Now

Evelyn was on watch duty, again, doing her best to ignore the feeling that was creeping up on her. She didn't like it. Last time she had felt like this was when her mom left her without any explanation. Worry. That's what Evelyn was feeling. She was worried about Daryl. She shook her head slightly. She wasn't here to grow attached to people. That wasn't her job. Movement caught her eye and she frowned.

"What the hell?" She muttered, leaving her post and climbing over where Carl and Enid had taken her outside the wall a week or so ago. How time flies when you've got absolutely nothing to do. Her machete was in a sheath on her hip, her hand swinging by her side lazily as she made her way through the surrounding forests. She frowned. She was certain she had seen someone out here – not a walker.

"Oi! Evelyn!" Abraham called out. She looked up at him. She still thought his moustache was funny, though she also liked it in a weird way. It added character. Part of her wished that Daryl would grow a moustache like that, just so she could laugh at how stupid he looked.

"What?" She called back.

"Get back inside the walls. Daryl'd kill us all if he heard we let you outside the walls."

"I thought I saw..." She looked back around, scanning her surroundings again, "Never mind." She sighed, walking through the front gate which was now opened for her. Abraham came down from his post and stood in front of her, holding his gun protectively. That guy was in love with his guns. Noisy wastes of space in Evelyn's opinion. Sure, they could be handy, but when there are so many walkers around, you don't want to draw their attention by shooting a gun.

"Don't head outside the walls on your own. Not without telling someone where you're going, not without someone with you. It's dangerous out there." He said. Evelyn glared at him.

"Yeah, thanks for telling me that. It's not like I lived almost completely on my own for pretty much five years, no. Not at all," She said sarcastically, pushing herself past him and returning to her post, "I know what I'm doing. Stop treating me like a kid." She called back. Abraham shook his head and returned to his own post, looking over the gate. Why did people keep treating her like she was just a child? It seemed like they just kept forgetting she had been on her own for so long. But there wasn't much point in arguing with anyone over it. They'd just keep viewing her as a kid. Even if she didn't act like a young kid, she looked like one. Evelyn rubbed her arm, half enjoying the tingling pain from her cut. It hurt most at night, a dull throbbing ache, kept her awake. She never mentioned it to Maggie though. Maggie just checked on her in the evenings, sometime around lunch, and in the morning, made sure everything was fine and that there was nothing that Evelyn wanted. Maggie also went with her to the infirmary to get her arm checked and redressed, the wound cleaned, that sort of thing. Evelyn looked around at all the people in Alexandria, going about their daily lives. It seemed like there was hardly anything to do, and yet there should be something for everyone to do, everyone should help pull their weight, not just sit around playing tic tac toe, or twiddling their fingers. Or even praying. Praying got nothing done. If it did, then the world would have been a much better place. She didn't understand people, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to.

Evelyn was heading back to the house after her shift, still confused about what she had seen outside the walls an hour or so earlier. She was certain she had seen someone outside the walls, but Abraham hadn't. It was rather annoying. Had she seen someone or had she been imagining things?

"Evelyn!" Carl called out, jogging towards her. Evelyn stopped and looked at him frowning.

"That name really does make me sound too serious." She muttered.

"Would you rather I called you Rambo?" He asked, rather teasingly as he stopped before her. She shrugged.

"Well, apparently I suit it so whatever. What'd you want?" She asked. It was obvious this wasn't a social call.

"Have you seen Enid anywhere?" He asked. Evelyn frowned.

"I don't know. Why?"

"No one's seen her and Maggie's getting worried."

"Shit," Evelyn hissed, rubbing her hand down her face, "Then I might have seen her."

"Where?" He looked slightly worried at the tone in Evelyn's voice. She shook her head.

"You're not gonna like it."

"Why? Where did you see her?"

"If it was her, and I'm not sure it was her, but... I think she's outside the wall." Evelyn rubbed her injured arm, thinking. What would have possessed Enid to make her go outside the wall? Without anyone else with her? Was she insane? Would she even come back?

"What?"

"I'm not positive that it was her, I only caught a glimpse and Abraham didn't see her, so it might have been nothing, but if no one has seen Enid around the place then... Well, it's a possibility that we can't really ignore, isn't it?"

"We need to tell someone about this. We need to get out there to find her." Carl started walking away and Evelyn grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

"No! We can't leave this place undefended." She said. Carl looked at her, frowning slightly in confusion.

"No one's about to attack us."

"That you know of!" Evelyn said earnestly. She sighed and let go of Carl's arm, looking at the ground and thinking, then looking at Daryl's motorbike, a hint of determination in her eye. She then brushed past Carl, heading towards the make shift armoury.

"Where are you going?" Carl asked, heading after her, watching as she grabbed a shot gun from the rack and some ammo for it. He shook his head as he realised what she was planning on doing.

"I won't use it unless I have to." Evelyn said, slinging the shotgun on her back.

"No. You can't go out there on your own."

"Stop treating me like I'm a bloody kid! I've been through just as much as anyone else here! I can look after myself!"

"But Daryl –"

"My dad isn't here. He can go to hell, for all I care. The thing is, he isn't here, and he can't stop me. Alexandria needs all the people it can get. I'll go on my own, find Enid, bring her back. All before Daryl returns," She headed out of the armoury, back to where Daryl's bike was, "All I need is for the gate to be opened and everyone else distracted. Think you can manage that?"

"This is insane!"

"You care about Enid, yeah? Then don't stop me, help me out." She looked at Carl, silently willing him to give in and help her. He sighed.

"I'll see what I can do. Just... be careful. That bike looks way to big for you."

"That's because it is. But hey, I've driven bikes before. Just... not necessarily quite like this one." She shrugged, actually quite excited at the prospect of getting to drive Daryl's bike. She just hoped it wouldn't run out of fuel. Daryl would kill her if – when – he found out about this. He probably would find out. Maggie would probably tell him. She watched as Carl walked away. Why was she doing this? It wasn't for Enid, and she knew it. It wasn't for Maggie either, though it was obvious that Maggie was sort of an older sister figure for Enid. Maybe Maggie had lost someone in the past and Enid was her way of remembering whoever it was? Probably not. But at any rate, it was obvious Enid was important to Maggie, and yet it wasn't for Maggie that Evelyn was doing this. It was for Carl, and Evelyn hated herself for it. She was putting herself in danger for someone who she shouldn't even care about. Nothing was going to plan anymore. She knew some people who weren't going to be too happy about it.

The gate opened and Evelyn smirked slightly. Carl had pulled through. She turned on the bike and raced through the gate, Carl quickly closing it behind her. He watched as she sped off on the bike that looked way to big for her, hoping like hell that she'd be alright. He also hoped that he wouldn't get in too much trouble for this, hoped that she wouldn't get in too much trouble for it. He shook his head and headed off as everyone resumed what they were doing. Abraham cursed as he came up behind Carl and saw the retreating bike.

"What the hell does that girl think she's doing?" He raged. Carl looked at him.

"Looking for Enid."

"On her own?!"

"She said something about how we can't leave Alexandria unprotected. Said something about how we don't know when we're going to be attacked."

"So you just let her go? You helped her get out of here? This isn't good." Abraham muttered, heading off to find someone so they knew about what was going on. Carl took one more look at where Evelyn had just been, then headed off. There had to be something he could do to help out.

Evelyn stopped the bike and turned it off. Surely Enid couldn't have gotten much further than this on foot? She shook her head. Enid was a strange one. She got off the bike and moved it to the side of the road, covering it over with branches and making sure no one could see it, then walked off and looked for tracks. She had taught herself to track, had first managed it when tracking a deer. She remembered that day quite clearly. Anyone would. The kid had been shot. Bullet went straight through the deer and got the boy in the side. She frowned. Now that she thought about it, that had been Rick who ran up and grabbed the boy, Rick and another guy who wasn't with the group, at least not anymore. The boy who was shot... that was Carl. He'd grown a lot since then, but it was him. Which meant that she had almost come across her dad when she was still just a nine year old kid. Weird how things worked. At the time she had been worried about the kid – Carl – and she was glad that he'd been OK. She sighed, finding herself quite far away from the road by now.

"Enid!" She called out. She doubted that Enid would come out, she'd left for a reason, but it was worth a shot. Evelyn scanned the ground for tracks, but she had no idea where Enid had gone after leaving Alexandria. She could be anywhere by now, or it felt that way. Hell, for all Evelyn knew, Enid was dead. But she still had to look. As she searched for any signs of Enid, Evelyn starts wondering about the other guy who had been with Rick and Carl way back when. Who was he? Possibly an old friend of Rick's, they looked like they got along quite well. What happened to him? And why were they out there anyway? How come they had been out in the forest in the first place? When Evelyn had first spotted them they had seemed to be searching for something, or someone. Carl's friend? The one that he lost when they were kids? What was her name... Sophia? Were they looking for her? Evelyn found a boot print and knelt down to look at it better. It looked reasonably fresh. Possibly Enid's. Looked about the right size. Evelyn stood up and started heading in the direction it was pointed. Hopefully it wasn't a walker. Probably not, they tended to lurch around and this print didn't look like the person who made it had dragged their feet at all.

What was it like to be shot? She knew what it was like to be stabbed, to be cut, knew what it was like to have boiling water thrown over her. But she had never been shot. She doubted she wanted to know what it felt like. It probably hurt more than her curiosity was worth. Well, it'd probably depend a bit on where she was shot she supposed. In the face, for example, would hurt like hell. Carl was lucky to be alive. Had he been shot twice? Well, at least twice. She looked around, trying to find more boot prints. If there was anything Evelyn could say about Enid, it would be that she was surprisingly good at hiding her tracks.

There was a groan behind her, a strangled growling noise. Evelyn froze, then slowly turned around, her hand on her machete.

"Crap." She murmured. What was it about those stupid undead freak shows and turning up at completely the wrong time?! At least one wasn't too hard to deal with. She stepped forward and sliced it's head open, neatly cutting the top of its head off. She pulled a face at the smell. Even after five or six years of dealing with those things, she still found their smell absolutely disgusting. She looked down at the male walker she had just killed, a habit she had formed. Whenever she could, she checked that the walker she had just killed was actually dead. It was. She sighed and started walking off again. Then she heard more of the strangled groans and turned around. A herd was headed towards her. How the hell had she not heard it earlier? Actually forget hearing them, how had she not smelled them earlier? She ran, not stopping. If she lost Enid's tracks, she would just have to find them again. A hand grabbed her ankle and she tripped up, yelping as pain shot up through her right arm, a jolt of adrenaline coursing through her veins. She rolled over and repetitively kicked the walker in the head until its brain was smashed in, its blood and brains splattered all over her legs. She scrambled up and resumed her escape. Where the hell was she going? She had to make sure she could find her way back again. The ground beneath her moved and she grasped for something to hold onto – anything – but there was nothing there. She fell. When had she gotten so close to a hill or whatever?

"Hey!" Enid yelled, rather angrily. Evelyn looked at her, utterly surprised.

"Well this is awkward." She said, for she had landed in a rather... intimate... position on top of Enid. The other girl glared daggers at her.

"No kidding." Evelyn got off and hauled Enid to her feet, shoving her against the side of the hill that she had fallen down, limping slightly. At worst she had sprained her ankle, but it probably wasn't that bad.

"What are you – " Evelyn covered Enid mouth with her hand and shook her head, holding her finger to her lips. Enid had a disgusted look in her eye, probably struggling not to be sick from the smell lingering on Evelyn's hand from the walker she had killed. Above them walkers could be heard. Slowly Evelyn released Enid and stepped back, adjusting the shot gun so she could fire it if necessary. They stayed still and silent as mice, hardly daring to breathe in case the walkers heard them. Eventually the sound of the heavy breathing from the walkers started to fade and Evelyn lowered the shot gun, collapsing to the ground. Enid looked down at her.

"Why are you out here? You should be back in Alexandria."

"Yeah, so should you." Evelyn muttered, rubbing her ankle. It didn't look too bad. A bruise might form, but so long as she didn't use it too much it should be fine. Enid shook her head.

"I don't belong there."

"Yeah, you do."

"No, I don't!"

"Look here, you spoilt little brat," Evelyn snapped, standing up and glaring at Enid, "You have it easy. You know those people. Those people care about you. And what the fuck do you do?! You bugger off and leave them, sending Maggie and Carl into a panic. You owe them so much more than that, so stop being such a selfish bitch and think about others for once." Evelyn turned away from Enid, running her hand through her hair. She was not in the mood to deal with Enid feeling sorry for herself.

"They don't care about me." Enid mumbled. Evelyn laughed harshly.

"Right, because that's why Carl went looking for me to ask where you were. That's why I'm risking my neck to save you," She looked at Enid, "Look around you, Enid. You think no one cares about you because you don't want them too."

"You're wrong." Enid said, shaking her head defiantly.

"No, I'm not. I know this because in many ways we're the same. We don't want people to care about us. It scares us. We want to be left alone. We don't like having any kind of emotions for other people, don't want to be attached to anyone else. Hell, Daryl's gone and I actually gave him a hug. I ain't a hugger, and for some reason I am worried about him. And it scares me. Terrifies me. And if he knew that I was our here, risking my life to save your sorry ass, he would be pissed off. No one else knows that you left Alexandria. Not that I know of anyway. I came out here, on my own, to take you back to Alexandria." Evelyn rubbed the back of her neck, sighing. Enid looked at her, surprised at how much sense she was making. They were similar, unfortunately. Enid looked away, still thinking of where she could go. Evelyn shook her head and motioned to the wilderness.

"If you want to go, then go. I won't stop you. But it ain't easy surviving out there. You probably already know that. But sure. If you want, go risk your life again. At least I can tell Carl that I tried. At least I can tell Maggie I tried. Go. Just go. If you want," Evelyn turned away and started looking for a way back up the hill, then looked back at Enid thoughtfully, "You do realise how Carl feels about you, right? Just thought you should think about that before making your decision." And then she started walking off. Enid stood there for a moment, weighing her options.

"Ugh!" She huffed, then chased after Evelyn, "Wait up!"

Author's note: Sorry I've been a bit slack with the updating. Bit of a stressful week last week due to school and all that, been a bit distracted on the whole. Hope this chapter makes up for it, at least a little bit :)