RULE THE WORLD | D.DIXON

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By the time the group got to the border, it was dark, Cassie stayed close to her father as they stopped behind Carol. Aunt Carol paused for a moment before walking toward the border. The father and daughter followed after the woman, the older pulled out her bow and arrow stepping towards the woods when Daryl called out to her.

"Hey. Wait. Coulda lost a foot."

"They laid traps. Means we're getting closer," Carol said, nodding her head towards the woods. "I saw something over there."

"Will you stop this shit? Please." Daryl says as his daughter picked up a large branch. "You want her dead so bad, you don't even care what happened to you."

"That's not true," The woman dismissed.

"You never came off that boat. It's been like talking to a goddamn ghost."

Carol shifted on her feet, her eyes welled up with tears. "I'm doing the best I can."

"I'm the one you tell. Me." Daryl said, pointing to himself.

"I don't...I don't know how," Carol's voice broke as Cassie grabbed her hand.

"You gotta try, alright?" Daryl said, before pulling his best friend into a hug. "She's not worth it. She's not. Look at me. She's a dead woman, anyway. We have a future. Don't let her take that, too. You good?"

Carol nodded as her friend wiped away a tear from her cheek. She squeezed her niece's hand before Daryl and she pulled away. "Yeah."

Cassie handed her father the large branch that she had picked up and watched as he stuck it in the trap, causing it to snap shut. Hand in hand, she walked with her aunt before letting when a walker came towards them. Carol stabbed it in the head, stepped over it, and continued to walk.

By the next day, the group came to a clearing that Aaron had told them about. He had been talking to a Whisperer named Mary and she had told him where the horde would be. Cassie shielded her eyes from the sun as she looked into the clearing and saw that it was empty.

Her father growled under his breath before turning away. "Goddamn it."

"Wait," Aaron called.

Daryl whipped around. "For what?"

"This doesn't mean Mary lied to us, alright? They were protecting this place. T-They put a trap in the road as a deterrent." Aaron explained.

"Yeah, from some hunter a decade ago," Her father said, angrily.

"No. That thing was rigged more recently than that, and you know it."

"You wanna stand around and figure it out?"

Aaron sighed. "Look, the herd could have been here last week or yesterday. We had an obligation to come to check this out."

"Nah. Time to find Lydia." Daryl shook his head. "Cas, c'mon."

Cassie glanced at Aaron before jogging after her father with the others following.

***

"Lydia would have taken this river downstream. Back to our side." her father said as they were searching the woods for Lydia.