The Woman at The End of The World. (Daryl Dixon)

twentyfour.

Rick nods at me, seeing us coming to meet him on the second level, "good to see you out and about."

"Me too. Glad I'm not dead. Not yet at least. We all know it'll be me running my mouth to the wrong person before a glorified cold takes me out." I shrug. I poke Daryl next to me, "I swore this one would stick an arrow through my head for a hot second."

Daryl rolls his eyes, "I wasn't. You just annoyed me."

Rick chuckles, "maybe." He turns to Daryl, face now serious. "Carols gone. She killed Karen and David."

My blood runs cold, I grab the handrail using it for support. The dizziness and nausea have returned to the surface. "The fuck you mean, she's gone?" I whisper.

Daryl rounds on the sheriff, "man, you couldn't have waited till we got back?" I sour at his tone.

Daryl isn't loud when he's angry, like I am. Instead, he's more of the quiet rage type. I stand back, letting these two have it out. I'm not comfortable getting into the middle of it. Rick made a tough call. Was he right? I don't know. But Carol was close to Daryl and me. She stepped in when Daryl thought he lost me as a friend. She was the first one to help me realize I'm family, too. Though, I didn't truly accept it until later on down the road. My stomach sinks at the thought of never seeing her warm smile, again.

"Until Tyreese got back?" Rick questions, cocking his head.

"I could've handled that. I did once already." I straighten up, looking at Rick, unflinching. "He should know better."

Rick shakes his head in my direction. "She killed two of our own. She couldn't be here. She's gonna be all right. She has a car, supplies, weapons. She's a survivor."

"Stop saying that like you don't believe it." Daryl snaps, black rage simmers into his tone. His friend just got sent away.

"She did it. She said it was for us. That's how it was in her head. She wasn't sorry."

I run a hand along my face as the words leave Rick's mouth. I eye the men in front of me wearily. I don't have the energy to break these alpha males apart.

Daryl turns his back on us, "man, that's her, but that ain't her." He hesitates, "what are we supposed to do about those two girls?" Lizzie and Mika. Oh shit.

"They look to her now that their dad is gone, Rick." I scoff. "Lizzie sought me out when Carol let her know I was there."

"I told her we'd look after them. I haven't told Tyreese yet. I don't know how he's gonna take it." Rick's voices his concern.

"Let's go find out." Daryl rushes by me, heading down the stairs. Rick on his heels.

A hand grabs me, stopping me from following. They pull me in. "You're okay," relief fills Kelly's voice. He places a kiss on my head. "I lost Isabella to it... Ezra, too."

I step back, seeing my friend and Charlee standing in front of me. "I'm sorry."  I wince. I bring Charlee close, hugging her.

Kelly motions for me to sit on the stairs. I follow his instructions; he joins me while Charlee watches us from the railing. "Daryl had it out with Bob during the run. The five of us almost died because he wanted a bottle of alcohol and wouldn't let it go." He shakes his head, "Bob's hand twitched for his gun, threatening him. Your boys one scary motherfucker."

I fidget with my hands, listening. "Yeah, about that." I fill him in on my theory about what truly happened on my last run with the group.  "I had a feeling he wasn't being 100% honest." I pause, "thank you for going with him."

BOOM!

"What the fuck?" Swearing, I run outside, Kelly and Charlee trailing behind me. We are the last ones out, meeting Maggie, Beth, Rick, Bob, Daryl, Sasha, Carl, and Tyreese. Across the yard, I spot a god damned tank with several cars.