Guys! I'm not dead! :D

But seriously guys, I haven't sat down to work on my personal stuff since college started..

I hope this makes up for my disappearance(:

Enjoy

I own nothing you recognize.

"Hey Daryl, do you need any help with that?" Rose approached the van that Daryl was loading up with supplies for their trip into the city. She'd been trying to find some way to help prepare for the past two and a half hours with no luck. Sure, she had convinced them to let her go and fix her mistake but now no one was letting her anywhere near anything. She felt so useless and she couldn't stand it. She wanted to be a part of the camp. To put in her fair share of work, to show them she wasn't some worthless little girl stuck in this God forsaken world. But so far, no such luck.

"No, I don't need no one's-" Daryl's voice trailed off when he looked up and saw Rose staring him in the face. He averted his eyes and his tone softened as he bent down to mess with his crossbow, "No, I don't need no help."

He turned his back on her and she sighed. What was she supposed to do? She wished she'd never dropped those damn bags. If she hadn't, they wouldn't be in this situation. Well, she wasn't sure if they would still have this problem with Merle, but the thought still stuck in the back of her mind. She turned back towards the camp and watched everyone working hard to keep the place running smoothly, or as smoothly as one could in their predicament. She stood next to the camper and looked over the blue water. She wanted so bad to simply hurry up the preparation process and leave so they could just leave. She wanted to fix what she'd done wrong and she couldn't do a thing here. Apparently she couldn't even help pack for the trip. She'd done more work around her house when she was ten.

"Hey." Glenn walked up to her and she looked at him.

"Hey, Glenn."

"How're you holding up?"

She took a deep breath, "Fine. I'm just ready to go so I can fix this."

"Look, Rick's already said it once, but you know nobody blames you, right?"

Rose rubbed her face, "Yeah, I know, but that's not the point. I blame myself and I want to help. I feel like crap because if I hadn't dropped the bags in the first place," another thought hit her and that guilty feeling came back. She dropped her head and turned away from him, "or maybe I shouldn't have got in between T-Dog and Merle."

"Rosie, you were lucky to get out in one piece. You were swarmed, that's not your fault. And as for Merle, well, he's just a nutcase."

She chuckled a bit and Glenn led her to the cube van and opened the door, helping her into the driver's seat where she crawled into the passenger's side. He hopped into the driver's seat and shut the door.

"I still feel like shit." She said flatly.

"We'll fix it, I promise." He smiled and she smiled back.

"God, what is taking them so goddamn long?" Daryl came in between them and stomped his foot on the horn. Glenn looked at him with a look that said "what the hell"?

"You're gonna draw in every walker for miles around!" Rose scolded in a loud whisper. But Daryl seemed to ignore both of them as T-Dog crawled into the back of the van and sat down. Rose rolled her eyes and sat across from him so Rick could sit up front. Surprisingly, Daryl sat next to her after he shut the large door. She looked at him a moment but didn't say anything about it. She still felt bad about Merle. Glenn looked at her and they both took deep breaths as he started the vehicle and they drove away from camp. Part of the windshield and Glenn's window were the only places Rose could see outside so she sat in the silence and watched the world go by them. Now that they were actually leaving she started to get nervous. What if she screwed up again? What if she did something wrong and got somebody killed? The thoughts came rushing through her head faster than the speed the light was entering her eyes. It was a bumpy ride and she kept getting shoved into Daryl's arm and he expected him to go off but to her surprise he didn't say a word. He didn't even look at her. She looked watched him out of the corner of her eye and he simply sat there, looking out the window or the wall of the cube van but he didn't say a word until Atlanta's skyscrapers came into view.

"He'd better be okay." Daryl said, looking at T-Dog across from them, "That's my only word on the matter."

"I told you the geeks can't get at him. The only thing that's gonna get through that door is us." T-Dog argued. The van suddenly came to a stop and Glenn cut the engine off and turned back towards everyone.

"We walk from here." He said.

Rick and Glenn opened their doors and stepped down onto the train tracks Glenn had parked on while Daryl opened the back door and jumped down, T-Dog and Rose following after him. They looked around and jogged towards a chain-link gate that led into the city, slipping through alleyways and around open areas where all of the walkers were likely to be, trying to be as silent as possible. They made their way to the department store from before to find it empty. Empty as far as they knew.

Rick led the way, taking soft, silent steps. They were in the clear for a short while but Rick suddenly held up his hand, signaling them to stop and they all froze. He looked at Daryl and pointed two fingers at his own eyes then at the walker that was dragging her feet behind one of the mannequins a few feet ahead of them. She didn't seem like she had noticed them just yet until Daryl approached her with his crossbow, aiming it at her head.

"Damn." He mumbled, "You are one ugly skank." He pulled the trigger and she fell to the ground in an ugly heap on the tile. Rose made a face as he retrieved his arrow and they moved on through the store. They found the stairwell and broke out into a run, reaching the door as T-Dog took the cutters to the chain. The steel rings slumped down with a clang and Daryl kicked the door open, crossbow in hand, calling out his brother's name. They ran out into the roof and Rose sucked in a breath, her hand covering her open mouth. She could feel the tears swell up in her eyes as Daryl cried out for the only family he had left with no reply. They were all silent as they stared at bloody hacksaw lying next to the pool of blood; Merle's severed hand lying out in the sun and the handcuffs still hanging from the pipe.

But Merle was nowhere to be found.