Author's Notes: Thank you for every glance at my work! I've tried to keep all information regarding Nebraska and specifically, Fort Robinson, factual.

TWDTWDTWD

Forty eight hours later, they were back on the road. Everyone seemed to be in the mood to push on to Nebraska and get close to the state park as soon as possible. Daryl seemed to be the most eager, pushing to drive longer hours, cover more ground through the night.

There was no mention of him going back on the bike to travel. Once all their supplies were packed up, there was hardly room for it on the back of the truck. Carol even suggested he ride it, if only so she didn't have to rest her feet on a plastic drum of water whilst they rode but he just shook his head and told her they'd have to find another vehicle on their travels for T-Dog to drive.

Carol did not know where this change came from, but since they came back from the trip to the superstore, he had given up all ideas of keeping his distance from her when the children were within sight. Not that he had turned into a doting Daddy or anything. He hadn't had a brain transplant after all. But he didn't moan about them at all, not even when the night before, Katie had burrowed her way into their bed before they'd even gone to sleep and absolutely insisted that she had to sleep between Carol and Daryl and her doll and her teddy bear had to come too.

She was pretty sure she'd overheard him actually engage in conversation with Katie the morning they left. She woke up with Joe gurgling beside her, but otherwise alone. When she finally heaved herself out of the warmth, to find the source of the voices somewhere on the lower floor, they weren't even in the same room, Daryl was in the kitchen, hunting through cupboards, whilst Katie was scribbling furiously in a colouring book in the sitting room. When she asked, he denied it, but she knew.

And along with Daryl, the help with the children still kept coming. There were offers to swap places with the children in the truck, although Carol refused that, because she didn't mind sitting on the bench with them now that Daryl actually spoke to her on the journey. Sure, he wasn't big on chat, but the silence between them was the comfortable kind now and not very silent at all with Katie and Joe.

She accepted whatever anyone offered when they stopped though, whether it was a diaper change or a bottle or five minutes of wearing her new prized possession of the baby sling so she could pee in peace. And so the headache that had been thumping away between her eyes for days began to lift. She was feeling optimistic. Dare she even say it, considering the never ending worry of death, she was content.

"Do you think, that Robinson could be the kind of place we could live, indefinitely, maybe?" She asked him, shifting a little on the seat to see his face, although there was little to be seen in the dark, not even the moon was out to light their path. The children had long fallen asleep, Katie was in the back portion of the cab, there only was enough space remaining for her to squeeze in. Joe was tucked up in the sling against her chest, having just returned to sleep after a feed.

"Can't see why not. There ain't gonna be much more Walkers, eventually they gotta slow up, right? And there's plenty of land and maybe we can plant stuff and shit." He told her, eyes not coming away from the road.

"That would be nice." She murmured, shifting in her seat to press herself against him a little. He let her, hand coming from the wheel to rest on her thigh, although it was covered with a blanket.

TWDTWDTWD

It seemed that they arrived in Nebraska all of a sudden. One day they were gathering supplies in a deserted town, the next they were just five miles from Fort Robinson. The area surrounding the park was relatively quiet, the odd Walker here and there, but never more than half a dozen in one spot.

Rick insisted that the entire state park was searched thoroughly, every square inch rid of any Walkers, the layout of the land committed to memory and the cabins were livable. It would take days, if not a couple of weeks. The park was roughly four square miles in size and whilst a lot of it was forestry, it would all still need to be combed through. Even then though, there was still a chance for Walkers to stumble upon them - there was not a secure boundary line.

Temporary shelter came in the form of a bed and breakfast five miles from the park. It was fairly intact, every surface covered in a thick layer of dust and even though they weren't staying there forever, Carol instantly began work on clearing it up.

They'd picked up another truck on their journeys, not a shiny and new as Daryl's, nor as big, but it was this vehicle that Daryl and Rick were using to scout the land. It was just the two of them that were going up there, first circling the property, making sure there was no-one living there, then slowly inching their way in, taking out the threats as they came their way.

Glenn and Maggie were on scavenging duty. Now they were reasonably close to their hopefully permanent place of residence, there were hopes of storing as much food, fuel and ammo as possible, so that if the snow did come, as it often did in Nebraska during the winter, they would not need to leave the area.

So every day, the four went out in two separate directions, leaving the others waiting for them. T-Dog and Hershel concentrated on keeping watch, whilst the women and children stayed in doors, their days spent performing an inventory on everything they possessed, adding to their evergrowing wishlist.

"Hey Lori, you know what, I'm going to make a start on the laundry. I can't stand wearing these things any longer." Carol dragged the holdall containing her dirty clothes, along with Daryl's and the children's into the kitchen. No mean feat with a baby strapped to her chest. "I'll go have a look in the garage to see if there's a tub or something."

"Sure, be sure to tell T-Dog or Hershel." Lori reminded her, barely looking up from her spot at on the kitchen floor, sorting through tins. "Want me to take Joe?"

"No, he's almost sleeping." Carol looked down at the little boy, who despite the movement, was blinking heavily, drifting off even though Lori and Carol were talking. "I've left Katie in the sitting room with Carl."

Lori nodded to signify that she had heard and Carol went out through the backdoor, scanning the area for Hershel or T-Dog. It was late afternoon, the nights were drawing in and she knew Daryl and Rick would be back soon, they usually got back before dark. She spotted T-Dog, way down the the front of the property and she didn't bother to call to him. By the time she walked down to him and got back, she could've been in the garage and back in the house again.

The garage was the double kind, a big building, with a large slooping roof, with lots stored across the top of the beams. There were no cars in the there, just empty spots where they would've been. Plenty of junk was stacked against the walls and Carol began to pick through it, for anything that could be of use. She let of a quiet whoop of delight when she spotted the clothes horse, yanking it free and pushing it into the empty space in the centre of the garage whilst she looked for a tub.

Joe hadn't fallen asleep, what with the jiggling motion as Carol shifted things around, pulling out a couple of things that could be of use, a couple of flashlights, a small tool box. She had her back to the garage doors that were ajar, just enough to provide her with a little light. A shadow passed over her and she froze, hands resting on the metal tub she had just found. Then she heard the noise. The wheezing groan. She hardly dared to turn around, her hand flew to her waistband for her weapons and she found nothing. She hadn't bothered to tuck them into her waistband because she hadn't intended to leave the property.

She clutched the baby closer with one hand, turning around to face the noise. One Walker. One male Walker, wearing only a dirty pair of jeans, it's feet bare and it's scalp pulled back revealing it's rotting skull. It was slow to move, one leg injured in some way but it was stumbling it's way over to her. She darted for the side door, tripping her way over the junk that she had moved to get to the back, clutching Joe's head in case she tripped, yanking uselessly on the handle, she realised it was locked and that there was no hope of forcing it open.

But by going for the door, she had backed herself into a corner and her eyes darted across the space between her and that thing, looking for anything that could be used as a weapon. Her had fell upon a wooden handle and she heaved it hard to pull it free. It was an axe, the handle was almost half her height and Carol knew she would be unable to lift it over her head to kill the Walker.

She thought about screaming. Someone would hear her, but she quickly decided against it. If one Walker was about, who knew how many screaming would bring? She climbed backwards, over the piles of broken picnic tables and rusty bikes to put more distance between her and the Walker. It was close now, just short of an arms length away. she heaved the axe up and swung blindly.

It lodged itself in the Walker's knee, sending it crumbling to the ground. It didn't even give itself a moment to recover, using it's arms to propel it's self closer. The baby let out a cry, finally having realised that something was amiss and his squeal was almost ear piercing. It only caused the Walker to groan louder and Carol realised that now could no longer reach for the axe, she had no choice but to try and skirt past it fast enough. For the baby's sake.

She clutched him close, holding his head tight to her chest and crawled over the bicycle that was in her way. She let out the breathe she'd been holding as she made the leap over the fallen Walker, landing awkwardly on one foot and she caught herself before she hit the floor face first.

Just as she prepped herself to make a run for it, the thing lunged for her, catching her by the ankle and sending her to the ground. She landed on her back, catching her tailbone so hard that she couldn't help but scream in agony, the wind knocked out of her. She kicked at it's head as Joe screamed louder, looking to the garage doors to see if help would be with her. She could feel the Walker mashing at her boot, but the leather was thick and it couldn't get it's teeth through it.

Her hand reached out, trying to get purchase on something, anything to try and pull herself away from it. She could hear the roar of a car engine outside and she screamed again, her hand finding the tool box she retrieved earlier. She scrambled in side it, catching her hand on loose nails, but she found the cool metal handle of something and she yanked had, pulling a spanner free.

The Walker was pulling itself higher now and she used all the strength left in her, to smash the spanner into the exposed skull of the thing, sending rotten blood flying in all directions. It fell limp, heavy on her knees and she used her blood covered hands to try and pull herself free, the screams of Joe ringing in her ears.

Before she could even lift herself free, arms came under her, jerking her upwards and she made to scream again, before she realised that is was Daryl that was touching her.

"Are you ok?" He asked anxiously, kicking the body of the Walker away from them. His hands turned hers over, wiping at the blood. She nodded quickly and pulled her hands away to look at Joe, the back of his head was covered in the blood and the sight of it made her feel sick.

"Is he ok?" Daryl asked, pushing her fumbling fingers away to help her pull him free from the sling. His screams had dulled to sobbing, face wet with tears.

"I fell." She whispered. "I didn't land on him but..." Finally the sling loosened enough for Daryl to pull the child out, her hands were shaking so badly, she let him, fearful she would drop him. He clutched Joe around the waist, hand feeling his skull for lumps.

"Hey, everything okay?" Rick's head came through the garage door.

"Yeah, just one here, it's done. They're okay." Daryl answered. Rick nodded and ducked out.

"There's more?" Carol asked Daryl, using the edge of her sleeve to wipe some of the blood that speckled her face.

"Five, last I saw. It's fine, they're dealt with." Daryl checked the baby one last time. "He's fine."

"He's never screamed so loud." She murmured, reaching out and touching the baby's cheek. "He was so scared."

"It's okay." Daryl reassured her, leaning down to take a look at her boot, teeth marks marring the leather. "He won't ever remember it."

A sudden thought popped into Carol's head. Katie. "Is Katie alright? They didn't get into the house?" She grabbed Daryl's shoulder to pull him up to her, hobbling her way to the door.

"Slow down, Carol! She's fine. They didn't get into the house. Lori was upstairs with her. Stop!" He grabbed her shoulder to stop her limping. "Calm down. You go in like that, you're gonna scare her. Everyone's alright."

Carol nodded tearfully, slumping against him. Daryl wound his free arm around her waist, helping her to get to the house. They stopped at the tap outside the house and Carol shakely washed her hands and face to get off as much blood as possible.

Daryl handed her a rag from his back pocket and she soaked it under the cold water, rubbing the blood from Joe's hair. To his credit, he hardly made a sound, squirming only a little in Daryl's arms, when he looked passably unscathed, she set the rag down, arms finally steady enough to take the little one.

Daryl handed him over willingly enough, he hadn't looked as uncomfortable as Carol would've thought, considering he had never held him before. Joe was quiet now and for that Carol was pleased. She only hoped Katie was unaware of what happened.

The little girl rushed to her legs as they stepped in the doorway. She was chatting away, hardly taking a breath and Carol found herself unable to focus enough to understand her garble. She sat at the table, Lori instantly upon her with a first aid kit and a bowl of water and the other woman's chatter added to the noise.

Daryl hovered over her shoulder as Lori worked at the cuts on her hand, shifting from foot to foot, clearly irritated with the noise.

"Katie, cut it out!" He eventually snapped out at the little girl, who was trying her hardest to clamber onto Carol's knee next to her brother. She stopped half way up Carol's leg, sliding down and looking up at him with what only could be described as disdain, if such a thing were possible from a toddler.

"Jesus fuckin' Christ." She mumbled and all three adults turned to look at her agape, as if they couldn't quite believe what they had heard. They were silent for a moment and then Lori let out a snort of laughter, hand flying to her mouth to cover the action. It was enough to set Carol off into giggles, even though she was absolutely horrified with what she had just heard and even Daryl managed to crack a smile.

"That is your doing." She accused him, when she finally caught her breath, but she couldn't produce the stern tone she wanted. Daryl merely shrugged, hoisting Katie up onto the table before heading out the door to help the others dispose of the Walker bodies. He stopped as his foot crossed the threshold, as if he had just remembered something.

"Park's ready. We can start packin' to go tomorrow." He told them both, before heading out.

And so their life would begin again.