Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

a/n: I am feeling a little bit excited, nervous and somewhat apprehensive about this chapter. So much has changed now. This one has been in the planning for several long long months, and I am finally at where I've anticipated I'd be. New characters, a few new OC's and new scenarios coming up- I just really hope that I've managed to pull all of this off!

As always, thank you for being here with me.

...

Carol felt a trickle of apprehension that was quickly starting to border on fear seep its way slowly and insidiously down her spine as she glanced into the drivers rear view mirror. For the last few miles, the silver Jeep behind had been keeping its distance, but now it seemed that it was steadily gaining on her. She couldn't see who was driving- all she knew was that whoever it was, they were alone. Like her.

She bit down on her lip sharply as the car shuddered again, its speed decreasing as a loud knocking sound emanated from underneath the hood. All she'd wanted to do was to put distance between herself and where Rick had left... had abandoned her... and now it seemed that even that was against her as the car pitifully slowed, almost coasting- despite her futile efforts to coax and wheedle some sort of life back into the vehicle with feeble prayers and muttered insults.

"When the others find out, they won't want you there. And if they don't make it back, if everybody dies of this thing and it's just the two of us...with Judith and Carl...with my children? I won't have you there."

The car coasted to a sudden grinding halt, the engine spluttering and then finally dying, and she sat back in the drivers seat, rubbing her hands over her temples before slamming them down hard onto the steering wheel in frustration. She shook her head unable to stop the steady stream of hot bitter tears that ran down her cheeks. Rick had hurt her with those few damn words, maybe more than he could have ever known. And she knew that he'd meant every single damn one of them. He'd wanted to hit out and hurt her the best way that he knew. And he'd gone and done it.

She would never have done anything that would have hurt or put those kids in harms way. She'd looked after them, cared for them as if they were her own. Rick had looked at her with pure disgust-as if he didn't even know her, as if she was nothing more than a stranger to him now. They'd been through so much together that it shocked her to the core that he could look on her as he had done.

She shoved the drivers door open abruptly and stood in the road, momentarily at a loss what to do, the sound of her boots muffled on the cracked tarmac as she restlessly kicked up a drift of brown pine needles. Sweat trickled down her back, the stagnant humid air of the woods seeping into her skin and stifling the air in her lungs, the line of evergreen trees stretching endlessly on. A faint breeze whispered at her face, softly touching at her sweat dampened hair. Reaching down she touched at her knife, then smoothed her hand to the waistband of her cargo pants, feeling the reassuring bulk of her revolver stuffed there.

She wondered if Rick had made it back to the prison yet and what lies he would weave about her absence...but knowing Rick as she did-she knew that he would feel no need to lie for her on her behalf, he would feel little or no remorse in offering nothing but the ugly painful truth...that he would do that when it suited him and his own damn needs.

The sob bubbled up out of her throat and passed her lips before she could stop it, the sudden noise seemingly loud in the still heavy silence. She leaned her back to the frame of the car, tears running down her cheeks and trickling past her jaw, and she buried her face in her hands, unable to stop herself from the hurtful sobs that wracked her body.

She was alone and she wasn't able to go back. She couldn't return from this. She'd told Rick at the house that they'd found Sam at...that she'd never thought that she could be strong, but yet at this moment...she felt like she had so many times in the past when it had been nothing but her and Ed. She felt weak and alone and vulnerable all over again. She hurt so bitterly. There wasn't anyone she could turn to, not now, not anymore.

The snap of a twig in the woods behind froze and rooted her to the spot, and she stood silently, feeling angry with herself that she'd given in so foolishly to her emotions; her sudden bout of self-loathing and self pity- not caring or even wanting to acknowledge her current predicament or where she was. It was stupid. She was stupid and now she was being careless. Her hands dropped from her face as she pushed herself from the car, one hand touching the butt of the revolver at her waist, her fingers smoothing over the warmed wooden grip. Her head twisted slightly to the side, her eyes widening in dismay as she saw that the Jeep was now parked some distance behind her own vehicle, the drivers door flung open. She hadn't noticed, and whoever had been following her was by now in all probability laying in wait.

The undergrowth rustled nosily and she stepped further away from the car, swallowing thickly as she slowly pulled her gun out.

"Hey...hey there lady! Lady, c'mon...put that down."

Carol held her ground as three darkened figures emerged from the shadowy treeline and she squinted as the sun burst brightly and briefly through the heavy over hanging branches, momentarily obscuring her view. She blinked rapidly, her finger tightening around the trigger.

"Diego. Hell buddy, you're gonna scare her," a female voice hissed quietly.

"Ain't your buddy. Don't you forget that," Diego spat back. "You need to remember your place. You're here under sufferance."

"Quit it will you. Both of you," another voice said sharply, and Carol watched warily as two thickset men and a small younger woman stepped out of the trees.

The girl edged carefully towards her and held her hands out, smiling at her reassuringly. "Hey...you, lady. We don't mean you any harm."

"The fuck we doing here? We're wasting precious time with this shit," Diego spat, and Carol narrowed her eyes as she looked to him. He was tall, well muscled with a navy patterned bandana wrapped around his head. His mouth was pulled downwards into a sneer, thick black wiry hair covering his chin. He looked, then dismissed her with a derisive snort, casually raising his rifle so that the barrel rest against his shoulder. His eyes keenly observed her. "She's alone and she ain't no damn threat. Come on kiddies, let's get the hell back."

"Wait," the girl answered. "We can't just leave her here. Oh come on, guys?" She looked at Diego, frowning, then her eyes drifted across to the other man. "Pete?" she pleaded. "Please?"

The other man raised his hand and threaded his fingers through his dark wavy hair, sighing tiredly. "I don't know. Boss isn't gonna like this one little bit. He said no more-"

"Hey," the girl smiled reassuringly as she edged cautiously towards her. "We've got a camp, I don't know...a half, three quarters of a mile back. Look, you're out here on your own. You can come back with us."

"Damn it, Tara," Pete grimaced suddenly. "Hell okay...okay. If she's coming with us, we need to take her weapons, check her over-"

"The fuck are you smoking, Pete?" Diego grunted in displeasure. "You're even considering this? Hell, we don't have enough to feed the rest of us, let alone take another back to camp. We ain't no damn charity case here. You're right on one thing though. Boss man ain't gonna be happy. This is on your heads, assholes. Not mine."

He turned irritably and kicked his way back through the undergrowth, watching them with an almost bored detached expression.

"I'm not my brother," Pete retorted, sighing as Diego just glared back at him. He shook his head as he glanced at Carol, "Look, the kid-she's right. We've got a camp a half mile back, north. You're welcome to join us."

"I don't want any trouble," Carol answered warily. "You don't have to do this. None of you. You can pretend that you never even saw me. Just leave me here and go on your way-"

"No," Pete shook his head decisively. "I'm not about to leave a woman out here all on her own. Listen, I don't know what your story is and right now, we have no time to find out... but I'm damned if I'm going to have you rest on my conscience." He gazed past her to her broken down vehicle. "Besides, it doesn't look like you're going anywhere soon and it's rough as hell out there on your own."

"Another mouth," Diego called out, tapping the rifle on his shoulder.

"Shut it, man. I know," Pete said.

Carol watched them warily, her eyes skimming past Diego to Pete and resting on the younger girl. She was out of options-she had nowhere to go and little idea on what she was going to do. Maybe Rick was right, this could possibly be her one and only single chance to start anew. People that didn't know her and what she'd done. She lowered her eyes, gazing past them to the leaf littered ground. Even after all this time...after Ed, her marriage, the quarry, the prison-she found to her burning shame that some old habits refused to die.

She didn't want to be alone.

Carol took a deep breath, willing the reluctant words past her lips. "I have some supplies. It isn't much, but maybe enough," she shrugged. "Canned food, gas, enough to make this not so much of a wasted trip for you. For any of you."

"Who's to say we don't just go and take them supplies off your hands, dump you out here anyway?" Diego shrugged nonchalantly. "Ain't no skin off my ass to leave you out here. It's the easier option, and believe me, lady. I like easy."

"Holy shit dude," the girl spat as she stared at him in disbelief. "What the hell is wrong with you? You lost your humanity about the same time you went and lost your balls?"

"Well shit man, just go and look at that," Diego smirked. "Little tom cat's got some bite to her after all."

"If you're coming with us...sorry, but we've got to take your weapons," Pete said abruptly, ignoring them both. He stepped towards Carol, holding his hand out as he stared at her, nodding his head at her gun. She sighed, then reluctantly handed it over to him, shaking her head wearily as he looked at the knife at her waist. She unfastened it and handed it to him, holding the sheath out.

"Search her," he said, turning his back as the younger woman edged closer.

"I'm sorry," Tara said weakly, tucking a lock of shoulder length brown hair behind her ear. "I gotta do this. Done it before though. Plenty of times. I'm a cop."

"Fucking green assed rookie, you mean," Diego laughed sharply. "You ain't nothing more than a wannabe academy bitch."

"Screw you, man," Tara retorted as she raised her hand and flipped him the bird. She glanced at Carol and offered her a small embarrassed smile as she ran her hands down her sides, patting gently as she searched for any more weapons. She stepped back quickly, her cheeks suddenly flaring pink. "She's clean," she called out.

"Let's get them fucking supplies. Daylights a wasting and we've been out here way too long already. I've got a beer waiting with my goddamn name printed all over it," Diego snorted as he stomped through the undergrowth back towards the car. He tugged the trunk open, a sudden wide grin splitting his face. "Well damn. Maybe this ain't been such a waste of time after all."

…

"Carol? What happened to you? Was it bad?"

Carol glanced at the younger woman, seeing the honest uncomplicated questions in her dark brown eyes. She found reluctantly that she couldn't help but take a liking to this girl. They walked through the woods, Tara never leaving her side, and Carol was not naive and stupid enough to realize that the girl had her hand resting on the butt of her gun the whole time. If it had been her, she would've acted the same damn way.

"The group I was traveling with, we got caught up in a herd of those...those things...those creatures. I found myself alone and separated...cut off from the rest of the group," she answered, thinking quickly. "I found the car and I tried to look for them-but they'd gone. Run off. Left me out here alone."

Tara looked at her sympathetically, and Carol felt a tinge of shame flood through her for having to lie to the girl, but she couldn't go and admit what had really happened. She would let them all think that she was dumb and weak, that she needed their help and protection. She would keep up this charade if it meant her own safety. "I was so stupid and slow, I...I didn't think I could survive, not without the men in the group to...It's all my own fault. I'm so stupid."

"You can't do that. You can't go and blame yourself for what happened. It's so tough out there, I know what it's like. Before Brian found us, it was just me and my sister and my niece. Roughing it up in our apartment, living off s'ghetti rings and turkey chilli. My dad was there too, but he'd been suffering for a long time," Tara shrugged. "He had lung cancer and we knew that he wouldn't make it. Hell, he lasted a whole lot longer than we thought he would. I got to realizing that time is important, we don't know what's gonna happen to us next."

"I'm so sorry," Carol replied softly. "For your loss, for your dad."

"Is no need. My dad...well he's in a better place now. I kind of understand it, although back then at the time...I didn't I guess. Meghan-my niece, she didn't take any of it well. But she's just a kid and kid's don't know anything, not really. They don't understand any of this crap that's going on all around us, not like we do."

"They know more than you think," Carol answered, suddenly wishing that the girl would just quiet down.

"Where you out there long? I mean, you know...without the rest of your group?"

She glanced at the girl walking at her side and shrugged. So much had gone on in so short a time, she could hardly bear to process any of it. And now she was with this small group of people that she didn't know... she didn't know if she could trust any damned one of them. She was heading towards their camp and heading towards God only knew what.

Carol sighed quietly to herself. Already she was missing the prison and her extended family back there. Rick's hurtful words and scornful dismissive attitude still hurt and smarted. She wondered how Lizzie was, if the girl was any worse for the damned sickness that had flooded its way through the prison. She thought of Mika, Luke, and she prayed fervently that no more of them had sickened to the virus. That Daryl had gotten back swiftly with the others and had managed to find the medicines that they'd so desperately needed.

And Merle. Oh God, Merle. Her eyes suddenly burned and prickled with unshed tears and she blinked rapidly against them, her heart heavy and constricting in her chest. She'd never even had the chance to say goodbye to him. There was so much between them and now there was no time to explore any of it. Time had finally run out on them, as she'd always expected it would. Good things weren't ever supposed to happen to her, and if they did? They'd never last. She didn't deserve any of it.

She closed her eyes briefly to the sudden feeling of nausea and wooziness that seeped through her. After Ed, she'd never thought that she could have even felt as she had done. But Merle...oh goddamn it-he'd awoken something inside of her that she'd thought was long dead. Something that she didn't think she had the capacity to feel anymore.

She raised her hand shakily and swiped at her face, smearing tears thickly across her cheeks where they burned her skin with unspoken regret.

"You lost people too, huh?" Tara said softly at her side.

"Haven't we all?" Carol answered. She shrugged sadly, pulling the straps of her backpack tighter. She'd found it under her bunk...under the bunk that they'd both shared in now what seemed a millennia ago...and for a moment she wondered why Merle had even gone and done it-packed bags almost as if he'd known something was going to happen. There was one thing that a lot of people seemed to do without realizing that they even did it. That stupid stubborn assed Dixon was not a man to ever underestimate. He'd constantly surprised even her.

But now...now he was gone, like all of the others and she would have to try and face life without him, without any of them. Merle was back at the prison with his brother, where he belonged. He'd earned his place there, and she took some comfort in the fact that at least the two brothers were finally back together, as the family they should've always been. And the brief happiness that she'd shared with him- she would lock those memories down deep within herself and treasure them for what they'd been, until Rick and her stupid misguided intentions had taken and thrown it all away.

She only hoped that Merle could find it in him to forgive her.

…

The woods opened up on either side of them into a trail of flattened out grass, and Carol assumed that they must be nearing the camp; the pathway that led out in front of them was well worn and trodden down. A bird rustled noisily in the undergrowth and flew up high into the air, startling them, and she heard the girl chuckle softly at her side.

Diego and Pete were walking just ahead of them, their voices low and muffled. She saw Diego gesture angrily, watched as the other man tried to placate him. She sighed to herself-there was obviously some sort of problem going on between the two men, and she wondered at the fact that it seemed she was heading from one disaster right into another, but there was little that she could do about it right now. For a second, she wondered if she could slip away; there was only the girl next to her, and Carol was pretty sure that she could handle her just fine, but even as she thought it, she glanced up and saw two more men standing at what seemed to be the start of a rudimentary perimeter. She was smack out of time-her chance to leave had slipped away before she'd even really noticed.

One of the men stepped forward, and Carol knew straight away from his bearing that he was a military man, despite the camouflage fatigues and baseball cap that he wore. He seemed different than the men with her, more in control. Surly. Suspicious.

"Hey man," he grunted, his gloved hands grasping a semi-automatic rifle, the thick black strap crossing over his chest.

"Mitch," Pete nodded, watching briefly as Tara approached the other man at the barricades. He ignored them both as they spoke together in low voices, and looked back to his brother. "Everything okay here?"

"Cool as shit, bro," Mitch said, stepping forwards and gripping the other mans forearm briefly. He stared at Carol, frowning, then he let go and glanced over his shoulder to where Tara stood with a Hispanic man who was now observing them keenly- his dark eyes brooding and alert. "You didn't say we were taking any more in, Caesar. The hell are you doing, man?"

"This ain't your show and the last time I checked Mitch, you weren't the one leading this camp," Caesar replied as he strode over towards them, his hand resting on his hip. He shrugged as he glanced at Tara. "Besides, what's one more mouth?"

"I didn't want to bring her, damn numbers were against me," Diego grumbled, glaring as he pushed his way past Pete. "Got out voted, two to one-"

"What did I tell you, Pete?" Mitch broke in angrily. "Hell no! I said no more. We have too many mouths as it is. We can't feed what we've got here."

"She had supplies with her," Pete answered. "We need them."

"Yeah man, these assholes didn't want to leave her there. I would've just taken the damn supplies if it were me, but fuck no. I had no damn choice but to bring her with us," Diego retorted sullenly.

Carol watched warily as the Hispanic male raised his head, his dark eyes widening slightly as he looked at her. "She stays, Diego. End of," he said pointedly. "Now, pequeña señora, this is my camp and you're welcome to join us, but we have rules. You've got to accept them. We don't carry any dead weight here. No exceptions. It doesn't matter who you are, it goes for everyone. You contribute, or you get cast out."

"Shit. You're soft man," Mitch shook his head in disgust. "Fucking soft."

Caesar ignored him, instead he stared curiously at Carol, a slight smile tilting his mouth upwards. "Are you fine with this?"

She paused for a moment, biting at her lip, before nodding slowly in agreement. "Yeah, I'm fine with this." She glanced over at Pete, "I'd like to know when can I have my weapons back?"

Martinez gestured to Pete, taking her weapons off him. He glanced at her gun and then looked at her in surprise. "Nice piece," he said, turning it over in his hand. "Colt. Special issue. But you know that I'll be taking it." He stuffed it into the front of his pants, holding the knife and staring at it. "Now this...hell, now this is unusual," he laughed suddenly, looking across to her, raising his eyebrows in amused question. "A knuckle knife? Where did you get this?"

"Long story," she answered reluctantly.

"It always is," Caesar said quietly, holding the knife in its sheath. "I'll be taking this too. No offence dama, but I'm not going to take the chance that you're going to creep up on me late at night and gut me in my sleep."

...

Carol looked up as they entered the camp, her surprise and disbelief giving way to unexpected wonder. This wasn't a camp like she'd ever seen before. There were several RV's and campers parked up together in a line, cars and SUV's bordering the edges of what she saw was a compound. Her gaze traveled past the vehicles, she saw several lines of thick wiring that was serving as clothes lines, damp and wet clothing dripping as they hung out, pegged.

What caught her gaze unexpectedly was the tank...the long barrel of its gun holding tied to it another line of freshly laundered clothing. It seemed so bizarre, so damned incredulous.

She was surprised to see a young girl, her long auburn hair swaying as she moved. She stopped and looked up at Carol, her eyes wide and full of curiosity.

"Aunt Tara? Who is the lady?" she asked, fidgeting with a chess piece clasped in her hands.

"She was someone lost and we found her," Tara smiled.

Carol looked towards the small girl, but her attention suddenly wasn't focused solely on her- it was caught and fixed by the sight of a tall thin man coming up and standing just behind her, a black eye-patch covering one eye, his hand resting almost protectively on the young girls shoulder.

"Well my," he said smiling disarmingly, glancing at Caesar, then slowly dragging his gaze to rest on Carol. "Now, isn't this interesting?"

...