Chapter 8: Reunion

Ryder rolled over onto her back. She kept her eyes closed feeling the warmth around her. She smiled thinking about last night. She had a family. She was with Daryl, Mason, and Victoria. She had never thought that she would have been able to have a life in this world, but she was living it.

Her hand moved next to her skimming the bed. She could feel it was empty. She frowned to herself. Daryl must have taken the kids out to let her sleep. She sat up quickly, "shit." She had completely forgotten that she promised Mason she would take him hunting in the morning.

Ryder was about ready to swing her legs over the bed when her breath was stolen by pain in her shoulder. She dropped her back down onto the bed looking up at the ceiling. She furrowed her brows watching the ceiling and noticing it wasn't the cell block. She didn't recognize where she was. Slowly, she sat up on the bed looking around.

The room that she was in was small and dark. There was a candle next to her bed, but it wasn't giving off much light. The room didn't have much in it. She saw her crossbow and other weapons laying on a chair in the corner. Her pack was also sitting on the ground next to the chair. She looked down at herself. There was remanence of dry blood on her shoulder. She could see burnt skin right above her collar bone.

When she noticed the wound, everything had come back to her. The prison was attacked by the Governor. She had been shot during the assault and was able to get out, but she hadn't been able to get out with anyone. Their group was split up. Carol had found her on the side of the road, and then both of them had found Tyreese, Lizzie, and Mika.

She looked down at the floor squeezing the edge of the bed. Ryder kept her head down as a tear fell from her cheek. The life with Daryl was a lie. She had been dreaming. Mason didn't exist, and neither did Victoria. She wasn't married to Daryl, and they didn't have a family together. Her hand came up to her chest covering her heart. It ached for the family that she had lost, that didn't exist except for in her head. Another family was torn away from her. She could still feel the love for her children. She could still feel the love she had for Daryl, but now that love ached because she knew that she wouldn't be able to have it. It was an unobtainable dream. Even if their group was able to find the others and Daryl they would never be together. Her head leaned back looking at the ceiling, two more tears escaping her eyes. Her emotions were all over the place because of one stupid dream.

Ryder took a moment but then steeled herself. She couldn't be doing this. If she stayed in this state, she would die, and that wasn't an option for her. She wiped her tears from her eyes looking down at herself again. She was still in her sports bra and pants. Apparently, Carol couldn't do much while she was unconscious. It wasn't like she was complaining, she didn't like it when people touched her anyway.

She stood up from the bed holding her left arm up laying it on her stomach. The blonde found the door and walked down the hallway leading into what she would consider the living room. Tyreese and Carol were sitting at a wooden table. They seemed sad. It looked like Carol had been crying. Ryder cleared her throat getting the older woman's attention.

Carol's head shot up looking at Ryder. "You're awake. That's good to see."

Ryder noticed the forced smile on the other woman's face which made her frown. "What's going on?"

"How are you feeling?"

Ryder squinted her eyes watching the other woman. She had dodged her question. There was something definitely wrong. She looked over at Tyreese who wasn't looking in her direction. "What is going on Carol?" She looked back over to the older woman.

"Noth…"

Ryder cut her off because she knew exactly what she was going to say. "Don't lie to me."

Carol sighed, looking down at the table. "There was… an incident when you were unconscious."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ryder looked around. It wasn't that late, so it seemed suspicious to her that the girls weren't still up and playing.

Carol still didn't look at her. "Lizzie and Mika…"

Ryder finally realized what was going on. "Are they?"

Carol just nodded her head.

The blonde dropped into a chair next to her. Two more people were gone from their group. They weren't even people they were children. Lizzie and Mika were forced to leave the world too soon because of the way that it was now. Ryder shook her head trying not to think about it. She didn't want to think about it… she couldn't. "Where are we? Terminus?"

The older woman just shook her head. "We are still in the house that we fixed you up in."

"How long have I been out?"

"Just a couple of days."

"What?" Ryder stood up from her chair. She had been unconscious for more than a day? Sure, she was shot, and the grueling process of getting the bullet out exhausted her body, but still, she shouldn't have been out that long. They needed to get to Terminus. They needed to find the others. "We need to leave in the morning. I've already held us up long enough."

Carol looked at her stunned. "Ryder, it wasn't your fault we stayed."

She just shook her head not listening to the other woman. "I shouldn't have been out that long."

"Ryder." The blonde turned looking at Carol. Her strong voice caught her attention. "This is not your fault. You were pushing your body way past when it should have shut down. It was a miracle that you were able to get to the house without passing out."

The blonde sighed looking away from Carol. "We need to leave in the morning. I'm going to get dressed and cleaned up then I'll take watch. I have been sleeping for long enough. You guys need rest." She turned and walked back into the room that had all of her stuff.

In the morning, Ryder was sitting in a chair by the windowsill looking out into the yard. It had been relatively quiet through the night outside. It hadn't been so quiet in her head. Ryder's dream was still bothering her. She didn't know why she had the dream. The only thing that it had accomplished was making her hate her life more. Before she had the dream, she was content with being alone. She preferred it compared to having to deal with people. Now, she knew what it was like to love and feel loved.

Ryder was deep in thought when she felt a hand on her shoulder. The sudden touch startled her. She jumped slightly turning around seeing that it was Carol who had touched her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

The blonde just shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I was just thinking."

Carol walked over to her sitting in a chair across from her. "About what?"

"Nothing important."

It took a moment for Carol to respond. "Didn't seem like nothing. It's rare that I see you taken by surprise."

Ryder just looked out the window. She didn't know if she should tell her what she was thinking about or even about her dream. "I had a dream when I was unconscious. It just felt so real." Ryder started rubbing the palms of her hands unconsciously.

Carol watched her. "What was it about?"

"… We were at the prison still. Apparently, we had been living there for 13 years or so after the sickness. The Governor never came and tore down the fences. We were able to have a long life there."

The older woman kept watching Ryder. She could see that she was holding back some information. "What else was there?"

She didn't say anything at first. She looked at Carol out of the corner of her eye. Ryder sighed, "I was married to Daryl, and we had two kids. Mason my… the boy was about 10 or 11. Then, Victoria who was eight or nine."

"So, what's the problem?"

Ryder dropped her head down to the windowsill. She rested her head on her arm that wasn't on her injured side. "It felt too real. I can still feel… everything. They seemed so real. It was just a dream, but it feels like they were real. I feel like I have something missing in my chest now."

Carol allowed a slight smile to cross over her face. Apparently, Ryder's heart was trying to tell her brain something. When she had been in to check on her, every once and a while she could hear Ryle say Daryl's name. She was seeking him out for comfort.

Carol was about ready to say something, but Ryder stood up from her seat. "We need to go." The blonde didn't look at Carol. She wanted to avoid her. She didn't know why she told her all that stuff. It was in the moment, and she had regretted it as soon as it had left her mouth.

"Are you sure you can travel?"

"I'm fine. My shoulder is fine. We need to see if the others are at Terminus."

The older woman watched Ryder leave the room. She didn't even have a bandage on her shoulder. She had a tank top with the heat and cargo pants, but it still bothered her. Ryder didn't seem to be taking care of herself. Before she could stay anything to the younger woman, she was already out the door waiting on the porch for the other two still in the house. Carol sighed standing up. Daryl was going to have his hands full.

The three had been walking for about half an hour. Carol had Judith in her arms with Tyreese next to her. Ryder was leading them with her bow, keeping an eye out for anyone. Ryder turned looking at the two behind her. "We're close. I'm going to get you guys there. Make sure you're safe… but I'm not going to stay."

Carol stepped forward. "Why? You have a place in the group. If anyone should be leaving it's me." She glanced over at Tyreese, but he didn't say anything.

Ryder shook her head. "No, I can't. I'm not part of your group. I'll get you guys together then I need to be alone. I need to leave like I had been planning from the beginning."

There were sounds coming from behind them in the woods. Ryder walked past them with her bow raised. A walker stumbled out of the woods onto the tracks ambling towards them. Without thinking, Ryder released her bolt sending it through the eye socket of the walker. She loaded her crossbow again having some difficulty pulling the string back with her shoulder but managed to get it. She walked over and removed the bolt from the walker's head loading it back into the bow.

There were sounds of more walkers making her turn her head. She instantly knelt down turning back to Carol and Tyreese. "More," she whispered. Carol and Tyreese turned and started to jog away and off the tracks from the herd barreling towards them. Ryder soon followed the two trying to hide behind a mound of dirt and grass. They all watched as the herd moved closer to the tracks. The walkers were coming straight for them. Ryder started looking around trying to find and exit. She pushed Carol and Tyreese trying to get them to leave. They needed a distraction from the walkers to escape, and she could be that distraction.

Carol knew what Ryder was trying to do. Instead of moving away she grabbed the woman's arm trying to pull her with them. "I'm not leaving you behind," Carol whispered.

"You need a dist…" The sound of gunshots stopped Ryder mid-sentence. All the walkers that were on the tracks turned from their original direction and started moving to the shots. All three of them stayed there for about 10 minutes watching the herd move away from them. Finally, the walkers stopped coming out of the woods. Carol, Tyreese and Ryder walked out from their hiding spot and started walking along the tracks again.

Tyreese decided to speak up for the first time since Ryder had been conscious. "That gunfire, it could have been from Terminus."

Ryder walked ahead of them watching for any straggling walkers. She heard Carol behind her. "Someone was attacking them, or they were attacking someone.

"Do we even want to find out?"

"Yeah." She heard Carol respond. "There's another track due East. It'll get us there. We'll be real careful. We're gonna get answers."

Ryder followed behind Carol and Tyreese since she didn't know the way that Carol was talking about. She kept her bow ready just in case. The herd that passed them was huge, and she didn't want to be caught in it. They were keeping quiet, so it shouldn't be a problem, but she didn't want to take any chances.

The group came to an old shack in a small section of the woods. They were about ready to walk through it until they heard someone talking and noticed a car with its door open. "You don't have to tell me. I wipe my own ass."

Ryder walked over to bushes on the edge of the opening. The guy's back was to them, so he didn't know they were there. She looked at Carol, and she could see that the other woman was on edge as she was. He was talking to someone on a walkie-talkie. They couldn't hear what the other person was saying. They could only listen to what the man was responding with.

He walked over to a bag with fireworks in it. "Alex didn't get it. See, I knew the chick with the sword was bad news. Bitch looked like a weapon with a weapon." Ryder looked over at Carol again. They were both thinking the same thing. He must be from Terminus and the woman with the sword was most definitely Michonne. The woman on the other end of the line said something. "Yeah, I told Albert I want the kid's hat after they bleed him out."

The guy couldn't finish his sentence before Ryder leaped from cover behind the bushes. She pushed the end of her crossbow into the man's head. Carol stepped forward as he was raising his hands. "Keep your finger off the button and drop it." He dropped the device while it was responding to what he said.

"Listen, Y'all don't have to do this."

Ryder was already tired of his bullshit. She pressed her crossbow into the back of the guy's head. "Shut up."

He kept his hands raised but didn't stop talking. "Whatever you want, we got a place where everyone's welcome."

Ryder pushed the end of her bow painfully into his neck. "I told you to shut the fuck up."

That time he got the picture. "Okay."

Carol spoke up again. "We're friends of the chick with the sword and the kid in the hat." He didn't respond with the new information Carol had enlightened him with.

Ryder grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him to his feet and dragging him into the shack where they could hold him. They put their stuff down while Ryder kept her bow trained on him. Tyreese came over and tried his hands with a seatbelt. Once he was bound Ryder walked over to Carol helping her sort through the weapons. "If you're going I'm going."

Carol looked over at her. "You're still injured."

Ryder shook her head. "I don't care. I know you can save them yourself but I can't just sit here doing nothing while they are out there."

Carol watched her carefully. "Fine."

The guy in the corner decided to speak up. "They attacked us. We're just holding them."

"I don't believe you," Carol said while wrapping a couple guns around her back.

Tyreese was standing over in the corner holding Judith. "Who else do you have? Do you know their names?"

"We just have the boy and the samurai, that's it. We were just protecting ourselves."

Ryder watched the man sitting in the corner not saying anything. She was getting weapons ready along with Carol. Still, she decided to speak to the man. "I don't believe you."

"There's a bunch of us out there in six different directions. There was a lot of gunfire back home. We need to set off our charges all at the same time to confuse the dead ones away. That's good for you, too."

Carol looked at him with hard eyes. "No, it isn't. There's a herd heading toward Terminus right now. We don't want to confuse them away. We're gonna need their help."

"It's a compound. They'll see you coming. If you even make it that far." He looked at Ryder. "You're hurt. It looks like a gunshot. You won't survive if you go out there attacking it."

Ryder looked back at the man as Carol walked past her out the door. "I don't plan on dying. I plan on killing people." She didn't bother saying anything else. She walked out the door following at after Carol. She had her weapons on her hips and her crossbow on her back. They were ready to infiltrate the compound.

Carol was walking ahead of Ryder with two assault rifles on her back. She had her knife out. Carol had told her how they were getting into the compound. She was fine with the plan since she had escaped once doing the same thing.

There was moaning coming from behind a bush. Carol walked around it coming face to face with a walker. She took it down stabbing the knife in its head. She rolled it onto it's back dropping the weapons that she had around her back. She threw on the poncho they had made out of sheets, cutting open the walker's stomach. Carol started to wipe walker guts and blood all over the poncho. Once it was done, she grabbed mud and rubbed it on her hands, face, and neck to make her look as dead as possible. Once Carol was done Ryder changed places with her doing the same thing.

Ryder hated covering herself in walker guts and blood, especially with the foul smell that it gave off. She was thankful that she wasn't smearing it on her body though. She had a piece of cloth so she wouldn't ruin her clothes and could take off the stench when she was done with it. Once Ryder was done with her painting she stood holding her crossbow nodding to Carol letting her know she was ready.

Both women walked through the woods until they heard yelling. They found their way to a fence looking down they noticed that Rick, Glenn, Bob and Daryl along with other people they didn't recognize were laying on the ground bound and gagged. The people dragging them didn't see the two at the fence, so they left their spot to find another one.

They wrapped around to another part of Terminus. It seemed like that part that they were at now was the front where people would enter and exit through. They could see how big the compound was now. Walkers were around the front while people were stabbing the ones that came up to the fence.

Ryder looked over and noticed Carol looking through the scope of the rifle she had with her. She handed the gun over to Ryder pointing to the white basin. She looked at what Carol was pointing at nodding to her once the other woman held up one of the fireworks from the bag.

She handed Carol back her gun while she grabbed the other one. They heard screaming coming from the people of the compound. Both the woman looked down the road and noticed that the horde that they saw on the tracks had made its way to the fences and was closing in quickly. Everyone behind the fences were running away.

Ryder knelt, grabbing on of the fireworks and placing it in the barrel of the gun she was holding. Carol handed her a lighter. Once Ryder nodded to her telling her she was all set Carol pulled her rifle up and took aim at the propane tank. She fired off a couple of shots hitting the tank, but they ricocheted without breaching the metal. Carol shot it once more, and finally white smoke poured from the hole. Ryder leaned the gun up aiming at the smoke pouring out. She lit the firework trying to cover her ears as much as possible. She heard it shoot off and not soon after there was a loud explosion of the firework setting off the propane leaking out. Both women looked up seeing walkers flying in the sky and other ones laying on the ground.

They quickly grabbed everything moving down around the fence. Ryder and Carol walked down slowly into the herd that was pushing through the barriers. They kept their weapons down at their sides and were trying to keep pace with the dead around them. They couldn't alert the things around them, or their plan would fail. They both walked past a few walkers eating a screaming woman. She had noticed them and were reaching out to them, but she couldn't say anything. Carol and Ryder just walked past her knowing they were bad people and they couldn't help her anyway.

Both women were walking forward, but they noticed that snipers on the roofs were taking out walkers in front of them. They couldn't take a chance of them being shot mistakenly taken for a walker. Carol pulled Ryder into a door frame. She pointed to the man on the roof while she took aim at the man on the ground. Ryder nodded once taking aim. Together they killed both men but moved through the door behind them since they had attracted attention from the walkers moving beside them. Quickly, Ryder shut the door making sure no dead were able to get in and follow them.

Carol and Ryder were moving through the compound. They were far enough away that they could hardly hear the gunshots that were going on outside. They kept moving through rooms, but they couldn't find anyone or anything useful. Ryder held her crossbow up looking through one door when she heard Carol call her name. The blonde moved over to her walking through the room that she had entered.

In the room, there were tables full of stuff. There were kid's toys and personal items all over. There were clothes and also weapons. Ryder entered walking around looking at everything sitting on the tables. Carol walked over to a table full of watches. She picked out one that seemed to fit a guy. Ryder was about ready to say something when she looked over and noticed a crossbow sitting on the weapons table. She walked over making eye contact with Carol. They were reminded why they were there. They needed to go out and find their friends. Ryder walked over and grabbed the crossbow off the table strapping it around her back. She made sure to keep her crossbow in her hand.

They left the room with all the stuff moving through different rooms of the compound again. Ryder noticed that next to the doors there were letters. Some said "A" and some said "B." She wondered why there were letters on the walls. The blonde noticed Carol go into one room lit with candles while she moved down the hallway further checking the other rooms. They still hadn't been able to find anything or anyone. Ryder had thought they were close when they found Daryl's crossbow but no such luck.

Ryder sighed turning around walking back to the room that she saw Carol enter through. Before she could enter the room, she heard gunshots. Quickly, she ran into the room and noticed Carol rolling on the ground fighting with another woman. She raised her bow but couldn't get a clean shot with both rolling around on the ground. She didn't want to accidently hit Carol. Ryder carefully walked around to an exit door where she heard walkers pounding on the door. If she couldn't help Carol, she could at least watch the other entrances to make sure that no one else was going to gang up on them.

After some more rolling around on the floor, Carol was finally able to pull away. She got to her feet and pointed her gun at the woman who had grabbed a candle stick about ready to beat Carol. Ryder walked over standing next to the older woman bow aimed at the other's head.

The woman was panting and breathing heavy, but it also looked like she was going to cry. "The signs… they were real. It was a sanctuary. People came and took this place."

Carol tried to cut her off. "Just tell me where…"

The other woman continued talking like she hadn't even said anything. "And they raped, and they killed, and they laughed over weeks. But we got out, and we fought, and we got it back. And we heard the message… You're the butcher, or you're the cattle."

Ryder couldn't take her talking anymore. They needed to find everyone, and her talking was only stalling them. "The men they pulled from that train car, where are they?"

The other woman just looked at Ryder and Carol not saying anything. Ryder was about to yell at her but was cut off by Carol shooting her in the knee. "Where are they?"

She was looking up at them from her spot on the ground panting through the pain. "Now… point it at my head." She started laughing. "You two could have been with us. You could have listened to what the world is telling you."

Ryder looked over when she saw Carol take half a step forward. "You lead people here, and you take what they have, and you kill them? Is that what this place is?"

The woman on the ground was still panting from her wound. "No, not at first. It's what it had to be. And we're still here."

Ryder began to back away from the woman when she saw Carol doing the same thing. She looked over at her. "You aren't anymore."

Carol walked over to the door with Ryder standing behind her. They hide their weapons as best as they could under their gut filled ponchos. She opened the door, and a group of walkers started stumbling into the room. They both heard the woman screaming behind them as they walked out behind the walkers making their way back outside.

Ryder and Carol walked out of the room calmly. They were met with more walkers roaming around the grounds, but they didn't bother the women. They started moving through the outside. They didn't hear much gunfire anymore. It seemed like that group at Terminus were slowly being wiped out due to their rescue mission. The problem was they still hadn't found their group.

Both woman walked up and were met with the fence blocking the compound from the woods. They saw a train car with the letter "A" painted on the side. Ryder jogged over to the car making sure to not attract attention. She looked inside seeing that there wasn't anyone in there. She pulled out of the car and shook her head at Carol who was watching her expectantly.

Ryder walked back over to Carol leaning into her. "They could have made it out. With all the commotion going on the guys probably got free and released the rest of the group."

Carol nodded in agreement. "I just don't like the chances of them not getting away."

Ryder nodded. She turned looking behind her. "We can't go back in there. We are pushing our luck right now. We could come across more people."

"I know… Come on, let's go." Carol started to jog back to where they had entered the compound.

Ryder followed Carol out of the complex into the woods. She didn't like not knowing what happened to their group. They hadn't seen anyone other than when they were dragging the men away. They could have been killed before they were able to start to diversion. There were too many variables that she didn't like the chances of a bad outcome over a good result.

Once they were far enough away, they stopped. Both Ryder and Carol pulled off their ponchos. Ryder was happy that she could take off the rotten piece of fabric. She wiped her face and hands off with pieces of fabric that didn't have blood covering it. She looked back at Carol who was doing the same thing. She could see the sad look in the woman's eyes. They were both feeling like shit since they didn't know what happened to their friends.

They were figuring out everything that had with them when they heard talking. Both women looked up at each other. Ryder could see hope gleaming in Carol's eyes. They both started walking to the voice.

She heard what sounded like Maggie. "… they will run or die."

Carol walked ahead of Ryder. The group needed to see her first. Rick and Daryl both were facing away from the women when they walked up to them. Daryl was the first to turn around when he heard footsteps behind them. His hard face softened when he noticed who was walking up to them. Carol kept walking forward at a slow pace, but the hunter matched it by running over to the older woman.

Ryder watched as Daryl embraced her in a hug spinning her around. She could feel her heart swell at seeing him again. She hadn't seen him since the prison, but her dream came back to mind. She unconsciously held her chest over her heart with her hand. She could feel her chest pounding rapidly with the beat of her heart. She saw that Daryl was practically crying while holding onto Carol in a death grip.

The rest of the group started walking over, but Ryder took a few steps back. She didn't feel right taking the moment away from everyone. She could see that they were all together. She didn't need to be here anymore.

Ryder watched as Daryl pulled away from Carol and Rick walked up to her. Ryder laid Daryl's bow on the ground and the rifle she had been carrying. The blonde turned and walked away towards the cabin they had left their stuff in. She would tell Tyreese that everyone was safe and then leave before anyone knew she had been involved.

Before Ryder could get away completely, she heard Rick as Carol. "Did you do that?"

She didn't hear Carol respond for a minute. "It was Ryder… and…"

Ryder heard her stop talking. She assumed the older woman was trying to find her. She was out of sight when she heard footsteps behind her. "Hey."

She stopped looking behind her. Daryl was standing there watching her. He didn't say anything, but the rest of the group caught up to both of them.

Rick walked up to Ryder. "Where are you going?"

Ryder watched Rick for a second then scanned over the rest of the group. "It's time for me to leave. Your group is back together. I'm happy you guys were able to find everyone."

"Your group?" Rick asked reciting what she had said.

Ryder nodded not saying anything to him.

"Ryder this is your group too." Rick waited for her to respond but when she didn't he continued. "You helped us get medicine for our people. You helped when we were attacked, taking a bullet in the process." Rick pointed to her shoulder. Ryder couldn't help but look down away from everyone looking at her. "You helped Carol save us from Terminus when we were going to die. You have earned your place with us… as part of our family."

Ryder looked up at the word family. There isn't any way that they considered her family. She looked up at Rick then behind him to Maggie. She smiled warmly to her nodding her head in agreement. Her eyes skimmed over everyone landing on Carol. She was also smiling at her. She could see in the woman's eyes that she wanted her to stay with the group. Before she looked away, her eyes found the pair of steel blue that she had been trying to avoid. Daryl didn't do anything other than stare into her eyes. She could feel her heart constricting. Every time she saw him, she thought back to her dream. Every time she thought back to her dream, she could feel her chest start to ache. She didn't know if it was a good idea staying with these people.

Daryl had noticed that when Carol was talking Ryder had slipped away. He didn't know what she was doing. When Carol turned around looking for the blonde woman it finally dawned on him that she was leaving. Daryl grabbed his crossbow following after her. He couldn't just let her leave the group. Did she still believe she didn't belong with them? She had saved their asses numerous times in the last couples weeks. He finally caught up to her yelling getting her attention. She turned around facing him. It felt good to have her back. She had wormed her way into the group without even realizing what she had done.

He heard Rick and the rest of the group came up behind him. They were talking back and forth, but Daryl didn't bother with listening. He already knew what Rick was doing. He was trying to convince her to stay. Daryl watched her look at the group when Rick was praising her. She apparently didn't get it very often and didn't take compliments well like him. When Rick had mentioned the word family, it caught her attention. Daryl could see there was a longing in her eyes. He could see so much sadness and pain and hurt it practically took his breath away. He wanted her to stay around so he could figure this woman out. She was a complete mystery to the group, and he didn't like not knowing.

Daryl watched as she was looking around to the group. Her eyes stopped on his. He wanted to acknowledge that he wanted her around too but he didn't know how to show it. He wasn't good at showing emotions. His eyes flicked down noticing a wound on her shoulder. It was recent. She probably got hit when she was helping them fight at the prison. He could tell that the skin was burnt. He inwardly flinched when it clicked in his head that Carol or someone had to cauterize her wound. It wasn't surprising considering they didn't have any supplies with them when they had to run out of the prison.

Ryder finally sighed before turning back around. "We have something that you need to see." She started walking back to the cabin where Tyreese and Judith had been hiding out. Before she could get too far, she felt someone walk up to her and wrap their arms around her. She turned looking up seeing that Rick had enveloped her in a hug. She didn't like touching, but her body didn't flinch when she felt his arms wrap around her. She slowly lifted her arms up and hugged him back. She heard him say "thank you" in her ear. Ryder couldn't say anything. All she could do was nod, and she knew it was enough because he could feel it. She pulled away and started walking back to the cabin.

When they made it there, Tyreese was standing on the porch holding Judith. She noticed that when Rick, Sasha, and Carl caught sight of their loved ones they started sprinting to the cabin. Rick grabbed Judith in his arms and started crying while Carl was with him. Sasha ran over to his brother wrapping him in a big hug.

Ryder smiled at the group in front of her. She was happy that everyone was reunited. She still didn't know if her being with them would work out, but she would give it a try. She already had been with them through a lot. Plus, she didn't know if she wanted to leave a certain hunter behind anymore. The blonde heard gravel crunching next to her. She didn't bother looking up because she already knew who it was. "You know, Rick's right. You belong with us. You're family."

Ryder closed her eyes at Daryl's words. She hoped that she could be his family, but that would only be in her dreams. She would just have to handle being around him and in his presence.

(A/N): Yay! Everyone is back together again. Who else knew that was happening with Ryder? Was I able to fake anyone out? No? Ok well, it was fun writing them together. Now just to see how long it takes for Ryder to make a move on a certain redneck. She also decided to stay! Everything is working out.

Thanks, guys! Don't forget to R&R!