I do not own The Walking Dead.

Previously:

"Daryl," She started. "I think, if it came down to it, I could kill someone for the group. To protect them."

He frowned at first, but saw she was taking the matter seriously. "Only to protect."

"Only to protect." She repeated, etching the words in her mind.

It didn't take long for Faye to follow after Daryl. Considering Merle was contributing, the conversation was surprisingly relevant.

Moments like this made her question why she made fun of Merle - not to his face, of course - as he sounded intelligent. Well, maybe intelligent was the wrong word, but the strategy he proposed made sense, at least. Attacking the Governor while he wasn't expecting it sounded like the smart thing to do. It was what the man had done to them, and it had been effective.

It was also intriguing to see Michonne side with him, for once. Over all, it was a discussion worth listening to.

As she walked in and stood by Carl, Merle was talking. "Y'all didn't listen t' me before, now we lost a chance. What we gotta do is attack now, catch 'im off guard."

It was Carol who replied to him, but Carl spoke quietly to Faye. "Hey."

"Hey. How long has this been going on? I was talking to Daryl."

The boy shrugged. "You didn't miss much, just repeating the same thing with different words."

Faye held back telling him that that wasn't repeating if the words were different, to tease him and call him a dumbass. It wasn't the time for joking, she recognised that. "Alright."

"You sound calm. It's weird." Carl frowned.

It was her turn to shrug. "Daryl helped me figure out a few things. I'm not so worried anymore."

"About the war?"

"Yeah. What do you think about all this?"

"I'm okay." He said. "We've got to do it, after everything we've been through here. I don't think we should run."

Faye nodded, the prison was too much for them to lose. "Neither do I."

Both children remained quiet to listen to the conversation again. It was Hershel speaking. "We simply don't have the numbers to pull this off. I've said it before - we should try our luck on the road."

"The element of surprise is key. We use it, we get the advantage. It could make up for the numbers, most of his men are untrained." Michonne countered.

"Exactly," Merle agreed.

Carol, however, was on Hershel's side. "It's too dangerous to make a surprise attack, we've already lost people. We've been on the road before, we can do it again."

This continued for a while before Hershel stood up on his crutches. "I'm going to speak with Rick."

The discussion died down after this, the adult's knowing Hershel could coax Rick into giving some form of answer. Faye was a little irritated that they didn't ask for her or Carl's opinions, but that could wait. Being underestimated by your own people was annoying, but if she could pull it off with any of the Governor's army, then it could be used to her advantage.

The girl frowned.

Maybe she'd been listening to Merle's strategies too much.

Faye was supposed to be helping out the others as they put up some defence, but she had been distracted.

Alright, she wasn't supposed to, Hershel had said it might be too strenuous to help Carl and Maggie attract the walkers while Daryl, Glenn and Michonne were in the field. Faye had decided by herself that she would operate the gates while they were busy, and the whole thing was going to take place soon.

But, then, Merle wandered off. Nobody was watching him, and after all the effort he had put in to leave and make an attack on the Governor. So, Faye took it upon herself to make sure he wasn't up to no good.

She could be sneaky! If Daryl could pull it off, then so could she.

(Although, the reason Merle didn't hear her was actually because Faye had noticed him from the corner of her eye, and was far behind him. There was practally no sneaking to be done from that distance.)

By the time she caught up, the Dixon had already entered of of the cell blocks. Quietly standing by the door, she watched curiously as he ripped up the mattresses.

Well, this was unexpected.

At least, she thought, he wasn't leaving to kill the Governor. There were many worse things Merle Dixon could be doing, odd as this may have been.

Leaning against the doorway, Faye wondered what he was doing. Was he looking for something? What was there to be found in empty prison cells? The group had already been through the places free from walkers, there nothing of use to be found. That was if he was looking for a weapon a prisoner may have left.

It took a while for the man to notice her - or acknowledge her, at least - and when he did, he didn't seem to be bothered.

Holding herself up as Merle walked up to her, muscles tensing slightly as she remembered the day before, he raised his eyebrows, expecting her to say something.

Faye thought about something to say that wouldn't make a fool of herself or make him snigger at her - she'd tried listening to his advice and telling him to go to hell, neither ended well.

Nothing intelligent came to mind, so she stayed quiet.

This apparently worked, the man simply shrugging as he turned and carried on up the stairs to the upper cells. Remaining where she was, Faye continued to keep an eye on the man. If she had given herself a job, she would do it well. He might have just been waiting for her to leave and then he'd sneak out the prison.

It was only after he finished ripping the mattress, tossing fabric over the rails, of the first cell, did he speak.

"You my guard now, kid?" He said as he entered the second cell, apparently expecting her answer to be a shout so he could hear.

She hoped the answer wouldn't make him laugh, not replying would just be weird. "No. I thought you might be up to something so I followed you."

"Rick put ya up t' that? Daryl?"

"No." Faye repeated, as part of a bed dropped down near her. "I decided to. They're probably wondering where I am, actually."

"I ain't doin' nothin' interestin'. You go, err, run along, I ain't up t' anything."

That was a strangely normal thing to say. Daryl could have said that. But, still, it was Merle. And Merle was ripping up mattresses. "You obviously are. Why are you ripping all that stuff up?"

The snigger she'd been hoping to avoid finally came. "You ain't gonna like it if I tell ya. Go on, go... do whatever the hell it is ya do with sheriff's boy."

Whatever it was he was doing, he seemed mostly focused on it. Besides, she reasoned, if he really wanted to leave, it wouldn't be hard to get her out the way. Turning on her heels, she did as he said.

...

Only to be caught by Rick.

The man frowned when he saw her. "What do you think you're doin' over here?"

"Merle wandered off and no one was watching him," She replied. "I thought he might be doing something bad so I followed him. I was going back now anyway."

The look stayed on the leader's face. "And what is he doing now?"

Oh, maybe she would get away with it! "I think he's looking for something, he's ripping up all the mattresses. Wouldn't tell me what, though."

"Alright," He said, taking another step forward towards the door. Thinking she was dismissed, Faye began to leave when Rick continued. "I don't want to find you wandering off on your own again, it's too dangerous. Understand?"

Maybe not, then. "But I was just-"

"No buts, I don't want anyone out here alone, especially you. I'm serious, do you understand?"

Faye sighed, knowing he had been talking about her injury, not that she was a danger to be alone. In her opinion, she could handle herself, but he wasn't going to let her leave without an answer. "Fine."

"Good. Now, off you go, back to the others. I'll keep an eye on Merle."

Faye thought he'd probably have more important things to do than simply 'keep an eye' on the Dixon, but she let it slide, not wanting to get in more trouble.

Leaving him to it, the girl went to find Carl.

The fence wasn't the comfiest thing to lean on, but it would do. Watching Carl as he shouted and attracted the walkers, Faye sighed. She should be out there helping him.

But, no, she just had to get herself shot.

At least, she told herself, it hadn't been in the stomach, or chest. Then she wouldn't be able to move off the bed, probably. Running might have been painful for her, but she could still move around with a bandaged head.

Anyway, it wasn't that he was in that much danger, she was pretty sure the fence would hold out, and she knew he could protect himself. It would have made her feel less useless, though.

The noise seemed to catch Rick's attention too, rushing out a cell block door as if he didn't know what was going on. Then, his face calmed as the man realised there was no current danger. Looking around, his eyes met hers and he gave a nod, apparently approving that she was in sight of the other adults.

Faye's attention was brought away from the leader, however, when the car in the field began to return, Glenn and Daryl riding on the back while Michonne drove. Pushing herself off the fence, Faye unlocked the chain and pulled the gate to the side as the truck drove up.

"You got it?" Rick said as he walked to her, probably just waiting to see the adults.

Making sure the 'huff' of effort was quiet as she finished, the gate was surprisingly heavy, she replied. "I got it."

Once the car was safely inside the yard, Faye tugged the gate closed again and fit the lock into place.

A walker snarled at her as it approached, and Faye smirked. Nope, you're not getting in, she thought. Turning on her heels, the girl went over to Carl, who was just joining the group. "That was easy."

"For you," He replied. "My throat hurts from all the shouting."

"Aww," Faye nudged his shoulder. "Was it too much work for little Carly?"

"Shut up, I'm fine. And don't call me that." The boy frowned, but his tone didn't match the expression.

A grin spread across her face. "Oh my God."

"What?"

"How didn't I see it before?"

"What?"

"Carly is such a good nickname! I'm so stupid, I could have been calling you that for weeks! Think of all the fun I've been missing out on-"

The boy proceeded to give Faye a shove with the pan he was carrying.

"Call me that and the pot goes on your head."

"Thou shalt not be afraid."

Faye wasn't sat with the Greene's as Hershel read the Bible. She felt that she would be intruding if she did. Maybe she was intruding now, listening in, but it didn't dwell in her mind.

"For the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day."

The girl was never quite sure whether she had faith in God. She didn't pray to him before she slept, or when something bad happened. On the first night she had spent alone, in the cold attic of a house, she had done. She had sobbed and prayed for her family to find her, for them to be alive, for a miracle. None came.

"Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness."

Since then, she hadn't believed there was a God. And if there was, she'd sure as hell done something to royally piss him off.

"Nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon day."

At the farm, a little faith returned to her. She'd found people, a group, a friend. Albeit, a friend who didn't believe in God himself, but a friend all the same. Maybe, she thought, God had just muddled up a little, but was repaying her with a new chance.

Then the farm was lost to the walkers, and whatever thread of belief she had left diminished.

"A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand."

So, Faye didn't know why she was listening to Hershel reading the Bible, hiding behind a wall as he spoke. She didn't particularly understand the old words, and didn't particularly try to.

"But it shall not come nigh thee."

It may have been the fact that Hershel was reading the words. Faye had more faith in Hershel than she did in God.

"Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked."

Faye probably had more faith in any of one of the group than she did in God.

"Surely, he shall deliver thee from the snare of the foul, and from the noise of pestilence."

Maybe she didn't need a God, if she could put her trust in them.

"He shall cover thee and under his wings shalt thou trust."

Maybe she didn't need a God at all. She had Daryl, and Carl, and everyone else.

"That no evil shall befall thee. Neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling."

But, hey, if God felt like giving a miracle, he could give her a call.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 27 is here! This was going to have the Merle... dilemma in it, but found it would have been rushed so I left it to the next chapter.

So, if you haven't yet, tell me if you want Faye to go with Daryl or not! So far, the vote is in favour of joining him.

Next chapter will be up on Thursday/Friday, which is a bit longer than normal because I'm back at school.

Please review, I love to hear your thoughts and advice.

Thanks.

Cobalt Flame.