The next week I was on the RV, Glenn was on guard duty and Amy and I were tanning. I was just wearing short shorts with my bikini top. My skin is pale and it's hard to get tan. Jamie was running around with the other kids so I didn't need to keep an eye on him.

"So what's going on between you and Daryl?" Amy asked.

"What do you mean?" I replied.

Besides from laundry, I've been hunting with Daryl. Every once and a while he would let me use his crossbow. But since I didn't want to waste and ammo, I had Glenn pick me up a compact bow and around 15 arrows when he went into the city to grab supplies.

"I mean are you guys hooking up or-"

I heard Glenn scoff, "Woman."

I grabbed my towel and threw it at him, "No, we aren't. We're just friends, I think."

"You think?" Amy questioned.

"Well, we hang out and talk and stuff." I said.

"Do you find him attractive?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, he's attractive, I guess." I answered.

"Yo, Vi!"

I looked down from the RV and saw Daryl walking over, "Wanna go huntin'?"

I heard Amy snicker and I slapped her arm before turning back to Daryl, "Sure."

"If Jamie asks where I am tell him I'm hunting with Daryl." I told Glenn and Amy before going to the ground.

We went to my tent and I changed into jeans and a tanktop before grabbing my bow and arrows and went into the woods with Daryl. We were quiet the whole time, tracking a deer. When we found it, killed it, and brought it back to camp, it was around five in the afternoon. After helping Daryl skin the deer I left to go check on Jamie.

After hanging with Jamie for a bit some of the woman started cooking the deer and beans for the group. Once it was done we sat around the camp fire, eating. Jamie sat between my legs, enjoying his food. I looked up, noticing Daryl staring at me. I gave him a small smile before Jamie tugged on my shirt.

"I have to go potty." He whispered.

"Okay, hun." I replied.

I stood before picking him up and headed towards the RV. Luckily it had a bathroom so we didn't have to go in the forest. He came out of the bathroom yawning.

"Ready to go to bed?" I asked him.

He nodded before holding his arms out for me to grab him. He laid his head on my shoulder and I walked over to our tent. After helping him change into his pajamas I covered him up in his blanket.

"I'll be back in a while." I told him.

"Night mommy." He replied.

I froze there for a moment before leaving the tent. A few seconds later someone put their hand over my mouth and put an arm around my waist before dragging me towards the trees. I kicked the whole way and I bit the person's hand.

"Ow! You bitch!" I heard Tyler exclaim before throwing me to the ground.

"What do you want?" I asked, standing up.

"What's goin' on with you and that redneck hick?" He asked.

"Daryl? Nothing." I answered.

He hit me and I fell, "Stop lyin'."

"I'm not." I replied.

He kicked me in the ribs a few times, "Tell me."

"Nothing is going on you dick." I got up, grabbing my side and started to walk away.

"Don't walk away from me!" Tyler said before grabbing me and pinning me to a tree.

"Stay away from him." He growled, gripping my neck tightly.

"You can't tell me what to do. We're not together anymore." I responded.

He scoffed before letting me go and walking back towards the camp.

I stayed there for a few moments to catch my breath before heading back to my tent, avoiding everyone. I didn't bother to change before I lied down next to Jamie, snuggling into my sleeping bag.

The next morning Jamie was already gone. I was changing my clothes when I winced as I took off my shirt. There were bruises on my side where Tyler kicked me last night. After putting on a t-shirt and jeans I took out a mirror and looked at my neck.

"Shit."

There was a hand mark on my neck, how the hell was I supposed to hide that. Maybe I could stay in my tent all day, but I have to help with laundry, and I don't have a turtleneck to wear.

"Vi, there's breakfast ready." I heard Amy say before she unzipped my tent, "Oh my god."

"Shh."

"What happened to your neck?" Amy asked me.

"Nothing." I answered.

"It looks like a hand print, who did that?" She replied.

"No one. Listen, Amy, can you tell them I'm not feeling well? I don't want anyone to see them." I said.

"Sure. Do you want me to bring breakfast?" Amy asked.

"That's be nice, thanks." I replied.

She nodded before leaving. She brought back a plate with food and Jamie came in to eat with me. When we were done he brought our plates back out to be washed.

"What are you doing?" I asked him when he came back in with a board game, Sorry.

"I staying here with you." Jamie answered.

"You don't have to." I replied.

"I want to." He said before we set up the game.

"Alright." I sighed.

After playing two games I told him to go play with the others kids. I just rested all day, Jamie bringing in lunch and dinner. The next day the bruises faded a lot and Amy brought in some of her make up to cover them up.

Apparently a few of us were going into a city to scavenge supplies. Glenn, Morales, T-Dog, and Merle were going, but Andrea and Jacqui volunteered to go to grab stuff for the women in the camp. I asked her and Andrea to grab swim trunks for Jamie.

Apparently Daryl decided to go on a hunting trip, so he left that morning after the group left. I was helping Amy cook the mushrooms she got when we saw Lori come out of the woods with messy hair and a few minutes later Shane came out. You could tell he just got some.

"Oh, we so called it." Amy said before we high-fived.

To keep Amy's mind off of Andrea, her, Jamie, and I went swimming. We decided to teach Jamie and he did well. When the clouds started coming in we decided to head back to camp.

"It's late. They should've been back by now." Amy said, pacing.

"Worrying won't make it better." Dale told her.

"Hello, base camp!" We heard on the C.B. "Can anybody out there hear me? Base camp, this is T-Dog. Anybody hear me?"

Dale climbed up the ladder and grabbed the radio, "Hello? Hello? Reception's bad on this end. Repeat. Repeat."

"Shane, is that you?"

"Is that them?" Lori asked.

"We're in some deep shit. We're trapped inside the department store." T-Dog said.

"He say they're trapped?" Shane questioned.

"There are geeks all over the place. Hundreds of 'em. We're surrounded." T-Dog continued.

"T-Dog, repeat that last. Repeat." Dale replied.

All we got was static. I looked over at Amy and she had a worried look on her face.

"He said the department store." Lori said.

"I heard it, too." Dale replied.

"Shane?"

"No way. We do not go after them. We do not risk the rest of the group. Y'all know that." Shane said.

"So we're just gonna leave her there?" Amy questioned.

"Look, Amy, I know this is not easy-" Shane started.

"She volunteered to go to help the rest of us." Amy interrupted.

"I know, and she knew the risks, right?" Shane replied. "See, if she's trapped, she's gone. So we just have to deal with that. There's nothing we can do."

"She's my sister, you son of a bitch." Amy said before running off.

"Amy." I said, running after her.

After talking to Amy, I started helping folding the laundry. Jamie was on the roof with Dale, coloring. I just got done when the group heard a car alarm coming towards camp.

"Talk to me, Dale!" Shane said.

"I can't tell yet." Dale replied.

"Sounds like a car alarm." I said.

"Is it them? Are they back?" Amy questioned.

"I'll be damned. You're right, Violet. Stolen car I bet." Dale said.

Everyone watched as a red Charger pulled up in front of the RV.

"Holy crap. Turn that damn thing off!" Dale yelled as a happy Glenn came out of the driver's seat.

"I don't know how!" Glenn replied.

While Shane asked for Glenn to pop the hood, Amy kept asking Glenn about Andrea.

"She's okay! She's okay!" Glenn yelled after he popped the hood of the car.

"Is she coming back?"

"Yes!"

"Why isn't she with you? Where is she? She's okay?" She questioned.

"Yes! Yeah, fine. Everybody is. Well, Merle not so much." Glenn answered.

What happened to Merle?

"Are you crazy, driving this wailing bastard up here? Are you trying to draw every walker for miles?" Shane asked.

"I think we're okay." Dale said.

"You call being stupid okay?" Shane replied, turning to Dale.

"Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source." Shane gave him a look, "I'm not arguing. I'm just saying." Dale said before turning to Glenn, "It wouldn't hurt you to think thins through a little more carefully next time, would it?"

"Sorry. Got a cool car." Glenn replied.

Then a van parked behind T-Dog's van. The door opened and Andrea came out, "Amy!"

"Andrea!"

Everyone else came out and we all greeted them. After I hugged Glenn I had Jamie come down from the RV.

"How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane asked.

"New guy- he got us out." Glenn answered.

"New guy?"

"Yeah, crazy vato just got into town." Morales said before looking at the van, "Hey, helicopter boy! Come say hello. The guy is a cop. Just like you."

We all watched as a man in a cop uniform walked toward us and I saw Shane freeze.

"Oh my god." He whispered.

"Dad!" Carl yelled before running toward the cop.

Carl's dad picked him up before walking over to Lori and the three of them hugged.

"Disoriented. I guess that comes closest. Disoriented. Fear, confusion, all those things but... disoriented comes closest." Rick said as we sat around the camp fire.

"Words can be meager things. Sometimes they fall short." Dale replied.

"I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else. For a while I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not ever wake up from ever." Rick said.

"Mom said you died." Carl said, looking up at his dad.

"She had every reason to believe that." Rick replied. "Don't you ever doubt it."

"When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta, and it never happened." Lori told Rick.

"Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell. And from the look of that hospital, it got overrun." Rick replied.

"Yeah, looks don't deceive. I barely got them out, you know?" Shane responded.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane." Rick said, "I can't begin to express it."

"There go those words falling short again." Dale commented. "Paltry things."

We were silent until Shane spoke up, "Hey, Ed, you want to rethink that log?"

"It's cold, man." Ed answered.

"The cold don't change the rules, does it? Keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?"

"I said it's cold." Ed repeated. "You should mind your own business for once."

Shane stood up and walked over to Ed.

"Hey, Ed... are you sure you want to have this conversation, man?" Shane questioned.

"Go on. Pull the damn thing out." Ed said after a moment to Carol. "Go on!"

Carol stood up and walked around the fire her family was sitting around and pulled the log out. Shane walked over to the burning log and stepped on it so it wouldn't catch the grass on fire.

"Hey, Carol, Sophia, how are y'all this evening?" Shane asked them softly.

"Fine. We're just fine." Carol answered.

"Okay."

"I'm sorry about the fire." Carol told him.

"No no no. No apology needed. Y'all have a good night, okay?" Shane replied.

"Thank you." Carol said.

"I appreciate the cooperation." Shane told Ed before sitting back in his original spot around our fire.

"Have you given the thought to Daryl Dixon?" Dale asked when he sat down. "He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind."

"I'll tell him. I dropped the key. It's on me." T-Dog said.

"I cuffed him. That makes it mine." Rick replied.

"Guys, it's not a competition. I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy." Glenn said.

A white guy? Daryl isn't a racist like his brother. I mean, yeah, Daryl's gonna be angry, but it doesn't matter who tells him.

"I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from him." T-Dog said.

"We could lie."

"Or tell the truth. Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed." Andrea replied before looking at Lori, "Your husband did what was necessary. And if Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Merle's."

"And that's what we tell Daryl? I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?" Dale questioned. "Word to the wise, we're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt."

"I was scared and I ran. I'm not ashamed of it."

"We were all scared. We all ran. What's your point?" Andrea asked T-Dog.

"I stopped long enough to chain that door. Stair case is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at one time. It's not enough to break through that- not that chain. Not that padlock. My point- Dixon's alive and he's still up there, handcuffed to that roof. That's on us." T-Dog said.

"I think maybe Violet should tell Daryl." Amy commented.

"Why Violet?" Shane asked and everyone looked at me.

"Besides Merle, Daryl's closest to her." Amy answered.

I sighed, "Look, I don't mind telling him, but I really don't think it matters who does. He's gonna be mad either way."

"So you'll tell him."

I nodded, "Yeah. I'll tell him."

I saw Tyler glaring at me, after a few minutes I picked up Jamie and we went to sleep.