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— PART TWO of THREE —
THERE IS NO HOPE ANYWHERE

— IT WAS MID-AFTERNOON WHEN THEY HEARD THE CHURCH BELLS

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— IT WAS MID-AFTERNOON WHEN THEY HEARD THE CHURCH BELLS. A sliver of hope had been lifted within the group as they all began to take off towards the sound.

"Do you think it's Sophia?" Carol asked Emerson, her voice laced with hope.

Emerson just smiled and nodded. She was so happy that this would finally be over. That Sophia would be safe with the group once again.

Until it wasn't safe. And it wasn't Sophia.

The church bell was on a timer.

Emerson hated church.

When Emerson and Silas were younger, their mother and father had drug them to church every Sunday. She remembered how close her and the Pastor's wife had become.

She even told the woman what was happening at home. However, the pastor's wife told her to pray about it and God would make it stop.

God never made it stop, and that made Emerson hate God. Later in life, Emerson realized that the pastor was probably beating his own wife, too.

So now, while everyone else went inside, her and Carl sat on the steps.

"Did you go to church, Emmy?"

She shrugged. "Growing up, Silas and I went with our parents every Sunday. Did you?"

"We went on Christmas and Easter. And, when I would stay the night with grandma, we would go." Carl answered. "Do you think my moms in heaven?"

Emerson was baffled at his blunt question. She tried to remember that he was only 10 and all he had were questions 90% of the time.

Emerson thought about her answer. She remembered what Shane said.

"If she's not in heaven, I think she's here, looking for you." Emerson replied.

"I'm gonna go see my dad. He's taking forever and we need to find Sophia." Carl stated and got up from the stairs and went inside the building.

Emerson looked up to see Shane and Andrea standing in the church's graveyard.

Since the CDC, what happened in the rec room had been playing on a movie screen in Emerson's head. She just wished it would stop.

Emmy was brought out of her own head when she heard the rest of the group trudging down the church steps.

"You doin' okay?" Silas asked Emerson. She smiled at her brother.

"Yeah, I'm doin' okay. Missin' your booty call?" She teased.

Silas just laughed.

Nathan stayed back with Dale and T-Dog. The man had a bad cut on his forearm. In case anything were to happen, Nathan volunteered to stay back to help Dale.

"We're just friends."

"That's definitely not what it looked like three days ago." She chuckled.

Then, Shane came over, which had put a hold on their conversation.

"Ya'll follow the creek bed back. Daryl's in charge." He announced. "Rick and I are gonna hang back."

Emerson scoffed.

"Why not Emmy? No offense, Daryl." asked Andrea.

Daryl just shrugged, telling her she was right.

"Does Emerson make the rules?" Shane retorted.

Silas scoffed loudly, "Maybe she should. She wouldn't split us up like you're suggesting."

"Maybe you should–"

Shane was cut off by Rick telling them it was his idea. Whether that was true or not, none of them knew. And if he wasn't, well, everyone knew cops were good liars.

"I wanna stay too." Carl announced. "I'm her friend."

Rick nodded at his son, then looked to Emerson, who was looking at Carl.

"Emmy agrees, right?" Carl said, as he let go of her hand.

Her mouth fell open. "Did you just throw me under the bus?"

"No." Carl scrunched up his nose. "Where do you see a bus?"

The entire group smiled at the young and naive boy.

"Yeah, let's go son." Rick told him.

He gave Emerson a quick hug as she told him to be careful.

"Here," Rick said, holding out a gun, "Take this."

"Thought we couldn't carry, Officer." She smirked, "I'm not gonna take it and leave you unarmed."

"You can take this one." Daryl told her, handing her a small hand gun.

Rick gave her a toothy grin. "Now I'm not unarmed."

Emerson rolled her eyes. "See ya later, Lucky."

Silas watched this exchange and wondered why he wasn't offered a gun. Not that he minded. He was perfectly fine, and preferred, with the machete he had hanging from his belt.

With that, the two groups split up and went off in different directions.

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A single gunshot. That's all it took for Rick's son to go down and onto the ground. Rick's life suddenly came crashing down as it registered that Carl was bleeding out.

Rick cried out as he picked up his child. At the same moment, a man appeared.

"I'm so-sorry! I didn't see him!"

"What do you mean you didn't see him?" Shane shouted.

The burly man teared up. "Two miles that way is a farmhouse. They'll take care of him."

Shane scoffed. "Take us there."

Rick then took off running, Shane and the other man followed close behind.

As a cop, two miles was nothing for Rick and Shane. But this time, Rick thought he wasn't moving fast enough. He was out of shape. He had been in a coma for over three months, and now his son needed him.

He was mid-adrenaline rush.

When he finally came upon the house, the man had told him to find Hershel.

Rick didn't care who Hershel was. All he cared about was his son getting the help he needed to live.

"Was he bit?"

"Shot," Rick replied. "By your man. He said to find Hershel, is that you?"

"Get him inside."

"Please. Help him. Help my boy!" Rick cried.

Rick carried his son into the white farmhouse and into a bedroom.

Little did Rick know, Death wasn't the only demon that lurked around the house.

The other was Lori Grimes.

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