Are you guys serious! Bahaha! I swear to you, no lie, everyone I know says cypher! But thank you for letting me know. Good lookin' out, my friends. (blushes at the lifelong typo) So, enough with that. I feel silly XD

I'm glad that the last chapter didn't bore you! Thanks for all the reviews. I'm going back now to edit the last chapter ;) *bush*

Chapter Twenty Five

Carol looked up towards the R.V. She had instructed both Sophia and Carl to stay put until she came back. The men were off filling up gas cans and then filling up tanks. Daryl had told her to stay close but she had just scoffed at him and told him that she wasn't any different than the rest of the women and they needed to go through as many cars as they could. The more supplies they could gather up the better. It would start getting cold soon and who knew where they could end up. They could very well find themselves sleeping on the ground some nights and she wanted to make damn sure that she would at least be warm while she did it.

Not only did some of the cars hold things that they could use but most of them also held bodies. It was amazing to her how used to that she was now. When it had all started she was so filled with fear that it was nearly paralyzing. She had barely been able to function. But now it just seemed... normal. She shook her head.

"What are you frowning about over there?" Andrea asked as she looked up from a bag she was rummaging through.

"You know me. Just thinking." She said as she held up a thick sweater. It was a little small but she figured she could pull it off. And it was red so it was a must.

"That would look really great on you." Andrea said as she checked out the sweater.

"You think?" Carol asked.

"I haven't been wrong yet, have I?" She winked when Carol glanced up at her and she couldn't help but laugh.

Both of them dropped their smiles as Lori approached. She had her arms wrapped around herself. "This is pretty sick. It's like a graveyard. Don't you feel bad about taking these people's things?"

Andrea rolled her eyes. "I'd ask them if they minded, but they're dead. We aren't, and soon enough we could be freezing."

Lori just shook her head. "Have you guys seen Carl?" She asked.

Carol looked at her and nodded. "He's in the R.V. I told him and Sophia to stay put until we were done."

Lori just nodded and walked away. Andrea eyed her angrily as she stuffed a few things into the bag she had emptied out earlier. "That woman is really starting to pissed me off."

"That woman has always pissed you off." Carol said with a quick smile but the smile didn't last. She just wanted Lori to leave her alone. The other woman had been breathing down her neck for days. Carol didn't want Shane. She didn't even like the man so she was finding it increasingly annoying that Lori actually felt threatened by her. Carol never made it a point to get involved with other people's business. She had kept to herself as much as she could back at camp. She endured her beatings in relative silence so as not to draw attention from the others. So, knowing all of this, why did Shane have to act the way he did? Especially when she had never once gave him any indication that he had a chance in hell with her? And then why did Lori have to act like it was her that was encouraging his advances? She rolled her eyes and moved on with Andrea to another car in silence.

"Stop it, Carol." Andrea said as she looked up.

Carol shoved some clothes for Sophia into her bag. "Stop what?"

"Stop with the brooding. You almost look like Daryl Dixon right now." Andrea said.

Carol Scoffed. "Daryl isn't brooding." her eyes shot up and then they both laughed quietly.

Carol nearly cried out when she felt rough hands grip her shoulders from behind. She spun around and glared when she saw who it was.

Shane didn't give her a chance to say anything. Andrea was coming around the car, looking like she was going to take Shane's head off. "Get under the car!" He hissed.

"What are you doing?" Andrea said as she finally reached them.

He looked up quickly like he hadn't realized Andrea was even there. "Walkers! Get under the goddamn car, now."

Carol and Andrea didn't waste any time. They both dropped to the ground and rolled under the car they had just been going through. They looked at one another and then Andrea found her hand.

"Sophia!" Carol hissed. She tried to squirm back out from under the car but Andrea was nearly on top of her in the small space.

"You wont be any good to her or anyone else if you do anything stu..." Andrea clamped her mouth shut when she looked past Carol and saw feet shambling past the car.

Carol whipped her head around and moved herself closer to Andrea. There were a lot. She watched in horror as one walked by with a broken foot. It was actually stumbling around on it's ankle bone. She was trapped. Trapped under a car while her daughter was yards away and Daryl was God only knew where. She should have listened to him. He had wanted to keep them both close and she hadn't listened to him. If one of those things got into the R.V...

Andrea must have known what she was thinking because she stroked the back of her head. "She's fine. Everything is fine. We just have to wait this out." She breathed into her ear. "Daryl wont let anything happen to her."

And Carol knew that it was true. But if he wasn't close enough to do anything then her daughter was as good as gone. She thought of all the progress Sophia had made over the last few days. How open and that smile that always seemed to be trying to force it's way onto her face even when she didn't want it too...

~H~

Daryl looked up just as Rick made his way around the truck Daryl was about to siphon some gas from. He had already filled his truck up and he was on his last gas can to fill for extra fuel. The look on Ricks face had him standing up and bringing his crossbow around.

"Daryl, get down." Rick whispered harshly.

"What's goin on, Rick?" Daryl asked, dread filling his gut at the expression on Rick's face.

Rick glanced back and then ducked down next to Daryl. "Walkers. Too many to shoot. We need to get under the truck and wait'em out."

"Fuck that!" Daryl growled as he pushed his way past Rick.

Rick grabbed his arm and Daryl jerked it away. "Daryl, you'll get yourself killed!" He hissed.

Daryl kept moving. He didn't care, he had to find Carol and he had to get to that R.V. If one of those things got in there Sophia was dead. Why in the fuck had they not listened to him? Why didn't he just tell Sophia no when she wanted to ride with Dale in the first place? He cursed himself for being so far away right now. He hadn't seen Carol for a while, she could be anywhere and he had to make a decision. Look for Carol or go straight to the R.V.

When he glanced around the fender of an old GTO, that he would have admired had it been any other day, he saw them coming. And Rick was right. There were too many and they were between him and where he needed to go. He went to the other side and peered around. There wasn't as many, as far as he could tell, on this side of the car so he crouched down and hurried to the next car and waited for a second. When he looked over he cursed under his breath.

T-dog was leaned up against an open car door, bleeding from some wound on his arm. The Walkers were close but they hadn't made it this far yet so he didn't think the man had been bitten. He ran in a half crouch and T-dog looked up.

"Get outta here, man." T-dog wheezed.

"Shut up." Daryl snapped as he glanced around frantically.

They were getting closer. He could hear them now. He cursed under his breath and pulled T-dog away from the car and laid him down. But he wasn't fast enough. The first Walker came around the side of the car and must have smelled the blood from T-dogs arm because the ugly bastard sniffed the air and then came right for the man. Daryl had already ducked behind another car as T-dog watched him. The other man looked on in horror as the Walker advanced and then his eyes met Daryl's. Daryl put his finger to his lips and he slipped from behind the car. He drove his knife blade into the back of the Walkers skull and then slammed it on top of T-dog. He pulled over another body and covered him up the rest of the way just as another Walker came towards him, another one right on it's heels.

He drove his knife into the eye socket of the closest one and then fell backwards with the corpse on top of him. The smell was overwhelming but he kept completely still and waited as more and more Walkers stumbled around them. They lingered near them longer because the smell of T-dogs blood was still there and it was confusing them. There was nothing else to do for the other man besides hope like hell this worked and the Walkers would just keep going.

He rolled his eyes around so he could get a glimpse of T-dog. He was lying still. Too still. Daryl couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't bleeding out. He had to admit that he hoped he wasn't. He hadn't talked to T-dog much before Merle was gone. Merle had beat it into his head from an early age that people like him and Daryl didn't associate with the likes of T-dog. And as usual Daryl had listened to his brother. But it wasn't like that now. T-dog was an okay guy. He was funny. Daryl trusted the man to have his back, and Daryl didn't trust too many people. He was Daryl's friend.

He waited and waited for the Walkers to go by. He needed to find Carol, needed to get to Sophia. He thought for just a second that she could be dead. That she didn't see them in time and they could have gotten her. And then his mind blocked that thought. She was fine. She was strong and she would be just fine. He was sweating under the corpse. He needed to go. Now.

Eventually they did stop. He stayed where he was for just a few more minutes just in case and then he tossed the body off of him and jumped to his feet. He went to T-dog first and felt for a pulse but didn't move the Walker that was covering him. His heart was still beating and that was as much as Daryl could hope for. He took off again towards the R.V.

Shane came around the side of a van and collided with him. He actually reached out a hand to steady Daryl which was pretty surprising.

"You made it." Shane breathed and he didn't seem overly displeased by the idea that Daryl hadn't turned into Walker lunch.

"You seen Carol? Is she okay?" Daryl asked hurriedly.

Shane gave him a quick nod. "I got to her before the Walkers did. Her and Andrea were under a car when I took off to find the others that were further down."

Daryl let out a heavy breath, gave Shane a quick nod of his own and then Daryl ran like hell towards the R.V. When he reached it he stopped in his tracks. The door was hanging open.

"No no no no no..." He chanted under his breath as he sprinted to the door. There was a smear of dark blood on the outside near the handle. He hesitated. He didn't want to go in there. This would be worse than finding Merle's hand. This would be worse than coming home to find his momma burned alive. This would be worse than watching Merle kill Buck Dixon, his own pa. He couldn't go in there. He couldn't find that little girl dead. Worse than dead. Mutilated. He couldn't do it. He leaned heavily into the side of the R.V.

He had to make himself do it. He couldn't wait around for Carol to do it herself. He pushed himself away from the side of the camper and then paced in front of the door for a few seconds before he rushed up the two steps. There, in the short hallway that separated the kitchen area from the small bedroom, was a Walker. A dead Walker, with a screw driver still sticking out of it's eye socket. He nearly jumped over it and into the bedroom. Empty. He dragged the corpse over and then pushed the door to the bathroom open and found it empty as well.

He was filled with relief so powerful it nearly brought him to his knees. But then he had to face the cold facts. If the kids had managed to kill this Walker and get out, with as many Walkers were outside the camper, there wasn't much of a chance that they would have made it to a safe place before they were taken down. What he needed to do now was go back outside to the road and look for her corpse out there.

He heard a gasp coming from the front of the R.V. He knew who it was before he even turned his head. Carol was there, her hand covering her mouth, her eyes as wide as saucers, staring right at him.

"No..." She whispered.

That one word held the pain of the world in it and he let his back slide down the wall until he was sitting on the floor only a few feet away from the Walker. That one word slashed through him like a knife. This was what he had been so afraid of. This was what he knew he wouldn't be able to stop from happening. Except his failure had only cost one of them their life, and the other one? Well, this would probably cost her her sanity at least. He'd managed to lose everything in a matter of seconds.

"Daryl?" She sounded like a child herself as his name slipped out of her in a broken sob that was just another slash for him.

His chest ached with the weight of her pain. His pain. Why didn't he listen to Shane? The man was right. He wasn't able to keep them safe. Why hadn't he pushed her away? Pushed her to give Shane a shot instead of wanting it all for himself?

He pushed himself up off the floor and walked towards her. Andrea showed up then and stopped in her tracks, her eyes already growing wet. He didn't say anything. He walked right past them both and hurried down the steps. He needed to get away from her. He thought about taking the bike off the truck and leaving now. He couldn't stay with this group and look her in the eye every day. Not after this.

He didn't go to his truck. He needed to find her body first. He almost gagged as he remembered what she had said to Milton last night about the bruises around her neck. They had been a parting gift. So Ed gave bruises. He was about to give her her daughters dead body. Carol could sure pick her men.

He pushed himself through the crowd that was gathering around the camper. He didn't even see their faces as he passed but he did hear Lori cry out as she made her way over. He just kept his head down and walked.

His eyes scanned the ground but there wouldn't be any trail to follow. Nothing as easy as that. There was nothing around the camper itself. This made a spark of hope ignite in him and he tried to smother it. He didn't need to hope right now. He just wanted to get this over with so he could leave. Any hope that made it's way into his heart would just make it worse.

He walked on a little further, the voices of the group growing more and more faint and then something caught his eye. Something not on the road but down the hill about halfway. He jumped over the guard rail and ran towards the object.

There on the ground was a pink sweater. The same sweater he had watched Carol tie around the girls waist before they left out earlier. She had made it off the road and headed straight for the woods. The tracks were easy to spot. She wasn't alone. Carl had made it with her and from the looks of it at least three Walkers had came after them. But there was a chance, a goddamn good chance, that she was okay. He just had to track her down.

He turned back towards the road and ran, clutching the sweater in his hand.