Kate ran flat out until her legs felt like jelly and the taste of blood at the back of her throat was choking her. Any plan she had, started and finished with the compulsion to get out of Alexandria. She leaned on a tree, pulled the bottle of water from her backpack and caught her breath. Now what?

A squirrel ran across the road directly in front of her before it scurried up a tree and Kate's eyes fell to the ring on her finger before she looked towards the quarry where the line of cars sat waiting. She knew the route that Daryl, Abraham and Sasha were supposed to be driving back after they had taken the walkers 20 miles away. Maybe she could find him. Would that be so crazy?

A female walker crept out from behind the squirrel's tree. Kate stared at the walker's awkward shuffle while she screwed the lid back on her bottle and put it in the backpack as if she had all the time in the world. Then she rolled her shoulders, drew her sword and cut the woman down. There was a strange therapy to being out here alone like this, slaying the dead and searching for Daryl. If nothing else, it gave her little room to think about anything much and Kate was the master of overthinking things if she was left to her own devices.


Daryl's trio of new friends had left him high and dry. He still had his bike and for that he was grateful but they had taken his crossbow and drove off into the fucking sunset. Daryl was pissed off. He felt so goddamn stupid and was dreading the idea of squaring away his failure with Miss Uppity. He couldn't stand the thought of her thinking he was vulnerable, or that he couldn't take care of her properly. It would be better to say he'd lost it instead of admitting some skinny fucker stole it and made a damn fool out of him.

Daryl pictured the look Merle would give him if he was still here but then he remembered a time when he was six. Daryl had a brand new toy bow and arrow set that his Grandma had bought for him when he visited her with his Mama. He loved that thing and if he lined it up right he could fire the arrow all the way across the yard, which had seemed a good distance to a six year old. One of the neighbour's kids, who was bigger and meaner, had stolen it off Daryl. When Merle found out he had smacked that bully so hard in his face that Daryl could still remember the sound of his nose cracking. Then Merle passed the bow back to little Daryl with a smile, "I'll look out for ya baby brother… nobody fucks with us." Merle was never usually so damn nice.

Now, Daryl was back in town and looking for signs of Abraham and Sasha. He spotted a small, deliberate boot print in some mud. It had to be Sasha. He followed the direction it was pointing before he spotted his name When he got to the road he climbed on his bike and rode into town. spotted written on the side of a building. His eyes swept up the building and standing in the upstairs window were his missing friends. He waved to them and they started to make their way outside.

"We need a vehicle," Sasha said when they emerged from the building.

"I know where we can find a good one," Abraham nodded his head towards a bridge. But Daryl could barely hear what they were saying since he was too busy looking at the kick ass rocket launcher strapped to the army man's shoulder.

"Ya got rounds for that thing?"

"Yes siree," Abraham did a big belly laugh while he held up the huge black case in his hand. Daryl gave an appreciative smile, he sure would like a turn shooting that thing. Firing one of those rockets into a crowd of walkers would be sweeter than chocolate.

Daryl and Sasha followed Abrahams lead to an armoured truck that he had found the rockets on. It would be the perfect ride if they could get it to work. Daryl hopped off his bike and climbed into the driver's seat to try the ignition. The engine turned over and cut out. He tried it again but it was the same, "batteries dead."

"Son of a dick," said Abraham.

"We could use these," Sasha held out a set of jumper cables with one raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"We can siphen fuel from the rest of these vehicles then hightail it outta here faster than a toupee in a hurricane," Abraham grinned as he pointed at the littering of cars on the bridge.


Kate had been looking after Judith and brewing the chilli from hell when the last of the cars had been collected so she hadn't been sure which one had a working battery or fuel. Between killing stray walkers and popping hoods she was struggling. She didn't have a hose for moving fuel and changing batteries was not in her skill set. Daryl made this shit look easy, Kate sighed heavily as she finally sat down in the driver's seat of a working vehicle.

The sound of the passenger door opening made Kate's heart jump into her throat as she reached for her rifle.

"It's me..." Aaron said quickly as she popped his head into the car and sat down next to her.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kate checked the mirrors for signs of anyone else and then stared in disbelief at the man.

"Erin found me, she was crying her eyes out, saying you'd jumped over the wall and ran away… what the hell are you doing here? You could have been killed."

"I had to do something."

"And you couldn't ask for help?"

Kate looked at Aaron's wide honest expression and gently shook her head. She couldn't ask someone to risk their lives. "You should be with Eric right now."

"I want to help you find Daryl, he's our friend and I know you would do the same for us," Aaron fastened his seatbelt.

"If you die then it's going to be my fault."

"You don't control the universe. You can't take the blame for everything… and I'm not planning on dying."

Kate leaned her forehead on the steering wheel and thought about taking Aaron home but with the walkers surrounding Alexandria it would be impossible to return. She sat up and started the car, "how did you get out of Alexandria?"

"There's a tunnel. I would have told you about it if you asked."

"How did you know I'd be here?"

"Luck."


Daryl rode his motorcycle alongside the armoured truck and towards home. He couldn't wait to wrap his arms around Kate and bury his face in her soft hair. Then he'd fling her over his shoulder and carry her to father Gabriel whether she liked it or not. There was no time for fucking around, either she married him or… she had to marry him. He didn't want to look down the barrel of a gun again without calling her Mrs Dixon at least once.

Yesterday there had been gunfire coming from Alexandria and half the herd had broken off but he had faith that it would still be standing. Kate, Carol, Maggie, Tara and Rosita had all been at home when the gunfire was going down and along with Sasha and Michonne he'd never met such a badass group of women. Now he was thinking about it, goddamn. They had bigger balls than most of the men he'd ever met.

Daryl tried his radio again since they were getting closer to home. "Rick you copy? Anybody?"

"Help."

Daryl didn't recognise the voice but the sound of it winded him.


"Oh come on!" Kate lifted the hood of the car which had clattered to a resounding stop. Steam burst out from what she could only assume was the radiator and she jumped back. She had no idea what was wrong with the engine or how to fix it and one look at Aaron's face indicated that he didn't either.

"Bollocks… fucking… fuck" Kate kicked the tire. Her heart was racing as her temper started to flare. Why did everything have to be so fucking difficult?

Kate picked up a large rock, the kind of rock you needed two hands to hold, and hurled it at the windscreen like a mad women while she shouted "Stupid fucking car…" like it was a battle cry. It made her feel marginally better before she turned to Aaron who was watching her in silent contemplation. Kate felt a blush grace her cheeks as she flicked her hair over her shoulder and gave him a wonky smile. Why did he always have to be so fucking calm and reasonable?

"Do you hear that?" he held one finger in the air and paused.

Kate held her breath and she heard it too, "sounds like a truck." They looked at their broken car and then at each other. They couldn't see the truck yet but as the sound grew louder they knew it was coming their way.

"Could be friendly, could be Daryl…" Aaron said.

"Probably a car full of tossers," Kate scoffed. She ran her fingers through the tangles in her hair and unbuttoned the top few buttons of her shirt.

"What are you doing?"

"Take cover over there and stay out of sight. Most people will stop… for a woman."

"I'm not sure about this…" Aaron said as he pulled his gun from the car. "Maybe we should just hide and find another way."

There was no other way. Neither of them could fix this car or hotwire another one and they were miles away from anything. They needed to get in the approaching vehicle no matter what.


As the road twisted round a bend Daryl spotted a group of men sitting in the road. He looked towards Abraham who was sitting in the passenger side of the truck. The man rolled down the window, "we need to think of a goddamn plan quick, I don't wanna approach this situation with my balls hanging out."

"We can't turn 'round, that truck ain't fast enough to get away from the bikes. I hope ya know how to use them rockets..."

"You bet your ass I do."

Even with the rockets, they were outnumbered more than two to one. This day just kept getting worse and fucking worse. How many arseholes were out here? Once again he couldn't believe the run of luck Alexandria had been having before his group got there.


The approaching truck eased to a slow stop in front of Kate who was blocking the road and trying to look as non-threatening as possible considering she had a gun over her shoulder and a sword at her hip. A man stepped out of the vehicle followed by a woman and Kate clocked the handgun at his waist before she glanced at the smashed windscreen of her car and smiled brightly, "I'm having a spot of engine trouble."

The two people looked suspiciously at her and then the car before a voice from inside the truck called, "are you Kate?"

Kate sidestepped around the man and woman to see a blonde girl sitting in the cabin of the truck. "How do you know my name?"

"We met your… fiancé…" she said to Kate before shouting "I told you we should have stayed with him," to the other two. "I'm Tina, this is Sherry and that's Dwight."

"Daryl?" Kate felt lightheaded, he was alive. Thank god. "Where is he?"

"He was heading into a town a few miles back, looking for his friends," Sherry explained.

Kate was about to ask these people if they could give her a ride into town to find him when she noticed something nestled in the foot well of the passenger seat and her stomach dropped. In one fluid motion she pulled the rifle off her shoulder, took two steps back and aimed the gun at Dwight.

"Tell me why the fuck you have Daryl's crossbow in your truck!"

Dwight pulled out his handgun and aimed it at Kate before Aaron appeared from the bushes with his rifle. It may have been three against two but the others only had one handgun. "Out of the truck," Kate pointed her gun to Tina. The blonde did as she was asked and Kate told them to, "get on your knees, hands on your head." Before she snatched the handgun away from Dwight and shoved it in the waistband of her jeans.

"If you've hurt him-" Kate began.

"We didn't hurt him. We just took his weapons…" Sherry wrapped her arms around Tina who was crying.

"I didn't think we could trust him and we needed any supplies we could get," said Dwight.

"And I'm supposed to believe you people?" Kate shouted as she pressed the end of her gun to Dwight's head.

"It's the truth… it's the truth," Tina cried.

"Kate," Aaron called and the sound of his voice brought her back from the dark place she was going to. "I think they're telling the truth, they stole his things, it's not the worse crime. Rick threatened to put a knife in the base of my scull the first time we met."

Two walkers were walking towards them and Kate slung her gun over her shoulder before she drew her sword and went to kill them. She needed time to think. With every step towards the dead she thought of a different scenario. If these people had hurt Daryl she didn't want to let them go free but at the same time it was impractical to bring three prisoners along with her and Aaron.

Kate killed the walkers in the road and felt weary. The weight of the weapons, the responsibility and the grief was making her want to lie down at the side of the road and go to sleep. She started to question why she was always so insistent to Daryl that she could do everything herself. Right now she'd rather be sitting in a bubble bath with a cup of tea while he mollycoddled her.

"I'm going to search the truck," Kate said as she walked back. She pulled out a huge holdall and dropped it on the floor before checking the glove box and under the seats. There was nothing except the cross bow and the bag. She unzipped the holdall, the bright red and white medical cooler filled with insulin caught her attention. Shit.

Kate zipped the bag back up before Aaron could see what was inside and threw it to the people on the road. "Let's go," she said to Aaron while she climbed into the driver's seat.

"We're just going to leave them?" Aaron asked.

"What about my gun? You're already taking our truck," shouted Dwight.

"Rules of the jungle. If you wait here for us to come back… Daryl's a good man… he might still help you." Kate slammed the door and waited for Aaron to climb in before she did a three point turn and headed down the road to find her favourite redneck.

The sight of Dwight, Sherry and Tina abandoned in the middle of the road gave her a pang of guilt but she was only doing to them what they had done to Daryl, though the thought of that did little to comfort her.


Abraham had given Daryl his handgun before they had started on their journey home. His fingers brushed against it as he climbed off his bike. Abraham and Sasha climbed out of the truck and on the passenger seat he could see the rocket launcher poised and ready to roll.

Some arsehole started to tell them that they had to give over all their things, including his bike and the truck. He was telling them that "you're property belongs to Negan." A truck began to round the bend and come into view. It was Patty. Had Dwight come back?

Patty stopped. The door swung open and as the driver stepped out of the truck Daryl had the strange feeling of terror mixed with elation. Kate looked so goddamn beautiful and the sight of her big brown eyes made his heart race but what the fuck was she doing way out here with Aaron? On the brink of a fucking gunfight. And how the hell had she got that truck? The woman had no end to the ways she made him crazy.

"Have we got a problem here gentlemen?" Kate's crisp English tones made her sound ridiculously polite yet menacing at the same time.

"We're just having ourselves a friendly conversation… mmm hmm… bet I could make it real friendly with you," the lead biker began to walk through his men towards Kate. Daryl started to slowly reach for his gun. "What's your name baby?"

"I reckon Negan might like a bit of international pussy for one of his wives," laughed another of the men.

Daryl's hand wrapped around the grip of his handgun and Kate had that wild look on her face which told him that all hell was going to break loose. Sasha's shot rang out the second after Kate's did. Shit, these women were taking care of fucking business.

Daryl's balls swung so far up his throat with worry for Kate that he thought he might choke. He aimed his handgun and fired off the entire clip. Although the men had the greater number they were surrounded and it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Except they weren't fish, they were living, breathing men and even if they were assholes, it never felt good to take a human life.

Abraham wasted no time in pulling the rocket launcher from the truck with a wide grin spread across his face. He held the giant weapon on his shoulder and took the time to shout, "Hasta la vista…"

"Fuckin' hell…" Daryl ducked down as the rocket flew from the launcher into the centre of the biker gang who were already scrambling to get away. The men had barely even had a chance to fire a single shot. The fight was over in the blink of an eye.

The sound of the motorcycle engines faded away and Daryl tried to ignore the fallen men in the road as he locked eyes with Kate and ran towards her.


Kate stared at the dead men in the road and cringed. I had no choice, she told herself and the phrase was becoming her twisted mantra.

Daryl ran over to her, "let go of the goddamned gun an' kiss me…" he commanded as he pulled the rifle from her hands and crushed his lips against hers. She felt her knees might buckle as he held her, kissed her and whispered, "I don't wanna see ya doin' anymore of this crazy shit." The he placed his hands on either side of her face, "I fuckin' love ya so much… Jesus Christ ya scared the shit outta me… why the hell are ya runnin' around with Aaron like this? Anythin' could have happened to ya…"

Kate looked again at the dead men in the road. If she hadn't turned up then those bodies could just as easily have been Daryl and Abraham's. Sasha might have been taken by those perverts. "I'm not a child… you think I can wait around while you're out here? Fucking hell Daryl, anything could have happened to you!"


"I don't want ya riskin' ya life for anybody but…" his eyes dropped to her stomach before he cleared his throat and changed the subject, "what's happenin' at home?"

"I… um…" Kate stuttered before she bit her lip and turned away.

"What's wrong?" Daryl ran his fingers along her soft hair before wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing his body against her back. "Alexandria's still there right?" he worried.

"Yes… but we should get back…" Kate fell away from him with an odd look on her face before she leaned into the cabin of the truck and pulled out his stolen crossbow with a faint smile, "like it or not Mr Dixon… I would never leave you out here…" She placed the weapon in his hands and just like Merle, Kate said, "nobody fucks with us."