There is no excuse for the lack of posts, and for that I am sorry. I'm going to try to post once a week from now on. I have a lot of catching up to do if I want to follow the show, which I'm not sure that I will, at least not entirely. Thanks for reading, especially after the long hiatus.

Chapter Four

I leaned against the prison wall as I watched Daryl check the perimeter with Rick the day after Daryl and I had that little disagreement. The two men cautiously made their way around the gates for the last time, killing walkers who were close by.

"Admiring the view?" Carol asked as she stepped out of the watchtower.

"I'm sorry?" I asked.

She smiled and shook her head. "I heard that you and Daryl dated a few years ago."

I nodded.

"So I don't have to tell you how special he is."

"No, you don't."

"He's one of a kind."

I looked at her as her eyes followed Daryl's movements. "You and him?"

"No," she said. "Not in the way you're thinking. Daryl tried to save my daughter. He never gave up looking for her. Ever since then, I have an undying respect and gratitude for Daryl. Do I love him? Of course. But am I in love with him?" She shook her head. "No."

Daryl put his knife in his back pocket as he and Rick walked towards Carol and I. "Carol, glad to see you. I needed to ask you something about your knife classes," he said as he put his hand around her shoulder. The two of them walked inside leaving Daryl and me standing by the back door.

"Hey."

"Hey," he said back.

"I've been thinking."

"About gettin' a refreshment course?"

"About how I stormed off yesterday."

He shrugged. "Didn't bother me none. I'm use to you walkin' away."

"That's not fair."

"But it's the truth."

"I thought you said you were over it."

"I am."

"Doesn't seem like it."

"What do you want me to say, Juliet? You want to hear how I almost killed myself with drugs and booze after you left? Or that I went through a string of women who couldn't compare to you?"

I didn't know what to say to him. Daryl, even when we were together, was rarely so open about his emotions. "Daryl…"

"I ain't tellin' you this 'cause I want to hurt ya'. I'm tellin' ya 'cause I want to put this behind us. There ain't no room in this world for any of that relationship shit. You understand that?"

I didn't like the tone he was using, but I knew that he was serious. So I nodded.

"Now do yourself a favor and check out one of them classes." I didn't reply, so Daryl walked away and didn't bother to look back. Check out of them classes, hm? I'll go to a class if that's what he wants.

….

Two hours later, I was standing in front of half of the members in our camp. After talking to Rick about hosting my own class, he wasn't sure until I told him what I wanted to teach. Then he was on board. Apparently, he had never practiced what I was offering.

"Hi everyone. If you don't know, I'm Juliet. I'm a new addition to your amazing settlement. I'm glad to see you all here. Let's just go ahead and get started." I paused. "I'm going to go through a series of basic movements in a slow flow. The first one we're going to begin with is Sun Salutation," I said as I brought my hands into a prayer pose in front of my chest. "This is a beginner routine that can be easily modified if any of you so desire to move into advanced styles of yoga."

Thirty minutes had gone by and I was beginning to build up a sweat. I looked up from downward dog pose to make sure everyone was doing it correctly. I noticed several people who were not so I made my way to them to physically correct them. "Good, just hold it for a few more minutes. Remember, if you're feeling tired, you can do to child's pose like we did earlier."

I walked back to the front of the room as I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. "Remember to take water breaks." I moved to downward dog before continuing. "Now either move your feet to your hands by jumping forward or stepping with one foot at a time." I jumped forward and waited for everyone to do the same. While most people were still bending down, I looked past them and saw Daryl watching me from the back of the room.

"Alright everyone. Let's have a seat cross-legged and close your eyes. Take the next five minutes to imagine you are somewhere peaceful… the ocean, in a meadow, or anywhere that makes you feel relaxed."

I waited for everyone to close their eyes after they were seated before I made my way to the back of the room where Daryl was still standing.

"This isn't exactly what I had in mind," he said.

"I think everyone enjoyed themselves."

He nodded. "You did good, Jules."

I bit my lower lip. "Can we talk? Later?"

Although hesitate, he said, "Yeah. Meet me by tower 3 at seven."

Daryl's Point of View

Juliet walked to the front of the room to wrap up her yoga session. I couldn't help but to keep watchin' her as she sat down. Sweat almost sparkled off her chest as it rose and fell to that guided breathing she was talkin' about earlier in the class. With her eyes closed, she looked vulnerable. Without realizin' it, I was becomin' enchanted with her face all over again. Her lips were so ripe and plump. I wanted to bury my own lips into her face.. and other places. I knew it was time for me to walk away when I started to remember all the times that I had done just that.

"Daryl," Carol called as she joined me in the hallway.

I turned around and looked at her. "Yeah?"

"Have you seen the kids? They're late for their knife lesson."

I pointed behind me toward the lobby. "A lot of them are finishin' up in there."

"Doing what?"

"Jules taught a yoga class."

"A yoga class?" I could tell that she was annoyed, but I didn't want to question as to why because I had a pretty good idea.

"Almost done," I repeated.

"You asked her to do it?"

"No."

She smirked. Whatever emotion this was, it didn't look good at Carol. "Right."

"Is there somethin' wrong?"

"I don't know, is there?"

Jealousy. Carol was jealous. "No."

Carol started to walk away but stopped and turned around to face me. "You need to get to know her again before you jump into bed with her."

"When have you ever known me to do that?"

She stepped closer to me. "I haven't. Maybe that's the problem."

"Carol."

"Look, Daryl. I know we have something special here, and I know it's nothing romantic. And I know I only admire you so much because of how hard you tried to find my little girl. But I'm not going to say that it didn't hurt that you didn't at least give this a shot to see if we could be more." She paused waiting for me to say somethin', but when I didn't, she kept on talkin'. "And as soon as she appears, you think about it. Don't try to deny it. I know you."

"I wasn't gonna deny it," I said honestly. "Jules and me… we have a past. A very complicated and… I don't know… meanin'ful past. I'm sorry if you're hurtin' 'cause of that."

Carol ran the back of her hand across my cheek. "I want you to be happy, Daryl. That's what all people want for their friends." She took a step back as her hand fell to her side. "I don't want what we have to change. I want to know that I still have a confident in you."

"You will."

"Good," she nodded. "By the way, Rick was looking for you."

I left Carol to search for Rick, who I found outside by the fence in front of the tower. "Rick," I called.

He looked over his shoulder and motioned me to join him. "I've been looking for you."

"Yeah, Carol told me."

He stood up still lookin' at all the walkers a few feet away from us. "They're in herds more than they use to be, don't you think?"

"Yeah. They have become pack animals."

"Why do you think that?"

"Honestly, Rick, I couldn't tell you. But I know someone who might have an idea."

"Juliet?"

About half an hour later, Juliet was standing beside us. Carl had gotten her when Rick asked where she was. She swallowed a couple gulps of water before she pulled her hair back.

"At first I thought that the infected were becoming 'pack animals,' as you call them," she said as she looked at me before saying, "because a part of their humanity were returning; they craved to be around people like them. But now, I know for a fact that's not that case. They're not smarter, though it does appear that way. They have simply evolved from their primal nature."

"How does that not make them smarter?" Rick asked.

"Because they are learning through imitation. Maybe walker A sees walker B do something on accident that results into a meal. So to get said meal, walker A reenacts the same actions. Other biters are drawn to a kill and then they see how walker A and B get their food. Ultimately, they realize it's easier to hunt down food with other walkers, thus forming these herds." She took a breath. "But they are getting faster and stronger. I believe it's because of the amounts of human blood that they've consumed. It's somehow fueling their bodies and energizing them."

"That's no good," Rick said.

I could understand his concern, but I didn't think this could affect our group. Sure, the geeks were gettin' stronger, but so were we. And now we had more people than ever before.

"We'll be just fine."

"While I would like to share your certainty, from a scientific point, we are no longer on top of the food chain."

"Darlin', we haven't been on top of the food chain for months."

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

"I could do some more research, but I would need equipment." She paused. "I had an entire lab at Woodbury. I'm sure it's still there."

"Draw us a map and a list of what you did and consider it done," Rick said.

"I was blindfolded when I was taken to and from the lab," she said avoiding eye contact with me. "I'm sure I could find my way to it."

"Too risky," I blurted out.

"We can take a group of people," Rick said as he looked at me. "Every one will be safe."

"It seems like an unnecessary risk," I argued. "We lost one of us on the last run," I said referring to Patrick, Beth's boyfriend.

"We need to make a run somewhere anyway. We're getting low on supplies. Woodbury would have enough of what we'll need. Some of the survivors have been telling me how much excess of food and medicine that was left."

"Then it's settled," Juliet said.

Rick agreed. "Tomorrow."

"I hate to point this out, Rick, but you aren't exactly on the council. We're going to need to have a meeting about this."

Rick shot me a look for a moment before he nodded. "Of course. Let me know what y'all decide."