I don't own the Walking Dead. I'm not associated with the creator, writers or franchise.

Meant to publish this a few hours ago...Sorry for the delay! Hope you guys like it...it's a little longer than my other chapters.

Chapter 6

They parked the car and truck a decent amount aways from the prison. It would take them at least a good half hour to walk through the woods to get there. Luckily, Daryl knew those woods well enough from how much he had hunted them in the past.

Except for Glenn, it would be the first time any of them would see the prison since the fall.

Michonne had warned them. She'd been the only one to go back. When she did, she'd found Herschel's head and had put it down. Hearing about the devastation of the prison was one thing...seeing it was another.

Glenn had been prepared, because he'd had to work his way through the rubble, smoke and destruction when he'd escaped with Tara. As they scouted the tree-lined outer area, they were surprised that there weren't more walkers. Yeah, there were some that were randomly wandering inside and outside the prison's fences, but overall it seemed that most had cleared out of the area.

"There were a lot more when Tara and I had to get out of here, where'd they all go?" Glenn told them.

"Who knows...maybe they moved on as a herd. Somethin' caught their attention." Daryl said holding his crossbow out in front of him at the ready for a threat.

...

The small group continued to circle the prison's outskirts. Finally, they saw Merle's bike parked in between two walls of the prison. It looked like it had fallen over, but from this distance...Daryl couldn't see if it had anymore damage.

"At least it's still there and not blown up to pieces." Daryl said. He felt the delicate touch of a hand on his arm.

Carol was comforting him. She knew how much that bike meant to him. It was the last thing he had of Merle's. She gently squeezed his arm, then let it go. This was something that only Carol could do. She was able to bring him comfort and not make him pull away with her gentle touches.

Her touches were never forced and a response was never expected by her. Carol was just reminding him that she understood the importance of that bike. Like with Rick, Carol and he had the ability to wordlessly communicate between one another, and it had been created over their time through patience and trust.

Daryl's mind flashed back to Beth. Her overpowering hugs, her need to constantly touch...even holding hands...he understood why she was that way...it had been how she was raised...but it was like having a child who constantly needed physical reassurance that you were still there and hadn't disappeared. Hell, he'd even given her a piggyback ride...looking back he knew he had just adapted to her personality to make her feel a little more secure.

Daryl still didn't see how Beth could have taken his actions as anything more than "fatherly" or at least those of an "uncle".

...

As they were circling back to where they had started...they would randomly run into a few walkers.

At one point, when Glenn and Maggie weren't paying attention, Carol had to take out two walkers that had appeared suddenly behind them. They had been busy looking in the direction going towards Woodbury...not really paying attention, and Daryl was further away checking for tracks. Carol's reflects had been quick, confident and lethal.

Daryl had watched her shove the knuckle buster up into the walkers brain, then she'd spun around and took out the knees of the other walker, driving the knife into the front of that walker's skull.

All of them had looked at Carol in shock.

"What?" Carol asked suddenly realizing they were all staring at her. This made her angry. "I can do a lot more that cook and laundry now."

She wiped her knife off on the grass, then shoved it back into the sheath on her belt.

Daryl was in awe, and then he scolded himself. How was he this surprised? After all, she'd been teaching kids how to use knives and be strong in order to survive. You can't teach that stuff without knowing how to do it yourself.

As they traveled on, Maggie and Glenn followed behind Daryl and Carol. They finally got to the overlook point by the train tracks...unknowingly to where Rick had told Carl not to look back at their destroyed home. Carol and Daryl saw the entirety of their old home in ruins. They heard Maggie gasp in surprise. Memories of the governor and his inhuman actions floated through all their minds. All the death and destruction.

It was starting to get dark when they finished their perimeter check of the prison. They decided to head back to their vehicles and camp for the night. Then they could begin head out early and get what they came for...the picture, bible, grab the bike and find Herschel's body.

...

Daryl sat by Carol and stared into the fire. Maggie and Glenn were asleep and curled up together on the other side of the fire. Those two were hardly apart since they'd found each other again.

Daryl could tell Carol had a lot on her mind. Daryl wondered if she was thinking about HIM. It pissed him off to think that another man was in her thoughts.

Daryl had a lot of fixing he had to do. He'd explained about Beth, but he knew there was another thing they needed to talk about...and he wasn't a good talker. He had to try though...it was the only chance he had to bring her back towards him...try to undo the damage he'd done...

"I would've went after you." Daryl said so softly his words were barely heard by Carol.

Carol looked up at him.

"You would have?" Carol asked. Not really believing it.

"When Rick told me...I was pissed...pissed at you and then him for what he did to ya'." Daryl told her looking over at her face watching different emotions cross her face.

"Oh." Carol told him looking down.

"Then I just wanted to get to Tyreese to tell him it was you...needed to prove to Rick he was wrong...needed to prove you weren't in danger. Least none that I couldn't handle." Daryl told her.

Carol looked up at him. A small smile crossed her face.

"Didn't get a chance...the govenor...all hell broke loose." Daryl added stabbing the ground with an arrow.

Carol was surprised at Daryl's words. She wasn't sure she believed him. After all, Daryl and Rick were close, and rarely did Daryl go against Rick's decisions.

Daryl saw the doubt in her eyes at his words. At least he'd said them...now he just had to go about proving them.

...

A little while later, Daryl watched over Carol as she slept next to the fire. He was determined that nothing would hurt her from now on...especially him.

To be continued...

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