NOTE: If you have not read 'Eyes on Fire' before this, please do, or you won't understand what is going on.

A/N: This is basically only a test I have going in my head right now. I am taking it through as a sequel to 'Eyes on Fire' and it will definitely be A/U cause well...I have my reasons. So there. Warning, I'm going to be using some characters a lot differently than what they are written as now so sorry if I am breaking the norm, I want to use the cast to their strong suites with what I'm putting in front of them.
Hope y'all enjoy. I am going to be doing this a bit different than 'Eyes on Fire', read on my friends!

1: Catalyst

"God bless us, everyone, we're a broken people living under loaded gun..."

- Linkin Park

Fingers rubbed loosely over her lips, running the cracks and dips of her cupid's bow before she began to gnaw on a dwindled thumbnail. Standing at the gate Carrie had watched as Beth continued what she had been working on, killing walkers.
For some strange reason, out of the blue, she had pounced on a drive to get more animated in helping the group besides caring for Judith and doing the keeping work. Beth had asked Maggie but she had continued to put it off, Daryl and Merle were too rough, and Rick and Carl had their own disputes. After all else failed, and her fear of Michonne still too great, Beth had gone to Carrie for assistance. It could have been the fact that the young lady, many seeing her as Merle's accomplice, was hardly any older than Beth and was hardened in battle. The scars on her face that she had gained from months before were badges of honor to her, proof of her dedication and loyalty to the older Dixon.

Beth kicked the steel fence with her boot, making the walker's hands drop down to her sides before the blonde brought her knife through the hole to the skull of the creature. Her wrist twitched as she grit her teeth, eyes wide and mouth snarling as she yanked the blade out. Looking back over her shoulder Beth searched for Carrie's approval. Her arms were crossed, brow raised as a smile pushed over her mouth. Hands dropping she clapped for the Greene sister.

"Really?" Beth piped.

Carrie patted her shoulder, pointing down at the walker on the ground. "Hell yeah. That was one hell of a kill. Remember what I told you." Spinning her to face her she brought Beth's hand up to her forehead and reached down to slap her knee to bring it up. "Easiest way to get a second from a walker is to hold them off here and here. You do that and you force them back." Beth lightly followed the directions and pushed her away as she stumbled, mocking a walker's stance. "If you do that and then charge in and make sure you watch the jaw and arms, you'll be fine. Or even if you gotta do that before you shoot them, that's your best bet."

Beth moved to point her hand as a gun at Carrie and 'pulled' the trigger, Carrie dropping down to the ground in a mess. Sitting up on her bottom she rested her elbows on her knees. The weather was getting cooler as summer drew to a close and the fall would be coming in. Hershel had worked on developing a garden with the Woodbury citizens that had moved in. It was a matter of weeks since Rick brought the elderly and children over when the rest of the town was brought in. Woodbury was abandoned, but it was also a back up in case they had to leave the prison. A few of the people from the town had decided not to join them and were most likely dead.

Carrie's mind searched through the entire war they had faced after she had woken up from being shot in the face. They were still nightmares.

After the rest of the group had moved in it seemed that the governor had stirred up the world around them.

It was the middle of the day. Carrie had been sitting outside with some of the younger women of Woodbury, showing them how to load guns for ammunition after Merle had taught her numerous times.

The women were working fairly well since the sun wasn't blasting at them anymore like it had in previous weeks. All was under control until out near the gate a man had crumpled to the ground in a swift motion and blood splattered his partner on watch. Rick and Daryl quickly called for the group to move all of it's civilians inside and with Carl, Merle, Maggie, Michonne, Glenn, Carol, Karen, and Carrie they had stormed out to take control of the situation. The governor made his presence known when they had seen his vehicle and he had launched an attack. It was a few more men than what Karen had said before, and it appeared his numbers had already grown. Now there were around ten and they were armed. When men joined the prison's backup they moved to eliminate the attackers and were faced with massive ammo amounts and it cost them four lives as three of the governor's men had been killed and two injured.

They sped off and left Rick to control the mess that had ensued. Merle had been on pinpoint about when the governor would return. He wouldn't be too quick, but he wouldn't take his time. He wanted the threat to loom and strike somewhere in between. After that, Rick had began to take in what Merle said more, thanks to Daryl.

There was also a third special factor.

Milton.

He had been so close to death, he could taste the sweet clouds hanging over him when he was pulled back down to reality. That reality was a prison bed with his hands cuffed up to the bed post and Hershel standing over him with Rick and Merle.

Numb, his whole body had been numb while his mind screeched in pain. He begged for Hershel to kill him, for Rick or even Merle. Someone to stop the pain. Before he had passed out from the blood he watched the governor stand over Andrea as she screamed in the chair he had set up for Michonne. When he came to he asked where she was, and was broken to find no answer.

Because of him, Andrea had died.
Milton thought if he had let her pull the trigger as they watched him build his contraption, this could have been stopped.
Maybe if he would have ran with her, he could have provided a long enough distraction, even death, to keep Andrea running.

If he would have had the courage and strength to stab Phillip quicker.

If he would have tried harder.
She'd still be alive. The one person who had treated him on the same level as their own self confidence.

Now all he had was a distant memory of her, and at times it made him sick to remember what she looked like.

Hands ran bristly over the chained fence to find Carrie and Beth talking. He gave a weak smile at the sight of Carrie holding Beth in a submission that Merle had taught her. Something good had come of the sins that the men of Woodbury had carried.

They could evolve from it.

Coming back from it, it was really possible.

He approached the two young ladies now talking before they turned to face him. Carrie's smile warmed at the sight of her friend from Woodbury. He had always been genuine to her, unlike the evil man that had controlled him. Milton was human, Milton had morals and sympathy and remorse. He was alive.

"Hi ladies." He whispered, holding a notepad tightly to his chest under his jacket lappel. In some strange way, Milton still dressed sharp. Jeans, shirts, and even jackets, the man still had some sense of style. Merle made fun of him for it but Carrie wished that he would dress like the scientist. While that would be interesting to see, she knew it just wouldn't fit him. Merle was a sloppy dresser, he wore what he needed to, and she could still spend her time ogling him whenever she saw fit.
That sick freak enjoyed it.

"I came out because Merle is looking for you Carrie..." He whispered, adjusting his glasses. "We both know how he gets."

"Of course!" Carrie groaned, stretching. "So, Milton, tell me the date."

"September twenty-fourth."

"Almost fall time. Come on Beth." Waving her over to walk with the two Carrie adjusted her hands to fit into her short pockets. "Can't believe it's almost fall. What plans are ahead for the winter? We can't be going into the season without a plan."

Milton glanced over, body raised in a search for dominance in keeping things under control with her questions. "It's all being handled. Surprisingly, we all work well together." He sighed, "Well, we try to."

Beth picked up her pace, watching the two speak with curiosity. "Try?"

The duo looked back, both smiling. "Well..." Carrie drawled, "Merle and Milton are pretty much the equivalent of the brothers in high school...one is a nerd." Extending her hand she nudged Milton's shoulder, "and the other being the high school jockey. One is pure brilliance, and one can be smart...when he wants to be."
Milton shook his head at her choice of words, a smile hardening as a small blush warmed his face. "But when they secretly work together, world domination is possible. Keep that in mind Beth. Join the dark side." Beth's eyes widened as Carrie stared her down before her chest caved in laughter. "I'm just kidding. Merle and Milton are the most unlikely duo you'd ever find out there."

"Isn't that the truth..." Milton sighed, opening his book to jot a few notes down. "You know, I've been talking to Hershel...if we coordinate our research and his medical skills, and continue to educate Carol and the doctors and nurses we have here, we're gonna have one great medical staff on our hands."

Beth immediately jutted in. "With Carrie, Karen and Maggie teaching women how to load guns and basic fighting, we're gonna be able to do anything!"

"Prep is a lot different than doing." Carrie whispered, teeth grinding into her thumb nail. "When the time comes to take action, you gotta just do. It's not like practice where you can try again. It's one chance. You know that pretty damn well by now though." Nodding in agreement to the woman's statement Beth followed them up around the corner to the prison yard. Kids were in the prison, in school, a few guards sat at the fence and the remaining guard tower as other citizens worked around the area and talked amongst themselves.

"Speaking of trouble, where is Daryl?"

"Out hunting with the group." A voice cut in.

Turning around Carrie smiled as Rick approached them. He looked tired, exhausted, but it wasn't the same exhaustion that he had ran on months before with the threat of an army looming over a small group of ten. This was a leader's fatigue, one that came of balancing the world around him, but finding satisfaction as the results paid off in time. The results were seeing children going to school again, seeing the elderly find some sense of community.
The group was as one, they thought as one and worked as one.

"So tell me Rick, what do we got ahead of us on our rich agenda?" Carrie smirked, catching him run a hand through his hair as it grew out. The beard that covered his face was now thicker. The man looked like a bum to her in the distance until she recognized who he was.

Grimes looked down at her from the hand covering his face and glanced over to Milton. "Whatever the hell he as written down." He shot a smirk to the man now watching with a shocked expression. "Now If y'all excuse me, I got some more things to attend to. Oh, Carrie, by the way-"

"I know." She groaned, getting a thumbs up from Rick as he strolled down the dirt way into the bustle of the yard. "Damn men get on my last nerve. I gotta go ahead, before he blows a damn gasket. Y'all take care." Carrie nodded at Milton and Beth before she began to walk away. "Remember Beth, tomorrow! Right here like every day!"

"I get it!" She bellowed back, watching Carrie move up the steps and through to the cell block that the original group had inhabited. "So...Milton." Beth smiled. "Wanna help me go warm Judith's bottle? I can use a hand."

Milton stepped back, eyes wide in shock. "Um, I'm not good with children."

"Come on." She smiled. "It'd be in your best interest to be around children a bit more. We don't have some secret lab here like in Woodbury, you're gonna have to be around kids!" She waved him along to follow her up the steps to the cell block. "Besides, you haven't really met Judith, Daryl calls her little ass kicker."

"A baby...he calls a newborn child a 'little ass kicker?'" Milton shook his head. "Miss Greene, I don't mean to sound rude, but I thought Merle was the worse of the two...but sometimes I question his brother."

Beth peered back in a genuine amusement. "Daryl is just Daryl, he's always been like that. I wonder if he still has his ear necklace." She stopped briefly. "Call me Beth."

Milton stopped, mind rattled at the words that had passed through the girl's mouth. Nothing else stuck to him for the rest of the day, it was one thing, one sick and twisted thing. These were his new neighbors and cohorts."Ear...necklace?"
This was his new world.

Carrie moved up the steps and down the cell block row to find the room empty. Merle had probably stormed out looking for her and she knew when he'd get back that she'd face a tirade of typical Dixon temper. At the thought of that, almost like a reflex, Carol appeared at the opening of the cell, dressed in shorts and a black and white loose button down top she moved to sit down next to her on the cot. "Don't you look nice." Carrie smiled, enjoying the sight of Carol in her happy mood. The woman had been one of her biggest influences to stay at the prison after the governor had disappeared. Her strength was unmatched and she continued to try so hard to make the world around better every day.

Carol cooked, cleaned, did the laundry, sewed, loaded guns, and even took to the battles as of recently. The woman was brave and strong, something Carrie had lacked growing up that she wished she had so much earlier in her life. "Thank you sweetie. How ya doing?"

"Just finished up training with Beth, strolled with her and Milton and then heard that the old rex wanted to see me so..." Carrie blushed, wrapping her hands together.

"Old rex? Is that what you call him now?" Carol couldn't help but lean back against the wall, laughing at the choice of words. "You're lucky he likes you so much, he would of kicked your ass for saying that the first time!"

Carrie hunched over, resting her chin on her knee as she played with her laces on the worn sneakers that Merle had gotten for her in a run a few months before. "Yeah, anything that comes to my mind...I don't question it." Her mind trailed off, words lost as the two were interrupted by a shadow casting over the wall in the cell. "Speak of the devil..."

"Oh honey the devil ain't got nothin on me." Carol watched as Merle sauntered over to stand in front of the two. In a wife beater and cargo pants he flexed as he leaned down to glare at the women. "What's this y'all are laughing 'bout an ol' t-rex? Told ya not to be callin' me that."

Carol stood up and slid over to the open space. "I'm gonna leave you two to...your own thing." Carrie watched her slip away before she turned her attention back to the man standing over her.

Merle relaxed against the wall, the cool stone making him jump before he settled. Arms crossed she took a quick glance at his remaining hand, it only had three fingers left. He was battered and torn apart from the war, and she didn't know what had been going on in his head. Carrie didn't push it anymore, she hoped that one day he'd come around and start to talk to her. Even if it was little things, at least it would be something. In the mean time she kept to herself, he kept to himself, and they co-existed quite well.

"So, what did you want?"

Merle smirked, enjoying her questionable look as she remained hunched over, fiddling with her shoe laces. "Just wanted to make sure you and I was on the same page. How the lessons with lil bo beep's sister going?"

"She's actually doing great. If she keeps working, we're gonna have another strong woman on the ready for if something happens."

"Ya mean when something happens." Merle propped himself up. "When is the key word."

Carrie shrugged. "I know that..." Her fingers brushed over the scar that had remained on her face. A frown crossed his face as her eyes hazed over, lost in the memories of what had happened the day she ate the bullet across her face. "I...I know that..." The brush against her skin made her skin crawl, thinking about the fact that if she would have aimed better, the governor would be dead as she spoke. All she could hear was Merle and Daryl screaming over her and hearing the bustle of the prison around her before she stirred in the morning. After she had woken up she couldn't even look at herself in the mirror. The long gash she could feel cover her cheek extended up to just above her ear and took a small chunk of the upper cartilage out along with her consciousness.

"Sugar?" After falling through her mind for a while, reality hit her as Merle waved his hand in front of her face. "Ya still dwellin on it..." He whispered. In the back of his mind he continued to kick himself as he caught her lost in her own mind. This was his fault. Originally he wanted to go in there, take out the governor, and if he lived he'd just walk away and go out into the world on his own. In the pit of his stomach he could feel his brother wasn't there like before. Daryl had found a new family, he had moved on, and he was alone.
But then there was Carrie. This little thing that sat in front of him, that sat with her scars for him and her loyalties set in stone, had proven herself for him time and time again.
He still couldn't bring himself to face moving forward with anything, with whether Daryl or Carrie, he was frozen.

This was his burden, and he was paying the price for what he had done and his choices every time he looked at the marks that covered her face and every time his brother caught his glance. "I'm gonna go on patrol."

Carrie sat up and moved to follow him, only to smack into him as he stopped. "Sorry." She choked out. Her hand covered her mouth as she stood with tears stinging her eyes. "Son of a bitch."

"Girlie..."

"I was fine just a bit ago, I was havin' so much fun with Beth..." She croaked. "Now I'm a wreck and I just don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do." She wasn't going to reach out for him, that had stopped a while before. That killed her.

That morning after she woke up, when she asked him to kiss her, he wouldn't do it. He got up to leave and was gone for the day. After that he wouldn't kiss her, touch her, he had separated himself from her. The two could still talk, that was from her own wall rebuilding, just as his had immediately gone back up. There was nothing left that could break them down, and they were left in situations like this. All she wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and cry her eyes out for all she had. Something to get her anger and her hurt out.

When he wouldn't speak she shoved past him and moved down the cell block to go to the tombs. If there were any walkers down there, they'd be tasting metal in a matter of minutes.

Knife in her pocket she passed a few people who didn't speak to her and the tombs had become her home for the afternoon.

Walker after walker.
Stab after stab.

The hate and the hurt she felt had simmered after a few hours when she made it outside to the vehicles that sat in the sun.

Out of all the people she had found the one she was the most shocked to see.

Carl.

He stood against a chain fence, holding his Beretta 92FS, it's silencer lined up over a walker's forehead as he pulled the trigger. Without the sound of the shot, it was almost like a completely different attack. It felt terrifying to Carrie.

Carl turned back to see her standing there, blood splattered over her clothes as she watched on in horror. "What is it?"

"N-nothing..." Carrie whispered. She didn't want to go back in, she couldn't leave Carl out here alone.

Something about him intrigued her, and she wanted to survey the boy a little bit more. Seeing the open bed of a truck she glanced over. "Can I...sit?"

Carl nodded, running a hand quickly through his hair he picked up the sheriff's hat and pushed it back on his head. Walking over to Carrie he stood in front of her.

They didn't talk for a while, but when they did, the floodgates busted open. Carl didn't cry, but he told her about what had happened. She hadn't prodded anyone about their stories from before this all happened besides Merle, and that was out of playful fun. He told her about Shane, about his mother, about what they had done, Sophia, Dale, everything that had happened, he explained to her in full detail.

Carrie in return spoke to him about what she had went through, including Woodbury.

When all was said and done, it was a mutual respect that had been reached. They returned through the tombs in time for dinner and went their separate ways, Carl to the group in his own isolation and Carrie to her own little world.

Maybe they weren't so different after all.

A/N: Okay, there we go! The sequel, sort of like an epilogue to 'Eyes on Fire!' Now that I've written this I'm not sure if I'm gonna continue writing it or not. I had original ideas but I am not too sure if I could get a grasp on it.
Please don't kill me for ending Carrie/Merle...I feel like it needed to happen, at least for a while. I feel like after what happened Merle would push her away and just keep her away especially since Daryl and him had distanced. He's only staying there for the fringes of what he has left with his brother. Carrie is just someone anymore he can tolerate.
Leave your feedback and ideas in the review and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Thank you!

xo - Lindsey