Author's Note

I'm not real sure about how this chapter turned out. I like where I went with it, but I'm just not sure about the writing. BUT I promised that I'd have this season finished by today, so I'm posting it anyway :) I hope you guys enjoy, despite the semi-crappy writing!

You would think that Caterina would be used to people dying. She couldn't even count just how many funerals she'd been to; how many grieving wives and mothers she'd had to comfort; how many husbands and fathers she had seen reduced to tears over freshly dug graves; how many children she had heard wailing; how many times she'd heard even younger children asking why someone was being lowered into the ground in a pine box. Actually, a majority of her memories were of attending funerals. The first time one that she'd attended was when she was ten, when the girl from next door died from being stabbed during a breakin. After that, it was one funeral after the other.

Still, every time that Caterina found herself standing over a new grave, it always felt like it was the first time.

This was the second time in a little over a week that they had lost someone to the terrors of this new world and, as Caterina stood over the three graves beneath the old oak tree, she realized just how tired of funerals she had become. All of these deaths—Amy, Jacqui, Jim, Sophia, Dale—were starting to take their toll on her. They were taking their toll on everyone.

"Dale could get under your skin," Rick spoke. "He sure got under mine. Because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt… That kind of honesty is rare, and brave. Whenever I made a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be lookin' back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read me. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us—the truth, who we really are.

"In the end, he was talkin' 'bout losin' our humanity. The best way to honor him is to make sure we don't lose it. We need to set aside all our differences and pull together. Stop feelin' sorry for ourselves, take control of our lives, our safety, our future… We haven't lost our humanity. We're gonna prove him wrong.

"From now on, we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale."

In light of what happened with Dale, Hershel decided it would be best if everyone moved up into the house. That way, if any more walkers got onto their land, no one would have to worry about waking up with one of them in their tents. Instead, they'd be able to see them coming and would be able to regroup and retreat faster than they would if they stayed separated. Not to mention the extra protection that having actually walls would give them.

"Gonna be tight. Fifteen people in one house…" Rick muttered as he watched everyone bustling about, grabbing what they could from the camp and bringing it up to the house.

"Don't worry about that," Hershel said. "With the swamp hardening, the creek drying up…"

"With fifty heads of cattle on the property, we might as well be ringing the damn dinner bell," Maggie said.

"She's right. We should've moved you in a while ago."

"All right, let's move the vehicles near each of the doors, facin' out toward the road," Rick started to instruct everyone. "We'll build a lookout in the windmill, another in the barn loft. That should give us sightlines on both sides of the property. T-Dog, you take the perimeter round the house. Keep track of everyone comin' and goin'."

"What about standin' guard?" T-Dog wondered.

"I need you, Cat, and Daryl on double duty."

"Gotcha."

"I'll stock the basement with food and water, enough we can survive there a few days if need be," Hershel offered as he grabbed a few containers from the picnic table.

"What about patrols?" Andrea asked.

"Let's get this area locked down first," Rick replied. "After that, Shane'll assign shifts while me and Cat take Randall offsite and cut him loose."

"We're back to that now?" Shane asked.

"It was the right plan first time 'round. Poor execution."

He huffed. "That's a slight understatement."

"You don't agree, but this is what's happenin'. Swallow it. Move on."

"You know that Dale's death and the prisoner—that's two separate things, right?" he asked, but Rick just looked at him as if he were challenging his authority. He shook his head. "You wanna take Cat as your wingman, be my guest."

"Thank you."

"You got it."

Caterina rolled her eyes at their behavior as she grabbed her crossbow and strapped it onto her back along with a backpack full of her stuff and her tent bag. Once she had everything secured, she hurried to join Rick and Hershel as they started up towards the house behind the rest of the group.

"I see why you're not takin' Shane with you," Hershel said. "Just know, I've got no more patience where he's concerned."

"He's turnin' over a new leaf," Rick assured him.

Caterina and Hershel both gave him a disbelieving look. While he probably wasn't aware of what Shane had done to Otis, it was obvious that he knew how unstable Shane was. And neither he nor Caterina believed that Shane would be so willing to "turn over a new leaf," especially if Rick was the one making him do it.

Rick just shrugged and changed the subject.

"I heard about your fallin' out with Andrea, why she has that bruise on her jaw."

"I warned her after she shot Daryl, if she stepped over the line again, I'd put her on chore duty," she said, not at all ashamed about what she'd done. Like she had told Andrea, the woman had been a thorn in her side since they left the CDC.

"Well, I don't wanna overstep your authority, so do you mind if I put her on watch while we're gone? She may be reckless, but she's good with a gun. And I'd feel more comfortable with her on duty rather than Shane."

Caterina nodded in understanding. She would feel more comfortable with that as well.

"Andrea," Rick called out, causing her to stop and wait for them to catch up with her. "While Cat and I are gone, help Hershel keep an eye on things around here."

"Me?" Andrea asked.

"Shane's got a way of lettin' things get outta hand, especially when he's all…torqued up."

"I think we're all a bit torqued up at this point."

"If you're stayin' here permanently," Hershel joined, "he's gotta understand that it's what Rick and I say, not whatever he wants."

"You've become close," Rick pointed out.

Andrea stopped, finally starting to see what they were getting at, though she didn't seem to be sure. "We talk…" she admitted slowly.

"Then you know he's not a bad guy. He's just his own worst enemy."

She stared at him thoughtfully for a moment. "You want me to babysit Shane?" she asked before she turned her gaze on Caterina. "Is this one of my 'chore duties'?"

"You can consider it that, yes," Caterina said.

"Look, I need to make sure every time I leave the farm, all hell doesn't break loose," Rick said.

"Then maybe you should stop leaving," Andrea retorted.

Rick just looked away.

Andrea glanced at Caterina, who was staring at her with a hard look. She swallowed slightly and continued up to the house.

"Will you keep an eye on things?" Rick called after her.

"Of course," Andrea agreed without looking back.

Rick glanced at Caterina and Hershel before he followed after her. The two left behind exchanged slightly worried looks before following him up to the house.

Caterina and Rick sat out on the porch, pouring over the map that Maggie had given them their first night on the farm, trying to find a good area to take Randal out to. They wanted to be sure that he wouldn't be able to find his way back to the farm, wherever they took him, but they also didn't want to travel too far from camp. There was always the chance that more walkers would come and attack the others while they were gone. It would be a repeat of what happened back at the oasis, and they didn't want that.

They looked up as Daryl approached them from the shed, apparently having just finished sealing off the loft there. Shane had told Rick that Carl had snuck up the yesterday to see Randal, and they wanted to keep him from being able to do it again. They also wanted to seal it off in case Randall managed to get free. With the loft sealed off and the shed door locked, he wouldn't be able to escape without alerting someone to what he was doing.

"Hey," Rick greeted him. "Wanna come see what we got?"

Daryl nodded and walked up onto the porch, over to where Caterina and Rick were. She jumped onto the railing of the porch to give him and Rick some room to look at the map.

"We were thinkin' of takin' him out to Senoia—hour there hour back, give or take," Rick explained as he outlined the rout that they would take. "We may lose the light, but we'll be halfway home by then."

"We won't have to worry about any more dissent in the ranks," Caterina pointed out.

"And this little pain in the ass will be a distant memory," Daryl added. "Good riddance."

Rick chuckled while Caterina rolled her eyes at Daryl's sullenness. She didn't think she had ever really heard a nice comment from him about anything, not even about his brother—at least not in a way that it was obvious. Maybe that should be her mission when she got back: Get Daryl to say something nice about someone outright.

"Carol's puttin' together some provisions for him, enough to last a few days," Rick continued.

The three of them looked out at the field as they heard a car pulling up behind them. Shane had been out building the lookout for the windmill. Now, it seemed that he was done and was coming back to camp.

"That thing you did last night…" Rick muttered as he turned back to Daryl.

"Ain't no reason you should do all the heavy lifting."

Rick nodded and looked up as Shane spun his car around to park close to where they were, but far enough away that he still wouldn't be able to hear what they were saying. "So you good with all this?" Rick asked, motioning between Caterina and himself. "Me takin' Cat out for a night?"

"As long as you have her back by ten."

"Now boys, there's no need to fight about who gets to spend more time with me. There's plenty of me to go around," Caterina cooed.

Rick grinned at her while Daryl just rolled his eyes at her childishness, although it was obvious that he was at least a little amused by it.

When Shane got out of the car and started approaching them, Caterina decided that it was time for her to leave. So she stood up from the railing and turned to Daryl. "Could you come help me get ready?" she asked.

Daryl nodded and followed her off the porch.

T-Dog ended up coming out to join them in getting Otis' truck ready to be taken out. Caterina had put the provisions that Carol prepared for Randall in an ice chest and placed it in the bed of the truck, along with a milk crate with a few gallons of water and a backpack of survival supplies.

"Is that everything?" Caterina asked.

"I think so," T-Dog said with a nod. "Oh, wait." He reached into his jean pocket and pulled out a Colt Official Police—Dale's personal handgun. He walked around the truck to where Daryl was standing and handed it to him. "You only have so many arrows."

"That Dale's gun?" Daryl asked as he took the gun from him.

"Yeah," he muttered before going around to close the tailgate.

He nodded appreciatively and tucked it behind his back in the waistband of his own jeans. "Wish I knew where the hell mine is."

"The one you keep with the bike?" Caterina asked.

"Yeah. You seen it?"

She shook her head. "Sorry. But I'll look around for it when we get back. My guess is, someone took it and forgot to return it."

"Ready?" Rick called out as he approached.

Caterina nodded and grabbed her crossbow from where she'd propped it in the back of the truck while she and Daryl had been putting everything away.

"I'll get the package," T-Dog offered.

"Thanks."

T-Dog nodded and walked off towards the shed.

Rick turned back to Caterina. "We sure we got everything?"

"Pretty sure. Unless we want to give Randall any weapons," she said, not so subtly hinting that she wanted to give the kid at least some kind of weapon so that he would have a fighting chance once he was on his own.

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe give him a knife or two."

Caterina grinned and disappeared into the house to get some knives from her personal stash in her backpack. She decided on giving him her Pro Series Skinner Fixed Blade knife and her Buck Zipper. They were pretty reliable, but she didn't use them very often, preferring the use of her Buck 119 and switchblade. She grabbed the holsters that went with them and walked back out of the house.

Just as Caterina stepped out on the porch, T-Dog came running up with a beleaguered look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Rick asked worriedly.

"It's Randall," T-Dog panted. "He's gone, man."

"What? How?" Caterina asked as she hurried down the steps to join Daryl and Rick.

"I dunno. The door was chained and locked."

The three by the truck exchanged looks before they took off towards the shed with T-Dog. Daryl threw open the door to the shed and stormed inside, Rick and Caterina at his heel. Randall was indeed missing. Caterina glanced around to see how he might've gotten out, but she didn't see any escape holes. So how had he gotten out? T-Dog had said that the shed had been locked.

They stepped back out of the shed at the same time that the rest of the group came running up to them, apparently having seen them run out to the shed.

"What's wrong?" Lori asked.

"Randall's missing," Caterina explained.

"Missing? How?"

"How long's he been gone?" Hershel asked at the same time Maggie asked, "What's goin' on?"

"It's hard to say," T-Dog said in response to Hershel's question.

Caterina and Rick walked back into the shed to look around one more time. There didn't seem to be anywhere that Randall might've been able to slip out through, and the handcuffs were stil hooked on the chain. Caterina noticed that there was blood on the handcuffs, however. Randall must've been trying to slip out of them and ended up cutting up his wrists.

"The cuffs are still hooked. He must've slipped 'em," Rick said as he walked back out.

"Is that possible?" Carol gasped.

"It is if you've got nothing to lose," Andrea replied.

Once Caterina had passed back out of the shed, Hershel closed the door. "The door was secured from the outside," Hershel pointed out, motioning to the lock.

"There wasn't anywhere else that he could've gotten out from," Caterina said.

"Rick! Rick!"

Everyone looked up at the sound of Shane's voice calling from the trees. He came stumbling out of the bushes, nose busted with blood trickling down his chin. It looked like someone had gotten him pretty good.

"What happened?" Lori called back.

"He's armed! He's got my gun!"

"Are you okay?" Carl asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. The little bastard just snuck up on me. Clocked me in the face."

Rick and Caterina exchanged quick looks. It seemed that the pieces were falling in place in both of their heads. The shed had been locked from the outside with a combination lock, which was still intact. Even if Randall had managed to slip his cuffs, there was no way that he would have made it out of the shed without breaking the door down. Not to mention that Daryl had sealed off the loft. The only way Randall could've gotten out was if someone opened the door for him.

Rick turned to the group. "All right, Hershel, T-Dog, get everybody back in the house. Cat, Glenn Daryl, come with us."

"T, I'm gonna need that gun," Shane said, nodding at T-Dog.

"Just let him go," Carol suggested. "That was the plan, wasn't it? To just let him go?"

"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here, not on our front step with a gun," Rick said.

T-Dog handed over his handgun to Shane, who turned as soon as he had it and started back to the tree line with Rick, Daryl, and Glenn following right behind him, each of them with their own weapons.

"Don't go out there! Y'all know what can happen!" Carol pleaded.

"Get everybody back in the house," Rick called back over his shoulder. "Lock all the doors and stay put!"

"We'll be back soon," Caterina promised Carol before she turned and hurried to join the men.

Shane lead them about a mile out. So far, Caterina hadn't been able to pick up on any sort of trail other than the short one from where Shane had come out. The further out they went, the tenser Caterina became. This whole thing was just screaming "trap!" But she had to wonder for who.

"I saw him head up through the trees that way before I blacked out," Shane informed them as he pointed to the east. "I'm not sure how long."

"He couldn't have gotten far," Rick said. "He's hobbled, exhausted…"

"And armed," Glenn added.

"So are we," he reminded him before he turned to Daryl. "Can you track him?"

"No, I don't see nothin'," Daryl said as he examined the area around them.

"Hey, look, there ain't no use in trackin' him, okay? He went that way," Shane insisted. "We just need to pair up. We spread out. We just chase him down. That's it."

"The kid weighs a buck twenty-five soakin' wet. You tryin' tell us he got the jump on you?" Daryl asked as he turned to face Shane. There was a hint of amusement in his voice as well as doubt. Obviously, he didn't believe him either.

"I say a rock pretty much evens those odds, wouldn't you?" Shane retorted smoothly.

"Okay, all right, knock it off," Rick scolded them. He nodded to Daryl. "You, Cat, and Glenn start headin' up the right flank. Me and Shane'll take the left."

"Wouldn't it be quicker if Cat went straight instead? Cover more ground?"

"Not a chance in hell," Daryl snapped.

"Daryl's right. I'll be safer if she stays with him and Glenn," Rick agreed.

Shane seemed like he wanted to argue more, but he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut, especially when he saw the way that Caterina was eyeing him now. So this was a trap for her as well as Rick. Too bad Rick was a step ahead of him.

"Are you sure you won't want me coming with you and Shane?" Caterina asked.

"I'm sure," Rick said with a bit more weight in his words than should have been there.

Caterina nodded, understanding what he was saying. He knew that this was probably just a ploy to get him away from camp, and he was going to go with it.

"Remember, Randall's not the only threat out there. Keep an eye out for each other."

Everyone nodded and went off into their separate perimeters.

They ended up staying out well into the night looking for any sign of Randall. Caterina knew it was pretty much pointless. Not only was there no trail to go on, but she was pretty sure Randall was probably dead by now, either by Shane's hands or a walker's. But she didn't say anything. She was certain that Daryl knew the truth and was just acting like he didn't, but it was obvious that Glenn had no idea. So she decided it was best if he was left to think Randall had escaped on his own rather than knowing that it was Shane that set him loose.

Daryl sighed heavily and stopped. "This is pointless," he grunted. He nodded to Glenn. "Gimme a light."

Glenn pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and handed it to Daryl. He switched it on and shined it on the ground, trying to find something that would lead them in the right direction. He lowered it after a moment and sighed irritably.

"C'mon."

Caterina and Glenn followed as he started off again.

Daryl ended up leading them back to where Rick had first set them off in their separate groups, where Shane had said that he'd seen Randall running towards the east.

"We're just back to square one," Glenn groaned.

"If you're gonna do a thing, you might as well do it right," Daryl said. He used Glenn's flashlight to check the ground more thoroughly. "Two sets of tracks right here," he said after a moment. "Shane must've followed him a lot longer than he said." He moved forward a bit before moving the light on to the tree in front of him. "There's fresh blood on this tree."

Caterina thought back to Shane's busted nose. After doing whatever he did, he must've rammed into the tree to make it look like Randall had gotten the jump on him.

"There's more tracks. Looks like they're walkin' in tandem."

"Tandem? That's a big word," Caterina teased.

"Shut up, Caterina," Daryl sneered, knowing how much she disliked being called that.

"Only if you make me, Darylina."

He glared back over his shoulder, and Caterina just smiled innocently back at him.

Glenn looked between them, amused and slightly grossed out at the same time. Everyone knew that they were an item, but they didn't often show any sort of affection for each other when anyone else was around, so it was weird seeing them flirt now. Although, it wasn't exactly typical flirting. But Glenn wasn't sure if Daryl was capable of flirting normally.

"Um, do you guys mind not flirting in front of me please?" Glenn decided to say.

"We're not flirting," Daryl snapped.

"He's right," Caterina agreed, still wearing that innocent smile. "If we were flirting, he would've called me—"

"Hold up," Daryl muttered distractedly, conveniently cutting her off before she could finish what she was going to say. He shined the flashlight on an area on the ground where it looked like something had fallen. "There was a little dust-up right here."

"What do you mean?" Glenn asked.

"I mean, sumthin' went down."

"This is getting weird…" he muttered.

Daryl moved the light further up, shining it ahead to see where the trail led. "Had a little trouble," he said before holding the light on a strip of cloth on the ground.

Caterina moved forward and picked up the cloth. Her brow furrowed when she recognized it as the blindfold that Randall had on while he'd been in the shed. She opened her mouth to convey this to the others when there was a loud rustling from behind them. Daryl quickly clicked off the flashlight, and the three of them darted behind some nearby trees.

They stayed frozen for a moment, listening to the sound of shuffling footsteps. Caterina peeked around the girth of the tree that she stood behind to try to see who it was. She frowned slightly when she spotted the silhouette of a teenage boy stumbling around. His figure looked familiar—tall and lanky with a tear in one of its pant legs.

She ducked back behind her tree as the figure started moving towards them. She silently moved her crossbow to her shoulder so that she could grab her buck knife, deciding it would be easier to use it than the crossbow.

Before she even had the chance to use it, however, Glenn stepped out from behind his tree, machete poised. He clicked on the flashlight so that he could see where to aim, only to freeze when he recognized the walker's face. It was Randall

The walker growled hungrily as it grabbed Glenn. Daryl and Caterina jumped out then, drawing the walker's attention to them. It tossed Glenn to the ground and took an unsteady step towards Daryl. He fired an arrow at the walker, but it missed. It was harder to aim without any light and the walker was moving much too fast. He raised his crossbow to fend it off when it got too close, and Caterina took the time to get behind it. She winced at the loud crunch beneath her feet as she accidentally stepped on a twig. The walker turned and started towards her now, snarling. It had only managed to take two steps, however, before Glenn tackled it to the ground. He rolled the walker on to its back and stabbed his Pro Machete through the top of its head.

Everyone climbed back on to their feet, panting as they struggled to collect themselves.

Daryl reached out and patted Glenn on the stomach. "Nice."

While he went to retrieve his arrow that he had misfired and Glenn pulled his machete from the walker's head, Caterina grabbed the flashlight from where Glenn had dropped it. She moved to the other side of the walker and shined the light down on the corpse, giving it a brief once-over. She paused as she moved the light to its neck. It was bent at a weird angle.

"Daryl?" Caterina called.

"What's up?" he replied as he walked up behind her.

"His neck's broken."

Daryl frowned and strapped his crossbow to his back before taking the flashlight from Caterina. He knelt down and searched the front of the corpse for any signs of injury apart from the neck. When he didn't find anything out of the ordinary, he rolled the body over on to its back. He pulled up the shirt to see if he could find any bites or scratches only to come up empty again.

"He's got no bites," Daryl said as he took a brief look at the walker's legs.

"Yeah, none you can see," Glenn muttered.

"No, I'm tellin' ya, he died from this," he argued, motioning to the broken neck.

"How's that possible?"

"Beats me," Caterina said, just as surprised as the others two. She thought people only turned if they were bitten by another walker, that what caused the fever was what caused the brainstem to reanimate. But Randall hadn't been bitten. So what caused him to turn?

After finding Randall, they decided to go back up to the house. The others would want to know what they'd found. And Caterina was anxious to know if Rick was okay. She became even more so when they heard a gunshot while they were walking through Hershel's yard. She worried that Shane had finally snapped and shot Rick. But she decided to ignore the shot until Shane came back without Rick and she knew for sure that he had shot him. For all she knew, it could've been the other way around.

The three of them walked into the house where the others were waiting for them.

As soon as they passed into the living room, Caterina glanced around for Rick or Shane. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, she didn't see either of them.

"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked, having noticed the same thing.

"No," Lori answered.

"We heard a shot."

"Maybe they found Randall."

Daryl shook his head. "We found him."

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asked.

"He's a walker."

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel questioned.

"No, the weird thing is, he wasn't bit," Glenn replied.

"His neck was broken," Caterina expounded.

"So he fought back," Patricia offered.

"The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other," Daryl informed them. "And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. No, they were together."

Lori stood up and approached him and Caterina. "Would you please get back out there and find Rick and Shane, and find out what on Earth is going on?" she pleaded.

"You got it."

"Thank you."

Daryl and Caterina walked back out of the house, with Glenn and Andrea following right behind them. If she wasn't so worried, Caterina would've told Andrea to go straight back into the house, but she was much too anxious to care about her at the moment.

Caterina was about to follow Daryl down the porch steps when she spotted something from the corner of her eye. She turned to see what it was, and her heart stilled. The largest walker herd that she'd ever seen was making its way towards the barn from the line of trees at the back of Hershel's property.

She reached out blindly and grabbed Daryl's arm, stopping him before he could leave the porch. He stopped to look at her curiously, but she didn't turn her gaze away from the herd. He must've seen the naked fear on her face, because he turned slowly to see what she was staring at.

"Holy shit…" Daryl muttered.

Andrea and Glenn turned as well only to freeze when they saw what had their attention.

"Get the others," Caterina ordered after taking a moment to find her voice.

Andrea nodded and ran back into the house, returning a moment later with the rest of the group. They all gathered outside to see what the commotion was about. The women gasped while the men just seemed to freeze. Hershel pushed his way to the front of the group, and Lori ran back into the house, presumably to find Carl.

"Patricia, kill the lights," Hershel instructed calmly.

"I'll get the guns," Andrea said before turning and following Patricia back into the house.

"Maybe they're just passing, like the herd on the highway," Glenn offered hopefully. "Should we just go back inside?"

"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about," Daryl said. "A herd that size would ripe the house down."

"Daryl's right," Caterina agreed. "If we go inside and they decide to wander into the house, we'd all be dead meat."

"Carl's gone," Lori gasped as she ran back on to the porch.

Caterina turned quickly. "What?"

"H-He was upstairs. I can't find him anywhere."

"Maybe he's hiding," Glenn said.

"He's supposed to be upstairs. I'm not leaving without my boy."

"We're not," Carol assured her, ushering her back to the house. "We're gonna look again. We're gonna find him."

Glenn put his hand to his head, muttering, "Oh my God…"

Andrea came back out with Rick's duffel bag. She made her way through the front of the group, where she could set the bag down and start rifling through it. Maggie stepped up to help her to distribute the guns. Caterina took one of her handguns from the back, a CZ-75, and tucked it into her sock, seeing as she had no other place to put it.

"Maggie…" Glenn sputtered as he watched Maggie expertly handling one of their shotguns.

"You grow up country, you pick up a thing or two," Maggie brushed him off.

"I got the number," Daryl said. "It's no use."

"You can go if you want," Hershel said.

"You gonna take 'em all on?"

"We have guns. We have cars."

"Kill as many as we can, and we'll use the cars to lead the rest of them off of the farm," Andrea said.

"Are you sure?" Daryl asked.

"This is my farm," Hershel said. "I'll die here."

Daryl and Caterina exchanged slightly impressed looks before they nodded.

"All right," Daryl said. "It's as good a night as any."

He and Caterina vaulted over the porch railings and ran to where Daryl had parked his motor-bike. While he fixed his crossbow to one of the side pouches, Caterina checked both of her hand guns for rounds. Luckily, she'd filled both magazines just the other day, so they were both full. Daryl started the bike's engine and revved it a few times just to get it going. Caterina strapped her crossbow to her back and tucked her CZ back into her sock before climbing on to the back of the bike, wrapping one arm around Daryl's waist.

They led the way out into the fields, Glenn and Maggie following in Shane's Hyundai, Andrea and T-Dog in Otis' truck, and Jimmy in the RV. Hershel had decided to stay by the house and protect it while the women were still inside, looking for Carl.

Daryl pulled up next to the fence, and he and Caterina started firing at the walkers around the barn while Jimmy pulled the RV in front of the opening to keep any walkers from getting through. The rest of the group started driving up and down the length of the fence, shooting as many of the walkers as they could.

Caterina glanced over at the barn. It had somehow caught fire, attracting a few of the walkers to it. She assumed that it had been Rick or Shane's doing (she hoped that it was Rick). "Rick or Shane must've stared that fire!" she shouted over the sound of gunfire. "Someone needs to go see if they can't get them out!"

"I got it!" Daryl shouted back. After firing one more rounds he settled back down in to the seat and revved the engine once before he pulled up next to the window that Jimmy was firing from. "Yo!" he shouted. "It must've been Rick or Shane who started that fire. Maybe they're tryin' to get out the back! Why don't you circle round?"

"Got it!" Jimmy called back before disappearing into the RV. It roared to life a moment later and started crawling down to the barn.

Caterina and Daryl immediately returned to their work of trying to take out as many walkers as they could from the safety of Daryl's bike. They ended up driving up and down the length of the fence twice before Caterina decided that it was pointless. There were far too many walkers and not enough bullets. Regardless of what Hershel wanted, there was no way that they were going to defend the farmhouse.

"There's no way we can keep this organized!" Caterina shouted again. "We're going to have to retreat!"

Daryl nodded and drove off of the farm.

They stopped again once they were far enough away from the farm and the walkers. Daryl killed the bike's engine, and the two of them stared somberly at the burning farm. They had no idea what had happened to the others, just that Otis's truck and Shane's Hyundai had disappeared. Caterina assumed that they had deemed it a lost cause just as they had and had escaped before they got overrun.

The two whipped around when they heard screaming from behind them.

"That's Carol," Caterina said, easily able to recognize the scream.

Daryl started his bike again but, before he could drive off towards the sound of Carol's screams, Caterina climbed off of the bike. He paused at the sudden loss of her arms around his waist and looked back at her inquiringly.

Caterina waved him off. "Get going!"

"What? Are you crazy?" Daryl snapped.

"Your bike isn't going to carry all three of us, Daryl."

He stared at her, realizing the same thing. While it was pretty roomy with just the two of them, there was not nearly enough room for a third person.

"Go on," Caterina said. "Get Carol out of here."

"And leave you behind?" he scoffed.

"Daryl, please. I'll be all right on my own."

He still seemed hesitant.

Caterina looked towards the farmhouse. She could barely see Carol running towards them, a small horde of walkers on her tail. Caterina turned back to Daryl, thinking about how she was going to get him to save Carol and leave her.

"Get Carol and drive up to the highway where we lost Sophia. I'll meet you there." When Daryl opened his mouth to argue again, she nodded to the handgun clutched in her hand. "I still have a few rounds in here, and sixteen more in my CZ. If I run low, I still have my arrows."

Daryl seemed a bit less hesitant now.

"I promise, I'll find you later. Just go. Please."

He stared at her for a long moment before finally nodding. But instead of driving off like she'd expected, Daryl reached out and drew her closer. He moved his hand up to the side of her face, and he pulled her down to his level and kissed her fervently. She returned it with just as much passion, focusing on the feeling of his lips pressed against hers, trying to commit it to memory.

Daryl pulled away after what felt like too little of time.

"You'd best keep to that promise," he said.

Caterina nodded with her usual grin.

She stepped back and watched as Daryl sped off to Carol's rescue. Caterina's smile fell as soon as he was gone, replaced with a mournful expression. She turned and leapt over a nearby fence before taking off towards the trees. The walkers had come from the opposite side of the acres, so she didn't have to worry about running into any more herds that way. The problem was…the direction that they had come from was the direction that the highway was in. There was no way that she would make it up there, at least until they had cleared out.

She heard Daryl's bike revving behind her, moving toward the highway, and she stopped at the tree line to look back. She watched as Daryl drove down the road with Carol.

"I'm sorry, Daryl…"

She turned and disappeared into the forest.

Daryl's Point of View

Daryl was silent as he drove through the dirt roads towards the highway, figuring it was where the others were going to meet up, and where he was going to find Caterina. He hated how she made him leave her like that, but he knew he wasn't going to change her mind. Besides, she'd been right. There was no way that he would've been able to get all three of them on his bike.

Still, he wished that he hadn't had to leave behind the woman that he loved.

Yes, he loved her. God help him, he loved her. He hadn't even realized it until a few days ago, when the two of them had been sitting around his camp, talking about their families. That was where she'd gotten the idea to start calling him "Darylina" when she wanted to tease him. And he hadn't even had the chance to tell her how he felt before everything had gone to shit—again. Now, if he lost that chance because she'd sacrificed herself so that he could save Carol…

His throat constricted at the thought of Caterina falling to that horde of walkers.

No, he couldn't think like that. She was strong. If anyone was going to escape, it was going to be her. When they got to the highway, she was going to be there waiting with that stupid, cocky grin on her face, and he was going to go straight up to her, kiss her, and tell her he loved her.

It was already light by the time Daryl finally made it safely to the highway. He had managed to find Glenn and T-Dog along the way, and he had somehow ended up playing the leader.

When they made it to the pileup that they had lost Sophia at, he saw Rick, his boy, and Hershel gathered by Hershel's van. He slowed down and cut through the grass separating the highways. He parked behind an overturn car and shut off his bike.

Rick walked up to him, and the two of them slapped hands.

Glenn pulled up a bit further down, and Maggie shot out of the car and ran straight to Hershel.

Lori stepped out of the truck once T-Dog had pulled up. "Oh, thank God!" she cried as she ran forward to meet her son, who'd bolted towards her as soon as he saw her.

Rick smiled and hurried to join in on the group hug, kissing his wife on the cheek.

Beth ran up to Maggie and her father and hugged them.

"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked Daryl.

"Well, this guy's tail lights were zigzagging all over the road. Figured he had to be Asian, drivin' like that," Daryl said, nodding to Glenn.

"Good one," Glenn chuckled.

Daryl looked around, expecting to see Caterina there already. When he didn't see her, his blood immediately turned cold. It shouldn't have taken her so long to get up to the highway, even if she had been on foot. She had gotten a head start. He shook away the foreboding feeling that was creeping up in his stomach. He couldn't know that she wasn't still coming. She might've just had to alter her course a bit to get there safely.

"Where's the rest of us?" Carol wondered.

"We're the only ones who made it so far," Rick said.

"Shane?" Lori asked hopefully.

Rick shook his head with a tense look on his face.

"Andrea?" Glenn asked.

"She saved me," Carol said. "Then I lost her."

"We saw her go down," T-Dog chimed in.

"Patricia?" Hershel asked.

"They got her too," Beth sobbed. "Took her right in front of him. I was…I was holdin' on to her daddy. She just—"

Hershel pulled his daughter into his side comfortingly.

"What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?"

"He was in the RV. It got overrun," Rick said.

Beth gave another sob before turning to cry into her father's chest.

"You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol asked.

"There were walkers everywhere," Lori said.

"Did you see her?" she repeated forcefully.

No one said anything.

Rick looked around at everyone, and it finally seemed to click that someone else was missing of the group, someone important. He looked at Daryl. "Where's Cat?"

Daryl's jaw tensed. "She made me leave her behind, so I could get Carol out of there."

"What?" Carol gasped.

"You just left her?" Lori accused.

"It ain't like she gave me a choice," Daryl snapped defensively. "She refused to go."

Everyone was silent as they took this in. Of all the people to have gotten left behind, it really did not surprise any of them that it was Caterina. She was always risking herself for the others. But it was hard for them to accept that she was gone. She'd become such an important member of the group. None of them had ever thought that they would ending up losing her, especially not so soon. They had thought that she would be with them until the end.

Daryl looked around at everyone, seeing the despair in their eyes. He scoffed. "Don't you start on thinkin' she's dead or sumthin'."

"Daryl—" Rick started.

"She ain't dead!" he barked. "She ran off into the forest. Said she'd make her way up here."

"That area of the forest is where they came from," T-Dog pointed out. "If she went out there on her own, there's no way she's gonna make it."

"What do you know about it, huh?" he snapped, taking a threatening step towards T-Dog, only for Rick to step out in front of him, keeping him from getting any closer. He just talked around him. "That girl's tougher than any of us here. Ain't even a gang of walkers is enough to take her down."

"A gang of walkers is enough to take anyone down," Rick argued.

Daryl looked at Rick in disbelief. "You're gonna give up on her just like that? After everything she's done for you?"

"I don't like this any more than you do, believe me."

Daryl scoffed and turned away from him.

"But we've gotta be logical about this. Even if it's Cat, there's no way she would survive if she ran into another horde on her own. She doesn't have near enough ammunition on her, and she has nowhere to run to retreat to when things get bad." He paused to soften his voice. "There's nothin' we can do. I'm sorry, Daryl."

And he really was. He was just as upset about the situation as Daryl was. After all, Caterina had been on his side since the beginning. She was the first person that he'd met after leaving Morgan and Duane. She had saved his life countless times, and they had become quick friends. He even thought of her like a sister. The thought of her being taken down by walkers was almost enough to make him cry. But he had to stay strong, for the group. He couldn't let Caterina's death throw him like it had Daryl.

But it seemed that Daryl wasn't about to let himself believe that Caterina was dead. Instead, he just got angrier.

He got in Rick's face, glaring angrily. "She ain't dead," he growled. "She promised she'd be here, and she will be."

"Look, even if she did somehow make it, we can't stay here waitin' for her," T-Dog pointed out.

"T-Dog's right," Rick said, welcoming the chance to steer the subject away from Caterina. "We've gotta keep movin'. There have been walkers crawling all over here."

"I say head east."

Rick nodded and stepped away from Daryl, looking at the others. "Stay off the main roads."

Everyone started to get back into their respective vehicles, but Daryl didn't move.

Rick placed his hand on Daryl's shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said. "If Caterina does end up making it here, once she sees we're gone, she'll move on. We'll have a better chance of findin' her once she gets away from the farm."

Daryl stared at him for a long moment before nodding. He was right. If they stayed there, they ran the risk of getting caught in another horde. Caterina would make it there before leaving to find someplace to lay low until they found her. And they would find her. He wouldn't rest until they did. Even if he had to search for the next year, he would find her. And it wasn't going to end up being like Sophia. He was going to find her alive. And, once he did, he was going to kick her ass.

Author's Note

So you guys probably hate me right now. I admit, I'm a horrible person when it comes to the fates of my OC characters. But I felt like this definitely would've happened here if the writes of The Walking Dead had a character like Caterina in the show. I promise, it's not the end of Cat and Daryl's time together. They'll definitely be reunited again!

I hope you guys continue to read the story, even though you're probably screaming at your screens right now, saying how cruel I am :).