Hey everyone! So next chapter, a little action is coming up! Cant wait to watch season 4 in a few days. already couting down ;o)
So far you can read on. As always: Have fun reading and review if you like! 3500 words in this chapter ... WOW enjoy!

John was sitting on top of the SUV, just like Dale always used to sit on his RV. Mike was sitting in the car, door open, and checking his gun. Alex and I were sitting on the front lid. I watched her cleaning her knife deep in thoughts. There was still some blood left when she had cut open the rabbit John had shot. "A penny for your thought!" I asked her.

She stopped cleaning. "I am afraid of myself." She sighted. "When we shot at the strangers from before … I flinched, but I didn't care if they were dead or not. I am afraid I grew emotional cold and don't even care about to be a murderer or not."

I touched her shoulder comfortingly. "You do. You think about it and you think about what we did. It wasn't you who almost killed these men. Plus, they were not really nice, so it's okay to do a little damage." I winked at her. "Like you said, nothing is gonna change the way we are. Maybe when we return to the hotel we can listen to some music and dance a bit." I smiled an encouraging smile.

Alex returned my smile with a sad grin. "A little time-out would be nice." She eyed my knife and handed me small stone. "Whet your knife! You'll sure need it to be sharp."

I looked at my knife and began grinding the hunting knife I once got from Daryl.

"You are too soft. It's a knife, it is not made out of china." She laughed at me. "Since when are you so gentle?"

"Hey." I said playfully. "It was a gift." The moment the words had left my mouth I regretted saying them.

"From whom?" I knew that question was gonna be asked.

I rolled my eyes. I knew her she wouldn't stop asking me about it. "Is it from one of your campsite-gang?"

I took a deep breath. "Yeah …" I stopped but her eyes told me to go on or she would start to bitch about it. "It's from Daryl."

"That guy!" She laughed out loud. "Isn't he the one you followed to Atlanta?" I simply nodded because I didn't want to argue. "He's the reason … That's why you want to return to your group?!" She liked to speak in a voice I couldn't tell if it was a question or a statement.

"He told me how to handle these walking dead geeks. Even told me how to shoot. He gave it to me so I could defend myself if needed." I played with the knife in my hands and wished I could see Daryl again to thank him. The time I had been on my own, not with my group, I had this knife and had known how defend myself. Had known how to kill the fucking zombies. Did I ever thank him for the teaching lessons I enjoyed so much? So you enjoyed your little hanky-panky?! I blushed a bit.

"That sounds like a good friend. He must be close to your heart." I thought about her words. She got you. Seems like she knows before you even realize …

"He is a good man." I didn't want to hear anyone talk about him. Maybe I would never see him again, never see anybody again …

Alex smiled. "The first time you corrected me about his name I saw it in your eyes." I gave her a questioning look. "You had this brightness in your eyes, the one when a girl talks about her first date, her first kiss. There was something behind this guy's name and now I know."

"What do ya know?" I asked her in a Daryl-like-voice. But she just smiled at me.

"Never mind Ella. Nice to see there is still love in this world."

My eyes went wide. "I am sorry … what?"

"Like I said. Never mind!" I really wasn't in the mood to argue and tried to avoid any conversation concerning Daryl and love in one sentence. So I stood up and looked around in search for a place to pee. "I'll go and check the surroundings!" Alex nodded with a knowing glance and I walked away.

I went a few meters, indeed checking the surroundings and now I really needed to pee. "What does she know about Daryl?!" Why are you mad? It's so obvious.

"Shut up." I wanted to run, but that wouldn't stop the voice talking in my head. I walked faster. Look at it this way: It is an impulse to look for them even harder.

I caught a glimpse of some bushes. They looked like a little sea of green in the brown rows of trees. I went into this thistly bush sea and sat down. In the moment I was unbuttoning my pants I heard some rustling. Was someone going through the bushes as well? I remained in a sitting position, waiting. I touched my knife at my leg. "Hey you." Suddenly an unfamiliar voice whispered and a smiling face appeared next to me. I immediately stood up to be faced with a kid. "What are you doing here all alone?" I grabbed my knife.

I silently looked at him in disbelief. He didn't look like a bad man, but you could never know. I was ready to defend myself, ready if he would attack me.

"Who are you? Are you alone?" He asked looking all puppy, like a kid who wants to have spending money from his parents. "I am Randall." He held out his hand and I saw a pistol on the side of his belt. I grabbed my knife tighter.

"You alone?" I asked and tried to remain severe but my voice was a little shaky.

He shook his head. "You have to be careful Miss." He swallowed loudly. "The guys I'm with are pretty bad. You do not wanna know what they gonna do to you when they see you. You're quiet pretty Miss." His smile disappeared and he suddenly looked afraid. I pointed the top of my knife at him. He was just inches away to be at least poked if not scratched.

My eyes widened in horror. "What?" I looked around hectically. Did he wanted to say that they will kill me? Were they friends of the guys we had shot? "Don't worry, I am not like them." I hated me for forgetting my gun at the SUV, but my knife could do some damage too. But what could a knife do against an armed guy?

My eyes wandered to his pistol again. "Yeah, sure." I told him. He saw my glance and held his hands up in surrender. "I mean it. You have a camp or a save place?" I didn't answer, didn't trust him. "You should go back. I'll tell them to go that way." He pointed into the other direction of our camp. I still didn't trust him at all. "Please, I can't take it again … watching them rape another woman."

My heart began to beat fast now. "They what …" Randall suddenly pushed me into the bushes. I fell to the ground and my hair got all twisted in the small branches and thorns. I wanted to protest but didn't. Randalls face was all stone. I heard voices and someone screamed. "Hey lil one you found someone … something?"

"No …" Randall looked kind of afraid, but his voice was hard. Before he looked like a kid, but now he behaved like a juvenile delinquent. He put his hands in the pocket of his dirty trousers. He took some of the berries next to me looking at with hard eyes. It was as if his eyes told me to stay in place.

I could hear muffled voices. They were not that close, but too close. I grabbed my knife even tighter and looked into the direction where the voice had come from, but I couldn't see someone nor tell how many men they were. Randall was slowly moving out of the sea of bushes and into the direction he showed me before. "Come this way. Saw some skid marks over there."

Were they looking for us? I had to tell the others. We had to leave, had to move … Footsteps. Through the bush I saw two pair of heavy dirty boots passing by. Randall really enticed them away from me. So he was a good kid … So far he hadn't even tried to unarm me.

"There must be a little town over there. Saw it on the map before." The new voice sent a shiver down my spine. It sounded so cold and harsh.

I waited until I thought the coast was clear. I carefully and slowly came out of the bushes. I looked in the direction Randall had pointed to and luckily saw nobody. I turned to run back to my group.

I was running like crazy back to the SUV. Alex was sitting on top of the car scanning the area with binoculars. The tent was not set up yet. Good, so we could move fast. When she heard me approaching she stood up. "Ella, what happened?" Her voice told me bafflement, she must have seen my scared face.

"Men …" I was out of puff. "Men with guns." I just saw Randall having a gun, but that was not important at the moment. It was important to move!

John was immediately at my side. "They saw you?"

I shook my head. "They went in the other direction. But we have to keep moving."

"Why? How you know they are bad people?" I could tell from Alex' eyes she connected these guys with our little friends on the street as well as me.

"Randall told me."

"Who the fuck is Randall?" John grabbed my shoulder.

Of course they didn't know him. I couldn't believe I was still explaining when we should be already driving away. "One of them …. He helped me to hide. Please, let us go!" I looked around. "Where is Mark?"

"Taking a shit!" John's eyes fixed me.

"Where?" Was all I said to his fuckin' answer.

Now Alex grabbed both of my arms. "Ella. Do not panic." Alex didn't understand, she didn't know what Randall had told me, and she didn't hear that voice.

"We have to go!" I tried to shove her into the back of the car and looked at John. "Please, trust me. We should better keep going!" John nodded and went around the car.

Suddenly a shot was fired. I glanced around to see a man hiding behind a tree. I jumped into the car next to Alex. "Go!" John drove off. Alex grabbed my arm. "What about Mark?"

I didn't say a word, I tried to think. Instead of driving back to the highway John drove around the trees. "Man, where have ya been going to take a shit?" In that moment Mark jumped in front of our car, his pants still on his feet. We stopped and I opened the front passenger door from the back. "Move your damn ass into the car!" Another shot. It came from another direction. Mark jumped into the car and when he closed the door a bullet smashed the window and scratched the side of his neck. "Fuck. What's happening?"

I didn't answer but turned to John. "Step on it!" And he did. I fell back into my seat as we sped up. I looked back out of the rear window. A man stood between the trees, dressed all in black, his gun pointed at us. I threw myself over Alex, pushing us down, and a metallic sound was heard. The bullet must be stuck in the metallic body of the car. I slowly sat up. "Everything alright?" Alex nodded, her face as white as snow.

"What the hell is happening here? Would somebody please be so kind and enlighten me?" Mark was red and furious. I saw John looking at me in the driving mirror, his facial expression telling me the same question.

"I met a guy in the woods. Randall. He told me to run, cause his friends wouldn't be nice to me. He helped me to hide." I got everyone's attention but nobody was saying a word. Should I tell them about the not-nice-thing of Randall's friends? Didn't think that was necessary.

We arrived at the highway again and kept on driving. Mark was the first to speak. "We need to go back to the hotel."

"They could follow us. Maybe they are friends of our little interlocutors from before. And it will be dark soon. We should find shelter somewhere." John was smarter than Mark. Mark was too nervous, too sensitive. And John was the kind of leader you could trust your life with.

"Maybe we should sleep in the car and be ready to go if someone is coming after us." Alex tried her best not to panic. "We have to cover our tracks … Drive on the highway and then into the woods or something like that." Smart girl.

John nodded. "Okay. Let's keep looking for shelter. Don't want these bastards to meet my gun any time soon."

My heartbeat was so fast I swear everyone in the car could hear it. Blood rushed through my body. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe. It was like an invisible weight was on me, pressing me into my seat.

"Ella?" I heard Alex next to me but couldn't turn my head. I was paralyzed. "Ella!" Even I recognized her screaming, her voice was like a whisper to me. Someone shook me. I thought it was Alex but everything went a blur.

Some other day at the farm

Daryl couldn't believe Rick and the others saved an attacking kid. Why did they bring him here? Why did they patch him up? Daryl shook his head. Too much thinking again … It was already done so they had to deal with it. And what about all the discussing of letting him stay or killing him? Was there really any point in arguing? Again, too much thinking was no good. He left the farm house and sat down on the steps of the porch. He scanned the trees, not trying to think. They had been discussing and debating about a kid's life and all that Daryl could think about was finishing him off.

When Rick and Shane had come back without eliminating the kid, Dale was the only being happy about it. Daryl wondered why they just didn't kill him. He was a threat to the group. A threat that had to be removed.

Daryl looked at his bloody knuckles. He had tried to get the kid to talk to him, to tell the truth. But still he wasn't saying the things Rick or he wanted to hear. He looked to the barn and stood up. Maybe tonight was the night to either get him to talk eventually or kill him. He walked over to the barn, thinking about how to best get information out of this kid. Punching and threatening hadn't been helpful so far. He took the hunting knife out of his belt. "Maybe that'll do."

From the corner of his eye he saw a movement and Daryl stopped. Dale approached him on his way and looked at the knife in Daryl's hands. "You want to kill Randall?" He emphasized the name of the kid to get Daryl to realize this kid was a person, a human being. But Daryl just snorted. Dale came closer. "Ella would have wanted the kid to live." Daryl started to walk towards the barn again, ignoring Dale talking about the one person Daryl never talked about. "She would have wanted a trial, just like Andrea suggested." Daryl was about to turn around and shout at the old man, but he didn't. That would only prove the man that Daryl eventually cared about Ella, so he walked on. "Daryl!" He walked on and looked back over his shoulder, Dale wasn't following him.

When he opened the barn, Randall was hanging from the roof. Someone had chained him to a beam. His arms outstretched to the rooftop, his feet not really touching the ground. An oil lamp next to him was illuminating his miserable condition.

"Please … I didn't do anything wrong. Please let me go." Randall pleaded. Daryl could see the pale face through all the blood and tears. "Please."

Daryl pulled out an old rag and stuffed it into his mouth. He took his knife looking at Randall who's eyes went wide. He began to wriggle, tried to free himself from the chains. He was afraid and that was good. Daryl wanted to protect his group. He had failed once and didn't want to fail again. He had lost too many people, this wouldn't happen again.

Daryl sat in front of Randall. The kid was strapped on a chair, his hands cuffed. He screamed at him in anger. "Shot at one of my boys … try to take this farm … and ya tryin' to tell me you're innocent …" He sounded dangerous, threatening.

"Yes!" Randall screamed back. His nose and mouth bloody from the punches. His eyes were wet and looked confused.

Daryl couldn't believe it. In this situation the kid still wasn't talking the truth. He began to beat it out of him.

"Stop!" Randall cried and Daryl sat back. "I'm not like them."

Daryl spat on the ground, exhausted from all the beating. "Don't like to fuck girls …"

"No!" Randall breathed hard. "I wanted to help."

"Help ya friends fuck some more defenseless women?" By the thought of what Randall had told before, he began to punch him again and again.

"I saved one. I swear. A brunette one." Daryl stood up.

"You would tell anything to get away, would ya?" He punched him again.

"I swear." Blood came out of his mouth and it looked like there was a tooth missing. "I pushed her in the bushes and lead the guys in the other direction. I saved her! Please believe me." He coughed.

Daryl looked down on the beaten kid.

A scream made Daryl look out of the open door into darkness. He took the oil lamp in one hand and his hunting knife in the other and ran out. Another scream. Daryl ran as fast as he could. He saw a walker on top of someone. With all his strength he jumped onto the walker, tackled it down and rammed his knife in his bold head. He let go of it and turned to the person on the ground. He just than realized it was Dale. His torso was wide open, his entrails crawling out of his bloody body.

Daryl heard voices and jumped up. "Help! Over here!" Again he kneeled down next to Dale. "Hang in there buddy."

One by one the group arrived at the dying Dale. No one could believe it was him. Rick knelled down next to Dale's head, taking him into both hands. "Hold on there!" He turned to the others. "Get Hershel!"

Andrea fell on her knees too. "Hang on there. Hang on there." As if her words could stop the pain Dale must feel … His chest open, his eyes telling nothing but fear and pain. Daryl looked at both of them. He couldn't believe he saw Dale nodding to Andreas words. Didn't he realize he was already sent to death?

Everyone was talking at once. When Hershel arrived, he could only tell the one evident thing that Daryl already knew. Hershel shook his head and Rick went crazy. "No!" The women were crying, even Glenn was losing some tears … Andrea was shocked, never leaving Dale's side.

Rick pulled out his gun, kneeling again next to Dale's head. He was thinking while looking at the painful face of Dale. He breathed hard. Andrea couldn't stand it. "Do something." She cried. "Do something!"

Daryl watched them and then his eyes focused on Dale. He was the only one who still talked about Ella. He remembered Dale always being nice to her at the camp. He never tried to talk her into NOT spending time with Daryl. He wondered why and now that he looked into the dying eyes of Dale he would never know.

The pleading of Andrea must have gotten through Rick. He stood up, releasing the safety catch of his gun. He pointed at Dales head, but you could tell from his eyes that he couldn't do it. His fingers were playing nervously with the gun in his hand. He trembled. In that moment Daryl took the gun out of his hands. He just knew Rick couldn't do it. He kneeled down, pointed the gun at Dales head. He was looking for words that would make it easier for Dale. Make him feel at ease, but no words would make him feel any better … Not him and not the others. Dale looked right at Daryl, his eyes glanced knowingly at him. "Sorry brother!"

Hope you like my story so far. It is getting more interesting in the following chapters ... I swear ;o)
See you next week