A/N: Hello! Happy merry Christmas and new year to all! Hope the holiday is passing good. I've been a busy bee, and finished almost three chapters as I'm at home too, and I realized I need to go ahead and plan things a bit more detailed as we've coming to Alexandria. Hope you're still with me, no one reviewed the last chapter, and it was a bit of a let down as the reason why I update regularly is because I enjoy hearing from you as I'm writing. Usually, I just upload many chapters in one go after I finished writing. So please, if you're still reading, let me know!

Cheers, and have a nice holiday!

XXV.

"We do what we need to do, then we get to live," Rick said.

The words almost brought a bitter snort out of her, but Amanda kept it inside, bowing her head. All of her life she'd been doing what needed to be done, but she was still waiting for getting to live part. It never ended, never, the world or life hadn't changed on that front very much. It always found new lemons to throw at her face, and Amanda hated lemonades.

Unless…it got some healthy dosage of alcohol. Amanda had never been much for drinking, drinking away from the problems had always seemed to her something for quitters, and Amanda was never a quitter. She enjoyed drinks, she'd been particularly happy to have Dawn's flask after she'd gotten at her place, but still she wasn't a quitter. Though, every girl needed a drink once in a while, and they all did stupid things sometimes… Her eyes skipped to Abraham, but she turned them away— She didn't want to have another episode with Rick, and well it was stupid, and Amanda was never stupid.

But it was the end of the fucking world, and she was lost in the wilderness—and she was fucking depressed, she'd watched another person she knew blow her face off at her face, and she still got brain pieces inside her hair…

She deserved a bit of stupid!

But as good as it felt having Rick's aggressive protectiveness for her sake, and it had—she had to admit, it'd made weird things in her stomach even when she got threatened by a ripped off throat, she really didn't want to upset him more. He'd been already having too much shit. Amanda didn't want to make things shittier. Shoot her, she was being considerate.

She didn't know what they were exactly now, she was just going along with him—and aside a few gentle gestures and nice moments, and being a general jerk to her like always, Rick didn't seem to know about it much either.

He hadn't even kissed her again after that quick kiss when she'd asked him if they would try to find it out—he was too busy with staying alive, keeping everyone alive, or maybe he was trying to take things slow this time, Amanda didn't know. She tried not to dwell on it much, she was too busy with staying alive the same, and whenever she needed him, even when she was being stupid drinking her ass off, he was always there, so it was…enough.

In fact, it was more than enough, it was the first time she felt…like…she had someone, someone protecting her ass other than herself, but she tried not to dwell on that, too.

It was just that it never ended, the "get to live" part never came…there was always this and that, this thing or another, and the other…it never fucking ended now. Whitney had been right, this world now belonged to the dead, and they were just stealing a day off from the inevitable everyday-

"But no matter what we find in D.C., I know we'll be okay, because this is how we survive," Rick continued, and she turned her head to him again, "We tell ourselves that we are the walking dead."

The words almost made Amanda cry, because like always the damn man was right again. Sometimes it felt like something had died inside them, inside the humanity. She'd never had much hope in mankind anyways, even before the turn, but when the civilization had come undone, most people had turned to animals, with a mind only to survive, themselves including. Though, there were still worse than them, she told herself, remembering Gorman, remembering what Rick had told her, remembering what she had saw herself… They were still better than them, and it wasn't a happy thought, either.

The words made Daryl angered somehow as he pointed his arm at Rick in objection and hissed out, "We ain't them—" He shook his head, "We ain't them."

Amanda respected his diligence of keeping his hopes up, too. She wondered if it was anything regarding Beth, and who she was kidding— of course it was about her. Beth had a power to turn anyone to a hopeful idiot, herself coming at the second line just after the Daryl Dixon.

Daryl left, storming away with anger, and Beth followed. Amanda rested her head against the wooden wall, and dreamed off showers. Then she remembered they'd found Palmer at the shower too after he'd blown his brain off, and she shook her head to clear the image away, and felt tears pricking at her eyes…

She was fucking hating…everything! She just hated everything, even living at the moment. Michonne stood up, leaving them too, not neglecting giving them a biting look in the meantime. She had no idea how the Afro-American woman must have felt right now. Amanda had basically ruined her happy post-apocalyptic paradise, not that she would have cared even things were different.

The others scattered at each side of the barn to pass the night. Soon it remained only her and Rick, Carl sleeping beside them in front of the fire, Judith next to him, and it made her feel…she didn't know…secluded…like a family, She drove the thought away like she'd been doing for the last week, no need to get carried away, not letting herself to think how easily these thoughts had started to surface out of her mind—and she didn't have any fucking idea why—okay, she had a very good idea of why, but she tried not to dwell on it, either, they were trying to survive here—but maybe, maybe when.. If… they would ever get to the living part…then she could…perhaps think…? Inwardly, she snorted and smiled bitterly. Here again, Amanda Shepherd, being the hopeful idiot.

Sighing, she lifted her head up from the wooden wall and pulled her legs at her chest, but somehow still asked, hugging her knees. "Do you mean it, Rick?"

Rick turned to her. "The walking dead?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No. We do what we need to do, then we get to live part," she answered, "Do you really believe it? Because that's the exact thing what I've been doing for years, but I'm still waiting to get to the living part." She paused, and looked at Rick as he watched her, "It just never ends."

His eyes were clear blue, keen and searching, searching through her, making her feel as if she was naked in front of him, transparent, and he could see through all. A tremor passed over her. "It only ends when we die, Amanda," he then said somberly.

"How ironic," she said slowly with a little snort, another small bitter smile on her lips, because it wasn't ending even then now. "I'm fucking hat—" she started, but this time he cut her off before she could finish it.

"So I am, Amanda," he said, sighing, "I'm fucking hating it too."

Then at that moment Amanda had a revelation. There was no lightness coming at her, no divine moment or anything, it was a shit moment like most of her life, a storm raging outside, horseshit smelling inside, herself smelling worse than horseshit outside, and brain pieces decorating inside her tangled hair, and in that shit moment, Amanda understood she might very well fall in love with Rick Grimes.

She should have felt scared, she should have run away, but she was so damn tired she couldn't find energy even to move her finger. She rested her head at the wall again, feeling the wooden surface against her scalp—and her hair was itching but she was…afraid to scratch it… She raised her hand up and looked at it… how dirty it was—how dirty it had become… "I've done so many things to get to live," she turned her head aside to give him a look, lowering her hand, "Sometimes I fear my hands would never come clean."

"We all did," Rick told him back, then gave her a heavy look, "But every day is a new day," Rick then said.

Amanda held his look, and only said back, "So get up, and go to war."

In answer, he leaned in toward her, and kissed her.

One moment he was on her, kissing her gently, the next he pushed her down on the ground on her back and climbed on her. His hands moved to her belt and he started unbuckling her. "We shouldn't do this—" he said though, just tearing his lips off of her lips, moving them over to her neck.

"Why?" she gasped out. Why, indeed. She just wanted him so much sometimes it scared her, too.

"There're people… Carl…" Rick roughed out, his lips tracing over her jaw.

She drew in a silent breath as he sucked a delicate spot under her jawline, her fingers tightening on his shoulders. "Sleeping…" she pointed out, moaning on the word.

"We—we should take it slow—" he said, but his lips took a bit at her neck, and she bit her lips not to moan loudly.

She craned her neck and her eyes found him. "Two weeks aren't enough slow for you, Rick?" she asked, looking directly in his eyes, "Do you want us to stop?"

His eyes darkened further, and in answer he arched himself up to unzipped his pants with one hand and warned as she moved her legs around his calves, tugging her feet in, "Keep quiet."

# # #

Whole package…

I love you whole, Daryl Dixon… This and that, whole package…

Whole package…

Words turned in his mind in a whirlwind… whole package… I love you whole, Daryl Dixon… whole package, like an unending ribbon of words, a forgotten chant that Beth had just buried out. I love you whole.

Fuck off!

"Uh—Daryl—" Beth then said, watching him warily, "Are you okay?" she asked tentatively. What? "I mean—" Beth continued, "It's obvious that you…love me, too."

He couldn't help himself, "Is it?" the words left his mouth and he wanted to kick himself.

Beth straightened her shoulders, pushing her back in a dignified manner, but there was a knowing look in her eyes, and her face was relaxed, "I don't suppose you ran after the cars in the middle of the night at the apocalypse for sports, Daryl."

"Hmm—" he grunted out, "I—fuck!" he exclaimed again, but Beth smiled, shaking her head.

"Shut up, and kiss me, idiot," she said back, walking to him closer and lifted her head up for an invitation.

Without further ado, Daryl obliged. It seemed like the best damn thing to do… I love you, too, passed in his mind, but he couldn't turn it into the words. He'd never told it to anyone before. Even when he knew he loved her more than he could think of just the idea of saying the words out loud seemed impossible like he didn't know how to speak and he was more than glad to see that Beth was aware of it. She loved him whole. Even when he was nothing but a beast, devouring her just like that, against a dirty wooden wall in a dirty barn, but still Beth loved him. It made him feel worthy, wanted him to be worthy of her, her love, her belief, her trust in him. She'd accepted him whole, the good and the bad parts.

Breaking the kiss, he moved his head aside, resting it on the crook of her shoulder, he hugged her, and she hugged back, too, and it was even more intimidate than having sex that way, just holding each other, being completely open to each other, but whole.

"I love you, too, Beth," he then whispered at her, "This and that, whole."

As she kissed his temple tilting her head down, Daryl felt her lips, a gentle, soft caress against his skin. He didn't know how long they stood there like that, he couldn't even hear the storm raging now, it was getting quiet, and faint sunlight had started seizing through the creaks. "The sun is coming up," Beth breathed in his ear, "It's a new day," she said. Wordlessly, he nodded at her shoulder, "Let's go and watch the sunrise," Beth then said, tugging at his hand.

He pulled back as she spun around slowly and dragged them out. Outside the barn was almost closed by the fallen trees from the booming storm, and there were dead bodies around the barn impaled by fallen logs, whether it was a miracle or not, Daryl wasn't sure.

Carefully Beth treaded through the scene, still dragging him behind, not that Daryl would need any incentive to do it, he wanted to follow her, he wanted to go up there and watched the sunrise her with her, a new day. It was something he'd never done, even the notion of doing such a thing was absurd, watching the dawn with a girl like in a high school romance, but Daryl found himself wanting it, wanting to experience it with Beth, because it was different now, because they were different now, and because she was special. She was the most special person to him all in the world. She was the woman he loved.

They found a ridge of a stone hill where the forest waned off a sudden cliff, and they sat on a large stone under a tree and watched the dawn as the rising sun painted the sky with golden and red, a mystical hue through the clouds, and Beth's hand were still tugged into his, and her head were at his shoulder, staring at the horizon, then she sighed slowly, long but serene. "It's beautiful," she lifted her eyes up at him, "don't you think?"

Yes, it was beautiful; she with the sunrise was the most marvelous sight he had ever seen. He closed the inch between them and answered her with a kiss, gently pressing his lips on hers. She hummed contently against his lips like she always did whenever she enjoyed herself—and she enjoyed very much being kissed that way, slow and tender, and Daryl was enjoying kissing her like that too much, as well, slow and tender, bashing in every moment, memorizing every little noises she made, cataloguing every little gesture, and she was his, and he was hers…. They belonged to each other.

Beth broke the kiss, and smiled at him, resting her forehead on his. His fingers crept up to her wrist, and he held her purse, slowly beating under his fingertips… He closed his eyes. They weren't them. They weren't dead.

He opened his eyes… then caught with the corner of his eyes something he'd missed before, a disturbed ground over the foliage on the ground next to the stone they had sat down—and he pulled back like stringed bow, his back stiffing.

Fuck! How he had missed it! It was so fucking obvious to him, he couldn't understand how he had overlooked the sight…

"Daryl…?" Beth was looking at him questionably as he stared at the broken, bent leaves beside him and as his eyes recognized the grey dust on the leaves too, ash.

"Someone had camped here last night," he explained, roughing the words gruff with sudden anger. This was…this was bad. Being like this was bad. It was no use to anyone, it was no use to her. He'd brought her to the danger with his own hands, failing to recognize the signs, being a damn moron once again…opening the doors without checking out first. "Look, here—" He pointed at it with his head, taking the crossbow from where he'd rested it beside him at the stone, he went to inspect it.

Beth's eyes followed him then she stood up and joined him. "Two people," Daryl said, crouched on the ground, reading the signs. It was cold and storm had almost erased whole prints, but he'd managed to read that much. It belonged at least before the evening, he estimated, before the storm got heavy and they had forced to leave. The ridge had offered them a protective retreat with cavelike structure at the cliff, trees over them, but after the storm had gotten heavier they would need to find another shelter. He saw a can of pasta, too, resting just beside the camp, thrown away empty.

He sprung back on his feet, and grabbed Beth's hand. "Come, we're returning—" He tugged at her, "Quick."

But Beth's eyes stayed focused ahead, and Daryl followed her gaze again, then watched as Beth went and picked up something at the other side, something he hadn't first seen, a broken empty jar, almost empty with a slight yellowish thick mush at the bottom. Beth brought it up toward her nose and sniffed. Then diving her pinkies inside it, she tasted it.

Daryl frowned, but she lifted her eyes at him after a second, and declared, It's apple jelly." She paused, "Newly made."

# # #

Judith had woken up crying. Rick raised his head from where he was sleeping, and started rising up. His baby girl was always crying now, and Rick knew it was from hunger, last night he'd fed her with acorns mushed with water. He started standing up, pulling his hand off where it'd somehow found itself on Amanda's hip as she lay on his side a few inches from his back after they were done and rolled into the sleep. He really needed to keep his hand off to himself, that was no time for that, they had been trying to find out, yes, and he needed to take things slow and focused on what was important, staying alive, but it was getting hard to resist, and he hadn't wanted to stop. So get up, and go to the war. She'd said it, and he had wanted to kiss her, just kiss her, lightly, a small token of affection and shared understanding, and hardship, but then ended up finding himself climbing over her again.

As he walked to Judith, he tossed at a glance around, wondering if anyone had heard them last night, she'd kept quiet, biting his neck hard as she came, silencing her screams, and he did the same in return while he did. Sex was a wild thing with her, like a fight, and Rick wondered if it always was with her, or she was just like this with him because of the nature of their antagonistic relation, but again she never was a…soft person. I even asked for it.

He grumbled out, taking Judith into his arms, he shouldn't worry about this stuff, he should worry about Judith, his baby girl who was crying with hunger, it was no time for this. Rick titled his head up and looked at the baby's eyes, still red, and his face turned sterner, thoughts of Amanda and sex vanishing…

Goddammit, he was failing again, all the people he cared, all the people who needed him, his own children at the beginning. He needed to find food, he needed to find shelter, a place for them.

And it was a new day. So get up, and go to war.

He started walking toward Carol as she slept at other side of the barn with Tyreese and Sasha. Tyreese's condition was getting worse too, and he needed medical attention but he was still holding up. Then a small voice from his back stopped him. "Rick?" Amanda called out, and he turned aside to give her a look over his shoulder, and when Amanda saw his expression, she grimaced, standing up from the ground. "Is she okay?" she asked, looking at crying Judith.

"She's hungry," Rick answered as she walked to him, "I'm gonna out and try to find something to eat."

She nodded then stopped, giving him a look, then let out a small sigh, extending her arms to him, "Okay. Give her to me. I look after her."

But Rick shook his head, something holding him back. "It's okay, I'll ask Carol," he told her.

Seeing his reluctance, her grimace grew more, "Carol was the last watch. She's still sleeping. I can—"

"I'll wake up Carl."

She looked at her hard, "You don't trust me with her."

Rick stared at her back, "You don't seem liking babies a lot," he said plainly.

"I don't," Amanda then accepted as plainly as he was, looking at the slowly crying Judith, but then said like it was the end of the discussion, "But she's yours."

And he just wanted to kiss her again, the damn woman…he just wanted to… he didn't know what he wanted to… and it was driving him crazy, she was driving him crazy… all of her tests, snorts, smiles, jabs, drinks, but then she said things like this… But it was still Judith. He didn't move.

Amanda let out a loaded sigh, bowing her head. "In foster homes the big children are supposed to take care of the babies the most of the times," she then stated a few seconds later, lifting her head up and looked at him, "I most probably know how to take care of babies better than anyone here, Rick."

Foster homes… Shit!

But it…made sense a bit more now, the way she was, and he knew she was sharing with him now too...opening herself up, so he should do the same… but somehow his arms still didn't move… then she said, "Don't you trust me?"

Trust her? He wanted her to trust him, but did he really trust her? Rick recalled what Beth had said, how she didn't know to trust, but they could trust her first, the way his distrust hurt her, and how she felt when Whitney had killed herself, like…a failure… In answer, Rick gave her Judith.

In silence, she took Judith, hopping her into her arms as Judith was whining with little cries, then smiled at him softly. "She's still a lucky girl, Rick," she said.

"How?" Rick asked, but he could never believe any children who had born into this being lucky, what Abraham had said was true on the survival, they were going to be easily adapted to this world, but what Michonne had said was still true, too, this wasn't the world. It couldn't be.

"She's got a father like you," Amanda said though, "She's lucky."

At that, Rick faintly smiled, and touched at her cheek lightly as she hopped Judith in her embrace, but didn't correct her that he wasn't the father, because it didn't matter. Rick understood what she meant.

He turned around and started walking out, but before he reached to the door, Daryl and Beth entered, pushing the winged doors inside open. "We found a lead," Beth exclaimed, looking at him, "We found people."

# # #

"Two people had camped somewhere close to here last night," Daryl explained as they sat around in a circle, telling the others what they had found out there, "We found their camp at the ridge of the hill."

Beth couldn't still believe it, but she knew sooner or later their luck would turn again, and it was a new day, and it was always the darkest before the dawn. They had survived the storm. They weren't dead, not yet. "There're still tracks," he continued, "The storm disturbed much of them, but I can still read 'em."

"And there was no sight of butchery, too," Beth added, "and we found a can of pasta, and this—" Beth showed them, rising the half broken jar inside her hand. When she'd saw it, hope had resurfaced inside Beth, "Apple jelly. Someone made them recently. It tastes still new."

"How do you know?" Rosita asked, skepticism clear in her voce.

Beth opened her mouth but it was Maggie who had answered the Latin woman, "We had apple trees in the farm. We used to make apple jelly with Mom."

That answered the question, but then Michonne said, "Maybe they're just lost in the wild like us."

"Maybe…but maybe they're from a place…or know a place we could try…"

"And maybe they got more people out in the woods, too, with guns," Rick shot back in return.

"Maybe…maybe…maybe…" Amanda said, imitating them frustration tinting her tone, "I'm sick of maybes," she continued, "We know nothing, just as you keep telling us, Rick," she said, "So maybe we just should go and find out."

And Rick turned aside to give her a look, but it wasn't a glare as he usually did, it was a semi-glare weighted with something else, too… Beth wondered what had happened last night between them, because it looked like something had happened again, not a necessarily bad thing, either as they weren't sending each other killer glares. Beth had noticed the small, affectionate gesture they'd been sharing on the road, little touches and quick looks, but this was something else.

"She's right," Carol said then, holding Judith, trying to hush the baby, "She needs that apple jelly, Rick."

That made Rick cave in. He looked at his baby girl, and Beth knew the baby was eating that awful acorn mush since yesterday and she couldn't keep up going on like this. She didn't know if those people would share theirs with a hungry little baby, but they would try at least, they were still good people out there—people who wouldn't let a baby…suffer hunger if they could help. Beth wanted to believe that.

Rick's face told it all, too. Judith needed that apple jelly, and Judith was going to get it, one way or another. Then suddenly Beth found herself not caring, either. They would ask nicely, but if they refused… no, anyone who would let a baby…die of hunger didn't survive this world, either.

It was a revelation she found in herself, realizing that it was just like that, and she wouldn't lose any sleep over it. The world wouldn't lose anything if it lost those kinds of men.

This world didn't belong to dead, not yet.

"Abraham, you and Rosita go check around, we need to make sure if they were other people out there," Rick then said, looking at the ex-military sergeant, then tuned to Glenn, "Glenn, we need watches," he ordered, "At every point. There're are so many open points here. I go with Daryl, we'll track the signs—" He turned to Michonne, "Michonne, you're with me—" then his eyes turned to Amanda, and he momentarily halted—

But Amanda spoke before he did, "I'm coming with you," she said, standing up, her eyebrows drawn a bit.

Giving her silent look, Rick nodded wordlessly, and as they started moving out, Beth suddenly realized that she was being left behind! Anger found her. It was her plan, it was always her plan, she'd found the jar, but somehow it was always she who had left behind, like—like she was a child. She jolted up at her feet. "I'm coming with you, too!"

Daryl spun on his heel, giving her a hard look, but pretended not to notice. "No," he rasped out.

She didn't listen to him, "Yes. I'm coming. I found the jar."

His rasp turned to a full growl, "Beth—"

"Daryl—" Beth cut him off, but Amanda cut her off, too.

"She's right," the older woman said, "We need her," she told Daryl and Rick, "She's good with people in a way we aren't." Beth didn't know what to think of that, she was good with people, yes, but Amanda was also very good with talking into people, too, even better than her, perhaps. She then smiled at Daryl and Rick, throwing Beth a side look, "She convinced me to play nice at the hospital. She might convince them, too."

In return, Beth smiled back at her. Thank you.

# # #

They followed Daryl stepping carefully through the woods with light feet, Beth at his side, Amanda following close, and Rick and Michonne at their six, something Amanda found herself getting pissed, even though she knew it was stupid.

Rick and Michonne was a good team, they'd been doing this perhaps over a year now, she understood, but she wasn't liking it. She didn't hate it, though, so she guessed that was something. Was she jealous? She didn't know. She'd never been jealous before…of a man. But she knew of the feeling, of course, there was a lot of things a little orphan girl would get jealous while growing up, but luckily what she felt now wasn't anything like this…no, it was like a sort of disturbance, like…like an annoying fly wheezing over your ear, irritating like hell, bothering you, but…not harmful, and seeing them together was exactly like that too…bothersome…

God, she was so tired—she couldn't even think properly now, but instead thinking about stuff she never should bother herself to begin with it—well, at least she was the one who had bit Rick's neck twice while coming.

A tremor passed over her, remembering the last night, then she remembered the morning as well, how she ended up asking Judith, surprising even herself. Amanda had passed a good of her first teenager years looking after the minors. In the foster homes the old usually took care of the little ones, and Amanda had been hating it, the baby cries, the long nights, and the feel of helplessness when she couldn't stop the baby cries—not understanding what was the problem, the fear if she did something wrong and hurt the babies… and what if they sent her to correction centers too, she'd heard the tales, they were always used to be sent to correction facilities if they'd misbehaved, if they weren't good girls… Baby cries always made her remember those times, that helplessness and fear, and she hated remembering those times, but... Rick looked pretty helpless looking at the crying baby, too, and Amanda shocked herself opening her mouth to tell him she would look after her.

Something definitely was going on with her, or she was losing her mind, she didn't know. Because it also disturbed her seeing him holding back—as if he still couldn't trust her, even when she had slipped off knowingly she'd grown up in foster homes. She never tried to hide it anyways, it always came up in one way or another, and she didn't like looking like she was deliberately hiding it. She had no problems with telling it Beth, but as she started getting to understand, Rick was different.

And she really hoped the people they were looking for were good, because she knew Judith was going to get his apple jelly one way or another, too, she was a lucky girl that way, having a father like that, but Amanda would like seeing things not blowing out of proportion.

Beth still believed there were good people in the world, and Amanda would really want to share her belief, but then…she had never been a believer all that much, especially in goodness of mankind. Rick looked like the same, too, wariness and prospect of violence emitting out of his every pore, and if those people were anything smart, they would play nice.

Her eyes moved to Beth for a second, and seriously wished that whoever those people were they would enough to convince them…play nice. Rick was getting hard to contain, and Beth was good with people in a way she never would be, open and honest. They all could be open and honest, but none of them had Beth's doelike clear blue eyes, instead they all had wary, critical eyes, sending off the wrong message, or the right message depending on the occasion, but they didn't fucking know the occasion, so Beth needed to come, and Daryl needed to cool off his protectiveness, as well, but that was another matter.

The matter was Amanda wanted Rick stay…coolheaded. A leader always should stay intact and focused, coolheaded, even though she didn't exactly sure if it was the only reason now. All in frankness, she was getting really scared of asking further… her revelation still nagging into her mind… and this…this was the fucking worst time to fall in love with anyone.

Nope, best not to dwell on it, just keep him intact and…in one piece. The rest, they would see.

They didn't see anyone or a threat for an hour as Daryl followed the tracks, then they suddenly came out of the woods, and found two vehicles, one RV, and an old red station wagon blocked on the road with fallen trees.

They started running towards it. "The storm must have blocked their ways—" Daryl said, but Amanda shook her head. It didn't make sense, even if the vehicles were out of commission, why the hell they left it—into a storm…making suck-ass camps. Rick halted them with his fist hand up in the hair as they neared to the vehicles, and they stopped.

Their guns were at their hands, expect Michonne, who was standing with her katana at Rick's other side, then Rick pointed at the left with his head, and when Amanda saw the walkers coming at them the reasons why they had left the vehicles had become a bit clearer.

They killed the upcoming killers without a fuss, it was only six of them, and it made Amanda question the fighting abilities of the people they were looking for—clearly they would have taken out six walkers…three at one, not exactly bad odds. Not good either, and apparently, they didn't want to risk it, either.

Cautiously, Rick opened the RV's door and peeked inside. Turning aside, he pointed at Daryl and her, and twisted his hand in the air pointing at the other side. Amanda didn't understand the point of secrecy anymore, they had made enough voice outside clearing off the walkers to make known that anyone around that they weren't alone anymore, and she didn't also understand why she had to go with Daryl as Michonne stayed with him, but she shooed the thought away off her mind like shooing away a fly and followed Daryl instead.

Beth followed them too, and they circled the RV and come back from the other back door, and they stepped in as Rick checked the driver's seat at the front.

It was all clear and they were alone, and it was—bloody hell! They'd hit the jackpot!

Cans of pasta, beans, and fruits… there was even granola… good lord, she couldn't even remember the last time she'd eaten granola, she wanted to cry. There were also two small jars of apple jelly too, the same jars Beth had found.

Rick nodded at Daryl. "Daryl, check the gas," Rick asked, "Are these still running?"

Daryl nodded and turned back, slightly touching at Beth's side before he stepped down and went to the front side as they started packing up their founds. This new world was a world of finder keepers, and Amanda tried not to dwell on it much, either.

They were all looters now, and Judith was going to stop crying from hunger, so Amanda wasn't whining—instead she was smiling… She turned and looked for Rick—then saw him sharing a smile with Michonne as they looked at each other. She snapped back her head, her insides suddenly twisting—something coiling in her stomach… a voice inside her mind snickering fool…

She slapped the cupboard's lid forcefully, making Beth almost jump as Rick and Michonne turned to look at her, the smiles vanishing off their faces. She ignored the looks, sliding her backpack over her shoulders and stepped out of the van, Rick's squinted eyes at her back, she could feel.

She really didn't need to deal with this.

Outside she took in a breath, inhaling deeply, and heard light footsteps too, following her outside—footsteps too light to be neither Rick nor Michonne; Beth.

"Beth—I'm fine—" she started but then stopped in half, and she pulled out her gun.

Two figures were approaching them from the tree lines. "Get down on the ground," she shouted with her police voice, with the years of practice the words almost coming out of her automatically.

Two men—two good looking—two clean—a way too clean for this fucking nightmarish world looked at her—one was limping as the other supported him over his should—and they were both looking at her with widened eyes.

She repeated, "On the ground now." They lowered themselves down on their knees on the ground as Rick rushed out of the RV his gun at his hand, Daryl came running from the other side too, "Hands at the neck!"

They followed her order again, tying their hands at the back of their neck. Rick walked toward them, inspecting them closely, his eyes drawn together as he noticed the clean clothes… "Who are you people?" he growled out at them.

"We—we can explain—" the one without the limp started talking, "My—my name is Aaron, and this's Eric. We-we're friends. We're here to help."

All of them shared a look, as Rick's frown turned into a glower, "Help?"

"Yes…" the man named himself Aaron answered, looking at Rick's eyes directly, "We're here to help you…Rick."

In answer, Rick raised his gun and pointed it at his temple, "Who the hell are you?"

Well, too much to stay coolheaded…