Hey everyone!

Soooo sorry it took me longer than usual to get this chapter up.

I would like to tell you all,if you haven't noticed, that I usually update in like,the middle of the night,because that's usually where I find the time to write. So,you'll only really find my brand new chapter up in the morning,unless your a night owl like me.

So,we last left off with Carl fighting with Beth about the baby's safety around him,which she's highly skeptical about. Later,Daryl and Carl team up to find Riley,who's whereabouts and condition is still unknown.

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Enjoy :)

(Disclaimer- I don't own TWD or its characters,just Riley)

Daryl's POV

Since the second he woke up the next morning,Daryl was on a mission.

He hurriedly ate breakfast and was up and out of the cafeteria before the people on watch had a chance to sit down. Carl followed his example,barely making small talk with the other group members as he finished his meal and hurrying after the redneck when he was finished.

No one paid them much attention,everyone still rattled to the core about yesterday's events. It was so odd to not see a pregnant Lori chatting with an forever helpful Carol,T-Dog practically swallowing his breakfast whole,and Riley joking with Carl. For them all to be gone,it pained Daryl. He thought he wasn't supposed to care for these people,but here he was off leading a search for them,even though they had the high possibility of being dead.

Your goin' soft bro,Merle' s scratchy voice wheezed in his head. These people are turning you into a lil pussy.

Daryl shook his head,trying to clear his brother's haunting voice from his head. No,he wasn't going soft. He was still a Dixon,and Dixon's never went soft for nothin'.

"Oscar!" Daryl yelled as they entered the cell block. The former prisoner's head poked out of a cell,sleep still evident in his eyes.

"What?" He says,yawning.

"Are you comin' or not?" When the prisoner's sleepy expression turned into one of confusion,the redneck huffed angrily. "Were sweepin' the rest of the prison. 'Said you'd help. You better of not been bluffin'."

The man took the hint,nodding and hurrying back into his cell to get ready. Daryl rolled his eyes,muttering under his breath a few choice words about the other man. This was exactly why he hated traveling in large groups. Everyone getting ready and fretting around and shit. It drove Daryl nuts.

When the three finally got into the still-hazardous halls of the prison,Daryl immediately scouted the floor for tracks of any sort. Unfortunately,the ground showed no clues in its dust-coated surface. They were just gonna have to do this the hard way.

It was silent between all of them at first,not that Daryl minded. The only sounds came from occasional walkers they came across and the deep echoes of the prison walls. Then Daryl couldn't stand Carl's blank expression any longer. He told him about his mother,hoping to comfort him. Sure,she was annoying,white-trash scum that preferred her cigarettes and cheap whiskey over her own children,but she was still his mom.

"It just didn't feel real,ya know?" He says,peeping into a door to check if it's walker-free before closing it again.

"Well,it was real," Carl replies,looking up at the man,his eyes full of grief. "It was real for me."

Daryl nods,sympathetic towards the boy. Shooting your mom in the head isn't an easy thing to get over.

As they continue their trek threw the dark hall's,Daryl seriously considers Carol and Riley's fate. He had very mixed feelings about both. Carol was always there,even when she lost her daughter. The world hasn't knocked down that woman yet,and Daryl seriously thought it never could. She was stronger than he first believed,but hell,they've all changed since the beginning of all this shit,himself included. He really hoped she was alive,hoping a lot more than he'd like to admit.

Riley,on the other hand,was sure something different. First off,she annoyed the crap out of him. She constantly called him hillbilly and Tickin' Dixon,the latter due to his outburst at Lori the other day. And no matter how much he glared or growled at her,she'd just laugh and tease him some more. At first,it really pissed him off. Then,somewhere between the watch duties and breakfast chats,it was almost entertaining. Humorous,like a private joke between them. Hell,she was a strange kid. All smiles and teasing one second,then the next,silent and lethal. Daryl had to give her credit though,she could wrangle her emotions in a heartbeat,something incredibly useful these days. She could fight too,Daryl hated to admit. Kids weren't supposed to know how to rip apart the undead. It was incredibly annoying to have her say 'I got it' when he tried to take the walkers out on the fence.

Kids shouldn't take that burden. And they especially shouldn't be used to it.

Daryl wondered where Riley came from,and not that that stupid ass Oklahoma or Texas or wherever the hell she said she was from that first day at the watch duty. No,where she was in the past year,surviving this hell. She had a group,that much he knew. Now they were gone,dead,missing,Daryl had no clue. Was her family apart of this group? Was that why she never wanted to talk about it? Or was it something much different,people that she was scared to talk about...?

No,Daryl shook the thought away. Riley didn't seem like the kind of person to fall into those kind of people. And if she did,she was too strong to stay for long. Riley was a fighter,and Daryl knew fighters like her had something behind the fight. And he knew that because he was the same way.

"Awww yeah," Oscar pulled Daryl out of his contemplating,stepping into an abandoned cell. The prisoner reached down a pulled out a pair of worn,red house slippers.

"Slippers?" Daryl scoffed. "What the hell ya need slippers for?"

The other man looked at him like it was obvious. "Ya know,for relaxin' at the end of the day and shit."

Daryl was about to point out there was no use to relaxation nowadays when a hungry growl from behind made them all spin around and shoot without a moment's hesitation. The walker fell to the floor,and Daryl let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He bent down on one knee to examine it when his eyes landed on something that he least expected.

"What is it,Daryl?" Carl asked,seeing the man's surprise.

Daryl doesn't answer. Instead,he pulls the knife the that was sprouting from the walkers face.

"That's Carol' s knife..." He says. Daryl looks up at the other's,and Carl looks at him in shock,while Oscar in confusion.

Daryl now knows two things he didn't know before. First,Carol was likely,if not absolutely,alive. And second,she wasn't with Riley. Riley would've killed that walker weak or not

The first made him happy,something he finds strange. The second makes his heart drop. If Riley's not with Carol,that leaves the woman even more vulnerable then before,her gun probably useless and her knife in his hand. That also meant there was even a greater possibility that Riley was dead.

No,he thought as he stood and lead the other two threw the rest of the prison. She was alive. And he sure as hell was gonna find her.

TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD

Daryl sat in the dark and dingy hallway,too deep in thought to care about the racket he was making as he scraped his knife over the concrete.

He was angry. He was angry at the walkers,Andrew,Rick,the whole world. But he was mostly angry at himself. He should of been with Carol and Riley when the alarms went off. They both would of been with him right now,probably T-Dog too. But he wasn't,and now we're both missing and T-Dog was dead.

He stabs the concrete,ignoring the struggle behind the door across from him, his rage building.

It was all his fault.

Clang!

How could he be so fucking stupid?

Clang!

They were all dead because of him.

Clang!

All. His. Fault.

CLANG!

After that extra loud and angry stab,the door across from him pushed open a little more frantically. Barley,but just enough to catch his attention. He jumped up,rage still clouding his mind. Angrily,he grabbed the Dead walker in front of the door and threw it aside,his knife in his mouth. He then took his blade from his teeth and held it up,ready to strike as he yanked the door open. It hit the wall with a deafening clang, and Daryl made a move to stab whatever was inside when he froze.

Carol.

She was filthy,weak,and probably starving,but when she looked up at him with her big blue eyes,all Daryl saw was hope.

He grabbed her chin,partly to check for any bite or scratch wounds,and another part being to make sure she was real,not some ghost his mind cruelly created in a moment of weakness.

No,she was real. Without hesitation,he scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to the cell block,the adrenaline in his veins strong enough to cover up his fear of physical contact.

Carol dozed off,but as soon as she woke up,he had questions to ask her,starting with Riley.

Unknown POV

I don't wanna die.

But it seems so much easier...

No,what would Michael think?

Be strong for him,he needs you.

Someday,I'm going to find you,and I'll never lose you again.

I promise you that with my life.

I promise.