~Rebel's POV~

"You mean...cut it off?" Rick asked me incredulously.

"Yeah."

Hershel had lost all the blood in his face and he was leaning against the RV, trying to support himself. Maggie and Beth had stopped crying, but the occasional whimper was heard from their direction.

Daryl looked at me and tugged my arm, pulling me off to the side of the house.

"What do ye' think yer doin'?" You could see he was doing his best not to yell at me.

"Trying to save a life. What are you doing?" I spat at him.

"Tryin' to save the camp." he snapped.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, deciding whether or not I should tell him. I glanced up at him and he was staring at me, trying to figure something out.

"What are ye' keepin' from me?" he asked gravely.

I opened my mouth, but the words refused to come out. Telling him could only hurt me, but benefit the camp. I huffed a short breath and continued to stare at the ground.

"Rebel." he warned me, you could see his anger was reaching a peak.

"Rebel, I suggest ye' either tell me, or the group."

"Fine." I muttered walking back to the RV and climbing back on top of it.

I stood on the roof, slowly drawing everyone's attention back towards me. By now, we had attracted the attention of Clyde, Peter and Frankie.

Peter still looked dazed and it made me want to cry that I know who caused his state.

"The reason we can't straight out kill Hershel is because the virus is in all of us." I blurted out, not really controlling my words.

The crowd stared at me blankly as what I said sunk in through their thick skulls, Carl turned to Lori and whispered something in her ear and she shrugged.

"What it means, is if we kill Hershel, he is going to turn into a walker, regardless of whether he is bit or not." I told him, knowing what his question would have been.

The women gasped and Daryl's face hardened. I stared at my feet and started to shuffle them around a bit.

"How long did you know this?" Rick asked me.

"Before I met you, I had to kill several people and a few days after that, they came after me." I shrugged my shoulders and sat back in the camper chair.

Hershel caught my eye and mouthed a 'thank you' I acknowledged him with a nod and continued to rub my head, trying to figure out what I was going to do.

Shane's face was getting redder and Carol and Lori were crying holding on to Sophia. Carl had migrated towards his dad, standing behind him in case he had to attack something.

"Why didn't you tell us this?" Rick asked me tartly.

"I assumed you knew, but after today, I guess not." I mumbled.

"Rebel, can I see you privately." he asked me quietly, motioning for Daryl and Shane to follow him.

I nodded and climbed down off the RV and following him back towards the side of the house where Daryl and I had argued earlier.

Rick sighed and ran his fingers through his hair and glancing back at Daryl. Something in his eyes made me uneasy and my stomach started to churn.

"I would like you to leave the group." Rick said, it was more of a command than a suggestion.

Daryl's head snapped up and he stared Rick in the eye, but made no other move to stop what was happening to me.

"Okay." I said quietly.

In all honesty, I had expected this. I should have known they didn't know all along, the way they so carelessly killed walkers and animals. They would kill anything that didn't speak or have a heartbeat.

"The hell she's leavin'!" Daryl spat at Rick.

"Daryl, leave it. I survived on my own once, I can do it again." I told him softly while placing a hand on his shoulder.

My heart broke at saying those words and I was fighting to hold back my arguments. I had saved their lives a countless number of times and they wanted me to leave?

Whatever.

"No. Ye' can't decide this on yer' own!" Daryl yelled at Rick, "Ye' said at the beginnin', it has to be a group decision!"

Rick nodded, "Fine. We'll take a group poll."

He walked back to the group and all four of us climbed on to the RV's roof. Rick called attention and all of the eyes turned towards us.

"We need to cast a group decision." Rick said authoritively.

"Who here votes that Rebel should not remain in the group, if you do so, raise your hand." Rick said.

Rick, Shane, Lori, Carl and T-Dog raised their hands. My heart shattered the slightest bit more as I realized my chances of remaining in safety.

"If you think Rebel should remain in the group, raise your hand." Rick said.

Daryl, Carol, Sophia, Andrea, Hershel, Maggie, Beth and Glenn raised their hand.

I let out a sigh of relief as I realized that it was 8 to 5. I would remain in the group by three people whom I now owed my thanks too.

"All is said, Rebel shall remain in the group. That's all. Please remain your normal activities and the combat group will take on the Hershel situation privately." Rick said dismissing us with a wave of his hand.

I walked up to Rick and stared him straight in the eyes as the rest of the group remained watching, "It's nice to know how you feel about me."

I spat on his shoes and swung down off the RV, ignoring everyone who was currently staring at me. Rick had a shocked look on his face and swiped at the saliva that remained on his shoes.

Clyde grabbed my arm and looked at me, "If you want to stay with us, you're more than welcome."

I nodded and thanked her silently while passing on towards the house. I closed the door behind me and walked towards the kitchen, needing something to occupy my hands besides a bow and arrow.

I grabbed a dish and squirted a small amount of soap on it, taking my time while scrubbing the ceramic plate. At one point, I saw Lori enter and lean against the counter and watch me as I furiously scrubbed the dish.

"What?" I seethed, gripping the plate in a more firm grip.

"You should have left. I don't know why people even voted to keep you here, in all honesty, what do you even do around here?" Lori asked me, trying to get on my nerves. It was working.

"No, Lori. The question is, what do you do around here? Sleep with your husband's best friend, get pregnant and then tell the husband it's his? That's real helpful Lori, keep up the good work." I said, sarcasm coating my words.

Lori gasped and cradled her rounded belly, murmuring sweet nothings to the spawn that inhabited her body.

"Don't say that about my baby." She said, warning high in her voice.

"Or what? Are you going to hit me with a dish rag? Cause as far as I know, you can't even shoot a damn bunny!" I snapped.

Lori's head looked up at me and I saw her pull a gun out of her pocket. She cocked it slowly and aimed it towards my head.

My eyes went wide and I waited for the bullet to hit my skull. There was no point in trying to move now, the bullet would kill me before I moved two inches.

"Lori, put the goddamn gun down." Daryl snapped at her, hitting the gun from her hand.

A tear rolled down her cheek and she looked up at me, "Don't you dare say a word about my child."

I scoffed and strode out of the kitchen, Daryl hot on my trail. He grabbed my arm and dragged me up the stairs, slamming the door to our room behind us.

"What the hell, Reb?" he yelled at me.

"What?" I asked, trying to figure out why he was so mad at me.

"Ye' can't jus' bad mouth a baby! It's wrong, it may have bad parents, but it doesn't make it a bad person." he lectured me, his voice lowering to a mutter that was almost incomprehensible.

I sighed and sat back on to the bed, "I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one ye' have to apologize to." he told me, sitting beside me and wrapping an arm around my waist, pulling me closer.

"I just didn't know people thought of me that way." I mumbled into his chest.

He chuckled and leaned us back on to the bed, kicking off his boots. I followed suit and pushed my combat boots off and taking my jacket off. I fell back on to the bed, throwing my arms up and letting out a long yawn.

"Come 'ere." Daryl muttered absentmindedly while pulling my head to lay on his chest and wrapping his arms around my waist.

I was drifting off to sleep, thinking about how I could convince people that I wasn't all that bad when a I heard the door open and shut quietly.

Daryl was softly snoring beside me and his arms were wrapped around me tightly and they were making it so that I couldn't see our intruder.

"Rebel?" It was Frankie.

His small head popped up at the end of the bed and you could see his hair was mussed and it was slightly greasing like it had missed a days wash.

"Hey, bud." I smiled at him.

"Can I sleep with you? I had a bad dream." his voice went quiet at the end of the sentence.

"Of course. Come on, he doesn't bite." I said jerking my head at Daryl after seeing his hesitation towards him.

Frankie jumped on the bed, stirring Daryl's comfortable sleep. He squeezed me tighter and sat the two of us up, pushing me behind him slightly.

"Chill. It's just Frankie." I whispered, placing my hand on his shoulder.

He relaxed slightly and I pushed him away slightly to leave room for Frankie to crawl in between us. Frankie gladly snuggled up to me and wrapped his small arms around my stomach and cuddling into me like I was a giant teddy bear.

"Night, Frankie." I smiled down at him and he pushed his head farther into my stomach in response.

Daryl resumed our earlier position while leaving room for Frankie. His arms wrapped around my waist and he buried his head in my hair, breathing in deeply.

"Goodnight, Rebel." he whispered into my ear, making me shiver.

~

"Rebel! Wake up!" Frankie yelled into my ear.

I groaned and pulled the pillow over my head, covering my ears from his shrill voice. Frankie huffed and I could picture him crossing his arms and sticking out his bottom lip. Somewhere near the two of us, I could hear Daryl's deep, throaty chuckle.

"I got this, little man." Daryl said.

What he did next was unexpected.

A waterfall of icy water cascaded on me and I let out a startled yelp. I threw the pillow in the direction the water had came from and shot daggers at a laughing Daryl who was holding an empty bucket.

Frankie was rolling around on the floor and clutching his stomach while an occasional tear rolled down his freckled face. I scowled and crossed my arms, planning my next move carefully.

"Hey, Daryl..." I said, trying to sound scared while looking over his shoulder.

Daryl whirled around, following the unknown plan. I jumped on his back, wrapping my arms securely around his torso and pressing my wet body against his dry one.

Daryl groaned and struggled to get me off. I laughed at him and raced out of the room, still soaking wet. I was chased down the stairs by both Daryl and Frankie. At one point, I ran out the door, running into a very pissed off Clyde.

"Where the hell is Frankie?" She asked me.

At that exact moment, Daryl and Frankie came barreling out of the door, hitting me full on in the back. Frankie laughed and got up quickly while Daryl offered me his hand which I gladly accepted.

"Frankie! Do you know how damn worried I was? I thought you died!" She yelled at him, grabbing his hand roughly.

"Hey! Don't treat him like that!" I said, smacking her hand away and pushing Frankie back towards an awaiting Daryl.

"If I remember correctly, what you say doesn't affect me! Frankie, come on." Clyde snapped at both me and Frankie.

Frankie reluctantly followed Clyde, sending me a guilty look. I scowled at the back of Clyde's head and stormed over to Dale, knowing Daryl would follow me.

"What was that about?" he asked me.

"She was being a bitch to Frankie and I didn't like it." I told him, crossing my arms and sitting on the roof and dangling my feet over the edge.

Dale sighed and rested a hand on my shoulder, "Not everyone is as kind-hearted as you, Trooper."

I couldn't tell whether he was teasing me, but I didn't care enough to ask him about it. I could only think about what else Clyde might have done to Frankie when she got mad and he was the only one their to take the blame of her anger.

I drifted off towards day-dreaming and I completely tuned out the world, not paying attention to anything around me. It must've been hours before someone took me from my dreamland.

"Rebel, some people are going to the surrounding houses to look for supplies, do you want to go?" Dale asked me, sounding extremely fatherly.

I nodded and stumbled towards the combat group while grabbing my bow and arrows. Rick nodded at me and I took my spot next to Daryl.

We filed out the gate and entered the first house, a rotten stench hitting my nose as soon as I walked through the doors.

A tall, dark figure stood at the opposite end of the room. A gun was raised and I heard the clicking of a revolver.

"Hello, sister."

"Porter."

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Song on the side is something I really like.

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