Author's Note: Thank you very much for everyone who is reading the story!

I'm going to carry on. Hopefully it will bring entertainment to those who stumble across it.


Michonne jumped up, katana in hand, and strained her ears. After a few seconds, there it was again: a gunshot. And it sounded much closer than she had originally thought. Her first instinct was to run away from it, but that was immediately replaced by the image of this being someone else who had survived the prison attack and needed help.

Did she actually hope this was another person from the group, though? On the one hand, it obviously meant they were still alive; on the other, it sounded like she'd find them just as that was no longer the case, and she didn't want to witness anyone else dying. When two further shots rang out in rapid succession all doubts were cast aside and she ran flat out through the woods; this could be Carl, or Daryl, or Rick. Or any of the others, her brain added as she felt ashamed of her favoritism.

Out of the corner of her eyes she started noticing a walker here, a walker there. Not good. Soon every one of them in a two-mile radius was going to show up. One more shot. Shit, she really had to find this person soon. A bit more running and she spotted the edge of the woods and, a little beyond that, a bunch of walkers descending on what looked to be a couple of people. Too late.

She couldn't see enough to identify anyone, but all through the screams she tried holding on to the notion that this number of walkers wasn't usually overwhelming if you were in a pair and knew what you were doing, which was the case with most in her group. Of course, the dead could always sneak up on you, but she somehow didn't think these had been skilled people. Not like Daryl, for instance. Or Rick, Sasha, Glenn, Maggie, and even Carl, for that matter. Which still left everyone else, so not much of a comfort. Michonne's musings were interrupted by a couple of walkers who had taken a keen interest in her. Fuck! She turned on her heel and bolted, looking over her shoulder every so often.


Daryl's head spun as he heard it again. It was far off, but he knew it was a gunshot, he'd been around enough of them, even before all this. He grabbed his crossbow and started running toward the noise as another two shots went off. After a while, he came upon a very telling scene: a bunch of chopped up walker bodies and heads surrounding a small patch of trampled grass. Michonne!

His heart started to do a little dance but halted when he remembered the shots. He took a quick look around and easily spotting her trail sprinted along it. He couldn't help but applaud her skills with that katana of hers; there had easily been twenty walkers back there. Damn!

One more shot. Shit. He had to find her alive, it wouldn't be fair to discover she had made it through the prison attack one minute and have to put her down the next. He picked up his speed just enough to make him skid a little as he stopped on his tracks. There went Michonne, running, walkers lagging behind. It shouldn't take her long to lose them. The direction she was moving in was such that, if he ran to his left, he would cut her path just in front of her. That worked, she wouldn't be alarmed this way, since she would be able to see him ahead.

Well, as he ducked under his crossbow to avoid her katana, he found out this was definitely not the case.


Michonne looked back and saw that she was putting good distance between herself and the walkers. Excellent, she was getting tired of all this running. Turning her head forward she noticed something coming from her left and swung her katana. Just as she was about to bring it down full force she recognized the crossbow. Daryl!

"AreYouCrazy!?" she managed to both yell and whisper at the same time, all the while trying not to have a heart attack.

"No, I thought…"

"Never mind" she cut him off, "we have to move now!"

They kept going and eventually happened on a rickety barn. Questioning looks were exchanged. Daryl shrugged. Michonne looked at the building (if you could call it that) and let out a resigned sigh. The barn it was. They approached carefully, banged on the door and waited a bit. They'd normally bang a second time and wait some more, but she figured they'd be better off taking their chances inside, what with the walkers that might still be after them.


Daryl pointed his crossbow at the door and nodded his head to Michonne, who quickly pulled it open. They both went inside and saw that it was an open, empty space except for a sectioned off part that took up half the wall to their left. They moved to the door of the "room" and proceeded in the same way as they had done with the external entrance, finding the small space also free from walkers, but not from an assortment of things.

Before he could say or do anything, and much to his surprise, Michonne had him in an impossibly tight hug. He froze. This was not at all what he was used to coming from her. In fact, if he thought about it, he wasn't sure he could even name a time when they had touched without it having been for a practical purpose, like tending to a wound or getting each other's attention. He looked around, as if expecting someone to be watching them, and finally moved. Fuck it, if she was hugging him, he was hugging her back; it felt nice, plus he didn't want to be rude, right?


Michonne held on to Daryl. She was vaguely aware of his hugging her back at some point, but didn't care one way or the other, she was just happy he was there, and she wasn't the only one who'd survived. After a while, she stepped away and smiled. As with the other handful of times he saw it, he was struck by how beautiful she looked when she did smile.

"You're alive!", she said.

"Well… yeah. You too." That seemed kind of obvious.

"Don't be a smartass, I'm serious", she responded.

He got the impression it was best not to mention he was serious too. Instead, he asked "Are you ok? Who was shooting?"

"I'm ok. I couldn't make out who was shooting, too many walkers around them, but I don't think it was any of our people." She hadn't seen enough to think (or not think) any such thing, it was more hope than anything else, but she didn't want to admit it. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, even if you did try to chop me up" he gave her the tiniest awkward smile. "Didja see anyone at the prison?"

"Rick. I heard him asking about Carl, but all I could think about was finishing off the Governor. Ended up deciding to let the walkers do the job." She felt tired again.

"You sure they got him?"

"Yeah, I heard him screaming." She answered. "Did you see anyone else?"

"Beth. She said somethin' about the kids and the bus, but I was concentratin' on the tank. Thought maybe if I stopped it we could still save the prison", he said the last part with his head down in a disconsolate tone.

Michonne felt the urge to hug him again and Daryl welcomed it. They stayed like that for a long time.


Author's note: I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you think :)