Ever the Survivor

I would like to start off by saying IM FUCKING SORRY GUYS. Ive been so busy the last few months between working and painting. I got a new job shortly after I posted the last chapter of "Pretty Much Dead Already" so didn't have much free time. I've had so many local orders as far as painting goes, to do in between working, and in the free time I did/do have, all I want to do is relax. Fun little information tho, my art was featured on this lovely lady/author's podcast a little while ago so that was exciting! Also, on my Etsy, I no longer have any Walking Dead pieces listed. Those are now available on my Deviant Art page, which you can find at http://www.krissyxo.deviantart.com/ I recently just did a new and improved version of my older Daryl painting, and I must say, I dont think I could get it much better. So check it out!

Anywho: A bunch of new "favorites" and "likes" from this story over the last few weeks have got me back in the writing mood. I'm going to separate this 'episode' into two parts so you guys will have something to read before I post the second part.

Now: As much as on the show I adore Carol and Daryl's relationship, and all the little scenes they have with eachother, especially this last season, I have, and will continue to change or alter some of her parts with Daryl in this story, just because for THIS story's sake, they bring more 'Kat and Daryl togetherness' as a reviewer once put it, lol. So expect some things to be changed and play out differently than they did on the show we love. But anyway, enjoy, and again, SORRY xo

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Carol lifted her head up from her arms, still sobbing uncontrollably and trying to catch her breath as Rick lowered his gun. He took his eyes off the little girl and looked around the group, at the people around him, most of them still in shock.

Daryl took his arm from Carol's waist and moved it to her chest, his other under her arm as he started to stand up behind her. He pulled her into a sitting position as he got to his feet. "Come on. Don't look." He said as he started to lift her up as she glanced at her daughter's dead body, sobbing harder. "Don't look." He said as he hauled her to her feet and moved her so she wasn't facing Sophia.

She pulled away from him with a wail, pushing his arms away from her as she spun around. The tears kept coming down her face as she started to quickly make her way back towards the RV, most of the group looking after her.

They all stood there for a few seconds before it was now Beth's sobs that drew their attention.

Maggie looked behind her to see Jimmy holding Beth to him as she cried. Maggie had her hand on her father's shoulder as he still knelt down on the ground in front of her, his hands covering his mouth as he looked at the devastation in front of them.

Daryl watched as Carol flung the door of the RV open and slammed it shut behind her before he looked down at Sophia one last time. A rush of emotions came over him. He remembered being alone in the woods when he was little. The overwhelming feeling of abandonment. He knew how Sophia must've felt out there. And he felt like he failed. He picked up the shotgun he'd dropped on the ground and started walking towards the RV.

Beth pulled away from Jimmy and started walking forward, to where she could see her mother's body.

"Shh, shh." Risk said to her as she walked towards him. He held his arm out, trying to block her from going around him. "Wait, wait." He tried to stop her, but she backed away from him, not wanting him to touch her.

She sobbed as she got to her mother, Annette, who was laying face down in the dirt with another Walker on top of her. Beth grabbed the other Walker's arm and pushed it off of her as she grabbed Annette's shoulder, turning her onto her back as she knelt down above her head. "Ma." She cried.

The lower half of Annette's jaw was distorted and covered in blood from the holes Daryl's shotgun had left. But no head shot.

At being touched, Annette growled and grabbed at Beth's long blond hair, that she had in pig tails. Beth started screaming as the group ran to her aid, Glenn quickly putting his shotgun down as he came up behind Rick.

"Stay back!" Kat yelled to her younger brothers as Dylan ran closer to the rest of them to help.

"Come on!" Shane put his arms around Beth's waist as he tried to pull her out of the Walker's grasp. Rick and Dale grabbing her as well as they tried to pull her back.

Glenn ran up and grabbed one of the Walker's arms as Dylan grabbed the other, trying to get them off of her. Dylan knelt down next to it as he reached for it's hand again. "Pull her away! Pull her away!" Dylan yelled as soon as he and Glenn got the Walker's hands loose.

Shane and Rick pulled Beth up so that she was standing as Hershel and Maggie came to their side.

Glenn's grip slipped off of the Walker's arm when he tried to pull it farther away from the group. As soon as it was free it grabbed for Dylan's shoulders, the weight of the Walker coming at him sent him backwards, knocking him down from his kneeling position and landing on his back as it tried to climb over him.

"Dylan!" Kat screamed, as she saw the Walker climbing on top of her brother. Everything was happening so fast.

T-Dog ran around Rick and Shane and gave the Walker a swift kick in the side, knocking it off of Dylan as Glenn ran up to it, grabbing for its arms again, holding it away from Dylan. T-Dog kicked at the Walkers head, trying to put it down, to no avail, as Kat ran over to her brother.

Dylan quickly scooted himself away while he sat up as Kat knelt next to him, grabbing his shoulders as she quickly looked him over. "Are you okay? Did it bite you?" She shouted as she looked down his neck and torso for any wounds. Dylan just shook his head as T-Dog kicked the Walker that was still only a couple feet from him.

Rick handed Beth off to Hershel, who held her close to him as she continued to cry.

Glenn was starting to struggle as the Walker tried biting at him. His face only a little over a foot away from it as he continued to hold it's arms in place.

"Right there, right there!" T-Dog shouted to Andrea as he pointed at a scythe that was laying on the ground near her.

She grabbed it and ran to Glenn who pulled the Walker into a sitting position so she would have a better angle. T-Dog jumped out of the way as Andrea held the weapon like a bat, trying to get a good shot.

She stood a few feet behind it and swung the scythe as the Walker growled and tried to bite at Glenn again. It was quickly silenced as the scythe went through the back of it's head, the sharp point appearing again, covered in dark blood, right between it's eyes.

Andrea pulled the blade out of the Walker's head and set it down as Glenn let go of the Walker's arms, letting it fall to the ground with a heavy thump. Dale and Glenn both looked around at the other Walkers, doing a once over to make sure the others were actually dead.

Shane let out a scoff as he turned the safety on his Glock back on. He took a few steps away from everyone as he looked out over the Walkers.

Jimmy walked up behind Beth, putting his hands on her back trying to soothe her as Hershel held her. They all looked at Annette's now lifeless body once more before Maggie put her hand on her father's shoulder, pushing him to start going back towards the house.

Rick looked back at what they'd done as the Greene's and Glenn started walking away. Jimmy stayed behind with what was left of Rick's group as Patricia helped Hershel walk Beth to the house.

Shane shook his head as he started walking after them. "We've been out. We've been combin these woods lookin for her and she was in there all along?" Shane shouted as he was walking up behind Hershel. Rick furrowed his brow and jogged over to catch up to them. "You knew." Shane said, looking at the back of Hershel's head.

"Leave us alone." Maggie yelled as she looked behind her at him.

"Hey, Shane, just stop, man." Rick said, grabbing at Shane's arm and giving him a tug.

"Get your hands off me." Shane slapped Rick's hand away and continued after the Greene's. "You knew and you kept it from us."

"I didn't know." Hershel said, fighting tears. Everything this man just did on his property and now he is accusing him of this?

"That's bullshit. I think y'all knew." Shane said as they neared the house.

"We didn't know!" Maggie yelled at him as she turned to look at his face again.

"Why was she there?!" Shane yelled as the Greene's walked up the steps. Patricia rolled her eyes. He wasn't going to let up.

"Your-" Hershel started but stopped. He let Patricia help Beth up the stairs as he stopped before them and turned around to look at Shane. "Otis put those people in the barn. Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed." Hershel said. Glenn was standing next to Shane with a confused look on his face as Rick stood beside them.

"You expect me to believe that? What do I look like? I look like an idiot to you?" Shane said as he took another step towards the old man.

Rick came between the two, putting his hand on Shane's chest, pushing him back. "Shane. Shane, hey, hey, hey. Shane!" Rick shouted as Shane tried to push against him.

"I don't care what you believe!" Hershel yelled.

Rick held up his hands to either of them, pushing Shane back again. "Everybody just calm down. Please."

"Get him off my land!" Hershel yelled and pointed at Shane.

"No." Rick said softly, holding his hand up to Hershel as he tried to get everyone to settle down.

"Lemme tell you somethin." Shane pushed past Rick's hand trying to get closer to Hershel.

"Hey!" Maggie came down the steps and pushed against Shane's chest before she slapped him across the face. "Don't touch him!"

Shane took a step away as Glenn came up beside him, grabbing his shoulder and pushing him back. He was almost afraid he would hit Maggie. Shane was a loose canon.

"Haven't you done enough?" Maggie said before she turned around and walked back up the stairs to the front door, Hershel behind her.

He stopped at the top of the stairs and looked at Rick. "I mean it- off my land." Hershel said as he looked at Shane. He turned and opened the front door, following the girls into the house.

Glenn looked at both men before he climbed the stairs and followed Hershel.

Rick watched Glenn walk to the door before he looked at Shane, who turned around and looked back at the barn. He waited to hear the door open and close from Glenn before he said anything. "What are you doin?" Rick said to Shane but he didn't look at him. "Hey," he said again, "What are you doin?"

"Daryl almost died lookin for her, Rick. Any one of us could have." Shane said in a low voice as he raised his brows and looked at him. He walked closer. "I'm gonna tell you right now- that son of a bitch," he pointed to the house, "he knew."

"He didn't know. He's not like that." Rick said. "He opened his home to us."

"Put us all in danger, man. He kept a barn full of Walkers." Shane looked and held his arm out towards the barn before he turned to face Rick, again.

"So you just start an insurrection, hand out guns and massacre his family?" Rick said, taking a step towards him.

"His family's dead, Rick." Shane raised his eyebrows again.

"Well, he doesn't believe that. He thinks you just murdered them in cold blood." Rick said as he pointed to the house.

"No, man, I don't care what he thinks! Why would I-" Shane raised his voice.

"I was handling it, brother. I was handling it and you just went ahead and-" Rick yelled, but Shane cut him off.

"You had us out in those woods lookin for a little girl that every single one of us knew was dead! That's what you did. Rick, you're just as delusional as that guy." Shane pointed at the house again before he scoffed and started walking away. "You were handlin it, huh?" Shane said over his shoulder, walking back towards the group he'd left at the barn.

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Andrea had gotten an old blanket out of the barn and was kneeling in front of Sophia. She had covered the girl's body with it and pulled it over her head. Andrea lifted Sophia's cold hand and tucked the old fabric underneath it before she gently set it back on the ground. She put her own hand on the back of Sophia's head as she looked over the small, covered body and to the bodies beyond it. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

Andrea looked behind her to see Dale walking over to the two bodies that Rick and Hershel had been leading to the barn before the fire fight had rung out. Jimmy and T-Dog were standing near her, waiting to see what they were going to do next. She saw Kat and her 3 brothers walking back towards their tents in camp. She saw Shane walking back through the gate to the barn, followed by Rick a few paces behind. And she saw Lori and Carl, sitting in the same spot they had been in during the whole thing.

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Carol had been sitting at the table in the RV for a few minutes. The tears had stopped by now, but she still clutched the handkerchief she had been wiping them with in her hand. She could hear footsteps approaching the RV but didn't move from her spot or look at the door. She was sitting sideways in the seat, looking out of the window that was next to the table.

Daryl opened the door of the RV as he walked inside, not bothering to shut it behind him. He looked at Carol, stoic, sitting at the table and staring out the window in front of her. He didn't know what to say to her as he stood there. What was he supposed to say? Sorry? How cliché would that be? He stood, watching her for a few more seconds before he set the empty shotgun down on the counter across from the table and lifted himself on top of it. He would just sit here with her. He let his legs hang down from the counter as he sat and watched her.

Carol finally turned to look at him after he'd situated himself. She didn't completely understand the look of sadness on his face. He'd looked for Sophia more than the others. He wanted to, though she didn't know his reason. And he didn't know how to tell her why he did. So he let his demons swirl around inside him as they sat there in silence. Carol looked away from him again and back out the window.

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Maggie had her back to Glenn, who had stopped at the front door, leaning against it with his arms across his chest after he'd come in. Maggie was leaning back against the antique couch that was in the living room. She was taking deep breaths and staring at the floor.

"I have to ask you-" Glenn said. He uncrossed his arms and put his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he paused for a second, "did you know she was in the barn?" He didn't think that she did. But he had to know.

Maggie turned her head to the side as he asked her, before she stood up straight. She turned to face him, walking around the couch and sitting on the arm with an exasperated look on her face. She didn't believe he'd just asked her. She didn't know. Glenn thought, as he watched her face.

He looked away from her and stood up from the door. He shrugged his shoulders as he took a few steps into the room. "You know, maybe in some weird way this is for the best." He crossed his arms over his chest again as he walked closer to one of the windows and looked outside. "At least we know and now we can move on."

Maggie watched his back as he looked outside. "Move on?"

"Yeah, it's just like..." Glenn turned around to look at her, he held his hand out as he talked, "it meant so much to everyone- finding her, ya know?" He said as he put his hands back in his pockets. "And then-" He took his hand back out and gestured towards the barn.

"So now you'll just move on?" Maggie nodded at him. And me?

"If we can." He shrugged. "I mean, we've lost others. But-" He laughed. "This is- this is Sophia...The whole group- this one was different." Glenn shook his head.

Maggie looked at the floor and nodded before she said anything. "So what happens now?" She asked him, trying not to cry. Was he just going to leave her? Leave with the group he was with?

"We bury her.." He shrugged again, "with your, uh, stepmom and your stepbrother." He said as he took a few steps closer to her.

"And then?" Maggie said.

Glenn crossed his arms over his chest. He could see the tears in her eyes and started to realize what she was getting at. He slowly walked over to stand in front of her as she sat on the chair's arm. He put his hands on each side of her head as he bent down and kissed her forehead, tucking her hair behind her ears. "I don't know." He said as he took a step back.

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"I thought that I'd find her." Carl said as he sat on the ground next to Lori. She was sitting crosslegged next to him, as he had his knees pulled to his chest and his arms resting around them.

"We all did." Lori said.

"I mean me. That I'd be the one." Carl said as he looked at his mom. "Like maybe she was hiding somewhere in- in a cave or a tree. She'd be safe and I'd find her and bring her back." He looked ahead of him, where he could see Andrea kneeling next to Sophia's covered body. He could hear footsteps coming up behind him. Lori looked to see who it was, seeing Shane walking towards them, Rick a little farther behind. "He did the right thing.." Carl said, looking at the ground before looking at Lori, "shooting her like that...I woulda done it, too."

Lori just stared at him before she turned her head, seeing Shane walk past her and over to Andrea. "Dale?" Lori said as she looked at him. Shane giving him a stern look as he passed the old man.

"Yeah?" Dale said as he looked at the mother.

"Could you take Carl up to the house?" Lori said as she put her hand on the back of Carl's head, smoothing his hair down before he looked at her. "I want you to rest." She said to him.

"Okay." He nodded. He wasn't sure why. He wasn't tired. Why couldn't he just stay out here with them or go hang out with the Carsen boys? Mom worries too much. Carl stood up anyway as Dale came up to him. He started walking towards the house with the older man as Rick walked closer to them. He had his brown sheriff's hat in his hand that he had picked up off the ground closer to the house.

"Hey, you dropped that." He said as he put the hat on Carl's head as he passed his boy and Dale. He continued walking towards Lori, who started to get up off the ground as Carl and Dale walked towards the house.

Rick looked over all the bodies laying in front of the barn once again. At least Sophia's body was covered up now.

"You want us to start buryin?" T-Dog asked as Rick came to a stop a few feet past Lori.

"We need a service. Carol would want that." Andrea said.

"Yeah, we all want that." T-Dog said as he stood next to Andrea.

Rick just looked at Sophia's body but didn't say anything. Lori followed his eyes before looking at him again, waiting for words he wasnt going to speak. "Let's um- Let's dig a grave for Sophia, and Annette and Shawn...uh," Lori looked over the land ahead of them for a second before pointing, "over by those trees."
Jimmy, T-Dog and Andrea looked to the spot she pointed at a little bit away from the barn.

"And we'll need a truck to move the bodies." She said as Andrea looked around at the corpses behind them.

"I'll get the keys." Jimmy said and started walking before Shane quickly stopped him.

"No, no." Shane held his arm out as he turned and started walking towards the vehicles. "I got the truck."

They watched Shane walk away before Jimmy turned to look at the Walkers. "And the others? That's a lot of digging."

"We bury the ones we love..and burn the rest." Andrea said. Rick nodded his head slightly.

"Let's get to work." Lori said as she took a few steps closer, coming to stand in front of Rick as the others started to move the bodies. "What did Hershel say?" She whispered as she turned her back to the others, placing her hand on Rick's side, pushing him to walk a few feet away as they talked in hushed voices.

"He wants us off the farm." He said as he looked at her. "Or Shane at least."

"That's not a surprise." Lori looked at the RV and their camp before down at the ground. "We're lucky someone wasn't killed..And all that gunfire-" She looked at Rick, "more Walkers could've heard it."

Rick looked at the bodies again before looking at the ground over Lori's shoudler.

"Baby," Lori said as she watched him. She could tell his mind was somewhere else, "what is it?"

Rick sighed. "She was there," He pointed to the barn briefly before letting his hand fall again, "all the time."

"And you did everything you could." Lori said.

Rick looked at the ground, moving his boot back and forth in the dirt. "Yeah, I know. I always do, dont I?" He put his hands on his hips before he looked at the barn and Sophia. "Went after her, protected her, killed those Walkers, but- but she still got bit. And Carl still got shot. People counting on me and I had em chasin a ghost in a forest."

"Hey." Lori reached her hand out to touch Rick's cheek. She could see that he was upset, but he pulled away and started walking towards the camp. Lori watched him for a few seconds before she turned to help the others. They needed to clean up the mess they'd made.

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Kat walked into the open door of the RV, seeing Carol sitting at the table and Daryl sitting on the counter top. Daryl glanced down at her before looking at Carol again. Kat walked into the small walkway touching Daryl's knee as she walked past. The older woman didn't look at her as she walked by, but turned her head slightly to the side before looking out the window again. Kat was standing next to Daryl, and leaned back against the counter. Daryl grabbed the shotgun off the counter behind Kat and placed it across his lap in case she wanted to hop up on the counter with him, but she didn't move from her spot.

"They-re, uh...They're gonna bury Sophia..and the others." Kat said softly as she looked between Carol and the floor of the RV. "Lori said she'll come get us when they're ready."

She and Dylan had gone to see what was happening at the barn after they'd sent the two younger Carsen's away, following Carl and Dale. Dylan had stayed behind to help dig the graves when she said she was going to the RV.

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Shane had made it to Otis's blue 1966 Ford F-100 and put his hand on the handle as he glared at Dale, who was several feet behind the truck, leaning against Maggie's tan Sable, watching him. Shane scoffed as he looked at Dale, and opened the door of the truck, getting inside, muttering curses about the old man. He leaned his arm against the rolled down window and adjusted the side-view mirror so he could see Dale, as he rested his other arm over the steering wheel. He sat for a view seconds and watched, waiting for Dale to come closer. When he didn't move, he swung the truck's door open and sat sideways on the seat to look out at the old man.

"Do you got somethin to say, Dale?" He asked as he looked back at him. He rested his arms on his knees. "Well, go ahead, man." Shane said when he got no response. "Mr. Moral Authority, huh?" Shane taunted as he rubbed at his chin and chuckled. "You the- the voice of reason."

Dale just stood against Maggie's car and looked at the blue truck.

Shane rested his arm on the steering wheel for a minute, before he banged his fist against the roof of the truck, quickly stepping out of the truck and walking towards Dale. "Let me ask you somethin, man. What do you do? What do you do to keep this camp safe, huh? What do you do? What, you fix up an RV?" Shane pointed towards the camp with a quick smile. "You babysit some guns? Man, you pointed one at my chest, right? But you just- you couldn't pull that trigger, could ya?" Shane glared as Dale straightened up. "If I was such a danger, if I was such a threat, what did you do to stop me, huh?" Shane stopped and held his arm out, pointing at the barn as he glanced over at it. "I smashed that barn open." He said, dropping his arm before he continued. "I saved Carl. That's me. That ain't you. That ain't Rick. That's me." Shane shook his head and turned around, walking back to the truck. "Tell you what, Dale- next time I need a, uh, a radiator hose..." He scoffed, "I'll give you a call, man." Shane said as he slammed the truck's door and started the engine.

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Lori was making her way over to RV a little while later, after the others had wrapped Sophia, Annette and Sean in blankets, and finished digging the three graves.

Kat looked behind her out of the window behind Daryl when she heard footsteps and saw a glimpse of Lori before she got to the still-open door of the RV.

Lori knocked on the open door, looking at Daryl sitting on the counter, before she walked up the steps. Daryl looked to his side as she walked into the RV before watching Carol again. The woman had been sitting in the same spot, not moving since he'd come in here. Not saying anything, not crying. Just sitting there. Don't get him wrong, he was glad she wasn't crying. He wasn't sure how to deal with a crying woman. Let alone one who had not only just learned her child was dead, but watched it happen. But he wanted her to do something. Something besides just sit here and act okay with it. She was shut down. Just staring out the window like nothing had happened.
Lori looked at Carol for a couple seconds before looking at the ground of the RV. "They're ready." She said and watched for the woman's reaction. Carol turned her head to the side again, not fully looking at Lori. She looked down at the table and the handkerchief in her hands. She shook her head, no.

"Come on." Lori said, softly. Encouraging her to come with them.

"Why?" Carol asked, still looking at the handkerchief. It'd been the first word she'd spoken since she was lying on the ground sobbing Sophia's name.

Daryl furrowed his brow. "'Cause that's your little girl."

Carol looked up at him. "That's not my little girl." She shook her head. "That's some other..thing." She looked back at the handkerchief before looking out the window again. "My Sophia was alone in the woods." She nodded, her voice wavering as she tried to fight the tears threatening to blur her vision. "All this time, I thought- ...She didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back...Sophia died a long time ago."
Lori said nothing, she didn't argue with her. She didn't want to push her anymore. Lori gave Daryl and Kat a quick look before she walked down the steps of the RV and started walking over to the grave site.

Daryl was mad again. He just stared at Carol, looking out that damn window, processing everything she just said. She'd accepted that Sophia was dead awhile ago. She didn't think they'd find her. That he'd find her. She'd never had any faith in him or anyone else. She'd been lying to him, herself and everyone when she said they would find her. That she could see it.

Daryl looked down at Kat at his side, giving her a nudge with his arm as he picked up the shotgun on his lap and got down from the counter with a frustrated sigh. He glared at Carol once more before he turned and started out of the door of the RV.

Kat leaned off the counter and started walking towards the doorway after seeing Daryl go down the steps. She put her hand on Carol's arm and gently squeezed as she walked past her before exiting the RV and following Daryl to the graves.

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Except for Carol, the entire group, along with the Greene's, Patricia and Jimmy, were gathered around the three graves, forming a line. It wasn't like Otis's memorial. No one said anything. What was there left to say at this point?

Daryl had his arms crossed over his chest and was standing a little farther away with his crossbow propped up against his leg. He stood away from Kat and the boys. Away from everybody. He told himself he was making a choice. He refused to look at another mound of dirt, knowing someone he felt something, anything for, was underneath it. He was done with people. What was the point of getting close to anybody if this is just how it was going to end up. The closer you get, the more of a let down it's going to be. The more disappointed you'll get...The more it's going to hurt.

Everyone stood in silence for a couple minutes before Shane was the first to walk away, back to Otis's truck to start moving the other bodies they were going to burn. Everyone went their separate ways.

Daryl grabbed the stirrup of his Horton that was resting against his knee and swung it into his arms as he walked towards his tent. He was packing up his shit and moving to a different spot on the property. He didn't want to be around anybody.

He caught a glimpse of Kat disappearing into the woods at the edge of the property as he swung his bag of clothes outside the open flap of his tent. Hell's she runnin off to, again? He thought. He'd move his stuff and go after her once he was done....Wait. Didn't he just decide he wasn't going to care about anybody anymore? Damn it.

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Carol had snuck out of the RV once everyone in the group dispersed. She walked to the pond near the property where Daryl had shown her the Cherokee Rose bush. And that's where she was. Sitting in the grass and dirt in front of the white flowers. She stared at them for a long time, listening to the birds and bugs, the legend Daryl told her playing over and over in her head. One word kept ringing in her ears. Hope. That was something she'd lost a long time ago.

She grabbed one of the white petals off of the nearest rose and pulled it from the flower. She held it in her hand, turning the silky, white petal around in her fingers before she squeezed it in her palm. She put her hand down and took a shaky breath as she looked at the flowers in front of her. She grabbed at them, ripping them from the stems and branches, not caring about the thorns tearing holes in her hands and scratching at her arms. She sat there, pulling the flowers from the bush and throwing them on the ground around her until there were none left. She grabbed the branches, pulling them apart until the bush was no more.

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Andrea and T-Dog were carrying another body to the back of the Ford while Lori watched. Dale and Dylan had been helping them load up the bodies while Shane waited at the burning site for another truckload of corpses.

"A few more trips." Rick said as he walked over to Andrea and T-Dog, seeing that there were only a few more bodies scattered by the barn. Dale, who had been sitting on the open back hatch of the truck bed, stood up when they got closer.

"We got lucky. If that barn had any more, we could've been overrun." Andrea said as her and T-dog heaved the body into the bed of the truck.

"Good thing Shane did what he did when he did." T-Dog said as he wiped his hands on his shirt after he and Andrea set the body down.

"You cant tell me this was right." Dale said as he looked at the man.
"It wasn't." Rick said. "It'll cost us with Hershel."

"He's grieving. He'll come around, see we had no choice." Andrea said to Rick before looking at Dale. "Look, I shot, too. This wasn't all Shane."

"Look, I got no qualms about it. Walkers in my backyard? Mm-mmm." T-Dog shook his head.

"I'm not saying that we shouldn't have taken care of the problem, but- but creating a, a panic to-" Dale started, looking at T-Dog.

"There's no point arguing about it. It's done." Lori said, shaking her head sympathetically. She had her arms crossed over her chest as she spoke. "There's nothin we can do about it." She said as she looked from Dale to Rick.

"Better get movin." T-Dog said as he opened the driver's door of the truck and hopped in.

Lori walked past Dale, putting her hand on his shoulder as she walked by him. Rick and Dale both turned and followed her away from the barn as Andrea walked over to the bed of the truck, giving the back bumper a kick with her foot as she put her bag down on the hatch and sat down on it. T-Dog started the truck once she was in place.
He began driving over the uneven ground towards the burning area, the bumps in the dirt shaking the truck. The next hole in the ground the wheel hit, sent the arm of a Walker that was loosely hanging over the side of the truck, to the ground. The shotgun Daryl had been using blew a hole through its shoulder and it had been hanging on by a thin piece of flesh.

"Hey! Hey!" Andrea turned towards the front of the truck, getting T-Dog to stop. She hopped off of the truck bed and jogged over to pick up the severed arm. "Ugh." She groaned as she picked it up and headed back to the truck. She flung the arm onto the pile of bodies in the truck bed before climbing back onto it. "All right!" She yelled to T once she was sitting, again.

T-Dog threw the truck back into drive and continued on the dirt path to the burn pile.

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Daryl had finished moving his tent and belongings to the other side of the Greene's property. It had to have been about a quarter mile from the house. He set his things up near an old stone brick chimney. There must've been an old shack here many years ago, the only thing remaining after the land had taken it back, being the stone.

He set up his tent in record time, something he'd grown used to over the years, all the times he'd went camping on hunting trips.

He grabbed his Horton and started walking towards the woods where he'd seen Kat disappear into earlier. Breaking the promise he'd made to himself. She wasn't just anybody though, was she?

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Glenn leaned against a wall as he watched the blue truck disappear down the hill out of the window in the dining room. He heard footsteps coming from the kitchen and saw Maggie out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look at her when she was a few feet from him.

Maggie rested her hand on the dining room table and leaned against it as she looked at him. She could still hear the running water from the kitchen behind her as Beth washed the dishes, giving her something to do.

"So if your group leaves, you wouldn't stay?" Maggie asked him.

Glenn furrowed his brow and uncrossed his arms. "I- I hadn't really thought about it. I mean, I- I didn't know..that-" He shrugged a little and shook his head, "do- do you think this is really the time..to discuss this, I mean?"

Maggie looked out the window. "Well, I'm not..really feelin like there's a lotta time for anything."

"No, no, there- there is." Glenn said as walked up to her. "There is. Uh, I- I- I'd want-"

Beth placed one of the dishes she'd just dried in the dish rack with the others as she felt the world around her start to go black. She grabbed onto the dish rack and counter, trying to stay upright when she felt herself going to the ground, bringing the dishes with her.

At the sound of glass crashing to the floor, Maggie spun around. "Oh, my God." She said as her and Glenn ran into the kitchen, seeing Beth on the floor.

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"Sweetie, can you hear me?" Maggie said as she tucked Beth's hair behind her ear. Beth was staring up at the ceiling. Glenn had carried her into one of the nearest bedrooms in the house as Maggie yelled out the door for Lori, telling her Beth had fainted.

Lori made it to the house and leaned into the doorway of the bedroom, seeing Maggie leaning over the young girl. At least she was awake now.

"What's wrong with her?" Maggie asked, looking at Lori.

"She might be in shock. Where's Hershel?" Lori asked as she looked at the 16 year old laying on the bed, completely unresponsive.

"We can't find him anywhere." Glenn said from his spot at the back of the room.

Lori looked at Beth once more before she backed out of the room and went outside to get Rick and Shane so they could try to find a trace of Hershel.

Maggie grabbed Beth's hand as she sat down on the bed next to her little sister, "Hey, kiddo." She said softly as she sat down on the bed next to her. She touched her face again, trying to get her to say something.

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Daryl had followed the faint trail Kat had left in the woods but he'd lost it after awhile. She must've been careful, not trying to be found. He'd backtracked and tried again once more, trying to see something he might've missed the first time around, but coming up short. Girl's good. He thought. She couldn't have known he'd come after her and purposely not left a trace could she?

He started heading back to his camp, picking up small branches that looked about the right size all the way back. He was running low on bolts.

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Kat stood, staring into the water at her little refuge. She wanted to get away. Just for a little while. If she stuck around that camp any longer with everybody she might've found a reason to hit someone. She was frustrated at the entire situation. She kept hoping this was a bad dream and she'd wake up, hungover in her bed. She always had really vivid dreams when she drank a lot of Jack. Maybe that's all this was. Hopefully she took Daryl home and she'd wake up next to him, that would be a nice reality check.

She kept turning over the small stone she had in her hands as she went over what had happened today. She came back to what Carol had said in the RV, about how even she had lost hope for her daughter. Kat couldn't say for sure whether or not she, herself, believed they would've found that little girl, completely unharmed, but she still hadn't wanted to see her walking out of the barn; Someone having to put a bullet in her head. She respected Rick for doing what had to be done, when no one else could. Even Shane. He was big and bad when he busted that barn door open, but he didn't do anything when it came to the little girl he looked at as a nuisance and risk to their lives every time they went out searching for her. If he was so sure she was already dead, why was it so hard for him to raise his gun and put her down? Kat shook her head.

The group had lost so much in such a short amount of time. Kat felt numb. She knew Daryl was pissed after what Carol had said. She'd seen him storm into his tent and start throwing things in his bag after the burial. She hadn't wanted to deal with whatever was going on in his head at that moment, she had enough in her own.

She knew she couldn't stay here long, though, she wanted to get back before he went off and did something stupid. He was getting his things together when she took off, he wouldn't leave the farm without her, would he? She threw the stone in the water, watching it skip on the surface a few times before it made a splash and sunk to the bottom.

If he leaves he better take me with him. Everything had gone to shit once she met up with these people. They were already circling a drain. If he left, she sure as hell wasn't sticking around.