In the woods. Morning.

I looked at the ground "There was a struggle. "

Daryl " They caught up to him. "

Dog rushed to us, sniffing the ground before barking.

Daryl „Good boy. "

He lifted Henry's fighting staff from the ground „they went that way."

Suddenly there were two walkers coming to us.

I grabbed a knife and threw it at one of their heads. It hit it in the head.

Daryl shot the other one and looked at me surprised.

I asked amused "what?

Daryl "your aim. It was good back then but now...it's impressive"

I nodded "well, believe it or not, i changed"

Dog rushed to the walkers, took my knife out of the head with his mouth and ran back to me to drop it on my legs.

I picked it up, smiling "Thank you, Dog"

Suddenly he started to bark again.

Daryl whistled "Dog. Come on."

Dog then took Daryl's arrow out of the walker's head and brought it to Daryl.

Daryl grabbed it „Bad dog."

I shot him a look but then froze "what's that look on your face?"

Daryl "you're not gonna like what i am thinking about"

I grimaced "oh please no"

Night.

Daryl and i had built ourselves Walker masks. It's disgusting. We were able to track down Henry and Lydia since they were attacked by walkers.

Me "Keep your head down. We're leaving. "

Henry looked at us before realizing it was us "Not without Lydia. "

Daryl shook his head "No, the girl stays."

Henry „Then so do I. "

Lydia "Henry... "

Henry shook his head "No. I'm not leaving you. I won't."

Daryl grabbed Henry " Now."

We rushed away while Daryl and i ripped our masks off.

--

We were running through the woods. Henry slipped and fell down.

Daryl „You all right? "

Henry "This isn't the way back to Hilltop... "

Daryl "Tara made a deal with those assholes. We broke it. We ain't going back to Hilltop. "

Lydia nodded "He's right. There's too many of them. Alpha would destroy Hilltop to get me back now. "

Me "And why didn't you tell us there was that many of them? "

Lydia said irritated "You kept me locked in a cage. What did you expect? I wasn't going to betray my own people!"

Me „Well, maybe you should go back to 'em. "

Daryl "Henry didn't know what he was getting his ass into, but you sure as hell did."

Lydia sighed " I thought I could go back. I can't."

Daryl " Well, you ain't coming with us. "

Henry turned to Lydia " Hey. Hey, we could run. Me and her. You guys go back, and... and we keep running. They can't blame Hilltop if we just disappear."

Lydia shook her head "Henry, we can't. "

Henry "Let me fix this."

Daryl shook his head " No. There's no way in hell I'm letting you run away with this one. No way. Think of your mom! "

Me "guys, we gotta go"

Daryl "No, she's right. Come on. We gotta go. Come on. It's this way. "

I shook my head "no, the other way"

Daryl "no it's not"

I nodded "yes, it is"

Daryl glared at me.

I rolled my eyes and walked in the direction i thought was right.

Morning.

I gestured to the building "we should get to the top"

Daryl "Take the high ground? "

I nodded.

Daryl "Yeah. Good idea. Come on. "

Henry shook his head, confused "I don't understand. "

Daryl "They use walkers to protect themselves, right? So we go up someplace the walkers can't go. We separate the living from the dead. They travel in a herd, but there's only like five or six of them in the middle, right? "

Lydia nodded "Yeah, but if we go up there, we're trapped. Alpha's not gonna send an army 'cause she doesn't have to. She'll send Beta. "

Daryl "I'm sick of running. This Beta... He their best? "

Lydia nodded.

Daryl „Good. We'll kill him first. Come on. "

We walked to the building.

--

I opened the hatch on the ground while the others were doing god knows what.

Daryl "That stairwell's already barricaded. I guess you know that. "

I handed him a water bottle.

Daryl "Thanks. How did you find this place?"

Me "on one of the runs. Walkers surprised me and i had to hide."

Daryl nodded "A little secret stash for emergency? Smart. "

I smiled "All right. There's only two ways up... "

Daryl nodded "That's good. I think these barricades are a little too barricaded. "

I raised an eyebrow.

Daryl "So, we'll cut open holes so that they can walk up here. All right?"

I nodded.

Daryl "This place is good. This might work. "

Me "All right, Then what?"

Daryl „Then we go. "

I shook my head "Henry won't let her behind"

Daryl "If we take her back, my friends die... Your friends, too."

I looked down.

Daryl "what?"

Me "She doesn't have anyone, Daryl"

Darryl raised his eyebrows „so now you are on her side?"

I sighed "i don't know. "

Henry rushed to us "they're here"

Daryl and i walked out to the balcony and looked down. Walkers were on their way to us.

Daryl aimed his crossbow at them and shot one. One of them looked up. It was the big guy.

Oh shit.

--

We walked to the others.

Daryl "all right they're here. Let's go"

We could hear them breaking down the barricade.

Daryl to Lydia "Hey. You're with me. Come on, boy. "

Lydia gave Henry a kiss before walking out with Daryl.

-

we were all in position. Daryl and i were upstairs. I was hiding in the back for an element of surprise. Suddenly the front doors got kicked in. Two Whisperers and Beta walked in. Beta used a door to block Daryl's arrows but then threw it away. Daryl tried to take on Beta while i attacked the other two.I grabbed an ax and cut one's head off. Then i looked around for the other one. Suddenly i felt a pain in the back of my thigh and a knife point poked out of the front of my thigh. Then someone grabbed my neck. I gasped out before grabbing the ax and twirled my arm to be able to hit the guy in the back with the ax. He let go of me, crying out. Then i turned around and rammed the ax in his head, splitting it in two.

Suddenly i heard a yell and someone landing heavy on the ground.

I looked around "Daryl!"

Then i rushed to the open elevator shaft, of course, with the handle of the ax as cane because there was still a knife stuck in my thigh. Daryl was standing there looking down the shaft, spitting down.

I breathed out relieved.

Daryl looked at me and then looked at my leg "shit"

I nodded "i am fine. "

He took the knife out and i cried out.

Then he wrapped a bandana around the wound "can't take you anywhere without you getting hurt"

I slapped him on the shoulder "fuck off"

--

Lydia was wrapping up Henry's leg wound .Looks like he got stabbed too.

Henry "You figure out where we're going?"

Daryl „Alexandria's closest. So we'll get you stitched up there. "

Henry shook his head "No, we can't. If her people find out we're there, everybody- "

Daryl "Hell, we ain't staying. We'll get you back on your feet, and then we'll move on. All of us."

I looked at him, a little sad.

Lydia "No. No, but... "

Daryl snapped "No, buts"

I looked at him.

I was by the river, killing hunters, looking for dad's body. I had to convince a heavy pregnant Michonne to stay home. Can't have her get herself or my soon to be born half sibling to be in danger.

I heard someone clear their throat behind me.

Then I turned around.

Daryl shook his head "He ain't out here. I followed this to the ocean and back. Nothing out there, either. You good? "

I shook my head and drove a hand through "I haven't been sleeping well for a while now"

He nodded.

Me " Judith's been asking about you. It's been a while since we've seen you back at Alexandria."

Daryl " I'll be back when I find something. "

Me "Plenty of reasons to come back. Finding something doesn't have to be one of them. "

Daryl "Looks like I'm gonna be the only one out here for a while. "

My voice broke" You don't need to do that. "

Daryl shook his head "Ain't gonna stop looking. Not ever. "

I walked to him and hugged him.

He hugged me back.

My voice cracked "i love you"

He hugged me harder.

Now. At Alexandria.

We were at the gates.

Michonne walked up to the fence.

Daryl „Henry's hurt. You were closest. I wouldn't have come. We had no other choice. "

Michonne nodded to Lydia "What about her? "

Henry "She's with us."

Michonne looked at us.

I nodded.

She turned to Aaron to talk to him before turning to us "Open it!"

They opened the gates

At the infirmary.

I stumbled out on the porch and at down on the steps.

They were stitching up Henry now. They did a pretty good job with me though.

Daryl looked at me.

Me "what?"

Daryl "you never left a comment on how i wasn't going to stay here"

I took a deep breath and drove a hand through my hair "i gave up on begging you to stay a long time ago"

Siddiq " Jocelyn. Jocelyn! You've lost too much blood! Michonne! "

Jocelyn, an old friend of Michonne's was here, and hurt.

Michonne asked confused „Hey, hey. - Joss, what are you doing? "

Jocelyn " I have to go back. "

Siddiq " No, there's no way she can travel right now. "

Jocelyn supported herself on the railing "I have to. There are others. "

Aaron "What others? "

Michonne took ahold of Jocelyn before she fell to the ground.

Me "You cannot go out there like this. "

Jocelyn "I have to find them. "

Michonne "and who? - Joss, wait! "

Jocelyn shook her head " No, you don't get it! "

Michonne "Hey. Hey. It's me. It's me. Talk to me. Tell me what you need. "

Jocelyn "Mich, I need help. "

We were looking around in the dark.

Rosita "You sure about this one?"

Linus nodded " Yeah. This is one of the places Joss hid us. I'm pretty sure some of 'em would come back here. "

I tried to open the door. It was locked.

Aaron " Well, if we want in, looks like we got to go aro... "

Suddenly Winnie climbed into the venting canal.

Eugene "Crafty maneuver. Points for dexterity. Does your compadre plan on moseying her way 'round again? "

Linus "Uh... yeah. She'll mosey. "

The door opened Winnie stood there.

We walked inside and looked around.

Suddenly i saw a operation manual on the wall "Step 1: let them bleed out. Step 2: skin them"

I grimaced.

We walked further down the hall.

There were a couple whistles.

Children showed up in the room.

I walked over to Michonne.

She was watching Gabriel play with the kids.

I smiled when i heard their laugh " I didn't realize how much we all needed this until now. "

Michonne "I wish he could see this. "

I nodded "He can. Wherever he is, I'm sure he knows. "

Michonne grabbed my hand in hard and squeezed it.

Now. At the gate. Night.

Aaron and i were walking with Daryl, Henry and Lydia to the gate.

I was not going to join them.

Aaron "Remember way back when I told you you'd make a great father? You got to skip the exploding diapers part, but I was right."

Daryl „A lot's changed. Back then, we were still building bridges."

The gate opened.

Michonne hugged Daryl "Stay safe. "

Daryl "Yeah, you too."

Then he looked at me

Me „She's mad at me. "

Daryl "It's 'cause she don't know. Why don't you tell her?"

I scoffed "i don't know how. Carl never got to be a real kid. I had hoped she could be one longer than he was."

Daryl shook his head "that's not just a little kid you got there, Ken. "

I nodded, sighing "i know"

He nodded "you're not coming with us?"

I shook my head "no. Like i said, i'm done fighting for something only i want"

he looked down before nodding and whistling "Dog"

Dog walked to me and i bent down to pet him before they walked out.