How could she have known? How could she have seen it coming? You look back on things like this and you stare at your own stupidity because you knew then, looking back at the past, everything. She didn't know. And then, when she knew, didn't feel stupid. She felt angry.

She felt angry that not only was she, in the end wrong, but her goals would be a mistake. Something she should never have thought about.

If she had never thought about it, maybe people would have lived.

Whilst she thought selfishly that she could evolve, it would only put other people at risk.

Looking at herself, she grimaced at the constellation of cuts that stretched from her eyebrow down to her chin.

A trail of wounds that stung whenever she went near them.

She looked down to her arms as she stood naked in the bathroom.

Bruises were pressed into her skin, finger marks clearly evident. Looked to have the near force of a vice. Scratches followed them, indented marks and splotches of both her blood and someone else's.

She turned her hands over, to look at her nails which were coated with dried blood that clotted and the edges.

Gripping the basin of the sink, she pressed her forehead to the cold mirror. She breathed out deeply and hit her head against the mirror. Her head was already hurting and she just made it more painful.

Again, she hit her head.

She couldn't believe what she had done.

She wanted to scream, but the shower water fall wouldn't be loud enough to drown the sound. Her scream would be heard by Carl and it would wake him up.

She couldn't do that to him.

She needed a release.

She looked into her stormy eyes, her bottom lip wobbling.

She hadn't let herself cry for days.

She couldnt harm herself without it being more evident to everyone else that something was wrong.

She started breathing in and out quickly.

She was fighting for breath, and each one was a punch her injured side, which she gripped shakingly.

She felt like the floor was unstable, trapped in her own head while floating somewhere outside, looking back at herself, wondering, what she was doing.

She felt like her heart was locked in a cage, beating as hard as it could to break free. Like a boxing match was taking place inside her chest.

She gripped the sink so hard she thought her nails were going to unhinge.

Quickly, she turned on the shower and flopped into the bottom of the tub. Her head protested at the sudden movement.

She lay there waiting for a few moments as the sound of water churning water came closer. It didn't seem to come soon enough. She still lay there, floating in and out of her own reality.

Finally, the water came. It was freezing and caused her to intake a mouth full if it as she was shocked.

She turned on her side so it wasn't directly falling on her bare stomach.

Even as the water got hotter, she still hugged herself and her ribs ached a dull awful pain as she shook..

Her long-awaited tears mixed with the water. Streaming down her dirty cheeks. too long awaited. too long.

She thought about what she had done.

What Shane made her do, but she did anyway.

She could have stopped him, but all she thought at the time was that Carl would be safe.

But she never wanted to do that. What Shane had made her do.

What had she done?

+

"Lori did you... I mean it was legendary. Did you ever hear about the time Shane stoles Kingsley's car?"

"Yeah."

"The principal's car right out of the teacher's lot in the middle of the school day. Shane steps out of lunch and makes a beeline the Kingsley's Hyundai... Wires the ignition, peels out, drives down Dylan Drive to that chicken farm out there. You've heard this before, right? So he pulls out into one of the big holding pens. Kinglsey, he waxed that thing every month; had the auto shop vacuum it out every week. Shane, he parks it in this huge pen with a couple of hundred Rhode island reds. He busts open bags of seed in the back seat, rolls down all the windows, and then starts sprinting back to school. Its three miles away easy. He's back in time to finish his sandwich before the bell. And then the bell rings. Shane gets up and when he runs into Kingsley in the hallway he looks out the window and says, 'Principal Kinglsey, your coup's gone.' Coup, like chicken coop."

"I get it."

"Of course, you do. You've heard this story 1,000 times. What you said before, you're right. Shane's gonna' make it back with what the doctor needs. He'll make it back."

"Hershel said you need to eat."

"And... And Marley's with him. I don't know any story for her, but... She had no reason to go out there, but she did."

"Please, for me. You've got to keep your strength up."

"We don't know anything about her, what if she dies out there?"

"No, I do. She has looked after Carl like he was her little brother. I know... Definitely, that Marley would do anything for him. She's not going to die... She's too stubborn. But, rick, please, you need to eat."

"Carl's gonna' be all right?"

"Yes, Marley and Shane would never let anything happen to him."

+

Shane held her shoulders as she turned her back to the outside. Her breaths were shaky as she wobbled in his grasp.

She had to jump. And she had to do it quickly as the walkers were getting closer to Shane's back. The growls echoed throughout the gym.

Shane could see that strands of her sanity were slowly unravelling as this trip became longer. She was so scared, and it was clearly evident in her face at all times.

"Ready?" He asked. She nodded unsurely, but then her face turned to over his shoulder and gasped.

A walker began to grasp at Shane, its dirty nails clawing at his shirt.

He lost grip of the girl and she lost grip of his elbows.

Her figure descended from his view as she fell.

Shane watched as she tried to grasp for the wall, and her head came into contact with the brick. Shane heard evident scraping sounds and a thud as her limp and unconscious body crumbled to the ground.

She lay on her side, crimson liquid beginning to emerge from her scalp. Something that had happened to her before.

Shane only heard a desperate yelps as she fell.

He quickly shuffled out of the window, all whilst trying to get the walker away from himself.

He held onto the window sill. The dead corpse still tried to take a bite at him. Shane punched it repeatedly, before reaching into his holster and taking his gun.

As he shot at it, the walker let go and therefore Shane fell just like Marley had done.

His arms waved in the air and he landed on his ankle, sending a snap sound through the air.

He groaned in pain, holding his breathe for a moment to deal with the aching pain that shot through his foot.

He crawled over to Marley's limp body, carefully turning her onto her back and taking her face into his large hands.

"Hey. Hey, Marls we need to go now, so please wake up."

He gently patted her face and sure enough her eyes started to flutter open.

He took the pads of his fingers and traced away the blood from her grazes as she came about to her senses.

"Wh- what happened?" She said confusedly. Her eyesight was blurry as she squinted at the figure above her.

She tried to get up, but her ribs protested at the sudden movement.

"You gotta be careful," Shane said in a stern but caring voice.

He held one of his hands over her left ribs as he helped her get up.

She didn't have the best balance, and Shane was now limping from his injured ankle.

"What happened, Shane?"

"You fell, I screwed up my ankle, now we gotta go."

They both picked up their bags from the floor and hooked each others arms around each other.

All hateful feelings towards Shane flew out the window as the need for survival mixed with a rush of adrenaline accelerated Marley on her quest to save Carl.

Her young sir was back in her head, and that was all she needed to get going. Despite her vision being blurry and it felt like someone had stabbed her in the temple. That mixed with the neat incapability to breathe.

They both stopped stumbling down the alley as they heard gunshots come from the opposite direction.

They looked at each other quickly and followed the sounds.

Both injured, but both determined.

+

Glenn and T-Dog stepped out of the Cherokee and into the dark night.

Glenn, unsure, held the shotgun in his hands, walking up to the porch next to shivering T-Dog.

He was excited to see that zorro girl that he saw earlier. As well as discovering her name. All he knew was her last name; Greene. He reminisced how she came in on her chestnut horse like a leaf on the wind. Swooping up Lori and saying words that could somehow shut stubborn Daryl up.

He did wonder what, 'Ariel says it's okay,' meant. He was going to ask Marley what it did mean, as she was surely in the house he was approaching.

Light overcast his face, and he discovered the spots of blood that trailed up the stairs to the front door. He stopped in his tracks, analysing them. He felt slightly sick.

"So do we ring the bell?" he nervously suggested, turning to look at the paling T-Dog. "I mean it looks like people live here."

"We're past this kind of stuff, aren't we?" T-Dog wheezed in response, taking the lead and clambering up the stairs. The pain in his arm made him considerably more open to being rude. "Having to be considerate."

Their feet stopped as a voice spoke up. "Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?"

Glenn spotted the girl curled up in a rocking chair and deciphered that it was the zorro girl.

"Uh, hi." he stuttered. "Yes, we closed it. Did the latch and everything."

The girl uncurled herself and looked at them both as she placed her elbows on her knees.

"Hello. Nice to see you again." Glenn spoke with more confidence as he bowed his head in respect, and also that he had a gentleman streak inside of him. "We met before briefly."

T-Dog rolled his eyes at Glenn's teen-like attempt at getting on the girl's good side and spoke up, impatiently. "Look, we came to help. There anything we can do?"

He winced at the end of his sentence, and an approaching Maggie looked cautiously at his bandaged forearm.

"It's not a bite," he assured. "I cut myself pretty bad, though."

Maggie sighed at the number of injuries the group was bringing to her doorstep. "We'll have it looked at. I'll tell them you're here."

Glenn hurriedly opened up his bag and took out the pills Daryl had previously given him. Maggie accepted them graciously and led them both inside, offering to make them something to eat.

+

Shane guided the dizzy girl beside a brick wall, staying quiet as possible.

Her vision shifted in and out of blurriness, and she wasn't sure she could go on any longer without collapsing.

Both of them held their guns carefully in their hands, taking every step cautiously towards the front of the high school. Shane hissed with each step and Marley wheezed with every intake of breath.

Around one corner, a walker strolled eagerly towards them and Shane took his arm away from Marley to shoot it down. His gunshot pierced the girl's ears and she winced at the harsh sound.

More walkers started approaching from different angles. Some from their front and some from their left. Shane and Marley embraced each other again and continued stumbling. Both appearing like broken rag dolls.

The adrenaline rush their injuries gave them earlier had worn off, and now they were running on empty.

Marley pointed her gun at one of the walkers and blindly fired. It went straight through its neck, squirting a brown liquid onto its body and to the floor. She fired again, hitting the one next to it in the middle of its forehead and sending it to the ground. The gun which held seven rounds only had two bullets left, and she had the lost the other gun whilst she was running for her life. She aimed for the walker she had shot in the neck again and shot again. This time, it got hit in the shoulder. Every time she tried to shoot, her head ached and her vision turned double. The slight recoil would shudder through her ribs and she tried everything in her power to not cry out in pain.

Her and Shane lay against the wire fence, both of them with only one bullet left. The fence on their backs caved in as the corpses grasped through it. Snarls and heavy human breaths were all that they could hear.

It seemed that their hope was slowly descending into a dark hole called hell. Marley was sure that she was going there if she believed in the concept of heaven or hell. All that they had worked towards, all that she had worked towards... was being tested then and there. Was it all worth it, to just die there and not even fulfill the mission of saving someone she held so close to her heart?

Shane and Marley stood beside each other, wobbling on their feet, ready for anything. A 7-inch height difference between them, but the same amount of determination.

They lifted up their guns, walkers being two-to-one between them both.

Just then, a gunshot rang through the air when neither of them had shot a bullet. The walker tumbled to the ground and revealed a much awaited Otis, holding up his rifle.

Both Marley and Shane gaped at him in surprise as they had both nearly forgotten about him. He shot another one expertly.

Marley took down the one that nearly grasped her neck and Shane took down the other.

Shane looked over to the shorter girl and checked her over, making sure that she could walk by herself. His ankle was in sever pain and he noted that speed was the best option at that point.

In his brain, he was unknowingly calculating who would be most likely to survive the situation. At least one of them needed to get out alive and get back to the farm.

Otis took the extra bag from Shane's shoulders, putting it on his own.

"Man, I thought I'd lost you," he gasped, becoming more tired due to the constant limping. Even, though, speed was important to him, he held Marley close to him. He had a sense in him that didn't want Otis to touch her. The dominant streak coming out of him.

"That was my last rifle round," Otis admitted, taking heavy breaths that mirrored Marley's.

"Mine too."

"Mine too," Marley spoke up. She leant into Shane, slowly losing herself as the minutes went on and she used up her energy.

The team of three, still determined as ever, kept going forwards.

+

Patricia had offered to stitch up T-Dogs arm, and as she gathered the supplies, the two men had some questions. They noticed that neither Shane or Marley were present at Carl's bedside. They were considered close to him, so it was quite strange to not see them leaning over Carl in sorrow just like his parents.

"Uh," Glenn started, looking at Maggie. He was happy to have learned her name. "Where's Shane and Marley. Marley's the short redhead and Shane's..."

"Yeah, I know," Maggie stopped him. They were in the kitchen and she was making them something to drink. "They went to get medical supplies for that boy in there, with Otis."

"Oh..."

T-Dog furrowed his eyebrows. "Marley? The bony nerd went on an actual supply run, with Shane?"

"Bony nerd?" Maggie chuckled.

"Well, I'll be damned she's actually doing something." Glenn scowled at T-Dogs remark, but he put his good arm up in defense. "Nah, I'm proud."

T-Dog walked into the living room to drink his beverage whilst Maggie and Glenn remained in the kitchen.

"Bony nerd?" Maggie repeated.

"She just... Uh? Never went on supply runs and stuff."

"So that's who she turned into," Maggie whispered to herself as she followed T-Dog into the living room.

Glenn was confused as to what she meant.

This new information to him made him even more worried for the girl he liked. But that stint in the CDC made him so angry towards her. He felt betrayed, when really, all she did was get drunk.

He did think to himself, 'she doesn't remember'.

She had clearly stated that she didn't know why he was mad at her, so he couldn't really hold it against her.

But now he had seen the zoro horse girl and everything seemed to have changed. Something about Maggie had intrigued him in a way that Marley had done previously but to a more serious extent. Marley was like a high school crush and Maggie was the one you see from across a room and something about her turns your inner compass towards her.

Glenn followed Maggie into the living room. Holding the cup in his hands.

+

Rick and Lori held onto each other. Their eyes trained on the scalpel hovering over their sons bruised abdomen.

They were ordered to step out, but a sudden and hopefully noise made them leave the room even quicker as they heard the low rumble of an engine.

Otis's truck.

Rick, Lori, Glenn, Hershel, Maggie and T-Dog all stepped out into the night and came to see Shane hurriedly getting out and taking two bags with him.

A small figure also approached, the descending group with her own bag in her small arms. Her red hair, backlit by the cars blaring headlights, coloured the black night.

"Carl?" They both wheezed in unison and exhaustion. Both held their eyes wide and their mouths gaped open taking in sharp breaths.

"There's still a chance," rick comforted them both.

Shane handed a bag to Hershel and a bag to Glenn. Marley also gave her bag to an eyeful Glenn. He watched her cautiously as she avoided everyone's gaze like a scolded dog.

"Otis?" Hershel enquired, noticing that his old friend was nowhere to be seen.

Neither Shane or Marley answered, which was a whole answer in itself.

Hershel ordered noone to tell the now widow waiting inside, and he took Glenn with him as he went back inside to operate on the little boy.

Rick tightly embraced his partner, who still held a guarded and scared look behind his eyes.

"They kept blocking us at every turn," Shane started to explain, looking over to Marley who started to slowly approach the house in order to get away. She held her arms around herself as she shivered in the slightly chilled air.

"We had nothing left. We were down to 10 rounds. The he said -- he said he'd cover us both and that we should keep going. So that's what we did." Shane whimpered and kept looking to the girl who had now stopped in her tracks and had turned to look straight back at him.

"We kept going... But I--" he took a sharp intake of breath. "I looked back... And he." Shane shook his head and looked near close to tears by the end of his story.

Of course, Marley knew the truth. About what they had done, but she didn't fully comprehend. That what she had done was basically murder.

She retreated into the household, leaving the group of people outside and into the warmth. The place was a lot more comforting than what she had seen that night.

Glenn rounded a corner and saw the 20-year-old starting to sit down on the sofa. When she fully did, he slowly approached the one opposite her.

As he sat down, she didn't seem the have noticed him.

"Marley?" He spoke out. He was her twitch at the mention of her name, but she didn't look to have any response conjuring up inside her.

"Marley, I forgive you," he said carefully.

She looked up from the floor and into his eyes. He had forgiven her and that was making her quite happy. The ghost of a smile played on her lips only for a moment before disappearing.

"Its okay," Glenn assured, eyeing the scratches that were poking out from her sleeves.

"No... Its not," she said quietly back.

Glenn took a moment to think of what to say next.

"What happened?"

The three soldiers were moving at a slow pace towards where their getaway car was parked.

They all stated how many rounds they had. With Marley having none. She focused on staying upright, and balanced. At times, she would slowly veer left for a moment before regaining her balance and keeping more focused.

Walkers trailed after them in immense numbers. It was nothing compared to the he'd they witnessed on the highway. This was full of roamers, not drifters.

These walkers saw their food and were adamant to feed.

Shane and Otis repeatedly shot at them, using up their limited bullets time and time again. It was useless, they weren't making a dent.

Shane was limping, both Otis and Marley could hardly breathe and an overall sense of hopelessness washed over them.

Both Otis and Shane were down to their last. They slowed up their pace and looked at each other.

Marley, who was in front, stopped and turned to look at them both.

"I'm sorry," Shane said.

Otis lifted an eyebrow at this but before he knew it, a bullet flew through his shin and he collapelsed to the floor.

Shane had shot him.

At this point, it was survival of the fittest.

Shane grabbed the bag from Otis and attempted to pull it off of him.

Marley stood glued to her spot as she witnessed something similar to the behaviour of wild animals.

A mix of emotions spread through her veins and at that moment found her mind making irrational decisions.

Otis pulled Shane to the ground and Marley sprinted into action.

She grabbed a hold of the straps and started pulling herself, but then Otis turned against her, naturally and clawed at her arms.

She got angry and screamed in his face as his nails scraped her skin and his hands tightly grasped her arms, squeezing the bones in her wrists.

Shane kicked at Otis yelling him to give the bag to him.

It was a mess of limbs and screams of pain as Otis declared he was going to kill them both.

Otis let go of Marley who still kept a good hold of the bags straps. Her ribs were now a scrambled ball of a different kind of pain.

Otis grasped Shane's hair and pulled out a chunk, before trying the aim and fire at his head but failing.

Marley writhed the gun from Otis' fingers and Shane was then able to take the bag away from him.

Shane and Marley; victors. Held onto each other, occasionally looking back at the screaming peace of bait that still reached out to them.

All the pain that the two of them had endured that night didn't amount to how much Otis was experiencing in that moment.

Shane Walsh and Marley Van Allan had left Otis for dead. Essentially murdered the man.

That's what she had done.

+

Omg. Guyz. That was 4015 words long.

This is my longest chapter to date.

I did a whole frickin episode in one chapter.

Like wtf is up with me.

This has been like my fav chapter to write.

Anyway, I'm starting my first year of college on tommorow so this should settle you for a while. Updates may become slower, but I'll do my best.

Also a shoutout to TheWalkingWinchester who is the first person to use a ship name for Marley and Daryl.

It is officially...

DARLEY

Like #darley

I used to call it MARYL but that just sounds lame tbh.

Omg daryl has not been present for two chapters fml.

Just a lotta cutie pie Glenn and Shane too. like srsly this is a Daryl fanfc

I'd love for y'all to give me some questions I'd love to answer them.

thank you for the lovely comments.

- sylar