Wow, that's the most reviews I've got for a single chapter. Thanks!

I know. I had planned to kill off one of them from the start. It just took me longer to get around to it than I'd planned. Originally I was going to kill off Dane, but I realized there was more I wanted to do with him. Plus while I liked the idea of Jason's character, I was having a real hard time getting it to turn out the way I wanted. Not to mention it would have wrecked River, she depends too much on Dane.

Got some River and Daryl stuff planned for next chapter.

Chapter 25: What Lies Ahead

While stuck at a mass grave of abandoned vehicles with the Winnebago out of commission again, the group had been passed by a herd of Walkers. Sophia had run off and was missing. T-Dog had injured his arm on a car door. And Jason... He had been bit. Now he was dead. Everyone stood around in shock. They'd watched it happen. They'd watched his own brother and best friend end his life.

Dane blinked and took a deep breath. His brother's body laid motionless at his feet. Swallowing hard, he knelt down and laid a hand on his arm. The skin was still warm. Shakily he reached out and traced his fingers over Jason's face. Blood still trickled out of the crossbow bolt wound. The wound he'd caused. The wound that had killed him.

"I'm sorry," Dane whispered over and over.

River crouched down beside him making no effort to subdue her own tears. It had been her hands over Dane's on that crossbow. "This isn't your fault," she murmured in his ear.

"What do I do now?" Dane asked helplessly.

The desperation and uncertainty in his voice scared River. Dane had always been their rock. She had no answers for him. Inside she was feeling just as lost as he was. It was supposed to be the three of them until the end of time.

"You bury him," Dale said simply. "You bury him and you make room for the pain. It's all you can do." The man spoke with years of wisdom and experience. He'd lost his wife, not to the Walkers, but to cancer. Loss and grief were not unfamiliar to him.

Andrea sat on the steps of the Winnebago, staring out at the scene and listening to Dale's words. It reminded her of the night they were attacked at the quarry camp. The night Amy had died. In her hand she still clutched tightly the screwdriver she'd used to dispatch the Walker that had got into the RV. Restricted of blood by her death grip her knuckles were turning white.

"Why don't you let me take that," Lori said gently.

Andrea looked down, unaware she was still holding on to the tool. She let Lori release her finger's from the plastic handle and place it on the counter just inside the door.

"What is the point?" Andrea said, her eyes glued to Jason's body. "This is all we've got to look forward to."

Dale frowned. "We still have each other. We can still make lives for ourselves."

"Lives? Really Dale? You want us all to go off and play house for what? So we can watch the people around us die one by one."

There was no way to get through to her. Dale sighed.

"Everything dies," River mumbled. Her tone was flat and dejected.

Andrea misunderstood. "Exactly! So what's the point?"

River turned and looked directly at Andrea. "The point is that it's always been that way. The Walkers didn't change that, so why should we act like life is over. It isn't."

"You just put an arrow through your friend's head." Andrea said, glaring at her. "And you're trying to tell me that this is all okay?"

Not an arrow, a bolt, River found herself thinking. It was a ridiculous distinction to care about at the moment. "It's not okay, but life goes on. It has to."

"Why?" Andrea demanded. "Why does it have to?"

Frustrated, Dane snapped at Andrea. "If you wanted to join your sister so bad, you could have just let that Walker bite you."

"So you could put an arrow through my head too?"

"Isn't that what you want?"

The two stared at each other. Each seething with anger. Each hurting beyond what words could explain.

Carol wrung her hands. There was no movement out in the woods. Rick hadn't come back with Dane and her little girl was still missing. She paced restlessly at the edge of the highway wanting to take off after her but knowing that to do so would only mean that Rick would be out there looking for two people instead of one.

"It's okay," Lori consoled her. "Rick will bring your daughter back."

"Dane went out after them," Carol said meekly. "Did he say anything?" Lori shook her head. No one had dared ask him as he was busy dealing with his own crisis.

"I need a shovel," Dane said, finally standing up and leaving his dead brother's side. "Where's the one we had back at the quarry?"

"Man, you don't need to do this right now," Shane told him.

"Yes I do."

Shane shook his head. "When Rick gets back with Sophia, let us help you."

"I'll do it. Where's the shovel?" Dane insisted. He just wanted it to be done. To be over.

Shane held out for a moment and watched him. The man's mind was made up. "In the back of the station wagon." when they had left the IKEA they had cut down on the vehicles. They just had Dale's RV, the station wagon, Daryl's bike and Dane's big orange jeep.

Dane nodded in thanks and went to fetch it without another word. He found a spot off the highway and started digging. The ground was hard. He had to strain to break it. Not that that was a bad thing. It gave him a physical outlet to vent his anger and hurt as he exerted every last ounce of energy he possessed.

Rick finally emerged from the woods. Everyone was waiting with baited breath. Every second felt like an eternity as they watched for a tiny figure to step out behind him, but Sophia did not follow.

"Did you find her? Where's my little girl?" Carol begged, fearing the worst.

"You mean she's not here?" Rick asked surprised. When he'd left her he'd given clear instructions. If he didn't return she was to run back to the highway, to keep the sun on her left shoulder. Returning and finding Sophia not where he'd left her Rick had assumed that's what she'd done.

Carol shook her head. "Oh my baby, my poor little girl." The woman paced with no idea what to do with herself.

"Don't worry. We'll find her," Rick assured the panicked mother. "She can't have gone far."
Lori put a reassuring arm around Carol's shoulder. "It'll be okay."

Rick turned to Daryl. The unfriendly redneck was an expert tracker. He was also the last person in the world that Rick wanted to ask for help, but what choice did he have. He couldn't find that little girl on his own.

"Daryl," Rick called out.

Daryl shifted his weight to his left leg and squinted at Rick. "Whatcha want?"

"I'd like your help to search for Sophia."

To his surprise Daryl didn't blow up or argue. He simply nodded in agreement. "I can do tha'."

Rick let out a sigh of relief and looked around. That's when he spotted Dane. "Anyone checked in on Dane over there?" he asked. "It looks like we might have another Jim on our hands." Carol and Lori looked at each other awkwardly then at Rick.

"Diggin' a grave," Daryl said, since the other two didn't have the balls to tell Rick themselves.

Rick's eyes widened with shock. "What? For who?"

"His brother," Daryl answered bluntly.

"JJ? What happened?" Rick asked, as if he didn't already know the answer.

"Got bit. They shot him."

"What? Just like that?"

"Yup."

Rick rubbed his forehead. He could count on Daryl to be to the point. Still, the abruptness with which he relayed the news disturbed him.

Shane walked over to where River was sitting. "Can that mutt of yours track?"

"What?" River asked, looking up dazed and confused. She'd been lost in her thoughts and hadn't heard him.

"Rick and Daryl are going out to search for Sophia. I want to know if that mutt of yours can track," he repeated. "Can he find people or not?"

"Liam's not a mutt," River said as if she was oblivious to everything else Shane had told her. "He's a purebred Chesapeake Bay Retriever."

"Jesus Christ woman, who cares?"

River shrugged and went back to petting her dog and staring off towards where Dane was digging his brother's grave. She'd been in her own little world since Jason had died. Since she'd helped to kill him.

"Dude, you should chill," T-Dog told Shane who was fuming. "Relax a little, she just lost someone."

"Yeah, we'll we're about to lose one more if we don't get out there and find that little girl," Shane snapped back. They were sitting ducks out there on the highway. The sooner they could find Sophia the sooner they could be on their way.

River listened to the two men bickering back and forth. She knew Shane was right. They needed to find Sophia before nightfall and she might be able to help. "Liam can track a little, though he's not very good," she admitted. "All he ever needed to do was tree a raccoon or follow the blood trail of a wounded animal for me. He was a natural at that so I never bothered to formally train him."

"We'll take what we can get," Shane told her. "They headed off that way towards the creek where Rick left her," Shane pointed. "If you hurry you should be able to catch up with them."

River stood and eyed Shane suspiciously. "You're not coming?"

"Someone needs to keep the peace and protect the group should that herd come back."

River shrugged and patted her leg for Liam to follow. Guilt swelled in pit of her stomach as she followed the trail to the creek where Rick and Daryl would start tracking Sophia. Jason's body was still laying on the hot asphalt baking in the sun. In the heat it would decompose quickly and soon it would be just another pile of rotting meat. For now though, it was still her friend and she felt like she was abandoning him, that she should wait until his body was cared for and in the ground. Circumstance however, wouldn't allow.

"Whatcha doin' here?" Daryl greeted River as she approached. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as she got nearer.

"Helping. What's it look like?" River snapped back.

"Don' need yer help."

"Wasn't asking," River retorted placing her hands defiantly on her hips. "Come on Liam."

Daryl stared for a moment. The pose was so reminiscent of that first day when him and Merle had brought the three Canadians back to the quarry camp. River had insisted on setting up their tent right next to the Dixon's. When he'd told her to set up somewhere else she'd struck that same pose. Stubborn, cute, and unafraid, unlike the rest of the camp which had feared and despised them. Except this time, he noticed the fire in her green eyes was missing. They were dull and lifeless.

It was an uncomfortable feeling for Daryl as he watched River. One he couldn't put words to and sure as hell didn't know what to do with. It was so much easier when she wasn't around. So much simpler. He turned his head away, stealing sideways glances as she took Liam to where Rick was standing in the creek and showed the dog a shirt of Sophia's. The dog inhaled the scent of the girl. While he wasn't a bloodhound his sense of smell was still tens of thousands of times better than their own.

"Go find Sophia," River said in a firm voice. Liam looked at her and shifted his weight back and forth from one paw to the other excitedly. He was just glad to be back out in the bush. River licked her lips and tried not to let her frustration show. It wasn't Liam's fault she hadn't spent much time teaching him how to track. "Come on bud, it's just like following wounded game," she pleaded, knowing he wasn't understanding a word of it. "Liam," she tried again, "go find Sophia."

Liam snorted, his nose to the ground. He followed the trail that Daryl had already made out as being Sophia's. Once in a while he'd get off track and circle around until he picked up the scent again.

"I kinda wish I'd taken the time to teach him how to do this," River spoke regretfully to Rick as they followed behind.

"He found Dane at the IKEA," Rick said encouragingly.

River shrugged. "That was different."

"How so?" Rick asked curiously. He found it amazing how much the dog knew to do and how much River was able to teach him.

"Well for one," River answered, "It was Dane and he knows Dane very well. And secondly he wasn't following a scent trail."

Rick looked puzzled. "How did he find him then?"

"He looked," River laughed realizing the absurd simplicity of it. "You really want to know how he learned to go find Dane?"

"Sure."

"When it was my turn to cook I'd send Liam to find him and JJ once dinner was ready. Usually they were just outside the cabin skinning or fleshing critters." River stopped mid step, a sob caught in her throat. For a brief moment while she was talking to Rick she'd forgot. Never again would they sit down to dinner. Never again would they spend long hard hours out on the line to finally retire at night and just enjoy each others company and a game of cards.

Rick noticed the way she halted and the way her face had gone slack. "Is everything alright?"

"No," River shook her head. "I should be up there helping Dane bury JJ. I never should have left him laying there like that," she said, guilt overwhelming her again.

Up ahead Daryl snorted. "Wha' use is it worrying 'bout a dead guy. Sophia's still alive an' she's out there somewhere," he said gesturing in frustration to the woods around them. They had to stay focused on the living and on the things they had control over.

River's expression towards Daryl turned to disgust in response to his words. "He was my friend," she said angrily. "My family."

"Yeah. Was. Ain't anymore. Nothin' but worm food now." Daryl saw the tears well up in her eyes and felt a pang of remorse. But it was true. Jason was already dead. Nothing they could do about that, but they could find Sophia. They could save that little girl.

"You know what? I don't want to talk to you," River snapped. "So why don't you just shut your fucking mouth and keep looking." He was so God damned insensitive. She understood what he was trying to say, but his words still struck her as cruel.

"Fine by me," Daryl grumbled, bending down to examine some bruising on a leaf. Someone or something had definitely stepped there, and recently too. Further ahead he found a broken twig and a partial footprint. At least he knew they were still on the right path and weren't following some wildlife.

River strolled alongside Rick, lost in her thoughts. Periodically Liam would come back and sit in front of her and whine. When he did she'd show him the t-shirt again and tell him, "Go find Sophia."

"Yer mutt's mucking up my tracks," Daryl grumbled as Liam nosed by him and kicked up some moss.

River sighed. "Liam, heel," she commanded. "That better?" Asshole, she mouthed silently to herself at the end.

Daryl gave her the finger and resumed tracking without uttering another word to her. He didn't want her there. Things were awkward between them, since the IKEA. They hadn't said much to each other besides some minor bickering. Not that he knew what to say to her. All he knew was that River was pushing for him to acknowledge what happened between them and he wasn't comfortable with her that much in his space.

Daryl preferred to watch her from a distance. Somewhere where he could keep an eye on her and make sure she was safe, but where they didn't have to interact. He liked this girl, and he didn't want to screw things up because he didn't know what to do. Better to keep her at arms length, but of course, River had other plans.

Pushing the thoughts about River aside, Daryl stopped and examined the area they were at again. And again. He ran a hand through his dirty hair and rubbed at the back of his neck.

"Something wrong?" Rick asked.

"The trail. It just ends. Ain't no more tracks."

"How can that be?"

Finding a nice rock nearby, River sat and pet her dog. Gently stroking his head an running her hand down the wavy fur on his back. Childishly she waited for Daryl to ask for her help, or rather, for Liam's. After what an insensitive jerk he'd been she figured he had it coming. Dixon wasn't going to like having to ask.

"Hell if I know," Daryl grumbled scouring for any sign he might have missed. Nothing. The redneck cursed and swore. Carol was counting on him, he couldn't let her down. Failed again, huh little brother? Best leave it to the real men. Maybe Rick or Shane gonna find tha' lil' girl. Merle's voice filled his head. It had been a while since it had come to taunt him.

Something softened in River as she watched Daryl's face. Finding Sophia meant something to him ad she felt guilty for letting her dispute with him get in the way of that. "I can see if Liam can pick anything up," she offered without a hint of malice or condescendence in her voice. "As long as he won't be in your way."

Daryl took a step back. He'd expected her to be smug and laugh at him for not being able to follow the tracks. Yet her face was soft as she waited on him. "Yeah, whatever. See if yer mutt don' find nothin'," he relented. Sophia was more important than his pride.

Once again River sent Liam off to search. The stocky dog sniffed where the trail ended. When it didn't continue he started doing circles. Each one was progressively larger than the last. But even the Chesapeake came back empty handed. The trail had just vanished.

"It's getting dark," Rick pointed out looking up towards the canopy. Darkness always fell earlier in the woods and it came quickly.

Daryl grimaced. "Gonna have t' go back," he agreed through clenched teeth. "No use tryin' to track in the dark."

"We'll pick up where we left off in the morning," Rick assured them. Of course they would, but he knew that Carol was going to have a fit when they came back without her daughter. He was just trying to ease some of the guilt he felt at the thought of telling her that they had to leave her out there at night, lost and alone.

Dane wiped the sweat that was forming on his brow with the back of his sleeve. Laying down the shovel he stared at the hole he had dug. His brother's grave. Nothing more than a ditch at the side of the road. With his eyes closed he let out a long sigh.

"Let me give you a hand," Shane offered as Dane returned to fetch his brother's corpse.

"I've got it," Dane insisted. There was no energy to back up his words. The man was exhausted.

Shane reached down and grabbed Jason's feet and encountered no protest. The two men carried the body and laid it down in the grave. Carol pressed her lips tightly together as she watched the men work and prayed they would not be digging another grave that night.

Dale shifted his weight awkwardly. "Should we say a few words?"

"No. Not now," Dane said shaking his head. "Tom should be here." He meant River. It was rare he slipped up and referred to her by their nickname when talking to anyone but herself or his brother.

Shovel full by shovel full they buried Jason. Shane exchanged turns with Dane until the job was done. Everyone watched sadly not knowing what to say or do. Dane stared at the finished work, tears in his eyes.

"JJ wanted to be cremated," he said. "He wanted his ashes sent down the Muskwa River where he liked to fish." Dane's final words were spoken so softly they were barely audible, "I'm sorry, brother." He was sorry for everything.