Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead.

This is the last chapter of Like a Moth to a Flame. Hope you guys have enjoyed it and thank you all for reading.

CHAPTER TEN

I sit on the couch bouncing Gracie on my knees, while Haylee is curled up into my side with Anna next to her. We all are sitting in the living room, waiting for the guys to get back. "I'm going after them." Andrea said from next to me before getting up from the couch.

"Don't, they can be anywhere. And if Randall comes back we're going to need you." Lori tells her, I see Anna flinching at that, so I reach over and brush her hair back, she looks at me and relaxes a little.

I look up hearing the door opening, Jack comes in first followed by Daryl and Glenn. Sighing I get up and walk over to him. Haylee runs passed me, Daryl bends down and picks her up before looking around. "Rick and Shane ain't back?" He asks when I reach his side, he leans down and kisses Gracie on her head while looking me in the eyes, and I shake my head.

"No." Lori tells him, she is a nervous wreck right now. "We heard gunshots." Glenn said looking around at us. "Maybe they found Randall." Lori said come up and standing near us. "We found him." Daryl says looking straight at me, I can tell something is wrong.

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asks him, he looks away from me, yeah something is wrong. "He's a walker." Daryl tells us and I pull Gracie tighter against me and stand closer to his side. "Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel asks them, as Anna gets up from the couch and makes her way to us.

"No the weird thing is he wasn't bit." Glenn says looking only at Maggie. "His neck was broke." Daryl said as I pull Anna to my side, she wraps her arms around my waist looking at everyone.

"So he fought back?" Patricia asks standing over by Hershel and Beth. "The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him, they were together." Daryl tells us while re-adjusting Haylee, who has a death grip on him.

Lori walks in front of us, breathing in deep. "Would you please go back out there and find Rick and Shane? And find out what on earth is going on?" Lori asks him and he looks over at me and I nod to him. "You got it." He said looking back to Lori. "Thank you." She said before walking off as Jack comes up and tries to grab Haylee but she just tightens her grip and buries her face into his neck.

"Hey, it will be all right. I'll be right back, got to be a big girl for me ok." Daryl whispers to her and she looks up at him, her bottom lip pouting, but she nods anyway and goes to Jack. Daryl looks at me and kisses me. "I will be right back." He whispers to me. "You better." I whisper back, he smirks before walking off with Glenn and Andrea right behind him.

I set Gracie down on the couch next to Haylee, its pass her bed time. I turn around when I hear the door slamming open. Daryl comes storming in the room. "Go pack your stuff now!" He snaps walking over to me. "Why what's wrong?" I ask him as I walk towards him.

"There's a herd of walkers, we need to leave." When he said this, everyone starts to panic. I stay inside with the girls as the others go outside. "Pack now." He demands before he leaves the house. I turn around to see Haylee and Anna are both terrified, my mind is racing.

"Ok Jack, stay here with the girls, Anna come with me." I tell them, Jack stands there trying to comfort Haylee. When Anna gets off the couch, we both race up the stairs and to our room, our bags are all packed and we didn't bring much in, so we grab the three bags and I was about to leave the room when I stop and walk over to the window to look outside.

To my horror, I see all the walkers that were coming out of the trees. I look away and walk towards the door, pushing Anna out of the room. We were almost to the stairs, when Lori comes out of her room looking frantic. "Carl's not here." She said before running down stairs.

I leave Anna and I go into the room and look under the bed and in the closet to see nothing. I was about to shut the closet door, when I see a stack of family albums, on the top shelf. I hurry and grab them and quickly shove them in to my bag, zipping it closed.

I then throw it over my shoulder and leave the room, grabbing Anna's hand and we run down the stairs. Jack takes the bag off my shoulder and I pick up Gracie wrapping a blanket around her. She wakes up and is now crying. Jack picks up Haylee who started crying but wraps her arms around him anyway while Anna was just stands there frightened.

Lori and Carol come running in and starts running around the house, looking for Carl. We just stand there with Beth and Patricia not sure what to do. "We need to leave Emily. We need to leave now!" Jack yells and it snaps me out of the mild shock that I was in. "Ok, ok you stay right on my ass. You get in the back seat with the girls all right." I tell him and he nods his head.

Carol then comes back into the house. "Emily, Patricia, we need to leave now." She yells to us and we run to the door. I was at the door when I look down and see the go-bag that I packed earlier.

I pick it up and throw it over my shoulder before following Beth outside. Anna is right behind me and Jack and Haylee behind her, she is clinging to the back of my shirt, sobbing. I unclip my gun and take the safety off and we make our way down the front steps.

Lori, Carol, Patricia and Beth go around to the side of the house to get to the other cars. We have no problems making it to the car. I open the back door and Anna hurries and climbs in taking a screaming Gracie from me and I move back so Jack can climb in.

I shut the door after he sits down with Haylee. I see Hershel shooting walkers with a shot gun a little a ways from me. "Hershel! Hershel come on!" I scream at him, moving towards the front of my car.

"No just go! Just get out of here!" He yells back at me still shooting. I look away and head to the driver side, shooting two walkers that are close by.

I quickly open the door and throw the bags into the passenger seat before climbing in and shutting the door behind me. I set my gun down in the cup holder and reach for the keys.

"Shit!" My hands are so shaky that I drop the keys, I bend down and start searching for them, were the hell did they go.

"EMILY!" Jack yells and I look up and to see that walkers are starting to surround the car. I feel the keys and sit up and quickly start the car, throwing it in drive and taking off. "Put you seatbelts on!" I yell to them as I swerve out of the way of several walkers, trying not to hit any, I don't want to damage the car.

I am almost off the farm when I see headlights coming up behind me. "Who is it?" I yell swerving away from another walker. "I think it's Rick." Anna tells me holding on to Haylee, after Jack takes Gracie from her and starts fastening their seatbelts. I just nod my head trying not to cry, the girls are still crying but Jack is starting to calm them down, just barely.

When I finally get onto the open road, I take my right hand off of the wheel and reach back and they all grab onto my hand, holding tight.

The sun is just coming up when I start to slow down, Rick pulls up next to me and I roll down my window. I sigh and take a deep breath when I see Carl seating in the front seat and Hershel in the back. "You guys ok?" Rick asks and I could only nod, afraid that if I start talking, I'll start crying.

"We are going to the highway, just follow me alright." He tells me, I just look at him and nod and roll up my window again. He takes off and I follow him. My hands starting to hurt from how hard I'm griping the steering wheel.

The girls are fast asleep by the time we reach the highway, we take the back roads all the way there. I look in the review mirror at them, Jack is awake and staring outside the window and Anna is fighting to stay awake. I look back to the road and I start to slow down, weaving in and out of all the abandoned cars that line the highway.

I pull up and stop right behind him and turn off the car. "How about you guys stay in here ok." I said looking back at them, Anna just nods, wiping a few stay tears from her cheeks, Jack just stares out the window, while holding a sleeping Gracie.

I grab my gun before opening the door and climb out and make my way over to the guys. "Wait, where's mom?" I holster my gun as I walk up to them hearing Carl. "You said she'd be here. We got to go back for her." Carl said and I had to look away from him.

"Carl…" Rick whispers bending down to him. "No why are we running? What are you doing? It is mom." He starts yelling. "Please… its mom." He whispers to Rick, who looks like he is barely holding it together. "Look Carl, listen…" He tries to say but Carl pushes away from him.

"No." He said before walking away, I hold up my hand to Rick who was about to follow him. I turn and walk around Hershel's truck and go to Carl, who is just looking at the ground.

I take a deep breath before I start talking. "I'm not gonna promise you that she is fine." He looked up at me confused and sad, then a little angry. "Can't keep treating you guys like kids forever…" I tell him crouching down, so that we were more eye to eye. I look him strait in his eyes, I pull his face back when he tries to look away.

"I can promise you, that your mom will do everything she possible can to get back to you and your dad, all right." I tell him. "All right?" I ask, making sure that he understands what I am saying. "Yeah, your right." He whispers before looking away and wiping his eyes.

I stand up when Rick walks over, he nods a thank you and I just give him a small smile, as Carl walks away from us but still in eye sight. "What do we do?" I ask him crossing my arms, it is starting to get cold.

"We are going to wait for a while. After that I … I honestly haven't thought that far." He tells me, and I look back at my car seeing Jack looking at us, I give him a small smile which he returns.

Carl quickly runs up to us, pointing to a walker that is coming over. I point down to Jack, who ducks his head as Rick pulls me around the front of the truck. We hide behind it as the walker starts to pass. I have a hand on Carl's shoulder and Hershel is touching mine, as we wait for the lone walker to pass by.

"Ok, come, come, come." Rick whispers and we move more towards the back. We all look through the back window and through the windshield to watch the walker… well walk away.

"I don't know how much longer we can stay here." Hershel whispers as Rick turns around to us, while I kept an eye on the walker. "I'm not leaving without mom." Carl whispers and I pull him back closer to me.

"So we are just gonna walk away, not knowing if my wife… your girls are still out there? How do we live with that?" Rick asks Hershel and I look down closing my eyes thinking about Daryl. I squeeze my eyes tighter, trying not to cry, taking a shaky breath. I open them and look back at Hershel.

"You've only got one concern now … just one… keeping him alive. Nature maybe throwing us a curve ball but that is still true." I look away from him and to my car seeing both Anna and Jack were looking through the front seats at us.

"Carl… it's not safe here. I'm sorry." Rick whispers crouching down to Carl who started sobbing. "We'll…" He stops and looks behind him, I look up hearing a motorcycle approaching. I push away from the truck and Rick grabs my side, steading me as Daryl and Carol, come riding up.

I cover my mouth and start crying when I see him, he looks just at relived as I feel at that moment. I start crying more when I see Glenn and T-dog driving up behind him.

I run around and to the front of the truck and throw my arms around him before he even can turn the bike off. I cry into his shoulder and grab Carol's hand as he turns off the bike, just as the others pull up. I let go so that they can get off, but once he climbs off he pulls me to him and hugs me so tight and I cling to the back of his vest.

I could hear the others crying and laughing hugging their family, I try to get my crying under control. "Are the kids ok?" He whispers and I look up at him and nod smiling, not trusting myself to talk just yet. He smiles at me and wipes the tears off my cheeks, before kissing me like he has never kissed me before. He pulls away and leans his forehead to mine and we just hold onto each other.

I can hear doors opening and closing and hurried footsteps running over to us. Anna and Jack come around the truck and run to us, Daryl and I open are arms as Anna comes crying throwing her arms around us both, Jack close behind. "They're still asleep." Jack whispers to us, Daryl puts a hand on the back of Jacks head and pulls us closer to him.

After a moment we pull away and Jack stands next to me on one side and Daryl on the other, as I hold Anna to me. "Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asks them looking around. "Well this guys' tail lights zigzagging all over the road, figured he had to be Asian, driving like that." Daryl jokses looking to Glenn with his arm still around me. "Good one." Glenn chuckles shaking his head.

"Where is everyone else?" Carol asks looking around, I look to see some missing faces. "Were the only one that made it so far." Rick says looking down to Lori and Carl who are hugging, kneeling on the ground. "Shane?" Lori asks standing up, still holding onto Carl. Rick looks at her and just shakes his head.

"Andrea?" Glenn asks and I look around seeing her not there, I look down at Anna, who has her eyes closed while leaning her head against me. "She saved me then I lost her." Carol told us standing on the other side of Daryl, I start running my finger through Anna's hair feeling her relax a little.

"We saw her go down." T-dog tells us hanging off of the blue trucks door. "Patricia?" Hershel asks holding on to Beth and Maggie. Beth pulls away and looks up at him. "They got her, too. Took her right from me, I was… I was holding onto her daddy she just…" Beth tells him before sobbing again, she then looks around at all of us.

"What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?" She asks lifting her head up. "He was in the RV, it got overrun." Rick tells her and she starts crying again, are group is just getting smaller and smaller.

"You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol asks, Jack leans back and cross his arms, I can see that he is trying very hard not to cry. "There were walkers everywhere." Lori said looking around, she probably not really sure what she saw, I don't think any of us are.

"Did you see her?" Carol asks again and Daryl starts to pull away from me. "I'm gonna go back." He said and I grab his arm and he looks back at me. "No." I tell him holding his arm tighter. "No." Rick tells him too while moving a bit closer to us. "We can't just leave her." Daryl said moving back closer to me, so I let go of him slightly, still afraid he will pull away and leave.

"We don't even know if she is there." Lori said pulling Carl closer to her. "She isn't there. She isn't. She somewhere else or she's dead, there's no way to find her." Rick said turning around looking at everyone.

"So we're not even gonna look for her?" Glenn asks looking a bit confused, I had to look away. I know I'm being selfish not wanting to go look for her and I pray that she is ok but I can't lose him, I just can't go through that again.

"We've got to keep moving, there have been walkers crawling all over here." Rick tells everyone when he spots the walker that we hid from earlier. "I say head east." T-dog said looking around at us.

Daryl pulls away from me and walks to his bike grabbing his crossbow. "Stay off the main roads. The bigger the road, the more walkers, more assholes like this one... I got him." He said pulling the trigger, hitting the walker right in the eye.

"Ok we need to get moving, try and find some where to stay the night." Rick tells us moving around, probably trying to think of a place. "We should siphon the rest of the gas in this truck, it won't be running for much longer, with it being all banged up." T-dog says shutting the door, Rick just nods his head. "We should scavenge up some supplies, real quick too." I tell them looking around at all the cars.

"All right get to it and do it quickly so we can get on the road." We all scatter and went to work after Rick said that. Carol and I pack up the supplies that we had left for Sophia, before going around and searching the cars real quick seeing as how Hershel, Maggie and Beth didnt have time to pack any of thier own clothes.

Jack and Anna start helping Lori and Carl go through some cars nearby, as I walk to my car with a full bag of food and drinks, and a few blankets. I open the trunk and put the stuff away. I pull out the girls' car seats and carry them to the side after shutting the truck.

I turn to see Daryl walking up with a pink duffle bag completely stuffed. I set the car seats down when he reaches me. "Found some stuff for the girls, looked like it would fit them." He said nodding his head to the car.

I smile at him and turn and open the back door, seeing that Haylee is awake and sitting there. She starts crying when she sees him, so he drops the bag and walks up to us, picking her up and starts rubbing her back as she cries into his shoulder.

I start sobbing looking at them and he pulls me to him letting me cry again. I pull away and rubbing my face trying to get myself to stop crying, I pick up Haylee's car seat and start strapping it in. when I'm done I pick up the bag he brought me and set it on the floor so that it will be under Haylee's feet.

I shut the door and pick up Gracie's car seat and make my way to the other side Daryl following, Haylee has stopped crying and is back to sleep. I slowly open the door and pick up Gracie, who is still a sleep.

I set her down on the driver seat and Daryl stands there so that she won't fall. I quickly strap the car seat in as Jack and Anna come back to the car each carrying a box of stuff that we will go through later. I open the trunk for them and help Anna put the box away that she was carrying.

"Look I found you a sweatshirt." She said lifting it up to show me, to was a thick black sweatshirt. I laugh and I take it from her seeing that it is actually clean so I put it on and we laugh at how huge it is on me. I roll my eyes and shut the trunk I can see every starting to pack up and get in the cars.

Jack takes Haylee from Daryl, and he takes her around the front so he can put her in her car seat. I sit in the back as Daryl picks up Gracie, trying not to wake her and we maneuver her around and I set her down and start strapping her in. He leans his head on my shoulder gripping my leg, tightly.

I finish strapping her in and turn towards him he grabs the back of my head and kisses me almost desperately. He pulls away rubbing his eyes and takes a deep breath before making his way to his bike.

I look back to see Jack giving me a small smile, before clicking the last strap and Haylee's car seat and shutting the door. I climb out and help Anna in before getting in and sitting behind the wheel.

I move the bags into the back seat under Gracie, so that Jack can sit down. I wait until Rick starts his truck before I start mine, I slowly start following him and we leave, hopefully we can find a place that is safe for the night.

We have been driving down all the back roads for a while now, I don't know if we are even In Georgia anymore. I see Rick starting to slow down, so I do too. He honks his horn once, before pulling over to the side of the road. Not sure why we still do that, I mean there aren't any cars going to be going by any more, but I pull over any way.

I look down to see that I'm almost on empty, damn it. Jack and I leave the car, the girls are all asleep now, they are so drained from what has happened. Jack and I start jogging to catch up to the others.

"You out?" Daryl asks Rick when we all start coming together. "Running on fumes." Rick answers him. "I'm almost out too." I said standing next to Jack, who is standing next to Hershel. "We can't stay here." Maggie said looking around. "We can't all fit in two cars." I look at the car Glenn was driving and mine after he said that, it would be a very tight fit.

"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning." Rick tells us looking around everywhere. "Spend the night, here?" Carol asks as she pulls her jacket tighter around her. "I'm freezing." When Carl said that, I walk to the trunk of Glenn's car and open the trunk and pull out a jacket. Shutting the trunk I walk over and hand it to Lori and she helps Carl into the jacket, it's getting even colder now that it is almost dark.

"You go out looking for firewood, stay close only got so many arrows, how you doing on ammo?" Daryl asks Rick while taking out his crossbow. "Not enough." Rick replies shaking his head.

"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out." Maggie said looking at him. "Watch your mouth. Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick." Hershel tells her and then us. I shake my head and look behind me and into the trees praying I don't see anything.

"All right well set up a perimeter and in the morning we'll find some gas and more supplies. We keep pushing on." Rick tells us moving towards the side of the road.

"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try to find some gas." Maggie said but then starts to whisper. "No we stay together, god forbid something happens and people get stranded with only one car." Rick tells her, yeah that would be an even tighter fit trying to fit everyone in my SUV.

"Rick, were stranded now." When Glenn says that, I look around everywhere seeing that we are. I can feel myself starting to cry and I look around catching Daryl's eyes, sighing I try to get myself under control.

"…But at least we found each other." I look around at everyone my eyes all ways returning to Daryl. "I wasn't sure… not really… we found each other, we keep it that way." Rick tells us, I hear crying behind me, so I turn and walk back to my car and open the door, to see that Gracie is awake.

I get her out without waking either Anna or Haylee. I shut the door quietly and make my way back to the others. Unzipping the jacket and zipping it closed around Gracie, so she won't be cold.

"Even if we do find a place and we think it's safe, but for how long, look what happened at the farm. We were fooling ourselves thinking it safe." Maggie tells them when I reach them again. "We won't make that mistake again." Hershel said from next to me. "We'll make camp over there, get back on the road when the sun comes up." Rick tells us looking over at some rock bridge.

"Does this feel right to you?" Carol asks Daryl, as she walks up to him. "What if walkers come through or another group like Randall's?" Beth asks Rick walking up to him.

"You know I found Randall? He turned but wasn't bit." Daryl tells Rick looking straight at him, ignoring what both Carol and Beth asked. "Rick, what the hell happened?" Lori asks him holding Carl to her, he still looked freezing and I rub Gracie trying to warm her up.

"Shane killed Randall, just like he always wanted to." Daryl said as I made my way over to him, he puts an arm around my shoulder, pulling Gracie and me close to him.

"And then the herd got him?" Lori asks Rick, unsure of what really happened. Rick looks around like he is stalling trying to find something to say.

"We're all infected." I look at him trying to process what he just said, Daryl pulls me closer to him. "What?" He asks and I turn my head into his arm.

"At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it?" Rick all but whispers. "And you never said anything?" Carol asks him, I look around to see the hopelessness and anger on all their faces. "Would it have made any difference?" Rick asks back. I lean my head down and kiss Gracie's head, I was angry but I can understand why he didn't say anything.

"You knew this the whole time." Glenn said unsure of what he is hearing. "How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy that…" Rick said trying to explain.

"That is not you call." Glenn said getting angry. "Ok, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone."

"Well I thought it best people didn't know." Rick snaps at him before staring him down and then to each of us before walking off. Lori hands Carl over to Hershel before following after him. Daryl pulls away from me to load his crossbow and he, Jack and T-dog leave to go find a place for us to stay the night. I stand there with the others waiting until they get back.

T-dog comes back telling us that they have found a spot, everyone starts moving around. Maggie and Beth come with me to get the girls. Beth helps me unzip my jacket and takes Gracie from me and I thank her and open the back door. "Wake up Anna, honey wake up." I say gently shaking her awake.

When she does I help her down from her seat, she leans against the car yawning. I pull out some blankets from the back handing them to Maggie and Anna before I shut the door. Maggie stays there with Anna and Beth, as I walk to the other side.

I open the door and unstrap Haylee who is still fast asleep, I see the bag that I had packed for Daryl and Rick, so I grab it and put it on before picking up Haylee, who starts to wake up as I move her. I shut the door and walk over to Maggie, Anna and Beth and we start making our way over to the others.

We all settle down in a small area, almost completely surrounded by stone walls. Glenn takes a blanket from Maggie and spreads it out for us, Beth sits down holding onto Gracie, and Anna sits down next to her, pulling her legs up to her chest.

I set down Haylee, who stands there holding onto my pants, as I take off the heavy backpack and set it down. I sit down next to Anna on the blanket, grabbing another blanket and help put it around both her and Beth, Haylee climbs in between me and Anna, snuggling into my side. I take Gracie from Beth as Hershel sits down next to her.

I look over to see Jack carrying a few more blankets and hands them to Maggie and Glenn and another to Lori and Carl. Daryl and T-dog came into the camp carrying arms full of wood and they set them down in a pile. Daryl starts clearing an area in the middle of our spread out circle.

I open the blanket that is around Haylee, Gracie and me to pull the backpack closer. I open the side pocket and grab a small box of matches, holding them out to Daryl. He looks to me and smirks, before grabbing them and gets started on the fire.

I look around to see both T-dog and Rick standing up on the wall, standing on watch. I sigh when I start to feel the heat from the fire, I smile at Daryl who sits down next to me, Carol then sits down next to him, all of us getting as close as we can to the fire.

There isn't much water or food in the bag for everyone so we just fed the kids, taking just a strip of jerky for the rest of us. When we all get warmed up, Lori and I start clearing a space by the wall but close to the fire, for the kids to sleep.

We lay down two of the blankets, first before moving Haylee and Gracie over to it, we also made sure there's room for Anna and Carl as well. I cover the girls up and they fell right to sleep, all warm and feeling safe. I sit down next to them, leaning against the wall, staring at everyone, Jack is taking watch right now and Anna is sitting next to Beth still, staring into the fire.

It starts to get dark very quickly after we all settle down, Anna comes over to me, sitting next to me, laying her head down on my lap. Jack trades watch again with T-dog and he comes and sits down near Anna and I. Daryl went to go find some more firewood, now that we are running low. He smirked at me when he caught me looking at him before he left.

Lori gets up and walks off behind the wall, having to go to the bath room, so Carl comes over and sits down In front of the girls, on the blanket so he can be closer to the fire. Lori comes back and sits down next to him pulling him closer to her.

Daryl then comes back with a lot more firewood and throws some more onto the fire, while kneeling down next to Carol. I look at them confused, as she starts whispering to him, trying not to get the wrong idea.

I start running my finger trough Anna's hair, trying to get her to relax. I stop when I hear leaves moving and twigs snapping. Anna sits up and all of us start looking around, I put my hand over the girls touching them lightly, trying to reassure myself that they are there and that they are fine.

"What is that?" I could hear Beth asking. "Could be anything." Daryl replies standing up taking his crossbow off his back. "Could be a raccoon, could be a possum." He said moving closer to me and the kids. "Or a walker." Glenn said standing up, with Maggie and Hershel.

"We need to leave, what are we waiting for?" Carol asks also standing up. I look to the girls, who are sleeping peacefully unaware of what is going on. I pull Anna closer to my side, Jack getting closer to her.

"The last thing we need is for everyone to be running around in the dark." Rick said waking into the camp. "We don't have the vehicles and no one's traveling on foot." I look over at him when he says that.

"Don't panic." Hershel tells Maggie when she starts looking around, holding tightly to her shot gun. "I'm not… I'm not staying here, waiting for another herd to come through. We need to move now." She said looking around to all of us.

"No one is going anywhere." Rick tells her, I get a little scared by the way that he is acting. "Do something." Carol tells him. "I am doing something!" He snaps at her. "I'm keeping this group together… alive!" He says waving his gun around and Daryl moves a little so he was in front of us.

"I didn't ask for this. I killed my best friend for you people for Christ's sake." He whispers furiously, I look at him in shock and I pull Anna closer to me. We all were silent, just staring at him in shock as he started explaining himself. Lori pulls Carl to her when he starts crying. "My hands are clean."

"Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead, I say there is a place for us, but maybe that's just another pipe dream. Why don't you go and find out for yourself. Send me a post card." He starts ranting not being able to stand still.

"Go on there's the door, think you can do better? Let's see how far you can get." He says pointing towards the woods. No one moved we all stayed right where we are. We just look at him doing nothing.

"No takers? Fine… but let's get one thing straight, you're staying… this isn't a democracy anymore." He tells us looking everyone straight in the eyes before turning and walking away. The others just stand there, all of us in shock from what just happened.

Daryl turns around to me and we just stare at each other. I look away from him and look into the fire trying to forget for just a moment about everything that is going on outside these stone walls, just for a moment.

THE END…

Well not the end per say but the end of Like a Moth to a Flame.

If you have been enjoying this story please continue on to Cold as Ice, which is part three in Emily's story.

I want to thank all of you who have been reading my story, thank you, it means a lot.