⌜ chapter one ⌟

The majority of the group waits outside while Rick, MJ, Daryl, T-Dog, and Carl head into the house to clear it of any walkers that are inside. They get the downstairs taken care of, and then T and Daryl head upstairs.

Maggie and Glenn then go inside after clearing the surrounding area with Dana and Addy. The two Winchester women go back to the group to help keep them safe in case any walkers come along.

Daryl makes his way back downtown with T-Dog, and MJ gives him a disgusted look when she sees what's in his hand. "Seriously?"

"What?" He looks at her, but she simply turns away from him as he continues defeathering the owl that he killed upstairs.

Rick brings the rest of the group in then, and Ellie goes to help Carl scavenge in the kitchen for anything to eat. The kids end up in the living room where all of the others now are.

Addy nudges MJ, and the brunette looks at her friend. She points to Daryl before poking MJ's side. The brunette smacks her hand and rolls her eyes as she then walks away from her. Jo starts laughing, having seen the exchange, and the others glance her way.

Rick throwing a can at the fireplace gets everyone's attention, and they briefly look at him before returning to what they were doing before. Ellen shakes her head as she looks down to the ground; Rick didn't want the kids eating the can of dog food that Carl opened.

Addy reaches her foot out and nudges MJ's leg. The latter pushes her hair away from her face as she looks at her again. The blonde motions to MJ's right side, and she shakes her head, answering her unvocalized question. Addy gives her a questioning look, to which MJ flips her off.

T whistles, and each member of the group then looks over at him. He motions outside, and they all get up when they see walkers moving toward the house. They all then grab their stuff and move out as quickly as they moved in.

They pile into the four cars, throwing their gear in, as Daryl and MJ get on his motorcycle. He leads the way away from the house until they're far enough away to stop and talk about what to do next.

"Fifteen, you're on point." Rick tells Carl, and then MJ sends Ellie over to stay with him.

Glenn and Maggie lay out the map on one of the cars as everyone gathers around. "We got no place left to go." T says.

"When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off." Maggie says as she points out the two locations on the map. "We'll never make it south."

"What would you say? That was about a hundred fifty head?" Daryl asks.

"That was last week." Glenn says. "Could be twice that by now."

"This river could have delayed them. If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear through there." Hershel's pointing out a possible route on the map.

"Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way." T points out.

"So we're blocked." Maggie says.

"Only thing to do is double back at twenty-seven and swing toward Greenville." Rick tells them.

"Yeah, we picked through that already." T looks at Rick. "It's like we spent the Winter going in circles."

"Yeah, I know. I know." He nods.

"At Newnan we'll push west. Haven't been through there yet." MJ says.

"We can't keep going house to house." Rick looks over at Lori, she's the only one still sitting in one of the cars. She's about ready to pop any day now. "Need to find some place to hole up for a few weeks."

"Alright. It cool if we get to the creek before we head out?" T asks. "Won't take long. We got to fill up on water. We can boil it later."

"Yeah, we should definitely get that done while we have a minute." MJ nods.

"Hey." Daryl gets their attention, and the leaders look at them from the two different directions they're in. "While the others wash their panties, let's go hunt. That owl didn't exactly hit the spot."

"He seriously hasn't seen it, has he?" Addy asks, and MJ looks at her.

"Shut up, or you won't be seeing shit anymore." The brunette tells her.

"No outbursts out of you two, please?" Matt looks between the two women. "I'd really hate to see what kind of trouble you can cook up out here."

"I resent that comment." MJ says as she, Rick, Matt, Daryl, Addy, and Dana head into the woods to hunt. "I was simply defending myself."

"Please." Addy scoffs. "You started it."

"I did not."

"Did to." She argues. "You put the pink hair dye in my shampoo."

MJ starts laughing. "First, that's what you get for using that fruity crap that made the bathroom smell like a cotton candy machine blew up. And second, that was Dean."

"He told me it was you."

"Of course he did. He didn't want to get in trouble." She shakes her head.

"So, you didn't prank anyone?" Dana asks.

"Never. I was an angel." MJ says with an innocent smile, and Addy starts laughing.

"That might actually be accurate." The blonde says, and MJ hits her, her smile disappearing.

"Don't compare me to those feathery dick-wads." She says, sounding offended. "Fine, then I'm like a...cupid."

Addy groans. "Don't remind me of that naked crybaby with the bow." She says, and the other girl shutters.

"I'd blocked that from my mind up until now, thank you very much."

"The stories have gotten weirder, yet more entertaining since they showed up." Rick says as he glances between the women, and MJ chuckles.

"Wait, back to the pranks." Dana looks at her aunt. "MJ, you really never did anything?"

"I find that hard to believe." Daryl says.

"Good." Matt says. "Because she was the worst of them all."

"What?" MJ looks at him.

"You put Nair in Sam's shampoo." Addy reminds, and she starts laughing.

"Oh, yeah."

"And itching powder in Dean's underwear."

"Okay, in my defense, he was going to put it in my socks before I found it in his duffel bag, which I was only looking through because he stole my Led Zeppelin cassette." MJ says.

"And the Viagra in my coffee?" Matt asks.

"That was Addy!" She whisper-yells as the blonde tries to contain her laughter.

"I was trying to help." Addy shrugs, beyond amused with herself.

"That's disgusting." Dana mutters, causing Rick and Daryl to start laughing.

"Hey, what's that?" Matt points across the water as they walk along a railroad.

"Looks like a prison." Addy says.

"That's a shame." Daryl says as he looks at all of the walkers inside the fence.

They all stop, and Rick and MJ look at each other. A small smile crosses her lips as he nods, agreeing with what she's thinking.

—

The group covers Rick as he cuts a hole in the fence that leads into the prison. "Watch the backside." He calls out.

"No shit, Sherlock." MJ says as she and Addy kill a walker; Glenn and Maggie kill another.

They all go through the fence, and then Rick makes MJ go in before him. Once they're all through, Glenn uses a wire to close the hole.

They have walkers trying to get to them from both sides as they make their way through the fenced in path. Daryl's leading the way with MJ and Rick right behind him.

"It's perfect." Rick says as they look at the open field.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." MJ says as she points across the field. "We gotta shut that gate to prevent more from filling the yard, and we need to pick off all these walkers already in there." She tells them.

"We can take the field by tonight." He says, and she looks at him.

"So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel asks.

"I'll do it." Glenn says. "You guys cover me."

"No. It's a suicide run." Maggie shakes her head.

"Besides MJ, I'm the fastest. But she's a better shot than I am so she should be covering whoever goes in." He argues, but Rick shakes his head.

"No, you, Maggie, and Beth draw as many as you can over there." He tells them. "Pop 'em through the fence. Daryl, go back to the other tower. Carol, you've become a pretty good shot. Take your time, we don't have a lot of ammo to waste. Jack, go with them."

"Hershel, you and Carl take this tower." MJ points to the one directly behind them. "Jo, you too." She says, and the three of them go just the same as the others had.

"MJ and I will run for the gate."

"Team work, I like it." She nods. "Let's go, brother."

"So weird hearing her call anyone but Dad and Uncle Sam that." Dana mumbles as she loads her gun.

"Focus." Ellen tells her granddaughter.

Glenn gives Rick a chain with a clamp on either end to shut the gate, and MJ takes her machete off of her hip. She smiles as she swings it around her hand. T helps the others distract the walkers as their leaders get ready to head into the field.

Lori opens the gate for them and then closes it once they're through. They take it slow until they're past an overturned bus. Rick shoots a few of the walkers as they run through, the sound suppressor making it so that they don't draw any extra unwanted attention their way.

They keep moving, and Daryl shoots one of the walkers going at MJ. She glances up at him before continuing after Rick. A bullet hits the ground right at his feet, and he looks up at Carol for a second.

"Sorry." She calls as MJ slices through the head of a walker.

Rick kicks back one of the walkers trying to enter the field and then he gets the gate shut. MJ shoots multiple walkers coming up at them, and he soon joins her again with his own gun.

"In here." Rick gets MJ's attention, and they quickly go into the tower near them. He kills two walkers inside, and then they go up the stairs as quickly as they can.

"They did it." Carol says.

"Light it up!" Daryl calls to the others, and they start taking out the remaining walkers, no longer having to be wary of hitting either of their leaders.

As soon as MJ and Rick reach the top of their tower, they rejoin the others in shooting. He smiles before looking through the scope on his rifle. The last walker hits the ground, and the two leaders look at each other.

"Nice work, kid." He says as he looks at MJ.

"You weren't so bad yourself." She smirks as she raises her fist. He bumps the side of his fist to hers, and they head back to the field.

"We haven't had this much space since we left the farm." Carol's saying cheerfully as they all enter the field. Everyone's excited.