I woke up when the sun was shining through into my cell, making it impossible to stay asleep. I did roll over a few times, trying to drift back off, but after a while it became a futile task and I had to force myself to get up. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a nude colour t-shirt.

When I went out into the common room, Daryl had weapons laid out on the table, including my holster and weapons. Glenn and Maggie were also sitting at the table, both glancing through and writing things down in a thick yellow book. Oscar and Axel were also standing around, all ready for something. No one else was in the room yet, though, so I assumed these were the only people who were awake at this point.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We're gonna head into the generator room, clear it out," Daryl answered, holding out my holstered weapons for me to take, knife, axe and gun. "See if we can get those generators fixed in case of an emergency."

I thought for a second. Andrew had taken an axe to some of those generators, at least the controls. Fixing something like that would be a nightmare task, needing many, many parts. I didn't even know if it was possible in our current state.

"Do you need me to look at it?" I asked, clipping the holster at my waist.

"Axel offered, but you can if you want," Glenn said.

"I am pretty handy with a wrench," Axel boasted.

"I am a mechanic," I said, trying not to roll my eyes at his confidence. In all fairness, with the trouble fixing that generator would cause me, I really didn't want this to be something I had to focus on for the next few days. I would be stuck in that room for hours, and the thought of that already killing me. "If you want to do it go ahead, I don't care."

"If you aren't going to be doing that, me and Glenn have found some potential places to start looting," Maggie suggested.

"There's some stores that aren't too far from here either. They should have some formula and baby stuff," Glenn added, still reading out from the book, "maybe some more food."

"We ain't lookin' too hot on ammo, neither," Daryl was pushing around the guns, picking up any boxes of ammo we had and peering inside.

"You never know, some of these places may have bullets too."

"This is America after all," I muttered, a small smile on my face.

I would definitely prefer to join the others on a run later, rather than try to fix the generators. In all honesty it was nice to have someone that thought they fix things instead of me, but then again with a task as complicated as that would be, he probably wouldn't be able to.

"We're clearing out the rest of the prison too, aren't we?" Oscar asked.

"Not all of it," Daryl said. "We can't, there are some walls at the back of the prison that are breached. Keeps lettin' in more and more walkers, and there's probably so much more after that alarm went off. But I'm thinking maybe we can close off that area for now."

"Where is the breach?" Axel asked.

"We don't know."

"How do you know there is one?"

"Civilian walkers," Daryl answered. "'Less y'all locked up a bunch of women in dresses?"

"Fixing something like that is going to be one hell of a job," Oscar said.

"Yeah, but if we want to keep this place it has to be done," Glenn said.

Daryl smacked his hand down on the table after a second, grabbing his crossbow off of the table. "We should get to that generator soon if y'all wanna head out on a run," Daryl said, standing back and giving the prisoners room to grab some weapons. "Don' want anyone out there too late today."

Glenn and Maggie stood up, each of them grabbing their weapons. "Yeah."

"Let's get this done," Maggie said.

"When we get back we should make some food," Daryl said, holding the crossbow up as he led us through the cell block and into the hallway. "The only one that got to eat anythin' yesterday was the baby."

"Jealous?" Glenn asked, flicking on a torch.

"Hungry."

We had each killed at least two walkers on the path to the generator room, locking up any doors that would allow more walkers to get onto this path. While this one was not as isolated as where Rick had gone, there was a way to keep this area safer than it was before.

I couldn't believe how many walkers there were on the way to the generator room. We had killed so many on the way out, after taking down Andrew, but the fact that there were still dozens of walkers inside the building indicated that this building was still swearmed. As Daryl said, there were even a few civilians that had somehow found their way in through the breach with the beacon of the alarm going off.

"I see what you mean," Oscar said.

Daryl only nodded in reply. Instead he turned to Glenn, "When we get back we should see what more weapons we have for everyone," Daryl said. "Should be enough for everyone to carry a knife, maybe even a gun each. If anything ever happens again, I want everyone armed."

"Yeah," Glenn agreed. "Makes sense."

The generator room was not much longer through the darkened hallways, much easier to find now that we had been there before, even if it was in some kind of panic. Part of me forgot that Andrew's body was even here, but it was a sight to see when I remembered it. The smell had built up, causing me to grimace as it hit my nose. I groaned, my arm covering my nose as I entered the room, as did everyone else.

"Oh my God," Maggie turned, waiting right next to the door.

"We really have to start burning these bodies," I muttered.

When I rounded one of the smaller electrical boxes, I saw his body. It hadn't been moved since being shot the day before. The only ones that seemed really surprised to see it here were Glenn, Axel and Maggie.

Axel just stopped when he saw it, staring down at the body, wordless. I couldn't tell whether he was upset about what happened, or just shocked to see the body of someone he had spent so much time living with. I mean, the prisoners spent 10 months locked in one room together.

"The generators are there," I said, pointing to the mangled pieces of machinery. Part of me thought that sounded bitchy, but there was no point mourning this person who had tried to take the lives of so many, who did take the lives of so many. Besides, Axel was no help here if he was just going to stare at the body of his friend.

"Yeah, right," Axel nodded, glancing at the generators, and taking a second to inspect them. "Jesus," he let out a long whistle. "What the hell happened to these?"

"You're friend axed them," Darul muttered, glancing at the damage only for a second.

The fix would require a lot more electronics than I was aware of, but I should have noticed that anyway. The axe had penetrated so deep, just barely stopping above where the circuit boards were, only damaging a few of them.

"What kind of tools do you have?" Axel asked.

I wasn't aware that we had much to help with this, but Daryl would have more knowledge on that than me.

He shrugged, stepping away from the generator. "The tools are in the truck, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah."

"Ya can go take a look, bring 'em here. Shouldn't be any way for walkers to get to ya from here now, so you can just work on it whenever," Daryl said.

"I'll go take a look," Axel smiled. "Thanks, bro."

"Don' mention it," Daryl muttered, rolling his eyes as he turned back towards the door. "'M gonna get me some food."

"Finally."

Back at the cell block, everyone else had woken up. Beth was walking around the room holding the baby, feeding her a bottle. Maggie got started on making a huge pot of food, enough for everyone.

I sat next to Daryl on the stairs, eating quietly. It was nice to finally be able to eat something, and my stomach was immediately grateful. Everyone ate in silence, apart from Beth who was now sitting at the table, but still feeding the baby.

"Everybody okay?" The voice came, surprising everyone.

Rick was standing in the doorway to the cell block, the light from the hallway behind him creating a shadow into the common room. As the door creaked open, everyone all looked up at the same time, like a group of meerkats.

He placed a hand on the gate, and pushed it open to enter the room, being watched by everyone as he did so. I put my head back down, an attempt to make him feel less uncomfortable as he must have been with all the attention he was getting.

"Yeah, we are," Maggie answered him.

Hershel was next. "What about you?"

Rick had no answer to that question, instead explaining his journey into the cell block. "I cleared out the boiler block."

"How many were there?"

"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen," he shrugged absently. "I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl."

Get back? That seemed strange to me as the only thing that should really be down there would be the dead bodies or the walkers he killed

"Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies," Glenn said. "You don't have to."

"No, I do," he answered with a shake of his head, before walking around the table towards us, well Daryl, who barely glanced up from his bowl. "Everyone have a gun and a knife?"

"Yeah. We're running low on ammo, though."

"Maggie, Ace and I were planning on making a run this afternoon," Glenn said. "Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula."

"We cleared out the generator room," Daryl added. "Axel's there trying to fix it in case of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well."

"Good, good," Rick nodded, turning around to leave the common room back out the way he came.

"Rick—" Hershel tried calling, but he didn't listen to them as he ran out of the room.

There was nothing anyone could do to chase him, help him. They just let him go. I wondered what he even wanted out there, what he was doing that he needed to get back to so urgently. It couldn't still be killing, because at some point he would have gotten too exhausted, or even run out of walkers at the rate he was doing. But this was a big building, so maybe it was plausible.

When we were done eating, Glenn came up to me. "We're leaving soon. Grab your things."

I nodded and walked into my cell to get my things, but in all honesty, I was sure I already had everything I needed. Maybe my bag would be useful, but that would only be if I got separated or anything. We were taking the car there and back, so the car would have anything we needed.

When I turned away, I saw Glenn heading out of the cell block with a few bottles of water in his hands, one less thing I assumed I had to bring, but I just decided to ask in case we needed anything else.

"Glenn?"

He stopped as I called him, coming over to my cell to see me. "Yeah?"

"Do I need a lot today?" I asked.

Glenn shook his head. "Not really, just your weapons I think. The place we're going to isn't too far from here," he explained. "Me and Maggie are waiting outside when you're ready."

"Okay," I dropped my bag on the table, turning to grab my axe and knife. Glenn left me alone, giving me the time I needed to attach the axe to my holster.

As I walked into the common room, Daryl called me, stopping me in my tracks. "Ace!"

I walked over to him. "Yeah?"

"Y'know where ya goin' today?" He asked.

The question was not as he asked it, but more of a way of asking 'do you know how to get back?' Rick had clearly informed him that I was completely inept at anything to do with navigation.

Since we found the prison, my lessons in map reading and self location have stopped to a dead halt, and to be honest, I had no idea where we were going. Glenn said it wasn't far away, but I had a small habit of getting lost and that short distance could become a mile hike if I got separated from the others again.

"Not really," I answered.

"C'mere," he pointed down to a map on the table.

"I really have to go, they're waiting for me."

"Just one second," he said. "Yer headin' down this way, gonna hit this store around here."

There were no buildings where he was pointing on the map, no landmarks, but it showed a lot of area which meant that small towson like the ones we were heading to,

"Keep an eye on where ya go, but it should just be one straight road back to the prison," Daryl informed me.

"Okay," I nodded.

"Got everythin' ya need?"

"Yeah, I think so. Glenn said the place isn't far so I don't need that much," I said. "He's got some water in the car, too."

"Good," Daryl nodded, having no further questions about the run, and turning away towards Carl and Oscar who I assumed he was taking down to the lower levels to clear out. When I was sure that he didn't want anything else, I turned to leave.

"Hey," Daryl called after me, making me stop and spin around. "Careful out there."

I nodded. "Be careful in here."

Glenn and Maggie were sitting in the red Silverado when I got outside, talking to each other, but I couldn't tell what yet. Maggie glanced over when she saw me, but continued her conversation. I opened the door, throwing my bag across the seat into the pile where the others were.

"This first place is pretty close," I heard Glenn saying as I got in the car. "If there isn't much there we could probably hit one of these other places before it gets dark. Wouldn't want to go all the way back with nothing."

"There'll be formula and diapers at least. How many people are going to be stocking on baby stuff?"

"Yeah, this place seems pretty secluded too," Glenn added. "Not many places with an address so close. I doubt many people would have found this place."

Maggie looked back over the seat as I closed the door, "Ready?"

I nodded.

The store Glenn had mentioned came into view when he turned into a small shopping centre or town, some rural set of buildings that seemed a little far away from any town or houses.

Maggie got out first, saying something about checking for walkers, and then Glenn got out his side. He opened the door next to me, mainly so he could reach over me and pull the bag out from across the seat and the bolt cutters that were leant against the seat in the footwell.

"Clear outside," I heard Maggie say, as she came around the front of the car and stood by Glenn.

"All right," Glenn said. "Let's take a look."

"Hey," she stopped him.

I glanced over, worried something was wrong, but instead she kissed him. When she pulled away, Glenn smiled and they kissed again, his hand at the back of her head. I turned away, giving them privacy.

The shop we were going into was just like a smaller supermarket, all brick walls and the windows and doors boarded over. I banged at the wood in case anything was still inside, but there was no sound in return from inside.

"It's a beautiful day," I heard her say finally. When I looked over my shoulder, Glenn was making his way towards me, the smile still on his face.

"By all means. Take your time," I mumbled, so only Glenn could hear me. "We aren't busy or anything."

Instead of replying or anything, Glenn grabbed the top handle of my bag, yanking me backwards as I tried to walk forwards. He grinned at me, before turning to the door, using the bolt cutters to break the chain, and pulling one of the doors open.

Birds flew out, squawking over his head as he ducked before one of them flew into him. I laughed at the look on his face, and Glenn shook his head, unable to suppress the smile that was working its way onto his face.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, his voice dampening as he entered the shop. I followed him inside, my eyes struggling to adjust to the sudden darkness inside.

"Stick together, you two," Maggie said. "I'll keep an eye out here."

Despite her words, Maggie waited near the doorway, looking inside every so often to keep an eye on us. Glenn started gathering what he could find on the ground near the front, grabbing an orange basket to hold everything he was picking up.

It was hard to manoeuvre over the mess inside the store until my eyes had finally adjusted inside, and I could finally see where everything was.

Maggie called from the door, but the look that Glenn gave me indicated that he was also just as clueless to what she said as I was. "What?"

"Get that duck," she repeated.

His look towards me changed, now understanding what she meant but still confused at the request. He looked at the duck at his feet, a small cuddly toy that looked completely new, if not a little dusty, bright yellow against the darkness of the store. He leant down, grabbing the toy. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," she said. "A kid growing up in a prison could use some toys."

Glenn considered it for a moment, but nodded and put it into the basket. "I had lots of toys. I just don't remember many of them."

"I had a cuddly, red dragon," I said.

"A red dragon?" Glenn asked. "Why?"

"Dragons are cool. And they're pretty on brand for where I'm from."

Glenn thought for a second, but he was not getting it. He looked to Maggie who also seemed to have no answers, and gave a shrug. I decided not to give them the benefit of knowing, turning around and walking further into the shop.

Glenn grabbed whatever Maggie instructed before following me inside. I could see the light of his torch shining past me, and the shadow getting smaller as he caught up. He pointed the light around at the directional signs before waving a hand for me to follow.

I caught a glimpse of the sign before reading: Newborns and Toddlers. There was a random assortment of different items for babies, formula, food, nappies, dummies, blankets. Clothes were at the end, but still in the same area. Everything we needed was here, with only some gone or knocked on the floor and some of it still there on the shelves.

"There's quite a bit here," I announced.

"More than I expected," Glenn agreed.

We both started scavenging any items that hadn't been opened, the ones less likely to be contaminated with any dust or pathogens that would cause the baby harm, and put them in the orange baskets.

Glenn worked quietly on the shelves behind me, before joining me on the shelf I was looting. I just examine everything carefully before either packing it up or moving it away, shoving it right to the back of the shelf where I couldn't reach it again.

"You know," Glenn started. "I'm glad you came today."

I frowned, glancing over at him, immediately voicing my confusion. "Why?"

"Things have been hard lately, I just want to make sure you're okay."

Just as I hadn't answered that question for Daryl yesterday, there was no way of me saying anything here. All it would do would bring the mood down, because no one was okay. Not really.

"Besides, we haven't really had the chance to do much together in a while. I know this isn't exactly fun, or anything, but it's just . . . nice."

I nodded, grabbing more things from off the shelf. "Yeah."

"Things'll get better when we get the prison safe," Glenn assured. "It'll be good."

"I hope so."

They thought the same about a lot of places, Wiltshire being the main one. That place had walls, big fences, and none of it was broken down. The thing that happened there is that the walkers had been trapped inside, just as they are in the prison. It would take a lot of time to get this place secured in a way that was safe, but it would be constant work. Killing walkers on the fences so they didn't come down, always leaving for food.

And there were only the few of us, with the number seemingly always shrinking, aside from the two prisoners we had recruited. Rick didn't want to accept anyone into the group, which I understood the hesitation, having been involved in most of the situations where we had lost faith in other people.

"There's a lot of stuff here," Glenn acknowledged, pulling yet another tub of baby formula off the shelf. "This place has barely been looted, I'm willing to bet a lot of the food is still here too."

"Yeah, it is pretty stocked compared to normal," I said. "Something good is finally happening for us."

"I know, right?" Glenn grabbed the last tub of formula, and turned around, grabbing as many bags of nappies as he could fit inside one of the baskets. "We've got everything we can over here, let's get everything we can."

Glenn held out his torch, walking around to the part of the store where all the food was. As we passed the back of the store, we shoved most of the baby clothes into the baskets, at first wondering what sizes she would need, before then just resorting to grabbing it all. Babies grow, so grabbing bigger sizes now would save us a lot of time in the future.

Then we looted the food, mustards, tins, whatever we could find before moving onto the electronic areas for batteries, and other wires I could use in crafting I had been reading about. Matches were useful too, which I grabbed, shoving a pack in my pocket before putting the rest in the basket.

"I'm going to take these things out," Glenn told me, when we had covered most of the shop.

"Yeah, I just want to check the tills," I said. "There's normally batteries and stuff up front too. I know you found some, but more is always better."

"Okay, we'll wait for you outside."

As Glenn continued on, I stopped at one of the tills, searching inside them and underneath for guns that may have been left behind. Some shops had those, especially in this country, it sometimes seemed easier to come across weapons than food.

"We just hit the powdered formula jackpot," I heard Glenn boast to Maggie outside. "I also got beans, batteries, cocktail wieners, mustards. It's a straight shot back to the prison from here. Probably make it in time for dinner."

I grabbed my basket, standing behind one of the tills and clearing everything from underneath. Some carrier bags, random stuff that would be useful to

"I like the quiet," Maggie said, quieter than Glenn, but still clear enough that I could hear her. "Back there, back home, you can always hear them outside the fence no matter where you are."

"And where is it y'all good people are calling home?" A new voice came, that startled me. I looked at the door, but Maggie and Glenn had each turned away, pulling out a gun and pointing it at whoever had spoken.

The voice was familiar, though.

"Merle?" Glenn asked.

Merle?

"Wow!"

I slowly walked to the door, but didn't step outside or stand anywhere he'd be able to see me. I stood near the door that had been, unable to be seen by Merle, my side pressed against the wood so I could hear them better.

"Hey, back the hell up!" Maggie yelled.

It was much clearer when I heard him talking again. "Okay, okay, honey. Jesus!"

"You made it," Glenn said.

"Can you tell me, is my brother alive?" Merle asked. "Huh?"

There was no response from anyone. I didn't understand the benefit of keeping that information from him. Eventually, Glenn spoke up. "Yeah."

"Hey, you take me to him and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta. No hard feelings. Huh?"

No hard feelings? From everything I heard about what happened in Atlanta, Glenn had nothing to do with the abandonment of Merle. It even seemed like he didn't ever get the chance to uncuff him or anything.

I moved my hand to my gun, but didn't grab it. If they were still worried enough that we may need to shoot Merle then I would back them up. Daryl would be the only one that would be angry if Merle got hurt, but part of me wondered how much he would care knowing how hot headed he could be. That and he had been gone for so long.

"You like that?" Merle asked, and I was now lost. "Yeah. Well, I found myself a medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself. Well, pretty cool, huh?"

Did he mean his hand? Daryl told me he cut it off, but I had no idea what that meant for Merle now; apparently he fixed it somehow. Maybe a prosthetic that amputees would have used before the apocalypse.

"We'll tell Daryl you're here and he'll come out to meet you," Glenn said.

"Hold on," Merle said. "Just hold up—!"

"—Whoa! Whoa!"

I didn't know whether I had to move, go outside so we could go back to the prison and tell Daryl about Merle. I was completely unsure of what I needed to do. In any other way, I would be out there, helping them. But Merle? He had a reason to come to the group, a reason to want us around. I didn't understand how to navigate this situation.

"Hold up here. Hold up," Merle continued. "Hey, the fact that we found each other is a miracle. Come on, now. You can trust me."

"You trust us," Glenn demanded. "You stay here."

There was no response, no sound of movement or talking. The only thing that I really heard was a small chuckle from Merle. Silence followed.

Then he yelled, and there was the sound of a gunshot, and a window smashing. I pulled out my gun and stepped out from the doorway, and saw Glenn on the ground in front of the door, but there was no side of Merle.

"Go hide," he said, his voice low, not yelling to draw attention.

I didn't want to leave him alone, but he was so serious that I couldn't argue either. Merle was experienced with weapons, maybe at fighting. I wouldn't stand much of a chance. I now noticed there was no sign of Maggie either, and had immediately thought the worst of the situation.

So I listened to Glenn, running backwards and sliding down behind a counter as he dashed around the car to where Merle had gone, I'm guessing.

"Hey, hey!" I heard Merle yelling. "Hold up, buddy! Hold up!"

"Let go of her," Glenn said, and then yelled, "LET GO OF HER!"

I had my gun to my chest, eyes closed as I now understood what was happening. He had Maggie, but that was it. I didn't know if he'd hurt her, or anything else. My heart was pounding in my ears as my foot slipped on the ground, dropping me into a sitting position behind the counter. Merle had the power now, and I had no idea if there was any way I could change that.

"Put that gun in the car, right now," Mere demanded. "Put it in the car, son."

There was a silence that followed.

"There you go," the praise told me that Glenn had listened, but from what I could tell, he didn't have much of a choice. I poked leant up and looked over the counter, seeing Glenn with his hands now raised a little, a way to protect Maggie, showing that he would not reach for the weapon again. "Now we're gonna go for a lil drive."

"You're not going back to our camp," Glenn said.

"No," Merle said. "We're goin' somewhere else."

Somewhere else? No. If they did that, I would have no way of tracking them, knowing where Merle would have taken them. He would have free rain to kill them and there would be nothing I could do. I couldn't let them leave.

As I went to stand up, Merle yelled, "Get in the car, Glenn! You're driving! Move!"

"Don't—" Glenn tried to intervene, moving one of his hands forward, holding it up to Merle. Then he lowered it. "Okay," he agreed quietly.

"Get up!" Merle yelled again, this time probably directed at Maggie, which made me duck back down. Merle would've been able to see me if I had stayed like that. There was little I could do if he took them away, but there would also be nothing I could do if I were forced to go with them too.

A door slammed, before the rest opened and closed, indicating they had all entered the car. I leaned up again, and saw that they were. Merle had Maggie in the backseat with a gun to her head, which meant that I couldn't just get out and rush him with a gun.

I had to stay here.

The only thing I could do was tell everyone at the prison. Go back to the prison and inform them of more grief, more devastation. I couldn't face Hershel telling him that his daughter was kidnaped while I hid in a store.

The car started moving, and I stood up when I was sure that Merle would not see me. It spun around, and they left the parking area of the shopping centre, instead turning down in a different direction that Glenn had brought us from the prison.

I ran out, gun in hand as I watched the car drive away. They were gone. They were gone and there was nothing I could do.

"FUCK!"

I had two options: see if a car worked around here and chase after them, or head back to the prison. With every vehicle caked in dust, looking like they had been sitting there since the beginning of the apocalypse, I had little faith that any of them would work. Fixing them would take way too long, and I would lose Glenn and Maggie.

But heading back to the prison meant there was no way we would be able to track them down. Daryl was good, but he was not track-invisible-tyre-tracks-on-a-road kind of good. And Rick was barely functioning after the events of yesterday. Even if we could get a team together, it would be shambles.

"Fuck!" I yelled again, covering my eyes with the palms of my hands as I crouched down. "What do I do?!"

Getting a group together was really my only option, because even if I could keep following their car, Merle would notice me eventually and use his leverage on Maggie to get me to go with them. But tracking them would be impossible, with the only options being to consult maps at any landmarks that Merle could have potentially taken them to.

It would have to be within driving distance of a few hours maximum, but that would leave hundreds of possibilities for his location, and I had no idea what his intentions were with Glenn and Maggie when he got them there.

"I'm so fucking useless!"

There were steps at my side, and I pulled my gun out and aimed it immediately at the source of the noise.

"You . . . have a sword? Walkers don't use swords."