It had been chaos. Pure and utter chaos. His first instinct had been to grab Sophia and run, but Glenn had needed help.

Daryl closed his eyes as he remembered how close the kid had come to death. He was sure he'd prevented it, then, but they'd gotten separated real quick after that. Who knew what had happened afterward?

There was gunfire. A lot of it. Daryl had been reluctant to fire too many bolts. He had a limited supply, and he never knew when he might need on in a pinch. He'd been using his back-up knife - he'd never gotten his favorite back from Sophia - and when he'd turned back to tell Glenn they had to find the girl, he'd been gone. After that, Daryl had run into Lori, who was frantically searching for Carl. Together, the two had battled through the hoards, looking for the lost children. He'd made sure not to lose sight of her.

"Daryl?" Lori asked gently, setting her hand on his shoulder.

They'd never found Carl, but that didn't mean the boy was dead. They hadn't caught sight of Rick or Shane, either, but he knew that those two had made it. He couldn't imagine a walkers - or even fifty walkers - getting the best of them.

"What's wrong with him?" Beth asked, her voice high and panicked.

They'd run in to Beth just in time to save her. She'd been standing in the middle of the yard, crying as she fought, and Daryl had though she was another young blond, for a moment. Of course, it had only taken a second for him to recognize her for who she was. They'd snatched her up anyway and dragged her along with them.

"We have to go."

Daryl opened his eyes and looked down at the doll-like girl in front of him. He'd found her backed against the house, slashing wildly at the walkers gathered around her with his knife in hand. He'd nearly had a heart attack when he'd seen her go down. But he'd stabbed the walker on top of her anyway, and she'd been no worse for wear when he pulled her to her feet. In fact, she'd been smiling a weak but grateful smile. Her greeting was still ringing in his ears. Now we're even.

"Daryl," Lori repeated, pulling on his arm. "Come on! We have to get out of here! We're not far enough away!"

Daryl blinked rapidly, looking around as if he'd forgotten where he was. For a moment, he had. He'd been back at the farm, watching Sophia fight for her life. If he didn't do something soon, they might be repeating the whole ordeal.

"This way," he said sharply, surging forward once more. They were moving through the darkening trees, their footsteps loud and crashing in the night.

"Are we going the right way?" Beth pleaded, small and scared.

"There is no right way," Daryl muttered. "There's only away from here."

Morning found them at the edge of the woods, miles away from Hershel's farm. Daryl honestly wasn't sure if it was the same highway they'd been on before discovering the place. The night before had been so confusing. He'd barely had time to grab his crossbow, let alone plot an escape route. He'd dragged the three into the forest behind him and hadn't stopped until he could no longer hear the groans of the dead. Then they'd gone further out, twisted and turning to avoid stray packs of walkers.

For the first time in a long time, Daryl had no idea where he was.

"What are we gonna do, now?" Beth asked, huddled between Lori and Sophia. "Should we go back to the farm and see what happened?"

"We can't go back," Lori said, her voice soft and broken. "There's nothing left for us, there. Anyone who stayed behind is dead. Walkers will still be crawling all over it. We have to look for the others. Maybe if we find that highway again, they'll be there waiting for us."

"Maybe," Daryl agreed. "We gotta be cautious, though. Find some food, if we can. We don't know how long we're gonna be on our own."

Sophia looked up at the words. "Well, it's a good thing we're not on our own," she said firmly. "We got out together."

They got out together, him and his girl.

So that's it, really. Except there's a sequel. It's not done yet, but I have it posted on Archive of Our Own. It's called Angels of Atlas. My pen name on that site is Moosebrawn, if you're interested in tracking it down. Hope you enjoyed this!