It was like looking through a gun scope.

Everything outside his narrow focus was blurred and practically nonexistent as he searched for the object of his hunt. His heartbeat was in his ears and his throat. As Daryl combed the streets of Alexandria, his fists clenched tighter with every body he passed on the street. All of these innocents he spent the past months keeping safe, strengthening in numbers—gone because a group of shit-crazy cult members decided: this is what we do now.

Kill just to do it.

His nostrils flared when he caught sight of the 'W's carved into each perpetrator's forehead. His mind flashed to that girl, left to be eaten, tied to a tree. Nude and defenseless. Humiliated and torn to shreds. These people thought that was normal.

These people made their way into his home. His family. Carol-

His pace quickened as he passed more bodies. Too many bodies. The guilt in his belly was hardening as he couldn't help but listen to the mantra in his head 'I wasn't here.'

His breath caught in his throat when he saw one body in particular. The sons of bitches had killed Marvin and chopped his limbs from his body. He had seen some repulsive, unforgivable shit, but this…

"Daryl?"

His head shot to the side and he saw her, her forehead marked with the same bloody 'W', but it was her.

His eyes scanned her figure what felt like 50 times within a few seconds. So much blood, but none of it her own.

"They rammed the eighteen wheeler into the walls." As usual, Carol was getting straight to the point; spouting information out like she was giving a report to the general. "They just started…butchering everyone. No rhyme or reason."

Carol got lost in her memory of the woman dying in her arms, and the cigarettes in her pocket felt like they were weighing her coat down now.

Carol swallowed her sadness and continued her recall of everything. "I killed one and took his clothes. Got to the armory." She wanted to laugh, but all she could manage was a twitch of the lips. "I put Olivia in charge of defending it. I had to. I had to go on the streets and keep them from killing everyone."

Daryl was still just staring at her. Carol's concern was now focused on his silence.

"Daryl?" She grabbed his hand, looking for any kind of response. Suddenly her insides flared at the thought of devastation coming from his side of the walls.

"Daryl, where's Rick? Glenn? Did something happ-"

Daryl swept her up in his arms and exhaled. Her rigidness eased quickly at the familiar gesture—he had done the same thing when they reunited outside of Terminus.

Her arms slid behind his neck and she took a deep breath at the sensation of feeling safe, supported. And she thanked whatever God she believed in at that point for Daryl's safe return in the middle of all the atrocity.

He stroked her hair and bent his head into the crook of her neck. "Every time I leave…I'm scared shitless you won't be here when I get back."

She smirked and kissed the top of his head. "Nine lives, remember?"