THE BIRDS OUTSIDE WOKE MARCELLA FROM HER SLUMBER.

Daryl was sat next to her, tying up his laces. Marcie reached over and played with the fraying edges of the wings on his back, "Where you goin'?" She mumbled, her voice rough from sleep,

He glanced back at her before reaching over and brushing her hair from her face, "Gotta go do somethin' real quick. I'll be back."

"Wha d'you mean?"

Not like he can hunt here in the city, what kind of errand can he do at this moment? Once Carol wakes up, they'll be out searching for Beth again.

"Just gotta take care of somethin'."

Marcie watched as Daryl left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. 

She laid under the covers, staring at the bed that was above her. Marcie hated just laying there, being alone with her thoughts. She'd rather get up and finish this mission so they could go back to their group.

Do they think they abandoned them? Do they think they were kidnapped? Dead?

Did they move on without them?

Marcie heard shuffling above her and Carol's boots appeared off the side of the top bunk. She slid to the ground and headed over to the window, gazing outside.

"'M sorry." Marcie mumbled quietly, but she knew the older woman heard her.

"For what?" Carol asked, not moving her gaze,

"For Mika... for Lizzie." She placed her hands on her stomach and shifted her head to the side so she could look at Carol, "I was only gone for a minute and ever since the grove, all I could think was.... could I have prevented it? What if I didn't go inside that day, what if I stayed with them?" Tears filled Marcie's eyes, "You loved them, and if I had stayed outside that day, they might still be alive."

She sat up and placed her feet on the ground, "I've noticed a change in you since the prison. You've gotten colder, and I know in this world you have to change in order to survive. But Daryl cares about you. So please don't hurt him for my mistakes."

Carol turned to meet her gaze, "It's not your fault. What happened to Lizzie and Mika. She was waiting for an opportunity, and if it wasn't then, it would've been later down the road. I should've seen it coming, I should've known Lizzie wasn't right in the head."

"You weren't the only one around her. We should've seen it, too." Marcie reasoned,

She gave Marcie a sad smile, "But I was her caretaker. I was around her more than anyone else." Carol moved to kneel in front of Marcie's sitting form, "I don't blame you, Marcie. For any of it."

Marcie lunged forward and wrapped her arms around the older woman. Carol embraced her in return, patting her back softly, "It was the walker, wasn't it?"

The brunette nodded as she pulled away before something outside caught her eye. Carol followed her gaze before they both headed towards the door to investigate.

In the courtyard was a fire. Questions went through Marcie's head before she spotted Daryl walking towards the flames, a covered figure in his arms.

He laid the mother and daughter into the fire as the two women came up beside him. Marcie reached over and grabbed his hand, interlacing their fingers and squeezing it.

"Thank you." Carol muttered and Daryl gave her a curt nod.

As the smoke raised into the air, so did Marcie's anxiety and guilt over the Lizzie affair lifted from her shoulders.

Marcie blamed herself for a lot of things. And if she let that guilt consume her, she wasn't going to last much longer. 

She can't change the past. She could only learn from her decisions.

She needed to let go.

Marcie reached into her waistband and pulled out the Governor's revolver. She ran out of bullets long ago, but she kept it as a reminder.

That she was alive, despite everything he put her through. 

And he wasn't.

Marcie held the gun out for Daryl. It was the gun that killed Merle and many more. It caused a lot of suffering.

Their fingers brushed as he took it from her. He stared down at her, and they communicated through eye contact only.

He tossed it into the fire, embers sparkling in the chilly morning air.

They all needed to let go.

Once they had their moment, the trio went back inside to gather their things. Daryl handed Marcie his jacket, letting her wear it to keep her warm while he grabbed her bag and placed it over his shoulder,

"That car was headed downtown. I say we get up in one of the tall ones, get ourselves a view, see what we see." Daryl announced his plan as he buttoned up his jacket on Marcie,

"We can stay close to the buildings and keep quiet, but sooner or later, we're gonna be drawing 'em." Carol commented as they left the room,

They jogged towards downtown Atlanta, their boots silent against the concrete. Daryl led them down an empty street and they paused once they got to the end, 

Marcie kept watch to make sure nothing snuck up behind them while Daryl peeked around the corner of the building, 

"All right, we can get up there." He told them quietly, "There's a bridge." He pulled a notebook out from the bag he grabbed from Marcie before lighting it on fire with his lighter, 

He flung it as far as he could, creating a distraction for the rotters that wandered the streets.

More walkers were approaching from behind, and Marcie knew they needed to make a move. The trip quietly snuck behind the group of distracted walkers and went into a parking garage.

Daryl shot a lone rotter that was near the entrance to the garage before they began to run up the ramps, searching for the sign for the sky bridge.

They found the boarded up door and Daryl was the first to walk through, Marcie gripping her knife tightly in case of any surprises.

On the bridge, there was around half a dozen walkers, all contained in sleeping bags. Marcie furrowed her brows as she watched them struggle, wriggling about trying to reach for them.

The three of them quickly took the rotters out, which got the attention of more that were inside the tents.

"Some days, I don't know what the hell to think." Daryl grumbled.

They didn't bother taking those rotters out, they were trapped and were no danger to anyone. Carol went to open the next door, only to be stopped by chains. But luckily, the doors opened far enough for them to squeeze through.

Carol went first, shoving her bag and gun through before crawling between the doors. Marcie followed quickly behind before grabbing Daryl's crossbow so he could get through, "Good thing we skipped breakfast." He grunted as he struggled to get through the doors.

They made it into an office building, which was left almost perfectly intact, besides the thick layer of dust that covered everything.

They went into a large office and Marcie went straight to the window, while Daryl and Carol looked around.

Marcie had a view of a park, or what used to be a park. It was covered in black, the trees burnt, soot on the buildings across the street.

A bomb must've been dropped right there during the raid.

Marcie made the right decision, leaving when she did in the beginning. She wondered if Lexi's body was still rotting in her dorm room only blocks away. 

"How did we get here?" Marcie asked quietly as Daryl came up beside her,

"Mm-mm." Daryl hummed in response, "We just did."

Before anyone else could speak, Daryl leaned forward, trying to get a better look at something,  "You see somethin'?" Carol questioned him,

"I don' know. Hand me that rifle." He asked and Carol handed her gun over to the hunter. He held it up to his shoulder and glanced through the eye piece, searching slightly before pausing,  "Right there."

He pointed out the window and Carol was the next to look through the eye piece to see what he was looking at. 

"It's been there a while." Carol stated as she handed the rifle for Marcie to see, "Definitely one of 'em."

On the bridge was a white van, barely hanging off the edge. And on the back windows were two white crosses,

Just like the car they followed into the city.

"t's definitely some kind of lead." Daryl replied,

Carol stepped back from the window, "We should fill up." She motioned to the water cooler that was in the corner of the room.

Marcie followed the older woman with her own bottle that she grabbed from Daryl's bag. Carol drank from her bottle while Marcie filled hers, turning to look at Daryl who was staring at the painting on the wall,

"What?"

"I bet this cost some rich prick a lot of money." Daryl commented as Marcie handed him her bottle for him to drink from,  "Looks like a dog sat in paint, wiped its ass all over the place."

Marcie smirked and rolled her eyes, "It's called abstract art, Dare."

"It's fuckin' ugly."

"Really?" Carol asked, tilting her head to the side slightly, "I kinda like it."

Marcie snickered before moving to sit in the large leather chair that was behind the desk, placing her feet up onto the dusty wood as she watched the two bicker, 

"Stop." Daryl scoffed, 

Carol placed her hands on her hips, "I'm serious. You don't know me." She turned to grab her bag

"Yep, you keep tellin' yourself that." Daryl reached a hand out for Marcie to take before they all left the room,

They went back towards the sky bridge, and Carol went first once again. Once she was through, Marcie went on her knees to crawl after her before she heard Carol speak, 

"Marcie, don't."

The sound of the safety on Carol's rifle made Marcie freeze. She looked up to see a younger man, barely younger than Marcie herself, holding the gun and aiming it between the two women,

"Get up."