Atlanta

Hours had passed since the commotion this morning, and the atmosphere was nothing short of miserable, despite the heartwarming breakfast. I spent most of my time helping Lori wash clothes and clean the dishes from breakfast. We had another heart-to-heart as we did so, and she told me about the way Shane was acting as a father model for Carl, which I had noticed too. She said she didn't mind too much, since he needed something like that, but there was another factor involved that she wasn't telling me. I didn't pry - it wasn't my place to.

It was getting into the late afternoon and I was sitting by the campfire with Dani by my side, as Lori cut Carl's hair while talking to Shane. I wasn't listening in, I was just..sitting there. Despite my distance from reality, however, I was still the first to hear it.

"Do you guys hear that?" I asked, standing up abruptly. It sounded like a car alarm, but...it couldn't be, right? Not this far out in the open? Strangely enough, it began to get louder, and gradually everyone in the camp was on their feet, looking in the direction Dani and I had first come.

"Is it them? Are they back?" I rushed over to join Amy's side, trying to see what was going on. Dale searched the road up, muttering to himself. "What is it?" Amy asked again, and Dale removed the binoculars from his eyes, though not prying what he was seeing from his sight.

"Stolen car is my guess." My mind began swimming with questions, but all we could do was sit and wait for the car to reach us. Sure enough, a red muscle car pulled up and drew to a halt, the shrill alarm echoing around the clearing. An asian boy stepped out, looking rather pleased with himself. "Turn that damn thing off!"

"I don't know how!" The guy protested, still with a massive grin plastered onto his face. Shane and Amy rushed forward, Shane scolding him for the noise and Amy begging for news of her sister, all the while the annoying alarm continued to blare. Jim opened the hood of the car and pulled something, cutting the noise just as I began to make sense of what they were saying.

"Is she alive?"

"Yes! She's alive!"

"Then why isn't she with you!" She pushed on, desperate. I didn't know Amy that well, I didn't know her sister at all, but it didn't take a genius to guess that they were pretty close. Everyone continued bickering before the guy cut them short again.

"Yes! She's okay! They all are!" He stopped suddenly to lean on the side of the car. "Well, Merle not so much." I felt cruel to admit it, but the notion that I wouldn't have to come face to face with Merle lifted a massive weight from my chest.

"You crazy driving this thing out here? You tryna attract every walker for miles?" Shane asked, annoyed, leaning on the hood of the car.

"I think we're okay." Dale added, speaking his mind.

"Don't be stupid, okay'?" He retaliated, but Dale kept going.

"That alarm echoing around these hills, it would be hard to pinpoint the source." Dale had a reasonable point. I also mentally thanked them for indirectly informing me that loud noises attract walkers. That I didn't know. "I'm not arguing with you, i'm just saying!" He said in defence from Shane, but then turned to the asian guy. "It wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little next time, would it?" The asian guy looked defeated.

"Sorry." He looked to the car and smirked a little. "Got a cool car!" The others shook their head, but I couldn't help giggling a little (I hated giggling!). I felt sorry for the guy. Maybe some people needed to loosen their knots a little. Or maybe I was just speaking from inexperience.

The sound of another engine approaching drew the attention back to the road, and a massive white lorry came into view. The survivors gathered around at the entrance to the camp, anxiously waiting to see if their friends and family had made it back. It was like waiting in the airport for the flight returning from Afghanistan to land, or maybe even parents waiting at Platform 9 3/4 for their children to return from Hogwarts.

It had barely stopped before a blonde woman around the same age as Lori jumped out, and called out for Amy. Amy burst into a sprint toward her calling out "Andrea!", and the two crashed into a tearful hug, clinging onto each other as though they hadn't seen each other in years. Children's shouts of "Daddy!" were the next to be heard, as two children went sprinting toward another man who came out from the passenger seat, shortly followed by Miranda, so I guessed that was Morales. Behind them were two others, a coloured man and woman. I figured that the man was T-Dog, so the other woman must have been Jacqui. They were both met with open arms from Dale, and as I turned around to notice Lori, Carl and Shane to be missing. Shane was resting against the hood of the red car, shotugn on his shoulder, while Lori was kneeling down to face Carl, trying to comfort him. The poor kid - having to watch everyone reunite with their loved ones, while his was dead.

"How'd y'all get out of there anyways?" Shane asked curiously and the asian guy (Glenn?) nodded toward the van.

"New guy. Got us out." Great. More newcomers.

"Yeah, crazy guy that just got into town. Hey! Helicopter boy! Come say hello!" The door opened and closed, and a man stepped out, running his fingers through his hair and looking down at his feet. "Guy's a cop, like you." He added. Suddenly, I had a fair idea of who the guy could be, but...it couldn't be, could it? I looked over to Lori and Carl, to see them slowly turn their heads to see this new man. I tried not to let the tears spill when Carl burst into tears and sprinted towards the man, screaming "daddy". It was even harder when the guy spotted his son, and too burst into tears, and clutched him tightly, even falling to the ground. Lori stared at him, absoloutely dumbfound with shock. Well, you couldn't exactly blame her, could you? She was under the impression that he was dead. He gave Shane an unmistakeable look of thanks, and Shane couldn't hide a smile. Suddenly all the misery in the group was gone. We were all safe.