C H A P T E R  2 1

❛ reunited ❜

QUINN

     SHE TURNED AROUND AND THE WORLD SEEMED TO slow down around her. Her heart was beating loudly in her ears and breathing suddenly became an impossible task. When she had fully turned and her eyes landed on the sight before her, she had to bite her tongue to stop the tears that had gathered in her eyes from falling down.

There he stood, only a few feet away from her. Two guys were behind him but she didn't pay them any attention. Instead her eyes scanned every detail of his face, taking in all the new things that had settled there since the last time she saw him. He seemed tired, dark circles painted under his eyes but he was okay. There were no scars, or wounds, none visible anyway.

'Quinn?' His voice echoed through the grim place once again as a small smile formed on his features.

And that was all she needed to leap forwards, her feet carried her across the room in a matter of seconds before stumbling into his arms. She couldn't stop the tears that fell down her cheeks even if she wanted to. All the doubt, all the fear of the past few months came rushing to her all at once as she held onto him as tightly as she could. She sobbed into his shoulder, hearing his shaky breath as he wrapped his arms around her.

He was alive. Her brother was alive.

She untangled herself from his grasp, quickly wiping her tears away as she felt herself smiling. A real, honest smile, the first one in a long time and it felt so good. Her chest felt like it was glowing and she was smiling. It wasn't something she had ever expected to be able to do again.

'H-how?' Milo muttered, staring at her with wide eyes.

All Quinn could do was shake her head, her lips trembling too much to form words as she hugged him again. His arms felt just like they had before, safe. Like the huge walls of a castle surrounding her, keeping her safe from all the horrors the world held. He laughed, the sound vibrating through her and she felt herself laughing as well, she simply couldn't help it.

'What's going on?' The heavy accent of Rick echoed through the cell block.

Quinn pulled away from her brother's arms, turning around to see Rick staring at them with a frown. She noticed Michonne had made her way to one of the tables, having taken a seat on it with a frown on her face as she observed them.

'You two know each other?' The man she suspected to be Merle's brother asked.

Milo wrapped his arm around her shoulder. 'This is Quinn. She's my sister.'

Rick turned at Daryl, the two of them sharing a wordless glance. His frown hadn't disappeared when he turned back to look at her. 'Did you know he was here?'

Quinn gave a shake of her head. 'I thought he was dead,' she answered honestly, though she had a feeling he wouldn't believe her no matter what she said.

The man nodded but didn't seem too convinced. She couldn't blame him, the absurd coincidence of the whole situation was strange beyond words. Rick's blue eyes lingered on the two of them as he seemed to consider the situation. Finally he spoke up again. 'If you didn't come here for your brother, why did you come here?' He gestured towards the red basket filled with the supplies Glenn and the girl left behind. 'And why were you carrying the formula?'

Quinn stepped away from Milo and walked over to Michonne, though she noticed her brother had followed her, remaining close behind her. She looked at her friend, the same look of understanding passing between as when she'd picked up the supplies in the first place. They had come here to help these people and they couldn't do that by keeping their mouths shut.

'The supplies were dropped by a young asian guy,' Michonne finally spoke up, looking back at Rick. 'With a pretty girl.'

The old man with the crutches stood up straight as he heard this, staring at Rick with a worried look on his face.

'What happened?' Rick asked.

'They were taken,' Quinn replied, her stomach tightening as she thought about the whole scene.

'Taken by who?' Rick asked again, impatience building in his voice and she couldn't help but notice how his hand was resting on his gun.

'By the same son of a bitch who shot me,' Michonne said and by the way her shoulders tensed Quinn knew she'd seen him reaching for his weapon as well.

'Hey, these are our people. You tell us what happened. Now!' Suddenly he reached out, grabbing her wounded leg with his hand.

Michonne let out a pained yelp while Quinn was already moving forward, shoving him away with a strength she didn't even know she had. Daryl reacted by raising his crossbow, the bolt pointed right at her face. Within a second Milo had moved, standing in between her and the deadly bolt. He was holding her arm to keep her from making any sudden movements but his glare was aimed at Daryl.

'Don't you ever touch me again!' Michonne breathed, staring at Rick with flaming eyes.

'Better start talking,' Daryl said roughly, his crossbow still pointed at Milo. 'Or you're gonna have a much bigger problem than a gunshot wound.'

'Find 'em yourself,' Michonne snapped.

Quinn let out a shaky breath when Rick walked forwards again, but this time he didn't touch her friend and only, carefully, pushed Daryl's crossbow down but still Milo didn't move. 'You two came here for a reason,' he said, looking Quinn straight in the eye before turning to Michonne, who was avoiding his gaze all together.

'There's a town,' Quinn started, knowing Rick was right. Helping them find their friends was part of the reason why she came here. She didn't know about Michonne but this was what she had to do. 'It's called Woodbury, they have about seventy-five survivors, we think they were taken there.'

This time Milo did turn around, his eyebrows raised in disbelief at her words.

'A whole town?' Rick asked, clearly not believing it. She couldn't blame him.

'It's run by this guy who calls himself the Governor,' Michonne added, spitting out his name with a clear hatred. 'Pretty boy, charming, Jim Jones type.'

'He got muscle?' Daryl asked.

'They have military weapons,' Quinn said, 'heavy artillery on every wall.'

'Either of you know a way in?'

'Place is secure from walkers,' Michonne replied, 'but we could slip our way through.'

Rick let out a dry chuckle and shook his head. 'How'd you know how to get here?'

'They mentioned a prison, said which direction it was in, said it was a straight shot.'

Rick kept his blue eyes focused on her, clearly trying to figure out whether or not he should believe them. Finally he looked away, pointing to the elder man. 'This is Hershel, father of the girl that was taken, he'll take care of that.' He gestured to her wound. Then he turned around and walked away, followed by Daryl, probably to discuss the matter. The two inmates who'd entered with Milo followed them but her brother stayed put.

She turned to look at him once again and despite the apprehension still lingering in her bones, she couldn't help but smile. With a laugh she leaped into his arms once again, holding him tightly as she buried her face in his shoulder.

'You're alive,' Milo whispered, sounding as though he was waking from a terrible nightmare.

She pulled away so she could look into his eyes and despite the ghosts lingering there it was still undeniably him. She nodded and when she spoke her voice was hoarse. 'So are you.' Then she frowned, the sudden reality of the situation hitting her. 'How?'

He took a deep breath, as if having to brace himself. 'I was locked in the cafeteria with a few other guys. A guard came to get us when this place got overrun. We spent ten months locked up in that hellhole before these guys came and got us out.'

'I'm sorry,' she whispered, putting her hand on his shoulder. She couldn't even begin to imagine being locked in such a small space for so long with no answers and the dead surrounding you.

'Don't be,' he replied, a small smile tugging at his lips. 'I survived so I could be here with you now.'

She smiled brightly at him. It was good to know that after all this time there was one thing that hadn't changed, his optimism.

'How'd you two meet?' He asked her, gesturing at Michonne.

She turned around to where Michonne was still seated on the table. Hershel was working on her wound with steady hands and watchful eyes. 'On the road,' Quinn explained. 'She saved me.'

'Where were you when it happened?' Milo questioned softly.

Her body tensed at the question, which didn't go unnoticed by her brother, who walked forward immediately and put an arm around her shoulders. 'I was at home,' she started slowly. 'I was watching the news when it happened. I didn't hesitate to get the hell outta there. It was chaos.'

He inhaled sharply. 'I'm sorry you had to go through that alone.'

'I survived,' she muttered, leaning into him, hoping to capture the moment of pure happiness of being reunited with the one person she cared about most.

In the meantime Hershel had finished stitching up Michonne's leg.

'Thank you,' she said genuinely. He nodded at her, before packing up his stuff, taking his crutches and stumbling back inside the cell block, the very same Rick just came walking out of.

'Let's go,' Rick said, nodding towards the two women. Apparently they were given the benefit of the doubt. He walked towards the door, followed by Daryl, the blonde girl, the kid with the hat and two other guys who wore the same prison outfit as her brother.

'If you're going, I'm coming with you,' Milo said. His brown eyes shone with determination and Quinn knew there was nothing she could do to change his mind, so she simply nodded.

Quinn walked closely behind Michonne as her friend stumbled outside. They reached the courtyard and Michonne frowned as she looked around. 'Wasn't this place overrun?' She asked the blonde girl who happened to walk past them.

'It was,' the girl responded.

'And you cleared it out, all by yourselves?' Michonne asked, a laugh sounding through her voice. 'Just a few?'

'There were others,' the girl said, sadness shining in her eyes before she turned and walked away.

Quinn shared a quick glance with Michonne before turning to look at her brother for answers.

He sighed. 'They lost a few people two days ago. It was-' he fell silent as the events seemed to play out before his eyes once again. 'Brutal.' He finally finished.

A shiver crawled down her spine and the need to ask for details dissolved immediately.

'Let's go!' Rick called out.

Quinn didn't need to be told twice. She got into the back of the car, sitting between Michonne and her brother. One of the inmates sat alone in the back, Daryl sat down in the passenger's seat and Rick opened the door to sit behind the wheel but, at the last second, he was stopped by Hershel.

'Bring them back,' he muttered softly and the pain in his voice tugged at her heart.

Rick nodded with determination before getting behind the wheel.

The ride towards Woodbury didn't last as long as she thought it would have. It appeared that getting chased by a redneck with one hand while being wounded delayed their journey quite a bit, who would've thought. On Michonne's directions, Rick drove them towards the village and when they were close, he parked the car on the side of the road.

'They have patrols,' Michonne said as they all made their way out of the car, 'we're better off on foot.'

'How far?' Rick asked. 'Night's coming.'

Quinn couldn't remember the road to Woodbury since she'd been unconscious when they were taken from the Helicopter wreckage and so she looked at Michonne for help on the matter.

'A mile,' she said, 'maybe two.'

Once they had taken all the weapons out of the car they followed Michonne into the forest. Quinn felt a lot saver with her daggers back around her waist and a gun tucked behind her belt. Even though she still needed more practice with the weapon, it felt safe to have it with her. This time she wouldn't enter Woodbury unprepared.

They walked on in silence and Quinn couldn't help but throw a look at Milo every other second. It felt almost unreal to have him at her side after so long. When she first saw him she had been scared it was a dream. Just another feverish dream. But he was still walking next to her. It took her a lot of convincing herself to accept it was real, but it was. And she couldn't be more happy.

'I know what you did for me,' Rick spoke up, talking to Daryl who was walking next to him. 'For my baby, while I was working things out.'

Quinn kept her gaze focused on the forest before her, pretending she couldn't hear the man to give him his privacy. But she did hear them and his words made her realise that this group was closer than even Andrea had told them.

'Thank you,' Rick concluded.

'It's what we do,' Daryl said, almost sounding uncomfortable with the show of gratitude.

A familiar moan sounded from her left and she turned to look, immediately reaching for her dagger. She spotted the corpse through the trees on their left.

'Down!' Rick suddenly whispered.

Milo immediately did so and Quinn followed him without hesitation. Only then she noticed all the walkers making their way towards them, groaning as they stumbled along the forest floor.

'Stay in formation,' Rick ordered, 'no gun fire!' He ran forwards, throwing his machete into the head of an approaching walker.

Quinn reached for a dagger and raised it above her head, then brought it down, through the skull of a corpse that was dangerously close to her.

Beside her Milo had taken an axe in his hand, swinging it down into the head of a walker.

'There's too many of 'em!' Daryl shouted, while shooting an arrow into a walker's skull. The walker fell down and the man leaned over to pull the arrow back out.

'This way,' Rick said, leading them away from the walkers that came stumbling through the treelines.

They ran through the forest without a real destination, trying to leave the smell herd behind. The group entered a small clearing with a wooden shed in the middle of it. She couldn't believe their luck.

'In there!' Rick said, pointing at it with his machete. He ran towards it, threw the door open and made his way inside with his weapon tightly in his hand. 'Get the door,' he ordered.

Michonne shut the door once they were all inside, staring through the cracks in the wood at the dangers from outside.

Quinn moved further inward but immediately wished she hadn't. She almost choked on the penetrating smell. Coughing she brought up her hand to her nose, covering it in the hopes to at least lessen the horrible smell. It smelled as if a walker had vomited all over the place.

'That smell,' Daryl groaned in disgust while moving further inside the shed to see where it was coming from.

The sound of flies buzzing reached her ears and she shared a quick look of disgust with her brother.

'What the hell is that?' The other prisoner, who'd introduced himself as Oscar during the car ride, asked.

'Probably a fox,' Daryl replied, 'or what's left of one.'

Rick shone his flashlight around, the beam landing on a dog's corpse covered in flies.

'Guess Lassie went home,' Daryl said.

She looked away from it, her gaze wondering to the man with the crossbow. She didn't know whether to laugh at his weird sense of humor that reminded her so much of his brother, or if she should be surprised that a man like him even knew who Lassie was.

A loud bang startled her out of her thoughts. Walkers were piling up against the door and it wouldn't take long for the wood to break.

She noticed Rick gesturing to Daryl to cover him as he moved towards a bed that stood in the corner. Only then did she notice something was lying beneath the blanket and she found herself raising her dagger, ready to lash out at any given moment.

Rick pulled the blanket away only to jump back immediately when a man came out from under it, jumping off the bed. Her eyes widened when she saw the gun he was holding in his hands, pointed right at Rick.

'Who are you!' The stranger screamed.

'We don't mean any harm,' Rick responded, holding up his hands as a sign of peace.

Milo moved to stand before Quinn, shielding her from whatever the man was planning, his axe raised and she was surprised to notice his protection slightly annoyed her. Seeing as she'd been the one on the road for almost ten months and he had been locked in a cafeteria that same amount of time.

'Get out of my house!' The man screamed awfully loud.

'Okay, okay, we will,' Rick spoke, trying to calm him down, 'but we can't right now.'

'Now!'

'Shut him up!' Michonne snapped.

'Right now!' The man screamed again, each word sounding even louder than the last.

'There are walkers outside,' Rick told him but the man seemed to be completely blind to the danger he was bringing them in as he looked around with a confused look on his face.

'I'll call the cops!' He shouted.

'I am a cop,' Rick responded. 'Now, I need you to lower the gun. Don't do anything rash.' He kept on staring at the man, hoping to make some progress, then put his weapons on the ground. 'Everything is fine. Let's just take this nice and slow. Look at me.'

However, all the calmth seemed to make the man only more angry as he pulled off the safety and pointed the gun at Rick's face. 'Show me the badge.'

'Alright, it's in my pocket. 'Now, I'm just gonna reach down, nice and slow.' But as he reached down, he suddenly jumped forward, taking a hold of the gun.

Her heart jumped in her chest when a shot was fired. It shattered the wooden door right behind Daryl, but he had managed to jump out of the way at the very last second.

Rick wrestled with the man and managed to get his arm around his neck.

'Let go of me,' the man kept yelling, over and over again. He was completely out of his mind.

'Shut up!' Rick said before suddenly crying out in pain when the man bit him in his fingers.

Quickly the man scrambled to his feet and ran towards the door where walkers were still trying to get in. 'Help they found me!' He shouted.

'Don't open that door!' Rick screamed.

Before Quinn could even blink, Michonne had pulled her katana from its sheath and drove it through the man's back, bringing him down before he could reach the door. A small sigh of relief escaped her lips while Rick stared with wide eyes at her companion.

'Daryl, help me with this,' Rick said, quickly pulling himself together before taking the dead man by his shoulder.

'You gotta be kidding,' Milo spoke, frowning at the scene unfolding before him.

'He's dead,' Rick told him, as if that justified it, 'check the back door.'

Milo walked towards the backdoor, carefully pulling it open. 'It's clear,' he said after a quick look outside

'Alright,' Rick replied, nodding at Michonne who stood ready to pull the door open, 'one, two, three.'

Michonne opened the door while Rick and Daryl all but threw the corpse of the stranger outside where it was immediately swarmed upon by the walkers. Quinn barely got a look at it before Daryl slammed the door shut again and gestured for them to run.

They headed through the back door, leaving the shed behind and making their way back into the forest towards Woodbury.

'The world really has gone to shit,' Milo mumbled as he came walking next to her.

She offered him a sad smile. 'Welcome to the apocalypse.'

A U T H O R 'S  N O T E

They are reunited! Brother and sister, finally together again!

It feels like such a milestone to have reached this point in the book and I'm so excited to start working on Quinn's relationship with everyone in Rick's group. I also really loved the enthusiasm you guys showed in the comments about last chapter, so I just wanted to say thanks for being such awesome readers!

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as well, things are only gonna get better now that Quinn and Milo have been reunited again.

Love you all,

xXx

UYM

edited: ✔