Thanks for all the follows and the reviews I got. I always appreciate them :) Schools almost done thank God. Two more finals and I'm all yours. On with the story! Little long.


I'm burning bridges shore to shore
I break away from something more
I'm not turned off to love until it's cheap
Been there, done that, messed around
I'm having fun, don't put me down
I'll never let you sweep me off my feet

This time baby,
I'll be, bulletproof
This time baby,
I'll be, bulletproof

-Bulletproof (La Roux)


Yelling could be heard throughout the living room as Annie sat with Jill outside, their legs touching and Annie's arm around her shoulders. Annie watched as all the kids played and talked. Hallie was showing Ariel and Ellie the playground set and the giant trees that led off into the huge forest, while Lacey and Kelly sat watching them. They were happy to see that Hallie had kids her own age now. As much as Kelly loved her sister, there were times when she just wanted to be with people like Lacey. People her age.

Jill had her head on Annie's shoulder as she breathed in and out. Annie was slowly running her hands through her hair to relax her. Jill had nearly had a breakdown when she realized Annie was ok. Annie had to be the one to calm her, and now they were dealing with some guy they didn't know anything about who was spying on them inside. Jill felt like her head was going to explode.

"Do you have any idea how long it's been since the place was taken over?" Jill whispers, glancing over at Ellie and Ariel. Both were smiling wider then they had in a long time, happy to see Hallie again. Annie shrugs-or as much as she could with Jill there.

"About a month, maybe more," Annie replies. Jill shoves her head deeper into Annie's shoulder in slight pain and grief. "You haven't been keeping track?" Jill shakes her head.

"No."

"Have you come across anyone else?" Jill looks down at the ground in sadness. "Have you seen anyone...gone?"

"Rick told me Michonne's dead," she starts, and Annie feels her heart drop. "A few days later we found a few small kids, maybe around five or six. Leila, a girl who worked in defense, she's dead. The last person I can remember seeing was a girl who turned into a walker. She had ginger hair and a really skinny body."

"Amy?" Annie sighs sadly. Jill nods.

"That was her name. Other then that, I don't recall seeing anyone else from the zone dead."

"Really? Nothing about Rachel and the kids? What about Beth and Maggie? And all of Team Prison?" Jill shrugs her shoulders tiredly.

"No, nothing. Rick mentioned that Judith got out with Rachel, but we haven't come across anyone else alive up until you guys." She adjusts herself so that she facing up and a bit away from Annie. "How long have you been here? All of you." Annie sighs.

"Well, Kelly and I got here first, and then we found Hallie and Daryl. We've been here for at least a month now. They're good people, and have kept us alive with their food. We haven't seen any sign of Joel or Carol since we got here, but now with this fucker who was spying on us, I don't know what to think. They could be close, really close. Or far, and this guy traveled. I don't even know if he's with them-"

"Annie. he was fucking spying on us in the bushes. I can't believe fucking Carl hit him upside the head. If that kid didn't do it he probably would have gone back and told them where this place was." Annie shifts herself so she could glance back inside.

"I'm surprised he did it," she mumbles. "Have you been with them since you got out?" Jill shakes her head.

"No. Actually, Crackers found me first, because they found the horse. I guess they followed him to where he galloped off and then we found each other. Since then, we've been together." Annie looks down at Jill and sees she was finally at peace, other then the panicked look she had had on her face earlier. Annie sighs and lets go of her arm.

"I wanna ask something," she says. "Are you...uh, with Rick or anything like that?" Jill snaps her head up, her face contoured with confusion, but even Annie could see the blush hidden on her cheeks.

"What makes you think that?" she asks. Annie raises an eyebrow.

"I don't know, just getting that vibe. If you guys are together it's fine with me. As long as he treats you right it's cool." Jill bites her lip and looks down at her feet.

"Yeah, we are," she mumbles. Annie grins like the Joker.

"There you go," she replies. "But when did this start? Because I'm pretty fucking sure you two weren't together before the zone got destroyed." Jill smiles a bit.

"No, we weren't. I mean...like I said he found us, and we've been with each other ever since. But I guess one day there was like...a shift in character in both of us...and then flirting started and all that. I almost got killed at one point and he saved my life. And that night we kissed."

"Just like that?" Annie continues. Jill nods slowly.

"Yeah...and uh..." She fell silent after that, and Annie furrowed her brow at the sudden cutoff of her friend, but when she saw the rosy pink spread across her cheeks, she knew exactly what she was talking about. Her eyes widen.

"No," she whispers, but Jill nods embarrassingly. "Shut the fuck up. SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP," she says louder and louder. "Oh my God, you did not!"

"I did," Jill replies, placing her head in her hands, away from Annie's prying eyes.

"You did?!"

"We did," she continues. Annie laughs and pumps her fist in the air.

"Hell yeah!" she cheers. Jill grabs her arm and places it back in her lap.

"We don't need the whole fucking world to know!" she whispers fiercely. Annie snickers.

"Please tell me you at least had a tent when you did it?" Jill's face reddens even more if possible, and Annie laughs.

"Obviously," she growls.

"Does Carl know? Or the kids?" Jill shakes her head. "Oh, that's why you want to keep it a secret." Jill sighs.

"Look, the kid lost his mom less then a year ago. I don't want to be that woman to just intrude on his life. I don't need him hating me." Annie rolls her eyes.

"I doubt he would hate you, but whatever floats your boat. I'm happy for you. At least Rick's a much better guy then fucking Blake. God damn," she mumbles. She glances into the window behind her and sighs. "I'm gonna go and check on them. See what the hell is going on. You stay out here and watch the kids, ok?"

Jill nods and leans back in the chair while Annie plants her hands on her knees, stretching herself and walking to the back entrance. She slides the glass door open and automatically finds herself feeling like she was part of an interrogation at a prison. The man was strung down to a chair, his hands tied with rope, and nearly everyone was right in front of him, firing questions away.

Annie looks over and sees Daryl leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, glaring intensely at the man. She walks over and takes a spot next to him, looking over at the prisoner. "Do we know anything about him?" she asks quietly. Daryl shakes his head.

"Little fucker's been avoiding these questions like wildfire. All we got is that his name's Simon and he has a group." She bites her lip angrily.

"We don't know if he's working for Joel and crew?"

"Nope," he replies. She crosses her arms and looks at the men who were in front of him. Rick and Leo were the first, while Harry and Dawson were right behind Simon, making sure he didn't make some quick escape, and Carl was right next to his father. She thought to Lauren who was upstairs, and she probably didn't know what the hell was going on.

"Let me talk to him," she suddenly states to the men.

"Annie-" She places her hand up to stop them.

"Just let me talk to him," she continues. She makes her way through Rick and Leo and takes a seat in a chair opposite him. She sees he had a small bruise on the side of his head, and she could only guess that was where Carl hit him. "You do know why we've been so brash on you, right?" she asks.

"No," he snorts.

"You gave us the impression you were spying on us. You see, even if you weren't," she says, stopping him from saying he wasn't spying again. "You can't just do that in this world. You're lucky we didn't shoot you on sight. We already have bad people after us, and we are all on edge. I don't like being the bad guy, and I never have, but I need you to tell us the honest to God truth. If you don't, we will find out, and the outcome of when that happens will not be pretty, If you tell us the truth now, we won't do anything harmful-"

"Yer crazy if ya think I aint gonna do shit to someone who's working for Joel!" Daryl snorts at her. She rolls her eyes.

"Just ignore what he says. He can be a bit dramatic at times." She hears Daryl snort behind her but she keeps going. "But right now, I'm the only one talking to you," she emphasizes to the men behind her. I won't hurt you. Now, can you please answer the questions honestly?"

Simon looks at her with a furrowed brow. This was not the Annie Joel and Carol talked about. They said she was a cold-hearted bitch, but she seemed completely different.

He nods. She smiles.

"Swear?"

"Swear," he replies. She settles down in the chair and places her arms over the wood lazily.

"Ok, so first off, where is your group?"

"I don't really know. They sent me off on a trip a while ago and I haven't seen them since. I think they're close to here though." Annie thinks.

"How many people are in your group?"

"Around fifteen," he replies. She crosses her arms.

"Are there two people in the group named Joel and Carol? Are they the leaders?" Simon looks down at the wooden seat guiltily. "Simon," she says sternly. He looks back up and nods.

"Yes, I do. They are the leaders."

"Sonovabitch," Daryl growls, but Annie places a hand up behind her to stop him from going off on his rant.

"Were you there when they attacked the zone?"

"Yes."

"Did you kill anyone?" He shakes his head.

"No." She nods.

"I'm guessing you don't like them that much." Simon thinks for a second. Joel did save his life, but to be honest that group didn't give him anything more then food to eat. They were assholes half the time, and he was actually really sick of it. He just did this so they wouldn't kill him.

"No, I don't," he says quietly.

"Then why did you go off?"

"Because if I said no he would have killed me," he replies. "I didn't want to be shot." Annie nods. "But I don't know where they are. I'm...I'm so sorry if I bring them here. I'm so sorry," he apologizes, and Annie could see he was having a hard time dealing with that fact. "They probably followed my tracks and they're on their way, and they have guns and...I'm so sorry," he cries out.

Annie feels her heart break. This guy was part of something he didn't ever want to be a part of. She had definitely experienced that in her life. She places her hand on one of his shoulders and he looks up. His eyes had turned puffy and she could see some tears had streaked down his face.

"Hey, it's fine. If they come, we'll be fucking ready. This isn't your fault. You just didn't want to be killed. If I were you, I would do the exact same thing to protect myself. But you have to swear, if they come, you'll be there on our side. If not, that's when we shoot you."

"I swear," he mumbles. She smiles.

"Good, but for now, we need to plan." She stands up from her spot and looks at Harry and Leo. "Where's Gina and Mac? We need to get everyone here," she states. Harry looks at Leo nervously and Leo shrugs, knowing that what they were doing was given away. Annie feels her brow furrow. "Guys, where are they?"

"Some miles away," Harry states. Annie tilts her head.

"What on earth are they doing miles away?" Leo steps up.

"A while ago we came in contact with this safe place, and we were staying there for a while when we were trapped outside this area. They took us in, fed us, heavily armed but amazingly nice people. In exchange, we swore we would give them food from the garden and juice we made. We found out that the majority of people there like cranberry juice."

Annie feels the wheels in her head turning. That MUST have been the shit that had been spilt on her earlier that day! And why she couldn't find Mac and Gina when she went inside. They went off to go and deliver! She places her hands on her hips and narrows her eyes.

"Why in heavens name above would you not tell us this? It's not something to be ashamed off," she chuckles. Leo shrugs.

"It's not really...the best place you would ever want to be before all this," he says.

"What's so bad about it?" Harry was about to reply when the front door opens. All eyes travel to the two visitors as Gina and Mac place the keys down on the table. Mac notices the stares first and nudges her mother in the ribs. Gina curses under her breath and faces Mac with a 'wtf' look, but Mac simply gestures towards the living room. Gina looks over and nearly steps back when she sees them as well.

"Well, hello," she states. "What's going on?"

"It was an interrogation, but now it's more of a questioning," Rick states. Mac and Gina look over at him and share a confused glance.

"Who's he?" Mac asks. "And the kid?" Annie looks near the back.

"Some of my old group came back while you two were out," she states. "If I do ask, where exactly were you two when you were delivering this shit?" Gina gives Harry a stern look.

"You told them?" she hisses out. He backs up defensively.

"I didn't have a choice!" Leo steps up before a fight could start.

"First off, this kids group is coming this way," he starts, pointing towards Simon who was sitting silently, staring down at the ground. "He doesn't want to be with them. He hates them. But they're still coming. We don't have weapons here to arm ourselves, but the place does. We all know they would welcome us back with happy arms. I'm sure they won't mind if we bring a few new faces." Mac snorts.

"Do you know all the procedures we had to go through to get in last time, Leo? It would be terrible for them to go through it! It was hard enough for Lacey! Just image it for Hallie and Kelly!"

"Two other little kids," Annie interrupts. Mac's eyes widen.

"Two more? Where are they?"

"Don't matter. Question is where the fuck are you talking about?!" Annie places a hand on his arm to calm his building anger, knowing it wasn't pretty when something like this happened.

"Mac, can you please tell us?" she says calmly. At that point, Jill decides to make her appearance, and Mac's eyes widen.

"Who is she?!" she exclaims. Jill stops and places her hands on her hips, her mouth up in a sneer.

"I'm Jill, Annie's best friend," she replies, emphasizing the words 'best' and 'friend.' Before a pissing contest could start, Annie steps in between them.

"Guys, we need to think-"

"No, we need to go," Gina suddenly says, grabbing the keys to the car. "Harry, all you men, you get the kids. Mac, Dawson, get Lauren down here as quick as she can with those stairs." All of them take off and Gina turns to the rest. "Leo, get all the shit in the back of the pickup. You and Mac with Lacey can ride in that, maybe a few others. The rest ride in the van. We got people on our asses, move, move, move!"

This was a new side of Gina that Annie had ever seen, and she actually really liked it. Annie smiles at the commodes but was still confused.

"Daryl, go with Harry and get Kelly and Hallie."

"Annie-" he starts, but she places a hand over his mouth.

"We'll get answers, Daryl. But she has a point. They're right on our ass." He glares at Simon.

"Because of him," he spat out. Simon looks down in fear this time. She pushes him out the door.

"Daryl, kids, now." He spares one last hateful glance at Simon before setting off, and Annie looks at Simon with a small smile. "Like I said, dramatic, but I love him." She walks over and helps him up. "You have to tell me the truth right now, Simon. You swear to God you don't want to be with that group."

"Honestly, I never did. Joel saved me and a few others from Terminus, but other then food and shelter, there wwas nothing really nice about it." Annie smiles small. She pushes him towards the stairs. "You really want to prove how good you are? Go help Lauren down those stairs?"

"Who needs help getting down stairs?" She smirks.

"A cancer patient." That shuts him up.

"Oh," he says. She snorts.

"Yeah, oh. Go and help her." He nods and takes off to the stairs, heading up them at the speed of light. Annie looks to Gina and walks over, a questioning look on her face. "Gina, where is this-"

"Annie, look. You know I love ya, and you know I respect ya, but right now, we need to get going. We'll explain every single thing when we get there. But with these people y'all have talked about, I really don't want to risk my daughters family or your lives anymore. So grab anything you need and let's get the hell out of here." Annie stares at her for a second.

"You swear you'll answer?" Gina smiles.

"Sweetie, it'll be answered when we get to the damn place. Now go!"

~%~

Annie later sat outside with Gina as they piled up the large RV that Gina had stowed away in the garage. Annie glances back at the house and then back at Gina. "You're not going to miss any of this?" she asks quietly. Gina looks at her with a confused look, but realizes she was talking about the house. Gina chuckles sweetly.

"Of course I will, honey," she replies, finally tying up some loose ends on the cargo on top. "But ya gotta understand, I've lived in this house my whole life. I've had my time in here, and sure, it'll suck to leave it after all that we've been through, but the memories will always stick. That's what matters," she states. Annie smiles.

"That's good thinking," she replies. She turns around to grab the last bag when she is jumped on by Pepper. She smiles and pushes him off when he starts to lick her senseless. "Calm down, Pepper. Climb in the RV." The dog barks and jumps into the door. Gina shakes her head.

"Ya know, I didn't pick out that dog. That was Harry's choice. I wanted a nice small shitzu, but no, we get a Dalmatian. Who slobbers all over the place." Annie laughs. That was very true. No matter how cute the dog was or playful he could be, he was very, very messy. "Yet we still stick with him."

"Dogs are companions for life. I wish I had a dog." Gina snorts.

"Ya can keep him!" Annie smiles. At that moment she sees all the men with the kids. Kelly and Lacey were walking side by side with a questioning glance, while the little ones were being carried. Annie spared a glance at Rick and Carl, and saw that both were carrying one of Jill's little kids. She smiles a bit at this and then turns her head to Daryl, with a little Hallie in his arms.

"Get any answers?" he asks quietly.

"She says we'll know what the place is when we get there." He snorts.

"Sure it will be," he mumbles. Hallie looks at the two of them.

"Where are we going?" she asks. Annie tries to answer but Daryl beats her to it, rather annoyingly.

"Ya know just as much as we do, kid." Annie sends him a playful glare before rolling her eyes. She looks towards the door and sees Jill coming around the corner with Crackers. The horse gallops up to Annie and nuzzles her neck. Annie laughs and pets the horses side adoringly.

"I missed you too, buddy," she laughs. She hears a groan from the main entrance and Annie looks over. Lauren was getting outside finally, and Mac with Dawson and Simon were helping her. Annie runs over and takes another arm of hers to help. Lauren looks over and smiles.

"I'm outside!" she says happily. Annie chuckles.

"Yes you are," she replies. Lauren takes a deep breath, holding the suitcase that contained her oxygen tank.

"Oh, this feels amazing!" When they reach the van, Annie lets go and lets the other three help Lauren into the vehicle. She sees her and Simon talking, but doesn't make much of it as she walks back over to Jill.

"I just realized we have no way to get Crackers there," she chuckles. Jill puts a hand up.

"I can ride him. It's no problem." Annie raises an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" she chuckles. "I don't think you've ever ridden a horse." Jill smirks.

"I've been riding him ever since he found me. Plus, I can cover up the tire tracks as you guys drive. I'll just keep a steady pace. We don't need those assholes finding this new place, right?" Annie feels a shit eating grin come on her face.

"That's not the only thing you've been riding," she sneaks out. Jill's face reddens and she slaps Annie's shoulder, causing her to laugh.

"Annie Dixon!" she chastises. Annie smiles.

"Hey, are you ok?" Jill nods.

"Better then before." Annie nods.

"Just be careful, ok? I don't need you getting hurt." Jill nods, climbing on the back of Crackers, who lets out a resounding neigh when she adjusts herself on his side.

"You watch out for that Mac girl." Annie rolls her eyes.

"She's not that bad." Jill snorts.

"Sure."

Annie ignores the last comment and walks back over to the pick-up. Gina looks back as Harry files into the van.

"The RV is packed to the brim. Annie? Can you-" Annie places a hand up to stop her in her tracks.

"Already heading back there," she states. Gina smiles and takes her place in the RV while Annie climbs into the backseat of the pickup. Daryl was sat near the front, his back leaning against the back for he drivers seat. Hallie sat by his right bile Kelly was talking into the window with Lacey, who was inside the car with Leo and Mac.

"Mommy, did you get the Harry Potter books?" Kelly asks Annie. The older girl chuckles.

"Yup. Keep reading and you'll become Hermione." Lacey sticks her head out the window with a disgusted look.

"Hermione's fugly." Next to her Annie hears Daryl laugh at the remark the eight year old made.

"But she's smart!" Annie counters, her eyes wide. Lacey shakes her head.

"There should be another girl! She could be like...half and half of something! What's that word? Halfblood!" Kelly nods feverishly.

"Like half vampire, half witch! And she could be super pretty and all that-" Annie turns her around to face the back.

"Ok, enough with all the Hogwarts talk. You guys can chat away about spells and broomsticks when we get to where were going."

"Which we still don't know where the hell we are going," Daryl mumbles.

"Would you shut up?" she chuckles at him. "It sucks, but it's a quick ride. At least I think." Daryl rolls his eyes again.

"Ya think? Looks like Hallie's gettin' another nap." Annie looks over and sees that Hallie's eyes were indeed closed. She smiles.

"Well, at least we're getting away from Joel and Carol, right?" Daryl glances at the RV with distaste.

"We got one of 'em in there, Annie," he says lowly. She groans.

"Simon isn't bad. He doesn't even look like he could harm a fly! Look, let's just get this shit going and we'll talk later, ok?" Daryl nods reluctantly, but still glares at the RV. He wouldn't trust the Simon guy for a second, even if he said he didn't like that group.

"Mac! Start it up!" Gina yells through the drivers seat of the RV. Mac nods and Annie feels the car's engine rip to life under her, and in seconds, the car started to drive. She spares a glance behind the giant van and sees Jill starting to cover up the tracks and take off on Crackers. She sighs.

"On to the next place," she mumbles.

~%~

A small group trekked its way through the forest as it came upon a three story house in the middle of the forest. Joel pushed aside one of his men as he climbed the hill that the house was on. Carol joined soon behind him, glancing around the area with feigned interest.

"How are they not HERE?" Joel exclaims. "We followed Simon exactly where he went! And now he just disappears. Even biter footprints would give us more closure then none at all!" Carol looks at the house and then at the backyard. Something about the place said something to her.

"They were here," she states to Joel. He spares her a glance to the side, his head still fuming with anger. "They left. And they covered up their tracks. Clever bastards." Joel sighs and looks at the house.

"We need to take shelter. It's getting dark." He turns to the group. "Tomorrow, we're heading out to find these fuckers. How far away it is, I don't care, but we will not rest until both those Dixons and everyone they love is dead. For tonight, we get sleep. Get the fuck inside before I send all of you out to the fuckers outside."

Everyone scrambles in, while Joel crosses his arms angrily, glaring down at the ground. "Fucking hell, we were right on them. How are you not mad at all?" Carol smiles wickedly.

"Oh trust me, I'm mad. I just have a plan. We just gotta find them first." Joel feels his mouth turn up in a grin.

"And what is this plan?" he asks. "I'm gonna guess it involves those people?" Carol laughs.

"Of course it does. Let's just say, the aftermath aint gonna be pretty. Both all of those people will pay. Annie will be dead, and Daryl will see just how much pain I can put him through for leaving me on the side. All of them will see what can happen when just a little bit of crazy is involved in ruining a life."

"Then the faster we get to sleep the faster we'll find them. Come on," he mutters, heading inside the house. Carol smiles. She would get Annie, and her little family too.

~%~

Sometime later, Annie had let her mind drift off and fallen asleep. The cars were driving up to the place now, and just then she felt herself slowly start to awaken. Her eyes drift open as she looks around. They were passing some forest, but she could see some clearing in the distance.

She looks behind and sees no tire tracks. Damn, Jill was doing a fine ass job of keeping those fuckers away. No sign of them at all.

Annie looks back to the front and slowly stands up as the car moves. The speed decreases gradually, but it wasn't until all the trees were cleared and the dirt stopped that she saw exactly where they were going. Her hand goes to her mouth as she falls to the surface of the pickup truck.

She crawls over to Daryl and shakes him awake, as he had fallen asleep too. He nearly jumps up when her hand touches his arm, but she doesn't flinch back. It was reflexes, she had them too. But the smile on her face was preventing him from being mad. His brow furrows.

"What are ya smiling about?" he questions curiously. She pulls him up and makes him look over the hood of the pickup.

"Read that sign," she says to him as the metal figure approaches. His eyes squint as he tries to read exactly what it says over the moving car, but when he finishes the passage he snorts, leaning against the hood now, his arms crossed.

"No shit," he mumbles. She smiles at him.

"Talk about deja vu," she chuckles. The sign was unmistakable for anyone who knew how to read, and Annie had to laugh at the irony.

This was where the madness with Carol had started, a place like this, and now it was her safe haven away from that bitch. Damn, she still felt bad for Daryl for having to deal with her. Thank God Jill was covering it all up. With Simon with them and everyone else, even if they did find them, Joel wouldn't stand a chance, and neither would Carol.

And with this new place, they would be gone in the blink of an eye.

The metal sign read:

Baylor Park Women's Correctional Facility

Operated since 1947

They had arrived at a prison.

Go figure.

Wasn't prison considered hell at some points? Didn't they have fucking guard towers? Weapons at every corner? Oh, she was feeling great.

Annie already knew she was going to like this. Her and Jill would fit in well here. Carol was so going down. That is if she could find them.


Review? :) Luv ya!