At this point, it had been at least another week. Theo, Merle, Debbie, and Saint were struggling to keep moving. Being alone and trying to defend themselves was hard for large groups of walkers.

They hid under a large tree that had fallen perfectly on a bank, providing enough shelter as night fell.

She yawned as she stroked her new best friend, and then suddenly, Saint's ears went up, and he began to growl.

"Stay here", She told everyone. Merle looked at her, worried, but she assured him she would be okay. "It sounds like one." She sighed, grabbed her knife, and stayed down.

She was so tired, but she had to keep fighting.

She couldn't give up now. Not when she made a promise.

"Stay, " she demanded, only to hear one set off footsteps. A slight growl came from around the corner from her before she stood quickly and stabbed the walker straight in the head.

She breathed out exhausted, tired and in desperate need of rest.

She fell to the ground and her knees. Rubbing her head in tiredness.

Her lip shook as she was overwhelmed with everything, a few tears falling from the dehydration, her head dipped between her lap as she softly cried.

"Theo?" Someone spoke from behind her, causing Saint to bark three times.

Her head snapped up quickly.

"Saint," She said sternly as her eyes met her father's.

Merle and Debbie left their hiding spot at the sounds of voices looking up to see the man himself. 

"Dad?" She began to cry before running towards him, throwing her arms around his neck as he held her close. Just like the first time they had been reunited.

She looked over his shoulder to see Carl and Michonne.

"Oh my god" She laughed before running to her brother and hugging him before hugging Michonne.

"Here boy!" Theo called, so the dog ran to her.

"I thought, I thought you were all gone," She cried, holding her hand over her mouth.

"We thought you were, too," Rick said before hugging her again. Carl ran towards them again, and they held onto one another like there was no tomorrow.

Crying into one another.

This was one of her core memories that would last a lifetime. She wished she could take a photo and hold onto it forever.

"Have you seen anyone else?" Theo asked, hoping to hear that one name.

"None of our own," Rick admitted. We bumped into a gang and barely walked away." Rick nodded to the dog. Then, he looked at his daughter sadly. She looked exhausted, dirty, and dehydrated. 

He grabbed the water bottle from his bag, passing it to her. 

"Merle" Rick looked over to him then to the young girl that stood behind him. 

"I'll explain on the way" Theo smiled. 

"Where did you find him?" Rick asked, smiling, happy to see his eldest alive. 

"Before we get into that, where the hell is Judith?" She wondered, noticing the lack of baby whimpers or giggles as she sipped water from the bottle. 

No one said anything.

"No" She shook her head confidently, but as no one said anything more, it had to be true. 

Her eyes closed, hands covering her mouth as she burst into tears.

"Are you sure?" She cried, looking up at her father.

"Pretty sure", Rick was honest; he didn't know if someone got her out, but even if they had, they couldn't even know if they would see her again.

"Did you finish the Governor off when I left you?" Michonne is trying to get their mind off Judith.

Theo wiped her eyes before nodding.

"I mean, this woman shot him, but I did what I wanted to," Theo explained, making the group nod.

"Where were you heading?" Rick asked, hands on his hips.

"We were heading to Terminus, thinking hopefully our group would have the idea", Theo told them, wiping her tears.

"That was our plan. Hopefully, we can find others." Rick nodded and hugged his daughter again, glad to have her back.

"So where do you get the dog?" Michonne asked as the group began to move out.

"He found us," she admitted. Saint's previous owner turned and left a note on him. He was waiting for me outside the shed I slept in for the first night after everything happened," Theo explained as the group continued to walk.

"What have you been feeding him?" She asked, patting his head as he walked closely to them both.

"Anything I can find, squirrel, rabbit, snake", Theo listed, shrugging.

"And you?" She asked, looking at her with a raised brow.

"I've been fine, I just wished I had my bat" Theo laughed

"Really?" Michonne laughed

"Yeah, well..." Theo rolled her eyes before stopping dead in her tracks—a street, with houses with an actual roof and probably some running water.

"It's getting dark. Stay here for the night and maybe tomorrow night and set out after. We can't be much further from Terminus; probably a 3-day walk from here?" Rick explained as they stopped in the street.

"I think take the night and leave tomorrow midday, we look through the building resupply and get going as soon as we can, we can't lose any more time right?" Theo shrugged, looking between the others.

"Okay", Rick didn't argue. He knew his daughter was more intelligent than him; she knew what they needed, and if that was to get to Terminus as soon as possible, that's where they were going.

"Carl, this is Debbie. Debbie this is Carl, my brother" Theo introduced the youngest

"Hi" Carl smiled 

"Hello" Debbie shyly smiled at the young boy before looking up at Rick and Michonne. 

"I'm Michonne, lovely to meet you Debbie" Michonne smiled holding out a chocolate bar for the young girl

"Thank you" Debbie took the chocolate from her with a smile

"This is my dad, Rick" Theo looked at her father 

"Nice to meet you sweetheart" Rick smiled

"Merle and Theo have told me all so much about you all" Debbie confidently walked out from behind Merle.

"Come on, walk with me" Carl smiled as she followed

"She is only 6, we had no choice" Theo explained looking at Merle. 

Merle walked besides Rick and Theo explaining what happened with Debbies parents

"Poor girl, it's a good job she had the two of you" Michonne smiled. 

"Look, Merle and I have put the past behind us, for the sake of finding everyone" Theo explained as the two of them nodded

"I understand I have to make peace with everyone individually, and I want to do that" Merle explained

"Okay" Rick and Michonne both nodded in agreement

The group walked into the first house, and luckily, they had no walkers waiting inside.

As soon as Rick hit the ground, he was asleep. Michonne followed quickly after, as did Carl.

Merle took watch from a separate room where he could keep an eye on Debbie. 

Theo took the first shift of the night with Saint.

Sitting back from the window to watch out for walkers, or people.

As she did so, she reached into her bag for her water and came across a piece of paper.

Not remembering what it was, she opened it confused.

She unfolded the piece of paper only for another to fall out.

She picked up the small piece of paper, turned it over, and saw it was a polaroid.

Of her.

And Daryl.

It wasn't the one Theo had been given back at the prison; she had no idea where that one went.

No. This was a picture of Daryl and Theo sitting opposite one another in the kitchen at the prison, smiling in their world.

Looking at one another with the clear image of love.

She ran her finger over Daryl, missing him so much.

She placed the photo in her pocket, never wanting to get rid of it.

Leaning back against the wall again, he continued to look at the sky, oping that he was looking up at it, too, alive and safe.

Glenn and Tara had spent their first day on the road together introducing themselves to people. 

There is a large ginger man named Abraham, a small Latina girl named Rosita, and a man named Eugene who is believed to know what this whole mess was. 

They helped Glenn and Tara find Maggie, and eventually, Glenn was reunited with his wife, Sasha, and Bob.

Daryl had lost Beth to people in a car after she ran out when he tried to help her. He had spent the night running after the car but had lost it and instead found a group of men. 

Rick encountered the group of men a couple of nights ago, but Daryl had to tag along and obey their rules due to the lack of options.

Tyreese and Carol were now alone. Lizzy had killed her sister, Mika. 

She believed that the walkers were still people and was about to kill Judith also, Carol had no choice but to shoot her, breaking Carol's heart. 

In addition, they are slightly tense after Carol tells Tyreese she has killed Karen and David.

However, everyone was still on route to Terminus.