The Woman at The End of The World. (Daryl Dixon)

eleven.

We spent nine trying and exhaustive months on the road before luckily stumbling across West Georgia Correctional Facility, which held a beautiful sight in these dark times.

During those nine months, I've grown closer to the group. We had each other's back, making sure we came out unhurt and unbit. Daryl and I built a closer friendship than ever before. We went on runs together. However, I still won't give up my bike. We just take our motorcycles separately. We were barely ever apart otherwise. On nights when I was too exhausted, he would allow me to fall asleep on his shoulder with his arm wrapped around my back. He quickly became my rock. When we weren't fighting for our lives, we would stay up and swap past life stories. I learned more about this brother and his parents, while he learned more about my family, my friends—Charlee and Wren– and my past relationships. Though, still not comfortable sharing anything about Kelly. Not only was he family, but now I gave him the title of my confidant and best friend. A few times, he'd point out one of my tattoos, curious on what the tattoo of that night's story held. He was especially intrigued by my Medusa tattoo that represents the villain Owen made me out to be.

I confided some of the gritty details of the abusive relationship during one of our runs. I still refuse to vocalize how truly terrifying the night the cops rescued me. It's not for anyone to know, I rationalize. 

I was beginning to feel like I'm not the freak, but I'm family to everyone.

Once the group realized how well I worked with weapons—had to be since I was on my own for a while-, I quickly became one of the members who would go on runs. During one of the outings, I found a black Saber sword, which became my favorite weapon for quiet take down of the walkers. Next to it was its sheath that wrapped around my waist like a belt. It was like love at first sight. I still keep my knife and gun on me, with their various holders. It's safe to say, I looked and felt like a badass bitch.

Lori was approaching her due date quickly, so we had scrambled to find a safe place for her and her unborn. I went with Daryl and Rick on a quick run where we had found our current home. The first day, we spent the day clearing the yard which was infested with walkers, but we were able to contain it. I wouldn't let Rick run into the yard alone, so I went with him while the others took down the dead at their posts. During the night, we stayed in that same yard, resting before we went inside, taking down the walkers that were trapped inside. I went in with Daryl, Rick, Glenn, Maggie, T-dog and Hershel to clear a bigger a path. Unlucky enough, Hershel got bit in the process. We were able to amputate his leg and save him. It was touch and go for a minute, but thankfully, he came out of it. Though he's missing a leg, he's still alive. Breathing and alive is what counts, right?

Hershel quickly took up the mantle Dale left. I became close with the Greene's. Beth mentioned to her father about the story I imparted her with; he was very gracious for opening up a side of me I barely let out.

During that crisis with Hershel, we stumbled across a few prisoners. Their so-called leader, Tomas, had a bad ass attitude. "Aye, Elvira here looks pretty good for one of those, what are they called? Gothic chicks?" It took everything in me not to knock him on his ass myself, though fortunate enough Daryl punched him in his nose for his blatant disrespect of not only me, but Rick's boundaries and rules. Not long after, he was killed by our precious Rick since he was a danger to our family. Out of the five prisoners, we only left two alive—Axel and Oscar. Besides Tomas dying by our hand, Rick took one of them outside, leaving him trapped for some of the walkers to snack on. We let the other two have a separate cell block than our own.

While Daryl took the perch in our cellblock, I decided to grab the cell at the far end, closer to the perch rather than the cell by the doors. More alert of an attack, in my opinion, instead of being a sitting duck.