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They were the last ones to enter the building, Juliana stepped in ahead of Daryl, gripping his knife he had given her after she had tossed her gun back at the house. He was quiet as he came behind her, grabbing a hold of the rusted handle of the sliding door and pulling it closed. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust after Daryl shut the door, the hot sun now gone and replaced with a dim space filled with abandoned cars. It was dusty and musty, with a faint undertone of stale or rotten food Juliana couldn't place.

The two of them stayed back from the rest of the group for a moment, trying to take in their surroundings before making a move.

"They ain't here," a man said, "Nobody's been here for awhile. Whoever it was they got all the gas."

"That don't matter," Joe said, "We're getting closer, I can feel it."

Daryl motioned to a car with a dirty tarp strewn over the top of it, gently tapping at Juliana's elbow to gain her attention. She followed him as he began to yank the tarp off of the car, only to have one of the men walk over, kicking at the bag Daryl had. Juliana's eyes narrowed at the man as the bag skidded across the floor.

"Claimed."

"Claimed."

"Claimed."

Their words echoed in the mostly empty building as she and Daryl both tried to get to vehicles that they were using as a more suitable place to rest. Daryl and Juliana locked eyes from across the room as both of their attempts at getting anything failed. Sighing it defeat, she made her way over to Daryl, handing him his knife and wiped her hands on her jeans, looking around the building once more. Daryl took the knife from her hand, sliding it back into the sheath that was clipped to his side.

Tossing the black garbage bag to the side, he settled himself down onto the cold, hard concrete floor. Patting next to him, Juliana stepped over Daryl and settled down next to him, sitting with her legs crossed. His gaze briefly flickered over in her direction, but no words were said between them. She would watch out for him while he rested, and as he draped his arm over his face, she knew that he trusted her.

Resting didn't last long for either of them though, the man who had pissed Juliana off, Len, was now raising his voice and making his way over to their direction.

"Christ!" Len cursed, stalking over to them. Daryl sat up quick, and Juliana stood as Len came to a stop in front of them, holding out his hand, "Give it here!"

"Step the fuck back," Juliana hissed at him. Len's eyes darted in his direction and he pointed a finger at her.

"Ain't your business, girl."

Standing without turning his back to Len, he stood firmly in front of Len, adjusting his body so that it was now halfway in front of Juliana.

"My half was in the bag. Now it's gone! Now, ain't nobody 'round here interested in no half a damn cottontail except you. Ain't that right?"

Glaring, Daryl stepped closer towards Len, "You're the only one still thinkin' about that crap!" Tension suddenly surged between the two men, and when Len told Daryl to empty the bag, Juliana quickly stepped around Daryl, yanking the bag up from the ground.

"I said, step back!" Juliana's voiced raised, echoing loudly through the building. Len turned his attention to Juliana, eyes narrowed at the woman.

"You better get your girl in line," Len threatened, "She ain't claimed yet!"

Juliana's heart began to race with adrenaline as Len came dangerously close to her. She noticed Daryl's hand moving to the handle of his knife, and he stuck a foot in between Juliana and Len. The tension was high, and if it hadn't been for Joe stepped in and pulling the bag out of her hand, she was certain Daryl would have hurt the man.

"Did either of you take his rabbit?" Joe asked Daryl and Juliana. "Just tell me the truth."

"We didn't take nothin'." Juliana spit out.

"What do we got here?" Joe flipped the bag upside down. Random things the two of them spilled out onto the floor; along with the other half of the rabbit. Juliana's head snapped over to Daryl as the front half of the rabbit lay on the cold floor. "Well look at that," Joe murmured.

"You put that there didn't ya?!" Daryl moved towards Len again, eyes narrowed.

"You lied."

"Didn't you!" Daryl shouted, shoving Len in the shoulder. Len's eyes widened as he stumbled backwards a few steps at the shove.

"You lied. You stole." Len growled through gritted teeth, poking at Daryl in the chest. "We gonna teach this fool and his girl or what, Joe?"

She had been trying her best to not get herself or Daryl into any trouble with this group, but her anger was far exceeding her ability to reason at the moment. She moved in front of Daryl once more, fist balled up and ready to throw a punch when Joe stepped in between her and Daryl and Len.

"Now, Daryl and Juliana say they didn't take your half of the rabbit. So we got a little conundrum here. Either they're lying," he turned his body halfway, motioning to the two of them, "which is an, actionable offense, or.." he turned back to Len, a cryptic laugh escaping his lips, "..you didn't plant it on him like some pussy, punk-ass, cheatin', coward cop, did you?" Juliana watched as Len began to shrink back as if he was a puppy getting disciplined by its' mother, "..Cause," Joe continued, "while that wouldn't be specifically breakin' the rules, it'd be disappointing."

"It would," Len agreed. Pausing for a moment, he stepped in to Joe, "I didn't." he said harshly, staring out of the corner of his eye in Daryl's direction as he said it.

"Good," Joe gave Len a pat on his shoulder, casually looking away for a moment, "Well.." he began, and without warning, whipped around, elbowing Len in the face. It took the man off-guard and he fell backwards onto the floor, "Teach him a lesson, gents! He's a lyin' sack of shit and I'm sick of it. Teach him all the way."

The rest of the men crowded around Len and began kicking and stomping at the man, blood was squirting out of his nose and mouth and fresh wounds were starting to form quickly. Juliana and Daryl exchanged looks between the two of them. Joe turned his attention back to the two, "I saw him do it," he admitted.

"Why didn't you try to stop him?" Juliana questioned.

Joe shrugged slightly, "He wanted to play that out. I let him. You two," he pointed his finger at the two of them, "told the truth. He lied. You two understand the rules. He doesn't."

As Daryl and Joe continued their short conversation, Juliana had become distracted by the grunts and groans that now were echoing throughout the concrete building. She watched as the man kicked and punched and slammed their fists and boots into Len's body like it was normal.

"Hey," Daryl's voice seemed far away at first, but quickly brought her back to reality. He had stuffed the rest of the rabbit back into the bag and Joe had wandered away, "Ya' alright?" he asked. Juliana could only offer him a shrug as a reply.

***

She couldn't remember when they had fallen asleep, but she woke up with her head on Daryl's out stretched arm. Clanging and moving around brought her out of her sleep quickly, and she sat up groggily, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. "Daryl," she mumbled, reaching her free hand down to shake his shoulder. He sat up quickly, looking almost shaken. Juliana kept her hand on his shoulder, "Just me," she reassured him.

He nodded, looking away from her and across the room. Juliana followed his haze to see where he was looking: the floor was stained with blood from where Len had been, and as Juliana looked around, she noticed Len wasn't there.

"Come on," Daryl muttered to Juliana as the door opened loudly and the rest of the group began to file out. He stood, slinging his crossbow over his shoulder and carrying the bag in one hand. Juliana followed him, grateful to be out of the old, musty building. The sun hit her eyes and she squinted, moving to stand next to Daryl who was looking down over the edge of the raised concrete platform.

"Daryl, what-" she stopped short, looking over the edge, "Jesus." She whispered. Len had a single arrow through his eye socket, sticking out of the back of her head. Part of her felt for the man, but he had tried to accuse both her and Daryl of something they didn't do. Not to mention the comments he had made that caused Juliana's anger to boil over. As Daryl grabbed a discarded blanket that was laying off to the side, Juliana interjected, "Don't." she told him simply and began to walk away, "He doesn't deserve it." As she walked a few paces ahead of Daryl, Juliana glanced back to see Daryl hesitate and then toss the blanket down.

She, Daryl and Joe were once again walking side by side not too soon after, the three of them crossing a field with tall grass. Joe had offered Daryl and Juliana some homemade alcohol which, of course, Juliana declined. She watched as the two of them shared the flask, and while she still wasn't completely trusting of the group, she was glad to see that tension had eased between the two of them and the rest of the group.

"I ain't be lit at dawn since before everything fell apart."

"Fell apart," Joe mused, "I never looked at it like that. Seems to me like things are finally starting to fall together. At least for people like us. Living like this, surviving. We've been doin' this from the start, right?"

The train tracks that they had been following for a while the day before came back into view, Juliana had picked up her pace so she was ahead of Daryl and Joe. A man-made mad which said 'TERMINUS' next to a star and roadways and tracks leading directly towards it caught her eye. Above it mentioned a sanctuary for all. "Daryl," she called out to him, grabbing his attention. He came up next to her, squinting at the map.

"You seen this before?" he asked Joe.

"Oh yeah," Joe commented, "I'll tell you what it is: a lie. Ain't no sanctuary for all. Ain't gonna welcome people like us with open arms." He walked off quickly, leaving Daryl and Juliana behind.

"Maybe they went there."

"C'mon, Jules.."

"We ain't givin' up, Dixon. Beth wouldn't-" Daryl cut her off, pointing a finger at her.

"Beth ain't here," he growled, storming awayfrom her to catch up to Joe. Juliana had never felt so small before. She had beenalone, wandering by herself for so long she didn't know the date, and had metthe group by luck. Daryl had quickly become her constant. He was quiet andstubborn, but loyal. Juliana felt like she understood him, and he understoodher. There had always been a silent understanding between the two of them, butnow, as she watched him walk away from her, she felt like she was losing gripof the one thing that kept her on solid ground.

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