Hey guys, sorry it took so long again.
Thanks for the encouraging message ( KylarKvothe), it made me work harder on the story. I reread the last chapter and didn't like it anymore. So I rewrote the last chapter. I hope you guys like it nevertheless :o) And it is extry long

Happiness had returned to my little world. Books … a few books I had never read were resting in my backpack. I followed Daryl with a smile, while stepping further into daydreaming. I saw all my childhood heroes dancing around me, a fairy clearing full of magical beings. The heavy bag on my back didn't bother me at all. Carl would love the comics and little Judith some books to look at too. I wanted them to have some peace, some childhood moments. When we stepped outside the fairy smoke in front of my eyes became real. The smell wasn't magical at all.

Carol stood at the fire in the yard. My mood was immediately blown away. Daryl had burned the bodies, he had tried to ease Carol's pain. I stepped further towards her, approaching silently. There were no words that could heal the loss of a child.

"No matter what happened. It is in the past." Daryl said behind us.

I stood next to Carol, my eyes at the crackling red. "Now is what matters. You matter." I told her softly. "I can't imagine this world without you." The motherly glance reappeared in her eyes, the sadness might never leave, but at least decrease. "You are stronger than this."

"Thank you Ella." She smiled sadly. "You never asked me what happened." She looked from me to Daryl. I didn't know if she was talking to me or him.

Daryl looked at us wordlessly. "I don't need to know." I answered. Maybe I was talking to Daryl, maybe not. He looked to the ground and went back inside.

"Daryl never asked too." She replied. I had no answer. He should speak for himself, it wasn't my job to speak for him. "After I met up with Tyrese, the girls." She fell silent, her eyes again at the small body in the flames.

"I think I know what happened." I still embraced her. "They aren't here."

"It was worse than that."

"It doesn't matter anymore." I tried to comfort her. "We are here. We can start all over." The first picture I had of her when I had first met her had been the one of a grey tiny mouse. But she had grown into a strong woman, stronger than me. She had trained kids how to kill. She had been almost stone cold, doing everything to keep people alive. She had even killed two of our own to keep the group safe. But now … she somehow seemed to grow back to the grey mouse.

"That's what Daryl had said too." A quiet laugh escaped her lips and I thought she would cry, but she didn't. There was no emotional outburst. She was tough, nothing like she had been before. No grey mouse, no fearful housewife. I was wrong, she was hiding her feelings behind a wall, just like I had …

I let go off her. "And he means it."

"That car was headed downtown." Daryl stated behind us. "Let's get up inn one of the tall ones, get ourselves a view. See what we see."

We turned to follow Daryl. "We have all been through a bad time. But you know what, I think it is the people, friends and family around us who make this time better." I whispered to Carol. She didn't respond, but gave me another weak smile.

Time heals all wounds. Yeah sure, but what could erase the scars?

In the sunlight the city didn't look that scary anymore. Last night I could have sworn to have ended up in a horror movie. But in broad day light, even the walkers didn't seem so scary. Maybe you are just getting used to it. That's everyday life now. Watching the walkers who almost looked like statues I thought of all the people who had lived here. They had all left or died or turned, so the walkers had no food and could only stay still, almost none moving and somehow fragile.

We walked through the alleys. The whole time we heard snarling, no matter if we saw a walker or not. The zombies had taken over the city … They have already taken over the whole world. They are not afraid of anything while people are afraid of them. Thanks for the support, I responded.

The streets were dirty. There is no one to clean anything up. I knew that, but still, there were boxes and papers everywhere. As if some kind of paper factory had exploded.

Daryl took the lead. Seemed he had already set up the plan which building we would enter. At the end of a building he peaked around the corner. I didn't need to look around to know walkers were roaming the street. The snarling had already grown louder. "All right, we can get up there." He turned back to us. "There's a bridge." He looked at me. "Give me the lighter!" I handed it back to him. Daryl took a notepad from the ground ignited it and threw it as far as possible. The dry liter lying around caught fire. It attracted the walkers who slowly approached the fire. "Go!" We headed for the car park where a walker greeted us. Daryl killed it by shooting his crossbow. I ran for the dead walker and took the arrow out, knowing we needed all the ammo we got.

"You two really make a team." Carol laughed.

We moved through the car park. Only a few vehicles were left behind. Maybe we could take one of them later to get back. Get back … We had been away one night, the others must be worried.

We went further. Daryl opened another door to the bridge we had seen before. The bridge was filled with moving sleeping bags. It looked like caterpillars were trying hard to become butterflies. The tents at the end of the bridge weren't moving. I looked over to Daryl who nodded. We started to kill the poor bastards trapped in their sleeping bags while moving to the next door.

Next to the tent laid an untouched sleeping back. I took it and strapped it with a rope to my new bag when suddenly the tent next to me started to move. "Some days, I don't know what the hell to think." Daryl pushed me forward to walk on.

I tried to open the door at the end of the bridge but it was sealed with a chain. The rattling sound sent a shiver down my spine and I froze. I couldn't move when Carol tried to open the door with force. Without noticing my pale face, she squeezed herself through the gap of the door.

"Now you go." Daryl told me, pulling at the door to widen the gap. "I am right behind you!"

Move. You can't linger here forever. I got the sleeping back, I could linger wherever I want, I retorted in the back of my head … But looking back at the moving tends I didn't want to know how many walkers were in there. So I kneeled down and squeezed myself through the gap. Carol was a lot thinner than me and I was afraid of getting stuck. When I was through, Daryl followed. "Good thing we skipped breakfast." He laughed and brushed my arm as if he knew I needed comfort.

We walked on and when we entered the highest level, it looked almost like my dad's office. We entered a big room. The first thing I saw was a coat stand with ties and a hat. I took the hat and walked over to Daryl who stood at the window. The whole room looked noble expensive. And yet there was no one to see the fantastic paintings and wooden crafts in here.

"How did we get here?" Carol stood next to Daryl.

"We just did." Daryl answered looking out of the window.

You could see his inner hunter. He scanned the buildings until his eyes stopped. "Do you see something?" I asked trying to see what he was seeing.

"I don't know." He looked over to Carol. "Hand me that rifle." And Carol gave him her weapon. He looked again. "Right there. It's been there a while."

He handed me the rifle and I looked through it too. There was a car on a bridge. It had crushed into the guardrails. The car had the same cross on the window as the car we had followed before. I passed the rifle on to Carol. "It's definitely one of them."

"It's definitely a lead." Daryl added. "Let's keep moving."

Carol filled up her flask at the water dispenser. I wondered if the water was okay. At least it doesn't look green. Daryl started walking while I took a last glance out of the window. Somewhere out there were people, policemen or something like that. Were they good people? They were humans, but I had met living ones and it had never turned out fine. I sighed walking after the others. This just had to end well.

We walked back to the chained door. Carol again slipped through the doors first, Daryl looked at me. "Come on!" He gave me a comforting smile but I shook my head.

"You go first, I'll be right behind." I had to do this on my own. There would be situations he couldn't help me. What a time to make this move.

Daryl pressed himself through the door. I took a deep breath, ready to go through that damn door with this damn rattling chain, when the door was shut with a loud bang. "What the …" I heard a male voice calling for Daryl to put down his crossbow. I wanted to open the door, but it was closed.

"Back up!" An unknown male voice shouted. Suddenly a snarling arose behind the doors. What was going on? I wanted to check for another way, when a shot was fired. I took my knife, cursing under my breath that I hadn't had a gun with me. I tried the door again, but it was darn shut.

"Daryl!" I shouted, but there was another shot and no answer. That couldn't be good. I started to run for another way to get to my friends. The backpack was growing heavy, but I didn't want to throw it away. Are you sure this is a good idea? I ran along the corridor looking for a staircase without listening to my brother. You should better listen! If there are people who shot Daryl or Carol, don't you think they will shoot you too?

"I don't care. What if they need help?" And you think you can help with just a knife? "I just have to get to them!" Around the next corner I finally found the green sign I was looking for. EXIT. I almost flew down the stairs. When I excited the building carefully and checking for walkers, I tried to orientate myself. Where was the building we had entered? You should better be careful! This is a big city, many walkers and strangers. You do know what happened last time, do you?!

"Asshole." I grew mad and wasn't afraid of walking into strangers … anymore. "Don't give me that shit now." Well, at least I tried not to be afraid.

I carefully approached to the building we had entered, hiding behind cars. Girl do some thinking! He rather sounded like Merle. Merle … Maybe he isn't alone. He seems to have a gun and you only have your knife. There was a shadow moving to the other building. Taking a closer look, a man was walking through the door with Daryl's crossbow on the back. Did he rob my friends? Daryl must be injured giving up his crossbow like that. I had to get it back. Don't you have to check on Daryl first? He was with Carol, they would be fine. They just had to. I needed to get our weapons back, without them we were at the mercy of the apocalypse.

I grabbed my knife tighter and followed the person into the building. Are you sure there is only one person? I tried to walk as silently as possible, my eyes were everywhere. "I have to …" Don't be all badass. Now he really sounded like Merle. You are just one girl, you should better look for your beloved. Now he got me but a faint snarling announced a walker, maybe there were two. The snarling rather sounded more like a canon. Peeking around the corner there was a walker lying flat on the ground. Its body was smashed, but the head was still moving. I slowly walked around the creature, its eyes followed my every move. I smashed its head with my right foot. The canon stopped and other snarling continued as a solo. I walked further down the dark corridor following the walker's song. The person I had seen before was nowhere to be seen. It is a big building and you don't know it at all. I tell you again to go back! This time there was more force in his voice. I almost told him I liked him better when he was gone, but that wouldn't be the truth. I bit my tongue.

There were doors, but they were all locked. I carefully tried to open the doors, but nothing. I still heard the walker's snarling which was now added by a slurping. A walker was moving. I tried the door next to me, which was locked too. How could all the doors be locked? Maybe leading you somewhere … I froze for a moment reminding Terminus. The slurping grew louder and I tried the door opposite of me. Finally one door was open. It was a small room, maybe just a small storeroom. I quickly entered, left the door ajar and waited. I still think this is a bad idea. Why don't you want to know if Daryl was okay? As if we didn't need weapons to defeat us, I replied silently. But deep down in my heart I was afraid something had happened. In the morning I had been happy, I still had the books in the bag on my back, but now it was all "fight for survival" again. And I didn't plan on losing this fight.

Suddenly a shadow passed the door. It was a young man and he had Daryl's crossbow on his back. He was hobbling. How could he overpower Daryl and Carol? Maybe he wasn't alone. That's what I am telling you all the time. I decided to ignore this comment and waited for a moment, but no one passed. Opening the door and checking my surroundings more than twice, I walked after the boy. There was no sight of him but the slurping of his leg was heard. He still seemed to be alone, there were no other sounds.

At the end of the corridor was a huge hall. I stopped before walking further, looking around in search for an enemy. The slurping of the boy had disappeared. Be careful. My brother warned me in an encouraging voice. To my right was another corridor and I slowly walked to it, pressing my back on the wall and grabbing my knife tight. I even tried not to breathe to not be heard. All of a sudden the boy stepped out of nowhere. He looked surprised himself seeing my in the hallway. I immediately raised my knife to his throat while he pointed Carol's gun at me. "Who are you?" He asked me. "You have been with them." Had he observed us?

"Have you hurt my friends?" My voice sounded hard, just as I had intended it to be.

"If they are as tough as they look, than they are fine."

That wasn't quite the answer I had wanted to hear. "Have you shot them?" He slightly shook his head. "Give me back our guns!"

"I can't!" He almost pleaded looking helpless. The look took me by surprise. This wasn't a kid killing someone to survive. I lowered my knife a bit.

"I can make it simple: I'll just kill you."

His eyes mirrored pain "I need them. I have to help a friend."

"Same here, buddy." I pressed through my teeth and raised the knife again. My knuckles already getting white.

Suddenly he jumped forward, knocking me over. We fell to the ground, while he lost the gun my knife was like glued to my hand. The boy sat on top of me still looking rather helpless than an attacker. "I don't want to hurt you …" He held my knife-holding hand pinned to the ground.

"Sorry for that …" I hit him with my free left fist and kicked him away from me. Carols gun with was within reach, but when I grabbed it, they boy took it too.

"No!" He screamed. "I need the gun to help Beth!"

"What?" I froze. "A blonde girl?" Could he really be telling the truth? After all the things you have seen so far in the apocalypse, could it be true there are still good people? Did my brother really think of this boy as good people?

The boy nodded. "They have her …" He stammered.

"Who?" I remembered the policeman, the cross on the car, the car at the bridge.

"A group of policemen, a doctor … they are at the hospital." He stood up but didn't let go of the gun. "They have guns."

"They have Beth?" I asked and he nodded. "Why did they take her?" I still didn't really trust him but I didn't want to be fooled either. "What have you done to Daryl and Carol?"

"Nothing … they aren't hurt if you mean that."

A walker came from the hallway behind the boy. I pushed the boy to the side and shot the walker in the head. "No!" The boy screamed with wide eyes. He turned to the hall and went for a window. "They might have hurt the shot." He came back to me. "We have to leave this place."

He still had Daryl's crossbow on his back while I held Carol's gun. The fact that we both knew Beth seemed to make him careless. "How do I know you are not one of them?" Finally you start thinking again! I didn't follow him when he started walking.

"Beth helped me escape, but she couldn't escape. I have to help her." He was still walking talking to me over his shoulder. "We have to …"

"First we have to find my friends." Daryl would know what to do.

"Okay. But when we find your friends, you'll help me rescue Beth." He really seemed to care for Beth.

I started to walk after him. It was easy to catch up because of his limping. "Who are these people?"

"They use us as assistants, as cleaners, their wards. They do protect, but still we are prisoners never to leave that damn hospital." He stopped at a door to his left.

He talked full of hate. In this world, everything has changed and again I grew cold inside. Hate for all those people who thought they could play god and rule over others boiled in me. The sound of a closing door made us turn. The boy looked at me afraid and took the crossbow in his hands. It could be Carol and Daryl, at least that was what I was hoping. Since when is destiny that kind? "We need to hurry. I know a place where we can hide." He whispered, his voice trembled. I still wasn't sure about that boy, but somehow he seemed so helpless and lost … he reminded me of myself when I was in distress. And I wasn't a bad person … "We need to turn left and get to the opposite building. We can hide in the basement."

"You go first." I better wanted him in front of my gun than in my back.

We walked silently on. The boy turned left when a shot echoed from the walls. A sharp pain formed in my shoulder. I looked back into the dark hallway to see a person with a raised gun. "Hands up!"

I let go of Carol's gun and looked to the boy. I nodded for him to go. "Find Daryl." I whispered to him. "By the way … I am Ella." I smiled and took the knife. The boy left running. I hoped he would look for Daryl.

The man came closer and I saw a policeman. "Let go of the knife too!"

"You have to say please." I wanted to throw the knife but I heard the click of his gun. I threw myself to the ground, thinking he would shoot at me again and took the gun again. Lying on the floor I pointed the gun at him and immediately shot without warning. The man went down and I ran away. I ran out and saw Carol lying on the ground, policemen at her side. Before I knew what was happening everything went black. That was not what I had planned.

Thanks again for reading till here.
Enjoy the christmasy days :o) Have a great day!