Fear the Dead, Fight the Living

It's been days, maybe even weeks since the CDC, we pretty pretty much only had the clothes on our backs and our weapons. We were traveling for miles until gas became harder and harder to find so we dumped a few vehicles including Daryl's truck so I had to ride in the RV with Dale, Glenn, Andrea and Shane.

"Looks complicated." Andrea says to Shane as he sat there cleaning his gun

"The trick is getting all these pieces back together the same way, took Phoebe almost 2 weeks to get it down." He says and I glare at him

"Hey at least I was able to hit the target first day of the academy unlike someone" I tell him and he chuckled

"I could clean yours, show you how." He said to Andrea and reached into the bag grabbing her gun, "Oh yeah. It's a sweet piece."

"It was a gift from my father. He gave it to me just before Amy and I took off on our road trip. He said two girls on their own should be able to defend themselves."

"Smart man, your father. Look, it's a- it's a limited capacity. See? Only holds seven rounds." He pointed out

"Oh jeez." Dale says and I look out the window seeing nothing but cars, I hear Daryl's motorcycle pull up to Dale's window, we haven't really talked about what happened at the CDC, part of me hoped he didn't regret it, "See a way through?" Dale asked him and Daryl drove around then Dale followed him through the cars

"Uh, maybe we should just go back. There's an interstate bypass-" Glenn started to say looking at the map but Dale cut him off

"We can't spare the fuel." Just then the engine started sputtering then we stop and get out, "I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water."

"Problem, Dale?" Shane asked him

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of-" He paused looking around and Daryl walked over to the truck of a car I was at looking inside it, "Okay, that was dumb."

"If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane pointed out

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl says rummaging through and I shook my head

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog mentioned

"I'll help you with that" I tell him and he nodded

"Maybe some water." My mom says

"Or food." Glenn added

"This is a graveyard." Lori says, "I don't know how I feel about this."

"All right, all right, here we go." T-Dog says and we head to get the gas cans and hoses

"Come on, y'all. Just look around, gather what you can." Shane tells us, me and T-Dog made our way through the cars, siphoning gas is gross especially when all you get is fumes.

Daryl popped open the tank cover of one car for T-Dog who then stuck the hose in and I used my knife to open another one as Daryl walked past me, I looked at him as he walked away and continued what I was doing.

"Hey, Carl. Always within my sight, okay?" I hear Lori tell him

"You too, Sophia, mine or sister's" My mom added and I moved to another car keeping my eye on my sister.

I finished siphoning a tank when I feel someone come up behind me putting their hand over my mouth, I looked at Daryl who shushed me and I saw a bunch of walkers coming towards us, he grabbed my hand and moved us around a car and I got under it then he took off. I looked out from underneath mine and saw my sister under one, I tried my hardest to see where Daryl went as I see walkers shuffle past me.

Everything got quiet and suddenly I hear Sophia start to cry and I see a walker trying to get her while she was under the car and she got out and ran to the woods, I quickly rolled out from under and ran after her.

I ran down the hill and see her running away from the walkers so I headed in another direction. I catch up to her and grabbed her, "Are you all right? Are you okay?"

"Shoot them!" She says reaching for my gun

"No. No! Those walkers on the road would hear it. Then it wouldn't be just two, it'd be hundreds. Come here. Come on." I tell her grabbing her hand and we ran reaching a river, "All right, just hold here. You stay there. Wait." I tell her and jump down into the water and reach for her bringing her down as well, "Sophia, you have to do exactly as I say. Hide in there. Squeeze in tight. I'll draw them away from you."

"No no, don't leave me." She begged and I put my hand on her face

"Listen listen listen listen. They don't get winded. I do. I can only deal with them one at a time. I wouldn't be able to protect you. This is how we both survive. You understand? Okay?" I asked her and she nodded her head, "Go go go go." I tell her and she climbed under the roots of a fallen down tree, "If I don't make it back, run back to the highway, back to mom straight the way we came. Keep the sun on your left shoulder. Remember I love you okay? Just stay quiet." I said and see the walkers coming so I splash the water at them getting their attention, "Come on! You ugly son of a bitch. Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on!" I yelled running away

I hid behind a tree as I hear them getting closer, I grabbed out my knife then moved out and stabbed the first one, then I picked up a big rock and threw it at the other knocking it down then killed that one as well.


"Sure this is the spot?" Daryl asked me looking under the tree root, when I got back to the spot and saw she was gone I ran back to the highway to get him, Glenn, Rick and Shane

"I left her right here. I drew the walkers way off in that direction up the creek." I replied pointing down the creek bed

"Without a paddle- seems where we've landed." Daryl says

"She was gone by the time I got back here. I figured she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder." I mentioned, my heart was racing, I needed to find my sister

"Hey, short round, why don't you step off to one side? You're mucking up the trail." Daryl tells Glenn

"Assuming she knows her left from her right." Shane told me

"Shane, she understood me fine."

"Kid's tired and scared, Phoebe. She had her a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck." He added

"Got clear prints right here. She did like you said, headed back to the highway." Daryl tells me and climbed up the edge of the creek and reached his hand down to me helping me up

"Let's spread out, make our way back. She couldn't have gone far." Rick tells us

"Hey, we gonna find her. She'll be tuckered out hiding in a bush somewhere." Shane tried to reassure me but my stomach was in knots, I will never forgive myself if something happens to her

"She was doing just fine till right here. All she had to do was keep going. She veered off that way." Daryl pointed out as we followed him

"Why would she do that?" Glenn asked

"Maybe she saw something that spooked her, made her run off." Shane answered

"A walker?" I asked

"I don't see any other footprints. Just hers." Daryl replied

"So what do we do? All of us press on?" Shane asked Rick

"No, better if you, Phoebe and Glenn get back up to the highway. People are gonna start panicking. Let them know we're on her trail doing everything we can. But most of all, keep everybody calm."

"I'll keep 'em busy scavenging cars. Think up a few other chores. I'll keep 'em occupied. Come on." Shane says

"I'm going with Rick and Daryl," I tell them and Daryl looked at me, "She's my sister, I have to find her, I have to" I said and Daryl nodded

"Alright let's go" Rick says and we follow Daryl again


"Tracks are gone." Rick points out as we walk through the woods

"No, they're faint, but they ain't gone. She came through here." Daryl tells him

"How can you tell? I don't see anything. Dirt, grass."

"You want a lesson in tracking or you want to find that girl and get our ass off that interstate?" Daryl asked him and we continued walking when we hear leaves rustling, we crouch down then see a walker go by us, Daryl signaled us to get its attention and he went the other direction, me and Rick walk in front of it whistling at it then Daryl shot it and walked over taking his arrow out while Rick knelt next to the walker.

"Sophia!" Daryl yelled

"What are you looking for?" I asked Rick

"Skin under the fingernails. It fed recently. There's flesh caught in its teeth."

"Oh god" I mumbled and Daryl put his hand on my shoulder

"Yeah, what kind of flesh?" He asked Rick

"Only one way to know for sure." Rick said grabbing his knife

"Here, I'll do it." Daryl said stopping him grabbing his own knife, "How many kills you skin and gut in your life? Anyway, mine is sharper." He says and stabbed his knife into the walker's stomach cutting down over and over, "Now comes the bad part." He told us and reached his hands inside the walkers stomach, I put my hand over my mouth trying not to throw up, "Yeah, Hoss had a big meal not long ago. I feel it in there. Here's the gut bag." Daryl threw it on the ground

"I got this." Rick grabs his knife and cut into it then pulled out some other stuff then Daryl grabbed a tiny skull

"This gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch." He said and I sighed in relief

"At least we know." Rick mentioned

"At least we know." Daryl agreed and looked at me, I gave a sad smile and they got up taking off the gloves they were wearing.


"You didn't find her?" My mom asked depressed as we climbed back up to the highway

"Her trail went cold. We'll pick it up again at first light." Rick told her as me and him climbed over the rail

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods."

"Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost." Daryl explained

"But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" My mom asked, it was killing me and all I wanted was to bring my sister back to her

"I know this is hard. But I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there. And we tracked her for a while. We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this." Rick mentioned

"Is that blood?" She asked Daryl and I saw blood on his jeans

"We took down a walker." Rick tells her

"Walker? Oh my God." my mom groaned

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia." I reassured her

"How can you know that?" Andrea asked

"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure." Daryl told her

"Oh God." My mom said sitting on the rail and looked at me, "How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her? She's your sister." She says to me and I feel a pain go through my heart

"Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance." I defended

"Sounds like she didn't have a choice, Carol." Shane tells her

"How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child."

"It was my only option. The only choice I could make." I tell her fighting back tears

"I'm sure nobody doubts that." Lori says

"My little girl got left in the woods" My mom cried and I look at Daryl then walked away towards all the cars. My mom blamed me and I didn't blame her, I left my little sister alone, hiding and scared, now she was lost. I would give anything to trade places with her.


"Everybody takes a weapon." Rick says unrolling a satchel full off knives and hatchets

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Andrea asked

"We've been over that. Daryl, Rick, Phoebe and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles." He told her

"It's not the trees I'm worried about."

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it." I tell her putting my gun in my holster

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark." Daryl informed us

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Rick instructed

"Everybody assemble your packs." Shane tells us and I walked over to where we had water set up and grabbed a bottle putting it in my bag

"You okay?" Daryl asked me and I looked at him

"I have to be, it's the only way I'm gonna save my sister" I tell him and he put his hand on my shoulder

"No, Dale, you're doing it for you. You need to stop." We hear Andrea say and looked over at them, "What do you think's gonna happen? I'm gonna stick it in my mouth and pull the trigger the moment you hand it to me?" She asked him

"I know you're angry at me. That much is clear. But if I hadn't done what I did, you'd be dead now."

"Jenner gave us an option. I chose to stay." She says

"You chose suicide."

"So what's that to you? You barely know me." She mentioned

"I know Amy's death devastated you."

"Keep her out of this. This is not about Amy. This is about us. And if I decided that I had nothing left to live for, who the hell are you to tell me otherwise? To force my hand like that?" She asked him

"I saved your life."

"No, Dale. I saved yours. You forced that on me. I didn't want your blood on my hands and that is the only reason I left that building. What did you expect? What, I'd have some kind of epiphany? Some life-affirming catharsis?" She asks

"Maybe just a little gratitude."

"Gratitude? I wanted to die my way, not torn apart by drooling freaks. That was my choice. You took that away from me, Dale." She tells him

"But-"

"But you know better?" She asked cutting him off, "All I wanted after my sister died was to get out of this endless horrific nightmare we live every day. I wasn't hurting anyone else. You took my choice away, Dale. And you expect gratitude?"

"I don't know what to say."

"I'm not your little girl. I'm not your wife. And I am sure as hell not your problem. That's all there is to say." She says then walked away leaving him looking like a wounded puppy, I gave him a sad smile and we all walked off heading to the woods.


As we walked through the woods we came up on a tent and Daryl stopped us, "She could be in there" Shane pointed out

"Could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl added and the three of them moved forward to the tent as we followed slowly behind, Daryl grabbed out his knife and looked around trying to peak inside.

"Carol." Rick called and she walked over, "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."

"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there? Sophia, it's mommy. Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's mommy." She called and Daryl slowly unzipped the tent flap and they coughed and gagged then Daryl went in

"Daryl? Daryl?" I asked and he came out

"It ain't her." He said and I sighed

"What's in there?" Andrea asked

"Some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" He asked then we hear church bells ringing in the distance and we all start running

"What direction?" Shane asked

"I think that way. I'm pretty sure." Rick told him

"Damn, it's hard to tell out here."

"If we heard them, maybe Sophia did too." my mom pointed out

"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others." Glenn says

"Or signaling they found her." Andrea added

"She could be ringing them herself." I mentioned and we started to run towards the sound coming up on a church with a cemetery in front of it

"That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells." Shane says and I ran towards it anyway

"Phoebe" Daryl says but ignored him and ran up the steps and Daryl joined then Shane and Rick, I grabbed out my knife and we paused then opened the doors, there were walkers sitting in the pews and they stand up, I walked over to one and stabbed it in the head with my knife. I heard Daryl make kissing sounds then he stabbed on as well.

"Sophia!" Rick yelled opening a door then shutting it

"Yo, J.C., you taking requests?" Daryl asked the statue

"I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Phoebe. There's no steeple." Shane says and the bells ring again, we run outside and move to the side of it seeing a speaker up top, Glenn opened the box and unplugged it

"A timer. It's on a timer." Daryl pointed out

"I'm gonna go back in for a bit." My mom says and headed inside and we followed


"Father, forgive me. I don't deserve your mercy. I prayed for safe passage from Atlanta and you provided. I prayed for Ed to be punished for laying his hands on me and for looking at his own daughters with whatever sickness was growing in his soul. I prayed you'd put a stop to it, give me a chance to raise them right, help them not make my mistakes. Sophia's so fearful. She's so young in her way. She hasn't had a chance. Praying for Ed's death was a sin. Please, don't let this be my punishment. Let her be safe, alive and safe. Please, lord. Punish me however you want, but show mercy on her." My mom prays and walked over sitting down next to Lori and I walked out of the church going over to a tree sitting in front of it then started to cry putting my head in my hands and I feel someone sit next to me pulling me into a hug, I look and saw it was Daryl. I honestly didn't even know what we were right now, but him comforting me was enough for now.

The others walk out of the church and I got up walking over to Rick then Shane joined us, "Got to move here, man. These people are spent. There's only so many hours of daylight left. We still got a long way back."

"I can't stop yet." I tell him

"We still got a lot of ground to cover, whole other side of the Creek Bed. So we search that on the way back."

"She would have heard those church bells. She could be nearby." Rick tells him taking my side

"She could be a lot of things."

"I can't go back. Her being out here is my fault." I said to Shane

"That's great. Now they got you doubting yourself, huh?"

"What about you? You doubt me?" I asked him

"Hey, we can assign all kinds of blame."

"This means something, finding her." Rick mentioned, "It would be the miracle we need. We can't give up." Rick says and Shane looked at me

"Okay then, but Phoebe I really think you should head back with the others just in case she shows up at the freeway, she's gonna need you and Carol" He says and I sighed looking over at my mom, I shook my head rolling my eyes

"Alright" I reluctantly agreed and we walked over to the others

"Y'all gonna follow the Creek Bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough." Shane informed them

"You're splitting us up. You sure?" Daryl asked him

"Yeah, we'll catch up to you."

"I want to stay too. I'm her friend." Carl says and I smiled

"Just be careful, okay?" Lori asked him

"I will."

"When did you start growing up?" She asks kissing the top of his head

"I'll be along soon enough. Here, take this. Remember how to use it?" He asked her handing her his gun

"I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed."

"Here, got a spare. Take it." Daryl told her handing one to her, where did he get that?

TWD

"So this is it? This the whole plan?" My mom asked stopping to rest on a fallen tree

"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups." Daryl tells her as I take a drink of water

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks. I see you have a gun." Andrea says to Lori

"Why, you want it? Here, take it." She tells her handing the gun over, "I'm sick of the looks you're giving me. All of you." She says sitting down on the same tree, "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through. And I would do anything to stop it. But you have got to stop blaming Phoebe. It is in your face every time you look at her. When Sophia ran she didn't hesitate, did she? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way she did" Lori said to her and my mom looked at me and reached her hand out for me to grab, I walked over grabbing it sitting next to her and she pulled me into a hug, "Or made the hard decisions that Rick has had to make or that anybody could have done it any differently. Anybody? If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you." Lori tells us then took a drink

Andrea handed the gun back to her, "We should keep moving"


"You still worrying about it?" Andrea asked and I look to see Lori looking behind us

"It was a gunshot."

"We all heard it." Daryl pointed out

"Why one- Why just one gunshot?" Lori asked

"Maybe they took down a walker." He told her

"Please don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker, or Shane. They'd do it quietly."

"Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" My mom asked

"There's nothing we can do about it, anyway. Can't run around these woods chasing echoes." Daryl mentioned

"So, what do we do?" Lori asked him

"Same as we've been. Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway."

"I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the RV." Andrea says and looked at my mom, "I'm sorry for what you're going through. I know how you feel."

"I suppose you do- Thank you. The thought of her, out here by herself... It's the not knowing that's killin' me. I just keep hopin' and prayin' she doesn't wind up like Amy." My mom said and looked at Andrea, "Oh, God! That's the worst thing I ever said."

"We're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth."

"I'll tell ya what it's worth- Not a damn thing. It's a waste of time, all this hopin' and prayin'. We're gonna locate that little girl. She's gonna be just fine. Am I the only one zen around here? Good lord." Daryl tells them and I gave a light chuckle smiling.

My mom walked over to me and I looped my arm through hers and rested my head on her shoulder, "We'll find her mom, I promise" I tell her and she stopped then pulled me into a hug.

"I'm sorry for blaming you sweetie, you did what you could to keep her safe, you always have. She's so lucky to have you as a big sister."

"I'll always protect her, and you, no matter what" I said and we continued walking.

"Is there something going on with you and Daryl?" She asked me and I looked at her then the others, they were up aways so they didn't hear us.

"I honestly don't know." I tell her and she grabbed my hand giving it a squeeze

"Try talking to him" She says and I look at Daryl as he walked then we all stopped

"We'll lose the light before too long. I think we should call it." Daryl tells us

"Let's head back." Lori agreed

"We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" My mom asked her

"Yeah, we'll find her tomorrow."


"How much farther?" Lori asked Daryl as we continued walking

"Not much... Maybe a hundred yards as the crow flies."

"Too bad we're not crows." Andrea says and I see her walk into a spider web, "Oh... Oh! As the crow flies, my ass."

Just then we hear her scream, "Andrea?" My mom yelled and we run over to her and see someone ride over on a horse hitting the walker with a bat

"Lori? Lori grimes?"

"I'm Lori." She tells the girl

"Rick sent me- You've got to come now."

"What?" Lori asked

"There's been an accident- Carl's been shot. He's still alive but you've gotta come now. Rick needs you- Just come!" The girl says to Lori and she takes off her backpack handing it to me and rushed over to the girl

"Whoa-whoa-whoa! We don't know this girl. You can't get on that horse." Daryl tells her but she ignored him getting on the horse

"Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?" The girl asked and I looked at a love struck Glenn

"Uh-huh."

"Backtrack to Fairburn road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox- Name's Greene- Hi-yah!" She urged the horse and they took off, then the walker she hit sat up wheezing

"Shut up." Daryl says shooting it in the head


"Shot? What do ya mean shot?"

"I don't know, Dale. I wasn't there. All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori." Glenn told him

"You let her?" Dale asked Daryl

"Climbed down out of my asshole, man. Rick sent her. She knew Lori's name and Carl's."

"I heard screams- Was that you?" Dale asked Andrea as she walked past him

"She got attacked by a walker. It was a close call." I tell him

"Andrea, are you all right?" He asked her and she looked at him then walked into the RV shutting the door


"I won't do it. We can't just leave." My mom says to Dale

"Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak."

"What if she comes back and we're not here? It could happen." She says and I wrapped my arm around her shoulder

"If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful." Andrea agreed

"Okay. We gotta plan for this. I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stay with the RV." Daryl pointed out

"If the RV is stayin', I am too." Dale adds

"I'm staying too," I said and my mom smiled at us

"Thank you." She says to us and we look at Andrea.

"I'm in."

"Well, if you're all staying then I'm-"

"Not you, Glenn-" Dale tells him cutting him off, "You're going. Take-take Carol's Cherokee."

"Me? Why is it always me?" Glenn asked him

"You have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on- But most important, you have to get T-Dog there. This is not an option. That cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a very serious blood infection. Get him to that farm. See if they have any antibiotics. Because if not, T-Dog will die, no joke."

I see Daryl walk over to his bike and grabbed a rag off it then pulled something out of his satchel, "Keep your oily rags off my brother's motorcycle. Why'd you wait till now to say anything? Got my brother's stash. Crystal, x- Don't need that. Got some kick ass painkillers. Doxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion." He says and I just shook my head


Later that night I was sitting on the steps of the RV staring out at the woods while Andrea fiddled with her gun, Daryl laid on the floor and my mom was on the bed in the back crying, "I need my clip now." I hear Daryl tell Andrea and I looked back at him as he looked at my mom, "I'm gonna walk the road, look for the girl." He says heading to the steps and I stand up as he walked out

"I'm coming too." I tell him and he looked at me then nodded as I grabbed my bag and my knife

"I'm going for a walk. Shine some light in the forest. If she's out there, give her something to look at." Daryl tells Dale who's on top of the RV

"Do you think that's a good idea right now?" He asked and I looked at him

"I can't sit here and wait anymore" I said to him and we walked into the woods


As we walked through the woods I kept biting my tongue trying to avoid asking him the question that's been bothering me so I thought of something else to say, "I really hope we find her." I said breaking the silence

"It ain't the mountains of Tibet. It's Georgia. She could be holed up in a farmhouse somewhere. People get lost and they survive. It happens all the time."

"She's only 12." I point out to him

"Hell, I was younger than her and I got lost. Nine days in the woods eating berries, wiping my ass with poison oak."

"They found you?" I asked him

"My old man was off on a bender with some waitress. Merle was doing another stint in juvie. Didn't even know I was gone. I made my way back though. Went straight into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. No worse for wear. Except my ass itched something awful." He says and I started laughing

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, that is a terrible story." I tell him and he started to laugh too

"Only difference is Sophia's got people looking for her. I call that an advantage." He mentioned

Screw it, "Daryl, about what happened at the CDC and after. Do you um..."

"Think about it?" He asked finishing the question for me

"Yeah"

"Haven't stopped" He says and I stop and look at him

"Do you regret it?"

He turned and looked at me, "Why would I regret it?"

"I don't know, we haven't really talked about it at all and now with what's happening with my sister I just.." I paused and sighed, "I'm just not sure what that means or well I guess I'm just trying to..." I started to say and he moved over to me and kissed me, I kissed back and he pulled away but stayed close

"I like you, always have. Just hard for me to express that." He says and I put my hand on his face

"Sorry if I put you on the spot" I tell him and he put his hand on the back of my head pulling me against him

"Don't be, I feel better talking to you."

"So does this mean we're going steady?" I asked with a smirk and he scoffed then kissed me again but this time it was passionate and I put my fingers in his hair as he wrapped his arm around my waist trying to pull me closer to him then I was and I feel him run his tongue along my bottom lip, I open my mouth and he pushed in, I couldn't help but moan into his mouth but suddenly he pulled away.

"Really shouldn't do this here" He pointed out and I smiled

"Probably not" I said agreeing and he kissed me once more and we continued walking but my heart wouldn't stop racing.

After a while we hear rustling and Daryl raised his crossbow in the direction it came from and we moved towards it then saw a tent, "What the hell?" Daryl asked as we see a walker hanging from a tree gagging "Got bit. Fever hit. World gone to shit. Might as well quit." Dumbass didn't know enough to shoot himself in the head. Turned himself into a big swinging piece of bait. And a mess." He says and I looked away and groaned, "You all right?" He asked putting his hand on my back

"Trying not to puke."

"Go ahead if you gotta." He says rubbing my back

"No, I'm fine. Let's just talk about something else for a minute. How'd you learn to shoot?" I asked him, I've known him for a while now but I never thought to ask him that

"Gotta eat. That's one thing these walkers and us have in common. I guess it's the closest he's been to food since he turned. Hanging up there like a big pinata. The other geeks came and ate all the flesh off his legs." He points out and I looked at the gnawed on legs the threw up

"I thought we were changing the subject." I tell him as he handed me a rag and I wiped my mouth

"Call that payback for laughing about my itchy ass."

I looked at him and chuckled, "There wasn't a lot that came up."

"Let's head back."

"Aren't you gonna..." I indicated to the walker

"No. He ain't hurting nobody. Ain't gonna waste an arrow either. He made his choice. Opted out. Let him hang." He says and held out his hand, I smiled and grabbed it then we made our way back.


We get back to the highway and Daryl went over the railing forest then I stepped over feeling him put his hands on my hips, "Watch those hands mister" I smirked at him and he raised his hands in defeat while smirking and we walked to the RV, I had seen my mom walk in and I looked at Daryl then followed her.

She was laying on the bed and cried again, it broke my heart, I laid down behind her and wrapped my arm around her, "I'm sorry mom, I'm so sorry, but I promise you I won't stop until we find her." I tell her and she grabbed my hand continuing to cry, I feel tears in my eyes as well. I mean it, I'm not stopping until my sister is back in our arms.