CHAPTER 34

-KATE-

Within the tall fences of their prison home they began to pick up the pieces. The relief was palpable and although their losses were tremendous there was the collective feeling that the storm had passed. The worst was over. It was time to get back to normal, whatever that would look like now. Those who had come down with the flu were improving, thanks to medicine and the care Hershel had provided them with. Today they would move forward. They would mend the fences that had fallen, they would burn the walkers that had broken through, and they would nurse the sick until they were strong again.

Kate propped herself up against the cement wall of the death row cell and stretched her legs across the narrow mattress. She took inventory of her body. The fever was gone and with it the horrible aches. Yesterday it had felt like her bones were made of ice and someone was chipping away at them, but today all that remained were sore muscles, a result of the violent coughing that still plagued her. Her headache had almost disappeared, a slight pressure the only reminder of the pounding force it had been the last two days. She was still exhausted. She'd been sitting up earlier in an effort to convince Daryl that there were better things he could be doing than watching her lay there and cough, and even that had worn her out. She'd watched him reluctantly leave the cell, promising he would be back soon to check on her. When she was sure he wasn't going to change his mind and come back, she'd collapsed back onto the bed, spent and out of breath. But despite the exhaustion, she knew she'd turned a corner and was on the mend and she was both grateful and amazed that she'd pulled through. Last night she was sure it was the end of the road for her.

This morning she was no longer afraid for herself, but her baby consumed her thoughts. She wondered if it was ok, if it was possible for it to survive such a violent illness. She couldn't stop thinking about Lizzie's ominous mention of what could possibly happen if she lost the pregnancy. She was eager to talk to Hershel or to Dr. S. and hoped they could give her some peace of mind.

She also wanted to know how everyone else was doing and what had happened last night after she had passed out. She dreaded hearing whether they had lost anyone, but it seemed inevitable. The last thing she remembered before everything went black was returning to her cell after talking to Carol and as she recalled that conversation Kate also began to feel regret. What had she said when she was half-delirious and burning with fever? Something about thinking Carol loved Daryl too? It was the exact thing that she had sworn to herself she would never bring up - not to anyone, least of all Carol. She groaned quietly and wondered how awkward it would be when she saw her next. Last night, when it seemed unlikely she would live another day, she needed to know someone would be looking out for Daryl, but things looked different this morning and she was embarrassed.

She remembered walking away from Carol, dragging herself up the stairs and into the cell before the blackness dragged her under. After that it was hard to separate reality from dreams and she hadn't even been sure her memory of Daryl returning was true until she woke up this morning still cradled against him, his arm wrapped across her chest, his strong hand gripping her shoulder.

With the IV removed and the medicine in her system, she hoped they would let her move back to her cell. She missed their bed, with the clean sheets and familiar smells. She wanted to put this nightmare behind them and get back to some kind of normal. They'd lost a lot of people and now that they knew this sort of thing was a reality in this new world, it changed things, but they had to move on and it wasn't going to happen on this plastic mattress.

She heard footsteps and knew by the slight drag that it was Hershel. He came into view, on his way towards the stairs. He glanced through the bars of her cell and when he saw her awake and sitting up he headed her way, a warm smile on his face.

"How you feeling today Katie?" He asked, using a name no one else ever used for her except her grandfather and him. He looked exhausted, but there was an energy in his manner that was probably fueled by relief.

"So much better. I'm still really exhausted, but it feels so good to not feel so awful." She smiled at him, her dry lips cracking as they stretched over her teeth. "Thank you so much Hershel, for keeping me alive."

Hershel shook his head. "You owe your thanks to Daryl, Michonne, Tyreese, Bob. They were the ones that got the medicine. They were the ones out there. And Bob was up all night, tending to everyone."

"I am so grateful, I am, but Hershel, I wouldn't have been alive to take the medicine if it wasn't for you. None of us in here would be."

Hershel was a humble man and he changed the subject quickly.

"Speaking of Daryl, where is he? I'm surprised he's willing to let you out of his sight."

"He was here all night. I convinced him this morning that I was ok. He said something about one of the fences falling? I think he was going to go and see if he could help with it. How's Glenn? Daryl said that he was in rough shape when they got in."

"Better. He's breathing on his own. Maggie is with him."

"He wasn't breathing?! Did you have to use a tube?" Kate remembered how lifeless Henry had been when he couldn't breathe on his own and was horrified to think of Glenn in that condition.

Hershel shook his head. "It was close."

"What about Henry?"

Hershel's face fell a little. "He didn't make it Kate. I'm sorry."

It shouldn't have surprised her that Henry was gone. She'd wondered last night how someone could possibly come back from that, he was a shade of gray that looked more walker than living person, but the news still upset her. She had had a stake in his survival, having sat at his side for so long. It gave her a little insight on how Hershel must be feeling about anyone that had succumbed to this illness under his watch.

"Anyone else?" She asked in a small, hesitant voice, afraid of the answer.

Hershel sat on the edge of her bed and sighed. "Norris, his son, Lindsay from Decatur, Becky, Seth and Caleb."

Kate's mouth turned down in an involuntary frown and she struggled to not start crying. The burden had to be heavy for Hershel and she didn't want to add to his pain, but the news was upsetting. She knew them all of course, some better than others, but knowing that Dr. S. was gone hit her particularly hard. They sat in silence for a few moments until she trusted herself to speak without her voice betraying her emotions.

"Is Sasha ok?"

"Better." Hershel seemed to be relieved that he could offer some good news. "Everyone seems to be responding to the drugs. I hesitate to say we are out of the woods, but I'm encouraged."

Kate took a deep breath. "Hershel, Do you think my baby is ok?"

"Honey, I wish I knew the answer to that." His face, a mask of fatherly compassion, was impossible to read. "Have you had any cramping? Bleeding?"

"No. Nothing. I'm not even nauseous anymore, I should be relieved about that, but it just makes me worry."

"Well, all we can do is wait and pray. I wish I had a better answer for you, that we could do something, but you know how limited we are here. Without ultrasound equipment or a heartbeat doppler there is really no way to be sure. A stethoscope won't pick up a heartbeat until about halfway through the pregnancy."

Kate shook her head and looked at her hands in her lap. She abandoned the fight with her tears and watched as two dropped down onto her wrist. She had never done well with the unknown.

Bob appeared in the cell door.

"Hershel, I thought you were heading out to get some fresh air?"

"Had to check on my patient." He said with a smile, patting Kate on the leg and lowering his head so she'd meet his eyes. She looked at him, nodded and attempted a small smile, wiping at her tears.

"Hang in there, Kate. Either way, we'll get through this."

With some effort, he pushed himself into a standing position.

"How are you doing Kate?" Bob asked.

"Much better. Thank you for getting the meds, Bob."

Bob made a face she didn't understand, but she got the feeling he was even more uncomfortable with her gratitude than Hershel was.

"You got a couple bags of fluid in you. I took your IV out early this morning, you slept right through it. I'm glad you're feeling better. Anything you need?"

"Do you think I can move back into C Block?"

Hershel and Bob exchanged glances and Hershel shrugged, "Why not?."

"Maybe we can get you moved back this afternoon. I'd like to keep an eye on you in here for a few more hours." Bob offered.

"Well, I'll leave you two to figure that out. I'm gonna go get that fresh air while I have the chance."

Hershel limped slowly out of the cell and towards the staircase. Bob watched until he disappeared before leaning against one of the cement walls.

"Hershel tell you what went on last night?"

"He told me who we lost."

"From what Maggie was telling me, it got pretty ugly. A couple people turned, one attacked Hershel. Two others were killed coming to his aid. Maggie was helping Rick with the fences when she heard a gunshot and came running up here. She found Hershel wrestling with a walker. He was trying to get the ET tube off its face so he could use it on Glenn. Maggie shot the walker and from the sound of it, they got to Glenn without a moment to spare. Maggie said he was turning blue. He's lucky to be alive this morning."

Kate tried to get the image of a reanimated Henry wrestling with Hershel out of her head.

"Thank God Maggie was there to help him." She knew Hershel had been keeping her busy all night, Glenn and Sasha too, but when he ended up really needing them he was by himself. "Hershel said Glenn was doing better this morning?"

"He is. Breathing on his own. Talking some, although I imagine his throat is pretty raw from the tube. But I think he'll be ok.."

"How'd the run go? Daryl didn't say much about it, just that you guys ran into a herd."

"It went ok." He said, looking down at the floor. "I'm going to let you get some rest Kate. Let me know if you need anything, I'll be around."

-DARYL -

"Gone? What do ya mean, gone?" Daryl demanded.

Daryl hadn't seen Carol this morning. He'd been helping Tyreese repair and reinforce the fences and it surprised him that Carol, normally one of the first to help, wasn't out here doing something. He'd wanted to thank her for checking in on Kate, he wasn't sure if it did any good but he knew he had felt a lot better leaving because Carol was looking out. He'd come down to the garden to ask Rick if he'd seen her this morning, but the last thing he expected was for Rick to say she had left.

Rick glanced nervously towards Carl and back at Daryl.

"Carl, looks like Michonne and Tyreese are heading towards the gate. Want to go open it up for them?"

Carl sighed and gave his father the most annoyed look, but he didn't argue, just turned and stormed away. Rick turned his attention back to Daryl.

"I asked her to leave."

"You what?" Anger simmered in Daryl's eyes. He knew he had to be misunderstanding Rick's meaning. There was no possible way Rick could really mean that he had asked Carol to leave their community permanently.

Rick looked over his shoulder and lowered his voice. It was unnecessary, Daryl and Rick were alone in the garden. Carl was out of earshot and the only other people out here were Michonne and Tyreese and they were bumping along in the jeep, heading towards the gate with a trailer of walkers and full containers of gasoline.

"Daryl, she killed Karen and David. She can't stay here. I won't allow that."

Daryl felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He shook his head in disbelief, challenging Rick's statement with his expression.

"She confessed. She wasn't sorry."

Daryl shook his head again, trying to process the information. It didn't make any sense to him.

"You didn't think you should wait? I thought you were done makin' decisions? It wasn't your call, Rick."

Rick stood firm in his decision.

"I was the one here to make it and I did. What if Kate had gotten sick first? Or Carl? What if Carol had killed one of them? Would you want her to still live here?"

Daryl pushed the idea from his head. He knew he'd rip anyone who hurt Kate to pieces, but he just couldn't picture the Carol he knew being capable of anything like that.

"There has to be another way. She won't survive out there alone."

"She's strong, more of a survivor than we ever gave her credit for. And she's not alone. She insisted on taking Mika and Lizzie."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Daryl growled, approaching Rick angrily, but stopping short. "They're just kids, Rick. How could you let 'em go?"

"Daryl, I couldn't let her stay here and given the choice, they didn't want to stay without her."

Daryl took a couple steps away, rubbing his hands over his face and trying his best to wrap his head around this whole thing.

"She confessed?" Desperation caused his voice to crack.

"She did. Said she was trying to protect us. Said she thought she could stop it."

"I ain't sayin' she was right, but she ain't a murderer Rick."

"I don't know what else you would call it Daryl."

The two men stared hard at each other for a moment.

"She'll be ok. They left this morning, at light. She has food, water, supplies, a car. They'll find a place. People. She's safer out there than she would be in here, once Tyreese finds out."

"You keep tellin' yourself that Rick." Daryl let out a sigh. " You gonna tell Tyreese?"

"I think we owe it to the man."

Daryl nodded. It was true. If something like that had happened to Kate he would want to know, but he didn't think Tyreese would be happy with the justice Rick had doled out on his own. Tyreese would've wanted blood. In that sense Rick had made the right choice, but Daryl kept thinking something different should've been done.

Daryl watched the Jeep speed down the dirt road away from the prison and saw that Carl was making his way back from the gate. He turned to go, but he stopped and headed back towards Rick.

"If you want me to talk to Tyreese with you, let me know."

"I'd appreciate that. Maybe after he and Michonne get through burning the walkers out there."

Daryl nodded again and walked away.

KATE -

Kate decided she couldn't wait until the afternoon to return to her cell. It was hot in A Block and although it wouldn't be any cooler over in C, at least her sweaty body wouldn't stick to the plastic mattress. She had made her way slowly down the steps, hoping she wouldn't run into Bob on the way out. She was afraid he might try to convince her to stay put a little longer. She knew it would be easier for them to keep an eye on everyone recovering if they stayed in one place, but Kate was pretty sure she was going to be ok. She just needed some rest and she knew she would do that better in her own bed.

The prison was eerily silent. Before the flu if you moved from block to block or found yourself in the hallways leading to the library or cafeteria, you'd usually pass by others going about their business. It had reminded her of a bee hive, everyone heading somewhere. Everyone busy. But today the passageways were empty.

Except for Beth and Judith, C Block was quiet too. They were sitting on the floor of Beth's cell playing with red plastic cups. It was currently Judith's favorite toy and Daryl always joked that she was going to be a party girl.

"Hey." Beth called out, getting to her feet to greet her. She was clearly surprised to see Kate up and about. "How are you doing?"

"A lot better. Your dad is my hero." Kate stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Just heading up to sleep in my own bed."

"Ok. I'm glad you're ok. I was really worried about you."

"Thanks. Me too."

Kate put one foot after the other on the steps to the top of C Block. By the time she reached the second floor she was out of breath and dizzy, but as she fell on her soft bed and buried her head into her own pillow she knew it was worth it. She fell asleep almost immediately.

The great boom rocked the prison and tore her from her sleep. Her first thought was earthquake and then she reminded herself she wasn't in California anymore. Did Georgia even get earthquakes?

"What was that?!" Beth yelped over Judith's cries. Kate sat on the edge of the bed, her hands shaking, and shoved her feet into her boots. She grabbed her holster belt and wrapped it around her hips. She hurried down stairs, afraid to push too hard with running, afraid to go too slow.

"Do you have your gun? Your knife?" She asked Beth as she came to the ground floor, fastening the buckle at her waist.

Beth stood cradling a wailing Judith protectively in her arms. "Ya, but I don't want to take Judy out there. Not until we know what's going on."

Kate nodded, "I'll go look, I'll come back and let you know."

Kate ran out from the cell block, through the common room and out the big, metal gate to the courtyard. The first thing she saw was one of the guard towers in flames. Daryl stood at the fence on the edge of the courtyard, Rick beside him looking across the grassy field towards the gate. Others were making there way out there too. Kate sped across the blacktop and stopped next to Maggie. There on the other side of the perimeter fence stood a tank, flanked on either side by several vehicles and at least a dozen armed people, probably more. Standing on top of the tank was a man, and when he shouted across the field in a calm and collected voice, he knew Rick's name.

"Rick, we need to talk."

Kate turned to Maggie and whispered, "Is that the Governor?" Kate had never seen the man, even when he had attacked the prison it was too chaotic and dark to remember any faces, but who else would know Rick's name. Maggie nodded, her face stoney and pale.

"It's not up to me!" Rick shouted back. There was fear in his voice and that made Kate afraid too. "There's a council. They run this place."

"Is Tyreese on the council?"

Kate squinted into the sun and watched in horror as a man crossed in front of the tank, disappeared behind the open door of one of the vehicles and emerged with Tyreese. With his beefy arms tied behind his back and dozens of weapons waiting for an excuse he had no choice but to kneel as the much smaller man pushed him to the ground. She heard Sasha whimper behind her.

"Michonne?" The Governor asked.

A woman pulled Michonne from the vehicle and pushed her towards Tyreese. The two knelt there, bound and vulnerable.

"I don't make decisions anymore." Rick shouted across the field.

Kate looked at Rick. Even though there was a council, she didn't think anyone had really stopped thinking of Rick as their leader. Not in their group anyway, but she knew that Rick had desperately wanted to shed that responsibility. It wasn't just because of Carl, it was for his own soul too. He saw the man he was turning into and it scared him. But despite the efforts he had made, here they were again. It was agonizing.

"You're making the decisions today Rick. Come down here, let's have that talk."

Daryl and Rick exchanged a look and a nod. Rick reached out and laid a hand on his son's neck, "We can do this." Kate wasn't sure if it was to comfort Carl or to convince himself.

As Rick headed slowly down the gravel path, Daryl turned to where Kate and Sasha stood.

"We can't take them all on, we'll go through the admin building, through the woods like we planned. We ain't got the numbers no more. When was the last time someone checked the stash on the bus?"

"Day before we hit the Big Spot, running low on rations then, we're lower now." Sasha said without taking her eyes off her big brother.

"We'll manage. Things go south, everyone head for that bus, let everybody know." Daryl looked at her and she knew he meant for her to get on the bus too.

They watched as Rick walked past the overturned prison bus and approached the fence. He looked so exposed down there, small against the backdrop of the tank and Kate wondered how he'd get them out of this. They couldn't hear the exchange from here, but Kate tried to convince herself that they would be ok. They'd gotten through things before, when it looked like there was no way. They'd escaped the CDC, they'd encountered herds, the fall of the farm. Even the Governor had attacked them before, hadn't he? They'd beaten him twice. Rick would figure something out. He always did. This was their home, they'd worked so hard, could the universe be that cruel?

Daryl started handing out guns. He moved slowly, trying to not to draw attention to them. She took one in her hand and hoped she wouldn't have to use it. They readied themselves at the fence, eyes glued to Rick's back as he continued to negotiate. She could hear Carl whispering to Daryl, insisting he could take the Governor from here, that he could end it. Daryl was encouraging him to trust his dad, not to do anything that would start something. It was a testament to Daryl's trust in Rick. There was a time someone would have had to talk Daryl out of shooting first.

As they stood at the fence, guns aimed, holding their breath and hoping for some sign that things were being resolved, the minutes seemed to tick by slowly, but all at once it became a blur. The Governor leapt from the tank to the grassy ground and grabbed Michonne's sword, crossing to Tyreese and holding the weapon to his neck. Rick began to gesticulate wildly, his arms opened wide in a pleading gesture. Pleading for Tyreese. Pleading for Michonne. Pleading for the rest of their lives and the home they had built here. Kate could hear Sasha's breathing at her side, fast and loud and full of fear.

The Governor reached back with the sword and swung it hard.

Kate closed her eyes before the sword made contact with Tyreese, but she knew by the anguish in Sasha's scream that it was over. Rick's voice tore through the air, "Noooo!" and the prison yard was filled with the angry sound of gunfire.

They moved through the forest slowly. If there was a silver lining to be had, it was that slower typically equaled quieter and quiet didn't draw many walkers. They'd only had to put down a total of four since they'd ran from the fiery and crumbling remains of the prison, but Kate knew they wouldn't stay lucky forever and she eyed the darkening sky with a bit of panic.

Judith let out the first whimpers of what promised to be a full on cry and Kate met Beth's nervous eyes with her own.

"She's hungry." Beth said.

"Do you have anything for her?" Hershel asked, his eyes creased with worry.

When Kate had run back into the cell block to warn Beth that they had to get out, Beth had already been standing in the common room ready to go. Judith was on one hip and a backpack, stuffed to the gills was thrown over her opposite shoulder. Kate knew somewhere in that bag there had to be something for Judy.

"I have a bottle for her, we'd just have to stop for a minute so I can mix it. I think I can manage to walk and feed her."

Hershel nodded and Beth handed Judith off to Kate before she dropped to her knees between two trees, rummaging through the backpack. She pulled out a bottle, already filled with water and unscrewed the top. She set it on the forest floor and uncapped the canister of formula, dropping a scoopful into the water. She put the formula back into the backpack, zipped it up, capped the bottle and shook it. Judith was reaching for it before Beth had even stood. She took the baby in her arms and Judith eagerly began sucking on the bottle. Beth smiled in relief and they continued on their hunt for shelter. They hadn't gone twenty yards when Kate heard Beth cry out behind her. She turned quickly, knife in hand, expecting to see a walker. Instead Beth was sitting on the forest floor, Judith still working on the bottle and completely unphased.

"It's my ankle. I stepped on a rock and rolled it." She said, her voice high and strained. She was rubbing her ankle with her free hand.

Hershel went to her quickly, assessing the injury with concern.

"It doesn't seem to be broken, but sprains can be worse sometimes. Let's see if you can walk on it."

Hershel took Judith in his arms and he and Kate helped Beth to her feet. She took a step forward, gingerly putting weight on the offending ankle. She sucked in her breath sharply and winced.

"It hurts pretty bad, but I know we can't stop."

"We can definitely rest, see if it feels any better." Kate offered.

Beth shook her head, eyeing the sky. "No, we have to find some place soon. We can't get stuck out here."

They pushed forward, a miserable looking quartet. They weren't the soldiers of the group to begin with, but with Kate still recovering from the flu, Hershel's limitations with his leg and now Beth's injury, they were even weaker than normal. Add to the mix a baby who could begin to cry at any moment and they were about as vulnerable as they could get.

Kate took over the responsibility of Judith while Hershel tried to support Beth as she walked.

"It's kind of like the blind leading the blind." He joked, trying to make light of the pitiful sight they made.

They'd talked about the escape plan a lot in the months they spent at the prison. How they would get everyone out. What they would do about the elderly, the children, the infirm. What they would take and what supplies they would need. In the end it did them little good. The prison fell fast and violently and those who had made their home there were scattered like leaves in the wind. In the chaos Kate didn't know who had made it on the bus, who had been killed and who had escaped, like they had, into the woods. She tried not to panic about being separated from Daryl, but she could feel it welling up from the middle of her chest. She just had to hold it together long enough to find someplace safe.

As the Governor's tank rolled over the first fence, Kate had turned and run for the prison, screaming for Beth to get Judith and run to the bus. Maggie had passed them on the way out, promising she'd meet them there, she just had to find Glenn.

The bus stood in the courtyard, a great, gray metal behemoth with a huge piece of corrugated metal bolted to one side, forming a shield. Their boots pounded across the blacktop and they ducked their heads uselessly at the cracking sound of constant gunfire. Beth was halfway up the steps of the bus and Kate was about to tell her that she wasn't getting on, that she wouldn't leave without Daryl, when Beth turned back towards her, eyes wide with panic.

"Where are the kids? Lizzie, Mika, Luke, Molly - none of them are here. We have to go find them!"

Without a word Kate ran back towards the prison, but was dismayed to find Beth on her heels with Judith in tow.

"Beth, get Judith back on the bus!." She shouted over her shoulder. "I'll find them, I'll bring them back."

"No. I'll help you."

They both knew they didn't have time to argue and so they ran through the C Block common room into the dark passageways of the prison, shouting out the names of the children as they went and with each blast that shook the prison, crumbling cement showering down on them, they grew more panicked.

They found Hershel in the corridor between A and C, making his way slowly to the outside.

"What are you two doing in here? You should be on the bus." He said, clearly frustrated to find them still in the prison.

"Have you seen any of the kids?" Beth asked. "We've been looking and we haven't found any of them."

"No, they're probably on the bus by now and that's where you should be too."

They headed back to the yard to find it in ruins. There were huge holes in the walls of the prison and the catwalk that spanned the distance between C Block and D was destroyed. The BBQ area was torn apart, picnic tables overturned and supplies scattered across the ground. The tank stood smoking in the middle of it all, surrounded by bodies slowly reanimating. Walkers poured in from the forest. The noise had drawn them in and without the fences they moved freely throughout the yard. The bus was gone and there wasn't a soul in sight.

Kate froze there in the torn up courtyard, amid the smoking remains of the prison. She was afraid to look too closely at the bodies. Afraid to find someone she loved, afraid to find Daryl. She didn't want to leave, not without him, but the courtyard was unsafe and becoming worse by the minute. So instead she stood there, unable to make herself choose. It was Hershel who finally made the decision, pulling on her arm gently.

"Come on. We can't stay here, let's see if we can find anyone in the woods."

But they didn't. The bus had left deep tire tracks in the mud outside of the prison, but they lost them once the tracks met the road. They had tried to follow that for some time, hoping they'd find their people eventually, but they weren't trackers and they had no way of knowing for sure they were even going in the right direction. Eventually they spotted a pack of walkers in the distance too big for them to take on themselves and they were forced back into the woods.

In Southern California it seemed you couldn't throw a stone without hitting a building of some kind. The thought of wandering for miles without a house in sight was the most foreign of concepts to Kate, although she'd learned the lesson well enough after the fall of the farm. It was also strange to her that there were spots where the trees were so thick you couldn't even tell there were homes a few yards away. This was how they found shelter that night, right before the last light left the sky. It was a medium sized house on a big piece of wooded land. In the morning Kate would be able to see that there were a few other houses that could be spied from the front porch, one burned and uninhabitable, but the encroaching darkness prevented them from seeing that far. They had approached the house cautiously, their guns drawn. Kate could hear her heart beating in her ears. There was no sign of life or walker at the front of the property, and they made their way to the house where Kate slowly took the four steps leading up to a long narrow porch. Hershel stopped halfway up, his left hand holding a flashlight that at dusk did little to light up the front of the house, and a gun in his right. Like she had been trained Kate knocked loudly on one of the windows, waiting for any growling to come from the other side. Nothing. She moved to the large, white front door and pulled the screen open.

"Looks like someone broke in at some point." She pointed to where a crowbar had damaged the wooden casing of the door. "Maybe the place will be clear."

"Be careful Kate." Hershel warned. "Whoever went in may still be in there, alive or not quite."

Kate turned the knob and the door easily gave way, the previous forced entry leaving the lock useless. If they were going to stay here they'd have to figure out a way to secure the door. Kate stepped into the small living room of the quiet house, Hershel's flashlight lighting their path. They quickly cleared the front room and the adjacent kitchen and dining room before setting their sights on the hallway that presumably led to the bedrooms.

"Bethie, you sit on that couch with Judith and we'll clear the place." Hershel instructed.

Beth limped to the large couch, it was covered in a cheap velveteen fabric with a large floral print in browns and rust. She settled into the far corner, her back to the wall, Judith comfortable on her lap. Kate and Hershel cleared the bedrooms, three of them in total, and the bathroom. The kitchen had been empty, both of walkers and food. Whoever had gone through this place before, and it very likely was one of their own group sometime in the last year, had done a thorough job of clearing out anything edible. Hershel found a pillowcase in the linen closet and tore it into long strips to wrap Beth's swelling ankle as best he could. He shoved a pillow from the couch under her leg and ordered her to stay put. Kate pushed the love seat in front of the door, hoping if something tried to come through it, it would at least slow it down.

At the far side of the house, opposite the hall of bedrooms, was a door leading into a musty garage. There was enough scrap wood to secure the windows and doors, but they elected to not draw attention with the sounds of hammering. If they stayed here for any length of time it might be worth it, but for the night it seemed safer to keep quiet. They returned to find Judith asleep on Beth's shoulder.

"I'll take first watch, out here." Hershel said. "You guys go and try and get some sleep."

"You sure Daddy?" Beth asked. "I don't think you got much sleep the past couple nights."

"No, but Judith is asleep now and so you should sleep while you can and Kate, you're still weak. You need to get some rest, for you and the baby."

The girls didn't argue, just headed down the dark hallway to the comfort of soft beds. Despite her exhaustion, Kate had her doubts about being able to sleep. This morning it had worn her out to just go up the stairs, and then she'd spent the better part of the day traipsing through the woods. Her body was done, she was sore and weary. She felt like she was depleted of every nutrient, and then realized there was some truth to that. She'd barely eaten anything yesterday and today there had only been a couple granola bars split between the four of them. But more than anything she felt profound loss. Their home had been destroyed. The home they had worked so hard to create. But they could get through it, mourn, find somewhere else to live and rebuild. Even if it meant wandering for seven months again. But without Daryl none of that mattered to her. She felt utterly lost, vulnerable and heartbroken.

When they were coming up with their emergency escape plan, why hadn't anyone thought to suggest a meeting place? Hadn't they learned their lesson after the fall of the farm? They had come so close to losing each other then, how had they allowed themselves to be in this awful situation.

For the first time since she'd known Daryl they were separated with neither of them knowing where the other one was. The world suddenly felt gigantic. Hot tears stung her eyes and her nose started to run, irritating her throat and causing her to cough. She sat up in a stranger's bed, trying to catch her breath and calm herself down. She took a deep breath and chastised herself. Crying wasn't going to help her find Daryl and neither was being holed up in this house. She needed to pull herself together, come up with a plan and get some sleep.