Ok, so switching up the flow of the Grundy Memorial; I know I have not like played up each individual story line, but to be fair I don't want to literally rewrite everything – I only want to rewrite exactly what is necessary for Hunter to have a solid role. And to do that, I have sort of picked and chose which path's I want her to be on with Rick and the others, the same for Merle. They both feel like outcast, and both want to be outliers but both yearn to be with Daryl for different reasons. Not sure, yet, what I am doing with Beth.

Chapter Five – Home, Is Not Home

"Look's like the corpses got him." The woman cop snapped.

"Get them up." Rick almost yelled at Daryl and Merle. The men drug the cops up, and they made their way into the abandon building.

Once inside Rick started pacing. Hunter slumped against the far wall, watching the scene before her. She felt Daryl before she saw him, he was beside her, kneeling. "Hunter." His voice seemed to bounce around inside her skull. "Hunter, you did right."

She looked at him, she wasn't crying. Daryl didn't know what he had expected. Maybe he wanted her to be more like Beth, more afraid of what she had done, what she had to do. Instead she looked calm and reserved. "Daryl, I know that. I understand. Dying is another part of living." Chills ran up and down his body. She was a murderer like him, like Merle, like Rick. She was a child, a child that knew the difference between living and dying. Between a fair fight and a slaughter. "He was in the way of our ultimate goal."

Daryl looked at her for a moment, deciding what he wanted to say next. "Good job, then."

"Daryl." She caught his arm as he started to move away… "You are what keeps me remembering the right and the wrong."

He didn't know how to react, he moved his arm from her grasp and extended his hand to her, to help her up. She grabbed his hand, holding tight, as he jerked her up. They rejoined the circle around their two hostages. "The trade without Bob, the man you killed, Dawn isn't going to like, she will view it as a rip off." The female officer like to talk a lot, "But it is good that he was taken by the biters."

Rick was pacing still, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingertips. "But she might still be interested, right?" Daryl asked after a long pause.

0-0-0

"Come on." Dawn snapped pushing Beth forward, Carol in a wheelchair in front of her. Beth and Hunter locked eyes, small smiles meeting each other's faces. Tyreese, Rick, and Daryl stood in the front of their group with the two police hostages in front of them. Hunter stood directly behind Daryl, her small face peaking around him. Sasha and Merle made up the second row, weapons raised. Noah was directly behind them, hidden to an extent. "Where is Lampson?"

"Biter's got him." The female cop responded.

"Is this true?" As Rick and company nodded, Dawn started talking. "Send mine over than yours."

"No, one at a time." Rick demanded. "Carol, for this fella." Carol stood shakily, Sasha moved forward to help her walk, and the female officer took her place behind dawn. "Now Beth." Beth made her way across the hallway, to stand beside Daryl and Rick. Rick shoved the male officer.

"Now all I need is Noah, Beth was my ward, and you have taken her." Dawn snapped.

"No, our deal is done." Rick growled.

Noah pushed forward, "No, its ok."

Hunter watched in horror as Noah moved across the ten foot expansion, "Wait." Beth yelped. She darted forward, hugging Noah tightly.

Dawn smirked. "I knew you would be back, Noah."

Hunter watched in horror understanding that Beth was not going to let the statement go. Daryl couldn't stop Hunter, she sprinted forward, and she was pushing Beth, as Beth stabbed Dawn yelling, "I understand it now!"

A gunshot rattled the windows around them, both Hunter and Beth slopped forward. Hunter was moving, she was pushing up, she had been shot in the shoulder, and the bullet had went completely through her and into Beth. Beth wasn't moving, yet she was breathing. Daryl couldn't tell one way or another. He couldn't see Beth, only bleeding Hunter. Dawn was crying "I'm sorry…" she breathed. Daryl raised his gun, and fired, once into her skull. She dropped beside Hunter. He was beside both girls, dragging Hunter back, checking her wounds.

"Beth…" Hunter yelped, stumbling over the word, falling unconscious. Rick and the others stood with guns drawn. Merle moved past the group, checking Beth.

"She's breathing." Merle was amazed. "Hunter saved her."

"It's done." The female officer said.

Rick lowered his gun. "We are going, now, with ours, and Noah. Anyone else that wants to come with us can." Rick nodded at Daryl and Merle. Daryl scooped Hunter up, and moved passed the others, Merle used his metal arm to hook under Beth's knees, then his good arm to gather her shoulders, picking her up. Sasha helped support Carol and they began their exit of the hospital. Rick closed the doors behind him. To their amazement the only person to follow them out of the hospital was Doctor Steven Edwards. Who to their bemusement was only tagging along to help Hunter and Beth.

Hunter was bleeding, bad, but so was Beth. "We don't have long." Steven said as he checked them, Noah sighed. They made it out the front door and saw Maggie, Glenn, Tara, Rosita, Eugene, Carl, Michonne, Judith, and the preacher.

Shock rippled through the crowd. "They are going to be ok!" Rick shouted. "We need to move, and quickly, find a place to patch them both up."

"OH THANK GOD!" Maggie was on Merle then, checking Beth. Merle and Daryl laid the girls in the back of the firetruck, the doctor climbed in with them.

"I'll need help." Maggie, Tara, and Rosita followed.

"I'll drive." Abraham climbed into the driver's seat, Carol into the passenger. Carl and Judith joined the cab. Everyone else situated themselves on the fire truck, Abraham moved them out of the city, searching for a place to stay and fortify.

"Hunter, she was just shot in the shoulder, no major organs or bones hit. I am going to cauterize her wound, keep pressure on Beth's until I can…" Edwards stopped talking. He took the lighter offered to him by Rosita, as well as the gunpowder Tara was emptying as fast as she could from some of the older ammunition they had picked up. Hunter screamed as she felt her flesh burn. Tara held her upper body down as Rosita sit on her legs. "Beth… there is no exit wound." The doctor's heart sunk.

Maggie knew the implications. "Can't you follow the bullet?"

"Hold her down." Rosita and Tara left Hunter's unconscious body, and held Beth down. Edwards easing his finger into the wound, following it. "The bullet has made its way to the other side of her collar bone, by her…" his voice trailed off. "I need a knife, this might not work." He looked at Maggie, tears streaming down her face.

"Do it."

"He cut deep into Beth's skin, following the path of the bullet. It was lodged in the right side of her collar bone, two inches in. He dug it out, blood pooling around them. "Bullet clipped a vein." He muttered to himself. He had grabbed his small doctor's bag as they left, but it only had rudimentary supplies. He did his best to patch Beth up. The bullet was removed, but he had no way of knowing how much blood either girl lost. They were both unconscious and shivering. "They are going into shock." He was peeling layers of clothing off.

Abraham stopped the truck completely. He lowered the window. "Need warm clothing and blankets, the songbirds are going into shock."

0-0-0

Hunter regained consciousness in the Georgia heat, she was sweating. "Rick… Dad…" He was by her side instantly.

"Hunter, thank god. That was so incredibly stupid!"

She giggled a little to herself. "Dad, is Beth ok?"

Rick sighed. "She hasn't woken up yet, you have both been out for two day." Rick paused. "We have been on the move since then, and the truck broke down this morning. We can't move too far, so we have made a camp around the truck, so you and Beth wouldn't have to be moved."

Hunter nodded, "Dad, we need a place, right. I know someplace not far from the prison… I know that's a ways away…" She dropped off for a moment. "It's a summer camp."

Rick looked her over. "A summer camp?"

"My before dad, he worked there."

Rick smiled at her. "Can you get us there?"

She rose, slowly. Rick scooped her up in his arms. He pulled her from the back of the truck. "Look who's awake!" All heads snapped in their direction. Hunter waved at them. The doctor sighed relieved. Rick set her on her feet, holding on to her. Daryl was quickly approaching, before the doctor or Rick could stop him, he pulled Hunter into a tight hug she blacked out almost instantly.

0-0-0

"Shit." She heard Daryl mumble, they were moving again. She could tell she was over Daryl's body, her head resting on his shoulder, she didn't move much, it was clear that she was tied onto him, in piggy back fashion. She gazed around. Merle and Abraham were carrying a litter, on it Beth swayed.

"Daryl." She whispered his name, carefully and slowly. "Were you squeezing the life out of me?"

"Hunter, you're awake again. I am sorry." Daryl kept moving.

"Where are we going?" Hunter choked out, talking was not something she was good at apparently.

"Rick said we were headed back toward the prison, cause you knew where there was a safe place, we are looking for a place to make camp tonight, and then we are hiking all day tomorrow." Daryl felt her move slightly on his back, getting comfortable now that she was awake.

"I ran away from the place I am taking you." Hunter whispered into his neck. "That is the last place my dad and my step-brothers were alive." She took a deep breath. "Daryl, I need to say something." He stopped for a minute, adjusting his crossbow, and looking around. The members not carrying Judith, Hunter, or Beth were packing everything they could carry including Hunter's crossbow. "I killed them." Daryl froze, "Don't freak out." She paused again. "My step-brothers were older than me, I was seven when my mom died, and when my dad remarried the woman ignored what her boys did to me. They… started with just peaking at me, here and there, by the time of the turn they were raping me whenever they felt like it." Daryl felt his stomach turn. "Last winter, dad got drunk with them…" He could feel the tears on his skin now, her nose was sniffly. "Together Todd and Luke convinced my dad that it would be ok if he… touched me, fucked me." She was quiet for a few moments, even as Daryl moved through the woods, he could feel her body shaking. "So, when they passed out that night… I killed them one by one, waiting until my dad woke up. He was awake when I killed him, I let him bleed out, Daryl, so when he changed I could kill him again." He could understand that, she was tortured. "I burned them, then three days later, I packed everything I could." She was almost whispering now, exhausted from the crying and talking. "I walked until I ran up on that gas station, then you and Merle found me."

Her voice dropped off and her breathing equalized, she had passed back out. Daryl found his way to Rick, and relayed what was important for him to know. "Those are the only three people she ever killed, until you gave her the ok to kill that man back there."

"All four were justifiable murders, Daryl." Rick was quiet, as they neared a log house. "We camp here, tonight. Let's get in there and clear it." He told the group as a whole. Hunter was gently laid down on the lawn, Beth beside her. "Michonne, Carol, Carl, guard these two and Judith while we clear out the house." He turned his attention back to Daryl. "I'll talk to her, when she wakes back up. This information changes nothing. Her name is Hunter Grimes, now." Daryl nodded and started checking the perimeter with Merle.

0-0-0

The house was clear, and abandoned. It had been boarded up and there were dust and cob webs everywhere. "Looks like a hunting cabin." Abraham suggested. As everyone made their way around the cabin. There was a large living room, with a small bedroom upstairs, and a bathroom off to the side. "Everyone in the living room?"

Merle and Daryl were working a mattress down the small stairway, to the center of the floor. Carefully the settled it down, then laid Beth and Hunter on it. Placing a sleeping Judith in-between them. Edwards was moving around them, checking on their wounds.

"We need to talk." Rick said to the group. "I need to know how we all ended up at Grundy. We have been very focused on Hunter and Beth."

"Dad, don't be mad, but Gabriel broke out of the church, and ended up leading Walker's back to where we were." Carl shuffled his feet. Gabriel looked ashamed.

"But, we took care of it." Michonne patted Carl's shoulder. "Carl bravely took Judith to safety, I followed, Gabriel behind me, as we rounded the front of the church – these guys were there." Michonne pointed at Rosita, Abraham, Maggie, Tara, Glenn, and Eugene.

"Ok, but why did ya'll come back?" Rick asked Abraham.

Abraham didn't have much to say he just shook his head. Tara sighed, "Eugene can't stop it. We ran into a herd, and we were working out a way to get around it, when Eugene told us he made it all up… He just wanted to get to DC." Tara hung her head, sad.

Rick punched him, much like Abraham. Eugene rocked back on to the ground, out cold once more. "Dad, unnecessary." Hunter's voice was barely above a whisper. Everyone's attention turned to her, she was propped up on her elbow. "Beth's up." Daryl and Merle were hovering close to them.

Merle was watching Beth in a unique way, as if deciding she was the toughest girl he knew or the dumbest. "Don't talk, Beth, I think I bruised you vocal cords when I took the bullet out." Edwards rubbed her hair, smiling at her.

"Beth." Maggie was hugging her the best she could. "I thought you were dead when Merle carried you out. I am so glad that you are ok. I am so thankful that Hunter saved you."

Beth looked at Hunter, who smiled back at her. "Tis true, I tried to die with you. I jumped in-between you and that bitch, Dawn." Hunter took Beth's hand in hers, and smiled at her.

"Th…a….nk….y….o….u" Beth managed to choke out to Hunter. She snapped her head towards Maggie. "I….lo…ve…yo….u" Maggie sobbed, hugging her.

"So, now that we are alive, and ok, Hunter can you tell us how to get from the prison to the camp you told me about earlier?" Rick asked, stooping to her level.

"Yes. Merle take you to the gas station. Follow the road across three bridges, then look for a sign that says something about free public fishing, follow that road, until there is no more gravel, on the right you will see a fence, and a couple cabins… it was a camp for troubled youth." Hunter was moving around, slowly, she dug into her pants pocket and fished out a large key. "This opens the gate." She laid back down, on the mattress. Letting her eyes close, and resting. Daryl laid on the floor next to her side of the mattress. Maggie laid with Beth, her arm over Beth's waist. Judith snuggled to Hunter. Merle took first watch.

0-0-0

"This is where you saved me." Hunter whispered to Daryl. It was nearing dark, a long day of walking, and the prison behind them. Rick had not let them stop to look, or even linger around the smoldering building, they had skirted as far away as they could, to avoid the walkers. Hunter was again tied to Daryl's back, enjoying her piggy back when awake. Merle and Rick supported Beth's liter today. Glenn and Abraham led the way, as Merle directed them.

"Looks like we should camp in the gas station." Rick led them towards the gas station. Michonne, Rosita, and Tara moved in to the building, clearing it.

"No walkers." Michonne opened the door, and ushered them all in.

"How much further?" Rick asked.

"Half a day's walk." Hunter said, "Maybe a little more."

Beth was awake again. "Noah." She breathed his name. "We have to…" her voice gave out on her and she looked frantic.

"Beth was going to help me get back to my family." Noah had followed them, away from where he wanted to go, owing Beth his life. "My family was in a walled town outside of Richmond." Beth nodded her eyes frantic as she looked at Rick. "I was only in Atlanta to get my uncle to safety, but that didn't work out."

Hunter smiled. "I had family in Virginia, my mother's family lived near Roanoke."

Noah nodded, "Can we go, sir?" He asked Rick.

"We will vote on it once Beth and Hunter are better healed. If the prison had looked more solid we would have used that as a base camp for a day or two…" Rick sighed. "Let's see what we can eat in here, make a pallet of sorts for Hunter and Beth."

0-0-0

They ran into a problem early the next morning. An unusually large number of Walkers startled them, and they ran into the woods. Eugene and Noah supporting Beth's liter. Hunter had her crossbow raised, and was running with the others, for the most part she had regained her strength. They were sprinting into the woods. Rosita had Judith. Everyone that could engage in slowing the Walkers were. "Hunter, you guys get ahead." Rick shouted. Hunter wove in and out of trees leading the others.

"Old mill house up ahead dad." Hunter shouted back at him,

"Head for it. Clear it, secure it." Daryl screamed.

Merle, Hunter, and Carl reached the abandoned sawmill before the others, they broke in the front door, and moved quickly through the mill. The other's poured in. "There's a room in the back, locked tight. I think there are dead in there, but we can't get in to it…" Carl told his father.

"Other than that we are secure, once we lock up this door." Merle told the group.

Abraham and Rosita offered to take watch while they waited for the large number of walkers to pass by them. Beth was bleeding again, Edwards was tending to her, stitching her as best he could in the dusty light that filtered through the windows of the mill house. Thunder erupted shaking the building. Rain started beating down against the mill, lightning lite up the night darkening sky. "Keep quiet." Rick whispered.

Storms were a blessing and a curse. Where they disoriented and confused the walkers, sometimes killing them with debris, they slowed down the group, forcing them to seek shelter and at times wait a day or two for the storm t finally pass. They had learned on their first winter on the road, that snow was also a double edged blade. It slowed the walkers down considerably, but in deeper snow, they could be hidden. As the storm raged outside Daryl's frustration was growing. Beth needed a clean place to heal, so did Hunter. He knew Hunter would never admit that she was hurting, but he could see it in her eyes. Her crossbow was heavy in her hands, she was left handed, and there left shoulder was the one Dawn shot. They were tired, really tired. Hunter was breathing, taking long shallow breaths, her head resting against Carl's legs.

"I think this is a sign." Eugene said. "Of an arbitrary God, leading us on to Virginia."

"Shut up Eugene", everyone almost snarled in unison.

Merle was moving around the mill house. "Hunter, how did you know this was here?"

Hunter breathed in hard, looking at Merle. "It's where my step-brothers used to bring me. We lived at the summer camp, cause dad worked there and both my step-brothers attended the camp for troubled boys." Hunter shivered slightly. Between the blood loss and lack of food, she was close to breaking. "I can't walk anymore."

"Shhhh." Rick whispered, "Daryl will carry you like the last couple days." He ruffled her hair. He had not decided to tell the others about her childhood. That was her story to tell, and there was no need for her to bear all at this moment.

"Beth is stable, for now." Edwards looked tired. He had seen more walkers in the last three days then all the time spent in Grundy. "Uh, Rick, we can't keep moving her, not like this. Every bump pulls a stitch, she will bleed out."

"How far, Hunter?" Rick asked.

"Through the woods, bout a thirty minute walk." She sighed.

"Wait, how does she know about this place but not the rest of you?" Edwards was confused, he looked hard at them.

"Hunter was separated from us for a while." Carl explained. "She got lost when we were fleeing Atlanta, we thought she was dead."

"Then I found her. With Merle, on a truck." Daryl offered.

"Yea, I hooked up with these men who were survivors, and they lived in the cabins. Half a day away from each other for months, and we would have never known it, if not for sheer luck." Hunter smiled at Edwards.

"Oh, well, your family really seems to always find your way back to each other, huh." He could see now why Beth was so sure that her family would come for her that her family would wait for her, and be relentless.

"We always do." Maggie patted Edward's shoulder. "I say some of us scout ahead, secure the cabins, and then come back for Beth and Hunter, that way they are not jolted too much."

"That's a good idea." Rick agreed, watching those before him, "Edwards, Daryl, you two remain with Hunter, Beth, and Judith. The rest of us will move towards the cabins. Hunter explain to me how to get to the trail."

Hunter inhaled sharply, "There is an old trail behind this place, it leads to a creek bed, follow the creek until it empties out into a pond, you will be moving down stream, and across the pond you will see the cabins. There is a boat against the trees or you can walk around." Hunter crawled next to Beth's liter, then laid down next to her. Rick set Judith down on Hunter's stomach, and she began playing with her sister.

Edwards paced as he watched Rick lead the others out the main door, and away from him and Daryl. "So one man is going to guard us four." He asked Daryl once they were gone.

"Hunter, get your pistol out, and sit up." Daryl commanded. She stood, moving Judith to her right him, and wrapping her arm around the little girl. With her left hand, she shakily drew her pistol from her hip. "Take that window." She nodded. Daryl peaked out the window after Rick and the others, in the direction they moved. "You just keep up with Beth, doc."

0-0-0

"There is the boat Hunter mentioned." Gabriel pointed at the small boat.

"Alright people, keep your weapons up, and let's move around the pond. We will save the boat, and use it to move Beth to the cabins. We need to get to the chain length fencing, and find the gate." Rick split the group up. "Maggie, Glen, Abraham, Rosita, Gabriel, you take the right side of the lake. Carol, Carl, Merle, Tara, Eugene… you're with me. Tyreese, Sasha, Noah remain here until we signal you, take out any walkers that are behind us." Rick handed Noah one of the long range rifles he had been carrying. "I have the key, let's get to it."

The pond wasn't very big, or very deep. It seemed more like a really big puddle. But it spanned a long length. It was eerily quiet when Carol reached the gate. "There are the burned bodies she mentioned to Daryl." about twenty feet in front of the gate, a pile of bodies ashen and melted were piled. "The structure looks solid."

"Fences aren't much." Rick grumbled.

0-0-0

"Daryl, they should be to the cabins by now." Hunter moved away from her window. Edwards watched interested. "Can you hold Judith, I am starting to feel woozy." Daryl was at her side quickly. He took Judith, passed her to Edwards, then returned his attention to Hunter, she was sawying lightly. The day had been very energy consuming for her. She had taken out three walkers, ran, and held her crossbow us. He helped lower her to the ground. He sit with her, letting her body rest on his.

"You really love these girls." Edwards mumbled.

"Lost one little girl, or I would have four to protect. Carol's daughter Sophie, she was the sweetest kid I ever met. I looked for her every day that we searched." Daryl's voice trailed off. "I guess little girls have a soft spot in me."

"How old are they?" Edwards asked.

"Judith is about one, Beth should be about 18, and Hunter here is roughly 16… once it snows Hunter will be 17." Daryl tried to situate her where she would be comfortable. He pulled her shirt to the side to check her wound. "She is bleeding, too, doc."

Edwards eyes shot to her wound. "She must have pulled it, stitching and cauterizing it should have held. Must have happened in the forest, in the running."

"It's the weight of her crossbow, its pulling against her muscles." Daryl mused.

"Did you teach her to use the crossbow? I see you use one too." Edwards was curious about Daryl.

"No, she knew when we found her again." Daryl was quick to add the again, thinking about the fact that Hunter was supposed to be Rick's daughter. "I guess the men she hooked up with taught her."

"How old is Carl?" Edwards asked.

"Hes… 12, four years younger than Hunter. Be 13 soon, I think. Why?" Daryl didn't like all the questions.

"Just interested in the future of the human race. They are the only four children I have seen…." Edwards smiled at him. "Someday I hope there are lots of children again."

Daryl heard a familiar whistle outside, "Merle is back."

Merle slipped in, and smiled widely at his little brother. "Gone an hour, Rick, and he squeezes the life out of her again."

Rick chuckled. "We need to move." He picked up Judith, Daryl picked Hunter up bridal style, and Edwards and Merle supported the litter Beth was on between them.

"Her crossbow is too heavy for her arm right now." Daryl commented, holding her closer to him, feeling her nestle against him. It wasn't a long walk to where the boat was, it was a larger row boat and they all fit in it neatly. It was once they set Beth down that Edwards noticed something was wrong with her.

"She has lost a lot of blood, Rick, she's barley alive, we need to move faster if possible."

0-0-0

As they reached the other shore Beth was seizing. Daryl took Hunter over his shoulder, and Judith in his other arm, into the first cabin where Carol was. Maggie was running towards Beth. "We have to get her inside, now." Edwards was barking commands. Merle threw caution to the wind and scooped the girl up, holding her to him, and darting up the bank. Her blood coating his shirt.

Edwards screamed at Beth then, "No, no, no." He was doing CPR and attempting to breathe for her. She was paler than normal. Carol was holding Carl to her, covering his ears and crying. "BREATHE BETH!" Hunter heard the scream from Edwards. She jolted awake, still in Daryl's arms. After handing Judith off to Rosita, he had lowered Hunter to a bridal position. Daryl was holding on to her so tight she could feel her body bruising around his fingertips. "She's not breathing." Edwards face was soaked with tears. "I can't…" He scooted away from her.

Merle looked at Daryl and Hunter, he moved to be beside the two he felt like he belonged with. Merle rested his hand on Daryl's shoulder, Hunter slipped her arms around Daryl's neck and was crying into chest, slipping back into unconsciousness, her shoulder bleeding profusely.

"NO DAMNIT!" Maggie was screaming, hitting Beth's lifeless body with her fist.

Rick's dace was stained with tears as well. The whole cabin fell quiet. Glenn drug Maggie away, soothing her. Carol released Carl, and pulled her knife out. Rick was instantly holding Carl and Judith, also standing beside Merle. Carol dropped to her knees, tears in her eyes, and quickly stabbed the knife through Beth's skull.

Silence overfell the cabin. Daryl never released Hunter, even when Rick and Edwards asked him to, instead he pulled her body closer to him, heaving sobs into her. Holding her to his body, crying, and sobbing. "Daryl, she is bleeding, we have to see why." But Daryl already knew why, her shoulder had torn open again.

0-0-0

They buried Beth in the early morning light, Daryl didn't leave Hunter's side. She was not the soft type, like Beth, but she was some sort of angel all the same. Her hair was not a soft blond, more of a dingy brownish blonde and it hung down her back similar to what Lori's had been like. She was skin and bones, but still had curves enough to make her look like a woman. She was well endowed in the breast department something Merle had mentioned to him more than once. Her eyes when open were different colors. She had her own scars that riddled her body, he had noticed that when Edwards and Rick stripped her last night, checking for infections. She was laying on a bottom bunk, in just a tank top and underwear. Her shoulder bandage. Her hair swept to one side. Daryl held her hand while she slept. He had tried hard to save Beth, so hard that he had almost lost Hunter. He was sitting in front of her, holding her hand, his face in his other hand.

Carol watched him. Beth was buried and the burned bodies Hunter had told them about were laid to rest to. Supplies had been rounded up from each cabin, and Rick had made the decision for them all to stay together in the long main cabin. Bunk beds were built into the actual walls, three on each wall, with cubby holes between them. Judith was sleeping in the bunk next to Hunter.

"You wanna talk about it Pookie?" Carol whispered.

"No." Daryl growled. The one person in the world who had helped him come to terms with the world before the turn was gone, the one person however who seemed to make his skin dance was for the moment breathing.