.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐑𝐌. The five of them emerged from the car and began to move forward.

"Where's Mom? You said she'd be here."  Carl said turning to his father. They stopped in front of the yellow car. The hood was filled with old food and cans. On the front window, dust had collected and the words Sophia stay here we were the only words she could perceive. Carol must have written them after Sophia's disappearance.

"We've got to go back for her." Carl panicked.

"Carl..." Stella began.

"No! Why are we running? What are you doing?" Carl raised his voice. "It's...it's mom. We need to get her and not be safe a mile away."

"Shh. We need to be quiet, all right?" Rick placed a hand on his son's shoulder as he kneeled down to his height.

"Please... it's mom." Carl pleaded. Her father took a deep breath and sighed as his gaze fell to the ground before looking back up at Carl.

"Look, Carl, listen..." Rick began but couldn't finish his sentence before Carl stormed off and disappeared between some cars.

"Carl..." Stella said as the boy passed her. "I got it." The blonde told her father before following the boy.
"You okay?" Stella asked Ellie as she passed her, earning a quick nod. But Stella could tell that she was lying. The Grimes girl squeezed her arm before walking over to Carl. She sat down next to her brother on the hood of one of the cars.

"Hey," Stella sighed. "You know, Dad just wants to protect us."

"Who's protecting Mom?" Carl asked without meeting her gaze.

"Carl don't..." Stella sighed. "Mom is strong. She can protect herself."

"I have to go back... I...." Carl sniffled. "I have to at least know. I don't want to spend the rest of my life wondering if she's alive or not!"

"Oh, baby, I know. I want to know as well but right now we've got to stick together." Stella tried to make eye contact with Carl.

The familiar sound of a walker groaning nearby caught the sibling's attention and they swiftly rushed behind the car they had been sitting on. Stella gestured for Hershel, Ellie, and Rick to duck and they hid behind another car. The walker slowly limped past the car as Stella tried to see its face, praying it wasn't a familiar one. Once it had passed the car, Stella snuck behind it. She heard her father whispering for her to stop but she ignored him. She had to know.

She grabbed hold of her knife before shoving the walker to the ground with a thud. The walker had been dead for a long time. It used to be an old man. Stella sighed in relief before jabbing her knife into the walker's skull.

"Stella!" Her father gave her a hard look. "You can't pull stuff like that now. We're out here exposed, it's not safe."

"If there's one, there's probably going to be more soon. We can't stay here." Hershel said.

"So we're just gonna walk away? Not knowing if my wife, your girls are still out there? How do we live with that?" Rick said sharply.

"You've only got one concern now, just one...keeping your kids alive," Hershel said. "Nature may be throwing us a curveball, but that law is still true."

Rick looked around the highway as he pondered. "Carl..." he bend down to his son's height. "It's not safe here."
Stella could hear the burden in his voice. She saw it in his eyes as well.

"I'm sorry," Rick spoke. "We'll..."
The sound of a motorbike cut him off causing the five of them to look up quickly. Stella watched as Daryl drove closer along with Carol and two other cars.
As the cars parked on the highway, Stella ran to them.

"Mom!" Stella cried as she rushed into her mother's arms, followed by Carl. Overwhelmed by emotions, the three of them fell to the ground crying.

"Oh thank god!" Rick said as he joined his family, placing a kiss on his wife's cheek.

Stella looked up with tears pooling in her eyes and saw Levi hugging t-dog. The Grimes girl stood up swiftly, running over to the boy.

She lunged forward and threw her arms around his neck, pressing her face against his chest. His arms encircled her waist. She tried to suppress her sobs but failed.

"H..hi." She sniffled. "You're okay."

Levi smiled as he tightened his grip around her shaking body. "We're okay."

"How'd you get out?"

"Glenn and Maggie saved me," Levi said, smiling at Glenn.

"Ellie?!" Maggie shouted, hurrying over to her sister.

"Mags!" Ellie cried great loud sobs into her shoulder. "Where's Beth?" She asked, scared of the answer.

"Ellie! Dad!" Beth exclaimed.

The family reunited in a big hug.
Stella noticed Glenn standing alone, watching everyone reunite. She walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him. It took him a few seconds before he hugged her back, shocked by her action.

"Thank you for bringing him back." She nodded towards Levi as they pulled away.

"Of course." Glenn smiled.

"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked Daryl.

"Well, this guy's tail lights zigzagging all over the road, figured he had to be Asian, driving like that." Daryl joked.

"Good one." Glenn chuckled.

"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked.

"We're the only ones who made it so far."

"Shane?" Lori asked, standing up.
Stella froze. The name Shane felt like a wave of emotion. She wasn't sure what to feel. Shane was dead. But that wasn't the Shane she used to know. The old Shane, the Shane who had treated her like a daughter, and saved her life, was dead a long time ago.

Rick shook his head and the group fell silent.

"Andrea?" Glenn asked.

"She saved me, then I lost her," Carol said.

"We saw her go down," T-dog said shortly as he leaned against the car door.

"Patricia?" Ellie's voice trembled.

"They got her, too. Took her right from me. I was....." Beth cried. "I was holding onto her. She just...."
Beth turned her head away and sobbed into her father's chest. "What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?" She asked.

Ellie looked up at her sister as her lip trembled. "He.. he was in the RV. It got overrun. I tried to help him... I just..." Ellie chocked back a sob.

A walker approached the group but Daryl quickly put it down with his crossbow. "We gotta keep moving. Stay off the main roads."

A while later the two cars drove up the road with Daryl and Carol driving next to them on his motorbike. Stella sat with her mother and brother in the back seat of her father's car. Carl had fallen asleep on Stella's lap. Every now and then the he would let out soft snores.

"Hey sweetie, how are you doing?" Lori asked as she tugged a piece of hair behind Stella's ear.

"I'm....scared, mom."

"I know, sweetheart. But we'll be fine. I promise you."

"How can you be so sure? We thought we were safe on the campsite, then the CDC, and then the farm. Now all that is gone. How can we find someplace safe? Mom, I can't lose anyone else."

"We've been through all those things and we've still survived. We found our way back to each other." Lori gave Stella a reassuring smile. "I've wanted to give this to you."
Lori pulled her wedding ring off and placed it in her daughter's hand and closed it.

"Your wedding ring? Mom, I can't accept this."

"You have to. Listen I won't be here forever nor will Dad...."

"Mom don't talk like that." Stella sighed.

"No, Stella don't interrupt me. We won't be here forever. I want you to have this. Grandma gave me this. She got it from her mom. Now I'm giving it to you. I've been wanting to give it to you since the day you were born. Stella, you're truly the best daughter a mother could ask for. My beautiful and sweet girl, look at you all grown up."

Stella met her mother's eyes before handing her the ring. "You're not dead yet. And you won't be for a long time, so give it to me then." The two Grimes girls smiled before Stella rested her head on her mother's shoulder. She realized how heavy her eyelids were. She looked out the window to see the trees passing and the rising sun shining on her face. She drowned in her thoughts slowly falling asleep joining Carls snores.

The grimes girl was woken up by the sudden sound of a car horn which brought their car and the others to a halt. They all emerged from the car as Rick informed everyone that they were low on gas.

"We can't stay here," Maggie said as Rick stopped in front of the group.

"We can't all fit in one car," Glenn stated.

"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning," Rick said turning around.

"Spend the night here?" Carol asked wrapping her cardigan around herself.

"I'm freezing!" Carl whined as Stella held him closer to keep him warm.

"We'll build a fire," Stella said.

"Some of us will go out looking for firewood, stay close," Daryl said as he checked his arrows. "Only got so many arrows. How are you doing on ammo?"

"Not enough," Rick said.

"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out," Maggie said crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Watch your mouth." Hershel raised a finger at Maggie. "Everybody stop panicking and listen to Rick."

"Alright, we set up a perimeter." Rick began. "in the morning we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on."

"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas," Maggie spoke.

"No, we stay together." Rick took a step forward. "God forbid sometimes happens and people get stranded without a car."

"Rick, we're stranded now." Glenn sighed.

"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure... I really wasn't but we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place."

"Rick....look around, okay? There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something." Glenn said.

"There's gotta be a place, not just where we hole up, but that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other. I know it's out there. We just have to find it! Today , we set up camp over there and take turns on watch."

"What if walkers come through, or another group like Randall's," Beth asked softly.

"You know I found Randall, right?" Daryl spoke. "He turned but he wasn't bit."

"How's that possible?" Stella asked.

"Rick, what the hell happened?" Lori asked.

"Shane killed Randall. Just like he always wanted to." Daryl explained.

"And then the herd got him?" Lori questioned.

Lori's question was followed by a short silence. All that Stella could hear was the sound of the wind blowing through the trees and the leaves rustling on the ground, as well as Levi breathing from where he stood next to her.

Rick drew a sharp breath before he spoke. "We're all infected."

Stella frowned and her lips parted. Suddenly it all made sense. How Randall and Shane turned.

"What?" Levi breathed out.

"At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it." Rick said before walking off.

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐋 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐑. Watching as the flames grew higher and listening to the crackling. It was dark out and they had put up camp on a glade. She sat a bit distant from the group as she fiddled with her hair.

As she heard someone approaching her, she snapped her head at the sound.

"Can I sit?" Levi asked awkwardly earning a slight nod from Stella. "How are you feeling?" He asked as he sat down close to the girl trying to keep the two warm.

"I'm fine," Stella said before a cold night breeze made her shiver. Levi traced the cold skin on her arm with his finger feeling every goosebump.
"You're freezing. Here, take this." He pulled his jacket off and threw it over the blonde's shoulders.

"Thanks." She smiled softly before a thick silence was laid over the two.

"I'm sorry about Shane. I know he meant a lot to you." Levi said quietly.

"That wasn't Shane. The old Shane died a long time ago." Stella said shortly, keeping her gaze on the fire.

"What even happened?"

"He killed Randall as a way to lure Dad out into the woods, to murder him." Stella's voice cracked. "His best friend. Dad killed him in self-defense.  Shane deserves what happened to him."

Stella was cut off by a rustling sound in the distance.

"What was that?" Ellie asked as the group quickly stood up, looking around in panic.

"Could be anything. Could be a raccoon, could be a possum." Daryl said standing up and grabbing his crossbow.

"Or a walker," Glenn said.

"We need to leave. What are we waiting for?" Carol asked.

"Which way?" Glenn asked.

"It came from over there." Maggie pointed to the road.

"Back from where we came," Beth said.

"Last thing we need is for everyone to be running off into the dark," Rick spoke. "We don't have the vehicles. No one's traveling on foot."

"I'm not sitting here, waiting for another herd to blow through. We need to move." Maggie said.

"No one is going anywhere." Rick took a step forward.

"Do something." Carol pleaded.

"I am doing something!" Rick raised his voice and his face hardened. "I'm keeping this group together, alive! I've been doing that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this. I killed my best friend for you people, for Christ's sake!" Saliva and spit flew everywhere as he shouted.

Stella's gaze slowly traveled to Carl, who still didn't know what had happened to Shane. Stella figured it out last night. She had heard a gunshot but there weren't any walkers nearby. Stella knew what happened on that night but still didn't feel any pity for Shane. Everyone stared in silent disbelief.

"You saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us." Rick began to speak ones against but this time with a calmer voice. "He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice! He was my friend but he came after me. My hands are clean!"

Her father's words were followed by a silence. Stella stared at her father and couldn't help by see someone else. She barely recognized him.
Carl sobs and the sound of the fire broke through the silence.

"Maybe you people are better off without. Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you go and find out yourself? Send me a postcard. Go on, there's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get. No takers? Fine. But get one thing straight... If you're staying, this isn't a democracy anymore."

Stella stared at her father, his eyes were filled with rage and his clenched fist was a telltale of his anger. His chest rose up and down swiftly. Stella wasn't staring at her father. At least not the old one. The man who would run around in their garden laughing as they came up with crazy games and stories. He had changed, almost reminding her of Shane.

_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____
𝟐𝟓𝟗𝟔 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
𝐣𝐚𝐧 𝟕𝐭𝐡
𝟐:𝟑𝟔 𝐏𝐌
_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____

𝐀/𝐍

OMG END OF SEASON 2!! moving onto season 3 and I'm scared but excited bcs Stella and Levi are gonna have a LOT of moments both good and bad

I'm also scared to write Loris death but yeah I hope u enjoy this story! Thank u sm for almost 14 k that's so crazy I'm so thankful I love u all<3