Daryl sat next to me on a stool, his head resting against the wall. I laid in bed and rolled over to face him, opening my eyes. He grabbed my hand, rubbing his thumb over my skin. He brought it to his lips and kissed it. Aaron startled us by suddenly speaking from the doorway.

"You're awake," he observed, grinning. "I was hoping you'd get some rest after everything." There was an awkward pause before he motioned to Daryl. Daryl nodded and stood up from the stool.

"I'll be back before dark," he told me, squeezing my hand before dropping it.

"Wait," I stated, getting out of bed. "You can't go without me."

"No," Daryl answered shortly. "Get back in bed."

"But I'm supposed to be going with you, that's my job! What if something happens to you out there? I wouldn't be able to help."

"Nothing'll happen to me," he promised. "What if somethin' happens to you, like last night? I want you to be safe, you know that."

"That was one time. Just let me come with you. I'm completely fine now, I got enough sleep," I attempted to coax him. "Please." He squinted at me for a moment.

"Fine," he hissed. "But this is the last time, ya hear me?" The both of them turned around, walking outside to their vehicles while I followed behind them. We rolled out of the gates, Daryl turning into a grassy area after a while. He parked a little bit into the trees, Aaron's car shielding his bike. I grabbed my sword from the backseat and noticed Daryl examining the ground.

"Have you sent people away before," I asked Aaron, the question just randomly popping into my head. He nodded.

"I thought they'd work out, but they didn't. Aiden, Nicholas, and I had to drive them out," Aaron replied. "We gave them a day's worth of food and water then left." Daryl suddenly put his hand out in front of us. He pulled out a pair of binoculars from Aaron's backpack and peered through them at what seemed to be a guy in a red poncho ahead of us. He was rubbing something on his face.

"What's he doing," I squinted, trying to see the man better.

"Wild leeks; son of a bitch knows how to keep mosquitos off 'im." Daryl put the binoculars down. "We should follow 'im." Aaron and I agreed, following the man as he began to step out of view. We were led onto the road, seeing him nowhere. Instead, a food supply warehouse laid in our path. Several biters wandered about in the lot behind the chainlink fence. Daryl grabbed the binoculars again, scanning the parking lot.

"We checked the forest and the roads," Aaron sighed. "We've lost him."

"Then this means we're givin' up," Daryl grumbled.

"We're not giving up. It's like they say: when one door closes, another one opens. And since we need to make sure everyone's fed," I hinted, motioning to the warehouse. Daryl nodded and tapped his knife on the fence to draw the biters' attention. The ones that staggered over to us were put down instantly. Daryl, Aaron, and I sauntered across the vacant lot to the docked semi-trailers. We squeezed in between them to get to the back trailer doors. Aaron bent down and pulled the license plate off one of them. He shoved it into his backpack. Daryl shuffled over to another trailer and bent down.

"I don't like giving up and all either, but the guy's in a red poncho. You can see him from a mile away," Aaron blurted out, still stuck on the subject from before. "But if we go back with a trailer full of cans, I'd say that's way better than finding people." Daryl lifted up the door, revealing a group of biters inside who gnashed their teeth at us. My eyes widened while all the other trailer doors flew open as well like they were all connected together, biters spilling out of them.

It was a trap.

The three of us sprinted back out into the parking lot, killing the biters who lingered over to us. A biter snuck up behind Aaron and clawed at his backpack, knocking it off of his shoulders and onto the ground. I swung my sword and cut the biter's head in half. Daryl noticed an abandoned car farther out into the lot.

"Over there," Daryl hollered before bolting towards the car. We ran after him, flinging the doors open and squeezing inside the front seats as quickly as possible. Daryl sat in the driver's seat, me practically in his lap. Aaron slammed the door closed, sealing us inside. There was no use to try and drive outta here, biters swarmed the car and clawed at the windows.

"The glass'll hold, right," I whispered nervously, my heart pounding. No one answered. "Right?"

"Maybe," Daryl tried his best to reassure me. I sighed with anxiety. He wrapped an arm around my waist. "In a couple hours, somethin'll come by and they'll follow it out," he hoped aloud, his finger pushing back a strand of hair from my face. It was quiet for a few moments before Daryl spoke again. "I came out here to not feel all closed up back there." He made himself comfortable, leaning back in his seat. "Now, this still feels more like me than in those damn houses."

"You were trying," Aaron alleged.

"I had to."

"But you didn't. Listen, I saw you with your group. You led them to safety when the storm hit. When I saw that, I knew I had to bring you back," Aaron revealed as Daryl pulled out a cigarette from his back pocket. "You were right: we should've kept looking for that guy. I shouldn't have given up. You didn't."

"You know what? I'll go." Daryl took a drag from his cigarette. "I'll lead them out. You guys make a break for the fence."

"No," I responded immediately, in shock he'd even suggest such a thing. "You can't do that."

"This ain't your decision." Daryl took another drag, longer than the one he took before. "Just let me finish my smoke first."

"There's no way in hell you're going out there without me, without Aaron," I snapped. "There's too many of them for you to go by yourself. We'll all go for the fence, okay? I'm not gonna let you jump out there into them for us to end up leaving you behind or dead. We're leaving together. We're a package deal, remember?" Daryl sighed and put his cigarette out on the dashboard.

"Alright." He grabbed his knife, Aaron and I readying our weapons. "Then we'll go on three. One... two—" Daryl was interrupted by a biter's head exploding on Aaron's window, the door suddenly flying open. We took that as a cue to jump out, sprinting to the fence while killing biters left and right. We stumbled out of the boundaries of the warehouse, Aaron sliding the fence closed the keep the biters that remained alive back in. A man in a tan coat stood next to us with a long, bloody stick.

"Wow," Aaron breathed heavily, catching his breath. "Thank you. I'm Aaron. That's Aften and Daryl."

"Morgan," the man grinned.

"Why," Daryl questioned Morgan. "Why'd you do that?"

"'Cause all life is precious, Daryl," Morgan replied. Aaron butt back into the conversation.

"Whoever set that trap, they're coming, but I have good news: we have a community not far from here. If you'd like to join us—"

"Thank you, but I'm on my way somewhere. Fact is, I'm lost, so if you could tell me where we are it'd be much appreciated." Morgan handed a map over to Daryl. He glanced down at it then back up at Morgan. I peered over at the map and stared at something that was scribbled onto it with what looked like permanent marker.

'Sorry I was an asshole. Come to Washington. The new world's gonna need Rick Grimes.'

Morgan had been to the church; Rick had left the map there.

"Do you know who Rick Grimes is," I asked Morgan out of curiosity.

"As a matter of fact I do. We helped each other out early on," he nodded. My eyes widened in surprise. Holy shit.

"He lives in our community," Aaron blurted out. Morgan was taken by surprise. He looked like he thought he'd never hear of or see Rick ever again. "He just moved in not too long ago. Aften and Daryl are a part of his group." Aaron nodded towards us.

"Well then, if you don't mind I'd actually like to join you. I'd like to speak to him; I've been wanting to for a long while," Morgan said seriously. We obliged, leading Morgan back to our vehicles and driving back to Alexandria.

It had gotten dark upon our arrival, a campfire glowing in the distance as we entered the gates.

"Like I said before, no more askin' to come with," Daryl stated, his fingers brushing against my hand. "I ain't gonna put you back in danger. We've had too many close calls and I'm tired of losin' people; I love you way too much."

"And I love you too," I nodded, leaning in to kiss him. We were interrupted by screaming, followed by a gunshot. Aaron and Morgan bolted past us. Daryl and I exchanged looks before quickly pulling apart and following after them. What the fuck was happening now?

When we got to the scene, my eyes flickered to the ground to see Deanna holding her husband in a pool of blood. His neck had been slit. I gasped quietly. Another man laid on the ground, a bullet wound in his head, the blood settling into the cracks in the concrete. I gazed up at Rick and Morgan who were intensely staring at each other; I could tell they had a history just with that one stare... anybody could. I felt Daryl's fingers snake around my hand and grab it, holding it in his. My heart started to beat a little faster with anxiety just thinking about how things were gonna change in Alexandria by the looks of what just happened.