Five, that was how many people we had to make this run. Michonne, Bob, Tyreese, Daryl, and myself were the only available hands. I was sitting in the passenger seat as Daryl was driving, my feet on my dashboard, the trip so far had been dead silent besides the rumbling of the car engine. I sighed and started flipping through the CD case, maybe finding something we all could tolerate. I watched as Daryl started flipping through the radio stations out of boredom, hearing nothing but static. Then for a split second it sounded like something was coming through.

"Was that a voice?" He asked, turning the channel again but slowly. I sat up, turning my head to the faint noise.

Just barely you could a muffled voice through the static noise. We all turned our attention to the stereo, cranking the volume and listening to the voice that sounded like it was on a loop. It cut in for just a split second and I swore it said 'Terminus' before the car suddenly hit something. Daryl looked back up at the road, swerving through groups of walkers. The car came to a stop as we looked at hundreds of walkers stumbling towards us, it was breathtaking at how horrifying it was seeing that many. They pounded on the windows outside as Daryl put the car in reverse, feeling the back tires get stuck in more of the corpses.

"We're jammed up! Make a run for that gap there!" Daryl yelled sliding the sun roof open and climbing up.

I took off my seat belt and slammed my door open, hitting a biter in the face as it fell over. I held my crossbow up and killed the one in front of me, pulling the arrow out as I passed it and headed for the trees. After stabbing a few in the head, I turned back to see Daryl climbing out of the sun roof, hitting a biter with his bow and sprinting towards me. Bob was emptying his clip, yelling for Tyreese who was still sitting in the car not moving.

"Go! Go!" Daryl yelled as he nudged Bob and I into the forest away from the road. We ran until the biters seemed to loose interest.

"Hold up," I called out, breathing heavily.

My body wasn't how it used to be, I lost a lot of endurance in the past month. I felt a hand on my shoulder, looking up to see Daryl who scanned the trees behind me. A rustling noise from where we'd come out catch our attention, making me straighten up and point my bow in that direction. Two walkers wobbled out, seeing us and growling with extended arms. But just before I could pull the trigger, there was a thud noise and they collapsed over dead. Tyreese stood behind them, covered in blood and gore as he fell to his knees exhausted.

"Come on!" Daryl looked at Bob.

They rushed over to Tyreese and picked him up, dragging him along as we got somewhere safer. It got dark fast as we found Turner Creek, meaning there was a town a few miles downstream we could follow and hopefully get another car with any luck. We camped against the shore as I crouched down and leaned against a tree, holding in a groan as I clutched my stomach. Daryl hadn't taken his eyes off me since we ditched the car. But he was fast to putting a fire together before it was pitch dark. Everybody was sleeping close to it not long afterwards. I watched as Daryl splashed some water from the creek on his face before sitting next to me against the tree, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

"You should sleep," he pulled me into his side.

"You're not going to," I said, leaning into him.

I gazed up at the sky, the stars were bright next to the half moon. For a split second I was peaceful, that's all I'd allow for myself with what's out there just waiting to sink their teeth into us. Daryl had followed my gaze, staring up into the sky with me.

"I meant to ask you, why'd you change your name?" He grumbled. I paused a moment, nobody had ever asked me that yet, I'd hoped they'd let it go.

"I had a willow tree in my backyard, I used to climb it when my dad got angry. One day he got so mad that he cut it down with me in it, gashed my shoulder open on the way down," I shrugged.

"Didn't answer the question," he huffed.

"I don't know Daryl, it just seemed fitting and I needed a fresh start," I shook my head, getting a little frustrated. At this point I think he took the hint and backed off.

"Sleep, I'll wake you up in a few hours and we can switch. Deal?" He nudged me.

"Only if you seal it," I nudged him back, leaning closer.

He smirked at me, looking at the others sound asleep before pressing his lips to mine. When he pulled away I rested my head on shoulder and shut my eyes, exhaustion falling over me.

~~~~

When I woke up the next morning, I was curled up on the ground with my head on Daryl's thigh. He was unconsciously playing with a strand of my hair as he leaned back against the tree we'd fallen asleep on. The sun was peering over the mountains, but it was still really early and everyone was still sleeping.

"You didn't wake me up, you ass," I grumbled, rolling over and looking up at him. He smirked down at me.

"Michonne took a couple hours," he said looking all smug. I rolled my eyes and sat up, feeling a little stiff.

We were all awake and packing up to move again soon after. The goal was find another car and make it back to the prison before nightfall after raiding the college. I slugged my backpack over my shoulders, looking over at Tyreese who was washing his shirt in the creek. He hadn't said a single word this entire trip, he made me nervous, acting out of hate and anger.

"Yo, Ty come on let's go, vámonos!" Daryl called to him. He didn't even look up as we turned and started walking downstream. I took lead with Daryl, hearing Bob say something behind us. When I looked back, Tyreese had started following, not a single emotion on his face.

~~~~

A few hours we'd gotten back on the road, a small shop was up ahead and I begged for there to be a car. I was hiding it pretty well but I was struggling to keep going, my body feeling heavy as I tried not to drag my footsteps. Once we'd gotten closer, it was a small auto mechanic shop, the entire front of the store had been taken over by vines, so much that you couldn't even see where the front door was anymore. I looked at Daryl as he stared into a large section of the vine.

"You see something?" I asked him, looking into the wall of plants.

"Maybe," he grumbled.

I helped him cut away at some of the shrubbery until you could start to make out an old minivan that had been shielded away by all the weeds. Daryl opened the drivers door and started tearing at the wires, trying to get it started but the car didn't make a single noise. The sliver of hope I had left seemed to dye out as my tired legs ached.

"We gotta find us a new a battery," he sighed, looking in a side window to the shop. He wiped a layer of dust off it as biters slammed against the glass from the inside. With the vines keeping people out, there was a good chance there'd be a battery inside.

We started trying to make a path through the vines to find the front door of the shop. It was so overrun with plants you could get lost in them. I pulled at them with my hands, ripping them off the wall and slicing bigger pieces with my knife. We all slowed down to the sound of Ty going at it with all his energy. Pulling aggressively at something in the vines.

"Hey man, go easy we don't know what we're dealing with," Daryl tried to tell him.

But he didn't listen, suddenly pulling a board out, a bundle of wires falling off it. There was a moment of silence until suddenly walkers came crawling out of the vines. What used to be a young girl grabbed onto me, getting tangled in the vines. Michonne swung her sword, killing the one attacking Daryl. I held mine back trying to get the hand with my knife free until an arrow sunk into the side of its head. I didn't even look, yanking the arrow out and using it to kill the walker that had climbed on top of Bob beside me. He muttered a thanks as I pulled him up. Ty on the other hand... was trying desperately to yank the last walker from the vines instead of just killing it.

"Ty!" Bob called him. But he was focused on nothing but getting that walker free.

"Ty let him go!" I yelled. I went to take a step closer but Daryl's hand on my arm stopped me. He suddenly managed to pull it free but stumbled backwards and panicked as the biter laid on top of him. He quickly tossed it to the side and Bob put a bullet in its brain.

"Why the hell didn't you let go?" Michonne asked. He said nothing and picked himself up.

I helped Daryl and Bob clear out the inside in search of another battery. We walked into the empty garage, finding a shelf with a few dusted over battery's on it. Daryl popped them open with his knife, looking inside.

"Cells look a little dry," Bob said, peering over.

"Nothing a little distilled water won't clear up," Daryl said, packing the battery and heading back into the shop.

We walked the isles searching before stopping next to a weird puddle of red crap all over the floor. Tipped on its side right next to it was a jug of some sort of engine fluid. I kicked it with my foot and it was nearly empty. Did the people surviving here drink this stuff?

"That's puke. Those douchebags in the vines took themselves out, kumbaya style," Daryl explained, walking past it.

"They wanted to go out together. That makes them douchebags?" Bob argued, seeing it differently. he was always so spiritual about this stuff.

"It does if they could of gotten out," he didn't look back, picking up a bottle from the shelf.

"People are like dominoes now a days. Maybe it's about not having to watch them fall," Bob said barely whispering. The look on his face was sad as he stared at the floor.

"Right..." Daryl agreed silently.

"Let's just wrap this up," I cut in, looking away from Bob and back to the battery. The sooner we get back on the road the better.

Daryl popped to the lid to the small jug in his hands before pouring it into the battery's cells. He even took a swig of the stuff and swishing it in his mouth as he stared down into it. I rolled my eyes at him as he closed the battery up, saying it'll do the job.

Back outside, Ty and Michonne were waiting in the shade under the wall of vines in front of the shop. I leaned against the side of the car as Daryl placed the new battery in. During the process, he'd asked Bob about the group he'd been in before we found him out on a road in the middle of nowhere. He scoffed, exclaiming he'd been in multiple groups before us, always being the last one standing in the end and having to watch all the people he knew die. Daryl and I paused, looking at him as he frowned thinking about it.

"You ain't gonna be standing alone, not no more," Daryl told him.

He suddenly nudged my arm, pointing to the drivers seat to give the engine a shot. I pulled up the wires and tapped them together listening to the sweet sound of it grumble to life. Daryl whistled for the others and we packed up the supplies we'd gathered from the shop and piled in, continuing our journey.

During the ride, I couldn't get what Bob had said out of my head, to have to be the only one who survives, knowing everyone you once knew was gone. It seemed like a heavy thing to have to carry... especially having to go through that not once but multiple times. That was part of the reason I avoided groups for so long, loss was something I didn't know how to handle. Hell, after I lost Quinton I nearly got myself killed being engulfed in so much grief.

We drove for about an hour before arriving at the college campus, it was bigger than Hershel had described. But luckily the map he drew us was pretty easy to navigate. He said he was a veterinarian before all this, I wonder if maybe he went to school here?

"The building should be up ahead," Ty grumbled, taking the lead.

We entered a brick building, the halls were pretty dark as we pulled out flashlights. Slowly we made our way towards the supply rooms, passing dozens of empty cages scattered all over the place. Stepping into what looked like a classroom, it was brighter than out in the hall with the big windows peering outside. One of the walls was fully stocked with countless bottles of medication.

"Grab anything ending in -cillian or -cin," Bob announced, spelling it for us.

We got busy fast, loading our bags until they were full and rattling with medical supplies. Bags, tubes, clamps, connectors, you name it and we grabbed it. Everything off of Hershel's list. We regathered and headed out the way we came, we didn't see any biters on our way in, but now I could see them wandering the halls... and they could see us.

"Up ahead!" Michonne called out, opening a random door. The room was nearly pitch dark but I could see a staircase sign across the way.

"Guys! the doors busted!" Bob screamed behind us.

Daryl and I were fast to assisting him in pushing a couple cages against the door to at least slow them down. Back at the staircase exit, the door was tied shut and multiple pairs of hands were reaching through. Back at the entrance, the walkers from the hallway were already pushing through, trapping us in the middle.

"We can take um," Ty said, holding his hammer out.

"No! We didn't come all this way to get infected," Daryl told him. Looking at the biters you could see blood coming out of their eyes, they had the sickness to.

"How do we know the ones in there aren't any different?" Bob asked, nervously holding his gun out.

"We don't," I said, handing Daryl by crossbow for a second.

We braced ourselves as I pulled out my knife and cut the rope holding the doors shut. Several walkers came pouring out and we all took one down, I felt a small spray of blood hit my face but now wasn't the time to worry about that. We hurried up the steps, not having another way out and found ourselves trapped in another room with more walkers on our tail.

"There's no exit!" Michonne pointed out, watching the door behind us with her sword drawn.

"So we make one," Daryl moved.

He was fast to opening a window in the room and climbing out of it. I followed behind him, making a small leap onto a separate part of the ledge, there were more infected below us on the ground reaching up at us. Michonne and Ty went next, tossing their heavy bags first then jumping across. We all waited for Bob anxiously, hearing the walkers breaking into the room just behind him. He jumped across, skidding in the loose rocks and falling onto his stomach. His bag fell off the edge but he managed to somehow catch it, half hanging over the edge as the biters grabbed onto it from below and started to pull.

"Let it go!" Michonne told him. But he kept hanging on as we ran to his side to hold him from falling.

"Let it go man!" Daryl yelled grabbing onto his shirt.

He tugged on the bag one last time before he broke free and we pulled him up and away from the edge. The bag hit the floor with a weird thud and sloshing noise. We all stared at it curiously a moment. Daryl was the one we bent down and opened it up, pulling a bottle of whisky out. The look of guilt and fear on Bob's face was like no other.

"You got no meds in your bag. Just this? You should of kept walking that day!" Daryl hissed, talking back to the day we found him. He reeled his arm back, going to throw the stupid bottle he nearly died over but stopped when Bob put his hand on his gun.

"Don't," Bob said, not able to make eye contact with him. I pointed my crossbow at him, ready to shoot him if he even thought about making a move.

Daryl looked down at his hand resting on his gun, I could see the rage building up in his face as he stepped closer. He pushed himself against Bob, head to head as he took his gun as Bob coward away. He shoved the bottle into Bob's chest, threatening that if he took a sip before we got the meds back to our people, he'd kill him. Bob packed up his bottle and followed loosely behind the group towards the van.

When we got back to the car, we routed a way back to the prison. We couldn't take the road we started on, that heard was probably still marching around. Ty told us about how he'd traveled down the highway, that it wasn't to crowded to use.

"That'll take us nearly 7 hours," I stated, looking down at the map.

"We're gonna need more gas," Daryl muttered.

"But we'll get there," Ty shook his head confidently.