Hey there ya'll, I really hope you're enjoying the story still. I'm only getting about three reviews a chapter, so I hope this chapter gets more than that! Reviews are what inspires me to continue! Hint hint ;)

Disclaimer: I only own my OC's.

I stared out the window as we drove, the roar of Daryl's motorcycle ahead of us was a constant reminder of the argument we had the night before, but in a car with Dale, Andrea, Shane, T-Dog and Glenn there was no end to the conversation around. T-Dog was lying down in the back, Glenn and Dale chatted about different areas of the United States they had been to, Andrea would throw in comments about places, and even Shane would toss in some useless information about a place that was interesting before, but, pretty much out of date now.

"How about you Lizzie, where's your favorite place you've been?" Glenn looked over at me with a smile.

"I ain't never been anywhere." I shook my head.

"Nowhere?" Glenn asked with a frown and I shook my head.

"Nope. Only place I been was Atlanta, and the woods sometimes when Cal took me huntin'." I shrugged.

"Wow I- you have airport stickers on your suitcase so I thought-"

"That was Janice's suitcase." I cut him off. "She used ta go all over." I smiled as I looked out the window again. "Kentucky to see her mama's family, New York, for her Daddy's. Vegas for a wedding once. Always said I'd move around when we grew up, but then momma got sick, and I couldn't leave." I shook my head.

"What did she have?" Dale asked and I looked over at him.

"She was an addict." I admitted and Shane looked over at me. "Took me a long time to admit that, Cal was getting' her from her fifth stint in rehab when all this broke out."

"You know what I miss?" Glenn asked suddenly and I looked over at him. "Pizza. Like, I never thought I'd miss it because I worked with it so much. I seriously couldn't stand the smell of pizza for the longest time, I lived off of pizza, you know?" he shrugged. "But now, I'd give anything for a slice of deep dish pizza." He grinned. "Deep dish, with peppers and sausage."

"I was always a Hawaiian pizza type m'self." I grinned.

"Meat lovers." Shane spoke up. "With extra sauce."

"Amy and I would go to town on a garden pizza with sausage and no onions." Andrea smiled.

"I was always a fan of the classic pepperoni." Dale continued. "But my wife liked olives."

"Oh, olives." I sighed. "I used to eat olives by the jar full. My boss at the Silver Spoon, James, he'd always give me hell because I'd sneak an olive or two during my shift."

"I'd eat all of the cherries if I worked at a bar." Andrea laughed.

"You got a sweet tooth?" Shane asked.

"Not always, but for cherries, yeah." She nodded.

"Know that trick, where someone ties a cherry in a knot with their tongue?" I asked.

"You can't do that." Glenn laughed.

"I can." I nodded. "I heard one'a' Cal's friends talkin' 'bout a girl he knew who could do that, and I decided to try it."

"What's that trick supposed to do?" Dale asked.

"It means you're good with your tongue." I told him and he chuckled lightly.

"I'm almost sorry I asked." He admitted and I laughed.

"What do you miss Lizzie?" Glenn asked.

"Oh, lotta things." I nodded. "But, uh, have ta say, the jukebox back at the Silver Spoon."

"Good line up?" Dale asked.

"Fantastic line up." I grinned. "We had Lynyrd Skynyrd, , Joe Tex, Eddie Floyd, Journey, The Coasters, Johnny Cash, it was incredible."

"I never would have pegged you for such a music fan." Dale admitted and I smiled as I looked back out the window.

"So, above everything else, above showers, and electricity and regular civilization, you miss a juke box the most?" Andrea asked.

"Is it really that hard to believe?" I asked and she thought for a moment before shaking her head.

"I just don't understand it." She shrugged. "I'd give anything to have things back to the way theywere before."

"It's that kind of thinkin' that makes all this so hard to accept." I told her. "I've accepted we ain't gettin' back ta normal, only thing that could make it a little more bearable is music."

"Amen." Shane muttered.

"Well, you're in luck." Dale said from the front. I moved over to where he was and he gestured to the glove compartment. Glenn opened it and I grinned seeing a whole mess of CD's. After looking through them a little I popped Johnny Cash's greatest hits into the CD player with a grin. Glenn smiled at me and I wrinkled my nose slightly before I went back to my seat. Andrea and Shane were talking about cleaning guns while I concentrated on the music.

"Oh jeeze-" Dale exclaimed suddenly before the music shut off. I opened my eyes and looked forward; Shane stood up and moved to the front of the RV, looking out the front as well.

"Aw no." Glenn whispered and I stepped forward next to Shane.

"God damn." I breathed. A huge semi truck had flipped, it was a huge pile up, cars were everywhere. Daryl turned his bike around and rolled back over to us and looked up at Dale who looked over at me. I stared straight ahead with a frown as I stared at the mess of cars.

"See a way through?" Dale asked and Daryl looked over his shoulder at the scene before jerking his head to indicate we should follow him. He turned back around and started moving forward.

"What's going on with you two anyways?" Glenn asked and I swallowed lightly.

"Nothin', what're you talkin' 'bout?"

"I mean usually you two are pretty close, what happened?"

"Ain't nothin' happened." I shook my head. "Jus' concentrate on the map."

"Maybe we should just go back." Glenn offered as he looked at the map. "There's an interstate bypass-"

"We can't spare the fuel." Dale cut him off.

"Are you sure you and Daryl are okay?" Glenn asked and I shot him a dirty look. "I mean, normally you would be more than happy to ride on the back of the bike- at least I assume you would be."

"Look, we're fine." I insisted. "In fact, it's a good thing this happened now, we weren't nothin' but distractions for each other, and he started thinkin' that I'd be okay with jus' hangin' 'round him all the time ta make sure nothin' happened ta me."

"Is that why he was upset about you going off with me?" T-Dog asked and I looked back at him.

"Yeah." I admitted.

"You've got to admit, you don't think of the worrying type when you think of Daryl Dixon." Andrea said and I rolled my eyes.

"He ain't, he was jus' distracted. An' so was I." I told her before there was a loud sound from the engine, and then the engine started sputtering, sending steam up in front of the windshield. "Shit." I swore as Dale parked the RV.

"T-Dog will you get the tools please?" Dale called back to T-Dog who went to find them. I got up and got my knife from where I had put it on the counter and strapped it to my leg, before I put on my hat. I stepped out of the RV and looked around. Car doors hung open, spilling out contents that seemed important at the time, but now were nothing more than the echoes of a lost civilization.

"God damn." I muttered.

"A thousand times, dead in the water." Dale was saying as he opened the RV engine.

"Problem Dale?" Shane asked sarcastically.

"Oh just the small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of-" he trailed off as he looked around. "Okay, that was dumb." Daryl moved over to one of the cars and picked something up.

"If you can't find a radiator hose here…" Shane trailed off.

"There's a whole buncha stuff we can find." Daryl spoke up.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog offered.

"Maybe some water." Carol spoke up.

"Or food."

"I can get some more first aid shit." I nodded as I looked around.

"This is a graveyard." Lori spoke up and everyone looked at her. "I don't know how I feel about this."

"They ain't usin it." I shrugged. "Ain't like they can take it with 'em."

"All right." T-Dog moved to the RV to get the gas cans and hoses.

"Just look around ya'll, gather what ya can." Shane spoke up. I moved over to where Cal was leaning on a yellow mustang and I grinned at the sight of it.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Sixty five." He told me as I stuck my head inside. White leather interior, though there was some leaves and shit inside of it, it was obvious someone had loved this car.

"God damn, I always wanted a car like this." I admitted and Cal chuckled lightly.

"Like I don't know that." He scoffed. I started the car up and sighed as it roared to life.

"Someone loved you." I said to the car with a grin. I turned the car off and took the keys from the ignition as Cal started to look through a car, Heather and Hunter were right behind him, and I opened the trunk to the Mustang. The car had been owned by an older man from the look of the trunk, but he hadn't thought to bring a first aid kit. There was a few bottles of pills though, but I didn't know what they were for.

"This is heart medicine," Dale told me when I took them to him. "And this is a bone strengthener. It's for osteoporosis."

"And the third one?" I asked nodding to the third bottle.

"It's Viagra."

"Well hell if I was a guy I'd save that too." I nodded and Dale laughed. "Best hold onto those Dale, never know if we're gonna run inta some ol' lonely widow woman." I teased.

"Keep looking." He said to me pointedly and I grinned before I walked to a different car. I found a pair of expensive looking sunglasses that I put on, but nothing of use. Dale got on top of the RV while Glenn and Cal worked on the car, I was wandering around when I nearly ran into Shane.

"Hey." I elbowed him lightly and he looked at me. I nodded to a huge sparkletts delivery truck and he looked over at me.

"Think our luck is that good" he asked and I smiled lightly.

"Only one way ta find out." I pointed out and we walked over to it.

He opened the side and I nearly cried at all of the jugs of water we were looking at. I opened the second hatch and pulled one of them out a bit, before taking off my hat. "Glenn," Shane called to the Asian boy who was taking the radiator hose from a truck. "Were we short on water?" He pulled the cap off of my bottle and I let out a whoop as the water hit me, running down my body. He did the same to his bottle, letting it run over him, drinking some of it as it poured out.

"Ah I never thought I'd taste fluoride and chorine treated water again!" I laughed and Glenn laughed as he watched us.

"Save me some!" Glenn grinned.

"It's like being baptized man." Shane grinned.

"I believe in water over any deity." I told them both. We were grinning and laughing when I looked over at Dale who was watching us. I waved to him before Shane moved my bottle forward slightly, making another splash of water fall over me. I laughed and then looked back up to Dale who was looking in the other direction through his binoculars. "Guys," I spoke hesitantly. "Shut up for a sec."

"What's up?" Glenn asked.

"I dunno." I muttered. I started to step forward, when Dale turned around quickly and gestured for us to get down. "Guys, something's wrong, get down." I told them both. Shane grabbed Glenn and pulled him under a truck while I got on the ground and rolled under one myself. I clapped my hand over my mouth as I saw feet walking towards us. The smell of rotting flesh and decay was everywhere and for a moment I shut my eyes and looked down, my hands clapped over my mouth as tears welled up in my eyes. If I closed my eyes, it was like they weren't there, like they didn't exist, and I could pretend like there was nothing happening. But doing that in itself was a lie. I had to look back up and keep an eye on the situation, if anything happened to Glenn or Shane, I'd never forgive myself.

After a very tense five minutes it seemed to be for the most part, over. I rolled out from under the car I was under only to be facing the last walker. I yelped as it caught sight of me and scrambled back, hitting a car behind me. I jumped up as it shuffled over to me, Shane had his gun drawn and was aiming it but I waved my hand at him. "No guns!" I hissed. "It'll draw 'em back." I drew my knife and let the walker get close before I stepped forward, grabbed the walker by the throat and slammed my knife down into its head. The walker groaned before it crumpled to the ground and I sighed before pulling out the knife and looking around. Shane and Glenn got out from under the truck and Glenn moved over to me.

"You alright?" he asked softly and I nodded.

"I'm fine. Why don't you finish gettin' what ya need." I nodded to the truck and he moved over to it and finished getting the radiator hose. All of a sudden we all heard a small sheik, followed by the unmistakable sounds of walkers groaning.

"Oh god." I said before I turned and ran towards where the sounds were coming from.

"Lori, there's two walkers after my baby!" Carol sobbed.

"Hunter, no!" Heather gasped as I approached in time to see Hunter go jumping over the guard rail, and down a hill. I ran towards the rail before Cal caught me.

"God damnit, let go!" I grunted as he held onto me.

"Rick's already gone." He told me. "Rick's gone, I need you here." I stopped fighting and looked over at him, before looking down the hill, clenching my teeth. He let go of me slowly and I looked up at him before I nodded. He moved over to Heather and I looked over at Daryl and T-Dog who were running over.

"Liz," Daryl called me and I walked over to him. T-Dog looked like he was in shock, his eyes were wide and his chin was trembling and he was covered in blood. "He cut his arm pretty bad, can ya help him?" he asked me lowly and I nodded.

"Yeah, I got some stuff." I said before I touched T-Dog's shoulder. "Come on." I told him.

"Hey," Daryl called and I looked back at him. "Ya lost this." He put my hat back on my head and I smiled lightly before I led T-Dog back to the RV. I had him sit down while I went and got my first aid kit. I cleaned T-Dog's arm off as much as I could without hurting him too bad, then I tried to wrap his arm as best as I could with the small amount of gauze I had.

Rick came back to the highway a little while later, sans the children. "They ain't back yet?" he asked and Carol let out a sob. "I- I don't understand, I told them the way to come, they knew…"

"What if something got them?" Heather asked.

"Why don't you show 'em." Cal spoke up.

A couple of us followed after Rick and he showed them where he had left the kids, in some sort of little enclosure in the river. "You sure it was this spot?" Daryl asked as he looked it over.

"I left 'em right here." Rick confirmed as he stepped forward. "I drew the walkers way off in that direction, up the creek." He pointed out the area.

"Without a paddle. Seems where we've landed." Daryl muttered.

"They were gone by the time I got back here." Rick told us. "I figured they just took off and went back to the group. I told them, go that way, and keep the sun on their left shoulders. I thought- At least Hunter would know-"

"Hey Short Round, why don't you step off to one side?" Daryl called to Glenn and I rolled my eyes.

"You're muckin' up the trail." I explained to Glenn as I pulled him to the side.

"Sorry." Glenn muttered to me.

"Assuming they know their left from their right."

"Shane they understood me just fine." Rick sighed.

"Yeah they're twelve Shane, they ain't four." I spoke up.

"All I'm sayin's the kids were tired an' scared. They had their scare with two walkers, you gotta wonder how much of what you said stuck."

"Seems to me like enough of it stuck." I spoke up and Shane looked over.

"We got clear prints right here." Daryl confirmed. "They did like you said, went back to the highway. Let's spread out, make our way back."

"We'll find them, they'll be curled up tuckered out in a bush somewhere." Shane said as he pulled rick from the creek.

"You see that?" Daryl asked and I nodded as I looked at the ground.

"Veered off." I muttered and he nodded.

"There were doin' just fine 'till right here." He knelt down as he gestured to the foot prints to Shane and Rick and Glenn. "All they had ta do was keep goin'."

"They didn't?" Glenn asked and I shook my head.

"They went off that way." I pointed in the direction they went and they looked over in the direction.

"Why would they do that?" Glenn asked softly.

"Maybe they saw something that spooked them, made them run off." Shane looked at Daryl. "A walker?"

"No." I shook my head.

"I don't see any other footprints." Daryl confirmed. "Just theirs."

"So what do we do?" Shane asked. "All of us press on?"

"No, better if you and Glenn go back to the highway. People are gonna start panicking." Rick said softly to Glenn and Shane. "Let them know we're on their trail, doing everything we can. Most of all, keep 'em calm."

"I'll keep 'em busy scavengin' cars." Shane nodded. "Think up a few other chores. I'll keep 'em occupied."

"Rick, I'm gonna head back too." I spoke up making Daryl and Rick look at me. "T-Dog hurt his arm pretty bad back there, I'm gonna go keep an eye on him, try to fight off an infection, you know?"

"You sure Lizzie? We can use all the tracking skills we can get."

"Yeah, well," I looked over at Daryl who was watching me closely. "Daryl's better'n' any bloodhound." I smiled and he snorted softly.

"Okay," Rick nodded. "Get back there quick, keep everyone calm, we'll be along before dark."

"Right." I nodded.

"Come on." Shane gestured to me and Glenn and we followed after him.

"What happened?" Heather grabbed at me when she saw us coming back.

"Where's my baby? Did you find her?" Carol craned her neck trying to see past us if Shane and Daryl were coming back with Sophia and Hunter.

"We found their trail." I answered.

"But not the kids?" Lori asked and I shook my head.

"Why aren't you all out there still?" Carol asked looking at us accusingly.

"Things need ta be done 'round here." Shane said as he looked around. "We should keep looking through those cars, see if there's anything we can use, move some of these cars, get this stuff out of the way." He was gesturing to the area around the RV.

"What he's sayin', not very well," I looked over at Shane pointedly. "Ain't everyone here is meant for trackin'." I explained as I looked back at Carol. "Rick thought I'd be best if Shane and Glenn came back ta the group."

"And you?" Heather asked. "Why aren't you out there?"

"Rick's got Daryl, ain't no more I can see that Daryl won't." I told her.

"So you're just giving up?" she demanded.

"Hey, she ain't giving up," Cal told Heather. "She's helpin' us make sure everything's ready to go when we get the kids back." They went back to searching through cars and Cal stepped closer to me. "That is what you're doing right?" he asked.

"Of course." I replied.

"Not just proving that you aren't reckless?" he asked and I looked up at him.

"Why do you care?"

"Oh no, I don't. I just happen to like Daryl more'n' I like that one guy, what was his name?"

"Which one?"

"The eighteen year old."

"Nate." I nodded and he sighed.

"That's the one." He agreed. "I like Daryl way more than I like Nate."

"Then why don't you chase 'em?" I asked before turning away. Shane was moving cars that Lori and Heather had already looked through, Andrea was shifting them to neutral and steering while Shane used Rick's car to push them out of the way. I went to the yellow mustang and moved that car, there was no way I was going to let Shane hit the car.

I walked further down the line of cars, towards where the pile up started and I started poking around through some of the cars there. Most of what I found was useless, but there were some things we could use, clothes, batteries, someone had a thick wad of cash that was useless. I carried some of the things back to camp in a laundry basket and plopped it down on the hood of a car. "I'm still freaked out from that herd." Andrea was saying. "Or whatever it was."

"Yeah," Glenn agreed. "What was that?"

"A heard," Shane nodded. "That sounds about right. We've seen it before, the night camp got attacked. Some wandering pack, only fewer." He wished and then nodded. "Okay people, we've still got a lot to do. Let's stay on it."

We all got back to work and I wandered to the other side of the freeway. "Carl, what're you doin'?" I asked when I saw the young boy stick his head up into a truck.

"Nothin'." He told me and I frowned but looked back at the suitcase I was rifling through. I heard a car door open and I ignored it, continued to look through the suitcase. I heard a sudden small shriek and then a thud and I dropped what I was holding, running over to Carl who was on the ground, with a leather satchel in his arms.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I hoisted him up.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." He nodded.

"You've got to be more careful, what if that had been a walker?" I asked.

"But, you were right there." He told me. "I know you wouldn't let anything happen to me." He looked up at me with his big trusting eyes and I smiled softly.

"Go show your momma what you found." I sighed as I stood back up.

By the time it was starting to get dark we had jugs of water, food, Gatorade, all kinds of supplies from cars we'd looted, people were organizing while Heather and Carol stood near the guard rail. I was on the roof of the RV, keeping an eye out for walkers with T-Dog.

"Earlier, when ya'll were talkin' about what you missed the most," he said suddenly and I looked over at him, before humming in response. "At first I thought I missed normalcy, you know?" he asked and I nodded. "But then I thought, maybe I missed Chinese food," he chuckled and I laughed lightly. "But now I'm thinkin' maybe I miss doctors." He sighed and I looked back at him.

"Hurtin'?" I asked and he nodded.

"I know you don't have nothin' for it." He told me and I nodded. "But it don't feel great." I could hear everyone arguing about the guns and Andrea complaining that she wanted her gun back, but I tuned them out as I looked at T-Dog's arm.

"We can try washing it again." I shrugged.

"Try it." He shrugged and I looked over the side of the RV.

"Glenn," I called and he looked up at me. "Throw me a bottle of water huh?" I asked and he tossed me up a bottle of water. I caught it and unscrewed the cap before moving over to T-Dog. He held out his arm and I poured a little water over his cut making him hiss in pain. "I'm sorry." I looked at him quickly.

"No, no," he shook his head. "It's okay. I know it needs to be cleaned out." He nodded. "Go ahead." I winced, but poured the entire bottle of water over the length of his cut.

"Oh god." I heard Glenn say suddenly. "They're back."

"Some look out." Cal called up to me and I looked over the top of the RV.

"Can't talk, me and T-Dog are playing doctor." I told him and he rolled his eyes.

"You didn't find her?" Carol asked as Daryl and Rick made their way over to the highway.

"Their trail went cold." Rick told Carol, and then Heather who was biting her nails. "We'll pick up again at first light."

"What good will that do them?" Heather asked hysterically. "They're just kids!"

"You can't leave our kids out there," Carol begged. "To spend the night, out in the woods."

"Out in the dark's no good," Daryl told Carol. "We'd just be trippin' over ourselves. More people'd get lost." Heather looked to Cal who nodded in agreement while I climbed off the top of the RV.

"But she's twelve, they're both twelve, they can't be out there on their own, you didn't find anything?"

"I know this is hard, but I'm asking you not to panic, we know they were out there."

"And we tracked 'em for awhile." Daryl offered.

"So what happened?" Heather asked. "Why'd you turn around and come back?"

"We have to make this an organized effort." Rick gestured to everyone. "Daryl and Cal know the woods better than everybody. I've asked Daryl to oversee this, Cal, I'm asking you too."

"Don't need ta ask." Cal muttered. "I'll do it."

"Is that blood?" Carol suddenly asked and I stepped forward, looking Daryl over. There was blood on his pants, his hands and around his knife.

"What'd you gut?" I asked and he looked over at me.

"We took down a walker." Rick admitted.

"Oh god," Heather turned around into Cal's chest and started to sob heavily into it.

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near the kids." Rick tried to calm Carol and Heather while Cal rubbed Heather's back.

"How can you know that?" Andrea spoke up and I shot her a look before looking Daryl over again.

"Oh." I realized and he nodded back.

"We cut the son of a bitch open," he told the two hysterical mothers. "Made sure." Carol let out a breath before sitting down on the guard rail. She looked up at Rick suddenly, a flash of hatred crossing her eyes.

"How could you just leave her- leave both of them out there to begin with?" she demanded. "How could you just leave them!?"

"Those two walkers were on us, I had to draw them off." Rick tried to explain to Carol. "It was our only chance."

"Sounds like he didn't have a choice Carol." Shane spoke up for Rick as always. I looked awkwardly at Heather who had turned back to Rick.

"My little boy is out there, so is her little girl." She nodded to Carol. "Is there a chance, they'll be okay?" she asked.

"Hunter's a smart kid." Cal nodded. "He'll watch out for Sophia Carol."

"My little girl got left in the woods." Carol whimpered and Rick stared at her for a moment before turning and walking away. I stepped closer to Daryl who looked surprised.

"We're gonna have ta stay here for the night." I said to him softly and he nodded. "Ya'll said there's walkers in the woods?" I asked.

"Mos' likely just stragglers from that big 'ol group." He told me.

"Ya gutted 'em."

"He ate a woodchuck."

"Sure?" I asked and he nodded.

"Found the skull." He told me. I let out a small breath and then looked to the side. "How's T-Dog?"

"Not good."

"Everyone else?"

"Not much better. Shane's plannin' on leavin', Andrea's flipping out 'cuz she ain't got a gun, Dale's playin Mr. Mom, Heather and Carol are useless, Cal's tryin' ta keep Heather together, an Glenn's just doin' what he can." I summed up.

"What about the kid?"

"Found some knives in a car, but he's not thinkin' before he does stuff." I shook my head.

"And Lori?"

"Heard her arguin' with Shane earlier." I muttered. "Ain't my business."

"Think we'd'a' found Merle by now if we'd'a' left when we said we would?" he asked and I shrugged.

"I dunno." I said softly. He sighed and I nodded towards Rick. "How's he handle guttin' the kill?"

"Nearly puked." He told me.

"I'm gonna throw my sleepin' bag in that mustang." I told Daryl. "If we're sleepin' here, I'm doin' it in a car I respect." He scoffed softly and I smiled before walking away. After a small dinner I sat up, resuming my shift taking watch. This time it was alone. After my shift was over and Glenn relieved me I went to the Mustang I had made home and crawled into my sleeping bag. I laid away for awhile, long enough to hear Daryl take over shift from Glenn, before I fell asleep. Tomorrow would be a whole other day looking for the kids, and I knew I'd need my strength.

Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter! Two kids missing instead of one, think that could increase their chances? Who knows!? Oh, I know!

Well, please don't forget to review, your reviews inspire me to update.