A/N: Hello my beloved readers! Hope this ungodly warm weather isn't making you all drop like flies…God knows I'm ready for it to be over. Bring on the sweaters!

So for this chapter, we have Carol going off with the group on her first big adventure out into the world of scavenging! Very exciting times! What will she encounter out on the road you may ask? Well…you're just going to have to read to find out!

I have also just witnessed something even more epic than this story can ever be. TWD Season 4 trailer is out people! It's four minutes long too! If you have not seen it yet, I am ORDERING you to stop reading this, go find it, and watch it IMMEDIATELY. I was seriously hyperventilating by the end. October cannot come soon enough!

That's all for now. Oh, everything is from Carol's POV since Daryl isn't in it too. (duh) Okay, on with the show!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with The Walking Dead. This makes me sad

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Ch.6

The group left at the crack of dawn the next morning before most people were even awake. Carol had luckily been able to get some sleep the night before, which she was grateful for. At least no one had mistaken her for a walker when she came out to load her bag.

They decided to take the Suburban so that they'd have plenty of room to bring back supplies. Rick rode shotgun with Tyreese up front, while she and Michonne sat in the back. Michonne wasn't exactly the most talkative of people, but she spent most of her time sleeping anyway. Carol noticed a book sitting next to her and thought she had seen Carl with it at some point. Maybe he had given it to her for the trip. He and Michonne had gotten close over the past few months. He hadn't taken well to the new group coming into the prison, but between Michonne, Rick, and Daryl, they were working on getting him straightened out.

He was going to be thirteen soon. Sophia would've been fourteen in the coming month, she suddenly realized. Her daughter's life had been cut too short. As much as the adults were affected by this world, the kids were the ones who had it the worst. Carl had ended up having to kill his own mother all because she hadn't been there to help deliver the baby. Maybe if they hadn't been separated, she could've gotten Lori through it. She'd been preparing for weeks to learn how to do the C-section, but her efforts had proven to be pointless. It was all she could do not to blame herself when she saw Judith for the first time and realized that Lori had never lived to see her precious baby come into the world.

"Hey, how you gals doing back there?"

Rick's voice disrupted her train of thought, but she was thankful for it. "I'm fine. Michonne's resting. How much longer do you think?"

"Maybe an hour or two. Tyreese thinks he knows of a place at the base of the mountains that may have some good medical supplies. We're gonna start there."

Medical supplies. She would jump for joy if they could get their hands on some more sterile gauze and antibiotics. They'd been low on supplies for months, and it was just a blessing that no one had been seriously hurt since they'd moved the new group in. It was only a matter of time before something happened and they needed them desperately.

She thought about when Hershel was bitten just after they'd gotten to the prison. Carol nearly panicked when the men brought him back after having to crudely chop his leg off with an axe to keep him from turning. Without Hershel, she and Maggie were the only ones left with any basic medical training and it probably wouldn't have gotten them very far. She had only learned how to handle medical emergencies herself after Ed started beating her and she had to learn to care for her own wounds. It may have come around from a bad situation, but she was grateful to have the skills now.

"Oh shit…"

Carol looked up, panicked at the sound of Tyreese's remark. Michonne, whom she had thought was asleep until now, jerked up quickly as well. The road was blocked just ahead and there were a few walkers roaming around the damaged vehicles.

"What now?" Carol asked with slight panic in her voice.

"I can to go back a ways and see if there's another road we could try." Tyreese suggested.

Rick shook his head. "Do you think you can go around the shoulder just there?"

"I don't know. It's pretty tight. What if we get stuck?"

"Hopefully we won't have to worry about that." Rick gestured back to Carol. "Grab the artillery bag and see what's there. We need some knives. There might be a crow bar back there too."

Carol turned around to the open area in the back and ripped open the first bag she saw. It was the artillery bag all right. She passed up two knives and a crowbar to Rick. Michonne already had her katana by her side ready to go. She went to grab Daryl's knife out of her own bag, and turned back to face them. "We're good."

Rick nodded. "All right. I'm gonna try to drive the truck up the side of the shoulder. Carol and Michonne, you guys go up ahead and get rid of any walkers you see that are blocking the way. Tyreese, you think you can handle guiding me through?"

"Sure."

"Good. If anyone needs back up, yell. Got it?"

Carol was hesitant, but Michonne was already out the door. "Let's do this."

The four passengers slowly got out of the truck and Rick ran around to the driver's side. Carol and Michonne made their way up the side of the road while Tyreese gestured for Rick to come forward in the Suburban. Much to Carol's relief, there were only four walkers up ahead. Michonne was the first to reach them, and she readied herself for the attack. Carol had seen her practicing with the katana before, but not up close. It flowed gracefully, almost like an extension of her arm. In one sweeping arc, she'd sliced the walker's head in half, and it plopped noisily to the ground, followed quickly by the thud of the body.

Wow.

She looked back at Carol, gesturing to the road up ahead. "Get that one."

There was one a few yards up looking very curious about what was happening. Carol made her way quietly up to the trudging walker, attempting to not draw anyone else's attention off in the distance. It growled, projecting itself forward more steadily. A moment of fear ran through Carol when she realized that there was usually a barrier between her and the attackers at the prison. Right now there was nothing shielding from coming in full contact with the beast.

You can do this. Be brave.

With Daryl's knife in hand, she got closer to the walking corpse and attacked. The knife seemed to do all the work for her as she brought it down and it sliced right through the walker's eye like butter. It made a groaning sound and fell down in a pile at Carol's feet.

"Nice job." Michonne complimented, looking semi-impressed.

"Thanks."

She couldn't believe she'd done it. Grasping her newfound confidence, Carol walked boldly up to the next closest one and plunged Daryl's knife into the back of its head until she hit the brainstem. He went down easily too. Her ego was soaring, but she needed to keep her wits about her.

Don't get too cocky. You know what Daryl would say.

She had had been in plenty of situations where it was just her and a gun standing between life and death. There were only a few walkers here, but it only took one bite. Still, knowing that she could attack them and take them down was a boost to her confidence. She'd come a long way from the woman at the camp who was afraid to stand up and do anything against anyone. It was like she was finally becoming her own person.

"Carol look out!"

She heard Tyreese's tone and spun around to see a large male walker just feet away. It was barreling towards her quickly.

"Oh shit!"

It growled as it came closer, its dead eyes fixed on her intensely. Michonne had started walking ahead and was probably too far out of reach to help. Carol's first instinct was to run back to the truck for her rifle, but the large walker stood directly in her way. Not sure what else to do, she thrust out the blade in an attempt to keep him at bay. It continued forward, but before it could make contact, Carol felt a spray of blood fly across her face as the tip of the katana erupted through the back of the walker's head and out the front. Michonne pulled it out slowly, and Carol jumped out of the way as the body fell to the ground.

"Th-thanks." Carol tried to recover as Michonne grabbed her arm to steady her.

"You okay?"

She looked down at the walker. "I think so."

Tyreese ran over. "The truck's clear. Let's go before more come over."

They all ran back over to where Rick was standing on the other side of the pile up. Carol was fairly dazed but tried not to look it for everyone else's sake. Rick glanced back at her with concern in his eyes.

"Everyone all right?"

"I'm okay, thanks to Michonne." She said.

Michonne wasn't the least bit phased. "You would've done the same for me."

Rick walked to the front of the Suburban, glancing around. "Looks like we're clear for now. Hopefully this is the worst of the pile ups. Tyreese and I are gonna map this out real quick so we can see what our options are going further up the trail. You ladies get back in the truck and we'll get going in a minute."

The two women got back into the truck; Carol noticed her hands were shaking slightly. Of all the people she hadn't wanted to look weak in front of, Michonne was at the top of the list. From what she'd learned about the courageous woman in the past few months, Carol knew that she had been through the ringer and back, but never dared to show it. Apparently, she and Andrea had spent a good amount of time in Woodbury before Rick found her at the gates with a gunshot wound courtesy of Merle. When they had gone to find Glenn and Maggie, Michonne had run off on her own to find the Governor and attempted to take him down single handedly. Although she hadn't succeeded in killing him, she was able to take away part of his vision when she stabbed him in the eye.

None of them had known at that point what this man was capable of, but Michonne had somehow sensed it. She seemed to be very good at reading people, which was a blessing in disguise. When Merle had taken it upon himself to take her hostage in an attempt to keep war from breaking out, she had sensed that his true loyalties weren't to the Governor. She'd actually gotten him to set her free, but not before he went off to end his own life. Daryl had told her about how Michonne had replayed the events in the car with Merle, and how in the end he'd stood up to defend the prison. It had meant the world to Daryl, and she couldn't thank Michonne enough for it.

"Looks like you could use this."

Carol looked up and saw her holding a towel. She accepted it gratefully.

"Thanks." She said, wiping the blood from her face. "Guess I still need some more practice."

"You'll get there." Michonne wiped down the blade of the sword. "I was all thumbs when I started using this thing."

"It's an amazing weapon. Where did you get it?"

"I found it in my neighbor's house." She said, eyeing the blade. "He used to collect this kind of stuff. I thought it was fake until I got attacked and had to use it to defend myself. Couldn't believe it when the guy's arm went flying across the room."

Carol laughed. "Well, I hope someday I'm as graceful with a knife as you are with that."

She shrugged. "Just takes practice. I can show you sometime."

"Thanks. I'd like that."

The door to the driver's side opened, startling Carol. Tyreese and Rick both climbed back in to the truck. Rick looked back at them.

"I think we've got a good idea of where to go from here. Might be closer to two hours from the look of it. Hope that's all right."

Michonne chuckled. "It's a little late to turn back now."

"Well, let's head out then."

Carol looked out the window at some walkers that were off to the side in between the pile of cars. She was suddenly very glad that they were mobile again, but she was also wary.

"Can you guys all promise me something?"

Rick looked back with curiosity. "What is it?"

"No one can tell Daryl about this." She said plainly. "What happens in the mountains, stays in the mountains."

A/N: I know I know…how cliché. But it worked! Carol's slowly gaining strength and owning who she is, which I think is fabulous. I wanted to give Michonne a moment as well because I just love her as a character. She's not outspoken but man does she make a statement!

Now I'm off to watch the trailer again for the tenth time!