I'M BACK! Before I start, I just wanted to say a quick thank you to all my readers. The story now has over 300 followers and almost 300 favorites! It's my most popular story! Thank you everyone who has read my story. It means the world to me. Anyway, after keeping you waiting for so long, without further ado, I present you with the first chapter of season five!

OOOOO

FLASHBACK

Kayla sat with Angela, her high school best friend and fellow EMT, laying outside on their small lawn behind their apartment building soaking up Georgia's summer rays. They were enjoying their first day off since they started working at the local hospital in Columbus. Thin sheets of sweat covered their hot skin that would without a doubt have a tan to it by the day's end. The sky was clear, the baby blue color stretching on forever across the sky. Kayla reached for her iced tea on the small table between her and Angela, the outside of the glass coated in water. Careful not to drop it, she sat up to take a sip from it. The cold drink felt good on her throat and helped her cool down a bit.

"What a beautiful day." Angela said as she ran a hand through her shoulder length black hair. Her sunglasses covered her dark blue eyes, but the almost the rest of her was exposed as she was wearing a red and white polka dot bikini. Her body was full of healthy curves that she wasn't afraid to flaunt because her self-esteem was sky high. Kayla wore a purple one piece and sunglasses as well, her skin feeling a bit gross from the mixture of sweat and sunscreen on it.

"I know." Kayla agreed as she laid back down. "The heat barely bothers me anymore."

"Adaptation my friend. We finally found our home."

Kayla smiled at the word. Her "home" before this was a college dorm and before that it was with her abusive father. Now she really felt at home. Her best friend slept across the hall from her, she could sleep with her bedroom door unlocked, and they now didn't eat a diet of ramen noodles and cereal without milk like they did in college.

"How long do you think it will be until we're sick of each other?" Angela asked with a teasing tone.

"Six months."

Both the young girls laughed. "I give it a bit longer than that." Angela said once she stopped laughing. "You're like the sister I never had."

"You're like the family I never had." Kayla said with a gloomy tone.

Angela looked over at her and her smiled fell. She reached over and took her best friend's hand. "Hey." she said. "This is your life now. You and me and the hospital and days off in the summer under the sun with iced teas. You never have to think of him again."

Kayla smiled and nodded. "You're right."

"Of course I'm right. I'm always right."

Kayla laughed and laid back down on her chair.

"You'll always have me Kayla, no matter what. You're my sister."

OOOOO

PRESENT

Kayla wasn't sure why that memory flooded her mind at that moment in time when she was sitting in a train car making weapons out of her belt and shoe laces. Maybe it was because that memory was from so long ago it seemed like five lifetimes ago, but was one of her happiest memories. Many of her happiest memories were associated with her life before the apocalypse with Angela. There were happy memories after the Turn, all associated with the group and Daryl, but Angela was her rock through the hard times in her life before she was an apocalypse survivor. Angela was there when she was just a survivor. A survivor of abuse and depression. If not for Angela, Kayla probably wouldn't be here today even though in the world now, it sometimes seemed better to be dead. But Kayla had Daryl, her husband, and now Jonathan to look after, and an entire group that was her family. She knew for them being alive was worth the everyday fight.

"Alright we got four of those pricks coming our way." Daryl's rough voice sounded. Looking up, Kayla saw where he was at the train car's entrance keeping lookout. Kayla stood up, pulling Jonathan with her. He was armed with a sharp piece of wood in his right hand. "You all know what to do." Rick said as the group took a defensive stance. Kayla looked around for a moment. There was her, Daryl, Jonathan, Rick, Carl, Maggie, Glenn, Sasha, Bob, Tara, Michonne Rosita, Eugene, and Abraham. Thirteen of them against who knows how many out there as a whole. Part of her worried. The other part knew that they were capable of anything. "Go for the eyes first. Then the throat." Rick added as he took a stand next to the door. Kayla kept Jonathan tucked behind her to keep him safe, even though he seemed a lot more calm than she was at the moment.

"Put your backs against the wall on either end of the car! NOW!" a voice boomed from outside. Daryl stepped back so he was in partially in front of Kayla as the group prepared for the door in front of them to open. Only it didn't. Instead sunlight suddenly streamed in from above. Everyone looked up to see an open latch, a metal canister falling through the opening and landing in the center of everyone's feet. Abraham registered what it was immediately and screamed for everyone to move. Kayla turned and pushed Jonathan back against a wall to shield him from the coming blast that went off seconds later.

Smoke filled the car, making Kayla cough and gag from the smell. Her vision blurred for a moment as she turned to look out in front of her. The car door opened and two men stepped in, grabbing a hold of Rick and Daryl. Kayla immediately lunged their direction as did Michonne, both of them digging the spikes of their belt into flesh. Michonne managed to get the one's face while Kayla dig hers into the man's back. Both men howled in pain and then suddenly Kayla and Michonne were being pulled off them. Kayla fought against the grip as she was dragged away from Daryl. "Daryl!" she yelled.

"Kayla!" he yelled back as he was dragged outside. He fought against the grip on his arms, trying to turn around to see his wife. The man hit him across the head and threw him out onto the ground. The Termite then jumped down from the train car and picked Daryl up again before forcing him onto the ground again a few feet away so he could zip tie Daryl.

"Daryl!"

The man who had Kayla threw her against the car door, her head hitting it causing her to crumble to the floor. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, causing the pain to go unnoticed as she stood up and stumbled outside. She didn't mean to. Between the disorientation from the smoke and hit to the head, she couldn't see straight. The drop was short from the car to the ground, but the cement hurt her knees and hands. Looking up, she saw that the only men around were the four men who Daryl called out minutes ago. The rest of the area was clear. Kayla considered making a run for it but these men wouldn't hesitate to shoot her and even if she got away, how would she save the others?

Rather than run, Kayla rolled onto her side as her head injury made her brain feel full of fog. When she rolled over though, she saw a figure standing way off near a fence by one of the buildings. She could tell it was a woman based on her figure and long hair. Kayla couldn't make out the person's face, but suddenly she fell to the ground. Not as if she fainted, but in what seemed like…shock. Kayla tried squinting to make out what the woman looked like, but suddenly two hands grabbed a hold of her and threw her back in the train car.

She landed on the floor with a thud and the door shut behind her with a loud slam. Jonathan rushed over to her side and put his hands on her shoulders. "Kayla?" he asked. "You're bleeding."

Bringing a hand to her forehead, she felt the sticky red liquid on her skin by her hair line. Before she could say anything, Jonathan pulled off the button up shirt he wore over his t-shirt and put it to where she was bleeding. "Apply pressure to slow the bleeding down, right?" Jonathan asked. Looks like all the time he spend in the infirmary back at the prison was paying off.

"Good boy." Kayla said as she closed her eyes.

"Hey no sleeping. You could have a concussion."

Kayla opened her eyes again and removed his hand from her head, holding the shirt in place herself as she sat up. "Are you alright?" Michonne asked as she crouched next to her.

"I'll live." Kayla told her as she looked around. Daryl, Rick, Glenn, and Bob were gone. Kayla's stomach fell at where they could be and what the people here were doing to them, but she knew now wasn't the time to cry or feel sad. They were still trapped.

A few minutes passed where Kayla held Jonathan's shirt to her head as she sat against the train car while others worked on their homemade weapons. Jonathan sat by her, his head on her shoulder. No one said much of anything, but the silence was suddenly broken from a voice outside. "Backs against the wall! Nothing funny this time!" a voice bellowed. "Or we will shoot!"

Kayla got to her feet with Jonathan as everyone stood up straighter, more defensive. The car door opened and this time around there were several men with AK47s pointed at them. No one dared to take them on. Four of them were off somewhere else, Jonathan was barely five feet tall, and Kayla had a head injury. They were too weak to take one six guys with automatic weapons. "You with the head injury." the man in front said as he lowered his weapon. "Come with us."

Jonathan's hand tightened on Kayla's shirt as her whole body tensed up. "Why?" she demanded.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way." another man said.

Kayla looked at everyone who looked at her with scared expressions. She quickly looked carefully at everyone, taking in their features. It was her way to remember everyone in case she never saw them again. "If you see him again, tell Daryl I love him." Kayla told them before stepping forward.

"Kayla no!" Jonathan yelled as he clutched harder to her. She reached down and tried to get him off her, but couldn't. Carl rushed over and pulled the young boy off of her. Kayla walked out of the cart and was instantly restrained, strong grips around her upper arms before having her hands zip tied behind her. The men walked her foreword, but Kayla couldn't bring herself to turn around and look at the group when she heard the door slide close. All she heard was Jonathan yell her name once more before she was pulled towards one of the buildings.

When she was in the building, only one man was with her as he forced her into the room. It was one level with just plain white walls and a large concrete walls with a few tables and chairs scattered around. Inside, a woman had her back to Kayla as she entered. The woman had black hair that went to her shoulder blades and was lean in figure. She wore jeans and a black sleeveless shirt. That's all Kayla could see from the angle she had, but then she turned around and she nearly collapsed. Her heart stopped, time stopped, the world stopped, Kayla's breathing stopped.

Kayla was suddenly on her knees when the feeling in her legs vanished. "You're…how…" Kayla muttered. "Angela?"

Angela rushed over to her and Kayla stood up so her long lost best friend could hug her. Kayla was still restrained and could not return the gesture even though she wanted to. "You're alive." she said as she took a step back from Angela. She looked a lot older than she was, but this world did that to a person. Her hair was longer and thinner, her face worn and tired, and her curves she once possessed were no longer there.

"Yeah." Angela said through tears as she nodded. "I never thought I'd see you again."

"How?"

"It's a long story."

Suddenly, Kayla remembered where they were and Angela noticed the change in expression on her friend's face. "Don, could you give us a minute?" Angela asked the man who brought Kayla in.

"But-" Don began.

"Please?"

The man sighed and then stepped outside. Once he was out of sight and ear shot, Angela pulled out a knife to cut Kayla's restraints off. "It isn't what you think." Angela began. "I'm not "with" these people."

"Then what are you doing here?" Kayla asked as she rubbed her now free wrists.

"I was with a larger group. I was coming back here after I left Mississippi way back when and met them in Alabama. We were trying to get to Atlanta and we hit so many road bumps along the way that I'll fill you in on later. Anyway we finally got to Georgia and were a few miles from here when our camp we had set up was ambushed by a group of guys. We got scattered and I ended up alone. I wound up in this direction with no supplies, weak from dehydration and next to no food when one of the bandits caught up to me. He tried to…but one of the people from here rescued me and brought me back. It's barely been a month since I got here, but I wanted to leave the second I found out what they did here-"

"What do they do here?" Kayla cut her off.

Angela paused for a moment. "They're cannibals, Kayla."

The world stopped again. Now she knew where they took Daryl, Rick, Glenn, and Bob. They were taken to the slaughterhouse. Walking away from her friend, Kayla went over to the wall and threw up. She threw up the little food she had in her stomach, her nose stinging in pain. Angela rushed over to her and pulled her hair out of the way. Kayla put one hand against the wall for support and the other on her stomach as everything left her stomach. Once everything was on the floor, Kayla backed up and wiped her mouth.

"You alright?" Angela asked as she put a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Why didn't you leave?" Kayla asked, ignoring Angela's question.

"I didn't know what to do if I left. I had no one, I was afraid those bandits would find me again...I was alone before and didn't want to be again. They let me stay here and said I didn't have to partake in their…lifestyle here. I have barely spoke to anyone and only have really left my room these past few days. They were very understanding to me which I still don't understand why."

Kayla took a moment to process all the information in front of her. Her best friend was alive and living with cannibals that just dragged her husband and friends away from her. She still couldn't believe Angela was really alive, but the living proof was right in front of her.

"Look." Kayla began. "They took some of my group. Where I don't know, but I need to get them back."

"I don't know-"

Before Angela could say more, the explosion went off.

The ground shook and they stumbled to the ground, but quickly got back to their feet. "What the hell was that?" Kayla asked.

"I don't know." Angela replied.

Looking around, Kayla saw a ladder to the roof on the wall. "Over here." she said as she rushed over to the ladder. She began climbing up, opening a latch in the ceiling once at the top to get onto the roof. To the far left, Kayla saw a fire beginning to catch by the fences that were now down and a herd of walkers coming into Terminus. Looking around, Kayla searched for Daryl and the other three, but they were nowhere in sight. Angela got to the roof and looked where Kayla was looking.

"Oh my god." she gasped. "I haven't seen that many walkers for so long."

"We gotta get back to my group. It's time to go."

Kayla rushed back to the ladder, but stopped. "Do you have a gun?" she asked. Angela pulled a handgun out from the waistband of her jeans. "How about a knife?" Angela reached down to her ankle and pulled a blade from an ankle holster. "Let me have it until I can find some sort of weapon out there." Kayla said. Angela handed her the knife. "What's our game plan?"

"We see what it's like outside and then go find my group. I ain't leaving without them."

"What if it's too dangerous?"

"We'll play it by ear."

Gunshots filled the air followed by screams and yelling, making the outside sound like a war zone. Kayla pressed her ear to the door and heard the sounds of the walkers growing closer. "We gotta go now." Kayla said. "Can you take point?"

Angela nodded and went to the door and opened it. She looked left and right, her gun raised and aimed. "It's clear." she said. Kayla moved out and the two girls rushed down the walkway. The rushed past buildings and out to where some of the gardens were. All the people of Terminus seemed to be somewhere else, most likely dealing with the breach in the fences and trying to get the walker situation under control. "Which way to the train car I was in?"

Before Angela could answer, several walkers came around the corner ahead. "That way." Angela said as she looked at the walkers. She aimed her gun and fired off a few rounds, successfully killing the walkers right in front, but more followed. "We're gonna have to go around."

"Let's go then before more company shows up." Kayla said as the girls turned around and rushed the opposite direction.

They rounded a corner a few yards down, coming face to face with three walkers. Kayla drove her knife into the first one's face without hesitation, kicking the second one's knee out and driving her blade into that one next. Angela used the handle of her gun to take out the other one, successfully saving bullets. Once they were down, the two girls rushed down towards where the fence was, but before they reached the end of the path, a large group of walkers appeared at the end.

"Back, back, back!" Kayla yelled as she and Angela turned only to be met by more walkers.

Kayla's heart began pounding at the predicament, but then she saw a door that led inside. "Through there!" she told Angela as she pointed to the door. She threw it open and rushed inside, slamming the door shut once Angela was safely inside. Kayla locked the door and backed up as the walkers began pounding on it. The girls caught their breath as they turned around, finding themselves in a wide open room full of shelves and unlit candles. Kayla didn't want to waste time examining the room and turned to Angela. "Alright which way from here to the train cars?" she asked as Angela checked the bullets in her gun.

Looking up, Angela gave Kayla a look. A look that wasn't good. "All the ways to the train car they had you in are cut off by all the walkers from the looks of it."

"Angela I have to get back to them." Kayla argued.

"I know that, but every way I've taken you have been flooded with those things. I say we get to the fence, get out, and work our way around the perimeter to see if they got out. Do you think you're people could have gotten out?"

Kayla thought of everything she and the group has been through these past two years. Every single member of their group was capable and were probably already outside the fence, but Kayla couldn't shake the feeling that Daryl, Glenn, Bob, and Rick were somewhere else. Then there was Jonathan who was only nine years old and recently reacquainted with the world beyond a fence. The guilt she'd feel if she left without her family would kill her.

"Alright, let's go." Kayla agreed hesitantly. Angela saw this and hugged her friend quickly. "It'll be alright." she said before pulling away and leading the way out.

The girls fought their way to the fence, but when they finally reached it, Kayla heard her name being called. Turning, Kayla looked around, but only saw a group of approaching walkers and flames on buildings causing black smoke to fill the air. "Kayla!" the voice yelled again. Looking around, Kayla then saw her. She was to the far right a few yards away and at first glance Kayla thought she was a walkers until she started to rush towards her. It was Carol. And there were walkers heading towards her. "Angela give me your gun!" Kayla yelled as she held her hand out to Angela. Angela obliged and handed over the gun which Kayla used to take out some of the walkers approaching Carol. "Hurry Carol!" Kayla shouted. Carol reached the fence and Kayla felt herself smile at the sight of one of her group members. "We gotta get over." Kayla said as the large group of walkers drew closer. Carol took off the large poncho she had over top of her and threw it on the top of the fence. "I'll cover you two, get over it." Kayla said as she aimed at the approaching walkers. She fired off the rounds as Angela and Carol climbed over and once they were safe, Kayla was out of bullets. She turned around and climbed the fence, swinging her legs over just as the fingers of a walker grazed her leg. She landed in the grass next to Carol who looked at her with a hard to read expression. "Did you do all that?" Kayla asked her.

"Yeah." Carol answered.

Kayla smiled and threw her arms around her friends, surprising Carol. Carol hugged her back nevertheless, but realized that Kayla must not have known that she was the one who killed Karen and David.

"Who's this?" Carol asked as her eyes landed on Angela.

"This is Angela." Kayla answered as she let go of Carol. "She's an old friend of mine from before. I found her in one of the other train cars."

Carol believed her, but Angela looked at Kayla when she heard the lie. Kayla gave her a "we'll talk about it later, but play along for now look". Angela nodded.

"Did you see if the others got out?" Kayla asked Carol.

"No, but if they did they'll probably be that direction." Carol answered, pointing east.

"Well let's get a move on."

The three women began walking, reaching the tree line in minutes. It wasn't until Kayla's heart beat slowed down and the shock of the day's events weared off that she realized how hot it was. Sweat dripped off her forehead and soaked her body everywhere, causing her clothes to cling to her body. She felt how tired and sore her muscles were and how drained she felt of energy since she threw everything she had left in her stomach up. It felt like she could pass out at any given moment but the second that she heard the sound of familiar voices not too far away, energy and excitement coursed through her veins. Angela and Carol heard the voices as well and once Kayla picked up the sound of the voice she was scared she may have never heard again, her feet were moving faster.

Daryl was leaning against a tree as Rick looked around at the group. He wanted to go back and finish off the rest of the people at Terminus, but what they really needed was to get away from the place. The only problem with that was that Kayla was still in the area and they needed to find her. Fast. Daryl wondered which way she'd go if-no when-she got out. As his mind listed the possibilities, he heard the sound of footsteps on leaves. He turned his head and looked up and it felt like someone sent a bolt of electricity through his veins.

Kayla.

He ran over to her and she only took two steps by the time he reached her. She was in his arms in a matter of five seconds from the time he first laid his eyes on her. Her arms wound around his neck as his locked around her lower back and lifted her off the ground. She buried her face in his neck and felt like crying. A few tears did slip past her eyes, but she didn't care.

"Kayla!" a young voice called out. Daryl set her down so she could look around him to see Jonathan rushing towards her. A grin broke out on her face as she pulled away from Daryl to hold her arms open for Jonathan. He ran into them and threw his arms around her neck. She stood up with him and looked at Daryl. He had his own tears in his eyes as he wrapped an arm around her as the others approached her. It was in that moment that Carol and Angela appeared. Rick's eyes fell on Carol, the guilt of leaving her behind filling his stomach. He approached her, their eyes locked on one another's. "Did you do that?" he asked. She nodded once and Rick hugged her, whispering words of thanks into her ear.

Daryl hugged his wife and Jonathan who was still in Kayla's arms. "I thought I lost you." he whispered.

"I thought I lost you." she replied as she looked at him.

Daryl put a hand on the side of her face and kissed her forehead when the others noticed Angela standing off to the side. "That's Angela." Kayla explained, looking at Rick and the others. "She's a friend."

OOOOO

Carol took the group back to the cabin where Tyreese was and Rick and Carl were reunited with baby Judith and Sasha was reunited with her brother. It was an emotional reunion full of tears of joy, Kayla shedding her own at the sight of everyone together again. She held Daryl's hand as they walked towards the cabin, Jonathan hitching a piggyback ride from him. The sight made her heart swoon and for the first time since the prison fell everyone was together. The thought made Kayla smile until she realized something.

They were still missing the blonde haired farm girl who sang like an angel.

A/N:

Wow that took a while to write! I hope everyone liked the first chapter! Please review!