A/N: Hello my lovely fans whom I have neglected so! Well, I have finally been able to get this chapter the way I want it so here it is. And next chapter will be number FIFTY! Can you believe it? I want to do something super special for you guys then, but I don't know what. So if you have any suggestions, drop them in a review or message me and I'll do my best to do it! But here we go starting season three and it is going to be a blast! Anyway, please read and review, I love you all!

One month later and nothing had changed. The days passed in a slow blur of running and fighting with the ever present gnawing of hunger in our bellies. I had gotten healthy again, against all the odds, about two weeks ago. Hershel had been losing hope that I would recover when the fever finally broke for good and I slowly got my strength back. Now we were living on the road, sleeping in the cars and continuously driving to avoid walkers. Lori was about to pop, her swollen belly looking so out of place on her too thin body. Right now we were sitting on another abandoned stretch of highway, waiting for Rick to give to okay to go out and look for food. I was sitting in the car with Maggie and Beth who looked exhausted.

"Addie!" Daryl called and jerked his head towards a grove of trees on the side of the road. I took the blanket I had wrapped around my shoulders and put it over Beth before walking over to him.

"What's up?" I asked, rubbing my hands together for heat.

"I'm going to take Rick on a hunt, need you to keep an eye on things around here," he said, taking his hunting knife out of his boot and handing it to me.

I nodded as he walked to grab his crossbow and met up with Rick a few yards away and headed into the trees. I looked around our small group who were all sitting quietly and I tried to remember the last time I'd heard laughter in the camp.

"Where are they going?" Lori asked me, rubbing her belly and looking after her husband who was disappearing into the woods.

"Hunting, we're really low on food," I told her. Lori never looked happy any more. None of us were ever really happy but Lori always looked like she was on the verge of giving up, she didn't have the same fire in her that she had back at the farm. She and Rick barely even spoke any more, and I had to wonder if it was because of what happened between him and Shane.

"Just the two of them?" She asked, worry lines appearing on her forehead. Now we always traveled in groups, most of the time the hunting parties consisted of at least three.

"They'll be fine, they won't go far," of course I didn't know that but I couldn't have her panicking. Hershel said too much stress would cause her to go into labor, and that was not something I wanted to deal with right now, especially since there was a herd of walkers only a few miles back. We'd left them pretty far behind but I couldn't help but glance over my shoulder.

She walked away, a glazed look in her eye and I looked after her, feeling sorry for her. It was easy to hate her and blame her, but I knew Shane would want me to look after her, plus her baby could very well be my niece or nephew. I quickly did a head count: Lori, Carol, Hershel, Maggie, Beth, Glenn, Carl, and T-Dog. Everyone was here and safe. I busied myself with making a small fire on the side of the road, struggling a bit to get the wet sticks to light. These days I couldn't sit still, staying busy was the only way to keep my mind from wandering and that was something I definitely did not want to do.

Once the fire was going, I went to the car and pulled out the bag of food, taking a quick inventory. Not much: two packs of crackers, a few strips of beef jerky that was like leather, four cans of soup and about ten bottles of water. We were going to be in trouble if we didn't get more soon. I saw something in the bottom of the bag and pulled it our. Seeds. There were a dozen packets of seeds lying in the bag. I couldn't help but smile, Hershel was definitely a farmer. I put the bag back and then looked at our weapons supply, which wasn't much better. I sighed and stopped, this was too depressing.

I looked out to the trees, wishing they would hurry up, it would be dark in another couple of hours. Daryl's jacket was wrapped around me, holding in what little heat there was, but the days were starting to get warmer and we were all looking forward to the promise of spring. I thought back to last spring, thinking about how far we had come.

We had just left home and were on our way to Atlanta when we met up with some of the others on the highway. Carol and Ed were the first two we came across, sitting on the side of the road in the traffic jam, everyone trying to get into the city where there was a promise of a refugee center. Carl and Sophia were playing checkers in the back of Carol's car and Lori, Shane, and I were talking about what to do next. Shane was fiddling with the radio but the emergency broadcast system had quit playing the bulletin about the center and we were starting to worry if they were turning people away.

Shane and Lori decided to go into the woods and see if they could get a better look at the city and I was too anxious to sit still so I went on a walk down the road to clear my head. It was crammed with cars and frantic people trying to figure out what was going on in this new world. I wove my way in and out, a gun tucked inside my waistband as Shane had instructed. He and I were both licensed to carry and weren't taking any chances with these cannibalistic freaks wandering around. When I was walking some guy grabbed my arm and started screaming about needing to find his daughter.

"I have to find Lucy! She's all alone and I can't find her anywhere!" He screamed at me, nails digging into my arm.

"Sir, I don't know Lucy but I'll help you look for her if you want," I tried to stay calm but he was sweating and there was a bloody bandage over his arm.

"I have to find her!" He dug in my arm even harder and I let out a cry as he came close to breaking the skin. I spun and kicked him in the stomach and he stumbled to the ground sobbing. I caught sight of my reflection in a car mirror and saw my wide, fearful eyes and crazy hair flying in the wind.

"Hey," a gruff voice called and I turned, poised to punch someone if they grabbed me. "Whoa, easy girl. I was just gonna see if you were okay," a tall, broad shouldered man stood in front of me, blazing blue eyes and soft brown hair. His drawl immediately identified him as a native southerner. The man who had grabbed me got back up and the stranger punched him in the nose and yelled for him to get lost. The man stumbled away, leaving me alone with my rescuer.

"I'm okay," I told him, relaxing just a bit as the adrenaline left my body. Another man came up behind him, a little shorter but broader with a buzzed head. He looked far more intimidating with his sneer and my muscles tensed again.

"What is a pretty little thing like you doing out here all by your lonesome?" The second guy asked.

"I'm not alone. I'm with my brother. He should be here any second," I told him, refusing to show fear but I was afraid.

"Well he shouldn't leave you out her alone, things are going to shit and a lady like you needs protecting," okay, scratch being afraid, I was pissed.

"Oh yeah? I think I can take care of myself just fine," I said harshly, flashing my gun and he whistled, holding up his hands.

"Wow, careful with that thing or you might hurt yourself."

"It's you who's going to get hurt if you don't back up," I ordered, hand still resting on the holster just in case he decided to try his luck.

"Merle, lay off," the first guy said and my eyes focused back on him.

"Whatever you say lil' brother," he said with a sneer and I let go of the gun.

"So what's your story?" I asked them, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Trying to stay alive. My brother and me are just trying to get outta this jam so we can hit the woods, figure that's our best shot," Merle said, cockiness radiated from him like heat and I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

I looked at the younger one and asked, "What's your name?"

"That there is Darylina," Merle called with a smirk and I rolled my eyes, ignoring him.

"Daryl," the younger said and I smiled.

"Well nice to meet you Daryl, wish I could say the same about your brother. My name is Adeline," Daryl gave a half smile and Merle looked dejected.

"Adeline!" A frantic Shane called and I turned back to see him rushing down the road looking for me. I lifted my arms and waved them in the air for a moment before he saw me and came over. "I've been looking everywhere for you," he said and looked at the two guys in front of me.

"Daryl, Merle, this is my brother Shane. Shane this is Daryl and Merle," I introduced them properly. "They were just helping me out with a little situation."

"What situation?"

"Just some creep getting a little too clingy," I said with a shrug.

"Well thank you for helping my sister, I owe you," he said, wrapping an arm around me. "Let's go, we found some other people and are going to set up camp somewhere."

"What about the refugee center?" I asked.

"I don't think that's an option anymore," he said gesturing behind us. I looked back and gasped in shock. The city was in flames, fire lapping at the night sky.

"What happened?" Merle asked, looking surprised as well, that cocky smile falling off his face.

"They are dropping H-bombs in the streets," Shane's jaw was clenched in anger and I turned my head into his chest, breathing in his familiar scent.

"Damn. We a'int ever gonna get through there now," Merle said, rubbing his chin. I had a feeling I was going to hate myself for what I said next, but I said it anyway.

"You two could come camp with us tonight."

"Addie," Shane hissed and pulled me closer, whispering in my ear. "We don't know who these guys are."

"And you know the other people so well? Like you said, you owe them," I whispered back with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess we have room for two more," Shane said to them.

"Whatcha say Daryl?" Merle asked and his brother shrugged. "I guess we're in then," he said and walked over to a sleek black motorcycle.

"Nice bike," I said in admiration and he grinned as he revved the engine and I rolled my eyes.

"We'll meet up at the quarry just off I-85!" Shane called to them as we turned to head back to Shane's jeep where Lori and Carl were waiting for us.

"You shouldn't have wandered off like that, anything could have happened," Shane lectured as we walked. I sighed but didn't argue, it never got me anywhere with him.

We made it back and I climbed in the back seat of the jeep with Carl, ruffling his hair affectionately as I did as we set out on our new adventure.

"Addie!" Daryl's voice tugged me back to the present and I looked at him and Rick working their way out of the trees. I walked over to him and Rick kept walking past us.

"That was fast," I told him. He was smiling and I was more than a little confused.

"Think we found somewhere safe. I saw it last night and wanted to show Rick before we told everyone else so they didn't get their hopes up," This was the first time I could remember Daryl being this excited, it was contagious.

"Really? Where?" I asked, feeling a spark of hope in my chest.

"A prison about half a mile that way. It's overrun but Rick thinks we can take them out," the spark died almost instantly. Even if we managed to take out the walkers, casualties would happen.

"I don't know Daryl, can we afford to use all of that ammo and who knows what might happen once we get there," I shook my head.

"We can't keep this up much longer. We need somewhere stable, at least for a while."

Rick had explained the situation to the others and they were all excited too, even Lori was smiling. We decided to walk over to the prison after hiding the cars in the woods so no one would come by and steal them. Dozens of walkers were roaming all over the place, inside and outside of the gates.

First we had to get inside, so Rick used wire cutters to put a hole in the fence for us to climb in through. Lori went first and we all filed in after her. Daryl and Glenn quickly used wire to tie the hole closed again as the walkers converged on the fence. We were in a little walkway, surrounded by fences on both sides and we started running towards the gate that would lead us to the field. Daryl and I led the way, weapons poised if one of the fences gave out. An overturned car sat in front of the gate, but we could slip through the gap easily.

"It's perfect," Rick said. "If we can shut that gate, prevent more from filling the yard, we can pick off these walkers. We'll take the field by tonight."

"So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel asked the practical question. The gate was across the field, the field that was full of walkers.

"I'll do it, you guys cover me," Glenn said, always stepping up to help the group.

"No. It's a suicide run," Maggie said.

"I should go. I'm the fastest," I said, squinting into the sun.

"No. Glenn, Maggie, Beth, draw as many as you can over there. Pop 'em through the fence," Rick ordered. "Daryl, you and Addie go back to the other tower," we didn't argue. We ran back to the tower and climbed up to the top while Rick finished delivering his orders. He had put himself in charge of running for the gate and once everyone was in position, Lori let him out into the field. I kept my eyes on him at all times and whenever a walker got too close I would cut it down. He made it to the gate and closed it, using the clamps to secure it even further. Then he ducked into the closest tower and I felt a weight lift off my shoulders.

"Light it up!" Daryl called and we all started firing more rapidly to take out the walkers.

Once the last one fell, we ran from the towers into the field, many running around like small children, delighted by the new home.

"We did it!" I called to Daryl and he smiled back at me. That's when I heard the most beautiful sound in the world: laughter.