Rick and Shane had spent the better part of the morning planning their route on the map. It would take a few days to get there depending on whether or not the group ran into trouble. Their first priority now was to find somewhere to get gas. The nearest town was twenty miles away and they'd be lucky if they could make it there without running out. They set out to the highway which would be the quickest and most direct way to the town.

Serafina buckled down in the RV with the others. Rick was behind them in the station wagon with his family, Carol, and Sophia.

Glenn had found a pack of cards hidden away in one of the drawers and he and T-Dog were teaching Serafina how to play poker. Serafina was convinced the two were somehow cheating as she lost her sixth consecutive hand. "I do not think I like this game." She mumbled as she stared intently at her hand which was not any better than her last six hands. T-Dog was trying his hardest not to smile and Glenn elbowed him. "Are you two cheating?" She asked when they all revealed their hands, Glenn being the one with the winning hand.

"Don't trust them!" Dale called to her warning her about the two men in front of her. "I played cards with them the first night at camp and lost nearly my entire supply of toothpaste." He cast a look in the rearview mirror. "Card sharks, the pair of them."

Serafina sent the two a wary glance and stood up from the table. "My father always told me that Americans were untrustworthy." She joked and sent the pair a wink.

"Don't hate the player, hate the game." T-Dog told her as she sat down in the passenger's seat next to Dale.

"They were trying to hustle me." She said remembering the term from some old American movie she had seen some odd years back.

Dale laughed at the woman though his smile soon turned into a frown when he caught sight of the road in front of them. "Ah, jeez." He mumbled and began to slow to a stop.

"What's the problem, Dale?" Shane called out. He had been sitting in the back of the RV with Andrea. Serafina knew part of the reason he didn't want to sit upfront with the rest of them was because he was not trusting of her and if he had his way, he wouldn't even be traveling in the same vehicle as her. She had heard bits and pieces of Shane and Andrea's conversation and it had sounded as though Shane was teaching Andrea how to clean a gun.

The caravan was put to a stop when Serafina used the CB radio to tell Rick that they were not going to be able to get through the traffic snarl ahead. Daryl had gone in front of them to check out the situation and when he came back Dale asked. "See a way through?"

Daryl glanced over his shoulder at the blockage and then gave a quick nod of his head, motioning for Dale to follow. The Winnebago inched through the maze of cars and Glenn had taken out the map to take a look to see if there were any other ways to go. "Maybe we should just go back." He said. "There's an interstate bypass—"

Dale shook his head and cut the young man off, "We can't spare the fuel."

As they crept though there was a feeling of foreboding that swept through Serafina as she looked out the windows at the wreckage all around them. Most of the cars were abandoned, however, there were a few that they had passed that were still occupied and Serafina did her best to avert her vision.

Something in the engine popped loudly causing Serafina to jump and smoke began to billow out from underneath the hood. The engine let off an earsplitting sputtering sound and Dale gave an annoyed groan while everyone else looked around at each other, knowing that this would be a setback.

They began to file out of the RV and Dale commented. "I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water."

"Problem, Dale?" Shane asked as they gathered around the smoking engine.

Dale huffed. "Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of—" Serafina cleared her throat effectively cutting the older man off and she motioned with a nod of her head to all around them, "Okay, that was dumb."

"If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane said.

Daryl, who had already began to go through a nearby car, muttered. "There's a whole bunch of stuff to find here."

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog said.

"Maybe some water." Carol spoke up and someone else said, "Food."

Lori was the one to put a damper on the situation. "This is a graveyard." There was a look of turmoil in her eyes and it was understandable why that was. Her comment made everyone second think their plan to scavenge through what remained here. "I don't know how I feel about this."

"Just look around," Shane said. "... gather what you can."

While Glenn was busy fixing the radiator hose, everyone spread out and began to sift through the cars. Serafina had gravitated towards Lori and Carol, the latter of whom seemed to having the same concerns as Lori as they sorted through a suitcase full of clothes.

"It is unwise to continue to think that way." Serafina told them earning a scathing look from Lori. "You are going to need to do far worse things to survive than pick through abandoned cars."

Lori seemed almost insulted by the blonde's words, but Carol looked as though she was contemplating them and asked. "Have you?" That earned a confused glance from Serafina. "Have you had to do worse?"

Serafina seemed hesitant. "Not all people who survived are like your group." She explained and chose her words carefully. "Humankind is notorious for being unnecessarily cruel. This ... situation has not made them any kinder."

Carol frowned at the vague answer, but she understood what the woman was saying to her. "Kill or be killed..." She mumbled as she tossed a few shirts to the side.

"We have all done things we're not proud of." When Serafina said that Lori's eyes downcast and there was shame bubbling to the surface in them.

It was unfortunate for her that Serafina was as perceptive as she was because the guilt in her eyes did not go unnoticed nor did the way she let her gaze stray over to Shane who was busy unloading a water truck. Serafina decided she would keep that small action tucked away in the back of her mind.

After picking a few shirts out and a pair of pants, Serafina moved on to another car and began to go through it, leaving Carol and Lori to their own devices although she didn't stray too far from the group.

It was only a couple of minutes later that Rick took her by surprise when he came up behind her. "Get down." He ordered in a hushed voice and pulled her to the ground beside him. After she had shimmied under the car he had ducked in after her, his body flush against hers.

She tried to calm her breathing which had become ragged with adrenaline and she glanced over at Rick who was trying to do the same. The sluggish footsteps had begun to pass by them and they seemed to never end. She flinched when a walker stumbled and fell against the car they were under causing it to shake.

Slowly, she slid her knife out of its holder and gripped it tight, preparing herself for the worst, but the footsteps seemed to stop and Serafina's eyes darted around before they landed on Rick and then past him where she saw Sophia start to crawl out from underneath the car she was under.

The small girl let out a whimper when a walker spotted her and hissed at her as it dropped to the floor and tried to reach her underneath the car.

"Oh no." Serafina gasped as it clawed for her and she continued to cry out and back away from it before she emerged from the other side of the car and ran off the highway and into the woods.

Rick was the one to take off after her leaving Serafina behind in a stupor, caught between going after them and her own self preservation. She swore, "ебать."

Her legs took off automatically as she dashed after the sheriff. The trees around her becoming nothing but blurs of green and brown as she pumped her legs as fast as she could. It wasn't too long before she realized her mistake and she cursed again when she discovered that she had lost sight of Rick. She came to a stop, chest heaving as she breathed heavily and she was wondering when she had gotten so out of shape. The woods have never been kind to her and she should have known better than to run blindly into unknown territory.

She wanted to shout for Rick and Sophia, but there was no way of knowing if the undead were wandering around these woods. They were drawn to noise and if she were to call out for Rick and Sophia, she'd be inviting unwanted guests as well. Glancing around once last time, she looked for any indication of either the sheriff or the little girl and she wished she had taken her survival classes a bit more seriously back when she was in basic all those years ago.

It was with reluctance that she returned to the highway and to Carol who had tears streaming down her face. "Where are they? Did Rick find her?"

Serafina frowned. "I lost track of them." She knew it was not something the woman wanted to hear and her face crumbled. "Rick will find her." Serafina tried to reassure, but her words fell on deaf ears as the woman buried her face in her hands, her body shaking as sobs shook her body.

Lori had her arm around the weeping woman, trying to console her. Serafina walked away from the two women with her head down, in the back of her mind, she knew what it was like to lose a child and she would not want to wish that feeling on anyone.

So, here's a relatively short chapter. I have a lot of this story typed up, but it's a lot of scenes I haven't quite connected yet so chapters may be a bit short until I do.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and added this story to their story alerts!

If you guys want to check out a Daryl/OC story, go check out my story Protector! I'd love to hear some feedback on that one.

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