I'm back, kittens! And I saw the new episode. They're in SC. But how did they get there? Well, my friends- my fic will cover it! And more! Please review- I love it when you guys review. Also- I really love the Carl/Glenn talk here. Please give me your thoughts on the situation! :)

The firetruck clearly wasn't going to fit all of them. That was what she thought as the small group gathered their meagre posessions, getting ready to move.

She didn't really have anything. She had her switchblade hooked onto her belt, the blade crusted over with dried blood from both dead walkers and gut kills. She had her pistol- it was scratched and beaten, and truthfully, the hammer could use some WD-40- it stuck sometimes.

She had what was basically a threadbare, stained denim jacket over her t-shirt, and Daryl's leather vest. There was her bow and quiver, sure, but other than that, the only thing she really had was... her necklace.

She looked down at it quietly- it rested under her shirt, between her breasts. She didn't often let people see it. It was something to be cherished, not flaunted... The normally lustrious gold chain was tarnished, the blue pendant cloudy- but she knew that underneath, it was still as beautiful as the day Carl had given her.

That was all she really thought as she stood, watching Daryl grab his crossbow and the rather beaten trashbag he used to tote supplise.

Rosita had baggy pockets on her pants, as well as a backpack, Eugene was sporting some srot of fanny pack, and hell- pratically everyone had a backpack of somesort exceot for her. And Carl.

Her friend was watching her, normally bright green eyes dull, wounded... He was jumpy. She supposed she couldn't really blame him- he'd almost lost her. Hell, the thing had almost BIT her...

She strode over to stand near him, watching as everyone continued to move, to work, around them. A few months ago, she probably would've helped. But ever since being with Joe's group, she'd had an aversion to touching anything that didn't belong to her.

She offered Carl a small smile, which he weakly returned. She could tell he was emotionally spent- but he was trying to keep it together, even if it was just to save face in front of the others.

She looked from him back towards the gut-smeared firetruck. There was no way it was going to fit everyone...

"We'll need more cars. At least two or three. Daryl and Carol got the chevy running, but it's spotty..."

"There's a van out back." Glen volunteered, nodding to the small garage area behind the church.

"We can work with that..." Rick agreed, still looking pensive.

"We're gonna need gas." Glenn pointed out, and Tara nodded her agreement. Maggie simply eyed the ground.

Rick nodded as well, eyes keenly surveying the camp. They were running low on supplise...

"We find anything that's useful and split up. See what we can find, and move on from there."

No one openly protested the idea, but Daryl's arm, which had been slung around Carol, tightened slightly, while his gaze darted iver to Jamie... She'd nearly been dead an hour or so ago. He'd almost lost her.

Maggie's eyes- glassy and haunted- flickered over towards the freshly mounded dirt in the churchyard. She could barely summon the willpower to keep breathing right now, let alone go on a run...

"Tyreese, Carol, Maggie and Gabriel can stay here and watch Judith and Eugene. We'll all rendezvous back here in a few hours..."

Daryl clearly approved of the plan, and though Carol looked like she wasn't in favor of the idea, she understood she'd be more than a hinderance than a help, still sore as hell from Atlanta and struggling to walk without help...

Daryl started towards the woods, only to stop when he realized Jamie wasn't following after him. He stopped, turning around to look- she still hadn't moved from where she was standing beside the Grimes boy, giving him some look he couldn't read...

He felt something flash then, alarm mixed with...jealosy? Since when had Jamie wanted to hang around with the Grimes boy all the time? And the way the kid had totally lost his shit when he'd assumed Jamie had been bitten...

He didn't like it. He didn't like it at all.

"Jamie!" he was able to curb the venom that might've seeped into his tone, and his daughter looked up from where she'd been standing. "You comin' or what?"

He felt his heart drop when she didn't move. No. She wasn't going to go with the other group- he was her DAD, for christssake, she HAD to go with him.

But his fears were allayed when she turned, saying one last thing, what he assumed was a quick goodbye, before she strode over to stand beside him.

Still, he was distracted by the way Grimes watched her walk away, a look of sadness mingled with fear on his features...

"Well? We going, or what?" Jamie asked, and he realized he'd been still for a minute.

"I...yeah. Stay close, y'hear?"

"I know." she said quietly, almost as though she didn't need his warning. Didn't need his instruction. Didn't need HIM.

He was overthinking it, he realized, and he kicked himself. She's jest a kid. What's it matter what she thinks? Quit being such a pussy...

But he noticed the way she looked back as they left, taking one last look at Grimes...

They'd split into groups of two or three in order to cover the most ground. Rick had gone with Sasha and Rosita, while Michonne went with Abraham. It left Glenn and Carl to rove the deserted streets in search of anything useful- mostly, any cars with gas they could syphon.

Carl was uncharacteristically quiet, blue eyes steeled on the road ahead of him, gun gripped in one hand, an empty red gas can in the other...

Glenn looked over at him every so often. The kid was out togehter- if he hadn't seen it for himself, he never would've guessed he'd just about lost his mind an hour ago. He didn't sniff, and his eyes weren't puffy, but he saw it in the way his face was set- steeled, serious, ready to do whatever he had to. He saw it in the wayhe clenched his jaw unconciously, and how he hadn't even noticed he had a white knuckle gril on the gas can yet...

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked, shattering the silence.

Carl's focus slipped, and he looked over at him, confused. "About what?"

"About what happened when Jamie was... 'bit'." he made air quotes around the word, not wanting to upset the boy more. Carl's gaze hardened.

"There's nothing to talk about." he muttered, kicking an emoty beer can off to the side as they walked.

Glenn scoffed slightly. "Yeah. Because almost shooting your Dad is really nothing."

Carl stopped walking, and something dangerous flashed in his eyes. Glenn realized he'd gone to far.

"Okay. I shouldn't have said that but... you were really messed up back there. You want to talk about it?" he was genuinely concerned, and Carl looked like he was actually considering it for a moment before he shrugged.

"I got a little emotional, okay? Jamie's been with me for awhile..."

Glenn's eyes widened slightly, but Carl didn't notice. He was too busy staring down the pavement...

"... and I don't want her to get hurt." he finished, still not meeting Glenn's eyes.

Glenn chose to ignore the fact that Carl had identified Jamie as with HIM instead of the group.

"You really like her, don't you?"

Carl's eyes darted upwards, almost shocked at the notion... But a moment later, the surprise was gone.

"Yeah. I do. You have an issue with that?"

"No..."

"Good." Carl broke into a grin, mood brightening slightly as he noticed the dilapitated minivan up ahead.

He sped up slightly, setting down the gas can and rapping on the back window. A walker lunged forward only to be stopped by the grimy glass, futily banging and clawing at it...

A moment later he'd tucked his gun into his waistband and was reaching for the door. Glenn drew his knife, looking uncertain as to what the boy was going to do...

But Carl didn't need him. That much was clear when he moved to slide the door open an inch or so, and the walker lunged forward- he was ready for it, the flat of his boot meeting it's chest and sending it careening backwards, where it slammed it's head into the opposite window. There was a squishing sound, and blood smeared the window behind it's head. It moaned and snarled pitifully, reaching towards them desperately, but it was clear it wasn't going to be able to get up, not with the fluids seeping from it's head...

Carl wordlessly opened the door all the way, grabbing the undead woman by her calf and dragging her out onto the road. He quietly finished her outt with a quick drive of his boot, and nodded to Glenn.

"Think it's got gas?"

Glenn shrugged. "Check. If it does, I'll start syphoning."

Carl nodded, wordlessly climbing into the van- it smelled like death warmed over. The woman had been in the car fir awhile, he reasoned, stewing in her own juices. But he wiped the dust from the gagues up front, grinning triumphantly.

"It's got a quarter-tank." he announced.

Glenn wordlessly got to work inserting the rubber tubing into the gas tank and sucking on the end like a straw, getting the vaccuk started. All that was left to do then was wait while the gasoline spilled into the gas can...

It left them, yet again, in silence.

Glenn looked up from where he was monitoring the gas flow, scrutinizing Carl.

"Well?" he asked.

"Well what?" Carl looked confused. "We get the gas, head back to camp, see J-" he cut himself off, realizing he was blushing, and Glenn grinned. A moment later, however, his expression was serious.

"That's not what I meant," he said simply. "I meant- what then? I mean, you and Jamie- what are your plans?"

Carl looked at him like he was dumb. "Stay alive. Stay with the group, head up to wherever Noah's talking about heading..."

Glenn sighed. He was going to have to be blunt about this. "You know there's more than being a man than wanting to get in her pants, right?"

"I don't want to get into her pants." Carl said, looking slightly shocked at the assumption.

Glenn looked over at him dubiously. He'd been fourteen once.

Carl studied the ground. "She's attractive, yeah... But I don't want her to end up dead. And i don't know what she wants... heck, I don't even know what I want. And even if we did want to, we'd have to get married, and we'd have to have a place, somewhere safe... And even when you think you're safe, you aren't." his expression darkened, and Glenn realized the boy was thinking of Lori. From what Maggie has told him... Judith's birth had been traumatizing. All the same, it was probably the best birth control and sex ed a boy like Carl could have nowadays.

He was talking like he was twenty- not like a horny teenager. It was clear he liked Jamie for Jamie- for companionship, not for sex...

"What about you and Maggie?"

The boy's question caught him completely off guard.

"I... we're married, yeah. And we're good together..." he couldn't help but let a smile creep onto his features, and he looked over to see Carl grinning as well.

"Okay. We're AMAZING together, if you know what I mean..."

Carl nodded, still smirking. "I do." Glenn and Maggie hadn't been as discreet as they'd thought back at the prison. He and Jamie would make bets sometimes, on how long they'd be gone...

"But it's not all about THAT. After the prison fell... I thought I was never going to see her again." he admitted. "It was like I couldn't breathe. But I had to find out, I had to know... And I found her again."

Carl simply nodded. He could tell the boy understood exactly what he was saying, and he realized he'd underestimated Carl's maturity quite a bit here. He wasn't sure what wisdom he had to impart on the kid, considering he understood pratically everything he was telling him.

"But... yeah. Sex is bad, Daryl will kill you."

Carl nodded quietly. Truthfully- he didn't even know if he wanted to have sex. Even if he was just undoing his bekt to go to the bathroom- he could feel rough hands yanking at his pants, hear the nothings being purred at him and smell the stench of piss and sweat on the man who was about to rape him...

It's be different with Jamie. He had no doubt of that But he also knew she was just as wary of sex as he was- and if something went wrong and she were to ger pregnant? He'd never forgive himself.

Truthfully- he was enjoying things the way they were. He liked Jamie just as she was-alive.

MAILBAG

Paty S, chapter 85

It's been such a hard journey for everyone and more so to the kids in this fic, because above all else they are still there development stage and the things they saw and did it changes a person, and this crazy moments of fear and hopelessness it can be mind blowing and Carl, as we see on the show, has adopt another mentality to survive and adapt even if it makes him cold.

I feel bad for jamie and she is a extremely lucky girl and i hope this issues with her and Darly get resolve because we just saw how life could turn for worse so fast.

Great chapter and hope we see more of you soon.

Thanks for reading! As for the kids- it's been rough, There's no denting that, But they've adapted, like you said. Carl from a scared boy who inadvertendly gets Dale killed to the boy with the courage to put down his mother. Jamie from a girl who's lost without her brother to a force to be reckoned with. And they've both got each other.

As for Daryl and Jamie- Daryl's trying to adjust to the rapidly changing scenery in which they're living, and the rapidly changing Jamie. Because like it or not- she's being changed by this all. It's all he can do to try and guide her and pray she makes the right choices. Thanks for reading, and please continue to review! I love to see all your interpretations and insight.

Fuzzywumpum, chapter 85

AMAZING! Just finished reading then entire story and I just have to say this is one of the best TWD fanfics I have ever read.

Thanks, and I'm glad you're enjoying it! :)