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The motorcycle cut neatly through the herd of Walkers. Carol clung to Daryl, trusting him to get them through as he navigated through the trees and the dead. At some point, they stopped in a clearing. Daryl looked around. For the moment, they were ahead of the herd. "Burnin' gas. We can't keep goin' like this."
"Should we go back?"
"No. Farm's gone. Those things will be all over it until they find somewheres better to go … and with all them animals, that'll be a while."
Carol nodded. That made sense. "Is there a chance anyone else made it?"
"Couple o' cars drove off, I saw."
"Andrea. I don't know what happened to her. And Patricia. They got her. But I think Lori and Beth got away with T-Dog."
"Far as I can tell, you couldn't kill Rick with a nuke. I bet he's out there somewhere."
"Where would they go?" Daryl frowned, and Carol tried to think. "The highway," she said at last. "Where— Where we left the food out for Sophia." That was over now. There was no more Sophia. Even the place where her daughter lay buried was lost to Carol. From now on, she was no one's mother, she was no one's wife. She was just … Carol. Somehow, she was going to have to find a way to contribute to the group's welfare, if she was to have a place in this new world. And the man with her was just the person to learn from. No one else, with the possible exception of Rick, had done as much to keep them safe. She was glad that if she had to be saved from the fall of the farm by someone, it had been him.
"Yeah. That's a good idea," Daryl said. He restarted the motorcycle, the sound deafening in the quiet woods, and they took off for the highway.
The highway was just as they had left it. The same cars, in the same positions. No movement. Carol didn't know why she was surprised—of course no one had been out to clean it up. There was no one. She supposed maybe she'd thought other survivors might come through and pick off whatever was left inside the cars. It was possible they had; debris was scattered everywhere.
They pulled up to the place where they had left the supplies, finding Rick there with Hershel and Carl. Maggie and Glenn were right behind them in her car. And behind that, the beat-up blue truck with T-Dog at the wheel, with Lori and Beth inside.
Carol watched the reunions between family members with dry eyes. She was glad for them, especially for Lori, after last night's panic about Carl. But she was past wishing that could have been her.
Rick turned to Daryl after all the hugging was done. "Where'd you find everyone?"
He pointed at Glenn. "Well, this guy's taillights zigzagging all over the road, figured he had to be Asian drivin' like that."
Glenn laughed. "Good one."
"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked.
"We're the only ones who made it so far," Rick told him.
Lori stood up, her eyes fixed on Rick. "Shane?"
Rick shook his head.
Daryl wondered what would come of that. They'd have an easier time of it, the two of them, with Shane out of the picture, that was for sure.
"Andrea?" Glenn asked.
"She saved me, then I lost her," Carol said.
T-Dog shook his head. "We saw her go down."
"Patricia?" Hershel asked.
"They got her, too. Took her right from me. I was—" Beth started to cry. "I was holdin' on to her, Daddy. She just—"
Daryl hoped that girl toughened up some. She'd drag the whole group down the way she was now.
She turned to look at Maggie. "What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?"
"He was in the RV. It got overrun," Rick answered.
Carol looked over at T-Dog. "You definitely saw Andrea?"
"There were Walkers everywhere," Lori said.
"But did you see her?"
It was clear no one actually had. They had assumed she was gone and left her there to die in their panic. Daryl started for his motorcycle. "I'm gonna go back."
"No."
He frowned at Rick. "We can't just leave her."
"We don't even know if she's there," Lori said.
"She isn't there. She isn't." Rick sounded very certain. "She's somewhere else, or she's dead. There's no way to find her."
Daryl thought about the way the farm was. She couldn't have survived there, not with all those Walkers. So she'd either found a way to get far away, but in the wrong direction, or she was gone.
"So we're not even going to look for her?" Glenn asked.
"We've gotta keep moving. There have been Walkers crawling all over here."
"I say head east," T-Dog said.
Daryl agreed. "Stay off the main roads. The bigger the road, the more Walkers." He took his crossbow off the back of the bike and sent an arrow through the head of a single Walker staggering toward them. "More assholes like this one. I got him."
So it was settled. They did another quick search of the surrounding cars, taking everything that was left that might be useful. Rick and Lori, Hershel and Beth and Carl got in the big red and white truck. Maggie and Glenn and T-Dog followed in the green car. The battered blue pickup was left behind. Too much gas needed to keep three cars running, and that one was on its last legs.
To Daryl's surprise, Carol climbed easily on the back of the bike with him rather than getting in one of the cars. He thought about objecting, but he really didn't want to. It had been nice to have the company last night, the slight reassuring pressure of another person's body next to him, reminding him that he wasn't alone.
If it was going to be anyone he had saved from the fall of the farm, he realized, he was glad it had been her. She was a lot tougher than she looked, and she had treated him better than almost anyone in his life. If he had to survive with other people, he was glad she was one of them.