One of the bodies fell on top of me. I hissed in pain as my breath was knocked out of me. I shoved the Walker off of me, which made two others fall backwards as it fell onto them. I rolled to my feet and pulled my machete free from its sheath. I hurriedly sliced the rest of the Walkers apart and looked over at Daryl and Glenn.

“What the hell’s the matter with you?” Daryl snapped.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Ya just ran into a herd of them things! Do ya want to die?”

“I’d be better off dead than living with someone who disappears all the time!”

He stared at me, his mouth hanging open slightly. Tears rolled down my cheeks without my permission. I wiped them away with the back of my hand.

“I don’t disappear all the time.” He mumbled.

“You’re gone whenever I wake up, and it’s like I’m nothing. Not to mention that you were going to steal from the group.” I hiccupped, trying to stop myself from crying more.

“Megs…..” He reached his hand out toward me.

I slapped his hand away and ran. Both he and Glenn yelled out my name. I didn’t stop until I reached a long wooden fence. I quickly jumped over it and ran toward the house I saw.

“Daddy! There’s someone on our land!” A girl yelled.

I slid to a stop in front of the house. A brunette and blonde were both looking at me. I stood up straight when an old man came out of the house.

“Who are you, and why are you on my farm?” He asked.

“I left my group. I need a place to stay.” I answered.

“Why did you leave them?”

“Personal problems.”

“What’s your name?”

“Meghan Days.”

“My name is Hershel. These girls here are my daughters, Maggie and Beth.”

~

“Meghan! We’ve got company!”

I turned in time to see Beth rushing into the room, a bloody Rick behind her. Carl was in his arms.

“Rick? What the hell happened?” I asked.

“Carl got shot when he was looking at a deer!” He answered.

Hershel came into the room and practically shooed me and Beth away. I grabbed Beth’s hand and pulled her outside.

“You know those two?” She asked.

“They’re a part of my old group.”

“Meghan?!”

I flinched at the harshness in the voice. I looked up to see Shane. He stomped toward me and got in my face when he walked up the porch stairs.

“You’ve been here the whole damn time?!” He growled.

“I can be wherever I want to be.” I said.

“Do you even know what the hell has happened?”

“Carl got shot.”

“And Sophia ran away! We were overrun by Walkers, and Sophia ran off when she got scared!”

“So?”

“Daryl’s been going out of his mind looking for both you and Sophia!”

I shoved Shane away. “I’m not Daryl’s problem anymore.”

“You know, he kept that damn rabbit of yours alive! He wouldn’t let us eat it even when we had no food!”

“I don’t care about what Daryl’s been doing! I have a life here now!”

~

“Carl should be fine. Hershel got the bullet out and stitched up the wound.”

“That’s good.”

I scrubbed Carl’s blood off my hands. I had just changed his bandages, and some of his blood had gotten on my skin. Rick laid his hand on my shoulder.

“The rest of the group is outside. I haven’t told them that you’re here.” He said.

“And you want me to go out there?”

“It would set their minds at ease. They’ll only have to focus on finding one person if they know you’re alive.”

I sighed and dried my hands with a towel. I followed behind him as he walked outside. The group was camping out in the front yard.

“Hey!” Rick yelled. “Look who I found when I got here!”

Everyone turned their eyes on me. I lowered my head before walking down the porch stairs, and they all rushed toward me. Dale was the first one to reach me. He kept going on and on about how worried he was when Daryl and Glenn came back without me. Glenn constantly apologized for not stopping me, and he handed Dixon’s cage to me. Dixon happily gnawed at my finger when I let him. Carol hit me in the back of my head and yelled at me for leaving. Andrea and Lori both gave me a lecture about thinking before acting.

“Go see Daryl. He’s by the fire, making more arrows.” Dale said.

I took a deep breath before pushing past everyone. Daryl was focused on his arrows, so I set Dixon’s cage down and sat next to him.

“Is anyone even in there?” I muttered, reaching up and tapping his forehead lightly.

He jumped away from me, startled by my ‘sudden’ presence. I smiled and reached out to touch his arm.

“Sorry, Daryl. I didn’t mean to scare you.” I said.

He instantly dropped the arrow he was working on and pulled me into a tight hug. I laughed when he buried his face in my hair.

“God dammit, Megs. Don’t run away from me ever again. Ya had me worried.” He muttered.

“I needed to get away from it all. I haven’t seen a single Walker while I’ve been here.” I told him, laying my hands on his chest.

He chuckled lightly. “Ya don’t know how good it feels to have ya in my arms, Megs.”

“I could imagine what it’s like.”

He let out a loud laugh. I looked over at the others to see them watching us, smiles on their dirty faces.