"Can you get me a bottle of water from the truck please?" Alex asked as he was cooking and I nodded, getting to my feet sluggishly. I slipped my shoes on, not bothering to put them on properly.

Helena had also jumped up and was walking alongside me, chatting away about who knows what.

It was still too early. The sun wasn't visible over the treetops yet. I hadn't had enough sleep and I wasn't going to get any either. Tired would've been an understatement. Drained would be more like it.

As we got near the truck, I tripped over my other foot. I looked down at my feet and pulled my shoes on properly, grunting. When I lifted my head up, I was greeted by a car door.

The impact to my face sent my on the floor, my cheek throbbing wildly.

"F- Ouch!" I yelped as I brought a hand to my face, trying extremely hard not to swear in front of Helena. But oh my god, it hurt so bad!

Great. It was on my cut, and it felt like the stitches had popped as my face was bleeding angrily again.

"Sam! I'm so sorry!" Helena gasped, dropping to my side. I tentatively put a hand up to my cheek and hissed in pain.

"It's okay. I'll go see Hershel." I gasped, almost humoured at my rubbish luck.

"Sam?" Alex called.

"Go give him a bottle of water, okay?" I told Helena and she nodded, keeping her eyes low.

I trudged up to the house, my hand hovering over my cheek. I desperately wanted to touch it as see if it was any worse, but the stinging and throbbing was too much.

I knocked on the door and entered, searching for anyone.

"Kitchen." Hershel called. I took a deep breath and walked through the house.

"Can I help?" He asked as he finished drying a plate.

"Could you take a look at a cut for me? I think Helena just opened the stitches again." I winced. Talking made it sting like a bitch.

"Sure." He said as he put the plate and towel in his hands down and walked over to me. He got close to my face and looked over the cut as I tried not to flinch at the close contact.

He nodded to himself and turned to begin rifling through a somewhere behind him while I stood about awkwardly. He pulled out a medic kit and set about cleaning away the blood that had stopped falling.

I tried not to gasp and wriggle away as he touched my cheek. He then brought his hand up to assess the stitches.

"I'm going to have to cut them out. I believe Patricia was going to change them soon anyway." He said, and all I could do was nod.

He prepped the needle and the thread and places that on the table before removing and discarding the one in my face. My face throbbed painfully, actually making me feel quite lightheaded. I tried focusing on that and not the needle.

He put the needle in, and I was surprised that it didn't really hurt much, although that may be because my face was already killing me. My eyes welled up slightly, so I shut them to prevent them spilling over.

"Thank you for helping me with Patricia last night." Hershel said quietly, making my eyes open and widen in surprise.

"How is she?" I asked, trying to move my face as little as possible.

"Still asleep. I stayed with her until she drifted off so she wouldn't threat or do something silly." He sighed.

"I don't think she's like that. But I understand." I shrugged.

A few minutes passed until Hershel was done. I was relieved that the extra pressure on my face had gone, but it still stung.

"Sam, you go know that that probably won't heal. It wouldn't have healed anyway, but now this... It will scar." He said to me, and I nodded sadly. A funny twinge hit my stomach though, despite confirming what I thought was already going to happen.

"I guess I knew, but I didn't want it confirmed. Thank you Hershel." I said, placing a hand on his shoulder as I left.

I walked out of the house as the chilly morning air hit me, making the pain in my cheek more acute.

What Hershel said about my face scarring was a definite blow but it wan't unexpected. The cut wasn't healing fast. Something was obviously wrong. But it put a dampener on things. I know I was no looker, but now with an extra unattractive thing on my face - well. I probably looked totally gorgeous. Or not.

As I made my way back to the tents, Helena rushed up to me.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" She gasped, hugging me tightly around the waist.

"It's okay Helena." I rubbed her head and she let go, taking my hand and walking with me back to camp. It honestly didn't matter. Well, not much.

"Are you alright Sam?" Glenn called.

"Yeah, But this cut on my face is going to scar." I confessed, shrugging. Glenn looked fairly sympathetic, but no suck luck from Alex.

"You're gonna look like the Joker from Dark Knight!" He laughed, and I shook my head.

"Not quite. But something like that."

Rick joined us later on, settling between me and Glenn with Helena taking prime spot in front of him.

"How's Carl?" She asked, her eyes dewy and puppy-like.

"He's okay. Hershel's really looking after him." Rick smiled, and Helena gasped. She hugged Rick tightly and say back down, smile glued firmly to her face.

T-Dog had finally resurfaced, looking slightly better than before. His eyes were bright and he seemed less lethargic.

He sat and had something to eat and occasionally joined in with the conversation.

"Hershel thinks we're coming to the end of the heat. He thinks the cold and the frost will be here soon. I don't know what we're going to do." Rick sighed.

"Well look, it still pretty warm now, so well sort it when it actually drops. We can raid the local town for winter coasts and stuff, and there are plenty of trees for firewood. Don't fret, Rick." I explained, surprised at how practical I sounded. Alex seemed to me surprised too, as he snorted.

Rick nodded, and there was even a peep of a smile.

It was getting warm, despite whatever Rick and Hershel thought. The sun was now in the sky, and I was going to be another hot day.

I got changed into cut-off shorts and a short-sleeved check shirt. I rolled the sleeves up, uncovering as much skin as I could as the morning pushed on.

I gathered my hair up and tied it in a high ponytails, welcoming the faintest breeze on my neck.

Shane, Rick and Glenn were chopping wood and Alex was piling it up while I was looking over T-Dog's hand.

"What did Hershel say about infection?" I asked.

"Well he's cleaned it, so hopefully it'll be fine." He shrugged and I smiled.

"And look, I'm sorry about not saying hello to you yesterday. I was a bit drugged up." He laughed. I smiled back at him, but I was totally confused.

"Drugged up?" I asked, eyebrow raised. That was lucky if he found some proper medicine to help him. Extremely lucky.

"Well, that's the interesting bit. We tried looking in the surrounding cars..." He trailed, his eyes latching on to something over my shoulder.

I immediately thought walkers and felt my eyes widen and my breathing threaten to pick up, but T-Dog smiled.

"Guys," he called over his shoulder and pointed. I span quickly to follow his finger, and I thought my heart was going to stop.

An RV was driving up the path. Followed by a truck and a motorbike.

I stood up and walked towards the rest of the group, stopping by Alex. I strained my eyes at the sight, thinking this can't be real. Alex reached out to my arm and squeezed.

This can't be real.

After what felt like a lifetime, the vehicles eventually pulled up next to ours, and the inhabitants stepped out. We dropped everything we were doing and walked out from under the trees into plain sight.

"Oh my god!" Alex shouted, his face breaking into a huge grin.

"Alex!" Dale shouted.

The rest of the group looked round and saw us. Helena had run out of the tent and was now charging at the group. She launched herself at Carol who held her tight.

I simply stared, reality not setting in. We thought we'd never see them again.

I spurned into action, running forward and I launched myself at Dale, who laughed into my hair.

"Sam, I can't believe it!" He chuckled. I pulled back from him and smiled as the rest of the group drew closer to us.

I hugged Andrea and clutched her arm as I drew away. She smiled at me, and it seemed genuine.

Over her shoulder, I saw that Daryl had stepped off his bike and was hovering in the background.

I hesitated briefly before my stupid emotions get the better of me. I walked up to him and threw my arms around his shoulders. He tried to get away, but I didn't let him. He did do some good once, right?

His hand went on my lower back which shocked me as I thought he was hugging me back. His hand hovered there briefly until he clenched the fabric of my shirt and pulled me off him. I stumbled a little bit ignored it. I looked up at him and saw him looking over the cut on my face, and I tried not to wince as his eyes carried on roving.

A huge weight felt lifted off my shoulders though. I didn't have to worry about their safety any more. At least while I'm not around.

"You're alive." He stated. I rolled my eyes at him, feeling a little strange.

Something was different. Not just with him, but with all the group. They had a quiet and haunted look about them.

I turned to see Carol behind me, waiting to pull me into a hug so I wrapped my arms around her. She clung fiercely to me, making me grimace a little.

"It's good to see you Carol." I said, and she nodded on my shoulder.

"Sam." she said as she pulled away, looking pained.

"What's up?" I asked, frowning.

I looked thoroughly at her, and then to the rest of the group. They all had a knowing look, and it seemed to be crushing down on them.

"Sophia is missing." She whispered, her hands clinging onto my elbows.

My mouth gaped as I stared at her. My eyes shot up to Alex to see him covering his mouth. Helena was clinging to his side, lower lip trembling. my eyes flicked to Dale who was staring at his feet. My gaze finally shifted to Daryl who was gritting his teeth, watching as fresh tears started to fall down Carol's face.

"Oh Carol. I'm so sorry." I mumbled, pulling the woman back into another hug.

"But I promise," I said as we pulled back. "I'll do everything I can to help find her."

She nodded at me, and stepped away to go back into the RV.

Looking around, I frowned. There shouldn't been more people here.

"Jim passed on?" I asked. Dale nodded. That wasn't a surprise, but it still hurt.

"And Jacqui?" Alex asked.

"I'll explain later." Dale replied, but he was shaking his head. I heaved a heavy sigh and chewed my lip.

Rick came out of the house, and upon seeing us all assembled, he jogged down, relaxed look on his face.

"How is he Rick?" Dale asked.

"Carl's doing good." He smiled.

"You guys get yourselves set up - I'm going to talk to Hershel." Rick said as he turned back to the house.

"Oh, Sam. We're doing a memorial for Otis soon." Rick called and I nodded.

A few eyes were looking curiously at me and I sighed.

"I'll explain later."

Afternoon had crept upon us as we set up the rest of the camp. Tents went up and we worked on making where we were as comfortable as possible.

The memorial for Otis had come along, and as Shane recounted what had happened to Otis, I shut my eyes.

"... He just couldn't keep up. But he was a hero. For Carl." He finished, but something in me clicked.

When I was hunting with Otis, he could definitely keep going - it was his job. He tracked that one deer for days, keeping right on its tail, walking for miles. If he needed to, I bet he could've 'kept up'.

But thinking that, would Shane really kill Otis? Yeah, he's lost it a few times, but sacrificing someone else's life? That's a totally different story.

But if he did, what would've happened if I went instead of Otis?

No, Shane can't have killed Otis. He just can't.

Patricia accepted this story though, hugging herself tighter and smiling at the pile of rocks.

I glanced around the group. I'd filled them all in on who Otis was, and how he was involved in this mess. None of the group resented him though, despite accidentally shooting Carl - he wanted to do bit, and he paid the ultimate price. None of them were going to resent him for that.

Dale had an odd look on his face. I couldn't place it, but his gaze wouldn't snap off of Shane.

I sighed as I dragged my eyes away. I looked at Daryl. He was different. His body language seemed less defensive, and he looked disturbed.

Looking about at the group, they'd all looked like they'd lost hope in everything. Especially Carol.

Soon it was over, and the group dispersed. I walked to Patricia, gently hugging the woman.

"You have my condolences." I sighed. The words seemed so out of place in this new world.

"Thank you Sam." She sighed as she walked alongside Maggie up to the house.

I looked at the pile of rocks for a few minutes, my mind blanking. It was fairly tranquil. The view from where his memorial sat was beautiful. I could imagine it in the dying light; orange skies and the sinking sun over fields, met with the flourishing trees. The flies would start to hovered the day was cooler, and there would an orangy tinge to everything. It seemed nice. I'd make sure to check it our one day.

I made my way back over to the rest of the campers, my mind slipping back to the task at hand - finding Sophia.

I swallowed hard when I thought about it. What actually happened? I'd have to find out from Dale.

Looking at it from a detached point of view, it depends on where she went missing, and how long ago. Like they said in all the crime shows - the first 48 hours are critical. And she was - is, just a little girl. She might not be able to handle herself. I swallowed hard, trying to keep any bile that threatened to rise at bay.

But then again, I'm not detached. I know Sophia and I want to find her and protect her.

I saw Rick talking animatedly, standing over the hood of a truck. I walked over and hovered behind Andrea, watching as he pointed out parts of a map.

"... And so after I spoke to her, I ran off in this direction, leading the walkers away." Rick said, dragging his finger across part of the map. Hearing his words, it felt like a kick in the gut. There were walkers after her? I needed to talk to Dale about what we've missed. And pronto.

"I'm gonna look now." Daryl grunted, hoisting that legendary crossbow high on his shoulder. I briefly thought that I actually missed seeing the crossbow. I shook my head at the thought.

"Don't be too long. The day's more than half over." Rick warned, and Daryl ignored it, walking away towards the tree line.

I watched him go, wondering what had actually transpired - and the fact that Daryl actually cared. Or at least, he seemed to care about finding her.

"Okay, tomorrow, we'll get some more maps off of Hershel and check the land perimeters first. Then well branch further our from there." Rick concluded.

I walked away from the search party and walked up to Helena who was sitting beside Glenn. I ran a hand over my face and sighed.

Helena had his hat on and was sitting there proudly, the cap hanging just above her eyes and completely shrouding her ears. I smiled weakly at him, and he rolled his eyes dramatically.

"... Guns on my property." I looked up to see Hershel addressing Rick and Shane as he approached the group.

Unsurprisingly, Shane started arguing back. I shook my head and looked down, disconnecting from their conversation. We're lucky Hershel's letting us all stay here, and Shane is going to get us all kicked off his land and back out there in that craziness.

"Some people never change." Glenn said, and I nodded sadly.

Hershel walked off and Rick reprimanded Shane. I watched as Shane's face screwed up. It looked like he was about to scream at Rick, but he didn't, he merely walked off. I sat stunned for a second, watching as Rick watched him walk away awkwardly.

I sighed, and looked back at Glenn.

"So why wouldn't you tell me about Sophia and the rest of the group?" I asked, trying to shift my focus on something else.

"It wasn't my place Sam."

"Sophia maybe, but letting me know about the rest of the group is."

"I dunno.." he sighed, looking away from me. I blew my cheeks out.

"Well, forget it-"

"Glenn?" A soft voice asked from behind him. We both looked to see Maggie.

"I was told you're the person that gets supplies for the group. Fancy coming with me?" She asked, placing a hand lazily on her hip.

"Sure." He said quickly, and she nodded before walked away.

He looked at me like he needed permission. I smiled.

"What you waiting for? Go!" I laughed, flicking my hand in Maggie's direction.

He shot up and all but tripped his was over to Maggie.

"Scrawny little thing, isn't he?" T-Dog laughed as he emerged from his tent, sitting down in one of the deck chairs.

"How are you?" I asked after laughing at his statement.

"Bit better. The meds Dixon gave me took ages to wear off." He said, looking down at his hand. I felt my mouth hang open.

"Daryl Dixon helped you?" I gawped.

"I know," he laughed. "Twice. I cut myself when we were surrounded by a herd. They could smell me or I was loud or something, but the crazy bastard helped me. Threw some walker corpses on me to mask my smell and waited it out." He explained, and I felt like this revelation needed celebrating. Daryl actually helped T-Dog? After everything with Merle and so on?

"I, oh. Wow.. But where did he get the 'meds' from?" I stuttered.

"Merle had left them in Daryl's bag. It was after we'd searched the cars for any antibiotics, and found nothing. He was all 'you shoulda asked' and gave some to me." He said, and laughed once he saw my shocked expression.

"No way!" I gasped.

Daryl the heartless, redneck idiot actually helped to save T-Dog's life? I was totally blown away. That's the Daryl we need to see more of! Not him having to hide behind that total asshole persona.

"Sam, you gotta see this." T-Dog pointed out, dragging me from my thoughts.

I followed his gaze to near the house where Maggie stood with Glenn and two horses.

We watched and sniggered as Glenn tried to mount the house, jumping and gripping it around the mane before sliding off ungracefully. It was when we watched for the third time when he landed flat in his back that we burst out into belly-aching laughter.

I wiped the tears from my face and notices that all eyes we're now on us, but we didn't care.

The ridicule must have prompted Glenn as he managed to get on the horses back and wriggle on so he was in the right position. T-Dog and I cheered and whistled at his accomplishment.

A few of the group that were around chuckled at us, while T-Dog and I geekily high-fived.

T-Dog and I hadn't moved. We'd chatted for hours, the rest of the group joining in and walking off at different intervals. Carol had even come out of the RV for a minute, but swiftly returned.

I don't know how, but we'd managed to keep talking.

So it wasn't a surprise that we were shocked at how quickly it took Glenn to get back.

"... But guys, I left hours ago." He repeated.

He had walked up to us with a lost look on his face. He looked torn, and was doing his best to hide it. It wasn't working.

"Nah man, it must've only been an hour." T-Dog laughed, and Glenn blushed as he gritted his teeth.

"Whatever." He mumbled as he pulled up a chair and sat next to me. I took his hat off and ruffled his hair, placing his hat on my head.

"Well," I laughed. "You've missed out on one hell of a conversation. T-Dog, tell him about that Superbowl game - or what ever it is - that you went to!" I giggled, getting caught up in the good moment.

Glenn relaxed as T-Dog told his story, and I looked between the two, smile fixed on my face. T-Dog got to the apex of the story when I happened to look in front of me and saw Daryl climb in the RV.

I was about to look away when I saw a flower he had behind his back. From the distance, it looked beautiful. A large flower with delicate white petals. He knocked on the door and entered while I sat there, stunned.

My eyes didn't leave the door until he exited again, flower gone. It eventually clicked that Carol was in there.

He'd given her the rose-

What have I missed since I last saw the group?

He headed towards us and until he got a few yards away, turned towards his tent.

It was then that Glenn and T-Dog erupted in laughter. I snapped my gaze away from his tent and smiled as if I was paying attention to the story.

"You're right. I have missed out!" Glenn chuckled.

T-Dog and Glenn carried on talking, and I was kind of glad that I wasn't getting involved.

That was a sweet gesture, the rose. Yeah, that's for sure. Her daughter's missing, and she just needed some cheering up.

But that totally didn't seem like him. I mean, I know I don't know him well, but he never struck me as a 'flowers' kind of man. Especially a beautiful one that looked like a rose.

He did a nice thing though. He had good reasons to, right? Maybe he just wasn't as heartless as I pinned him down to be. That's was reinforced by what T-Dog said about helping him out with the walkers and his cut.

But a rose?

"Back in a sec guys - gonna get a jumper." I said after noticing myself shiver and snapping out of my thoughts.

As I walked to my tent, the events of the day filtered through my head. The day had felt like it had been a week long. The group had arrived, Otis' funeral and everything in between.

The sun had almost vanished from the sky, and I hadn't even noticed.

I thrust myself off the chair and walked to the tent, pulling out my dad's trusty old jumper. Glenn's cap fell off my head and I smiled as I pulled the jumper in.

I placed the cap back on my head and walked back out, zipping the tent up.

I stoked the small embers and built up the fire again, pushing the nagging thoughts of the flower to the back of my mind.

I dropped back in my chair and watched as the rest of the group trickled together as Alex started cooking.

Helena had got Rick to confess his favourite stories of a baby Carl, but he looked more than happy to divulge everything.

Even Andrea seemed pretty taken with Helena as she asked how Andrea had managed to keep her hair looking pretty.

Daryl has joined the group for food which surprised me as it involved human contact. Carol had even ventured out of the RV for a second time, but she took a small portion of food before returning. No one stopped her.

Plates were handed out and people ate graciously as we had combined our resources for something different.

People had settled on the floor and the remaining chair as we ate. We all eventually slipped into chatter like nothing had happened, and like nobody had gone.

"... So then we were able to get some petrol. Sam jumped back into the truck and we drove. She spotted the road heading down to here, and we took it. The rest is history." Alex finished.

We had all been telling what we had all faced since we last saw each other at the quarry. It was strange. We'd only seen each other a couple days previous, but it felt like it was a lifetime ago. We all seemed like different people now.

Daryl was half listening to Alex as he cleaned his crossbow, and Lori had walked off past the trees without a word. We were all shocked at what each other had experienced, each others stories shocking us to our cores.

The whole drama with the CDC and the herd - which I found out was literally a huge group of walkers - took them by surprise. I gasped so hard when they told me that I choked. They quietly told us that Sophia had run away then and the search they did for her. I could feel my eyes welling up, but a fierce determination building. I was going to help find her.

Alex was playing the role of storyteller well, and had everyone gather around him so he could look us all in the eye. I knew our story, and so I stayed off to his side as I recovered from what they had been through. Well, there's no recovering really.

I caught the end of what he was saying, as he explained his 'genius' plan to get Hershel to let us stay longer. It made me smile.

"Alex was totally useless though. I did all the work-"

"Hey, I saved your life at that house-"

"After I'd taken down those walkers, yeah!" I yelped, trying hard to fight the smile that wanted to creep up on my face.

The group laughed, genuine smiles etched on their faces. It looked like they hadn't done it in a long time. I smiled at their reaction, rearranging Glenn's cap on my head.

"Not the point! But, I was pretty awesome. What had happened was that Sam was a bit busy..." He rambled, capturing everyone's attention again.

I looked around as he told his story, watching everyone's reaction as he spoke about me fighting. I heard a quiet snort from beside me, and I looked down to see Daryl as he finished cleaning his crossbow.

I raised an eyebrow at him, but he merely flicked his eyes at me. He looked back down as I chewed my lip in thought.

"That was a nice thing you did today. For Carol." I whispered to him. His head snapped up at that, his eyes boring into mine.

I could see the faintest of blushes on his face illuminated by the fire. It was so faint I thought I had imagined it, but I knew it was there. I had to hide a huge grin that was threatening to show - did I just make the hard Daryl Dixon blush?

He shrugged and looked back down at his crossbow and began furiously scrubbing it again. I sighed and almost subconsciously laid a hand on his arm.

His head snapped back up and stared at me, studying my face. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks at his scrutiny and tried to shadow my face with the cap.

"It was really good of you." I repeated. His hard expression wavered as he frowned, searching my face as my eyes went back up to meet his.

We sat there for a minute, none of us moving. I don't know why, but I couldn't physically look away. I wanted to reinforce what I was saying, right? Of course I did.

".. So actually, I saved the day." Alex gloated.

He spun to face me to probably smirk, but stopped short. Everyone else had also followed his gaze, and turned to see me with my hand on Daryl's arm, us both leaning close to each other with weird looks on our faces. I managed to snap my gaze away and stared at everyone, their faces either amused or shocked.

I wanted to die. Plain and simple. Launch me into a 'herd' of walkers with no weapons, sure, fine. But put me in an awkward situation with this idiot, then run me through with my own machete. Draw it out, I don't care. I was begging for the ground to swallow me up than having the group judging me for those few seconds. I don't care how dramatic that sounds.

Daryl grunted loudly and whacked my hand off his arm. I felt my face burn as I blushed and tried clearing my throat as if to try and redeem myself. But nothing would come out of my mouth.

"I'll tell you what though, I'm glad we missed that jammed area of cars. Whereabouts is it?" Alex asked as he drew the groups speculative gaze away. I let out a deep breath of air as I heard Daryl grunt again, making me roll my eyes.

However, before Alex fully turned away, he winked at me. It both irritated and amused me. It irritated me more though.

I began searching the vicinity for something decent to chuck at him.

I reached down beside me and picked up a twig by Daryl's crossbow. He scowled at me but I ignored him. To my surprise though, he didn't say anything.

I reeled my hand back and launched the small twig, hitting Alex just above his ear. He flinched and swung to face me, his eyebrow raised.

I merely winked at him.

Well, there's a lot happening all at one time, right?

They're back together though. Any thoughts about Daryl's reaction? What about quiet Carol? Let me know! :)

- Loré. X