I ran until my lungs hurt, keeping stride with Daryl. My stomach was churning dangerously. The screams continued, full of anguish and terror. Before we even reached the fields, tears were streaming from my eyes. I knew what we were going to find there. I just didn't know who.

As we grew closer, the sounds subsided and it became horribly silent, a part from the sounds of a walker ripping into flesh. Daryl spotted the walker first and pulled out his knife, jamming it into the creature's skull. It fell to the side and I gasped as I saw who was lying under it.

It was Dale.

I fell to my knees, my breath coming in short bursts. I felt like I couldn't catch my breath, like my heart was just going to burst from my chest. This was the man that had stood up for me. This was the man who had trusted me and gave me a place to stay. In the short time I had known him, I had grown to admire Dale and even had begun to care about him. Now, he was lying here, covered in blood, his body torn to pieces. His breath was ragged and shallow. The only sound coming from his mouth was a horrible gurgling. I crawled closer, the tears coming harder.

"Dale." I whimpered quietly, grasping for his hand. His eyes found mine. They were wide, full of so much terror and pain.

"What do we do, what do we do?" I said in a panicky voice, looking up at Daryl. He didn't say anything. He was looking down at Dale with a mixed look of sadness and disbelief.

Suddenly, Herschel was there. Behind him came Rick, Andrea, Lori, and Carl. Lori gasped when she saw Dale and held Carl back, cradling his head into her chest. Andrea was on Dale's other side in an instant, grasping his hand. She was sobbing hysterically.

"Can you help him? You have to save him!" Rick was saying over and over again, though hopelessness was layered in his voice. He knew there was no chance. Herschel confirmed this a moment later.

"He's hurt too badly, losing too much blood. I'm sorry, Rick. I can't help him." He said quietly, barely audible over Andrea's sobs.

Rick nodded, looking numb as he pulled his gun out and pointed it at Dale's head. Dale met his eyes and seemed to be pleading for him to do it. God, he had to been in so much pain. I squeezed his hand harder. At least we would all be here with him when he went. Rick continued to hesitate, though. Finally, Daryl took the gun from his hand.

"Sorry, brother." He said quietly.

I squeezed my eyes shut and a second later there was a loud bang and Dale's body went limp. He was gone. I opened my eyes again to see Dale's still, unmoving form. Forever frozen in utter agony. Andrea draped herself over his chest, her shoulders shuddering with grief. I pulled myself to my feet and stumbled a few paces away where I abruptly began heaving and vomiting. I didn't know if it was from seeing the gore of Dale's body or watching him die, but I felt sick to my stomach. Yes, I had watched many people die. But I had never been that close for it. Right there when their last breath left their bodies. And Dale was so good…maybe one of the few good people left.

I fell to my knees, gasping for breath as the last of my stomach's contents came up. I wiped my mouth with my sleeve and realized I was shaking. Next thing I knew, I was being pulled to my feet.

"Calm down, sweetheart. It's okay." Carol's soft voice was in my ear. She began to walk with me across the field, struggling to support my weight. I was feeling like my knees might buckle again and bring us both down when I was suddenly swept from my feet and into a pair of arms. A familiar musky scent hits my nostrils and I looked up to see Daryl.

"I don't need to be carried." I murmured. The image of Dale's spilled intestines popped into my mind and my stomach clenched again. I gritted my teeth and shut my eyes. God, why Dale?

"Keep your mouth shut. I don't need to be covered in your puke." He said in a gruff voice. I didn't argue, but only because I was worried he was right. If I tried to talk, I'd probably just end up vomiting.

I was aware of Carol walking next to us as we made our way back into the camp. We bypassed the other tents and kept going till we had reached Daryl's little camp. He set me down on the log he had been using as a bench. Carol sat next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I grasped her other hand and glanced at her to see she was also crying.

"I'm so sorry, Carol. I know how much you all loved him." I managed to get out. "I'm sorry I'm so upset…it's just…" I couldn't finish the sentence.

She nodded. "I know. He was kind to you. He was a good man."

Daryl returned a second later and knelt down in front of me. He held out a tin cup filled with water. "Drink." He commanded before standing straight again and striding towards his tent.

I took a big gulp, rinsing the irony taste from my mouth. I drained the whole cup in a few seconds and my stomach felt much calmer. Carol rubbed my back with one hand, grasping one of my hands in her free one.

"I can't believe this happened. We thought we were safe here. We tricked ourselves into thinking we were immune." She said sadly.

I nodded. "I was barely here over a week and I felt the same way. This place felt like a dream. And Dale…he was one of the nicest people I've ever met. Even before this messy world."

There was the sudden sound of approaching footsteps and Lori suddenly appeared, looking just as grief stricken and torn up as I felt inside and out. "Charlie, can you keep an eye on Carl. I need to…to help Rick."

"I'll do it. I'll watch him." Carol spoke up before I could. "You should sit here for a few minutes. You're still shaking a little."

I nodded, giving her the best smile I could muster. She gave my hand one last squeeze before following after Lori. When she was gone, I wrapped my arms around myself, squeezing tightly. I remembered feeling slightly like this when I lost Gabe. I was out of sorts for days. I remembered just sitting in the attic of an old house, just trying to hold myself together. Wrapping my arms around myself as if it would help keep the pieces together.

Daryl emerged from the tent a second later, a towel in one hand. He tossed it to me, motioning to my hands. "Clean yourself up."

I looked down and realized they were covered in Dale's blood. I took a deep breath and began scrubbing the red smears from my skin. It was still slick and wet and came off easily.

"I forgot how hard it was…watching someone die." I said quietly. I hadn't been around people for so long, hadn't even remotely cared about anyone's wellbeing beside my own, that I had forgot I was capable of feeling this kind of hurt.

Daryl grunted in response before dropping down on the log next to me. I snuck a glance at him. He looked weighted down in that moment, which was the way that I felt. Like the reality of everything we had been trying to shut out while on the farm was finally beginning to press in again and rest on our shoulders.

"Shouldn't have happened. Don't know what the hell that walker was doin' this close to the camp." He said finally.

I balled up the red stained towel in my hands. "Daryl…" I began hesitantly. He didn't respond so I took a breath and began again. "Daryl, where's Merle?" It was a question that had been burning in the back of my mind since the moment I had laid eyes on Daryl. I hadn't had a chance to bring it up before now, at least not without immediately getting shut down. I realized this was the first moment of peace between the two of us. I felt like I was walking on broken glass, just trying to keep it from falling to pieces.

Daryl stiffened for a moment and a braced myself, watching his mouth grow tight. A second later, though, he relaxed, letting out a breath of air. "I dunno. We lost him in Atlanta. He's alive, though. No way that bastard's dead. I just gotta find him."

I nodded. "Merle's one tough son of a gun." I said quietly.

"Guess he was shootin' his mouth off during a raid and Rick had to chain him to the roof. Went back to look for him and ain't nothin' left but his hand."

I felt my eyes widen. "He…he cut off his own hand?" I asked incredulously. "Holy shit…"

Daryl nodded and shot me a sidewise look. There was just barely a ghost of a smile on his lips. "Like you said…he's a tough son of a bitch."

I admired his hopefulness. Or maybe it was his stubbornness, refusing to believe that his brother hadn't made it. It was the same feeling I had when I thought about the last time I saw Gabe. Although my hope was slowly ebbing away with each passing day. Daryl hadn't seen his brother go down. He had even found a tiny, farfetched stretch of proof that Merle had made it off the roof alive. I had nothing. Daryl must have sensed where my mind had drifted.

"Gabe. Your lil' brother. Did he make it?" He asked.

I hesitated. I knew what I had seen, but I didn't know what I believed. I took a deep breath. "He's…I mean he was…-"

Approaching footsteps cut me off midsentence. We both looked up at the same time to see Carol had returned. She looked drained, tired. She managed a small smile when she looked at me though. "You look a little better." Carol said. "Rick, Lori, and Herschel are arranging a funeral for Dale tomorrow morning. Carl is a mess, apparently he thinks this is somehow his fault." She sighed shaking her head.

I furrowed my eyebrows together. "How? This was an accident…Carl didn't force that walker to attack Dale."

"I know that, but he's a child. I think it's easy to forget that." She said softly. "You look tired…I came to ask if you wanted to bunk in my tent tonight. I don't know how comfortable you'll feel. Sleeping in his RV. Andrea won't step foot near it right now.

I felt my chest tightened, completely having forgotten that Dale's RV had been home for the past week. She was right, I couldn't go in there. Not tonight. "Thanks, Carol. That's really nice of you." I said. I realized then how heavy my limbs felt, how the skin around my eyes felt raw from the tears. I needed to rest. I glanced over to where Daryl had been seconds ago and was surprised to see he was no longer sitting next to me. He must have gotten up in the middle of Carol and I talking and slipped off. I tried to ward off the disappointment I felt. It was the first time we had gotten along. I wasn't sure when we would have another moment like that, if ever. The circumstances of tonight had changed the dynamics of our relationship, but I had a feeling it had only been temporarily.

"Let's go. I'm exhausted." I said, standing up. Carol wrapped an arm around my shoulder and led me back to the rest of the camp. I glanced one last time over my shoulder. He still wasn't there.

Hi everyone! :D Long time, no see! Finally back from trip, which truly is bittersweet. I posted the next two chapters so I hope you enjoy them. School is about to start back up for me so I things might get a little crazy. However, I will continue to post as often as I can. I'm thinking two chapters once a week will probably be the most I can do. Hope you all understand! Happy reading!