Disclaimer: You know the drill. I'm not Robert Kirkman or AMC so I do not own anything or anyone from The Walking Dead. Just my OCs and original plot ideas.

The day after following the footprints to the train tracks, Beth and Daryl were scouting the woods for food. Beth found some edible berries and tucked them into her small bag and Daryl was looking for some squirrel or a bird he could shoot so they could get some protein in their system. The only problem was that he didn't want Beth wandering too far on her own and with her foots crunching the leaves with every step she took, any game nearby would scurry off. It made Daryl think of the few times he took Kayla with him on hunts so he could teach her the basics if she ever ended up on her own. At the time he didn't think it would happen, but now he was glad he did it.

Daryl remembered how quiet she was and listened to everything he told her. He told her what plants were safe to eat and which ones to steer clear of. He showed her how to build basic traps like snares to catch rabbits and how to clean them. Whenever they went out together it was always quiet with the exception of Daryl's teachings to her about the woods. Kayla processed and remembered everything he told her and Daryl prayed she was using the information where ever she was.

As Daryl and Beth moved through the woods, something caught Daryl's attention on the ground. There were a lot of walker prints in the dirt. Had to be at least a dozen. The tracks were about a day or two old and went the opposite direction of where he was. With curiosity getting the better of him, he followed the footprints for a few minutes with his crossbow ready to fire if needed while Beth followed him but keeping her distance a little so he had space. She surveyed the bushes and trees looking for anything they could eat.

For about five minutes Daryl followed the tracks until he found himself in a small clearing. On the ground there was a backpack, a torn flannel shirt, dead walkers, and blood. A lot of blood. Daryl lowered his crossbow and looked at the backpack. He's seen that bag before at the prison. He only knew that because the straps had taped on them with "TWO DAYS" written in permanent marker that meant there were two days of rations in the bag.

The bag was almost empty with the exception of a flashlight, a knife, a bottle of water, and two energy bars. He looked at the dead bodies in the grass and counted about seven walkers. Most of the blood was walker blood and anyone with half a brain could see the distinctive difference. Walker blood was dark and smelled like rotting trash so when Daryl noticed the bright red blood off to the side, he knew i was someone's blood who was alive.

The next thing Daryl looked at was the torn shirt. He picked it up and examined it, his heart dropping to his feet. It was Kayla's shirt. If it wasn't for the fact that the backpack from the prison was there, he would have assumed it was just anyone's shirt, but the backpack was there. It was Kayla's shirt. It was black and white, but the color was worn out and it now had a long tear in it going down the back. The thing that made it worse was that it was drenched in blood. He clutched the article of clothing in his hand before throwing it in the grass.

"Kayla was here." he stated, looking for footprints. "She was here, but I don't know which way she went."

Daryl looked in the grass for prints and then moved out of the clearing to look for prints in the leaves, but between the prints of walkers coming and going, he couldn't find hers. "She could be anywhere now." Beth told him.

"She had to be here within the last day or so. Maybe we just missed her…"

"Or we missed her by a lot."

Daryl shot Beth a glare. "You know you were the one telling me to have a little faith so where the hell is yours?" he demanded.

"Back on those train tracks." Beth answered plainly.

"You're the one who wanted to look for them and now we know she was here so maybe if-" Daryl was cut off by the sound of a growling walker. He turned around and raised his crossbow up, aiming in the direction of the sound. When his eyes landed on the walker in the tree line, he froze…it was Alex. He lowered his crossbow and watched as what used to be his father-in-law dragged itself closer to him and Beth. Alex had a bite mark on his arm and his shirt and pant were stained with blood, his eyes colorless and containing no life. He let out a snarl as he got closer, Daryl finally raising his crossbow and firing an arrow through his skull. He dropped to the ground dead.

Beth stood aside as she watched Daryl approach Alex. He pulled the arrow from his skull and kneeled down next to Alex's dead body. He dropped his face into his hands. Alex was dead. Daryl wasn't always his biggest fan, but it was Kayla's dad and he had to get along with him for her sake. Now he was gone and Daryl didn't know whether or not Kayla was alive at this point. Her shirt was there, torn and bloody, but it had to be Alex's blood in the grass and there was no sign of anything that signaled she was dead. And based on Alex's arm and the amount of blood, he considered the option that Kayla gave him the shirt to use as a tourniquet. Until Daryl saw her body, she was alive. She was strong, she was smart, and she was somewhere. But something in Daryl broke in half. What would happen if he did find her body? How would he move on from that?

Looking down at Alex, Daryl took a deep breath and stood up. He turned around and walked past Beth without a word. What if he never found her? What if she was dead? What if he found her as a walker? A million thoughts ran through his head which just made him want to scream at the world all the more.

OOOOO

A few hours earlier in the early morning hours, Kayla was where Daryl and Beth were in the clearing with Jonathan and Alex. They got up early and set out for their day's trip when the sun first rose and the morning fog was still hovering low in the atmosphere. They decided to take an alternate route that would lead them to a small neighborhood near the train tracks in hope to find some more water and a few other things they weren't fortunate in finding at the rest stop. They were on foot for a while before they decided to stop in the clearing for a rest. Jonathan sat next to Kayla as she took a long sip of water before handing it to the young boy.

"Do you think the others will be there?" he asked. "At Terminus?"

"I sure hope so kiddo." Kayla answered as she ruffled his hair.

Alex stood close by and looked around. "This fog better clear up soon." He said. Kayla looked at her father. "When has anything gone good for us lately?" she questioned as she packed the water bottle away and set the bag down in the grass. As if on cue, the low sounds of growls and snarls caught the trio's attention. Kayla shot up with Jonathan and looked around, Alex raising his machete in defense. Kayla held up the baseball bat she picked up along the way and Jonathan stood in-between the two with a knife in his hand. "Jonathan you stay behind us." Kayla whispered. The sounds of shuffling feet got closer and it wasn't long before the first walker appeared in front of Kayla. She swung the bat across its face, skull breaking with a loud crack and its body crumbling to the ground. She brought the metal bat down on the head again as Alex took out his first walker with the machete, swinging it into the side of the walkers head.

Another walker came after each one and Kayla and Alex had a good handle on the situation the beginning, but they couldn't fight them all off. When the last one was down, Alex told Kayla to run with Jonathan and he'd follow.

"Dad I'm not leaving you." Kayla argued.

"Don't argue with me right now. I said take the boy and run now go!" Alex snapped. Kayla grabbed Jonathan and pulled him along, the baseball ready to go if needed. She heard the sound of the machete going into another walker's skull before Alex's footsteps followed. Kayla stopped and looked at the way she came with Jonathan. "Hold up kiddo." Kayla said. Alex appeared a few meters away and Kayla smiled at the sight of him. That was until a walker came out of the trees and tackled him to the ground, causing his only weapon to fall out of his hand. "Daddy!" Kayla screamed. Alex fought the walker off and Kayla told Jonathan to stay put as she ran towards her father. She wasn't fast enough though. The walkers sunk its teeth into her father's arm, causing blood to flood down his arm. He let out a low scream before Kayla swung her baseball bat and knocked the walker off of him. She hit the walker in the skull repeatedly before turning towards her father. He was sitting up, clutching his arm. She dropped to her knees and slipped off her flannel, now only wearing the thermal long sleeved shirt on she had on underneath, and tied it around her father's arm.

"Jonathan get over here I don't want you standing by yourself." Kayla forced out, trying not to cry. The young boy walked over and stared at Alex's arms.

"Kayla…" Alex said as she tied the shirt around his arm. She didn't stop what she was doing so he grabbed her hands. "Stop." Kayla looked at him with tear-filled eyes. "Not you…" she said. "Please not you." Alex put a hand on the side of his daughter's face. "It's okay." he said. "It's alright baby girl."

"No…no it's not."

"You listen to me…you get out of here and find the others. Go to terminus an get back with our people. Find your husband and get that boy some place safety."

"Dad no…I can't do this without you…"

"Yes you can. I know you can. You are the strongest person I know as well as the bravest." Alex tucked Kayla's hair out of her face as tears ran down her cheeks. "I am so proud to call you my daughter, Kayla."

Kayla leaned her forehead against Alex's. "I'm sorry." She choked out. "You have nothing to apologize for. This isn't your fault." Alex told her. Kayla picked her head up and met his eyes. "We barely got any time together. We were in a good place…everything was behind us and we had a fresh start and now…now…"

"I know babygirl it's not fair. Nothing's fair in this world. Nothing ever was. But you listen to me and you listen good. You are and always will be my little girl and I love you. If I know one thing it's that you will beat this world. You are going to get somewhere one day and you will live to see the end of this plague I know it."

Suddenly the growls of walkers caught the two's attention. "You go on. I'll be fine." Alex told Kayla. "Get Jonathan out of here and find the others. Get to Terminus."

"I can't just leave you." Kayla argued. "Not like this."

"Yes you can. I want you to." Alex looked at the approaching walkers. They were just at the tree line; a good distance from them still, but Kayla needed the head start to get rid of them. "Go on babygirl. You can do this…I know you can. I'll lead them away so you can get out of here."

Kayla and Alex stood up and Kayla kissed her father's cheek as the tears spilled over. "I love you, daddy." She told him.

"I love you, too babygirl. Always have and always will."

"Say hi to mom for me."

"I will. Promise."

Kayla hugged her father tight and he hugged her back tighter. His eyes were filling with tears as he kissed her head and pulled away. "You go on now. Get out of here…I'll take care of the dead brains for you."

Before Kayla could say anything more, her father took off yelling and hollering at the walkers and led them the other direction. She wasted no time and grabbed Jonathan's hand and pulled him away from the area. Kayla's vision was blurry from tears, but she kept pulling Jonathan along until they were far from where they were. The whole time she was listening to her father's voice in the distance until she couldn't hear it anymore.

OOOOO

Around noon, Kayla and Jonathan were walking along the train tracks together, a silence between them. Kayla didn't want to talk and Jonathan didn't know what to say. He was only nine years old and here he was with a woman who just lost her father. He didn't know what to do so he just let her walk silently on the other side of the tracks.

As for Kayla, she was thinking about all the good times she spent with her father these past few months. It was almost as if him abusing her as a child never even happened. He gave her a few scars that were on her back that would be there as long as she lived, but those were the only times it was really bad. For the most part he only ever left bruises that healed within a week. There was no excuse for the way he treated her, but he was unwell at the time which did account for something. It still didn't excuse anything though. Kayla would never forgive him for doing what he did to her.

With her father now gone, Kayla was slowly losing hope. She knew she was capable of survival, but she was now taking care of a nine year old by herself. Walkers weren't the only threat in the world anymore and she didn't know how she's go up against brute, cold-hearted people who would take every supply they had to survive and possibly kill them without a second thought to get what they needed.

Walking along the tracks, Kayla thought of what to do when she saw three distant figures up ahead. She knew they weren't walkers because they weren't dragging their feet behind them and they were walking like normal people. Kayla stopped and squinted her eyes a bit which allowed her to see what looked like a younger kid wearing a distinctive hat and another person carrying a familiar sword. For a second, Kayla closed her eyes and then opened them again to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. When she opened her eyes, she knew they were real.

"Carl!" Kayla called out. The three figures stopped walking and turned around. She could make out Rick unholstering his gun. He always had a certain stance when he pulled out his gun. Kayla began walking with Jonathan again hand in hand with a smile on her face. It was them. She knew it.

As she got closer, Rick realized who it was and put his gun away. "Kayla?" Carl said loudly as she approached. "Hey kid." She greeted. Carl's face broke out into a smile as he ran towards the woman. Kayla couldn't stop her own feet as she got closer to the boy. She released Jonathan's hand and held her arms open as Carl ran into them. She stepped back a little from the impact of the teenager, but got a tight grip on him. "Oh thank God." She whispered as she closed her eyes.

"Where've you been?" Carl asked.

"Around."

Kayla opened her eyes and found Rick and Michonne who were smiling. Kayla pulled away from Carl and put an arm around his and Jonathan's shoulders as she walked over to the two. Rick pulled her into a hug and she didn't hesitate to hug him back. "Thank God…" he said before he pulled away. Kayla looked at Michonne and then back at Carl. Judith wasn't here. Kayla knew better than to ask where she was.

"Alex?" Rick asked.

Kayla just shook her head. "We got out together…he got bit."

"I'm sorry."

Kayla nodded. "We all heading to the same place?"

"Terminus?" Carl questioned.

"Yeah."

"You think the others will be there? Glenn, Maggie, Daryl…"

"I hope so."

Jonathan walked over to Kayla's side and she held his hand. "We should get a move on then, shouldn't we?" Michonne stated with a smile. Kayla returned the smile and looked at her, Rick, and Carl again. She had them back. Things were looking up.