Chapter 35

-Daryl-

He stayed until the end. He wasn't about to leave, not until there wasn't another one of the Governor's men to kill. He'd put a bolt through the prick that was driving the tank. The man had raised his hands in surrender, like there was any chance mercy could be shown to someone who'd been responsible for tearing down their home. He wouldn't say he'd enjoyed killing the guy, but he felt a sense of justice as he hit his mark and watched the asshole's face turn to shock.

The last he saw of Kate, she and Beth were getting on the bus with Judith. As soon as he knew she was on board he had been able to concentrate on the enemy as they made their way up to the prison. He was so relieved when the bus tore out of the courtyard, at least that part of their plan had worked.

Now the walkers were pouring through the downed fences and the dead were beginning to turn. Daryl looked around and there was no one left. No one left to kill. No one left that he knew. It was time for him to go, time for him to catch up with the bus and figure out what they would do next.

He jogged around the back of the prison and out their escape route. The bus had left deep tracks in the sticky mud and he kept up his pace as he continued along its path off the prison grounds. The tire tracks led onto the paved road and Daryl followed, all the while replaying the images of the prison fall over and over in his head. Anger coursed through his body, it numbed him. It felt right and kept him moving quickly in the direction of the bus. Kate would be there and then maybe he'd allow himself to feel something else. As he moved down the road, he thought about all the things they should have done differently. He wondered if it would have made any difference if he'd let Carl try to take down the Governor before he'd had a chance to kill Tyreese. The image of the sword hacking into the big man's neck would stay with him forever and he wondered who else they had lost today. He recalled Michonne on her knees in the grass outside of the prison, hands tied behind her back and wondered if there was anyway she was still alive. He doubted it. Michonne had been right all along about the Governor's return. Could they have found him if Daryl had kept going out searching for him? It was impossible to know, but it was a question Daryl would always ask himself.

It was hard to say just how far he had gone when he rounded the small bend and found the bus parked at an angle across a small, paved road. The back door hung open like a gaping mouth and there were bodies strewn around it. He fought the urge to vomit and ran towards the bus. About 25 yards out he came to a stop, the whole scene reminded him too much of discovering Merle. He took a step towards the bodies and then groaned, turning around in place and dragging his hands down his face, trying to ready himself for the discovery he was sure he would make. He considered the possibility of finding her gone and let out a guttural sound that echoed off the trees. He came upon the first body and reached down, grabbing at the shoulder of the man's jacket, turning him onto his back. He stood quickly, recognizing the face of someone from the prison. The man had turned at some point, but there was a stab wound through his eye that had put him down for good. He checked the rest of the bodies scattered across the leaf littered road and it was all the same, people he knew turned to walkers, all with head wounds. Something had happened on that bus, people had to fight to live and by the look of it a lot of them lost. He glanced up into the back of the long vehicle and it seemed to go on forever, rows and rows of seats where Kate could still be. He climbed into the back, his stomach churning, his heart thundering against his chest. He stood at the last row, eyes darting from seat to seat, looking for movement, listening for sound. Nothing. He moved forward, knife in hand, his crossbow strapped on his back as it bounced against the blood covered vinyl seats as he checked each row. Each body. There was no sign of Kate. No sign of Beth or Judith or anyone else from C Block. He stepped over the walker that lay between the driver's seat and the exit and jumped out. There was a body on the ground, just outside the folding door and the fear rose up in him again, but it wasn't her either. He leaned against the side of the bus, the metal just hot enough from baking in the sun to make him forget for a second how afraid he had been.

Whatever had happened, it seemed like Kate and Beth, and whoever else in their group had made it onto the bus, had also fought their way off of it with Judith in tow. But where were they now? Which way had they gone? It seemed logical that they might continue down the same path they were headed and so he did too.

He followed the road for miles, keeping his tracker eyes trained for anything that would give him a clue that this had been the direction they had taken. A paved road, no matter how overgrown and unkept, was really not the easiest place to pick up a trail and so he had been going on assumption more than anything. He knew he was faster than they were and at first that made him confident. He shouldn't have any difficulty catching up with them now that they were moving on foot. But too much time had passed and Daryl had covered too many miles without seeing a sign of anyone. He'd decided to head back towards the bus, cutting towards a stream he knew was east of the road. The walkers had been thinner nearer the prison, most likely because the fight had drawn most of them in, but here, further out, there were more and eventually a herd forced him deeper into the woods.

Daryl woke the next morning in a deer stand. It was a simple steel structure, although still nicer than any of the crude ones his dad had ever put up. There were two chairs bolted to its floor that made laying out to sleep a little difficult. He'd found it just before the sun had completely slipped away, high in a tree, its ladder still in place. He was lucky to have come across it as he had just been contemplating the prospects of a night wandering with only the light of the moon. It was too risky to sleep on the ground without having someone to take turns on watch with and he was concerned that in the dark woods, he would miss a sign that any of his people had been through here. Once he'd settled down on the cold metal floor of the stand, he stared up at the stars in the darkening sky. They made him feel small in a big world. He wondered where Kate was. If she had a roof over her head or if she was out in the open too. He couldn't believe they'd found themselves separated and felt angry, at no one in particular, that they hadn't planned better for this sort of situation. Sleep came slowly and never completely and he woke with first light feeling unrested. He wasted no time, climbing down from the tree and heading back towards the creek in the hopes that others might gravitate to the water as well.

-Kate-

Beth's ankle bloomed purple and pink and had swollen to grotesque proportions. Kate and Hershel looked at it, propped up on a cheap velveteen pillow, with concern.

Kate shifted Judith in her arms and looked at Hershel for his opinion. They were holed up in a house with no food. The only water they had left was in a final bottle for Judith. They already knew that as a group they were at a disadvantage, but the ankle left them almost entirely helpless. There was no way Beth could walk on it, much less run if they ran into trouble.

"I'll go check the medicine cabinets, see if I can find any Aspirin for it Bethie." Hershel said, moving slowly out of the room and disappearing down the hall. Kate could tell the hours they had spent in the woods the day before had taken its toll on Hershel. The prosthetic leg, although great for moving around the prison, wasn't practical for long distances. Michonne had brought it back from a run, and Hershel had made some tweaks to it, but it still was a leg specially designed for another man's body.

Beth looked at Kate apologetically. It never felt good to feel like the weak link.

"What are we going to do? We can't stay here. We have nothing." Panic had taken over Beth's voice and Kate didn't blame her.

"I'm going to go and find us some stuff."

"Kate, you can't go alone."

"I can. What choice do we have? Besides, if I'm out there maybe I'll find the rest of them. We aren't going to find them hidden inside."

Hershel walked back into the room, shaking a small bottle in between his fingers.

"Can you swallow pills without any water?"

Beth nodded and held out her hand. He shook two white, round pills into her open palm and she tossed them into her mouth, swallowing hard and grimacing.

"Daddy, tell Kate she can't go out by herself. It isn't safe."

She was sure Hershel would try and talk her out of it and she was prepared to plead her case, but he surprised her.

"I don't like the idea of you out there by yourself, but I don't know if we have much of a choice. I'm hoping you don't have to go too far, maybe one of the nearby houses. If we can buy ourselves a few days then we can come up with a long term plan."

Kate's long term plan was to find the group. To find Daryl. She fully intended to do so and even if Hershel had tried to stop her she wouldn't have listened, so there was relief in knowing that he also thought it was the best chance they had.

A few minutes later and she was pulling the couch away from the front door. With no supplies to pack, there was no reason to sit around and wait. She had her gun, her knife and the prayers of Beth and Hershel and that was as good as it was going to get. She'd emptied Beth's backpack onto the couch and put the empty pack on, hoping it would be filled on her return. She stood on the porch and looked onto the large front yard at the overgrown grass and the shady trees and tried to decide which direction to head. There were fences on either side of the property and she hoped that meant there were neighbors - or at least that there had been. There was a long, black driveway that ran down the side of the property and met the small road that ran in front of the house. Across that was a stable and further back a burned out building that had been a house or a barn. She climbed down the porch steps and waved goodbye to Hershel.

The morning was already warm and it wasn't long until she felt the sting of sweat under her arms. As badly as she wanted to find Daryl, she wasn't a fool. She'd required IV fluids less than 48 hours ago and she'd find herself in bad shape quickly if she wasn't careful. She'd slept fairly well last night, despite being in a strange place, but she was still exhausted.

Kate had never gone on a solo run before. Being out of options did miraculous things in the courage department, but she was still uneasy out here with nothing to hear but the sound of her own feet and the songbirds. The first house she came upon, the closest neighbor to their temporary home, had a few walkers ambling about the yard and she decided to continue onto the next spot. She told herself she could check it out on the way back if it was necessary, but why tempt fate. It was another half a mile before she came to the edge of the next property. There was a small brick house set back about 50 yards from the road. The lawn was littered with the plastic toys of small kids and Kate hoped with her entire heart that she wouldn't have to put down any children who had turned. She cut across the grass diagonally, trying to move quietly, scanning her surroundings and nervously looking behind her more times than necessary. Her knife was in her hand and she suddenly imagined tripping over her feet and falling on her own weapon, left to bleed to death. She shook her head, as if she could physically remove the idea from her brain. Her own mind could be her worst enemy. The porch was thick with spiderwebs and dirt. The door was locked, and held no sign of forced entry. She didn't have a crowbar and for a minute she stood there helplessly, trying to think of what to do next. She moved to the large window in the front of the house and knocked loudly four times. Immediately she heard the familiar snarl from somewhere inside the house. She knocked again and rotten fingers thrashed at the blinds, poking into view between the slats. There seemed to be only one and summoning her courage she smashed the butt of her gun through the window pane. The walker tried to push its way through immediately, but the blinds slowed it down enough for Kate to kill it. She listened carefully for the sounds of anything else from inside the house, but was met with silence. She busted the rest of the glass out with the gun and slowly climbed through the window, pushing the mangled blinds out of the way and stepping over the walker.

The smell of rotting flesh was strong and the house was dark and dusty, but other than that it looked like the typical house of a growing family. There were bins of toys against the wall in the living room, cereal bowls still on the table and a collection of children's shoes by the front door. Kate moved from room to room to clear the house, stopping short of opening the bedroom doors. She didn't want to know what desperation and fear had forced a mother to do.

Being alone in the house was unnerving and she returned to the window several times to make sure the body remained where she'd left it and glanced out nervously to see if she had drawn the attention of anyone or anything else.

The kitchen was small and square with a sink full of dishes and a refrigerator covered with the scribbled masterpieces of a toddler. She opened the cupboards, digging through the contents of each for something they could use. They were mostly bare, evidence of a family who had tried to survive for sometime before giving up. She dropped a package of Ramen noodles, an expired can of olives and a half empty package of rice cakes into the backpack. There wasn't any water to be found, she even dared to open the refrigerator door, hoping against hope there would be something to drink left in there, but there was none. She wondered if it was running out of water that ended up being the final straw for the dead woman lying under the window. She zipped up the pack, ducked back through the window and headed on.

Most the houses in the immediate area had been picked through and she returned to Hershel and Beth that afternoon discouraged and with little to show for her efforts. In one of the houses she did find a half filled pitcher of water in among the rotting refrigerator food and she had poured it into a tupperware container she found in a drawer. They had enough formula to make a few more bottles for Judith with it. There was also a couple cans of corn and a package of crackers.

That night they sat at the oak dining table spooning out room temperature corn and olives and drinking the juice from the cans. It was far from appetizing, but it was all they had.

Kate pulled the corn can from her lips, her face collapsing in disgust as she swallowed the cloudy, room temperature liquid. "I'll go back out tomorrow, head the other direction."

Hershel nodded gravely and Beth remained quiet. Judith seemed to be the only one unaware of how compromised their situation was.

She went Southeast, or at least that was the direction Hershel said it was when they stood on the porch the next morning and she pointed out to him where she was headed. She depended on landmarks, Southeast meant little to her. With about six olives in her stomach and two rice cakes in her pack, she marched down the deserted road that led outside of the immediate area the house was in. She stayed towards the middle, where the yellow line divided the narrow, two lane drive, not too close to the trees and overgrown bushes that lined each side of the hilly, black street. If a walker was going to come at her, she wanted plenty of time to see it. Out here in the eerie silence, Kate felt utterly alone and she thought about those who had joined their prison group after weeks by themselves and wondered how they hadn't lost their minds. It was worse than being in the woods, because at least there silence seemed natural. Abandoned roads gave her the creeps and this one was no exception. She passed the time imagining that Daryl and the rest of their group would be just over the next rise in the road. She pictured herself running into his arms and returning to the small house to reunite Hershel and Beth with Maggie and Glenn.

Hours had past and she hadn't had much luck. It seemed that all the houses in the area had been cleared at some point and she was starting to panic. If she didn't find something soon, what would they do? Maybe they could get a car going and head to a different area? She didn't know how to hotwire a car, and she wondered if Hershel could or if they'd have any luck finding keys. She was cutting across a field that joined two properties, hoping the next house would hold the answer to her prayers, when she spotted the little tree dotted with yellow. She almost came to a full stop, squinting to make sure she was seeing it right and then breaking out into a jog. The apple tree wasn't very big, and she could easily reach up to pull the ripe fruit from its branches. She crouched down and unzipped the backpack, placing a couple apples inside and biting into another. The juice dribbled down her chin and she wiped it away with the sleeve of her shirt. She was sure she'd never tasted an apple so delicious. At the very least, they'd have fruit to eat. They could even mash some up for Judith.

The dog's bark was loud and deep and Kate swung around, startled, dropping the apples from her hands and pulling her knife. It was running at her full speed, a big white dog that clearly was not happy to find her in this field. The weakness in her knees reminded her that a long time ago she had been afraid of dogs, but she steadied herself and prepared to kill it if it insisted on attacking her. It had almost reached her when a man's voice rang out.

"WILLIE! WILLIE! "

The dog, Willie she presumed, came to a stop where he continued to bark in her direction. A man came through the trees that created a natural fence behind the house she was headed towards. He was tall and thin with shoulder length brown hair that fell in lifeless strands and a scraggly beard. He cradled a shotgun and he was pointing it towards her as he quickly closed the distance between the house and where she stood. He stopped alongside the dog, patting its head and praising the animal before taking another step toward her.

"Drop your knife."

Kate let it fall at her feet.

"You have any other weapons? Now's the time to tell me."

Kate shook her head.

"You alone? You have people?"

"I, I, I'm alone, here." Kate struggled to find her voice and her mind was racing. Strategy wasn't her strong suit and she was afraid to say something that would get her in trouble. "I'm staying in a house not too far from here with a couple others. We got separated from our group."

"You're on my property. Those are my apples." His voice was calm and although he was holding a gun, there was a kindness about him.

"I didn't know." She shook her head to emphasize her point and her hands were raised in surrender. "Haven't seen anyone new for days. I've been searching all the houses, looking for water and food."

The man eyed her carefully and then looked over his shoulder towards his home. The dog sat, seeming to wait for his master to make a decision about this stranger. Kate noticed the mutt only had one eye.

"How'd you get separated from your group?"

"We were attacked."

"The dead?"

"No. People, living ones. We fought back, a lot of people died and those of us that survived got separated."

"Shouldn't be out here on your own. You said you were with others, why aren't they with you?"

She didn't know what to say. She was afraid to let him know that the only people that knew her general whereabouts were both incapable of coming after her, but there was part of her that trusted this man already. Daryl would have told her that she couldn't afford to trust.

"We have a baby with us." She settled on half the truth.

"Yours?"

"No." And then after a pause. "But I'm pregnant."

The man lowered the gun immediately, as if he was disgusted that he'd ever raised it at her.

"You can take the apples." He said, defeated, and turned to head towards the house, whistling for Willie to follow him. It took Kate a couple seconds to start thinking straight again.

"Wait! Please, wait." She called out after his retreating figure as she rushed towards him. He stopped and turned back.

"Do you know if there is a creek or something around here? We don't have any water."

Something about the way he knit his eyebrows over his hound dog eyes made him look troubled, but he nodded quickly.

"Wait here. I'll be right back."

Kate stood in the middle of the field watching him head back to the house with Willie at his side. When he was out of sight she returned to the apple tree and put several more in her pack. She retrieved her knife and the apple she had started from the ground, wiping it off on her shirt and finishing it off.

It had been about 15 minutes before the man returned and he'd brought a woman back with him. They were several yards away when he waved Kate towards them and she jogged over to catch up. She said hi to the woman, who only nodded back, a shrewd look on her pretty face. She had strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and a lean, muscular body that reminded her of Maggie's. The man was carrying an empty plastic jug, the kind you would buy water from the store in. One eyed Willie was at their side, wagging his tail.

"We're taking you up to a stream about two miles away. You can fill this up and take it back to wherever it is you've been staying."

His long legs caused him to cover ground quickly, although he looked like he was taking a leisurely stroll. Kate struggled to keep up.

"Don't think I introduced myself before." He said over his shoulder, without slowing. "I'm Josh and this is my wife, Allison."

"I'm Kate. Thank you both so much for this." She directed her comment at the woman, hoping to show she wasn't a threat.

"So Josh tells me you're pregnant? That seems like a risky decision given the world we live in."

Her acerbic tone caught Kate off guard, but the woman had a right to be cautious. Kate was lucky strangers were willing to help her at all and if they were less than polite she would get over it.

"Wasn't exactly planned." Kate replied, she figured that answer would satisfy most, but it just seemed to piss Allison off. The woman rolled her eyes and shook her head incredulously, not seeming to care if Kate noticed. Kate bit her tongue, not forgetting how these people were saving their lives.

"Where's the daddy? He back at the house with this other baby you got with you?"

"My husband? No, our group was attacked and we were separated from one another. I'm searching for him, as well as for food and water."

Josh looked at her sympathetically and even Allison seemed to back off.

They walked in silence for awhile before Allison spoke up again, slightly gentler this time.

"Who attacked your group? Were you in a house?"

"We were living in a prison. Had been there for months, had a real community going on."

Josh cut her off, "The one just north of Highway 34?"

Kate thought that sounded right. "The West Georgia Correctional Facility? Ya, we came across it about 10 months after the fall. We've been there ever since. We had a lot of people too, we were growing food. When we first arrived a couple of our people were kidnapped while on a supply run and were taken to a town run by a lunatic. He called himself The Governor. Our group became his enemy when the rescue turned violent. He'd attacked us back then, when we hadn't been there for very long, but it failed and he ended up turning on his people and gunning a lot of them down. We took in the rest of the town and he disappeared. We thought we had seen the last of him, it had been over 6 months, but two days ago he showed up at our gates with a tank and a dozen armed people and destroyed everything."

"How'd you and your husband end up separated?"

"There was an escape plan, in case we ever had to evacuate. We were supposed to get on this bus. Daryl, that's my husband, he was with some of the others fighting off The Governor's people. I had gotten to the bus with Beth, she's one of the ones who I got out with, and she realized that none of the children were there. We went rushing back inside and by the time we got out the bus was gone and no one was there."

"Your husband left on the bus without you?" Allison looked angry again, but this time Kate felt it was in defense of her.

"Daryl wouldn't have, no. But I bet he thought I was on it, he would've tried to follow it. We tried to follow it too, but we weren't sure where it had headed and then we ran into a herd of walkers and were pushed into the woods. Spent the whole first night just trying to find a place to stay safe."

The ground suddenly sloped in front of them and Willie went galloping into the stream, wagging his tail happily and lapping at the water. Josh crouched down at the edge and uncapped the plastic jug and began filling it. Kate dropped her pack on the spongy forest floor and dug past the apples to the tupperware container and two baby bottles she had brought along in case she was lucky enough to find something to fill them with.

Minutes later the containers were filled and Kate began to thank them again.

"Why don't you continue on with us as far as the house." Josh started and Allison shot him an annoyed look. "It really isn't a good idea to be out here alone."

Kate smiled, it was a big relief to her and the fact that these strangers had showed her such kindness, or at least tolerance, made the situation she was in a little more bearable.

That night, after she returned to Hershel and Beth, they dined on apples, water and peanut butter. Just as she had said her last goodbyes to Josh and Allison, he had pulled a jar of it out of his pack and handed it to her.

"Protein. Not much, but you need it."

After eating by candlelight, Hershel sat bouncing Judith on one knee.

"I was thinking, since we have a little bit of food Kate, you might take a break and stick around here tomorrow."

Kate shook her head. "I can't. Daryl is somewhere out there looking for us and he won't find us in here."

Hershel nodded. "I had a feeling you were going to say that and there is no need to explain. I understand, I only wish we could help you more."

He handed Judith to Beth and stood with some difficulty, picking up a map from the arm of the couch. He limped across the living room and spread it across the dining room table. Working by candle light, he took a black felt tip marker, drew a circle on the map and pointed at it.

"This is where the prison is." He drew another circle several inches away from the first. "And this is where we are now."

Kate stood above the map, arms crossed, and studied the shapes and lines that made up the greater Atlanta area.

"Let's see if we can figure out a search plan." Hershel said.

For the third day in a row, Kate rose early and headed out the front door. In her backpack was a small bottle of water, an empty container, an apple and Hershel's map. They'd come up with a plan together last night that had her moving towards the prison, although not taking her quite that far.

She made it to the end of the property when she stopped in her tracks. Standing next to the mailbox stood Josh and Allison, Willie lounging on the long grass.

"Thought you could use some help lookin' for your husband." Josh said with a good natured nod, Allison stood impassively at his side picking at her nails.

Kate grinned. "I definitely could!"

Josh motioned towards the long road ahead of them, "Then lead the way."