Dustin practically shoved me into the room, I stumbled and almost fell but Daryl caught me. "Abby." He said with full concern. "What did they do to you?" He asked as Klaus and Dustin left locking the door behind them.

"I'm fine." I said and stood up straight.

"No you ain't."

"I'm fine!" I snapped. Daryl stared at me. Feeling a little embarrassed by my outburst, I looked down. I caught my breath. "They wanted to know about the other communities." I stated. "I wouldn't tell them…so now they're going back to Alexandria tomorrow." I gave him a serious look. "We have to stop them. We have to get out of here tonight."

Daryl and I weren't talking. I was laying on the mattress recovering from what those guys did to me earlier. I was in pain but it wasn't too bad. We didn't have a plan but we had to wait for them to fall asleep anyway. That way, they would let their guard down. Looking up at the window, I saw that it was dark now.

"I'm sorry." Daryl said out of nowhere. I lifted my head a little, he was sitting on the other side of the room. "Sorry I…wasn't there to help you."

I shrugged. "There was nothing you could do. There's five of them and only two of us. Plus they have our weapons."

"Yeah." He said and stood up, it looked like he was looking at something. "Abby…can you walk?"

I sat up and gave him a questioning look. "Yeah?"

I saw him look up at the vent on the wall. "I got an idea." He turned to me. "Get on my shoulders."

I opened my mouth before the words came out. "We already tried the window. There's nothing to use to break—

"Yer gonna crawl through that vent." He said matter of factly. My eyes widened. "I'll give you a boost up." He nodded then looked at the vent then back to me. "You can use my belt buckle to undo the screws."

"Have you lost your mind?" I finally found my voice and stood up. "You don't think they'll hear me crawling through the vent?"

"Nah." He said quickly. "It's too tight. You gotta wiggle yer way through."

I raised my eyebrows. "Yeah. That makes me feel so much better." I said sarcastically.

"Well tough shit." Daryl said causing me to look at him. "I cain't fit so it's gotta be you. And…you got us into this mess, yer gonna get us out."

Those words angered me, but I knew I couldn't argue because it was true. However, no one told him he had to tag along on my mission. He's in this just as much as I am.

I shot Daryl a glare, then made my way over to him. He handed me his belt buckle. After taking it, I gestured with my hands telling him to give me a boost. He lifted me, then held onto my feet. I did my best to be quick but also quiet.

"Is it workin'?" He asked me.

The first screw was out, I heard it hit the floor. "Yeah." I got the others out too, the last one giving me the most problems. "Okay. I'm taking the vent cover off now." I pried it off with my fingernails, then tossed it onto the mattress so it wouldn't make a loud noise hitting the floor. "I'm goin' in."

"Wait." Daryl said. He started to get me down, which confused me. "Here's the plan. You go through wherever that takes ya, get a weapon or two and then get yer ass back here." He said seriously. "Don't try to be a hero. If somethin' happens…if one 'a them wakes up and they see you…we're both dead. So that's the plan. Got it?"

I nodded once. "Yeah."

We stared at each other for a moment, then Daryl gave me a nod. "Alright." He helped me up again like before. "You in?"

"Gimme a little push." I said. He lifted me a little too much and I almost hit my head. "Okay." I yell-whispered. The vent was just big enough that I could fit inside. It was tight against my arms so I had to literally wiggle myself all the way through. It was taking a long time. "This sucks." I whispered to myself.

It took me a while before I saw another vent. I wiggled faster to it. Finally, I was able to look out and see where I was in the house. It looked like a bedroom. There was the sound of someone taking a shower. He might not hear me climb down.

However, how do I get out of here? I never thought about this part. I pulled my arms out and pushed on the vent as hard as I could. It wasn't budging.

"Oh come on." I whispered. "Don't do this to me now." I pushed with all my strength until I was practically sweating. All of a sudden, the vent flew off the wall. My eyes widened. Did he hear it?

I waited for a while listening for the shower to stop, but it didn't. I think I'm good. I wiggled myself out of the opening, my head and arms were out but I didn't know how I'd land. I just went for it and let myself fall, putting my hands out in front of me catching my fall a little.

I grimaced and grabbed at my wrist while still on the floor. My arm got injured earlier when that guy, Dustin, threw me on the ground. I didn't have time for pain though because the person in the shower spoke. "Hey, who's there?" He said. "What's goin' on?"

My eyes widened and I quickly got up being as quiet as a mouse. The shower stopped. I ran to the other side of the room and hid beside the bed, then slid underneath it. I saw his feet as he was walking around. It seemed like he was getting dressed. He must not have noticed the vent. Good.

I felt the bed go down and knew he got on it. Damnit! I cursed myself. Daryl and I should have discussed a better plan. Who knows how long I'm going to be stuck under here.

After a few minutes, I heard the click of the lamp and the room became dark. Great. Now I can't even see. I gritted my teeth angrily. I guess I'm just going to have to wait until he falls asleep. I sighed.

I don't know how long it's been, definitely not an hour but longer than I wanted it to be. But…I finally heard the sound of him snoring. Slowly and quietly, I slid out from under the bed, then stood up. He was still snoring so I knew he didn't hear me.

The room was dark as fuck. I don't know how anyone can sleep like that, I always have to have some form of light when I sleep. Pulling out my iPod, I used it for some light. I tried not to shine the light directly in the guy's face but I saw enough of him that I could tell who it was. Elio. The leader.

Just then, something shiny caught my eye as I moved the light around. It was a knife. On the nightstand. It would have to do. Quickly, I grabbed it and then was about to hide back under the bed. However, I had a thought.

Daryl was right about what he said. This is my fault that we're in this mess. My expression hardened and I squeezed the knife in my hand. But I am going to get us out.

Sorry about your plan, Daryl, but…this is my mission. Not yours.

I turned the lamp on. I wanted him to see me when I killed him. His eyes opened, then he immediately saw me. "What the—

I slit his throat with the knife before he could even finish his sentence. His eyes went wide as he covered his throat and tried to stop the bleeding. That's not going to happen. He got up and tried to attack me but I dodged him, then kicked him down with my foot. He lay on the ground for a moment, then tried crawling to the door. If he gets out, he's going to alert his friends.

"I don't think so." I got on top of him and kneeled on his back. He was groaning and trying to gasp for air. He should be passing out soon. "Shh shh." I said to him. "Just let go. Just let go." Finally, his body started to go limp and he quieted down. I stayed on top of him until I knew he was gone.

I finally got up off him and stared down at him. I was about to stab him in the head when a thought stopped me. If he turned, then he could get one of the others. Opening the door just a crack, I peeked out. One guy was asleep on the couch, two were watching a movie or something and another one was in the kitchen eating something. It was Klaus, of course. He was the closest so he might be Walker Elio's victim. Or maybe the one sleeping.

I quickly closed the door. While waiting for it to happen, I searched the room and found Elio's gun. "Nice." I smiled. I tucked the knife in my pants and kept the gun out. Looking down at Elio's dead body, I thought about my plan. If he takes one of them out, then I'll only have to worry about three. I should stay hidden in here and when someone comes in to check around, I'll shoot them. Then, I'll be down to two. I should be able to handle them if I'm fast enough.

The sound of snarling brought me back to the now and I immediately looked down at the walker that used to be Elio. My plan has to work because I don't have time to think up another one.

It started to get up so I quietly opened the door all the way and hid behind the door. The walker walked out of the room. My eyes widened and my heart was pounding as I watched through the crack of the door. It was being quiet, which was good. They still hadn't noticed. Who's gonna get it?

I watched in anticipation as the walker walked over to Klaus who's back was to it and bit a nice chunk out of his neck. I closed my eyes. Direct hit.

Klaus started screaming as it happened, alerting the other guys. There was instantly yelling and swearing. Showtime. I thought and braced myself. I aimed my gun at the door.

"Is that Elio?" One of them asked. They put him down, then killed Klaus too. He was already a goner anyway. Footsteps were headed my way. The door opened and I immediately shot him in the head. Looking down at his dead body, I saw that it was Dustin. I was hoping it was Stephen, the big guy.

"What the fuck?" I heard someone say. My eyes widened as I looked up.

Narrator's POV

Daryl Dixon was starting to regret sending Abby through the vent. So much could go wrong. He didn't want to be responsible if something happened to her. It had been a while and she still hadn't come back yet making the man worry more and more.

After some time, Daryl heard screaming that sounded like one of the men followed by some gunshots. His eyes widened as he looked up at the vent.

"Abby!" He yelled. There was nothing he could do. Again.

Abby's POV

Stephen knocked the gun out of my hand, then sent me flying across the room with a punch. Shit. This is not good. "How'd you get out?" He asked me. I reached for my gun but he hurriedly stepped on my hand. I yelled out in pain. "I didn't wanna have to hurt you anymore but…" He kicked me in the side knocking the wind out of me. "It's gonna be so much worse now."

I laid on the floor in pain, absentmindedly touching the knife in my pants. My eyes widened. I almost forgot I had that. I secretly pulled it out hiding it under me.

"Now I have to kill you." Stephen said. "And your friend."

I lifted my head weakly and looked at him. "Walker." I said and pointed at the door. He turned his head in the direction that I pointed. I took my chances and threw the knife as hard as I could at his head. I missed his head but got him in the neck.

Stephen looked surprised and pulled the knife out of his neck, blood poured out. He coughed once then fell to the floor.

I sighed in relief. Then my expression hardened. One left. And it's him.

I walked out of the room slowly with my gun up. It was way too quiet. Looking around, there didn't seem to be any sign of him. Maybe he took off when everything went down. Coward.

Almost right after having that thought, a gunshot was fired and I felt pain in my shoulder. Falling to the ground and sliding behind a table, I touched where I got shot. "Fuck." I said.

"You think…you won, huh?" Cooper said from somewhere. "I know what you're doing here. You came after me. For killing your dad." I tensed up at the mention of my dad. "Well you may have taken out my friends…but…you're not gonna get me." His footsteps were right next to me now. I looked up and aimed my gun but he kicked it out of my hands. My eyes widened as his foot then came for my face. I turned my head and tightly closed my eyes waiting for the blow. It happened and was worse than what I was expecting.

I tried to roll over to my gun but Cooper kicked me pretty much in the same spot that the big guy did only a few minutes ago. I'm going to be a wreck. If I make it out of here alive that is.

I was on my back now breathing heavily. Cooper stood over me looking down and grinning sickly. "Don't think that this is over just because they're dead." He said. "Once I take care of you, I'm gonna kill your boyfriend downstairs, then…I'm gonna go back to your home and kill every last one of you." He smiled. I glared evilly at him. "Or maybe…I'll leave you alive so you can watch—

I reacted quickly and kicked his leg as hard as I could. I heard a sick crack, then Cooper went down a little and screamed. Then, I kicked him hard in the chest causing him to fall backwards. While he was recovering from that, I stabbed him in the stomach with his own knife. He looked up at me in surprise.

I ripped the knife out of him and he screamed in pain. Finding my gun, I pointed it at him. Having seconds thoughts, I put it down. "No." I said. "No. You're not getting off that easy." I limped over to the kitchen and started digging around in the drawers. I found a meat cleaver. "Oh goodie." I grinned at him.

Cooper tried to stand up but fell back down because of his leg. He knew he was done for now. I came back over to him. We locked eyes for a moment, he looked sad but it didn't phase me. I brought the cleaver down hard on his ankle. He screamed. It didn't sever it completely so I had to repeat it twice. He screamed the whole time.

"My dad," I started, "was a great man. And you…murdered him…in cold blood." I said angrily. "You better hope you bleed out before I'm done with you."

Cooper looked up at me crying. "Please." He begged.

I scoffed. "You wish." I brought the cleaver down cutting off his other foot. "I did win." After that, I cut off his arms. He bled out before I got to the last one though. I was super dizzy by the time I was done and had to hold onto the table. I leaned over it and panted. It's over. I won. We won.

I gasped and looked up. "Daryl."

I ran down the stairs. "Daryl!" I yelled outside the door. "It's me!" I figured I should probably warn him before just opening the door. He was standing there. "I'm sorry, I had to— I was cut off by Daryl hugging me tightly to him. His arms wrapped around me, I didn't hug him back though. My head was tilted a little so I could feel his breath on my neck. Daryl kissed me right there on my neck. I felt it down there, which made me feel guilty so I pulled away.

"I thought you was dead." Daryl said. "I heard gunshots and shit."

"I'm fine." I said. "They're dead."

He looked a little surprised. "You killed them all?" I nodded once. He looked relieved and then angry. "What happened to the plan? Don't you listen to anythang?"

Instead of trying to explain to him what happened, I just smirked. "No."

Daryl and I went upstairs, he helped me bandage my shoulder where I got shot, then we gathered up our weapons and theirs. I started raiding the fridge for food. There were some bottles of water. "Yes." I grinned and grabbed one. "Oh they're cold." I put the cold bottle on my face before opening it. I almost drank the whole thing down. "Ah." I breathed. I grabbed another. "Daryl." I called him. He looked like he was staring at something and didn't turn my way. "Daryl?" I realized what he was looking at. Cooper's dead body all hacked up. Daryl gave me a look. "What?" I shrugged and tossed him the bottle, he caught it. "He deserved it."

I turned back to the fridge and just started grabbing whatever and eating it. I was starving. Daryl joined me. "You looked like shit." He said. I stopped eating and looked at him. "Hope it's not as bad as it looks."

I just shrugged. I moved over to the counter where there was a jar of peanut butter, I grabbed it and sat at the table eating it right out of the jar with a spoon. "I say we stay here tonight." I suggested. "Take what we can, then leave in the morning."

"I ain't stayin' here." Daryl said looking around at the dead bodies littering the floor.

I rolled my eyes. "Not here." I gave him an annoyed look. "This is like…" I trailed off trying to think of what I wanted to say. The words just left my head. "Like a…a basement or something. There's a whole house upstairs."

"We need to get you back so you can get fixed up."

"I'll be fine for one night." I snapped. "Besides, maybe I wanna rest up a little before our long journey back home."

Daryl sighed. "Fine. One night, that's it."

Daryl and I left the basement house and went inside the actual house. We made sure it was clear before settling down. The house reminded me of like a farmhouse. It was pretty small though, there was only one bedroom.

I stood in the room looking at the bed, just wanting to get in it and go to sleep. Daryl followed me in. "You okay?"

"Yeah." I breathed out. "I will be." The back of my neck started to burn right then, I grimaced and touched it. "My neck burns like a bitch."

"Lemme see." Daryl said gently turning me to him. He moved my hair out of the way. "These look like cigarette burns." I felt his finger touch it.

"Ow." I said. "Don't…touch it."

"That what they was doin' to you?" He looked at me.

"When they were questioning me, yeah."

"I could hear ya screamin'." He looked down like he felt bad.

As much as I hate to make him feel better, I said, "it wasn't your fault. There wasn't anything you could do." I sighed. "And like you said, I got us into this mess so…might as well pay for it." I walked out of the bedroom and into the living room.

There was a brief pause. "I'll take the couch." Daryl said.

I turned and raised an eyebrow at him. "The bed's a queen. We can both fit."

He stared at me. "You really want me in 'nere? With you?"

I realized what he was asking and looked down. I wish things weren't like this between us but…they were. "Yeah, take the couch." I didn't want to look at him, so I turned and went into the bedroom closing the door behind me.

I just realized that I still hadn't seen what I looked like. Turning my head, I glanced at the bathroom that was in that room. I limped in there and looked at myself in the mirror. I gasped.

Daryl was right, I really did look like shit. There was dried blood down my cheek where I got cut, my lip was fat and swollen and also had some dried blood on it. The side of my head where the bullet grazed me had more blood. Plus, there was the gunshot wound on my shoulder.

There was one more place I had to look at. I lifted my shirt so I could see my side. It was blue and purple from being kicked multiple times. I hissed through my teeth as I looked at it.

Afterwards, I just stared at my reflection. How am I alive?