The Place That Remains

It was already around late morning when Glenn noticed something in his rear view mirror. Delaney craned her neck to look behind her as something shiny reflected in the sun and as it got closer, Maggie gasped and sat up straighter in the passenger seat. "Oh my God! It's Daryl!"

Daryl had made it out on his brother's old motorcycle and he'd rescued Carol in the process. She was waving at them with a huge smile on her face as Daryl passed them to take the lead. Glenn stayed close behind them as Delaney looked around for any more signs of people from their group. When she turned around in her seat to look out of the back windshield, she could see another vehicle. It was the old blue truck from the farm. She grinned, reaching up to shake Maggie's shoulder. "Look, there's others!"

"Who's in there?" Maggie asked excitedly.

"I don't know. I can't tell from here." None of them were sure which people were in which vehicles but the fact that there were more people who had made it out and found them was a relief in itself. The old blue truck caught up with them and Delaney strained her eyes to see who it was in the cab of the truck behind them. Between the burly black man in the driver's side and the thin brunette woman in the passenger seat, she could see a shorter person, and that shorter person had the same light blonde hair as her youngest cousin. "Oh my God, Maggie. It's Beth! Beth is in there! She's okay!"

Maggie immediately rolled the window down and leaned her head out, waving maniacally at her baby sister in the next vehicle. She fell back into her seat sighing in relief as Glenn reached over to grab her hand. "See? I told you."

"I just hope Dad's okay," she muttered in response.

They came up on a huge traffic jam of abandoned cars and Daryl slowed down to go off the side of the road and drive around them. Delaney slid over to the other side of the back seat, looking out carefully over all the vehicles to watch for any sign of movement but then just as she caught sight of a tall head of white hair, the car came to a complete stop. Maggie was the first one out of the car, immediately running over to Hershel and throwing her arms around him tightly. Beth was right after her and when Delaney finally reached the three of them, she wrapped her arms around them all in a hug. "Thank God you girls are okay," Hershel whispered.

Delaney let go of her family to join the conversation that Rick and Daryl were having just in time to hear Daryl ask where the rest of the group was. "We're the only ones who've made it so far."

"Shane?" Lori asked concerned and they all watched silently as Rick looked down at the ground and shook his head. Glenn's eyes were wide with worry as he asked about Andrea but Carol informed the group that she had been lost during all the commotion. Hershel looked as if he might start tearing up when he asked about Patricia but Beth squeezed her father a little tighter and her voice shook as she informed her father that the woman had been ripped right out of her arms as they were running for the truck to escape. Rick informed the younger Greene that her boyfriend Jimmy had also been overrun by walkers in the RV.

Daryl decided to go back and look for Andrea when everyone admitted that they hadn't actually seen her go down and Delaney immediately offered to go with him. She and Andrea had had a rocky beginning but after they spent some time together over Hershel's old photo albums, Delaney had grown a new respect for the woman. She hated the thought of Andrea being back there all alone, fighting for her life against a horde that size.

The rest of the group said no way. They didn't want Daryl and Delaney to risk their lives going back when there was absolutely no guarantee that Andrea was still there and alive. In fact, it was a long shot. There was no way that even if she had miraculously made it out of there that the pair would be able to find her. Rick insisted that the group had to keep moving and get off of the main road.

Daryl grabbed his crossbow as he talked, shooting an approaching lone walker and then retrieving his arrow. Everyone piled up into the cars, Delaney sliding into the back seat with Maggie and Beth as Glenn drove and Hershel took the passenger seat and they all headed out, driving away from the spot where they'd first lost Sophia to find someplace safer.

They'd been driving for almost two hours when Rick honked the horn of the old vehicle he was driving to get the attention of the others in front of him. He pulled over onto the shoulder of the road and got out as the rest of the vehicles came to a stop as well. Delaney slid out of the back seat after Maggie and they waited by the car as Rick jogged over to tell them that he'd run out of gas.

Since they couldn't all fit into the small car that Glenn had been driving, they decided that they'd have to spend the night where they were and go for gas in the morning. It was cold outside and they would desperately need a fire if they were going to stay outside in the elements, Delaney worried that they would be completely conspicuous to walkers if they were just sitting out there with a big glowing fire. Carl was shivering so hard that his teeth were chattering so she walked back over to the car where her backpack was and removed the old maroon colored blanket that she had stuffed in the bottom of it.

She had packed it in her bag before she left home. It was dirty now from all the use while she was in the woods and the edges were tattered but it was extremely warm and it was big enough to wrap completely around the child. Rick had already draped his jacket over him but she slid the blanket around his shoulders and knelt down in front of him, pulling it together in the front and tucking it tightly around him. He thanked her quietly and Lori pulled her into a side hug as soon as she was standing up straight again. She just smiled and turned back to listen to Rick.

He suggested that the group make camp just inside the woods, in a small area by the bridge where there were some stone walls built up. It looked like probably the safest place given their current location, but Beth was still worried about the possibility of being caught by surprise by walkers or even other survivors who may be violent.

At her mention of another group like Randall's, Daryl turned back to Rick. "You know I found Randall right? He had turned but he wasn't bit." The rest of the group was confused as to how that could happen. How could he have just turned without being bitten by a walker? Rick however didn't look surprised. "Shane killed Randall. Just like he always wanted to," Daryl informed them all and Rick didn't look surprised by that either. But then again neither was Delaney. She hadn't spent much time around Shane but she knew he seemed off and so she stayed away from him as much as possible. Lori looked horrified at the accusation.

Rick stood there silently, at war with himself because he knew the rest of the group should know what he had known for awhile-- the reason why Randall had turned even though he hadn't been bitten. "We're all infected," he finally said. The rest of the group stared at him in total shock and disbelief. "At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."

The news was a surprise to Delaney, but at the same time she wasn't surprised. Nothing surprised her anymore. The dead were walking and eating human flesh so really, what else could there be that was more shocking? It explained the Randall situation. If Randall had been killed, then he would have just reanimated as a walker. He didn't have to be bitten. None of them had to be bitten to become a walker. If any one of them died, they'd automatically reanimate. It made sense now.

Rick walked away from the group and Lori went after him while the rest of the group grabbed some of their things from the cars and went to work getting things settled. Daryl went out to gather some firewood and Delaney volunteered to go with him because she couldn't handle just sitting there. She followed him out of their little fortress and deeper into the trees, the fallen leaves crunching under her boots. She hadn't really talked to him since she had confessed her feelings of guilt over Dale and he looked like he was in a pensive mood, but she was itching to ask him some questions.

"Hey, Daryl?" He only let out a grunt in response, but she knew that was the go-ahead to keep talking. "Who's Jenner?"

He paused midstride and glanced at her over his shoulder before continuing on. "Some doctor at the CDC. He was the only guy left in the entire place-- completely off his rocker. Let us stay for the night-- they had beds, showers, power, and a shit ton of food and alcohol. We thought we was gonna have it good until the next day when he locked us in, sayin' he was gonna blow the place up. Put us all outta our misery. We convinced 'im to let us out but then he blew it up. One of our group stayed behind though."

"Jesus Christ," she muttered under her breath.

Daryl stopped and leaned down to pick up some dry branches, piling them up in his left arm. "I can see why Rick woulda thought he was lyin'. He was a basket case. Still wish he woulda told us though."

"So we all have it. Whatever it is that turns people into walkers, we have it."

"Guess so," he shrugged. "Makes sense."

"You think we're safest here, right?"

Even though she personally thought so, she wanted to make sure that he agreed with Rick as well. He had known Rick much longer than she had so if he trusted him, then she knew she could trust him too. So far, he had always used good judgment and did what was best for all of them.

"Safest we're gonna be anywhere without food or ammo. Those walls oughtta help."

She nodded slowly, biting down on her bottom lip as he stood up straight and before she could stop herself, she had stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug as he tensed automatically. "I'm glad you made it out, Daryl."

After a moment he cleared his throat. "Yeah," he replied gruffly, his free hand awkwardly patting her lower back. "You too."

Delaney let him go and immediately bent down to collect some more wood for him. He studied her face intently as she stacked the branches in his other arm but she didn't look up to meet his eyes. Once he had all the wood he could carry, she picked up a few pieces and hooked her arm around them, getting her machete at the ready in her free hand just in case they came upon a walker on their trek back to their temporary camp.

Their return was walker free but unfortunately filled with tense silence which hung over them like a raincloud. As soon as they got back, Daryl started building a fire and Hershel, Beth, and Carl all sat down around it to get warm while T-Dog climbed up on top of the wall with his gun to be a lookout. Delaney had too much nervous energy to sit down with the others so she climbed up onto the wall opposite T-Dog to watch in the other direction.

Once the sun went down, it got even colder. Carl was now shivering again, the blanket no longer providing enough warmth for him. Lori was sitting behind him, rubbing his back and she was shivering too. Hershel and Beth were huddled under someone else's blanket while Glenn held Maggie in his arms to keep her warm. They were all whispering amongst themselves but Delaney couldn't make out what they were saying from her position.

The snap of a twig sent them all into a panic as they jumped to their feet, looking around worried. Rick had returned to where they had set up and he tried to calm them, telling them that it was unwise for them to split up and go out into the dark. They were insistent on getting out of there, but Rick knew that there wasn't going to be anywhere safer around. And even if there was, they probably couldn't make it there safely in the dark, when they had no food, no gas, and very little ammo. The noise had come from the opposite direction, over on T-Dog's side, but Delaney kept her eyes on her side, only quickly glancing back over her shoulder every few seconds.

Carol refused to believe that they should stay where they were and she insisted that Rick do something. At this, he blew up. "I am doin' something! I'm keeping this group together-- alive! I've been doin' that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this! I killed my best friend for you people, for Christ's sake!"

At this confession, Delaney finally turned around fully, her eyes first finding Carl's horrified expression and the rest of the group in surprise, before she looked back at Rick. "You saw what he was like," he continued. "How he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice! He was my friend, but he came after me. My hands are clean."

Carl started to cry into his mother's shirt but Rick didn't look like he even heard it. The looks the others were giving him were shocked, appalled, scared but when Delaney looked at Daryl, his face was blank so she didn't know what he might be thinking. She didn't get why the others were looking at him like they were when he had just told them what had really happened out there. It was obvious Shane had been more than peeved when Rick was brought back to his family and that he wanted Rick to go away because he thought of Lori and Carl as his family. He had led Rick out into the woods with the intention of killing him just so he could have it back. Delaney was sure she'd have done the same thing is she were in his shoes.

"Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead. I say there's a place for us but maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe I'm foolin' myself again. Why don't you go on and find out yourself? Send me a postcard!" He shook his head, pointing behind him. "Go on, there's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get."

No one was willing to go now that they realized he was right. There was no way they could do better when they were all split off from one another into smaller groups. They needed to stay together if they were going to survive.

"No takers? Fine, but get one thing straight: if you're stayin', this isn't a democracy anymore."

Rick waited, looking around at each of their faces to see if one of them was going to say something or challange him. When he met Delaney's eyes, she just rested her shotgun against her shoulder and nodded at him silently, a hint of a reassuring smile on her face. He seemed surprised at her agreement and willingness but he nodded in return and then turned to walk away, leaving the rest of them to look around at each other.