A/N - As people that know me are aware, I love writing about Daryl. But this is my first attempt at writing a Daryl/OC story which I have wanted to do for a long time, (but I have never written a main OC before so I am a little nervous!) Because lets face it, Daryl badly needs some loving! So, I want to explore how that could happen for him, and how I would like it play out and affect him. This is also an idea I have had for a story for a while. What if the rest of the world hadn't been infected in the same way?

It starts off just after where season 5 ended, with Daryl and Aaron back out on the road again...

I would LOVE to hear thoughts on this. Also, I have a whole storyline planned out, but if anyone is up to beta my crazy ideas please PM. I'd love to bounce them off someone.

The wind was gently blowing through the trees, the sky an unusual mixture of vibrant oranges and dull greys, the sun a fiery red orb of light slowly sinking beneath the horizon as threads of light lingered in the sky, mingling with the rolling clouds. Daryl crouched down and flicked the hair from his eyes as he focused in on some prints set into the dirty ground. He put his fingers down to examine them carefully as he narrowed his eyes.

"Anything?" Aaron asked, from where he was stood beside him, peering down intently.

Daryl remained quiet as he concentrated. They had been out here again for a few days and there had been very few signs of movement, from either the living or the dead. It was unsettling. The air around them had become eerily silent. Now they had found a hilly track running through the edges to some woods along a river, it was as good a route as any to follow in their search for other survivors.

They had stopped, reaching the top of a slope when Daryl had spotted the tracks.

"There's been people past here, survivors. But not for a while," he said, his expression perplexed as he jumped back to his feet.

Daryl was an expert tracker, he knew the difference between human and walker tracks easily enough, he could tell these particular prints belonged to a group of humans, but they weren't new, it looked to be another dead end.

Aaron nodded, satisfied by Daryl's explanation.

Sighing, Aaron took off his backpack, he tossed it to the ground before he perched down to rest up against a tree for a moment.

"Here," he said, handing Daryl a granola bar from inside his carefully stashed backpack.

"Thanks," Daryl responded, as he took it from him.

Sinking down on to the ground too, Daryl tore the wrapper off to hungrily take bites out of the stale bar as if he hadn't eaten in weeks.

"We should probably press on, head down to the river," Aaron said, his eyes down scanning a crumpled map in his hands, before he looked up to point with his index finger in the direction of the river.

"Okay," Daryl mumbled in agreement, stuffing the remainder of the bar into his mouth.

….

It had been a strange day, nothing had been quite as it had seemed at first. It had rained non stop, before turning brighter and sunnier, filling the air with a warm sensation, before it had taken on a more majestic feel as the sun had sunk down low on the hills.

"It's so peaceful out here," Aaron remarked a couple of minutes later, unscrewing the lid on a bottle of water to take a swing as he glanced out in front of him at the beautiful scenery as the sun set in the sky. "You could almost forget the whole worlds gone to hell."

Daryl was looking straight ahead too, his hair blowing slightly in the soothing evening air. It was calm and peaceful out here. It was times like this that Daryl felt most at home, most free and alive. Especially now away from all the politics and bullshit that had been going on back at Alexandria.

They were over 100 miles away from their walled community now. Having drifted further and further out in their quest to find any signs of other people suitable enough to approach to come back and audition to join their small safe zone.

Daryl and Aaron hadn't been back at Alexandria long after returning with Morgan from their previous eventful trip. But in that short time everything seemed to have changed there. By some bizarre twist of fate Rick was now pretty much calling the shots. But they had lost several people, including one of Daryl's original group, Noah - the kid he had rescued from the hospital, something Daryl didn't like to think about now.

Things seemed to be changing more and more each day at Alexandria. Daryl's group too. The fierce, fighting survival spirt in them, seemed to be slowly fading away the more comfortable they allowed themselves to become there. It was as though they had been lulled in to a false sense of security by the fancy houses and immaculate streets as they started to live in relative luxury in what had once seemed an impossible fantasy. The seemingly endless supplies of food and water, electricity, and creature comforts that they had only been able to dream about just months before. Even Carol had announced to Daryl the night before he had left, that she was finally starting to think they had found their home, their place in the world. That they should do everything they possibly could to defend it no matter the cost.

Daryl hadn't said anything in response. Carol had scoffed at the original occupants of Alexandria when they had first arrived there, saying they were children and they believed in fairytales. Now it appeared she too was starting to believe in fairytales, that they could live there forever within the walls, alongside the original occupants and everything their little community represented. Shutting the rest of the world out.

She had looked at him as though she had wanted him to believe it too. But all Daryl had been able to do was shrug dismissively. He didn't believe in fairytales. He never had, and he wasn't about to start now. Daryl saw Alexandria for what it was. A place where you could try, that was all, just try. But he knew it wouldn't be long before trouble came looking for them again.

He had chosen to stay there and make an effort. Because he had no-where else to go, nothing else to do, and at the end of the day they were and always would be his people. His family. His life.

But Daryl knew the lights would go out sooner or later. The food would run out, the gas would go bad and the supply of bullets would come to an end and eventually the walls would come down. He knew that, and so did Aaron. If they had any real chance, they needed to find more people. Doctors and engineers, scientists, electricians, farmers even, if they had any chance of their community surviving in the longterm. But even Rick didn't seem to really get that now, too caught up in the here and now. Paranoid of anyone new coming in to their new safe haven. It was 'us and them' Rick had said.

...

Here in the peaceful outdoors, Daryl shifted his gaze sideways to where his new friend was sat quietly beside him out here in the middle of no-where.

They had both told Rick about the threats they had encountered outside the walls and the need to find more people, but at the time Rick had just seemed too pre-occupied in taking over as leader to give it much attention. He had just sent them back out to investigate further and report back. Which had been more than okay with Daryl at the time, he had been keen to get back out here, rather than be cooped up in a place where he had to pretend to be someone he knew he wasn't.

With Aaron it wasn't so much like that. They were an odd companionship. Aaron with his clean-cut appearance, polite mannerisms, expensive cologne and abercrombie & fitch jacket, couldn't be more unlike Daryl with his scruffy stubble, shaggy hair, tattered clothes and gruff southern accent. But somehow they had formed an unexpected bond, both having been treated as outsiders for most of their lives. They understood each other at the most basic level. Aaron had seen something in Daryl, and he had given him a purpose again. They had discovered a mutual love of the outdoors and adventure, of being willing to put themselves in danger if they thought something positive could come out of it. Daryl admired Aaron's sense of optimism and hope, his passion for seeing the good in people. For seeing the good in him. Aaron seemed to genuinely understand Daryl, knowing when to talk to him and when to leave him to distance himself in his thoughts.

…

"Wind is changing," Aaron casually stated, as a long blade of grass swayed beside him. "You know what that means?…All bets are off, anything can happen.." He explained. "You think.."

"Ssshh.." Daryl suddenly interrupted, holding his hand up, putting his ear to the wind. "You hear that?" It was very faint, but Daryl was sure out there in the distance he could make out the sound of a dog barking.

Aaron nodded, rubbing his chin with furrowed brows.

Daryl reached for the listening device and put it straight to his ear and he instantly heard voices talking, laughing even. They sounded pretty carefree, and curiously somewhere in the background Daryl was sure he could hear faint music too.

He wrinkled his forehead. The voices sounded peculiar like they were from a different time, a time when there wasn't such a darkness in the world. They were speaking english, but they had accents, he was pretty sure they weren't American, he would take a guess at British, it was hard to hear them properly. It was almost as though he had stumbled across distant radio station.

"There's people out there," he mumbled, handing it over to Aaron to see what he made of it. He then reached down for the binoculars they kept with them and he put them up to his face to investigate further.

From where he was sat on the top of the slope, Daryl was able to get a good look down through the trees in the direction of the river. They were powerful binoculars with high quietly lenses and an impressive magnification. He scanned the area thoroughly, the same thud of adrenaline hitting him that he always seemed to experience when checking out any potential sightings of new people. More often than not, he knew people were mostly bad and a threat now.

His beady eyes moved across a range of blurred, fuzzy images of greenery, before finally he stopped deadly still. There in the distance, he could clearly make out the outline of a figure, a woman's figure.

He zoomed in further to see to his amazement a shot of long blonde hair falling down her back, the early evening sun was bouncing off it, making it shimmer with shades of platinum and gold. He swallowed hard, he hadn't seen blonde hair like that since…..

He blinked several times. She was too far away to be any real threat to them, he would just watch for a moment and see what she did and who else she was with, whether they were good or bad. Then he could decide on their next course of action.

As he studied her closely Daryl was unable to stop a sharp pang of emotion from rocketing through him. From the back she looked so familiar, it was almost like a dream. She was wearing light blue skinny jeans, a brown belt, and tight fitting white top.

Then suddenly she turned around, and Daryl felt his jaw gape open slightly as he pressed the binoculars into his face. He hadn't been expecting her to be so beautiful looking.

The initial hit of adrenaline he had felt when he had first put the binoculars to his eyes increased, she was an enigma. He zoomed in on her some more. Trying to get a better feel for who she was and what she was doing out here. Was she dangerous? Who were her group? He allowed his gaze to slide over her full profile, he could see she had perfect womanly curves and she had a gun strapped to her waist. He swallowed hard, she didn't look like she had been roughing it out here like every other survivor they had encountered. She must be part of another community. But where?

He moved his focus up to her face again, even from this distance he could see she had piercing blue eyes, they were wide and almond shaped and her sun-kissed features were perfectly symmetrical. She looked so serene just gazing in to the distance, a strand of her blonde hair blowing gently in the breeze. She was fucking perfect.

What the hell was she doing out here? It was un-nerving.

Daryl felt his pulse speed up even more as he watched her, the sight of her in the distance had taken him by surprise and had triggered some sort of automatic reaction inside him that he annoyingly had little control over. A part of him that he tried so damn hard to suppress, both before and after the outbreak. But really and truthfully deep down, he knew it was the part of him that kept him breathing and his heart beating. The flutter developing inside him of a natural basic instinct as blood uncontrollably rushed down to his groin.

He scowled deeply, even more annoyed with himself, he was never normally one to be distracted by a pretty face. Out here he had a job to do. She wasn't alone, that much he was sure of. He followed her with the binoculars to see she was bending down, and to his surprise a dog came in to sight. She was ruffling it's fur affectionately as it looked up at her adoringly. It was a big dog, almost like a wolf, with light grey fur and a bushy tail. Daryl would take a guess at some kind of husky cross.

He watched as the mysterious blonde turned her head to address someone else and smile.

Daryl scanned across in the direction she was looking to see two guys come into sight as the dog disappeared. They had a smilier look about them to the woman. They looked well dressed in jeans, shirts and casual jackets, too well dressed for people surviving out here in hell, with modern haircuts, strong jawlines and eyes full of life, they didn't look as though they had been living through the outbreak of the deadly infection for years. They looked like just a group of friends taking an outdoors vacation.

The sight of them was a little surreal. As though the world hadn't fallen into complete darkness.

Daryl turned his attention back to the blonde. She had stopped smiling now, and was looking over in the direction that Daryl was sat perched on top of the slope. He was too far away for her to be able to notice him, but the expression on her face was almost as though she knew she was being watched as her wide eyes glided upwards and across, making Daryl feel uneasy, like she knew he was spying on them.

But he couldn't look away, something about her was just so damn appealing, like she had him under a spell.

Then he heard Aaron saying something beside him, "Huh?" Daryl muttered, still staring down at the blonde.

"For the third time, I said….whatcha see?" Aaron asked impatiently. Bringing Daryl back down to earth with a thud, as he focused back in on reality and Aaron's voice.

He lowered the binoculars and tossed his hair back to look at Aaron, to see he was staring over at him with curious eyes.

"There's people down there," Daryl explained, handing him the binoculars. "Don't sound like they're from round here though," he mumbled.

"No, I would say, British. What they're doing out here though, I can't say," Aaron remarked, as he focused on looking down at them too through the binoculars.

"Ah…" He suddenly said, quirking an eyebrow with a faint smirk. "No need to ask what kept your attention for so long," he joked to a slightly red-faced Daryl.

Daryl looked away, embarrassed, as he realised Aaron too must have caught sight of the gorgeous looking woman that Daryl had been staring at a little longer than he should have been.

Daryl wasn't used to being singled out for staring at women, normally he would be the one dishing it out to the other guys, making them feel uncomfortable for that sort of thing. Under different circumstances he would have dismissed Aaron's remark too with some sort of smart ass retort. But something in this situation stopped him from doing that. Instead, all Daryl could do here was narrow his eyes and look away with a serious stony expression.

He suddenly felt irritation come over him. He was annoyed that he had been so caught up in staring at an attractive stranger. It was dangerous, he of all people knew that, and the physical effect seeing such a hot-looking woman had provoked in Daryl was not something he was at all comfortable with. He'd been a loner most of his life and had never really been one to openly check women out, even before the outbreak a woman would have had to have been really special to have caught his attention.

"Quite something the female form, isn't it?" Aaron joked some more.

Daryl ignored him, remaining silent and serious he swallowed hard as he put his hand up to his face. They had discussed most things out here, but never Daryl's sex life, or lack of.

Normally, nowadays, Daryl could try and forget the fact he hadn't had sex in years. He hadn't even been close to having any kind of intimate, physical contact with a woman since the start of the outbreak. There had been a lot of times when it had been the last thing on his mind. But then there had been the few occasions during the quiet times, when he hadn't been able to think of anything else, where he had been hit with physical urges so powerful that he had felt like he was going to explode with frustration and the need for a release. He was a man at the end of the day, he had needs, no matter how much he tried to pretend that he didn't.

...

He brushed his hair our of his eyes with his fingers, trying to re-focus, "You think we should approach them?" he asked in a gruff serious voice. He was curious to find out more about the group of people that had so strangely just appeared, seemingly out of no-where. From what he could tell and his gut instinct they weren't psychopaths.

"Not yet, lets just track them for a bit first," Aaron replied, his tone turning serious too.

Daryl nodded, he respected that decision. He knew Aaron was always cautious about approaching other survivors too quickly, not without knowing more about who they were and what they could potentially do. Especially now after their near death experience at the hands of the group they had named the wolves. A group that appeared to be on a whole new level of psychopathic.

But Daryl felt certain this mysterious group down by the river weren't like the wolves. They weren't bad people. He wasn't sure why he was so certain, but he just was. Aaron had told him once that Daryl could tell the difference between good and bad people, and Daryl felt that to be the case now for some un-explained reason.

Right now he wanted to approach these people, possibly more for their own protection than anything. They hardly looked like experienced survivors and that thought alone was playing on Daryl's mind.

He moved back towards the tree where he had leaned his crossbow and backpack. He looked down to open his backpack when he suddenly caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye, sprinting towards him in the distance was a dog. A big grey wolf like dog.

As it got closer to him the dog broke into a gentle trot, before it bravely coming right up to approach Daryl.

Rather than feel threatened and reach for his weapon, Daryl simply held his hand out to the animal in a friendly gesture.

"Come here, boy," he called out in a low voice. He could tell the creature meant him no harm.

With a wagging tail and gentle eyes the dog nudged it's head in to Daryl's out stretched hand. Two striking blue eyes peered out from it's light grey fur as it sniffed around him.

"What ya doing out here? Huh?" Daryl asked, ruffling it's fur. Far from being the mangey mess he would expect, the dog's coat was soft and glossy, and it had a dark brown collar around it's neck.

"You belong to someone, don't ya? You out here protecting them?" Daryl asked, his voice softening.

The dog continued to stare back at him, such deep expression forming in it's ice blue eyes, that it freaked Daryl out a little. "You trying to tell me something, eh?"

"We should move on," Aaron suddenly called out, distracting Daryl away from the dog as he turned his head back to his friend for a second, before the night suddenly took a turn for the darker.

Daryl looked back to the area around the tree ready to gather his things, to see that the dog had now disappeared as mysteriously as it had arrived.

Shaking his head in confusion, Daryl reached down for his crossbow, when he suddenly felt a presence behind him, and he tensed, hearing the click of a gun.

"Don't move." A deep rough voice said.

"Drop it and turn around," the same voice ordered.

Daryl scowled deeply, slowly turning to see two guys. One with a gun pointed straight at him, the other moving to stand by his side. They were both filthy and scruffy looking, with long unkept hair, dirty faces and threatening eyes. On closer inspection, Daryl could also see they both had a clear W drawn on to their foreheads too, an indication that they must be part of the same group Morgan had told him and Aaron about. The group that had set the trap for them, nearly killing them. The wolves!

In that single moment, Daryl's mind flashed back to the numerous walkers they had discovered with W carved into their foreheads. This was serious.

He glanced to his left to see there was a third man gripping Aaron by the elbow, aiming a gun straight into the side of his neck. Daryl's eyes met Aaron's. They knew they were in deep fucking shit!

"Look, we don't want any trouble," Aaron spoke up, his voice shaking slightly.

Daryl remained silent, too angry to form a coherent sentence.

"Too late for that," the first man responded. "Move over to the tree," he gestured to a furious looking Daryl.

Reluctantly, Daryl obliged, the other guy had a weapon in his face, right now he was holding all the cards.

"Stop, there is something you need to know," Aaron quickly exclaimed.

"Quiet," the other man said, in a deep menacing tone.

"Tie him up," he said to the man next to Daryl, gesturing to the nearest tree with his gun.

"Really, you need to listen to what I have to say," Aaron continued, attempting to stall them as they ignored him.

Shoving Daryl hard against the tree, the second man proceeded to tie a rope around him, whilst the first still held the gun to his head.

Daryl grimaced, his deeply set eyes were shooting pure venom at the other men. He knew at that moment in time that he had two options. Fight back and let them shoot him now, or let them tie him up and leave him here for the dead to devour. The second being slightly more appealing, only due to it buying him more time.

Aaron though, had other ideas.

"We can help you. Let him go, and I'll tell you how," Aaron negotiated, his voice calmer.

"I already told you to shut the hell up," the first man yelled.

"We have a community!" Aaron blurted out.

Daryl screwed his face up, his eyes quickly meeting Aaron's in a cold unspoken communication. Daryl was willing Aaron with his eyes to keep his mouth shut. He knew Aaron probably had a plan, but despite that Daryl wasn't about to let him risk all their people's safety, just for his life.

"Shut that damn mouth of yours, or we'll shut it for you," the other man spoke up.

"Just saying, we can work something out," Aaron responded, holding his hand up. Just before the guy next to him slammed the side of his gun hard into the back of Aaron's skull, causing him to topple straight to the ground, as a thick trickle of blood gushed down his forehead. Before Aaron had the chance to get up again, the other guy had lifted his foot up to ram it against his head again and then repeatedly into his side.

Daryl felt his face darkening by the second, his blood was simmering beneath the surface. He was powerless to help his friend.

"Don't have to be like this," he grunted roughly, forcing himself to speak to them for the first time, without allowing himself to completely lose it. His slanted eyes were glowering out through the edges of his long dark hair, from where he was now tied to the tree, unable to move. He knew he had to do something. Fast.

The first man, the one with the gun that seemed to be in charge, held his arm up signalling to the man attacking Aaron to stop. He then turned his attention back to Daryl, his eyes cold and fierce.

"You know, the first settlers here, they hunted wolves. Put bounties on all their heads. Didn't take 'em too long to kill them all. But, they're back now," he said, still starting at Daryl.

Daryl glared at the other man some more, breathing deeply. He was fucking crazy; and Daryl knew he was planning to kill him. He felt his pulse pounding furiously, as he desperately tried to think of a plan, any possible way out of this.

Suddenly in the distance there was a series of loud bangs, causing everyone to turn their heads.

"What the hell?" The leader of the three men yelled. Looking across at his two companions.

"Come on," he ordered, cocking his head, his tone low and deadly.

"Don't go anywhere, we'll be right back," he added with a menacing chuckle, looking back at Daryl tied to the tree still.

After the three men had disappeared out of sight, Daryl looked over to where Aaron was slumped pretty much unconscious on the ground in a pool of blood. There was no point calling out to him, he was out of it.

Daryl looked around him desperately, the natural light fading fast as darkness crept in.

He cursed under his breath, he tried to move but the rope was bound so tightly around him that it made it near on impossible. He struggled as best as he could, pools of sweat sliding down his temple. But it was pointless. He was stuck. There was no way out.

Daryl had never felt so afraid in his life.

This was worse than the governor rolling up to the prison gates, or the slaughter table at terminus, or even having the gun pointed in his face moments before. All those times, there had still been a small chance of a way out. Right now, he was completely screwed. Any moment now the dead would come flocking, alerted by the noise, and once they got a sniff of him, Daryl knew that he was going to wish those bastards had put a bullet in him back when they'd had a chance.

He tried to slow his out of control breathing, glancing down to try and locate his crossbow, helplessly knowing it couldn't help him now anyway. He felt the metal of the knife he always carried on him weighing down in his pocket, if he could only get to that he might have a chance he thought even more desperately, wriggling and jerking to no avail. He wouldn't give up, he couldn't give up.

Today couldn't be the day he was going to die!

"Damnit!" He yelled out in sheer frustration.

Then he saw it. Just one. It was a male about his age, tall with a blading head and foul rotting teeth and flesh.

As if in slow motion, it came ambling out of the trees. Taking each step as if it was about to collapse. But it just kept going. Each clumsy movement it made was like a slow, painful torture to a now utterly petrified and powerless Daryl.

'This can't be how it ends'! He thought.

After every damn thing he had been through since the world had turned to shit, all the times he had put himself in danger, the people he had saved, the people he had lost, the faith he and his people had found to believe in something better…That was all just going to come crashing to a halt for him here. At the hands of one measly, weak and decaying walker. This, was how his story was going to end?!…..

He shook his head, blinking his tired defeated eyes, sweat dripping down his entire body now. Maybe this was just how it was supposed to be, he resigned. Maybe he was ready, maybe he wanted to die, to find some sort of peace at last.

He was tired of fighting all the time, of all the pain and the scars. It didn't matter how tough he was. It always left a scar. The bad shit had followed him wherever he went, had changed his life. It had messed everything and everyone he knew up.

But, maybe, that was the point. All the pain and the fear and the crap. Maybe going through that was what kept him moving forward, what pushed him. Maybe he had to get completely messed up before he could step up.

Daryl realised in that brief moment. He didn't want to die.

But if this really was the end, he would accept it and go out like a man. He screwed his fists in to tight balls, his mouth dry, his heart pounding out of his chest, watching the revolting dead corpse getting closer and closer to where he was helplessly tied to the tree as bait.

Snarling and growling louder as it reached it's target, it clumsily fell into him. Stooping over slightly, it's mouth made contact with Daryl's side just above his hip, clamping it's jaws firmly around him, sinking it's foul rotting teeth deep into Daryl's flesh.

Daryl closed his eyes, allowing the deep burn to soar around his body. This, was what it felt like to be bitten by one of those things. He braced himself, ready for it to take another savage chunk out of him, trying unsuccessfully to send his mind to another place. This was the end for him. His time was up!

When he suddenly heard a thud. Followed by a hum of voices.

"Over here," a female voice said.

"Open your eyes."

Daryl slowly prized his eyes open enough to be able to see with hazy vision that the walker had gone. In it's place two bright blue, almond shaped eyes were staring back at him, the light shining from them dazzling the darkness all around him.

Looking closer he saw blonde hair sweeping over the most beautiful face he had ever seen, the same face he had been so mesmerised with earlier that day. Thinking back to that now felt like a lifetime ago. The blonde girl with the dog.

He looked deep into her eyes. She looked so familiar to him, like he'd known her face his whole life.

Then she spoke.

"Ssshh.." she said, holding a finger up to her lips. "Don't try to talk." Her voice was soft and clear with a British accent. "It's going to be okay, I can help you."

A/N - Thanks for reading. I would LOVE to hear what you think. I can't wait to get the next few chapters out :)