THE GROUP HAD split off into separate groups that would venture off and have different duties — Daryl ran a search party in the east side of the woods, while Dale held a remaining group on the highway, while Rick held a search party in the north of the woods. Daryl had argued ferociously for Ellie to stay behind or to join his group, but Rick insisted that Ellie join his group, as she was the fastest on her feet. In anger, Ellie pulled Daryl into the RV for a moment of privacy, in hope to convince him to release his sudden urge of protectiveness.

  "Daryl," Ellie whispered, folding her arms across her chest assertively at Daryl's display of protectiveness, "I know you don't want to lose me as well as Coda, but I'm not a child."

  "I hope not," Daryl mumbled sarcastically, to which she slapped his shoulder playfully, though she couldn't help the smile that dazzled on her lips, "I know, but still."

  "I'm going with Rick," she replied sternly, ensuring Daryl was entirely aware that he could not control her, though he only ever wanted the best for her, "You're not my owner, and... we're not together."

  Daryl scowled at her in disappointment at her use of words, and cleared his throat, "I know that," he then slowly, and awkwardly, ran his index finger across her cheek, "Just don't want you to die."

  "I'm not going to die by not being in your presence for five minutes," Ellie replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes at his awkwardness. Her lips curved into a smirk, and filled the gap between the two, causing his breath to hitch in his throat, "Just in the event that I do die..."

  On the very delicacy of the tips of her toes, the blonde seductively leaned up towards Daryl, and felt their lips meeting as they both kissed one another slowly. It had been their first proper kiss in six years, and igniting fireworks deep within the strings of their hearts. This had been the warmth they had been missing. No body could fit as perfectly in his hands as hers did. No fingers could ever trace the map of her skin as well as he could, for no voyage would ever be as significant as his very own across the ocean of her skin.

  This was their first kiss in what felt like an eternity. Though she had kissed him at the CDC, it hadn't been much of a kiss — this was a pure.

  Daryl withdrew from the kiss through a bout of hesitancy, his breath shaky and weak as it rolled from his mouth. The softness of his forehead met hers as leaned his against hers, "You ain't dyin'."

  "I know," she whispered, closing her eyes as the rhythm of his pulse steadied her into stasis, "Neither are you."

  Daryl's cherry lips knitted into a devious smirk as he playfully declared, "I know, woman. I'm more skilled than this group put together."

  "Rick and Shane are, literally, police officers," Ellie replied sarcastically, rolling her sapphire eyes at his confidence, through her dazzling teeth had been on display through a grin, "Either way..." she leaned up to kiss him once last time, savouring his lips every millisecond they were connected, "Stay safe."

  They held one another as close as they could as the minutes rolled by, silently asserting there had been no connection as pure as their very own. Daryl's integrity had been the catalyst for such a relationship to blossom, for his past self would have merely scoffed at the him he was that day. No Dixon should be immersed in love enough to taste passion from the flesh of tongues, yet — there he was. Absorbed entirely by Ellie and her endless love.

  A whistle from Shane had alerted them from their embrace, prompting Daryl to awkwardly pull away as a rosy tinge displayed at his cheeks. All Ellie could do was smile. She instantly gripped at Andrea's gun in her hand, cocking it proudly as she had ensured to rescue her friend and daughter with the very gun that had failed them. It was time for her to be a hero.

  Daryl gently dragged Ellie out of the RV, halting ahead of Dale and Rick as the groups had remained in formation in their designated groups. It had been a risk to split such a large brood as their own, but it was a necessity. Their people needed them, and there wasn't a single thing they wouldn't do to rescue them. Rick would make sure of it. Dale placed a gentle hand of reassurance on Ellie's arm, gently squeezing it to display his allegiance as a warm smile flashed at his lips.

  "Good luck out there," Dale kindly declared to Rick and Ellie, then slowly trailed his eyes over to Daryl, shooting him a brisk nod, "Go find them."

  "Mind keeping an eye on Carl while we're gone?" Rick inquired, though he knew the answer long before he had ever parted his lips to speak.

  "I'm coming with you!" Carl boomed loudly, interrupting their encounter with Dale as the young boy rushed over rapidly, "You need people, right? To cover as much ground as possible?" 

  Rick's hesitant eyes turned to engage with Lori's, though she had been met with the mere shrug of his shoulders, to which Lori shrugged hers back, "It's cool, I can't always be the bad guy."

  Ellie's lips sprouted into a wide grin as she kneeled down beside him, and slowly outstretched her enveloped hand.

She slowly uncurled her fingers to reveal a tiny blade, her eyes widening playfully as she dramatically gasped, "It's a knife!" Carl giggled innocently at her display of humour, as did his parents, until she ruffled his hair, "Don't hurt yourself with this. Keep your hand on the handle, like this, at all times. Stay close and do not wander off. Coda and Sophia are depending on us, you understand?"

  The young boy's eager eyes lit up with a flash of eagerness, entirely determined to aid them in their discovery of Coda's whereabouts. Coda had become a special friend to Carl, despite their age difference. She had been the only friend he could talk to, the one to share secrets with, for her precocious attitude had been more than appealing. Carl was going to find her, and become the hero he had always dreamed of.

  Before vacating the wooded area, Ellie's blonde hair whirled against her shoulders as she turned to take one final glance at Daryl, ensuring to absorb the entirety of his features in case it had been the last time. Daryl had already been looking. His ocean eyes frantically remained fastened entirely on Ellie, observing how her peach lips curled into a rigid hairpin glow.

  His own lips could not help but smile back, though deep inside he had been begging for his sob to release, for his heart to cease its clenching. He just wanted his daughter back in his arms. As though she had been entirely observant of his vacant eyes at her distance, Ellie flashed him a hopeful smile, to which he responded with a brief wink. It was all they needed.

>>>

  The myriad of survivors pushed through the heart of the woods in tight formation, with the young boy jovially walking ahead in bewilderment. The woods had been perfect for a boy of Carl's age, especially with his fascination with the outside. His imagination was as bright and technicolor as they came. This was bliss. Despite the quiescent, Shane could not hush the raging storm within his head, spitting vehement ashes of burned memories. His very own chest tightened like it was a seatbelt against tight skin. He was burning from the inside out, with Lori gone to put out the flames.

  Shane released a shaky breath as he fell back to Earth upon hearing Carol's high shriek of, "Shane, look! Dad said I could carry it and Mom said as long as I'm careful, I can keep it!"

  "Keep it down! We're looking for Coda. We need to focus on the task," Shane hissed, his vacant eyes unable to connect with anyone else's from shame at his own tone.

  Though his best efforts to conceal his clenched jaw that had been a spotlight for his anger, Ellie had noticed it. Ellie's hand slithered onto Carl's shoulder as she halted him, broadcasting a sigh. She peered down at the weapon he was holding, and muttered, "This is pretty neat, Carl."

  "I think Shane is mad at me," Carl mumbled in return, looking down at the floor in embarrassment at his attempt to talk to his father's friend.

  Ellie placed her hand on his shoulder reassuringly, tugging him playfully in order to see a smile on his face. She replied, "He's not. He's been like this since the CDC." Her eyes rolled in irritation at her own attempt to cover up what had truly happened between his mother and Shane. She quickly cleared her throat before declaring, "I think he's upset that Jacqui passed away. And now Coda, Andrea and Sophia are missing... it's hard."

  "Oh, man," Carl whispered in response, shaking his head, looking up at Lori who was walking with Rick. He truly had no idea what had been plaguing the man's mind.

>>>

  Bound by a raging storm of disappointment, Ellie's limbs convulsed, sending her leg to abruptly kick a nearby tree. Entirely disappointed at the very little evidence gathered, through every means. They had simply vanished. She whimpered at the impact of her leg, suddenly toppled over as she felt a pair of strong arms holding her close. Her aqua eyes peered upward through a glaze of tears, revealing Rick as he held Ellie close through her sobs. He filled her head adoringly as he allowed her to sob into his shirt, dampening it by the second as her thin fingers fastened around the fabric.

  "There has to be something," Ellie weakly whimpered, internally disgusted by her feeble behaviour.

  As though nature had merrily vowed, a church bell ringing alerted the entire group from their stances, halting them immediately. An anomaly in the quiescent. The bell rang with the same few notes, thumping between intervals until the same very coda carrying out. A coda. Ellie's eyes widened with disbelief, her legs mindlessly carrying her ahead as she valiantly tracked the chimes.

  Though she hadn't been certain, the group had been hasty in following after the grieving woman, ensuring she did not run off from their presence. There was truly no telling what a grieving mother would do. Despite the antagonising ache in her screaming muscles, Ellie burst through the trees until her eyes fastened on a small church by her lonesome; the walls washed entirely with the soap of blood and rot. As soon as she heard footsteps catching up to her, she turned around and saw Shane standing behind her, attempting to catch his breath as they both stared at the church.

  Ellie endeavoured to dart into the church, but Shane instantly caught her arm roughly and shook his head, "That can't be it. It ain't got no steeple, no bells."

  A defeating ache lingered where Ellie's heart proposed to beat, simply echoing a hollow thump
from behind her rib cage. Her head bowed low, hovering in disappointment as she condemned herself for her inability to discover her daughter. How could it be that she had allowed her own daughter to go missing? Whose fault had it truly been other than Ellie's evident carelessness?

  Her mind was a tormented plague of self-loathing, metastasising slowly until the gentle touch of a familiar hand soothed the storm. Daryl's fingers curled around her arm as he, too, had led his group to the church, indicating it had became evident that they had been walking in circles, and their routes were now overlapping with one another.

  "Daryl, I don't know what to do with myself," Ellie spluttered out, suddenly overwhelmed with a sob she could not control.

  Daryl's arms instantly clasped her close, ensuring he caressed the softness of her hair with his loving hands.

  "We keep tryin', until we can't anymore," Daryl asserted, his quiet voice hoarsely cracking as he spoke of their daughter's status as missing.

  Daryl gently tugged at Ellie's arm, guiding her in the direction of the church as he pushed the doors open with his spare hand.

  Inside the small church, three walkers sat confronting the tremendous crucifix drooping on the wall above in the central point of the church. With barely a flick of his finger, Daryl shot three individual bolts into the rotting skulls of the walkers,  authorising them to plummet to the ground in heaps at their own feet. Daryl stood back from afar, silently observing as Ellie shakily halted ahead of the crucifix, gradually kissing the ground with her knees as they buckled beneath her.

  "Hey JC... you takin' any requests?" Daryl asked the Jesus Christ crucifix sarcastically, though his intention had been to cut the thick tension he found himself webbed in.

  "I haven't been a good Catholic in my lifetime, but I need someone to pray to," Ellie quietly whispered to the crucifix above, her eyes clenched shut as desperation in her clasped hands materialised in trembling muscles, "I–I've done things that you wouldn't be proud of, and haven't done anything to atone," her eyes spilled with tears she had been holding back for far too long, suddenly flooding down the troughs beneath her eyes, "Please, don't punish my daughter for what I have done. Please, forgive me."

  "If anyone's gonna be forgiven, it's you," Daryl mumbled, awkwardly sinking down in the first pew beside Ellie. He allowed a saddened huff to escape his lips, before declaring, "Coda will be fine. She takes after—"

  "You," Ellie interrupted through a tearful huff of laughter, slowly spinning on her knees to face Daryl. Their tearful eyes met. A spark. Ellie's trembling hand of fear snaked to lean against the comfort of Daryl's knee-bone as she quietly squeaked, "definitely you..."

  Daryl cleared his throat quietly to rid it of the overwhelming lump that had formed, suddenly
shifting his eyes up to the crucifix as he whimpered, "I coulda' done somethin'."

  Ellie tutted loudly as she rapidly manoeuvred her hand from Daryl's knee to his chin, and rested her thumb upon the hills of his lips. She gently trailed her thumb against the plumpness, silencing him in his absurdity. Her head slowly shook, though her eyes never once left his.

  He swam deep in the prisms of her irises, suddenly lost in a safety they radiated. A heated throb in her heart has been lingering there, solidifying that the bell had indeed been on timer, leaving their family lost in the wilderness. Ellie's eyes suddenly clenched shut, stunted by the thrashing of knots in her stomach as she thought of her daughter out in the woods alone, perhaps starving or dehydrated, or even deceased.

  "We have to accept that she might be gone," Ellie whispered, her voice wavering bumpily as her voice box had been strained of all colour. Daryl's hand suddenly gripped at Ellie's waist, clinging to the fabric of her shirt until his knuckles grew white. She shakily added, "Daryl, we have to. Please, you need to do this."

  Daryl's chest tightened as he felt Ellie rising to her feet, suddenly overwhelmed with the notion of being alone with his own thoughts. Ellie had no idea quite the violent arsenal his mind had acquired. She slowly slipped out of the church doors, suddenly breathing out once the hinges clanked shut.

  Ellie's wobbly knees instantly carried her in the direction of hushed, yet visually sharp hisses, dragging her away from the church. She stealthily halted behind a tree, ensuring to eavesdrop as she leaned forth, her knife raised as she had been prepared to rescue whomever had been ahead.

  "Are you really leaving? What made you decide this?" Ellie overheard Lori questioning a person identified to be Shane, despite his clear emotional state.

  Tears stained his invariably smooth and pristine cheeks; his eyes twinkled with remorse. Almost as though someone had removed a mask to reveal an entirely different person beneath the facade of male bravado.

  "I'm trying to be the good guy, Lori. You can't see that," Shane declared, followed by a soul-escaping  sigh as his eyes dropped to the ground beneath him.

  Ellie's knife plummeted to the ground with a clang, her weakened limbs falling to her side as she staggered at the news. She hesitantly squeaked out, "You're leaving. Shane?"

  Shane's wide eyes of regret met Ellie's, suddenly overwhelmed wirh his own betrayal of her trust. He shakily whimpered, "Ellie..."

  "What was your plan?" Ellie spat, her lip quivering slightly as she glared between Shane's tense stance and Lori's tearful expression, "Just disappear?" she scoffed as she rapidly leaned down to retrieve her knife angrily, harshly hissing, "What happened to us being a family?"

  "You're just going to disappear and not tell Rick?" Lori stressed, the wrinkles in her forehead sewn with utter disappointment in Shane's decisions, despite her own heavy influence.

  Shane ignored Lori's comment entirely, quickly gripping at Ellie's hands as he attempted to pull her close while asserting, "Ellie, please understand," Shane whispered with the slight shake of his head, "I'm trying to make this easy! It isn't easy on any of us, least of all me, Lori!"

  "What about Carl?" Lori challenged the man, ignoring Ellie's presence entirely as she yanked Shane free from Ellie's hold.

  "I love Carl," Shane announced hoarsely, although Lori had already known his answer.

  Lori's eyes desperately searched Shane's for the punchline, the moment he were to burst into laughter, to simply announce he had been joking. It never came.

  "You can't leave Shane, you'll break his heart," Lori stated, her voice breaking slightly at the thought of Shane not being in the group anymore.

  Though their relationship had been strained, it was his own willpower that had kept them alive.

  Ellie gulped loudly say she ferociously attempted to keep the word vomit from escaping her throat, until her lips could not stop the poison she hissed of, "You're literally the reason he's leaving!"

  "Excuse me?" Lori scoffed, her eyes broad as she had been entirely offended by Ellie's sudden comment, though it was true.

  "If you hadn't had led Shane on in the first place, he wouldn't be in this situation!" Ellie growled at her, though ensured her voice had been quiet enough to refrain from threatening her.

  Lori scoffed at Ellie's comment, though her words had already pierced her bleeding heart. She was simply telling the truth.

  All Lori could do was snap, "You're going to break Carl," ignoring Ellie's words once again.

  "Again, I'm trying to make this easy," Shane gritted to Lori, though his dark eyes of despair remained fastened on Ellie. He grabbed at Ellie once again, gluing his fingers to her bicep as he squeezed, "Please... don't hate me."

  Ellie let out a small whimper, dropping her gaze to her feet sheepishly, though she whispered, "You can't leave, now now. I need you, Shane."

  "No matter what, I'm the one that loses here," Shane declared hoarsely, his voice daring to break at the notion of never seeing their faces again.

  But, it had to be done.

  A silence befell them.

  Though Ellie could feel the branches of the underground slowly twisting around her ankles, daring to swallow her whole. This time, she prayed it would. Her eyes remained glued to the ground, awaiting her encounter with its roots as she heard Lori scoffing loudly, and the heavy footsteps storming away. Shane did not hesitate to rush to Ellie's side, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he awaited her response, only to be met with a defeating silence.

  Ellie's voice box had been worn out, merely exhausted of Ellie begging and bargaining. She could not keep her grip on those who so easily wanted to let go. She didn't have the strength anymore.

    "El—"

  However silent Ellie had been, Shane knew her answer in the dark glimmer of her eyes through the thin layer of tears.

  Her lips suddenly twisted into a poisonous smirk of sarcasm, allowing her wry voice to hiss, "You're leaving just because you can't get your dick wet from your best friend's wife? Fine by me. You go ahead. You've reminded me why I have always been better off alone."

  An uncontrollable convulsion hauled Ellie past Shane's shoulder, roughly brushing against it as she stormed past. She ensured her location had been unknown as she headed back into the woods, her knife handle slotting into the ridges of her palm. Her eyes sighted two lingering walkers nearby, stumbling aimlessly and hungrily as they quietly snarled amongst themselves.

  Craftily, Ellie sunk down behind a tree, gripping at a nearby stone for the distraction of the walkers. She ran her thumb against the rock, nodding in approval of her choice as she leaned forth, ensuring her sight had been clear of the walkers. With her arm flung backwards, she propelled the rock forward, gawking as it landed ahead of the walkers.

  A small bite to her lip indicated an approval for her action, slowly rising to her feet though she remained crouched. Her foot instantly thumped at the ankle of the first walker, knocking it to the ground perfectly in time as her blade had plummeted to its skull. Though the commotion had alerted the other walker, Ellie knew with one swift movement of her knife, it would crumple to the ground in one heap. Ceasing it to live.

  Once the body met the ground with a thud, Ellie could not help her hand as it callously sliced the blade through the stomach of the walker again. A grunt. She flicked her wrist backwards as the blade slipped out from its stomach, until it brutally pounded the stomach wound once again. She could not help herself.

  Ellie's arms repeatedly tore the walker apart as her groans grew louder, gradually building up her wails to a crescendo as a burst of grief escaped her throat Once her legs staggered backwards at her own sickening behaviour, she threw the knife on the ground, and fell backwards, cradling her head with her shaking, bloodied hands. She prayed to rid her condemned soul of the evil that desperately been clambering from her chest.

  "Please... make it stop," she cried out, toppling onto her side, and clutching her knees up to her chest. She lied in the dampened earth for countless moments, before a surging devotion beamed in the pit of her stomach. She hauled her aching body to her feet, and gripped at the handle of her knife tightly, "Mommy's coming, baby..."

  After her legs had hauled her back towards the group, Ellie halted upon  caught the attention of Lori and Carol — the whispers from poisonous tongues that had been gossiping mercilessly about Ellie behind her back. It hadn't gone unnoticed.

  They weren't being cruel; merely gossips, though Ellie would have no time for gossips. She gulped quietly, shockingly overwhelmed by their widened stares at her bloodied attire and dripping blade. Anxiously, Ellie tucked her blade deep in her holster as she straightened out her outfit, gulping once again as they whispered loudly. She spun on her heels to catch Daryl and Rick gawking worriedly at her encounter with the women, though they hadn't quite mattered to her.

  She did not hesitate to rush in Daryl's direction, roughly crashing into his chest as she clasped her arms around the comfort of his torso. His familiar hands snaked around her body, holding her close as he felt the damp tears pooling into his shirt, though she barely made a sound. Daryl whispered soothing,
inaudible words to Ellie as she trembled in endless vibrations. She had been falling slowly into a puddle of grief, entirely lost without her daughter walking alongside her through the debris of life. Ellie's ears remained untuned to the discussion above her, though Daryl's loud sigh pumping from his lungs indicated to Ellie something had been wrong.

  "Are they sending you guys back to the highway?" Ellie whispered against Daryl's chest, though she slowly raised her head to face him, "I don't want you to go."

  Daryl nodded hesitantly, gulping at the notion of leaving Ellie when she had been in such a sorrowful state. His hand leaned up to cup her cheek as he replied, "You gotta do this. You gotta stay safe and get Coda."

  Ellie quickly raised her lips to crash against his, wholly absorbing all the love he could possibly radiate as their lips battled slowly. She pulled back to whisper softly, "It's you who needs to be safe. You're too reckless."

  Daryl merely stared at her through his sparkling squinted eyes and bowed his head down, to kiss her first this time, something he hadn't done in a long time, "I will be."

  Ellie let out a heavy sigh of relief as she felt Daryl kiss her, and cupped his face lovingly, "I'll see you soon."

  She watched as Daryl moved away from her reluctantly, and approached the rest of his group. He turned back to face her, his eyes had began to tear up, but he blinked the tears away quickly, and wrapped his crossbow over his shoulder, "We'll get 'em back," his hoarse voice asserted. With that, he had left with his group, as Ellie did with hers.

  Ellie proceeded to veer towards the gloominess of the hollow trees that surrounded the group, and gulped as she realised she realistically would not find her daughter, though her bones ached with their separation. The trees that once seemed hopeful to her, a sign of tranquility and peace were now mementos of the heartache she felt longingly sitting on her heart. Those trees that had once brought an idyllic atmosphere now bore uncertainty and the longing feeling of impending death.

The blonde clutched her knife close to her, feeling the gun bouncing against her thigh in the holster that Rick had provided her. Her spare, idle hand loosely dangled at her side, until she felt a hand curl around her spindly fingers. It had been Rick. He halted Ellie in her tracks as he tugged at her hand, bringing her hand up to his shoulder as he ushered her into an embrace of reassurance.

  "I know this is difficult, El, but I promise you'll get through this," he whispered assertively, his eyebrows knitted tightly together. She rested her head on his shoulder, noticing he hadn't promised they'd find her, like everybody else, "we're all here."

  Ellie slowly pulled away from their embrace as she broadcasted a sigh, quietly muttering, "I would love to believe you, Rick," her idle eyes gazed over Rick's shoulder, proving to be necessary as she faced several walkers stumbling their direction, "Look out!"

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