This is it.

The sunlight was continuously diminishing in the sky as Daryl, Michonne and Bob silently made their way back to Terminus. Bob was there because he understood Daryl's thinking; Michonne was there because she wasn't about to let them go trotting about the forest by themselves. Everyone else had gone to find shelter before they lost the light of day completely.

Daryl kept repeating to himself the rendezvous point he was supposed to meet up with Rick come sunset. He wanted to trust Rick with every fibre of his being, but Daryl didn't know if Rick had given him enough time to get there, do the job and get back. He knew Rick thought it was a lost cause, but Daryl couldn't leave her.

If someone found my dad…

If someone found her…

He couldn't imagine someone treating her like he'd treated the walker outside the moonshiner's cabin. He couldn't think of her – whatever she was now – wandering around Terminus, until she found a way out and joined the rest of the rotten beasts. She wouldn't want to be that way either. She'd want to be at peace.

"Daryl," Michonne hissed at him, breaking the silence.

Daryl peered over towards her. "What?"

Michonne jerked her head towards the treeline they'd been following; it was hard to miss the herd of walkers stumbling the same way they were heading. Daryl could feel his pace quicken immediately.

"Don't push yourself too hard Daryl," Bob warned. "You're paler than some of the walkers."

"Didn't ask for your advice," Daryl growled. "Or your help for that matter."

"But we're here aren't we?" Michonne responded. "And we're here mainly so your ass doesn't die. So listen to him."

"Whatever," Daryl looked away from them and didn't bother slowing his pace one bit.

. . .

Beth felt like she was going to be sick, or faint – probably both – but she kept running.

She'd broken off from Carol and Tyreese what seemed like hours ago, but she thought she could still hear Carol calling after her; she could still see the look of…was it betrayal or disappointment…on Tyreese's face as she whipped passed him.

Beth's stomach dropped even more just thinking about it.

She'd pushed Carol; someone she thought of as family. She'd shoved her away with every ounce of strength she could muster and sent the woman to the ground. Beth had wobbled herself but had been able to remain on her feet and went straight for her weapons laying on the table. When Beth had turned back around, Tyreese was beside Carol with Judith still in his arm. He had been trying to help Carol up with his free hand when Beth took off.

Before Beth disappeared out the door she had called back, apologizing. She knew better than both of them that it was a stupid impulse; that she was going to get herself killed. But, since she landed in Terminus, every breath she took had to be planned out carefully, and she saw where that got her. Without her sister and Glenn, and without Daryl; and Beth knew she'd rather die trying on a whim, then sitting around calculating and wondering.

Suddenly there was the sound of something snapping and Beth whipped her head around. A walker was tripping through the brush towards her, but she only looked at it for a moment before continuing on. Out run the walkers, only kill them if they're in your path, Beth told herself. She had to make it to the fence without wasting all of herself; the fence would be where the thick of the walkers were.

. . .

The perimeter of Terminus came into view just as the sky began to turn pink. A hoard of walkers were pushing at the fence and more of them were clambering through the open gates. They all looked and sounded the same; covered in filth and moaning in hunger.

"You think we can find her with them?" Michonne asked.

"We have to try," Bob said.

Daryl just nodded and headed toward a corner of the chain link that wasn't completely over run with walkers. Michonne caught up to him quickly.

"I'm not trying to be insensitive, Daryl," she started, "but Rick might not wait for us too long if we show up after dark."

Daryl forced back barking a response at her. She was, after all, right. "Ten minutes. Then we'll head back whether we find her or not."

Michonne nodded and placed her hand on a knife she'd gotten from the weapons bag. "Let's go."

The three of them broke out into a steady jog as they came closer to the fence. Michonne took the lead, cutting down walkers, followed by Daryl and then Bob. As Michonne pulled her knife out of the last walkers she carefully hooked her boot onto the fence and began to climb.

Daryl gritted his teeth as he boosted himself up onto the chain link as well. He felt his freshly sealed flesh burn, but he didn't stop climbing. When all three of them were up and over, Michonne turned to Daryl to lead. He didn't exactly know where to go to look first, but he led anyway, and headed towards the heart of Terminus.

Time ticked away quickly as they moved and no walkers seemed to want to come in their wake. In every alleyway they took, there were hardly any – and out of the ones that were there, none of them had blonde hair draping down their back. As them came closer to the heart however, they could hear the slurry of moans mixing together.

As the three of them rounded the corner, the sea of walkers finally came into view. Daryl took in a breathe, feeling overwhelmed for a moment, but then began to let his eyes dart back and forth as the walkers stumbled. He knew she had to be there with them, and soon he fell entranced searching for her.

"MOVE!"

Suddenly Daryl felt a tug on his arm and looked to see Michonne pulling him back; reaching across his body and towards a walker that had gotten too close for comfort. As she took the walker down and Daryl staggered back and he noticed the mood of the hoard had suddenly shifted.

They'd gotten a whiff of dinner.

Daryl, Michonne and Bob only paused for quick second to exchange glances before they took off alongside the building. Daryl could hear Michonne trying to call which way to head, but her voice was drown out with the intensified groans of the hungry herd. Instead, Daryl took random turns this way and that as he tried to lose them.

He turned down an alleyway that looked clear enough for them to get away, but as they reached the end, it was blocked of by even more walkers; bottlenecking at the end and trying to get the first bite. Daryl whipped out his knife that matched Michonne's and hacked at the ones he could clear away. But every time he killed one, its place was taken by another.

Bob called out, "They're coming in from the other side now!" Daryl turned his head swiftly and saw that Bob was telling the truth. They were going to be blocked in completely soon enough.

Daryl look down another and tried to think. They needed more. They needed more people...and they needed more weapons...or else they wouldn't have a fighting chance. But he sure as hell didn't have any of either present.

He'd let Bob and Michonne come with him on a suicide mission…

"WHAT NOW, DARYL?" Michonne shouted.

Daryl couldn't even look at her, all he could do was uselessly take down the endless stream of walkers. "I…I DON'T KNOW…"

"DARYL!" Michonne yelled again.

Daryl turned away from the walkers then. He didn't care if it got him. He was angry at himself and at Michonne and Bob for coming with him; and angry at the world the way it was. He was to blame for their meaningless deaths that were about to come; and he was to blame for Beth's meaningless death. And he didn't know what else to do but to bark at them that he didn't know what to. But just as those angry words were about to exit Daryl's mouth, a bolt went flying passed his head and into a walker's that coming straight for him.

Seconds after the bolt flew passed him, guns were sounding off and the roar of the crowd overpowered that of the walkers. Feet were moving, stampeding through the alleyway; people Daryl had never seen before were hacking and shooting at the creatures. But all he could focus on was the girl standing before him.

Her blonde hair – caked with blood and dirt – was falling over her shoulder as reloaded the crossbow; and as she looked back up every inch of her skin was coated with it as well. The only indication that set her aside from the walkers (besides being able to load the crossbow) were her bright blue eyes that gleamed as she tossed the crossbow towards him and whipped out a gun.

She smiled as she moved beside him and towards the walkers that blocking exit. He almost thought he heard her call out, "Did you miss me Daryl Dixon?" before she emptied her shell into the herd.