Thanks so much for the reviews! I love hearing feedback from you guys so please don't be shy. I took a chance writing those last two chapters differently but apparently it turned out decent enough. The original POV is back now, so enjoy. :)


I limped as I took a step forward and looked at Shane who was still pointing his gun at my head, "Why did you cut off your hair? You look ridiculous." My dad closed his eyes and put his hand on his chest while Shane let out the breath he was holding. My dad walked closer and put his arms up to embrace me when something whizzed by my ear.

I assumed it was a giant mosquito or maybe a chigger had managed to grow wings and fly right at me but I realized it wasn't when my dad threw himself completely in front of me causing me to stumble back and fall.

"No! Cover Sophia!" My dad was on his knees and looked down at me. "You're going to be okay." He took my head in his hands and touched the top of my head which had a growing bump from when I fell the other day. "It didn't hit you, did it?" I shook my head and realized that mosquito was actually a bullet. Someone was trying to shoot at me.

"She's bleeding a lot Rick," Shane said. "We need to get her inside now." Shane gently sat me up and started taking off the flannel shirt I was wearing.

"What the hell are you doing?" my dad yelled out.

"Her head is bleeding," Shane said. "Look at that cut on her forehead. You can practically see her skull."

"You're being dramatic," I told him as he gave me the shirt to hold and I held it up to my head. "It's not that bad."

"I got her," Daryl said quickly. He dropped his cross bow and bent down to pick me up. "You're going to be alright. We lucked out and found a doc's house."

"You put on a clean shirt finally," I said. "And I'm getting it all bloody."

"Is that all you care about?" Daryl asked. He looked down at me and kept walking as fast as he could. "Don't ever pull that shit again."

"What are you talking about?" I didn't get my answer from Daryl but instead I heard voices, specifically it sounded like Dale was yelling.

Daryl climbed a few steps and entered the house. All I was hoping for when we reached that driveway was to find an abandon home with some food and water but Sophia and I definitely lucked out finding our group instead.

"Yo, where's the old man?" Daryl called out. He continued carrying me and walked into a kitchen. I saw a few people I didn't know but the one person I did recognized I reached out for her hand.

"I have a surprise for you outside Carol," I told her. She squeezed my hand tightly and her smile widened.

"Thank you Olivia!" She ran her thumb over my hand and started running out of the kitchen.

"Where's the doc?" Daryl asked again.

"I'm right here. What seems to be the… Oh lord. Follow me and put her in my daughter's room." I saw an older man come into the kitchen and he started walking back out. Daryl quickly followed him and we were inside a small bedroom. "Put her down." Daryl carefully put me down and in that swift movement I kept seeing flashes of black. My head was pounding and I felt as if I was going to blackout at any second.

"She's got this bump on her head that's bleeding and I think her legs cut up too, man," Daryl said. "You didn't get bit, did you?" He looked down at my leg and I shook my head.

The older man leaned forward and took the shirt I was holding up to my head. He examined it more closely. "You're Olivia, yes? I'm Hershel. Seems like God's on your side today." He looked up at Daryl, "Get Patricia in here please. We need to stitch her up. And tell one of my daughters to get this girl something to eat."

As soon as Daryl left my dad came into the room and walked over to the bed. He took my hand and squeezed it. A woman came in and I assumed she was Patricia. She smiled down at me and I looked at what she was holding.

"We don't exactly have much to fix you up but we have a little rubbing alcohol. We ran out of medical supplies," she said and my dad quickly cleared his throat, "But we have some pain medication." She handed me a glass of water and gave me two pills. I quickly took them but knew they would have zero effect on me while she cleaned my head and leg.

"Just do whatever you have to," I told her. She was walking closer to me with an open bottle of rubbing alcohol. I cringed at the thought of her pouring that on me. I turned my head and felt her put her hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry but I need to clean it," she said. My dad tightened his grip and I squeezed back as Patricia poured some alcohol on the top of my head.

I had the urge to yell out every curse word I knew but I didn't think it was right to be un-lady like in front of this old couple. They would probably end up pinching and prodding me in ways that would further my pain. They didn't look the swearing type at all.

"Where's Carl?" I asked once Patricia wiped the top of my head clean.

"He must be eating," my dad said. "Let's just get you cleaned up and we'll see him."

"Dad, where's Carl?"

"This might be a little uncomfortable," Patricia said. She had the needle in her fingers and I turned back to look at my dad. "It's a very deep cut, hon."

"What happened to your leg?" he questioned. He started untying the piece of my shirt that I had put on there as a tourniquet.

"Walked through some sort of animal trap," I told him. "Hurt like a fucking bitch." Patricia jerked her hand which caused me to groan. "I think I sprained my ankle too."

"Please don't talk right now," she said. Hershel who was watching over Patricia moved to the other side of the bed to look at my leg.

"Can you move it?" he asked.

"Yeah, but it hurts like hell" I told him. "I was practically dragging myself throughout the woods. Sophia tried being my crutch but I'm double her size so that was bullshit." Patricia clicked her tongue and I felt her fingers moving faster. I guess she wasn't big on swearing.

"I'm going to have my daughter make a run out to the pharmacy," Hershel said. "See if she can pick up anything else. We've ran out of a lot of medical supplies."

"Have Glenn go with her," my dad said.

"Wait, I want to see Glenn first."

He looked hesitant to leave my side but he kissed my hand and stood up. He was out of the room for almost a minute and finally I saw Glenn come in with a big smile on his face.

"Look at you, Grimes!" He said. He came around to the other side of the bed and sat next to me. He smiled at me but he seemed to not want to touch me. "You're looking…. Good. A bit dirty but good."

"I'm not going to break Glenn." I leaned close to him and wrapped my arms around him tightly. His grip tightened until Patricia cleared her throat.

"Let me just wrap a bandage around your head," she said, "Actually, on second thought you might need to clean up a bit first before I wrap it. I also need to clean that leg of yours too."

"Jesus Christ, Liv," Glenn said after he released me. He looked down at my leg which only looked worse than it felt. "What the hell happened out there?"

"I don't even think you'd believe me if I told you." I looked down at my right leg which looked completely disgusting. The wire I had stepped on the other day had cut through my boot which stopped it from completely slicing through my leg but it still managed to get cut up to the point where I could barely put any weight on it. Not to mention my ankle burned every time I walked on it which convinced me that it had to been sprained.

"You have a lot of stories, don't you?"

"Not really. I don't even want to think about the shit that I went through."

"Sophia was telling a little bit before she went upstairs with Carol," Glenn said. "I'm assuming you taught her how to swear?"

I laughed and looked at Patricia who was cutting up my skinny jeans to get better access to my leg. "Teach her? That girl already knows how to swear."

"She called you a fucking badass," Glenn said which caused us both to laugh.

"I may have let that word slip a few times. As long as that's all she repeats. Her mom will probably send me back out there if she heard half the words I spat out. Those bitchasses are crazy. Do you know how many times I almost died out there?"

"So you're Liv." I looked at the door and saw a young woman a little older than me standing with a tray of food. "I heard so much about you from Glenn." I looked at Glenn who just smirked. "I'm Maggie, Hershel's daughter."

"Nice to meet you." I looked at the tray she was carrying. I hadn't eaten a proper meal in a while but smelling whatever was on that tray made my stomach churn.

"You need to eat something," Maggie said. "And you and me need to head on out to the pharmacy Glenn. My dad asked for some more stuff."

"How long ago did you cut your leg?" Patricia asked.

I shrugged. "Two days ago, I think. It was about a few miles from the highway. Dude, I literally pumped my fist when we found the highway. I can't believe it was right there the entire time." Glenn laughed and stood up.

"Find as much antibacterial as you can Maggie," Patricia said. "This leg is really infected and I'm almost out of rubbing alcohol and see if you can find some white cloth for bandages."

"You're not going to pour that on me, are you?" Patricia nodded her head and grabbed what little alcohol she had left and poured it right on my leg.

"You're ankle is pretty swollen as well. I think it's best if you stay off your feet for a while," she said, "But you also need to shower. You have a lot of dirt in your wound and it's not helping it any. I'll patch up your head and leg after you get clean."

"You have a working shower?" I questioned. "I don't care where it's at; I will crawl if I have to."

"It's upstairs. Let me get your father." Patricia left quickly.

"If they have candy at the pharmacy I'll get you some," Glenn said. He flashed another grin at me and kissed the top of my head. "I'll be right back."

"Be careful," I told him. I leaned my head back. I was finally alone and started picking at the food Maggie brought. It was good but for a person who hadn't eaten in a few days food was the last thing I wanted to see. I touched my head and started thinking about who in their right mind would shoot at me. Of course they were only trying to protect the camp but if my dad, Shane and Daryl had gone out to take care of it, why would anyone else still bother shooting?

I heard Dale yelling at someone but didn't look to see who. It had to have been T-Dog, Andrea or Carl. I was sure my dad wouldn't allow Carl to shoot without his permission but maybe that's why he was hiding him; so I wouldn't yell at him for being a dumbass.

"Sophia's almost done taking a bath," my dad said as he came in. "So the bathroom will be free."

"She alright?"

He nodded his head. "She's with Carol. I've never seen that woman smile so much." He moved the tray and sat on the bed. "Thank you for keeping her safe."

"No biggie. I wasn't even thinking to be honest. I just ran." He leaned forward for a hug and I wrapped my arms around him. I had never been happier seeing him. This moment even beat when he first came back to the campground we were staying at.

"I'm sorry about everything I said to you." He squeezed even tighter and I could have sworn I heard him sniff. "I just love you so much and I kept beating myself up over everything that happened when I last talked to you."

"Dad, stop." I stopped hugging him and looked him in his eyes. "You have nothing to be sorry for. What happened with Shane… that's all in the past. I just don't want you being disappointed in me."

"I'm not," he said. He was shaking his head but I still couldn't believe him. "I just don't want the two people I love and care about being together in that way. He saw you grow up and he still did that. As long as it's in the past I'm willing to forget about it." I saw in his eyes that night how much I disappointed him. He couldn't be so forgiving so quickly. Then again, I had forgiven him for what he said the night before he was shot. It must have been some genetic flaw I had gotten from him. "So, Patricia said you wanted a shower? I can get you up there but, uh, you can manage the rest yourself, right?"

"Dad I'm not three. I remember how to take a shower."

"I just thought with your leg and all," he said. "Maybe a bath would be better?"

"I'd rather not bathe in my own filth. I'll just stand on one foot." He chuckled as he bent down to pick me up. He started walking up the stairs and put me down when we entered the bathroom.

"I'll go grab your bag, get you some clean clothes."

He was about to turn to leave when I stopped him. "I didn't see Carl in the kitchen."

"He's taking a nap in Hershel's room." I stared at him watching his facial expressions.

"No he's not. Dad, where is he…Really."

"Take your shower and I promise I'll tell you everything."

"He's okay though, right?" He nodded his head but that didn't convince me at all. "Dad, he's alive, right?"

"He's alive and fine," he said. "Let me go grab your clothes. I promise I'll tell you everything when you're done."

He shut the door behind him before I could say anything else and left me alone in the bathroom. I stripped out of my clothes and found it difficult to take off my jeans but I managed. I hobbled my way towards the shower and started the water. I stepped in and let the hot water hit my body. I had been dreaming about a hot shower ever since we left the C.D.C. but the water felt ice cold thinking about what could possibly be wrong with Carl.

I was feeling partially responsible for what happened to Carl. What if I hadn't run after Sophia? Would someone else have gotten to her and back quicker than I did? Would she even be alive if I hadn't run after her?

I heard my dad open the door and drop my clothes while I was scrubbing all of the dirt off my body. I took the quickest shower of my life because I wanted to know what was wrong with Carl. I put on my undergarments and shorts and when I opened the door my dad was standing there right when I started pulling my shirt on.

"You going to start talking or should I ask someone else?"

He sighed and looked right at me. "The day after you ran off we split up into groups. Carl went with Shane and me and we saw a deer. Shane was going to put it down but Carl walked up to it. He'd never seen one so close up. Hell, I've never seen one so close… It was all good until some man shot it down and the bullet… It went through the deer and hit Carl." I held onto the towel rack that was by the bathroom door and gasped. Carl was so small. If the bullet had gone through a deer completely how was he even alive? It would have split inside him and that was never good. "He's alright Liv. Hershel saved his life. Shane saved his life too. He risked his life going to get some supplies for Carl."

I felt my breathing was coming out shaky. It felt like I couldn't breathe, "Where is he?"

"He's downstairs. He's been alert but he's been sleeping through most of it which is good. He's fine Liv. Hershel saved him. He just needs to rest. He's going to pull through."

"No. Where is that man? I'm assuming he was the one who brought you here? Where is he?"

"He's dead. When he and Shane went get the stuff, it got messy. Shane said Otis risked his life to allow Shane to get back here. Otis told Shane he had his back and when Shane looked back…" He shook his head. "They got overrun."

I was blinking back tears and limped out into the hallway. "Liv, wait. You can't put weight on that leg." I was right on the top step when I was lifted from my feet. "I'll bring you to him." He carried me down the steps and I quickly wiped my face avoiding everyone's stares. He brought me into another room and opened the door. He put me down in the threshold.

"Liv!" Carl shouted. I held back the tears and limped my way to him. "You found us."

I sat down on his bed and looked at him. He was shirtless with a patch on his stomach. I looked down and touched it gently. "You okay Carl? You're not in pain are you?" He looked so vulnerable sitting there. All I wanted to do was hug him and tell him everything would be okay.

"It still hurts," he said, "But me and dad got matching scars now."

I laughed as I leaned in and hugged him. I kissed the top of his head and cupped his small face. "Clearly getting shot is a Grimes family flaw." I turned around to look at my dad. "Who shot at me anyways? I'd like to spit in their face or something." I shook my head. "One inch to the left and it would have gotten me."

"It was Andrea," he said, "And don't go mouthin' off to her. She made a mistake. She didn't mean to do that."

"She still needs to be told off."

"Daryl did that already. I've never seen him so upset. He took it so personal when you took off. He spent the most time out there looking for you two. I could never thank that man enough for everything he's done."

"Dad, she was trying to kill me. Are you telling me you're not upset? I don't give a shit if Daryl yelled at her; I'm going to tell her off myself. Why would anyone give her a gun? She can't even shoot properly. What if she shot you?"

"So do you have any cool stories?" Carl asked. "You were gone for two whole days. Well three if you count the day you left."

"Unless you want to hear about me falling or me walking into a wire trap then you can ask Sophia."

"You walked into a trap?" Carl asked. He had a wide grin as if I just told him I had tickets to a baseball game. "How can you walk into a trap?"

"It was small. How was I supposed to know it was there? I'm just glad it was me that stepped on it. It would have literally cut off Sophia's ankle if she stepped on it."

"What else happened?" Carl asked.

"I fell off a cliff."

"Cool!"

"That's not cool Carl," my dad interrupted. "What do you mean you fell off a cliff?"

"It was this weird incline and I thought there was ground underneath but I just fell. It was only like 10 to 15 feet and I bumped my head a few times on the way down. That why my face looks like this."

"But you always look this ugly," Carl commented causing me to flick his ear.

"Then I had to climb up it and I tore my shirt and you know how little upper body strength I have."

"What else did you do? Did you kill any walkers?" Carl asked.

"Yeah. The first night we stood in a tent and in the early morning we heard something walking outside. We tried being quiet but it either heard us or smelled us and started shaking the tent. It came in and I bashed the bastard with a cooler." Carl looked completely amazed as if I was telling him a story instead of actual events that I went through. "I also stole his shirt because I was freezing my nonexistent balls off during the night. It came in handy."

"We found that tent," my dad said, "The day after you took off. When were you at the church?"

"Two days ago. After I stepped on that wire I was literally dragging myself and luckily found that church. I killed some walkers but there was more than one so I had to use the gun. Took a long needed rest and started hiking before it got late. Then late yesterday we finally found the highway. I didn't see the RV so we slept in a car and started walking down the highway today. We weren't sure what was going to be behind that fence of the driveway but luckily it was you."

"We were literally behind you the entire time." He shook his head and sighed. "I'm so sorry you went through all that."

"I needed some toughening up. You should have taken me on more camping trips as a kid. I might not have gotten lost so easily."

"When this is all over we'll do that."

"After this is all over the last thing I want to do is spend any more time outdoors. And I never want to see a tent again."

The bedroom door opened and Patricia walked in. "I'd like to wrap your leg and head if that's okay with you."

"Yeah, we'll let Carl get some rest," my dad commented. "You need to get some rest too."

"Can't I just stay in here?"

"You both need your own bed to sleep in," he said as he picked me up once again. He brought me back into the room where I was at earlier and set me on the bed. Patricia started wrapping my head. I winced a few times when she touched the back of my head.

"Maybe you shouldn't fall asleep quite yet," she said. "It hurts every time I touch here, doesn't it?" She had her hand on the back of my head. "I wouldn't be surprised if you had a mild concussion. Just to be safe I'd like you to stay up for a little while. Would you like some coffee?" I shook my head and she started wrapping my leg and ankle. When she was done she left.

"Might need to get your head wrapping changed more often," my dad commented. "It's already bleeding through."

"Do you think you can ask Daryl to come in? I wanted to thank him for everything; especially for telling off Andrea."

"You need to drop it and thank the stars she missed you. Can you promise me you won't fall asleep?" I nodded my head and he left the room. Less than a minute later Daryl popped in and shut the door behind him.

"I'm assuming you haven't seen yourself in a mirror?" he asked. He looked around the room and eventually sat down at the edge of the bed. "You look like shit."

"That's not nice," I said pretending he hurt my feelings. I self-consciously touched the wrapping around my head and knew I probably looked horrible. I shouldn't have asked Daryl to come in so soon. "So what exactly did you mean about never pulling shit like this again? You mad I ignored your hillbilly ass and ran?"

"That's only half the reason," he said. "Why did you kiss me and then run off like that? It's like you knew you were going to die and didn't give a shit."

"You couldn't stop thinking of that kiss, could you?" He didn't say anything which caused me to think he wasn't going to admit anything. "My dad said you were out looking for me. Thank you."

"We all were. It wasn't just me."

"You could have given up and left my dumbass out there," I told him. "Y'all could have just been chasing after nothing. How did you know we would be okay?"

"It was just a gut feeling." He looked down at my leg which was next to his left hand. "Did you walk into a snare or something?"

I shrugged, "It was a wire trap. I never saw it coming." He moved his hand and he fingers gently touched the wrapping around my leg.

"At least you won't be running away for a while."

"Yeah but that means you get to carry me around everywhere." I leaned forward and put my hand over his. "So, is everyone staying inside or are you guys sleeping in your tents outside again?"

"We're sleeping in tents while you and your brother get to live it up like royalty and sleep in beds." He shook his head which caused me to laugh.

"I'm not allowed to sleep so if you want you can take the bed," I told him. "You can sneak in when everyone else is sleeping if you want."

"I think you need the bed more than I do. I'll just tough it out outside again until we leave."

"You don't think we're going to stay here?" I asked.

"I doubt that old man will let us stay here," Daryl said. "There's too many of us. Bet you once you and your brother are healed up we'll be sent out."

"Well maybe I can pretend to be handicapped until the winter is over," I told him. My hand was still on top of his. I scooted closer to him and moved my hand up to his shoulder. I started moving my hand up towards his neck. "You know there were three things I kept thinking about when I was out there to keep me going. I don't regret running after Sophia but—"

"You regret what we did? Or more of what you did to me?"

"No! It's the only thing I've ever done that was spontaneous and that I actually don't regret. I regret how it happened. It was a shitty move to do that and then just run off like that. And I am sorry I didn't listen to you."

"I don't need to get attached to anyone anyways," he said. I pulled him closer, testing him to see if he'd push me away or say anything but he didn't. I stared into his eyes and removed my hand from his neck.

Daryl was different from most of the guys I knew. Any guy would normally close the gap between us or take charge, but not Daryl. He was hard to read and it annoyed me more than anything. But the last thing I wanted him to think was that I was pushy. I had already kissed him once but doing it again seemed silly now. I wasn't sure if he just let me do it or if he was even remotely interested in me. I wanted to straight out ask him but I knew he would do his best at ignoring my questions.

I started moving back from Daryl to lean against the pillow when he put his hand back on my bandaged leg. It was the only part of me he had touched. I looked down at my bare legs and wondered if they were the reasons he wouldn't touch anything else. I put my hand on top of his and moved it to my knee.

"What if your old man walks in?"

"And finds your hand on my knee? I laughed. "He might shoot you in the face," I told him sarcastically. "Is that really what you're so concerned about?" I turned his hand and laced our fingers together.

"I ain't afraid of anything." He squeezed my hand and slowly stood up. "You should probably get some rest."

"I'm not supposed to sleep."

"Then I'll just leave you to your thoughts."

"What am I supposed to do in here by myself?" I asked. "Fine, we don't have to do anything but just don't leave me alone."

He was standing by the door now and he turned to look at me, "You're a very needy person, aren't you?"

"I'm not needy. I'm just…Look you have to admit, that five second kiss, you felt something. Why else would you try so hard to look for us?"

"I had nothing else to do," he replied with a shrug. "And now it looks like I'm going to have to find something else to do." He turned the doorknob and walked out shutting the door behind him.

I groaned loudly and moved my body so I was now lying down. My entire body hurt and I wanted to fall asleep but Patricia was one scary woman. I felt like defying her orders wasn't the smartest move.

But eventually I had fallen asleep. When I woke up the room was dark now with only a desk light illuminating the room. I felt a blanket on top of me. I turned to see someone sitting in a chair by my bedside. I thought it was my dad and I was going to reach out for his hand but I noticed quickly that it wasn't him. It was Shane.

"Wasn't sure whether or not I should wake you up," he spoke quietly. He leaned forward on the chair and put his elbows on his knees.

I sat up in the bed and took the blanket that was placed over me off to the side. "Didn't think you'd come in here." I winced when I moved. My head still hurt and the rest of my body ached with exhaustion.

"You figured your daddy was going to keep me away from you?"

"That was my best guess." I turned my body so my legs were now dangling off the side of the bed. "I figured, well I hoped that you were still holding a grudge after I smacked you."

"You're the last person I'd hold a grudge with." He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his head.

"Why did you cut off your hair?" I asked. I looked up at his bald head and scrunched my face up. "Mourning my death or something?"

"Nah, it ain't like that. It got too hot out here. I needed a change."

I snorted. Shane had become so easy to read ever since I started paying more attention to him. I knew him more than he probably knew himself. "You can lie to everyone else but you don't fool me."

"Are you accusing me of lying to you about cutting my hair? It's just hair."

I shook my head and smirked at him. "Unless you have something else you've lied about?" Shane pursed his lips and stood quiet. "I heard you went on a little adventure of your own. You saved Carl's life too?"

"It was nothing. I love Carl. I'd do anything for him."

"Would you kill for him?" I asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He looked uptight but tried giving me his best poker face.

"Sounds like you let this man die so you can get back here. Am I right?"

"Now why would you accuse me of that? I'm actually offended you would say something like that."

"I'm not a dumbass Shane. You may have fooled them but I can see right through you. You told me after I killed Merle that I had to forget about it. That you would rather kill than be killed, do you remember that?"

"You're delusional. You bumped your head and the first thing you do when you see me is accuse me of shit I didn't do."

I leaned forward and put my hand on Shane's head. I touched the scar I noticed earlier when he was pointing his gun at me. "You didn't have this before. Are you going to tell me another lie about how you slipped and fell or something?" He shut his eyes, placed his hand over mine and shook his head. "You saved my brother and I'm grateful Shane." He finally opened his eyes to look into mine. "But I'm worried about you. You can't kill people like that. Promise me it won't be one of us next time."

"I could never kill you or Carl."

"Not just us," I told him, "Everyone. We don't kill the living, Shane. It's not right."

"You say that now but we don't know how crazy other people are. We lucked out finding a group we can somewhat trust but everyone ain't like that. I would do anything to protect you guys. You're the only family I have left."

"Promise me you won't kill another living person Shane." I moved my other hand so it was now resting on the other side of his face.

"As long as you don't do anything stupid like this ever again." He took both of my hands and sandwiched them between his. "You might want to stay away from the mirrors in this place. You ain't look like a Georgia peach anymore."

"Shut up." I snatched my hands away from his and moved myself onto the center of the bed. I slowly moved down and grabbed the blanket, placing it over me again. "Now kindly fuck off while I get back to sleep."

"Well since you asked nicely," Shane said. He fixed the blanket and bent down to kiss my head. "I'm gonna wake you up in a while though. Can't have you sleeping so much with a bump on your head; Doc's rules."