"Just when you think it can't get any worse, it can.

And just when you think it can't get any better, it can."

– Nicholas Sparks, At First Sight

I opened my eyes and noticed it was just starting to get light, I grunted and closed my eyes again, not wanting to get out of bed any time soon. I turned over to my left side and unconsciously snuggled closer to Daryl, burying my head in his warm chest.

This was the third time we had slept in the same bed, the first and second time it was a bit awkward and none of us wanted to invade the other's personal space, this time it was not that different but this morning was colder than usual and I was more asleep than awake, I did it out of instinct.

Seconds later I felt him wrapping an arm around my waist slowly pulling me closer to him as a smile crept on my lips, enjoying this moment.

"Cecilia! Cecilia!" Glenn yelled from down the stairs, I only moved closer to Daryl, not wanting to stand up as I groaned.

I heard footsteps going up the stairs, probably stopping by my cell and obviously not finding me there.

Glenn and I were supposed to go on a run very early today, just like good old times when it was only the two of us, no Maggie and no Daryl.

I really wanted to go, I was looking forward to but the sooner I get out of the bed the sooner we get done with the run and the sooner I have to work in the pig pen, which I had been trying to avoid for the last week and that also meant I wouldn't be in Daryl's arms any longer.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but we have to go," Glenn said as he stood by the door frame, finally finding me. He didn't look awkward but he had a mischievous grin on his lips. "Grab your things and let's go, now!"

Grunting about having to leave this warm bed and Daryl's side, I turned again, so I was on my back, I sat up but Daryl only tightened his grip around me, it wasn't strong enough to not allow me to go but mentally, I was not capable of getting out of that bed, I wanted to lie down again and stay there all day long with him.

"Glenn and I won't take long," I whispered to him, but mostly to convince myself so I could finally get out of bed. "We'll be back before you know it."

I leant down and softly kissed Daryl's forehead, I tried to leave again but he wouldn't let go of me. I heard him mumble that I needed to kiss his lips in order to be allowed to go. I smiled and did so, pecking his lips, I kissed him a bit longer and as he was distracted I removed his arm around me and finally got out of bed.

"If anything happens to you I'm going to kill that chinaman," he mumbled, half opening one eye.

"He's Korean," I exclaimed.

"I know," he muttered, smiling slightly. "I just like calling him that."

"Do you want me to bring you something?"

"Just concentrate on getting back," he said as he sat up, rubbed his eyes and ran his hands through his long hair, messing it even move and somehow making him look even hotter.

"Alright, I'll see you later."

It took almost a week to convince Daryl to let me go on this run without him, he thought it was really risky to let me go with just Glenn, but we managed at the start, when we barely had any experience with this kind of life, we could manage now.

This run wasn't to look for anything important, not really. We were going to look for things to entertain us, board games, puzzles, books, colouring books for the kids and other stuff like that, it was Glenn's idea.

We all had tasks to do and we maintained ourselves busy but we really needed things to do in our free time, something else than just talk to the others, make up stupid stories, or just exercise like Michonne and I do for around two hours daily, the adults, we can get used to it, live our lives like this, at least for now but the little kids can't and now we have around eight kids, they need to go back to being kids.

"Can I tell you something?" Glenn asked as we were inside the store where we were taking the board games from.

"Of course," I told him.

"Before all of this, I delivered pizzas, you know that, and I was around pizzas all the time, the smell of grease made me nauseated and I would eat anything but pizza," he told me. "But right now I would give anything to eat a single slice, one with everything, cheese, jam, tomato, basil, just everything, How sad is that?"

"When I moved out I gained some weight, all my life I had been thin so being like that was... it just made me feel awful, so I spent months dieting, skipping dinner, eating little, not eating pizza, or anything like that, actually the last week before all of this happened I was with my mum and I broke the diet and ate everything I wanted," I said with a sad smile. "I only kept thinking how much weight I had gained back and I would go back to the diet afterwards but now, I have no regrets of that week. I'm actually glad I had it because look at our lives now, we barely eat, at first we even went days without eating and it doesn't matter if you are fat or not, except that if you are fat, you can't run for long but it's not like it's important to be thin."

"There are so many things I miss," Glenn told me. "French fries, chocolate cakes, Korean food in general, a good cappuccino, Ital..."

"Shut up, Glenn!" I muttered. "You are making me hungry!"

"I'm sorry," he said as he chuckled. "I'm hungry too."

"Let's hurry then," I said. "We might be back by lunch if we leave soon."

"We hadn't had time alone for so long now, I miss talking to my best friend," he said. "There are things I want to tell you, about Maggie."

"So, that's why you wanted to go on this run? So we could talk?"

"Partly," he admitted. "It's hard to get you away from Daryl's side."

"That's not true!" I exclaimed, chuckling. "At least not harder than separate you from Maggie."

"I guess," Glenn said, blushing slightly. "Cici?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you are with us again," Glenn told me. "Now, let's talk, okay?"

"I'm glad I found you all," I said with a smile. "I'm dying to know what you want to tell me, so let's start."

As the hours I passed I got worse. The coughing had become more frequent and if it wasn't for the pills we found I would have a high fever.

I was lucky to sleep through the night but I woke up around 7:00 and since then I hadn't been able to go back to sleep, which I wanted more than anything, at least if I was sleeping I didn't feel like shit.

My body was aching really bad, my head hurt, I couldn't stop coughing, I had a fever and despite wearing a very warm and thick sweater and being under the covers I felt extremely cold, I couldn't stop shivering.

I made the decision to just leave, I had to or I would die. I counted to three, pushed the covers away, put on a pair of boots and went downstairs as I stumbled on the stairs. I didn't even looked for anything, I just headed to the door.

"Where the fuck do you think you are going?" Sean yelled at me.

"Home," I simply replied. "I need the antibiotics they have."

"First of all you don't know if they got the antibiotics or not," he exclaimed as he rushed to the door and stood in front of me, blocking my way out. "You don't even know where you are, you could go in the wrong direction and you wouldn't even know."

"Then take me, I need to go."

"No!" he exclaimed, grabbed me by elbow and pulled me away from the door, pushing me into the couch of the living room.

Sean opened a can of soup and gave it to me, I wasn't hungry, not at all, but Sean forced me to eat it, it didn't even taste good.

"What did you do, Sean?" I asked him. "You once said your parents sent you to live with Shane as a punishment for something you had done."

"I have forgotten all my life before the change, it's easier that way. What I did or didn't do, it's not important anymore, nothing is."

"It is important, it changed who you were, it must be important," I said but had to stop mid-sentence because I started coughing again.

"I hurt someone, there wasn't enough evidence to send me to jail but my parents didn't want to take any risk, they sent me with my uncle right away," he told me. "It didn't matter to them if I was guilty or not, they just took actions. But truth is that I did it."

Sean stood up and walked away from me, starting to pace the room as I finished the soup. Sean ran his hands through his now not so long hair. His hair got below his shoulder at one point, almost to the middle of his back but now it barely reached his chin, he cut it around a month ago.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you, for what I almost did to you," he said as he kept pacing and glanced at me every once in a while. "It's just that it's like my brain shuts down and I do things without controlling my actions and I just snap out when it's too late. I don't know why that happens to me, it's like the evil part takes over and I can't do anything about it."

"You're not evil," I whispered. "And you can show yourself by taking me to the prison."

"No, I won't do that because I do want you here, I want you for myself and because once I see Rick, I won't be able to control myself and I'm going to shoot him."

"You can control it, Sean," I said, finally finishing my soup, leaving the empty can on the table. "We can still tell them we were followed by walkers and were forced to stay away for a while, show yourself you're not evil."

"But I am," he told. "I killed someone, that's what I did. That's why I was sent to my uncle's plus a drug addiction."

I looked at him in disbelief, I never really expected that answer. He avoided looking at me, as he resumed pacing, while I brought my knees up and hugged them.

"I didn't mean to... she just made me so... so angry and it just happened," he told me. "She was my girlfriend and she was breaking up with me, I held her hostage in this place, nobody knew about it and I just lost control."

I started coughing really bad then, Sean stopped pacing and looked at me, wondering if he should help me in some way or just stay away from me.

I saw him taking a step towards me, I raised my hand and stopped him. He shouldn't be close to me, he could get sick and I needed him healthy plus I wanted him as far away from me as possible.

I hated him for what he made me go through yesterday, I was only acting sweet and nice so I could convince him to let me go but knowing he killed someone before the turn, knowing he was actually messed up, probably all his life, made me more nervous and more anxious about leaving. I needed to leave as soon as I could.

More time passed in which none of us said anything at all, the only sound came from my coughing and unfortunately that attracted some walkers, we heard the snarling and there was banging on the front door and wall.

Sean could see there were only two of them so he grabbed his knife and walked to the front door, opening slightly to check the situation first, as soon as he was out of my sight, I stood up and looked for a way out.

I checked every window but there were bars in them and I wasn't small enough to pass through them. I looked for a back door, the only one I found was the one that led to the garden which was surrounded by a tall white fence.

I didn't care, I ran outside and tried to climb and go over it, being sick and this weak didn't help but I wasn't going to give up.

"Come on, Cecilia," I whispered to myself. "You can do this."

I almost got my whole body up when my arms started shaking and they just gave up. I grunted as I stood up and tried again. I got a leg over the other side of the fence when I felt myself being pulled back and a second later I was thrown to the ground.

"What the fuck, Cici?" Sean yelled at me, he was holding his knife, which was bloody. "What the fuck!?"

"I will die, Sean!" I screamed, sitting up. "I will die if I don't get there and the sooner the better."

Angrily, Sean grabbed the collar of the sweater I was wearing and pulled me up fast, taking me inside the house. I didn't even fight back or show any kind of resistance, I just allowed him to.

He pushed me into the couch and I just stayed the way I landed, I was so close to succeed, I was so disappointed at it and I didn't have any strength to fight him. Sean glared at me as he got his gun out and pointed it at me.

"I'll die anyway, "I muttered cynically. "You better do it now and prevent me from suffering a slow, painful death and better yet, if you shoot me in the brain, I won't turn."

Sean didn't look touched by my words, he almost pulled the trigger but with a loud scream out of frustration, he lowered the gun. If I was going to die, I rather him to put a bullet through my skull than die from this virus, with blood running out of my ears and eyes and most likely turning afterwards.

Sean grabbed my arm again and this time he took me all the way upstairs to my room, closing the door as he stormed back down the stairs.

I lied down on the bed, coughing every once in a while, if only I could escape or convince Sean I needed the antibiotics, maybe he didn't believe it was that bad and maybe it wasn't yet but if people died from this back at the prison, I was going to get really bad and soon.

As I was on the bed I tried to think why my mother didn't even ask about me, didn't even ask who was part of the group that Sean said he was with, maybe she didn't want to hear I died, maybe it was too much for her to handle, just maybe.

Another thing that I found weird was that she didn't offer Sean to take him back to the prison, she was going there, right? Maybe not right away but she was, so why didn't she told him she could take him with her?

I felt like I was getting a fever again so I grabbed the bottle and took one of the pills. I looked at a clock on the night table that still worked and it read 15:13, yeah, it was time for another pill.

Today was the sixth day since we left the prison and I was sure I wasn't going to last another five, not with this virus, if I was going to die anyway, I only hope I would be dead by tonight, less suffering and less time with Sean.

As I shivered under the covers I started thinking about happy memories, just good times, from both, before and after the turn.

My first memory was from when I was about twelve and Sophia was five or so, our parents took us to Orlando and we went to Disney and other theme parks. It was a very happy trip, we even went with dad's brother and his three kids, two were older than me, Allison and Jeffrey, and one was just two months younger than me, Dylan, so I had someone to go on the games with.

Our family was just like any other family at least we seemed to be, the only difference was that my father abused us but at the eyes of everyone we were just like anybody else. We went on trips, went out to eat on Sundays, we had a nice house, two cars, my dad had a good job and my mum was just a normal housewife, I was enrolled in sports after class, Sophia was the sweet girl of the family and I was the problematic child, the rebel, but there's one in every family, right?

The next memory was when Glenn and I met and I just wouldn't take a no for an answer, I was going to go on that run. I just wasn't going to stay in camp with my parents, just doing nothing. Glenn felt extremely awkward and nervous but we bonded quickly, which was weird for me. Ever since I got into high school it took me a lot of time and effort to make friends and trust people, while in elementary school I was actually popular.

Then I remembered the first time Daryl actually complimented me. He said the freckles on my face were cute but my dimple was what drove him crazy. Actually, that wasn't that long ago, we were talking about nothing in particular and then he just blurted it out, like if he had been wanting to say it for a while and couldn't keep it in any longer.

I also thought about some time after I forgave my mum for good. I had had a bad day and Daryl wasn't around and it wasn't him who I needed anyway. My mum was talking to Rick, Sasha, and Samuel, the father of Mika and Lizzie, when I just approached them and wrapped my arms around my mum, burying my head in the crook of her neck. It felt good when she hugged me back and took me back inside to her cell and helped me lie on her bed, where she lied next to me and I told her what was wrong as she caressed the top of my head and somehow made everything better, like a mother should do.

My next memory was of me and Carl, Glenn had got us a soccer ball a few days ago and we finally got the time to use it. We were in the courtyard, passing the ball and then other people joined us. There were walkers outside but we had killed most of them earlier so we ignored those and we enjoyed the moment.

My memory was interrupted when I started coughing again and this time it was quite bad. I sat up and looked for some water but I had none here. I coughed harder, covering my mouth with my hand. I breathed hard when I finally stopped, resting my back against the wall.

I looked down and my heart just skipped a bit. I raised my hand to my eyes to see it better, not wanting to believe it but there were tiny blood drops on it.

Without thinking it twice, I got out of bed and ran down the stairs, where I found Sean sitting on the couch, looking at an old Playboy magazine, I walked to him, yanked the magazine from him and threw it to the ground and showed him my hand.

"You have to let me go!" I exclaimed, trying to keep my voice down in case there were walkers ready. "If you don't, you better kill me now."

He stared at my hand with concern as he kept shaking his head in disbelief. All this time he had told me I never got the virus from the prison, that I was going to be fine, he was in denial.

"It's too late," he told me, it was almost 16:00 and it was probably going to get dark before making it to the prison, if we even make it there. "It will get dark soon."

"I don't care," I said. "I may not make it through the night. Patrick wasn't even sick that morning and he died during the night. I don't know how much time I have left and I better leave while I can walk."

"What if you get better?"

"For fuck's sake, Sean! Wake up! This is bad, okay? This is really bad. I'm sick and if I don't get antibiotics I'm going to die, do you understand that? Now, if you really do love me like you say you do, let me go!" I shouted, losing my patience.

Sean's gaze went from me to the front door, and then to the gun that was in his hands. I didn't have time for this, so I just walked to the door, ready to leave, I didn't care anymore, I was going to die anyway.

"Cici!" he shouted, jumping from the leather couch and going after me. "Alright, we are going but just give me a second."

I stared at him with wide eyes, I never thought it would be this easy, I was actually very surprised. Sean went for my gun, another knife and his backpack and while I waited for him, I coughed again, I looked down at my hands, kind of hoping to see it clear of anything but there was blood again, I took deep breaths to calm myself and not freak out about it.

When Sean joined me again, I opened the door and the two of us left the house, I had nothing on me but Sean had a knife and a gun, I asked him if I could have my gun or knife back and he just told me to not push it so I said nothing else.

At first, every step was really draining. I was weak for lots of reasons, I was sick, barely eaten or drunk anything, I was drugged constantly the first couple of days and my body ached so bad, all I wanted to do was going back to the bed, under the covers but as we kept going, adrenaline filled my veins and I felt better, at least for a while.

During the first two hours we came across fifteen walkers, but not at the same time. I killed two of them, I found a stick on the ground and stabbed them with it and besides using it as a weapon I also used it as a cane. We had gotten into the dense part of the woods just ten minutes before night fell and having another kind of support was nice, plus it was really hard to see.

"Here," Sean told me, handing me a flashlight.

It was scary to be in the woods like this, I could barely see anything, with or without flashlight and without having a proper weapon. Sean killed more walkers we came across but luckily we didn't stumble upon a big group of them.

"If I had my gun I..."

"I won't give you your gun, babe," he said quickly and I just sighed.

The two of us tried to be extremely silent but my coughing was only getting worse and sometimes quite loud, I tried to do it silently but it wasn't really working.

Another two or three hours passed and by now I was pretty exhausted, I had probably run out of adrenaline or I had just used all my energy left. I leant against a tree as I panted and tried to catch my breath, I felt so sick right now. I probably had fever, I should have grabbed the bottle of pills before leaving the house but I was so worried that I was coughing up blood that it didn't even cross my mine and I was regretting it now.

I coughed again and this time not only small droplets of blood came out of my mouth. I was almost like throwing it up now, it was quite a lot and I panicked. I used the flashlight to see my blood on the ground and it almost made me puke for real.

"Come on!" I said quickly, cleaning my lips and jaw with my sleeve and started walking again.

A few minutes later, before my brain could process it, I heard some noises followed by a voice, Sean grabbed me quickly, putting a hand around my collarbones, holding me tightly against him, the only thing I could do was put my hands over his forearm and tried to pull it off but Sean was way stronger than me, especially now.

Then a light blinded me for a seconds, making me close my eyes and look away. I also heard my name being called by different people, I smiled but it didn't last more than a couple of seconds because then Sean put the gun right on my temple.

"Sean," Rick said in a soft tone. "What – what happened to her?"

I could barely see the scene before me but I could make out six figures, one was Rick, of course, another was Glenn and the only female was Michonne, who was holding someone by their arm, I couldn't see well the other people's faces.

"If you move any closer, I promise I'll pull the trigger," he exclaimed, pressing the gun against my skin with more force than before.

"We don't want that, Sean," Rick said, he had lots of experience in situations like these, he was a cop and probably dealt with this more than a few times. "I'll put my gun away."

"Let go of her, you bastard!" I heard Daryl shouting, he was the one Michonne was restraining, probably preventing him from doing anything stupid. Now she was telling him things in his ear, trying to calm him down, another person was on his other side, doing the same as Michonne, controlling him.

"Daryl, I'll handle this," Rick told him, glancing at him but then focused on Sean again.

Sean had told me that if I moved he would kill me but I started coughing again, Sean screamed at me to shut up and stay still but I couldn't. Blood came out of my mouth again and I got white spots in my vision, I was getting weaker and weaker.

"Is she sick?" I heard Glenn asking, I could tell he was really scared.

"We need antibiotics!" Sean told them. "You have to let us go after that."

"It's not as simple as that," Rick told him. "Once you are sick it takes a few days to get better, she would have to stay at least three or four days, Sean, otherwise she could die."

"You let us go! You heard me?" Sean shouted, pointing the gun at Rick for a second before pointing it back at me.

"Alright, alright," Rick said, trying to keep calm. "I just want the best for her, for the two of you. How long has she been sick?"

"Since yesterday," he told Rick. "Now, we need the antibiotics! Why don't you bring it to us?"

"I can't do that, Sean," Rick said. "The prison is at least an hour away, she might die before I make it back and it's so dangerous to just stay here, Cecilia can barely walk, much less fight."

And as on cue, I started coughing once again and this time my legs buckled under my weight, I would have fallen if Sean wouldn't have been holding me. He almost let go of me but instead of that, he stopped pointing his gun at me and held me with both arms, slowly kneeling down with me in his arms, setting me on top of his lap.

I heard a loud grunt and soon Sean's grip loosened around me until he let go completely, letting me fall on the cold hard ground.

"No!" I heard Rick yelling.

"I didn't kill him, don't worry. I'm still not done with that piece of shit."

I lost consciousness for a few seconds, I knew because when I opened my eyes Daryl was crouched over me, shaking me slightly to get me to wake up.

"Cecilia! Cecilia!"

"Daryl," I muttered in between coughs. "I thought – I never – would see you – again."

"What did that monster did to you?" he asked me, the concern was obvious in his now dark blue eyes. I had never seen that look on him.

Daryl put one of his arms under my upper back and the other under my knees, lifting me up from the ground and as he did, my head moved to the other side and I saw Sean on the ground, screaming out in pain, he had an arrow on his left shoulder, with Michonne and Glenn next to him, holding him down.

"I'll take her to the prison, we can't lose any more time!" Daryl shouted at everyone but mostly at Rick.

"I'll go with you," he said. "If you get tired, I can carry her the rest of the way or if we come across some walkers I'll kill them."

"I'll go with you two," a man named Alan said, we found him months ago and he was good with weapons.

"Okay. The three of you," he said to Michonne, Glenn and Tyreese. "Take that garbage back to the prison, there is no need to be gentle."

Daryl had already started jogging by the time Rick finished talking, the only thing I could do was wrapping my arms around Daryl's neck, but I was too weak it wouldn't be of much help if he in fact let me fall to the ground.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed but Daryl's arms and legs were getting tired, Rick noticed and offered to take me for a while but Daryl refused the first five times, until he had to stop because I was slipping from his arms. Rick didn't ask this time, he took me from Daryl's arm and started jogging, Daryl and Alan caught up with Rick soon.

"How bad is she?" I could hear Alan asking Daryl behind Rick and me.

"I'm not sure," Daryl told him. "She has a cut on the side of her head, she has a big bruise on her face and probably more all over her body and she keeps coughing."

We'll get there soon," Rick said to both men and me. "Just hang on, Cici."

There were some walkers not far from there, Daryl shot two and Alan killed the other two with a big machete, as Rick just kept going.

"Rick, Rick!" Daryl exclaimed. "Give her to me, we'll be there in less than ten minutes."

Rick was only a few years older than Daryl and wasn't as strong as him. Rick was in good shape because of his job as a policeman but he had to admit he had gotten tired after about twenty minutes of carrying me so he allowed Daryl to take me in his arms again, this time his pace was faster, he wanted to get back to the prison as soon as possible.

As we approached the prison, Rick and Alan killed some of the walkers that were by the fence and had noticed us, inside, Maggie was waiting for them and opened the gate quickly, allowing Daryl to pass through first, and then Rick and Alan got in. The other three with Sean weren't on sight yet so Maggie was going to stay there to open the gate for them but Alan offered to take her place, knowing Maggie was closer to me.

"Hershel! Hershel!" Daryl and Rick screamed at the top of their lungs as soon as they got past the fence. But it wasn't Hershel who walked out of Block C, it was Carl.

"He's in D!" he exclaimed loudly. "You found her?"

Carl's face turned into a happy expression when he saw me in Daryl's arms but soon it turned to a worried one when he noticed I was barely awake and there was blood around my mouth and my whole appearance wasn't that good.

I attempted a smile at the young boy to calm him down but I wasn't sure if it worked or not because right after I did it, I felt my eyes getting very heavy as I lost consciousness.

Hello guys! I'm back! Well, she was finally found and reunited with Daryl!
My trip was great, I had such a good time and I wish it wouldn't have ended so quickly :(

Anyway, tell me your thoughts of this chapter and what will happen in the next, thank you all for keep reading this and commenting and voting! :)