Hey Guys, I hope you enjoy this update! I had to go back and do a little bit of editing on 104. Turns out my editing brain isn't one hundred percent at midnight after working ten hours, who knew? Hahaha But small, changes have been made to clean it up a bit, nothing to the story though.

Anyway I hope you like this one. Please keep up the amazing Comments/votes! You guys are awesome!

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Daryl

We ran down the road after the truck. It left an easy trail since it was still dragging the vending machine behind it. I was surprised how long it managed to, I hadn't made the chains that tight. It was a few miles before we came up on the vending machine.

Rick and I stopped, both covered in sweat and gasping. Maybe Jo had it right with her jogging.

I stepped towards the vending machine. It was crazy, the glass was still not broken. I pulled out my bolt cutters and used them to smash the glass. I pulled out all the candy and chips and found three cans of orange soda in the bottom.

"This was a special request from the doctor," I said, shoving them into my back pack. At least something good came out of today.

"Hey, whatever she wants," Rick agreed still gasping.

I found one more can in the bottom, but it had a puncture in it. I sucked some down from the hole in the bottom then handed the rest to Rick. It had been a long time since I had soda and it was too sugary. I grimaced, not sure how I had ever liked something that sickly sweet.

"She saved Carl's life. We didn't know her, and she turned out to be alright," he was still trying to talk me into bringing new people back, but he hadn't been out there with Dwight and Sherry. They were good people, I knew it, but they had still screwed me over for themselves. It didn't matter anymore.

"If there are still people out here," he hesitated, "and they're still people. We should bring them in."

I shook my head. "What like this guy?" I challenged, jerking my chin down the road.

Rick shook his head and scowled. "No, not this guy," he growled.

"We still gotta trail," I said motioning up the road. Lucky for us the road hadn't been driven down in a long while so it was obvious where the truck had gone.

Rick took a few more deep breaths to prepare himself. "Let's go."

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Jo

After class the kids went their separate ways. Enid and Carl left together, talking quietly with their heads close. I was glad Carl had found someone to connect with. He had been doing better since we arrived here in Alexandria, but I still worried about him. He had seen and done a lot. It was good to see him acting like a normal teenage boy despite all the horror he had witnessed. It gave me hope that we could all be better one day.

I finished cleaning up the classroom and closed the garage door behind me. I needed to go talk to Brian's mom, Alicia, though I wasn't looking forward to it. She had been having a rough time since the wall went down. She hadn't come to any of the community meetings and as far as I knew hadn't left the townhouse she and Brian shared.

I walked through the community towards the townhouses. Stephanie and Olivia waved as I passed them.

"Hey Jo!" Stephanie hollered, waving.

"Hi Steph!" I called, smiling back. It still felt a little odd, like my body didn't quite know how to do this, how to be a normal person again. I never thought we would have this again, I never thought I would be like this again. It constantly surprised me to find I could be like this again.

"Hey Jo?" I turned to see Michonne jogging up behind me.

"Yeah?" I stopped, waiting so she could catch up.

"Do you think you could watch the gate for me for a bit?" She asked.

"Yeah, not a problem. I just need to have a quick chat with Alicia, is that okay? Or do you need me now?" I asked. It would be better to speak with Alicia before Brian got home, but it wasn't strictly necessary if I was needed somewhere else.

"No," she said waving me off. "Go talk to Alicia first. I'll be at the gate."

I nodded and hurried down the street. It wasn't often Michonne asked someone to cover her shift so I had to assume there was a good reason for it.

I rapped on the door. When there was no answer I frowned, all the shades were pulled so I couldn't see in the house. I rang the doorbell. Alicia hadn't left the townhouse in weeks as far as I knew. She had stopped taking her shifts at the pantry and because of the loss of her husband Rick had allowed it. It wasn't something I necessarily agreed with, but Rick was the boss and I didn't feel like arguing over it. Either way, it wasn't good to let someone hide in their house and be afraid.

The door opened a crack and inside I could see Alicia, still wearing her pajamas even though it was mid afternoon. She squinted out at me. "What do you want?" she asked.

I tried not to flinch from her harsh tone, but it caught me completely by surprise.

"Hi, Alicia," I greeted plastering on a fake smile. "I'm here to talk to you about Brian, can I come in?"

Panic flared through her eyes. "Is he okay?" she asked, opening the door further.

Damn it, I should have led with that. "Yeah," I said reassuringly. "He's great, I just wanted to talk to you about our little school field trip."

When she realized Brian was fine, her eyes immediately narrowed at me. "What about it?" she snapped. "I already told him, he isn't going outside the wall."

"I understand your concern with him going outside the wall Alicia, but Michonne and I will be accompanying the kids and they will be very safe." I tried to keep my voice soothing and level.

"You and Michonne?" she asked. I couldn't tell if it was disbelief or disgust coloring her tone. Either way it put me on edge.

I stared at her, trying to read her body language, but all I could tell was that she mad. "Yes, Michonne and I are fully capable of keeping the kids safe and Carl will be armed as well...it's important that Brian comes with and learns how to forage in the forest. He'll be learning how to set a snare and find water and-"

"And be like you," she snapped angrily.

I flinched at her words, not understanding her why she was so mad.

"I-" I stammered, not sure how to respond.

"Why can't you just leave us alone?" she snarled angrily. "The last thing I want is for my son to turn out like one of you people. You think you're so great, but I've seen you. You're no better then the monsters outside these walls. He isn't leaving the walls and that's final." And she slammed the door in my face.

I stood there entirely dumbfounded. I took a deep breath, trying to remember that she had lost her husband only a couple months ago, and was still grieving. But that only helped so much.

"Ms. Schroeder?" I turned to see Brian standing on the sidewalk. He looked like he had been standing there a while.

"Hey, Brian," I said, trying to flash him a smile, but failed.

"Don't-" he started to say but then changed his mind and looked at me sadly. "I'm sorry," he said.

I went down the stairs towards him. "It's not your fault Brian," I promised him.

He nodded and chewed on his lip. "I do want to learn," he said earnestly. "And...not everyone thinks like my mom does. It's only a few," he said giving me a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

"Brian," Alicia's voice hissed from the doorway.

He flinched at her voice and jogged towards the door. "See you later Ms. Schroeder," he called over his shoulder. Alicia slammed the door behind him.

I nodded after him. Feeling a little like I had been slapped across my face.

It's only a few, that's what he said. Which meant the dislike or distrust still ran deeper than I thought possible. I thought after we all fought together to survive that had somehow gone away. That the 'us' and 'them' mentality had been driven away by us coming together and fighting side by side. I know it had on our side, but apparently it hadn't for all of them. I tried not to let it bother me, but it hung over me like a black cloud as I walked back towards the main gate to take Michonne's shift. 

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Daryl

It was another five or so miles before I saw the lines in the road where he had blown a tire. I motioned to Rick to slow down. We crested the hill in a crouch. Sure enough at the bottom of the hill the asshole was crouched beside the front tire, changing the flat. I motioned towards the woods and Rick and I swung around to come at him from the side.

We tucked our guns away and split up so we could each come around either side of the van and trap him. Rick went first, he wrapped his arms around Jesus, pinning his hands to his side.

"Hold still and maybe we won't hurt you," Rick snarled.

"Sure thing," Jesus agreed stilling in Rick's arms. Then, without waning he whipped his head back, catching Rick in the face. He elbowed Rick in the stomach then whipped around, kicking him in the chest to knock Rick to the ground.

I ran forward swinging to punch him in the face but he was too fast. He slipped to the side, and grabbed me by my backpack, slinging me into the side of the truck. I heard and felt everything in my backpack crush beneath my weight and grunted as the wind was knocked out of me. I shoved him back and he stumbled just as Rick came barreling into him, knocking him down into the ditch.

He landed hard on his back and Rick and I both pulled our guns and pointed them at his head. I was still fighting to get my breath back. Damn, he was fast.

"This is done," Rick growled.

Jesus didn't look intimidated as he pushed himself up on his elbows. "Do you even have any ammo?" He asked arching a disbelieving eyebrow.

Without hesitation Rick and I both shot the walker stumbling down the ditch towards us in the head. We shared a look of satisfaction and then turned back to Jesus.

"Okay," he agreed, holding his hands up in defeat. "You gonna shoot me over a truck?"

Rick shrugged like he was considering it. "There's a lot of food on that truck." Rick cocked his gun, "The keys, now."

Jesus sighed and dug into his pocket after the keys. "I think you know I'm not a bad guy."

"Yeah," Rick agree. "What do you know about us? They keys," he snarled. "This is the last time I'm asking you."

He gave up the keys and Rick set about tying him up on the side of the road. I opened my backpack and frowned, the whole thing was soaked with orange soda.

"You gonna leave me here like this?" Paul asked. "You're really going to do that?"

Rick nodded giving the ropes one last tug. "The knots aren't that tight. You should be able to get free after we're long gone."

"Maybe we should talk now," Jesus finally said looking at Rick hopefully.

"Nah," Rick said stalking around towards the drivers side.

I took one of the broken calls of orange soda and shook it up. "Here," I snarled and tossed it at his feet. "In case you get thirsty."

Rick and I both climbed in the truck. I pulled out the last can of orange soda and put it in the cup holder for safe keeping. I held my hand out the window and flipped him off. "So long ya prick!" I yelled loud enough for him to hear me as we pulled away.

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Daryl

Rick and I were sharing a bag of chips as we drove down the road. They were stale but good.

"It still worked out you know. Today is still the day." He said a little less optimistically than earlier.

I reached forward and turned up the radio. I handed off another chip without comment. I wasn't getting into it with him. Today was crap day no matter how you swung it. I shoulda stayed in bed with Jo.

"Hey look at that," Rick said pointing to a farm off to the side of the road.

"Yeah, a barn," I agreed not impressed. I just wanted to get home.

Rick slowed and pulled into the yard.

We both went still as we heard a loud thud from on top of the van. I leaned forward in my seat, looking around, trying to pin point where the noise came from.

"You hear that?" Rick asked.

The thudding continued.

"That son of a bitch is on the roof," I snarled. My temper flaring. I had had enough of this asshole.

"Hold on," Rick growled and he spend up and then slammed on the breaks.

There was another loud thud and Jesus tumbled off the roof and rolled over the hood, grunting as he landed in the grass in front of the truck. He climbed to his feet, took one look at our faces and took off running.

"Mother-" I snarled. I jerked open my door and ran after him. I was gonna stomp his ass.

"Daryl!" Rick yelled, but I ignored him. This son of a bitch was asking for one hell of an ass kicking.

I ran after him. He was fast, faster than me, and wiley. He darted and dodged aroung the truck as Rick used it to cut him off. He feighnted left and I fell for it. But I was quicker recovering than he thought and I was close.

"We came to a conclusion asshole!" I yelled at him as I snagged the back of his jacket.

Rick climbed out of the truck to come help. He hesitated when he saw a groupd of five walkers coming our way.

"I got him!" I yelled, though he shook me off at that moment when I was distracted.

Rick nodded and turned to the walkers.

Jesus made a beeline for the truck. He jumped into the drivers seat and I was right behind him. I climbed in after him, grabbing at his collar to drag him out. "Come here you little shit." I snarled.

We grappled, but he was a slippery son of a bitch. He jerked back from me and he pointed a gun at my head. I froze, sure he was about to pull the trigger and pissed as hell he got the drop on me.

His eyes flickered to something behind me. "Duck," he ordered.

I heard the snarl behind me and I listened, dropping down into a crouch. He fired my gun and the walker went down. I looked back at it, it had been closer than I realized, less than a foot away. I turned back to Jesus. "Thanks," I said, then I punched him across the face.

"That's my gun!" I snarled climbing into the truck and jerking it out of his hands.

"Come 'ere!" I yelled, trying to pull him out. He struggled, kicking out. I felt it when his foot hit the shifter and the truck started rolling backwards.

"Whoa!" Jesus grunted and he shoved me backwards out of the truck so I was clear. I rolled, trying to avoid being hit by the door. I managed but Jesus wasn't so lucky. The door hit him in the head, knocking him out.

I climbed to my feet just in time to watch the truck roll the rest of the way down the hill and into the pond. I groaned. I walked over to Jesus and kicked him over to make sure he was out. He was. Then I stepped back and watched the truck sink, taking all the supplies with it.

Rick walked up to me. "You all right?" he asked.

I sighed. "Yeah," the last of the truck disappeared beneath the surface of the water. "Law of averages," I said, glancing at Rick. "That's bullshit, man." I said shaking my head. "Let's go check them cars, get the hell out of here." I turned to head back towards the parked cars.

Rick hesitated. "What about the guy?" he asked motioning to Jesus.

"What about him?" I asked, taking a step back towards Jesus.

"Well, he helped you," Rick reasoned.

I glared steadily at Rick and when he wasn't moved I finally hedged. "Maybe," I snapped. It was like I had needed his help. I coulda gotten myself clear of the truck just fine.

Rick just shook his head, like I was the one being exhausting. "He ever pull a weapon on you?"

Technically he had, though he shot the Walker who woulda attacked me. I looked back and forth between Rick and Jesus a few times and sighed. Rick wasn't going to be moved by this one.

"Fine," I snarled. "Let's put him up a tree." I marched over to him and grabbed him by the arms, and started dragging him roughly across the field.

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Jo

I stalked back across the community and found Michonne waiting for me at the front gate. She took one look at my face and frowned. "Are you okay?" she asked concerned.

I nodded, my head jerking roughly as I moved towards the ladder to climb up onto the platform. "I'm good," I promised her.

She didn't look convinced, but she also looked like she needed to get some place. "I'll be back soon okay?" she asked.

I looked down at her from the platform, watching as she headed towards the gate.

"No rush," I told her. "I don't have anything else going on today."

She nodded, still studying my face. She turned away and opened the gate just far enough to slip through, then she paused. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I scowled at her. "I'm fine," I snapped impatiently. I was still bothered by my run in with Alicia, but I wasn't going to discuss it out here. "Go, do whatever you gotta do," I commanded, waving her off.

A ghost of a smile crossed her face at my gruffness and I wondered briefly if I had been spending too much time with Daryl. She slipped out of the gate, and pulled it closed behind her. I stood on the platform and watched her disappear into the trees.

I wondered how she would have responded to Alicia's unkind words. I didn't ever want Michonne to know Alicia had called us monsters, but I couldn't decide if she would have let it bother her or not. In so many ways Michonne was stronger than I was, but at the same time she could be sensitive. Or maybe it was me being overly sensitive because there were times not too long ago when I had looked in the mirror and would have agreed with Alicia. I bothered me to find out those days perhaps weren't as behind me as I had thought.

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Daryl

Rick was in the drivers seat of the white SUV and I was in back, sitting next to Jesus. I refused to leave him alone in back in case he woke up. I didn't trust him. Rick turned a corner and Jesus flopped against me, I elbowed him hard, shoving him over the other way, glaring at Rick in the rearview mirror.

"He took a pretty hard hit," Rick said, watching me carefully in the mirror. "Denise needs to look him over."

"Yeah," I growled. He already knew how I felt and decided to bring him with us anyway. I wasn't going to give in to make Rick feel better about his decision. 

"You wouldn't have gone through with it, you wouldn't have left him," Rick said.

"I woulda, right up in that tree. I woulda," I grumbled, staring out the window sullenly.

"No, I know," Rick said with certainty. "Almost as soon as we got to Alexandria, you got it. You saw - you...and Michonne, Jo, you all tried to tell me. So shut up," he said lightly, turning another corner.

Jesus fell into me again and I elbowed him harder, sending him sprawling across the seat.

"Cause I'm finally listening."

I looked from Rick and back out the window. I didn't know what to say to make him understand. He didn't get it. No matter how many times I told him about what happened with Dwight he wouldn't understand how big a deal it was. How they had fooled me. How they were good people and despite that they had fooled me and screwed me over. We couldn't take those chances, not anymore. I wasn't willing to take those chances, I had too many people depending on me.

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Jo

Michonne came back a few hours later, but I waved her off and took the rest of her shift. So, it was after dark before I returned to the house. We had expected Daryl and Rick back a couple hours ago and I forced myself not to worry. Daryl and Rick were fully capable to taking care of themselves and they were only a couple hours late. This was nothing outside the realm of possibility for going out on runs, I knew that better than any one.

Still, it didn't keep me from fidgeting at the counter, pushing my food around my plate.

Carol looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "Not hungry?" she asked.

I startled out of my thoughts and looked up at her. She was washing the others dinner dishes while Michonne put Judith to bed.

"No that's not it I'm just...thinking," I dragged off.

Carol made a noise in the back of her throat and went back to cleaning dishes. Beside me, Carl was silently eating his dinner. He had come in late as well, though no one said anything. I had a feeling he had been out with Enid but I wasn't going to be the one to rat him out.

"You know they're fine, they're just late," Carol said gruffly.

I glanced up at her in surprise. "Oh," I said finally understanding. "I wasn't worried about Rick and Daryl."

"Then what?"

I shook my head, shoving my food around some more. "I just..." I sighed, Carol was as good of a person as any to talk to, she wouldn't hesitate to tell me if I was being overly sensitive. "I went to talk to Alicia today about Brian," I explained.

"Oohhh," Carl drawled as though everything suddenly made complete sense to him.

I glanced over at him and frowned.

He shrugged. "Brian might not like to talk to you guys, but he talks to the rest of us just fine. He says him mom says all sorts of nasty shi-"

Carol shot him a warning glance.

"-stuff," he finished hesitantly. "About our group and stuff. And that she didn't want him coming to school when she heard Jo was going to be the teacher, but dad made her."

I looked down at my plate. It's not like this was news to me, but it still hurt to hear. At the sink Carol turned off the water and turned back to us. "She's an idiot," she snapped simply, shaking her head. Carl nodded in agreement and finished his dinner. He put his plate in the sink and headed upstairs to bed.

She turned to me. "It doesn't mean anything," she said simply. I nodded. "I mean it Jo. Everything's been going great for us all. You're happy, Daryl's happy. You've worked really hard to leave all that bullshit in the past. Don't let one stupid bitch ruin that for you."

I looked up at Carol a smirk on my face and nodded. She was right of course. I knew I was being overly sensitive. Even knowing it however, didn't make it any easier to deal with. "You're right." I agreed.

Carol flashed me a smile. "Of course I am," she said with a twinkle in her eye. She dried her hands on a towel and folded it up, putting it over the handle on the oven. "I have watch on the east wall tonight," she said glancing at the clock, it was late, almost ten. "Michonne said she would watch the monitor for Judith."

I nodded, I was tired and would probably feel better after I had a good nights sleep. "Have a good night," I called after her as she headed towards the door.

"You too."

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Daryl

It was dark when we finally got back to Alexandria. We hadn't talked for hours. I had spent most of the time trying to come up with the words to convince Rick. Cause when he was set on something he was near impossible to move.

As Rick slowed, pulling up to the gate I cleared my throat. "You know I was thinking, back before we we went out to the quarry, the morning after Reg and Pete, how you said we shouldn't be looking for people no more. You were right."

"No," Rick said immediately.  "I was wrong. You were right." He flipped the brights on and off and the gate slid open.

I sighed and chewed on my lip, remembering back to that talk we had and all the things we had said.

Rick drove the SUV over to Denise and Tara's house and parked out front. We pulled Jesus out of the car. I grabbed him under the arms and Rick took his legs. He weighed more than he looked and we struggled to get him up the porch steps. Rick knocked on the door.

The porch light turned on and Denise answered the door with Tara behind her, both were wearing pajamas.

"Who's this?" Denise asked, frowning down at Jesus.

"Come on, man, he's heavy." Denise flinched at my harsh tone, her eyes widening and I dialed it back a little. "Ah, that thing, that thing we talked about didn't work out. It's this asshole's fault. Sorry," I grunted as we maneuvered Jesus into the house.

"Lay him on the bed," Denise said stepping back out of the way.

"All right, ya take a look at him," I said hauling him inside. "He ain't staying though," I said glaring at Rick. This asshole had cost us a lot.

Once Denise looked him over we brought him down to the room in the empty townhouse we had used a few times as a cell. We really needed to get someplace more secure.

I tied Jesus up, tighter than before. Knots there was no way he could get out of. Rick laid a glass of water and a note explaining where he was and what was happening. Rick even put the cool rag Denise wanted on his forehead.

"We'll see," Rick said.

I nodded. "I'll take first watch," I told him.

Rick nodded looking exhausted. "It is pretty stupid of us to go out there isn't it?" he asked moving towards the door.

"Yep," I agreed nodding. I paused a beat, looking back over my shoulder at the unconscious man. "Do it again tomorrow?"

"Yep."

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I hope you guys enjoyed this one! I wasn't as half asleep while writing it as I was for the previous update, so hopefully this one is a bit better. Please keep up the awesome comments and votes, it keeps me going!!! You guys are the best!
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So I actually published this like a day and a half ago but there must have been some kind of glitch on Wattpad. At first I was worried everyone hated the chapter because there were no votes or comments, but once I unpublished it and re-published it everything seems to be okay and the notification went out.