The crunching of browned leaves under Riley's rubber shoes was the only thing accompanying the lonely wind for quite some time. It was a only a little bit of time that their small group had passed since they were nearly surrounded by a crowd of walkers, but after Michonne and Rick had killed the ones blocking their path and they'd all ran away, the sounds of the creatures' snarls lessened to the point it was no longer audible. Riley's heart pounded in her chest, but not just from the adrenaline and excitement of fear after the whole scene, it was mostly from the deja vu and incredibly vivid flashbacks she'd gotten from witnessing a man be eaten alive by a bunch of walkers. In the man's screams and expressions, Riley could see Meg, being brought to a slow death that was inevitable in any scenario there was. The manic and guttural cries from the random man had blended so graphically with Riley's mother's shrill and ear-splitting screams that the sound of both echoing in the girl's head almost took her breath away permanently. In the end though, the horrific sounds had drained out of her mind, through a small pipe in her brain that executed the shouts from her nose, as she tried to breathe as evenly as possible.

Next to her, Carl said nothing. He walked with his bag on one shoulder and a large gun in his hold on the opposite side, and as he did so he glanced around at their surroundings. His head turned this way and that, looking desperately for anything, anything, on the desolate road they wandered. So far, there were no houses, no stores, no buildings, no nothing. The day had really began to fall to the point there was no bringing it back up. Riley's little hope she had before was running dry.

"Hey, look." Carl said, drawing the girl's eyes forward.

Up ahead of them, a blue car was parked out on the road, its lonely structure deeming abandoned in the open. Rick and Michonne shared a glance from across the group before walking toward it eagerly.

As she got closer in proximity, Riley could see that the windshield was broken, holding on for dear life as if a single touch could shatter it. But the rest of it, so far at least, seemed like it was in good shape. She felt her stomach tingle with a tiny touch of optimism.

"Let's check it out." Rick said, holding up his gun as he approached closer.

Riley unsheathed her knife, aiming for the back of the car while Carl opened a side door and began to look around inside. Michonne wandered off near the tree line, katana in hand as her eyes set focus to a random target crawling on the road. Riley paid no mind as she gripped her knife tightly, watching her step as to not get caught in any dangerous scenario. By her side, the dog pattered lightly, sniffing under the car and wandering around the back. After lifting up tarps and moving around blankets, Riley'd checked the whole back, the entire thing appearing friendly.

"All clear?" Carl asked from inside the vehicle, perched on the backseats and glancing over the top at her.

Riley looked up, nodding as the boy watched her. "All clear."

Carl grinned, exiting the car again and coming around back to stand with the girl. "This looks like a nice place for the night."

Riley smiled back, shutting the doors to the back of the car. "Yeah, looks cozy."

Carl laughed, hoisting his gun up higher and tugging on his zipper a little as a breeze swept by. Hopefully, the car would offer a sanctuary from the cold throughout the night, as it was destined to be a crisp few hours that they'd lay sleeping in.

Riley stepped back, preparing to make way for the front of the car to examine the inside a little more when Rick whistled from the same direction.

"Hey, you two. Come over here, we're gettin' a fire going." He called, arm resting on the hood of the car.

"Coming." Carl yelled out, looking toward the girl beside him.

"Let's go." Riley said with a weak, and very temporary smile. She was still trying to obtain a calm and easy mood around Rick, although her feelings still held the image of a rocky sea in a picture frame when around him, shielded only by the stillness kept on her face although the real meaning to the portrait rested just underneath her skin.

Perhaps, it was only the stress and defeat she'd shouldered the past few days burdening Rick's rather poor decision-making a little more, but Riley still felt that burning sense of betrayal simmering inside of her when she nestled on the thought of the man keeping something from her that she felt she had the right to know of for more reasons than one for quite some time.

Regardless, she walked alongside Carl until they appeared at the front of the car, where Michonne and Rick had plopped their bags down and began collecting sticks near the trees. Riley let her own bag fall to the ground next to Carl's, walking over to the tree line and gathering sticks in her arms with everyone else.

She tried to ignore Rick's presence uncomfortably close to her, but the attempt failed when he walked clearly toward her, holding out a stick with one hand as his others were occupied by his own collection. Riley paused for a moment, glancing from the branch in Rick's arms and then up to his face, which appeared emotionless, although the girl knew he was anything but. She'd worked at the man a little when they were at the farm, catching him alone by the horse fences at times when he was stressed out about the things rampaging his life and his family. He'd laugh things off, avoid eye contact, although his expressions seemed blank. That just meant he was feeling really damn shitty though, Riley'd noticed a few times through questions and observations. It was one of her better qualities, reading people like a magazine even if they wrote their stories in white words. So, it was because of that, that Riley could tell Rick was silently hoping she'd acknowledge the little action he was putting forth, testing the waters to see where they'd been treading the past few hours since everything came down.

Riley didn't want to give the wrong idea, to let Rick think that everything that'd happened before was just a moment of weakness and that the fact he'd known of Meg's bite since it happened and said nothing to her for days was completely fine, because it wasn't. She was still pissed, but she liked to think of herself as reasonable too. And she didn't want to act petty or bitchy just because she could, especially in the conditions they found themselves in right now.

Riley held out her arms, the sticks in her hold rolling along the parallel surfaces a little bit as they awaited their new addition. Once realizing the girl was offering her arms out for him to drop the branch he held in them, Rick placed his own stick down into her arms, bending down to pick up a few more. For his own pile or hers, Riley didn't know, but she didn't wait around to find out. She moved to another area, picking up her own sticks herself, because even if she'd set a line of normalcy between them, she still didn't forgive him. She wasn't even close.

"Cooked good enough?" Rick asked Carl from his position across from the boy.

The four from the prison sat in a circle formation, a blazing fire in the middle of them, this one much more convenient than their last, as it was larger and felt much more warm to the touch than the other had. It also cooked their rabbit quite efficiently.

"Yeah, it's good." Carl nodded, picking at the bones in his hands with his teeth.

Riley, who sat on the boy's right, sucked on her own bone, having finished before he had as she'd given a bit to the dog who sat a few yards away from the group, taking a new interest in its own paws instead.

"You want more?" Rick asked, question clearly directed to Riley this time.

"I'm okay." She replied, not looking up, gaze drawn to the slick bone in her fingers.

"You didn't eat as much." The man insisted. Riley couldn't tell if he was genuinely intent on getting her to eat more for her own sake or if he was trying to start a conversation, but either way, the girl was keen on shutting it down.

"I said I'm okay." Riley responded, a little more firmly but trying to drain any attitude from her sentence. She felt the air get a little tenser around her, and the thought of starting it made her face burn a little, pushing her to lessen it again. "I'm not really hungry."

Michonne held out another piece of meat toward her, shaking it a little. "Just incase."

Riley took it with little reluctance. She couldn't lie, her stomach felt painfully empty, the group's lack of food recently making a noticeable appearance. But, she didn't want to take more than her fair share, as well as not wanting to leave the canine traveling with them empty stomached. She also didn't want to take anything more from Rick.

"Thanks." Riley mumbled, nibbling on the piece of cooked rabbit between her fingers.

The dark night sky encased the little group as if on display, their surroundings fading into the black unknown. It was a comforting and discomforting feeling at the same time, like they were in their own little bubble, but they had no idea what lay beyond them. The thought was just slightly terrifying.

Riley felt a little nudge on her elbow, looking down to see the dog at her side, sniffing at her fingers. A little less than half of the meat was still in her clutch, the rest having been eaten by herself in desperate hunger. Riley smiled gently down at the animal, feeling a little bit sad for it as the aching starvation in her own stomach had to have been mirrored by its own as well. She laid the rest of her meat down on the ground, letting the dog approach carefully to pick it up in its jaws and finish off the job. She hadn't quite gotten close to the animal per say, as she'd only pet it once and the only times it got close to her was when it wanted to, and only about two to three feet in proximity, and rarely ever closer.

"You two should head on over to the car, get some sleep." Rick's gruff voice broke the somewhat comfortable silence. He looked up at the two adolescents in their group.

Carl dropped his bone to the floor, brushing off his hands on his pants. "Okay."

Riley did the same, standing up and stretching out her legs a little bit from the long time of sitting. "Goodnight." She said quietly, her words not quite aimed toward anyone in particular.

"Night." Rick countered, Michonne voicing in as well.

The girl made her way to the car without much hesitance at all, Carl right on her heels after his own round of goodnights had finished. The dog trotted behind her, sniffing the dirt as it soon was in front of both teens. Riley opened the car door on one side, letting the dog hop in first before climbing in herself, Carl on the other side.

Shutting their doors tightly, Carl and Riley sat into the molded seats, silence overcoming them. It was quiet, Rick and Michonne's voices drowned out. The only movement at first was the dog jumping into the front passenger seat and curling into a ball, its eyes shutting with ease.

"He's getting more comfortable around us." Riley remarked at the sight, leaning back into the softness of the car seats.

"Yeah, he is." Carl agreed. "You pick a name out yet?"

Riley grinned in the moonlight. "I was thinking a little."

"Yeah? What'd you come up with?"

"What about Selva? Is that- what do we think?"

Carl hummed. "Selva." He said the name as if tasting it on his tongue. "It's nice, I like it. Where'd you get it from?"

"When I was a kid, my dad took our family on a trip to Costa Rica. There was this dog who'd come up to us everyday on the beach, and it seemed like a stray, never had any owners around. But it had a collar, and that was its name. Selva." Riley thought back to the trip. It was years ago, but still, it was one of her favorite places she'd ever been. She remembered the pineapples and mangos there were to die for too. She'd kill for one right now.

"Costa Rica, hm? Tell me about it." Carl's voice was low, a near whisper, like he was already walking down the path to sleep.

Riley adjusted her head, tilting it back on the headrest to gaze up at the moon through the sunroof as she thought back to the place. "Well, we stayed in this little condo-apartment thing, and it barely had working air conditioner."

Carl chuckled from beside her, cracking the girl's lips into a slight grin. "But it was worth it. A hundred percent. They spoke Spanish there, but a lot of people also spoke English, for like tourists and what not."

"Generous."

"Of course. They had a lot of piña coladas, and this one place we went to sold them in pineapples. It was literally the best thing I've ever tasted in my life."

"Even better than that rabbit?" Carl asked, perking his head up a little with a drowsy grin.

"Well, come on now." Riley teased with a quick glance to the side, catching the boy in a gaze. His eyes were focused solely on her, halfway shut with exhaustion.

"Tell me more." His voice was gravelly, just as low on energy as his eyes seemed to be.

Riley chewed on her lip, thinking harder and as farther into detail as she could go. "The sunsets there were beautiful. It was all pink and orange, like the ones you see in paintings. The sun turned red as it went down, and it looked like it was sinking into the ocean. Someone there told me once that if you listened close enough, you could hear it sizzling."

Carl's breaths grew softer, eyes shut, but Riley could tell he was still awake. She continued on.

"One time, this man selling coconuts on a hiking trail let me try the water for free. He cracked it open with a rock until it split. The water was kind of sweet, it was weird, but like, in a good way. It was a good weird." Riley thought back to the taste of the coconut water on her tongue, her parched mouth aching for that moment to come back again. "I liked the stuff on the inside though, like the white fleshy part. That was good."

Carl hummed softly, so softly that Riley couldn't tell if it was a weak response or a snore, but either way, his voice was comforting in the dark night and the lonely silence. Riley's eyelids fell shut, the sweet feeling of nothingness clouding her vision as she cuddled more into her sweater, granting her a moment of relief from all the troubles she'd been fighting through recently. She thought more about Costa Rica, praying silently she were there right now. She wondered if they were in the same trouble people in America were in right now, were they overcome with walkers too? She knew it was a worldwide issue, but was it as bad as they had it where she was? Riley wondered if they still had the coconuts with the weirdly sweet water floating around, if they still had random dogs running up to them on the beaches, she wondered if they could still hear the sun sizzling in the ocean as it went down above the growls of the walkers nearby.

These thoughts carried her like a small boat on the ocean, a soft current moving her resting body closer and closer to sleep. A soft hum, a low growl came from beneath the waves, like a warning sign. Riley didn't quite know what it was, because although she was no marine biologist, she was pretty sure fish didn't growl, and the crabs didn't do so either. She spent a little bit pondering what it could be when a quiet yet sharp bark pierced the silence. Riley's body jolted, her eyes flying open as she was ripped away from the little boat on the waters. Here she was again, back in the cold car in the black night. In the seat in front of her, the dog was perched at the window, growling a deep and ferocious rumble from its stomach.

Sitting up more, Riley felt the hairs on her arms stand up as goosebumps ran across her skin like race cars. To her left, Carl sat up too, no longer entranced by sleep or Riley's stories of the beaches anymore. Sharing a quick glance, the two tried to peer out of the broken windshield and see what was going on outside of the car, but to no avail. The cracks distorted all scenes going on outside, nothing of any use coming to them.

Carl looked toward Riley. "What do you-"

A fist pounded on the glass of Riley's window, cutting Carl's words clean off and making the girl jump with shock. With a gasp, the girl pushed herself away from the door, the image of a grinning man with an evil glare in his eyes staring back at her with his palm pressed against the glass. His smile faded, his face deeming an undyingly grim expression as a second hand came up, this time, accompanied with the sheen glint of sharpened knife.

Riley's heart dropped into her stomach, a sudden fear for her life beginning to swell inside of her. "Carl?"

Her voice was strangled, looking to the boy for a sense of reassurance although it was quite clear there was none he could give. She felt his hand close around her arm, pulling her back a little as his eyes stayed focused on the man glaring at them with a sinister hunger in his eyes.

Riley looked back outside again, hoping to get a new view from a different window, when she caught sight of something- or rather somebody else. Daryl stood in the middle of a group of men outside, his posture rigid as he seemed to be speaking slowly to someone, someone Riley wasn't quite sure of.

A desperately silent hope, a plead, began to rise in her mind, praying that if Daryl was trying to negotiate something, or maybe convince someone of something, it would work, because the man outside the window's expression was growing more vile by the second, and with each of the passing units Riley felt her safety begin to dim until it was non existent.

She looked back at Carl, whose exhaustion was completely gone by now. He looked back at her, fear swimming in his cerulean eyes like shark infested waters. A silent understanding was passed between them, although no message was involved. Just the mutual terror, the gut wrenching feeling of knowing something bad was about to happen beginning to wrap its cold claws around their throats.

Riley's gaze was torn from Carl's, her head whipping around to look out of the window again, as the car shook with intensity. Daryl's body collided with the vehicle, the man having no time to react as multiple men rained down on him with punches and kicks, his figure falling to the floor as he failed to fight back. Riley's jaw slackened, her face draining of all color as the awaited horror show took its cue and began its play.

Carl's door opened from behind them, a man appearing in front of it as he grabbed the boy, beginning to try and pull him from the car.

"Carl!" The boy's name was ripped from Riley's throat upon instant, her voice reacting faster than her body.

The sound of the door closest to her opening pulled her head back to its original position, watching as the man who'd appeared outside the window began his own attack on the girl. Riley kicked out at him, trying to back up as much as she could. She couldn't go for her knife, not now, as it was hidden in her boot, which was where the man was grabbing at right now. He hauled himself inside the vehicle, shaking it upon impact as she grabbed Riley's thigh and tugged her toward him.

"No!" Riley tried to push him off, but he was a big man, much larger than she was. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her fully out of the car, throwing her to the ground. Fighting to stand up faster than physically possible, Riley stumbled over her feet, backing up as much as she could. The man laughed at her, a sick, gruesome laugh as he walked toward her frightened frame slowly.

He grabbed her by the collar, pulling her up from the ground and holding her close to his own body, pressing the blade of his knife into the skin of her neck, his warm breath traveling from her ears and down her shirt. Riley could hear Carl's cries from the other side of the car, his disgusted sobs as the man who'd captured him did the same as Riley's attacker did to her.

"Shh." He whispered, pressing his chapped and bloodied lips to the shell of her ear. Riley's voice came out in a near whimper, trying to remove herself as much as she could from the man's mouth without catching her skin on his knife.

Rick and Michonne sat in their previous places a few yards in front of her, loaded guns pointed at their heads. Rick fidgeted, his face twitching with boiling anger and resistance.

"Listen, it was me. It was just me." He said, his voice practically a beg.

"See, now that's right. That's not some damn lie." The man who'd held the gun to Rick's head said, a near enthusiasm tainting his voice. "Look, we can settle this. We're reasonable men. First, we're gonna beat Daryl to death. Then we'll have this one."

The man nodded to Michonne, whose face contorted with undeniable discomfort and fury. Riley could hear the sound of fists colliding with Daryl's face not too far from her, and she squirmed a bit more, only to be met with the man's hand close around her stomach, enclosing her in a thick trap.

"Don't move, little girl." He muttered in her ear, his words a grim warning.

"Then, we'll have the boy, then the girl." The man continued from behind Rick. "Then I'm gonna shoot you and then we'll be square."

The man chuckled, his voice growing into a laugh at his murderous plan. Riley could see Rick and Michonne's brains think desperately for a way to back them out of this mess, but the frustration and desperation painted all over their faces proved failure.

The man pushed Riley down, her body colliding with the rough floor. She flipped on her back, trying to reach for her shoe and dig out her knife, but the man was on his knees, and then on top of her quicker. Without thinking, Riley lunged her fist out, aiming directly for his face. Her knuckles hit their target, catching the brute off guard for a mere moment before he turned back to her. His face was blinded with rage, a newfound danger lurking in his eyes.

"You little bitch." He grunted, grabbing her wrists and pinning them to the floor.

A manic shout escaped Riley's lips as her arms were restrained, relying solely on her legs as she kicked tirelessly at the man, but he had the upper hand. As Riley glanced over, she could see Carl fighting beside her, crying out as the man on top of him held him to the floor, laughing in his face as he cried. Riley could hear the dog barking in the car, no way to escape as the doors had shut.

Feeling utterly helpless, Riley cried out again, trying to break her wrists free and fight back as much as she could, but her strength against a grown man's was nearly laughable. She felt weak, afraid, exposed, so defenseless in a way she'd never felt before. The man grasped both of her hands in one of his, reaching his other arm down her body as he stared into her face with a disgusting lust.

"Stop your squirming." He smiled evilly. "Just stop fighting."

"No!" Riley's panic doubled in size, her disability to use any of her appendages began to take an obvious appearance. "Let me go!"

The man just gripped her wrists tighter, the pressure making her bones feel like they could snap at any second. Pinning her legs down with his knees, the man took his free hand and slid them along her stomach.

"Stop! Please, please, please." Riley's voice faded with her words, choked sobs being dragged from her throat as her skin felt no longer hers, but his. She cried out, trying to squirm away as much as she could as the man's hand traveled higher up her shirt, higher, higher, until...

A gunshot pierced the air, a new fight happening along side her, but Riley could pay no mind, as the only thing she could focus on was the disgusting violation that was happening right on top of her. The man was laughing, his joy coming from Riley's pain. Her pleads were like motivation for him to keep going, to keep abusing the skin that was not his, to proceed with an action so repulsive Riley felt like she could throw up.

Both of his hands squeezed tighter, drawing a cry of pain and helplessness from the girl. Her begs had stopped, the only thing coming from her being sobs and shouts as she thrashed beneath the man. His head lowered to her temple, whispering disgusting things into her ear that she wished she could un-hear.

The man's hand removed itself from Riley's skin, instead taking a new interest to the hem of her shirt. He tugged on it gently, another dirty chuckle coming from his lips as his hand clutched the cloth, moving upwards.

"No!" Riley screamed again, and for a moment, she thought only she could hear her own voice. There was no way the man could hear her and still did what he did.

Never, never in her life had Riley felt so defenseless, so fucking vulnerable and powerless like this. In a way she couldn't even protect herself, she felt like she'd been stripped from her body, watching everything go down, the only thing left of her being her eyes so she could see and her nerves so she could feel the way the man's hand traveled along her skin.

"What the hell are you gonna do now, sport?" A gurgled and grimy voice danced through the air, relaying the sentence onto Riley's ears.

She turned her head, trying to get it away from the man on top of her, so she didn't have to look at his shamelessly nauseating face. There, in the middle of it all, she saw Rick, held up by the man who once held a gun to his head. The Grimes' man looked around him, saw Michonne fighting with a man with a driving passion for her death on his hands, at Daryl being beaten to a pulp by a group of savage men, at Carl and Riley being helplessly violated on the floor with nothing but acceptance beating down on them. His face turned stone cold, blanking for a simple second before he dug his teeth into the man's neck.

Riley's face dropped, the cries that once broke it down halting as blood rained down onto the dead leaves. Rick's head came back, a chunk flesh caught in his jaws that he spit out, onto the ground. Rick's victim choked on his own blood, the liquid pouring out of him at an ungodly pace before his body fell to the floor, leaving him a dead and bloodied mess.

The man on top of Riley stopped, movements slowing as he witnessed the same thing. All around them, men from the group ran or faced a similar end, their deaths coming faster than a snap of a finger by either a gunshot or a knife. Riley felt her body be pulled from the ground, her neck feeling that familiar sensation of a blade against it again. A chill on her body reminded her of her exposed skin, and she tugged her shirt down as much as she could, covering herself with her arms.

"We'll kill them!" Carl's captor shouted. "We- we'll kill them!"

Riley didn't doubt the man's words for a second. Her eyes squeezed shut in terror, her body shaking with fear as tears stung her eyes.

"Let them go!" Michonne shouted, a gun raised in her hands, pointing at both men left in the scene.

Rick rose from his previous position crouched on the ground, a bloodied knife in his hold. He stared at the two men holding both Carl and Riley in a deathly clutch, a rage with dangerous bloodlust shimmered in his eyes.

"They're mine."

Rick walked closer, his legs trembling with fatigue as his knife raised. Riley felt her captor go slack, and upon instant, she pushed herself from his grip, falling to her knees a few feet away. The man barely had time to react before Michonne pointed her gun at him, a bullet flying through the air and piercing his head. The man's body crumpled as he stumbled backwards, colliding with the car and falling like deadweight to the ground below him.

Riley had no time to dwell on the sight before a new hold came over her, but this time, there was no danger involved, no threat, no fear. Carl's arms wrapped around the girl, pulling her shaking frame between his legs as he encased her in his wrath, holding her head against his chest as he rested his chin on top of it. Riley could feel the way Carl shook with fear and trauma, but his hold offered such a stable sense of security she couldn't even piece them together.

It took no time for Rick to reach the man who'd once held his son, grabbing his collar into his fist and raising his knife.

"Don't look." Carl whispered, angling Riley's face into his chest. "Don't look."

The girl made no move to turn her head, to see what was going on beside the walls of Carl's safe embrace. She could hear the ripping of flesh, the screams of the savage man, the way his blood and guts rained onto the ground. Riley felt Carl's body shift a little, and through a little hole in her sight, she could see Michonne settle around the two, encasing them in a tight and protective hold from the dangers right in front of them.

Riley felt her body shaking in its curled position. She felt like her soul was squished into her frame and peering out through empty eye sockets, like her body wasn't really hers. She found it oddly hard and disturbing to try and wrap her mind around the fact that what just happened had really happened, and it happened to her too. Her body didn't feel like hers anymore, but forcefully shared with the man lying dead on the floor with a bullet in his brain. Suddenly, feeling her hands touch the skin of her arms and her legs clash together felt disgusting, like she didn't even want to touch herself anymore, because he had, too. She didn't want herself anymore, because she wasn't just hers.

Riley squeezed her eyes shut, the pressure of Carl's chin on the top of her head and his arms wrapped tightly around her were the only things keeping her grounded, reminding her that she was still her, in her own body. Just because she felt split from herself as she was violated and attacked in such a peculiar and disarranging way didn't mean she wasn't her anymore.

The tips of Michonne's fingers caressed the skin of Riley's cheek, the woman's eyes focused solely on the way Rick mutilated his target's body while her own arms held tightly to the children tucked in her grasp. The younger girl's ears picked up every sound, every single time the knife in Rick's hand came down onto the now deceased carcass. Somehow, that brutal sound brought the girl a sense of relief, the thought of those people being swept away from their lives and away from their world bringing her a blanket of comfort. But even though they were gone, that didn't mean their kind was. People like them, the attackers, the offenders, the men with such distinct evil inside of them still roamed the empty world like it was theirs and theirs only. Riley knew it, she knew it for a fact, and she didn't need to run right into them to know. She knew she wasn't safe, that she was never safe, but she'd never went through the kind of danger she had just then. Somehow, only then, she knew she'd never feel safe again.

Riley's breaths were shallow with sleep, her intake of oxygen coming in gently through her nose and out through her lips in a little puff. Her head rested on Michonne's legs, the rest of her body curled onto the backseats of the car they'd found the day before. In front of her in a position mirroring her own, Carl laid his head on the woman's thighs, eyes slightly open as if faking his own sleep. After the night before, he just couldn't seem to catch his own rhythm and fall into the deep pits of unconsciousness, the peace coming in little waves that he fell into and woke back out of soon later. He couldn't quite tell if Riley was asleep or not, he'd been trying to figure out if she was or wasn't for a little bit now as the sun caved into the car through the windows and lit her face up in a glowing light.

Sometimes, her eyelids would flutter, her hand would twitch a little and hold tighter to her jacket, but her breathing was so steady it made the boy wonder if she would even hear it if he were to snap right next to her ear. The tip of his nose was pressed gently against hers, his skin cooling every time she breathed in. For a little while, all he had focused on was her rhythmic breaths, the soft and consistent pattern catching him in a calm trance, like a hushed break from the threats fighting to strangle them just outside the car. Or maybe, the repetition of something so light and serene fed into his own exhaustion, trying to lull him back to his own sleep even though he couldn't quite get it.

Above him, Michonne's hands raked gently through his hair, her quietness much appreciated. After the night he had, Carl didn't think he could physically or mentally put up with the task of conversation. He much preferred to lay in her lap and rest until they were forced to start moving again.

Outside, the soft hum of voices conversing quietly met his ears, gathering his attention. He was pretty sure there were two, maybe three people talking, he wasn't quite sure though. He didn't put in the effort to try and tell.

Across from him, a pair of eyelashes fanned a bit, brushing against his in a tickling yet gentle manner. Riley's eyes opened the tiniest bit, allowing the sunlight from the morning's sky to flood her sight. Her ears too had picked up the outside conversation, although she'd tried to fight her way back to sleep. After the previous night, that deep state of unconsciousness felt like her only escape from the disgusting fear traveling along her skin, living inside of her like a parasite.

Eyes opening a little more, Riley's stare met Carl's, who gazed at her quietly, no words coming from him, no movement. Riley said nothing, indulging herself in the peaceful tranquility gifted to them as she stared back at the aquatic irises seeping through her own and into her brain. He didn't have to talk or ask to know what was on her mind, to know the feelings clawing at her from the inside out. He'd gone through the same thing she had last night, felt the same traumatizing hands of a rough and violent older man run along his once innocent skin. Riley had heard the buckle of a belt from his side whilst everything tunneled downward, and if she hadn't been so focused on the way her own clothes were being violated or her own body slowly losing itself, she could've sworn she could feel her heart plummet to her stomach.

"Hey." She whispered, her voice croaky as a result from the strangled screams that escaped her throat the night before.

Carl's lips twitched faintly, his face blanking emotionless. "Hey."

"You okay?" Riley asked quietly, voice so low in volume she wasn't even sure Michonne could hear. She kind of preferred it that way though, as her words were only really meant for Carl's ears, and his only.

"I'm tired." Carl whispered, eyelids falling a little although his gaze never left hers.

Riley's eyes blinked a few, slow, times. "Me too."

The girl adjusted herself to a more comfortable position in Michonne's lap, a soft sigh blowing itself out her nose. Although her mind was now awake, Riley let her eyes close again, the sun gleaming through her shut lids. She felt the soft brush of Carl's breath along the surface of her skin, she felt the ends of his hair run across her forehead, the tip of his nose still bumped gently against hers.

It was a strange, strange, feeling Riley was experiencing. She felt so lost and dehumanized all while feeling safe and protected too. Perhaps, it was the way she was immediately brought into Carl's arms the minute their attackers were killed, the way his arms took her into his hold to assure her that he was right there, he was with her and she was safe with him. It'd been a long, long, time since he'd given her that kind of comfort and stability. Sure, they had made up earlier, but it was only words spoken, the shells of heartfelt sentences spit out in the air for one mouth to speak and another ear to pick up. But then, it was just that, just words. Just things said. After last night, Riley felt it wasn't just said anymore, but proved.

Maggie had always told her that actions speak louder than words, and now Riley understood that sentence first hand, she felt it, almost as if it were a physical thing she could pick up and roll around in her hands. The way Carl held her tightly the second he could get to her and all throughout the night and into the following morning shrouded her with a feeling of security. The closeness of their faces warmed the air around her, making her forget the chills sent through her body as they radiated in from outside the car doors.

Through the thin metal, Riley let the sounds of the voices trail through, her mind blank, her body numb. The only thing she could feel was the warmth of Carl's breath against her cheek and the way Michonne's fingers gently brushed through her tangled, leaf-filled, hair. The muffled vibrations became clearer and clearer with each passing second, the girl's mind beginning to recognize and translate the words passed between the men talking.

"Said they were looking for some guy." Daryl's husky voice spoke, his tone somewhat melancholy in the cool atmosphere. "Last night they said the spotted him. I was hanging back, I was gonna leave. But I stayed."

There was a quietness for a little bit, a short pause in the conversation. The air felt weirdly empty, expressionless, as the vibrations from the voices stopped momentarily. Riley's eyelids split open a little bit again, waiting with curiosity tagging at her skin before she heard his voice again, Daryl's voice again.

"I stayed for him."

a/n - i literally hate how sa is always overlooked in twd so i wanted to add a little more depth onto the way riley felt during / after it all

- i keep adding things from my life to this book like😭 the dog's name, selva, actually came from a true story when i went to costa rica last year. there was the sweetest dog named selva who kinda reminded me of this dog (minus all the killing n whatnot) it j felt perfect so i thought it'd be cute :)

- i think i wanna add more scenes to my chapters, but that means they'd be a lot longer like 8k-10k+ words plus. would y'all be up to read that still or do u prefer them a little shorter like they are now?

- i love u all for being here, i've been reading a bunch of comments from before and they're all so kind and motivational i love that people actually like this story :) u guys are all so amazing thank u for everything i'll see u guys next chapter !! (also yk what that means, terminus...)