Chapter 19

Daryl had let go of Carol's shoulders as they'd stepped onto the road, but still walked by her side. Constantly looking at her because he couldn't believe she was actually there. After what had happened with Karen and David, and Rick sending her away, he'd thought he'd never see her again. After the prison fell, he was certain of it. And earlier that day, when he watched others get their throat slashed over that through, he'd had a thought for her, wondering if she was still alive and suddenly, she was there. By now, he was certain she truly did have nine lives.

They reached that small rickety house as Tyreese walked out, baby Judith in arms and it was as if for once, things were turning in their favor. He smiled as he watched his friends reunite; they'd lost so much but now they were getting some of theirs back and it seemed almost miraculous. He reached for Carol again, his hand on her shoulder, testing once again if all this was real or just some fever dream.

"Hey, there's someone I'd like you to meet," he told her, before looking over his shoulder and scanning the group, expecting to find a face that wasn't there. Quickly his hand fell from his friend's shoulder as he spun around to make sure she wasn't simply out of view. She wasn't.

"Where's Shelley?" He asked, and when he didn't get an answer fast enough, he shouted: "Has anybody seen Shelley?"

"She seemed conflicted when we chose to not to return to Terminus." Eugene's voice was heard as the mulleted scientist stepped out of Abraham's shadow. "I don't claim to understand why she would want to return to that god-forsaken place, but she remained unmoving when we began to march onward."

Why the hell would she want to go back- His mind cut that thought short, giving him the answer before he'd even finish formulating the question. One image, just a glimpse of how broken she'd looked when Gareth had told her to leave her backpack behind, it was all it took to tell him why she would consider risking her life by heading back into Terminus.

"She's gonna try to go back for her stuff," he said, before cursing loudly. He looked right at Rick. "I ain't leaving her behind. It'll take me about twenty minutes to get back there if I run and..." As he spoke, he picked up his crossbow, and securing it on his back. "If I'm not back in an hour..."

"We'll wait for you."

He wanted to tell Rick he was grateful for that, he really didn't want to lose all of them again after having only just found them, but he wasn't ready to lose someone else either. He simply nodded at his friend before taking off through the woods, quickly finding their tracks and following them back toward the point where they'd last seen her.

Michelle was almost at the fence when he finally found her. He tried to speak but his lungs were on fire from the running. After taking a deep breath, he managed to utter: "You can't go back there. It's already gone."

She turned to face him and he wasn't ready for the sight of her tears, it seemed she'd been crying for a while, her eyes red behind her glasses. She hurriedly took them off to try and wipe the streams coming down her face but it was too late for that.

"What if I forget what she looked like?" She asked him, confirming his assumption as to why she'd wanted to back. "That picture's all I have left of her... The walking stick is all I have left of my dad... If I don't go back... It's all I have left in the world."

"No, it's not. All you've got left in the world is waiting for you about forty minutes from here, all fourteen of them," he snapped at her. He knew what she was going through was hard for her, but those things, no matter how important were not worth throwing her life away for. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself down, after all, screaming at her wasn't going to help. He pointed at the smoke coming from Terminus. "Those things, they're gone. But you, you're still here."

She looked like she was about to argue for a moment there, looking painfully at the remains of the train station just a few hundred yards away. He was already planning what to say next, reminding her about Beth and how she couldn't help him find her if she killed herself for a backpack but luckily, he didn't have to resort to that. She turned away from the burning building and began walking away from it and he fell into step a second later.

They walked in silence for part of the way, their footsteps the only thing breaking quietness of the forest. She'd stopped crying and wiped her glasses on the bottom of her t-shirt, trying to make herself appear normal again. He wondered if he should say something, try to make her feel better somehow but that was not his area of expertise in any way and he feared he might simply make the situation worst.

"Daryl?" She finally said, quietly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. You ain't got nothing to be sorry about." He met her eyes as they both stopped walking, standing side by side. "When I left the prison with Beth, we just ran. But, when we finally stopped, the first thing I thought was that I had go back and get Merle's bike. That was all I had left of him too."

That made her smile, and even though he'd never planned to share this with anyone, it was worth it if it made his friend feel even a tad better about the loss of her souvenirs. They carried onward again, as she counted something on her fingers.

"Fourteen? I count thirteen in the group, and that's including you."

"Turns out Carol's been traveling with Tyreese, Sasha's bother," he explained. "He stayed behind with Little Ass-Kicker... I mean, Judith. Rick's baby girl. So, fourteen. Fifteen with me."

"So, that woman..." She paused, as they heard the snarling of a walker which had probably gotten lost following the herd to Terminus. He was getting his crossbow ready when she just stepped toward the corpse, punching it in the head with the large nail that was still attached to her right hand. She continued speaking as she headed back toward him. "Did she just stumble upon us or..?"

"That explosion that took out the fence, that was her."

"On her own?" As he nodded, she let out a whistle of admiration. "Wow. That's... Wow."

"I was about to introduce the two of you when I saw you were gone."

She was quiet for a long moment, making him wonder if he should apologize for taking that long to notice her absence. He was just so used to her being right there by now that he'd simply assumed her presence.

"Thanks, by the way, for coming back for me. Let's get back to our group, huh?"

She walked ahead of him, even though she didn't know where she was going, looking back over her shoulder at him to confirm they were headed the right way while also glancing up at the smoke behind them. He knew she couldn't be at peace with her decision yet, but she was trying at least. Hopefully this awful world would reward her for that...