Heterochromia Iridum

Surprise! Here's another one! This was a surprise even to me, haha. I didn't think I'd get this chapter out this quickly. I'm excited for the next one.

Thank you to everyone that reviewed! I know when I put this up reviews weren't working but people still tried to leave me some which is so nice! Thanks to Jean, Anon, Faelyght, JenTen, I'm a Nerd and Proud, HPGunshot, LeAnn388, Kaiya's Watergarden, sillygabby, SeverusSnape'sLove, FluentInBullshit, Random & Bactrian Camel for reviewing. Thanks for the encouraging words and thanks to everyone that's added HI to their alerts and favourites.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters associated with the franchise. I own the plot to this story and any original characters you may see, like Katty or Calum.

Chapter 15: Trapped

Even post-apocalyptic, hospital chairs were uncomfortable. Her numb ass told her that. She had been watching Tara breathe for the past hour, her respirations easy and regular. It was somehow comforting and unnerving at the same time. Katty half expected Tara to sit up in bed and crack a joke, and every minute that she didn't, made Katty's brow crease further.

"No wonder she's still out. I wouldn't want to wake up to that cheery face either," Rosita drawled from her position beside the shelf.

Any other day, Katty would have snarked something back at Rosita, laughed, or made a joke out of it. Not today, though.

Pete had more or less medically cleared Tara, and it was now just a waiting game for when she would wake up. It wasn't like they had any equipment or machinery that would help her past the initial stages of recovery. They truly wouldn't know if there was any lasting damage until she woke up.

It was the morning after the warehouse run, and Alexandria seemed dreary and less full of life without her and Noah.

She had sat on the porch for a while last night, and people rotated in and out of the house, keeping her company or just getting a breather themselves. Though the day had dragged on endlessly, it also felt like a blur; a rush; she wasn't sure how it concluded or how she ended up in her own bed, but Katty woke up the next morning in the familiar house.

She also hadn't asked specifics. Katty didn't know how it ended, who did it, or at what hour it occurred during the night. But waking up to Glenn and Abraham digging graves, cemented the fact for her without words.

"Katty," Rosita's voice had changed from a sarcastic drawl to take on a soft, concerned note. "She's going to be alright. Tara's not going to disappear on us." Her friend placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, which Katty covered with her own.

"How do we tell her?" Katty asked instead. She could easily recall countless times that she had seen Noah and Tara together, laughing, talking, being friendly. They were obviously close.

Rosita sighed. "There's no right way. We just do," she removed her hand from Katty's shoulder to straighten her ponytail. "Do you mind sitting here for a few? I'm going to try to get Abraham and Eugene in the same room; try to get them to kiss and make up."

Katty glanced over at her, curious. "What happened that they're fighting?" She had wondered about Eugene; how he fit into their family and why there seemed to be tension between him and a couple other people, namely Abraham. Katty had seen them avoid each other, look the other way when the other was talking, leave the room or create a physical distance between them.

Rosita sighed again, "It's a long story. Eugene fucked up and now he and Abraham don't talk. Everyone is over it but him, really. It hit Abe a lot harder than anyone else." That didn't really answer Katty's question, just created new ones, but she nodded all the same.

Everyone had secrets, after all.

The scratch on her arm throbbed dully and her hand twitched, wanting to pick at the bandage covering it. That was another reason why she had come down to the infirmary. She didn't end up cleaning the scratch or changing the bandage like Katty had promised Carol she would, and it needed to be dealt with.

"Yeah, I don't mind sticking around for a few more minutes. Take your time," Katty confirmed easily, waving her hand at Rosita to usher her away.

Rosita thanked her and then left. When the door shut behind her, Katty waited a minute to make sure she wasn't going to spontaneously appear again, and then went to work to cleaning her arm. Even though the virus wasn't going to kill her, she still had to worry about a normal infection. Peeling the gauze off of her arm, Katty winced as the dressing stuck to the plasma around the wound.

She glanced down at it and wrinkled her face. Considering a dead person had gouged her, it didn't look terrible. Not deep enough to justify stitches, but would definitely be another unattractive scar. She grabbed a container of sterile saline, as sterile as it can be in the apocalypse, and worked at irrigating the tissue to clean it. The majority of dirt, blood and grime washed away and down her arm, but she still took a few cotton pads and saturated them in saline to use as well, just to make sure. Katty grabbed a couple butterfly closures and applied them before she covered it with another dressing. Not perfect, she mused. It definitely looked like someone had tried to bandage themselves with one arm, but it was good enough.

Rosita and Eugene walked in as she was cleaning up the garbage.

"I would have done it for you if you had waited," Rosita chided her and straightened the dressing on her arm. Katty resisted flinching as she did so and tried to execute a noncommittal shrug.

"It's alright. I didn't remember I needed to clean it until after you left. It kills the time," Katty explained nonchalantly with a wave of her hand.

"How's your back? Looked pretty rough last night," Katty smiled at Rosita's concern, appreciative that the other woman thought of her.

She shrugged, and winced slightly. "Still hurts, I won't be sleeping on my back for a while, I suppose. I'll live, though." Katty had elected to wear a loose tank top as well as neglecting a bra, which definitely helped.

"Alright, well I can always give you something to help with pain. And I don't mind changing the bandages when you think you need it, either," Rosita offered with a stern look on her face. Katty again smiled, and nodded.

"Thanks, I'll come find you either tomorrow or the day after for it."

Katty glanced over at Eugene, who had been entirely silent during their interaction. He had situated himself in the chair that Katty had vacated, and was watching Tara intensely, much like Katty had done previously. He looked tired, like he hadn't slept much last night. Dark circles under his eyes accentuated that fact.

He jumped when Katty placed her hand on his shoulder. "Take it easy, Eugene. Join Tara and have a kip," she instructed, and the man promptly shook his head.

"That would be a negatory on the nap prospect, Katty," Eugene replied, and Katty mustered a smile at his odd colloquialism.

She grabbed the end of his hair briefly and twirled it, which made him bat her hand away. Katty let out a puff of air that resembled a laugh. "Chair's shit anyways. Cheers, guys," she saluted Rosita and turned to leave.

Someone had moved the van from it's position beside the infirmary and it was now off to the side. Nicholas was in the back, scrubbing the dried blood out of it with a frown on his face. Tara's blood, Katty realized with a twist of her stomach.

Thinking of the CD that was probably still in the console, Katty turned her trajectory towards the van. The Monroe family would probably want that back.

Katty avoided Nicholas, didn't make eye contact or even incline her head towards him as she passed. It wasn't out of fear or anger, Katty just was exhausted from feeling guilt and regret. She should have shot Nicholas when she had the inclination too; Noah would still be alive and that was reason enough for her. But stewing over the fact and being angry about it was too much for her at this time, so she just avoided him.

He seemed content in ignoring her as well, for when she pulled open the passenger door and started rummaging around, he didn't so much as look up to acknowledge her.

"Nicholas, don't talk, just listen," a voice carried through the van and Katty froze, recognizing it immediately. Glenn.

After a moments hesitation, she decided to stick around in case the confrontation got out of hand. Admittedly, Katty was being rude and probably wasn't supposed to be eavesdropping, but fuck it. Did curiosity ever really kill the cat?

Nicholas didn't interrupt right away, so Glenn continued. "Those four people you lost on that run, that's on you." Glenn stressed the last word in the sentence. "And Noah, that's on you, too. You have to carry those five lives. People like you are supposed to be dead, but these walls went up just in time, so you're not. You don't go outside those walls anymore. Not by yourself, not with anyone else. And that's how you're gonna survive."

Kat's eyebrows raised, impressed. She didn't understand how Glenn kept his composure and his tone even, authoritarian. It if were her, she'd probably be throwing fists already.

Nicholas scoffed. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

Without missing a beat, Glenn replied, "I'm someone who knows who you are. I know what you did. And it's not gonna happen again."

"I've been protecting this place, helping provide for it," Nicholas snapped. "You just got here."

Glenn ignored his words, and continued. "Don't forget what I said."

"You threatenin' me?" Nicholas asked, anger rising in his voice.

Glenn chuckled, and Katty furrowed her brow as she tried to read the noise from voice alone, no facial cues. It didn't sound dark or threatening, it sounded borderline amused, like he was either amused at a child or shocked that he was even having this conversation.

"No. I'm saving you."

Glenn's retreating footsteps ended the conversation, and Nicholas let out an angry, exasperated sigh. Katty had no doubts in her mind that Nicholas was going to ignore Glenn's order to stay inside the walls, and was definitely going to do something daft.

She reached over and pressed the eject button. Aiden's CD popped out, and Katty quickly grabbed it before leaving the van. She didn't bother shutting the door, didn't want to risk Nicholas talking to her, so she just left.

Katty's stomach twisted and turned as she approached the Monroe household. She really didn't want to face Deanna, deal with her accusatory stare or any questions about her involvement in the warehouse run. Why she hadn't saved Aiden.

Glenn had informed her last night that he had, indeed, been interviewed by Deanna and it had been filmed. Deanna had noted the drastic differences in the retelling of Glenn and Nicholas' stories, and told them that neither of them would be permitted to leave Alexandria until it got sorted out. He had explained that Deanna had asked about Katty, but didn't seem too interested in her overall once Glenn had explained what had happened.

She reached a hand up to the back of her head again and felt the new scab where her head hit against a metal shelf. Carol didn't think that Katty was concussed. Other than some dizziness and an obvious headache, Katty wasn't displaying any drastic, worrying symptoms. She was just grateful that Deanna hadn't asked to speak to her so far.

Katty didn't realize that she had been standing in front of the Monroe door until she looked up to see Spencer's face watching her. She jumped and refocussed her attention on the slightly older man, embarrassed. He looked rough, to say the least. Overnight, he had seemingly gotten scruffier and disheveled. Spencer had never been clean shaven, but it was accentuated more now. His eyes were slightly red and on the swollen side, which contrasted greatly with the dark bags under each of them. She supposed that she didn't look much better, though.

"You alright, Katty?" Spencer asked kindly. Even his voice was scratchy and rough, like he had been crying all night.

She scolded herself for not paying attention and not saying something first.

"Sorry," she muttered, "Spaced out. I'm fine, how are you holding up?" Katty asked, and then regretted her words. What a stupid fucking question.

Spencer roughly pushed a hand through his hair and less out a humourless laugh. "Been better," he said shortly, but not unkindly.

Katty frowned and tried to keep the look of pity off her face. She didn't like or miss Aiden, but Katty could recognize that at least three other people did. It wasn't hard to empathize with the Monroe family. She was missing a few people right now as well.

The circular object in her hand caught her attention, and Katty held it out to Spencer. "Here, reckon you'd want this."

He blinked in surprise and reached a hand out to slowly take it from her. His brown eyes locked on the CD and his forehead creased as he looked at it. Katty wondered what he was remembering.

"Thank you, Katty."

His words were so quiet that she almost missed it. But the pain in Spencer's voice rang clear to Katty, and her stomach churned uncomfortably. She wished she was better at comforting people, but it had never been her forte.

Gingerly, she reached a hand out to touch his arm. She was almost awkwardly far away from Spencer, so she had to take a step forward to be able to do so. His face turned up briefly and he looked confused at the gesture.

"I know we're not friends," Katty started, and winced. Good job, Katty. You're great at comforting people. "But if you ever need anything, or just want to talk and distract yourself, feel free to come find me."

Spencer's lips turned into a thin line, and he nodded jerkily. He didn't thank her again or verbally agree, but Katty took that as him having enough of their conversation and stepped away from him. He nodded at her again when she awkwardly looked back, and Katty took another step away before she paused, another noise catching her attention.

Yelling, multiple voices, both male and female. Someone sounded like they were getting thrown around.

"Pete, stop it!"

Her wide, different coloured eyes snapped back to Spencer's and neither of them moved for a moment.

"What is that?" Reg appeared in the doorway, and a short, uncomfortable silence ensued as Katty contemplated what to do. The two Monroe's just stared at her, the elder of the two looked puzzled as to why Katty was there, talking to Spencer.

"Stop it!" it sounded muffled, but distinctly Jessie.

The loud, sharp noise of glass shattering filled their ears, and herself and Spencer took off in the direction of the commotion. They didn't have to run very far, before they arrived at the Anderson household.

"Deanna!" she heard Reg yell as her and Spencer left.

By the time they got there, a crowd had already formed. A man named Tobin, Jessie, Rosita, and Carol with a cowering Sam clung to her. Carl and Enid looked winded, like they had been running for a while and Katty briefly wondered where they had been. There were other faces of Alexandrians, but Katty skipped over them to focus on others. Jessie was openly sobbing, and Katty quickly glanced around at the rest of the group. They looked shocked and unsure of what to do.

Everyone was shocked, focussed on the spectacle in the middle; Rick and Pete, rolling on the ground, grabbing and punching at each other. They had fallen through the window together, and Rick was currently on top of Pete, his face covered in blood. Pete wasn't much better, cuts and streams of blood travelling down his face as well. Their hands were clasped around each others throats as they simultaneously tried to choke each other out.

Pete's meaty hand swung and clipped Rick in the jaw, who returned the blow with the same amount of vigor. Somehow, in the middle of gouging eyes and chokeholds, Pete flipped over so he was above Rick, and gripped his throat once more. At this, Jessie ran forward and tried to intervene. Pete didn't even look as he took his fist from Rick and swung it at Jessie, connecting with her face and sending her sprawling to the ground.

Katty immediately stepped forward and helped the sobbing blonde woman off of the ground. Jessie clung to her, visibly terrified and shaking.

Katty could barely keep up with the fight, it happened so fast and who had the upper hand changed so often. At one point, Carl tried to intervene as well.

"Dad! Get off!" he had grunted at Rick before he was roughly pushed away by his father. It was truly animalistic, like two males fighting for territory, Katty thought.

The look in Rick's eyes almost frightened her, the intensity as the two men wrestled on the ground, Pete trapped in a chokehold. Katty contemplated with a panicked mind if she should try to stop him. Surely if Rick killed the only doctor Alexandria had, they'd be kicked out for sure?

"Stop – stop it right now," Deanna's stern voice cut through the commotion, and Rick's head jerked up to look at her. He didn't release Pete from the chokehold, but he at least acknowledged that Deanna was there.

Glenn appeared at a sprint, with Nicholas following closely behind. Katty eyed Nicholas distastefully. Had he had more words with Glenn, she wondered?

"You touch 'em again, and I will kill you," Rick hissed into Pete's bloodied face, as Pete struggled around Rick's grip on him. Pete was gasping for breath and Katty became antsy. It wasn't clear if Rick had any intention of letting Pete go.

A large part of her didn't want Rick to let Pete go. Judging by Rick's words, he knew about Pete beating Jessie and possibly the two boys as well. He deserved it, the large part of her declared.

"Damn it, Rick!" Deanna's voice got angrier and louder. "I said stop!"

Tobin, Nicholas, and Glenn stepped forward to intervene, and Rick immediately dropped his hold on Pete to pull a gun and direct it towards the former two. Glenn turned to Tobin and Nicholas, his arms raised to tell them to back down.

"Or what?" he challenged. "You gonna kick me out?" Rick mocked at Deanna, waving the gun around at the Alexandrians.

Apparently even Rick, as constable, wasn't supposed to have a firearm on him, for the tone of the argument changed instantly. Hands went up in a calming motion, and Deanna's voice lost its angry edge.

"Put that gun down, Rick." She instructed calmly.

Rick looked incredulous at Deanna, like she was the one that was hysteric, covered in blood and screaming, and not him. He shook his head and looked around at the Alexandrians.

"You still don't get it," he panted, disbelief lacing his words. "None of you do!" Rick snarled, suddenly angry. "We know what needs to be done and we do it. We're the ones who live." He gestured with his open hand at Glenn and the few other members of his group in his line of vision.

He then addressed Deanna again and waved the gun towards her. The crowd visibly flinched. "You, you just sit and plan and hesitate. You pretend like you know when you don't!"

Katty tightened her grip around Jessie, who was still shaking. She looked around at the faces of the crowd as Rick spoke. Someone has to stop him, Katty's frantic brain screamed at her. Deanna's going to kick him out. The crowd of Alexandrians were changing from frightened to angry, Deanna's face betraying no other emotion than just that.

"You wish things weren't what they are. Well, you want to live? You want this place to stay standin'? Your way of doin' things is done. Things don't get better because you – you want them to. Startin' right now, we have to live in the real world. We have to control who lives here."

"That's never been more clear to me than it is right now," Deanna agreed, and Katty's stomach leaped into her throat. It was obvious that she wasn't referring to Pete or Nicholas.

"Me?" Rick gestured to himself with his open hand, a short laugh escaping his mouth. "Me? You – " he cut himself off again with another laugh. "You mean – you mean me?" the hysterical smile dropped from his face and Rick sobered up some. "Your way is gonna destroy this place, it's gonna get people killed – it's already gotten people killed," Katty flinched at the reference. She assumed that the Monroe family didn't appreciate their son's death being thrown into their faces, either.

"And I'm not gonna stand by and just let it happen," Rick continued, and Katty was reminded of all those night ago, when she had approached Rick to apologize for her behavior after her physical altercation with Aiden and Nicholas and he had encouraged her to play by Deanna's rules for the time being.

"What happens when Deanna can't keep us safe?"

"She won't make the rules anymore."

"If you don't fight, you die," Rick declared, his voice along with his anger rose some more. How close was he to just shooting Deanna? "I'm not gonna stand by – "

Michonne jumped in and knocked Rick out with a well aimed punch to the back of his head. Rick slumped forward and hit the ground, and Katty released a shaky breath that she didn't realize she had been holding. Michonne quickly reached down and grabbed the gun off the concrete, and she looked entirely exasperated and overwhelmed with what had just transpired as well.

Michonne looked up and towards Deanna. "Thank you, Michonne," Deanna acknowledged when the woman handed the gun to her. She ran a shaky hand through her hair. "It's over, everyone. Go back to your days. We'll discuss what will be done to rectify this situation later." Her tone was no-nonsense, and there were mutterings in the crowd before it started to thin.

Deanna looked towards a few of the remaining men. "I want him in a separate house and room with someone watching him at all times until he wakes up. No one is to have guns, turn all your weapons in except for knives," she addressed the remaining crowd. "I will assign people for rotations to guard the armory. Rosita," she addressed the woman, "You can bandage up Rick's face if you want."

Katty tuned Deanna out as she rambled off directions and orders to different people. She vaguely heard her tell Michonne to come with her to discuss something before Katty focussed her attention on Jessie, who was still glued to Katty's hip.

Jessie had stopped crying, but appeared frozen to the spot, watching where Pete lay on the ground. Katty looked over her face. Aside from looking miserable and being tear streaked, Pete hadn't broken the skin. Her face was swollen on the side that Pete struck her, but Katty realized with a lurch that it probably wasn't anything new to her.

"C'mon," she mumbled at her. "Let's get you ice." Katty also thought about the mess that the two had undoubtedly created inside Jessie's house, and the fact that now there was a broken window to repair.

Rick, you better have a fucking plan, she scowled to herself as she led Jessie away from her husband, who was still winded and lying on the ground.

"Fuckin' poncho guy," Daryl grumbled to himself as he tried to ignore the limbs and bodies banging into the windows of the car Aaron and himself were currently trapped in.

They had been outside for a few days now, this was either the third or fourth – it didn't really matter, did it? The recruiting expedition had taken a sour turn, and while tracking some idiot in a red poncho, they lost sight of him and ended up at a warehouse. He had been easy to spot to begin with, what with the bright red poncho and everything.

After coming across the first campsite, Aaron and Daryl had become worried that they weren't the only one's tracking this man. Another body, strung crudely to a tree and carved like a fuckin' Jack-O-Lantern. The woman had been decorated and finished with a 'W' engraved into her forehead, left to turn into a Walker.

They had just hoped that they would find the poor sonofabitch with the stupid poncho before whatever was doing that found him.

Which is what brought them to and what made them end up trapped in a car, surrounded by Walkers, with a slim chance of getting out safely or even in one piece.

Del Arno Foods. It had looked like a viable option when they couldn't find the man and they were spread thin, over 50 miles from Alexandria. A seemingly untouched warehouse, with the possibility of being stocked full of non-perishable food.

What had Aaron said? "You don't come across something like this every day." That had been for fucking sure.

Daryl probably should have clued in that something was off when he noticed the random cans strung up in odd places near the food trucks. He had brushed it off as the previous owner's lame defense against wildlife that would try to get into the trucks.

Neither of them looked around much before they pulled open one of the food trucks, and then chaos ensued.

Daryl barely caught a glimpse of torsos of Walkers, hanging strung up from the ceiling amongst the other undead, all with the same 'W' carved into their forehead before he and Aaron were running. Ducking in between trucks, climbing under, it was a miracle that they even made it to the dark, dusty vehicle without getting bit with how many Walkers had suddenly appeared.

After slamming the head of a particularly decrepit woman Walker with stringy, dirty, blonde hair in the door of the car, they both sat there panting for a minute, shocked at what had just happened.

Which is where Daryl had decided to curse the poor guy that they had been following.

"The glass will hold for a while, right?" Aaron asked Daryl, his panicked eyes betrayed his calm voice as he looked for validation and reassurance.

"Maybe," Daryl grunted in return, not one for sugar coating anything.

They mused aloud to each other about possible ways to decrease visibility, until the Walker's lost interest and wandered off. Aaron ran his hands down the side of the seats, looking for anything that would help them. When he pulled a crumpled note out from between the console and the seat, Daryl felt his gut sink to his ass when they read it. 'TRAP. Bad people coming. Don't Stay,' was scratched into it crudely in what looked like blood.

He swore quietly and stabbed his hunting knife into the dash. How had shit gone wrong so fast?

They sat there like that for a few more minutes in silence, the hope quickly draining from the car. Daryl caught the unseeing eyes of one of the Walkers pressed against the window and couldn't help but snort at the irony of his situation.

"What?" And now Aaron was looking at him, concerned as always. Daryl considered ignoring him, but seeing as how dire their current circumstance was, what did he have to lose? He hadn't exactly minded Aaron's company these past few days. Even trapped in a car, where the only two options for death were either to be eaten alive by Walkers or dismembered and strung up by crazies, Aaron was far from whiney or insufferable.

He thought his words over a few times before he said anything. "I came out here ta not feel all closed up back there," Daryl admitted gruffly. "Even now, this still feels more like me than back in them houses. Pretty fucked up, huh?" he finished dully, feeling pathetic, and went back to staring out the windshield.

Out of his peripheral, he saw Aaron shake his head lightly. "You were trying," the other man countered.

"I had ta," Daryl shrugged like it was the most obvious conclusion.

"No, you didn't." Aaron disagreed, and Daryl fidgeted under his stare, and shoved his hands back in his vest pockets.

"Listen," Aaron cleared his throat quietly, "I saw you with your group out there on the road. Then you went off on your own by the barn. The storm hit and you led your people to safety. That was it. I knew I had to bring you people back." Aaron explained, and Daryl's mind became cluttered.

He couldn't believe that the reason that Aaron had chosen to bring them back was because of him. That couldn't have been the truth, Daryl's subconscious contradicted. The idea of Aaron following their group had been a sore subject with Daryl, one that Aaron didn't bring up lightly or often. The added fact that Aaron had specifically followed Daryl and seen him at his most vulnerable unsettled him even further, and he felt the back of his neck heat up in embarrassment.

Daryl thought back to that moment, and what had been going through his head at the time. Blonde hair and a sweet singing voice entered his mind, and he frowned to himself briefly. He hadn't thought of her in a while, Daryl realized with a guilty twist of his stomach.

Daryl stuffed his hands into his pocket, and his right hand caught the edge of the folded up photo in his pocket. He hesitated. Daryl wanted to look at it again, but weighed the possibility of Aaron making a comment.

He rolled his eyes to himself. You're probably about to die, stupid, he scolded himself. Who care if Aaron knows you're a pussy?

Daryl pulled out the photo and unfolded it, smoothing out the creases. It had become somewhat worn from being in his pocket, and from him folding and bring rough with it in general. Kat, with messy hair, disproportionately full lips and one blue eye, stared back at him in that damn black bikini.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aaron raise his eyebrows, surprised.

"Should I even ask where you found that?" Daryl scowled at the teasing tone of voice and didn't reply. Trust Aaron to put aside time to tease him, even when they were probably about to die.

Aaron laughed quietly at the disgruntled look on Daryl's face. "And I bet you don't even know she likes you, too," his eyebrow arched at Daryl, who just deepened his own scowl in response. He didn't need Aaron lying to make him feel better about his pathetic borderline obsession with the girl.

"Daryl," he could see Aaron fighting to keep the smile off his face, "Her first words to you were calling you attractive."

Daryl scoffed in response, "She told Rick it was a joke," he countered before he could stop himself.

"Yeah, but not –" Aaron blinked a few times and decided not to finish his sentence. "You two are unbelievable." He finished incredulously.

Daryl felt his face heat up and he refused to respond, utterly fed up with the pep talk from Aaron. It felt like a fuckin' stupid place to have this conversation, trapped in a car surrounded by Walkers, being stalked by crazy murderers.

He put the photo on the dashboard in front of him and then reached in his pocket for a cigarette and his lighter. Staring at the photo of Kat, Daryl wondered if this would be the last time he shared a smoke with her.

"I'll go," Daryl said, already committed to his plan. "I'll lead 'em out. You make a break for the fence," he instructed, pointing in the direction he knew the fence to be in.

As he expected, Aaron immediately protested. "No, no, no. This was my fault – "

Daryl cut off what he was sure would be a very pointless speech which ended in Aaron offering to lead them away instead. "It wasn't a question, and this ain't your decision. Ain't no one's fault." Daryl stated firmly. "Just let me finish my smoke first," he mumbled and glanced back towards the photo.

He could feel Aaron staring at him again, and looking back towards his friend, it was an intense and emotional one.

"No," Aaron said again, "You don't draw them away. We fight. We go for the fence, together, alright? Whether we make it or not, we do it together. We have to."

Daryl wanted to argue, wanted to point out that Aaron had more to lose than he did. More people would miss Aaron and Alexandria would definitely be affected greater if they lost him. All fingers pointed to Daryl being the one to lead them off and sacrifice himself. But he also didn't want to take away from what Aaron was offering him. He heard and understood what Aaron had said to him, and was touched deeply that his friend wanted to risk his life to fight with him.

Daryl snatched the stupid photo off the dashboard and folded it up, more carefully than he had previously, tucking it into his pocket. "Alright," he replied simply. "You ready?"

Aaron's reply was instantaneous. "Yeah."

"We'll go on three," Daryl explained and switched his grip on his hunting knife. "One, two – "

His hand had been on the door handle when a Walker was stabbed through the brain and splattered against Aaron's passenger side window. The door was pulled open from the other side and that's when the chaos started up again.

It was the next night, and Katty had never felt more anxious as she got ready to make her way towards the meeting.

There was going to be a meeting, held and officiated by Deanna, about whether or not to exile Rick. Deanna had approached her personally yesterday after the incident with Rick and Pete, and requested that she speak at the meeting and share her thoughts.

"You've come in recently, around the same time as Rick's group, but you may be one of the few people here that aren't shrouded with bias," Deanna had explained to her. "You came into Alexandria as an outsider, and you've made bonds with both Rick's group and the other people here. I trust that you have some valuable thoughts and opinions to share that may help us in coming to a decision."

Deanna hadn't tried to sway her in either direction, bride or threaten her into saying that Rick was a menace or a danger to Alexandria. She had just politely requested that she speak tonight, and then left her alone.

Katty had stayed up the majority of the night and kept to herself the next day, fretting and worrying over what she would say. She was sure of that fact that she wanted Rick to stay in Alexandria, she just wasn't entirely sure how she would reorganize and iterate her thoughts in a way that swayed the negative opinions of the majority of Alexandrians.

She wasn't the best public speaker, not during highschool, not after highschool. In actuality, Katty wasn't a huge fan of having the attention focussed on her. She had only agreed to the modelling contract because she was in debt and desperate, really. Not for any of the right reasons.

So in preparation, Katty had written some sort of a speech in her mind. Bullet points that she wanted to touch on and phrases that she thought were eloquent enough to repeat for the crowd. If anything she could say would make Deanna allow Rick to stay, she would say it.

Katty could, admittedly, see both perspectives. That didn't mean she agreed with the notion to exile Rick, but she understood that he had frightened people the other day when he put Pete in a chokehold and then waved a gun around, screaming at everyone. She just hoped that she could make people focus on his intent and the message, rather than the content of his words.

In order to stall, Katty had decided to return some washed pans and dishes that Carol had brought over throughout the last few days. The woman had apparently taken a liking to Katty, and would periodically either bring leftovers or cook extra of whatever she made to bring by for her. A small part of Katty wondered if there was an ulterior motive, considering that she wasn't completely sure about Carol's character, but she appreciated it nonetheless.

When she went by Rick's house to drop off the dishes, Katty arched an eyebrow at the sight of the door left ajar. Everyone was out; either already at the meeting or busy elsewhere in Alexandria. There wasn't a reason to leave the door open. She shrugged and continued in. Maybe someone had just run in quickly to grab something and left the door open, Katty mused. There was a light on in the house, after all.

She nudged the door open with her foot and walked in.

"Hey, whoever's here, just dropping off – "

Katty cut herself off at the appearance of a large, blonde man, with his back facing her, in the living room. That definitely wasn't anyone in Rick's group.

"Pete? What are you doing?" she asked hesitantly. The man stiffened and turned around. His face was pinched and angry, and he was slinging around a six pack of beer in one hand. Katty could smell the alcohol on his breath, even from across the room.

"Get out," he snapped irritably, advancing towards her.

Katty quickly put the dishes down, making sure not to turn her back on the lumbering man. "This isn't your house, Pete. You're the one that needs to leave," she spoke calmly and was impressed when her voice didn't shake.

"Fuckin' bitch," he spat at her, waving the six pack in her direction. Katty eyed it; in Pete's hand, the beer practically turned into a club, and would probably do some damage to her. "Could never mind your own business, could you?"

Katty's heart leapt in her chest when she realized what Pete had been standing in front of when she walked in and what he had been staring at.

Michonne's sword. On the mantle and mainly a decoration at this point, it was still impossibly sharp and deadly.

"I think you should leave, Pete." Katty repeated again, hoping to distract him from the sword. "Deanna's on her way over to collect me for the meeting." Maybe she could scare him off.

Pete laughed loudly, a booming sound that made Katty jump. "Nice try, cunt. Already saw her down there before I came over here."

"What do you want, Pete?" Katty asked bluntly, fed up with dancing around the subject. Her skin crawled at the smile that slid onto Pete's foul face and the glint that appeared in his eyes.

"He thinks he can come in here, threaten ME, take MY WIFE, and get away with it?" he swung the cans around again angrily, his words slurring and steps stumbling. Katty side stepped his massive body and tried to make her way closer to the sword. Maybe if she could get it before he did, she could stop something terrible from happening.

"I'll show them all, we're the ones that need protecting from HIM. I'll prove – HEY! The fuck do you think you're doing?" Pete's drunken ramblings were interrupted when he noticed Katty's position in the room had sufficiently changed.

Quickly, she turned and threw her entire body weight into Pete and shoved him as hard as she could. It may not have been much, but for an intoxicated male, with a shit centre of gravity, it made Pete stumble backwards.

Katty ran and dived for the mantle. Her fingers scraped along the handle of the sword before she felt rough hands weave their way into her hair. Her eyes watered as Pete yanked her back.

"Nice try."

The last thing she heard was another clap of thunder as Pete laughed again, before he pushed her head forwards and smacked it heavily against the corner of the mantle. The world blurred and faded to black, echoes of his laughter ringing in her head.

Katty groaned and wondered if it was the throbbing in her head that woke her up. She felt like she'd been hit by a sack of bricks. She sat up slowly and reached a hand up to her hairline, grimacing when she felt a warm, sticky liquid.

Fuck. There wasn't any time to sit and pout, she scolded herself. Grabbing the corner of the mantle to steady herself, she glanced up at where the sword had been.

Gone.

Fuck.

How long ago had Pete left? What would she walk out to? Katty didn't waste any time, she stumbled out the door and started to make her way down the street.

Her mind was foggy. She frowned. Where was the meeting going to be again? Glancing up at the sky, she was slightly comforted by the fact that it was still dark out. Maybe not too much time had passed. Maybe she could still warn them.

Find Rick, her mind screamed.

Katty started off at a jog, which probably looked ridiculous considering how disorganized and uncoordinated she knew she felt.

In the distance, she saw the light of a fire and voices, mingled together.

She squinted, trying to listen as she jogged. Was that Rick? At least he made it to the meeting.

In front of her, much closer to the entrance of the meeting than she was, was a male, unmistakeably blonde and large, even in the darkness.

"STOP!" she screamed at him. The figure froze before turning back to her briefly, over his shoulder. Pete snorted at her appearance and then brandished the sword as he reached the crowd of people discussing Rick's stay in Alexandria.

"You're not one of us. You're not one of us!" Pete howled in what Katty assumed was in Rick's direction.

"Pete, you don't want to do this," Katty heard a voice that belonged to Reg plead with the other, angry, drunk male.

Katty stumbled as she picked up her pace, frantic to get to the meeting and stop Pete from hurting anyone.

"Get the fuck away from me, Reg!" Pete snarled. Katty heard Reg attempt to reason with the volatile man some more, as Pete escalating in volume and anger.

Katty rounded the corner and flung herself through the gate just as Pete carelessly brandished the sword once more as he shoved Reg away from him, slicing the older man's throat in the process.

"No!" she cried as she stumbled aimlessly into Pete with the intent to subdue him, accompanied by Abraham and Michonne. The world faded in and out for a moment with the change in altitude and positioning, and all that she could made sense of were the screams.

Deanna's scream for her husband. The rest of the crowd's horrified noises. It was just screaming.

Abraham pinned Pete to the ground, his arms bent uncomfortably around his back.

Michonne took it upon herself to pick Katty off the ground, dragging her up by under her armpits.

"Katty! What happened to you?" Michonne's worried face faded in and out as the other woman took in the sight of Katty's face, covered in blood.

Words didn't come easily to Katty as she blubbered a response at Michonne that lacked any understandable or feasible message.

"Shh, shh, easy girl," Michonne murmured at her as she repositioned Katty beside herself, locking her arms around her waist to hold her up.

Katty's eyes immediately locked on the older couple, Deanna kneeling over her dying husband, screaming. Reg opening and closing his mouth, trying to communicate, trying to scream; it was horrifying and sad either way. The only thing that Katty had been thankful for in that moment is that Reg's suffering didn't last long. He bled out quickly and his body stilled within minutes.

"It's him! This is all him!" Pete screamed and cursed from under the hold that Abraham still had him in, face down in the dirt.

She could only watch, bug eyed and slack jawed, as Deanna's tear streaked face turned up to look at Rick once more. "Rick," she addressed him, her voice shaking with anguish.

"Do it."

Without missing a beat, Rick turned and raised his gun towards Pete, firing one shot into the still screaming man's head.

The crowd of people let out more horrified gasps, and Katty's head spun with all the commotion.

I think I'm going to pass out, flashed through her mind and she tried to vocalize that to Michonne, but nothing would come out. It was silent for a moment as everyone stared at the corpse that was Pete Anderson.

"Rick?" a tentative, shocked voice sounded from behind them at the gate. Katty turned at the same time Rick did, her vision again sliding in and out from the quick movement.

There were three people – three men. She knew two of them, didn't she?

"Daryl?" she slurred, unsure. Her eyes could be playing tricks on her.

Daryl ripped his stare away from Rick and Pete to focus on who had called him. She stumbled away from Michonne a few steps and towards Daryl, who immediately started to move towards her once he realized what was going to happen.

The world slid out from under her for the second time that evening as Katty toppled towards the ground and lost consciousness.

A/N: Hey, you! Guess who's back together again? :) Next chapter will be more fun, I swear. I think we need it after the last few. I sure do, at least.

If the next chapter comes easily to me, I will hopefully have it out by the end of the week or early next, but no promises!

Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a review,

-Submechanophobia

Next Time: "You know, there's still a few hours left of my birthday. You still have time to get me a present."