I woke up the next morning feeling as if an anvil had been dropped on my throat and someone had forced me to swallow barbed wire. I rolled over to find a pudding cup, a bottle of water and a note beside the sleeping bag. I rubbed my eyes as I sat up, grabbing the note first.

I didn't recognize the hurried scribbled handwriting.

River,

Left ya some breakfast that'd be easy on ya throat. Didn't want to wake ya. Taylor is by the fire if you need him. I went huntin' for a while. Won't be gone long.

REST. No arguments.

Daryl

A crooked smile stretched across my face as I stared at the letter. I oddly liked the fact that he had cared enough to think of me before he left to go hunt. I'd never had breakfast in bed before. Even if it was just water and a pudding cup.

After I ate and got dressed, I stepped out of the tent to find Taylor cleaning his gun by the fire. Even though Daryl was already gone, it was still pretty early. The dew was still fresh on the grass and the air still held the morning's chill.

"Morning sunshine," He said looking up.

"Mornin'." I whispered.

My throat was hurting worse than it had yesterday. But I wasn't going to tell anyone that. Especially not Taylor.

"How ya feeling?" He asked as I sat down on the log beside him.

I pulled the sleeves of my sweater down over my hands and huddled up.

"Alright." I said. "How long has he been gone?"

"'bout five hours," He shrugged. "Ya know, I think he's really startin' to care for ya."

I looked over at him and narrowed my eyes.

He laughed. "No hateful looks. This is me being dead serious right now, River. No joking. He woke me up at the ass crack of dawn just to sit out here and keep watch over you."

I gave a slight smile. "Well, that's kinda sweet. How's Beth?"

"Good." He said, lowering his head. "She's doing well."

"Spill it, Tay. What's goin' on?" I asked.

"I hate that she did that. I hate that she didn't think she could talk to me. We'd got really close lately, and it hurt me to think that she'd be okay with just checking out." He sighed.

I felt a pang in my heart. I knew my brother had started to get close to the young blonde and that her suicide attempt had rattled him, but I didn't realize how much. I felt like a horrible sister for not noticing and an even worse one for not reaching out to him.

"I'm sorry, Tay." I said, placing my hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry that I haven't been a good sister and asked how this was affecting you."

He smiled and patted my hand. "It's okay. You've had things goin' on too. We're strong. We got this."

"Damn right we do." I said.

We both looked up as we heard a car crunching down the gravel driveway of the farm. We looked on curiously in silence as the silver SUV pulled to a stop in front of the house. Rick and Shane got out of the car; Rick walking to the back and opening the boot. A young brown haired boy, blind folded, emerged with Rick's help. I watched as the boy limped along across the yard, lead by Rick, and back towards the shed he was being kept in.

"I thought they were taking him and dropping him off." Taylor said as he put his knife in its stealth.

He rose from the log and held out his hand. I took it as he helped me to my feet.

"Let's get you your meds and change your bandages, then we'll go see what's goin' on." He said.

After we'd changed my bandages, we set off across the yard. Rick stood on the front porch, along with Herschel and Dale. They seemed to be in a debate about something. None of them looked happy.

"You can't be serious." I heard Dale exclaim as we drew closer.

"What's goin' on guys?" Taylor asked.

"We took Randall eighteen miles out to leave him. He started talking about how he went to school with Maggie and he knew the location of the farm. We can't just let him go. If he finds his group, he could bring them back here for revenge." Rick explained.

"So, we just execute him? Is that what you're saying?" Dale asked. "Do you two agree with this?"

"I do." Taylor answered. "I wouldn't feel comfortable letting him go if he knew where we were."

"So, just kill the kid?" Dale asked eyes wide in shock.

"That's the only option, seems like." I said quietly.

"If we do this, where's our humanity?" He argued.

"We don't have the luxury of humanity all the time anymore." I said. "If I had to choose between humanity and surviving, I'm sorry, I'm going with surviving."

He shook his head. "I thought for sure you'd agree with me, River."

"I'm sorry, Dale. I agree with Tay, I wouldn't feel safe." I said shrugging. "I know Herschel couldn't rest easy knowing this boy knows his daughter and where their home is."

"I just won't him gone. I don't care how." Herschel said.

Dale looked to Rick. "Give me time t talk to people…"

"You've got today. We reconvene before sunset and discuss it."

"Thank you." Dale said. With that, he walked away, not looking at anyone.

"Thank you guys," Rick said. "I don't like this…"

"Who would?" Taylor asked, shaking his head.

A few hours later I found myself back in Daryl's tent, propped up in the sleeping bag, finishing up The Great Gatsby. I'd been in here for an hour or so. Why I didn't go to my own tent was beyond me. Well, not entirely. I wanted to be near his scent. His sleeping bag smelled of the woods, cigarettes and oddly enough, vanilla. After we had spoke to Dale, Herschel and Rick, we'd come back and gathered up our dirty clothes. I'd grabbed what I could find of Daryl's lying around his tent without going through anything of his. It was the least I could do.

I'd washed the clothes in a large bucket I'd got from Carol while Taylor sat by the fire, heating up some beans for lunch. I rigged up some rope between two nearby trees and hung our clothes out to dry. We spent the next little while after we finished our lunch sharpening our knives and arrows and cleaning our guns. Since Shane had passed out all of Rick's supply of guns, we'd snuck his back to him, and pulled our cars over by our tents and got our own choice weapons from the trunk of the Impala.

Taylor had got out his trusty 9mm Glock, two hunting knives, a machete and hammer. I didn't quite understand the hammer, but he swore by it. I thought for sure after all the times when we'd been on our own and he'd pull it out and I'd yell 'Hammer time!' that he'd give it up. But he didn't. I had got out a Beretta 92 FS Inox, two hunting knives as well, to go along with my trusty bow and arrows.

Now, after an hour or so of reading, I heard footsteps approaching the tent. I tensed up a bit, even though Taylor was just outside by the fire.

The door of the tent flipped open suddenly and I jumped.

"Sorry," Daryl said as he entered. "Didn't mean ta scare ya."

I sighed. "Its okay."

"Ya feelin' alright?" He asked as he laid down his crossbow and sat down.

"Hey…" He said suddenly before I could answer. "Where are my clothes?" He looked around the tent curiously.

"I washed them." I said. "I hung them out to dry on the two trees over there."

"Why?" He asked, his eyebrows knotting together.

"Um… because they were dirty and I was doing laundry and it was the least I could do after all you've done for me." I said cautiously.

"Ya don't owe me anythin'." He said flatly.

"I know I don't owe you." I said. "I wanted to do somethin' for you."

"Ya don't have ta." He said, looking down at the ground.

I sighed. "I get your not use to people doing things for you. But get over it. Cause I will."

Before he could argue, Taylor called from outside the tent.

"Hey Daryl, Rick wants ya." He said.

"I'll be back." Daryl said without looking at me.

I sighed and crawled out behind him, passing the men.

"Where you think you're going?" Taylor asked.

"To see Maggie," I said without looking back.

"I'm wat-"

"If you say I'm watching you or anything like that, I will turn around and hurt you." I shouted the best I could.

"Fine! I won't say it then! But just know, that's exactly what I was gonna say!" He yelled back.

I found Maggie in the kitchen with Patricia and Beth.

"How ya feelin'?" I asked Beth as I sat down beside her at the wooden table.

She gave a small sheepish smile. "I'm alright."

"Good." I nodded. "You gave us a right scare. Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah," She said with a nod.

"Do you like Taylor?" I asked. "I'm not tryin' to be the nosy sister, but it's just, when all that happened, it's really took a toll on him. He really cares about you."

She smiled. "Really? Yeah, I guess I do kind of like him. He's funny and sweet."

"Wait… is there another Taylor?" I asked, smiling.

"The one and only," She chuckled.

"Well, that's good. I forget sometimes that Taylor can be sweet and loving." I said. "He really does like you; a lot, actually. Just be up front and honest with him. It hurt him bad that you didn't feel you could talk to him."

"I just…"

I shook my head and raised my hand to stop her. "You don't have to explain anything to me. I get it."

She smiled, leaning over; she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Thanks. Taylor is lucky to have a sister like you." She said.

I hugged her back. "I could say the same about Maggie."

"Aw, guys." Maggie said.

"Don't get sappy on us." I laughed.

"So, tell me more about Taylor." Beth said. "He was an engineer, right?"

"Yeah. He graduated from MIT. He worked in the engineering department of a college in the city. He is wicked smart. He was always building stuff when we were younger. Tore up so my Easy Bake oven for parts." I said. "The boy is a genius. My dad had this stand up safe, about six feet tall. It was state of the art, y'know? Reinforced steel, 10 point gears, could withstand a 9.0 earthquake… well, when we were 13, we got in trouble for sneaking out with Glenn to go to a local theatre that was having an all day Star Wars marathon. Of course, we got caught and grounded. They took away my record player and took away Taylor's tool kit. We were nerds. Well, the next day when mom and dad went to work, we snuck in their bedroom. Taylor had a glass of water, I had no idea what he thought he was about to do. He sat the glass of water on it and started turning the dial. I be damned, just a moment later, that safe door swung open. I was shocked. We got our stuff out. The day before our grounding was up we snuck back in and put them back. Parents were never the wiser."

"Wow." Maggie said. "He really knows his stuff."

"Oh, yeah. He had offers to build shit for NASA." I said.

"Whoa, that's impressive," Beth sighed. "How did the glass of water work?"

"The gears were wound so tight in the safe to help reinforce it and keep it locked even during a quake, that whenever you passed a combination code it let out slightly, causing the water to ripple." I explained. "So, he knew when he was hitting a code. We've known the combination ever since. Dumbfounded our siblings how we figured it out. We used that information to get what we wanted so many times."

"You sound so proud of your brother when you talk about him." Maggie said beaming.

"Oh, yeah. I'm very proud of my brother. So, what else ya wanna know about the elusive Jordan Taylor Holden?" I asked.

"When is your birthday?" Beth asked. "And who's older?"

"January 18th." I said. "And Taylor is by four minutes. And he holds that over my head constantly!"

"It must be so weird being a twin." Maggie said.

"Nah, not really," I shrugged. "We're super close; much closer than regular siblings. It's like we know what the other is thinking and feeling without having to say a word. It's like coming into life with a best friend already."

We spent the next hour chatting about the boys. I dished information on Taylor and Glenn as the girls listened intently.

When our stomachs started to growl, we decided to head outside to see if supper was under way. The sky was shades of orange and pink as sunset approached.

"Where's Daryl?" Maggie asked.

"I dunno…" I shrugged.

"There he is." Beth said, pointing towards the shed.

I glanced over to see him walking into the barn where Randall was being held. I frowned. What was he doing there?

"I'll be back." I said to the girls.

Curiosity had got the best of me as I crossed the yard. I paid no mind to the rest of the group as I passed. My mind was racking the possibilities of what he could be doing with the young boy.

As I approached, I could hear the sounds of the boy sobbing, begging.

I walked into the doorway silently. I watched as Daryl hit the boy hard in the jaw.

"Tell me!" He shouted.

The boy looked beyond Daryl, straight at me. His eyes widened.

"Please, help me! Make him stop!" He pleaded.

Daryl whirled around. "What are ya doin' here?!"

"I saw you come in here. I.."

"Go!" He shouted.

"No! Please, help!" Randall yelled.

Daryl turned around and hit the boy again. "Shut up! Don't talk to her!"

Daryl rushed over to me, grabbing me by the arm and pulled me out of the barn.

"What do ya think yer doin'?!" He hissed.

"I can help." I said, ignoring his question.

He raised his eyebrows. "Ya think ya can help?" He chuckled. "No way."

"I'm serious." I said. "He'll talk to me before he will you."

"Yer not goin' in there alone," He said sternly.

"I never said that, did I?" I told him.

"Fine," He said. "Five minutes. That's it."

"'s all I need." I smiled.

We walked back into the shed. Randall sat against the wall on the floor, tied up. His eyes widened as we entered, wiggling against his restraints.

"So… who were you with before all this?" I asked. "Where is your group?"

"I'll talk to you. Alone." He said, eyeing Daryl behind me.

"No way," Daryl said.

"Listen… Randall, right?" I said, inching closer. I bent down in front of him so I would be eye level with him. "You tell us what we want to know, or you're gonna wish I'd never showed up. Got it?"

He snickered. "You're gonna make me wish you'd left me with him?"

I smiled at him. "Yes."

Before he could respond, I hit him hard in the nose then kicked him in his bad leg. As he yelped in pain and slumped over, I pulled out my knife and quick as a wink, shoved him back up right and held it to his throat. I heard Daryl move closer behind me as I got so close to the boy.

"Tell me or I'll slit your throat." I hissed.

"You're crazy!" He yelled.

"I can show you crazy, honey. I'm just getting warmed up. So, I'll ask you again. Who were you with and where is your group?" I said.

He glared at me, terror in his eyes.

"Alright, just know you brought this on yourself." I sighed.

I raised my knife just above his bad leg. Just as I was about to stab it through it, he yelled.

"Stop! Stop! Wait! I'll tell you!" He yelled.

"Spill it." I said.

"Fine!" He yelled, sobbing.

"How many were in your group?" I asked.

"About thirty men." He said through choked sobs.

"Are they armed?" I inquired.

"Yes, Heavy stuff; Automatics." He answered. "One time I was with them, we came across an older man and his two teenage daughters. One night we found this little camp site, a man and his two daughters; teenagers, real young, real cute. Like her." He nodded towards me.

"Watch yerself, boy." Daryl growled.

"I'm sorry. The dad had to watch… while these guys… and they didn't even kill 'em afterwards. They just… they just made him watch. His daughters, just, just left 'em. But I didn't touch those girls. I swear…" Randall continued.

I glanced back at Daryl before I rose to my feet. Before I knew it, Daryl was beside me, pushing me away. He kicked the boy as hard as he could in his bad leg.

The boy yelled in pain. "You gotta believe me, man! I ain't like that!"

Daryl kicked him over and over.

"Have fun." I said as I passed Daryl.

I walked out of the barn and headed back towards Maggie and Beth. Before I could get far, I heard Daryl shout my name.

"What?" I asked, looking around.

He rushed over to me. He didn't look happy.

"I need at talk to ya." He said as he reached me.

"Okay. What's up?" I asked.

"I definitely don't want ya ta be alone, okay? If they go lookin' for him…" He drifted off before shaking his head and continued. "Just stay close ta someone, alright?"

"Alright," I said warily.

"'M serious, River." He said, putting his hand on my chin and pulling it up till my eyes met his. "Dun't be alone, dun't do anything stupid."

"Okay." I said with a nod.

"Promise me." He said.

"I promise." I said.

His ice blue eyes held something I hadn't seen in them before. But I couldn't quite put my finger on it. He nodded slightly and sighed.

"What was that?" He asked, jerking his thumb back towards the barn.

"What can I say? I loved the Borne films; always wanted to interrogate someone." I laughed. "We needed to know what he knew. So, now we do. Tag team interrogation style." I grinned.

He nodded.

"I'll see ya later." He said before walking away.

I stood there for a minute, unsure of what to do as I watched him walk back towards the barn. Maybe he did really care. Or maybe I was just being silly.

That evening, I sat by the fire near our tents with Daryl and Taylor. As we ate supper and chatted lightly, I looked up to see Dale approaching.

"Can I have a word with y'all?" He asked, shifting the rifle strapped to his shoulders.

"I moved over here to get away from you people." Daryl grunted.

"Of course, Dale," I said. "Have a seat."

"I wanted to talk about Randall." He said, sitting down.

"I figured as much." Taylor said, running his hand through his hair.

"We can't be the judge, jury and executioner. Killing him won't change the people he was with. But it will change us." Dale said.

"The world has changed, Dale. And so have we. He's a threat, simple as that." I said.

"You're a decent man, Daryl. You cared about what happened to Sophia. You can't tell me you don't care about this." Dale argued.

"Nope, don't care." Daryl said without looking up from his plate. "Group's broken."

"Lives or dies, you don't care?" He asked Daryl.

"Said I dun't care." Daryl said.

"River, you're okay with killing him? What if you had to be the one to pull the trigger?" Dale asked.

"Then I'd pull the trigger." I said.

"And what do you think you'd feel afterwards?" Dale inquired further.

"Recoil," I answered plainly.

Taylor shook his head.

"And what about you Taylor?" Dale asked.

"What she said." Taylor said. "I agree with her one hundred percent."

"And if you were the one who had to pull the trigger, you'd be able to sleep at night?" Dale asked Taylor.

"I'd sleep like a baby." He answered.

"Well," Dale said, getting to his feet. "This group is broken."

Movement next to me was what woke me from my slumber the next morning. My eyes fluttered open as Daryl came into focus in the still dark tent. He moved quietly around the tent getting ready.

"Hey." I said, sitting up.

He turned around to look at me. "Hey. I didn't mean at wake ya."

"It's okay." I shrugged. "I didn't mean to fall asleep here again. I'm sorry. I promise I'll give your tent back today."

He shook his head as he slipped his shirt on. "Nah, its fine. I'm gonna go huntin'. I'll be back later."

"I'll go with you." I said, shoving the sleeping bag off me.

"No." He said shaking his head.

"I didn't ask for your permission." I said daringly. "I'm not damaged goods. Plus, I'll be with you. I'll be fine."

He sighed. "Ya stay close, ya got me?"

"Yes, Mr. Dixon." I said sarcastically.

After I threw on my shorts and oversized sweater, laced up my books and unwrapped a pop tart to share with Daryl for breakfast, we made our way to the woods. I'd left Taylor a note on his tent that I had left with Daryl so he wouldn't freak out when he found I wasn't there. The sun was just coming up, like a big bald head peeking over the clouds. My legs and top of my socks and boots were damp as we trudged through the tall dew damp grass towards the woods. It was eerily quiet. But I was elated to be back in the woods again.

We fell into our silent communication of nods like we did every time we'd been hunting together. We didn't need to speak to understand each other out here. Out here in the woods, we understood one another completely. Somehow, someway, we knew the others thoughts, movements, intentions…

As noon approached us, we stopped to rest and eat a little lunch Daryl had brought for us. As I cleaned the blood off my arrows, something caught my eye.

"Daryl…" I said, not glancing at him. "It's a house."

I pointed to my right. Sure enough, in the distance, barely visible through the dense woods was the faint makings of a house.

"Let's check it out." He said, standing up.

I followed the crossbow wielding man through the woods and towards the small house. As we approached, I could see no one had been here long before the outbreak. The place was run down; the white paint was peeling off the side of the house, a few windows were broken and one of the wooden stairs leading to the front door was caved in.

"Careful." Daryl said as we started up the front steps.

He turned the door knob, revealing it was unlocked. He glanced at me and nodded before shoving the door wide open and entering the house first.

The house had been closed off for some time. The smell and thick dust told me that much. We set off in different directions, searching each room, one by one.

I stopped as I entered a bedroom and my eyes fell on something that caused me to smile brightly.

"'S all clear." Daryl said. "Where ya at?"

"Here," I called. "Someone's been here recently."

"Yeah. The dust in the kitchen is disturbed." He said.

"So is the dust here." I said.

I could hear him enter the room and make his way behind me. But I paid no mind. I kept going through the box of treasure in front of me.

"Records?" He said.

"Yeah," I said, looking back at him with a huge smile. "I had one of these." I motioned to the old vinyl player beside me. "Mine wasn't a crank one like this. But still. Ah, ha!"

I pulled out a record and placed it on the turn table. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Daryl slump down on the bed.

"Yes!" I shouted as I threw my hands in the air as the record started playing.

I pulled out a record and placed it on the turn table. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Daryl slump down on the bed.

"Yes!" I shouted as I threw my hands in the air as the record started playing.

I started dancing around the room, singing along loudly.

Poor old Johnny Ray,
Sounded sad upon the radio,
Broke a million hearts in mono,
But he moved a million hearts in mono

It was the first time in a long time that I felt alive. Music had been my solace my whole life and I missed it greatly. I spun around the room, not caring that I had an audience. For a second, a split second, the world didn't seem like such a dark, terrible place.

Come on Eileen
Oh, I swear what he means
At this moment you mean everything
You in that dress

My thoughts I confess
Verge on dirty
Oh, come on Eileen

I heard Daryl chuckle from the bed. I stopped and looked over at him and smiled when I saw he was grinning.

"C'mon." I said, beckoning him to join me.
He shook his head and grinned. "Nah, I'll just enjoy tha show."

"Suit yourself." I shrugged.

But just as I started singing along and twirling around the room again, a gunshot stopped my joy short. I looked at Daryl for a split second as he jumped up from the bed. I immediately turned and ran out of the house.

"River, wait!" Daryl yelled from behind me.

I could hear shouting and growls of the dead as I ran out into the front yard.

"This way," I said, taking off as I heard Daryl's footsteps near me.

We dashed through the woods as fast as our feet could carry us. I grabbed an arrow from my quiver as I jumped over a log. The scene came into view; there were two men fighting off six walkers. They were dirty and only held knives in their hands.

I shot a walker down and hastily grabbed another arrow as a bolt whizzed by me, landing square in a walker's temple. I shot my second arrow, hitting the walker closest to one of the men just above the ear. The two men finished off the remaining walkers.

As they caught their breath, one of them turned towards us.

"Thank you." He said.

I felt my heart skip ten beats and I swear in that moment, I didn't breath at all. I couldn't. Realization washed over the man as he hit the other in the arm, who was bent over still catching his breath, causing him to look up.

"Oh, holy shit." I breathed. My eyes already blurring with tears.

This wasn't real. It couldn't be…

I dropped my bow and ran towards the two men, flinging my arms around them and sobbing uncontrollably. I heard Daryl yell my name but it sounded like a hundred miles away. Nothing else mattered.

My brothers. They were alive.