A/N: Hey, guys! One more time so it's in all of my stories! Little PSA: You are more than welcome to create fan art for this fic, provided you credit Livy to me and please PM a link of your work! :)

Chapter Ten

Surprisingly, even with all the Woodbury children, Judith was still the only baby at the prison. That made it easier for us on runs and stuff, only having to find formula or diapers for one baby. Usually Michonne made those runs herself on her horse; she didn't much like being inside the fence anyway.

But one day the formula fell from Michonne's bag and became an island among the walkers. We had been having more of them lately, and Tyrese, one of the Woodbury residences, had found some animals towards the back of one of the fences. Someone had been feeding walkers.

"One of the kids, I'd bet," he had said, showing the bones to Daryl. "Some of them don't really understand that the walkers are bad." What he meant was some of the Woodbury kids. Carl knew damn well what the walkers were, but those kids that hadn't been exposed to them didn't entirely understand.

I knew that Carol was secretly teaching the kids how to kill walkers while giving them other lessons in the library of the prison. Rick didn't like it, he didn't want it to happen. I had walked in once while Carol was showing the kids how to hold a knife to put your weight behind it.

"Don't tell Rick," she had said, her clear eyes hard and serious. I had squeezed her arm and nodded.

"I won't. I know it's important."

Either way, Tyrese was probably right about whoever was feeding them. Whoever was doing it had attracted more of them, so many that runs were becoming hard if not dangerous.

"We have to get it. Judith is almost out," Rick was telling Michonne. The horse's hoof beats had attracted a lot of walkers to the front. Taking a horse or a car to get it would be more trouble than it was worth.

"And how are we supposed to do that right now? We're going to have to wait." Michonne told Rick. I was walking by with a load of laundry for Beth when I overheard them talking. I stopped and looked out the fences, eyeing the distance.

"I could make that on foot," I tell Rick. "If y'all can get enough away from the gates, I could do it. That's sprinting distance."

Michonne didn't seem to like the idea, but Rick was nodding.

"You're sure you can make it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, just make sure someone is watching from a tower. There's no way I'll be able to make it sprinting and cover myself at the same time. Someone will have to be shooting them down if they get too close if you want me out and back fast enough."

Rick gave me another nod and then walked over to Glenn's tower, calling up to him.

"Hey, Glenn. Think you can cover Livy without shootin' her?" I heard Glenn laugh and call Rick a dick before agreeing.

"Carl, Beth. Come here. I have a job for you two." Rick gave each of them a metal rod and instructions to go to opposite sides of the fences and try to draw walkers away from the front.

"Me and Michonne will open the outer gate. You run and don't worry about stopping, just get the formula and come back. Glenn's covering you from above, and we'll do the same on the ground."

"Yeah," I said, stretching my legs a little bit. "Got it."

As soon as they pulled the gates apart, I blew through, trying to hit the stride rhythm I used in competitions. The walkers weren't too thick anymore, but I was definitely catching their attention. I heard a bullet whizz by before one of them fell to my left.

"Shit," I said. I was almost on top of one that was missing its legs for some reason. It was still reaching out for me, its jaw searching for skin. I did the first think I could think of and cleared it like it was a hurdle.

I only stopped for a second, just long enough to pick up the formula, but that was nearly a second too long. I shoulder checked one away from me and ignored the pain it caused because it was a lot bigger than me. It fell to Glenn's bullet and I was off again.

Hurdle over the one on the ground again. Duck right to avoid one a little too close. Sprint hard, and I was in the gates again.

"Shit," I said again, heart pounding. I gave Rick the can of formula and raised my hands above my head, trying to catch my breath.

"That was a lot farther than it looked. I haven't ran like that since… before."

"We're definitely taking you on more runs," Glenn called down from the tower. "Man, we really could have used you in Atlanta!"

Carol gave me a cup of water once we were back in the prison yard. "Good job."

"It was nothing," I said. Well, it shouldn't have been. When I was in season and properly trained, that would have been absolutely nothing. You would think that in a world where running for your life was essential, I would be faster than I was before, not slower.

There was one day, as a sort of moral thing and an opportunity to really get to know the people of Woodbury, that Hershel suggested we have a celebration of sorts.

So we all made different foods and mixed under the summer sun. I could tell Daryl hated it. He hung around a fire with me, while I mixed and cooked tortillas for everyone who had never had them. Tortillas are really simple to make and didn't use much resources, so they were quickly becoming a staple in our diets.

"Why don't you use a spatula?" Daryl said, taking a bite of a cooled down one while I quickly flipped a tortilla in the pan and then shook the heat from my fingertips.

"Because that is not how you flip tortillas, Daryl Dixon. You gotta make them the authentic way."

"In the shape of Texas?" He asked, holding up what he hadn't yet eaten.

"Rolling them out is harder than it looks. Why don't you give it a try if you're going to stand there and talk crap?"

Daryl smirked and shook his head. "I think I'll pass there."

Beth was sitting in the grass, surrounded by little girls while she showed them how to clap her hands and pat their laps to make a beat and she sang to them. Her sweet voice filled the prison yard and drowned out the ugly sounds of walkers.

"Do you trust these people?" Daryl asked suddenly.

"Should we not?" I asked, lowering my voice. "The Governor abandoned them, we didn't, and their leader tried to kill us. Do you really think they'd turn on us?"

Daryl was always on edge lately. He thought he had a trail on the Governor, and I knew he was itching to be out there pursuing it, not inside the fences.

I thought Daryl was going to say something else. He opened his mouth, but Patrick and some of the other boys had come over and interrupted.

"Mr. Dixon, will you show us the crossbow trick again?" Daryl had let Patrick throw sticks and stray coins in the air earlier for Daryl to shoot down.

"Yeah, Mr. Dixon," I said, snickering. Daryl lightly pushed me on his way by and walked into an open spot away from Beth and the girls.

Life was really looking up at the prison. I felt more or less safe for the first time in a long time, and that was a damn good feeling when it had been missing for so long.

Under the cover of night when we were on watch, Daryl let me hold his hand with absolutely no complaints. Once, after a nightmare, he didn't even grumble when I woke him up and asked him to sit up and talk to me for a little bit.

I sat in his bed with him and he let me underneath his blanket and let me lay my head on his shoulder. But I knew he was tired even if he was humoring me, and it wasn't long before I felt his head fall on top of mine and his breaths turned to snores. So I untangled myself from Daryl and his blanket and laid him back down, pulling his blanket around him and kissing his cheek.

I knew Beth had started keeping track of how many days we were going without something bad happening. Things had been so rough right after the Governor's attack, but according to Beth's count we were about fifteen days into a good streak.

I hoped it would last forever, even though I knew it would be impossible.