The ride back to Appalachia was frought with terror for Carol. She was terrified they would be followed. She was terrified Daryl was going to do die. He'd passed out not long ago and her grandmother was currently stripping him of his shirt to look at the wound.

Merle and Logan were going to kill her. Not to mention the brother she'd yet to meet. She didn't want to see thier faces. She didn't want to face the fact that despite him being shot she was almost explosively happy. She had someone. She had her grandmother back.

"Carol." Dana said, "He's going to be fine."

"How can you be sure?"

Dana sighed and brushed Daryl's hair away from his eyes. When Dana looked back up at her, their eyes met in the rear view mirror, Carol knew that her grandmother wasn't going to let some things go. Like the fact that Carol found Daryl attractive. SHe didn't even ask she just knew.

The ride was calm but both kept their eyes out for others. So far it seemed they weren't being followed and they were near the foot of the mountain. Carol was scared to drive the mountain and Dana noticed.

"Let me drive."

Carol didn't argue but instead pulled over. They switched out and she decided to check on Daryl for herself. His chest was covered in blood to begin with and the packing around the gun shot wound. He grunted and his eyes blinked open sluggishly.

"Daryl." Her voice shook. "We're almost back."

He groaned and his hand slapped around on his chest searching for the pain. He made a noise in his throat but his hand dropped. He met her eyes and she could see the worry there.

"You're okay." Carol promised.

Daryl made another noise in his throat but his eyes drooped closed.

"We gotta hurry." Carol warned.

Dana snorted at her. "Honey he's fine. It aint the first round I've seen go through a man."

Carol was reminded that she was rumored to have killed her own husband and winced. Instead Carol decided to focus on cleaning the blood off Daryl so it didn't look so bad. It took a bit for it to come off him. The more she wiped the more it seemed to smear onto him. She felt like she was taking advantage of him even though she was trying to help. She'd never once seen him without a shirt. He was such a private man. There was no hope for his shirt. It was soaked in his blood and she almost considered ripping it from him to keep it from drying to his skin. But thought perhaps that was too far.

"So this town..." Dana began, "What do you think about it really?"

"THe women suck." Carol laughed at herself. "But so far it seems quite nice. I've got a place, you can stay with me."

"You don't stay with Daryl?"

"No..." Carol let the silence carry for a moment. "We aren't together."

"Yet."

"He's going to teach me to hunt." Carol decided to change the subject.

"OF course he is." She smiled to herself secretly.

Carol could see it and grimaced. She was going to get along amazingly with Merle. The thought horrified her. She would never see peace.

"A woman leads the town." Carol smiled at that.

"Of course there is." Dana snarked. "If a woman had been in office then this shit would have been handled immediately." She sneered and whipped around a curve. "All that pussyfooting around when the dead are walking."

"They tried." Carol tried.

"NO, they did not. They stuck their thumbs up their bloated old asses and left us to die."

They were quiet for a minute as Carol fought laughing.

"They were more worried about stocks and the chain of command than the people. THe very people who would turn into an army of the dead."

Carol just let her rant. She'd probably been alone with ther thoughts since the beginning of this. Instead she just focused on the road and keeping Daryl steady. He occasionally made a noise in his throat.