This started out as a role play between myself (nolongeraxburden) and happyblueink (gunslingerdixon), and it was mutually decided upon to share with the rest of as a fanfiction. So here it is! Enjoy!

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Also: we own nothing in regards to The Walking Dead. All rights belong to the copyright holder.

A flurry of leaves kicked up as he rode down the lonesome highway into the quaint neighborhood. Daryl did a once over not seeing much beyond a pair of old tire tracks in a muddy puddle near the entrance of the cul-de-sac. He recognized the set of tire tracks that went in one direction which was en-route to the prison. He figured that had to be Rick and the other set likely Carol. He huffed, revving the chopper and riding along in the direction she had taken.

She was likely without a map and if he knew her well enough figured she would take main streets in case she got stranded. Land markers that she could refer to. Carol was good like that.

He frowned slightly thinking about what Rick had said. Carol had killed to protect the group. She had are a choice to attempt to keep the virus whatever it was from spreading. He may not like the idea that she had killed them, but it wasn't like she was completely in the wrong neither. There was no right and wrong. A decision was made and she stood by it. It bothered him some that her choice had been to such lengths. He wondered where the woman he had watched grow had gone. This new Carol was calculating and strong. She wasn't the meek quiet thing he had known from back at the quarry.

No, that woman was buried somewhere else. She'd died with her little girl long time ago.

Daryl pressed on. The sun was coming down on him and it would be a matter of time before the night would come and he'd have a harder time to find her. He needed to find a place to hunker down for the night. He'd keep going 'till there was no more light.

He wouldn't give up on her.

Carol jumped and twitched at every noise. She just didn't know how to deal with quiet anymore. The prison was always busy and had some kind of noise going no matter what time of night. She moved, shifting into the passenger side seat and letting the seat back only slightly. She'd have to stay alert as well as quiet and get some rest at the same time. Moving around that neighborhood had been tiring, and then Rick had dropped the bomb on her. She wasn't allowed back in the prison. Not with his children. He didn't want here there.

After she'd forgiven him and trusted him and he'd killed people for no better reasons than her own had been, and she was the one that wasn't to be trusted. She was the one that had kept her head after losing her only child to the walkers. She hadn't lost it like Rick had over his wife, over Lori. She balled up her fists, beating them on the dashboard angrily. How dare he sit in judgement of her! She shook her head, knowing this was the only way she was going to survive in this world alone.

And then she softened when she looked down at her wrist. Sophia's ponytail holder, right where it always was. She reached down, snapping it slowly. She took a deep breath, pushing herself into the backseat and rummaging for something small to eat to quiet the growling in the pit of her stomach. She should have insisted that he take all the fruit and other food that they'd found back to the prison. She'd have survived on whatever she could find for herself, but she let Rick give her something. it would ease his mind at night a little when he tried to sleep. Or she hoped it would. He'd given her a fighting chance, and she'd given him the watch that meant nothing to her as a reminder that he left her out there alone.

And finally after eating a tomato and small can of beanie weenies, she let her thoughts turn to Daryl. She remembered all the quiet conversations they'd shared over the past year plus, and how close they'd gotten without being anything more than friends. If she had one regret, he was it. It wasn't enough time with him. And once he found out just what she'd done, he'd be glad she was gone. She'd be one less person he had to worry about, one less person to give his thoughts and care and attention too.

And it was only then that she let the tears fall for the man that had become her best friend through all this. Something she spent her whole life looking for and never had until the world was nothing but hell on earth.

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