A/N:Thanks for the review! I hope I still have your attention. haha I promise it will be explained what happened at Terminus and I hated to take Carol's big moment away from her. It's one of my favourite moments from the series but it just wouldn't have worked in my timeline. We're now halfway through the story in case anyone was wondering. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! :)

Chapter 11:

Everything slowed down for a second and then rapidly sped up again. Daryl was behind her one minute and racing past her the next. He pushed and elbowed walkers out of the way and even drove his blade into their skulls. It was obvious that he was out of control and didn't care anymore if they were detected or not.

Her fingers closed around the hilt of her knife. She grasped it so firmly that her knuckles turned white. Then she burst into a run as well. The more progress she made, the more fallen corpses littered her path but she kept her eyes trimmed on Daryl's back and continued to run, anticipating an attack any moment.

She heard the metallic clanging as her shoes grazed the fallen fence but didn't pay much attention to it because she had suddenly become stranded in the mass of walkers. Air was escaping her lungs in quick puffs as she frantically looked around, trying to find Daryl again. But it was impossible. All around her were decomposing bodies pushing her around, growling dangerously and the heat of the fire had now become unbearable.

She could feel the old fear bite its way back into her bones, cold sweat trickling down her back.

Alone without Daryl.

She had lost him too.

Her breaths became deeper, heavier, weighing her whole body down, tempting her to fall to her knees so that the walkers could trample her to death. But then she heard his screams full of sorrow and despair.

"Beth! Beth!"

Trembling she forced herself to walk again, slower this time.

One breath.

Slower.

Another breath.

Good.

She scanned the area again, listened out for his screams. Next to her a walker was feeding on some fresh flesh. She didn't look, couldn't bear to see who it was.

Reaching up to her shoulders to pull her pack closer against her back, she slipped through a gap between another two walkers and followed the familiar railway tracks around the side of the first building she encountered.

There was no sign of life.

"Beth!"

Another wild and anguished scream. His voice was starting to crack.

She moistened her lips, tried clearing her throat that felt dry and scratchy but couldn't produce a single sound. He had seemed close though. Perhaps if she just kept pressing on she'd catch up with him again.

She quickly let her gaze sweep over the tracks, making sure that she hadn't missed him anywhere but except for the odd walker she could only make out a couple of abandoned train carriages.

He had to have disappeared into one of the buildings. She glanced back at the one she had just passed and then forward again, trying to make a decision. At last she saw that someone had opened a large gate on the side of the hall ahead of her and so she jogged towards it. Walkers had infiltrated it as well and were now stumbling around the empty space.

Carol held her breath, hoping that the sweat hadn't washed away the scent of decay. When none of them turned to look at her she proceeded, leaving the first hall behind and slipping into the next. It seemed to have served as a kind of weapon's chamber. Various items lay spread out across a table. They had been neatly arranged by size and placed row by row except for some spots where the order was broken and it seemed as if somebody had picked up several of them in a hurry.

Had it been Daryl or someone else?

She had started towards the next door when something caught her attention: a gun that had been placed innocently enough next to several of its kind.

But it wasn't just any gun.

Carol turned and approached the table, let an inch of its strap run through her fingers before picking it up.

This was Tyreese's.

Somebody had taken it off him. She knew this without a shadow of a doubt. He never would've handed it over willingly, not when he had been tasked with protecting Judith.

The implications of this only made her more determined as she slung the gun over her shoulder and rushed towards the next room. She reached for the handle of the gate, trying to yank it open but instantly recoiled when the touch burned her hand. Wincing she wrapped it in the hem of her dirty coat and tried once more. The heat was strong enough to prickle at her flesh but she ignored it; she needed to make sure that Daryl hadn't become trapped inside.

The fire had consumed a large part of the room and she instantly jumped back when the flames hungrily advanced towards her.

"Daryl!" she yelled in fear when she spotted a body lying on the ground.

Her eyes darted around wildly, trying to find a solution, trying to find something that could help her get closer.

That's when she saw the writing on the walls that hadn't been turned into charcoal yet. Deadly premonitions in a spikey and bloody handwriting. She looked around again, noticed the objects, the tossed over candlesticks.

This had been a shrine.

She read the writing again.

This had been a trap.

She doubled around and chased back down the way she had come from, her face darkened by the smoke and glistening with sweat. When she burst outside, she followed the path between the two buildings that led deeper into the territory.

"Daryl!" she yelled time and time again until her throat felt raw and she was forced to stop and cough violently.

Smoke was filling her lungs. Pain constricted her chest. And Daryl was dead.

She retched and trembled, tears blurring her vision. He couldn't be. The door had been closed. Nobody could've locked him in. She had to keep searching.

She took a single step forward, gasping for air. Walkers, fire, death all around her. She stumbled onwards and hit the side of the building. It scraped her shoulder and the skin near her left temple but she grasped at it for support and continued.

"What did you do to them?"

Daryl's voice, angry, raging.

She tried walking faster.

"Open your mouth you pussy!"

A thump, a groan of pain and then only soft whimpering.

"Please…"

"Shut the fuck up and tell me what," a crunch, "you," a yelp of pain "did!"

"Daryl," she turned a corner and saw him hovering over a stranger who had seen better days.

He had an open wound near his stomach that coloured his shirt in deep red and a raw bite near his shoulder that seemed to stem from the walker that lay dead beside him now.

"What are you doing?"

She noticed specks of red on Daryl's boot.

"Rick was here…Glenn was here…they all…" his hand tightened around the pocket watch he was holding. It was splattered with blood as well. "What the fuck did you do to them?" he yelled again and kicked the man in his stomach once more.

He yelped, his body contorted and he spat out blood.

"Stop it, Daryl."She bridged the gap between them and touched his arm, Tyreese's gun slipped off her shoulder and landed heavily between them. "He's dying."

"I don't fucking give a shit!" he bellowed again and tried pushing her out of the way but she wrapped her arms around him and tried keeping him in line. "It's a fucking slaughter house. They're killing people like animals! Where are they?!"

He pushed against her with such force that she almost fell over.

"Gone," the man coughed and then smiled, showing his teeth that were covered in blood.

Daryl's hand flew to his belt to grab the knife that was fastened there.

"It's not worth it," Carol tried, "listen to me. There's a fire in that building and it's about to reach the weapon chamber. There are guns in there…ammunition…grenades. This whole place is going to blow up. We have to leave. Now!"

Daryl panted and nodded but his eyes never left the man.

"Come on." She repeated and pushed him forward and away from him.

Daryl nodded again and started walking and with a last look Carol followed suit. They hadn't taken three steps when he whirled around, grabbed the nearest walker and forcefully shoved him towards the injured man on the ground.

"No!" Carol gasped but it was too late.

The agonizing, final screams of a dead man pierced the air and made her blood run cold.

But Daryl's expression remained completely blank and he continued walking as if nothing had happened. She, however, couldn't turn her face away from the grueling image and continued to stare at it until the walker had devoured the last screams of its victim.

"Carol, come on!" Daryl called to her from a distance, sounding completely detached.

Reluctantly she moved again, staggering after him.

They hadn't made it very far when the explosion ricocheted around them, sending pieces of debris flying through the air and throwing her off her feet. Daryl stopped and wrapped his arm around her, helping her up once more but his grim expression never changed.

Carol hobbled onwards but cast a glance back over her shoulder to see nothing but demon children dancing in the flame of the freshly ignited fire and when she looked back at Daryl they continued to dance in his eyes.

His own nightmares haunted him now.