++++++ I do not own the Walking Dead or any affiliated characters apart from my OC ++++++

Forty-Three

As we walked along the side of the abandoned road Daryl and I walked in utmost silence, keeping an eye out for walkers and for any of the Governor's men. It was just like old times-old times being only a few weeks ago which in itself was hard to believe that three weeks ago Ebony was dead, Lori was alive and Rick and I were avoiding each other like the plague. We'd been on the road for a couple of hours, following the trail of dead walkers that we both assumed Merle had killed. I wasn't particularly sure of what we would do when we found Merle and Michonne but Daryl didn't look like he was in the mood to be asked. So we walked in silence.

I took the opportunity to think about things that had happened in the last year-it was hard to believe that a year ago I was at base filling out paperwork and doing drills day after day after day. We had luxuries like TV and electricity and running water but now we had fuck all. As my thoughts consumed me and my attention on everything around me was very minimal, I found myself walking straight into Daryl's back. Swearing under my breath, I stepped back and looked around him to see Michonne standing there alone, sword strapped to her back. "Daryl-"

"Where's my brother?" Daryl shouted out when he rushed towards her. "You kill him?"

Michonne shook her head. "He let me go."

"You on your way back to the prison?" I asked her.

Michonne nodded.

"He still going?" I asked again.

She nodded.

"You go back and you wait," I frowned. "Don't let anyone come after us. We can't afford more people leaving the prison. Daryl-we gotta find your brother." I patted Michonne on the shoulder and turned to run after Daryl. "Wait up!" I called out, eventually catching up to him. "Jesus, man."

"Merle's gonna try and get the Governor on his own," Daryl answered frantically.

I nodded. "I know. We'll get to him before the Governor does."

"How can you be so sure?" Daryl growled.

"I can't," I answered truthfully whilst we walked. "But I have hope, Daryl. It's all a soldier can have and that's hope."

"You're not a soldier," he pointed out. "Not anymore."

I laughed. "I can't be anything else, Daryl. I'm a soldier, I kill, I follow orders-although not very well but that's what I am. I'm not a poet, I'm not a nurse or a lawyer or a doctor-I'm a soldier. I gotta hope for something."

"We end up having way too many of these moments," Daryl frowned, after more silence.

I raised an eyebrow. "What kind of moments?"

"Chick moments," he grunted.

"Ah," I laughed. "Well, in the spirit of these chick flick moments we're having, I'd like to point out that Ebony wasn't happy with being left out of this little party."

He sighed. "I noticed. Look-I love her-don't get me wrong, but she's not a fighter."

"I dunno," I shrugged. "She kicked ass in Atlanta and she took down walkers at the feed place when John almost killed you. Eb's a fighter."

Daryl shook her head. "She wanted to rush out and come with me-leave Jade and come help me find Merle. I don't know what we're walking into. I told her she couldn't come."

"Ebony's pretty stubborn," I reminded him. "She's gonna hold this against you."

"As long as she's safe, I don't care," Daryl shrugged. "I would have come on my own, PJ. If you wanted to stay with Rick and Carl and Judith, I wouldn't hold it against you."

I laughed. "Rick pretty much knows by now that I won't back down when it comes to helping people. That and he can't tell me what to do, more like suggest and just be happy with the outcome-it's the feed place," I spoke, changing the subject as I pointed out to the complex of buildings and sheds a head of us.

As soon as I pointed it out, the two of us armed ourselves and headed into the complex.

The place was littered with walkers-both dead and alive. We took them out one by one with expertly placed arrows by bow and crossbow. God it was good to be fighting with just us. When the two of us came to the meeting place, the last few walkers were too busy eating from the dead. I found it ironic that this place was called a feed store but now wasn't the time.

One of the dead, I recognised as one of the survivors that had found their way into the prison. He'd been shot-most likely by Merle. There was blood and guts everywhere, the walkers didn't seem to take notice as they tore through their food. Daryl shot a walker in the head and continued on, pulling out another arrow. In front of us there was a walker eating on the flesh of one of the dead Woodbury soldiers, as we got closer, the walker looked up.

I froze when I saw that it was Merle. "Fuck me sideways," I whispered. I turned to Daryl but he wasn't focused on anything else-just Merel, or what was left of Merle. I couldn't say anything that would make anything better. Just stay silent.

Merle stood up and stumbled over the body he was eating so that he could come towards us.

Daryl stepped backwards, I could hear silent sobs coming from him. He pushed Merle away from him but he just kept on coming, he pushed him again and again but the walker was only focused on one thing-food. Finally, he stabbed him in the chest before the two of them tumbled to the ground. Daryl slammed his knife down into Merle's head, killing him again and again and again as he continued to stab him.

Jesus.

This must have been what I looked like when I thought that I had killed Ebony and wanted nothing more than to be left alone, so I just stood back and watched him breakdown. There was nothing that could be done.