1 month later...

Even though the bond between Jodie and Daryl had grown stronger, it was a very difficult time for Jodie.

A strange and dangerous disease seemed to break out in prison and spread at a rapid pace throughout the prison. People were coughing, spitting blood, passing out, bleeding from their eyes and sometimes suffocating in agony. Again and again she had seen Hershel and Glenn pushing a stretcher past her, with someone lying on it under a sheet. Afterwards they took the cell to a single room and Jodie had never asked, but she could guess what was happening to people there.

Daryl and a few others from the prison council wanted to look for medication to help fight the disease. Everyone had their jobs to do. Carol and Rick had to take care of the water supply and the other people in the prison. Glenn and Hershel took care of the people who were sick. Daryl, Michonne, Tyresse and Bob looked for medicine. Maggie helped at the fence. Carl and Beth looked after the kids. And Jodie... Jodie decided to go hunting. It was like Hershel said, everybody here had a job to do. And someone had to make sure they got food again. So she had to take care of it. She didn't tell Daryl about it when she said good-bye to him. He didn't need to know that. She briefly squeezed his forearm to say goodbye and then she went to Rick to make her suggestion.

"I don't know, Jodie, we really need all the help we can get around here. Do you really want to do this alone?" Rick asked.

Jodie nodded firmly.

"What do Daryl and Cole say?"

Jodie remained silent, but not because she couldn't speak this time, but for another reason.

"They don't know, do they?" Rick concluded from her evasive look.

Jodie shrugged.

"Jodie, it's dangerous out there. If you go out there alone, we don't know what will happen to you. Or if anything will happen to you. We can't send anyone out there for you because we don't know where to find you. And if Daryl comes back, you and I are gonna have a problem, you know that, right?" Rick said sternly.

Jodie nodded.

"Have you been out there hunting by yourself?" Rick then asked.

Jodie wrote something on her arm.

"Not for hunting, but I learned to shoot there."

Rick drove himself through the dark hair and then nodded.

"Okay, all right, but no matter how much you catch, by sundown you'll be back here every time, you understand?"

Jodie nodded dutifully.

"Okay, then say goodbye to Cole, but stay behind the door. It's too dangerous, okay?"

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Cole had also caught the disease in the meantime. Pale and coughing, he stood in front of the window as Jodie came to say goodbye.

He smiled weakly at Jodie.

"Don't worry, little one, I'll be fine. It looks worse than it is," he grinned weakly. It almost broke Jodie's heart to see her best friend like that.

Cole, who had always taken such good care of her. She put her hand on the glass and smiled at him.

"I just need to hang on until Daryl and the others get back and then I'll be fine, okay?"

Jodie nodded worried.

"Take care of yourself and don't get infected. Everything's going to be okay," he said and had a violent coughing fit. Jodie watched him worried and when he had calmed down somewhat, he smiled again.

"Don't worry, Jodie."

She nodded carefully. But she was not reassured. Not at all. She waved to him one last time as she disappeared from the cell block before she went to her cell and collapsed on the bed for a moment.

"Please, make Daryl come back soon. Please, make Cole feel better soon. That he doesn't die, that he gets better soon," Jodie pleaded in thought. To whom, she did not know. God, rather not, since she hadn't believed in him for a long time.

Jodie took a deep breath and then ran. She had to do something. She had to go hunting now. Distract herself.

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In the forest, Jodie didn't take long to pick up the scent of a rabbit. As she followed the scent, her thoughts inevitably went back to the day she met Cole again after a long time. After her camp had been overrun by walkers.

Jodie shook off her thoughts at first and concentrated on hunting. Just like Daryl had explained it to her.

"No matter what you're doing, when you hunt, you have to be there with all your senses. Or you will be the one being hunted."

So she focused and kept following the trail. In fact, she quickly found the rabbit and killed it. She searched even further and shot two more squirrels. That wasn't much, but it had to be enough, because she didn't have much time left until sunset.

While she was making her way back to the prison, her thoughts returned to Cole. When he had found her then. Him and his buddies Mac and David. After Melvin and Kelly...

The reunion would have been more likely to have been more beautiful if the circumstances hadn't been so unfortunate.

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Jodie had been on her own for weeks. She had hidden in houses now and then, eating, sleeping, taking care of herself when she was hurt. But so far she hadn't been able to keep her promise to Kelly, even though she hadn't forgotten.

She had to find a group, a community and try to survive there. To be able to live again.

But so far she had not met any other survivors. Sometimes Jodie really believed that she was the last and only survivor in this world. Since a few days, however, she was back in the forest. There she slept in forest cabins or on trees. Although there were certainly safer and more comfortable places to sleep, Jodie felt most comfortable there. The forest was quiet and loud at the same time. It felt like a sanctuary, because it didn't matter if it was an apocalypse or not always peaceful. Houses and streets had changed after the collapse. The forest hadn't changed.

But that didn't help Jodie. Although she had never needed many people around her. Now she had no one. And she felt incredibly lonely. Being alone had its advantages. She didn't have to worry about feeding a second mouth. She didn't have to worry about someone else if you got separated. She didn't have to trust anyone else and could play by her own rules. But being alone also had its disadvantages. Jodie always had to sleep with one eye open, she was on her own, she had to survive alone and she had no one to talk to. Even if she could talk. And being alone over a long period of time also drove her crazy.

And she missed her people. Her mom, Marsha and Cindy, Cole, even Clara, her annoying stepsister, she missed a bit.

Jodie was woken by screams. The screams were not far away from her and sounded very human. Cries for help.

Jodie threw her backpack over her head, climbed down from the tree and ran. Toward the screams. No matter if they were good or bad people, Jodie instinctively wanted to help. So she pulled out her knife and kept running towards the screams.

When she finally reached the spot, she saw a horrible sight. There were at least twelve walkers in front of her, jumping on three people. Since the walkers turned their backs on her and the people were between her and the herd, Jodie could not tell what kind of people they were. But it didn't matter. She simply stabbed the backs of the walkers' heads from behind. Killing one by one until she and the other people had defeated the small herd. Breathing heavily, Jodie stood there, looking at the bodies around her until a voice made her look up.

"Jodie?"

She looked around at the people. Cole stood in front of her, a bloody machete in his hand and Mac and David from the camp to his left and right.

Smiling with relief, Cole walked up to her and held her tightly in his arms. At first, Jodie was so overwhelmed that she didn't react at all, but then she returned the hug, nestled her face firmly in his shoulder and clung to him.

Cole held her for quite a while, whispering reassuring words in her ear before he let go and looked at her again.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Were you bitten?" he asked.

She shook her head and Mac and David hugged her briefly, too. Then they set off together, without saying another word, for a place to stay.

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Jodie saw the walls of the prison appear behind the treetops. Now she had a family. She had kept her promise to Kelly.

She didn't believe in fate, but if there was such a thing, maybe it had wanted Jodie to be not alone after all.

In the yard, she gutted the animals and pulled the fur off their bodies. She noticed a movement from the corner of her eye. She saw Rick standing by the water barrel with Carol and seemed to be talking seriously. Jodie was standing too far away from them to understand, but instinctively she felt it was something important. She saw Carol walking away from the water barrel and Rick looking after her.

Long and worried. As if he feared something. Carol stopped for a moment, turned to Rick and seemed to give him a short answer before finally leaving the yard. Whatever they had said, Rick seemed shocked by it.

Jodie pulled her eyebrows together. Something was not right. She went over to Rick, pointed to the door behind which Carol had disappeared and then to him. She looked at him questioningly. What was going on?

"It's okay, Jodie. Nothing that concerns you or the others, okay?" he reassured her with a smile, but Jodie still saw concern flashing in his eyes. Still she nodded hesitantly.

*************************************

Of course everything was not all right. Jodie had noticed it when Rick had gone with Carol on a supply run and then came back alone. Carol was not dead. But she was gone. And Jodie had the feeling that it had something to do with the conversation between her and Rick.

When Daryl and the others came back, he finally told her. They had finally found medicine that made the others better. Jodie had helped to treat the others who were sick and had gone to her cell. Daryl had finally gotten to her cell while Jodie read a book that Glenn had brought her.

She looked up as he appeared at her cell door and watched her for a moment. Questioningly, she knitted her eyebrows. That worried, sad look was familiar to her.

"What is it?", she asked with her eyes. Daryl lowered himself onto the narrow bed next to her.

"You know what happened, don't you?" he asked quietly. She sat down beside him and looked at him worried.

"I don't understand," said her confused look.

"You know that Karen and David are dead," Daryl asked. Jodie nodded. Although Rick and the other few who knew had wanted to keep it a secret, Jodie had figured it out anyway, of course.

"Carol did it. She...she thought it would help her kill the disease. It didn't, but... she meant well. Rick...sent her away," he reported reluctantly.

Jodie looked at him from the side. He seemed broken, endlessly sad. She had rarely seen him like that. Since she didn't know what else to do, she simply hugged him from the side and cuddled her face soothingly against his chest. Daryl did nothing for a moment before he freed one arm from her embrace and pressed her firmly to himself as well.

"Daryl?" Rick appeared in the cell door.

"Tyreese wants to show us something, he thinks he found evidence of Karen and David's death," he said.

Daryl growled approvingly and broke away from the hug. Rick nodded at Jodie with a gentle smile and went ahead. Daryl followed him but stopped at the door again.

"We found dead mice by the fence. Someone was feeding the walkers. So be careful who you trust. There may be others among us who have something to hide," he said. His look was serious and penetrating.

Jodie returned his gaze calmly.

"Promise me. Promise me you'll always be careful, okay?", Daryl suddenly growled urgently.

Jodie nodded intimidated yet brave.

Daryl nodded as well when he saw her approval.

"Get some rest. There's a lot to do tomorrow."

Jodie nodded and watched him leave the cell. Had she known that this was the last time she would see him like this for a while, I'm sure she would have said goodbye to him in a very different way.

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Another chapter is up, I hope you like it. Leave a vote or comment, if you like.

Love, Liz;)