Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I saw her running at high speed past the trees. Her wails and sobs told me she was in a state of fear. It was obvious she was running from something, but what exactly? I turned my head towards the direction she had come from and it didn't take long before I spotted them. 

One,- two...

Two of them were following her.

Shit, shit, shit.

They weren't too far behind and although she was running pretty fast, she would soon grow tired, but they wouldn't. They never did.

Despite the fact they weren't running, they would not lose her scent any time soon. Eventually they would catch up on her.

I had to do something. Staying up here while that little girl was crying and running from those creatures, would be inhuman and cruel of me. But I also knew what was on the other side, more specifically, into the direction she was running towards.

More of them. 

I knew my limits. An entire group as large as the one up ahead was even something I couldn't handle. That little girl wouldn't stand a chance.

I held my breath as I saw the girl trip and hit the ground. She yelled loudly and glanced over her shoulder to see if those undead things had gained up on her yet.

If I went after her now, the chances of escaping were slim, but a chance nonetheless. A struggle between my mind and heart broke out and annoyingly enough it was my heart that won. 

As of right now there were only these two. If I played my cards right, I could take care of them without alerting the group up ahead. I turned around, left my backpack between the branches and started to descend from the tree.

My feet touched the ground softly. I had no intention of alarming the two following her just yet. Their focus was on her, giving me a solid opportunity to take them out. But when I looked at the spot where the girl had fallen I saw nothing.

She was gone.

A short scream sounded but went silent almost immediately. I spun round and luckily enough spotted her once again, only she was no longer alone. 

A man, who I had not noticed earlier, lifted her up in his arms and started to run away. 

Where had he come from?

I quickly scanned for the undead, still hearing them clearly, before following the guy and the young girl. 

Even though she was no longer alone, they were now both going into the wrong direction. They had only to cross the stream further down and they would butt heads right with that other group of undead beings.

I suddenly stopped and turned back to the tree I'd been hiding in. If something were to go wrong, I wouldn't have time to head back and fetch my belongings.

I quickly reached for my pack, flung it over my shoulder and hurried back into the direction of those two.

It didn't take long for me to reach the stream. But when I got there, there was no sign of either of them. Had I missed them already? Or had they gone into another direction without me noticing?

Then, from my left, I could hear the splashing of water. They were moving down the creek.

"Shit." I muttered as I ran a hand through my hair, there was nothing I could do now. 

The man and little girl were heading straight into a death trap. But that's how it went nowadays. Each day was a day of survival and in order to survive you sometimes had to make a choice which would decide your own fate.

Cursing under my breath, I began making my way down the bank. Every now and then I threw a quick glance behind me to seew if those two undead were still around. Once I reached the bridge up ahead I stopped. 

Still no sign of either the man or the girl. Everything was quiet. 

This was it. There was nothing more for me to do. I wasn't going to tempt fate by risking my own life any longer for the sake of those two people.

I turned on my heel when a noise from beliw caught my attention.

It was soft, but there was definitely something there. Sobs. Clearly recognisable even with the sound of the stream. I peered over the edge of the bridge and saw a head of dark blond hair. The girl from earlier.

She looked up and her widened deep brown eyes stared at me.

Why was she still here? I quickly jerked my head up to look around. Where was the guy? Was this a trap? Or had he left her here all by herself? That would make no sense...Why would he,- No, it didn't matter, I had to get her out of here.

I looked back again and raised my index finger to my lips, signalling for her to keep quiet. She had to keep still, any noise and those undead would surely come this way. 

I climbed down into the wanter and extended my hand out to her. But the girl looked to the left before shaking her head at me. 

Damn it.

I crouched down this time and once more reached for her with my hand.

"If you don't come with me, more will show up. So either you stay and die, or you can come with me and live." 

I said trying to sound as nicely as I could.

Her bottom lip started to quiver. 

Oh no…please don't cry.

"Please." I tried again, even adding a small smile in the process. "This is not a safe place, little girl."

Somehow it worked. She walked forward and grabbed hold of my hand, with one big pull I yanked her out from beneath the branches. She was breathing heavily and started to shake.

"What is your name?" I asked her, I had to figure out a way to prevent her from having some sort of break down. It wasn't winter time, sure the water was chilly, but she couldn't be freezing yet.

"S-S-Sophia,-" The little girl said. "Sophia P-Peletier." 

In her arms she was holding a small doll, nothing that could protect her.

"Sophia, my name is Madison and I need you to listen to me." I grabbed hold of her hand and looked into her eyes. "We need to get to safety, alright? Do not make a sound until I say we are safe."

For a moment it looked like she wanted to protest or pull away, but luckily she didn't.

"Good girl, come on." I squeezed her hand tightly and made my way back with her to where I'd first spotted her.

"Do you have a weapon?" Sophia whispered as soft as she could as I crouched to the ground. 

Removing my backpack, I reached for the flap and pulled a long black metal object out of it. I glanced over my shoulder and held the crowbar up for her to see. She nodded.

"Come on. Let's get out of here before it turns dark." I was about to grab hold of her hand but she stepped back.

"Rick told me to go back to the road." She replied. 

Rick? Was that the man she was with earlier? He told her to go back to the road on her own? Did she mean the highway? That was a dangerous place to go to. Lots of undead roamed around there.

"Sophia," I lowered myself to the ground and looked at her. "You can't go back to the road now. Those things that came after you, they most likely came from there. They're still nearby, they could be blocking the way back too."

"B-but my mum,-" Her bottom lip started to tremble again.

Heaven help me, why did I go after her?

I sighed deeply. "Sophia, tomorrow we,-" With one big push I shoved Sophia aside and stood up.

I raised my crowbar and swung it with full force against the head of the walking corpse in front of me. Sophia screamed as the undead creature hit the ground right before her feet.

The highway was definitely not an option and it didn't matter to me what Sophia wanted to do. Right now we had to get the hell out of here before more would show up. I quickly grabbed Sophia's arm and pulled her with me. She did not resist this time.

::::::...::::::

"How come we didn't stop at that tent back there?" Sophia asked as we walked out of the woods. 

We passed a small camping site a few minutes ago. I hadn't given it a second glance, but the little girl wanted to stop and rest. Without saying anything I had pulled her along with me.

"Because I have been there before and there is nothing to find." I replied shortly. 

That wasn't a hundred percent true. I had found some things inside the tent, but nothing I would tell that little girl about. The current world was already traumatizing enough as it was.

It seemed like she didn't care that much in the first place for she quickly changed her focus on something else. Something tall and white, she extended her arm into the distance.

 "Look over there." Sophia pointed. "A church."

The church. We weren't too far away from one of the houses I was planning on hiding in for the night with Sophia, but I needed to check on the church for undead first. It had been a while since there had been one in there. Probably a week since I whacked the last one to the ground, but that only meant it would only be a matter of time until a new corpse would decide to show up.

"We have to be extra quiet." I whispered to her. "There may be some of them inside." Sophia nodded.

The first time I'd gone into that church, there had been no one there, at first. It was completely deserted. But then the church bells had gone off and scared the living daylights out of me. 

Luckily I quickly discovered the source of them. It was an automated bell toll, hanging outside on the side of the building. After I had managed to shut the damn thing off, I had to fight three undead off my back.

It hadn't taken long for me to figure out that these things were attracted to sounds and the louder those were, the better it worked attractingthem. The timer on the bells gave me an advantage when I needed to head out to find supplies or scan the neighbourhood, so I changed the time setting on the church bells to my own liking.

Sophia and I stopped at the side of the church. I dropped my backpack on the grass and opened up the box containing the timer of the bell toll. I turned one of the knobs, then pressed a button, something I was certain I had done before, but then I don't know what went wrong. I must have pressed something because suddenly the audio blasted through the speaker echoing over the entire area.

"Shit!" I cursed, hitting the button again and the bells stopped. 

Damn it. Now we had to be extra careful, every undead in the area would join the party.

"Won't the noise attract the Walkers?" Sophia said to me.

"Walkers? What are Walkers?" I looked at her as I grabbed the backpack again.

"That's what we call them. We call them Walkers." She explained.

"Oh. Walkers, huh?" I frowned. 

Walkers. That sounded less gruesome than undead.

I looked at Sophia, clutching that raggedy looking doll close to her chest. She looked so innocent, with her short blond hair, dark brown eyes and her rainbow t-shirt.

"We'd better get going before those,- Walkers show up." I hoisted the backpack onto my back and took hold of Sophia's hand.

"Any moment now these church bells will go off again, luring some of those Walkers towards the church. That will provide us with a clear path to reach one of the abandoned houses in the woods safely."

"What about the road? Aren't we moving too far away from it?" I felt a tug on my arm, Sophia had stopped. 

She wanted to go back to the road more than anything and even though I fully understood her, I couldn't risk my life giving our current situation. The best thing to do was to wait till morning and then get to the road.

"We're not, I'll make sure we won't go too far. I will get you back to your mother, Sophia." I smiled at her. "I promise."

The bells chimed, we had waited too long. If we wanted to reach the house safe and sound then we'd had to go now.

"Come on, no more dawdling." I told her firmly.

::::::...::::::

I told Sophia to wait outside but the girl was too scared to be on her own at the moment. I should have realized that before making the suggestion at all. She had been chased by undead after all and then was left alone by one of her own people.

Nonetheless, it was very difficult keeping an eye on my surroundings and on her at the same time. This was exactly why I travelled alone. I couldn't handle the responsibility of having to take care of another person. But I had made the decision of going after her and now I was stuck with it.

The abandoned home which stood in front of us was huge, it wasn't a farm like most of the houses in the area, but still almost the size of one. I tossed the flashlight to Sophia. 

"I need you to light the area in front of me when we scout some of the rooms. Can you do that?"

Sophia clicked the flashlight and nodded.

We checked the kitchen first. There were candles on the dining table. Most of them already used, you could tell by the multiple coloured layers of wax upon the surface.

"Madison, I think someone's been here." Sophia whispered, which was very observant of her.

"That would have been me." I replied as I placed my backpack on a chair. Sophia frowned at me. "But if you have been here before, how come we are,-"

She stopped talking and looked up at the ceiling. The sound of someone or something moving about came from upstairs.

"That is why." I said keeping my gaze on the ceiling. "I'm going to need your help."

I opened my backpack and took out one of the knives I carried in there. I handed it to Sophia, but the little girl shook her head at the sight of the knife.

"Sophia, I'm sorry, but if we want to spend the night here, then I'm going to need your help." I moved my hand and she stepped back.

I sighed. "Or would you rather have me lock up you in the pantry?"

She pulled a face and reluctantly took the knife from me. We headed up the stairs, Sophia tightly held on to my jacket as we made our way into the corridor. An orange light shone brightly through the window at the end of the hallway, the sun was setting. We halted in front of one of the doors. It had gone quiet.

"Do you think it's in there?" Sophia whispered. A loud bang sounded from the other side of the door, causing me and Sophia to jump.

"Stand back." I grabbed the handle and turned it, but nothing happened. I turned it again and still it did not budge.

I rubbed the back of my neck and stared at the door with confusion. "It's locked." 

How had that happened?

"What do we do now?" Sophia asked. "Are you going to kill it?"

I had no idea how it could have gotten itself locked up in there. Judging by the hinges, the door opened up towards the inside, not into the corridor. Had something heavy fallen against the other side? In any case, we couldn't get in, which meant it couldn't get out.

"We're going to leave it."

"Leave it?!"

Another loud bang came from behind the door, followed by a gurgling noise.

"If we can't get in there, then it can't get out. We can block part of the corridor with furniture in case it does manage to find a way out of the room." I suggested though I strongly doubted it could manage to accomplish that. 

Sophia didn't seem to like the idea. I was actually starting to think she wanted me to kill the Walker.

She never said a thing though, so we started to check the other rooms. They were all clear, meaning it was just the one undead. I knew that eventually I would kill it, but for now I was going to leave it where it was. Before we headed downstairs I decided to move the cabinets, which stood in the corridor, towards the room where the Walker was.

"Sophia. Watch my back, alright?" I asked her while placing my crowbar against the wall. I took a deep breath and with great effort pushed one of the cabinets towards the door, where Sophia stood guard. It was a rather heavy thing, so I stopped. "It's heavier than I thought, can you help me?"

Instead of saying yes, or no, Sophia screamed loudly.

I turned around staring directly into the face at one of those Walkers. A female Walker, missing half of her bottom jaw and teeth. Her brownish red tongue flopped around like a tired dog gasping for air. She launched forward at a speed I hadn't seen before in one of them. I raised my arms and caught her before we both toppled over.

"Sophia! Knife, give me the knife!" I yelled trying not to breathe in the horrible smell coming from the dead, yet very much moving, corpse on top of me. I tried pushing her off, but she was too close to my face.

"Sophia!" I shouted again.

Something wet hit my face and the body went limp. I quickly shoved the Walker off of me and stared at it with disbelieve. The knife I had given Sophia was stuck in the creature's left eye, what was left of it. It must have hit her brain somehow.

I turned my head to look at Sophia and saw that she was still standing in the same spot. She had thrown the knife, actually thrown the knife! What if she had missed and hit the wall or me instead, I could have been bitten or killed. But the little girl had very well just saved my life.

I crawled back onto my feet and stumbled towards her.

"Are you alright?" I asked her with concern. All of the blood seemed to have drained from her face. "Sophia?"

She didn't reply but simply stared at the Walker she had managed to kill with a single toss. I pulled her into a hug. "Thank you. Thank you, Sophia." Then I felt her small arms crawl over my back and she returned the hug.

"Come on, let's go down and have some dinner before we go to bed."

::::::......::::::

The next morning we were sitting outside in the tall grass, taking our time before we would head out towards the road to look for Sophia's mother.

"Maddy?" Sophia yelled a few feet away from me.

"What?" I replied, leaning on my elbows to look at her. 

She was standing next to a bush with a few white flowers. She plucked one and walked back to me.

"Look at this, isn't it pretty?" She handed me the little white thing. It was rather odd to see something this beautiful still being able to bloom during these times.

"Do you know what it's called?" Sophia asked.

"I have no idea," I shrugged. "It kind of looks like a rose." I returned the flower to her and she continued back to what she had been doing since the crack of dawn, throwing knives.

Ever since she had saved me from the Walker last night, I figured it would be best to have her practise with a weapon, should she need to defend herself or perhaps save my life again. Last night could have been sheer dumb luck, but it was the best shot I had ever seen.

This morning Sophia proved that she had some form skill when it came to knife throwing. The first few throws were shit, but soon she figured out a way, and after that almost every single toss she had done was a direct hit at the target. If I didn't know any better, I'd even say she was rather enjoying it.

Even this morning when Sophia woken up she had been quite chirpy. It annoyed me to bits. We had opened a can of anchovies for breakfast, which was just as disgusting as it sounds but we had to eat something. It was rather weird the way she had gone from having a breakdown to this happy-go-lucky child in a span of twenty-four hours.

Though last night had shaken her up pretty badly, she had still fallen asleep rather quickly. We had created a makeshift bed at the bottom of a pantry. She squeezed herself in there while I kept guard in front of it. I sat there all night, against the doorframe with my crowbar across my lap and the flashlight in my hand, watching her sleep.

I didn't want to admit it, but it felt good to be with someone again, talking to someone. But it also meant I had to watch out more and be even more careful. I had stayed up the whole night not getting a wink of sleep as a result. 

"I think it's time we hit the road, Sophia." I said as I stretched out in the grass before getting up.

"Alright!" She replied as she gathered the knives.

I hoisted the backpack onto my back and took two of the three knives from her. That knife she had thrown last night belonged to her now. She had earned it.

:::::::::...::::::::::

"Do you think my mum and the others are still on the road?" She asked hopefully after we had walked for an hour.

"I hope so and if not, we will keep on looking." I replied and I meant it. 

I may not want it, but she was my responsibility now. If her mother and friends were still alive I would have to do all I could to get her back with them.

"Will you stay with us?"

I suddenly stopped and stared at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Sophia started. "We're a big group and we look out for each other. You're alone, so I thou,-"

"We shall see, Sophia. The first important thing is getting you back." I said sternly not wanting to discuss it any further. 

I didn't buy it for one second that her group looked out for each other. That man had left her behind for heaven's sake.

After another hour of walking, having encountered no Walkers, thank goodness, we had made it to the road. Dozens of cars had been left there. Some still containing Walkers, most of them actually dead instead of undead.

"Do you recognize any of these surroundings?" I asked her after we had walked around for fifteen minutes. 

Sophia shook her head. I couldn't blame her for not recognizing anything, seeing as there were a lot of cars on this highway. I could hardly imagine a little girl the age of,- I halted. I had no idea how old she was. She couldn't be a teenager yet, but not a young child either.

"Sophia, how old are you anyway?" I asked.

"Twelve," She peeked into one of the cars, crinkled her nose and walked back to me. "How old are you, Maddy?"

I leaned my back against one of the cars, my shoulders still hurt a bit from falling against that cabinet last night. "It's not polite to ask a woman her age."

Sophia crossed her arms. "Forty?"

My eyes widened. "Forty, well thanks a lot. Just because I haven't had a decent wash in a while..."

"Sorry,-" She apologized.

"That's alright, I'm thirty-three actually."

"That is still old." She replied.

"Okay, enough resting," I replied feeling irritated. "Let's continue down the road, if we don't find anything we'll head back to the house."

We walked down the highway, Sophia told me that one of the vehicles they had was an RV. But there wasn't an RV in sight, perhaps they had moved on. I couldn't imagine they would, no mother would leave their child unless she knew for certain it was hopeless.

"Is that food?" Sophia suddenly exclaimed pointing at a yellow car. I narrowed my eyes and noticed, what seemed like, writing on the back window.

We approached the vehicle, and indeed those were letters on the glass;

SOPHIA STAY HERE

WE WILL COME EVERY

DAY

A message for Sophia, they hadn't forgotten about her, they simply moved to somewhere else. These roads weren't really safe, lots of Walkers hung around here. It would only be a matter of time before we'd come across some of them.

I glanced at the supplies they had left on the car, a blanket, large flashlight. Bottled water and,- was that peanut butter?

Sophia didn't seem to care much about the stuff. 

She placed her hand on the window and looked up at me. "They left? When will they come back?"

"I don't know, Soph,-" 

Honestly I had no intention of waiting for them. I understood the idea those people had in mind, but truthfully it was rather dangerous and I was not going to risk my neck by waiting here until they might show up.

The fact that they expected Sophia to wait here on her own for them was irresponsible and naïve. The chances of her surviving that for God knows how many hours, were slimmer than hiding in the woods.

I grabbed the food and water from the trunk and stuffed it into the backpack.

"Wait! What are you doing?!" Sophia cried out. "Leave that! We have to wait for them."

She grabbed hold of my arm and started to pull, causing me to drop the bag on the floor.

"Sophia, we can't wait." I turned around to face her. "What if they've already been here today? Do you know how many of those things are around here? On and off the highway"

Her bottom lip started to tremble and I gritted my teeth.

"I told you that I'd get you back to your mother and I will, but for now we have to go. I don't want to wait here and become Walker food in case they don't show up any more."

She started to sob and I pulled her into a hug. I shouldn't have yelled at her. "I'm sorry,-"

"I'll tell you what, how about we'll leave them a message?" I suggested. Sophia looked up and wiped her tears away.

"What kind of message?"

Chapter Text

Sophia started pulling on the threads of her t-shirt, the part where I had cut a piece off. I figured leaving something personal behind was the best way to prove to her mother and the rest of their group that Sophia was still alive.

"I'm sorry about your shirt." I said as we walked through the forest back to the house.

"That's alright, I'm glad we didn't leave my doll behind." Sophia replied clutching the rag doll tightly against her chest. 

It had indeed crossed my mind to leave her doll behind, it would have been easier than ruining her T-shirt, but I couldn't do that to her. Besides, when I suggested leaving something behind, she hid the puppet behind her back out of my line of sight. I'm sure she would have suggested it herself if she wanted to leave it.

Aside from a piece of Sophia's shirt, the last physical evidence I intented to leave behind was a message. Unfortunately, that never happened.

For right as I was about to carve a couple of words near her mother's on the top of the trunk just below the window, Sophia pulled on my sleeve. 

Grabbing my hand she yanked on it and we crouched behind the car. She pointed to the left at a Walker. I tightened my grip on the crowbar while Sophia lowered herself to the ground. She lifted her index finger indicating there was only one of them in the area.

I motioned for her to stay in her spot as I moved around the vehicle. I didn't take my time because I wanted to get away from the highway as quickly as possible. Stepping away from the car I appeared behind the Walker and with two good hits against his head, he fell to the ground. It was time to leave.

Sophia and I ran, making our way back to the house. I was very pleased with the provisions Sophia's group had left on the car, it saved me a trip from going to one of the nearby towns to scavenge for food.

I realized the current situation wouldn't last long though. Soon I'd have to think of moving away from this area and probably without Sophia. I glanced at her walking next to me. Over the last couple of days she had proven herself. From a scared girl into someone who was more aware and alert. Quite able to defend herself as long as it was from a distance.

She'd been with me for two days now, but still I knew almost nothing about her or her family. Not to mention anything about the group she was with and how she got separated from them in the first place.

"Sophia, tell me about your family?" I asked her.

She stopped and looked at me with big brown eyes. I halted as well. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. She seemed rather taken back by the question.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Sophia. Forget I asked. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"My mum, she,- …she's called Carol." Sophia began. "She's got short grey hair, blue eyes. She never leaves me alone, but she says that's what mothers do. I really miss her."

"She sounds nice. I'm sure she can't wait to see you again." I smiled. "And what about your dad?"

"My dad? Oh, he uhm,-" She paused for a moment. "He didn't make it…"

"Oh, that's,- I, I'm sorry."

Sophia pressed her doll against her chest. "That's okay. I mean he wasn't always very nice. Especially to my mum. I think that's why she was always with me, so he couldn't be mean to me."

Shit,- what could I say about that? The way she hung her head as she spoke made it sound as if there was a lot of trouble in the family. Also when she mentioned her father, perhaps I was imagining things, but she didn't sound quite as upset as one would expect.

"I'm sorry your father wasn't kind to you and your mother." I finally said. 

Sophia gave a slow nod. "It happens."

"It shouldn't." I added. "I'll get you back to your mother, Sophia. I promise."

"I know. Thanks, Maddy."

We reached the house, but the moment we did I noticed something was different. I told Sophia to stay close to me as we approached the house we had spent the night before.

The front door was open but I was certain I'd closed it when we left for the highway. Quietly, we made our way to the back of the building. But the backdoor was open as well.

"Someone has been here." I whispered to Sophia, I felt her hand grabbing hold of my arm.

"A Walker?" She asked softly.

"Maybe,-" But both doors were open and Walkers couldn't open any doors. This could mean a few things, either I had been incredibly stupid and forgotten to close the doors and a Walker had come through here and was now inside. Or most likely it had been a person. The latter sounded more plausible, but I sincerely hoped I was wrong.

"We're not staying here." I decided and I took hold of Sophia's hand. She didn't protest, but I still felt the need to explain it to her.

"I have no desire to find out who or what is inside. Maybe there's nobody, but I don't want to risk anything. We need another place to stay tonight and I know exactly where."

The place I had in mind wasn't the safest spot to stay, but it had a 'guard dog'. It was more of a smelly dead person than an actual dog, but it still did the trick.

Its foul smell could keep our scent hidden from other Walkers. I remember when I first found him hanging from the tree branch. I was disgusted and at the same time disturbed considering how it must have gotten there in the first place.

My initial reaction had been to cut it down and put an end to it, but at the time I couldn't bring myself to do it. So I left it there and soon found out it worked as a sort of repellent for other Walkers. At some point the feet had managed to disappear, chewed off by other undead most likely. 

A gruesome thought but I had no other explanation for it. 

It took Sophia and I about half an hour to reach the tent. Everything seemed to be in order until I caught sight of the 'guard dog' hanging still. 

"Huh, that's odd." I mumbled.

"That is gross." Sophia said wrinkling her nose looking with disgust at the dangling corpse.

"That too." I approached the Walker and poked it in its back with my crowbar. 

Normally it would growl and groan, but it didn't make a single sound. No response. Carefully I turned jt around and I looked up and saw an arrow stuck in its forehead. Someone had killed it.

"Well shit,-" I cursed.

It was impossible for me to determine when this had happened except it had to have been somewhere between now and four days ago. Hopefully whoever had done it was long gone by now. I checked the tent, and tossed the backpack inside when I found no one there.

I used one of the knives to cut the Walker down from the rope around his neck. He still smelled disgusting. Perhaps he could be useful even in this state. I dragged him towards the tent and left him near the opening.

"What if he comes back to life, like the others?" Sophia asked with worry.

I glanced over my shoulder at her. "He won't, you see that arrow?"

She nodded.

"If you hurt their brain, they won't come back." I explained. Sophia came closer and looked at its face.

"Daryl shoots arrows."

I crawled inside the tent and grabbed one of the water bottles. "Who?"

"Daryl. He is with us. He hunts food and protects us by killing Walkers with a crossbow." Sophia said taking the bottle from me.

Must come in handy to have someone around with, what seemed to be, survival skills. "He sounds great to have around." I replied.

"He's very grumpy and snarls a lot." She retorted. I chuckled.

I asked her about the rest of the group, and I learned that it was bigger than I'd initially thought. There was another kid, with his mother and father, who was a police man. An old man who owned an RV. There was Carol, Sophia's mother. Another woman, an Asian man, a man called T-dog and another police man with a big nose.

"And Daryl of course," She finished counting with her fingers. Ten people, eleven when you count Sophia.

"If so many people are out there looking for you, we're sure to find one of them soon." I said.

"I hope so." Sophia replied as she sat down next to me.

The next day

"You look terrible."

"Not in the mood, Soph,-" I groaned.

Ever since I found Sophia, I hadn't had a good night's sleep. Not that I slept like a log before that, but at least I got some hours of rest. Last night was the most annoying one so far. While Sophia was fast asleep inside the tent, I killed a Walker who had decided to pay us a visit. Could have been because it was attracted by the small fire or perhaps it had caught our scent. After I had smashed my crowbar into his skull, I laid him on the other side of the tent and there I kept watch right between the two dead Walkers.

"You could have told me about the Walker, you know." Sophia complained and I couldn't help but crack a smile. 

When she crawled out of the tent this morning, it had scared the living daylights out of her but now she pretended to not be bothered by it.

"Next time I will." I replied, which I wouldn't. Her scream alone would probably attract more of them.

Today we headed down to the other side of the water, hoping to find someone looking for Sophia. Since they hadn't stayed on the highway, I figured they'd probably try to reach one of the farms in the surrounding area.

Most of the farms I'd checked over the last few weeks, were either deserted or crawling with Walkers. But there were still so many farm houses around that Sophia's group could very well be in one of them.

"Maddy?" Sophia called out a few feet away from me.

"Not so loud." I hissed heading her way. "What's wrong?"

Sophia pointed down below to a stream. "Does this lead to where you found me?"

I glanced over the edge and nodded. "It does, though I found you much further up."

"Can we rest for a moment?" She asked. "Spend time in the water for a while?"

I didn't want to stop, even though it was still early in the day, I wanted to make progress in finding her group. The sooner the better and I could be on my merry way again.

But I had to remind myself that I currently wasn't alone and that Sophia wasn't an adult, she was only a child. I had to consider her feelings too, something which I found didn't come naturally to me.

"Fine, but not too long."

Carefully we headed down towards the water, trying not to slip on the wet rocky surface as we made our descend. We stopped at a big log in the middle of the shallow creek. Sophia took off her shoes, handed me her doll and waded into a deeper part of the water. I sat down on the log and watched how she splashed the water up with her feet. In a way it was very uplifting to see her enjoying something as simple as playing with water. I guess children had a way of making the best out of any situation. 

And then get devoured by a walking corpse.

"Come on Maddy, the water feels nice." Sophia said. I wanted to join her, I really did, but I had to be on the lookout just in case.

"Nah, I'm good. You go and enjoy yourself." I waved. 

Sitting in the sun was good enough for me. I closed my eyes for a few seconds and let the warmth of the sun touch my face. When I reopened them I caught Sophia still playing in the same spot. But she wasn't alone. A Walker was heading into her direction.

She had her back turned to it and her focus was on her own feet squishing the mud between her toes. I jumped up and ran towards her. She smiled when I stopped next to her, probably thinking I had come to join her. I grabbed her gently. 

"Walker."

She turned her head around and pressed herself against me when she saw it.

"Time to go." Because of the mud, the Walker was walking through, it didn't move very quickly, which bought us enough time to leave. But when we turned around two more had appeared near the log. 

The backpack,- I couldn't leave that behind.

I quickly ran to the log, followed by Sophia. I slipped and fell forward into the muddy water. Luckily Sophia was there and she managed to get the backpack for me. I scrambled back on my feet and took it from her. 

"Thanks."

"Wait! My doll," Sophia screamed turning around thinking she still had time to grab it, but the Walkers were too close to the log now.

"It's too late." I said pulling her away and we started running.

I don't know how we managed it, but we lost them along the way, having climbed our way out of the mud bank must have done the trick as it was too steep for them to follow. I breathed heavily leaning against a tree with Sophia hugging my waist.

"Are you alright?" I asked her. Her head nodded against my body.

"Good." I exhaled deeply as I rubbed her head. I hated days like this. Running and hiding, to kill or not to kill.

Sophia suddenly shook me, I looked at her.

 "Did you hear that?" She said looking into no particular direction.

I blinked. "Hear what?"

"I- I think I heard my name."

I looked around and tried to focus on something that resembled the sound of a voice, but I heard nothing.

"Are you sure?"

"I think so,-"

She didn't have to tell me what was going through her mind. She wanted to locate the source of the voice. I couldn't blame her for wanting to go, but we had just run like mad from a total of three Walkers. 

But if Sophia had heard her name being called, it would have to be one of her people, right? But what if it wasn't?

"Maddy?"

I honestly doubted we would ever get another chance like this. "Give me a second, okay?"

Sophia nodded but kept staring intensely at me. Eventually I sighed and gave in.

"Alright, let's find out if somebody did call out your name."

After five minutes of walking through the woods we still hadn't found anything or anyone. If someone had been calling for her, they were probably gone by now. I was starting to lose hope and I could tell I wasn't the only one.

"I really thought I had heard someone." Sophia said in a sad voice. 

"We'll find them." I assured her, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

Then I heard something coming into our direction. Not a voice, but the sound of hooves and sure enough a horse appeared from between the trees, a saddled horse.

What in the blazes? 

It passed us at high speed and then vanished from our sight. Had there been somebody on it? Or had it come from one of the nearby farms?

"Did you see that?" Sophia whispered.

"Let's go down that way, maybe we can find where it came from." I suggested.

We were walking along the edge of the water. I was getting tired and by the look of it so was Sophia. I couldn't remember why I'd even suggested heading down this path for it seemed to go on endlessly. I was about to suggest to her we should stop for a moment when she gasped out loudly.

"Daryl, Daryl!" She yelled. "DARYL!"

Oh lord, she was going to attract attention.

"Sophia, wait!" I reached out but she was already running away.

"No, I know him, that's Daryl!"

Was she starting to hallucinate? I went after her while glancing over my shoulder to make sure there were no Walkers nearby.

We were back at what seemed like the bank from earlier. We'd gone in a circle? But that wasn't important as it seemed that Sophia had found the location of the person who she thought was the one who had called out her name. 

Sophia rushed through the water as fast as she could and dropped on the ground next to a body. She began to shake him.

"Daryl? Daryl, wake up!"

I dropped the backpack and lowered myself next to her. The man in front of me had short brown hair, a hint of a scruffy beard, but it was hard to see through all of the grime and muck. He almost look like a Walker.

I expected him to be much older and more bulky, even though he was quite muscled. Nonetheless this man was in bad shape. There was blood on the side of his face and his eyelids were fluttering. I eyed the rest of his body noticing multiple cuts and scrapes, he was covered in dirt and an arrow stuck in his side. 

"Sophia, stop. Stop!" I grabbed hold of her hands and pulled her towards me. "He seems to be hurt pretty bad, we have to be gentle, alright? Don't want to do any more damage to him."

I released my hold on her and leaned over him carefully. Wonder what happened to him? I glanced up at the rocks, hoping he had not tumbled down from them.

"Do you think he'll make it?" Sophia asked with concern.

"Well, I'm no doctor, but I don't think he'll die now that we found him. First we have to get him out of this filthy mud."

"Merle,-" Daryl mumbled under his breath. I jumped back at the sudden reaction.

"Who's Merle?" I asked Sophia.

"His brother, he was very grumpy too." She replied. "He's dead."

"Screw you." Daryl cursed though it sounded more like a grunt. 

Sophia's eyes widened and look at me. At least his mouth seemed to work. We needed to get him out of here. I stood up, moved behind him and placed my arms under his armpits.

"A girl,-" He continued mumbling. "Lost a little girl."

I was starting to think he was in some sort of delusional state. I placed my arms firmly over his chest and held on tight as I pulled him back with great effort.

"He must weigh a ton." I gritted my teeth as I pulled him further up to higher ground. 

Lord, he was heavy or maybe I was just weak because of the lack of energy.

"Shut up, all you had to do was wait, we came back for you,- Rick and I. We,-" He sounded quite angry.

"Do you think he- he's talking about me?" Sophia asked softly. I bent through my knees and carefully laid him down.

"I ain't nobody's bitch!" The man suddenly yelled, his eyes opening wide.

"Don't mind him, Soph. I think he hit his head a bit too hard." I walked around him and stopped at his feet. "Can you go to his head and make sure he doesn't close his eyes? We need to keep him awake. Why don't you talk to him?"

Sophia walked up and sat down behind his head. Her small hands trembling as she touched the side of his face. In the meantime I grabbed hold of his shoes to move him to the side. But the moment I did, he started to stir and with one great kick against my body I landed on my back in the mud.

"Holy sh,-" That hurt like hell. He kicked me. That son of a bitch kicked me!

I used my elbows to push my body up. Sophia was still sitting next to Daryl with her hands clasped over her mouth. Then she rapidly dropped them and pointed.

"Maddy!" She yelled with a trembling voice.

 I turned my head and saw what caused Sophia to scream, the two Walkers who had been chasing us an hour ago had come back.

"Crowbar, Sophia, toss me my crowbar!" I crawled away from the two approaching Walkers. 

Then I heard a loud thud and saw my crowbar only a few feet from me. I reached out with my arm and only managed to touch the black surface with the tip of my fingers.

"Shit, shit!"

I turned around, moved forward and placed my hand around the cool handle. I heard the gurgling noise of the Walker directly behind me and when I turned, he was standing right in front of me. Suddenly a knife hit him straight into his right shoulder, it did not affect him in the slightest.

I swung my arms and hit him right across his jaw with the blunt side of the crowbar. It knocked him down. I moved quickly and hit his skull several times. I heard Sophia shouting my name and the next thing I knew the second Walker fell right on top of me. 

I rolled over but he was too heavy for me to push off. I was now facing his decaying face directly and saw an arrow in his forehead. What?

Sophia's face appeared above me, she was crying. "Maddy, Maddy."

"I can't lift,- help me,-" I moaned from underneath the Walker. I glanced up to see Daryl standing right behind her, his crossbow raised.

"Daryl!" She called, but Daryl didn't come over. He wobbled and then fell back on the ground with his crossbow still in his hands. Sophia crouched down and pushed the Walker off of me. I took a big gulp of air as he landed beside me in the mud.

I felt Sophia wrap her arms around me as I sat up. "I'm fine, Soph." I breathed. "Are you?"

She sniffed. "Yeah." She tightened her grip. "I missed,-"

I reckoned she was referring to the knife currently located in the Walker's shoulder.

"Daryl pulled the arrow out and shot the Walker." She continued.

 I looked over at Daryl. The adrenaline must have given him strength to pull it out of himself, but now he was exhausted. Completely drained from his energy. With the help of Sophia, I stood up and together we headed to Daryl.

His eyes had closed again.

"We'd better bind his wound." I looked at the red spot on his shirt. We needed something to wrap him up with. I took off my shirt and tore the bottom half. We used another small piece of his own fabric.

My piece to cover the hole in his skin and then I wrapped his shirt around his body to keep it in its place. I glanced over at his face. He was completely out of it.

"Okay, we have to wake him up." I said to Sophia. "Just talk to him or shake him a bit."

Sophia pulled a face. "I think you should do it." 

She probably thought he was going to kick her like he did me.

"He's not my friend. Besides he might hurt me because I'm a stranger." I moved back and watched Sophia sighing as she leaned forward and began to shake Daryl's shoulder once again.

I walked back to the Walker which had the knife in its shoulder. I bent down and pulled it out. Before turning back I kicked the Walker in its face. 

Can't believe I was this close in becoming undead food.

When I reached Sophia again I saw Daryl was waking up. His eyes fluttered open and for a minute he seemed loss, but then he stared at Sophia with great disbelief. His eyes widened as he raised his arms and touched the sides of her face.

"You alright? You're fine?" His eyes darted back and forth.

Sophia nodded and she started to tear up again. He pulled her into a hug which she returned.

"Never had a doubt, not one doubt." Daryl said to her. "But where have you been, girl? I have been looking all over for you."

"Maddy found me, kept me safe." Sophia replied and she nodded in my direction. Daryl looked up and locked eyes with me. He didn't seem as relieved anymore as he pushed Sophia behind him and aimed his crossbow at me.

"Daryl!"

"Quiet, Sophia," He ordered. "And you, drop the knife!" He wobbled slightly on his feet.

"You're going to shoot me with what? An invisible arrow?" I retorted. 

Daryl's eyes moved for a second and then eventually lowered his weapon. His gaze fell on the t-shirt wrapped around his body. He grazed it with his fingers.

"Maddy and I did that." Sophia smiled as she stepped away from him. "You pulled the arrow out to shoot the Walker when it was about to hurt her, don't you remember?"

"Thanks for that by the way." I said, making my way back to them. "And you're welcome for that." I nodded at his wound.

"I-I don't,-" He stammered looking rather confused.

"That is alright. I think you might have hit your head somehow. You've a rather large bump and some blood right there." I pointed towards my own head to clarify the location.

Daryl raised his arm and touched the top side of his head. He flinched as he felt the bump. "Shit." He cussed.

"Maybe even a slight concussion, I'm not a doctor, but we'd better leave and find some place safe." I said.

"Hold it lady, who made you the boss?" He walked over to the Walker and pulled the arrow out of its head. "We are going to the farm. Get this little girl back to her mother."

"Mum's okay?" Sophia asked hobbling after him.

"Doing just fine and missing you loads." Daryl replied, showing a very small smile.

"Hear that, Maddy?" She smiled beaming with joy. 

I'd heard her. She was going to be okay now. We'd found one of her people. A really weird guy, but Sophia clearly trusted him. He was going to get her to her mum, safe and sound. 

This was it then, time to say goodbye.

"You two better get going then." I grabbed my backpack and stuck the knife back inside after wiping it on my now very short shirt.

Sophia came up to me and handed me my crowbar. "Us two? You're not coming?"

I shook my head and immediately Sophia grabbed hold of my arm. "You promised!"

"Soph, let go. I promised to take you back to your mother. Now that we found someone from your group, there's no need for me to tag along anymore."

But the little girl wasn't having any of it. She practically clawed her fingers into my skin and turned her head to look over her shoulder at Daryl, who obviously did not care two cents over the situation.

"That's not true. I'm sure mum wants to thank you for taking care of me." She continued pleading. "Just come say hello, after that,- you can do whatever you want."

That would do. I sighed and gave in. Perhaps there would even be a reward in it for me. I guess I did promise her in the end. "Fine." I told her and she finally let go.

::::::…::::::

"This really isn't the easiest way of getting out of this ridge." I shouted at Daryl who hung somewhere above us.

"If you don't like it, you can go back down." He snapped. Sophia was right. He was a very grumpy person.

I told him we could move further down, where there was actually an easier way to get out off this small valley and back to the top. He ignored me and searched for his own way out.

It was then that I concluded it was easier to travel with a child than with an adult, at least the child listened to me, most of the time. 

The spot he'd picked out wasn't too steep and easy enough to climb, but the distance towards the top was a long one.

Daryl was first, then Sophia and I was the last one, making sure Sophia wouldn't accidentality slip and fall down into the shallow water.

Halfway through the climb Daryl started mumbling again, cursing and something about a Chupacabra. Sophia looked back at me and I simply shook my head.

"Just, go on." I told her. I didn't want to admit to her that he was making me feel extremely uncomfortable.

Quite soon we reached the top and Daryl pulled himself up. Then he vanished out of sight.

"Hello?" I yelled towards him.

"Yeah you better run!" He replied loudly.

Who was he talking to?

"Daryl!" Sophia called out after him. Thankfully, he reappeared and extended his hand to pull her up. I crawled up after her and sat down for a moment.

"What are you resting for?" He immediately said.

"Shush, you aren't the only one who had a rough day." I snapped rubbing my upper back.

"You can rest at the farm." He grabbed my hand and pulled me on my feet.

Although initially I had no interest in meeting this group Sophia belonged to, nor was I planning on hanging around, a short rest did sound nice and I was feeling incredibly tired.

"Lead the way then." I replied shortly.

We finally neared the edge of forest and I could see a big farm from where we stood. I couldn't recall if I'd ever been on this side of the woods before. Probably not, I would have remembered if I had. Daryl halted before stepping into the open field.

"Let me go first. They're not a fan of strangers." He said. 

At least we had that in common.

"Oh and don't be surprised if they draw their gun on you, they tend to do that." He added before stepping into the light. 

Very comforting. If I wanted to run, now was the perfect moment. Never mind my promise to Sophia. If these people were insane I was out of here.

Sophia and I moved a bit and watched from the shadow of the trees. A group of men came running from the house. They came closer and I noticed that every single one of them had a weapon in their hands. My heart began to pound in my throat and palms started to sweat. The four men stopped a few feet away from Daryl. One of them pointed his gun at him.

"Maddy, what are they doing?" Sophia asked tugging on my shirt. "Maybe we should go out there, I bet they'll stop when they see us."

They'll stop? She wanted me to run to a group of strange men with guns and axes? Wasn't Daryl one of them? Why were they aiming their weapons at him?

"Maddy!" She raised her voice and pulled me along before I could stop her. We stumbled out of the woods into their line of vision.

"Third time you pulled that thing on my head, you're gonna pull the trigger or what?" Daryl sneered at the man before him. He turned his head for a moment. "Also you might wanna lower that, cause guess who I found,-"

A gunshot echoed and we saw Daryl collapse down into the grass. My eyes widened and I gasped for air.

They'd shot him,- they'd actually shot him!

Chapter Text

I pulled Sophia against me as we watched Daryl Dixon hit the ground. I knew my gut instinct about Sophia's group of people was right. They were insane! Shooting one of their own? One of the four men turned towards the farm and yelled something from the top of his lungs all the while waving his arms. I couldn't make out what he was saying as I was too focused on making sure they weren't going to notice me.

Alas that was for naught as Sophia started to scream. "Daryl!"

I had to get out of there. I stepped back into the trees pulling Sophia with me.

"Maddy, let go!" Sophia began to struggle.

"Sophia, are you crazy? They shot him! What if they shoot us too? We have to go!"

Screw the promise I'd made to her earlier to come and meet her mother and the others. I wasn't going to set foot anywhere near these folks. There had been no hesitation to kill one of their own, who knew what they might do to me? Or to Sophia for that matter. I had to try and prevent that from happening. I was about to make a run for it, hopefully with Sophia, when a distinctive click sounded right behind me.

Foolishly I turned around, immediately staring straight into the barrel of a gun.

"Let her go." The man said as he aimed the weapon at my face. "And drop your weapon!" He added.

Without hesitation I did as I was told. I let go op Sophia's hand and my crowbar at the exact same time. The guy who'd ordered me to do so looked vaguely familiar and then I realized it was the same dude who I had seen in the woods with Sophia. The very same one who'd abandoned her. To this day I still didn't understand why he had done such a thing. In the end it only added more distrust I was already feeling towards him.

Suddenly Sophia moved in front of me, raising her arms in the same manner. "No wait, Rick!" Her high voiced shouted with protest. "Don't shoot! Maddy is my friend!"

The man called Rick stared at the girl with great disbelief, as if up until now the realization of it being Sophia hadn't hit him just yet. Without lowering his hand, he buckled through his knees and landed on the ground.

"You're alive?" He breathed.

"Yeah." Sophia replied as Rick finally put the gun aside. He reached for her face and touched her cheek. "I can't believe it. Oh, your mother will,-"

"Rick, we gotta get him to the house." One of the other men approached us. He was tall and broad shouldered, wearing a blue cap which read police. He also had his weapon raised and aimed at my head. But just as it happened with Rick, he paused and his eyes widened when they landed on the girl before him.

"Sophia." He exclaimed hoarsely. He then licked his lips and looked at Rick once more. "Rick, we gotta get Daryl to Hershel."

Rick turned his head and nodded. Two of the other men were already hoisting Daryl from the ground and started carrying him towards the farm. Sophia stepped back and grabbed hold of my hand.

"This is Madison." She said out loud towards Rick and the guy next to him. The latter still hadn't lowered his gun. Rick gave a simple nod.

"Introductions will have to wait, let's get back to the farm first." He told us and he rushed back to the wounded Daryl.

I had no idea what was going on. One minute I was being held at gunpoint, not once but twice, and now everyone had returned their focus on making sure Daryl was alright. Who on Earth were these people? I had to leave, there was no other way out of this situation other than walking away and going back to minding my own business. I bent down to grab my crowbar when a heavy boot stepped on top of it.

I looked up at the face of the guy with the police cap. His eyes were dark and his expression cautious.

"Nope. As rick said, you coming with us." He ordered.

Before I could answer Sophia held onto my arm.

"You promised me, remember?" She exclaimed, now using both hands to pull me with as I tried to get free from her grasp.

"That was before there were multiple guns being pointed at my head." I told her firmly but then paused.

"You gonna come with us, whether you like it or not." The guy said again with deep voice. "Got no problem using this on you." He moved the gun.

I had no idea who this man was, but one thing was certain, I did not care for the look in his eyes. I straightened myself and threw him a cold glare before letting Sophia pull me with her after the others with him following closely behind. As we neared the farm a blonde woman and an older man came rushing from the house towards us.

At the sight of Daryl being carried she started to shout loudly. "Oh my God, oh my God! Is he dead?"

"Unconscious, you just grazed him." Rick said.

I stared at the woman, who apparently was the one who'd shot Daryl. Her expression extremely worried. It had all been an accident? Shoot first ask questions later? The guilt on her face was apparent. Clearly this woman had not meant to kill Daryl. A short wave of relief went through me, from hearing nobody was going to die as well as knowing there had been no intent to actually murder someone.

The old man next to her lowered his gaze to the little girl holding onto my hand. A frown settled on his brow.

"Is that,-" He paused," Sophia?"

Even the woman stopped her concern over Daryl and directed her attention to the girl. Tears started to form in her eyes as she stepped to us. She stopped looked at me.

"Did you,- did you find her?" She asked.

However it was Sophia replied. "This is Maddy. She found me and took care of me."

And then from across one of the field, a distinct female voice sound. Loud yelling. More specifically cry shouting Sophia's name. I turned my head and at the same time felt Sophia letting go of me. She darted off in a fast run, past the men holding Daryl, towards a woman in the distance. They fell into each other's arms and stumbled backwards, disappearing in the tall grass.

"Her mother." The old man said to me and with being able to explain why, I felt an odd stirring and a sensation of emptiness in my gut.

Carol.

::::::…::::::

The man introduced himself to me as Dale and the blonde woman was called Andrea. They walked alongside me to the house where a number of people were already gathering to focus on helping Daryl and welcome back an alive and seemingly healthy looking Sophia.

I felt incredibly nervous as I stepped inside the house. There were a lot of people making the whole space feel very cramped. So cramped in fact that I almost couldn't breathe. I hadn't spoken a single word after introducing myself to Dale and Andrea outside. I was very thankful that everyone's attention was mostly on Sophia. Daryl was immediately brought upstairs, the man named Rick and another old man were with him to tend his wounds. Sophia hadn't let go of her mother since they had fallen into each other's arms.

I observed Carol for a quick moment. She seemed like a very nice woman. She caught me looking at her and I averted my gaze. It was only a matter of time before the attention would shift back to me. Something I wasn't looking forward to, but I couldn't very well get up and try to leave. Especially since that guy, who I learned was called Shane, threatened to shoot me if I would.

And then what I anticipated to happen, happened. Sophia and her mother came up to me, I swallowed the lump in my throat as Carol took both of my hands in hers and stared into my eyes. Blue eyes, just like Sophia had told me.

"I don't know how I can thank you for returning my baby girl to me." She said softly.

What should I say to her? You're welcome? Anybody would have done it. I just happened to be in the neighbourhood? Also I haven't slept a wink since I met your daughter.

I gave her a small smile and quickly looked at Sophia, who stood behind her mother. "I'm glad you two are reunited."

"I'll never be able to repay you." She said. "I thought she was,-" She stopped and licked her lips before throwing a quick glance at her daughter.

"Really, there's no need." I assured her.

Before Carol could respond, the old man came downstairs. He scanned the room and stopped when he saw me. He motioned for me to follow him up the stairs. I didn't need a lot of convincing, anything to be gone from this over crowded living room. The man led me into one of the upstairs bedrooms. Inside there was Rick and Shane, both men who I didn't like much and Daryl who was lying in bed. There was a bandage wrapped around his head and his bare torso was covered in cuts and scrapes.

"My name is Hershel and I own this farm." The man said as he closed the door behind me. "I'll take a look at your wounds in a moment, if you have any, but first we need to talk."

I glanced around the bedroom. Now that I was here, I honestly didn't know what was worse. Being inside this room with these four men or downstairs in the midst of all those other people. Perhaps I should have made a run for it, even with that Shane guy threatening to shoot me.

"You have nothing to fear." The man known as Rick said to me. "We've got some questions, that's all."

"What's your name?" Hershel asked me. "Daryl doesn't seem to remember."

I looked at Daryl, who was clearly awake but not bothered enough to turn around and look my way.

"Madison. Madison MacArthur." I said.

Though it was faint, I could hear Daryl snort at the sound of my name.

"I'm sure the others have already mentioned it, but to show you we got manners. My name is Rick, Rick Grimes. This here is Shane Walsh." He pointed at the man next to him. "And you've already met Daryl."

"Can't say that was a very pleasant encounter." I replied. "Nor was it meeting you people. I'm very sorry, but aiming a gun at my head isn't a very good first impression."

I crossed my arms and cocked my head. The fact that Rick wanted to show me that him and the rest of his group were not some random band of uncivilised folk, made me even more sceptic and wary of them than I already was.

"I apologize for that, but these days you have to be extra careful." Rick said and I couldn't disagree with him on that.

"So where are you from?" This question came from Shane, who seemed to eye me with even more suspicion than Rick did.

"Does it matter?" I answered looking at each of them.

"Just a simple question, lady." He huffed.

Rick sighed and stood up. "Listen, we are very grateful for what you did. Saving Sophia, taking care of her and then bringing her back. We've been through hell and I'm sure that you probably have too. It's hard to trust people, even if they seem kind-hearted at first."

Rick had a good way with words. Perhaps a little too good.

"I don't plan on being in your way. I promised Sophia that I would bring her back. That I would meet her mother and then be on my merry way again." I said but then I paused.

Perhaps it would not be a bad idea to stick to my initial plan, take some advantage of their gratitude and get a bit of a rest first. But frankly I was torn between that and getting away as quickly as possible. Still, I hadn't had a good night's sleep since being with Sophia from having to watch her and our surroundings. Surely spending one night at this place with these people wouldn't be a death sentence?

"The only thing I wouldn't mind getting is a decent night's rest and then I'll be gone by morning."

"If you're planning on going anyway, you might as well leave now." Shane replied nodding his head in the direction of the door, which at the same time opened, revealing Sophia on the other side.

"You're going away?" She asked standing there with one hand resting against the doorpost.

She'd obviously been eavesdropping. I was hoping she wouldn't make too much of a deal out of it. She knew I wasn't going to stick around, we'd talked about that. She was with her mother again, that's what was most important.

"I have to leave, Sophia. I can't stay." I replied turning my head away from her. "We talked about this."

"Why, why can't you?" She cried out walking over to me. "It's stupid, Maddy!" She dropped the doll on the floor and grabbed my right arm. Her bottom lip quivered. "You promised!"

I had promised her no such thing, I don't know where she was coming up with that, the only thing I had said was; we shall see. I guess that means yes in a child's mind.

"Sophia, please stop it,-"

"It's dangerous out there on your own!" She went on, all the while yanking on the sleeve of my jacket.

"Let go, Sophia."

I blinked as some type of pressure sensation erupted behind my eyes. A wave of nausea surged through me, followed by a tingling sensation spreading in my fingers and hands. I swayed as a bright kaleidoscopic spot took over most of my vision. I heard Hershel talking from behind me and felt someone grabbing hold of my upper body.

::::::…::::::

When I opened my eyes, I looked up to see a orangey ceiling. I moved my hand over the sheets. A proper bed. It had been a long time since I slept in one. I couldn't recall what had happened, but my guess was that I probably fainted from exhaustion. It was dark outside, someone had lit a candle and placed it on the night stand next to me. What time was it?
I rolled over and saw Sophia sitting in a rocking chair in the corner of the room, she was asleep.

"She hasn't left your side since you fainted." A voice spoke from the doorway. I sat upright and saw it was Carol.

"She told me a lot about you." She continued. "What you did for her, what you two went through. Yet, I still have the feeling I know nothing about you."

She walked inside at sat down on the bed, her eyes still locked on her sleeping daughter. "I don't know what could have happened to her if you hadn't shown up." Her voice cracked.

Was she crying?

"She's my world you know?"

Any mother would feel that way, right? But I did recall Sophia telling me a little about her parents. Not much, but enough to deduce what sort of a family they were. What her father was like. Even though I didn't know the exact details, it was enough to suspect how difficult and dangerous it might have been like.

"You did a good job. She's a great kid."

I couldn't say much else. I wasn't good at comforting other people. It was a miracle I'd managed to get along with Sophia for as long as I had. Carol turned her head and smiled. She wiped a tear away before getting up.

"Let me go and fix you a meal. In the meantime you can take a shower, if you'd like?" She offered.

"Thank you." I replied.

Warm water.

I couldn't believe it when I felt it against my skin. How long had it been since I last had a decent shower and a warm one? There was even a bar of soap on the sink. I washed my hair, scrubbed the grime from my body and face. The bottom of the tub was brown from the dirt and dried up blood. Once the water looked crystal clear, I stepped out of the shower. Carol had also been very generous, giving me clean clothes and taking away my smelly old ones.

I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. There were dark circles underneath my eyes, but at least my skin was clean again, only few tiny cuts here and there, nothing that time couldn't heal. Too many bruises covered my body. The newest one was located on my upper right leg, where Daryl had kicked me in his delusional state. I left the bathroom, still feeling dizzy but better than I had felt in a long time. I was on my way back to the bedroom when I heard Carol's voice coming from a few feet away.

"You did more for my little girl today than her father ever did in her whole life." She said. I stopped in the doorway where her voice was coming from and Carol jumped at the sight of me.

"Madison." She breathed deeply. "You scared me there. Did you have a nice shower?"

I nodded. "It had been a while since I had one."

Carol flashed a weak smile. "You cleaned up nicely. I'll go and get your food." She turned back to Daryl. "And you eat up!"

I watched her walk away before turning my attention to Daryl. "How are you feeling?"

"I'll live, you?"

"Woozy. A bit of food, a bit more sleep and I'll be good to go." I replied as I leaned my back against the door. I flinched.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Fell on my back after you kicked me. Still sore."

Daryl carefully pushed himself upright and leaned against the headboard. "I don't recall that happening."

"You were quite out of it, mumbling about Sophia and about a man named Merle."

Daryl frowned. "Merle? Huh, figures…"

I didn't know what to say to him next, I didn't want to pry. Had I even thanked him for killing that Walker which nearly got to me? I felt as if I should thank him again.

"You really plan on going back out there alone?" He suddenly said.

"Sorry?"

"Sophia told me. You're alone, right?"

"Yes." I stepped away from the wall. "No distractions. Makes it easier."

Daryl stared at me, narrowed eyes and his head tilted sideways. He briefly shook his head. "I thought that for a while." He looked up at me. "It ain't though…"

I blinked and the room fell silent.

The next day

Daryl's words kept repeating inside my mind. Deep down I knew he had a point. Being on your own had its advantages but also some disadvantages. In the long run what would be wiser? If Daryl hadn't said a word to me about it, I wouldn't be debating this at all. So why was I now?

This morning I had left the house early before sunrise. Sophia had taken refuge in the room where I slept for the entire night, perhaps because she was used to it. We had been together for over a week. It gave me a kind of comfort when I saw her sitting there in the chair in the corner this morning.

She was still asleep when I walked out of the bedroom. I passed the room where Daryl slept, peeked inside for a quick second only to find he was no longer there. Quietly I descended down the stairs and tiptoed my way through the living room, where more of these people slept. Once outside I was immediately greeted by Dale from the top of his RV with a warm. I had already spotted him from one of the windows, sitting on top of his vehicle, a rifle in his lap and binoculars in his right hand.

"Good morning." As I got closer. "You've been up here all night?"

"Someone has to keep watch during the nights, in case Walkers decide to pay a visit." He replied stretching out. "Want to join me up here and watch the sun rise?"

It felt weird. I wasn't used to other people being kind to me, let alone talking to me without pointing a gun at my head.

"I promise, I won't bite." Dale said moving his chair aside.

I thanked him and climbed the ladder to reach the roof. I sat down next to him and quietly watched the sunrise. A golden hue stretched over the field, I leaned my chin on my knees and closed my eyes to enjoy the rays of the sun on my face.

"How did you end up here?" Dale suddenly asked me.

I opened my eyes and stared at him for a moment, he was quite old, around his mid-sixties I guessed. "Sophia and I, we found Daryl. He was hurt,-"

"Oh no, I know that part. I meant only you, before you found Sophia."

"I know what you meant." I replied quietly.

The reason how I ended up here was painful, something I did not want to talk about. Especially with someone I didn't know, no matter how kind Dale may seem.

Dale leaned forward. "Listen, I understand if you don't feel like talking about it. But keep in mind that if you plan on staying with us, you need to earn your place and our trust."

I knew he was simply trying to be kind. Still it sounded as if Dale was already expecting me to stay with their group. I gave one short nod before getting up and climbing down to the ground. I started to get annoyed. I couldn't forget what Daryl had said to me last night or the words Dale had just spoken to me.

What should I do now? Leave and continue to a new area? Stay with a group who could provide me shelter and companionship? The latter didn't sound as appealing as it should and I knew perfectly well why it felt that way.

"Maddy, Maddy!"

I heard Sophia hollering my name from the house. I jumped up from my spot and ran around the RV. Sophia stood on the porch of the farm shouting my name. Did she not know she was going to attract Walkers this way? She shut up as soon as she spotted me before rushing over. Without warning she collided against my body.

"I-I thought, I thought you,-" She whimpered.

"You thought what? I'm here, aren't I?" I pushed her back stared into her eyes, knowing very well what she had been thinking. "Now what did I tell you about yelling so loudly? You'll attract those things!"

The door of the house opened and Carol came out calling for her daughter. Sophia sure was a chip of the old block. She stopped at the top of the porch steps when she saw us. I stood back up and looked down at Sophia.

"I won't leave without mentioning it to you first." I told her.

Sophia looked at me rather sceptically. "You promise?" She lifted her hand and extended her little finger.

"Promise me, you won't leave without talking to me first." She practically pushed her hand into my face.

"As long as you promise not to make a fuss about it when I will leave, then I promise." I lifted my little finger and hooked it with hers. We shook and she stepped back with a small smile on her face, before heading back to her mother.

I exhaled deeply and ran my hand through my hair. As I walked away from the house I spotted Daryl sitting at the entrance of a small tent not too far away from the farm. He looked my way and nodded.

"You're up early." He said to me as I walked over to him.

"So are you. Thought you slept in the house."

"Sleep better in the outdoors." He replied leaning on his elbow.

"How's the head?" I asked. "And the hole in your side?"

Daryl moved his hand and placed it over the area. "Fine. Don't remember much about it. Suppose I owe you a thank you?"

I cocked my head sideways and waited. He looked at me for a moment before eventually opening his mouth again. "Thanks."

"Least I could do after you pulled the arrow out of yourself to shoot the Walker that was about to have me for lunch."

Daryl didn't reply, and he didn't avert his gaze either.

"I guess that makes us even." I smiled and turned on my heel to walk away.

"Sophia wouldn't have made it without you." He suddenly said and I stopped, glancing over my shoulder at him. "Suppose I ought to thank you for that too. I thought I would be the one to find her. Alive or,- well, it don't matter now."

I started to believe Daryl cared a lot for Sophia. He had gone out all alone to look for her, even though he had little hope. It sounded more than what the others had done for her. But who was I to judge?

"I suppose if you hadn't continued looking for her, we would have never run into you." I paused and bit my lower lip. "Chances are, Sophia might have not seen her mother again."

Daryl didn't reply and I continued my way not knowing what to say on the matter anymore either.

Chapter Text

The farm was a quiet place. I still couldn't believe I hadn't come across it even once and I had been in the area for quite a while now. Then again it was pretty far from the other houses I'd been seeking refuge in.

So what was next?

I suppose I hadn't fully realized how much of an impact being on my own would have on my life in the long run. Daryl hadn't really explained how he'd come to the conclusion other than that he knew it wasn't the smartest thing to do. And then there was Dale who pretty much already suspected I was going to stick around.

So far spending time in their company wasn't the worst but how long was that going to last? Having to look after so many people, making sure everyone was safe. These undead creatures never stopped, they kept going and going. Eventually a herd would pass through here. Maybe they could fight them off, but what if somebody got hurt or bit? Did I want that kind of responsibility or burden another with it?

Slipping my hands into the pockets of my jeans, I walked past the stables. Rick and his group of people were out in one of the fields training. Gun practise. After Andrea shot Daryl, Rick thought it necessary that they all got the basic down when it came to handling a weapon. Even his son, Carl, had joined them. After a heated discussion between him and his parents, Rick managed to convince his wife to allow Carl to come with.

As for me, I declined the invite. Hearing Rick and his wife talking with Carl got me thinking of Sophia. Considering he was getting gun training, I figured it might be good for Sophia to gain more experience with her knife throwing. Just a random thought, something I definitely wanted to suggest to Carol before making my own decision on whether or not I was going to stay or leave them all. That little girl needed to learn how to protect herself.

I halted and listened to sounds of gunshots in the distance. It sent shivers down my spine. I turned on my heel, ready to head back to the farm when a low murmuring sounded from the stables next to me. I frowned and stepped closer to the door. Two voices sounded from the other side. Male voices.

"If you've watched the same broadcasts I did, you saw them attack, kill. They're dangerous!"

Dale?

"You don't shoot sick people." That was Hershel's voice. Pressing my hands against the wall I leaned closer.

"I've seen people I cared about die and come back. And when they did, they were not people!" Dale countered.

"My wife and stepson are in that barn. They are people."

"Let me help. I'll speak to Rick. We can make the barn more secure." The other man said.

The barn? I glanced over my shoulder and focused on the large barn in the distance. There were people in the barn? An odd feeling settled in my stomach. surely not what I thought Hershel and Dale were talking about?

"If you really want to help, you'll keep this to yourself." Hershel replied to Dale. "Rick is man of conscious. Are you so sure about everyone else in your group?"

I didn't wait for them to finish their conversation. As quietly as I could I walked away from the stables. Hershel was hiding something in his barn. And judging by their conversation, I could only imagine what he held hidden in there.

Dale's words from this morning sprang back into my mind. "But keep in mind that if you plan on staying with us you need to earn your place and our trust." It seemed to me that Dale had trouble with listening to his own words.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, it was just a large old looking barn. It looked rather fragile, as if one gust of wind would be able to tear it apart. The big doors were padlocked and chains covered the wooden panels. I wouldn't be able to look inside from this position. I walked around and started looking for a ladder or anything else that would allow me to climb up. I eventually found one at the back which seemed to lead up towards the hayloft.

Before heading up the ladder I looked around, making sure no one, and especially Hershel or any member of his family, was nearby. I climbed up and as soon as I entered the loft, a disgusting and rancid smell hit my senses.

"Good grief." Whatever was inside of this barn wasn't alive.

It didn't take long for the familiar moans and groans to slip their way up. Gurgling noises, growls. All too familiar sounds. I almost didn't dare to look down, knowing well enough what would await down there in the shadows of the barn. But of course I glanced down from the loft and that's when I saw them. About a dozen Walkers were looking up at me. Their arms raised and fingers clawing into the air, desperate to get their hands on some fresh meat. They must have smelled me the minute I got up there.

"You've got to be kidding me..." I bent down and simply sat there for a moment watching them. What had Hershel done? My wife and stepson are in that barn, they are people.

This was insane. How did so many Walkers get in here in the first place? This could not be Hershel's entire family, could it? The stench was terrible. I left the hayloft in a hurry and climbed back down the ladder. When I placed my feet on the ground and I turned around, I looked straight into the faces of Patricia and Beth. Apparently the gun practise in the field was over.

"What were you doing up there?" Beth asked. Her eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights.

"You saw them." Patricia stated.

"I sure as heck did. What is this bull crap? You've got Walkers locked in there!" I said to Patricia.

"You don't understand. That's our family in there." Beth replied.

"I understand perfectly. You people are insane, you know that?" I spat at her.

"Madison, please." Patricia grabbed hold of my hand. "Don't tell anybody 'bout this. Glenn promised to keep it a secret too. Surely you could too. They're no threat,-"

I raised my eyebrows as she mentioned Glenn's name. "I'm sorry. More people know about this?"

Patricia looked at me with confusion. "You didn't hear it from Glenn?"

Oh this was getting better and better. Dale knew and Glenn apparently did as well. What the heck was going on here? Why would they keep something as dangerous as this from everybody else?

"Who told you?" She then asked me. However, I didn't reply.

I pulled my hand from her grip and looked at the barn. This family had secrets and apparently the group kept secrets from each other as well. That's it. If this was the way they all treated each other, I was better off on my own. But if I stormed back to the farm, they would notice and probably ask questions if I walked in there to grab my bag and weapon. I halted and turned back to Patricia and Beth.

"I want my backpack and crowbar." I told them. "I'm leaving."

The next day

I stuck the plastic fork into the tin can and took out a peach. The supplies Carol had left on the car for Sophia a few days ago were still inside my backpack. I had never taken the time to unpack my stuff at Hershel's farm. Ultimately there had been no need for here I was once more. Alone. Away from that group of,- of...

I reached for another peach. After leaving the farm, with help from Patricia and Beth who were more than happy to see me go after discovering their secret, I went back to the large house where I'd stayed before with Sophia. I sighed deeply before tossing the fork onto the table. A feeling of guilt surged through me. I'd left abruptly. No questions or doubts about it. I'd promised Sophia that I wouldn't and yet I had.

Was she upset with me for doing so? Most likely. Angry? Definitely. I could only imagine how she might have responded. Perhaps she hadn't cared at all. If only for a few minutes before realizing having me around wasn't as important as being back with her own group of people. Speaking of which, I had to get a move on soon. I doubted they were planning on searching for me, but in case they did, it would be around this area and this house was rather hard to miss.

The Walker that I had left upstairs in one of the rooms was still there. Weirdly enough the cabinets Sophia and I had pushed in front of the door had been moved, yet the door still remained closed and I had heard the Walker on the other side, gurgling away. Who had moved it, I had no idea but the rest of the house was empty still.

The other Walker that Sophia had killed by accident was also in its original spot. Dead on the floor. One of the other rooms had also been opened and in it I found a woman, an elderly lady with grey hair. But very much dead instead of undead. Still, seeing her left a bad taste in my mouth. Whoever else had been in the house before or after Sophia and I had been here, was no longer around.

But it was clear that I had to leave this area. This was no longer a safe place to stick around if other people were moving in on the same area. I almost hadn't dared to sleep last night but eventually sleep caught up with me as I woke up a few hours later when the sun was high in the sky. It felt weird being alone, even if it had only been a day since I left the farm. All of those days with Sophia had left more of an impact on me than I had expected.

How annoying...

Suddenly the kitchen door rattled and the makeshift blockade I had created for safety began to shift. Somebody was here? I jumped up from the chair, knocking over the can with peaches in the process. It landed on the floorboards and started to roll until it stopped against the wall. I grabbed my crowbar and at that exact moment the rattling stopped and was replaced by loud banging. Whatever or whoever was on the other side of the door was using force to get in here. Walker? Human?

"Soph, we have to,-"

I turned around, but Sophia wasn't here. She was safely at the farm. For a moment I could only stare at the pantry with the pillow and blanket, a makeshift bed I'd created for her a few days ago. The banging got louder and I cursed under my breath. I had to get out of here.

Perhaps leaving the farm had been a foolish thing to do. All because of a barn filled with Walkers and people keeping secrets. I broke my promise to Sophia over something that I shouldn't have run from. I should have just confronted the whole lot of them. Screw their secrets. Not telling another soul about the walkers in the barn might have put them in more danger than agreeing with Patricia and Beth to not say a single thing. How could I have been so stupid?

The way I saw it, I now had two options. Climb through the window above the sink and leave or wait for whatever was on the other side of the door to enter the kitchen. Breaking the window would make noise, and perhaps there was only one Walker or person on the other side of the door. But I couldn't take that chance. Running away was the safest option. I smashed the window with my crowbar, tossed my backpack through it first, before climbing out. I never looked back to see if they'd broken through the door. I had only one goal in mind and that was getting back to the farm.

::::::…::::::

It wasn't until I stopped for a short moment to catch my breath, that I noticed the cut in my jeans. It wasn't ripped that badly, but there was an obvious red stain on the denim and on my skin. I probably cut myself on a piece of glass when I had climbed through the window. I wasn't one hundred percent sure how close I was to Hershel's farm. This area looked more like a swamp than a forest.

I was really starting to miss having a GPS or a common sense of direction for that matter. I sincerely hoped I wasn't too far away. Not to mention now that I had noticed the cut on my leg, it started to sting. What an absolute idiot I was. I wallowed in my own pity party for a few more seconds before pushing myself forward again. I walked for another half a mile, when out of nowhere I heard a couple of voices. Unclear at first, but as I moved closer they became more clear. People from the farm?

"Give me that bag." One of the voices said.

"I'm not gonna do that…What? You gonna shoot me, like you did Otis?"

That voice was definitely familiar. Was that Dale?

"You're pretty much dead already." Was the reply. "Give me the guns."

"Rick is trying to get Hershel,-"

"Shut up and give me the guns!" Shane replied firmly.

Tension was rising in both their voices. What was going on?

"Do I have to shoot you? Do I have to kill you, is that what it takes?"

I stopped in my tracks. There was no mistake. That was Dale aiming a gun at Shane.

"That's what it's gonna take." Shane moved closer until the tip of the gun touched his chest. The two men stared at each other for a moment and then Dale lowered his gun.

"You belong here, Shane…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"At least I can say that when the world went to shit, I didn't let it take me down with it." Dale grabbed the garbage bag and tossed it to Shane. As Shane caught the bag, his eyes landed on me standing a few feet away from them. He raised his eyebrows.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in." He said.

Dale followed his gaze, and looked surprised when he saw me standing there. "Madison?"

"Came back for the big show, did you? Can always use another hand," He said with a smirk before walking away.

Shane clearly did not care enough to bother why I had left or why I'd come back. Maybe he hadn't noticed me being gone at all? Something was up though, that much was obvious. The big show? What was going on exactly?

I turned my attention to Dale. "What was that all about? what's this about guns?"

Dale let out a sigh. "We had a deal with Hershel about not using guns on the farm. But not everyone agrees with that. So I decided to take them away before anyone could get their hands on them. I didn't count on Shane noticing it this quickly."

"And what does he mean with the big show?" I frowned.

Nervously Dale scratched the side of his neck. "Gosh, Madison. Things have been happening. You couldn't have come back at a worse time than this. Which begs the question, why are you here? We all thought you'd left for good. At least that's what Patricia told us."

"Does it matter?" I countered.

"A little, yeah." Dale replied honestly. "Sophia was devastated. Girl cried herself to sleep from what I heard."

Well, I'll just add that to the pile of guilt I was already feeling. Guess there was no point for me to not tell Dale the reason, especially considering he knew about the secret anyway.

"I know about the Walkers in the barn." I confessed.

"You know?" He repeated with surprise.

I nodded.

"But, how did you and since when?"

"I overheard you and Hershel talking about the barn in the stables yesterday. I went to check it out, saw the Walkers and then I ran into Patricia and Beth. They begged me not to tell anybody."

"And you listened?"

"I left, didn't I?" I replied crossing my arms.

"And now you're back." Dale noted. "Guilty conscience?"

I shrugged. "So where is Shane going with those guns?" I asked changing the subject.

"I think,- I think he's going to shoot the Walkers in the barn." He replied. "Glenn and I told everyone this morning."

I couldn't help but blink. Everybody knew now. That must have caused quite a disturbance. But what hit me as odd was the fact that Dale had come out here to hide a bunch of guns. Something that could easily take care of the Walker problem in the barn.

"And yet you went here to hide the guns?" I arched an eyebrow.

"Look,- as I told Shane already. Guns aren't the answers. I'm not a murderer. Rick will come up with a solution to the problem. Shane is way too trigger happy even for a cop."

Ah yes. I'd almost forgotten about that. Rick and Shane were cops before the shit hit the fan. Sophia had mentioned that. Sophia... I bit my bottom lip and exhaled with frustration. I really had come back at a rather unfortunate time. Standing around here wasn't going to fix anything and I suspected that Shane could indeed use all the help he could get if he was planning on taking care of those Walkers.

::::::…::::::

Quietly Dale and I made our way back to farm. With a bit of help as the cut in my leg began to hurt more with each step. We neared the edge of the forest and stopped when several gunshots sounded. We looked at each other, both unsure if this sound meant serious trouble, but sure enough that we needed to hurry back. We moved as quickly as was possible, but then another shot sounded and another.

Apparently Shane had wasted no time at all.

"The barn." Dale said and I nodded, having thought the exact same thing.

We got out of the forest and I could see them in the distance. The entire group, standing in front of a dozen Walkers who were making their way out of the barn. I couldn't tell who fired the first shot, but one by one the Walkers were shot as soon as they stepped out into the open. I spotted Sophia standing next to Carl along with his mother. The ground was covered with Walkers who had been gunned down. Another came out of the barn and Shane shot him right between its eyes.

From what I could gather that was the last one.

I stopped and panted heavily. Dale supported my weight with his but I could tell he was starting to get tired too. I mouthed a thank you at him and tried to get him to let go, but he didn't notice. He was too busy taking in the scene in front of him. Seeing the Walkers out of the barn made me realize there were more of them then I had thought in the first place.

No one spoke. Everyone just looked at all of the dead bodies. Hershel was on his knees on the ground, his head hanging low. I remembered he told Dale that his wife and stepson were among the people in the barn. No doubt this felt like losing them for a second time. I understood that pain all too well. Even if I disagreed with this whole barn situation and I couldn't understand why he'd done it in the first place, I could see the intense hurt on his face.

I noticed Sophia had her face turned away from the barn. Lori, Carl's mother and Rick's wife, held the her and Carl within her arms.

"Dale?" I nudged him and finally the older man moved his arm away from my waist. I walked over towards Lori. I was halfway there when Sophia noticed me.

"Maddy?" She said softly. She blinked and stared at me for a few seconds.

"Hi, Soph. I,-I am so sorry." I continued as I got down onto my knees. I hadn't thought about what I was going to say to her once I was back other than apologizing. But with all of these dead bodies around, was it the right time?

"I shouldn't have,-"

Sophia turned her head and ran away back to the farmhouse before I could say another word.

"Sophia?" I called after her.

"Leave her." This was Carl's voice. "It's your own fault."

"Carl!" Lori scolded him.

"Sorry." He mumbled under his breath.

I stood up and took a step back from Lori and Carl. It was then I noticed Carol, standing on the other side, next to Daryl. When she saw me looking at her, she averted her gaze and ran after her daughter. Well this was a genuine mess. I let out a shuddering breath as I looked at the undead bodies scattered all around. I noticed Shane holding a gun, Daryl and Rick too, but it was obvious who had instigated it.

Everyone kept their distance from the massacre, everyone except one. Beth, Hershel's daughter, the one who had gotten my backpack yesterday from the house, ran up to one of the dead Walkers. She got down to the ground, crying on the verge of hyperventilation and whispered something to the woman on the ground. I reckoned that was her mother? Hershel's wife.

Just as Beth leaned over the body, the Walker started to move and grabbed a firm hold of her. Almost everybody sprang into action and rushed over to the girl. With a lot of effort they managed to get Beth out of the Walker's grasp. T-dog kicked the head of the Walker and Andrea finished it by smashing a scythe trough its brain. Hershel held his daughter tightly as she kept on crying.

"Geez,-" I leaned on my left leg as the other was hurting properly right now. But as I did something caught my eye.

Someone, to be more specific. I blinked. Was I seeing things?

Slightly limping, I made my way over to one of the bodies on the floor. My heart stopped for a second and I clasped my hands in front of my mouth at the sight of her. Why was she here? How had she,- I thought we'd lost her on the highway.

"Oh, Emily." I uttered. She was missing her left arm, but her pearl necklace was still around her neck.

It was Andrea who approached me from behind and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Madison?"

I swallowed my tears away. "I know her. That's my mother-in-law…"

::::::...::::::

The entire Green family had taken refuge inside of their house. Along with Glenn, Rick and Shane, for whatever reason unknown to me. I watched Andrea, coming back from the RV. She stopped in front of me and handed me a blanket.

"To cover her up," She said, nodding at my deceased mother-in-law.

"Thank you, Andrea," I replied taking the blanket from her. I took one last look at Emily before placing it over her.

"I lost my sister." Andrea said to me as I stood back up.

"She turned and I,- I shot her." She added.

I looked at Andrea. There were no tears in her eyes, but I knew the hurt was still there. I knew because every now and then I felt it too. She then nodded at Emily who was now hidden beneath the blanket.

"You're mother-in-law. Can I ask,- does that mean?" She looked into my eyes, asking permission to ask me a very obvious question. I shook my head as a response and broke eye contact.

"I'd rather not talk about it. Not now." I told her. Andrea nodded understandingly and she once again placed a hand on my shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Let's dig graves for Annette and Shawn." Lori suggested. She looked at me for a moment. "Shall we dig one for,-"

"No." I declined immediately, but then I thought of him. How would he have responded to such an offer? "Wait! I'm sorry. Please, I'd like that."

Lori nodded. They decided to burn the rest of the bodies, get them on a truck and then burn them in one of the fields. After Shane had gotten the truck and parked it at the barn, they started digging three holes in the ground for the bodies of Annette, Shawn and Emily.

"I'll go get the others." Lori said.

Everybody was there. Hershel had even put on a suit for the funeral. I stood next to him as we all looked down at the graves. My mind was a blank. It was weird standing here, knowing that Emily was buried and that I was the only one who knew. Had I not gone back to the farm, I wouldn't have known about her either.

It felt as if it shouldn't be me standing here saying goodbye to her. After a few minutes, people started to slowly walk away. They didn't really belong here either. I lifted my head and glanced into Sophia's direction. She was looking directly at me. Then she did something I wasn't expecting. She mouthed my name. At least, I thought that's what she did. But there was a smile. I had to bite my lip in order not to cry at the small gesture, which wasn't like me at all.

Then she walked away with her mother. I exhaled deeply and caught a quick glimpse of Daryl, who also felt the need to look my way apparently. He bobbed his head and walked away. Hershel and his family were the last to leave. I waited until they were all gone before picking up a pebble and placing it on Emily's grave. I don't know why I did it, but I had a feeling it was something he would have done.

"How are you doing?" I looked up and saw Lori standing next to me. I thought she had gone back to the house along with the others.

"I'll be alright." I told her.

"I know this might not be the right time to ask, but,- why'd you come back?"

"Guess I realized being alone won't work out in the long run." I muttered.

"I get that." Lori agreed. "You know, Sophia wanted to go and look for you last night. After Patricia told us you were gone." Lori said. "Carol wouldn't let her. "

"Understandable. Leaving had been on my mind and Sophia knew that. I'm glad Carol stopped her."

"Yeah well,- this morning Sophia went and asked Daryl to look for you instead. Told him where you might be. Carol overheard and told them both to stay put."

I looked at Lori speechless. I didn't know what to say. Sophia had gone and done what now?

"Daryl got mad at Carol and then Sophia got mad too." Lori sighed. "She's been ignoring Carol all morning, until your return."

I shook my head at her. "I should talk to Carol and Sophia."

Lori nodded. "You should. You probably have the best intentions, Madison. But Sophia is Carol's daughter and all that little girl has been doing since you brought her back, is fussing over you."

That hit me hard. I know Lori meant well and that she was probably right, but it still hurt.

"I'll go tell Carol you're looking for her." Lori said. "And again, I'm sorry for your loss." She added before turning away.

I waited until she was out of sight before heading back to the farm. As I walked through the field, a red Chevrolet caught my eye as it was driving away. I couldn't tell who was in it, but whoever it was, was obviously in a hurry.

Chapter Text

Despite the worst being over, the atmosphere in and around the house was still tense. I'd taken refuge in the Greene's kitchen, a first aid kit on the table and a cut off piece of my jeans next to it. The wound on my leg wasn't too deep but it had needed a thorough cleaning and some wrapping. Andrea was kind enough to help me with all of it. For what it was worth in the small amount of time that I'd spent with these people, I was starting to appreciate her most of all.

She'd showed compassion and understanding, at least towards me so far. Lori was another story. I got the feeling those two women didn't get along as well as they made out to believe.

"There. That ought to do it." Andrea said as she finished bandaging me leg.

"Looks good." I nodded.

"Sorry about your jeans though."

I waved her apology away. "Had to be done. We'll call it the latest fashion."

Andrea smiled for a second before suddenly frowning. She cleared her throat and pulled a seat up next to me. "I uh,- Dale told me you knew about the Walkers in the barn?"

Dale was quite the tattletale, wasn't he? It didn't matter. It wasn't big news anymore and considering how everything ended up in the end, I saw no problem with telling Andrea about what happened since yesterday.

"I did. As soon as I discovered what was going on, I packed my things and left."

"Just like that?" A hint of frustration obvious in her voice.

"Yeah." I answered honestly. "I wasn't sure if I was staying or leaving and in that moment the Walkers in the barn, and Dale and Glenn already knowing about it, I decided I did not want to be part of any type of bullshit."

"But you came back."

First Dale, then Lori and now Andrea. Everybody was confused as to why I came back and I guess I couldn't blame them for that. It must come across as being incredibly fickle and truth was that there were multiple reasons why I'd come back. The guilt I felt for breaking my promise to Sophia. Taking Daryl's words to heart that being alone was not smart in the long run. Even the Walkers in the barn had played a part on my conscious. Not saying a thing to any of them about that had been incredibly wrong of me.

"Andrea, if me coming back and wanting to stay is something nobody wants,- then I'll accept that."

"No, it's not that."

"Don't be ridiculous." A voice interjected.

Both of us looked up and saw Shane entering the kitchen. He eyed us up and down before licking his upper lip. "We could use somebody in this group who knows how to handle Walkers. Someone who will take care of business instead of pretending everything's all fine and dandy."

"What makes you think I'm that type of person?" I asked.

"Come on, it's obvious, ain't it?" Shane replied. "You've been on your own, from what I hear. You found Sophia and took care of her. Hell, you hardly seemed fazed with what happened at the barn."

His stare was intense as well as questioning.

"Shane," Andrea stood up from her seat. "She lost somebody today. Maybe now is not the time to,-"

It took a second but then his expression softened. "Yeah, you're right." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, Madison."

"Apology accepted." I told him. "For what it's worth, I agree with what you did. Maybe not the way it all went down. But those things had to die. They were no longer human... No matter how much we'd wish for it to be different." I lowered my gaze.

"Means a lot." Shane said, he threw one last look at Andrea and turned on his heel to leave when loud stomps sounded from the stairs.

Maggie Greene walked into the room and looked at us with a frightened expression. "Have any of you seen my dad?"

"Not since the funeral." I told her, and she emitted a frustrated groan followed by a 'damn it'.

"Everything alright?" Andrea asked.

"It's Beth. She's in some kind of state. Shock," Maggie answered, running a hand through her short hair. "We put her upstairs, but I don't know what to do. Dad will. We need him. No one has seen him yet."

It had been quite the day so far and no doubt the whole ordeal had left Hershel shaken. But it had been a few hours since the funeral. He couldn't have been gone since then, could he? An image of the red car from earlier flashed through my mind. Had that been him?

"Maggie, I saw a red Chevrolet not too long ago, driving away from the farm. Maybe that was your dad?"

Maggie's eyes widened, and she quickly darted off without saying another word. Guess it had been. Shane went after her, leaving Andrea and I back in the kitchen. Andrea let out a frustrated sigh and sat back down again.

"This is all so fucked up." She sighed.

I agreed with her. I didn't say anything, but the day was seemingly far from being over.

::::::...::::::

Not too long after that Rick and Glenn left to go into town and search for Hershel. I reckoned that was the reason the two men had taken only one of the cars. The whole barn incident had made a deep impact on the Greene family. The only one who seemed to handle it well was Maggie. Everyone else was kind of in their own world at the moment. Understandingly so.

Two hours later, I figured now was as good of a time as any to have a talk with Carol and Sophia. I owed Sophia an explanation, even if it seemed she wasn't as upset with me as much anymore, but I also needed to talk to Carol. If what Lori had told me was true, there was something bothering her about me and I wanted to hear it from her. Lori had been a bit vague about it, but it sure sounded as if she was implying I was driving a wedge between a mother and her daughter.

I reckoned they were in the RV with Carl and Dale. I was on my way over there when Lori stepped out from the back of the house, wearing a coat and holding a map in her hand. She hurried over to one of the cars and seemed shocked when she saw me standing there. Her mouth agape but no words came out.

"Going somewhere?" I asked.

"I,- We, we really need Hershel. Beth's condition is getting worse." Lori told me as she opened the passenger's door and tossed a map on the seat. She held up a gun, checked the ammo, and placed it on top of the map.

"I'm sure Glenn and Rick will find him."

But Lori shook her head. "It's been too long. They should have found him by now." She walked around the car and placed her hand on the door.

"Wait! Don't tell me you're going after them?" I asked as she stepped into the car.

"What else can I do, Madison?" Was her reply.

"What I just said. Wait." Was this woman insane?" Your husband and Glenn are already looking for him."

"We can't wait any longer. Maybe something happened to them, maybe the car broke down,-"

"Maybe they've already found him and are on their way back." I stepped towards her and placed my hands against the door, preventing her from closing it.

"Then I'll meet them on the way and all will be fine."

Good grief, she was not listening. This plan was insane.

"Christ, are you hearing yourself? You can't go alone."

"No one else wants to go look for them, so I have to." Lori continued, as she fastened her seatbelt.

"Maybe they're right." I said. "It's insane for you to go."

Lori sighed and placed the keys into the ignition. "Look, I'm going. So get out of my way, please. Before I run you over by accident."

By accident? I clenched my jaw, shut my eyes and cursed under breath. I hit the roof and stepped back. Stupid woman… I walked around the front car, opened the door and planted my butt on the passenger's seat. Lori looked at me with a surprised look.

"Go before I change my mind." I growled.

Lori was quiet for most of the ride, which I was thankful for. Despite being there sitting right next to her, I still believed she was making a mistake and I couldn't comprehend which part of my mind had been able to convince me to go with her. Probably another one of those feelings of guilt. Since when did I care about the wellbeing of strangers?

With Sophia it was different. She was a child and needed somebody to make sure she would survive and be reunited with her mother. Sophia hadn't made the choice of being deserted in those woods. But Lori? She was choosing to go after her husband. What if something happened to her and Rick would return? He would've had a fit if he learned of somebody had let his wife go out on her own. That was the guilt right there.

I held the map on top of my lap. We were heading towards the next town. The most logical place to search first. According to Lori, Maggie had said her father liked to visit the bar there. It was the best lead, that's for sure. No doubt that's where Rick and Glenn had driven too as well.

"Take the next turn." I told Lori.

"Thank you." She said to me, after she had made the turn. "For coming with me."

We'd been driving for a bit already and now she thought was the appropriate time to thank me? "You can thank me as soon as we've found them and are back at the farm safe and sound."

Lori nodded. "How much further until we're there?" She asked turning her head to me.

"Well,-" I replied, holding the map up. "If we follow this road it will only be,- LORI!"

Lori shifted her gaze forward, gasped but it was too late. She turned the wheel sharply, avoiding something on the road and the last thing I felt was the car tipping sideways.

::::::…::::::

My head hurt like hell and everything was blurry when I opened my eyes.

What happened?

I looked around me, forcing my brain and sight to focus on where I was. A light blinked up, accompanied by a clicking noise. The turn signal? I looked to my left and could make out a faint shape of a person next to me. I blinked a couple of times and the image eventually sharpened. Lori Grimes. A pain shot through my chest and I hissed. I moved my head, looking up slightly. A dark sky. Night time?

How long have we been here for?

My body felt like it had been in a washing machine. I groaned loudly, realizing the pain in my torso was due to me hanging in my seatbelt. Lori was lying on top of her door. We'd flipped over. Oh, no. A sense of panic arose. We had to get out of here. Was Lori even alive?

Lori…" I called out. "Lori, wake up!"

The response that came wasn't from her. No living thing could emit such a noise. A growling, gurgling Walker sounded from the front as it was trying to get into the car by squeezing his face into the broken windshield. I reached down with my hand and shook Lori's shoulder.

"Damn it Lori, don't be dead. Wake up!"

There was no need for me to be quiet, as a blasted Walker was already here anyway. I needed Lori to respond. I couldn't reach the Walker from my position and I sure as heck didn't want to be in here should it get to Lori, bite her and then,- Well,- she just couldn't be dead!

Thank goodness, she stirred. But as soon as she opened her eyes and they landed on the undead before her, she screamed from the top of her lungs. The Walker wasn't fazed. It kept pushing and pushing against the broken glass. Its skin slowly peeling away as it tried to come in.

"Maddy,-" She said as she finally noticed me.

"I'm stuck!" I told her as she crawled between our seats towards the back of the car. Lori stopped and unbuckled my seatbelt. As soon as I was free, I fell down on my side in between Lori and the Walker. I pushed her aggressively towards the backseats.

"Go, go!"

Lori turned and continued climbing. At that moment the Walker had managed to push his arm through the wind-shield and grabbed a fistful of my hair. It tugged hard and I roared in anger as I punched the creature's rotten face. The Walker opened its hand which I quickly shoved out of the way before crawling after Lori.

"Holy shit…" I breathed heavily as Lori made her way out of the car through the trunk door of the car. Shakily, I stood on my two feet.

"Shit indeed." Lori exclaimed.

"Behind you!" I shouted as a shadow suddenly appeared behind Lori.

However she didn't manage to turn around in time. The Walker, which had popped up out of nowhere, grabbed hold of her coat. Lori fell down, but managed to quickly shake the coat off of her. She kicked the Walker and crawled away from it. Somehow it didn't budge and he got hold of Lori's ankle just as she tried to slip away.

"Maddy, my gun!"

Her gun? I looked around, where was it?! It had been on the dashboard, right? I rushed back to the front of the car where the other Walker was now somehow stuck in the windshield. It growled and moaned loudly as it tried to move backwards. I crouched down and noticed it lying on the bottom where Lori had been when we woke up. I reached for it, crawled back and hurried to Lori, who had conjured up a hub cap from somewhere and smashed it against the Walker's head. It hardly moved an inch.

I raised the gun, aimed for the creature and pulled the trigger.

Click.

Click, click.

It jammed.

"Shit."

Lori screamed. I hit the bottom of the gun and tilted it sideways. Immediately it fired. I looked up in horror, not knowing if the bullet had hit anything. Lori stared at me wide eyed as the Walker behind her toppled over right beside her. Hitting the asphalt with a loud thud. I let go of the gun and grabbed hold of my chest.

"Damn..."

Lori slipped away from the Walker and sat on her knees, clasping her hands over her stomach. "Too close," She muttered," too close."

"Christ, are you alright?" I asked her. She lifted her head and gave a short nod.

I slowly made my way over to her. My legs were shaking, probably too much adrenaline pumping through my veins due to fear. My throat felt tight and my skin tingled. Lori reached for my hand and pulled me to her. Her arms wrapped tightly around me.

"Thank you, Maddy." She said to me in a raspy voice.

I gently pushed her back and gave a small smile before turning serious. "We need to go back, Lori. Okay? We can't stay here any longer."

Pain shot through my right leg as I stood up back. I hated guns. Couldn't handle them all too well as I'd just proven once again. A lousy aim, the gun jamming. Lori could have been killed. Luck had really been on my side tonight. Lori walked past me just as I bent down to take the gun from the ground. I swiftly clanged over my shoulder at her.

"Lori?"

She didn't reply or stopped. She kept walking into the dead of night. In the wrong direction. Away from the farm. I left the gun and jogged after her but stopped immediately as my right leg acted up again. Shit, that hurt like hell. In fact, there were multiple jolts of pain emerging from various places all over my body. As if it was only now registering we'd been in a car crash.

"Lori, stop! Where do you think you're going?"

I knew very well where she was going, and I doubted she had a case of disorientation. She was deliberately heading the other way. To the town where Rick had gone to. Trying to ignore the pain, I hobbled after her.

"We're near the town, right?" Lori said to me as she kept on walking. "We're too close now to stop. We'll go into town, find Rick, Glenn and Hershel and safely drive back with them to the farm."

"For goodness sake." I gritted my teeth to stop myself from cursing the hell out of that woman. "Lori, for all we know they're already at the farm!"

Lori stopped and this allowed me to catch up with her. Finally.

"Please, Lori." I winched as I halted next to her. "This is mental. I can hardly walk as it is." I continued. "And you've got blood on your head."

Lori raised her hand and touched the side of her forehead, blood stuck to her fingertips. She still had that determined look in her eye, to go on and find her husband. She was really starting to piss me off.

"Don't make me knock you out and drag your butt back to the farm, because I will." I threatened.

Lori glanced down at my right leg, had the audacity to frown, and then turned around to continue her walk. Son of a,-

"Fine, you go ahead. I'll tell your son how much you care about him. Or the safety of others." I grumbled.

Blasted bitch. I was done. I wasn't going to let her be the death of me and I was taking the gun with me! Without looking back I turned around and headed into the other direction. Back to the farm. But that's when I saw it. Three headlights shining brightly in the distance, the sounds of engines rumbling. People. I didn't have time to yell for Lori or to hide anywhere. I lifted my arm to shield my eyes from the bright light. Within a matter of seconds a car and a motorcycle pulled up in front of me.

"Madison!" a voice called out.

Daryl.

"Oh, thank the heavens." I released a shuddering breath.

He got off his motorcycle and hurried over. I sure was glad to see his face. His eyes landed on the car nearby, but he didn't comment on its state. Instead he looked back and gave me a one over.

"Are you alright?"

At that moment, Shane stepped out of the car. "Where's Lori?" He demanded. Not even a how are you doing or are you hurt?

I pointed at the faint silhouette behind me. "She's right there." I told him and he hurried after her.

I turned back to Daryl who was eyeing my right leg. I hadn't dared to look at it closely yet, but now that I was standing still I followed his gaze. The wrapping was dark instead of white. Blood. No wonder it hurt as much as it did. No doubt the wound from earlier had opened up.

"Only my leg." I said to Daryl, who started to walk around me now.

"Stop it." I told him, feeling rather embarrassed. "I'm fine. I'll ask Hershel to take a look at it when we're back at the farm."

Daryl shook his head. "They're not back yet."

"They're not?" I glanced back at Lori, who was apparently in some sort of discussion with Shane. I couldn't hear what they were saying but it looked like a heated discussion as far as I could tell. I felt my right arm move and was surprise to see Daryl next to me, having a firm grip on my arm and supporting my body.

"Let's get you in the car." He said.

The car? I yanked my arm out of his grasp.

"No." I replied immediately. "I,-I really do not want to be near..."

I looked at the car and then shifted my gaze to where Lori was. I didn't want to be near either of the two. Not a car and definitely not near Lori. I might have saved her life, she might have thanked me for it. But she was about to desert me in order to get to Rick. But I kept my reasons to to myself, not wanting to sound like a little whiny girl. Thankfully Daryl felt no need to ask any questions. He simply nodded, grabbed my arm once again and quietly walked me to his motorcycle.

With a bit of help, he got me to sit on his bike. I flinched as he moved my right leg.

"What were you thinking going with her to find Rick?" Daryl asked me after he had made sure I was sitting properly.

"I couldn't let her go alone." I answered.

"So you decided to play the hero and accompany her?" He said.

"Ouch. She was already in the car. Nobody wanted to go with her." I countered. "It was a dumb plan, I told her. But she was adamant. I couldn't let her go alone, Daryl."

Daryl grunted and turned his head. "She asked me too. I said no. Told her to risk her own neck if that's what she wanted."

"I'm sorry?" I frowned.

At that point Shane and Lori were on their way back. Ignoring the two of us, Shane opened the passenger's seat for Lori and she stepped into the car, not even giving me a final glance.

"I should have knocked her out." I muttered under my breath.

"Sometimes people will take your whole arm if you offer them a finger." Daryl suddenly said. "I think you've given them enough fingers, Mads."

Without another word Daryl got on his bike. I was about to ask him something, but he already turned the engine on and my words got lost. I placed my hands on his sides, but he grabbed them and pulled them around his waist instead. Good thing that he did, otherwise I might have ended up on the side of the road again.

::::::…::::::

"Hey, wake up," I heard the faint voice of Daryl echo in my head. "Mads, we're here."

I opened my eyes and saw the farmhouse. The car with Lori and Shane was right in front of us. We rode past the fences and stopped. Almost everyone was coming our way when they heard us. Lori and Shane stepped out of the car, while Daryl helped me off the motorcycle. They weren't expecting us to come back the way that we did. Lori and I looked like an absolute mess. She had blood on her head, her shirt was torn and pants stained with blood from the Walkers. Compared to Lori I didn't look much worse, except for my leg. The others were pretty shocked when they saw us.

"Oh my God, are you two alright?" Andrea asked as she ran up to me.

"What happened?" Dale looked at Lori and Shane.

"They had an accident." Shane answered. While Lori quickly replied. "I'm fine, where is Rick?"

No one answered her question. Everyone simply looked at one another. Daryl had already mentioned that Rick hadn't returned. I honestly was beginning to fear the worst. Chances were they hadn't found Hershel or maybe they had gotten in an accident too?

"They're not back?" Lori turned her eyes at Shane. She looked confused. She must have asked him about Rick back at the road right before we left, right? Had he not told her the truth?

"Where are they?" Anger was written across her face.

"I had to get you here." Shane answered and it was then I understood that Lori must have asked about her husband but that Shane had lied to her about it so she would go with him back to the farm.

Lori was fuming at this point. She went up to Shane and started to lash out at him. "Asshole, he's my husband!"

"Lori, I'll go after him, I'll go find him." Shane said as he held her. "First things first, I gotta look after you, okay? Gotta make sure the baby is alright."

I blinked. Had I heard him correctly. A baby?

"Pregnant?" I whispered softly.

"You're having a baby?" This came from Carl. Another silence fell over the group. Was Shane the only one who knew about Lori being pregnant? Judging by the way everyone else responded, it seemed to me as if nobody else knew about it.

Daryl ignored the announcement and pulled me with him towards the house. "Let's get you inside."

I didn't argue with him there. We headed up to the house. The front door opened, revealing Sophia and Carol.

"Maddy!"

Sophia jolted forward and collided against my body. She would have knocked me to the ground, had it not been for Daryl who had a firm grip on me. She did manage to knock the wind out of me.

"Easy kiddo," Daryl said to her.

"I knew you'd find her Daryl." Sophia said with a smile. Then she noticed the way Daryl was holding me and her eyes moved downwards.

"You're hurt." She turned her head to her mother. Carol walked down the porch steps and came up to my other side. She placed my arm around her shoulder and together her and Daryl guided me up the steps.

"What happened out there? Is Lori alright?" Carol asked with a worried look.

"She's fine." I replied with as little emotion possible.

Carefully they placed me on one of the couches and I leaned back as Sophia sat down next to me.

"We got surprised by a Walker on the road. Lori veered off the road and we took a tumble. When we woke up it was already dark outside." I closed my eyes. "We got attacked by a Walker as we tried to crawl out of the car. Then another showed up and I shot it. Didn't stop Lori from wanting to go on."

"Sound like luck was on your side." Carol said as she inspected my leg. "I'm going to fetch Patricia, perhaps she can help with this."

I thanked Carol and waited for her to be out of sight before turning my attention to Sophia. She eyed me cautiously.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"I thought you had left again," Sophia said. "But then I found your backpack in the hallway. You'd never leave your backpack."

"Soph,-" I tried to interrupt her but she kept on going. I couldn't recall if she used to do this when it was just the two of us.

"We noticed Lori missing too, and immediately we all started looking around the farm. Then mum and I went to Daryl and asked him if he had seen you or Lori." Sophia paused and her brown eyes looked up at Daryl who stood next to the couch. "He went to look for you with Shane."

Somehow she looked at me with a certain pride. Almost as if it was all thanks to her that Shane and Daryl found us. Perhaps it had been. Who knew when they would have noticed us missing if she hadn't. Clearly it had taken till sunset for any of them to notice us gone.

"Thank you, Sophia. And Daryl." I turned to look at him, but Daryl only nodded. I'd learned by now that he wasn't a man of many words.

The door to the room opened and Patricia walked in, together with Carol. Daryl took this as an opportunity to slip away at the same time. I sighed and leaned back as Patricia crouched down in front of me.

"Let's have a look at your leg." She said.

"Come on Sophia, let's give them some privacy." Carol extended her hand towards her daughter.

"Thank you," I nodded at Carol, "I'll see you later." I smiled to Sophia.

Patricia, as it turned out, was Hershel's assistant. She couldn't do everything he could, or knew as much as he did, but she knew enough to figure out what had to be done in order to mend the wound on my leg. And I wasn't going to like it.

"You're going to need stitches." Patricia said, she looked up. "There's a deep cut in your leg and from the look of it, if we don't stitch it up you could get a nasty infection."

Of course the cut from earlier had gotten worse. Despite Andrea's attentive care, it hadn't been able to survive through a car accident. Patricia suddenly frowned.

"What?" I asked.

"I should tell you beforehand," She continued. "We don't have any anaesthetics."

"Ugh, terrific." I groaned.

That had been very unpleasant. Patricia's warning hadn't helped. As a precaution I made sure I had something to sink my teeth in, so I wouldn't scream out loud when the needle would pierce my skin. Patricia had called in Andrea and Maggie to hold my leg in place, in case my reflexes decided to kick in. Which they did and I'd apologized profusely to both of them afterwards.

Patricia first cleaned my wound, and then she stitched it as quickly as possible, though it felt too long to my liking. Once she was done, she left the room together with Maggie to attend to Beth, who was still in a state of shock. The only thing I could do after they had left, and all that I really wanted to do, especially after the previous night, was fall asleep.

When I opened my eyes again the sun was already up. Morning had come.  I rubbed the sleep out my eyes and glanced around the room. Somebody had apparently carried me towards one of the bedrooms. My eyes landed on the chair in the corner, but there was nobody there. Somehow I had half expected Sophia to be there. I checked the other side of the room, maybe she was there, but she wasn't. This was getting ridiculous. Even the littlest of time I spent away from that little girl was getting to me. I sat up straight, and flinched as I moved my right leg.

That's when the door to the room opened up, and I was expecting it to be Sophia, I was even a second away of saying her name when it turned out to be Rick. He closed the door behind him, before motioning to the edge of the bed.

"May I?" He asked.

I nodded and he sat down. He was the last person I'd expected to show up. 

"When did you get back?" I frowned. "Are Glenn and Hershel,-"

"An hour ago, with Glenn and Hershel," He replied as he stared at the wall in front of him.

An hour ago? They had been gone for a long time. I was glad to hear they had all made it back safely. I wondered what had happened. Why had they returned so late? But I didn't get the chance to ask him. He was obviously here with a reason and I had no doubt he knew about what happened yesterday with Lori.

"I heard about the car accident." Rick began. He moved his eyes away from the wall and looked at me. "Lori told me you saved her life from a Walker."

An image of the gun jamming popped up in my mind. Yes, it was only a matter of inches or she would have been on the asphalt instead of the Walker. But I had no desire to tell him that.

"We saved each other."

"Did you know she was pregnant?" Rick suddenly asked.

If I had known, I would have tied her to the porch outside. I cleared my throat and shook my head. "Not until we were back at the farm." 

"Lori is a stubborn person." Rick sighed.

"She is." I agreed. "And stupid too." 

He averted his gaze again. Was that a small smile I saw there for a split second? " Well, I'm glad she wasn't alone. Thank you, Madison."

"Yeah, well,- she gave me no choice. I told her not to go but she was already in the car. I couldn't let her leave on her own. But as you said, she is one stubborn lady. Next time I won't hesitate to knock her out cold, Rick. Especially considering that she's pregnant."

If I sounded angry it was because I still felt that way. Lori had really pulled the wool over my eyes and I had let her. "No mother should be that reckless and that's your baby she's carrying."

All Rick gave as a respond was a sigh followed by a simple nod. This confused me, had I said something wrong? Knowing me I probably had, but I'd meant every word. 

"Well, I thank you again, Madison. For being there for her. I'll let you rest some more, uh,- but before I do." He was about to get up but quickly sat down again. "I should inform you of what happened with Glenn and me last night."

And then he began to tell me about the events of yesterday and last night. How they had found Hershel, drinking his emotions and thoughts away, at one of the local bars. A shoot-out happened between them and two other guys, followed by an ambush, and then they took a wounded boy back with them. Rick kept the story short, but I got a pretty good idea of what a stressful and dangerous time they must have had.

"Now we have to make a decision of what to do with this young man." He continued.

"And have you made one yet?"

Rick ran a hand through his hair. "Not really. The opinions are rather divided. I want to patch him up and send him back out there, give him a chance to get back to his group."

"And the other options are to either kill him or let him stay here?" I asked.

"Which means  another mouth for us to feed." He replied. 

I frowned and stared at Rick. Was I also not a new mouth to feed? I was about to say something when Rick shook his head.

"I know what you're going to say, but you've earned your place." He said with a determined look on his face. "You saved Sophia and brought her back to us. You saved my wife,-"

"So I passed all of the checks on the list?" I scoffed.

"That's not fair." Rick countered. "Trust isn't a given these days."

"It isn't, and I appreciate it." I extended my hand to him and he grabbed hold of it. "Thank you."

"Welcome to the group, Madison."

::::::…::::::

A bit wobbly and rather ungracefully, I made my way down the stairs. Hershel had told me it was alright for me to get out of the bed. Patricia had stitched the wound nicely, I only had to make sure to keep it clean and apply a tad bit of antiseptic ointment once a day. Within a couple of days everything should be fine and dandy. I had asked him how she was doing, he wasn't too sure. The barn incident had left quite the impact on her and on him as well. If it hadn't been for Rick, he would have stayed in his delusional state regarding the Walkers.

I entered the living room, but there was no one there. In fact the entire house was empty. Where was everybody? I stepped outside on the porch and let the warm sun greet me. So, this was it. I was going to stay with this group. At least for now. Somehow I was anxious to see Sophia and tell her the news that I would stay. But where was she? I headed over to Andrea who was currently sitting on top of the RV. Perhaps she knew where Sophia was.

"Andrea, have you seen Sophia?" I asked her.

"Sophia? Yeah." She nodded and she pointed her weapon to the left. "I saw her not too long ago heading over to Daryl's tent. I reckon she is still there." She threw me a smile. "How's your leg?"

"Annoying, but it will heal." I answered as I looked into the direction of Daryl's tent.

"She went on her own." Andrea said to me and I turned my head. "Carol is with Lori, doing laundry." She added.

Why would she add that comment? 

"Thank you, Andrea."

Slowly, because I really had no other choice at the moment, I hobbled towards Daryl's tent. The location was quite secluded from the others. I remembered it being closer to the farmhouse when I had left two days ago. Apparently Daryl had decided to move further away from everybody? I could already see the shape of Sophia in the distance, together with Daryl who was down on his knees beside her. Sophia moved her arm back and then flung it forward into the direction of the large tree which stood in front of them. She was throwing a knife. I could tell because of the light which was reflected by the blade when it flew across.

Daryl noticed me approaching and he tapped Sophia on the shoulder. She turned her head and waved when she saw me. She ran, slowly this time instead of running into me like a freight train.

"Maddy, you're up." She said with a big smile. "Mum told me not to disturb you while you were sleeping. She said you needed to rest."

"I did, and I feel much better now." I smiled back at her.

"You're still limping," Sophia noted as we walked towards Daryl, who had just pulled the knife out of the tree, and another one. Apparently Sophia had taken more than one of my knives. When had she done that?

"It will take a few days to heal, but after that it will be as good as new." I told her. She stopped in her tracks.

"Sophia?" I turned my head and saw the same little girl I had met almost a week ago, standing alone, frightened, and uncertain of what to do.

"Does that mean you will leave again when it's better?" She asked and there was a slight tremble in her voice. 

I had two people looking at me at that moment, Sophia in front of me and Daryl on my right side, leaning against the bark of the tree, observing the interaction between me and her.

"Sophia," I started. "I am going to stay, right here. I already talked with Rick about it." And with that said, I sat down on the ground, to emphasize my point and also because my leg had started to annoy me. She took a few steps and sat down next to me.

"No more running?" She questioned.

"Not anymore." I answered.

Daryl walked over and handed her the two knives. "Why don't you show her?"

Immediately Sophia jumped up and took position a few feet away from us. I now noticed the self made target that was taped on the bark. Sophia pointed at it.

"Watch this, Maddy!"

She stretched her arm, flung it forward and the knife hit the target right in the centre. She had improved. I clapped, as did she.

"Did you teach her?" I asked Daryl who was standing beside me.

"Just a few pointers, she already had a very good aim." He replied.

"She has," I agreed. "She saved my life, you know. We were staying in this large house, and checked the upper floors just to make sure no Walkers were there." I looked up at Sophia for a moment, but she was busy retrieving the knife.

When I looked back at Daryl, he was eyeing me rather oddly. 

"What?"

"Female Walker? Missing her bottom jaw. Hole in her eye?" Daryl suddenly said, pointing to his left eye. I looked up at him with surprise.

"Yes, but how do you,-"

"I've been in that house. Day before you and Sophia found me. There was no one inside, except for that dead Walker upstairs and one locked up in the room next to it. I found a pillow and a blanket in the kitchen pantry."

My eyes shifted to Sophia again. He followed my gaze.

"Oh my God. You were that close to us all that time?" I whispered.

I remember how confused I was when Sophia and I got there. How the front door had been open when I was certain we had closed it before leaving for the highway to search yet again for a sign from her mother. The back door had also been opened. Had I not told Sophia how I suspected someone had been there while we were gone for those few hours?

"Was it you who let the Walker out of the upstairs room?" I asked him.

"Elderly lady." Daryl replied. "I checked every room in that house, looking for her." He nodded at Sophia.

"You found her, eventually."

"Nah. You found her first."

I stared up at Daryl and locked eyes with him. Blue eyes. He almost sounded disappointed. With slight difficulty I stood up from the ground.

"She deserved to be found, even though she can be rather loud." I said loudly.

Daryl snorted. The sound came as such a surprised that even I emitted a similar sound.

"I am not that loud…" Sophia exclaimed with her back turned to us.

Chapter Text

Three days later

"Time has gone by so quickly, Emily. It has been two months already since we lost you on the highway."

I was looking up at the blue sky while lying on my back in the grass next to the graves of Annette, Shawn and my mother-in-law, Emily. I couldn't believe it already had been that long ago. Had she been a Walker for that long too? Roaming around in these woods or in Hershel's barn? Something told me it hadn't taken long for her to get bitten.

"Maybe David is still out there?" I let out a sigh. "I mean it took me this long to discover what had happened to you...As for Andrew,-"

I stopped and released a shuddering breath. "God, Emily. I'm glad you didn't get to see that."

The soft tread of footsteps sounded from my left, I looked up and raised my arm to block the bright sun from obscuring my view. Dale towered over me.

"Saw you from the RV." He said. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." I answered. "The cut in my leg will heal properly now that it has been stitched up. I'll be up and running in no time."

"Speaking of which. Rick informed us you're staying." Dale sat down next to me in the grass. "So, no more running?"

"Only from Walkers."

We sat there quietly for a while. I noticed that Dale had his eyes locked on the three graves in front of us. I started to wonder if he had lost anybody special to him ever since the breakout. He caught me observing him and he took a deep breath before asking me a question, one which I knew had been on his mind for a while.

"What exactly happened to you out there?"

I sat upright. I never talked to anybody about it ever since it had happened. There had been nobody there to tell. But I knew, and especially now that I had decided to stay with this group, that it was only fair if I shared bits of my past with them. I looked at Emily's grave.

"My mother-in-law, Emily, we lost her on the highway, a bit further from down the road where you all initially lost Sophia."

"I take it you were with more people?" Dale asked.

"David, my father-in-law, and my boyfriend Andrew," I answered," We we're on the highway and got stuck in a traffic jam. Chaos suddenly erupted behind us and we got out of the car. Andrew thought our best option was to run." I shook my head. "We lost his mother first and then his father after he'd gone back to look for her. I'll be honest, I wasn't very fond of them, but they didn't deserve such a fate."

I waited a moment to swallow the lump, which had formed in my throat.

"Andrew and I rushed into those woods next to the highway. When we stopped to catch our breath, I noticed his shoulder had a gap in it. He was bleeding a lot." I bit my bottom lip.

"He probably got bit in all the commotion." Dale said and I nodded.

"All that chaos, we never noticed. I never noticed. But we both knew what was going to happen. We'd seen it happen on the news. Andrew told me never stay in one place for too long, to keep moving if things would go wrong."

Dale gave a firm nod. "Smart man."

I smiled weakly. "He was."

"Might I ask what happened after? Once he got bit and you knew what fate awaited him next?"

Dale's expression was kind. He was probably aware how difficult that situation could have been for a person. And it had been a horrible one. To this day I tried not to think too much about it, but it was hard not to. The image was forever edged in my mind.

"Andrew pulled out a gun. I didn't even know he had a gun with him. He handed it to me, told me I had to shoot him. But first he,- he,-"

I wiped a tear from my cheek and felt a strong squeeze on my shoulder.

"Madison,-" Dale furrowed his brow.

I shook my head and I reached for my jacket and took out a small box. I glanced at the Emily's grave for a moment. She must have known Andrew had been planning this. I reached for Dale's hand and placed the box in his palm. His eyes widened, a slight tremble in his fingers as he opened it. He took out the ring and stared at me without saying anything other than giving me an apologetic look.

"He was going to propose." A sob escaped my throat.

Dale placed the ring back, shut the box and gave it back to me.

"I told him to stop acting silly, to not do this to me, not now."

Two months ago

"Andrew stop, don't do this to me." I dropped the gun and pushed the small blue velvet box back in his hands.

"I have to and I don't care if it's unfair. I love you, Maddy. I was planning on proposing tomorrow once we'd reach the lake." He started to cough. He was getting paler with the second.

"It's mum's ring. She gave it to me, before we left their house."

"Damn it Andrew. You never wanted to get married in the first place."

"Mads, don't argue with me."

He began to cough and blood trickled down his chin. The whites of his eyes were turning red. His fingers clasped around the box as he leaned on one arm. I fell on my knees and shook my head. What was I suppose to do? He was dying!

"The gun."

I turned my head, looked at the gun and reluctantly picked it up.

"Safety…" His voice sounded hoarse and all of the colour drained from his face. I took the safety off and raised the gun.

So close. He wouldn't feel a thing, would he? My hands trembled and I couldn't stop my bottom lip from quivering. People screaming in the background. My heart pounding rapidly in my chest, blood rushing through my veins. How could I shoot him?

Andrew nodded and mouthed 'I love you.'

Bastard.

I closed my eyes, my mind going blank and squeezed the trigger. The gun fired. A jolt went through my body. I breathed heavily and averted my head. I didn't dare to look at his face. I didn't want to see where I had hit him.  He'd fallen over. I could see his legs and feet. Daring a little, I moved my gaze to his hands and saw the blue velvet box still clutched in one of them.

I took a deep breath, raised my arm and pressed the barrel of the gun against my right temple. Just one movement and it would all be over. Another squeeze.

Click.

Nothing.  I pulled the trigger again.

"Oh no…please God no."

I checked the magazine of the pistol. Empty.

I kept the part about trying to kill myself from Dale. He didn't need to know. Maybe someday but not now. Looking back, a part of me was thankful that I hadn't died that day. I was scared. Hated myself for shooting Andrew so easily.

Dale didn't respond. His face was turned away from me. The only thing he said was. "The rules of the world have changed, haven't they?"

"What rules?" I wiped the tears from my face.

"I lost my wife." Dale spoke. "Before this all happened." He quickly added when I clasped my hand over my mouth.

"Two years ago, cancer." Dale sighed deeply.

"What was her name?" I asked.

"Irma." He smiled. "I was going to take her places. That's why I bought the RV. Alas, it never happened."

"That must have been painful."

Dale nodded. "Still, I'm glad she never got the see this world. All of the hate. The killing. The fear of waking up each day and not knowing if it'll be your last. She died in a world we now take for granted. But she loved every damn minute of it."

He then grabbed my hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "What you did to your fiancée, you did out of love. But don't let this new world drag you down with it." With one more smile, he stood up and I watched him walk away.

This new world. Dale was right about that. It was difficult sometimes to know exactly what I was feeling at times. Sadness, anger, fear, disappointment. Putting words with emotions and feelings. It had been easy before, but now? It was all about self perseverance. Caring for myself. Putting my benefit before that of others. Making sure I'd live to see another day.

I looked at the blue box. I'd shot Andrew before even giving him an answer and now I don't even remember what I'd wanted to say to him at the time. Or if I ever had wanted to say anything at all...

::::::…::::::

I left the box with the ring on Emily's grave, beneath the wooden cross. I thought it would make me feel better, returning the ring to its rightful owner, but it didn't. In fact, I couldn't feel a thing. I'd already believed her to be dead, and though I had cried over finding her, it didn't impact me as much as it probably should have.

I halted for a moment as I passed my tent on my way to the farmhouse. I had retrieved it from the woods. With help from Andrea. The two of us had gone out two days after the barn incident to get the tent where Sophia and I had spent a night. I wouldn't have made it very far on my own with that wounded leg and she was kind enough to offer some help, after catching me trying to sneak off the premise.

Though good old Dale had offered to make space in the RV for me, it was already too cramped and I didn't want to impose. Carol, Sophia and Andrea had taken up refuge there now that Beth was still in shock from all that had happened. Rick, Lori and Carl had their own tent, as did Glenn who bunked with T-dog. Shane spent most nights in one of the cars, and Daryl had his own tent, far away from the rest. Having my own spot felt better than surrounding myself with all of them, no matter how kind they seemingly turned out to be.

When Andrea and I reached the tent, the 'guard dog' was still on the ground, with Daryl's arrow stuck in his forehead. Andrea commented on having been there before too and I was once again reminded of how close we'd all been to each other while I was out there with Sophia trying to find her mother. After we packed up the tent, I'd taken the arrow out of te Walker and gave it back to Daryl. Who was surprised, but uttered a thank you.

I glanced over my shoulder to see if he was currently sitting at his tent, but as I looked there was nobody there. Continuing my way back to Hershel's farm, Dale's words still roaming around in my mind, a voice called out to me.

"Hey, are you alright?"

I jumped, startled by the unexpected noise and looked to the boy in front of me, sitting on the bottom step of the porch. It was Randall. The boy Rick had picked up three days ago. Randall's leg had been impaled when he slid down a roof and landed, unfortunately, on a fence spike. I was surprised to see him alone, usually he was being watched by Shane or Andrea who stayed near him to make sure he wouldn't go off on his own. Not that he'd get very far with his leg.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. You looked sad and I thought,-"

"Randall, right?" I interrupted and he nodded.

"Do me a favour, mind your own business." I snapped.

Why had I even bothered to come up here. I should have stayed at my tent. After having that heart to heart this morning with Dale, I wasn't really in the mood to socialize with anyone. I turned around, ready to go the opposite direction when I almost bumped into Shane. Apparently there had been somebody nearby to watch Randall and I hadn't even noticed him.

"He bothering you?" Shane asked me, his eyes looking over my shoulder at Randall.

"Just being nosey. Don't worry, if he was I'd make sure to ruin his good leg." I replied. Shane gave a nod and an approving smile.

"Alone he may not be such a threat…" Shane mumbled as I passed him.

"Excuse me?" I stopped.

"That young man, I don't think it's a good idea to send him back out there." Shane turned around and faced me. "You know Rick wants to send him back out there once his leg is healed?"

"I heard. Rick said that Randall had been blindfolded the entire time when they drove up here."

"Yeah, well,-" Shane licked his lips and leaned towards me. "He comes from a group of people. Rick killed three of their man. Then took this boy hostage. What if we let him go and he brings those people back? Or what if they're already out there looking for him? Who knows what they'll do once they this place? What they might do to you? Or the other women here...to Sophia?"

When he spoke Sophia's name my heart stopped. Shane must have noticed the shock on my face.

"Andrea feels the same way that I do. We should do something about this plan Rick has, don't you agree?"

I arched an eyebrow. If I didn't know any better, I would say that Shane was trying his hardest to convince me that Rick's idea was wrong. He was making some solid arguments, but were things that bleak?

I crossed my arms. "What do you have in mind? There aren't a lot of other options if you don't want to follow Rick's plan."

Shane shrugged. "The most humane thing to do would be to let him stay with us, right?"

I couldn't help but notice the way Shane ended every sentence with a question. What was he playing at? I felt no need to get involved in some kind of quarrel amongst these people, even if I was part of their group now. And it was no secret that Rick and Shane were butting heads at the moment. I didn't know all the ins and outs, but I had heard a thing or two to know it mostly revolved around Lori.

"This is obviously bothering you, Shane. Perhaps you should talk to Rick about it." I suggested.

Shane huffed.

"Or try Lori, maybe she can help you better than I." I turned around, but Shane grabbed my arm.

"I'm asking you your opinion, Madison. I know you have been with us for just a few days, but there's something about you. You've seen things, been through things. You're not afraid to do what's right."

His hold on me wasn't that strong, but intimidating enough. My eyes shot towards the porch where Randall was sitting. How much was he able to hear of this? It didn't seem like he got the gist that we were talking about him, but he was watching us closely.

"If I want to change Rick's mind, we will need a vote. That's how it works and I can't,-"

"Let go off my arm, Shane." I said in a low voice, staring intensely at him. He lowered his gaze to his hand and let go.

"I'm sorry, I,-"

"Should there be a vote about this, then I will vote. But that doesn't mean it will be for you or even for Rick. Alright?" With one final glance I walked away from Shane, Randall and the farmhouse.

The next day

"Sophia, stop it!" I called out as she splashed the water up against me.

"Come on Maddy, I want to practise!" Sophia pouted.

I waved my hand. "You know your mother doesn't want you to practise."

Sophia sighed," I know." She sat down on the ground and started to play with the water in the small tub, in which I was doing laundry. Doing laundry...

Never in a million years could I have imagined doing laundry again, at least not for other people and most certainly not like this, with a tub, a bar of soap and cold water. I was missing my washing machine already.

Now that I was part of a group, I had to help out and apparently doing laundry was a very important job. That, and clearly everybody else hated it. I groaned with frustration and flung another shirt into the water, a bit too hard, causing it to splash against Sophia this time.

"Maddy!" She shrieked.

"Oops." I laughed, it happened by accident, but it was rather funny. Sophia bent over and took the wet shirt from the tub, she was about to hurl it at my head when Carol called out to her.

"Sophia!" She came up to us, and Sophia dropped the shirt back into the water.

"Time for your lessons with Carl and Lori, sweetie," She said.

Sophia's earlier smile faded from her face. "Aw, mum. Do I have to?"

"Just because the world has changed, doesn't mean your education will stop." Carol replied to her daughter," go on."

"Fine. Later, Maddy," Sophia said to me as she hurried off to Lori and Carl.

Carol sighed as she watched her daughter. "Kids. One day when she's older, she'll understand how important it is."

Carol and I never talked much, even after I had decided to stay. Somehow I was afraid to talk to her. Afraid because of what she thought of me. I knew she was thankful for what I had done with regards to Sophia. But I hadn't forgotten Lori's words, who had told me that Carol was worried. Worried that Sophia might have taken a certain liking to me and that made her feel, in a way, threatened.

The bond between a mother and daughter was important, and that was the only bond Carol had at the moment. I doubted she knew that Sophia had told me the story about her father, Carol's husband, Ed. It wasn't a subject I needed to address. But it did make me respect Carol more.

"Kids are a blessing." Carol continued. "Though in these times. I can't even imagine what it's doing to them." She looked at me.

"Sophia is a strong girl. She'll manage. But she'll have to grow up quicker than most kids her age." I said to her.

"Same with Carl." Carol sighed. "And now with another baby on the way…"

She was referring to Lori. Lori, who I had been avoiding like the plague ever since the car accident. I'd probably had to make amends with her at some point. But hell if I was going to be the one to initiate that.

"Madison, did you,- did you have any kids?" Carol asked suddenly. Her question caught me by surprise.

"I'm sorry. That was insensitive. I don't know why I said it like that," She rubbed her head and said. "I would like to get to know you better."

Carol didn't know the entire story, of what had happened before I found Sophia in the woods. Finding Emily in the barn was indication enough for most of them to realize I had been involved with someone. Though more details were never mentioned, and Dale kept quiet about what I had shared with him. Which I appreciated that a lot.

"No." I answered shortly. "No kids."

"Do you,- did you want children?"

"Andrew did." I whispered softly.

Carol was getting on my nerves with her questions. It was fine that she wanted to 'get to know me better', and I understood her completely. But I just. I couldn't with her at the moment. What I could have done was finish this awful laundry by now if nobody had come up to me for small talk.

"I should finish this laundry." I told her as I sat down behind the tub again. Carol opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by the appearance of Rick.

"Sorry to interrupt," He said to her before looking at me. "Madison, can I have a word with you?" Rick asked and I followed him, leaving Carol behind with the tub full of unwashed clothes.

I was never going to finish, was I?

"Everything alright?" I asked as we headed inside the house. Rick didn't reply. His silence worried me. Had anything happened or was I in trouble? I couldn't imagine. Not much can go wrong when it comes to doing laundry.

We entered the living room and there at the table were Shane, Daryl, Andrea and T-dog. I almost didn't notice Randall sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. Rick motioned for me to take the seat between Daryl and Andrea.

"Tomorrow Shane and I will take Randall away from the farm. We will drive for a couple of miles, have him blindfolded all the time and then drop him off with a few supplies." Rick started.

He quickly glanced at Shane for a moment, who nodded. I knew Shane didn't agree with Rick. I had not forgotten our conversation. He caught me looking at him and I quickly averted my eyes, shifting uncomfortably in the chair.

"The reason why I called all of you," Rick continued. "Is because with Shane and I gone, we need you to protect the farm."

"Glenn and Dale will take the night shift. Lori and Carol have Carl and Sophia to take care of." Shane added. "So we need you four to be on the lookout during the day."

"What about Hershel and his family?" Andrea asked.

"They've got Beth to worry about. Besides, we made a promise to help defend the farm. We've got more experience with Walkers and they don't." Rick answered.

"Andrea, you take your position on top of the RV. T-dog, you and Daryl can scout the edge of the woods. Now Madison,-"

I looked up at Rick as he continued.

"I know you have only been with us for about a week. But you are a valuable addition to our group. Which is why I'm also asking your help. I want you to stay close to the house and keep an eye out on the areas that Andrea can't see from the RV."

He was serious. I couldn't hide the surprise crossing my face, but I was thankful for him asking me to join the others in this. I smiled. "Thanks Rick, I appreciate it."

"You serious? I've been here almost a week and I'm not allowed to stay with you guys, but she is?" Randall objected loudly, waving his arm in my direction. "Is it because she's a woman?"

"You shut your mouth boy." Shane shoved his chair back and stood up.

"Come on, man. This isn't fair!" Randall continued, but everyone ignored his plea.

"That's settled then, we leave tomorrow morning." Rick said, and with that the conversation was finished.

He left the house, followed closely by Andrea and T-dog. Daryl and I got out of our seats and made our way towards the door as Shane headed over to Randall, pulling him out of his chair.

"Ow, easy!" Then Randall glanced at me as they passed by. "Come on, miss. This is inhuman. I haven't done anything wrong!"

Why this boy was addressing me. Most likely because he couldn't fathom why I was allowed to be a part of this group and he wasn't. Was he not happy to be going back to his own group? Maybe not. Why else was he reacting like this?

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Randall. It's not my call,-"

"Jesus Christ, who did you sleep with in order to stay?" Randall burst out.

A loud cry followed suit and Randall fell back against Shane. Daryl had punched him in the face. With wide eyes I looked at Daryl's raised fist and Randall's bloody nose.

"Okay, that's enough." Shane growled and he pulled Randall with him out of the house.

Daryl shifted his eyes to me.

"Thank,-" and he was gone.

"…you."

The next morning

They had tied him up and thrown him in the trunk of the car. Hands and feet bound, and duct tape placed over his mouth. Rick and Shane, two men who used to be cops and now they were behaving like a couple of kidnappers. It didn't seem to matter to anyone. Shane was right about one thing though, Rick was the one with the voice in this group and everybody listened to him. Even Shane when push came to shove apparently.

Andrea had taken her seat on top of the RV. T-dog and Daryl were already walking on the fields to check for any stray Walkers and me? I was roaming around the back of the house with my crowbar in hand.

When I left the house yesterday, back to finish up on the laundry, I was greeted by an empty tub. Carol had finished my chore. I didn't complain about it, I really hated washing everybody's clothes. I had gone up to thank her. She told me it was no problem.

And now I was walking around, looking out for undead moaning and groaning creatures. It was just as exciting as doing the laundry after a couple of minutes. It was all part of being part of a group and helping out. Still, it was better than being on the run and going from place to place, always watching my back and jumping up at every single movement that caught my eye.

After an hour of keeping watch, I decided to pay Andrea a visit for a few minutes, see if she spotted anything out of the ordinary.

I arrived at the RV. Andrea was on top of the roof, sitting in Dale's chair and a shotgun in her lap. Her eyes widened when she saw me and she jumped up with her shotgun, ready to take action.

"Madison, anything wrong?"

"No, everything is fine. I came to check on you." I reassured her. "Nothing on my end, have you seen anything?"

Andrea shook her head. "All seems fine so far. If anything, it's too quiet today."

I grinned. "Like a calm before the storm?"

"Exactly," She smiled. "Speaking of storm. I heard Daryl punched Randall yesterday?"

"Who told you that?"

"Shane."

"Ah. He did though. Randall sort of insulted my 'honour'."

"And Daryl punched him."

"It happened really fast." Which it had. I didn't even have time to blink or respond myself.

"Best not to tell Carol what happened." Andrea said.

I arched an eyebrow. "Carol? What do you mean?"

"Andrea!"

I turned my head at the sound of Lori's voice. She came running from the house. Why was she yelling? Had something happened? Lori halted next to me and looked up at Andrea.

"Have either of you seen Maggie or Hershel?

"Haven't seen Hershel, but Maggie and Glenn walked by about twenty minutes ago," Andrea told her.

"Can you find her for me? I have to get back to the house."

"Of course," Andrea nodded and Lori hurried back.

Andrea started her descend from the RV rooftop.

I couldn't help but frown. "What was that all about?"

"Beats me. But if Lori says it's important..." Andrea muttered something under her breath and handed me her gun. "Can you take watch for me? I won't be gone long."

Before I could protest she was already making her way into the direction where Maggie and Glenn had headed towards. I looked at the gun in my hands. A shotgun. A messy weapon. I jumped up at the sound of loud knocking. Sophia was inside the RV with Carl, playing cards. They both waved at me. I smiled at them before climbing the RV to take Andrea's place.

Forty-five minutes passed. Andrea and Maggie had run past the RV about thirty minutes ago, but she still hadn't come back since. Enough was enough. I climbed down and headed to the house to fetch Andrea. Wouldn't take longer than a minute or two.

I walked into the house and apparently arrived in some kind of warzone. There were multiple loud noises. Two voices coming from upstairs and two coming from the kitchen, one of those voices I recognized as Andrea's. What on Earth was going on? I headed to the kitchen.

"I help keep this place safe." Andrea said.

"The men can handle this. On their own,- they don't need your help." Lori countered.

The men? What kind of discussion had I just walked into?

"I'm sorry, what would you have me do?" Andrea questioned.

"There is plenty of work to go around."

"Are you serious? Everything is falling apart and you're in my face over skipping laundry?" Andrea's voice was rising.

I bit my lip at that comment, remembering how I myself had skipped that duty yesterday.

"It puts a burden on the rest of us. On me and Carol, Patricia, Maggie,-"

Neither of the two women had noticed me standing there. But I myself couldn't believe what I was hearing. Were my ears deceiving me or was Lori actually saying that it was the job of the men to protect us and keep this place safe?

"You sit up on that RV working on your tan with a shotgun in your lap." She continued.

"I am on watch against walkers!"

"And we are providing stability. We are trying to create a life worth living."

"Are you kidding me?"

"Look, I understand what it takes. Alright? I went after Rick. I took down two Walkers." Lori defended herself.

"You had help." Andrea retorted. "Madison was there. If she had not gone with you could have ended up dead. No actually, you would have ended up that!"

The two women stared at each other for a moment. I was standing in full view, right in the doorway. But they were clearly in their own bubble. What had happened that brought up this entirely, and rather pointless, discussion?

"You're insane." Lori shook her head.

"No you are and you are self-centred. The way you take it all for granted." Andrea pointed her finger at the brunette.

"My husband is out there for the hundredth time, my son got shot! Don't you dare say,-"

"You don't get it, do you? He came back from the dead, your son too. And now you've got a baby on the way." Andrea shook her head. "We have piled up our losses. I lost Amy. Carol thought her daughter was dead. Madison lost her… Madison?"

Andrea finally noticed me standing in there. Both women now looked at me, each with an equally shocked expression. I reckoned they were probably wondering how long I had been standing there. Hearing every damn word.

"Queen Bee." She snapped at Lori. "Just tell Beth everything is okay, just like it is for you. A husband, a son, baby…a boyfriend." Andrea headed to me and grabbed the gun out of my hands before walking out of the house. I turned my head to Lori, who stood there looking bewildered.

Well this was awkward.

"I-I…" Lori stammered.

"I should go."

"Madison."

"It's alright, Lori. I'd better go back. Keep watch." Be a man. I quickly went out of the house after Andrea.

Chapter Text

This was a righteous mess. Andrea and Lori fighting over old-fashioned morals and values, throwing accusations left and right about who was wrong and who was right in this new world. Then there was Beth and Maggie arguing and yelling upstairs, their voices carrying through the open window as I followed Andrea outside.

Almost immediately she told me she was going back to the RV to keep watch and that she was in no mood to talk about her quarrel with Rick's wife. Though she appeared fine, her facial expression said otherwise, but I respectfully went to continue scouting the area behind the farmhouse.

About an hour had passed since all of that, and Rick and Shane still hadn't returned yet. If something happened with those two, what would the group do? They all put so much faith in Rick on making the choices. Supposedly right choices.

Shane was the odd one out, I'd already discovered that based on how Dale viewed him and how the cop had practically begged for my vote with the Randall situation. But ultimately in the end he had complied with Rick's wish nonetheless. As all of them did.

I walked back to the farmhouse, the sun would soon set. I spotted Daryl and T-dog walking back from the edge of the woods, both coming my way.

"Gentlemen." I greeted them waving my crowbar.

"Ma'am." T-dog returned my wave with his hand. "All quiet here?"

I pressed my lips in a tight line. It had been anything but quiet on the human front, but thankfully calm on the Walker side of things.

"No Walkers on my end. How about yours?"

T-dog looked over at Daryl who raised three fingers. He nodded. "Sounds about right. And a squirrel."

"Damn squirrels." I replied.

"Any news on Shane and Rick yet?" Daryl asked, but I shook my head.

"Nothing. I hope they're alright."

"They'll be fine. They're tough." T-dog said with confidence and I could have sworn I saw Daryl huff and swiftly roll his eyes.

Together the three of us walked to the house and once we got there, the front door swung open with Maggie Greene making her way outside. Her face red and her eyes puffy. I halted, as did Daryl and T-dog. Maggie didn't even look our way as she passed us. A sob sounded as she walked by. What could have happened this time? I turned to the two men, who clearly had no clue or any care to figure out what was going on or how to react.

"I think I'll go after her. Here, hold this." I gave Daryl my weapon and hurried after the eldest Greene daughter.

I rounded the house and found her on the ground beneath the large tree. She was downright crying this time.

"Maggie?" I called out. "What's going on?"

She raised her head and looked at me with tearstained cheeks. "It's Beth." She said.

"Beth? What about Beth? I heard you two having some argument earlier." I sat down in front of her.

"It got worse. Beth, she,- she didn't want to go on no more, Madison." Maggie released a shuddering breath. "I thought I'd talked her out of it, but then that,- that Andrea came and planted the idea in her head again. Beth almost,- she almost..."

"What are you saying, Maggie?" I blinked with confusion.

"Beth had locked herself in the bathroom and slit her wrist with a piece of glass."

"Oh my God, is Beth,-"

Maggie immediately shook her head. "She got hurt. But she's fine now. Dad is patching her up."

A new tear rolled down her cheek, she quickly wiped it away. "I was only gone for a few minutes. Andrea had come upstairs, told me to go out, have some fresh air. Said I needed it. Then she gone up and left Beth alone! I shouldn't have listened to her."

"What did Andrea say to her?"

"I, I don't know. But nothing good, why else would she lock herself in the bathroom and try to,- I can't even say it." Maggie averted her eyes and wiped another tear away.

"Oh, Maggie." I sighed as I moved towards her. "If Beth was already thinking about doing this, like you said. You can't put full blame on Andrea?"

"God, you sound just like Lori."

Like Lori? That was not something I wanted to hear.

"I'm not looking for a scapegoat. I know it sounds like it. But Andrea shouldn't have left her alone. I shouldn't have left,-" She lowered head again.

Perhaps I wasn't as good as talking as I thought I was, for I had no idea what to say next that would make her feel a little better. Maybe I wasn't the right person for this, but I knew someone who was.

"Maggie, you've had a very difficult week. You keep going and going. You're important too." I stood up and extended my hand to her. "Come on, I'll walk you to Glenn."

"But Beth,- what if something?"

"Beth is fine. Your dad is with her, isn't he?"

With another motion of my hand, Maggie eventually grabbed it firmly. Together we silently set off towards Glenn. But my heart felt heavy. For both Maggie and Beth. I was glad Beth hadn't gone through with it. I understood the feeling she must have had. The desire to escape the pain and suffering.

Luckily Beth had her family to pull her through it should she feel that way again. As for myself, it had been a while now since I too had stood at that crossroad. And despite not having anyone around me at the time to pull me through, I was glad Andrew's gun had been empty in the end.

::::::…::::::

They brought Randall back with them. They had been planning on leaving him about eighteen miles away from here, but Randall accidently let it slip that he knows Maggie Greene and her father, which meant he also knew the location of the farm and for that reason Rick and Shane brought him back. Both men had looked worse for wear. Cuts and scrapes on their face. Bruises and dried up blood. Randall also looked pretty banged up. None of them mentioned anything what had happened, but it seemed odd all of those wounds had been caused by a group of Walkers.

It was the next morning when I passed the shed in which Rick had put Randall. Now that they had taken him back, there were only two options left. Let him stay with us or get rid of him. Sending him back to his group was no longer an option. Rick hadn't said it literally, but based on the talk I had with him a while ago, something told me he actually favoured the most gruesome option.

"The opinions are rather divided… I want to patch him up and send him back out there, give him a chance to get back to his group."

"And the other options are to either kill him or let him stay here?" I suggested.

"Another mouth to feed…"

Death or a new member in the group. I couldn't imagine he was going to have a change of heart about it. But he was looking for proof. Something to support his decision on what would be the right choice regarding Randall's fate.

When I passed Daryl about ten minutes ago, his expression had been sour. But as Sophia once told me, he was grumpy most of the time. He was on his way to the shed. Said Rick had asked him to question Randall about his group of people. Not Shane, not Rick himself. But Daryl. Why him?

"You should go to Rick. He wants everyone at his tent while I handle this." Daryl had said before continuing to the shed.

I waited a few minutes before heading to the shed myself. Having no desire to listen to Rick's pointless request. Waiting with the group for Daryl to finish questioning the boy? I simply couldn't shake the feeling that this was going to end badly. One way or another.

Eventually I halted and took a stance near the door of the shed. Two voices sounded from inside. One was Randall and the other belonged to Daryl.

"No no no no no, come on man!" Randall yelled.

"How many!?" Daryl raised his voice.

"Thir- thirty guys!"

"Where?!"

Randall emitted a scream. I placed my hand on the door.

"I don't know, I swear! We were never any place more than a night."

"Scouting? Planning on staying local?"

"I don't know," Randall pleaded. "They left me behind."

"You ever pick off a scab?" Daryl sounded very threatening. Was he hurting Randall?

"Come on man, I'm trying to cooperate." His voice shook, filled with fear.

Without waiting another minute I pushed the door open and stepped inside only to be greeted by a bloody, beaten and bound Randall on the floor. He looked terrible. Worse than yesterday when Shane and Rick had brought him back. Daryl was leaning over him, pressing the tip of his knife against the boy's leg.

"Leave." Daryl said to me.

"What are you doing?" I exclaimed with shock.

"Having a chat. Now go!" He ordered.

"Are you torturing him?" I asked, not taking my eyes of Daryl's face.

"Miss, he's crazy!" Randall interrupted. "He ripped off my,-"

"Shut up!" Daryl shouted, he stood up and walked over to me. "We need information about his group."

"By beating the shit out of him?" I questioned.

"You wanna sweet talk it out of him?" Daryl moved aside, though his eyes never left mine. "By all means, go ahead."

I glanced over at the young man on the floor. The left side of his face looked thick and was covered in blood. I doubted talking to him would work, not in the world we lived in now. But was beating him to a pulp really the answer?

"Didn't think so." Daryl spat, seeing me hesitate and he turned his back on me.

With a clenched jaw I stomped out of the shed and shut the door behind me. But I stayed and stood right there as Daryl continued his game of bad cop.

"They have weapons, heavy artillery. But I swear, I didn't do ANYTHING!"

"Boys shot at my boys. Trying to tell me you're innocent?"

"Yes!" Randall answered. "These people took me in. It's not just guys, but a whole group of them. Women, and kids too! Just like you people."

I looked at the wooden panels of the shed. A group of people. Men, women and children. Not so different from Rick and the others.

"But when we go out. Scavenge, it's just the men." Randall continued and I pressed the side of my face against the shed once more, as if I'd be able to hear more that way.

"One night we found this little camp site, a man and his two daughters, teenagers… real young." He paused," Real cute."

My heart started to beat quicker as I rested my hands against the wood. The way Randall said it. This wasn't going to be a pretty story. Why was he telling this? I listened quietly as Randall continued.

"The Daddy had to watch while these guys…they,-" For a moment it got very quiet and I frowned, but then he went on. "They didn't even kill him afterwards. They just made him watch his daughters. But I didn't touch those girls, I swear!"

Randall cried out loud all of a sudden. "YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME… I AIN'T LIKE THAT!" He kept on pleading," PLEASE!"

A snapping noise followed, and another cry. Daryl had hurt him bad this time. I barged into the shed once again. I'd heard enough and whatever information Daryl needed to gather for Rick, this was more than plenty.

"Daryl, stop!" I ran up to him and grabbed his arm.

He moved and shoved me aside. I stumbled back as Daryl kicked Randall in his stomach. For a second time I went up to him and pushed him away from Randall. It didn't hurt him, but I managed to use enough force to make him stop what he was doing to the boy.

"You've hurt him enough!" I said to Daryl. "It's over."

"Did you not hear what he just said,-"

"Every word," I breathed and stared at him, my bottom lip quivered unintentionally. "I heard everything. But enough is enough."

His hand was covered in blood from hitting Randall repeatedly. His chest was moving rapidly up and down. There was such anger in his eyes. Randall's story had struck a nerve, a deep one. Otherwise he wouldn't have reacted with such hatred.

"No more." I said firmly. "Please."

Daryl spat on the floor, grabbed his crossbow and walked out of the shed.

"Thank you, miss."

"Shut up, Randall." I hissed. My heart still pounding in my throat. "Just shut up."

I looked around the shed and noticed a rag lying on top of a chair which had toppled over. It would have to do. I grabbed it and sat down in front of Randall, with a gentle touch I tried to rub away some of the blood from his face. The wet bits at least.

"He really is crazy, miss,-"

"I mean it, Randall. Shut up." I said as he tried to speak again. "Don't talk to me."

Why was I even doing this?

Randall closed his eyes and I stood up again. I went to the door, took one step outside but immediately stopped. Daryl was there, leaning against the side of the shed. We locked eyes. I thought he'd left? Why was he still here? His glare was anything but friendly, but he kept his gaze on me as he walked by and back into the shed.

I waited quietly while he tied Randall to the chair. When Daryl finally finished, he came back outside. Not saying a word. I lowered my eyes to his hands. Both bloody with a couple of scratches.

"Does it hurt?" I asked.

He huffed and stepped away. "Let me be."

::::::…::::::

"I want to talk to you." Dale came up to me as I sat next to the dreaded laundry tub.

"About what?" I asked.

The water was completely murky by now and still I couldn't get the bloody rag as clean as I would like. It was a pointless endeavour but I couldn't bring myself to stop. As if I needed it to be clean so the vision of Daryl hitting and torturing Randall would miraculously disappear.

"Randall." The older man said. "I want to know how you feel about this, and what you think,-"

"Oh no, don't you start too." I got up and wrung the wet cloth. "First Shane, then Rick,- then this bullshit."

I squeezed the rag tightly in my hand and hurled it aside. It landed on the grass with a sloshing sound.

"Shane came to you?" Dale frowned.

"A few days ago, he tried to persuade me into agreeing with him that Rick had the wrong idea of sending Randall back."

"He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"What?"

"Shane? Did he hurt you when he tried to persuade you, Maddy?"

Hurt me? He hadn't been incredibly kind or sensitive, no. In fact he'd been incredibly honest how he felt about everything. Though His grip on my arm might have been a bit rough and stronger than was necessary. But he never went as far as threaten me physically. Not in the sense Dale seemed to imply. I crossed my arms.

"What's going on, Dale?" I frowned.

"Shane is a dangerous man, Madison." Dale said sternly. "Best to stay away from him, you hear."

It was no secret how Dale saw Shane, but he made it sound like as if he was going to kill me if I'd even said as much as the wrong thing. Then again, he had threatened to shoot me the first time I met him, had he not?

I sighed. "I hear you. But why do you want my opinion on this exactly?"

"Rick gave me the opportunity to talk to everybody, and at sundown we will discuss the matter again."

"He did, huh? He really wants to discuss Randall's fate yet again?" I found it hard to believe.

"It took some persuasion." Dale admitted.

"It sounds to me like he has already made up his mind, Dale. I doubt whatever we have to say changes things."

Dale rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think of something to say. He seemed really set on keeping Randall alive. I didn't want to see Randall killed, but the situation was difficult. He came from such an aggressive group and I did fear that he had been severely influenced by them. The story he'd told Daryl still haunted my mind. He said he hadn't done anything to those girls, but he had been there. He had seen it.

"You've talked to Randall today. Surely you have some opinion about this."

I arched an eyebrow. "How do you know I spoke to Randall today?"

Of course the answer was obvious. Aside from Randall himself, there had only been one other person who knew I'd seen the boy. No doubt Dale must had heard it from him.

"Daryl." Dale explained, as expected. "You really intervened?"

Had Daryl Dixon complained about me to Dale? In that case it was probably only a matter of time then until Rick would hear of it. Nothing went past that man.

I nodded. "I had to. It was,- frightening."

"I'm glad you did. It isn't like Daryl to act that way. Now he may seem rough and tough from the outside, but he's got his heart in the right place."

I snorted loudly.

"Trust me, Madison. He cares about the group, even if he doesn't show it." Dale continued. "He cared enough about Sophia to keep on looking for her. Even after we'd lost all hope, he was the only one who hadn't. He went looking for you, didn't he? A stranger? I'm telling you, he's a decent man."

I couldn't disagree with Dale on any of those arguments, though I wasn't so sure if the behaviour I'd seen from Daryl today wasn't who he truly was. A man who could go that far, it had been a scary thing to behold.

"Are you trying to tell me that Daryl agrees with you?" I asked. "That Randall should stay with us?"

"Would it make a difference what Daryl things?" He eyed me expectantly.

"Did he tell you what Randall said?" I said ignoring his question. "About the men in his group? What they did…" I ran my hand through my hair. "Dale, they did such horrible things. And the boy was there to see it all."

"Does that mean that he deserves to die?"

I stared at Dale. "No. But if there is a chance that he has been influenced too much by this group. If he turns on us,-"

We stared at each other for while. Every fibre within my body agreed with Dale, but I was too afraid of what might happen if we were to let Randall stay with us. Shane's prediction flashed through my mind again. What if they come? What will they do to the women. To Sophia?

"It's us against just one boy." Dale said.

"Thirty men, Dale. He has thirty men in his group!"

"Killing him doesn't change that, but it changes us. Keeping your humanity is a choice." Dale said. "Doesn't he deserve a chance?"

::::::…::::::

Sunset. And most of us were sitting in the living room, ready to discuss the fate of Randall. The only ones not there were the young ones. Beth, Jimmy, Carl and Sophia. I sat on the piano bench, together with Glenn. He appeared happier than I'd seen him in a while. But as I glanced around the room, he seemed to be pretty much the only one. Nobody was looking forward to this conversation. This vote. Even Dale, who'd tried his hardest to talk to several people to take his side in all of this, seemed pessimistic about the whole thing.

"If people believe we should spare him, then I want to know." Rick said as he leaned with one hand against the couch. He glanced at Dale, who stood beside the piano.

"It's a small group…maybe just me and Glenn. Madison?" Dale looked hopefully at me and Glenn.

Glenn and I looked at each other. We hadn't exchanged words with one another, so I doubted he was aware what Dale and I had discussed. But I hadn't really given him a solid answer, had I? Only that I didn't want death to be the option, but if it was our safest bet...

"He's not one of us, and we've lost too many people already." He said softly. "Normally I agree with everything you say...but,-" He shook his head.

"Madison?" This was Rick talking to me. "I'd like to hear your opinion too."

I moved my eyes from Rick to Shane, Dale and lastly Daryl, who stood with his back against a cabinet next to the front door.

"I-…I don't think we should kill Randall." I looked back at Rick. "You made the decision in bringing him back. Twice." I raised two fingers. "And now you want to kill him?"

"I made a choice, alright?" Rick countered rather defensively.

"Look, say we let him join us? Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice. We let our guard down and maybe he runs off, bringing back his thirty men." Shane said with a shrug.

I started to rub my upper arms, thinking back of Randall's story regarding the two teenagers being harassed and abused, raped. While their daddy had to watch it happen.

"He has been tortured. He's going to be executed. How are we any better than the people we are so afraid of?" Dale continued.

This discussion was hopeless. I didn't even listen anymore to what everyone had to say. The options were clear, only the decision had to be made. Then Carol spoke up, saying she did not want to be part of this. She didn't care what the decision would be, as long as they left her out of it.

Dale felt offended by her comment and immediately told her off, which started another argument until Rick finally decided it was enough.

"If anyone wants the floor, before we make the final decision, now has the chance." He said. No replies. Everyone either stared at each other or at the floor.

"The right choice is the one that keeps us alive." I said out loud.

"And what's that suppose to mean?" Shane asked.

"It's what we all want. But there is no way of knowing what choice is the right one." I paused and looked at Dale. "His group might show up even if Randall dies. They might show up if we let him live." I glanced around the room." I agree with Dale. He has my vote in this matter."

I stood up from the bench and walked out of the house.

::::::…::::::

"Are you alright Maddy?" Sophia asked me as we all sat at the campfire between the RV and Rick and Lori's tent.

"Long day, Soph," I replied with my eyes closed.

"You can sleep if you want, I'll keep watch over you." She said and I opened my eyes to look at her. I smiled, ruffled her short blond hair before closing my eyes again.

Randall was going to live. Rick had a change of heart. All of us had been surprised when we heard. Immediately the mood shifted tremendously. Smiles, a laugh. The only person who wasn't aware of the news yet was Dale. His wish had been granted and he wasn't even here to celebrate it. I smiled with content as I leaned back in the grass, hanging right between the edge of sleep and wake.

Only it didn't last very long. A gut wrenching cry, loud enough we all heard it, came from the field. Not a Walker. A person. I sat up straight, looked at Sophia who reached for her mother's arm. Danger. Randall's group? Everyone jumped up. Lori quickly ordered Carl to go into the house and lock the doors. Carol followed Lori's example and told Sophia to go inside with Carl.

I hurried after Rick and the others towards the sound of ongoing screams. The screaming intensified the closer we were getting. My eyes swiftly went back and forth, counting the people that were running along side us. Three were missing, Daryl, Dale and Shane.

The yelling and loud cries increased and then Daryl's voice sounded.

"Help! Over here!"

My mind started to race, it was Dale or Shane. And then I spotted Shane and my heart sank.

Dale.

It was Dale. The Walker lying on the ground a few feet away from him. Dead. I clasped my hands in front of my mouth when Dale caught my eyes. His white shirt stained with blood. His guts,- Oh dear Lord, were those his intestines? Hanging out of his stomach. Oh, no…no, no, no, no! I felt nauseous and took a step back. Andrea fell to her knees beside me, leaning over Dale and telling him everything was alright.

After everything that had happened today. After all that he tried to fight for. His believes, his faith in the good of humanity. His code of ethics. Not Dale...

Hershel arrived and soon enough told Rick that it was hopeless. Andrea burst out into tears and kept saying Dale's name over and over again. I grabbed hold of her and pulled her against me. I held on to her tightly as she buried her face against my chest. More and more members of the group arrived, even Carl and Sophia. I gently stroke Andrea's hair as I watched Rick raise his gun and taking aim at Dale. I closed my eyes and waited for the shot.

"Sorry brother," This was Daryl's voice.

I jumped as the gun went off and when I opened my eyes I saw not Rick but Daryl on his knees holding the weapon in his hand and aimed at Dale's, now silent, head.

The next day

Dale was gone. I still couldn't believe it. I glanced over to my right and looked at the others. They all appeared so numb, especially Glenn and Andrea. Glenn stood across from me. A blank expression adorned his face as he stared down at the grave while holding Dale's hat in his hands. I stood right next to Andrea, who had cried for a long time last night. Quietly, but I could hear her soft sobs coming from the roof of the RV.

Rick was talking about Dale, what kind of a man he was, and what he had given the group. Now that he was gone, Rick was planning to prove that Dale had been wrong about them.

"This group isn't broken. From now on we're going to do things the way Dale wanted. That is how we honour Dale."

Almost everyone nodded in agreement. I didn't, I couldn't. Almost all of them had disagreed with Dale with regards to Randall from the very beginning. I was guilty of that in sense as well. I thought it was a very hypocritical thing to say, especially after last night. But they probably now all realized how right Dale had been.

Dale's grave was dug next to that of Emily. Stones covered the outline of his grave, as we had done with the other three. After Rick had said his words, people silently began to walk away. In my mind I said goodbye to Dale, and I thanked him for his friendship which had been too short. Before walking back to my tent, I threw a glance at Emily's grave and noticed something peculiar.

The blue velvet box I had placed at her cross was gone. I hadn't noticed it during Dale's funeral. No box, no ring. Somebody must have taken it, but who and why? I couldn't imagine anybody doing that. The only one who had known about it was Dale. Had he taken it away? If he had, then there was no way of knowing now. It wasn't that important really. It was merely an object.

I shifted my eyes to Dale's grave. Of all the people to die, why did it have to be him? A thin hand slipped into mine and I looked down to see Sophia watching me observantly.

"I'm sad about Dale." She said.

I squeezed her hand. "Me too.

After Dale's funeral, Hershel invited all of us to move into the house. With the upcoming winter we could freeze outside in our tents. He felt he should have made that decision a long time ago, and he apologized for not inviting us sooner. Sixteen people were to move into the house. Sixteen! I offered to move into the RV instead, because the house would be far too crowded. Too crowded for my liking.

Sophia decided that she wanted to stay in the RV as well and Carol did not seem to happy about the little girl's spontaneous decision. Since I was in no mood for an argument, I dropped my plan of moving into the RV and packed my stuff from the tent to move into the house.

"Come on, Maddy." Sophia urged me as she dragged my backpack through the door. "Where will you sleep?"

"I don't know." I replied. "Anywhere quiet enough and as long as I don't have to sleep in the bath tub."

"Well, you can stay with us." She smiled. "Mum and I, we got one of the spare bedrooms. So there is plenty of room for the three of us."

I very much doubted Carol would appreciate it if I spent the entire winter with them in the same room. Even if she was still thankful that I'd saved her daughter, it was a bit too invasive. And in all honesty I knew I would go mad.

"I'll be fine. You take the room together with your mother and during the day, you'll find me right here." Sophia opened her mouth to protest, but immediately shut it when more people entered the living room. T-dog walked in carrying a big plastic box.

"Lori, Rick and Carl are getting Hershel's bedroom. Hershel has claimed the couch." He sounded very disappointed as he continued up the stairs.

I told Sophia to place my bag in one of the corners and that I would find a place to sleep, once the others were settled. If I have to, I'll pitch my tent up on the dining room table. I knew Sophia wouldn't let it go that easily. The day wasn't over yet, she'd probably do numerous attempts to convince me to move into her room.

::::::...::::::

Rick was planning on bringing Randall away, together with Daryl. They couldn't keep the boy here and killing him was no longer an option. This time he was set on dropping him off even further away from the farm than he had tried two days ago. Shane wanted to join him, but Rick denied his request. Also Hershel had made it quite clear that Shane was not welcome to move into the house.

Shane was being excluded out of almost everything. One of the last things Dale had said to me was that Shane was a dangerous man. Perhaps Rick and Hershel thought this too. Andrea on the other hand, thought differently about Shane.

We had talked a few times the past week, and after the conflict she'd had with Lori, Andrea had shared even more with me. She told me how Shane and Lori had been an item for a while, before Rick showed up back from the dead. There were even speculations that the baby Lori was carrying wasn't even Rick's.

I observed Shane closely from a distance while he was busy creating his sleeping area in the windmill. Kick a dog too many times and it will bite back. That was a problem bound to happen, I was sure of it. Even if I didn't see Shane as an immediate threat, there was only so much someone could take.

T-dog and I were assigned to scan the perimeter and the edge of the forest, to make sure no one was coming in or going out. We each headed into a different direction as Rick and Daryl discussed their plan of action regarding Randall. T-dog had offered me a gun, but I declined. There was no need for a gun as I long as I had my crowbar with me. Besides, I wasn't planning on going too far into the woods. I'd go up until I'd reached one of the creeks, then I'd turned back again. As long as I could still see the farm, I knew I'd be good.

Within a few minutes I spotted a Walker, standing still amongst the trees. Walkers still baffled me. Some were so incredibly driven and others appeared to be stuck in some kind of trance, until the smell of blood snapped them awake. I had stopped counting the amount of Walkers I'd killed after I'd reached twenty of them. That had been a while ago already.

With one quick hit against its skull it dropped to the ground. To make sure it was really dead I hit it again. The noise of a crushing skull was something I would probably never get used to.

"Ow, ow, ow!"

I looked up, eyes scanning the trees. What had that been?

"Keep moving." Another voice said.

People.

I jumped behind a tree and listened. Taking care of the walker had distracted me too much. I took a quick peek and a gasp escaped my lips. The two voiced belong to Shane and Randall. Shane was pushing a bound and blindfolded Randall forward until he stopped and kicked him to the ground.

What were they doing here? Wasn't Randall supposed to be with Rick and Daryl? Why was he with Shane. I couldn't let them see me. Something was wrong. There had to be, right? I had to get back to the farm. But I was I going to manage that without alerting them? I crouched down to the ground as quietly as possible and carefully listened to their conversation.

Shane removed the blindfold from Randall and stared at him. "Where are they at?"

"Our camp is set up off the highway." Randall replied. "But I don't know if they're still there. We move around a lot."

The other man nodded. "Take me to them."

"Why?"

"Because, man, I'm done with this group. They're doomed. All of them."

I blinked. What did he say? Shane was leaving?

"You won't kill me?" Randall asked with a frown.

"If I was, you'd be dead by now." Shane assured him.

I had to concentrate really hard in order to hear them talk. Their voices were becoming mere whispers now. Suddenly Shane pulled Randall up and they started walking again. I couldn't believe Shane was actually leaving the group. Did the others know he had gone off with Randall?

No, no, Rick wouldn't let him leave and definitely not with Randall, or was this all a plan, to actually kill the boy without the others knowing it?

Shane kept looking behind him, he appeared rather jittery. He had planned this alone. He must have. After all that had happened, he was still set on seeing his own plan through. The one he'd had from te very beginning. I had to warn Rick.

I slowly moved back when Shane suddenly stopped. He quickly turned around and grabbed Randall by his head. He jerked his arms, Randall screamed and a loud snap ended it.

My jaw dropped, a wave of nausea hit me. Randall was dead. Shane had killed him.

Shane is a dangerous man, Maddy.

Dale had been right. And I didn't believe him. I had to get out of here before Shane would notice me. I was about to move when I saw Shane running straight into a tree. I let out a yelp when he smashed his face against the bark.

Despite having run himself into a tree, Shane turned his head at the sound of me yelling. His nose and lower face was covered with blood. He'd seen me.

"Oh shit..." I breathed.

I crawled backwards, scrambled onto my feet and started running back to the farm. I ran as quickly as possible, my chest hurt. I wouldn't be able to fight Shane. Not alone. The guy was basically a wrecking ball compared to me. And he was fast. Much faster than I was. Within a minute he gained up on me and he tackled me to the ground.

The wind got knocked out of me as I hit the dirt and I gasped for air. He quickly turned me on my back and pulled me under him.

"Well, who do we have here?" Shane said. "You keep showing up at the most inconvenient times, don't you?"

"You're hurting me." I groaned beneath him. Shane added more pressure to his weight.

"Weren't you supposed to be at the farm?" He continued. "I take it you saw everything huh?"

Crowbar, where was my crowbar?

I moved my eyes to the right and saw my weapon only a few inches away from me. I looked back at Shane as I slowly moved my hand.

"Let's not do that." He said taking a gun from his back pocket and placing it underneath my chin. "Let's solve this in a civilized manner, shall we?"

"T-they don't have to know." I said with a trembling voice. "No-nobody has to know what you did."

"Is that so?" Shane arched an eyebrow as he pressed the gun deeper into my skin. I swallowed.

"I've nothing against you, Madison. In fact, I was actually beginning to like you." He licked his lips.

"Shane,- please." I begged. "Randall was a danger. I know that."

"Nah, nah,- you agreed with Dale. As you should." He suddenly frowned. "But it doesn't work like that. Not in this world. Just like I know you will turn your back on me eventually."

He moved his hand and now the barrel of the gun was against the side of my head.

"They'll hear it." I whispered.

"Who said anything about shooting you?" He quickly stood up, pulling me with him. "Plenty of others to do the killing for me."

He turned me around. A sudden pain shot through my skull and then nothing.

Chapter Text

It was cold. So cold. Both of my legs hurt, cramp in both of them. In fact, my entire body felt stiff. A sharp pain erupted behind my eyes and shot to the back of my head.

Shane.

I remembered now.

I was still alive. Wasn't I?

Slowly I opened my eyes and moved my hand. Splash noises. Wetness. Where was I? I rolled over and sunk into the ground. Mud? I was lying in water. How had I end up there? Had Shane dragged me to drown in the creek? I blinked and pushed myself upward. Another jolt of pain shot through my head.

Christ. He'd hit me good. Hard enough to knock me out, but not kill me. Finish me off like Randall. Why had he kept his hands clean when it was so clear he wanted me dead? I glanced up at the sky and saw nothing except the light of the moon and a few stars. What time was it? How long had I been out there?

The shivers and trembling started. God, it was cold. My heart began pounding rapidly. Left for dead as Walker food. It was quiet. I looked around, but saw nothing, it was hard to distinguish anything even with the moon shining. Had I been bit? No, I would have been dead by now. Completely devoured.

My bottom lip trembled and I emitted a soft cry. Where was I? I was wet, freezing, shaking. If I didn't find anybody or shelter, someplace to get warm, hypothermia might set in or pneumonia. Perhaps it was already too late as my teeth were chattering away. I rubbed my arms, but it hurt to move. Numb hands, stiff arms. I couldn't die here in the woods, not because of some asshole of a man.

I was going to kill that man. Sorry, Dale.

I crawled away from the water and took a moment when my hands finally touched a patch of grass. Which way was I suppose to go? In what direction was the farm located? I couldn't be that far from everyone. Surely they noticed I was gone? Unless,- I paused and closed my eyes.

What if Shane had told them I had left them? Or some other bull story? Somebody must realize he would be lying? Maybe he'd convinced them I was dead and then nobody would even be out there looking for me. My legs shook as I used a tree to slowly stand up. I had to get back. I'd survived on my own for over two months. I had to make it to the farm.

With one step at the time, I dragged myself forward. Arms crossed, eyes narrowed. I needed to be careful. I had no weapon. I don't know if Shane had taken my crowbar, but I hadn't seen any sign of it. Quiet as a mouse while walking as slow as a tortoise.

I stopped the minute I saw the shape of a person. Who was it? But when I looked closely, fear struck me as quick as lightning. A Walker, and not just any Walker,- but it couldn't be. Shane had killed him, I saw him snap the boy's neck.

"Randall?" I whispered hoarsely.

I wasn't expecting a reply, I knew very well that it wasn't possible. Even from where I was standing I could see the odd angle of his neck. Other than that he looked clean. No damage aside from what Shane had done to him. But I didn't understand. How could he be a Walker when he'd died of a natural cause, or in this case murder.

Randall suddenly rushed forward. A hoarse cry escaped my throat as I stumbled back, tripped and hit the dirt. This was it. I couldn't fight a Walker with my bare hands. Not in this state.

Shit, shit...

I screamed again, raised my hands protectively as Randall landed on the ground next to me. A long thin object stuck out the back of his head. An arrow.

"Madison?"

I lowered my arms and looked straight into Daryl's face. He came looking for me. I crawled up and immediately grabbed hold of him, not letting go. I wasn't going to die in the dirt. Thank the heavens. Glenn appeared from behind Daryl, looking very surprised.

"S-s-s-s-sh-sha-ne." My teeth were chattering so badly I couldn't manage to form a normal sentence.

"Shane?" Glenn repeated. I nodded.

"But Shane said you had,- Why are you wet?" He suddenly questioned.

Shane had said? I heard Glenn correctly, unfortunately he hadn't finished that sentence. No doubt that horrid asshole had come up with some sort of cock and bull story about my absence. But what exactly? I didn't have the strength in me to ask at this moment, but what would happen once I'd be back at the farm and Shane was there too? I stared at Glenn, my quivering lips pressed in a thin line. Daryl handed Glenn his crossbow then took off his jacket and placed it over my shoulders.

"What happened to Randall?" Glenn asked looking down at the corpse, before his eyes shifted to me. "Did Shane do that?"

I gave one firm nod and pulled Daryl's jacket closer around me. It didn't stop the shivering but I sure felt a bit warmer now. "B-br-broke h-his nnn,-" I reached for my neck.

"Neck." Daryl finished for me. My trembling was getting worse by the minute.

"But he's a Walker now." Glenn continued and he frowned. "Where are the bitemarks?"

I had no answer for that and I could slowly feel my focus slipping away. My eyelids were heavy and now that I felt safe I allowing the aches and dizziness to take over. I leaned against Daryl, anything to keep me from falling down. Thankfully he allowed it and he moved his arm to slip it around my waist.

"We'll figure it out later, let's get going." He said to Glenn.

We weren't that far from the farm, but in my current state it had not been an ideal distance. We were about halfway, according to Glenn, when my legs eventually gave out entirely. I sank towards the ground, they were trembling and tingling, no longer able to carry my weight. If it weren't for Daryl, I probably would have fallen down completely. Glenn took my arm and swung it around his shoulders while Daryl still had a firm hold on my waist. He shook his head at the other man.

"Not gonna work. I'll carry her." He said gruffly.

Carry?

Glenn took a step back and watched as Daryl let go of my body and crouched down in with his back turned to me.

"Hop on." He ordered.

Was he crazy? I wasn't going to let him,- I couldn't finish my trail of thought as he reached back and easily pulled me against his back. Without waiting he moved my legs past his sides and stood up.

"P-put me d,-"

"Shut up." Daryl grunted as he hoisted me on his back, hooking his arms around my knees. "Let's go."

Of course this was quicker. I had no concept of how long I was hanging on Daryl's back, but pretty soon the lights shining from the farmhouse came into view through the trees. Finally. Glenn turned his head.

"I'll inform Hershel that we found Maddy." and he hurried off to the house.

I started to slip down and Daryl moved his hands to lift me up on his back. Clearly he was not planning on letting me walk yet, not that I probably couldn't. It took me a second to realize that as Daryl shoved me back up, he had a firm hold on my behind and his hands stayed there as he started moving towards the farm again. My heart started to pound a little bit quicker, and I contemplated, probably a bit too long, before I decided to tell him off.

"S-stop groping m-m-me." I said to him with chattering teeth.

"You want to walk?" He retorted.

"Yes."

"Tough."

Daryl kept walking in a steady pace and it didn't take long before were crossing the field and reached the porch. Despite still feeling cold, my hands were beginning to perspire the closer we got to the door. What would happen as soon as Shane heard I was still alive and back? Unconsciously I squeezed my arms tighter around Daryl. Who immediately halted.

"I ain't letting go." He assured me, almost as if he knew what I was thinking. But then again he must be able to sense the incredibly fast pace of my heart against his back.

We entered the living room and Lori was the first voice I heard. "So neither of you have seen Rick or Shane?"

At the mention of Shane's name I lifted my head and tightened my grip around Daryl's neck.

"Calm down." He said while loosening his arms to let me down. "Shane ain't here."

"Oh God, you're here?" Andrea rushed over as soon as she caught sight of me. "What happened?"

"Shane is what happened." Daryl told her.

Andrea's eyes widened. "Shane did this?"

Lori shook her head. Had she even acknowledge my presence yet? "No. He couldn't have. He had no hatred or anything towards Madison."

No hatred? Honestly I couldn't blame Lori for that trail of thought. I never once suspected Shane would be capable of killing me. I had been at the wrong place at the wrong time. But clearly going through the trouble of letting nature murder me, was the best option the dude had.

"Killed Randall too," Daryl added. "Snapped his neck."

"Glenn said Randall was a Walker?" Lori replied and she furrowed her brow.

"He was, but he wasn't bit."

"We'll talk about it later." Hershel spoke up as walked over to us. He halted in front of me and took a good look. "We've got to take care of you first and get you out of those wet clothes." He turned to Daryl. "Take her upstairs, I'll be there shortly."

Once again Daryl placed his arm around my waste without seemingly giving it any thought. But as we were about to move, Lori blocked our path.

"Once you're done up there, could you go look for Rick and Shane?" She asked Daryl with a worried expression. "Please?"

"Sure." He answered and without further interruptions he helped me up the stairs.

I was quite certain now that Lori was deliberately ignoring me. What exactly was it that Shane had told them all about me. We reached the top of the stairs and Daryl stopped for a moment.

"I thought you were lighter." He complained.

If he was trying to make a joke, it wasn't very funny.

"I thought you were stronger." I retorted hoarsely.

Daryl continued to guide me to one of the spare bedrooms. Hershel wasn't too far behind. He entered the room the moment Daryl set me down on the bed. A small blonde head appeared behind him. It was Sophia.

"I'm sorry I couldn't hold her back, she wanted to check on Madison." Carol said standing in the doorway.

"Maddy, are you okay?" Sophia asked me and then she looked up at Daryl. "Will she be alright?"

"Sure kid, she is a tough one." He told her. "I'd better go look for Rick."

"Be careful out there," Hershel said to him. "Watch out for Shane."

"Oh, I'll watch out for Shane, alright."

"Daryl,-" I spoke up, which wasn't very loud, luckily he'd heard me.

I slipped his jacket off my shoulders and handed it to him. He nodded, took it and with that he was gone.

"Come on Sophia, let Hershel treat Madison." Carol extended her hand to her daughter. "We can check on her later."

Reluctantly Sophia went with her mother and the room finally became quiet.

::::::...::::::

Fifteen minutes later I was wearing clothes from Maggie and had my hair wrapped up in a towel. Thanks to the shower, the shivering had stopped. But the warmth hadn't fully returned yet.

"You have been very lucky, you know." Hershel said to me. "If they hadn't found you or if you hadn't woken up,-" He stopped talking.

I knew what would have happened. I wouldn't be sitting here, that's what he wanted to say. I had been lucky indeed.

"Glenn mentioned Shane saying something about me?"

"That man is nothing but trouble, I told Rick as much. Shane came back to the house when the sun had just set. Said he saw you leave with your things. T-dog waited till he was gone again before speaking up. He'd been the last to see you heading into the woods but never coming back. He didn't believe Shane for one minute."

Hershel paused and brushed a strand of hair out of my eyes and opened them to check the pupils.

"Daryl and Glenn offered to head out where T-dog had last seen you."

T-dog. That man had very well saved my life by not believing Shane. I reminded myself to thank him the minute I was to see him. Thank goodness his words had been enough to convince others to go look for me. Otherwise I would indeed not be here. This last week had been one of the more intense days since losing Andrew and his parents on the highway.

"All this time being alone and nothing ever happened. Nothing that I couldn't handle myself." My voice sounded raspy, but I was glad I could finally manage to speak full sentences. I closed my eyes. "Now look at me. I have injured my leg, been in a car accident, and now dumped in a river."

"These things happened to you, because you were trying to help someone out."

I huffed at Hershel's kind words as I removed the towel from my head, allowing my wet hair to fall past my shoulders.

"Look, there was no need for you to come back the first time you left. But you did. There was no need for you to accompany Lori, but you also did that." He pressed to fingers on my neck to check my pulse. "Do I need to go on?"

I turned my head away from him. He was hitting the nail on the head with everything. Hershel the therapist. He was beginning to remind me of Dale.

"This group has grown on you. Especially that little girl, and in return you have grown on them." He continued. "The sooner you accept that wholeheartedly, the sooner you'll feel better about everything. You can start moving forward."

He took a deep breath afterwards and added. "Believe me, I've been there too."

The sound of footsteps emerged from the hallway. Louder and heavier as they were getting closer, within a few seconds Andrea barged into the room. Her blonde curls all over the place, face red, her chest heaving up and down.

"Walkers." She said out of breath. "Hundreds of them, outside. We need guns."

Hershel jumped up and I followed his example. But immediately he placed his hand against my shoulder.

"No!" He told me firmly. "You're staying here. You're in no condition to fight."

Stay here? I couldn't stay up here. Walkers were out there. Hundreds, Andrea had said. But my protests fell to deaf men's ears as both of them walked out of the room and shut the door. I quickly rushed over to the window to see for myself what was happening. I gasped loudly at the sight before me. Andrea wasn't kidding. An enormous amount of undead were outside and heading towards the farm. Where were they all coming from?

The door behind me flung open again and Sophia stepped inside.

"Mum went with Lori to look for Carl." She said running up to me. "She told her it was safest to stay with you in the meantime."

"Carl's missing?"

Sophia nodded. Unbelievable, there were over 10 people in this house. How could Carl be missing? I could only hope he wasn't outside. But considering both Rick and Shane were also gone, maybe he'd gone out looking for them?

"Maddy?"

I looked down at Sophia.

"I have a bad feeling about this." She said and I turned my attention back at the window.

Should the Walkers reach the house, and I had no doubt that they would, then we'd had to get out of here quickly. I needed a weapon. My crowbar was gone. Probably still back in the forest where Shane had knocked me out. There was no way for me to fight those creatures in my current state, especially without anything to protect myself with.

"Sophia, your knife. Where is it?" I asked her.

"It's in me and my mum's bedroom, why?"

"We're going to need it. I think there is still one more in my backpack downstairs. Could you go and get yours from the room and I'll head downstairs and get the other one from my backpack. We'll meet each other back here, alright?"

"Okay." She replied and off she went.

Both Hershel and Andrea were allowed to yell at me later and I promised I would behave from thereon out. But given the current situation, I couldn't stay cooped up in a bedroom with Sophia at my side. If those things got into the house, we were done for and besides, what if the others needed help?

I hurried out of the room and descended the steps. I remembered Sophia placing my backpack in one of the corners in the living room, but when I arrived there I found nothing. A quick search through both the living room and the kitchen resulted into nothing. Somebody had taken my shit, and a voice in the back of my head told me chances were likely that someone had been Shane Walsh.

It was useless to continue looking for it. I rushed back to the kitchen, bound to find something useful in there. I checked cabinets, drawers, anything for a weapon. I found enough cutleries, but everything was too fragile to use on a Walker skull. I ran back to the living room and passed the fireplace, immediately I halted when my eyes landed on the tools. I grabbed the poker from the wall. Perfect.

Carol came rushing in from the hallway, followed closely by Lori.

"We have to go." Was the first thing she said as soon as she saw me. She then turned to the stairs and shouted. "Beth, Patricia! We've got to go."

I hurried towards her as Lori went up the stairs to gather the two other women.

"Where's Sophia?" Carol asked.

"Upstairs." I answered.

"Sophia! We've got to go!" Carol yelled and Sophia came running down the stairs. Carol grabbed her daughter's hand and pulled her with her outside. I quickly hobbled after the two, followed closely by Lori, Beth and Patricia.

Carol ran with Sophia as quickly as possible. A scream sounded behind me and I turned around to see Patricia being covered and devoured by multiple Walkers. Lori tried pulling Beth away from Patricia, who had a firm hold on Patricia's hand. Finally Lori managed to pull Beth free and the two women ran away to safety as the cries of the other woman sounded in the background.

Relieved they were able to get away, I turned back to Carol and Sophia. Only to find the area empty. They were gone? I looked around but I couldn't see them anywhere. They'd run off.

"Shit..." I cursed.

I started running, or more like limping, forward. I had to find them. But it was a complete chaos. The insanity and panic reminded of how it had all gone down on the highway when a herd passed through and we had to flee. I lost everybody back then, I couldn't and wouldn't let that happen again.

Sophia!

There she was! I saw her. Her knife clutched in her small hand, standing in the field. Alone, as several Walkers were heading her way. Where was Carol? As fast as my legs would let me, I made my way over to her.

"Don't shout. Don't shout." I whispered to myself.

Only when Sophia spotted me, she did the exact opposite.

"Maddy!" Her scream high and full of fear.

I don't know how I was managing it, but I was able to slip past the group of Walkers moving in her direction. But I couldn't escape the one closest to Sophia. The poker I had taken from the fireplace was long and sharp and I dug it straight into the skull of a Walker. At least that was my intention. Unfortunately, I missed and hit him in the back of the neck instead. The poker got stuck and I couldn't get it out.

Sophia suddenly screamed and I pushed the Walker aside to get to her. Another one had managed to slip by me and he was too close for Sophia to throw her knife at. Without thinking I dove into the Walker, pulling him sideways with me to the ground. Before the creature managed to turn around and grab me, I crawled onto my feet and stabbed back. As swift as she could, Sophia raised her arm and jammed the knife into the Walker's skull. He went limp and fell down, the knife slipped out of him with ease.

"Run!" I yelled to Sophia as I took hold of her hand and pulled her with me. We kept going until we got far enough from the large group of Walkers.

I stopped and lowered myself to the ground to look at Sophia, making sure she was okay. Tears were staining her cheeks, but beside that she appeared alright. I placed my hands on either side of her face.

"Where's your mum, sweetie. Where's Carol?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, I don't know. I lost her. We got separated."

I pulled her against me as I looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Carol. It was difficult to see, with the darkness of night and the huge amount of Walkers obscuring my view. There was no use in saving the farm anymore and the barn was all ablaze. We'd been there just mere minutes ago. There were too many Walkers around it and not enough of us. Where was everybody?

Biting my bottom lip, I swallowed deeply. This was one of those decision moments. Just like the one I'd made not too long ago when I encountered Rick running through the forest with Sophia in his arms. Right before he'd left her at the creek. If we wanted to survive we'd have to leave, now.

I looked back at Sophia. "Remember when we first met, Soph?" I asked her. "When I told you that if you wanted to live you'd have to come with me?"

She nodded, but then stopped and vigorously began to shake her head. "No!"

"We have to leave!" I took a deep breath. "We have to leave now. We can't go back to the farm. Look at those Walkers!"

"But my mom…"

Her voice broke and I felt a pang hit my heart. I couldn't imagine what she was feeling at the moment. She'd lost her mom once before and now it was happening again. I lowered my head.

"Okay. We will quickly scan this area for your mum, okay? But you do not, and I mean it, NOT leave my side. Understand?"

Once again she nodded and grabbed hold of my hand. I took the knife from her, having a better chance of using it than she would at the moment. I had no clue where to start looking for Carol. Why had I said that to Sophia? Searching for her mother was going to get us was too dark. This was pointless.

"Soph, keep your eyes open." I tightened my grip on the knife. I hated to admit it, but I wished I had taken someone's gun. There were too many Walkers to deal with and we only had one knife. Not to mention I was limping like an idiot.

"Madison, Sophia!" I stopped at the sound of my name. Sophia did too.

"Over there!" Sophia pointed.

Up on the path was Daryl on his motorcycle. He waved at us. He was really becoming a knight in shining armour. On a hog instead of a horse.

"Let's go Soph." I pushed her ahead. We ran towards Daryl who patted the backseat of his bike when we arrived.

"Hurry up." He told us.

"Carol,-" I said out of breath. "Carol is still at the farm somewhere."

Daryl looked past us. "Sure she's alive?"

"I don't know, I don't know Daryl." I replied honestly.

Then a loud cry came from the direction of the farm. I recognised it immediately. Carol. Oh no. My eyes shot towards Sophia, who had heard it too.

"Mom!"

"No, no, no!" I called after her as she started to run. I reached for her jacket, thankfully managed to pull her back and wrapped my arms around her thin body.

I looked up at Daryl. "I've got her. Go. Go get Carol!" I breathed heavily. "GO!"

"Take this." He pushed his gun into my hands. "And wait here! Don't ya dare move."

Daryl started the engine and rode away. I tightly held onto Sophia's hand and watched Daryl making his way to the farm.

Suddenly Sophia squeezed my hand forcefully. "Maddy, walkers!"

A dozen of them were coming our way. I stuck the gun in my jacket and pulled Sophia with me towards the forest. Another scream sounded from the farm. Split second decision. This time I wasn't going to allow Sophia to stop me. May she forgive me.

"Maddy, mom! What's happening to mom!?" Sophia cried out.

"Daryl's got her sweetie. We've got to run, alright? Can you do that for me?"

If she replied, I didn't hear her. I kept on running, literary dragging Sophia with me. We'd make it. We'd done it before and we could do it again. I turned my head but did not falter in my steps. The entire barn was engulfed with flames, and started to fall apart. No sign of Daryl or the sound of his bike. We kept on going until we reached the trees and even after that Sophia and I kept on going until I was certain we were safe. Right around the point where I was no longer capable of walking on.

In the distance I managed to make out a familiar sound. It was faint but definitely one that brought an instant relief. Daryl's motorcycle. Had he found Carol?

Sophia heard it too. "Mom is fine, right?" She asked me with big eyes.

"She is. Now we should hurry and get to safety too." I replied, not really knowing the truth. But I couldn't tell her anything else. I knew she wouldn't have come with me otherwise had I told her what I was really thinking.

"Let's get somewhere safe."

::::::...::::::

"Maddy, I-I can't,-" Sophia said breathlessly.

Her hand dropped from mine and she leaned against a nearby tree. I couldn't help but follow her example. We'd started fast walking again for over a good two minutes. I placed my hands on my chest. My heart was beating so fast, it felt like it could burst out of my chest. I heard soft sobs coming from Sophia. I looked over at her and started to ponder whether or not I had done the right thing.

I couldn't have waited there, not with those Walkers coming for us. I took a deep breath and walked over to her. Sophia turned to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. She buried her face into my stomach and kept weeping.

"Sshhh," I cooed. "It's okay. You'll be fine. We'll be fine, sweetheart."

I understood she needed to cry, but if she kept on crying it would soon attract Walkers. Who knew how many were in the area still?

There were multiple options to consider now. Go find shelter and wait until the morning light to head out again. Or immediately head for the highway, which seemed to be the most logical place to go. If anybody had survived they might have taken a car or more of them. I hadn't really paid much attention to where everybody else had gone off to after finding Sophia. But the high roads meant more Walkers and I only had a gun and a knife on me.

I stroked Sophia's hair and placed a quick kiss on her forehead before gently pushing her back.

"We need to find a place to rest." I smiled at her. "We can't go looking for the others now, it's too dark."

"B-b-b.-"

I got down on my knee. "We will find them. Daryl knows we're alive, but we have to stay alive if we want to find them or for them to find us."

Sophia sniffed and wiped her tears away with her sleeve.

"No more crying." I whispered as I grabbed her hand. "Your mother is with Daryl, safe and sound. He won't let anything happen to her."

"I know."

"Don't forget, she is a fighter like you. Okay? Think of that if it helps."

I don't know why I was saying all of those cliché things, but they were cliché for a reason. Most likely because they worked. And Sophia needed to take her mind of her mother for a moment. For now we needed a place to stay. And there was one place that sprung to mind. The house where we'd been before. It would mean being further away from the high road, but it was the safest place to go to for now. At least I knew my way around the area.

It took us about ten minutes to get there, luckily without trouble. I reckoned most of the Walkers in the area had followed along with the herd. We stopped a few feet away from the house. I turned to Sophia and gave her the knife back. The last time I was here, I hadn't been alone, though I never figured out if it had been a Walker or a person. Who or whatever it had been back then, could still be in the house.

We had to be careful.

I told Sophia to stay behind me as we headed through the door. I placed my finger on my lips, indicating her to be quiet. She nodded and held a firm grip on her weapon. I pointed towards the kitchen, that's where I wanted to look first.

The door to it was open. The blockade I had created was gone. I couldn't tell what else had been changed inside the room. The moon was on the other side of the house, so no light reached this area. One thing I knew for certain, it couldn't have been a Walker. Walkers did not move furniture around.

I quickly ran up to the counter and checked the drawers for candlesticks and some matches I knew were there only to find nothing. Every drawer was empty except for some useless eating utensils.

Damn it!

I motioned for Sophia to follow me. The kitchen was clear, but we had to make sure the rest of the house was too. Next room on the list would be the living room, if anyone was upstairs we'd hear them walking on the creaky floorboards. I took the gun out of my jacket and raised it.

Luckily the moon did light up this side of the house. We walked into the room and it seemed safe enough, until Sophia emitted a shriek and I turned around to find another person in the room. Someone I didn't recognize. Guess the house had not been empty after all. I pointed the gun in his direction.

"Well, look what we have here?" The guy said while eyeing me carefully. I couldn't really see his features, but he appeared to be around my age, perhaps a bit older, with dark curly hair.

He had a firm hold on Sophia and taken her knife in his right hand.

"Let her go," I said.

He smirked. "Or what, you're gonna shoot me?"

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Not much. Some food would be nice." He blinked. "You two alone?"

"Let her go first and then we will talk."

The man moved his hand and placed the blade of the knife against Sophia's neck. I took a step back. I'd never been in this kind of situation before. What was I suppose to do?

"I mean no harm, lady. Why don't you lower the gun?" He licked his lips. "Better yet, how's about your gun in exchange for your daughter?"

My daughter? No, this was not the time to correct his mistake. I needed to get Sophia away from him.

"Alright. Move the knife away first and I will give you the gun." I told him.

He shook his head and pressed the knife closer against her skin. Sophia started to whimper. I couldn't risk it. I couldn't.

"Okay, okay!" I placed the gun on the floor and shoved it to him.

He, in return, let go of Sophia as promised. She stumbled towards me and collided within my arms. What was next? From the look of it he was all alone, but he had our weapons. If he decided to let us go, we would have no means to defend ourselves out there. But it was better than being with this sack of shit any longer.

"As I was saying, are you two alone?" He asked again as he pocketed the knife in between his belt at the front. I didn't answer his question, but pulled Sophia closer against me.

"No, no that's not possible, is it?" He barked out a laugh. "A woman and her daughter alone? I find that very hard to believe."

"You've got our weapons, what else do you want?" I snapped at him.

"Now, now, calm down. I mean no trouble." He raised his hands in defence, holding Daryl's gun in his right one. "As I said, some food would be good…some company, perhaps?"

I eyed him warily. I hadn't seen this man before and I had spent an awful amount of time in this area. Was he from a group, and if so where were they now? The thought of him being part of Randall's group was an option. But I wasn't planning on finding out. I had to get Sophia out of here.

"We have no food, and we prefer no company." I told him. "Now since we have no further business with you. We'll be going."

He took a step back and motioned at the open door, leading back to the hallway. Was he really letting us leave?

"Go," I whispered to Sophia as I pushed her gently in the direction of the door.

Standing protectively in front of her, I kept my eyes focused on the man as we passed him. Then he suddenly reached out and grabbed me by my upper arm.

"You never answered my question." He pressed the barrel of the gun against my temple. "Are you two alone? "

"Let go of me." I said through clenched teeth.

He raised his arm and before I had a chance to react his hand crashed down against my cheek.

"Maddy!" Sophia cried out.

Holy shit that hurt! I put my hand on the place where he had hit me. Bloody hell… First Shane, now this sack of shit.

"Where's your group?!" He shouted.

"We lost them!" Sophia cried out.

Damn it Sophia.

"Lost them?" He looked from Sophia to me. "So it is just the two of you."

"Stay for a while," He continued with a low voice. "You've got nowhere to go anyway. Let's get to know each other better."

He leaned in closely. "Maddy, was it?" He smirked. "I'm Nate."

I gritted my teeth. Think Madison, think! God, my jaw hurt. The knife was stuck in his belt, it would be reachable, but he still had Daryl's gun in his hand. He licked his lips again as his eyes glanced down at my mouth.

"I could protect you, you and your girl." He grinned. "Yeah, I could do that."

Without warning he crashed his lips against mine. Eagerly he immediately tried to force his tongue inside my mouth. I could feel the gun pressing deeper and deeper against my temple. I opened my mouth and bit his bottom lip hard. Nate yelped and threw me down to the floor. I landed on my back, which knocked the wind out of me for a moment. Something heavy crawled over me.

"Stupid bitch." Nate growled angrily and I could hear the sound of a belt being unbuckled.

I looked up and saw the knife right in front of me in between his belt, which he was swiftly trying to get off.

Something flashed behind Nate next, followed by the noise of glass breaking.

His entire body froze for a mere moment. But soon his weight shifted and he turned his head around. There stood Sophia with a broken bottle in her hand. I took the moment to quickly grab the knife from his loosened belt. With swift movement I stabbed the blade into his stomach. Nate cried out in pain and Sophia jumped on his back, trying to pull him off me. I slashed the knife across his face and he dropped the gun from his hand as he reached with one hand for his face and the other for his stomach.

I don't remember how many times or even where I cut him with the knife, but it didn't take long for Nate to roll off of me and I reached for the gun. Sophia got off his back and helped me up from the floor.

"Go, go!" I yelled at her.

We ran out of the house and into the darkness, never looking back at the house.

::::::…::::::

By some miracle we still had the knife and Daryl's gun. No place to stay, but at least we were safe now. Safe as could be. Sophia had saved my life, if she had not distracted Nate by smashing that bottle against his head... I shook my head. I owed her my life.

We were walking near one of the roads, heading towards the main one. No turning back now. Just going forward. Hopefully we would be able to hear cars or even a motorcycle from the road soon. And I could hope it would be them, any of them, looking for us. The sun was already rising, night was officially over.

"Thank you…" I quietly whispered to Sophia. She looked up at me, her eyes glistening with tears.

I halted. "Soph, if you hadn't hit him on his head,-"

"Dad used to do that too…" She blinked and a tear cascaded down her cheek.

I breathed in and exhaled deeply. What was I supposed to say to her? I crouched down in front of her. "I won't let anyone hurt you, okay? We look out for each other, right?"

She nodded.

"You're bleeding." She then said and pointed to her own mouth, to show that where I was hurt.

I lifted my hand to my face and gently touched my lips with my fingertips. I flinched, it felt really sore. I looked at my fingers to see specs of blood on them.

"I'll be fine. Let's get going. The longer we stand still, the more difficult it'll be for us to find them."

I held a firm grip on Sophia's hand, with no intention of letting go until we'd find the others.

The morning sun shone brightly, nonetheless it was rather chilly. We hadn't eaten since yesterday and no sleep. Sophia was getting very tired, which caused our walking to slow down significantly. I didn't have the strength to carry her. I needed to think of a backup plan, in case the others weren't on the highway once we'd arrive there. Perhaps they'd left us food on one of the trunks, as they had done before when Sophia had gone missing. If they hadn't, then I'd have to check the houses further down, as I had already scavenged most of the cars.

Just let them be there, please…

Sophia shook my arm vigorously. "Maddy, Maddy."

"Mmm?"

Sophia pressed her index finger against her lips. "listen." She added.

I held my breath as I listened to the oncoming noise. It sounded like,-

"A motorcycle." I exclaimed and my eyes widened.

Sophia did not wait for me, she spurted towards the road. We stepped onto the asphalt and looked in the direction of the approaching vehicle. Sophia raised her arms up into the air and started to wave.

"Soph, wait." I placed my hand upon her arm. "What if it isn't Daryl?"

She lowered her arms almost immediately and took a step back. I narrowed my eyes as the motorcycle came closer and closer. No stranger. It was Daryl.

"Daryl…" I whispered.

Sophia jumped and started to wave wildly at him again. He saw it. The engine revved and he was before us within a matter of seconds. He stopped and Sophia flung her arms around him, before he had a chance to get off his bike. Carol wasn't with him. I moved my gaze from the backseat to Daryl.

"I knew it! I knew you'd find us." Sophia said. She looked up and noticed the empty seat behind him. "Mom?"

Daryl stepped off and gently unwrapped Sophia's arms from his body.

"She's with Glenn and Maggie,-" He paused as his eyes landed on my face." Are ya, - what happened?"

He grabbed my chin and turned my head, but I jerked away from his touch.

"Don't." I said softly.

"A man did that." Sophia explained.

"What man?" Daryl's eyes shifted for a moment. "Someone put their hands on ya?"

"Sophia saved me before he could do any further damage." I answered.

"I hit him when he was sitting on her."

"Sophia,-"

"Then she cut him and,-"

"Where is he now?" Daryl asked me, interrupting Sophia.

"We,- we left him. He's wounded pretty badly, why?"

Daryl didn't reply, instead he lifted Sophia up and placed her on his bike.

"Daryl?"

"Get on." He said with his back still turned on me. I didn't listen. I waited until he finally decided to turn around.

"Daryl…"

"Let's go." He said getting in his seat.

Sophia sat in front of Daryl and I climbed on behind him, wrapping my arms tightly around his waist.

It wasn't until we were riding for a few minutes, that I realized we were finally safe. Attacked, Left for dead, threatened, harassed…but now I was safe and Sophia was safe too. I quietly rested my face and body against Daryl's back as tears streamed down my face, ever so silently.

Chapter Text

We arrived on the highway. But there was no sign or any trace of the others. Daryl slowed down as we manoeuvred through the deserted vehicles. We passed the yellow car where traces of the written message Carol had once left for Sophia, were faintly visible. Nothing new. Had they come through here?

I tapped Daryl's shoulder.

"Maybe we should stop for a moment?" I suggested.

I had been sitting upright for a good ten minutes, no longer having to hide my tear stained face against Daryl's back. Daryl halted and placed his right foot on the road. He pointed at a few tire tracks on the concrete.

"Looks like they passed here," He looked down the road. "Heading east."

"At least we're on the right track." I sighed.

Daryl nudged Sophia. "Keep ya head up, kid." He told her.

"She hasn't slept since the raid." I said, gazing over his shoulder at Sophia's head bobbing up and down.

"We all haven't." He reminded me. "But she'll fall if she dozes off."

I moved my hand from Daryl's waist, placed it on Sophia's shoulder and shook it.

"Mmm?" She looked up at us and muttered. "We there yet?"

"No, sweetie. Keep your eyes open, okay? We need to make sure we don't miss them."

Sophia nodded, but her eyelids were heavy. We couldn't go on much longer like this. I assumed Daryl was also well aware of that. He didn't say nothing, started the engine again and I placed my arm back around his waist. Hoping we'd find the others soon, but something told me that wasn't going to happen today.

::::::…::::::

After another ten minutes, my body was practically screaming. Stiffness in my legs, my butt, my hips. An aching pain. Maybe because I wasn't used to sitting on a motorcycle. Maybe because of everything that had happened the last twenty-four hours. Shane leaving me for dead in the woods. The attack on the farm. The guy at the house.

It was becoming too much. Sophia couldn't keep her head up anymore and once again I patted my hand against Daryl's stomach, urging him to stop. But he shook his head. He wanted to keep going. It wasn't until Sophia started slip from her position that he decided to pull over. He steered off the road and stopped at the edge of a forest.

"We can't stop." He grunted as I ungracefully got off his bike. Grunting and moaning as I did.

"We have to." I replied.

"The longer we stay behind, the more difficult it'll be to find them." Daryl lifted Sophia slightly and managed to get off the bike with her.

"I know that." I said to him. "But I,- I can't go on anymore. It's been an incredible rough day for...for all of us." I quickly added as I almost said me instead.

Daryl didn't caught it. He simply nodded and grabbed his crossbow, quickly loading it with an arrow. "Keep a look out. I'm going to scan the area."

He quickly vanished amongst the trees. The sun started to descend already, it would be dark within half an hour. Hopefully he wasn't going to take too long with checking the surroundings.

"Maddy?" Sophia muttered. She turned her head and narrowed her eyes.

"I'm here. We've stopped, you were falling asleep." I smiled as I crouched down next to her.

"I did?" She whispered.

"We'll rest for a moment before we continue." I told her. "Here..."

I removed my jacket and folded it underneath her head. "You go and get some sleep now."

Sophia nodded and was about to place her head down when she jolted up. "Where's Daryl?"

"Sshh, he's around." I hushed her. "He's making sure we're safe."

"Aren't you going to sleep?" She asked lying back again.

"Nah, I've got to make sure you're safe." I paused for a moment. "I got your back and you've got mine, right?"

Sophia yawned. "Mmm."

Her eyes fluttered and before I knew it, she was breathing slow and steady, out like a light. Everything was quiet for a good ten minutes. Then something rustled in the bushes. I jumped up and stepped in front of Sophia, who was still fast asleep.

I raised my gun at the approaching silhouette. It moved rather slowly, like a Walker. But its behaviour was quiet. No moans, no gurgles. My heart pounded rapidly as the shadow came into sight and I stared straight at Daryl's crossbow.

"Holy shit," I cussed.

"Calm down." Daryl said in a gruff voice.

"I thought you were a Walker." I replied with relief.

"That happens a lot." He snorted as he lowered his weapon. He looked over my shoulder. "Sophia asleep?"

I nodded.

"We can't stay too long." He walked past me and sat down in the grass.

"We'll go when darkness has completely fallen. She needs to rest." I said as I lowered myself next to him.

Daryl started adjusting his crossbow, while I pulled my legs up and rested my chin on my knees. "What did Rick say when you told him you were going to look for us?"

"Didn't tell 'em."

I sat up and frowned. "He doesn't know?"

"Only saw Glenn and Maggie. Haven't seen Rick since the raid."

"Oh...well, I'm glad you came back for us." I told him honestly.

"If ya'd waited like I told ya, none o' this would have happened." He said. Annoyance dripping from his voice.

"Excuse me?!" I turned towards him. "There were about a dozen Walkers on our ass, Daryl! How could I,-"

I stopped for a moment to calm my voice down before continuing.

"There is no way I could have fought off that many on my own. We had to flee." I pressed my lips together. "I did what I had to do, to keep her safe." I pointed at Sophia's sleeping form.

Daryl didn't reply and kept fiddling with his crossbow.

"I know you came looking for us because of Sophia. Okay? I get that. I know you blame me for making you go through this again."

Daryl huffed and turned his head away.

"Nobody forced you to look for us, but you still did."

"Next time I won't." He retorted.

"Liar." I mumbled and I turned back. "Not when it comes to her."

A pregnant pause fell between us. I stared at Daryl from the corner of my eye. This man had his own set of rules, that was for sure. Closed up, like a castle protected by thick stone walls. Any form of contact, he recoils and shuts the gates.

"Thank you." I said.

He didn't look at me, but I knew he heard me for his posture suddenly tensed up.

"For everything." I added.

Daryl got up and settled the crossbow on his back. He walked over to Sophia, crouched down and gently shook her awake.

"Get up, kid. Time to go."

Sophia lifted her head, her eyes drowsy from the short slumber. Daryl walked past me, back to his bike without granting me a single glance. I sighed as I stood up and followed Daryl and a semi-asleep Sophia to the bike. The thought of getting back on that motorcycle sent an immediate aching trough my body.

::::::…::::::

We drove for another hour before stopping on the side of the road again. I removed my arms from Daryl's waist as he told Sophia to get off.

"We're staying here," He said. "No use searching when it's this dark out."

He was right. It was too dark. The only light we had was the light from the motorcycle and even though Daryl would never admit it, he needed a rest too. Nobody could keep going for this long.

While he scanned the area, I started on building a small fire to keep us warm and to add a bit of light during this dark night. But by the time Daryl returned I still hadn't gotten further then digging a small pit, with some leaves and twigs in it. I didn't have a lighter on me, nor the box of matches which were stowed away in my backpack. I wondered if it was still safely inside Hershel's house or if the fire had torched that down completely too.

I sat down next to Sophia, who watched intensely as Daryl bent down to create a fire in the pile of leaves and twigs. Within a few minutes the sound of crackling flames surrounded the area.

"I'll keep watch." Daryl said without taking his eyes away from the pit. Did he intend to keep watch all night, while me and Sophia slept?

"You need your rest too." I replied.

"Rather not sleep. Safer that way." Was his reply.

For sure there was an insult within his words. I angrily pressed my lips together. "Fine."

I lay down on my side with my back turned towards the fire and rested my head on top of my arm. Sophia curled op next me.

"Night, Maddy." She whispered.

"Night, Soph."

I could hear the sound of burning wood, and the heat of the small fire warming my back. My eyes were closed, but I wasn't asleep. I couldn't sleep. I had to make sure to be on full alert should something happen. I opened one eye to check on Sophia, but she wasn't next to me anymore. She had been right there a moment ago.

Where was she? I was about to move when I heard her voice coming from behind me.

"Why do you look at Maddy all the time?"

She was here, thank goodness.

"What ya talking about?" Daryl replied. It almost sounded like a question.

Sophia shrugged. "Nothing, I just noticed it that's all."

"Well, I ain't."

My breathing hitched as I stared into the darkness of the surrounding forest. What was Sophia doing? Wrong question...Daryl had been watching me? I hadn't noticed that at all. Why would he,- well, that was easy. He probably didn't trust me, even after everything that has happened?

"You have though." Sophia continued.

"Shouldn't ya be asleep?"

"No." She simply said.

I could only imagine the way Daryl was looking at Sophia right now. Annoyed, surprised she was being so defiant. Stubborn. Silence returned and the sound of the burning wood crackled once again. How long had Sophia been sitting there? I must have dozed off without realizing it, because I never noticed her leaving my side.

I still felt pretty tired and wanted to sleep some more, but it felt wrong since Daryl hadn't gotten any sleep yet. I slowly moved, pretending to wake up, turned around and looked at the two people sitting there.

Sophia smiled, but Daryl, once again, kept his eyes averted. I sat upright and inched closer to the fire.

"Why don't you go and get some sleep?" I said to him, as I had done earlier that night. "I'll keep watch, while you rest."

"It's fine." He replied.

Good grief. I couldn't win with this man anymore.

"I can keep watch." This was Sophia speaking up. She looked from me to Daryl, with a hopeful look on her face. "I'll keep watch, while you two get some sleep."

I frowned at her unexpected suggestion and slowly moved my gaze to Daryl, who looked at Sophia indifferently.

"I can." She assured us.

"I think that is a great idea." I told her, and she smiled broadly. "Unfortunately, I'm no longer sleepy, so I'll be your second pair of eyes during your watch."

Sophia's smile slowly vanished. She hunched her shoulders and stared at the fire. "I guess…"

I glanced back at Daryl, who appeared to have no intention of lying down and taking a nap. I sighed deeply, leaned back on my elbows and watched the red flames licking the branches and smaller twigs. Guess nobody was going to get any sleep for a while.

::::::...::::::

The golden hue of the rising sun shone brightly throughout the forest. Daryl had found a small riverbank yesterday and that was where Sophia and I were now, washing up before continuing our search for the others.

Sophia sat on top of one of the rocks as I washed the dried up blood from my lip and chin. I could faintly see the bruise on the left side of my face in the reflection of the water.

"Your back has a bruise too." Sophia said from her rock.

I touched my back, must have happened when Nate threw me onto the floor. Son of a bitch.

"It'll heal." I reached for my blouse behind me and put it back on over my tank top. "I'm just glad you're okay."

Sophia moved a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah…"

Leaning forward towards the water, I tried to look more closely at the bruise on my cheek. I hoped it would vanish soon, preferably before finding the others. I'd hate to retell the story. I could only imagine how Carol would react when she heard about her daughter being threatened with a knife by some random stranger.

I caught Sophia eyeing me from the rock she was sitting on. Her head tilted to one side, as if she was trying to figure something out.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You know...Daryl watches you." She said casually, yet questionably.

Obviously she didn't know I'd heard her mention the exact same thing to Daryl last night. I hadn't expected her to actually mention it to me.

"You watch me too." I told her as I buttoned my blouse.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Not like that."

When I didn't reply, except with a roll of my eyes, she climbed down from the rock. "When we were at the farm,-"

"The farm?" I repeated.

"He always watches you."

I arched an eyebrow as Sophia straightened her sweater.

"I think he likes you."

That I had definitely not expected her to say to me. It had been a while since anyone had rendered me speechless, but this was definitely one of those moments. I shook my head.

"That sounds nothing like him, if anything he finds me,-"

The rustle of leaves and a loud thud came from between the trees. Something was moving near us. I swiftly looked around me for the knife we'd taken with us for protection.

"Wait here." I told Sophia firmly as I took the knife from the ground.

I hoped it was just a small critter or any other type of animal. Somehow that was never the case. I couldn't call for Daryl, he was back at his bike and the fire pit, too far away to hear us and it could alert any Walkers that were roaming around. I slowly stepped towards the tree where the sound had come from.

It was dead silent. Not a sound, no rustle of leaves or the grunting noise of a Walker. With my arm raised, I stepped around the tree quickly, ready to attack who or whatever had been lurking at us. I wasn't sure what to expect. But nothing could have prepared me for what was on the other side of the tree, or should I say who?

"Daryl?"

There was Daryl Dixon on the ground with his gaze aimed up at the sky and with his foot stuck between the roots of the tree. I don't know why I felt the need to laugh. This wasn't funny, he might have hurt himself. But still I could not hide the small grin forming on my face as I crouched down.

"Stuck?" I asked.

He didn't look my way, but he was very much awake. With his jaw clenched, he replied in a low grumble. "Just get me out, would ya."

So much for asking nicely. I carefully tried to get his foot out from between the tree roots. I wasn't entirely sure what happened, but judging by the way he was positioned, he must have gotten himself stuck without realizing it and took a fall. Backwards.

I heard the soft footsteps of Sophia approaching. She appeared from behind the tree and stopped as soon as she saw me, but her eyes soon focused on Daryl.

"Maddy?"

"He tripped and fell." I told her. "Help me out for a moment? His foot is stuck."

I couldn't see Daryl's face, but he was definitely muttering all kinds of profanities under his breath. No doubt he was embarrassed. Good. Together we tipped managed to free Daryl's foot. Not even a thank you passed his lips as he crawled backwards.

"Let me check your head." I said to him.

"Nothin' wrong with ma head."

Stubborn idiot. It was exactly as when we first met. Though as nails, Daryl Dixon.

"You can't see your head." I extended my hand towards his hair. "What if you've got a concussion? Let me at least look at your ankle."

"Said I'm fine, Mads."

"Daryl. She's only trying to help." Sophia said loudly.

"It's okay, Soph." I told her.

"But,-"

"If Daryl says he's fine, then we should trust him." I explained, standing back up. "And if he wants to walk around with a possibly broken ankle, that's his choice too."

It was then that I noticed his crossbow leaning against the base of the tree with in front of it two dead rabbits. We hadn't eaten since the raid, and my stomach growled at the sight of the dead animals. He had gone hunting and came looking for us to show his catch?

"I thought you were back at the camp?" I frowned, nodding at the rabbits.

"I was. Shot them from the pit." Daryl answered. "Came here to clean them."

"Yeah right." Sophia snorted, but then quickly cleared her throat and she walked to Daryl's crossbow. "I'll take them to the river for you."

Without waiting for an answer she swiftly swiped the rabbits from the ground and hobbled back to the water, leaving me and Daryl alone.

"Are you really feeling okay?" I asked once she was out of sight.

"Said I'm fine, didn't I?"

He used the tree to pull himself up. Moved his ankle around, hardly flinching as he did, before proceeding to touch the back of his head with his hand. He checked his fingers for blood and then held it up towards my face.

"See? No blood, nothin'."

"Fine." I shrugged and stepped aside. "Forget I cared."

::::::...::::::

"Do you know what you're doing?" Sophia asked me as she handed me the knife.

I glanced down at the dead rabbit at my feet. I had never skinned an animal before. I didn't know how to hunt in the first place. I had always scavenged houses and deserted supermarkets for food. But a life animal? It was delicate work from what I knew.

"I'm sure it is easy once you get the hang of it." I swallowed a lump in my throat. "I read it in a book once..."

That wasn't a lie, but I could not remember how or where to start cutting into the skin to get the fur off and even if I did manage to get that far, how should I gut the thing? Clean the creature without rupturing the organs, which would taint the meat if it did.

"Daryl can do it." Sophia said. "I think he should."

She was right. Who was I kidding with this? I put the knife back on the grass and tossed the rabbit to the other one. I'd be insane ruining one of the scarce chances of having a decent meal. The only reason why I even attempted this in the first place, was because Mr 'I'm fine' had walked off.

"Daryl's back."

I looked up and saw Daryl approaching us, his crossbow resting on his back. He walked with a slight limp. Serves him right.

He sat down, flinched for a mere moment as he leaned on his right foot, and took his crossbow off. Sophia grabbed the knife from the ground and walked over to him.

"For the rabbits." She said as she handed him the knife. Daryl took it, and nodded.

"Maddy wanted to try, but she didn't know how." Sophia added. I pressed my lips together and lay down on my back.

"Make sure the fire is burned down. Get a nice amount of embers." Daryl said with his eyes focused on gutting the rabbit.

Sophia eyed him with great fascination. She was a quiet little observer these days. I remembered in the beginning she could not stop asking questions about everything she saw, and now she had become more silent. Well, most of the time. She'd been very boisterous since waking up this morning.

I watched the fire closely, making sure the flames weren't too high, but the wood warm enough so the rabbit could be prepared properly. Daryl drove a stick trough the little creature's body and placed it over the pit.

"Now what?" Sophia asked.

"We wait." He told her as he leaned back. She nodded understandingly, but soon another question followed. "How long?"

I covered my mouth with my hand to hide a grin.

"45 minutes…maybe an hour." He answered and Sophia's eyes widened with disbelief.

Even I was a bit disappointed with that news. Daryl grabbed the other rabbit and starting skinning it. Within a few minutes the second rabbit dangled next to the other one.

In the meantime, Sophia had gone over to Daryl's motorcycle and took the liberty of climbing on it, pretending to ride the vehicle. Her hands barely reached the handlebars.

I tried my best keeping my eyes on the rabbits, but I kept averting my gaze to Daryl. I still felt offended by his reaction. Or maybe I'd come on too strongly and should have stopped harassing him about checking his head and ankle. I was about to open my mouth to apologize when Daryl looked at me from across the fire pit.

"Sorry…" He said.

It came out as barely a whisper but I'm pretty sure that's what he'd said.

"For what?" I asked him, not fully understanding what he was apologizing for.

He nodded at his foot. "Should'a been more careful."

"It was an accident." I replied.

"A stupid one," he huffed.

I couldn't disagree with that. We had to be extra careful. He wouldn't be able to run very well with a sprained ankle. I'm sure he'd be able to ride, but running? That would not be an option. I stood up from my spot.

"Could have happened to any of us." I said.

"I don't need your pity."

I looked down at him. What did he say?

"Pity?" I repeated. "Who said anything about pity?"

He didn't answer me.

"It is unbelievable how incredibly…obstinate you are." I groaned with frustration, "You don't need to put on a tough exterior all the time."

He didn't say one word. He simply stared at me, but it seemed more as if he was looking right through me. Only he wasn't, he took a deep breath and shook his head. At least now he showed some response. Yet I still felt frustrated. I walked over to him and stopped.

"Don't you trust me?" I asked.

"What?"

"Trust me?" I said again. "You look at me from the corner of your eyes. You spy on me." I said referring to the incident earlier this morning. "That's what you did before you tripped, wasn't it?"

"Why would I?" Daryl retorted.

I stayed quiet until he let out another huff.

"Ya got no proof."

"Except for your crossbow positioned neatly up against that tree, as well as the rabbits. Or did they all fall in a perfect position as you landed backwards?"

My tone sounded harsher than I meant it, but I was upset. He had been watching me. Even now I could tell by the expression crossing his face. Like a deer caught in the headlights.

Sophia suddenly screamed. I turned around and saw a Walker appear from amongst the trees. As quick as she could, Sophia slid of Daryl's bike and ran towards us. Thankfully, the Walker wasn't quick in fact it was moving at a rather slow pace. Slower than normal. It was skinny too, I could see the shape of its ribs perfectly.

"Stay here." Daryl said to me as he lifted his crossbow.

"Daryl, your foot, you can't,-"

He ignored my concern and he unsteadily made his way to the Walker. Sophia stopped as Daryl passed her. He aimed his crossbow and fired the arrow, which settled in the Walker's forehead. It dropped to the ground and lay there, no longer moving.

"It startled me." Sophia said, her brown eyes wide," Sorry, I screamed."

"It's alright." I assured her.

Daryl returned, Sophia's knife in his right hand. She thanked him when she took it out of his hand.

"Let's eat." He said.

::::::…::::::

Sophia patted her stomach with a satisfied expression on her face.

"Did you like it, Maddy?" Sophia asked me.

"Best rabbit I've ever eaten." I smiled.

Daryl had barely eaten anything. I almost had to force him to eat half of mine, for we had both silently decided that Sophia should get one rabbit for herself.

"We should get going." Daryl said as he extinguished the burning embers by covering them with dirt.

"Do you think we'll find them today?" Sophia asked me hopefully.

It had been almost two days now since we got separated from the others. As more time passed, the more difficult it would be to find them again. But I couldn't tell Sophia that. She needed to keep her spirits up.

"We'll make sure to keep our eyes open, for anything that may point into their direction." I told her.

We took our seats on the motorcycle, Sophia in front of Daryl, and me behind him.

"Will you be okay to ride with your sprained ankle?" I asked as I placed my arms around his waist.

"Can you ride?" he asked me.

"You know I can't."

As a reply Daryl started the engine and we rode away from the small site. The wind was chilly. I wasn't sure what day it was exactly but judging by the weather and the month the breakout happened, I'd say it was around the end of November.

I hoped we'd find the others soon, but if I was honest…I was satisfied the way the situation was right now. I leaned closer to Daryl, who tensed up and as a result I leaned back.

We'd been driving for a good hour and still no sign of the others. No cars. Not one clue if they'd been around this road.

"We need to find a place to get fuel." Daryl said loudly. We've been riding so long it surprised me that the tank hadn't run out of it yet.

"Do you think the others might have the same problem with the cars?"

Daryl nodded. "Probably."

We took a turn and drove into, what seemed to be, a small town. It appeared completely deserted. Daryl slowed down and we took a good look around, perhaps the others were here.

"Stop, stop!" Sophia suddenly yelled and Daryl hit the brakes. She pointed her finger into the distance. "That car."

I narrowed my eyes and glanced over Daryl's shoulder. A dusty, but red Chevrolet suburban was the vehicle she meant.

"Hershel's car." I whispered.

Daryl turned slightly and we rode towards the car. Soon a very familiar face came into view. Her back was turned to us, but there was no mistaken the short grey hair and petite frame of the woman before us. Carol.

"Mum!" Sophia yelled loudly and Daryl stopped the bike so she could get off.

At the sound of her daughter's voice, Carol turned around and pressed her hands against her chest. Carol mouthed Sophia's name and stumbled forward. She wrapped Sophia within her arms and planted kisses all over her daughter's head. I unknowingly squeezed Daryl's shoulder at the sight of mother and daughter reunited.

The same sting hit my heart as it had done the first time Sophia and Carol had found one another. The rest of the group appeared from the back of the house, Rick, Lori, Carl, T-dog, Hershel, Beth, Maggie and Glenn.

I stepped off the bike and ran to the others. Everyone greeted me warmly, everyone except Rick, who seemed to be absolutely furious. Hershel took a closer look at my face. The bruise wasn't easy to miss.

"What happened?" He asked me with great concern.

"Some stranger with issues." I replied. "It'll heal soon enough." I added, ending the conversation.

"Where have you been?" Rick said with anger in his voice. His question was directed at Daryl who appeared behind me.

Daryl nodded at Sophia and then at me. "Searched for them."

Carol walked over to Daryl and looked up at him with the brightest smile I had ever seen on her. "Thank you so much." She said to him. Then she turned to me. "And thank you too, Madison."

I gave her a small smile.

"I understand why you went looking for them, but it wasn't a smart move." Rick said in a low voice to Daryl. "We need you. What if something had happened to you? You're an important asset to this group."

He glanced my way for a mere second and I pressed my lips together, not liking the way Rick was referring to me and Sophia as being unimportant compared to Daryl. I know he did not say it literally, but I was pretty sure that was what he meant.

I looked away from him and turned to the others. That's when I noticed something was off. Why didn't I notice it before…?

"Where is Andrea?"

Chapter Text

"Where is Andrea?" I asked Rick.

He didn't reply but simply looked away.

"Rick, where is Andrea?" I repeated.

My gaze landed on the others, who all expressed the same look of discomfort. It seemed something had happened with Andrea, but what exactly? It couldn't be anything good considering I had asked the same question twice. To my surprise, Carol stepped forward, her brow furrowed and her eyes sad.

"She saved me from a few Walkers...But then I lost her." Her voice was low as she stroked Sophia's hair.

"What do you mean you lost her?" I replied a bit too loud.

Almost I'd said 'her too', as she'd also managed to lose Sophia back at the farm, but I managed to stop myself just in time. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Andrea was still there?

"Did anyone see her?" I looked at everyone.

"We saw her go down." T-dog spoke up. "Don't know for sure if she's dead though."

Swiftly I turned back to Rick. "Has anybody gone back to look for her?"

"We couldn't go back." He answered, sounding embarrassed and guilty at the same time.

"Bullshit!" I exclaimed.

"Madison,-"

Rick stepped up in front of me and stared directly into my eyes.

"We couldn't, alright? We would have if it was safe, but it wasn't. I feel bad enough already. Now drop it."

"No, you drop it." I glared back at him. "I have risked my ass multiple times for you people. For you, you and you," I pointed at Lori, Rick and then Carol. "Everyone just fends for themselves first before helping others."

Rick didn't reply immediately. He knew I was right on some level, just as I understood saving ones own hide sometimes came first. I used to be like that, before I met Sophia. My eyes landed on her. She held on to her mother tightly. She looked at me funnily, almost scared. I averted my gaze, perhaps I shouldn't have yelled.

"Like I said, we couldn't go back." Rick continued. "We couldn't. We had to think of,-" he paused, knowing very well what he was going to say next would confirm what I said.

"Well, maybe if she was an important asset, you would have gone back." I muttered under my breath.

"That's not fair." Lori interfered, stepping next to her husband.

I huffed. "Life isn't fair, especially now, is it?"

"We should be thankful...thankful that we found each other." Rick said.

"We? You just told Daryl it wasn't a smart move from him to head out and search for me and Sophia. What am I suppose to make of that?" I said through clenched teeth.

Rick shook his head. "We've been through a lot. You don't know the things we've gone through to get where we are today." His voice suddenly turned cold. "We can't look back if we want to move forward."

"Gee whizz, isn't that convenient?" I crossed my arms over my chest.

Out of the blue, two small individuals stepped between me and Rick. Carl and Sophia. Him in front of his father and her before me.

"Maddy,-"

I looked down at Sophia as she addressed me.

"Please, stop fighting."

Carl stood besides her, facing Rick. "Dad, just stop."

I could only imagine Carl giving his father the same look as Sophia was giving me. Everyone around us kept quiet, awaiting our next move. I glanced at Rick who locked eyes with me.

"Kids are right." He said. I exhaled deeply and I gave him a confirming nod.

"We'd best find shelter for tonight." Lori said, placing her hand on her husband's arm.

I turned around and headed to Daryl's motorcycle. I don't know why I did that, but it felt like the most logical thing to do. It had been my ride for the last couple of days and I felt no need to be in a car with any the others. Daryl passed me as I walked away from Rick.

"I respect ya, Mads. But what ya said a moment ago, was wrong." Daryl said standing only a few inches from him. "Get me?"

I halted and looked at the two men standing opposite each other. I saw Rick pressing his lips together and his eyes quickly glancing my way.

"Yeah, I get it."

"Good."

::::::...::::::

"You mustn't fight Rick." Hershel whispered to me. "He does what he can."

Great, that is what I needed after that heated discussion. I met his eyes. "I was angry, Hershel. Angry because no one went back for Andrea." I sighed and I felt Hershel's hand upon my shoulder.

"I understand that, but there's nothing we can do now." He said sorrowfully.

"What if she's still alive? What if she's hurt?" I shook my head. Hershel told me to sit still as he examined the bruise on my face.

"Whoever did this to you, they got you very good." He said changing the subject.

I wish he hadn't said that. The image of Nate sprung to mind and I turned my head away from Hershel. Clearly getting the message, Hershel lowered his hands and cleared his throat.

"I'm glad you and the little girl are safe and sound. Let's make sure we don't get separated again…no matter what." Then he stood up and headed over to Carol and Daryl.

I smiled as I followed the old farmer. Thank you, Hershel.

"How'd you get this bump on your head?" I heard Carol ask Daryl.

She reached out to touch his head but he flinched away from her. Carol pulled her hand back, obviously upset with his reaction.

"He fell." Sophia said to her mother.

Carol arched an eyebrow. "Fell?"

Her daughter nodded. "Maddy and I took care of him." She added.

"What's this I hear about a bump on the head?" Hershel said as we halted in front of them.

"Nothing," Daryl answered moving a few inches away.

"I'll be the judge of that." Hershel told him and he motioned for Daryl to show him the bump. Daryl, reluctantly, turned his head in Hershel's direction. I could tell by Daryl's demeanour he was in no mood for a check-up or any kind of contact for that matter.

"How exactly did this happen?" Hershel asked. It was Sophia who took the liberty of answering his question.

"Maddy and I were freshening up at the water, talking about how,- OW!" Sophia immediately rubbed her arm. "Maddy?!"

"Bug…" I replied innocently.

I couldn't let Sophia share the conversation we had at the water's edge about a certain someone. So I pinched her hard in the upper arm to shush her. Immediately taking the liberty of answering Hershel's question before Sophia could continue.

"Daryl tripped and hit the ground. He also twisted his ankle."

"I'm fine." Daryl countered as he took a step back before Hershel could get any closer to him.

"Daryl wouldn't let Maddy help him out either." Sophia said a bit louder this time.

"Sophia, honey,-" Carol said sternly to her daughter, who then looked up at her mother.

"What?" The girl shrugged.

From the corner of my eyes I could see Daryl looking at me. He didn't seem to pleased that I dared mention his twisted ankle. I quickly averted my attention elsewhere.

"I thought I noticed you limping." Hershel nodded at Daryl's foot.

"Got caught between some tree roots." Daryl grunted. He really was in no mood for people to fuss over him.

"He'll be fine. Won't he, Hershel?" Carol asked.

"I believe there is nothing to worry about. But keep getting blows to your head and there might be serious consequences." He told Daryl firmly before stepping away, and then he looked at me.

"Both of you have a habit of getting hurt." The old man shook his head. "Do try to not get any other injuries for at least a week or longer." He patted my arm before heading back to his daughters.

It was now the four of us. Carol, Sophia, Daryl and me, standing besides the motorbike. I don't know why exactly, but I felt very uncomfortable. After having spent over three days with only Sophia and Daryl, seeing Carol fuss over him and her own daughter made me feel uneasy.

I'd never thought I'd be glad to see Rick heading our way. He had a determined look on his face and his eyes seemed to be focused on me. From the look of things, he wanted to talk. What was it this time?

"Madison, do you have a moment?"

Whatever it could be, I didn't know. But I was actually glad for the diversion. I nodded. He and Daryl exchanged glances for a second before he led me away.

"I, uh…I owe you an apology." He started.

"Let's forget about it, Rick. I'm tired, you're tired,-" but Rick raised his hand as a gesture to let him finish.

"It's not about that." He continued," Lori told me what happened."

I narrowed my eyes and arched an eyebrow. What was he talking about. "Happened?"

"What Shane did to you," Rick explained.

At first I wasn't entirely sure what he was on about, but then I remembered that the last time I'd seen Rick was in the early mornings of the day that Shane had taken Randall into the woods. To kill him. Right before he tried to get rid of me.

"Ah, that."

"I had no idea that had happened." Rick shook his head. "Shane told us you and Randall had run off and that you both attacked him."

I pressed my lips in a thin line. "Did he now?"

Rick rubbed the back of his neck. "This might be a good time to mention also that...that Shane is dead."

I blinked at his words. Shane was dead? I tried to search for the right words, but I couldn't. I was ashamed to sense a slight joy at hearing this news. When had this happened? So many things had gone down since then.

"He tried to kill me as well. He staged the whole Randall thing to put a bullet in my back." Rick took a deep breath.

"Wait,- Are you saying that you are the one who killed him?" I asked in a low voice.

"I did. Then he turned into a Walker and Carl..." He fell quiet.

"Carl, what?" I could tell Rick was struggling to say what he was about to share with me.

"Carl shot him."

I clasped my hand in front of my mouth and turned my head into the direction where Carl was standing with his mother. A boy as young as Carl had killed someone he knew personally. I felt disgusted, that a young boy was experiencing killing. Even if it was necessary, it's not something that should happen. That could not have been easy.

"Shit." I exclaimed.

"I told the others that I'd done it...They don't know Carl was part of it too. Lori doesn't know either."

More secrets, but this was one I could understand.

"How'd the others react when you told them about Shane?" I asked, but the look on Rick's face said it all. Not too well…

Despite Shane being who he was, the group also knew him differently. From what I remembered Andrea telling me, Shane wasn't all too bad. At first. I was the same until the stunt he pulled with leaving me for dead in the forest.

"I'm sure they'll get over it." I said to Rick, though it was impossible to say anything comforting in this case.

"You'd think after what he did to you, they'd be a bit more understanding." He sighed and for a while he looked at me without speaking.

There was that uneasy feeling again, only now I was experiencing it from Rick. From butting heads, to an understanding conversation between the two of us. Was I really the only one who now knew about Carl being the one who killed Shane after he turned?

"Rick?" I cleared my throat, trying to pull Rick from his thoughts. His silence becoming a bit unpleasant by now.

"I'm sorry for earlier, Maddy. I didn't mean for it to sound like you're not important or that none of us care about you,- or Sophia. Really, I appreciate you more than you realize." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "I mean that."

I gave him a small smile.

"I think we should leave soon." He said changing the subject. "Never stay in one place for too long."

He was about to walk away but I stopped him by reaching for his arm. "Rick, what about Andrea?"

"Madison,-"

The tone of his voice said enough and I immediately shook my head.

"Rick…" I bit my lip and stared at him with pleading eyes. "We can't…we just can't."

"It's too late." He said firmly.

"You don't know that."

Rick took my hand off him and grabbed my upper arms. "If she's alive, I guarantee you,- the farm is the last place she'll be."

I closed my eyes and lowered my head in defeat. Rick gave my arms a gentle squeeze and rubbed them for a short moment as to comfort me.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

My mind wandered to Andrea. Where was she now? Was she hurt, dead or alive? Had she turned and was she a Walker now? I couldn't help but think who would be next. Would it be one of the children, the men or perhaps one of the women?

A loud high pitch scream sounded and Rick and I looked up in the direction of the noise. A small group of Walkers rounded the corner. It was Beth who had emitted the cry. She and her sister Maggie walked backwards from the approaching group. Rick released me and we rushed towards them. Glenn met us and shook his head vigorously.

"There are more around the corner, too many to handle."

"To the cars, go, go!" Rick shouted and everyone scattered off to the vehicles. Sophia yelled my name loudly. She was already standing next to Hershel's red car. I rushed over to her.

"Get in the car." I ordered her. She quickly got in next to her mother. Hershel, Maggie and Beth were also in there. I grabbed the door and was about to close it when Sophia's hand shot out.

"What are you doing?" She asked me.

The engine of Daryl's motorcycle prevented me from replying. He stopped behind me and nodded to the back of his bike.

"Comin'?" Daryl asked me.

"Maddy, no." Sophia begged.

"I'll be fine Soph." I quickly kissed her forehead before closing the car door and hopping onto the seat behind Daryl.

"Hold on." He said and I did.

A month later

"Anything?" He asked me.

I closed the cabinet and shook my head. "Nothing. Not even an empty can."

"Figures," Daryl replied.

I sighed as I ran my hand through my hair. "I'm afraid that's all we're going to find in this neighbourhood."

Daryl hoisted the bag filled with found supplies over his shoulder. He pointed his crossbow to the back door, silently telling me it was time to leave.

I grabbed the doorknob, turned it and stopped at the sound of shuffling feet. I glanced up at the ceiling. It was coming from upstairs. Daryl heard it too. He gently placed the bag on the floor. I motioned for him to stop whatever he was planning to do and come with me out of the house.

He turned around and headed to the hallway. I let go of the door and went after Daryl. Stubborn, egotistical…

He was already halfway up the stairs when I walked back.

"Daryl," I hissed from the bottom of the steps.

He pressed his finger against his lips and kept going. I cursed inside and ascended the staircase. Daryl kicked the door open and raised his weapon, ready to kill whatever was on the other side. But when he lowered his crossbow, I knew something was wrong. He moved aside and I looked into the room.

A woman, with hints of what used to be bleached blond hair was dragging herself over the floor. She was still intact but her legs looked deformed, broken. The shuffling noise I had heard earlier wasn't that of feet moving, it was this Walker dragging its body over the floor. She reached out and clawed the air, desperate to get to us. It looked sad.

An arrow pierced her skull and with a thud her arm landed onto the carpet. That was it. Daryl passed me and grabbed hold of the arrow.

"Is it me or does she look abnormally thin?" I said as Daryl pulled the arrow out of the Walker's head.

"Thin?" he frowned.

"Famished…"

He stared down at the Walker and observed her quietly. When he looked back up he gave a small nod.

"Maybe she passed away of hunger…No bite marks."

I grimaced at the thought. I never imagined the option of becoming one of them would occur by simply dying. Randall had been my first proof of it all. So when Rick informed me of the time the group had ended up at the CDC, Centre of Disease Control and Prevention, I reacted surprised and shocked to the story.

"To put it bluntly…we're all infected." Rick had said.

We're all infected.

I looked at the dead Walker on the ground. This thing probably died on her own and became a walking, or in her case crawling, corpse. I never feared death before, but now that even dying from natural causes meant becoming one of them, scared me to my very core.

"Why do you think her legs are broken?" I asked Daryl, who wiped the arrow clean on his trousers.

He shrugged, "Does it matter?" He walked out of the room.

"No…I guess it doesn't." I said softly giving the woman one last look before walking after Daryl.

A month had passed since the burning down of the farm and the Walker raid. Since then we have moved around the area, never staying in one place for too long. Daryl's motorcycle was my means of transportation, much to Sophia's dislike who had tried numerous times to travel with us instead of joining her mother in one of the cars.

Hershel had taken upon the task to teach Carol minor medical techniques in preparation for Lori's delivery which was expected to happen around 7 months from now. Rick had assigned tasks to every one of us, these mostly meant scouting and searching for supplies and scavenging food.

Lori was withheld from jobs like these because of her current state. Instead she taught the young ones, Carl and Sophia, and sometimes she gave them additional homework, which they did not enjoy. Beth stayed close to her father's side most of the time, or her sister's when she felt like it.

Maggie and Glenn formed the scouting team. Glenn, I learned, was quick on his feet, fastest out of all of us and he was usually sent ahead to check new areas. Maggie was never far behind. Rick and T-dog usually stayed close to protect the women and children. That left me and Daryl to search for supplies and food.

We had thoroughly scanned this neighbourhood but sadly hadn't found anything edible. This house had been the last on the list. Unfortunately the only things we found were a couple of painkillers, some sleeping pills and a few batteries. I walked past an open bedroom door and peeked inside, a child's room.

"Daryl, wait." I said to him and I headed into the room.

There was no doubt in my mind that this room belonged to a young girl. The flowers on the wall and the toys scattered across the floor gave that away. I opened a drawer to find it filled with clothes, mainly socks and undergarments but also a couple of sweaters. The weather was getting much colder these days and Sophia could use a sweater.

I pulled one out of the drawer and held it up in front of me to see if it was the right size. I thought about the dead Walker in the other room, perhaps she had been the mother of this girl.

"Madison." Daryl stood in the door opening. "Girl's got enough of those already."

I threw one last glance at the sweater before placing it back in the drawer. I guess two sweaters were enough at the moment.

Daryl and I descended down the stairs, grabbed the duffel bag from the kitchen and headed outside.

::::::…::::::

"It's not fair though." Sophia complained to me.

Not this again. For the past two weeks she'd been complaining over and over again about it.

"I know." I said.

"I am older than Carl." She continued.

"I know."

"I can handle knives better than Carl."

"Sophia,-"

"Maddy,-"

I glared at her and she sighed as she kicked a pebble with her foot. It skidded across the ground and stopped after hitting a bigger rock.

"If it bothers you that much, you should discuss it with your mother," I suggested as I had done several times before.

"Mum would never let me handle a gun."

This was true, even though Carol herself was being taught how to handle one. The older woman made sure her daughter would not come near one let alone hold one.

"At least you have some form of protection. You have your knives."

Rick had been teaching his son, Carl, how to aim, fire and more basic knowledge regarding guns. Sophia, who had been very proud of the fact she excelled in knife throwing, still felt a tad bit jealous of this. Especially now that Rick was also teaching her mother how to protect herself with a weapon.

"I just want to learn too." The little girl exclaimed, "Can't you tell Rick to teach me as well?"

"Well, that's not for me to decide." I replied.

She crossed her arms over her chest, "and why not?" She retorted.

"Because I am not you mother, Sophia," I said a bit more harshly then I intended. Sophia looked at me with a sad expression.

"I know that." She said before walking away, wearing one of the sweaters I had given her a couple of days ago.

I groaned in frustration.

"What was that all about?" Maggie Greene appeared before me, nodding in Sophia's direction.

"Complaints, complaints. Jealousy..."

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Maggie asked me, apparently not caring that much about what was bothering Sophia.

Maggie spent most of her time with Glenn, so I was rather surprised she wanted to talk. The farmer's daughter checked around her before focussing her eyes on me again. I was really anxious to hear what she wanted to tell me, acting all secretive the way she did.

"Have you by any chance…uhm."

She bit her lip for a moment. I motioned for her to go on. She was behaving very nervously, biting her lip and her eyes shifting left and right.

"Did you happen to come across any,-" She cleared her throat. "Contraceptives?"

Contraceptives, my eyes widened. "Condoms?"

"Sssstttt," She shushed me, yanking on my arm.

"Don't tell anyone, especially Glenn." Maggie added. "He has this need to be the man in our relationship. But I figured I might as well take charge without him knowing it."

She looked at me expectantly. Condoms…for the life of me, why? Well, I understood why. Actually, that was a good idea for them The last thing we needed was another pregnant girl in our midst.

"No…I haven't yet come across any. But I'll keep a lookout for you." I smiled.

"Will you?"

"Of course, every condom I come across, used or unused,- OW!" I rubbed my shoulder after Maggie had slapped it.

"Thanks, Madison."

A few days later

Our provisions were running low, so low in fact, that we no longer had any. The next best thing for us to find would be a market of some kind. Finding food in houses was getting more and more difficult. Sure, Daryl still hunted as much as he could, but there were a lot of mouths to feed and hunting wasn't always an option.

We rode through a new place. At least I thought it was new, until I recognized the drug store on the corner of the street. We had been in this small town before. Daryl stopped in front of the shop.

"We've been here already." I said to Daryl when he stepped off.

"I know," He nodded at the drug store. "Didn't check this place yet."

Last time we were here, we only checked for food to make sure we had a good provision to last us through the first weeks of winter. Unfortunately it didn't, and winter was far from over. I watched a misty cloud forming in the cold air as I breathed out and rubbed my hands together. I should have taken a pair of gloves from somewhere. I turned around and grabbed my crowbar out of the bags. It felt good to once again have a weapon I was used to.

We made our way to the door. Daryl went in first, with his crossbow raised. I checked behind us, making sure there were no Walkers around the store, before heading inside. Even though we had cleared this town before, that did not stop new Walkers from passing through. I stepped inside.

The lights were out, but that wasn't a problem, it was still early in the day and the light from outside lit the store well enough. Most of the shelves were empty. Actually most of the stores we've come across over the last couple of weeks had almost nothing left.

Slowly and quietly we made our way through the store. No Walkers so far. Walking through the aisles suddenly reminded me of my promise to Maggie. Who'd thought I'd be on the lookout for something as useless as a package of condoms during times like these. If there was anything left to take from this store it would be that.

I headed down another aisle and checked the almost empty shelves. Pregnancy tests. I halted, placed my crowbar on the shelf and picked up one of the boxes. I doubted Maggie would want one of these.

"Pregnancy test?"

I nearly dropped the box out of my hands at the sound of Daryl's voice.

"Geez, could you be any quieter?" I whispered and placed the test back on the shelf.

"Never mind, if you need it, take,-"

"I don't need it. I'm looking for something else." I hissed. I lowered my eyes and spotted something in Daryl's hand, a box of condoms.

"Where did you find those?" I asked him, pointing at the box. Daryl glanced at it and quickly placed it in the bag which hung over his shoulder.

"Over there." He nodded to the left and sure enough there they were. I immediately went over and grabbed two boxes.

"Two boxes?" He questioned.

"What's it to you?"

I walked over to Daryl and placed the boxes inside the bag he was holding. He was giving me a weird look as I tried my best to avoid his eyes. I felt a blush creeping up and I quickly pulled the zipper to close the bag. It got stuck. I yanked it roughly but it wouldn't budge.

Daryl removed the bag from his shoulder. He handed me his crossbow before placing the bag on the shelf to fix the zipper. If I wasn't blushing already, I sure was now.

I'm gonna kill Maggie…

Daryl managed to get the zipper loose and closed up the bag.

"They're not for you." He turned to me.

Not for me? He sounded very sure of himself.

"Why not?" I replied as he took his crossbow from me, feeling more insulted than I should be.

Daryl quickly turned his back to me and walked down the aisle. I shook my head and headed in the other direction. I glanced over my shoulder for a minute and saw Daryl heading into, what seemed to be, the storage room. He was only in there for a few seconds when the sound of breaking glass and things falling rose from inside. I ran through the store and stopped at the door, looking into the dark room.

"Daryl?" I hissed loudly.

"I'm fine." He replied gruffly, appearing in the door opening.

Suddenly his eyes widened, he reached forward and pulled me into the storage room. I stumbled inside, but held my ground. Daryl shut the door behind him.

"What the hell do you think,-"

He pulled me down and clasped his hand over my mouth.

"Walkers…"

Chapter Text

Walkers?

I pulled Daryl's hand from my mouth. I hadn't noticed any undead sneaking up behind me. My attention had fully been on Daryl and the noises that were coming from the room after he'd stumbled into it. If Daryl hadn't got up in time and grabbed my arm, I probably would have been Walker meat now.

Daryl gave me another look and pressed his index finger against his lips before moving towards the door. He leaned forward and peeked through the keyhole. Without glancing back at me, he raised a hand and showed all five of his fingers. Five Walkers.

A whole lot of them, surprisingly so, as we had checked the entire store encountering not even one. Where had they come from? It was pointless to linger on that thought as it was more important for us to find a way out, taking every single one of them down with us.

I gently nudged Daryl's shoulder and whispered to him. "What now?"

He raised his crossbow. Attack? At least I thought that's what he meant. The sooner the better. We could handle five of them, no problem. For now we had the advantage, the storage room door was completely solid. It blocked every ray of light from entering, except the sliver through the crack at the bottom and the transom window above the door.

Daryl encircled the doorknob with his hand. He bobbed his head.

"One, two, three." He mouthed.

With a swift pull, he turned the knob and yanked the door open. Only it didn't. It stayed shut, firmly in its place. Daryl pulled again. Still nothing. It wouldn't budge. We were locked in.

"Mother f,-" He banged his fist against the door.

Oh God, don't let this be happening.

"Are you kidding me?" I grabbed hold of the doorknob myself and turned it, but as expected nothing happened. "Shit!"

Something hit the other side of the door with a loud bang. The Walkers had reached the storage room. They were clawing and scratching at the door, trying their hardest to get inside.

"Great…just great," I stood up and groaned in frustration.

"Crowbar." Daryl said, still positioned on the floor.

Crowbar, of course. Great for prying a door open, very handy for an occasion such as this…If I had taken it with me instead of leaving it on the shelf next to the pregnancy tests.

"…I left it on the shelf." I uttered.

"Course ya did." was Daryl's reply. "Day just keeps getting better and better."

I ignored his comment. "At least they can't get in." I said.

"Seems we can't get out." Daryl got off the floor and walked around the room.

"Just the two of us with three boxes of condoms." I sighed. "A regular afternoon."

Daryl didn't reply, but I knew he must have heard me. I grabbed the duffel bag, opened it and searched for the spare flashlight we had taken with us. Perhaps there was another way out or maybe we could find anything useful in the storage room. A spare key, hopefully. I flicked the switch on the flashlight and got a strong beam of light out of it.

"The way I see it we have two options. We wait until they manage to break in or we find another way out." I said as I moved flashlight. "I prefer the latter."

"Fine by me." Daryl replied as he turned to check the other side of the room.

There had to be a way out. God I hated being locked up. At least this place wasn't ridiculously small. I stepped back and something crunched under my boots. I looked at the floor and saw pieces of broken glass. This was probably what Daryl had knocked over earlier. I looked up ahead and shone the light around the room.

A shadow caught my eye and I aimed the beam of light at the corner of the room. I don't know what it was but as soon as I saw its shape, I screamed from the top of my lungs. A strong arm slipped around my upper body and pulled me back.

"It's just a dummy." Daryl's voice said next to my ear.

"A dummy?"

I turned my head and Daryl moved my hand which held the flashlight and aimed it at the corner again. Sure enough there stood a plastic model of a human female.

"Son of a…" I looked away and stared at Daryl.

"Never thought you were such a pussy." He said with a slight chuckle in his voice.

"I bet that mannequin is what caused you to knock all of this crap over." I retorted, referring to the broken glass around our feet.

Daryl huffed. He wasn't willing to admit anything. I couldn't help but crack a small smile as I stepped away from him.

"There's got to be a way for us to get out of here." I groaned with frustration.

"Door is solid, won't be able to break through." Daryl reminded me. "We need something to unlock it, or break it. Like an axe."

I eyed the door and could hear the muffled gurgling Walker noises. "Better continue looking for something useful then."

At some point there would be nothing left too check. The storage room included lots of things, from the creepy mannequin to closets and shelves. I was starting to feel more desperate with each passing second. This was not how I'd envisioned my death. I walked once again to the other side of the room, to a large closet with a desk and a chair next to it.

Daryl's footsteps sounded behind me. "Already checked here, no keys," He said.

I aimed the flashlight at the closet, but Daryl shook his head. I wasn't convinced. There was no way he had checked the top it without my knowledge. I set the flashlight on the desk and started to move the chair.

"Hand me that flashlight?" I asked Daryl as I stepped onto the chair.

Daryl did as I asked, but doubt was evident in his voice. "Ain't nothing up there."

"People hide stuff in the craziest of places." I retorted as I glanced over the edge of the closet. So far the top surface appeared to be empty. "Maybe we'll find a key... or the axe you so desperately want."

I narrowed my eyes as the beam of light showed an object on the left. It was too big to be a key, sadly. But what could it be? I placed the flashlight on the corner and reached out. It was still too far for me to grab hold of. I stood on the tip of my toes now. By the time I realized it, it was already too late.

The chair wobbled and slid away from underneath me. A loud humph sounded as I landed on my stomach and something much softer than the hard wooden floorboards. My heart pounded rapidly, shocked from the unexpected tumble. I groaned, moved my head and felt a rough patch of stubble graze my lips followed by a pair of soft flesh,-

I jolted my head up as a wave of warmth and embarrassment washed over me, my heart still pounding fast. I swallowed as realization hit me that I'd almost, accidentally so, planted a kiss on Daryl. My mind went blank. I was at a loss for words. Surely he knew I hadn't meant to,-

Why was he quiet? Oh God this is embarrassing. " Daryl,-?"

Loud gunshots erupted from the other side of the door. Daryl placed his arms on my back and rolled me over. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew that whoever was in the store must have taken care of the Walkers. Muffled voices called out.

"Madison? Daryl?"

The lock of the door clicked and light entered the storeroom. Daryl turned his head as I peered over his shoulder. The key had been in the lock, albeit on the other side of the door, all this time?

"Is this a bad time?" Glenn asked with his eyebrows raised.

Never before had I seen Daryl Dixon move that quickly as he did just then.

::::::…::::::

"We weren't even gone for two hours." I said to Maggie as we walked out of the drug store, "You two just happened to be in the neighbourhood?"

A pregnant pause fell and Maggie bit her bottom lip as she glanced over at Glenn.

"We…we just happened to be in the neighbourhood." He said, basically repeating what I had said. I stopped and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Really?" I frowned and they both turned beet red.

Normally Maggie was able to keep a straight face, but even she lost it. I grabbed the duffel bag with the three packs of condoms and practically hurled it at the two of them.

"I believe this is what you were looking for." I said to them.

Glenn unzipped the bag and looked over at Daryl who had his back turned to all of us.

"He told you?" the Korean man asked.

I didn't quite understand what he meant until he took one of the packages out of the bag. It became clear to me now why Daryl had been looking for the condoms as well. I guess we both got tricked into being errands boys to help Glenn and Maggie fulfil their needs and desires. Though I might have acted offended, I didn't feel that way. I was glad to be out of that storage room. I glanced over at Daryl who started the engine of his motorcycle. I could feel my cheeks heat up.

"Madison?"

"Yes?" I answered whoever had said my name.

"I'm so sorry…I shouldn't have asked you to do this." Maggie said to me.

She seemed to feel incredibly guilty about this. I shook my head as a reply, "It's alright, Maggie."

I could hear Daryl approaching us on his motorcycle. My heartbeat accelerated. He halted behind me.

"Let's go, we haven't got all day." He said rather gruffly. I crawled onto the seat behind him and without saying goodbye we left Glenn and Maggie at their car.

As we rode back to our current shelter, I couldn't help but let my thought wander back to earlier. More specifically to what happened in the storage room. An accidental kiss. Or was it an almost accidental kiss? Nothing more but an innocent brushing of lips due to lack of awareness. I didn't understand why I was even still thinking about it.

Get a grip, I told myself. Brush it off. Daryl seemed to do it with ease. Nothing had actually happened and if something had happened, it would have been nothing more but an unfortunate mishap.

Still, it might be my imagination, but something felt different at the moment. Normally, Daryl and I hardly ever spoke during the rides. We communicated non-verbally. Pointing, nodding, and tapping one on the shoulder. But I couldn't shake the feeling that there now was a certain tension lingering between us.

Just for the mere shit of it, I moved my arms closer around Daryl's waist, and squeezed them tighter. He flinched, something he hadn't done in a while whenever I had a hold on him like this during the bike rides. The tension stayed, as did my arms, but Daryl didn't say a word. I sighed and looked around me as we quietly continued our way back to the group.

After a couple of minutes, Hershel's red car came into view and Daryl parked the motorcycle next to it. I still had my arms resting against his stomach, and he didn't move. I could hear him breathe if I listened carefully. For a moment we sat there silently. Neither of us moved.

"Daryl?"

Whatever had caused him to stay quiet and unwavering with me on his bike, was now gone. As soon as I had said his name, Daryl stirred and stepped off without giving me a single glance.

"Wait!" I said to him.

"What!?" He practically yelled.

Shocked by his outburst, I didn't immediately reply. I hadn't even thought about what I wanted to say to him, but I had to say something. Daryl took a few steps and waited, when I still didn't reply he moved even closer until he was only a couple of inches away.

"What?" He said again, his voice was softer this time but there was a hint of frustration.

I narrowed my eyes. "What is wrong with you?"

"Scuse me?"

"Ugh, never mind." I averted my gaze and walked away from him.

"Where ya think ya going?" He asked.

"Leaving…" I replied.

"…Good." He yelled after me.

I headed back to Daryl's motorcycle, feeling his eyes on me as I opened the saddlebags and reached for my crowbar. My fingertips grazed the cold steel surface of the crowbar. I wrapped my hand around it and took it out of the bag. When I turned around Daryl was nowhere to be seen.

I felt a sudden urge to kick his motorcycle. But I didn't. His reaction irritated me. What was worse was that I couldn't even figure out to understand why I was so upset about it.

::::::...::::::

After Daryl had walked away and I was about to enter the house where we all stayed in, Glenn and Maggie arrived with their car. I waited for them as they got out. Maggie whispered something to Glenn, followed by a quick peck on his cheek as he went inside and she headed towards me.

"You okay?" The eldest Greene daughter asked.

"Fine and dandy." I replied kicking a pebble with my shoe.

Maggie eyed me suspiciously. "I can see that."

I was getting the feeling that Maggie wanted something from me or perhaps the irritated expression I had on my face was too obvious?

She cocked her head. "Everything alright between you and Daryl?"

I was a bit taken back by her bluntness. I wasn't even sure what she was implying, but it sure did sound like she there was something specific on her mind.

"Peachy. Why?"

Maggie shrugged. "I don't know. You both seem rather,-" She paused for a moment, as if looking for the right way to express herself.

"You know, you can always talk to me if you feel like it, Maddy." She then said, throwing a apologetic smile along with it.

"Geez, Maggie,-" I groaned and turned my head away.

"It's okay." Maggie quickly continued. "I understand it can be difficult and at times overwhelming. Take me and Glenn for example, we were the same way in the beginning."

"I beg your pardon?" I blinked.

"We didn't want anyone else to know about us. Especially my dad. But there comes a point where it is much easier to just come out and say it."

Stunned by her assumption, I couldn't utter one single word. Was Maggie Greene actually implying that Daryl and I were something more than just friends. I mean, were we that even? We partnered up most of the time because Rick wanted us to and we worked well in the field. Tolerated each other, watched each other's back and all that.

I shook my head.

"I don't know what you're thinking but Daryl and I are not involved. Not like you and Glenn." I raised my hand defensively.

"You're not?" She frowned.

"We're not." I repeated.

Maggie didn't seem to care much for my answer, for she moved her shoulders slightly and said. "Alright. If you say so..."

"Maggie Greene, I'm telling you the truth!"

We stared at each other for a while, until Maggie's bottom lip started to tremble and she burst out into laughter.

"Maggie," I said trying to suppress a chuckle. "You're not being funny."

But Maggie didn't care. Apparently my reaction was hilarious enough to start another round of laughter. I gently hit her upper arm, but I couldn't stop myself from grinning. Maggie suddenly stopped. She grabbed my hand and pulled me behind her father's car.

"Walkers," She whispered and she lowered herself to the ground, pulling me with her.

I lied down on my stomach and peeked under the car to see a number of Walkers approaching us. I counted eight legs, which meant four Walkers. They were incredibly close. I leaned on my elbows and looked up at Maggie.

"Do you have your gun?" I asked.

She shook her head but pulled a knife from her belt. Good enough. I wrapped my fingers around the cold steel of my weapon. Together we would be able to take the four of them down quietly. There would be no need to alert the others inside the house. Maggie pointed to me and then to the left, then she pointed to herself and to the right side of the car. I nodded, time to go.

I moved to the back and waited for Maggie to reach the front. She lifted her hand and raised three fingers. Three, two, one!

I jumped from behind Hershel's car as Maggie also appeared from her side. I lifted my leg and kicked one of the Walkers to the ground before whacking the other on the head. He fell and I struck the other one I had kicked down. Meanwhile, Maggie was taking care of the other two swiftly.

She threw me a satisfied smile. At least we took them out without any trouble.

"We should get rid of the bodies." I said to her.

"My least favourite part." She replied with a shake of her head.

One of the Walkers on the ground groaned and I swung my crowbar against its head. "Let's inform Rick first then."

"Right," Maggie agreed as she put her knife back. "Shit!" she suddenly exclaimed and I followed her line of sight.

More Walkers were heading our way. I moved to get a clearer few and gasped at the size of the incoming group. There seemed to be over a hundred of them, big enough to drive us away from here. If we moved quickly we would be able to leave before they reached us, but we had to move fast.

"We can't handle these many." Maggie said.

I turned to her. "Go inside and tell everyone to get out."

"Me? What are you going to do?" She asked with wide eyes.

"Buy you some time!" I yelled and I headed towards the small herd. Maggie stood in her place, not moving an inch. "Maggie, go now!"

She blinked and ran into the house, alerting the others of the approaching danger. I knew how stupid my plan was, but we needed more time to get everyone out of the house. A pregnant Lori, Carol, Hershel and Beth, the kids, Rick, T-dog, Maggie, Glenn and Daryl. There were a lot of people and even more Walkers, if I could buy even a few seconds and hopefully minutes of time, everyone would make it out alright.

I halted in front of the herd. The whole street was filled with them. Would they have passed the house quietly if Maggie and I had been inside? Or would we have been ambushed instead? These were questions that were impossible to answer. I placed my fingers in my mouth and whistled loudly. They'd probably already spotted me, but at least now I knew for sure I had their attention.

"Come on!" I shouted, "Ugly sons of bitches, come on." I tapped the ground with the tip of my crowbar and ran to the side of the street.

For a moment I wondered if it had worked, and sure enough a few Walkers started to divert and were walking towards me. Time to run. I glanced at the house and noticed the door was still closed. Had they gone out through the back? All I could do was hope that they were occupied with getting the hell out of that house.

I hit the concrete again with my crowbar. I had to be extremely careful, one screw up and I would become Walker food. Then I saw the door being flung open and hitting the side of the house. One by one everybody was getting out. I wasn't the only one who noticed, a couple of Walkers turned their heads to the new sound.

"Hey! Hey, look at me!" I shouted.

I raised my arm and knocked a trashcan over. Thousands of flies escaped out of the formerly closed up container. The smell which came from it was almost as bad as a Walker. I grabbed the lid of the trashcan and flung it to the other side of the street as a distraction. I turned my head around for a moment and saw the others getting into the vehicles. I spotted Daryl holding Sophia in his arms, his hand clasped over her mouth to keep her from calling out.

The Walkers were closer now than I thought, a gurgling noise came from my left and I jumped back before being clawed by it. With one quick movement I whacked it to the ground. I didn't take the time to finish the job, there were simply too many. I had to run now.

A familiar noise erupted behind me, a sound that somehow always made me feel at ease. Daryl's motorcycle. I turned my back on the herd and started to run as fast as I could. My escape wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I tripped over the trashcan I previously had knocked over and landed in the pile of trash. The sour stench burned into my nose and mouth and caused my eyes to water.

I scrambled back up and ran towards the sound of Daryl's ride. I couldn't see his face very well with my burning eyes, but I could only imagine the angry look he was giving me.

"About time you saved my ass." I panted heavily. "What took you so long?"

I climbed behind him and we rode off after the others.

We were riding for about ten minutes when Daryl decided to stop. The others hadn't noticed this and kept on going. At least my eyes had stopped burning from the foul stench. I moved my arms from around Daryl's waist and wiped my eyes dry from the cold.

"Why'd you stop?" I asked him. Daryl released the handlebar and turned his body around but never looked at me.

"The hell were ya thinking back there?!" He snapped at me loud enough to make me jump in my seat.

I knew he'd be mad at me regarding my little stunt. This wasn't the first time he'd raised his voice at me. Actually it was the second time today, only this outburst was completely different compared to the one he had earlier on. Instead of sounding angry he now sounded concerned, worried.

"What if ya'd gotten bit, huh?" He growled, "D'ya ever think about that?"

"Think about it?" I moved back a bit. "Daryl, I had to buy Maggie some time to warn everyone inside the house."

"Had plenty of time." Daryl spat.

"Haven't you noticed how much quicker a herd moves and acts compared to a small group?" I searched for his eyes but he kept looking past me.

"I couldn't let Maggie stay outside, or join her to warn you." I released the breath I had been holding in, "I took a risk to secure safety of the group. You would have done the same thing."

The latter part got his attention. Finally Daryl raised his eyes, I locked mine with his and we stared at each other for a short moment, then Daryl open his mouth.

"No more risks. No more." He said.

"I can't promise that." I practically whispered. "You know I can't."

I expected him to turn back around and start the engine, only he didn't. Daryl stayed right in his spot, watching me. I noticed his nostrils moving and suddenly he scrunched up his nose.

"Ya stink." He said out of the blue. It wasn't an expression I thought Daryl would ever use until I caught a good whiff of the sour smell he was referring to. The garbage pile I had fallen in.

"That's not a very nice thing to say." I replied, even though I knew it was the truth.

Daryl seemed to have calmed down by now, even though he still showed no intention to get back on the road again, at least he had stopped yelling. There was that weird warm feeling seeping into me again. I shivered for a moment.

"Cold?" Daryl asked.

I was anything but cold. I shook my head. I noticed the right corner of Daryl's mouth moving slightly for a second, before he turned his back to me.

"Daryl?" I said softly.

"Hmm?"

"I'm afraid you are gonna smell as well." And with that said I leaned against him and wrapped my arms around his waist. He didn't flinch.

::::::…::::::

We gained up on the others rather quickly. They had probably pulled over when they noticed we weren't behind them anymore. Rick stood there, leaning against the car door with his hands tucked in his pockets. He waited for us to reach him before taking a step forward. His demeanour seemed calm, but the look on his face showed slight irritation.

"You alright?" He asked me when Daryl stopped the motorcycle in front of him. I nodded.

"That was a big risk you took." He continued. "You shouldn't have done that."

First having Daryl addressing me on the matter and now Rick was giving me an earful, I lowered my gaze. I was too tired to explain myself again. I felt a hand on my shoulder, Rick's.

"We can't afford to lose anyone." He said, "You get me?"

I immediately thought of Daryl's words. No more risks. Rick wasn't angry with me. He showed concern.

"Noted." I replied with a small smile.

I heard a car door open and slam shut, followed by another door opening and a woman yelling, "Sophia!"

Sophia came running at full speed and practically flung herself at me. I almost toppled over, thank goodness for Daryl placing his arm behind my back for support.

"I saw you fall," Sophia nearly cried, "I almost thought you were…"

Her voice died as she pressed her face into my jacket. I gently planted a kiss on her hair, "I'm a tough cookie, remember?"

Sophia nodded and sniffed loudly. Her head jerked back, she looked at me with a funny and disgusted look and said,

"You stink."

Chapter Text

3 months later

After the incident at the drug store, followed by the Walker attack on the house, Rick had finally had enough. That same night he'd given a short but firm speech on how things were going to go down from thereon out. 

"From now on, no one goes out alone." He had stated. "You either make sure you are with someone or with the whole group." He had looked at me for a moment before continuing. "Also we scavenge together. No more heading out to new areas…or old ones, unless the group is within half a mile radius."

Afterwards he also found it necessary to take me to the side to emphasize once again why the group, though I honestly think he was referring to himself, had to know where we were going if we happened to head out. Whether it was just Daryl and I or anybody else. For if it hadn't been for Maggie and Glenn discovering us by accident, we could have still been stuck in there, he had said. I don't know why I defended the situation, because I knew he had a point, but that was that. From no own we all stayed together and definitely no more solo trips.

3 months had passed since we left the Greene farm and the weather was getting worse and worse. It felt like below zero during the nights and the days weren't any better. I always hated the cold and these were terrible circumstances already. The cold, the amount of Walkers we encountered every day and not to mention a pregnant woman to think of.

Lori who was starting to show a well-rounded baby belly. Food was scarce and everything we managed to find was usually given to Lori and the kids, Beth, Sophia and Carl. They needed the food more than we did. The rest of us got by with scraps.

"Next house we decide to stay at, I am definitely going to nick some gloves." I said to Maggie as I rubbed my hands together. My fingers felt like icicles and they were bright red because of the cold.

Currently we were once again in an abandoned house. How many had that been already? I was starting to lose count already. Must be due of the cold. 

Maggie lifted her hands to her mouth and blew her warm breath into them, "me too."

It was Maggie's turn to keep watch tonight. I couldn't sleep, so I decided to keep her company throughout her shift. Normally Glenn would do those honours but the Korean had fallen asleep about an hour ago. Peacefully on the floor next to his girlfriend. Every now and then she'd shot a sideway glance at him, as if making sure he was still nearby.

She caught me looking at her and she smiled. "He's tired."

I nodded. "He cares a lot about you. You can tell from the way he makes sure you're always near him or within his sight."

"I know." She said with a smile but her voice sounded troubled.

I placed my hand on hers. "You alright?"

There was that smile again, followed by a shake of her head. "I'm fine."

"Just…worried?" I tried.

"I'm afraid he'll do something stupid and gets hurt." She sighed.

"You really love him, don't you?"

This time she smiled genuinely.

"I know someone who looks after you." Maggie's smile turned into a smirk and she nodded her head in Daryl's direction.

"You mean, make sure I don't screw up and be the death of us all?"

Maggie rolled her eyes. "You know very well that's not why. Well, maybe a little." She then joked. "All I'm saying, is that he watches you in the way I watch Glenn. That's how I know."

"…If you say so." I rested my eyes on Daryl's silhouette lying on the couch.

I knew he was awake, he was always awake. That man couldn't sleep even with twenty people keeping watch. He needed to be alert at all times. The only time when I had ever seen him sleep was, actually, I couldn't recall a single moment. But who knew. He might be asleep now, he sure managed to stay perfectly still, like a marble statue. 

"Do you still think about Andrew?" Maggie suddenly asked, rapidly pulling me back to reality. 

Andrew? I averted my gaze and stared through the window into the darkness of the street. Almost half a year has passed since I'd shot Andrew. It was no longer a secret to the group that I had done so. Killed her boyfriend who'd been bitten by a Walker. Killed him in cold blood before turning the gun on herself only to no longer have a single bullet left. The group didn't no about the latter bit. 

But Maggie's question made me think. When was the last time I had really thought about Andrew? Sure he crossed my mind, especially in the beginning and basically every time I held a gun in my hand. But now months later…I hardly dared to admit it. But if anyone would understand, it would be Maggie. 

"I want to say I do…" I answered softly.

"But you don't?"

"I should."

"It's alright, Madison." Maggie assured me.

I shook my head, "It's not. I was with him for a long time, you'd think that meant something?"

"You can't choose what stays and what fades away." Maggie continued trying to comfort me. 

Rubbing my eyes, I let out a short groan. "I'm a horrible person."

"Don't be silly now."

"Did I ever tell you that he proposed to me and I said no?" 

That caused her to go quiet. Maggie didn't reply, however, she did got up and headed towards my. Placing a hand on my arm, I knew it was futile to say absolutely nothing else about it. I'd already opened the can, time to let out some of the worms.

"Proposing right before he was turning into one of those things, after having just told me I had to shoot,-" My breath caught in my throat, and only a small squeak came out.

"Maddy, I'm sorry." Maggie said sympathetically.

"I'm the one who should be sorry. He was,-" I sighed and lowered my voice, "He was dying and I didn't want to say yes."

"He knew you loved him."

She was being so nice. But it wasn't having it's desired effect. "I left the ring on Emily's grave back at the farm. The ring had been hers, but it was the last thing I had of him and I didn't even want it near me."

I turned my back to the window, pulled my legs up and rested my head against my knees. Maggie squeezed my shoulder once more, but stayed quiet. What else was there to say?

::::::…::::::

I must have fallen asleep last night at some point, for when I opened my eyes the sun was shining. It was good to see the sun again surrounded by a clear blue sky, but that also meant it would be another cold day. I slowly looked around me and saw nothing but an empty room. I immediately sat up straight.

Where had everybody gone? I grabbed my crowbar from the ground and rushed out of the living room. They wouldn't have left without me. They would never do that to me, so where was everybody?

"Daryl?" I called out.

No reply.

I checked the kitchen, which also turned out to be empty. No Hershel and no Beth. I checked the hallway, the toilet and even upstairs, only to find nothing. The entire house was empty. I was sure that I had checked everything until I spotted a closed door across the upper staircase. How could I have missed that one? As I got closer to it, I noticed small footprints on the carpet. Dark red prints. Blood?

I stopped in front of the door.

"Sophia?"

My heart pounded rapidly and its pace increased when I grabbed hold of the knob. With shaky hands I slowly opened the door, afraid of what I would find behind it. The small red footprints continued their way into a bright white bathroom, the trail leading to the bathtub where the shower curtain obscured my view of what was inside.

I couldn't bring myself to open the curtain, for somehow I knew that whatever was behind it was something I did not want to see. I stepped back and turned away from it, but as I turned the room rotated and I still faced the tub. I turned around again and again. No matter how many times I turned, the bathtub along with the shower curtain would be right in front of me.

"Wake up..." I whispered and I closed my eyes.

I waited a few seconds before opening them, but when I did, I was still in the bathroom.

"WAKE UP!" I yelled at myself once more. 

There was no escaping this. It was clear what I had to do. I breathed heavily as I reached for the curtain. With one swift pull I yanked it open revealing, what had to be, my worst nightmare.

The once white tub was coloured a dark red and within lay everybody I knew, all piled up within the small space. Bodies stacked on top of each other, arms and legs sticking out in every direction…broken, bended in ungodly ways. 

I fell to my knees and cried out. I lifted my head and looked at them one by one. Sophia and Daryl, everyone was there, even Dale, Shane, Emily and…Andrew.

His hand stretched out to me in a fist, as if he wanted to hand me something. I swallowed the lump in my throat and carefully opened his closed hand. Emily's diamond ring fell out and landed on the bathroom tiles with a loud clang. I reached for it and held it within my own hands.

"I'm sorry Andrew." I whispered.

Andrew's fingers began to twitch. Without warning his hand jolted forward and wrapped its icy fingers around my throat and tightened its grip.

He lifted his head, and I noticed the gigantic hole in his forehead, the place where my bullet had struck him. I tried to pull his hand from me, but I couldn't.

"Liar..." He gurgled and blood spilled from his blue lips. 

My eyes stared to water and my vision became blurry, I wheezed loudly before I felt myself falling backwards.

::::::…::::::

"Shh, sshhh," A voice said. The cold hand still had a firm grip on me and I tried my very best to fight it off. Clawing, hitting, scratching.

"Maddy, stop it!" the voice now hissed.

I opened my eyes and stared right at the face of Maggie Greene. It was her hand pressed against my mouth.

"Jesus,-" She breathed. "You okay?" Slowly she removed her hand and I coughed a few times before rubbing my throat.

"Geez, Maggie…" I croaked at her.

"Geez Maggie?" She said in a whisper, "I was not the one screaming from the top of my lungs."

"I was screaming?"

"Like a pig."

I looked around the room. Glenn was still asleep. I moved my eyes to the couch and saw Daryl sitting up straight staring right at me. 

"It was only a nightmare." I said to Maggie.

"I could hear that." She retorted, "Good thing I got to you before you woke up the whole house."

I wiped the sweat of my brow and breathed in deeply through my nose to calm my pounding heart. Daryl had heard me. He must have, why else would he look at me that way?

He always looks at you. Sophia's voice sprang in mind.

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. Maggie stood up and patted my shoulder, "I'll give you some of my water."

I took hold of her hand, "Thank you." She nodded and walked to the hallway.

I couldn't bring myself to look at Daryl, his intense stare literally felt as if they were burning into my skin. Instead I moved my gaze to Glenn, who was still asleep on the floor. He must have been really out of it if he hadn't woken up from all that. From the corner of my eyes I saw Daryl move in his seat. Was he getting up? Please, no. I had no desire to talk.

Thankfully, Maggie came back from the hallway, carrying a water bottle in her hand. She handed it to me and I took a few sips before putting the cap back on.

"I think I'll go outside for a moment." 

"Go outside, are you crazy? Rick will have a fit if he knows you're,-"

Rick, Rick, Rick.

"I'll be fine. I'll be on the porch. If anything happens I'll run inside." I assured her.

She hesitated, but in the end she eventually gave in. I grabbed my crowbar from the floor just to be safe, walked out of the living room and silently opened and closed the front door behind me.

The night breeze felt good on my warm and sweating skin. I walked over the wooden boards and sat down on the steps connecting the porch to the gravel path. I haven't had a nightmare like that in a long time…Not since I met the others. Why now? All because of what I'd told Maggie? I can't believe I actually nearly caused the entire house to wake up. It must be from the lack of nutrition that caused the nightmare to happen. Thank goodness it was only a dream. 

Everyone dead…dead, murdered…mangled.

I gasped loudly and jumped as something touched my back.

"Relax." A soft husky voice said. Daryl continued draping the blanket over my back and shoulders.

"You startled me." I said slightly relieved to see it wasn't a Walker that had almost scared the living daylights out of me.

Without saying a word, Daryl stepped away after he had covered me with the blanket and grabbed his crossbow which lay by the door. He walked back and stared into the empty street for a moment, before bending his knees to sit down.

"I don't want to talk." I said as soon as he sat next to me.

"It's my turn to keep watch." He replied.

"Of course it is." I muttered.

An uncomfortable silence fell between us. I could see Daryl from the corner of my eye still staring into the ongoing darkness of the night. His turn to keep watch, my ass. 

"Maggie was really worried." He muttered.

"Everyone has nightmares." I answered shortly.

"Not like that, they have."

I sighed deeply. "Look, I don't know. I thought I was fine, you know. Being with all of you instead of being alone. Hiding from the world. From others...from myself. I thought it would make me strong again. Be who I was once upon a time."

Daryl turned his head and watched me quietly as I continued.

"I'm grateful for everyone. For the acceptance, the protection, I feel part of the group. I really do...But yet at the same time…" I paused for a moment, "…I've never felt lonelier."

Daryl shook his head. "None of us are the same as we were before this shit happened."

I watched him as he continued talking, "And you're not alone."

Perhaps he was right and when I thought about it, I never felt lonely with Daryl. Even the times where he would turn from me or walk away, yell and scream at me. Calling me stupid. I don't know why, but I always knew that somehow, one way or another, we'd go back to each other. How the moon controls the tides. The water always comes back to shore.

"Maybe Maggie was right then..." I looked away and up at the sky. "You can't always choose what stays and what fades away. I don't know how to explain it, Daryl. It's like I want something, but I can't have it. It slips through my fingers every time." I gazed into his eyes. "You know what I mean?"

He opened his mouth, but closed it again.

"Do you?" I asked again.

I watched Daryl stand up, saying nothing except for a little nod upwards with his head, indicating for me to follow. I wrapped the blanket closer around me and did as he silently asked. I followed him back to the door but neither of us reached for the handle. I felt weird. Naked. Warm. I shouldn't have said anything. 

"I know what you mean." His voice was nothing more but a mere whisper.

He turned his head and the upper right corner of his mouth twitched. A shiver shot through me. Not out of fear, but due to something else. It settled in my stomach, making me feel full and empty at the same time and there was that warm feeling again. I quickly placed my hand on his arm, before he had the chance to open the door. When was the last time I'd felt this?

I licked my lips and for a second I wondered if kissing him was a good idea, but it was too late to stop myself for I was already leaning forward.

I turned Daryl to me and pulled him closer. Without hesitation I captured his lips with mine and closed my eyes as the tingling sensation erupted inside me.
Daryl tense up and I slowly pulled back from the kiss. He was breathing rapidly, his chest moving up and down as if he had run for miles and miles. I bit my lip and felt the sudden urge to apologize. 

I parted my lips, but unexpectedly got pinned between a wall and Daryl Dixon. His lips were warm, his kisses hurried and inexperienced, but his grip firm and determined to hold me in my place. I slowly deteriorated into a pile of mush and the butterflies in my stomach were out of control as Daryl held me closer than he had ever allowed me before.

I forgot all about the outside world, until we both heard the indistinctive moans of a Walker in the distance. Both breathing heavily, we stopped and looked at each other.

"Keeping watch?" I said softly.

"Got that right," He whispered and stepped back.

The blanket had fallen off me and I quickly bent over to retrieve it as Daryl headed down the gravel path to take care of the upcoming Walker.

I listened as the arrow flew off the crossbow and pierced the Walker. I walked to the steps and waited for Daryl to pull the arrow out from between the Walker's eyes and come back to the house. But he didn't. Instead he simply stood at the end of the path, looking down both ends of the street. I shook my head with a smile and walked back to the door, sat down in front of it and stayed there watching him instead.

Ultimately, I spent the entire night outside on the porch while Daryl kept watch. It was cold, but the blanket he had given me provided enough warmth to stay there with him. My lips formed a small smile as I stared at his back. For once I was glad for my bluntness. Maybe it was because of the dream, or maybe it was because of his words, but I couldn't hold back. From the moment we'd been locked in that drugstore things had changed. Over the past weeks I'd been having these unexplainable feelings around him. Feelings I never imagined to experience again and I wasn't even sure if they were real…

Perhaps I didn't want them to be real. I took most of his actions as signs of kindness and nothing more than that. I know Sophia had mentioned it before, hinted it, multiple times in fact and not only Sophia…Andrea too.

"Speaking of storm. I heard Daryl punched Randall yesterday?"

"Who told you that?"

"Shane."

"Ah. He did though. Randall sort of insulted my 'honour'."

"And Daryl punched him."

"It happened really fast." 

"Best not to tell Carol what happened."  Andrea said.

Whatever she was implying back then, I took no notice. In the end it was Maggie who made me realize I was blind to the obvious signs. I should have known, his stares, the way he comforted and confronted me…the eavesdropping at the creek. A chuckle escaped me and for a quick second Daryl turned around. I shook my head, letting him know it was nothing and he moved his eyes back to the road.

He always showed up when I needed him. The time Lori and I had left the farm unannounced, he went to look for me. The time I left the group, he wanted to find me. Not to forget carrying me all the way to the house when Shane had nearly killed me. The anger in his eyes when he saw my beat up face after Nate had attacked me and Sophia.

I could go on and on, thinking he only reacted the way that he did because it was in his nature to be protective. After all, he had spent days looking for Sophia when she went missing, why would that be any different from the times I had been in trouble? He never showed it. Never made a move, he only watched from afar, always watching…observing. A lot of people did that, it didn't necessarily mean anything. I guess I was wrong about that.

I lifted my hand and touched my lips, swollen from his kisses. I stopped my line of thoughts there and lowered my hand. A familiar feeling crept up, and it wasn't a nice one. It was a feeling of guilt.

Months had passed since Andrew's death and here I was falling for someone else. How long was I suppose to mourn, in fact, was I still mourning? My state of euphoria was gone and all I could think of was what other people would think of me. The world was different now, the rules had been changed and besides everyone dealt with things in their own way and at their own pace. I shouldn't be bothered by this, there was no one left to judge me.

I closed my eyes and leaned back against the house, my mind went back to the moment when I touched Daryl's lips with mine. How he had pinned me to the wall, how his hands grabbed hold of me in a tight grip, his hungry kisses and grunts as he pulled me closer and closer. A satisfying moan escaped me and I opened my eyes again.

"Sun's coming up." Daryl said with his back turned to the street this time. I looked up at him quietly, smiled, got of from the floor and stepped towards him.

"Time to go back inside," I folded the blanket, but Daryl kept in the same spot, unwavering.

"Aren't you coming?" I asked.

Truthfully, I was feeling a little reluctant to go inside. I wanted to stay out here with Daryl. It almost felt as if going back into the house would wake me up and fling me back into reality. That none of this had really happened.  I had kissed Daryl because I wanted it more than anything in that moment.  But I fail to think through what would happen once that step had been taken.

Had it been nothing more than just one moment of vulnerability shared between the two of us? Were we going to be like Maggie and Glenn or would we hide it from the others? It seemed to me that Daryl was also unsure what to do too.

"Daryl, I,-"

"Mads, I,-"

We both started, followed by an awkward chuckle. At the same time Daryl walked to me. Standing a few inches for each other, Daryl tilted his head back and looked up at the house. I pressed my lips together, shifted my weight and held the folded blanket close to my chest.

He then lowered his gaze and stared into my eyes. My breathing hitched and my lips slowly parted.

"We should,-" I began as at the same time he said, "Now's not the time to,-"

We both paused.

"Not the time to talk?" I said, hoping he intended to say something along those lines.

God how I wished he meant that, and that he wasn't planning on saying anything such as, now is not the time for anything to happen or we shouldn't be doing this, it had been a mistake. 

"We should talk, but,-"

"But not now." I finished his sentence.

"Yeah…"

I moved my arm for a moment, retracted it only to reach out again and then placed my hand on his arm, "Daryl, I,-"

"You're talking." He said hoarsely.

I rolled my eyes at his comment. Would it be wrong to kiss him again before heading back into the real world? I glanced at his lips and at the same time wetted my own. Daryl noticed, a growl emitted from his throat and he leaned in.

A click sounded and the front door opened up, startling both of us and we immediately jumped away from one another. I turned my head to the house and there stood Carol.

"Morning," She said.

I quickly looked over her shoulder, at the solid front door. No glass window. She couldn't have seen a thing.

"Morning, Carol." I smiled at her. Daryl gave her a nod.

"I'll go back inside." I said to the both of them. I quietly shut the door behind me and exhaled deeply. A secret it will be…for now.

::::::…::::::

"What are you doing?" Sophia asked me as I stood in front of the window, staring outside with my eyes fixed upon the porch.

"Keeping an eye out," I answered her. Sophia placed her elbows in the window and pressed her small nose against the glass.

"On mom and Daryl?"

"I'm making sure that there won't be any surprise Walker visits."

"Right…" Sophia said, moving away from the window. She looked up at me and stifled a giggle. Why that little!

I grabbed Sophia by her shoulder and veered her back to the window.

"You keep watch." I said with a pat on her back.

"Are you kidding?" The young girl raised an eyebrow.

"I never kid." I replied.

I sat down in the chair near her and closed my eyes, "This will be a test for you. To see if you got what it takes to keep watch."

Sophia snorted but leaned against the window nonetheless. "I think you're worried about them."

I opened one eye to look at her. "I have no desire for them to be eaten, if that's what you mean."

"Sure, Maddy, that's what I meant." Sophia retorted. Who was she learning this behaviour from?

It didn't take long for the room to fill up. Soon enough the Grimes family descended down the staircase, followed by Hershel and Beth.

"Morning," Rick greeted me and Sophia.

"Morning."

"Where are the others?" He looked around the living room.

"Kitchen and porch," I told him and off he went. Lori watched her husband walk away before turning her attention on me.

"You had a good night?" She asked.

I couldn't hold the smile back which started to form on my face. "One of the best. You?"

Lori shrugged and stepped to look out of the window. "Had better nights." She placed her hands on her growing baby belly.

I cocked my head and watched the sunlight shine its rays on the pregnant brunette. She and Rick were not on good terms at the moment. Sure they slept in the same room and stayed near each other, but they hardly ever spoke and when they did it would always turn into a discussion. I could see the corner of her lip moving up. She was smiling at something, something outside.

"Your mom looks happy, doesn't she?" Lori placed her arm around Sophia's shoulder. I sat up straight and leaned forward.

"So does Daryl." The brunette added. Sophia turned her head to look at me. I winked at her.

"They look so serene and,-" Sophia slipped away from Lori's arm and rushed to the front door.

I got up and moved to stand next to Lori.

"I think Sophia has a hard time seeing her mother with another man." Lori said to me, her eyes still focused on the pair on the porch.

I didn't reply. Sophia walked out of the house and stepped between her mother and Daryl. She pointed to the window where Lori and I were standing. Lori waved casually. I glanced at Lori and a chuckle escaped me. "Yeah, I reckon that's it."

Everyone assembled into the kitchen, where Rick would lay out the next set of plans. Although we all knew what he was going to say, we've got to move on, which was exactly what he said as soon as Carol, Daryl and Sophia entered the kitchen.

"We've got to move on."

A few people groaned, including me. I knew he was right but never staying in one place longer than two nights was getting to me. I was used to moving around, I always moved around when I was alone. The luxury of the farm was a lucky shot. The raid had proven that no place was safe.

Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, and keep alert. Those were the rules we lived by. We had no choice in the matter. For the past months we've been moving around without encountering other people. Which was weird considering Georgia's population was over 9 million. I wondered what that number was now…

I noticed Maggie whispering something in Glenn's ear. Glenn looked at her for a second before shaking his head. Maggie sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Can't we stay a bit longer?" This question came from Beth. Normally Beth stayed quiet and agreed with the decisions, so I was surprised to hear her speak up.

"Can we, dad?" Carl looked up at his father.

I leaned against the doorpost watching the children, including Sophia, looking at Rick expectantly. Alas Rick shook his head. "We have to keep moving."

"Hi…" Daryl voice sounded behind me. 

"Hi." I replied, not looking at him. But I couldn't hold back the small smile my mouth was forming. 

Within ten minutes everything was packed and everyone was ready to head out of the house.

We sneaked out through the backdoor to the vehicles. Rick waited, making sure we all got out of the house before he shut the door behind him. Everyone got into a car, except for Daryl and I. The motorcycle was our means of transportation, as it always was. I threw one last glance at the house, taking in as many details as I could. I wanted to remember it. 

Even if it had been one moment in time and nothing else would come of it. I had to hold on to that feeling. That something, for one moment, had not slipped through my fingers. 

"You okay?" Daryl asked me as soon as I popped into the seat behind him.

"I think so." I smiled.

Chapter Text

I wasn't exactly sure what month we were in. But the snow was gone, warm breezes had returned and the trees were decorated with bright green leaves as well as tiny flowers popping up in the grassy fields. Winter was finally over, only how much time had passed? It was difficult to tell.

Speaking of popping, Lori looked as if she was ready to pop any day now, which was sort of a way to tell how many months had gone by. It couldn't have been more than three though. Her belly had a lovely round shape, but this also meant that we had to stop more often whenever we were going around on foot. There were days when the cars were out of fuel, making it impossible for us to drive around. Eventually the problem would also get solved, but during winter time...well, it wasn't fun. 

What made it more annoying was that Rick had appointed me on Lori duty. It was common for Lori to stay behind somewhere safe while the rest of us would raid a house or a store. Usually this meant she would stay in one of the cars, sometimes with Sophia and other times Carol would be there too. Carl never did. He always followed his father, wearing that big sheriff's hat and holding his own gun with both of his hands. But me, I had to stay behind and take care of the Walkers or anything else unwanted that might appear. 

Today was another one of those days. Lori sat in the passenger's seat while Sophia had lowered the window and was leaning on it, eyeing me as I kept watch.

"I'm tired." She whispered softly.

"Take a nap." I whispered back.

I felt my shirt move, when I turned I saw Sophia holding the fabric within her hand, "Mmm?"

She pointed to the left at a Walker. I removed her hand and headed towards it. This one was quite slow. It didn't even react until I was a few feet away. It gurgled and slowly limped in my direction. I raised my arm and struck four times. Once more when it hit the dirt, making sure it was dead. 

I turned back around and found Sophia standing next to the car, the sunlight reflecting on the blade of her knife.

"Watching my back, are we?" I said as I approached her. She nodded and I ruffled her hair. "Thank you."

I glanced through the car window at Lori, who sat leaning against the glass with her head with her eyes closed. Her hands resting on top of her stomach. An uneasy feeling settled in mine. I'd heard the story. He'd been in a coma for two months right after the outbreak had happened. 

Nobody spoke of it, but everyone knew that the child was probably Shane's. Someone I'd rather not think of. Perhaps no one really cared that the baby inside Lori wasn't Rick's. I placed my arm around Sophia's shoulder and pulled her against me. She was also looking at Lori.

"Maddy?" She suddenly said.

"Sophia."

"Do you like babies?"

I frowned at her question.

"Babies?" I looked back from Sophia to Lori and her big stomach.

"I don't know. I guess when they're asleep it's alright." I replied to her.

Babies were cute. That's basically it. They smell, they cry, they poop a million times a day and they need constant attention. Look away for one minute and they're gone! No, wait, that's toddlers.

"But you and Daryl,-" Sophia began, but immediately stopped when I swiftly turned my head around.

"Me and Daryl what?" I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest.

Sophia wrinkled her nose and looked at me as if I had just insulted her, "Really?"

The night on the porch seemed miles away. And though there have been many moments since then where Daryl and I reconnected in the same manner, we'd never spoken to anyone about that night or the fact that something was going on between us. It was running its course in its own way. Turns out words weren't really necessary, it just happened. I got the feeling Daryl felt more comfortable this way and besides, it wasn't anybody's business whether or not that there was something going on. 

But I had to admit that it felt good when Maggie started to put the pieces together.

::::::…::::::

A few months ago

It had happened only a week later, during one of my watches. I was sitting on top of a roof having a good view of the surrounding area, enjoying the clear starry night while wearing a new pair of gloves Daryl brought back for me from one of the nearby houses, when Maggie decided to keep me company. She climbed through the open window, holding a can of food in her hand.

"You hungry?" She asked, lifting the tin can for me to see.

"Starving actually." Which was true, food was scarce. We still hadn't collected a decent collection of food yet.

I took the can from Maggie and opened the lid to peek inside. Peaches. I scooped one out with my fingers and dropped the piece of fruit in my mouth.

"Mmm…" I smiled contently with closed eyes.

"Don't tell Lori though, she'd go mad." Maggie smirked.

I swallowed the peach and offered Maggie a piece, "My lips are sealed."

The oldest Greene daughter smiled and took the can from me.

"Speaking of lips," She said casually. "Last week you told me that you and Daryl are not involved?"

Luckily I had already swallowed the piece of fruit otherwise I would have choked on it at that moment.

"I said that, yes." I squinted as I stared at her. "Something on your mind, Maggie?

"Nope." She replied as she took another peach from the can. 

I turned my eyes back on the area in front of the house. It was a quiet night. From the corner of my eye I could see Maggie staring at me. The expression on her face reminded me of the Mona Lisa. A lopsided smile, as if she knew something that I didn't.

I removed my right glove and flung it at her. It hit her on the shoulder. She chuckled as she picked it up and handed it back to me.

"You seem different." She said.

"Different how?" I asked her.

"You're smiling more."

I shook my head. I understood now. She knew. I don't know how exactly. Probably she's seen it happened. Snooping through the window like some...Snoop.  What happened that night on the porch, I didn't ask her if she had seen it, I didn't need to know.

::::::…::::::

I reckoned since Maggie knew, Glenn surely did too. It wouldn't be long before more would figure it out, though I doubted Glenn or Maggie would openly tell other people. On the other hand, Daryl and I didn't flaunt it around in the same manner as those two did. But even Sophia knew something had changed, but I realized that she had always been hinting, perhaps even pushing us towards each other.

"I know where babies come from, Maddy." Sophia's voice broke me from the memory.

What did she say?

"Scuse me?" I asked her.

Sophia placed her hands on her hips. "Babies, Maddy. I know where babies come from."

I was not having this conversation with a teenager. I spun around to the direction of the house where Rick, Daryl and the others were currently inside. What was taking them so long?

"Why don't you go and bother your mother?"

"Ugh, you always say that!" Sophia complained, "I'm thirteen! I'm older than Carl, and nobody treats him like a child."

I stared at her. I remembered how Sophia was when I first met her. Scared, alone and basically a young child shielded from the horrors from the new world. Nowadays I only see glimpses of that girl. Now she's witty, independent, strong-willed and eager to learn how to protect herself.

"You're right." I agreed. "You're absolutely right. My apologies."

Sophia nodded. "Thank you."

"And to answer your previous question, I think one baby in the group is more than enough at the moment." I told Sophia.

"But these things can happen, right? Aren't you guys…you know?"

"Oh for the love of,-"

This girl did not know when to stop. I lowered my crowbar and glowered at Sophia. I was this close of shoving her back into the car, but luckily for her, the door of the house finally opened up and one by one everyone walked out. Sophia hurried to her mother as Rick and Daryl approached me, Lori and the car.

"Nothing to get here," Rick sighed.

He peeked over my shoulder, his eyes settling on the front of the car. A small smile crept upon his face. His gaze shifted to the left, towards the dead Walker in the dirt.

"Was that the only one?" He said nodding his head in the direction of the Walker.

"Just the one," I replied. 

"Good…and thank you." He quickly added.

"Always, Rick. So, are we staying here for the night?" I asked him.

A frown formed on his forehead, his gaze moving back to Lori. All this roaming around and running all the time was taking its toll on all of us. Rick knew it and I'd addressed it multiple times to him. But he was set on moving around. In the back of my mind I knew it had to do with the farm, what other reason could it be? If even a supposed safe place, like that place had been, could be overrun with Walkers out of nowhere. Was there a safe place anywhere?

"It's better for Lori if she gets to sleep in a bed." I once again tried to persuade him. "It's better for the baby."

"Hershel said the same thing." Rick answered. He fell quiet and looked at me, then a few seconds later a sigh escaped him. "Fine. I'll tell the others we're spending the night here."

With that said he walked back to the house where Hershel and the rest of the Greene family stood waiting with an expectant look on their faces. Guess that settled it. I smiled but my attention soon shifted as a pair of strong hands grabbed hold of my shoulders and I could feel his warm breath tickling my neck.

"Hi."

"Hi." I replied.

Daryl's right hand slid down and tapped against the tip of my crpwbar.

"How many times?"

"Four…five to make sure."

He stepped around me and took the crowbar from my hands without warning. "I'll give you my gun." He reached for his holster but I stopped him.

"I'm fine." I assured him.

"Four to five hits, Mads." He said with concern.

"I know..."

"You're gettin' my share today."

I let out a sound of protest, but Daryl wouldn't have any of it. He knew I was getting weaker. Even though winter had been difficult, the spring wasn't easy either. There wasn't a lot of food, and our group was quite big. There were a lot of mouths to feed. Four hits to bring down one Walker, was simply absurd. Usually one big blow followed by another for safety had always been enough.

I placed my hand on top of his and rubbed small circles with my thumb. Daryl let out a deep breath. I smiled again. Though I stopped quickly when I noticed the others coming our way. Rick halted next to us as the rest stepped into the vehicles.

"We need a place to stay for a few weeks." Rick said, "I talked to Hershel. He thinks it best considering Lori's state. It's getting too dangerous now."

"I thought we had already decided on that." I frowned.

"We had, but this place is no good." He explained.

I looked up at the house. He was right, it wouldn't do well. It was quite small. Fine for a few nights, but a few weeks…or longer even. No, it indeed would not do.

"Moving on it is." Daryl said to Rick.

"My thoughts exactly," He replied.

And so we did. Again.

::::::…::::::

Two hours later

Panting heavily, Rick and Daryl came rushing back from between the trees. Lori stuck her head out of the car at the sight of her husband. Running was hardly ever a good sign. But from the look of things, they appeared alright at first glance. I quickly stepped away from the car as they approached us. 

"What happened?" I asked worriedly.

"We found a place." Rick answered. He paused to catch his breath as the rest of the group gathered around.

"A place? Where?" This question came from Carol.

Daryl pointed behind him, between the trees. "Near the train tracks." He averted his gaze to me. "A prison."

"A prison?" Lori had gotten out of the car. She crossed her arms over her chest. "You mean fences, gates and…how many Walkers?"

"If we can get inside the fences, we'll be pretty secluded from the Walkers out here." Rick said to his wife.

"What about the Walkers inside?" She questioned.

Rick shook his head. " First things first. Then we'll discuss the next plan of action."

The prison was huge. Rick was right about the fence. It surrounded the entire building. Courtyard, watch towers and a billion inmates who were now all Walkers. This would be a safe place if you took out every single one of them. Lori could give birth somewhere inside, instead of outside on the road. A prison also meant food, beds and other facilities. But there were so many Walkers.

An uneasy feeling crept over me. A prison was a place where people would be unable to get out of. What if we got trapped in there? Inside those brick walls with no windows, and what if there were still people alive in there? Criminals, murderers, and rapists, I swallowed a lump which had formed in my throat.

But this was the plan. Our best bet, according to Rick, Daryl and practically everybody else. We were going to go in. Clear out as many as we could. It was going to be a long day, but if we succeeded, it would be a grand prize to receive. 

Rick cut the fence open and pushed it apart so we could climb through. I stayed close to Sophia, who, even though was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, seemed a bit taken aback by the amount of Walkers surrounding the fence. A plan was set up. Rick appointed Daryl and Carol to one of the watchtowers and Carl and Hershel to another. The rest of us would distract the Walkers so Rick could make a run for it.

It went down surprisingly easier than I'd expected, for ten minutes later, we had managed to clear out the Walkers within the fence. Had they been in a weakened state from not having been able to feed for a while? Whatever had made it so easy, luck had definitely been on our side. We were safe for now, safe from the Walkers on the outside of the fence, and those within the prison's courtyard. For the first time I counted more smiles on people faces than I had in a long time. Tonight would be a night of rest. Something we all desperately needed. 

The night was clear and filled with thousands of stars. I was lying on my back on top of a car we'd toppled over against one of the gates, looking up at those stars quietly as Daryl stood next to me, keeping his eyes out for any unwanted guests. Behind us in the distance were the others, sitting around a campfire enjoying a simple put together meal.

"D'ya eat yet?" Daryl asked.

"Mmm," I replied.

"Good." He said.

I moved up, leaning on my elbows.

"You worry too much. It's sweet of you, but you don't need to."

"I ain't worrying."

"You ain't?" I frowned at him.

"Just making sure you keep your strength." He continued. "We need everyone to be strong. When you're weak, you die."

I arched my eyebrow. "Scuse me?"

"You heard me."

"Are you calling me weak, Daryl?"

"If that's what you heard."

"No. No, no. I heard what you said." I got on my feet and looked up at him. "I heard you fine. I need to keep my strength, because the weak ones die."

"Right."

"Right."

"Might I remind you that I took care of myself for a long time before I met any of you guys?"

Daryl pressed his lips in a thin line. I pressed my index finger against his chest.

"I'm not a weakling!" I hissed. Daryl grabbed hold of my wrist.

"I know that." He whispered. "I'm only,-"

"You're only what? Not worried?"

He averted his gaze towards the campfire where the group was sitting. Someone was making their way over to us. Daryl released my wrist and turned his back to me.

"You know what, fine." I bent down. "If that's the way you want it."

I climbed down and headed over towards the others. It was Carol who passed me as I walked away from Daryl. She was carrying a plate of food. It was obvious where she was going and I couldn't help but stop turn my head, watching as the short-haired woman climbed on top of the vehicle with help from Daryl.

I angrily bit the inside of my cheek and continued my way to the group. A soft singing greeted me as I reached the fire. I stepped next to Sophia.

"Of all the money, that e'er I had…I spent it in good company."

It was Beth. I sat down in the grass and watched the youngest Greene girl sing to her heart's content.

"And all I've done for want of wit, to memory now I can't recall…so fill to me the parting glass. Goodnight and joy be with you all."

I closed my eyes and rested my chin upon my knees, as Maggie joined her sister in song.

"Oh all the comrades, that e'er I had, were sorry for my going away…and all the sweethearts, that e'er I had, would wish me one more day to stay."

When I reopened my eyes I found Daryl and Carol making their way to us. Carol had a big smile plastered on her face. I huffed quietly, watching as she sat down next to her daughter.

"But since it falls unto my lot, that I should rise and you should not, ill gently rise and ill softly call, goodnight and joy be with you all."

"Good night and joy be with you all." I mouthed along quietly.

A warm hand rested on my lower back. I looked to my right and saw Daryl sitting next to me, his eyes resting on the bright red and orange flames. And when he slowly started to move his hand, I felt as warm as the fire in front of me.

The next day

There was no doubt about it. The prison would be our home. At least we would try to make it our home. There was no doubt in Rick's mind. He wanted this more than anything, it's been a long time since I'd seen him this eager and set on something. A goldmine. That's what he called it. This place could be a goldmine.

T-dog, Daryl, Rick, Glenn, Maggie and I. We all headed through the gate into the courtyard. Hershel and Carl closed up behind us and watched as we went in. No use of firearms, only when necessary, the noise alone would attract every single Walker surrounding the prison. We walked through the courtyard within a circle, our backs turned to the centre, to secure a good protection.

I could hear the others yelling in the back, luring the Walkers from the courtyard to them, which bought us some time and space to take care of them without being overrun.

I caught Maggie struggling with a Walker wearing body armour, probably a former prison guard. It was impossible to give them a blow to the head, making my crowbar useless. Maggie's quick thinking turned the odds in our favour. As I pulled the Walker back from her, she pushed its head up and stuck her knife into its throat, pointed upwards so it would hit the brain.

Maggie breathed heavily as I released the Walker and it hit the ground. Her face beaming with joy at her new found solution on killing the armoured ones.

T-dog, Glenn and the others followed her example and soon enough the four prison guards were taken care of.

I don't know exactly how long we were in there, but there wasn't a single thing moving, except for us and the Walkers locked within another courtyard. Guards, inmates, and even civilians. We all stopped and glanced down at the woman on the ground.

"We can't risk a blind spot." Rick said, "We're going in."

Terrific…

The inside of the prison was dark. Pitch black. We traversed down the corridor and reached an open space. Large windows provided the room with some light. We each headed down a direction quietly. I didn't find much except for a few dead Walkers, former inmates. The following room was a row of cell blocks. Several Walkers were locked up behind the bars, their arms reaching out, moaning as we passed them. Maggie, Glenn and I went back outside to get the others, while Rick, Daryl and T-dog took care of the undead inmates.

"Looks too good to be true doesn't it?" Maggie said as we walked through the courtyard, surrounded by the dead Walkers.

"I'm worried about the civilian we spotted." Glenn sighed.

"Me too…" I agreed.

Rick was right, we couldn't afford a blind spot and this prison was huge. If a civilian was in here, there were sure to be more, which meant there was probably an open spot in the prison. The question was where?

I waved at Sophia who stood between Carl and Hershel.

"Where are the others?" She asked me as Hershel opened the gate for us.

"Inside and they're fine." I smiled. "Go grab you bag, we're moving in."

Sophia quickly scurried off, followed by Carl. Hershel waited until they were out of sight before speaking, "Anything we should know before going inside?"

I exchanged glances with Maggie and Glenn. Maggie cleared her throat and looked at her father. "Lots of places left to check." She said.

"We're not sure if the prison is safe." Glenn added, "But the block we're in now seems secure enough."

"I think we'd better inform the others about moving in." I said, interrupting the conversation.

Hershel nodded. "Sounds like a plan." He looked at his daughter and Glenn, "You two go on ahead."

With a confused look on both their faces they walked off.

"You seem worried." Hershel said as soon as the two had left.

"I don't really enjoy being locked up." I nodded in the direction of the prison. "I mean it's nice to have a safe haven, but…I don't know about this, Hershel."

"Nothing is handed on a silver platter?"

"And this platter looks more like platinum." I answered.

"I understand your concern, but for now it is our safest bet." He placed his hand on my upper back and together we walked through the gate.

::::::…::::::

The bed wasn't too uncomfortable but it sure beat sleeping on the back of the motorcycle or on hard floorboards. One thing was missing from this cell though. I glanced through the iron bars at Daryl's back. He didn't want to sleep in a cell so instead he decided to sleep on the perch, the space which connected the staircase with this row of cells.

Maggie and Glenn had their own cell next to mine, followed by Rick, Lori and Carl. Hershel shared his cell with Beth, Carol  shared one with Sophia and lastly T-dog, who had his own private cell…like me.

I lay back on the thin mattress and closed my eyes. How I've missed this. If I wasn't careful I'd fall asleep right on the spot. There were still places to clear. Could this really be a safe place for all of us? Rebuilding what we had on the farm. That had been a nice bed…

A soft and indistinguishable sound of shuffling entered the cell. Daryl stood next to me, holding the mattress from the top bunk. He didn't say a word. He simply watched me.

"Take it." I said to him, referring to the mattress. He gave a quick nod and pulled the whole thing down. Silently, he walked out of the cell and spread the thin pad in front of him.

I placed my feet on the floor, got up and grabbed hold of the iron bars of the cell. I stood there watching as Daryl set up his bed. When he was done, he turned around and came towards me.

"You know there is room for two in here." I smiled meekly at him.

I watched him peeking over my shoulder into the small, yet spacious enough for two, cell.

"It's not you." He said firmly, resting his eyes on me.

I looked up at him. "I know."

I only wished he could give some form of explanation as to why he didn't…why he didn't want to as well…I sighed. He moved a couple of inches and placed his hands on the iron bars right below mine. I lowered my hands and wrapped them around his.

The thing was that I never really knew how Daryl would respond to my touches. Sometimes he'd stay and give in, but sometimes he would retract or literally move away. Now I was sort of hoping he was going to stay, leaving his hands within mine. I could feel them twitch. I leaned my forehead against the bars. Guess I was more exhausted than I realized. 

"Daryl, I,-"

"I'm right here." He whispered. I stared into his eyes.

"Okay..."

Lord, how I wanted to kiss this man. Kissing him would lead up to more than just the one. Now was not the time.

::::::…::::::

"We'll do a quick check. Come right back when it's cleared." Rick said to me.

"Tell me again why I'm not in on this little expedition?"

"I feel better knowing you're with them." He explained. I crossed my arms over my chest as Rick pulled the vest over his head.

"I don't." I retorted.

He grinned and turned his attention to Carl, who also looked very eager and ready to join his father. Unfortunately that would not be the case. Like me, he was going to sit this one out. I walked over to Daryl, who stood next to the door of the cellblock.

"I'll kick your ass if something happens." I said under my breath.

"Noted." Daryl said, the corner of his mouth tilting upward.

Stupid man.

Carl waited all the while next to the door while his dad and the others were gone. His eyes fixed across the room to the dark corridor where he had last seen his father.  Sophia was on the ground next him, along with Beth. Lori and Carol were inside one of the cells, talking about the baby. Lori was scared. Scared something was wrong with her unborn child or that something would go wrong during the delivery. I understood too well how she felt, other than that these were no good conditions for a child to be born in. Everything was unsanitary, no medical equipment to help with the delivery. The only expertise there was around here, was good old Hershel, and whatever knowledge he had passed to Carol.

"I hope they come back soon." Beth said aloud. She was feeling uneasy with both her father and older sister out there roaming the prison.

"They will," Carl assured her, "Dad's with them."

"Don't forget about Daryl." Sophia added. She looked up at me and smiled.

I chuckled and glanced in the direction of Carl. How long had they been gone already but more importantly when would the return? It didn't take long for my question to be answered. Loud shouts erupted from across the open space. They were coming back. The cell door flung open and a cart was wheeled in. Rick called loudly to Carl to open the door.

"It's Hershel!"

Hershel…

I caught a flash of the farmer as the men pushed him in. Sophia jumped up and threw her arms around my waist. Everyone moved quickly, Hershel was placed on a bed with Carol and Lori at his side in seconds. He looked incredibly pale, what was going on? And where was Daryl?

I removed Sophia's arms from me but pulled her along towards the space before the corridor. I spotted him as soon as I had walked through the gate. I also stopped when I saw he was aiming his crossbow at the dark hallway. More Walkers?  I pulled Daryl's gun from my holster and aimed it at the same spot, pushing Sophia slightly back and behind me.

I breathed through my nose, not trying to think of Hershel. What had happened in there, would he be alright? What if he got bit?

It was then a man appeared from the corridor, immediately followed by another one, and another, and another…soon there were five men standing in the room. Judging by their outfits, these were no guards to the prison.

"Today's your lucky day fellas. You've been pardoned by the state of Georgia. You're free to go." Daryl said to the man standing at the front of the group.

"What's ya got going on in there?" The man asked. His dark wavy hair was incredibly greasy and tight back in half a bun. His eyes landed on me and Sophia. "That your family, gringo?"

"Ain't none of your concern." Daryl told him, not for one moment did he move. His entire demeanour focused on the inmates before him.

I nudged Sophia with my hip. I tried to tell her to go back to the others. Luckily she didn't object and quickly headed back to the cellblock. The man's eyes followed her for a minute before focusing his attention back on Daryl. His hands moved and he pulled the gun from his waistband. Daryl shifted his positioned, but the guy never raised the gun.

"We ain't leaving." He sounded determined.

Out of nowhere T-dog appeared from behind one of the pillars, his gun raised and aimed at the inmate, who immediately pulled his own weapon and pointed it at T-dog.

"You ain't coming in either."

"This is my house, my rules…I'll go where I damn well please!" The inmate responded.

"Put the gun down, nice and easy." I ordered him as I stepped next to Daryl.

The man huffed at my at my sudden interference. "I bet you are." He stepped forward.

Daryl followed his example, "You take one more step,-"

"Or what?!"

"You willing to find out?"

"Bring it on, gringo!"

"Just put the gun down. Nobody needs to get hurt." I tried again.

"Listen to her, we're outnumbered anyway." One of the others said to the guy with the gun.

"Are we now?" The inmate spat at him.

"You saw for yourself. And there's even a kid in here." The other guy continued.

"Shut up!" The inmate took another stepped and moved his aim from T-dog towards Daryl.

"I ain't gonna tell you again! There ain't nothing for you here." Daryl said with anger and threat in his voice.

They both started yelling at one another, at that moment something moved past me in a flash. Rick Grimes.

"Hey, Hey! Everyone relax!" Rick shouted at the men, "There is no need for this."

He turned his head. "You, go back to the others." He ordered me.

I shifted my eyes from Rick to Daryl. He nodded. I walked backwards and swiftly ran back to the cells. As soon as I walked through the door I was met by Sophia, who immediately wrapped her arms around me. She was crying. I spotted Glenn standing next to the cell where the others were with Hershel.

I gently stroked Sophia's hair, and simply let her cry. It was one thing to see all of the Walkers being killed brutally on a daily basis, but it was a whole other thing when someone you cared for was severely injured. I pulled Sophia with me to the staircase and set her on the steps. I crouched down and wiped the tears from her stained cheeks.

"Talk to me."

She sniffed and stammered a bit before forming a full sentence. "Mum is worried. What if Hershel dies?"

I breathed in deeply. "Let's hope he doesn't."

"But…but what if he…becomes a Walker?"

I stood back up and sat down next to her. I pulled her close and kissed her hair. "You know what happens, Soph..."

I could feel her head nodding against me.

::::::…::::::

"I'm coming with you."

"I need you with the group. If something happens, if Hershel turns,-"

Not this again. Enough was enough. Of course I felt flattered that Rick felt I would be able to keep his family and the others safe while he and the other men would take care of business, but I knew I could be an asset in a different way and he knew that too.

"They'll be fine without me." I said. "You need extra help. I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not."

Rick sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Daryl is not gonna like this…"

I smiled.

Rick was right. Daryl was not pleased at all when he saw me and Rick walking into the room where he, T-dog and the other inmates were standing. He kept his mouth shut. The only reaction we got from him was an angry glare, thrown at both Rick and me. Now we were walking through the corridors, clearing out this block for the inmates to live in. The trade was, we'd clear the area and then get a share of the food which was stored in the prison.

After the prison survivors had their first encounter with a group of Walkers, which they pounded on like mad as soon as they had spotted them, Daryl and Rick gave them a quick lesson in what was the best and only method of killing a Walker.

"The brain, right?" One of the inmates said. I believe his name was Oscar.

"Right." I told him. He moved forward and whacked the tool he had in his hands against the Walker's head. It dropped to the ground, instant kill.

"I think I got this."

The joy of knowing, and being able to kill these undead creatures did not last long. More and more Walkers rounded the corner. It was getting difficult to stick together as Rick had ordered us to. I stood next to T-dog taking care of two Walkers in front of us when a couple of gunshots sounded. I cracked the skull of the one in front of me and followed T-dog to the location of the shots.

"I don't feel a thing." The man known as Big Tiny said to Rick. His suit was unbuttoned and the left part of it lowered. "It's just a scratch."

"Shit…" T-dog cursed under his breath. It was not a scratch, as the guy put it.

"I'm fine!" Big Tiny said again, trying his best to reassure us, "Look at me, I'm not changing."

"That doesn't matter." I said aloud.

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Oscar said with a frown.

"There is nothing we can do." Rick said to confirm it once more.

The Hispanic man with the wavy greasy hair, Tomas, moved quickly and brutally smashed Big Tiny's head in with his double sided pickaxe. It happened so quickly and I couldn't stop from letting out a loud cry as the big man hit the ground and Tomas whacked his head in again, and again. Blood splattered everywhere, hitting the wall, Rick, and the other inmates. Tomas took a deep breath, raised his head and stared intensely at Rick. His face completely covered with Big Tiny's blood. I held on to T-dog, who looked as sick as I felt. The look on Tomas's face wasn't one you'd want to mess with...

What have we gotten ourselves into?

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