I'm happy to see that some of you are sticking around to see where this goes. Angst isn't something I'm really familiar with so thank you for the reviews and thank you for reading!

Chapter Twenty One

It was nearly sundown when it happened. They had just settled down with their meager meal. As usual, all was quiet. These men didn't waste time with words and sometimes Carol appreciated that but it wasn't the comfortable silence that she had shared plenty of times with her old group. This silence was heavy, oppressive. These men were far different from any other group she had encountered. These men were broken. Sometimes she felt as though they were already dead. There was no life left behind their eyes and their presence scared her a littke. Not because they were a threat but because she didn't want to turn into them. She didn't want Lydon to turn into them either.

She kept her eye on Lydon who was sitting across the fire from her. He stared at the flames, his expression far away. If she had an actual destination then maybe she would ask him if he would like to come with her. But she didn't have an actual destination. She was heading east from here and that was all she was sure of. It was time to head to the coast.

She hadn't heard them coming. She didn't know what it was, really. It was more a feeling than anything else. She stood up, turning sharply. Less then thirty yards away, breaking through the trees, were walkers. A lot of them.

She nearly leaped over the fire, grabbing Lydon by the jacked and yanking him to his feet. The others realized what was going on and without hesitation, they scattered. She was out of ammo and had been for a long time now but she had her knife in her hand. This was the kind of situation that you couldn't fight. Your only option was flight, and flee they did, crashing through the trees and ripping through the underbrush as they ran. She didn't see where the other men had headed. They were split up now but she kept her grip on the boys jacket, refusing to let go. This was the very reason she had needed to leave him. She didn't truly care about these men. The loss of them wouldn't have hurt her. She would have felt saddened but she wouldn't have felt like her heart had been mauled. But the boy was different. She cared, and she would do everything in her power to keep him alive.

"There's nowhere to go," he said as they crashed through the quickly darkening woods.

A scream in the distance had the boy's steps faltering as he looked back. She tightened her hold on him. "Keep going," she panted.

He nodded stiffly and then yanked his jacket out of her grip, grabbing her hand and then speeding up. His legs were longer and she realized, to her horror, that she was actually slowing him down. They didn't look back. They ran until they reached the lake and then they still ran. Carol felt as though her lungs would burst and her legs felt like she were running through mud.

"Lydon, you have to keep running," she could barely get the words out.

He shook his head, his face grim. "We both have to keep running."

Pulling her hand out of his she came to a stop, bracing herself with her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. She felt like screaming at him to keep going but if they had managed to get away from the walkers that would just lead them right to the two of them. "Go," she hissed.

He glanced around frantically and then shook his head. "No. I'm not leaving you here."

This was what she didn't want. She didn't need someone to depend on her and she didn't need someone to depend on. She wasn't his mother. He was just some boy that had taken to her because he had lost everything else. She didn't want that. She couldn't deal with it.

"Look," he whispered harshly, "There's a road up ahead, okay. Surely there's a car we can use. When you left tomorrow the rest of us were going to check it out. We can find a car and get the hell out of here."

She met his eyes and then looked back over her shoulder. She didn't see any walkers following and she knew why. That scream from earlier meant someone hadn't been fast enough. They were feeding now but it wouldn't take them long to move on. They were insatiable, and they were numerous. One fallen man wouldn't hold them off. He was pleading with her with his eyes and she found herself unable to send him on his way alone. Mostly because she knew he wouldn't go. He'd stay there and die with her before facing the world alone. So they took off again, every muscle in her body screaming for her to give up.

~H~

It was almost dark when he stepped out of the trees. They were staying in a motel right off the beach. It wasn't one of those hotels that you would pay an arm and a leg for in the world either. It was more like a place him and Merle would have holed up in. Merle used to call them No Tell Motels. The good thing about it was the fact that it was U shaped and there were no windows other than the ones facing the parking lot. There were fifteen rooms on either side with an office area in the middle. Above the office area was a small apartment meant for management to live. That's where Rick stayed with the kids. It was a small place with one bedroom but it gave Rick a chance to give Carl his own space while still keeping close as him and Judith occupied the living area. Daryl took the room closest to the wall that they had constructed. The wall was sturdy and the U shape of the building provided them with their own courtyard of sorts. Just like at the prison, they could still be outdoors without worrying about walkers coming out of nowhere. It was a place they could let their guard down if they wanted, though no one ever did.

He was almost to the wall when he saw a flash of movement further down the beach. He strained his eyes to get a better look, his crossbow up and waiting for a sign of a walker. He cursed when he saw what it was. It wasn't a walker at all but a massive buck. He knew that he should just go on in and ignore it. He could always run into another one, but that wasn't something he could easily do. He still wasn't in the mood to sit around and gab with the others and he definitely wasn't in the mood to sit in his room alone. It was depressing.

He found himself heading in the direction where he had seen the buck wander off. He thought if he could track it quickly and got back before it got to late then all would be okay. Once he was in the woods he lost what little light was left. He cursed but kept moving, not even sure why. It was too dangerous and it was stupid, and still he walked. He stopped in front of a steep incline, shaking his head and turning.

That was when he heard it. The sound of feet pounding on the ground above him. He stepped back, looking up the incline. It wasn't the sound of walkers or an animal, it was a very human run and then out of nowhere someone was barreling down, half sliding and half running towards him. He was so surprised that he was a little late aiming the bow. Whoever this was wasn't going to get the better of him. He was a seasoned veteran of kill or be killed situations.

"Son of a bitch," an unfamiliar voice grunted as the person slammed into a tree at the bottom. He was finally able to make out the form of a small female rising from the ground. When she got up she glanced up the incline and then turned to take off again but stopped when she realized she was just a few feet away from him, and the bow was trained right on her. "You've gotta be kidding me!" She groaned, throwing her arms up.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked in a harsh voice. He wasn't used to running into strangers and the few times he had in this life, it usually turned out to be a bad situation.

"Look old man, I don't want any trouble okay?"

He scowled at the term but kept her in his sites. "What were you runnin' from? There walkers after you?" He asked.

She shook her head and glanced up the hill. "No, not walkers. Men," she snorted. "If you can call'em that. Look, I need to get the hell outta here, okay? I wasn't that far ahead of them."

"Why are they after you?" He asked, not knowing why he was standing around. She obviously wasn't a threat.

She barked out a humorless laugh and glanced over her shoulder once more. "What the hell do you think? Apparently a young piece of ass is a rarity now days. I may have done a little damage to one of them."

He felt a flash of anger run through him as he looked her over. There wasn't much of her features he could make out in the dark but it was obvious that she was very young and pretty small for her age. If he had to guess he would say anywhere between fifteen and eighteen. Certainly no older than that. He looked up at the sound of more feet pounding on the hard packed earth above them, this time it was obvious there was more than one person.

"You just signed my death warrant, asshole!" The girl hissed.

Daryl wasn't sure why he did what he did next. As soon as one of the men started down the incline, Daryl switched his aim off the girl and took the shot. There was a yell and then the man came tumbling down in a heap. Daryl was already loading another bolt as the other man tried to scramble back up. He didn't get far. There was one more and Daryl let this one come on down. He had a few questions for him. He didn't get a chance to ask though. As soon as the man realized that there were two people there he stopped in his tracks. The girl moved swiftly, driving something into the man's stomach. His eyes went wide and he made a grab for her with one hand but she danced out of the way as he went to his knees.

"Damn it," Daryl cursed before putting a bolt in the man's head.

He stood there, looking down at the carnage while she approached the other two, easily sliding the knife into the side of each of their heads.

"Thanks for the help," she said, tucking a strand of unruly hair behind her ear.

He stared at her, still unable to believe what had just happened. "These the only ones?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I was bumming a few miles north of here and they found my camp. They seemed okay at first but then they started acting all weird, ya know. Asking me all these questions about where my group was and how they didn't believe I could be all alone. Once they realized that if I turned up hurt or missing, no one would be looking for me, then they started getting rough."

"How did you get away?" He asked.

She shrugged. "One of them dragged me into the woods and told his three buddies to wait their turn. I guess he wasn't expecting me to put up a fight. He was wrong. I kicked him in the balls and then knifed him. Then I just ran. He yelled and those three came after me."

"What the hell you doin' out there on your own anyway?" He asked, shouldering his bow now that he was fairly certain she wasn't a threat. Not to him anyway.

"It isn't as hard as it looks, trust me. I've been moving south for a while now. Further north there's more settlements that will let you stay as long as you're willing to work. I'm not interested in manual labor so I've been kicked out of a lot of them."

He was surprised by this bit of news and more than a little worried. "I'm holed up in a motel about twenty minutes walk from here. You can come back for the night if you want."

She didn't say anything so he shrugged and started walking back towards the beach. He heard her fall into step behind him. She was quiet until they broke through the trees where the moonlight actually gave him the chance to make out her features. When he glanced down she was staring at him and then she stopped, hands on her hips.

"Look fella, I appreciate the help back there but we need to get one thing straight, okay. I've had a hell of a rough way to go over the past few months but nothing I've been through has given me any sort of daddy issues, alright?" She gestured towards him. "You're okay looking for an old guy and all but don't you dare try to play grab ass with me. I'm not into that kind of thing so if you think I'm going to repay you with any sort of perverted favors, you're completely wrong. If that's the price of your help then me and my dignity will be on our way, you got it?"

He gaped at her and then he felt himself scowl. "Would you shut up!"

She did, watching him.

He shook his head in disgust. "I'm not some kind of kiddie diddler. I should kick your ass for even thinking like that." He started on his way back to the motel, his face flaming. He heard her hurrying after him.

"I'm not a kid. I'll be... eighteen soon. And there's a lot of sick creeps out there," she said once she made it to his side. "Can't blame a girl for not being too trustworthy."

He glanced at her and snorted. "Well, I ain't one of them creeps."

She kept her distance but she didn't let him get too far ahead of her. He wasn't sure why but for some reason she was reminding him of... Merle. He grimaced.