This is a story about Sarah and her journey through the end of the world. It picks up pretty much around season two because it's my favorite and for me it's the easiest to write about, I just love the setting. I'm utterly in love with Norman Reedus, and I'm even more in love with Daryl as a character so I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this. I'm rating this M for language and any romantic content that may appear in future chapters. I hope someone can enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. I'm still new to posting my stuff on the site so any reviews or constructive criticism is always welcomed and appreciated! Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead universe, it's characters or it's places. I wish I did though...yeah that would be so nice.

The wind was whipping her long hair all over the place. It was warm today and the sun was high in she sky. They'd been on the road for just over an hour. Her back was stiff and she could already feel the sting of sunburn on her arms and shoulders. She didn't care though, she kept her arms wrapped firmly around Daryl and much to his discomfort she was sure, her head laid against his back. She couldn't help it though. She was tired, and the wind was making her eyes water. She'd like to think it was the wind anyways. Daryl hadn't said anything the entire ride. He hadn't even said anything when she asked him if she could ride with him instead of with everyone else in the RV. It was just too crowded in there now that they'd gone down to only two vehicles, and after what had happened at the CDC she didn't want to be trapped anywhere anytime soon. He had just silently nodded and carried on with prepping the bike for the ride. She decided to keep her pack in the RV and since she had to hold on to him, she carried his on her back. They'd been in the lead of the caravan and suddenly she felt their pace slow significantly.

She picked her head up and looked over his shoulder and saw the reason for the sudden stop. The way was blocked. Cars, trucks, and semis littered the road. Most were upright with their doors swung open, having been abandoned, others were flipped over, or bunched up together from a crash accident. "Hold on. Gotta' turn er' around." Daryl began backing up and road back towards the RV. "You see a way through?" Dale asked. He merely nodded in response and then they were turning around again. He led them as far in as he could before a loud pop sounded behind them, followed by a sputtering noise. Sarah had heard it so many times in the few weeks that they'd been with this group, the damn hose had broken for about the millionth time. Daryl swore under his breath as he turned the bike off. He had her get off first, then he kicked out the stand as he did too. She stretched as soon as her feet hit the pavement. Her legs were sore and her back was killing her. She didn't mind though. It was a small price to pay for not riding in the RV. She hadn't wanted to talk to anyone lately, even Glen. He had been nothing but kind and friendly to her from the moment her and Rick had arrived in camp. But he liked to talk a lot, and today she just didn't want too.

The rest of the group piled out of the cars behind them and gathered around the front of the RV. She and Daryl slowly walked over to join them. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him crack his neck. The loud crack sent chills down her spine. That was something that had always grossed her out. Her brothers use to do it all the time and it use to annoy her to no end. She chuckled at the memory of yelling at them to stop. Coming from the girl who cracked her fingers endlessly, it was never taken seriously. A sad smile tugged at her lips, but quickly disappeared when she heard what the group was talking about. They were going to scavenge the cars on the road. They all looked full to bursting with things people thought would be important to take. She didn't like the idea of it, but she knew it was survival now. Besides, if they didn't take it someone else would.

They stayed in groups now, that was the rule after what had happened at the quarry. No one ever went out alone anymore except Rick, Shane, or Daryl. Lori, Carol and the kids started looking through a SUV that looked packed with clothing, Glen was working on the hose, Dale was perched atop the RV watching the road, Rick and Shane were on either side of the RV, also watching the road. Andrea had gone off into the RV, which annoyed Sarah. She knew she had lost her sister just over a week ago, but she was just dead weight lately. They didn't have the luxury of grieving anymore. It was all about surviving.

T-Dog and Daryl had started rummaging through some trucks and she noticed some hunting bumper stickers on one close by and decided that she would try her luck there. Maybe they'd at least have some more arrows Daryl could use. His were pretty tore up and he had mentioned something about having to make his own a week ago. Thankfully the truck was empty of any bodies, so she just began sifting through all the bags in the truck bed. A few yards away she heard a burst of laughter. She looked up to see Shane pouring water all over himself, he and Glen were laughing like she had never heard them laugh before. She smiled, rolled her eyes and resumed her search. At least that was one good thing about stalling out in this graveyard. She heard them before she saw them. The moaning, the slow shuffle of feet, and the sound of something being dragged. She looked up and froze. There were fifty of them at least. Walkers were shuffling her way, the stench of them slowly filling her nose as they came closer. She was trapped, in the truck bed, with no where to go and no place to hide. She turned and looked over to Daryl who was hiding behind a car nearby. He motioned her to get down, at first she thought he meant out of the truck but after a moment she dropped to her stomach and covered her mouth. She could feel her heart beating wildly and she instantly broke out into a cold sweat.

It was only a few moments before she could hear the pounding on the cars around her as the monsters walked into them as well as the moaning as they passed by. A few of them bumped into the truck and she was surprised she was able to stay silent when they did. She fought the urge to throw up, whether it was from the nerves or the smell of the decaying corpses, she wasn't sure. None of them stopped, or even seemed to notice her presence and she was thanking God more then she had thanked him for anything in her life when the moans finally started to fade out and the smell of a cool breeze replaced the smell of decay. Eventually the moaning stopped completely and there was nothing but silence outside. Just when she was about to poke her head up over the side of the bed a loud thud that sounded incredibly close by caused her to jump. She held her breath, not daring to move an inch, but then she saw him looking down at her from just over the edge. "C'mon, it's safe now. Looks like that was the last of them. Here, I need you to help me with this jackass over here."

She somehow managed to stand up and hop out of the truck. Her legs felt like jelly and she still wasn't sure if she was going to get sick or not but when she looked up at Daryl he had T-Dog's arm around his neck and was supporting him with his shoulder. She saw the injury on his arm and panicked. She quickly grabbed his other arm and pulled it around her neck as well. They shuffled back towards the RV. Everyone was huddled around the guard rail, looking down into the forest. They took T-Dog and leaned him up against the Rv. "What happened to him, was he bit?" Sarah grabbed a shirt out of a suitcase that was laying dumped out in the middle of the road and did her best to wrap and tie it around his injury as fast as she could. "Nah, just cut himself on one of the broken up cars... what the hell people?" Daryl glanced over towards the group and without another word to Sarah made his way over to everyone. She stayed with T-Dog to make sure he wasn't going to pass out or anything. She glanced over at everyone and noticed Carol was crying hysterically while Lori was trying to calm her down.

"What happened?" She asked Glen when the group finally dispersed and Glen started walking over to her. "Two walkers tried to get Sophia, chased her in there. Rick went after her but he's not back yet. Daryl and Shane went looking." Sarah's heart dropped. "No." She spoke softly. She saw Carol being held back by Lori, who just kept repeating, "They will be back, they will be right back with her." Sophia was a sweet girl, she was kind of quiet, like her mother. But she was very polite, and was always attached at the hip with Carl. After a few minutes they heard some leaves crunching and Shane emerged back out onto the road. He told them that Rick and Daryl were still looking, that no one else was to go in, so they didn't mess up the trail, and there were things that needed to be taken care of while they waited. Everyone was assigned a task, her's was to continue to search the cars. There was a decent amount of food to be found and even more when it came to clothes. But Sarah found it hard to focus much on what she was doing. Her thoughts kept switching back to Sophia, Rick, and Daryl out there alone in the woods.

It was getting later now, it wouldn't be too long before it got dark. They'd been packing up everything they'd found and were still waiting for Rick and Daryl. The cars had been moved and everything was ready to go, except for Sophia and the hose that is. The sun had almost completely set by the time the two men returned, without the young girl. Carol was a mess, Rick was trying to calm her down, and even Daryl was trying to comfort her, in his own Daryl like way. It was a long night when they all finally did turn in. Everyone was crammed in the RV, everyone except for Dale and Shane, who were on top of the RV on watch all night. Sarah couldn't sleep, between the soft snores, the sniffles coming from Carol, and the kick to her leg that occurred every time someone moved in their sleep. When it was finally day light out, she couldn't get out of the RV fast enough.

They quickly ate breakfast and then gathered around for a meeting. The group was going to go searching for Sophia together. Rick laid out a bag of hunting knifes, something that had been found in one of the cars apparently, and instructed everyone to grab one. They were all huge, but slightly different. Sarah grabbed a standard looking one. It was long, maybe about six inches or so, and it came to a ultra fine point. She secured the holster on her hip and moved out of the way so the others could take their picks. After a quick talk about guns, safety in the woods, and staying quiet they were off.

It wasn't long before they came across a random tent that was pitched in the middle of no where. They had hoped to find Sophia inside, but found nothing but a rancid smell and a decaying body. That both comforted them, and only made them worry more. Suddenly there was a ringing in their ears. Literally, it sounded like church bells were ringing and it didn't sound like it was too far away. Rick had left the search in Daryl's hands. The whole time they traveled he was the one in the lead, the one calling the shots. So when he took off running the rest of the group followed without question. Within a few seconds they came across a small white church, with a graveyard surrounding the back side of it. Shane didn't think that was it, there was no steeple, no bells. But Rick wasn't going to not look. It was a small building anyways, it wouldn't be too hard to clear and she could still be in there, even if the ringing hadn't come from here. When they came around the front, there was a large sign that read "Southern Baptist Church of Holy Light. Bikers welcome!" Sarah stood there, staring at it for a few moments. She had actually grown up in the suburbs of Michigan, and she had been brought up Baptist. Flashes of the church she'd known ran through her mind, the hymn's she'd sang and the service where she'd been saved. Or at least she thought she had. She had tried not to think too much about religion anymore. It was a topic that rarely came up. She had never had doubts before, but these days...

There was no noise coming from inside, and when they opened the door, there were only three walkers, sitting quietly in the pews. They were easily taken down and soon after the bells sounded again. A quick investigation turned up a timer. The ringing had come from here, but there was no sign that Sophia had been here.

A few people decided they wanted a bit of time in the church, not her though. She had been running from her faith for a long time. Right now she was too tired to face it, so she walked outside, around the graveyard, reading tombstones and looking over all the dead flowers that had been left behind. She heard footsteps coming up behind her. She didn't need to turn to see who it was. He had this way about him, a presence that she could just feel. Maybe it was because they'd been traveling together for so long. She could probably tell the footsteps of half of the group without looking honestly. Daryl slowly came up next to her and glanced down at the marker she was currently fixated on. "Someone you know?" he asked. His southern accent was thick, but it came out even and calm. She shook her head. "Nope. Just someone who was lucky enough to go before all of this." There was silence between them for a long moment before he spoke again. "Rick and Shane are staying back with Carl. Gonna' check the area another hour or so. The rest of us are heading back to camp. We're gettin' ready to go."

She nodded her head in understanding and turned to face him. He was dirty again, well he was always dirty really. His hair was drenched with sweat and plastered to his forehead. His shirt was sticking to his stomach too and she could see his skin glistening in the sun, except for the places that were caked with mud and dirt. He was biting his thumbnail as he was looking down towards the marker. She hadn't meant to stare but she couldn't help it. Suddenly he looked up and his eyes locked on hers. She felt the jelly sensation she'd felt yesterday return to her limbs. Her mind scrambled for something, anything, to say. She was drawing a blank though so she just continued to stare into the blue pools that were looking back at her. He gave her a weird look, like she was crazy, before he said "We'll be over there when you're done here." He turned and with long strides walked away, and it was only just as he did so that she managed to shake herself out of whatever it was she had just been stuck in. She felt like she had just made the biggest fool of herself. She already felt like she annoyed him most times, now he probably thought she was a total creep too. 'Smooth Sarah," she said to herself, "real smooth."