~Beth~

I woke up to Daryl gently shaking me. I looked up, to see the moon not quite in the middle of the sky, so I figured it was a little past midnight. "Can you and Michone take watch," he whispered.

I nodded, rubbing my eyes, and sitting up. I stretched a bit, and Daryl kissed my cheek before laying down next to me. After awhile, Michone spoke,"You have changed him."

I nodded,"I don't know if it is for better or for worse."

"It's for better. He's got something to live for, we all do. You have him hope, because before the prison went down, he was a hopeless asshole," she murmured.

I nodded again in agreement,"Who do ya got to live for?" She sort of flinched at my question. "Sorry to ask, but as far as I know you ain't got family here," I said quietly.

"I- I live for myself. I promised myself I would try my hardest to stay alive for my family," she answered after a long painful silence.

"I think Carl would miss you if you were gone. Your like his best friend, and I think we all appreciate you for it, you shoulda seen him after his mom died, even before than," I whispered.

She shook her head,"Nah. He is living for Rick and Judith."

"You don' understand Michone," I whispered," When you went on runs back at the prison, he was a worried mess. You are his only friend, and I think you sort of link him to his childhood."

She nodded, and we didn't talk for the rest of the night. It was just a silence, besides the fire cackling and the soft snores from Daryl and Rick.

In the morning, we all got up, with all of our supplies we had gathered, and walked back towards the house we had camped in.

"I blocked all the windows, except for the ones in the master bedroom upstairs. I figure if we ever need to to escape, we coul' go that way," Daryl murmured, closing the door behind him.

Carl's eyes lit up when he walked into the kitchen. "So much food," he laughed. Michone came up behind him, grabbing a bag of Cheetos.

"We all deserve this," she muttered with a smile, opening up the big bag. We snacked on them in the living room, with the map open on the table, and a marker in ricks hands.

"Alright. So we are here," he said motioning to a small road in the forest, with the four houses on either side. "So, we are on Pine street. Where did you guys find the hat?"

I looked at Daryl, and he pointed to a small field not that far," In the forest, near the field. There was a house there, so whoever had her probably camped there for awhile."

I nodded,"I think Carol has her." My murmur was barely audible.

"What makes you say that," Rick asked, running his hands above his lip like he normally does when he is thinking or frustrated.

"W-we found Mika and Lizzie's grave. There is no way they would've walked that far out of the prison without someone, and Carol was close with em. And to be completely honest, I don't think Maggie would've buried them," I finished, looking down when I mentioned Maggie.

"That doesn't mean that she ain't with Sasha or Tyrese or Bob or Glenn or," Rick stopped and looked down at the ground.

"Rick. I know we will find them," I said encouragingly. I knew we would find them, but I didn't know if we would find Judith. He nodded.

"Alright. Tomorrow we will start searching," Michone said, and she circled some areas on the map.

"Beth and Daryl search here," she said pointing to an area with a river and train tracks.

"Rick and I will take here," she said, circling an area where we found the hat.

"What Carl gonna do," Daryl asked.

"Stay here, he will keep watch incase they pass by here. We will take turns, each day one of us will stay here," Rick answered.

~that night~

We all sat around the coffee table. We had found wine and were drinking a bit while playing Monopoly. Carl and I passed on the wine. It was just a nice relaxing night, the complete opposite of the morning.

In the morning, Carl argued staying, but we explained that tomorrow I would stay home. He reluctantly agreed, and we headed off at maybe 7 am.

Daryl and I walked down the river, searching for any prints.

"Do ya think Maggie will be mad," Daryl asked after awhile of silence.

"I think she will take awhile to warm up to the idea," I replied, picking up a rock that sat on the riverbank. "Why are ya worried?"

He shrugged," What if she doesn't warm up to it?" I came up and wrapped my arms around his waist. His hands held mine on his stomach.

"She ain't the boss of me. If she doesn't like it, she can't make me not be with you," I smiled into his back. We stood there for awhile, until there was movement in the bushes.

"Shit, Beth get down," he whispered. We both got down onto our stomachs, and watched as a giant horde come out of the forest.

"Holy shit," he murmured.

"We gotta get back," I whispered,"Are they far enough away to run?"

He shook his head, but reached into his pocket to find a flare. "Imma throw it, then we run back okay," he asked.

I nodded.

He threw the flare, and it ended up in the middle of the horde. "Run," he whispered. We ran back the way we came, not looking back, not stopping, just running. It felt like we ran for hours.

My lungs were on fire, and my throat was dry. I started slowing down out of pure exhaustion, but Daryl tightly gripped my arm and pulled me along with him. By the time we made it to the house, we opened the door and fell down inside.

We both gasped for air, our lungs burnt. Carl ran downstairs,"Are you guys okay? I thought walkers had got it."

"Big-Herd-comin," Daryl gasped in between breaths.

"Where's my dad and Michone," he asked, worry in his voice.

"We dunno," I gasped, sitting up. I looked down at my arm, to see a big bruise. It was purplish blue, and when I touched it, pain shot up my arm. I quickly pulled my sleeve over it.

"Ya alright," Daryl asked, wrapping his arm around me.

"Ahuh. What are we gonna do? The horde is coming this way," I asked.

"We gotta keep movin," Daryl said simply, standing up.

"We can't! Dad or Michone aren't back yet," Carl yelled.

"If we stay, and they surround the house we are trapped," Daryl argued.

"I don' care! They are still out there, Judy is too! We can't leave them," Carl yelled.

"Carl gotta stay quiet. I think we can stay, if we stay inside, stay quiet, and stay upstairs. We got enough food to last us till the horde passes, so if we just stay quiet and away from windows they can't hear us," I suggest.

"That won't work, they can smell us too," Daryl argued.

"I think we can stay," Carl said. He is so stubborn, that he wouldn't leave.

"Daryl we can't leave them behind," I said.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys? This is fucking suicide," he yelled.

"Daryl, calm down-" I started, putting my hand on my shoulder.

"No. No we can't stay!" He yelled. He shook my hand off. "If we stay, we can die. And I can't lose you, cuz if we escape, it'll only be one of us."

"Daryl. You don' know that," I said calmly. "I think you need to calm down okay, why don' ya go upstairs."

He stomped upstairs, and Carl stared at me,"We ain't leavin'"

"I know we aren't Carl," I sighed. "Let's line walker bodies by the door and stuff. Maybe the scent will disguise us, and maybe they will come back before the horde rolls in. Okay?"

Carl ran up and hugged me,"We can't lose him. I can't lose him." He sobbed into shirt, and I rubbed his back.

"We won't, okay. Let's start moving walker bodies by the door, and check the windows and doors okay," I said softly. He nodded and pulled away.

~couple hours later~

Rick and Michone still hadn't returned, and Carl started pacing around the room. "What if something happened, we should go look for em," he said.

"It's too late Carl. Maybe they realized the wouldn't have made it back, and set up a camp somewhere," I tried to convince him. He shook his head, it obviously didn't work. I got up and gripped his shoulders. "Look at me. Carl, look at me," I demanded. He looked up, tears brimming in his eyes,"I know they are alright. They aren't the people to get bit, not now. We will see em in a couple days after the horde passes, alright?"

He nodded,"Imma go to sleep." I released him from my hug, and sighed. I grabbed the food and started bringing it upstairs, setting it in the hallway. I also brought up the map and other supplies we left up there.

I pushed the couch in front of the door, an went upstairs into the bathroom. The shower water was warm, and felt nice running down my skin. My mind suddenly went to Daryl. He just cares about me, that's why he was acting like that. He didn't want me to get hurt, and I understand that, but we aren't leaving Rick and Michone and the others behind. Until we find Glenn, Maggie, and Judith, we aren't going on the road again,

I ran my fingers softly over my bruise. It was so sore, and I worried about what Daryl will say. I don't want him to think he hurt me, I know he didn't mean it. He is just a little rough, doesn't know his strength. He would never mean to hurt me, I know him. I sighed and stepped out of the shower. I slipped on a blue t-shirt that went down right above my knees.

I walked out of the bathroom into the bedroom, to see Daryl already asleep on the bed. I got in, and attempted to get under the covers, but it was hard since he was laying on top of them. I sighed, and ended up getting half way under the blankets. I kept running my hand over my bruise. It hurt a lot, it just surprised me that he did that. I guess he is pretty strong and capable of it, but what if he accidentally did it again?

My thinking was interrupted by his finger gently touching my arm. My breathing hitched. "Di' I do that," he asked. I pondered on telling him the truth or not. I nodded after awhile, and I suddenly felt his arms wrap around me, and he pushed his chest up against my back.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," he whispered into my ear. He rested his chin on my neck, his breath making me shiver.

"It's okay... You didn't mean to. You were just tryin' to be protective, but when you were talking earlier," I trailed off.

"I jus' don't want you to get hurt," he said softly.

"It ain't just about me, Daryl. We gotta worry bout Carl, Rick, and Michone now. And, after the horde passes, we won't have to worry bout it. I doubt they are gonna turn around," I fake smiled.

"Di' you guys check the windows," he asked.

I nodded,"Yeah. I pushed the couch in front of the door, and me and Carl put the corpses in front of the house. Maybe they will pass because it smells like em."

He shrugged,"I dunno. But if it works, we got some walker repellent for when we settle down again."

"Thought you said we gotta keep movin," I asked, turning my head towards him.

"We stay until the place don't worry anymore," he shrugged.

He then kissed my neck. I let out a small moan. "Wait, Daryl. Carl is right next door. We can't, plus we gotta stay quiet," I said reluctantly. He gave me one last kiss before reluctantly pulling away.

"G'night," he murmured sleepily.

"G'night," I smiled into his chest.