It had been about 6 months since the Governor had come up and tried to destroy what we had. Instead he only destroyed what he had. The people he left behind we brought back and they adapted quickly. We got the fences fixed and the main yard cleared out. We set up a small stable and some gardening. We were thriving. Maggie and Glenn got married. Daryl, he still hasn't been the same but, we patched things up. Though we fixed things he still spent a large amount of his time with Carol. I was like we weren't even together anymore. Rick, well he learned how to be the leader we need, with me as his right hand and we still did things by vote. Everything was going just fine. Judith, she was getting so big. I swear I could blink and that little girl would be 13 already. The only downfall was our small yet large walkers problem. They seemed to be getting worse with the coming months. Carl, he had gotten big and his hair was so ungodly long. Every morning him and Rick would be out plowing the gardens and taking care of the pigs. It was strange to live an almost perfectly normal life. But, that never lasts long now does it?

It was another morning like any morning since we hadn't seen or heard of the Governor.

"Morning Patrick." I said as I walked up to get breakfast.

"Morning Ms. Walker." He said as he gave me some food.

"First, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Raven. Second, have you seen Daryl?" I told him, taking the food. Patrick got nervous and blushed.

"Sorry, Raven. Um...you just missed him, he went with Carol." I nodded, mumbled a thank you and headed off. It didn't take me long to finish the small portion of food. Rick was bringing in people left and right. Which meant more mouths to feed and less food to go around but, we were managing. We went on runs almost every day. That was why I was looking for Daryl sadly. The only thing he would talk to me about was runs. There was fucking relationships everywhere while mine was virtually non existent. I finally found Daryl loading up the truck for today's run.

"You know, you're not easy to find." I told him leaning against the truck.

"Maybe I didn't wanna be found." He huffed walking past me like I was nothing.

"Great, so cold shoulder. Still? Daryl, come on we have to talk." I all but begged him.

"No we don't." He said, finally turning to me.

"Yeah, we fucking do." I spat back at him.

"About what? Cause if it ain't about the run. Then we ain't got shit to talk about." Daryl said as he started to walk away.

"US!" I said and he stopped.

"We have to talk about us. Come on Daryl. You haven't said more than five words to me since your brother. You avoid me like the fucking plague. Just fucking talk to me." Daryl finally turned to face me.

"Like, I said ain't nothing to talk about." Daryl spoke very coldly.

"So what your fucking Carol?" I asked blatantly.

"Ain't none of your business." It took everything in me not to just punch him in the fucking face.

"Fuck you Dixon." I shoved past him. I got on my bike and then started her up and I was ready to go. Daryl led us out and I followed next to him. We stopped because Michonne was back finally. She would go out for weeks at a time hunting down the Governor. Never had any luck though. Her and Rick had gotten closer. It was cute.

We drove off to this spot Daryl had found a week back on a run. He talked to the council about it and they agreed to let us go. We drove out for a while on the same routine drive, came across a walker and we avoided killing them if we could. We pulled up to a large department store called 'Big Sp!t' stupid fucking name if you asked me. We walked around making sure no one was there. In all honesty I didn't really care what they were talking about. I just wanted to get out, go back to the prison and finish with my escape plan. Sadly I had become more of an outcast than even Daryl ever was. They knew how to get on without me. It seemed like the only time they needed me was during council discussions. We made our way through the camp grabbing what we could as we made our way to the doors. Daryl banged on the glass and we waited a bit.

"Okay I think I got it." Beth's boyfriend said.

"Got what?" Michonne asked.

"I've been trying to guess what Daryl did before the turn." The kid said and I laughed while lighting a cigarette.

"He's been trying to guess for like six weeks." Daryl said and the kid sat next to him.

"I'm pacing myself. One shot a day." He said.

"Alright what is it today?" I asked him, breathing out smoke.

"Well, the way you are at the prison, you being on the council, you're able to track, you're helping people but, you're still being kind of...surly. Big swing here. Homicide cop." The kid finished as he looked over at Daryl. I started busting out laughing and Michonne followed too.

"Oh my, fuck." I laughed and threw down my cigarette, stomping it out with my boot.

"Thanks for the daily laugh kid." I said as I walked around the windows.

"What's so funny?" Daryl asked.

"Nothing. It makes perfect sense." Michonne said with a large smile on her face.

"Actually, the man's right. Undercover." Daryl said looking back at the kid.

"Really?" I said raising an eyebrow at Daryl. He just shrugged me off.

"Come one, Really?" The kid asked him.

"Yep. I don't like to talk about it 'cause it was a lot of heavy shit, you know?" Daryl said I knew he was fucking with the kid.

"Dude, come on really?" He asked again just to be sure Daryl wasn't screwing with him.

"Okay, I'll just keep guessing, I guess." He said and I smiled. The fun would continue for another day. Well till he guesses just a flat out redneck then the game will end.

"Yeah, you keep doing that." Daryl said looking off.

Just then walkers slammed against the windows. "We're gonna do this. detective?" Michonne asked and I laughed pulling out my crossbow.

"Yeah, let's do this." He said. We made quick work of the walkers and then just like that we were ready to head inside.

"All right, we go in, stay in formation for the sweep. After that, you all know what you're supposed to look for." Sasha said and we nodded in agreement and went inside. The sweep went by quickly and we went our separate ways. Walking up and down the allies we kept our eyes out for things we needed, everyone pushed around their own carts. I was over in the hunting stuff grabbing weapons and everything we could. Just then I heard a crash.

"We're over with beer and drinks!" I heard someone yell and I headed over. As I got closer I heard creaking on the roof.

"Hey guys!" I yelled just then the roof caved in and a walker fell through the roof.

"Yeah, uh we should go now." Glenn said.

"Bob's still stuck. Get him out of there." Daryl yelled and then men moved to getting Bob out.

"We'll get the others." Michonne said and just then another walker fell through.

"Okay let's move people!" I yelled and pulled out my knife stabbing a walker that had fallen in front of me.

"Fuck this." I pulled out my gun and started gunning down walkers.

"Someone get Bob out?" I yelled

"No!" Daryl yelled. Just then they pulled Bob out but we lost the kid. We all ran out just as a large helicopter fell through the roof. We ran out as fast as we possibly could, we left everything behind and lost someone at the same time. That was the end of it. We cut the run right after that. We couldn't keep going so we went home. Daryl went to tell Beth about her boyfriend and I went to my cell. I finished packing up the last of my shit and I sighed. There was no going back. I was tired of losing people and that kid. He had a lot left to give. I headed out into the yard no one saw. But, I knew people were still awake. I had to wait till everyone was passed out or at least almost everyone. It was late I knew that. I grabbed my bag and went to leave as I made my way down the stairs Michonne walked out of her cell.

"Going somewhere?" She said. I grabbed my chest.

"Fuck Michonne you gave me a heart attack." I said and then sighed.

"I'm leaving." I finally said.

"Why?" She asked me puzzled.

"Because, I'm not needed. Not anymore. Rick, he has you, and Daryl to replace me as his right hand. I don't bring anything anymore." Michonne nodded.

"Were you even going to say goodbye? You know, you might not see it but, you are needed." Michonne said and I rolled my eyes.

"Michonne." I said before coughing.

"Are you okay?" She asked me, stepping towards me.

"I'm fine just, dry throat. Nothing some water won't fix." I told her.

"Raven, look stay one more night if you still feel the same. I'll help you sneak out." Michonne said and I sighed.

"One night and you don't tell anyone about tonight." She smiled and zipped her lips. I shook my head and left back to my cell. My body collided with the mattress and I stared at the ceiling all night long. This happens quite often. I had been going days without sleep. No one knew, hell no one bothered to even notice me.

The next day came fairly quickly or to me at least. I got out of bed early and heard Rick's alarm ring in his cell. I changed my clothes and headed out.

"Morning." I said as I walked down the stairs and saw Rick holding Judith and leaving Carl's cell.

"Morning. How did you sleep?" Rick asked me and I ran my hand through my hair.

"Okay. Can I hold her?" I asked him and he nodded handing Judith to me. I cradled her in my arms and Rick handed me a bottle and I fed her. Beth came out not long after and I handed Judith to her. We got ready for the rest of our day. Rick and Carl headed out to tend to the garden. I headed outside to do a perimeter check with Glenn. Just as I had gotten outside two of the girls that we had brought in came running out of the prison screaming for help.

"Wow, hey slow down." I said as the girls ran up to me.

"There's walkers in...in our cell block." The older of the two said and Glenn and Carl had made their way up to me.

"Walkers in D!" I yelled to Rick as we all ran into the cells.

"What about C?" Rick yelled and I just shook my head. I ran into the cell block and there was screaming and yelling. Not long after, the rest of the group followed us. I ran and took out a few walkers shoving unbit people into the cells.

Once we cleared the hall Rick told us to check the cells. I ran up to the upper floor and Daryl followed right behind me. I walked past a girl and her throat was ripped out. I leaned down and stabbed my knife through the back of her skull. I got up and walked over to a cell and a walker jumped out of a cell and grabbed me. I pushed him back and Daryl yelled for me.

"Down!" I ducked right in time for him to shoot the walker with a bolt. He walked over to me and held out his hand and I took it.

"Thanks." I said brushing off my hands. We pushed the sheet back and there on the floor with a bolt through his head was Patrick.

"Oh, it's Patrick." Daryl said right before he ripped his bolt from his head. He was a good kid, young, and had everything ahead of him. It seemed like when everything is going good it has to go bad. I looked around and turned back to them.

"That's all of them." I said sighing looking at all the people we had just lost. We started to make sure all the dead had no chance of coming back and we started to clear out the cell block. I watched as Rick walked into a cell with his knife and then walked back out. I helped drag the bodies out of the cell block. Hershel told me that there was a sickness floating around and that we had all been exposed to it.

The council was called and we all met in the library to discuss what we were going to do. Everyone was sitting down around the table except for me who was sitting in the window sill.

"Patrick was fine yesterday, and he died overnight. Two people died that quick?" Carol exclaimed looking at the rest of us.

"We'll have to separate everyone that's been exposed." I said staring out the window.

"That's everyone in that cell block. That's all of us. Maybe more." Daryl added to my statement.

"We know that this sickness can be lethal. We don't know how easily it spreads. Is anyone else showing symptoms that we know of?" Hershel asked us and I looked around the room. I tend to spend all my time outside not around anyone so I wouldn't know.

"We can't just wait and see. There's children. It isn't just the illness. If people die, they become a threat." Carol said quickly.

"We need a place for them to go. They can't stay in D. We can' risk going in there to clean it up." Hershel told us.

"We could use cell block A." I said and I felt a burning like everyone was staring at me.

"What?" I said looking at them.

"Death row? I'm not sure that's much of an upgrade." Glenn asked, checking to see if everyone agreed with it.

"It's clean. That's an upgrade. Think that'll work for Dr. S?" Daryl said, almost defending me. It made me smile on the inside knowing that he was still on my side about some things. Hershel nodded,

"I'll help Caleb get it set up." He said and just as someone was about to speak we heard a woman start to cough. We all jumped up and ran towards the sound. In the hall Tyreese and Karen were walking past.

"You sure?" Carol asked, stepping into the hall.

"You don't sound so good." I added standing next to her. We explained the situation to her and Tyreese. She told us about a few more people that were coughing and half of the council left.

"We'll have to call a meeting later." Hershel said and I nodded.

"I'll get to burying the dead ones." Daryl answered, which was what my plan was.

"I'll help." I told him and Hershel looked at us.

"You both wear gloves and a mask." I smiled and Daryl nodded leaving.

"Don't worry dad. I'll make sure we're both fine." I smiled and Hershel hugged me gently before walking off. He and I had gotten close and he had started to consider me like his own daughter. Daryl had stopped to talk to Carol and I just rushed past them both.

Outside we were digging graves for the people we had lost. Daryl and I were digging separate graves using gloves and bandannas to cover our faces. He hasn't said anything to me since we got here. At this point part of me just wanted to give up on us. On whatever we had.

"Glad you were in there." Daryl said and I looked up to see Rick.

"I'm not much use without my gun." Rick said and I stopped shoveling.

"No, you were." I said and pulled a large rock out of the small grave tossing it to the side. "All this time you've been taking off you earned it." Daryl told Rick as he grabbed a shovel.

"We wouldn't be here without you." Daryl explained to him and Rick started helping us dig some graves.

"It was all of us." Rick said back quickly.

"No, it was you first. You gonna help us figure this out?" Daryl asked him, talking about our newest problem.

"I screwed up too many times. Those calls you got to make, I start down that road...I almost lost my boy...who he was." Rick explained and I stopped thinking back to that day. When Carl killed a kid in cold blood.

"Whatever else this place needs, I'm here for it." Rick told us and Daryl went back to digging.

"Like I said you earned it. But, for what it's worth, you see mistakes. I see when shit hits, you're standing there with a shovel." Daryl said and he crawled out of the grave and I followed as I finished with the grave.

"Rick! Daryl! Raven!" Maggie came running up the hill. From behind her I could see the fence was ready to give way.

"Shit!" I said throwing down the shovel. We ran like hell and tried to kill as many as we could without the fence giving way. One after another they started to pile up like rats. I watched as the fence itself started to give and bend at the weight of the walkers. We kept going stabbing one after another.

"Are you seeing this?" Sasha said looking down at the line of the fence there laid dozens of half eaten rats.

"Is someone feeding these things?" She asked and we all walked over to the small pile of rats. In the midst of our distraction the fence started to give.

"Heads up!" Daryl yelled.

"This part of the fence, now!" I yelled and we tried our best to keep the fence from giving way, but the weight of the walkers was too much.

"Everyone back! Back off! Get back." Daryl yelled and we all took a step back from the fence.

"The fence bending in like that, those walkers are coming over it." Sasha said as the walkers seemed to climb up on each other to try and get over the fence. Rick looked over at the pig pen and I watched him.

"Rick." I said and he looked at me and nodded.

"Daryl, get the truck. Raven, come with me. I know what to do"Rick said and Daryl ran off and I followed after Rick.

Rick and I went down to the pig pens. "Are you ready?" I asked and he nodded. We gathered up the small piglets and put them in a box and loaded it into the truck. I knew it was hard for Rick to do this. It was part of our food source and we had to sacrifice that for the rest of the prison.

"They could be the reason why people are sick, Raven." Rick said as we loaded up the last pig into the truck trailer.

"Let's do this." I said and he nodded as we drove down. Rick told me he wanted me to hand him the pigs and he would take care of the rest.

"Ready." Daryl said, giving us the signal. I nodded and he stopped. I stood up and grabbed a pig and gently handed it over to Rick. It started with a sequel which got the walkers towards us. He slit the pig's left thigh and the walkers dug in as we drove further. Rick told him to stop and we repeated the process. One by one we had to sacrifice our food to keep everyone safe. The good thing was that the plan worked and that was what mattered.

We got back into the prison and Rick just wanted to avoid everyone and I knew he did. He needed time to deal with what he had to do. Even if it was for the best to protect us all, it was still a hard choice. Rick spent the rest of the day pulling down the homemade pen. I had passed by Carl as I headed into the prison. I needed to get the sickness off me. I went to the showers and stripped down. My body felt like it was on fire but, I didn't want to admit that I was sick. I was hoping that it was just from the excitement from today. After about 30 minutes in the cold water I finally came out feeling more like myself. All I could think about was what Michonne had said the night before. Was I really needed? Did anyone even notice me? I wrapped a towel around my body and headed up to my cell to get into some clean clothes. Was I really going to leave tonight? I needed to talk to Daryl first before I made that final decision.

I was in prison just trying to keep busy. We were losing people left and right due to this 'flu'. That was till Tyreese called for a meeting of the council. Out the back doors of the dungeons were the two people we knew were sick. Their bodies burned to a crisp.

"You found them like this?" Rick asked him and he nodded.