The rumbling shake of the car was the first thing to chip away at Riley's subconsciousness and send her mind into the memory of so long ago. Up in the front seat, the soft yet vibrant tune of Redemption Song by her father's favorite artist, Bob Marley, danced along the curves of her ears before losing its balance and slipping down the funnels of her flesh and into her eardrum. Her head bumped along with the shaky roads the car drove over, propped up on her backpack with her legs strewn across Sawyer's lap, which he had used as a stand to balance his video games. Meg's voice was delicate yet somewhat firm as she read directions to Riley's father, whose fingers tapped a rhythm against the steering wheel as he drove. It was all too memorable, as if the girl could remember the feeling of family just as thoroughly as she could remember the feeling of losing them.

Riley tried to let her mind fade, to let the memory play in the background of her brain, as she knew that the second she tried to sharpen her image on the scene, it would disappear completely. Of course, as she'd focused so hard on trying to keep the memory breathing in gentle synchronization with her own, it'd recognized her bleary yet desperate intentions, and disappeared within the instant, slipping through her fingers as if it melted into water and ran dry along the road she was driving along. The backpack beneath her head deflated into the flat, rough, surface of a carseat, the sound of Meg and her father's voice running over directions morphing into that of two men in the front seat, voices low and filled with minacious, gravelly tones, as if a poisoned liquid was spilled into their mouths and came out with each breath and word.

Riley's eyes blinked a little bit, each opening and closing of her lids forging on a raging headache, one so distinct and commanding her neck lifted slightly off of the carseats so that her skull wasn't rattling against the material any longer, trying her hardest in her half-conscious state to prevent any more pain than already caused.

At first, it was like there was a concrete wall blocking Riley's memory from the current moment she was in and the previous twelve hours. The last thing she remembered was being in the church, sitting on the floor with a plate of food as everyone stayed gathered in the enclosed area.

What happened after that? She thought to herself. The words seemed almost in another language in her own head. What happened after that? What happened?

It was almost like a round of canons fired into the hardened wall that stood forcefully in front of her and what she could remember. Little bits and pieces came back to her, as if the canons broke holes into the structure and offered Riley a little view onto the other side containing all knowledge and memory.

She went outside and Lucas had followed her. Yes, yes, she remembered that clearly. Riley had began to grow annoyed with the boy and wandered into the woods- a foolish, stupid, dangerous action she thought of it now. They were together for a little bit, but soon enough, she'd realized that Lucas wasn't with her anymore. What happened to him?

Riley forced her eyes open as much as she could, the brightness of the early morning practically imitating the sun and shining right into her arousing irises. She glanced around, trying to see if there was anyone else in the back of the car with her, but there wasn't. It was only her, alone.

"Shit." She whispered, but her voice was so cracked and sore from screaming Lucas's name the night before and then being of such little use from there on after that no noise came from her cracked lips.

Dehydration was clawing at her throat, she could practically feel how dry her tongue was against the roof of her mouth. Her limbs felt frozen solid, unmovable from being cramped in the car. Everything felt like absolute shit.

After Lucas was departed from her... that's when it started getting bad- or rather, worse. She couldn't see the church anymore, she'd heard the cracking of twigs behind her, seen the silhouette creeping closer, and then it was lights out. The last thing she'd experienced while conscious was the harsh blow of something against her skull and her skin coming into contact with the dirt below her. And now here she was, in the back of some random car with two random men, daybreak cracking along the horizon and snapping her to the realization that she was probably hours away from the church and her group by now.

To sum it all up, in Riley's mind at least, she was completely and utterly fucked. Yeah, she'd been through hell and back recently in many more ways than one, but at least then, she had people, her family. Now, she was alone. There had still been things worth living for then, such as the hope of finding Sawyer, maybe even Maggie or Beth too. There'd been the hope of having a new community, even though it ended in Terminus burning to the ground. There had also been Carl, who despite the whole ordeal, was able to fix up the broken pieces of their friendship and glue it back together.

At the thought of the boy, Riley felt her muscles soften a little, the tenseness in them disintegrating. The last time she'd been with him, she'd brought him into a consoling embrace, hoping to heal the hurt inside of them both. But, it'd been abruptly broken apart as she'd been immediately drawn to the kiss he'd pressed along the curve of her neck. Some people could have interpreted it as nothing more than a kind and comforting gesture, but Riley certainly didn't. Carl didn't just kiss people, he was never that affectionate with anyone, unless you caught him in a moment of fragility with his baby sister- and even that was rare. She thought of it as more of a 'you had to have been her to know what it meant' kind of thing. It wasn't just a small, innocent, kiss, but more of a lips parted, eyelashes fluttering against her skin, kind of thing. Yeah. Definitely caught her by surprise.

She wasn't saying she hated it, but rather that she wasn't ready for it. She couldn't even figure out what she was feeling toward anyone in that moment, especially not Carl. Up until that moment, he'd been her best friend, just that. Since they were twelve, he'd been the boy to hold her hand in the dark nights that they'd hidden in cars on the road while walkers passed by them all after leaving the farm. He'd been the boy to sit on cell floors with while they read old comic books found in a random room of the prison with, the boy to play tag with in the fields when they were bored. The boy to kiss? That was a different story, one she wasn't quite ready for, not right now. Right now, she was focused on surviving.

The conversation from ahead of her grew clearer, the feeling in her legs and arms coming back little by little. She kept her eyes closed, body still as the car moved along the road, trying to keep the people in the front seat believing she was not yet awake.

"How long 'till we get there?" One man asked, his voice deep and rough.

"We got about a half hour, give or take. I want to take a break in about five though, maybe fill up on some gas." The second man said, his voice indicating a bit more youth compared to his counter partner.

"Great." The first man murmured, staying quiet for a moment. "They still out back there?"

A little shuffle in the seats in front of her convinced Riley to stay deathly still, to keep the rhythm of her breathing as steady as possible, although she was positive her chest was trembling from how hard her heart was beating against it.

Them? She thought silently to herself. Was there another person back there with her? When she'd faintly opened her eyes, Riley didn't see anyone beside her, although she barely opened them for long enough to scope out her surroundings. She didn't feel anyone with her, but then again, half of her body felt numb from being cramped up for so long, and every physical thing she could pay any attention to up until that moment revolved around the ache in her head.

"Yeah. You must've knocked them pretty good, haven't heard a sound from either of 'em yet." The second man replied with a whistle.

"Yeah, we'll check on them once we stop." The first man said, closing the conversation and leaving them quiet.

They were stopping, that was good, that was a chance to escape. Where she would go if she managed to get out of the car, Riley had no idea, but she wasn't taking any chances with these people. After those men that had broken into the house her and the Grimes' had found after the prison, after those men had nearly killed Rick, Michonne, Daryl, and tried to do stomach-twisting things to both her and Carl, she didn't want to be stuck with any strangers under any circumstances- especially not kidnappers, especially not men.

Riley still had her pocketknife in her boot, and although it wasn't much, it was something. She silently cursed herself for not bringing her bow and arrow with her when leaving the church last night. She would've been stripped of it now, she was positive, but at least she could've put up a fight when these people had crept up on her in the first place, but thanks to her own stupidity, she was left defenseless, crying out for Lucas in a weakened voice, making her automatic prey to the predator.

The car drove for a few more minutes, although it felt like an hour at the least with the amount of suspension and fear concocting in the pits of Riley's stomach. The only thing she could focus on to ground herself was the way the vehicle felt as it ran over the roads. Sometimes, it was bumpy and the car shook a little, tousling Riley's hair with the junky movements. Other times, it was almost completely smooth, as if they were speeding down a freshly paved freeway. She counted in seconds how long each period was spent on each texture of the roads, trying to grasp a feel for what her surroundings were like with her eyes closed shut, trying to mark each turn. Some she had trouble making out, but most were somewhat easy to tell. She counted each right turn on her right hand, each left turn on her left hand.

Please. She begged silently. She didn't know exactly what she was pleading for, she just knew she was in desperate need of some good luck. Maybe to get all the turns correct, to escape smoothly, to not die of starvation and dehydration upon her departure. Perhaps, to have the other person in the back of the car with her be Lucas, despite their separation and clash from the night before. Anything, anything to last her as long as she could.

Eventually, the car swiveled a little bit before coming to a complete stop. The halt of the vehicle jolted Riley's body a little bit, and despite the wave of nausea that sent a random attack on her from her head down, she kept her frame still, her eyes sealed shut.

"Get the gas from the trunk, I'm heading inside to stock up on some extra water. Don't take too long, we don't need to be here more than five minutes. Dawn'll be waiting for us soon as we get back to Grady Memorial." The first man ordered, opening his door as he began to get out.

"Yeah, got it." The second man replied as he relayed his partner's actions.

The sound of the car door's slamming shut shook the car momentarily, and Riley waited until she heard the trunk pop and the first man's footstep's fade before opening her eyes all the way. The brightness stung her irises, but she rubbed at her lids furiously, desperate to focus as much as possible. She forced herself up onto her elbows, holding up a supportive hand to her skull as it throbbed and threatened to weigh her back down again.

Quickly, she looked to the person who the two men in the front seats were referring to when coupling them and Riley, and in an instant, her eyes closed again. She felt the feelings of relief and empathy begin to battle. There, right next to her- still knocked out- was Samson, dead asleep as he slumped uncomfortably against the car seat. In her dream, Riley's legs were resting in her older brother, Sawyer's, lap, although she'd deemed it strictly part of her fantasy when she came back to her senses. In truth, her shins were thrown across Sam's lap as she sat perched on her elbows now. She wasn't alone after all, which flooded her with an undying amount of reassurance, even though she felt sickly sorry that the boy was stuck in the predicament with her. Riley hadn't even seen him leave the church, so she had no clue as to how the boy was in the car next to her, unless the two men up front had time to snatch another of their group before driving off with her.

The realization of Samson being with her and the thought process of him joining her in the back of the strangers' vehicle suddenly made her mind begin to race. Where did Lucas go then? Riley knew he'd never abandon her out there by herself, so what had happened to him when she and Sam had been taken?

The girl instantly flushed all theories from her brain, forcing herself to concentrate on the task at hand, Lucas could wait until later. She hoped.

Riley, still ducking low to make sure the young man at the trunk couldn't see her awake and moving, crawled over to Sam, beginning to shake him slightly. She bent down to his ear, whispering his name urgently in hopes to arise him from his sleep.

"Sam? Sam, come on. You need to wake up, we have to go. Sam!" Riley tugged on the older boy's shirt, the material crumpled tightly in her fists as she shook his body as much as she could without moving the car.

Samson's eyelids fluttered a little bit, a soft inhale being drawn sharply into his mouth. His eyebrows drew together, creating wrinkles on his forehead as he tried to block out the light. His dry lips parted, attempting to speak with whatever little words formed at the forefront of his brain after being torn from his sleep, although it only came out in an inaudibly scratchy whisper.

"Yeah, yeah, that's it." Riley murmured, trying to quietly yet eagerly bring the young man to full consciousness. "Sam, you need to listen to me. We have to go- right now, okay? We have to leave."

"Where are we?" Sam's coarse voice made out, looking around the car's interior as he tried to sit up.

Riley pushed him back down gently, glancing back toward the trunk area where she could briefly make out the man twisting open tanks of gas through little cracks.

"I don't know, but we're not anywhere near the church anymore." Riley whispered, turning back to Sam whose eyes furrowed in confusion and alarm. "The guys driving the car said that we're heading to some place called Grady Memorial, but they're taking a break right now. This is our chance to escape."

Sam nodded, but the quickly followed grimace on his face told Riley he bore the same headache she was currently trying to ignore. The girl gestured over her shoulder to where the man filling up the gas was busy at work, and silently the two stuffed in the backseats of the vehicle sat up and peered out of the window, getting a fast grasp at their surroundings.

On the right side of the car, where Riley was sat, a large abandoned building loomed over head, supposedly where the older man of the two that had taken Riley and Sam went. She made the hasty assumption that the place was one of these people's safe stops around the area. On the left, closer to Samson, was the road that they'd pulled off of. That was where they had to go to escape.

"See if you can open your door." Riley whispered, trying to keep her shaking hands steady.

She found it almost amusing, how some of the most traumatic things to happen to her lately took place in cars. That blue car where the men had found her, Carl, Rick, and Michonne. The train car and Terminus where their whole group was held captive in the dark. And now, where she was kidnapped, alone except for Samson, hours away from the church. She would've laughed if she wasn't pierced to the bone with anxiety at the moment.

Samson tried his door, but after a few attempts, he gave up. He turned back to the girl waiting apprehensively behind him, shaking his head. "Nothing."

Panic surged inside of Riley as she glanced back toward the man behind them. Time was beginning to run out. She began to brainstorm ideas, half of them getting jumbled in her brain as they were squished in with her raging headache, that at random made her vision swim and stomach twist. She was definitely not in the headspace to be making rational decisions, but neither was Sam. Herself was all she had.

The last two times she was in a situation remotely similar to this, she'd been with Carl, Riley realized. Even then, they'd gotten their asses kicked pretty roughly before making it out alive, but still, at least she had a rock to ground herself to, and it was him. If he was here right now, she was positive he'd tell her to stay calm, use her common thinking skills. That's what he had done when they were trapped in a train car at Terminus, he'd stayed undisturbed despite the predicament and got to work on a makeshift weapon whilst strategizing their escape.

Riley took a deep breath, clenching and unclenching her fists. What would Carl do right now? Riley had been in a car thousands of times, no doubt some of those instances included moments where her door was locked. What did she usually do after?

With a quick glance around the vehicle, Riley gasped a little.

"What? What is it?" Samson asked desperately, the pace of his words racing with the time.

Riley didn't reply, instead climbing nimbly and as rapidly as she could into the front seat and scanning the sides of the door for the button she was looking for. It'd been a while since she'd seen the controlling interior of a car, but she snapped back to her senses and singled out the button with the image of an unlocked lock speedily. She pushed it as fast as her finger would allow it to, relief washing over her like the heavy pelts of droplets in a rainstorm when she heard the satisfying click that echoed throughout the car.

Riley scrambled around and into the back of the car again, where Sam watched her impatiently. "Is it open now?"

"Yes. Go, fast, he probably heard it unlock." Riley spit her words out swiftly, nodding at the young man behind them.

"Crap." Samson mumbled, tugging at the door handle and throwing it open with the Endicott right on his heels.

"Hey!" The man shouted once he saw his two captives stumble out of the car, tripping as they put their unused legs to work in an instant.

"Run! Left!" Riley shouted, sprinting away from the building and nearing the road to backtrack the way they'd come from.

The angered and stressed voice of the young man shouted behind them as he chased them, calling for backup from the other man as he ran after the two captives.

The loud sound of what seemed to be a collision made Riley turn around, never fully stopping in her tracks as she tried to see what was going on behind her. On the floor was the young man, who was unsteadily getting to his feet as Samson heaved an empty gas tank into his arms.

"I'm right behind you, go!" Sam yelled to her before raising the tank again.

Riley didn't respond, instead facing forward again and running as if her life depended on it- because it did. The heat of the sun was blaring down on her, so forcefully she could almost hear its flaming red sirens in her ears. Dehydration was beginning to dry her to the bone, but still, Riley never kept running- even when the pain in her head became so unbearable that the sights in front of her began to weave in and out of order, black spots blinding her before fading again.

After a few minutes, Riley could taste the metallic taste reciprocating blood in the back of her throat, thighs burning as if a match was set to her skin. She quickly sought out a broken building, hiding behind its walls as her body slumped against the rough brick material. Her eyes shut on their own, chest heaving as her lungs furiously took in air, although it felt like they'd dried from her lack of water and were having trouble managing the oxygen, letting it leave just to try and suck it back in again.

Riley tipped her head slightly around the corner, seeing Samson run up to her, fast on her heels just like he'd promised. He fell against the wall beside her just a few seconds after she had, letting his back run against the surface.

"You- you okay?" Sam panted, looking down at the girl beside him.

Riley nodded, swallowing to try and dampen her parched throat. "Did we lose them?"

"I don't think so. Not for long." He replied honestly. "We're gonna have to get moving again, but we can't just keep going. We're too far from the church now."

"Yeah," Riley agreed. "We can't hole up in here, though. It's too close, we need to get far enough away that they won't be able to guess where we end up."

Sam nodded his acceptance, beginning to push off of the wall when a shout nearby broke though the sound of his and Riley's heavy breathing.

"In there! We'd still be able to see them if they kept going." The gruff sound of the older man's voice yelled to his equivalent.

"Shit." Samson cursed quietly. "Shit, shit, shit."

"What do we do?" Riley turned to the older boy, eyebrows knitting together in panic. "We can't keep running now, they'll see us."

"Yeah, well, they're going to see us either way." Sam murmured. He patted himself down for any weapons, but came back empty handed, opting to a stray brick on the floor.

Riley took after him, kneeling down to her boot and retrieving her knife, holding the handle tightly in her sweaty hand. She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself while blocking out the repetitive sound of the footsteps getting closer.

"Fuck, I'm scared." Samson whispered.

"Listen." Riley said quietly, turning to face him. "They're going to be expecting everything we do, so try and be as unanticipated as possible. Try and get at least one of them over the head with that- hard. I'll probably be able to slow one of them down with my knife, at least for a little bit."

Sam nodded, gripping the brick so tightly that his knuckles turned white. They both turned toward the opening of the wall, the sound of the men's footsteps so close Riley practically hear the way the heel of their shoes dung into the ground.

"Around the corner. Now." The older man demanded.

Upon the instant, the two captors came around the corner with guns raised. Riley's jaw slackened at the weapon pointed level to her face, hesitating for a moment too long as the younger of the two kidnappers wrapped his arm around her throat and held his gun to the side of her head.

"Easy now." He warned in a curt tone, the cold metal of the gun cooling the side of Riley's head.

With a stupid yet anguished idea coming to mind, the brunette nodded a little, offering up little fight under the man's hold. Within a split second, he looked up from his own prisoner to his friend's, who was having a harder time as Samson ducked a thrown punch, trying to bring the brick across the man's skull.

While the man holding Riley under his clutch was distracted, the girl tightened her grip on her pocketknife and swung it up, plunging it into the flesh of his arm.

With a strangled scream, the man's hold on Riley's neck quickly fell, letting her turn around and jab her knee into his gut before he had time to react. While her abductor was doubled over and bleeding profusely, Riley had time to pick up another loose brick on the floor and chuck it toward the older, and much bigger, man fighting against Sam.

As the brick made contact with his back, the man faltered momentarily, giving Samson an opening to smash him over the head with his own substitute weapon. As a result of the harsh blow, the brute fell to the floor, struggling to stand back up again.

"Come on!" Riley yelled, not waiting for the two to track them down and follow their trail again.

Sam stumbled over the bodies and began to run after Riley, his feet racing each other as he followed her lead when the loud sound of a gunshot broke the tranquility in the air. The sound was so deafening Riley flinched in her steps, spinning back around with dread beginning to claw away at the color in her face.

Sam fell to the ground, blood beginning to pool from his thigh as the bullet wound made a descriptive appearances, his pants darkening in a crimson rim that grew with the passing second, the thick liquid running like water underneath the hot sun.

"Sam!" Riley shouted, starting to turn back.

Her own captor was beginning to get to his feet, arm still outstretched from his previous action of shooting the closest target. To his side, the other man was rising as well.

"Go!" Sam screamed, his fingers gripping uselessly at the ground. "Run, Riley! Go!"

"I'm not leaving you!" She shouted, already making her way back to the fallen boy. The four words felt familiar on her tongue, and she wondered to herself silently in the midst of the attack when she would finally be able to leave them behind.

"Just go, Riley! Leave!" Sam shouted as one of the men climbed onto his back, pushing him down by his shoulder blades. "Don't look back! Just run."

Riley had stopped in her tracks, feet stuttering as they didn't know what to do. Half of her was seeping away from the scene, begging her to run as fast as she could carry herself before it was too late, while the other half was reaching out for Sam, desperate not to lose him for the second time, desperate not to leave him for dead right after they'd escaped.

But Sam was already down, handcuffs were wrapped around his wrists as one of the men tugged him up, the other raising a walkie-talkie to his mouth, gun still in his hand. Riley looked up at Samson's face for the final time, the streaming sweat and twisted lines of agony on it almost battling her on their own. His lips, already parted from his anguished breathing opened wider, shouting one last word before he watched her take off.

"Go!"

Riley couldn't tell how much time had passed. It could've been minutes, it could've been hours, she had no idea. The only way she could somewhat grasp- as blind as she felt- at the source of time was by the sun illuminating the streets all around her and reminding her that it was day. The roar in her ears was practically deafening, the sound of her own blood roaming like racehorses through her veins and practically begging her to keep moving was a strand away from knocking her out cold. But she kept running.

For what felt like forever, that was what she did. She ran. Her lungs were near collapsing and the sweat that wasn't streaming down her skin was soaking into her clothes. It was all she could do to keep her eyes just slightly open as she sprinted as fast as her exhausted legs would carry her in the blaring heat under the pressure of her cracking skull. She felt like she was caught in a never-ending time loop, just running so hard to the point she felt like she was edging blacking out, but she never quite did. She was just stuck, stuck in that practically over-the-limit feeling as she ran rashly as far from where she'd come from as she could.

It as reaching the point that Riley almost began to think that it wouldn't end, that she'd be stuck running for her life as dehydration dried her to the bone and her head, already heavy with a bloodied and bruised injury, would fall off of her shoulders when the low, rumbling sound of a car engine a little ahead of her pricked at her ears.

Riley blinked a little, not fully stopping in her tracks as she was highly convinced those two men who had kidnapped her and shot Samson were still on her heels, guns raised and shackles ready. At first, she couldn't tell if she was really hearing the sound. The only thing she'd heard since she took off was the faint sound of her delayed breaths and the pound from her head as she felt the blood swishing around her brain. The brunette was about to call it off as her mind playing tricks on her, the exhaustion and heat finally catching up to her desperately escaping frame when the sound became distinctively louder.

Riley completely stopped, squinting up ahead as she watched a car come around a curve in the road. Upon the sight, the girl froze in place, jaw slackening as her mind began to spring what seemed like a thousand different sentences at her in panic.

Should she run to it, ask them for help? That was an option, but one that could either save her life or put it back on the market again. She could run away, try and hide from it in hopes that it didn't see her, but then she could be missing an opportunity to escape those men, or even give them time to catch up to her and find her.

Riley felt her body flinch, torn at which way to go. Wave at the car? Run from it? Her figure betrayed her as she stood stuck in the road, unmoving as her head's pounding beat aggressively at each idea, finding if not creating more flaws in every one of them.

Then, suddenly, as the car came closer into view, Riley could make out the frames of a few people through the windshield, and as if on autopilot, her body bolted. Her legs swept her quickly to the closest side of the road, sprinting to a broken down store only a few meters away and ducking into its shadows in hopes of the car speeding past with no interest in her. Riley's chest heaved in gratitude at the break she'd granted herself with, although she squeezed her eyes shut, silently damning herself for her abrupt and definitely noticeable takeoff. She couldn't exactly blame herself either, though. Just within the past week or so, her experiences with any new people had been none but horrifying, toying with her mind and breaking her apart both physically and mentally. She felt stupid for even considering trying to look to the anonymous car for help, but her desperation to escape those two men and catch an interval from the constant running made her a little delirious.

The sound of the car got louder, and Riley had to force herself not to peak a little snip of her face out of the shadows to see if anything suspicious was about to play out. This time, she might not be as lucky, as she was alone now, and her only weapon- her pocketknife- was now gone.

Riley's eyelids fell in exhaustion and plea. She hoped that the car would be carrying people who'd lost sense of their morals, willing to let a young girl hiding away stay away, but also praying they had enough to not hurt her any more than she already was.

The rumble of the engine reached its peak, signaling its arrival right on the part of the street Riley was hiding near, and for a moment, the girl's hope sparked. The sound of the car never slowed, just carried on driving as if their momentary fumble never happened.

Riley opened her eyes again, chest still heaving despite her attempts to remain as quiet as possible. Was it gone? Did the car really leave her there? The girl felt as if a thousand pounds had been lifted from her shoulders, as if her raging headache swooned in tranquility for a moment, as if the sweat pouring down her forehead was suddenly cleared. Maybe it was all of her recent interactions with the people left wallowing in the world that made her so distrustful, so fearful of just the idea of another person. But, as the more she thought about it, it wasn't all too surprising that the car left her alone. What would they have wanted with her anyway?

Riley nearly let those grateful thoughts drive her to emerge from her hiding spot in the cooled shadows when it came. It wasn't a figure, not a sight at all. It wasn't even a feeling, nor a sound. Actually, it was the cease of one. It was the halt of the sound she'd been dreading. The reverberating hum of the car slowed to a stop, leaving the streets dead silent. Then, the faint sound of a car door opening.

Riley felt her body go cold in fear. Even though her lungs and thighs felt as if her flesh was on fire, even though she was sweating so much she thought every ounce of liquid in her body was slowly disappearing, she'd never gone so rigidly frozen in her life. Her eyes rapidly ran around her surroundings, scouting for a makeshift weapon in the instant, following after Samson's lead. Nothing. Barely anything.

Riley's lips trembled, a rampage of jumbled curses and panicked sentences strung together wanted to fall free from her mouth, but she was stuck so stiffly she couldn't even make a sound.

Footsteps. Footsteps coming closer.

Riley backed as far into the shadows as she could, but she didn't want to go too far in case a walker caught sight of her and blew her cover anyway. Her foot bumped against a stick as she shuffled backwards, not a very large one, but one big enough it took two hands to hold. Quickly, she held it up in front of her, trying to put something, anything, in between her and whoever was coming closer.

"Hey!" A gruff voice called, much closer than Riley had anticipated.

The girl stayed silent, barely breathing even though her lungs were yearning for the air she'd lost from her recent escape.

"Hey!" The voice said again, a little louder yet somehow gentler in tone. "I know you're in here somewhere. Come out."

Riley blinked at the familiarness in the voice. At first, she could barely tell, as it was somewhat muffled by the walls of the broken down store, and beside that, she could barely tell what she was really hearing and what was her mind making up things of its own. If she had a sudden snap-back to reality and came to the conclusion that this whole thing was fake, she wouldn't even have a hard time believing it.

"Riley?"

Riley. That was the word the Endicott least expected to come next. How did that person know her name? Who was it? It couldn't have been a stranger now that she'd heard her own name fall from their lips, she didn't have to be so afraid anymore, even though the feeling of her safety being tormented yet again still stuck like glue on her skin.

Riley bent down a little to drop the stick, although it fell from her grasp and clanked against the dirt halfway to the ground. Tentatively, still a little untrusting yet mostly curious, mostly hopeful, Riley stepped away from her hiding spot hunched deep in the shadows, letting the sunlight hit her skin again to reveal herself to the person in front of her.

Daryl.

Riley didn't smile, she didn't say anything. She couldn't say anything, it was as if all words she'd had fell into the abyss and out of her reach, leaving her unable to form sentences no matter how hard she tried. She couldn't even begin to process the immediate relief, the feeling coming in such an undying amount of appreciation that her eyes began to water and blur.

"Hey," Daryl murmured, his gaze softening at the sight of the familiar member in his group, recognition clicking at once. "What happened?"

Riley's head shook just barely from side to side, still unable to form coherent sentences. She stepped forward, falling into the man's larger figure without any warning in advance. She needed to feel the warmth of another person's touch, another person who she knew, who she could trust. She didn't even care if her hugged her back, she knew Daryl wasn't a touchy person, but she felt as if every wall in her had cracked, revealing the sensitive child hidden beneath every layer that had spent the last few hours being torn and beaten at.

Alas, it took less than a second to feel the larger arms wrap around her body, one of his palms coming up to support the back of her head, making her flinch.

"The hell?" Daryl mumbled to himself, seeing the dried blood sticking to his hand that he'd pulled away from her skull.

Riley's eyes closed against the cloth of his shirt, trying to soak up every trickle of water before she pulled away, trying to erase any trace of them. She just needed that minute to collect herself in the safety of someone who she needed.

"It's okay, kid." Daryl's scratchy voice was gentle as he consoled her, both of his hands resting feebly on her back. "I got you now."

Riley pulled back, staring up at the man as he glanced down at her, taking in her rough appearance; the blood from her own body caked onto her head, the blood from another's arm cracking, dry against her skin. The sweat and torn clothes tying up her whole look as her height dropped an inch from how she could barely hold herself up.

"How did you...?" Riley tried to question, but she couldn't figure out the correct words to place together a sentence that contained all that she needed to ask.

"Saw a familiar car out by the church last night. I took a few others with me to go check it out and followed it back here. I didn't- we didn't know if they... if y'all being gone was 'cause of 'em." Daryl said, voice stoic as his eyes traced over the young girl in front of him. It hadn't appealed to him just how young she'd looked until that moment when she was standing right in front of him with unspilled tears in her eyes, starved skin suctioned to her bones, open wounds dancing in her flesh.

"Yeah, yeah, that was it." Riley nodded earnestly, instantly wishing she hadn't when her vision nearly blacked in pain. "Do have any water?"

"Yeah." Daryl grunted a little, hands dropping with speed to his waist where he unhooked a water bottle, handing it over.

Riley's hands shook as she tried to unscrew the cap as fast as she could without fumbling the whole thing and dropping it. Water had always been a treasured item after the apocalypse broke out, more specifically after the farm was demolished. But still, she couldn't remember a time she'd been as dehydrated before then, she'd been on the brink of passing out over and over again, the saliva in her mouth drying up and leaving her tongue drier than sandpaper. She tried not to drink too much, to savor the rest for Daryl as it was his anyway. She didn't want to completely quench her thirst, just get enough to cover those long hours without even a touch of water in sight.

"Finish it." Daryl said, noticing her hold off. "We got more in the car."

Riley glanced up at him, acknowledging his words with grace as she hurried forward with tipping the bottle up a bit more. Her eyes flickered over to the vehicle not too far away, questioning in silence who was in it. Definitely a few more from their group. Of course, without a guess. But who exactly? She tried to make out the people, but she couldn't tell. She felt a queasy feeling in her stomach as she relayed some of the options, most intensely hoping for it to be either Sawyer or Carl. Perhaps, if one of the had noticed she'd gone missing, they'd have tagged along with Daryl and came looking for her.

The thought of Carl being one of the people residing in the car made her feel funny, and not in a very good way. Not necessarily in a bad way, but maybe more a nervous way. The way they'd left things off after their last interaction was not only awkward, but weird. Weird for them at least, they never had issues like that. Issues worse than that, definitely. But never issues like that.

Riley felt her cheeks grow a little heated. How was it that she'd just been kidnapped, attacked, witnessed her friend get shot after sacrificing himself, ran for her life for an unnerving amount of time, almost got kidnapped again, and still found herself thinking back to Carl and what he'd done outside the church?

Jesus, get your head back in the game. She thought to herself pointedly, that is if 'the game' was finishing off the water in her hands slow enough so that she didn't throw it back up. Or simply surviving yet another day that had an undying nerve to get her killed. Regardless, she had bigger issues to worry about than Carl at the moment, even if he was the one problem her brain actually felt comfortable tolerating at the moment.

Daryl nodded his head over to the car, gesturing for them to head back over. Their feet crunched against the dry asphalt, the air practically silent beside that and the sound of Riley's labored breaths.

"You know where it went?" The older of the two asked, hinting about the car he and the people who Riley still hadn't found the identity of yet were after.

Riley swallowed, trying to think back. "They were heading that way." Riley pointed up the road where she was coming from. Eventually, she must've gotten rid of the men chasing her, as they still had a destination to reach and a captive that was shot and bleeding out. Now, she didn't know how far they'd gotten, where they were.

They came upon the vehicle, the door of the backseat closest to them opening and revealing Nessa, Carol coming around the other side upon sight of the found member of their group.

"Riley, are you okay?" Nessa asked, shutting the door behind her. She didn't immediately jump to suffocate the younger girl in a smothering hug, she didn't bombard her with questions or gasp at the blood staining her skin either, all of which were a little out of character for her. Nevertheless, Riley was grateful.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Oh, God." Carol murmured, pulling a handkerchief from her pocket and dousing it with water as she had a rapid conversation solely through a shared glance with Daryl.

"Riley was with that car." He said, glancing up the road. "She got away from 'em but they're still heading that way."

"Do you know where they were going?" Carol asked the younger girl with fiery intent in her eyes, although her tone was gentle in a mothering way. She softly pressed the cool cloth against Riley's forehead, dabbing away at some of the blood.

"They said some place called Grady Memorial." Riley said, trying to gather back bits and pieces of information. Her gaze shifted over to Nessa, her throat hitching. "They have Sam."

Nessa's lips pressed together before she rubbed at her eyes with a tightly closed fist. "Shit. I knew it. I said it."

Daryl muttered a curse under his breath. "We have to follow them."

Riley felt like her insides shriveled into a ball and hid from responsibility in that moment. Of course she wanted to get Sam back, she needed to. She just couldn't hide from the fact that the idea of following those men back to their home base made her feel like she was walking into a deathtrap she just narrowly escaped.

Carol didn't have to say anything to show her agreement, everything was written in perfect form in her eyes. Still, she stayed silent, glancing down at Riley. "You don't have to come with us."

"If it's what we have to do to get Sam back, I'll do it." She said. Her tone wasn't convincing, it held no bravery or pride, but it did contain an air of dedication. Riley owed Sam her life, and she wasn't about to let his get stolen for nothing, no matter how scared or tired she felt.

"We saw another car about five or ten minutes back that way." Carol said, looking back in the direction they had driven from. "If you want, you can go back to the church. You can still make it there before dark."

Riley hesitated. "We need all the people we can if we're going to get Sam back."

"We've got four people with us. Losing one won't make a difference." Carol offered, her gaze full of reassurance as it wandered along the brunette's face. "Besides, maybe having less people will make us less suspicious."

Riley opened her mouth again, but then paused. "Four?"

In front of her stood Daryl, Carol, and Nessa. No one else that she could see. Daryl and Carol shared a quick look before the older woman glanced with squinted eyes into the backseat, right past Nessa whose fingers dug the skin of her palms frantically, the topic of her missing brother still plaguing her ruthlessly.

"One only came with us for the interest of you." Carol said, nodding toward the car. Despite the circumstances, the corners of her mouth teased upwards just the smallest bit.

Riley's eyebrows knitted together momentarily before she walked closer to the window, peering into the thick glass. Her eyes took a quick minutes to adjust to the person, but the second she saw the overgrown mess of brown hair, it instantly clicked. Passed out in the backseat of the car was her brother, Sawyer, face smushed against the opposite window pane as his chest moved gently with shallow breaths. Riley's face crinkled in a grin so large her lip nearly split. She stepped back from the car, fighting back the urge to cry yet again just from seeing her brother's face, so quiet and innocent in his slumber. At least he was getting some peace for them both.

Riley felt more than taken aback by how drastically her day had changed in just a matter of minutes, how happy she'd felt compared to only the morning. To be saved by her group, to be saved by her brother, and also have the chance to go back to the church? She couldn't even wrap her mind around the first part of it.

"Wake him up." Daryl said, causing the girl to turn around and face him. "Y'all can head back to the church and let them know what's going on. Me and Carol will keep tabs on that car-"

"I'm going, too." Nessa cut him off sternly.

Everyone turned to face her, slightly stunned by her request. If there was anyone unlikely to volunteer for any sort of rescue plan in their group, it was her. Nessa wasn't built for the world they lived in, she wasn't meant for it. The only reason she wasn't dead yet was pure luck and her everyone else guarding her. To say hearing those words come from her mouth willingly was a shock was an understatement.

"Nessa, you don't have-" Carol started.

"I'm going." Nessa said, more firmly than last time. "I came to find my brother. That's what I'm going to do."

Daryl and Carol shared a look again, but eventually gave up. There was only so much time and energy one could waste fighting a battle they'd never win.

"Alright. Get Sawyer up, you two head back to the church." Daryl said, turning to Riley toward the end of his sentence. "Rest of us'll follow that car, get Sam back."

His lips parted once more, as if he were going to say something else, mention another name. But he decided against it, going quiet instead and nodding to the small group to get a move on and get their plan back on track.

Carol handed Riley the wet handkerchief just in case before rounding the car to get back to the driver's seat, Nessa opening the side door to rouse Sawyer awake. Daryl made a quick move to head to the trunk and gather a few weapons to supply the departing siblings with when Riley caught his arm, his name leaving her lips.

"Yeah?" The word was barely audible as it came out and he turned to face her.

Riley parted her lips, her gratefulness at him just being there at the right place at the right time overwhelming her. Had he not recognized her, not gotten out of the car to go find her, she might've still been on the run, she might've never found the group again, never found her brother, never found...

"Thank you."

"I recognize this part." Sawyer claimed as he examined the trees to the right side of the road.

After being quickly awoken from his sleep and a brief reunion, the Endicott siblings left Daryl, Carol, and Nessa to leave and follow the car holding Sam captive back to wherever and whatever Grady Memorial was. They'd walked for less than ten minutes before stumbling upon the car Carol had told Riley about, parked and in good enough condition to use and travel back to the church.

Riley flashed him a quick side eye as she leaned back in her seat. Although he'd fallen asleep for some of the drive, Sawyer claimed he knew where he was going and that he'd get them back to the church safely by nightfall.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember seeing that sign." He nodded to a billboard that was slowly decaying coming up ahead of them.

"I believe you." Riley tried to offer some support, although she wasn't quite encouraging with it. She was just glad that it was her brother there in the car with her. She felt like all she'd been doing recently was losing him, getting him back, and then losing him again. Being able to spend confined time with him was like reassuring her that he was still right there with her, that he couldn't slip away so easily.

Sawyer nodded, going quiet for a minute. "Did you know Daryl originally went after that car because he thought it'd lead him to Beth?"

Riley looked over at her brother, but he wasn't looking at her. His gaze was set pointedly toward the road ahead of him, as if hardwired to be stuck there and there only. Riley hadn't forgotten about the Greene girl, not in the slightest. She'd been close with the girl ever since they met a few years ago when her and Sawyer started dating. After the prison fall, though, no one in the group had seen her. No one but Daryl.

"No, I didn't." Riley nearly whispered, hoping he would continue with his train of thought instead of abandoning it.

Sawyer nodded, his voice cracking a little bit. "Yeah. He said he recognized it from when she went missing. Him and Carol just came back to the church to grab some guns and water to take on the road when Nessa and I overhead them. We were both talking 'cause, you know, we couldn't find you. And Sam. We thought maybe that car had something to do with it, so we came too."

Riley's body shook as the car ran over a pothole in the road, her eyes flickering down as she thought over his words.

"Guess we were right, huh?" Sawyer let out a weak laugh, but neither of the two could find anything humorous about the situation.

"Maybe Sam and Beth are together right now." Riley thought aloud. It was a comforting thought, to think that the two weren't alone at least, especially if the place was as terrible as it could possibly be.

"Yeah. Alive, hopefully." Sawyer murmured. His gaze was fixated on the road, but his breathing pattern was odd, fingers sweating against the steering wheel. The thought of Beth made his heart hurt. He had no idea if she was okay, if she was alive. What if she escaped like Riley had? She could be anywhere, she could be alone, she could be with a new group. There were so many possibilities it was scary. Most of all though, he just hoped she was okay. They both did.

"I think so." Riley said, referring to his previous statement, and it wasn't just to lighten the mood.

Beth was smart, and she was resourceful. Riley held it out for her that she was still alive. The blonde was pretty skilled when it came to adapting, so hopefully she'd managed to do well enough to stay alive in whatever kind of lifestyle these people who'd taken her were forcing her into.

"Besides," Riley started up again. "Daryl and Carol are going to find her. That means she's coming back."

Sawyer's lips split a little bit in appreciation. "You didn't say Nessa."

Riley paused, picking at her lip a little. "Nessa's going for Sam."

"You still didn't say Nessa."

Riley grinned, shrugging her shoulders a little as Sawyer laughed. She was being honest about Beth, it was safe to guess she'd be honest about Nessa too. Still though, Riley was impressed about the girl hitching along with the two adults to go after her brother. It wasn't like Nessa to offer herself up for something so dangerous, to do something that brave. It wasn't that she was a selfish person, she was just scared, and she never put herself out there enough to learn how to defend herself. It was always Samson doing that for them both. Now, with him taken away, she'd finally stepped up to do it for him. Riley, despite her shock, couldn't help but feel a little proud.

Riley rested her head against the window, trying to chase after a few hours of sleep on their drive when a static sound cut through the air. The girl sat up, glancing over at Sawyer who returned the same look of tension. The two looked down at the walkie-talkie sitting in the cupholder, another sound of a cut out voice eliciting from it.

Before they left, Daryl gave them a walkie-talkie so they could still have some form of communication. Before then, it hadn't made a sound, staying silent the whole time. But now, it chirped with unclear noise, burred voices coming from the other end.

Riley picked it up, bringing it to her mouth as she tried to reach the person on the other end. "Daryl? What's going on, did something happen?"

Again the static came, but this time, one word made it out. Carol.

Sawyer and Riley glanced at each other in suspicion and panic. What the hell did that mean? Could that mean danger? It was a more than likely scenario.

"Daryl, what's going on? You're cutting out." Sawyer raised his voice so the walkie could catch him across from Riley.

The static paused, coming back once more before it stopped completely.

"Shit. What was that, did it die?" Sawyer asked, glancing down at the device.

"No, I don't think so. I think he just stopped talking." Riley said with furrowed eyebrows. "Why didn't it work?"

"I don't know, maybe we're too far away from them." Sawyer frowned, leaning back in his seat.

The two sat in a thick and uncomfortable silence, not quite sure what to do with the uncooperative attempt at communication. Riley hoped Daryl was just trying to relay and update, nothing too serious. She tried to lean quietly to the idea that Carol was okay, and that her name coming through was just a glitch, but her stomach twisted. Something didn't seem right, then again, as of lately nothing did.

They couldn't go back now, they were too close to the church. The girl wondered what was going on there, if they were having a time as eventful as her's. She hoped not for their sake. She thought about Carl, about Judith. God, what she would give to be resting on a bench holding a giggling baby instead of running from kidnappers and avoiding gunshots. That was probably what Carl was up to right now, Riley noticed he usually tended to go to his sister's company when he was stressed and needed to take his mind off of things. She wondered if maybe he was thinking about her just as much as she was thinking about him- an embarrassing amount, for sure. But to be fair, Riley nearly died today, she'd spent half of it trying to figure out how to survive the next few hours she had to face, it was only fair that she gets to ponder on a distraction thought at some points, right?

He probably wondered a couple times what had happened to her, Riley decided. After all, he did allow himself to open up somewhat to her just yesterday, letting her hug him and even doing something else that she decided against thinking about. It only made the thought of him more confusing, like trying to untie a knot but only pulling at the strings that make it even tighter. Maybe when she saw him, things would get easier. She hoped they did, because somehow, she found herself missing him again, a feeling that'd become all too familiar. A feeling that she hated.

The thought of Carl made her mind linger onto Lucas, and that one felt like a punch to the gut. For many reasons, of course, but the leading cause at the moment was because he wasn't in the car with her that morning. She remembered him disappearing last night in the woods. Gone, without a trace. He hadn't been taken by the men who took her and Sam because there was no other car with them. So where did he go? She could only pray that he wasn't dead, but the thought of that seemed unlikely. Riley's lips nearly parted to ask Sawyer if he'd returned to the church last night, but she dreaded the answer, so she just stayed quiet.

The girl realized quickly how differently she felt when she thought about them both. Carl and Lucas, that was. Carl, although they were in a rocky area right now- and have been for the past few months all around- was her best friend. Her person, she'd even told him. The more she thought about it, the more Riley realized she'd never felt that way about anyone else before. Not with Lucas at all. A part of her felt bad about it, it made her feel almost guilty. He was so nice to her, so caring and sweet, but that just didn't make her feel like her the same way Carl did.

Lucas treated her like a girl, like a girl he could take on a date to the movies if the world hadn't ended. That thought made Riley's cheeks go furiously red, but she forced herself to ponder on it. Maybe she would've liked that if she was a teenage girl living in a world where people didn't eat each other, where she was stressing over her hair and test grades instead of how many days worth of food was left in her pocket. That was the kind of world Lucas was meant for, the version of Riley he was meant for. But not this one, no matter how hard she'd tried to play along with it.

Riley never thought about things like relationships and boys, at least not more than she thought about water and shelter. If she even began to plan her life out like that, it'd be with someone who knew her, knew her in a way more than just her eye color and her favorite flower, even more than her biggest fears and her dreams that never came true. She meant someone that knew how to work with her, who knew how to make her feel again when her world came crashing down, who knew what she was like in her lowest of lows and highest of highs. She needed someone who didn't care about the idea of her, or someone who didn't see her weak points and accept them, but someone who had them too. Riley never thought about meeting someone and fantasizing over a crush on them, it never seemed real enough for her. Not in this world. She saw herself in a future like that with someone she had a substantial connection with, not who gave her butterflies and she had to glance away from, but someone who she could trust with her life.

And then back around it went, her life that was jeopardized more times than she could count today. Her life that she fought so hard to save. In all of those moments, Riley registered, she'd only really thought about one person. The one person that she'd only ever thought about all of those times; life, death, the moment after realizing she would survive after all. And just as she'd imagined, even if she'd hoped at some point, Riley realized that it wasn't Lucas.

The leaves on the trees whispered in their black shadows as they swept against each other in the wind. Night was advancing now as daylight faded from the sky, leaving it an open canvas for the dark to seep in.

The car had pulled to a stop just a minute ago, and Riley rubbed tiredly at her eyes. Sawyer's hand swept through his overgrown head of hair, glancing over at his younger sister, whose features were outlined by a strip of white granted by the approaching moonlight.

"You ready to go in now or do you want to wait a bit? I'll stay with you if you need." He said, although the weariness in his voice was almost louder than the words he spoke.

Riley shook her head. "I just want to go in and sleep."

"Me too." Sawyer chuckled, opening his car door.

Riley followed in suit, her feet hitting the hard ground for the first time in hours. Her limbs felt stiffly sore, and she wanted to reach her arms up and stretch to drain her body of the rigidness, but the ache in her head stopped her from doing anything that required more than even a little bit of energy.

Riley walked away from the car, the wooden doors of the church looming in front of her, a sight that looked even more welcoming than the first time she'd seen them. Before she and Sawyer had even reached the front steps, though, the doors swung open, revealing Rick and Maggie, followed by a few others of the group.

"Oh, thank God." The high pitched sound of Maggie's relief came raining down on Riley's ears so much sweeter than she could've imagined.

The Rhee came down the steps, arms outstretched as she instantly swept the younger girl into her embrace, lips pressing against the top of her head before pulling away and running marathons with her eyes as she traced up and down Riley's body.

"We were so worried, you didn't come back in last night and then Daryl and Carol saw that car." Maggie's words spilled out so quickly Riley almost couldn't keep up, but she slowed to a stop, instead brushing the hair from out of her face. "Are you okay?"

Riley inhaled a deep breath in through her nose, nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay."

Maggie mimicked her, nodding as well as she pulled her in close once more before letting her go, looking to her side to find Rick coming up, the sight of Riley okay and unhurt before him seeming to decrease the worry in his face by a large sum.

His hand cupped the back of Riley's neck as her forehead met his chest, his opposite palm rubbing a circle on her back as she melted into his touch.

"I'm glad you're okay." He whispered, his voice low and sentimental.

Riley stepped back a bit, nodding with a small smile of gratitude as Rick's hands dropped from her skin, the Grimes moving over to Sawyer who already had a small pool of people consisting of those such as Abraham, Sasha, and Rosita as he filled them in on Daryl and Carol's plan. Riley noticed a few other people stealing a few glances at her, such as Billy, Boston, Glenn, and so on, but the girl tried not to entertain it. She needed to be back with the group, she knew it, but she couldn't go for reunions right now either. She was too tired to go through it all, much preferring to slip inside while everyone else was busy being caught up by her brother.

Riley moved toward the porch steps, stepping up them nimbly and opening the church doors. The light from inside swam through the opening and guided her in without a second thought. Instantly, all sound from outside was drowned out and everything became still, tranquil. The quiet was like a much needed break from everything Riley had been tossed around in with no way out of. The brunette dropped her head into the heels of her palms, moving over to a bench and settling her weight against it as exhaustion took over her. All she wanted to do was sleep, despite the burning ache in her stomach from the lack of food all day paired with injuries she'd sufficed in her escape, it was all she could do to not fall asleep right on the spot. She just wanted to see one person first.

"Hey."

Riley dropped her hands, looking toward the direction of the voice. Carl stood by a pew not far from her, Judith cradled in his arms. He swallowed nervously, hesitating for a moment before gently laying his baby sister down in the makeshift crib they'd created for her.

As he stood up to his full height again, he slid his hands along his pants, clearly at a loss for words. "I wanted to come outside, but I didn't want to crowd you, so..."

Riley nodded a little, not quite processing everything he was saying, just hearing his voice, seeing his face, feeling his presence. He was all she'd thought about beside surviving the whole day, he'd plagued her mind like an infectious disease unwilling to let her go the whole ride back to the church. Now finally, he was right there, but she still didn't know what to say. She wasn't even sure she wanted to say anything at all, she just wanted to be with him. Just sitting beside him would be enough for her, but she knew it wasn't enough for him, not enough for them at that moment.

Riley pushed off of the bench, taking a few unsteady steps toward him. Carl didn't even need more than a second's glance at her actions before he'd done the same, closing the space between them so fast Riley barely had a moment to react. Her arms encased themselves around his neck as she slumped against him, his own figure falling against her as he wrapped himself around her waist and back. The feeling of having him back in her arms was so unexplainable in such an explainable way. Riley knew all along that the one person she'd truly wanted to see the second she got back to the church was Carl, but for so long now, even before she'd forced herself to come to terms with the fact he meant to her what he did, she'd wanted to be able to bury her face in the crook of his neck and hide from the rest of the world, the kind of rest only he could grant her. The feeling of his weight bearing down on her and holding her up all at once was the most comfortable thing she'd experienced in her life, in more than just a physical way. She felt like she could stay stuck like that forever, and she'd never feel the hurt of anything ever again.

With Riley's knees buckling in exhaustion, Carl gently lowered them down to their knees, his arms still sheathing her in his hold as her fingers sorted their way through his tangled mess of dark hair. Carl pulled back slightly, his face just a few short inches away from hers. Tentatively, he reached a hand up and brushed away a few specks of dirt and blood on her cheekbone, Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed thickly. Riley's eyes followed his every move, eyelashes fluttering against his skin as he let his forehead fall onto her's, his hat tipping to the side in the process.

Riley felt her insides begin to melt a bit, all tension in her body disappearing as Carl held her close, arms wrapped around her as his skin pressed against hers. It was the only thing keeping her grounded, the only thing she'd been after the whole time. Carl.

Carl pulled back once more, his eyes searching hers in a new light, lips parting gently as he drank up the image of her face, slightly scathed yet unhurt in front of him. He didn't say what the others had said, no "I'm so glad you're okay", or "I knew you would come back alive". None of that, none of it from him.

"Riles." He whispered, tasting her name on his tongue. "Riley."

Riley's face illuminated in the dim light, brightening from just the familiar sound of her coming from him. Her mouth twisted ever so slightly upwards in a soft smile, her face falling back to his, but this time, it wasn't her forehead pressing against him in a saccharine moment, but instead her lips against his.

It was as if all time had frozen in that moment, everything past and future had crumbled away, leaving only the now. Riley was still aware of Carl's hands on her waist and her back, holding her close from their hug, the soft yet tangled texture of his hair between her fingertips. Everything, everything that they'd fought over, hated each other for in the past, it was all gone now. The only thing Riley could even begin to comprehend in that moment was the warmth of Carl's lips on hers, and a feeling so indescribably intense and intimate palpitating in her chest that she felt like she might explode.

Carl's mouth stayed softly against hers for only a few seconds before Riley pulled away, desperate to catch a breath and offer herself some stability before letting her mind settle on what just happened. Directly in front of her, so close that the tip of his nose bumped against hers, Carl's breathing was shallow, as if barely getting enough oxygen to suffice him. The high severity of the moment was still strung so tight that Riley was afraid to let go of him, but the boy didn't seem keen on doing that anytime soon, as her body was still cradled in his arms. Seconds passed by, and Riley kept waiting for something to happen, something she wasn't quite sure of, but nothing did, nothing but him. And that was more than she could've asked for.

Although she wasn't kissing him anymore, Riley could still taste Carl's lips on her mouth, could still feel the heat of his skin against hers. Perhaps, after a moment as intimate as that, she'd feel awkward, trapped, but she didn't. Not in the slightest. Every bit of fear and pain she'd been dragging herself through that whole day slid away, as if Carl's simply being there had slipped the weight from her shoulders to his. It was in those moments of such sweet simplicity that it had dawned on her, this was what safety meant, this was that feeling of closure and confidentiality that saved you from a world past saving itself. And this was the place she could find it, the place where she'd always found it. Him.

a/n - i'm not even going to begin to explain what took me so long😭 i'm just going to say i'm so sorry and i tried to finish this chapter long ago but needed to take a not so quick mental health break. everyone's been so sweet and kind about it tho so thank u💗
- anyway, carley's first kiss?? hello?? i had this idea planned out forever and idk if it feels too soon or rushed but they won't start dating or anything like that super soon, that's still a little ways coming but i felt like they deserved it<33
- the timelines now are a little confusing, i switched a few things around for the plot of this fic just pretend daryl and carol saw the car the first night and so on :)
- this chapter is also unedited yet so my apologies for all mistakes bc there's probably many!!
- lastly, my apologies to samson and lucas fans. two of my fav oc's and i won't be saying anything except for get ready...