Daryl and I arrived at the farmhouse and walked into the house to the living room where everyone was waiting for us. Daryl looked around the room for Rick and Shane.

"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked.

"No." Lori answered.

"We heard a shot." T-Dog said.

"Maybe they found Randall." I shook my head.

"We found him." Daryl said.

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asked.

"He's a walker."

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel asked.

"No, the weird thing is he wasn't bit." I explained.

"His neck was broke." Daryl added.

"So he fought back." Patricia tried to reason with us but we shook our heads.

"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."

"Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane and find out what on earth is going on?" Lori asked Daryl. Daryl nodded and began to head for the door but I stopped him.

"No." I snapped at Lori. "Daryl ain't your errand boy. You want Rick go get him yourself. I ain't gonna have you risking his life for your errand."

"Sutton." Daryl whispered my name and I turned to look at him. "I'll be alright, ok? Stay here. Protect the group."

"You'll come back?"

"I always do." He kissed my forehead and walked out of the house, his hand slipping from mine as he went. But it wasn't until a second later when he whistled for us to come outside. With the group behind, I walked out onto the front porch and looked across the field to where a large herd of walkers was heading our way.

"Oh my god."

"Patrica, kill the lights." Hershel whispered to her.

"I'll get the guns." Maggie said and she went inside with Lori behind her. Lori soon came back out with a worried look on her face.

"Carl's gone." She gasped.

"What?" Daryl questioned her.

"He-he was upstairs. I can't find him anymore."

"Maybe he's hiding." Glenn suggested.

"He's supposed to be upstairs. I'm not leaving without my boy."

"We're not." Carol reassured her. "We're gonna look again. We're gonna find him." Maggie came back out to the porch and laid the gun bag on the ground and she started handing shotguns to everyone.

"I got the number-" Daryl said. "It's no use."

"You can go if you want." Hershel offered as he cocked a gun.

"You gonna take 'em all on?"

"We have guns. We have cars."

"Kill as many as we can, and we'll use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm." Andrea said.

"Hand me a 9mill and a couple clips." I ordered. Andrea achieved my demand.

"Are you serious?" Daryl questioned them.

"This is my farm." Hershel said. "I'll die here."

"All right. It's as good a night as any." Daryl swung himself over the porch railing and I followed after him. He got onto his motorcycle and I got on backwards, placing my feet on the pegs. I wrapped my left around behind me to wrap around Daryl's stomach to have something to hold onto as he began the engine and took off across the field to the burning barn. I aimed for the walkers and shot them in the head one by one as Daryl did a drive by.

"Reload!" I shouted over the roar of the engine. Daryl stopped and pulled his gun and killed off some walkers while I quickly reloaded. "Go!" Daryl sat back down and started to drive back around the barn as I returned to my shooting. "Slow down!" Daryl began to bring the motorcycle to a stop but I hopped off and began to run in the direction of the house before it even came to a complete stop. I ran through the large openings between each walker towards the house and fired a bullet into the heads of the ones who got to close to me. Keeping to the balls of my feet, I jumped from left to right, walker's fingers grazing me everywhere I went. I broke through the front of the herd and ran to the side of the house to where T-Dog, Beth and Lori headed to the pickup truck. "Get in the truck!"

"Get Carol-She ran that way." Lori ordered. I bolted around the truck and followed Carol corned against the shed by two walkers. I killed both of them.

"Get to the truck! Now!" I turned to head back to Hershel who met up with Rick and Carl, not waiting to see if Carol made it to the truck. "We have to get off the farm. We barely made a dent and we're down to less than half of ammo left."

"She's right." Rick agreed. "We have to go. Find Mom and the others."

"It's my farm!" Hershel protested.

"Not anymore!" We rushed to the red car and Rick got into the driver's seat with Carl and me in the front too and Hershel reluctantly got into the back and Rick drove off the property, leaving the herd and the burning barn behind us.

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We ended up on the highway to the spot where we left supplies for Sophia if she ever came back. Rick killed the engine and we all got out and gather together in front of the car. I looked around and saw no one else. Just Rick, Hershel, Carl and I. I ran my hands through my hair as I began to panick when I didn't see Daryl anywhere.

"Wait, where's Mom?" Carl questioned his father. "You said she'd be here. W-We gotta go back for her."

"Carl-" Rick started to speak, ready to patronize his son by Carl cut him off.

"No. Why are we running? What are you doing? It's-It is Mom. We need to get her and not be safe a mile away." Rick bent down to Carl's level and whispered to him.

"Shh. You need to be quier, all right? Please."

"Please...it's Mom."

"Look, Carl, listen-"

"No." Carl turned and walked away and Rick began to follow him but Hershel stopped him.

"Rick." Hershel called to him. "You've got to get your boy to safety. Sutton and I'll wait here for my girls, Daryl and the others. I know a few places. We'll meet up at one of them later."

"Where?" Rick asked. "Where is safe? We're not splitting up."

"Please, Rick," I started begging to him, shaking with fear. "We have to go back. We have to get Daryl. I have to get Daryl. Please. I can't lose him. Please."

"They'll be here."

"And you don't know that."

"You're a woman of God, Sutton. Have some faith."

"I can't profess to understand God's plan, but Christ promised the resurrection of the dead." Hershel said. "I just thought he had something a little different in mind."

"We stick together." Rick walked away towards his son and I ran my hands through my hair again, my gut twisting with a bad feeling.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

"I don't know how much longer we can stay here." Hershel whispered to us as we hid behind the car when a walker passed us.

"I- I'm not leaving without Mom." Carl insisted.

"And Daryl could still be alive." I said.

"So we're just gonna walk away." Rick growled his whisper at Hershel. "Not knowing if my wife, your girls are still out there? How do we live with that?"

"You've only got one concern now-just one-keeping him alive. Nature may be throwing us a curveball, but that law is still true." Rick stood there in silence, thinking about what Hershel said before crouching down in front of Carl.

"Carl. It's not safe here. I'm sorry. We'll-" Rick's voice trailed off as he listened to a sound in the distance down the highway. I looked in the direction and listened closely. A motorcycle engine. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as it became more clear than that. Daryl's motorcycle engine. Daryl came riding down the highway on his motorcycle with Carol on the bike too behind him. The green volvo followed behind them and the blue pickup truck as they crossed the midsection to our side. Lori got out of the volvo and ran to Carl and Rick and I laughed as Daryl got off his bike.

"Daryl!" His name brough reassurance to me as I ran to him and threw myself into his arms. He lifted me up into the air and I wrapped my legs around his waist and buried my face into his neck as I wrapped my arms around him. He buried his face into my hair and inhaled deeply. "God, I thought I lost you."

"I'll always find a way back to you." Daryl whispered to me. "You're far too beautiful, too important to be left alone." I laughed as I kissed his neck and made a line of kisses down his jawline and pressed my lips deeply against his, letting my tongue slip in. He smiled and kissed back enveloping my mouth with his. I pulled away from him once I was out of breath and looked down at him and smiled. "I'll do anything to see that smile one more time." I laughed again as he gently set me down on the ground. He took my hand in his and we walked back over to the group.

"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked Daryl once we rejoined them.

"Well, those guys' tail lights zigzagging all over the road-figured he had to be Asian, driving like that."

"Good one." Glenn chuckled.

"Where's the rest of us?"

"We're the only ones who made it so far." Rick said.

"Shane?" Lori asked. Rick shook his head.

"Andrea?" Glenn asked.

"She saved me, then I lost her." Carol said.

"We saw her go down." T-Dog added.

"Patricia?" Hershel questioned Maggie and Beth.

"They got her too, took her right in front of me. I was-" Beth said before she started crying. "I was holdin' onto her, Daddy. She just-What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?"

"He was in the RV." Rick answered. "It got overrun."

"You definetly saw Andrea?" I asked T-Dog.

"There were walkers everywhere." Lori said.

"Did you see her?"

"I'm going back." Daryl said and made a move to go back to his bike but I pulled him back to me.

"No. Please, Daryl, I just got you back. I don't want to go through what I just went through again. Please, stay." He was quiet for a moment before pulling me to him and wrapping his arms around me.

"We gotta keep moving." Rick said. "There have been walkers crawling all over here."

"I say head east." T-Dog said.

"Stay off the main roads." Daryl added as he left my side to grab his crossbow from his bike. "The bigger the roads, the more walkers, more assholes like this one. I got him." He aimed his crossbow at a walker who was heading towards us and shot it. He retrieved the arrow as everyone assembled into the cars. Daryl got onto his bike with me behind him and I tightly wrapped my arms around him as he started the engine and followed the red car off the highway with the volvo behind us and ditching the blue pickup truck.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I pressed my cheek into Daryl's back and closed my eyes as I wrapped my arms tightly around him, my fingers clinging to his jacket. I listened to the sound of the engine running as the cold air whipped through my hair. A car horn sounded behind us and I opened my eyes when I felt Daryl pull the bike to a stop. He stood up and looked behind him along with me to see the volvo and the red car stopping. I got off the bike as everyone got out of the cars. Rick walked up front to Daryl.

"You out?" Daryl asked him.

"Running on fumes." Rick answered.

"We can't stay here." Maggie stated the obvious.

"We can't all fit in one car." Glenn said.

"We'll have to make a run for gas in the morning." Rick said.

"Spend the night here?" Carol questioned him.

"I'm freezing." Carl whined.

"We'll build a fire." Lori reassured him.

"You go out looking for firewood, stay close." Daryl ordered, mainly looking at me. "Only got so many arrows. How you doing on ammo?"

"Not enough." Rick said.

"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out." Maggie retorted.

"Watch your mouth." Hershel snapped at her. "Everybody stop panicking and listen to Rick."

"All right. We'll set up a perimeter." Rick said. "In the morning, we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on."

"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas." Maggie suggested.

"No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car."

"Rick, we're stranded now." Glenn reminded him.

"I know it looks bad, we've been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure-I reall wasn't-but we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place."

"Rick, look around. Ok? There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something."

"There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other. I know it's out there. We just have to find it."

"Even if we do find a place, and we think it's safe, we can never be sure." Maggie said. "For how long? Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that that was safe."

"We won't make that mistake again." Hershel said.

"We'll make camp tonight over there, get on the road at the break of day." Rick said, pointing to a stone wall by a bridge, a little ways into the trees.

"You know, I found Randall, right?" Daryl told Rick. "He had turned but he wasn't bit." Rick looked away from him.

"How's that possible?" Beth questioned him.

"Rick, what the hell happened out there?" Lori asked her husband.

"Shane kill Randall." Daryl said. "Just like he always wanted to."

"And then the herd got him?" Rick continued to stare out into space before answering us.

"We're all infected." Rick said and looked at him like he was crazy and hoping that he wasn't saying what we thought he was saying. "At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."

"And you never said anything?" Carol said.

"Would it have made a difference?"

"You knew this whole time?" Glenn questioned him.

"How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy that mo-"

"That isn't your call. Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone."

"Well, I thought it was best that people didn't know."

"Well, you thought wrong." I snapped and Daryl enveloped my hand in his.

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We were all gathered around a fire in the middle of some stone rumble. Daryl and I sat next to each other, my head resting on his right shoulder, his arm wrapped around my waist. Leaves rustle in the distance and I immediatly lifted my head in alarm.

"What was that?" Beth asked.

"Could be anything." Daryl said. "Could be a raccoon, could be a possum."

"Walker." Glenn added.

"We need to leave." Carol said. "What are we waiting for?"

"Which way?"

"It came from over there." Maggie pointed to the darkness of the woods.

"Back from where we came." Beth added.

"Yeah."

"The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark." Rick snapped. "We don't have the vehicles. No one's traveling on foot." A branch snapped and I stood up with Daryl, gripping my bow in my right hand and Daryl's arm in my left.

"Don't panic." Hershel said.

"I'm not-I'm not sitting here, waiting for another herd to blow through." Maggie said. "We need to move, now."

"No one is going anywhere." Rick growled.

"Do something." Carol cried.

"I am doing something! I'm keeping this group together, alive. I've been doing that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this. I killed my best friend for you people, for Christ's sake!" I gasped and took a step back in shock, hard to believe that Rick would kill Shane. "You saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice. He was my friend but he came after me." Carl buried his face into Lori's shoulder and started to cry. "My hands are clean."

"Shh shh shh shh shh." Lori soothed her son.

"Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe- maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe- maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you- why don't you go and find out yourself. Send me a postcard. Go on, there's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get." It was silent for a moment as Rick waited to see if anyone would take up his offer. "No takers? Fine. But get one thing straight-You're staying, this isn't a democracy anymore." Rick scanned his eyes over the group before storming off into the darkness. Everyone else retreated to their own spots in the rumble as T-Dog and Glenn stood watch.

"Come on, let's go get some firewood." Daryl whispered in my ear and I looked at him shock.

"Daryl-"

"Trust me, Sutton." He took my hand in his and led me out of the rumble. I stayed close to him as he led me deeper into the darkness about fifty yards from everyone to a stone wall. He lifted me up and I climbed over the top and dropped down on the other side. I looked around to see four stone walls surrounding me with no entry or exit. In the middle was a small fire and in the corner to my left was a pile of blankets and a pillow. Daryl dropped down beside me and I looked up at him for an explanation. He was silent as he stared down at me with lust in his perfect, flawless blue eyes.

"Daryl-" I tried to speak but I was caught off guard as Daryl gently pushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear. My eyes fluttered and my breath hitched in my throat at the way his fingertips barely touched my skin like he wasn't touching me at all. He let out a short laugh to my reaction and leaned down to touch my forehead with his. Involuntarily, my fingers tangled themselves into his shaggy hair, making sure that he wasn't going anywhere as I closed my eyes and inhaled his scent. I loved this feeling. I loved being so close to him and know that everything will be ok as long as I was with him. "You have know idea how I feel about you." My words sounded incoherent to my own ears but Daryl understood them.

"I could be saying the same thing about you." Daryl muttered as his lips left a burning sensation as they traveled down my face and along my jawline to my neck. I gripped his firm, broad shoulders as my knees threatened to collapse beneath me. My breath seemed to not want to obey me as it kept getting stuck in my throat as I tried to exhale. His lips continued down my jawline and stopped at my right ear where I could feel his breath on it. "You have to be the best thing that has ever happened to me. God, you're smart. You're brave. You're strong. And have incredible, breath-taking beauty." I buried my face into his neck as his hands rested on my hips, pulling me close to him. I bit back a moan as his lips trailed back down to the corners of my lips before pulling me into a heated kiss. My tongue danced along his, sucking on it and feeling the warmth that it sent throughout my body. Daryl slowly lowered me to the ground on the blankets gently, his lips never leaving mine. My fingertips clawed at his scalp, pulling him close to me as I kneaded his sides with my knees wanting more of him. His fingetips barely touched me as they traveled down my left side and played with the hem of my jeans. His hand moved up to yank my shirt up over my head. The icy cold raked my bare skin but I didn't care. I was happy and that was all that mattered in that moment. His lips moved down my neck and I arched my back in pleasure as he kissed the valley between my breasts. I wrapped my arms around his neck and tangled my fingers in his hair as I met his lips in a lustful kiss. His tongue traced my bottom lip begging for the access he desired. After gathering up enough courage, I opened my mouth to him giving in to his desires. His tongue gently tangled with mine in a slow and sensual dance. It didn't stay that way for long. As quickly as it happened, it grew deeper, more lustful and sexy. I had been too lost in our passion to notice that his jacket had been removed and his shirt was unbuttoned and hanging on his shoulders. The emotions inside me had ben building up so much to notice that the enticing sensation between my legs was his leg rubbing slowly up and down. I felt my core heating up and myself becoming wetter by the second. Daryl gently raised my arms above my head and pnned them to the ground with one hand. The other began gathering up my pants and gently sliding them down my legs before discarding it somewhere. He let go of my hands to shake off the rest of his shirt, exposing his abs to me. They were that perfect golden shade and very well defined. He crawled back on top of me, letting his weight fall on me, keeping some of it off by holding himself up by his arms. His lips claimed mind in a deep kiss that told me how he felt about me. I felt his arms give out and his weight fell on me, but it wasn't crushing me. It was warm and comforting. His hands ran down my body feeling my hot skin. His movements were slow and mesmerizing. I ran my hands along his back, feeling the strength behind his muscles. His muscles tensed and untensed as my fingertips graced his lower back, just above the waistband of his pants. I teased the soft skin I found there before moving to undo his belt and pants; sliding them down and off leaving him in his black silk boxers. My legs brushed up against his evident erection making him moan at the enticing sensation. "You have no idea what you do to me." He unhooked my bra and threw it somewhere and took my nipple in his mouth and began to suck and gently nibble on it, making me moan with an undescribable amount of pleasure. His mouth left my breast and trailed down my stomach, kissing and licking every ounce of flesh he could find. His lips left my stomach and went down to my legs, gently picking one up and kissing the curve of my knee. It became nearly impossible to withold my moans anymore as Daryl kissed my lower stomach with kisses that were as soft as roses and as gentle as a butterfly's wing. His fingers hooked under my underwear and slowly slid them down and off my legs, throwing them in the growing pile of clothes on the ground. He slowly slid his fingers along my clit, circling my opening before sliding a single digit into my wet sheath. I couldn't even form words anymore. His finger slowly began sliding in and out of me, spreading my juices everywhere. Without warning, he put another finger inside me and started pumping them even faster and faster. I arched my back as I felt my orgasm approach at a rapid rate and as I was about to fall over the edge in flying colors, he pulled out of me and licked his fingers clean of any remaining juices before kissing me, letting me taste myself on his lips. I couldn't take it any longer. I needed him now. I wanted him. And with that single thought, I slid his boxers off and tossed them, exposing his length. He must have known what I wanted because without hesitation, he positioned himself at my entrance. He was hesitant about something which made me curious.

"Daryl, what is it? What's wrong? Did I do something?" I couldn't believe it. It was my first time and I already screwed it up.

"No, you're absolutely perfect, it's just... Sutton, you know this is going to hurt and I'm sorry. I'll make all the pain go away."

"It's alright, Daryl. I trust you." He bent down and kissed me just as he slid inside of me, making me wince at the pain. I felt the little tears that escape my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. He slowly continued to push inside of me, but he stopped everytime I winced until he was all the way inside of me. Soon, I felt myself stretching for him and eventually all the pain and pressure was gone. "It's ok, Daryl. You can move now." He shot me his one hundred watt smiled before leaning down and claiming my lips. He began thrusting in and out of me at a slow rythmic pace that had me moaning. Soon I felt the pace change as our bodies began to move together, my hips meeting his; every thrust for thrust, our bodies became slick with sweat. The pace was no longer slow and steady but wild with want and animalistic need. Daryl lifted my legs up and changed the angle at which he was hitting. I felt the pit in my lower stomach tighting and I knew that meant that my orgasm was approaching. "Oh, God...Daryl." I felt myself tighten around him as I came, screaming in ecstacy. I felt his hot seed explode inside me before he pulled out and rolled off of me, our bodies covered in a thin layer of sweat, legs tangled together. He pulled me closed to his chest, my head resting over his heart. Just as the soft beating of his heart began lulling me to sleep, he lowered his head next to my ear and whispered something, like it was a secret just for me to know.

"I love you, Sutt."

"I love you too, Daryl." We shared one last romantic kiss before drifting off to sleep.