Ace looked in the mirror, her eyes immediately tracking her bruises. They had faded, but the light purple colour under her skin was still clearly visible and painful. She reached a hand up and pressed her finger against the bruise, across the top of her cheek, wincing as she did so. It didn't hurt so much anymore, having almost been a week since she was beaten.

Instead of dwelling on what had happened, which she was sure she had been doing for over ten minutes at this point, she grabbed the brush that Lori left on the bathroom sink, using it to untangle the knots in her hair. She put her hair up in a loose ponytail at the bottom of her head and when she had finished changing, she left the bathroom for someone else to use.

Everyone else was downstairs, also getting ready for the long day ahead. Ace grabbed her brown coat that was hanging on the bannister at the bottom of the stairs, and pulled it over her shoulders, blocking the draft that had been coming in from the broken window in the kitchen.

She saw T-Dog sitting on one of the sofas beside Carol, tying up his boot's shoelaces. When Ace and a few others entered the room, he glanced up. "Can someone pass me that bottle?" T-Dog asked the group, pointing to a water bottle on a table at the other wall.

Ace was already on her way past when he asked for it, so she grabbed the bottle and walked across the room to hand it to him, "Here, T."

T-Dog, with the bottle in his hand, blinked a few times, staring at her like she just shot a dog, "What did you say?"

"What?" Ace frowned.

T-Dog and Carol shared a look, before he returned his gaze back to Ace, "You just called me T," he accused pointedly.

"Oh . . ." Ace was quiet for a second, thinking about what she had said, before giving a small shrug, "guess I did."

Ace didn't like that T-Dog had pointed it out, and he could see in her eyes that he should probably stop while he was ahead. If this had happened on any normal day, he would never let her live it down, but seeing as that was the first thing he'd actually heard her say in days, he didn't want to say anything else that would put her back in her shell.

Instead, he decided to say nothing on the matter, and nothing else until finally Rick entered the room.

That was when T-Dog stood up and asked, "When are we starting this thing?"

"When Glenn and Daryl get back," Rick answered. "They went out to check the perimeter, to see if there's any breaches in the fence. Something like that is gonna be difficult to keep in check."

"Hey, I'm willing to do anything for this place," T-Dog said.

"Me too," Carol agreed.

The door opened, alerting the group that Glenn and Daryl had returned. They entered together, Glenn first with Daryl closing the door behind them. Both of them looked impressed, Ace noticed.

"The fence is secure the whole way around," Glenn said as he entered the house.

Rick seemed happy with that news, Ace could tell by the big smile on his face, "Looks like something is finally going our way."

Daryl nodded in agreement, "There was one of those electrical transformer buildings but that's inside the fence. No one can climb up that from the outside."

"Then I guess we can start searching," Rick said, and turned to face the rest of the group. "Today's the fun part. We're going to split into groups and search through all these houses, or as many as we can. We're looking for canned goods, supplies, first aid kids, and more importantly, making sure this place is secure and there aren't any houseguests hiding inside like there was in this one."

Ace wondered why he had to explain what they were looking for. They had all searched many houses at that point, each and every one of them knew what they should be looking for, what was useful and what to grab. Maybe he just wanted to be thorough, seeing as they found a boatload of supplies in this one house.

"Keep your weapons out," he said. "After yesterday, I get the feeling this place is going to be dangerous, so keep your eyes open and stay on alert. Also keep in mind that once we make sure these houses are secure, we'll be spreading out into them, so if you see one you like, keep it in mind," Rick said. "Looks like there's going to be more than enough to go around."

This, again, made Ace worry about her future housing situation. With no ties to anyone else she guessed that she would probably end up in her own house, and if that's what she had to do, then fine. But she really didn't want to live alone. What she really wanted was her dad, but she knew there was no way to make that happen, but the next best thing was to stay with somebody.

Ace decided not to let it worry her anymore. If someone wanted her to stay with them, they would probably say something, but she wasn't going to ask anyone. That would be way too awkward for her.

"Okay, guys," Rick said. "Let's move out."

Ace followed the group outside, watching as everyone split off into different directions. She had no idea who she was going to join, and by joining, it would have been more like walking alongside someone until they noticed that she was there. She hated that she was so awkward around the group after so long.

"Ace!" Someone called, getting her attention. She saw Glenn standing outside one of the houses, waving a hand at her. "C'mon, you can come search this house with me."

She nodded and followed after him. Glenn waited around for her to catch up, and when she finally did, he turned to the house and walked up to the front door. Ace glanced around, wondering why he was alone. Normally Glenn searched houses with Maggie and the Greene's, rarely with her.

It didn't bother her, she was just curious. It would be better to search the house in pairs with someone else, that meant there were more people to check any other houses around Wiltshire.

"Stay behind me," Glenn said.

Ace again just nodded. She grabbed her knife from inside her coat pocket, appreciating the second of warmth it gave her as she waited for Glenn to open the door.

This house was the same as the one they stayed in, the same as a lot of the houses scattered around this town. It made sense, so many houses built so close together probably would have had the same architect, if not all of them. The only difference really was the paint, as this one had a light blue entryway, whereas the house they had stayed in the night before was a brown colour.

Glenn tapped the wall with the back of his machete, making a loud banging sound that echoed through the whole downstairs. He waited for a second, and when he heard nothing in return, he entered the house.

He moved through a few of the rooms himself, and Ace stayed behind him as promised, not following him into every room but making sure she could see him wherever he went. He came back seconds later from the kitchen.

"It looks clear down here," he said. "Let's check some of those other rooms to be sure."

They walked back through the entryway and checked the smaller cupboards to the otherside of the house. Ace saw a small sitting room at the far end of the house with a piano against one wall and a desk on the other.

Finally at the end of the hallway, they found the garage, and Ace saw that this house had some of the same plastic tubs she had seen in the house they stayed in the night before. This town seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere, despite the number of houses, and Ace assumed that they all just shopped in the same, closest, places.

She grabbed one of the boxes that had been piled on top of each other and placed it on the ground, removing the lid. She couldn't really see anything useful as she dug around, but continued pulling things out in case there was something hidden amongst the mess of cables and wires.

After looking through the plastic tub, Ace put the lid back on before lifting it up, setting it aside to look into the one underneath.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Glenn reaching for the car, "Don't!"

Glenn jumped back in surprise, then he sighed heavily when he realised there weren't any walkers or dangers around.

"Sorry," Ace managed to hold back a smile. The look on his face was priceless. "Don't touch the car yet."

"We're supposed to—"

"—I know, but look," she stood up and stepped away from the plastic boxes, pointing to the windshield of the car. Just before the rearview mirror was a blinking blue light. "That's a security light. The alarm is going to sound. Let's just look around, see what we find for supplies first. If we don't find the keys, we'll break into it."

Glenn's eyebrows furrowed together, "What does it matter if we can just break into it anyway?"

Ace bit the inside of her lip, exhaling quietly. She decided to explain her thought process anyway. "Some models, mainly the newer ones, make it difficult to disarm the alarm. That's kind of the point. I don't want to go through that and find the keys in a dish."

Glenn nodded, finally understanding and backing away from the car. Ace watched him circle the garage. Instead of going through some of the drawers in other boxes, Glenn said he'd check some other rooms while she cleared the garage.

As Ace went around, she glanced into the tinted windows of the car, not seeing much. It looked like there was a bag or something in the back seat, but it was hard to tell. If they didn't find the keys, it would be a hassle. Before, when supplies were plentiful, Ace would just ignore something like this. It didn't look to hold any supplies, so there was a huge chance it was a waste of time. But being on the road we'd found useful things in trunks. Families and people would pack their suitcases when the world was turning bad, getting ready to run and evacuate. Sometimes those cars and those people never made it far, leaving behind what they packed for them. Other times, those people never made it to their car to leave.

The garage was useless. She'd found some laundry detergent and old, grease stained rags. Although stained, they were clean, so Ace pocketed them. There was always a use for rags, especially when you're killing walkers, working on the car, or just travelling.

"Glenn?" Ace called out gently, leaving the garage into the main floor of the house.

"Up here," Ace heard his footsteps descend down the stairs. He turned the corner and continued, "Wanted to start up there, work her way down. There's, uhm, some kids' clothes up there. Girls and boys, young though. I can't tell if they'll fit Carl, I think they're too small. We can bring him by to look after."

Ace nodded, "We all need clothes . . . and . . . so . . ." Ace hesitated, trying to find a way to ask this. "The other rooms?"

She saw the way Glenn frowned, eyes glancing back to the staircase hesitantly. He understood what Ace meant: kids clothes, meant kids rooms. Kids rooms, meant parent rooms. The same rooms that he had forgotten to mention when he had been searching around upstairs.

"No."

Ace watched him curiously, waiting for him to elaborate. At first he wouldn't, and Ace wondered if he even would. But when he saw the way she stared expectantly, waiting for him to explain, Glenn sighed.

"It's cleaned out," he said. "No clothes or anything . . . blanket and sheets are gone too."

Still, Ace just stared. She wasn't completely understanding what had him so bothered about the rooms. They'd been on the road for months at this point, they had seen plenty of places stripped clean and emptied. Whether or not the families packed and left, or the place got ransacked, as they were in the process of doing.

Ace again just stared at him, hoping it would make him continue or explain a little more.

Again, Glenn was hesitant, "The kids' clothes, there's a lot of them like . . . they didn't get touched, or packed. Their rooms look untouched. But the last room, parents I guess, everythings gone."

She understood then.

Well, his mood, she understood. It was unsettling. Ace didn't understand what it meant exactly, and spent some time in her head trying to run over how the rooms could have ended up in that state. It wasn't the first time on the road, seeing a mystery like this. So many lives destroyed, so many questions they had come across, but never the answers.

It's possible the kids had . . . passed, already, when this all started. And the parents left on their own. Or maybe the kids were away at grandma and grandpa's house. Maybe they were all gone and someone scavenged and cleaned out just the parents room. Ace had been running over each scenario in her head.

Glenn and Ace don't bring it up again, and Ace doesn't bother going upstairs as he'd already checked. They don't find the car keys, but there is a good amount of nonperishables. Some cupboards are empty, but not so empty to make her think the house had been raided. This added more questions to the bedroom situation.

Any food found they put on the counter. Old boxes of cereal, canned soup, canned fruit, some granola bars. It had been more food than they had ever come across in one house, which made Glenn really happy.

"This is great!" He beamed. "I hope everyone else is having the same luck."

Ace gave a small smile and nodded, pleased with their haul from a single house. She grabbed the last box from the cupboard and placed it down on the counter. When she turned her head, she jumped, ducking low quickly and pulling Glenn with her.

"Wha—"

"Shh!" Ace hushed him, pointing to the window. "Saw a walker go by. Didn't see us."

Glenn unsheathed the machete, standing slowly to walk toward the door, "I'll take care of it."

Ace almost sighed with relief. Although she would, and could kill walkers, Ace enjoyed getting out of it if she could. She started to stand, less concerned. There was only one, and now Glenn was going to take care of it.

Ace dropped down hard to the floor, gasping as she heard the sound of gunfire. Glenn does the same a few feet away from her, his back against the wall as he glanced over at her. After the initial surprise wore off, they both rushed to the front of the house. Glenn was out the door first, Ace at his side. They stopped, walkers were in the street, not all together but different clumps spaced out. As if each swarm was coming out of a different area.

She saw Lori and Carl, houses away. Both had their guns raised as they moved backward, getting away, stopping to shoot every so often. Others were running, yelling, nowhere near them.

She was so distracted by the panic, the others and her own, Ace wasn't paying enough attention to her surroundings. She heard the low groan almost too late. Glenn noticed, calling out her name and shoving her backward.

As his machete went up and into the walker's head, Ace fell backward on her ass and back into the house.

Glenn turned his head, eyes wide to check on her, "Are you—?"

"—GLENN!" Ace screeched, pushing herself up as another walker grabbed his arm.

Glenn struggled for a second, until Ace shoved it away with one hand, yanking Glenn by his shirt toward her. He stumbled into the house beside her, as the walker fell back in the opposite direction. It bought her enough time to rip out her own weapon, quickly executing it. More were coming, a small swarm just barely reaching her side.

Pulling Glenn with her, Ace went back in the house, slamming the door behind her. Her back is to the door, Glenn's face is paled, sweating, eyes building out in panic and fear. Ace was sure she didn't look much different.

"There's so many. Where did they come from? Maggie—" His voice cracked, unable to finish the sentence.

Ace was busy gasping for air. On her back, she felt the walkers pushing, banging against the door. It looked like they were near the entrance of Wiltshire, but Ace didn't see everyone. They couldn't go out to the street.

Glenn had come to this conclusion too, he was running to a window, looking out it. But as he did, more walkers slammed into it, mouths open wide, uncaring that a barrier was blocking them from food.

"There's too many," Glenn panted, going back to her. "More keep coming, they could break down the door!"

With a frown, Ace glanced at the doorknob beside her. The door was going to break, which meant that he couldn't stay standing right behind it for when the walkers got through. She reached out, turning the lock on the door, then above her head to hook lock the sliding lock.

Glenn's expression was incredulous. "What's that gonna do?!"

"Would you feel better if I left it unlocked?!" Ace snapped back.

She pushed herself away from it, and spun around to see the door jerking as the walkers banged against it. She knew that Glenn was right, and that they didn't have long before the walker's got through.

Glenn started shoving her away, in the other direction. "Back door! Back door!"

"But even if we go around to the street—!"

"—We're not going around to the street!"

Glenn and Ace ran back through the house. Even over the walkers banging and groaning Ace could hear the shouting and shooting.

She could have been wrong, she had no way to tell or look, but a part of her feared that if they could get out they would have already. They wouldn't still be screaming and shooting off guns. No, the shouts weren't for Glenn and Ace, at least not the ones Ace was hearing, they were panicked, fearful screams.

Seeing the food on the counter as they passed the kitchen Ace froze, eyeing the supplies they were so ready to leave behind.

At the back door, Glenn noticed her hesitation, "Ace!"

Ace looked back at him and cursed under her breath as a plan in her head forms. It didn't sound like the others were having an easy time getting out, they wouldn't either, but maybe Ace could help. Help them anyway, her plan might've been shit for her and Glenn.

At least her heart is in the right place, right?

Glenn runs back at her, ready to pull her with him. Ace shrugged him off and swung her backpack off her back, pushing it into his chest.

Ace points to the food, "Fit whatever you can!"

"No, we got—"

"—Do it!" Ace shove passed him, making her way to the garage. "Do it and meet me in the back garden! Hurry!"

Glenn said something Ace missed.

She flew open the garage door, grimacing as she felt her stomach drop, staring at the security light. Why was I doing this? Just run, don't do it. Ace groaned in defeat, slamming a fist down on the hood of the car.

Nothing.

Growling with frustration, she continued banging and hitting the hood of the car with both fists. When nothing happened, Ace shouted, "Come on!"

She'd been so worried about that car. She'd seen so many new models get set off with just a bump to the hip. This was ridiculous. Ace goes around the car, violently pulling each handle, hoping to set it off.

She screamed again in frustration when there was still no alarm. The commotion was making the walker's outside bang on the metal garage door. Finally Ace turned, lifting the plastic bin, items in it rattling around as hurl it at the car. It bounced off the side, objects flying out after the lid popped off.

Then the alarm blared out and Ace jumped. The siren wailed and chirped in succession. Ace ran out of the garage. She hoped some of the walkers would turn away, ignoring the gunfire and going for the alarm. Ace hoped it did some good.

Glenn was gone from the kitchen.

Ace found him in the back garden, like she had instructed. He took down a walker and turned around when he saw her.

"What are you doing? I heard the alarm!"

"Giving the others a chance to get out!" Ace said.

"What about us?"

"Come on!" Ace ran off through the back garden, towards the front gate.

Ace heard Glenn behind her, his shoes crunching in the snow. They didn't get far enough before walkers rounded a house near the front of the town, near the gate, blocking their path.

"Back! Back!" Glenn yelled, grabbing her arm and dragging her backwards. "This way!"

Instead of pulling her back the way they came, he dragged her through a lane between two different houses, away from where they had been searching and hiding.

"Where are we going?"

The fence around the town came into view a few blocks later. It was tall, too tall for either of them to climb.

"Okay, come here!" Glenn placed a hand on her back, pushing her towards the fence. "I'm going to lift you over, you get back to the group. I'll find my own way out."

"No," Ace shook her head. "No, I-I'm not leaving you here."

"Ace, we don't have another option."

"What—what about the building Daryl was talking about earlier?" Ace suggested.

"It's too big to climb over," Glenn argued.

"You could help me get on top, and I could pull you up," Ace said. "Because I'd have something to brace myself on. We can't do that here."

Glenn looked back over his shoulder as a walker came around the house. He didn't look convinced, but either way, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her along, down the length of the fence, "It's this way."

They ran down the length of the fence, the way they came, and more. They passed a long line of houses, running fast enough that when they turned a corner, the walkers behind them had lost sight of the two for a few seconds.

The small, shed-like building came into view. There was a small gap between the building and the fence, small enough to jump over the fence when they could leave. It was also taller than she or Glenn, and most of the walkers followed them, so she knew that once they were both up, neither of them would be grabbed.

This was their safest option, which worried her.

Glenn grabbed Ace's arm, "If this isn't going to work, go get back to the others—"

"—I'm not leaving you here!"

"There's no reason for us both to stay."

"I don't care!"

Glenn just stared at her for a second, his lips pursed. He shrugged the yellow backpack off of his back, "Take your bag."

Ace swung it back over her back and ran over to the building with him.

"Okay," Glenn backed up against the wall, squatting down. "Come on, you first."

Ace walked over to him, stepping on up onto his thigh. Glenn held her leg, giving her enough balance to push her foot up onto his shoulder. She grabbed the top of the building and pulled her second leg up onto his shoulder.

Ace had to pull her weight up, kicking off the wall to get herself up. She dropped the bag down on the ground in the snow over the fence and turned back to Glenn.

Reaching over the edge, She held out her hands for him to grab, "Come on."

Glenn didn't look convinced that Ace would be able to pull him up, but still he jumped up and grabbed her hands, which pulled her forward, and she had to stop herself from falling forwards by planting a hand down on the ceiling. Ace tried as hard as she could to pull him upwards.

Ace looked to the side when she heard noises, and saw walkers rounding the house. They saw them almost instantly and their pace quickened as they made their way over to them.

"Ace!"

She understood the panic in his voice. She felt the same panic in her chest, there was no other option now. There would be no way for him to escape if Ace couldn't pull him up. Glenn's feet were scrambling against the wall to help in any way he could to pull himself upwards. Ace leaned backwards, squeezing her eyes closed as she pulled upwards, suddenly far more aware of the consequences of not getting him up in time.

There was a new weight that dragged Glenn downwards, buckling her arm that was braced against the roof. Her chest fell down and slammed against the concrete ceiling. Her eyes opened and she saw that one of the walkers had wrapped its hand around his ankle and was trying to pull him further down. Ace braced herself again and yanked upwards as hard as she could as Glenn kicked his leg free.

Ace managed to pull her body and him upwards enough for him to get one of his hands up to hold himself up, lessening the weight on her arms. She moved one of her hands down to his elbow, pulling his other arm up onto the building.

When Glenn finally got his knee on the roof, he was able to heave the rest of his body up with him. He fell forward, planting his hands on the ground and kneeling over as he panted.

Ace fell back in the middle of the building, pulling her knees to her chest as she cried. Ace had all these visions of what would've happened if she couldn't pull him up, Glenn had almost been killed in front of her and it was almost her fault. The sound of the walkers below was only adding to whatever sensory overload she had been experiencing.

Glenn looked up, a big smile on his face that fell when he saw her, "Ace? You're not bit, are you?"

He scooted over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and inspecting wherever he could. When he realised there were no bites or injuries, he sat back on his feet, kneeling in front of her.

"Hey, Ace," he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into his chest. "It's okay, you did it. I'm here. We're okay."

Ace nodded, but continued crying into his coat, ignoring the way it hurt her bruises on her face. Ace was now more embarrassed than anything, which mixed with the guilt she had been feeling. He was alive, here, now, so why was she crying?

It was stupid.

Ace felt stupid.

When she was released from the hug, she was still upset, still crying, but kept sniffing to keep her sobbing down. Well, it was that and the cold. Ace realised that the area around was now quiet, aside from the walkers that had crowded on the ground around them, and she couldn't hear any shooting or screaming anymore. Everyone else must have gone, or worse.

She tried not to think about it after that.

"Come on," he said. "Let's get out of here."

Ace and Glenn had been walking for about five minutes before Glenn said anything about where they were going. Ace thought he was just as clueless as she was, and that they were wandering in the direction they were just to get as far from Wiltshire as they could. It was only when he started talking did she realise that he did actually have some kind of plan and direction that they were walking in.

"We should get back to the road," Glenn was saying. "Find the others."

"But if the walkers followed the others out of Wiltshire—"

"We're not—" he stopped himself, trying to keep his tone even. "We're not going there."

Glenn knew that Ace had little to no knowledge of where they were, which he realised must be worrying for her. He also knew that she was terrified of walkers, which would make her anxiety worse if she thought he was taking her back to the road Wiltshire was on.

Glenn decided to continue for her benefit, "If we keep heading this way, we'll be on a different road about a mile from Wiltshire."

Ace knew that a mile would take about twenty minutes to walk, a little more with the snow falling around them. Trying to keep footing in the frozen woods was proving to be more difficult than Ace could have imagined.

"What do we do if we can't find them?" Ace's voice was quiet as she asked, part of her hoping that Glenn would have missed what she said.

"We're going to find them," Glenn answered immediately.

Ace's eyes flickered to the ground. It didn't answer her question, which meant that they had no plan for if they didn't find the others. They didn't have a car, they didn't have shelter, they needed somewhere to go if they couldn't find the others, but Glenn seemed like not finding them wasn't even a possibility.

"We're going to find them," he repeated, his voice quieter. "I have to find Maggie."

"We don't know that we're going to find them," Ace said quietly.

"We'll find them, Ace," Glenn insisted. "We've done it before."

"Before you had somewhere to go," Ace reminded him, also bringing up that before she had been with Rick, and if not for that, then there was a good chance she would still be lost. "The motorway where we left those supplies. We don't have anywhere to go now."

"That's why I'm taking us to the road," Glenn said. "The others had the cars, they know we won't be able to travel far without them. They're going to be looking for us."

Ace wanted to believe that everything he was saying was true, but this wasn't the first time people had been left behind in their group. Andrea could have made it off the farm and they didn't go back for her, they just decided to get themselves somewhere safe. The same could be happening to them.

She doubted that they would be left behind like Andrea, because Maggie wouldn't let them leave without looking for Glenn. For Glenn. If she had been alone, without Glenn, she could have imagined them leaving her behind, because no one was going to fight as hard for her as Maggie would for Glenn. The fact that she even had to think about that made her chest tighten.

But that wasn't her biggest worry about being found by the others, though, "We don't even know if they're alive right now, Glenn."

"They're out there," Glenn said. "We made it out."

"Barely."

"They're out there, Ace," Glenn snapped.

Ace bit her tongue, his tone making her decide to stop fighting instantaneously. She didn't have the energy to pretend to agree with him, and anything she said otherwise would just work to make him even more upset. Ace decided to keep her anxieties to herself, rather than sharing them with Glenn.

Glenn waited for some kind of reply, argument, anything, but none came. He should have left it there, but he was tired and mad, mad that they had to leave Wiltshire behind, like the farm. Mad that they had been through so much in the span of four days. Mad that they were even having this conversation right now.

"This is the first time you've said anything to me in days, and this is what you come out with," he muttered.

Glenn seemed to realise what he was saying after it came out of his mouth. His eyes widened and his head snapped back to look at Ace. She wasn't looking at him, making it look like she hadn't even heard what he said, but he knew she heard. There was no way she didn't hear.

"I'm sorry, Ace," he got out quickly. "That was really insensitive of me."

This time he hoped that she'd say something, yell at him, argue. He even hoped that she would tell him how and why he was wrong for saying what he said, like she normally would have. But she didn't, which he knew was a bad sign.

He had no idea that Ace felt guilty more than anything, guilty that Glenn would think she was ignoring him out of rudeness. At least that's what it felt like to her. She wanted to be able to talk to him, to say how she felt after what happened to her, how being on the road was killing her, but she couldn't.

She knew that he was sorry about what he said, she could tell by his tone, the look on his face, but the fact that her silence had been affecting anyone this much made her feel sick. She didn't think that anyone else would have been affected so badly.

Ace hoped that now she knew that the others had been sick of her silence, that she would magically be able to speak to them again, to put up a happy front like she had been doing since this started, but she couldn't.

They walked on in silence.

Just as Glenn said, after around twenty minutes of walking, they made it to the road that he had been talking about. None of their cars were there, no sign that the group had been or passed by.

Ace glanced at Glenn, who was rubbing his head as he looked up and down the road. She really hoped they would be here, for his sake. Ace had come to peace many times over that she could end up alone, but she didn't have anyone in the group waiting for her. He needed to get back to Maggie, and now there was a chance that he wouldn't.

"We should wait here," he said.

Ace gave a single nod and walked over to the first car she saw, pulling at the door handle to see if it would open. To her surprise, it did. She searched around inside for a couple of seconds to see if there were any keys, but when she realised there weren't, she sighed.

Glenn watched her as she sat down in the snow, pulling out her knife, and leaning her head back under the steering wheel. She was hotwiring the car, he noticed.

"I can do that, if you want," Glenn said.

It was only a few seconds later before Glenn heard the sound of the engine coming to life. Ace stood up, and turned to the car, before sitting down in the driver's seat. She twisted the heater on the dashboard, holding her hands up to the vent that was now out of air. It was still cold, not quite warming up yet.

She held her hand there for a few seconds, making sure the heater wasn't broken, and when it finally started to warm the air around her hand, she pulled it away and sat back in the seat. Ace took off her bag and put it down on the ground inside the car.

"Can I have your bag?" Glenn asked. Ace didn't look at him, but reached down next to her and handed him the bag like he wanted. She watched as he put it down on the roof of the car above her head. "I wanna make sure they can see us."

Ace nodded, closing the door to stop any cold from getting in the car. There was no point in having the heaters if the doors were going to let all of the warm air out.

She assumed Glenn would stand around outside of the car, waiting for the others, but she was shocked when he opened the passenger side door and sat down next to her. They both sat there, hands to the heaters, finally warming up after spending so long in the snow. Ace could feel the wet in her jeans from where she had been sitting in the snow, but now that she was finally in the warmth, it didn't matter to her.

They were sitting together in an awkward silence, which Glenn was the first to break, "We'll stay here for an hour or two," he finally spoke, hoping to ease some of Ace's earlier worries about what they would do if they weren't. "If they aren't here by then we'll have to find somewhere to stay for the night."

"May as well stay here for the night," Ace said, knowing that Glenn wanted to wait for the others to get back. "It's not like we have anywhere else to go."

"I'd prefer to get further away from Wiltshire before it gets dark," Glenn said.

Ace just gave a nod.

Glenn was looking at her for a long time before he decided what to say next. "I am really sorry, Ace. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that earlier," Ace kept her eyes ahead, still guilty that he felt the need to say what he did earlier. "We'd just lost so much, we almost died. And I . . ." Glenn stopped himself, unsure of how to word what he wanted to say. "I just feel responsible, because you'd probably be safer right now if I hadn't—"

"—I heard you speaking to Maggie last night," Ace stopped him.

Glenn's face scrunched up, "You did?"

Ace nodded, not looking over at him, "I'm okay . . . really," she said, referring to what he had been talking about with Maggie. "It's just been hard. And I don't want you to feel bad about what's happened to me. And I know that the way I'm being is stupid—"

"—No, it's not," Glenn shook his head, turning in his seat to face her. "It's not stupid. I don't want you to act okay if you're not. I just wish there was something I could do to help you."

"I don't want anyone to worry about me," Ace told him, trying to hold back the tears in her eyes. She couldn't look at him. She always had a hard time trying to talk about what she was really feeling. "I just want to stop feeling like this."

Glenn gave her a sad smile, "I'm sorry."

Before Ace could say anything, there was the sound of a horn behind them, which made them both jump in surprise. Glenn tilted the rearview mirror, a big smile forming on his face when he had confirmed his suspicions.

"Oh my God!"

Glenn threw the door open and jumped out of the car. He spun around and jumped up and down, waving his arms over his head. Ace could hear him cheering and shouting in joy. She copied his actions, standing up to see the line of three cars that were driving towards them from behind.

Glenn looked at her over the top of the car. "It's them!"

Ace watched them, feeling a weight lift off her chest, a small smile working its way onto her face.

The pickup truck was in the front of the line, and Ace watched as it slid to a stop before them. Daryl got out of the driver's seat, a small smile on his face when he saw the two of them standing there.

"They're both here!"

The parade of questions and people followed him as the others rounded to the front of the line: "Both of them?" "Are they okay?" "Oh thank God!" Everyone she could see were all wide eyed with big smiles when they saw Ace and Glenn together.

Maggie sprinted around to the front of the pickup truck, on the verge of tears as she ran to Glenn. He moved to the front of the car to meet her, just as she had slammed into him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Oh my God!" She was crying. "You're okay! You're okay!"

"I'm okay," Glenn said quietly, hugging her back as tightly as he could.

Hershel and Beth were soon standing there too. Hershel had a hand on Glenn's shoulder, and Beth was standing there with the biggest smile, so happy that Glenn was okay, that Maggie had him back.

"What about you guys?" Glenn pulled away from the hug. "Is everyone—?"

"—All here," Maggie answered, only letting him go for a second. "Everyone's okay."

"Told ya they'd be jus' fine, didn' I?" Daryl told her.

Maggie faced Daryl for a moment, placing a hand on the top of his arm to express her gratitude, before she turned back to Glenn and continued to hug him as tight as she physically could.

Ace had been so busy watching the two of them, that she didn't even realise when Daryl came over to her, and placed a hand on her shoulder. She jumped a little, but saw that he was standing next to her with a look that was somewhere between concerned and relieved.

"Ya okay?"

Ace just gave a nod in return. Daryl squeezed her shoulder, removing his hand, but still standing next to her. He turned back to the group and watched as everyone was staring at them with relief.

Rick standing there, she noticed a second later. He was smiling at them, his hands resting on his belt. She noticed that he was looking at her when he spoke, "We heard the alarm go off. Was that you guys?"

Ace gave a quick nod of her head. "Yeah," she had been so quiet that only Daryl had heard that she actually gave an answer.

"That was all Ace," Glenn said, a big smile on his face as he looked back at her. "She thought you guys would need some help getting out."

Ace didn't know why he was playing it up as some big heroic event. Any one of them would have done the same as she did to help the others.

"Well it worked," Rick said, facing her with a smile. "Gave us enough time to get back to the cars."

"I'm so glad we found you guys," Glenn said.

"Thank Daryl," T-Dog said. "He's the one that saw you."

"I saw the bag," Daryl said, waving a hand.

There was a quiet chuckle from everyone, as they glanced at the yellow bag that was still on top of the car. Ace glanced at her bag, not laughing with the others, but thinking about how Daryl wanted her to get rid of it. He probably still did.

"What do you guys say we get outta here?" Rick finally questioned.

"Can't wait," Glenn said with a smile.

Ace watched everyone as they gave one last smile to her and Glenn, before walking back to the cars they originally came from.

"C'mon," Daryl said, grabbing Ace's bag from the roof of the car. "Ya can ride with me."

So these chapters are coming faster than I expected. Probably to ignore oncoming exams, but dw, I am revising also. Anyway, this is either really good or bad news for you depending on how much you love or hate this book.

Let me know what you thought :)