Both Eyes Open - Daryl Dixon (under editing)

The Six.

Lara sat upon the hood of the truck. She hadn't stirred since the events of last night.

Once Rick was fully satisfied with the complete evisceration of Carl's attacker, she pulled away out of Daryl's grasp. She ignored the confused and hurt look on his face as she walked away, perching herself on top of the car bonnet. She had dropped all her weapons beneath her on the concrete floor, and stared unemotionally at the long stretch of dark road ahead of the group, twirling one knife in her hands.

She was unmoved even when Daryl approached her and prised the weapon from her grip and replaced it with her old knife. The one she thought she had lost months ago. She observed him swap the weapons and tuck the swapped knife securely into his belt, before sauntering off into the woods.

It had been hours now, and the sun had risen, and still nobody wanted to move or speak. Carl and Michonne crawled into the backseat of the truck for safety. Rick had collapsed to the ground beside the truck in some shade, overcome with exhaustion and self loathing.

Lara's head had been continuously swarmed with thoughts since she had sat on the cool metal of the truck.

Why had Daryl kept her knife? How did he come by it? Where has he gone? Is he okay? Where are the others? Does Daryl know? Is Carl okay? Will he recover from this? Will Rick recover from this? Will he ever be the same? Has the entire group changed since she had been separated from them? Does she really belong with them anymore?

She was finally roused from her inner thoughts by the sound of Daryl's voice.

"You can't see yourself, he can..."

She tilted her head to see the man pass an old, dampened, blood stained cloth to Rick, who then proceeded to wipe his face.

Lara turned to face the forest, before announcing,

"Ten minutes. Then we move."

Both men turned from their seated position to see her finally stand, and stride off to the forest for a bit of foraging, Fergus at her side.

"I didn't know what they were." Daryl spoke after an agonising minute of silence.

Rick glanced toward him, "How'd you wind up with them?"

"I was with Beth. We got out together. I was with her for a while." Daryl explained.

"Is she dead?"

Daryl lifted his solemn gaze to Rick and shook his head, "She's just gone. After that, that's when they found me. I mean, I knew they were bad, but they had a code. It was simple. Stupid, but it was something. It was enough..."

"And you were alone." Rick nodded.

Daryl's eyes trailed the forest, watching Lara delve deeper and deeper through the foliage.

"What about Lara?"

Rick frowned up at Daryl, "What about her?" He asked almost defensively.

"Did you question her?" Daryl pressed with a more serious tone to his voice.

"Didn't think it was necessary at the time." Rick grumbled, his voice cracking every so often. His eyes scanned the trees and shrug grey but to no such avail in comparison to the trained tracker at his side. He considered Daryl's question and asked, "Do you think I should?"