Marie was wide awake at what she guessed to be around three or four in the morning. She couldn't sleep. She swore up and down she could hear the walkers moaning outside. They were so close and they made their little piece of safety feel less safe. She couldn't help herself, she shook Daryl's shoulder slightly. He sat up quickly. "Hm? Somethin' wrong?" he asked.

"Let's go. Let's just get out of here…I can't stand it…It's not safe anymore…Daryl…" she pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them, as she began to cry. He sat up and rubbed his hand across her back soothingly.

"Babe, is that what ya want? If ya wanna leave, we'll go. As far 'way as ya like…But ya gotta be sure that's what ya want."

"I'm not Daryl. I just know that I hate living in fear of being eaten…I just want to raise our children and be happy and be normal…"

"Babe, I hate ta break it to ya…but I dunno if that's gonna happen."

"I know, Daryl. I'm just scared…scared that I'm gonna lose you…Gavin…Sophia…Airy…Parker…I can't go through that…"

He knew how she felt. If he were to lose any one of them…he wasn't sure what he'd do. "I won't let that happen," he promised.

"You know you can't promise me that," she said. "So don't…I know you can try. But you can't promise it."

"Babe, what's goin' on? Why are ya bein' like this all of a sudden? Yesterday ya didn't wanna go, an' now ya do?"

"The people that we thought that we could protect and vice versa are bringing those things here…they are doing the exact opposite of protecting us! I don't want part of our family to get killed because of them."

"A'right, we'll go. But I ain't sneakin' out of here. We'll talk to Rick an' Glenn in the mornin'. Get some supplies an' pack up."

"What if others want to come with us…what then?"

"Depends on who they are."

"If we know we can trust 'em they go, the rest stay."

"We should establish who those people are right now…"

"Babe, I love ya, but it's the middle of the night. I jus' wanna go to sleep."

"You're right…I'm sorry." She blushed. "I'm going to go for a walk or something. The babies shouldn't need anything for another hour and a half. I'll be back before then." He nodded, not fully hearing her. She pulled her boots on and walked out of the cell. She knew that Rick was on watch and she could at least talk to him. She walked out to one of their many look outpoints and saw her brother with his back to her. He turned quickly upon hearing the door close. Once he realized it was only his sister he turned back.

"They just keep comin'," Rick commented. "If we don't watch it they're gonna tear down the fences."

"That's what I'm worried about," Marie admitted. "I mean…what will we do if that happens?" She didn't want to lead on that she and Daryl were seriously considering leaving. She knew that it would take time and she'd rather ease him into the idea. "If we try to pack up and leave…there's just too damn many of us."

"We'll have a council meeting in the morning…bring it to a vote of what to do. Whether we try to take them out slow and conserve ammo or if we do it real quickly." She nodded.

"Do you have any leads of who could be doing this?" she asked, hopeful.

"Not a one…Any ideas from you?"

"No. I just think that it's someone inside the prison…There's no way that it's the Governor or anybody outside the prison." She said. "Well it wouldn't be him anyway…the army people took him…" she thought outside.

"What army people? What are you talkin' 'bout?"

"Back when me and Daryl were captured…that place was run by the Governor…some army men came in and took him…" Rick made an "Oh" face. "We can discuss that tomorrow too."

"Yeah. Maybe someone else will have ideas. Tyreese was fresh out…You don't think it was that Jenna girl, do you?"

"No. She wouldn't endanger Amanda like that. She may be rather bitchy but she can't be that stupid…not if she's survived this long."

"Good point…I just don't know Marie. I'm not gonna lie. This is some scary shit. I always worry about what would happen to Carl and Judith if I…" he trailed off.

"If on the off chance something actually killed you-which seems hard to imagine…You know I'm here. I'll do all I can…and then there's Elizabeth...you know she'd be there too. She's helped a lot with Judith, hasn't she?" Marie kind of felt bad that she was kind of out of touch with the rest of the group anymore. While she was pregnant she'd spent a lot of time with Maggie, Elizabeth, Beth, and even Michonne at times. Gavin always loved going out and seeing her horse. But since she'd had the twins she and Daryl were a bit preoccupied.

"She has," Rick agreed.

"So, I have to ask…are you two-? Or are you just friends…Or?"

"Y'know I'm not sure," he laughed. "We aren't anything official…We're close…But it's not like we've said the 'L' word."

"Hm," she found herself fiddling with her spoon ring.

"So what brings you out here?" he asked. That should've been at the beginning of the conversation but they got wrapped up in other things.

"I can't sleep. I've been thinking too much. I have the same worries you do. Being a parent…it's hard. You know the worries of having a young baby in the apocalypse."

"And you know that if it comes down to you or them, you'll save them without a moment's thought. And you can't bear the thought of losing one of your kids?"

"Yes. These walkers this close, it's scaring the hell out of me. I can't live like this…I miss when I could walk outside without fearing being a meal…Y'know what I mean?"

"I do. But that's gonna be hard to do in these times. We all wish that. Hell, I wish all of this would've never happened and you would've come back to King County and…"

"Rick, I know what you're going to say, so don't even say it. There are aspects of this that I am glad happened. I'm glad that I met Daryl and I'm glad that I had my twins-even though it scares the hell out of me that something could happen to them or Gavin, or even Sophia, who is pretty much my adoptive daughter now…And think about it, we wouldn't have Judith…"

"She could've still existed…" he said.

"Rick don't take this the wrong way, but I always thought that you and Lori would get a divorce. You're the type of guy that wants to be married and have a family, she was not. She wasn't ready for married life, and quite honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if she cheated on you before."

"Thanks for that," he scoffed. "You've thought this the whole time and you didn't even think to tell me? Not once? God Marie, what else are you hiding from me? I swear before you had to be in a group with me you just didn't tell me anything! Ever! You had a son, with my best friend, didn't tell me, you knew my marriage was going to flop, and you don't tell me! For I all I know you've got another kid somewhere!" He sounded hurt by the fact that he knew nothing of his sister's feelings.

"Well it's not like you would've listened to me! You never listened about anything before! I told you how I felt about Lori the day I met her. And what do you do? Go out with her anyway! You're a grown ass man; don't act like you need your little sister to make your decisions for you! We lead our own lives!" With that she left. She couldn't stand to stand there and talk to him any longer. If he was going to make it as if he shitty marriage was her fault her problem in anyway, he could think that by himself.

"So we're all here to discuss what the best way is to take out the walkers outside," Marie said to the council. "We can do this one of two ways. We can either use guns to shoot them all, getting it over quickly, or we can go at this slowly, hand-to-hand through the fence."

"We shoot 'em," Daryl said.

"We'd be usin' a lot of ammo," Maggie pointed out.

"But the longer they're there the more of them that'll come," Tyreese said, siding with Daryl.

"Plus it would give some of the newbies a chance to practice," Marie added. She wanted to get this over with so that she and Daryl could decide what they wanted to do.

"What do we do with that many bodies?" Glenn asked, looking from person to person. They had taken out large groups before…but at this magnitude there was no telling how long it would take to get rid of them all.

"Hear me out," Marie started. She had a sudden idea. "The smell will be awful-but not really worse than now…But, what if we put them along the outside of the fences. That way, it'll deter the rest of the walkers…"

"That's fuckin' perfect!" Daryl exclaimed, looking over at her happily.

"I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but won't other people realize that people are here?" Rick asked. He knew that he and Marie needed to focus on this rather than their argument. "Wasn't that the point of keeping walkers here period?"

"That's why we have 'round the clock watches right?" she said.

"That's another reason to conserve ammo," Sasha pointed out. "If we draw people…bad people in…we'll need the ammo."

"She's got a point," Milton agreed. "But I would say that your idea, Marie, is a pretty good one. They seem to not like the scent of their own kind."

"So what's everyone's vote?" The way it worked was nine people would vote. Each Rick sat out the voting, he was there more as a mediator. "For quick with guns say 'Aye'."

"Aye," Marie, Daryl, Tyreese, and Michonne said.

"All opposed?"

"Nay," Milton, Elizabeth, Maggie, Glenn, and Sasha said.

"Okay, the nay's have it," Rick said. "We will do this slowly. But we need to be smart about it…"

"Next order of business…" Marie said. "Who the hell is feeding these things?" She knew that she couldn't show her distain for not winning the vote. She understood the other side, but she still felt that they needed to take care of it quickly. Others could go on a run and get more ammo.

Everybody just looked at one another. These were the only people other than Judd, Beth, Carl, Sophia, and her kids that Marie trusted. She knew that none of them would do something like this.

"We gotta think here…" Tyreese said. "Anybody seen any suspicious behavior?"

"What about that blonde girl that came back on the last run that Daryl and Glenn made?" Maggie offered.

"Jenna didn't do it," Marie said. She knew that. But she also understood why everyone suspected it.

"I think we better get a move on killing these walkers," Michonne said.

"Everybody just keep your eyes open for anything…and we'll have another meeting in the morning," Rick said. "Daryl, Marie, why don't you two get started outside…" he offered. "I know your time is limited before you have to feed the twins," he told Marie.

The two stood silently, gathered their weapons and went out to the fences. "Look at this! They're already starting to bend!" she exclaimed, stabbing a walker in the eye.

"Sometimes I hate this council," Daryl mumbled.

"Tell me about it…Leaving is our best chance right now. If we keep letting them make all of the decisions they're gonna get us killed…I wish you and Glenn actually got to lead…rather then we all voting."

He nodded and continued with his task. As the two were killing walkers, there was a loud popping sound that sounded a lot like a gunshot. Marie felt a stabbing feeling on the left side of her ribs. When she went to touch it, it only got worse. Before she knew what was happening everything went dark.

AN: I meant for this to be longer, but we literally have to leave in six minutes so that I can get to practice on time (weather promoting I have it. I didn't yesterday)…and I figured I could wrap it up real quick.