[Author's Note] Hi guys! Bit of background... I wrote this in response to 'Coda', the mid-season 5 finale of The Walking Dead. A Lot of life-changing stuff happened in the first half of Season 5 and Coda was just the shitty icing on the shitty cake. I was a huge Bethyl shipper and so was totally gutted about Beth's exit, which sparked me thinking how on earth the group, particularly Daryl and Maggie, were going to cope with yet another huge loss. I decided to pair this with an idea I've been thinking of for a while - introducing a character from another country and dealing with their isolation in this harsh and strange new world.

This is my first full attempt at writing fanfic so I'd appreciate any critiques (positive or negative) you may have to offer in order to improve my writing for the next chapters. I'll be writing whenever I get chance between my own Uni work (which will probably be quite a lot as I'm a terrible procrastinator) so hopefully I'll be able to finish before Season 5 part 2 starts in February 2015!

I really hope you enjoy my take on the post-Coda world. Stay tuned for Part 2: 'Three months, eight days.' coming up soon :)

Love,
CharBop
xox

Part 1: A Higher Power

Tree shaped blurs rushed past her as she rested her head against the passenger-side window of the sleek black Mustang they had rented. Finishing her beer, her ears pricked up as a familiar guitar riff roused her from her hazy state.

"Oh my god, are you kidding me?!" Her friend exclaimed from behind the steering wheel.

"YES!" She cheered as she sat bolt upright and darted towards the volume button. "This is brilliant!"

"JUST A SMALL-TOWN GIRL, LIVING IN A LONELY WORLD. SHE TOOK THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN GOING AAANYWHERE!" They screamed together. "JUST A CITY BOY, BORN AND RAISED IN SOUTH DETROIT. HE TOOK THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN GOING AAAANYWHERE!"

A voice from the back seat squeaked along to the guitar solo, to the riotous delight of the girls. Singing at the tops of their voices, they recited every word, and every note. After another furious air guitar solo from the back, a box of hot wings was sent flying all over the car, to the riotous applause of the girls. As the song ended, the three of them slumped into their seats in hysteric giggles.

"That's it, we've done it. Ladies, we just had the ultimate American experience."

"Yep, it's all over now. Might as well just pack up and go home!" The three of them laughed and continued driving, completely oblivious to the trail of sirens zooming past in the opposite direction.

Maggie collapsed to the ground. It had been exactly 3 months since they left Grady Memorial. Exactly 3 months since Maggie lost the baby sister she had just found again. She had run out of tears. She didn't have the water in her body to spare. Clean water was becoming harder and harder to come by. Rivers and streams were mostly polluted by corpses, both dead and undead. Some were easy to filter and boil. Others were a write-off. But after everything that had happened with Woodbury, Terminus, and then the hospital, the group were reluctant to enter built up areas, terrified of what horrors they would encounter next. Beth's loss was the last straw, and regardless they just did not have the energy for another battle.

"Rick!" Glenn wrapped his arms around Maggie. "We need to stop. We need to rest."

"Looks about noon. We've been walking about 4 hours." Daryl pondered. "Couldn't hurt to take a break."

"Maggie, are you ok?" Rick walked over and knelt in front of her. "Can you walk any further?"

"I'm fine. I- I just tripped is all."

"Baby please-" Glenn urged.

"I'm fine!" Maggie snapped and jumped up to her feet only to stumble back into Glenn's arms.

"Ok we need to stop and rethink what we're doing. The road is just beyond those trees. Glenn, you take care of Maggie. We'll stop just up there."

Exhausted and dehydrated, the group stumbled out of the trees and slumped onto the roadside. Removing their backpacks and weapons only made them all realise just how drained they really were. They had not had the luxury of acknowledging pain for a long time. Always on the move, always on edge. Barring sleep, for some reason this was the first time the group had truly stopped. Perhaps it was because their bodies gave them no choice.

"I'm gonna scout up ahead. See if there are any vehicles we can commandeer."

"Abe, please just sit down and quit playing G.I. Joe for once." Rosita sneered, and Abraham, too tired to argue knelt down beside her and playfully nudged her in the shoulder. "That's more like it." She laughed.

Rick took out his flask and removed the lid to take a sip. As it rose towards his face, it seemed much lighter than he remembered. Peering inside his heart sank as he realised why. "How is everyone doing for water?"

One by one each member of the group had the same disheartening realisation as they tipped the last dregs of precious fluid onto their parched tongues. Carl looked at his baby sister, so blissfully unaware of the desperation they all felt. He took out his flask and helped her drink the last of his share. "It's like all we do is chase after water. There's gotta be another way. There's gotta be a town, or a village, or something round here with supplies. Why can't we just-"

"You know why Carl!" Rick snapped at his son, fists clenched in an anger he recognised only came when he was truly scared.

Carol put a hand on Rick's shoulder to calm him. Anger just wasted precious energy. She walked over to Carl and sat down beside him, looking out at the seemingly endless road. "This world is crazy, Carl. Nothing is safe. People just aren't human any more, and I'm not even talking about the walkers. We've lost so much and we still have so much more we could lose. We need to be cautious. It's the only way to survive. I know you know that." She paused and looked at Carl. "You're a clever kid, Carl. Heck, you're not even a kid any more. We're all tired. We're all scared. But at least we're alive."

"You think I don't know that? But what kind of life is this? Always running from our shadows? What about Judith? She's going to grow up knowing only how to be scared. That's not a life." Carl hugged Judith close and buried his face in the top of her head to stop him from crying. He had not let himself cry in a very long time, but exhaustion was his master now.

"We don't know what the future's gonna bring. All we know is today. That's all we can do, get through each day still breathing. For now that's life. It's all we got. We just have to deal with it." Carol sighed and continued to stare at the horizon. In the haze of the midday Georgia heat, she thought she saw a strange mound of mustard yellow in the distance. Slowly she clambered to her feet and walked forward to get a better view.

"Carol?" Daryl stood up and followed her.

"Hey you see that too right?"

"What?" Daryl squinted.

"There by that sign. Is that-"

"A school bus?" Abraham questioned with a hopeful tone as he appeared behind Carol.

"This might be the first time I've ever been glad to see one of those." Daryl smirked.

Squelch.

Another head hit the ground and rolled towards a tree with a groan.

"Fucking fuck."

A walker reached out towards her, biting at her arm. She pulled her machete out of the head of the walker to her left, pushing it away with her leg, and sliced it through the neck of the one about to sink its filthy teeth into her.

"For fuck's sake!" She screamed in frustration as she realised she was overrun. It was nearly noon and she'd been on the ground barely minutes before she was caught by surprise from a walker. More and more they appeared out of the trees behind her. The groaning had become almost deafening and that meant only one thing. A herd.

She had 2 options. Climb a tree and wait for them to pass, or run as fast as her legs could carry her. She had done the former before only once, but she'd been seen by too many of them this time; and from that hauntingly familiar racket echoing around the forest she knew they'd be all over her within minutes. She kicked over the bloody body of the walker she'd just killed and grabbed her duffle bag. Great. She thought as she threw it over her shoulders and darted away from the moans. That's gonna stink for bloody ages.

As she ran through the trees she thought how lucky she was to have slept last night. It had been the first time since she got separated from her group that she'd had more than an hour of unbroken sleep. She thought it was because she'd finally gotten the hang of sleeping in the trees, but in reality she was so exhausted she could have slept just as well on a bed of nails.

The group.

The moans from the herd were no longer audible but still she kept running. She ran so fast and for so long she must have been miles away. The afternoon sun beat down on her through the trees. She was sweating, dehydrated, and exhausted. But still she kept running. She wasn't sure what she was running from anymore. The walkers? The nightmares? The memories? It had been a long time since she'd allowed herself to remember. Perhaps it was because she hadn't felt this level of adrenaline since the night the last herd hit. The night she lost her one reminder left of home.

Before the tears had chance to sting she felt something catch around her foot. She fell forward sharply to the ground and struck her head on a small rock concealed beneath the forest debris. As the world turned black a final image filled her thoughts.

Home.

"Pass me the wrench, Rosi." Abraham reached out his hand behind him, his head still buried in the engine.

"What's the magic word?" Rosita teasingly dangled the wrench just out of reach, glaring at him with an eyebrow raised and a sly smile creeping across her lips.

"I'll give that perfect Latina ass a good spanking if you don't." Abraham chuckled as he lunged forward to grab the wrench. Rosita leapt away spritely, still dangling it in front of him.

"Too slow old man." She joked too soon as he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her lovingly towards him.

"I'll take that wrench now, thank you ma'am." He leaned forward and planted a bristly kiss on her lips as he finally pried the tool from her hand. In all the time she'd known him, Rosita had never seen Abraham behave so informal. Even when they made love he still retained some iota of his military persona. Perhaps the last few months had finally worn it down. She'd seen him go from determined, mission-focussed soldier to a broken shell of a man in mere seconds when Eugene uttered those fateful words so long ago. That glimmer in his eyes at the mention of the word "Washington" had been but an empty void since he finished sinking his fists into Eugene's face. But there it was again, finally. Now he had hope. Now they all had hope; and with it came a newfound energy.

Their faithful old fire truck finally gave its death rattle about 3 weeks after they left Atlanta. One too many walkers found themselves in bits of the engine they couldn't get to. They camped around it for 3 days before Rick finally convinced Abraham to let it be. It wasn't safe to stay there, and they were sure there'd be plenty more vehicles they could find. They siphoned as much fuel as they could carry and took it in turns to lug the bottles wherever they walked. As the days passed and no fixable vehicles became apparent, they had to abandon the fuel in favour of other supplies they found. As long as they could fuel themselves, their legs would have to do. Maybe they'd stumble across a cycle shop? Tara joked about that a lot, but in time it became more tempting.

"You know this ain't in bad shape. And it's got half a tank o'gas. Could probably have this thing up and running in a couple of hours," Abraham shouted across to Rick. "Not that I'm one to tempt fate o'course!"

"Just keep the good news coming!" Rick shouted back cheerily as he watched Carl pull faces at his infant daughter, causing her to howl with innocent giggles. He walked towards Tara, Noah and Carol who were checking through the contents of the bus. Flies buzzed around the pile of corpses to the right of the back door. Eugene had a theory about what had happened in the bus. Before they cleared it out, there had been a number of bodies strewn across the interior, and 7 walkers locked inside, but no signs of forced entry. There was evidence of medical equipment (pill bottles, fluid bags, dressings and so forth), and some of the corpses bore bloody bandage. The bus was facing the direction of Atlanta City. Eugene hypothesised that the bus had been carrying sick and bitten people, probably with the hope of treatment in the city. In the early days, there had been a lot of talk of help downtown, though it proved to be a pipe dream. Perhaps along the way the occupants of the bus lost a couple of people, who inevitably turned and caused the usual havoc. Some survivors must have escaped as the doors were hastily sealed from outside. God knows what happened to them afterwards. Everyone had their own theories about that.

"Ha! Jackpot!" Tara exclaimed. "My turn to give the good news, Rick. Come take a look at this!"

Under a pile of blankets at the back of the bus sat a large cooler, albeit no longer cool, filled with unopened bottles of water, enough to last the group at least a few days, maybe longer with conservative management. Next to the cooler, a couple of cardboard boxes stood filled with dried and canned food. With the blankets and medical equipment they'd salvaged from around the bus they had a good enough set of supplies to help them recuperate their strength for a while after the arduous few months they'd left behind.

Carol started inspecting Tara's newfound treasure trove. "Maybe someone should go find Daryl and the others. Not sure there's much use for hunting right now. They should save their strength at least until we're up and running."

Rick wiped down the back windows with his arm and peered out towards the trees Daryl, Sasha, and Tyrese had disappeared through to forage for food. He pondered a moment.

"If they're not back before Abraham finishes with the engine then we'll send someone. But we don't wanna risk anyone getting lost looking for them."

"I can't believe nobody found this shit before us." The group turned to face Noah who was staring at the food box with a serious look of concern. "If Eugene's right and this bus has been here since the beginning, why are we the first people to find all this stuff?"

"Hey you saw the state it was in when we got here. Tightly locked up, full of walkers, enough at least to scare off any small groups…" Michonne appeared at the front of the bus, but her voice trailed off as she pulled her hand away from a slimy mass resting on the seat she had just leant on. "You never get used to that. Ugh, gross."

Tara giggled. "Maybe we should clean this up a bit. I don't know about you but I don't really enjoy sleeping with my head buried in blood and guts."

"There was that creek we passed maybe 2 miles back. The water wasn't great for drinking but it sure as hell would be useful to spruce this place up a bit." Carol gestured to the cooler. "We could fill this up. It's pretty big. Use some of it for cleaning, and filter some for drinking later?"

"I really don't like us being so exposed for too long. It's pretty open out here." Rick scratched his beard and sighed. "Sounds like we don't have long before we're on the move but I guess if we move quickly we could be there and back in less than an hour. Michonne, you with me?"

"As always." Michonne replied.

Daryl glided through the trees as though his feet were barely touching ground. His crossbow was poised ready for action. Tyrese always found it amusing how such a tough-looking guy could navigate the forest floor with such silent grace, while he himself trudged heavily through the foliage like a tank rolling through a warzone, regardless how hard he tried to be silent. He wasn't even a good shot with projectiles. He could happily beat anything to a pulp with a melee weapon, but arrows and guns were never his forte. With that, he wondered why his sister had dragged him hunting. With her sniper-like aim and delicate gait, she was the perfect candidate to accompany Daryl on this trip. So why him? Tyrese's thoughts were interrupted as Daryl gestured for them to stop. Two rabbits were stood just behind a tree, around 100 meters away from where the gang were hiding.

"I got this." Sasha whispered, as she stalked closer to animals. Two faint shots of her silenced rifle signalled Daryl and Tyrese to come out of hiding as Sasha appeared from behind the tree with her two trophies in hand. "I used to hate the idea of hunting. Now it just feels normal."

"You know Sash used to be a vegetarian before we dropped down the food chain?" Tyrese chuckled softly to himself.

"Where I come from, you'd eat whatever you could. Nothing was wasted. You'd eat the meat but you'd respect the animal. You just had to be thankful, you know?" Daryl felt a strange sense of nostalgia as he eyed their latest kill. "Time was I'd have said a silent prayer for these li'l suckers. Not sure there's much point these days." His ears picked up to the sound of rustling to his left. "Something big. Deer maybe. Stay here, I'm gonna go check it out."

As Daryl skulked off deeper into the forest, Sasha slumped onto the floor and buried her head in her hands. "Ugh, Ty, I need to talk to you. Quickly, before Daryl gets back."

Tyrese knelt down in front of his sister, a concerned look on his face. "Hey, hey, hey. It's ok. What's wrong, Sash?"

"I don't know how to say this. I can hardly believe it myself. It's just so-" Sasha rushed through the words as though they could hardly wait to escape from her lips. "Ty, I'm pregnant!" Suddenly she burst into tears.

"What? Are you sure? How do you-? Who-? Oh God, Sash, I'm so so-"

"Don't! Don't say you're sorry! Don't you fucking dare say you're sorry! I don't want you to feel sorry for me. It sucks. It fucking sucks. I miss him so much. Every day it hurts. But I can't help thinking, out of all the shit we've been through, after everything we've seen and done, maybe this is the one bit of good that can come out of this." Sasha wiped her tears and stroked her tummy lovingly. "If this is how I'm meant to be remember Bob, what better way than having a piece of him growing inside me."

"But Sasha, are you sure you're pregnant? How do you know?"

"I've never been more certain of anything in my life. I've skipped 3 periods. I thought it was just the stress and the dehydration you know? It's been a tough couple o'months. But I just feel it. I've been a little sick lately too. I wanted to hide it not just from the others but from myself because I was scared and confused. Well I'm still scared, but I'm not confused anymore; I just know it's right. Finding the bus was like a sign. Maybe things will be ok. If Judith can make it this far, why can't my baby?" Sasha looked up as the early afternoon sun peered through the trees and warmed her face. "You think I'm crazy don't you."

Tyrese put his arms around his baby sister. "Sash, I've always thought you were crazy. And that's what I've always admired the most about you. You're strong. You don't take no shit. I know you'll be an amazing mom. But you don't have to take this all on yourself. You always carry so much. I love you, sis. I'm here for you. You don't have to hide things from me cos I will always have your back. And I'm pretty damned sure I can say the same for the others too."

Sasha rested her head on Tyrese's shoulder. "Thank you. That's all I needed to hear."

Tyrese kissed the top of her head. "If you're feeling ok, maybe we should check on Daryl."

"Yeah ok. Let's go."

Daryl had his crossbow poised silently at an object in the distance. Through the dreamy late afternoon haze of the forest a doe was grazing peacefully. For the first time in a long time he felt at peace, even if just for a brief and beautiful moment. All around him the woodland shimmered in a magical golden hue from the afternoon Atlanta sun. It was just him and nature alone again, just as it used to be. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, and as his eyes reopened he allowed his finger to squeeze the trigger.

Achoo!

The doe darted off deep into the trees and out of sight as Daryl's arrow flew straight into the ground where it stood. His Zen-like peace was shattered as Tyrese appeared from behind his shoulder looking deeply embarrassed. "I am so sorry, man."

Sasha couldn't contain her laughter as Daryl gave an exasperated sigh. "I can't believe you just did that!" She started howling, doubled over, and playfully punched her brother in the arm. "Your face! Oh God I needed that. That was beautiful! Ha, ha, ha!"

Daryl shook his head and chuckled quietly to himself as he walked over to retrieve his arrow. It was wedged in what appeared to be the leg of a corpse. As he got closer he noticed the body still looked fresh and a familiar chill crept up his spine. Something isn't right. Just as he was about to abandon the arrow and head back, he noticed a large duffle bag. It appeared to be stuffed full of something and after the loss of the doe all Daryl could think of was the possibility of food. I can be quick, he thought as he pulled the arrow out of the leg and reached for the bag. Before his hand could even get close he heard a groan and jumped back. In the eerie silence of the forest, if it hadn't been for Tyreese's perfectly timed sneeze, he would have almost forgotten how to experience sound. He was in mid-swing of his knife arm when the groans turned into words.

"Ja…cob..."

Daryl stopped himself just in time before his knife sunk into its head. He paused for a second, unsure if he was going crazy. It was then he noticed the fresh blood oozing from the arrow wound and suddenly it all clicked into place.

"Ja…cob..."

He knelt down beside the body of what he now realised was a young woman and turned her onto her back. Immediately he saw the blood stained rock and the rapidly bleeding gash at the top of her forehead and knew he had to act fast.

"Tyrese! Sasha! Need a little help here!" He shouted into the trees. "Hey, can you hear me? What's your name?" He shook her shoulders gently and checked the rest of her for other injuries.

"Mi… Mia…" Her voice was barely audible as every word was a struggle.

Her mousy brown hair was glistening with blood-soaked crimson as it poured out of her. Daryl knew he had to stop the bleeding but for some reason he felt out of his depth. He felt his heart sink as he realised why. It had been exactly 3 months since he carried Beth's lifeless body out of Grady Memorial Hospital, blood oozing from the exit wound at the top of her skull. It had been exactly 3 months since he saw Maggie's face contorting from the sheer horror of seeing her baby sister so limp in his arms. His mouth went dry and he felt sick to his stomach. For a second he froze as a wave of grief came rushing over him; but he forced it back down and used his knife to tear a section of his t-shirt. Not one more. He thought as he pressed the material to her head and wrapped it tightly around her. Not another damned one. He turned to her leg and did the same to the now rapidly bleeding arrow wound. He turned back to her face and cleared away her hair with his hand. "Just hang in there. You're gonna be ok."

"Daryl what's going on?!" He heard Sasha's voice approaching.

"What the hell?" Tyrese followed behind her, trusty hammer poised and ready.

Daryl took Mia in his arms and lifted her out of the pool of blood surrounding her. Her arms fell limp and again he felt a punch to the gut thinking of what happened in Atlanta. It felt like an eternity ago, and yet it was still so raw. Daryl shook his head and tried to focus back on the now. "One of you grab that bag and machete. We gotta go, now."

"Ja…cob…?" Mia's eyes looked up at her rescuer but all she could make out was the blurred outline of the gravelly voiced person who now seemed to be carrying her. She tried to lift her arms but they felt alien to her. No matter where she tried to move her eyes, nothing was in focus. The world felt as if she were trapped in some surreal dream. She felt almost serene if it wasn't for the strange damp sensation on her face. She never did like feeling damp. In the haze of outlines blurring past her she realised she was on the move. The outline of what looked like tree branches helped her focus on reality, and she remembered why she had been running. Now the only challenge was to make her lips move again.

Tyrese, Sasha, and Daryl moved swiftly through the woods, rushing through the foliage to get back to the group and help this unknown stranger. As the leaves rustled beneath their hurried feet, they couldn't hear Mia's tiny struggling voice say the most important word they needed to hear.

"Herd…"

"Rick!"

Daryl emerged through the trees and clambered up into the road. Maggie, Glenn, Gabriel, Carl and Eugene, who were sat in the road resting, turned towards Daryl's voice. The closer he got to them, the clearer it was. He was carrying a body. For a brief and terrifying moment, the group thought it had happened again: they'd lost another member. But when Sasha and Tyrese appeared behind him, they felt a wave of relief. All except Maggie, who was frozen to the spot, eyes wide open and brimming with tears. In Daryl's arms was the body of a young woman, bleeding from the head with her arms slumped to the sides, limp and lifeless. In that moment, all she could see was Beth, and she could not control herself as what little food was left in her stomach began to rise into her mouth. She ran to the ditch at the other side of the road and vomited violently.

Glenn could not hide the concern on his face. Maggie had lost a lot of people along the way and yet always remained a pillar of strength and resilience for the group. But Beth was the straw that broke the camel's back. Every night Glenn could hear her sobbing, and every morning he'd have to hold her tight as she screamed and shook from the nightmares. She'd barely eat, she'd barely sleep, she was irritable and snappy, yet was quiet and withdrawn. She had barely held a conversation with anyone since they left Atlanta, and she certainly wouldn't talk about Beth, not even to her own husband. Glenn felt utterly powerless, and no more so than in that moment as he held back Maggie's hair and listened to the commotion going on behind him.

"Dad and Michonne went to get water from the creek. What happened?" Carl handed Judith to Gabriel and ran towards Daryl.

"We found her in the woods. I think she fell. Hit her head real bad. She's lost a lot of blood." Daryl was out of breath, he hadn't even realised he'd been running the whole way.

"Has she been bitten?" Carl gestured to the bloody bandage around Mia's leg.

"Not that I can tell. But she got hit in the leg by one of my arrows."

"Bring her over here!" Carol jumped out from the back door of the bus and placed a blanket on the ground. Daryl laid Mia down and slumped on the floor to catch his breath as Carol inspected her wounds. "Well at least she's breathing. That head wound doesn't look great though. Until she wakes up we won't know what the extent of the damage is. We gotta clean up that leg too. The wound's deep but I don't think it's hit anything major."

Sasha walked over and put her hand on Daryl's shoulder. "You ok?"

"Yeah." He wiped his hand over his face and looked up at Carol. "You think she'll make it?"

"Well the bleeding looks to have stopped so that's good. Her pulse feels pretty weak though, looks like she lost a lot of blood. I wanna say she's been lucky but I'm not holding my breath 'til she wakes up."

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Sasha.

"Other than cleaning her wounds I don't know. Hershel taught me a lot but without the proper equipment I'm just not sure what we could do. Fluids would be good, maybe antibiotics?" Carol looked back at the bus. "There was some medical stuff in there. We should probably look through it, see if anything would be useful." She gestured for Sasha to come with her and the two of them joined Noah looking for anything that could help save this stranger's life.

Daryl stared at Mia lying so helpless beside him. She had an innocence about her that felt so familiar. But then the way the world was now meant people never were how they seemed. Yet he couldn't help but wonder who she was, where she came from. From the looks of her surroundings when he found her, she hadn't been there long; minutes maybe. Her foot was trapped in a tree root, so perhaps she'd tripped. It must have been one hell of a fall to hit her head so hard. He thought. Was she running? What from? Daryl couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right.

The group were mostly gathered by the bus when Carl saw two figures walking up the road. "Dad!" He shouted as he ran towards him.

"Carl?" As they got closer to the group, Rick and Michonne noticed large drops of blood on the ground. They looked at each other, horrified, as Rick felt his stomach turn. "Carl!" He suddenly let go of his handle of the cooler and ran towards his son. A wave of water spilled out onto the ground, washing away the blood.

"Dad, it's ok! Everyone's ok."

Rick held Carl close almost smothering him. "I saw blood and everyone standing around like that. I was scared-"

"Daryl found someone while he was hunting. Said she'd hit her head or something. She was bleeding a lot. Carol's looking after her now." Carl reassured his father.

"Do we know who she is? Was she alone?" Rick couldn't hide the worry in his voice.

"I dunno. Tyrese and Sasha seem to think she was. She had a big bag with her. Could have been travelling by herself." Carl guided Rick over to the rest of the group. He whispered to his dad, "Daryl's pretty shaken. Maggie isn't doing well. I guess they got reminded of Beth."

"Thanks, son. I'll take it from here." Rick patted Carl on the shoulder and sat down next to Daryl. "Hey man. What happened?"

As Daryl filled him in, Mia began to stir. The voices around her sounded muffled and distant but as her ears retuned themselves she began to realise they were surrounding her. Her eyes opened and she noticed the sounds were coming from figures hovering over her. Was it all a dream? She thought as her mind tried to piece together what was happening. Am I still with my group?

"Ja…cob…? W-where am I? Jacob?" The words sluggishly tumbled out of her mouth as her vision started to focus. Suddenly it hit her. These weren't people she knew. In her experience that always spelled trouble, and as a burst of adrenaline shot through her, she finally found strength enough in her muscles to push herself up. Mia's head pounded like she'd never felt before. As she moved her leg to get up a sharp pain sent her screaming. Every attempt to steady herself was thwarted by an extreme dizziness that sent the world spinning around her, but she would not let these strangers think she was weak. She reached for her machete, but it wasn't there. She scrambled around in horror as she realised she was unarmed and completely vulnerable. "What's going on?! Who are you?!" The effort to speak made her feel weak but she resisted the urge to pass out again. "Where am I?"

Rick leaned forward. "How many walkers have you killed?"

Gabriel grabbed Rick's shoulder. "Rick no. She isn't-"

"How many walkers have you killed?" Rick persisted.

"Rick stop, please. Do you have to do this now?" Tara pleaded with him.

"How many walkers have you killed?" Rick would not stop. A mixture of hunger and exhaustion fuelled his desperation. His questions were the only thing that gave him clarity. He wasn't alone in his paranoia. Since Eugene revealed he lied to them about Washington, Abraham was extremely wary of strangers.

"Let him ask. We don't know anything about her. She could be anyone. This could be a trap!" Abraham pushed past the others to stand by Rick's side.

"You're talking crazy! You saw how she was when we brought her!" Daryl shouted as he rose to his feet and into Abraham's face. Carol held him back to calm things down but the group descended into argument. Through all the commotion, a dizzy and confused Mia had a flash of memory.

"Walkers…"

A flash of trees. Deafening groans. Then suddenly, she came to her senses.

"The herd!"

She shouted, but the group weren't listening. "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" She screamed so loud the group stopped dead in their tracks. As they stood staring at her in sudden silence she began to panic. "Oh god, how long was I out? I remember. I remember what happened."

"Hush now, it's ok." Gabriel knelt beside her and held her shaking hand. "Calm down, and tell us what's going on."

"We need to get out of here. There's a herd. It's gotta be close now. Argh shit my head." Mia's vision was starting to blur again.

Rick immediately regretted his forcefulness as the reality of the situation began to dawn. "Mia, is it? It's ok. I'm sorry for how I talked to you. But it's really important you tell us exactly what happened."

Daryl knelt next to Gabriel. "I found you in the woods. You were out cold. Didn't look like for long. That must have been about 30 minutes ago."

"No, no, no, no!" Mia really began to panic. "We've got to move now. There was a herd a few minutes away from me when I started running. There must have been hundreds, the noise was unbelievable. I know I outran them but probably by no more than 30 or 40 minutes. They can't be far away."

"Oh crap." Glenn muttered under his breath. "Abe, how long we got left before this bus is ready to roll?"

"As long as we have to spend on it." Abraham rushed back to the bus's engine and hastily continued to work on it as Rosita took to the ignition.

"Ok if she's right then we haven't got long. Michonne, help me get that water on the bus. Carol, you take care of Mia. Eugene, Gabriel, Noah and Carl, get Judith on that bus, make sure all our supplies are loaded, and start covering the windows with blankets. If we can't get the engine going our best chance will be to hide. Tara, Glenn, Maggie guard Abraham at the front for as long as you can. Daryl, Sasha, Tyrese, guard the back doors." Rick looked out at the forest. It seemed so still, yet he knew it was just the calm before the storm. "Everyone listen. The second too many walkers come out of those trees I want you all on the bus. No matter what you have left to do. On the bus, got it? I ain't losing anyone today."

He was back. There was the Rick they all knew. The strong leader they had come to depend on; some for months, some for years. With his strength, they all felt that little bit stronger, and with that they got to their tasks with no arguments. Finding the bus, especially so well stocked, had been the miracle they'd been so desperate for for weeks. None of them were prepared to let it go.

Rick and Michonne had barely got the water cooler on the bus when Daryl hushed the group. "Listen…" He whispered, gesturing towards the trees. Mia was huddled on a row of seats inside the bus trying desperately not to succumb to the dizziness. Carol had just finished dressing her leg when the silence fell in the group. Knowing what this meant, Mia struggled to her feet and, despite Carol's protest, limped towards the back window and slid it open. The ghastly moaning was clearly audible now. The herd had arrived.

"Hold your positions until we see walkers. We gotta give Abe a chance to get this thing going." Rick kept his hands poised in readiness above the weapons in his belt.

"Ssh." Daryl hushed Rick. Something wasn't right. Maybe his ears were too finely tuned from years of tracking and hunting, but he was sure he heard something close. He shot his crossbow to his right as suddenly a group of walkers appeared out of the trees. Sasha fell back and fired a shot into the air as one lunged for her. Tyrese slammed the sharp end of his hammer straight through its head and helped his sister onto her feet.

"You gotta be more careful in your-" He started as Sasha shut him down.

"Shut up, this isn't the time!" She whispered forcefully.

As quickly as they disposed of the first group, another appeared at the front of the bus, one almost taking Abraham as he plunged his knife into its head.

"Hold steady!" Rick screamed as he shot two more walkers down.

Feeling helpless and weak Mia watched in horror as more walkers piled out of the woods. The world seemed to slow down around her as her vision doubled and her head began to throb again, yet somehow she found herself looking for her trusty machete in a desperate bid to help her apparent saviours. As she searched the bus, she saw a mixture of reactions from Eugene and Gabriel's frozen fear, to Carl's steadfast protection of his baby sister, Abraham's bitter determination, to Michonne's sheer fearlessness; and she felt, for the first time in a long time, like she was around real humans again. Good humans. Humans she needed to help protect.

Among a pile of bags under the chairs at the back of the bus she saw it catch the light. She leant over to grab it but moved too quickly and felt the world flash black as her knees buckled. Shaking her head she tried to snap herself out of it, and pulled herself back upright. Out of the window she saw Daryl pinned to the floor by a grotesquely obese walker. Holding the hilt of her weapon tight, with a surge of adrenaline she opened the back door and sliced through its head. Daryl pushed off the body and lay dazed for a second, looking up at Mia standing fearless and strong, blood dripping from her machete. But within mere seconds she began to sway as every ounce of energy she had left was lost with swing of her weapon. He got up just in time to catch her as Mia's injuries finally got the better of her.

With Sasha and Tyrese holding up the rear, Daryl carried her back onto the bus, laid her across the seats and checked she was still breathing. Thank God, he thought as her breath glided against his cheek. Using whatever they could find, he joined the others as they barricaded the back door against the wave of walkers pushing against it. Meanwhile, at the front of the bus Abraham was still desperately fiddling with the engine.

"Come on you little fucker!" Rosita twisted the ignition but again the engine stuttered and halted. Abraham slammed his fist into the metal casing of the engine in frustration. Behind him another walker's head exploded as Michonne swung her sword through it.

"We gotta get outta here. There's gonna be too many of 'em!" She shouted to Rick as he pushed off another walker and pierced her weapon through its skull.

"You gotta let go! We need to clear out these walkers and hide before the whole herd hits!" Rick grabbed Abraham's arm but he snapped it back violently.

"I can do this! Just one more…" He fiddled inside the engine and shouted to Rosita. "Start her again!"

"Just get inside, please!" Rosita shouted from the steering wheel.

"Just do it!" He screamed. Rosita twisted the ignition key. The engine stuttered again for a few seconds before roaring back to life. "Now we're talking!"

"We gotta go, now!" Rick helped dispose of more walkers as Michonne, Tara, Maggie and Abraham bundled onto the bus. Glenn had just placed his foot on the step when a walker crawling on the floor to his left bit him on the leg. Maggie screamed as Glenn fell to the ground, dropping his knife just out of reach.

"Shit. Rick!" Glenn kicked off the walker as Rick shot a bullet through its rotten head. The two of them jumped onto the bus and shut the door behind them.

"Wagons roll!" Rosita put her foot down and the bus sped off down the road, ploughing through another group of the undead. Maggie, sobbing hard, clutched onto Glenn for dear life as he pulled up his jeans to reveal clean and healthy skin.

"Ha! These are some damned good jeans!" He chuckled as he sank back into Maggie's arms in relief.

The group took their seats and tried to process what had just happened. Daryl sat at the back of the bus in quiet reflection, watching the swarm of walkers appearing out of the trees turn into ants as they sped off into the horizon. His mind flashed back to that innocent deer grazing in the woods before fleeing to reveal the body of the girl who bought them just enough time to get out of there in one piece. The girl who used the last of her strength to save him from the fattest fucking walker he'd ever encountered. He had never believed much in a higher power, but something about the chain of events that day made him think something was on their side. He looked at Mia whose unconscious body was balanced precariously where he lay her down. With each bump in the road she edged ever closer to falling off the seats. He instinctively leapt towards her, lifted her head and rested it on his lap, holding her securely. Resting his head on the cold glass of the window, watching the trees blur past, he couldn't hold back the smile as he came to the cold realisation…

That goddamned sneeze may have saved our lives.

End of Part 1