The bus, which Daryl was driving, came to a screeching halt on the gravel road that led up to the prison gates. Nobody inside the bus dared to breathe, as they all stared at the destroyed and burning prison.

He and his scavenging group had heard the helicopter fly over Dalton. They had seen it, too, after they had all ran to the exit of the store to see what was making that much noise in this otherwise very quiet world. It was a big thing, of course, but they had a job to do and there was nothing they could do about that helicopter, so they went back inside and finished up. As soon as he had seen the black smoke rise up to the sky, he had floored it, fearing the worst. Now the worst fear was coming true... the smoke came from the prison. It looked like the helicopter had flown straight into it.

"How did this happen?" Maggie whispered horrified.

"We need to get in there." Hershel spoke up. "Now."

"What if nobody's alive to open the gate?" Glenn muttered shell-shocked.

Glenn's words jolted Daryl into action. Not giving a damn about attracting walkers, he slammed his hand down on the horn, trying to get the attention of anyone who might still be alive up there.

Up by the field, Rick heard the honks. "It's Daryl. Carl, come to the gate with me. Come on!"

Father and son ran down to the gate, making the people in the bus breathe in relief when they saw the pair approach. If those two were alive, there was a good chance that they all had been able to get out of the building before the helicopter crashed into it. Carl was distracting the walkers, while Rick slid the gate open. Daryl quickly passed through it and drove up to the scene of ungodly chaos.

"Bay!" he yelled as soon as he jumped out of the bus. "Bayanne? Where the fuck are you, woman?" his eyes hastily scanned over the people that were around him. He saw Erin launch herself into Pat's arms and expected Bay to be right behind her, but she wasn't. "Bay!"

"Daryl..." Rick came jogging up to him, so out of breath he barely got the word out.

Daryl looked like a scared animal, panting and wide-eyed and moving in a circle, looking around wildly, as the others looked on with forlorn expressions on their faces. Nobody dared to speak up. "Where is she? WHERE THE FUCK IS BAY?"


"No, no, no, no, no... Goddammit, fuck!" Merle cursed as he changed direction for the fourth time in about three seconds. The walkers were everywhere. They were surrounded, and carrying an unconscious Bay over his shoulder wasn't exactly improving his ability to fight his way through the undead. "Now'd be a good time to wake up, Missy." he grunted and stabbed another walker through the forehead with his metal contraption attached to his arm.

He had gotten them out of the prison by running back to the cafeteria and then to the spot where he had holed up with Pat and his group until Rick had shown up. From there he had used the way out through the destroyed wall at the back of the prison, which Pat and him had used to get in and out for their supply runs. None of them had been back there since Sheriff Friendly and his merry band had arrived, so now the place was crawling with walkers. Merle wanted to get to the front gate, but the damn biters kept blocking the way.

"Can't die here, not on my watch, girly. Come on! Little help would be good." Merle ground out while he kept kicking and stabbing at the walkers, all the while trying not to lose his balance and fall on his ass. If that happened, then they'd both be dead for sure. "Ah fuck it..." Merle gave up trying to get her to wake up. He tried to fight and outrun the walkers as best as he could, and when he reached the side fences, he started making a ruckus. "Hey! You hearin' me? Any of you fucking ninnies still up there? Hey!" he yelled up towards the prison as loudly as he could, trying to get someone's attention up there. It wasn't the best course of action with the walkers around, but if they wouldn't get through the gates or fences soon, it might not matter anyway.


She was in hell, she was sure of it. At the top of her head, near her forehead, she felt stabs of searing hot pain shoot throughout her skull. It felt like someone was stabbing her in the head with a hot blade. She wasn't able to see, not really, but periodically, a blazing, white light blinded her, only adding to her agony. And the voices... God, so many goddamn voices and noises...

You're okay.

Stay calm.

Don't stop fighting.

*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*

You're doing good.

The baby...

It's gonna be okay.

*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*

Not infected.

Don't know what's gonna happen...

Cuff her.

*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*

It's alright.

I love you.

Come back to me...

*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*

Bay tried to talk, but nothing came out, because her throat was closed up. It hurt. Was she breathing? She didn't know. She didn't know anything anymore, except for pain and despair. She wasn't able to communicate. Nobody heard her. She kept fighting, she kept trying to scream, but to no avail. So, when she felt the darkness pull at her again, she gladly slipped back into it.


Daryl stood motionless next to the bus, his head hung low, while he tried to come to terms with the situation. Nobody knew where Bay and Merle had been when this disaster had happened, but they suspected that they had been somewhere inside the destroyed building. There was no sense in tracking them. There was nothing left to track. The debris and the fire had destroyed all traces, if there had ever been any to begin with. The fire was massive, there was no way to even enter the ruins until they had completely burnt out.

Nobody was saying anything. Nobody had said anything in the past half hour. They all simply stood and stared at the chaos and destruction in front of them, watching their new home burn down to the ground. They really weren't able to catch a break. Once again, they had lost everything. Their food from the cafeteria? Gone. Most of their guns and ammo? Gone. Most of the medical supplies they had raided from the doctor's offices, and hadn't gotten around to shuffling over to the infirmary? Gone. Their clothes and all of their personal items? Gone. It had all gone up in flames. The ammo probably hadn't helped in keeping the fire contained. If they were lucky, the fire wouldn't spread over to A block, and they would at least get to keep that and set up shop there... but when was the last time they had gotten lucky?

Lori was the first one to find her voice again. "What do we do?"

"Nothin' we can do." Rick said with defeat in his voice as he squinted up at the burning building. "We can only hope it won't spread any more."

"Guess we're sleeping out here tonight, huh?" Pat's voice was hollow. He felt empty, the reality of it all hadn't really sunken in yet.

"Yeah. I think it would be safer. Sleeping in the offices... lotta wood in there... even if we keep watch... nah,... better to stay out here, closer to the fences. We'll get the cars down here, too, in case we need to make a quick exit."

That made Lori's and Carol's jaws drop. "You think we'll have to leave?" Lori asked fearfully. Giving up the safe shelter while her pregnancy progressed? It was unimaginable.

"Maybe... I don't know." Rick shook his head, before his chin dropped to his chest. He was at a loss. He couldn't believe that this was happening. Was there truly no safe place left in this world? Suddenly he started laughing. "A helicopter... I mean,... how ridiculous is that? All this time, we try to make this place safe, safe from the walkers, and then some fucking helicopter comes crashing in? Now we gotta worry about that?"

The others looked at him like he was going insane. Lori put her hand on his arm and looked at him imploringly. "Rick... stop..."

"No, I mean, seriously, Lori... Who's prepar-"

"HEEEY! HEEEY! ANY OF YOU FUCKING PUSSIES UP THERE? I COULD USE A HAND HERE! IN CASE YA DON'T KNOW, I ONLY GOT ONE!"

Daryl's head snapped up so fast, he almost gave himself whiplash, when he heard his brother's distinctive voice. "Merle..." he ran around the bus, along with Pat and Rick, then they all let their gaze travel along the fences, trying to spot the older Dixon brother.

"There!" Pat saw him first. He nudged Daryl and pointed in the Merle's direction.

Daryl's stomach dropped to the ground when he saw that Merle was carrying a limp figure over his shoulder. His crossbow dropped to the ground as he took off into a run at lightning speed. "BAY! BAY!" he screamed his lungs out while he ran like he was mad at the ground, with Rick, Pat and Glenn and Maggie in hot pursuit. Rick had the keys and tried to keep up with Daryl, but the adrenalin in the hunter's body made him run faster than the rest of them. He slammed against the door, rattling at it, like he would be able to pull it open with his bare hands, despite it being locked, all the while screaming for Rick, to "hurry the fuck up."

They were headed for the spot where they had cut the fence open, the very first time they had entered the prison grounds. Daryl arrived their first and frantically started to loosen the wire they had used to close up the gap. His eyes constantly shifted back and forth between the approaching walkers, Bay, and the task at hand.

"Come on, come on, come on." Merle urged him on, eager to get to the other side of the fence. At least Rick, Pat and Glenn were picking off the dangerously close walkers through the fence, so that he only had to take care of those that were coming at them from behind.

"Is she alive?" Daryl's voice was shaky, just as much as his fingers were.

"Dunno... but she was..." Merle replied before stabbing another walker through the eye. "Get a move on, man!"

"Done." Daryl parted the fence as far as it would go, while Merle crouched down until Bay's feet hit the ground. Daryl grabbed for her, and Merle let her drop into his younger brother's arms. Together they carefully maneuvered her through the fence. Daryl dropped to his knees, then he sat down in the gravel. He pulled Bay between his spread legs and cradled her like a baby, supporting her head in the crook of his arm. He started shaking when he looked at her. Her face and her white top were covered in blood and the sight was unsettling. Merle knew carrying her upside down had been a bad idea, but there hadn't been another option. Daryl quickly pressed his index and middle finger against her pulse point, letting out a little sob when he felt a faint, but even thumping. "Bay... Baby girl... Can ya hear me?"

Maggie was suddenly right there with him, pressing her ear against Bay's chest. "Heartbeat is steady, she's breathing, but she needs help."

"She's gon' need the farmer to patch her up." Merle informed the men.

Rick nodded and looked up to the burning building. The infirmary, thankfully, hadn't been destroyed. Not yet, at least. "Pat, Glenn, get into the infirmary and clean it out. All the medical supplies and meds we still have in there, get it all out, before it goes up in flames, too."

"You got it." Pat said under his breath, then he dashed back up to the prison with Glenn.

"Daryl, we have to get her to Hershel, come on." Rick carefully lifted Bay out of Daryl's arms, so the hunter could get back up. Rick started walking with Bay in his arms, but as soon as Daryl was back on his feet, he quickly stopped the leader. "Hey!" he lifted Bay back into his own arms. "She's mine." he snarled quietly before he made his way back up to the group as fast as he was able to walk.


"Annie..."

"Mamaw Eva?" Bay smiled when she heard her grandmother call out for her. Only her grandma had ever used to call her that name. She felt warm and comforted, and she realized, that she was laying on her mamaw's old couch, with her head in Eva's lap, like she had used to do when she had been younger.

"You keep choosing the wrong path, sweetheart. We've been here before. Do you remember?" Eva gently stroked her fingers through Bay's thick locks.

A frown furrowed Bay's brows. "No... I haven't seen you in so long, mamaw."

"You have... not long ago, Annie. You don't remember, hm? You probably don't have a sense of time either. It's okay. It will be okay, as long as you finally choose the right path, sweetheart."

"I am choosing the right path."

"No, you're not, Bayanne. You cannot go back there. That world keeps pushing you out. It keeps trying to kill you. There's a reason for that, don't you see? It's because you don't belong there. It's not the right path. You need to find it, and fast."

"I don't know how. I just want to go back." Bay suddenly felt confused and helpless. She no longer felt warm, she started to get cold and she felt the pain starting back up in her head. "No,... please, not again."

*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*

"No." Bay cried.

"Yes. Be strong, Bayanne."

"I can't... please, make it stop. No... please..." her throat started to close up again, making her start to panic. She yelped when Eva's hand in her hair clenched into a fist and her mamaw yanked her head up hard.

"Endure the pain! The pain will show you the right way." Eva was raising her voice, while Bay whimpered in agony.

*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*

"No, please. Stop."

"Sometimes we have to suffer to get rewarded. You have to take it. It won't be forever. Endure it and you'll find peace again. Find the right path!"

The blinding, white light was back, making her head pound so much worse, but just like the times before, she wasn't able to scream. Bay fought, she tried to close her eyes, but it was like they were glued open. She tried to claw at her throat, she tried pushing her hands against her forehead, she tried reaching for her grandmother, but her hands wouldn't move.

*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*

The voices were back. She knew the voices, but she wasn't to distinguish between them, wasn't able to say who was talking. They kept saying the same over and over again. She was okay. She had to keep fighting. They loved her. They were well-meaning words, but Bay wanted them to shut up. They hurt her. She needed quiet. She wasn't able to take it. The pain was too much. It seemed to go on for an eternity this time, before she felt the darkness creep up on her again. Eva had told her to be strong and fight, but this was hell and she wasn't strong enough to get through this, so once more, she let herself be swallowed up whole by the black cloud, making her agony end.


They had quickly set up a freshly looted mattress at the back of the bus, so Hershel would be able to work on Bay.

"Turn around." Daryl commanded Hershel, after he had put Bay down on that mattress.

"Turn around? Son, I need to take a look at that head wound."

"I gotta do somethin' first, won't take a minute, so just fucking turn around, alright?"

Hershel wasn't pleased with the way Daryl was talking to him, but he knew the young man was scared to death, so he let it slide for once. "Fine."

Daryl watched the old man turn his back on them, then he quickly yanked open Bay's pants, and slid the zipper down. He took one last look at Hershel, making sure his back was still turned, then he slid his hands into Bay's panties, all the way down, until his fingers met her opening. He moved his fingertips around in a circle once, then he pulled his hand back out and held his fingers up to his face. No blood.

When Bay had had her miscarriage, there had been lots of blood, that's what she had told him. They didn't know if she was pregnant, but just in case, he took this as a good sign. There was no blood, so if he had knocked her up, the baby might still be doing fine. He buttoned her pants back up and stepped aside. "I'm done. Go ahead."

He sat down on the other side and held on to Bay's hand while Hershel examined and treated the nasty gash on her head. Daryl pressed his lips against her knuckles and kept staring at her as he prayed for her to be okay. Come on, baby girl. Wake up. Come back to me.


The fire died down during the night, leaving A-block unharmed, but in the early morning hours, a new problem became apparent to Rick, who was keeping watch.

"Fuck..." he cursed when at dawn, he spied a gigantic dark mass approaching the prison. A herd. Even bigger than the one that had destroyed the farm. He should have thought of that. Of course the noise from the helicopter and the explosion had led the undead straight to them. A herd that big, if they all pushed up against the fences, which they would, the fences would come down. There was no way to get out of there by car. They were fucked. I should have known this... We could have gotten out of here yesterday. We should have gotten out of here yesterday.

Daryl was unaware of what was going on outside the bus. He was laying next to Bay, having fallen asleep sometime during the night, despite having been fully intent on staying up and watching her closely throughout the night. He had only been sleeping lightly, though. As soon as he felt movement next to him, he jolted awake.

"Bay?"

She grunted quietly and winced at the throbbing headache she was waking up with.

"Babe? Can ya hear me?"

"Why are you yelling?" she groaned and slowly blinked her eyes open.

Daryl let out a relieved laugh. He hadn't yelled at all, but for her sake, he spoke even more quietly. "Was nowhere near yellin', sweetheart. Gotta headache from hell, huh?"

"Mhm." she nodded, immediately regretting it right after. "Is Merle okay?"

Daryl felt his heart swell and fill with warmth. That was his Bay in a nutshell. She pretty much despised the guy, but her first instinct was to make sure that he was alright. He couldn't help himself, he had to kiss her. "He's fine." he smiled after he had broken the kiss. "Just got a couple of bumps and bruises on him. Whaddaya remember?"

"I was in the tombs with him. We were talking. I heard something and went to check it out. Saw a helicopter and then it was just pain and noise and..." she trailed off when she remembered something else. "I saw my grandma. How long was I out?"

"Less than a day." Daryl frowned. "Yer grandma? Ya mean, when ya were passed out?"

"I think so, yes..." she stared up at the ceiling of the bus as more and more things came back to her. "I don't belong here..." she whispered, making Daryl's frown deepen.

"What?"

"She said I keep choosing the wrong path. That I don't belong here."

"Wrong path? Wrong path for what? Shit, Bay, don't pay attention to that crap. You hit your head, that's all. We got other things to worry about. All our shit is gone."

"What do you mean?"

"Get up! Everybody get up! NOW!" Before Daryl was able to reply, Rick's urgent words reached their ears.

"What now?" Daryl sighed and sat up. "Stay put. Don't move." he left the bus, and as soon as he did, he no longer had to ask what was going on now. "Good Lord..."

Rick was suddenly next to him. "We gotta leave now. Make our exit through one of the side fences, while we still can."

"Ya mean bust through 'em with the bus?"

"No. We have to leave on foot. There's no way to get through that with a vehicle."

"Bay woke up five minutes ago. She ain't ready to walk, man, much less run and fight."

"She doesn't have a choice. We can't stay here. Not right now. We can try coming back in a day or two, check how it's looking, but staying here while they waltz through is too risky, Daryl."

"There's nowhere we can go, Rick. Not even the woods are safe with those fuckers rolling through."

"We have to stay ahead of them, try to circle around them until they're in front of us. We have to try, but we have to get going right now. Get Bay. Get ready. We don't have a choice." Rick left him standing there to go and get his own family travel ready. They were losing valuable time with every second they wasted talking.

"Daryl? Where are we?" Bay was frowning while she stared at the ceiling of the bus, when Daryl got back to her.

"Listen, sweetheart. The prison burnt down. A lot of it. All our shit is gone. All our supplies. A herd's comin'. Too big for the fences to keep out. We gotta run, so I need ya to get up, alright?"

Bay was way too confused to understand all of that, and it had Daryl starting to panic on the inside. "Run? Where? What's going on now?"

"Walkers are comin', Bay. We need to go. Right now. We can't hide out here. If they don't blaze through and stay around, we're trapped, alright? We need ta go." Daryl pulled her up, wincing right along with her, when pain shot through her when she moved. But the pain brought her a little bit of clarity.

"Daryl, I don't know if I can. I don't feel good."

"Baby, I know. But I need you to. You can. You're strong. You can do it. I'm with ya all the way." he held her face gently cradled between his hands while he implored her to be strong for him and for herself. He kissed her, a long, long kiss, then he looked into her eyes one last time, not liking at all how dazed she looked, before he took her hand and pulled her out of the bus.

They all ran to the fence farthest away from the core of the herd, but still, there were a ton of stragglers that were preventing them from having a clear path. One way or another, they had to fight their way through. The kids and women were in the middle, with Beth and Maggie holding and dragging a barely conscious Bay between them, while the men formed a tight circle all around them. This way, they had all sides covered, but that didn't mean that it was an easy fight. And to make matters worse, the sky cracked open and it started pouring, turning the ground around the prison into a slippery mud pit.

"Daryl, on your right!"

"Watch out, watch out."

"Hershel!"

"Incoming."

"I got it."

"Pat, 2 o'clock! Get him!"

"Man down! Fucking rain!"

"Merle, cover Glenn."

They sliced, they stabbed, they pushed and they kicked, slowly killing walker after walker on their way into the woods. It was an uphill battle. More and more walkers came at them, it simply didn't stop. Beth and Maggie had their own trouble, trying to keep Bay up on her feet. She kept slipping and falling to her knees, and after an hour she was so weak, that she was barely able to get up again.

"Rick. She can't do this much longer." Maggie called out to their leader, making Daryl shoot a worried glance over his shoulder.

"We don't have a choice, Maggie. We have to keep moving."

In that moment, Bay moaned loudly and dropped to her knees again. The others didn't know what was going on, but she was having another one of the pain attacks. She saw nothing but blinding white light and felt nothing but pain. She wasn't able to get up this time.

"Bay! Bay, please. You have to get up." Maggie begged, but to no avail.

"Maggie." Daryl shouldered his crossbow and left formation. "Take my spot. I got her." He quickly lifted Bay into his arms. It was not an easy task with her squirming while she was whimpering in pain. Daryl wanted to scream. He had a bad feeling... a really bad feeling. One he was trying to ignore, but it kept creeping up on him, slowly invading every single fiber of his being, and it had him shaking internally.

Dale pushed another walker back with his rifle, leaving it up to Merle to stab it. "We're never gonna make it like this, Rick."

Rick knew that, but he barely had a second to think about their options right now. However, Glenn didn't seem to have the same problem. "Rick, remember Atlanta?"

"Which part?"

"The part where we covered ourselves in walker blood and blended in!"

"I remember the part when the rain washed it all off in the worst moment." Rick shouted back, making hope deflate inside the younger man.

"Shit, you're right. Sorry."

"When it stops raining, we'll try." Rick sent Glenn a quick nod, showing his appreciation for the idea. It might work and it might saves their lives, but they had to wait until it stopped raining. God knows if all of us make it until then.


Thank you for reading!

Are you confused by this chapter? Did it maybe feel a bit trippy? Fear not, there's a reason for that and the answers will be in the next chapter.

Dear reviewers, THANK YOU. Your feedback means so much to an insecure writer like me. Thank you so, so much.

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