AN: Hmm, Northward huh? My Geography sucks, and I'm Canadian so forgive me if I tend to gloss over the upcoming adventure's description. If any of you wanna help me out, feel free to message me. Also, yes, I think they're going all the way to Canada. Muwahahahaha!

And, most importantly, thank you all for coming on these adventures with me.

Love,

Shazzy

Chapter 2: Committee

Rick brought the suggestion up at dinner that same night.

"North?" Glenn asked. "Why north?"

Rick shot a glance at Daryl, who had taken his usual place at the edge of the firelight before answering with a shrug. "Who's to say that the walkers won't freeze?" Rick parroted Daryl's explanation from before. "And maybe this is just a thing here, maybe if we can get far enough north there won't be any more walkers?"

"Wait, you mean, like Canada?" Shane asked gruffly. "You want to drag us all to Canada?"

"I didn't say that..." Rick replied defensively.

"Then what, Rick?" Shane drawled. "You wanna drag us away from the safety here with no supplies? No weapons? What if we run into another herd like we saw on the highway?"

"What if a herd finds it's way here?" Rick shot back. "Do you think we'd really be able to defend ourselves if a hundred walkers swarmed us? We sleep in tents, for God's sake!"

"But there's been no walkers here for weeks!" Shane shot back. "We ain't seen any around since the barn..."

"We'd need supplies." Lori piped in. "I mean, we can't just go the way we are now. And what if we can't find anything? What if we run out of food?"

"Or if it snows early." Shane added. "We're not prepared to last a winter here, let alone on the open road."

"I'm sure that we'll be able to find another place to stay." Rick said weakly. "And there's cities, towns, places we can scavenge and raid."

"And other, better prepared survivors, I'm sure." Shane spat. "And when we run into a roving band of misfits? What then?"

"We defend ourselves!" Rick said. "And we avoid other people as best we can until we're sure -"

"Sure of what?" Shane shouted. "Sure that we're gonna get all of us killed with this stupid idea of yours!"

"I'm willing to go north."

Everyone looked at where the supportive voice had come from.

Carol was sitting quietly in her usual place. She was dressed in a loose knitted sweater, wrapped around her slight frame. She bit her lower lip nervously. "I mean... what's the harm in it? We've taken so much of Herschel's supplies, the man has a family to think of, and we aren't really helping him in any way. It's as good a plan as any."

Daryl was just as shocked as the rest of them. He was expecting confrontation from the group, but not support, and least of all from Carol. She was always so quiet, never really voicing her thoughts or opinions, just following. And it was worse with Daryl. She would follow his lead regardless of what he said or did...

But she was agreeing.

Something pinged in the back of Daryl's mind. A nagging suspicion that he couldn't place. It was driving him crazy, Daryl Dixon never forgot anything. And yet...

"We still don't have enough supplies to get us much past the edge of the farm!" Lori exclaimed. "And you think it's a good idea to go north? We don't know what's out there!"

Daryl ground his teeth. Lori and Shane were tag-teaming Rick, pointing out all the stupid things that could go wrong, but no one made any solid arguments against leaving. They were complacent, comfortable. Sheep.

Daryl had had enough, it was his idea, wasn't it?

"We don't have to leave immediately." Daryl piped up.

The entire group stopped dead. Daryl never spoke up. He never voiced an opinion. He just sat back quietly and let everyone else argue until they were blue in the face. He didn't seem to care. And yet here he was, speaking up for the first time in weeks.

"Why would we risk ourselves like that?" Daryl continued hurriedly, before Shane could interrupt again. "We have some time, it's like... September or thereabouts, right? Snow doesn't usually happen 'til November or so? I mean, the leaves have barely started turnin'. That's a good sign. We have time to scavenge. Get some more fuel saved up, get some canned goods, some more ammo, do some huntin' and save whatever we can find." He shrugged. "I'm all for heading north. This place is killin' us."

Daryl made sure to emphasize the use of the words 'we' and 'us' in his sentiments.

Shane scowled and Lori turned her eyes away from him. Carol beamed with pride and Daryl caught the look.

She knows something.

"I'm inclined to agree with Daryl." Dale spoke up for the first time. "It's fantastic that Herschel has let us stay this long, but this is the man's land, we're strangers here and we are putting a huge stress on his family and on his resources. If we can get the supplies together, I don't see why we shouldn't move on."

"I... I don't wanna leave." Glenn piped up.

Daryl rolled his eyes and groaned under his breath. The kid was in love.

Spare us the details of young teenagers in love.

"Andrea?" Rick asked. "T-Dogg? You two haven't said anything yet."

"As long as I'm not getting shot at or fed to walkers, I can't complain." T-Dogg said, holding his hands up in a gesture of no contest. "I'm perfectly happy sitting my ass right here, but if the rest of you think it's better to keep going, I'm not gonna fight it."

Andrea bit her lip, running her hand against the back of her neck. "Both plans have merit." She said slowly. "I mean, we need to scavenge and hunt more, there's no way we'll be able to make it through the winter here, even with Herschel's help." She shot a quick glance at Lori and Shane. "And I don't think that staying is a great idea either." She shrugged. "Can't we kind of just... play it by ear? If we have enough to ration us through the winter, let's make a run for it, but if we don't... We could stay here? Share our supplies? And then leave in the spring?"

"That kind of defeats the purpose." Daryl drawled.

"And like you know any better?" Andrea shot back. "Like you're some kind of expert about what's gonna happen to those... things in the cold?"

"It's a better plan than anything you've come up with, princess." Daryl spat back acidly. "Whatever, I'm outta here." He scowled. "You girl scouts and enjoy yer little pow wow. Lemme know what you decide to do." He added towards Rick as he got up and stormed off.

Carol frowned and shot Rick a look of apology.

Rick nodded no her and then quickly in the direction of the retreating Daryl. Carol smiled briefly and got up to follow him – the entire group knew that she was the only one who could talk him down these days. And no one argued. They all knew that deep down they needed Daryl on their side. They wouldn't have made it as far as they had without his help on more than one occasion, alienating him was out of the question and was definitely not on the list of things that would be good for the group's overall well-being.

"Daryl?" carol asked quietly as she rushed to catch up to him.

"Not interested in talking." Daryl replied over his shoulder.

Carol grabbed his arm, his bare skin cold against her warm fingers.

He stopped and sighed. He didn't understand how she managed to hold so much sway over him.

"Why are you running?" Carol asked.

"I ain't running." Daryl replied, confused.

"You're running away from the discussion." Carol accused.

Daryl turned to face her. He placed his hands gently on her shoulders and stared into her pale blue eyes.

"I'm going north even if they ain't got the brains to follow me." Daryl told her. "I want you to come with, but I dunno what's gonna happen." He bit his lip nervously. "I mean, it ain't safe out there, we know that, an' I don't wanna see anything bad happen t' you, so if you think you're better off staying with -"

"I'll come with you no matter where you decide to go." Carol interrupted. "If you think north is better, I'll follow you." She offered a small smile of reassurance.

Daryl nodded and pulled her close.

She knows something that she ain't tellin' me...

"We'll get provisioned up." Daryl said matter-of-factly, still holding Carol close. "Even if the rest of these idiots don't see it, I'm leaving this damn farm."

Carol smiled against his chest, not letting him see it.

Maybe he was remembering his nightmares, after all?