[A/N: This one is a biggie. Hope you enjoy.]

They went back to Terminus through smoke and ash, with the sounds of the dead echoing in the haze.

The part of Asha's mind that had started gibbering in terror at Daryl's unresponsive form was shut down tight. So was the part that dealt with physical pain.

But they were both beating hard on the walls thrown up in front of them.

Asha did her best to ignore it, focusing on the task at hand. Get in, get what Daryl needed, get out.

She was mapping alternate routes to the medibay as they approached the fence.

They paused together at the chain link barrier, Bob and Michonne looking to her for direction. She squinted through the fence at the still smouldering buildings, a hand pressed to the burn in her ribs.

'Not here,' she grated, voice hoarse from the smoke. 'Whoever's left, i doubt they're running perimeter patrols. We're better off outside until we have to go in.' She gestured to the right. 'We'll be closer if we go around that way for a bit.'

Her companions gave silent nods and followed her quiet steps along the fence line. She kept a wary eye on the compound, but saw only a score of wraith like shapes with the unsteady steps of the dead.

She ignored the fearful voice in her head suggesting the medibay could have burnt down.

When they reached the right spot she could see the building she wanted a short distance inside the cluster of structures closest to the fence. Bob's boot heel and knife and a bit of brute force gained them entry through the chain link, and they made the short sharp dash across the open space to the closest building.

The medibay was attached to a small rectangular factory with roller doors lining one long side. Asha assumed it had been used for some sort of detailed manufacturing work. A collection of tall boxed in machines took up about half the space and long work benches bolted to the ground filled the other half, an open corridor between the two.

The medibay was in the double story office space at the short end of the building, grimy windows from both levels looking out to the factory floor.

Ash and dust thick in her throat, Asha scraped the heavy door into what - prior to being the medibay - had been an open plan office with a small kitchenette. The door swung more easily than she remembered, slipping from her fingers and banging heavily.

The sound echoed emptily and Asha's heart sank as she took in the vacant space, the filth across the floor and a lonely office chair tipped over on its side. There was no sign of the medical equipment that used to fill the room. The narrow staircase which led up to two upstairs offices - one which had been storage and one which had served as a type of isolation ward - was thick with dirt from disuse.

Bob pushed past her and turned a circle, dismay on his face.

'Fuck,' she muttered, teeth pressed to her lips. The pain in her head was suddenly unbearable. 'Mother fucker. They must have moved it.'

Michonne squeezed her shoulder. 'We'll find it.'

Asha nodded, fighting the tightness in her chest.

The alternative was unthinkable.

The problem was, Terminus was big. There were half a dozen viable places they could have moved the medibay.

She scrubbed her forehead, looking out one of the several broken office windows back to the chain link fence visible across an open expanse of tracks. None of them were that way.

Maybe they'd get lucky and it would be one of the nearby locations they checked first.

'I can think of a few places' she said, turning back towards the factory.

Bob and Michonne nodded and fell in behind her.

She was halfway down the open corridor between the benches and machines, distractedly cataloging alternative sites and access routes, when Gareth stepped out from behind a caged machine, rifle pointed dead at her centre mass.

Asha was too surprised - and perhaps her reflexes and nerves were too worn down by exhaustion - to do anything other than tighten her grip on the machete and stare.

Michonne was quicker.

Asha heard her hit the deck and roll away between the machinery. A quick glance over her shoulder showed Bob backed up against one of the work benches, a hard faced woman pressing the tip of Michonne's stolen katana against his throat.

From the thicket of machinery there was a scuffle, a scrape and a couple of heavy thunks, and then Michonne was hauled back by a heavyset bearded man, one arm twisted up behind her and a hairy arm choked around her throat.

A second man, thin with ropy muscle and sour lips, followed, carrying a heavy rifle and the lighter rifle Michonne had taken from the Claimers' cache.

The heavy set man marched Michonne across to one of the work benches, wrenching her arm until she was bent forwards over it. Then he rapped her forehead into the hard surface and clamped a vice like grip around the back of her neck. He forced a knee between her legs, heavy weight grinding hard against her from behind.

'Lot of fight in this one,' the second man grunted, his half raised rifle hovering somewhere between Asha and Michonne. 'I say we start with her.'

Michonne's eyes were faintly glazed, and Asha forced down a swell of nausea at her friend's predicament.

'Relax. I have a plan to settle her down.' Gareth spoke without looking away from Asha. 'The situation here's obvious. You move. I'll shoot.'

He glanced at her hand. 'Is that Rick's red handled machete, the one he promised to kill me with? Cute. Still, I think it's best if you put it down on the ground now.'

He jiggled the rifle meaningfully when she hesitated and she reluctantly did as told.

'Is that what you came back for?' Gareth continued. 'Revenge? Not that i'm complaining that you're here actually. It's a bit of good fortune that you're back really. You are going to help us.'

Asha responded with silence.

Gareth smiled. 'You don't think you are. You might not be saying it but i can see you thinking it. Now I'll admit that you and your friends have caused us more trouble than I expected. But here's how this is going to go. Your people are out there somewhere nearby waiting for you, or you know where they're heading. You are going to help us hunt them down.'

He ground his teeth together and his knuckles were suddenly white where they gripped his rifle. 'I want Rick. More importantly, i want that grey haired bitch who killed my mother.'

Asha continued to stare silently at him, hoping her expressionless mask hid the frantic churn of thoughts as she weighed the few options for escape she could think of and found them all wanting.

Gareth continued after a moment.

'So you're going to help us. In more ways than one.' His lips stretched until his canines glinted. 'I always have enjoyed the taste of a woman. Most of us prefer it to male flesh. It has to do with the extra layer of fat you have, that all women have, something to do with childbirth. Of course…' His gaze darted beyond Asha for a moment. 'That means we don't need Bob.'

His aim suddenly shifted, rifle firing.

Asha flinched, feeling the heavy thud behind her in her core. She squeezed her eyes tight for a moment.

Her fault.

She stuffed the hurt down deep.

Don't let it be for nothing.

Merle suddenly flickered beyond Gareth's left shoulder, his face a rictus snarl.

Don't let my brother die.

For a fraction of an instant she almost wobbled, then pain and fear snapped iron in her spine.

She bared her teeth. 'Gareth, you talk too much.'

'Do I?' His lips quirked downwards as his brow arched. 'Maybe i do. But perhaps you'll find talking more agreeable than some of the other things i can do.'

There was a slight pause as the small dark haired woman Asha recognised from Gorman's quarters entered.

'Ah good,' Gareth continued, an anticipatory gleam coming into his eyes. 'Miriam and her black bag are here.'

He snapped his fingers at the heavy set man still pressing against Michonne. 'We'll start with her.'

The man gripped Michonne by the elbow and forearm and forced her arm until it was spread across the workbench. At the same time Asha felt the cold sting of steel as the woman who'd threatened Bob ground the tip of Michonne's katana into the base of her neck.

'I know you Asha,' Gareth said. 'I can see you thinking of fighting. You'll fight me every step of the way if i don't slow you down, you and the samurai both.'

He looked at the machete beside her foot, eyes glinting. 'Hope Rick keeps that thing nice and sharp. I want you to bend down slowly and slide it over here.'

Asha's gaze flickered unhappily between the sharp length of metal and Michonne's pinned arm.

'No,' she whispered, realising what Gareth intended.

Gareth's grin widened. 'You'll both be a good deal slower with only one hand. And we're hungry. There's not much meat on a hand, but it'll cook fast and we don't want to delay chasing your friends down. Besides…' His tongue darted over the edge of his lips. 'It won't be too long till dinner.'

Asha felt ill, slimy, as though Gareth's tongue was already on her. Her hands tingled uncomfortably.

'You're insane,' Michonne hissed straining against her captor's weight.

He let go of her arm long enough to grip a handful of dreadlocks and slam her face into the bench.

Michonne half slumped a faint groan escaping as blood started trickling from her nose.

'Enough,' Gareth snapped. 'The whole point of walking stock is that they can walk on their own.'

The heavy man grunted something half apology half dismissal and settled Michonne's arm back on the table. Her limb was limp, eyes half rolled back into her head.

'The machete,' Gareth demanded.

'Don't be an idiot,' Miriam snapped, pulling an heavy bladed meat cleaver from her bag. 'You'll make my job harder if you do some sort of hack job instead of taking the limb off cleanly.'

Gareth's lip twitched. 'Fine,' he grumbled. 'But after the threats he made i was rather looking forward to using Rick's machete to carve up his own people. Guess i'll just have to save it to use on him.'

He crossed over to the bench where Michonne had started struggling again, albeit more weakly than before, swinging his rifle up on his shoulder, and holding his hand out for the cleaver.

Asha took half a step forward and the blade at her neck followed. 'Move again bitch,' the woman hissed behind her, 'and I will happily put this through your spine.'

She locked wide eyes with Michonne's now painfully clear and panicked ones.

Gareth lifted the blade in the air and turned to Asha, all vicious teeth and glittering eyes. 'You're going to want to watch this Asha, you're up next.'

Michonne bucked beneath a weight she couldn't move and Asha ground her teeth, helpless and bitter with the knowledge she couldn't help her friend.

Then she shivered. There was nothing she could do to stop it, but maybe something would help them both endure it.

'I knew a man with one hand once,' she said quietly, and Michonne stilled for a moment. 'No one would have counted him gentled.'

Gareth frowned. 'Are you suggesting i need to take more than a hand?'

Asha spat, baring her teeth with nothing but bitterness and hatred to drive her. 'I'm saying you're going to die.'

Gareth snarled, the faintest sheen of light on the blade as his grip shifted.

The shot came from somewhere from the office space behind her. Asha only registered the sound as Gareth's face bloomed red.

The cleaver trembled an instant and clattered to the floor.

A second shot roared in quick succession as Asha dropped instinctively to the ground, her hand closing around the red grip of the machete she'd dropped earlier.

She spared half a second to be intensely grateful that the woman behind her had spun in panicked shock rather than lunging forwards with the tip of the sword, then as further shots rang out, she rose as far as a knee and swung the machete into the woman's leg.

It stuck in the bone and the woman let out a blood curdling scream at the maiming wound, katana falling from limp fingers as she fell hard on her backside. Asha scooped up the katana, bringing it up to swing - but the woman's howl suddenly cut off and she pitched forwards with a pop of blood and brain matter - leaving Asha with raised arm trembling.

The heavy sweating silence that followed was broken by painful gasps from Michonne's direction - but her friend was ok. The dreadlocked woman was levering herself upright against the workbench, gripping the bench tightly.

The pained noise came from Miriam, sunk on the ground beside the bench, her hand a bloody mess clutched to her chest.

Gareth and the two other men were sprawled across the ground, matching bullet holes through their head.

Michonne was sucking in great breaths, whites rolling around her eyes. Asha crossed the distance quickly.

'What the fuck?' She hugged Michonne and felt them both shaking. 'Are you ok?'

Her friend shuddered, touching a hand to the blood seeping from a cut on her forehead. 'No. What the fuck just happened?'

'I have no idea.' Asha let go of her friend, passing over her katana. She pulled the hand gun from the back of the large man's pants, pressing it into Michonne's hand.

'Watch her,' she said, nodding at Miriam who was watching them with bared teeth but had made no attempt to move.

Then she looked around carefully, movement in the corner of her eye drawing her attention to the office.

Marcus walked through the door, hands raised, sniper rifle gripped loosely in one hand, barrel pointed to the sky.

Asha stared at him in shock as he came towards her, stopping only a couple of paces away. Behind his dust smeared glasses, his face was perfectly calm as he extended the rifle, butt first.

She snatched it from his hand.

'Marcus, what the actual fuck?'

'We did spend too long looking at those rail cars.'

Asha couldn't find any words.

'Marcus, you weasely little prick,' Miriam hissed. 'Are you out of your mind?'

'I'm not really sure,' he said with a small shrug.

'You shot me,' the small woman screeched struggling to her feet.

'Only in the hand.'

'Move again,' Michonne snapped at Miriam over the top of him. 'And i will shoot you.' She glanced at Asha. 'What do we do with her?'

'You might need her,' Marcus offered.

Asha squinted. 'Why?'

'You were looking for the medibay,' Marcus said. 'She's a doctor.'

Asha recalled with horror the gleam she had seen in Miriam's eyes as she shook out Daryl's bandanna in Gorman's room. She was the last person she would trust for treatment.

Then her stomach rolled as she realised she might need to, Bob's words about the need for surgery echoing.

Michonne was clearly thinking the same thing. 'She a surgeon?'

Miriam started cackling, eyes flitting between Michonne and Asha.

'The archer? Of course. The wound's turned hasn't it? Don't you worry,' she said, eyes shining over a grin full of teeth. 'I have plenty of experience cutting things out of flesh. Although i can't say i'll do my best work with one hand Marcus, you absolute cunt.'

Her last words were screeched in the sniper's direction.

'That's why it's your left rather than right hand bleeding,' Marcus said indifferently.

Michonne gave the sniggering woman a sick kind of look, but something cold settled in Asha's belly.

Marcus' rifle in hand she stalked over to where the woman leant heavily against the workbench, digging the point of the rifle into her chin to force the smaller woman to look up at her.

'Let me very clear about this,' she said in a deadly quiet voice. 'It means less than nothing to me if you die. Either he lives, or you don't.'

She measured the dark little woman a moment longer, holding the rifle tip so the doctor almost had to rise up to her to toes.

'Now, how many of you are left and where the hell are your medical supplies?'

Marcus answered. 'Only one other group. Six people. Collecting food and medical supplies. We'll need to watch out for them.'

'Traitorous filth,' Miriam hissed.

Asha flicked the rifle around and clipped Miriam across the face with the butt. 'Don't make the mistake of thinking I won't hurt you because we need you. I'm not sure i'll trust you near Daryl anyway, so if i think for one second that you are putting us in more danger than we need to be in, your surgical skills, or any other skills for that matter, will be an entirely moot point.'

'You might want to gag her,' Marcus suggested.

Asha nodded and Michonne bent to tear a strip from the grimy edge of Gareth's shirt.

'Ewww no,' Miriam said, face twisting. 'There are bandages in my bag,' she added sullenly. 'And i need to wrap one around my hand too.'

Michonne rummaged through the bag pulling out a couple of lengths of material. Michonne let Miriam wrap her hand with practiced movements, and then stuffed one in her mouth wrapped another around it and tied her hands for good measure.

As she worked, Asha turned the rifle back on Marcus. 'What else are you carrying?'

Marcus turned out a handgun and long blade which he placed on the end of the work bench. Asha kept the rifle on him. 'Strip the others.'

Marcus complied and the arsenal at the end of the workbench grew by two rifles, three handguns and assorted ammunition, six blades of various sizes - including the heavy bladed cleaver - and the sheath for Michonne's katana.

Michonne, still watching Miriam from the corner of her eye, picked up the sheath, running a familiar finger along its length before putting the sword back where it belonged and swinging the sheath across her back with a satisfied exhale of breath.

Asha gave her a small smile, gesturing for Marcus to move back and dividing the handguns and ammunition and two of the better blades between her and Michonne. She hesitated over Marcus' blade but left it on the bench.

'Your new medibay,' Asha said, bring the rifle back to bear on Marcus, point blank range. 'Where is it?'

'Two buildings over,' he said, entirely nonplussed by the barrel in his face. 'The old administration block, the one we used to use as a dormitory.'

'You right to control her?' Asha asked Michonne, indicating Miriam. Her dark skinned friend nodded, hard set to her mouth as she hauled the glowering doctor to her feet.

'Lead the way,' Asha said to Marcus, and the wiry sniper turned.

'Wait,' Asha said before he'd taken a step, trepidation roiling in her stomach. She swallowed it, hoping she wasn't making a huge mistake and nodded at Marcus' blade on the bench. 'You'll need that.'

Marcus nodded, perhaps gratefully, and recovered the weapon before leading them through the door.

The part of the administration block being used as the medibay was about the size of a large classroom and had doors to the long hall at both the front and rear of the room. High windows let in plenty of light, but posed limited security risk - which was fortunate since they were mostly broken with shattered glass spattered across the floor.

Asha paused just through the doorway, mouth falling open as she took in the IV stands, operating tables and the shelves of medical equipment and tools. It was far, far better stocked than the medical bay had ever been in her day.

Michonne was already moving to the storage lockers lining the far wall, driving Miriam before her.

'What the hell Marcus, did you raid a fucking hospital,' Asha asked, picking up a beaker and turning it over.

'Yes.'

She glanced at him in some surprise, but then Michonne's low whistle from the lockers caught her attention.

'Do they have what we need?'

'I'm going to say yes,' Michonne answered. Her gaze was all over the bursting shelves as she undertook the world's quickest stocktake - including a whole section of IV bags and row upon row of labelled medical vials. 'I don't know what half of this is, but there's so much, it's got to be here. Our only issue is going to be carrying it all.'

Asha spun at Marcus' sudden movement, training the rifle on him as he kicked open a low cupboard and pulled out a couple of duffle bags, "Grady Hospital, Atlanta" printed on the side.

He slid them across the floor to Michonne and then stood quiet and still as she began cramming everything she could into the bags.

Asha hesitated, wanting to check the stockpile herself but knowing she should keep watch, Marcus' warning about the remaining raiding group still echoing.

She kept the rifle fixed on Marcus and an ear tuned to the door. A quick glance showed the hallway was empty, but beyond that she could hear the intermittent rustle of the breeze and an occasional thud and scrape that she hoped was just loose bits of building shifting in the wind.

'Just make sure you get what we need for Daryl,' she called to Michonne, voice breaking just a touch before she got it under control. 'Anything else is a bonus, but don't load us up so much we can't move.'

Michonne shot her a look that was part sympathy and part exasperation at her statement of the obvious.

'There's a pickup in the garage,' Marcus offered. Michonne's head snapped around before quickly returning to work. 'Keys are in it.'

Asha weighed him warily, wondering just how far she could trust him.

She was entirely unsure what to make of his sudden turn against Terminus, and was hoping that her decision to park that problem to deal with later wasn't going to come back to bite her.

Marcus just continued to stand there quietly watching her, hands up.

She frowned. There had been vehicles in the garage when they'd gone through it when they'd first come in to Terminus.

'What else do we need?' Michonne demanded of Miriam.

The doctor tried to bite words around the gag, gesturing to take it off.

Michonne shook her head. 'Point, or i'll just take my best guess.'

Miriam grumbled but pointed and a couple of surgical kits and assorted bottles and bandages disappeared into the bulging bags.

A spatter of gunfire suddenly sounded nearby, raised voices echoing beyond it.

Miriam launched away from Michonne - whose hands were full of bags - heaving a table covered in vials and metal instruments into an IV stand and tumbling the lot to the ground in almighty clatter as she sprinted to the far door.

Asha winced at the noise, swinging her rifle up as Michonne dropped the bags and swiped at the running doctor but missed.

But Marcus virtually leapt across the distance, taking maybe three long strides that carried him into Miriam and brought both of them down hard on the ground, the small woman screeching as best she could through the gag.

There was another shout of voices, closer this time.

'We need to go,' Marcus said urgently, getting up and hauling the screeching Miriam with him. 'Even if they didn't hear that, they'll likely be coming here for supplies.'

Nash's knife leapt into Asha's hand and she was across the space and had it pressed against Miriam's throat before the doctor found her feet. Her arm quivered as she weighed it and Miriam's dark eyes widened, her screeching suddenly morphing into terrified gibbering behind the gag as blood trickled down her neck.

Michonne touched her shoulder. 'Do it or let's go,' she said quietly holding out one of the duffle bags. 'Hershel taught us the basics of hooking up an IV, we'll figure it out.'

Asha sucked a shuddering breath and relaxed the knife away, Miriam sagging beyond it.

The basics might not be enough.

She took the bag and slung it across her chest, wincing at the added pressure on her ribs. She was suddenly awash with exhaustion and trembled at the thought of trekking back to the hut carrying the extra weight.

'The garage,' she said to Marcus, knowing it was roughly back in the direction they'd come from and away from the voices.

He nodded, setting a rapid pace through the door.

Asha glanced at Michonne as they followed. Her friend had her katana in one hand and a pistol in the other, the gun driven into Miriam's shoulder as she pushed the woman in front of her.

'If she looks like doing that again, shoot her.'

'Happily,' her friend grunted.

They made the garage without incident and piled into a dual cab, Marcus in the driver's seat with Asha beside him, handgun pointed at his temple. Michonne sat in the back with a weapon similarly pointed at Miriam.

They burst out of the compound through the nearest exist - the gate was down, the dead still milling around. The dual cab bounced and jostled and Asha immediately regretted letting Marcus drive - one sharp jerk of the wheel and she'd be as likely to take Michonne's head off as his if she had to fire.

They were headed in the wrong direction, which wasn't a bad thing if the remnants of Terminus' people were watching them, but it would become a significant issue if they didn't correct course fairly quickly.

'Pull up Marcus,' Asha said after a couple of minutes.

The sniper glanced at her. 'There's a dirt track not far ahead. It'll keep us out of sight of the main road.'

Asha nodded, and after a short minute, Marcus pulled on to a dirt track following a ridge line, stopping a bare few hundred yards from the road but at least partially concealed in the trees.

'Out,' she ordered.

Marcus killed the engine, leaving the keys in the ignition, and calmly exited the vehicle. Asha got out, pistol trained on Marcus over the hood at she cast a suspicious eye over the surrounds, but they appeared to just be trees and earth and rustling air.

Michonne got out as well, leaving Miriam slumped dejected in the back seat. There was rope in the tray back and Michonne pulled a couple of lengths, looping one around and through Miriam's bound wrists to create a long leash.

'You want this?' she asked, offering Asha the other length.

Asha was watching Marcus, who returned her gaze calmly.

Was the best thing just to knock him out and leave him under a tree? Did she even have the energy to knock anyone out at the moment?

She looked at Michonne, rope extended with tension all over her face, but she was clearly going to defer to her on this one.

She turned back to Marcus, weighing his every action since shooting Gareth and then letting the handgun drop down by her leg.

'If you want to walk away Marcus, I will let you go.'

He looked in the direction of Terminus, smoke still spiraling lazily into the air above it. 'All my paints are gone,' he said, as though that decided it.

He looked back to them expectantly

Asha frowned. 'Can't say I think it's a good idea for you to come back with us.'

He shrugged indifferently.

The lines of consternation of her face deepened. 'I mean it. It won't be up to me what happens if you come back.'

He just shrugged again.

'Your choice,' she said, a little reluctant but too weary and too keen to get back to Daryl to push it.

Michonne indicated Miriam still slumped on the back seat and spoke softly. 'You really going to trust her with something sharp near Daryl?'

Asha sighed. 'Only as an absolutely last resort and she'll be operating with a gun pressed to her temple.'

She swiped her free hand down past the corner of her mouth, and her lips kept the downward twist as she recalled how close she'd come to slitting Miriam's throat in the medibay - how much she'd wanted to do it. 'I'd make a deal with the devil if it would help him.'

Michonne nodded sympathetically. 'She makes my skin crawl.'

'Mine too,' Asha admitted.

'Mine too,' Marcus added absently, gaze turned out to the trees.

Michonne shot him a sidelong glance.

Asha arched a brow, but then gave her head a small shake to clear it. She needed to focus on the bigger issue of how to get back to the hut.

She looked around at the trees. The terrain was hard enough to navigate by foot, and she couldn't actually drive the ute back the way they'd come. For a moment she considered ditching it altogether, but she knew, from Daryl's scouting the night before, that there was a dirt track passing not too far beyond the hut.

She frowned heavily and rubbed the back of her hand across her forehead. 'Marcus.'

'Yes?'

'We need to get up into the hills to the south west about five miles or so as the bird flies, i guess.'

She hesitated, glancing at Michonne.

Her friend shrugged warily. 'We've already decided to let him come back.'

Asha nodded uncomfortably. 'There's a hut.'

'I know it.'

She shot him a sharp look.

'We'll have to backtrack,' he said. 'Follow the fence line until it turns around to the right, then take the road we'll be able to see. There's a fire trail about a mile up the road we can take. It's a good thing we took the pickup, it's pretty rough.'

Rough was an understatement.

Marcus drove again.

There were risks in that, even though it was totally implausible for him to have laid any type of trap since he hadn't known which direction they were going in until they'd left. But neither Asha nor Michonne had a ever even put a vehicle in four wheel drive, so Asha figured their chances of controlling things if he tried anything were still better this way.

He didn't.

Although it was quicker than walking, it still seemed a lifetime before the hut came into view.

Asha steeled herself. The sight of the rickety building had her belly slithering with something beyond fear, something that wanted her to curl into the fetal position and sob.

Something that insinuated that she was returning to a corpse.

Her hands shook and it was an effort of will to force herself out of the car.

She stepped into a swamp of tight faces and bristling weapons.

Michonne had gotten out, pulling Miriam on her leash, and Marcus had gotten out of the other side of the car. He stood still, giving all outward appearances of being calm, hands up.

Most of the weapons were pointed at him. Miriam had attracted the remnants.

'What the hell Asha?' Rick growled.

He had somehow managed to wrap Michonne in a one armed bear hug whilst still keeping a gun trained on Marcus. 'Michonne?' he asked incredulously.

All those people were between her and Daryl.

Asha ignored them, grasping the duffle bag of IV medicine and snagging Miriam's leash as she headed for the hut. Behind her she heard Sasha's increasingly frantic cries for Bob, and she did her best to ignore them as each cut a little further into her soul.

He was exactly where she'd left him.

Beth was sitting beside him, Daryl's hand in hers, and Carol was on her feet beside the young woman, casting a wary eye over Miriam.

Daryl's skin was slack beneath the eyes and grey in tone, but his chest still rose and fell with shallow breaths.

Asha almost sobbed in relief.

Rick and Michonne had followed her in.

'Are you out of your mind bringing them back here?' Rick demanded incredulously. 'They could be here to lead Gareth and the others to us, or us into a trap?'

'Doubtful,' Asha said as she fumbled with the duffle bag. 'Gareth's dead.'

She got the zip open and Carol exhaled audibly as the IV meds and kits were revealed. Beth leant in and even Rick's anger skipped a beat.

Asha yanked the gag out of Miriam's mouth. 'What am I looking for?'

The small woman gave her a sour look and spat off to the side before answering. 'The amoxicillin and clavulanate combination, or cefalexin.'

Asha glanced at Beth and Carol. 'That sound right to you?'

Carol shrugged unhappily. 'It's outside my experience,' she said. But Beth nodded slowly, eyes narrowed. 'I think so,' she said.

Asha pawed through the bag.

'Are you sure Gareth's dead,' Rick asked, eyes turned back out the hut door to the car and Marcus and the armory still focused on him. 'Maybe he faked it so he could follow you back. Maybe his man out there is about to signal him.'

'His name is Marcus,' Asha said absently, finding what she thought was right and holding up to Miriam. 'This one?'

The doctor nodded.

'And Gareth is definitely dead,' Michonne said. 'Marcus shot him.' She mimed a gunshot to the forehead. 'Along with the rest of the group who were with him.'

'And most everyone else is dead or gone too, as far as we can tell,' Asha said. 'There's maybe a handful left, and they don't know where we are.'

She turned her attention back to Miriam, the IV bag in hand. 'Tell me what to do.'

'I don't care if he shot every last one of them,' Rick snapped. 'He can't be here. They can't be here.'

'Just give me a minute,' Asha snapped back, voice breaking. 'Daryl needs this before I can deal with anything else.'

Rick stiffened and jerked his head in assent.

Beth clambered to her feet and tugged at the IV bag from Asha's hand.

'I can do this,' she said quietly. 'I helped Daddy often enough.' Her eyes slid nervously to Miriam and away. 'But she'll need to tell me how fast the drip needs to feed and if it needs to be combined with anything else.'

Asha looked at Beth in wonder, letting the bag go. She wouldn't have even thought to ask those questions.

'Bethy, we'd be lost without you,' she said relieved.

'I'll help,' Carol said, holding out her hand for Miriam's leash.

Asha locked eyes with the silvery haired woman. 'Do not untie her,' she said slowly emphasising each word. 'And trust her less than you've ever trusted anyone.'

Carol nodded calmly, accepting the leash.

Rick gestured toward Miriam as the three of them stepped away to create a bit of space around the women remaining with Daryl. 'I get why she's here, she's a doctor obviously, but what possessed you to bring the other guy back?'

'He saved my life.'

'And mine,' Michonne added.

'And he's been…' Asha shrugged. 'Helpful.'

Rick's brows shot up. 'And that's enough?'

She scrubbed her hands over her face, wobbling as fatigue hit her like a blow. 'We wouldn't be here without him, but he knew coming back with us was a risk. What do you want to do?'

Rick shook his head. 'Hell no Asha, you are not dumping this problem on me. You brought him back, this is on you.'

Asha looked at him in surprise. 'Isn't Michonne at least a little to blame for this too?' she asked, sounding a little petulant even to herself.

'Going back to Terminus was your show,' the bearded man snapped. 'Don't tell me anyone else was calling the shots.'

Michonne shrugged her agreement beside him, but Asha already knew he was right.

Rick glanced at the door at the sound of raised voices outside. 'And you you need to own up to that before they lynch him out there, unless that's what you want?'

Asha glanced back at Daryl. Beth's head was bowed over him in concentration and she could hear Miriam sniping instructions as Carol watched her like a hawk.

It tore at her to leave him, even just to step outside - and whilst she had no doubt about Carol's capacity for ruthlessness, she wasn't sure the older woman entirely appreciated the risk Miriam could pose.

'We're fine here,' Beth said without looking up. 'Drip will be in in a minute and we'll just have to wait after that anyway.'

'I'll stay too,' Michonne offered. 'She'll be tied and gagged as soon as she's done.'

Asha nodded her thanks, gaze lingering on Daryl's prone form a moment as she swallowed the lump in her throat before squaring her shoulders and leaving the hut. Rick followed.

Marcus still stood by the car, hands up and maintaining his facade of calm - but Sasha was screaming in his face as Tyrese attempted to placate her. The rest of the group stood close around them, a handful of weapons still pointed at Marcus as he weathered the storm.

The handgun slipped into Asha's hand as she walked towards them, grip tacky in her palm. The others opened up a little space around them as she stopped a few paces from Marcus, cocking her head a little as she considered him.

Marcus returned her look evenly, the impassivity of his face ruined only by the slight tightness around his eyes.

She'd told Marcus that it wouldn't be up to her if he came back - and maybe ultimately it wouldn't be - but it looked like she had the first say.

If she chose a certain way, it would be the final say - and letting him decide whether or not to walk away wasn't the same as deciding he could stay.

The safest bet was still to lift the gun and pull the trigger.

'You eat people,' she said. It was a more statement than question.

'I did.'

'Why?'

'Eat or be eaten.'

'But you killed Gareth?'

'Yes.'

'Why?'

'You said there was another way.'

Asha sighed in frustration. Getting words from Marcus had always been like getting blood from a stone, but he really wasn't giving her anything to work with. She looked at the firearm in her hand and then back at him. 'If you've got anything else to say, now is the time.'

He exhaled heavily. 'After you left, Mary, Gareth and Alex dished up a barbecue. We didn't think too much of it at the time, Gareth claimed he'd been out hunting. It was only after we'd eaten that we found out. We were over that first hurdle before we knew about it. But we didn't think it would become our dietary mainstay. That's not to say that everyone accepted it easily, but those who protested too hard, found themselves back in a rail car.'

He poked his wire framed glasses back up his nose. 'I killed Gareth because he would never give it up. It was how he took power back. And he never let anyone else give it up either.'

Asha stared at him, a little perplexed, trying to take all that in.

'I'd rather not do it anymore,' the sniper added.

She closed her eyes an instant, lids heavy with exhaustion, feeling the weight of the gun in her hand. The safest, rationalist option was to lift it. Her arm lifted partway from her leg, but she hesitated.

It wasn't because she had any qualms about the action itself, she knew with uncomfortable certainty that she was capable of lifting and squeezing the trigger. And she knew no one would stop her and no one would blame her.

She hesitated because she believed his actions since shooting Gareth were genuine - and she got to choose what she did with that.

Her hand dropped back down by her leg.

She turned her head slightly to address Rick, standing just off her left shoulder. 'I think he's opportunistic more than altruistic, but I don't think he's lying. He killed Gareth and the others with him, without any prompting or encouragement from us. It would have been far, far easier for him to do nothing. If that's not a fair indication that he wants to make a break with that part of his life then i'm not sure what is. I won't kill him if i don't think he's a threat to us. I think Michonne and I owe him that much.

'So what, we're supposed to just accept him?' Sasha demanded.

'Nope.' She holstered the weapon and pulled a length of rope from the back of the ute. She crossed back to Marcus, gestured for him to hold out his wrists, and wrapped the rope around and around.

'When we're somewhere far away from here we'll untie him and, if everyone agrees, give him a chance to earn his keep.' She looked Marcus in the eye. 'I assume that's what you want?'

He hesitated but gave a short nod.

'If that's not what everyone agrees, we can knock him out and leave him behind somewhere.' She tied the rope off, her attention already back in the hut as she turned in its direction. 'Watch him. Gag him if you want, but i don't really think it'll be necessary.'

'What about the woman?' Maggie asked.

Asha froze mid step. 'She's a doctor. If Bob was right about there being something in the wound…'

She gathered herself, turning back to the group, voice hard. 'That woman has no right to her life until Daryl lives. When he's awake and out of danger I will turn her over to the group and you can decide if her medical skills are worth keeping her around.'

She shook her head, feeling a muscle in her cheek twitch. 'But I will never trust that she wants to earn a place with us. She has not helped us. She has tried to hurt us. She is vicious and dangerous and is not to be untied for any reason.'

The group were quiet a moment, possibly somewhat taken aback by her vehemence, possibly by the fact that she was issuing orders.

'She won't want to give it up either,' Marcus said to no one in particular, examining the rope around his hands in great detail. 'She likes hurting people too much.'

He pointed with bound hands to a nearby tree. 'I'm going to go sit there in the shade, unless there's somewhere else you'd like me to be.'

When there was no response after a moment he did just that, leaning back against the tree and closing his eyes.

Asha watched him sit and looked back to the others. 'Don't go near her unless you have to,' she said, starting back towards the hut.

'You're ok with this?' Glenn demanded incredulously of Rick behind her.

Their leader grunted noncommittally. 'He saved both their lives, that's gotta be worth something.'

'But not Bob's,' Sasha said bitterly.

Asha swallowed hard, slumping against the door as she closed it on Sasha's voice.

Miriam was tied up, Michonne watching her with a pistol held casually in her lap. Carol had hold of the IV bag, gravity feeding the drip down into Daryl's arm.

Asha's feet took her there of their own accord, hands trembling as she touched his face.

'How is he?'

Beth shrugged, looking exhausted. 'The same.'

'It takes longer than five minutes to have an effect,' Miriam snapped. She lifted her bound hands, the left still oozing blood. 'And i'm going to need a course of those myself if you want me to be any good to him.'

Part of Asha wanted to hit the woman, most of her was too damn tired. She settled for shooting her a flat look and then ignoring her.

The hut door creaked and Rick came in, followed by the rest of the group.

He raked a hand through his beard as he crossed to Michonne, gently squeezing her arm. 'How soon can we can move him?'

There was a weighty silence until Miriam spoke reluctantly. 'You can put him in the car once this IV bag is done, maybe another half hour. He'll need a second one in twelve hours. But even if i don't need to cut into his shoulder he won't be on his feet for 48 hours or so at least, and even then he won't be walking far.'

Rick grunted. 'How much fuel is in the car?'

'Less than a quarter of a tank,' Asha mumbled, stroking Daryl's face absently as she spoke. 'But if i have to hole up with him somewhere for a bit i'd rather it be as far from here as possible.'

Rick nodded, glancing out the window, presumably to where Marcus was still resting under the tree. He pointed.

'Glenn, Tyrese, take the doctor here out and tie her to that tree. Then come back here, we have something to discuss.'

The two men were nodding and moving as he continued. 'Sasha, it'll be an easy shot for you from that window. If she does anything other than sit perfectly still, shoot her.'

The dark haired woman had Marcus' sniper rifle and nodded readily, taking up a position by the window.

'I need my own course of antibiotics,' Miriam protested as Glenn pulled her toward the door. 'I'm not going to loose my hand because you people-'

Rick had dragged the gag back up from around her throat and jammed it in her mouth. 'Just shut up.'

'It'll go better for you if you just do as you're told for the moment,' Tyrese offered as he steered her out the door with Glenn.

They waited in silence until Glenn and Tyrese were back, the combined weight of exhaustion and Daryl's injury grinding all of them into the ground.

'We need to decide where we go from here,' Rick said once they were all gathered.

'What are our options?' Michonne asked quietly, looking around.

'We need to know where we are first,' Carol said. 'What's in the local area that we can use?'

'North, south, east, west?' Maggie said. 'Who cares so long as its putting distance between us and them.'

'Well, we know where we're going,' drawled the huge red headed soldier - Abraham, Asha suddenly recalled from the previous day's introductions. 'Washington. We've got a mission to save the world. Ya all have proven your worth. You're welcome to join us.'

'I appreciate that,' Rick said. 'But i don't care about saving the world, I care about keeping my children safe. I'm not sure a mission to Washington is the best way to do that.'

Gaze still on Daryl, Asha listened to the wash of conversation with growing discomfort. For a reason she couldn't quite place, all the options offered up felt fundamentally wrong to her.

They all involved staying on the road indefinitely - after a stopover until Daryl was on his feet of course.

She looked down at his grey skin, his hand a dead weight in hers, and wondered if he'd support her in this.

'We go home,' she offered quietly.

She felt the sudden weight of a dozen sets of eyes.

'Home?' Sasha scoffed. 'Where's that?'

'You know where. The prison.'

'It's rubble.'

'It's not. There's damage to some of the outer buildings at most, and we weren't even using half the site when we were there.'

'The fences are gone,' Beth said.

'Only one section went down, and–' Asha glanced at Maggie and Rick. 'We had a plan for walls anyway.'

Michonne shot a glance at Rick who gave a half shrug in response.

Maggie chewed her lip. 'Be harder to get them up with the fence down.'

'Maybe,' Asha agreed. 'But not impossible.'

It really bothered her that everyone was ready to just walk away from the last safe haven they had known. She wasn't even entirely sure why, and struggled to find the words as she groped around the edges of that feeling.

'There's no rescue coming,' she said frowning. 'We all know that. This life is only ever going to be what we make of it. And we'll never make anything of it if we never bother to rebuild.'

A sea of unconvinced faces looked at her, but Rick was quiet, and gave her the slightest half nod to keep going.

'What's the alternative? Keep drifting in the hopes that we can stumble on something that we can make half as secure as the prison? It took a god damn tank to get us out of there for fucks sake! We need a sense of safety and security, otherwise it all falls apart, and…'

She hesitated. This was going to be a hard pill to swallow. She could barely believe she was saying it herself. 'We need more people, we need allies.'

There was a chorus of objections.

'Are you kidding? Wherever we end up, we need to lock that place down.'

'You really want allies after what we've seen of groups lately?'

'How can you say that,' Rick asked. 'When it was the people you let in to Terminus that turned it into that?'

'No it wasn't,' Asha disagreed. 'It was their response to what happened. We can't go down the same path as Terminus. We can't turn into what that was. Not everyone out there is an enemy.'

'Just most of them,' Carol said dryly.

'How can you ask us to trust people after what we just saw?' Maggie asked.

'Because I see us too. We're not like them. Not yet anyway. Not if we choose not to be. And if we're not like them but we're still here, then there has to be other people out there that are like us too. Woodbury could have been alright, except for the nut job in charge, and the people here used to be good people.'

Glenn was nodding. 'It's why we used to let people in.'

'You let me in once,' Michonne said quietly. 'And Asha.'

'And us,' Tyrese murmured.

Asha smiled at them gratefully. 'There's strength in people. They're our best asset. Their skills, their numbers. Hershel told me once that without others we'll just wither away and die. He wasn't wrong. This isn't anything that humanity hasn't gone through before. Well the walker part is different, but living in walled communities, the threat of death every time you go outside, having to depend on each other for protection? We've just reverted back to the dark ages. But humanity crawled out of that once, and we can do it again. But we didn't do it as a small group wandering in the wilderness.'

Her hand had tightened around Daryl's and she felt tears pooling in her eyes. Her voice shook. 'I don't know about the rest of you but I am tired of running away. I am tired of focusing on what we've lost. I want to start living my life again. It might be uncertain and exhausting and dangerous, but it's mine, and damn it, I want to live it. I want good things, not just shit. There is so much shit, but it can't be everything. I don't want to be just the hard lessons i've learned.'

She dashed angrily at her cheeks and pointed out the window at Marcus. 'Not shooting him wasn't about him, it was about me. I don't want to be the worst version of myself.'

'Sometimes the hard decisions are what's called for,' Carol said grey faced and frowning.

'Sometimes, definitely. But It can't be all the time. It can't be. None of the shit stuff is going away, but we have to keep balancing it out with good things, the things that make life worth living, so we don't…' Asha waved vaguely in the air. 'Forget to be human and turn into Terminus.'

Maggie nodded. 'And we need somewhere secure to do that.'

There was a heavy silence for a moment until Rick, who had been weighing every word, spoke. 'Vote.'

'Home,' Michonne said, and Carl nodded next to her.

'The prison,' Carol said after a moment. 'It might be a pipe dream but it's better than no dream.'

Affirmations from Glenn and Maggie and the others followed.

Rick nodded. 'Ok,' he said, and Asha felt something loosen a little in her chest.

She nodded in return.

'What about you?' Rick said to Abraham, Eugene, Rosita and Tara who had been quiet during the discussion and vote. 'Friends of Glenn are welcome wherever we are, and-' The corner of his lip quirked. 'Apparently people are assets.'

After a moment of hesitation and Tara nodded. 'I'm in. If you'll have me, I'm in.'

Rick seemed to hesitate a moment himself before nodding in response.

Abraham shook his head. 'Sounds mighty fine and if we didn't have a mission to save the whole damn world, i'd be all for it. But we've got to get to Washington.'

'I respect that,' Rick said. 'And i wish you luck. I hope for all our sakes that whatever your plan is, it works.'

Maggie and Glenn traded a glance.

'Washington's north,' Glenn said. 'So's the prison. Makes sense for you to travel that far with us at least.'

'When you've saved the world and you're ready to rebuild,' Maggie added. 'You'll know where to find us.'

Abraham glanced at his companions, but it was Eugene that answered, speaking in that clipped monotone way of his. 'I don't know exactly where this prison is, but even if it's a slight detour, i think in this instance the advantage of manpower and knowledge of an alternative secure location make traveling with you the smart move.'

Abraham shrugged. 'What the scientist says goes.'

Rick nodded. 'Home it is.'

Home.

It sounded like hope.

Asha held Daryl's heavy hand in her own and tried to hold on to that feeling.