174

Hello friends, well, here we are! Back after a long time away. I picked up the story with the exact sentence I had written two years ago when I first started this chapter. I'm looking forward to exploring the next few episodes and am glad to be back writing Jo.

Thank you all for your support you are amazing for sticking with this story after such a long hiatus.

Happy Reading!

<><><><><>
Jo
<><><><><>

As soon as Ezekiel heard Henry was missing, he leapt into action. He immediately began organizing people from the kingdom to form a search party to find the lost boy. He started breaking people off into teams and handing out directions.

I stood a little outside the circle of people organizing the search for Henry. There, but somehow still separate. After what I had done to clear the gate the night before most people were cutting a wide berth around me. The people of Hilltop were already up and working to clean up their home after the battle with walkers the night before. Maybe they had never gone to bed, it was hard to say. Many of them were burying their friends. They worked diligently in the early morning light, but the atmosphere was somber and quiet.

I was about to step up and volunteer to help join the search for Henry when a warm hand closed over my shoulder. "You all right darlin?" Daryl's raspy voice rumbled behind me.

I managed to contain my flinch. I had been so lost in my thoughts I hadn't heard his approach. I wasn't right, I was exhausted and shaky after the fight the night before. The search parties all left, and it was probably for the best. I didn't think I would be much help with a group of strangers. The gates closed behind them and I let out the breath I had been holding.

I glanced over my shoulder at Daryl and forced a smile. "Yeah, of course," I said, although I wasn't entirely sure he believed me. I needed sleep or food or something. I felt like I couldn't organize my thoughts. It made me frown. I was more than familiar with sleep deprivation, but I didn't know if that's what this was, or if it was something else. Since being in the cage at Sanctuary and losing Carl I had only managed a couple hours of sleep at a time. The nightmares were keeping me awake and I was working hard to make sure Daryl didn't find out. He already had enough to worry about, I just needed time.

My eyes traveled to the cage that had once held the Savior prisoners. Morgan was standing outside of it like a statue. His staff was clutched in one hand and his head was tipped to the side as though he were watching something. I turned away from him with a shudder. Things got tangled up in my mind, but I wasn't convinced Morgan didn't outright see things that weren't there. The prospect of ending up like that terrified me.

Daryl noticed my shudder and wrapped an arm around me, thinking I was cold. He pulled me into his chest and I went willingly, letting my eyes drift closed. I absorbed the comfort he gave me, even though he didn't know why.

"I gotta meet with Maggie and Rosita, talk about what went down, what to do next. Ya coming?" Daryl asked gently.

I pulled back a little with a frown. "What about Rick?"

Daryl shook his head." Rick's with Judith," he said simply.

I understood what he meant by that. Rick had thrown himself almost suicidally into the fight the night before. He was still spinning from Carl's death. Not that I could throw stones. I had lost my son years ago now. I knew exactly what Rick was going through. I understood the guilt and rage that was driving him. It would take a long time for him to come back, if he came back, and it had only been a three days. Three days for the world to be turned upside down.

It felt like a lifetime.

"Hey Daryl!" Rosita called from the doorway of the main house. "We're ready."

Daryl lifted his chin and nodded to her, letting her know he was coming.

"You coming?" Daryl asked again.

I shook my head against his chest. I didn't have anything to say. I was exhausted. Too many days without sleep and fighting the walkers all the night before had taken a toll. If Daryl was going to be inside making the decisions, that was good enough for me. I trusted him to do what was best for us and decide what our next step should be.

"You go ahead," I told him. I took a step back and smiled gently up at him.

He stared down at me, his light blue eyes intense, as though he could read every emotion I was feeling on my face. Maybe he could. He brushed a sweet kiss against my lips and stepped back. "I'll be back soon," he promised me.

Before Daryl went inside he hesitated, a small frown wrinkling his forehead. He swung back around to face me. "You sure you're good, darlin?" He asked again.

I nodded, trying to force my face to be neutral. I was not good. "I'm just going to try and get some rest," I assured him.

"Right," he dragged out the word and looked like he didn't believe me for a second. Daryl was far too perceptive to believe my lie. He knew me too well. I wouldn't be able to rest until things were quiet and it was just the two of us. I didn't trust anyone else here enough to be vulnerable unless Daryl was with me.

"I'm fine," I assured him.

He grunted but didn't call out my lie. He leaned in and brushed his lips across my forehead. His eyes flickered over Enid, Alden and Siddiq, the only people close to us. I peeked at them, and realized they had been watching us. Alden was frowning like he had didn't understand. I suppose I didn't blame him. He had only seen me as the weapon Negan liked to think of me as.

Daryl and I rarely showed much for public affection, but I was so tired, I hadn't noticed. If it embarrassed Daryl, he didn't show it. He jerked his chin in greeting to them. Then he turned and followed the others inside. I had had enough of politics. I didn't need to sit inside and speculate where Negan had been last night. He wasn't here and that's all that mattered. I would find him. Even if I had to go out on my own to hunt him down.

I sighed and dropped down on my butt to sit on the stairs. I leaned back against one of the pillars and let my eyes drift shut. I didn't exactly sleep, but I rested, listening to the movements around me. I don't know how long I was there, maybe it was five minutes, maybe it was an hour, but the scuff of movement on the gravel made my eyes flash open.

I sat up with a frown. Carol and Morgan were making their way toward the gate, both geared up to be out there. I frowned. Morgan was in worse condition than I was and Carol should have known that. When he and I fought side by side the night before to clear the gate, he had nearly turned on me. It had been eye opening to be on the other side of that. I wasn't as offended when our people chose to shy away from me.

I shoved myself to my feet and jogged towards them. They were moving too quickly and I wasn't going to catch them. "Carol!" I called. A couple members of Hilltop glanced my way, but no one wanted to interfere.

Carol hesitated, her gaze distracted as she turned to face me and wait for me to catch up. Her eyes landed on Morgan and she seemed relieved when he hesitated as well.

"Where are you going?" I asked frowning back and forth between the two of them.

"To find Henry," Carol said.

I scowled and shook my head. "The search party went out like an hour ago," I pointed out. It honestly surprised me Carol hadn't joined one of the search parties. The kid had been struggling since his brother's death at the hands of the saviors. Henry had been following her around for weeks, trying to get closer to her. Carol had been her usual gruff self with the kid, but she and Ezekiel were close and it had been clear Ezekiel cared for Henry.

"We know," Carol said gently.

"I can find him," Morgan said with absolute certainty. I wasn't sure how good of a tracker Morgan was, but he was competent outside the gate. "I need to find him," and he turned and started for the gate his stride determined. In his time at the Kingdom it had been Morgan who taught Henry how to fight. Now, he was done waiting.

Carol and I stood together and watched Morgan walking away. As he approached the gait, they opened it without question. "Carol, Morgan isn't-" I started to warn her, but she had already started nodding.

"I know," she assured me. She reached out and she gave my wrist a comforting squeeze.

The gates opened for Morgan and Carol flashed me an apologetic look and trotted after him. Something wasn't adding up. I glanced back at the house, but Daryl was still inside. It would take too long for me to go and explain everything. I had zero intention of asking for permission to leave. No one dictated what I did and where I went. He would insist on going with me, but they needed him here. I could handle escorting Carol and Morgan as they searched for Henry, but Daryl wouldn't agree. He would want me to stay, or at least wait until he was free to go along. I knew, knew it would lead to a fight.

I didn't recognize anyone else milling around, and I didn't trust them to deliver a message. He was going to be furious and no one else needed to be on the receiving end of that. Morgan wasn't right and she shouldn't go out there alone with him. I turned and jogged after Carol to catch up.

<><><><><>
Daryl
<><><><><>

I walked into the main house. I didn't like leaving Jo outside, but I didn't blame her for not wanting to be part of the meeting. She was tired. Not just physically. I could see it in her eyes. She needed a break, to step away from some of this shit for a while. She had gone straight from being locked in Negan's damn cage, to losing our home, losing Carl, to this fight...I wished I could protect her from it all, but that would do nothing but royally piss her off. She might not feel the need to be standing in the office when the decisions were getting made, but she would never agree to step back.

Tara met me at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey," I greeted her. "Rosita head upstairs?" I asked.

She nodded. "Just passed her," she said.

Tara was still moving gingerly, but she didn't look like she was running a fever or nothing. She was the last of our people who had been injured in the battle to not turn. They had been keeping a close eye on her through the night, it surprised me to see her up and about.

Seeming to understand what I was thinking she flashed me a weak smile. "It's been over a day, still not sick. Doc says I'm cool," she said.

"You're a tough son of a bitch," I snorted, shaking my head. I had been sure last night we were going to have to put her down. I liked Tara, and more importantly, so did Jo. Tara seemed to understand Jo better than most people, and she didn't act like she was afraid of her when things got hard. It would have broken something even more in Jo to see her friend put down so quickly after Carl.

A strange looked passed over Tara's face and I knew I probably wasn't going to like what she had to say. "Daryl, it just means that Dwight shot me with a clean arrow," she said gently as though she were worried about pissing me off.

I shook my head. "Or it means you got lucky. Could be anything. It's not like a bite, sometimes nothing happens," I wasn't going to let her talk me out of hating that son of a bitch. Not after all he had done. He couldn't be trusted. He was a coward and would do whatever he had to in order to save his own skin.

"Daryl-" Tara started, her patience running out.

"Look," I interrupted, shifting my weight. "If Dwight knew, he coulda warned us, coulda sent us a message..."

Tara's eyes were soft with understanding. "Maybe he couldn't."

I scoffed. That was bullshit. "He let a whole day go by while our people lay around dying."

Tara shook her head. "Everybody else who got injured in the battle got sick. That can't be an accident."

I snorted in disbelief. "So he just gets a pass, is that it?" I wanted so badly to bring up Denise, but I wouldn't throw the death of the love of Tara's life in her face. It would hurt her too much. I wasn't that big of an asshole.

"Maybe...look, you said that we might need him, and we might need him now more than ever, and what I'm saying is that if I had killed him maybe I would be dead right now..." her expression softened and she reached out and laid a hand on my arm. "He helped Jo," she added.

Guess she wasn't above throwing the love of my life in my face. It pissed me off that she would try to use Jo to manipulate me. It pissed me off even more that it might actually be working. The asshole got something for looking out for her. I just hadn't decided what. I took a step back, putting some space between us. Tara always did have the ability to say just the right thing to piss someone off.

When I didn't say nothing she leaned forward to try and catch my eye. "Look, do what you gotta do, but know it's just for you. I'm out," she said and she headed towards the door.

"Hey Tara," I called, turning around.

She swung back around, arching a brow. I wasn't sure it would necessarily help Jo, but they might keep each other out of trouble.

"Will ya check on Jo for me? I gotta head up," I said, jerking my chin towards the stairs.

"Course," she said and she flashed me a warm smile.

I nodded my thanks. "She needs some shut eye...she's-" I stopped myself. I didn't know how to say what was wrong with Jo exactly. But Tara had been out there in the swamps after, she knew.

"I'll look out for her," Tara promised me. Tara and I might not always see eye to eye, but she was a good friend to Jo.

<><><><><>
Jo
<><><><><>

The woods were quiet, and it surprised me how much just being outside the fence helped me. Out here I felt like I could breathe again, like all of the ugliness of the last week couldn't touch me. I moved silently, my injuries from the last couple days were pushed to the back of my mind as I stretched my senses, listening for any walkers. Morgan kept glancing back at me, as though checking on me. But, I wasn't sure if he was feeling protective, or if he was feeling threatened.

"This is our best bet. It makes sense they would stay near the road they would take to get there." Carol said, leading the way through the woods. "Fifty-fifty chance they would be-"

Carol stopped talking as I hesitated. I bent down and picked something up off the trail.

"What's that?" Morgan asked, stepping closer to me. It was the closest he had been. Glancing up at him he took a step back. Once again I didn't know if it was because he thought I needed the space or if it was for him. I couldn't decide which one would make me feel better. Maybe it was a little of both.

"Turnip," I replied. It looked like someone had snacked on it and the only place to get them was Hilltop. The Saviors had come this way. "They were on this side of the road," I confirmed, tossing the turnip aside. Food was scarce but I wasn't going to eat something one of the Saviors had discarded. None of us were that desperate.

Morgan went very still all of a sudden, standing straighter and gazing off into the woods as though he had seen something. I whipped around, my eyes scanning the underbrush, but I didn't see anything. My eyes flickered back to him, he looked like a hunting dog who had caught a trail.

"Henry!" He called suddenly, and he started ahead at a brisk jog. "Henry!" he cried again.

I swung around to face Carol, but she just shrugged. She hadn't seen anything either. My gaze scanned the trees around us. Morgan was making enough noise to attract any walkers in the area. Carol set off after him and I followed. We chased after Morgan, ducking beneath branches and leaping over logs. He stopped in the middle of a clearing, a dreamy smile on his face.

"Henry," he said in recognition and triumph as though Henry were there. I looked around, but there was nothing.

Carol opened her mouth to say something, but I quickly stepped up next to her. I laid a gentle hand on her arm to silence her. I didn't know what would happen if we interrupted whatever was going on in Morgan's head. I was fairly confident I could take Morgan if it came down to it, but I didn't know for sure. Crazy made people strong.

The triumphant smile on Morgan's face fell suddenly and he scowled, looking down at the ground. "You're not here," he said accusingly. Then he turned to face Carol and I. His eyes landed on where I was touching Carol and he seemed to realize in that moment he had been acting crazy and making us uncomfortable. "He's not here," he told us, as though to reassure us he knew. Then he turned back to the space in front of us. "You're not here!" He bellowed angrily.

Carol frowned and she and I shared a look before I took a slow step closer to Morgan. He was further gone than I first realized if he was full on hallucinating this badly.

"You weren't supposed to be there. You weren't. You-" he stopped himself and turned to face Carol and I. His eyes glanced off of me as though I didn't matter and held Carol's gaze instead. "He's dead. You know his is." He said.

Carol nodded in agreement. "I didn't come out here to look for him. I came out here to keep an eye on you," Carol said. "We both did," she said gesturing to where I stood beside her.

I could kill a Walker for them, but I wasn't equipped to help Morgan. I wasn't well enough myself. Seeing Morgan like this made me realize I wasn't as far gone as he was, but I was gut wrenchingly terrified I might be some day.

"Yeah I've seen it," Morgan nodded. "You save people. I've seen it again and again. But you can't save the dead, Carol."

"You aren't dead," Carol said.

"I know. Not me. I don't die," he said, and his gaze lifted to meet mine. "Neither do you. We can't. Our bodies won't let us," his words were like a kick in the gut. It was like he could see straight into me. I closed my eyes against the rush of emotion that threatened to rise in my chest and pull me under. "We just see it. Again and again."

Unbidden I felt tears prick the backs of my eyes. It didn't make sense. He wasn't making sense. His words shouldn't have touched me the way they did. They shouldn't have felt like truth.

"Again and again," he muttered again and he shook his head as though to clear it. "And even when I look away, I still see it. I can't not."

Tears were flowing down my cheeks now. I knew exactly what he meant. Because I couldn't unsee it either. No matter how hard I tried. It didn't matter how hard I pretended, and I had over and over again, this was who I was. It was all I was.

Morgan looked past us, a frown on his face. He stalked around us and bent down, there was a Walker with its skull bashed in by a large rock. His eyes suddenly cleared and it was like he could see again. "They came through here, probably a short cut, straight line to the road ahead," he said and he led the way down the path towards the road.

I brushed my tears away and followed them before either one of them noticed.

<><><><><>
Daryl
<><><><><>

When I walked into the office Maggie, Rosita and Dianne were all talking. They glanced up as I entered and Maggie shot me a grateful look. She was a great leader, but I didn't blame her for not wanting to deal with this shit by herself. And with Rick out of the picture for now, she was the boss.

"The relay cars are in position. If the saviors are coming back we'll have ten, maybe fifteen minutes heads up," Rosita said leaning a hip against one of the chairs. She was wound as tight as the rest of us. No one had slept and it was beginning to show. If the Saviors attacked now, we were all out of gas.

"And our ammo?" Maggie asked turning to Dianne.

Dianne's face was hard and set, and she looked just as tired as the rest of us. "About what we thought. Not enough to fend off another attack of that size."

I frowned as a thought occurred to me. "Well, maybe we don't gotta worry about that no more," I said gruffly. The three women turned to face me. "At least for now, maybe going hand to hand is our only option," I said gesturing with my knife. I liked that idea. Most of the Saviors depended on guns to be tough, they were brawlers but not fighters. Not like our people were. We could use that as an advantage.

"You think they're low on ammo too?" Maggie asked, crossing her arms over her chest. A small glimmer of hope lit her eyes. She was thinking what I was thinking. If we were both out of bullets, we had the advantage.

I shrugged. "Well they must have gone through a whole bunch of it getting through them walkers at Sanctuary. Them walkers were twenty to thirty deep at least-" I dragged off thoughtfully.

"And there's not a lot of places to find more," Dianne pointed out. I liked Dianne. She was quiet and tough. She was a good advisor for Maggie and she pulled her weight. She was one of the Kingdom's strongest soldiers and I respected her insight.

"Mierda," Rosita swore suddenly. She pushed herself to her feet, her dark eyes snapping. "They have our bullet maker. They can make more."

I swore. I had forgotten all about Eugene. Just like Dwight, he would do whatever he had to in order to save his skin. He was a coward who would sell us out in a minute.

"You think the saviors have what he'd need to make them?" Maggie asked frowning.

Rosita shrugged. "If they don't, I know where they'd find it."

"Then we know where the bullet maker will be," I said grimly.

Maggie's eyes flashed to my face in surprise, but Rosita nodded her head in agreement. "Can't make bullets without him," she agreed.

In the end it was Maggie's decision. Neither Rosita or I was going to argue taking him out.

"If we're going to go, we need to go now, before they get too far into production," Rosita pushed.

Maggie's face was grim, as she turned to face Dianne. The other woman nodded her agreement. After a moment Maggie nodded. If it bothered her condemning one of our previous allies to death, she didn't show it. "Do it."

<><><><><>
Jo
<><><><><>

We followed the road for a while until we came up over a rise. Down the hill a herd was shuffling along the crossroads. There was at least fifty walkers, maybe more. It was hard to say with how close the trees were to the road.

"We should wait," Carol said. "Let it pass."

"The trail goes straight through," Morgan said decisively. "If we wait we could lose it," and just like that he headed towards the large herd.

"We could lose more than the trail-" Carol was saying.

Beside us a Walker snarled, coming out of the trees. "Jo," Carol said in a strangled voice.

I turned with a frown. There's no reason Carol should be scared of a single Walker. I spun around and quickly understood. The Walker had Henry's stick buried ineffectively in its stomach. I stalked up to it and pulled one of my knives. I slammed the knife into it's skull before it could touch me. I pulled the knife out and Morgan was standing just behind me. He jerked the stick out and examined it as though it took longer to figure out if it was Henry's even though we all knew it was.

"It's Henry's," Carol said unnecessarily from behind us.

Morgan nodded and turned and began walking back towards the herd where the saviors had gone.

"Morgan wait," Carol called after him. "It came from the other road. If we go that way, maybe, maybe we can find him," she said and for the first time I heard the desperate hope Carol had in her heart that Henry might still be alive.

Morgan didn't turn around as he spoke. "We take that road, you know what we'll find."

"But I don't," Carol argued. "I decided, I decided what it would be. But I won't know unless I go. Unless I try...and you can try too."

"No," Morgan said and he turned around. "No I can't I-" and he stopped himself and just shook his head. "You save people. I watch them die. I have to. I'm supposed to."

Carol stepped towards him. "When I tried to run you found me. You saved me. You knew I could come back. And you can too," Carol lifted her tear filled eyes. "You both can," she told me.

I looked away. I hated that she had seen it. That she knew too. Somehow it made it more real.

"That wasn't me," Morgan said shaking his head. "I'm not strong like you. I was there that whole time watching them knowing something would happen. I knew it. I saw it. I was waiting for it to happen, and then it did like, like it always does. So I just have to."

"Who?" Carol asked frowning. "Who were you watching?"

"The Saviors at Hilltop," I said in a hushed voice. Carol may have struggled to follow, but I knew. I understood. "You're not here to find Henry either. You think they're responsible for Henry's disappearance," I said. "You're hunting them."

Morgan smiled at me, a gentle smile of understanding. "I have to."

"I'll help you," I told him and the two of us turned and headed towards the herd.

"Wait, Morgan, Jo," carol called after us but she didn't follow. That was for the best. I didn't mind Morgan seeing this part of myself, but I didn't want carol to see it. Carol would go off and save Henry if he was still alive. Morgan and I, we would do what we did best.

<><><><><>
Daryl
<><><><><>

Rosita was waiting for me at the gate. We had a plan and we needed to get moving before it was too late. There was no telling how long Eugene had been working for those pricks. The sooner we got there, the sooner we could take out the supplies and make sure he hadn't taught anyone else how to make bullets.

But first I needed to find Jo. I hoped I was going to be able to talk her into staying behind, but seriously doubted it. There was no way I would have been willing to, so I didn't have a leg to stand on asking. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for this fight as I went looking for her.

It took me twenty minutes to find anyone who had even seen Jo let alone could tell me where she went. The Savior prick who had stuck around told me he had seen her headed towards the gate. I don't know why I didn't think to start at the fence. Maybe because she had been so tired. It didn't seem possible that she would do something so damn stupid as go out from behind the fence. I stalked angrily towards the gate.

"Daryl!" Tara called after me.

I turned. "I thought you were gonna watch her," I growled.

"Hey!" Tara snapped defensively. "I have been looking everywhere for her. And I'll remind you that Jo is a big girl...that sounds bad, I didn't mean it like that-" she started ranting but I was done listening.

As I approached the gate Rosita stepped up to meet me. "What's going on?" Rosita asked. "No Jo?"

"That seems to be the problem," Tara quipped.

"Hey!" The guy manning the gate called as we approached. "Y'all going to meet up with the others?"

I exchanged a confused look with Rosita and Tara. "What others?" I called.

"Carol, Morgan and Jo, they left in a hurry."

My mouth flattened into an angry line. She had left without saying a word to me. She would know how much I would worry, especially after I just got her back. Which meant it was probably an emergency or something dangerous she decided to throw herself into the middle of.

"Hey yo," I called to the guy at the top of the fence. "Which way did they go?"

"Southeast into the woods."

I gritted my teeth and waved to him in thanks.

"Daryl we gotta go," Rosita reminded me.

I nodded feeling torn. Carol and Morgan were both strong fighters and if it was the three of them there was a chance they were out searching for Henry. They were probably safe together. I turned to Tara. "If Jo comes back, you keep her here," I snapped, pointing at her chest. "Even if you have to-"

Tara snorted. "Point a gun at her? Tie her up? I'm tell you big guy, asking nicely is the only way to keep that woman anywhere," Tara grumbled under her breath.

I nodded thanks to her and turned to follow Rosita. As much as I wanted to hope they were out there looking for Henry, part of me knew that wasn't the case. They had gone after the Saviors. Jo had gone after the damn Saviors.

<><><><><>
Jo
<><><><><>

Morgan and I approached the dive bar from the east. As we crept closer there was a scuff of movement in the trees. Without hesitating Morgan jumped out, his stick raised threatening.

"Morgan!" Rick exclaimed in a surprised whisper. Whatever he saw in Morgan's eyes made his own widen and he lifted his gun into the air, showing he wasn't a threat. "Morgan, Morgan. Hey, you know me." His eyes flickered back to me, as though I could help him.

I just shrugged. There wasn't a lot I could do to reason with Morgan. It felt a little like I was just along for the ride. I just hoped he wouldn't forget I was his friend between one moment and the next.

Morgan slow blinked, a frown forming and then he slowly nodded. "I-I'm not right," he told Rick.

Rick slid his gun away, his eyes going to me once more. Morgan and I weren't exactly known for being friends. It was fair for him to wonder what we were doing out here alone together. I scowled as I turned a confused gaze on Rick. What exactly was he doing out here all alone and armed to the teeth?

"Maybe...maybe you shouldn't be out-" Rick started to say, reaching out to lay a comforting hand on Morgan's shoulder.

I knew it was a bad idea. I had kept an easy ten feet of distance between myself and Morgan the whole time I had followed him. Morgan jerked, just as I expected, and Rick flinched back. There were times when being touched was a bad idea. It wouldn't be soothing, instead it would just look like another threat, regardless of who it was coming from.

"I'm not going anywhere," Morgan said through gritted teeth.

Rick glanced once more at me, armed to the teeth and then let his eyes fall on Morgan once more. "You're out here for them," he said after a moment. I nodded and Rick's eyes went back to Morgan. "Me too," he promised.

Morgan nodded, although his tense stance didn't relax.

"Then we finish it. The three of us. We make them pay," Rick said through gritted teeth a hint of mania shining out of his own eyes.

I let all that dark anger I could feel beating it's own heart beat in my chest show in my eyes. I nodded slowly and pulled two of my knives, reveling in the feel of them in my palms. "No holding back," I said defiantly.

Rick nodded and I think for maybe the first time he truly understood what that meant for me. "No holding back," he agreed.

We prowled through the woods and into the parking lot. Near one of the cars a severed hand and foot rested, the bite marks clear. There was a lot of blood, clearly who ever had done the amputation didn't know a lot because they would be lucky if their friend lived.

"All right we-" Rick started to say, and something hit me from behind. Everything went black.

<><><><><>

Hello friends! Can I just say how amazing it is to be back! Once again I want to thank my recent readers who commented so much and made me excited about this story once more. Without you, this chapter wouldn't exist. Thank you to all of my readers and supporters. You are all amazing.

I have restarted watching the show as well. I'm most of the way through Season 10 now and am very excited to work Jo into the story and unleash her on the Whisperers.

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top