The sky was becoming gray in the early morning light when Kit turned to Rick. "Where do we go? I can't just continue to drive aimlessly." Besides, she was on a very important mission to find her redneck.
"Go back to the highway," he told her. "That's the only spot everyone would think to go to."
When they climbed out of the car and found no one else there, Carl became upset. "She's not here; you said she'd be here! We have to go back for her, it's mom."
Kit had had a very long day and a very long night so any patience she might have mustered for Carl was gone. "If your mom is still on that farm, then she's dead. This is our only option right now, kid, so keep your fucking voice down and wait." Rick shot her an angry look, clearly not appreciating the way she had talked to his son, but the death glare she sent him back dared him to say something.
When Carl left to sulk, Herschel turned to Rick and Kit. "We got to get Carl to safety."
"I don't think this place is any more dangerous than anywhere else." Kit would not leave this spot until she was sure Daryl wasn't going to try and meet her there. Nothing could kill a Dixon but a Dixon – she knew this, but it did nothing to relieve her anxiety.
"You and I can wait here for the others," Herschel assured her. "But Rick needs to get his boy to safety."
"We stick together," Rick declared. "I'm not splitting the group again." Kit couldn't help but think to herself that they really hadn't been much of a 'group' to begin with. Rather, they were more akin to a handful of groups thrown together who happened to overlap in a few places.
After an hour of waiting and dodging walkers, Herschel turned to Kit and Rick again. "I don't know how much longer we can stay here."
"So we should leave without knowin' if my wife, your daughters or Kit's…Daryl are alive?"
Before Rick could say much else, Kit heard the familiar sound of Daryl's motorcycle and burst into tears when she saw him pull up. "Daryl!"
He was off his bike as fast as possible. "Christ, Kit!"
They had never held each other so tight before and she let her tears roll freely, not giving a damn who saw. "You scared the shit outta me, woman!" he told her in between kissing every single inch of her face, leaning down to do so.
"I didn't know if I would ever see you again."
Other vehicles began to pull up but Kit and Daryl were blind to them, holding each other as if to confirm that the other was indeed alive. Before too long, he noticed the marks on her wrists from the previous day. "That son of bitch hurt you," he growled. "I will kill that fuck."
"He's dead, Daryl."
He softened a little, seeing that she had apparently taken his death hard. "I found the trail," he said quietly. "Jesus, why'd you go after him yourself?"
"I didn't realize at first that he was going to kill Randall. Shane wasn't trying to kill me, though."
"If tha' wadn't enough ta scare me shitless, then I see that fuckin' herd come rollin' through, knowin' you was in those woods."
"I'm sorry," she said. "It wasn't supposed to go as far as it did with Shane."
By now everyone else had been reunited with their families, if they had one, and Rick shook Daryl's hand. "How did you find all of them?"
"Saw that kid's tail lights zig-zaggin' all over the road. Figured it had ta be an Asian drivin' like that."
Kit laughed and Glenn went up to hug her, glad his last friend from the quarry had made it, despite what he and Daryl had found. "So where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked.
"This is it," Rick said gravely.
"Shane didn't make it?" Lori asked.
A growl began to escape from Daryl before Kit hugged his arm, telling him that now was not the time to discuss what had happened with Shane. She looked around and didn't see the other blonde with them. "Andrea?"
"She saved me and then I lost her," Carol said.
Other names began to be thrown around, Jimmy, Patricia. "Was she still alive when anyone last saw her?" Kit asked, nearly inaudibly.
When nobody came up with a real answer, Daryl decided to take the initiative. If Kit wanted Andrea, then he would get Andrea. "We gotta go back fer her."
"No," Kit told him firmly. "Andrea isn't stupid. If she's still alive, then she's long gone and you can't go after her."
"Kit," Beth told her gently. "I've got somethin' for ya."
Kit turned to see Beth had rescued Bernie from the house. "Oh my god, I didn't think he'd made it. You took the time to save him?" Beth nodded, which earned her a bone crushing hug from Kit before she took Bernie.
When they began discussing the fact that they needed to move, Kit headed over to her minivan and pulled out two of the stowaway seats. The fewer cars they drove the better and Kit knew she belonged with Daryl on his motorcycle, so she made room for the Greene family in her van. "Glenn, I want you to take the mom-mobile with the Greenes. That way, Beth can still look after Bernie." The only other car held Carol, T-Dog and the Grimes family.
She didn't have a great deal of experience on motorcycles, but sitting behind Daryl and wrapping her arms around him, she felt no anxiety. She would miss Andrea and Dale terribly, but if she had Daryl, she would be alright.
Before too long, Rick's car needed gas and it appeared as if they would be spending the night. "I'm freezing," Carl said before Rick gave his son his jacket.
"You must be, too," Daryl said, turning to Kit.
"I'll change into something warmer, later. Until then, I'm fine in my t-shirt. We'll have to be careful if we're going to gather firewood."
"How ya doin' on ammo?" Daryl asked Rick.
"Not enough. We'll set up a perimeter and get supplies in the morning."
"I still have a few supplies left in my car," Kit told them. "I can make a run with Daryl, too, if need be."
"Like hell," Daryl protested. "You ain't eaten or slept since yesterday mornin' and you ain't had much water, neither. You ain't goin' on a run till you've had a decent night's sleep and some food. Otherwise you won't be able ta see straight ta shoot."
"We stick together!" Rick told them harshly. As he started talking about getting a place to fortify, Kit and Daryl gave each other dubious looks. Rick wasn't thinking straight if he thought there was a safe place to spend the night anywhere near here.
Daryl figured now was as good a time as any to discuss what had happened the previous day. "We found Randall, ya know. He was a walker but he wadn't bit."
"What the hell happened?" Lori asked.
Daryl glared at her. "Shane killed Randall, just like he always wanted to an' then left Kit in the woods ta die." Even just mentioning Shane's name caused Daryl to gravitate towards her.
"So what? The herd got him?" It seemed that Lori was the queen of not seeing what was right in front of her.
Kit didn't exactly want to admit to her deeds from the previous night, but Rick saved her ass. "We're all infected," he announced.
"What?" Daryl asked.
"Whatever this disease is, we all carry it."
The others got disgusted looks on their faces but Kit only grimaced once. It made perfect sense that they would be carriers. Once everyone had yelled at Rick and he stalked off for an angst-fest, Daryl turned to Kit. "You can't be alright with this."
"I'm not too concerned about the fact he didn't mention we're carriers. What worries me is that he may make other executive decisions that I don't like."
"Do you understand this whole 'carrier' thing?"
She nodded. "Enough. It means that we, to some extent, have immunity to the disease – though this clearly doesn't apply if we're bitten or scratched. It also means that if we come into contact with someone who's been cut off completely from all of this, there's a chance we could accidentally infect them," she informed him gravely. "The more immediate concern is that should one of us die, we'll come back as a walker if left alone. I saw it happen to Shane."
"Damn, Dex. All that?" Daryl could see she was calm about the 'carrier thing' but her face had begun to grow a little dark, no doubt thinking about Rick. "Come on, let's find somethin' a little warmer for ya. I think even yer hot blood could get a little cold tanight if ya don't change."
She nodded, her mind still reflecting on Rick.
That night, Daryl sat next to Kit who had created a really nice fire. "I've made this one extra hot for you Georgian pussies," she joked, trying to keep everyone's moods from growing as dark as hers. Daryl pushed himself into closer into her, wondering what they should do, though it was also due to the amount of heat she was giving off – still a furnace.
"He's only bringing you down," Carol told him. "And I'm a burden. I want a man of honor."
"Rick has honor," Daryl told her. "An' he's done alright by me."
"Only since Dale's death," Kit reminded him.
"I say we should take our chances," Maggie said.
Kit shook her head slowly. "We should stay in a group, if possible. It increases the chance of survival." Herschel verbalized agreement with her. She turned her head close to Daryl and whispered so that only he could hear. "However, I do agree with Carol: I wouldn't complain if there was a change in leadership."
Rick went off on a rant and Kit quickly grew tired of it. "Calm the fuck down. There are ways of telling people not to go running off in the dark without making your voice hoarse."
"You would know about running off in the dark," he muttered. "It's how you killed Shane."
All eyes turned to her and she sent Rick a 'thanks for nothing' look. "You killed Shane?" Carl asked her.
Kit nodded, trying to find the exact right words to approach this touchy situation with. "You all seem to forget he left me for dead in the woods. However, believe it or not, killing Shane had nothing to do with my own feelings for him, nor did I take any pleasure from it. I found Rick and Shane shortly after I escaped from where Shane had left me tied up. Shane was going to kill Rick – had his gun pointed right at him – so I shot him."
Looks of disbelief continued to spread through the group and Daryl wrapped his arm around Kit protectively. As far as he was concerned, the bastard had it coming. However, Rick came to Kit's rescue in a way as he continued his rant, talking about how Shane had compromised the group. "He staged the whole Randall thing and led me into the woods to put a bullet in my back. My hands are clean and so are Kit's. If you think yer better off on your own, then go ahead and see how far you get."
While Rick went on and on, Kit thought to herself that his crazy was showing; yelling at a group of terrified people wasn't helping anyone, least of all Rick. "Get one thing straight: this isn't a democracy."
When he stalked off the rest of the group looked at him, realizing what he was capable of and Kit certainly didn't want to be tied to Rick at the moment, but some in the group were giving her mirror looks. "I didn't want to do it," she told them quietly.
"We all know you hated him," Lori spat.
"Believe it or not, Shane and I had a long talk the day that Dale died. During that talk we formed a sort of truce which is why he wasn't an asshole during the discussion that night. Shane and I would never have agreed on anything, or ever like each other, but I didn't hate him and I think he thought of me along similar lines. If nothing else, we had an understanding. I didn't pull the trigger until I saw him pointing his gun at Rick. Don't you dare insinuate that I wanted to kill him."
Most of the group appeared to believe her and seemed sympathetic, except for Lori.
"Come on, Dex, let's get some sleep." Daryl and Kit leaned up against one of the walls together. "We're gonna get through this."
Weeks had passed since they had left the farm and the group began to settle in some interesting and unexpected ways. At the moment, Rick was standing in the road, everyone staring at him, expecting him to make a decision. (He had been making all the decisions, lately. After all, it wasn't a democracy.)
Suddenly he barked "Herschel, Daryl, Kit, come with me."
The three gave each other confused looks as they followed Rick away from the group. "Now we've got two options on where ta go next. One has more supplies, but the other is probably safer an' I don't know which one to pick."
Daryl looked at the map carefully. "If we go ta the town with the supplies first, then it'll be easier ta swing ta the other one."
"Besides," Kit added "If we grab and go with the supplies, then when we get to the other town, we'll have both. And if things get crazy, we could get out pretty easily. We'd just have to keep the number of people who leave the vehicles to a minimum."
"It sounds like we have a plan," Herschel agreed.
"Who should leave the cars for the raid?" Rick asked, wanted to be as strategic as possible.
"Kit an' I aren't likely ta screw things up, so we should probably go," Daryl said.
"Glenn is good at getting in and out quickly, so we should probably take him and maybe Maggie. You and Herschel should stay with the rest of the group and be ready to run if need be."
Rick gave the three of them a curt nod before heading back to the group to relay the information.
"Looks like our promotions still stands," Daryl observed.
"I guess. We'll see how long it lasts." However, she figured that between her, Daryl, Herschel and Rick they were bound to make the right decision, no question about it.
The cars were parked on the main road of the small town, Kit, Daryl, Maggie and Glenn beginning to search the stores in pairs; no one went anywhere alone anymore. Every few stops or so through the different buildings, the pairs would quickly return to the cars, drop off what they had scavenged and go on to the next building.
Kit and Daryl had made their way close to the end of the main road and Kit was looking intently at the stores, trying to find a useful one when she felt Daryl wrench her away and they began running. She didn't ask questions when he brought her to a tree and barked "Climb!"
Once they had reached some of the higher branches, she saw what had spooked him: another herd, just as large as the one at the farm. They could see that everyone else had made it back to the cars but no one knew where they were and soon the group couldn't wait any longer, abandoning the town, leaving Kit and Daryl stranded.
Once the herd had passed through without noticing Kit and Daryl, they climbed down from the tree and Daryl couldn't help but quip "Remind you of old times, Dex?"
She rolled her eyes, relaxing now that the immediate threat had passed. "What do we do now?"
"I remember where tha' town is, the one tha' Rick said was supposed ta be pretty safe. That's where they'll probably go, 'cause I intend ta get the hell outta this place. Walkers sure as hell ain't the only things that'll come through here an' we ain't gonna be here when they do. We stay off the main roads an' we head towards tha' town."
Kit was beyond happy that Daryl was with her because she couldn't navigate Georgia worth shit. She would never get lost in the woods but she couldn't remember the locations of towns or keep track of roads at all. "How long will it take?"
"'Bout two weeks, give or take. That's assumin' we ain't runnin' the whole way. Don't worry, we'll get there."
"I'm actually not worried at all," she mused. "In fact, I think this could be a nice vacation."
"Vacation?" he scoffed. "Travelin' through the woods ain't gonna be no picnic, even if we do got a few supplies stashed away in tha' pack of yers."
"What I mean is that we get a break from everyone. We wanted to leave the group back on the farm so now we at least get a taste of that. Besides, I've been getting sick of the way Lori and Carl have been looking at me since the farm disaster – you would think I was Satan in the flesh."
Daryl hadn't thought of it that way and the idea of two weeks alone with Kit, walkers or no walkers, sounded like the best damn vacation in the whole world. He wouldn't have to put up with Rick acting crazy, either. "You gotta point, Dex."
"I know," she replied with a smile. "Now let's begin our vacation, Griz."
A/N: I'm going to do a series of oneshots before I move on to season three. It'll probably be four or five chapters before they reach the prison but I hope that you enjoy the time in between the second and third seasons :)