I yawned while walking into the other room. "Did ya get a good night's sleep?" My brother asked me. He was up before me. I wondered what time?

"Yeah. I feel so much better." I said sitting down on the couch.

"That's good cuz…we're leavin' today." He stated. I looked up at him.

"But you—

"I'm fine." He snapped. "Stop worryin' about me, all right? I'm fine."

"Okay." I said. "But don't ya thank we should stay at least fer another night?"

"Nah. I wanna get outta here as soon as possible."

"Why?" I gave him a weird look.

"Cuz I just do." He said walking out of the room. "Pack yer bag." I sighed, but grabbed my bag.

Everything I needed was shoved into my bag. After all of that, I sat on the floor writing my note in one of the books I was leaving behind. "Ya almost ready to go?" Daryl asked me.

"Yeah, just gimme a minute." I said without looking up from the book. I finished and put my pen down. It read, Recommended by Leann Rimes Dixon. This kept me busy while the dead roamed the earth. Hope it does the same for you. I smiled at it. I left my mark.

"Come on, Le." Daryl called.

"Comin'!" I closed the book and pushed it aside then slung my bag over my shoulder. I caught up with my brother who was already out the door. He really wants to get out of here. I giggled to myself.


We left the town and walked around for a while. We weren't that far when my brother spotted a sign. "Look at that." He pointed. "Holiday Camplands. What do ya thank it is?" I gasped because I remembered the sign I saw the other day. I wanted to tell Daryl but forgot.

"Oh yeah!" I said excitedly. "I saw another sign back there. I fergot to tell ya about it!"

"Hm. Ya thank it's a community?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Probably."

"Well, only one way to find out fer sure." My brother said. I gave him a curious look. "Let's go?"

My eyes widened a bit. "Really?" I asked him.

"Yeah." He said. "Let's go." I grew excited. Maybe we can have another nice home.


The sign for that place had directions on it. We followed them and were still a bit far away. We found a truck at some point, though, so that helped a lot.

I had a lot of time to think as we traveled. Daryl drove and I was the navigator. I was getting better than before. I was excited about this Holiday Camplands place before, but as I thought more about it, I grew nervous. "Ya thank there's people there?" I finally asked my brother.

He glanced at me before answering then looked back at the road. "If it's a community then yeah." I sat back in my seat and didn't say anything else. "Why?" Daryl finally asked me. I gave him a nervous look.

"I'm worried about it." I admitted.

"Don't worry. No ones' gonna hurt ya. I'll make sure—

"That's not what I mean." I said cutting him off. "I'm talkin' about all the bad stuff that happened before. Like at Hampton Lake and then that college place. I got pretty bad luck, I thank."

"Don't worry, sweetheart. We won't let that happen again, ya hear me?" He said. "If anythang goes wrong, if ya just get a feelin' ya don't like these people, then we'll leave first thang, okay?"

"Promise?" I said sadly.

"Promise." He said. I believed him and gave him a small smile.

"Uh oh." I heard my brother say. I looked up from the map. Up ahead, there was a ton of walkers blocking the road.

"There's no way we'll get through 'em." I said.

"No." Daryl said. "We gotta take a detour." He began turning the truck around then stopped. "Lemme see that map?" I handed it to him. He stared at it for a while trying to figure out the best route to take. "All right, look." He said to me. "See this path right here?" He traced it with his finger. "I want ya to follow that, got it?"

"Yeah, I thank so." I said.

"I want ya to know so."

"I can do it."

"Good." He started driving again. "Let me know when we turn."

"It won't be fer a while yet." I stated looking down at the map. "We have to go back about two miles first."

"Good girl." He said to me. "It's gonna get dark soon. We're low on gas."

"Yeah." Was all I said.


We followed the detour accordingly and got back to where we needed to then started fresh. I told my brother which turns to make and such. Eventually, though, we ran out of gas.

We left the truck in the middle of the road and started out on foot. It was good while it lasted. This place isn't that much farther ahead, but it will be on foot. And I'm okay with that. I grew more nervous about it by the minute.

"I thank we should set up camp in the woods." Daryl said. "It's too dark now and we don't know if we'll find a place soon."

"Okay." I said.

We found a good enough spot and set up camp as best we could. I built a fire while Daryl set up the barrier of cans and stuff like that around the trees so we would hear if someone or something came by.

I cooked our dinners over the fire, we only had a few of these left. Best to eat them now while we're still on the road. "Foods ready." I called my brother. He came over and sat down on the log across from me. I handed him his food.

"Thanks, baby."

"These ain't as good as they were before." I said scrunching my nose up.

"Gettin' sick 'a them, huh?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Well…hopefully we only gotta do this fer another day or two." He said looking up at the night sky. "We'll leave bright and early tomorra and head fer that place."

"Okay." I swallowed nervously.

We were quiet for a while. I don't know about this. I felt so nervous now. What if this place is bad? What if they try to hurt or kill us? Or maybe it will just be like the other ones? Or worse…what if it's really nice and we stay there? Daryl and I will never be alone again. That scares me. This could be our last night we spend in the woods ever.

Maybe I can stall Daryl for as long as possible. I could fake an injury? Or fake being sick? I thought. No, don't do that. He'll just worry about you. I could just make us stop whenever we see some place worth checking out. I don't know. I sighed.

"Somethin' wrong?" Daryl asked me.

"Nothin'."

"Don't gimme that. There's somethin'. What is it?"

I hesitated. "…this could be the last night we ever spend in the woods."

"Really? That's what's botherin' ya?"

"Yeah." I whined. "I like the time we spent together with just us."

"I liked it, too." He admitted.

"What if that never happens again?"

"Baby, it will always just be you and I, okay? And even if we do stay at this place, we're gonna have to go out on runs. You know I'll bring ya along. You know that."

"Yeah." I said. "But what if—

"Le!" He scolded me. "Quit worryin'. We didn't even get there yet. Fer all we know, this place might not even be there no more."

Oh yeah. I didn't even think of that. I relaxed. "Yer right." I said.

"Course I am." He chuckled. "Now…how 'bout ya keep watch while I sleep?"

"Really? Yer lettin' me keep watch? But what about what happened last time?"

"Don't care." My brother said. "Just do better this time."

I smiled at him. "Okay."


I stayed awake for a long time. I'm glad Daryl got some sleep. I jumped at every noise I heard, though. I pointed my gun ready to shoot in case I had to. Everything seemed to be all right, though. There was no sign of any people around…or walkers.

I sat back and tried to relax. Soon after, I felt tired so I had to reposition myself so I wouldn't get comfortable and fall asleep. I laid there and looked up at the night sky. There were a lot of stars out tonight, and it looked real nice.

I needed something to keep my mind off sleep. I can't go nowhere and leave Daryl and it was too dark to read so I thought of the only thing I could do right then. I started singing lowly.

"I've got another confession to make

I'm your fool

Everyone's got their chains to break

Holdin' you

Were you born to resist or be abused?

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

Are you gone and onto someone new?

I needed somewhere to hang my head

Without your noose

You gave me something that I didn't have

But had no use

I was too weak to give in

Too strong to lose

My heart is under arrest again

But I break loose

My head is giving me life or death

But I can't choose

I swear I'll never give in

I refuse

Has someone taken your faith?

Its real, the pain you feel

You trust, you must

Confess

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

Has someone taken your faith?

Its real, the pain you feel

The life, the love

You die to heal

The hope that starts

The broken hearts

You trust, you must

Confess

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

I've got another confession my friend

I'm no fool

I'm getting tired of starting again

Somewhere new

Were you born to resist or be abused?

I swear I'll never give in

I refuse

Has someone taken your faith?

Its real, the pain you feel

You trust, you must

Confess

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?"

I finished the song and sighed. There was a brief pause.

"That's nice." I heard Daryl say. I looked over at him, he rolled over to face me and smiled.

"Sorry." I told him. "I didn't mean to wake ya."

"Ya didn't. I was tryin' to get to sleep."

"Why didn't tell me to shut up?"

"Cuz I like hearin' ya sang." He said. "And 'sides, I don't really sleep that much no more."

"Me neither." I looked down. Another silence.

"What was that song?" My brother asked me.

I smiled. "It was Best of You by Foo Fighters."

"Ya seem to sang their songs a lot."

"Yeah, well…they was one 'a my favorite bands." I pointed out.

"How come ya never liked country?"

"I like country. I'm named after a country sanger after all." I giggled. "I just…like rock better." I shrugged.

"That's fine." Daryl said. I smiled at him. I didn't know what else to say so we were both quiet for a minute.

"You should try to get some sleep." I told my brother. "I got this. And…we gotta do more travelin' tomorra."

"Yeah, I know." He sighed. "Wish we still had that damn truck." He said rolling back over.

"Me too." I said quietly. I threw a stick in the fire.