I would just like to let y'all know that this chapter is going to be very fast paced. I want to get to more important things. After all, if you're reading this story then you're probably a TWD fan, which means you know what happens. Also, I have another Walking Dead O/C that's very detailed following the events of the show. So, you could always check that out if you're interested! It would mean a lot! I should probably also point out that Merle is dead in this story. He died the same way he did in the show. I just couldn't fit his character into this story. Well, enjoy! :D

We continued shooting at each other.

"I'm out of ammo!" I yelled to Daryl.

"Run to bus!"

I started running. I turned to make sure Daryl was behind me and saw something small, black and roundish land between us.

"Move!" Daryl yelled.

I quickly got out of the way. It was a grenade, it exploded. I got out of the way just in time. However, I was getting shot at. I ran as fast as I could. I eventually had to drop my gun. It was useless at the moment anyway. As I was running, I didn't notice anyone from the group around. I dove behind a metal picnic table. The man that was shooting at me was coming closer. I panicked, this is it. I don't have any weapons besides my knife and that's not going to help me. I looked back and saw the man go down. I took a moment to stare at his body in disbelief.

"Le!" I heard my name being called. I looked up and saw it was Sasha, she was hiding behind a car and told me to come over. I ran over there as quickly as possible and crouched down. Bob also was there. Suddenly, Maggie ran over.

"Sasha! Sasha! Have you seen Beth?" Maggie asked her.

"No." Sasha replied. "Did you see Tyreese?"

"No."

"Did y'all see my brother?" I asked.

"No." They said simultaneously.

"We have to—

"Ah!" Bob yelled and laid back. I think he got shot. I gasped.

"Look inside my shirt." He said. "Check my back for an exit wound."

Sasha looked. "Yeah."

"That's good." Bob said. "We can treat it."

"Not here." Sasha said. "We'll find someplace safe." The four of us looked up as we heard the bus leave. Oh no! What are we going to do now? "We'll figure it out." Sasha said again. "Come on."

"But—but what about Daryl?" I asked frantically. I didn't want to leave without him.

"We have to go now." Maggie said.

"I don't wanna go without h—." I was close to tears.

"Le, honey, we gotta go." Maggie stated. "He'll be fine. But we gotta go now!"

As much as I didn't want to admit it, they were right. We had to go. I nodded at her and the four of us ran off towards the woods.

I heard an explosion and looked back. The tank was on fire. There were walkers everywhere and parts of the prison were burning away.

That was our home for so long. I thought sadly. They better be right about my brother.

Please be okay, Daryl!

Maggie, Sasha, Bob and I finally stopped in the woods where we were safe. Sasha took care of Bob's gunshot wound, so he's okay. Maggie was upset about not knowing where Glenn is and wanted to go look for him. I'm upset myself about Daryl. I have no idea where he is and really hope he's okay.

Maggie eventually talked them into looking for our people. I was fine with that because maybe we'll find my brother. We found the bus at some point and killed the walkers inside. None of them were Daryl, Glenn, Tyreese or any of the other people we were close to. That's good. That means they're still out here somewhere.

We have been out here for a couple days now and we may have found a lead or a possible home for all of us. We saw a sign for a place called Terminus, they let people in. We decided to go and see if any of our people were there. I felt nervous about it, but I'll do anything to find my brother.

We traveled for a while. We were weak, hungry, thirsty, and especially desperate to find our people. Well, at least Maggie and I were.

We found three people in a van. There was a tall red headed man named Abraham. A weird looking guy with a mullet named Eugene and a girl named Rosita. They told us that they were with Glenn and some woman named Tara a moment ago. They left them at a tunnel. So we all went inside the tunnel, Glenn and this Tara girl were surrounded by walkers and needed our help. We killed all of them together. Maggie ran to Glenn and they were reunited. I was happy for them, but still missed my brother.

We stayed in the tunnel that night. The new people informed us that they were headed to Washington D.C. because Eugene knew how to stop this disease with the walkers. I was shocked. They said they need people and would like all of us to go along. We said we had to see Terminus first to find out if others from the group were there. Abraham agreed but he said that's the end of the line. Meaning…after we see what we see it's time to move on and go to Washington. That's fine, as long as everyone is with us. I'm not going anywhere without my brother. I need him.

So, the next day we all went to Terminus. The people ended up being bad and trapped us in a train car. A day after that, Rick, Michonne and Carl ended up there. My brother was with them! I ran to him and we hugged. I was so happy he was okay.

We made a plan to escape. We heard people coming and got ready to fight. However, a smoke bomb was thrown in and they dragged out Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Bob. I was so scared for my brother and had no idea what was going on.

They came back after some time and let us out. We all ran to a fence fighting the walkers along the way. We ran off into the woods together. Rick wanted to go back and kill the rest of them off with the weapons he hid, but no one else agreed with him. Suddenly, Carol emerged from out of no where. Daryl was the first to get to her, they hugged and it was very nice. I was so happy and relieved because I really like Carol and didn't like her being away from the group.

She took us to a cabin where Tyreese and Judith were. Rick and Carl were so happy Judy was alive and okay. Sasha was also glad to see Tyreese. We were all reunited.

We traveled on and set up camp in the woods once it was dark. Daryl and Carol volunteered to keep watch while the rest of us slept.

"I wanna come, too." I told my brother.

"Nah, ya better just get some rest, kid." Daryl put his hand on my head. I crossed my arms angrily and was about to protest, but my brother spoke first. "If yer a good girl and listen to me, I'll take ya huntin' with me in the mornin'. Maybe we can get some squirrel."

Hearing those words made me perk up a little. I smiled up at him. "Okay." I started walking back to the group.

"Wait, a minute." My brother said and grabbed me from behind. He gave me a tight hug and lifted me making me giggle. "I missed ya."

"I missed you, too." I smiled. He put me down and kissed the top of my head.

"All right. Go on get." He shoed me away. "Get some sleep."

I made my way back over to everyone. I stayed near Rick. Besides my brother, I feel safest with him. I picked a spot close to where Carl was sleeping with baby Judith. The ground was hard and bumpy, but I was so tired that I didn't even care. I closed my eyes and went to sleep pretty quickly.

I felt myself being shaken. I stirred and opened my eyes, I was still so tired I could barely keep them open.

"Le." It was Daryl. "Le, come on, get up."

"No." I whined.

"Don't cha wanna go huntin' with me?"

"Why so early?" I complained.

I heard Daryl chuckle. "Come on." I felt myself being lifted onto my feet. He brushed the dirt off the back of me. "Saw a couple in a tree not long ago. Come on." He grabbed my hand. My face flushed. What's he doing? I snatched my hand away earning a weird look from my brother.

"I don't need ya holdin' my hand, Daryl, I'm fourteen not four." I snapped and walked off.

"Okay, sorry." He held his hands up and chuckled. "Ay, wait up." Daryl caught up with me and put a hand on my shoulder. "You walk off like that and I will hold yer hand."

I glared at him but stayed with him like he said.

We've been at it for about an hour now and caught six squirrels already! I shouldn't be surprised. Daryl is my brother after all. I watched him aim his crossbow for another.

"Can I try usin' yer crossbow?" I asked innocently.

He stopped and looked down at him, I could tell he was going to say no. I smiled up at him. He sighed. "All right."

"Really?" I grinned from ear to ear.

"Yeah, just be careful." He stood behind me. "Here." My brother showed me how to hold it, he still had his arms around me. "Ya got it?"

"Yeah, let go."

"Ya sure? It's heavier than ya think?"

"Let go." I said again.

"Okay okay. Hold it." He let go. He was right, it was pretty heavy, I had it though. I aimed the crossbow up at the squirrel.

"Up!" Daryl said. "Yer holdin' it too low."

I tried to fix it, but I just now realized how long it was. My arms weren't long enough.

"Higher." Daryl said again. "Higher."

"I cain't!" I spun around and shouted. Suddenly, a walker came from around the tree and grabbed me. Before I could even react, Daryl was there. He pulled me back, I stumbled and fell, then he quickly killed it.

"Are ya okay?" He asked lifting me. "Sorry, I didn't mean fer ya to fall." He checked me for scratches.

"I'm fine. Stop." I tried to walk away, but Daryl grabbed my arm.

"What I tell ya 'bout walkin' off?"

"Why ya bein' so protective? I'm fine." I snapped.

Daryl glared at me. He bent down to my level. "Leann, it's dangerous out here."

"So? I been out here 'fore." I didn't see his point? Of course it's dangerous, but it's not like we haven't done this before.

He just stared at me. "…okay, listen," he started, "I wasn't gonna say anythang but last night…" He trailed off.

I widened my eyes and waited for his answer. "Yeah?"

"Carol and I, we heard somethin'…well it was actually more that I felt somethin'."

I was quiet for a second. "Ya think it were them bad people from Terminus?"

"Who else?" He stood back up. "So, whether ya like it or not, yer stayin' close to me. I'm not lettin' nothin' happen to ya. So, quit it."

"Fine." I said annoyed.

He stared down at me then finally laughed. "Come on, let's get back."

We made our way back to the group. We were greeted with pointed guns. They must have thought we were someone else.

"We surrender." Daryl joked putting his hands up. They put their weapons down.

Daryl caught up with Rick and I followed behind. I listened to their conversation.

"No tracks." My brother said. "No nothin'."

"So whatever you heard last night…"

"It's more what I felt. If someone was watchin' us, there would have been somethin'."

Rick went to go talk to Abraham.

"Ya think if there was someone out there, they could still be there?" I asked my brother.

"I don't know. Like I said, no tracks."

"Help!" We all heard someone yell. "Help, anybody! Help!"

Daryl and I shared a look.

"Dad, come on." Carl said. I guess he wants to help the person. "Come on!"

Rick hesitated. "…let's go!"

We all ran in the direction we heard them yelling. We found a man on top of a rock. There were walkers around him, not enough to make him scream the way he was, though.

"Anyone, help! Help! Anybody, help!"

Rick, Daryl and a few of the others took care of the walkers.

"Whoa! Whoa! We're clear." Rick stated. "Come on down." He said to the man. He climbed down from the rock and stood there nervously. My brother put a protective arm around me and pulled me closer to him. I finally got a good look at the guy, he was dressed like a priest.

"You okay?" Rick asked the priest.

He turned his head and puked. I grimaced and backed away behind Daryl.

"Sorry." He said. "Yes. Thank you. I'm Gabriel."

"Do you have any weapons on you?" Rick asked him.

Gabriel chuckled. "Do I look like I would have any weapons?"

"We don't give two short and curlies what it looks like." Abraham said.

"I have no weapons of any kind." Gabriel said. "The word of God is the only protection I need."

"Sure didn't look like it." Daryl said.

"I called for help." Gabriel smiled. "Help came." This guy is really strange. What does he even mean by that? And is he really alone? How could he have survived this long? He's a coward.

"Do you have—have any food?" Gabriel asked us. "Whatever I—I had left, it just hit the ground."

"We've got some pecans." Carl reached into his pocket and handed the guy some pecans.

"Thank you." He looked at everyone. "Do you have a camp?"

"No." Rick replied. "Do you?"

He looked nervous and hesitated. "…I have a church."

"Hold your hands above your head." Rick told him. Once he did, Rick patted him down. "How many walkers have you killed?"

"Not any, actually."

"How many people have you killed?"

"None." He said wide eyed.

"Why?"

"Because the Lord abhors violence."

What a weirdo. Who's this guy think he is? At least he agreed to bring is back to his church. We followed while he lead the way.

"Earlier, were you watching us?" Rick asked Gabriel.

"I keep to myself." Gabriel responded. "Nowadays, people are just as dangerous as the dead, don't you think?"

"No, people are worse." Daryl said.

He's right. I thought about all the people we had to deal with so far. First, there was those Mexican people we found in Atlanta that took Glenn and I, well…they ended up being pretty nice. There was the Gov. I'll never forget him or what he did. I hate him, I'm glad we don't have to worry about him anymore. Then, there was the people at this Terminus place that wanted to eat us. The bad part is, we don't even know if all of them are dead. They could still be out here…looking for us. I walked closer to my brother and stayed right behind him.

"Well, I wasn't watching you." Gabriel stated. "I haven't been beyond the stream near my church more than a few times since it all started. That was the furthest I've gone before today." He paused. "Or maybe I'm lying. Maybe I'm lying about everything and there's no church ahead at all. Maybe I'm leading you into a trap so I can steal all your squirrels." He looked at us with a smile on his face. When no one laughed or anything he continued. "Members of my flock had often told me that my sense of humor leaves much to be desired."

"Yeah, it does." Daryl nodded and tried to reassure him. I gave my brother a weird look, but I don't think he noticed. What's gotten in to him? I've never seen him like this before. When we were locked in that train car, he mentioned something about being with Beth after the prison attack. She got taken or something. Maybe that's why he's being this way? Although, you would think that would make someone more angry, especially my brother.

Once we got there, a few of us went inside to check it out before everyone else came in. Make sure he wasn't lying. I stayed with Daryl. We looked around in an office in the front of the church. I caught Daryl staring at a painting of The Last Supper, I think? The only one in my family that was religious was my grandpa. He tried to teach my daddy, but he just wasn't interested.

"What?" I finally asked Daryl.

"Huh?" He looked down at me.

"Why are ya starin' at that paintin'?"

"Oh, I don't know. Just reminded me'a somethin' I guess." Daryl squinted and looked from the painting to me again. "I guess it's just from seein' it in church."

My eyes widened. "You went to church?"

"Yup. When I was little. Merle did, too."

I was shocked. "I never knew that. Why'd ya stop?"

"My mom made us go. We hated it so when we got older we just never went back." He put his hands on my shoulders and turned me towards the door. "It's funny, though, because I don't ever remember her goin'." He let out a small laugh. "Come on." He guided me out the door.

My brother whistled to everyone to let them know it was clear, then we went back out with the others.

"We found a short bus out back." Abraham informed us. "It don't run, but I bet we could fix that in less than a day or two. Father here says he doesn't want it. Looks like we found ourselves some transport. You understand what's at stake here, right?"

"Yes, I do." Rick replied.

"Now that we can take a breath— Michonne started to say but was cut off.

"We take a breath, we slow down, shit inevitably goes down." Abraham said.

"We need supplies no matter what we do next." Michonne said again. She's right. We still need things.

"That's right." Rick said. "Water, food, ammunition." Rick, Carl and Michonne went inside the church.

"Short bus ain't goin' nowhere." My brother said to Abraham. "Bring you back some baked beans." I giggled at what he said and followed him inside. Daryl looked down at me and smirked. "Thank that's funny?" He said to me. I just nodded. My brother put his hand my head, then looked at me more closely. "Come to thank of it," he pulled me a little closer, "I ain't checked ya fer ticks in a while. And we went huntin'."

My face flushed. "Daryl." I said looking around. No one else was close enough to have heard him.

"What?" My brother said. "Ya wanna have a tick suckin' yer blood? Just let me check ya, runt."

I thought for a minute while looking at everyone else again. "Okay, fine." I finally said. "But not in front of no one else."

"Alright, come're." He guided me farther away from the others. Daryl started by lifting my hair in the back so he could check the back of my neck, then he moved the neckline of my shirt and checked my shoulders and other hidden areas. After that, he checked my lower back and sides. "Alright, yer good, little one."

"I'm good?"

"Yeah, ya don't got any." He said and patted my back.

"That's good. I don't want no tick." I said.

My brother let out a small laugh. "Yeah, that's right. Ya don't." We went back over to join the others.

"How'd you survive here for so long?" Rick asked Gabriel. "Where did your supplies come from?"

"Our annual canned food drive." Gabriel said. "Things fell apart right after we finished it. It was just me. The food lasted a long time. And then I started scavenging. I've cleaned out every place nearby. Except for one."

"What kept ya from it?" Rick asked him next.

"It's overrun." Gabriel replied. "A dozen or so. Maybe more."

"We can handle a dozen." Rick said.

"Bob and I will go with you." Sasha said. "Tyreese should stay here, help keep Judith safe."

"I'll draw you a map." Gabriel said.

"You don't need to." Rick told him. "You're coming with us."

Gabriel looked real nervous.

"Carol and I will go get some water from that creek we found back there." Daryl said.

"Me too." I said.

My brother gave me a look. "Sissy, why cain't ya just stay here where I know yer safe?"

"No, Daryl!" My eyes widened. "I have to go with you!"

"Why?" He sounded amused. "Ya gonna protect me?"

I stuck my tongue out at him making him laugh then I said, "Cuz I just have to. I don't like bein' without you."

He sighed. "All right. You can come."

I smiled. I decided to play it cool. "I wasn't askin' fer permission. I would 'a went anyway." I smirked.

He snorted. "Okay, smartass."