kind smile.

"You can call me Connie, Rick, Constance is quite the mouthful," she laughed.

Rick smiled back, and nodded. "I'll remember that," he promised with a small smile.

"Come along, Carl," Connie grinned, ruffling the younger boys hair. "We're off to find out if Dale discovered my secret stash of chocolate chips and to do some colouring. Holly's decided she wants to be an artist when she grows up, so we're all her models."

Rick shot her a thankful smile as Connie led the two kids down the dirt road towards her truck.

"Where did you live before the outbreak?" Carl asked, tilting his head to look up at Connie with and curious eyes.

"Just out side the city," Connie answered, ruffling his hair again. "But we had to go through the city to get to the highway; that's how we met Glenn."

Carl nodded, and as they approached the old blue truck Connie had arrived at the camp with, he immediately jumped onto the bed, disregarding her pillows and blankets, and climbed up to the cooler.

"He didn't find the chocolate chips!" Carl cheered quietly.

Sophia must have followed them, because before Connie knew it, she was helping Holly up into the back of the truck, and the three were each taking handfuls. "Don't eat too much, alright?" She warned, looking them each in the eye. "If you do, you'll get sick. Then your parents will know about my secret hiding spot."

Their eyes widened. The three each took one more reasonably sized handful before climbing off the truck.

"Where's the drawing paper?" Sophia asked softly, her head tilted to the side.

"It's in the RV," Connie answered with a smile. "If you three come with me, we can go get it."

"I'll race you up!" Carl yelled loudly. Then the three took off.

Connie felt her smile widen when the boy stopped, lifted Holly onto his back, and ran up the small hill as fast as he possibly could.

He was disappoitned that he lost, but when he set Holly down and told her to stand still while he tied her hair away from her face, she knew he didn't really mind all that much.

Sophia helped him, and between the two, they managed to pull Holly's curly locks of hair into a messy ponytail at the back of her head.

🧠🏹🦠

Connie sat next to Lori that night, sharpening sticks until they had a point at one end. Andrea laid sleeping soundly beside them, hands and neck still caked in Amy's blood.

Connie was grateful that Holly hadn't asked her where the young blonde girl had gone; she wasn't sure how she would answer.

But she knew Holly knew something was wrong.

She just didn't know what.

"I've been thinking about Rick's plan," Shane announced as he approached the group, who all sat huddled somewhat close together.

"For the CDC?" Connie asked Lori discretely, and the woman nodded.

"There are no guarantees either way, I'll be the first one to admit that." No one spoke, wanting to hear what he had to say. "I've known this man a long time," Shane continued, looking Rick in the eye. "I trust his instincts. I'd say the most important thing here, is we need to stay together. So, those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning."

"Will there be running water, mommy?" Holly asked shyly, sitting on her knees with her arms spread across her mothers thighs.

Connie shrugged her shoulders with a small smile, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her daughters ear. "I don't know, baby. I guess it'll have to be an adventure."

🧠🏹🦠

Connie stood between Carl and Lori, who'd hopped up and sat on the front of one of the trucks. Holly held onto Connie's hand while she sat on Lori's lap, the woman having her arms wrapped tightly around the girls middle.

Shane had been giving them all instructions — what to do with the C.B.'s, what to do if there was a problem — and she was listening intently to whatever it was that he had to say.

"Any questions?" He asked after he'd finished explaining everything.

"We're — um — we're not going," Morales spoke, his voice breaking the momentary silence.

Rick and Shane stared at him in surprise.

"We have family in Brimingham," his wife, Miranda, explained. "We want to be with our people."

Connie nodded, though she knew that Holly would miss their two kids.

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back," Shane countered, looking at them with his head tilted slightly.

Connie didn't hear the rest of the conversation because Holly asked her questions about why Morales, Miranda and their kids didn't want to stay with them anymore.

She did her best, but Holly tended to ask a question before she'd gotten the answer to the previous one.

After everyone said their goodbyes, Holly ran up to her mother and wrapped her arms around her thigh.

T-Dog had found a way to take the cooler/toolbox off of the back of her truck and found space for it in the RV, and they left her truck behind as well.

Daryl had wordlessly pulled Connie and Holly to his truck. She'd gotten the car seat strapped in on the passenger seat, which left her to sit in the middle.

They drove at the back of the line of cars, Holly singing happily to herself while she flipped through the pages of her colouring books.

"If you're too warm you can put the window down," Daryl told her quietly, not once taking his eyes from the road. Connie nodded, and did just that.

Holly continued to sing — Connie was almost certain that it was Under the Sea from the Little Mermaid — while Daryl sat quietly in the driver's seat. They drove in silence for quite a while, and Connie felt the urge to fall asleep. The wind felt nice on her battered face, and the seat was the most comfortable thing she'd sat on since she'd lived in her house.

After a while of driving, they slowed to a stop.

"What's going on?" Connie murmured, lifting her chin from the heel of her palm.

" 'Dunno," Daryl grunted with a small shrug. "I'll go check. Wait here."

Connie nodded and watched from the window as he walked over to where Rick and Dale were discussing something, pale grey smoke wafting from the front of the RV. She let out a small sigh, already knowing the problem.

"Let's go help Dale, baby," Connie breathed. After getting Holly out of her booster seat, she nudged Holly towards Glenn, who was sitting just inside the doorway of the RV, then walked over to Rick. "I'm guessing I need to work my magic again?" She hummed, rubbing her hands together.

"If you can, that would be great," Rick nodded scratching the back of his neck.

Connie nodded and rolled her shoulders before pulling the metal grates away from the front. "Alright," she murmured, her eyes scanning the parts for the source of the smoke. "We've been over this, missy. You need to quit acting out, or we'll leave you behind. You don't want that, do you?"

She worked away, her fingers piecing things together without her even having to think about it. Fixing cars was like a sixth sense to her, now. She knew what would need replacing, or repairing, or what meant the owner would be better off just buying a new car.

This was something familiar to her, and she was going to hold onto it.

Jacqui came jogging out of the RV looking panicked, startling Connie from her peaceful trance. "It's Jim, y'all. It's bad. I don't think he can take anymore."

"Hey Rick," Shane called. "Do you 'wanna hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead, see what I can bring back?"

"I'll come along too," T-Dog nodded. "I'll back you up."

Noticing everyone was going inside to check on Jim, Connie leaned into the doorway of the RV. "Holly, can you come out and sing for mummy?" She asked casually, hoping and praying that it would get her daughter away from the commotion.

Moments later Holly was skipping down the stairs and dancing around on the road, happily singing more Disney songs to herself. Connie smiled briefly before returning to her task.

Her calloused fingertips trailed over the parts, grimacing at just how much duck-tape was holding the RV together. It was more duck-tape then actual car parts at this point.

"Is Jim sick like the others, Momma?"

Connie looked over at Holly and pursed her lips, thinking of a good way to word things. "Yeah, he is," she nodded after a moment. "The monsters got to him, just like they got to Amy."

"Oh," Holly frowned. Connie went back to work, waiting for another question. "Can we save him?"

"We don't know how to, baby," Connie murmured sadly. She didn't want to touch anything because her hands were covered in grease, so she settled for crouching down in front of Holly. "All we can do is take care of him for as long as we can."

"That sucks," Holly mumbled, kicking at the ground with the toe of her shoe.

Connie exhaled sharply. "Yeah, baby, it really does."