You all had sailed for a day and a half, not far from the coast, which was within sight but at a safe distance. Suddenly you had discovered a tiny Cordillera that came up behind the waves. It offered perfect protection. You had dropped the anchor and put it there. “To take stock.”, Rick had said. Carl tried to climb some rocks, followed by Alicia and Daryl. Most of it was in contact with the water and covered with slippery moss, it was almost impossible to get a firm hold and while climbing Alicia was afraid to break her neck. To die for falling during the Apocalypse would have been awkward. A legend they would tell other survivors in later years… “There’s a lot to eat here.”Carl said, watching as the shell colonies appeared in the waves and disappeared again. He moved his feet and jumped higher as a crab passed. She was as tall as his two fists. Alicia followed his movements and could not help but smile. “The cliffs attract many animals, there are algae and moss, so there are shells and mollusks feeding on them.”
“And so are those who feed on mollusks. Crustaceans and fish of all kinds. That must be a perfect place to fish.” Not far away, Daryl tried to measure the distance between the rocks and the shore. It was too far for anyone to attempt an attack, or to storm the ship suddenly. The only problem was that on the boat it was difficult to defend, react to a fire, or plan a counterattack. On the boat, Nick stared at the rocks as if they were men who had insulted him. He approached Rick. “We should find a place near the coast where we can hide the ship, we can not stay here forever.”The former sheriff turned and looked at him. “Why not?”
“We’ve always been on the move and near the coast, but if we want to stop, we have to find a shed or something.” The boy pointed to the rocks. “These rocks, if there were rough seas, would destroy the boat, and we would end up being driven to them by the wind.”
Michonne, who had listened to the conversation, approached. “It’s not a bad idea to find a safe place in addition.”
“I thought the base was in the boat?”, Rick asked slightly annoyed. “Yes, but we have to move on, if we have to stop for a while, we need to find a place to secure the ship in. As soon as we see storm clouds on the horizon, we have to do the same, we can not risk it to be damaged or stolen.”
“Nick is right.”
“We’ll have to get out, we’ll have to find things for Judith and we’re always lacking on medication, Maggie still has to regain her energies, maybe vitamins could help.”
“The ammo will eventually go out and Daryl will not find his arrows in the middle of the sea.”
Rick snorted. “And Carl… Let me just say the word: Books.”, grinned the man, then his face relaxed to a even more relaxed smile and he laughed a little. “Books… The living dead walk around, it’s the end of the world, the apocalypse… And my son wants a book.”
Michonne smiled with him and hugged him lovingly. “Then we are lucky…”
Nick had followed the exchange silently with a slight frown. “Let’s decide how many more days and then we’ll go.”
“A few weeks.”, Rick said quickly. “If we don’t find anything, we will go anyway and we will continue to travel to try again.” The boy nodded. “Good.” You dropped a lifeboat and Judith stayed on board with Madison and Glenn and Maggie. After a few hours, Carl suggested that he’ll enter a building facing the sea. You discovered that it was an office, a kind of reception. The only positive indication you found in it was a snack machine that you had plundered after Rick and Travis had broken the glass with a pickaxe. Meanwhile Carol walked around the building with a gun in her hand and a knife in her belt. At one point, the woman saw that the hut was half on the beach, while the other half was directly in the water. It probably stood on a scaffolding, because at regular intervals the big trunks under the structure of the building began to end below sea level. A narrow corridor surrounded the building and allowed access to the rear. Carol looked around and saw that the others were now far away, studying other little things. She put the gun in her holster and pulled out her knife. She walked cautiously over the catwalk and, before she reached the corner of the structure, hit her with the heel against the wall and waited. No noise. The woman walked on and as she turned the corner, she was relieved that there wasn’t a single Walker here. Instead of going straight, the wall stayed in place and the sidewalk disappeared into a boathouse. Suddenly Carl appeared behind her, as excited as she was. It had to be a place to rent motorboats and jet skis. The owners made the documentation inside and then brought the customers back to take them out to sea. Looking at the discovery, Carl stepped forward and turned the corner. He entered the shed with a big smile while Carol disappeared. The breath of a Walker struck him just before his teeth snapped at him. Carl raised his knife in defense and backed away. He had no time to do anything when he felt the emptiness under his feet and fell into the water. Large bubbles floated up to reach and burst the surface. Carl, his ears muffled by the water, instinctively moved away and squeezed his hand to look for the knife, but realized at that moment that he had lost it. His head came back over the water and the boy breathed in suffocating, coughed again and saw the Walker a few inches away from him. He curled up and thrust both feet against the dead man’s chest. The boy took a deep breath, only calmer. The Walker didn’t seem to be able to swim normally. Leaving him behind, Carl swam toward the inside of the garage and found with relief that no other Walker was waiting for him. Despite the dim light, the sunlight lit up the room enough. He saw that the catwalk continued along the perimeter of the garage, forming a U, and probably circling the building further. He climbed back up with his arms and looked around. Inside he saw a green plastic tarp attached to the entrance with ropes. It would have been perfect to hide. The only moored boats were a shabby pedal boat with a small integrated slide and a watercraft. Carl wiped his hair out of his face and left the shed. He didn’t even bother about the Walker who passed by and the one who was still in the water growled in his direction. The sun went down and painted the horizon to an intense orange. Carl sat on the roof of the shed, admiring the sunset on the same day was a privilege. He thought the apocalypse might make sense… The boy put the book in his hands and swung his legs back into the room. He noticed that he had a faint smile on his face and for the first time since he was a child, when he and his mother fled with Shane from their homes, he realized that he was happy. Really happy. It wasn’t the relief of happiness when someone from the group returned safely from a mission, nor the little, comforting happiness of being with his sister Judith and he realized that he was getting older and was healthy and strong. He recognized the pale happiness of reading the books he talked to along with Travis and Y/N. That was his true happiness. He already knew that he loved his whole family, but at that moment he felt it. He loved them with all his heart and he knew it would be reciprocated. How could he not be happy under these conditions? “Hey, can I sit down?” Carl whirled around and saw Alicia walking toward him in light steps. “I’m a bad survivor.”, she said with a half smile and looked back to the horizon. “Well, I couldn’t hear you at all.”, said Carl and she sat down next to him. “You can still feel good, Glenn and your father stand guard on one side and the others on the opposite side, so if someome came to attack us, they’d be able to see them a mile away.” They two remained silent for a while. “Tomorrow we will look for useful things, will you come along?”, the boy asked.
“I think so, are you looking for something specific?”
“No, not really, and you?”
Alicia shrugged. “I’d like to look for some of those cookbooks and maybe some spices, you know, the fish becomes almost indigestible after a while.”
“I noticed.”, Carl chuckled and took off his father’s hat.
“Where did you get the hat?” The girl reached out and, after a silent request, took the hat from his hands.
“He belonged to my father.”
“Really? Was he a cop?”
“He was a sheriff…” Alicia whistled and tried on the hat. Carl’s lips tightened. He knew there was an age gap between them and that it wasn’t an illusion, but he could not help but think she was pretty. He blushed at the thought and when Alicia returned his hat, he took it without saying anything. He was relieved to hear someone climb the ladder he had placed on the side of the building and turned to see Nick’s head.
“Alicia, Travis and Mom were looking for you.” He looked around and then decided to join them. “Dinner will be ready soon.” He watched the view and smiled because he had to squint slightly at the sun. “You have found a nice place.”
“Carl found it.”
“A perfect place to flirt.”, Nick added with a grin, slapping Carl on the back of the hand with the back of his hand. Carl was seriously thinking about jumping into the sea. Fortunately, the intense color of the setting sun prevented the Nick and Alicia from realizing how flushed he was. Alicia understood that the boy was ashamed and she pushed her brother away. She liked Carl, it was like having a younger brother to take care of. A fourth person came to the roof. You frowned as you saw the others. “What are you doing, Carl?”
“Not much, I’ve read.”, Carl said, pointing to the book. He was grateful for the arrival of you, the only person who didn’t cause him trouble, if only unconsciously or intentionally, but never meant to be angry. “And what are you recommending Travis this time?” You came over and reached for the book. “This is definitely easy to read, so I have no doubt.” Nick eyed the title. “Yes, Travis is not the best if you just want to spend half an hour in joy.”
“Yeah… But he always comes home.”, Alicia sighed.
“This is true.” You all were silent for a while watching the sunset, each of you lost in thought. You felt united, as part of a family. It was not everyone’s job to grow up during the Apocalypse and to tell it proudly. Not for Walkers or other people, like bandits or plunderers. The brutal world has changed all of them and you knew it very well. You had all done something and said things that you regretted, that you weren’t proud of or even ashamed of today. You had done things for which you would pay dearly one day. All four of you had held out, you had grown up in this world, you had gotten older before you had to, but in the end you were there. You were alive and you were good people. Or at least you tried to be. And basically it was important, Nick told himself. “Let’s go.” Alicia got up and headed for the ladder. “If there’s one thing Mom is still mad about, it’s when we don’t get to the table in time.”

Daryl stared at the rope with a knot in his throat, realizing that he had nothing else to do. He looked around and couldn’t see much of the garage in the dark. The whole room was now occupied by the ship, and the dark green, waxed canvas had been pulled down to conceal it. The only light came from a crack left by the cloth over the surface of the water. Although they tried to keep it out, the moon crept in through thin white lines of light. He was the only person on the bridge, the others were already in bed, except for Michonne and Carol, who were on guard. By now he slept in a sleeping bag in the captain’s cabin, but somehow this day had been different from the others, though no one could say why. He had to make a decision. Or rather, he had already made a decision, but as always, when it was time to get to the point, he was afraid of that moment. The man ran his hand behind his neck through his hair and snorted. He went downstairs and tried not to make a noise. The splashing of the water was barely noticeable as he came down the stairs and the creaking and other noise of the boat was muffled. Several days had passed since you and Nick rescued him from the Walkers and the bandits on the same boat, and since then he has sealed himself off at a safe distance from them. He couldn’t say why, but now that he was alone, he could think about it. It was the same reason he initially stayed away from you. That situation startled him… Daryl was sure that it would make him vulnerable, that it would worry him too much in a world where worrying meant nothing but death. It would have been easier to ignore these feelings if you were the first person to refuse his attention or if Nick got in the way. But now that you had greeted him, he realized he wanted to be with you. “Fuck.” Daryl ran two fingers over his eyes and stopped at the beginning of the narrow corridor that led to the cabins. How much he wanted to smoke a cigarette in this situation… He noticed with dismay that he was in this sense like Merle. That bastard never left him, and even when he was dead, he was still there to show him the mistakes of his life as a clear example of the way he shouldn’t follow. He had never completed anything, just like his brother. Probably the only idea was to get involved in something more than a sincere friendship or just sex. The connection he had with Merle had been dictated by the blood and the years, and yet he had to admit that he hadn’t been the best brother in the world. But Y/N? He chose you. In his mind already as a definite choice for life. This strange life in which you all lived. He finally wanted to finish something… But Daryl was afraid of making mistakes. A fear that had decreased so much over the years.
“So it’s official.” Daryl turned and saw Nick coming out of the kitchen. “What?”, he asked more for enlightenment than out of curiosity. “You and Y/N.” The boy leaned against the wall behind him and crossed his arms. A pinch of ancient rage surprised Daryl. He had to take care of this boy, or his opportunity to be with the woman he loved would fail. This thought hit him like a slap. He gasped for a moment, snorting and taking his time to run a hand through his hair. “I… Yes, I think so…”, he mumbled. Nick laughed a little and said something, but Daryl did not hear it. The woman he loved? Did he really think of her in this regard? Damn, yes… He loved you. He just had to stop acting like an idiot. It had been easy to think about it. “Then see you tomorrow.”
“What?” The boy played with a wry grin and walked down the corridor. He opened the door to a cabin that Daryl wanted to share with Carl. He waited at the door until Daryl passed him, walked in the direction of Y/N’s room, and called him when he was a little further away. “She likes massages, trust me, I know.”
“Fuck you!” Nick went to the other room and grinned openly. When Daryl entered the room, he found you lying on the bed, the headphones in your ears, and your feet moving in the rhythm of the music. As soon as you saw him, you straightened up on your bed and looked at him. “Daryl!”, you called and a sincere smile was painted on your face. You put the CD player aside and dangled your legs out of bed. “I’ve taken the top bed because I can never sleep in the one below, I always think it’s going to fall on me, the rooms are all so… Well, the fishermen didn’t have much privacy.” Daryl looked around. Next to the bed was a tiny desk on one side and a metal cabinet attached to the floor with big screws. Life at sea was obviously sacrificed, at least according to the severity of this room. The man looked at you with a glance. “Sorry, I know it’s late.” You both knew he wasn’t referring to the time. Daryl had appreciated the fact that you had said nothing to hurry him. You hadn’t asked for anything. You had let him do that, as if you knew that he had yet to overcome a small obstacle. Or rather several small obstacles, and you were only the first. You shook your head, your Y/H/C hair moving with you. “It doesn’t matter, I’m happy you’re here.” Daryl approached and stroked gently over your legs. He reached out to grab you as you slid off the bed the next moment. He laid you down on the floor and took your face in his hands. You kissed each other for a long time, kisses with intention to taste each other’s lips. You ran your arms over the man’s hips, and as you pulled back and looked him in the eyes, you understood what he was feeling without having to say anything. Daryl was not a man of many words, but you could read the meaning behind his facial expressions. The man stood up and you stood on her tiptoes and kissed him again, then on his cheek and between his jaw and neck. Daryl brushed your hair back and kissed you behind your ear, pulled off his vest, reaching your collarbone as his hands slowly moved to your chest and stomach. Kate put your hands under the fabric of his shirt to take it off, but Daryl suddenly held your wrists tighter than necessary and stopped them. The man swallowed and relaxed his grip, but he didn’t allow you to touch him. “I have scars on my back…” He was afraid of your reaction. Maybe you would feel disgust or worse, pain. “Do the scars still hurt?”
“No. They are old.”
“Does it bother you when I see or touch them?”,you spoke in a dry, almost professional tone like a nurse asking about a patient.
Daryl swallowed hard. “No.”
“Then I don’t have to know anything…”, you said and reached back to kiss him again. You felt the scars and the skin that felt so smooth next to them. You hesitated only a moment, then slid your nails over his back, leaving a slight scratch, a caress, and Daryl shuddered. He squeezed your butt and pulled you towards him to continue kissing you and then throwing you to the lower bed. Daryl reached out and took a breast with his hand, listening to the sweet sound of your breathing. Then he sank to your stomach, kissed it and held you by the butt with his other hand and then kissed you on your inner thigh. When he looked up, he saw that you put your hands over your breasts and squeezed them from time to time. If there was something that excited him, it was like seeing you, and that strengthened the erection he already had. You had tilted your head back, your veins slightly swollen at your throat and a hand over your mouth to keep from moaning too much. Daryl started to get up, but hit his head against the upper bed… You began to laugh under him. Despite himself, an amused smile was painted on his lips. “Let’s move on…”,he said rubbing his head kinda ashamed. When you were both naked, you took him back to the desk and shoved him into the chair. You sat down on him without meeting his eyes. Daryl gave in to the feeling that he was invading you and after a few minutes he grabbed you by the hips and began to strengthen the thrusts. Not that there was a real need, for the moment he knew that he and you knew enough about sex… You pressed against him with dry and abrupt movements. “Are you alright?”, you asked in a low but worried voice. “Yes, get up…”, he said bluntly. He grabbed you by the neck and almost forced you to kiss him. He let you kneeling on the floor and followed you. “Turn around.” For a second he hated himself saying that. A corner of his brain wondered if you were as comfortable as he was. Without much romance, without any special sentimental expectations in the Apocalypse. He loved to see you enjoying it, shuddering with the pleasure he gave you and allowing you to enjoy without inhibitions. However, Daryl wondered if he shouldn’t be too careful…
He entered you gently, intending to be as gallant as possible. Soon his intentions were put to the test. Your back, the waist that widened on your hips, was enough to seduce him. Then you opened your legs and began to move against him as if inviting him. Daryl’s movements became fast and hard, and he almost lost his head when he realized you were still touching yourself. He put a hand on the neck of you and brought your face close to the ground and held you tight. You were soon shaken by orgasm. Daryl stayed in you, enjoying the situation and taking a deep breath, but he couldn’t stand it any longer than he thought possible, given his excitement. He fell next to you, while you slowly regained your breath. As soon as he sat again, your lips were back on his. For a while you both sat there until you looked up at him. “I’m feeling a bit cold…” You did not want to climb up on the bed, so you lay down on the lower bed and covered yourself. Daryl lay down with you a little later, and although you were not particularly cold, you let the sheet reach to your chest. He put one arm behind his head and put his other arm around your shoulders. You rested your head on his shoulder and pressed yourself against his hips. Daryl looked at you and noticed that you kept your eyes closed. But he knew you weren’t sleeping. He allowed himself to rethink of the sex you had together. He liked the way you had shown yourself in those moments. He liked the fact that he had always been reserved in public, serious, and instead had a sensual soul hidden in him. He liked that you liked that intimacy and didn’t make it a taboo or a kind of power play, but was easily led by his touch and that you longed for his body. The man let his hand slide lower and touched your butt again. He saw you smile and you mumbled something he did not understand. You suddenly fell asleep and he did not want to wake you up again. This was the first night you had been able to sleep well for a long time and didn’t wake up. And it was the first night that Daryl lay awake the whole time next to someone, deliberately not going to sleep, though there was no danger.

Glenn looked up and waved to Judith. The child followed his gaze. The girl came up to him and stretched her arms out and he looked down and smiled. “Do you see it too?”, he asked pointing to a distant spot. Judith approached the rail of the boat and hopped three times before giving up. She couldn’t see it. She thought she could see a mermaid, for Nick had told her about beautiful stories about the mermaids and how they sang along with the crabs and other fish at the bottom of the ocean. But she saw nothing. “Is it Arielle?” Glenn chuckled. “I see smoke in the distance, please get your father, I need to talk to him.” Judith ran between fishing rods, rifles and a box of dead cod - the dinner, to her father. Shortly after, she reappeared with Rick at her side. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s smoke, do you see it or am I blind?” Rick did not need to sharpen his view. A thin but dark thread stood out in front of them. If you all had continued this way with the speed you had, you would have passed the little fire or whatever it was and soon left it behind. Rick bit his tongue and looked around indecisively. That smoke could be anything, or it could  be nothing… Leaving the boat was always a risk, and he knew he would have to put his companions to death every time they stepped off. They’d been traveling south for a few months, and according to Travis’ estimate, they must have been at the east-south end. It was certainly hard to understand where they were, but the climate was enough to remove any doubt. “Do we increase the speed?” Glenn’s question distracted him from his thoughts.
“No.” Glenn seemed surprised at his answer. He looked at him with wide eyes. “Shouldn’t we try to leave it behind as soon as possible?…”
“No, let’s go down with speed, tell Travis to approach the shore.” Glenn took a few steps to follow the former sheriff, who moved quickly below deck. “Rick, why?” The man did not answer him, instead he reached the cabin, which he shared with Michonne and saw that she was honing and cleaning her katana. “Get ready, tell the others, we’ll get off the boat.” The woman raised her head in alarm. “What’s wrong?”
“Glenn has seen smoke.”
“So…?” Rick looked into the deserted corridor and then slowly closed the door. “Let’s go down, let’s see what happens, and if it’s nothing, let’s go ahead as we have.”
He approached Michonne and sat beside her. “We could find something out there.”
“We don’t need anything, we have at least a month left over!” She looked at him with frowning eyebrows and for the first time in a long time she couldn’t see what his purpose was. “We had planned not to stop. We still got enough, Rick.”
“I know, I…”, Rick sighed, looked away and ran a hand over his face. Michonne said nothing and waited for him to start talking again. “…Carl is a young man now, Judith is growing more every day, and we… That’s the world we live in, what we’ll leave for them and every other kid out there, I know, it’ll make you all foolish but I think I have found a solution… ”
“A solution for what?”
“We have to take the risk Michonne, we have to do what’s right for our children’s future, let’s get off the boat, let’s search for other people, people you can trust in. The world has gone into chaos years ago. All that happened… The people we became were just out of fear, we didn’t know what to do and the first thing we did was forcibly to react to this new world that we didn’t know. Now we know it, or rather, we’ll fix it, we know this reality well, it’s our life.” The woman’s eyes softened as if she were about to smile. “It is, so what do you suggest?”
“To be successful, I need your support and the help of everyone here from our group - if someone disagrees, we’ll decide together what we should do - we should-…” ,Rick paused for the right words, “…-create a kind of network of alliances, talk to people, convince them that this world isn’t the best place to fight them with hatred and violence, it will take a long time like in Alexandria and the other places and we probably will never bring an end to the apocalypse but Walkers are no longer a problem, we have all learned to deal with them, people are the problem and they need to be convinced, we have to go back to civilization and that’s what I’m going to do.” The smile finally spread to Michonne’s face. She’d never seen Rick like that, excited by an ideal he thought was right. The fact that he first shared it with her made her proud and happy. “Okay… Let’s tell the others.”
They quickly realized that it was difficult to get all the people on the boat together at once. Madison thought Rick’s idea was a useless risk, as did you and Maggie. Nick was thrilled and Travis had agreed, albeit with some reservations. After a few hours you anchored. Judith would stay on the boat with Carl and Alicia, while the rest of the group would explore the area and develop a plan. Travis was optimistic, he was a scholar and he knew that such situations didn’t last forever. It was human nature to forcibly respond to a deadly situation and then find a solution with the brain as that deadly situation became routine. Carol and Glenn thought so too… The guys, especially Nick and Carl, were more enthusiastic and more of an idealist than an argument like Travis, while Alicia accepted the situation and thought that it was not a bad idea, even if it was very risky. Madison was strongly against it, and though part of her understood the logic of what Rick said, she was not ready to risk her children’s lives again. Maggie and you considered it too risky, as the other survivors were probably not ready to embrace this path with open arms and Rick would soon have noticed. Daryl hadn’t expressed an opinion, but in his heart he agreed. He was the one who did things instead of discussing it. He swung his crossbow over his shoulder, gave you a long kiss and stepped out of the ship with the rest of the group as you all entered the mainland shortly thereafter. You were one of the first groups looking for contacts with other survivors again, but after a while you realized that you were not the only ones. Despite the discussions that took place on the first day, you realized that you had a life ahead of them and that you were cultivated like a rare flower. That’s what the world offered you and you could decide if you should leave your lives like that or react differently. You realized you were wrong whenever you thought you had nothing left. You had your lives. Together as a big family. And it was more valuable than what any Walker in the world could ever claim.