Happy holidays! Sadly for me my laptop is broken, so I have not been able to type at all. In fact I am able only to type this chapter because I am on a friend's laptop. It was really tragic. I was typing a 20 page paper for my college final exam and well, the computer shut off on me and now will not turn back on. Retyping it really put a damper on my day. So here we go.

Elle swung with all her might at a walker that was headed towards her. The decaying corpse stumbled backwards a bit, but continued forward with its arms outstretched towards her. She swung at it again until it fell to the ground. Before she had time to hit it in the head to ensure its death, another walker came from off to the right. She took a hard step forward, purposely driving her foot into the skull of the walker on the ground, and then swung her bat towards the walker, knocking it down as well. Morales suddenly drove a stick through the brain of the walker she knocked down and started swinging at another walker that was trying to attack Shane.

Screams were filling the air and Elle felt disoriented. Her guard had been down ever since meeting up with these people. A false sense of security had been felt surrounded by other living humans, so thus the attack of a massive amount of walkers did not seem real. She glanced over her shoulder as everything seemed to be going in slow motion. It felt as if a gun had gone off right next to her ear and everything was muffled to her.

Had she stayed by herself, she'd have been safely sleeping in a tree away from the danger. She wouldn't be feeling a pang of sadness in her side watching the walkers eating away at her friends. She wouldn't have even run into a pack of walkers as she would be off surviving out of sight. It was in that exact moment that she regretted joining the group completely.

In yet another instance of her guard being let down, she was suddenly face to face with a walker to her left. Not expecting the corpse to be that close, her bat would not properly lift in time. She threw her hands up to push away the walker, but it countered the push and it ended up falling on top of her. Her bat flung from her hand and she used the free hand to push at its face. Teeth snapping at her, a panicked scream left her throat. Struggled and hitched grunts left her throat as she pushed her hips forward in an attempt to throw off the rotting corpse. She managed to get her left leg free and she rolled herself on her side, flipping the walker to be underneath her. With frantic hands, she took the gun from her pocket and tried to shoot the walker, but fumbled with the safety. Pulling the trigger, she found it was not going off. FUCK! Safety! Take the safety off! How the fuck do I? SHIT- a few more fumbled attempts, the walker latched its hands to her arm, trying to pull her down to meet its teeth. Giving up on shooting, she then used the gun's handle to attack at the walker's skull. It took a few hits to it to cause a gash to open on the walker's forehead. Every hit after that sent dark brown blood on her clothing and face. The blood hit her lips, and she tightly pressed them together to avoid it going in her mouth.

Without time to even think, Elle was back on her feet faced with three walkers headed her direction. Her breath was nearly as loud as the screams coming from her right, as she tried desperately to get the gun in her hands to work. Her fingers slipped on the blood covering it and her eyes darted down to it. Still having no idea how to use the gun, she decided her best option was to run. She sprinted towards the trees and jumped on a couple of low branches. She tucked the gun into her waistline and gripped the branch tightly. She pushed her upper body higher. A walker grabbed at her ankle, causing her to slip on the branch was going to grab. Her arm tangled itself around the next branch she could find, causing various cuts to form along it. She held on tightly as she kicked downwards at the walker grabbing at her. Feeling her leg was free, she climbed higher out of reach. Looking down she saw the walkers that had followed her suddenly became interested in a person that was running by them.

Guns were going off every direction and Elle swore she suddenly heard Rick's voice yelling.

Are they back? She thought, trying to catch her breath. Remaining in the tree until the guns started to wear down, she wiped her fingers across her chin and lips to smear off the blood. Seeing her fingers were covered in it as well, she took the end of her shirt and lifted it up to her face to wipe it off with the cloth. Elle spit out a couple times, paranoid of the blood entering her mouth. She looked herself over and saw nearly every couple of inches was spots of blood covering her. Most of it was the walker's, but here and there held fresh red blood seeping out of cuts she acquired during the struggle.

A very loud desperate cry of pain caused her to climb out of the tree.

Emerging from the woods, a couple people met her eyes as they gathered around Amy's body being cradled by Andrea. The woman was crying out loudly mourning the loss in her very hands. Elle felt a pang in her stomach and looked away. A few tried to approach Andrea to comfort her, but she shooed them away harshly.

Elle sat in shock on the log she had been seated on earlier before this attack occurred. Glenn in the same obvious state of shock sat next to Elle, only he had tears visible in his eyes. Elle kept her face blank and her lips pressed firmly together, but the pain she felt on the inside was very much hurting her stomach.

"I-I-…" Glenn tried to speak, but choked on his own words.

"Did you get bit?" A voice sternly said behind her. Daryl had his crossbow still drawn and now pointed at Elle.

"No I-.." She looked down at herself, the firelight showing her a better view of the massive amounts of blood covering her. "…most of this is walker blood. The few that is mine is just cuts from the trees and rocks. I wasn't bit."

"You sure?" Rick said, emerging to the side of Daryl. His tone was much more comforting and concerned, rather than the alert harshness of Daryl. She was positive if she was bit, that Daryl would not hesitate to put her out right then and there.

Elle simply nodded her head, before turning her gaze to Glenn, who had tears streaming down his face. She wasn't exactly sure how to comfort him or how to deal with this situation at all, but she knew everything had changed at this point. She actually cared that the man next to her was in tears. She cared that Amy was dead. She cared about the lives of the people around her, even though she did not want to or even was able to show it currently.

One thing was for certain in that moment though as she looked over Glenn's shoulder to Andrea who was tearfully hugging the unmoving corpse of her sister…..

…Elle was going to stay with the group.

There was no way around it. She wasn't happy about it, but she could not bring herself to leave after this moment.

"We gotta do something 'bout the bodies." Shane lowered his gun, rubbing his chin. His beady eyes darted around at the bodies strewn about throughout the camp, some walkers and other their own people.

"We could burn 'em." Daryl suggested, his crossbow now lowered from Elle.

"No." Glenn sniffled. "We can't burn these people! They're our friends! We bury them!" He stood up raising his voice the more he spoke.

Rick looked at the ground and then back to his wife who was holding onto their son tightly, crying. "We bury our own and burn the rest. How 'bout that?"

Glenn did not answer, instead headed towards the RV obviously trying to contain himself.

"Can't do it with no sun Rick. We should wait till morning to do that." Shane looked over a body that belonged to a fellow camper. He frowned at it before standing up straight and leaning on his gun like a cane.

"Ain't no way anyone is going to sleep tonight. We could at least move the bodies of the walkers into a pile. We'll light it in the morning. We gotta take a tally of who's passed away." Rick's tone stayed very calm and still, but it was obvious that he was shaken up.

"Elle, you should go wash up. Can't be good that walker blood is all on yer skin." Shane looked her over and then to the group. His eyes scanned a little before pointing at Daryl. "Can you go with her to the lake? See if there's any stragglers 'round there too and take care of 'em?"

Daryl simply nodded, which Elle almost found odd. Almost. Normally a remark would come out of his mouth about 'babysitting' or even a remark would come out of her mouth about 'handling herself', but given the circumstance, neither felt like the idea was a bad one.

Elle stood up and headed towards the RV, "Just gotta grab a spare set of clothes. Be right out."

Daryl nodded, placing his crossbow down to help Shane carry a couple walker's bodies to a pile off to the left of the RV. Elle had to walk right by Andrea, who now remained unmoving watching her sister's body. Elle did not even attempt to speak to her, instead brushing past her. Glancing at Amy's body caused her fists to clench to her sides. She swallowed the lump in her throat and entered the vehicle. Glenn was seated at the table. She could tell due to the moon creating a small amount of light for them. Elle felt her way to the table and reached into one of the cabinets for a flashlight. She flicked it on, shining it accidently into his eyes. She fumbled through her backpack for a set of clothes and a small sliver of soap. Pulling out a pair of jeans and a blue tanktop, she was about to turn to leave to RV, but met Glenn's eyes. The pangs in her stomach grew more painful at each passing second. Against her normal mannerisms, Elle sat across from Glenn and placed a hand on his giving a comforting squeeze- …

..-trying her best to appear empathetic to him. She did feel mournful for the deaths, but her current mind wanted to be alone, away from everyone who was crying and sad. Unable to think of any words to say, she silently left the RV.

She walked over to Daryl, who had her bat in his hands. "This yours I'm assuming."

She took it from him with her free hand and saw it was covered with blood on every inch of it. "Thanks. Shall we?"

The cries of everyone started to become distant as the two walked the path to the lake. Elle realized that in fact being with Daryl in this moment was as good as it got to being alone. It certainly was away from everyone who was showing their depressed emotions up at camp. She refused to let herself become so emotional that tears would come out of her eyes. That would be her ultimate defeat. It already was enough that she actually cared and decided to stay with the group. But becoming weak with emotions to cloud judgment? She'd prefer a bullet to her brain. Crying did nothing but lower a person's guard and make them useless. She let her guard down twice today and she vowed to never let it happen again.

"When did you guys get here?" Elle asked, keeping her flashlight low to the ground to avoid attracting any straggling walker that was nearby.

"Tail end of it, I suppose. Amy was already on the ground when we got here. Saw you runnin' into the woods." Daryl kept his bow drawn and pointed it around at any small sound that he heard.

"I'm not used to so many of them trying to attack me." She admitted, her voice was low. "Before this group, I'd just remain out of sight or avoid the masses. Trying to defend a base camp unexpectedly is new to me." She paused, letting her tongue slide against her lip. Trying to change the subject away from her flaws, she realized she had not seen Merle with them. "Your brother?"

Daryl did not answer right away and Elle saw he kept his eyes on the ground for a moment, before meeting hers. It was obvious he was sad, his eyes showing hints of it, but his tone remained low. "We went to the roof and only found his hand."

"What!?" Elle said a little bit louder than she meant to.

"He cut his hand off to escape. Musta thought we wasn't comin' back fer him," Daryl spoke quietly. "We looked for him more, but Glenn was kidnapped."

"Wait….what…"

"Are you fucking deaf or something?" Daryl's irritated tone was returning to normal, the shock evidently starting to wear off of him.

"He didn't mention-"

"Well how the hell he gonna tell you when half the people we are living 'round is dead? That seemed priority." Daryl let out a 'pfft' noise. They reached the lake at this point and Elle flashed the light around the area looking for walkers.

"So what happened? He's obvious okay, I know, but-"

"That isn't good enough of story? You wanna know every damn detail? Point is he's fine. Merle's out there alive somewhere and stole our truck, so that's why we was late comin' back." He snapped. "We had tah walk." Daryl walked over to a rock and sat on it, resting his crossbow on his lap. "Now get on with your washing off so we can go back, woman."

It's obvious he just is mad about Merle at this point. She thought to herself as she placed the flashlight, clothes, and baseball bat on the rock next to him. While removing the gun from her waistband she said, "Well sorry, if I wanted to know what happened to my friend. Glad your brother is at least alive."

"To hell you actually mean that," Daryl scoffed.

"I don't wish death upon the living, even if I don't like them, Daryl. Shut the fuck up for a damn minute." She grabbed the clothes and her bat. "And stay the hell over here while I go into the water, would yah?"

"The fuck guy you think I am? Ed?" He spat, obviously offended.

"Sorry, Jesus Christ…." She walked a couple feet towards the water and stood behind a taller looking rock away from Daryl. "All I asked was what happened to Glenn, don't have to get all mad 'bout it."

She took off her shirt, smearing more blood on her face doing so. After a couple moments of silence, except for the sound of her clothing being thrown to the ground, Daryl spoke, "Couple guys got him. We thought they was a gang or somethan'. Ended up being men protecting these old folks who were abandoned by the doctors in a retirement center, that thought we was looters or something. Rick gave 'em some guns and we got Glenn back. Happy?" His voice was a bit louder than before so she could hear him from where she was standing behind the rock.

Elle slowly walked into the water, taking her bat with her to wash off the blood on it. The water caused goose bumps to appear immediately over her skin. It chilled her spine and she hesitantly walked deeper into the water. "Happy isn't the word. Just glad he's okay…"

Amy's body lying motionless on the ground flashed through her mind. The blood had covered her shoulder and shirt. The very clothing that she had just taken off had belonged to Amy.

"I'm sure you could fit into something of mine. Once we get to camp we can change." Amy smiled at her.

"I have a few extra shirts. You look my size," Amy eyed her over once, "Although I have big hips-"

"You're crazy, look at you!" Elle pointed to Amy's lower figure, "I'd kill for hips like yours. I got a little extra fat on my sides." She placed her hands on her hip bones looking down at herself.

"You have muscle. Don't you start calling that fat," Amy giggled.

It felt as if tears were about to form on the edge of her eyelids, so quickly Elle snapped her mind away from memories. She preferred to resort to anger instead of grief. She hit the water hard with her hand, sending water splashing in all directions, "Fucking stupid to have a camp out here in the open! We need to move the fuck out of here and somewhere safe."

"The hell is safe now a day? You got a place, say it. If not, just deal with what we got right now." He sounded irritated at Elle's random outburst. She heard him shifting in his seat.

"A building seems more logical than out in the open." Elle threw her bat to shore and worked on her body. She scrubbed at her arms with the tiny bit of soap while Daryl remained silent. Unable to see herself, proved the washing experience to be more difficult than expected. She couldn't tell if she got all the blood off her, but after a couple dunks of her head underwater, the freezing chill of her body was more than enough to cause her to get out. She felt around for the dry clothing that she had left on the shore and placed them hastily on. Elle decided to leave behind the bloody clothes, holding too many memories of Amy to them and being stained with walker blood. She heard a small chuckle from Daryl, who obviously found it amusing that she was tripping on her way back to him.

"You decent?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah….Turn the light on."

He flicked on the flashlight and Elle rung out her hair between her fingers. She started shivering from the air. How it could be so warm in the day and so chilly at night was beyond her, but that was southern weather. Some nights, true it could be a very comfortable temperature, but adding in the water soaking her body head to toe, it made Elle shake. She rubbed the sides of her arms and grabbed her gun. Daryl noticed that she was cold, but made no comment about it.

She looked at her gun and cursed, seeing it still had pieces of brain matter on it. "Hang on, I gotta wash this off."

Daryl eyed it, pointing the flashlight to it. He followed her to the water's edge, "I'm assuming you didn't use that for its intended purpose."

Good eye and assumption….

She knelt by the water and splashed a bit of it onto the handle of the gun, carefully avoiding submerging it in the water. Debating on admitting out loud that she did not know how to use a gun, she ran through her mind what his reaction would be. Laughter? Mocking? Helpful? After today's tragic attack, Elle really wanted to know how to use a gun. Had she simply been able to fire a couple bullets, she could have stayed within the camp and used the time she was beating the walker's heads in, to fire off rounds quickly and save others from being bit. Not knowing how to use a gun in this day and age, meant death for sure. Alone, her bat was enough, but in a group a gun was something valuable and a skill needed. It made her weak to not know how to. It would take time and practice, but knowing at least how to properly fire and take off the safety was simple enough knowledge that she could work with.

"Daryl, can I ask yah something?" Elle, looked up at him standing behind her. The light hit her eyes for a moment and he lowered the light to her neck to avoid blinding her.

"What?"

"I don't know how to use a gun," she admitted. "Hell, I had to use this to bash a couple walker's skulls in, but it wasn't cause I wanted to. I tried firing it but-"

"Okay," he responded, either not knowing where she was going with this or purposely ignoring the implication she was making.

"I know we don't get along too well most o' the time, but I was wondering if you could teach me a thing or two 'bout shooting these." Elle had to force herself to sound nice.

Daryl made an unintelligible noise and then said, "Psh, why don't you have Shane teach yah?"

"Cause I don't like Shane." Elle's voice was cracking slowly back to irritation as his response sounded annoyed.

"Well you don't like me."

"But I like you far better than Shane, so-"

"So nothing," he interrupted. "Why do I wanna waste my time teaching you, princess, how to use a gun?"

"Oh…I don't know," Elle's sarcasm painfully obvious, "Cause I wanna be able to defend myself and you group of idiots! Why else would I wanna know how? So I can learn to be a cop or somethan'?"

"Be a waste of time and bullets teaching you." Daryl started to pace backwards, indicating he wanted to return to camp.

"I'll use the bullets I have left, or put something else in place of it so I don't waste them! It's my bullets, I'll use 'em how I please. Don't walk away from me!" Elle stood up, grabbing her gun and bat. "That's my damn flashlight!"

"Well then keep up." Daryl called back to her.

Elle run to his side and harshly snatched the flashlight from him, scratching him accidently on his finger with her fingernail. "If you don't wanna, just say no, don't have to be rude 'bout it."

Here I am asking him something simple, that took a lot for me to even consider asking him…and…he's just throwing it back in my face!

"I just thought, it be helpful to know! You use a damn crossbow, which I know is a whole lot harder to use than a gun, so I figured you'd know a lot 'bout using them." She tried to throw in a compliment to convince him, but it came out with attitude that made it sound more irritated. "You're obviously skilled. I just thought-"

"Fucking Christ…If I say yes, will you shut up?" Daryl stopped in his tracks and turned towards her, his saliva spitting in her face as he spoke.

Fighting the urge to say something rude, Elle bit her tongue. "Yeah."

He continued to stare her down, his eyes like two slits piercing into hers. He was probably irritated with the fact he just agreed to help her, she pegged. Had he meant to say that or if he had said that in anger and not realized it was actually agreeing to assist her, was beyond her. She was just silently happy that she had broken through to him and was going to receive help.

"So when can you-"

"Don't even ask me that. I'll get to it, when I get to it." Daryl walked a little faster, leaving Elle to walk behind him.

Oh is he furious. Despite the current circumstances, she was having a silent victory dance in her mind.

Back at camp, she almost wished she could turn on her heel and go back to the lake to argue with Daryl more about nothing. That would beat retuning to a camp full of crying individuals and death. Andrea was still in the same spot, but the rest were working on gathering the walker's bodies into a large pile. It appeared they were almost done. Shane and Rick were exchanging words, before going back to their tents. She figured everyone was going to attempt to sleep at this point, but she knew it was going to be a sleepless night. Daryl walked towards his tent silently, not even wishing a goodnight to Elle or anyone he passed. She wondered if he was going to do silent mourning within his tent for his brother tonight. Elle went over to the RV to find Glenn, still seated at the table with his head resting in his arms.

She walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Hey…"

He looked up at her and she leaned down to hug him. "I'm sorry. I heard what happened to you in Atlanta. I'm so glad you're okay."

He hugged her with one arm and she patted his back, before sitting across from him. "I don't think I can sleep tonight after all this."

"Same here," she said.

"Amy….I can't believe she's …. I mean she's right there-" He pointed towards the wall opposite of them. "She's on the other side of this wall dead and we-"

"There is nothing any of us could have done differently." Elle reassured him. They remained talking for the rest of the night. Elle tried her best to keep his spirits up and the subject off of the death plaguing their campsite, but Glenn broke down numerous times. At one point though, they both drifted asleep without realizing it, seated at the table.

The next morning, Glenn woke Elle by shaking her shoulder. "Come on, we have to bury our friends. Then figure out what to do next."

Elle rubbed her eyes and exited the RV with Glenn. Still Andrea was seated next to Amy (whom she immediately averted her eyes from). Has she been like that all night?

Lori was next to her and Elle could hear her trying to talk Andrea into allowing them to bury Amy. Elle and Glenn walked over to Rick, who told them to help dig the graves for those lost. The two grabbed shovels and joined T Dog, Jacqui, Jim, and Shane who were already digging holes near each other. She glanced over at Daryl who was swinging a pickaxe into a walker's head. He was going through the pile of them, making sure each was clearly dead. A good coping method….

The only bodies that were left around camp, once the graves were dug were the ones belonging to those who died from the attack. Glenn walked over with T Dog to carry a body to the graves, pain obviously on his face. He had been in the camp, much longer than Elle, so he must have known the person he was picking up well. Elle was suddenly alerted at the sound of a weapon being cocked. She glanced over to see Andrea pointing her gun at Rick, who had gone over to her and Amy in some attempt to convince her to let them handle Amy. Elle stood near Lori and Jacqui, sipping on water to cool down after digging so many graves in the hot Georgia heat. They looked on as Rick backed away from Andrea without a fight and returned to his wife's side.

"Y'all can't be serious…" Daryl walked over with his pickaxe over his shoulder, seeing what had just occurred. "Let that girl hamstring us? That girl's a time bomb."

"What do you suggest?" Rick placed his hands on his hips, running out of ideas.

Daryl looked at him for a moment choosing his words carefully, running his tongue across his lips. He stepped closer to Rick, keeping his tone down to avoid Andrea hearing him. "Take the shot. Clean in the brain." He placed two fingers on his temple to mock this motion, "From here. Hell I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

"No." Lori kept her eyes on the ground. "For god's sake. Let her be." She knelt down and sat on a log intertwining her fingers. Shane, Daryl, Elle, and Rick all exchanged looks.

"That girl is gonna come back as a walker and bite her, then what?" Elle crossed her arms and looked to Lori. "It's a danger to the group-"

"Andrea will deal with it….She hasn't taken her eye off Amy. When she turns, she'll be ready." Lori looked at Rick.

Daryl gave an 'are we serious here?' look to Elle, finding her idea to be fitting. He turned on his heel and Elle followed him, picking up her baseball bat from the log it was leaning on. "I'll help yah." She called after him.

He looked over his shoulder and nodded, before walking past Jim. "Wake up Jimbo, we got some work tah do. Still more bodies by the trees over there we missed. Elle, will you carry that one over there? I think it's a female so it shouldn't be heavy for you to do by yourself."

Morales was struggling to carrying a body and Daryl walked over to help him. They started dragging it towards the burning pile of walkers.

"Whoa….Whoa what are you doing? This is for geeks." Glenn said, noticing them. "Our people go over there!" They ignored him. "OUR PEOPLE GO OVER THERE! In that row over there." They stopped and looked at him. "We don't BURN THEM!" He lost his cool, his voice faltering. He regained himself, "We bury them. Understand?"

Elle couldn't help but feel that pang of sadness every time Glenn became emotional. She admired him standing up to the two, who were about to burn a non-walker. It wasn't like Glenn to stand up for himself. It was just a horrible circumstance that caused him to gain some courage. Daryl and Morales looked at him a moment, Elle fearful Daryl would start yelling, but to her surprise they both nodded and dragged the body towards the pile that was going to be brought up to the graves.

That look… Elle noticed Daryl's face growing redder as he dragged the body towards the row of bodies. She didn't catch what he said to Glenn as her back was turned towards Jacqui who was offering her a granola bar, but she turned back around when Morales shouted for Daryl to shut up.

"Y'all left my brother for dead! You had this coming!" Daryl screamed, the sweat dripping down his forehead and arms.

Elle watched Daryl storm off to the next body, the heat literally steaming off his body in anger. He was in mourning and she could see his coping was going to be a rocky road, but she saw herself in his actions. It did not anger her to hear him try to place the blame on everyone or how the camp had this coming to them, but she knew most people would see it as a horrible thing to say. She looked to Jacqui, who seemed to be on the same page at her giving a saddened look to Daryl.

"He's just sad about his brother," Jacqui said to Elle, thinking Elle would have been finding Daryl to be rude in this moment.

"No I get it…" Elle took a bite of her granola bar. Jacqui walked over to a body to help Jim carry it.

"Sammy, NOO! Stay in the house." Elle screamed. Her brother was at the top of the stairs, now realizing what his girlfriend was about to do and started to rush down as well. Elle sprinted towards her, seeing her fingers on the lock. "Don't open it! DON'T OPEN IT!"

"It's the military! ELLE WE HAVE TO GO!" Sammy screamed, unlocking the door.

"SAM DON'T!" Elle's brother yelled, "THEY-"

The door opened and guns started to fire. Sammy's head hit the floor with a bullet through it.

Elle's fists tightened and she shook her memories from her thoughts. Stop thinking about that….. She told herself. She was about to think of a way to distract herself when a yell caused her to look up.

"A WALKER GOT HIM! A WALKER BIT JIM!" Jacqui was screaming. A couple of the men were starting to surround Jim, who was breathing heavily panicked. He looked around at everyone, debating what to do.

"Show it to us!" Daryl said, taking his pickaxe off his shoulder and into both his hands. His eyes looked like he was ready to kill Jim right there on the spot. "Show it to us!"

"Honestly, approaching him with a pickaxe asking to show him the walker bite…. Stop it!" Lori yelled at Daryl.

Jim picked up a shovel, seeing Daryl start to get closer to him. Elle dropped the remainder of her granola bar and stood near Jacqui watching it unfold. Everyone started yelling 'calm down' or 'hey!' or 'stop it!' and everything was just chaos. Shane and Rick seemed to want to calm Jim down, while Daryl was ready to kill him. T Dog came up from behind and locked Jim's arms behind his back. Daryl dropped his pickaxe, much to Elle's surprise, and lifted Jim's shirt, who was screaming that he was 'okay'. Upon lifting the shirt, a clear set of bite marks with blood and puss leaking out of them was on the side of Jim's chest. Daryl backed away from it, looking at Jim as if he was a monster. His mouth hung open in basic shock or disgust, Elle could not tell. Elle on the other hand, kept her lips slightly parted and her eyebrows furrowed. It was pure confusion she felt. It was almost as if she didn't actually believe he had been bit, but clearly he was.

"I'm okay…" Jim sadly spoke. He started repeating this over and over again, almost as if to convince himself. He staggered back and forth in place. Everyone's face grew grim, knowing what had to happen next. Shane approached Jim and lead him towards the RV to sit down, actually giving him a pat on the shoulder, which seemed out of character to Elle.

The group huddled a good distance away from Jim to debate what to do. Daryl had his pickaxe in hand once again, and unlike everyone else, he was pacing back and forth in his spot acting as if he was ready to strike at any moment.

"We have to do something." Lori said, rubbing her bangs out of her eyes.

"I say put a pickaxe through his head and the dead girl and be done with it." Daryl stated.

"That what you would want? If it was you?" Shane looked up to him.

"Yeah," Daryl said as if Shane was idiotic to even ask such a question, "And I'd thank you as you did it."

"I hate to say it, and I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right." Dale said

"Jim's not a monster Dale, or some rabid dog."

"I'm not suggesting that-" Dale started.

"We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" Rick said.

"The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be." Daryl's tone rose.

"We don't have to kill him like animals. We can just give him a gun and tell him to go off on his own to put himself out. We ain't driving a pickaxe through his head." Elle looked to Daryl. He's eyes darted around to everyone, not having a particular point of interest. He just appeared to be a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any moment. Elle swallowed the lump in her throat before continuing, "But Jim is going to die either way. Let's end his suffering. There's nothing else to do."

"What if we can find a cure? I heard the CDC was working on a cure." Rick looked to everyone, desperately, seeking opinions.

"Heard that too, heard a lot of things, before the world went to hell." Shane sat down on the back end of the truck they were by.

"What if it's still up and running?" Rick suggested.

"Now that is a stretch right there," Shane said looking very doubtful.

"Why?" Rick asked, "If there's any government back, any structure at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs. I think that's our best shot. Shelter, protection, food."

Daryl looked angrier every second that past, that Jim was still alive and near them. Elle was standing on the opposite side of the circle from him, so she had a clear view of his rage.

"Okay Rick, you want those things, I do too. Now if they exist, they're at the army base at Fort Benning."

"That's 100 miles in the opposite direction." Lori said sadly.

"That's right. But it's away from the hot zone. Now listen if that place is operational, it be heavily armed and we'd be safe there."

Elle looked at Daryl from across the circle, who she still had not kept her eye off. He turned to look at Jim behind him for a moment. His fist clenching as he looked back toward the circle. He was going to do something and do something soon. Elle glanced back at Rick for a moment, but her eyes always ended up back to Daryl, who was steaming and looking at the ground. His knuckles were white with the grip he had on his pickaxe.

"The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance!"

"You go looking for aspirin, do whatever you do." Daryl finally spoke, sounding actually calm. Suddenly his voice was raised and his other hand gripped his pickaxe. He turned around and lunged towards Jim, "But somebody's gotta have the balls to take care of this damn problem!"

Elle stepped forward about to yell something, anything that would manage to come out of her mouth, but she stopped when Rick cocked his gun and pointed it at the back of Daryl's head. "HEY! We don't kill the living!

Shane stepped in front of Daryl, while Daryl looked back at Rick, who pushed the gun closer to his face. Daryl slowly lowered the pickaxe, his lips pressed tightly together seething with anger. "It's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to mah head."

"We may disagree on a lot, but not on this. You put it down. Go on." Shane said, nodding his head towards Daryl's weapon. Daryl looked at Rick once more, before letting out a frustrated grunt and throwing his weapon to the ground. He stormed off away from the group. The rest of the group started to distance themselves from one another, not sure what to do. Elle decided to follow Daryl, secretly wanting to make sure he did not try to attack Jim without anyone noticing later on. She overheard everyone she passed talking about burying the dead and holding funerals and that further pushed Elle to go over to Daryl. She did not want to take part in any funerals. Those were full of depression and tears, something she wanted to be far away from.

"Hey, wait…" She called to him. He was over by his tent, picking up his crossbow.

"If you've come to criticize me, you can just turn right around princess." Daryl did not even look back at her as he started towards the woods. She passed by where she left her gun and grabbed it, placing it in her waistband.

"Hell, I ain't doing that. I just need to get the hell outta here. I ain't sticking around for no funerals. Don't wanna be part of that. I helped with the graves and bodies, the emotional shit is too much." Elle caught up to him and walked by his side. "Can I come with you?"

"I suppose, but keep the fuck up." His anger was still very much alive in his voice. "I ain't gonna slow down for you. See what I can fucking kill out here for food."

The two walked rather fast through the woods, Elle having a little bit of trouble keeping up, but not daring to complain or show it. Her legs were a bit sore after walking a half hour into the woods at the pace they were at, when suddenly he stopped and placed an arrow into his crossbow. He aimed for a moment and let it go, hitting and pinning a squirrel to a tree a couple feet away. He walked over to his prize and wiped off his arrow on his pant leg, stuffing the squirrel onto the rope wrapped around his shoulder.

"You know, I agreed with yah." Elle said as he finished tying the animal to himself. "Rick is too nice to just kill him. It's a harsh world now a days. Have to do what's necessary to survive."

"Don't gotta preach to me, woman. I know that already. Don't matter if you know it too. It's Rick and Shane's little dictatorship running our camp. What they say goes." Daryl started to walk again. "But thanks, I guess."

Killing an animal and the length of time that had passed had obviously calmed Daryl down a little as he wasn't walking now with force in his step. He looked around the forest more, kneeling by some broken branches looking for a trail to pick up. "All this gun fire from last night scared all the deer away."

"How long you think till they're done with their little memorials?" Elle asked.

"Dunno, probably a couple hours." He met her eyes as they walked next to each other. "You really wanna avoid it?"

"I don't like dealing with death." she started, then stopped herself rewording her sentence, "Well I can deal with death, like killing things or seeing dead people, but those in mourning-….Don't like to be around it. I don't go off crying and mopping like everyone else most of the time, so it makes me seem like an asshole."

"I understand." Daryl said. "I don't wanna go back and deal with fucking Shane's bullshit." He paused and looked around him. "If we got a couple hours to kill, you brought your gun?"

"I did," Elle mentally smiled, knowing what he was suggesting.

"Well, fuck it. Might as well teach you right now, seeing we might have to go into fucking Atlanta again to the CDC. Going right into the hot zone, you'll need to know how to use it or you're as good as dead." Daryl placed his crossbow down on a fallen log as well as his hunted animals. He took his own gun from his pocket and sat down. He patted the spot next to him and then removed the bullets from his gun. Elle sat down next to him and placed her gun on her lap.

"Guns are pretty basic once you know the parts of it." Daryl began, taking the gun from her lap. "Your's right here is a semi-automatic pistol." He eyed it over, turning it each way to see every angle of it. "Where'd you get your hands on this anyways?"

"My brother was in the army," Elle said watching Daryl. His dirt covered hands seemed big holding the petite gun. "He was visiting me 'round the time of the outbreak, so he had his guns on him."

"Well you're one lucky son o' bitch to have it on you. You have more ammo then what's in it?" He asked taking out the magazine to check how many bullets were inside.

"Yeah, I grabbed as much as I could before I left my house. It's in my bag back at camp."

"Save those," he said. "If you're willing, we will use what you got in here as practice." He held the gun in both his hands in front of his, laying it on its side. "Obviously this is the grip, where you hold it." He pointed to the part where it was, "But you used this as a way to crack open skulls, so I guess that's its second use." A small chuckle left his throat, picturing that occurring.

"Hey it worked didn't it?"

"This on the side is the safety. It looks like you only made it go halfway off, so that's your main problem. You gotta make sure it's all the way to the left." He undid the safety. "There's the trigger and trigger guard and the magazine-….This is where you put more bullets in. Very important." He detached it and removed the bullets and then placed them back inside for her to see. He took them out once more and held the gun out for her. "You try."

Her fingers brushed against his hand's rough skin as she took her gun and loaded it. "Like this?"

"Yeah, yeah. Stand up." He stood up ushering her with his hand to follow. He knelt down by his bag and pulled out a tin. "This was Merle's for spitting, but I guess he don't need it no more."

She thought upon saying this that Daryl would grow angry, but he remained calm. He walked a distance away from her and placed the tin on an eye level branch in front of them. Daryl returned by Elle side and pointed at the can and nodded to her. She rose the gun in the air gripping it with both hands tightly.

"No, no, no, no." Daryl looked at her and clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth. "Not like that, what are you aiming for? The top of the tree?"

Elle lowered the gun and threw out one hand in the air irritated, "Well I don't fucking know what I'm doing. Sorry I'm not an expert."

"Hey, talk to me like that, this lesson ends right here, right now." Daryl's tone faltered, his eyes narrowing.

"Sorry…" She mumbled.

"Put the gun up like you just did." Daryl told her. She did as he said and kept the gun pointed at what she thought would be a spot to hit the can. Daryl then walked to the side of her and placed a hand on hers lowered the gun. "You're holding it far too tight." Her hands must have gone back to the way they were before, because he started making irritated noises and let out a large sigh. Daryl walked fully behind her and wrapped his arms out in front of her. Being taller than her, he was able to see over her as his hands went over both of hers. Slowly he inched himself closer to her backside, his forearms lined up and touching hers. He lowered his head so he was looking over her left shoulder. His body heat from his chest radiated her back and the sweat from both of their bodies caused their fabric to cling to one another. Her bottom was barely grazing against his legs and she felt slightly awkward at this almost intimate gesture. Focus, Elle! Goddammit the man's trying to teach you how to shoot! Taking her mind away from this, she remembered the gun in her hands and focused her eyes back on the tin can. He used his hands to press down on hers. They were rough and calloused.

"Now, you gotta keep the gun eye level with you. You put it higher up, your aim isn't gonna go where you want it to," he said in a slightly softer voice as his face was just a little bit away from her ear. He wasn't so close that she could feel him breathing, but every so often his cheek would hit her hair or something.

"Hold it nice and steady, not too tight though cause you'll make your hands fall asleep, but not too loose cause when yah fire it'll slip right out yer hand, which is the last thing we want. Now where is the tin can in lined with your gun?" he asked.

"I can see it fully, the gun is lower than it at this point." She responded, shifting her legs forward starting to feel a bit overheated from his body and the sun beating down on them.

"Put the gun a little higher and…what are yah? Lefty or righty?"

"Righty." She rose both her hands up a little, but Daryl pushed down ever so slightly when she did so.

"A little too high….yeah…right there. Push it a little to the left now. Since you're new, my suggestion is to breathe out when you shoot. Hold the gun far away from the face too, don't want it comin' back and hitting yah." Daryl looked at the gun and then to her, "I'm gonna let go now, so stay right as you are."

She felt the heat leave her body as he backed away slowly and then stood off to the right of her. He eyed her form, "Bend your knees a little-…Not that much….Christ woman."

She rolled her eyes and scrunched her nose, keeping the comment she had thought up to herself. "Can I shoot?"

"Knock yourself out." He said and crossed his arms watching her.

BANG.

"Well, you suck." Daryl nodded his head sucking on his bottom lip looking to where the bullet had gone. She had hit successfully the tree trunk-…of the tree that was behind the actually tree she meant to hit with the tin can on it.

"Wait, lemmi try again." She said growing angered by his comment.

After firing the rest of her bullets in her gun, she successfully hit basically every spot, but the tin can. Her final bullet at least hit it, but in the top left corner, creating barely a scratch on its metal surface. She earned herself various scoffs and remarks from Daryl, who found it amusing that she could not aim well. Walking back to camp, the two were silent most of the way, except for the 'thank you' she gave Daryl. At the moment they were in, she realized again why she actually did not mind being around Daryl. He didn't try to fill the silence with chatter, instead enjoying the silence. She spent the half hour walk thinking about her gun, which was warm within her hand from holding it for so long. She hoped in a life or death situation, she'd at least be able to shoot at walkers. Up close, she'd at least be able to fire it through their skulls.

Returning to camp, the group was gathered around the makeshift fire pit. Rick was standing by Lori, but then knelt by her. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I've uh…." Shane began, causing the group to look at him. Elle stood next to Daryl, who placed his squirrels down on a log and slung his crossbow over his shoulder. "Been thinkin' 'bout Rick's plan. Now look there are no guarantees, either way I'll be the first one to admit that." He looked down at the ground, his hands resting on his gun. "I've known this man a long time. I trust his instinct. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So for those of you that agree we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?"

With that, the group split up, returning to their tents or cooking canned products over the fire. Daryl went to a log and started skinning his game, while Elle went over to Glenn. Glenn was seated by Dale and the two gave her a smile.

"Where'd you go off to?" Dale asked, as she sat next to him.

"Daryl taught me how tah shoot." Elle placed her gun on her lap and looked at it, tracing the edges with her fingertips.

"You any good?" Glen asked, tapping the side of her arm.

"I can hit stuff, I'm not aiming at…if that's whatcha mean?" She let out a small chuckle and spent her night chatting with the two. Dale talked about war stories and Glenn about his time delivering pizza's and the rudest customers he ever had. Elle listened most of the time, occasionally speaking about court cases she had back home to deal with that annoyed her. One case she brought up was about a man who had been arrested near fourteen times due to heroin and half the time he got off due to not the right papers and search warrants signed. He'd always come into the courtroom and give Elle a wink and a speech about 'long time no see' and then have a smug look the rest of the day. A part of her wondered if he survived the outbreak or if he's off doing drugs to his little heart's content now.

The next morning, Elle packed up her stuff into her backpack, while Shane explained the radio communication the group would have while out driving. Elle started to help Carol pack up some things as her husband, now dead, meant extra work for the poor woman.

Daryl emerged from behind a truck, placing his bags into the back of it. He was wearing an orange and white flannel shirt, that obviously had sleeves in a previous life. He rubbed his nose and shut the truck's bed, leaning on it afterwards.

"We're not going," Morales said, placing a hand on his wife. Shane and Rick reassured him, asking if that's what they wanted to do. Numerous people looked upset at the fact that Morales's family was leaving, along with his children whom Sophia and Carl often played with. Elle pressed her lips firmly together, sucking on her bottom lip and looked over to Daryl who was biting at his thumbnail. People started hugging him and when it was obviously Elle's turn to partake, she merely patted him on the shoulder and wished him good luck. Shane and Rick then handed him a gun and a box that was half full of ammo. At that Daryl let out an annoyed grunt and went to his truck, sitting idly waiting for the signal to leave. He didn't like Rick's generosity, as he was a survivalist. Elle silently thought that giving so much ammo was not wise, but did not outwardly express it.

Placing her backpack on, Elle looked around at the line of cars surrounding her. Hmm….who to drive with?

Glenn, Dale, Jim, Jacqui, Carol, Andrea, T Dog and Sophia all rode in the RV. Much more crowded than usual as well as Jim's condition plaguing the vehicle. Everyone in there would be concerned with him and have worried emotions and fear. Nope….Not riding with them. She wanted to avoid death. If Jim croaked along the way, she didn't wanna deal with Carol or Sophia crying.

Shane was riding by himself in a car- Ugh hell no.

Rick and Lori had Carl in a car with them. Too much married and family problems. Well fuck this. She went to the passenger door of Daryl's truck, which held his motorcycle in the back of it.

"Can I ride with you?" Elle asked, leaning her arm on the open window.

He looked at her, with one hand on the steering wheel before turning his head out the window. "Why you ain't riding with chinaman? Ain't he yer boyfriend?"

Elle rolled her eyes and opened the car door, sitting inside without his permission to do so. "No go on, get in, don't let me stop you." He told her sarcastically as she shut the door and got comfortable.

"First off, he ain't my boyfriend. Second, the RV is crowded right now with all them worrying 'bout Jim. I hell of ain't riding with Shane either." She folded her arms for a moment.

"No go on, get in, don't let me stop you." He told her sarcastically as she shut the door and got comfortable. Elle leaned on the door, resting an elbow on the open window and placing her face in her hand.

"I knew you'd understand," she sarcastically drawled out. "Thanks."

Daryl let out an annoyed growl and muttered something about "women" before he started his car.

They started off, the line of cars following each other out on the open road. Various scatted cars or roadblocks would get in their way, causing lane shifts or wide turns, but for the most part it was clear. Elle enjoyed the wind blowing her blonde hair in a refreshing manner so much, she started to lean her head out the window. She looked over the various fields and buildings they passed, holding one of her arms out the window and letting the wind shift her hand up and down.

"My god, yer gonna fall out of my damn truck if you lean any further out. I ain't stopping to pick up yer broken ass, if you do." Daryl said. "You ain't even wearin' a seatbelt."

She rolled her eyes once more. "I live on the edge I guess." She quirked a brow, "This coming from you? You're not wearin' a seatbelt."

"Who the fuck is gonna crash a car when the world's ending anyways? No need for them. Only a fucking idiot would crash into nonmoving objects." Daryl let out a hack, and spit out his window. He drummed his fingers on his steering wheel and glanced at Elle.

She scrunched her nose at him and smirked, not thinking of anything to respond to that. They drove for a good fifteen minutes, Elle looking between her window and to Daryl every so often. Out of boredom or just pure freedom of thought, Elle couldn't help but notice Daryl's arms. They gripped the steering wheel tightly, at 11 and 1, rebelling against all driving standards of 10 and 2. She found herself biting her lip as she stared at them—the contours of the muscles showed through the slightly grime covered skin on top. They were perfectly toned and shaped…strong. Her eyes wandered down the lines and contours of his bicepts travelling down his forearm. A light layer of sweat sprinkled his skin, causing his arms to glisten in the sun pouring through the windows.

Damn. Her tongue ran lightly over the bottom of her upper lip without knowing it. Daryl suddenly looked at her from the corner of his eye, catching her stare.

"What?" He asked harshly. Deep down, a part of him wished she would stop glaring at him whenever they were in the same vicinity

Shit! Elle shook her head and looked out the window. "Spacing out sorry," Her cheeks grew hot.

Suddenly the line of cars stopped and smoke was clearly coming of the RV, which was two cars ahead of them. Daryl and Elle tried to look out their windows to see what was going on. Only when they noticed everyone getting out of their cars, did they follow. Dale was talking about needing a new hose and Shane went off with T Dog to a nearby gas station. Jacqui suddenly started screaming that Jim's condition was worse, and Elle was thankful again that she chose not to ride with them. Daryl and Elle leaned against the RV, watching Lori and Carol who were comforting their children.

"I told everyone we should just put him out of his misery." Elle said in a low voice to Daryl as she crossed her arms.

"Hey," Daryl kept a low volume too, "I tried too."

"Yeah, but not in a very compassionate way. Approaching a man with a pickaxe wasn't exactly inviting." Elle said through her teeth.

"Pfft….Woulda got the job done." Daryl let out a sigh. "We're losing daylight just sitting here."

"Calm down," Elle looked at him, turning her back from the group to further avoid them hearing. "I agree we're wasting time waiting around and tryin' to fix the RV and debate what to do with Jim, but we start cussin' and yelling 'bout it, they'll peg you the bad guy. They chose to keep Jim alive, majority ruling I guess."

"Who made the flat foots in charge anyhow." Daryl sent a glare over Elle's shoulder to where Rick was exiting the RV.

"Badges still mean something to them, I guess. Besides, what if the CDC is actually workin'?" Elle tried to sound hopeful, but she thought it was a long shot.

"Jim's done." Rick said sadly, "It's what he said he wants."

"Is he lucid?" Carol cupped a hand over her eyes to block out the sun.

"He seems to be…I would say yes."

"Back at the camp, when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down. You misunderstood. I would never go along with killing a man, but I was just gonna suggest we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer." Dale looked to Rick sternly.

"We just leave him here and take off? Man I don't think I could live with that." Shane stated.

"Not your call. Either one of yah." Lori looked at them.

With that Rick and Shane went inside and carried Jim out. Elle remained where she stood, leaning against the RV. It was another moment of mourning that she wanted no part of. "I'm gonna wait in the car, Daryl."

He looked to her and gave a very small nod. She walked back to Daryl's car and sat inside alone. Leaning against the metal door, she shut her eyes. Exhaustion was starting to hit her hard.

The doorbell rang and Elle got up from her seat in the kitchen to answer it.

"Nick!" She stepped forward to hug her brother. "You told me you were on the 5 o'clock flight what are you doing here so early!?" The wide smile on her face increased, and looking past her brother's shoulder she saw Sammy.

"We took an earlier one," Nick said while the girls hugged "wanted to surprise yah big sis! Besides, we come baring food." He held up the paper bag in his hands, the contents smelling of Chinese food and stir fried rice.

"Honestly, this diet is going to mean nothing." Elle took the bag to the kitchen. "How's mom?"

"She's good. She's good. Off in Japan again teaching children their ABC's and 123's." Nick went to the cabinets and took out plates. Sammy sat down at the table, removing the contents of the bag.

"Oh mother," Elle let out a sigh, "Always on go, isn't she? What about Jacob and Riley?"

"Dunno, back with dad on that damn farm I guess? Riley swears he's gonna go to college soon, but he's been saying that near damn ten years. I stopped believing him when he asked me what the SAT's are." Nick started scooping food on his plate and passed the rice to Sammy.

"We visited your dad about a month ago to talk about our impendin' wedding. He fell off the wagon again I fear. Forgot my damn name, kept callin' me Sally." Sammy said sadly.

"Honey, he never got on the wagon." Elle chuckled. "The day he quits drinkin' is the day our older brothers go to school and get their GED's. Not likely."

"You hear about the guy in Arizona reporting a man eating another man's face?" Nick started.

Elle awoke to her shoulder being shaken.

"You die on me?" Daryl's voice sounded hazy to her as she woke up with a startle.

"Ugh….Sorry fell asleep. What I miss?" She rubbed her eyes and looked to Daryl who was seated behind the steering wheel.

"Jim's over there sitting down," Daryl started the car. "We're heading on to the CDC, only a couple of miles away Rick says. Glenn and Dale fixed the RV."

The line of cars started moving again, Elle looking out the window at Jim who was seated under a tree. He was looking up at the sky, dazed.

"Why didn't anyone put him out? Y'all just left him there to die?" Elle asked, turning her head to watch Jim as they drove further away from him. "I thought we was putting out there and killing him?"

"He didn't want that," Daryl said sternly. "He just wants to pass peacefully I reckon."

"He's suffering." Elle turned forward and crossed her arms, looking at the clouds that were starting to form overhead. "I'm surprised you didn't push for him to be taken out."

"Hmpft," Daryl responded, running his tongue over his lips. "He ain't with the group no more. He ain't danger to us."

"Can you do me a favor?" Elle asked, rubbing her exposed arms, the sudden shade causing her to feel cold in her tanktop.

Daryl rolled his eyes. "Depends."

"If I ever I get bit, can you take me out quietly?" Elle's voice dropped down to a serious tone. "Could I come to you and ask you to go with me off in the woods or something and just kill me?"

"Yeah," Daryl said very matter-of-fact. "But why you talkin' like that?" He turned his head slightly to look at her, "You secretly bit or something?"

"No, no." Elle let her hands drop to her sides, resting on the seat. "I just don't want this shit to happen. Look at the debate and time wasted on Jim. If I am bit and the fever gets me and I start saying weird shit or trying to survive or something-….Just know I'd rather be put out right then and there. I feel like you'd be the only one to actually have the balls to do something like that. So that's why I'm telling you. Glenn would most likely try to get me help, but….realistically- you get bit, you're as good as dead."

Daryl rubbed underneath his nose and clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth. "Yeah, I'd do that fer yah. Hell, if I get bit, I doubt any of these assholes would hesitate to put a bullet through my skull. Shane would like to right now."

"Shane's just uptight now that Rick's back with his woman." Elle retorted. "He'll get over it and stop being such a prick eventually."

Daryl scoffed at her.

Eventually the cars stopped outside a very large building. They were a bit aways from it, a roadblock causing everyone to emerge from their cars with their packs in hand. Massive amounts of bodies wearing military uniforms were scattered around the ground. Flies were buzzing by Elle's ears as she looked down at men whose faces were blown clean off nearby. Seeing people in these uniforms hit a hard note for her, but she kept her face blank as she grabbed her bag from the back of Daryl's truck.

Elle walked into her brother's room, which was normally a guest room in her home. He was standing in front of the mirror, adjusting the buttons on his military uniform. "Do you really have to go? This is supposed to be your vacation."

"Sergeant called," Her brother's voice was stern, but she could hear the anxiety in it. "Every able body in the military is to report to the base. Something bad is happening Elle. I'll be back before dark, I promise. Just stay by the phone…"

Elle sat on the bed and watched her brother grab his bag.

"Don't tell Sammy where I'm going. She's in the shower. Just….Tell her I went out to visit a friend. I'll be back sis okay?"

They walked over the bodies closer to the building. It felt dangerous to be in the middle of the city, out in the open. Any one of the bodies on the ground could be a walker, just barely moving. The sun was starting to go down and with each step Elle felt her stomach full of doubt. She tried to push the memories out of her head, but every camouflage uniform she saw reminded her of her brother. Andrea was coughing, holding herself tightly looking as if she had been crying the whole trip in mourning. They walked closer to the door, weapons drawn. Rick would shush the group whenever someone made a noise.

Closer and closer to the CDC, they were alert, looking every which direction for movement. Reaching the door, Rick banged on the metal surface. Elle's gut said to turn the hell around right then and there.

"There's nobody here!" T Dog panted.

"Then why are these doors down?" Rick asked, looking around for something to open it.

"WALKERS!" Daryl yelled, pointing his crossbow at one that was walking towards the group. He effortlessly shot at him, landing an arrow through the skull. "You led us into a graveyard!" Daryl yelled, placing another arrow into his crossbow.

"He made a call!" Shane yelled at Daryl, getting in his face.

"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl screamed, glaring at Rick before darting his eyes around for more walkers.

"Shut up!" Shane pushed Daryl's shoulder and pointed at him. "You hear me?! Shut up!"

"We need to get the fuck out of here!" Elle yelled, "It's a dead end!"

"Come, on baby." Lori held Carl against her tightly as she turned towards where they had come from.

"Where we gonna go?" Carol started to cry, clinging to her daughter desperately.

Everyone started yelling, Elle included. People were weighing options, arguing options, but everyone started to generally head towards the cars, until Rick yelled that he saw a camera move. Rick and Shane started pushing each other as Rick went back to the door and started banging on it. Elle stopped in her tracks and watched, but felt a hand on her shoulder roughly pushing her backwards towards the car.

"Let's go! Stop standing there!" Daryl yelled, shooting at another walker headed towards them.

"RICK THERE'S NOBODY HERE!" Lori screamed as she returned to his side, trying to push him back as he desperately pleaded to the camera.

"YOU'RE KILLING US!" Rick yelled. "YOU'RE KILLING US!"

Elle tugged at Daryl's arm and when he looked at her, she pointed at a walker that was behind her. He shot at it and she went to stand where he originally had been watching his back. Their eyes darted around as more walkers started appearing in the distance.

"We have to go!" Carol screamed.

"RICK COME ON!"

"YOU'RE KILLING US!"

Creeeeeeeeeeek.

A blinding white light appeared as the door opened. Everyone's breath was held.

Just want to say, I really hate in stories when the Original Character Male/Female, picks up a gun/sword/weapon, that they have never used before and is just PERFECT at using it. So fuck that, Elle is gonna suck at it (with style of course). It just bothers me. People aren't perfect. Flaws are what makes us, us. Send me your reviews and thoughts! Thanks Sydney for the help and support!