Kate spent the night in Zach's room surrounded by his sketches. She'd poured over them again and again, examining every stroke and line until sleep had claimed her. Now morning was breaking brightly through the window, waking her up to the nightmares. Her fingers brushed the bruises on her arm, neck and head with a groan.

Kate picked up the well-worn copy of The Hobbit from Zach's side table and flicked through the pages. The house stood in stillness. She'd asked everyone to leave but even if they had stayed, the house would still have been empty. She flicked back to the first page and let Tolkien lead her down the hobbit hole as she shut out the passage of time which seemed to move so slowly.


Daryl woke up with a gun in his face while memories of yesterday and last night started to race around his mind. With Sasha and Abraham he'd managed to lure half of the walker herd away from Alexandria but on their way home they had been attacked by strangers. The position of the sun through the trees made him realise that he must have been out cold all night. A whole night away from Kate and he had no idea what had happened to her.

"Get up," the man said and Daryl did as he was asked as he studied the three people who had captured him. If they wanted to kill him they could have done it by now.

As Daryl followed the man and two women through the charred forest he looked for chances to escape while he listened to their conversation. He realised that these people were running away from some other group and they seemed to think he was a part of it. They were scared and maybe he could use that to his advantage.

"My name's Daryl…" he caught the eye of the blonde woman as she turned to look at him.

"I don't care what your name is! Keep quiet and keep moving..." the man said as he pointed the gun in Daryl's face once more.

"I ain't wantin' to cause you people any trouble… I just wanna get home… I ain't who you think I am an I have a… family…" Kate and Zach, Carol and Rick, all of the people he had been fighting alongside were his family. But especially Kate and especially if what Glenn had suggested was true. Daryl felt a flutter of something in his chest and he could hardly breathe.

"Dwight," the blonde girl said softly as she looked at Daryl. He smiled while he tried to keep his shit together but he was having an even bigger panic attack at the thought of not getting home.

"He'd say anything," Dwight insisted before pushing Daryl to keep him moving. If they wouldn't let him go he would just have to bide his time until an opportunity arose to get away.

While Daryl walked along the blackened forest the brunette woman told the blonde about how she and Dwight had burned the forest to kill the local walkers. Daryl was impressed and he recalled the way Rick had punched Aaron in the face when they had first met. He wondered if he should invite these people back to Alexandria. Daryl could hardly blame them for tying him up. They didn't seem like bad people, the way they talked to each other, looked out for each other. It could be anyone from his group in this situation. They were just scared and desperate. He had to convince them that they could trust him.

"I'm from a community… women, children… we got a doctor, a preacher, police, an our own congresswoman…" He saw that the women were softening as they looked at each other. Daryl knew that places like Alexandria were like finding a goldmine. "We even got hot runnin' water…"

"Bullshit!" said Dwight.

"What if it's the truth?" asked the brunette.

"We'll make it on our own Sherry. Even if he's not one of Negan's men, we still can't trust him."

Dwight was a problem but the women seemed more understanding. "I'm gettin' married…" Daryl said and the words felt so strangely foreign to his mouth that he could barely spit them out. "Her name's Kate… she's a damn firecracker, an' I promised her I'd come home."

Daryl made a slow methodical movement to his pocket to retrieve the folded up piece of paper. It was awkward with his bound hands but eventually he managed. He unfolded the picture Zach had sketched for him and smiled before sighing and worrying that he might never see her again. "We have a kid that lives with us… he drew this-"

Dwight snatched the paper from his hands and the two women looked at it over his shoulder, "whys she got a sword to your throat?" asked Sherry.

"Didn't I say she was a firecracker?" Daryl laughed nervously. It probably wasn't the most intimate of pictures but it was all he had.

"I don't remember any woman with a sword… and look at the background…" the blonde woman began.

"Tina's right… if there was someone who could sketch like this then Negan would probably have posters of himself all over the camp," Sherry said the last part bitterly. Daryl started to wonder who the hell this Negan was.

"Alright!" Dwight took several steps away from Daryl ushering the women with him where they spoke in whispers. When he returned he shoved the picture back in Daryl's pocket, "come with us to find Patty and we'll take you back to your people, but we want to scope it out first."

"Can't work like that, two of my people are waitin' for me in the town…the men who I think were lookin' for ya'll shot at us, split us up…"

"If that's true then they'll be long gone now," Dwight said.

"They'll be there," Daryl grunted and his three new acquaintances all looked at each other with indecision. "Look ya'll either trust me or you don't, I just wanna get home."

Sherry took a knife from Dwight and cut the ties at Daryl's wrist as she said "you can help us or you can run."

Daryl considered both options before deciding to stay. No matter how much he wanted to run home to Kate he didn't like the idea of abandoning these people. He rubbed the tender skin at his wrists and followed the trio to 'Pattrick Fuel Company.'

"She's not here," said Dwight.

"What ya'll lookin' for anyway?" asked Daryl.

Before anyone could answer Tina collapsed to the ground. Dwight threw the big bag he was carrying down , pulling out Daryl's crossbow and then a medical cooler. They gave the woman a shot of insulin while Daryl crept towards his crossbow and claimed it back from the man. If they were going to be coming home with him then they couldn't be stealing his shit.

"Like I said we have a doctor, houses… she'll be safer comin' with me but we gotta go now, I ain't waitin' 'round." He had enough of following these three like a damned headless chicken. He knew Abraham and Sahsa would wait for him but he didn't know for how long and as every second ticked by he became even more desperate to see Kate.

"Where?" Tina asked as she started to recover.

"We'll head back the way we came." All they had to do was retrace their steps.


Ignoring the question that kept forcing itself to the forefront of her mind was impossible. Where was Daryl? She threw down The Hobbit and paced towards the window to look out once more. Rick had told her to "wait." But waiting for him was making her restless and the guilt over Zach and Spencer's death was making her crazy. She grabbed her sword and fastened it around her waist as she ran down the stairs.

Kate took a deep breath as she opened the front door and stepped outside. The fresh air filled her lungs while the sun warmed her face and for a split second it was a normal day. Then the feelings of guilt and worry began to choke her again as she gripped her sword and began to walk. Where she was going she wasn't sure but sitting around was unbearable. She needed to do something. She couldn't wait and hide in her house, no matter how much part of her wanted to.

She passed Jessie and then Tobin. Every time Kate caught someone's eye her stomach flipped over. She was paranoid that she had been spotted last night or that someone would just 'know'. Like 'I murdered Spencer' was written across her face. She spotted Deanna in the distance talking to Rick and fell back in the cover of a nearby house as her heart thudded painfully.

You had no choice, Kate told herself repeatedly as she stood up straight and tried to at least pretend she was composed. She walked back out onto the street and towards the platform where she had executed Spencer. She forced herself up the ladder then forced her eyes to look over the wall. There was nothing there. Spencer was gone. She stared at the sea of walkers and felt once more like a terrible person.

When Daryl came home she wasn't sure she deserved him, or to be happy. Harry, Ryan, Zach, Louis, Spencer, Pete, Ron, Sam, Deanna, Reg. The list of regrets was ever growing.

Kate rubbed the headache at her temples and felt exhausted as she stared blankly into the distance. Worse than facing Daryl after the terrible things that had happened was the idea that Daryl wasn't coming home. What if she was just waiting here for a man that would never return? Kate felt nauseous and sank to her knees as her heart raced. He should have been back by now.

She couldn't stay here. Kate had to get out of Alexandria.


Daryl found the spot where he had hidden his bike and now Dwight was helping him push it back towards town as the two women followed. He spotted the overcooked walker that he had lay down next to yesterday after he had fallen from his bike. Even though it was burnt down to practically nothing its head was still turning in anticipation towards them. There was something about the fact that it was wearing a motorcycle helmet that made him want to put the thing out of its misery.

With barely any force Daryl pulled at the helmet and ripped the walker's entire head from its body to the sound of a sickening pop. He held it in his hands with a grimace before he caught the horrified look on Tina's face. "Ain't right… leavin' it like this…" he nodded to the head before he crushed it down on a jagged tree stump like he was breaking open a coconut. Not that Daryl had ever had a coconut, but he'd seen it on an adventure movie he watched as a kid.

Sherry found a metal sign in the dirt and held it up, 'Pattrick'. "Do you think Patty could be around here?" they all scanned the tree line before spotting the missing truck which was buried in vines and leaves.

Daryl and Dwight cleared the branches then killed the walker who was in the trucks cabin. Patty's engine started first time and the women cheered while Daryl felt relieved. They could get back home even faster now.

"Get back," Dwight shouted as he aimed his handgun at Daryl's face. The redneck didn't have time to pull out his crossbow so he just raised his hands and tried to keep the situation calm.

"What are you doing?" Tina grabbed Dwight's arm.

"We have the truck, we don't need him now."

"What about his group? They have a Doctor," Sherry looked between the two men and then at Tina while Daryl started to regret his decision to help these people.

He'd thought convincing Kate to come home with him when he had first met her was bad enough. At least she'd only held him at gun point the one time. His fingers touched the outside of the pocket which contained the folded up piece of paper.


Kate made her way to the armoury. She hated the idea of seeing Olivia, but it was seeing the place where Zach had taken his final breaths that filled her with dread. She stood across the street from the steps that lead to the weapons. In the exact same spot she had hid from the wolves with Zach yesterday. Was it only yesterday that they had stood there? "Just go," Kate whispered to herself. It was like ripping off a plaster, she had to do it hard and fast. She swallowed the lump in her throat before running down the stairs two at a time, barely looking at anything for more than a moment.

Olivia stood just inside the doorway clutching her clipboard with her broken glasses resting on her nose and a look of fright on her face.

"Stay out of my fucking sight," Kate hissed and clenched her fists as she watched the woman hurry away. Kate may have been a killer but at least she had never killed someone because she was utterly incompetent. She'd never killed an innocent boy like Zach. She half drew her sword and almost followed Olivia to wherever she had scurried off to before she thought better of it and headed for the weapons.

Kate grabbed an assault rifle which she recognised and picked up a round of ammunition, checking that it fit into the chamber. When she was sure she had the right ammunition she picked up a box and ran home as quickly as her legs could carry her. She didn't want to see anyone or talk to anyone. She just wanted to get away.

Kate ran up the stairs to Zach's bedroom and found the empty backpack on the back of the door before she noticed the sketch of 'Captain Washington' which had fallen under the bed. She kneeled down and reached across the dusty floor to rescue the piece of paper. A soft laugh escaped Kate's lips as she ran her fingers over the likeness of the teenager. She considered taking it with her but didn't want it to get ruined. She put the drawing on Zach's desk, next to his pencils and a half empty mug of cold coffee.

Kate filled the backpack with a bottle of water, her pictures of Harry and the box of ammo before she threw it on her shoulders. Then she walked to the bookshelf in her lounge and scooped up and armful of books along with the box of matches from the top of the fireplace before she returned to the platform where she had killed Spencer.

"What are you doing?" Erin asked as Kate was climbing up the ladder with the last of her books.

Kate sighed and tried to ignore the other woman as she began to tear the books in half down the spine. The sound of the paper ripping made her flinch. There was something awful about destroying books.

Erin climbed up after her and started to help tear the books while asking, "what are we doing this for?"

Kate snatched the book out of her hand, "we're not doing anything… you and me… this is not a thing… go home…"

"I can't… I can't stop thinking about what we did. I saw Deanna and I was almost sick."

Kate stared at Erin for a heartbeat before opening the box of matches and lighting the first book. She wasn't sure what Erin expected her to do or say. Kate was hardly the expert in handling emotions. Suppression and anger were her default settings. She either wanted to hit something or keep running until she forgot why she was running in the first place.

She lit the books one by one, throwing some left and some right. The flames caught the eyes of the walkers and the sea of bodies began to part. Then she began to throw her burning books even further away to make as wide a gap as possible.

"What are you doing?" Erin asked again.

"I'm leaving."

"No," Erin shrieked as she grabbed Kate's arm. "You have to stay!"

"I can't!" Kate pulled away from Erin. The books were all used up and it was time to go. She swung one leg over the wall before she had a chance to change her mind and slid down one of the support struts. The friction from the metal had burned at her hand but she landed on the ground with more ease than she had anticipated. There was no time to wait around and no turning back as the dead began to turn their hungry gaze towards her.

Kate drew her sword and sliced through the two nearest walkers as she began to run. The sounds of Erin's cries and calls for Kate to "come back," faded as she left Alexandria far behind.


A/N Thank you to everyone who is still reading and who has favourited my story and big thanks to my reviewers. Especially jeanf and galwidanatitud, I look forward to your feedback every time I post, I swear you guys keep me going back to the keyboard :)