Hey guys! This is my first fan fiction ever so i'm pretty nervous about uploading it. Anyway, i hope you enjoy it because i had a lot of fun writing it. I'll be uploading the next chapter soon and i promise that i'll always try not make long breaks between chapters. English isn't my first language so i hope you'll forgive me any lacking in the lingual area of the story. my I hope you have fun reading it as much as i had fun writing it :)

I do not own any of the Walking Dead content, although May and Kiba are original characters.

Prelude

"O shit, Jake, did the bastard bite you?" a 5'10", dark-haired girl slipped between a couple of abandoned cars on the highway and headed straight to her injured friend followed by a large, fluffy dog.

"I'm ok, I think. What about you?" he asked, pushing a, finally, dead walker of off himself. The arrow May shot hit the bastard right between the eyes.

"I'm fine" she offered him a grin, but her face soon turned pale. "Jake, whose blood is that?". There was a big, red stain forming on his shirt, just under his ribs. She lifted it lightly, just to find a gaping scratch gushing blood from it.

"Fuck. FUCK! FUCKINGHELL! The bastard scratched me!" Jake yelled in disbelief. Then he realized what his friend, his oldest, dearest friend had to do. He couldn't believe he was going to put her through this.

May just sat there and watched, her face expressionless. Jake had been scratched. Jake was going to die. Fuck. She was going to have to put an arrow to her best friends head. It hit her. Their eyes met and she knew what he wanted her to do. "Please Jake… No." she said, her eyes filling up with tears.

He looked at her face and thought how he was lucky to have known her. "Please, May. I don't want to wait for death. And I don't want you to stay here any longer than necessary. Just do it and run." He plead. She looked at him and he could see how broken this will leave her. But she had to go in to the woods and she had to go now. There were more walkers coming, he was sure. "Please."

She finally gave in and raised her bow. "I love you" she said. "I love you to" he replied. And then she shot an arrow through his head. She kissed him on the cheek, picked up her stuff, motioned to the dog to follow her and went in to the forest.

Chapter 1: Ranger-girl

*1 MONTH LATER*

She was crouching in a bush, lurking a stag she was about to kill. At least she hoped she was. She needed it. During the last month human civilization seemed to have ended. The Walkers, as they called them on the news before shit really hit the fan, killed her best friend and, for the first time in 7 years, she was glad her parents weren't alive to witness the carnage.

"Shhh, Kiba" she shushed the dog. May felt a grain of sweat slide down her neck, tickling her but she ignored it. She took an arrow from the quiver, her hunting bow in hand and aimed at the stag. Aim for the heart she thought. She let her breath out and released the arrow, hitting the target perfectly. She excitedly ran to the deer, knowing that she and Kiba won't go hungry for the next week or two, depending on how wisely she rationed it. Then she noticed three bolts sticking from the deer's side, colorful feathers on top. Before she could do or think anything else, she heard something moving in the bushes. She quickly raised her bow, ready to defend herself, but was surprised by what, or rather whom, she saw. Out of the green of the forest emerged a scruffy, dirty-looking man with a… necklace made of dead squirrels. What? He was pointing a crossbow at her, loaded with a bolt just like the ones in the deer. Kiba looked at the man, snarling and growling threateningly.

"I'm obviously not a walker, so you can put that thing away." She noted, not lowering her own weapon.

"Yeah, right, and then you shoot me." He snorted at her, with a strong southern drawl.

They glared at each other for a moment and then she broke the silence. "On three?" He nodded and started counting : "One… Two… Three." And they both lowered their weapons. She was extra cautious because, as skilled as she was, she could see he was too, and he was definitely stronger than her. On the other hand, she had Kiba. "Calm down, boy" she stroked the dogs fur, not moving her eyes from the stranger.

"Seems we've a problem" he said "Who gits the deer?"

"I see no problem. I shot the killing blow, it's obviously mine." He didn't expect that answer, it surprised him. He could obviously overpower her at any moment, yet she wasn't going to just give up her kill. As much as he didn't like to admit it, he admired her for that. "There aint no way you coulda' shot him that easily if I hadn't slowed him down." That was true and she knew it.

"You have a name?" she asked, trying to buy some time before she could decide how to resolve this. She sure as hell wasn't relying on this redneck to come up with a solution.

"Daryl Dixon. What 'bout you, ranger-girl?" Shit, how did he know she was a ranger? Guess he's not that dumb. She looked at him more carefully noticing he was tall, a bit taller than her, something she didn't see often. He was wearing a sleeveless olive shirt, good for camouflage, a smart choice. Well built, that was obvious, and he looked like he was waiting for something. O, shit, he asked a question. "It's May O'Connell. How did you know I was a ranger?"

"Badge on yer belt." she forgot all about that… "So, ranger-girl, what do you s'pose we do now?" he looked at her quizzically. He couldn't help but notice how tall and lean she was. He noticed her perfect hour-glass figure and long legs, he noticed that she hasn't gone hungry; she still had all her womanly curves. Before he could note anything else, she shot an arrow in his direction but it passed right next to his elbow. Then he heard something fall behind him and turned around in time to see a walker with an arrow sticking out of its head fall to the ground.

"You alone?" he played it cool, even though she might have saved his life. "No" she stated, "I have Kiba." The dog looked at her loyally when he heard his name mentioned. Then it growled and jumped in a bush, just to come out a moment later holding a dead rabbit in his jaws. "Good boy, Kiba" she scratched him behind the ears. The fluffy, gray, strangely wolf-like dog looked at her, proud of himself, and happy that he made his pack leader happy. "So it's just you and the dog?" he asked, quite surprised she's alive and so well fed considering she had to fend for herself. She could see the surprise in his blue eyes and she rather enjoyed it. "Yeah, have been ever since all this shit started. Actually, you're the first person I've talked to in weeks. I was starting to get a little crazy, to tell you the truth…" She offered him a smile and he noticed it was one of those rare smiles where she wasn't actually smiling as much as you could see it in her eyes. The type of smile models would spend years practicing in front of a mirror but it came to her naturally. And her big eyes were the oddest color he'd seen. It was a light brown, but so light it was almost yellow. It bothered him that he'd noticed that. But he let his guard down s bit.

"What about you? You alone too?" she asked. He relaxed a bit and so she did the same. Besides, she was too tired to look as tough as she tried to appear throughout this entire conversation. She felt he wasn't going to harm her, and so did Kiba, seeing as how he was chasing a butterfly around, not minding Daryl at all anymore.

"Nope. Me and ma brother Merle 'r in a group. We've a camp a couple of miles from here. Was thinking you might wanna join us. Strength in numbers 'n' all that shit. " An invitation? She wasn't expecting that. It would be nice to have some people around, but on the other hand, she was doing fine on her own. They might slow her and Kiba down. "I guess we could stay for a night or two. At least it would solve this here deer dilemma we have. It's almost dark soon, though, do we have time to reach it?" How bad could it be? They could rest up a bit, if they have a camp there, it must be near a river or a lake, so she could wash up both herself and her clothes. And she'd get to sleep through at least one night without worrying about being eaten.

"Nah, we aint gettin' there tonight. We'll wait 'till morning." He stated simply.

"Then we should find somewhere safer than this to camp out for the night." She smiled at him again, wider this time and he couldn't remember the last time he saw someone truly smile. She pulled out a rope and tied it to the deer's legs to make it easier to take with them. Daryl came over and pulled his bolts out, and then proceeded to help her with tying the deer. He noticed how skilled she was at it. A ranger would be a great asset to their group. "You're not half bad at this survival crap… For a girl" he teased her a bit.

"Yeah, well, you don't seem that dumb for a grumpy-ass redneck" she said, putting on a defensive face. He looked at her trying to figure out if she meant it and saw how she was struggling not to laugh. Her face twitched a bit from the effort she put in to staying serious. He had to laugh. And it's been so long since he laughed. They walked for a while in silence, dragging the deer until they found a safe enough place to sleep for the night.

"You don't really say much, do you?" May noted after spending almost half an hour walking in silence. She started to unpack her sleeping bag.

"I usually hunt alone. Nothin' much ta say when there's no one to say it to"

"You're not alone now."

"Yeah, well, that aint exactly how I planned this hunt." She stopped asking, seaming a bit disappointed and, maybe, sad and started a small fire. He felt kind of bad for shutting her down like that. The girl hadn't had anyone to talk to in weeks.

"What kinda' dog is that, anyway?" he offered, not knowing what else to say. Her face lit up when he started up the conversation again.

"He's not a purebred. Actually, he's not even completely a dog. He's one quarter wolf and three quarters dog. A bit of Alaskan Malamute and Husky, I think, and something else, not sure what though." She said with a gentle smile, obviously very proud of her hound.

"Part wolf, huh? How'd ya train 'im so well, then?" he was, once again, impressed with this girl. And he wasn't the kind to get easily impressed.

"I found him when he was less than a month old, he was a stray. I felt sorry for him being all alone in the world… I guess I knew how he felt… So I took him in, bottle fed him 'till he was old enough to eat by himself and started training him when he was only two months old. I guess I'm the first one to show him any kindness, and I needed someone to care for, so we bonded" she answered, still smiling, but with a strange sadness in her eyes. It gave him pause. He didn't know how to act around emotional people. They went quiet for a while and he stared at the fire.

"How's 'bout I gut the rabbit that dog 'o yours caught and we have some dinner?" he changed the subject but when he looked at her he noticed she'd already skinned the rabbit and was gutting him as he spoke.

"I'm one step ahead of you" she said and winked playfully at him. She took him by surprise, she has once again managed to impress him.

"Where'd ya learn how ta do that? I thought rangers protected the animals."

"Wasn't always a ranger and a girl's gotta eat." She replied practically. He looked at her, obviously confused by the remark.

"When I was 16 my parents died In a car crash and I made deal with my uncle, who never gave a shit about me – he legally adopts me and I never ask him for anything ever again. There was no way I was gonna go in the system. So, from there on out, I took care of myself. That's about the same time I found Kiba. Two years later I became a ranger, all of the skills I picked up on while fending for myself gave me a good foundation for the job. Alaska isn't a friendly place when you're on your own."

"What 'er you doin' in Georgia?" This girl's been through some shit in her life.

"I was supposed to take a couple of wolves from a zoo and escort them back to the Alaska to be released to the wilderness. Didn't quite work out though." She grinned halfheartedly.

After that, they ate in silence and went to sleep. May snuggled next to Kiba, finding his soft, grey fur comforting and fell asleep almost instantly. Daryl was the first one to keep watch. He looked at the girl unsure what to think about her. One thing was sure, though… He was glad she was joining them.

So that was the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it and will rate and review because i will need your help writing this story. Any and all suggestions are more than welcome :)