Hello there all you followers of this story! I'm really excited for the next couple chapters and I hope you are too! This is when things begin to change from the original timeline to fit how I want this story to go. So let me know if you love it or hate it :P Here you are chapter 5!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead

It was nearly nightfall before Glenn finally returned in one of the old cars that some of the newcomers had driven up in when they arrived. Shane was one of the first people to approach him and they talked for a minute in low tones. Carol watched from near the makeshift kitchen where the women were trying to decide what to make for dinner. Andrea and Amy had managed to get a few fish but not nearly enough for the whole group. The little hunting trip proved unsuccessful as noted when the group came back empty handed. They had all heard the story already from Merle who kept ranting about how the group was too loud to be hunting in the woods. How they had chased away the deer he and Daryl had been tracking. Daryl had sat quietly as his brother talked, not putting much input to what Merle was saying.

Carol was brought out of her recollection when Lori nudged her.

"Better go see what he brought back" Lori said and the two women moved to go to the car Glenn had returned in. As they reached the two men, Shane slapped Glenn on the back and the two moved to the trunk of the car. They opened the trunk and Lori and Carol smiled as they saw cans of food, a few more tents, some blankets and some cooking gear and utensils.

"I grabbed what I could, packed the car then came right back" Glenn said as he began picking up bags and some loose cans. Carol and Lori helped as did Shane and they carried everything over to the makeshift kitchen. The cans of food and utensils were taken out and stacked on the table so they could go through everything. After those things were unloaded Shane and Glenn moved off to hand out the few tents Glenn had brought back. Blankets were also handed out to those who didn't have any yet and were just using their layers of clothing to protect them from the cold.

Carol smiled at Lori as they pulled cans out to look at their labels.

"Beans, peas, pineapple and some cans of chicken noodle soup" Carol named off as she read the cans.

"Well we can use the fish Andrea and Amy brought back, cook up the peas and a couple of the cans of beans" Lori said as she pulled out enough for that meal. Carol nodded and as they set to work on the meal she tried not to laugh. The beans weren't going to go over well with the group.

It took a bit of time but with Andrea preparing the fish, Lori cooking the beans, and Carol on pea duty everything went along quicker than usual. When everything was done Lori called out that the food was ready and everyone gathered around and stepped up to get their serving. The camp was quiet as they ate. A few snippets of conversation went on around the low embers for fires that someone had started. Carol sat with Ed and Sophia and quietly ate her meal. Her family was one of the few silent ones and Carol found herself shifting in her seat. Sophia ate her food and stared at her plate. Ed ignored the two of them and ate his food quickly. As Carol was nearing the end of her meal she let her eyes roam over the site. The kids were talking excitedly now that some of them had finished their meal and the adults began talking about the day. Decisions were made for the next couple days. A group would be put together to go into Atlanta again to get more supplies that Glenn had mentioned there were.

"Many stores didn't seem to be affected by the bombs they dropped. Most were damaged I mean but not all of them" Carol could hear Glenn tell everyone. Andrea, Jacqui, Merle, and Morales volunteered to go and Shane agreed that the group could do it. Glenn was reluctant to have others go with him but resigned himself to the decision.

Daryl said he was going to do some hunting the next day and he headed off early to the tent he was going to share with Merle. Many of the group stayed up longer but some also started to their own tents to get some sleep for the next day. Ed was one of the ones to head off to the tent and Carol nudged Sophia to get her to help with the dishes. Carol, Sophia and Amy did the dishes that night and once everything was put away they too headed off to there tents. Carol once again layed down between Ed and Sophia and quickly drifted off to sleep once her head hit the pillow.

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The camp waved goodbye to the group heading to Atlanta two days later. Daryl had brought back some rabbits the previous day from his hunting trip so everyone had a good evening meal and breakfast that morning. Many in the group were happy to have meat again and groaned in pleasure as they had eaten. Praise had been directed at Daryl who had seemed embarrassed and quickly shook off any of the praise given. Carol had found herself smiling at his expression as he had walked off to clean his arrows and crossbow. She could also tell he wasn't used to the praise that was given to him, that much was obvious really to anyone who saw his reaction.

As the group headed for Atlanta drove off everyone became busy with everyday things. The women gathered up all the laundry into a couple baskets and headed down to the quarry where they had begun washing all of the clothes. They took turns that day and Lori and Carol were the first two to start off. They would wash what they had and the others would carry the baskets up and hang the clothes on the clothesline.

While they were down there Lori began talking to Carol about her life before the end of the world had happened. She talked about funny times and about when Carl was born. Carol was happy to listen and even inputted stories of her own. Of course she glossed over the situations with Ed as she didn't want anyone to know. When Lori got to talking about Rick's accident she began to choke up a bit.

"He got shot while out with Shane and a few other officers. He was in a coma and we didn't know if he would even wake up. Shane was at the hospital when all this went down, Carl was at school" she started. "When the warnings came on the tv and radio I went to go and get Carl from school. Shane had gone there too and told me what happened at the hospital. Said the monitors stopped working and he didn't think he was breathing. I had to tell Carl right there at his school about his dad and it was honestly the hardest thing I've ever done" she finished her story and Carol couldn't help but hug her.

"I'm sorry" was all Carol could think of to say and she knew even it wouldn't be enough. Nothing would. Lori nodded and wiped at her eyes before pulling away. They worked for a bit in silence before Carol started up the next conversation.

"you know, I used to talk to this person on the internet" Carol started, not sure why she was bringing it up. It caught Lori's attention however so she continued.

"We would talk for hours when I had the chance. Ed would sometimes go out for long periods of time and I'd hop on the computer" Carol said. "It was one of those online chat things. We had talked for a mew months before all this happened. Sophia even talked to him a few times. Once I went to the washroom and came back and she was laughing at something he had typed"

"Did he ever tell you his name?" Lori asked. She was a bit worried, knowing how many weird and sick people were on the internet.

"Daryl. He said his name was Daryl" Carol told her with a smile. She could see the recognition on Lori's face.

"Well what are the odds of that. Think it could be the Daryl who went hunting today?" Lori asked jokingly. Carol laughed.

"Could be, who knows really, we never exchanged pictures" Carol responded. Lori nudged her with her elbow.

"You should ask him" Lori told her. Carol shook her head.

"I probably wouldn't have the courage to ask" Carol said with a small smile. "Besides how would I even begin to ask? Did you ever talk to a woman named Carol on an internet chat?"

"That's one way to start the conversation. Or you could even be more subtle 'have you ever gone on an internet chat?' or you could go for an out right question. 'I used to talk to a guy named Daryl on an internet chat and I wonder if you might be him'" Lori said. They both laughed at that last one.

"I could never do that" Carol said after she had taken a breath to stop the laughter. "I don't know. It doesn't really matter now"

"Of course it does. Everyone could use all the friends they can get" Lori told her. Carol shrugged but couldn't help but agree, in this world having more friends would be better. However Ed wouldn't allow it. He had shut her off from friends before and he wouldn't hesitate to do it again she knew. The friends he didn't know she had were pretty much the only friends she could have. If she were to ever confront Daryl on that subject it would have to be done so Ed wouldn't know.

Carol was pulled out of her thoughts as Andrea and Jacqui came down to take over the washing and Carol and Lori grabbed the two small baskets to take up with them to hang up. When they got up to the campsite Amy, Dale and Shane were around the radio attempting to talk to someone through it. Disappointment was clear when they lost whoever it was they were talking to.

"Someone was on the radio but we couldn't get in contact with them" Shane told them as they came over.

"We can't get them back?" Lori asked. Shane shook his head.

Everyone continued on with what they were doing and it was hours later when the radio started up again. It was a guy named T-dog and he said he was with their group. He could be heard saying they were trapped on top of a building and that walkers were everywhere. Everyone was fearful for their group and even more so when they couldn't be heard anymore on the radio.

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It was late afternoon when the loud chirping of a car siren was heard. It brought everyone over to the road to see what was going on. A red car was speeding up the road, siren blaring and the kids began covering their ears as it got louder and louder. The car came to a stop beside the other vehicles and Glenn got out with a big smile on his face. He was instantly yelled at t o turn the siren off and when he said he didn't know how Shane went got it shut off. Amy was quick to ask about Andrea and Glenn was quick to reassure her that everyone was fine. Or rather everyone but Merle. As the white van drove up and everyone got out, Morales instantly went to his family and hugged them. Carol could see out of the corner of her eye that Lori was comforting Carl. Carol felt for the boy and she hugged Sophia close in front of her.

"How did you manage to get out?" Shane asked.

"New guy" Morales answered. Everyone was confused at this and once the new guy came out Carol saw a blurr in the corner of her eye and a call of "dad!" as Carl went past. Carol watched as Carl embraced the man and he in turn embraced Carl. Lori was quickly moving forward too and the three embraced. Carol's lips turned up in a smile and a hand moved to her face as her eyes began to water. She was so happy for Lori. This could only be Rick and she was glad he was alive to be with his family. They were complete now and Carol couldn't be happier for them. The only problem was one person was still missing from their group now, and she knew a certain someone who would not be happy with that.

Daryl.

And there you have it. Chapter 5 is complete and unfortunately it is another short chapter. However I'll let you in on a little secret. Chapter 6 is gonna be longer. Aha, once again thank you to everyone who has reviewed. They make me want to write more and more. Also big thanks to all you who Favorited and follow this story, I hope you are enjoying it. Drop a review, healthy criticism is welcome :)