Sorry this chapter took a bit to get out, I really struggled with it so I hope it's okay. 

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Daryl

It was past midday when we finally got to the college. Campus was full of old red brick buildings that all looked the same and the sidewalks wound around in snaking patterns that didn't make any sense. It was good Hershel thought to send us with a map or we would have been there all damn day looking for the right building. There weren't many Walkers visible when we parked the van as close to the vet building as we could. We all piled out, but stayed in a tight group. The others looked tense and only Michonne didn't look afraid.

I rolled my shoulders. "Ready?" I asked them, lifting my crossbow up. No one responded. I snorted and pulled the map out of my pocket handing it off to Tyreese. I had my crossbow up and ready while Tyreese followed just over my shoulder with the map Hershel drew for us. Whatever happened back at the auto repair place seemed to have passed. Now that we were here, Tyreese's whole focus was on getting those meds back to Sasha.

"Looks like we are getting closer," I observed.

Tyreese nodded, looking down at the paper in his hand. "The building we want is just ahead. Pavek Hall." He pointed out the sign at the edge of the side walk. Below the building's name were the words, College of Veterinary Medicine.

"Looks like we're in the right place," I called over my shoulder to Michonne and Bob who were bringing up the rear. The front doors were locked, so I smashed the window with the butt of my crossbow.  Being careful not to cut myself I reached through to unlock the door.

I led the way through the hallways, letting Tyreese tell me where to go. The building looked deserted and empty but I moved as silently as possible. There was no telling what could be hiding in this building. We slipped through the hallways and into the classroom Hershel said.

"All right, lets make this quick," I called. It was some kind of lab with store rooms off the side. There were bottles of medication everywhere. We had a list that I had given to Bob and Michonne, but I snatched up everything I could find, filling my bag and pockets.

Tyreese and I slipped into one of the other supply rooms to gather medical supplies. We both filled our bags then went back in search of Bob and Michonne.

Bob and Michonne were still standing in front of a huge case of drugs when we came back in. There were hundreds of bottles lining the store shelf.

"Anything ending with -cillin or -cin," Bob instructed, "grab it, we'll dissolve the pills in the IV's put 'em right into the bloodstream. Dosage will be tricky considering the time we lost," he was saying as he turned the bottles to read the labels.

They shoved the last of what they found into Michonne's backpack.

"How'd you do?" Bob asked, looking back at us.

"Bags, tubes, clamps, connectors," Tyreese reported, patting the bag that was slung around his body. "Everything on the list."

"What about y'all?" I asked. There were still a lot of bottles on the shelves. I shook my own bag a little, wondering if I could make more room so we could take as much medication as possible. Even if it wasn't useful now, I didn't like the idea of leaving anything behind we might need later.

Bob nodded glancing over the shelves once more. "Yeah, we got it all."

Michonne confirmed. "Yeah, we're good," she said, zipping her backpack up and swinging it around her body. I followed the motion knowing Jo's life depended on that bag.

We all scooped up our bags. "All right," I said picking up my crossbow. "Let's roll."

I led the way down the dark hall back the way we came,
following the exit signs. The others were getting better at moving quiet but they still sounded like a herd of elephants to me.

I slowed as I neared an open classroom door. I peaked into the window and spotted several walkers. It looked like people had tried to set up a camp here before things went south for them. I stood by the door, keeping an eye on the walkers and motioned everybody by.

It didn't matter how quiet we tried to be, they heard us.

"Move," I whispered.

"Up ahead," Michonned whispered urgently, she touched my arm to get my attention. I pulled away slightly but saw where she pointed to an exit sign over a stairwell.

She led the way into the darkened room. I could hear the Walkers coming behind us. Bob was the last to come through and closed the door behind us.

"Hey," he called. "Door's busted."

"Alright, hold up," I called to Michonne. I could see how tense everyone was getting and we needed to slow down before we started making mistakes. I motioned for Tyreese to help me stack piles of cages, chairs and bookcases in front of the door. None of the furniture was very heavy, but it would slow them down.

"There," Michonne called shining her flashlight down the long hall. I glanced up and saw the sign for the stairs. Without waiting she prowled ahead through the dark.

I followed behind her and pulled an extra bolt so it was ready in my hand. If we could get to the stairs things might be okay, but there were too many places in here for something to hide.

A walker suddnely appeared from the side. It stumbled over a chair and crashed into Tyreese sending him tumbling to the ground.  Tyreese threw it off and destroyed it's head with his hammer with three brutal swings.

I pulled back and arched a brow at him. When he met my gaze however I could see he was self conscious about what he did. I gave him a nod of approval. Seemed he had come out the other side and would be just fine after all. We might just make a survivor out of him after all.

I turned back in time to see Michonne reach the stairwell. I lifted my flashlight higher and saw the doorhandle was chained shut. She gave it an experimental tug and hands filled the space, growls echoing through the stairwell.

"How many?" I asked shinning my light through the slim space. The growls grew louder as the walkers became more excited and pushed against the doors. The chain strained but held.

"Can't tell," she said grimly.

I lifted my light a little so I could see her face better to get an idea of what she thought we should do. But her expression was completely closed. I don't know why I bothered, Michonne wasn't one to show emotion at the best of time let alone in the middle of a run. I had to make a decision and I had to make it fast.

The door behind us burst open and our stacks of furniture collapsed with a loud crash. We all whirled around to face the herd piling through the small space. My time was up.

"We can take them," Tyreese roared, brandishing his hammer.

"No!" Bob yelled. "They're infected, same as at the prison." He said motioning towards the blood running down the Walker's faces. "We fire at t'em, get their blood on us, breathe it in. We didn't come all this way to get sick." Bob's voice had raised to an edge of panic and I saw that while the rest of us had our weapons out he was clinging to his bag, hugging it to his chest.

"How do you know the ones in there aren't any different?" Tyreese snapped back, the rising tension was starting to get to him and he rocked his weight from foot to foot.

"We don't," Michonne said calmly from behind me.

"Well it's gotta change sometime," I snapped. I swung my crossbow back over my shoulder and took the extra bolt between my teeth to free up my hands. I kicked the leg off a near by chair and wound it around the chain to give me leverage. "You ready?" I asked looking at Michonne.

I wouldn't have wanted her in danger, but I really wished I had Jo at my back. Michonne was good, but Jo was better.

Michonne's only answer was the zing of her skinning her blade.

"Do it!" Tyreese yelled as the blood covered walkers staggered closer.

I gave it a jerk and the chain broke free. I jumped back to clear the way. Only three Walkers came through the door. Michonne took out two while Tyreese jumped forward and killed the last one.

We piled through the door, running up the stairs. Stupid, stupid to run up the stairs, but I didn't see another option. When we reached the hallway at the top it was full of walkers, every one of them had blood pouring out of their eyeballs. I swore up and down as I heard the walkers hit the stairs below cutting us off.

"We don't have an exit!" Michonne yelled running for the next stairwell. She grabbed the handle and jerked back but the door was locked.

"Back!" I yelled and I tried to kick open the door. It didn't even move. "Then we make one!" I yelled, jumping up on the window ledge.

"Get down!" Tyreese screamed at me and he threw a fire extinguisher at the window beside me. The glass shattered.

I reached down and pulled up Michonne. "Move it!" I snapped, jerking her up into the window with one hand. "Jump down onto the covered walkway below," I instructed reaching for Bob.

"They're here!" Bob screeched in panic.

Michonne jumped the five feet and landed lightly, despite the heavy bag swinging around and throwing off her balance. I felt my heart leap up into my throat as I watched her bag nearly sail over the edge. Jo's life depended on that bag. Tyreese followed next taking most of the bags with him. I tossed mine ahead of me and landed lightly beside it. Bob was right behind me.

Bob overshot the jump and landed on his stomach, half hanging off the other side. Only his quick grab saved his bag from dropping to the ground. But his bag was dangling down where the walkers on the ground reached up and grabbed it, trying desperately to get at him.

We all whirled around dropping our stuff to grab Bob so the Walkers didn't pull him off the roof. Tyreese wrapped his arms around Bob's chest and Michonne was pulling back on him.

"Bob let it go!" she called.

But he fought to hold on to the bag. I grabbed his legs and pulled backwards, but the Walkers were stronger than all of us

"Let it go man!" Tyreese encouraged, his muscles straining to hold onto Bob as the Walkers pulled harder and harder.

"Let go of the bag man!" I finally yelled as Bob slid forward another inch.

Somehow he pulled free and we nearly lifted Bob up and his bag sailed sideways next to Michonne where it landed with a clang.

The noise went over me. It sounded like a damn bottle. I stalked over to it. Bob still lay on his stomach, his eyes wide with fear when he saw the look on my face. I reached in and pulled out the bottle. I opened the bag wider to see what else he had.

He climbed to his feet just as I stood and glared at him. "You got no meds in your bag," my voice rasped out in an angry growl. "Just this?" I asked dangerously. I could hear the blood pounding in my ears as I stared into Bob's guilty eyes.

He dropped his eyes back to the bottle.

"You should have kept walking that day," I snapped and I raised my hand to throw the bottle off the roof.

"Don't!" Bob snapped and out of the corner of my eye I saw his hand dropped to his gun.

I went still for a moment, the anger seeping into every part of me. I stalked over to him, slamming my chest against his, staring him in the eye. He wouldn't meet my gaze and he rolled in on himself. I slammed into him again, daring him to attack me. He didn't. I was clenching my jaw so hard it hurt. We took him in and saved him and when we had people depending on us he risked all out lives for his own selfish bullshit. His own weakness.

His bullshit had just risked Jo's life not only once at The Big Spot but now a second time. I hadn't wanted to stomp someone's ass so badly since The Governor. 

I reached down and jerked his gun out of the holster. He didn't move. I slammed into him again, begging him to give me a reason to hit him. He risked everyone of our lives all for a damn drink. I grabbed the front of his shirt walking him backwards dangerously towards the edge of the roof. He still didn't react.

"Just let it go Daryl!" Tyreese called in a reasonable voice. "Man's made his choice, nothing you can do about it. Just gotta let it go."

I let go of Bob and stepped back, hoping he would still take a swing at me.

"I didn't want to hurt nobody," he whined. "It was just for when it gets quiet."

I shook my head in disgust and slammed the bottle against the front of his chest hard enough to bruise. "You take one sip," I snarled, my face inches from his. "Before those meds get in our people. I will beat your ass into the ground. You hear me?"

I turned away, tucking his gun into the back of my pants and picked up my bag of medical supplies.

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Jo

I struggled to open my eyes. They felt heavier than I ever remembered, but a cough rattled its way up my throat as I woke up. 

"Welcome back," Hershel greeted, leaning over me. "You gave me quite the scare you lady." 

I blinked up at the ceiling of my cell not understanding why I was laying on the floor. "I passed out?" I asked, confused. The last thing I remembered was helping Hershel do rounds. We had finished the rounds downstairs and had gone upstairs to check on the kids. 

Hershel nodded gravely. "You let yourself get dehydrated. You forgot to take care of yourself  while you were taking care of everyone else...being a hero takes a lot out of you." It was then I noticed how truly exhausted he looked. Exhausted and worried, I really had scared him. I frowned at that and for some reason it felt surprising to me that Hershel cared about me so much. 

I snorted and shook my head. "You would know," I croaked. My head was pounding and the back of my throats felt like sandpaper. I coughed again and it made me grimace. "I thought you were an idiot coming into here. I just thought you were going to be a dead foolish old man." My voice came out breathy and I closed my eyes as the words poured out of me. I felt like I was dreaming.

Hershel laughed and it made me open my eyes again. It was only then that I noticed he was holding an IV bag just over my shoulder. "I can't tell if that's a compliment or not."

I shook my head, my thoughts felt thick and it was so much work to keep my eyes open. "I don't know what I'm saying. I just...I don't know if I would still be here if you weren't so stupid," another cough rasped it's way out of my chest and I grimaced. It hurt.

Hershel laughed out loud at that. "You know what, I'm gonna take it as a compliment."

I smiled and nodded. "Good," I muttered.

"I'm gonna hang this here," he said, hanging the IV bag from the sink above my head. "I want you to lay here and try and get some rest. You'll feel better getting these fluids into you, but don't think that's cause for you to get up. It may make you feel energized but all you do with that energy is climb back into bed you hear? You have done enough, I don't want you to overdo it." Then he struggled to his feet and headed towards the door. 

"Hershel," I called after him. He paused and turned back to face me, lifting a brow. "Thanks."

Hershel gave me a warm fatherly smile. "You rest, Daryl and the others will be back soon."  

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Daryl

I decided to let Michonne drive us back. I threw my bags in the back then stomped around to the passenger side. I sat in the front seat, too pissed to talk to anyone.

"That's where I was traveling, Highway 100," Tyreese said pointing down at the map in Michonne's hands.

"Then it will take about seven hours to get there. We're gonna need more gas," Michonne said grimly.

"But we will get there," he said resolutely to Michonne. Michonne nodded and folded up the map, tucking it away. "We're taking highway 100," Tyreese reported to me as he into the back of the van behind me.

"I heard," I muttered. I didn't need to be an ass to Tyreese. Bob wasn't his fault. I was exhausted and worried. 

Bob went around to the furthest side of the car, getting as far away from me as he could. Which was probably for the best. I didn't even want to look at him. 

Michonne climbed into the quiet car. "You were right what you said before," she said not looking at me. "About the trail going cold. I don't need to go out anymore."

"Good," I said, slamming the door closed so we could go home.

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Thanks for reading! I hope you are enjoying the story. I know this chapter follows a little closely and it certainly isn't my favorite, but I feel it's all important to the story. 

Please vote/comment! I would love to hear your opinions over things that are happening with Daryl and Jo!