A loud peal of laughter rose up from somewhere behind her, rough, easy, and just unfamiliar enough that she knew who it was by default. She wasn't sure what was going on behind her, but it was apparent that at least someone was having a good time.

They didn't just lay Beth to rest outside the city limits, they took her back to the beginning. Not her beginning, but theirs. Winding their way up that familiar dirt road to the Quarry camp. 

"I can't."

Still, nothing in the world had prepared him for being angry at her.

He grew up knowing two things for sure.

One, archery ran in the family.

And two, Clint Barton was an asshole.

"It had been a long time since she'd been on a motorcycle. Two decades at the very least. And for the first time in perhaps just as long, she suddenly realized she missed her long hair."

"Finally."

A heady flush of pleasure and anticipation stole across her skin as he started to relax, his long day of hunting finally seeming to catch up with him as thin streams of warm water beaded down the jut of his hips. She adored him like this, in the scant moments before the mask started to dissolve - when he finally let his guard down and allowed himself to just sit back and enjoy it.

Olivia's expression fell. Sinking deep like a stone trying to get itself lost in a sea of salt water.

It didn't seem like much, as far as first meetings go.

But for the first time in over seven years, it was enough to get him to put down his glass.

You'd think that with the end of the world, people would have stopped taking chances on long shots and maybes and just left him the hell alone. Because despite trying to keep the others at an arm's length, Rick, Glenn, Dale, Carol – the lot of them had only started to gravitate closer. After the CDC and the highway it had gotten worse. He wasn't sure how, or even why, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out how to make it stop. …How he could stop.

Her coat tails flapped in the breeze as her pace suddenly devolved, turning into a staggering half run as the material flared out behind her like a banner. It was the only sound in the encompassing quiet – adding harmony to the abyss as her pale throat worked around a sudden sob.

"Thought everyday was Halloween around here," Daryl grunted, leaning up against the door jamb as he watched Carol attach a cardboard cut-out around Judith's tummy. Trying and failing to quell the faint upturn of his lips as he watched Judith's limbs whirl excitedly, her flowery headband already crooked as Carol worked quickly to tidy up the finishing touches of the costume.

She tried to justify it by reminding herself about the bar of ivory soap she'd had her heart set on finding, but the truth was she'd gotten distracted by the angle of his silhouette as he leaned into the curtain. Watching first hand as he arched his hips into the spray and grunted in pleasure...