Dallas regretted not bringing a jacket with him. as the sun fell behind the trees, he felt the cold seep under his clothing. he had goosebumps, and started shivering halfway home. he was rubbing his arms, excitedly thinking of the fire and warm food that probably awaited him at home.
he heard the sound of somebody running, and froze immediately. they were still decently far away, and he crept towards the sound.
he heard a woman panting, clearly out of breath. she stopping running, and Dallas could see as she bent over, placing her hands against her knees. she looked around, a small knife in one hand.
"Carol?" Dallas spoke, stepping up and out of the shadow. at first, she flinched away. but when she recognized him, she relaxed, and continued to catch her breath.
"there were roamers," she told him, hand on her chest. "i can't take that many out on my own. i just-"
"hey, you need some rest. you've been out for awhile, two hours at the least. why don't you come back to my cabin? you can get warmed up, eat some food, and sleep on the couch. the highway is two miles out, and we're almost back to the cabin."
she looked up at him, weary that he may try something. Dallas motioned for her to follow, and started walking in the cabin's direction. she hesitated, but followed behind anyways. she stayed a few feet behind, her knife close to her side the whole way there.
once he opened the gate, and allowed her to walk in, the door to the cabin burst open, and Tyler stood there. he looked angry, and the moment his eyes laid on Carol, the look grew worse.
"where the hell have you been?" he practically yelled. "and why is she here?"
"she was alone," Dallas told him calming, leading her closer to the house. "and i've been helping Rick and his people find her. i found Carol on my way back home. she would not have easily made it back to the highway before sunrise, and offered her to stay the night here. i will escort her home tomorrow morning."
"we need to talk," he spoke, arms crossed.
"later," he agreed, and led Carol inside.
—
Dallas and Carol stayed up talking for a bit, while Tyler stayed in their mothers room for most of the night. Atlas curled up against her, and she nonchalant pet him while speaking to Dallas.
he listened with interest as she told him about what happened to her and her family when it all started. they escaped to a highway, stationed there with a huge group. Ed made her mostly keep to herself, but she found herself speaking to a few people. and when that large group split, Carol, Ed, and Sophia followed Shane and the group.
he told her about his dad, and how they found the cabin after the fire, how long it took for his hand to heal, since they didn't have the correct supplies to help.
he smiled up at her as he continued to eat. she described her life before the dead rose. she told him what she used to work as, her family life, and just overall how things used to be. he told her about how he was in the midst of college when everything had happened.
"i fled home, two states away. me and my family stayed at our home for the first two weeks. and then everything with my dad and the fire happened and we fled. Tyler still isn't over what happened, so he's just very easy to set off. he can be kind of a dick sometimes, but he means well. he's just trying to look after our mom. we were thinking about going to the CDC eventually. if anybody is left, maybe they could help."
a grim look crossed her face. she took another bite of food before she spoke.
"there is no CDC anymore," she told him. he gave her a confused look, so she continued. "we went there. there was one man left. his name was Edwin Jenner. he ran everything there by himself, and attempted to figure out what he could for the cure. he couldn't. the building self destructed, as he was fully aware it would. we just barely ran out. one of us stayed behind, she wanted to go out that way instead. on her own terms."
