Chapter 63: Route


MPOV

~A year and a half ago~

"I'd say its safe to say we should probably get to know each other," Kat said, she was always so hopeful, so cheerful when it came to coming up with topics for us to talk about.

How you really got to know someone, was how you survived with someone and all the discussions that came with it. Andrea and Kat already knew each other, very well, it was me who was still like a stranger to them. "You mean, to get to know me," I corrected her.

A small grin began to form on her lips as she did her best to hide it. "You're included in this, of course," she wasn't going to let me slide out of this one, I felt it and I didn't blame her either.

No matter how short the time was, I was beginning to trust Kat and Andrea. They gave me a reason to trust them, to bring me back to the person I once was and I appreciated them for simply sticking around with me for however long it would take. Kat was determined to find her family after the farm, Andrea didn't care for it.

"What do you want to know?" I asked after I finished chaining my companions to the tree and joined them by the fire. For now, travelling through the trees was our safest bet for now. No one bothered us while we had my walkers with me.

Her smile slowly appeared and her knees were brought up to her chest. Kat seemed far too happy today but perhaps it was because she was trying to be extra hopeful after another day of no sign of her family. "What is the thing that keeps us going? Right now," she wondered what each of us had to keep us alive.

"Surviving," Andrea had lowered her eyes, gluing it to the fire and pursing her lips.

I had heard about what happened to Andrea's only family. Amy. Unable to tell them what happened to me, I feared it, I hated the thought of it. Most nights, the memories haunted me and I didn't know if I was ready to open those wounds to them.

Kat understood Andrea, but not as well as I did. When we had nothing else left, there was nothing else we could do, other than survive. Unless we had hope for something better, for people, like Andrea, like Kat, to keep us sane, to give us purpose to live for them.

Blue eyes glanced to the fire for a moment before they rose and glanced between me and Andrea. "Mine is family, they're the reason I keep fighting and the hope to see them again...it's the only thing that makes me feel strong," she had shut her eyes.

Andrea's upper lip twitched. I could tell what she was thinking. At least she had a family but maybe, she was like us...chasing after ghosts. When Kat's eyes met mine, I felt a little nervous as to what she would say next and more importantly, if it were a question. "Michonne, what is keeping you going right now?" she asked me.

Shifting my body, so one knee stretched to the sky and my arm relaxed against it. My hand gripping the ground to steady myself. Letting a sigh out, I raised an eyebrow and had to think about it, thoroughly.

"A purpose," I answered her. "Looking out for you and Andrea. Helping you find your family..." I gave her the small purposes in my life I had now that they were in it.

Having a purpose, a mission, it gave me reason to live and not just because I knew how to survive. "You need to find a reason to keep fighting. Even when you feel like there is nothing left out there to make you keep fighting," I held her gaze as I spoke sincerely.

"You find something," I was slow and firm with these last words. It was what I truly believed. There was always a reason to live.

"What was your purpose before us?" Kat asked the one question I wasn't willing to answer. A question, I didn't know how to answer.


PRESENT DAY...KPOV

Hearing the horn still blaring in the distance, it wasn't stopping and as we ran, Glenn was ahead of us. Dad had tried to get Tobin to light it up, to get the walkers to go back to the road, away from where the horn sounded from. "Try again," Glenn told my dad to do it again.

The walkers were still making their way back home, towards us and we all feared what this meant. If all of them followed us home, there was no chance we could fight them all. "Tobin, it's not stopping. Light it up. You hear me?" dad spoke into the walkie talkie but as the static crackled, nothing was said back. "Tobin!" he called again.

A walker was snarling as he approached us. "Michonne," dad only had to say her name, to get her to deal with the walker that got closer to us.

"Got it," she sliced the walker, all before we continued running again, back to home.

As we raced a head, clearing a path for the other survivors behind us, I slowed down a little, to keep them completely safe. "Shit! Shit! It was half. Jesus, it was more than half," I heard Sturgess complain with panic in his voice.

Seeing the one that was panicking tumbling all over the place, I had a feeling he wasn't going to get his head straight in time. "We just gotta stay ahead of them. They walk, we run," I tried to keep his head focused on surviving, instead of fearing the possibilities.

Sprinting ahead, I helped clear a path with dad, Glenn and Michonne, using my machete when walkers got too close. Having no time using my bow, I knew I wouldn't be able to retrieve my arrows in time with the way we were running.


DPOV

Riding ahead of Sasha and Abraham, I had heard the blaring of a horn in the distance, which had been pulling walkers away from us gradually. "Rick!" I called into the walkie talkie, worried about what was going on.

"I'm here," Rick responded but he sounded jumpy, like he was running and this made my mind really begin to worry.

Whatever was pulling the walkers away, must have been close. "What's going on back there?" I asked him.

"Half of them broke off. They're going toward Alexandria," Rick sounded a little breathless as he told us what was going on.

There was still a small herd following us but they were more drawn to the sound that was bringing them towards home. "Towards you?" Abraham wondered if they got swept up by the herd too.

Made me fear for Kat amidst a vast amount of walkers surrounding her. "We ran ahead. There's a horn or something. Loud, coming from the east. It's not stopping," Rick informed us through pants and jolts.

Instead of going at this slow pace, I could easily rev the bike and speed my way back home. Carl, Judith, Carol, Aaron, they were all in trouble and I wasn't going to let that happen. "I'm gonna gas it up, turn back," I told Rick of my plan.

Rick wasn't going to let me, I could feel it. "We have it. You keep going," he always tried to convince me to do the things I didn't want to do. I didn't mind being walker bait but now, I couldn't save my people back home.

"They're gonna need our help," I argued, knowing that if they were in trouble, we were the only ones who could save them.

I could hear how fast Rick was running through his words, he was really trying to get away from the herd. "Gotta keep the herd moving," Rick argued back, it was more of a statement but I knew if they needed us, I had to be there.

"Not if it's going down, we don't!" I yelled back, I didn't want to abandon our people when they needed us. If they were in trouble, I had to try and stop it.

Hearing Rick's anger with me through his words was all I needed to figure out that Rick was getting irritated with my constant disagreement with him. "The rest of that herd turns around, the bad back there gets worse," he told me. This much, was true. "Daryl?" Rick called to me, wondering if I heard him or not.

He had a point. If anything bad was going on, bringing the walkers there, would only make things worse. "Yeah, I heard you," I answered but I was still sitting with the desire to go back home, to help those that needed us.


MPOV

Racing past the trees, Glenn stopped for a second. "Nicholas," he called over to the one I didn't know if I could trust yet. Annie had fallen over, hurting her ankle, Glenn had helped her and supported her on the way up the hill.

Stopping with Heath and another survivor, I didn't remember his name, as there had been too many to remember from. "It's coming from back home. It has to be," Heath was sure of what happened, of where it came from.

The guy with us had stopped, frozen in his track and didn't budge as we moved to join with the others. "He did this. He brought us all out here to die. He killed Carter," the man was convinced Rick was still the bad guy. Rick had nothing to do with this and had nothing to do with Carter's death.

By the time he got to Carter, he was already dead, bitten. "Carter was dead already," I corrected him, not liking how this man was disrespecting my friend.

The man was panicking, afraid and he had no one else to blame, so he put it all on Rick. "Now they're in trouble back there and we're done. We're good as dead," the man was losing his cool, losing his mind. All over something none of us could control right now.

"Hey, calm down," I tried to get him to pull his shit back together.

His eyes angrily met mine, tears were forming in them and I could see the sheer fear in his eyes. "What the hell are you talking about? We are done. And it's 'cause of him," he was certain of this and it stunned me that he still was putting the blame on Rick.

This guy knew nothing of what he was talking about. "Shut up and move," I ordered of him. "Come on," I demanded he keep moving, watching him lead the way and only hoped he would listen to my advice. I also hoped he got his head straight before he would pull this kind of accusation in front of Rick.


KPOV

"Damn it," Glenn whispered as we began to slow down.

Watching my dad pace around, I could see a plan was being thought up in his head by the way his eyes didn't look at any of us until he was certain. "Alright, listen up. Here's the new plan," he started by getting our attention first.

Everyone gathered and waited for what dad was going to say. "I go back, get the RV, circle around the woods on Redding. I'll get in front of them before they get there. I can lead them away again," dad laid out the plan for himself.

Him going out there alone? It sounds like a suicide mission. "The RV's a mile back. Let me go with you," I wasn't willing to let my dad go alone and risk his life like this.

If we went together, I knew we could make it. We were smart and together, we would protect each other. "Kat, I'll handle it," he assured me he had it under control. "Just get home. They might need you there," he told all of us next, giving us our instructions and mission instead.

Looking to Glenn, he then glanced towards those of us that he called out to. "Glenn, Kat, Michonne," he began walking off, indicating we needed to follow him to discuss whatever it was he needed to talk to us about. "If something's in front of you, you kill it. No hiding, no waiting. You keep going," he advised us on what to do.

Not wanting to leave my father alone, I couldn't risk losing him to the herd. "I'm going with you. You can't do this on your own," I offered again, being persistent, I only hoped he'd let me go with him.

"Kat, I can do this," dad was being a little more firm as he repeated the same words he told me moments ago.

Going to argue back, I felt a hand grip my arm tightly and bring my gaze to the face that was beside me. My eyes landing on Michonne. "You want to be a hero?" she questioned me, giving me the title I never felt match me. "Then you need to help me."

"You need to help us," Glenn corrected Michonne as he nodded with her. "We've got to get these people back," he tried to convince me to stick with them.

It was a big group for just the two of them to lead. They were going to need three of us. "Yeah," dad agreed with them. "Thing is, they aren't all gonna make it," dad was sure about this.

How he was so sure that these people weren't capable of making it back home, had me wide eyed and looking up at him. He couldn't believe that. No. "Rick," Michonne didn't like how dad was talking either.

Him being so negative, I didn't like it and I wished he had the same faith in them that I had. "You try to save them, you try, but they can't keep up, you keep going. You have to," dad tried to get us to agree that we were the ones important, that we were the ones that could survive and had to, if the others began slowing us down.

"You make sure you get back," he looked to each of us. None of us said a word as we all gave each other knowing glances. I'm not going to leave them behind. But I won't let them stop me either. We had to try.


RPOV

Hearing a scream from the distance, Kat, Glenn and Michonne all turned around to find where it came from. Running between them, I felt the others run after me as we raced to where the scream came from.

Finding one of the survivors being chewed on by a walker, he cried and was tugging at the walker's head. It's hair falling out as he tugged. Pulling the walker off him, I saw a huge bite mark on his neck, a wound he wasn't going to survive from. Killing the walker, Michonne and the rest of us watched as the guy slowly died, gurgling to death on his own blood.

Panting, I didn't know what to do. Killing him too, would make me seem more like the bad guy to them than they already thought. Especially after killing Pete, then Carter. Instead, Michonne took it upon herself to end the man's suffering.

Suddenly, the blaring of the horn was silenced.

"The horn stopped. Good," it was a good thing that was finally happening. It meant we still had a chance if we did this right. If I could bring the walkers back, they wouldn't be making their way back home.

Crouching down, I took the survivors knife, guns and food. Needing it for my own mission at hand. "Get back safe," I ordered of them before getting up and stopping in front of my daughter. "Especially you," I gave her a warning.

I needed her back, home and safe. Placing my hand at the back of her neck, I made her look at me. As those bright, familiar blues stared up at me, I felt my heart slow. "Right back at you," she pursed her lips and gave me a sad smile.

She didn't want to leave me and I didn't want to leave her. But we had jobs to do. Nodding, I took her words as my own warning. She needed me back home too. Leaning in, I pressed a kiss to her forehead and left.


KPOV

Having said goodbye to my father, his kiss still lingered on my forehead and I remember how I had shut my eyes, leaning into it. When I got home, if I got home, I needed to make sure things were right between me and my father again. I needed to put my full trust in him again.

Strolling through the woods, I was alert of walkers and kept close beside Michonne as we cleared a path if walkers approached. Glenn had been supporting Annie on our way through the forest. "We're ahead of it. 10 minutes. 20 minutes, maybe," Glenn informed us.

Keeping on high alert, I could tell Michonne was more focused than I was. I worried for everyone. For Daryl, riding the herd out on only his bike with Sasha and Abraham to help. Dad, running back to the RV and facing walkers along the way on his own. Carl, Judith, both of them having to deal with whatever was going on back home.

"We all keep up the pace, we all get back home," Michonne had said, her breathing a little heavy as she tried to keep quiet.

Keeping my bow in hand, an arrow in place, I was ready to shoot my arrow if I saw a walker. So far, we had been lucky and only stumbled across one or two, all of which, Michonne could handle by herself. "So if we don't, that's it, huh?" Heath questioned.

He was using a tone I didn't like, as though he knew something we didn't. "What are you talking about?" I stopped and faced him, squinting my eyes at him. Heath said nothing, instead he just kept his eyes on me and stopped in his tracks too. "We are making it home," I was being firm about this, making it very clear to all of them.

"We don't even know what's waiting for us," Sturgess wasn't convinced that anything good was going to come out of any of this.

David's voice could be heard from behind me as I continued walking, turning my back on Heath as I walked ahead of Scott. "It's gonna be okay. We have walls for a reason," David tried to calm Sturgess down.

His voice trembled, Sturgess was losing his cool more and more as time passed. "That sound. Maybe someone ploughed right through. Maybe we're walking back to nothing," the negativity was spewing out of him like there was no tomorrow.

"Shh, my wife's back there," David clearly didn't want to hear anything negative coming out of him there and then.

I have family back there. A brother. A baby sister. I didn't want to hear negativity either. "Mine, too," Glenn spoke up, making me remember what I had promised Maggie. "Look, don't worry about what's gone wrong. Figure out how to make this go right," Glenn tried to sooth Sturgess but I had a sense it wasn't going to work.

We tried to push branches and leaves away, to clear a path and keep moving. "We're moving in the same direction everything else is. We're gonna catch up with something," Scott commented.

My mind was racing, trying to focus, I knew I had a mission, a purpose and I did my best to focus on what was at hand. "We're gonna catch up with a lot of things and we're gonna end them," Michonne was sure about this.

I was sure about it too. I wasn't going to start slipping up now. Carl is smart. Dad is strong. Daryl is a true born survivor. We'll be fine. I had to remind myself. "We have no choice. We gotta keep going forward," I said the only words I could think of that my father would of said.

As walkers appeared in the distance, we approached the and Glenn slowly left Annie with Nicholas. "Stay here. Don't shoot unless you have to," Glenn instructed of the others. Aiming my bow up, I fired two arrows into the small group of walkers. Watching them go down, I caught up with Glenn, Michonne and Heath.

Sliding my bow around me, I took out my machete and used it to end the rest of them. Hearing gunshots come up from behind, Scott groaned and fell as both David and Scott had joined to help us.

The guy that fired a shot, had got Scott in the back of the leg. "Sturgess!" Glenn called as he watched the man run off, leaving us behind.

Using my machete, I would growl as I swung each hit to a walker's head and did my best to save us. Hearing one coming up from behind, I went to turn around and saw the tip of a blade I recognised instantly stop it from getting me. When the walker fell, it revealed Michonne behind him.

Heath and David had helped Scott, who was close to getting devoured by walkers due to the shot to the leg he'd suffered. Without warning, a walker rose to its feet and attacked David's shoulder blade. His yell indicating to all of us he got bit. Pushing it back, he turned and killed the walker before it could eat any more of us.

Michonne rushed to him and checked his shoulder, seeing blood, she knew what we all knew. David was going to turn. "I know what it means," David said as he rubbed his shoulder, feeling his bite. "We gotta keep moving, right?" he wasn't ready to give up yet and he was going to do his best to help us get back home.

As we did our best to catch our breath, I relaxed and went to retrieve my arrows. Storing them back into my quiver, I could only admire David for his determination to get back before it was too late.


DPOV

Slowing down so I was beside Abraham and Sasha's car, I couldn't help but think back to home. Think back to those that were there, vulnerable and in trouble. "Hey, we gone five miles out yet?" I asked Abraham as I tried to get as close to their car as possible.

"Give or take some yardage. You got a reason for asking?" he yelled over the sound of my bike and the walkers behind us.

Leaning in closer again, all I could picture was Carol, Carl and Judith there. Fighting off whatever bad thing was at our gates. "Next intersection we're gonna spin around and go back," I gave them my plan.

Completely ignoring Rick's plan, I didn't care for what he had to say. Our people needed us and that was what mattered to me. "The plan is to go 15 more," Sasha reminded me of what assignment we'd been given.

"Yeah, I'm gonna change that. Five's gonna have to work," I was compelled that this was the best idea. Home needed us and I wanted to be there. I had to be there.

Neither Abraham or Sasha were pleased with my desire to go back home. "The magic number's 20. That's the mission," he was being all army Abe on me. "That's making sure they're off munching on infirm raccoons the rest of their undead lives instead of any of us," he still somehow made a joke in this serious situation.

Sasha's eyes were soft but sad to hear I couldn't commit to the plan. "You want to go, we can't stop you," she gave me the facts. "But without you, they could stop us," she gave me an ultimatum.

Save the few to protect the many? Or somethin' like that. I thought to myself. Glancing at the sign that lead us to Alexandria, it was like everything went in slow motion. My heart beat was slow, my mind went numb and images of those I loved back home, appeared in my mind. Carol. Carl. Judith. Maggie. Aaron.

I felt like they all needed me more. "Nah, I got faith in ya," I believed they could do this without me. Riding off, I could hear their protests as I raced off, about to head back home. I'm coming Carl, Judith and Carol. I'm coming.


MPOV

Strolling through, eventually Kat had taken the lead a little, keeping a look out for walkers. Following closely behind her were David and I. "Can I take a look?" I asked, seeing David itching at his bite.

"Please?" he pleaded of me as we both peeled the clothes back and examined his back. The bite was deep, a piece of his skin had been torn back but not enough to spew blood out of it. It spilled, like a deep cut. "Is it bad?" he asked me.

Not knowing what to say in this situation, I couldn't lie to him but telling him the whole truth, it might freak him out. "It's about what you'd expect," was the only words I could really think of to say to him.

Fixing his shirt back, I returned to walking beside him and not behind him. "Huh, didn't expect this," he grumbled, mocking his expectations.

None of us expected any of this. As I walked closely beside him, I stared at him, the silence would of been comfortable, had I not remembered that he had a wife waiting for him back home. "How long you been married?" I tried to make light conversation.

Reminding him of something happy, it was the only thing I wanted to talk to him about for now. To keep his spirits up. It was something Kat told me, her family, were her motivation. "Three months. She wasn't my wife from before," he informed me of his relationship with another Alexandrian.

"How'd you meet?" I thought, if I kept talking to him about his wife, he might ignore his itching sensation and forget about the bite. Even if it would only be for a little while.

A small smile grew on his lips and as he spoke, it slowly fell. "It was early on. Aaron found me," he explained. "I was alone, lost everything. Everyone. Myself, I-I wasn't crazy. I just gave up on being someone, an actual person. Know what I mean?" he said words I completely related to.

After losing my son, my lover, my friends, I too had lost myself. I had been lost for a long time. Until I found two girls struggling to survive in the woods. My eyes went to glance at Kat, who was focused on looking out for us, her hair up in that tight pony tail I remembered her always sporting and her eyes on the lookout for walkers. Bow in hand, arrow at the ready, she was my best friend and one of the main reasons I was still alive.

It was Kat, who gave me hope, even after we both lost Andrea. "I do," I said with a small smile, fully understanding what it felt like to be lost. To being nothing. Kat, Carl, Rick, Judith and all the others had brought me back.

"We found Betsy on the way back to the community. She still saw me. After I thought I was dead and gone, she was my first friend," he said through a few huffs and puffs. The sweat on him was more than what we had.

I could tell the infection was already starting to spread in him. "Then she was more. She made me more. Even better than how I used to be," he spoke about his wife with true admiration. Just as I would speak about those that I cared about, like Kat, Rick, Carl and many others.

"But if I could make it back, I'd want to say good-bye. Tell her...finding her in all this, that was everything," he concluded his wishes, that he was keeping his hope alive just so he could see her one last time and tell her this. I felt nothing but sympathy to his strength.


KPOV

Stopping in a town, it looked deserted, like no walkers were lingering here like they had in other places. "Let's check if these cars work first. See if they can get us back," Michonne suggested and I had gradually swapped my bow for my machete.

As I slid the bow around me, I glanced to Michonne and Glenn as we began making our way towards the cars. "I'll stay with them," David said as Heath and Nicholas joined us.

Searching the cars, we were finding no luck. Not even food was stored in the cars, it looked like it had been ransacked. When I caught eye contact of Glenn, he was glancing to both myself and Michonne. The way his eyes looked were like he beckoned for us to go to him. "Listen, I need to get home, but I'm not leaving them behind," he told us. "We patch Scott up, we get going."

This was his plan, all our plans. Or so I hoped. "Rick knows what he knows," Michonne defended my father for what he'd said.

Shaking my head, my brows had furrowed deeply at the mention of what my father knew about surviving. Especially with this group that he assumed were weak. "My dad assumes," I corrected her. "He wants us to make it, I do too," I said to both of them.

"But we don't leave people behind, not when we know we still can," I was talking confidently, firmly, as I wasn't going to give up. I wasn't going to give up on us or in them. "We don't give up. Not us," I pointed to the ground, before looking to each of their faces.

Michonne's eyes softened. "I think its safe to say we all agree," Michonne assured me that we were all on the same page. "We're ahead of the herd. Maybe half an hour now. We can stop. We can make it," she was confident that we had enough time to do what Glenn wanted us to do.

Nodding, Glenn glanced to Scott, David and Annie, all of whom were the injured members of our group. I saw potential in all of them, if we all kept our heads straight. Humming his agreement, we all then went our separate ways to keep looking.


MPOV

Returning to the others, all of us gathered around in a semi circle. "No luck," Glenn said as Heath and Nicholas joined us.

Glancing around, none of us liked being out in the open like this. It made us vulnerable if we got spotted. "We have to stay on foot. Nicholas was here last. He can show us the way," Heath told us, which was the only good news I heard so far.

"Uh, okay," Nicholas seemed a little spaced out to be back.

Then again, we'd heard plenty about what had happened with Nicholas and previous survivors. Doing the same thing over and over again, which he must have done here too. "Alright," Glenn agreed to it.

As he lead the way, myself and Kat were at either sides of him as we followed behind. Keeping an eye out for walkers, we were on edge in a town like this. "Oh, Jesus," I heard Nicholas say as he ducked down and retrieved a hat.

"Sturgess?" Scott was just as surprised to see the familiar hat appear.

His hat was here but he wasn't. This meant that he must not be far. "He left us behind," Annie informed us of what happened during the chaos of the group of walkers we had stumbled across on the way here.

Slipping into an alley, we found a group of walkers chewing on a fresh body. When I looked closely, I saw it had been Sturgess laid out on the ground, devoured by the walkers that must of had him at least an hour before we got there.

Nicholas froze up, Kat stood behind him and I saw her shift her weight on her feet the same way her father did when he got nervous. "Nicholas," she called to him, pulling him back from just staring at the walkers. Dragging him back by his jacket, he began to move ahead of us again.

Myself and Kat were at the back, guarding the others from the walkers that could have spotted us. "Herd's that way," Nicholas said as he glanced to the right, then moved to the left and saw another group making their way towards us. "Shit."

Nicholas had frozen up again, as he trembled on the spot and didn't do anything. He was just stuck. Afraid. It was like he was fighting the fear. "Nicholas," Glenn called to him, pulling him back into the moment. Away from his fear.

"Uh..." Nicholas was trying to form words. "We can hide in here," he began to lead us towards a store, a well boarded up store. One that looked to have been used before for those that wanted to hide. Kat had been the last to come in, shutting the door behind us.

Scanning the area, I stalked the lanes of pet products and kept my eyes open for any walkers. When we reached the cages, the animals that had been left were long gone or decomposed completely. "We stay quiet, patch Scott and Annie up, get out of here," I said once Heath came to my side.

"Those walkers in the alley and down the street, they're blocking the way out of town," he gave me an idea of the situation we were in.

Outside, it was a problem but it was a reason why we were now indoors. "We can't take 'em on, not in the shape that we're in," I argued, fighting wasn't an option and if we chose that option, we'd all be dead. "We'll have to lead them away if we have to," if we did decide on fighting, we would need a way to distract them.

The vibe I got off of Heath, was he was retaliating from us as much as he could. That he didn't trust us. Didn't trust me. "Because that's been working well lately," he mocked the plan that Rick had set out. He knew what he was doing but what happened, with the horn, it couldn't be predicted.

As my head turned to look at him, my eyes were firm and I was a little offended by how he spoke. "I'm trying here," I wanted him to cut us some slack. "I'm not giving up," I stated my stance on this.

"Yeah, not yet," Heath scoffed.


KPOV

Glancing around, I had done my best to make sure Annie and Scott were safe, David had said he'd protect them and as I searched for walkers, I saw Glenn make his way over to Michonne and Heath with Nicholas following him. Joining up with them, I stopped beside Glenn and Michonne.

"Hey, I was thinking, if we can find a way to distract the herd coming in, then they won't make it back to the community," Glenn said as he glanced to all of us.

Whatever plan he had, I was curious to hear it. "How?" I asked him, hoping there might be some way to save Carl, Judith and everyone else back home.

If there was a way, I'd do what I could to protect them. Even if it meant risking my life. "Burn one of the buildings. Hopefully more. They'll get drawn to it and they'll stop here," Glenn gave out his plan. It was a good one, one that would definitely attract the herd.

Glenn had shown us the flare gun, which was something he could probably use to start a fire. "It's gonna take some time," Heath stated the facts.

Preparing myself, I went to take the flare gun from Glenn and he held onto it tighter. "I'll do it. You guys stay with them," I was offering to go. If there was a chance I could protect my family, I'd do it.

As always, Michonne and Glenn gave me the same look. It was a deadpan look that told me they were tired of me being selfless and always trying to be the hero. "It's my plan. It's on me," Glenn disagreed with me. Taking this mission for himself.

I went to argue but Michonne did it for me instead. "You have a wife, Glenn. And Kat, you have siblings, a father, Daryl," she listed the reasons why we shouldn't be doing this suicide mission.

If my father had been willing to go back to the RV, why couldn't I risk my life to protect the ones I loved back home? "That's why I'm doing this. You've got to get everybody back. You're the one who can. If I take too long, you just go," Glenn encouraged of us to stick together and to let him do this alone.

He had Maggie but I had many others to think about too. I wasn't going to let him do this alone either. "I'm not leaving without either of you. That is not the way this works," Michonne whispered to us angrily, taking a step closer to us as her eyes darted between us.

Regardless what we said, there was no convincing Glenn not to do this. "I will meet you two there. If I get stuck out here, I'll find some way to show you guys I'm okay," he assured us there would be a chance he survived. "We all have a job to do," he said the famous words that all of us used to say in times like these.

Glancing between them, I didn't want to lose either of them. I knew they were both capable but Glenn going out there alone, wasn't an option for me. "There's a feed store. It's old. A lot of dry stuff inside. It should go up easy. I'll go with you," Nicholas had offered him a place and offered to join him.

"I can-I can draw a map," he changed his offer, noticing the silent stares he got from the three of us. After all he did, he really expected us to trust him in a moment of high pressure.

Glenn was silent, I had expected him to accept it. He showed us we could trust him but he was already starting to slip again. "No. You lead the way," Glenn had faith that Nicholas was capable.

Trusting Glenn's judgement, I allowed Nicholas to come but I wasn't going to let him go alone with him. "Count me in too," I signed myself up again. Not caring if he'd argue with me.

As Glenn's eyes came to meet mine, it was Michonne who already protested. "Kat-" she went to tell me something else but I couldn't let her convince me not to go. I wouldn't let her. Glenn needed me. My family back home, needed me and I was going to do this, with or without her permission.

Placing my hand on her shoulder, I lowered my head a little so our eyes could meet at an angle. Much like how my dad would when he was trying to convince others to do the right thing. "If anyone is capable of getting these people out of here, its you..." I had my faith in her.

"Besides, I made a promise to Maggie," I reminded them as I looked over to Glenn who pursed his lips and nodded. A sad smile was on his face.

Letting out a breath I believed he didn't know he was holding, Glenn glanced at each of us. "Just gotta do one thing first," he removed his walkie talkie from his hip and this was when I knew he was going to talk to my father.

Feeling my heart hammering in my chest, I wanted to talk to him too. In all these mad moments, I hadn't had the chance to speak to him on my own behalf. "Can I talk to him after?" I asked of Glenn as he went to go to a separate isle.

"Yeah, sure," he nodded, before he bowed his head and left to be crouched on the ground, preparing his bag for the trip we were going to do. Together.


RPOV

Running through the trees for what felt like hours, I had followed a path that I knew would lead me back to the RV. Walkers had been devouring a corpse of one of our survivors in the middle of the road. When I heard the static sound before the words.

"Rick, it's Glenn," I heard the voice come out from the walkie talkie. Slowing my run, I jogged over to the walkers. "We're in a town five degrees east of the green marker. If you get around on Redding in the next 20 minutes, you should be good," Glenn told me as I got my knife out and was ready to fight a walker that got to his feet.

Stabbing my knife into it's scull, when I pulled it out, the knife had broken. "I think that's how far we're ahead of the herd. I'm gonna try to set a fire and distract them," Glenn told me as I saw another walker coming towards me. The machete as I pulled it out had grazed my hand, cutting it a little.

Kicking the walker back, I removed the machete from his shoulder and sliced it down his head. "If you don't see smoke, they're still coming your way," Glenn continued to talk, as I sliced the last walkers face off.

Clenching my bleeding hand, I had to keep going and I had to do this for my children. For the community. "I got to go. Good luck, dumbass," Glenn wished me luck as I got to one knee and killed the guy before he came back as a walker.

The next voice I heard, surprised me more. "Dad? I'm going with Glenn," Kat's voice said through the radio as I began to search the guy. "I can't let him do this alone. Please, stay safe. I love you," she told me as I collected a gun, knife, food and stored it all in the bag he had with him.


MPOV

Doing my best to bandage him up, we luckily found enough gauze for pets that had been injured in the shop. Using it, I had wrapped as much of it up around Scott's wound. "That'll keep you going until we get you back to the infirmary," Heath assured Scott as I covered up the gauze with his pants and tucked the leg into his boot.

"Annie, I'm gonna figure out a crutch for you," Heath assured his other companion he'd find something of use for her.

The store had pointless things we wouldn't be able to use, the only things that we could use, were all gone. "Just leave me," Annie tried to convince Heath to spare her from killing us.

"What?" Heath was stunned by her proposition.

Sometimes, people had been left behind. And this group knew it best. It was what Aiden and Nicholas had done with the people that went with them. "I'm slowing you down. We're gonna hit more roamers. It's that simple. Leave me," Annie had tried to convince Heath further.

"Leave us," Scott was including himself in this act of abandonment.

My eyebrows had furrowed in shock at these two risking their lives, due to the minor injuries they had. "No," Heath believed this was out of the question.

Hearing them have such little faith in their survival, made me sadder than I wanted to admit. I didn't want to leave them behind. I wasn't going to leave them behind. "It's stupid for you guys to wait on me. We'll all go down," Scott argued. "Come on, man, wake up. You don't want to do it now, you do it out there. We get into trouble again, you run. And you don't look back," he ordered of his team member.

This team had gone on runs together, meaning they worked well together and treated each other like family. "No, if we go, we go together. We got each other's backs just like always. Okay, we don't leave people behind," Heath was being strong, confident in his words and he wasn't going to abandon them. "Not us."

The way Heath said those last to words, had me staring at him while he glared back. He's got something to say but he won't spit it out. I could tell. All this time, he'd been cold around us. "No one is leaving anyone behind," I was stern in my words.

Looking to Scott and Annie, I was making sure they knew I meant what I said and something told me they believed me. "I'm gonna find something for you, Annie," Heath couldn't take it anymore, he got up and went in search of something that would steady the girl.

Getting up, I went after Heath. If he had something to address, now was as good a time as any. "Hey. Do you have a problem with me?" I called over to him as I approached him.

He had been searching in the fish tank area and even I knew there was nothing in there that could help Annie. Fish tanks. Last I saw one of those, it had a head floating inside it. "I'm just looking out for my people," Heath said, pulling me out of my distracted moment.

"And you think that I'm not?" was the only question that came out of my mouth through my mind, with no filter needed.

Moving away from me, I followed after him and noticed there had been a tank for some kind of reptile, it looked gross and empty. "Look, I heard what Rick said," Heath said, pulling my attention back to him sharply.

For a second, in the woods, while he talked us through the new plan and the advice he gave me, I had sensed someone was close. "Which part?" I asked him, now that we finally got to the bottom of this.

Stopping in front of him, he kept his eyes focused on me and nowhere else. "How they wouldn't all make it. They meaning us and not you," he pointed out the obvious when it came to Rick. "How you should leave us behind if we can't keep up."

Hearing those words now, it still made me cringe. I didn't like the thought of leaving anyone behind, neither did Glenn or Kat. Thinking of them, I thought how stupid this guy was when those two were out there, risking their lives for them.

Keeping a straight face, I was trying not to lose my cool. "Glenn and Kat are out there risking their lives for you and for everyone else and I'm still here," I was making it very clear. "So I don't know what the hell you're talking about," I was offended he thought we'd actually listen to Rick when what we had been doing countered all he said.

"Things are gonna get worse and then we'll see," Heath threatened.

Not liking his tone, I got a little closer and kept my eyes on his. Showing him, I wasn't intimidated by him. "Yeah, we will," I agreed with him. "Rick said what he said because sometimes you don't have a choice," I defended Rick's choice of words.

Regardless what I said to defend Rick, something told me that Heath wasn't going to back down. "That is not how we do it," he sternly told me.

Delusional, he had no idea what I was talking about and in a situation like this, it was likely we would lose one of them. Scott was shot, Annie was injured and David was as good as dead since he got bit.

"Because you've never had to do it any other way!" I shouted through a whisper. All he did, was scoff at me. "You haven't been through it, not really. Not like Rick. Rick was out there. I was out there. We know, you don't. But if you don't learn, you will die, we will," I tried to make him see, to understand he didn't get the way it was like we did.

Sometimes, there was no other option than to leave someone we loved behind. Be it bit, killed or shot. "I've been doing runs from the start, okay? I know what it's-" he tried to say but it was all bullshit to me.

They hadn't been there as long as we have, faced the evils we had and been through shit no one would of believed, even if we had told them. "Have you ever had to kill people because they had already killed your friends and were coming for you next?" this was the time of the Governor.

The list felt endless. "Have you ever done things that made you feel afraid of yourself afterwards?" the cannibals. "Have you ever been covered in so much blood that you didn't know if it was yours or walkers' or your friends'?" the aftermath of the destruction of the prison. "Huh?" I asked him.

He came up with nothing. Because he had no idea what it really was like out there. "Then you don't know," I growled, remembering all the things that I had gone through, that we had gone through and we were still here.

He didn't argue, because he knew I was right.


KPOV

Running through the streets, we were doing our best to get to the place we could burn down. My feet felt like they were flying through the streets as we came across a trail of dead walkers. Seeing one had been eaten, his guts hanging all on the ground, an eye missing, he looked young.

Glenn was the first one to pull out his knife, to go kill the walker that was reaching up to get us. "Wait. It should be me," Nicholas had stopped him. "He was on my crew. His name was Will. He was 19. We left him behind," he informed us of what he did.

Nicholas had been staring down at the corpse, not moving and frozen there. Quivering, I swore I could hear him crying over his cowardice. "You're not that guy anymore," Glenn was confident in this statement. "Hey, you are here now. You are not that guy anymore," he said louder, not letting this get to Nicholas.

Glenn had moved back, to let Nicholas take care of the boy he'd left behind. Taking what felt like forever, myself and Glenn looked to one another before we saw him dig his knife into the boy's skull. From the distance, we heard gunfire. "Shit. Is that home?" Nicholas asked us.

Both of us had whipped our head in the direction it came from and I realised that the more noise was drawn to home, the more of a chance the walkers that lingered here, were going to join up with the herd and go home. "We need to go. Now," I stressed as we all ran off to find the building Nicholas said we could burn down.


MPOV

Heath had been helping the others to stand up, as we were preparing to leave. Gunshots in the distance sounded and I feared that it was only going to draw the walkers to home again. "We gotta go now," Heath encouraged as I watched walkers walking past the pet store.

"The ones from down the street and in the alley, they're getting drawn by the gunfire," I told them, taking this as an advantage, as long as we were quiet and we kept tightly together, we would be safe. "Soon as they clear, we head for the feed store. Till then we sit tight, keep quiet," as long as the herd wasn't coming straight to us, as they were drawn to another direction, we'd be safe.


RPOV

Panting as I ran and clenched my hand tightly, to stop me from bleeding, I raced as quickly as I could to the RV. I need to get there. For Carl, for Judith, for Kat. For all of them. They were depending on me and I had to do this. As I sprinted, I felt my legs ache, a pain my body as I forced myself to keep moving.

Although my body weighed on my legs, I kept pushing. I had to save them back home and I couldn't let the walkers attack them. I won't let bad turn into worse. I had to do this. I have to save them. I have to push through this. There is too much at stake here.

Dodging all the walkers that had collapsed from the impact against each other, as they had been pushed against the walls, I ran around and got to the RV. Dropping my bag and taking the keys, I started the car and drove as fast as I could to were I needed to be with one hand.


MPOV

David had been using his free time to write a note, to Betsy, in case he didn't make it. Using his pen, I wrote 'You're getting home' on my arm and showed it to him. Handing him back his note, I had a feeling he wasn't going to need it, he was going to be able to tell her himself. The sound of someone growling and bumping against the door alerted us. Moving to it, I needed to end the noise before it attracted the walkers from outside.

Removing the curtain of a dog, I saw David stood up, gun in hand, at the ready. Taking out my sword, I tugged the curtain off and slid the door open. Two walkers came out from hiding. Holding onto the one walker that was on her feet's arm, I sliced her across the face and watched as she fell.

The other that crawled, quickly was terminated the second I drove my sword into its head. "They heard that. They know we're in here now. We can't wait them out," Heath told me as I made my way over to the door. "The herd, it's gonna be here any minute," he sounded panicked.

As I looked out through the gaps, I saw something I feared to witness. The whole herd, was making its way, directly towards us. Walkers were banging on the windows and doors, seeking a way in. "What?" Heath asked me, worried for what I saw.

"They're coming," I told him. Needing to go now, there was no way we could fight the herd. So we had to leave now.

Opening the doors, everyone who was capable, shot at the walkers blocking our only exit. "Go! Come on!" I ordered after I had sliced the remaining three walkers heads that approached us straight after. "Where's the feed store?" I yelled, as I followed David, who know the town better than I did.

"Go! The other end of town. We can try-" David went to tell me where to go.

"We can't!" Heath disagreed with meeting Glenn at the feed store. I wanted to make sure he was safe. That Kat was safe. "Glenn said we got to go. We go now," Heath ordered, even if he hadn't wanted to listen, he was listening to us now.

Falling behind, Annie eventually tripped and landed on the ground. We went to turn around to help her but the walkers were approaching fast. Telling us to go, we watched as walkers came down on her and began devouring her as she tried to fight back. Doing as she said, we kept moving and looked for any way out.


KPOV

Sprinting down streets, we could feel the pressure and as we were close, Nicholas was speeding up. "It's just up ahead. We light it up and we go," Nicholas instructed of us but as we reached the building, we found it had already been burned down to ashes.

Witnessing our only option gone, I feared for my family and I saw Glenn did too. "There's gotta be another building," Glenn was hopeful that there was somewhere else we could burn.

It was a small town but we had hope we would find something. We needed something. To save us, to save our home. There had to be another option. Turning around, I heard growls and snarls coming from a distance. A chorus of them, loud as it came closer. What we saw, was another horror.

Walkers, fast approaching. A herd of them, a huge one. Then another, coming from both sides of the town. "We gotta go!" I yelled, needing us to focus and find a way out as Nicholas stared and numbly mumbled.

There was no way we could fight this many. There had to be another way, somewhere safe. "Where?!" Glenn asked of Nicholas but he was stuttering, freezing up as he began to panic. His body turning to look in both directions on the spot. His eyes had a glaze that told me he was far from where he should be. "Nicholas!" Glenn yelled.

I had hope that he was pulled back from his moment of panic because if he didn't, I would have to kill him. Glenn was in danger, I was too and had he not known the town, I would of killed him. "This way. This-this way," he told us as he lead us down another alley.

"Go! Go!" I yelled to the boys as I followed after them. The stress, the adrenaline, all of it was settling into us as I sprinted for my life.


MPOV

Reaching a gate, it was somewhere high, somewhere we could climb over and separate ourselves from the herd that was coming towards us. David started dragging a trash can, to help us get over.

Helping him, I looked over to Heath. "You go over first, and then we'll help Scott," I was putting him first, as to prove to him I was willing to go last if it meant proving my loyalty to the group.

Seeing the herd making their way over, Scott was watching them with fear and paced on the spot. "No, they're coming. Just go," he encouraged us to leave him but Heath had already climbed across.

"We're doing this!" I yelled as we helped Scott over. When he was finally over, I began to climb, David started to climb beside me. The moment I was almost over the space, a walker grabbed my leg.

Trying to kick the walkers off me, walkers had got to David too. Shooting the walkers off us, we did our best to get out of there but David slipped and fell into the herd that began munching on him now that they had him. Because of that, Heath had done his best to save me and when I finally felt hands let go of me, I climbed the rest of the way over.

Finally getting down, using the trashcans and Heath's help, we all stood there and stared in horror, as David was ripped to shreds in front of us. His screams echoed in my ears, his pained face a horror to behold and the note by his knees was the punch to the gut for me.

He wasn't going home. "We gotta go. We gotta keep going. We don't have a choice. We don't have a choice. Come on!" Heath finally realised the state we were in as he began dragging Scott out of the spot we were in.


KPOV

"Come on. Come on! Come on!" Glenn screamed as we ran. Nicholas looked for a way through the fences but only bounced back on himself. Glenn had tried doors but had no such luck.

Seeing a staircase that had been blocked off by trash, I pulled myself up and over. Grunting as I did my best to get up before the walkers could get me. "Guys, come on!" I yelled as I began tossing the garbage out of the way. The boys were too far away from me.

Running up, I got atop one of the rails and pulled myself onto the roof of the building. "I'll pull you up!" I yelled over the herd once I finally got up on the roof, offering my hand to them. I felt my fingers rough from the climb but I had adapted quickly since being with Michonne, since my adrenaline kicked in with this stress.

"They're coming!" Nicholas had looked over to me and the path I had created but he was afraid.

Glenn glanced between the space of me and the walkers, it was getting to be too thin a chance for him to make it. "We can't!" Glenn yelled back to me.

Getting up, I ran towards the next building, hopping and thankfully, catching the ledge, I pulled myself up. Grunting and screaming as I got to the top. Forcing myself back to my feet, I ran towards where Glenn and Nicholas were.

All while I had my little race and hop to the next roof, Glenn had been shooting at the walkers, as had Nicholas. Running out of ammo, they tried killing as many as they could with their knives but the herd kept coming.

"Give me your hand!" I yelled as I stood over them, watching them fight off the walkers the best they could as they began gaining in on them.

Glenn had glanced up at me for only a second before he continued to push, stab and kick the walkers away from him. "There's too many!" he shouted up at me.

I felt helpless, I wanted to be there, to help them but I knew they would be stuck down there if they didn't find a way up to me. "Up here! Up here!" Glenn said to Nicholas as they both jumped atop the dumpster. "Kat, heads up!" Glenn shouted up at me.

"Find a building and burn it! Now! Go!" he instructed as he prepared to toss the flare gun up at me but instead, it fell from his hands when he felt Nicholas bump into him. "Shit!" he cussed when he saw the gun fall and knock into one of the walkers below him.

My heart was racing. I didn't know what to do, how to get the walkers away from him. There was no way we could get the walkers away from home either. Everything was screwed. "Kat, go! Get out of here!" Glenn waved me off, trying to get me to go as I just stared.

Tears were forming in my eyes, I didn't want to go and I didn't know how to help. So much for trying to be a hero. "I'm not leaving you!" I shook my head back at him, I gripped onto the walls tightly, hoping to somehow find a way to save them.

Some walkers had moved away from Glenn and Nicholas, trying to reach up at me but they couldn't. Gazing down at the ones that snarled up at me, I didn't notice that Glenn had been trying to get Nicholas's attention. "Nicholas! Hey, Nicholas! Nicholas! Look at me," he yelled before grabbing Nicholas's shoulders.

Glenn was trying to bring Nicholas back as he stared blankly at the walkers that surrounded them. "Hey, look at me! Look at me! Hey! Hey! Nicholas! Look at me!" he was trying to get him to look at him and as Nicholas turned, there was an empty expression on his face.

From what I could see, his face was red from crying. Glenn's voice was far more panicked than I ever heard it before. "Thank you," I heard Nicholas say before he rose his gun to his temple and shot a bullet into his head. Blood splattered all over Glenn's face.

Seeing this, I covered my mouth with shock as my voice let out a squeal of horror. Nicholas's body collapsed into Glenn's arms and before I knew it, they both fell into the ground. Straight into the herd of walkers. "No!" I screamed out my cry as tears built up in my eyes. "Glenn!" I sobbed, seeing the walkers circle around him and Nicholas, I was sure Glenn was dead.

My promise to Maggie, was broken. I had saved myself and tried to save them. I should have tried harder. "Glenn!" I shouted again, hoping to get a response but I couldn't hear anything with all the walkers growling and devouring my friends.

Sobbing, I collapsed onto my knees and felt a weight crashing down on me as my back collided with the hard floor. Glenn was gone. And I couldn't save him. I didn't protect him. I failed. Sobbing, my body shook from my tears as I stared at the sky.

What do I do now? What do I tell Maggie?


MPOV

Both myself and Heath had supported Scott the whole journey out of the town and back to Alexandria. Every time Scott tumbled, we picked him back up and carried on. We weren't giving up and finally, I think Heath understood what it was truly like out here. Or at least, part of it.

Letting Heath carry Scott down to the creek, I turned around and looked to the sky. Expecting smoke, I found none reaching up to the clouds. Kat...Glenn...I hoped they survived but with no sign, I was beginning to doubt they had. "There's no smoke," Heath said the words I could not.

My eyes began to sting, I fought back the tears as I stood there. Paralysed. Have faith. Kat, Glenn, they are smart. They are survivors. "It doesn't mean they didn't make it," Heath was trying to keep my positive too as he struggled to get Scott into the water.

"The herd's still coming, but this creek should slow them down some," I forced the words to exit my mouth, even if I stuttered a little. Seeing a mark on my arm as I went to make my way down, I took another look and saw the words. You're getting home.

Wiping my arm against my hip, I knew David wasn't going back. Maybe neither was Kat, or Glenn, or Nicholas. We had lost David, Annie and many more on this attempt to keep us safe. It happens. Even if we don't want it to. Getting down, we moved against the creek and followed it back home. We needed to get back. I have to get back to Carl and the others.


RPOV

Finally driving up to the spot, I parked up and now, all I had to do, was wait for Glenn's smoke signal. "Glenn. I'm in place by my best guess. You guys make it back yet?" I spoke into the walkie talkie but nothing was being said back. Normally, Glenn was always quick to respond. "Glenn," I tried again.

Remembering that Kat had taken the walkie talkie last, I decided to try to call out to her instead. "Kat," I called to her but nothing was said. It was only static hissing back at me. "Tobin, you there?" I was trying everyone at this point, wondering if the walkie talkie was working or not. Each time I spoke, it was only static hissing back at me. "Daryl?" was my last option.


DPOV

"Daryl?" I heard Rick call to me through the radio.

Pressing the button, I spoke into the walkie talkie. "I'm here," I answered him back.

While Rick had been doing whatever he was doing, I was on my way back home. "Won't be long now. They're almost here. I'll get them going your way again," Rick informed me that he had the herd trailing back to him again.

"How 'bout that, Daryl? He's gonna be coming our way," Sasha told me, a little pointedly, making me feel guilt for leaving them behind.

Getting closer, I could hear gunfire from a distance. "There's gunfire coming from back home. We gotta sit with it and hope they can handle it. I think they can. They have to," Rick was confident that whatever was going on, the people back home had it under control.

Not sure what was going on, I had to find out. I needed to make sure our people were still alive and well. "We keep going forward for them. Can't turn back 'cause we're afraid," Rick was making some speech that I had to sit there and listen to.

"We ain't afraid," Abraham spoke confidently, making me feel the guilt even more than before.

I hated what I did but it wasn't because I was afraid, it was because I was worried about them. About our people. People like Carl, Judith, Carol, Maggie. "This is for them. Going back now before it's done, that'd be for us," Rick told me. "The herd has to be almost here," he informed me. Suddenly, I heard gunfire on Rick's line, a grunt and more shots being fired.

My heart sank and I feared for him. Shouting his name through the walkie talkie, he didn't respond and I worried that he too, was now in trouble.


RPOV

Bringing the walkie talkie to my lips after wrapping my hand with a cloth, I heard the door of the RV open and shots get fired. Dropping the walkie talkie, I ducked to the other seat and heard more shots fire. It hit the RV and possibly damaged it.

"Rick? Rick?" I could hear Daryl call for me through the walkie talkie. The man entered my RV and when he aimed the gun at me again, I climbed back to my feet and tackled him to the ground. "Rick?"

Being picked up by the guy, I heard one last "Rick?" from Daryl before I was dragged by another guy behind me, picking me up off of the first guy as we struggled on the ground. Kicking the first guy in the face, I struggled on my feet but moved forward, until I could swing the guy to hit a wall to his face then knocked my head back against his.

Elbowing him in the face, he fell back. I heard my name a few more times but I was busy to answer Daryl's panicked calls to me. Picking up my gun, I shot the guy before he could get up. The one who had been kicked in the face was getting up. Before he could get up, I shot him in the head and finally relaxed.

Panting, I put my gun back in my holster and searched them for anything they had of use. Or anything that could tell me what they were, if they were part of some community. Finding a baby food jar, I recognised it instantly. They came from Alexandria.

Hearing a strange sound come from outside, like something pushed into the RV, I looked through the side mirror and saw a group of these people trying to sneak up on me again. Carefully picking up my gun, I took the safety off and fired at them through the RV's walls. Making sure they were dead, I took my seat and started up the car.

Trying to move, I needed to get out of there, as I heard the herd was making its way over to us. Each time I turned the key, the engine would stutter. Checking every once and a while at the dead people laid out by the RV, I hoped none of them became walkers just yet.

Each twist came out with nothing. "No, no, no, no, no. No," I grumbled. Shivering, I was terrified of being trapped in a situation like this, with a herd coming right at me. I had to find a way out and I needed to bring the dead to the herd Daryl, Sasha and Abraham were leading. Looking up, I still saw no smoke, no signal that Glenn had done what he set himself out to do.

My heart sank, as I looked outside and saw one out of the three in the group that tried to sneak up behind me, come back as a walker. Looking out the other window, I saw the walkers appear from the woods and straight towards me. I need to get out of here. Now.


DPOV

Not hearing anything back from Rick, I feared for him. I worried that he was in trouble. Taking the route back to Abraham and Sasha, I had to make sure Rick was okay. I could never forgive myself if Rick was dead. Or Sasha, or Abraham. As I rode off to them, I hoped that Rick had survived, that he fought back.

By the time I reached Abraham and Sasha, they gave me a small 'welcome back' before we continued our mission. I was going to prove I wasn't afraid. All I fear, is losing the ones I cared about. I already lost Merle, Hershel, Beth. I wasn't going to lose anyone else. Especially not Kat, Carl, Rick, or Carol.


MPOV

Strolling back through the back of Alexandria, we eventually came back to something I didn't imagine would be the sight I'd see. The tower, was broken, a huge truck jammed into the side of it. Most of the walls and sides were burnt, like a Molotov had flown out of the sky and hit certain points of the town.

I began to wonder just what happened here as Heath was carrying a stumbling Scott beside him. More importantly, I wondered if Kat, Glenn and Nicholas had survived the herd that had come our way. Kat, she's a survivor. Glenn is smart. Both of them together, they can get through it. They have to.


KPOV

Controlling my tears, I eventually drowned out the sounds of the walkers devouring the corpses of my friends. Getting up, I wiped at my face and tried to regain my breath. Regain my composure. When I finally wiped my nose and face with the back of my arm, I looked to the sky and asked God for the strength to keep moving.

You have to get back to Carl. To Judith. To dad. To Michonne. To Daryl. To Carol. To Maggie. I have to tell Maggie what happened. Taking a deep breath, I slowly let it go and focused on the task at hand. I needed a way out.

Climbing down through a latch in the roof, I hopped down, seeing as the ladder had been broken and came across three walkers. Grabbing my machete, I sliced one up through its jaw, into his brain as he grabbed at me. Kicking him off my machete, I saw his face rip in half. The other two were slowly shuffling closer. Breaking one's knee, I took my knife out and drove my knife into the top of its skull.

The third went to grab at me, slicing across his face, I let out a yell and had a hate for walkers. For taking my loved ones, like Andrea, Glenn...and many more down the list. I had an anger for them now. A rage that burned.

Storing my machete back, I used my knife to gut the last walker, before tugging his guts out, using it to wipe it against my body. Using as much blood to cover my skin, to cover my face and clothes. I couldn't risk getting attacked by walkers in this herd.

I have to survive. I have to get back home. When I finally was coated, I searched the room for anything of use and came up with a couple of bullets and that had been about it. Going down the next floor, I did what I could to not go through the door that would lead me to the alley. Instead, I had killed the last three walkers that were inside the building and left through the front door.

Walking for hours through the town, I tried to find a way out, or hide when I noticed the blood getting too dry on my skin. Coating myself over and over again, I couldn't risk getting detected by the small groups of walkers that surrounded the town. The herd was approaching the more I moved in. Seeing the herd going past me, I decided to quickly go up another set of stairs and climb up onto the roof.

Hopping from roof to roof, I eventually found another entrance to a building through the roof and jumped down, a soft grunt escaping me. I heard footsteps shuffle, thinking it was a walker, I waited a second. I heard no growls, so I had a sense it was a person.

Approaching the sound slowly, I stepped closer to it. Keeping to the shadows as I slithered my machete out from its confines. Rounding the corner, I raised my arm and went to swing my blade down on them. When I saw the small figure, with wide, scared eyes staring up at me, I stopped myself.

Her small face, wide eyes, long hair and scared features were instantly recognisable. Myself, I possibly looked like a maniac in the walker guts coating me from head to toe. Her arm had come up to stab at me but she stopped herself when our eyes met. "Enid?" I called to her softly.

Lowering my machete, she too lowered her knife and tried her best to catch her breath. For a second, I thought she was going to say something, instead, she pushed past me hard, ran down the stairs and escaped through the door. "Enid!" I yelled after her before I went in search of her.

What is Enid doing out here? Why was she not in Alexandria and had she not seen the huge herd coming their way? I ran after her, needing to look for her. She wasn't safe and I needed to save her before she could get herself in trouble.


A/N: Can you believe this? I really am feeding you well, aren't I? Another chapter. I have been heavily in the mood of writing. Mostly because of the newest season and because of all the juicy parts from here until the latest episode. A lot can happen and hopefully, I can have Kat fill some pretty big boots. Rick's boots. Especially a huge scene that might be coming up in the show that is in the comics. Cough. Cough. Negan. Talk. Whisperers. Cell. Cough. Cough.

I want to say, that for the end scene, re-read it and put Waiting Around To Die by The Be Good Tanyas. That way, you'll be reading it the same way I wrote it. A great song, beautiful, a little sad and hopeful at the same time. It also has a bit of suspense in it too. All the emotions Kat was feeling in that moment.

Anyway, hope you liked this chapter! It was chapter 2 out of 7 which will all be posted today. Get ready for the rest to read! As always, please give me five reviews, as it would really boost the energy for me to keep writing these chapters. 5 will do but if not, it's fine.

Questions to answer this chapter:

1) What has been your favourite scene in this chapter?

2) Did you think the escape scene for Kat was believable?

3) How did you feel about Daryl's struggle in staying with Abraham and Sasha or going back home?

4) What do you think about the whole Kat/Rick split views on the group she was with?

5) Can you imagine Kat talking to Negan, asking him for help against the whisperers this season instead of anyone else? Especially after everything they've been through...

Much love,

HeroJustInTime90