Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

Her Angel, His Strength

5 Wildfire

Lily exited the Dixons' tent and looked around her, trying to figure out what to do. Biting her lip, she walked over to Daryl who was swinging down a pickaxe over someone's dead head. When he saw her approaching, he stopped.

"Is there something I could do?" She asked him. Daryl snorted.

"Nah, go find somethin' ta eat." Lily frowned but walked away towards the RV.

On her way, she saw Andrea pull a handgun and point it at Rick. She figured the blond-haired woman hadn't left her sister's side all night long. With a sigh, Lily walked towards Lori and Shane who were watching the scene unfold. Nodding her head at them, she waited to see how they were going to handle the situation at hand.

Apparently, Daryl had seen the scene too, as he walked over to join them to hear Rick saying Andrea would not let them take Amy away.

"The dead girl's a time bomb."

"What do you suggest?" Rick asked.

"Take the shot. Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

"No. For God's sakes, let her be." Lily nodded in agreement with Lori. Andrea deserved her time with her sister; she needed to accept what happened on her own. If it got dangerous, then they would interfere.

Daryl stalked away. She could understand his point of view, but could not agree with his way of dealing with the situation. Sighing she turned to Lori to ask if there was anything she could do to help. Her answer was a shrug and a sad smile.

"I don't think so, sweetie. Maybe you want to eat something? I think there's still some canned food left." Lily nodded but didn't make a move to go. She didn't think she could stomach anything at the moment, the last night's carnage still too fresh on her mind. Sitting down, she looked over the camp. Morales and Daryl were moving bodies towards a fire pit, Glenn was yelling at them, though she couldn't figure out his words. She caught sight of Jacqui who was also helping and decided to go with her, tired of felling useless.

"A walker got him. A walker bit Jim." Eyes widening, her walk turned into a jog towards them. It couldn't be true. Not sweet, gentle Jim.

"Show it to us. Show it to us." Jacqui's scream had attracted the attention of the others. They were closing into Jim now.

"I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay." Lily bit her lip when Daryl lifted Jim's shirt. Oh God. Daryl walked away from him, coming to stand in front of her, pushing Lily behind him slight. Her eyes were still focussed on the now covered wound Jim had.

Rick sat Jim down and motioned for the others to follow him a few steps away, Lori and Jacqui asking what they were going to do.

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girl's and be done with it." Lily did not need to look up from the ground to know Daryl made the suggestion.

"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asked, though Lily knew he was being sarcastic.

"Yeah, and I'd thank ya while you did it." She nodded absently, not realising a few of the group staring at her strangely. She agreed with this, if it were she, she would rather they killed her first, before she had a chance to turn.

"I hate to say it… I never thought I would… But maybe Daryl's right."

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Rick said.

"I'm not suggesting…"

"He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" Rick interrupted Dale.

"The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers or them ta be." Daryl stated.

Rick mentioned the C.D.C., with the hope of some structure. Shane disagreed, believing Fort Benning to be a better option.

"Ya go looking for aspirin; do what ya need ta do. Someone needs ta have some balls ta take care of this damn problem!" Daryl got his pickaxe and started running towards Jim.

"We don't kill the living." Rick said, pointing a gun at Daryl's head. Lily's heart skipped a beat.

"That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun ta my head." Daryl walked away. Lily went after him. He looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "Ya stay away from him. It shouldn't take long for him ta turn."

"He's not dead yet. Maybe… Maybe Rick is right. Or Shane." He snorted. "Maybe there's something we can do for him." Daryl sneered at her and stomped away towards the line of dead bodies. Lily thought of following after him, but decided against it. He obviously did not want any company now.

She watched with the others as Amy turned, all of them nervous as the older of the sisters said a few words they could not hear. They heard the gunshot clearly, and Lily knew for sure that Amy was gone.

They staged a funeral. Andrea insisted in carrying Amy's body by herself, refusing Dale's help. Glenn gripped her hand tight and she could feel herself tearing up. Amy was always so sweet with her it was difficult not crying. After it ended, she walked up to Andrea, told her how sorry she was and gave the woman a hug, asking if there was anything she could do. Andrea shook her head and said she knew of her friendship with Amy, thanking her.

"I've been, uh… I've been thinking about Rick's plan." Shane started unsure. "Now look, there are no… There are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning."

With a sigh, Lily looked down her body, a few blood strains on her clothes. She needed to shower if they were going to leave the next day. It was then that she realised that Merle was not there. He had not came back. Guilty for not noticing it before, she sought Daryl out with her eyes. Had Merle died? Maybe they found him and he didn't want to go back to camp. Daryl came back because he promised her and they'd meet up with Merle later, but with everything that went on, they were delayed… No, she thought, Daryl would have mentioned it before. Maybe they didn't find him at all… Worse, found him as one of the dead now…

Shaking those thoughts out of her head, she marched her way down the pond. She'd ask Daryl later, when they were alone. He always reacted better to her when it was just the two of them. In the meantime, she'd pray for Merle's safety.

They didn't have much for dinner, appearing to be even less with the lack of meat the Dixons brothers hunted. The group ate their last canned food and Lily thought it'd be a good idea to move on from there. She didn't want to continue risking Glenn's life with trips to Atlanta, and considering how things went the last times people left the camp, she knew she couldn't be the only one to think that way.

Hungry and tired, everyone went to settle for the night. Daryl caught her arm before she could enter the Winnebago.

"Ya won't be sleepin' there. Not with that dead man." She opened her mouth to reply when he pressed on. "That's not up for discussion."

Dragging her across the camp towards his tent, Lily scowled at him. She couldn't put her finger on when it started, but Daryl was seriously going full on the role of her protector. The thought made a tiny smile cross her lips. She doubted he would appreciate her comments on it, though.

When Daryl didn't lay down next to her, Lily looked up at him, seeing him biting his thumbnail and gazing at Merle's sleeping bag. Propping herself on her elbow, she patted her side with a small smile. Daryl frowned but laid down next to her without argument. Rolling to face him, she asked in a whisper:

"Merle?"

"Sumbitch is alive. Didn't find him." He said with a frown, not looking at her when her breath was caught on her throat. "Cut his hand off and left the building. Stole our van too." With that, she smiled. Only a Dixon can kill a Dixon, sweetcheeks, Merle said right before dropping a sloppy kiss on her forehead. Indeed, she thought. She had a feeling they'd be seeing Merle again. Hopefully soon.

"We should leave him a message before we go. With instructions for him to go to the C.D.C., and, if we're not there, that he should probably follow towards Fort Benning." She felt Daryl nodding and, when he made no vocal reply, she said quietly: "goodnight."

Lily was already asleep when Daryl answered.

"G'night."

The next morning, Shane and Rick got everyone into a circle once everything was packed. Lily's bag was put on Daryl's truck. Lori, who was standing by her side, smirked at her.

"Don't feel so special! His brother's bike went before you!" Lily whipped her head at the elder's woman direction, all gaping mouth. Lori snorted and looked over at Shane, she could feel Carol's eyes on her, and when she looked at the woman, a ghost of a smile was on her lips. Apparently, she had heard what Lori said.

"Everybody listen up. Those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?" Shane said.

"We're, uh… We're… We're not going." Morales said. Lily looked at him in surprise.

"We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people." His wife explained.

"You go on your own; you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane alerted them and Lily nodded. She knew that if she could, she would have left a long time ago in search for her family; however, Lily could not help but agree it was best to have more people with her.

They travelled in silence, with the windows down; Lily smiled feeling the wind at her face. It had been a while since she rode in a car, and it always made her feel peaceful. The feeling came to an abruptly end when horns started sounding. Seeing the smoke coming out the RV, Lily sighed and exited the truck after Daryl.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose. I said I needed the one from the cube van." She heard Dale saying to Rick. Just as Shane said he could see something ahead, Jacqui walked out the Winnebago warning them about Jim's worsening condition.

"It's what he says he wants." Rick said after talking to the man.

"And he's lucid?" Carol timid voice asked.

"He seems to be. I would say yes."

"Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer." Lily bit her lip. Daryl had said they were close now, when they left the truck to go see what had happened. If Jim could just hang on a few more hours, maybe they could help him. It was a selfish desire, she knew, but her heart disagreed with her mind.

"It's not your call, either one of you." Lori said, and Lily begrudgingly agreed.

She tried to give Jim a last smile, but she knew it seemed more like a grimace. He appeared to understand though, as he nodded at her. Lily threw him one last glance before closing her eyes, no longer feeling peaceful.

Arriving at the compound, Daryl looked at her after stopping the truck.

"Ready?" His voice was gruff.

"Let's go." She replied, opening the passenger door. The smell of death was overwhelming, making her gag. She followed Daryl closely, with her bow and arrow at ready.

"Oh God." She heard Glenn mutter. Lily couldn't agree more.

"There's nobody here." T-Dog stated.

"Then why are these shutters down?"

"Walkers!" Lily's head whipped at this. Her breath caught as she tried to stop her shaking hands. "You led us into a graveyard!"

"He made a call." Shane defended his friend.

"It was the wrong damn call!"

"Just shut up. You hear? Shut up. Shut up! Rick, this is a dead end."

"Where are we gonna go?" Jacqui voiced her own question aloud.

"Fort Benning, Rick… Still an option."

"On what? No food, no fuel. That's 100 miles." Andrea said.

"125. I checked the map." Lily looked at Glenn. They would never make it without gas.

"Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight, now." Lori's desperate voice echoed.

Daryl approached her, and she understood instantly what he wanted. Stay close. They had just started moving away when Rick screamed:

"The camera… It moved." Lily looked at it. If there was someone there why weren't they opening the doors? Daryl's hand on her arm brought her back to the problem at hand. He pushed her in front of him and got his gun ready. "You're killing us! You're killing us!"

The door opened.


Thank you for those of you who suggested Merle's fate! It'll be taken in consideration!

If there's no reviews, there will be no update.

English is not my mother tongue, if you find a mistake, please let me know.

Thank you,

Mel.