KAIYA'S POV:

"They're back!" Lori called, smiling when she saw Carl hop out of the van.

Relief cooled my feverish skin. "Oh, thank God," I breathed.

But then I realized what was wrong with this picture. There were only three people getting out of the van. And one of them was bleeding profusely.

"Andrea!" I yelled, running to her. We collided and my arms wrapped around her shoulders as we fell to our knees in the dirt. "Andrea, my God, are you alright?"

She shook her head weakly, already pale, sweat beading up over her brow. "I've been bitten." She removed her hand from her arm, revealing the bite mark where signs of infection were already beginning to show.

It brought back too many painful memories. I wanted to shy away from the torn flesh and blood-stained blond hair... Everything that reminded me too much of Amy.

She sighed. "You know, I had hoped... I would have at least gotten to... see the kid," she laid one hand dripping blood over my stomach. A tear rolled down her cheek. "You know what you have to do."

I did know. It was the same thing she had done for Amy. I shook my head. "I can't do it. I'm not as strong as you were." My eyes popped open wide in surprise when I realized I was already talking about her in the past tense.

She swallowed loudly, and then scoffed. "Kaiya..." her breathing was shallow, words spaced out by gasps, "Stronger... than all of... us."

I glanced up and realized that panic was beginning to set in. Everyone could see that Andrea had been bitten. Merle of all people stepped forward and held out a handgun to me.

I looked away from the gun and up to his face. He nodded to me, though his expression gave nothing away. I took the gun slowly. "It's going to be okay, Andrea," I said, smoothing the hair back from her face.

"You have... to hurry," she rasped. "I can feel it... It's happening fast." She lifted a shaky hand, laid it over mine on the gun and guided it to her temple. "I'll tell Amy hi for you?"

I nodded, trying to smile for her through my tears. "Please do."

She pulled the trigger, not me. And then she was gone.

For a long time, I kept her cradled in my arms, stroking her hair, wiping the blood away from the corners of her mouth.

"Kaiya," came a voice not as familiar as the rest. "Kaiya, come on, you have to get up now." Kevin was grabbing my elbow, pulling me up.

But I still had Andrea in my arms and I wasn't going to let go anytime soon. I needed Daryl. I needed him now almost even more than I had when Amy died. But he hadn't been one of the ones to come back. Even Glenn hadn't come back.

Carl gave his mother a brave nod and walked over to me, kneeling beside me and putting a small hand on my shoulder. Sophia gained courage from that and joined him. The mothers shared a proud look and then came over with the kids. And then everyone, even Emily, was surrounding me, silently lending strength to me.

After about fifteen minutes of just sitting in the dirt, Merle helped me carry her body to the bed of my truck and he sat in the passenger's seat as I drove us down to the fence.

We were about halfway down the driveway when Merle finally spoke up. "It'll work out, babydoll."

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eyes. "How do you know?"

He shrugged. "I don't. But just think. In a few more hours, Daryl will be back."

Well, he had succeeded in distracting me from Andrea for about two seconds, so I guess that's something.

Once we reached the fence, where a few walker bodies and Shane's corpse lay rotting, I felt sick. I knew it was camouflage; that this was a survival tactic... but it just seemed so wrong to leave her out here in the open; fodder for walkers.

"We can't do this," I got out through clenched teeth.

"We have to." Merle, the voice of reason, lifted Andrea out of the truck bed and (surprisingly gently) laid her down among the flowers, kind of away from the other bodies.

Then he did something I'll never forget. He gently laid a hand on the top of her hair and I had to strain to hear him murmuring almost reminiscently, "See ya again someday, Sugartits."

The small, miraculous moment of sentimentality was almost enough to make me believe that Merle was right... Maybe someday things would be okay again. But those thoughts were washed away by shock and a sound I hadn't heard in so long.

"Merle," I alerted him, pointing to the sky. "Is that a helicopter?"

DARYL'S POV:

We made it to the supermarket with no problems. And we didn't get much trouble from walkers inside; there were none. It had been blockaded at the beginning of the outbreak to prevent being raided.

Luckily enough, Glenn found the chink in its armor. Around the back, there was a fire escape with an extendable ladder. Rick and I pulled a nearby dumpster over to it with minimal noise, but it was enough to have us on edge and extremely alert.

Glenn stood on the dumpster as Rick and I aimed our weapons down either side of the alley, securing each opening onto this alley. Glenn climbed up the fire escape and helped Rick and I up. A door took us into the top level of the back storage rooms.

We descended to ground level and exited through the employee only doors and into the shopping center. Glenn and Rick began loading up overturned shopping carts with canned goods and anything else they came across.

Since the store had mostly been left alone after the apocalypse, it was almost easy to pretend that this was just any old day in the grocery store (other than the stench of rotten food). But it was still hard to shake the habit of looking over your shoulder every few mintues, expecting to see decomposing bodies coming for you.

"Hey, I'll be right back," I notified Glenn after seeing a sign a few aisles down.

He nodded and waved me away.

I jogged over to the area that had struck my interest. I hopped over the jewelry counter and slid the back panel on their display cases open, searching for just the right one.

I had never really thought about marriage before, but I figured Kaiya was pregnant and society didn't show much potential for a comeback... And I loved her.

The slim band was gold with small diamonds dusting a feather-shaped indentation. It was perfect.

I would never have been able to afford this in my old life. Hell, I wouldn't have needed to in my old life. I didn't need to now. But I wanted to.

I would happily spend every day for the rest of my life with Kaiya, so what did I need a ring for? I guessed it was just another emotional gesture. Something to show others that she was already with someone. Me.

A throat-clearing noise was made behind me and I jumped up, clutching the ring in my fist as I aimed my crossbow at... Glenn?

He held his hands up. "It's okay, just me and Rick."

They were both slightly smiling at my hand, where Kaiya's ring was.

I felt my face heat up. "What are ya lookin' at?" I snarled at the two of them, jumping back over the counter and stalking away from them and their smugness.

"Daryl!" Glenn called, running after me.

I turned around with a huff.

"Forgetting something?" he held up an empty velvet ring box.

I held my hand out for it. "Thanks."

He nodded. "So you're proposing, then?"

I swallowed every mean remark that instinctually gathered on my tongue. "Yeah."

"Congratulations, man. I know you'll take care of her."

I was strongly hit with a sense of acceptance. After Kaiya had come into my life, I was finding it easier to get along and almost fit in with everyone else. Sure they still pissed me off a lot, but it was almost like they seemed to find me more approachable after witnessing how a teenage girl could tame me.

"Let's just get back, huh?" I mumbled, a bit embarrassed.

I know you guys are getting worried that Kaiya is thinking about leaving Daryl or something, but I promise you she loves him too much (even if she is kind of bad at showing it). I hope you guys liked this chapter! Thank you for reading, drop me a review! :)