A/N: Alright guys! So this is an idea that just sort of popped into my head one day and I rolled with it. I definitely couldn't have done it without the help of the awesome definitelywalkerbait. You've helped me so much lately, thank you a million times over. Hope you enjoy this, please review. Love.
A pounding sound near her head had woken her. She was leaning against the inside of the driver's door, her head resting on the window. She turned her head and didn't flinch when she saw the walker's face next to her own. The rotted corpse slammed its palm against the window again, its breath clouding the glass surface. She sat up slowly, her neck and back aching from the uncomfortable position. She stretched her legs the best she could and groaned at her sore muscles. Again the walker hit the window, and she made a frustrated sound. With a sigh, Carol pushed hard on the door, sending it flying open and knocking the walker to the ground. With a swift movement, she was on top of it, her knife plunging into its skull. After wiping the blade on the grass she stood up and looked over the body.
Rick was right when he said she'd be fine on her own. She wasn't the mousey, little Carol Peletier they'd all known in Atlanta. If Jim, Dale, or even Ed saw her now, they wouldn't recognize her. When she looked at her reflection she didn't even recognize herself.
With a heavy sigh Carol observed her surroundings. She was in a small clearing not far off the road, with a heavy, thick curtain of trees covering her. There was a river nearby, she could hear it from where she stood. It was a clear day out, the sun beat down heavily from in the sky, but she could tell autumn was approaching fast. The green leaves had begun to turn a brownish orange hue almost completely overnight. The air felt cooler than it did a few days before and Carol hated the knowledge that it was going to be another long hard winter.
Had these thoughts crossed her mind a few days before, Carol would've brushed them off as a minor setback and nothing more. A few days before she had shelter at the prison, a food supply that was more than the backpack of canned food in the backseat, and protection, her family. Or at least who she thought was her family. She wasn't sorry about what she did, because when she did it she had all the right intentions. She thought of nothing besides Beth and Judith, and Lizzie and Mika, and Daryl.
Had Daryl come back from the run? Carol hadn't thought about it until that moment. Daryl had left to get the medicine, but did he return? Did he make it in time? Did Lizzie get the medicine she needed, or was she still ill? And Glenn, what about Glenn? All these questions hit her at once and it made her brain hurt, but all the questions came back to one that she couldn't shake from her mind. Did Daryl even notice that she was gone? Surely he must've, or so she thought. However, if he was so concerned about getting the medicine to the ill people, he might not have thought to check on her. Yet he must've wondered why she wasn't there to greet him? Unless he thought she was with the children. And when he did realize she was gone, what would he do? Carol imagined him going full Dixon mode and his emotions would erupt and something or someone would be broken. The most she could hope for is that he wouldn't get himself into any type of trouble.
Carol shook her head, but the questions wouldn't stop coming. Finally she decided that eating might help so she dug through the bags in the car until she found a can of beans that she opened and dug into. It was probably around noon, she'd slept so late. While she ate she made up her mind to camp in the clearing again for the night, at least it was a relatively familiar area and there was a nearby water source.
Once she'd finished her small meal, she carried a bucket and made her way to the river to collect some water. She carried bucket full after bucket full back to pour into a larger pot which she'd boil to kill bacteria. Her fourth trip, she knelt by the water's edge and dipped her bucket in the water. Then from across the flowing water, she heard a voice calling.
"Mommy!" Carol froze. Her eyes were trained on her hands dipped into the cool water as she listened. "Mommy!"
"I'll be right there honey!" A voice replied. Carol looked up and from across the river she could see an RV. It was parked by the water's edge, tucked into the trees. A woman stood on top of the RV and Carol looked over to see a walker making its way across the flowing water. The woman saw it too and together they watched, all the while the girl called for her mother. Carol's eyes searched for the girl but couldn't see her. Finally Carol drew her gun and aimed it at the walker, who fell into the water and floated away before she could fire. With a relieved breath, she let her arm drop to her side. Finally she saw the girl, she was sitting on a large pile of red dirt, digging into it with a bucket.
Carol hurried from the beach back to her vehicle. She climbed in and started the engine. Leaving her supplies behind she tore away from where she was parked, dust flying behind her. She drove quickly through the trees to the main road that led around the river. She had to get to the woman and her daughter, if they were alone, Carol could help them. They could survive together, and the girl looked young, like Sophia and Lizzie.
When Carol reached the RV, she saw no sign of the woman at first. As she climbed from her vehicle she heard heavy sobs coming from the trees. Without a second thought, Carol sprinted towards the crying. The woman sat on her knees, holding the young girl to her chest a walker lay next to them motionless. Carol's stomach lurched as she neared and the woman spun, her gun pointed at Carol's chest.
"Who are you?" She asked, her voice weak and her arm shaking. Carol held her hands up in surrender.
"Let me see her," she said calmly. The woman shook her head violently. "Maybe I can help." Surrendering the woman dropped her gun and let more tears drip from her eyes. Carol ran over and crouched next to them, pulling the girl closer for a better look. The girl let out a cry of pain as she was moved, her eyes fluttered open and her mother cried harder. Carol looked at the bite mark on her shoulder and let out a defeated breath. The mother looked at her desperately, maybe she thought Carol was a doctor who could cure her daughter of this illness. Carol closed her eyes and took a breath before shaking her head. With a long cry the mother leaned over her daughter, whose breathing had become slow and she cried her name. Meghan. Meghan's eyes fluttered open again and she gasped for words and her mother kissed her face again and again. The woman pulled her daughter closer to her chest and Meghan let out a final breath.
~X~
It took a while for Carol to get Lilly to calm down; that was the woman's name, Lilly. They sat on the red dirt for maybe ten minutes, Carol letting Lilly sob into her shoulder. Finally Lilly's cries died and she sat up and brushed the dark hair from her face.
"Can you take me somewhere?" She asked, her eyes still focused on her daughter's face. Carol nodded. "Brian, he took my sister and a group of people to get us a new place to live," Lilly said.
"Where did he take them?" Carol asked. She wasn't sure why Brian would've taken everyone in their group and left Lilly and Meghan to fend for themselves.
"There's a prison. He said a horrible group lives there and-" Carol stood and sprinted to the car. Lilly sat in confusion as Carol started the car and drove it to where Lilly sat with Meghan.
"Get in!" Carol demanded, throwing the back door open. Lilly quickly obeyed, holding Meghan in her lap. Before the door was even closed, Carol sped out of the campsite. She felt like vomiting. Someone was at the prison, and they were there to take it. She had to get there before it was too late, she had to help them.
"Do you know the people at the prison?" Lilly asked. Carol nodded.
"They're my family," she said, holding back worried tears that threatened to spill over her face.
~X~
Carol pulled up outside, her vehicle parked behind the row of other vehicles and a tank. They had a tank. Carol's heart dropped to her gut as she climbed from the car. On the ground in front of her was the governor, he held Michonne's sword as he knelt over someone she knew.
"Hershel!" Carol screamed. The scream caught the attention of the governor, and of another man nearby, who ran at her with a knife. Carol was quick to dodge behind a nearby car and trip the oncoming man. She jumped onto his back and lodged her knife into his skull. Gunshots echoed around her, and she took off. Tears bled from her eyes as Hershel was left behind her, but he was gone. There was nothing to be done about it except to save the lives of everyone else. She cut through an opening in the fence out of the line of fire. She took off up the back way through the yard. She saw the evacuation bus preparing to leave, some elderly people were boarding it along with the children. Then before she knew it, the tank barreled through the fences, a whole armada of vehicles following it. Windows were blown out of the prison and bullets flew everywhere. Walls exploded and she saw Maggie take off to the inside of the prison. Carol lost track of everyone, whether they were on her side or not. Walkers flooded the yard, attracted by the shots. Carol ran to the bus as Glenn stepped out, tripping on the step. She called to him.
"Carol!" He fell into her arms as she held him up. "Maggie, she ran to find Beth," he explained.
"Glenn where's Daryl?" She asked hurriedly. "Where's Daryl and Lizzie?" Glenn should his head.
"Don't know," he breathed. Carol helped him back onto the bus and helped him sit down. She saw the tank drawing nearer out the back window.
"Go!" She screamed at the woman as she ran from the bus.
"We need Maggie!" Glenn yelled, standing again.
"Glenn, I promise I'll get her," Carol replied, "but right now you need to go. Get somewhere safe. Go!" The doors on the bus closed and Carol took off as it pulled away. Grenades exploded near the tank and Carol took cover behind a car and fired at the man and woman advancing on Tyreese as he ducked for cover. Suddenly the man fell, but not from her bullet. Her eyes landed on two little blond girls as they aimed their guns at the woman. Carol screamed their names as Lizzie fired another shot and hit the woman in the head. Before Carol could move she was distracted by a walker, which she dispatched quickly but when she turned back the girls and Tyreese were gone.
The next thing Carol saw made her breathe a sigh of relief. A familiar figure with a crossbow across his back ran out from behind the prison, jumping up and dropping a grenade into the tank. The man inside quickly scampered out as the entire interior exploded. Daryl then put a bolt in the man's chest.
"Daryl!" Carol cried, but he couldn't hear as he took off with Beth. Carol ran to the yard, her eyes searching for familiar faces and instead saw a familiar car seat. It sat in the middle of the madness, with a walker crawling to it. Carol was quick to shoot two bullets into the walker's head, as blood splattered all over the car seat. Carol ran to collect the crying Judith as other walkers began to surround her. She unhooked the baby from her car seat and took off through the yard again.