Ani was lost. Every time she thought she had a heading, she ended up running into another damn group of walkers. She'd thought she had Tyreese's trail, but it ended up being a mass of walkers she'd hightailed it out of the area from. Ani tried like hell to pick up any trail after that, but only managed to get through to the front side of the prison. As night fell, she climbed a tree after hauling the three bags up via rope. Tying herself to the tree and branch, she prayed that come morning, she would be able to find something.

The sun was what woke her up in the morning. She carefully untied herself and lowered the equipment to the ground before she jumped down herself, not bothering with climbing. It wasn't that far of a jump, and she landed just fine, commenting in her head foolishly about how I nailed the supahero landin' once again! She wandered around a bit after grabbing the packs, not bothering going back to the prison. Instead, she began circling around it, trying to find a clue as to where the others went. She had to find Daryl and Merle and Sophia. She knew they had gotten out and that Maggie and Tyreese had too. She'd watched them all escape, so there had to be tracks somewhere that she could follow to get back to her people.

It had to be mid afternoon by the time she finally picked up a trail. More specifically, two. Doing a little dance and crying out in adulation, Ani thanked every god known to man, the spirits, the dragons, and the Fae all at the same time upon seeing Daryl's tell-tale boot print in the mud. It looked like he still had Beth, and there were other tracks as well, looking to be Tyreese and the kids. With a smile on her face, she looked around to see if there were any other tracks, instead finding what could have been bunnies at one point slaughtered cruelly in their own den. One a the kids is the psycho? she asked herself.

Quickening her footsteps, she knew she couldn't be more than an hour or so behind Daryl, half a day behind Tyreese at most. Even though she had to stop regularly to catch her breath, she couldn't help but keep going. It took her another hour to find the bodies of two walkers, blood that was the wrong color to belong to the dead smattering the brush next to it. Once again, she picked up the pace and ran like hell through the woods, only to stop short upon finding the railroad tracks. It was the clothes and walkers and blood and guts that made her pause, going over to inspect the scene.

Ani couldn't help the sigh of relief that came from her, even upon seeing the tiny shoe. None of the clothes were from her people. By chance, Tyreese probably came upon this scene when it was happening, as there were several dead walkers without the obvious signs of having been eating while only a few did. That explained the other walker she'd found in the woods, as it had been of the fresher variety. It was nearing dusk now, and she had no idea where she was going to go or where she going to find shelter for the night. She did know that she had to get off the tracks and find something other than plantain leaves and dandelions to eat. Taking one last look at the mess in front of her she trudged herself across the tracks and off into the woods once again.

All she managed to catch was a squirrel, but that was enough as she made a small campfire and cooked it after skinning it. She didn't wait to stay the night this time, choosing instead to eat as she walked. Ani was hoping that, now that it was dark, she might be able to see a campfire. With how quiet she was, unless there was a look out that managed to get the drop on her, she'd be able to check who was around the fire before they even knew she was there. It was just a matter of whether they were her people or not, and if they weren't, she could hopefully move right along.

It couldn't have been more than midnight before she found a small campfire burning through the trees. She did her best to be silent and swift, moving right up to the forest line behind where the fire was lit. The sound of men's voices rang out, laughing and speaking in voracious voices about how they'd beaten a man for some reason or another. Trying to carefully back away, she'd made it maybe ten feet before someone behind her called out.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here," a tall but thin man with a scraggly beard said as she spun around. "Got an awful lot of bags there, sugar. How about you pass them over?"

"How 'bout ya go fuck yaself and I won' kill ya," Ani countered, a silent promise in the air of death as she looked at the three men in front of her.

"Ooo, feisty. I'm claimin' her," a shorter, but stocky, man with longer hair said.

"I was gonna claim her!" the first guy said.

"Too bad, so sad Mike, Chris called it first," the third man, a medium built, typical middle aged man said. "'Sides, seems to me she can handle herself, so we can all take a turn. How would you like that, hunny? Must've been a while since you had a man."

"Jus' a couple nights ago I had me husband, and he's the only man I'll eva have, so once again, go fuck yaself," she told him, a throwing knife already in each hand.

As the men started moving, she threw them, landing one in the neck of two of the men, leaving them to bleed and her with the second man, the one who talked, to try to shout. If she hadn't have taken a large step forward at the same time as she'd thrown her knives, she would have never been able to cut off his yell with the high kick to the neck, but instead, he managed a disgruntled 'aamphh' out as his neck broke, crumpling him to the ground. Retrieving her two knives, she used one to impale the last man through the neck while wiping the other one down on his clothes. They'd all been downed in seconds.

"Claimed, eh? How many girls ya claimed?" she muttered to the corpse as her mind went to the dark places she liked to think caused her parents' behavior.

No one from her group was around to see as she pulled out the buck knife Daryl had given her as a replacement for Bucky. Smiling sadistically, she undid each of the men's pants and cut off a very valuable part, stuffing each in their 'owners'' mouths. She laughed quietly to herself, pleased even as her hands were bloody, at her handiwork. Their most prized possessions would be the very first thing they ate when they 'woke,' one of which was beginning to twitch already. The entire bout of madness was cut short by a gunshot and shouting. Ani knew she'd overstayed her weapon and someone had seen her.

Running like hell, she heard a bullet whiz past her ear and embed itself into a tree as the men shouted about her. She didn't stop running, making sure to step on as many roots as possible, jumping here and there so that there was a limited trail and instead only leaving a few spatterings of steps here and there before bounding back onto roots. Ani continued until she found a tree she could easily climb, even with all her gear on. Thank the gods I neva stopped carryin' me weight 'round the prison. Be weak as fuck if I did, she thought to herself as she scrambled up the tree. It was about an hour later that she heard the men yelling a ways off from her hiding spot, heading in the opposite direction.

Ani decided to spend the night in a tree again, judging it to be safer than going back to the ground. Now that the men were heading the way they were, she would be able to double back around to get to the train tracks. If there was any way to find Daryl, she needed to get back to those tracks. Shoulda neva left 'em, ya big dummy, she chastised herself. For a moment, she contemplated the amount of thinking she was doing to herself before remembering that she was alone. There was no point in speaking out loud when there was no one to hear you but the dead or the enemy.

The next morning, she was surprised to find that the men had doubled back to their campsite, making sure to give them a wide berth in yet another direction, forcing her away from the train tracks altogether. She didn't know how many men there were in the group, but it sounded like more than ten. Three? Easy peasy pumpkin squeezie. Five or more with unknown variables such as age, height and weight? Nope, not worth the risk. She was extra careful for a good five hours, trying hard not to let her mind wander to the worst scenarios possible. Instead, she forced herself to think logically. If Daryl had caught up to Tyreese, they would most likely still be on the tracks and all tracks connected at some point, right? It was the only heading she had now, all tracks she would be able to find lost.

Forcing herself not to dwell on the past options she'd made that had landed her in her current predicament. There was nothing for her to do but march forward. So that's what she did. It had to be at least four hours later that she stopped and strained her ears. Turning towards the sound, she began running frantically. It sounded like a baby was crying and if a baby was crying, there was a good chance it was Judith. Seemingly taking forever, she finally got closer to the sound, only to be completely stunted at the sight.

On the ground, two walkers that had been pretty well torn all to hell were kneeling next to a bloody mass. It couldn't have been bigger than a smallish dog, but what got her attention was the fact that the crying, the 'baby' she'd so desperately chased, was actually two kittens in the tree above the grizzly scene. Ani had no problem in discarding the walkers or shrugging out of her bags to shimmy up the tree. The mewling kittens began to hiss at her approach, but she simply ignored them and grabbed them both by the scruff of their necks.

"Well, ya sure the fuck ain' Judy," she said to them as she held them up and inspected them. "The fuck are ya anyways? Well, can' leave ya here. Too young ta fend for yaselves. Jus' hope ya can eat meat. Can' give ya nothin' else."

Being careful of how she did it, she manouvered both kittens into a pinch by the scruff, moving her fingers up to her mouth and replacing them with her teeth, hard enough to hold the kittens like their momma would, but gently enough not to hurt them. Both kittens had curled into themselves as soon as she'd picked them up by the scruff and by the size of them, they couldn't have been more than a few months old. Ani figured the poor things would be left behind by their mother soon enough even if she wasn't dead, so she cleared out her bag, splitting the things she had in it between Daryl's and Merle's. Stuffing the kittens gently into her bag, she threw the men's bags on her back before carefully picking her back up and putting it on her front, zipper wide open so the kittens could look out.

"Gonna have ta pick out names for ya. Ya cats, that's for sure, but neva heard of a cat cryin' like a baby like that. How 'bout Chip and Dale? Nah, don' know if ya male or female and don' know how ta check. Bonnie and Clyde? Luke and Leah? Shite, why can' I think a names it won't matta what ya are for? Ya know what, whateva. Figure it out lata. Ya stickin' with me from now on," she told the kittens as she began walking again, holding the bottom of the bag with one arm while keeping her hand on her machete with the other.

It was nearing evening when she finally called it quits for the day, having killed two squirrels along the way. One she didn't bother cleaning or skinning and instead tossed it down at the kittens. When they did nothing with it, by the time she'd skinned and cleaned the other one and gotten it on a stick above a fire, she cut a little chunk out of it and tested to see if they would take it. When neither did, she skinned and gutted it, putting it on the fire to at least partially cook. Maybe they preferred warm meat to cold. She ended up having to tie a piece of rope to each of the kitten's little necks as they kept trying to wander off. Tying the rope to her ankle, Ani smiled as she watched the antics of the two fluff balls.

"Din-din's done," she called to them, removing one of the squirrels and cutting a couple small strips off of it. The kittens finally ate the meat, making Ani smile even bigger. "Guess I'm gonna be huntin' some more. Ya know, 'ventually, ya gonna have ta earn ya keep. Ain' gonna feed ya foreva. Me man, D, he'll know what ya are. Jus' gotta get ya ta him and I'll be able ta know what ya can hunt. Can' expect ya ta be takin' down anythin' big if ya ain' much more'n house cats yaselves, now, can I?" By the time they were done eating, the kittens had big, full bellies, finishing off their entire squirrel and the rest of hers when she had eaten two thirds of it and deemed herself full. "Ya know, the only cat I can think a that is in the states is the bobcat. But I don' know shite 'bout the damn things. Is that what the two a ya are?" she asked one of the kittens as she picked it up by its scruff, the other kitten following closely behind its sibling, swatting at its tail. "Don' know what baby bobcats look like. Don' know what bobcats look like. Anythin' like lynxes? Bushy paws and puffy cheeks? Ya look kinda like me tabby cat I had back in Atlanta. Old boy adopted right as 'e was bein' taken ta be done in. Gave 'is last couple a years a good go at a good home with lots a love. The two a ya won' mind that, will ya? Stick with me and I'll keep ya safe and fed. Train ya up a bit and we'll be a good ole family in now time, huntin' and trackin' with the best a 'em. ''Em' bein' Daryl and Merle. Phia too, she'll love the two a ya. I'm jus' assumin' ya bobcats 'til D says othawise. So's, how's the names Bobby and Catty sound ta ya? 'Cause I'm gonna be pretty damn frank 'ere. Ya look exactly the fuck alike."

She'd been manhandling both kittens the entire time she was talking, turning them this way and that before holding them up and looking them both right in the eyes. "Yep, exactly the fuck alike. Ya too cute ta go off on ya own, and too small. Ya stuck with me, kiddos. I'm ya new mommy. Gods, ya daddy's gonna kill me when he sees ya. Can 'ear 'im now, 'The fuck you doin' namin' 'em, hmm? That could be dinner right there,'" she purposely drawled in his thick Southern accent. "Don' ya worry, though, ya ain' gonna be no one's dinna. Gonna grow ya up, start ya eatin' how ya should, none a this partially cooked crap I gave ya tanight. Get ya huntin'. If it's anythin' like what lions and cheetahs do for their cubs, I can at least do that. Why couldn' ya be a lion? Or a cheetah? Or a tiga? I'd know what the fuck ya were then. Wouldn' have ta guess."

Ani was gratified when the little things laid down in her lap and snuggled in, falling asleep while purring away. She, herself, entered a state of lucidity, allowing her body to rest while keeping her sense about her. More than halfway through the night, a twig snapped close enough to her to jerk her body awake, startling the kittens whom were not happy with being manhandled back into their bag as she quickly readied to go. She didn't bother sticking around to find out what made the twig snap; she could easily climb a tree or find a place to rest that wasn't so out in the open and sleep then. Maybe even something with a lock on it and windows too high to get to from outside. She wasn't too exhausted yet, her mind not on survival mode so much as on 'one foot in front of the other' mode. Ani literally had no plan and no insight aside from 'get to the tracks.'

"Ya know, I right done fucked up," she told the kittens, looking down into the bag to find them sleeping. "I got no fuckin' clue where the hell I'm headin'. Alright, well, papa always said if ya can' find ya way, follow the sun. Ya gotta come ta a road at some point." As she walked, she continued talking to the kittens. "Ya know, ya gonna love Phia, and Carl. They're gonna love ya too. Prolly gonna wanna pet ya and kiss ya like I do. And Judith! Judy-baby is jus' a sweet little girl. She's gonna absolutely adore ya. Gonna have ta teach 'er ta play nice with animals though. Merle's gonna be jus' as angry with me 'bout ya as Daryl, but I don' care. Give 'em somethin' else ta complain 'bout when I get back ta 'em otha than me not bein' with 'em right now."

She stopped talking as the smell of a something burning overtook her. Following her nose, she got excited as she found the place where she and Daryl had caught the pig. Running like all hell once again, she managed to find her way to the old distillery she got her moonshine from. The sight made her slump to the ground, all fight in her left. Someone had burned it down. She thought that maybe, just maybe, when she got to it she could hold up, wait for Daryl to get there, but it was gone. For the first time since she left the prison, Ani felt the despair and anguish that came from the loss. Sitting down on the forest floor, she began to sob, digging her nails into her biceps as she held herself. For the first time in a long time, she was well and truly alone.

~x~

Carl was smiling as he sat at the table eating breakfast. Sophia was sitting on one side of him while Merle was somewhere in the house sleeping. Michonne walked up making both kids chuckle as she sat a couple bottles of water and a bowl on the table next to him.

"Do you have something to say about my extremely comfortable and attractive shirt?" she asked them, stepping back and showing off her loose fitting white shirt.

"No, no, no," Carl said through his laughing. "It looks great."

"You missed a button," Sophia said, pointing it out before Michonne sat down.

"I wish we had some soy milk," she said as she poured the last of the cereal into a bowl.

"Seriously?" Carl asked at the same time as Sophia shuddered and said, "Yuck!"

"Yes, seriously!" Michonne insisted. "Have you ever tried it?"

"Yes!" Sophia said. "It's so nasty!"

"My best friend in third grade," Carl told them. "He was allergic to dairy. And every day he would bring this soy stuff in for lunch. I tried it..."

"Aaannd?" Michonne asked.

"I threw up!"

"Ew!"

"Oh, yeah right," Michonne said, sharing a laugh with Sophia and Carl.

"Alright, alright," Carl chuckled. "I almost threw up, but I was like, ugh!" he said, imitating spitting the milk out and shaking his head in disgust. "It was so gross. I mean I would rather have powdered milk than have to drink that stuff again. I would rather have Judith's formula-" He broke off and they all sombered at the fact that Judith hadn't been found, only a bloody car seat. Carl got up from the table and muttered, "I'm just gonna go finish my book. I have a couple chapters left."

Sophia followed after him and sat on the bed next to him, putting her head on his shoulder, "For what it's worth, I think she's alive. Someone has her, just couldn't take the carrier."

"Or she's dead," Carl said hotly, moving his shoulder as she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Or someone's got her. Merle grabbed me up, someone coulda grabbed Judith. Heck, Ani might even have her and heading for us now!" she said hopefully.

"Sophia, I know Ani's your hero and all, but she's not Wonder Woman. You don't even know if she's alive."

"Didn't know you or Michonne were alive, and here you are."

"Phia..."

"Carl..." she said right back in the same irritated tone, both looking at each other before Carl rolled his eyes. "Fine, how about we bet something?"

"Like what?"

"Like," Sophia elongated. "If I win, and Ani and Judith are still alive and we find them, I get all the candy you find for a month."

"You're on," Carl told her somberly.

Michonne walked in with Merle, who'd woken up. Michonne told Carl he was going with her to scavenge some stuff while Merle told Sophia to get her bow. The two of them were going hunting. Rick stayed at the house with the promise that the four would meet back up with him around noon. If Merle and Sophia managed to get anything, they'd bring it back, cook it, have a meal and then be on their way. Sophia talked to Merle as they hunted, letting him know what had happened to Carl and Judith, and that she'd made a bet with the boy.

"All his candy for a month if they show up," Sophia told him. "I know they're going to show up. Ani's probably carting Judith around right now."

"You know it, girly," Merle said, holding Sophia's bow and only letting Sophia carry their meager catch; two squirrels and a small pheasant. "Time to head back. Should be 'bout noon by now."

They caught up to Carl and Michonne on the way back, the two smiling and seemingly more carefree. That made Sophia and Merle smile in turn, though Merle was more smiling because smiles were contagious according to him. They'd almost made it back to the house when gunfire rang out, stopping them all in their tracks. Rick came running out, telling them they needed to hurry. He was hobbling all over again and holding a weapon he previously did not have. One look was all it took for Merle to pull Sophia in the opposite direction, using his stump to push Carl that way as well while Rick ushered him and Michonne.

"They're followin' Ani," he told them. "I'm sure of it. Killed three of their men. Had crazy hair. Stabbed through the neck, though, if it was her, Ani's got a darker streak than we pictured."

"Why do you say that?" Michonne asked.

"When they found your shirt, they were musing about whether or not it was the girl they'd seen last night, the one who, and I quote, 'made the boys eat their cocks.' Not sure what that means, but if they tried what I think they tried with Ani, she did somethin' to 'em."

"Damn shame I wasn't there to see it. Wonder what our little spitfire did," Merle said comically.

"Who knows?" Sophia said. "Ani's alive, though! Told you Carl!"

"Yeah, I guess you did," Carl responded with a small smile.

But he didn't say anything about there being a baby, he finished in his head. As they walked down the railway, he pulled out the can of Crazy Cheese Michonne had goofed off with him before with. Holding it out to the woman and offered it to her before offering it to Sophia who just looked at him questioningly while he and Michonne shared a secret smile. He put it back away as Rick walked a few paces ahead to look at something. A sign, showing where the tracks came together, offered sanctuary.

"What do you think?" Michonne asked.

"Any of our people see this, they'll prolly go," Merle offered.

"Let's go," Rick said. "Let's go."