Their home was gone. They couldn't go back, not after the attack from the Governor. The only thing left to do was to continue to do things as they were done before they found the prison: survive. Rick and the rest of the group reunited a few days later, in the desolate area that they called their temporary keep somewhere in Georgia. They slept, taking shifts on watch.
Rick, Glenn and Daryl were in dangerous and dead-infested streets of a nearby city. Maggie, Carl (with Judith), Sasha, Tyreese and the others were back at camp, or whatever a few placed blankets and a small tent was considered. For now, it was time for them to go on a run. With their trigger hands remaining near their holstered weapons, the three men walked cautiously toward a large rundown grey building that read 'Pharmacy.'
"You think there still stuff in there?" asked Daryl. He couldn't take the insecurity, the vulnerability but he trusted the two men with him, so he continued on.
"There might not be much left," Glenn added. Even if he didn't say anything, Rick couldn't agree more. The surrounding buildings that they checked already were scavenged completely but he had that little sliver of hope always in the back of his mind that they would find something. Rick, in a sharp whisper, quieted the two.
"Let's just get this done with so we can go to the others." With a frustrated sigh, Glenn continued by Rick's side as Daryl walked in the back, checking their rear.
As they approached the building, they saw the door ajar and approached it cautiously. Rick opened the door, creaking loudly with all its glory, and groans followed. Daryl, with his crossbow, walked into the dark building first, aiming his crossbow. Sweat beaded down his forehead as he saw the first walker caught in a corner, trapped by a overturned shelf. He aimed and shot, landing his arrow in the middle of the walker's disgusting face, straight in its left eye. He went to retrieve his arrow and look around for others. He heard Glenn or Rick taking out another walker as quietly as they could near the used to be cold medicine shelf.
In this building, there was a door leading to where the usual pharmacist stood and made prescriptions. Daryl, rose his crossbow to his eye level as he walked towards it, reaching with his callused hands and pushed the door open. It creaked like the previous one and Daryl leaned his head in to scan the area. He heard the growl of a walker, a crunching of the skull and then silence before he could pinpoint where it was coming from in the dark area. He leaned body in the door, moving his crossbow in the room when within a few seconds, he felt the cool touch of a gun barrel, a small barrel - probably a revolver, he thought - touch his temple. He lifted his hands in surrender, moving his crossbow away.
"Drop it," he heard a female voice say loudly, catching the attention of Rick and Glenn as Daryl slowly bent down to put his crossbow down, raising his hands once again. The gun never moved from his head. The woman pressed the barrel to his temple with force, moving him backwards out of the door towards the other two men. With his hands still out, he complied with her and walked out. He still didn't get a look at his - what? What the hell was she? Rick put up his shotgun to, what Daryl assumed to be the woman's head. He heard and felt the girl move behind him as the rasping sound of metal against leather brought Daryl's attention to his side. In his peripheral vision, Daryl could see the long blade of a machete.
"Don't shoot," she said, "I'll slice both of you." Rick also rose his hands in surrender.
"Alright, hold on there. Put the weapons down," he reasoned. "What's your name?"
"Don't worry about it." She asked, her grip never wavered.
"Look, we don't want any trouble, just let our friend go," Rick responded. The girl paused for a second and then responded. Daryl was convinced that she was going to let him go and run for the hills. It was too much for her. She couldn't handle it.
"Give me some of your supplies and I'll let him go," she said. Rick eyed the girl. Her eyes were sharp and determined, but he didn't get a good look at her face from behind Daryl. Despite having a tattered long sleeve shirt and what looked like dried blood on her jeans, she wasn't scared at all and this intrigued him.
"Do you have others with you?" Rick asked. The girl shook her head.
"You're by yourself?" Glenn asked. He didn't buy it. All by herself? It was rare to see someone by themselves, so long into the turn. You would think that they would've teamed up with just about anyone, but to be alone? How long could you survive like that? Glenn, much less Rick or Daryl, thought it was hard to believe.
"Isn't that what I said? Yes, I'm alone," she said. She wasn't from the south, Daryl noticed. That accent was much more eastern rather than southern. She must've traveled far or she was just a tourist that got stuck in the wrong state.
"You always been alone?" Rick asked, slowly getting close to her, stepping one foot in front of the other.
"Does it matter?" she said. "Alright, here's the deal, I'm low on supplies so, give it to me before I blow his brains out," she said with little hesitation as she nudges Daryl's head with the gun.
"Hey now, no one has to die here," Rick reassured. "Just lower your gun, and we'll give you some of our food, how about that? Some water too," he said. She gulped in need of water to quench the thirst that was killing her. Instead of lowering it, she dug it deeper into his head, receiving no remark from Daryl. He still cursed her internally.
"Show them to me. Show it to me or he gets a bullet in his head," she said in frustration.
"Even if you do," Rick said, motioning for Glenn to get some water and food to put on the counter near the girl, "Do you think really we'll just let you go after that? No, you'll be dead as soon as you pull the trigger," he said menacingly. The girl and Rick glared at each other.
"So be it," she said calmly. Glenn put a three cans of food on the counter along with a small bottle of water. He analyzed the girl, watching her as she continued to hold up her weapons firmly and saw something in her.
"How many walkers have you killed?" His voice was firm, with confidence and leader like poise. Rick turned around to him, looking at him in confusion. At the moment of all this confusion, Daryl felt her guard and gun slowly lower. He swiftly turned around to face her, took her gun from her hand and threw it on the floor. He grabbed her and slammed her head against the counter, she struggled against his grip. There was muttering next to Daryl, he turned and saw Glenn and Rick talking harshly on the matters at hand. Daryl continued to hold onto her head, grinding her face into the cold and dirty counter with stains from unknown sources.
"You a real piece a work," Daryl commented as she struggled under him.
"Dickhead," she grunted, "Let me go!"
"Answer the question," Glenn finally said to the girl as he and Rick turned back to her, unsympathetic to her current position.
"How the hell should I know? 20 maybe, I don't know," she grunted with her mouth distorted under the pressure from Daryl's strong grip.
"How many people have you killed?" Without hesitation, she answered again.
"4." The three men exchanged looks and then they all looked at the girl, whose cheek was crushed on the counter and head turned to the side. Daryl finally got a good look at her face. It was slender, with dirt and sweat near her hairline. She had black hair that was slightly greasy in his hand, contrasting her pale skin and made the slight view that he had of her eyes pop out to him. While he couldn't figure out their exact color, he noticed they were a dark color.
"Why?" Daryl asked, his voice soft but gruff as always.
"Revenge," she said coldly. The three men stayed quiet, growing more curious about the woman in front of them.
"Was this before or after the turn?" Rick asked. Daryl felt her body relax against his touch, she wasn't stiff and fighting as she was before. At the mention of her revenge, she softened. Daryl felt the soft part of his heart awaken. But, regardless, his grip remained the same on her head, holding her down as they evaluated her with the questions.
"After." Another moment of silence frustrated her, terrified her. What were they going to do to her? Rape her like she had seen before on her travels through Georgia? Kill her quickly or slowly? The suspense and horror of the possibilities made her heart pound against her chest and finally let out frustrations with a sigh.
"Look, whatever you're gonna do to me, get on with it already just don't be so damn quiet," she said. When they didn't say anything, she breathed, "God, you really don't listen. Then, at least tell dickhead here to let me go. No need to thank me for killing that walker that was gonna grab your neck," she said to Daryl, struggling to get Daryl's strong grip off, "I'm sick of this shit already. I won't take anything. I'll get out of your way." Daryl wanted to let her go, she didn't seem like a harm. He looked at Rick and Glenn, for confirmation. They both took a moment and then nodded.
"Let her go," Rick said softly. Daryl took his hand off of her head and took a step back in the case of anything going haywire, he needed leverage and space to get his crossbow on the other side of the room. She stood up straight, pushing the hair that was in caught in her mouth away from her face. She looked at Daryl with piercing dark brown eyes, almost black in color. Daryl looked back at her, his blue eyes just as intimidating. They didn't say anything, for a moment, until she broke the gaze and looked at Rick and Glenn, nodding toward them in thanks. She picked up her brown busted up satchel and her revolver from the floor that fell after the dickhead tackled her. She slung her bag over one shoulder.
"Good luck boys," she said before walking towards the exit of the Pharmacy, with her machete in hand.
"Hey!" Glenn called out to her, "We have others." That made her stop. That made her hope, something she hasn't felt in a long time. A camp, maybe? A camp meant food and shelter - oh, man what she wouldn't do for some food. She turned back to them.
"There's food, not a lot, but some. Water too," Rick added, "You're welcome to join us." She looked at them skeptically, unsure whether or not this was real or just a figment of her imagination.
"Even after I almost killed your friend there?" She said gesturing to Daryl, who watched her curiously. Rick paused, as if carefully deciding on what he wanted to say.
"I'm gonna take a chance. You're a girl alone by herself. A strong one," he added after receiving a glare from her. "With little food and no water, you're not gonna survive long. You don't look good and we want to help if you help us. We need people like you in our group to make us strong," he said. He looked at both Daryl and Glenn, looking for their support in his decision.
"We lost some of our people, back in an attack in the prison we made home a few miles away from here. We could use your help," he finished. He wasn't sure if he was making the right decision, but she could push her weight around. She could prove herself and if she pulls one wrong move, she's out. Give her some stuff and send her on her way, or not.
The girl looked at him, taking a moment to take in all that just happened. A better chance at survival, having communication with someone other than hunters, safety. Was it too good to be true? The girl wondered, but she didn't take long. She took a deep breath and nodded proudly.
"I'm in."
As the now four scavengers began to walk back to the temporary shelter, Rick walked near the girl, swung her machete around in a circle.
"Name's Rick, Rick Grimes," he said, looking at the girl who walked with her head high and her other hand near her revolver. There were no other people on the road, no walkers that groaned and came out of the woods, it was pure silence other than their feet hitting the gravel underneath. It was almost calm, if it not for the obvious tension in the air from bringing in a woman that almost killed them. The other two, Daryl and Glenn were behind them, unable to hear their conversation
"Those two back there are Glenn and Daryl," he continued gesturing to them over his shoulder. She nodded. The girl knew what was coming up next as Rick's voice lowered and deepened in tone, "If you so much as try anything my family and I don't like, you are done. Do you understand me? I'm taking a chance on you, don't make me regret it." The girl smirked, laughing just a little. Family, hmph. Bullshit.
"Wouldn't dream of it, Rick," she said, giving Rick a smirk. She looked over at him, "I'm Raelynn, Raelynn Winters and I understand loud and clear."