Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead! I only own Samantha.

This chapter is based off of season two, episode eight, "Nebraska." Enjoy!

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Daryl helped pulled the sobbing mother off of the ground, chanting in her ear. "Don't look. Don't look." The Greene's were distraught as well, and when Beth went to look at the corpses, one jumped up and grabbed ahold of her.

She screamed, and we all jumped into action. Andrea was the one who stopped the walker. I sighed as I stood there, looking at the dead, rotting corpses. "We've been combing through these woods, and she was in there all along?" Shane demanded, chasing after the Greene family.

"Leave us alone!" Maggie demanded, but Shane was a persistent bastard. He continued to chase after them as I glared from afar. Maggie caught my eye, and I felt a pang of guilt in my chest, but I quickly brushed that feeling aside.

I didn't care if it ruined my friendship with her. Keeping those walkers in the barn was a stupid thing of them to do, and the fact that Sophia was in there made it even worse. I didn't need friends like that. Friends that protected those .. monsters. I didn't care if they were family members or not. They were walkers, and they needed to be put down.

I had to do it to my family.

Andrea covered up Sophia's body with a blanket, and Daryl entered the RV to talk to the mother. I patiently waited outside, not wanting to intrude. Sophia meant a lot to all of us, but Daryl was so determined to find the poor girl.

A service was planned for Sophia later that day. We were to honor the Greene family members as well, but I wasn't totally sure if they would even come for that.

Everyone was on edge that day, mostly Rick and Shane. They seemed ready to snap on anyone, and I heard them yelling quite a few times as the day when on. Digging the graves was a difficult task, and I could feel my shirt being soaked through with sweat.

I followed Lori into the RV. "They're ready." I said.

"Come on." Lori urged, her voice quiet.

"Why?" Carol choked out.

"Because that's yer lil girl." Daryl said. I placed my hand on his tanned arm.

"That's not my little girl. That's some other … thing. My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I thought .. she didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago."

My heart throbbed. Lori and I left the RV, Daryl following in tow. I paid my respects for all the deceased, before heading into the house. My head was pounding, and I just needed a moment of silence to gather my thoughts.

I sat on the couch in the living room, holding my head in my hands. I could feel the pain slowly ebbing away, but I jumped as a loud noise resounded through the house. I jumped up and quickly followed the footsteps of Maggie and Glenn as they ran up the stairs.

"I think she's in shock." I heard them say. Beth laid on the bed, stoic and still. Maggie ran off to tell her father, but she said he was gone.

"I'll stay with Beth." I volunteered, and she gave me a weak smile. I nodded in response to her smile, still feeling bitter and angry.

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Daryl came inside the house looking for me. "Sam, what are yah doin?" I smiled, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I must have dozed off while I was watching Beth.

"I was just sittin' here with Beth. They said she's in shock. Just waiting for her to wake up or snap out of it." He nodded.

"Lori came to me. Askin' me to go get Rick and Hershel." I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. I know he wouldn't have been kind to Lori. "I told her I had better things to do. She called me selfish."

I sighed, wrapping my arms around him. He didn't hug back right away, but he awkwardly placed his hands on my back. "Daryl, you have to be one of the most selfless people I know. You went out there and risked your life for Sophia. You got shot by Andrea and impaled by your own arrow." He didn't say anything, but his grip on my shirt tightened.

"If you don't want to go get Rick, it's fine. He is a grown ass man and he is not your responsibility." I told him sternly, looking up into his eyes. His blue eyes stared into what felt like my soul, and I felt my heart begin to pound in my chest.

I swallowed loudly, and his eyes flickered down to my lips. "Daryl." I muttered, and that seemed to break him out of his trance.

"Sam, I gotta go." He said, letting go of me and backing out the door quickly. I groaned, flopping back down into the chair I had been sitting in. He came in here and got me all riled up and nervous.

I hoped that Rick and Hershel made it back unscathed. I couldn't deal with anymore losses today.

Maggie walked into the room quietly and slowly, not making eye contact with me. I stood up and proceeded to walk out of the room, but she stopped me. "Samantha, don't be mad at me." She begged. "I didn't know that Sophia was in the barn."

"But there were still a shit ton of walkers in there. That's still an issue. You kept that from me!" I exclaimed, and she frowned.

"They weren't hurting anyone!" She defended, and I scoffed.

"But they could have. Imagine if they would've got out. They could've got anyone of us." I growled, my anger building.

"Sam .. they were my family." She said, her voice quiet.

"Mags, I had to kill my own. That's something that you all have to be responsible for, but we had to take it into our own hands." She frowned.

"You had to kill your own family?" She asked.

"Mom was a doctor. She went to work one day, and came home with a bite on her arm. We didn't think anything of it at first, she said it was just a crazed patient. She got tested for any diseases and she got a tetanus shot, and she planned on going back the next morning to get her results.

When I woke up the next morning, the house was really quiet. It was normally quiet in the mornings, but this was eerie. I opened my bedroom and went downstairs, expecting to see my mom, or my dad, or my brother. His name was Steven. He was fourteen. I didn't see anyone, so I went back upstairs when I heard the sound. It sounded like someone was eating something, but it was a gross, wet sound. Mom was in Steven's room, his body still lying on his bed.

She had pulled most of his small intestine out, and it was coiled on the ground. She was munching and pulling the remaining flesh off, shoving it into her mouth. There was .. so much blood. She must have heard me, because she turned around. Her eyes were wide and wild, and her jaws were still chewing up chunks of my brother. I slammed the door, but I heard her still clawing. I went downstairs and got a knife, before I went upstairs and took care of it.

Dad was in their bedroom, and I took care of him and Steven both. I had a feeling bad things would happen if I didn't." Maggie was listening to the story with teary eyes, and when I finished she wrapped her arms around me.

"I haven't told anyone about that other than Merle and Daryl." I admitted, wiping the tears off of my cheeks. She sobbed into my shoulder for a few minutes, and I stood there, letting my own tears continue to fall.

"Please, don't hate me." She cried, and I shook my head.

"Mags, I could never hate you." I said, holding her body tightly. She was a comfort. I relished in the fact that she was feeling my pain, so I could have someone understand how I felt. This new life was hard, and I wasn't sure how we would make it through it, but I was just happy we could make it through together.