We drove into the morning, somehow making our way back to the highway. Rick was adamant that this is where everyone would go, that we all knew to fall back here. I couldn't be so certain but I did argue with him. At this point any hope was better than no hope at all.

Slowly the truck rolled to a stop in front of Sophia's sign. My heart ached with a new pain as I read the words that she probably never saw. Rick got out of the car and we all followed him, climbing out slowly.

Hershel's eyes dropped to my arm and he stopped me, grabbing my elbow to look at it. I wrenched it away from him, not looking at him.

"It's fine." I said quietly, numb from last nights events. Hershel watched me go, I could feel his eyes boring into my back, but he said nothing. I remained silent, shoving my hands into my jacket pocket as I approached the car.

Carl and Rick were locked in a heated argument, but I drowned them out as I reached the car. I felt frustrated and afraid. The others were out there, hopefully still alive, and we were stuck here, waiting. I looked at the supplies we'd left for Sophia and screamed, swiping them off the car hood.

Rick, Hershel and Carl all watched me, waiting. I hissed, grabbing my arm. Now that the adrenaline had worn off I could feel its sting slowly biting back. Hershel walked up to me, taking my elbow again, looking into my eyes.

"Let me look at your arm." I didn't fight him this time and I fell back, leaning against the car. I unzipped my jacket, slowly peeling it off, draping it on the car. Hershel bent over, grabbing up one of the water bottles I just threw to the ground. He opened it, pouring it on my arm. It felt good against my skin and I sighed, some how feeling calmer. He ripped the hem of his undershirt, wrapping it around my wound tightly, then retying the tourniquet. "That should do for now, through and through, nearly a graze, but we'll need to get somewhere soon to either stitch or cauterize it."

Carl huffed away from his father and I watched him go, glancing up at the sheriff. Rick sighed, looking up at us.

"They'll be here!" He reassured us. Neither of us said anything, not sure if we believed him. I stared off into the distance, watching the horizon for any sign of life. A walker was making his way through the cars and I jumped to my feet. Rick had seen it too and we all ducked behind the truck. He didn't see us, just continued tromping down the highway.

"I don't know how much longer we can stay here." Hershel said to Rick. I looked at him, horrified, unsure what exactly he just said.

"I'm not leaving without mom." Carl stated surely. Rick looked up at Hershel.

"We've only got one concern now, keeping ourselves alive. Nature may be throwing us a curveball, but that law is still true." Hershel's tone was grave and I scoffed at him, shaking my head. I wasn't leaving, not without Daryl. I'd sit on this highway the rest of my life if I had to.

Rick looked around cautiously, knowing he had a hard decision to make.

"Carl, it's not safe here." He tried to reason with the boy. "I'm sorry." Carl began to cry and I took a step back from them. Rick watched me, concerned.

"I'm not leaving!" I hissed. Rick opened his mouth to speak but a familiar rumbled came over the air. I turned, my heart pounding, as it grew closer. Rick heard it too, and he stood. A familiar cavalcade came rumbling down the highway, Daryl and his bike first.

I didn't move, unable to think straight, not even sure if what I was seeing was real. Behind him Glenn and Maggie pulled up in Patricia's SUV and after them T-Dog arrived in the blue truck with Lori and Beth. I let out a delighted sob, bringing my hand to my mouth.

I was shaking with joy, almost too shaky to move and I stepped forward, bracing myself on the truck. Daryl parked his bike, his eyes finding me and he stood, sprinting in my direction. I took a deep breath, taking off across the lane.

I jumped into his arms and he caught me, wrapping my legs around his midsection. I cried into his shoulder, overcome with emotion and he spun me, holding me tighter to him.

"I thought I'd never see you again!" I breathed between sobs. I kissed his cheek, his neck and then back to his cheek.

"I'm never letting ya go again." He said, his voice muffled in my jacket. His lips found their way to my neck and he kissed it gently before burying his face in my collar. Daryl dropped me gently, my feet unsteadily finding the ground. He grabbed my chin roughly, crashing his lips down onto mine.

We parted and Rick walked up to us, shaking Daryl's hand, pulling him into a hug. Lori and Carl reunited, the mother in near tears and Hershel ran to his daughters, both of them crying in to his chest.

"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked Daryl, who had yet to let go of me.

"Well those guys taillights zigzagging all over the road," Daryl pointed to Glenn and smiled. "Figured he had to be asian driving like that." Glenn laughed, narrowing his eyes at Daryl playfully.

"Good one." He said sarcastically.

"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked, eyeing me carefully. I couldn't help but smile up at him and he kissed my forehead.

"We're the only ones who have made it so far." Rick replied.

"Shane?" Lori asked, looking between me and Rick. My breath hitched in my throat and Daryl looked down at me knowingly. I nodded slightly, but remained silent. Rick looked over at me before shaking his head. Lori said nothing, returning to her son quietly.

We decided to go east, keeping to the side roads. Daryl and I climbed onto the back of his motorcycle, following rick out of the highway. Rick pulled over and we all followed, hopping out of our cars. Daryl and I watched with narrowed eyes, glancing at each other quickly.

Rick walked up to us quickly shaking his head. Again I looked at the truck.

"You out?" Daryl asked as he approached us.

"Running on fumes." Rick replied quickly. "We'll have to run out for gas in the morning."

"We're going to spend the night here?" I asked, shivering. I frowned at Rick, and he returned the look.

"We'll make a fire, keep quiet." Lori offered. I looked up at Daryl, he didn't seem to happy about it but he said nothing.

"When we go out to look for firewood stay close." Daryl offered looking at me. His eyes flicking to my bow that I'd thrown over my shoulder and he frowned. "We've only got so many arrows. How are you doing on ammo?" he asked Rick.

"Not enough." The sheriff replied surveying the area. I followed his gaze, studying the trees that surrounded us on both sides. I shifted uneasily, not wanting to walk out into those trees. "We'll set up a perimeter. In the morning we'll find gas and some supplies. Keep pushing on."

"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas." Maggie offered, apparently as thrilled with staying here as I was.

"We stay together." Rick commanded. "God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car!"

"rick, we're stranded now!" Glenn pleaded with him. I nodded, looking at Glenn. I agreed. If we were a bit further away I'd have no qualms, but it felt like the farm was too close for comfort.

"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other!" Our group stayed quiet and I looked at the ground. Daryl's hand found mine and he gave it a light squeeze. "I didn't think we would, but we did. We're together, we keep it that way." I shivered again, not sure if from the cold or the words Rick had just said. Nobody said anything and he continued. "We'll find shelter somewhere. There's got to be a place! Not just where we hole up, but where we fortify! So we can pull ourselves together!" Rick sighed, and I though he would cry. "Somewhere that we can build a life! I know its out there! Don't you want that?!" Rick asked us all. He looked at Daryl and I and I felt Daryl grow rigid next to me.

"Even if we do find a place, and we think it's safe, we can never be sure for how long!" Maggie reasoned with him. "look what happened with the farm!"

"We'll make camp tonight over there, and be back on the road at the break of day." Rick said, pointing to what appeared to be a man made dam.

"What if walkers come through or another group like Randall's?" Beth asked Rick. The sheriff looked at her and Daryl cleared his throat, stepping forward.

"You know, I found Randall," Daryl paused, catching Rick and everyone's attention. "He had turned, but he wasn't bit." I gasped, looking over at Rick. Rick's eyes too grew wide, though he seemed less surprised than I was.

"How is that possible?" I murmured. Daryl looked over to me and I nodded my head, I would have to tell him later what happened with Shane.

"Rick, what happened?" Lori asked? I paused, maybe I wouldn't have to tell him, hopefully we'd duke it out here, no more secrets. Daryl looked over to Lori and then down at me.

"Shane killed Randall." He said matter of factly. I nodded my head and Lori seemed surprised. "Just like he always wanted too."

"And then the herd got him?!" Lori asked in disbelief. She looked to her husband for a sign, for anything, but he didn't speak. Rick glanced at me and Carl shuffled awkwardly next to his mother.

"We're all infected." Rick said finally after what felt like hours. My stomach dropped and I my mouth fell open. I watch Rick, waiting for an explanation of some kind.

"What?" Daryl asked quietly. Rick looked up at him, clearing his throat.

"At the CDC Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."

"Oh god." I muttered, bending over. I placed my hands on my knees, breathing deeply, trying not to panic. Daryl crouched next to me, a firm hand on my back.

"And you never said anything?!" Carol asked, appalled.

"Would it have made a difference?" Rick asked.

"You knew this whole time?!" Glenn scoffed.

"How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy that mother-"

"That is not your call!" Glenn stated, growing heated, interrupting the sheriff. "When I found out about the walkers in the barn I told you, for the good of everyone!"

"Well I though it best that people didn't know." Rick's tone was deadly serious and the look on his face was hard. Glenn didn't speak again and I finally found eth strength to stand. Rick turned, giving his wife one last look before walking off down the street.

We watched him go, hesitating briefly before Daryl walked after him, leading me by my cold, shaking hand. We brushed past Rick and Lori silently, leading the others down into the ditch next to the wall. I looked up at Daryl; he was biting his lip profusely, worrying.

Thankfully we'd gotten a fire started before it grew dark and now all of us huddled around it. it was cold in the dark, even colder than it was when we stopped this afternoon. Daryl had given my his biker coat, since I was only in a hoodie. He kept me close, sharing our body heat, despite it I still shivered.

The fire was quiet, no one said a word, and I watched the logs burn in front of me. Hershel had tended to my arm earlier. Thankfully my hunting knife was enough to get the bullet out of my arm. Daryl helped him to hold me down while he removed it. Unfortunately we had nothing to stitch it with, so Hershel had to cauterize it. It still stung, but not as much, Merle's painkillers had helped with that.

Carol sat down next to Daryl and I, sighing.

"We're not safe with him." She said quietly. The camp fire looked up at her, Daryl included, and he gave her a confused look. "Keeping something like that from us?" I raised my brow at her, giving my head a slight shake. I personally was glad he didn't tell me and if he couldn't gotten away with it longer, I wished he would've. But as I sat by the fire I could see the safety complications that went with keeping the secret that he did.

"Rick's done all right by me." Daryl said, catching Carol off guard. I looked over at the woman and she gasped. I nodded my head, agreeing with him.

"You're his henchmen." She said coldly. Daryl froze, taking a deep breath. He narrowed his eyes at her and look at me.

"You'd think you'd be grateful, how he looked for Sophia for days and all." Daryl muttered toking the fire. "What do you want?"

"A man of honor." She replied quickly, her eyes darting back to Daryl. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Rick has honor." I said dismissively, thinking back to last night's events. I saw him refuse to draw his weapon on Shane, I saw him refuse to take up arms against his best friend. The fire watched our conversation.

"I think we should take our chances." Maggie said to Glenn.

"Don't be foolish." Hershel muttered, clinging tightly to Beth. The leaves rustled somewhere off and my head snapped up in the direction the rustling came from.

"What was that?" Beth asked, afraid. Daryl stood beside me, grabbing up his crossbow.

"It could be anything." He said, watched the trees through narrowed eyes. "Could be a raccoon, a possum."

"A walker." Glenn offered. "Which way?"

"It came from over there." Maggie said pointing to a set of trees a few feet away. "We need to leave."

"The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark!" Rick argued from behind us. I had forgotten he was even here with how quiet it had been. "We don't have the vehicles, no one starveling on foot." Another branch snapped and I too stood up, grabbing my hunting knife.

"I'm not sitting here waiting for another herd to blow through." Maggie said matter of factly. "We need to move, now."

"No one is going anywhere!" Rick spat. The group grew quiet and I flinched at his tone. "I'm keeping the group together! Alive! I've been doing that all along! I didn't asked for this!" He yelled at everyone. "I killed my best friend for you people for christ sake! You all saw it. How he pushed us, how he compromised us, how he threatened us!" Rick paused while it sunk in with the group. "He staged the whole Randall thing! Led me and beau out to put a bullet in our heads. He actually shot Beau! That's the wound that Hershel cauterized when we got here!" The group looked at me, still silent, studying me. I hugged myself closer, thinking back to the bullet wound on my arm. Daryl seethed from beside me. "He gave me no choice!"

Carl began to cry, latching on to his mother. I frowned at him, knowing he had seen all of this happen.

"It's true, Rick saved my life, and if my arrow hadn't missed I would've done the same." I said quietly. Lori glared up at me and I looked at the ground. The campers remained silent, unable to look away from their leader. They were shocked, some of them looked scared, and I wasn't sure which side of the fence they were on.

"Maybe you people are better of without me. Go ahead." Rick said, gesturing to the woods behind him. "I believe there's a place out there for us, but maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe I'm fooling myself again! Why don't you go and find out yourself!" Rick told all of us, looking at each one in turn. Daryl looked down at me, seeming to stand taller as he did. "Go on, there's the door! You can do better? Lets see how far you get." I heard the malice and the frustration in his voice and my breath caught in my throat. I knew I had seen something break last night when Rick killed Shane, and now I was seeing exactly what it was. "No takers?" I looked around the camp, studying everyone. Nobody moved, and I knew Rick had seen it too. Nobody wanted to leave, it was all talk. "Fine, but If you're staying, this isn't a democracy anymore." Rick stared everyone down pointedly before walking off into the woods to assumingly check on the noises we'd heard.

I glanced up at Daryl unsure and he nodded down at me, planting a kiss on my forehead. We were staying, like he'd said before, rick had always done right by us. We were the first to sit back down and slowly everyone followed our lead, quietly watching the fire burn long into the night.

I'll start season 3 PROBABLY next week if not sooner. i want to write a couple more chapters before I start it.

Reviews are lovely, and I've been getting some awesome feedback from you guys! So glad you're enjoying it!

Stay Beautiful!