AHHHHH! 50 favorites and 66 followers? Holy crap you guys are so flipping amazing!

Sorry for the long update. As I said, I am in my freshman year of high school right now, which means I have all new teachers, classes, sports, AND I have to learn how to drive. Not much free time. But anyway, I'm here now, back and ready for more, especially with this new season! I hope you like this chapter. I put a lot of time into this one.

Thanks to my lovely reviewers. You are what makes me want to keep writing. Please leave a review! You have absolutely no idea just how much your feeback means to me, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I love it all.

Also, if you have any questions for me personally, like where I'm from, what I like to do, etc., or if you just want to chat, HMU! I freaking love people.

Enjoy- Olivia

Daryl POV

"Because I'm only a crack, in this castle of glass. I'm hardly anything there for you to see, for you to see." Castle of Glass, Linkin Park

In that moment, I swear my heart stopped. I looked around wildly. My heart sunk when I didn't see her mane of bright blonde hair anywhere. All I could see were the throngs of walkers swarming us. I popped off a few more rounds, taking a few of the beasts that were closest to me.

The Grimes family was still stuck on the porch, their SUV in the middle of the mass of walkers. I began to target the ones that were between them and their car. Without even speaking, Glenn did the same. Soon, we had taken down most of the ones in their way.

"Go Rick." I yell, reloading my weapon. "We've got you covered. Ain't gonna get any better than this." I added, referring to the small dip in walker numbers at this current moment. Rick eyed me and nodded solemnly, turning to face his wife.

"Now's our chance." Rick screamed. "We need to get out of here now." He kept off the porch, not even bothering to use the steps. Lori followed close behind, practically shoving Carl along. The boy had a silver knife, which looked completely foreign in his young hands. I shuddered at the thought of him ever having to use it. No one that young should have to do something like that. Granted, I had to do things like that when I was his age, and by my knowledge, so did Nicole, but that didn't mean it was a good thing. Have you seen the way the two of us turned out?

Rick blew the head off of a walker that was right by the car, blocking the driver's side door. Lori sprinted to the other side, taking out another one on her way to her door. Carl ducked in beside his father, knife at the ready. He threw the door open and launched himself into the vehicle. Lori did the same, shooting another walker before slamming her door closed. Rick was the last one to get in, narrowly missing getting scratched by a walker. I let out a long breath once I saw that they were all safe inside. Once they were in, walkers began throwing themselves at their car, smearing blood and guts all over the sides and windows. At this moment, Carol and T pulled up in their car. I desperately looked through the windows, and almost choked when I saw that no one was in the back seat. No Nicole.

"The herd is coming from the west.' Heshell yelled out the window. We need to go north or south, to get away."

"What?" Rick hollered, rolling his window down.

"We need to go north or south." Hershel repeated. "Away from the herd."

"South." Rick said firmly. "There's a town not too far south. I saw it on the map in the bar. Maybe we could hide out there for the night."

"Well whatever we do we better-Daryl! Behind you!"

I whipped my head around as fast as I could, and I was face to face with a walker. He was obviously newly turned, still having some of his skin and his clothes were still recognizable. In a flash, I raised my gun, shooting quickly. The walker collapsed only a few feet from me, but that, in my opinion, was close enough.

"Thanks." I called out, sitting back down on the bike.

"Don't thank me just yet." Hershel said gravely, motioning for me to turn around. I turned around slowly, like I didn't want to see what he was talking about, which, in this case, I didn't. All the color drained from my face when I saw just how many had joined the herd now. There were dozens of them, maybe even a hundred. They were coming from all sides out of the woods, trapping us likes flies caught in a web. They were coming up the road, creating a heaving mass so congested and thick that there was no way we could get through it with our cars. They were circling us, ready to rip us apart one by one. The deafening noise of thousands of groans rang in my ears, permanently etching itself in my brain.

"What do we do?" Glenn said, his usual composure forgotten.

"We have to find some way to get out of here." Rick said.

"There's too many." Hershel chimed in. "We would never be able to get our cars through that."

Rick sighed, as he knew that the older man was right. We had to do something else. We couldn't just sit here and wait to die.

Suddenly, an idea hit me, and the obviousness of it left me feeling quite stupid. Why hadn't I thought of this before? "We need a distraction!" I said, causing everyone to look at me. My eyes were wild and fired up.

(Speaking of distractions- where are my readers from? SOrry. I've been up too long. Tell me in the commentsssss)

"What?" Glenn voiced.

"A distraction, something to draw the walkers away from us." I explained.

"Daryl's right." Rick nodded. "But, what distraction? We all need to get away. We can't just cause something to happ-"

And in that exact moment, a large boom sounded, and the barn burst into flames. The force of the blast was so hard that it almost knocked me over, and succeeded in doing so with a few of the walkers. I felt the heat of the white hot flames on my face, even though the barn was at least 300 feet away. The brilliant blaze shone brightly in the sunset, separating itself from the orange haze. Smoke curled up towards the sky is large clumps.

"What the hell was that?" Maggie shrieked from the back of the truck.

"I-I have no idea." Rick said, stunned. He shook his head and blinked his eyes a couple times, as if to affirm what he was seeing was real. It most definitely was real.

"Well whatever it was," Hershel interjected. "It created one hell of a distraction. Look!" He pointed towards the walkers. We hadn't realized, in our haze, that the beasts had been just as distracted by the explosion as we had, but even more so. Slowly, the horde began to move away from us, this time instead going towards the barn.

"A distraction." Rick said in awe. "Maybe there really is a God." I turned and looked back at the flames. He was right. That had been one hell of a coincidence. Had the universe really decided to help us out with this one? Or was there some other…..

I think, for a brief moment, my heart stopped. I stared in horror at the barn. THe once mesmerizing flames were now dark and evil, like an omen of death. I poked around at all the people in the cars next to me, each of them too stunned to think anything of it. But I knew what was happening. This was no act of God. This was no freak of nature.

"No!" I called, standing up and running a little closer to the barn, stopping right next to the truck. Everyone was watching me now, utterly confused. My hands shook violently, and I gave no attempt to calm them down. My face was blanched and my mind was spinning. No, no, no, no.

"Daryl?" Rick called. "Daryl, what is it?"

"That's why-that's why-now it-..." I couldn't get out a complete sentence. I couldn't even form a complete thought. My mind was spinning. I looked out at the barn, keeping my eyes open for something, anything to tell me I was wrong. My eyes traveled all around, until they landed on the top of the small storage shed next to the barn. A part of the roof was on fire, and it looked like it was about to cave in, but that wasn't what drew my attention. No, my eyes were focused on something else. My eyes were focused on the figure that was standing on the roof.

Nicole.

She looked like some sort of demon, a figure surrounded by tongues of fire, shrouding them in eerie light. Her blonde hair was shining brightly in the light, framing her face in gold. Her muscles rippled as her body shifted on the unsteady roof. There was an AK-47 hanging loosely in her hand, he other was on her hip. From this far away, I couldn't see her face, but I could imagine what it looked like.

"Nicole!" I screamed lurching forward slightly. I saw her face look up at the sound of her name. I couldn't even process what was happening. Why was she on the roof? Did she blow it up on purpose? Was she scared right now? Excited? Confused? Disoriented? What had she done?

"Oh my god." Rick called, opening the door to his car. He stepped out quickly, stumbling clumsily towards me. "Nicole!" He cried.

"Go!" A voice called. It was hard to hear, but I could tell NIcole was yelling at us. "Get the hell out of here!"

"No! Not without you!" Rick screamed back. I wanted to say the same thing, but in that moment I knew that the odds of Nicole getting out of this situation were almost impossible. The barn was now surrounded by all of the walkers that had been attacking us a moment ago.

"You need to go, now!" She screamed hysterically. My heart broke when I heard the fear that laced her voice. I knew, in that moment, what she was doing. She wasn't planning on surviving this. She had set the barn on fire to distract them, to save us.

"Nicole!" Rick screamed again. It seemed like that was all he could do.

"I'm sorry." She said. And in a flash, the roof was swallowed in flames, and the entire shed collapsed in on itself, sending everything, including Nicole, straight to the ground, leaving nothing but a flaming pile of rubble.

"No!" I screamed, running forward. This time, I didn't stop. I ignored the screams behind me and the walkers that had turned to face me. I sprinted as fast as my legs would take me. My mind was racing, with no one thought staying in my mind for long. Images and thoughts flashed in my head like a slideshow, images of Nicole smiling, taking down a walker, crying beside Dale's grave. I saw her sleeping against the red, wrapped in a blanket, looking so fragile. I heard her voice, her beautiful low voice, singing soft melodies while she worked, singing for Dale, singing for her lost family. Every moment she had spent with us flashed in my mind.

The rubble was aflame, with smoke billowing upwards. The walkers were now milling around the barn, trying desperately to get in, just in case there was food inside. My legs numbly took me to the pile of rubble. I ignored the calls of the others behind me, telling me to get away, to come back. I tuned out their words. No, I had to do this. I had to.

I was sweating now, with my proximity to the flames. I could feel the heat radiating towards me, soaking into my skin. I coughed a little, with all the smoke around. I stopped running, and began to slowly climb into the debri.

"Nicole!" I shouted, looking around wildly. I was looking for something to tell me she was here. A foot, a hand, her hair. Anything. "Nicole!" I began pulling up wooden planks, lifting them up and carefully throwing them out of the way. I began to unwillingly hyperventilate.

The thought of her being dead was unbearable. The thought of her just waltzing into my life and just as quickly being ripped from it burned. Why would the universe do this to me? Hot tears pooled in the corners of my eyes as I threw another plank out of the way. She had to be here somewhere. Dead or alive, she had to be here.

And then I saw it. A hand. A small, delicate hand, with callouses on the palm and a scar on the wrist. You could see up until the elbow, but then a large pile of debri blocked the rest of the figure from view. "Cole!" I cried, rushing towards it. I grabbed the wood on top and flung it away, not caring where it landed.

Lying there, underneath it, was NIcole.

Her entire body was covered in ash and bits of wood. She had a large cut across her collarbone that was soaking her shirt with crimson blood. I couldn't see the rest of the damage, not with her clothes on, but I could imagine what it looked like: maybe not broken, but bruised and scratched. I looked at her entire body up and down, before I finally got the courage to look at her face. In my head I said a silent prayer. Please be passed out. Please be passed out.

When I finally got the nerve, my heart broke at what I saw. She wasn't passed out.

A cut on her forehead was dripping blood down the rest of her face. Her lips were twisted into a pained grimace, which her biting down on her bottom lip. We made eye contact, and it almost made me sick to my stomach. Her blue eyes were wide open, larger than I had ever seen them. But this time, they weren't laced with determination, or with sadness, or with strength. No. This time they were full to the brim of sheer, raw pain. Her entire body trembled as I moved the last pieces of debris away from her. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but the only sound that came out was a strained howl of pain.

My eyes flew around her entire body. Why was she in this much pain? Did she have internal bleeding? Does she have brain damage? She continued to howl. I had no idea what was happening, my eyes landed on her leg. Her left calf was completely surrounded by flames. It was burning her.

"Oh shit!" I screamed, diving at it without a second thought. I kicked her leg away and began to stomp out the flames, grunting slightly when one of them lapped at my leg. It hurt, but that little amount of pain was nothing compare to what was happening to Nicole right now.

After the fire was out, I fell to my knees beside her, cradling her head in my lap. Her cries had subsided, but her eyes and face were just as pained. "Daryl…" She said, her voice quiet and strained. She shook her head slowly. "You should have left. You should have-"

"No Nicole." I said firmly, cutting her off. I could feel a tear running down the side of my face, and I was praying that she couldn't see it. "You may have planned on dying tonight, but I didn't plan on letting you die, and I'm not changing my plans for anyone."

"I'm sorry." She whimpered. "I just wanted you to get out...I just…"

"It's okay. It's okay." I said trying to be as soothing as possible. I wasn't very good at this. I just looked at her, brushing a few drops of blood out of her face. Her eyes locked with mine and for a moment, the world stood completely still. There was no fire, no walkers trying to eat us, no immediate threat of death. It was just me and her, right there, right now. Suddenly, a loud crash tore me away from her gaze. A wooden plank landed next to me, shattering. It brought me back to reality suddenly. I looked around, sucking in a breath. My yelling had distracted the walkers from the distraction. They were now heading towards us. We had to move now.

I looked down on the ground. Her leg was badly burned. There was no way she could walk with that, let alone run. She was slipping in and out of consciousness, every few seconds closing her eyes, only to have them flutter open abruptly the next moment. No, there was no way she could get up. There was only one thing to do.

Like I had so many nights ago after the bar fight, I picked up her limp body, putting one arm under her knees, the other on her back, and I pulled her close to my chest. I was actually impressed with just how light she was. Her eyes were now closed, and her face was dripping sweat and blood all over me, but that just made me pull her even closer. I had no idea if she was awake or not, but if she was, she didn't object. I turned and ran back towards the cars, her body securely in my arms.

I could hear. Someone screaming my name over by the cars. It sounded like Rick. I picked up my pace, noticing how the walkers had started to follow me. The others quickly came into view. More of them were out of their cars now, screaming my name. Rick was the first one to see me, his face picking up a little, but then dropping again when he saw Nicole in my arms.

"Oh thank god." I heard Glenn yell, probably letting himself breathe. I met them quickly.

"What happened?" Rick asked, running over to me, hovering over Nicole, his brow creased in concern.

"Roof collapsed." I gasped. "She was gonna distract them for us." I told them, watching them all gasp in return. "She was gonna die." I added quietly, so only Rick could hear me. He turned his gaze towards me, his eyes hard.

"Well." Rick said quietly, not taking his eyes off of me.

"We need to go. The walkers are coming back." I said loudly, bringing everyone back to reality.

"Yeah, he's right." Rick said, coming back to the present. "We'll just have to go without her." The others seemed saddened by this, but reluctantly went towards their own cars.

I was utterly confused. Her? Who was he talking about?

"Rick?" I asked, shifting Nicole in my arms. "Who….?""

"Andrea." He said quietly. "She never met up with any of us. She's gone….." I shook my head solemnly. We both knew what that meant. The walkers had gotten her, but neither of us wanted to say that. "Here." He said, sticking out his arms. "I'll take her. You can't exactly lay someone down on the back of your motorcycle."

I shot a glance towards my bike and nodded slowly, gently placing her in his arms. She let out a little whimper when I pulled my arms away, and, if I am going to be honest, it made me happy,, in some weird way. Her whimper made me feel strangely content.

Rick went off towards his SUV, while I got back on my bike. AS we pulled away from the farm, all I could think of was how nice it had felt to hold her in my arms, to run my fingers through her hair. I thought of how painful it had been when I had thought she was dead, how horrible the pain was. I thought of how she had sacrificed herself for the rest of us.

And in that moment, I realized something.

Nicole Walsh.

She was the one I had been waiting for.

So, what do you think? You like it? I know I made Daryl a little more emotional, so sorry if he seems OOC, but it just worked better. Writing romance between two awkwardly non emotional people is difficult. Please leave a review and let me know what you think!