Hedley woke up first and saw Carl tucked into his side still sleeping. Hedley would've laid there forever with him but his stomach growled with hunger. So he slipped out from Carl's grip, covered his boyfriend's naked body with the blanket, gave him a kiss on the head before getting up and dressed. He took his backpack and crossbow, slinging it over his shoulder then ventured out onto the beach. He wiggled his toes in the sand. He liked the feeling. It soothed him.

He saw Connie and her group reeling in nets from the water and went over, only to see his dad and Dog in the distance also making their way over.

Daryl waved at Connie and Connie waved back. Daryl then spotted his kid coming and waved at him.

Hedley ran up to his dad. "You got any food? I'm starving."

Daryl chuckled before pulling out an apple from his jeans, giving it to Hedley. Hedley took it and bit into it gratefully. Daryl looked to Connie and Hedley noticed him watching her.

"Why don't you go say 'hi'?"

Daryl scoffed, "Nah. She's busy."

"I think she'll appreciate it."

"Stop. We've got business to deal with."

"What else is new?" Hedley huffed, walking back with his dad, "When are you going let yourself have something good?"

"I have you, don't I? And Dog."

"I mean something more." Hedley wolfed down the apple, "I mean love, Dad. When are you going to allow yourself to have that?"

Daryl said nothing. Instead he went to where Ezekiel was.

"You ever wonder why they call bird shit "guano"?" Ezekiel asked, looking up at the seagulls.

"Nah." Daryl responded. "I just call it bird shit."

"Yeah. Me, too."

Hedley spoke up after finishing his apple, "The word Guano derives from the Peruvian original language Quechua; of "Huano", which means "dung to fertilise". Guano is a highly effective fertiliser due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. Guano was also, to a lesser extent, sought for the production of gunpowder and other explosive materials."

"Maybe we should start collecting it then." Ezekiel chuckled then said, "You know somethin', when I worked in a zoo, birds used to scare the hell out of me. Lions, tigers, no problem. There's a kind of sense to the way big cats operate. But ostriches? Those things'll disembowel you for lookin' at 'em sideways."

"You gotta eat more birds, show 'em who's boss." Daryl suggested.

"Wonder what seagull tastes like." Ezekiel wondered, still looking up at the birds above.

"Not chicken." Daryl answered. Then Connie showed up on the dock with Dog beside her. Dog ran up to Daryl and the hunter started petting the dog and scratching his ears.

Connie tapped Daryl's shoulder, showing him her notepad. 'I think you lost something'.

"No." Then Daryl began to sign while talking, hand movements slow and heavy, "No. He. Just. Likes. You. Better."

She gave him an impressed look before writing something else. 'Not bad - You sign with a southern accent'.

"Really?" He looked almost in shameful disbelief which made Hedley laugh.

A ship came in and with it Carol hopped off, giving everyone a hug. Daryl lifted her up and made her chuckle.

Hedley stimmed with excitement and hugged her just as tightly.

"Hey! Let me in on this!" Carl's voice came through as he was suddenly there. Carol hugged him and when she let go, Carl went up to Hedley, pouting. "You left."

"I was hungry."

Carl laughed, "Are you still hungry?"

"Yes."

"Wanna go get something?"

They waved their goodbyes to the others before going off in the search for food, hand in hand and with a smile on their faces.

****

A fire broke out through the trees.

Everyone gathered to stop the flames.

"This is crazy. We can't do this."

"We don't have a choice."

"If we get caught on their side of the border, that's it, that's war!"

"It's a fire. Fires spread."

"It could burn through our hunting grounds. Or take out Oceanside."

"Michonne, are we doin' this?"

"We gotta go now."

"Let's go. Come on."

"Hedley!" Carl called over to his boyfriend, "I've gotta go help protect Judith and the kids!"

"Go! I'll help Dad and the others!" Hedley called back.

"Stay safe!" Carl yelled then ran out to where the kids and elderly were.

Hedley with his father, cut down trees and tried suffocating the flames using dirt.

"As soon as you clear your area, move to the ends. Keep digging. We've gotta get this done before the fire jumps spine!" Aaron shouted out.

It took all night to get the flames in somewhat control. The main thing they needed to do was to smother it but they were quickly losing energy and dirt. Also... the dead came in, attracted to the noise. A herd surrounded them.

Archers took out their weapons and fired their arrows.

But they soon ran out of ammo.

"Hedley!" Daryl called to his son, holding two axes. He threw one to Hedley, who caught it. The two Dixons swung their axes, killing Walker after Walker.

Half their group were busy smothering the flames while the other half were killing Walkers. The whole thing was chaos.

Daryl managed to throw the axe, hitting a tree that was covering in flames. It fell down on top of some walkers.

They fought. And fought. And fought.

Carol even used a Walker's own blood to put out a pit of flames.

When the fire was out, a lot of people were coughing up a lung and injured but no one was dead so they called it a win.

"Come on, come on. Pack up and move." Michonne called to her people.

"Let's go, let's go!" Aaron encouraged, "Eugene, let's go."

"I just need minutes." Eugene was too busy with the satellite that was just on fire.

"You get zero." Michonne sassed.

"Ten." He argued, "We should excavate and transport this satellite to our vehicles. I believe there may be invaluable technological implications for our communities if I'm able to retrieve any of the useful bits from inside."

"Oh, my God." She rolled her eyes, yelling out, "Yumiko, Luke, Magna, everybody, come on. We're helpin' with the satellite. Five minutes and out."

"Hey, uh, Eugenius, what about radiation, man?" Luke asked.

"Uh, there's radiation all around us. Certainly, there's radiation from space, but every one of us is already infected with some kinda nasty that changes us into epidermis Epicureans at point of R.I.P. I mean, I don't understand what you're talkin' about." Eugene looked so confused.

Luke patted his shoulder, "I got it, man. No one's gettin' superpowers today. I'm on it."

"Cuttin' into my minutes." Eugene muttered, unhappy, going back to looking at the satellite.

Hedley rushed over to where the kids and Carl were. He saw Carl with Judith on his hip and ran to them, wrapping his arms around both of them.

"Are you okay?" Carl asked quickly, face filled with worry, "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No. We're okay. The fire's out." Hedley replied, kissing Carl and Judith on the head. "You two okay?"

"We're good. Walkers came up but I took care of them."

Hedley took them back into his arms, just wanting to hold them a little bit longer.